Send home most gracious Lord Jesu most benign,
Send home thy true blood unto his proper vein,
Richard duke of York, Job thy servant insign,
Whom Satan not ceaseth to set at care and disdain,
But by Thee preserved he may not be slain;
Set him ut sedeat in principibus, as he did before,
And so to our new song, Lord, thine ears incline,
Gloria, laus et honor Tibi sit Rex Christe Redemptor!
Edward Earl of March, whose fame the earth shall spread,
Richard Earl of Salisbury named prudence,
With that noble knight and flower of manhood,
Richard Earl of Warwick, shield of our defence,
Also little Falconberg, a knight of great reverence;
Jesu them restore to their honour as they had before,
And ever shall we sing to thine High Excellence,
Gloria, laus et honor Tibi sit Rex Christe Redemptor!
The dead man greeteth you well,
That is just true as steel,
With very good intent.
Also the Realm of England,
Soon to loose from Sorrow's bond
By right indifferent judgement.
THE BATTLE OF NORTHAMPTON (July 10, 1460).
Source.—An English Chronicle, edited by Davies, pp. 96-98. (Camden Society, 1846.)
The King at Northampton lay at Friars, and had ordained there a strong and mighty field in the meadows, armed and arrayed with guns, having the river at his back. The earls [March and Warwick] with the number of sixty thousand, as it was said, came to Northampton and sent certain bishops to the King beseeching him that, in eschewing of effusion of Christian blood, he would admit and suffer the earls for to come into his presence to declare themselves as they were. The duke of Buckingham that stood beside the King, said unto them, "Ye come not as bishops for to treat for peace, but as men of arms;" because they brought with them a notable company of men of arms. They answered and said, "We come thus for surety of our persons, for they that be about the King be not our friends."
"Forsooth!" said the duke, "the Earl of Warwick shall not come to the King's presence, and if he come he shall die." The messengers returned again and told this to the earls....
Then on the Thursday the xth day of July, the year of our Lord 1460, at two hours after noon, the said earls of March and Warwick let cry through the field, that no man should lay hands upon the King nor on the common people, but only on the lords, knights, and squires: then the trumpets blew up, and both hosts encountered and fought together half an hour,... The duke of Buckingham, the earl of Shrewsbury, the lord Beaumont, the lord Egremont were slain by the Kentishmen besides the King's tent, and many other knights and squires. The ordinance of the King's guns availed not, for that day was so great rain that the guns lay deep in water, and so were quenched and might not be shot. When the field was done, and the earls through mercy and help had the victory, they came to the King in his tent, and said in this wise: "Most noble Prince, displease you not, though it hath pleased God of his Grace to grant us the victory of our mortal enemies, the which by their venomous malice have untruly steered and moved your highness to exile us out of your land. We come not to that intent for to inquiet nor grieve your said highness, but for to please your most noble person, desiring most tenderly the high welfare and prosperity thereof, and of all your realm, and for to be your true liegemen while our lives shall endure." The King of their words was greatly recomforted, and anon was led into Northampton with procession, where he rested him three days, and then came to London, the xvj day of the month abovesaid, and lodged in the bishop's palace. For the which victory London gave to Almighty God great laud and thanking.