HISTORY OF ENGLAND,
FROM THE FIRST
INVASION BY THE ROMANS.
BY
JOHN LINGARD, D.D.
THE FOURTH EDITION,
CORRECTED AND CONSIDERABLY ENLARGED.
IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES-
VOL. V.
LONDON: BALDWIN AND CRADOCK,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
1837.
LONDON :
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Stamford-street,
CONTENTS
ov THE FIFTH VOLUME.
CHAPTER I. HENRY V.
SUCCESSION OF HENRK V INSURRECTION OH THE LOLLARDS
INVASION OF FRANCE — BATTLE OF AZINCOURT — SECOND IN- VASION OF FRANCE CONQUEST OF NORMANDY MURDER OF
THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY HENRY IS MADE REGENT OF
FRANCE REDUCES MEAUX AND DIES HIS FUNERAL AF- FAIRS OF THE CHURCH.
Succession of Henry V., 1. Insurrection of the lollards, 3. Apprehension of Oldcastle,. 4. Dispersion of the insur- gents, 5. Their number and designs, 5. Henry claims the crown of France, 7- Makes preparations for war, 8. Dis- misses the French envoys, 9. Conspiracy against him, 1 1 . He lands in Normandy, 12. Reduces Harfieur, 13. Pas- sage of the Somme, 15. The English at Maisoncelles, 16. Preparations for battle, 17. Battle of Azincourt, 19. De- feat of the first division of the French, 20. Of the second, 21. And of the third, 22. Loss of the enemy, 23. Henry returns to England, 23. Arrival of the Emperor Sigis- mund, 25. Naval victory, 27. Conference at Calais, 27. Parties in France, 27. The king lands in Normandy, 29. Execution of sir John Oldcastle, 31. Conquests of Henry, 32. Massacre in Paris, 33. Negotiations, 33. Siege of Rouen, 35. It surrenders, 37. Conferences at Meulant, 37. Henry is cheated, 3D. Murder 01 the duke of Burgundy, 39. Henry is made regent of France, 41. And married to Catherine, 42. The treaty is confirmed, 43. Defeat at Beauje, 44. Henry returns to France, 45. Siege and re- duction of Meaux, 45. He falls ill, and dies, 47. His cha- racter and burial, 49. Proceedings of parliament, 51. Schism in the church, 51. Its termination, 53. Objec- tions to the statutes of provisors, 53*
2123108
IV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER II. HENRY VI.
GOVERNMENT DURING THE MINORITY DUKE OF BEDFORD HE- GENT OF FRANCE— JAQUELINE OF BAVARIA SIEGE OF OR- LEANS JOAN OF ARC CHARLES IS CROWNED AT RHEIMS—
HENRY AT PARIS — DEFECTION OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY
ARMISTICE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE DISPUTES IN
THE ENGLISH CABINET THE KING'S MARRIAGE DEATHS OF
GLOUCESTER AND BEAUFORT LOSS OF THE FRENCH PRO- VINCES IMPEACHMENT AND MURDER OF SUFFOLK CADE's
INSURRECTION DUKE OF YORK PROTECTOR — HENRY RECO- VERS HIS AUTHORITY DISASTERS OF THE YORKISTS — THEIR
SUBSEQUENT SUCCESS — THE DUKE is DECLARED HEIR TO THE
THRONE — IS KILLED AT WAKEFIELD — HIS SON EDWARD EN- TERS LONDON AND IS PROCLAIMED KING.
Settlement of the government, 57. Death of Charles of France, 58. Conduct of duke of Bedford, 59 — Battle of Crevant, 59. Charles receives succour, 60. Liberation and marriage of the king of Scotland, 61. Battle of Verneuil, 63. Story of Jacqueline of Bavaria, 64. She is married to the duke of Gloucester, 65. Opposition in the council, 66. Quarrel between Gloucester and Beaufort, 69. They are reconciled, 71. Submission of Bretagne, 73. Siege of Or- leans, 74. The battle of Rouvrai, 75. Story of Joan d'Arc, 77. Her introduction to Charles, 79. And to the army, 80. She enters Orleans, 81. Destroys several forts, 82. The siege is raised, 83. Losses of the English, 83. Charles is crowned at Rheims, 84. The armies meet at Senlis, 85. And separate without a battle, 86. Joan is made prisoner, 87. Her trial, 89. Judgment, 89. And execution, 90. Henry is crowned in England, 91. And at Paris, 91. Quarrel between the dukes of Bedford and Burgundy, 92. Con- gress of Arras, 93. Peace between France and Burgundy, 94. Subsequent events of the war, 94. Death of the duke of Bedford, 94. Loss of Paris, 95. Hostilities with the duke of Burgundy, 95. A famine, 96. Siege of Har- fleur, 97. Negotiations, 99. An armistice, 100. Trans- actions with Scotland, 101. Defeat of Sir Robert Ogle, 103. Marriages of queen Catherine and duchess of Bed- ford, 104. Education of Henry, 107. Disputes between Gloucester and the cardinal, 108. Beaufort created apo- stolic legate, 109. Beaufort raises troops for the crusade. 111. He becomes popular. 113. Charges against him, 113. Liberation of the duke of Orleans, 115. Prosecution
CONTENTS. V
of the duchess of Gloucester, 117. The king's marriage, 119. Arrest and death of Gloucester, 121. Conspiracy against the king, 123. Death of Beaufort, 124. Richard duke of York, 125. Cession of Anjou and Maine, 125. The loss of Rouen, 127. Of all Normandy, 128. And of Guienne, 129. The public discontent, 129. Charges against Suffolk, 131. He is sent to the Tower, 132. Is impeached by the king, 132. His defence, 133. He is banished, 134. Leaves the kingdom, 135. And is mur- dered at sea, 135. Insurrection, 136, Complaints and demands of the insurgents, 137. Battle at Sevenoaks, 138. Fate of Cade and his followers, 139. Return of the duke of York, 140. Disputes in parliament, 141. York raises forces, and submits, 143. An unsuccessful attempt to re- cover Guienne, 144. Birth of a prince, 145. Henry's in- capacity, 145. York is made protector, 147. The king recovers, 148. Battle of St. Alban's, 149. The king is in the hands of the Yorkists, 130. York protector a second time, 151. Henry recovers again, 152. Reconciliation of the two parties, 153. They quarrel again, 154. Battle of Bloreheath, 155. The Yorkists are dispersed, 156. York- ists attainted, 157. They raise an army, 158. And make the king prisoner, 159. The duke avows his claim to the crown, 160. It is brought forward by his counsel, 161. Objections to the duke's claim, 161. A compromise, 163. Battle of Wakefield, 164. The duke is slain, 164. Battle of Mortimer's cross, 165. Second battle at St. Alban's, 165. The king is free again, 165. Edward the new duke of York in London, 166. Powers of the house of lords, 167. Rights of the commons, 169.
CHAPTER III. EDWARD IV.
EDWARD IS CROWNED MISFORTUNES OF THE LANCASTRIANS
HENRY VI. IS MADE PRISONER EDWARD'S MARRIAGE INSUR- RECTION THE KING IMPRISONED BY THE NEVILLES HIS RE- LEASE ANOTHER INSURRECTION CLARENCE AND WARWICK
LEAVE THE REALM RETURN EXPEL EDWARD AND RESTORE
HKNRY KBWARU RETURNS HIS VICTORY AT BARNET CAP- TURE AND DEATH OF HENRY BATTLE OF TEWKSBURY — WAR
WITH FRANCE PEACE ATTAINDER OF CLARENCE DEATH
OK THE RING.
Battle of Towton, 173. Edward is crowned, 174, Bill of at- tainder, 175. The king's speech, 175. Exertions of queen Margaret, 176. She is shipwrecked, 177. Her adventure
VI CONTENTS.
in a forest, 178. Battles of Hedgiey Moor and Hexham, 179. Henry is made prisoner, 181. Edward's treaties with foreign powers, 182. His clandestine marriage, 183. The queeu is acknowledged and crowned, 185. All her relations provided for, 185. Discontent of the Nevilles, 187. Reconciliation, 189. Clarence married to the daughter of Warwick, 190. Insurrection in Yorkshire, 191. Edward is in distress, 192. Battle at Edgecote, 193. Edward is made prisoner and confined, 194. He is released, 195. His eldest daughier promised to George Neville, 196. Ano- ther rupture and reconciliation, 197. Insurrection of sir Robert Welles, 198. Battle of Erpiugham, 198. Flight of Clarence and Warwick, 199. They are excluded from Calais, 200. Their reception by Louis XI. Clarence is dissatisfied, 201. The exiles return and land, 203. Ed- ward is driven out of the kingdom, 203. Henry is restored, 204. Settlement of the succession, 205. Conduct of fo- reign powers, 206. Edward lands in England, 207. And is admitted into London, 208. Battle of Barnet, 209. Landing of queen Margaret, 210. Battle of Tewksbury, 211. Execution of the duke of Somerset, 211. Murder of Henry VI., 213. Queen Margaret, 214. The duke of Exeter, 214. The earl of Oxford, 214. Fate of the Lan- castrians, 215. The archbishop of York, 215. The earis of Pembroke and Richmond, 216. Morton and Fortescue, 217. Quarrel between Clarence and Gloucester, 219. Alli- ance against France, 221. Edward lands in France, 222. Policy of Louis, 222. Peace and alliance with France, 223. The king and his favourites accept annuities from him, 224. Edward's method of raising money, 225. Discontent and imprisonment of Clarence, 227. He is condemned and put to death, 229. War with Scotland, 229. Siege of Ber- wick, 231. Edward is duped by Louis, 233. His death, 233.
CHAPTER IV. EDWARD V.
CONDUCT OF THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER ARRESTS THE DUKE
IS MADE PROTECTOR MURDER OF LORD HASTINGS AND THE
EARL RIVERS PENANCE OF JANE SHORE THE DUKE ASPIRES
TO THE CROWN SERMON IN HIS FAVOUR — SPEECH OF THB
DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM OFFER OF THE CROWN TO GLOUCES- TER WHO ACCEPTS IT.
State of parties at the death of Edward, 236. Orders issued for the coronation of his son, 237. Conduct of Richard
CONTENTS. Vll
duke of Gloucester, 238. He receives the king's relations, 239. And arrests them, 240. The young king enters London, 241. The duke is made protector, '241. Murder of lord Hastings, 243. And of the prisoners at Pontet'ract, 243. The queen surrenders her second son, 244. Penance of Jane Shore, 245. Sermon in favour of the protector's right to the crown, 247. Speech of the duke of Bucking- ham, 24S. Petition presented to the protector, 249. Pie accepts the crown, 250. And takes possession, 251.
CHAPTER V. RICHARD III.
CORONATION OF RICHARD DEATH OF HIS TWO NEPHEWS — CON- SPIRACY AGAINST HIM DEFEATED IS RECONCILED WITH ELI- ZABETH— WISHES TO MARRY HIS NIECE RAISES AN ARMY
AGAINST THE EARL OF RICHMOND IS KILLED IN THE BATTLE
AT BOSWORTH.
Coronation of Richard, 252. His progress through the king- dom, 253. And coronation at York, 254. Confederacy against him, 255. Death of his nephews, 256. Conspi- racy in favour of the earl of Richmond, 257. Insurrection, 258. Richard is successful, 259. He as-embles a parlia- ment, 260. Attempts to defeat the plans of Henry, 261. Prevails on Elizabeth to quit the sanctuary, 262. Death of the king's son, 262. Henry flees from Bretagne into France, 263. Negotiations with Scotland, 263. The king wishes to marry the princess Elizabeth, 264. But is dis- suaded, 265. His difficulties and preparations, 265. His distrust of lord Stanley, 266. His proclamation, 267. Henry lands in Wales, 268. Battle of Bosworth, 269. Richard is slain, 270. His character, 271.
CHAPTER VI. HENRY VII.
PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT THE KING'S MARRIAGE INSUR- RECTION IN FAVOUR OF A PRETENDED EARL OF WARWICK
CORONATION OF THE QUEEN WAR IN BRETAGNE IMPOSTURE
OF PERKIN WARBECK HE IS EXECUTED ALSO THE EARL OF
WARWICK TREATIES WITH FRANCE — WITH SCOTLAND WITH
SPAIN MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF PRINCE ARTHUR HENUY's
RAPACITY HIS ILLNESS AND DEATH HIS CHARACTER.
Defects of Henry's title, 273. He sends Elizabeth to London, 274. The kiag makes his entry into the capital, 274. The
Ill CONTENTS.
sweating sickness, 274. Proceedings in parliament, 275. Settlement of the crown, 277. The king marries Eliza- beth, 279. Insurrection of lord Lovell, 281. The king's progress through the realm, 282. Treaty with Scotland, '283. Birth of a prince, 284. A pretended earl of War- wick, 284. He is received in Ireland, 285. The king's conduct on the occasion, 286. The pretender is joined by the earl of Lincoln, 287. He lands in Furness — Battle at Stoke, 289. Coronation of the queen, 291. Jurisdiction of the star chamber, 291. Prolongation of peace with Scot- land, 293. Anne of Bretagne, 295. Henry's affected delays, 296. Henry pretends to assist her, 297. Battle of Dixmude, 298. Insurrection in Northumberland, 299. Anne of Bretagne married by proxy, 300. She is compelled to marry the king of France, 301. Henry prepares for war, 302. He lands in France, 303. And concludes a peace with Charles, 303. Story of Perkin Warbeck, 305. He is acknowledged in France, 305. And by the duchess of Bur- gundy, 306. Henry seeks to obtain possession of Warbeck. 306. His friends are betrayed, 307. His partisans executed, 308. Submission of the Irish, 309. Warbeck attempts to land, 310. Proceedings in parliament, 311. Wrarbeck is received in Scotland, 312. He invades England, 313. In- surrection in Cornwall, 315. Peace with Scotland, 316. Warbeck in Cornwall, 317. He flies to a sanctuary, 317. Submits to the king, 3 18. Escapes, 318. Confesses the im- posture, 319. A pretended earl of Warwick, 320. Execu- tion of Warbeck, 321. And of the real earl of Warwick. 321. Treaties with France, 322. Treaties with Scotland, 323. Marriage of James with the king's daughter, 325. Marriage of prince Arthur, 326. His death, 327. Con- tract of marriage between Henry and Catherine, 328. The king and queen of Castile in England, 330. Henry gets possession of the earl of Suffolk, 331. New projects of marriage, 333. The king's schemes to get money, 335. His sickness and death, 337. NOTES, 340.
LINGARD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
HENRY V.
Empr.ofOer. Sigismund.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
King of Scot. \ King of France. James I. I Charles VI.
John I Popes : John XXI.1I. 1415. Martiu V.
Kings of Spam. Henry III. 1416.
Succession of Henry V. — Insurrection of the Lollards — Invasion of France — Battle of Azincourt — Second invasion of France — Conquest of Nor- mandy— Murder of the duke of Burgundy — Henry is made Regent of France — Reduces Meanx — And dies — His funeral — Affairs of the Church.
THE late king had outlived his popularity, and the in- telligence of his death excited little regret in any part of |^< his dominions. His eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, Mai immediately ascended the throne. He had so long been 11'. considered heir apparent, that the claim of the earl of March was never mentioned ; and though his errors had created a prejudice against him, his subjects were will- ing to attribute them rather to the giddiness of youth than to depravity of heart. Neither did he disappoint their expectations. As soon as his father expired he withdrew to his closet, spent the rest of the day in pri- VOL. v. u
2 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
vacy and prayer, and in the evening hastened to his con- fessor, a recluse in the church of Westminster ; by whom he was confirmed in his resolution to atone for the scan- dal of his past, by the propriety of his subsequent con- duct. The dissolute companions of his pleasures were instantly dismissed : men of knowledge and experience were invited round the throne ; and those, who by checking his excesses had earned the enmity of the prince, found themselves, to their surprise, honoured with the approbation and friendship of the king *. As an act of justice, he set at liberty the earl of March, who from his childhood had been kept in confinement by the late monarch, for no other crime than his right to the throne : after some time he restored the son of Hotspur, an exile in Scotland, to the honours and hereditary estates of the Percies ; and when the remains of the unfortunate Richard were removed by his orders from Langley to Westminster abbey, he testified his respect for that prince by attending as chief mourner in the fu- neral procession t.
