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Endell Tyler</title> + + +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {font-size: 1em; text-align: justify; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} + +h1 {font-size: 1.4em; text-align: center; margin-top: 2em;} +h2 {font-size: 1.2em; text-align: center; margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h3 {font-size: 1em; text-align: center; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h4 {text-align: center; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h5 {font-size: 1em; text-align: center; margin-top: 2em;} +h6 {font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center; margin-top: 2em;} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +.pagenum {position: absolute; right:0; font-size: 0.8em; +text-align: right; color: #C0C0C0; background-color: inherit;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 0.9em;} +.smsize {font-size: 0.9em;} + +.jump {vertical-align: -50%;} + +.left05 {margin-left: 5%;} +.left15 {margin-left: 15%;} +.left20 {margin-left: 20%;} +.left25 {margin-left: 25%;} +.left30 {margin-left: 30%;} +.left35 {margin-left: 35%;} + +.left0-70 {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 30%;} + +.letter {margin-left: 5%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.poem {margin-left: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} +.poem1 {margin-left: 2em;} +.poem-1 {margin-left: -2em;} + +a {text-decoration: none;} + +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +table {table-layout: fixed; width: 90%; margin-left: 5%;} + +.td-left {text-align: left;} +.td-right {text-align: right;} + +.col10-45 {position: absolute; margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 55%;} +.col50-90 {position: absolute; margin-left: 50%; + margin-right: 10%;} + +.col30 {position: absolute; margin-left: 30%; + margin-right: 34%; right: 0px;} +.col65 {position: absolute; margin-left: 65%; + margin-right: 31%; right: 0px;} +.col70 {position: absolute; margin-left: 70%; + margin-right: 5%; left: 0px;} + +--> +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2, by J. Endell Tyler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2 + Memoirs of Henry the Fifth + +Author: J. Endell Tyler + +Release Date: January 31, 2007 [EBook #20489] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HENRY OF MONMOUTH, VOLUME 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Christine P. Travers, Ted Garvin and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p>[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. +The original spelling has been retained.</p> + +<p>Different spelling as been kept, e.g.:<br> +- Ruisseauville and Ruissauville<br> +- Azincour and Azincourt, etc ...</p> + +<p>Some words on page 94 were partly unclear / illegible.<br> +- Page 249: ii. vol. changed to vol. ii.<br> +- Page 412: The anchor for the footnote 305 was missing and has been added.]</p> + + +<a id="img001_02" name="img001_02"></a> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/img001_02.jpg" width="400" height="189" +alt="Great seal of Owen Glyndowr as Prince of Wales" title="Great seal of Owen Glyndowr as Prince of Wales"> +</div> +<p class="figcenter">Great seal of Owen Glyndowr as Prince of Wales</p> + + + + +<h1>HENRY OF MONMOUTH:</h1> + +<h5>OR,</h5> + +<h1>MEMOIRS</h1> + +<h5>OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF</h5> + +<h1>HENRY THE FIFTH,</h1> + +<h5>AS</h5> + +<h5>PRINCE OF WALES AND KING OF ENGLAND.</h5> + + + +<h5>BY J. ENDELL TYLER, B.D.</h5> + +<h6>RECTOR OF ST. GILES IN THE FIELDS.</h6> + + +<h6> +"Go, call up Cheshire and Lancashire,<br> + And Derby hills, that are so free;<br> +But neither married man, nor widow's son;<br> + No widow's curse shall go with me." +</h6> + + +<h5>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h5> + +<h5>VOL. II.</h5> + + +<h5> +LONDON:<br> +RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,</h5> +<h6>Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</h6> + +<h5>1838.</h5> + + + + + +<h6> +LONDON:<br> +PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,<br> +Dorset Street, Fleet Street.</h6> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiii" name="pageiii">(p. iii)</a></span> + + +<h2>CONTENTS + +OF + +THE SECOND VOLUME.</h2> + + + +<h5>CHAPTER XVII.</h5> + +<h4>1413-1414.</h4> + + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page001">Henry of Monmouth's Accession. — National rejoicings. — His profound +sense of the Awfulness of the Charge devolved upon him. — Coronation. +— First Parliament. — Habits of business. — He removes the remains +of Richard to Westminster. — Redeems the Son of Hotspur, and restores +him to his forfeited honours and estates. — Generous conduct towards +the Earl of March. — Parliament at Leicester. — Enactments against +Lollards. — Henry's Foundations at Shene and Sion.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XVIII.</h5> + +<h4>1414-1417.</h4> + + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page032">State of the Church. — Henry a sincere Christian, but no Bigot. — +Degraded state of Religion. — Council of Constance. — Henry's +Representatives zealous promoters of Reform. — Hallam, Bishop of +Salisbury, avowed enemy of the Popedom. — Richard Ullerston: +primitive views of Clerical duties. — Walden, his own Chaplain, +accuses Henry of remissness in the extirpation of Heresy. — +Forester's Letter to the King. — Henry Beaufort's unhappy +interference. — Petition from Oxford. — Henry's personal exertions +in the business of Reform. — Reflections on the then apparent dawn of +the Reformation.</a></p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pageiv" name="pageiv">(p. iv)</a></span> + +<h5>CHAPTER XIX.</h5> + +<h4>1414.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page070">Wars with France. — Causes which influenced Henry. — Summary of the +affairs of France from the time of Edward III. — Reflections on +Henry's Title. — Affairs of France from Henry's resolution to claim +his "Dormant Rights," and "Rightful Heritage," to his invasion of +Normandy. — Negociations. — His Right denied by the French. — +Parliament votes him Supplies.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XX.</h5> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page089">Modern triple charge against Henry of Falsehood, Hypocrisy, and +Impiety. — Futility of the Charge, and utter failure of the Evidence +on which alone it is grounded. — He is urged by his people to +vindicate the Rights of his Crown, himself having a conscientious +conviction of the Justice of his Claim. — Story of the Tennis-Balls. +— Preparations for invading France. — Henry's Will made at +Southampton. — Charge of Hypocrisy again grounded on the close of +that Testament. — Its Futility. — He despatches to the various +Powers of Europe the grounds of his Claim on France.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXI.</h5> + +<h4>1415.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page119">Preparations for invading France. — Reflections on the Military and +Naval State of England. — Mode of raising and supporting an Army. — +Song of Agincourt. — Henry of Monmouth the Founder of the English +Royal Navy. — Custom of impressing Vessels for the transporting of +Troops. — Henry's exertions in Ship-building. — Gratitude due to +him. — Conspiracy at Southampton. — Prevalent delusion as to Richard +II. — The Earl of March. — Henry's Forces. — He sails for Normandy.</a></p> + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagev" name="pagev">(p. v)</a></span> + +<h5>CHAPTER XXII.</h5> + +<h4>1415.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page143">Henry crosses the Sea: lands at Clef de Caus: lays Siege to Harfleur. +— Devoted Attendance on his dying Friend the Bishop of Norwich. — +Vast Treasure falls into his hands on the Surrender of Harfleur. — He +challenges the Dauphin. — Futile Modern Charge brought against him on +that ground.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXIII.</h5> + +<h4>1415.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page156">Henry, with Troops much weakened, leaves Harfleur, fully purposed to +make for Calais, notwithstanding the threatened resistance of the +French. — Passes the Field of Cressy. — French resolved to engage. +— Night before the Conflict. — <span class="smcap">FIELD of AGINCOURT.</span> — Slaughter of +Prisoners. — Henry, his enemies themselves being Judges, fully +exculpated from every suspicion of cruelty or unchivalrous bearing. — +He proceeds to Calais. — Thence to London. — Reception by his +Subjects. — His modest and pious Demeanour. — Superstitious +proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Authorities. — Reflections. — +Songs of Agincourt.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXIV.</h5> + +<h4>1415-1417.</h4> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevi" name="pagevi">(p. vi)</a></span> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page203">Reasons for delaying a Second Campaign. — Sigismund undertakes to +mediate. — Reception of Sigismund. — French Ships scour the seas, +and lay siege to Harfleur. — Henry's vigorous measures thereupon. — +The Emperor declares for "Henry and his Just Rights." — Joins with +him in Canterbury Cathedral on a Day of Thanksgiving for Victory over +the French. — With him meets the Duke of Burgundy at Calais. +— The Duke also declares for Henry. — Second Invasion of France. — +Siege of Caen. — Henry's Bulletin to the Mayor of London. — Hostile +Movement of the Scots.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXV.</h5> + +<h4>1418-1419.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page221">Henry's progress in his Second Campaign. — Siege of Rouen. — +Cardinal des Ursins. — Supplies from London. — Correspondence +between Henry and the Citizens. — Negociation with the Dauphin and +with the French King. — Henry's Irish Auxiliaries. — Reflections on +Ireland. — Its miserable condition. — Wise and strong measures +adopted by Henry for its Tranquillity. — Divisions and struggles, not +between Romanists and Protestants, but between English and Irish. — +Henry and the See of Rome. — Thraldom of Christendom. — The Duke of +Brittany declares for Henry. — Spaniards join the Dauphin. — +Exhausted State of England.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXVI.</h5> + +<h4>1419-1420.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page249">Bad faith of the Dauphin. — The Duke of Burgundy brings about an +Interview between Henry and the French Authorities. — Henry's first +Interview with the Princess Katharine of Valois. — Her Conquest. — +The Queen's over-anxiety and indiscretion. — Double-dealing of the +Duke of Burgundy; he joins the Dauphin; is murdered on the Bridge of +Montereau. — The Dauphin disinherited. — Henry's anxiety to prevent +the Escape of his Prisoners.</a></p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevii" name="pagevii">(p. vii)</a></span> +<h5>CHAPTER XXVII.</h5> + +<h4>1419-1420.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page262">Henry's extraordinary attention to the Civil and Private duties of his +station, in the midst of his career of Conquest, instanced in various +cases. — Provost and Fellows of Oriel College. — The Queen Dowager +is accused of Treason. — Treaty between Henry, the French King, and +the young Duke of Burgundy. — Henry affianced to Katharine. — The +Dauphin is reinforced from Scotland. — Henry, accompanied by his +Queen, returns through Normandy to England.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h5> + +<h4>1421-1422.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page286">Katharine crowned. — Henry and his Queen make a progress through a +great part of his Dominions. — Arrival of the disastrous news of his +Brother's Death (the Duke of Clarence). — Henry meets his Parliament. +— Hastens to the Seat of War. — Birth of his Son, Henry of Windsor. +— Joins his Queen at Bois de Vincennes. — Their magnificent +Reception at Paris. — Henry hastens in person to succour the Duke of +Burgundy. — Is seized by a fatal Malady. — Returns to Vincennes. — +His Last Hour. — HIS DEATH.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXIX.</h5> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page319">Was Henry of Monmouth a Persecutor? — Just principles of conducting +the Inquiry, and forming the Judgment. — Modern charge against Henry. +— Review of the prevalent opinions on Religious Liberty. — True +principles of Christian Freedom. — Duty of the State and of +Individuals to promote the prevalence of True Religion. — Charge +against Henry, as Prince of Wales, for presenting a Petition against +the Lollards. — The merciful intention of that Petition. — His +Conduct at the Death of Badby.</a></p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pageviii" name="pageviii">(p. viii)</a></span> + +<h5>CHAPTER XXX.</h5> + +<h4>1413.</h4> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page348">The Case of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. — Reference to his +former Life and Character. — Fox's Book of Martyrs. — The +Archbishop's Statement. — Milner. — Hall. — Lingard. Cobham offers +the Wager of Battle. — Appeals peremptorily to the Pope. — Henry's +anxiety to save him. — He is condemned, but no Writ of Execution is +issued by the King. — Cobham escapes from the Tower.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXXI.</h5> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page376">Change in Henry's behaviour towards the Lollards after the affair of +St. Giles' Field. — Examination of that affair often conducted with +great Partiality and Prejudice. — Hume and the Old Chroniclers. — +Fox, Milner, Le Bas. — Public Documents. — Lord Cobham, taken in +Wales, is brought to London in a Whirlicole; condemned to be hanged as +a Traitor, and burned as a Heretic. — Henry, then in France, +ignorant, probably, of Cobham's Capture till after his Execution. — +Concluding Reflections.</a></p> + + +<h5>CHAPTER XXXII.</h5> + +<p class="figcenter"> +<a href="#page393">The Case of John Clayton, Richard Gurmyn, and William Taylor, burnt +for Heresy, examined. — Result of the Investigation. — Henry not a +Persecutor. — Reflections.</a></p> + + +<h5>APPENDIX.</h5> + +<p> +No. I. <a href="#page417">Ballad of Agincourt.</a><br> + II. <a href="#page422">Siege of Rouen.</a><br> + III. <a href="#page425">Authenticity of the Manuscripts—Sloane + 1776, and Reg. 13, c. 1.</a></p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page001" name="page001">(p. 001)</a></span> + +<h1>MEMOIRS<br><br> + +OF<br><br> + +HENRY OF MONMOUTH.</h1> + + + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">henry of monmouth's accession. — national rejoicings. — his profound +sense of the awfulness of the charge devolved upon him. — coronation. +— first parliament. — habits of business. — he removes the remains +of richard to westminster. — redeems the son of hotspur, and restores +him to his forfeited honours and estates. — generous conduct towards +the earl of march. — parliament at leicester. — enactments against +lollards. — henry's foundations at shene and sion.</span><br><br> + +1413-1414.<br><br> + +<span class="smcap">HENRY, KING.</span></h3> + + +<p>Henry IV. died at Westminster on Monday, March 20, 1413, and Henry of +Monmouth's proclamation bears date on the morrow, March +21.<a id="notetag001" name="notetag001"></a><a href="#note001">[1]</a> Never +perhaps was the accession of any prince to the throne of a kingdom +hailed with a more general or enthusiastic welcome. If serious minds +had <span class="pagenum"><a id="page002" name="page002">(p. 002)</a></span> +entertained forebodings of evil from his reign, (as we +believe they had not,) all feelings seem to have been absorbed in one +burst of gladness. Both houses of parliament offered to swear +allegiance to him before he was crowned: a testimony of confidence and +affection never (it is said) before tendered to any English +monarch.<a id="notetag002" name="notetag002"></a><a href="#note002">[2]</a> This prevalence of joyous anticipations from the accession +of their young King could not have sprung from any change of conduct +or of principle then first made known. Those who charge Henry most +unsparingly represent his conversion as having begun only at his +father's hour of dissolution. But, before that father breathed his +last, the people of England were ready to welcome most heartily his +son, such as he was then, without, as it should seem, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page003" name="page003">(p. 003)</a></span> +either +hearing of, or wishing for, any change. His principles and his conduct +as a ruler had been put to the test during the time he had presided at +the council-board; and the people only desired in their new King a +continuance of the same wisdom, valour, justice, integrity, and +kind-heartedness, which had so much endeared him to the nation as +their Prince. In his subjects there appears to have been room for +nothing but exultation; in the new King himself widely different +feelings prevailed. Ever, as it should seem, under an awful practical +sense, as well of the Almighty's presence and providence and majesty, +as of his own responsibility and unworthiness, Henry seems to have +been suddenly oppressed by the increased solemnity and weight of the +new duties which he found himself now called upon to discharge. The +scene of his father's death-bed, (carried off, as that monarch was, in +the very meridian of life, by a lingering loathsome disease,) and the +dying injunctions of that father, may doubtless have added much to the +acuteness and the depth of his feelings at that time. And whether he +be deemed to have been the licentious, reckless rioter which some +writers have been anxious to describe, or whether we regard him as a +sincere believer, comparing his past life (though neither licentious +nor reckless) with the perfectness of the divine law, the retrospect +might well depress him with a consciousness of his own unworthiness, +and of his total inability +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page004" name="page004">(p. 004)</a></span> +to perform the work which he saw +before him, without the strength and guidance of divine grace. For +that strength and that guidance, we are assured, he prayed, and +laboured, and watched with all the intenseness and perseverance of an +humble faithful Christian. Those who are familiar with the expressions +of a contrite soul, will fully understand the sentiments recorded of +Henry of Monmouth at this season of his self-humiliation, and the +dedication of himself to God, and may yet be far from discovering in +them conclusive arguments in proof of his having passed his youth in +habits of gross violation of religious and moral principle. We have +already quoted the assertions of his biographer, that day and night he +sought pardon for the past, and grace for the future, to enable him to +bend his heart in faith and obedience to the Sovereign of all. And +even during the splendour and rejoicings of his coronation he appeared +to withdraw his mind entirely from the greatness of his worldly state, +thus forced upon him, and to fix his thoughts on the King of +kings.<a id="notetag003" name="notetag003"></a><a href="#note003">[3]</a></p> + +<p>But he never seems for a day to have been drawn aside by his private +devotions from the full discharge of the practical duties of his new +station. On the Wednesday he issued summonses for a parliament to meet +within three weeks of Easter. On Friday the 7th of April, he was +conducted to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page005" name="page005">(p. 005)</a></span> +the Tower by a large body of men of London, who +went on horseback to attend him. The next day he was accompanied back +to Westminster, with every demonstration of loyalty and devotedness to +his person, by a great concourse of lords and knights, many of whom he +had created on the preceding evening. On the following morning, being +Passion Sunday, April +9th,<a id="notetag004" name="notetag004"></a><a href="#note004">[4]</a> +he was crowned with +much<a id="notetag005" name="notetag005"></a><a href="#note005">[5]</a> magnificence +in Westminster +Abbey.<a id="notetag006" name="notetag006"></a><a href="#note006">[6]</a></p> + +<p>One of the first acts of a sovereign in England at that time was to +re-appoint the judges who were in office at the demise of his +predecessor, or to constitute new ones in their stead. Among other +changes, we find Hankford appointed as Chief Justice in the room of +Gascoyne, at least within ten days of the King's accession. For any +observation which this fact may suggest, so contrary to those +histories which repeat tales instead of seeking for the truth in +ancient records, we must refer to the chapter in which we have already +examined the credibility of the alleged insult offered by Prince Henry +to a Judge on the bench of +justice.<a id="notetag007" name="notetag007"></a><a href="#note007">[7]</a></p> + +<p>The <span class="pagenum"><a id="page006" name="page006">(p. 006)</a></span> +first parliament of Henry V. met in the Painted Chamber +at Westminster, on Monday, 15th of May. The King was on his throne; +but the Bishop of Winchester, his uncle, then Chancellor of England, +opened the business of the session. On this, as on many similar +occasions, the chancellor, generally a prelate, addressed the +assembled states in an oration, half speech and half sermon, upon a +passage of Scripture selected as a text. On the opening of this +parliament, the chancellor informed the peers and the commons that the +King's purpose in calling them together as the Great Council of the +nation was threefold:—First, he was desirous of supporting the +throne,—"his high and royal estate;" secondly, he was bent on +maintaining the law and good government within his realm; and thirdly, +he desired to cherish the friends and to resist the enemies of his +kingdom. It is remarkable that no mention is made in this parliament +at all on the part of the King, or his chancellor, of either heresy or +Lollardism. The speaker refers to some tumults, especially at +Cirencester, where the populace appear to have attacked the abbey; +complaints also were made against the conduct of ordinaries, and some +strong enactments were passed against +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page007" name="page007">(p. 007)</a></span> +the usurpations of +Rome, to which reference will again be made: but not a word in answer +to these complaints would lead to the inference that the spirit of +persecution was then in the ascendant. It was not till the last day of +April 1414, after the affair of St. Giles' Field, that the statute +against the Lollards was passed at +Leicester.<a id="notetag008" name="notetag008"></a><a href="#note008">[8]</a> +The chancellor at +that subsequent period speaks of their treasonable designs to destroy +the King having been lately discovered and discomfited; and the record +expressly declares that the ordinance was made with the consent and at +the prayer of the commons.</p> + +<p>But though neither the King nor his council gave any indication, in +his first parliament, of a desire to interfere with men's consciences +in matters of religion, the churchmen were by no means slumbering at +their post. Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, convened a council of +the bishops and clergy, who met by adjournment, in full numbers, at +St. Paul's, on the 26th of June +1413;<a id="notetag009" name="notetag009"></a><a href="#note009">[9]</a> +and adopted most rigorous +measures for the extirpation of heresy, levelled professedly with a +more especial aim +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page008" name="page008">(p. 008)</a></span> +against the ringleader of Lollardism, as +he was called, the valiant and unfortunate Lord Cobham. On these +proceedings we purpose to dwell separately in another part of this +work; and, in addition to what we shall there allege, little needs be +observed here by way of anticipation. In leaving the subject, however, +as far as Henry V.'s character is concerned, it may not be out of +place to remark, that historical facts, so far from stamping on him +the mark of a religious persecutor, prove that it required all the +united efforts of the clergy and laity to induce him to put the +existing laws in force against those who were bold enough to dissent +from the Romish faith. So far from his "having watched the Lollards as +his greatest enemies," so far from "having listened to every calumny +which the zeal and hatred of the hierarchy could invent or propagate +against the unfortunate followers of Wickliff," (the conduct and +disposition ascribed to him by Milner,) we have sufficient proof of +the dissatisfaction of the church with him in this respect; and their +repeated attempts to excite him to more vigorous measures against the +rising and spreading sect. By a minute of council, May 27, 1415, we +find that, whilst preparing for his expedition to France, he is +reminded to instruct the archbishops and bishops to take measures, +each within his respective diocese, to resist the malice of the +Lollards. The King merely answered, that he had given the subject in +charge to his chancellor; and we are assured that Dr. Thomas +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page009" name="page009">(p. 009)</a></span> +Walden,<a id="notetag010" name="notetag010"></a><a href="#note010">[10]</a> +one of the most learned and powerful divines of the day, +but very violent in his opposition to the new doctrines, openly +inveighed against Henry <i>for his great negligence in regard to the +duty of punishing +heretics</i>.<a id="notetag011" name="notetag011"></a><a href="#note011">[11]</a> +To his religious sentiments we must +again refer in the sequel, and also as the course of events may +successively suggest any observations on that head.</p> + +<p>When Henry IV. ascended the throne, parliament prayed that the Prince +might not leave the realm, but remain in England as the anchor of the +people's hopes; and, soon after his own +accession,<a id="notetag012" name="notetag012"></a><a href="#note012">[12]</a> +Henry V. is +advised by his council to remain near London, that he might receive +prompt intelligence of whatever might arise in any quarter, and be +able to take immediate steps for the safety of the commonweal. He +seems to have carried with him even from his earliest youth, wherever +he went, a peculiar talent of exciting confidence in every one. +Whether in the field of battle, or the chamber of council,—whether as +the young Prince, just initiated in affairs of war and government, or +as the experienced captain and statesman,—his contemporaries looked +to him as a kind of guardian spirit, to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page010" name="page010">(p. 010)</a></span> +protect them from +harm, and lead them onward to good success. No despondency, nor even +misgivings, show themselves in the agents of any enterprise in which +he was personally engaged. The prodigious effects of these feelings in +the English towards their prince were displayed in their full +strength, perhaps, at the battle of Agincourt; but similar results are +equally, though not so strikingly, visible in many other passages of +his life.</p> + +<p>Among the various causes to which historians have been accustomed to +attribute the general anticipations of good from Henry's reign, which +pervaded all classes, is the appointment of Gascoyne to the high +station of Chief Justice immediately upon his ascending the throne. +But we have already seen that, however gladly an eulogist would seize +on such an exalted instance of magnanimity and noble generosity, the +truth of history forbids our even admitting its probability in this +place. Henry certainly did not re-appoint Gascoyne. But, whilst we +cannot admit the tradition which would mark the true character of +Henry's mind by his behaviour to the Chief Justice, there is not +wanting many an authentic record which would amply account for his +almost unprecedented popularity at the very commencement of his reign. +Among these we must not omit to notice the resolution which he put in +practice of retiring for an hour or more every day, after his early +dinner, to receive petitions +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page011" name="page011">(p. 011)</a></span> +from any of his subjects, +however +humble,<a id="notetag013" name="notetag013"></a><a href="#note013">[13]</a> +who would appeal to him for his royal +interposition; to examine and consider the several cases patiently; +and to redress real grievances. Indeed, numberless little occurrences +meet us on every side, which seem to indicate very clearly that he +loved the right and hated iniquity; and that he was never more happy +than whilst engaged in deeds of justice, mercy, and charity. He seems +to have received the golden law for his rule, "See that they who are +in need and necessity have right;" and to have rejoiced in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page012" name="page012">(p. 012)</a></span> +keeping that law himself, and compelling all within the sphere of his +authority and influence to observe it also.</p> + +<p>Another incident recorded of Henry of Monmouth at this period, +strongly marking the kindness and generosity and nobleness of his +mind, was the removal of the remains of Richard II. from Langley to +Westminster. Without implying any consciousness, or even suspicion of +guilt, on the part of his father as to Richard's death, we may easily +suppose Henry to have regarded the deposition of that monarch as an +act of violence, justifiable only on the ground of extreme necessity: +he might have considered him as an injured man, by whose fall his +father and himself had been raised to the throne. Instead of allowing +his name and his mortal remains to be buried in oblivion, (with the +chance moreover of raising again in men's minds fresh doubts and +surmises of his own title to the throne, for he was not Richard's +right heir,) Henry resolved to pay all the respect in his power to the +memory of the friend of his youth, and by the only means at his +command to make a sort of reparation for the indignities to which the +royal corpse had been exposed. He caused the body to be brought in +solemn funeral state to Westminster, and there to be +buried,<a id="notetag014" name="notetag014"></a><a href="#note014">[14]</a> with +all the honour and circumstance accustomed to be paid to the earthly +remains of royalty, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page013" name="page013">(p. 013)</a></span> +by the side of his former Queen, Anne, +in the tomb prepared by Richard for her and for himself. The diligent +investigator will discover many such incidents recorded of Henry V; +some of a more public and important nature than others, but all +combining to stamp on his name in broad and indelible letters the +character of a truly high-minded, generous, grateful, warm-hearted +man.</p> + +<p>Another instance of the same feeling, carried, perhaps, in one point a +step further in generosity and Christian principle, was evinced in his +conduct towards the son of Sir Henry Percy, Hotspur, the former +antagonist of his house. This young nobleman had been carried by his +friends into Scotland, for safe keeping, on the breaking out of his +grandfather's (Northumberland's) rebellion; and was detained there, as +some say, in concealment, till Henry V. made known his determination +to restore him to his title and estates. The Scots, who were in +possession of his person, kept him as a prisoner and hostage; and +although Henry might have considered a foreign land the best home for +the son of the enemy of his family, yet so bent was he on effecting +the noble design of reinstating him in all which his father's and his +grandfather's treason had forfeited, that he consented to exchange for +him a noble Scot, who had been detained in England for thirteen years. +Mordak of Fife, son and heir of the Duke of Albany, had been taken +prisoner at the battle of Homildon Hill, in 1402, (it is curious to +remark,) by Hotspur, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page014" name="page014">(p. 014)</a></span> +and his father Northumberland; and now +Henry V. exchanges this personage for Hotspur's son, the heir of +Northumberland. This youth was only an infant when his father fell at +the battle of Shrewsbury; his mother was Elizabeth, eldest daughter of +Edmund +Mortimer,<a id="notetag015" name="notetag015"></a><a href="#note015">[15]</a> +Earl of March: and thus a king, under the +circumstances of Henry, but with a less noble mind, might have +regarded him with jealousy on both sides of his parentage, and been +glad (without exposing himself to the charge of any positive act of +harshness) to allow him to remain in a foreign country deprived of his +honours and his estates. But Henry's spirit soared above these +considerations; and, in the orphan of a generous rival, he saw only a +fit object on whom to exercise his generosity and Christian charity. A +negotiation was carried on between Henry and some who represented +young Percy; care being taken to ascertain the identity of the person +who should be offered in exchange for Mordak. After certain prescribed +oaths were taken, and pledges given, and the payment of a stipulated +sum, 10,000<i>l.</i>, the young man was invited to come to Henry's court +with all speed.</p> + +<p>There seems to have intervened some considerable impediment to this +proposed +exchange.<a id="notetag016" name="notetag016"></a><a href="#note016">[16]</a> +The commission to John Hull and William +Chancellor to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page015" name="page015">(p. 015)</a></span> +convey Mordak to the north bears date 21st of +May; and yet instructions for a negotiation with his father, the Duke +of Albany, then Regent of Scotland, for the exchange, were issued to +Sir Ralph Evre and others, as late as the 10th of the following +December. At the parliament, however, held March 16, 1416, Henry +Percy, in the presence of the King himself, does homage for his lands +and honours. And, before Henry's death, the Pell Rolls record payments +to this Earl of Northumberland, appointed guardian of Berwick and the +East March, as regularly as, in the early part of Henry IV.'s reign, +issues had been made to his father Hotspur, and his grandfather, the +aged Earl, for the execution of the same duties. The lands of the +Percies, on their attainder, were confiscated, and given to the King's +brother, the Duke of Bedford; to whom, on restoring his lands and +honours to the young Earl, Henry made an annual compensation in part +at least for the +loss.<a id="notetag017" name="notetag017"></a><a href="#note017">[17]</a></p> + +<p>Another example of generous behaviour in the young King towards those +whom he had in his power, and of whom less noble minds would have +entertained suspicion and jealousy, is seen in his conduct towards the +Earl of +March.<a id="notetag018" name="notetag018"></a><a href="#note018">[18]</a> +This young nobleman, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page016" name="page016">(p. 016)</a></span> +by the law of +primogeniture, was rightful heir to the throne; being descended from +Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. And so much was he a +cause of apprehension and uneasiness to Henry IV. and his council, +that it was thought necessary to keep him in close custody, and also +near the person of the King, whenever the court removed towards the +borders of the kingdom. It was in the name of this young man that his +uncle Edmund Mortimer excited all his tenantry and dependents to join +Owyn Glyndowr in rebellion against Henry IV; and on all occasions the +malcontents of the whole country, supposing Richard to be dead, held +forth the Earl of March as their liege sovereign. Henry V. could not +have been charged with unwarrantable suspicions or severity, had he +continued the same system of watchfulness over this formidable +personage, which had been observed under the reign of his predecessor. +Provided only that he treated him with kindness, few would have +wondered or complained if he had still kept him as a prisoner on +parole.<a id="notetag019" name="notetag019"></a><a href="#note019">[19]</a> +But Henry, to whose guardianship, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page017" name="page017">(p. 017)</a></span> +whilst Prince +of Wales, the young Earl had been intrusted, was no sooner seated on +the throne, than he admitted this young man into a full share of his +confidence; not with the suspicion of a rival, nor with the fear of an +enemy, but with the openness of an acknowledged and kind master +towards a trustworthy and devoted servant. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page018" name="page018">(p. 018)</a></span> +The references to +him which are found in the authentic records of that time (and they +are not a few) all tend to establish this +point.<a id="notetag020" name="notetag020"></a><a href="#note020">[20]</a> +Henry immediately +gave him, on his coming of age, full and free possession of all his +manors, castles, lands, advowsons, and honours; and seems to have had +him continually in his retinue as a companion and friend. On one +occasion we may suppose that Henry's suspicions and apprehensions of +danger from the young Earl must have been roused; and yet we find him +still continued in his confidence, and still left without any +restraint or estrangement. When the conspiracy against Henry was +discovered at Southampton, the Earl of Cambridge, (as we shall see +more in detail hereafter,) in his letter of confession, declares it to +have been the intention of the conspirators to carry the Earl of March +into Wales, and to proclaim him as their lawful king. How far the +young Earl was privy to this conspiracy, or to what extent he was "art +and part" in it, does not distinctly appear. An expression, indeed, in +the early part of the Earl of Cambridge's letter, "Having the Earl of +March by his own consent, and by the assent of myself," should seem to +imply that he was by no means ignorant of the plans of the +conspirators, nor averse to them. How far, moreover, Henry thought him +guilty, is matter of doubt; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page019" name="page019">(p. 019)</a></span> +but certain it is, that he deemed +it necessary to have the King's pardon regularly signed in the usual +manner for all treasons, felonies, and misdemeanors. The instrument +bears date August 7, 1415, at Southampton. This document, however, by +no means proves his guilt: on many occasions such patents of pardon +were granted to prevent malicious and vexatious prosecutions. +Nevertheless, at all events, it shows that Henry's thoughts must have +been especially drawn to the relative circumstances under which +himself and the Earl of March were placed; and yet he continued to +behave towards him with the same confidence and friendship as before. +Two years afterwards, Henry appointed him his lieutenant at sea, with +full powers; yet so as not to supersede the privileges and authority +of the high admiral, the Duke of +Exeter.<a id="notetag021" name="notetag021"></a><a href="#note021">[21]</a> +The following year, in +the summer, he was made lieutenant and guardian-general of all +Normandy; and in the December of the same year he was commissioned to +receive the homage and oaths of all in that country who owed suit and +service to the King. He fought side by side with Henry at the field of +Agincourt; and there seems to have grown stronger and riper between +them a spirit of friendship and mutual +confidence.<a id="notetag022" name="notetag022"></a><a href="#note022">[22]</a></p> + +<p>These <span class="pagenum"><a id="page020" name="page020">(p. 020)</a></span> +are a few among the many examples upon record of the +generous and noble spirit of Henry; whilst history may be challenged +to bring forward any instances of cruelty or oppression to neutralize +them. Sir Matthew Hale confessed that he could never discover any act +of public injustice and tyranny during the Lancastrian sway; and the +inquirer into Henry of Monmouth's character may be emboldened to +declare, that he can discover no act of wanton severity, or cruelty, +or unkindness in his life. The case of the prisoners in the day and on +the field of Agincourt, the fate of Lord Cobham, and the wars in +France, require each a separate examination; and in our inquiry we +must not forget the kind, and gentle, and compassionate spirit which +appears to breathe so naturally and uniformly from his heart: on the +other hand, we must not suffer ourselves to be betrayed into such a +full reliance on his character for mercy, as would lead us to give a +blind implicit sanction to all his deeds of arms. In our estimate of +his character, moreover, as indicated by his conduct previously to his +first invasion of France, and during his struggles and conquests +there, it is quite as necessary for us to bear in mind the tone, and +temper, and standard of political and moral government which prevailed +in his age, as it is essential for us, when we would estimate his +religious character, to recollect what were in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page021" name="page021">(p. 021)</a></span> +that age +throughout Christendom the acknowledged principles of the church in +communion with the see of Rome.</p> + +<p>On Monday, April 30, 1414, Henry met his parliament at +Leicester.<a id="notetag023" name="notetag023"></a><a href="#note023">[23]</a> +Why it was not held at Westminster, we have no positive reasons +assigned in +history;<a id="notetag024" name="notetag024"></a><a href="#note024">[24]</a> +and the suggestion of some, that the +enactments there made against the Lollards were too hateful to be +passed at the metropolis, is scarcely +reasonable.<a id="notetag025" name="notetag025"></a><a href="#note025">[25]</a> +The Bishop of +Winchester, as Chancellor, set forth in very strong language the +treasonable practices lately discovered and discomfited; and the +parliament enacted a very severe law against all disturbers of the +peace of the realm and of the unity of the church. It is generally +said that the reading of the Bible in English was forbidden in this +session under very severe penalties; but no such +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page022" name="page022">(p. 022)</a></span> +enactment +seems to have been recorded. The prelates, however, were the judges of +what heresy was; and to study the Holy Scriptures in the vernacular +language might well have seemed to them a very dangerous practice; to +be checked, therefore, with a strong hand. The judges, and other state +officers, were directed to take an oath to exert themselves for the +suppression of Lollardism.</p> + +<p>Again and again are we reminded, through the few years of Henry's +reign, that the cause of liberty was progressive; and any +encroachments of the royal prerogative upon the liberties of the +Commons were restrained and corrected, with the free consent and full +approbation of the King. A petition in English, presented to him in +this parliament, in many respects a curious document, with the King's +answer, bears testimony to the same point. "Our sovereign lord,—your +humble and true lieges that been come for the commons of your land, +beseech unto your right righteousness, that so as it hath ever been +their liberty and freedom that there should be no statute nor law made +otherwise than they gave their assent thereto, considering that the +commons of your land (the which is and ever hath been a member of your +parliament) been as well assenters as petitioners, that from this time +forward, by complaint of the commons of any mischief asking remedy by +mouth of their Speaker, or else by petition written, that there never +be no law made thereupon, and engrossed as statute +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page023" name="page023">(p. 023)</a></span> +and law, +neither by addition, neither by diminution, by no manner of term or +terms, the which should change the sentence and the intent asked by +the Speaker's mouth, or the petitions before said, given up in writing +without assent of the aforesaid commons." To this petition the +following answer was made: "The King, of his grace especial, granteth, +that from henceforth nothing be enacted to the petitions of his +commons that be contrary to their asking, whereby they should be bound +without their assent; saving alway to our liege lord his real +prerogative to grant or deny what him lust of their petitions and +askings aforesaid."</p> + +<p>This parliament was adjourned from Leicester, and re-assembled at +Westminster on the Octaves of St. Martin, 18th November 1414. The most +gratifying record of this great council of the realm is that which +informs us of the restoration of Henry Percy to his estates and +honours. The most important subject to which the thoughts of the peers +and commons were drawn was the King's determination to recover his +rights in the realm of France.</p> + +<p>The motives which influenced Henry to undertake this extraordinary +step can be known only to the Searcher of hearts. Some writers, in +their excessive zeal for Protestantism, anxiously bent on stamping +upon Henry the character of an ambitious tyrant and a religious +persecutor, employ no measured language +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page024" name="page024">(p. 024)</a></span> +in their +condemnation of his designs against France. Milner thus gives his +summary of the proceedings of this reign at home and abroad. "Henry +Chicheley, now Archbishop of Canterbury, continued at the head of that +see from February 1414, to April 1443. This man deserves to be called +the firebrand of the age in which he lived. To subserve the purposes +of his own pride and tyranny, he engaged King Henry in his famous +contest with France, by which a prodigious carnage was made of the +human race, and the most dreadful miseries were brought upon both +kingdoms. But Henry was a soldier, and understood the art of war, +though perfectly ignorant of religion; and that ardour of spirit, +which in +youth<a id="notetag026" name="notetag026"></a><a href="#note026">[26]</a> +had spent itself in vicious indulgences, was now +employed under the management of Chicheley in desolating France by one +of the most unjust wars ever waged by ambition, and in furnishing for +vulgar minds matter of declamation on the valour of the English +nation. While this scene was carrying on in France, the Archbishop at +home, partly by exile, partly by forced abjurations, and partly by the +flames, domineered over the Lollards, and almost effaced the vestiges +of godliness in the kingdom."</p> + +<p>These are very hard words, much more readily written than justified. +Such sentences of condemnation require +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page025" name="page025">(p. 025)</a></span> +a much clearer +insight into the workings of the human heart than falls to the lot of +any human being to possess, when he would examine into the motives of +a fellow-mortal. It is very easy by one sweeping clause to denounce +the war as unjust, and to ascribe it to the ambition of Henry, +reckless of human suffering. But truth requires us to weigh the whole +matter far more patiently, and to substitute evidence in the place of +assumptions, and argument instead of declamation. And it is impossible +for the biographer of Henry V. to carry his reader with him through +the scenes of his preparation for the struggle with France, and his +conduct in the several campaigns which chiefly engaged from this time +till his death all the energies of his mind and body, without +recalling somewhat in detail the circumstances of Henry's position at +this time. This, however, will require also a brief review of the +state of France through some previous years of her internal discords +and misery. Reserving them for another chapter, there are some +circumstances of a more private and domestic character which it might +be well for us first to mention in this place.</p> + +<p>That Henry was habitually under the influence of strong religious +feelings, though his views of Christian doctrine partook much of the +general superstition of the age, is evident; and one of the first acts +of his government was to satisfy his own conscience, and to give full +testimony to the church of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page026" name="page026">(p. 026)</a></span> +his piety, and zeal, and +devotedness, by founding three religious houses. When, exactly a +century later, Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, communicated to his +friend, Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, his intention of founding a +monastery, his friend, instead of giving him encouragement to proceed +with his plan, remonstrated with him on the folly of building houses, +and providing a maintenance for monks, who would live in idleness, +unprofitable to themselves and to +society;<a id="notetag027" name="notetag027"></a><a href="#note027">[27]</a> +urging him at the same +time rather to found a college for the encouragement of sound +learning: and the College of Corpus Christi in Oxford owes its +existence, humanly speaking, to that sound admonition. Perhaps, had +Henry V. been fortunate enough to meet with so able and honest an +adviser, Oxford might have had within its walls now another nursery of +religion and learning,—a monument of his piety and of his love for +whatever was commendable and of good report. Our Oxford chronicles +record his expressed intention both to reform the statutes of the +University, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page027" name="page027">(p. 027)</a></span> +also to found an establishment within the +castle walls, annexing to it all the alien priories in England for its +endowment, in which efficient provision should be made for the +instruction of youth in all the best literature of the +age.<a id="notetag028" name="notetag028"></a><a href="#note028">[28]</a> +Had he +first resolved to found his college, and reserved his religious houses +for later years, his work might still have been flourishing at this +day, and might have yet continued to flourish till the hand of +spoliation and refined barbarism shall be strong and bold enough +(should ever such a calamity visit our native land) to wrest these +seminaries of Christian principles and sound learning from the friends +of religion, and order, and peace. As it is, Henry's establishments +survived him little more than a century; and the lands which he had +destined to support them passed away into other hands, and were +alienated from religious purposes altogether.</p> + +<p>The sites which Henry selected for his establishments were, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page028" name="page028">(p. 028)</a></span> +one at Shene, in Surrey; the other at Sion, in the manor of Isleworth, +on the Thames.</p> + +<p>The terms of the foundation-charters of these religious houses, their +rules, and circumstances, and possessions, it does not fall within the +plan of this work to specify in detail. The brothers and sisters +admitted into these asylums appear to have been bound by very strict +rules of self-denial and poverty.</p> + +<p>The monastery at Shene, built on the site of Richard II.'s palace, +which he never would enter after the loss of his wife Anne, who died +there, and which on that account he utterly destroyed, was called "The +House of Jesus of Bethlehem," and was dedicated "to the honour, and +glory, and exaltation of the name of Jesus most dear;" Henry +expressing in the foundation-charter, among sentiments less worthy of +an enlightened Christian, and savouring of the superstition of those +days, that he founded the institution in pious gratitude for the +blessings of time and of eternity, which flow only from <span class="smcap">Him</span>.</p> + +<p>The house of Sion in Isleworth, or Mount Sion, as it is called in the +Pope's bull of confirmation, was dedicated "to the honour, praise, and +glory of the Trinity most High, of the Virgin Mary, of the Disciples +and Apostles of God, of all Saints, and especially of the most holy +Bridget." This house was suppressed by Henry VIII; when the nuns fled +from their native country, and took refuge, first in Zealand, then at +Mechlin, whence they removed to Rouen; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page029" name="page029">(p. 029)</a></span> +at last, fifteen +reached Lisbon in 1594. The history of this little company of sisters +is very remarkable and interesting. In Lisbon they were well received, +and were afterwards supported by royal bounty, as well as by the +benevolence of individuals. They seem to have settled there peaceably, +and to have lived in their own house, and to have had their own +church, for more than fifty years. In 1651 their house and church were +both burnt to the ground; but, through the beneficence of the pious, +they had the happiness of seeing them restored. In 1755 this little +community suffered in common with the other unfortunate inhabitants of +Lisbon, and seem to have lost their all in the earthquake. In their +distress they cast their eyes to the land of their fathers, and +applied for the charity of their countrymen. There is something very +affecting in the language of the petition by which our countrywomen in +their calamity sought to excite the sympathy, and obtain the +benevolent aid, of their fellow-Christians at home.</p> + +<p class="letter"> + We, the underwritten, and company, having on the 1st of November + last suffered such irreparable losses and damage by the dreadful + earthquake and fire which destroyed this city and other parts of + the kingdom, that we have neither house nor sanctuary left us + wherein to retire; nor even the necessaries of life, it being out + of the power of our friends and benefactors here to relieve us, + they all having undergone the same misfortune and disaster. So + that we see no other means of establishing ourselves than by + applying to the nobility, ladies, and gentlemen of our +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page030" name="page030">(p. 030)</a></span> + dear country, humbly imploring your tender compassion and pious + charity; that, so being assisted and succoured from your + bountiful hands, we may for the present subsist under our + deplorable misfortune, and in time retrieve so much of our losses + as to be able to continue always to pray for the prosperity and + conservation of our benefactors.<br> + +<span class="col10-45">Augustus Sulyard,</span> +<span class="col50-90">Eliz. Hodgeskin,</span><br> +<span class="col10-45">Peter Willcock.</span> +<span class="col50-90">Frances Huddleston,</span><br> + <span class="col50-90">Cath. Baldwin,</span><br> + <span class="col50-90">Winifred Hill.</span><br> +<span class="left05"><i>Sion House, Lisbon</i>,</span><br> +<span class="left05"><i>May 25, 1756</i>.</span></p> + + + +<p>Through another fifty years, the little band, still keeping up the +succession by novices from England, remained in the land of their +refuge; till, in 1810, nine of them, the majority, it is said, of the +survivors, fled from the horrors of war to their native island; and +their convent, whose founder was Henry, the greatest general of his +age, became the barracks of English soldiers under Wellington, the +greatest general of the present day. On their first return they lived +in a small house in Walworth; and in 1825, the remainder, now advanced +in years and reduced to two or three in number, were still living in +the vicinity of the Potteries in Staffordshire,—the last remnant of +an English convent dissolved in the time of Henry VIII. There are at +this time mulberry-trees growing at Sion House, one of the Duke of +Northumberland's<a id="notetag029" name="notetag029"></a><a href="#note029">[29]</a> +mansions, which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page031" name="page031">(p. 031)</a></span> +are believed, not only +to have been living, but to have borne fruit, in the time of the +monastery.<a id="notetag030" name="notetag030"></a><a href="#note030">[30]</a></p> + +<p>Henry seems to have had much at heart the intellectual, moral, and +religious improvement of those who might be admitted to a share of his +bounty in these establishments. The Pell Rolls record a payment "of +100<i>l.</i> part only of a larger sum, to the prior and convent of Mount +Grace, for books and other things to be supplied by them to his new +foundation at +Sion."<a id="notetag031" name="notetag031"></a><a href="#note031">[31]</a> +Whether the prior and brethren of Mount Grace +had duplicates, or were mere agents, or parted with their own stock to +meet the wishes of their King, the record does not tell.</p> + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page032" name="page032">(p. 032)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">state of the church. — henry a sincere christian, but no bigot. — +degraded state of religion. — council of constance. — henry's +representatives zealous promoters of reform. — hallam, bishop of +salisbury, avowed enemy of the popedom. — richard ulleston: primitive +views of clerical duties. — walden, his own chaplain, accuses henry +of remissness in the extirpation of heresy. — forester's letter to +the king. — henry beaufort's unhappy interference. — petition from +oxford. — henry's personal exertions in the business of reform. — +reflections on the then apparent dawn of the reformation.</span><br><br> + +1414-1417.</h3> + + +<p>Some writers, (taking a very narrow and prejudiced view of the affairs +of the age to which our thoughts are directed in these Memoirs, and of +the agents employed in those transactions,) when they tell us, that +Henry was so devotedly attached to the church, and so zealous a friend +of her ministers, that he was called the Prince of Priests, would have +us believe that he "entirely resigned his understanding to the +guidance of the clergy." But his principles and his conduct +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page033" name="page033">(p. 033)</a></span> +in ecclesiastical matters have been misunderstood, and very unfairly +exaggerated and distorted. That Henry was a sincere believer in the +religion of the Cross is unquestionable; and that, in common with the +large body of believers through Christendom, he had been bred up in +the baneful error of identifying the Catholic church of Christ with +the see of Rome, is in some points of view equally evident: but that +he was a supporter of the Pope against the rights of the church in +England and other his dominions, or was an upholder of the abuses +which had then overspread the whole garden of Christ's heritage, so +far from being established by evidence, is inconsistent with the +testimony of facts. The usurpations of the Romish see called for +resistance,<a id="notetag032" name="notetag032"></a><a href="#note032">[32]</a> +and Henry to a certain extent resisted them. The +abuses in the church needed reformation, and Henry showed that he +possessed the spirit of a real reformer, bent on the correction of +what was wrong, but uncompromising in his maintenance of the religion +which he embraced in his heart. He gave proof of a spirit more +Catholic than Roman, more Apostolic than Papal.</p> + +<p>In his very first parliament strong enactments were passed forbidding +ecclesiastics to receive bishoprics and benefices from Rome, on pain +of forfeiture and exile. And on complaints being made against +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page034" name="page034">(p. 034)</a></span> +the ordinaries, Henry's answer is very characteristic of his +principles of church reform: "I will direct the bishops to remedy +these evils themselves; and, if they fail, then I will myself take the +matter into my own hands."</p> + +<p>He had been little more than half a year on the +throne,<a id="notetag033" name="notetag033"></a><a href="#note033">[33]</a> +when he +sent a peremptory mandate to the bishops of Aquitain, that they should +on no account obey any provision from the court of Rome, by which +preferment would be given to an enemy of England. And in the following +month, Dec. 11, 1413, Henry issued a prohibition, forbidding John +Bremore, clerk, whom the Pope had recommended to him when Prince of +Wales, to return to the court of Rome for the purpose of carrying on +mischievous designs against the King and his people, under a penalty +of 100<i>l.</i> And among his own bishops, countenanced and confidentially +employed by himself, were found men who protested honestly and +decidedly against the tyranny and corruption of Rome, and were as +zealously bent on restoring the church to the purity of its better +days, as were those martyrs to the truth who in the middle of the next +century sealed their testimony by their blood. To what extent Henry V. +must be regarded as having given a fair promise that, had he lived, he +would have devoted the energies of his mind to work out such an +effective reformation as would have satisfied the majority of the +people in England, and left little in that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page035" name="page035">(p. 035)</a></span> +way for his +successors to do, every one must determine for himself. In forming our +judgment, however, we must take into account, not only what he +actually did, but also whatever the tone, and temper, and turn of his +mind (from such intimations as we may be enabled to glean scattered up +and down through his life) might seem to have justified persons in +anticipating. It would be vain to build any theory on what might have +happened had the course of Providence in Henry's destinies been +different: and yet we may without presumption express a belief that, +had his life been spared, and had he found himself seated in peace and +security on the united throne of England and France, instead of +exhausting his resources, his powers of body and mind, and his time, +in a fruitless crusade to the Holy Land, (by which he certainly once +purposed to vindicate the honour of his Redeemer's name,) he might +have concentrated all his vast energies on the internal reformation of +the church itself. Instead of leaving her then large possessions for +the hand of the future spoiler, he might have effectually provided for +their full employment in the religious education of the whole people, +and in the maintenance of a well-educated, pious, and zealous body of +clergy, restored to their pastoral duties and devoted to the ministry. +That the church needed a vigorous and thorough, but honest and +friendly reform,—not the confiscation of her property to personal +aggrandizement and secular purposes, but the re-adjustment of what +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page036" name="page036">(p. 036)</a></span> +had degenerated from its original intention,—is proved by +evidence most painfully conclusive. Indeed, the enormities which had +grown up, and which were defended and cherished by the agents of Rome, +far exceed both in number and magnitude the present general opinion +with regard to those times. The Conventual +system<a id="notetag034" name="notetag034"></a><a href="#note034">[34]</a> +had well nigh +destroyed the efficiency of parochial ministrations: what was intended +for the support of the pastor, was withdrawn to uphold the dignity and +luxury of the monastery; parsonage houses were left to fall to decay, +and hirelings of a very inferior class were employed on a miserable +pittance to discharge their perfunctory duties as they might. +"Provisions" from Rome had exempted so large a proportion of the +spirituality from episcopal jurisdiction, that, even had all the +bishops been appointed on the principle of professional excellence, +their power of restoring discipline would have been lamentably +deficient. But in their appointment was evinced the most reckless +prostitution of their sacred order. Not only was the selection of +bishops made without reference to personal merit and individual +fitness, whilst regard was had chiefly to high connexions and the +interests of the Papacy; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page037" name="page037">(p. 037)</a></span> +but even children were made +bishops, and the richest dignities of the church were heaped upon +them: foreigners unacquainted with the language of the people were +thrust into offices, for the due discharge of the duties of which a +knowledge of the vernacular language was absolutely necessary. The +courts ecclesiastical ground down the clergy by shameless extortions; +whilst appeals to Rome put a complete bar against any suit for +justice. Their luxury and excesses, their pride and overbearing +presumption, their devotedness to secular pursuits, the rapacious +aggrandizement of themselves and their connexions, and the total +abandonment of their spiritual duties in the cure of souls, coupled +with an ignorance almost incredible, had brought the large body of the +clergy into great disrepute, and had filled sincere Christians +(whether lay or clerical, for there were many exceptions among the +clergy themselves) with an ardent longing for a thorough and efficient +reformation. It is true that their indignation was chiefly roused by +the prostitution of the property of the church, and its alienation +from the holy purposes for which the church was endowed; and that +gross neglect of discipline rather than errors in doctrine called into +life the spirit of reformation: but even in points of faith we +perceive in many clear signs of a genuine love of Evangelical and +Catholic truth; among whom we are not without evidence sufficient to +justify us in numbering the subject of these Memoirs. Henry of +Monmouth, whilst +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page038" name="page038">(p. 038)</a></span> +he adhered constantly to the faith of his +fathers, yet manifested a sincere desire to become more perfectly +acquainted with the truth of the Gospel; and spared no pains, even +during his career of war and victory, in providing himself with the +assistance of those teachers who had the reputation of preaching the +Gospel most sincerely and efficiently. Henry's, indeed, was not the +religion which would substitute in the scale of Christian duties +punctuality of attendance on frequent preaching for the higher and +nobler exercises of adoration. Many an unobtrusive incident intimates +that his soul took chief delight in communing with God by acts of +confession, and prayer, and praise. He seems to have imbibed the same +spirit which in a brother-monarch once gave utterance to expressions +no less valuable in the matter of sound theology, than exquisitely +beautiful in their +conception:<a id="notetag035" name="notetag035"></a><a href="#note035">[35]</a> +"I had rather pass an hour in +conversation with my friend than hear twenty discourses in his +praise." And yet Henry delighted also in hearing Heaven's message of +reconciliation faithfully expounded, and enforced home.</p> + +<p>Whilst, for example, he was pursuing his conquests in Normandy, the +report no sooner reached him of a preacher named Vincentius, (who was +labouring zealously in the cause of Christ in various parts of +Brittany, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page039" name="page039">(p. 039)</a></span> +who was said by his earnest and affectionate +preaching to have converted many to the Lord their God,) than Henry +sent for him, and took great delight in hearing his faithful +expositions of the word of truth and life. And we have good reason for +believing that the consolations of the pure doctrines of the Gospel, +as a guardian angel ministering the cup of Heaven, attended him +through life and in death.</p> + +<p>There is no intimation dropped by historians, nor is it intended in +these Memoirs to intimate, that Henry's eyes were opened to the +doctrinal errors of the church of Rome. But there are circumstances +well worthy of consideration before we pronounce definitively on that +point. When we bear in mind that, in those days, prayers and vows were +habitually made to the Virgin for success, and, after any prosperous +issue of the supplicants' exertions in war or peace, offerings of +thanksgiving were addressed to her as the giver of victory and of +every blessing; and whilst, at the same time, we find in Henry of +Monmouth's letters and words no acknowledgment of any help but God's +only; the question may be fairly entertained, whether he had not +imbibed some portion of the pure light of Gospel truth on this very +important article of Christian faith. The Author is well aware of the +words at the close of his Will, referred to hereafter; and is very far +from saying that he should be surprised to find other instances of a +similar character. Still Henry's silence as +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page040" name="page040">(p. 040)</a></span> +to the power and +assistance of the Virgin, the absence of prayer to her in his +devotions, many of which are especially recorded; the absence of +praise to her after victory and success, though he was very far from +taking praise to himself, always ascribing it to God Almighty only, +may seem to justify the suggestion of an inquiry into this point.</p> + +<p>For a knowledge of the degraded state to which the church had sunk, +and her inefficiency as the guardian and dispenser of religious truth, +we are not left to the vague representations of declaimers, or the +heated exaggerations of those by whom everything savouring of Rome is +held in abomination. The preambles of the laws which were intended to +cure the evils, bear the most direct and full evidence of their +existence and extent. One parliamentary document, after prefacing that +"Benefices were founded for the honour of God, the good of the +founders, the government and relief of the parishioners, and the +advancement of the clergy," then states "that the spiritual patrons, +the regular clergy throughout the whole realm, mischievously +appropriate to themselves the said benefices, and lamentably cast to +the ground the houses and buildings, and cruelly take away and destroy +divine service, hospitality, and other works of charity, which used to +be performed in the said benefices to the poor and distressed; that +they exclude and ever debar the clergymen from promotion, and +privately convey the treasure of the realm in great sums to the court +of Rome,—to the confusion +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page041" name="page041">(p. 041)</a></span> +of their own souls, the grievous +desolation of the +parishioners<a id="notetag036" name="notetag036"></a><a href="#note036">[36]</a> +and the whole country, the ultimate +ruin of the clergy, the great impoverishment of the realm, and the +irrecoverable ruin of the holy church of +England."<a id="notetag037" name="notetag037"></a><a +href="#note037">[37]</a></p> + +<p>A case argued before the judges in the time of Henry IV, very +interesting in itself, and closely connected in many points with the +subject of this chapter, is recorded in the Year Books. The argument +arose on a writ of Quare impedit, directed against Halomm (Hallam) +Bishop of Salisbury and Chichel (Chicheley) Bishop of St. David's, +afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. The question at issue regarded +the voidance of a prebend in the church of Salisbury, caused by +Chicheley being created Bishop of St. David's, who held that prebend, +to which he had been presented by Richard Medford, a former Bishop of +Sarum. Against the King's claim of right of presentation to the void +prebend, the defendants answered that the Pope had granted to +Chicheley licence to enjoy all the preferments which he held before, +together with his bishopric. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page042" name="page042">(p. 042)</a></span> +For the King's right it was +pleaded, that the creation of Chicheley took place whilst the +temporalities of Sarum were in the hands of the King, on the +translation of Hallam from York to +Sarum;<a id="notetag038" name="notetag038"></a><a href="#note038">[38]</a> +but the question at +length turned virtually upon the power of the see of Rome to dispense +with the laws of England.</p> + +<p>In the first sitting (Mich. 11 Henry IV.—<i>i.e.</i> 1409), Horton for the +defendants alleged, "We continued in possession of the prebend after +Richard Hallam had received the temporalities from the hands of the +King. Subsequently to which, and before we were created Bishop of St. +David's, our Saint Peter the Apostle, reciting by his bulls that we +were elected Bishop of St. David's, granted us licence to enjoy all +our other benefices." On which, Thirning, Justice, observed, "The +grant of the Apostle in this case cannot change the law of the land." +To which Hankford (who proved himself throughout the most zealous +supporter of the omnipotence of the Popedom) merely replied, "The Pope +can do all things;" his use of the Latin words evidently showing that +he was quoting a dictum,—"Papa omnia potest." After some discussion, +and a reference to former precedents chiefly alleged by Hankford, +Thirning rejoins very significantly, "That was in ancient times, and I +will not raise the question as to the power of the Apostle; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page043" name="page043">(p. 043)</a></span> +but I cannot see how he by his bulls can change the law of +England."<a id="notetag039" name="notetag039"></a><a href="#note039">[39]</a> +In the third deliberation, Culpeper says, "The intention +of the statute is now to be considered; and I conceive that it was +made to protect the King and other patrons in their rights, and to +restrain the encroachment of the Apostle which he makes against the +law." On the third discussion, Till argued, "Since by the law of the +land the creation of a bishop causes a voidance in fact of a benefice +before held, and by such voidance the title of presentation or +collation accrues to the patron, I say that the Apostle can by no +grant beforehand oust the patron of his right, and restrain the title +which ought to accrue to him upon such creation: for if so, he ought +to restrain and change the course of inheritance by the law of the +land; <span class="pagenum"><a id="page044" name="page044">(p. 044)</a></span> +and that he cannot do, no more than if the King wished +to give or grant to a man that he should hold his lands after he has +entered upon a monastic life, and professed; for such grant would be +contrary to the common law of the land, and therefore would be +altogether void. So also in this case." To this argument Horton +replied, among other points, "I take it that the Apostle may grant to +a man to hold three bishoprics at a time;" in which Hankford agreed, +"provided it were with the consent of the patrons." On which Skeene +observed, "If the Pope made such a grant, the King might retain the +temporalities in his own hands, if he wished it." To this observation, +Hankford, among many other things, said, "The Apostle can in many +cases change the course of the law of the land, and prevent the +occurrence of that which ought to follow." The same judge, pressing +again the argument on which he had before relied, asks, "What say ye? +suppose the Apostle, before a man becomes a professed monk, grants him +a dispensation to hold his benefices after his profession?"—"I say," +replied Hill, "that in such a case he cannot deprive me of my right of +patronage."</p> + +<p>The question at issue was found to be so difficult of solution, and +the judges viewed the law of the case in such opposite lights, that it +was argued and debated between them by adjournment in four several +terms; at length the advocates of the Pope's omnipotence +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page045" name="page045">(p. 045)</a></span> +gave way, and judgment was given for the +Crown.<a id="notetag040" name="notetag040"></a><a href="#note040">[40]</a></p> + +<p>Among many memorable facts recorded by the Year Book during the +progress of this cause, most persons probably will regard with +interest the resistance made by the Crown, at this period, against the +encroachments of the Pope,—the boundless power, ecclesiastical and +political, assumed and exercised by the pontiff, and conceded to him +in England,—and, at the same time, the spirit which shows itself on +the part of some of our judges to vindicate the supremacy of the law +of England over the alleged omnipotence of the court of Rome. The +great difference of opinion also as to the power of the Pope, +expressed by the members of the judicial bench, cannot fail to +interest every Englishman, whether lawyer or not; whilst the terms in +which some of the judges speak of the encroachments of the Apostolic +see, against which the legislature of England had deemed it necessary +to enact some stringent laws, are not a little remarkable. But to +Protestants of the present day, perhaps the most surprising feature of +all may appear to be the title ascribed to the Pope by the judges, +whilst publicly and solemnly dispensing the laws of the country. They +do not speak of him as the Pope, except once in the citation of a +Latin dictum; nor do they refer to him as a sovereign pontiff +exercising the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page046" name="page046">(p. 046)</a></span> +delegated authority of the chief Apostle, and +representing him in the church militant on earth: they do not give him +the title of "successor to St. Peter," or "our father filling the +Apostolic chair:"—they speak of him throughout in direct terms as +"the Apostle;" and in some passages they even call him "Saint Peter," +and "our Saint Peter" the +Apostle.<a id="notetag041" name="notetag041"></a><a href="#note041">[41]</a> +It is however very curious, in +tracing the argument in this cause, to lay the strong terms employed +by the advocates of the Pope's paramount authority side by side with +the striking expressions used by others of those high functionaries on +the supremacy of the English law, and the inability of the Apostolic +see in the plenitude of its power to change or dispense with the +common or statute law of the realm.</p> + +<p>Abuses such as we have referred to in the previous sections of this +chapter prevailed everywhere, and called loudly for vigorous measures +to rectify them. At the same period the church through Christendom was +distracted and torn by contending factions, each supporting a pontiff +of its own.</p> + +<p>To put an end to these disgraceful and unhappy feuds, as destructive +of the peace of Europe as they were hurtful to the cause of true +religion, and to effect a full reformation in the church, the Council +of Constance was professedly convened. That synod was summoned +nominally by Pope John XXIII, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page047" name="page047">(p. 047)</a></span> +but in reality by the united +voice of the sovereigns of Europe, especially at the instance of the +Emperor Sigismund himself. It falls not within the province of these +Memoirs to record the proceedings of that council, either in +extinguishing the flame of discord within the pale of the church, or +in kindling the sadder flame of +persecution<a id="notetag042" name="notetag042"></a><a href="#note042">[42]</a> +against all who dared +to think for themselves in a matter peculiarly their own, or in its +lamentable forgetfulness of the abuses for the correction of which it +was mainly convened. The records of the Council of Constance, however, +abound in matters of interest in connection with the immediate and +professed object of this work. We infer from them that Henry V. was +then taking a lead in religious matters, and, whilst he was anxious to +resist the overbearing tyranny of Rome, he was at the same time bent +on making the religious establishment within his own kingdom an +efficient means of conveying to all his subjects the blessings of the +Gospel; he was an honest reformer of abuses, but, at the same time, +the conscientious and uncompromising supporter of the religion of his +fathers.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>It was on the 20th of October 1414, that Robert Hallam, Bishop of +Salisbury, the Bishops of Bath and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page048" name="page048">(p. 048)</a></span> +Hereford, the Abbot of +Westminster, the Prior of Worcester, Lord Warwick, and others, were +commissioned by Henry to proceed to Constance, and as his +representatives<a id="notetag043" name="notetag043"></a><a href="#note043">[43]</a> +to treat about the reformation of the universal +church; or, as the Pell Rolls speak, "for the salvation of Christian +souls." Another body of commissioners was subsequently sent, when not +less than four hundred Englishmen went in company of the embassy, +among whom were reckoned two archbishops, seven bishops, and many +other lords and gentlemen. Of those who were first commissioned by +Henry, Robert Hallam (or +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page049" name="page049">(p. 049)</a></span> +Allam) was most strenuous in urging +the work of reformation before and above all other matters with which +they had to do. The Cardinals were equally urgent to have the election +of Pope first settled, and then to proceed afterwards to the question +of reformation. The Bishop of Salisbury, acting, doubtless, with the +full approbation, it may be at the immediate suggestion of Henry, was +instant, in season and out of season, in forcing the work of +reformation on the Council. He was called the Emperor's right hand, so +entirely did he and Sigismund co-operate for this purpose. Indeed, the +English generally appear at first to have been among the principal +promoters of reform, and, as long as Hallam lived, to have pursued it +zealously; but on his +death<a id="notetag044" name="notetag044"></a><a href="#note044">[44]</a> +they were much less noted for the same +zeal. Previously, however, to that event, a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page050" name="page050">(p. 050)</a></span> +great schism +arose among the English at Constance, and the authority of the bishops +was much disregarded. To remedy these disorders, Henry wrote a +peremptory letter (18 July 1417), commanding all his people to be +obedient to the bishops, and to abstain from all factious conduct; +enjoining them, on pain of forfeiting their goods, either to behave in +a manner becoming his subjects, or to return home; directing also, +that, in all differences of opinion, the minority should conform to +the decision of the majority.</p> + +<p>Bishop Hallam entertained a most rooted antipathy to the Pope and the +Popedom; and he once gave expression to his sentiments so freely and +unreservedly to the Pope himself, that his Holiness complained +grievously of him to the Emperor: but Sigismund was himself too +heartily bent on reforming the abuses of the Popedom to chide the zeal +and freedom of the English prelate. On one occasion the Bishop +maintained that a General Council was superior to the Pope (a doctrine +subsequently recognised, but then, as it should seem, new and bold); +on <span class="pagenum"><a id="page051" name="page051">(p. 051)</a></span> +another he is reported to have gone so far as to affirm +that the Pope, for his enormities, deserved to be burnt alive. Bishop +Hallam<a id="notetag045" name="notetag045"></a><a href="#note045">[45]</a> +was by no means singular either in the sentiments which he +entertained with regard to the corruptions of the Romish Church "<i>in +its head and its members</i>," and the imperative necessity of an +universal reform, or in the unreserved boldness and plainness with +which he published those sentiments. The whole of Christendom rang +with loud and bitter complaints against the avarice, the sensuality, +the overreaching and overbearing tyranny, the total degeneracy and +worthlessness of the Popes, the Cardinals, and the religious orders; +but in no place were the protests against +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page052" name="page052">(p. 052)</a></span> +such deplorable +corruptions more unsparingly uttered than at the Council of Constance +itself: and among those who willingly offered themselves to testify, +in their Saviour's name, against such a prostitution of his blessed +Gospel to the purposes of worldly ambition, such gross depravity and +total neglect of duty, the names of many of our own countrymen are +recorded. These pillars of the church, these lights in the midst of +darkness, seem indeed to have entertained sentiments, as to the duties +and responsibilities of the Christian priesthood, worthy of the purest +age. Some of their recorded doctrines are truly edifying, and find a +response in some of the best episcopal charges and admonitions of the +Protestant church at the present day.</p> + +<p>Among these excellent men, Dr. Richard Ullerston, of Oxford, seems to +have taken a most primitive view of the duties of a Christian bishop. +He wrote a treatise in 1408, by way of memorial for Bishop Hallam, his +friend, who urged him to the work, when that uncompromising reformer +went to the Council of Pisa. At the close of a long and powerful +exhortation to provide for the due execution by the Popes of their own +ministerial duties, and for the restoration of discipline in the +church, he thus expresses himself: "Things being thus restored to +their right order, and all abuses being cut away, the Pope will employ +himself, agreeably to the duties of his charge, in procuring peace for +Christians, not only by praying, but +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page053" name="page053">(p. 053)</a></span> +by preaching the Gospel +himself, and sending everywhere good preachers, who by their doctrine +and example might urge on princes and people throughout the world +their several duties, and who might make a holy war upon the passions +of mankind, rooting up those sensual desires which, according to St. +James, are the source of wars and divisions in the church and in the +state." This treatise was published in Germany about the year 1700, +from a manuscript in Trinity College, Cambridge; and may be found at +the end of Van der Hardt's work on the Council of Constance. It +consists chiefly of petitions for the remedy of abuses, and is full +from beginning to end of the true spirit of genuine evangelical +religion. Dr. Ullerston remained in uninterrupted and perfect +communion with the church of Rome; and yet no Protestant, who ever +suffered at the stake for his opposition to her, could have more +faithfully exposed the practical grievances under which Christendom +then mourned in consequence of her dereliction of duty, whilst she +assumed to herself all supreme authority, and paralyzed the efforts of +national churches to remedy the crying evils of the time. The heads of +Ullerston's petitions abound with salutary suggestions; by many of the +items we are apprised of the grievances then chiefly complained of, or +the departments in which those grievances were found.</p> + +<p>1. On the election of a Pope.</p> + +<p>2. On the suppression of simony.</p> + +<p>3. On +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page054" name="page054">(p. 054)</a></span> +the exaltation of the law of Christ above all human +authority.</p> + +<p>4. Against appropriations, <i>i. e.</i> assigning the proceeds of parochial +cures to monasteries.</p> + +<p>5. On appointing only fit persons to ecclesiastical stations.</p> + +<p>6. Against exemptions of monasteries and individuals from episcopal +jurisdiction.</p> + +<p>7. Against dispensations,—those, among others, by which benefices and +bishoprics were given to children.</p> + +<p>8. Against pluralities.</p> + +<p>9. Against appeals to Rome.</p> + +<p>10. Against the abuse of privileges.</p> + +<p>11. Against the clergy devoting themselves to secular affairs.</p> + +<p>12. Against the prerogatives of +chanters<a id="notetag046" name="notetag046"></a><a href="#note046">[46]</a> +and other officers in the +houses of the great.</p> + + +<p>13. Generally +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page055" name="page055">(p. 055)</a></span> +against extortions.</p> + +<p>14. Against excessive expenses in the persons and the families of the +clergy.</p> + +<p>15. For a provision for more efficient divine service in parishes.</p> + +<p>16. For the restoration of peace through Christendom.</p> + +<p>In his reflections on these points there is so much sound sense and +genuine affection for true religion, such an ardent desire pervades +them of promoting the ends for which alone an establishment can be +justified on warrant of Scripture, or is in itself desirable,—the +salvation of souls through Christ for ever,—that, had it not been out +of place, the Author would have gladly transcribed a great part of Dr. +Ullerston's sentiments into these pages. His suggestions savour +throughout of genuine piety and true practical wisdom.</p> + +<p>To Ullerston must be added Walter Dysse, who was commissioned by Pope +Boniface IX. to proceed to Spain, Portugal, and Aquitain, to preach a +crusade against the infidels. He was a most deadly enemy to the +followers of Wicliffe, and a devoted friend to the court of Rome; yet +he could not pass over in silence the cause of the divisions and +corruptions of the church, nor the means of their effectual +reformation.</p> + +<p>But, perhaps, among all those whom the history of this Council records +as zealous promoters of a real reformation within the church itself, +our more immediate object +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page056" name="page056">(p. 056)</a></span> +in these Memoirs would require us +to make especial mention of Thomas Walden, because he was one of Henry +of Monmouth's own +chaplains,<a id="notetag047" name="notetag047"></a><a href="#note047">[47]</a> +and was employed by him not only in +domestic concerns, but in foreign +embassies.<a id="notetag048" name="notetag048"></a><a href="#note048">[48]</a> +He was called the +Netter, from the expertness and success with which he caught and +mastered his antagonists in argument. He was present at the Council of +Pisa as well as of Constance. He proved himself throughout a most +bitter persecutor of heretics; and (as Van der Hardt expresses +himself) the less imbued he was with any affection towards the +disciples of Huss, or influenced by it, so much the more sincere a +censor was he of the ecclesiastical corruptions of his time. He was +bent on reforming the abuses of the church with a strong hand, and so +far the wishes of his royal master coincided with his own; but he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page057" name="page057">(p. 057)</a></span> +could not prevail upon the King to go hand-in-hand with him in +persecuting the heretics. Walden was bold enough, in his mistaken +zeal, to charge Henry with a culpable remissness in what was then too +generally supposed to be the duty of a Christian +sovereign.<a id="notetag049" name="notetag049"></a><a href="#note049">[49]</a></p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>A communication made personally to Henry from Constance, in the +beginning of the year +1417,<a id="notetag050" name="notetag050"></a><a href="#note050">[50]</a> +deserves in this place our especial +attention. The letter, written by John +Forester,<a id="notetag051" name="notetag051"></a><a href="#note051">[51]</a> +may perhaps be +considered a fair specimen of correspondence between Englishmen of +education at that period. As a vehicle of information on the real +state of feeling in England with regard to the church of Rome, it is +very interesting. It is, moreover, impossible to read it without +inferring that, in the opinion of the writer at least, and of those in +whose behalf he wrote, Henry's earnest desire was to reform the abuses +of the church, and to render churchmen zealous servants of the Gospel.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p><span class="smcap">JOHN FORESTER'S LETTER FROM CONSTANCE TO HENRY V.</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page058" name="page058">(p. 058)</a></span></p> + + +<p>"My sovereign liege Lord, and most redoubted Prince Christian to + me on earth. I recommend me unto your high royal and imperial + Majesty with all manner [of] honours, worships, grace, and + goodnesses. My most glorious Lord, liketh you to wit, that the + Wednesday, the third hour after noon, or near thereto, the seven + and twentieth day of January, your brother['s] gracious person + the King of Rome entered the city of Constance with your livery + of the Collar about his neck,—a glad sight for all your liege + men to see,—with a solemn procession of all estates, both of + Cardinals of all nations, and your Lords in their best array with + all your nation. He received your Lords graciously, with right + good cheer. Of all the worshipful men of your nation he touched + their hands, [and theirs] only, in all the great press. And then + went my Lord of Salisbury [Hallam] before heartily to the place + of the general Council, where that royal King should rest; and he + entered into the pulpit where the Cardinal +Candacence,<a id="notetag052" name="notetag052"></a><a href="#note052">[52]</a> chief + of the nation of France, and your especial enemy also, had + purposed to have made the first +collation<a id="notetag053" name="notetag053"></a><a href="#note053">[53]</a> +before the + King,<a id="notetag054" name="notetag054"></a><a href="#note054">[54]</a> +in worship of the French nation. But my Lord of + Salisbury kept possession, in worship of you and your nation; and + he made there a right good collation that pleased the King right + well: and forasmuch as the King was fasting at that hour, then + would no man occupy +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page059" name="page059">(p. 059)</a></span> +him more that day; but on the morn + (my liege Lord) liketh you to wit, that at nine of the bell all + your ambassadors, with all your nation in their best array, went + to worship him in his palace, and that he gave them glad and + gracious audience. There my Lord of Chester, the president of + your nation, had his words to him in such a wise that it was + worship to him and all our nation; and soon after this they took + their leave of him. And on the morrow he sends after them again + at ten of the clock. There he received them again every man by + hand. Then he made a collation to our nation, and he thanked them + especially that they had been so loving, trusty, and true to his + nation in his absence. Also, he rehearsed there how the + brotherhood [friendship] began between him and my Lord your + father; and how it is now so continued and knit for you and your + successors, with the grace of God, for ever. And he told them so + great worship of your royal person, and such of all my Lords your + brethren; and then of the governance of holy church, divine + service, ornaments, and all state thereof, kept as though it were + in Paradise, in comparison with any place that he ever came in + before; so that from the highest unto the lowest he commended + your glorious and gracious person, your realm, and your good + governance. And then my Lord of Chester, our president, in the + name of all our nation (as belongeth to his office) rehearsed + compendiously, and in a gentle wise, all that ever the Emperor + had said; and gave him an answer to every point so good and so + reasonable, in so short avisement, that he has got him the thanks + of your nation for ever. And also, sovereign liege Lord, as I may + understand, my Lords of Salisbury and Chester are fully disposed, + by the consent of all your other ambassadors, to suive [pursue] + the reformation in the church, in the head and the members, + having no regard to no +benefices<a id="notetag055" name="notetag055"></a><a href="#note055">[55]</a> +that they +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page060" name="page060">(p. 060)</a></span> have, + rather than it should be left undone. And of this I doubt me + nought that these two lords will abide hard and nigh, always by + the good advice and deliberation of your brother the King of + Rome. Moreover, liketh you to wit, that on Sunday, the last day + of January, your brother, the King of Rome, wore the gown of the + Garters, with your collar, openly at the high mass; and he was + lereth [learned] that the Duke of Beyer and the borough-grave + should eat with my Lord of London the same day, and he said he + would eat with them. Other tidings be there none, but, as it is + said, the ambassadors of Spain should be here in Constance within + a few days. And, on Candlemas eve, came letters from the French + King, commanding to his nation to put out the ambassadors of the + Duke of Burgundy from their nation; also, as it is said openly, + that the foresaid French King hath sent to the city of Genoa, and + forwarded a great sum of gold to +[hire<a id="notetag056" name="notetag056"></a><a href="#note056">[56]</a>] +wage great ships and + galleys, to destroy your ordinance and your navy of England. And + further, the day of making this letter, Master Philip Moyar + entered Constance in good health, thanked be God! The which God, + of his gracious goodness, keep your high, honourable, and + gracious person in his pleasance, and send you sovereignty and + victory of all your enemies. Written at Constance, the second day + of February,<br> + +<span class="left15">"By your poor, true, and continual</span><br> +<span class="left25">"Orator,<a id="notetag057" +name="notetag057"></a><a href="#note057">[57]</a></span><br> +<span class="left35"> </span>"<span class="smcap">John Forester</span>." +</p></div> + +<p>It <span class="pagenum"><a id="page061" name="page061">(p. 061)</a></span> +is curious to remark that, on the very Sunday before this +letter was written, the English bishops caused a sort of pious comedy +to be acted in the presence of the Emperor Sigismund. It was one of +those mysteries, as they were called, which had so long mingled +religious instruction (of a very questionable character) with +amusement. The fruits of these exhibitions were probably very +equivocal in that age in England, as they are on the Continent at this +day. The Germans consider this play, which was the representation of +the Nativity,<a id="notetag058" name="notetag058"></a><a href="#note058">[58]</a> +the Massacre of the Innocents, and the Visit of the +Magi, as the first introduction of that sort of dramatic performance +into their country. The English had caused a rehearsal to be performed +before the authorities of the place three or four times previously, in +order to make the actors perfect for their imperial audience.</p> + +<p>About half a year after the date of this letter to Henry, his uncle, +Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, reached Constance in the garb of +a pilgrim, on his journey to the Holy Land. His safe-conduct is dated +July 21, 1417. His arrival at Constance was very prejudicial to the +cause of the reform of the church. The struggle then was between the +imperial party +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page062" name="page062">(p. 062)</a></span> +(to which the English were closely attached) +and the Cardinals, whether the Pope should be first elected, or +whether the reformations in the church should take precedence of his +election. Henry Beaufort, to whom all parties seem to have paid the +utmost deference, suggested the expediency of first electing the Pope; +the Cardinals pledging themselves, that done, to proceed forthwith to +the reformation. His advice was followed, and the result must have +been a disappointment to all sincere Christians: a death-blow was +given to the hopes which had been entertained of a reform in +ecclesiastical affairs to be effected by that Council. No sooner was +Pope Martin V. elected, than both himself and the Cardinals frustrated +every attempt to secure a sound reformation; and, after sitting three +years and six months, the Council was dissolved.</p> + +<p>The records of this Council of Constance bear incidentally most +valuable evidence to the warm interest taken by Henry in everything +over which he had any control, and in which he could beneficially +employ his power and influence. They prove, moreover, that whilst he +was a sincere promoter of a sound and wholesome reformation, and most +zealously attached to the religion in which he had been brought up, +and in which he was a conscientious believer, he was no persecutor. +Though our souls are harrowed up by the unchristian proceedings +against John Huss and Jerome of Prague, (and, could truth allow it, we +would gladly wipe away so +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page063" name="page063">(p. 063)</a></span> +black a stain from the annals of +ages and nations called Christian,) it is a source of great +satisfaction to find that the name of Henry of Monmouth is not at all +mixed up with those deeds of blood: we find him neither encouraging +nor approving them. Not one shadow of suspicion is suggested that the +persecuting spirit, which in that Council displayed itself so +outrageously and inhumanly, found any thoughts in his breast +responsive to its cruel aspirations. We know, indeed, that Thomas +Walden, his priest and chaplain, was actuated by the spirit of +persecution towards the Lollards; but we are equally assured that, so +far from being countenanced and encouraged by his master in acts of +persecuting bigotry, he did not scruple openly in public, and solemnly +in a sermon, to charge him with a want of zeal in extirpating the +enemies of the church. From such a witness the testimony so borne to +the charity and moderation of Henry of Monmouth is very valuable and +satisfactory; abundantly outweighing all the declamation of modern +enthusiastic censors. Henry was a reformer,—he could not be persuaded +to become a +persecutor.