212 Constitutional Histonj. [chap.
Risingof tithes, and the leader, Robert Huldurn or Hilyard, had been
mens of defeated and put to death by Montague. A knight of the house
under Robin of Conyers then assumed the name of Robin of Redesdale, and
d⅛ placed himself at the head of the discontented commons of the
north. He collected forces and began to traverse the country
as an agitator in the summer of 1469; possibly at the sug-
gestion, certainly with the connivance, of Warwick. The out-
break seems to have taken the king altogether by surprise, but
Marriage of he was not long left in doubt as to its importance. Soon after
midsummer the earl of Warwick, archbishop Neville, and
Clarence, went over to Calais, and the archbishop married the
Manifesto duke to his niece, Isabella Neville. Early in July the commons,
of the ’ . j .
commons to the number of sixty thousand, rose under Robin of Redes-
under Kobin , .
of Redes- dale and published a manifesto in the form of an address to the
dale ɪ
king1. In this document, after recounting the mistakes which
had proved fatal to Edward II, Richard II, and Henry VI, the
alienation of the near kinsmen of the king from his councils
and the promotion of favourites, the heavy taxation, and the
maladministration of the law, they enumerate the great estates
in the royal hands and charge the king with extravagant gifts
made to the Wydvilles, dishonest dealing with the coinage,
excessive taxation, extortion by purveyance, and perversion of
the law of treason ; they add that he has by the bad advice of
the same counsellors embezzled the papal dues, forbidden the
due execution of the laws, and removed his wisest advisers
from the council. They therefore pray for the punishment of
the evil counsellors, the regulation of the royal expenditure and
revenue, the prohibition of gifts of crown lands, the devotion of
The Nevilles tunnage and poundage to the defence of the seas, and the maiɪɪ-
denιandfor tenance of the laws of king Edward III. This comprehensive
bill of articles was circulated among the lords ; Clarence, whose
marriage took place on the ɪɪth of July, and the Nevilles with
him, vouchsafed their approval, and on the 12th proclaimed
that they would be at Canterbury to meet their friends on the
following Sunday2. The king had three days before, on the
1 Warkworth, notes, pp. 47-51 ; Chronicles of the White Rose, pp.
222-224; Chron. Abbrev. p. 13.
a The manifesto of Clarence and Warwick against Edward is in the
XVIII.]
Heneival of War.
213
9th of July, sent them orders from Nottingham to come to him
at once1. On the 26th of July William Herbert, earl of Pem- Battieof
broke, and Humfrey Stafford of Southwick, the newly-created Jufy ɛʤ
earl of Devonshire, were beaten l>y Robin of Redesdale, at 469'
Edgecote, near Banbury; Pembroke was taken and sent to
Northampton, where he was soon after beheaded by the order
of Clarence; lord Rivers and his son John, who were captured
in Gloucestershire, shared the same fate ; and the earl of
Devonshire, who was taken by the commons in Somersetshire,
was also beheaded. Edward, left alone in the midst of a hostile Edward a
country, surrendered himself as a prisoner to archbishop Neville, pπsoner∙
who carried him off first to Coventry, and then to Middleham2.
The victorious lords do not seem to have known what to do
with their prisoner. After making some conditions with the He makes
ɪ σ terms with
Nevilles, he was allowed to resume his liberty, and returned to Warwick.
London3, where before Christmas he issued a general pardon, Pardon at
ɪ Christmas,
in which they were included4. The effort of the commons was 1469.
only a spasmodic undertaking ; like the other risings of the
kind, it subsided as quickly as it had arisen, and, if Robin of
Redesdale’s host were to any extent composed of Lancastrians,
they had risen too soon. The too sudden reconciliation of the
lords was an evil sign, and, whilst AVarwick and Clarence
were pardoned, Robin of Redesdale vanished altogether. But
the throne was not secure ; and Warwick had perhaps yielded
only to gain time. In March, 1470, Sir Robert AVelles rose in Rebeiiionin
. , ιτ-ιι r ii i Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire, and Edward, after cruelly and treacherously be- in Mardi
heading lord AVelles, father of the rebel chief, by a sudden 47°'
display of craft and energy summarily overthrew him near
Chronicles of the White Rose, p. 219 ; Warkwortii, notes, p. 46. See also
Chr. Abbrev. p. 13.
1 Paston Letters, ii. 360, 361.
2 The dates of these tιansactions are very obscure. Theking1Sdetention
must have covered the month of August. On August 17 he appointed
Warwick chief justice of South Wales; Rymer, xi. 648 ; and he was at
Middleham on the 25th and 2StI1 ; on Michaelmas Day he was at York;
and on the 27th of October, Henry Percy heir of Northumberland swore
fealty to him at AVestminster; Rymer, xi. 648; Cont. Hardyng, p. 443 ;
Hall, p. 275 ; cf. Warkworth, p. 7 ; Cont. Croyland, p. 555.
4 Paston Letters, ii. 389 ; and Mr. Gairdner1S notes, ib. p. xlix.
Warkworth (p. 7) states that a fifteenth was collected at the same
tune.