Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/347

Rh This great period of three hundred and fifty years, broken, as we have dealt with it, into several smaller periods, this period of creative struggle, is followed by another great period of about two hundred and fifty years. This is still a time of struggle, but in political matters of mainly defensive struggle, while in religious matters the struggle is still, in a lower sense, creative. This long period again falls into three smaller periods. The first is the time of the civil wars of York and Lancaster, a time during which the fabric of freedom which had been built up with so much toil begins to yield, in outward appearance at least, to the growth of an almost despotic power in the crown. Then comes the time of Tudor dominion, the time which, while it saw the greatest development of royal power, saw also the great religious change which was needed to complete the later character of England. Lastly, there is the time of renewed struggle, political and religious alike, against the feebler despotism of the Stewarts. Of these three periods, the first, answering nearly to the second half of the fifteenth century, has little religious interest. In the second, answering nearly to the sixteenth century, though the political interest is great, the religious interest surpasses it. In the third period, answering nearly to the seventeenth century, the religious and the political interest go side by side. But through the whole both of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is the importance of the religious interest which gives the period its special character. While, in political matters, men are simply striving to preserve or to win back an old freedom, in religious matters they are striving to establish a wholly new freedom. Beginning then, as before, with the most prominent out- ward characteristics of the several periods, the feature which first strikes us is that the hundred years of foreign war are followed by a period of about half the length, the chief fea- ture of which is the great civil strife of the fifteenth century, the strife between the houses of York and Lancaster, com- monly known as the Wars of the Roses. It would seem as if the failure of schemes of continental dominion on the part of England had driven Englishmen to spend their energies in biting and devouring one another at home. The fifty years after the final loss of Aquitaine form a time which, especially towards its end, is of much importance in other ways. But this feature of constant civil war, war waged to settle the disputed succession to the crown, is that which gives to the time its most distinguishing character. Wars with Scotland and with France go on very much as before. One year there is a raid ; the next year there is a truce. But warfare of this kind is of little importance in a general view of the period. All hope of the conquest or serious dismember- ment of either of the hostile countries has passed away. The origin of this great civil strife was to appearance purely genealogical. The claim of Roger earl of March to succeed Richard II., by virtue of descent in the female line from an elder son of Edward III., showed the new doctrines in their extremest form. But all claims on this score had been set aside by the repeated acts of parliament which gave the crown to Henry IV. and his heirs. No title could be better than that of the Lancastrian kings; and, amid the glories of the reign of Henry V., the genealogical fancy which was all that could be pleaded for the other family seems gradually to have been forgotten. But, just about the time of the loss of Aquitaine, a number of circumstances joined together to give a renewed importance to their claims. Those claims had now passed to Richard duke of York, who in the male line represented a son of Edward III. younger than John of Gaunt, but who in the female line represented the elder brother Lionel. The weakness of Henry VI., sometimes growing into absolute imbecility, was now manifest. His foreign queen and his ministers, the dukes of Suffolk and Somerset, were unpopular on various grounds, specially on account of the losses in France. Duke Richard, on the other hand, was an able and popular nobleman, who had won reputation both in France and in Ireland. As long as Henry was childless, he might be looked on as heir-presumptive to the crown. The only possible competitor was the duke of Somerset himself. Somerset represented a branch of the royal family which was of doubtful legitimacy, that of the natural children of John of Gaunt, who had been legitimated by Parliament, but whose position as regarded the royal succession was not clear. In 1450 a popular insurrection under Jack Cade, who called himself Mortimer, might pass for a sign that the claims of that family were not forgotten. The duke of Suffolk, impeached by the Commons, but not sentenced by the Lords, had been irregularly put to death. Somerset now remained as the unpopular minister, while Richard of York was the leader of a popular opposition. The birth of the king’s only son in 1453 took away the duke’s hope of a peaceful succession, and in 1455 the civil war began. The war of York and Lancaster, like the great war with France, with its occasional lulls and truces, must be looked on as really lasting, notwithstanding reconciliations, restora- tions, and momentary reigns, from the time when the sword was first drawn against Henry VI. to the time when it was last drawn against Henry VII. One thing is to be noted throughout, that, after every revolution, a parliament was always found ready to condemn the defeated side, and to acknowledge the rights of the conqueror. Thus, in the early stage of the war, the duke of York was attainted in 1459. In 1460 the victory of Northampton put him in a position to make good his claim to the crown. A com- promise was brought about by the Lords, which sounds as if it had been suggested by the treaty of Troyes. By their award it was agreed that Henry should keep the crown for life, but that the duke should displace the king’s son in the rank of heir apparent. Such an award implied the admis- sion of the new doctrine of absolute hereditary right in its extremest form. At the same time, it saved the personal rights of the crowned king to whom the claimant had sworn allegiance. But this settlement on paper had no practical effect. The queen and the lords of her party disregarded it. In 1460 Duke Richard fell at Wakefield, and his claims passed to his son Edward. The compromise was now set aside on both sides. Henry had joined, or had been made to join, the queen’s forces after the victory of Wakefield. The Yorkist doctrine was that, by so doing, he had broken the award, and had thereby forfeited the crown, which there fore passed to Edward. The claims of Edward were con- firmed by a kind of popular election in London. After his crowning victory at Towton followed his coronation, and a fresh parliamentary settlement, which declared the victor of Agincourt an usurper. The reign of Edward IV. is now held to begin ; but the war was not yet over. Margaret sought help in Scotland and France, and Scottish help was bought by the surrender of Berwick. The war began again in 1463, and this stage of it maybe looked on as ended by the Yorkist victory at Hexham in 1464. The next year Henry was captured. But by this time Edward had taken a step which led to the estrangement of his most powerful supporters. His marriage with one of his sub- jects, Elizabeth Grey, and the growing influence of her family, the Woodvilles, began to offend the house of Neville, 