By the next evening (Sunday) the citizens had managed to recover their presence of mind, and sallied out at ten o’clock at night, under the leadership of Lord Scales and another, across the bridge. Before they had arrived on the Southwark side of the river they were met by the rebels, and a severe fight took place between the parties on the bridge itself, lasting until eight o’clock the next morning. At last the rebels were defeated, and the city freed from their presence. Offers of pardon were made and accepted, and the rebels dispersed. Cade, however, continued to plunder and ravage the country, until a price having been put upon his head, he was apprehended by the Sheriff of Kent,(849) and died the same night from injuries received at his capture. His head was subsequently set up on London Bridge. (M452) The king had now been married some years, and no heir had appeared. Great uncertainty prevailed as to the right of succession to the throne, and gave rise to much rivalry and mutual mistrust between Richard, Duke of York, who now for the first time becomes a conspicuous figure on the stage, and Edmund Beaufort, recently created Duke of Somerset. Both of them could claim to be the king’s nearest kinsmen, both of them being descendants of Edward III, the one tracing his descent, on his father’s side, through Edmund Langley, and on his mother’s side, through Lionel, Duke of Clarence, whilst the other was the surviving representative of John of Gaunt. (M453) The king’s incapacity to govern without a strong minister at his back, as evinced by his conduct during the recent outbreak, induced both of these nobles to throw up their appointments, the one in Ireland and the other in France, and to hasten home. The Duke of York was the first to reach England, and, in spite of measures which had been taken to intercept him, made his way to London. He was anxious in the first place to clear himself of suspicion of having been implicated in Cade’s rebellion,(850) and to this end sought and obtained an interview with the king. Having satisfied Henry on this point, he next proceeded to demand the reform of certain abuses in the government. A short session of parliament, which met on the 6th November, opened with an altercation between the rival dukes. On the 1st December Somerset was placed under arrest; and on the following day his lodgings at the Black Friars were broken into and pillaged. An example was made of one of the men convicted of being concerned in the breaking into the Black Friars, and he was beheaded at the Standard in Chepe. The Duke of York made a personal visit to the city, and caused proclamation to be made of the heavy pains and penalties which should follow any attempt at robbery. As a further demonstration against lawlessness, the king himself rode through the city a few days later, accompanied by his lords in full panoply, the route being kept by a line of armed citizens on either side of the way.