Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 48.djvu/185

 justice would be done on any who committed like outrages. The day following the king himself rode from Westminster through London with York and other lords in great array.

Though the commons petitioned for Somerset's removal, he was soon after Christmas made by the king captain of Calais, and exercised the highest influence. York meanwhile, on 14 Dec., received a commission to try Cade's followers in Kent and Sussex. But the king himself, accompanied by Somerset, saw the final proceedings at Canterbury and Rochester in February, when a ‘harvest of heads,’ as the Kentish people called it, was sent up and placed on London Bridge. The treason imputed to the sufferers was ‘talking against the king, having more favour unto the Duke of York.’ They doubtless thought like Young, member for Bristol, who, in this session of parliament, was lodged in the Tower for proposing that, as the king and queen were childless, York should be declared heir to the crown.

In the summer of 1451 Somerset stood as high in the king's favour as ever, and was continually poisoning his ear with tales that York was a traitor. York wrote to the king from Ludlow, on 9 Jan. 1452, a letter stating that he had called the bearers, the bishop of Hereford and his cousin the Earl of Shrewsbury, to hear a solemn declaration of his loyalty, which he was ready to confirm by oath in the presence of the king himself. On 3 Feb., however, he wrote to the town of Shrewsbury, desiring them to provide men when he should call for them, as it was clear that Somerset, who had already caused the loss both of Normandy and Guienne, and even imperilled the safety of Calais, was using his influence with the king to procure his ruin. ‘About Shrovetide’ he, with the Earl of Devonshire and Lord Cobham, sent a herald to London for permission to pass through the city, which was refused. They accordingly crossed the Thames by Kingston Bridge, and took up a position at Dartford on 1 March. They seem to have had with them a body of field artillery, and seven ships on the river were filled with their baggage, while a royal army, which had marched through London against them, encamped upon Blackheath. Bishop Waynflete and some others from the council were sent to know the duke's demands. York protested he had no ill intentions against the king, but insisted that Somerset should be committed to custody till he should answer the accusations he was prepared to bring against him. To this the king consented, and York ordered the dismissal of his men, and repaired to the king's tent unarmed. But there he found Somerset still about the king, so that he himself was virtually a prisoner.

The council, however, without preferring any distinct charge against him, were content to let him go on his making a solemn oath at St. Paul's never to do anything henceforth against the king, or gather people except with the king's license or for his own defence. On Good Friday, 7 April, the king proclaimed a general pardon to all who would apply for patents under the great seal, and York and some thousands of others took advantage of the privilege shortly afterwards. With the same peaceful object, doubtless, the king went a progress into the west in summer, and visited York at Ludlow on 12 Aug. On 18 Dec. following the duke, then at Fotheringhay, pledged some jewels to Sir John Fastolf for a sum of 437l., to be repaid at midsummer.

Apparently he was not called to council again till October next year. The parliament which met at Reading in the spring of 1453 passed an act to quash the indictments found ‘under the tyranny’ of Jack Cade's rebellion, and attainted York's friend, Sir William Oldhall, as a fomenter of those disturbances. But in the summer the king fell ill at Clarendon, and remained in an imbecile condition for a year and a half. On 13 Oct., after eight years of barrenness, the queen bore him a child. On the 24th it was felt necessary to summon a great council, and York's friends insisted that he should not be left out. When it met, on 21 Nov., the duke complained that other old councillors of the king had been distinctly warned not to give attendance, and the lords present unanimously agreed that there should be no such warnings in future. This resolution was afterwards (6 Dec.), at the duke's instance, attested under the great seal. A bill of articles by the Duke of Norfolk was presented against Somerset in the council, demanding that his conduct in France should be investigated according to the laws of France, and his conduct in England according to those of England, by special commissions. Shortly before Christmas he was sent to the Tower.

During the king's illness and the prorogation of parliament, which did not meet again till 11 Feb. 1454, the queen demanded the whole government of the realm and the appointment of the chief officers of state. Her friends all over the country were preparing for a struggle. Among them was Thomas Thorpe [q. v.], speaker of the commons, who was one of the barons of the exchequer.