These thynges thus accomplished at London, as to such a matter appertayned, and preparation of monye sufficiently beyng ministred of the people and commons, with most ready and willyng myndes, for the necessarie furniture of his warres: he with the Duke of Northfolke, and Earle of Warwicke, and Lord Fauconbryge, in all spedy wise, toke his iourneye toward kyng Henry: Who beyng now at Yorke, and forsaken of the Londoners, had all hys refuge onely reposed in the Northren men.

MarginaliaThe fierce & cruell battaile betwene K. Henry. 6. and kyng Edward. 4. When kyng Edward with hys armie had past ouer the Riuer of Trent, and was commen nere to Ferebryg: where also the host of king Henry was not far of, vpon Palme sonday, betwene Ferebryg and Tadcaster, both the armyes of the Southren and Northren men ioyned together battaile. And although at the first begynnyng, diuers horesmen of kyng Edwardes side, turned theyr backes, and spoyled the kyng of cariage and victuals, yet þ^e couragious prince, with his Capitaines little 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 þ^e number, as is reported, beside men of name, of. xxx. thousand of the poore commons.MarginaliaK. Henry. 6. conquered. Notwithstandyng, the conqueste fell on kyng Edwardes part, so that king Hēry hauyng lost all, was forced to flye into Scotland,MarginaliaBarwicke geuen to the Scotes 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 sonn, put vp to the lords and commōs, 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 3. right kyng of England, had issue first prince Edward. 2. W. Hatfield, 3. Lionel, 4. Iohn of Gaunte, &c. Prince Edward had Richard the 2. which dyed without issue. W. Hatfield dyed without issue. Lionell Duke of Clarence, had issue lawfully begot, Phillip his only daughter and heire, the which was lawfully coupled to Edmund Mortimer, Earle of March, and had issue lawfully begotte, Roger Mortimer Erle of Marche and heyre: Which Roger had issue Edmund Erle of March, Roger, Anne and Alienor. Edmund and Alienor dyed without issue, and the said Anne by lawfull matrimony was coupled vnto Richard Earle of Cambrige, the sonne of Edmund of Langley, who had issue and lawfully bare Richard Plantagenet nowe Duke of Yorke. Iohn of Gaunt gate Henry, which vnrightfully entreated kyng Richard: then beyng aliue Edmund Mortimer Erle of Marche, sonne of the sayd Phillip, daughter to Lionel. To the which Rich. duke of Yorke, and sonne to Anne, daughter to Roger Mortimer Erle of March, sonne & heyre to the sayd Phillip, daughter and heyre to the sayd Lyonel, the 3. sonne of kyng Edward the 3. the right and dignity of the crowne appertained and belonged, afore any issue of the sayd Iohn of Gaunt. Notwithstanding the sayd title of dignitie of the sayd Richard of Yorke, the sayd Rich. desiring the wealth, rest and prosperitie of England, agreeth & consenteth that the king Henry 6. should be had and taken for kyng of England, during his naturall lyfe from this tyme, without hurt of his title.

Wherfore the kyng vnderstandyng the sayd title of the sayd duke to be iust, lawfull, true and sufficient, by the aduise and assent of his lordes spirituall and temporall, & the commons in the Parliament, and by the authoritie of the same Parliament declareth, approueth, ratifieth, confirmeth, accepteth the sayd title for iust, good lawfull and true, and therunto geueth his assent and agrement of hys free will & liberty. And ouer that, by the sayd aduise and authoritie, declareth, calleth, stablisheth, affirmeth and reputeth the sayd Rich. of Yorke very true & rightfull heyre to the crowne of England & Fraunce: and that all other statutes and actes made by any of the Henries late, contrary to this aduise, be annulled, repelled, damned, cancelled, voyde, and of no force or effect. The king agreed and consented, that the said duke & his heires shall after his naturall life enioye the crowne. &c. Also, that al sayings & doings against the duke of Yorke shall be hye treason, & all actes of Parliamentes contrary to this principall acte, be voyde and of none effect. &c. MarginaliaEx Scala mundi.

And thus much for the reigne of Kyng Henry the. vi. Who now lacked his vncle and protector, Duke of Gloucester, about him. But commonly the lacke of such frendes is neuer felt before they be missed.

MarginaliaLeadē Hall, builded. In the tyme of this king was buylded the house in Lōdon called Leadē hall, founded by one Symon Eyre, Maior once of the sayd Citie of London. an. 1445.

MarginaliaThe standard in Chepe. The Conduite in Fleestrete. Newgate builded. Also the standard in cheepe buylded by Iohn Wels, an. 1442. the Conduite in Fletestret by William Eastfielde. an. 1438. Item, Newgate builded by the goods of Rich. Whityngton. an. 1422.

