2i8 Constitutional Histori/. [chap.
Exploit of
the earl of
Oxford.
Present
security of
Edward IV.
the house of Lancaster was immemorially regarded as the
guardian of national liberties, he was revered with signal devo-
tion, a devotion stimulated not a little by the misrule that
followed the crowning victory of Edward. For this was the
last important attempt made during Edward’s life to unseat the
new dynasty. The seizure of S. Michael’s Mount by the earl of
Oxford in September 1473 was a gallant exploit, but led to
nothing; he had to surrender in February 1474. In 1473
Margaret was ransomed by her father and went home. The
existence, of the son of Margaret Beaufort, the destined restorer
of the greatness of England, was the solitary speck that clouded
the future of the dynasty, and, although Edward saw the im-
portance of getting him into his power, he was too young and
insignificant to be a present danger. The birth of a son, born
to queen Elizabeth in the Sanctuary in 1470, was an element of
new promise. Edward had no more to fear andeverythingtohope.
Character of
Warwick.
Warwick, whose death afforded the real security for these
anticipations of better times, has always occupied a great place
in the view of history ; and his character, although in some
respects only an exaggeration of the common baronial type,
certainly contained some elements of greatness. He was greedy
of power, wealth and influence ; jealous of all competitors, and
unscrupulous in the measures he took to gain these ends. He was
magnificent in his expenditure, and popular in consequence. He
was a skilful warrior both by land and by sea, and good-fortune
in battle gave him another claim to be a national favourite.
He was a far-seeing politician too, and probably, if Edward had
suffered him, would have secured such a settlement of the
foreign relations of England as might have anticipated the
period of national recovery of which Henry VII obtained the
credit. He was unrelenting in his enmities, but not wantonly
blood-thirsty or faithless : from the beginning of the struggle,
when he was a very young man and altogether under his
father’s influence, he had taken up with ardour the cause of
duke Richard, and his final defection was the result of a pro-
found conviction that Edward, influenced by the Wydvilles,
was bent on his ruin. He filled however for many years, and
XVIII.]
Parliamenf of Edward JT.
219
not altogether unworthily, a place which never before or after
was filled by a subject, and his title of King-maker was not
given without reason. But it is his own singular force of
character, decision and energy, that mark him off from the men
of his time. He is no constitutional hero ; he comes perhaps
hardly within the ken of constitutional history, but he had in
him the makings of a great king.
359. The cruelties and extortions which followed Edward’s Resuitsof
victory need not detain us3 although they fill up the records of triumph,
the following years. By executions and exactions he made the
nation feel the burdens of undivided and indivisible allegiance.
‘ The rich were hanged by the purse and the poor by the neck.’
What forfeiture failed to secure was won by extorted ransoms.
In April 1472 archbishop Neville, who had made his peace
after the battle of Parnet, was despoiled of his wealth ; he
spent the rest of his life in captivity or mortified retirement.
The estates, which were not Calledtogether until October 14721,
were in too great awe of the king to venture on any resistance
to his commands. They granted him a force of thirteen thou-
sand archers, to be paid at the rate of sixpence a day for a
year ; and the commons and lords, in two separate indentures,
directed that a new and complete tenth of all existing property
and income should be collected to defray the cost2. In 1473,
when they met again after a prorogation, they found that the
tax could not be easily got in, and voted a fifteenth and tenth
of the old kind, on account3. The same year Edward began to Benevo-
collect the contributions which were so long and painfully
familiar under the inappropriate name of Benevolences4 ; a
Fate of
archbishop
Neville.
Parliamen-
1 Parliament met Oct. 6, and sat till Nov. 30 ; sat again Feb. 8, 1473,
to April 8; Oct. 6 to Dec. 13; in 1474, Jan. 20 to Feb. ɪ ; May 9 to
May 28 ; June 6 to July 18 ; and in 1475, Jan. 23 to March 14 ; when it
was dissolved. William Alyngton was speaker ; Rot. Parl. vi. ι-ι66.
See Cont. Croyl. pp. 557, 558.
2 Rot. Parl. vi. 4-8.
3 lb. vi. 39-41.
4 Cont. Croyl. p. 558 ; ‘nova et inaudita Smpositio ɪnuneris nt per bene-
Volentiam quilibet daret id quod vellet, iɪnnɪo verius quod nollet.’ ‘ This
year the king asked of the people, great goods of their benevolence ; ’
Chr. Lond. p. 145 : ‘he conceived a new device in his imagination;’ Hall,
p. 308, where an amusing account is given of Edward’s selling his kisses
for a benevolence of twenty pounds.