<a id="notetag059" name="notetag059"></a><a href="#note059">[59]</a></p> + +<p>Henry's reputation for having at heart the correction of all abuses in +the church, encouraged the University of Oxford to present to him a +petition, setting forth a multitude of corrupt practices which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page064" name="page064">(p. 064)</a></span> +were a disgrace to the Christian religion in England; and praying +him, since God had raised him up to such an exalted place in the +church, to put forth his power in effecting a +reformation.<a id="notetag060" name="notetag060"></a><a href="#note060">[60]</a> +This +document, preserved in Corpus Christi College in Oxford, abounds in +topics of deep and lively interest; it marks the fearful extent to +which the corrupt practices in the church had been fostered by Rome, +the ardent desire entertained in England for a reformation so early as +the commencement of the fifteenth century, and Henry's anxiety to +bring about such a reform in the discipline of the church as might +safely be adopted without giving countenance and encouragement to the +Lollards, against whom the University seems at this time to have been +decidedly hostile.</p> + +<p>The points to which Oxford then solicited Henry to direct his especial +care, were partly such as are no longer of general interest among us, +(excepting so far as they remind us of the mass of evils from which +the Reformation rescued us,) and partly +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page065" name="page065">(p. 065)</a></span> +such as must be +interesting to Christians of every age.</p> + +<p>Among the former grievances were reckoned the Pope's unlimited +creation of cardinals, all to be supported out of the revenues of the +church; the excessive grants of indulgences, by which persons were +encouraged in licentiousness; the privileges and exemptions and +scandalous immorality of the monks. The petitioners complained +bitterly that though the church of England would not admit persons +into sacred orders who were unfit and unworthy, yet the court of Rome +would repeatedly recognise such as lawful ministers.</p> + +<p>Among the latter evils were the non-residence of incumbents, the +inadequacy of the stipends of curates, and the commendams of bishops. +The petitioners prayed, that whereas a great number both of regulars +and seculars who were presumptuous and ignorant were ordained, a +decree might be passed that all before ordination should be strictly +examined; and that a remedy should be provided against +simony.<a id="notetag061" name="notetag061"></a><a href="#note061">[61]</a> +They petitioned, also, that foreigners who could not speak English +should have no cures in England; and they complained of the practice +of patrons exacting from the priests whom they nominated to a benefice +a pledge that they would +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page066" name="page066">(p. 066)</a></span> +not sue for an augmentation of +their stipend, were it never so small. They closed their petition by +praying that all bishops who were remiss in punishing heresy, and +extirpating Lollardy, might be deposed; and that all magistrates and +officers should be bound by their oath to aid in its +extirpation.<a id="notetag062" name="notetag062"></a><a href="#note062">[62]</a></p> + +<p>Henry, deeply lamenting the gross abuses referred to in this petition, +implored the Pope to suffer them to be redressed. His Holiness agreed +to certain constitutions, by which, if fully acted upon, most of the +evils complained of would have been rectified. The Pope, however, +begged Henry in return to abrogate all the laws which had been enacted +in England to the prejudice of Rome; but the King declared his +inability to meet the wishes of his Holiness.</p> + +<p>The extent to which the abuse of the +Pope's<a id="notetag063" name="notetag063"></a><a href="#note063">[63]</a> +authority had been +connived at in this country,—a state of things which naturally +indisposed him towards any change for the better,—may be inferred +from two facts: that he (in defiance of the statutes of Edward III. +and Richard II.) had by his own authority +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page067" name="page067">(p. 067)</a></span> +created thirteen +bishops in the province of Canterbury in two years; and had appointed +his nephew, Prospero Colonna, a boy of only fourteen years of age, +Archdeacon of Canterbury, with fourteen benefices in England.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Before we leave this subject, we cannot but record an instance +(mentioned by Walsingham) of Henry's personal exertions in reforming +abuses. He had received complaints against the Benedictine monks of +certain grievous corruptions; and, attended only by four persons, he +went into the midst of a full assembly of that order. The meeting +consisted of sixty abbots and priors of convents, and more than three +hundred monks, who were all assembled in the Chapter-house of +Westminster. After a speech from the Bishop of Exeter, (one of those +who accompanied him,) Henry himself addressed them at great length. He +reminded them of the ancient piety of the monks, and the devotion of +his predecessors and others in founding and endowing monasteries; he +expatiated on the negligence and remissness in the discharge of their +sacred duties, which, he said, had become notorious in their times; +and he then exhibited certain articles according to which he required +them to reform themselves; earnestly entreating them to recover the +ancient spirit of religion which they had lost, and habitually to pray +for the King, the country, and the church; assuring them that, if they +followed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page068" name="page068">(p. 068)</a></span> +his directions, they needed fear none of their +enemies.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>That Henry V, though earnestly desirous of a sound reform in the +discipline of the church, and the lives and ministrations of the +clergy, did never lay the axe to the root of the evil, cannot be +denied. Perhaps he was disheartened by the total failure of the united +efforts of himself and Sigismund, with their honest and zealous +adherents, at Constance. Perhaps he resolved to wait till, at the +close of his continental campaigns, in the enjoyment of peace at home +and abroad, he might be able to devote his concentrated exertions to +an object of such paramount importance. Perhaps the ambition of his +uncle Henry Beaufort, who evidently was looking for personal +aggrandizement in wealth and dignity, and who had given so decided and +unhappy a turn in the council of Constance in favour of the Pope's +party, might have devised some means for seducing his nephew's ardent +thoughts into another channel. To whatever cause we may be disposed to +attribute it, the reality is, that Henry V, when he died, had not +effected reform on any comprehensive scale in his own realm; nor had +he given any decided blow to the dominion and the corruptions of the +church of Rome. His short life was a career of wars and victories.</p> + +<p>It <span class="pagenum"><a id="page069" name="page069">(p. 069)</a></span> +pleased the Almighty, in his inscrutable wisdom, to bring +about the reformation of the church in his own way, by his own means, +and at his own appointed time. We recognise his hand in the blessing +which we have inherited, and are thankful.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page070" name="page070">(p. 070)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">wars with france. — causes which influenced henry. — summary of the +affairs of france from the time of edward iii. — reflections on +henry's title. — affairs of france from henry's resolution to claim +his "dormant rights," and "rightful heritage," to his invasion of +normandy. — negociations. — his right denied by the french. — +parliament votes him supplies.</span><br><br> + +1414.<br><br> + +<span class="smcap">WARS WITH FRANCE.</span></h3> + + +<p>It falls not within the province of these Memoirs to justify the +proceedings of Henry of Monmouth with regard to France, by an +examination into the soundness of his claims, and the abstract +principles on which he and his subjects and advisers rested them. But +it is incumbent on any one who would estimate his character uprightly, +to weigh the considerations by which he was influenced in the +undertaking, neither according to our present standard, nor +independently of all the circumstances of the age in which he lived, +and the sentiments then generally prevalent among men of education and +reputed probity.</p> + +<p>Historians +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page071" name="page071">(p. 071)</a></span> +have generally represented it as an established +fact that the clergy, especially the Archbishop of Canterbury, alarmed +at the bold and urgent call of the Commons upon the King to seize the +church patrimony, and from its proceeds apply whatever was required by +the exigencies of the state, hit upon the expedient of stimulating him +to claim France as his inheritance; thus withdrawing his mind from a +measure so fatal to their interests. Though the evidence on which such +a tradition rests is by no means satisfactory, we may perhaps receive +it as probable. That the Commons were clamorous for the confiscation +of the ecclesiastical revenues, and that the clergy voluntarily voted +a very large subsidy to aid the King in prosecuting his alleged rights +on the Continent, are matters of historical certainty. That the +ecclesiastics, moreover, originally suggested to him the design of +reviving his dormant claim to an inheritance in the fair realm of +France, and then fostered the thought, and justified the undertaking +by argument, and pledged their priestly word for the righteousness of +his cause, is doubtless no unreasonable supposition. Still the clergy +do not appear to have been in the least more eager in the scheme, or +more anxious to protect themselves and their revenues from spoliation +by such a scheme, than were the laity enthusiastically bent on a +harvest of national glory and aggrandizement from its +success.<a id="notetag064" name="notetag064"></a><a href="#note064">[64]</a> In +a word, the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page072" name="page072">(p. 072)</a></span> +King himself, the nobles, and the people, all +seem to have been equally determined to engage in the enterprise, and +to support each other in the resolution that it was not only +practicable, but most fully justifiable by the laws of God and man.</p> + +<p>That Henry's high spirit predisposed him to listen with readiness and +satisfaction to the suggestions of his subjects in this behalf, we may +well believe; but that he would have been driven by a dominant +ambition to engage in a war of conquest against the acknowledged +principles of justice, his character, firmly established by undeniable +proofs of a private as well as a public nature, forbids us to admit. +It must never be forgotten that those persons who were then +universally regarded as the best and safest interpreters of law, human +and divine, assured him, on his solemn appeal to them for their +judgment,<a id="notetag065" name="notetag065"></a><a href="#note065">[65]</a> +that the cause in which he was embarking was just; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page073" name="page073">(p. 073)</a></span> +and, as many incidents in the sequel establish, he did embark in +it without any doubts or misgivings, without the slightest scruple of +conscience; on the contrary, with a full confidence in the entire +righteousness of his cause, and a most unbounded reliance on the arm +of the God of Justice for success.</p> + +<p>The facts which laid the groundwork for his enterprising spirit to +build upon are very interesting; and, though they may perhaps belong +rather to general history than to Memoirs of Henry of Monmouth, yet a +brief review of them might seem altogether indispensable in this +place.</p> + +<p>"The preference given by the States-General to Philip of Valois above +Edward III, when he laid claim to the crown of France, led to that +disastrous war, the prominent incidents of which are familiar to every +one at all acquainted with the history of that time. Edward gained a +naval victory over the French, and conquered Philip at Cressy, and +possessed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page074" name="page074">(p. 074)</a></span> +himself of Calais, which gave him an entrance into +France at all times. After some interval, Edward the Black Prince, his +son, gained the famous battle of Poictiers; where King John, son and +successor of Philip of Valois, was taken prisoner. Whilst that monarch +was a captive in England, Edward entered France at the head of one +hundred thousand men, and marched to the very gates of Paris. This +successful invasion led to the treaty of Bretigny. By the terms of +that peace, Edward recovered all those ancient dependencies of Guienne +which had been wrested from his ancestors. These provinces had fallen +to the Kings of England by the marriage of Eleanor, heiress of +Guienne, with Henry II; but, from the time of John (Lackland) and +Henry III, Philip Augustus and St. Lewis, Kings of France, had so +shorn that vast territory, that nothing remained to England except +Bourdeaux, Bayonne, and Gascony. Besides, by the same treaty, Edward +secured Montreuil and Ponthieu, Calais and Guienne; and all these +possessions were ceded to him in full sovereignty without any suit or +homage due to France. Finally, he stipulated for the sum of three +millions of golden crowns as the ransom of King John. On his side, he +consented to forego all right and claim which he might have on the +crown of France. Especially he renounced all title to Normandy and +other places, which were said to be the heritage of his ancestors, and +to all the sovereignty of Brittany. This +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page075" name="page075">(p. 075)</a></span> +treaty was solemnly +executed by King John, and observed during his life, except as to the +ransom, two-thirds of which remained undischarged at his death. But +Charles V, his son and successor, finding this peace very +disadvantageous to France, though he had himself been a party to it, +and had sworn to observe its conditions, broke it on very frivolous +grounds. He declared war against Edward, and in a very few years +recovered all that had been ceded to England by the treaty of +Bretigny, except Calais, Bayonne, Bourdeaux, and part of Guienne. This +second war was interrupted by a truce, which continued till the death +of Edward III. in 1377. During the reign of Richard II, and the +remainder of Charles V.'s life, and the first years of Charles VI, war +and peace followed each other in mutual succession, without any +important or decided advantage on either side. At last, Richard II. +and Charles VI. concluded a truce for twenty-eight years, which was +ratified by the marriage of Richard with Isabel, Charles's daughter. +From the deposition of Richard to the death of Henry IV, +notwithstanding frequent violations of the truce, both sides +maintained that it still subsisted. Such was the state of the two +crowns when Henry of Monmouth mounted the throne. France having broken +the peace of Bretigny, and maintaining that the treaty was void, +evidently the Kings of England were reinstated in all their rights +which they had before that peace. On this principle, immediately +after <span class="pagenum"><a id="page076" name="page076">(p. 076)</a></span> +the disclaimer of that peace on the part of France, +Edward III. resumed the title of King of France, which he had laid +aside; and his successors assumed it also. Since the commencement of +the war which followed the treaty of Bretigny there never had been +peace between the two crowns, but only truces, which do not affect the +rights of the parties. It is evident, therefore, that, when he +ascended the throne, Henry V. found himself under precisely the same +circumstances in point of right in which his great grandfather, Edward +III, was eighty years before, when he commenced the first war. Besides +this, Henry had to allege a solemn treaty, which, after it had been +unequivocally acted upon, France broke on a most trifling pretext."</p> + +<p>Such is the representation made by the author of the Abrégé +Historique<a id="notetag066" name="notetag066"></a><a href="#note066">[66]</a> +of the affairs of England; and the Author is desirous +of transferring into his pages this clear and candid statement the +rather because it is written by a foreigner, who seems to have viewed +the transaction with enlightened and unprejudiced eyes.</p> + +<p>More modern writers, indeed, would teach us to deem it "unnecessary +for them to comment on the absurdity of Henry's claim to the French +crown in right of his descent from Isabella wife of Edward II. For +futile as her son Edward's (III.) pretensions were, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page077" name="page077">(p. 077)</a></span> +Henry's +were still less reasonable, as the Earl of March was in 1415 the heir +of those persons."<a id="notetag067" name="notetag067"></a><a +href="#note067">[67]</a></p> + +<p>The fact on which this reasoning rests is undoubtedly true, and yet +considerations connected with that claim require to be entertained, +and weighed without haste and without prejudice; and the truth itself +warns us not to dismiss the point so summarily. Henry (it must never +be forgotten) had been bred up in the belief that Richard II. had in +the most full and unreserved manner, by his act of resignation, +yielded all his rights into the hands of the people of England, and +that those rights had been as fully and unreservedly conferred by the +nation on Henry's father. Whatever rights, moreover, the Earl of March +possessed as lineal heir to the crown, he had, as far as his own +personal interest was concerned, over and over again, not merely by a +passive acquiescence, but by repeated voluntary acts, virtually +resigned, and made over to Henry as actual King; and, lastly, it is +clear that Henry's claim was always by himself and by the nation +rested on the ground of his being King of England, and, ipso facto, as +such, heir of all his predecessors Kings of England.</p> + +<p>On these grounds, and with such an opening offered to his ardent mind +by the distracted state of the realm of France, Henry resolved to +prefer his claim; negociating first for its amicable concession, and, +if unsuccessful in negociation, then pursuing it in the field of +battle. This appears to have been his determination from +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page078" name="page078">(p. 078)</a></span> +the +first; but from the first he seems also to have contemplated the +probability of failure by treaty; for, from the first intimation of +his designs, he and his subjects were steadily engaged in making every +preparation<a id="notetag068" name="notetag068"></a><a href="#note068">[68]</a> +for a vigorous invasion of France.</p> + +<p>In this part of our treatise a brief outline is required of the +proceedings between the resolution first taken by Henry, and his +appearance in arms on French land; nor can we satisfactorily pass on +without taking a succinct view of the internal state of that kingdom +at the time of Henry's original claim and subsequent invasion.</p> + + +<p class="figcenter"><span class="smcap">SUMMARY OF THE AFFAIRS OF FRANCE.</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page079" name="page079">(p. 079)</a></span></p> + +<p>Charles V, surnamed the Wise, died in +1380.<a id="notetag069" name="notetag069"></a><a href="#note069">[69]</a> +He left to succeed him +his son Charles VI, twelve years of age; and he appointed his three +brothers to govern the kingdom during the minority,—Lewis, Duke of +Anjou, John, Duke of Berry, and Philip, Duke of Burgundy, who by their +ambition and rivalry threw the whole realm into confusion. Charles V. +left also another son, called the Duke of Orleans, who in his time +contributed to the general confusion no less than his uncles. Through +the first days of Charles's (VI.) reign, the three regents, differing +in every other point, agreed only in burdening the nation with taxes; +a circumstance which bred great discontent, and prepared the people +for separating into different factions whenever an opportunity might +occur.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Anjou quitted France in 1381, to take possession of his +kingdom of Sicily. The King was of age to be his own master, according +to the will of his father, at fourteen; yet his uncles governed both +his estate and his person till he was twenty. In 1385, he was married +to Isabella, daughter of Stephen, Duke of Bavaria.</p> + +<p>In 1388, Charles assumed the reins of government, discharging his +uncles, and keeping about his person his brother, the Duke of Orleans, +then seventeen, and his maternal uncle the Duke of Bourbon.</p> + +<p>The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page080" name="page080">(p. 080)</a></span> +Duke of Burgundy could not endure to see the Dukes of +Orleans and Bourbon govern the kingdom in the name of the King; and in +1391 he succeeded in causing the Estates-General to transfer the +government to him under the pretext of aiding his nephew to bear the +burden of the state. Probably the King had already shown symptoms of +that imbecility which afterwards incapacitated him altogether for +managing the affairs of his kingdom. In 1395 his malady increased in +violence; and for some time the Queen his wife, the Dukes of Orleans, +Berry, Burgundy, and Bourbon, each struggled hard to retain the reins +of government in their own hands. At length the Dukes of Orleans and +Burgundy formed two opposite parties; under the banners of which, as +well the members of the court, as the subjects of the kingdom at +large, arranged themselves in hostile ranks. Queen Isabella joined the +Duke of Orleans. The Duke of Berry fluctuated between the two +factions, and had great difficulty in preventing them from coming to +extremities. In these struggles the two chiefs were so equal, and so +determined not to yield either to the other, that they left the +government to the council of the King. The Duke of Burgundy withdrew +to the Netherlands, where he was master of the earldoms of Flanders +and Artois, and the duchy of Brabant: there he died in 1403, leaving +his son John to succeed him, who became Duke of Burgundy and Count of +Flanders and Artois. His brothers shared the residue of their father's +inheritance.</p> + +<p>Whilst +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page081" name="page081">(p. 081)</a></span> +the new Duke of Burgundy was employed in arranging his +own affairs, the Queen and the Duke of Orleans conducted the +government; but with little satisfaction to the people, who found +themselves grievously oppressed by taxation. Meanwhile, the Duke of +Burgundy married his son Philip, Earl of Charolois, to Michelle, the +King's daughter; and one of his daughters was also espoused to the +Dauphin, Louis, then only nine years of age.</p> + +<p>Some time afterwards, Charles VI. finding himself in one of his +intervals of mental health, and hearing complaints from all sides +against his Queen and the Duke of Orleans, convened an assembly of +nobles to deliberate on a remedy; and commanded the presence of the +Duke of Burgundy. On his approach, the Queen and the Duke of Orleans +withdrew, taking with them the young Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy +followed, and overtook them; and rescued the Dauphin from their +custody. This was a source of open rupture between those princes. +There followed, indeed, an outward show of reconciliation; but their +mutual hatred was deadly still. In 1407 the Duke of Burgundy caused +the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated. He was bold enough to profess +himself the author of the murder, and powerful enough to shield +himself from any punishment, and to procure letters of free pardon. +Next year he was obliged to visit his own territory, and in his +absence his enemies caused the bill of amnesty to be reversed.</p> + +<p>Meantime, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page082" name="page082">(p. 082)</a></span> +the Duke gained a victory over the troops of Liege, +and marched at the head of four thousand horsemen direct upon Paris. +The Queen withdrew at his approach, taking the King with her to Tours; +and, finding herself unable to cope with her antagonist, she consented +to an accommodation. The King received Burgundy, and reconciled him in +appearance to the Duke of Orleans, son of the murdered Duke. After +this, the Duke of Burgundy remained master of the government, and of +the person of the King.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that, in 1411, a powerful league was formed in +Guienne against the Duke of Burgundy, by the Dukes of Berry, Orleans, +Alenēon, and the Count of Armagnac, who was governor of Languedoc and +father-in-law to the Duke of Berry; and who, being the chief conductor +of the whole affair, gave the name of Armagnacs to the party in +general opposed to +Burgundy.<a id="notetag070" name="notetag070"></a><a href="#note070">[70]</a> +At the beginning, the Duke of +Burgundy, having received succours from Henry IV. of England, gained a +great advantage over his opponents. Subsequently, the Armagnacs, +obtaining considerable assistance from the same King, forced the Duke +of Burgundy, who was besieging them in Bourges, to make peace; one +condition of which, however, being that no one of those chiefs should +return to the court, the Duke of Burgundy still remained master of the +King's person. In +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page083" name="page083">(p. 083)</a></span> +this state of triumph on the part of the +Duke of Burgundy, and of depression of the Armagnacs, another opponent +arose against the Duke, of whom he seems to have been previously under +no apprehension,—the Dauphin himself, his son-in-law, then only +sixteen years of age. This prince, persuaded that during his father's +illness the government could of right belong to no one but himself, +resolved to secure his own. He gained over the governor of the +Bastille, and seized that fortress. The Parisians flew to arms at the +secret instigation of the Duke of Burgundy. A surgeon, named John of +Troyes, at the head of ten or twelve thousand men, forced the gates of +the Dauphin's palace; and, carrying off the chief friends of that +prince, lodged them in prison.</p> + +<p>These events took place at the opening of the year 1413, whilst Henry +IV. was labouring under the malady of which he died. Henry V. +succeeded to the throne, March 20th of that year. At the end of April, +the malcontents of Paris, all of the Burgundian faction, committed +various excesses, and compelled both the King and the Dauphin to wear +the white cap, the badge of their party. The +Dauphin<a id="notetag071" name="notetag071"></a><a href="#note071">[71]</a> +betook +himself at last to the Armagnacs, of whom many lived in Paris, +grievously oppressed by the government of the Duke of Burgundy; and he +planned his scheme so well, and so secretly, that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page084" name="page084">(p. 084)</a></span> +at the +beginning of September he found thirty thousand men in Paris ready to +support him. By his sudden and vigorous efforts he struck terror into +the opposite faction, who abandoned the Bastille and other places in +their possession, and thought of nothing but their own personal +safety. The Duke of Burgundy himself withdrew to Flanders. The +Dauphin, however, gained no permanent advantage from this success; for +the King, in one of his favourable intervals, immediately seized the +reins of government, and called his nephew the young Duke of Orleans +to his counsels. This youth induced the King to issue very violent +decrees against the Duke of Burgundy, and to execute a great number of +his partisans.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of affairs in France when Henry of Monmouth first +resolved to prosecute his claims in that kingdom. The Duke of Burgundy +lost no time in endeavouring to secure the assistance of so powerful +an ally; as we find by the many safe-conducts dated before the Duke's +expulsion from Paris, which did not take place till September. Whether +Henry had, before these embassies from the Duke of Burgundy, formed +any design of claiming his supposed rights in France, or not, the +Duke's negociations must have strongly impressed him with the +distracted state of that country, and with an opening offered to the +enterprising spirit of any powerful neighbour who would promptly and +vigorously seize upon that opportunity of invading France.</p> + +<p>"Although<a id="notetag072" name="notetag072"></a><a href="#note072">[72]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page085" name="page085">(p. 085)</a></span> +several negociations had taken place between +September 1413, and the January following, for the purpose of +prolonging the subsisting truce between England and France, it was not +until January 28, 1414, that ambassadors were appointed to treat of +peace. From the engagement then made, that Henry would not propose +marriage to any other woman than Katharine, daughter of the King of +France, until after the 1st of the ensuing May, (which term was +extended from the 18th of June to the 1st of August, and afterwards to +the 2nd of February 1415,) it is evident that a marriage with that +princess was to form one of the conditions of the treaty. But the +first intimation of a claim to the crown of France is in a commission, +dated May 1, 1414, by which the Bishop of Durham, Richard Lord Grey, +and others, were instructed to negociate that alliance, and the +restitution of such of their sovereign's rights as were withheld by +Charles. The principal claim was no less than the crown and kingdom of +France. Concession to this demand, however, being at once declared +impossible, the English ambassadors waived it, without prejudice +nevertheless to Henry's rights. They then demanded the sovereignty of +the duchies of Normandy and Touraine, the earldom of Anjou, the duchy +of Brittany, the earldom of Flanders, with all other parts of the +duchy of Aquitain, the territories which had been ceded +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page086" name="page086">(p. 086)</a></span> +to +Edward III. by the treaty of Bretigny, and the lands between the Somme +and Graveline; to be held by Henry and his heirs, without any claim of +superiority on the part of Charles or his successors. To these demands +were added the cession of the county of Provence, and payment of the +arrears of the ransom of King John, amounting to one million six +hundred thousand crowns. It was also intimated that the marriage with +Katharine could not take place, unless a firm peace were also +established with France, and that two millions of crowns would be +expected as her dower.</p> + +<p>On March 14, 1415, the French ministers denied Henry's right to any +part of the dominion of their master; but, to avoid extremities, they +offered to cede the counties of Angouleme and Bayonne, with various +other territories. They said that Provence, not being among Charles's +lordships, was not withheld by him. With respect to the arrears of +ransom, they thought that, having offered so much to extend the +possessions of England, with a view of securing peace, the claim ought +to be withdrawn. Touching the marriage, which had been so frequently +discussed, though the Kings of France had been accustomed to give much +less with their daughters than six hundred thousand crowns, which sum +the Duke of Berry had offered with her in the preceding August, yet +that it should be enlarged to eight hundred thousand crowns, besides +her jewels and apparel, and the expense of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page087" name="page087">(p. 087)</a></span> +sending the +princess in a suitable manner to the place where she might be +delivered to Henry. But as the English ambassadors said they were not +permitted to prolong their stay in France, and had no authority to +vary their demands, Charles engaged to send an embassy to England to +conclude the treaty.</p> + +<p>During the progress of these protracted negociations Henry grew +dissatisfied; and either from impatience, or with a view of awing +France into submission, issued writs of 26th September 1414, for a +parliament to be held at Westminster after the Octaves of St. Martin, +18th November following. On that day parliament met; and the session +was opened at the command of the King by Henry Beaufort, Bishop of +Winchester, then Chancellor. In a long harangue he informed the +assembly, that their King (who was present in person) had resolved to +recover his inheritance, which had been so long and unjustly kept from +him and his progenitors, Kings of England; and that, for this purpose, +many things were necessary. Taking for his theme the text, "Whilst we +have time, let us do good," he pointed out, with more pedantry than +eloquence, that for every natural thing there were two seasons; and +that just as for the tree there was one time to bud, to flower, and to +bring forth fruit, and another time through which it was left to +repose, so was there given to man a time for peace, and a time for war +and labour: that the King, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page088" name="page088">(p. 088)</a></span> +considering the value of peace +and tranquillity which this kingdom then enjoyed, and also the justice +of his present quarrel, (considerations most necessary for every +prince who had to encounter enemies abroad,) deemed that the proper +time had arrived for the accomplishment of his purpose. But, to attain +this great and honourable object, three things, he said, were wanted; +namely, wise and faithful counsel from his vassals, strong and true +support from his people, and a copious subsidy from his subjects; +which each of them would readily grant, because the more their +prince's dominions were extended, the less would their burdens become; +and, these things being performed, great honour and glory would +necessarily ensue.</p> + +<p>This address was not without effect, for the Commons, after electing +Thomas Chaucer (son, as it is said, of the poet) for their Speaker, +"granted the King, for the honour of God, and from the great love and +affection which they bore towards their sovereign, two entire +fifteenths and two entire tenths, <i>for the defence of the kingdom of +England and the safeguard of the seas</i>."</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page089" name="page089">(p. 089)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">modern triple charge against henry of falsehood, hypocrisy, and +impiety. — futility of the charge, and utter failure of the evidence +on which alone it is grounded. — he is urged by his people to +vindicate the rights of his crown, himself having a conscientious +conviction of the justice of his claim. — story of the tennis-balls. +— preparations for invading france. — henry's will made at +southampton. — charge of hypocrisy again grounded on the close of +that testament. — its futility. — he despatches to the various +powers of europe the grounds of his claim on france.</span></h3> + + +<p>At this point of his work, the Author finds the painful duty devolved +upon him of investigating a triple charge, now for the first time +brought against Henry by a living writer. He must not shrink from the +task, though he enter upon it with a consciousness that, if +established, the charge must brand Henry's memory with indelible +disgrace, whilst his acquittal may imply censure on his +accuser.<a id="notetag073" name="notetag073"></a><a href="#note073">[73]</a> +He feels, nevertheless, that only one course is +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page090" name="page090">(p. 090)</a></span> +open for him +to pursue; he must follow up the inquiry fully, fearlessly, and +impartially, whatever may be the result; and, whether he looks to +Henry or his accuser, he must adhere rigidly to the golden maxim, +"Friends are dear, but truth is dearer!"</p> + +<p>An Author,<a id="notetag074" name="notetag074"></a><a href="#note074">[74]</a> +then, to whom (as we gladly and gratefully acknowledge) +we are largely indebted for many helps supplied to the biographer and +historian, and from whom we have borrowed copiously in this part of +our work, brings a wide and violent charge against Henry's character +in those very points on which the general tenour and complexion of his +whole life would lead us to regard him as of all least assailable. He +charges him with <i>falsehood</i>, <i>hypocrisy</i>, and <i>impiety</i>. The +groundwork on which he founds these accusations is a series of letters +recorded in M. Le Laboureur's History of Charles VI. of France.</p> + +<p>To <span class="pagenum"><a id="page091" name="page091">(p. 091)</a></span> +ascertain more satisfactorily whether the charge is really +substantiated, or whether it has been built upon an unsound +foundation, we will first extract the whole passage as it stands in +his work, "The Battle of Agincourt," and then sift the evidence which +the writer alleges in support of so grave an imputation.</p> + +<p>"On the 7th April, Henry is said to have addressed the King of France +on the subject of his claims, and in reference to the embassy which +Charles had signified his intention of sending to discuss them. No +part<a id="notetag075" name="notetag075"></a><a href="#note075">[75]</a> +of the correspondence on this occasion occurs in the +Fœdera, and it is very slightly alluded to by our historians. "To +the first of those letters Charles replied on the 16th of April, and +to the last on the 26th of that month; it +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page092" name="page092">(p. 092)</a></span> +is therefore +evident that Henry did not wait for the answer to the first before the +second was written. These documents occur in contemporary writers; +and, as the internal evidence which they contain of being genuine is +very strong, there is no cause to doubt their authenticity. Their most +striking features are falsehood, hypocrisy, and impiety; for Henry's +solemn assurance that he was not actuated by his own ambition, but by +the wishes of his subjects, is rendered very doubtful by the fact +that, on the day after the Chancellor had solicited supplies for the +invasion of France, the Commons <i>merely stated</i> that they granted +<i>them for the defence of the realm, and the safety of the seas</i>. The +justice claimed was, that France should be dismembered of many +important territories; and that, with the hand of Katharine, Henry +should receive a sum as unprecedented as it was exorbitant. But this +was not all, for his first demand was the crown of France itself; and +it was not until he was convinced of the impossibility of such a +concession, that he required those points to which his letters refer. +If then there was <span class="smcap">falsehood</span> in his assertion that his demands were +dictated by the wishes of his people rather than by his own, there was +<span class="smcap">hypocrisy</span> in the assurances of his moderation and love of peace, and +<span class="smcap">impiety</span> in calling the Almighty to witness the sincerity of his +protestation, and in profaning the holy writings by citing them on +such an occasion. These letters, which were probably dictated by +Cardinal <span class="pagenum"><a id="page093" name="page093">(p. 093)</a></span> +Beaufort, are remarkable for the style in which +they are written; in some places they approach nearly to eloquence, +and they are throughout clear, nervous, and impressive."</p> + +<p>In this threefold indictment, the first charge is "falsehood." The +falsehood is made to consist in Henry's assertion, that he was +stimulated to prosecute his claim by the wishes of his people; and the +only evidence alleged to sustain this charge of falsehood, is the fact +that parliament, in granting the supplies, so far from specifying that +the grant was made for the purpose of recovering the King's rights in +France, merely stated that it was "<i>for the defence of the realm, and +the safety of the seas</i>."</p> + +<p>Before a charge, fixing an indelible stain on the character of a +fellow-creature, whether the individual were a king leading his armies +to victory, or the humblest subject in his realm, were made on such +grounds as these, it had been well,—well for the cause of truth, and +well for the satisfaction of the accuser,—had the nature and force of +the evidence adduced been first more carefully examined. The slightest +acquaintance with the language of parliament at that time, and the +most cursory comparison of the words of its members with their +conduct, must satisfy every one that not a shadow of suspicion is +suggested of any unwillingness on the part of the Commons to support +the King in demanding his supposed rights, and vindicating them by +arms. On the contrary, the very records of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page094" name="page094">(p. 094)</a></span> +parliament +themselves, which are cited to maintain against Henry the charge of +falsehood, carry with them a full and perfect refutation of the +accusation, complete in all its parts; and compel us to lament that it +has been brought so hastily, unadvisedly, and inconsiderately. Our +first point is to ascertain the force of those words in the grant +alone cited to substantiate the charge of falsehood against +Henry,—what meaning was attached to them by the Commons themselves. +We shall find that the subsidy was granted in the usual formal words, +"for the defence of the realm of England and so forth." In the first +parliament of Henry for example, the subsidy is granted in these +words: "To the honour of God, and for the great love and affection +which your poor Commons of your realm of England have to you our dread +sovereign Lord, for the good of the realm and its good governance in +time to come, we have, with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and +Temporal, granted to you <i>for defence of your realm of England</i>," and +so forth,—specifying a subsidy from wools and other merchandise; and +then, in voting an entire fifteenth and a tenth, they add, "for <i>the +defence of the realm, and the safeguard of the seas</i>." With precisely +the same justice might it be argued in this case that the Commons +would not vote the subsidy for "the support of the King's dignity and +high estate," (though that was one of the especial grounds on which he +appealed himself to the liberality of his parliament,) as +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page095" name="page095">(p. 095)</a></span> it +can be inferred, from the same words used in the parliament of 1415, +that the Commons of England were not forward to promote the expedition +to France. In that parallel case, however, we are quite sure the +argument would be fallacious; because in the very same session they +voted that the King's own allowance should take precedence of all +other payments of annuities and other demands, to the amount of +10,000<i>l.</i> annually.</p> + +<p>Another instance occurs in the parliament which met October 19, 1416, +the King himself presiding: though the Chancellor, after referring +with exultation to the victories of Harfleur, "the key of France," and +of Agincourt, "where greatest part of the chivalry of France had +fallen in battle," asks for new supplies <i>for the express purpose</i> of +carrying on the wars in France; the Commons, in voting those supplies, +as expressly state that they grant them "<i>for the defence of your +realm of England</i>."</p> + +<p>The same conclusion is warranted by the grants of 1417 and 1419; +excepting that in these the Commons make the argument intended to +support the charge against Henry's veracity still less tenable, by +inserting a phrase which might seem to exclude the very object for +which application for the subsidy was made. The application was made +especially for the supplies necessary to carry on the war abroad; the +Commons vote the subsidy "for the defence of the realm of England <i>in +especial</i>."</p> + +<p>But, to remove all possible doubt as to the true intent +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page096" name="page096">(p. 096)</a></span> and +meaning of the people of England in the grant in 1414 of two entire +tenths and two entire fifteenths, we need only refer to the first act +of the next parliament, which, after rehearsing the impossibility of +the King effectually carrying on his wars abroad unless one tenth and +one fifteenth made by the former parliament, payable on the 2nd of +February, should be collected before that time, decrees that subsidy +to be due and payable on the feast of St. Lucie in the next coming +December. Nor is this all. The next act of this same parliament would +of itself prove the utter futility of the charge against Henry, as far +as that charge rests upon the evidence adduced. The parliament first +state the necessity of supplying the King with more efficient means +<i>for pursuing his campaign in France</i>, and then vote one entire tenth +and one entire fifteenth,—for what? not for the purpose which they +have expressly specified, but "<i>for the defence of his said realm of +England</i>." The preamble, however, of this act shows so clearly what +were the views and feelings of his subjects on this very point, as +well as on the justice of his claim, that a transcript of it seems +indispensable in this place.</p> + +<p>"The Commons of the realm, in this present parliament assembled, +considering that the King our sovereign lord, for the honour of God, +and to avoid the shedding of human blood, hath caused various requests +to be made to his adversary of France to have restitution of his +<i>inheritance</i> according to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page097" name="page097">(p. 097)</a></span> +<i>right and +justice</i>;<a id="notetag076" name="notetag076"></a><a href="#note076">[76]</a> +and for +that end there have been diverse treaties, as well here as beyond the +sea, to his great costs; nevertheless he hath not, by such requests +and treaties, obtained his said inheritance, nor any important part +thereof: and since the King, neither by the revenues of his realm, nor +by any previous grant of subsidy, hath had enough wherewith to pursue +<i>his right</i>; yet, always <i>trusting in God</i> that in his <span class="smcap">just</span> <i>quarrel</i> +he shall be upheld and supported, of his own good courage hath +undertaken an expedition into those parts, pawning his jewels to +procure a supply of money, and in his own person hath passed over, and +arrived at Harfleur, and laid siege to it and taken it, and holds it +at present, having placed lords and many others there for its defence; +and then of his excellent courage, with few people in regard to the +power of France, he marched by land towards Calais, where, on his +route, many dukes, earls, and other lords, with the power of the realm +of France, to an exceeding great number, opposed him, and gave him +battle; and God, of his grace, hath given victory to our King, to the +honour and exaltation of his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page098" name="page098">(p. 098)</a></span> +crown, of his own fair fame, the +singular comfort of his faithful lieges, to the terror of all his +enemies, and probably to the lasting profit of all his realm."</p> + +<p>We may safely leave the issue to the verdict of any impartial mind. +The argument drawn from the language of parliament to convict Henry of +falsehood falls to the ground; it has no colour of reason in it; and +no other argument is even alluded to by the accuser. It is, moreover, +much to be regretted that the Editor of "The Battle of Agincourt," +when he was translating so large a portion of the Chaplain's memoir, +which with great reason he implicitly follows, had not begun the work +of translation a few sentences only before its present commencement. +Our countrymen would then have seen that, from whatever sources that +Editor drew the evidence on which to build his triple charge of +hypocrisy, falsehood, and impiety against Henry V, those who knew him +best, and had the most ample opportunities of witnessing his character +and conduct, expressed at least a very opposite opinion on the point +at issue. The following are the genuine words of one who accompanied +Henry from his native shores to France, was with him at the battle of +Agincourt, and returned with him in safety to England. "Meanwhile, +after the interchange of many solemn embassies between England and +France, with a view to permanent peace, when the King found that very +many negociations and most exact +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page099" name="page099">(p. 099)</a></span> +treaties had been carried +on in vain, by reason that the council of France, <i>clinging to their +own will, which they adopted as their law</i>, could be induced to peace +by no just mean of equity, without immense injury to the crown of +England, and perpetual disinheritance of some of the noblest portions +of his right in that realm, though for the sake of peace he was ready +to make great concessions, seeing no other remedy or means by which he +could come to his right, had recourse to the sentence of the supreme +judicature, and without blame sought to recover by the sword what the +blameworthy and unjust violence of the French had struggled so long to +usurp and keep.... He determined to regain the duchy of Normandy, +which had for a long time been <i>kept, against God and all justice, by +the violence of the French</i>."</p> + +<p>There is, however, one declaration contained in the very volume from +which these alleged letters of Henry are extracted, which makes the +charge brought by the commentator on those letters still more +surprising.<a id="notetag077" name="notetag077"></a><a href="#note077">[77]</a> +It is in that very volume positively asserted, with +regard to the first rumour through France of Henry's intended +invasion, that "his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100">(p. 100)</a></span> +subjects <i>had strongly</i> remonstrated with +him for his love of peace and rest, and his dislike of active +measures, and had <i>now</i> <span class="smcap">insisted</span> upon his undertaking the +expedition."<a id="notetag078" name="notetag078"></a><a href="#note078">[78]</a></p> + +<p>The charge of hypocrisy is made to rest "on Henry assuring the French +monarch of his moderation and love of peace, whereas he must have been +conscious that he was immoderate in his demands, and was not desirous +of peace." To prove that his demands were immoderate, is not enough to +sustain this accusation; to constitute him a hypocrite, he must +<i>himself have been conscious</i> that his demands were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101">(p. 101)</a></span> +immoderate. But how stands the probability? He was fully persuaded +that the crown of France was his own; and he first demands the full +surrender of his alleged rights. The Commons declare that what he +sought was "the restitution of his inheritance according to <i>right and +justice</i>," and testify that he "trusted in God for support in his +<i>just quarrel</i>." He then, agreeably to the advice of his +council,<a id="notetag079" name="notetag079"></a><a href="#note079">[79]</a> +(who acknowledge that what he sought to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102">(p. 102)</a></span> +recover was "his +righteous heritage, the redintegration of the old rights of his +crown,") withdrawing his full demand, proposes other terms, +unreasonable, no +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103">(p. 103)</a></span> +doubt, as we may view them now, but, if +regarded as a substitute for the fair kingdom of France, far from +stamping on Henry the brand of hypocrisy, when he made a profession of +moderation and a love of +peace.<a id="notetag080" name="notetag080"></a><a href="#note080">[80]</a></p> + +<p>There remains the charge of impiety, which is made to rest on Henry +having called the Almighty to witness a falsehood, and quoted +Scripture in support of what he affirmed. It was undoubtedly too much +the practice then, as unhappily it is now, for Christians, on trivial +occasions, to appeal to Heaven, and to quote the sanction of Scripture +in very questionable matters of worldly policy. But Henry does not +appeal presumptuously, nor quote lightly; he appeals solemnly, and he +quotes reverently, in a matter of very great importance to both +kingdoms, and in a cause which he believed to be founded in right and +justice. He appealed to Heaven to witness what he regarded as true. +The page we have been examining accuses Henry of falsehood, hypocrisy, +and impiety: the evidence of facts, and the testimony of his +contemporaries, represent him to us in the character of an honest, +undisguised, and pious King.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday, April 16, Henry held a council at Westminster, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104">(p. 104)</a></span> +at which the Chancellor, Henry Beaufort, briefly explained the +proceedings of the great council, enumerating the causes which induced +their King, in the name of God, to undertake in his own person an +expedition for the recovery of his inheritance. On the next day the +Chancellor informed the council that the King had appointed the Duke +of Bedford to be lieutenant of +England<a id="notetag081" name="notetag081"></a><a href="#note081">[81]</a> +during his absence; with +the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, and other +prelates and lay lords to form his council.</p> + +<p>As early as May 26, an order was issued to suspend the assizes through +England during the King's absence, lest his lieges who accompanied him +might be subjected to inconvenience and injustice. The defence of the +country towards Scotland and Wales was provided for, and the rate of +wages payable to his retinue and soldiers was fixed. Every duke was to +receive 13<i>s.</i> 4<i>d.</i>, every earl 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>, every baron 4<i>s.</i>, and +every knight 2<i>s.</i>, every esquire being a man-at-arms 12<i>d.</i>, every +archer 6<i>d.</i> each day; whilst for every thirty men-at-arms a reward +was assigned of one hundred marks a quarter; together with some other +stipulations.</p> + +<p>In <span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105">(p. 105)</a></span> +the spring and summer the King +issued<a id="notetag082" name="notetag082"></a><a href="#note082">[82]</a> +commissions to +hire ships from Holland and Zealand; to press sailors to navigate his +vessels; to provide workmen to make and repair bows; to procure carts +and waggons for the conveyance of his stores; also a supply of masons, +carpenters, and smiths, together with the materials of the respective +trades. The sheriffs of different counties were ordered to buy cattle; +and the sheriff of Hampshire was to cause bread to be baked, and ale +to be brewed, at Winchester and Southampton, and the parts adjacent, +for the use of the army.</p> + +<p>The King not only thus took effective measures for the transport and +supply of his forces, but commanded also the Archbishop and the other +prelates to array the clergy for the defence of the kingdom at home +during his absence. Every sheriff also was to proclaim that a nightly +watch should be kept till All-Saints' Day; and no taverner was to +allow any stranger to remain in his house more than one day and night, +without knowledge of the cause of his delay; and all suspicious +persons were to be committed to prison.</p> + +<p>Though parliament had granted a liberal supply, the King, finding his +expenses to exceed his means, made a direct and powerful appeal to all +his <span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106">(p. 106)</a></span> +loving subjects for a loan, with promise of repayment; +and a considerable sum was raised in consequence of that appeal, but +still not enough. He was, therefore, compelled to pawn his plate and +jewels, (as he had done with his small stock in early youth during the +Welsh rebellion,) and to have recourse to all expedients for raising +the necessary sums. These expedients were often totally incompatible +with our present notions of the royal dignity; but no intimation +appears anywhere of the least unfair and dishonourable dealing on the +part of the King. His appeals to the people much resembled those of +Charles I, under still more urgent circumstances, in after ages.</p> + +<p>A curious fact is recorded in the minutes of a council held May 25, +1415, respecting a demand for money from the companies of foreign +merchants resident in London. They were summoned before the council, +and informed that it was usual for merchants who traded in any other +country than their own to lend the government such sums as they could +bear, or else be committed to prison during pleasure. This custom was +justified on the ground of many and great privileges secured to them +in their traffic by the King's favour, from which they derived great +wealth. Certain sums were demanded, and sufficient pledges of gold, +silver, and jewels were offered; but the merchants of Florence, +Venice, and Lucca [de Luk] refused to comply, and were committed to +the custody of the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107">(p. 107)</a></span> +warden of the Fleet Prison. From the +merchants of Florence was required 1,200<i>l.</i>, from those of Venice +1,000<i>l.</i>, from those of Lucca 200<i>l.</i> These strong measures seem to +have worked their intended effect, for all those guilds granted loans +afterwards.</p> + +<p>Having now effected every preparation in his power, the King passed +through London, accompanied by the Mayor and citizens (who attended +him as far as Kingston); and having made an offering at St. Paul's, +and taken leave of his mother-in-law the Queen, he proceeded on his +way towards Southampton, where all his ships and contingents were +directed to await his arrival.</p> + +<p>Reaching Winchester, he remained there for some days from June 26th, +probably to give audience to the French ambassadors, who were +presented to him on the 30th. The Archbishop of Bourges headed that +embassy, and the Bishop of Winchester was Henry's representative and +spokesman. Much of negociating and bartering ensued, and at first many +conciliatory communications were made on both sides; the French +yielding much, the English adhering to their original demands, or +remitting little from them. At length, the reply of the Archbishop put +an abrupt end to further discussion; and Henry commanded the +ambassadors to depart, with a promise that he would soon follow them.</p> + +<p>It is here again painful to read the unkind and unjustifiable language +of the same author, whose triple +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108">(p. 108)</a></span> +charge against Henry's +religious and moral character we have just investigated, when he +describes the surprise of the French monarch and his court on the +return of these ambassadors. "Until that moment," he says, "the French +court, either <i>cajoled</i> by Henry's <i>hypocrisy</i>, or lulled into +security by a mistaken estimate of his power, had neglected every +means for resisting the storm which was about to burst upon their +country." Henry stands convicted of no hypocrisy; and his accuser +alleges no evidence on which an impartial mind would pronounce him +guilty. It is curious as it is satisfactory to lay side by side with +this unguarded calumny the version of the circumstances of that time, +made by an unprejudiced foreigner, and a very sensible well-versed +historian.<a id="notetag083" name="notetag083"></a><a href="#note083">[83]</a> +"France was then governed by the Dauphin Louis, a young +and presumptuous prince, who had up to this point thought himself able +to amuse Henry by feigned negociations. Nevertheless, the preparations +going on in England having opened the eyes of his council, a +resolution was taken to send to England twelve ambassadors, at the +head of whom was the Archbishop of Bourges."</p> + +<p>Several contemporary writers, as well as general tradition, state +that, on occasion of one of the various embassies sent to and fro +between the courts of London and Paris, the Dauphin, then about +eighteen or nineteen years of age, sent an insulting present +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109">(p. 109)</a></span> +to Henry of a tun of tennis-balls, with a message full of contempt and +scorn,<a id="notetag084" name="notetag084"></a><a href="#note084">[84]</a> +implying that a racket-court was a more fit place for him +than a battle-field. It is well observed, that such an act of wilful +provocation must have convinced both parties of the hopelessness of +any attempts towards a pacific arrangement; and, since the +negociations were carried on to the very last, some discredit has +thence been attempted to be thrown on the story altogether. But it +must be remembered (as the author of the Abrégé Historique justly +remarks) that these negociations were continued, on the part of +France, merely to gain time, and withdraw Henry from his purpose; +whilst Henry, on the other side, by his renewed proposals for the hand +of Katharine, (an union on which he appears from the first to have +been heartily bent,) kept up in his enemies the hope that, to gain +that object, he would ultimately relax from many of his original +demands. Henry certainly afterwards challenged the Dauphin to single +combat, as though he had a quarrel with him personally; and nothing +can fairly be inferred against the truth of the tradition, from the +silence in the challenge on the point of such an insult having been +offered. On the whole, the evidence is decidedly in favour of the +reality of the incident; whilst Henry's reported answer is very +characteristic: "I +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110">(p. 110)</a></span> +will thank the Dauphin in person, and will +carry him such tennis-balls as shall rattle his hall's roof about his +ears." And they, says the contemporary +chronicler,<a id="notetag085" name="notetag085"></a><a href="#note085">[85]</a> +were great +gunstones for the Dauphin to play withal.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Anxious to proceed in our narrative without further allusion to such +sweeping and unsupported charges, we must, nevertheless, here +introduce (though reluctantly) the remarks which have been suffered to +fall from the same pen, as its chief comment on the closing words of +Henry's last Will, made at this +time.<a id="notetag086" name="notetag086"></a><a href="#note086">[86]</a> +He signed that document at +Southampton, July 24th, just three days after discovering the +conspiracy of which we must soon speak. Probably a sense of the +uncertainty of life, and the necessity of setting his house in order +without delay, were impressed deeply upon him by that unhappy event. +He felt not only that he had embarked in an enterprise the result of +which was doubtful, in which at all events he must expose his life to +numberless unforeseen perils; but that the thread of his mortal +existence might at a moment be cut asunder by the hands of the very +men to whom he looked for protection and victory. Compared with the +wills of other princes +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111">(p. 111)</a></span> +and nobles of that day, there is +nothing very remarkable in Henry's. From first to last it is tinctured +with the superstitions of the corrupt form of our holy religion, then +over-spreading +England.<a id="notetag087" name="notetag087"></a><a href="#note087">[87]</a></p> + +<p>The subscription to this testament is couched in these words: "This +is my last Will subscribed with my own hand. R.H. Jesu Mercy and +Gramercy Ladie Mary Help:" and on these words the same author makes +this observation: "According to all the biographers of Henry, +extraordinary piety was a leading trait in his character, from which +feeling the addition to his Will appears to have arisen. It seems +indeed difficult to reconcile the <i>lawless ambition</i>, much less the +<i>hypocrisy</i>,<a id="notetag088" name="notetag088"></a><a href="#note088">[88]</a> +which Henry displayed in his negociations, with an +obedience to the genuine dictates +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112">(p. 112)</a></span> +of Christianity; but as he +rigidly observed every rite of the church, was bountiful towards its +members, and uniformly ascribed success to the Almighty, it is not +surprising that his contemporaries should have described him as +eminently pious."</p> + +<p>On this passage the biographer of Henry had rather that his readers +should form their own comment, than that he should express the +sentiments which he cannot but entertain: he invites, however, the +lover of truth to compare this charge of <i>lawless ambition and +hypocrisy</i> with the actual conduct of Henry at this very time.</p> + +<p>Whilst resident in the Abbey of +Tichfield,<a id="notetag089" name="notetag089"></a><a href="#note089">[89]</a> +about ten miles from +Southampton, he despatched to the Council of Constance, addressing +himself chiefly to the Emperor Sigismund and the other princes +assembled there, copies of the treaties between Henry IV. and the +French court relative to the restoration of Aquitain to the English +crown; remarking upon the wrong that was done to him by the gross +violation of those treaties. This shows at all events that he was not +conscious of being actuated by lawless ambition, or of acting the part +of a hypocrite; it proves that he was desirous of having the merits of +his quarrel with France examined and understood: and he seems to have +felt an assurance that those who made themselves acquainted with the +real grounds of his intended invasion would pronounce his quarrel to +be just. Otherwise he would scarcely have +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113">(p. 113)</a></span> +gone out of his way +to draw the eyes of assembled Europe, (not to the boldness of an +enterprise, nor to the splendour of conquests, but) to a calm +investigation of the righteousness of his +cause.<a id="notetag090" name="notetag090"></a><a href="#note090">[90]</a></p> + +<p>The words of his chaplain in recording this measure of Henry deserve a +place here. Indeed, every page of contemporary history proves that the +King himself had no misgivings as to the uprightness and justice of +his cause, and was ready to refer the whole to the judgment of +Christendom. "The King caused transcripts of all treaties to be +forwarded to the general council, to the Emperor Sigismund and other +Catholic princes, to the intent that all Christendom might know how +great injuries the duplicity of the French had inflicted upon him, and +that he was, reluctantly and against his will, compelled, as it were, +to raise his standard against the +rebels."<a id="notetag091" name="notetag091"></a><a href="#note091">[91]</a></p> + +<p>Nor <span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114">(p. 114)</a></span> +can we here omit to observe, (though it be anticipating +what must hereafter be again referred to in the course of the +history,) that the behaviour of the Emperor, when, in the spring of +the following year, he made a personal voyage to England on purpose to +visit Henry, and the solemn declaration of the Duke of Burgundy, (of +whose sincerity, however, no one can speak without hesitation,) "that +he had at first thought Henry unjust in his demands, but was at length +convinced of their justice," show that in the estimation of +contemporaries, and those neither churchmen nor his own subjects, who +may be suspected of partiality, Henry's character deserved better than +to be stamped with the imputation of "lawless ambition and hypocrisy." +It is very easy for any one to charge a fellow-creature with immoral +and unchristian motives; and it may carry with it the appearance of +honest indignation, and of an heroic love of virtue, religion, and +truth, when one can tear off the veil of conquest and martial glory +from the individual, and expose his naked faults to pity, or contempt, +or hatred. But a good judge, in forming his own estimate of the +motives which may have given birth to acts which fall under his +cognizance, or in guiding others to return a righteous verdict, will +not consider the most ready method of solving a difficulty to be +always the safest. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115">(p. 115)</a></span> +Take for granted that Henry's conduct +towards France is intelligible on the ground of lawless ambition and +gross hypocrisy, (though there is no proof of either,) it is equally, +at least, intelligible on the supposition of his full and undoubting +conviction of his right to all he claimed. And just as open would any +individual plaintiff be to the charge of hypocrisy, who, after having +insisted upon his full rights, and given notice of trial, and +collected his witnesses, should, on the very eve of the issue being +tried, write to the defendant, urging him to yield, and avoid the +expense and irritation of a protracted law-suit, offering at the same +time a remission of some portion of his claim,—as Henry is in +fairness chargeable with hypocrisy because he wrote to his "adversary +of France," urging him to yield, and avoid the effusion of blood. On +the very eve of his departure for the shores of Normandy, many facts +and circumstances assure us that Henry acted under a full persuasion +that he demanded of France only what was in strict justice his due +when he laid claim to those territories and honours which had been so +long withheld from the Kings of England, his predecessors. Facts are +decidedly against the charge of hypocrisy; but, even were the facts +doubtful, his general character for honesty, and openness, and manly +straightforward dealing, (to which history bears abundant evidence,) +would make the scale of justice preponderate in his favour.</p> + +<p>In <span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116">(p. 116)</a></span> +dismissing this subject, parallel with these modern +accusations of Henry on the ground of "cajoling hypocrisy" we may lay +the testimony borne by his contemporary, +Walsingham,<a id="notetag092" name="notetag092"></a><a href="#note092">[92]</a> +to the +unsuspecting simplicity of his mind, which exposed him to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117">(p. 117)</a></span> +the +overreaching designs of the unprincipled and crafty. In his Ypodigma +Neustrię, a work expressly written for the use and profit of Henry, +and with a view of putting him upon his guard against the intrigues +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118">(p. 118)</a></span> +of foreign courts, he refers to his "innocence liable to be +circumvented, and his noble character likely to be deceived, by the +cunning craftiness and hypocritical fraud and false promises of his +enemies."</p> + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119">(p. 119)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">preparations for invading france. — reflections on the military and +naval state of england. — mode of raising and supporting an army. — +song of agincourt. — henry of monmouth the founder of the english +royal navy. — custom of impressing vessels for the transporting of +troops. — henry's exertions in ship-building. — gratitude due to +him. — conspiracy at southampton. — prevalent delusion as to richard +ii. — the earl of march. — henry's forces. — he sails for normandy.</span><br><br> + + +1415.<br><br> + +<span class="smcap">PREPARATIONS FOR INVADING FRANCE.</span></h3> + + +<p>It is impossible for us to revert with never so cursory a glance to +the departure of Henry of Monmouth from his native shores at the head +of an armament intended to recover his alleged rights in France, +without finding various questions suggesting themselves, both on the +mode adopted for raising and embodying the men, and for transporting +the troops and military stores, and all the accompaniments of an +invading army. The Kings of England +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120">(p. 120)</a></span> +had then no standing +army, nor any permanent royal fleet.</p> + +<p>In the present volume we have often seen that on an emergence, such as +an irruption of the Scots, or the necessity of resisting the Welsh +more effectually, the sheriffs of different counties were commanded to +array the able-bodied men within their jurisdiction, and join the +royal standard by an appointed day; and, no doubt, many a motley, and +ill-favoured, and ill-appointed company were seen in the sheriff's +train. We have also been reminded with how great difficulty even these +musters could be collected, and kept together, and marched to the +place of rendezvous; and how seldom could they be brought in time to +join in the engagement for which they were destined. We have +repeatedly also learned that the nobles who would recommend themselves +to the royal favour, or espoused heartily the cause in which they were +engaged, headed their own retainers to the field, and made themselves +responsible for their maintenance and pay. In the present case we have +reason to believe that the army consisted mainly of volunteers; at +least, that the principal persons in rank and fortune joined the +King's standard without compulsion. A very lively and enthusiastic +interest in the success of his expedition prevailed through the whole +country; and the nobles redeemed their pledge, without grudging, that +they would aid him in their persons. The pay of the army +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121">(p. 121)</a></span> +was +settled beforehand, at a fixed rate, from a duke +downwards.<a id="notetag093" name="notetag093"></a><a href="#note093">[93]</a></p> + +<p>Whether there is any foundation at all in fact for the tradition of +Henry's resolution to take with him no married man or widow's son, the +tradition itself bears such strong testimony to the general estimate +of Henry's character for bravery at once and kindness of heart, that +it would be unpardonable to omit every reference to it altogether. The +song of Agincourt, in which it occurs, is unquestionably of ancient +origin; probably written and sung within a very few years of the +expedition.<a id="notetag094" name="notetag094"></a><a href="#note094">[94]</a> +Internal evidence would induce us to infer that it was +composed before Henry's death, and just after his marriage with +Katharine:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The fairest flower in all France,<br> +To the rose of England I give free." +</p> + +<p>The ballad, at all events, is among the earliest of our English songs, +and was delivered down from father +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122">(p. 122)</a></span> +to son in the most +distant parts of the kingdom, when very few of those who preserved the +national poetry from oblivion could read. This circumstance easily +accounts for the many various readings which are found in different +copies now, whilst these in their turn tend to establish the antiquity +of the song. The admirable simplicity and true natural beauty of the +verse will justify its repetition here, though it has already appeared +in our title-page, when it ascribes to Henry the combination of valour +and high resolve, with merciful considerateness and tender feeling for +others. Be the authority for this reported restriction, imposed by +Henry on those who were commissioned to recruit soldiers for his +expedition, what it may, (let it be founded in fact, or in the +imagination of the writer,) it bears that testimony to Henry's +character,<a id="notetag095" name="notetag095"></a><a href="#note095">[95]</a> +which the whole current of authentic documents tends +fully to establish. He was brave, and he was merciful.</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Go! + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123">(p. 123)</a></span> + call up Cheshire and Lancashire,<br> +And Derby hills,<a id="notetag096" name="notetag096"></a><a href="#note096">[96]</a> +which are so free;<br> + But neither married man, nor widow's son,—<br> + No widow's curse shall go with me." +</p> + +<p>Of the numbers who went with Henry to France various accounts are +delivered down, and different calculations have been made. The song of +Agincourt raises the sum of the "right good company" to "thirty +thousand stout men and three:" and probably this total, embracing +servants and attendants of every kind, is not at all an exaggeration +of the number actually transported from England to Normandy; though, +if by "stout men" we are to understand warriors able to handle the +spear, the bow, the sword, and the battleaxe, we must not reckon them +at more than one-third of that number.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>The expedients which Henry found it necessary to adopt for the safe +transportation of this armament, compel us to review, however briefly, +the state and circumstances of English navigation at the period. The +Author has already hazarded the opinion in his Preface, that Henry of +Monmouth may with justice be regarded as the founder of the British +navy; and he feels himself called upon to refer to some facts by which +such a representation might +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124">(p. 124)</a></span> +seem to be countenanced. He +gladly acknowledges that the idea was first suggested to him by the +publication of Sir Henry Ellis; whilst every subsequent research, and +every additional fact, have tended to confirm and illustrate the same +view.<a id="notetag097" name="notetag097"></a><a href="#note097">[97]</a></p> + +<p>Though few subjects are more interesting, or more deserve the +attention of our fellow-countrymen, yet it is confessedly beyond the +province of these Memoirs to enter at any length upon a dissertation +on the naval affairs of Great Britain. Since, however, if +satisfactorily established, the fact will recommend the hero of +Agincourt to the grateful remembrance of his father-land in a +department of national strength and glory in which few of us have +probably hitherto felt indebted to him, it is hoped that these brief +remarks may not be deemed out of place.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably, many previous sovereigns of England had directed much +of their thoughts to the maritime power of the country. From the time +of Alfred himself, downwards, we may trace, at various intervals, +evident marks of the measures adopted by our Kings and the +legislature, and also by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125">(p. 125)</a></span> +powerful individuals and merchant +companies, to keep up a succession of sea-worthy vessels, and mariners +to man them. Two hundred years before the date of Henry's expedition, +as early as the year 1212, King John seems to have established a sort +of dry covered dock at Portsmouth for the preservation of ships and +their rigging during the winter. But the very instances to which +appeals have been made by various writers, to prove the antiquity of +the naval force of South Britain, tend by their testimony to confirm +the opinions we are here disposed to adopt. In every successive reign, +the annals of which supply any information on the subject, the +evidence is clear that the rulers of England did not contemplate the +establishment of a fleet belonging to the nation as its own property. +The tenures, moreover, by which many maritime towns held their +charters, whilst they evince the importance attached to this +department of an island's political power, coincide altogether with +the view we are taking. The obligation, for example, under which the +Cinque Ports lay of furnishing, whenever required, fifty ships, manned +each with twenty-four mariners, for fifteen days, enabled the monarch +indeed to calculate, from the fulfilment of such stipulated +engagements, on a certain supply, adequate, it may be, to meet the +usual demand; but at the same time it implied that he had no fleet of +his own on which he could rely. Whilst the limited extent to which +ships could be supplied by the most rigid exaction of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126">(p. 126)</a></span> +the +terms of those tenures compelled the state, on any occasion when +extraordinary efforts were requisite, to depend upon the varying and +precarious supply produced by the system of +impressment.<a id="notetag098" name="notetag098"></a><a href="#note098">[98]</a></p> + +<p>When Henry ascended the throne, he found still in full operation this +old system of our maritime proceedings. Whenever, as we have seen, an +occasion required the transport of a considerable body of men from our +havens, or forces to be embarked for the protection of our shores and +of our merchants, in addition to the contingent, which could be +exacted from various chartered towns, the King's government was +obliged either to hire ships from foreign countries, or to lay +forcible hands by way of impressment on the vessels of his own +subjects. A few instances, more or less closely connected with the +immediate subject of our present inquiry, will serve to illustrate +that point.</p> + +<p>When, for example, Henry's great grandfather Edward III. was preparing +for the expedition, which he headed in person, intended to relieve +Rochelle, his grandfather John of Gaunt, February 10, 1372, as we find +by the records of the Duchy of Lancaster, commanded all his stewards +in Wales to assist Walter de Wodeburgh, serjeant-at-arms, appointed by +the King to arrest all ships of twenty tons' burden [and upwards?] for +the passage of the King +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127">(p. 127)</a></span> +and his army to France, and to take +sufficient security that they be all ready by the 1st of May either at +Southampton, Portsmouth, Hamel in the Rys, or Hamel Stoke.</p> + +<p>The records of the Privy Council (11 December, probably 1405,) supply +us with an instance (one out of many) which shows, at the same time, +the great injury which the public service sustained by this system, +and the ruinous consequences which it was calculated to entail on the +merchants and the owners of ships. Henry IV. had intended to proceed +in person to Guienne; and for that purpose, with the advice of his +council, had impressed all the ships westward. His voyage was +deferred; but the ships were still, as they had been for a long time, +under arrest. The masters had sent a deputation to him to implore some +compensation for their great +expenses,<a id="notetag099" name="notetag099"></a><a href="#note099">[99]</a> +and some means of support. +Henry then wrote to the council, praying them [vous prions] to provide +some help for these poor men; and to assure them that no long time +would elapse before their services would be called for, since either +himself or his representative would undertake the voyage. In the same +letter he prayed the council also to write under his privy seal to the +King of Portugal, to beg of him a supply of galleys, sufficient to +enable him to resist the malice of his enemies the French, and to +protect his land and his realm.</p> + +<p>We <span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128">(p. 128)</a></span> +must not suppose that the French monarch found himself +under more favourable circumstances when he would prepare for any +important affair on the sea. The same system of impressment and hiring +was necessarily adopted in France. Thus we find, in 1417, when the +French government resolved to make a powerful effort to crush the navy +of England, the ships were first to be "hired, at a great sum of gold, +from the state of Genoa." These mercenary vessels formed the fleet +over which the Earl of Huntingdon gained a decided victory immediately +before Henry's second expedition to France.</p> + +<p>Thus, too, (not to cite any more examples,) no sooner had Henry +determined to assert his rights on the Continent, and to enforce them +by the sword, than he despatched ambassadors to Zealand and Holland to +negociate with the Duke of Holland for a supply of ships; doubtless +assured that all which he could impress or hire in all his ports would +not be sufficient for the safe transport of his troops, and "their +furniture of war." But Henry's ardent and commanding mind soon saw how +powerful an engine, both of defence and of conquest, would be found in +a permanent royal navy, and how indispensable such an establishment +was to any insular sovereign who desired to provide for his country +the means of offering a bold front against aggression, protecting +herself from insult, maintaining her rights, and taking a lead among +the surrounding powers. He resolved, therefore, not +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129">(p. 129)</a></span> to +depend upon the precarious and unsatisfactory expedients either of +hiring vessels, which would never be his own, (in a market, too, where +his enemy might forestal him, and where his necessities would enhance +the price,) or of compelling his merchants to leave their trading, and +minister to the emergence of the state, at their own inevitable loss, +and not improbable ruin. His immediate determination was to spare +neither labour nor expense in providing a navy of his own, such as +would be ever ready at the sovereign's command to protect the coast, +to sweep the seas of those hordes of pirates which then infested them, +and to bear his forces with safety and credit to any distant shores. +He thus thought he should best secure his own ports and provinces from +foreign invasion; afford a safeguard to his own merchants, and to +those traders who would traffic with his people; and generally make +England a more formidable antagonist and a more respected neighbour.</p> + +<p>This new line of policy he adopted very early in his reign. Whilst he +was at Southampton, (at the date of this digression, on his first +expedition to Normandy,) we find him superintending the building of +various large ships: and, two years afterwards, when news reached him +of the victory gained by his brother the Duke of Bedford over the +French fleet off Harfleur, the tidings found him making the most +effectual means for securing future victories; he was at Smalhithe in +Kent, personally superintending +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130">(p. 130)</a></span> +the building of some ships +to add to his own royal navy, then only in its +infancy.<a id="notetag100" name="notetag100"></a><a href="#note100">[100]</a></p> + +<p>Nor did he confine his labours in this great work to England; he +employed also his Continental resources in forwarding the same object. +A letter from one John Alcestre, from +Bayonne,<a id="notetag101" name="notetag101"></a><a href="#note101">[101]</a> +informs us of a +ship of very considerable dimensions then on the stocks at that port, +for the building of which the mayor and "his consorts" had contracted +with Henry. The vessel was one hundred and eighty-six feet in length +from "the onmost end of the stem onto the post behind." "The stem" was +in height ninety-six feet, and the keel was in length one hundred and +twelve feet.</p> + +<p>Henry appears also to have acquired the reputation in foreign +countries of having a desire to possess large vessels of his own. An +agent in Spain, for example, after informing one of the King's +officers in England of his unsuccessful endeavour to cause to be +seized for the King's use four armed galleys of Provence, expected to +enter the port of Valencia, and which the King of Arragon's government +had consented to arrest for Henry, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131">(p. 131)</a></span> +but which disappointed +them by not coming to land, mentions that two new carraks (a species +of large transport vessel) were in building "at Bartholem," which the +King might have if he pleased.</p> + +<p>The high importance which Henry attached to these rising bulwarks of +his country shows itself in various ways; in none more curious and +striking than (a fact, it is presumed, new to history,) in the solemn +religious ceremony with which they were consecrated before he +committed them to the mighty waters. One of the highest order of the +Christian ministry was employed, and similar devotions were performed +at the dedication of one of the royal "great ships," as we should find +in the consecration of a cathedral. They were called also by some of +the holiest of all names ever uttered by +Christians.<a id="notetag102" name="notetag102"></a><a href="#note102">[102]</a> +Thus, on the +completion of the good ship the Grace-Dieu at Southampton, the +"venerable father in Christ, the Bishop of +Bangor,"<a id="notetag103" name="notetag103"></a><a href="#note103">[103]</a> was +commissioned by the King's council to proceed from London at the +public expense to consecrate it.</p> + +<p>When Henry of Monmouth died, the navy of England was doubtless yet in +its +infancy;<a id="notetag104" name="notetag104"></a><a href="#note104">[104]</a> +but it owed its +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132">(p. 132)</a></span> +existence as a permanent +royal establishment to him. We cannot look back on that "day of small +things" without feelings of admiration and gratitude; nor now that we +seem, for a time at least, free from the danger of foreign invasion, +must we forget that, in the late tremendous struggle which swept away +the monarchies and the liberties of Europe in one resistless flood, to +our navy, which had grown with the growth of our country, and +strengthened with her strength, our native land may, under the +blessing of Heaven, have been indebted for its continuance in freedom +and independence. Of those wooden walls of Old England, as a royal +establishment based on systematic principles, Henry of Monmouth was +undoubtedly the founder.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Whilst Henry was engaged at Southampton in personally superintending +the preparations for invading France, an event occurred well fitted to +fill him equally with surprise, and indignation, and sorrow. A +conspiracy against his crown and his life was brought to light, which +had been formed by three in his company against whom he could have +entertained no suspicions: Richard of York, whom he had created Earl +of Cambridge; Henry Lord Scrope, the treasurer; and Sir Thomas Grey of +Heton. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133">(p. 133)</a></span> +The Rolls of Parliament, containing the authentic +record of the proceedings consequent upon the discovery, and the +original letters of the Earl of Cambridge, leave no question as to the +designs of the conspirators. Some doubts may exist as to their +motives: whether they were influenced singly by a generous resolution +to restore the crown to its alleged rightful +heir,<a id="notetag105" name="notetag105"></a><a href="#note105">[105]</a> +or by some +less honourable and more selfish +feeling;<a id="notetag106" name="notetag106"></a><a href="#note106">[106]</a> +whether by any offence +taken against Henry, or, as it is alleged, by the vast bribe offered +to them by the crown of France; or whether by more than one of these +motives combined, must remain a matter of conjecture. We cannot, +perhaps, be certified of the means by which Henry became acquainted +with the plot, nor if, as we are told, he was informed of it by the +Earl of March himself, can we ascertain beyond doubt how large or how +small a share that nobleman had in the previous deliberations and +resolutions of the conspirators. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134">(p. 134)</a></span> +Whether he first consented +to their design of setting him up as king, and then repented of so +ungrateful an act towards one who had behaved to him with so much +kindness and confidence, or whether he instantly took the resolve to +nip this treason in the bud, no documents enable us to decide. If the +Earl of Cambridge's confession be the truth, the Earl of March at one +time was himself consenting to the plot.</p> + +<p>On the 21st of July a commission was appointed, consisting of the +Earl Marshal, two of the +judges,<a id="notetag107" name="notetag107"></a><a href="#note107">[107]</a> +six lords, and Sir Thomas +Erpingham, to try the conspirators: and the sheriff of the county was +ordered to summon a jury, who assembled at Southampton on the 2nd of +August, and found as their verdict, that, on the 20th of July, the +Earl of Cambridge and Sir Thomas Grey had traitorously conspired to +collect a body of armed men, to conduct Edmund +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135">(p. 135)</a></span> +Earl of March +to the frontiers of Wales, and to proclaim him the rightful heir to +the crown, in case Richard II. were actually dead, against the +pretensions of the King, whom they intended to style "the Usurper of +England;" that they purposed to destroy the King and his brothers, +with other nobles of the land; and that Lord Scrope consented to the +said treasonable designs, and concealed them from the King.</p> + +<p>Lord Scrope denied having consented to the death of the King, or +having had any communication with the other conspirators on that +point; and he declared that he had communicated with them on the other +points solely to possess himself of a knowledge of their designs in +order to frustrate them. He then pleaded his peerage, and his right to +be tried by his peers.</p> + +<p>Sentence of death in the usual manner was passed upon Grey; but the +King having, by a most rare instance of mercy in those days, remitted +that part of the sentence which directed him to be drawn on a hurdle +and hung, he was allowed to walk through the town to the Northgate, +and was there immediately beheaded. On Monday, August 5, the Duke of +Clarence presided in a court of the peers, who, having satisfied +themselves by carefully examining the record of the conviction of the +prisoners, Scrope and Cambridge, adjudged them to death. They were +both executed within a few hours of this judgment. The head of Scrope +was ordered +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136">(p. 136)</a></span> +to be affixed on one of the gates of York and +the head of Grey to be stuck up at Newcastle upon Tyne, to mark the +baseness of their ingratitude, who had enjoyed so closely the +confidence and friendship of +Henry.<a id="notetag108" name="notetag108"></a><a href="#note108">[108]</a></p> + +<p>Nothing is recorded officially of any bribe from France, but the fact +of "one million of gold" having been promised as the wages of their +treason is asserted by historians. "These lords, for lucre of money," +(to use the words of a +manuscript<a id="notetag109" name="notetag109"></a><a href="#note109">[109]</a> +apparently contemporary with +the event,) "had made promise to the Frenchmen to have slayne King +Henry and all his worthy brethren by a false trayne [treason?] +suddenly or they had beware. But Almighty God, of his great grace, +held his holy hand over them, and saved them from this perilous meyne +[band]. And for to have done this they received of the Frenchmen a +million of gold, and that was there proved openly."</p> + +<p>As to the guilt or innocence of the Earl of March himself, no proof +can be drawn from the fact of his having obtained a full and free +pardon<a id="notetag110" name="notetag110"></a><a href="#note110">[110]</a> +a few days after the event. "Such pardons" (as Dr. Lingard +rightly observes) "were frequently solicited by the innocent as a +measure of precaution to defeat +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137">(p. 137)</a></span> +the malice and prevent the +accusations of their enemies." Sir Harris Nicolas indeed suggests, +"that it would be difficult to show an instance in which they were +granted in favour of a person who was not strongly suspected, or who +had not purchased them at the expense of his accomplices." But it +requires little more than a cursory glance at our authentic records to +be assured that Dr. Lingard's view is the more correct. Take, for +example, the pardon granted in 1412 to the Archbishop of Canterbury, +and couched in almost the same words. There is indeed in this pardon a +clause very different from the pardon of the Earl of March; but it is +a difference which only tends to establish this point, that the +pardons in many cases were <i>formal</i>, and altogether independent of the +guilt or innocence of the party. The Archbishop (Arundel) is pardoned +for all treasons, felonies, and so forth, excepting some outrageous +crimes of which he was never suspected; and also provided he was not +then lying in prison as a felon convict, or as an adherent to Owyn +Glyndowr. Many such instances +occur.<a id="notetag111" name="notetag111"></a><a href="#note111">[111]</a></p> + +<p>On this sad subject two original letters are preserved, addressed to +Henry by the Earl of Cambridge; they are found among the "Original +Letters" published +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138">(p. 138)</a></span> +by Sir Henry Ellis, accompanied, as is +usual<a id="notetag112" name="notetag112"></a><a href="#note112">[112]</a> +in his valuable collection, by a succinct and clear +statement of such facts as may be necessary for their elucidation. The +first contains the Earl's confession; whether written before or after +his trial, is not evident. The second sues for mercy, probably after +the jury had returned their verdict; it may be even after the sentence +was passed by the peers, though a very short portion of a day elapsed +between that sentence and his execution.</p> + +<p>It is curious to learn, from the first of these letters, that even +down to the year of Henry's first expedition to France, the people +were from time to time deluded by rumours that Richard II. was still +alive. The Earl of Cambridge acknowledged that the conspirators +intended to set up the Earl of March, "taking upon him the sovereignty +of this land, if yonder man's person, which they call King Richard, +had not been alive, as I wot well that he is not alive." He confessed, +also, a guilty knowledge of a conspiracy to "bring in that person +which they named King Richard, and Harry Percy out of Scotland, with a +power of Scots."</p> + +<p>Another very curious fact is alleged in this document, interesting in +more points than one. It shows +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139">(p. 139)</a></span> +what a powerful engine in +those days was the <i>Confessional</i>; and it proves also that, though +Henry has been called the King of Priests, there were some of the +sacred order in high station who were bent on his overthrow. Cambridge +declares that both the Earl of March and his man Lusy had assured him +that the Earl "was not shriven of a great while [had not attended the +priests for the purposes of confession] without his confessors, on +every occasion, putting him in penance to claim what they called his +right." His confessors would not absolve him without imposing upon +him, by way of penance, this condition, that he should claim his right +to the crown.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p><span class="smcap">LETTER OF CONFESSION FROM THE EARL OF CAMBRIDGE.