Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the king's person; namely, in chastising him for his defaults," and they agreed to do as they were asked. Elizabeth Clere, writing to her cousin, John Paston, about a husband who was proposed for his sister, says that the marriage had better be arranged as soon as possible, for the girl's mother was leading her a very hard life. "She hath since Easter the most part been beaten once in the week or twice, and sometimes twice on a day, and her head broken in two or three places.” Agnes Paston instructs a person going to London to call upon her son's schoolmaster, and if the lad "hath not done well, and will not amend, pray him that he will truly belash him till he will amend; and so did the last master and the best that he ever had at Cambridge."

Correspondence, a series of letters. 2 Our Lady of Walsingham, an image of the Virgin Mary in the convent of Walsingham, in the north of Norfolk. 3 noble, six shillings and eightpence. 4 the four orders of friars, the Dominican or Black, Franciscan or Grey, Carmelite or White, and Augustine. 5 St. Leonard's, the church of the priory of St. Leonard, Norwich. 6 rood, crucifix. 7 Bermondsey, in London, on the south side of the Thames. 8 deceased, dead. remnant, remainder. devout, pious. truth. 12 transcribe, to copy. 13 treatise, book, work. Earl of Warwick, not the "king-maker."

9

10

11

troth,

14 the

RICHARD III.

DURING the twelve years which Edward IV. reigned after the battle of Tewkesbury there was no more trouble with the Lancastrians, and if he had left a full-grown son to succeed him it is quite possible that little more would have been heard of that party. But Edward V. was only thirteen at his father's death.

BOOK III.

D

The young king's uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was made protector. He was a very able man, who did not hesitate at committing any crime. His enemies said he had slain Henry VI. and 2 Prince

3

Edward with his own hand, that he had contrived the death of his brother the Duke of Clarence, and that he had poisoned his wife; yet they admitted that he was

[graphic][merged small]

in which the young princes are said to have been murdered. a "prince in military virtue approved, jealous of the honour of the English nation, and likewise a good lawmaker for the ease and 5 solace of the common people."* Upon his brother's death Richard seems to have made his mind to become king. Young Edward was sent to live in the Tower, several of his relatives and sup *Bacon.

up

porters were executed, and a story was put forth that he was not a lawful son. By such means, in less than three months, Richard gained his end.

However wicked might be the ways by which he had obtained power, he used it well when he had it. He gave back their lands to many of the Lancastrians who had been deprived of them, he summoned a parliament, and made several wise laws. Edward IV. in the later years of his life had grown very tyrannical; hence Richard's good government was the more welcome. People were growing disposed to overlook the means whereby he had got the crown, when he horrified the country with a new crime.

Edward V. and his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York, were living in the Tower. It is said that the king employed James Tyrrel to kill them, and that, under Tyrrel's direction, two men smothered them in the bedclothes and then buried them at the foot of a staircase. During the next reign this story was denied, but there can be very little doubt of its truth.

1 Hesitate, to pause, stop to think. 2 Prince Edward, son of Henry VI., said to have been murdered after the battle of Tewkesbury. 3 contrive, to plan, scheme. military, having to do with horrify, to shock, to

war.

solace, comfort, convenience. make one feel horror.

THE UNION OF THE

ROSES.

THE murder of the princes cost their uncle his crown. The Lancastrians determined they would do all that in them lay to place on the throne Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, descended on his mother's side from John of Gaunt, on his father's from a celebrated Welsh chief Many of the leading Yorkists agreed to support Henry

on condition of his marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.

He landed at Milford Haven with a small force, but was joined by large numbers as he advanced towards the middle of the country. Richard met him at Bosworth, in Leicestershire. Some of the chief nobles in the king's army deserted with their men on the day

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

of battle; others had deserted before, and none of the soldiers would fight heartily on behalf of the murderer of innocent children. Success was therefore out of the question; Richard's own fierce bravery availed him nothing, for his troops were defeated and he himself slain.

[graphic]

HENRY VII. CROWNED AFTER THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH,

« AnteriorContinuar »