Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

324 THE NEW MONARCHY.
attempt so at variance with the genius of the country
is largely owing to the conflict of the Eoses. The
tradition created by the civil horrors of 1455-1472
was the tolerance of any grievance so long as it wTas
inflicted by a strong royal hand, whose hold on the
sceptre no man could dispute. The new monarchy
created a new nobility, wrho were subservient to
their creators. The old feudal lords remained for
the most part on the bloody battle-fields, never
more to rise, and those who survived received a
"
death-blow of another sort from the policy of Henry
Tudor.
A mere fragment of the old Baronage remained : 1
the Statute of Liveries consummated what the
Roses had left undone, and, finally, broke the feudal "
power. The Battle of Towton, in 1461, at which
the losses were reckoned at 36,776 men,'2 of purely
English blood, decided the fortunes of the White
Eose, 7 whilst Tewkesburv, */ ' or rather the cold-blooded
assassination of Prince Edward, dispelled the last
hope of his mother, Margaret of Anjou, 1471.
Henry's reign ended on 4th March, 1461, although
he himself lingered for many years a prisoner in the
Tower.
The man who succeeded Archbishop Kemp as
Primate was enthroned at Canterbury in 1455, the
very year of the first battle between the Eoses, and
he occupied the see under four kings and two
.
1 Green, History of the English People, p. 284.
2 Habbington, Reign of Edward IV., p. 433.