opes.--Progress of the formation of parties.--Queen Margaret's
resolution and energy.--Wars.--Richard's two brothers, Edward and
Edmund.--The walls of York.--Prince Richard at York.--Boldness of the
queen.--The advice of Richard's counselors.--Richard's reply.--The
battle.--Richard defeated.--Death of Edmund.--Death of Richard.--The
head set upon a pole at York.

Richard's father was a prince of the house of York. In the course of
his life he was declared heir to the crown, but he died before he
attained possession of it, thus leaving it for his children. The
nature of his claim to the crown, and, indeed, the general relation of
the various branches of the family to each other, will be seen by the
genealogical table on the next page but one.

Edward the Third, who reigned more than one hundred years before
Richard the Third, and his queen Philippa, left at their decease four
sons, as appears by the table.[C] They had other children besides
these, but it was only these four, namely, Edward, Lionel, John, and
Edmund, whose descendants were involved in the quarrels for the
succession. The others either died young, or else, if they arrived at
maturity, the lines descending from them soon became extinct.

[Footnote C: See page 35.]

Of the four that survived, the oldest was Edward, called in history
the Black Prince. A full account of his life and adventures is given
in our history of Richard the Second. He died before his father, and
so did not attain to the crown. He, however, left his son Richard his
heir, and at Edward's death Richard became king. Richard reigned
twenty years, and then, in consequence of his numerous vices and
crimes, and of his general mismanagement, he was deposed, and Henry,
the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Edward's third son,
ascended the throne in his stead.

Now, as appears by the table, John of Gaunt was the third of the four
sons, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, being the second. The descendants of
Lionel would properly have come before those of John in the
succession, but it happened that the only descendants of Lionel were
Philippa, a daughter, and Roger, a grandchild, who was at this time an
infant. Neither of these were able to assert their claims, although in
theory their claims were acknowledged to be prior to those of the
descendants of John. The people of England, however, were so desirous
to be rid of Richard, that they were willing to submit to the reign of
any member of t