Henry had partaken of the general alarm excited among the higher classes by the levelling principles of the Lollards ; and, when he was only prince of Wales, had joined the lords and commons in presenting a peti- tion to his father for the arrest and punishment of their preachers '$. Now, however, the chiefs of the sect, whether they were urged forward by enthusiasm, or in- toxicated with success, instead of labouring to remove
« Tit, Liv. 5. Wals. 382. Otlerb. 273. Elm. 16.
t Rot. Parl. iv. 6. 37. Wals. 385. Otterb. 274. See payments on tfiis occasion in Pell Records, p. 326. " After a solemn termetit there holtlen, " he provided that iiii tapers shuld brenne daye and nyght about his (Richard's) grave whyle the world endureth; and one day i'n the week a solempne Dirigc, and upon the morrowe a messe of Requiem by note, after which messe endj d to be gyven wekely unto pore people xi. s viii in pens, and upon the daye of his anniversary, after the sayd masse of Requiem is songe, to be yerely distrybuted for his soule xx li. in d." Fabyan, 577- No one can believe that Henry, had he not been con- vinced that the Richard in Stirling castle was an impostor, would have actwtin this manner. In any other supposition he would have been guilty, gratuitously and deliberately, of hypocrisy and sacrilege. J See history of the last reign.
A. D.I 413.] INSURRECTION OF THE LOLLARDS. 3
these unfavourable impressions, sought to intimidate their adversaries ; and during the king's first parliament affixed papers to the doors of the different churches in the metropolis, stating that, if the authority of the crown should be employed in opposition to their doctrine, they were able to assemble one hundred thousand men ready to draw the sword in its defence *. This daring menace provoked an investigation ; and it was discovered, through Burton, "the king's spy," that the person, by whose counsels the party had been led, and on whom it chiefly relied, was sir John Oldcastle, called, from the inherit- ance of his wife, the lord of Cobham. His castle of Cowling had long been the head-quarters of the teachers of lollardism : thence they issued forth on their missions in the neighbourhood; and, protected by his servants, set at defiance the prohibitions of the bishops, and the citations of the spiritual courts f- The convocation, to spare the honour of a man who had been one of Henry's most intimate companions J, instead of summoning him before the usual tribunal, denounced him to the king, who with the zeal of an apostle undertook the task of working his conversion But the obstinacy of the dis- ciple speedily exhausted the patience of the master: after a few days the king began to enforce his arguments with threats ; and Oldcastle thought it time to withdraw from Windsor to his own residence at Cowling §. His Auf flight was followed by a royal proclamation, ordering the 21. magistrates to arrest not only the itinerant preachers, but their hearers and abettors ; and by a mandate to the
• Wals. 382. t Wilkins. Cone. iii. 330. 338. 352, 353.
$ Tit. Liv. p. f>. Elm. p. 31, who add that on a -count of his opinions he had been dismissed by the king before the coronation. From Fuller (p. 16S) we derive the curious information that sir John Oldcastle was, among our more ancient dramatists, the debauched but facetious knight, who now treads the stage under the name of sir John Kalstaff.
§ Abook belonging to Oldcastle had been seized in the shop of a limner, wit li whom it had been left to be illuminated. It was lead before the kin;; in the presence of the owner. Henry declared that he had never hi-ard doctrines so pernicious, and asked the knight what lie thought of them. Of course he did not dispute the judgment of his sovereign, but iilteged in his own excuse that he had never read more than two pages of the work. Cone. iii. 352.
4 HENRY v. [CHAP. i.
archbishop of Canterbury, requiring him to proceed against the fugitive according to law *. The spiritual powers of that prelate were soon exhausted. Oldcastle disobeyed his summons, and laughed at his excommuni- cation ; but he was compelled to surrender to a military force sent by the king, and was conducted a prisoner to Sept. the Tower. On his arraignment before the primate, his ^- conduct was as arrogant and insulting, as that of his judge was mild and dignified. Not content with signi- fying his dissent from the established creed, he poured out a torrent of abuse against all those by whom it was upheld. He maintained that the church had ceased to teach the doctrine of the gospel from the moment that it became infected with the poison of worldly riches ; that the clergy were the antichrist; that the pope was the head, the bishops and prelates the limbs, and the re- ligious orders the tail of the beast ; and that the only true successor of St. Peter was he who most faithfully practised the virtues of St. Peter. Then turning to the spectators, and extending his arms, he exclaimed : " Be- " ware of the men who sit here as my judges. They " will seduce both you and themselves, and will lead " you to hell." He was brought to the bar on two dif- ferent days, and persisting in his opinions, was pro- nounced an obstinate heretic t. The primate, however, when he delivered him to the civil magistrate, procured from the king a respite of fifty days ; during which Old- Oet. castle found the means to escape from the Tower, and to 10. assemble the most ardent of his partisans. Emissaries were immediately despatched into the neighbouring counties ; an army was secretly organised ; and numbers of fanatics held themselves in readiness to march to the metropolis, though they were kept in ignorance of the real object of their leaders. The first plan of the conspi- rators, to surprise the king at Eltham, was defeated by
* Rym. ix. 46. Cone. 375.
+ From the acts in Kymer, ix. 61. 66, and Wilkins iii. 35,'}— 357. Dr. fcouthej (Hook oJ'the Church, i- 3/9) relies on the authority ofFoxe.
A. D. 1414.] DESIGNS OF THE INSURGENTS. 5
his unexpected departure for Westminster ; and a second resolution was formed to collect all their adherents in Jan. the fields at St. Giles's, on the day after the Epiphany. 7- Henry, who was perfectly apprised of their intentions, having secured the gates of the city, to separate the lol- lards within the walls from those without, proceeded a little after midnight with a strong body of forces to the place of rendezvous. The roads were covered with in- surgents hastening from all quarters towards St. Giles's : but the first companies that arrived were surrounded and secured ; the fugitives who escaped spread the alarm, and the parties on their march precipitately dis- persed *.
The number of the insurgents on this occasion has been exaggerated to twenty thousand ; and the object of their leaders was, if we may credit royal proclamations and parliamentary records, of the most dangerous ten- dency. The commons in their address state, that the lollards had sought " to destroy the Christian faith, the " king, the spiritual and temporal estates, and all man- " ner of policy and law :" Henry in his proclamation de- clares that they meant " to destroy him, his brothers, and " several of the spiritual and temporal lords, to confis- " cate the possessions of the church, to secularise the " religious orders, to divide the realm into confederate " districts, and to appoint sir John Oldcastle president " of the commonwealth'*-." That leader escaped, and though the king offered the most tempting rewards for his apprehension, eluded for several years the pursuit and search of his enemies. Of his accomplices many were secured, and thirty-nine condemned and exe- cuted. The failure of the insurrection had the usual effect of adding to the severity of the penal laws already in existence. It was enacted that all judges and magis- trates should be authorised to arrest persons suspected of lollardism, and deliver them over to the ecclesiastical
* Tit. Liv. 6. Wals. 385, 386. Elm. 31, 32.
t Hot. Parl. iv. iii. 108. Kym. ix. 89. 119. 129. 1JO. 193.
6 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
courts : and that the prisoners on their conviction should forfeit their lands, goods, and chattels, as in cases of fe- lony *.
The restoration of tranquillity allowed the king to direct his attention towards the French throne, which was still occupied by an imbecile monarch, and was daily undermined by the rage of contending factions. Within the course of a few months the reins of government had successively passed from the hands of John the fearless duke of Burgundy, to the dauphin, a young prince, rash, A D headstrong, and capricious t ; to the populace of the ca- 1413.pital, whose ephemeral superiority had been accompa- April nied with the imprisonment or massacre of the lords -$• and ladies attached to the court $ ; and lastly to the duke of Orleans, who persisted in waging a successful but impolitic war against the Burgundians, the ancient foes of his family. To the aspiring mind of Henry these troubles opened a most alluring prospect. He deter- mined to revive the claim, and tread in the footsteps of his great-grandfather Edward III. ; and, if he consented to a succession of short truces at the prayer of Charles, it was only that he might have leisure to mature his plans, to provide money for his expenses, and to open the war with an army adequate to his object. A little D more than a year had elapsed from his accession when 1414. ne unexpectedly demanded the crown of France, with July all its appurtenances, as the heir of Isabella, daughter of 10. Philip IV. The French ministers might have replied, that he was not the legitimate representative of that princess § : but they deemed the claim an insult to the
* Rot. Parl. iv. 24. Stat. of Realm, ii. 181. In this parliament the king's brothers, John and Humphrey, were made dukes of Bedford and Glou- cestpr. Elm. 33.
t He is said to have sent in derision to Henry a present of tennis balls. The king promised to return the compliment with English balls, which should batter to the ground the walls of Paris. Otterb. 275.
i See the letter of the king of France in Rymer, ix. 51, and the account of Monstrelet, i. 165-170.
§ The reader will recollect that our kiugs claimed the French crown on the plea that it could descend by iemales. Now in that hypothesis it be- longed not to Henry, but to the earl of March.
A. D. 1414.] HENRY CLAIMS THE CROWN OF FRANCE. 7
national independence, and refused to admit it even as a subject of discussion. Henry therefore consented that Aug. Charles should continue to possess his throne, but re- quired as the price of his forbearance conditions which would have reduced France to a secondary station among the powers of Europe : that he should cede to England in full sovereignty the provinces of Normandy, Maine, and Anjou; the territories which formerly composed the duchy of Aquitaine, and the several towns and coun- ties included in the great peace of Bretigny ; that he should put Henry in possession of one half of Provence, the inheritance of Eleanor and Sanchia, the queens of Henry III. and of his brother Richard, and two of the four daughters of Berenger, once sovereign of that coun- try ; that he should faithfully discharge the arrears of the ransom of king John, amounting to twelve hundred thousand crowns ; and that he should give his daughter Catherine in marriage to the king of England with a portion of two millions of crowns*. To these demands Henry had been persuaded to descend by his council, who told him that by such moderation he would throw the blame of refusal on his adversaries, and " deserve " through God's grace better speed and conclusion." The duke of Berri, the organ of the French government, replied, that Charles for the sake of peace was willing to restore all the territories anciently comprehended within the duchy of Aquitaine, and to give with his daughter six hundred thousand crowns, a greater por- tion than had ever been given on a similar occasion by any of his predecessors. By a prince of ordinary ambi- tion such offers would have been cheerfully accepted. It was evident that they were made, not on account of the real superiority of England, but of the temporary em- barrassments of France ; and there was reason to fear that, if they should be refused, the different factions might unite against the common enemy, and by their
* Two crowns were equal to a noble English.
8 HENRY V. [CHAP. !.
union defeat all his projects. Great, however, as they were, they did not satisfy the expectations of Henry *.
*-'ct> He recalled his ambassadors, summoned a parliament, avowed his intention of vindicating his right by arms, and obtained a supply of two tenths and two fifteenths t.
Nov. The grant of so laree a sum created considerable alarm
1 Q
in the French court, and Henry resolved to make a se- cond attempt by negotiation. A few days before the conclusion of the armistice the earl of Dorset, with the bishops of Durham and Norwich, and a retinue of six A D< hundred horsemen, entered Paris, where, by their parade 1415. and magnificence, they surprised and mortified the va Jan. nity of the French $. Their first object was easily at - ^- tained, to prolong the truce during four months. They Mar. next proposed a treaty of peace and alliance on a new
13. basis. The claim of Normandy, Maine, and Anjou, was entirely abandoned : they consented to accept the prin- cess with half the sum originally required ; but every other demand made by the late embassy was repeated and enforced. The duke of Berri gave the same an-
Mar. swer> witn this unimportant difference, that he offered
14. eight instead of six hundred thousand crowns as the marriage portion of Catherine. The ambassadors im- mediately returned $.
It is probable that the result of the negotiation was
not displeasing to Henry. His counsellors might wish
to avert the impending calamities of the war : but the
young hero longed to encircle his brow with the laurels
April of a conqueror. A council of fifteen spiritual and twenty-
16. eight temporal peers was immediately assembled : the
king declared his resolution " to recover his inheritance"
by arms || ; and his speech was received with applause
and assurances of support. The duke of Bedford, one
of his brothers, accepted the office of regent during the
* The whole process of the negotiation is to be found in Rymer, ix. 208. See also Acts of Coun. ii. 141. 150.
t Hut. Parl. iv. 35. j Monstrel. i 216.
§ Rjm. ix. 205. 212— 215. ,|| Rjm. ix. 222. Acts of Uoun. iL 155.
A. D. 1415.] DISMISSES THE FRENCH ENVOYS. 9
royal absence ; his duties and powers were specified ; the members of the council appointed; and the terms of mi- litary service arranged *. The barons and knights, anx- ious to obtain renown, or to secure the royal favour, engaged to furnish troops according to their abilities ; and while they levied men, Henry himself pawned his jewels, solicited loans, and by great exertions amassed the sum of five hundred thousand nobles t.
The French ministers had made no preparations to meet the storm with which they were threatened. Oc- cupied in maintaining the ascendancy over their domestic rivals, they had flattered themselves that the king of England would accept the terms which had been of- fered him; and with this fallacious expectation they even now sent the archbishop of Bourges, and the earljune. of Vendome, to repeat the proposals which had lately been made by the duke of Berri. The ambassadors were introduced to the king at Winchester : the next day Henry Chichely, who had lately succeeded to the arch- bishopric of Canterbury, informed them that his sove- reign would accept nothing short of the restoration of all the territories which had ever been possessed by his predecessors ; and Henry, following the primate, added,
* The following were the terms, and the manner of raising the army. 1. Contracts were made by the keeper of the privy seal with different lords and gentlemen, who bound themselves to serve with a certain num- ber of men for a year, from the day on which they were first mustered. 3. The pay of a duke was to be 13s. 4d. per day ; an earl, 6s. 8d. ; a baron or banneret, 4s. ; a knight, 2s. ; an esquire, Is. ;"an archer, 6rL 3. The pay, or security for its amount, was to be delivered by the treasurer a quarter of a year in advance : and if the money were not actually paid at the be- ginning of the fourth quarter, the engagement was to be at an end. As an additional remuneration, each contractor received " the usual regard," or douceur of 100 marks for every 30 men-at-arms. 4. A duke was to have 50 horses: an earl, 24 ; a biron or banneret, 16; a knight, 6; an esquire, 4; an archer, 1. The horses were to be furnished by the contractor, the equipment by the king. 5. All prisoners were to belong to the captors: but if they were kings, the sons of kings, or officers high in command bear- ing commissions from kings, they were to belong to the crown, on the pay- ment of a reasonable recompence to the captors. 6 The booty taken was to be divided into three parts. Two remained to the men : the third was again divided into three parts, of which the leader took two, and left the third to the king. See the several contracts in Rymer, ix. 223. 227—239. t Ibid. 241. 271. 284— 7."
10 HENPAr v. [CHAP. i.
that the crown of France was his right, and that he would wrest it from its unjust possessor in defiance of all his enemies. These words aroused the spirit of the archbishop of Bourges, who, having previously obtained permission, replied ; that if the king attributed to fear the offers which had been made, he deceived himself. The throne of France was the most excellent in Europe. It would require more than the power of England to shake it. Let Henry, if he chose, make the attempt : he would either be driven back to the sea, or would pay the forfeit of his presumption with his liberty, perhaps with his life. As for himself, the archbishop added, that he had nothing more to do in England. He requested passports : but trusted that the king would give the an- swer in writing, and spare him the pain of delivering so July insulting a message by word of mouth. Henry did not *• resent the freedom of the prelate, but dismissed him and his colleague with valuable presents *.
Every preparation was now complete : the army had assembled at Southampton ; and the king superintended the embarkation. At that very moment, while his mind was occupied with visions of conquest and glory, he was July suddenly alarmed with the intelligence that a conspiracy 21. against his life had been formed in the bosom of his own family and household. The ringleader was his cousin Richard, a brother to the duke of York, and lately created earl of Cambridge. The principal accomplices were sir Thomas Grey of Heton, a Northumbrian knight, and the lord Scrope of Masham, who had been honoured with the highest employments in the state, and was, both in bed and at board, at the council table and in the chase, the king's individual companion. What motives could induce them to form the design, or whence they derived their hopes of success, it is impossible to discover ; the historian must content himself with describing the facts
» See Monstrelet (i.22), who praises the spirit, and Elmham (p. 30) and Walsiiif-ham (p. 3S9), who reprove the insolence of the French prelate. The king's answer is in Thresor des Clurtres, 79.
