Yorkists. Pembroke was
defeated by Edward at Mortimer's Cross, in Herefordshire, with the loss
of near four thousand men: his army was dispersed; he himself escaped
by flight; but his father, Sir Owen Tudor, was taken prisoner, and
immediately beheaded by Edward's orders. This barbarous practice, being
once begun, was continued by both parties, from a spirit of revenge,
which covered itself under the pretence of retaliation.[**]

* Poivd. Virg. p 510.

** Holingshed, p. 660. Grafton, p. 650.

Margaret compensated this defeat by a victory which she obtained over
the earl of Warwick. That nobleman on the approach of the Lancastrians,
led out his army, reenforced by a strong body of the Londoners, who
were affectionate to his cause; and he gave battle to the queen at St.
Albans. While the armies were warmly engaged, Lovelace, who commanded
a considerable body of the Yorkists, withdrew from the combat; and this
treacherous conduct, of which there are many instances in those civil
wars, decided the victory in favor of the queen. About two thousand
three hundred of the vanquished perished in the battle and pursuit; and
the person of the king fell again into the hands of his own party. This
weak prince was sure to be almost equally a prisoner whichever faction
had the keeping of him; and scarce any more decorum was observed by one
than by the other, in their method of treating him. Lord Bonville, to
whose care he had been intrusted by the Yorkists, remained with him
after the defeat, on assurances of pardon given him by Henry: but
Margaret, regardless of her husband's promise, immediately ordered the
head of that nobleman to be struck off by the executioner.[*] Sir Thomas
Kiriel, a brave warrior, who had signalized himself in the French wars,
was treated in the same manner.

The queen made no great advantage of this victory: young Edward advanced
upon her from the other side; and collecting the remains of Warwick's
army, was soon in a condition of giving her battle with superior forces.
She was sensible of her danger, while she lay between the enemy and the
city of London; and she found it necessary to retreat with her army to
the north.[**]

* Holingshed, p. 660.

** Grafton, p. 652.

Edward entered the capital amidst the acclamations of the citizens, and
immediately opened a new scene to his party. This prince, in the bloom
of youth, remarkable for the beauty of this person, for his bravery, his