The young Duke of York wins the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. Feb. 2, 1461.

The Queen, advancing to London, wins the second battle of St. Albans. Feb. 17.

Sudden rising of the home counties.

Triumphant entry of Edward.

The Queen had no intention of submitting to this verdict. Trusting to the power of the North, which was constantly true to her, and collecting round her all the great chiefs of her party, she moved to York. Richard at once determined to hasten against her. Salisbury accompanied him; Edward, his eldest son, was ordered to collect troops; Warwick was charged with the care of the King. With extreme rashness, York met vastly superior forces in the neighbourhood of Wakefield. Unexpectedly attacked, his little army was completely destroyed. He was himself taken prisoner, dragged with every sign of indignity before the Queen, mockingly crowned with a wreath of grass, and then beheaded. His second son, Rutland, but seventeen years of age, was killed in cold blood as he fled, and Salisbury, who was also captured, was beheaded at the demand of the people. March was collecting troops in the West when he heard of his father’s death, and hastening northwards, he suddenly turned upon a small pursuing force under Pembroke and Wiltshire, and completely defeated them at Mortimer’s Cross. The Queen’s army meanwhile pushed southward. The wild northerners seemed to fancy they were marching through a foreign country. The fiercest destruction and plundering marked the course of their march. To meet them, Norfolk and Warwick had come from London to St. Albans, and there a second battle was fought, this time with the complete defeat of the Yorkists. The King again fell into the hands of the Queen. This battle, as all the others during these wars, was marked by extraordinary destruction among the chiefs, and followed by vindictive executions. Had the Queen pushed direct to London the Yorkist party might have been destroyed. But she could not hold her wild troops in hand. Their devastations excited the anger of the people. All round London the populace rose, determined to avoid the government which promised to be so cruel. The young Earl of March, whom Warwick had joined with the remnant of his troops, took advantage of this feeling, and advanced triumphantly to the capital. At a meeting in Clerkenwell, the Chancellor, the Bishop of Exeter, explained the claims of the House of York. The question “Shall Edward be your King?” was received with general cries of approbation. The news was brought to the young prince in Baynard’s Castle, and the next day he ascended the throne in Westminster Hall, explained with his own lips his hereditary claims, and then proceeded to the Abbey where his coronation was performed.

[EDWARD IV.]
1461–1483.

[click here to see the image]