lent to
banishment and imprisonment, were actively employed in promoting his
return. The disgraceful loss of the English possessions in France, and
probably still more the haughty and unconciliatory policy adopted by the
Queen, had strengthened the Yorkist party, and emboldened them to
action. The Duke was requested to return to England, where the
insurgents in Kent had already risen under the leadership of the famous
Jack Cade, whose origin is involved in hopeless obscurity, and whose
character has been so blackened by writers on the Lancastrian side that
it is equally incomprehensible. He called himself John Mortimer, and
asserted that he was cousin to the Viceroy. A proclamation, offering one
thousand marks for his person, "quick or dead," described him as born in
Ireland. In consequence of the nonpayment of the annuity which had been
promised to the Duke during his Viceroyalty, he had been obliged to
demand assistance from the Irish, who naturally resisted so unjust a
tax. After useless appeals to the King and Parliament, he returned to
England suddenly, in September, 1450, leaving Sir James Butler, the
eldest son of the Earl of Ormonde, as his Deputy.

The history of the Wars of the Roses does not belong to our province; it
must, therefore, suffice to say, that when his party was defeated in
England for a time, he fled to Ireland, where he was enthusiastically
received, and exercised the office of Viceroy at the very time that an
act of attainder was passed against him and his family. He soon returned
again to his own country; and there, after more than one brilliant
victory, he was slain at the battle of Wakefield, on the 31st December,
1460. Three thousand of his followers are said to have perished with
him, and among the number were several Irish chieftains from Meath and
Ulster. The Geraldines sided with the House of York, and the Butlers
with the Lancastrians: hence members of both families fell on this fatal
field on opposite sides.

The Earl of Kildare was Lord Justice on the accession of Edward IV., who
at once appointed his unfortunate brother, the Duke of Clarence, to that
dignity. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond were at war (A.D. 1462), and a
pitched battle was fought between them at Pilltown, in the county
Kilkenny, where the former was defeated with considerable loss. His
kinsman, MacRichard Butler, was taken prisoner; and we may judge of the
value of a book,[370] and the respect for literature in Ir