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Home Lancaster and York Outlines; Part 2 |
Outlines; Part 2We have already observed in the time of King Stephen in England, and after the death of Alexander III in Scotland, the troubles which came when there was a disputed succession owing to the lack of direct royal descendants. The Wars of the Roses sprang from a cause similar, yet different - a succession disputed among too many royal descendants. A king might have no sons: he might on the other hand have too many: either fate might prove a curse to the country. The first indeed was a curse absolute; trouble was inevitable. The second only a curse contingent; whether trouble came of it or not would depend on what became of the superabundance of children. Still, the danger was always there: we have seen how the younger Henry, Geoffrey, Richard, and John poisoned Henry II's later days by their quarrels with him and each other, after he had attempted to give them each dominions of their own. Fortunately only two of them survived him.A large family confronted a king with the task of settling his children in marriage. To marry off a number of sons to foreign princesses and so extend alliances was no doubt the ideal course, but it was not always easy to find matches for them. To marry off daughters to foreign princes was equally satisfactory, but it was always expensive: dowries had to be provided. On the contrary, to marry daughters and sons at home to nobles and noble heiresses was easy. Most noble families were glad of such royal alliances, even if the dowry were small. The policy was cheap - and bad. It was a simple way into a difficulty. It converted the noble families into semi-royal families; it was sowing a crop of royal cousins who, living in England, and being in possession of great estates, were certain to become embarrassing to the Crown. For example, grandchildren of Edward I were connected with the houses of Despenser (Gloucester), de Burgh, Courtenay, Bohun, Segrave, and Holland; and grandchildren of Edward III were allied with the houses of Mortimer, Holland, Despenser, Bohun, and Neville. The policy of bestowing great earldoms on royal princes, which was begun by Henry III, and continued by Edward I and Edward III, finds its best illustration in the position of John of Gaunt, and his son Henry of Lancaster. John of Gaunt was Edward Ill's third son. He married Blanche of Lancaster, who, being herself of royal blood (She was Henry Ill's great-great-granddaughter), brought him the possessions of Lancaster, and the earldoms of Derby and Leicester. The son of this match, Henry, married Mary Bohun, and gained half the possessions of Hereford. Thus we see how formidable this Henry was to his cousin Richard II. Besides being of royal blood on both sides of his house, he was master of four great earldoms. Richard had made him Duke of Hereford even while his father, the Duke of Lancaster, was still alive. |
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