Renewed hostilities. Battle of Blore Heath. Sept. 23, 1459.
Flight of the Yorkists from Ludlow.
Lancastrian Parliament at Coventry.
Fresh attack of the Yorkists. Battle of Northampton. July 10, 1460.
Both parties prepared again for war. The Court having been told that Salisbury was going to Kenilworth to concert measures with Duke Richard, Lord Audley was sent with an armed force to intercept him. The consequence was the battle of Blore Heath on the confines of Shropshire, in which Salisbury was completely victorious. A general meeting of the three great Yorkist nobles took place at Ludlow, where Warwick brought his veterans from Calais, under Sir Andrew Trollope. Again the old proclamation against evil governors was issued; but for some unexplained reason Trollope suddenly deserted, and, deprived of their most trustworthy troops, the leaders thought it wise to fly. York took refuge in Ireland, with his son Edmund of Rutland, while his eldest son, Edward of March, with Warwick, found security in Calais. Their flight caused something like a revolution, so complete was the triumph of the Lancastrians. The Parliament was assembled at Coventry, probably with much illegal violence, and bills of attainder were passed against the Yorkist leaders. But Warwick was determined upon further action. Having command of the sea, he contrived an interview with Richard in Ireland, and accompanied by his father and the young Earl of March, he landed in Kent, where he was rapidly joined by the people, and appeared at the head of 30,000 men in London. Having captured the capital, with the exception of the Tower, which Lord Scales held, they advanced northwards. The two armies met in the neighbourhood of Northampton. The Lancastrians were strongly intrenched, but the intrenchment once broken through, a terrible slaughter ensued. Buckingham, Shrewsbury, Beaumont, and Egremont were slain. The wretched King was found deserted in his tent. Again the scene after St. Albans was repeated, and York, returning from Ireland, was once more master of affairs.
Yorkist Parliament in London.
York at last advances claims to the throne.
The Lords agree on a compromise.
On the 7th of October a Parliament was held in London. All the acts of the Parliament of Coventry were annulled, on the ground that its members had been illegally elected, and in some instances that they had not been elected at all. And then first did York, who appears to have thought that all less decided measures had been tried in vain, bring forward a distinct claim to the throne. This claim he sent in writing to the House of Lords, with whom alone it was said the decision could lie, pointing out, what was undeniable, that his hereditary claim was better than that of Henry VI. The majority of the Lords were at heart Lancastrian. They had, moreover, again and again sworn fealty to the reigning house; and to their common sense as proprietors it seemed ridiculous that an undisturbed possession of more than fifty years, defended by numerous Acts of Parliament, should be set aside by mere hereditary claim. With the Yorkists triumphant, they were naturally disinclined to give any answer, but it was in vain they applied to the judges or to the crown lawyers. The judges declared the question beyond their cognizance, and the crown lawyers argued that it was therefore much more beyond theirs. Thrown back upon themselves, the Lords devised a compromise by which they could save their consciences with regard to the oath of fealty, and yet give effect to the hereditary claim, which was urged by such awkwardly strong supporters. They agreed that the King should hold the crown for life, that it should then pass to Richard and his heirs, that Richard should meanwhile be created Prince of Wales and heir presumptive, and be the practical ruler of the Kingdom. That in spite of his victorious position he should have been able only to secure this compromise, seems to prove the close equality of the parties, and perhaps, taken in connection with his previous action, the moderation of Richard.
York is defeated and killed at Wakefield. Dec. 30, 1460.