A. D. 1415.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE KING. 11
as they appear upon record. By an inquest of twelve At jurors of the county it was found, but on what testimony '-• is not mentioned, that the earl of Cambridge had con- spired with sir Thomas Grey to collect a body of armed men, to conduct the earl of March to the frontiers of Wales, and to proclaim him the rightful heir to the crown in case Richard II. were really dead * ; and had also by their emissaries solicited Thomas of Trumpyngton, who still personated Richard, Henry Percy, who had not yet returned from Scotland, and several Scottish lords, to invade the king's dominions at an appointed time ; and that the lord Scrope had received from them the know- ledge of their treasonable intentions, had concealed that knowledge from the king and council, and had given to the conspirators his aid and abettance. On this indict- ment the prisoners were arraigned, and severally pleaded guilty: but the lord Scrope added, that his intention was innocent, as his only object in learning, was to defeat the plans of the conspirators. The usual judgment of treason was passed against Grey : but the king com- muted the most disgraceful parts of the sentence. In- stead of being drawn, he was permitted to walk to the place of execution, and suffered decapitation instead of being hanged. Cambridge and Scrope claimed the pri- ^l| vilege of being tried by their peers. The duke of Cla- 5. rence presided in the place of the king : all the lords in the army were summoned ; and the duke of York, that he might not sit in judgment on his brother, appointed the earl of Dorset his proxy. By this court both were condemned t, and after a fruitless appeal by the earl of Cambridge to the mercy of his royal relative, were exe- cuted. Though the earl of March sate among the judges at the trial, he soon afterwards received from Henry a general pardon for all treasons and offences : whence it
* It should be observed that the earl of Cambridge had married Anne, sister to the earl of March, who, on the death of her brother without issue, would have had the real right to the crown.
f Hot. Parl. iv. 64-6J.
12 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
has been inferred by some writers that he was privy to the conspiracy, and had secured the royal favour by be- traying his accomplices. But the inference is not war- ranted by the practice of the age. Such pardons were frequently solicited by the most innocent, as a measure of precaution to defeat the malice, and prevent the ac- cusations of their enemies *.
Henry's impatience had hastened the trial and execu- Au"-. tion of the conspirators. As soon as the wind wculd 13. permit, he left Southampton ; and after a rapid voyage Aug. entered the moulh of the Seine with a fleet of fifteen 15. hundred sail, carrying six thousand men-at-arms and twenty-four thousand archers. Three days were con- sumed in landing the men, stores, and provisions ; and Aug. immediately Harfleur, a strong fortress on the right 13. bank of the river, was invested by laud and blockaded by water. The knights in garrison, confident in their valour and numbers, repeatedly assailed the intrench- ments of the besiegers: but successive defeats taught them to confine themselves within the walls ; their de- fences were in a short time shattered or demolished by Sep. the artillery and the miners ; and in the fifth week they ^-' submitted to an unconditional surrender. Henry seated himself on his throne under a magnificent tent, winch was raised for the purpose on the summit of the hill, op- posite to the town. On his right hand stood sir Robert Umfravile, bearing on the point of a lance the king's helmet surmounted with a crown : on each side were ranged the chief of the English nobility ; and in this state the king received Gaucourte the governor, and thirty-four burgesses, who on their knees presented to him the keys of the town, and threw themselves on his mercy. He ordered his banner and that of St. George to be fixed over the principal gate, and pronounced his
* Rym. ix. 303. It is indeed true tliat the earl of Cambridge in his written confession charges the carl of March with having assented to the plan : but the charge was disbelieved, or passed over iu silence. Hot, Purl. iv. 66.
A. D. 1415.] REDUCTION OF HARFLEUR. 13
pleasure that the men-at-arms should depart in their doublets, after taking an oath to yield themselves pri- soners within a fixed time to the governor of Calais ; that the inhabitants, men, women, and children, should quit their homes for ever, carrying with them a portion of their clothes, and five pennies each to procure subsist- ence : and that the riches of the town, with the arms and horses of the garrison, should be faithfully distributed among the conquerors, according to their terms of ser- vice. Harlleur in his estimation had already become a second Calais: but its reduction had been purchased with the sacrifice of many officers and men, who perished not only from the casualties of the siege, but from the ravages of a dysentery caused by the dampness of the place, the immaturity of the fruits, and the exhalations from the putrid remains of animals slaughtered for the use of the camp. When the sick and wounded had been sent to England, and a competent garrison had been se- lected for the defence of the place, the army was reduced to one half of its former number ; a force evidently too inconsiderable to attempt any expedition of importance *. But the king's honour was now at stake. He first sent a personal challenge to the dauphin, and, receiving no answer, took the bold and chivalrous resolution of march- ing to Calais through the hostile provinces of Normandy, Picardy, and Artois. It was in vain that the uselessness of so hazardous an expedition was represented by the majority of the council; the objections of prudence were opposed by the fear of incurring the imputation of cowardice ; and every voice was silent, as soon as the king had declared that he would never shun the men who had unjustly seized his inheritance.
The army, consisting of nine hundred lances, and five Q thousand archers, proceeded in three grand divisions, 8. attended by two detachments, which alternately served as wings in the field, and as van and rear guards on the
* Tit. Liv. 9— 11. Wals. 390, 391. Elm. 40— 49. Monstrel. i. 223, 224. 226. Hardyng, 389.
1 4 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
march *. At every step they were closely watched by strong bodies of the enemy, who, while they avoided an engagement, cut off the stragglers, and laid waste the country. The progress of the English was slow. Often they were compelled to pass the day without food ; and it was with difficulty that they could extort a scanty sub- sistence from the fears of the inhabitants in the villages Oct. where they rested during the night. As they crossed 11- the river Bresle, they were attacked by the garrison of Eu with loud shouts and amazing impetuosity t ; but they received the assailants with coolness, and after a sharp contest drove them back to the fortress. Henry had intended, like his grandfather Edward III., to pass the Somme at Blanchetacque : but his scouts informed him that the ford was intersected with palisades, behind which had been posted strong bodies of archers and men- at-arms. Aware of his danger, he passed the night at Arrames, and avoiding Abbeville, where d'Albret, the constable of France, had established his head-quarters, Oct. proceeded to Bailleul. But d'Albret did not lose sight 13. of his enemy. From the right bank he watched the mo- tions of the English, who, as they advanced along the opposite bank, had the mortification to find every ford broken up, and guarded by divisions of the hostile army. From the neighbourhood of Corbie the king, taking ad- Qct vantage of the winding of the river, cut across the coun- 1 7 try to Boves, and on his march thence to Nefies, halting 18. his men in a valley, ordered the archers to provide them- selves with stakes six feet long, and to sharpen them at each extremity. The constable had been obliged to pur- sue a more circuitous route by Peronne, whence he had sent forward orders to guard every ford higher up the river. But these orders had not been received, or had
A. D. 1415.] PASSAGE OF THE SCMME. 15
been neglected by the militia of St. Quintin's : and at Nefies Henry received advice, that the passage was still open at Voyenne and Bethencourt. Four bannerets with Oct- their pennons crossed immediately : the rest of the army 19- with the baggage followed under their protection ; and in twelve hours the English had taken a safe position on the right bank. Henry marched forward to Monchy la Oct. Gauche : the constable fell back to Bapaume, and thence 20. to St. Pol.
Whilst that commander yet guarded the passages of the Somme, a military council had been held at Rouen in the presence of Charles, and a resolution was taken to give battle to the English by a majority of thirty-five voices to five. The twenty-fifth of the month was fixed for the day, and a proclamation was issued, calling on all true knights and loyal Frenchmen to join the con- stable by that time, wheresoever he might be. Henry was still at Monchy when three heralds were introduced to him by the duke of York. They delivered their mes- sage on their knees, announcing that their countrymen were ready to meet him in the field on the Friday fol- lowing. The king answered with apparent indifference, that the will of God would be done. They inquired by what road he intended to march. " By that which leads " straight to Calais," was his reply : " and if my enemies " attempt to intercept me, it will be at their peril. I " shall not seek them : but I will not move a step quicker " or slower to avoid them. I could, however, have wished " that they had adopted other counsels, instead of de- " termining to shed the blood of Christians." It is pro- bable that the last words alluded to the private chal- lenge which the king had sent from Harfleur, and which, if we may believe his solemn declaration, had been made for the sole purpose of sparing the blood of men who had no personal interest in their quarrel. The heralds, who had delivered their message under considerable appre- hensions, received a present of one hundred crowns, and
10
HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
returned impressed with a deep veneration for the cha- racter of the king*.
The English continued their march leisurely and in good order. Leaving Peronneon their left, they passed through Encre and Lucheu to Blangy, where the deep and rapid stream of the Ternois intersected the road : but a detachment arrived in time to secure the bridge, which the French were preparing to demolish; and the whole army crossed without molestation. In a Oct. short time the duke of York discovered several large 2"1- masses of the enemy marching in the direction of Azin- court ; and Henry, having reconnoitred them from an eminence, gave orders to form in line of battle. The men remained in their ranks till it was dark : but as no enemy approached, they broke up in the evening, and advanced in silence by a white road which lay be- fore them. Fortunately it led to Maisoncelles, a large village, where they found better food, and more com- fortable accommodation than they had known for some weeks t.
It was with difficulty that the constable had checked the impetuosity of his followers, who are said to have amounted, at the lowest calculation, to one hundred thousand men. But he knew, that in the fatal battles of Creci and Poitiers, the French had been the as- sailants, and he determined on the present occasion to leave that dangerous honour to the English. To him delay could bring only new accessions of force : to them it was pregnant with famine and inevitable destruction. On this account he had selected a strong position in the fields in front of the village of Azincourt, through which it was necessary for the king of England to cut his way, unless he would consent to yield himself prisoner. His marshals had allotted their stations to the different di- visions of the army ; and each lord had planted his
* Monstrel. i. 226. Liv. 14. Elm. 55. Hardyug, 391. f Elm. 56. Monstrel. i. i>27, and Hardyng, 394."
A. D. 1415.] PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE. 17
banner on the spot which he intended to occupy during the battle. The night was cold, dark, and rainy ; but numerous fires illumined the horizon ; and bursts of laughter and merriment were repeatedly heard from the French lines. The men collected round their ban- ners, spent their time in revelling and debate, discussed the probable events of the next day, and fixed the ran- som of the English king and his barons. No one sus- pected the possibility of defeat ; and yet they could not be ignorant that they lay in the vicinity of the field of Creci *
To the English it was a night of hope and fear, of suspense and anxiety. They had been wasted with disease, broken with fatigue, and weakened by the many privations which must attend the march of an army through a hostile country, and in the presence of a superior force. But they were supported by the spirit and confidence of their gallant leader, and by the proud recollection of the victories won in similar circumstances by their fathers. As men, however, who had staked their lives on the issue of the approaching battle, they spent the intervening moments in making their wills, and in attending to the exercises of religion. The king himself took little repose. He visited the different quar- ters of the army, sent, as soon as the moon arose, officers to examine the ground, arranged the operations of the next day, ordered bands of music to play in succession during the night, and before sunrise summoned the men to attend at matins and mass. From prayer he Qct. led them into the field, and arrayed them after his usual 25. manner in three divisions and two wings ; but so near to each other, that they seemed to form but one body. The archers, on whom he rested his principal hope, were placed in advance of the men-at-arms. Their well- earned reputation in former battles, and their savage appearance on the present day, struck terror into their
• Monstrel. i. 22J.
IS HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
enemies. Many had stripped themselves naked : the others had bared their arms and breasts, that they might exercise their limbs with more ease and execu- tion. Besides his bow and arrows, his battle-axe or sword, each bore the stake already mentioned on his shoulder, which he was instructed to fix obliquely be- fore him in the ground, and thus oppose a rampart of pikes to the charge of the French cavalry. The king himself appeared on a grey palfrey, followed by a train of led horses ornamented with the most gorgeous trap- pino-s. His helmet was of polished steel, surmounted with a crown sparkling with jewels ; and on his surcoat were emblazoned in gold the arms of England and France *. As he rode from banner to banner, cheering- and exhorting the men, he chanced to hear an officer express a wish to his comrade that some of the good knights, who were sitting idle in England, might by a miracle be transported to the field of battle. " No," exclaimed Henry, " I would not have a single man " more. If God give us the victory, it will be plain " that we owe it to his goodness. If he do not, the fewer " we are, the less will be the loss to our country. But " fight with your usual courage, and God and the jus- " tice of our cause will protect us. Before night the " pride of our enemies shall be humbled in the dust ; " and the greater part of that multitude shall be stretched " on the field, or captives in our power t."
The French were drawn up in the same order, but with this fearful disparity in point of number, that while the English files were but four, theirs were thirty men deep$. The constable himself commanded the
* Tres flores aurei et tves leopard! aurei. Elmh. 61.
fLiv. 16. Elmh. 60, 61.
J Livius and Elmluim observe that in the French lines were placed a number of military engines or cannons, to cast stones into the midst of the English (Liv. 19. Elm. 62). According to Livius the French were to the English as something more than seven to one. Monstrelet (i. 228) makes them as six to one. I suspect that In Elmhami where lie mentions the files, we should read xxx instead of xx, as we do in Livius. A contem- porary writer e? timales the enemy at 100,000. Apud Raynald. v. 4J3. So
A. D. 1415.] BATTLE OF AZINCOURT. 19
first division, the dukes of Bar and Alen^on the second, the earls of Marie and Falconberg the third. The dis- tance between the two armies scarcely exceeded a quar- ter of a mile : but the ground was wet and spongy ; and D'Albret, faithful to his plan, ordered his men to sit down near their banners, and await in patience the advance of the enemy. Their inactivity disconcerted the king, who expected to be attacked. He improved the opportunity, however, to order a plentiful refresh- ment to be distributed through the ranks, while two detachments stole away unperceived by the French; of which one was instructed to lie in ambush in a mea- dow at Tramecourt, on their left flank, and the other to alarm them during the battle by setting fire to the houses in their rear. Just as the king had made every preparation for the attack, he was surprised by the ap- proach of three French knights, who demanded per- mission to speak with him. One of them was the baron de Helly, who had been a prisoner in England, and was said to have broken his parole. He took the opportu- nity to deny the charge, and offered to meet in single combat between the two armies any man who should dare to repeat it. The king, who saw his object, in- stantly replied : " This is not a time for single combats. " Go, tell your countrymen to prepare for battle before " night, and doubt not that for the violation of your " word, you will a second time forfeit your liberty, if not " your life.'' " Sir," returned Helly, " I shall receive " no orders from you. Charles is our sovereign. Him " we obey : and for him we shall fight you, whenever " we think proper." " Away then," resumed the king, " and take care that we are not before you*." Imrne-
also does Hardynj, who was present. Hard. 395. Juxta computacionem Haraldorum. id. 391. Fahyan reduces them to " 40,000 fightynge men," 579. Gaguin mentions 10,000 cavalry besides footmen in the French army. Ibid. 1.
* Livius, p. 17. Elmham mentions the arrival of the knights, but not their object, p. 63. But the contemporary ballad says that they summoned him to surrender. " The
C2
20 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
diately stepping forward, he exclaimed, " Banners, ad- " vance." At the same moment sir Thomas Erping- ham threw his warder into the air ; and the men, fall- ing on their knees, hit the ground *, arose, shouted, and ran towards the enemy. At the distance of twenty paces they halted to recover breath, and then repeated the shout. It was echoed back by the detachment in the meadow, which issuing from its concealment, in- stantly assailed the left flank of the French. At the same moment the archers, having planted their stakes, ran before them, discharged their arrows, and retired behind their rampart. The constable had appointed a select battalion of eight hundred men-at-arms to break this formidable body. Of the whole number not more than seven score ever came into action. These were quickly despatched ; the others, unable to face the in- cessant shower of arrows, turned their visors aside, and lost the government of their horses, which, frantic with pain, plunged in different directions into the close ranks of the first division. It was a moment of irremediable confusion. Nor did the archers lose the opportunity. Slinging their bows behind them, and with their swords or battle-axes in their hands, they burst into the mass of the enemy, killed the constable and principal com- manders, and in a short time totally dispersed the whole body t.
