The queen was for a time successful, and her army earned a slight reputation for cruelty also; but Edward, son of the late Duke of York, embittered somewhat by the flippant death of his father, was soon victorious over the Lancastrians, and, in 1461, was crowned King of England at a good salary, with the use of a large palace and a good well of water and barn.

CHAPTER XVI.

UNPLEASANT CAPRICES OF ROYALTY:  INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING AS A SUBSIDIARY AID IN THE PROGRESS OF EMANCIPATION.

Henry VI. left no royal record worth remembering save the establishment of Eton and King’s Colleges.  Edward IV., who began his reign in 1461, was bold and active.  Queen Margaret’s army of sixty thousand men which attacked him was defeated and half her forces slaughtered, no quarter being given.

His title was now confirmed, and Margaret fled to Scotland.  Three years later she attempted again to secure the throne through the aid of Louis XI., but failed.  Henry, who had been in concealment, was now confined in the Tower, as shown in the engraving on the following page.

[Illustration:  HENRY VI.  IMPRESSED IN THE TOWER.]

Edward’s marriage was not satisfactory, and, as he bestowed all the offices on his wife’s relatives, Warwick deserted him and espoused the cause of Queen Margaret.

He had no trouble in raising an army and compelling Edward to flee.  Henry was taken from the Tower and crowned, his rights having been recognized by Parliament.  Warwick and his son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV., were made regents, therefore, in 1471.  Before the year was out, however, the tables were again turned, and Henry found himself once more in his old quarters in the Tower.  Warwick was soon defeated and slain, and on the same day Margaret and her son Edward landed in England.  She and Edward were defeated and taken prisoners at Tewkesbury, and the young prince cruelly put to death by the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, brothers of Edward IV.  Margaret was placed in the Tower, and a day or two after Henry died mysteriously there, it is presumed at the hands of Gloucester, who was socially an unpleasant man to meet after dark.

Margaret died in France, in 1482, and the Lancastrians gave up all hope.  Edward, feeling again secure, at the instigation of his younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, caused Clarence, the other brother, to be put to death, and then began to give his entire attention to vice, never allowing his reign to get into his rum or interfere with it.

He was a very handsome man, but died, in 1483, of what the historian calls a distemper.  Some say he died of heart-failure while sleeping off an attack of coma.  Anyway, he turned up his comatose, as one might say, and passed on from a spirituous life to a spiritual one, such as it may be.  He was a counterfeit sovereign.