422. He left for his heir a little son, named also Henry,
then only about nine months old. This infant was at once invested with
the royal authority as King of England and France, under the title of
Henry VI., as seen by the table. It was this Henry who, when he
arrived at maturity, became the husband of Margaret of Anjou, the
subject of this volume. It was during his reign, too, that the first
effective attempt was made to dispute the right of the house of
Lancaster to the throne, and it was in the terrible contests which
this attempt brought on that Margaret displayed the extraordinary
military heroism for which she became so renowned. I shall relate the
early history of this king, and explain the nature of the combination
which was formed during his reign against the Lancastrian line, in a
subsequent chapter, after first giving a brief account of such of the
manners and customs of those times as are necessary to a proper
understanding of the story.

CHAPTER II.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE TIME.

[Sidenote: The nobles.]

[Sidenote: Their mode of life.]

In the days when Margaret of Anjou lived, the kings, princes, nobles,
and knights who flourished in the realms of England and France, though
they were, relatively to the mass of the people, far more wealthy,
proud, and powerful than their successors are at the present day,
still lived in many respects in a very rude and barbarous manner. They
enjoyed very few of the benefits and privileges which all classes
enjoy in the age in which we live. They had very few books, and very
little advantage of instruction to enable them to read those that they
had. There were no good roads by which they could travel comfortably
from place to place, and no wheeled carriages. They lived in castles,
very strongly built indeed, and very grand and picturesque sometimes
in external appearance, but very illy furnished and comfortless
within. The artisans were skillful in fabricating splendid caparisons
for the horses, and costly suits of glittering armor for the men, and
the architects could construct grand cathedrals, and ornament them
with sculptures and columns which are the wonder of the present age.
But in respect to all the ordinary means and appliances of daily life,
even the most wealthy and powerful nobles lived in a very barbarous
way.

[Sidenote: Retainers of the nobles.]

The mass of the common people were held in a state of abject
submission to the will of the