RICHARD NEVILLE,
Born about 1420.—Died 1471.—Harry V.—Henry VI.—Edward IV.
Earl of Warwick (the king maker). This famous nobleman, also known as the last of the Barons, was the son of the Earl of Salisbury, and first cousin of Edward IV., son of the Duke of York. After the first great battle of the Rose wars (St. Albans) Warwick joined the Yorkists. After the battles of Bloreheath, Northampton, Wakefield, and Mortimer’s Cross, Warwick was defeated in the second battle of St. Albans. He again won the bloodiest struggle of the Rose wars, Towton, but was slain at Barnet, fighting against Edward IV. With him English feudalism died.
WILLIAM CAXTON.
Born 1410.—Died 1491.—Henry IV.—Henry V.—Henry VI.—Edward IV.—Edward V.—Richard III.—Henry VII.
William Caxton was born in Kent. He seems to have begun authorship long before printing. He went to Bruges in 1468 with the English bride of Duke Charles of Burgundy, and translated for her the Recueil des Histoires de Troye, by the duke’s chaplain. Having learnt in Germany (Cologne) to print, he brought out this translation in 1471. He removed in 1474 to Westminster, where he lived in the Reed Pale, near the Almonry, and set up his printing-press there. The first book printed there was The Game and Playe of the Chesse, translated out of the French. When he died in 1491, Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson worked the press.
CARDINAL WOLSEY.
Born 1471.—Died 1530.—Edward IV.—Edward V.—Richard III.—Henry VII.—Henry VIII.
Thomas Wolsey, the son of a butcher at Ipswich, became a fellow of Magdalen College in Oxford. He was a friend of the famous Erasmus, and helped him in pushing the study of Greek. While Bursar of Magdalen College he built the college chapel tower. He was sent as envoy to Bruges on a negociation of marriage between Margaret of Savoy, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian, and Henry VII., and was rewarded for the speed of his journey by the deanery of Lincoln. Under Henry VIII. Wolsey was successively made king’s almoner, chancellor of the garter, archbishop of York, cardinal legate, and lord chancellor of England. His splendour and state surpassed that of any minister ever seen in England. York Place (now Whitehall), Esher, and Hampton Court were his residences in and near London. He built Christ Church College in Oxford, and a grammar school at Ipswich. When Wolsey failed to induce Cardinal Campeggio to annul Henry’s marriage with Katherine of Arragon, the king refused to see him again. The great seal was taken from him, and he was ordered to retire to York. He was arrested for high treason, and on his way to London, died in Leicester Abbey, wishing he had served God as faithfully as he had the king.