A Child's History of England

by Dickens, Charles

quarrel by the sword. The battle began at four o'clock in the

  morning and lasted until ten, and during the greater part of the

  time it was fought in a thick mist - absurdly supposed to be raised

  by a magician. The loss of life was very great, for the hatred was

  strong on both sides. The King-Maker was defeated, and the King

  triumphed. Both the Earl of Warwick and his brother were slain,

  and their bodies lay in St. Paul's, for some days, as a spectacle

  to the people.

  Margaret's spirit was not broken even by this great blow. Within

  five days she was in arms again, and raised her standard in Bath,

  whence she set off with her army, to try and join Lord Pembroke,

  who had a force in Wales. But, the King, coming up with her

  outside the town of Tewkesbury, and ordering his brother, the DUKE

  OF GLOUCESTER, who was a brave soldier, to attack her men, she

  sustained an entire defeat, and was taken prisoner, together with

  her son, now only eighteen years of age. The conduct of the King

  to this poor youth was worthy of his cruel character. He ordered

  him to be led into his tent. 'And what,' said he, 'brought YOU to

  England?' 'I came to England,' replied the prisoner, with a spirit

  which a man of spirit might have admired in a captive, 'to recover

  my father's kingdom, which descended to him as his right, and from

  him descends to me, as mine.' The King, drawing off his iron

  gauntlet, struck him with it in the face; and the Duke of Clarence

  and some other lords, who were there, drew their noble swords, and

  killed him.

  His mother survived him, a prisoner, for five years; after her

  Page 136

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  ransom by the King of France, she survived for six years more.

  Within three weeks of this murder, Henry died one of those

  convenient sudden deaths which were so common in the Tower; in

  plainer words, he was murdered by the King's order.

  Having no particular excitement on his hands after this great

  defeat of the Lancaster party, and being perhaps desirous to get

  rid of some of his fat (for he was now getting too corpulent to be

  handsome), the King thought of making war on France. As he wanted

  more money for this purpose than the Parliament could give him,

  though they were usually ready enough for war, he invented a new

  way of raising it, by sending for the principal citizens of London,

  and telling them, with a grave face, that he was very much in want

  of cash, and would take it very kind in them if they would lend him

  some. It being impossible for them safely to refuse, they

  complied, and the moneys thus forced from them were called - no

  doubt to the great amusement of the King and the Court - as if they

  were free gifts, 'Benevolences.' What with grants from Parliament,

  and what with Benevolences, the King raised an army and passed over

  to Calais. As nobody wanted war, however, the French King made

  proposals of peace, which were accepted, and a truce was concluded

  for seven long years. The proceedings between the Kings of France

  and England on this occasion, were very friendly, very splendid,

  and very distrustful. They finished with a meeting between the two

  Kings, on a temporary bridge over the river Somme, where they

  embraced through two holes in a strong wooden grating like a lion's

  cage, and made several bows and fine speeches to one another.

  It was time, now, that the Duke of Clarence should be punished for

  his treacheries; and Fate had his punishment in store. He was,

  probably, not trusted by the King - for who could trust him who

  knew him! - and he had certainly a powerful opponent in his brother

  Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who, being avaricious and ambitious,

  wanted to marry that widowed daughter of the Earl of Warwick's who

  had been espoused to the deceased young Prince, at Calais.

  Clarence, who wanted all the family wealth for himself, secreted

  this lady, whom Richard found disguised as a servant in the City of

  London, and whom he married; arbitrators appointed by the King,

  then divided the property between the brothers. This led to illwill

  and mistrust between them. Clarence's wife dying, and he

  wishing to make another marriage, which was obnoxious to the King,

  his ruin was hurried by that means, too. At first, the Court

  struck at his retainers and dependents, and accused some of them of

  magic and witchcraft, and similar nonsense. Successful against

  this small game, it then mounted to the Duke himself, who was

  impeached by his brother the King, in person, on a variety of such

  charges. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be publicly

  executed. He never was publicly executed, but he met his death

  somehow, in the Tower, and, no doubt, through some agency of the

  King or his brother Gloucester, or both. It was supposed at the

  time that he was told to choose the manner of his death, and that

  he chose to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. I hope the story

  may be true, for it would have been a becoming death for such a

  miserable creature.

  The King survived him some five years. He died in the forty-second

  year of his life, and the twenty-third of his reign. He had a very

  good capacity and some good points, but he was selfish, careless,

  sensual, and cruel. He was a favourite with the people for his

  showy manners; and the people were a good example to him in the

  constancy of their attachment. He was penitent on his death-bed

  for his 'benevolences,' and other extortions, and ordered

  restitution to be made to the people who had suffered from them.

