A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

Peace party procure the liberation of Orleans. 1440.

Neither the suffering of the people, nor the danger from Scotland, nor the constant want of success abroad, had any influence on the passionate obstinacy of Gloucester. Meetings with regard to peace were in vain held at Paris, the English refused to recede from their demands. At length, however, Cardinal Beaufort and the peace party so far prevailed, that, after the fall of Meaux, they procured the liberation of the Duke of Orleans, hoping to find in him an efficient mediator. As a protest against the measure, while the Duke was taking the oaths required of him before his liberation, Gloucester, refusing to be present, betook himself to his barge and remained upon the river. The measure did not produce the desired effect. The Duke of Warwick had died in May 1439. Somerset, who had succeeded him, retook Harfleur, but, in the two following years, not only did the French successes increase in Normandy, even Guienne was in its turn assaulted. All efforts to save it were in vain, and it became quite evident that the policy of peace was the only one which could extricate England with honour from its disastrous situation.

Peace becomes necessary. Rise of Suffolk.

Marriage of Henry with Margaret of Anjou.

Pre-eminence of Suffolk.

The death of Bedford had left Cardinal Beaufort at the head of the party who desired a reasonable peace. But Beaufort was old, and the influence of Gloucester, as first Prince of the blood and the leader of the popular party, kept him much aloof from public business. In his place there arose a new minister, De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. This man, a descendant of a wealthy merchant in the reign of Edward III., and grandson of the favourite of Richard II., was fully engaged upon the side of the Lancastrian dynasty. He had been taken prisoner after the siege of Orleans, and had in France formed connections which pointed him out as a fitting person to manage negotiations with that country. It was determined, if possible, to make the marriage of the young King with a French Princess the basis of a peace. The Princess fixed on was Margaret, the daughter of Réné, Duke of Bar, representative of the Angevin house, the titular King of Sicily and of Jerusalem.[92] Suffolk undertook to manage the delicate negotiation, although conscious, it would seem, of the obloquy he would probably meet with. He succeeded in obtaining an armistice to extend from June 1444 till April 1446, and the marriage treaty was completed; but so far from receiving a dower with his wife, as might have been expected, (but which her father, who had surrendered his duchy to the Duke of Burgundy, was quite unable to give,) it was arranged that Henry should surrender to the French, as the price of their consent, all that was left to the English of Anjou and Maine, where the war was still being carried on. In carrying out this arrangement, Suffolk had the consent of the Privy Council, but it is probable that they did not contemplate so complete a cession of English rights. His successful return secured him the title of Marquis, and the friendship of the young Queen (whose masculine mind soon got entire command of her husband’s will), and enabled him to hold a position of complete superiority in the English councils.

Gloucester’s death.

Alliance with the French, on the somewhat disgraceful terms on which it had been contracted, not unnaturally raised the anger of Gloucester and his party. The rivalry grew hot between him and Suffolk. There were probably private causes of trouble between them, but at all events, in 1447, the Parliament was held at Bury St. Edmunds, and Gloucester was summoned thither. He went with a considerable following, but does not seem to have suspected danger, although he found the town fortified, and the guards everywhere doubled. He was suddenly apprehended on the charge of high treason, and before any trial was granted him, the public were told that he was dead. A death so opportune for his enemies naturally excited suspicion, and the most sinister rumours of foul play were spread among the people. It is impossible not to join in these suspicions; at the same time it is fair to notice that at a late examination his physician had declared his constitution radically unsound, and that some contemporary writers mention his death as having arisen from natural causes.

York takes his place.

His death left room for Richard Duke of York’s appearance upon the stage of politics. The son of Anne, sister of the Earl of March, and of that Duke of Cambridge who was put to death for his share in the conspiracy immediately preceding Henry V.’s first expedition to France, he stepped naturally into the place of leader of the Plantagenet Princes. Ever since that family ascended the throne, those branches of it which had not been actually reigning had been for the most part in opposition. Till their accession, the Lancastrians had been the leaders of this party; their place was now taken first by Gloucester, then by York. It will be seen in the sequel that those same families which had formed the discontented party in the reign of Richard II., and in opposition to the Lancastrians, now sided chiefly with York. He had been already employed in public affairs, had been twice governor of Normandy, and in that capacity had quarrelled with the Duke of Somerset, who had been joined with him in command. To rid himself of so important an enemy, Suffolk, the leading statesman of the ruling party, had got him appointed in 1446 to the government of Ireland. This was a post of considerable difficulty; for under the management of the Earls of Ormond, one of the old Anglo-Irish settlers, that country had fallen into great disorder.[93]