</span></p> + +<p>My most dreadful and sovereign liege Lord, like to your Highness + to wit [please your Highness to know] touching the purpose cast + against your high estate. Having the Earl of March, by his own + assent, and by the assent of myself, whereof I most me repent of + all worldly things; and by the accord of Lord Scrope and Sir + Thomas Grey, to have had the aforesaid Earl in the land of Wales + without your licence, taking upon him the sovereignty of this + land, if yonder man's person, which they call King Richard, had + not been alive, as I wot well that he is not +alive;<a id="notetag113" name="notetag113"></a><a href="#note113">[113]</a> for +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140">(p. 140)</a></span> +which point I put me wholly in your grace. And as for the + form of a proclamation which should have been cried in the Earl's + name as the heir to the crown of England against you, my liege + Lord, called by untrue name Harry of Lancaster, usurper of + England, to the intent to have made the more people to have drawn + to him and from you; of the which cry Scrope knew not of as from + me, but Grey did; having with the Earl a banner of the arms of + England, having also the crown of Spain on a pallet, which, my + liege Lord, is one of your weddys, for the which offence I put me + wholly in your grace. And as for the purpose taken by Umfrevyle + and Wederyngtoun for the bringing in of that person which they + named King Richard, and Herry Percy, out of Scotland, with a + power of Scots, and their power together seeming to them able to + give you a battle, of the which intent Sir Thomas Grey wist of, + but not Scrope as by me; of the which knowing I submit me wholly + into your grace. And as for the taking of your castles in Wales, + Davy Howell made me be host, so there were a stirring in the + North; of the which point I put me wholly in your grace. And as + touching the Earl of March and Lusy his man, they said me both, + that the Earl was not shriven of a great while, but at all his + confessors put +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141">(p. 141)</a></span> +him in penance to claim that they called + his right, that would be that time that every iknew anything that + ever to him longed.... [The MS. is here imperfect.] Of the which + points and articles here before written, and of all other which + now are not in my mind, but truly as often as any to my mind + fallen I shall duly and truly certify you thereof; beseeching to + you, my liege Lord, for His love that suffered passion on the + Good Friday, so have ye compassion on me, your liege man; and if + any of these persons, whose names are contained in this bill, + holden contrary the substance of that I have written at this + time, I shall be ready with the might of God to make it good, as + ye, my liege Lord, will award me.</p></div> + +<div class="letter"> +<p><span class="smcap">LETTER OF THE EARL OF CAMBRIDGE, SUING FOR MERCY.</span></p> + +<p>My most dreadful and sovereign liege Lord, I, Richard York, your + humble subject and very liege man, beseech you of grace of all + manner offenses which I have done or assented to in any kind, by + stirring of other folk egging me thereto, wherein I wot well I + han ill offended to your Highness; beseeching you at the + reverence of God, that you like to take me into the hands of your + merciful and piteous grace, thinking ye well of your great + goodness. My liege Lord, my full trust is that ye will have + consideration, though that my person be of no value, your high + goodness, where God hath set you in so high estate to every liege + man that to you longeth plenteously to give grace, that you like + to accept this mine simple request for the love of Our Lady and + the blissful Holy Ghost, to whom I pray that they might your + heart induce to all pity and grace for their high goodness. +</p></div> + +<p>Henry having taken every precaution for the preservation of his people +at home, as well against foreign designs as against disturbers of the +peace within the realm, left Porchester Castle on the 7th of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142">(p. 142)</a></span> +August, with the intention of superintending in person the embarkation +of his troops. This seems to have occupied him to the 10th, when he +went on board the "Royal Trinity," and immediately gave signal for the +ships to join him from the different stations in which they were +awaiting his command. The fleet consisted of about thirteen hundred +vessels of very different sizes, varying from twenty to three hundred +tons' burden. Probably, reckoning servants, attendants of every kind, +as well as fighting men, this fleet transported to the shores of +France not less than thirty thousand persons. Of these there were only +about two thousand five hundred men-at-arms, four thousand +horse-archers, four thousand foot-archers, and one thousand gunners, +miners, masons, smiths, with others. The whole amount of fighting men, +according to this calculation, does not exceed eleven thousand five +hundred. The expedition sailed with a favourable wind on Sunday, +August 11, +1415.<a id="notetag114" name="notetag114"></a><a href="#note114">[114]</a></p> + +<p>Every document, probably, now known relative to this expedition, has +been examined by Sir Harris Nicolas; and to his able digest of the +facts relating to this part of Henry's proceedings the reader is +referred for the more minute details.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143">(p. 143)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">henry crosses the sea: lands at clef de caus: lays siege to harfleur. +— devoted attendance on his dying friend the bishop of norwich. — +vast treasure falls into his hands on the surrender of harfleur. — he +challenges the dauphin. — futile modern charge brought against him on +that ground.</span><br><br> + +1415.</h3> + + +<p>From this time Henry's is the life rather of a general than of a King. +His successive battles, and sieges, and victories throw but +occasionally more or new light on his character; and it is not within +the limits of these Memoirs to describe his military achievements, or +to enter upon a detailed examination of his campaigns, except so far +only as the events elucidate his character, or as a knowledge of them +may be necessary for a fuller acquaintance with his life. Many +circumstances of this kind occur between the day when he quitted his +port of Southampton, and the hour which terminated his brief but +eventful career on earth. The enemies of his fair fame cite some one +or other of those transactions to prove him a mass of ambition, +superstition, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144">(p. 144)</a></span> +cruelty. It will be the reader's part to +decide for himself whether the facts in evidence bear out those +charges, or whether a more equitable judgment would not rather +pronounce him to be a man who, in the midst of a most exciting and +distracting career, never forgot the principles of piety, justice, and +mercy. To attest his valour we need summon no evidence; though even in +that point, which the universal voice of Europe had pronounced to be +unassailable, his challenge to the Dauphin has been cited by one +author as an act that must tarnish his character. The justness of the +reflection we shall weigh hereafter. Of licentiousness after his +accession to the throne his enemies themselves have never ventured to +whisper a suspicion.</p> + +<p>As Henry's fleet was leaving his native shores, two incidents are said +to have occurred of opposite omen, such as in those days of +superstition were wont to exercise powerful influence over the minds +of men far removed from the lowest ranks of the people. Swans were +seen swimming gaily and fearlessly around the ships, as if hailing +them on their own watery element; and their appearance was noted as a +happy and encouraging auspice. On the other hand, a fire broke out in +one of the large ships before Henry sailed, which did considerable +damage among the vessels, not without loss of many lives; and this was +deemed an omen of such dire portent, that many of the King's followers +would have dissuaded him from persevering in his expedition.</p> + +<p>Henry's +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145">(p. 145)</a></span> +was a pious, but not a religiously timid or +superstitious mind; and, unaffected by this incident, or the +entreaties of his friends, he proceeded on his voyage forthwith, and +on Friday, August 13, at five o'clock in the afternoon, he entered the +mouth of the Seine, and anchored at a place called Clef de +Caus,<a id="notetag115" name="notetag115"></a><a href="#note115">[115]</a> +between Honfleur and Harfleur, three miles from the latter town. He +landed his forces without opposition; and, on coming on shore himself, +he knelt down, and prayed to Almighty God to prosper his just +cause.<a id="notetag116" name="notetag116"></a><a href="#note116">[116]</a></p> + +<p>Henry resolved on laying siege to Harfleur, the inhabitants of which +seemed equally determined to resist him. The siege of Harfleur, which +commenced on Sunday, August 18, is described with great minuteness by +several writers. His brother, the Duke of Clarence, appears to have +held the most prominent place among Henry's officers; and much praise +is ascribed to him for his prowess and military talent. Every mode of +attack and defence then reckoned among martial tactics was carried out +on both sides.</p> + +<p>In addition, however, to the wonted privations and hardships of a +protracted siege, the English host +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146">(p. 146)</a></span> +was visited by a violent +disease, which spread rapidly through every grade of the army, +unsparingly thinning its ranks and carrying off its officers, and +threatening annihilation to the whole body. Whilst this calamity was +raging at its height, and making dreadful havoc among the soldiery, an +incident is recorded to have taken place, to which the mind gladly +turns from the din and turmoil of the siege, and the devastations of +that fatal scourge; and though the scene is itself the chamber of +death, we cannot but feel a melancholy satisfaction in contemplating +it for a while. An ecclesiastic, who was present in the camp, and in +attendance on his royal master, records the anecdote in the most +casual +manner,<a id="notetag117" name="notetag117"></a><a href="#note117">[117]</a> +without a word of admiration or remark to call our +attention to it, as though he were relating a circumstance of no +unusual occurrence, and such merely as those who knew his master might +hear of without surprise; whilst few pages of history bear to any +monarch more beautiful and affecting evidence of habitual kindness of +heart, pure sympathy with a suffering fellow-creature, and devoted +fulfilment of the dearest offices of friendship. Whilst Richard +Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich, one of the victims of the dysentery, was +lingering in the agonies of death, we find Henry in the midst of his +besieging army, at the height of a very severe struggle, war and +disease raging on every side,—not in a council of his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147">(p. 147)</a></span> +officers, planning the operations of to-morrow,—nor on his couch, +giving his body and mind repose from the fatigues and excitement of +his opening campaign,—but we see him on his knees at the death-bed of +a dying minister of religion, joining in the offices of the church so +long as the waning spirit could partake of its consolations; and then +not commissioning others, however faithful representatives they might +have been, to act in his stead, but by his own hands soothing the +sufferings of the dying prelate, and striving to make the struggle of +his latter moments less bitter. Had Henry visited the tent of the good +Bishop when he first knew of his malady, and charged any of his +numerous retinue to pay especial attention to his wants and comforts, +it would have been regarded, at such an hour of pressing emergence, as +an act worthy of a Christian King. But Henry, who in no department of +his public duties ever willingly deputed to others what he could +personally attend to himself, carried the same principle into the +exercise of the charities of private life; and has here left a pattern +of Christian sympathy and lowliness of mind, of genuine philanthropy, +and the sincere affection of true friendship, worthy of prince and +peasant alike to imitate. Bishop Courtenay is said to have been among +Henry's chosen friends, recommended to him by the singular qualities +of his head and his heart. He was a person (we are told) endowed with +intellectual and moral excellences of a very high character; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148">(p. 148)</a></span> +and Henry knew how to appreciate the value, and cultivate the +friendship, of such a man. Having enjoyed the satisfaction and benefit +of his society in life, now, when he was on the point of quitting this +world for ever, Henry never withdrew from his bed; but, watching him +with tender anxiety till the ministers of religion had solemnized the +last rite according to the prevailing practice of the church in those +days, even then, "in his own person," he continued to supply the wants +of sinking mortality, "with his own +hands<a id="notetag118" name="notetag118"></a><a href="#note118">[118]</a> +wiping the chilled +feet" of his dying friend. The manuscript proceeds to say, that, when +life was extinct, with pious regard for his memory, Henry caused his +body to be conveyed to England, and to be honourably buried among the +royal corpses in Westminster.</p> + +<p>Three days after this prelate's death, on Wednesday, September 18th, +an agreement to surrender on +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149">(p. 149)</a></span> +the following Sunday was entered +into; the inhabitants of the town pledging themselves by a most solemn +oath to abide by the terms of the agreement. The ceremony on this +occasion must have had a very imposing effect. The King's chaplain, +Benedict Bishop of Bangor, in his pontifical dress, carried the +consecrated Host to the walls of the town, preceded by thirty-two +chaplains, each in full canonicals, and attended by as many esquires, +one of whom bore a lighted taper before each priest. As soon as the +parties were sworn on the elements, the townsmen were assured that +they need fear no acts of wrong or violence, for the King wished +rather to preserve than to destroy his own territory.</p> + +<p>On Sunday, September 22, the town was surrendered with much solemn +state into Henry's hands. At the appointed hour, Henry, being dressed +in the robes of royalty, ascended a throne erected under a silk +pavilion on the top of the hill opposite to the town. All his peers +and great men were assembled around him. "Our +King"<a id="notetag119" name="notetag119"></a><a href="#note119">[119]</a> +(says a +writer who was probably an eye-witness) "sat in his estate as royal as +did ever any King; and, as it is said, there never was a Christian +King so royal, neither so lordly, sat in his seat as did he." From +this seat to the town a passage was formed by the English soldiers, +through which the late governor, Sir Lionel Braquemont, the Lord de +Gaucourt, and others, with the Host borne before them, attended by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150">(p. 150)</a></span> +those who had sworn to observe the treaty, and by thirty-four +of the chief inhabitants, passed to Henry's presence, "who forgave +them their injustice in keeping his own town from him; and, having +hospitably entertained them, dismissed them courteously." Thus fell +into Henry's hand one of the most important towns of Normandy, after a +siege of about thirty-six days, during which the zeal and valour of +the assailants and the besieged were equally +displayed.<a id="notetag120" name="notetag120"></a><a href="#note120">[120]</a></p> + +<p>On the following day Henry entered the town, dismounting at the gate, +and walking barefoot to St. Martin's church, in which he gave solemn +thanks to God for his success. He then commanded all the women and +children, and the disabled, to be separated from those who had sworn +allegiance to him, as well as from those who, having refused that +oath, were regarded as prisoners. The persons thus separated were next +day sent out of the town, to the number of nearly two thousand, loudly +lamenting their fate. They were escorted by the English; and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151">(p. 151)</a></span> +all persons belonging to the church, and the women and children, had a +present of five sous for their journey, and were permitted to dress +themselves in their best apparel, and carry each a moderate bundle +with them. It was forbidden to search the priests, and also the heads +or the bosoms of the women. At St. Aubon, about four miles from +Harfleur, they were entreated to refresh themselves with bread and +cheese and wine; at Lislebone the Marshal Boucicault received them, +and they were forwarded by water to Rouen. At Henry's invitation, many +tradesmen and others came over from England, and became inhabitants of +Harfleur; the King, with the desire of strengthening the place, having +guaranteed, by a proclamation through England, a house of inheritance +to all who would settle there.</p> + +<p>About this time Henry sent a message to the Dauphin, challenging him +to single combat, and so to decide the dreadful struggle in which the +two kingdoms were engaged, without the further effusion of blood. +Occasion has been taken to reflect on this act of Henry's, as a stain +both on his personal valour and on his principles of justice: the +first, because he was twenty-seven years old, and the Dauphin not +twenty; the latter, because it were unjust "to expect that so +important a stake should be hazarded on the result of such a meeting." +To enhance Henry's guilt of cowardice, we are told that he challenged +"a mere youth, of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152">(p. 152)</a></span> +whose prowess or bodily strength there is +not the slightest evidence, and who died <i>in the December following</i>." +This is not the first time we have had occasion to remark on this same +writer's injustice towards Henry's memory. Why mention the Dauphin's +death in the following December, except to insinuate that Henry <i>knew</i> +he was then in a weak state of bodily health? Of this, however, there +is not the shadow of reason for suspecting Henry. On the contrary, the +evidence tends to the directly opposite conclusion. The Dauphin died +on the 25th December following; but so sudden was his decease, that a +suspicion was excited of his having been poisoned. He had for a long +time been actively engaged in heading one of the contending parties in +France, and he is reported to have been a bold and presumptuous +prince.<a id="notetag121" name="notetag121"></a><a href="#note121">[121]</a> +And, even a month after the battle of Agincourt, we find +him, apparently in full strength both of body and mind, exercising the +authority of the King, his father, in Paris; vigorously and +effectually resisting the entrance of the Duke of Burgundy, who +marched with his army direct to the gates of that city, determined to +force for himself an entrance into it. And, on his father's relapsing +into his malady, he vigorously seized the government, setting the Duke +of Orleans at defiance, and carrying off the King, his father, ill as +he was, to the siege of +Arras.<a id="notetag122" name="notetag122"></a><a href="#note122">[122]</a> +Whether the difference of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153">(p. 153)</a></span> +age between these two young warriors is so great as to justify +such strong reflections on Henry's courage, must be left to the +judgment of impartial minds. But, when the Dauphin is called a mere +youth, it must be borne in mind that he was considerably older than +Henry was when he headed his father's troops in Wales, or fought so +gallantly in the field of Shrewsbury.</p> + +<p>But we must not let this charge, affecting Henry's valour and justice, +be dismissed without observing that not only did Henry believe, but it +was the universal belief of the age, that "trial by battle" was a +proper way of ending a dispute, and one acceptable to God: one in +which the justice of the quarrel decided, more than the strength or +skill of the combatants. We have proved that there could have been no +grounds for Henry's supposing that he was sending a challenge to a +youth enervated by sickness; and the difference of age alleged now, at +length, in disparagement of Henry's valour, would have been scouted by +all the good knights of Christendom, had it been pleaded as an apology +for the Dauphin declining the challenge. Surely it indicates a +conviction that the points in which the character of a man, famed for +bravery and justice, is assailable, are few and unimportant, when such +frivolous attacks as this are made on his fair fame.</p> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Henry's challenge to the Dauphin</span> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154">(p. 154)</a></span> + may be thus translated:—</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> + Henry, by the grace of God, King of France and England, Lord of + Ireland, to the high and mighty Prince, the Dauphin of Vienne, + our cousin, eldest son of the most mighty Prince, our cousin and + adversary of France. Whereas, from reverence to God, and to avoid + the shedding of human blood, we have many times and in many ways + followed and sought for peace, and have not been able to possess + it, yet our desire to secure it increases more and more; and well + considering that our wars are followed by the death of men, the + destruction of countries, the wailings of women and children, and + so many evils generally as every good Christian must lament and + pity, especially ourselves, whom this affair most affects, as it + does, to take all pains and diligence to find every means within + our knowledge to avoid the above-mentioned evils and distresses, + and to acquire the grace of God and the praise of the world. And, + since we have thought and advised, it has seemed to us, + considering it has pleased God to visit our cousin with + infirmity, that the remedy rests upon us and you. And to the end + that every one might know that we withdraw not ourselves from it, + nor from our part in it, we offer you to put our whole quarrel, + with God's grace, between our person and yours. And if it should + seem to you that you cannot agree to this, because of the + interest which you conceive our cousin, your father, has in it, + we declare to you in this our intention, that if you will + entertain it, and engage in it, we are well pleased that our said + cousin, for our reverence to God, and because he is a sacred + person, shall have and enjoy all he has at present for the term + of his life, whatever shall happen by the will of God between us + and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155">(p. 155)</a></span> +you, as it shall be agreed between his council, + ours, and yours.</p> + +<p>So that if God shall give us the victory, the crown of France + with its appurtenances, as our right, shall be immediately + rendered to us without difficulty after his decease. And to this + all the lords and estates of France shall be bound, as it shall + be agreed between us.</p> + +<p>For it is better for us, cousin, thus to decide this war for ever + between our two persons, than to suffer the misbelievers, by + occasion of our wars, to destroy Christianity, our holy mother + the church to remain in divisions, and the people of God to + destroy one another. We pray much that you may have as strong a + desire to avoid that, and to come to peace, and seek all means of + finding it. And let us trust in God that no better way than this + can be found. And, therefore, in discharge of our soul, and in + charge of yours, if such great evils follow, we make to you the + above offer.</p> + +<p>Protesting ever that we make this offer for the honour and fear + of God, and for the above causes, of our own motion, without our + royal relations, councillors, and subjects daring in so high a + matter to advise us. Nor can it at any time to come be urged to + our prejudice, nor in prejudice of our good right and title which + we have at present to the said crown with its appurtenances, nor + to the good right and title which we now have to other our lands + and heritages on this side the sea, nor to our heirs and + successors, if this our offer does not take full effect between + us and you in the manner aforesaid. Given under our privy seal, + at our town of Harfleur, the +16th<a id="notetag123" name="notetag123"></a><a href="#note123">[123]</a> +day of September." +</p></div> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156">(p. 156)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">henry, with troops much weakened, leaves harfleur, fully purposed to +make for calais, notwithstanding the threatened resistance of the +french. — passes the field of cressy. — french resolved to engage. +— night before the conflict. — <b>FIELD</b> of <b>AGINCOURT</b>. — slaughter of +prisoners. — henry, his enemies themselves being judges, fully +exculpated from every suspicion of cruelty or unchivalrous bearing. — +he proceeds to calais. — thence to london. — reception by his +subjects. — his modest and pious demeanour. — superstitious +proceedings of the ecclesiastical authorities. — reflections. — +songs of agincourt.</span><br><br> + +1415.</h3> + + +<p>Immediately after the surrender of Harfleur, Henry held a council to +deliberate on his future measures. All agreed that, as winter was fast +approaching, the King and his army should return to England; but there +arose a difference of opinion as to the manner of their return. Henry +entertained an insuperable objection against returning by sea; and, +notwithstanding all the dangers to which he must inevitably be +exposed, he resolved to march through Normandy to his town of Calais. +He wished to see with his own eyes, he said, the territories which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157">(p. 157)</a></span> +were by right his own; adding, that he put full trust in God, +in whose name he had engaged in this, as he certainly deemed it, his +righteous cause. His army had been frightfully diminished by the +dysentery; he was compelled to leave a portion of the remainder to +garrison Harfleur; and, after the most impartial consideration, the +number of fighting men with whom he could enter upon his perilous +journey cannot be supposed to have exceeded 9000, whilst the strong +probability is that the army consisted of little more than 6000. What +portion of admiration for bravery, and what of blame for rashness, an +unprejudiced mind would mingle together, when endeavouring to assign +the just reward to Henry for his decision to make his way through the +very heart of his enemy's country, himself so weak in resources, his +enemy both so strong already, and gathering in overwhelming numbers +from every side, is a problem of no easy solution. Probably we are +very scantily provided with a knowledge of all his motives; and our +praise or our censure might now be very different from what it would +be, were we acquainted with all the circumstances of the case. How far +he expected that the dissensions among the French would prevent them +from uniting to offer him any formidable opposition, though not easy +to answer, is a question not to be neglected. Especially might he have +been influenced by the expectation that the French would not withdraw +their forces from the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158">(p. 158)</a></span> +interior, from fear of the Duke of +Burgundy, who was ever on the watch to seize a favourable moment of +attack. The fact is beyond doubt, that, having garrisoned Harfleur, he +quitted that town about the 8th of October; leaving there all the +heavy articles and carriages, with whatever would be an impediment to +his progress, and conveying all the baggage of the army on horseback. +Henry issued a proclamation, forbidding his soldiers, on pain of +death, to be guilty of any kind of injustice or cruelty towards the +inhabitants as they passed along.</p> + +<p>The King of France had collected an army from all sides: he had more +than 14,000 men-at-arms under valiant generals, with the greater part +of whom he remained at Rouen, watching the motions of the English. On +the 20th of October it was resolved in his council, by a large +majority, that the English should be resisted in a regular and pitched +battle. The King had received the celebrated standard, the Oriflamme, +with much solemnity: and war had been declared by unfurling that +consecrated ensign. There seemed at length to have spread through King +and princes, and nobles and people alike, an enthusiastic spirit, +determined to crush the invaders. The Dauphin himself could scarcely +be prevailed upon to obey his father's injunctions, and to abstain +from joining the army; his life being considered too precious to be +exposed to such danger.</p> + +<p>Henry <span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159">(p. 159)</a></span> +meanwhile, after leaving +Harfleur,<a id="notetag124" name="notetag124"></a><a href="#note124">[124]</a> +proceeded +without any important interruption through Montevilliers, Fecamp, +Arques, a town about four miles inland from Dieppe; and on Saturday, +October 12, he passed about half a mile to the right of the town of +Eu, where part of the French troops were quartered. These sallied out +on the English in great numbers, and very fiercely, but were soon +repulsed; and a treaty was agreed upon between Henry and the +inhabitants, who supplied refreshments to his army. He was now +informed that the French would offer him battle in a day or two, +whilst he was passing the river Somme. Undaunted by these tidings, he +resolved to advance; and to cross that river at Blanchetache, the very +spot at which Edward III. had passed it before the battle of Cressy. +The field of Cressy was only ten English miles in advance; and it may +be safely inferred that the remembrance of the struggle and victory of +that day filled both Henry himself and his men with additional zeal +and resolution. By the false assurance of a +prisoner,<a id="notetag125" name="notetag125"></a><a href="#note125">[125]</a> +that the +passage there was defended by many noblemen with a strong force, Henry +was induced to change his route, and to proceed up the Somme on its +left bank. He reached Abbeville +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160">(p. 160)</a></span> +on Sunday the 13th of +October; but, to his sad disappointment, he found all the bridges +broken down, and the enemy stationed on the opposite bank to resist +his passage. At this time Henry's situation was most perilous and +dispiriting. His provisions were nearly exhausted,—the enemy had laid +waste their own country to deprive his army of all sustenance; and no +prospect was before them but famine at once, and annihilation from the +overwhelming forces of the French. His army proceeded next day, and +passed within a league of Amiens, and were much refreshed with plenty +of provisions; wine was found in such abundance that the King was +obliged to issue a proclamation prohibiting excess. On the Thursday +they reached a plain near Corbie, from which town the French made a +sally against them, but were repulsed after a brief but spirited +engagement. Here John Bromley gallantly recovered the standard of +Guienne, and for his valour was allowed to bear its figure for his +crest. Here too Henry showed that, amidst all his perils and +hardships, he was resolved to maintain the discipline of his army by +inflicting the punishment denounced by his proclamation against +violence or sacrilege. One of the soldiers was detected with a +copper-gilt pix in his +sleeve,<a id="notetag126" name="notetag126"></a><a href="#note126">[126]</a> +which he had stolen from a +neighbouring church. Henry sentenced him forthwith to be hung, as a +warning to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161">(p. 161)</a></span> +all others not to offend with the hope of +impunity.</p> + +<p>Quitting Corbie, they passed close to Nesle on the 18th October; when +Henry, on the point of laying waste that district, heard that a +passage over the Somme was at length discovered. The French, +meanwhile, had contented themselves with proceeding before him, and +guarding the passages of the river. Whether the policy of allowing the +English to exhaust their strength of body and mind be sufficient, or +not, to account for their conduct, we have not evidence enough to +pronounce decidedly; but, on many occasions, their abstinence from +striking a blow seems otherwise almost inexplicable. Henry made now +one of his most vigorous efforts to effect a passage; nothing, we are +told, could exceed his own personal +exertions.<a id="notetag127" name="notetag127"></a><a href="#note127">[127]</a> +The French had +broken up the lanes leading to the fords, and thrown every obstacle in +the way. However, nothing seemed able to resist his resolution; and in +a few hours the whole of his army had crossed. Great was the joy of +the English on having surmounted this formidable obstacle; and they +now hoped to reach Calais without a battle. But on the following day +two heralds came +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162">(p. 162)</a></span> +to announce to Henry the resolution of the +French to give him battle, and to take vengeance on him for invading +their country. Henry, without any change of countenance, with much +gentleness replied, "All would be done according to the will of God." +On the heralds then asking him by what route he proposed to proceed, +"Straight to Calais" was the reply. He then advised them not to +attempt to interrupt his march, but to avoid the shedding of Christian +blood. The heralds fell down upon their knees as they first approached +him; and on dismissing them, he gave them a hundred golden crowns. +From the hour of these heralds departing, Henry and his men always +wore their warrior-dress, in readiness for battle; and he spoke to his +army with much tenderness and spirit, and evidently with a powerful +effect. To his surprise, next morning none appeared to oppose him, and +he proceeded on his journey. Many circumstances happened from day to +day, and hour to hour, calculated to dispirit the English, by exciting +an assurance that the French army was near, and waiting their own time +to seize upon their prey; delaying only in order to make their utter +demolition more certain. Henry's route probably was taken through +Peronne, Albert, +Bonnieres,<a id="notetag128" name="notetag128"></a><a href="#note128">[128]</a> +Frevent; and he reached the river +Ternoise (called the River of Swords) +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163">(p. 163)</a></span> +without any remarkable +occurrence. No sooner, however, had he passed the Ternoise, and +mounted the hill not far from Maisoncelle, than a man came, +breathless, and told the Duke of York that the enemy was approaching +in countless numbers. Henry forthwith commanded the main body to halt, +and setting spurs to his horse hastened to view the enemy, who seemed +to him like an immense forest covering the whole country. Nothing +dismayed, he ordered his troops to dismount and prepare for battle; +animating them by his calm, intrepid bearing, and by his language of +kindness and encouragement. The French, who were first seen as they +were emerging from a valley a mile off in three columns, halted at the +distance of about half a mile.</p> + +<p>The English felt assured that they would be immediately attacked; and, +as soon as they were drawn up in order of battle, they prepared for +death. The greatest want then felt in the camp was the lack of +priests,<a id="notetag129" name="notetag129"></a><a href="#note129">[129]</a> +every one being anxiously desirous of making confession +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164">(p. 164)</a></span> +and obtaining absolution. Henry's presence of mind, and noble +soul, and pious trust, and intrepid spirit, showed themselves on this +occasion in words which ought never to be forgotten. Sir Walter +Hungerford having expressed his sorrow that they had not ten thousand +of those gallant archers who would be most desirous of aiding their +King in his hour of need, the King rebuked him, saying, "He spoke +idly, for, as his hope was in God, in whom he trusted for victory, he +would not, if he could, increase his forces even by a single person; +for, if it was the pleasure of the Almighty, few as were his +followers, they were sufficient to chastise the confidence of the +enemy, who relied on their numbers."</p> + +<p>About sun-set the French took up their quarters in the orchards and +villages of Agincourt and Ruissauville. Henry, anxiously seeking +lodgings for his exhausted soldiers, at length found in the village of +Maisoncelle a better supply for their wants than they had met with +since they left Harfleur; and a small hut afforded the King himself +protection from the +weather.<a id="notetag130" name="notetag130"></a><a href="#note130">[130]</a> +Before the English quitted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165">(p. 165)</a></span> +their position to go to Maisoncelle, Henry permitted all his prisoners +to depart, upon condition that if he gained the approaching battle, +they should return and surrender themselves; but, if he were defeated, +they should be released from their engagements. This night, through +nearly the whole of which rain fell heavily, was passed by the two +hostile armies, about one mile distant from each other, very +differently, but not inconsistently with their relative circumstances. +Both suffered severely from the weather as well as from fatigue; but +whilst the French, anticipating an easy and sure victory, played at +dice for their prisoners as their stake; the English, having prepared +their weapons for the conflict, betook themselves to prayer, and the +observance of the other ordinances of their religion.</p> + +<p>At day-break, on Friday, October 25, the French drew up in order of +battle, in three lines, on the plain of Agincourt, through which was +the route +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166">(p. 166)</a></span> +to Calais. Of their numbers the accounts both of +English and French writers vary exceedingly, and it is impossible to +fix upon any amount with confidence; probably, however, at the very +lowest calculation they were more than fifty thousand men.</p> + +<p>Henry was up at break of day, and immediately attended mass. He then, +mounted on a small grey horse, bearing on his coat the arms of France +and England, and wearing a magnificent crown on his head, drew up his +men in order of battle in an open field. His main body, consisting of +men-at-arms, he commanded himself; the vanguard was committed, as a +right wing, to the Duke of York at his own request; and the rear-guard +was posted, as a left wing, under the command of the Lord Camois. The +archers were placed between the wings in the form of a wedge, with +their poles fixed before them as a protection against the cavalry. +Henry then rode along the lines, and addressed them in a speech full +of spirit, well fitted to inspire in his men enthusiastic ardour and +devotedness. "Sir," was the reply, "we pray God to give you a good +life, and victory over your enemies." At this juncture (we are told by +one historian<a id="notetag131" name="notetag131"></a><a href="#note131">[131]</a>) +an attempt was made at negociation, but it failed; +Henry, in the midst of all his present perils, insisting virtually on +the same terms which he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167">(p. 167)</a></span> +had offered when in safety within +the realm of England.<a id="notetag132" +name="notetag132"></a><a href="#note132">[132]</a></p> + +<p>The King assigned to the gallant veteran, Sir Thomas Erpingham, a +friend of Henry, no less venerable for his age than distinguished for +his bravery and military skill, the honourable duty of arraying his +host. He first calmly marshalled the troops, placing the archers +foremost and the men-at-arms behind them; and then, riding in front of +the line, exhorted his brother-warriors in the name of their prince to +fight valiantly. A third time did this aged and fearless knight ride +before the ranks which were stationed to receive the first shock of +the enemy, and if possible to turn back the apparently resistless and +overwhelming tide of battle; and then, having deliberately executed +his commission to the full, he threw up into the air the truncheon +which he held in his hand, shouting, "Now strike!" and, immediately +dismounting, joined the King and his attendants, who were all on foot. +When the soldiers saw the staff in the air, and heard the cry of the +veteran, they raised such a tremendous shout as startled the enemy, +and filled them with +amazement.<a id="notetag133" name="notetag133"></a><a href="#note133">[133]</a></p> + +<p>It <span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168">(p. 168)</a></span> +was now approaching mid-day; when Henry, perceiving that +the enemy would not commence the attack, but were waiting either for +reinforcements, or in the hope of compelling him by want of provisions +to surrender, issued the command, "Banners, advance!" His soldiers +fell down instantly upon the ground prostrate, and implored the +Almighty to succour them; each, as it is said, putting a morsel of +earth into his mouth in remembrance of their mortality. They then +rose, and advanced firmly towards the enemy, shouting, and with the +sound of trumpets. The Constable of France commanded his advanced +guard to meet them, who instantly obeyed, with the war-cry "Montjoye!" +The battle commenced by a shower of arrows from the English, which did +great execution. The French cavalry were immediately thrown into +confusion, chiefly in consequence of the horses rushing on the pointed +stakes which were fixed before the English archers, and, maddened with +pain, turning upon their own ranks. The battle was then tremendously +obstinate: at one time, the shock of the French body caused the +English to give way; but it was only to rush again upon their enemies +with a renewed and still more impetuous and desperate attack. Their +charge, like a torrent of mighty waters, was resistless; and the +archers, having exhausted their quivers, and betaking themselves +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169">(p. 169)</a></span> +to their swords and bills and hatchets, the slaughter among the +ranks of the French was dreadful. The Duke of Alenēon endeavoured in +vain to rally his men, now giving way, and being worsted on every +side; and, returning himself to the struggle, he fell in single combat +with King Henry himself. Whilst the conflict was raging, Anthony, Duke +of Brabant, came up with such of his forces as could keep pace with +him in his rapid haste towards the field of battle, and instantly +mingled in the thickest of the fight: he fell too; gallantly, but +unsuccessfully, striving to stem the flood. The battle seemed now to +be decided, when that event took place, which every one must lament, +and which nothing but necessity could justify,—</p> + + +<p class="figcenter"><span class="smcap">THE SLAUGHTER OF THE PRISONERS AT AGINCOURT.</span></p> + +<p>The name of Henry of Monmouth is inseparable from the Battle of +Agincourt; and immeasurably better had it been for his fair fame had +himself and his little army been crushed in that tremendous struggle, +by the overwhelming chivalry of France, than that he should have +stained that day of conquest and glory by an act of cruelty or +vengeance. If any cause except palpable and inevitable necessity could +be proved to have suggested the dreadful mandate for his soldiers to +put their prisoners to the sword, his memory must be branded by a +stigma which no personal courage, not a whole +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170">(p. 170)</a></span> +life devoted +to deeds of arms, nor any unprecedented career of conquest, could +obliterate. The charge of cruelty, however, like some other +accusations, examined at length in these Memoirs, is of comparatively +recent origin; and as in those former instances, so in this, our duty +is to ascertain the facts from the best evidence, and dispassionately +to draw our inference from those facts after an upright scrutiny and +patient weighing of the whole question in all its bearings. Our +abhorrence of the crime may well make us hesitate before we pronounce +judgment against one to whose mercy and chivalrous honour his +contemporaries bore willing and abundant testimony; the enormity of so +dreadful an example compels us, in the name of humanity and of +justice, not to screen the guilty. We may be wisely jealous of the +bias and prejudice which his brilliant talents, and his life of +patriotism and glory, may unconsciously communicate to our minds; we +must be also upon our guard lest an excessive resolution to do +justice, foster imperceptibly a morbid acquiescence in the +condemnation of the accused.</p> + +<p>The facts, then, as they are gleaned from those authors who wrote +nearest to the time (two of whom, one French, the other English, were +actually themselves present on the field of battle, and were +eye-witnesses of some portion at least of the circumstances which they +narrate,) seem to have been these, in their order and character.</p> + +<p>At <span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171">(p. 171)</a></span> +the close of one of the most desperate struggles ever +recorded in the annals of ancient or modern warfare, whilst the enemy +were in the act of quitting the field, but had not left it, the +English were employing what remained of their well nigh exhausted +strength in guarding their prisoners, and separating the living from +the dead, who lay upon each other, heaps upon heaps, in one confused +and indiscriminate mass. On a sudden a shout was raised, and reached +Henry, that a fresh +reinforcement<a id="notetag134" name="notetag134"></a><a href="#note134">[134]</a> +of the enemy in overwhelming +numbers had attacked the baggage, and were advancing in battle-array +against him. He was himself just released from the furious conflict in +which, at the close of his almost unparalleled personal exertion, he +engaged with the Duke of Alenēon, and slew him on the spot. Precisely, +also, at this juncture, the main body of the French who had been +engaged in the battle, and were apparently retreating, were seen to be +collecting in great numbers, and forming themselves into bodies, +throughout the plain, with the purpose, as it appeared, of returning +to the engagement.</p> + +<p>To delay might have been the total sacrifice of himself and his +gallant little band; to hesitate might +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172">(p. 172)</a></span> +have been death. +Henry instantly, without a moment's interval, by sound of trumpet +ordered his men to form themselves, and attack the body who were +advancing upon his rear, and to put the prisoners to death, "lest they +should rush upon his men during the fight." These mandates were +obeyed.<a id="notetag135" name="notetag135"></a><a href="#note135">[135]</a> +The French reinforcement, advancing from the quarter +where the baggage was stationed, no sooner felt a shower of arrows, +and saw a body of men ready to give them battle, than they turned to +flight; and instantly Henry, on seeing them run, stopped the slaughter +of the prisoners, and made it known to all that he had had recourse to +the measure only in self-defence. Henry, in order to prevent the +recurrence of such a dreadful catastrophe, sent forthwith a herald to +those companies of the enemy who were still lingering very +suspiciously through the field, and charged them either to come to +battle at once, or to withdraw from his sight; adding, that, should +they array themselves afterwards to renew the battle, he would show no +mercy, nor spare either fighting-men or prisoners.</p> + +<p>Of the general accuracy of this statement of the facts little doubt +can be entertained, though in the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173">(p. 173)</a></span> +midst of the confusion of +such a battle-field it would not be matter of surprise were some of +the circumstances mistaken or exaggerated. In reflecting on this +course of incidents, the thought forces itself upon our mind, that the +mandate was given, not in cool blood, nor when there was time and +opportunity for deliberation and for calculating upon the means and +chances of safety, but upon the instant, on a sudden unexpected +renewal of the engagement from a quarter from which no danger was +anticipated; at a moment, too, when, just after the heat of the battle +was passing over, the routed enemy were collecting again in great +numbers in various parts of the field, with a view evidently of +returning to the charge and crushing their conquerors; at a moment, +too, when the English were scattered about, separating the living from +the dead, and all was yet confusion and uncertainty. Another fact, as +clearly and distinctly recorded as the original issuing of the +mandate, is, that no sooner was the danger of the immediate and +inevitable sacrifice of the lives of his men removed by the retreat of +the assailants, than, without waiting for the dispersion of those +menacing bodies then congregating around him, Henry instantly +countermanded the order, and saved the remainder of the prisoners. The +bare facts of the case, from first to last, admit of no other +alternative than for our judgment to pronounce it to have been +altogether an imperative inevitable act of self-preservation, without +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174">(p. 174)</a></span> +the sacrifice of any life, or the suffering of any human +being, beyond the absolute and indispensable necessity of the case.</p> + +<p>But, perhaps, the most striking and conclusive testimony in +vindication of Henry's character on that day of slaughter and victory, +is borne both by the silence and also by the expressed sentiments of +the contemporary historians. This evidence deserves to be put more +prominently forward than it has ever yet been. Indeed, as long as +there was no charge of cruelty, or unnecessary violence, brought +against his name in this particular, there was little need of alleging +any evidence in his defence. It remained for modern writers, after a +lapse of centuries, to stigmatize the command as an act of barbarity, +and to represent it as having tarnished and stained the victory of him +who gave it.<a id="notetag136" name="notetag136"></a><a href="#note136">[136]</a> +It is, however, a most remarkable and satisfactory +circumstance that, of the contemporary historians, and those who +followed most closely upon them, who have +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175">(p. 175)</a></span> +detailed the +proceedings with more or less minuteness, and with a great variety +though no inconsistency of circumstances, in whose views, moreover, +all subsequent writers, with few exceptions, have unreservedly +acquiesced, not one single individual is found to cast the slightest +imputation on Henry for injustice or cruelty; while some, in their +account of the battle, have not made the most distant allusion to the +circumstance. All the earlier writers who refer to it appear, with one +consent, to have considered the order as the result of dire and +unavoidable necessity on the part of the English King. Not only so: +whilst no one who witnessed the engagement, or lived at the time, ever +threw the shadow of reproach or of complaint on Henry or his army, +various writers, especially among the French historians, join in +reprobating the unjustifiable conduct of those among the French troops +who rendered the massacre inevitable, and cast on their own countrymen +the entire responsibility and blame for the whole melancholy affair. +Instead of any attempt to sully and tarnish the glory won by the +English on that day, by pointing to their cruel and barbarous +treatment of unarmed prisoners, they visit their own people with the +very strongest terms of malediction, as the sole culpable origin and +cause of the evil. And that these were not only the sentiments of the +writers themselves, but were participated in by their countrymen at +large, is evidenced by the record of a fact which has been generally +overlooked. Those who were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176">(p. 176)</a></span> +deemed guilty of thus exposing +their countrymen to death, by unjustifiably renewing the attack when +the conflict was acknowledged to be over, and after the French +soldiery had given up the field, not only were exposed to disgrace in +their characters, but suffered punishment also for the offence in +their persons. Anticipating censure and severe handling as the +consequences of their misconduct, they made valuable presents to such +as they thought able to screen them; but so decided was the +indignation and resentment of their countrymen, that the leaders of +the offending parties were cast into prison, and suffered a long +confinement, as the punishment for their misconduct on that day.</p> + +<p>The inference, then, which the facts, as they are delivered by English +and French writers, compel us to draw, coincides with the professed +sentiments of all contemporaries. Those, on the one hand, who shared +the glory and were proud of the day of Agincourt, and those, on the +other, whose national pride, and wounded honour, and participation in +the calamities poured that day upon the noblest families of France, +and in the mourning spread far and wide throughout the land, caused +them to abhor the very name of Agincourt, all sanction our adoption of +that one inference: <i>Henry did not stain his victory by any act of +cruelty</i>. His character comes out of the investigation untarnished by +a suspicion of his having wantonly shed the blood of a single +fellow-creature.</p> + +<p>To <span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177">(p. 177)</a></span> +enable the reader to judge for himself how far the view +taken in the text is justified by the evidence, the Author has thought +it desirable to cite from different writers, French as well as +English, the passages at length in which they describe the +transaction.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> + The Chaplain of Henry V, an eye-witness, who was himself + stationed with the baggage, and whose account is contained in the + fasciculus known as "MS. Sloane, 1776, p. 67," thus reports the + transaction:</p> + +<p>"When some of the enemy's foreranks were slain, those behind + pressed over the dead, and others again falling on them were + immediately put to death; and near Henry's banners so large was + the pile of corpses, and of those who were thrown upon them, that + the English stood on heaps which exceeded a man's height, and + felled their adversaries below with swords and axes. And when, at + length, for the space of two or three hours, that powerful body + of the first ranks had been broken through and crushed to pieces, + and the rest were forced to fly, our men began to move those + heaps, and to separate the living from the dead. And behold, + suddenly, with what angry dispensation of Providence it is not + known, (nescitur in quā irā Dei,) a shout is made that the + cavalry of the enemy in an overwhelming and fresh body were + rallying, and forming themselves to attack our men, few in + number, and worn out with fatigue. And the captives, without any + respect of persons, (except the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and + certain other illustrious men, and a few besides,) were put the + sword, to prevent their becoming our ruin in the approaching + struggle. And, after a little while, the enemy, (by the + Almighty's will,) having tasted the sharpness of our arrows, and + seeing that our King was approaching them, left us a field of + blood, with chariots and many other carriages filled +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178">(p. 178)</a></span> + with provisions and weapons, lances and bows." +</p> + +<p>Jean Le Fevre, Seigneur de St. Remy, who was also an eye-witness, +being present in the English camp, records the event, and his own +opinion of it, thus:</p> + +<p> + "Then there befel them a very great misfortune; for a large body + of the rear-guard, in which were many French, Bretons, Gascons, + and others, who had betaken themselves to flight, and had with + them a large number of standards and flags, showed signs of an + intention to fight, and were marching in order. When the English + perceived them thus congregated, orders were given by the King of + England for every one to slay his prisoners; but those who had + taken them were unwilling to put them to death, because they had + taken those only who could give a high ransom. On the King being + apprised that they would not kill their prisoners, he gave in + charge to a gentleman with two hundred archers to put them all to + death. The order of the King was obeyed by this esquire, which + was a lamentable affair; for all that body of French nobility + were <i>in cold blood</i> cut and hewed, head and face,—a wonderful + thing to see. <span class="smcap">That accursed band of Frenchmen, who thus caused + that noble chivalry to be murdered</span>, when they saw that the + English were ready to receive them and give them battle, betook + themselves to flight suddenly; and those who could, saved + themselves; and the greater part of those who were on horseback + saved themselves, but of them who were on foot the greater part + were put to death."</p> + +<p>Elmham thus records the transaction:—</p> + +<p> + "The English, already wearied, and for the most part destitute of + arms fit for a charge, when the French were arraying themselves + for battle with a view to the renewal of the conflict, fearing + lest the persons they had taken should rush upon them in the + struggle, slew many of them, though +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179">(p. 179)</a></span> +noble, with the + sword. The King then, by a herald, commanded those French + soldiers who were still occupying the field either to come to + battle at once, or speedily to depart out of his sight; assuring + them that, if they should again array themselves for a renewed + engagement, both they and the prisoners yet remaining should + perish without mercy, with the most dire vengeance which the + English could inflict." +</p> + +<p>Fabyan's account differs from that of other writers only in one +particular; he represents the retirement of the French, who had +rallied for a renewal of the conflict, to have been the result of the +message sent to them by the Duke of Orleans and his fellow-prisoners, +in their panic on hearing Henry's mandate, which seemed to put their +lives into immediate jeopardy.</p> + +<p> + "When the King, by power and grace of God more than by force of + man, had gotten this triumphant victory, and returned his people + from the chase of his enemies, tidings were brought to him that a + new host of Frenchmen were coming towards him. Wherefore he + commanded his people to be embattled; and, that done, made + proclamation through the host that every man should slay his + prisoners: by reason of which proclamation the Duke of Orleans, + and the other lords of France, were in such fear, that anon, by + the licence of the King, they sent such word unto the said host + that they withdrew." +</p> + +<p>The contemporary author whose work is translated by Laboureur, having +in impassioned language spoken of the "eternal reproach, and ever +deplorable calamity of the miserable battle of Agincourt," instead of +attempting to make the English partake in any degree of the disgrace +which on that day stained the annals of France, tells us that Henry, +believing a great body of the vanguard, who had been broken through, +were running, not in flight, but to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180">(p. 180)</a></span> +join the rest of the +army and renew the attack, gave orders for all the prisoners to be put +to the sword; and the carnage lasted till it was known they were +actually running away. He then stopped it; and explained that his +orders were given in doubt of the enemy's intentions.—This writer +seems to have been mistaken in his view of the circumstances; but the +thought of Henry having acted unjustifiably does not seem to have +crossed his mind.</p> + +<p>Monstrelet's account is somewhat different from the two last, and more +full in its details:</p> + +<p> + "During the heat of the combat the English made several + prisoners; and then came news to the King of England that the + French were attacking them from the rear, and that they had + already taken his sumpter-horses and baggage. This was true; for + Robinet de Bournonville and Rifflart de Clamasse, Ysambert + d'Azencourt, and some other men-at-arms, accompanied by six + hundred peasants, went to plunder the baggage, and carried off a + great quantity of the property of the camp, and a large number of + horses, whilst those who were their guards were engaged in the + battle. This pillage caused the King great trouble, for he saw + also at the same time in the open field those French who had + taken to flight rallying themselves in companies; and he doubted + whether their intention was not to renew the engagement. He + therefore caused a proclamation to be made by sound of trumpet, + that every Englishman should on pain of +death<a id="notetag137" name="notetag137"></a><a href="#note137">[137]</a> +slay his + prisoners, to prevent their succouring their own people in the + time of need; and then, on the sudden, followed a very great + carnage of French prisoners. For which proceeding, Robinet de + Bournonville and Ysambart d'Azencourt were afterwards +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181">(p. 181)</a></span> + punished and imprisoned a long time by order of John Duke of + Burgundy, notwithstanding they had given to Philip Earl of + Charolois, his son, an exceedingly valuable sword, studded with + precious stones and jewels, belonging to the King of England, + which they had found and taken with the other booty, that the + Earl might interest himself for them should any trouble overtake + them in consequence of this circumstance."</p> + +<p>Des Ursins represents the catastrophe to have been occasioned by + the news spread through the field that the Duke of Brittany was + arrived with a powerful reinforcement, on which the French + rallied. He gives, however, two accounts; in one of which he + reports the prisoners taken by the English to be fourteen + thousand, a number exceeding the whole body of fighting men in + the English army.</p> + +<p>Paradin de Cuyseault, in his Annals of Burgundy, marks very + strongly in how serious a light the offence of the French + assailants was viewed by their contemporaries:</p> + +<p>"And this [the order for the slaughter of the prisoners] was + executed, of which the said Bournonville and Azencourt were the + cause: and they being accused of this charge before the Duke of + Burgundy, his will was that they should suffer death: but the + Earl of Charolois saved them, in return for the beautiful sword."</p> + +<p>Pierre de Fenin, a contemporary esquire, and a clerk of the + household to Charles VI, employs expressions very pointedly + exculpatory of the English; he does not speak of Henry's mandate + at all:</p> + +<p>"Whilst the battle between the English and French <i>was yet + pending and going on</i>, and the English had already almost gained + the mastery, Isambert d'Azencourt, and Robinet de Bournonville, + accompanied by some men-at-arms of little note, made an assault + on the baggage of the English, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182">(p. 182)</a></span> +caused a great + [affray] terror. When the English saw that it was the French who + were coming upon them to attack them, <i>in that necessity they + felt themselves obliged</i> to put to death many whom they had + already made prisoners; for which the two persons above mentioned + were afterwards made the objects of severe execration, and were + also punished for the offence by the Duke of +Burgundy."<a id="notetag138" name="notetag138"></a><a href="#note138">[138]</a> +</p></div> + +<p>Among the many instances of heroism which occurred during the battle, +Henry's conduct was particularly distinguished. He fought on foot like +a lion, as our annalists express themselves, and was throughout the +noblest example of valour. Especially was his gallant rescue of his +brother, the Duke of Gloucester, remembered with admiration. That +prince had been wounded by a dagger, and thrown on the ground by the +Duke of Alenēon and his soldiers, when Henry rushed between them, and +defended his brother till he was removed from the conflict. This noble +deed nearly cost him his life; for, stooping down to raise his +brother, the Duke of Alenēon, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183">(p. 183)</a></span> +or one of his men, struck him +such a blow as to break off a part of his crown.</p> + +<p>The loss on both sides has been very variously reported. Probably of +the French not less than ten thousand fell in that field of +blood;<a id="notetag139" name="notetag139"></a><a href="#note139">[139]</a> +of the English perhaps less than one-tenth of that number. +But France did not on that day reckon her loss by the number of the +slain; the chief of her +chivalry<a id="notetag140" name="notetag140"></a><a href="#note140">[140]</a> +and nobility +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184">(p. 184)</a></span> fell +there. On the English side the only men of note who were slain in the +battle were the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, Sir Richard +Keghley, Thomas Fitz-Henry, John de Peniton, and David +Gamme.<a id="notetag141" name="notetag141"></a><a href="#note141">[141]</a></p> + +<p>The last-mentioned person is that David Gamme who +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185">(p. 185)</a></span> was +ransomed from Owyn Glendowr, and who is reported to have replied, when +questioned as to the number of the enemy, "My liege, there are enough +to be slain, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away!" +This gallant speech of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186">(p. 186)</a></span> +David Gamme immediately before the +battle, has been delivered down from father to son among his Cambrian +compatriots with feelings of exultation and pride. A circumstance of a +very opposite character and tendency (which has never, it is believed, +hitherto appeared in our histories,) must not be suppressed here. +Among those who swelled the enormous host which on that day gave +battle to the King of England, were found natives of his own +Principality. During the dreadful devastations caused by Owyn +Glyndowr, great numbers left their mansions and estates a prey to his +fury, and saved themselves from personal violence by taking refuge in +England, or beyond the seas. Many, too, of those who had made +themselves notorious as Owyn's partisans, fled from Wales when his +cause began to falter, and avoided the penalty of perseverance in +their rebellion, or the humiliating alternative of submission to one +whom they deemed a tyrant and usurper. Quitting their native soil in +the enjoyment of health and strength, not a few of these inhabitants +of the Principality enlisted under the standard of foreign powers; +especially (as it is reasonable to conclude) of the King of France, +who had espoused the cause for which they were expatriated. How large +or how small a number of Welshmen fell in the ranks of the French on +that day, or how many escaped, we have no means of ascertaining. Our +attention is drawn to the subject by the record of a fact too +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187">(p. 187)</a></span> +specific, and too well authenticated, to be doubted or +evaded.<a id="notetag142" name="notetag142"></a><a href="#note142">[142]</a> +William Gwyn of Llanstephan, was in the army of the enemy +on the field of Agincourt, and his corpse was found among the slain. +His castle of Llanstephan was in consequence forfeited to the crown, +and was granted to the King's brother, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Being left master of the field, Henry withdrew his army a few paces, +and addressed them in a speech very characteristic of his mind. After +thanking them for their services, he bade them consider his success as +undoubted proof of the justice of his cause; and directed them not to +pride themselves on the event, but to give the glory to God. Henry +then called to him Montjoye, the principal herald of France, and +demanded of him to whom the victory belonged; who replied, that it was +to the King of England. He then asked the name of the neighbouring +castle; and, being informed that it was Agincourt, "Then," said he, +"this shall for ever be called</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><span class="smcap">"THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT."</span><a id="notetag143" +name="notetag143"></a><a href="#note143">[143]</a></p> + +<p>Henry, naturally anxious to hasten with his troops beyond the reach of +his enemies, and to arrive at +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188">(p. 188)</a></span> +Calais before they could +recover from their present overwhelming distress, removed from his +quarters, passing through the field of battle early on the next day, +taking his prisoners with him. Many vague expressions occur in some +writers, which might be wrested to imply wanton cruelty in the English +after the battle; but no direct charge of the sort is brought +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189">(p. 189)</a></span> +against them; and we may reasonably hope that there was no more +of human suffering than of necessity followed so tremendous a +conflict: whilst all writers agree in recording and extolling the +kindness, and compassion, and courtesy shown by Henry to his +prisoners, especially to the Duke of Orleans; endeavouring by all +means in his power to cheer and console them. Just as after the battle +of <span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190">(p. 190)</a></span> +Grosmont, when he was only seventeen years old, so now in +the prime of manhood, on the field of Agincourt, we find in him the +same kind and warm-hearted conqueror: "In battle a lion; but, duty +appeased, in mercy a lamb!"</p> + +<p>The army found great difficulty at Calais from the scarcity of +provisions; and the prisoners, as may be supposed, were in still +greater distress. The moment Henry, who was staying at Guisnes, heard +of it, he ordered vessels to be procured to convey both soldiers and +prisoners to England. Henry himself reached +Calais<a id="notetag144" name="notetag144"></a><a href="#note144">[144]</a> +on the 29th of +October, and was received with every demonstration of loyalty. He was +met by the clergy singing Te Deum; whilst the inhabitants shouted, +"Welcome the King, our Sovereign Lord!" News reached London very +early, whilst the citizens were yet in bed, on Tuesday, October 29; +and on that day the victory was celebrated by religious processions, +in which we are +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191">(p. 191)</a></span> +told the Queen Dowager joined, though +Arthur, Count of Richmond, her own son, was among the prisoners. On +Monday, November 4, the Duke of Bedford announced the welcome news +officially to parliament. Henry embarked for England on Saturday, 16th +of November, and reached Dover late on the same day, though the wind +had been very boisterous, and one or two of his vessels were lost. So +overflowing was the joy and zeal of his subjects, that we are told +they rushed into the sea, and brought him to shore in their arms. At +Canterbury he was met by the archbishop and clergy: on Friday, 22nd of +November, he slept at Eltham. The next day he was met, about ten +o'clock, at Blackheath, by the Mayor and all the civic authorities of +London, dressed in their most splendid robes, and accompanied by not +less than twenty thousand citizens on horseback.</p> + +<p>In London a most magnificent pageant was ready to welcome him. Minute +descriptions of the various devices, such probably as England had +never seen before, have come down to us. But we need take no further +notice of them than to remark, that during the splendid scene, which +lasted from ten o'clock till three, (in the course of which Henry +humbly returned thanks both in St. Paul's and in Westminster Abbey,) +the King's deportment was singularly modest. His dress was simple; he +rode gravely on, attended by a small retinue; and, his thoughts +apparently wrapped up in contemplating the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192">(p. 192)</a></span> +power and +goodness of the Almighty, he seemed altogether indifferent to the +splendour of the scenes and the devotedness of the crowds through +which he passed. So anxious was he to avoid exciting the applause of +his people, that he would not allow the helmet which he wore at +Agincourt to be exhibited on this occasion; the battered state of +which bore evidence to the danger he had encountered: nor would he +allow the minstrels to compose verses, or sing songs, to his praise; +but persisted in attributing the glory of his victory to God alone.</p> + +<p>It is pleasing to trace the +rewards<a id="notetag145" name="notetag145"></a><a href="#note145">[145]</a> +bestowed by Henry on his +companions in arms at Agincourt, and the measures which he adopted to +preserve their names from oblivion. With this view he doubtless caused +a roll to be made recording their names; though only a transcript of +one part has been yet discovered among the archives. We may hope that +not many years will elapse before numbers of those most interesting +documents which now lie buried in heaps of confusion will be brought +to light. Henry selected to fill every vacancy in the order of the +Garter, (not bestowed on sovereign princes,) the peers and +distinguished commanders who fought with him at Agincourt; and when he +restricted the use of coats of arms in a subsequent expedition to +those who could prove their right to them, he excepts those only who +bore arms with him at Agincourt. To commemorate this victory with more +especial <span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193">(p. 193)</a></span> +honour, he created a King-at-arms, called +"Agincourt."</p> + +<p>Our reformed views of Christian truth must not make us undervalue the +testimony borne to Henry's gratitude towards his companions in arms, +though they were removed by death from all earthly favours and +rewards. He did for them what he could; and though we believe him to +have been performing a vain office, and profitless to those whom it +was intended to benefit, in the prevailing superstition of those days +we see traces of the kindness and grateful spirit of the +hero.<a id="notetag146" name="notetag146"></a><a href="#note146">[146]</a></p> + +<p>Many of the French princes taken at Agincourt remained prisoners in +England for many years. The Duke of Bourbon died in confinement. The +Duke of Orleans was not released for five-and-twenty years. Whilst a +captive in the Tower of London, he had recourse to the solace of +literature; and composed many pieces of poetry, still preserved in the +British +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194">(p. 194)</a></span> +Museum, which indicate genius and cultivated taste.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>How highly the people of England valued this victory is seen in very +many particulars. The superstition of those times was also made to +contribute to its celebrity. The victory of Agincourt was gained on +the feast of the Translation of St. John of Beverley, and was ascribed +to his merits. His festival had before been kept on the 7th of May; +but now it was ordained to be celebrated for ever on the 25th of +October. But that was the feast of Crispin and Crispianus; and so the +authorities of the church decreed that all three saints should share +in the offices of that +day.<a id="notetag147" name="notetag147"></a><a href="#note147">[147]</a></p> + +<p>The Archbishop declares that this ecclesiastical constitution was made +in full convocation by the will, counsel, and consent of all his +brothers, and also at the special instance of their most Christian +King.</p> + +<p>The document abounds to the overflow with the gross superstition of +the age. It is only by recalling what that degrading superstition was, +that we can estimate at their proper value the blessings of the +Reformation. Of the genuineness of this document there can be no +doubt. It was addressed by Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, +to the Vicar of the Bishop of London, who was then at the council of +Constance; and its preamble at least deserves a place here.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p>"Henry, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195">(p. 195)</a></span> +by divine permission, Archbishop of Canterbury, + Primate of all England, and Legate of the Apostolic see, to our + beloved son the spiritual Vicar-general of our venerable brother + R. by the grace of God, Bishop of London, now in foreign parts. + The holy honour of the English church (whose praise and fame, in + devoted veneration of God and his saints, the whole world extols + above the churches of other regions and provinces,) requires that + the same church shall more abound with the praises of those, and + more exultingly rejoice in glad devotion to them, by whose + patronage and grace of miracles she rejoices to flourish; and by + whose pious intercession the state, not only of the church, but + of the whole realm, together with the inward sweetness of peace + and quiet, and with victory gained over foreign enemies, is + defended by just rulers.</p> + +<p> "The grace of this help, though God to the same church, and to + the inhabitants of the realm of England, hath often decreed to + show by the merits of divers saints, (with whom she shines + gloriously on every side,) yet in these last days He has + evidently deigned more miraculously and more especially to + console the aforesaid church, together with the aforesaid nobles, + inhabitants, and all members of the kingdom, by the especial + suffrage of her (almifici) gracious confessor and bishop, the + most blessed John of Beverley, as we verily believe!</p> + +<p>"Oh! ineffable consolation, especially in our times, in every age + pleasant, and ever to be called to mind; namely, the victory of + our most Christian Prince, King Henry V. of England, and of his + army, in the battle of Agincourt, lately fought in the parts of + Picardy; which on the Feast of the Translation of the said Saint, + to the honour of the divine name, and to the honour of the realm + of England, from the boundless mercy of God, was granted to the + English.</p> + +<p>"On which Feast of his Translation, whilst the struggle between + our countrymen and the French was being carried on, as to the + hearing of us and our brethren in our last convocation, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196">(p. 196)</a></span> + abundantly and especially, the true report of the inhabitants of + that country brought the tidings, that from his tomb sacred oil + flowed, drops falling as of sweat, indicative of the divine mercy + towards his people, doubtless obtained by the merits of that most + holy man.</p> + +<p>"Wishing, therefore, in our province to spread an increase of + divine worship, and especially to extol further the praise of so + great a patron, with the wills, counsel, and assent of our + brethren and the clergy in the said convocation, and no less at + the special instance of the said most Christian Prince, we have + determined that the memory of that most holy confessor everywhere + throughout our province should be exalted with feelings of + prayers and devotions [votivis et devotis affectibus]."</p> +</div> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Then follows the decree above mentioned.</p> + +<p>This mass of extravagant folly and blind superstition, this +presumptuous sharing of God's omnipotence and sovereign might with the +power of such poor erring fellow-mortals as the corrupt ministers of a +corrupt church had presumptuously ranked among the inhabitants of +heaven,—thus daring to forestal the judgment of Christ at the last +day, and to pronounce on the glory of a man whose spiritual state +Omniscience alone can know,—it is impossible to contemplate without +feelings of gratitude that Heaven's mercy has released us from such +perverted use of the Gospel of the Saviour; nor without a prayer that +the Spirit of light and truth would guide those of our +fellow-creatures who are still walking in the same land of darkness +and error, into the clear light of Christian truth.</p> + +<p>The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197">(p. 197)</a></span> +Author, to whom the following "Song of Agincourt" has +been familiar from his childhood, cannot refrain from inserting it +here. This is that ancient, and, as it is believed, contemporary +ballad, which has preserved to our times that golden stanza which +appears in the title page of these volumes; and every word of which +reflects the character of Henry as a hero and a merciful man. The +quotation, also, from Burnet's History of Music, and the contemporary +song to which he refers, will, it is presumed, be generally +acceptable.</p> + + +<p class="left20">SONG OF AGINCOURT.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>As our King lay on his bed,<br> +<span class="poem1">All musing at the hour of prime,<a id="notetag148" + name="notetag148"></a><a href="#note148">[148]</a></span><br> +He bethought him of the King of France,<br> +<span class="poem1">And tribute due for so long a time.</span></p> + +<p>He called unto him his lovely page,<br> +<span class="poem1">His lovely page then called he;</span><br> +Saying, You must go to the King in France,<br> +<span class="poem1">To the King in France right speedily.</span></p> + +<p>Tell him to send me my tribute home,<br> +<span class="poem1">Ten ton of gold that is due to me;</span><br> +Unless he send me my tribute home,<br> +<span class="poem1">Soon in French land I will him see.</span></p> + +<p>Away + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198">(p. 198)</a></span> + then goes this lovely page<br> +<span class="poem1">As fast, as fast as he could hie;</span><br> +And, when he came to the King in France,<br> +<span class="poem1">He fell all down on his bended knee.</span></p> + +<p>My master greets you, sir, and says,<br> +<span class="poem1">Ten ton of gold is due to me;</span><br> +Unless you send me my tribute home,<br> +<span class="poem1">You in French land soon shall see me.</span></p> + +<p>Your master is young, and of tender age,<br> +<span class="poem1">Not fit to come into my degree;</span><br> +I'll send him home some tennis-balls<br> +<span class="poem1">That with them he may learn for to play.</span></p> + +<p>Away then goes this lovely page,<br> +<span class="poem1">As fast, as fast as he could hie;</span><br> +And, when he came to our gracious King,<br> +<span class="poem1">He fell all down on his bended knee.</span></p> + +<p>What news, what news, my trusty page?<br> +<span class="poem1">What news, what news dost thou bring to me?</span><br> +I bring such news from the King of France,<br> +<span class="poem1">That you and he can never agree.</span></p> + +<p>He says you are young, and of tender age,<br> +<span class="poem1">Not fit to come up to his degree;</span><br> +He has sent you home some tennis-balls,<br> +<span class="poem1">That with them you may learn for to play.</span></p> + +<p>Oh! then bespoke our noble King,<br> +<span class="poem1">A solemn vow then vowed he;</span><br> +I'll promise him such English balls<br> +<span class="poem1">As in French land he ne'er did see.</span></p> + +<p>Go! <span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199">(p. 199)</a></span> + call up Cheshire and Lancashire,<br> +<span class="poem1">And Derby hills that are so free;</span><br> +But neither married man, nor widow's son,<br> +<span class="poem1">No widow's curse shall go with me!</span></p> + +<p>They called up Cheshire and Lancashire,<br> +<span class="poem1">And Derby hills that are so free;</span><br> +But neither married man nor widow's son,<br> +<span class="poem1">Yet they had a right good company.</span></p> + +<p>He called unto him his merry men all,<br> +<span class="poem1">And numbered them by three and three,</span><br> +Until their number it did amount<br> +<span class="poem1">To thirty thousand stout men and three.</span></p> + +<p>Away then marched they into French land,<br> +<span class="poem1">With drums and fifes so merrily;</span><br> +Then out and spoke the King of France,<br> +<span class="poem1">Lo! here comes proud King Henrie!</span></p> + +<p>The first that fired, it was the French,<br> +<span class="poem1">They killed our Englishmen so free;</span><br> +But we killed ten thousand of the French,<br> +<span class="poem1">And the rest of them they did run away.</span></p> + +<p>Then marched they on to Paris gates,<br> +<span class="poem1">With drums and fifes so merrily;</span><br> +Oh! then bespoke the King of France,<br> +<span class="poem1">The Lord have mercy on my men and me!</span></p> + +<p>Oh! I will send him his tribute home,<br> +<span class="poem1">Ten ton of gold that is due from me;</span><br> +And the very best flower that is in all France<br> +<span class="poem1">To the rose of England will I give free.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="smsize"> +<p>"At <span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200">(p. 200)</a></span> +the coronation of Henry V," observes Dr. Burney, "in +1413, we hear of <i>no other instruments than +harps</i>;<a id="notetag149" name="notetag149"></a><a href="#note149">[149]</a> +but one of +that prince's +historians<a id="notetag150" name="notetag150"></a><a href="#note150">[150]</a> +tells us that their number in the hall +was prodigious. Henry, however, though a successful hero and a +conqueror, did not seem to take the advantage of his claim to praise; +and either was so modest or so tasteless as to discourage and even +prohibit the poets and musicians from celebrating his victories and +singing his valiant deeds. When he entered the city of London, after +the battle of Agincourt, the gates and streets were hung with +tapestry, representing the history of ancient heroes; and children +were placed in temporary turrets to sing verses. But Henry, disgusted +at these vanities, commanded, by a formal edict, that for the future +no songs should be recited by harpers, or others, in honour of the +recent victory. '<i>Cantus de suo triumpho fieri, seu per citharistas, +vel alios quoscunque, cantari, penitus prohibebat</i>.'</p> + +<p>"It is somewhat extraordinary that, in spite of Henry's edicts and +prohibitions, <i>the only English song of so early a date, that has come +to my knowledge, of which the original music has been preserved</i>, is +one that was written on his victory at Agincourt in 1415. It is +preserved in the Pepysian Collection, at Magdalen College, +Cambridge."<a id="notetag151" +name="notetag151"></a><a href="#note151">[151]</a></p></div> + +<p>After +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201">(p. 201)</a></span> +some observations upon the general ignorance of the +transcribers of ancient music, Dr. Burney proceeds to say, "that the +copy in the Pepysian Collection is written upon vellum in Gregorian +notes, and can be little less ancient than the event which it +recorded;" and that there is with it a paper which shows that an +attempt was made in the last century (17th) to give it a modern dress, +but that too many liberties had been taken with the melody, and the +drone bass, which had been set to it for the lute, is a mere jargon. +He then presents what he says is a faithful copy of this venerable +relic of our nation's prowess and glory.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Owre Kynge went forth to Normandy,<br> +With grace, and myght of chyvalry;<br> +The God for hym wrought marv'lusly,<br> +Wherefore Englonde may calle and cry,</p> + +<p class="left30">CHORUS.</p> + +<p class="poem1">Deo gratias, Anglia!<br> + Redde pro Victoria!</p> + +<p>He sette a sege, the sothe to say,<br> +To Harflue town, with royal array;<br> +That toune he wan, and made a fray<br> +That Fraunce shall rywe tyl domes-day.<br> +<span class="left30">Deo gratias! &c.</span></p> + +<p>Than, for sothe, that Knyght comely<br> +In Agincourt feld faught manly;<br> +Thorow grace of God, most myghty,<br> +He hath bothe felde and victory.<br> +<span class="left30">Deo gratias! &c.</span></p> + +<p>Then <span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202">(p. 202)</a></span> + went owre Kynge, with all his oste,<br> +Thorowe Fraunce, for all the Frenshe boste;<br> +He spared<a id="notetag152" + name="notetag152"></a><a href="#note152">[152]</a> + for drede of leste ne most,<br> +Till he come to Agincourt coste.<br> +<span class="left30">Deo gratias! &c.</span></p> + +<p>Ther Dukys and Earlys, Lorde and Barone,<br> + Were take and slayne, and that wel sone;<br> + And some were ledde into Lundone;<br> + With joye, and merth, and grete renone,<br> +<span class="left30">Deo gratias! &c.</span></p> + +<p>Now gracious God he save owre Kynge,<br> + His peple, and all his well wyllinge;<br> + Gef him gode lyfe, and gode endynge,<br> + That we with merth may safely synge,<br> +<span class="poem-1">Deo gratias, Anglia! redde pro Victoria!</span></p> +</div> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203">(p. 203)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">reasons for delaying a second campaign. — sigismund undertakes to +mediate. — reception of sigismund. — french ships scour the seas, +and lay siege to harfleur. — henry's vigorous measures thereupon. — +the emperor declares for "henry and his just rights." — joins with +him in canterbury cathedral on a day of thanksgiving for victory over +the french. — with him meets the duke of burgundy at calais. — the +duke also declares for henry. — second invasion of france. — siege +of caen. — henry's bulletin to the mayor of london. — hostile +movement of the scots.</span><br><br> + +1415-1417.</h3> + + +<p>It has been made a subject of observation, and of conjecture as to its +cause, that Henry did not take advantage of the next spring to +prosecute his claims in France. +Some<a id="notetag153" name="notetag153"></a><a href="#note153">[153]</a> +would have us suspect that +it was "to show that personal honour had been his leading object, that +he remained at home nearly two years afterwards without any military +movement." But a much more intelligible and palpable cause +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204">(p. 204)</a></span> +offers itself to the mind on the slightest reflection upon the +circumstances in which he was +placed.<a id="notetag154" name="notetag154"></a><a href="#note154">[154]</a> +He had not the means ready +for invading France. His forces were diminished by a number of men +appallingly great, in proportion to the body with which he had landed +at Harfleur; and his treasury was exhausted. For his first expedition +he had borrowed the utmost which his subjects and friends either would +or could supply; and the grants made to him by his parliament had been +anticipated even to carry on the former campaign. That it was his +intention, however, when he left France after the victory of +Agincourt, to return to that country in the following spring, seems +clear from the circumstance that, on dismissing his less illustrious +prisoners at Calais, he bound them on their words to bring their +ransoms to him on the field of Lendi, at the feast of St. John in the +summer; with this voluntary proviso, that, if they did not find him +there, they should be free from all obligation to him.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, a most influential mediator between the two kingdoms +appeared, the intervention of whom would, even under other +circumstances, have rendered delay imperative. Sigismund, Emperor +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205">(p. 205)</a></span> +of Germany, first visited the King of France in his capital, and +then extended his journey to England, with a view of bringing about a +peace, though all his efforts proved unavailing.</p> + +<p>On his approach towards England, the utmost pains seem to have been +taken to make his reception worthy of his high dignity and of the +English people. The orders of council are very minute and +interesting;<a id="notetag155" name="notetag155"></a><a href="#note155">[155]</a> +and the arrival of Sigismund seems to have occupied +the time and thoughts of the whole nation. The Earl of Warwick was +then Captain of Calais, whose character for gallantry and courteous +bearing was so distinguished on this, as on all other occasions, that +he was called the Father of courtesy. The Emperor and his retinue of +one thousand persons, among whom were many German and Italian princes +and nobles, embarked at Calais in thirty of the King's ships, and +arrived at Dover on the 29th of April 1416. Here the Duke +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206">(p. 206)</a></span> of +Gloucester, Constable of Dover, with many noblemen, met him; and gave +him precisely that sort of reception which we should have expected +from English gentlemen under the immediate direction of Henry. As the +Emperor was ready to set his foot on land, they stepped into the water +with their drawn swords, and told him with mingled firmness and +courtesy, "that, if he came as a mediator of peace, they would receive +him with all the honours due to the imperial dignity; but if as +Emperor he challenged any sovereign power, they must tell him that the +English nation was a free people, and their King had dependence on no +monarch on earth; and they were resolved, in defence of the liberty of +the people, and the rights of their King, to oppose his landing on +their shores." The answer of the Emperor set them at ease on this +point, and he was received with every mark of respect and honour; +among other testimonies of Henry's feelings towards him, was his +installation of him as a Knight of the Garter at +Windsor.<a id="notetag156" name="notetag156"></a><a href="#note156">[156]</a></p> + +<p>It is impossible not to contrast the conduct of our countrymen on this +occasion and the behaviour of Sigismund, with his conduct in France, +and the readiness with which that conduct, however humiliating, was +submitted to. Sigismund was received with +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207">(p. 207)</a></span> +much ceremony and +magnificence at Paris; but, before he left it, he had surprised and +disgusted the King by exercising an act of sovereignty in the very +house of parliament. By courtesy he was seated on the chair usually +occupied by the King himself. A trial was proceeding, the result of +which seemed to turn on the knighthood of one of the litigants. The +Emperor called for a sword, and knighted the individual forthwith.</p> + +<p>Whilst Sigismund was anxiously engaged in endeavouring to bring the +two nations to terms of peace, news arrived of an event which must +have made his efforts and mediation appear hopeless. The French had +fallen upon part of the garrison of Harfleur, and cut off a +considerable body of them. Not long after this, and whilst +negociations were pending between London and Paris, with a more +favourable appearance of a successful issue, tidings came that the +French fleet had scoured the Channel, had blockaded Southampton, and +had made various attempts on the Isle of Wight; that the Constable, +D'Armagnac, had recalled them, and they were then besieging Harfleur. +Henry and his council resolved on making an immediate and vigorous +effort to destroy that fleet; and forthwith an armament was prepared, +of which Henry expressed his determination to take the command +himself. At the urgent request, however, of the Emperor, he desisted +from that resolution, and gave the supreme command to his brother the +Duke of Bedford; who, after a most obstinate +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208">(p. 208)</a></span> +battle, gained +a decided victory over the enemy, and relieved +Harfleur.<a id="notetag157" name="notetag157"></a><a href="#note157">[157]</a></p> + +<p>The Emperor was soon convinced that his mediation must fail, and that +France was resolved to renew the war. He then determined not to remain +neutral, but to join himself by a solemn league with Henry. The +preamble of this covenant is deeply interesting, as indicative, at +least, of the professed sentiments of Sigismund with regard to the +pretensions of Henry, and to the conduct and character of the two +belligerent kings. Sigismund declared the object of his desire to have +been the restoration of peace to the church and to Christendom; and, +with that end in view, he had endeavoured to reconcile the Kings of +England and France, but without success. The failure he ascribed +entirely to the hatred of peace which influenced the French King, to +whom he attributed also the prevalence of schism in the church, and +the disturbed state of the Christian world. He then expresses his +resolution "to form a league with Henry in the name of the Lord God of +Hosts, and to assist him in the recovery of his <span class="smcap">JUST +RIGHTS</span>."<a id="notetag158" name="notetag158"></a><a href="#note158">[158]</a> +This league was signed August 15, 1416. The Emperor, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209">(p. 209)</a></span> +shortly +after this unlooked-for termination of his office as mediator, left +England. Before he had proceeded onwards from Calais, Henry himself +arrived at that town. After some days, the Duke of Burgundy also +joined them; and much time was spent in secret negociations, the +nature of which did not transpire, though we may suppose both the +Emperor and King were anxious to make him a party to the league +already concluded between themselves. A covenant, however, was signed +by the Duke early in October, in which he declared that, "though he +had taken part with the enemies of Henry in time past, yet now, <i>being +assured of his lawful claim</i>, he would employ his arms in his service +as the rightful King of France."</p> + +<p>The Emperor left Calais for Germany; and Henry, having concluded a +truce with France till the 2nd of February, returned to England, and +met his parliament on October 19th. Much zeal was here shown in his +behalf; and whilst the parliament granted two whole tenths and two +whole fifteenths, to be levied on the laity, the clergy gave two +tenths, to be paid by their own body. But all this was not enough; +recourse was again had to borrowing, the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford, +and Gloucester pledging themselves, in case of Henry's death, to the +repayment of the loans. Henry pawned a valuable crown to his uncle, +the Bishop of Winchester, for money to a great amount; and he pledged +very valuable jewels to the Mayor of London +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210">(p. 210)</a></span> +for another +large sum. No measure was left untried, that Henry might be prepared +by the ensuing spring with men and money for the invasion of +France.<a id="notetag159" name="notetag159"></a><a href="#note159">[159]</a> +In the meanwhile, the French princes and nobles who had +been taken prisoners at Agincourt were anxiously negociating for their +release. In a communication of strict confidence to the Emperor, Henry +declares that all their proceedings were suspicious, and selfish, and +deceitful; that he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211">(p. 211)</a></span> +had suffered the Duke of Bourbon to return +to France on certain conditions, but that the Emperor might be assured +of his resolution to invade that country.</p> + + +<p>Henry's exertions were effectual; and, soon after midsummer, he found +himself prepared with men and money to renew his expedition to +Normandy in a fleet of fifteen hundred sail, and with an army of not +less than twenty-five thousand soldiers. Before +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212">(p. 212)</a></span> +he embarked, +however, he commissioned Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, whose father had +been beheaded at Cirencester in the reign of Henry IV, with a squadron +to scour the seas, and secure a free passage for the transports. The +Earl was successful in a most hard-fought battle with a fleet of +Genoese large ships, sent by their +republic<a id="notetag160" name="notetag160"></a><a href="#note160">[160]</a> +to aid the French +King; and on July 23rd 1417, Henry set sail for the coast of +France.