of the hospital was no longer expended for the relief of the poor, but
was secreted by the managers, and employed to their private purposes.
After long repining at the contribution, they refused payment;
ecclesiastical and civil censures were issued against them; their goods
were distrained, and their persons thrown into jail; till, as their
ill-humor daily increased, they rose in arms, fell upon the officers
of the hospital, whom they put to the sword, and proceeded in a body,
fifteen thousand strong, to the gates of York. Lord Montagu, who
commanded in those parts, opposed himself to their progress; and having
been so fortunate in a skirmish as to seize Robert Hulderne, their
leader, he ordered him immediately to be led to execution, according to
the practice of the times.

The rebels, however, still continued in arms; and being soon headed by
men of greater distinction--Sir Henry Nevil, son of Lord Latimer, and Sir
John Coniers--they advanced southward, and began to appear formidable to
the Government. Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was ordered by Edward to march
against them at the head of a body of Welshmen; and he was joined by five
thousand archers, under the command of Stafford, Earl of Devonshire. But
a trivial difference about quarters having begotten an animosity between
these two noblemen, the Earl of Devonshire retired with his archers, and
left Pembroke alone to encounter the rebels.

The two armies approached each other near Banbury, 1469, and Pembroke,
having prevailed in a skirmish, and having taken Sir John Nevil prisoner,
ordered him immediately to be put to death, without any form of process.
This execution enraged without terrifying the rebels; they attacked the
Welsh army, routed them, put them to the sword without mercy; and, having
seized Pembroke, they took immediate revenge upon him for the death
of their leader. The King, imputing this misfortune to the Earl of
Devonshire, who had deserted Pembroke, ordered him to be executed in a
like summary manner.

Soon after there broke out another rebellion. It arose in Lincolnshire,
and was headed by Sir Robert Welles. The army of the rebels amounted to
thirty thousand men. The King fought a battle with the rebels, defeated
them, took Sir Robert Welles and Sir Thomas Launde prisoners, and
ordered them immediately to be beheaded. Edward during these transactions
had entertained so little jealousy of the Earl of Warwick or the Duke of
Clarence that he sent