his
greatest victory, idolized by his followers, having once more
preserved his country from imminent ruin. Could he have desired a more
glorious death?

He went to his last rest with the consciousness that he had fulfilled
his mission, having designed great things and having accomplished
them.

And the result of his lifelong efforts survived him. His great enemy
the Turk for half a century after his death could only harass the
frontier of his native land; and his country, a few years after his
death placed on the royal throne his son Matthias.

[Signature of the author.]

WARWICK, THE KING-MAKER

(1420-1471)

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, called the king-maker, eldest son of
Richard, Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montacute, was born November 22,
1428. The history of this mighty peer is that of the whole of the
contest between the two houses of York and Lancaster. The house of
Neville had been built up by a series of wealthy marriages, and
Richard made no exception to the rule. While yet a boy he was married
to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and through her, after the
death of her brother and niece, he took his place at the age of
twenty-one among the chief earls of the English realm. By this time
the English rule in France had broken down, bringing the reigning
house of Lancaster into great unpopularity, and throwing a
correspondingly greater influence into the hands of the leader of the
opposition, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. He was brother-in-law
to the Earl of Salisbury, and so attached to his party the powerful
influence of the Nevilles.

[Illustration: Huniades at Belgrade.]

The Duke of York at first made no claim to the throne, demanding only
that he should have his place in the councils of the king, and even
when swords were drawn the Yorkists swore their allegiance to the
king, Henry VI., while fighting against his advisers. Of these
favorites of the king, the chief was the Earl of Somerset, whom many
suspected of a design to establish himself as the successor to the
throne. It was between these two factions of York and Somerset, that
the white and red roses were first employed as distinguishing badges.

[Illustration: Warwick. [TN]]

_Plantagenet._ Let him, that is a true born gentleman,
And stands upon the honor of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.