<a id="notetag161" name="notetag161"></a><a href="#note161">[161]</a> +A large body of French on the shore threatened to oppose +him; but he landed his forces safely, on the 1st of August, at +Beville. As soon as his people were all safe on shore, by an act +characteristic of himself, he adopted the same measure which, on his +former expedition, had compelled him to make his way to Calais by +land. He dismissed all his ships homeward, excepting what were +required for transporting cannon; thus assuring his soldiers that they +must conquer or die, for they had no retreat.</p> + +<p>Henry found the country altogether deserted, the inhabitants having +fled from their homes in every direction on receiving the alarming +tidings of his approach. It is said that twenty-five thousand families +fled into Brittany; and so complete was the evacuation +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213">(p. 213)</a></span> in +some districts, that there reigned through the country the stillness +of death. In Lisieux, a considerable town eighteen miles from the sea, +the English found but one old man and one woman. The people had +secured themselves, to the utmost of their means, in fortified towns, +all of which had been supplied with strong garrisons on the first news +of the intended invasion.</p> + +<p>Henry systematically caused the most strict discipline to be observed +in his army, of which many proofs are recorded. Among other instances +we read that when a monk complained of having been robbed by a +soldier, he was desired to fix upon the guilty man. On discovering the +culprit, the King upbraided him with his baseness, and pronounced him +worthy of death; but, on making restitution, and promising never again +to be guilty of the offence, he pardoned him. "And you, friend," said +he, turning to the monk, "go back to your brethren in peace, and +attend all of you to your sacred duties without fear of me or my army. +I am not come hither as a thief to rob your churches and altars, but +as a just and merciful King to protect you from violence." Henry then +proclaimed through the army that no one should injure an ecclesiastic +on pain of +death.<a id="notetag162" name="notetag162"></a><a href="#note162">[162]</a> +It was amusing, we are told, to see how the +numbers of the regular clergy were suddenly swollen; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214">(p. 214)</a></span> rustics +shaving their heads, and putting on the dress of a monk, to be safe +under the terms of that protection.</p> + +<p>During this campaign Henry sent repeated bulletins of his proceedings +and successes to the mayor and aldermen of London, many of the +originals of which are still in existence; and which combine, with the +answers to them, in bearing evidence to the popularity of Henry's +person, and of the cause in which he was embarked. Some of these +documents are exceedingly interesting; but it would be needless to +transfer them all into these +pages.<a id="notetag163" name="notetag163"></a><a href="#note163">[163]</a> +It is to be lamented that +such indisputable records are not all published, or rendered +accessible to every one who would wish to consult them. The +interspersion of a few in this part of the volume may enable the +reader to verify in more points than one the views which are here +offered of Henry's character and the feeling of the people of England +at this period. The first is a letter from Henry himself, dated August +9, 1417, at Touque, the very day of the surrender of that place, and +only a week after he landed.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "Trusty +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215">(p. 215)</a></span> +and well-beloved, we greet you oftentimes well; + doing [giving] you to understand for your comfort, that, by the + grace of God, we be safely arrived into our land of Normandy, + with all our subjects ordained to go with us for the first + passage. And this day, the even of St. Lawrence, about mid-day, + was yolden [yielded] unto us the castle of Touque, about the + which our well-beloved cousin, the Earl of Huntingdon, lay; and + the keys of the said castle delivered unto us without the + shedding of Christian blood, or defence made by our enemies:—the + which castle is an honour, and all the viscounty and lordships of + Ange hold thereof, as we have been informed of such men as were + therein. Whereof we thank God lowly, that hym lust [he is + pleased] of high grace to show unto us so fair beginning in our + present voyage; desiring also that ye thank God thereof in the + most best wise that ye can, and that ye send us from time to time + such tidings be komerys be thwene [by comers between], as ye have + in that side the sea. Given under our signet, at our said Castle + of Touque, the 9th day of August.</p> + +<p class="left0-70"> + "To the Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen, + and good people of our City of + London."—Endorsed in French.</p> +</div> + +<p>But though Henry speaks thus encouragingly of his present campaign, he +had soon much to make him anxious, and to rouse all the energies of +his mind. Among other sources of solicitude was the growing evil of +desertion. Many of his soldiers grew tired of the war, and, +dishonourably leaving his camp, stole back to their native country. Of +the prevalence of this mischief we have too clear proof in the +following writ, a copy of which was despatched to all the sheriffs of +England. It is found +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216">(p. 216)</a></span> +among the Norman Rolls, and is one of +the few specimens with which Mr. Hardy has enriched the interesting +introduction to his edition of those valuable +documents.<a id="notetag164" name="notetag164"></a><a href="#note164">[164]</a></p> + +<p class="letter"> + "The King to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex, greeting. + Whereas we have received certain information and undoubted + evidence that divers of our lieges who lately came with us to our + kingdom of France, there as we hoped stoutly to oppose and resist + the pride and malice of our enemies, have deserted us in the + midst of these our enemies, and without our licence have in great + multitudes falsely and traitorously withdrawn and returned to our + kingdom of England, and are still daily withdrawing and + returning; which, if suffered to continue, would manifestly turn, + not only to the continual prejudice of us, but to the serious + injury and peril of our faithful lieges accompanying us (which + God avert!) We, desirous, as we are bound, to provide and ordain + a fitting remedy in this matter, do command and strictly enjoin + you to arrest and take into custody without delay all and each of + those whom by inquiry, information, or other means whatsoever, + you shall discover to have been with us in our said kingdom of + France, in our company, or in that of others, and who have + withdrawn themselves thence without our licence under our signet, + or that of the Constable of our army, and to deliver them as soon + as taken to our very dear brother, John Duke of Bedford, Guardian + of England. And, upon the fealty and allegiance wherein ye are + bound to us, let this by no means be neglected. Witness the King, + at his castle of Caen, in his duchy of Normandy, the 29th day of + September.—By the King himself." +</p> + +<p>The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217">(p. 217)</a></span> +most important siege in this campaign was that of +Caen;<a id="notetag165" name="notetag165"></a><a href="#note165">[165]</a> +at the taking of which, after a tremendous conflict and +loss of life, Henry behaved towards the vanquished with so much mercy +and kindness, that the governors of many neighbouring towns sent to +him the keys of their gates.</p> + +<p>So great was his success that the French court sent commissioners to +him to negociate for peace, but the treaty resulted in no favourable +issue; and Henry went on in his career of victory through the very +depth of winter; and became master of Bayeux, Argentan, Alenēon, and +other places. He was engaged, however, in the siege of Falaise through +the whole of December, the town not surrendering till the 2nd of +January.</p> + +<p>It was at this time that the capture and execution of Lord Cobham took +place in England; of which we have written fully in a separate +dissertation at the close of this volume. Henry, however, probably +knew nothing of that unfortunate man's capture till he heard of his +death.</p> + +<p>Early in the preceding autumn [1417] an alarm spread +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218">(p. 218)</a></span> +through +England in consequence of the hostile demonstration of the Scots. +There seems to be some doubt as to the extent of their movements. +Buchanan represents the whole affair as one of very little moment, +scarcely more than a border foray; but the English chroniclers lead us +to believe that it was a formidable invasion. It is said that the +Lollards were the instigators; though it is more probable that the +invitation was sent to Scotland from France, and especially through +the Duke of Orleans, then a prisoner in Pontefract, whose liberty was +consequently much straitened, as we find by an original letter of +Henry himself.<a id="notetag166" name="notetag166"></a><a href="#note166">[166]</a></p> + +<p class="letter"> + "Furthermore, I would that ye commune with my brother, with the + Chancellor, with my cousin of Northumberland, and my cousin of + Westmorland; and that ye set a good ordinance for my north + marches, and specially for the Duke of Orleans and for all the + remnant of my prisoners of France, and also for the K. of + Scotland. For as I am secretly informed by a man of right notable + estate in this land, that there hath been a man of the Duke of + Orleans in Scotland, and accorded with the Duke of Albany that + this next summer he shall bring the +mammet<a id="notetag167" name="notetag167"></a><a href="#note167">[167]</a> +of Scotland to + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page219" name="page219">(p. 219)</a></span> +stir what he may; and also that there should be found + ways to the having away specially of the Duke of Orleans, and + also of the K. as well as of the remnant of my said prisoners, + that God do defend! [which God forbid!] Wherefore I will that the + Duke of Orleans be kept still within the castle of Pomfret, + without going to Robertis Place, or to any other disport; for it + is better he lack his disport than we be deceived." +</p> + +<p>The Scots on one side laid siege to Berwick, from which they were +driven by the Earl of Northumberland, Hotspur's son; the other part of +the Scotch army directed their attack on Roxborough, where they were +routed by the united forces of the Dukes of +Exeter<a id="notetag168" name="notetag168"></a><a href="#note168">[168]</a> and +Bedford,<a id="notetag169" name="notetag169"></a><a href="#note169">[169]</a> +and the Archbishop of York. That military prelate, +unable, from the weakness of age, to ride, yet caused himself to be +carried to the field, that surrounded by his clergy he might encourage +his people to defend their native land.</p> + +<p>After these successful military proceedings in the north of the +kingdom, parliament met on Nov. 16. They prayed for speedy judgment on +rioters and malefactors; presented a petition on the subject of Sir +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page220" name="page220">(p. 220)</a></span> +John Oldcastle; supplicated for a reward to the Lord Powys, +who was instrumental in seizing him; and then they voted the King a +subsidy of a tenth and a fifteenth. The clergy also in convocation +granted two tenths. In this convocation an attempt was made to +encourage learning by promoting to benefices such as had laboured long +and diligently in the Universities. This proposition was rejected in +Oxford at that time; but it received the cordial promotion and +assistance of the University in July 1421. On the latter occasion, +however, the measure, opposed as it was most vigorously by the monks, +would probably again have miscarried, had not Henry himself, "who +favoured arts and loved learned men," interposed his own authority in +its favour.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221">(p. 221)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">henry's progress in his second campaign. — siege of rouen. — +cardinal des ursins. — supplies from london. — correspondence +between henry and the citizens. — negociation with the dauphin and +with the french king. — henry's irish auxiliaries. — reflections on +ireland. — its miserable condition. — wise and strong measures +adopted by henry for its tranquillity. — divisions and struggles, not +between romanists and protestants, but between english and irish. — +henry and the see of rome. — thraldom of christendom. — the duke of +brittany declares for henry. — spaniards join the dauphin. — +exhausted state of england.</span><br><br> + +1418-1419.</h3> + + +<p>Henry<a id="notetag170" name="notetag170"></a><a href="#note170">[170]</a> +meanwhile was making rapid progress in subduing Normandy; +and to induce the inhabitants to return to their homes, which they had +abandoned, he issued a proclamation promising protection and favour to +all who would acknowledge his sovereignty. He also pledged himself to +relieve his subjects from all injustice and oppression.</p> + +<p>Whilst +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222">(p. 222)</a></span> +he was lying before the town of Louviers, the Cardinal +des Ursins arrived in his camp with letters from the Pope, urging +Henry to make peace; the Cardinal of St. Mark having been sent to the +French King for the same purpose.</p> + +<p>These offers of mediation were unavailing; and Henry, encouraged by +the distracted state of France, resolved to push his conquests to the +utmost; and, after some severe skirmishing at Pont de +Larche,<a id="notetag171" name="notetag171"></a><a href="#note171">[171]</a> he +proceeded to lay siege to Rouen. Did the plan of these Memoirs admit +of a fuller inquiry into the affairs of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223">(p. 223)</a></span> +France, we might here +with benefit review the proceedings of the different parties in that +country since the field of Agincourt. The result of such a review +would probably be the conviction that the divisions by which that +country was distracted not only facilitated Henry's conquests, but +alone admitted of them. His victories, even if they had ever been won, +would scarcely have followed each other so rapidly, had the King of +France, the Dauphin, and the Duke of Burgundy opposed him with united +forces.</p> + +<p>The citizens of Rouen, which was well garrisoned, and had an ample +store of provisions, had declared themselves for the Duke of Burgundy; +but now, in their alarm, they supplicate aid from the Dauphin against +the common enemy. His answer was, that he was compelled to employ his +troops in defending his own towns against the Duke of +Burgundy.<a id="notetag172" name="notetag172"></a><a href="#note172">[172]</a></p> + +<p>The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224">(p. 224)</a></span> +whole English army, with a great train of artillery, came +up before the city on the last day of July 1418, before another +harvest could afford new supplies of corn. To that one town the people +of Normandy had brought all their treasures; and those who were +intrusted with the safekeeping of the place seemed determined to +endure all the miseries of blockade and famine, rather than surrender. +Henry, with the resolution not to lavish the lives of his soldiers by +attempting to take this town by storm, laid close siege to it by land; +whilst some "good ships," which he had from the King of Portugal, +blockaded the mouth of the Seine.</p> + +<p>Ten days after Henry laid siege to Rouen, he despatched a letter to +the Mayor and Aldermen of London, which, with their answer, cannot be +read without interest.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p>"<span class="smcap">BY THE KING.</span></p> + +<p>"Right trusty and well-beloved! we greet you oft times well. And + for as much as, in the name of Almighty God, and in our right, + with his grace, we have laid the siege afore the city of Rouen, + which is the most notable place in France, save Paris; at which + siege, us nedeth [we need] greatly refreshing for us and for our + host; and we have found you, our true lieges and subjects, of + good will at all times to do all things that might do us worship + and ease, whereof we can you right heartily thank; and pray you + effectually that, in all the haste that ye may and ye will, do + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225">(p. 225)</a></span> +arm as many small vessels as ye may goodly, with + victuals, and namely [especially] with drink, for to come to + Harfleur, and from thence as far as they may up the river of + Seyne to Rouen ward with the said victual, for the refreshing of + us and our said host, as our trust is to you; for the which + vessels there shall be ordained sufficient conduct, with God's + grace. Witting well also that therein ye may do us right great + pleasance, and refreshing for all our host above said; and give + us cause to show therefore to you ever the better lordship in + time to come, with the help of our Saviour, the which we pray + that He have you in his safeward.—Given under our signet, in our + host afore the said city of Rouen, the 10th day of August.</p> + +<p class="left0-70"> + "To our right trusty and well-beloved the + Mayor, Aldermen, and all the worthy + Commoners of our city of London."</p> +</div> + +<p>To this appeal the authorities of the city paid immediate and hearty +attention, and forwarded to Henry an answer under their common seal on +the 8th of September, (the Nativity of our Lady, the blissful maid,) +of which the following is a copy. A memorandum in Latin informs us +that the clause within brackets was for different causes kept back, +and not sent with the letters. The letter is a curious specimen of the +flattering and complimentary style of the good citizens of London when +addressing their sovereign.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "Our most dread, most sovereign Lord, and noblest King, to the + sovereign highness of your kingly majesty, with all manner of + lowness and reverence, meekly we recommend us, not only as we + ought and should, but as we best can and may; with all our + hearts, thanking your sovereign excellence +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226">(p. 226)</a></span> +of your + gracious letters in making [us] gladsome in understanding, and + passing comfortable in favouring our poor degrees, which ye liked + late to send us from your host afore the city of Rouen. In which + letters, after declaration of your most noble intent for the + refreshing of your host, ye record so highly the readiness of our + will and power at all times to your pleasance, and thanking us + thereof so heartily, that truly, save only our prayer to Him that + all good quiteth [requiteth], never was it nor might it half be + deserved. And after seeing in your foresaid gracious letters ye + pray us effectually to enarme as many small vessels as we may + with victual, and specially with drink, for to come as far as + they may in the river Seyne. And not only this, but in the + conclusion of your sovereign letters foresaid, ye fed us so + bounteously with the best showing of your good lordship to us in + time coming as ye have ever done, that now and ever we shall be + the joyfuller in this life when we remember us on so noble a + grace. [O how may the simpless of poor lieges better or more + clearly conceive the gracious love and favourable tendress of the + King, their sovereign Lord, than to hear how your most excellent + and noble person, more worth to us than all worldly riches or + plenty, in so thin abundance of victual heavily disposed, so + graciously and goodly declare and utter unto us, that are your + liege men and subjects, your plain lust and pleasance, as it is + in your said noble letters worthily contained. Certain, true + liege man is there none, ne faithful subject could there non ne + durst tarry or be lachesse [backward] in any wise to the + effectual prayer and commandment of so sovereign and high a lord, + which his noble body paineth and knightly adventureth for the + right and welfare of us.] Our most dread, most sovereign Lord, + and noblest King, may it please your sovereign highness to + understand, how that your foresaid kingly prayer, as most strait + charge and commandment, we willing in all points obey and execute + anon, from the receipt of your +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227">(p. 227)</a></span> +said gracious letter, + which was the 19th day of August nigh noon, unto the making of + these simple letters. What in getting and enarming of as many + small vessels as we might, doing brew both ale and beer, + purveying wine and other victual, for to charge with the same + vessels, we have done our busy diligence and care, as God wot. In + which vessels, without [besides] great plenty of other victuals, + that men of your city of London aventuren for refreshing of your + host to the coasts where your sovereign presence is in, we lowly + send with gladdest will unto your sovereign excellence and kingly + majesty by John Credy and John Combe, your officers of your said + city, bringers of these letters, tritty botes [thirty butts] of + sweet wine, that is to say, ten of Tyre, ten of Romeney, ten of + Malmesey, and a thousand pipes of ale, with two thousand and five + hundred cups for your host to drink of, which we beseech your + high excellence and noble grace for our alder comfort and + gladness benignly to receive and accept; not having reward + [regard] to the little head or small value of the gift itself, + which is simple; but to the good will and high desire that your + poor givers thereof have to the good speed, worship, and welfare + of your most sovereign and excellent person, of which speed and + welfare, and all your other kingly lusts [desires] and + pleasances, we desire highly by the said bearers of these + letters, and other whom your sovereign highness shall like, fully + to be learned and informed. Our most dread, most sovereign Lord, + and noblest King, we lowly beseech the King of Heaven, whose body + refused not for our salvation worldly pain guiltless to endure, + that ye, your gracious person, which for our alder good and + profit so knightly laboureth, little or nought charging bodily + ease, in all worship and honour evermore to keep and + preserve.—Written at Gravesend, under the seal of Mayoralty of + your said city of London, on the day of the Nativity of our Lady, + the blissful maid.</p> + +<p class="left0-70"> + "To the King, our most dread and most + sovereign Lord."</p> +</div> + + +<p>After +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228">(p. 228)</a></span> +every deduction is made from this singular epistle on +the ground of flattery and words of course, it proves that in +expression, at least, the Mayor and good citizens of London not only +heartily seconded Henry in his present undertakings, but identified +his cause with their own, and regarded him as fighting their battles, +and exposing himself to the dangers and privations of war in +vindication of their own rights; and probably we are fully justified +in regarding their sentiments as fairly representing the prevalent +feelings of the people of England. There were, doubtless, many +exceptions, as there ever must be in such a case, to the general +unanimity; and we are not without evidence that, during this siege of +Rouen, Henry's proceedings were commented upon unfavourably by some of +his subjects at +home.<a id="notetag173" name="notetag173"></a><a href="#note173">[173]</a></p> + +<p>During this siege negociations were set on foot by the Dauphin for an +alliance with Henry, who seemed to enter into the views of the +ambassadors +heartily;<a id="notetag174" name="notetag174"></a><a href="#note174">[174]</a> +but at the same time similar negociations +were <span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229">(p. 229)</a></span> +carried on between Henry and the King of France. In the +management of these a curious dispute arose as to the language in +which the conference should be carried on: the French required that +their own should be the medium of communication; the English +remonstrating, and requiring the Latin to be employed, that the Pope +and other potentates might understand their proceedings. It was +proposed that all writings should be in duplicate, one copy in French, +the other in Latin; but Henry insisted that his ambassadors should +sign only an English or a Latin copy. During these negociations the +French ambassadors presented to the King the portrait of the Princess +Katharine,<a id="notetag175" name="notetag175"></a><a href="#note175">[175]</a> +which he received with great satisfaction. The treaty, +however, was broken off, and the Cardinal Des Ursins returned to Pope +Martin at Avignon. It is painful to read the account of the siege of +Rouen; misery in all its shapes is painted +there.<a id="notetag176" name="notetag176"></a><a href="#note176">[176]</a> +Indeed, if the +accounts we have received be true, so complicated a tale of +wretchedness is scarcely upon record. But the details can give no +satisfaction; they would only harrow up the feelings, without +supplying any facts essential +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230">(p. 230)</a></span> +to the history of those months +of human suffering. Henry was resolved neither to burn the town, nor +to take it by storm; but to reduce it by starvation. At length his +feelings overpowered this resolution, and he received the town upon +conditions, on the 19th January +1419.<a id="notetag177" name="notetag177"></a><a href="#note177">[177]</a> +Thus was Rouen subdued to +the Crown of England, two hundred and fifteen years after the conquest +of it by Philip of France in the reign of King John. Stowe tells us, +that to relieve this oppressed city Henry ordained it to be the chief +chamber of all Normandy; and directed his exchequer, his treasury, and +his coinage to be kept there. We have already seen that he caused his +vast treasures before kept in Harfleur to be brought to Rouen.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>It is confessedly beyond the province of these Memoirs even to glance +at the affairs of Ireland, except so far as a reference to them may +bear upon the character and conduct of Henry of Monmouth. Not only, +however, does the presence of a body of native +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231">(p. 231)</a></span> +Irish, headed +by one of the regular clergy of Ireland, aiding Henry at the siege of +Rouen, seem to draw our thoughts thitherward; but some documents also, +relative to our sister-land, of that date, may be thought to require a +few words in this place. During the reign of Richard II. the warlike +movements of the native Irish, who had never been conquered or +civilized, compelled that monarch to proceed to Ireland in person, and +to take the field against those wild rebels. They had formerly been +kept in comparative awe by a strong hand; but the continental wars of +Edward III. had much slackened the wonted vigilance and activity of +his government at home in checking their outbreakings against the +English settlers. They had, consequently, grown bold, and threatened +to extirpate the English altogether. Vigorous measures became +necessary, and the King twice headed an army himself to restore peace. +On his first visit he was summoned home by the prelates, to put down +the spreading sect of the Lollards; in his second, his delay, after +the landing of Bolinbroke at Ravenspurg, cost him his crown. In this +latter expedition Henry of Monmouth (as we have seen) accompanied him, +and had personal experience of the uncivilized state of the country, +and the savage character of the warfare carried on by the inhabitants. +It is curious to remark, that on several occasions Richard II. +employed the Irish prelates as his ambassadors to Rome, "for the safe +estate and prosperity of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232">(p. 232)</a></span> +the most holy English church." The +fact, however, is too evident, that all Irish dignities were bestowed +on Englishmen; and except by some assumed privilege of the Pope, or by +other proceedings equally unacceptable to the English settlers, no +native Irishman was ever in those times advanced to any high station +in the church, or even promoted to an ordinary benefice. Indeed the +law forbade such promotions.</p> + +<p>On the principle observed throughout these Memoirs, of avoiding all +reference to the political struggles and controversies of the passing +hour, the Author will make no reflections on the past, the present, or +the future policy of England towards a country whose destinies seem so +indissolubly bound up with her own. He humbly prays that HE, who says +to the tempest "Peace, be still!" and is obeyed, may so guide and +govern the religious and moral storms by which our age is shaken on +the subject of Ireland, that in His own good time the troubled +elements may be calmed; and that truth, peace, and charity may +prevail, and bless both countries, then at length become like "a city +that is at unity in itself."</p> + +<p>By most of those who take a wide and comprehensive range of its +history, the dissensions which have distracted Ireland, and from time +to time torn it in pieces, and caused it to flow with the blood of its +neighbours and of its own children, will probably be ascribed, not +more to the difference of religion among +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233">(p. 233)</a></span> +its inhabitants, +than to the difference of origin. The struggles have been, not more +between Protestants and Romanists, not more between Catholics of the +church of England and Ireland, and Catholics in communion with the +sovereign pontiff, than between English and Irish, between those who +have regarded themselves as the aboriginal sons of the soil, and those +of Saxon or Norman descent, whom they have hated and abhorred as +intruders and invaders. The conflicts between these classes in +Ireland, as they may be traced in its chronicles, were just as +dreadful and as sanguinary before the Reformation, as ever they have +been since the separation of the reformed church from the see of Rome. +At all events, whatever may be the nature of the unhappy causes of +disunion in the present day, till within comparatively modern times +the struggles have been not more of a religious than of a national, or +perhaps of a predial, character. Authentic history teems with evidence +bearing directly on this point; and even the original documents, +references to which are interspersed through this volume, are quite +sufficient to establish it.</p> + +<p>Among other documents confirmatory of the view here taken, which it +would be beyond the province of these Memoirs to recite, the statute +of 4 Hen. V. (1416), referring as it does to similar enactments of +previous reigns, and strongly expressive of the bitter jealousies +which existed between the two nations, seems to claim a place here.</p> + +<p class="letter"> + "Whereas +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234">(p. 234)</a></span> +it was ordained in the times of the progenitors + of our Lord the King, by statute made in the land of Ireland, + that no one of the Irish nation be elected archbishop, bishop, + abbot, prior, nor in any manner be received or accepted to any + dignity or benefice within the said land; and whereas many such + Irish, by the power of certain letters of licence to them made by + the Lieutenants of the King there to accept and receive such + dignities and benefices, are promoted and advanced to + archbishoprics and bishoprics within the said land, who also have + made their collations to Irish clerks of dignities and benefices + there, contrary to the form and effect of the said statute; and + consequently, since they are peers of parliament in that land, + they bring with them to the parliaments and councils held in that + land servants by whom the secrets of the English in that land + have been and are from day to day discovered to the Irish people + who are rebels against the King, to the great peril and mischief + of the King's loyal subjects in that land: our said Lord the + King, willing to provide remedy for his faithful subjects, with + the consent of the Lords, and at the request of the Commons, + wills and grants that the said statute shall be in full force, + and be well and duly guarded, and fully executed, on pain of his + grievous indignation." +</p> + +<p>The statute then provides, that if any bishops act against this law, +their temporalities shall be seized for the King till they have given +satisfaction; that the Lieutenants shall be prohibited from granting +such licences to Irishmen; and that all such licences, if made, shall +be null and void.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, however, the words of the petition to the Commons, on which +this enactment was founded, are still more striking and convincing on +the subject.</p> + +<p class="letter"> + "To +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page235" name="page235">(p. 235)</a></span> +the honourable and wise Sires, the Commons of this + present Parliament, the poor loyal liegemen of our Sovereign Lord + the King in Ireland. Whereas the said land is divided between two + nations, that is to say, the said petitioners, English and of the + English nation, and the Irish nation, those enemies to our Lord + the King, who by crafty designs secretly, and by open destruction + making war, are continually purposed to destroy the said lieges, + and to conquer the land, the petitioners pray that remedy thereof + be made."<a id="notetag178" name="notetag178"></a><a href="#note178">[178]</a> +</p> + +<p>When Henry of Monmouth succeeded to the throne, Ireland was as +wild<a id="notetag179" name="notetag179"></a><a href="#note179">[179]</a> +in its country, and as rude in its inhabitants, as it was in +the reign of Henry II. The English pale (as it has been correctly +said) was little more than a garrison of territory; and it was +absolutely necessary either for the English inhabitants to leave their +possessions and abandon Ireland altogether, or for the English +government to keep the aboriginal Irish in check with a strong hand, +and compel them by military force to abstain from outrage. What would +have been at the present day the state of Ireland, had Henry directed +his concentrated energies to subdue the island, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page236" name="page236">(p. 236)</a></span> +then to +civilize and improve it, (measures by no means improbable had not the +conquest of France occupied him instead,) it would be profitless to +speculate. Even with his thoughts distracted by his foreign +expeditions, or rather, perhaps, almost absorbed by them, and whilst +he had but a very scanty contingent of officers and men at his +disposal for home-service, we have evidence that Ireland had not been +in so peaceable a condition for very many years as it had become under +his government. Whilst pursuing his victories on the Continent, he +laboured (and his labours were in an astonishing degree successful) to +provide for the effective administration of his own dominions with a +view to peace and justice.</p> + +<p>A memorial forwarded this year to Henry, probably in consequence of +certain complaints of maladministration which had been sent to the +council the preceding winter, is very interesting. It is signed by a +large number of persons, lay and ecclesiastical: bishops, abbots, +priors, archdeacons, barons, knights, and esquires joined in the +petition.<a id="notetag180" name="notetag180"></a><a href="#note180">[180]</a> +The prayer of the memorial was professedly to procure a +fuller remuneration to the then Lord +Lieutenant,<a id="notetag181" name="notetag181"></a><a href="#note181">[181]</a> +John Talbot, +Lord Furnival, for his indefatigable and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237">(p. 237)</a></span> +successful +exertions in subduing "the English rebels and the Irish enemies;" it +was, however, evidently intended to obtain a still greater share of +the King's attention, and of the public expenditure in that island. +The memorial commences by expressions of loyalty to Henry's person, +the petitioners desiring above all earthly things to hear and to know +of the gracious prosperity and noble health of his renowned person, to +the principal comfort of all his subjects, but "especially of us who +are continuing in a land of war, environed by your Irish enemies and +English rebels, in point to be destroyed, if it were not that the +sovereign aid and comfort of God, and of you our gracious Lord, do +deliver us." It then states that they had prevailed upon the +Lieutenant<a id="notetag182" name="notetag182"></a><a href="#note182">[182]</a> +not to persevere in his intention to leave Ireland for +the purpose of applying to Henry +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238">(p. 238)</a></span> +in person for payment and +relief, expressing their great alarm should his presence be withdrawn +from them. The memorialists then dwell at great length upon the vast +labours, travails, and endeavours of Lord Furnival for the good of all +Henry's lieges; but those labours were only military proceedings: +every sentence of the memorial breathes of war, and slaughter, and +destruction. One of the chief topics in his praise is that he remained +many days and nights ("the which was not done before in our time") in +the lands of various of the strongest Irish enemies (specifying them +by name), taking their chief places and goods, burning, foraging, and +destroying all the country, and in many places causing the Irish +rebels to turn their weapons against each other. The document then +shows the precarious tenure of goods and of life among the English at +that time in Ireland; how they were "preyed upon and killed," and what +a wonderful change had just been effected by the vigorous measures of +Lord Furnival. "Now your lieges may suffer their goods and cattle to +remain in the fields day and night, without being stolen or sustaining +any loss, <i>which hath not been seen here by the space of these thirty +years past</i>, God be thanked, and your gracious provision!" It also +states that Maurice O'Keating, chieftain of his nation, traitor and +rebel, did on the Monday in Whitsun-week, (<i>i.e.</i> May 31st, not a +month before the date of the memorial,) "for the great fear which he +had of the Lieutenant, for himself and his nation, yield +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239">(p. 239)</a></span> +himself without any condition, with his breast against his sword's +point, and a cord about his neck, delivering without ransom the +English prisoners which he had taken before; to whom grace was granted +by indenture, and his eldest son given in pledge to be loyal lieges +from henceforward to you our sovereign Lord." This memorial, dated +June 26th, "in the fifth year of your gracious reign," 1417, must have +reached Henry on the very eve of his setting out on his second +expedition to Normandy.</p> + +<p>The complaints, to answer which, among other objects, we have already +intimated an opinion that this memorial might possibly have been +partly prepared, were taken into consideration on the 28th of the +preceding February by the King himself in council, and are by no means +devoid of interest, though only a cursory allusion to them can be made +here. Among the grievances are certain "impositions outrageously +imposed upon them;" the seizure of the wheat and cattle belonging to +churchmen by the officers and soldiers of the Lieutenant, contrary to +the liberties of Holy Church; and the non-execution and non-observance +of the laws in consequence of the insufficiency of the officers. To +these complaints the King replies that, at the expiration of Lord +Furnival's lieutenancy, he would provide a remedy by the appointment +of good and sufficient officers. The terms of indenture, by which the +King and Lieutenant were then usually bound, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240">(p. 240)</a></span> +probably +presented an obstacle to any immediate interference.</p> + +<p>But the most interesting point in these complaints is the prayer with +which they close. It proves that, in the view of the complainants, +(and probably theirs was the general opinion,) absenteeism was then +very prevalent, and was held to be one of the greatest evils under +which Ireland was at that time suffering; it informs us also that +Irishmen born (that is, however, men of English extraction born in +Ireland,) were advanced to benefices in England; and it shows that +many such natives of Ireland were in the habit of coming to England +for the purposes of studying the law, and of residing in the +Universities. The complainants "require that through the realm of +England proclamation be made that all persons born in Ireland, being +in England, except persons of the church beneficed, and students and +others engaged in the departments of the law, and scholars studying in +the Universities, betake themselves to the parts of Ireland, for +defence of the same.</p> + +<p>To this petition the King only replies, that "he grants it according +to the form of the statute made in that case."</p> + +<p>The statute to which Henry here refers was made in the first year of +his reign. It bears incidental testimony to his mild and merciful +disposition, as compared with the feelings and views of his +contemporaries; and shows that in legislation he took +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241">(p. 241)</a></span> +the +lead of his parliament in preferring mild and moderate to violent and +sanguinary measures.</p> + +<p>The Commons pray that the penalty of absenteeism after the +proclamation should be loss of life or limb, and forfeiture of goods; +the King consents only to imprisonment, instead of death and +mutilation. "The Commons," (such are the words of the record,) "for +the quiet and peace of the realm of England, and for the increase and +welfare of the land of Ireland, pray that it may be ordained in the +present parliament, that all Irishmen, and all Irish begging clerks, +called Chaumber Deakyns [chamberdeacons], be voided the realm between +Michaelmas and All Saints, on pain of loss of life and limb; except +such as are graduates in the schools, and serjeants and students of +law, and such as have inheritance in England, and 'professed +religious;' and that all the Irish who have benefices and office in +Ireland live on their benefices and offices, on pain of losing the +profits of their benefices and offices,—for the protection of the +land of Ireland." The King grants the prayer, but modifies the +severity of the penalty proposed by the Commons, limiting the +punishment to the loss of goods, and imprisonment during the royal +pleasure; and excepting merchants born in Ireland of good fame, and +their apprentices, now being in England, and those to whom the King +may grant a dispensation.</p> + +<p>It was in the year following these proceedings that Henry received +succours from Ireland, just before +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242">(p. 242)</a></span> +he laid siege to Rouen. +The Pell Rolls state that they were two hundred horse and three +hundred foot, under the command of the Prior of +Kilmaynham,<a id="notetag183" name="notetag183"></a><a href="#note183">[183]</a> +transported by Bristol vessels from Waterford to France. Others, +doubtless, might have joined him also from the same quarter; but it +seems very probable that Hall, or those whom he followed, exaggerated +this statement, and substituted the Lord of Kylmaine for the Prior of +Kilmaynham, when they tell us "that a band of one thousand six hundred +native Irish, armed with their own weapons of war, in mail, with darts +and skaynes, under the Lord of Kylmaine, were with Henry V. at the +siege of Rouen, and kept the way from the forest of Lyons; and so did +their devoir that none were more praised, nor did more damage to their +enemies." Still the account given of these wild Irish, by Monstrelet, +would seem to countenance the idea of a much greater number than were +transported over with the warlike Prior. "The King of England" (says +that author) "had with him in his company a vast number of Irish, of +whom far the greatest part went on foot. One of their feet was +covered, the other was naked, without having clouts, and poorly clad. +Each had a target and little javelins, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243">(p. 243)</a></span> +with large knives of +a strange fashion. And those who were mounted had no saddles, but they +rode very adroitly on their little mountain horses: and they rode upon +cloths, very nearly of the same fashion with those which the Blatiers +of the French country carry. They were, however, a very poor and +slight defence, compared with the English: besides, they were not so +accoutred as to do much damage to the French when they met. These +Irish would often, during the siege, together with the English, scour +the country of Normandy, and do infinite mischief, beyond calculation; +carrying back to their host great booty. Moreover, the said Irish on +foot would seize little children, and leap on the backs of cows with +them, carrying the children before them on the cows, and very often +they were found in that condition by the +French."<a id="notetag184" name="notetag184"></a><a href="#note184">[184]</a></p> + +<p>The only other document relating to Ireland at this time, which it is +purposed to transfer into these pages, is chiefly interesting as +affording one of the many instances upon record of the personal +attention which Henry paid to the business necessary to be transacted +at home, whilst he was engaged in battles and sieges and victories +abroad. It is a petition, (in itself also of some importance in regard +to Irish history,) from Donald Macmurough, (Macmore or Macmurcoo,) +addressed to "the most high and excellent redoubted Lord the King of +England," and is dated July 24, 1421.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p>"Most +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244">(p. 244)</a></span> +humbly supplicates, Donaal Macmurcoo, a prisoner + in your Tower of London, that as above all things in the world, + (most gracious Lord,) with entire intent of his heart, he desires + to be your liege man, and to behave towards you from this day + forward in good faith, as is his right; and to do that loyally he + offers to be bound by the faith of his body [his corporal oath], + and all the sacraments of Holy Church, in any manner which you + please graciously to ordain and appoint; and all his friends who + are at his will, under his subjection, or at his command under + his lordships, will promise the same by word of mouth. And for + greater security for the time to come, as well to your most noble + and sovereign Lordship as to your heirs and the crown of England, + during his life loyally to hold and accomplish the same, he + offers you his son and heir in pledge. May it please your most + high and gracious excellence, according to his promises + aforesaid, graciously to receive and accept him to your most + noble and abundant grace, for God's sake and in a work of + charity."</p> + +<p>The petition is in French.—The answer in English is this: "Ye + King will that he come before his counsel, and find surety as it + may be found reasonable."</p> + +<p> "For Macmourgh.—Offer to be sworn to the King, and to give + hostage thereupon."</p> +</div> + +<p>The order of the council consequent upon this, in Latin, refers the +matter to the Lieutenant and council in Ireland.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Henry at this time appears to have had considerable intercourse with +the see of Rome. In a letter written to his resident ambassador in +that city, John Keterich, Bishop of Lichfield, he requires, in very +humble language, that his Holiness would not invade the rights of the +crown of England as settled +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245">(p. 245)</a></span> +by a concordat between Edward +III. and Gregory XI; that he would provide for the admission of +Englishmen only into the priories in England which the Conqueror had +annexed to Norman abbeys; and that he would send strict injunctions to +the bishops of Ireland that the people should be taught the English +tongue, and that none should be capable of any ecclesiastical +preferment who should be ignorant of it, since the best and greatest +part of that nation understood it, and experience had shown what +disorders and confusions arose from a diversity of languages.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to read the documents of this time without being +struck by the evidence as well of the thraldom under which the Pope +held the sovereigns and people of Christendom, as of the spirit of +piety which habitually influenced Henry.</p> + +<p>His confessor had died, and he had applied to the Archbishop of +Canterbury to select another for him. That primate's answer is full of +interest. The Archbishop gives the King all the authority which he +himself possessed; and yet Henry is obliged to seek permission at the +court of Rome to have a confessor of his own, and to celebrate divine +service at convenient times and in convenient places. He had sent for +a chapel, with altars, vestments, and ministers, from England; and the +warrant is in existence to press carriages and horses to carry them to +the sea, to be transported to him in Normandy. This instrument is +dated February +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246">(p. 246)</a></span> +5th, 1418, and it should seem that all these +preparations were insufficient till he could obtain the Pope's licence +and dispensation in the following +August.<a id="notetag185" name="notetag185"></a><a href="#note185">[185]</a></p> + +<p>The Pope then gives Henry permission to have a confessor of his own +choice, who should once a year during his life, and once also at the +hour of death, give him full pardon for all the sins of which he +repented from the heart, and which he confessed with the mouth; +provided that the confessor take care to have satisfaction given to +those to whom it is due. The Pope adds an earnest hope that this +indulgence would not tempt Henry to commit unlawful acts at all more +freely than +before.<a id="notetag186" name="notetag186"></a><a href="#note186">[186]</a></p> + +<p>By another act of grace, dated only ten days after the former, King +Henry is permitted to have one or more portable altars, and to have +mass at uncanonical times, and even in prohibited places, provided he +were not himself the cause of the interdict. This grant has also some +curious stipulations annexed: among others it is directed that the +doors shall be shut at such masses, the excommunicated excluded, the +service being conducted without sound of bell and with a low voice. +Especially is +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247">(p. 247)</a></span> +it enjoined that liberty to have mass before +day should be used very sparingly, because since our Lord Jesus +Christ, the Son of God, is offered as a sacrifice on that altar,—and +he is the brightness of eternal light,—it is right for that to be +done, not in the darkness of night, but in the light of day.</p> + +<p>Henry remained for some time at Rouen, and wore the ducal robes as +Duke of Normandy. A conspiracy to surrender the town to the French +King was defeated by the honourable conduct of De Bouteiller, who, on +being requested to join the conspirators, on the contrary discovered +their designs to Henry.</p> + +<p>Early in the year 1419, the Duke of Brittany, distrusting the power of +France to defend him, were the English to turn their arms against his +territory, sought and obtained an alliance with Henry; of whose just +and honourable principles he had experienced practical proofs.</p> + +<p>At this time the Spaniards added much to Henry's difficulties. Having +engaged to succour the Dauphin, they are said to have sent ships to +Scotland for men, part of whom they probably landed at Rochelle. +Henry's forces, however, were victorious in the south, no less than in +the north.</p> + +<p>Still, though victorious and feared on every side, Henry found that +war and disease had so reduced his army as to compel him to apply to +his subjects at home for reinforcement. The reasons sent from +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248">(p. 248)</a></span> +Norfolk, which are probably only specimens of the returns from +other counties, would lead us to infer that most of his subjects, who +were both willing and able to join his standard, had already been +drained off. The Bishop of Norwich, and others, return that "the +stoutest and strongest of their countrymen were already in the army, +and others pleaded poverty and infirmities." Robert Waterton, to whom +the King had made an especial appeal, assured him that at the +approaching assizes at York he would urge the gentlemen of those parts +to tender their services. There seems also to have been a growing +disinclination or disability among the clergy to provide a supply of +money; probably both their means and their zeal for the cause had +diminished. In the diocese of York they complained loudly of the +impoverished state of the church, but at last voted one-half of a +tenth.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249">(p. 249)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">bad faith of the dauphin. — the duke of burgundy brings about an +interview between henry and the french authorities. — henry's first +interview with the princess katharine of valois. — her conquest. — +the queen's over-anxiety and indiscretion. — double-dealing of the +duke of burgundy; he joins the dauphin; is murdered on the bridge of +montereau. — the dauphin disinherited. — henry's anxiety to prevent +the escape of his prisoners.</span><br><br> + +1419-1420.</h3> + + +<p>About the month of March in the year 1419, the Dauphin proposed to +meet Henry with a view to the formation of an alliance, to which Henry +was at this time by no means averse. The Dauphin, however, acted with +very bad faith on the occasion; and, by neglecting to come according +to his solemn +engagement,<a id="notetag187" name="notetag187"></a><a href="#note187">[187]</a> +gave unintentionally another opening to +the Duke of Burgundy to advocate a treaty between France and England. +So utterly, indeed, had the Dauphin thrown aside all thoughts of an +interview +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250">(p. 250)</a></span> +with Henry, on which he had appeared very anxiously +bent, that he even made a vigorous attack on the English ambassadors +and their escort when on their road to the King of France.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Burgundy, taking advantage of this juncture, succeeded, +not only in persuading the two Kings to interchange ambassadors, but +in effecting a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251">(p. 251)</a></span> +personal conference between the royal +parties. Henry agreed to come to Mante, on condition that Charles and +the Duke of Burgundy would come to Ponthoise. A large field on the +banks of the Seine, near to the gate of Melun, was selected for the +meeting. The preparations for the interview are described with great +minuteness by historians. A pavilion at an equal distance from the +tents of both nations was erected by the Queen of France, and +presented to Henry; adjoining to it were two withdrawing apartments. +The King of France was detained by indisposition at Ponthoise on the +day appointed, May 30, 1419; but the Queen, the Princess, the Duke of +Burgundy, and the Count de St. Pol, on the one side, with their +council and guards, and, on the other, Henry, his two brothers, +Clarence and Gloucester, his two uncles, the Duke of Exeter and the +Bishop of Winchester, the Earls of March and Salisbury, with his +council and his guard, met in this "fair and wide mead of Melun." The +Queen's tent was "a fair pavilion of blue velvet richly embroidered +with flower-de-luces; and on the top was the figure of a flying hart, +in silver, with wings enamelled." Henry's tent was of blue and green +velvet, with the figures of two antelopes embroidered; one drawing in +a mill, the other seated on high with a branch of olive in his mouth, +with this motto wrought in several places, "After busy labour, comes +victorious rest." A great eagle of gold, with eyes of diamond, was +placed above. At +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252">(p. 252)</a></span> +three in the afternoon the royal parties, +having entered within the barriers, approached each other, the Queen +led by the Duke of Burgundy, the Princess by the Count de St. Pol. +Henry with a solemn bow took the Queen by the hand and saluted her, +and afterwards the Princess; as did also his brothers, bending one +knee almost to the ground. The Duke of Burgundy paid his respects to +Henry, and was honourably received by him. Henry led the Queen into +the pavilion, taking the upper hand of her after a long dispute about +this ceremony; and having placed her in one chair of state, of cloth +of gold, himself occupied the other. Nothing further than ceremony was +the apparent object of that day's conference, though the fate of Henry +perhaps turned upon it. The Earl of Warwick, "the father of courtesy," +addressed the Queen, and the parties separated,—the Queen's for +Ponthoise, Henry's for Mante; having first engaged to meet each other +again on the following Thursday. These conferences were carried on at +intervals till June 30th, without any satisfactory progress being made +towards peace; on that day they agreed to meet on the 3rd July, and +Henry kept his engagement, but the French disappointed him; and then, +convinced of their insincerity, and the total absence of all real +intentions on their part to bring the proceedings to a favourable +issue, he dissolved the conference, complaining loudly of the unfair +dealings of his enemies. He was chiefly, however, angry with the Duke +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253">(p. 253)</a></span> +of Burgundy, to whom he ascribed all the blame; and who is +said to have been guilty of such double-dealing as to have had +frequent interviews with the Dauphin in the neighbourhood of Paris, +even during the conference.</p> + +<p>A circumstance connected with this meeting is too closely interwoven +with Henry's character, and conduct, and destiny, to be passed over in +silence. In preparing for the interview, the Queen had shown much +courteous attention to secure Henry's gratification; and she looked +forward to it as the hour of her daughter +Katharine's<a id="notetag188" name="notetag188"></a><a href="#note188">[188]</a> +conquest +over his heart. That Princess was a lovely young person, and in the +very prime and bloom of her beauty; and her mother had flattered +herself that her charms would prevail over the young conqueror more +than the arms or the statesmen of France. Nor had the designing lady +altogether miscalculated the power of her daughter's charms, or the +extent of Henry's susceptibility. His heart was touched at the first +sight of Katharine, and the practised eyes of her mother saw that the +victory was won. Her daughter (she observed) had overcome a prince who +appeared till then invincible. But +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254">(p. 254)</a></span> +the wily Queen outwitted +herself; and, for the present, by her own act disengaged the toils in +which Henry had been unquestionably taken. With a view of inflaming +his love for her daughter the more by her absence, and of compelling +him to comply with any conditions of a treaty, one of which would be +Katharine's hand and heart, she would not suffer the Princess to be +present at any of the following interviews: the first sight of so much +beauty had so triumphant an effect, that she would not permit a +second. But her scheme, however finely drawn, was observed by Henry; +and, indignant at the artifice, he became more inflexible than ever, +and insisted more firmly than before on his first proposals; assuring +the Duke of Burgundy that he was resolved to have the Princess with +all his other demands, or force the King of France from his throne, +and drive the Duke from the kingdom.</p> + +<p>The unsuccessful issue of this famous conference was undoubtedly owing +in some measure to the Duke of Burgundy, who was for a long time +balancing in his mind the policy of joining Henry or the Dauphin. +Henry openly charged the Duke with dishonourable conduct; and then the +Duke, in a conference at +Melun,<a id="notetag189" name="notetag189"></a><a href="#note189">[189]</a> +on Tuesday, July 11th, 1419, made +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page255" name="page255">(p. 255)</a></span> +a solemn league, offensive and defensive, with the Dauphin. +They engaged to join in the administration of the government without +jealousy and envy; and after mutual acts of courtesy, and ratifying +the covenant of peace by solemn oaths, they parted, professedly sworn +friends, but having war against each other in their hearts.</p> + +<p>Henry, after the respite of these abortive negociations, again entered +upon his career of war and conquest. The next fortified town was +Ponthoise, possession of which would open his way to Paris. His +soldiers were in the highest spirits; and he seems himself, so far +from being dismayed by the union of the Duke of Burgundy with the +French court, to have been roused by a sense of his difficulties and +dangers to a still higher spirit of valour and enterprise. Ponthoise +was taken by surprise, and Henry regarded it as the most important +place he had taken during the war. How resolved soever he was to be +master of it, he would not make the attempt till after the expiration +of the truce with the Duke of Burgundy, "so punctual was he to the +observance of his faith and honour, which in brave princes are +inviolable." And, to use the words of Goodwin, "his soul was so little +altered from its natural moderation by this success, that he sent to +the King of France to tell him, that though he had taken so +considerable a town, which, being only a few leagues from Paris, +opened a way to the conquest of that capital, yet he now offered him +peace +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256">(p. 256)</a></span> +upon the same terms which he had propounded in the +treaty of Melun; with this only addition, that Ponthoise also should +now be confirmed to him."</p> + +<p>The Dauphin's troops diminished the joy of this victory by taking one +or two places by surprise. Still all Paris was in great consternation, +and the panic ran through the Isle of France; whilst Clarence marched +his troops to the very walls of the metropolis. Shortly after the fall +of Ponthoise Henry despatched letters to the citizens of London; which +were intercepted by the enemy, who took the bearer of them prisoner. +He consequently sent another despatch to the same purport, from Trie +Le Chastel, near Gisors, on the 12th of the next month. The importance +he attached to this communication, his repetition of the intercepted +letters clearly intimates: it is chiefly interesting now because it +assures us that Henry believed himself to be almost within reach of +the objects of his enterprise; whilst it acquaints us also with the +fact, that he had applied for aid to all his friends through +Christendom. The letter, it is believed, has never yet been published.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "<span class="smcap">By The King.</span></p> + +<p> "Trusty and well beloved, we greet you well; and we thank you + with all our heart of the good-will and service that we have + always found in you hither-to-ward; and specially of your kind + and notable proffer of an aid, the which ye have granted to us of + your own good motion, as our brother of Bedford and our + Chancellor of England have written unto +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257">(p. 257)</a></span> +us, giving + therein good example in diverse wise to all the remanent of our + subjects in our land. And so we pray you, as our trust is ye + will, for to continue. And as to the said aid, the which ye have + concluded to do unto us now at this time, we pray you specially + that we may have [it] at such time and in such days as our + brother of Bedford shall more plainly declare unto you on our + behalf; letting you fully wit [giving you fully to understand] + that we have written to all our friends and allies through + Christendom, for to have succours and help of them against the + same time that our said brother shall declare you: the which, + when they hear of the arming and the array that ye and other of + our subjects make at home in help of us, shall give them great + courage to haste their coming unto us much the rather, and not + fail, as we trust fully. Wherefore we pray you heartily that ye + would do, touching the foresaid aid, as our said brother shall + declare unto you on our behalf: considering that [neither] so + necessary ne [nor] so acceptable a service as ye may do, and will + do (as we trust into you at this time), ye might never have done + into us since our wars in France began. For we trust fully to + God's might and his mercy, with good help of your aid and of our + land, to have a good end of our said war in short time, and for + to come home unto you to great comfort and singular joy of our + heart, as God knoweth: the which He grant us to his pleasance, + and have you ever in his keeping! Given under our signet in our + town of Pontoise, the 17th day of August.</p> + +<p> "And weteth [know], that, the foresaid 17th day of August, + departed from us at Pontoise our letters to you direct in the + same tenour; and because it is said the bearer of them is by our + enemies taken into Crotey, we renouelle [renew] them here at Trye + the Castle, the 12th day of September."</p> + +<p> "To the Mayor and Citizens of London."</p> +</div> + + +<p>Henry's +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258">(p. 258)</a></span> +arms were victorious through this autumn, town after +town, and fortress after fortress, yielding to him; when an event took +place which had a most decided and immediate influence on his affairs +and those of +France.<a id="notetag190" name="notetag190"></a><a href="#note190">[190]</a> +The Dauphin solicited another interview with +the Duke of Burgundy, who was cautioned by some of his friends against +trusting his person again to that prince's power; whilst others +deprecated the appearance in the Duke of any suspicion of the +Dauphin's faith and honour. The Duke proceeded to Montereau; where, on +the bridge which led to the town, a room of wood-work was prepared for +the conference; and at the end, towards the town, were successive +barriers. These excited suspicion; still the Duke quitted the town, +and entered into the place appointed. There he met the Dauphin, who +was surrounded by assassins ready to despatch his enemy at a +word.<a id="notetag191" name="notetag191"></a><a href="#note191">[191]</a> +Never was a more base and foul murder committed than that +by which the Duke +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259">(p. 259)</a></span> +of Burgundy was butchered on the bridge of +Montereau. His own guilt is no justification of his murderers; and it +is an unsafe interpretation of the inscrutable acts of Providence to +regard his death "as the requital of divine +justice."<a id="notetag192" name="notetag192"></a><a href="#note192">[192]</a> +He had +caused the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated in the streets of Paris, +and he now falls himself by the murderous hands of assassins. He was a +bold, presumptuous, ambitious, and licentious man; and his own vices +betrayed him to his ruin. But those by whom he fell were equally +guilty of treachery and murder, as though he had through his life been +guiltless of blood, and an example of virtue.</p> + +<p>This tragedy filled the people of France with affliction for the +murdered Duke, and with horror at +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260">(p. 260)</a></span> +the Dauphin's perfidy and +cruelty; but no one seemed to be rendered more decidedly hostile to +him for this act than his own mother and father. And whilst the son of +the murdered Duke swore he would never lay down his arms till he had +avenged his father's death upon his murderers, the King himself, by a +proclamation dated Troyes, January 27, 1420, declared that Charles, +Count of Ponthieu, condemned and cursed by God, by nature, and his own +parents, could have no title to the throne; and that it was just and +expedient, for the peace of the nation, that Henry, King of England, +should be established Regent of France.</p> + +<p>Henry at this time seems to have been exceedingly apprehensive lest, +by the escape of the princes and nobles of France, his prisoners in +England, the prospect of securing his conquests by a treaty of peace +might be interrupted. An original letter, addressed by him to his +Chancellor, dated Gisors, October 1, 1419, acquaints us with his +anxiety on this subject; whilst it affords another interesting +specimen of the English language at that time, and Henry's own style.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "Worshipful Father in God, right trusty and well-beloved, we + greet you well.</p> + +<p> "And we wol and pray you, and also charge you, that as we trust + unto you, and as ye look to have our good lordship, ye see and + ordain that good heed be taken unto the sure keeping of our + French prisoners within our realm, and in especial the Duke of + Orleans, and after to the Duke of Bourbon. For their escaping, + and principally the said Duke +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261">(p. 261)</a></span> +of Orleans, might never + have been so harmful nor prejudicial to us as it might be now if + any of them escaped, and namely [especially] the said Duke of + Orleans, which God forbid! And therefore, as we trust, you seeth + that Robert Waterton, for no trust, fair speech, nor promises + that might be made unto him, nor for none other manner of cause, + be so blinded by the said Duke that he be the more reckless of + his keeping; but that, in eschewing of all perils that may befal, + he take as good heed unto the sure keeping of his person as + possible.</p> + +<p>"And inquire if Robert of Waterton use any reckless governance + about the keeping of the said Duke, and writeth to him thereof + that it may be amended. And God have you in his keeping!—Given + under our signet, at Gizors, the first day of October.</p> + +<p class="left0-70"> + "To the worshipful Father in + God,<a id="notetag193" name="notetag193"></a><a href="#note193">[193]</a> + and right + trusty and well-beloved, the Bishop of + Durham, our Chancellor of England."</p> +</div> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262">(p. 262)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">henry's extraordinary attention to the civil and private duties of his +station, in the midst of his career of conquest, instanced in various +cases. — provost and fellows of oriel college. — the queen dowager +is accused of treason. — treaty between henry, the french king, and +the young duke of burgundy. — henry affianced to katharine. — the +dauphin is reinforced from scotland. — henry accompanied by his queen +returns through normandy to england.</span><br><br> + +1419-1420.</h3> + + +<p>One of the most strikingly characteristic features of the +extraordinary hero, whose life and character we are endeavouring to +elucidate, forces itself especially upon our notice during his +campaigns in Normandy. Neither the flush of victory, nor the +disappointments and anxiety of a protracted siege, neither the +multiplied and distracting cares of intricate negociations, nor the +incessant trials of personal +fatigue,<a id="notetag194" name="notetag194"></a><a href="#note194">[194]</a> +could withdraw his mind +from what might +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263">(p. 263)</a></span> +perhaps be not unfitly called the private +duties of his high +station.<a id="notetag195" name="notetag195"></a><a href="#note195">[195]</a> +If an act of injustice was made known +to him, he could not rest till he had punished the guilty party, and +compelled them to make restitution. If abuses in church or state came +under his eye, (and his eye was never closed against them,) he would +himself personally provide for the necessary reform. If disputes +threatened the peace and welfare of a community over which he had any +control, he delighted to act as mediator and to restore peace. And all +this he did in the midst +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264">(p. 264)</a></span> +of the noise, and confusion, and +ceaseless disturbances of a camp in the heart of an enemy's country, +with the same anxious zeal, and attention to details, as he could have +shown in the times of profoundest peace; though now and then dropping +an expression to make his correspondent understand how much more time +and thought he would have devoted to the subject before them, were not +his mind and body so occupied by war.</p> + +<p>Among many illustrations of this striking trait in Henry's character, +the following instances will, it is presumed, be deemed generally +interesting, and deserving a fuller notice than a brief statement of +the facts might require.</p> + +<p>The first is a letter from Henry to his brother the Duke of Bedford, +then Guardian of England, in which he urges him to attend without +delay to some complaints from the subjects of the Duke of Brittany, +and to take prompt and efficient measures to prevent a repetition of +the injuries complained of.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "<span class="smcap">By the King</span>.</p> + +<p> "Right trusty and well-beloved brother, we greet you as well. And + as we suppose it is not out of your remembrance in what wise and + how oft we have charged you by our letters that good and hasty + reparation and restitution were ordained and made at all times of + such attemptats as happened to be made by our subjects against + the truce taken betwixt us and our brother, the Duke of Brittany; + and, notwithstanding our said letters, diverse complaints be made + and sent unto us for default of reparation and restitution of + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265">(p. 265)</a></span> +such attemptats as be made by certain of our subjects + and lieges, as ye may understand by a supplication sent to us by + the said Duke; which supplication we send you closed within these + letters, for to have the more plain knowledge of the truth. + Wherefore we will and charge you that ye call to you our + chancellor, to have knowledge of the same supplication; and, that + done, we will that ye do send us in all haste all those persons + that been our subjects contained in the supplication aforesaid. + And that also in all other semblable matters ye do ordain so + hasty and just remedy, restitution, and reparation upon such + attemptats done by our subjects, in conservation of our truce, + that no man have cause hereafter to complain in such wise as they + [have] done for default of right doing; nor we cause to write to + you alway as we done for such causes, <i>considered the great + occupation we have otherwise</i>. And God have you in his + keeping!—Given under our signet, in our host afore Rouen, the + 29th day of +November."<a id="notetag196" name="notetag196"></a><a href="#note196">[196]</a> + [1418].</p> +</div> + +<p>The next instance +occurs<a id="notetag197" name="notetag197"></a><a href="#note197">[197]</a> +on the apprehension entertained of +intended violence and general disturbance of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266">(p. 266)</a></span> +the public peace +near Bourdeaux by two noblemen who disputed about the property of a +deceased lord. Henry's letter is addressed to the Council of +Bourdeaux, giving them peremptory orders to put an instant end to the +feud in his name. It is written in French.</p> + +<p class="letter"> + "Very dear and faithful.—Whereas we are given to understand that + great discord and division prevails between our dear and + well-beloved, the Lords de Montferrant and de Lescun, on account + of the lands of the late Lord de Castalhan; we wish this to be + appeased with all possible speed, in the best manner possible, + just as we ourselves would be able to end it. So we wish, and we + charge you, that, immediately on the sight of this, you take the + whole charge into <i>our</i> [<i>? your</i>, <i>voz</i>, for <i>noz</i>] hands; + giving straitly in charge to the said Lords Montferrant and de + Lescun that neither of them make, or procure or suffer to be + made, any riots or assemblies of people, the one against the + other, in the meantime, under great pains upon them by you to be + imposed, and applied to our aid. And this omit in no way, as we + trust in you.—Given under our signet, in our castle of Gisors, + the 26th day of September." +</p> + +<p>The following letter from Henry to the Bishop of Durham, his +Chancellor, dated 10th February 1418, and written whilst he was +engaged in the siege of Falaise, gives us a pleasing view of the care +with which he attended to the claims of individuals, and his desire to +do justice to a faithful servant.</p> + +<p class="letter"> + "Worshipful Father in God, right trusty and well-beloved. + Forasmuch +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267">(p. 267)</a></span> +as our well-beloved squire, John Hull, hath + long time been in our ambassiat and service in the parts of + Spain, for the which he hath complained to us he is endangered + greatly, and certain goods of his laid to wedde [pledge]; + wherefore we wol that ye see that there be taken due accompts of + the said John, how many days he hath stand in our said ambassiat + and service, and thereupon that he be contented and agreed [have + satisfaction] in the best wise as longeth unto him in this + case.—Given under our signet, in our host beside our town of + Falaise, the 10th day of +February."<a id="notetag198" name="notetag198"></a><a href="#note198">[198]</a> +</p> + +<p>But whilst Henry could thus direct his thoughts to the redress of +individual grievances, in the midst of the din of war and the +excitement of the camp, he equally shows calmness, and presence of +mind, and comprehensive views of sound policy in his negociations with +foreign powers, and his instructions to his representatives at home. +In the spring of 1419, letters were received by Henry from several +cities of Flanders, which, together with his answers to them and his +instructions to his brother, will not be read without interest. The +towns of Ghent, Ypres, Bruges, and Franc apply to Henry for his +protection and friendship, or rather for a renewal or continuance of +that especial favour which they had enjoyed in former days; they refer +more particularly to the kindness of his "grandfather, John Duke of +Lancaster, of noble memory, who, because he was born among them, ever +showed them most singular love and regard." This letter, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268">(p. 268)</a></span> +written in French, and dated 24th March 1418, is given under the seals +of the three first towns, and the seal of the Abbot of St. Andrew for +the people of Franc, because they had no common seal. Henry's answer, +in Latin, assures them, "If the people of Flanders will behave towards +England as they are said to have done in times past, we shall rejoice +to give no less valuable indications of our favour than did our father +or grandfather; and we have instructed our brother, the Duke of +Bedford, and our council, to send ambassadors with full powers to +Calais, to negociate a peace between England and you." Probably Henry +did not pen this letter himself; but, whoever indited it, the letter +contains fewer barbarisms, and has more indications of classical +scholarship in the writer, than are often found in modern +Latin.<a id="notetag199" name="notetag199"></a><a href="#note199">[199]</a> +Henry forwarded both the Flemish prayer and his own answer to his +brother, with instructions in English; and, shortly after, he sent a +long letter to his Chancellor, the Bishop of Durham, as well on that +negociation, as on an affair in dispute between the English merchants +and the Genoese. This document shows how minutely Henry investigated +the matters on which he wrote; and how sensible a view he took of the +interests of our commerce, and how dispassionate was his judgment. The +Genoese had seized goods belonging to English merchants, who laid +claim for a compensation. Henry's letter states +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269">(p. 269)</a></span> +the exact sum +at which the English estimated their merchandise, and the lower price +fixed by the +Genoese;<a id="notetag200" name="notetag200"></a><a href="#note200">[200]</a> +and then, in consideration of the injury +done to English commerce by the Genoese letters of marque, Henry +recommends the English merchants to accept the offer made by the +Genoese, provided they stipulate that the English merchant vessels +shall have as free course of trade to Genoa as the Genoese desired to +have to the ports of England. This correspondence is found among the +"Proceedings of the Privy Council." The whole is well deserving the +perusal of any one interested in the history of British commerce, but +is on too extensive a scale for insertion at length in this +work.<a id="notetag201" name="notetag201"></a><a href="#note201">[201]</a></p> + +<p>The only other instance which the Author of these Memoirs would add to +the preceding (though many and various examples of the same kind are +at <span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270">(p. 270)</a></span> +hand) is one which brings all the associations of opening +life before his mind, and recals days which can never be forgotten, +whilst they can never be remembered without the liveliest feelings of +gratitude to the Giver of every good. The days which he spent within +the walls of that college to which Henry's letter refers, are long ago +past and gone; but they have left a fragrance and relish on the mind, +and the remembrance of them is sweet.</p> + +<p>Oriel College, founded by Edward II, not long before his unhappy +murder, for the promotion of sound learning and religious education, +has been, if any college ever was, faithful to its trust. When Henry +V. was (as we believe) studying under the care of his uncle, the +future Cardinal, John Carpenter, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, was +resident in Oriel; and between him and young Henry a close intimacy, +we are told, was formed. These friendships, cherished when the heart +is most warm, and the best feelings freshest, not only endear the two +friends to each other through life, but excite in each an interest in +whatever belongs to the other. On this principle we may believe that +Oriel College, and its peace and welfare, were objects of no ordinary +interest to Henry; certainly his friend, John Carpenter, felt so +grateful to the society in which he had imbibed the principles of +philosophy and religion, as to found one new fellowship in addition to +the eight of its original foundation, and the four founded by his +contemporary, though probably +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271">(p. 271)</a></span> +his senior, John Frank, Master +of the Rolls. About the time when Henry was pursuing his victories in +France, an unhappy dispute arose to interrupt the harmony of this +little community. Perfect peace is reserved for the faithful in +heaven; on earth we must not expect to pass through life either as +insulated individuals, or as members of any society, however sound may +be its principles, and however Christian may be the general temper of +its members, without some of those disturbing vexations which admonish +us (with many other warnings) not to suffer our hopes to anchor here. +Just as in a family, quarrels in a college are the more fatal to the +comfort of its members in proportion to the narrowness of the circle +which surrounds them, and to the closeness of the bond which more +frequently compels them to meet together. The citizen of the world may +avoid one whom he cannot meet with satisfaction and pleasure; the +inmate of a college comes in contact with his brethren every day. The +place of prayer, the refectory, the social board of kindly +intercourse, all well calculated to cherish and ripen feelings of +friendship, yet if unkind sentiments are lurking in the breast, only +provoke their expression, and cherish the heartburnings, and fan the +embers of discord into a flame.</p> + +<p>In a college the first spark of unkindness, unbrotherly, anti-social +feelings, should especially be extinguished: disunion there is more +fatal to comfort and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272">(p. 272)</a></span> +ease, and peace of mind, and the +enjoyment of whatever blessings might otherwise be in store, than in +any other community except that of husband and wife, parent and child, +brother and brother. To no combination of Christians would the Apostle +with greater earnestness repeat his injunction, "Love one another."</p> + +<p>What was the immediate subject of dispute at the time when Henry +interfered with Oriel College, the Author has never been able to +discover. There is no auxiliary evidence, and the only source of +reasonable conjecture must be the internal testimony of the King's +letter itself. The epistle is an original, preserved in the Tower of +London; its date is 7th of July, and in the town of Mante. This fixes +it (with as much certainty as we can ever expect in such matters) to +the year 1419; when Henry seems to have made Mante his chief residence +for some time, and was certainly there both before and after the 7th +of July in that year.</p> + +<p>This letter is very interesting, particularly to Oriel men, for other +reasons, and especially because it contains indisputable proof of the +position maintained by them, that not the Chancellor, nor the King by +his Chancellor, but the King himself in person, is the visitor. May +his interference on a similar occasion be never again needed! May +discord between the Head and the Fellows, or between the Fellows among +themselves, be for ever banished! But should the voice and the hand of +the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273">(p. 273)</a></span> +visitor be ever required "to stint the controversy," the +visitor of this "ancient and royal house"—is the King of England +only. The letter is in itself characteristic of Henry, and affords, +probably, a fair specimen of the style of an English gentleman of that +day.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "<span class="smcap">BY THE KING.</span><a id="notetag202" name="notetag202"></a><a + href="#note202">[202]</a></p> + +<p>"Worshipful father in God, our right trusty and well-beloved, we + greet you well. And for as much as we lately sent for Master + Richard Garsedale, one of the contendents of the Provost of the + Oriell, to that end that for his party should nothing be pursued, + neither at the court of Rome nor elsewhere, but that that + controversy should be put in respite unto our coming home with + God's grace: for our occupation is such that we may not well + intend to such matters here. Wherefore we will that ye make both + the said Garsdale, which cometh now home by our leave, and + sufficient +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274">(p. 274)</a></span> +of both the parties that neither of them + shall make further pursuit of appeal at court of Rome, nor no + manner of pursuit there, or elsewhere, as touching the said + controversy, unto our coming as before; at which time our intent + is to put the same controversy to a good and righteous + conclusion, and the said party in rest. And if any of them have + the said pursuit of appeal hanging in court, that they abate it, + and send to revoke it in all haste: and that they make all such + as been their attornies or doers in court spiritual and temporal + to surcease. And we will furthermore, as touching our said + College of the Oriell, that ye put it in such governance as + seemeth to your discretion for to do, unto our coming. And God + have you in his keeping!—Given under our signet, in our town of + Mante, the 7th day of July.</p> + +<p class="left0-70"> + "To the worshipful father in God, our right + trusty and well-beloved, the Bishop + of Durham, our Chancellor of England."</p> +</div> + + + +<p>Whilst <span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275">(p. 275)</a></span> +Henry was occupied by his campaign in France, a +parliament met October 16th, 1419, and voted one-fifteenth, and +one-tenth, and one-half part of them both. In this parliament that +enactment was made on which our authority chiefly rests for believing +the Queen-Dowager, Bolinbroke's widow, to have been guilty of +conspiring her son-in-law's death. The act, after declaring that she +was accused by friar John Randolf, and other credible witnesses, of +having compassed the King's death in the most horrible manner; and +that Roger Colles of Shrewsbury, and Peronell Brocart, lately living +with the Queen, were violently suspected of having been partners in +her guilt; enacted that all the lands, and castles, and possessions, +as well of the Queen as of her accomplices, should be seized for the +King's use, provision being made for the maintenance of the Queen and +her servants.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, much progress was made in France towards a peace between +Henry, the French King, and the young Duke of Burgundy. An armistice +was signed between Henry and Charles at Mante, November 20, but only +for the Isle of France; and, at +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page276" name="page276">(p. 276)</a></span> +the close of the month, the +Duke of Burgundy, then at Arras, signed his consent to the articles +which Henry had commissioned his ambassadors to lay before him, which +were these:</p> + +<p>First, that he should have the Princess of France in marriage. +Secondly, that he should not disturb the King of France in the +possession of the crown; but suffer him peaceably to enjoy it, and +receive its revenues as long as he lived. Thirdly, that the Queen also +should during her life retain her title and dignity, with such a part +of the revenues of the crown as would be suitable to maintain the +royal honour. Moreover, that the crown of France, with all its +dominions, should, after the death of the King, descend to Henry and +his heirs for ever; that, in consequence of the incapacity of the +King's mind, Henry should as Regent administer the affairs of +government, with a council of the nobles of France; with other +stipulations subservient to these grand fundamental points.</p> + +<p>The Duke of Burgundy also agreed on certain +articles<a id="notetag203" name="notetag203"></a><a href="#note203">[203]</a> +of amity +between himself and Henry, stipulating to give his own support of +Henry's authority and rights as Regent and King; in return for Henry's +protection of him in all his rights, and against all his enemies, +especially against the murderers of his father.</p> + +<p>To effect these great ends, a general armistice was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page277" name="page277">(p. 277)</a></span> +concluded at Rouen, December 24th, to continue to the 1st of March, +from which it was provided that the Dauphin should be excluded. This +truce was afterwards prolonged to March 24th. Meanwhile, the war was +vigorously carried on by the English and Burgundian forces against the +Dauphin; whilst on the confines of Normandy, where the English at that +time were stationed, every thing was conducted by the people of the +two nations in as amicable and familiar a manner as though the peace +had absolutely been concluded, and the English King were Regent of +France; an object, as they professed, most devoutly desired by the +people of Paris, who sent their deputies to bespeak the good offices +of Henry for the preservation of their rights and +liberties.<a id="notetag204" name="notetag204"></a><a href="#note204">[204]</a> +Henry's ambassadors made many objections to the terms of the proposed +treaty, chiefly on the ground that, by accepting them, Henry would +injure his then title to the throne of France. But he saw himself that +all essentials were provided for; and desirous of terminating the war, +and more anxious (we may believe) to make the beloved Princess his own +wife, left Rouen on his journey to Troyes, where the French court and +the Duke of Burgundy were. Henry passed so near to the walls of Paris, +that the people hastened out of the city to see him; and they +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page278" name="page278">(p. 278)</a></span> +greeted him with joyous and welcoming acclamations.</p> + +<p>Henry, arriving at Troyes, made an immediate visit to the King, the +Queen, and the Princess. How far the love of Henry towards Katharine +expedited the negociations we cannot tell. Every difficulty, however, +vanished; and a final agreement and perpetual peace was made and sworn +to "by Charles, King of France, and his dearest and most beloved son, +Henry, King of England, constituted heir of the crown and Regent of +France." Henry having consented during Charles's life not to assume +the title of King of France, Charles promised always to style Henry +"our most illustrious son, Henry, King of England, heir of France." +After Charles's death, the two kingdoms of England and France were to +be for ever united under one King. Many other articles swell this +solemn league, which are all subservient to these leading provisions.</p> + +<p>This treaty was signed at Troyes, May 21, 1420, in the presence of the +Emperor Sigismund and many of the Continental princes, all of whom +became parties thereto. On the same day Katharine and Henry were +affianced before the high altar of St. Peter's Church, in Troyes; in +which city proclamation of the +peace<a id="notetag205" name="notetag205"></a><a href="#note205">[205]</a> +was made both in the French +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page279" name="page279">(p. 279)</a></span> +and the English tongue. It was afterwards proclaimed at +Paris, and the principal cities of France; and, on June 24, it was +proclaimed in London, after a solemn procession and a sermon at St. +Paul's Cross: and an ordinance was made for breaking the great seal of +England, and making another, on which to the King's title should be +added, "Regent and heir-apparent of France;" and a corresponding order +was given to the officers of his mint at Rouen for a change of the +inscription on the coinage +there."<a id="notetag206" name="notetag206"></a><a href="#note206">[206]</a></p> + +<p>The <span class="pagenum"><a id="page280" name="page280">(p. 280)</a></span> +marriage of Henry with +Katharine<a id="notetag207" name="notetag207"></a><a href="#note207">[207]</a> +was celebrated with +great magnificence by the Archbishop of Sens, on the 30th of May, in +the presence of the principal nobility of Burgundy and France. The +Duke of Burgundy first, and then all the other assembled nobles, swore +allegiance to Henry, as Regent of France. "For," (as the +historians<a id="notetag208" name="notetag208"></a><a href="#note208">[208]</a> +say,) "the fame of his heroic actions in war, when his +person was unknown to them, had acquired him a universal esteem; and +they knew not what most to admire, his courage, conduct, or success. +But now +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page281" name="page281">(p. 281)</a></span> +his noble presence, in which there was a due mixture +of majesty with affable deportment, procured a greater veneration. +They knew him to be prudent in councils, experienced in war, of an +undaunted courage in dangers, and prosperous in all his enterprises; +and therefore they persuaded themselves that their country would be +happy under the influences of his government." It is said that they +were confirmed in these anticipations of good, as well as exceedingly +delighted, by the speech which he addressed to them in full assembly, +showing the moderation and temper of his soul. At the close of his +address they unanimously expressed their confidence in his honour, and +the highest regard for his interests.</p> + +<p>The Dauphin, however, continued to prevent the establishment of peace; +and, having obtained from the Scotch parliament a reinforcement of +seven thousand men, under the command of the Earl of Buchan, still +proved a formidable enemy to Henry. But, never relaxing his exertion +whilst any thing remained to be done, Henry prepared most vigorously +to meet the forces thus united against +him.<a id="notetag209" name="notetag209"></a><a href="#note209">[209]</a></p> + +<p>He retained still in his camp the King of Scotland, by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page282" name="page282">(p. 282)</a></span> whose +influence he had hoped to draw the Scots from the service of the +Dauphin; but they would not listen to their monarch whilst he was the +King of England's prisoner. The English army, however, was recruited +by a considerable reinforcement, which the Duke of Bedford had brought +over with him. He had governed England as Regent, during the King's +absence, with great zeal and wisdom; and he now left the Duke of +Gloucester to rule the kingdom in his stead.</p> + +<p>Many cities and garrisons attached to the Dauphin held out with much +resolution and fidelity to his cause, and the English had full +employment in reducing them. The town of Melun was defended with most +determined obstinacy. During the protracted siege of this place, Henry +was surrounded by all the magnificence and state of a royal court +amidst the noise and disorders of war. His Queen, also, "with a +shining train of ladies," came to the camp; for whom "a fair house was +built, at such a distance as secured them from any danger of shot from +the town." The royal bride and bridegroom had been allowed a very +brief interval for that enjoyment of each other's society in +retirement and privacy which is denied to few in any rank of life +immediately on their union. Their marriage was solemnized on the 30th +of May at Paris, and for one short week only from that day are the +records silent as to Henry's residence. On the 7th of June he was at +Villeneuf, engaged again (if, indeed, there +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page283" name="page283">(p. 283)</a></span> +had been any +interruption of his public duties,) in the business of the state. From +July the 9th to the end of September he passed, with very few +exceptions, his day alternately at Paris, and in the camp before +Melun, which was about ten leagues from the capital. It was, we may +reasonably conjecture, to make this new life of war as little irksome +to Katharine as the circumstances would allow, and to provide an +additional source of amusement and gratification, that Henry sent to +England for those new harps for himself and his Queen, to the purchase +of which at that time we have already referred.</p> + +<p>At the surrender of Melun, a circumstance took place characteristic of +Henry's firmness and justice, mingled at the same time with feelings +of friendship and kindheartedness. A gentleman of his household, who +had fought with him at Agincourt, and was high in his esteem, was +convicted on clear evidence of having received a bribe during the +treaty for the surrender of the town, which tempted him to favour the +escape of one suspected of being an accomplice in the Duke of +Burgundy's murder. The young Duke of Burgundy and the Duke of Clarence +petitioned for his pardon; but Henry gave orders for his execution, +saying he would have no traitors in his army. At the same time he was +heard to declare he would have given fifty thousand nobles that +Bertrand de Chaumont had not been guilty of such a crime.</p> + +<p>Shortly <span class="pagenum"><a id="page284" name="page284">(p. 284)</a></span> +after the surrender of Melun, Charles and Henry went +together to Paris, accompanied by their Queens. The royal party were +met by the citizens with every demonstration of joy and devotedness; +and, in honour of Henry, most persons of quality dressed themselves in +red.<a id="notetag210" name="notetag210"></a><a href="#note210">[210]</a> +The first solemn act performed at Paris after the rejoicings +were ended, was the attainder of the Dauphin and his accomplices for +the murder of the Duke of Burgundy. He was denounced as unworthy of +succeeding to any inheritance, and sentenced to perpetual banishment; +judgment of death being pronounced against all his accomplices. A +knowledge of these proceedings only stimulated him to further acts of +violence.