FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
1S5
Totome of Avicenna. In these times, mann- scripts weie rery iinportaiit articles of commerce ; they were excessivenr scarce, and preserved with the utmost care. Usurers themselves considered them as precious objects of pawn. A student of Pavia, who was reduced, raised a new fortime by leaving in pledge a manuscript of a body of law; and a grammarian, who was ruined by a fire rebuilt ms house with two small volumes of Cicero.
1471, April 14, (Eaiter Sunday.) The battle of Bamet, between the houses of York and Lancaster, remarkable for the death of Neville, earl of Warwick, styled the king ■maker* As an instance of the superstition and ignorance of the age, can it scaicelv be believed uat on this day the earl of Warwick's forces were thrown into confusion by an unhappy mistake, in conse. qnence of a mist, which was believed to have beoi raised by friar Bungay, a reputed magician. Qneen Margaret, on the same day that her hus- band was taken prisoner at Bamet, landed at Plymouth with a body of French auxiliaries, which recalled Edward once again from his brief repose at London, to the stul more fortunate iittd at Tewksbury, which was fought on the 4th of Hay, and firmly established Edward on the throne-t Eighteen days after this eventful battle Edward made his triumphant entij into the city of London, attended by qneen Margaret as a prisoner. On the evening of that day, (May 22) Henry VI. was murderedin the tower of London.
Henry VI. was born at Windsor, December 6, 1421, and crowned in Paris, December 17, 1431. He married Margaret, daughter of Rene dnke of Anjoy (titular kmg of Naples and Jera- aalem) which marriage was solemnized at Tich- fieM, April 22, 1445, and on May 30, she was crowned at Westminster. This princess chose for her device a itaty, in allusion to her name, — as expressed in French, maxgnerite.
- Tbe popolaiitr and manner of living of this picat Eail
flKriti neital : — Stow xnentlons him cominK to London in ftc taDoufl co p ve n tioo of 1468. with six hondicd men all la nd Jacketi emlxoidered, with ranad stavet, before and hcUad, and was lodged In Warfrtclt-lane i in wlioie hooae (hoc waa often gtx oxen eaten at a breakout, and every tanne ma full of meate, for hee that had any acquaint- ance in that honae. might hare there ao much of sodden and foet meate aa he could prilEe and carry away npon a loot dagger.
Wtrwick-lane tooli ita name from ita having in it the im or home of Richard Neville. Earl of Warwick. The Biaiary of tlda king-making earl waa preserved by a line •taw statne, iilaced in the front of a hooae in this lane, «Udn two or three doors of the sooth side of Mewgate- <ieet.
t Daring the turtaolent Ihctlons between the Hooses of Tort and Lancaster, the acaHbld, as well aa the field, was innaiaiilly drendied with the noblest blood of England. It has been compoted, that no fewer than Sfiooo persons lost their Uvea in the dvi] wars between the tworoaeai of ■hen were kings, two, — prince, one,— dokes, ten, — mar. qates, two, — earls, twenty-one, — lords, twenty-seven, — v imwuis , two, — lord prior, one, — ^Jodge one, — knights, one bu n dl ed and thirty-nine, — esquires, four hundred and ftsty-cne, — and gentry, six hundred and tliirty-eight. Twelve pitdied batUea were fooght between the partlea. nase nnnatnral wars eootinned from Hit to 1485. Upon the marriage at Henry Til., of the boose of Lancaster, vlth BUzabeth, daughter of Bdvrard IV., of the hooae of Talk, tte two Itooaes became united.— See Sliakspeare'a - rVI.,p.».
The countenance which the study of the sacred scriptures derived from the devotional habits, and regular acts of piety of Henry VI. ought not to be forgotten. John Blackman, a Caruiusian monk, observes o^ him, " that on ordinary days the khig spent hu time not less diligently, in treating of the aflairs of his kingdom with his council, according to the exigency of the case ; or else in reading or writing chronicles." And Richard Tunstall, formerly his fiuthfnl chamber- lain, gives the following testimony concerning his master : "When I was with him in his palace at Eltham alone engaged with him in his books, and listening to his salutary admonitions, and the breathings of his profound devotions, for be- ing intenrupted by a knocking at the royal gate, br a certain powerful duke of the retdm ; the king said, ' they so disturb me, that I can scarcely snatch time to refiresh mTself either by day or night, with the reading of any sacred doctrines, without being interrupted with some noise or other.' " The inconsistency of Henry has already been noticed, of bis persecuting his subjects to death for reading those " sacred doctrines" from which he himadf derived so much consolation. Henry was more fitted for the cloister than the throne. He was a munificent patron to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge ; besides being the founder of Eton.
The circumstance of their being rival candi- dates for the crown was favourable to the free form of onr government. Our princes, in a situ- ation so critical, being perpetually liable to be cast down £rom the throne, and standing in need of the support of as many of their subjects as possible, could not make, in general, those strides m unjust and arbitrary power which they probably would have done if tneir clums and their autho- rity had been firmly established. The constitu- tion was not indeed greatly altered in this age, and it must be allowed that many irregularities were permitted to continue ; but yet some advan- tageous changes were introduced. The rights and qualifications of electors, especially of free- holders, were more accurately ascertained ; and the meUiod of enacting laws was conducted with a precision, an order, and solemnity which had not hitherto been observed. Edward IV. from his intimate connexion with the court of Bur- g^dy, had opened his mind to a discernment of the lienefits of commerce. Hence he became himself one of the greatest merchants in Europe, and passed many excellent acts for the regulation and encouragement of trade and manufactures.
Though knowledge in general was in a low state during this period, various measures were pursued which contributed to its future advance- ment. Among the patrons of learning two names in particular must be mentioned of great and eminent merit. These are John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, and Anthony Widville, earl Rivers, brother to the queen of Edward IV. Nor were these noblemen not onlv the protectors and pro- moters of science and literature, but they were writers themselves.
John Tiptoft studied at Baliol college, Oxford,
