1461.

1464.

1465.

1468.

1469

1470.

1471.

1474.

1475.

[At the end of Henry VI.'s reign Bills in the form of Statutes are introduced instead of petitions to get over the evils of manipulation or saving clauses.]

EDWARD IV., 1461-1483 (22 YEARS).

Born 1441; Married, 1464, Elizabeth Woodville.

Edward advances to the north. Battles of Ferrybridge and
Towton. Yorkists victorious, with very great slaughter.
Margaret escapes with Henry and her son to Scotland.

June. Edward is crowned at Westminster. A bill of attainder in
the form of an Act of Parliament is passed against Henry and
Margaret.

Battle of Hedgeley Moor. Margaret defeated.

Battle of Hexham. Margaret again defeated.

Sept. Edward's marriage with Elizabeth Woodville (a),
widow of Grey, Lord Ferrers of Groby, is announced.

He begins to promote his wife's relations to the disgust of Warwick.
Henry, the late king, is captured and imprisoned in the
Tower.

Marriage of the king's sister Margaret with Charles, Duke of
Burgundy.

[There is no Parliament for nearly four years.] The first recorded
instances are found of the use of torture in England.
Clarence, who has drawn off from his brother the king to Warwick,
marries Warwick's daughter, Isabella Neville.

Insurrection of Northerners under Robin of Redesdale.
Battle of Edgecote. Rebels victorious. Warwick and Clarence
take advantage of this to imprison the king.

The king is released and a reconciliation effected.
March. New rebellion in Lincolnshire defeated by Edward at the
battle of Losecoat Field. Warwick and Clarence, finding that
Edward has proofs of their treachery, fly to France, and are
reconciled to Margaret, the late queen, by Louis XI.
Sept. Warwick lands at Dartmouth. Edward flies to
Flanders with his brother Gloucester, his queen taking refuge
at Westminster, and Henry VI. is restored.

Edward, by the assistance of the Duke of Burgundy, his brother-
in-law, lands at Ravenspur, is joined by Clarence, and
advances to and enters London.

April 14. Battle of Barnet. Yorkists victorious and Warwick killed.

April 14. Margaret lands at Weymouth.

May 4. Battle of Tewkesbury. Margaret is defeated and her son killed.

May 21. Death of Henry VI. in the Tower.

Edward makes a league with Burgundy against Louis XI.

[For eight years no Parliament sits except for forty-two days in 1478, the king having obtained an income for life from his earlier Parliaments, which he supplements by benevolences.]

65

1475. 1478. 1482.

1483.

Edward lands at Calais. Treaty of Pecquigny between him and
Louis XI. Edward receives a pension and returns to England.
Clarence, distrusted by his brother, is attainted and executed.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, on behalf of his brother the king,
helps the Duke of Albany in Scotland against James III.
Edinburgh and Berwick are captured.

Louis XI. breaks off the marriage contract he had made with
Edward, who prepares for war.

April 9. Edward dies.

EDWARD V., 1483 (2 MONTHS, APRIL-JUNE).

Born 1470.

The Council and the queen dispute for the guardianship. The Council send for the young Edward, who advances to London from Ludlow.

Gloucester and Buckingham (a) meet him at Stony Stratford, and send his escort, Lord Rivers (his uncle) and Sir Richard Grey (his half-brother), prisoners to the north.

May 4. The king and the dukes enter London. Gloucester is proclaimed Protector of the kingdom by the Council, with the support of Hastings.

Gloucester and Buckingham plot together and cause Hastings to
be beheaded.

June 16. The king's younger brother Richard joins him in the
Tower.

June 25. The Crown is offered to Gloucester by a body of
lords and others, and he declares himself king.
Rivers and Grey are executed at Pontefract.

1484.

RICHARD III., 1483-1485 (2 YEARS).

Born 1450; Married, 1473, Anne Neville.

Richard makes a progress through the country and is well received.

Disappearance of the young Edward V. and his brother

Richard.

Buckingham, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (b) (afterwards Henry VII.), Morton, Bishop of Ely, and the Woodvilles plot a conspiracy against Richard.

The rebellion of Buckingham in Wales is a failure. He is brought to the king at Salisbury and beheaded. Henry of Richmond reaches Plymouth, but retires.

A parliament is held and a statute passed abolishing the illegal practice of exacting benevolences.