</p> + +<p>Henry's court was at the Louvre, whilst Charles' was at the Hōtel de +St. Paul. The two courts were marked by a wide difference in splendour +and attendance. The palace of Charles was deserted, whilst Henry's was +crowded by almost all the great men of France.</p> + +<p>Having now established the government of France, and provided for its +maintenance during his absence, Henry proceeded with his royal bride +towards England. In Normandy he was well received by the estates, who +were assembled at Rouen, and who voted him a subsidy of 400,000 +livres. On leaving this place, he constituted the Duke of Clarence his +Lieutenant of Normandy, and gave commission to the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page285" name="page285">(p. 285)</a></span> +Duke of +Exeter to administer the government in +Paris.<a id="notetag211" name="notetag211"></a><a href="#note211">[211]</a> +With his Queen and +the Duke of Bedford he reached his native land in safety on the last +day of January, or the first of February 1421; and he immediately +communicated to the Archbishop his wish for him to appoint a day of +public +thanksgiving.<a id="notetag212" name="notetag212"></a><a href="#note212">[212]</a></p> + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page286" name="page286">(p. 286)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">katharine crowned. — henry and his queen make a progress through a +great part of his dominions. — arrival of the disastrous news of his +brother's death (the duke of clarence). — henry meets his parliament. +— hastens to the seat of war. — birth of his son, henry of windsor. +— joins his queen at bois de vincennes. — their magnificent +reception at paris. — henry hastens in person to succour the duke of +burgundy. — is seized by a fatal malady. — returns to vincennes. — +his last hour. — his death.</span><br><br> + +1421-1422.</h3> + + +<p>Henry, now in the enjoyment of peace in England, Ireland, and France, +(except only so far as the Dauphin was yet unsubdued,) in the +enjoyment, too, of a union with the most beautiful Princess of the +age, seems to have reached the highest pinnacle of his ambition and +his hopes. The Queen was crowned with great solemnity and magnificence +in Westminster +Abbey,<a id="notetag213" name="notetag213"></a><a href="#note213">[213]</a> +on the third Sunday in Lent. (23rd February +1421.)</p> + +<p>After +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page287" name="page287">(p. 287)</a></span> +Henry had gratified his royal consort by proving to +her how deep and lively an interest the people of England took in her +welfare and happiness, he retired with her for a time to Windsor. A +combination, however, of various motives, induced him to propose to +her to join him in the execution of a design on which he seems to have +been bent, and to accompany +him<a id="notetag214" name="notetag214"></a><a href="#note214">[214]</a> +in a progress through the +kingdom. He was most anxious to ascertain by personal inspection the +state and condition of his subjects in various parts of the realm; +more especially with +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page288" name="page288">(p. 288)</a></span> +the view of satisfying himself that +justice was impartially administered, crimes repressed, and innocence +protected. He felt also naturally a desire to present his loyal +subjects to his Queen, of whom we have many proofs that he was in no +ordinary degree proud; and, at the same time, to add to her +gratification by visiting in her society those places with which he +had early associations of pleasure, or which it would be most +interesting to a foreigner to see. He was also influenced, perhaps, in +some measure by a desire of visiting, in a sort of pilgrimage, the +shrine of the patron saint of his family, John of Bridlington; and +that of John of Beverley, the saint to whose merits the hierarchy, as +we have seen, so presumptuously ascribed the turn of the battle on the +day of Agincourt.</p> + + +<p>With these +motives,<a id="notetag215" name="notetag215"></a><a href="#note215">[215]</a> +combined, it may be, with others, Henry lost +no time in carrying his intention into effect. He seems to have always +acted under a practical sense of the maxim, never to put off till +to-morrow what is to be done, and what may be done, to-day. Without +waiting for the summer, or a more advanced stage of the spring,—and, +had he delayed for longer days and more genial weather, the journey +would never have been taken,—we conclude that, about the beginning of +the second week in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page289" name="page289">(p. 289)</a></span> +March, the King and Queen, attended by a +large retinue of friends and nobles, began their journey +northward.<a id="notetag216" name="notetag216"></a><a href="#note216">[216]</a> +The first place in which we are sure they rested is +Coventry, which they reached probably about the 8th of March, and +where they were certainly on the 15th of that month, the eve of Palm +Sunday. Henry had a house at Coventry, in right of the duchy of +Cornwall, called Cheylesmoor; and probably they took up their abode in +that mansion during their stay at Coventry. The greater part of the +time spent in Warwickshire was perhaps passed in the castle of +Kenilworth, a favourite residence of his grandfather, John of Gaunt, +who made very great additions to the mansion, always afterwards called +the Lancaster Buildings. Henry himself, too, had been much employed in +improving this place, and surrounding it with pleasure-grounds and +arbours,<a id="notetag217" name="notetag217"></a><a href="#note217">[217]</a> +instead of the thorns and brakes which had formerly been +seen there. Just seven years before this visit with his Queen, he had +drained and planted the rough land near the castle; and the local +historians tells us the spot was called "The Plesance in the Marsh."</p> + +<p>From Kenilworth the royal party went (probably about the 20th of +March) to their house at Leicester, where +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page290" name="page290">(p. 290)</a></span> +they kept the +festival of +Easter.<a id="notetag218" name="notetag218"></a><a href="#note218">[218]</a> +Easter Sunday fell that year on the 23rd of +March. Could Henry have known of the sad calamity which befel him that +very Easter, his rejoicings would have been turned into mourning. It +was at that very time that the disastrous conflict took place, in +which the English were routed, and the Duke of Clarence, whom Henry +had left his representative on the Continent, was slain. Where the +King was when the melancholy tidings reached him, and which induced +him to cut short his progress, does not appear. We know that the +joyful news of Agincourt reached London on the fourth morning after +the battle; and probably the sad report of his brother's death, and of +the discomfiture of his troops, was posted on to Henry whilst he was +at York. Towards this, his northern capital, we conclude that he +proceeded from Leicester, about the last day of March. The inhabitants +of York had made most costly preparations for the reception of their +royal visitors; and on their arrival they welcomed their conquering +sovereign, and the partner of his joys and cares, with every +demonstration of loyalty and devotedness. The most princely presents +were offered to Henry in the most dutiful and cordial spirit of loving +and admiring subjects. How many days they remained together +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page291" name="page291">(p. 291)</a></span> +amidst the festivities and rejoicings of the province of York, is not +recorded; perhaps the limit to this festival was the hour when the +gloom which spread over the kingdom on the death of Clarence reached +the royal party. It is not improbable that the news of his loss gave a +turn to Henry's mind, and induced him with sentiments of piety and +mourning to leave the splendour of his court for a while, and, laying +aside the feelings of the triumphant monarch, to give himself up to +exercises of devotion, and to a preparation for the same awful change +which had so unexpectedly stopped the career of his younger brother. +Leaving his Queen among his friends and faithful lieges of York, he +proceeded on a kind of pilgrimage to Bridlington, Beverley, and +Lincoln;<a id="notetag219" name="notetag219"></a><a href="#note219">[219]</a> +but in what order he visited those places it does not +appear. He was at York on the 4th of April, and again on the 18th; +whilst it is equally certain that on the 15th he was at Lincoln. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page292" name="page292">(p. 292)</a></span> +The author of the manuscript which tells us that his object in +going to Lincoln was to be present at the installation of Richard +Flemming, then lately elected Bishop, seems to be in error when he +adds, that the King rejoined the Queen at Pontefract, and thence +proceeded to Lincoln, and thence to London; unless, indeed, the King +visited Lincoln once by himself, and once with Katharine; a +supposition in the last degree improbable. He certainly returned to +York after his sojourn at Lincoln on the 15th. It is very probable +that, when he left York, he proceeded first to Bridlington, thence to +Beverley, and so, crossing the Humber at Hull, reached Lincoln about +the 13th of April, and, having passed two or three days there, +returned to York on the 17th. The only other town mentioned by +chroniclers is Pontefract. Documents may, perhaps, be hereafter +discovered to account for him between the 18th of April, when he was +certainly at York, and the 1st of May, when he had returned to +Westminster. At present we are left to conjecture: but it cannot be +thought improbable if we suppose that, from his castle of Pontefract, +(where he would have seen the Duke of +Orleans<a id="notetag220" name="notetag220"></a><a href="#note220">[220]</a>, +then a prisoner +there, whom he always treated +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page293" name="page293">(p. 293)</a></span> +with respect and kindness, and +whom he indulged with as much relaxation of his confinement as was +compatible with his safe custody,) he took the route for Chester, the +place where he had formerly landed on his return from Trym Castle. +Thence pointing out to his bride the country of Glyndowrdy, in which +he passed his noviciate in arms; and the whole line of the Welsh +borders, with which he had been long familiar, he would probably have +passed on to Shrewsbury, where he might have taken Katharine to the +spot in the battle-field on which Hotspur fell. From Shrewsbury, his +line would be through Worcester, in which city he had often been +stationed during the Welsh rebellion; and so onwards through Oxford, +(a place he probably had visited on his journey northward, and where +he would have been delighted to show Katharine the "narrow chamber" +assigned to him when he studied there,) thus finishing his circuit +where it began, at Windsor.</p> + +<p>There are difficulties attending this supposition, to the existence of +which the Author is fully alive; but in the whole affair there is only +a choice of difficulties. He is aware that the journey from York +through Chester and Shrewsbury to Windsor would have required the +royal party to travel for fourteen days at the rate of twenty miles on +the average each day consecutively. But, on the other hand, without +such a supposition, the old +chroniclers<a id="notetag221" name="notetag221"></a><a href="#note221">[221]</a> +must <span class="pagenum"><a id="page294" name="page294">(p. 294)</a></span> be +altogether laid aside, (though there is no other evidence to make +their statement improbable,) when they assure us that Henry took +Katharine to visit his principality, as well as the distant parts of +his +kingdom.<a id="notetag222" name="notetag222"></a><a href="#note222">[222]</a> +It must, moreover, be borne in mind that although he +might have felt a reluctance (notwithstanding the melancholy event +which hastened his return to the capital) to break off his intended +progress without visiting at least the borders of Wales, yet he was +pressed for time, and would therefore not willingly lose a day on the +road. Be this as it may, we are +assured<a id="notetag223" name="notetag223"></a><a href="#note223">[223]</a> +that, wherever he went, +his ears were in all places open to the complaints of the injured and +oppressed; he redressed their +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page295" name="page295">(p. 295)</a></span> +wrongs, punished the perverters +of public trusts, reformed many abuses in the local governments, and +established such ordinances as should secure for the future the +impartial administration of justice to high and low alike.</p> + +<p>If, as we are led to believe, Henry returned by the way of Chester, +his ardent imagination and pious turn of thought would have reverted +with mingled feelings of wonder and gratitude to his journey along the +same road two-and-twenty years before; when, returning from his own +captivity in Ireland, he accompanied the captive Richard towards his +metropolis, to resign his throne there, and soon afterwards to lay +down his life. To Henry, indeed, mementos presented themselves on +every side of the frailty of all sublunary possessions, the precarious +tenure by which king or peasant alike holds any earthly thing; whilst +he was himself destined, in the revolution of the next year, to become +in his own person a marked example of the same uncertainty. His spirit +might seem to address us from the grave, in the words of a reflecting +man.<a id="notetag224" name="notetag224"></a><a href="#note224">[224]</a> +"A day, an hour, a moment is sufficient for the overthrow of +dominions which are thought to be grounded on foundations of adamant."</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>Where Henry was when the unexpected news arrested his progress is not +known. The certainty is, that whilst he was anxiously engaged in +reforming abuses, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page296" name="page296">(p. 296)</a></span> +and preparing good laws at home; after he +had also just concluded a peace with Genoa, and, by generously +releasing the King of Scotland, had bound him by the strongest ties of +gratitude and affection; his exertions were suddenly arrested by the +sad news of the defeat of his forces at Baugy in Anjou, and the death, +in battle, of his brother, the Duke of +Clarence.<a id="notetag225" name="notetag225"></a><a href="#note225">[225]</a> +These tidings +caused him to shorten his progress, and to return to his capital, +where he arrived at furthest on the 1st of May.</p> + +<p>The Bishop of Durham, Chancellor of England, was charged to open the +Parliament, which met on the second of that month, Henry himself being +present, in the Painted Chamber. The Chancellor's address, though in +many points strange, and well-nigh ridiculous, is too interesting to +be passed by unnoticed. He began by uttering eulogies on the King, +specifying, among other topics of praise, this merit in +particular,—that, whilst God had granted him victories and conquests +as the fruits of his labour, he never assumed the least merit to +himself, but ascribed all the glory to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page297" name="page297">(p. 297)</a></span> +God only, "<i>following +in a manner the example of the very valiant Emperor Julius Cęsar</i>;" +and also because as Job, when news was brought to him of the death of +all his children as they were feasting in their eldest brother's +house, praised God, saying, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken +away, the will of the Lord be done; blessed be the name of the Lord!" +so our sovereign Lord the King, when he first heard of the death of +the noble prince, the Duke of Clarence, his own dear brother, and of +the gallant knights and others slain with him, praised and blessed God +for the visitation of that calamity, as he had before had cause to +praise Him for all his prosperity. In declaring the cause of summoning +this Parliament, he mentions the desire the King had of rectifying, +according to right and justice, all abuses and wrongs which had +prevailed through the realm since his last passage to foreign lands, +especially to the injury of those who had been with him there; and +also his wish that all the laws of the realm should be maintained and +enforced, and that further provision should be made for the +<a id="notetag226" name="notetag226"></a><a href="#note226">[226]</a>better +governance, and peace, and universal good of the realm. +The Parliament, it is said, cheerfully voted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page298" name="page298">(p. 298)</a></span> him a +fifteenth,<a id="notetag227" name="notetag227"></a><a href="#note227">[227]</a> +though many persons petitioned against further +taxation, and gave utterance to sad complaints of their poverty. The +Convocation also met on May 5th, and on the 12th; they voted him a +tenth from the revenues of the clergy: and his uncle, the Bishop of +Winchester, advanced to him by way of loan twenty thousand pounds. The +Parliament guaranteed payment of the loans to all who should advance +money to the King for this expedition.</p> + +<p>Henry, impatient to repair the dishonour of the defeat which his +forces had sustained, and to reduce his foreign dominions to peace, +issued his writ, on the 27th of May, to the sheriffs of the several +counties to publish his proclamation that all persons should +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page299" name="page299">(p. 299)</a></span> +hasten with the utmost speed to join the King, and accompany him in +his voyage. And now possessing under his command a larger force than +he had ever yet raised; after procuring by subsidies and loans as +large a sum as the power or inclination of his people supplied; having +also appointed his brother, the Duke of Bedford, Regent; he left +London (never to return to it alive), on the last day of May, or the +1st of June. From the 1st to the 10th of that month he seems to have +passed his days alternately at Canterbury and Dover; though the cause +of this delay does not appear to have been recorded. To whatever the +postponement of his departure is attributable, though he left the +metropolis not later than the 1st, he did not finally quit the English +shores till the 10th of June. On the 12th he was at +Rouen.<a id="notetag228" name="notetag228"></a><a href="#note228">[228]</a></p> + +<p>The Dauphin himself with a large army was at this time besieging +Chartres, and Henry having passed by Abbeville, Beauvais, Gisors, and +Mante, marched himself with strong hand to raise that siege. On +Henry's approach the Dauphin withdrew.</p> + +<p>Some of these facts, with others, are contained in a letter which was +forwarded from Henry to the mayor and citizens of London, (it is the +last we shall have occasion to transcribe,) and which is chiefly +remarkable for his language when speaking of the Dauphin. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page300" name="page300">(p. 300)</a></span> He +will not acknowledge him to have any right to the title, and calls him +a pretender. Another point of considerable interest is the unqualified +manner in which he speaks of the cordial co-operation and sincere +attachment of the young Duke of Burgundy.</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p><span class="smcap">BY THE KING.</span></p> + +<p> "Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. And for as much as + we be certain that ye will be joyful to hear good tiding of our + estate and welfare, we signifie unto you that we be in good + health and prosperity of our person; and so be our brother of + Gloucester, and bel-uncle of Exeter, and all the remnant of lords + and other persons of our host, blessed be our Lord, which grant + you so for to be! Witting, moreover, that in our coming by + Picardy we had disposed us for to have tarried somewhat in the + country, for to have set it, with God's help, in better + governance; and, while we were busy to intend therto, come + tidings unto us that he that clepeth him [calleth himself] + Dauphin was coming down with a great puissance unto Chartres. + Wherefore we drove us in all haste to Paris, as well for to set + our father of France, as the said good town of Paris, in sure + governance, and from thence unto this our town of Mante, at which + place we arrived on Wednesday last, to the intent for to have + given succours, with God's grace, unto the said town of Chartres; + and hither come unto us our brother of Burgundy with a fair + fellowship, for to have gone with us to the said succours; the + which our brother of Burgundy we find right a trusty, loving, and + faithful brother unto us in all things. But, in our coming from + Paris unto this our town of Mante, we were certified upon the + way, by certain letters that were sent unto us, that the said + pretense Dauphin, for certain causes that moved him, hath raised + the said siege, and is gone into the country of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page301" name="page301">(p. 301)</a></span> + Touraine in great haste, as it is said. And we trust fully unto + our Lord that, through his grace and mercy, all things here, that + we shall have to do with, shall go well from henceforth, to his + plesance and worship; who we beseech devoutly that it so may be, + and to have you in his keeping!—Given under our signet, in our + host, at our town of Mante, the 12th day of July."</p> +</div> + +<p>Though the Dauphin avoided Henry altogether, he was forced to engage +with the Duke of Burgundy's army, and he suffered a most decided +defeat near Blanche Tache. Henry, meanwhile, was engaged in reducing +Dreux and other towns, still garrisoned for the Dauphin.</p> + +<p>The town of Meaux was so strong, and so well manned, that the siege of +that one place occupied Henry from the 6th of October through the +whole winter, and to the very end of the next April. During this +protracted siege, in which the Earls of Dorset, and of Worcester, and +Lord Clifford were killed, Henry sent ambassadors to the Emperor +Sigismund for succours. He had the satisfaction, meanwhile, to hear +that his Queen was delivered of a son, at Windsor, on St. Nicholas' +day (December 6th). Whether the common report has any foundation in +truth, cannot now be certainly known: his father, however, is said to +have omened ill of the young prince when he heard of the place of his +birth, and to have spoken thus to Lord Fitz-Hugh, his chamberlain: "My +lord, I Henry, born at Monmouth, shall small time reign and get much; +and Henry, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page302" name="page302">(p. 302)</a></span> +born at Windsor, shall long reign and lose all: +but God's will be done!" Probably this was a prophecy forged after the +event, and ascribed to Henry without any foundation in truth.</p> + +<p>In the session of Parliament held December 1st, 1421, under the Duke +of Bedford as Regent, one fifteenth was voted for prosecuting the war, +with this condition appended, that the first half of it should be paid +in the money then current. The gold coin had been much lessened in +value by clipping and washing; consequently the Parliament, to relieve +the people, ordained that the receivers of the tax should take all +light pieces, not wanting in weight more than 12<i>d.</i> in the noble. The +people, therefore, got rid of their gold as fast as they could, and +hoarded up their +silver.<a id="notetag229" name="notetag229"></a><a href="#note229">[229]</a> +The Convocation also, which met at York, +September 22nd, granted a tenth.</p> + +<p>After reducing many towns and castles, Henry proceeded to the Chāteau +Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, to meet his +Queen,<a id="notetag230" name="notetag230"></a><a href="#note230">[230]</a> +who had landed +at Harfleur, on the 21st of May, with a noble retinue, and under +convoy of the Regent himself. Henry and Katharine entered Paris +together, where they were magnificently received; the same painful +contrast still being felt by Charles between his court and that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page303" name="page303">(p. 303)</a></span> +of his heir-apparent. The young King had put the spirit of the +Parisians to the test by a strong measure, in levying a most unpopular +tax; but the discontent did not break out into any open tumult. Indeed +(as the chroniclers record) their resentments were abated, or rather +turned into affection, when they felt the kind influences of King +Henry's just and moderate government, and observed his exact +administration of justice in redressing wrongs, and punishing without +partiality or favour the authors of them. By this just conduct he +gained especially the love of the people, who regarded him as their +father and protector.</p> + +<p>The Dauphin in the mean time was anxiously bent on recovering a crown +from which the victories of Henry, and the displeasure of the King his +father, had excluded him. His army was comparatively small, and he +therefore, whilst Henry was with an army in the neighbourhood, avoided +a battle, keeping always two days' march distant from him. Finding, +however, that Henry was now, at length, far away, he laid siege to +Cone, a town on the Loire, the garrison of which agreed to surrender +on the 16th of August, if they were not by that time relieved by the +Duke of Burgundy. The Duke not only sent into Flanders and Picardy to +levy troops to raise this siege, but importuned Henry also to +strengthen him with English soldiers and officers. The King's answer +was that he would come +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page304" name="page304">(p. 304)</a></span> +himself at the head of his whole army +to the Duke's relief. This was his resolution; but God decreed +otherwise.</p> + +<p>Very shortly after this resolution, Henry was seized by a disorder, on +the exact nature of which historians are not agreed, which proved +fatal to him. Yet, though much weakened, he resolved to join his army, +which, at the first approach of his disorder, he had commanded the +Duke of Bedford to lead on to raise the siege of Cone. With this +intention he left the +King<a id="notetag231" name="notetag231"></a><a href="#note231">[231]</a> +and Queen of France, and his own +beloved Katharine, at Senlis, and proceeded to Melun. His complaint +was then making rapid and deadly progress; and, after having been +carried in a litter with the intention of passing through his troops, +he was compelled to return to +Vincennes.<a id="notetag232" name="notetag232"></a><a href="#note232">[232]</a> +The Duke of Bedford, who +had raised the siege of Cone without striking a blow, hearing now of +the state of danger in which his brother was, left the army, and, +accompanied by a few friends, rode full speed towards the castle, +where the King lay.</p> + +<p>Henry, sensible that his end was fast approaching, desired the Duke of +Bedford, the Duke of Exeter, the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page305" name="page305">(p. 305)</a></span> +Earl of Warwick, Sir Lewis +Robessart, and some others, to stand round his bed; to whom we are +told he spoke to this effect: "I am come," said he, "to the end of a +life which, though short, has yet been glorious, and employed to +advance the good and honour of my people. I confess it has been spent +in war and blood; yet, since the only motive of that war was to +vindicate my rights after I had ineffectually tried milder methods, +the guilt of all the miseries it occasioned belongs not to me, but to +my enemies. As death never appeared formidable to me in so many +battles and sieges, so now, without horror, I regard it making its +gradual approach. And since it is the will of my Creator now to put a +period to my day, I cheerfully submit myself to his will." He then +mentioned two circumstances which tended to make him anxious on +leaving the world: the one, that the war was not brought to a close; +the other, that his son was an infant. But he was comforted on both +these points by the tried friendship and sound principles of the Duke +of Bedford, his brother; to whom he gave in charge both his kingdom +and his boy. He then desired the Earl of Warwick to undertake the +office of preceptor and guide to the young prince in learning and in +arms. Henry next left a charge for his brother Humfrey to be careful +that no division of affection and interests should take place between +them; he conjured them also not to quarrel with the Duke of Burgundy, +and enjoined them not to release +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page306" name="page306">(p. 306)</a></span> +the Duke of Orleans, and +some other prisoners, till his son was arrived at years of discretion.</p> + +<p>This was a mournful hour for those noblemen and friends and relatives +who surrounded his bed. At length, having given all necessary +directions for the government of his kingdom and his +family,<a id="notetag233" name="notetag233"></a><a href="#note233">[233]</a> he +fixed his thoughts wholly on another world. He urged the physicians to +tell him the real state of his disease; but they evaded any direct +answer. Very soon he required them to tell him how long, in all human +probability, he had to live. After some consultation, one of them, +speaking for the rest, knelt down and said, "Sir, think of your soul; +for, without a miracle, in our judgment you cannot survive two hours." +His confessor and other ministers of religion then surrounded his bed, +and administered the parting rite of the Roman church, as it was at +that time and is still practised. He next desired them to join in the +seven penitential psalms; and when in the 51st psalm they read, "Build +thou the walls of Jerusalem," caught by the words, Henry bade them +stop awhile; and with a loud voice declared to them, on the faith of a +dying person, that it verily had been his fixed purpose, after +settling peace in France, to proceed against the infidels, and rescue +Jerusalem from their tyranny, if it had pleased his Creator +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page307" name="page307">(p. 307)</a></span> +to lengthen out his days. He then requested them to proceed; and when +they had finished their devotions, between two and three o'clock in +the morning, he breathed his last.</p> + +<p>Henry of Monmouth died 31st August 1422; and when he resigned his soul +into the hands of his Redeemer, he seemed to fall asleep rather than +to expire.<a id="notetag234" name="notetag234"></a><a href="#note234">[234]</a></p> + +<p>Such a Christian end of his mortal existence is not surprising when we +remember (a point on which his own chaplain will not suffer us to +doubt,) that every day of his life he read and meditated upon the word +of God, for the express purpose of learning how best to fear and serve +him; a daily exercise (says the chaplain) from which, when he was +engaged in it, no one even of his chief nobles and the great men of +his state<a id="notetag235" name="notetag235"></a><a href="#note235">[235]</a> +could withdraw him.<a id="notetag236" name="notetag236"></a><a href="#note236">[236]</a></p> + +<p class="letter"> + The bowels of Henry were buried in the monastery of St. Maur; and + his body embalmed, being put into a leaden coffin, was drawn to + St. Denis. Before and behind the corpse were two lamps burning; + and two hundred and fifty torches gave light to the procession. + The Abbot and Monks of St. Denis came out to meet it, and + solemnly preceded it to their church, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page308" name="page308">(p. 308)</a></span> where they + performed the office for the dead, the Archbishop of Paris + singing the requiem. From St. Denis the procession advanced to + Paris, where the body was deposited for a while in Notre Dame; + and thence, with great and solemn pomp, it was carried to Rouen. + The Queen, from whom the death of her husband had been before + concealed, here met the Duke of Bedford; and made preparations + for the conveyance of the body to England. In a bed, in the same + carriage with the body, was laid the figure of the King, with a + crown of gold on his head, a sceptre in his right hand, and a + ball in his left. The covering of the bed was vermilion silk + embroidered with gold, and over the chariot was a rich silk + canopy. The chariot was drawn by six horses in rich harness. The + first bore the arms of St. George, the second, the arms of + Normandy; the third, those of King Arthur; the fourth, those of + St. Edward; the fifth, the arms of France; the sixth, the arms of + England and France. James, King of Scots, followed it as + principal mourner. The banners of the saints were borne by four + lords. The hatchments were carried by twelve captains; and around + the carriage rode five hundred men-at-arms, all in black + armour,—their horses barbed black, and their lances held with + the points downwards. A great company clothed in white, and + bearing lighted torches, "encompassed the hearse." Those of the + King's household followed, and after them the royal family; the + Queen, with a great retinue, followed at a league's distance. + Whenever the corpse rested masses were sung from the first dawn + of the morning till nine o'clock. The procession passed through + Abbeville to Calais; and crossing to Dover, proceeded with the + same solemnities towards London. When they approached the + capital, they were met by fifteen bishops in their pontifical + habits, and many abbots in their mitres and vestments, with a + great company of priests and people. The princes of the royal + family went mourning next to the hearse. The corpse was buried in + Westminster Abbey, among its most valued treasures. +</p> + + +<p>Among <span class="pagenum"><a id="page309" name="page309">(p. 309)</a></span> +the public acts<a id="notetag237" +name="notetag237"></a><a href="#note237">[237]</a> of the realm his death is thus +recorded:</p> + + + <p class="smcap">"DEPARTED THIS LIFE, AT THE CASTLE OF BOIS DE VINCENNES, NEAR + PARIS, ON THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST, IN THE YEAR 1422, AND THE TENTH + OF HIS REIGN, THE MOST CHRISTIAN CHAMPION OF THE CHURCH, THE + BRIGHT BEAM OF WISDOM, THE MIRROR OF JUSTICE, THE UNCONQUERED + KING, THE FLOWER AND PRIDE OF ALL CHIVALRY—<b>HENRY THE FIFTH</b>, KING + OF ENGLAND, HEIR AND REGENT OF FRANCE, AND LORD OF IRELAND."</p> + + + +<p>Here we would have drawn the curtain round the bed of Henry of +Monmouth; but truth and justice compel us to tarry somewhat longer in +the chamber of death. The tongue and pen of calumny have not suffered +the dying hero to pour out his soul with his last breath in prayer and +pious ejaculations unmolested; and the accuser's name is too widely +known, and has unhappily gained too much influence in the world, for +his calumnies to be passed over as harmless. Henry, having "set his +house in order," and being certified how short a time he had to live, +declares, on the faith of a dying man, that he had been fully resolved +(had the Almighty granted him length of days to put his resolve into +effect) to proceed in person to the Holy Land, and rescue the city of +God from the pollutions and abominations of the infidels. In recording +this declaration of the expiring monarch, Hume adds a comment as full +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page310" name="page310">(p. 310)</a></span> +of bitter sarcasm as it is tinctured with his characteristic +spirit of scepticism. "So ingenious are men in deceiving themselves, +that Henry forgot in these moments all the blood spilt by his +ambition, and received comfort from this late and feeble resolve; +which, as the mode of those enterprises was now past, he certainly +would never have carried into execution." Had Hume been as faithful +and painstaking in the search of truth, as he was ready to adopt the +account of any transaction which was nearest at hand, and unscrupulous +in substituting his own hasty remarks in the place of well-weighed +reflections on ascertained facts, he never would have suffered so +ignorant and ill-founded a comment to disgrace his pages. +Hume<a id="notetag238" name="notetag238"></a><a href="#note238">[238]</a> +charges Henry with having left the world, forgetful of the +bloodguiltiness by which his soul was stained, and with a sentence of +hypocrisy and falsehood on his lips. To the first charge,—that Henry, +at the awful moment of his dissolution, deceived himself into a +forgetfulness "of all the blood spilt by his ambition,"—needs only to +be replied, that so far from his having forgotten the loss of human +life attendant upon his wars, the very page on which the historian is +so severely commenting, records that Henry spoke of that subject +openly and unreservedly to those who stood around his bed, expressing +his sure trust that the guilt of that blood did not stain his soul, +who sought +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page311" name="page311">(p. 311)</a></span> +only his just inheritance; but rested on the heads +of those who, by their obstinate perseverance in injustice, compelled +him to appeal to the God of battle in vindication of his own rights.</p> + +<p>Again, Henry declares, on the faith of a dying Christian Prince, that +it had verily been his fixed resolution, as soon as his wars in France +had been brought to a favourable issue, to proceed to the Holy Land. +Hume says that this was a late and feeble resolve; and the ground on +which he rests this charge of falsehood is, that the mode of those +enterprises was then past. Hume ought to have known, as an ordinary +historian, that the mode of those enterprises was not then past; and +Hume might have known that Henry's was not a death-bed resolve, to +which the expiring self-deceiver clung for comfort when the world was +receding from his sight; but that in his health and strength, and in +the mid-career of his victories, he had actually taken preliminary +measures for facilitating the execution of that very design.</p> + +<p>With regard to the first position asserted by Hume, that "the mode of +these enterprises was gone by," the facts of history are so far from +authorizing him to make such an assertion, that they combine to expose +its rashness and unsoundness. When Henry succeeded to the throne, he +found a large naval and military force actually prepared by his father +for the proclaimed purpose of executing such an enterprise, the +undertaking of which was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page312" name="page312">(p. 312)</a></span> +only prevented by his +death.<a id="notetag239" name="notetag239"></a><a href="#note239">[239]</a> +And even a century after, the mode of those enterprises had not yet +passed; for Pope Leo X. successfully negociated a league between the +chief powers of Christendom, engaging them to unite against the +infidel dominion of the Turk. Not only were such crusades subjects of +serious and practical consideration in Europe just before Henry's +accession to the throne, and a full century after it, but, during the +last years of Henry's life, most vigorous and persevering exertions +were made by the Sovereign Pontiff to effect an immediate expedition +of the confederated powers of Christendom to Palestine, with the +avowed purpose of crushing the power of the infidels. The histories of +those times bear varied evidence to the same points: we must here, +however, confine our attention to some facts more immediately +connected with the case before us. In the year +1420,<a id="notetag240" name="notetag240"></a><a href="#note240">[240]</a> +July 12, +Pope Martin V, conceiving that Sigismund would very shortly bring the +war which he was then waging against the Hussites in Bohemia to an +end, in a bull dated Florence calls upon all Kings, Prelates, Lords, +and people, adjuring them most solemnly, by the shedding of Christ's +blood, to join Sigismund, and under his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page313" name="page313">(p. 313)</a></span> +standard to invade +the lands of the Turks, and to exterminate them. He urges the +formation of one grand general army, and for all true men to take the +cross; with his apostolic promise to all who should so assume the +cross, and join the army in their own persons and at their own +charges, and also to all who should take up arms with the <i>bonā fide</i> +intention of joining the army, should they die on their journey, a +full remission of all sins of which they should have repented from the +heart, and confessed with the mouth; and, "in the retribution of the +just, we promise them (says the Pontiff) an increase of eternal +salvation."<a id="notetag241" name="notetag241"></a><a href="#note241">[241]</a></p> + +<p>In the following year the Pope wrote a most urgent letter to +Sigismund, pressing upon him, before and above all things, the duty of +extirpating the heresy in Bohemia; assuring him that, however +brilliant might be his career in other respects, yet by no means could +he so well secure the favour of God, renown among men, and the +stability of his throne. The Pontiff, in the same year, wrote +repeatedly to Henry, King of England, urging him to consent to terms +of peace between his country and France. We should have been glad had +we been able to contemplate the Pontiff of Rome, in the character of a +Christian mediator, urging two contending nations to be reconciled, +solely with the Christian desire of stopping the dominion of war and +blood, reconciling those who were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page314" name="page314">(p. 314)</a></span> +at variance, checking the +violent passions of mankind, and restoring to Europe the blessing of +peace. But his desire was to reconcile France and England, in order +that the concentrated powers of the faithful in Europe might be turned +against the heretics in the north; and, when they were exterminated, +then that the same forces might proceed to crush the infidel, and +rescue the lands of the faithful from his grasp. The ecclesiastical +historian,<a id="notetag242" name="notetag242"></a><a href="#note242">[242]</a> +who records the letters of the Sovereign Pontiff, +assures us that Henry, King of England, had been repeatedly admonished +by "the vicar of Christ to make peace with the French, and to dedicate +to Christ his skill in war against the Turks, those savage enemies of +the Gospel; adding (what the facts of the case did not justify him in +saying,) that, in the agonies of his last illness, Henry confessed +that he was dreadfully tormented with remorse because he had not +consecrated his martial powers by waging war against the +Mahometans."<a id="notetag243" name="notetag243"></a><a href="#note243">[243]</a> +Surely this testimony is of itself sufficient to +rescue Henry's memory from having vowed that he had resolved to do +what he knew he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page315" name="page315">(p. 315)</a></span> +never could have done. "The mode of those +enterprises was" not "past."</p> + +<p>But Hume would have it believed that this was a late and feeble +resolve of Henry, formed on his death-bed, when he was acting the part +of a self-deceiver, forgetful of the lamentable effects of his +ambition, and seeking comfort from his self-deception in the last +moments of his life. There is strong and clear evidence that he not +only had contemplated such a measure, but had actually taken important +preliminary steps to facilitate the execution of his design, whenever +he might be happily released from his present engagements. "This +vindicatory evidence" (to use the words of Mr. Granville +Penn)<a id="notetag244" name="notetag244"></a><a href="#note244">[244]</a> +"of the veracity and sincerity of Henry, is a manuscript discovered at +Lille, in Flanders, in the autumn of 1819, which proves to positive +demonstration, that at the moment when Henry was suddenly arrested in +his victorious progress by the hand of death, his mind was actually, +though secretly, engaged in projecting an attack on the infidel power +in Egypt and Syria, as soon as he should have pacified the internal +agitations of France; and that a confidential military agent of high +character and distinguished rank had been despatched by him to survey +the maritime frontier of those two countries, and to procure, upon the +spot, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page316" name="page316">(p. 316)</a></span> +the information necessary towards embarking in so vast +an enterprise.</p> + +<p>"The manuscript is a small quarto in vellum, in old French, finely +written in black character, and richly illuminated; consisting of +fifty-four pages, and comprising a succinct military survey of the +coasts and defences of Egypt and Syria, from Alexandria round to +Gallipoli, made by the command of Henry within the three last years of +his life, and completed and reported immediately after his unexpected +death, by which death it was rendered unavailing. The confidential +author of this survey was Gilbert de Lannoi, counsellor and +chamberlain to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and that Duke's +ambassador to Henry."</p> + +<p>The same writer thus expresses himself in conclusion. "His declaration +was not the prompting of a sickly conscience striving to procure +delusive comfort from 'the late and feeble' resolves of a death-bed, +as Hume unworthily asserts; it was the composed and deliberate +communication of a dying captain and sovereign, disclosing to those +around him, under a strong sentiment of devotion, a secret of that +kingly office which he was then on the point of relinquishing for +ever. To enter upon an appreciation of the moral value of the +enterprise which Henry had then in prospect, would be as much out of +place here, as it would be absurd to estimate it by the rule of the +present age. In those ages, when all the higher orders of society +were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page317" name="page317">(p. 317)</a></span> +either clerical or martial, much real piety of +sentiment must, in innumerable instances, have been compounded with +the widely-extended romantic spirit which was ardent to hazard life on +sacred ground of Judea, rather than to suffer the continuance of its +profanation by the avowed enemy of the Christian name.</p> + +<p>"The establishment of this point, certifying, as it does an +interesting fact hitherto unknown, and effectually repelling and +exposing an unjustifiable sarcasm directed against one of the most +illustrious princes that have graced the English crown, may acquire in +the history of truth the importance to which it might not be able to +lay claim in the political history of a +people."<a id="notetag245" name="notetag245"></a><a href="#note245">[245]</a></p> + +<p>In dismissing the immediate subject of this inquiry, the Author of +these Memoirs feels himself under the painful necessity of recording +his deliberate judgment on the inaccuracies of that celebrated writer, +whose reflections upon Henry's dying declaration +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page318" name="page318">(p. 318)</a></span> +have been +animadverted upon here. Through the whole series of years to the +events of which these Memoirs are chiefly limited, he has been able to +find very few transactions in recording or commenting upon which Hume +has not been guilty of error; whilst the mistakes into which he has +fallen (some more, some less, gravely affecting the character of an +historian,) are generally such as an examination of the best evidence, +conducted with ordinary care, would have enabled him successfully to +avoid. Hume, unfortunately, supplied himself without stint from the +stream after it had mingled with many turbid and discolouring waters. +To draw, in each case of doubt and difficulty, from the well-head of +historical truth, would have exacted more time and labour than he was +ready to bestow. Had he prescribed to himself a system of research the +very opposite to that in which he unhappily indulged, instead of +representing Henry of Monmouth to have left the world with the +falsehood of a self-deceiver on his tongue, he would have been +compelled to record him as a man of piety, mercy, and truth.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page319" name="page319">(p. 319)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">was henry of monmouth a persecutor? — just principles of conducting +the inquiry, and forming the judgment. — modern charge against henry. +— review of the prevalent opinions on religious liberty. — true +principles of christian freedom. — duty of the state and of +individuals to promote the prevalence of true religion. — charge +against henry, as prince of wales, for presenting a petition against +the lollards. — the merciful intention of that petition. — his +conduct at the death of badby.</span><br><br> + +<span class="smcap">WAS HENRY OF MONMOUTH A PERSECUTOR?</span></h3> + + +<p>In estimating the character of an individual, nothing is more +calculated to mislead ourselves, or to subject him to injustice at our +hands, than a disregard of the time, and country, and circumstances in +which he lived. It is equally unwise, and unfair, and deceitful, for a +human judge to establish one fixed +standard<a id="notetag246" name="notetag246"></a><a href="#note246">[246]</a> +of excellence in any +department whatever of scientific or practical knowledge, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page320" name="page320">(p. 320)</a></span> +then to try the merits of all persons alike with reference to +that one test. The injustice and absurdity of estimating the talents +for investigation and acumen, the skill, and industry, and +perseverance of a chemical student, many centuries ago, by the +knowledge of the most celebrated men of the present day, and to +pronounce all who fell below that standard to have been deficient in +natural talents, or in a faithful exercise of them, would be seen and +acknowledged by all. At this time, errors in navigation would be +unpardonable, which would have implicated a pilot in no culpability at +all, who lived before the invention of the mariner's compass, and when +half our globe was as yet unknown. The same observations are +applicable when we would estimate the moral excellence of an +individual, his worth in a private or a public capacity, his character +as a subject or a governor,—as the framer, or the guardian, or the +administrator of the laws. Many a practice in ordinary social +intercourse, which would not be tolerated, and would fix a stigma on +those who were examples of it as persons to be shunned and excluded +from society in one age or country, might in another not only be +endured, but be even countenanced and encouraged by those who would +take the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page321" name="page321">(p. 321)</a></span> +lead in the improvement and refinement of civilized +life. The grand broad fundamental principles of right and wrong must +abstractedly be acknowledged always and in every place; but in the +interpretation<a id="notetag247" name="notetag247"></a><a href="#note247">[247]</a> +of them, and in their practical application, we +shall find in the records of successive ages every conceivable +diversity. If, in these days, we are tempted to brand with the mark of +ignorance, and superstition, and cruelty, those among our predecessors +who enacted laws against witchcraft, and condemned to death those who +were found guilty of dealings with the spirit of wickedness, we must +at the same time remember that persons who are examples of every +Christian excellence, of reverence for God's law, of justice and +charity, are now engaged in occupations which those men held in +abhorrence. They believed in the reality of witchcraft, and condemned +those who were pronounced guilty of the crime; we believe that the +crime cannot be committed, that it is merely a creature of the +imagination, and we denominate those who pretend to the power of +committing it impostors: just as by the Mosaic law they were condemned +as deceivers, pretending to possess a power and knowledge +independently of the Almighty. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page322" name="page322">(p. 322)</a></span> +Our predecessors considered +the lending of money upon interest as an offence against the law of +God, and reprobated those who so employed their capital as usurers, +who had forfeited all title to the name of merciful +Christians;—whilst in the present day the most scrupulous person does +not hesitate, as in a matter of conscience, to depend for the means of +subsistence on such a source of income. Assuming that in each of these +two cases our views are formed on a sounder principle of moral and +religious philosophy, we have no more right to disparage the character +of any individual, who did his best in the midst of less favourable +circumstances, than we should have to reprobate the helmsman of former +days, because in the darkness of a starless night he had no compass +wherewith to save his ship from wreck.</p> + +<p>These principles must be borne in mind, and acted upon whenever we +would examine the spirit and character of any individual on the charge +of superstition, bigotry, cruelty, and unchristian persecution. Had +not these principles unhappily been laid aside for a time and +forgotten, we should scarcely have been pained by so severe a portrait +of Henry of Monmouth, as a writer who ought to have known better has +drawn, not in the warmth of debate and the hurry of controversy, but +in the hour of reflection and quietude. "In the midst of these +tragedies died Henry V, whose military greatness is known to most +readers. His vast capacity +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page323" name="page323">(p. 323)</a></span> +and talents for government have +been also justly celebrated. But what is man without the genuine fear +of God? This monarch, in the former part of his life, was remarkable +for dissipation and extravagance of conduct; in the latter he became +the slave of the +popedom,<a id="notetag248" name="notetag248"></a><a href="#note248">[248]</a> +and for that reason was called the +Prince of Priests. Voluptuousness, ambition, superstition, each in +their turn, had the ascendant in this extraordinary character. Such, +however, is the dazzling nature of personal bravery and of prosperity, +that even the ignorance and folly of the bigot, and the barbarities of +the persecutor, are lost or forgotten amidst the enterprises of the +hero and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page324" name="page324">(p. 324)</a></span> +the successes of the conqueror. Reason and justice +lift up their voice in vain. The great and substantial defects of +Henry V. must hardly be touched on by Englishmen. The battle of +Agincourt throws a delusive splendour around the name of this +victorious King."<a id="notetag249" name="notetag249"></a><a href="#note249">[249]</a></p> + +<p>It is very painful to read this sentence; but the historian and +biographer must not be driven by such sweeping condemnation into the +opposite extreme; nor be deterred by the apprehension of unpopularity +from laying open his views both of the moral and religious question in +the abstract, and also of the acts, and character, and spirit of the +individual subject of inquiry.</p> + +<p>The principles of religious liberty were ill understood through many +years before, and subsequently to, the time of Henry V. The sentiments +of persons in every rank of life in those days seem to have been built +upon an understanding, that the authorities, ecclesiastical and civil, +were bound in duty to expel heresy by force. It was not the case of a +dominant party enacting penalties abhorrent from the sympathies of the +mass of the people; "the people themselves wished to have it so, and +the priests bore rule by their means." So thorough a triumph had the +gigantic policy of Rome achieved over the freedom, and the wills, and +the judgments of the inhabitants of Europe! Like her other victories, +this too was the work of progressive +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page325" name="page325">(p. 325)</a></span> +inroads on the +liberties of Christians. Never at rest, ever active, the +arch-conqueror fastened to her chariot-wheels, one by one, the most +valued rights and most solemn duties of responsible agents. The right +of private judgment in matters of religion had been resigned by the +vast majority of the people of Christendom, and the duty and +responsibility in each individual of searching for the truth himself +had been laid aside long before Henry V. was called to take a part in +the affairs of this world. Bold and noble spirits, indeed, were found +in successive periods to assert their own rights and to declare the +privileges and the duties of their fellow-creatures, and to think for +themselves in a matter which so deeply involved their own individual +and eternal welfare; whilst the bulk of mankind in Christendom not +only resigned their faith to the absolute control of the priesthood, +but exacted also from their fellow-citizens a similar surrender, on +pain of losing their share in the protection and advantages of the +state. Thus had heresy, in various nations of Europe, become +synonymous with rebellion and treason; a rejection of the +determinations of the church in matters of doctrine was identified in +most men's minds with rejection of the authority of the civil +magistrate;<a id="notetag250" name="notetag250"></a><a href="#note250">[250]</a> +and every one who dared to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page326" name="page326">(p. 326)</a></span> +dispute the +jurisdiction of Rome was regarded as a dangerous innovator, and an +enemy to his own country.</p> + +<p>That this was a state of things to be deplored by every friend of +liberty and lover of truth, is not questioned; that domination over +the consciences of men has ever been the object of the church of Rome, +and that the spirit of persecution will ever be characteristic of her +principles, is not here denied; nor are these observations made for +the purpose of softening the feelings of abhorrence with which any +persons may be disposed to view the proceedings of a persecuting +spirit in those things which concern our most momentous interests so +awfully. We refer to these historical reminiscences solely for the +purpose of forming a more correct estimate of the individual character +of one who lived in those times, and was born, and cradled, and +educated in that atmosphere. It is easy to charge Henry V. with "the +ignorance and folly of the bigot, and the barbarities of the +persecutor;" but it were more worthy of a historian (his eye bent +singly on the truth) to substitute inquiry +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page327" name="page327">(p. 327)</a></span> +for assumption, +and careful weighing of the evidence for indiscriminate condemnation. +There is such a thing as persecution, though the dungeon and the stake +be not employed for its instruments; and true charity will be tender +of the character of a fellow-mortal, though he is removed from this +scene of trouble and trial, and has no longer the power of answering +the accusations with which his good name is assailed. We may be as +honest as those who write most bitterly, in our abhorrence of +persecution; and yet think the individual who put its most rigid laws +into effect, deserving of compassion and pity that his lot had fallen +in such days of bigotry and ignorance, rather than of reprobation for +not having discovered for himself a more enlightened path of duty.</p> + +<p>It is not because we are obliged to confess that even the outward acts +of Henry V. have been those of a persecutor, that these preliminary +remarks are offered; it is rather to prepare our minds for a fair +examination of his conduct, with reference to the only just and equal +standard; for a candid and searching analysis of the evidence drawn +from original sources, before it has become turbid and coloured by the +channel through which it is often forced to flow; and for an +unprejudiced judgment on his character,—a judgment perverted neither, +on the one hand, by the dazzling splendour of his victories, nor, on +the other, by that very common but most +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page328" name="page328">(p. 328)</a></span> +iniquitous principle +of adjudication condemns the accused from hatred of the crime laid to +his charge. The Author's sentiments on the character of religious +persecution in general, and of the persecuting spirit of the church of +Rome in particular, need not be disguised. He would never be disposed +to acquit Henry V, or any other person, from a feeling of sympathy +with the spirit of persecution.</p> + +<p>The religion of the Gospel abhors all persecution. The faith of Christ +must be maintained and propagated by more holy and heavenly weapons +than those which can be forged by human authority and power. +Persecution prevails in a Christian community only so far as the +genuine spirit of the Gospel is quenched or checked among its members. +The church has a power of compelling men to come to Christ, and to +embrace the true faith, but its instruments of compulsion must be +spiritual only: its sword must be supplied from God's own armoury. The +sentence, "Having the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men," conveys +an idea of tremendous consequences in store for those who refuse to +obey the truth; but the consequences are reserved for the immediate +dispensation of Him "who knoweth the thoughts." That believers, when +possessed of temporal power, should have recourse to bodily restraint, +and torture, and death, as the earthly punishment of those who +entertain unsound doctrine, is a monstrous invention, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page329" name="page329">(p. 329)</a></span> which +can derive no countenance from "the Word," and must be supported only +by a worldly sword, and the arm of man wielding it. If, indeed, +Christians are so far forgetful of the spirit of the Gospel as, on the +plea of defending and spreading its genuine doctrines, to disturb the +peace, and shake the foundations, and threaten the overthrow of +society, the civil magistrate, whether Christian or heathen, will +interpose. But neither has he, more than the church, any authority +whatever for interfering by violence with the faith of any one. It is +the duty of a Christian magistrate to provide for his people the means +of religious instruction, and worship, and consolation; but, on the +principles which alone can be justified, he must leave them at liberty +to reject or to avail themselves of the benefit. Their neglect, or +their abuse of it, will form a subject of inquiry at another tribunal; +and the final, irreversible judgment to be pronounced there, man has +no right to anticipate by pain and punishment on earth. These are the +true principles of Christianity, and a church departs from the Gospel +whenever these principles are neglected.</p> + +<p>In adopting, however, these principles, and making them practically +one's own, it must never be forgotten that there is a danger of +confounding them, as they are unhappily too often confounded, with the +results of a philosophy, falsely so called, which would teach +governments to be indifferent to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page330" name="page330">(p. 330)</a></span> +the religion of their +people, and would encourage individuals to take no interest in the +dissemination of religious truth. East is not more opposed to west, +than the spirit of persecution, which would compel others by secular +punishments to make profession of whatever doctrines the government of +a country may adopt, is opposed to that Christian wisdom which +maintains it to be equally the bounden duty of the state to provide +for the religious instruction and comfort of its members, as it is the +duty of a father to train up his own children in the faith and fear of +God. The poles are not further asunder, than that holy anxiety for the +salvation of our fellow-creatures which would impel Christians, to the +very utmost bound of the sphere of their influence, to promote as well +unity in the faith as the bond of peace and righteousness of life, is +removed from that narrow bigotry which fixes on those who differ from +ourselves the charge of wilful blindness, and obstinate hatred of the +truth, to be visited by man's rebuke here, and God's displeasure for +ever.<a id="notetag251" name="notetag251"></a><a href="#note251">[251]</a> +A wise and pious writer of our own +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page331" name="page331">(p. 331)</a></span> +has +said,<a id="notetag252" name="notetag252"></a><a href="#note252">[252]</a> +"Show me the man who would desire to travel to heaven alone, +regardless of his fellow-creature's progress thitherward, and in that +same person I will show you one who will never be admitted there." The +principle applies equally to an individual and a commonwealth. Show me +a State which neglects to provide for the spiritual edification and +comfort of its members, and in its institutions proves itself +unconcerned as to the advancement of religious truth, and in that +State you see a commonwealth whose counsels are not guided by the +spirit of the Gospel, and therefore on which, however for a time it +may shine and dazzle men's eyes with the splendour of conquest, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page332" name="page332">(p. 332)</a></span> +be making gigantic strides in secular aggrandizement, the +blessing of the God of Truth and Love cannot be expected to descend.</p> + +<p>A Christian legislature is bound by the most solemn of all +obligations to supply with parental care the means which, in the +honest exercise of its wisdom, it deems best fitted for converting the +community into a people serving God; each obedient to his law here, +each personally preparing for the awful change from time to eternity. +But with each individual member of the community, from those who make +its laws or administer them to the humblest labourer for his daily +bread, it must ultimately be left to accept or to reject, to cultivate +or neglect, the offered blessing. The moment compulsion interferes +with the free choice of the individual, the religion of the heart and +the outward observance cease to coincide, and hypocrisy, not faith +working by love, is the result. +"Persecution<a id="notetag253" name="notetag253"></a><a href="#note253">[253]</a> +either punishes a +man for keeping a good conscience, or forces him into a bad +conscience; it either punishes sincerity, or persuades hypocrisy; it +persecutes a truth, or drives into error; and it teaches a man to +dissemble and to be safe, but never to be honest."</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>With these observations we would proceed to inquire historically into +the personal character of Henry V. with regard to religious +persecution; a prince +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page333" name="page333">(p. 333)</a></span> +who lived when all Christendom was +full of the darkness of bigotry and superstition, and when persecution +had established its "cruel habitations" in every corner of the land.</p> + +<p>The first occasion on which Henry of Monmouth's name is in any way +connected with religious intolerance and persecution, is recorded in +the Rolls of Parliament, 7 and 8 Henry IV. The circumstance is thus +stated by +Prynne,<a id="notetag254" name="notetag254"></a><a href="#note254">[254]</a> +or whoever was the author of the passage which +is now found in the "Abridgment of Records in the Tower." "At this +time the clergy suborned Henry, Prince, for and in the name of the +clergy, and Sir John Tibetott the Speaker, for and in behalf of the +Commons, to exhibit a long and <i>bloody</i> bill against certain men +called Lollards,—namely, against them that taught or preached +anything against the temporal livings of the clergy. Other points +touching Lollardy I read none; only this is to be marked, for the +better expedition in this exploit, they joined prophecies touching the +King's <span class="pagenum"><a id="page334" name="page334">(p. 334)</a></span> +estate, and such as whispered and bruited that King +Richard should be living; the which they inserted, to the end that by +the same subtlety they might the better achieve against the poor +Lollards aforesaid. Wherein note a most unlawful and monstrous +tyranny; for the request of the same bill was, that every officer, or +other minister whatever might apprehend and inquire of such Lollards +without any other commission, and that no sanctuary should hold them."</p> + +<p>The Biographer of Henry V. needs not be very anxious as to the real +intention of this petition. The allegation that Prince Henry and the +Speaker of the House of Commons were suborned by the clergy, is a pure +invention; no proof, or probable confirmation of any part of the +charge, is afforded by history. The Speaker is named as the chief +member of the House of Commons; the Prince is named as President of +the Council, and chief member of the House of Lords; each acting in +his official rather than in his individual character.</p> + +<p>The petition was presented on Wednesday, December 22, in the +parliament 7 and 8 Henry IV. which was dissolved that same day. The +Roll records that "The Commons came before the King and Lords, and +prayed an interview with the Lords by John Tybetot the Speaker." +Different petitions were presented; one touching the succession of the +crown, and the petition in question. The petition is not drawn up in +the name of the Commons and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page335" name="page335">(p. 335)</a></span> +Lords; it purports to be +addressed to the King by "his humble son Henry the Prince, and the +Lords Spiritual and Temporal in this present parliament assembled;" +and the Speaker, in the name of the Commons, prays the King that the +petition might be made the law of the land until the next parliament: +and the King "graciously assents." Whatever were the real object of +this law, if its aim were merciful, the Prince ought to have no +additional share of the praise; if it were adding to the severity of +the existing law, he deserves no additional blame, from the fact of +his name appearing in the petition. In either case it appears there +just as the Speaker's does, officially. But what was the real drift of +this petition? Suppose it to have been on the side of severity, will +it deserve the character assigned to it by the author of the +"Abridgment?" Can it be called a "bloody" petition? It prayed that +after the feast of Epiphany next ensuing, without any other +commission, "Lollards, and other speakers and contrivers of news and +lies, <i>might be apprehended</i> and <i>kept in safe custody till the next +parliament</i>, and <i>there to answer to the charges against them</i>." +Suppose this to have been an extension of a former persecuting law, it +gave no power of life or death, or any further severity against the +person, than merely safe custody, a power now given to any magistrate +against persons accused of any one of a large class of offences +usually treated as light and trifling. But we may suppose that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page336" name="page336">(p. 336)</a></span> +the real bearing of this petition were altogether the other +way,—that it was intended to mitigate the severity of the existing +law,—to deprive the real persecutors of the power, which they would +undoubtedly have had, "of citing the suspected heretic, punishing him +by fine and imprisonment, and, in the case of a relapsed or obstinate +heretic, consigning him to the civil power for death." This power the +statute<a id="notetag255" name="notetag255"></a><a href="#note255">[255]</a> +2 Hen. IV. c. 15, conferred on the diocesans; and the +petition in question might have been virtually a suspension of that +sanguinary law till the next session. If this be so, we have precluded +ourselves from ascribing any individual merit to Henry of Monmouth +above the rest of the peers who drew up the petition; but he must +share it equally with them; at all events, the charge of his having +been suborned by the clergy to present "a long and bloody petition" +falls to the ground. On this question, however, it were better to cite +the opinion +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page337" name="page337">(p. 337)</a></span> +of an author certainly able to take a correct +view of such subjects; and who, not having Henry the Fifth's character +before him at the time, but only the historical fact, must be regarded +as an unprejudiced authority. Mr. +Hallam,<a id="notetag256" name="notetag256"></a><a href="#note256">[256]</a> +in his History of the +Middle Ages, makes this comment upon the proceeding in question. "We +find a remarkable +petition<a id="notetag257" name="notetag257"></a><a href="#note257">[257]</a> +in 8 Henry IV. professedly aimed +against the Lollards, but intended, as I strongly suspect, in their +favour. It condemns persons preaching against the Catholic faith or +sacraments to imprisonment against the next parliament, where they +were to abide such judgment as should be rendered by <i>the King and +peers of the realm</i>. This seems to supersede the burning statute of 2 +Henry IV, and the spiritual cognizance of heresy. Rot. Parl. p. 583; +see too p. 626. The petition was expressly granted; but the clergy, I +suppose, prevented its appearing in the +Roll."<a id="notetag258" name="notetag258"></a><a href="#note258">[258]</a> +Certain it is, +that, unless the statute framed upon this petition suspended the power +of the existing law, the hierarchy had full authority, without the +intervention of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page338" name="page338">(p. 338)</a></span> +the civil magistrate, to apprehend any one +suspected of heresy, to try him, to sentence him, and to deliver him +over to the secular power for death, upon receipt of the King's +writ.<a id="notetag259" name="notetag259"></a><a href="#note259">[259]</a> +Certain it also is, that, on those who might be apprehended +in consequence of this petition, none of those rigours could be +visited: on the contrary, they would be placed beyond reach of the +ecclesiastical arm. Surely to talk of Prince Henry being suborned by +the priests to present a bloody petition, savours rather of blind +prejudice than of upright judgment.</p> + +<p>The only other occasion which places Henry of Monmouth, whilst Prince +of Wales, before us in conjunction with bigotry, intolerance, and +persecution, is the martyrdom of a condemned heretic, executed in +Smithfield. Fox, and those who follow him, say, that the martyr was +John Badby, an artificer of Worcester, condemned first in his own +county, and then definitively sentenced by the Archbishop, the Duke of +York, the Chancellor, and others in London; the Chronicle of London +records the same transaction, but speaks of the individual as a +"<i>clerk</i>, who believed nought of the sacrament of the altar!" There is +no doubt, however, that the two accounts, as well as the Archbishop's +record, refer to the same individual, though the Chronicle of London +is mistaken as to the sphere of life in which he moved. It will be +borne in mind that the question is not, whether John Badby ended his +life gloriously in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page339" name="page339">(p. 339)</a></span> +defence and in testimony of the truth, +nor whether those who charged, and tried, and condemned him, were +merciless persecutors; the only point of inquiry immediately before us +is, Whether, at the death of John Badby, Henry of Monmouth showed +himself to be a persecutor. The circumstances, however, of this +martyr's charge and condemnation, independently of that question, are +by no means void of interest; though our plan precludes us from +detailing them further than they may throw more or less direct light +upon the subject of our investigation. The following statement is +taken from Archbishop Arundel's +record.<a id="notetag260" name="notetag260"></a><a href="#note260">[260]</a></p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>John Badby was an inhabitant of Evesham, in the diocese of Worcester, +and by trade a tailor. He was charged before the bishop with heresy, +and was condemned in the diocesan court. The point on which alone his +persecutors charged him, was his denial of transubstantiation. His +trial took place on the 2nd of January, 1409, and he was subsequently +brought before the Archbishop and his court in London, as a heretic +convict. His examination began on Saturday, the 1st of March 1410, at +the close of which the court resolved that he should be kept a close +prisoner till the next Wednesday, in the house of the Preaching +Friars, where the proceedings were carried on. The Archbishop, for +greater caution, said that he would himself +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page340" name="page340">(p. 340)</a></span> +keep possession +of the key. When the Wednesday arrived, the Archbishop took, as his +advisers and assistants, so great a number of the bishops and nobles +of the land, that (in the words of his own record) it would be a task +to enumerate them: among others, however, the names of Edmund Duke of +York, John Earl of Westmoreland, Thomas Beaufort Chancellor of +England, and Lord Beaumond, are +recorded.<a id="notetag261" name="notetag261"></a><a href="#note261">[261]</a> +Prince Henry, though +present in London, and actively engaged with some of the same noblemen +as members of the council, was not present at Badby's examination, +either on the Saturday or on the +Wednesday.<a id="notetag262" name="notetag262"></a><a href="#note262">[262]</a> +In all his +examinations Badby seems to have conducted himself throughout with +great firmness and self-possession, and, at the same time, with much +respect towards those who were then his judges. Looking to the +circumstances in which he was placed, it is almost impossible for any +one not to be struck by the weight and pointedness of his answers. He +openly professed his belief in the ever blessed Trinity, "one +omnipotent God in Trinity;" and when pressed as to his belief in the +sacrament of the altar, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page341" name="page341">(p. 341)</a></span> +he declared that, after consecration, +the elements were signs of Christ's body, but he could not believe +that they were changed into the substance of his flesh and blood. +"If," he said, "a priest can by his word make God, there will be +twenty thousand Gods in England at one time. Moreover, I cannot +conceive how, when Christ at his last supper broke one piece of bread, +and gave a portion to each of his disciples, the piece of bread could +remain whole and entire as before, or that he then held his own body +in his hand." At his last appearance before the large assemblage of +the hierarchy and the temporality, when asked as to the nature of the +elements, he said, that "in the sight of God, the Duke of York, or any +child of Adam, was of higher value than the sacrament of the altar." +The Archbishop declared openly to the accused that, if he would live +according to the doctrine of Christ, he would pledge his soul for him +at the last judgment day.</p> + +<p>The registrar, in recording these proceedings, employs expressions +which too plainly indicate the frame of mind with which this poor man +was viewed by his persecutors. Had the words been attributed either to +the Archbishop himself, or to his remembrancer, by an enemy, they +might have excited a suspicion of misrepresentation or +misunderstanding. "Whilst he was under examination the poison of asps +appeared about his lips; for a very large spider, which no one saw +enter, suddenly and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page342" name="page342">(p. 342)</a></span> +unexpectedly, in the sight of all, ran +about his face." To this absurd statement, however, the registrar adds +a sentence abounding with painful and dreadful associations. "The +Archbishop, weighing in his mind that the Holy Spirit was not in the +man at all, and seeing by his unsubdued countenance that he had a +heart hardened like Pharaoh's, freeing themselves from him altogether, +delivered him to the secular arm; praying the noblemen who were +present, not to put him to death for his offence, nor deliver him to +be punished." Whatever force this prayer of the hierarchy was expected +to have, the King's writ was ready. The Archbishop condemned him +before their early dinner, and forthwith on the same day, after +dinner, he was taken to Smithfield, and burnt in a sort of tub to +ashes. The Lambeth +Register<a id="notetag263" name="notetag263"></a><a href="#note263">[263]</a> +mentions the mode of his death, and +affirms that he persevered in his obstinacy to the last, but says +nothing whatever about the Prince of Wales. The further proceedings +with regard to this martyr, and which connect him with the subject of +these Memoirs, are thus stated by Fox, in his Book of Martyrs.</p> + +<p class="letter"> + "This +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page343" name="page343">(p. 343)</a></span> +thing<a id="notetag264" name="notetag264"></a><a href="#note264">[264]</a> +[the condemnation by the Archbishop, + and the delivery of Badby to the secular power,] being done and + concluded in the forenoon, in the afternoon the King's writ was + not far behind; by the force whereof John Badby was brought into + Smithfield, and there, being put into an empty barrel, was bound + with iron chains, fastened to a stake, having dry wood put about + him. And as he was thus standing in the pipe or tun, (for as yet + Perilous' bull was not in use among the bishops,) it happened + that the Prince, the King's eldest son, was there present; who, + showing some part of the good Samaritan, <i>began to endeavour and + assay how to save the life of him</i> whom the hypocritical Levites + and Pharisees sought to put to death. <i>He admonished and + counselled him that, having respect unto himself he should + speedily withdraw himself out of these labyrinths of opinions</i>; + adding oftentimes threatenings, the which would have daunted any + man's stomach. Also Courtney, at that time Chancellor of Oxford, + preached unto him, and informed him of the faith of holy church. + In this mean season, the Prior of St. Bartlemew's in Smithfield, + brought, with all solemnity, the sacrament of God's body, with + twelve torches borne before, and so shewed the sacrament to the + poor man being at the stake: and then they demanded +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page344" name="page344">(p. 344)</a></span> of + him how he believed in it; he answered, that he well knew it was + hallowed bread, and not God's body. And then was the tunne put + over him, and fire put unto him. And when he felt the fire he + cried, 'Mercy!' (calling belike upon the Lord,) and so the Prince + immediately commanded to take away the tun and quench the fire. + The Prince, his commandment being done, asked him if he would + forsake heresy and take him to the faith of holy church; which + thing if he would do, he should have goods enough: promising also + unto him a yearly stipend out of the King's treasury, so much as + would suffice his contentation. But this valiant champion of + Christ rejected the Prince's fair words, as also contemned all + men's devices, and refused the offer of worldly promises, no + doubt but being more vehemently inflamed with the spirit of God + than with earthly desire. Wherefore, when as yet he continued + unmoveable in his former mind, the Prince commanded him straight + to be put again into the pipe or tun, and that he should not + afterwards look for any grace or favour." +</p> + +<p>Milner having told us, that "the memory of Henry is by no means free +from the imputation of cruelty," gives an unfavourable turn to the +whole affair, and ascribes a state of mind to the Prince, which Fox's +account will scarcely justify. Milner's zeal against popery and its +persecutions, often betrays him into expressions which a calm review +of all the circumstances of the case would, probably, have suggested +to his own mind the necessity of modifying and softening. Fox +attributes to Henry "some part of the good Samaritan," and puts most +prominently forward his desire and endeavour +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page345" name="page345">(p. 345)</a></span> +to save the +poor man's life. Milner ascribes to him a violence of temper, +altogether unbecoming the melancholy circumstances of that hour of +death, and directs our thoughts chiefly to his attempt to force a +conscientious man to recant.</p> + +<p>The account of Milner is this: "After he, Badby, had been delivered to +the secular power by the Bishops, he was by the King's writ condemned +to be burned. The Prince of Wales, happening to be present, very +earnestly exhorted him to recant, adding the most terrible menaces of +the vengeance that would overtake him if he should continue in his +obstinacy. Badby, however, was inflexible. As soon as he felt the +fire, he cried 'Mercy!' The Prince, supposing he was entreating the +mercy of his judges, ordered the fire to be quenched. 'Will you +forsake heresy,' said young Henry, 'and will you conform to the faith +of the holy church? If you will, you shall have a yearly stipend out +of the King's treasury?' The martyr was unmoved, and Henry <span class="smcap">in a rage</span> +declared that he might now look for no favour. Badby gloriously +finished his course in the flames."</p> + +<p>The Chronicle of London, from which, in all probability, Fox drew the +materials for his description, makes one shudder at the reckless, +cold-blooded acquiescence of its author in the excruciating tortures +of a fellow-creature suffering for his faith's sake. In his eyes, +heretics were detestable pests; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page346" name="page346">(p. 346)</a></span> +and an abhorrence of heresy +seems to have quenched every feeling of humanity in his heart. It must +be observed, that this contemporary document speaks not a word of +Henry having been "in a rage," nor of his having commanded the +sufferer to be "straight put into the ton," nor of his having used +"horrible menaces of vengeance," nor, even in the milder expression of +Fox, "threatenings which would have daunted any man's stomach."</p> + +<p class="smsize"> +"A clerk," (says the Chronicle,) "that believed nought of the +sacrament of the altar, that is to say, God's body, was condemned and +brought to Smithfield to be burnt. And Henry, Prince of Wales, then +the King's eldest son, counselled him to forsake his heresy and hold +the right way of holy church. And the Prior of St. Bartholomew's +brought the holy sacrament of God's body with twelve torches lighted +before, and in this wise came to this cursed heretic; and it was asked +him how he believed, and he answered that he believed well that it was +hallowed bread, and nought God's body. And then was the tonne put over +him, and fire kindled therein; and when the wretch felt the fire he +cried mercy, and anon the Prince commanded to take away the ton and to +quench the fire. And then the Prince asked him if he would forsake his +heresy, and take him to the faith of holy church; which if he would +have done, he should have his life, and goods enough to live by; and +the cursed shrew would not, but continued forth in his heresy: +wherefore he was +burnt."<a id="notetag265" name="notetag265"></a><a href="#note265">[265]</a> +</p> + +<p>There +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page347" name="page347">(p. 347)</a></span> +probably will not be great diversity of opinion as to +the conduct of Henry, and the spirit which influenced him on this +occasion. He was present at the execution of a fellow-creature, who +was condemned to an excruciating death by the blind and cruel, but +still by the undoubted law of his country. Acting the "part of the +good Samaritan," he earnestly endeavoured to withdraw him from those +sentiments the publication of which had made him obnoxious to the law; +and he employed the means which his high station afforded him of +suspending the King's writ even at the very moment of its execution, +promising the offender pardon on his princely word, and a full +maintenance for his life. He could do no more: his humanity had +carried him even then beyond his authority, and, considering all the +circumstances, even beyond the line of discretion; and, when he found +that all his efforts were in vain, he left the law to take its own +course,—a law which had been passed and put in execution before he +had anything whatever to do with legislation and government.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page348" name="page348">(p. 348)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">the case of sir john oldcastle, lord cobham. — reference to his +former life and character. — fox's book of martyrs. — the +archbishop's statement. — milner. — hall. — lingard. — cobham +offers the wager of battle. — appeals peremptorily to the pope. — +henry's anxiety to save him. — he is condemned, but no writ of +execution is issued by the king. — cobham escapes from the tower.</span><br><br> + +1413.</h3> + + +<p>The death of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, and the circumstances +which preceded it, require a more patient and a more impartial +examination than they have often met with. But it must be borne in +mind throughout that our inquiry has for its object, neither the +condemnation of religious persecution, nor the palliation of the +spirit of Romanism,—neither the canonization of the Protestant +martyr, nor the indiscriminate inculpation of all concerned in the sad +tragedy of his condemnation and death,—but the real estimate of +Henry's character. The pursuit of this inquiry of necessity +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page349" name="page349">(p. 349)</a></span> +leads us through passages in the history of our country, and of our +church, which must be of deep and lively interest to every Englishman +and every Christian. It is impossible, as we proceed, not to fix our +eyes upon objects somewhat removed from the direct road along which we +are passing, and, contemplating the state of things as they were in +those days, contrast them fairly and thankfully with what is our own +lot now.</p> + +<p>It were a far easier work to assume that all who were engaged in +prosecuting Sir John Oldcastle were men of heartless bigotry, +unrelenting enemies to true religion, devoid of every principle of +Gospel charity, men of Belial, delighting in deeds of violence and +blood; and that the victim of their cruelty, persecuted even to the +death solely for his religious sentiments, was a pattern of every +Christian excellence, the undaunted champion of Gospel truth, the +sainted martyr of the Protestant faith. This were the more easy task, +for little further would need to be done in its accomplishment than to +select from former writers passages of indiscriminate panegyric on the +one hand, and equally indiscriminate vituperation on the other. The +investigation of doubtful and disputed facts, to the generality of +minds, is irksome and disagreeable; and its results, for the most part +removed, as they are, from extreme opinions on either side, are +received with a far less keen relish than the glowing eulogy of a +partisan, and the unsparing invective of an enemy. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page350" name="page350">(p. 350)</a></span> Truth, +nevertheless, must be our object. Truth is a treasure of intrinsic +value, and will retain its worth after the adventitious and forced +estimate put upon party views and popular representations shall have +passed away.</p> + +<p>Sir John Oldcastle, who derived the title of Lord Cobham from his +wife, was a man of great military talents and prowess, and at the same +time a man of piety and zeal for the general good. He was one of the +chief benefactors towards the new bridge at Rochester, a work then +considered of great public importance; and he founded a chantry for +the maintenance of three chaplains. Oldcastle was by no means free +from trouble during the reign of Richard II. Indeed, so unsettled was +the government, and so violent were the measures adopted against +political opponents, and so cheap and vile was human life held, that +few could reckon upon security of property or person for an hour. One +day a man was seen in a high civil or military station; the next +arrested, imprisoned, banished, or put to death. Oldcastle was very +nearly made an early victim of these violent proceedings. Among the +strong measures to which parliament had recourse about the year 1386, +they appointed fourteen lords to conduct the administration, among +whom was Lord Cobham. Just ten years afterwards he was arrested, and +adjudged to death by the +parliament;<a id="notetag266" name="notetag266"></a><a href="#note266">[266]</a> +but his punishment, at the +earnest request +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page351" name="page351">(p. 351)</a></span> +of certain lords, was commuted for perpetual +imprisonment,<a id="notetag267" name="notetag267"></a><a href="#note267">[267]</a> +a sentence from which the lords of parliament +revolted,—and he was +exiled.<a id="notetag268" name="notetag268"></a><a href="#note268">[268]</a> +From this banishment he returned +with Henry of Lancaster, and was restored to all his possessions which +had been forfeited. Through the whole reign of Henry IV. we find him +in the King's service in Wales and on the Continent. In a summons for +a general council of prelates, lords, and knights, dated July 21, +1401, occurs the name of John Lord +Cobham.<a id="notetag269" name="notetag269"></a><a href="#note269">[269]</a> +In the Minutes of +Council about the end of August 1404, John Oldcastle is appointed to +keep the castles and towns of the Hay and Brecknock; and when English +auxiliaries were sent to aid the Duke of Burgundy, Oldcastle was among +the officers selected for that successful enterprise. Between the +Prince of Wales and this gallant brother in arms an intimacy was +formed, which existed till the melancholy tissue of events interrupted +their friendship, and ultimately separated them for ever.</p> + +<p>We have already seen that Lord Cobham had given proof of a pious as +well as a liberal mind; and his piety showed itself in acts which the +Roman church sanctioned and fostered. He built and endowed a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page352" name="page352">(p. 352)</a></span> +chantry for the maintenance of three chaplains. But he had imbibed a +portion of that spirit which Wickliffe's doctrines had diffused far +and wide through the land; and he not only boldly professed his +principles, but actively engaged in disseminating them. It is very +difficult to ascertain the exact truth as to the tenour and extent of +the religious opinions of the rising sect, and the degree in which +they were political dissenters, aiming at the overthrow of the +existing order of things in the state as well as in the church. Their +enemies, doubtless, have exaggerated their intentions, and have +endeavoured to rob them of all claim to the character of sincere +religious reformers; probably misrepresenting their objects, and +confounding their designs with the plots of those turbulent +spirits<a id="notetag270" name="notetag270"></a><a href="#note270">[270]</a> +who then agitated several countries in Europe; whilst +their friends have denied, perhaps injudiciously, any participation on +their part in seditious and treasonable practices. By the one they +have been condemned as reckless enemies to truth, and order, and +peace; by the other they are exalted into self-devoted confessors and +martyrs; in soundness of faith, integrity of life, and constancy unto +death for the truth's sake, equalling those servants and soldiers of +Christ who in the first ages sealed their belief with their blood. The +truth lies between these extremes: +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page353" name="page353">(p. 353)</a></span> +their enemies were +bigoted or self-interested persecutors; but many among themselves, as +a body, in their language, their actions, and their professed +principles, were very far removed from that quiet, patient, peaceable +demeanour which becomes the disciples of the Cross. Doubtless there +were numbers at that time in England possessing their souls in +patience, bewailing the gloom and superstition and tyranny which +through that long night of error overspread their country, and +anxiously but resignedly expecting the dawn of a holier and brighter +day. It is, however, impossible to read the documents of the time +without being convinced, not only that the temporal establishment of +the Church was threatened, but that the civil government had good +grounds for watching with a jealous eye, and repressing with a strong +hand, the violent though ill-digested schemes of change then +prevailing in England. Undoubtedly the hierarchy set all the engines +in motion for the extirpation of Lollardism, as the principles of the +rising sect were called. They felt that their dominion over the minds +of men must cease as soon as the right of private judgment was +generally acknowledged; and they resolved, at whatever cost of charity +and of blood, to maintain the hold over the consciences, the minds, +and the property of their fellow-creatures, which the Church had +devoted so many years of steady, unwearied, undeviating policy to +secure. The real question, the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page354" name="page354">(p. 354)</a></span> +point on which every other +question between the Protestant communions and the Church of Rome must +depend, is this: "Have individual Christians a right to test the +doctrines of the Church by the written word of God; or must they +receive with implicit credence whatever the church in communion with +the See of Rome, the only authorized and infallible guardian and +propagator of Gospel truth, decrees and propounds?" All the other +differences, however important in themselves, and practically +essential, must follow the fate of this question. The Romanists are +still aware of this, and are as much alive to it as ever were the most +uncompromising vindicators of their church in the days of Lollardism. +They took their resolution, and it was this: "Come what will come, +this heresy must be put down; the very existence of the Church is +incompatible with this rivalry: either Lollardism must be +extinguished, or it will shake the very foundations of Rome." And, +having taken this resolution, they lost no favourable opportunity of +carrying it into full effect.</p> + +<p>Some writers seem to have fixed their thoughts so much on the bold and +ruthless measures adopted, or compassed, by the Church under the house +of Lancaster, as to have left unnoticed their proceedings previously +to Henry IV.'s accession. In 1394, when Richard II. made his first +expedition to Ireland, though he had been absent a very short time, so +alarmed were the heads of the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page355" name="page355">(p. 355)</a></span> +Church at the progress of the +new opinions, that the Archbishop of +York<a id="notetag271" name="notetag271"></a><a href="#note271">[271]</a> +and the Bishop of +London went over in person to implore him to return forthwith and put +down the +Lollards,<a id="notetag272" name="notetag272"></a><a href="#note272">[272]</a> +his own and the Church's formidable enemies. +Many strong measures were resorted to on that King's return, but all +short of those deeds of guilt and blood which disgraced our country +through the next reigns. The Pope, the King, and the hierarchy put +forth their united exertions, and for a season the growing danger +seemed to be repressed; but it was still silently and widely +spreading. In the year 1400, before Henry IV. was settled in his +throne, and whilst he was naturally alive to every report of danger, +the several estates of the realm "pray the King to pass such a law as +may effectually rid the kingdom of those plotters against all rule and +right and liberty, (for so are the Lollards described,) whose aim is +to dispossess the clergy of their benefices, the King of his throne, +and the whole realm of tranquillity and order, exciting to the utmost +of their power sedition and insurrection." And in that year was passed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page356" name="page356">(p. 356)</a></span> +the statute De hęretico comburendo, which enacted that a +suspected heretic should be cited by his diocesan, be fined, and +imprisoned; and, if pronounced a relapsed or obstinate heretic, be +given over by the Church to the secular power, to be burnt, in an +elevated spot, before the people, to strike terror the more. It was +under this statute that Sir John Oldcastle was summoned, tried, +adjudged, and delivered to the secular power.