Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/706

684 seized at Nottingham on the 15th October, and conveyed to the Tower. He was executed at Tyburn on the 29th November. It is said to have been chiefly through Mortimer s influence that, on the 24th April, a peace was concluded between England and Scotland, the chief provisions of which were that the Scots agreed to pay England the sum of 20,000, and that Edward agreed definitely to recognize the independence of the Scotch crown. The treaty was very unpopular in England, and it is not surprising, therefore, that, when Edward Baliol in made his attempt to mount the Scotch throne, Edward III. gave him indirect assistance, and that after Baliol s dethronement in an invasion of Scotland, was resolved on. On July 19 Edward defeated the Scots at the battle of Halidon Hill, and receiving as the result of his victory the submission of the principal Scotch nobles, he annexed the whole of Scotland south of the Forth to his own crown, and allowed Baliol to reign over the remainder as titular king. Soon after, Baliol was again a fugitive, but was again aided by Edward to mount a nominal throne. After a short period of peace Edward in July ravaged and burned Scotland as far as Aberdeen, but growing complications with France compelled him in to return to England. Though he professed to have a claim, through his mother, on the French throne against Philip of Valois, that claim was left in abeyance until several acts of aggression on the part of Philip brought about a rupture between the two kings. The count of Flanders, at Philip s instigation, had broken off commercial relations with England; French privateers were daily com mitting ravages on English commerce ; Aquitaine was con tinually threatened by desultory attacks ; and Philip, though he hesitated to accept the responsibility of being the first to declare war, scarcely attempted to conceal his endeavours to throw that responsibility on Edward. Edward sailed for Flanders July 16,, and at Coblentz held a conference with the emperor Louis V., at which the latter appointed him his vicar-general, and gave orders for all the princes of the Low Countries to follow him in war for the space of seven. In Edward laid siege to Cambrai, but soon afterwards raised the siege and invaded France. Philip advanced to meet him, but declined battle, and Edward concluded his first campaign without achieving anything to compensate him for its cost. In 1340 he defeated the French fleet before Sluys, and after landing in France laid siege to Tournai, but before he succeeded in capturing it he was induced through money difficulties to conclude a truce of nine months with France. In a truce for two years was concluded between England and Scotland, and at the end of Edward again set out on an expedition against France, but at the intercession of the Pope he agreed to a truce. Shortly after his return to England a great tournament was held by him at Windsor in memory of King Arthur. In he set sail on the expedition which resulted in the great victory of Cre&quot;cy and the capture of Calais ; and in he again concluded a truce with France. and are darkly memorable in English annals from the outbreak of the &quot; black death,&quot; which spread terror and desolation throughout the whole country, but on account of the reduction it made in the population, was the ultimate cause of the abolition of serfdom and villanage in England. From this time Edward as a warrior retires somewhat into the background, his place being taken by the prince of Wales (See ), who in won the battle of Poitiers, and took King John prisoner. In Edward again invaded France, and in he signed the peace of Bretigny, according to which the French agreed to pay for King John a ransom of three million crowns, and Edward renounced his title to the throne of France, but retained his full sovereignty over the whole of the ancient duchy of Aquitaine, the counties of Ponthieu and Guignes, and the town of Calais. Peace was again broken in by Charles of France, and when he concluded a truce with England in all of France that remained in Edward s hands was Bayonn e and Bordeaux in the south, and Calais in the north. The last years of Edward s reign form a sad and gloomy close to a career which had had a vigorous and energetic commence ment, and had afterwards been rendered illustrious by great achievements. His empire in France was virtually over thrown ; the vast expenditure which had had such a fruitless result was sorely burdening his subjects, and awakening increasing discontent; and he himself, through the gradual decay of his mental faculties, had become a mere tool in the hands of Alice Perrers and of ministers whose only aim vas their own aggrandizement. In the &quot; Good Parliament&quot; virtually seized the helm of the state from the hands of the king and his ministers. It compelled Alice Perrers to swear never to return to the king s presence, suspended the ministers Latimer and Lyons, protested against the means then adopted for raising taxes, and de manded a vigorous prosecution of the war. The Black Prince was the chief agent in urging these reforms, but his death, in the midst of the Parliament s deliberations, for a time rendered almost abortive the good work he had begun. Edward died 21st June. The splendour of his reign belongs properly rather to the people than to the monarch. Both in his home and foreign relations he showed con siderable prudence and sagacity, and he may be allowed the merit of having endeavoured as much as possible to keep on good terms with his subjects ; but under him the pro gress of constitutional reform was due either to his money difficulties or to events entirely beyond his control. Although endowed with high courage and daring, there is no proof that he possessed more than average ability as a general. His expeditions were planned on a scale of great mag nificence, but he entered on his campaigns without any definite aim, and his splendid victories were mere isolated achievements, won partly by good fortune, but chiefly by the valour of Welsh and Irish yeomen and the skill of English archers.

1em  EDWARDIV. (–), king of England, was the second son of Richard duke of York, and was born at Rouen, April 29,. His father was appointed protector of the kingdom during the incapacity of Henry VI., and having in laid claim to the throne as a descendant of Edward III., was named by Parliament successor of Henry VI. on condition that he allowed Henry to retain his throne. As an heir had been born to the king, it was only natural that Queen Margaret should seek to resist this proposal. She accordingly raised an army against the duke of York, and he was defeated and slain at the battle of Wakefield, December 30,. Edward, who was at that time in Wales, on hearing of his father s death resolved to avenge it, and gathering a mixed army of Welsh and English, defeated the earls of Pembroke and Orrnond at Mortimer s Cross in Hereford, February 7,. On February 17, Queen Margaret defeated the Yorkists at St Albans ; but Edward, notwithstanding her victory, hav ing united his forces with those under Warwick entered London, and, being received by the citizens with loud shouts of welcome, was proclaimed king 4th March 1461. But he could not permit himself to enjoy his dignities in idle security. King Henry had escaped and joined the army of the queen, which, having withdrawn to the north, 