It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's entering upon his English inheritance—which devolved to him through his mother,—a delay caused by motives of public utility of Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his throne.
[Footnote 1:] [Meyer] is the earliest historian to tell this story and it is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
[Footnote 2:] [From] Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
[Footnote 3:] [Ramsay], Lancaster and York, ii., 232 et seq.; Oman, Hundred Years' War and Warwick, the King-maker, are followed here in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
[Footnote 4:] [That] the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by various authorities.]
[Footnote 5:] [See] Oman's Warwick, p. 185.]
[Footnote 6:] [Rymer], Fædera, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on for about a year.]
[Footnote 7:] [Ibid]., 651.]
[Footnote 8:] "[Quia] nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos.">[