200 Constittitional Histori/. [chap.
had no scruples of conscience about the strength of any measure
that might be conclusive.
Parliament 356, Edward’s first parliament, called on the 23rd of May
of November ɪ ,
1461. to meet on the 6th of July, was delayed by the condition
of the Scottish border, and did not meet until the 4th of
November1. Summons was issued to but one duke, Norfolk,
to four earls, Warwick, Oxford, Arundel, and Westmoreland,
to the viscount Bourchier, and to thirty-eight barons, of whom
Nnniber υf seven were now first summoned ; the whole number of lay
lords. ,
peers was forty-four2, which, when contrasted with the number
of fifty-six summoned to the parliament of 1453s, the last
which was called before the great struggle, shows perhaps
a smaller falling off than might have been expected. Many,
especially in the higher ranks of the peerage, had fallen ; many
were in exile ; some were willing 'to temporise. The fourteen
who were attainted in the parliament itself were either dead or
New eroα- in arms against the new dynasty. The king too was already
t*0°s' taking measures for replacing the missing dignities with new
Neweaι⅛ creations: outlie 30th of June lord Bourchierwasmade earl
and dukes. , . -r .
of Essex, and William Neville, lord Fauconberg, was raised
soon after to the earldom of Kent ; the king’s brothers were
made dukes, George of Clarence and Richard of Gloucester ;
the seven new barons were AVilliani lord Herbert, Humfrey
Stafford of Southwick, Humfrey Bourchier of Cromwell, Walter
Devereux of Ferrers, John AVenlock of AVenlock, Robert Ogle
of Ogle, and Thomas Lumley ; Bourchier, Devereux, and Lum-
ley holding old baronies. Of these Stafford and Bourchier
represented the old interest of the house of Buckingham ;
Herbert was the king’s confidential friend, and the others were
faithful adherents of the fortunes of his house. Bishop Neville,
as chancellor, opened the parliament with a discourse on the
text ‘Amend your ways and your doings4.’ The speaker was
Sir James Strangeways, knight of the shire for Yorkshire,
who was founding a new family on his connexion with the
Nevilles.
1 Kot. Part. v. 461 ; Paston Letters, ɪɪ. 15, 22, 31.
2 Lords’ Report, iv. 950 sq. 3 lb. pp. 931 sq. 1 Ret. Part. v. 461.
XVIIi.] First Parliament of Edward IF. 201
On the 12th of November the serious business began with The com-
, a t mons de-
an address of the commons to the king. Strangeways in their ɪɪɪand the
. , . . punishment
name thanked God for the king s victories, and the king for his of the king*
, _ ..... enemies, and
exertions : not content with that, he expatiated on the iniquities the dedara-
1 , _ . n tion of his
of the late period of disorder, all of which were laid to the title,
charge of Henry, and demanded the punishment of offenders ɪ.
The address was followed by a petition, presented nominally by
the commons, embodying the claim made by the counsel of the
duke of York in the last parliament, and praying for the
declaration of the king’s title. After rehearsing the pedigree
it proceeded to recount the circumstances under which Edward
had assumed the title of king, and to recognise its validity
according to the law of God, the law of man, and the law
of nations, praying that it might be affirmed by act of parlia-
ment, and that, in consequence, the alienations of royal territory
under the late dynasty might be cancelled, and an act of
resumption passed. Then, recurring to recent events, it re- ≡em>'d
capitulated the history of the compromise made in 1460, WithbreaUi
charged the breach of that agreement upon Henry, and de- pact of 1460.
manded its repeal. Edward is thus regarded as succeeding
to the rights of Richard II, and Henry as both a usurper
and a traitor2. The king’s advisers, wiser than the commons,
modified the petition before it became an act of parliament, by
numerous clauses saving the rights which had been created
during the Lancastrian reigns and since Edward’s accession3.
Another roll of petitions, that the iudicial acts of the late Discussion
; . .... on the viiɪi-
αynasty might be declared valid 4, form the basis of a statute <ι⅛ of the
1 ∙ 1 ill . . . . Till ac^s ^ɪɪθ
winch was absolutely necessary if civil society was to be held Lancaster
together. In his answers the king undertook to confirm such
proceedings, to renew the creation of the disputed peerages
and to allow others to stand good, to allow confirmations of
charters to be issued by the chancellor, and to` recognise the
validity of all formal acts of the kind, carefully excluding from
the benefit of the concession the victims attainted in the present
1 Kot. Parl. v. 462.
2 lb. v.463-467; Whethanistede, i. 416, 417.
3 Rot. Γarl. v. 467-475- i lb. v. 489 sq.