</p> + +<p>How long he had entertained the new opinions, or, by openly +encouraging their propagators, had incurred the anger, and drawn down +upon himself the concentrated violence of the hierarchy, does not +appear. From one circumstance we may fairly infer, that, whilst he was +aiding the Prince in the war against Owyn Glyndowr, he had not been +silent or idle in the dissemination of these principles. In the synod +held in St. Paul's, his offence of sending emissaries and preachers is +said to have been especially committed (beside the dioceses of London +and Rochester) in the diocese of Hereford; and, as we have seen, in +1404 he was especially charged with the safeguard of the town and +castle of Hay, in Herefordshire: he was also sheriff of that county in +1407. Whether he had ever communicated his sentiments to the Prince, +or not, must remain a matter only of conjecture: be this as it may, no +sooner was the first parliament of Henry V. assembled,—and they met +soon after Easter,—than Arundel convened a full +assembly<a id="notetag273" name="notetag273"></a><a href="#note273">[273]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page357" name="page357">(p. 357)</a></span> +of prelates and clergy in St. Paul's +Cathedral.<a id="notetag274" name="notetag274"></a><a href="#note274">[274]</a> +It was there +speedily determined that the breaches in the Church could not be +repaired, nor peace and security restored, unless certain noblemen and +gentry, favourers of Lollardism, were removed, or effectually +silenced, and brought back to their allegiance. Especially, and by +name, was this decree passed against Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham; +and a resolution was taken to proceed against him forthwith. But he +was then in high favour with the King; and the Archbishop thought it +discreet to endeavour first to withdraw from him the royal favour, +before proceeding openly to put the law in force against him. And at +this point our interest in the transactions, and our desire to +ascertain the accuracy of the accounts in every particular begin to +increase; for our estimate of the tone and temper of Henry's mind, and +the real nature of his conduct, will be affected by a very slight +change of expression and turn of thought. Was Henry V. a persecutor +for religious opinions?</p> + +<p>Perhaps <span class="pagenum"><a id="page358" name="page358">(p. 358)</a></span> +the more satisfactory course will be, first to give +the statements of Fox, and one or two others, who have taken the view +of the case least favourable to Henry, and then to add the account of +the transaction as it is recorded by the Archbishop, on whose record +Fox informs us that the ground and certainty of his own history of +Lord Cobham depended. Almost all subsequent writers copy the +martyrologist exclusively and implicitly, though often with much +additional colouring.</p> + +<p>Fox, who certainly follows the original statement in Archbishop +Arundel's register much more faithfully, than those who have taken +their facts from him, and heightened them by their own exaggerated +colouring, gives an unfavourable and an unfair turn to the whole +proceeding by one or two strokes of his pencil. His version of the +affair is this: "The King <i>gently</i> heard those bloodthirsty prelates, +and <i>far otherwise than became his princely dignity</i>; notwithstanding +requiring, and instantly desiring them, that in respect of his noble +stock and knighthood, they would deal favourably with him, and that +they would, if possible, without all rigour or extreme handling, +reduce him to the Church's unity. He promised them also, that, in case +they were content to take some deliberation, himself would seriously +commune the matter with him. Anon after, the King sent for Lord +Cobham, and, as he was come, he called him, secretly admonishing him, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page359" name="page359">(p. 359)</a></span> +betwixt him and him, to submit himself to his mother the holy +Church, and as an obedient child to acknowledge himself culpable. Unto +whom the Christian knight made this answer: 'You, most worthy prince, +I am always most ready to obey. Unto you, next my eternal God, I owe +whole obedience, and submit thereto, as I have ever done. But as +touching the Pope and his spirituality, I owe them neither suit nor +service; forasmuch as I know him by the Scriptures to be the great +Antichrist, the son of perdition, the open adversary of God, and the +abomination standing in the holy place!' When the King had heard this, +and such like sentences more, he would talk no longer with him, but +left him so utterly. And as the Archbishop resorted again unto him for +an answer, he gave him his full authority to cite him, examine him, +and punish him according to their devilish decrees, which they called +the laws of holy church."</p> + +<p>In his comment on the answer said to have been made by Lord Cobham to +the King, Milner's zeal in favour of the accused, betrays him into +expressions against Henry which cannot be justified: "The <i>extreme +ignorance of Henry</i> in matters of religion by no means disposed him to +relish such an answer as this; <i>he immediately turned away from him in +visible displeasure</i>, and gave up the disciple of Wickliff to the +malice of his enemies."</p> + +<p>Hall's version is this: "The King, first having compassion +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page360" name="page360">(p. 360)</a></span> +on the nobleman, required the prelates, if he were a strayed +sheep,<a id="notetag275" name="notetag275"></a><a href="#note275">[275]</a> +rather by gentleness than by rigour to bring him back +again to his old flock: after that, he, sending for him, godly +exhorted and lovingly admonished him to reconcile himself to God and +his laws. The Lord Cobham thanked the King for his most favourable +clemency, affirming his grace to be his supreme head and competent +judge, and no other."</p> + +<p>The record, as it is found in the Archbishop's Memoirs, is as follows. +Having stated that, of the tracts which had been condemned to the +flames for their heretical contents, one consisting of many smaller +tracts full of more dangerous doctrine, tending to the subversion of +the faith and the church, was found at an illuminator's in Paternoster +Row, who confessed that it was Lord Cobham's, and another was brought +from Coventry, full of poison against the Church of God, the +Archbishop's record thus proceeds: "The day on which the said tracts +were condemned and burnt, certain tracts, containing more important +and more dangerous errors of the said Lord John Oldcastle, were read +before the King, and almost all the prelates and nobles of England, in +the closet of the King at Kennington; the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page361" name="page361">(p. 361)</a></span> +said Lord John +Oldcastle being present and hearing it, having been especially +summoned for this purpose. Then our King himself expressed his +abhorrence of those conclusions, as the worst against the faith and +the church he had ever heard. And the said Lord John Oldcastle, being +asked by the King whether he thought the said tract was justly and +deservedly condemned, said that it was so. On being asked how he could +use or possess a tract of this sort, he said that he had never read +more than two leaves.</p> + +<p>"And be it remembered that in the said convocation the said Lord John +Oldcastle was convicted by the whole clergy of the province of +Canterbury, upon his ill-fame for errors and heretical wickedness, and +how in various dioceses he had held, assumed, and defended erroneous +and heretical conclusions; and that he had received to his house, +favoured, refreshed, and defended, chaplains suspected and even +convicted of such errors and heresies, and had sent them off to +different parts of the province to preach and sow this evil seed, to +the subversion of the faith and the state of the +church.<a id="notetag276" name="notetag276"></a><a href="#note276">[276]</a> And +supplication was made on the part of the same clergy to the Lord +Archbishop and the prelates, that the said John +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page362" name="page362">(p. 362)</a></span> +Oldcastle +should be summoned to answer in person to these points. And because it +seemed right to the Lord Archbishop and the prelates, that the King +ought first to be consulted on this point, because he had been his +intimate friend, they waited upon the King at Kennington, and with all +due reverence consulted with him upon the matter. And the King +returned thanks for their obliging kindness, and prayed them, +[regratiabatur benevolentiis eorundem, et eis supplicabat,] for +respect to the King himself, because he had been his intimate friend, +and also from respect to the military order, they would defer process +and execution of every kind against him; promising them that he would +labour, with regard to him, to bring him back with all mildness and +lenity from the error of his way to the right path of truth. And if he +could not succeed in this endeavour, he would deliver him to them +according to the canonical obligations to be punished, and would +assist them in this with all his aid and with the secular arm. And the +said Archbishop and prelates acquiesced in the King's desire, but not +without the dissatisfaction and murmurs of the clergy. Then, after the +lapse of some time, when our said Lord the King had laboured long and +in various ways in the endeavour to bring back the said knight to the +sheepfold of Christ, and had reaped no fruit of his toil, but the +knight continually relapsed into a worse state than before, at length +the King, in the following month of August, being at +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page363" name="page363">(p. 363)</a></span> +Windsor, without further lenity sharply chided the said Lord John for +his obstinacy. And the said Lord, full of the Devil, not enduring such +chiding, withdrew without leave to his castle of Cowling in Kent; and +there fortified himself in the castle, as was publicly reported. After +that, the King sent for the Lord Archbishop, who was then at +Chichester, celebrating the Assumption of the blessed Virgin; and, on +his coming to the King at his house in Windsor Park, the King, after +rehearsing the pains he had taken, enjoined on the Archbishop, and +required him on the part of God and the Church, to proceed with all +expedition against the said Lord John Oldcastle according to the +canonical rules; and then the Archbishop proceeded against him as the +law required."<a id="notetag277" name="notetag277"></a><a href="#note277">[277]</a></p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>After attentively perusing this authentic statement, comparing it with +subsequent representations, and recollecting that the utmost which +Henry did was to direct the ecclesiastical authorities to proceed +according <span class="pagenum"><a id="page364" name="page364">(p. 364)</a></span> +to the laws of the land, where he had interrupted +their proceedings with a view of averting the extremities on which +those authorities seemed bent—and when we learn that even that +temporary delay had called forth the decided disapprobation and +remonstrance of the clergy,—few probably among unprejudiced minds +will be disposed to view this incident in any other light than as a +proof that Henry, who was a sincere believer, was yet anxious to bring +all to unity in faith and discipline by reason and gentle means, by +the force of argument and persuasion only; and that he earnestly +endeavoured to blunt the edge of the sword with which the law had +supplied the hierarchy, and to avert the horrors of persecution. +Undoubtedly, when he failed, he directed the authorities to proceed +according to law, and assisted them in securing Cobham's person when +he set them at defiance. But it is necessary to take a comprehensive +view of all the circumstances before we pronounce judgment as to his +principles or motives.</p> + +<p>The account of Henry's own chaplain, who was prejudiced in the extreme +against the rising sect, seems undoubtedly to imply that in one stage +of the melancholy transaction Henry was more than passive, and +encouraged rather than checked the ecclesiastical authorities to +proceed; but he at the same time adds, what is of course of equal +credit, that the piety of the King deferred the extremity of +punishment and his death. He adds, "that Henry had Oldcastle +committed <span class="pagenum"><a id="page365" name="page365">(p. 365)</a></span> +to the Tower, influenced by the hope that he might +bring him back to the true faith; and that when, towards the end of +October, the straitness of his confinement was softened, and he was, +under promise of renouncing his errors, released from his bond, he +broke prison and escaped." This was written between Oldcastle's escape +and his subsequent capture and death. If we take one part of such +evidence, we must in fairness take the other; and certainly, in that +contemporary's view, Henry was fully determined to do all he could to +save Cobham from the extreme penalty of the law.</p> + +<p>He solicited the hierarchy, as a favour to himself, to suspend their +operations for a while; they consented to grant the suspension as a +favour to the King, upon his royal word being pledged that, should he +fail in his endeavours, he would interfere with their proceedings no +further, but on the contrary would assist them. Consistently with his +promise, and with his duty as the chief magistrate of the realm, he +could scarcely have done otherwise than he appears to have done.</p> + +<p>After he had put forth his very utmost endeavours to rescue his +subject and friend from the ruin to which the hierarchy had destined +him, he made up his mind that the law should take its course, and that +the accused should be tried as the statute directed. Lord Cobham wrote +a confession of his faith, and, carrying it with him to the court, +presented it to the King; who, having resolved to interpose no +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page366" name="page366">(p. 366)</a></span> +further between the accused and the process of the law, directed +him to present it to his judges: and probably few will be disposed to +think that Henry could act otherwise, consistently with his high +station. The case was now most materially altered; Lord Cobham was in +a very different position, and so was the King. As long as his kind +offices could prevent a public prosecution, Henry spared no personal +labour or time, but zealously devoted himself to this object, though +unsuccessfully. But now the proceedings had advanced almost to their +consummation, and interference at this point could scarcely have been +consistent with the royal duty; especially when we consider what those +proceedings were. Lord Cobham had been summoned to appear before the +spiritual court, had disobeyed the citation, had been pronounced +"guilty of most deep contumacy," and had been excommunicated. Henry +could not interfere in this stage of the business with any show of +regard to the laws, agreeably to which (blind, and cruel, and +bloodthirsty, and wicked, as we may deem them,) the proceedings +undoubtedly had been conducted; he therefore, as it should seem, could +not do otherwise than direct the schedule, then presented to him by +Lord Cobham, to be referred to the tribunal which the law had +appointed to hear and determine the charges. On this turn of his +affairs, the valiant knight and sincere Christian had recourse to +various pleas and measures, for which were we +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page367" name="page367">(p. 367)</a></span> +to condemn +him, as he has been condemned, we should act most unjustly. We must +not judge him by the standard of our own times, nor with reference to +principles on which we might justly be arraigned ourselves. But let +the same measure of justice be dealt to all alike; and whilst the +eulogist of Lord Cobham pleads in excuse the "wretched state of +society" then +existing,<a id="notetag278" name="notetag278"></a><a href="#note278">[278]</a> +let all the circumstances of time and +society and law be taken into calm consideration before we condemn +Henry, or rather before we withhold from him the praise of moderation, +liberality, and true Christian kindness. The result of this visit to +the King (to which the Archbishop's record does not allude) is thus +stated by Fox. "Then desired Lord Cobham in the King's presence that a +hundred knights and esquires might be suffered to come in upon his +purgation, which he knew would clear him of all heresies. Moreover, he +offered himself after the law of arms to fight for life or death with +any man living, Christian or heathen, in the quarrel of his faith; the +King and the Lords of his council excepted. Finally, with all +gentleness he protested before all that were present, that he would +refuse no manner of correction that should, after the laws of God, be +ministered unto him; but that he would at all times with all meekness +obey it. Notwithstanding all this, the King suffered him to be +summoned personally in his own privy chamber." There is one +circumstance of very great importance, omitted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page368" name="page368">(p. 368)</a></span> +by Milner, +Turner, and others; but which cannot be neglected if we would deal +fairly by Henry. Fox gives a circumstantial statement of it; and it is +of itself sufficient to account for whatever of "strait handling" may +have been shown by the King to his unhappy friend at that hour. Lord +Cobham, though he had repeatedly professed that the King was his +supreme head, and liege Lord, and competent judge, and no other; and +that he owed neither suit nor service to the Pope, whom he denounced +as Antichrist; yet now appealed in the presence of the King +peremptorily to the Pope, not on the heat of the moment, but by a +written document which he showed to the King. The King overruled this +appeal;<a id="notetag279" name="notetag279"></a><a href="#note279">[279]</a> +at least, he informed the accused that he should remain +in custody until it was allowed by the Pope, and that at all events +the Archbishop should be his judge. He was then arrested again at the +King's command, and taken to the Tower of London, "to keep his day," +the time appointed for his trial. But the reader will judge more +satisfactorily of the proceeding after reading the statement of Fox +himself. "Then said the Lord Cobham to the King that he had appealed +from the Archbishop +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page369" name="page369">(p. 369)</a></span> +to the Pope of Rome, and therefore he +ought, he said, in no cause to be his judge; and, having his appeal +there at hand ready written, he showed it with all reverence to the +King. Wherewith the King was then much more displeased than afore, and +said angerly unto him that he should not pursue his appeal; but rather +he should tarry in hold till such time as it were of the Pope allowed, +and then, would he or nild he, the Archbishop should be his +judge."<a id="notetag280" name="notetag280"></a><a href="#note280">[280]</a></p> + +<p>How far at this juncture the King was competent to take upon himself +the responsibility of forbidding any further proceedings against the +individual on whose head the church had resolved to pour the full vial +of its wrath and vengeance; and, if he had by law the power, how far +he could consistently with the safety of his throne and the peace of +his kingdom have done so, are questions not hastily to be +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page370" name="page370">(p. 370)</a></span> +determined. Certain it is, that, not two years after Lord Cobham's +first citation, Henry seems to have been thought by the +council<a id="notetag281" name="notetag281"></a><a href="#note281">[281]</a> +to be so far from forward in the work of persecution, as to need from +them a memorial to be more vigilant and energetic in his measures +"against the malice of the Lollards;" and to require the Archbishops +and Bishops to do their duty in that respect. Henry, though sincerely +attached to the religion of Rome, yet, whether at the stake in +Smithfield, or in his own palace at Kennington, appears to have +endeavoured "to do the work of the good Samaritan," and to the very +verge of prudence to interpose between the execution of a cruel law, +and the sufferings of a fellow-creature for conscience sake; not by +setting himself up against the law of the kingdom over which he +reigned, but by gentleness and persuasion, and promises and threats, +to induce his subjects not to defy the law. Our inquiry does not +require or allow us to follow the steps of the devoted Lord Cobham +through his examinations before the ecclesiastical judges, nor to +pronounce upon the conduct and language either of +Arundel<a id="notetag282" name="notetag282"></a><a href="#note282">[282]</a> or his +prisoner. Henry seems to have taken no part in the proceedings +whatever. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page371" name="page371">(p. 371)</a></span> +But after the definitive sentence had been passed, +and he had been left to the secular power, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page372" name="page372">(p. 372)</a></span> +and remanded in +custody of Sir Robert Morley to the Tower, we must observe that though +according to Fox himself, the Archbishop had compelled the lay power +by most terrible menacings of cursings and interdictions to assist him +against that seditious apostate, schismatic, and heretic, and troubler +of the public peace, that enemy of the realm and great adversary of +holy church, (for all these hateful names did he give him,") yet the +King's writ for his execution was not forthcoming, and, as far as we +have any means of knowing, never was it issued. In the case of Sautre, +the sentence of his degradation and delivery to the secular power was +passed, and the King's writ for execution is tested on the very same +day, February 26th, +1401.<a id="notetag283" name="notetag283"></a><a href="#note283">[283]</a> +In the case of Badby, the sentence, the +King's writ, and the execution of the persecuted victim, followed in +one and the same day hard upon each +other.<a id="notetag284" name="notetag284"></a><a href="#note284">[284]</a> +But though Lord Cobham +was sentenced on Monday, September 25, 1413, yet he remained in the +Tower some time,—Fox says, "a certain space;" Milner says, "some +weeks,"—and no warrant of execution was forthcoming. Indeed, as far +as the record speaks, no such writ was ever issued by the King. The +Tower was no ordinary prison, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page373" name="page373">(p. 373)</a></span> +and yet Lord Cobham +escaped<a id="notetag285" name="notetag285"></a><a href="#note285">[285]</a> +by night, no one knew how. Whether by connivance or not, +and, if by connivance, whether from any intimation of the King's +wishes or not, was never +stated.<a id="notetag286" name="notetag286"></a><a href="#note286">[286]</a> +Many conjectures and surmises +were afloat, but no satisfactory account of his escape was ever made +known to the public. Certain it is that, had the King been a "cruel +persecutor," had he been as ready to meet the desires of the hierarchy +as his father was in the case of Sautre or Badby, a few hours only +after the ecclesiastical sentence was passed would have borne Lord +Cobham from the power of his persecutors to the place where the wicked +cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. Walsingham says +that both Henry and the Archbishop were desirous of saving Oldcastle's +life, and that the Archbishop requested the King to give him a respite +of forty +days.<a id="notetag287" name="notetag287"></a><a href="#note287">[287]</a> +But, adds Walsingham, he escaped, and spent the +time in preparing soldiers for revenge.</p> + +<p>Had +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page374" name="page374">(p. 374)</a></span> +Henry been merely indifferent on this point, the writ +would have issued as a matter of course. We have seen that, before any +proceedings were instituted against him, Henry used his utmost +endeavours and personal exertions to prevent the gallant knight from +falling into the dangers which threatened; and now, when nothing but +his own writ to the sheriff was wanted to bring the last scene of the +sad tragedy to a close, the King withheld it. The Archbishop, we are +told by Fox, compelled the lay power, by most terrible menacings of +cursing and interdictions, to assist him against Lord Cobham; and we +may be satisfied, the clergy, after denouncing him in convocation, and +after such vast pains had been undergone to subject him to the penalty +of death, would not have failed to press their sovereign to +extremities against this ringleader of their enemies: and yet the writ +of execution is withheld, and the condemned prisoner escapes. Whatever +inference may be drawn from these proceedings, at all events they give +no colour to the charge of persecution; on the contrary, the conduct +of Henry of Monmouth shews throughout indications +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page375" name="page375">(p. 375)</a></span> +of a +kind-hearted good man, averse from violence, anxious to avoid +extremities, withholding his hand from shedding of blood; and that not +from a carelessness or ignorance in the matter, for he was sincerely +attached to the Roman communion, believing it to be the true religion +of Christ, and had also made proficiency in the learning of the time. +Compared with the knowledge of those who have lived in more favoured +times, and whilst the true light has shone from the sanctuary of the +Gospel on the inhabitants of our land, Henry's acquaintance with +divine things may appear scanty. But he certainly had possessed +himself of a large share of Christian verity, and he was earnestly +bent on maintaining the faith which he had espoused. The system, +however, of the law of terror found no willing supporter in him. His +forbearance from persecution sprang from a genuine feeling of +humanity, the spirit of philanthropy and kindness.</p> + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page376" name="page376">(p. 376)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">change in henry's behaviour towards the lollards after the affair of +st. giles' field. — examination of that affair often conducted with +great partiality and prejudice. — hume and the old chroniclers. — +fox, milner, le bas. — public documents. — lord cobham, taken in +wales, is brought to london in a whirlicole, condemned to be hanged as +a traitor, and burnt as a heretic. — henry, then in france, ignorant, +probably, of cobham's capture till after his execution. — concluding +reflections.</span></h3> + + +<p>From the escape of Lord Cobham, or perhaps from the extraordinary +affair of St. Giles' Field, which must now engage our attention, we +perceive a most evident change in the sentiments and conduct of King +Henry towards the Lollards, and especially towards Lord Cobham. Up to +that time he seems to have considered their only crime to have been +heresy, and he anxiously employed his good offices to rescue and save +them: after that time he appears to have regarded them as his own +personal enemies, subverters of order, traitors to the throne and the +kingdom; and their heresy and schism +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page377" name="page377">(p. 377)</a></span> +were identified in his +mind with the crimes of sedition and +treason.<a id="notetag288" name="notetag288"></a><a href="#note288">[288]</a> +How far this view +of their principles and designs was just, has been disputed. Both +sides of the question have been strongly maintained. The inquiry is by +no means devoid of interest in itself; and, as far as Henry's conduct +and character are involved in the transactions of that time, is +indispensable; and throughout the inquiry it must be remembered that +the elucidation of his character, not the acquittal or conviction +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page378" name="page378">(p. 378)</a></span> +of Oldcastle and the Lollards, is the object we have in view.</p> + +<p>Hume, depending implicitly on the old chroniclers, pronounces Cobham +as the ringleader, and his followers guilty of treason. Fox, in his +Book of Martyrs, has supplied Milner and many others with a very +different view. Even Le Bas, in his "Life of Wiclif," though he is +compelled to acknowledge that, "with every allowance for the +exaggerations of malice, of bigotry, and of terror, it is scarcely +possible to believe that imputations so dark could have been <i>wholly</i> +fictitious and unfounded," yet is unfortunately contented with the +statements and arguments of later compilers, instead of satisfying +himself from the original documents. He could scarcely have read the +terms which Henry V. used in the different documents of his pardon to +the offenders, or even in his proclamation of a reward for the capture +of Sir John Oldcastle, when he tells us, "it should never be forgotten +that the records of their persecution are wholly silent on the subject +of sedition or conspiracy."</p> + +<p>It is curious to read the opposite accounts given of the affair of St. +Giles' Field by two modern historians, both having access to precisely +the same documents. Hume thus summarily disposes of the +case:—"Cobham, who was confined in the Tower, made his escape before +the day appointed for his +execution.<a id="notetag289" name="notetag289"></a><a href="#note289">[289]</a> +The bold spirit of the man, +provoked by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page379" name="page379">(p. 379)</a></span> +persecution and stimulated by zeal, was urged to +attempt the most criminal enterprises; and his unlimited authority +over the new sect proved that he well merited the attention of the +civil magistrate. He formed, in his retreat, very violent designs +against his enemies; and, despatching his emissaries to all quarters, +appointed a general rendezvous of the party in order to seize the +person of the King at Eltham, and put their persecutors to the sword. +Henry, apprised of their intention, removed to Westminster: Cobham was +not discouraged by this disappointment, but changed the place of +rendezvous to the field near St. Giles's. The King, having shut the +gates of the city to prevent any reinforcement to the Lollards from +that quarter, came into the field in the night-time, seized such of +the conspirators as appeared, and afterwards laid hold of the several +parties who were hastening to the place appointed. It appeared that a +few only were in the secret of the conspiracy; the rest implicitly +followed their leaders: but, upon the trial of the prisoners, the +treasonable designs of the sect were rendered certain, both from +evidence and from the confession of the criminals themselves. Some +were executed, the greater number pardoned. Cobham himself, who made +his escape by flight, was not brought to justice till four years +after; when he was hanged as a traitor, and his body was burnt on the +gibbet, in execution of the sentence pronounced against +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page380" name="page380">(p. 380)</a></span> +him +as a heretic. This criminal design, which was perhaps aggravated by +the clergy, brought discredit upon the party, and checked the progress +of that sect, which had embraced the speculative doctrines of +Wickliffe, and at the same time aspired to a reformation of +ecclesiastical abuses."</p> + +<p>Of the same affair Milner's version is this:—"The royal proclamation +did not put an end to the assemblies of the Lollards. Like the +primitive Christians, they met in smaller companies and more +privately, and often in the dead of the night. St. Giles' Fields, then +a thicket, was a place of frequent resort on these occasions; and here +a number of them assembled on the evening of January the 6th, +1414,<a id="notetag290" name="notetag290"></a><a href="#note290">[290]</a> +with the intention, as was usual, of continuing together to +a very late hour. The King was then at Eltham, a few miles from +London. He received intelligence that Lord Cobham, at the head of +twenty thousand of his party, was stationed in St. Giles' Fields for +the purpose of seizing the person of the King, putting their +persecutors to the sword, and making himself the regent of the realm. +Henry suddenly armed the few soldiers he could muster, put himself at +their head, and marched to the place. He attacked the Lollards, and +soon put them into confusion. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page381" name="page381">(p. 381)</a></span> +About twenty were killed, and +sixty taken: among these was one Beverley, their preacher; who, with +two others, Sir Roger Acton and John Brown, was afterwards put to +death. The King marched on, but found no more bodies of men. He +thought he had surprised only the advanced guard, whereas he had +routed the whole army. This extraordinary affair is represented by the +popish writers as a real conspiracy; and it has given them occasion to +talk loudly against the tenets of the reformers, which could encourage +such crimes. Mr. Hume also has enlisted himself on the same side of +the question, and in the most peremptory and decisive manner +pronounced Lord Cobham guilty of high treason."</p> + +<p>Milner<a id="notetag291" name="notetag291"></a><a href="#note291">[291]</a> +depends upon "the able and satisfactory vindication of +Lord Cobham by Fox, the martyrologist," whom he affirms to have +examined with great diligence and judgment <i>all</i> the authentic +documents. It is very dangerous to place implicit reliance on any one, +however impartial he may be; especially ought we to seek evidence for +ourselves, when an author professes, as Fox does, his object to be the +vindication of one party and the conviction of another. On this point +there are two or three unquestionably original documents, neither of +which does Fox +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page382" name="page382">(p. 382)</a></span> +examine, and on which probably the large +majority of readers will be disposed to rest, as the safest ground for +their opinion on Henry's conduct. In the course of the very day, on +the early morning of which, and during the night preceding, the affair +in St. Giles' Field took place, the King offers a reward of five +hundred marks to any by whose counsel Lord Cobham should be taken, one +thousand marks to any who should take him, and immunities and +privileges to any city or town whose burgesses should bring him before +the King. This proclamation, dated Westminster, 11th of January 1414, +assigns these reasons for the offer of such rewards for his capture: +"Since, by his abetting, very many of our subjects called Lollards +have maintained diverse opinions against the Catholic faith; and +contrary to their duty of allegiance, and falsely and traitorously, +have imagined our death, because we have taken part against them and +their opinions as a true Christian prince, and as we are bound by the +obligation of an oath; and because they have plotted very many +designs, as well for the destruction of the Catholic faith, as of the +state of the lords and great men of our realm, as well spiritual as +temporal; and, to fulfil their wicked purpose, have designed to make +diverse unlawful assemblies, to the probable destruction of our own +person, and of the states of the lords and nobles aforesaid."</p> + +<p>In the same proclamation we find these words, which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page383" name="page383">(p. 383)</a></span> most +persons will probably interpret as a proof of Henry's desire to mingle +mercy with justice: "We, observing how some of these Lollards and +others, who have designed our death and other crimes and evils, have +been taken on the past occasion, and are condemned to death; and +wishing hereafter, in a better and more gentle manner, as far as we +can, to avoid the shedding of the blood of Christians, especially of +our subjects, whom, for the tender and especial regard we have towards +them, we desire with all anxiety of mind to preserve from +blood-shedding and personal punishment," &c.</p> + +<p>Another offer of pardon was made in a proclamation dated March 28, +1414. It seems that many vexatious prosecutions had taken place, and +great disquietude and alarm had in consequence prevailed, and there +was danger lest the good and sound members of the community might be +condemned with the wicked and reckless disturbers of the public peace. +The King therefore offers a free +pardon<a id="notetag292" name="notetag292"></a><a href="#note292">[292]</a> +to all who will apply for +letters of pardon before the Feast of St. John the Baptist: there are, +however, ten or twelve exceptions; among others, Sir John Oldcastle, +Thomas Talbot, Thomas Drayton, rector of Drayton Beauchamp. In the +body of this act of grace we read this pious sentiment of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page384" name="page384">(p. 384)</a></span> +Henry: "We, from reverence to HIM who hath suddenly granted to us +protection and victory against many of our said enemies, and in his +own holy and good time desires to give pardon and peace to all who +offend against himself, lest he destroy them in their iniquities and +sins,—we, for the tranquillity, security, and peace of our lieges and +subjects, decree this pardon."</p> + +<p>In the December of the same year was the following pardon proclaimed, +which, among other things, fixes the precise date of the affair in St. +Giles' Field, and supplies, what has been triumphantly demanded by +those who will pronounce the whole to have been a mere invention, <i>the +conviction of an accused party</i>. "Whereas John Longacre of Wykeham, +formerly of London, mercer, was indicted before William Roos of +Hamelak, and others our justices, assigned to try treasons, felonies, +&c. in our county of Middlesex, for plotting to put us and our +brothers to death, and to make Sir John Oldcastle regent of this +kingdom; and had resolved, with twenty thousand men, to execute their +wicked purpose; and on the Wednesday after the Epiphany, in the first +year of our reign, there Sir John Oldcastle and others, traitorously +persevering in such purpose, traitorously met together in St. Giles' +Great Field, and compassed our death; and the said Longacre pleaded +'not guilty,' and put himself on his country; and he was by the +inquiry [inquest] found guilty, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page385" name="page385">(p. 385)</a></span> +and condemned to be drawn +from the Tower of London to St. Giles' Field, and there to be hanged; +we, of our special grace, have pardoned the said John Longacre."</p> + +<p>It is impossible for any candid mind to read these documents without +being convinced that Henry was fully and reasonably assured of the +treasonable practices of Oldcastle and his adherents, and that he was +anxious to deal as mercifully with his enemies as would be consistent +with a due regard to the peace and safety of the realm; and his +biographer considers this as all which legitimately falls within his +province. Whether Oldcastle himself were on that night in St. Giles' +Field, is now a question probably beyond the reach of certain +conclusion. The King's pardon to Longacre declares that he was +present, and there is no evidence on record against it. These are the +documents on which we must form our opinion. They are not traditionary +stories, written many years after the event; they are not manifestos +published in a foreign land; they are State-documents published on the +very spot, all in the same year, one on the very day after the +transaction, one in the March, and the last in the December following. +With reference to Fox's arguments,—whilst every one would, on many +accounts, do well to read them,—it will be immediately obvious, that +"though twenty thousand were said to be expected, and a few hundreds +only were found," yet that the large body of adherents who were to +rendezvous in St. Giles' +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page386" name="page386">(p. 386)</a></span> +Field were to come from the city, +and that on the first news of the meeting of the Lollards Henry sent +to order the city gates to be +shut.<a id="notetag293" name="notetag293"></a><a href="#note293">[293]</a> +Fox also says that any +conspiracy is incredible in which only three names could be fixed +upon; but this only argues in him an ignorance of the documents above +referred to, in which many persons are by name excepted from the +pardon, and reference is made to many others accused in different +parts of the country. It can no longer be doubted that Lord Cobham was +believed by Henry to have entered into a treasonable conspiracy +against the government and the person of the King; though, after he +escaped from the Tower, there is no evidence yet +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page387" name="page387">(p. 387)</a></span> +discovered +(except the King's own declaration) to prove that he was in Fickett's +Field, as the place of meeting near St. Giles' church was called.</p> + +<p>Of the seditious and treasonable conduct of Oldcastle, no one seems to +have entertained any doubt before the time of Fox, who wrote more than +a century and a half after the event. The Chronicle of London, written +about 1442, not thirty years after the transaction, after stating the +capture and execution of "diverse men," "much folk," among the rest "a +squire of Sir John Oldcastle," adds these words: "And certainly the +said Sir John, with great multitude of Lollards and heretics, were +purposed with full will and might to have destroyed the King and his +brethren, which be protectors +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page388" name="page388">(p. 388)</a></span> +of holy church, and them also +that be in degree of holy order in the service of God and his church; +the which will and purpose, as God would, was let, and Sir John fled +and escaped."<a id="notetag294" name="notetag294"></a><a href="#note294">[294]</a> +Fox quotes the Monk of St. Alban's, whose testimony +in the book entitled "Chronicles of England, and the Fruit of Time," +speaks in this strong language: "And in the same year (1 Henry V.) +were certain of Lolleis taken, and false heretics, that had purpose of +false treason for to have slain our King, and for to have destroyed +all the clergy of the realm, and they might have had their false +purpose. But our Lord God would not suffer it, for in haste our King +had warning thereof, and of all their false ordinance and working; and +came suddenly with his power to St. John without Smithfield: and anon +they took a captain of the Lolleis and false heretics, and brought +them unto the King's presence, and they told all their false purpose +and ordinance; and then the King commanded them to the Tower, and then +took more of them both within the city and without, and sent them to +Newgate and both Counters; and then they were brought for examination +before the clergy and the King's justices, and there they were +convicted before the clergy +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page389" name="page389">(p. 389)</a></span> +for their false heresy, and +condemned before the justices for their false treason."</p> + +<p>Walsingham says, referring to the time of Henry's first expedition, +that the Lollards, probably hearing of the treason of Grey, Scroop, +and Cambridge, at Southampton, came out of their lurking-places, and +spoke and wrote on the church-doors treason. And Oldcastle, who was in +concealment near Malvern, having heard, though by a mistake, that the +King had sailed, sent threats to Lord Burgoyne, who forthwith +collected at his castle of Haneley, near Worcester, five thousand men. +Cobham returned to his concealment; but a chaplain of his, and other +partisans, being taken, were so closely questioned that they +discovered the place in which he kept his arms concealed between two +walls.</p> + +<p>The author published under the name of Otterbourne, refers to a +document which, if authentic, would establish Oldcastle's treasonable +practices beyond further question. "The Lollards," he says, "meanwhile +were sadly grieved by the discovery of certain schedules and +indentures between John Oldcastle and the Duke of Albany, in which the +Scots are invited to besiege Roxburgh and Berwise [Berwick]. And on +this the Duke laid siege to Berwise by sea and land." Whether all +these testimonies and original documents establish Lord Cobham's guilt +or not, it is impossible to read them without inferring that, at all +events, there was abundant reason +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page390" name="page390">(p. 390)</a></span> +for Henry's own conduct +with regard to +him.<a id="notetag295" name="notetag295"></a><a href="#note295">[295]</a></p> + +<p>After his escape to Wales, however, and the exception of his name from +the bill of pardon, and the offer of a reward for his capture, Henry +does not appear to have had anything whatever to do with Lord Cobham +in life or in death. There is something strange and affecting in the +circumstances of his capture and execution. It was towards the close +of the year 1417, whilst parliament was sitting, that news arrived of +the Lord Cobham having been discovered and taken in Wales. After +voting a subsidy to Henry, who was then pursuing his victories with +all his energy in France, "as soon as they heard that the public enemy +was taken, they all agreed not to dissolve parliament until he were +examined and heard." The Lord Powis was sent to bring him to London, +his men having taken him after a desperate +struggle.<a id="notetag296" name="notetag296"></a><a href="#note296">[296]</a> +"He stood," +says the Monk of Croyland, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page391" name="page391">(p. 391)</a></span> +"at great defence long time, and +was sore wounded or he would be taken. And so the Lord Powis' men +brought him out of Wales to London in a whirlicole." He was forthwith +carried before the parliament as an outlaw, on the charge of treason, +and, as an excommunicated heretic, given over to the secular power. He +heard the several convictions, and made no answer to the charges; and +was then instantly condemned to be taken to the Tower, and thence to +the new gallows in St. Giles' Field, and there to be hanged for his +treason, and to be burnt hanging for his heresy. There was, +undoubtedly, great irregularity and hurry in this proceeding. But +probably the statement of the Monk of St. Alban's is not far from the +truth. "So he was brought to Westminster, and there was examined on +certain points, and he said not nay; and so he was convicted of the +clergy for his heresy, and dampned before the justices to the death +for treason: and he was led to the Tower again, and there he was laid +on a hurdle, and drawn through +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page392" name="page392">(p. 392)</a></span> +the city to St. Giles' Field. +And there was made a new pair of gallows, and a strong chain, and a +collar of iron for him; and there he was hanged, and burnt on the +gallows, and all for his lewdness and false opinions."</p> + +<p>And here we must close this sad tragedy, in the last scene of which +King Henry took no part. He was spared the pain of either sanctioning +or witnessing these transactions. The first information he received of +his unhappy friend's capture, probably certified him also of his +death; and whatever we may suppose to have been his sentiments on the +removal from this world of one whom he certainly believed guilty of +treason, and the enemy of his throne; his kindness of heart, and +sympathy with the brave and the good, must have made him, even in the +midst of the din of war and the flush of victory, lament the fate of +one whom for so many years he had held in affection and esteem. Henry +probably felt a melancholy satisfaction that he was spared the sad +duty, for so he must have deemed it, of sanctioning the last sentence +on his friend. They are now both in the hands of Him to whom all +hearts are open, and from whom no secret is hid; and there we leave +them to his just but merciful disposal.</p> + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page393" name="page393">(p. 393)</a></span> + +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">the case of john clayton, of george gurmyn, and of william taylor, +examined. — results of the investigation. — henry's kindness and +liberality to the widows and orphans of convicted heretics. — +reflections.</span></h3> + + +<p>Henry of Monmouth's name seems never to have been associated by our +historians with the death of any one condemned to the flames as a +heretic, except in the case of those two persons the circumstances of +whose last hours have been examined at length in this inquiry,—Badby, +whom he endeavoured to save even at the stake, and Oldcastle, whose +execution he respited, and for whose death he never issued the +warrant. There are, however, three prosecutions for heresy, which, +though hitherto unconnected with the question discussed in these +chapters, seem to claim a patient consideration before this inquiry is +closed, and the final answer be returned to the question, Was Henry a +persecutor for religious opinions? The names of the three persecuted +for maintaining opinions +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page394" name="page394">(p. 394)</a></span> +different from the dogmas of the +church of Rome, to whose convictions and deaths our attention is here +drawn, are John Clayton, or Claydon, George +Gurmyn,<a id="notetag297" name="notetag297"></a><a href="#note297">[297]</a> +and William +Taylor.</p> + +<p>The case of John Clayton, whether we look to it merely as a +well-authenticated fact of history, or seek from it ancillary evidence +as to the principles and conduct of Henry in the matter of religious +persecution, involves subjects of deep interest. The satisfaction with +which it is believed many may view it, as one of the incidents which +seem to imply that Henry was an unwilling, reluctant executor of the +penal laws of his kingdom, and took the lead of his people in +liberality and toleration, must be mingled with pain sincerely felt on +witnessing the stewards of the word of life becoming the zealous and +relentless exactors of a cruel and iniquitous law, straining to the +very utmost its enactments to cover their deeds of blood, and +sacrificing their fellow-creatures to the image they had set up. The +case of Clayton puts +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page395" name="page395">(p. 395)</a></span> +the excessive enormities of the +hierarchy of that day in a more striking point of view than many +others of the more generally cited instances of persecution. Clayton's +was not the case of a powerful man like Cobham, whose very character +and station, and rank and influence, made him formidable: Clayton's +was not the case of a learned man, or an eloquent preacher, or an +active, zealous propagator of those new doctrines from which the see +of Rome anticipated so much evil to her cause. His was the case of a +tradesman, unable to read himself, and engaging another to read to him +out of a book which seemed to give him pleasure; the place of reading +being a private room in a private house, the time of reading being the +Lord's day, and other festivals of the church; and the witnesses +against him being his own servant and his own apprentice. Had the +record of this sad persecution been written by an enemy to the +priesthood, we should have suspected that the whole case was +misrepresented, that a colouring had been unfairly given to the +proceedings, to make them more odious in our sight; and though, at the +best, such proceedings must be detestable, we should have deemed that +in this case the facts had been distorted to meet the prejudiced views +of the writer. But the proceedings are registered in the authentic +records of the Archbishop of +Canterbury,<a id="notetag298" name="notetag298"></a><a href="#note298">[298]</a> +and are minutely +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page396" name="page396">(p. 396)</a></span> +detailed in all the circumstances of time, and place, and person.</p> + +<p>John Clayton was a currier, or skinner, living in the parish of St. +Anne's, "Aldrychgate." In those days few tradesmen could read, and he +was not an exception. But he had at an early period formed a very +favourable opinion of the new doctrines; the preaching of Wickliffe's +followers, or, it may be, of Wickliffe himself, had made so deep an +impression on his mind, that nothing could shake the firmness and +constancy of his belief to the day of his death. His predilection for +"Lollardy," as the profession of the new doctrines was called, became +known to the ecclesiastical rulers long before the statute for burning +heretics was passed in England; and his religious opinions exposed him +to great troubles and hardships, even in the reign of Richard II. He +was arrested on suspicion of heresy, and carried before Braybrook, +Bishop of London. The consequence of his conviction was imprisonment, +first in Conway Castle for two years, and subsequently in the Fleet +for the term of three years more. He then renounced the errors alleged +against him, and abjured them at the time when "Lord John Searle" was +chancellor of England, about the year 1400. Through the reign of Henry +IV, and the two first years of Henry V, Clayton seems to have remained +unmolested. No sooner, however, had Henry left England on his first +expedition to France, than Clayton was seized, tried, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page397" name="page397">(p. 397)</a></span> +condemned. There seems to have been unusual despatch evinced in every +stage of the proceedings. Clayton was not cited by regular process. +The Mayor of London arrested him, and brought him before the +Archbishop's consistory, on Saturday, August 17th, when he was +examined, and remanded till the next Monday, August 19th. On which day +he was brought up again, and finally condemned as a wilful relapsed +heretic.</p> + +<p>At that very time, Henry, having dismissed his ships, was first +commencing the siege of Harfleur; he had left England only the +preceding Sunday. Whether the time selected for Clayton's arrest and +trial was merely accidental, or whether the civil and ecclesiastical +authorities (for both were equally eager for the blood of their +victim) seized upon the opportunity of Henry's first absence from +England, is a question which ought not to be decided before all the +circumstances attending both Clayton's execution and the proceedings +against Taylor (which will be next examined) shall have been carefully +weighed. One of the witnesses, who testified to overt acts of heresy +(such as those on which he was condemned) having been seen in +Clayton's conduct a year before the time of trial, was living in the +house of the Mayor of London; and that functionary seems to have +hurried on the prosecution with more zeal than considerateness, and to +have kept the young man in readiness to give his testimony whenever a +favourable opportunity offered. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page398" name="page398">(p. 398)</a></span> +Such circumstances cannot be +contemplated without suspicion. At all events, the plain fact is, +that, on the very Saturday after Henry sailed from England, Clayton +was brought under arrest, not under process of citation, before the +ecclesiastical judges by the Mayor of London, who was ready with his +witnesses.</p> + +<p>The charges brought against Clayton were, that, having renounced +heresy, he had again been guilty of the same crime, by associating +with persons suspected of heresy, and by having heretical books in his +possession. To establish these facts, in addition to his own +confession that he "had been imprisoned in the time of Bishop +Braybrooke on a charge of heresy, and had subsequently renounced in +the time of Chancellor Searle, and had heard read about one quarter of +the book then produced," they proceeded to examine two witnesses who +had been inmates in Clayton's family.</p> + +<p>The first witness swore that he had been, some time past, a servant +and apprentice of John Clayton; that he had seen one John Fuller, a +fellow-servant of his, reading the book, which he then identified, to +his master, in St. Martin's Lane, on certain festival days since +Easter; that in the book were the ten commandments in English, but +what else it contained he knew not; that John Clayton seemed to be +delighted with the book, and to regard it as sound and Catholic.</p> + +<p>Another witness, Saunder Philip, a lad fifteen years +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page399" name="page399">(p. 399)</a></span> +old, a +servant of Clayton's, but living at the time of the trial in the house +of the Mayor of London, testified that he saw the book brought into +Clayton's house about the middle of the preceding Lent; that he heard +Clayton, his master, say that he would rather pay three times the +price of the book than be without it; and that, on several occasions, +through the year before, he saw and heard persons suspected of heresy +conversing with Clayton.</p> + +<p>To what miserable, degrading expedients were these persecutors obliged +to condescend in compassing their designs! compelling those who ate of +the bread of the accused, and drank of his cup, and were his own +domestic servants, and confidential inmates of his home, to bear the +testimony of death against him: verifying among Christians what the +Lord of Christians prophesied as the result of pagan opposition to the +Gospel itself, "A man's foes shall be those of his own household."</p> + +<p>The poor man himself confessed that he believed he had heard about +one-fourth part of the book read. The book produced, and identified by +the witnesses, was called "The Lantern of Light;" in which the +ecclesiastical judges pronounced many gross and wicked heresies to be +contained. Among other articles objected to, some of which were +doubtless in a more palpable manner adverse to the favourite doctrines +of Romanism, we find the following criterion of the lawfulness and +virtue of alms-giving. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page400" name="page400">(p. 400)</a></span> +The author maintained that alms were +neither lawful nor virtuous, unless four conditions were observed in +the distribution of them.</p> + +<p>1.—Unless they be given to the honour of God.</p> + +<p>2.—Unless they be given from goods justly gotten.</p> + +<p>3.—Unless they be given to one whom the donor believed to be in a +state of Christian charity.</p> + +<p>4.—Unless they be given to such as in very deed, without dissembling +or pretence, are in need.</p> + +<p>That the parts of the book which contained the heretical doctrines +were ever read to Clayton, does not seem to have been elicited at the +examination. The witnesses could only depose to having heard the +Decalogue read in English, but nothing more; and the poor man's own +confession acknowledged only that he had heard about one quarter of +the work read. Still, on this confession and this evidence, and for +this offence, John Clayton was convicted of heresy, was condemned as a +relapsed heretic, and left without mercy to the secular power. Fox, +who quotes no authority, adds only, that he "was by the temporal +magistrates not long after had to Smithfield and burnt."</p> + +<p>The ecclesiastical record contains no information after the sentence +passed on Monday the 19th of August, and our historians seem not to +have made any inquiries as to the fate of this man. Recent researches, +however, into original documents have +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page401" name="page401">(p. 401)</a></span> +been made by the +Author, with the view of facilitating the present inquiry, and +rendering it more satisfactory; and the successful result of those +researches enables him to throw some additional light on the subject +under investigation. The following facts deserve especial attention. +Shortly after the above sentence was passed by the ecclesiastical +authorities, the Mayor and citizens of London wrote a letter to King +Henry, rehearsing the judgment of the ecclesiastical court on John +Clayton, and expressing their intention to make an example of the +convict by carrying the sentence into execution. But they desired the +King to send them his especial directions on the subject, as they were +desirous to avoid giving offence in this as well as in all other +affairs. The answer of Henry to this request, if it was ever made, is +certainly not recorded. The strong probability is that the execution +took place before there had been time for the King's answer, if he +ever sent one, to reach London. The sheriffs of London state in this +same year that "they had expended 20<i>s.</i> about the burning of John +Claydon, skinner, and George Gurmyn, baker, Lollards convicted of +heresy," though the day of the execution is not recorded.</p> + +<p>It must here be remembered, that the Mayor himself arrested Clayton, +and produced the witnesses against him; that the King's +writ<a id="notetag299" name="notetag299"></a><a href="#note299">[299]</a> was +not necessary +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page402" name="page402">(p. 402)</a></span> +to authorize execution after judgment passed by +the ecclesiastical authority in convocation; and that, even if it had +been necessary to procure the royal sanction, the Duke of Clarence was +left in England with full powers, as Henry's representative. Yet, in +order to avoid giving offence, though they were determined to make an +example of Clayton, they were afraid to proceed to the extreme penalty +of the law without first taking the instructions of the King. This +would scarcely +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page403" name="page403">(p. 403)</a></span> +have been necessary, nor would any hesitation, +or scruple, or misgiving have arisen in their minds, had they not been +under a strong practical persuasion that the execution of this man +would have given their King displeasure. And when we know what +employment awaited Henry from the very day of Clayton's conviction +till his return home,—the siege of Harfleur, the harassing march +through France, the battle of Agincourt,—we cannot wonder at no +answer being recorded. Perhaps +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page404" name="page404">(p. 404)</a></span> +he made no answer; perhaps the +letter never reached him in the midst of his struggles and dangers; +probably he did not interfere, but allowed the law to take its course. +Whatever took place between the condemnation and the death of Clayton, +every stage of the transaction, from the first arrest of the accused +on the very Saturday after Henry sailed for France, makes it quite +clear that, in the opinion of the magistrates of London, Henry would +be no willing abettor of persecution.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>A case, however, of no ordinary character as a matter of historical +record, and doubly important to those who take an interest in the +result of the present investigation, requires to be examined in all +its bearings (especially with reference to the dates of its several +stages) with greater care than has hitherto been bestowed upon it.</p> + +<p>In the July of 1416, whilst the Emperor Sigismund and Henry were both +in England, Archbishop Chicheley gave evidence of his zeal by issuing +most stringent mandates, directing his suffragan bishops to make +diligent search for heretics, to report the names and circumstances of +all who were suspected of heresy under seal to the metropolitan, and +to institute process against them according to law. On the publication +of these injunctions, a most strict and searching inquisition took +place through the country. Still no one suffered the extreme penalty +of the law as a heretic convict. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page405" name="page405">(p. 405)</a></span> +In the next year, no sooner +was Pope Martin V. elected at Constance, than, complaining bitterly of +the neglect and apathy of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities, +the new Pontiff addressed every argument, both of encouragement and of +intimidation, to the laity and the clergy alike, urging them to unite +as one man in the work of extirpating heresy. He even applied to the +English church, that, in their overflowing zeal for the Apostolic See, +they would raise a subsidy in aid of the war then being carried on +against the heretics in Bohemia. Among those who had fallen under +suspicion of heresy, and who were watched with jealous vigilance by +the ecclesiastical authorities, was one William Taylor, who had +proceeded to his degree of Master of Arts in one of the Universities, +and had been admitted into the order of priest in the church. Taylor +was cited to appear before the consistory; and on Monday, February 12, +1420, he confessed before Archbishop Chicheley that in the time of his +predecessor (Arundel) he had been suspected of heresy; and for not +appearing, or for not answering to the charge brought against him, he +had been excommunicated, and had remained under that sentence for +fourteen +years.<a id="notetag300" name="notetag300"></a><a href="#note300">[300]</a> +Upon his expression of sorrow and repentance, he +was commanded to appear on the following Wednesday at Lambeth, where, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page406" name="page406">(p. 406)</a></span> +in the great chapel, he received the pardon of the church on +certain stipulated conditions. He was bound by solemn promises, and by +an oath on the Gospels (thrice repeated), not to offend again; and he +promised to appear in person or by his proctor at the next +convocation, there to confess his penitence. He was then set at +liberty.</p> + +<p>Taylor, however, was not long allowed to remain unmolested. Agreeably +to the call of the sovereign Pontiff at Rome, and the peremptory +injunctions of his metropolitan, agreeably also (as it too evidently +appears by the sequel) to his own views of duty, Philip Morgan, Bishop +of Worcester, denounced the same William Taylor in full convocation, +May 5, 1421, as a person vehemently suspected of heresy. The King was +then in London, but was on the eve of leaving the kingdom; and fully +occupied in preparing to proceed forthwith to wipe off the disgrace +which had fallen on the English arms, and to restore confidence to his +troops, then much depressed by the unexpected discomfiture of their +countrymen, and the death of the Duke of Clarence in battle. On +Saturday, May 24, Taylor was put upon his trial, being produced before +the court as the Bishop of Worcester's prisoner, who had caused him to +be arrested. Of the three opinions savouring of heresy, (errorem et +hęresin sapientes,) he pleaded guilty to having entertained the two +last, but of the first he seems to have had no knowledge; indeed, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page407" name="page407">(p. 407)</a></span> +it is very difficult to say what meaning could have been attached +to it.</p> + +<p>He was charged with having maintained at Bristol.</p> + +<p>First, That whosoever suspends on his neck any writing, by that act +takes away the honour due to God only, and renders it to the +Devil.<a id="notetag301" name="notetag301"></a><a href="#note301">[301]</a></p> + +<p>Secondly, That Christ was not to be prayed to in his character of man, +but only as God.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, That the saints of heaven were not to be addressed in prayer.</p> + +<p>On the next Monday, May 26th, he was pronounced guilty of heresy, and +condemned to perpetual imprisonment for the term of his life. So +dreadful a punishment (to which, whatever it might be, he had on his +previous release sworn to submit,) suddenly struck him to the very +heart, and caused him to show some signs of a subdued mind. On which +the Archbishop mitigated that sentence by adding to it an alternative, +"Unless he shall be able to give bail, to the satisfaction of the +Chancellor of England."</p> + +<p>We have already intimated that Henry's thoughts were at this time +fully and anxiously occupied in preparing for an immediate expedition +to France; and it is to be observed that, on the very day after +Taylor's condemnation, the King issued his writ to the sheriffs, +commanding them to publish his proclamation for all persons to hasten +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page408" name="page408">(p. 408)</a></span> +with the greatest speed to join the King in his voyage. +Taylor left the court in custody, as the prisoner of the Bishop of +Worcester, to end his days in a dungeon, unless he should be able to +produce the required bail; in which case the Bishop was authorized by +the court to release him.</p> + +<p>When Henry left London, on the Monday after Taylor's condemnation, he +left it never to return. His death, as we have seen, took place on the +last day of August 1422. That Henry knew anything of the prosecution +of this person, does not appear; and, if he had been made acquainted +with the intended proceedings, whether he expressed any opinion upon +them in favour of maintaining the faith by the secular arm, or in +favour of the gentle and mild means of persuasion,—is a matter lost +to history, and all inquiry into any of those points must be +fruitless. Nor are we informed whether the poor man could produce the +required bail, or whether he remained a prisoner till his death. Some +expressions in the record of the subsequent transactions would induce +us to infer that he had, after his condemnation, been at large and was +again taken into custody (sub custodiā carcerali iterum arrestatus). +The striking fact, however, is this,—that Henry had not been dead six +months before this same priest was brought up a prisoner in the +custody of a jailor, and tried before the same court for a repetition +of the very same +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page409" name="page409">(p. 409)</a></span> +offence; or rather, perhaps, for the very +same individual act for which, a year and three quarters before, he +had been condemned to perpetual imprisonment. The same accuser, the +Bishop of Worcester, charged him with having, <i>since his abjuration +aforesaid</i>, written, maintained, and communicated with a certain +priest, named Thomas Smyth, living at Bristol, on paper in his own +hand-writing, the alleged heretical opinions. Here it must be observed, +that the charge was made by the same accuser, the Bishop of Worcester, +before the same Judge Chicheley; that the place in which he was said +to have held these doctrines was in each case the same, Bristol; that +in each case the doctrines were said to have been conveyed by writing; +and that, as to the time of the offence, the Bishop did not say it was +after his previous condemnation, but only after his recantation, which +took place in February 1420, just a year and a quarter before his +sentence of imprisonment. And if we examine the four heretical +opinions which were extracted, in 1423, by the Canonists out of his +written communication to Thomas Smyth, we shall find them in substance +nothing more or less than two of the opinions on which he was before +condemned to imprisonment in 1421.</p> + +<p>1.—All prayer which is a petition for any supernatural or gratuitous +gift, is to be offered to God alone.</p> + +<p>2.—Prayer +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page410" name="page410">(p. 410)</a></span> +is to be addressed only to +God.<a id="notetag302" name="notetag302"></a><a href="#note302">[302]</a></p> + +<p>3.—To pray to any creature is to commit idolatry.</p> + +<p>4.—The faithful ought to address their prayers to God, not in +reference to his humanity, but only with regard to his Deity.</p> + +<p>This was the sum of his offence, involving precisely the identical +opinions of which he had been pronounced guilty in 1421, after his +recantation in +1420.<a id="notetag303" name="notetag303"></a><a href="#note303">[303]</a></p> + +<p>After Lynewood had given his opinion that a relapsed heretic was to be +left to the secular court, without hope of pardon, and without being +heard as to the corporal punishment, his judges proceeded to the +extreme execution of the law. Taylor was degraded on Monday the 1st of +March, 1423, in the first year of Henry VI; and, the writ for his +burning being issued on the same day, he suffered death in Smithfield.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>How far these circumstances may be pronounced to bear on the subject, +and to conspire in acquitting Henry of Monmouth of the charge with +which his name has been unsparingly assailed, of having been in spirit +and conduct a persecutor for religious opinions, deserves serious +consideration. When +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page411" name="page411">(p. 411)</a></span> +it is borne in mind that the Lollards +were certainly represented to Henry as the enemies of his throne and +of the peace of the realm; that the Pope and the hierarchy of England +were loud and incessant in their appeals to the authorities to +extirpate such poisonous weeds from the garden of the Lord's heritage; +that the Emperor Sigismund was most zealous in obeying such calls of +the church, and caused his own land to flow with blood; that Henry's +prelates made a direct personal appeal to him to prosecute heretics; +that his council deemed it necessary to remind him of his duty in that +point;<a id="notetag304" name="notetag304"></a><a href="#note304">[304]</a> +that his own chaplain openly charged him with want of zeal +and with apathy in that good cause; that no single warrant for the +execution of any one condemned for heresy alone was ever signed, or, +as far as we can ascertain, was ever sanctioned, by him; that the only +victims of the priesthood actually burnt for heresy alone during his +reign were condemned and executed in Henry's absence from the kingdom; +and that one person sentenced to imprisonment during Henry's life was, +within a few months after his death, condemned to the flames, and +actually burnt for the same offence; when all these points are fairly +weighed, probably +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page412" name="page412">(p. 412)</a></span> +few will not feel satisfied that the +judgment passed upon Henry, on the charge of persecution, is +inconsistent with the soundest principles of historical investigation.</p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>The Author, however, is induced to confess that a comparison of the +events of Henry's reign with those which preceded his accession, and +followed his death, has compelled him to form more than a merely +negative opinion on Henry of Monmouth's principles and conduct and +influence. In addition to the circumstances detailed in these +chapters, he would solicit attention to one fact, which no historical +writer seems to have noticed. During the last years of Henry IV. a +greater number of persons appear to have suffered in the fires of +martyrdom than the accounts of our chroniclers would lead us to +suppose.<a id="notetag305" name="notetag305"></a><a href="#note305">[305]</a> +By the cruel operation of the law, the goods and +chattels of convicted heretics were escheated to the crown; and when +Henry came to the throne, several widows and orphans were suffering +severely from the effects of that ruthless enactment. No sooner had he +the power of relieving their distress, than, in the exercise of the +most divine prerogative of the kingly office, he restored to many +their confiscated property. The most correct notion of the motives +which influenced him will be conveyed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page413" name="page413">(p. 413)</a></span> +by the language itself +of the several grants: "We, compassionating the poverty of Isabella, +widow of Richard Turner, who was convicted and put to death for +heresy, of our especial grace have granted to the said Isabella all +the goods and chattels to us forfeited, for the maintenance of herself +and of her +children."<a id="notetag306" name="notetag306"></a><a href="#note306">[306]</a> +Similar grants are recorded, and all in the +first year of his reign, to Alice widow of Walter Yonge, Isabella +widow of John Horewood, and Matilda widow of John Fynche; their +several husbands having suffered for maintaining opinions then +pronounced heretical. This fact seems to be not only confirmatory of +the views we have taken of Henry's tender-heartedness and sympathy +with the afflicted and helpless, but indicative also of the absence of +whatever approaches a persecuting and vindictive spirit towards those +who had incurred the extreme penalty of the law for conscience-sake. +The Author cannot but infer that Henry's dislike of persecution placed +a considerable check on the fierceness with which it raged, both +before and after his reign; that the sanguinary intentions of the +priesthood were, to a very considerable degree, frustrated by his +known love of gentler means; and that in England a greater portion of +religious liberty was enjoyed during the years through which he sat on +the throne, than had been tolerated under the government of his +father, or was afterwards allowed through the minority of his son.</p> + +<p>The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page414" name="page414">(p. 414)</a></span> +Author entered upon the subject of the three last +chapters with the view of ascertaining, on the best original evidence, +the validity or the unsoundness of the charge of persecution for +religion brought against Henry of Monmouth. Independently of the +result of that investigation, he confesses himself to have risen from +the inquiry impressed with mingled feelings of apprehension and of +gratitude:—gratitude for the blessings of the Reformation; and +apprehension lest, in our use of those blessings, and in the return +made to their Almighty Donor, we may be found wanting. For no maxim +can be more firmly established by the sound deductions of human +wisdom, or more unequivocally sanctioned by the express words of +revelation, than the principle that to whom much is given, of them +will much be required. And on this principle how awfully has our +increase of privileges enhanced our responsibility! By the +Reformation, Providence has rescued us from those dangers which once +attended an honest avowal of a Christian's faith; has freed us from +those gross superstitions which once darkened the whole of +Christendom; and has released us from that galling yoke under which +the disciples of the Cross were long held in bondage. The bestowal of +these blessings exacts at our hands many duties of indispensable +obligation. The Author hopes he may be pardoned, if, in closing this +subject, he refers to some of those points +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page415" name="page415">(p. 415)</a></span> +which press upon +his own mind most seriously.</p> + +<p>Those who are intrusted with a brighter and a more pure light of +spiritual truth, are, first of all, bound to prove by their lives that +religion is not in them a dead and inoperative letter; but a vivifying +principle, productive of practical holiness and virtue. Enlightened +Christians are bound to show forth their principles by the exercise of +every Christian excellence, and so to prove to the world that God is +with them of a truth.</p> + +<p>Another indispensable duty is, that those who possess the truth should +individually and by combined exertions labour to spread its heavenly +influence throughout the whole mass of their fellow-creatures, not +only in every corner of their own land, but to the utmost coasts of +the civilized world, and through the still numberless regions of +barbarism and idolatry. "Freely ye have received, freely give."</p> + +<p>Again, it were a narrow view of our duty were we to feel an anxiety +for the preservation, through the period only of our own existence +upon earth, of the benefits which we now enjoy. To be satisfied with +the assurance that provision is made for our own times, is a principle +altogether unworthy a philanthropic and a Christian mind: and the more +valuable and essential the blessing, the more steady and vigorous +should be our labour in providing for its permanency and its future +increase. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page416" name="page416">(p. 416)</a></span> +If we are honest in our own choice, we believe +that by delivering down to posterity, in its integrity and pureness, +the blessing which has been committed to us in especial trust, we are +transmitting not a state-device (as its enemies delight to call it), +but an institution founded on the surest principles of true philosophy +and of revelation, with a view to the best interests of the whole +human race. If, aided by the Divine Founder of the church, we resign +to those who come after us the fostering and mild, but firm and +well-grounded establishment of the Protestant faith, removed equally +from latitudinarian indifference and from the intolerance of bigotry, +with an ungrudging spirit sharing with others the liberty of +conscience we claim for ourselves, we shall transmit an inheritance +which may be to future ages what it has proved itself to be towards +many among ourselves, and of those who have gone before us,—the +instructor and guide of their youth, the strength and stay of their +manhood, the support and comfort of their declining years;—an +institution which is the faithful depository of Christian truth; the +surest guardian of civil and religious liberty; the parent of whatever +is just, and generous, and charitable, and holy. <span class="smcap">Esto perpetua</span>!</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page417" name="page417">(p. 417)</a></span> + +<h2>APPENDIX. No. I.</h2> + + + +<p>To those, as we are led to believe, contemporary poems, which appear +in the body of the work, the Author is induced to subjoin a "Ballad of +Agincourt," of much later date indeed, but which, for the noble +national spirit which it breathes throughout, and the vigour of its +description, cannot easily be exceeded: it is not so generally known +as it deserves to be; though some of its expressions may sound +strangely and quaintly to our ears. It will be found in Drayton's +Works, p. 424.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>"Fair stood the wind for France,<br> + When we our sails advance;<br> + Nor now to prove our chance,<br> +<span class="poem1">Longer will tarry;</span><br> + But, putting to the main,<br> + At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,<br> + With all his martial train,<br> +<span class="poem1">Landed King Harry.</span></p> + +<p>And taking many a fort,<br> + Furnished in warlike sort,<br> + Marcheth towards Agincourt,<br> +<span class="poem1">In happy hour.</span> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page418" name="page418">(p. 418)</a></span><br> + Skirmishing day by day,<br> + With those that stopped his way;<br> + Where the French general lay<br> +<span class="poem1">With all his power.</span></p> + +<p>Who, in the height of pride,<br> + King Henry to deride,<br> + His ransom to provide,<br> +<span class="poem1">To the King sending:</span><br> + Which he neglects the while,<br> + As from a nation vile;<br> + Yet with an angry smile<br> +<span class="poem1">Their fall portending.</span></p> + +<p>And turning to his men,<br> + Quoth our brave Henry then,<br> + Though they to one be ten,<br> +<span class="poem1">Be not amazed.</span><br> + Yet have we well begun,<br> + Battles so bravely won<br> + Have ever to the sun<br> +<span class="poem1">By fame been raised.</span></p> + +<p>And for myself, quoth he,<br> + This my full rest shall be:<br> + England ne'er mourn for me,<br> +<span class="poem1">Nor more esteem me.</span><br> + Victor I will remain,<br> + Or on this earth be slain;—<br> + Never shall she sustain<br> +<span class="poem1">Loss to redeem + me.<a id="notetag307" name="notetag307"></a><a +href="#note307">[307]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page419" name="page419">(p. 419)</a></span> + Poitiers and Cressy tell,<br> + Where most their pride did swell;<br> + Under our swords they fell;—<br> +<span class="poem1">No less our skill is,</span><br> + Than when our grandsire great,<br> + Claiming the regal seat,<br> + By many a warlike feat<br> +<span class="poem1">Lopped the French lilies.</span></p> + +<p>The Duke of York so dread,<br> + The eager vaward led;<br> + With the main Henry sped<br> +<span class="poem1">Amongst his henchmen.</span><br> + Exeter had the rear,<br> + A braver man not there!<br> + How fierce and hot they + were<a id="notetag308" name="notetag308"></a><a href="#note308">[308]</a><br> +<span class="poem1">On the false Frenchmen!</span></p> + +<p>They now to fight are gone,<br> + Armour on armour shone;<br> + Drum now to drum did groan—<br> +<span class="poem1">To hear was wonder;</span><br> + That with the cries they make,<br> + The very earth did shake;<br> + Trumpet to trumpet spake,<br> +<span class="poem1">Thunder to thunder.</span></p> + +<p>Well it thine age became,<br> + O noble Erpingham!<br> + Who didst the signal aim<br> +<span class="poem1">To our hid forces;</span><br> + When, from a meadow by,<br> + Like a storm suddenly,<br> + The English archery<br> +<span class="poem1">Stuck the French horses.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page420" name="page420">(p. 420)</a></span> + With Spanish yew so strong,<br> + Arrows a cloth-yard long,<br> + That like to serpent stung,<br> +<span class="poem1">Piercing the weather.</span><br> + None from his fellow starts,<br> + But playing manly parts,<br> + And, like true English hearts,<br> +<span class="poem1">Stuck close together.</span></p> + +<p>When down their bows they threw,<br> + And forth their bilbows drew,<br> + And on the French they flew;—<br> +<span class="poem1">Not one was tardy;</span><br> + Arms were from shoulders sent,<br> + Scalps to the teeth were rent;<br> + Down the French peasants went:—<br> +<span class="poem1">Our men were hardy.</span></p> + +<p>This while our noble King,<br> + His broad sword brandishing,<br> + Down the French host did ding,<br> +<span class="poem1">As to o'erwhelm it.</span><br> + And many a deep wound lent,<br> + His arms with blood besprent;<br> + And many a cruel dent<br> +<span class="poem1">Bruised his helmet.</span></p> + +<p>Gloucester, that Duke so good,<br> + Next of the royal blood,<br> + For famous England stood<br> +<span class="poem1">With his brave brother;</span><br> + Clarence, in steel so bright,<br> + Though but a maiden knight,<br> + Yet in that famous fight<br> +<span class="poem1">Scarce such another.</span></p> + +<p>Warwick in blood did wade,<br> + Oxford the foe invade,<br> + And cruel slaughter made,—<br> +<span class="poem1">Still as they ran up;</span> + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page421" name="page421">(p. 421)</a></span><br> + Suffolk his axe did ply;<br> + Beaumont and Willoughby<br> + Bare them right doughtily;<br> +<span class="poem1">Ferrers and Fanhope.</span></p> + +<p>Upon St. Crispin's day,<br> + Fought was this noble fray;<br> + Which fame did not delay<br> +<span class="poem1">To England to carry;</span><br> + Oh! when shall English men<br> + With such acts fill a pen,<br> + Or England breed again<br> +<span class="poem1">Such a King Harry!"</span></p> +</div> + + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page422" name="page422">(p. 422)</a></span> + +<h2>APPENDIX, No. II.</h2> + + +<p>To the miseries which fell upon the inhabitants of Rouen during the +siege, a brief reference has been made in the body of this work. The +following lines, by an eye-witness, record a very pleasing +circumstance indicative of Henry's piety and benevolence. The wretched +inhabitants, who could contribute no aid in the defence of the town, +were driven by the garrison beyond the gates with the most unmerciful +hardheartedness. On Christmas-day Henry offered, in honour of the +festival, to supply all the inhabitants, great and small [meste and +least], with meat and drink. His offer was met very uncourteously by +the garrison, and his benevolent intentions were in a great degree +frustrated. The poem called "The Siege of Rouen" may now be read in +the Archęologia, vol. xxi, with an interesting introduction by the +Reverend William Conybeare.</p> + +<p class="left15">SIEGE OF ROUEN.</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "But then, within a little space,<br> + The poor people of that same place<br> + At every gate they were put out,<br> + Many a hundred on a rout.<br> + It was great pity them for to see,<br> + How women came kneeling on their knee;<br> + And their children also in their arms,<br> + For to save them from harms. + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page423" name="page423">(p. 423)</a></span><br> + And old men came kneeling them by,<br> + And there they made a doleful cry;<br> + And all they cried at once then,<br> + 'Have mercy on us, ye English men!'<br> + Our men gave them some of their bread,<br> + Though they to us were now so + quede.<a id="notetag309" name="notetag309"></a><a href="#note309">[309]</a><br> + Harm to them we did none,<br> + But made them again to the ditch gone:<br> + And there we kept them all abache,<br> + Because they should not see our watch:<br> + Many one said they would liefer be slain,<br> + Than turn to the city of Rouen again.<br> + They went forth with a strong murmuration,<br> + And ever they cursed their own nation;<br> + For the city would not let them in,<br> + Therefore they did full great sin;<br> + For many one died there for cold,<br> + That might full well their life have hold.<br> + This was at the time of Christmas:<br> + I may you tell of a full fair case,<br> + As of great meekness of our good King;<br> + And also of meekness a great tokening.<br> + Our King sent into Rouen on Christmas day,<br> + His heralds in a rich array;<br> + And said, because of this high feast,<br> + Both to the meste and to the least<br> + Within the city, and also without,<br> + To tell, that be scanty of victuals all about,<br> + All they to have meat and drink thereto,<br> + And again safe-conduct to come and to go.<br> + They said, 'Gramercy!' all lightly,<br> + As they had set little prize thereby;<br> + And unnese [scarcely] they would grant any grace<br> + To the poor people that out put was,<br> + Save to two priests, and no more them with,<br> + For to bring meat they granted therewith; + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page424" name="page424">(p. 424)</a></span><br> + 'But an there come with you and mo [more],<br> + Truly we will shoot you too.'<br> + All on a row the poor people were set,<br> + The priests come and brought them meat;<br> + They ate and drank, and were full fain,<br> + And thanked our King with all their main;<br> + And as they sate, their meat to fong,<br> + Thus they talked them among:<br> + 'O Mightiful Jesu!' they said then,<br> + 'Of tender heart is the Englishmen;<br> + For see how this excellent King,<br> + That we have been ever again standing;<br> + And never would we obey him to,<br> + Nor no homage to him would we never do;<br> + And yet he hath on us more compassion,<br> + Than hath our own countrymen;<br> + And therefore, Lord Jesu, as Thou art full of mercy,<br> + Grant him grace to win his right in + hey.'<a id="notetag310" name="notetag310"></a><a href="#note310">[310]</a><br> + And thus the poor people that time spake,<br> + And full good tent thereto was take;<br> + But when they had eaten and went their way,<br> + The truce adrew, and war took his way." +</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page425" name="page425">(p. 425)</a></span> + +<h2>APPENDIX, No. III.</h2> + +<h3><span class="smcap">AUTHENTICITY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS</span></h3> + +<p class="figcenter">Sloane 1776, and Reg. 13, c. 1.</p> + + +<p>It will be borne in mind that the only document which contains the +charge brought against Henry of Monmouth of unfilial conduct and cruel +behaviour towards his afflicted father is a manuscript, two copies of +which are preserved in the British Museum; and that a thorough +examination of the authenticity of that manuscript was reserved for +the Appendix. Every right-minded person will agree that the magnitude +and dark character of a charge, so far from justifying a prejudice +against the accused, should induce us to sift with more scrutinizing +jealousy the evidence alleged in support of the accusation.</p> + +<p>It will require but a very brief inspection of the two MSS., Sloane +1776, and Reg. 13, +c. 1.,<a id="notetag311" name="notetag311"></a><a href="#note311">[311]</a> +to be assured that they are either both +transcripts from one document in that part of the volume which +contains the history of Henry IV, or that one of these is copied from +the other.<a id="notetag312" name="notetag312"></a><a href="#note312">[312]</a> +Unless, therefore, an intimation be given to the +contrary, it will be understood that reference is made to the Sloane +MS., <span class="pagenum"><a id="page426" name="page426">(p. 426)</a></span> +which, though not copied with equal correctness in point +of orthography and grammar, is still far superior to the King's in the +clearness of the writing.</p> + +<p>The Sloane MS. +1776,<a id="notetag313" name="notetag313"></a><a href="#note313">[313]</a> +appears to consist of four portions, though +the same hand copied the whole.</p> + +<p>The first portion extends from the commencement to page 40.</p> + +<p>The second from page 40 to the end of the account of Henry IV. at page +49.</p> + +<p>The third from the commencement of the reign of Henry V. page 50, to +his second expedition to France, mentioned in page 72.</p> + +<p>The fourth from that point to the end, at page 94, b.</p> + +<p>1. The first portion embraces that part of the reigns of Richard II. +and Henry IV. which falls within the range of the chronicle of the +Monk of Evesham; ending with an account of the marriage of Edmund +Mortimer with a daughter of Owyn Glyndowr, and two cases of sacrilege.</p> + +<p>2. The second carries on the history of Henry IV. to the beginning of +his thirteenth year, and contains the passage which charges Henry V. +with the unfilial attempt to supplant his father on the throne. These +first two parts +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page427" name="page427">(p. 427)</a></span> +must be examined together, and in detail; +the last two will require only a few remarks, and may then be +dismissed.</p> + +<p>That the history which commences at p. 50 of the Sloane MS. was the +work of an ecclesiastic who attended Henry V. in his first expedition +to France, is made evident at a much earlier point of the narrative +than the translation of it by Sir Harris Nicolas, in the Appendix to +his "Battle of Agincourt," would enable us to infer. The passage +"After having passed the Isle of Wight, swans were seen," should have +been rendered, "After <i>we</i> left the shores of the Isle of Wight +behind, swans appeared." The writer was at the battle of Agincourt, +stationed with the baggage, and with his clerical associates praying +for God's mercy to spare themselves and their countrymen.</p> + +<p>That he was not the same person who wrote the history of Richard II. +and Henry IV, now found in the same fasciculus, seems to be placed +beyond doubt; his style is very different, and his tone of sentiment +directly at variance with what is found in the preceding portion. He +is a devoted admirer of Henry V, a characteristic which no one will +ascribe to the writer of the preceding +page.<a id="notetag314" name="notetag314"></a><a href="#note314">[314]</a></p> + +<p>This writer had composed his history before the year 1418; for of Sir +John Oldcastle he says, "that he broke prison after his condemnation, +and lurked in caves and hiding-places, <i>and is still +lurking</i>."<a id="notetag315" name="notetag315"></a><a href="#note315">[315]</a> +This portion of the MS. offers evidence in almost every page that its +author was an eye-witness of what he describes. Probably no +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page428" name="page428">(p. 428)</a></span> +doubt will be entertained that it is the genuine production of an +ecclesiastic in attendance on the King. But his work evidently ceases +at page 72, where he offers a prayer that the Almighty "would give +good success to his master, then going on his second expedition, and +grant him victory as he had twice before; and fill him with the spirit +of wisdom, and heavenly strength, and holy fear."</p> + +<p>After the close of the Chaplain's narrative, the MS. loses almost all +its interest: it carries on the history through the first years of the +reign of Henry VI, and is evidently only part of what the volume once +contained.<a id="notetag316" name="notetag316"></a><a href="#note316">[316]</a></p> + +<p class="p2"> + +<p>The two former portions of the volume now claim our careful +examination; and, of these two, especially the second.</p> + +<p>It has been already intimated, that the first part of the MS. contains +that portion of the history of Richard II. and Henry IV. which is +embraced by the memoirs of the Monk of Evesham. A careful examination +of both, and a comparison of each with the other, have induced the +Author to conclude (with what degree of probability he must leave +others to decide) that the writer had the work of the Monk before him, +and copied from it very largely, but made such alterations as we +should expect to find made by a <i>foreigner</i>, and one whose feelings +were <i>opposed to the Lancastrian party</i>; a supporter rather of the +cause of Richard, and the French, and the other enemies of +Bolinbroke's house. The Monk's work bears every mark of being the +genuine production of one who witnessed Henry IV.'s expeditions to +Wales, and who was in all his sentiments and prejudices an Englishman +and a Lancastrian. The Author fears he may be considered too minute +and tedious on this point; but, since the circumstance of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page429" name="page429">(p. 429)</a></span> +the writer of the manuscript bear immediately upon the authenticity of +the charge, he trusts he shall be excused a detail which, except for +that consideration, would be superfluous.</p> + +<p>1. They both record the execution of a Welshman, who preferred death +to treachery. The Monk adds this comment: "<i>We English</i> too [possumus +et <i>nos Angli</i>] may derive an example here; to preserve our fidelity, +&c. even to death." The MS. thus expresses its comment: "<i>All English +servants</i> may contemplate an example of fidelity towards their own +masters from the conduct of that Welshman."</p> + +<p>2. Thus too, in mentioning the introduction of the fashion into +England of wearing long sleeves like a <i>bagpipe</i>, the two MSS. of the +Monk most clearly write "Bagpipe." Of the MSS. in question, the Sloane +writes Bagebyte, the Reg. "Babepipę;"—evidently the writer in neither +case knowing the meaning of the English word which he attempted so +unsuccessfully to copy.</p> + +<p>3. In relating the capture of Lord Grey, the Monk adds, "which we +grieve to say." The MS., without any such, expression of sympathy or +sorrow, says that "he fell into the snare which he had prepared for +others."<a id="notetag317" name="notetag317"></a><a href="#note317">[317]</a></p> + +<p>4. The Monk merely records the return of Isabel to France; the MS. +reflects strongly on her return <i>without her dower</i>, and her feelings +of repugnance against receiving any boon from Henry, whom she regarded +as <i>Richard's enemy</i>.</p> + +<p>5. Speaking of the battle of Homildon, the Monk says, "Of <i>our +countrymen</i> only five were slain;" and adds, "We praise thee, O God, +because thou hast been mindful of us." The MS. says, "<i>And of the +English</i> scarcely five were slain;" but adds no word of praise.