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436 EDWARD IV. bered. The war was renewed in France under the Black Prince, who gained on Sept. 19, 1356, the memorable victory of Poitiers, in which he took King John of France prisoner. The Scottish king was ransomed for 100,000 in 1357, and in 1360 the "great peace" was concluded at Bretigny, by which Edward re- nounced his pretensions to the crown of France and restored his conquests, retaining only the full sovereignty of Poitou, Guienne, and the county of Ponthieu. Though the mis- fortunes of the latter years of his reign con- trasted strongly with the glories of its com- mencement, and though his victories left few lasting acquisitions, yet they gave to England a lustre and renown which were long her strength and safety. In his reign the elegant arts began to be cultivated, the castle of Windsor was re- built, and English poetry and prose may be said to have been begun. He was succeeded by his grandson Richard II. EDWARD IV., king of England, born in Rou- en, April 29, 1441, died April 9, 1483. The lot of the feeble Henry VI. fell in an age of vio- lence, to which he brought only meekness of spirit. His own insignificance, the dishonor of the English arms, and the passionate tyr- anny of his indomitable queen, Margaret of Anjou, revived the long forgotten pretensions of the house of York. The great Lancas- trian chiefs, Cardinal Beaufort and the dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, who supported the throne during the minority of Henry, were dead, when Richard, duke of York, the father of Edward IV., cautiously and gradually ad- vanced his claim to the throne, gamed the support of the powerful earls of Warwick and Salisbury, took arms against Somerset, the last great nobleman of the Lancastrian branch, and began by a victory at St. Albans, in 1455. the wars between the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York. The claims of both these Plantagenet lines were derived from Edward III. From the first two sons of that sovereign no issue survived; the three Lan- castrian kings who had occupied the throne for more than half a century were descended from the fourth son ; the dukes of York were descended from the fifth son, but had also by intermarriage become heirs to the rights of the third son. The question was rendered more complicated by the irregular accession of the first Lancaster while Edmund Mortimer, heir of the third son, was alive, and by decrees of parliament. Richard, duke of York, after various successes and reverses in maintaining his claim, was defeated and slain by Queen Mar- garet, at Wakefield, in 1460; but young Ed- ward immediately put himself at the head of an army of Welsh borderers and mountaineers, and defeated a formidable force under the earls of Pembroke and Ormond, near Here- ford. He then marched southward, supported by the earl of Warwick, who suffered a defeat near St. Albans by which Henry was again restored to his friends. Edward marched di- rectly to London, which he entered without opposition, and where his youth, boldness, and beauty gained him the public favor. He was proclaimed king by parliament, March 4, 1461, and thus there were two kings and two royal armies in the land. Both parties made formida- ble preparations for battle, and at Towton, near York, 100,000 Englishmen were drawn up, in not very unequal division, in hostile array. Proclamation had been made that no quarter should be given, and the battle (March 29, 1461) was probably the bloodiest ever fought in England. It lasted more than a day, and ended, after the slaughter of over 30,000 per- sons, in the total rout of the Lancastrians; and thus the crown was firmly placed on the brow of Edward IV. Margaret sailed to France, seeking the alliance of the French king ; and in 1464 she appeared again in Scotland, at the head of only 500 French troops, with whom, and a band of Scottish borderers, she gave battle to the English general, Lord Monta- cute, near Hexham. The Lancastrians were again completely routed ; the king and many of the chiefs were captured, and Margaret again made her escape into France. Edward, antici- pating the maxim of Machiavelli, made a terri- ble slaughter of his enemies in the first moment of victory, and hi his subsequent administration ruled with clemency. After this second re- treat of Margaret, he devoted himself for a time to pleasure. He had privately married Elizabeth, widow of Sir John Gray and daugh- ter of Richard Woodville, Baron Rivers, whom he had met at her father's house while hunting in the forest of Grafton. In September she was publicly acknowledged queen, and her father was made an earl. This union displeas- ed the powerful and haughty earl of Warwick, who had been authorized to negotiate a mar- riage between the king and the princess Bonne of Savoy, and had succeeded in doing so. Al- lying himself with Edward's brother, the duke of Clarence, he revolted in 1469. The effect of his combination with the discontented nobil- ity and gentry was quickly seen in seditions fo- mented in every part of the country. In York- shire, Robin of Redesdale, a hero among the troopers of the frontier, took the field with 60,- 000 men. Edward marched against them. Warwick, absent in France, had gained the favor of Louis XL, and become reconciled with his old enemy Margaret. He landed at Dart- mouth with a small body of troops, where his popularity swelled his army in a few days to more than 60,000 men. He Advanced to the north, and his approach shook the fidelity of the royal troops. Edward fled in 1470 to Hol- land, and his imprisoned rival was led forth from the tower to hear the streets of London resounding once more with the name of King Henry. A parliament was summoned in the, name of the restored king, by which Edward was pronounced a usurper, his adherents were attainted, and all acts passed by his authority repealed. Secretly assisted by the duke of