MarginaliaThe Colledge of Eton, and the kyngs Colledge in Cambridge founded. Moreouer the sayd Henry. 6. founded the College of Eton, and another house hauing then the title of S. Nicolas in Cambridge, now called the kynges College. Ex Scal. mundi.

In the reigne of this Henry. 6. it is not to be passed ouer in silence, which we finde noted in the Parlament rolles how that Lewes Archbishop of Rhoen, after the death of the late Byshop of Eley, had graunted vnto hym by þ^e popes Bulles, during his life, all þ^e profites of the sayd Bbshoprike, by the name of the administratour of the sayd Byshoprike,MarginaliaThe king reiecteth the popes Bulles. Lewys the forsayd Archbishop sheweth his Bulles to the king, who vtterly reiecteth those Bulles. Notwithstandyng for his seruice done in Fraunce, the kyng graunted to hym the administration aforesaid, the which to all intents at the petition of the said Lewys, should be affirmed to bee of as great force as though he were bishop, touching profites, liberties, and habilitie.

Marginalia[illegible text] custodum. &c. et ex Fabiano. Neither agayne is here to be ouerpast a certayne tragicall Acte done betwene Easter and Witsontyde of a false Britone. an. 1427. Which murdered a good widow in her bed (who had brought hym vp of almes, without Algate in the suburbes of London) and bare away all that she had, & afterward he tooke succour of holy church at S. Georges in Southwerke: but at the last he tooke the crosse & forswore the kynges land,MarginaliaExample of Gods rodde and iudgement. And as he went his way, it happened him to come by the same place where he had done that cursed deede, and women of the same parish, came out with stones and cannell dong, and there made an ende of hym in the hye streate, so that he went no further, notwithstandyng the Constables and other men also which had hym vnder gouernaunce to conduct hym forwarde: for there was a great company of them, so that they were not able to withstande 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
K. Edward. 4. KIng Edward, after his conquest and victory achieued agaynst king Henry, returned agayne to Londō, where, vpon the Vigill of S. Peter and Paule, beyng on Sonday, he was crowned king of England, & reigned 22. yeares, albeit not without great visquietnes, & much perturbation in his reigne.

MarginaliaQueene Margaret fledde the land. Queene Margaret hearing how her husband was fled into Scotland, was also fayne to flye the land, and went to her father Duke of Angeow.MarginaliaAn. 1462. From whence the next yeare followyng, she returned agayne to renue warre against king Edward, with small succour and lesse lucke: For beyng encountred by the Erle of Warwicke, about Nouember she was driuen to the seas agayne, and by tempest of wether, was driuen into Scotland.

MarginaliaK. Edward sitteth his owne person in the kinges bench, iudging. In this yere we read that king Edward in the cause of a certayne widowe for rape, sate hys owne person in Westminster hall vpon hys owne Bench, discussyng her cause. Ex Scal. mundi.

MarginaliaAn. 1463. The yeare followyng, king Henry issuyng out of Scotland with a sufficient power of Scottes and Frenchmen, came into the Northcountrey to recouer the crowne, vnto whom the Lord Radulph Percy, and Lord Radulph Grey flying from kyng Edward, did adioyne themselues:MarginaliaK. Henry. 6. agayne repulsed, in the battaile of Exham. but the Lord so disposing, king Henry with hys power was repulsed in the battaile of Exham by the Lord Montacute, hauyng then the rule of the North: where the Duke of Somerset, Lorde Hungerford, Lord Rosse with certayne other were taken. The Lord Radulph Percy was slaine, the residue fledde. Albeit the history of Scal. mundi, referreth this battayle to the yeare 1464. the 15. day of May. In þ^e which moneth of May, were beheaded the duke of Somerset, lord Hungerford, L. Rosse, L. Phillip Wentworth, L. Thomas Hussy, L. Tho. Fyndern, beside xxi. other belongyng to the retinue and houshold of king Henry 6. Quene Margaret findyng no restyng place here in England, toke her progresse agayne from whence she came, learnyng in her owne countrey to drinke that drinke, which she her selfe had brued here in England.

MarginaliaK. Henry. 6. takē, arrested and committed to the Tower. And not long after, the next yeare, an. 1465. on the day of S. Peter and Paule, kyng Henry beyng found and known in a wood, by one Cantlow (as they say) was arrested by the erle of Warwicke, and at last of a king made prisoner in the tower of London.

MarginaliaAn. 1465. In this meane tyme, king Edward (after the motion