There is little in England’s story during the fifteenth century which is memorable or striking. The brief glories of Agincourt, to be sure, inflated the national pride, but whatever the splendors of Henry V’s reign, they were swallowed up in the gloom and disaster of the following decades—the loss of French possessions, the helplessness of the crown, the turbulence of the nobles, the cruel strife of the Roses, the selfish reign of Edward IV, and the monstrosity of Richard III. No new light in literature or religion, no really great name in statecraft appears—nothing until the end of the century, when the first rays of the renaissance were beginning to lighten the horizon, to relieve the dullness and darkness of this profitless century. It has always seemed to me the proverbial dark hour before the dawn.
The Wars of the Roses.
In spite of their inglorious and useless character, the Wars of the Roses have, undoubtedly, considerable historical significance. The comparative situation of the crown and of the nobility before and after this strife is very striking. In the forties we find the king financially and politically weak, the barons wealthy from the spoils of France, strong in their armed retainers, and unbridled in their turbulence and arrogance. In the eighties all this is changed; the king is supreme, the baronage at his mercy. The change is easy to account for—the contrast in character between Henry VI and Henry VII accounts in part for it; but the bloody struggle which decimated the ranks and exhausted the resources of the nobility was evidently the main cause of their humiliation.
As to the Wars of the Roses themselves, I think many text-books lack clarity in bringing out the fact that rather than a straggling war there was a distinct series of conflicts, which makes this peculiar civil strife not a war, but literally the Wars of the Roses. Some such outline as follows is of practical use in bringing out this fact in the class-room:
First—Beginning of the wars, 1455. First battle of St. Albans, Richard of York triumphant. Armed truce of five years.
Second—Outbreak brought on by intrigues of Queen Margaret, 1460-1461; battles of Northampton, Wakefield (only Lancastrian success; Richard killed), second St. Albans, and Towton. Triumph of the new Duke of York, Richard’s son, Edward, now crowned Edward IV.
Third—After nearly decade of peace, revolt headed by Warwick. Brief restoration of throne to poor Henry VI; battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. Return of Edward IV.
Fourth—Final struggle, victory of Henry Tudor, 1485, Bosworth Field.
Such an outline brings out plainly the intermissions in the wars, and the happenings during these considerable stretches of time (much longer than the periods of fighting) can be filled in very easily.
Foundations of the Tudor Absolutism.
In the opening chapter of James Gairdner’s “Henry the Seventh” (Macmillan), the author gives a brief and interesting account of the early life of Henry VII which brings out both the uses of adversity which moulded his character, and the pedigree which, if heredity means anything, must have been one of the causes of the Tudor personality.
The facts that Henry’s grandmother, Katharine, widow of Henry V, was a French princess, that his grandfather was a Welsh knight, and that his mother was lineally descended through John of Gaunt from Edward III are both interesting in themselves and of importance in connection with his claims to the throne. Finally his marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, was of vast importance in helping to end the long feud and to establish beyond all question the royal supremacy of subsequent kings.
The structure of the Tudor absolutism, then, so carefully reared by Henry VII, had two very substantial foundations, first in the king’s own position by heredity, marriage and character; second, in the demoralization of the barons. On those foundations the new king began building after 1485 according to methods of his own, or by means already invented. By shrewd economy and rather unregal thrift; by the heavy fines for which the Court of the Star Chamber was so useful; by following Edward IV’s illustrious example in levying benevolences, with the expert help of Cardinal Morton; by politic relations at home and abroad, Henry built financial power and made himself master of the barons.