  He also called about his bed the enriched members of the Woodville

  Page 137

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  family, and the proud lords whose honours were of older date, and

  endeavoured to reconcile them, for the sake of the peaceful

  succession of his son and the tranquillity of England.

  CHAPTER XXIV - ENGLAND UNDER EDWARD THE FIFTH

  THE late King's eldest son, the Prince of Wales, called EDWARD

  after him, was only thirteen years of age at his father's death.

  He was at Ludlow Castle with his uncle, the Earl of Rivers. The

  prince's brother, the Duke of York, only eleven years of age, was

  in London with his mother. The boldest, most crafty, and most

  dreaded nobleman in England at that time was their uncle RICHARD,

  Duke of Gloucester, and everybody wondered how the two poor boys

  would fare with such an uncle for a friend or a foe.

  The Queen, their mother, being exceedingly uneasy about this, was

  anxious that instructions should be sent to Lord Rivers to raise an

  army to escort the young King safely to London. But, Lord

  Hastings, who was of the Court party opposed to the Woodvilles, and

  who disliked the thought of giving them that power, argued against

  the proposal, and obliged the Queen to be satisfied with an escort

  of two thousand horse. The Duke of Gloucester did nothing, at

  first, to justify suspicion. He came from Scotland (where he was

  commanding an army) to York, and was there the f
irst to swear

  allegiance to his nephew. He then wrote a condoling letter to the

  Queen-Mother, and set off to be present at the coronation in

  London.

  Now, the young King, journeying towards London too, with Lord

  Rivers and Lord Gray, came to Stony Stratford, as his uncle came to

  Northampton, about ten miles distant; and when those two lords

  heard that the Duke of Gloucester was so near, they proposed to the

  young King that they should go back and greet him in his name. The

  boy being very willing that they should do so, they rode off and

  were received with great friendliness, and asked by the Duke of

  Gloucester to stay and dine with him. In the evening, while they

  were merry together, up came the Duke of Buckingham with three

  hundred horsemen; and next morning the two lords and the two dukes,

  and the three hundred horsemen, rode away together to rejoin the

  King. Just as they were entering Stony Stratford, the Duke of

  Gloucester, checking his horse, turned suddenly on the two lords,

  charged them with alienating from him the affections of his sweet

  nephew, and caused them to be arrested by the three hundred

  horsemen and taken back. Then, he and the Duke of Buckingham went

  straight to the King (whom they had now in their power), to whom

  they made a show of kneeling down, and offering great love and

  submission; and then they ordered his attendants to disperse, and

  took him, alone with them, to Northampton.

  A few days afterwards they conducted him to London, and lodged him

  in the Bishop's Palace. But, he did not remain there long; for,

  the Duke of Buckingham with a tender face made a speech expressing

  how anxious he was for the Royal boy's safety, and how much safer

  he would be in the Tower until his coronation, than he could be

  anywhere else. So, to the Tower he was taken, very carefully, and

  the Duke of Gloucester was named Protector of the State.

  Although Gloucester had proceeded thus far with a very smooth

  countenance - and although he was a clever man, fair of speech, and

  not ill-looking, in spite of one of his shoulders being something

  Page 138

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  higher than the other - and although he had come into the City

  riding bare-headed at the King's side, and looking very fond of him

  - he had made the King's mother more uneasy yet; and when the Royal

  boy was taken to the Tower, she became so alarmed that she took

  sanctuary in Westminster with her five daughters.

  Nor did she do this without reason, for, the Duke of Gloucester,

  finding that the lords who were opposed to the Woodville family

  were faithful to the young King nevertheless, quickly resolved to

  strike a blow for himself. Accordingly, while those lords met in

  council at the Tower, he and those who were in his interest met in

  separate council at his own residence, Crosby Palace, in

  Bishopsgate Street. Being at last quite prepared, he one day

  appeared unexpectedly at the council in the Tower, and appeared to

  be very jocular and merry. He was particularly gay with the Bishop

  of Ely: praising the strawberries that grew in his garden on

  Holborn Hill, and asking him to have some gathered that he might

  eat them at dinner. The Bishop, quite proud of the honour, sent

  one of his men to fetch some; and the Duke, still very jocular and

  gay, went out; and the council all said what a very agreeable duke

  he was! In a little time, however, he came back quite altered -

  not at all jocular - frowning and fierce - and suddenly said, -

  'What do those persons deserve who have compassed my destruction; I

  being the King's lawful, as well as natural, protector?'

  To this strange question, Lord Hastings replied, that they deserved

  death, whosoever they were.

  'Then,' said the Duke, 'I tell you that they are that sorceress my

  brother's wife;' meaning the Queen: 'and that other sorceress,

  Jane Shore. Who, by witchcraft, have withered my body, and caused

  my arm to shrink as I now show you.'

