later Warwick was beheaded, dying as he had lived a victim to his name;
suffering for no treason or wrong-doing of his own, but simply because he
was the nephew of Edward IV.

[Sidenote: 1498 The situation]

When the year 1497 closed, the preliminaries of a Scottish peace had been
agreed upon; Perkin Warbeck was a prisoner: and the French King had already
found his position in Italy untenable, and agreed to evacuate Naples and
surrender the crown. His death and the accession of the Duke of Orleans as
Lewis XII. in April of the next year further altered the face of
international politics, already changing with the final collapse of Warbeck
and his disappearance as a pawn in the game.




CHAPTER III

HENRY VII (iii), 1498-1509-THE DYNASTY ASSURED

[Sidenote: Scotland and England]

From time immemorial almost, it might be said that Scotland had been a
perpetual menace to her southern neighbour. Since the days of Bruce she
had, it is true, been torn by ceaseless dissensions; a succession of long
royal minorities with intrigues over the regency, family feuds between the
great barons, strong kings who found themselves warring on a turbulent
nobility, weak ones who could exercise no control, had not given the
country much chance of consolidation; but the one binding sentiment that