Henry, who had followed with the men-at-arms, or- dered the archers to form again, and immediately charged the second division. The Frenchmen, though the fate
" The lord Haly un trewe knyzt TJiitel oure kyng he come in hye, And sayd : ' Byre, zeld zou witiioute fyzt ' And save zoure self and zoure meyney.' "
Elm. 368.
*A singulis in ore capta terra; particula. Tit. Liv. 18,19. Elmh. 65. This singular custom had been introduced by the peasants ot Flanders be- fore the great victory, which they gained over the French cavalry at Cour- tray in 1302. A priest stood in front of the army, holding the consecrated host in his hand ; and each man, kneeling do« n, took a particle of earth in his mouth, as a sign of his desire, and an acknowledgment of his un- worthiness, to receive the sacrament. Spondau. ii. 339. t Monstrel. i. 229. Wals.392. Tit. Liv. 19.
A. D. 1415.] DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH. 21
of their fellows had checked their presumption, met the shock with courage, and maintained for two hours a most bloody and doubtful contest. The king's life was repeatedly in imminent danger. Seeing his brother, the duke of Clarence, wounded and lying on the ground, he hastily strode across his body, and bravely repelled the efforts of the assailants, till the prince was safely removed by his own servants. Soon afterwards he was charged by a band of eighteen French knights, who had bound themselves to each other to kill him or take him prisoner. One of them with a stroke of his mace brought the king on his knees : but he was instantly rescued by his guards, and his opponents were all slain. At length the duke of Alen^on, the French commander, fought his way to the royal standard. With one stroke he beat the duke of York to the ground; with a second he cleaved the crown on the king's helmet. Every arm was instantly uplifted against him. The duke, aware of his danger, exclaimed, " I yield : I am Alen9on." Henry held out his hand : but his gallant enemy had already fallen. The death of the duke was followed by the flight of the survivors *.
There still remained the third and most numerous division of the enemy. Though dismayed, it was yet unbroken ; and the English were preparing for the charge, when the alarming intelligence arrived that a powerful force approached the rear of the army. In this emergency the king hastily gave orders that all the prisoners should be put to death ; orders which in most instances were unfortunately executed before the mis- take could be discovered. The force, which had been so greatly magnified, consisted only of six hundred peasants under Robinet de Bournonville, and Ysambert d'Azincourt; who had profited of the moment to enter Maisoncelles, plunder the baggage, and drive away the horses of the army. That this enterprise should prove
• Tit. Liv. 20. Elmli. 67. Monstrel. i. 231.
22 HEXRY v. ^ [CHAP. i.
so disastrous to their countrymen, they could not have foreseen : but they were afterwards called to account, and severely punished by their immediate lord, the duke of Burgundy *.
During this interval, the ranks of the third division began to waver ; and their irresolution was augmented by the flames kindled in their rear by the English de- tachment. Of the whole number no more than six hundred could be persuaded to follow their leaders, the earls of Falconberg and Marie, who boldly rushed on the conquerors, and found, what they probably sought, captivity or an honourable death. The English were in no condition to pursue the fugitives. As soon as re- sistance ceased, the king with his barons traversed the field, while the heralds examined the arms and num- bered the bodies of the slain. He then called to him Montjoy the French king-at-arms, and asked him to whom the victory belonged. " To you, sir, " replied Montjoy. " And what," continued the king, " is that " castle, which I see at a distance ? " — " It is called the " castle of Azincourt," was the answer. " Then," re- sumed Henry, " let this battle be known by the name " of the battle of Azincourt t."
The blood shed on this day was drawn from the noblest families in France. Among the slain were numbered eight thousand knights and esquires, more than a hun- dred bannerets, seven counts, the three dukes of Bra- bant, Bar, and Alencon, and the constable and admiral of France J. The most distinguished of the prisoners
* Monstrel. i. 229.
t The kills;, impressed with the conviction that he owed his extraordinary success to the protection of Heaven, sent for the clr r<;y, and ordered ;i service of thanksgiving to be immediately performed in the presence of the whole army. In allusion to their escape from the enemy, they chunted the psalm cxiv. Jl'hen Israel came out of Hgypi : and at the verse, AW untu us, U Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory, every man knelt on (he ground. The ceremony w as concluded with the Te Deum. Hall, f. 50.
J Hardyng numbers live counts, ninety bannerets, fifteen hundred knights, anil a very great multitude of inferior soldiers, 391. Monstrelet gives the names of seven counts, and more than 300 grants seigneurs. 230. 1.
A. D. 1415.] HENRY RETURNS TO ENGLAND. 23
were the (hikes of Orleans and Bourbon, and the counts of Eu, Vendome, and Richemont. The loss of the con- querors amounted to sixteen hundred men, with the earl of Suffolk, and the duke of York. They left Mai- soncelles the next morning, and resumed their march Ot, towards Calais. As they crossed the field of battle, they 26. killed such of the wounded as still retained any ap- pearance of life; and the moment they were gone, the hope of plunder conducted to the spot thousands of both sexes from the neighbouring villages. The foreign soldiers had carried off every article of value : these native plunderers stripped the slain of their clothes, and left more than ten thousand dead bodies naked on the ground *. The count of Charolois, son of the duke of Burgundy, ordered the dead to be interred at his own expense. Those, which it was possible to recognise, were buried in the nearest churches, or conveyed to the tombs of their ancestors. The rest, to the number of five thousand eight hundred, wers deposited in three long and deep pits dug in the field of battle. This vast cemetery was surrounded with a strong inclosure of thorns and trees, which pointed out to succeeding generations the spot where the resolution of a few Englishmen triumphed over the impetuous but ill-directed valour of their numerous enemies t.
At Calais Henry assembled a council, in which it was Q t determined to return to England. The army, indeed, 29. wasted with disease, fatigue, and the casualties of war, was not in a condition to resume offensive operations : but the argument, which chiefly weighed with the king, will probably surprise the reader. It was maintained that the last expedition had sufficiently demonstrated his right to the crown of France ; that God, by granting him the victory at Azincourt, had given the divine
• Et demourereut sur le champ tous di-snuez, comme ils issirent du ventre leur mere. Id. i. 231. Araonu' th-1 skin was the baron de Helly. Id. 230. Liv. •-•!. Of the ten thousand all but sixteen hundred are said to have been of gentle birth. Monst. '231.
t Monstrel. i. 230, 231, 232. Tit. Liv. 21.
24 HEXRY v. [CHAP, i.
sanction to his claim ; and that the same providence would hereafter furnish him with the opportunity of again seeking and ultimately recovering his inheritance. The fallacy of such reasoning could escape no one who recollected the events which followed the victories of Creci and Poitiers : but Henry was satisfied with a de- cision which allowed him to depart from France, and to receive in person the congratulations of his subjects. He sailed to Dover : the crowd plunged into the waves to meet him ; and the conqueror was carried in their arms from his vessel to the beach *. The road to Lon- don exhibited one triumphal procession. The lords, commons, and clergy, the mayor, aldermen, and citizens, conducted him into the capital ; tapestry, representing the deeds of his ancestors, lined the Avails of the houses ; pageants were erected in the streets ; sweet wines ran in the conduits ; bands of children tastefully arrayed sang his praise ; and the whole population seemed in- toxicated with joyt. The parliament partook of the general enthusiasm. It ordered the tenth and fifteenth voted the last year to be levied immediately, added another tenth and fifteenth to be levied within twelve months, granted the king tonnage and poundage for the safeguard of the sea, and settled on him for life the subsidy on wool, wool-fells, and leather $. A. i>. In the spring Henry's vanity was flattered by a visit 14iC.from severai distinguished personages. Among those who sought to extinguish the schism, occasioned by the two pretenders to the papacy, no one had laboured more earnestly than Sigismund king of the Romans, and emperor elect ; and, as the co-operation of the kings of England and France was deemed necessary for the success of his endeavours, he cheerfully undertook to visit, and, if it were possible, to reconcile the two mo-
* Tit. Liv. 22 The French captives of distinction \verein the kind's ship. They had never been at sea ; aud as it blew a storm, Henry was much diverted to hear them assert, that they would rather fight the battle of Azincourt over a«ain than encounter such another passage. I hid.
f Liv. ibid. Klmh. 71, 72. j Rot. Pail. iv. 63, 64.
A. D. HI 6.] ARRIVAL OF THE EMPEROR SIGISMUND. 25
narchs. In France he was received with honour, held Mar. several conferences with Charles and his ministers, and *• with their approbation proceeded on his journey. Henry endeavoured, by the most magnificent preparations, to convince his guest of his opulence and resources. By royal proclamation all the knights and esquires in the April kingdom were summoned to the capital to attend on?, their sovereign ; a fleet of three hundred sail assembled at Calais for the conveyance of Sigismund and his re- tinue, amounting to a thousand horsemen ; and officers were appointed to escort him from Dover to London, and to defray his expenses on the road *. But before his arrival a story was told, which created some per- plexity in the king's mind. It had chanced that curiosity led the emperor to witness the proceedings in the par- liament of Paris : through courtesy he was invited to occupy the throne ; and as, during the pleadings, one of the parties was in danger of being nonsuited, because he was only an esquire, Sigismund drew his sword, and dubbed him a knight. It was probably a harmless ac- tion, proceeding from the mere impulse of the moment : but by the spectators it was reproved, and in England was represented as an undue assumption of power in virtue of the imperial dignity t. Henry determined to preserve the rights and independence of his crown ; and, as soon as the emperor's ship cast anchor in the harbour, the duke of Gloucester and several noblemen rode into the water with their swords drawn, and inquired whether the imperial stranger meant to exercise or claim any authority or jurisdiction in England. He replied in the negative, and was immediately received with all the honours due to the first sovereign in Europe $.
Sigismund had been accompanied or followed to Eng- land by ambassadors from France ; and his mediation between the two crowns was seconded by the presence
• Rym ix. 339, 340. | Monstrel. i. 235.
1 Tit. Liv. 21, 22. Elm. J3. 77. Acts of Conn. ii. 193.
26 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
and exhortations of William of Bavaria, duke of Holland, and count of Hainault. Before them Henry explained his right to the kingdom of France ; and alluding to his late victory, claimed the praise of moderation, when he offered to resign that right, on condition that the treaty of Bretigny should be faithfully executed in all its provisions. It is hardly credible that the French ministers could have advised their sovereign to accept of a proposal which must have deprived him of one half of his dominions ; though the emperor, when he afterwards entered into an alliance with Henry, accused Charles of having given to it a full but treacherous assent*. Nothing in reality was more foreign from the present policy of the French court than humiliating concession. To the dauphin, who was lately dead, had succeeded in the administration of affairs the count of Armagnac, a nobleman of distinguished talents and approved intrepidity. Anxious to signalise his entry into office with the recovery of Harfleur, he obstinately rejected every proposal for a truce, drew lines round the town, and with a fleet of French ships, and Genoese carracks, blockaded the harbour. The earl of Dorset, who commanded in Harfleur, earnestly solicited a sup- ply of troops and provisions; and Henry himself would have sailed to the relief of his first conquest had he not been restrained by the remonstrances of Sigismund, who deemed it an enterprise of less consequence than to require the presence of the sovereign. The duke of Bedford accepted the command, and after a rough and dilatory passage reached the mouth of the Seine. At Aug. sunset the captains of the fleet were summoned on 1-1. board the admiral's vessel; the lights, which he dis- played during the night, kept the ships together ; and -Aug. in the morning they bore down on the enemy. It was J3- found that the loftiest of the English vessels did not reach to the upper decks of the Genoese by more than
*Rym.ix.377
A. D. 1416.] CONFERENCE AT CALAIS. 27
a spear's length: but the deficiency was supplied by the native courage of the combatants, who climbed up the sides, boarded the enemy, and made themselves masters of the carracks. Most of the French ships had previously struck : a few escaped up the river ; and Harfleur was relieved *.
France still continued to present the same lamentable scene of confusion. The two parties ardently sought the extinction of each other ; and, as long as the Ar- magnacs maintained their ascendancy in the councils of Charles, the duke of Burgundy was urged by the motive of self-preservation to seek a counterpoise in the friendship of Henry. During the last campaign he had forbidden his vassals to serve in the French army according to the summons from their sovereign, and had allowed his county of Flanders to be declared neu- tral, for the advantage of the commercial intercourse between the natives and England: but he had cautiously abstained from entering into engagements with Henry, or lending assistance to the invading army. In the present year a continual correspondence was maintained between the two courts. The ostensible object was the regulation of trade ; the real cause, the desire of each prince to derive advantage from the personal quarrel of the other. In the beginning of September the king of England, the emperor, who had concluded an alliance Sept. with his host, and had been enrolled a knight of the 4. garter, and the count of Hainault, repaired to Calais, where they were met according to appointment by the Burgundiant. This congress surprised and alarmed Oct. the French ministers ; nor could their envoys, who at- 3. tended under pretence of soliciting a truce, discover the secret designs of the four powers. Men would not believe that they had assembled, as it was given out, for the sole purpose of deliberating on the state of the church, and the means of extinguishing the schism;
• Liv. 24— 'J6. Elm. 77—83. Otterb. 2J8. Monstrel. i. 239. t Rym. ix. 377—382.
28 HENRY v. [CHAP. i.
and it was whispered that the duke, through enmity to the Armagnacs, had solicited the protection of Henry, had formally acknowledged his claim to the French crown, and had done homage to him for Burgundy and Alost. The French cabinet gave full credit to the re- port ; and to mark their abhorrence of his conduct, ordered the Burgundian prelates and envoys at Con- stance to be excluded from the meetings of the French nation : but there is reason to think that the duke was calumniated, and that, if such proposals were made to him at Calais, he rejected them as incompatible with his interests, or his honour *.
From the congress Henry returned to England to ob- tain supplies from his parliament, and to make prepa- ration for a second expedition. Sigismund proceeded through Dordrecht to Constance, to support by his pre- sence the prelates who sought, by the deposition of the contending pontiffs, to restore the peace of the church. The duke of Burgundy retired to put in execution the plans which he had formed for his own aggrandizement, but which he had carefully concealed from Henry. At Valenciennes he met the second son of the king of France, who, on the death of his elder brother, had assumed the title of dauphin. The two princes instantly swore eter- nal friendship to each other : the dauphin engaged to unite with the duke in removing the Armagnacs from the administration ; the duke to assist the dauphin in his opposition to the claim of the king of England. But A. D. this union was speedily dissolved by the unexpected 1417> death of his young ally : and the moment that event was ar> known, his unprincipled mother, Isabel of Bavaria, was
* Rym. ix. 397. 401. 436. Monst. i. 240. That such proposals were indeed made appears from the protocol of a treaty preserved by Kymer, in which the duke was made to say, that though he formerly doubted, he was now convinced of Henry's right to the French crown ; to promise that he would do him homage, as soon as he should have conquered a notable portion of France; and to engage to make war on A. B. C. if they should oppose the king's pretensions. This, though no more than a draught of a treaty without date or signature, shows what was demanded from him. See Rym. ix. 335,396.
A. D. 1417.] THE KING LANDS IN NORMANDY. 29
arrested by order of her husband, stripped of her trea- sures, and sent a captive to the city of Tours. The duke seized the opportunity to send a circular letter to all the towns and cities in France. He charged his opponents with having administered poison to the dauphin, attri- buted to their rapacity and ambition all the evils which afflicted the kingdom, and claimed the aid of every good Frenchman to reform the government, and punish the traitors. At the head of sixty thousand cavalry he marched towards Paris. Many cities and towns opened their gates through fear of his resentment ; by others he was welcomed as the saviour of his country: but the Armagnacs defied his power from the walls of the capi- tal, and quelled the efforts of his partisans within the city. Isabel had been hitherto his bitterest enemy : her captivity taught her to solicit his assistance, and to offer her co-operation against the men who were equally ene- mies of them both. Early one morning, under pretence of devotion, she prevailed on her keepers to accompany her to a church in the suburbs of Tours: in a few mi- nutes she was in the hands of her deliverer, the duke himself, who during the night had arrived with eight hundred men-at-arms in a neighbouring forest. She immediately assumed the title of regent during the ma- lady of the king, and by proclamation appointed the duke of Burgundy her lieutenant *.
