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and v of my children, and lefte her no more gode but
her kyrtyll & her smook.13 Another letter announcing
in 1451, that the ‘oyer and determiner goth into Kent, and
Commissioners my Lord the Duke of York, Bouchier,’ etc., concludes
with the significant words,’but Kent praeth them to hang no mo men
when thei come.’14
The whole kingdom was in a disturbed state in 1451, and the condition of
Kent gave rise to such anxiety that the king in July decided to make a
progress through the county. In the same month he ordered the Dukes of
York and Norfolk to meet him at Canterbury. It appears that while he was
at Canterbury there was a rising at Maidstone, and it was reported that
5,000 men were ready to take the king and compel him to grant pardons to
the insurgents.15
In February 1452, the Duke of York, having determined to secure the
dismissal of Somerset from office by armed force, issued a manifesto and
marched against London. He was joined by Lord Cobham, and turned aside
into Kent, no doubt hoping to obtain warm support from the county. He
found, however, that the Kentishmen were too dispirited to rise, and on
1 March the king followed him as far as Welling near Crayford. York was
established at Dartford, on the other side of the Darent, in a position
too strong to be attacked, and negotiations were opened from the king’s
side. On being assured that Somerset should be removed, York dismissed
his men, and repaired almost unattended to the king’s tent, where he
found that Somerset, so far from being dismissed, had persuaded the king
that no faith need be kept with traitors; he was treated as a prisoner,
and only released on pledging himself never to attempt anything against
the ‘royal estate’ and on consenting to a hollow reconciliation with
Somerset.
The threatened loss of Guienne for a time diverted York’s attention
from everything else, and the action of the Parliament of 1453 must have
convinced him that the time had not yet come for effective action. The
business of the session included the attainder of Sir William Oldhall,
speaker of the late Parliament, for complicity in York’s rising of
1452 and for alleged complicity in Cade’s rising.16 Petitions
were presented praying that any disabilities imposed on Lord Say,
William Crowmer, or John Bailey by the judicial sentences passed on them
by Cade’s courts might be removed, and that there might be a
resumption of crown grants as against all the ‘traitours assembled in
the feld at Dertford.’17 These were apparently granted.
In August 1453, however, the king suddenly became insane, and when
Parliament met in February 1454, it was opened by York, acting on the
Council’s nomination as lieutenant of the king. The impeachment of
Somerset was followed by a counter impeachment of the Earl of Devon and
Lord Cobham for joining in York’s Kentish demonstration of 1452.
Finally, the lords declared York’ protector and defende’r of the
realm,’ and Somerset was sent to the Tower. There seemed every
prospect of a restoration of order and good governance under the regency
of York, when the king unexpectedly recovered at Christmas 1454, and
proceeded to undo all that had been done.
The proceedings of the queen and her friends were a challenge which
13 Op. cit. i, 132-4.
14 Ibid. i, i86. These executions lost York much popularity for a
time.
15 Cal. Pat. 1446-52, p. 505.
16 Rot. Parl. v, 265-6.
17 Ibid. 329. |