[82d] The claims of King Henry VI. to the throne of England were grounded upon his descent from John of Gaunt, fourth son of King Edward III., by Blanche his wife. (See Pedigree No. 1, Chap. IX.) Henry was the eldest son of King Henry V. and Queen Katherine, born at Windsor in 1421; succeeded to the crown, when an infant, upon his father’s death, on the 31st of August, 1422; was crowned at Westminster, on the 6th of November, 1429: and also at Notre Dame at Paris, on the 17th of November, 1431; was deposed on the 4th of March, 1461 (see Rot. Parl. 1 Edward IV. vol. v. fo. 464), and was reinstated upon the throne for a short period in 1470 and 1471; but with the battles of Barnet, fought on the 14th of April, and of Tewkesbury on the 4th of May, 1471, all further chance of his reigning was extinguished, and he died in the Tower of London soon after the latter battle.
[83a] William Lord Bonvile was the father of William Bonvile, who married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Lord Harrington, by whom he had a son, William Bonvile, Lord Harrington, who was slain at the battle of Wakefield in 1460.—See Chap. IV.
[83b] Sir Thomas Kiriel was a commander of note and bravery in the wars in France. See Monstrelet, vol. ii. fo. 78, and vol. iii. fos. 26, 27.
[83c] Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March (though usually designated by that title by historians, became in fact, Duke of York, upon his father’s death), was the eldest son of Richard Duke of York, and Cecily his wife. He was afterwards King Edward IV., and died on the 9th of April, 1483.—See Chap. V., and Pedigrees Nos. 1 and 2, Chap. IX.
[83d] Thomas Bourchier was originally Bishop of Ely, and afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1454, and retained that see until he died very aged in 1486, having held it 32 years, and in the reigns of five kings. He was also Lord Chancellor and a Cardinal.—See Chap. III.
[83e] George Neville, fourth son of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, was Bishop of Exeter and Lord Chancellor in 1460, and afterwards (in 1466) Archbishop of York.—See Chap. III.
[84a] John Mowbray, third Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Nottingham, and Earl Marshal of England, the son of John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Katherine his wife, daughter of Ralph Neville, first Earl of Westmoreland, married Eleanor, daughter of William Lord Bourchier, and sister of Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex. He fought for the Yorkist party at the second battle of St. Alban’s in 1460–1, and died in the first year of Edward IV., 1461, and was buried in the Abbey of Thetford. His son, John Mowbray, Earl of Surrey, succeeded him as Duke of Norfolk.
[84b] William Neville, Lord Falconberg, was the second son of Ralph Neville, first Earl of Westmoreland, by Joan his second wife, a daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; he had served in France, and fought at the battles of Northampton and Towton, and was created Earl of Kent in the first year of Edward IV., and afterwards made High Admiral of England, and a Knight of the Garter, for the important services which he had rendered to the House of York. He died about the second year of Edward IV., and was buried at the Priory of Gisborough, in Yorkshire. His being uncle to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the King-Maker, may account for his fighting on the side of Edward IV., and having a principal command at the battles of Northampton and of Towton.—See Chap. III.
[84c] According to the present style, the year was 1461; but at that time, the legal year did not commence until the 25th of March, and consequently, until that day arrived, the year was then called 1460.
[85a] Rot. Parl. 1st Edward IV. (1461), vol. v. p. 464. See also Fabyan’s Chronicles, fo. 218.