Marginalia1461.sed there to be proclaimed certaine articles concernyng his title to the crowne of Englād, whiche was the. 2. day of March. Wherupon, the next day folowyng, þ^e Lordes both temporall and spirituall being assembled together, the said Articles were propounded, and also well approued. The fourth day of the said moneth of March, after a solemne generall procession (accordyng to the blinde superstition of those dayes) the Byshop of Exceter made a Sermon at Paules crosse, MarginaliaThe title of Edward, to the crowne proued at Paules crosse.wherin he commended and proued, by manifold euidences, þ^e title of prince Edward to be iust and lawfull, aunsweryng in þ^e same, to all obiections, whiche might be to the contrary.

MarginaliaK. Edward taketh possessiō of the crowne.This matter beyng thus discussed, Prince Edward accompanied w^t the lordes spirituall & temporall, & with much cōcourse of people, rode þ^e same day to Westminster Halle, & there by the ful cōsent, as wel of þ^e lordes, as also by the voyce of all the commons, toke his possession of the crowne, and was called K. Edward the fourth.

These thynges thus accomplished at London, as to such a matter apperteyned, and preparation of money sufficiently beyng ministred of the people and commōs, with most ready and willyng mindes, for the necessarie furniture of his warres: he with þ^e Duke of Northfolke, and Earle of Warwicke, and lord Fauconbryge, in all spedy wise, toke his iourney toward kyng Henry: Who being now at Yorke, and forsaken of the Lōdoners, had all his refuge onely reposed in the Northren men.

MarginaliaThe fierce and cruell battaile betwene K. Henry. 6. and K Edward. 4.When kyng Edward with his armye had past ouer the Riuer of Trent, and was commē nere to Ferebryg: where also the host of kyng Henry was not far of, vpon Palme sonday, betwen Ferebryg and Tadcaster, both the armyes of the Southren and Northren men ioyned together battaile. And although at the first begynnyng, diuers horsemen of kyng Edwardes side, turned theyr backes, and spoyled þ^e kyng of his cariage and victuals, yet þ^e couragious prince, with his Captaines litle discouraged therewith, fiercely and manfully set on their aduersaries. The whiche battaile on both sides was so cruelly fought, that in the same conflicte were slayne to the noumber, as is reported, beside mē of name, of. xxx. thousand of the poore commons. MarginaliaK. Henry. 6. conquered.Notwithstanding, the conqueste fell on kyng Edwardes parte, so that kyng Henry hauyng lost all, was forced to flye into Scotlād, MarginaliaBarwicke geuē to the Scottes by K. Henry. 6.where also he gaue vp to the Scottes, the town of Barwicke, after he had reigned. 38. yeares and a halfe.

MarginaliaThe title of the house of Yorke.¶ The clayme and title of the Duke of Yorke, and after him, of Edward his sonne, put vp to the lords and commons, whereby they chalenged the crowne to the house of Yorke, is thus in the story of Scala mundi, word for woorde, as here vnder is contayned.

MarginaliaRich. Plantagenet. EDward the iij. right kyng of England, had issue first prince Edward, 2. W. Hatfield, 3. Lionel, 4. Iohn of Gaunt, &c. Prince Edw. had Rich. þ^e 2. which dyed without issue. W. Hatfield dyed without issue. Lionel duke of Clarēce, had issue lawfully begotte, Philip his onely daughter & heire, the which was lawfully coupled to Edmund Mortimer earle of March, & had issue lawfully begotte, Roger Mortimer, earle of Marche & heyre: Whiche Roger had issue Edmund earle of Marche, Roger, Anne & Alienor. Edmund & Alienor dyed without issue, and the said Anne, by lawfull matrimony, was coupled vnto Rich. earle of Cambrige, the sonne of Edmūd of Langley, who had issue & lawfully bare Rich. Plantagenet now Duke of Yorke. Iohn of Gaunt gat Harry, whiche vnrightfully entreated k. Richard: then beyng alyue Edmund Mortimer earle of Marche, sonne of the said Philip, daughter to Lyonel. To the which Richard duke of Yorke, & sōne to Anne, daughter to Roger Mortimer earle of Marche, sonne & heyre to the sayd Philip, daughter & heyre to the sayd Lyonel, the. iij. sonne of K. Edward the. iij. the right & dignitie of the crown apperteyned and belonged, afore any issue of the sayd Iohn of Gaunt. Notwithstādyng the sayd title of dignitie of the sayd Richarde of Yorke, the sayd Richard desiryng thewealth, rest and prosperitie of England, agreeth and cōsenteth that the kyng, Harry. vi. shoude be had and taken for kyng of Englande, duryng his naturall lyfe from thys tyme, without hurt of his title.

