eye-witnesses—special war correspondents, whom the City had despatched for the express purpose of reporting on the state of the field, and they concluded by exhorting him to do as they themselves had done, and to acknowledge Edward IV as the rightful king. They would even plead for royal favour on his behalf, but as to letting him and his host pass through the city, that was out of the question.(932) Having despatched this answer to Fauconberg, the civic fathers at once set to work to fortify the river’s bank from Castle Baynard to the Tower, where lay the rebels’ fleet. On Sunday, the 12th May, the Kentish men tried to force London Bridge and set fire to some beer-houses near Saint Katherine’s Hospital. The attack was renewed on the following Tuesday, whilst portions of the rebel force, amounting it was said to 5,000 persons, were told off to try and force the gates of Aldgate and Bishopsgate. There, however, they were repulsed, and nearly 300 of them met their death, either in actual fight or in their endeavours to get on board their boats at Blackwall. Urswyk, the city’s Recorder, as well as Robert Basset, alderman of Aldgate Ward, showed conspicuous valour in the fight which took place in that quarter.(933) The city was never again troubled by Fauconberg. After much wandering he was taken prisoner at Southampton, and thence conveyed to Middleham, in Yorkshire, where he was beheaded. His head was afterwards sent to London and set up on London Bridge, "looking into Kentward."(934) (M504) On the night after Edward’s return(935) in triumph to London, Henry VI ended his life in the Tower, murdered, in all probability, at the instance of the Duke of Gloucester, the king’s brother, afterwards King Richard III. His remains lay in state at St. Paul’s and at the Blackfriars a short while, and were then carried to Chertsey to be buried.(936) Edward distributed honours among his supporters in the city with a lavish hand. Not only did the Lord Mayor—the cautious Stokton—receive the honour of knighthood, but the aldermen(937) besides, whilst the city’s doughty Recorder was soon afterwards raised to be Baron of the Exchequer. The City was so pleased with its Recorder that it voted him a pipe of wine annually, but the gift was not to be drawn into precedent.(938) (M505) The rest of Edward’s reign was undisturbed by any attempt to unseat the new dynasty, and his position was rendered the more secure by the birth of a son (afterwards Edward V) in the sanctuary of Westminster, whither his wife Elizabeth had fled for refuge. Before the young Prince of Wales was five years old he received the honour of knighthood at Westminster. The mayor and aldermen went to meet him on his way from the city to Westminster on that occasion, clad in scarlet robes, whilst the streets from Bishopsgate to Saint Paul’s were thronged with the commons in their livery.(939) (M506)