</p> + +<p>6. <span class="pagenum"><a id="page430" name="page430">(p. 430)</a></span> +The Monk says, "From this time Owyn's cause seemed to grow +and prosper, <i>ours</i> to decrease." This is omitted in the MS.</p> + +<p>7. Whereas the Monk (describing the character of Richard in the very +words—and many are unusual words—adopted by the MS.) records that +Richard was in the habit of sitting throughout the night till the +morning in drinking, and "other occupations not to be named:" the MS. +omits the latter phrase. The Monk says there were <i>two</i> points of +excellence in Richard's character; the MS., though confining itself to +the two specified by the Monk, calls them "very many," "<i>plura</i>."</p> + +<p>8. In recording the commencement of Owyn Glyndowr's rebellion, the +Monk, speaking of it as "an execrable revolt," says that the Welsh +elected Owyn against the principles of peace [contra pacem elegerunt]. +The MS. says that the Welsh elected a respectable and venerable +gentleman to be their leader and prince.</p> + +<p>Our attention is now especially called to some points in which the MS. +seems to be so full of historical mistakes and improbabilities as to +render any statement of a fact, especially of an improbable fact, not +supported by other evidence, +suspicious.<a id="notetag318" name="notetag318"></a><a href="#note318">[318]</a></p> + +<p>1. Froissart +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page431" name="page431">(p. 431)</a></span> +(who appears to be well acquainted with the +proceedings of Bolinbroke till he left the coast of France, but to +have been altogether mistaken as to his proceedings from that hour,) +states, with the greatest probability, that Bolinbroke left Paris +under plea of visiting his friend the Duke of Brittany, and having +been well received and assisted by him, set sail from some port of +Brittany [intimating that his embarkation was (as was natural) carried +on in secret, for he "<i>had only been informed</i>" that it was from +Vennes].<a id="notetag319" name="notetag319"></a><a href="#note319">[319]</a> +The MS., on the contrary, with the greatest +improbability, roundly asserts that Bolinbroke went to Calais, +obtained money from the treasurer, though against his will, and seized +all the ships which he could find in the port. The improbability that +Bolinbroke should have excited the suspicions of the authorities of +Calais not in his interest, from which a single boat in a few hours +could have carried the news of his hostile attempts to Richard's +friends in England, and the absurdity of making him seize all the +ships in the port of Calais to carry over his handful of friends, can +impress the reader with no favourable idea of this writer's accuracy.</p> + +<p>2. No fact is more undeniably certain than that Henry IV. made his +eldest son (our Henry V.) Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall in the +parliament held immediately upon his accession; whereas the MS. +declares that Henry V. was so created in the year of the Emperor of +Constantinople's visit +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page432" name="page432">(p. 432)</a></span> +to England, and in the parliament +which began at the feast of St. Hilary, during which Sautre was burned +for a heretic;—that is, a year and a quarter later.</p> + +<p>3. The MS. account of Hotspur's rebellion is quite inconsistent with +facts, and altogether, in other respects, as improbable as it is +singular. The MS. says that +Hotspur,<a id="notetag320" name="notetag320"></a><a href="#note320">[320]</a> +about Candlemas, was +commissioned to go against the Welsh rebels; but when he reached the +country with his forces, and found it to be mountainous, and fit +neither for horse nor infantry, he made a truce with Owyn, and went to +London to take the King's pleasure upon it. The reception he met with +at court drove him to his own country; and the King, as soon as he +heard of Percy gathering his people, collected those whom he believed +to be faithful to him, and hastened to meet him near Shrewsbury. +Whereas the fact is, that Henry Percy had been resident as Chief +Justice in North Wales, Constable of Caernarvon, &c. at least three +years; had besieged Conway with his own men; had routed the rebels at +Cader Idris, and most zealously persevered in his attempts to suppress +the rebellion; and had returned from the Principality at least a year +and a half before the Candlemas (1403), at which the MS. says that he +was first commissioned to go there.</p> + +<p>The next point to which the attention of the reader is solicited will +perhaps be considered by many to involve a greater improbability than +the Author may himself attach to it. Every one who has ever read, or +heard, or written about the "Tripartite Indenture of Division" made +between Glyndowr, Mortimer, and Northumberland, fixes it, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page433" name="page433">(p. 433)</a></span> as +Shakspeare does, before the battle of +Shrewsbury.<a id="notetag321" name="notetag321"></a><a href="#note321">[321]</a> +The scene in +the house of the Archdeacon of Bangor is too exquisite for any one to +desire it to be proved a fable. But (as the Author believes) this MS. +is the only document extant which professes to record the words of +that treaty; and yet this document fixes it to a date long after the +Percies lost that "sorry field." It is represented to have been made +in the February of the year of Pope Innocent's election: if before +that election, it was made in 1404; if after it, in 1405. And +certainly the tradition is general that Northumberland, after his +flight to Scotland, visited Wales.</p> + +<p>Another point deserving consideration is the account of the conspiracy +of Mowbray and the Archbishop of York. That account is drawn up in a +manner most unfavourable to Henry IV. The MS. boldly also records the +miracle wrought in the field of the Archbishop's execution, and states +that various miracles attracted multitudes to his tomb daily. It also +affirms that, on the very day and hour of the Archbishop's execution, +Henry IV. was struck with the +leprosy.<a id="notetag322" name="notetag322"></a><a href="#note322">[322]</a></p> + +<p>Perhaps too it may appear strange to others, as the Author confesses +it has appeared to himself, that, up to the very last chapter of this +history of Richard II. and Henry IV, no mention whatever is made of +Henry of Monmouth, except in the unaccountable anachronism of his +creation as Prince of Wales. It is curious that an historian should +state that the young Duke of Gloucester was sent for from Ireland, and +not allude to the circumstance of the Prince being in prison with him, +and being sent for back at the same +time.<a id="notetag323" name="notetag323"></a><a href="#note323">[323]</a></p> + +<p>We <span class="pagenum"><a id="page434" name="page434">(p. 434)</a></span> +are now arrived at the very last chapter, the chapter +containing the charge on which Henry of Monmouth's character has been +so severely, and, if that charge be true, so justly arraigned. The +chapter professes to record the transactions of the thirteenth year of +Henry IV. The question is one of such essential importance as far as +Henry's good name is at stake, and (as the Author cannot but think) in +point too of the philosophy of history, involving principles of such +deep interest to the genuine pursuer of truth, that he would not feel +himself justified were he to abstain from transcribing the whole +chapter.</p> + +<p>"In the thirteenth year there was a great disturbance between the Duke +of Burgundy and the Duke of Orleans. Wherefore the Duke of Burgundy +sent to the Lord Henry, Prince of +England,<a id="notetag324" name="notetag324"></a><a href="#note324">[324]</a> +for aid to oppose the +Duke of Orleans: who sent to his succour the Earl Arundell, John +Oldcastle the Lord of Cobham, the Lord Gilbert Umfravill, the Lord of +Kyme, and with them a great army; by whose prowess at Senlow [Reg. +'Senlowe'], near Paris, the Duke of Orleans was vanquished, and +cruelly routed from the field, and his followers crushed, routed, and +slain. And the same Duke of Orleans thought how he could avenge +himself against the Duke of Burgundy; and immediately he sent to King +Henry of England a great sum of gold, together with William Count +Anglam [Reg. "de Anglam"], his brother, as a hostage or surety for a +greater sum, to obtain succour from the King of England himself. And +the King did not put off sending him succour; and he appointed Lord +Thomas, his second son, Duke of Clarence, and conferred on him the +dukedom (or, as it was of old time, the earldom) of Albemarle; and +Edmund, who before +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page435" name="page435">(p. 435)</a></span> +was Duke of Albemarle, then, after the +death of his father, he advanced to be Duke of York. And Lord John +Cornwall, who married his sister, the Duchess of Exeter, and whom the +King appointed Captain of Calais, he sent towards the parts of France +with a great power of men. And when they landed in Normandy, near +Hogges, forthwith the Lord de Hambe, with seven thousand armed men, +went up against the English to oppose them, and thus on that day there +was a great slaughter of men; for on the part of the Duke of Burgundy +eight hundred men were taken, and four hundred slain: and thus at +length victory was on the side of the English. After which the Duke, +with his army, turned off towards the country of +Bourdeaux,<a id="notetag325" name="notetag325"></a><a href="#note325">[325]</a> +[ ] destroying [ ] of the countrymen, +collecting great sums of money, at length arrived at Bourdeaux, and +from thence they returned to England about the vintage."</p> + +<p>The reader's especial attention is here called to the confusion of +facts and dates, the mistakes historical, geographical, chronological, +biographical, with which this short section abounds to the overflow. +It will perhaps be difficult to find a page in any author, ancient or +modern, more full of such blunders as tend to destroy confidence in +him, when he records as a fact what is not found in any other writer, +nor is supported by ancillary evidence. The MS. states that all these +events took place in the thirteenth year of Henry IV: the MS. writes +it at length, "Anno decimo tertio," which began on the 20th September +1411. Now, allowing to the writer every latitude not involving +positive confusion, it is impossible for us to suppose, when he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page436" name="page436">(p. 436)</a></span> +crowds all these events within one year, that he had any such +information on the affairs of England as would predispose us to regard +him as an authority.</p> + +<p>1. The first application by the Duke of Burgundy for English +auxiliaries was in August 1411; and the battle of St. Cloud (the place +which the MS., evidently ignorant of its situation and name, calls +Senlow) was fought on the 10th of November 1411. The Duke of Orleans, +at the beginning of the following year, 1412, made his application to +the English court for aid against the Duke of Burgundy, but it was not +till the 18th of May 1412 that the final treaty was concluded between +Henry IV. and the Duke of Orleans; and it was not till the middle, or +the latter end of August 1412, that the Duke of Clarence was +despatched to aid the Duke of Orleans; and he remained in France till +he received news of his father's death, in April 1413; when, and not +before, he returned to England after his expedition to aid the Duke of +Orleans.<a id="notetag326" name="notetag326"></a><a href="#note326">[326]</a> +Yet all these events are stated in the MS. to have +fallen within the same +year.<a id="notetag327" name="notetag327"></a><a href="#note327">[327]</a></p> + +<p>2. The MS. says that the English, after their victory over the Duke of +Burgundy's forces, returned to England at the time of vintage. The +English returned to England at the end of autumn; not after their +struggle against the Duke of Burgundy, but after their victory over +the Duke of Orleans at the bridge of St. Cloud, a year and a quarter +at least before their return from the expedition against the Duke of +Burgundy.</p> + +<p>3. Again, the MS. says that the Duke of Orleans sent, immediately +after the battle of St. Cloud (the Senlow of the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page437" name="page437">(p. 437)</a></span> +MS.), a +large sum of money to the King of England, together with his brother, +the Earl of Angouleme, as a hostage or pledge for the payment of a +greater sum, to induce the King to comply with his request. This is +utter confusion. The Earl was sent as an hostage,—not beforehand, to +induce Henry IV. to send auxiliaries,—but afterwards, to insure the +payment of large sums which the Duke of Orleans stipulated to pay to +the English after they had been some time in France, on condition of +their quitting it. The Earl of Angouleme was sent as an hostage to +England somewhat before January 25, 1413; the MS. says, at the end of +1411.</p> + +<p>4. Again, the MS. having dated the death of John, Earl of Somerset, +Captain of Calais, in the preceding year, says that the King then made +John Cornwall Captain of Calais. Whereas the fact is, that John +Beaufort, Captain of Calais, died on Palm Sunday, 1410, and Prince +Henry was appointed to succeed him on the following Tuesday. His +appointment, by writ of privy seal, bears date March 18, 1410; and he +continued to be Captain of Calais till he succeeded to the throne.</p> + +<p>The MS. having recorded the marriage of the Duke of Clarence with the +Countess of Somerset, and the dispute between him and the Bishop of +Winchester, in which Prince Henry took the Bishop's part against his +brother, as having taken place in this same year, proceeds with the +passage, for the purpose of ascertaining the accuracy and authenticity +of which we have been led to make so many prefatory observations.</p> + +<p>"In the same +year,<a id="notetag328" name="notetag328"></a><a href="#note328">[328]</a> +on the morrow of All Souls, began a parliament +at Westminster; and because the King, by reason of his infirmity, +could not in his own person be present, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page438" name="page438">(p. 438)</a></span> +he appointed and +ordained in his name his brother, Thomas Beaufort, then Chancellor of +England, to open, continue, and prorogue it. In which parliament +Prince Henry desired from his father the resignation of his kingdom +and crown, because that his father, by reason of his malady, could not +labour for the honour and advantage of the kingdom any longer; but in +this he was altogether unwilling to consent to him,—nay, he wished to +govern the kingdom, together with the crown and its appurtenances, as +long as he retained his vital breath. Whence the Prince, in a manner, +with his counsellors retired aggrieved; and afterwards, as it were +through the greater part of England, he joined all the nobles under +his authority in homage and pay. In the same parliament the money, as +well in gold as in silver, was somewhat lessened in weight in +consequence of the exchange of foreigners, &c."</p> + +<p>Now, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page439" name="page439">(p. 439)</a></span> +there can be no doubt (1) that a parliament was held on +the morrow of All Souls, in the thirteenth year of Henry IV. (1411); +(2) that it was <i>opened</i>, <i>continued</i>, and <i>prorogued</i> by Thomas +Beaufort, the Chancellor, by commission from the King, in his absence; +(3) that an alteration in the coin was agreed upon in that parliament; +and (4), moreover, that the King declared in that parliament his +determination to allow of no innovations, nor of any encroachments on +his prerogative, but to maintain the rights and privileges of his +crown in full enjoyment, as his royal predecessors had delivered them +down.</p> + +<p>A superficial glance at these facts would doubtless suggest a strong +confirmation of the details of the MS. in other points, and thus +predispose us to receive the statement with regard to Prince Henry's +unfilial conduct on the authority of this document alone. But, on +close examination, these very facts, which the records of the realm +place beyond doubt, coupled with others equally indisputable, to which +we shall presently refer, demonstrate to the Author's mind that no +dependence whatever can be placed on this MS., and that the statement +is altogether apocryphal, and founded on palpable confusion.</p> + +<p>The parliament met on the morrow of All Souls, Tuesday, November 3, +1411, (13th Henry IV,) and was opened, continued, and prorogued by the +Chancellor; but not on account of the King's indisposition, or +inability to be present. The Rolls of Parliament are most explicit on +this point. They state that the King, having been informed that very +many lords, spiritual and temporal, knights of the shire, and +burgesses, who ought to attend that parliament, had not assembled on +the appointed day, commissions the Chancellor to open the parliament, +and to prorogue it <i>till the following day</i>. And on the following day, +Wednesday, (the Lords and Commons then being in the presence +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page440" name="page440">(p. 440)</a></span> +of the King,) the Chancellor, by the King's command, recited the +reasons for convening the parliament, and charged the Commons to +retire and elect their Speaker.</p> + +<p>Not only so. On the Thursday (Nov. 5), the Commons came before the +King and the Lords, and presented Thomas Chaucer as their Speaker. And +the Speaker prayed liberty of speech, &c.: and the King granted the +request, but declared that he would admit of no innovation nor +encroachment on his prerogative, but resolved to maintain his rights +as fully as his predecessors had done. On this the Speaker prayed him +to grant to the Commons, till the day following, time for putting +their protest, &c. in writing. To this the King agreed. But, forasmuch +as the King could not attend on the Friday in consequence of diverse +great and pressing matters, the time was postponed to the following +day, Saturday; when the Commons came before the King, and presented +their prayer, &c.</p> + +<p>The fact is, that the King was repeatedly present at this parliament, +from the day before the Speaker was chosen to the very last day. On a +subsequent occasion, the Prince of Wales also, as well as the King, is +recorded to have been present, (as doubtless he was on various +occasions throughout,—probably an habitual attendant,) in what +character, and under what circumstances, whether as the supplanter of +his father or not, perhaps the words of the record may, to a certain +extent at least, enable us to pronounce.</p> + +<p>"On Monday, the last day of November, the Speaker, in the name of the +Commons, prayed the King to thank my Lord the Prince, the Bishops of +Winchester and Durham, &c. who were assigned to be of council to the +King in the last parliament, for their great labour and diligence; +for, as it appears to the said Commons, my said Lord the Prince, and +the other Lords, have well and loyally done their duty according to +their promise in that parliament. And upon that, kneeling, my Lord the +Prince, and the other +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page441" name="page441">(p. 441)</a></span> +Lords, declared, by the mouth of my +Lord the Prince, how they had taken pains, and labour, and diligence, +according to their promise, and the charge given them in parliament, +to their skill and knowledge. This the King remembered well [or made +good mention of], and thanked them most graciously. And he said +besides, that he was well assured, if they had had more than they had, +in the manner it had been spoken by the mouth of my Lord the Prince, +at the time the King charged them to be of his council in the said +parliament, they would have done their duty to effect more good than +was done in diverse parts for the defence, honour, good, and profit of +him and his kingdom. And our Lord the King also said, that he felt +very contented with their good and loyal diligence, counsel, and duty, +for the time they had been of his council."</p> + +<p>This took place on the 30th of November, a month (saving two days) +after the parliament had assembled, and within less than three weeks +of its termination. It would scarcely be credible, even had the report +come through a less questionable channel, that Henry of Monmouth up to +that time had been guilty of the unfilial delinquency with which the +MS. charges him. Nor could he have made the "unnatural attempt to +dethrone his diseased father" at any period through the remaining +three weeks of the session of that parliament. At all events, such a +proceeding appears altogether irreconcilable with the conduct both of +the parliament and of the King on the very last day of their sitting. +"On Saturday, December 20th, (say the Rolls,) being the last day of +parliament, the Speaker, recommending the persons of the Queen, of the +Prince, and of other the King's sons, prayeth the advancement of their +estates; for the which the King giveth hearty thanks."</p> + +<p>Had any such transaction taken place during this parliament as the MS. +records, would the King, on the last day of the session, without any +allusion to it, have given hearty thanks to the Commons for their +recommendation of the Prince's +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page442" name="page442">(p. 442)</a></span> +person (coupled with the name +of his Queen and his other sons), and their prayer for further +provision for his dignity and comfort?</p> + +<p>There are, however, two or three more circumstances upon which it may +appear material to make some observations; or even, should these +closing observations not seem altogether indispensable, yet, since +this is all new and untrodden ground, it may yet be thought safer to +anticipate conjectures, than to leave any questions unopened and +unexamined on this point—a point which the Author trusts may be set +at rest at once, and for ever.</p> + +<p>The Author then is ready to confess his belief that both the MS. and +its commentator, the modern historian, have confounded this parliament +of November 1411 with the parliament of February 3, 1413, which was +opened in the illness of the King, and which he never was able to +attend. But if it be attempted to engraft on this fact the surmise +that it might have been in the latter parliament that the Prince +demanded the surrender of the throne, and that it is after all a mere +mistake of dates, the material fact being unshaken and unaffected,—to +this suggestion he replies, that there is no evidence, directly or +indirectly bearing on the subject, in support of such a surmise. The +only statement in printed book or manuscript known, is that which we +have now been sifting; and which with a precision, as though of set +purpose, minute and pointed, fixes the alleged transaction to the year +1411.<a id="notetag329" name="notetag329"></a><a href="#note329">[329]</a> +Not only so. We have, on the contrary, reason to believe +that before the meeting of the next parliament, February 1413, <i>all +differences had been made up between the King and his son</i>; and that +from the day of their reconciliation they lived in the full +interchange of paternal and filial kindness to the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page443" name="page443">(p. 443)</a></span> +end. For +that jealousies and alienations of confidence, fostered by the +malevolence of +others,<a id="notetag330" name="notetag330"></a><a href="#note330">[330]</a> +had taken place between them in the course +of the preceding year, the very mention of the "ridings of gentils and +huge people with the Prince," twice recurring in the Chronicle of +London, seems of itself to force upon us. The accounts, at all events, +such as they are, which chroniclers give of their reconciliation, fix +the date of that happy issue of their estrangement to a period +antecedent to the last parliament of Henry IV. February 3.—Cras. +Purif. 1413.</p> + +<p>Although the life and reign of Henry IV. continued more than a year +and four months after the passing of the ordinance respecting the +coin, with an account of which this MS. abruptly closes, yet +(excepting what is involved in the extract above cited) not one single +word is said of the foreign and domestic affairs of the kingdom, or of +the life of the King, or of his death; though much of interesting +matter was at hand, and though a parliament was summoned, and actually +met fourteen months after the alteration of the coin. And such is the +close of a document, not like a yearly chronicle, or general register +of events, satisfied with giving a summary of the most remarkable +casualties in the briefest form; but a narrative which transcribes, +with unusual minuteness, the very words (at full, and with all their +technicalities,) of some of the most unimportant and prolix statutes +of Henry IV.'s +reign.<a id="notetag331" name="notetag331"></a><a href="#note331">[331]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page444" name="page444">(p. 444)</a></span> +It is not that the MS. is +mechanically cut short by loss of leaves, or other accident; the +Sloane ends with an "etc." in the very middle of a page, and the +King's at the foot of the first column.</p> + +<p>We need not encumber this inquiry (already too long) by any +reflections on the avidity with which this passage of the MS. has been +seized, and made the groundwork of charges against Henry of "unfilial +conduct," "unnatural rebellion" towards his father, and "the +unprincipled ambition of a Catilinarian temper," with other hard words +and harder surmises; because we are trying the value of testimony. If +that testimony is sound, modern historians may doubtless build upon it +what comments seem to them good; if we utterly destroy the validity of +the evidence, their foundation sinks from under their superstructure.</p> + +<p>The reader, however, has probably already determined that, unless +there be in reserve some other independent, or at least auxiliary +source of evidence, the palpable contradiction and manifest confusion +reigning through this part of the MS., together with the high degree +of improbability thrown over the whole statement by the undoubted +records of the very parliament in question, justify the rejection of +the passage altogether from the pale of authentic history. The Author +confesses that he has step by step come to that conclusion.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">THE END.</span></h3> + + +<h6> +LONDON:<br> +PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,<br> +Dorset Street, Fleet Street.</h6> + + +<p><a id="note001" name="note001"></a> +<b>Footnote 1:</b> Close Roll.<a href="#notetag001">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note002" name="note002"></a> +<b>Footnote 2:</b> "The high esteem which the nation had of Henry's person +produced such an entire confidence in him, that both houses of +parliament in an address offered to swear allegiance to him before he +was crowned, or had taken the customary oath to govern according to +the laws. The King thanked them for their good affections, and +exhorted them in their several places and stations to employ all their +power for the good of the nation. He told them that he began his reign +in pardoning all that had offended him, and with such a desire for his +people's happiness, that he would be crowned on no other condition +than to make use of all his authority to promote it; and prayed God +that, if he foresaw he was like to be any other than a just and good +king, he would please to take him immediately out of the world, rather +than seat him on the throne, to live a public calamity to his +country."—Goodwin. See Stowe. Polyd. Verg. Elmham.<a +href="#notetag002">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note003" name="note003"></a> +<b>Footnote 3:</b> Elmham.<a +href="#notetag003">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note004" name="note004"></a> +<b>Footnote 4:</b> Not Palm Sunday, but the fifth Sunday in Lent, was called +Passion Sunday.<a href="#notetag004">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note005" name="note005"></a> +<b>Footnote 5:</b> "With mickle royalty."—Chron. Lond.<a +href="#notetag005">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note006" name="note006"></a> +<b>Footnote 6:</b> Chroniclers record that the day of his coronation was a +day of storm and tempest, frost and snow, and that various omens of +ill portent arose from the circumstance.<a href="#notetag006">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note007" name="note007"></a> +<b>Footnote 7:</b> Henry had excited feelings of confidence and admiration in +the minds of foreign potentates, as well as in his subjects at home. +Among the embassies, with offers and pledges of friendship and amity, +which hastened to his court on his accession, are numbered those of +John of Portugal, Robert Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, John King +of Castile, John Duke of Brittany, Charles King of France, and Pope +John XXIII.<a href="#notetag007">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note008" name="note008"></a> +<b>Footnote 8:</b> Sir Edward Coke, in his 4th Inst. ch. i. declares that +this act was disavowed in the next parliament by the Commons, for that +they never assented. The Author has searched the Parliament Rolls in +vain for the authority on which that assertion was founded.<a +href="#notetag008">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note009" name="note009"></a> +<b>Footnote 9:</b> The Monday after Corpus Christi day; which feast, being +the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, fell in the year 1413 on June 22.<a +href="#notetag009">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note010" name="note010"></a> +<b>Footnote 10:</b> This Dr. Walden (so called from the place of his birth in +Essex) was so able a disputant that he was called the Netter. He seems +to have written many works, which are either totally lost, or are +buried in temporary oblivion.<a href="#notetag010">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note011" name="note011"></a> +<b>Footnote 11:</b> Goodwin. Appendix, p. 361.<a href="#notetag011">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note012" name="note012"></a> +<b>Footnote 12:</b> Minutes of Council, 29 June 1413.<a +href="#notetag012">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note013" name="note013"></a> +<b>Footnote 13:</b> Many original petitions addressed to Henry are still +preserved among our records. In one, which may serve as a specimen of +the kind of application to which this custom compelled him to open his +ear, Richard Hunt appeals to him as a "right merciable lord, moved +with pity, mercy, and grace." "In great desolation and heaviness of +heart," the petitioner states that his son-in-law, Richard Peke, who +had a wife and four children, and had been all his life a true +labourer and innocent man, and well-beloved by his neighbours, had +been detected in taking from a vessel goods not worth three shillings; +for which crime his mortal enemies (though they might have their +property again) "sued to have him dead." He urges Henry to grant him +"full noble grace," at the reverence of Almighty God, and for passion +that Christ suffered for all mankind, and for the pity that he had on +Mary Magdalene. The petitioner then promised (as petitioners now do) +to pray for endless mercy on Henry; he adds, moreover, what would +certainly sound strange in a modern petition to a monarch, "And ye, +gracious and sovereign lord, shall have a good ox to your larder." +Henry granted the petition. "The King woll that this bill pass without +any manner of fine, or fees that longeth to him."<a +href="#notetag013">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note014" name="note014"></a> +<b>Footnote 14:</b> The Pell Rolls acquaint us with the very great expense +incurred on this occasion.<a href="#notetag014">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note015" name="note015"></a> +<b>Footnote 15:</b> Dugdale's Baronage.<a href="#notetag015">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note016" name="note016"></a> +<b>Footnote 16:</b> Minutes of Council, 21 May and 10 Dec. 1415. Addit. MS. +4600. Art. 147.<a href="#notetag016">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note017" name="note017"></a> +<b>Footnote 17:</b> Pell Rolls, Mich. 4. Hen. V. Many documents also in Rymer +refer to this transaction.<a href="#notetag017">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note018" name="note018"></a> +<b>Footnote 18:</b> Roger Mortimer, fifth Earl of March, son and heir of +Philippa, daughter and heiress of Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son +of Edward III, died in 1398; leaving two sons, Edmund, of whom we are +here speaking, then about six years of age, and Roger, about a year +younger.<a href="#notetag018">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note019" name="note019"></a> +<b>Footnote 19:</b> In a previous section of these Memoirs, brief mention has +been made of the abortive attempt to carry off into Wales this young +Earl of March and his brother, and of the generous conduct of Henry of +Monmouth in his endeavour to restore the Duke of York to the King's +favour, which he had forfeited in consequence of his alleged +participation in that bold design. A manuscript has since been brought +under the Author's notice, which places in a very strong light the +treasonable and murderous purpose of those who originated the plot, +and would account for the most watchful and jealous caution on the +part of the reigning family against a repetition of such attempts. +Henry must have been fully aware of his danger; and the fact of his +throwing off all suspicion towards the young Earl, and receiving him +with confidence and friendship, enhances our estimate of the generous +and noble spirit which actuated him. The document, in other points +curious, seems to deserve a place here:</p> + +<p class="letter">"The Friday after St. Vallentyne's day, anno 6 Henrici Quarti, ye Erll +of Marche's sons was secretly conveyd out of Wyndsor Castell yerly in +ye morninge, and fond af[ter?] by diligent serche. But ye smythe, for +makyng the key, lost fyrst his lands; after, his heed. Ye Lady +Spenser, wydow to the Lord Spenser executed at Bristow, and syster to +ye Duke of York, was comytted cloase prysonner, whare she accused her +brother predict for the actor, for ye children predict; and that he +sholde entend to breake into the King's manor att Eltham ye last +Crystmas by scaling the walles in ye nighte, and there to murther ye +Kinge; and, for better proaffe hereof, that yf eyther knight or squyer +of England wold combatt for her in the quarrell, she wold endure her +body to be burned yf he war vanquished. Then W. Maydsten, one of her +sqyres [undertook?] his Mrs. quarrell with gage of his wheed [so], and +was presently arrested by Lord Thomas, ye Kyng's son, to the Tower, +and his goods confyscatt. Thomas Mowbray, Erll Marshall, accused to be +privy to the same, butt was pardoned."—Lansdown, 860 a, fol. 288 b.<a +href="#notetag019">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note020" name="note020"></a> +<b>Footnote 20:</b> 14 Nov. 1414. MS. Donat. 4600. Reference is made there to +June 9, 1413, not three months after Henry's accession.<a +href="#notetag020">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note021" name="note021"></a> +<b>Footnote 21:</b> 1417, July 20, at Porchester. 1418, 2 June, at Berneye. +December 1418, in the camp before Rouen. 11 June 1416.—Rymer.<a +href="#notetag021">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note022" name="note022"></a> +<b>Footnote 22:</b> In the summer after the battle of Agincourt the King +"takes into his especial care William of Agincourt, the prisoner of +his very dear cousin Edmund Earl of March."<a href="#notetag022">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note023" name="note023"></a> +<b>Footnote 23:</b> This parliament was summoned to be at Leicester on the +29th of February, but was prorogued to the 30th of April. At this +period parliaments were by no means uniformly held at Westminster.<a +href="#notetag023">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note024" name="note024"></a> +<b>Footnote 24:</b> In this parliament we find a petition loudly complaining +of the outrages of the Welsh.<a href="#notetag024">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note025" name="note025"></a> +<b>Footnote 25:</b> About this time there seems to have been entertained by +the legislature a most determined resolution to limit the salaries of +chaplains in private families. Many sumptuary laws were made on this +subject. Provisions were made repeatedly in this and other parliaments +against excessive payments to them. The origin of this feeling does +not appear to have transpired. Probably it was nothing more than a +jealousy excited by the increasing wealth of the church.—Parl. Rolls, +2 Henry V.<a href="#notetag025">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note026" name="note026"></a> +<b>Footnote 26:</b> When his determination to recover his rights was +announced in parliament, he was twenty-seven years of age.<a +href="#notetag026">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note027" name="note027"></a> +<b>Footnote 27:</b> The answer which Bishop Oldham is said to have made on +this occasion is chiefly remarkable for the intimation it conveys, +that the downfall of the monasteries was anticipated a quarter of a +century before their actual dissolution. "What, my lord, shall we +build houses and provide livelihoods for a company of bussing monks, +whose end and fall we may ourselves live to see? No, no; it is more +meet that we should provide for the increase of learning, and for such +as by their learning shall do good to the church and +commonwealth."—Anthony Wood.<a href="#notetag027">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note028" name="note028"></a> +<b>Footnote 28:</b> Henry had much at heart the maintenance of the truth of +the Christian religion, such as he received it. Of this he is thought +to have given early proof, by confirming a grant of fifty marks +yearly, during pleasure, to the prior and convent of the order of +Preachers in the University of Oxford, to support the doctrine of the +Catholic faith. It will be said that this was merely to repress the +Lollards. Be it so, though the original document is silent on that +point. It proves, at least, that he wished to maintain his religion by +argument rather than by violence. The circumstance, however, of its +being merely a confirmation of a grant, which even his father found in +existence when he became King, takes away much from the importance of +the fact.—Pell Rolls, 1 Henry IV.<a href="#notetag028">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note029" name="note029"></a> +<b>Footnote 29:</b> The present Duke and Duchess kindly searched out and +visited the remaining sisters in Staffordshire.<a +href="#notetag029">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note030" name="note030"></a> +<b>Footnote 30:</b> Dugdale; ed. 1830.<a href="#notetag030">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note031" name="note031"></a> +<b>Footnote 31:</b> April 11, 1415.<a href="#notetag031">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note032" name="note032"></a> +<b>Footnote 32:</b> In the early part of his father's reign, an ordinance was +made, charging the King's officers not to suffer aliens to bring bulls +or other letters into the kingdom, which might injure the King or his +realm.—Cleop. F. III. f. 114.<a href="#notetag032">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note033" name="note033"></a> +<b>Footnote 33:</b> November 7, 1413.<a href="#notetag033">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note034" name="note034"></a> +<b>Footnote 34:</b> By a statute (4 Hen. IV. 1402), after the Legislature +had complained that the Convents put monks, and canons, and secular +chaplains into the parochial ministry, by no means fit for the cure of +souls, it is enacted, that a vicar adequately endowed should be +everywhere instituted; and, in default of such reformation, that the +licence of appropriation should be forfeited.<a href="#notetag034">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note035" name="note035"></a> +<b>Footnote 35:</b> Henry III. is said to have assigned to Louis IX. this +reason for his preference of devotional exercises to sermons.<a +href="#notetag035">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note036" name="note036"></a> +<b>Footnote 36:</b> It is curious at the same time to observe what +extraordinary notions the Commons, who presented this petition, had +formed of freedom; how jealous they were of the lower orders, and how +determined to exclude them from sharing with themselves the good +things of the church's temporalities. The Commons pray that (no nief +or vileyn) no bondswoman or bondsman, be allowed to send a son to +school with a view of being advanced in the church; and that for the +maintenance and safety of the honour of all the free men of the land.<a +href="#notetag036">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note037" name="note037"></a> +<b>Foonote 37:</b> 15 Richard II. (1391.)<a href="#notetag037">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note038" name="note038"></a> +<b>Footnote 38:</b> Some persons would probably be surprised, among the facts +recorded in this cause, (all which however are confirmed by the +ecclesiastical registers,) to find that by a sort of retrograde +promotion, according to our usual ideas of episcopal preferment, a +Bishop of London, Nicoll Bubwith, was translated from London to +Salisbury, and from Salisbury to Bath and Wells. The pleading also +reminds us of a curious fact with regard to Bishop Hallam's promotion, +not generally known. The record merely states that "the Bishop of +Sarum, that now is, was translated from York to the church of Sarum." +This latter translation, however, (if such it can be properly called,) +admits of a more easy solution than the preceding. The fact is, that +Hallam was actually appointed by the Pope to the archbishopric of +York; to which appointment the King objected. The nomination of the +Pope was not persisted in, and Hallam was consecrated Bishop of +Salisbury.<a href="#notetag038">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note039" name="note039"></a> +<b>Footnote 39:</b> "Jeo ne ferra disputation del poiar l'appost', mes jeo ne +scay veier coment il par ses bull' changer, le ley d'Engleterre."<a +href="#notetag039">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note040" name="note040"></a> +<b>Footnote 40:</b> See Year Book, "Anno xi. Hen. IIII."—Term. Mich. fol. +37; Hilar. fol. 38; Pasc. fol. 59; Trin. fol. 76.<a href="#notetag040">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note041" name="note041"></a> +<b>Footnote 41:</b> "L'appost'." "Nostre Saint Pier l'appost'." "Bulls fait +par Saint Pier."<a href="#notetag041">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note042" name="note042"></a> +<b>Footnote 42:</b> It is very painful to reflect on the intolerant spirit of +this very Sigismund, who was so anxious to reform the abuses of the +church; but it is forced upon us whilst we are inquiring into the +times of Henry. Sigismund had paid (as we shall see) a visit to Henry, +and he meditated another. But he never put that design into execution. +A letter from Heretong Van Clux, Henry's minister, informed his master +that he must not expect to see the Emperor, for he had employment at +home in putting down the followers of Huss. "Now I know well he might +not come, for this cause, that many of the great lords of Bohemia have +required him for to let them hold the same belief that they are in. +And thereupon he sent them word, that rather he would be dead than he +would sustain them in their malice. And they have answered him again, +that they will rather die than go from their belief. There is a great +power of them, lords, knights, and esquires; but the greatest power is +of the commoners. Therefore the Emperor gathers all the power that he +may, to go into Bohemia upon them."—See Ellis's Original Letters.<a +href="#notetag042">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note043" name="note043"></a> +<b>Footnote 43:</b> This council seems to have entailed, first and last, on +England, a very considerable expense. Within a week of the date of the +commission, the Pell Rolls record the payment of 333<i>l.</i> 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> +(a large sum in those days) "to Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, +sent as the King's ambassador to the General Council held at Constance +before our lord the Pope, the Emperor, and others, there assembled for +the salvation of Christian souls." Payments also to others are +recorded.<a href="#notetag043">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note044" name="note044"></a> +<b>Footnote 44:</b> Bishop Hallam died at Constance, Sept. 5, 1417. On which +day the Cardinal des Ursins addressed a letter to Henry, praying him +to appoint as Hallam's successor at Salisbury, John Ketterich, Bishop +of Lichfield, to whose ability and zeal and worth the Cardinal bears +strong testimony. This same Cardinal had a personal interview with +Henry in 1418, just before the taking of Rouen.</p> + +<p>Le Neve leaves it in doubt whether Bishop Hallam was buried at +Constance, or in Westminster Abbey. But the Author has been kindly +furnished by Sir Francis Palgrave, who visited Constance last year, +with the following interesting particulars relative to the +resting-place of that excellent man. "The monument of Bishop Hallam +consists of a slab inlaid with brass, in the usual style of English +memorials of the same period, but quite unlike those of Germany; and I +have no doubt but that the brasses were sent from England. He is +represented at full length in the episcopal dress, his head lying +between two shields, the royal arms of England within the Garter, (as +Chancellor of the order,) and his own bearings. But the tomb being +placed exactly in front of the high altar, the attrition to which it +has been exposed in this part of the church has nearly effaced the +engravings." His funeral, we are told, was attended by the assembled +princes and prelates and nobles of the council, who followed him to +the grave with every demonstration of respect and sorrow.<a +href="#notetag044">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note045" name="note045"></a> +<b>Footnote 45:</b> Anthony ą Wood, referring to the alleged resolution of +the University of Oxford in favour of Wickliff and his doctrines, +refers to this Bishop Hallam, though with some mistake. "The prime +broacher," he says, "of this testimonial, of which we have nothing in +our registers, records, or books of epistles, was John Husse in the +first tome of his works, and from him John Fox. Against the former of +whom it was objected in the Council of Constance, that he had openly +divulged the said commendatory letter in behalf of John Wickliff, +falsely conveyed to Prague, under the title of the University of +Oxford, by two students, one a Bohemian, the other an Englishman. +Whereupon those of England who were present at the council, of whom, +if I mistake not, Robert Hallam, about these times Bishop of Oxford +[Salisbury], was one, produce another letter under the seal of the +University, wherein, on the contrary, the members thereof as much +denounce against him as the other was in behalf of him, and referred +the matter to the council to judge of it as they thought fit; but how +it was decided I find not."<a href="#notetag045">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note046" name="note046"></a> +<b>Footnote 46:</b> In his arguments on this article Dr. Ullerston offers +some excellent reflections upon the use and abuse of singing in the +church. The sentiments of Augustin, which he quotes, are truly +judicious and edifying. That eloquent father lamented that often the +beauty of the singing withdrew his mind from the divine matter and +substance of what was sung; but when he remembered how, on occasions +of peculiar interest to him, psalmody carried his soul towards heaven +in holy raptures, he could not help voting for its continuance in the +church service. Ullerston quotes also two lines, not indeed specimens +of classical accuracy, but the spirit of which should never be absent +from the mind of a Christian worshipper, whether a Protestant or in +communion with the see of Rome:</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "Non vox sed votum, non musica chordula sed cor,<br> + Non clamor sed amor, sonat in aure Dei."<a +href="#notetag046">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note047" name="note047"></a> +<b>Footnote 47:</b> Thomas Gascoyne, a contemporary writer, born 1403, +ordained 1427, who gives us a deplorable view of the ignorance and +immorality of the clergy of his time, mentions the appointment of +Walden as Henry's chaplain, in confirmation of his position that he +never could find that any King of England retained any bishop after +consecration as his confessor or resident chaplain till the time of +Henry VI. "When (he says) Henry IV.'s confessor was made a bishop, he +sent him to his cure and his bishopric; and Henry V, who was a very +prudent King indeed, and terrible to many nations, had with him one +doctor proficient in divinity, Thomas Walden, as his confessor, who +was burdened with no cure of souls. Thus were Kings and Lords +accustomed to retain as their chaplains persons who were free from all +cure of souls."<a href="#notetag047">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note048" name="note048"></a> +<b>Footnote 48:</b> Pell Rolls, Mich. 7 Hen. V, he is paid for his expenses +in an embassy to the King of Poland.<a href="#notetag048">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note049" name="note049"></a> +<b>Footnote 49:</b> L'Estrange, Counc. Constance, vol. ii. p. 282; and Van +der Hardt, tom. i. p. 501.<a href="#notetag049">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note050" name="note050"></a> +<b>Footnote 50:</b> Not 1418, as it has been supposed, but 1417. The date is +fixed by the specifying of Wednesday the 27th January, as also by the +mention of the Genoese ships. These ships were hired, and they fought +under the French against the English, and were beat in July 1417, +after a severe engagement.<a href="#notetag050">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note051" name="note051"></a> +<b>Footnote 51:</b> Cott. MSS. Cleopatra, t. vii. p. 148.<a +href="#notetag051">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note052" name="note052"></a> +<b>Footnote 52:</b> Cardinalis Camaracensis, or Cardinal of Cambray.<a +href="#notetag052">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note053" name="note053"></a> +<b>Footnote 53:</b> "Collation" meant discourse, or speech, generally of a +laudatory character.<a href="#notetag053">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note054" name="note054"></a> +<b>Footnote 54:</b> The Spaniards, the French, and others were jealous of +the English enjoying the privilege of ranking and voting single-handed +as one of the nations, and insisted upon their being regarded only as +a part of a larger section of Europe, just as Austria was only part of +Germany. But the English resisted, and preserved their privilege.<a +href="#notetag054">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note055" name="note055"></a> +<b>Footnote 55:</b> This alludes to the intention of putting a stop to the +rich and numerous commendams which were then heaped on bishops. Our +English prelates were determined to carry on the reformation, though +at their own personal sacrifice.<a href="#notetag055">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note056" name="note056"></a> +<b>Footnote 56:</b> This negotiation was successful. The French hired a fleet +of long ships of the Genoese.<a href="#notetag056">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note057" name="note057"></a> +<b>Footnote 57:</b> Orator.—Petitioner, one who prayed for the welfare of +another.<a href="#notetag057">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note058" name="note058"></a> +<b>Footnote 58:</b> A curious entry occurs (11th July 1390) in the Pell Rolls +of 10<i>l.</i> ordered by the King (Richard II.) to be paid to the clerks +of the parish churches, and other clerks in the city of London, on +account of the play of the Passion of our Lord and the Creation of the +World, by them performed at Skynnerswell after the feast of +Bartholomew last past.<a href="#notetag058">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note059" name="note059"></a> +<b>Footnote 59:</b> For satisfaction on this point, the reader is especially +referred to the chapter entitled, "Was Henry of Monmouth a religious +persecutor?"<a href="#notetag059">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note060" name="note060"></a> +<b>Footnote 60:</b> In this petition of the University, Henry is told, that +what Constantinus, Marcianus, and Theodosius had been in the East, +that was he in the West; by his eminent Christian piety resisting the +accomplices of Satan, and preventing the western church from sinking +utterly. By his wise and peaceable government of the church he was +(they say) best providing for the peace and security of the state, +whilst he cut off and cast away the rank, luxuriant offshoots of +offences as they grew. In marking out the most notable defects and +abuses, they obeyed (they say) his sacred commands; and they prayed +him to exert his authority in correcting them.<a href="#notetag060">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note061" name="note061"></a> +<b>Footnote 61:</b> There was also a prayer to prohibit the practice of +confiscating the goods of Jews and heathens at their baptism, a +practice tending to debar them from offering themselves at the font.<a +href="#notetag061">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note062" name="note062"></a> +<b>Footnote 62:</b> Cotton. Tiber. B. vi. F. 64.<a href="#notetag062">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note063" name="note063"></a> +<b>Footnote 63:</b> The fact is, that Henry, during his wars in France, +suffered Pope Martin to exercise his pretended prerogative in the +disposal of benefices to an extent, if not unprecedented, certainly +most unjustifiable. The Chapter of York gave the first blow to this +growing usurpation by refusing to admit, in obedience to the Pope's +mandate, Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, into the archiepiscopal +see.<a href="#notetag063">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note064" name="note064"></a> +<b>Footnote 64:</b> The people of England gave frequent proofs of their +desire to seize every opportunity of reaping glory from conquests in +France. When the Duke of Burgundy and the confederated princes, in the +struggle to which we have before referred, applied in the first +instance for assistance to Henry IV, Laboureur tells us that Henry +replied to the latter that he was compelled to accept the offer of the +Duke of Burgundy, to avoid the irritation and discontent of his +subjects, which would be raised if he neglected so favourable an +opportunity of forwarding the national interests.<a href="#notetag064">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note065" name="note065"></a> +<b>Footnote 65:</b> The "Chronicles of England" record, that, "in the second +year of King Henry's reign, he held a council of all the lords of his +realm at Westminster; and there he put to them this demand, and prayed +and besought them of their goodness, and of their good counsel and +good-will, as touching the right and title that he had to Normandy, +Gascony, and Guienne—the which the King of France withheld wrongfully +and unrightfully—the which his ancestors before him had by true title +of conquest and right heritage—the which Normandy, Gascony, and +Guienne the good King Edward of Windsor, and his ancestors before him, +had holden all their life's time. And his lords gave him counsel to +send ambassadors unto the King of France and his council, demanding +that he should give up to him his right heritage,—that is to say, +Normandy, Gascony, and Guienne,—the which his predecessors had holden +before him, or else he would win it with dint of sword in short time +with the help of Almighty God."<a href="#notetag065">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note066" name="note066"></a> +<b>Footnote 66:</b> "Abrégé Historique des Actes Publics d'Angleterre," which +now accompanies the foreign edition of Rymer's Fœdera.<a +href="#notetag066">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note067" name="note067"></a> +<b>Footnote 67:</b> Sir H. Nicolas.<a href="#notetag067">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note068" name="note068"></a> +<b>Footnote 68:</b> The only measures mentioned in the "Fœdera," +before April 1415, indicative of Henry's expectation that the +negociations with France would not terminate pacifically, are, that on +September 26, 1414, the exportation of gunpowder was prohibited; +whilst, on the 22nd, Nicholas Merbury, the master, and John Louth, the +clerk of the King's works, guns, and other ordnance, had been +commanded to provide smiths and workmen, with conveyance for them; +that, on the 18th of the following March, Richard Clyderowe and Simon +Flete were directed to treat with Holland for ships; and, on the 22nd, +the Sheriff of London was ordered to summon knights, esquires, and +valets, who held fees, wages, or annuities by grant from the King or +his ancestors, to repair forthwith to London, and, on pain of +forfeiture, to be there by the 24th of April at the latest.—Sir H. +Nicolas.</p> + +<p>The Pell Rolls record the payment of "2,000<i>l.</i> to Richard Clitherow +and Reginald Curtys, (27th February 1415; ordered by the King himself +to go to Zealand and Holland, for the purpose of treating with the +Duke of Holland and others to supply ships for the King's present +voyage,) therewith to pay divers masters and mariners, who were to +accompany him abroad, whither he was going in his own person."<a +href="#notetag068">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note069" name="note069"></a> +<b>Footnote 69:</b> The Author has been, in this portion of his work, chiefly +assisted by the authors of the "Abrégé Historique," above referred +to.<a href="#notetag069">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note070" name="note070"></a> +<b>Footnote 70:</b> See vol. i. p. 268.<a href="#notetag070">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note071" name="note071"></a> +<b>Footnote 71:</b> The Dauphin, eldest son of Charles VI, was born 22nd +January 1396, and died before his father, without issue, on the 18th +December 1415, in his twentieth year.<a href="#notetag071">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note072" name="note072"></a> +<b>Footnote 72:</b> The following paragraphs are almost literally extracted +from Sir Harris Nicolas's "Battle of Agincourt."<a href="#notetag072">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note073" name="note073"></a> +<b>Footnote 73:</b> Here, however, the Author begs to state his most +unfeigned conviction that, had the Editor of the "Battle of Agincourt" +allowed himself more time for reflection and reconsideration of his +subject, his love of truth and justice (which evidences itself in +various parts of his works) would have induced him to withdraw this +triple accusation. The Author sincerely gives that valuable writer +full credit for his generous indignation at the idea of any thing +savouring of falsehood, as well as for his anxious desire to enlist +all our ancient documents, whether published or yet in manuscript, in +the cause of historical truth; and he sincerely trusts that not one +expression may escape his pen which may give, unnecessarily, the +slightest pain to an Editor for the assistance derived from whose +labours he will not allow this note to escape him (even at the risk of +tautology) without again expressing his obligations.<a href="#notetag073">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note074" name="note074"></a> +<b>Footnote 74:</b> Sir Harris Nicolas.<a href="#notetag074">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note075" name="note075"></a> +<b>Footnote 75:</b> That a correspondence took place, there can be no doubt; +but very much doubt is thrown upon the accuracy of these documents; +they do not appear in such a shape that we can rely upon them as +evidence. The Author who gives them says, that he considers them +capable of embellishing and adorning his history. The reader is +invited to sift this matter thoroughly, if he thinks that the writer +of these Memoirs has taken a partial view of the merits of the +question; and he is, at the same time, cautioned against regarding the +principal work in which these letters are found as the production of +M. Laboureur. Into this error he might easily be led by the manner in +which the book has been quoted. Laboureur translated the work of an +anonymous writer of St. Denis, of whose character nothing is known. +The manuscript, in Latin, is said to have been found in the library of +M. Le President De Thou. The original author brought the history down +to the year 1415, and St. Jean Le Fevre continued it to 1422.<a +href="#notetag075">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note076" name="note076"></a> +<b>Footnote 76:</b> This seems to have been the language of judges, +councillors, parliament, poets, and the people at large. The voice of +all England seemed to be echoed by Lydgate.</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "In honour great; for, by his puissant might,<br> + He conquered all Normandy again<br> + And valiantly, for all the power of France,<br> + And won from them <span class="smcap">his own inheritance</span>."<a +href="#notetag076">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note077" name="note077"></a> +<b>Footnote 77:</b> The Author does not mean to imply, as +the result of his inquiries, that Henry was altogether influenced in +his determination to claim the crown of France by the instigations of +his people. If, as we believe, he was urged by them to adopt that +measure, we believe also that he listened with much readiness to their +appeal.<a href="#notetag077">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note078" name="note078"></a> +<b>Footnote 78:</b> The words of the writer of that history are too clear and +forcible to justify us in merely quoting their substance. The very +title of his chapter directs our attention to the point. "Henry, King +of England, constrained by his subjects to renew his pretension to the +crown of France, makes a great movement." "The present year, on the +incidents of which I proceed to remark, seems to me not less full of +troubles and evils than any of those which preceded it. It commenced +by a rumour, sudden but true, and which spread itself everywhere, that +the English, impatient of repose, blaming for carelessness and want of +heart the repose and inactivity of their King Henry, had <i>compelled +him</i> to arouse himself, and to revive by the same means the +pretensions of some of his predecessors on the crown of France." "Les +Anglais, impatiens de repos ą leur ordinance, blāmans de nonchalance +et de manque de coeur le repos et l'oisiveté de leur Roi Henri, +l'avaient obligé de se reveiller."—M. Laboureur, Life of Charles VI, +translated from the Latin of a contemporary ecclesiastic. Whatever be +the degree of authority to which this author is entitled, whilst he +supplies the letters on which the accusation alone is founded, he as +expressly contradicts, by positive assertion, the inference now drawn +from those letters.<a href="#notetag078">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note079" name="note079"></a> +<b>Footnote 79:</b> Among the records of the council, the minutes of one of +their meetings held at Westminster in the second year of Henry's reign +deserve especial attention. The manuscript is much damaged, but the +general meaning is clearly intelligible. The minutes first rehearse +that "the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the true and humble lieges +and knights of the King's noble realm, were there present, gathered by +his royal command." It then proceeds: "Ye, our noble and righteous +Lord and King, have in your chivalrous heart and desire determined to +stir and labour in your recovery and redintegration of the old rights +of your crown, as well as for your righteous heritage ... desiring +upon this knightful intent and purpose to have the good and high +advice and true meaning of us, your true knights and humble lieges +aforesaid. Whereupon, our sovereign Lord, as well our Lords as we have +communed by your high commandment in these matters: and known well +among us all without [doubt ye are] so Christian a Prince that ye +would in so high a matter begin nothing but that were to God's +pleasance, and to eschew by all ways the shedding of Christian blood; +and that, if algate [at all events] ye should do it, that denying of +right and reason were the cause [rather] than wilfulheadedness. +Wherefore, our sovereign and gracious high Lord, it thinks, as well +our Lords as us in our own hearts, that it were speedful to send such +ambassadors to every party as [your] claim requireth, sufficiently +instructed for the right and recovery of that is above said. And if +ye, our sovereign Lord, at the reverence of God, like of your proper +motion, without our counsel given thereto, any mesne [middle] way to +offer, that were moderating of your whole title, or of any of your +claims beyond the sea; and hereupon your adverse party denying you +both right and reason and all reasonable mesne [middle] ways, we trust +all in God's grace that all your works in pursuing them should take +the better speed and conclusion: and in the mean while that all the +works of readiness that may be to your voyage thought or wrought, that +it be done by the high advice of you and your noble council; seeing +that the surety of your royal estate, the peace of your land, the safe +ward of all your [realm] be well and sufficiently provided for above +all things. And, these observed, we shall be ready with our bodies and +goods, to do you the service that we may to our powers, as far as we +ought of right, and as our ancestors have done to your noble +progenitors in like case."</p> + +<p>This advice appears to have been followed by Henry throughout.</p> + +<p>The Minutes of Council, February 2, 1415, after stating the measures +proposed for the safeguard of the sea, and the marches of Scotland and +Wales, &c. during the King's absence, record this remarkable +advice: that Henry would direct his treasurer to bring a clear +statement of his debtor and creditor account, the demands of the +treasury, and the income; also the debts incurred since the +coronation, and the annuities to which he was pledged; "in order that, +before the departure of the King, such provision may be made in every +part, according to the amount of the charges, that the mind and soul +of the King might be set at ease and comfort, that he might depart +like a Christian Prince with a good government, and the better +accomplish his voyage, to the pleasure of God, and the singular +comfort of all his faithful lieges."—Acts of Privy Council, vol. ii. +p. 148.<a href="#notetag079">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note080" name="note080"></a> +<b>Footnote 80:</b> A renewed charge of hypocrisy, brought against Henry by +the same pen, will call for a renewed inquiry; and whatever further +remarks may be made on that topic, are reserved for the page in which +we shall shortly enter upon the investigation of the charges.<a +href="#notetag080">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note081" name="note081"></a> +<b>Footnote 81:</b> Hall says, that "he left for governor behind him his +mother-in-law, the Queen." And Goodwin (referring for his authority to +Hall and Pat. 3 Hen. V. p. 2. m. 41.) states that he made her regent, +and the Duke of Bedford protector. But this seems to have originated +in mere mistake.<a href="#notetag081">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note082" name="note082"></a> +<b>Footnote 82:</b> The particulars of these commissions may be found in +Rymer, or in Sir Harris Nicolas's "Battle of Agincourt," to whom the +reader is referred for more minute information on the subject.<a +href="#notetag082">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note083" name="note083"></a> +<b>Footnote 83:</b> Abrégé Historique des Actes publics d'Angleterre.<a +href="#notetag083">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note084" name="note084"></a> +<b>Footnote 84:</b> Otterbourne says Henry received the tennis-balls whilst +he was keeping his Lent at Kenilworth.<a href="#notetag084">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note085" name="note085"></a> +<b>Footnote 85:</b> Cotton MS. Claudius, A. viii.<a href="#notetag085">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note086" name="note086"></a> +<b>Footnote 86:</b> His very last will is not known to be in existence. This +testament was made seven years before his death, and was probably soon +cancelled.<a href="#notetag086">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note087" name="note087"></a> +<b>Footnote 87:</b> Among the saints to whose custody he bequeaths his soul, +his favourite and patron, John of Bridlington, finds a place. Among +the legacies connected with his family history, we meet with a +bequest, to the "Bishop of Durham, of the Missal and Portophore which +he had received as a present from his dear grandmother Joan, Countess +of Hereford." To the same countess a gold cyphus,—a proof that in +1415 his maternal grandmother was still alive. It may be worth +observing that, in this will, there is no legacy to the Queen, his +father's widow. He had, however, on the 30th June preceding, "granted +of especial grace to his dearest mother, Joanna, Queen of England, +licence to live, during his absence, in his castles of Windsor, +Wallingford, Berkhamstead, and Hertford."<a href="#notetag087">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note088" name="note088"></a> +<b>Footnote 88:</b> In a few pages further, the same writer thinks himself +justified in adding this note on a letter of Henry to Charles, "A +translation of this <i>hypocritical</i> letter is given in the Appendix."<a +href="#notetag088">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note089" name="note089"></a> +<b>Footnote 89:</b> See Cott. MS. Julius, E. iv. f. 115.<a href="#notetag089">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note090" name="note090"></a> +<b>Footnote 90:</b> The Emperor, in the league which he made with Henry, +records his resolution to assist him in the recovery of his just +rights.<a href="#notetag090">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note091" name="note091"></a> +<b>Footnote 91:</b> Here we cannot but recal the words with which Henry +afterwards, it is said, addressed the Cardinal des Ursins, who was +sent by the Pope to mediate between him and Charles just before he +laid siege to Rouen. "See you not that God hath brought me here as it +were by the hand? There is no longer a King in France. <i>I have a legal +right over that realm.</i> All is in confusion there; and no one dreams +of opposing me. Can I have a more sensible proof that God, who +disposes of crowns, has decreed that I should place on my head the +crown of France?" And in his mandate to the Archbishop of Canterbury +to array the clergy against the enemies of the church and of the +faith, should any appear in his absence, he says, "We are now going to +recover our inheritance and the rights of our crown, now a long time, +as is <i>evident to all</i>, unjustly kept from us."—Sloane, +p. 52.<a href="#notetag091">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note092" name="note092"></a> +<b>Footnote 92:</b> The Dedication of the Ypodigma Neustrię claims for itself +a place in this work; and to no part can it be more appropriately +appended than to this, in which modern charges strongly contrasted +with his view are examined. The following is a literal translation of +the introduction to this work of Walsingham:—"To the most noble and +illustrious King of the French and English, Henry, conqueror of +Normandy, most serene Prince of Wales, Lord of Ireland and Aquitain, +by God's grace always and everywhere victor, the humblest of his +servants who pray for him, Brother Thomas of Walsingham, monk of the +monastery of St. Alban, who was first of the English martyrs, with +lowly recommendation wisheth health in Him who giveth health to Kings. +Whilst I reflected, among the contemplative studies of the cloister, +with how great talents of virtue, and titles of victory, God Almighty +hath exalted,—with what gifts of especial grace He hath abundantly +filled you,—so that even your enemies proclaim your wisdom, admire +and everywhere extol your discretion, and celebrate your justice by +the testimony of their praise, I confess that I have been filled with +pleasure and inward joy, more gratifying far than the choicest +dainties. But, in the midst of this, there arises in my mind a kind of +cloud, which throws a shade on the glad thought of my heart, whilst I +am compelled to fear the general habits of a nation which very often +has trifled with the publicly plighted vows and their oath solemnly +pledged. And whilst I meditate on past days,—recalling the frauds, +crimes, factions, and enormities committed by your enemies,—my soul +is made anxious, and my heart is disquieted within me, and my life has +well-nigh failed from grief, knowing that to-morrow base deeds may be +done as well as yesterday. And fearing lest by any means your +innocence may be circumvented, I revolved in my mind what would best +minister to your safety in the midst of so many dangers. At length it +occurred to me to write something to your Highness (whom my soul +cordially loves) by which you may be made more safe at once and more +cautious. Love conquers all things; ah! it has wrought in me not to +fear, though in an uncultivated and unpolished style, to offer to so +wise and glorious a Prince what I reflected upon in my mind, and to +open to your serene Highness as I best may what I have conceived in my +heart for your royal safety. Hence it is that I have endeavoured to +draw up a brief table of events from the commencement of the conquest +of Neustria [Normandy] by the Normans down to their conquest of +England; which I have carried on to the time when your Majesty, with +power and victory, compelled the same Normandy, alienated against +right and justice from your ancestors for about two hundred and twenty +years, to come under your yoke, and royally to be governed according +to your desire. Wherefore, my redoubted Lord and King, in this little +work I offer to your inspection past deeds, various wars, mutual +covenants of peace; leagues, though confirmed by an oath, violated; +the promises, pledges, offerings, treacherously made to your +predecessors; the deceit and hypocrisy of the enemy; and whatever the +antagonist could with exquisite craftiness invent, by which they might +entrap your noble spirit. Wherefore, since it becomes no one to +possess knowledge more than a Prince, whose learning may be most +beneficial to his subjects,—I, a poor and humble votary, offer (if it +be your will) this volume to the inspection of your Highness; giving +it the name of Ypodigma Neustrię, because it especially portrays the +events and falls of that country from the time of Rollo the first Duke +down to the sixth year of your happy reign, which may God Almighty of +his great mercy crown with peace, and preserve in all prosperity! +Amen."<a href="#notetag092">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note093" name="note093"></a> +<b>Footnote 93:</b> But though a person were a volunteer, yet if, after +"making his muster," he failed in his duty, the punishment was both +summary and severe. In a subsequent expedition of Henry, Hugh Annesley +had made his muster in the company of Lord Grey of Codnor, and had +received the King's pay from him, but tarried nevertheless in England. +He was summoned before the council, and confessed his delinquency; his +person was forthwith committed to the Fleet, and his estates seized +into the King's hands.<a href="#notetag093">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note094" name="note094"></a> +<b>Footnote 94:</b> The song will be found in a note on our account of the +battle of Agincourt.<a href="#notetag094">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note095" name="note095"></a> +<b>Footnote 95:</b> Should it occur to any one, that if in this case we allow +the poet to have weight when he speaks of what reflects honour on +Henry's name, we ought to assign the same credit to Shakspeare; when +he tells us of madcap frolics and precocious dissipation, it must be +remembered, that on testing the accuracy of Shakspeare by an appeal to +history, we established a striking discrepancy between them; and that +Shakspeare lived more than a century after the death of Henry; whereas +we are led to regard this song of Agincourt as contemporary with the +events which it celebrates; and its eulogy harmonizes in perfect +accordance with what history might lead us to expect.<a +href="#notetag095">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note096" name="note096"></a> +<b>Footnote 96:</b> Query, Are these counties especially mentioned as being +more peculiarly Henry's own? He was Duke of Lancaster, and Earl of +Chester and Derby.<a href="#notetag096">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note097" name="note097"></a> +<b>Footnote 97:</b> Mr. James, in his Naval History of Great Britain, does +not seem to have carried back his researches beyond the reign of Henry +VIII, to whom he ascribes "the honour of having by his own +prerogative, and at his sole expense, settled the constitution of the +present royal navy." Much undoubtedly does the English navy owe to +that monarch; but he would be more justly regarded as its restorer and +especial benefactor, than its founder.<a href="#notetag097">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note098" name="note098"></a> +<b>Footnote 98:</b> See Hardy's Introduction to the Close Rolls, and Lord +Lyttelton's History of Henry II.<a href="#notetag098">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note099" name="note099"></a> +<b>Footnote 99:</b> "Par long temps a lour grantz custages et despenses." +<a href="#notetag099">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note100" name="note100"></a> +<b>Footnote 100:</b> The Pell Rolls record the payment of a pension which +bears testimony to the interest taken by Henry in his infant navy, and +to the kindness with which he rewarded those who had faithfully served +him. The pension is stated to have been given "to John Hoggekyns, +master-carpenter, of special grace, because by long working at the +ships his body was much shaken and worsted."<a href="#notetag100">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note101" name="note101"></a> +<b>Footnote 101:</b> Ellis, Second Series, Letter XXI.<a href="#notetag101">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note102" name="note102"></a> +<b>Footnote 102:</b> When he sailed from Southampton in his first expedition +to France, he went on board his own good ship, the Trinity:</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "But the grandest ship of all that went,<br> + Was that in which our good King sailed." + <span class="jump"><i>Old Ballad.</i></span><a +href="#notetag102">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note103" name="note103"></a> +<b>Footnote 103:</b> Pell Rolls, 16 July 1418.<a href="#notetag103">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note104" name="note104"></a> +<b>Footnote 104:</b> Among the preparations for bringing Henry's corpse with +all the solemn pomp which an admiring, grateful, and mourning nation +could provide, all ships and vessels on the east coast were impressed, +and sent to Calais.—Pell Rolls, Sept. 26, 1422.<a href="#notetag104">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note105" name="note105"></a> +<b>Footnote 105:</b> To suppose that this conspiracy could have originated, +as it has been lately (Turner's History) suggested, in "the resisting +spirit which Henry's religious persecutions occasioned, and which led +some to wish for another sovereign," is altogether gratuitous, and +contrary to fact. He was not carrying on religious persecution, and no +resisting spirit on that ground had manifested itself at all.<a +href="#notetag105">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note106" name="note106"></a> +<b>Footnote 106:</b> Richard of Coningsburg, second son of Edmund of Langley, +Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III, was high in favour with Henry +V, who created him Earl of Cambridge in the second year of his reign. +He married Ann, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, whose son +Richard (aged fourteen in the third year of Henry V,) was heir to +Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. Leland says, that the "main design of +the Earl of Cambridge's conspiracy was to raise Edmund Mortimer, Earl +of March, to the throne, as heir to Lionel, Duke of Clarence; and +then, in case that Earl had no child, the right would come to the Earl +of Cambridge's wife, (sister to the same Edmund,) and to her issue, as +it afterwards did; and this is most likely to be true, whatever hath +been otherwise reported."—Lel. Coll. i. 701.<a href="#notetag106">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note107" name="note107"></a> +<b>Footnote 107:</b> To one of these, Robert Hull, the payment of one hundred +marks was ordered to be made, February 7, 1418, for lately holding his +sessions in South Wales; and also for his trouble and expenses in +delivering the gaol at Southampton of Richard Earl of Cambridge, Henry +Lord Scrope, and Thomas Grey, Knight, there for treason adjudged and +put to death.<a href="#notetag107">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note108" name="note108"></a> +<b>Footnote 108:</b> The King's writ, dated Southampton, 8th of August, +orders "the head of Henry Lescrop de Masham to be stuck up at York, +and the head of Thomas Grey de Heton to be stuck up at Newcastle upon +Tyne."—Close Roll, 3 Henry V. m. 16.<a href="#notetag108">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note109" name="note109"></a> +<b>Footnote 109:</b> Cotton MS. Claudius A. viii. 2.<a href="#notetag109">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note110" name="note110"></a> +<b>Footnote 110:</b> His pardon is dated 8th August.<a href="#notetag110">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note111" name="note111"></a> +<b>Footnote 111:</b> Some of the best antiquaries of the present day are +disposed to pronounce, that a pardon was never granted, unless there +had existed some cause of suspicion or offence,—something, in short, +which might have involved in trouble the individual for whom the +pardon was obtained.<a href="#notetag111">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note112" name="note112"></a> +<b>Footnote 112:</b> (Ellis, Second Series, vol. i. p. 44.) "This conspiracy +was the first spark of the flame which in the course of time consumed +the two houses of Lancaster and York. Richard Earl of Cambridge was +the father of Richard Duke of York, and the grandfather of King Edward +IV."<a href="#notetag112">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="note113" name="note113"></a> +<b>Footnote 113:</b> The extraordinary prevalence of an opinion that Richard +was still alive and in Scotland, has already been noticed. The +Chronicle of England informs us of some particulars relative to the +means by which the reports concerning him were propagated, and the +prompt, severe, and decisive measures adopted by the King and his +supporters for suppressing them. "And at this time (5 Henry IV.) +Serle, yeoman of King Richard, came into England out of Scotland, and +told to divers people that King Richard was alive in Scotland, and so +much people believed in his words. Wherefore a great part of the +people of the realm were in great error and grudging against the King, +through information of lies and false leasing that this Serle had +made. But at the last he was taken in the North country, and by law +was judged to be drawn through every city and good burgh town in +England, and was afterwards hanged at Tyburn and quartered." It is +also certain that many members of the monastic orders were executed +for spreading similar reports. See Nichols' Leicester, vol. i. p. +368.<a href="#notetag113">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note114" name="note114"></a> +<b>Footnote 114:</b> It was shortly before he left London on this expedition +that Henry made that grant (to which reference was made in the early +part of our first volume) of 20<i>l.</i> per annum on Joan Waring, his +nurse.—Rol. Pat. 3 Henry V. m. 13. It is dated June 5th.<a href="#notetag114">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note115" name="note115"></a> +<b>Footnote 115:</b> At the place also where he encamped, he solemnly +celebrated the festival of the Assumption [so called] of the Virgin +Mary, a feast observed, in the countries on the Continent in communion +with Rome, with great rejoicings and religious ceremonies, in the +present day.<a href="#notetag115">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note116" name="note116"></a> +<b>Footnote 116:</b> See Chronicler A, and St. Remy, p. 82, quoted in +Nicolas' Agincourt.<a href="#notetag116">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note117" name="note117"></a> +<b>Footnote 117:</b> Sloane MS. 1776.<a href="#notetag117">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note118" name="note118"></a> +<b>Footnote 118:</b> A very curious turn has been given inadvertently to this +circumstance by the translation of the ecclesiastic's sentence, and +the comment upon it, now found in the Appendix to the "Battle of +Agincourt." "Rege pręsente, pedes ejus tergente post extremam +unctionem propriis manibus,"—words which can only be translated so as +to represent the King, "after extreme unction, wiping the feet" of the +Bishop,—the Editor of that work, by the careless blunder of an +amanuensis, or some unaccountable accident, is made to render by the +strange sentence, "<i>covering</i> his feet <i>with</i> extreme unction;" and he +is then led, as a comment upon that text, to observe, that "the Bishop +received from Henry's own hand the last offices of <i>religion</i>." +Extreme unction, the last of the seven sacraments of the see of Rome, +was administered doubtless by an attendant priest.<a href="#notetag118">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note119" name="note119"></a> +<b>Footnote 119:</b> Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. iv. +f. 24.<a href="#notetag119">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note120" name="note120"></a> +<b>Footnote 120:</b> Monstrelet informs us that the treasure found by Henry +at Harfleur was immense. A letter to Henry from two of his officers, +"<i>counters of your receipt</i>," specifies that they were then in +possession for the King of treasure to this amount: of coined gold, +30,000<i>l.</i>; in silver coined, 1,000,000<i>l.</i>; and in wedges of silver, +drawing by estimation to half a ton weight; at the same time desiring +to receive instructions as to the mode of conveying it to Rouen. This +letter, dated 19th of May, must belong to the year 1419, in the +January of which Rouen was taken.—Ellis's Letters, xxvi.<a href="#notetag120">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note121" name="note121"></a> +<b>Footnote 121:</b> Abrégé Historique.<a href="#notetag121">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note122" name="note122"></a> +<b>Footnote 122:</b> Ibid. p. 114.<a href="#notetag122">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note123" name="note123"></a> +<b>Footnote 123:</b> There is a doubt whether it is the xvi. or the +xxvi.—the first x in the manuscript having, perhaps, been obliterated +by the fire which damaged it.—Fœd. vol. ix. +313.<a href="#notetag123">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note124" name="note124"></a> +<b>Footnote 124:</b> On the 4th of October fishermen in different parts were +ordered to go with all speed, taking their tackle with them, to +Harfleur, to fish for the support of the King and his army.<a +href="#notetag124">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note125" name="note125"></a> +<b>Footnote 125:</b> This is a very curious fact, not generally known. The +battle of Agincourt, humanly speaking, would not have been fought, had +it not been for the falsehood of a Frenchman.<a href="#notetag125">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note126" name="note126"></a> +<b>Footnote 126:</b> Shakspeare makes use of this anecdote, and fixes the +robbery on Bardolph.<a href="#notetag126">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note127" name="note127"></a> +<b>Footnote 127:</b> Sir William Bardolf, Lieutenant of Calais, hearing of +the King's danger, sent part of his garrison to his assistance; but +that little body, consisting of about three hundred men-at-arms, were +either destroyed or taken prisoners by the men of Picardy.<a href="#notetag127">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note128" name="note128"></a> +<b>Footnote 128:</b> After quitting Bonnieres, Henry passed unawares beyond +the place intended by his officers for his quarters; but, instead of +returning, he replied that, being in his war-coat, he could not return +without displeasing God. He therefore ordered his advanced guard to +take a more distant position, and himself occupied the spot which had +been intended for them. This anecdote is recorded as an instance of +the care with which Henry avoided whatever might appear of ill omen. +Probably he only followed the usual maxims of an army in march; that +maxim originating, it may be, in superstition.<a href="#notetag128">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note129" name="note129"></a> +<b>Footnote 129:</b> And yet there were so many priests present (with the +baggage) during the battle, that the chaplain calls them the clerical +army, whose weapons were prayers and intercessions, "Nos qui ascripti +sumus clericali militię."<a href="#notetag129">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note130" name="note130"></a> +<b>Footnote 130:</b> In the "History of Agincourt," the translator of the +Chaplain's Memoir (Sloane 1776) has given a far more faint +representation than the original will warrant of the sufferings to +which the English troops were exposed through this night of present +fatigue and discomfort, and of anxious preparation for so tremendous a +struggle as awaited them on the morrow. The ecclesiastic, who was +himself among the sufferers, and who has furnished a very graphic +description of the whole affair, says, "The King turned aside to a +small village, where we had houses, but very few indeed, and gardens +and orchards to rest in." "Ubi habuimus domos sed paucissimas, +hortosque et pomaria pro requiescione nostra." This the translator +renders, "Where we had houses to rest in, but very scanty gardens and +orchards." The scanty supply was not of gardens and orchards, but of +houses to rest in. Consequently, except such as those very few houses +could accommodate, the English soldiers were all compelled to bivouac, +exposed to the drenching rains which fell through the night. Of +orchards and gardens there was doubtless an abundant supply, but they +afforded little shelter from the weather, and no means to the troops +of taking refreshing rest.<a href="#notetag130">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note131" name="note131"></a> +<b>Footnote 131:</b> St. Remy.<a href="#notetag131">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note132" name="note132"></a> +<b>Footnote 132:</b> The statement that Henry offered to repair all the +injury he had done to France, is deservedly considered unworthy of +credit.<a href="#notetag132">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note133" name="note133"></a> +<b>Footnote 133:</b> The present reading in Monstrelet, who details these +circumstances with much life and clearness, reports the word used by +the English warrior to have been "Nestroque," which has been, with +much probability, considered a corruption of "Now strike!" Whether the +word is now read as the Author wrote it, is very questionable; many +French words in Monstrelet have been mistaken and corrupted by his +copyists.<a href="#notetag133">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note134" name="note134"></a> +<b>Footnote 134:</b> It must be remembered that the arrival of fresh +reinforcements was by no means an improbable occurrence. Anthony, Duke +of Brabant, had only reached the field with his men just before the +tide of battle turned finally and fatally against the French; nor +could Henry possibly know what forces were yet hastening on to dispute +with him for the victory afresh.<a href="#notetag134">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note135" name="note135"></a> +<b>Footnote 135:</b> One author alone, Jean Le Fevre, states that some of the +English, who had taken the prisoners of greatest note and wealth, +hesitated to execute the order, from an unwillingness to lose their +ransom; and that two hundred archers were commissioned to perform the +dreadful office in their stead.<a href="#notetag135">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note136" name="note136"></a> +<b>Footnote 136:</b> The passage of M. Petitot, in his History, published in +the year 1825, vol. vi. p. 322, which contains this accusation, is as +follows: "The Duke of Alenēon fought hand to hand with the King of +England, and fell gloriously. Towards the end of the struggle, some +hundreds of peasants of Picardy, commanded by two gentlemen of the +country, believing that the English were vanquished, came to plunder +their camp. Henry, fancying that he was about to be attacked by a +reinforcement, whose march had been concealed from him, ordered the +massacre of the prisoners, and only excepted the princes and generals. +This barbarous order was put into execution, and tarnished his +victory."<a href="#notetag136">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note137" name="note137"></a> +<b>Footnote 137:</b> In the printed copies of Monstrelet the reading is "de +la <i>hart</i>," a mistake, it is presumed, for <i>mort</i>. Many such errors +occur in his work.<a href="#notetag137">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note138" name="note138"></a> +<b>Footnote 138:</b> The Author is compelled to express his regret that some +of our own modern writers (among others Goldsmith and Mackintosh) have +been led to take a different estimate of the character of this +transaction. Whether their judgments were formed after a careful +weighing of the several accounts furnished by contemporary authors and +eye-witnesses of the conflict, or whether they allowed their feelings +of philanthropy, and their abhorrence of cruelty, to dictate their +sentence in this case, the Author cannot refer to their works without +appealing from them to the facts as they stand in those undisputed +records which were accessible alike to them and to ourselves. On this +subject Rapin, Carte, Holinshed, Nicolas, with others, may be +consulted.<a href="#notetag138">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note139" name="note139"></a> +<b>Footnote 139:</b> It is quite impossible to reconcile the different +accounts of the loss on the part of the English. Walsingham speaks of +thirty only having fallen; De Fenin reports them to have been four or +five hundred; whilst Monstrelet raises the number to sixteen hundred.</p> + +<p>On the part of the French, Le Fevre says, that from a hundred to six +score princes fell, and about seven or eight thousand of noble blood. +In the Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius, continued by Raynaldus, the +statement of Theodoric Niemius is quoted, who says (unquestionably +without authority) that Henry advanced from Harfleur with sixty +thousand men, besides two thousand in attendance on the carriages. He +affirms that the French had one hundred thousand men; among whom were +one thousand Italians, commanded by Buligard, who had long governed +Genoa in favour of the French. He says, moreover, that more than five +thousand five hundred French nobles were slain; and fifteen hundred +taken prisoners, and carried to England.<a href="#notetag139">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note140" name="note140"></a> +<b>Footnote 140:</b> Hume, with his usual inaccuracy, asserts that the French +army at Agincourt was headed as well by the Dauphin, as by all the +other princes of the blood. The Dauphin wished to assist his +countrymen, when they resolved to intercept the invaders; but, as we +are expressly told by Le Fevre (c. 59), was not suffered to join the +rendezvous. This is not the only mistake into which Hume has fallen in +his account of this battle. In one paragraph he reports Henry to have +been under the necessity of marching by land from Harfleur to Calais, +in order to reach a place of safety from which he might transport his +soldiers back to England; in another paragraph he represents him (with +the same temerity which had been evinced by his predecessors before +the battles of Poictiers and of Cressy) to have ventured without any +object of moment, and merely for the <i>sake of plunder</i>, so far into +the enemy's country as to leave himself no retreat. He tells us, +moreover, that "Henry was master of fourteen thousand prisoners," whom +he afterwards says that the King "carried with him to Paris, thence to +England." Hume took this also without inquiry. Walsingham says, "Henry +took (as they say—ut ferunt,—as though even that estimate required +to be supported by common report,) seven hundred prisoners;" and of +his prisoners, how many soever they were, he transported (as Des +Ursins tells us) only the most considerable to England, dismissing the +rest under promise to bring their ransom to him in the field of Lendi, +on the feast of St. John in the summer, and, if he were not there, +they should be discharged of the debt.<a href="#notetag140">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note141" name="note141"></a> +<b>Footnote 141:</b> Of this gallant Welshman, the following account is taken +from the Appendix of the "Battle of Agincourt." "Dr. Meyrick (now Sir +Samuel) says, Davydd Gam, <i>i.e.</i> Squint-eyed David, was a native of +Brecknockshire, and, holding his land of the honour of Hereford, was a +strenuous supporter of the Lancastrian interests. He was the son of +Llewellyn, descended from Einion Sais, who possessed a handsome +property in the parishes of Garthbrengy and Llanddeu. In consequence +of an affray in the high street of Brecknock, in which he +unfortunately killed his kinsman, he was compelled to fly into England +to avoid a threatened prosecution, and became the implacable enemy of +Owain Glyndowr, whom he attempted to assassinate. Gam, it may be +supposed, was his nick-name, as he called himself David Llewellyn; and +there are good grounds for supposing that Shakspeare has caricatured +him in Captain Fluellin. His descendants, however, conceiving that his +prowess more than redeemed his natural defect, took the name of Game. +Sir Walter Raleigh has an eulogium upon his bravery and exploits on +the field of Agincourt, in which he compares him to Hannibal. He was +knighted on the field with his two companions in glory and death, Sir +Roger Vaughan, of Bedwardine in Herefordshire, and Sir Walter, or +rather Watkin Llwyd, of the lordship of Brecknock. Sir Roger had +married Gwladis, the daughter of Sir David Gamme, who survived him, +and became the wife of another hero of Agincourt, Sir William Thomas +of Raglan; and Sir Watkin was by his marriage related to Sir Roger."</p> + +<p>The Author gives this passage as he finds it, without having attempted +to verify the statement as to David Gamme's descent or history. +Certainly the testimony which Sir Samuel Meyrick makes Sir Walter +Raleigh bear to his "bravery and exploits on the field of Agincourt," +cannot be fairly extracted from Sir Walter's own words: "But if +Hannibal himself had been sent forth by Mago to view the Romans, he +could not have returned with a more gallant report in his mouth than +Captain Gamme made unto King Henry the Fifth, saying, 'That of the +Frenchmen there were enow to be killed, enow to be taken prisoners, +and enow to run away!'" We have no doubt of Captain Gamme's gallant +bearing at Agincourt; but Raleigh refers to nothing beyond his report +of the numbers of the enemy.