Wherfore, the kyng vnderstāding þ^e sayd title of þ^e sayd duke to be iust, lawfull, true & sufficient, by þ^e aduise & assēt of his lordes spiritual & tēporall, & the cōmons in the Parlamēt, & by the authoritie of the same Parlament declareth, approueth, ratifieth, confirmeth, accepteth the said title for iust, good lawfull & true, & therunto geueth his assent & agremēt of his free will & libertie. And ouer that, by the said aduise & authoritie, declareth, calleth, stablisheth, affirmeth & reputeth the sayd Richard of Yorke very true & rightfull heyre to the crowne of England & Fraunce: and that all other statutes & Actes made by any of the Harryes late, cōtrary to this aduise, be annulled, repelled, damned, cācelled, voyde, and of no force or effect. The kyng agreed & cōsented, that the sayd duke & his heires shall after his natural life reioyce the crown. &c. Also, þ^t all saying & doings against the duke of Yorke, shall be hye treason, & all Actes of Parlamētes contrary to this principall Acte, be voyde and of none effect. &c.MarginaliaEx Scala mundi.

And thus much for the reigne of king Henry the. vi. Who now lacked his vncle and protector, duke of Glocester, about him. But cōmonly þ^e lacke of such frendes, is neuer fealt before they be missed.

MarginaliaLeaden Hall, builded.In the tyme of this kyng was buylded the house in Londō called Leaden hall, foūded by one Symon Eyre, Maior once of the sayd Citie of London. an. 1445.

MarginaliaThe Standerd in Chepe. The Conduite in Fletestrete. Newgate builded.Also the standart in cheepe buylded by Iohn Wels. an. 1442. the Conduite in Fletestret by Williā Eastfield. an. 1438. Item, Newgate builded by the goods of Richard Whityngton. an. 1822.

MarginaliaThe College of Eton, and the kynges College in Cambridge, founded.Moreouer the sayd Henry. 6. founded the College of Eton, & another house hauing then þ^e title of S. Nicolas in Cābridge, now called þ^e kyngs College. Ex Scal. mūdi.

In þ^e reigne of this Henry. 6. it is not to be passed ouer in silence, which we finde noted in the Parlamēt rolles, how that Lewes Archbishop of Rhoen, after þ^e death of the late Byshop of Eley, had graunted vnto hym by the popes Bulles, during his life, all the profites of the sayd byshopryke, by þ^e name of þ^e administratour of the sayd Byshoprike. MarginaliaThe king reiecteth the popes Bulles.Levves the forsaid Archb. showeth his Bulles to the kyng, who vtterly reiecteth those Bulles. Notwithstandyng for hys seruice done in Fraunce, the kyng graunted to him the administration aforesaid, the which to all intētes, at the peticiō of the sayd Lewes, shoulde bee affirmed to be of as greate force as though he were Bishop, touchyng profites, liberties, & habilitie.

MarginaliaEx vestusto codic. cui initiū, Nomina custodum. &c. et ex Fabiano.Neither agayne is here to be ouerpast a certaine tragicall Acte done betwene Easter & Witsontide of a false Britton. an. 1427. Which murdered a good widdow in her bedde (who had brought him vp of almes, without Algate in the suburbes of London) and bare away all that she had, & afterwarde he tooke soccour of holy churche at S. Georges in Southwerke: but at the last he tooke the crosse and forswore the kyngs land. MarginaliaExample of Gods rodde and iudgemēt.And as he went his way, it happened him to come by the same place where he had done that cursed dede, and women of the same parish, came out with stones and cannell dong, and there made an ende of him in the hye strete, so that he went no further, notwithstandyng the Constables, and other men also, whiche had him vnder gouernaunce to conducte him forward: for there was a great company of them, so that they were not able to withstand them.

