Besides the Black Prince, the conqueror of Cressy had by his queen, Philippa--the patroness of Froissart--several sons, among whom were Lionel, Duke of Clarence; John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; and Edmund of Langley, Duke of York.[2] Lionel died early; but John of Gaunt survived his father and eldest brother, and was suspected of having an eye to the crown which his young nephew wore. No usurpation, however, was attempted. But when John was in the grave, his son, Henry of Bolingbroke, returning from an irksome exile, deposed Richard, and sent him prisoner to Pontefract Castle, where he is understood to have been murdered. On the death of Richard, who was childless, Henry the Fourth, as son of John of Gaunt, would have had hereditary right on his side, but that Lionel of Clarence had left a daughter, Philippa, wife of Mortimer, Earl of March, and ancestress of three successive earls. Of these, Edmund, the last earl, was a boy when Henry of Bolingbroke usurped the throne; and his sister, Anne Mortimer, was wife of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cambridge, second son of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. "This was that princely branch," says Sandford, "by the ingrafting of which into the stock of York, that tree brought forth not only White Roses, but crowns and sceptres also." Henry the Fourth regarded young March with jealousy, and had him vigilantly guarded. But Henry the Fifth completely won the earl's loyalty, and made him a most zealous adherent. March showed no ambition to reign; and the nation, intoxicated with Agincourt and glory and conquest, cared not an iota for his claims. At the time when the hero-king expired at Vincennes and the Earl of March died in England the dynastic dispute was scarcely remembered, and it would never, in all probability, have been revived had the Lancastrian government not become such as could not be submitted to without degradation. It was when law and decency were defied, and when Englishmen were in danger of being enslaved by a "foreign woman," that they remembered the true heir of the Plantagenets and took up arms to vindicate his claims. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE MONK-MONARCH AND HIS MISLEADERS 17 II. THE DUKE OF YORK AND THE KING-MAKER 27 III. THE CAPTAIN OF KENT 35 IV. THE RIVAL DUKES 46 V. THE KING'S MALADY 53 VI. THE BATTLE OF ST. ALBANS 60 VII. THE QUEEN AND THE YORKIST CHIEFS 67 VIII. THE CITY AND THE COURT 76 IX. A YORKIST VICTORY AND A LANCASTRIAN REVENGE 80 X. THE BATTLE OF NORTHAMPTON 88 XI. YORK'S CLAIM TO THE CROWN 94 XII. THE QUEEN'S FLIGHT AND RETURN 99