This rapid view of the state of parties in France was necessary to explain the conduct and subsequent suc- cess of the king of England. When the Burgundian commenced his march towards Paris, Henry landed Aug. without opposition on the coast of Normandy. But the *• failure of his former attempt had taught him to pursue a different policy. He no longer sought to irritate the vanity of his enemies by an insulting but dangerous march through the country. He came prepared to make permanent conquests ; and his army, amounting to six^-
• Monstrul. i. 241—237.
30 HENRY v. [CHAP. i.
teen thousand men-at-arms, and probably an equal number of archers, was provided with a long train of ar- tillery and military engines, and a useful body of arti- ficers and sappers *. It was in vain that he called on the Normans to receive him as their lawful duke. At the expiration of two centuries, the natives felt nothing of that attachment for the descendants of Rollo, which had animated their ancestors : they looked on Henry as a foreign adventurer ; and defended their country with the most steady, and often enthusiastic bravery. But they received no aid from their countrymen : they were even deprived of the presence and example of their nobles, whom the Armagnacs detained at Paris to oppose the efforts of the Burgundians ; and fortress after fortress Aug. fell into the hands of the invaders. Touques, Auvillers, 9. and Villers surrendered after short sieges : if Caen re- Seot fuse(l to capitulate, it was carried by assault ; Bayeux 2. submitted spontaneously, and obtained the confirmation Sept. °f its privileges ; and the campaign was terminated by 1 9. the successive reduction of 1' Aigle, Lisieux, Alen9on, and Falaise t. During its continuance the French govern- ment did not attempt to oppose the king in the field, but solicited a peace or an armistice. Henry, however, j^ov> would not suffer his career to be interrupted by nego- 28. tiation ; and, when at last he consented to listen to the
* Elm. 92. Tit. Liv. 31. 33. This army was raised in the following manner. The duke of Clarence furnished 240 lances, the duke of Glou- cester 100, the six earls of March, Warwick, Salisbury, Huntingdon, Suffolk, and the earl marshal, 470, thirteen barons 526, seventy-seven bannerets and knights 950 ; in all 2186 lances, or 6558 men-at-arms. Ibid. They also furnished an equal number of archers mounted. The rest of the army, making up the gross amount of 16,400 men-at-arms, were the king's retainers, and private knights, who had entered into his service. Some of the numbers are incorrectly printed in Livius: but the mistakes may be corrected by comparing the number of archers with the number of men-at- arms.
t Tit. Liv. 33—49. Rym. is. 480. 48?. 490. 493. 532. Elm. 96—138. Sept. 2, the king dismissed a great number of the transports which had brought the army from England. Of these 117, named logge-ships, had been taken up in Holland, Zeeland, and the neighbouring ports : 122 were English, distinguished by the following names— doggers, faircoasts, balingers, loadships, ships, craieres, collets, barges, picards, skiffs, and passagers. They were paid according to their tonnage. Rot. Norm. 321
A. D. 1417.] EXECUTION OF SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE. 31
envoys, cut short the conference by the inadmissible tenor of his demands. He would grant neither peace nor armistice, but on condition that Catherine, the daughter of Charles, should consent to become his wife ; that the regency of the kingdom should be given to him during the lifetime of the king : and that he should be declared his successor in the event of his death *.
But while Henry was thus occupied with the conquest of Normandy a feeble attempt had been made to deprive him of England. In consequence of a secret under- standing between the Scottish cabinet and the chiefs of the lollards, the duke of Albany and the earl Douglas suddenly crossed the borders, and laid siege, the former to the castle of Berwick, the latter to that of Roxburgh. It proved, however, a "foul raid." They had persuaded themselves that the kingdom had been left without a competent force for its protection ; but, when they learn- ed that the dukes of Bedford and Exeter were approach- ing at the head of a numerous force, they decamped with precipitation, and disbanded their armies t. At the same time sir John Oldcastle emerged from his conceal- ment, and arrived in the neighbourhood of London. The retreat of the Scots defeated all his projects. At St. Albans he eluded by a precipitate flight the pursuit Nov . of his enemies : in the marches of Wales he was taken after an obstinate resistance by the retainers of sir Ed- ward Charlton, lord of Powis $. At the petition of the commons (the parliament was then sitting) he was ar- raigned before the peers ; the indictment on which he Dt-c. had been formerly outlawed was read ; and he was asked 14. in the usual form by the duke of Bedford why he should not receive sentence of death. Instead of replying di- rectly to the question, he preached a long sermon on one of the favourite doctrines of his sect, that it is the duty of man to forgive, and to leave the punishment of offences
» Rym. ix. 521—524. i Wals. 398. Ford. xv. 24. Elm. IBS.
t Tit. Liv. 219. Rolls, iii. Ellis. 2. ser. i. 36. The king gave to Churl tou 1000 marks as a reward. Pell Records, 370.
32 HENRY v. [CHAP. I.
in the hands of the Almighty. Being interrupted, and required to return a direct answer, he said that he would never acknowledge the authority of that court, as long as his liege lord king Richard II. was alive in Scotland. Judgment was instantly pronounced, that he should be hanged as a traitor, and burnt as a heretic. St. Giles's fields, which had been the theatre of his rebellion, wit- nessed also his punishment. By his partisans he would have been revered as a martyr, had net their faith been staggered and scandalised by the non-accomplishment of a prophecy, which he was said to have uttered at the gallows, that he should rise from the grave on the third day *.
In the spring Henry resumed his victorious career ; and by a reinforcement of fifteen thousand men, was ' enabled to divide his army, and undertake several ope- rations at the same time. Cherbourg, after a resistance of six months, opened its gates : the whole of Lower Normandy was reduced ; and the king proceeded to settle the government of his conquests. He appointed a treasurer and chancellor of the duchy ; granted his protection to all who swore fealty ; abolished the odious tax upon salt ; and by the distribution of favours and the suppression of grievances, sought to attach the natives to the person of their new sovereign t. His progress was viewed with indifference by the rival chiefs, who, to gratify their own ambition, scrupled not to sacrifice the independence of their country. A project of reconcilia- tion, framed by the cardinals Ursini and St. Mark, had loeen gratefully accepted by the duke of Burgundy, and indignantly rejected by his opponents. From that mo- ment the latter were stigmatised as the enemies of peace, and their interest visibly declined even within the walls of the capital. One night a gate of the city was treach- 0 aj erously opened to a party of Burgundians, who were in- stantly joined by thousands of citizens ; and the king,
* Rot. Parl. iv. 107-110. Wals. 399, 400. t Tit. Liv. 50—58. Elm. 117, 118.
A. D. 1418.] NEGOTIATIONS. 33
unable to stem the torrent, reluctantly gave his sanction to their proceedings. A general arrest followed, and the count of Armagnac, several ladies and bishops, the lords of the council, the officers of the treasury, and the members of the parliament were thrown into confine- ment. But the leaders of the Burgundians were not yet satisfied. By reports and accusations they goaded the passions of the populace to a state of madness ; and on June the night of the twelfth of June sixty thousand persons 1-. assembled in arms, broke open the gaols, and without distinction of rank or sex, guilt or innocence, massacred all the prisoners. At the same time perished numbers of those who were known or suspected to be hostile to the party : but one individual, Charles, the third and only surviving son of the king, escaped by the care of Tannegui du Chastel, who took him out of bed, wrapped him in a sheet, and carried him to a place of safety. After these horrors the queen, accompanied by the duke of Burgundy, entered Paris in triumph, and having possession of the king's person, exercised without opposition the royal authority *. But the remains of the opposite faction repaired to Poitiers, proclaimed the young dauphin regent of the kingdom, and established a rival administration. Thus France was divided into two separate governments, more hostile to each other than to their natural enemy, the king of England, and equally desirous to purchase by concessions his assist- ance for their own interest. Henry listened to their proposals, but obstinately refused to accept them. It was his policy to play off one party against the other ; that by working on their apprehensions, he might induce them to rise in their offers. When his ministers met the envoys of the dauphin at Alen9on, they assumed ajji>\'. tone of the most insulting superiority. It was not for 1 (>. them to bring forward any project : they had come to receive the proposals of the dauphin. The crown of
Monstrel. i. 262—266.
34 HENRY v. [CHAP. i.
France was the rightful inheritance of Henry. What could his adversary give him as an equivalent ? When they had thus drawn from the French negotiators a de- claration of the oifer, which they had been authorized to make, they upbraided them with a want of sincerity ; questioned the validity of the powers with which they had been furnished ; and hinted a doubt whether their master at so early an age could give sufficient security for the fulfilment of his engagements *. This conference was hardly terminated, when a second was opened under the mediation of the cardinal Ursini, with the envoys of the king of France and the duke of Burgundy. They Dec. presented to Henry a flattering portrait of the princess *• Catherine : but the politician would not permit the charms of the lady to weigh in the balance against his interests. During a fortnight he practised upon the hopes and fears, and prejudices of the negotiators ; and then dismissed them with the remark, that Charles from his infirmity, and the duke from his inferior rank as a vassal, were equally incapable of disposing of the terri- tories belonging to the French crown t.
The negotiations for peace had not interrupted the July operations of war ; and Henry from the reduction of !!'• Pont de 1'Arche advanced to lay siege to Rouen, the ca- pital of Upper Normandy. In time of peace its popula- tion was estimated at- two hundred thousand souls : but the approach of the enemy had prompted numbers to emigrate ; and the magistrates by proclamation had urged the departure of all, who were not furnished with provisions for ten months. By the French a confident hope was indulged that Rouen would arrest the victo-
"Rym. ix. 633—645.
•f Monstrel. i. 271. In both negotiations the English contended that the Latin, the French thai the French language should be employed. It was at last agreed that two copies of every instrument should be made, one in each language, and that in case of dispute the Latin should be deemed the authentic copy. This circumstance is deserving of notice, on account of the reason given by Henry, that his ambassadors did not speak or under- stand the Frencli tongue; a proof that English had by this time become the language of the hij,-5ier classes. Rym. ix. 655—659.
A. D. 1418.] SIEGE OF ROUEN. 3J
rious career of the English monarch. Its fortifications were strong ; numerous batteries covered its walls ; the Seine winding round it, served to protect it from insult; and to fifteen thousand citizens trained to war had been added four thousand men-at-arms under the command of Guy le Bouteillier, an officer of approved valour and the most ardent patriotism. By his orders the suburbs were immediately burnt, the ground levelled in the neighbourhood of the walls, and the country around re- duced to the state of a naked wilderness. At the ap- July proach of the English, he boldly met them in the open 30. field ; and, though he was repulsed by superior numbers, continued daily to repeat his attacks, destroying their works, beating up their quarters, and disconcerting their operations. The army encamped in six divisions, oppo- site to the six gates of the city ; and to preserve the com- munication between them, trenches were opened suffi- ciently deep to screen the passengers from the shot of the enemy. I shall neglect the events of the siege : but the works erected, and the precautions taken by Henry are, from their connexion with the history of the mili- tary art, more deserving of notice. The natural and ar- tificial strength of the place, with the number and courage of the garrison, forbade a hope that Rouen could be re- duced by force : but it might be starved into submis- sion ; and to prevent the introduction of supplies became the great object of the king's solicitude. Lines were drawn round the city, and strengthened with thick hedges of thorns ; and without the camp the most commanding situations were chosen, and fortified with towers of wood, batteries of cannon, and engines for the projection of arrows. Still the Seine remained open to the besieged. But a bridge was soon thrown across it above the city ; and near the bridge was moored a squadron of boats, which with incredible exertion had been dragged over the land by the labour of men and horses. Below, the navigation was impeded by two booms, each consisting
D2
36 HENRY V [CHAP. I
of three strong chains of iron * ; and the mouth of the river was carefully watched by a Portuguese fleet in the pay of the English monarch. Two hundred sail of small vessels, employed for the purpose, poured daily supplies of provisions into the camp of the besiegers: but within the walls the privations of famine began to be felt before the expiration of two months. Twelve thousand indivi- duals were expelled from the city by order of the gover- nor. Henry forbade them to be admitted within the lines ; and, though a few were supported by the humanity of the troops, the rest perished through want of shelter and food. During the next month the besieged were con- tent to feed on the flesh of their horses ; and when that resource failed, contrived for ten weeks to protract their defence with no other nourishment than reptiles and weeds. It was calculated that the number of those, who fell victims to famine and disease, had amounted to fifty thousand. The survivors, by a trusty messenger to the French court, described their sufferings, and demanded relief. He returned with flattering but fallacious pro- mises ; he even announced the very day, which had been fixed for their deliverance. At the news every eye glis- tened with hope : the bells were rung ; rejoicings were made ; and each combatant was admonished to be on his guard, and to second the efforts of his friends. The day came : it passed, and no deliverer appeared.
The despair of the garrison now subdued the obsti- A D nacy of the governor : but, when he solicited a capitula- 1419.tion, Henry rejected his offers, and insisted that he Jan. should surrender at discretion. Le Bouteillier assembled his men, and proposed to them to set fire to the city, to throw down that part of the wall which had been under- mined, and to burst in a mass into the camp of the ene- ' my ; where, if they could not win a way with their swords, they would at least find an honourable death.
* One chain was suspended 18 inches within the water, the second Vvel with the surface, the third three feet abi/ve it. Moiis. 268.
A.D. 1419.] CONFERENCES AT MEULENT. 37
The knowledge of the design changed the determination of Henry, who had no wish that Rouen should be re- duced to a heap of ashes. He gave the men-at-arms their lives and liberty, on condition that they should not Jan serve against him for twelve months : of the citizens he 13. required a contribution of three hundred thousand crowns, in consideration of which they preserved their property and the franchises of the city. The other for- tresses followed the example of the capital ; and the Nor- mans submitted to wear the red cross, the distinguishing badge of the English nation*.
The fall of Rouen was felt to the very extremities of France. It might have been hoped that the adverse factions would now forget their animosities, and unite against the common enemy : but every attempt to re- concile them proved ineffectual ; and each had again recourse to a separate negotiation with Henry. The duke of Burgundy requested a renewal of the conferences for peace : the dauphin solicited a personal interview. For reasons which are not mentioned, the young prince did not keep his appointment t ; and the duke, improving the opportunity, affected a willingness to assent to the demands of the English king, who was even persuaded to undertake in person the conduct of the negotiation. Mantes was assigned for the residence of Henry, Pon- toise for that of Charles. Between these towns and in a plain near Meulent, was marked out a square plot of ground, of which one side was washed by the Seine, the other three were enclosed with a deep trench and a line of palisades. The mast of a ship erected in the centre designated the spot, where it was intended that the kings
» Byra. ix. 654. Tit. Liv. 60— 71. Elm. 176—202. Monstrel. 268.272 — 274. It was remarked as something very singular that, when the king made his entry into Rouen, he was followed by a page mounted on a spirited charger, and bearing as a pennou the tail of a fox, attached to the bead Of a spear. Monst. '273. It may have alluded to his having once unkenneled a fox iu his favourite arbour, which was taken as a good omen, or to some one of the many prophecies then in circulation, and generally believed.
t Rym. ix. 701. 789. Tit. Liv. 71. Elm. 209.
38 HENRY v. [CHAP. i.
should meet; and two magnificent pavilions, standing near it, offered them the convenience of withdrawing from the view of the spectators. The ground without the enclosure on the right was allotted to the attendants of Henry, that on the left to the attendants of Charles ; and for their accommodation tents were erected, in the decorations of which the two nations strove to outvie May each other. It chanced that on the appointed day the 30. king of France suffered an access of his disorder : but in the morning Isabella, her daughter Catherine, and the duke of Burgundy, left Pontoise with a retinue of one thousand horse ; and Henry, accompanied by his bro- thers of Clarence and Gloucester, departed at the same time from Mantes, escorted by an equal number of men-at-arms. At a signal they entered the enclosure from the opposite sides, and met in the centre at the same moment. Henry bowed to Isabella and her daughter, saluted them, and taking the former by the hand led her into the pavilion. It was the first time that he had seen his intended bride. She was young, graceful, and beautiful ; and by the instruction of the queen employed all her charms to make an impression on the heart of the conqueror. Though Henry strove to suppress, he could not conceal, his emotions from the inquisitive eye of the mother. This was sufficient for Isabella. From that moment the daughter was with- drawn from the conferences. It was hoped that her absence would irritate the king's passion, and thus in- duce him to consent to more favourable conditions *.