—Raleigh, book v. sect. 8.<a +href="#notetag141">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note142" name="note142"></a> +<b>Footnote 142:</b> The fact is recorded in the Patent Rolls, P. 2, 3 Hen. +V.<a href="#notetag142">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note143" name="note143"></a> +<b>Footnote 143:</b> The spot from which the battle of Agincourt took its +name has been confounded with a place named Azincourt, near the town +of Bouchain in French Flanders. On the position of the real field of +battle, and its present condition, the Author has much satisfaction in +making the following extract from a paper read before the Royal +Society of Literature, April 4, 1827, by John Gordon Smith, M.D. who +had visited and examined the spot under circumstances of peculiar +interest:</p> + +<p class="letter">"Perhaps I may be pardoned for relating that I had the honour to +receive a Waterloo medal on the field of Azincour, or rather, that I +had the fortune to belong to one of the British regiments that +signalized themselves in the campaign of 1815, and which afterwards +was invested with the above-mentioned mark of their sovereign's +approbation on the very spot which, nearly four hundred years before, +was the scene of the scarcely less glorious triumph of Harry the Fifth +of England. In 1816 a portion of the British army was cantoned in the +immediate neighbourhood of this celebrated field, and the corps in +which I then served made use of it during several months as their +ordinary drill-ground.... We amused ourselves with reconnoitring +excursions, comparing the actual state of the localities with +authentic accounts of the transactions of 1415. The changes that have +taken place have been singularly few, and an attentive explorer would +be able to trace with considerable accuracy the greater part of the +route pursued by the English army in their retreat out of Normandy +towards Calais. The field of Azincour remains sufficiently in statu +quo to render every account of the battle perfectly intelligible; nor +are those wanting near the spot, whose traditionary information +enables them to heighten the interest with oral description, +accompanied by a sort of ocular demonstration.</p> + +<p class="letter">"Those who travel to Paris by way of St. Omer and Abbeville, pass over +the field of the battle, which skirts the high road to the left, about +sixteen miles beyond St. Omer; two on the Paris side of a considerable +village or bourg named Fruges; about eight north of the fortified town +of Hesdin; and thirty from Abbeville. All accounts of the battle +mention the hamlet of Ruisseauville, through which very place the high +road to Paris now passes.</p> + +<p class="letter">"Azincour is a commune or parish consisting of a most uninteresting +collection of farmers' residences and cottages, once however +distinguished by a castle, of which nothing now remains but the +foundation. The scene of the contest lies between this commune and the +adjoining one of Tramecour, in a wood belonging to which latter the +King concealed those archers whose prowess and vigour contributed so +eminently to the glorious result. Part of the wood still remains; +though, if I remember rightly, at the time of our visit, the corner +into which the bowmen were thrown had been materially thinned, if, +indeed, the original timber had not been entirely cut down, and its +place been scantily supplied by brush or underwood. Some of the trees, +however, in the wood of Tramecour were very old in 1816.</p> + +<p class="letter">"The road above mentioned is the great post-road; the old road, now +degenerated into a mere cart-track, from Abbeville to the once +celebrated city of Therouanne, passes over the scene of action, and +must have been that by which the French army reached the ground before +the English, who had been compelled to make a great circuit."—Vol. i. +part ii. p. 57.<a href="#notetag143">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note144" name="note144"></a> +<b>Footnote 144:</b> Before his departure from Calais, a dispute arose +between him and two noblemen, who had been taken prisoners at +Harfleur, and set at liberty on condition of surrendering themselves +at Calais. The merits of the case cannot now be known. The one, De +Gaucourt, brought an action against the representatives of the other, +after his death, and after the death of Henry, to recover what he paid +for that other's [D'Estouteville's] ransom. To give a colouring to his +case, he charges Henry with refusing to confirm the stipulations made +by his representatives at Harfleur, and with other harsh conduct. But +an ex parte statement at that time, and under those circumstances, can +form no ground of suspicion against a third party.<a href="#notetag144">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note145" name="note145"></a> +<b>Footnote 145:</b> See "Battle of Agincourt."<a href="#notetag145">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note146" name="note146"></a> +<b>Footnote 146:</b> Various entries occur in the Pell Rolls of money paid +for masses for the souls of those who fell in these wars. Among the +rest are specified (26th September 1418) Lord Grey of Codnor and Sir +John Blount. Two thousand masses were ordered for the souls of Lord +Talbot and another. See extracts in English, translated lately, from +the Pell Rolls, by Mr. F. Devon. This work, whilst it acquaints the +student with the sort of information and evidence which the Pell Rolls +may supply, will in other respects assist him in his inquiries; for +many valuable and interesting facts are presented to him in the +volume: but, to ascertain what those documents really do contain, it +is necessary (as in all other cases) to apply at the fountain-head.<a +href="#notetag146">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note147" name="note147"></a> +<b>Footnote 147:</b> Fœd. viii. 236.<a href="#notetag147">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note148" name="note148"></a> +<b>Footnote 148:</b> The second line of this song is variously read. Probably +the original words are lost. The reading in the text is +conjectural.<a href="#notetag148">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note149" name="note149"></a> +<b>Footnote 149:</b> Dr. Burney has here fallen into a most extraordinary +mistake. In the very page to which he refers, Elmham, in his turgid +manner, assures us that at Henry's coronation the tumultuous clang of +so many trumpets made the heavens resound with the roar of thunder. He +then describes the sweet strings of the harps soothing the souls of +the guests by their soft melody; and the united music of other +instruments also, by their dulcet sounds, in which no discord +interrupted the harmony, inviting the royal banqueters to full +enjoyment of the festival.<a href="#notetag149">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note150" name="note150"></a> +<b>Footnote 150:</b> Thomas de Elmham, Vit. et Gest. Hen. V. edit. Hearne, +Oxon. 1727, cap. xii. p. 23.<a href="#notetag150">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note151" name="note151"></a> +<b>Footnote 151:</b> Burney's History of Music, vol. ii. +p. 382.<a href="#notetag151">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note152" name="note152"></a> +<b>Footnote 152:</b> For dread neither of least nor of +greatest.<a href="#notetag152">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note153" name="note153"></a> +<b>Footnote 153:</b> Mr. Turner.<a href="#notetag153">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note154" name="note154"></a> +<b>Footnote 154:</b> Another view might be taken of the cause of this delay +on the part of Henry. Perhaps he was acting prudently by allowing time +for his enemies to weaken each other, and to exhaust their resources +by the insatiable demands of civil warfare. Meanwhile, he was not +himself idle.<a href="#notetag154">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note155" name="note155"></a> +<b>Footnote 155:</b> Lord Talbot was to be associated with the Captain of +Calais to receive the Emperor in that city. At Dover, the Duke of +Gloucester, with the Lords Salisbury, Furnival, and Haryngton, were to +welcome him to the English shores; at Rochester, the Constable and +Marshal of England, the Earl of Oxford, and others; at Dartford, the +Duke of Clarence, with the Earls of March and Huntingdon, Lord Grey of +Ruthing, Lord Abergavenny, and others, were to meet him. At +Blackheath, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and good people of London were +to await his arrival; whilst Henry himself was to receive Sigismund +between Deptford and Southwark, at a place called St. Thomas +Watering.—"Privy Council," April 1416, Pour la venue de +l'Empereur.<a href="#notetag155">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note156" name="note156"></a> +<b>Footnote 156:</b> The Archbishop of Canterbury commanded all his +suffragans to take especial care that prayers be offered in all +congregations for the good estate of Sigismund.—Rymer's Fœd. +1416.<a href="#notetag156">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note157" name="note157"></a> +<b>Footnote 157:</b> Henry was at Smalhithe in Kent (August 22), +superintending the building of some ships, when news of this success +reached him. He hastened to join the Emperor, who was at Canterbury, +and both went to the cathedral together to return thanks for the +victory. This happened a week subsequently to their signing of the +league of amity mentioned below.<a href="#notetag157">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note158" name="note158"></a> +<b>Footnote 158:</b> Rymer, H. V. An. iv.<a href="#notetag158">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note159" name="note159"></a> +<b>Footnote 159:</b> The various expedients to which both Henry and his +father were driven to raise supplies in any way commensurate with +their wants, have repeatedly reminded the Author of the similar means +to which their unhappy successor Charles, in his days of far more +urgent need and necessity, had recourse. The reader may perhaps be +interested by the following document. It is a copy of the letter in +which Charles applies to the Provost and Fellows of Oriel College for +a loan of their plate. The King's letter is dated January 6th, 1642; +and the society, assembled in the chapel on the 8th, vote unanimously +to put their silver and gilt vessels at the disposal of their +sovereign, scarcely retaining one single piece of plate. (Allocata +sunt ad usum serenissimi vasa argentea et deaurata pęne ad unum +omnia.) The one retained is said to have been the chalice for the holy +communion.</p> + +<p>(Extracted from the Register of Oriel College.)</p> + +<div class="letter"> +<p> "To our trusty and well-beloved the Provost and Fellowes of Oriel +Colledge, in our University of Oxon: Charles R.</p> + +<p> "Trusty and well-beloved, wee greete you well. Wee are so well +satisfied with your readiness and affection to our service, that wee +cannot doubt but you will take all occasions to expresse the same; and +as wee are ready to sell or engage any of our land, so have wee melted +downe our plate for the paiment of our army, raised for our defence, +and the preservation of our kingdome. And having received severall +quantityes of plate from divers of our loving subjects, we have +removed our mint hither to our citty of Oxford, for the coyning +thereof.</p> + +<p> "And we do hereby desire you that you will lend unto us all such +plate, of what kind soever, which belongs to your colledge; promising +you to see the same iustly repaid unto you after the rate of 5 <i>s.</i> +the ounce for white, and 5 <i>s.</i> 6 <i>d.</i> for guilt plate, as soon as God +shall enable us: for assure yourselves wee shall never let persons of +whom wee have so great a care suffer for their affection to us, but +shall take speciall order for the repaiment of what you have already +lent us, according to our promise, and also of this you now lend in +plate; well knowing it to bee the goods of youre colledge that you +ought not to alien, though no man will doubt but in such a case you +may lawfully lend to assist youre King in such visible necessity. And +wee have entrusted our trusty and well-beloved Sir William Parkhurst, +Knt. and Thomas Bushee, Esq. officers of our mint, or either of them, +to receive the said plate from you; who, uppon weighing thereof, shall +give you a receipt under theire or one of their hands for the same.</p> + +<p>"And wee assure our selfe of your willingness to gratify us herein; +since, beside the more publiche considerations, you cannot but know +how much your selves are concerned in our sufferings. And wee shall +ever remember this particular service to your advantage.</p> + +<p>"Given at our Court at Oxford, the 6 day of + January 1642."<a href="#notetag159">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note160" name="note160"></a> +<b>Footnote 160:</b> In the letter from Constance, dated the preceding +February, Henry was informed that the French had sent a large sum to +Genoa to wage [hire] ships to fight with England.<a href="#notetag160">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note161" name="note161"></a> +<b>Footnote 161:</b> The Muster Roll of this expedition is preserved in the +Chapter-house, Westminster, and is pronounced to be one of the most +interesting records of military history now extant.—See Preface to +the Norman Rolls, by T.D. Hardy, Esq.<a href="#notetag161">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note162" name="note162"></a> +<b>Footnote 162:</b> A long list of the clergy, and of the churches then +taken by Henry under his protection, is preserved in the Norman +Rolls.—Hardy's edition, p. 331.<a href="#notetag162">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note163" name="note163"></a> +<b>Footnote 163:</b> These letters did not come within the Author's knowledge +before he had written these brief memoirs of the last years of Henry. +It is very satisfactory to find them all confirmatory of his previous +views. He has taken especial care to make every, the slightest, +correction in his narrative, suggested by authorities from which there +is no appeal.<a href="#notetag163">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note164" name="note164"></a> +<b>Footnote 164:</b> Norman Rolls, preserved in the Tower, edited by T.D. +Hardy, Esq.<a href="#notetag164">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note165" name="note165"></a> +<b>Footnote 165:</b> Henry's own letter to the Mayor and Aldermen of London +(Liber F. fol. 200), written on the 5th of September, the day after +the surrender of Caen, represents the loss on the part of the English +to have been very trifling. "On St. Cuthbert's day, God, of his high +grace, sent unto our hands our town of Caen by assault, and with right +little death of our people, whereof we thank our Saviour as lowly as +we can; praying that ye do the same, and as devoutly as ye can. +Certifying you also that we and our host be in good prosperity and +health, thanked be God of his mercy! who have you in his holy +keeping."<a href="#notetag165">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note166" name="note166"></a> +<b>Footnote 166:</b> This letter of the King's is only a fragment, without +date: who were the persons addressed does not appear; probably he +wrote it to his council in 1417 or 1418. Sir Henry Ellis opens his +second series of Original Letters with this of Henry V. It is found in +MS. Cotton. Vesp. F. iii. fol. 5.<a href="#notetag166">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note167" name="note167"></a> +<b>Footnote 167:</b> Probably the mammet, or mawmet, [puppet,] (a corruption, +they say, of Mahomet,) of Scotland, was the pretended Richard, the +deposed King, whom even now many believed to be still alive +there.<a href="#notetag167">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note168" name="note168"></a> +<b>Footnote 168:</b> The Duke of Exeter was then governor of Harfleur, but +was in England recruiting soldiers to reinforce the King's army in +Normandy.<a href="#notetag168">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note169" name="note169"></a> +<b>Footnote 169:</b> It is curious to observe, that the Duke of Bedford is +reported to have been engaged at his devotions at Bridlington in +Yorkshire; and that, on hearing of the invasion, he threw away his +beads, and marched with all the forces he could muster to meet the +Scots. John of Bridlington seems to have been in an especial manner +the patron saint of Henry IV.'s family.<a href="#notetag169">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note170" name="note170"></a> +<b>Footnote 170:</b> On the 12th of February 1418, an order is issued to +press horses, carts, and other means of conveyance, to carry the +jewels, ornaments, and other furniture of the King's chapel to +Southampton.<a href="#notetag170">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note171" name="note171"></a> +<b>Footnote 171:</b> Henry's own words, in a letter, 21 July 1418, sent from +Pont de Larche to the Mayor of London, are: "Since our last departing +from Caen, we came before our town of Louviers, and won it by siege; +to which place came to us the Cardinal of Ursin from our holy father +the Pope, for to treat for the good of peace betwixt both realms, and +is gone again to Paris to diligence there in this same matter; but +what end it shall draw to we wot not as yet." In this letter he +informs us that the attack on Pont de Larche was on the 4th of July; +and that, though the enemy had "assembled in great power to resist us, +yet God of his mercy showed so for us and for our right, that it was +withouten the death of any man's person of ours." He adds that he had +just heard of the decidedly hostile intentions of the Duke of Burgundy +towards him; so "we hold him our full enemy. He is now at Paris." The +King then tells them that he needs not to refer to the death of the +Earl of Armagnac, and the slaughter that hath been at Paris; for he +was assured that they had full knowledge thereof. He alludes to the +massacre of the Armagnac faction by the partisans of the Duke of +Burgundy, June 12, 1418. Two thousand persons were murdered in a very +brief space of time. The mob dragged the bodies of the Constable and +Chancellor through the streets (as Monstrelet tells us) for two or +three days.<a href="#notetag171">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note172" name="note172"></a> +<b>Footnote 172:</b> Henry's army had received various reinforcements. One +accession is recorded by an item in the Pell Rolls, of rather an +interesting character, showing that both the Irish and the +ecclesiastics of Ireland gave him good and acceptable proof of the +interest they took in his success. It is the payment of 19<i>l.</i> 17<i>s.</i> +on the 1st of July 1418, "to masters and mariners of Bristol for +embarking the Prior of Kilmaynham with two hundred horsemen and three +hundred foot-soldiers from Waterford in Ireland, to go to the King in +France." An entry also occurs in the following October: "To the Prior +of Kilmaynham coming from Ireland to Southampton, with a good company +of men, to proceed to Normandy to serve the King in the wars, 100<i>l.</i>" +An order from the King to his Chancellor, the Bishop of Durham, to +expedite ships from Bristol for the transport of these men from +Waterford to France, is preserved among the miscellaneous records in +the Tower. It is dated June 3rd, at Ber-nay; to which a postscript was +added on the next day, urging the utmost expedition, as the troops +were tarrying only for the means of sailing.—See Bentley's Excerpta +Historica, p. 388.<a href="#notetag172">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note173" name="note173"></a> +<b>Footnote 173:</b> One Glomyng was charged with having said, "What doth the +King of England at siege before Rouen? An I were there with three +thousand men, I would break his siege and make them of Rouen dock his +tail." He said, moreover, that "he were not able to abide there, were +it [not] that the Duke of Burgundy kept his enemies from him."—Donat. +MS. 4601.<a href="#notetag173">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note174" name="note174"></a> +<b>Footnote 174:</b> In a very long minute of the Privy Council, the reasons +assigned by Henry for wishing to negociate an alliance with the +Dauphin are given at length; and ambassadors were appointed to treat +with that prince on the 26th of October 1418.—Fœd. ix. +p. 626.<a href="#notetag174">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note175" name="note175"></a> +<b>Footnote 175:</b> The Author, assisted by his friends, has made diligent +inquiry, both in England and on the Continent, for a portrait of +Katharine, with a copy of which he was desirous of enriching this +volume; but his inquiries have ended in an assurance that no portrait +of her is in existence.<a href="#notetag175">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note176" name="note176"></a> +<b>Footnote 176:</b> Large cargoes of provisions of every kind were forwarded +from England; among others, "stock fish and salmon" are enumerated in +the Pell Rolls, 3rd July 1419.<a href="#notetag176">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note177" name="note177"></a> +<b>Footnote 177:</b> Monstrelet says, that when Henry made his entry into +Rouen, he was followed by a page mounted on a black horse, bearing a +lance, at the end of which near the point was fastened a fox's brush +by way of streamer, which afforded great matter of remark. Elmham and +Stowe give the explanation of this. In 1414, he kept his Lent in the +castle of Kenilworth, and caused an arbour to be planted there in the +marsh for his pleasure, among the thorns and bushes, where a fox +before had harboured; which fox he killed, being a thing then thought +to prognosticate that he should expel the crafty deceit of the French +King.—See Ellis, Original Letters.<a href="#notetag177">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note178" name="note178"></a> +<b>Footnote 178:</b> See Sir H. Ellis, Orig. Let. +xix.<a href="#notetag178">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note179" name="note179"></a> +<b>Footnote 179:</b> Moryson, in his Travels, book iv. c. 3, gives a most +extraordinary and disgusting account of the habits of the Irish. The +story of a Bohemian Baron, who visited Morane, one of the native +princes, represents the Irish from the highest to the lowest to have +continued in the most degraded state of barbarism. In their food, +their dwellings, their clothing, (those who had any to wear,) and +their general habits, if the accounts in Moryson are not exaggerated, +the Irish were not removed many degrees from the wildest savages on +earth.<a href="#notetag179">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note180" name="note180"></a> +<b>Footnote 180:</b> It is remarkable, that among the many names affixed to +this memorial, not one savours of Irish extraction. They all betray +their Saxon or (some) their Norman origin.<a href="#notetag180">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note181" name="note181"></a> +<b>Footnote 181:</b> This John Talbot, called by courtesy Lord Talbot by +right of his wife, was appointed Lieutenant in Ireland in the first +year of Henry's reign. He had been employed in the wars of Wales, and +was the person against whom the Mayor of Shrewsbury shut the gates. He +was conspicuous also as a warrior in the reign of Henry +IV.<a href="#notetag181">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note182" name="note182"></a> +<b>Footnote 182:</b> Lord Furnival had petitioned in the spring of the +preceding year, 1416, for the payment of one thousand marks disallowed +by the then late treasurer, the Earl of Arundel. Henry, who presided +himself in council, gave his decision that the question should be +submitted to the Barons of the Exchequer, who, after examining the +indenture made between the King and the said lord, should ordain what +the justice of the case required.</p> + +<p>The Lieutenant had also applied for a reinforcement of men-at-arms and +archers, and for a supply of cannon. The King allows him to make such +provision with regard to additional soldiers as he thinks best <i>at his +own cost</i>, and agrees to let him have some cannon from the royal +stores.—Acts of Privy Council, 1416.<a href="#notetag182">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note183" name="note183"></a> +<b>Footnote 183:</b> This Prior seems to have been Thomas Botiller, the +brother of the Earl of Ormond. He is said to have died during the +siege. He and his men are reported to have been sent over by Lord +Furnival, the Lord Lieutenant. See Excerpta Historica above referred +to.<a href="#notetag183">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note184" name="note184"></a> +<b>Footnote 184:</b> Mons. vol. i. c. 95.<a href="#notetag184">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note185" name="note185"></a> +<b>Footnote 185:</b> Archbishop Chicheley's letter to Henry is preserved +among the manuscripts of the British Museum. MS. Cotton, Vesp. F. +xiii. fol. 29.<a href="#notetag185">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note186" name="note186"></a> +<b>Footnote 186:</b> Gebennis, xv. kal. Sept. Pontif. nost. ann. I. (August +18, 1418.) Rymer.<a href="#notetag186">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note187" name="note187"></a> +<b>Footnote 187:</b> A letter from T.F., dated Evreux, (March 27th, 1419,) +addressed to his friends in England, tells us that "the Dauphin made +great instance sundry times to have personal speech with the King, for +the good of peace between both realms;" and, on obtaining the King's +consent, "he fixed on the third Sunday in Lent (March 19th), at his +own desire and instance, making surety by his oath and his letters +sealed to keep that day. The foresaid Rule Regent hath broke the +surety aforesaid, and made the King a Beau Nient [made a fool of him]; +so that there may be no hope had yet of peace.... And so now men +suppose that the King will henceforth war on France; for Normandy is +all his, except Gysors, Euere, the Castle Gaylard, and the Roche."</p> + +<p>This writer gives us to understand that he and his friends were +heartily tired of the Continental warfare, which had so long kept them +from the comforts of their home, and they longed to revisit the white +cliffs of Britain. "Pray for us, that we may come soon out of this +unlusty [unpleasant] soldier's life, unto the life of England."—MS. +Donat. 4001. Sir H. Ellis assigns this to the year 1420; but it must +have been written March 27th (the Monday before Passion Sunday), 1419, +just eight days after the Dauphin had broken his word.</p> + +<p>The same writer speaks in no very measured terms of the intrigue and +duplicity of foreign courts. "And certes, all the ambassadors that we +deal with are incongrue, that is to say, in old manner of speech in +England, 'they be double and false;' with which manner of men, I pray +God, let never no true men be coupled with."</p> + +<p>The reasons which had induced Henry some time previously to wish for +an alliance with the Dauphin are found in the Cot. MS.—See "Acts of +Privy Council," vol. ii. p. 350.<a href="#notetag187">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note188" name="note188"></a> +<b>Footnote 188:</b> Katharine of Valois, the youngest child of Charles VI. +of France, (he had twelve children,) was born on the 27th of October +1401; just two months subsequently to her elder sister Isabel's return +from England after the death of her husband, the unfortunate King +Richard. Consequently, at the date of this interview, May 30th, 1419, +she was only in her eighteenth year; Henry himself was in his +thirty-second year.<a href="#notetag188">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note189" name="note189"></a> +<b>Footnote 189:</b> This treaty is recorded in Rymer, vol. ix. p. 776. The +circumstances of outward courtesy, and concealed suspicion, and want +of faith, with which the contracting parties met, deliberated, and +separated on this occasion, are detailed by Goodwin, p. 237.<a href="#notetag189">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note190" name="note190"></a> +<b>Footnote 190:</b> The Author is fully aware that the brief notice he is +able to take of many of the transactions of this period, whether +diplomatic or military, (especially with reference to the proceedings +of the different parties in France,) must leave his readers +unfurnished with information on many points, and in some instances may +cause the accounts which he thought indispensable in this work to +appear obscure and confused. He could not, however, have avoided such +a result of his plan in these Memoirs, without changing their +character altogether. Goodwin, whose labours seem scarcely to have +been ever duly appreciated, has filled up the outline here given, +generally in a satisfactory manner, though many original documents +which have been brought to light since his time have been +employed.<a href="#notetag190">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note191" name="note191"></a> +<b>Footnote 191:</b> See Monstrelet, c. 211.<a href="#notetag191">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note192" name="note192"></a> +<b>Footnote 192:</b> Goodwin thus comments on his death:—"Thus fell the Duke +of Burgundy, who, as he had caused the Duke of Orleans to be +assassinated in the streets of Paris, so, <i>by the requital of divine +justice</i>, his own life was abandoned to vile treachery." How very +unwise and unsafe are such comments upon the dispensations of +Providence is most clearly evinced here. Never was a more foul murder, +or more desperate defiance of all law, human and divine, than the +Dauphin was guilty of on the bridge of Montereau: and yet, instead of +"his life being abandoned to vile treachery by the requital of divine +justice," he lived forty-two years after his deed of blood, succeeded +to the throne of his father, rescued his kingdom from the hands of the +English, and died through abstinence from food, self-imposed from fear +of poison. Far more wise and more pious is it to leave such +speculations, and to refer all to that day of final retribution, when +the <i>righteousness of</i> the supreme Ruler of man's destinies shall be +made <i>as clear as the light, and his just dealing as the noon +day</i>.<a href="#notetag192">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note193" name="note193"></a> +<b>Footnote 193:</b> This was Thomas Langley, who was elected Bishop of +Durham in 1406. He succeeded Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, as +Chancellor, on the 23rd of July, 1417, and continued in that office +till July 1424, when Henry Beaufort succeeded him. Thomas Langley was +in possession of the see of Durham from May 17th, 1406, till his death +in November 1437. Dugdale, (Orig. Judic.) by mistake, refers Bishop +Langley's appointment as Chancellor to 1418. It was July 23rd, 5 Henry +V. in 1417.<a href="#notetag193">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note194" name="note194"></a> +<b>Footnote 194:</b> October 28, 1419. The Pell Rolls record payment of +10<i>l.</i> to Master Peter Henewer, physician, appointed by the King and +his council to go to the King in Normandy. Probably he felt his +constitution even then giving way. But as early as 13th October 1415, +after the battle of Agincourt, payment is made for "diverse medicine, +as well for the health of the King's person as for others of his +army," sent to Calais.<a href="#notetag194">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note195" name="note195"></a> +<b>Footnote 195:</b> A curious and interesting instance of Henry's personal +attention to business in its most minute details, when many of his +subjects would have been quite satisfied with the report of another, +is preserved among some of the driest and most formal acts of the +Privy Council. Certain auditors are instructed to examine, with +greater accuracy than before, the accounts of the late Master of the +Wardrobe; and to make an especial report to the council, most +particularly (potissimč) of such items as they shall find marked in +the King's own hand "ad inquirendum." Reference is also made to those +sums against which a black mark has been placed by the King's hand. +The date of this minute (4th July 1421), and the place (Calais) in +which it states that these accounts were examined by the King, add +considerably to the strength of this example. Henry had then just left +England suddenly on hearing the sad news of a disastrous defeat of +part of his army, and the death of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, +in battle; and he was at Calais on his road to put himself again at +the head of his forces.<a href="#notetag195">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note196" name="note196"></a> +<b>Footnote 196:</b> Cotton. Julius, B. vi. f. +35.<a href="#notetag196">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note197" name="note197"></a> +<b>Footnote 197:</b> The Author cannot undertake to pronounce how far beyond +general instructions the King himself interfered in each of these +transactions. The letters on the subject of Brittany and of Oriel +College bear internal evidence that they were dictated by Henry +himself. But the correspondence, still preserved, is too voluminous +for us to believe that he dictated more of the letters than such as +were most important or most interesting to himself. Still it must be +borne in mind, that we have indisputable evidence of Henry having +minutely examined accounts, at a time when he "<i>had great occupation +otherwise</i>," directing in his own hand-writing inquiries to be made as +to various items.<a href="#notetag197">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note198" name="note198"></a> +<b>Footnote 198:</b> Cotton. Vespasian, C. xii. f. +127 b.<a href="#notetag198">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note199" name="note199"></a> +<b>Footnote 199:</b> Bib. Cotton. Galba, B. i. f. 131. +<a href="#notetag199">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note200" name="note200"></a> +<b>Footnote 200:</b> The English merchants (Henry says) valued their goods +captured at 10,000<i>l.</i> the Genoese estimated them at 7,180<i>l.</i> and +they are willing "for to stand in our good grace and benevolence, to +pay without any exception 4,000<i>l.</i> at reasonable times; our subjects +and our merchants of our land having hereafter free coming and going +to Genoa, as they of Genoa desire to have into our realm of +England."<a href="#notetag200">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note201" name="note201"></a> +<b>Footnote 201:</b> A letter addressed by Henry, whilst he was at Mante, to +one Thomas Rees and other merchants of Bristol, (October 11th, 1419,) +shows what accurate information he received of even minute affairs in +England. He tells them that they have imported goods from Genoa, and +he desires to select from them such as he might wish to have, +promising to pay for them honestly.<a href="#notetag201">(back)</a></p> + + + +<p><a id="note202" name="note202"></a> +<b>Footnote 202:</b> It is thought right to subjoin the + following transcript of this epistle in its + primitive garb, except the abbreviations.</p> +<div class="letter"> +<p> + "<span class="smcap">BY THE KYNG.</span></p> + +<p>"Worshipful fader yn God oure right trusty and welbeloved, we + grete yow wel. And forasmuche as we lete sende for Maistre + Richard Garsedale oon of the contendentes of the prevoste of the + Oriell to that ende that for his partie shulde no thyng be + poursuyd neither at the courte of Rome ne elleswhere, but that + that contraversie shulde be put in respit unto oure comyng hoom + with Goddes grace, for oure occupacion is such that we mow nat + wel entende to suche also Lentwardyn, come afore you, and that ye + take surety matteres here. Wherefore we wol that ye make boothe + the said Garsdale whiche cometh now hoom be oure leve, and also + Lentwardyn com afore you, and that ye take seurte soufficeant of + bothe the partiees, that neither of hem shal make ferther + poursuyt of appelle at courte of Rome ner no manere of poursuyt + there or elleswhere as touching the said contraversee unto oure + comynge as before, at whiche tyme oure entent ys to put the same + contraversie to a goode and rightwyse conclusion, and the said + partie yn rest. And yf any of hem have ye saide poursuyt of + apelle hangyng yn courte that they abate hit and sende to revoke + hit yn al haste, and that thay make al suche as been thaire + attornes or doeres yn court spirituel or temporel to surcesse. + And we wol ferthermore as touching oure said college of the + Orielle that ye put hit yn suche governance as semeth to yowre + discrecion for to doo unto oure comyng. And God have you yn his + keping. Yeven under oure signet in oure town of Mante, ye vii. + day of Juyll.</p> + +<p class="left0-70"> + "To ye worshipful fader yn God our right + trusty and welbeloved ye Bisshop of + Duresme oure Chaunceller of England."<a href="#notetag202">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note203" name="note203"></a> +<b>Footnote 203:</b> These articles were signed on the following January +during the armistice.<a href="#notetag203">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note204" name="note204"></a> +<b>Footnote 204:</b> About this time, John, Duke of Bedford, the King's +brother, had an offer of the reversion of the crown of Naples; but the +negociations ended in no successful issue.<a href="#notetag204">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note205" name="note205"></a> +<b>Footnote 205:</b> The heartfelt satisfaction and joy with which this peace +between the two countries was generally hailed as a new and unexpected +blessing, is conveyed to us in a most lively manner by the letter +which Sir Hugh Luttrell wrote to the King on the occasion, and which +bears at the same time incidental testimony to Henry's condescending +and kind attention to his old comrade in arms. Sir Hugh was the +Lieutenant of Harfleur, and Henry had himself sent him an account of +the happy issue of his struggle.... He ascribes it to the providence +of the Creator that Henry had concluded a perpetual peace between two +realms which ever, out of mind of any chroniclers, had been at +dissension; and had brought to an end what no man had hitherto +wrought; "thanking God," he continues, "with meek heart, that he hath +sent me that grace to abide the time for to see it, as for the +greatest gladness and consolation that ever came into my heart; not +dreading in myself that He who hath sent you that grace in so short a +time, shall send you much more in time coming."—Ellis's Original +Letters, xxviii.<a href="#notetag205">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note206" name="note206"></a> +<b>Footnote 206:</b> On this subject, T.D. Hardy, Esq. in his Introduction to +the Charter Rolls, just published by the Record Commission, gives the +following clear and satisfactory information:—Until the 9th of April +1420, Henry V. styled himself in his charters and on his great seal, +"Henricus Dei gratia Rex Anglię et Francię et Dominus Hibernię" And on +the Norman Roll of the fifth year of his reign he is sometimes styled +Duke of Normandy, in conjunction with his other titles, as "Henry par +le grace de Dieu, Roy de Fraunce et d'Engleterre, Seigneur de Irlande, +et Duc de Normandie." On the above 9th of April he relinquished the +title of King of France during the life-time of his father-in-law, +Charles, preliminary to the treaty of Troyes, which was signed the +21st of May, 1420; and during the remainder of his life he styled +himself, "Henricus Dei gratia Rex Anglię, Heres et Regens Francię, et +Dominus Hibernię."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding an article in the agreement of the 9th of April, that +during the life of Charles, Henry V. should not assume the title of +King of France; yet within ten days he issued a precept from Rouen +relative to the Norman coinage, upon one side of which was to be +inscribed, "Henricus Francorum Rex." As Henry had not then signed the +article of peace at Troyes, it did not perhaps occur to him that he +was thus breaking his agreement with France.—Rot. Chart. +p. xxi.<a href="#notetag206">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note207" name="note207"></a> +<b>Footnote 207:</b> It is said, but whether on good authority does not +appear, that Henry placed English attendants about the Queen's person; +allowing only five French to wait on her, of whom three were matrons +and the other two young ladies. Her confessor was John Boyery (query +Bouverie?), doctor in theology.—Pell Rolls, 18th June 1421.<a href="#notetag207">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note208" name="note208"></a> +<b>Footnote 208:</b> See Goodwin.<a href="#notetag208">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note209" name="note209"></a> +<b>Footnote 209:</b> Among the forces which he had drawn together, were a +body of chosen men and archers from the parts of Wales; but whether +they were natives of the Principality, or English soldiers drawn from +the garrisons there, does not appear.—Pell Rolls, 3rd June, 8 Henry +V. i.e. 1420.<a href="#notetag209">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note210" name="note210"></a> +<b>Footnote 210:</b> "The English colour." See Goodwin.<a href="#notetag210">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note211" name="note211"></a> +<b>Footnote 211:</b> In the parliament (2nd December 1420), Humfrey, Duke of +Gloucester, being Lieutenant of the kingdom, provision was made that, +should the King arrive, the parliament should continue to sit without +any new summons: the reason also is given; because the King, being +heir and Regent of France during the life-time of his father-in-law, +and King after his death, would often be in England and often also in +France. In this parliament a prayer is preferred against the Oxford +scholars, who in vast numbers and armed attacked gentlemen in the +counties of Oxford, Bucks, and Berks, and robbed them.<a href="#notetag211">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note212" name="note212"></a> +<b>Footnote 212:</b> On 30th January, the Pell Rolls record payment of 20 +<i>l.</i> for bows, arrows, and bowstrings, a present from Henry to his +father-in-law, the King of France.<a href="#notetag212">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note213" name="note213"></a> +<b>Footnote 213:</b> Walsingham says, that she was crowned on the first +Sunday in Lent, which in that year fell on the 9th February. But the +Pell Roll (Mich. 8 Hen. V.) contains a payment to divers messengers +sent through England, to summon the spiritualty and laity to assist at +the solemnizing of the coronation of Katharine Queen of England, at +Westminster, on the third Sunday in Lent.<a href="#notetag213">(back)</a></p> + + + +<p><a id="note214" name="note214"></a> +<b>Footnote 214:</b> There is so much inconsistency in the accounts of +chroniclers as to the royal proceedings on this occasion, that to +attempt to reconcile them all seems a hopeless task. The Author, +however, having been furnished with the following facts ascertained +from the "Teste" of several writs and patents preserved in the Tower, +is able to recommend, with greater confidence in its accuracy, the +adoption of the journal offered in the text.</p> + +<div> +In the year 1421, King Henry V. was<br> +<span class="col30 td-right"> January, from 1 to 31,</span> +<span class="col65"> at </span> +<span class="col70 td-left">Rouen.</span><br> +<span class="col30"> February 1,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Dover.</span><br> +<span class="col30"> 2 to 28,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Westminster.</span><br> +<span class="col30">March 1 to 5,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Westminster.</span><br> +<span class="col30">5 to 14,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Uncertain.</span><br> +<span class="col30">15,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Coventry.</span><br> +<span class="col30">27,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Leicester.</span><br> +<span class="col30">From March 28 to April 2,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Uncertain.</span><br> +<span class="col30">April 2 to 4,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">York.</span><br> +<span class="col30">15,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Lincoln.</span><br> +<span class="col30">18,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">York.</span><br> +<span class="col30">From 18 to 30,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Uncertain.</span><br> +<span class="col30">May 1 to 31,</span> +<span class="col65">"</span> +<span class="col70">Westminster.<a href="#notetag214">(back)</a></span></div> + + +<p class="p2"><a id="note215" name="note215"></a> +<b>Footnote 215:</b> Rapin says, but, as it should seem, without reason, that +Henry's aim was, under colour of shewing the country to the Queen, to +procure by his presence the election of members for the parliament who +would be favourable to him.<a href="#notetag215">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note216" name="note216"></a> +<b>Footnote 216:</b> MS. Cott. Domit. A. 12.<a href="#notetag216">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note217" name="note217"></a> +<b>Footnote 217:</b> Elmham says, that, in 1414, Henry kept his Lent in the +castle of Kenilworth, and caused an arbour to be planted in the Marsh +there, for his pleasure, amongst the thorns and bushes where a fox +before had harboured, which he killed.<a href="#notetag217">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note218" name="note218"></a> +<b>Footnote 218:</b> Walsingham says, that Henry put off the celebration of +the feast of St. George, (which, being the 23rd of April, must have +fallen on a day after he had left York,) and directed it to be +celebrated at Windsor on the Sunday after Ascension-day.<a +href="#notetag218">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note219" name="note219"></a> +<b>Footnote 219:</b> His visits to the hallowed resting-places of these +saints are not at all inconsistent with the opinion which we have +ventured already to give, that he was never heard to address in the +language of prayer or thanksgiving any other being than the one true +God. A similar feeling of love for the holy men of God, whether he +could testify that love to the living, or merely record it for the +memory of the dead, might have led him to the installation of the +Bishop of Lincoln, and to the tomb of John of Bridlington and John of +Beverley. Henry was not a Protestant by profession; but, compared with +the hierarchy by whom he was surrounded, he approached almost, if not +altogether, this fundamental point of difference between the two +churches, the rejection of the adoration of any being, save the one +only God.<a href="#notetag219">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note220" name="note220"></a> +<b>Footnote 220:</b> Henry's prisoners of war were dispersed among various +castles and strong places throughout the kingdom in England and Wales. +Payment is recorded, July 10, 1422, to John Salghall, Constable of +Harlech, of 30<i>l.</i> for the safe custody of thirty prisoners, conveyed +by him from London.—Pell Rolls, 9 Henry V.<a href="#notetag220">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note221" name="note221"></a> +<b>Footnote 221:</b> Holinshed and others.<a href="#notetag221">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note222" name="note222"></a> +<b>Footnote 222:</b> The Author has invariably discarded the assertions of +the chroniclers, however positively affirmed, or frequently +reiterated, whenever they have appeared to be incompatible with +ascertained facts, or inconsistent with what would otherwise be +probable. In the present instance, after a review of all the +circumstances, and an examination of all the documents with which he +is acquainted, though the supposition here adopted may be deemed ideal +and fanciful, he is inclined to think that the acquiescence in that +view will be attended with fewer difficulties than the adoption of any +other.<a href="#notetag222">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note223" name="note223"></a> +<b>Footnote 223:</b> But whilst Henry was thus actively employed in visiting +his subjects, and spreading the blessing which a good King can never +fail to dispense wherever his influence can be felt, his ministers of +state sought his directions on all important matters for the +management of his affairs on the Continent. Thus a despatch addressed +to the Treasurer by William Bardolf, Lieutenant of Calais, is +forwarded with all speed to the King in Yorkshire, that his especial +pleasure might be taken thereon. Payment of the messenger appears in +the Pell Rolls, April 1, 9 Hen. V.<a href="#notetag223">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note224" name="note224"></a> +<b>Footnote 224:</b> Casaubon, quoted by Sir Walter +Raleigh.<a href="#notetag224">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note225" name="note225"></a> +<b>Footnote 225:</b> Monstrelet says, that the flower of the English +chivalry, who were with the Duke, fell in that field, and, besides +knights and esquires, from two to three thousand men; and that, with +the Earl of Somerset and others of noble and gentle blood, about two +hundred were taken prisoners. There was also, he says, a dreadful +slaughter of the French. The English, under the Earl of Salisbury, +recovered the body of the Duke from the enemy, and it was carried with +much ceremony to England, and there buried.<a href="#notetag225">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note226" name="note226"></a> +<b>Footnote 226:</b> In this Parliament a statute was passed, the enactment, +but more especially the preamble of which presents a very formidable +view of the drain which Henry's continental campaigns had made upon +the English gentry.</p> + +<p>"Whereas by the statute made at Westminster, the 14th year of King +Edward III, it was ordained and established, that no Sheriff should +abide in his bailiwick above one year, and that then another +convenient should be set in his place, which should have lands +sufficient within his bailiwick, and that no Escheator should tarry in +his office above a year; and whereas also, at the time of making the +said statute, divers valiant and sufficient persons were in every +county of England, to occupy and govern the same offices well towards +the King and all his liege people; forasmuch that as well by divers +petilences within the realm of England, as by the wars without the +realm, there is now not such sufficiency; it is ordained and +stablished that the King by authority of this Parliament may make the +Sheriffs and Escheators through the realm at his will until the end of +four years."—9 Hen. V. stat. 1, c. v.<a href="#notetag226">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note227" name="note227"></a> +<b>Footnote 227:</b> This vote does not appear on the Rolls of Parliament. +Walsingham asserts that a fifteenth was voted. Holinshed distinctly +says, that the "commonaltie gladly granted a fifteenth." But he is no +authority in such a case. The Parliament, in the following December, +granted a tenth, and a fifteenth.<a href="#notetag227">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note228" name="note228"></a> +<b>Footnote 228:</b> Three days after landing his forces, he despatched the +Earl of Dorset with twelve hundred men to relieve his uncle, the Duke +of Exeter, who was closely blockaded in Paris.<a href="#notetag228">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note229" name="note229"></a> +<b>Footnote 229:</b> Rot. Pat. ix. Henry V.<a href="#notetag229">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note230" name="note230"></a> +<b>Footnote 230:</b> Preparations had been made as early as January 26th, +1422, for the Queen to leave England, and meet the King at Rouen, but +she did not start till April.<a href="#notetag230">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note231" name="note231"></a> +<b>Footnote 231:</b> The King, his father-in-law, survived Henry not quite +two months: he died October 21st, 1422.<a href="#notetag231">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note232" name="note232"></a> +<b>Footnote 232:</b> A description and history of this castle will be found +in a work entitled, "Histoire du Donjon et du Chateau de Vincennes, +par L. B.," published at Paris in 1807. The Author refers to the +sojourn made in this castle by Henry's son (King Henry VI.) at the +close of the year 1431, when he visited France for the purpose of +being crowned.<a href="#notetag232">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note233" name="note233"></a> +<b>Footnote 233:</b> Elmham says, Henry added several codicils to his Will, +leaving large sums to discharge the debts not only of himself, but +also of his father, and also to reward many of his faithful +servants.<a href="#notetag233">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note234" name="note234"></a> +<b>Footnote 234:</b> Elmham.<a href="#notetag234">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note235" name="note235"></a> +<b>Footnote 235:</b> Sloane, 64.<a href="#notetag235">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note236" name="note236"></a> +<b>Footnote 236:</b> It is satisfactory to find, even among the mere details +of expenditure, testimony borne to his love of the Holy Scriptures. +Among his last domestic expenses is this interesting item: "To John +Heth 3<i>l.</i> 6<i>s.</i> for sixty-six quarterns of calfskins, purchased and +provided by the said John, to write a Bible thereon for the use of the +King."—Pell Rolls, February 23, 1422, just six months before his +death.<a href="#notetag236">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note237" name="note237"></a> +<b>Footnote 237:</b> Acts of Privy Council. Cleopatra, F. iv. f. I. +a.<a href="#notetag237">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note238" name="note238"></a> +<b>Footnote 238:</b> Hume's Hist. vol. iii. ch. xix.<a href="#notetag238">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note239" name="note239"></a> +<b>Footnote 239:</b> Fabyan, 388.<a href="#notetag239">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note240" name="note240"></a> +<b>Footnote 240:</b> Annales Ecclesiastici, vol. xii. Ann. 1517. See much +interesting matter relating to the whole of this subject in these +Annales Ecclesiastici of Baronius, continued by +Raynaldus.<a href="#notetag240">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note241" name="note241"></a> +<b>Footnote 241:</b> Florentię, iv. idus Julii, anno 3. Annales Eccles. v. +viii.<a href="#notetag241">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note242" name="note242"></a> +<b>Footnote 242:</b> Raynaldus, Annales Ecclesiastici, vol. viii. p. 556. +<a href="#notetag242">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note243" name="note243"></a> +<b>Footnote 243:</b> It is not to be forgotten that Henry +of Monmouth had from his very childhood been interested by accounts of +the state of Palestine. His father, as we have seen, went himself to +the Holy Sepulchre; and, even during Henry's wars in France, his +uncle, the Bishop of Winchester, visited Constance as he was +proceeding in the guise of a pilgrim to the Holy Land.<a +href="#notetag243">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note244" name="note244"></a> +<b>Footnote 244:</b> Mr. Granville Penn's interesting paper was read before +the Royal Society of Literature at their first meeting in the year +1825, and is recorded in the first volume of their +Transactions.<a href="#notetag244">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note245" name="note245"></a> +<b>Footnote 245:</b> This same interesting subject is far more elaborately +discussed by that excellent antiquary the Rev. John Webb; whose +Introductory Dissertation and Illustrative Notes, (in the Archęologia, +vol. xxi. p. 281,) abound with most valuable information. The title +prefixed to Lannoi's work is this:</p> + +<p class="left05">"The Report made by Sir Gilbert de Lannoy, Knight, upon surveys of +several cities, ports, and rivers, taken by him in Egypt and Syria, in +the year of grace of our Lord 1422, by order of the most high, most +puissant, and most excellent prince, King Henry of England, heir and +Regent of France, whom God assoil." The whole of Mr. Webb's paper well +deserves perusal.<a href="#notetag245">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note246" name="note246"></a> +<b>Footnote 246:</b> The Bible is always and everywhere the standard of +divine truth; but to condemn an individual for wilful ignorance of its +heavenly doctrines, to whom no opportunity has been afforded of +learning them, would be unreasonable and unjust. A corresponding +principle applies to the interpretation of the Bible. Our +responsibility in every case increases with our privileges and +opportunities.<a href="#notetag246">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note247" name="note247"></a> +<b>Footnote 247:</b> It will be borne in mind, that the question here is not +whether there be not one immutable principle, nor whether there ought +not to be one uniform interpretation of that principle; we are +inquiring only into the nature of that rule by which we may equitably +judge of the moral and religious characters of men.<a href="#notetag247">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note248" name="note248"></a> +<b>Footnote 248:</b> The attachment of Henry to the See of Rome, and the +countenance given by him to the encroachments of the Pope, have been +greatly exaggerated. Rapin took a different view of his measures. "The +proclamation" (he says) "made by Henry, prohibiting the Pope's +provisions, was a death-blow to the court of Rome." On the death of +Henry, the Pope wrote a letter of condolence to the council, in which +he says, "We loved our son of famous memory, Henry King of England, +for there were many and royal virtues in that Prince for which he +ought to be loved;" and then adds a strong appeal to the council to +abrogate the obnoxious statutes which had so materially entrenched +upon his assumed prerogative. In a letter to Henry himself (Kal. Nov. +xiv. An. iv.) nearly two years before his death, the Pope refers to a +promise made by Henry that he had no desire to curtail the authority +of the Roman See in his new dominions; and also to an undertaking that +he would bring the obnoxious statutes under the notice of his +parliament; and that, "<i>if they could not be supported on honest and +lawful grounds</i>," he would satisfy the Pope in that particular. Surely +these are not the expressions of one who was "the slave of the +Popedom."—See "Annales Ecclesiastici."<a href="#notetag248">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note249" name="note249"></a> +<b>Footnote 249:</b> Milner's Church History, vol. iv. p. + 196.<a href="#notetag249">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note250" name="note250"></a> +<b>Footnote 250:</b> This view of heresy we find to have been at a very early +date propagated and encouraged by the Pope and the See of Rome. +Walsingham records, that, three years before Richard II.'s deposition +from the throne, "the Pope wrote to him with a prayer (orans) that he +would assist the prelates of the church in the cause of God, and of +the King himself, and of the kingdom, against the Lollards; whom he +declared to be traitors, not only of the church, but of the throne. +And he besought him with the greatest urgency (obnixiłs) to condemn +those whom the prelates should have declared heretics.—Ypod. Neust. +1396.<a href="#notetag250">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note251" name="note251"></a> +<b>Footnote 251:</b> For Christians of the present age, and in our country, +to pass through life without partaking in any persecution, such as +once disgraced our legislature and the executive government, does not +necessarily imply a freedom of the conscience from a persecuting +spirit. The Christian can now evince the real tone and temper of his +mind only in his behaviour towards his fellow-creatures, and by the +sentiments to which he gives utterance. The Author hopes he may be +pardoned, if he ventures, in further illustration of his principles on +this subject, to make an extract from his sermon lately preached at +the consecration of the Bishop of Salisbury. "In his intercourse with +those Christians whose sentiments do not coincide with our own, the +Christian minister will never by laxity of expression or conduct +encourage in any an indifference to truth and error, nor countenance +the insidious workings of latitudinarian principles. He will ever +maintain the truth, but never with acrimony; and, whilst his duty +compels him to banish and drive away all false doctrine, he will feel +and show towards the persons of such as are in error compassionate +indulgence and forbearing tenderness. He knows that truth can be only +on one side, but he acknowledges that sincerity may be on both; and he +will set his mind on winning back again by mild argument and +conciliatory conduct those who have gone astray, rather than by +severity in exposing their faults, and a cold, forbidding, and hostile +bearing, indispose them to examine their mistaken views, and confirm +them in their spirit of alienation."<a href="#notetag251">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note252" name="note252"></a> +<b>Footnote 252:</b> Owen Feltham.<a href="#notetag252">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note253" name="note253"></a> +<b>Footnote 253:</b> Bishop Taylor's "Liberty of Prophesying," +13.<a href="#notetag253">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note254" name="note254"></a> +<b>Footnote 254:</b> This work, "published by William Prynne, Esq. a Bencher +of Lincoln's Inn, 1657," is ascribed by him to Cotton; but it proves +not to have been written by Cotton, but by the two brothers William +and Robert Bowyer. See manuscript note, by Francis Hargrave, at the +commencement of his copy in the British Museum. What notes and +observations came from the author, whether Cotton or one of the +Bowyers, and what were added and interwoven by Prynne, it seems +impossible to determine. This passage (p. 456) apparently carries with +it internal evidence that it was penned by Prynne.<a href="#notetag254">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note255" name="note255"></a> +<b>Footnote 255:</b> Much doubt and many mistakes seem to have prevailed as +to the real state of the law in England before the statute 2 Hen. IV. +cap. 15. It is said by the annotator on Fitzherbert that, "before the +time of Henry IV. no person had been put to death for opinions in +religion in England;" but the same author himself tells us that, among +the crimes to be punished by burning by the common law, heresy is +enumerated. "No Bishop, indeed, by the common law, could convict of +heresy, as to loss of life, but only as to penance, and for the health +of the soul, 'pro salute animę.' In the case of life, the conviction +by the common law ought to have been before the Archbishop in +convocation." Much information is found on this subject in +Fitzherbert's Book, De Naturā Brevium.<a href="#notetag255">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note256" name="note256"></a> +<b>Footnote 256:</b> Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. + 134.<a href="#notetag256">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note257" name="note257"></a> +<b>Footnote 257:</b> An antiquary well versed in such matters says, that for +many years previous to this petition there are several mandates upon +the Patent Rolls, ordering the apprehension of heretics, (who appeared +to have been all monks,) in consequence of complaints made to the King +in council by the various monasteries. He had never met with any entry +affecting the parochial clergy.<a href="#notetag257">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note258" name="note258"></a> +<b>Footnote 258:</b> The clergy could not have prevented its appearance on +the Roll, but the judges (it is said) might have done +so.<a href="#notetag258">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note259" name="note259"></a> +<b>Footnote 259:</b> See, however, Fitzherbert, De Naturā Brevium, +p. 601.<a href="#notetag259">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note260" name="note260"></a> +<b>Footnote 260:</b> Wilkins' Concilia, Ex reg. Arundel, i. +fol. 15.<a href="#notetag260">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note261" name="note261"></a> +<b>Footnote 261:</b> De Roos, Master of the Rolls, was at the first meeting, +and a large number (multitudo copiosa) of the laity and +clergy.<a href="#notetag261">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note262" name="note262"></a> +<b>Footnote 262:</b> The house (the Friars' Preachers) where they met, was a +place in which the Prince at this time often presided at the council. +On the 10th of the following June, for example, he met the Chancellor, +and the Bishops of Durham, Winchester, and Bath, with others, at this +house.<a href="#notetag262">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note263" name="note263"></a> +<b>Footnote 263:</b> Dictoque die, immediatč post prandium, ex decreto regio, +apud Smythfield, pręfatus Joh. Badby, in suā obstinaciā perseverans +usque ad mortem, catenis ferreis stipiti ligatus, ac quodam vase +concavo circumplexus, injectis fasciculis et appositis ignibus, +incineratus extitit et consumptus.<a href="#notetag263">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note264" name="note264"></a> +<b>Footnote 264:</b> Fox makes a curious mistake here. He says, the +examination in London began on <i>Sunday</i>, the 1st of March. But the 1st +of March was not on a Sunday, but on a Saturday, in that year, 1410. +Fox derives his information chiefly from the Latin record (<i>v.</i> +Wilkins' Concilia) preserved in Lambeth; and there we find that the +date is Die <i>Sabbati</i>, <i>i.e.</i> Saturday, not, as Fox mistakenly renders +it, Sunday. The computation in these Memoirs is made of the +historical, not the ecclesiastical year.</p> + +<p>The King's writ is dated March 5th, and informs us that Badby was of +Evesham in Worcestershire.<a href="#notetag264">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note265" name="note265"></a> +<b>Footnote 265:</b> The chronicler adds, "A versifier + made of him in metre these two verses:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Hereticus credat, ve perustus ab orbe recedat,<br> +Ne fidem lędat: Sathan hunc baratro sibi prędat."<a href="#notetag265">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note266" name="note266"></a> +<b>Footnote 266:</b> Monk of St. Alban's.<a href="#notetag266">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note267" name="note267"></a> +<b>Footnote 267:</b> Monk of Evesham.<a href="#notetag267">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note268" name="note268"></a> +<b>Footnote 268:</b> The Pell Rolls (22d May 1398) contain an item of 20<i>l.</i> +paid to Thomas Duke of Surrey on account of Lord Cobham, then his +prisoner.<a href="#notetag268">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note269" name="note269"></a> +<b>Footnote 269:</b> Records of Privy Council.<a href="#notetag269">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note270" name="note270"></a> +<b>Footnote 270:</b> The states of Europe were much convulsed about this time +by an apprehension of political revolutions.<a href="#notetag270">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note271" name="note271"></a> +<b>Footnote 271:</b> King Richard seems to have employed the Irish prelates +on many occasions in his intercourse with Rome. Thomas Crawley, +Archbishop of Dublin, was sent to Pope Urban (1398, May 22nd,) "for +the safe estate and prosperity of the most holy English church;" and +John Cotton, Archbishop of Armagh, was sent to Rome, (31st of August,) +in the same year, "on the King's secret affairs."—Pell +Rolls.<a href="#notetag271">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note272" name="note272"></a> +<b>Footnote 272:</b> Otterbourne.<a href="#notetag272">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note273" name="note273"></a> +<b>Footnote 273:</b> The Chronicle of London states that the convocation +assembled on the day of St. Edmund the King, and continued until +December; and "that the archbishop and bishops, at St. Paul's Cross, +accursed Sir John Oldcastle on the Sunday, after the dirge was +performed royally at Westminster for Richard II., on the removal of +his remains."<a href="#notetag273">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note274" name="note274"></a> +<b>Footnote 274:</b> Archbishop Arundel (says Anthony ą Wood), who never +proceeded beyond the degree of bachelor of arts in this University +[Oxford] or any other, decreed by a provincial council, 1404, that +none should preach except privileged or licensed.<a href="#notetag274">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note275" name="note275"></a> +<b>Footnote 275:</b> Carte suggests that Lord Cobham might have been one of +Henry's [supposed] rakish companions. But such a supposition as would +stain his memory with debauchery, is altogether at variance with his +character. Carte has no doubt of the reality of Cobham's conspiracy in +St. Giles' Field.<a href="#notetag275">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note276" name="note276"></a> +<b>Footnote 276:</b> Henry V.'s own chaplain declares, "that Oldcastle +attempted to infect the King's highness himself with his deadly poison +by his crafty wiles of argument." If the King argued the points with +Oldcastle, how could that confessor have done otherwise than +strenuously endeavour to bring his liege Lord to the same views of +doctrine which he entertained himself?<a href="#notetag276">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note277" name="note277"></a> +<b>Footnote 277:</b> Lingard speaks of "a mandate to the Archbishop of +Canterbury to proceed against the fugitive according to law. The +spiritual powers of that prelate were soon exhausted. Oldcastle +disobeyed the summons, and laughed at his excommunication; but was +compelled to surrender to a military force sent by the King, and was +conducted a prisoner to the Tower." The same author (but on what +authority it does not appear) tells us that Oldcastle was at St. +Alban's, and prophesied that he should rise on the third day; which is +in itself most improbable.<a href="#notetag277">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note278" name="note278"></a> +<b>Footnote 278:</b> Milner.<a href="#notetag278">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note279" name="note279"></a> +<b>Footnote 279:</b> Mr. Southey builds upon this circumstance a very +unfavourable and unmerited reflection on Henry in comparison with +other monarchs of England. "The Edwards' would have rejoiced in so +high-minded a subject as Lord Cobham. But Henry V. had given his heart +and understanding into the keeping of the prelates, and he refused to +receive the paper, ordering it to be delivered to them who should be +his judges."<a href="#notetag279">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note280" name="note280"></a> +<b>Footnote 280:</b> It is painful to read the marginal notes of Fox here. +"Lord Cobham would not obey the beast." Thomas Arundell, "Caiaphas +sitteth in consistory. The wolf was hungry; he must needs be fed with +blood. Bloody murderers." With many others, yet more ungentle. The +justice of the judgment cannot but be questioned when the feelings of +the historian give themselves vent in such language as this. Still we +must make great allowances for the times.</p> + +<p>There are many other points in which Fox, who, be it remembered, +refers us to the Archbishop's Memoir for evidence of the truth of his +narrative, gives a turn and colour to minor circumstances calculated +to prejudice the reader, but by no means sanctioned by that Memoir. +Thus Fox says, the Archbishop swore all on the <i>Mass Book</i>: the +Archbishop says, he caused them all to be sworn on the Holy +Evangelists.<a href="#notetag280">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note281" name="note281"></a> +<b>Footnote 281:</b> Minutes of Council, 27th May 1415. Item, touching +Commission "to the Archbishops and Bishops to take measures each in +his own diocese to resist the malice of the Lollards." "The King has +given it in charge to his Chancellor."<a href="#notetag281">(back)</a></p> + + + +<p><a id="note282" name="note282"></a> +<b>Footnote 282:</b> It is impossible not to observe upon the great +inaccuracy of Fox's translation of the Archbishop's words, for he +professes it to be a translation, and the unfair turn and tone given +to his sentiments, together with the unjustifiable addition which he +has made to his definitive sentence.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" summary="Fox and Arundel translations"> +<colgroup> + <col width="50%"> + <col width="50%"> +</colgroup> + +<tbody> +<tr> + <td> + <span class="smcap">Fox's Translation.</span> + </td> + <td> + <span class="smcap">Arundel's Words.</span>. + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> + "We sententially and definitively, +by this present writing, +judge, declare, and condemn +him for a most pernicious +and detestable heretic, +convicted upon the same, and +refusing utterly to obey the +church: again committing him +here from henceforth to the +secular jurisdiction, power, and +judgment, to <i>do him thereupon +to</i> <span class="smcap">death</span>." + </td> + <td> + "Him, convicted of and +upon such a detestable offence, +and unwilling to return penitently +to the unity of the +church, we sententially and +definitively have judged, declared, +and condemned for a +heretic, and to be in error in +those things which the holy +church of Rome and the universal +church teaches, hath determined, +and preacheth, and +especially in the Articles above +written; leaving the same as +a heretic henceforth to the +secular power." + </td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + + +<p>"To do him unto death," may be the horrible implication; but it is +not, as Fox unwarrantably represents it to be, part of the sentence.</p> + +<p>Another instance occurs in the translation of the passage in which the +Archbishop gives his reasons for making this public and authoritative +statement of the transaction.</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" summary="Fox and Arundel translations"> +<colgroup> + <col width="50%"> + <col width="50%"> +</colgroup> + +<tbody> +<tr> + <td> + <span class="smcap">Fox.</span> + </td> + <td> + <span class="smcap">Arundel.</span> + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> + "That, <i>upon the fear of this + declaration</i>, also the people + may fall from <i>their evil</i> opinions + conceived <i>now of late</i> by + <i>seditious preachers</i>." + </td> + <td> +"That the erroneous opinions + of the people, who perhaps + have conceived on this + subject otherwise than as the + truth of the fact stands, may + by this public declaration be + reversed." + </td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p>The Archbishop declares his object to be the substitution of the true +statement of the affair of Lord Cobham's condemnation, in place of the +false opinions which were abroad; not a word about "fear," or "evil +opinions from seditious preachers."<a href="#notetag282">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note283" name="note283"></a> +<b>Footnote 283:</b> In the Lambeth account Sautre's condemnation is dated, +according to the ecclesiastical reckoning, February 1400; but that, +according to our reckoning, is 1401.<a href="#notetag283">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note284" name="note284"></a> +<b>Footnote 284:</b> The writ is dated March 5, +1410.—Rymer.<a href="#notetag284">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note285" name="note285"></a> +<b>Footnote 285:</b> His escape must have been, at the furthest, within +fifteen days of his sentence; for, on the 10th October, messengers +were sent about, forbidding any one to harbour "John Oldcastle, a +proved and convicted heretic."—Pell Rolls.<a href="#notetag285">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note286" name="note286"></a> +<b>Footnote 286:</b> If Cobham's escape was winked at by the King, and <i>he +knew</i> of the King's kindness, it is very improbable that he would +immediately after have been so basely ungrateful as to imagine the +death of his sovereign and benefactor. It is, however, most probable +that, had the King favoured his escape, the royal interference would +have been kept a profound secret, as well from the prisoner, as from +the people at large.<a href="#notetag286">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note287" name="note287"></a> +<b>Footnote 287:</b> Walsingham (as quoted by Milner) says that the +Archbishop applied to the King for a respite for fifty days for Lord +Cobham. "If this be so," Milner says, "the motives of Arundel can be +no great mystery. It was thought expedient to employ a few weeks in +lessening his credit among the people by a variety of scandalous +aspersions;" Milner then quotes the forged recantation, of which we +speak in a subsequent note. It did not occur to that writer, that the +space of fifty days might be required to forward his appeal to Rome, +and receive the Pope's judgment upon it.<a href="#notetag287">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note288" name="note288"></a> +<b>Footnote 288:</b> Soon after the affair of St. Giles' Field much pains +seem to have been taken to discover the retreat of Cobham. The Pell +Rolls, February 19, 1414, record payments to constables and others for +their careful watch and endeavours to take him; and "chiefly for +having found and seized certain books of the Lollards in the house of +a parchment-maker;" and one hundred shillings as an especial reward +"for the great pains and diligence exercised by Thomas Burton, (the +King's spy,) for his attentive watchfulness to the operations of the +Lollards now <i>lately rebellious</i>; also because he fully certified +<i>their intentions</i> to the King for his advantage." This document (for +ignorance of which no former historian may deserve blame, though its +existence should caution every one against drawing hasty conclusions +from negative evidence,) proves that at the Exchequer the Lollards +were considered as having been lately rebellious, and as having had +designs against the King. In a deed too, signed and sealed by the +tenants of Lord Powis, who themselves took Lord Cobham, both heresy +and treason are specified as the crimes of which he had been convicted +"that was miscreant and unbuxom to the law of God, and <i>traitor +convict</i> to our most gracious sovereign and his." The Patent Rolls +record grants of ten pounds per annum to John de Burgh, carpenter, +because he had discovered and delivered up certain Lollards. There are +other similar grants. Pat. p. 5. 1 Hen. V.<a href="#notetag288">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note289" name="note289"></a> +<b>Footnote 289:</b> No day ever was appointed.<a href="#notetag289">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note290" name="note290"></a> +<b>Footnote 290:</b> The day was not January 6th, but Wednesday the +10th.—"Die mercurii proximo post Festum Epiphanię."—Pat. 2 Hen. V. +p. 3. m. 23.<a href="#notetag290">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note291" name="note291"></a> +<b>Footnote 291:</b> Milner's statement, "that it is extremely probable that +popish emissaries mixed themselves among the Lollards for the express +purpose of being brought to confession," is mere +surmise.<a href="#notetag291">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note292" name="note292"></a> +<b>Footnote 292:</b> The Patent Rolls of this year shew that the King's offer +was gladly and gratefully accepted by numbers who applied for his +pardon.<a href="#notetag292">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note293" name="note293"></a> +<b>Footnote 293:</b> Any reference to the opinions of past writers would be +imperfect which should omit Fuller's; he had access, it should seem, +to little if any other data than Fox supplied him with, and yet the +conclusion to which he came is this: "For mine own part, I must +confess myself so lost in the intricacies of these relations, that I +know not what to assent to. On the one side, I am loath to load the +Lord Cobham's memory with causeless crimes, knowing the perfect hatred +the clergy in that age bare unto him, and all that looked towards the +reformation in religion. Besides, that twenty thousand men should be +brought into the field, and no place assigned whence they should have +been raised,<a id="notetag293-a" name="notetag293-a"></a><a +href="#note293-a">[293-a]</a> or where mustered, is clogged with much +improbability, the rather because only the three persons as is +aforesaid are mentioned by name of so vast a number.</p> + +<p>"On the other side (continues Fuller), I am much startled with the +evidence which appeareth against him. Indeed I am little moved with +what T. Walsingham writes, (whom all later authors follow, as a flock +the bell-wether,) knowing him a Benedictine monk of St. Alban's, bowed +by interest to partiality; but the records in the Tower, and acts of +parliament therein, wherein he was solemnly condemned for a traitor as +well as a heretic, challenge belief. For with what confidence can any +private person promise credit from posterity to his own writings if +such public documents be not entertained by him for authentical? Let +Mr. Fox therefore be Lord Cobham's compurgator; I dare not. And, if my +hand were put on the Bible, I should take it back again; yet so that, +as I will not acquit, I will not condemn him, but leave all to the +last day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of +God."—Fuller's Church History, An. 1414.<a href="#notetag293">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p class="left05"><a id="note293-a" name="note293-a"></a> +<b>Footnote 293-a:</b> Fuller either had not read, or had forgotten, that the +twenty thousand men were to be raised in the city, and to be mustered +in St. Giles' Field; but that the timely closing of the city gates is +said to have prevented their junction with the party beyond the walls: +and he was not aware of the many persons mentioned by name in +indictments, proclamations, and pardons.<a href="#notetag293-a">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note294" name="note294"></a> +<b>Footnote 294:</b> The "Ecclesiastical Annals" attributing the respite of +fifty days to the interposition of the Archbishop, add, "And in the +course of that period Oldcastle escaped from prison, and excited all +the followers of Wickliffe to arms, for the purpose of destroying the +King and the clergy."—Annales Ecclesiastici, vol. viii. +p. 362.<a href="#notetag294">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note295" name="note295"></a> +<b>Footnote 295:</b> How far these accounts of Walsingham and Otterbourne are +confirmed by the authority of the Pell Rolls, the reader will weigh +carefully. In the October and November of this year, payment is made +"to the serjeant of the sheriff of Southampton for taking Wyche and +W<sup>m</sup>. Browne, chaplains, and bringing them to make disclosures about +certain sums belonging to Sir John Oldcastle. Also to the escheator of +the county of Kent, riding sometimes with twenty, sometimes with +thirty horsemen, for fear of the soldiers and other malefactors +obstinately favouring Sir John Oldcastle."<a href="#notetag295">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note296" name="note296"></a> +<b>Footnote 296:</b> The warrant by the council, dated December 1, 1417, +authorized Edward Charleton to bring the body of John Oldcastle, then +in Pole Castle. On February 3, 1422, the wife and executor of the said +Edward Charleton received part payment of one thousand marks for the +capture of Sir John Oldcastle. There is also payment for the capture +of certain of his clerks and servants. He was taken near Broniarth in +Montgomeryshire, on a property now belonging to Mr. Ormsby Gore, among +whose muniments there is said to be traditionary evidence that the +manor of Broniarth was granted to one of its former possessors as a +reward for securing Sir John Oldcastle. The place in which he is said +to have been taken, is called "Lord Cobham's Field" to this day.</p> + +<p>There are, we are told, in the Welsh language original verses +referring unquestionably to Lord Cobham's residence in Wales, among +persons who entertained the same religious views with himself, and +also to his return to England. The religion of Rome is called in these +verses "the Faith of the Pharaohs."<a href="#notetag296">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note297" name="note297"></a> +<b>Footnote 297:</b> There can be no doubt that George Gurmyn, a baker, was +burnt for heresy this year, 1415, and probably in the same fire with +John Claydon. Fox mentions the name as Turming; but, not having been +able to ascertain the truth of the tradition, he leaves the whole +matter in uncertainty. In the Pipe Rolls, 3 Henry V, the sheriffs +state they had expended twenty shillings about the burning of John +Claydon, skinner, and George Gurmyn, baker, Lollards convicted of +heresy. The Author has searched the records in St. Paul's Cathedral, +but without success, for any account of the proceedings against +Gurmyn. He is said to have been convicted before the Bishop of +London.<a href="#notetag297">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note298" name="note298"></a> +<b>Footnote 298:</b> Printed in "Wilkins' Concilia."<a href="#notetag298">(back)</a></p> + + +<div> +<p><a id="note299" name="note299"></a> +<b>Footnote 299:</b> "The person who shall be burnt for heresy ought to be +first convict thereof by the Bishop who is his diocesan, and abjured +thereof; and afterwards, if he relapse into that heresy, or any other, +then he shall be sent from the clergy to the secular power, to do with +him as it shall please the King. And then it seemeth, the King, if he +will, may pardon him the same; and the form of the writ is such.</p> + +<p>"The King to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London, greeting. Whereas the +venerable father, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all +England, and Legate of the Apostolic See, with the consent and assent +of the Bishop and his brothers, the suffragans, and also of the whole +clergy of his province in his provincial council assembled, the orders +of law in this behalf requisite being in all things observed, by his +definitive sentence pronounced and declared W. Sautre (some time +chaplain, condemned for heresy, by him the said W. heretofore in form +of law abjured, and him the said W. relapsed again into the said +heresy) a manifest heretic, and decreed him to be degraded; and hath +for that cause really degraded him from all clerical prerogative and +privilege; and hath decreed him the said W. to be left, and hath +really left him, to the secular court, according to the laws and +canonical sanctions set forth in this behalf; and holy mother, the +church, hath nothing further to do in the premises. We, therefore, +being zealous for justice, and a lover of the Catholic faith, willing +to maintain and defend holy church, and the rights and liberties +thereof; and, as much as in us lies, to extirpate by the roots such +heresies and errors out of our kingdom of England, and to punish +heretics so convicted with condign punishment; and being mindful that +such heretics, convicted in form aforesaid, and condemned according to +law, divine and human, by canonical institutes on and in this behalf +accustomed, ought to be burnt with a burning flame of fire; we command +you most strictly as we can, firmly enjoining, that you commit to the +fire the aforesaid W. being in your custody, in some public and open +place within the liberties of the city aforesaid, before the people +publicly, by reason of the premises, and cause him really to be burnt +in the same fire in detestation of this crime, and to the manifest +example of other Christians. And this you are by no means to omit +under the peril falling thereon. Witness," &c.</p> + +<p>But by the statute of Henry IV. c. 15, it is enacted that every Bishop +in his diocese may convict a man of heresy, and abjure him, and +afterwards convict him anew thereof, and condemn him, and warn the +sheriff or other officer to apprehend him and burn him; and that the +sheriff or other officer ought to do the same by the precept of the +Bishop, and <i>without any writ from the King to do the same</i>.</p> + +<p>And note by 29 Car. II., c. 9, this writ de heretico comburendo is +abolished. "<span class="smcap">Laus Deo</span>!"—This last note is by an Editor. Fitzherbert, +de Naturā Brevium, p. 601.<a href="#notetag299">(back)</a></p></div> + + +<p><a id="note300" name="note300"></a> +<b>Footnote 300:</b> William Taylor had been cited March 9th, 1409, when he +treated the citation with contempt.—Archbishop's +Register.<a href="#notetag300">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note301" name="note301"></a> +<b>Footnote 301:</b> Quisquis suspenderit ad collum suum aliquod scriptum, +ipso facto tollit honorem soli Deo debitum, et prębet +Diabolo.<a href="#notetag301">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note302" name="note302"></a> +<b>Footnote 302:</b> The Canonists seem to have made some distinction between +the first and the second of these sentences.<a href="#notetag302">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note303" name="note303"></a> +<b>Footnote 303:</b> Consequently he was then, in 1421, as much, as +afterwards in 1423, a relapsed heretic, subject to the punishment of +death.<a href="#notetag303">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note304" name="note304"></a> +<b>Footnote 304:</b> The Minutes of Council, 27th May, 1415, record that the +King should be advised, as to issuing a commission to the Archbishops +and Bishops, to take measures, each in his own diocese, to resist the +malice of the Lollards. The King replied, that he had committed the +subject to the charge of the chancellor.<a href="#notetag304">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note305" name="note305"></a> +<b>Footnote 305:</b> It will be remembered, that those who were put to death +in 1414, after the affair of St. Giles' Field, were sentenced by the +civil courts on a charge of treason.<a href="#notetag305">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note306" name="note306"></a> +<b>Footnote 306:</b> Pat. p. 5, 1 Henry V.<a href="#notetag306">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note307" name="note307"></a> +<b>Footnote 307:</b> This refers to the resolution which Henry is said to +have made, and to have declared to his men immediately before the +battle: That, as he was a true King and knight, England should never +be charged with the payment of his ransom on that day, for he had +rather be slain.—MS. Cott. Cleop. C. iv.<a href="#notetag307">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note308" name="note308"></a> +<b>Footnote 308:</b> The two first words of this line are different in the +original.<a href="#notetag308">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note309" name="note309"></a> +<b>Footnote 309:</b> <i>Quede</i>, or quade,—evil, bad.—See Glossary to +Chaucer.<a href="#notetag309">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note310" name="note310"></a> +<b>Footnote 310:</b> <i>In hey</i>,—in haste, speedily.<a href="#notetag310">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note311" name="note311"></a> +<b>Footnote 311:</b> See Sloane, p. 27. King's, p. 11, b. The same gap +between "nominati" and "fratris," &c.<a href="#notetag311">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note312" name="note312"></a> +<b>Footnote 312:</b> The volume in the King's Library is made up of a great +variety of documents independent of that history and of each +other.<a href="#notetag312">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note313" name="note313"></a> +<b>Footnote 313:</b> The Sloane MS. is assigned in the Catalogue to Higden. +By Sir H. Ellis, it is attributed, though not correctly, to a Chaplain +of Henry V; a small portion only having been the work of that +eye-witness of the field of Agincourt. By Mr. Sharon Turner, it is +attributed, without a shadow of reason, to Walsingham. Mr. Turner, +however, has, though in a very inadequate manner, attempted in one +part of his new edition to rectify the error, leaving it altogether +unacknowledged where the correction is most needed, in the passage +where he grounds upon its testimony his severe charge against Henry's +character. See Turner, third ed. vol. ii. p. 373 and +p. 398.<a href="#notetag313">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note314" name="note314"></a> +<b>Footnote 314:</b> In p. 48, b, the writer speaks of "Sir John Oldcastle, +Lord Cobham," being sent as a military commander to aid the Duke of +Burgundy. In p. 50 the same person is spoken of as Johannes <i>de Veteri +Castro</i>. In the former parts the word used for the <i>enemy</i> is +"<i>ęmuli</i>;" the Chaplain employs +"<i>adversarii</i>."<a href="#notetag314">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note315" name="note315"></a> +<b>Footnote 315:</b> Latitavit et latitat.<a href="#notetag315">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note316" name="note316"></a> +<b>Footnote 316:</b> From this point the manuscript proceeds, in the very +words of Elmham, to describe Henry's second +expedition.<a href="#notetag316">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note317" name="note317"></a> +<b>Footnote 317:</b> In the MS. the word is "lacum," probably a mistake for +"laqueum."<a href="#notetag317">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note318" name="note318"></a> +<b>Footnote 318:</b> The Author on the whole is rather disposed to think +that, whilst the Monk records accurately what fell within his own +knowledge, both he and the author of the Sloane MS. in this part +borrowed from some common document, probably more than one; for in +some points they vary from each other in a way best reconciled by that +supposition. Thus, whilst the Sloane MS. tells us that Richard II. on +his landing came to a place <i>called Cardech</i>, from which he started +for Conway, the Monk (not differing from him in other points) says +that he came to the castle of Hertlowli. They both have fallen into +the error of making the Earl of Salisbury accompany Richard, whereas +he had undoubtedly been sent on before from Dublin to Conway. They are +both equally wrong about the relative positions of Flint and Conway, +and make the parties all cross and recross <i>the bridge</i> at the castle +of Conway, where a noble suspension bridge is now thrown over the arm +of the sea. After the period, however, at which the Monk's narrative +closes, the writer of the manuscript seems to be seldom free from +error.<a href="#notetag318">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note319" name="note319"></a> +<b>Footnote 319:</b> The Monk of Evesham makes no mention of Bolinbroke's +proceedings before he landed in England.<a href="#notetag319">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note320" name="note320"></a> +<b>Footnote 320:</b> This account of Hotspur's mission to Wales is the first +circumstance mentioned by the manuscript after the chronicle of the +Monk of Evesham ends.<a href="#notetag320">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note321" name="note321"></a> +<b>Footnote 321:</b> The Sloane MS. says that it was on the 28th day of +February; the King's MS. assigns it to the 18th.<a href="#notetag321">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note322" name="note322"></a> +<b>Footnote 322:</b> There are similar statements in Maydstone, Ang. Sac. +vii. 371.<a href="#notetag322">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note323" name="note323"></a> +<b>Footnote 323:</b> The MS. and Monk here agree.<a href="#notetag323">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note324" name="note324"></a> +<b>Footnote 324:</b> This is another sign that it was written by a foreigner. +No Englishman would have been likely to call Henry the Prince of +England. He was either called Prince of Wales, or more frequently the +Prince.<a href="#notetag324">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note325" name="note325"></a> +<b>Footnote 325:</b> The Author confesses his inability to discover the +meaning of the words which fill up the gaps left in this translation +of the passage "Per suas patenas de patriotis," &c. The passage +seems to him altogether corrupt.<a href="#notetag325">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note326" name="note326"></a> +<b>Footnote 326:</b> The Duke of Clarence was at Bourdeaux, February 5, 1413, +and signed an acquittance there, April 14, 1413. (See Rymer; and +Additional Charters.)<a href="#notetag326">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note327" name="note327"></a> +<b>Footnote 327:</b> The words are written in one MS. at length, "decimo +tertio."<a href="#notetag327">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note328" name="note328"></a> +<b>Footnote 328:</b> Bibl. Reg. 13, C. <span class="smcap">i</span>. 10. An. 13 Hen. IV. "Eodem anno in +Crastino Animarum incepit parliamentum apud Westmonasterium. Et quia +Rex ratione suę infirmitatis non poterat in personā propriā interesse, +assignavit et ordinavit in nomine suo fratrem suum Thomam Beuforde, +Cancellarium tunc Anglię, ad inchoandum, continuandum, et prorogandum; +in quo parliamento Henricus Princeps desidevavit ą patre suo regni et +coronę resignacionem, eo quod pater ratione ęgritudinis non poterat +circa honorem et utilitatem regni ulteriłs laborare; sed sibi in hoc +noluit penitłs assentire; ymmo regnum uną cum coronā et pertinenciis, +dummodo haberet spiritus vitales, voluit gubernare: unde Princeps +quodammodo cum suis consiliariis aggravatus recessit; et posteriłs +quasi pro majori parte Anglię omnes proceres suo dominio in humagio et +stipendio copulavit. In eodem parliamento moneta tam in auro quam in +argento fuerat aliqualiter in pondere minorata ex causą permutationis +extraneorum, qui in suis partibus ratione cambii magnum sibi +cumulabant emolumentum, et Regi et suis mercatoribus Angligenis in +magnum dispendium et detrimentum, &c."<a href="#notetag328">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note329" name="note329"></a> +<b>Footnote 329:</b> It cannot, however, be supposed that this anonymous +writer fabricated the story; he must have copied it from some other +writer, or put down what he had learned by +hearsay.<a href="#notetag329">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note330" name="note330"></a> +<b>Footnote 330:</b> The Author confesses his own opinion to be that a party +was formed at court (headed probably by the Queen), jealous of the +Prince's influence, and determined to destroy his power with his +father. That, to oppose this party, the Prince summoned his friends, +and made a demonstration of his power; (it is possible that he might +have expressed his readiness to act again in the government for his +father, as he had undoubtedly done before:) and that, after much +coldness and alienation, father and son were fully +reconciled.<a href="#notetag330">(back)</a></p> + + +<p><a id="note331" name="note331"></a> +<b>Footnote 331:</b> Sloane, p. 42. The statute for assigning certain imposts +for the King's household is transcribed at full length, word for word. +So, too, in the seventh year, the statute relative to the succession +is copied verbatim. Of the same character is the copy of the +Tripartite Indenture of Division.<a href="#notetag331">(back)</a></p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2, by J. 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