-For two years Henry
exercised such authority as he was capable of exercising. In =1458= he
tried his hand at effecting a reconciliation. The chiefs of the two
parties walked hand in hand in procession to St. Paul's, York himself
leading the queen. The Yorkists founded masses for the repose of the
souls of their enemies slain at St. Albans, and paid money to their
widows. It seemed as if the old practice of the weregild (see p. 32)
had been unexpectedly revived. The spirit which had made weregild
possible was, however, no longer to be found. Warwick retired to
Calais, of which he was governor, and sent out vessels to plunder the
merchant ships of all nations. When he was summoned to Westminster to
give account of his actions, a quarrel broke out there between his
servants and those of the king. Believing his own life to be in
danger, he made his way back to Calais. The Yorkists spent the winter
in preparing for war. In the summer of =1459= Lord Audley, sent by the
queen to seize the Earl of Salisbury, was defeated by him at Blore
Heath, in Staffordshire. Later in the year the two parties with their
whole forces prepared for a battle near Ludlow, but the Yorkists found
themselves no match for their enemies, and, without fighting, York,
with his second son, the Earl of Rutland, took refuge in Ireland. His
eldest son Edward, Earl of March, with Salisbury and Warwick, made his
way to Calais.

[Illustration: Effigy of Sir Robert Harcourt, K.G. (died 1471): from
his tomb at Stanton Harcourt, Oxon; showing armour worn from about
1445 to 1480.]

10. =The Battle of Northampton and the Duke of York's Claim to the
Throne. 1460.=--In =1460= the Yorkist Earls of Salisbury, Warwick, and
March were once more in England. They defeated the royal army at
Northampton and captured the king. York returned from Ireland, and,
as soon as Parliament met, took an unexpected step. If hereditary
descent was to count for anything, his claim to the throne was
superior to that of Henry himself, as he was the heir of Edward III.
through his mother Anne, the sister of the last Earl of March.[31] The
Duke of York now placed his hand on the throne, claiming it in right
of birth. The Lords decided that Henry, to whom they had sworn oaths
of fealty, should retain the crown, but that York should succeed him,
to the exclusion of Henry's son, Edward, Prince of Wales.

[Footnote 31: Genealogy of the Houses of Lancaster and York:--