The first conference was employed in arranging the
Tune or(^er °f the subsequent discussions. Two days later
!_ Henry stated his demand ; the possession of Normandy,
his other conquests and the territories ceded by the peace
of Bretigny, to be held in full sovereignty, and indepen-
June dently of the French crown. Four days elapsed, when
*>• the ministers of Charles returned their answer. They
* Monst. i. 2J6, 277. Tit. Liv. 73. 74.
A. D. 1419.] MURDER OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY. 39
made no objection to the king's pretensions ; but brought forward eight demands on the part of their own sovereign, respecting renunciations, exchanges of territory, and the payment of debts. Henry fondly persuaded himself that he should at last obtain the prize of his labours. Yet doubts were artfully started, explanations required, and the intervals between the conferences prolonged. • In a whole month no more than seven meetings were held ; a July day had been appointed for the eighth : but the French 3. ministers did not appear, and Henry discovered that his own arts had been turned against himself. The confer- ence, conducted at Meulent with so much parade was but £ feint : the real negotiation was carried on between the dauphin and the duke of Burgundy, whose respective demands and replies had been conveyed from one to the other by the secret agency of madame de Giac. The day after the interruption of the conferences the two July princes met and embraced near Melun on the road to 4- Paris. They bound themselves by oath to forget their former quarrel, to live in amity, to concert measures July which might heal the dissensions in the kingdom, and 11. to unite their forces against their enemy the king of England*.
Never had Henry experienced a more cruel disap- pointment : but his passion was gratified by the surprise of Pontoise, a populous town in the neighbourhood of Paris. He immediately published a manifesto, in which he boasted of his moderation, complained of the fraud of his opponents, and offered, notwithstanding the insult so lately received, to conclude a peace on the terms which he had formerly proposed ; but with this proviso, that Pontoise, with the country lying between that town and Normandy, should be included among the territories to be ceded to the English crown t. His prospects, however, began to darken. The duration and expenses
« Compare Rym. ix. 76-2. 776. 779. J89, with Elmham, 217—226, Livius, 74, 75, and MunstreVt, i. 277—279.
1 Rym. ix. 786—791. Tit. Liv. 76.
40 HKNRY V. [CHAP. I
of the war had provoked the remonstrances of his sub- jects ; the king of Castile had fitted out an armament, which swept the coast of Guienne, and threatened the city of Bayonne ; and the dauphin and the duke of Bur- gundy were preparing to array against him the whole power of France. But if others douhted, he still ap- peared confident of success ; and within a few days that confidence was converted into certainty by an unex- pected revolution, which placed one of the two factions at his disposal, and involved the other in calamity and disgrace.
Two months had elapsed since the apparent reconci- liation of the dauphin and the Burgundian ; yet their correspondence showed how deeply they mistrusted the sincerity of each other. The duke importuned the prince to join his father's council at Troyes : the prince requir- ed that the duke should previously meet him at Monte- reau sur Yonne. It was not without hesitation that the latter complied. As he approached the town, he was told that three barriers, with a gate in each, had been Sept. drawn across the bridge ; but at the same time a courier !*)• informed him that the dauphin had already waited his arrival more than an hour on the opposite bank. Both circumstances awakened his suspicions : he consulted his friends ; and a hasty determination was taken to pro- ceed, that he might not afterwards be accused of having by groundless jealousies replunged his country into civil dissension. With twelve attendants the duke passed the first and second gates, which were immediately locked behind him. Before he reached the third the dauphin appeared. He bent his knee, and was addressing the prince, when he received a stroke in the face from a small axe in the hand of Tannegui du Chastel. It was in vain that he grasped his sword : a multitude of wounds instantly laid him dead on the ground. Of his atten- dants one vaulted over the barrier, and escaped ; a second was slain ; the others remained captives in the power of the assassins. To apologise for this foul murder recourse
A. D.I 4] 9.] HENRY IS MADE REGENT OF FRANCE. 4L
was had to the same plea, by which the Burgundian himself had once attempted to justify that of the duke of Orleans ; that when a criminal is too powerful to be punished according to law, it is the duty of every loyal subject to make himself the minister of public justice. Whatever might be his guilt, the circumstances of the assassination perpetrated under the mask of friendship, in violation of the most solemn oaths, and in the pre- sence of the dauphin, fixed an indelible stain on the cha- racter of that prince. Perhaps some extenuation may be found in his youth, and the violence of his counsel- lors ; and perhaps some credit may be given to his re- peated asseverations, that he had been kept in ignorance of the design till it was carried into execution*.
This tragical event excited throughout the kingdom one common feeling of detestation and horror. Every other interest was forgotten ; and the former cry for the salvation of the country was drowned in the still louder cry for revenge on the murderers. To the partisans of the late duke it was evident that their security de- pended on the ruin of the dauphin, and the protection of the king of England. The city of Paris hastened to conclude an armistice t; Philip, son and heir to John, solicited his aid and friendship ; and Isabella informed him, that whatever arrangements he should make with that prince would be cheerfully ratified by Charles. Henry was not slow to name the price at which he would consent to be the minister of their vengeance, or rather of his own ambition. He required the hand of the prin- cess Catherine, the regency of the kingdom during the life of the king, and the succession to the crown at his death. Blinded by passion and personal interest, the Dec. queen and the duke signified their asseat. Within ten 2. weeks afier the murder these important preliminaries were signed ; it employed five months to settle the minor arrangements. By these Henry bound himself to settle
•Mon trel. i. 281. Elm. 235. t Rym. ix. 812. 815.
42 HENRY v. [CHAP. i.
on Catherine the usual income of an English queen, amounting to twenty thousand nobles ; to govern during his regency with the advice of a council of natives : to conquer the territories now in possession of the dauphin for the benefit of his father-in-law ; to lay aside the title of king of France during the reign of that monarch ; to re-annex Normandy to the French crown as soon as he should ascend the throne ; to preserve the parliaments, peers, nobles, cities, towns, commonalties, and all indi- viduals in the full enjoyment of their liberties ; and to administer justice according to the laws and customs of A.U. the kingdom*. At length, accompanied by sixteen 1420. thousand men-at-arms, he entered Troves, the residence May Of tne French court t. The " perpetual peace" was ra- tified the next day by Isabella and Philip as commis- May sioners of Charles ; the parliament, nobles, citizens, and commonalties, actually acknowledging his authority, swore to observe it ; and the union of the two crowns was celebrated with every outward demonstration of joy. According to the national custom Henry and Catherine were first affianced to each other. Then after a short interval the marriage was celebrated ; and two days later the " the regent and heir of France," with his beau- tiful bride, departed from Troves to assume the com- mand at the siege of Sens ±.
• Rym. ix. 816. 825. 840. 877- 890. 893, 894.
t The wine of Champagne was strong and beady (fortissimum et fumo- sum vinum). Henry, to preserve sobriety in the army, published a very unpalatable order, that no Englishman should drink wine unmixed with water. Tit. Liv. 83. Elm. 251.
| Rym. 895— 906. The following letter contains some interesting par- ticulars (Ibid. 910). "Worshipful Maister, I recomand me to you. And "as tonchyng tydyngs, the kyug owre sovereyn loord was weddid with " greet solempnitee in the cathedrale chirohe of Treys, abowte myd day " on Triuitie Sunday. And on the Tuysday suying he removed toward " the town of Sens, xvi leges thennis, havyng wyth hym thedir owre queen " and the French esiatz. And on Wednysday" thanne next suyinj. was " stge leyd to that town, a greet town and a notable, toward Bourgoyne- " ward, holden strong with great nombre of Ermynakes. The whiche
"town is worthily beseged : tor ther ly at that'se^'e, two kynss
" queenes, iv ducks, with my loord of Bedford, whanue he eometh hedir : " the which the xii day of the monyth of Juyn shall -logge besyde Varys * hfidirward. And at this sege also lyn many worthy latlyes and gentil-
CHAP. I.] THE TREATY IS CONFIRMED. 43
The operations of the campaign were limited to the reduction of that city, of Montereau, and of the strong fortress of Melun *. At the approach of winter the kings jj0v. with their queens made their triumphal entry into the 18. capital. Charles had summoned the three estates of the kingdom ; and in a long speech exposed to them the reasons which had induced him to conclude a " final and Dec. " perpetual peace with his dear son the king of Eng- 6. " land." He left for their inspection a copy of the treaty, j)ec< which in a few days was returned with their unanimous 10. approbation'*1. In this assembly appeared the duke of p^ Burgundy, dressed in mourning, and accompanied by -23. the princes of his family. He demanded justice against the assassins of his father; and Charles, after the usual formalities, pronounced the judgment, by which they were declared guilty of high-treason, rendered incapable of holding or inheriting office or property, and deprived of all command over their vassals, whom at the same time the king absolved from all oaths of fealty, and ob ligations of service. It should, however, be observed that this sentence was issued against the murderers in general, without naming any individual. The young prince is indeed mentioned by the designation of "Charles, styling himself dauphin :" but not so much as a suspicion is hinted that he was either the author or an abettor of the crime J.
From Paris Henry, accompanied by the queen, bent A D his way towards England. His subjects, proud of their I4'2l. victorious monarch, conducted him in triumph to Lon- Feb. don, where Catherine was crowned with a magnificence -•*• hitherto unparalleled in the English annals §. After the
" women, both Frensb and English : of the whiche many of hem begonne "the faitz of armes lon» time a<;oon, but of lyging at seges now they begynue first. Johau Ofort.1'
« Tit. Liv. 89, 90. t Rym. x 30—32. J Id. 33—35.
§ La fut faicte telle et si grande pompe, et bobant, et jolivite, que depuis le temps qne jadis le ties noble combattant Artus, roy des Bretons et An;:luis rommenca a re;;ner jusques a present ne fut veue en la dite ville de Londres la pareille feste de nuls des roys Anglois. Monst. i. 303. Fabyan has preserved tile names of all the dishes served at the three courses for dinner, p. 402.
4<l HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
ceremony they made a progress through the kingdom . but at York their joy was clouded with the melancholy news of the battle of Beauje. The duke of Clarence, whom the king had appointed his lieutenant in Nor- mandy, undertook to lay waste the county of Anjou, which still recognised the authority of the dauphin. To oppose him La Fayette had assembled an army of the natives, to whom he joined five or seven thousand Scot- tish auxiliaries under the earls of Buchan and Wigton, and the lord Stuart of Darnley. The duke suffered himself to be deceived by the false reports of the pri- Mar. soners. Despising the advice of his officers, he hastened 22. without the archers to surprise the enemy : and was sur- rounded with his men-at-arms by a more numerous force. Twelve hundred of the English remained on the field ; three hundred were taken. The duke, who was distin- guished by his coronet of gold and jewels, received a wound from sir William Swynton, and was slain with a battle-axe by the earl of Buchan. The archers arrived in time to recover his body : but the enemy, who retired in haste, carried off the prisoners. This victory raised the fame of the Scots, and their general was named by the dauphin constable of France *.
Revenge and vexation speedily recalled the king to the theatre of war. Troops were ordered to assemble at Dover ; loans were raised in every county ; and the par- liament and convocation were summoned. Both, at Henry's request, approved and ratified the treaty of Troyes t. The clergy voted him a tenth : from the lords jjay and commons he did not receive, probably did not ask, 12. any grant of money : but they cheerfully empowered
* Elm. 302—304. Monst. i. 306. Des Ursins. 389. The Scottish his- torian, who ascribes all the merit of the victory to his countrymen, tells us that only 12 Scots and 2 Frenchmen were kilted. Fold. xv. *3. Monstre- let more honestly admits the loss of the two nations to have amounted to more than a thousand men. Monst. ibid.
t Per ipsum et tres status regni sui videlicet prselatos et clerum,
nobiles et magnates, necnon communitates dicti regni. Hot. Par]. 185. This passage must distress those, who contend that the king himself is one of the three estates.
A. O. 1421.] SIEGE AXD REDUCTION OF MEAUX. 45
the council to raise loans for the use of the crown on the security of parliament *. Anxious to wreak his ven- geance on the men who had slain his brother, the king resolved to oppose Scot to Scot, and to procure the mi- nisters of his resentment from among their own coun- trymen. Archibald earl Douglas, in consideration of an May annuity of two hundred pounds, contracted to serve him 30. during his life, with two hundred men-at-arms, and two hundred foot soldiers ; and James the young king of Scotland, who had now spent sixteen years in captivity, on a promise that he should revisit his own country within three months after his return, consented to ac- company the expedition in quality of a volunteer. He probably was not aware of the object of Henry ; who in- dulged a hope that the Scots in the pay of the dauphin would not venture to fight against their native sovereign. In this he was disappointed : but the presence of James afforded him a pretext to gratify his revenge ; and every Scot taken in arms was immediately executed as a traitor t.
The king landed at Calais with a reinforcement of four thousand men-at-arms, and twenty-four thousand j archers J. By his orders they proceeded towards the 10. seat of war under the command of the earl of Dorset, while he paid a rapid but welcome visit to his father-in- law at the Bois de Vincennes. Returning to the army, he drove the dauphin from the walls of Chartres : and, leaving the king of Scots to besiege Dreux, chased his adversary into the strong city of Bourges. Thence, to pay his court to the Parisians, he repaired to the capital ; and at their request undertook to reduce the city of Oct. Meaux. Its commander was the celebrated bastard of6-
I* Ibid. 130. These loans were raised in a very arbitrary manner. By order of the council letters were sent to individuals, calling on them to fur- nish the sum of money there specified, (which it is stated that they had agreed to lend,) or to appear in person under the usual penalty before the kititr, wherever he might be in England, for such purposes as should then be disclosed to them. The sums demanded descended as low as forty shillings. Acts of Counc. ii. 280—2.
f Rym. x. 124, 125. Ford. xv. 34. f Monst. i. 307.
4S HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
Vaurus, whose activity and barbarity had rendered him an object of terror and detestation. Bursting from his asylum with unexampled rapidity, he often swept the whole country to the very gates of Paris ; and was ac- customed on his return to hang on a particular tree every prisoner, who would not, or could not, pay the ransom which he demanded. The town at the end of ten weeks was carried by storm : but the garrison re- tired into an adjoining work called the market-place ; A.D. and during five months bade defiance to the united at- H--- tempts of Henry and his father-in-law. Famine at ,()a^ length compelled them to surrender at discretion. The governor was decapitated. His banner, surmounted with his head, was fixed in his favourite tree, and his trunk suspended from one of the branches. With him were executed three of his officers, who had earned the distinction by their insolence and inhumanity: a few persons, accused of having participated in the murder of the duke of Burgundy, were sent to Paris, to take their trials before the parliament *.
By the surrender of Meaux the northern division of France from the frontier to the Loire, with the excep- tion of Maine, Anjou, and a few castles in Picardy, was brought to acknowledge the authority of the king of A D England ; and to add to his good fortune, his queen had 1421. lately been delivered of a son, who had received in bap- Dec, tism the name of his father. As soon as Meaux was re- duced, she left England, in the company of the duke of Bedford, and hastened with her child to her father and A. i>. mother at the Bois de Vincennes. Henry flew to join I? her ; and the two courts repaired together to Paris against ., | ^ the festival of Whitsuntide. The citizens gazed at the magnificence of the regent and his nobles; but at the 3»aJ same time pitied and resented the comparative insignifi- cance to which their own sovereign had been reduced. The shows and pageantries with which Henry sought to
» MODS. i. 313. 316. 318, 319. Tit. Liv. 92, 93. Elm. 315—325.
A. D. 1422.] HE FALLS ILL AND DIES. 47
amuse them, did not sooth their feelings, nor silence their murmurs ; and these nascent expressions of dis- content might have taught him to entertain a doubt of the ultimate result of his enterprise *. But his attention was now called to a more serious subject, the secret ma- lady, which he had for some time affected to despise, but which rapidly undermined his constitution, and baffled the skill of his physicians -K At the invitation of the . . duke of Burgundy he undertook to raise the siege of^Q Cosne : but the failure of his strength rendered him unable to proceed ; and at Corbeil he transferred the command of the army to his brother the duke of Bedford. The dauphin, alarmed at the report of his advance, had retreated across the Loire $.
