1450-55

Question 1

1450 - October

Answer 1

• York returns to England from Ireland. He presents a series of letters (bills) - the first of which (written in September) professes his loyalty to Henry VI and challenges those who had spoken ill of him to openly state their accusations before the king. The second (written in October) repeated the reforms demanded by the commonweal and echoed the proclamations of Cade’s Rebellion. The third also demanded reform but it also referred to the defeat in France
• Henry VI’s response to the bills is to promise a council to consider the issues. York would be part of the council, but he wants to be running it

Question 2

1450 - November

Answer 2

• Parliament meets at Westminster. Sir William Oldhall, one of York’s leading councillors, is elected speaker (showing York’s dominance in parliament). A parliamentary petition demands the removal of 31 named individuals from the king’s court - at the head of this list was Somerset
• The pressure of parliament’s demands led Henry VI to have Somerset imprisoned in the Tower of London (possibly also for Somerset’s own safety)
• Parliament enacted an act of resumption to try and restore royal finances. York is (briefly) dominant
• The barons - the peerage - were not happy. York’s demands for reform, his taking up the call of Cade’s Rebellion and populist stance as spokesman for the commonweal did not go down well with the nobility. They also stood to lose materially from the act of resumption (as did York himself)

Question 3

1451 - May

Answer 3

Thomas Yonge (York’s personal lawyer) proposes in parliament that York should be formally recognised as Henry VI’s heir - the heir presumptive. The Commons (in parliament) appear to have supported this but the king and the lords flatly rejected this idea, and parliament was dissolved. Yonge was then imprisoned in the Tower. Power in the country returned to the king and Somerset

Question 4

1452 - February

Answer 4

York assembles his affinity and marches under arms to Dartford (just outside London) to force the removal of Somerset. The only peers/barons supporting him are Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, and Lord Cobham. The royal host (army) confronting York is three times larger than York’s force and contains many nobles (shows York’s lack of noble support/popularity - he was liked by the commonweal but not by the nobility)

Question 5

1452 - 3^rd March

Answer 5

York submits to Henry VI. He presents articles (charges) against Somerset but these are dismissed by the king. Before the high altar of St Paul’s Cathedral (London) York swears that he will never take up arms against the king or any of the king’s subjects ever again - could be seen as weak from Henry VI as he could have had York killed for treason

Question 6

1453 - March

Answer 6

• Parliament is held at Reading. Somerset is dominant. Jack Cade is denounced as a traitor. Sir William Oldhall (speaker at 1450 Parliament and allied with York) is attainted for treason (making York look weak)
• There follows a rare period of effective government led by Somerset (was York the problem?): an English army under the earl of Shrewsbury had been sent to Gascony, who Bordeaux had been recovered by the previous autumn; order is restored in Kent (albeit through a show of force, with Henry VI in attendance); an act of resumption is undertaken; the Commons grants taxation to aid the war effort in France (the 100 years war)

This is the high point for Somerset; it appears York’s cause is now hopeless

Question 7

1453 - 17^th July

Answer 7

English forces under Sir John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, defeated in the Battle of Castillon and as a result Gascony is lost. Shrewsbury is killed in the battle

Question 8

1453 - August

Answer 8

Henry VI becomes insensible - goes into a catatonic stupor, his ‘madness’, possibly upon hearing of the defeat at Castillon, Shrewsbury’s death and the loss of Gascony

Question 9

1453 - Autumn

Answer 9

Great Council effectively running the government. York is summoned to attend its meetings. The Duke of Norfolk, an ally of York, accuses Somerset of losing Normandy and Gascony - there’s no opposition to this without the king

Question 10

1453 - October

Answer 10

Margaret of Anjou gives birth to Prince Edward, son and heir of Henry VI

Question 11

1453 - November

Answer 11

Somerset is imprisoned in the Tower of London. York is now dominant

Question 12

1454 - March

Answer 12

A number of lords visit the king due to the need to appoint a new chancellor following the death of Cardinal Kemp. The king remains insensible. There is a pressing need for a regent/protector to govern the kingdom. Margaret of Anjou petitions for this role wanting to protect the interests of her infant son, but the peers oppose this (woman, foreign - and French as well…) whereas York through lineage is the natural candidate

Question 13

1454 - 15^th March

Answer 13

York recognises Prince Edward as heir to the throne (he wasn’t really looking at the throne at this point?)

Question 14

1454 - 27^th March

Answer 14

York is appointed ‘protector and governor of the realm’. This is the start of York’s First Protectorate

Question 15

1454 - York’s First Protectorate

Answer 15

• York oversaw substantial cuts in the expenditure of the royal household (as previously demanded by the commonweal)
• York tried to exert justice in regions disturbed by noble rivalries that had become violent: he imprisoned the duke of Exeter; intervened in the fierce dispute between the Percies and Nevilles; took action over the dispute between Devon and Bonville in the south-west)
• York did attempt to preside over a fair government run by a council but, dependent as he was on the support of Salisbury and Warwick, he had no option but to advance their interests: Salisbury was appointed chancellor and the Nevilles fierce dispute with the Percies went in favour of the Nevilles. This meant York’s protectorate was seen as partisan (biased) thereby alienating other lords

Question 16

1454 - July

Answer 16

Office of Captain of Calais is granted to York

Question 17

1454 - Autumn

Answer 17

• York fails to gain the support of his fellow lords when attempting to instigate judicial proceedings against Somerset (who has been imprisoned in the Tower without trial for a year)
• This could be because the nobles are wary of York, they do not want to anger Henry VI when he comes out of his stupor, or because they actually like Somerset

Question 18

1454 - December

Answer 18

Henry VI regains his senses (or at least partially recovers from his incapacitating ‘madness’)

Question 19

1455 - 26^th January

Answer 19

Somerset is released from the Tower on conditon that he remains at least 20 miles distant from the king (comprise between York and Henry VI?)

Question 20

1455 - February/March

Answer 20

• York formally steps down as Protector (no need for such a role now Henry VI has recovered)
• 4^th March - all charges against Somerset are repudiated (rejected) and the restrictions keeping him away from the king are lifted
• York has to submit his dispute with Somerset to the arbitration of his peers
• York is removed from his office as Captain of Calais - it passes to Somerset
• Henry VI puts the dispute between York and Somerset to arbitration (mediation through the king and peers)

Question 21

1455 - 7^th March

Answer 21

Salisbury resigns as chancellor (shows York has lost his power)

Question 22

1455 - April

Answer 22

Henry VI and his council summon a Great Council to meet at Leicester (a Lancastrian stronghold) in May. Officially it is to arbitrate (mediate) in the dispute between York and Somerset. But York fears something more sinister might be in store (after what happened to Duke Humphrey of Gloucester - Good Duke Humphrey who was popular with the commonweal and was sentenced to death after a similar Council meeting in 1447)

Question 23

Why the Neville’s backed York after 1453:

Answer 23

It was nothing to do with principle or believing in York’s cause. It was all about land and self-interest. Salisbury backed Warwick (his eldest son) in the fierce dispute with Somerset about the Beauchamp lands in Glamorgan. But with Somerset so close to Henry VI it was a dispute they would lose. However, with Henry’s ‘madness’ and York, the arch-enemy of Somerset, dominant in late 1453, by supporting York and his Protectorate the dispute could be won. By supporting York, they also sought to use York’s political dominance to settle their scores with the Percy’s over the North of England (specifically Northumberland and Yorkshire)