A Burgundian chronicler who knew him well describes him as the craftiest man of his day, "le plus soubtil homme de son vivant." Secret, patient, without faith or loyalty, ruthless, unscrupulous, what Warwick excelled in was intrigue, treachery, the contrivance of plots, and sudden desertions.
His temper brought out in terrible relief the moral disorganization of the time.

The old order of the world was passing away.

Since the fall of the Roman Empire civil society had been held together by the power of the given word, by the "fealty" and "loyalty" that bound vassal to lord and lord to king.

A common faith in its possession of supernatural truths and supernatural powers had bound men together in the religious society which knew itself as the Church.

But the spell of religious belief was now broken and the feudal conception of society was passing away.