From Corbeil Henry was conveyed back to the Bois cle Vincennes, where the progress of his disorder soon ex- tinguished every hope of recovery. He met his fate with composure ; and divided the short remnant of his time between the concerns of his soul and those of his family. Whatever might be his feelings, he saw the French crown, the great object of his ambition, slip from his grasp without expressing a regret. But for the prospe- rity of his son he appeared deeply solicitous ; the evils of a long and perhaps a tumultous minority offered them- selves to his mind ; and his apprehensions and advice, his wishes and commands, were strongly and repeatedly inculcated to the members of his council. On the day of his death he called to his bedside the duke of Bed- ford, the earl of Warwick, and four other noblemen of distinction. To their loyalty he recommended his wife and her child ; and then appointed the earl of Warwick tutor to the prince, the duke of Gloucester guardian of the kingdom. As his last advice he conjured them to cultivate the friendship of the duke of Burgundy, and offer to him the regency of France ; but, should he re-
* MonstroL i. 320.
t By different writers it is described as a dysentery, a fistula, and a pleurisy. Raynald. vi. 50. $ Tit. Liv. 94, 9o. Monst. i. 3
48 HENRY V. 1_CHAP. I
fuse, to give it to his fair brother of Bedford. The issue of the war, he observed, was in the hands of God ; but he forbade them, whatever might happen, to release from captivity the French princes of the blood during the mi- nority of his son ; or to conclude any peace with the dau- phin, unless Normandy were ceded in full sovereignty to the crown of England. Then turning to his physi- cians, he requested to know how long he might expect to live ; and was told, that the Almighty had it in his power to restore him to health. Dissatisfied with the evasion, he repeated his question, and required a direct answer. " Then, sir," replied one of them, fulling on his knee, " attend to the health of your soul, for you cannot " live more than two hours." He heard the awful de- nunciation unmoved, sent for his confessor, and devoted the remaining moments to exercises of devotion. While the assistants recited around his bed the penitential psalms, he interrupted them at the verse, "Thou shalt " build up the walls of Jerusalem," and said in a faint voice, that it had always been his intention to visit Pa- . lestine, and free the holy city from the yoke of the Sara- cens. He expired in a few hours, on the last day of August in the year 1422*.
The splendour which conquest threw round the per- son of Henry during his life still adheres to his memory four centuries after his death. But he was not only a warrior, he was also a statesman. The praise of con- stitutional courage he may share with many of his pre- decessors : he surpassed most of them in the skill with which he fomented the dissensions among his antago- nists, and improved to the best advantage the unex- pected events which chequered the busy scene of French politics. Success, however, gave a tinge of arrogance to his character. He did not sufficiently
* Tit. Liv. 95. Monstrel. i. 324. Wai. 40;. Martin V. in a letter asserts that the king died in the most edifying sentiments. In Domino mortuus est: nam, sicut accepimus, cor ejus exeelsum humiliavit, et depositis curis saeculi animum direxit ad Deum, devote ecclesiae sacra- menta accipiens. Apud Baynald. vi. 50.
A. D. 1422.] HIS CHARACTER AND BURIAL. 49
respect the prejudices, or spare the feelings, of his new subjects : the pomp and superiority which he displayed mortified their vanity ; and the deference which he exacted from the proudest of the French nobility was reluctantly yielded by men who, under the weak reign of Charles, had been accustomed to trample on the authority of their sovereign. Continually engaged in war, he had little leisure to discharge the duties of a legislator : but he has been commended for his care to enforce the equal administration of justice, and was beloved by the lower classes, both in France and Eng- land, for the protection which he aiforded them against the oppression of their superiors *. To those who served him, if he were a stern, he was also a bountiful master ; and though he punished severely, he rewarded with munificence. By military men he was beloved and adored ; and the officers of the army in France resolved to prove the sincerity of that attachment which they had professed for the living monarch, by the extraordinary pomp with which they paid the last duties to his re- mains.
On the funeral car, and under a rich canopy of silk, was placed a bed of crimson and gold, on which reposed the effigy of the king in his robes, with a crown of gold on the head, the sceptre in the right hand, and the globe and cross in the left. It was preceded and fol- lowed by five hundred knights and esquires in black armour, with their spears reversed. Around the corpse walked three hundred torch-bearers, intermixed with persons bearing achievements, banners, and pennons. The clergy of every district, through which the procession passed, were arranged in lines on each side ; and be- hind rode the nobility, the princes of the blood, and the king of Scots as chief mourner. After these, at the distance of a league, followed queen Catherine with a numerous retinue. In this manner the body of the
* See Monstrelet, L 326, and Du Fennin, 501. VOL. V. K
50 HEXRY v. [CHAP. i.
king was conveyed to Paris and Rouen, where it lay in state; and from Rouen by short journeys to Calais, where a fleet was in waiting to transport it to England. As the procession approached the metropolis, it was met by the bishops, the mitred abbots, and the clergy ; and jsjov_ the obsequies were performed in presence of the whole 10. parliament, first in St. Paul's, and then in Westminster abbey. The corpse was interred near the shrine of Ed- ward the Confessor ; and the tomb was long visited by the people with feelings of veneration and sorrow *.
During Henry's reign the commons obtained from the king a confirmation of their claim, that no statute should be valid unless it were enacted with their assent. They had repeated an ancient complaint, that the terms of their petitions, whether delivered in writing, or by the mouth of the speaker, were frequently so altered by additions, omissions, and pretended corrections, that the law, when it was published, proved to be very diffe- rent from their original intention. In reply, the king granted, that, " fro thenceforth no thynge should be " enacted to the petitions of his comune, that might be " contrarie of hyr askyng, wharby they shuld be bound " without their assent : savyng alwey to himself his real " prerogatif to graunte and denye what him lusted of " their petitions and askynges aforesaide t ." He soon afterwards gave them another proof of his regard and condescension, by submitting to their inspection and approval the articles of the treaty, which he had con- cluded with the emperor SigismundJ. Henry, like his predecessors, was repeatedly obliged to ask for pecuniary- aid : but his victories kept the nation in a frenzy of joy ; and both houses liberally acceded to his requests.
•Elm. 336. Wai. 407. Monstrel. i. 325, 326. He adds: et mi'sme- ment lay mort et mis en sepulture, luy ont faict, et font chacun jour aussi graad-bonncur et reverence, comme s'ils fussent acertenez, qu'il fut ou soil sainct en paradis. f Rot- Parl. iv. 22.
J Ibid. 96. 98. It seems, however, to have become a common practice, in most kingdoms at this period, to have solemn treaties ratified bv the three estates.
A.D. 1422.J PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT. 51
Though the example of Richard II. had proved the danger of rendering the sovereign independent of par- liament, they granted him for life the tonnage and poundage, with the duties upon wool * ; and to enable him by loan to anticipate the produce of the taxes, of- fered the security of parliament to those who refused to advance money on the sole security of the crown •!•. By these means, and with the tenths granted by the clergy, the king was enabled to raise armies, and carry on a successful war in the heart of France ; though, at the same time, if we may believe a statement laid before him by the officers of his treasury, the ordinary revenue of the crown was hardly equal, if it were equal, to the annual expenditure J.
I may here direct the attention of the reader to the schism in the papacy, a subject which at this period
» Rot. Parl. 63, 64. t Ibid. 95, et passim.
ot. ar. , . . , et passim.
J The receipts of the year ending the 29th of September, 1420, from the customs and duties, amounted to 40,67(W. 19s. 9id. : from the crown lands, escheats, &c. under the head of casualties, to 15.066J. Us Id., making the gross sum of 55,743£ Ids. lO^d. The ordinary expenses for the custody of the marches, the fees of the judges and crown officers, and the annuities granted to different persons, amounted to 52,235?. 16s. lOfrf., leaving the
. But out of that sum provision was to
n te same manner. In the first part is given trie revenue belonging to the crown, in the second that derived from parliamentary grants. The chief difference between them is, that the statement in Kymer gives the net amount of the first, after the deduction of all charges upon it : the
E 2
52 HENRY v. [CHAP, i
excited considerable interest. He has witnessed its origin at the death of Gregory XI. : after the lapse of almost forty years it still continued to divide and agitate the nations of Europe. The original competitors, Urban and Clement, were indeed dead ; but their rival claims had been perpetuated by the zeal or ambition of their partisans ; and to Urban had succeeded Boniface IX., Innocent VII., and Gregory XII. ; to Clement Peter de Luna, an Arragonese, who, under the name of Benedict XIII., wore the tiara for the long period of thirty years. The evils arising from the conflicting jurisdiction and opposite anathemas of these pontiffs provoked com- plaints and remonstrances. Consultations were held : princes and prelates united their efforts to put an end to the schism ; and a general understanding prevailed, that the two rivals should be induced or compelled to resign, and a new pope should be canonically elected. With this view the church of France withdrew from the obedience of Benedict, whose authority it had pre- viously acknowledged : but, when this example was proposed for imitation by the English prelates, they contented themselves with petitioning the king to with- hold from Gregory XII. the monies which the pontiffs annually drew from the kingdom*. At length the cardinals of the two parties united : a council assembled at Pisa; a sentence of deposition was pronounced against both the competitors ; and Peter, a Greek, was raised to the papacy by the name of Alexander V. But the remedy added to the evil. Both Gregory and Benedict disputed the authority of the council ; and Europe saw for the first time three pontiffs contending for the chair of St. Peter. The restoration of tranquillity was owing to the exertions of the emperor Sigismund, who, by persuasion and menaces, prevailed on John XXIIL, the successor of Alexander, to call the council of Constance. In this assembly Gregory resigned ; and the refusal of
* \Vilk. Con. Hi. 30G.
CHAP. I.J OBJECTIONS TO THE STATUTE OF PROVISOES. 53
John and Benedict to copy his example was followed by a solemn sentence of deposition. To give the greater stability to the election of the new pope, six persons from each of the five nations of Italy, Germany, Eng- land, France, and Spain, entered the conclave, and, at the nomination of the bishop of London, the cardinal A. D. Colonna was unanimously chosen*. He assumed the 1417. name of Martin V. Benedict indeed maintained his^ov- pretensions in his native country, but after his death his successor acknowledged the claim of Martin. If the schism was thus terminated, it had previously given a shock to the temporal authority of the pontiffs, from which it never recovered. The contending rivals dared not employ the imperious tone of their predecessors. It was the policy of each to conciliate, to increase the number of his adherents, and to avoid every measure which might drive men to seek the friendship of his opponent. Hence the pretensions which had given so much offence to the sovereigns were allowed to fall into desuetude ; enactments, hostile to the immunities or claims of the church, were either passed over in silence, or but feebly opposed ; and instead of the spiritual wea- pons of excommunication and interdict, were adopted the more persuasive means of entreaty and concession .
In England the duration of the schism had allowed the statutes against provisors to be executed with little opposition. Experience, however, showed that they operated in a way which had never been contemplated, to the depression of learning, and the deterioration of the universities. Both these bodies, in the year 1399, D presented petitions to the convocation, setting forth, 1399. that while the popes were permitted to confer benefices by provision, the preference had always been given to men of talents and industry, who had obtained degrees in the universities ; and that the effect of such pre-
* The English nation was rejirespnted by the bishops of London, Bath, LiehlieUl, and Norwich, the dean of York,'aud the abbot of St. Mary's ill the same city. Harps, f. 610.
54 HENRY V. [CHAP. I.
ference had been to quicken the application, and mul- tiply the number of the students : but that, since the passing of the acts against provisors, their members had been neglected by the patrons, the students had disappeared and the schools were nearly abandoned *. 14 16. The evil continued to increase. Sixteen years later it attracted the notice of the commons, who, to preserve the universities from utter destruction, petitioned the kino;, that the statutes against provisors might be re- pealed, or an adequate remedy might be provided f- He informed them that he had referred the matter to the bishops. But these prelates had no wish that the sta- tutes should be repealed ; and in convocation a law was A D published, obliging every spiritual patron during the 1417. next ten years to bestow the first vacant benefice in his presentation, and after that every second, on some member of either university, graduated in one of the three faculties of divinity, law, or physic. It was hoped that this expedient would silence their complaints ; though on account of objections raised by the univer- A D sities themselves, four years elapsed before it was put 14-Jl.in execution $. The truth is, that the persons who chiefly suffered from the practice of provisions, and who chiefly profited by the statutes against them, were the higher orders of the clergy. These, as their right of presenta- tion was invaded by the exercise of the papal claim, had originally provoked the complaints, which the reader has so frequently noticed, and now were ready to sub- mit to a minor sacrifice, rather than allow the repeal of the statutes which secured to them the influence of patronage, and shielded them from the interference of the pontiffs $.
» \Vilk. Con. iii 242. t Rot. Parl. iv. 81.
} Wilk. Cone. iii. 381. 401.
§ I profit of this open space to notice a singular assertion of Hume at the close of his nineteenth chapter: that " the first commission of array " which we meet with was issued by Henry V. in 1415 ; when the feudal " militia gave place to one which was still less orderly and regular." The fact is, that such commissions were usual in every reign since Henry II. See vol. ii. p. 306, and vol. iv. p. 144.
55
CHAFfER II.
HENRY VI.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES:
Emp. ofGer. K. of Scotland.
Pigismund. . 1437.
Albert 1439.
Frederic III.
James 1 1437
James 1 1. .,. 1460 James III.
K. of France. \ K. of Spain.
Charles VI. 1422. Charles VII.
John II. . 1454. Henrv IV.
Popes.
Martin V. 1431. Eugenins IV. 1447. Nicholas V. 1455. Calixtus III. 1458. Pius II.
Government during the minority — Duke of Bedford regent of France — Jacqueline of Bavaria — Siege of Orleans — Joan of Arc — Charles is crowned at Rheims — Henry at Paris — Defection of the duke of Bur- gundy— Atmistice between England ami France— Disputes in the Eng- lish cabinet — The king's marriage — Deaths of Gloucester and Beaufort. Loss of the French provinces— Impeachment and murder of Suffolk- Cade's insurrection — Duke of York protector — Henry recovers his authority — Disasters of the Yorkists — Their subsequent success — The duke is declared heir to the throne — Is killed at Wakefield — His son Edward enters London — And is proclaimed king.
THE French throne was preserved from ruin by the pre- mature death of Henry V. The task of maintaining the ascendency which he had gained devolved on an infant successor, and a divided ministry ; while the dauphin in the vigour of youth, and seconded by the wishes of the people, called the different factions under his banner, and directed their combined efforts against the invaders of their country. We shall see that prince recover in the course of a few years the crown of his ancestors, expel the English from their conquests, and
56 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
seal a long series of success with the subjugation of Gas- cony, the last fragment of the ancient patrimony belong- ing to the English monarchs in France.
The new king, the son of Henry and Catherine, was hardly nine months old. On the first advice of his father's decease, several spiritual and temporal peers, chiefly members of the old council, assembled at West- minster, issued commissions in the name of Henry VI. to the judges, sheriffs, and other officers, to continue A. D. in the exercise of their respective duties, and summoned 1422. a parliament to meet in the beginning of November. ^OVl On the previous day a commission to open, conduct, ,'Q and dissolve the parliament in the king's name, with the consent of the council, was offered to the duke of Glou- cester. He objected to the words, with the consent of the council, that they were prejudicial to his right, that they made him the servant of the council ; and that they had never been introduced into similar commissions under his late brother. It was replied, that the present king was an infant, and therefore without these words or others equivalent, no man could act legally and safely. Each lord in his turn gave this opinion, and the duke was fain to submit *. The next morning he opened the parliament in the usual form. The first care of that assembly was to ratify all the acts of the authority by which it had been convened, as sufficiently justified by the necessity of the case t ; its second, to supply the de- fect in the exercise of the royal authority arising from the infancy of the king. The two last centuries furnished three instances of minorities ; at the accession of Henry III., Edward III., and Richard II. But on none of these occasions had the powers of the executive govern- ment been intrusted to a guardian or regent, if we ex- cept the two first years of Henry III., when the appoint-
* Acts of Counc. iii. 6. Rym. x. 25J. De assensu concilii nostri. These words are so placed that they may refer to the appointment of the duke by the king, or to the exercise of office by the duke. The first is the more natural construction; but in this debate both parlies seem to have adopted the second. f R°t. Parl. iv. I/O.