¶ King Edward the fourth.  

Commentary     Close

Wars of the Roses

Foxe's account of Edward IV's reign down through the recovery of Berwick is based largely on two sources: Edward Hall's chronicle and Polydore Vergil's Anglica historia. These were the two most detailed sources for this period available to Foxe, but the use of the latter posed problems for Foxe. Vergil's elegantly written history of England was highly esteemed by contemporaries and it was also hostile to Wiclif, the Lollards and the Reformation. On key issues - notably Oldcastle's rebellion - Foxe felt obliged to discredit Vergil's version of events. Therefore, Foxe only used Vergil when he was the most detailed source available and then Foxe was careful, as he was here, to disparage Vergil's reliability - in this case by accusing Vergil of burning his sources. With the exception of the capture of Henry VI, all of the events Foxe described down to Edward IV's arrival at Leicester in 1471 were taken from Edward Hall, The union of the two noble and illustre famelies of Lancastre and York (London, 1560), STC 12723a, fos. 189r-191r, 193r-196r, 199r-204v, 208r-211r and 214v-215r. After this, Foxe largely relied on Vergil's more detailed account of the campaigns of 1471; see Polydore Vergil, Anglica historia (Isengrim, 1555), pp. 524-530 and 532. (Foxe also drew on Hall for additional details: Somerset's murder of Lord Wenlock [Union, fo. 231r] and the claim that Henry VI's canonization failed because Henry VII was unwilling to pay the necessary fees and bribes [Union, fo 223v]). Foxe also drew the story of Henry VI's capture in 1465 from Robert Fabian, Fabyan's cronicle (London, 1559), STC 10664, p.418. (Foxe was apparently attracted by the few additional details in Fabian - e.g., that the king was captured in a wood - which could not be found in Hall and Vergil). Foxe quoted an anonymous contemporary chronicle on the burial of Henry VI at the abbey of Chertsey. Foxe refers to this chronicle as the 'Scala Mundi' because the MS in which he found the chronicle (now College of Arms Arundel MS 5) began with a chronological table extending from the creation of the world until (The chronicle is actually titled 'Compilatio de gestis Britanorum et Anglorum' and it is fos.121r-172v of Arundel MS 5). The section of the 'Compilatio' covering the reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV has been published as 'A Brief Latin Chronicle' in Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, ed. James Gardiner, Camden Society, second series 28 (London, 1880), pp. 164-85; the passage Foxe is quoting is on p. 184. Foxe also drew the account of the 'heresy' that Christ was a beggar and Paul II's bull denouncing it, from the 'Compilatio' (see 'Brief Latin Chronicle', p. 181). The question remains: why did Foxe bother to recount, in such details, the military and political vicissitudes of Edward IV's reign, in what was an ecclesiastical history? Partly this was because Foxe took the opportunity to moralize, as when he sees Edward IV's deposition as divine punishment for his wantonness. More basically, the rapid reversals of fortune endured by all the major political players in this period allowed Foxe to depict providence at work, protecting the relatively good and punishing others for their misdeeds or the misdeeds of their forebears.

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Thomas S. Freeman,
University of Sheffield

MarginaliaAn. 1461
King Edvvard. 4.KYng Edward, after his conquest and victorie achieued agaynst kyng Henry, returned agayne to Londō, where, vpon þ^e Vigill of S. Peter & Paule, beyng on sōday, he was crowned K. of England, and reigned. xxij. yeares, albeit not without great visquietnes, & much perturbation in his reigne.

MarginaliaQueene Margarete fledde the land.Quene Margarete, hearyng how her husband was fled into Scotland, was also fayne to flye the land, and went to her father Duke of Angeow. Marginalia1462.From whence the next yeare folowyng, shee returned agayne to renewe warre agaynst kyng Edward, with small succour and lesse lucke: For beyng encountred by þ^e Earle of Warwicke, about Nouember, she was driuen to the seas againe, & by tempest of wether, was driuen into Scotlād.