  He then pulled up his sleeve and showed them his arm, which was

  shrunken, it is true, but which had been so, as they all very well

  knew, from the hour of his birth.

  Jane Shore, being then the lover of Lord Hastings, as she had

  formerly been of the late King, that lord knew that he himself was

  attacked. So, he said, in some confusion, 'Certainly, my Lord, if

  they have done this, they be worthy of punishment.'

  'If?' said the Duke of Gloucester; 'do you talk to me of ifs? I

  tell you that they HAVE so done, and I will make it good upon thy

  body, thou traitor!'

  With that, he struck the table a great blow with his fist. This

  was a signal to some of his people outside to cry 'Treason!' They

  immediately did so, and there was a rush into the chamber of so

  many armed men that it was filled in a moment.

  'First,' said the Duke of Gloucester to Lord Hastings, 'I arrest

  thee, traitor! And let him,' he added to the armed men who took

  him, 'have a priest at once, for by St. Paul I will not dine until

  I have seen his head of!'

  Lord Hastings was hurried to the green by the Tower chapel, and

  there beheaded on a log of wood that happened to be lying on the

  ground. Then, the Duke dined with a good appetite, and after

  dinner summoning the principal citizens to attend him, told them

  that Lord Hastings and the rest had designed to murder both himself

  and the Duke if Buckingham, who stood by his side, if he had not

  providentially discovered their design. He requested them to be so

  Page 139

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  obliging as to inform their fellow-citizens of the truth of what he

  said, and issued a proclamation (prepared and neatly copied out

  beforehand) to the same effect.

  On the same day that the Duke did these things in the Tower, Sir

  Richard Ratcliffe, the boldest and most undaunted of his men, went

  down to Pontefract; arrested Lord Rivers, Lord Gray, and two other

  gentlemen; and publicly executed them on the scaffold, without any

  trial, for having intended the Duke's death. Three days afterwards

  the Duke, not to lose time, went down the river to Westminster in

  his barge, attended by divers bishops, lords, and soldiers, and

  demanded that the Queen should deliver her second son, the Duke of

  York, into his safe keeping. The Queen, being obliged to comply,

  resigned the child after she had wept over him; and Richard of

  Gloucester placed him with his brother in the Tower. Then, he

  seized Jane Shore, and, because she had been the lover of the late

  King, confiscated her property, and got her sentenced to do public

  penance in the streets by walking in a scanty dress, with bare

  feet, and carrying a lighted candle, to St. Paul's Cathedral,

  through the most crowded part of the City.

  Having now all things ready for his own advancement, he caused a

  friar to preach a sermon at the cross which stood in front of St.

  Paul's Cathedral, in which he dwelt upon the profligate manners of


  the late King, and upon the late shame of Jane Shore, and hinted

  that the princes were not his children. 'Whereas, good people,'

  said the friar, whose name was SHAW, 'my Lord the Protector, the

  noble Duke of Gloucester, that sweet prince, the pattern of all the

  noblest virtues, is the perfect image and express likeness of his

  father.' There had been a little plot between the Duke and the

  friar, that the Duke should appear in the crowd at this moment,

  when it was expected that the people would cry 'Long live King

  Richard!' But, either through the friar saying the words too soon,

  or through the Duke's coming too late, the Duke and the words did

  not come together, and the people only laughed, and the friar

  sneaked off ashamed.

  The Duke of Buckingham was a better hand at such business than the

  friar, so he went to the Guildhall the next day, and addressed the

  citizens in the Lord Protector's behalf. A few dirty men, who had

  been hired and stationed there for the purpose, crying when he had

  done, 'God save King Richard!' he made them a great bow, and

  thanked them with all his heart. Next day, to make an end of it,

  he went with the mayor and some lords and citizens to Bayard

  Castle, by the river, where Richard then was, and read an address,

  humbly entreating him to accept the Crown of England. Richard, who

  looked down upon them out of a window and pretended to be in great

  uneasiness and alarm, assured them there was nothing he desired

  less, and that his deep affection for his nephews forbade him to

  think of it. To this the Duke of Buckingham replied, with

  pretended warmth, that the free people of England would never

  submit to his nephew's rule, and that if Richard, who was the

  lawful heir, refused the Crown, why then they must find some one

  else to wear it. The Duke of Gloucester returned, that since he

  used that strong language, it became his painful duty to think no

  more of himself, and to accept the Crown.

  Upon that, the people cheered and dispersed; and the Duke of

  Gloucester and the Duke of Buckingham passed a pleasant evening,

  talking over the play they had just acted with so much success, and

  every word of which they had prepared together.

  Page 140

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  CHAPTER XXV - ENGLAND UNDER RICHARD THE THIRD

  KING RICHARD THE THIRD was up betimes in the morning, and went to