Young Folks' History of EnglandYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
History
Young Folks' History of England
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Great Britain -- History -- Juvenile literature
It was in this reign that books began to be printed in England instead
of written. Printing had been found out in Germany a little before,
and books had been shown to Henry VI., but the troubles of his time
kept him from attending to them. Now, however, Edward's sister, the
Duchess of Burgundy, much encouraged a printer named Caxton, whose
books she sent her brother, and other presses were set up in London.
Another great change had come in. Long ago, in the time of Henry III.,
a monk name Roger Bacon had made gunpowder; but nobody used it much
until, in the reign of Edward III., it was found out how cannon might
be fired with it; and some say it was first used in the battle of Crecy.
But it was not till the reign of Edward IV. that smaller guns, such
as each soldier could carry one of for himself, were invented--
harquebuses, as they were called;--and after this the whole way of
fighting was gradually altered. Printing and gunpowder both made
great changes in everything, though not all at once. King Edward
did not live to see the changes. He had hurt his health with his
revellings and amusements, and died quite in middle age, in the year
1483: seeing, perhaps, at last, how much better a king he might have
been.
CHAPTER XXIII.
EDWARD V. A.D. 1483.
Edward IV. left several daughters and two sons--Edward, Prince of
Wales, who was fourteen years old, and Richard, Duke of York, who was
eleven. Edward was at Ludlow Castle--where the princes of Wales were
always brought up--with his mother's brother, Lord Rivers; his half-
brother, Richard Grey; and other gentlemen.
When the tidings came of his father's death, they set out to bring
him to London to be crowned king.
But, in the meantime, the Duke of Gloucester and several of the
noblemen, especially the Duke of Buckingham, agreed that it was
unbearable that the queen and her brothers should go on having all
the power, as they had done in Edward's time. Till the king was old
enough to govern, his father's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, was
the proper person to rule for him, and they would soon put an end to
the Woodvilles. The long wars had made everybody cruel and regardless
of the laws, so that no one made much objection when Gloucester and
Buckingham met the king and took him from his uncle and half-brother,
who were sent off to Pontefract Castle, and in a short time their
heads were cut off there. Another of the late king's friends was
Lord Hastings; and as he sat at the council table in the Tower of
London, with the other lords, Richard came in, and showing his own
lean, shrunken arm, declared that Lord Hastings had bewitched him,
and made it so. The other lords began to say the _if_ he done so
it was horrible. But Richard would listen to no _ifs_, and said
he would not dine till Hasting's head was off. And his cruel word
was done.
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