In the dreadful wars of York and Lancaster, it is said that more than 100,000 Englishmen lost their lives; but that is merely the number believed to have been slain in battle; and, however repulsive it may be to our feelings, it must be admitted that it cannot include the numbers who must have perished during that disastrous period, in unimportant skirmishes, in marauding parties, in private warfare, by assassination, by the axe or by the halter, in pursuance of or under the colour of judicial sentences, or by open and undisguised murder. [127a] Besides this horrible sacrifice of human life, during this distracted period, it is shocking to think what sufferings unprotected and helpless persons must have been exposed to, from the lawless partisans of the rival parties, when they passed through or were located near any district, which they chose to consider as favouring their antagonists. Pillage, cruelty, violence to women, incendiarism, and contempt of the laws and of religion, [127b] were the natural attendants upon a civil war, [127c] carried on with feelings of bitter hatred by each party; and it is certain that the examples of cruelty and wickedness which were openly set by the nobles and leaders of both factions, would readily be copied by their followers. Voltaire thus expresses himself, in reference to the wars of York and Lancaster: “Quand les premiers d’une nation ont de telles mœurs, quelles doivent être celles du peuple?” [127d]
One of our ancient historical writers correctly states, that “this conflict was in maner unnaturall, for in it the sonne fought against the father, the brother against the brother, the nephew against the uncle, and the tenant against his lord.” [128a]
The following is an extract from a very interesting scene, from the pen of Shakespeare, relative to the battle of Towton; and, although the tragedy in which it is introduced is not well adapted to the stage, it will well repay the student for the time bestowed, in reading the whole of it:—
The Third Part of King Henry VI.
Scene—A Field of Battle between Towton and Saxton. [128b]
(Enter a Son that has killed his Father, bringing in the body.)
Son.—“Ill blows the wind, that profits nobody.
This man, whom hand to hand I slew in fight,
May be possessed with some store of crowns;
And I, that haply take them from him now,
May yet, ere night, yield both my life and them
To some man else, as this dead man doth me.
Who’s this?—O Heav’n! it is my father’s face,
Whom in this conflict I unawares have killed.
O heavy times, begetting such events!”(Enter a Father that has killed his Son, bringing in the body.)
Father.—“Thou that so stoutly hast resisted me,
Give me thy gold, if thou hast any gold;
For I have bought it with an hundred blows.—
But let me see: is this our foeman’s face?
Ah, no, no, no, it is mine only son!
Ah, boy, if any life be left in thee,
Throw up thine eye; see, see, what showers arise,
Blown by the windy tempest of my heart,
Upon thy wounds, that kill mine eye and heart!
O pity, Heav’n, this miserable age!
What stratagems, how fell, how butcherly,
Erroneous, mutinous, and unnatural,
This deadly quarrel daily doth beget!”King Henry.—“Sad-hearted men, much overgone with care,
Here sits a King more woful than you are.”
It may be said, that the portion of the scene in which those circumstances are introduced, is one of imagination, and the offspring of the grand and admirable talents of Shakespeare. Be it so; still the truthful records of history disclose quite enough, to prove that deeds of bloodshed and violence, nearly as repulsive to our feelings, and almost as disgraceful to mankind, as those which that scene represents, were frequently perpetrated during those disastrous times; and we may well feel grateful to the supreme Disposer of events, that we are now preserved from the miseries and calamities which were experienced in this country, during the wars of York and Lancaster.
CHAPTER VII.
THE
FIELD OF THE BATTLE
OF
TEWKESBURY. [131a]
“Then came wandering by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood; and he shriek’d out aloud,
‘Clarence is come; false fleeting perjured Clarence,
That stabb’d me in the field by Tewkesbury.’”Shakespeare’s King Richard III. act i. scene 4.
Of the numerous battles which have been fought in England in the middle ages, few have been more decisive, or have excited more interest, than that of Tewkesbury. [131b] In order that the positions of the hostile armies, and the reason why the battle happened to be fought close to the town of Tewkesbury, may be correctly understood, it is necessary, in giving a description of the field of battle, to notice concisely, some of the events which immediately preceded it. [131c]
On the 18th or 14th of April, 1471, [132a] Margaret, [132b] the Queen of Henry VI., and their son, Edward Prince of Wales, [132c] accompanied by John Longstrother, Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, [132d] and several persons of consideration, arrived from France, and landed at the port of Weymouth, in Dorsetshire, with a small body of French and other troops; and she proceeded from thence to the Abbey of Cerne, [132e] not far from that port. The Countess of Warwick had accompanied her from France, but in a different ship, which outsailed that of the Queen. [133a]
Margaret was at first almost broken-hearted and overwhelmed, by the dismal tidings of the loss of the battle of Barnet, the defeat and destruction of her friends, and the captivity of her husband; but in consequence of being encouraged by Edmund Duke of Somerset; [133b] Lord John Beaufort; [133c] Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire; [133d] Lord Wenlock, [133e] and other persons of rank, and gentlemen, who promised her their support, she determined once more to try the chances of a battle.