The next prince whom we shall have occasion to mention is Edward IV., King of England, a great and powerful monarch. In his minority he saw his father the Duke of York[171] defeated and slain in battle, and with him the father[172] of the Earl of Warwick, who governed the king in his youth, and managed all his affairs; and, to say the truth, it was the Earl of Warwick who made Edward king, and dethroned his old master, King Henry VI., who had reigned many years in England, and (in my judgment, and the judgment of the world,) was the lawful king; but, in such cases, the disposal of kingdoms and great states is in the hands of God, who orders them as He pleases, for indeed all things proceed from Him. The reason of the Earl of Warwick’s espousing the interest of the House of York against King Henry, who was of the Lancastrian family, was upon a difference that happened at court betwixt the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Warwick. The king not having wisdom enough to compose it, it grew to that height that the queen[173] (who was of the house of Anjou, and daughter to René, King of Sicily) interposed in it, and inclined to the duke’s party against the Earl of Warwick; for all had acknowledged Henry, his father, and his grandfather, for their lawful kings. The queen would have acted much more prudently in endeavouring to have adjusted the dispute between them than in saying, “I am of this party, and will maintain it;” and it proved so by the event, for it occasioned many battles in England, and a war which continued nine-and-twenty years[174]; and in the end nearly all the partisans of both sides were destroyed; so that factions and parties are very perilous and fatal, especially to the nobility, who are too prone to propagate and foment them. If it be alleged that by this means both parties are kept in awe, and the secret minds of his subjects are discovered to the prince, I agree that a young prince may encourage faction among his ladies, and it may be pleasant and diverting enough, and may give him opportunity of finding out some of their intrigues; but nothing is so dangerous to a nation as to nourish such factions and partialities among men of courage and magnanimity; it is no less than setting one’s own house on fire; for immediately some or other cry out, “The king is against us,” seize upon some fortified town, and correspond with his enemies. And certainly the factions of Orleans and Burgundy ought to make us wise on this point; for they began a war which lasted seventy-two years[175], in which the English were concerned, and thought by those unhappy divisions to have conquered the kingdom.