A. D. 1422.] SETTLEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT. 57
ment of such an officer was deemed requisite to oppose the pretensions of a foreign competitor at the head of a powerful army, and in possession of the capital. The duke of Gloucesfer, however, notwithstanding the de- cision of the 'preceding day, preferred a claim to the regency on two grounds : because in the absence of the duke of Bedford he was the nearest of kin to his nephew, and because the late king, when he lay on his death-bed had appointed him to that charge. The lords (for such matters did not appertain to the cognizance of the com- mons) having searched the Rolls, and consulted the judges, replied ; that his demand was not founded either on law or precedent, but was contrary to the constitution of the realm, and the rights of the three estates; and that the appointment of the late king was of no force, because he could not alter the law of the land without the three estates, nor delegate the authority, which ex- pired with his life, to be exercised by another after his death. To satisfy him, however, as far as was in their power, they would appoint him president of the council, in the absence of his brother the duke of Bedford, not with the title of regent, lieutenant, governor, or tutor, words which might be construed to import a delegation of the sovereign authority, but with that of " protector " of the realm and church of England ;" an appellation which could serve only to remind him of his duty *. Acting on these principles they named the chancellor, Dec. treasurer, and keeper of the privy seal, and sixteen 5- members of the council with the duke of Bedford, and in his absence, the duke of Gloucester, for president ; and by a deputation notified these nominations to the commons, who gave their assent t. Regulations were
» Rot. Parl iv. 3:6.
t Ibid. iv. 174, 175. 326. Their salaries were as follows :—
£. i d.
To the protertor, per annum ...... 5333 6 8
dukes and archbishops 200 0 0
bishops and earls 133 6 8
barons and baunerets 100 0 0
esquires 30 0 0
The
58 HENRY VI. ^CHAP. II.
then enacted for the direction of the council, the duties Dec. on wool with the tonnage and poundage were continued 18- for two years, and the parliament was dissolved*. Eng- land presented no cause of uneasine'ss, but every eye was most anxiously turned towards France.
The regency of that kingdom had, according to Henry's last injunctions, been offered to the duke of Burgundy, and on his refusal was given to the duke of Bedford by Oct. Charles, with the advice of his council. But Charles 22. survived this transaction only a few days ; and his death gave to the English interest a shock from which it never recovered. Many of the French nobility had ad- hered to Henry out of deference to the will of their sovereign ; but when this check was removed, their affection, and with it their obedience, reverted to the dauphin, the real representative of their native monarchs. That prince was not slow to profit by the event. On the first day after he had received the news of his father's death he wore mourning : on the second he assumed the insignia of royalty with the title of Charles VII. king of France. As Rheims was in the possession of his enemies, he was anointed and crowned at Chartres. The ceremony operated as a charm, and drew multi- tudes to his standard t.
On the other side the regent, a prince not inferior to
The bishop of Winchester, when he was chancellor, received the same as an archbishop, and the lord Stafford, as treasurer, the same as an earl (Rot. Parl. T. 404. Rym. x. 268. 359, 360). This difference in the amount seems to have been regulated by the establishment which each was-obliged to maintain in proportion to his rank.
* Ibid. iv. 175. After the dissolution of the parliament the judges, by order of the council, separated those acts which reuarded the constitution and conduct of the council, and tlie administration of the royal authority, from the others which had for their object the usual matters of national legislation. Both were to be enrolled in chancery according to custom : but of the first copies were to be rnadi-, and lodged with the clerk of the coun- cil only : the second were to be put in proper form for proclamation, that they might be published like other statutes. Acts of Counc. iii 22. The fact is, the lords considered the first as mailers with which the public had no concern. They would not allow the commons to interfere in these arrangements in parliament ; nor did they think it proper to publish the n for the information of the people. See the statutes that were published in Slat of Realm, ii. 213. f Monst. ii. 1.
CHAP. II. J BATTLE OF CREVANT. 59
his late brother in abilities, superior in the more amiable qualities of the heart, did not neglect the interests of his nephew. He obtained from the duke of Burgundy the warmest assurances of support, and prevailed on the duke of Bretagne to signify his approbation of the *• r>. treaty of Troyes. The three princes met at Arras. They H-3- swore to love each other as brothers, to aid each other against the attacks of his enemies, to protect the poor April and defenceless against all oppression, and to unite their °~ efforts to remove the scourge of war from the soil of France. To cement this friendship, the dukes of Bed- ford and Bretagne married each a sister of the duke of Burgundy, and then separated to raise forces in support of the common cause *.
The Loire formed the line of demarcation between the opposite parties. To the south of that river every province, with the exception of Gascony, had espoused the cause of Charles : to the north Anjou and Maine professed to be neutral ; and the garrisons of a few in- sulated fortresses adhered to their native prince : but the rest of the population, with the inhabitants of the capi- tal, acknowledged the authority of the regent. It was not long before the flames of war were rekindled. The country was pillaged by both parties ; towns were taken and re-taken ; and the fortune of the belligerents was nearly balanced by alternations of defeat and success. July The most brilliant event in the campaign was the battle 31. of Crevant on the Yonne. An army of French with the Scottish auxiliaries had formed the siege of that town, and to relieve it four thousand men-at-arms, under the earl of Salisbury, were ordered to join the Burgun- dians at Auxerre. The regulations for the combined army, before it left that city, are an interesting monu- ment of the military discipline of the age. It was or- dered that the soldiers should love and treat each other as brothers ; that the vanguard should consist
• Kym. x. 230.
60 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
of one hundred and twenty men-at-arms, with the same number of archers taken in equal portions from each nation ; that when orders were given to dismount in the presence of the enemy, disobedience should be pu- nished with instant death ; that all the horses should be conducted half a league into the rear, and such as were found within that space should be forfeited ; that if any man should leave his station in the line, he should suffer death ; that no prisoners should be made till the victory was certain, under the penalty of the death of the prisoner, and also of the captor, if he offered re- sistance ; that every archer should be furnished with a long pole sharpened at both extremities; and that each man should carry with him provisions for two days *. The enemy occupied an eminence ; but were drawn from their advantageous position by the ma- noeuvres of the allies, who dismounting from their horses, and marching on foot in their armour, attempted to make themselves masters of the bridge. For three hours the two armies stood facing each other divided only by the river : at length the English forced their way to the opposite bank, and were followed by the Burgundians. The Scots, who bore the brunt of the battle, were almost annihilated : and the French suffered severely from the garrison, which assaulted them in the rear. The victors entered the place in triumph, carrying with them the French and Scottish com- manders, each of whom, after losing an eye in the con- test, had been made prisoner t.
This defeat threw a gluom over the prospects of Charles : but it was quickly removed by the arrival of powerful reinforcements from Italy and Scotland. The duke of Milan sent to his assistance a numerous body of Lombards ; and the earl Douglas landed in the port of Rochelle with five thousand men. The kins:, in testi-
* Monstrel. ii. /.
t The French commander was the count of Venladour, the Scottish the earl of Buchan, or Stuart of Daiuley. Boih were afterwards rausomed Moustrel. ii. 8. Ford, xvl 25. Ha'll, f 85.
CHAP. II.] MARRIAGE OF THE KING OF SCOTLAND. 61
mony of his confidence and gratitude, selected his body guard from the Scotch auxiliaries ; and, as he had already granted to Stuart of Darnley the French lordships of Aubigny and Concressault, he gave to Douglas the still more valuable dukedom of Tourraine, Mar. which had belonged to himself before his accession. The 25. duke of Albany, the regent of Scotland, and the Scottish A ^ nobility, swore in the presence of the French ambassa- 19. dor to maintain the ancient alliance between the two Qct countries, and promised, what it was not in their power 8. to enforce, that their king, in the event of his liberation, 16- should ratify their engagements*.
The necessity of interrupting the harmony between France and Scotland had now become evident ; and with this view the English council proposed to king James to treat with him respecting his release from captivity. The offer was joyfully accepted ; the Scottish envoys were permitted to join their sovereign ; and after much negotiation it was mutually agreed, that the king should be set at liberty, and that in return he 1403. should forbid his subjects to enter into the service of Sept. France t; should pay by instalments, in six years, the K). sum of forty thousand pounds, as a compensation for his expenses during the time of his detention J ; and should give hostages as a security till the whole of the money were paid. To attach the Scottish prince more firmly to the interests of England, it was wished to marry him to an English princess ; and the ambassadors were in-
* Du Tillet, 135, 136. Douglas was made the king's lieutenant and commander of the French armies, Apr. 19, 1424. In the Archives de France, Cartons k. 90 — 998, are numbers of letters of naturalization granted to Scottish archers of the royal guard from this time down to 1474.
t As James could not enlbrce the return of the Scots already in France, they were exeepted from the benefit of the treaty. Rym. x. 331.
t The maintenance of James had been fixed by Henrv V. at TOO/, per annum; which in nineteen years would amount to 13.000/. There can be no doubt that of late his expenses had considerably increased. (See Rym. x. 293. 296.) But it is probable that so large a sum was demanded under that pretence, because it could not decently be claimed as a ransom. The English commissioners had private instructions to accept of 36,000, if the Scots objected to 40,000. Id. x. 295.
62 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
structed to entertain the subject, if it were opened by the Scots, but not to be the first to suggest it, " because, " by the custom of England, it did not become the lady " to be the suitor." It was not, however, necessary to urge the willing mind of James by political motives. His affections were already engaged by a beautiful and A „ accomplished woman, Jane, descended by her father, 1424. the earl of Somerset, from Edward III., and by her Fek mother, Margaret Holand, from Edward I. He married •^Pr- her before his departure ; and the protector, to express his satisfaction, remitted, with the consent of the coun- cil, a sixth part of the sum stipulated to be paid by the treaty *. The event proved that an English education of nineteen years had not rendered James less fit to wear the crown of Scotland. He proved, as a monarch, a blessing to his country ; but though he laboured to fulfil the conditions on which he had been liberated, his revenue had been so impaired by the regents, and his people appeared so unwilling to submit to taxation, that he was never able to discharge one third part of the debtt.
In France the campaign of the present year was chequered with the same variety of events which marked that of the last. Arthur, brother to the duke of Bre- tagne, and several Burgundian lords, passed over to the service of Charles ; his partisans surprised Compeigne and Crotoi ; and the garrison of Ivri, consisting of Bretons, received and unfurled his standard. On the other hand, the duke of Bedford procured a reinforce-
* Kym. x. 323.
t If we may believe Holinshed (p. 587), and Hall (f. 86), James, before liis departure, did homage to the young Henry at Windsor, and swore fealty in these words : " I, James Stewart, king of Scotland, shall be true " and faithful unto you, lord Henry, by the grace of God king of Ens-land " and France, the noble and superior lord of the kingdom of Scotland, " which I hold and claim of you. And I shall bear you faith and fidelity, " &c." This we are told was done before three dukes, two archbishops, twelve earls, ten bishops, twenty barons, and 200 knights, and yet there can be little doubt that it is a mistake. For in all the public records James is treated not as a vassal but an independent sovereign ; and Henry in a private letter styles him : — Rizt heigh and myghty prince by the grace of God kyng of Scotes. Rym. x. 635.
A. D. 1424.] BATTLE OF VERNEUIL. 63
ment from England, recovered Compeigne and Crotoi, and with two thousand men-at-arms, and seven thousand archers, laid siege to Ivri. A French army of eighteen thousand men, under the duke of Alencon, approached to relieve that fortress ; but despairing of success, aban- Aug. doned it to its fate, and surprised Verneuil. The duke, 17- leaving a garrison to secure his conquest, marched to seek the enemy, who boldly came forward to meet him. The men-at-arms were arrayed in one compact mass: in front and on each flank was stationed a body of archers protected as usual by long stakes fixed in the ground ; and in the rear were collected the baggage, servants, and horses of the army, under the protection of two thousand archers ; who, to oppose the irruption of the enemy, had tied the horses to each other, both by their bridles and tails, and intermixed them with the car- riages in such manner as to form an almost impenetra- ble rampart. The shock of the two armies is described as dreadful. They fought hand to hand, and with such resolution, that for near an hour neither party seemed to gain any advantage. In the hottest of the battle a body of French and Italian cavalry, instructed to annoy the rear of the English, endeavoured to charge through the horses and baggage ; but unable to force their way, or to disentangle themselves, they stood exposed to the arrows of the archers ; who, after they had slain or re- pelled the assailants, turned towards the front, and with a loud shout rushed on the enemy. This manoeuvre decided the action. The courage of the French sank ; their front was pierced in different points ; and the plain was soon covered with fugitives and pursuers. Accord- ing to the account of the enemy, they lost above three thousand men, the English sixteen hundred. The Scots were so reduced that they never afterwards formed a distinct corps in the French army. The new duke of Tourraine, and the earl of Buchan were left on the field : the duke of Alen9on, and two hundred gentlemen, were made prisoners. The regent immediately called his
64 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
officers around him, and returned thanks to God on the field of battle*.
Hitherto the duke of Bedford had supported the ho- nour of the English army, and displayed talents equal to the difficult situation in which he was placed. But in every measure he had the misfortune to be thwarted by the private ambition of his brother the duke of Glou- cester. Jacqueline of Bavaria, heiress of Hainault, Hol- land, Zeeland and Friesland, had for her first husband A. D. John, dauphin of France. After his death, Henry V. HI/. offered his mediation to compose the difference between ^Pr the widow and her uncle, and improved the opportunity to solicit her hand for his brother of Bedford. But Jac- queline, by persuasion of her mother, preferred John, A. D. duke of Brabant, a boy in his sixteenth year. Their 1-118. union was unhappy. He was passionate and capricious ; she proud and revengeful. The duke dismissed the ladies and servants whom his wife had brought with her from Holland : his favourites in return were soon after- wards massacred in an insurrection of the people. At length she separated from him, repaired to her mother A.U. at Valenciennes, eloped from Valenciennes, and sought H-J-an asylum in England, where she was received with wel- 11 y come, and obtained from the king a pension of £100 a month 'h The duke of Gloucester became enamoured with her charms, perhaps still more with her inherit- ance. But Henry, who saw that a marriage between them would be followed by a rupture with the duke of Burgundy, cousin-german and apparent heir to Jacque- line's husband, restrained the imprudence of his brother, and on his death-bed inculcated with extraordinary ear- nestness the necessity of making every sacrifice to pre- serve the friendship of his ally. Gloucester was too headstrong to regard the advice of the king, or to yield to the remonstrances- of the council. Maintaining that the marriage of Jacqueline with the duke of Brabant was
* Monstrel. ii. 15.
t Monstrel. L 267. 299. 303. Pell Records, 368.
CHAP ii.] JACQUELINE'S MARRIAGE. 65
void, on account of consanguinity, though a dispensation had been obtained from the council of Constance, he married her himself, and immediately laid claim to her dominions. Had her husband been left to his own de- cision, he might probably have yielded: but the duke of j^.^ Burgundy espoused his cause, and declared that he would oppose force to force in his behalf. It was in vain that the regent employed all his influence to prevail on his brother to withdraw a demand, which would alienate the Bursjundian from the interests of England, and might ultimately throw him into the arms of Charles. Asa last resource, in a great council at Paris, it was deter- 24_ ' mined, that the legitimacy of the two marriages should be referred to the pope, and that all parties should await his decision. The duke of Brabant acquiesced : the duke of Gloucester refused. He was already at Calais with Jacqueline and an army of five thousand men, and proceeding into Hainault, immediately obtained posses- D -C. sion of the county in right of his pretended wife. The 2". duke of Burgundy on this intelligence sent forces to the ' * D; aid of his cousin ; insulting messages passed between ^ ~v him and Gloucester ; a challenge was given and accept- 3. ed*; and the two combatants agreed to decide their Mar. quarrel on the feast of St. George in the presence of the 16- duke of Bedford, the regent. In the interval the Bur- gundian recalled his forces, and Gloucester prepared to return to England. Notwithstanding the objections of Jacqueline, it was resolved, at the request of the in- habitants, that she should remain at Mons. She parted from the duke with tears, predicting the evils which would result from their separation. The Brabanters renewed the war : the towns of Hainault returned to the obedience of the duke ; and Jacqueline was delivered to
* On this occasion the duke of Burgundy paid a high compliment totlie duke of Bedford. Si mieux vous plait, he says to his antagonist, je snis content, que nous prenonsajugc mon tres cher et aime cousin, et aussi votre beau frere le Regent due de Bethfort — car il est tel prince que je seay, qu'a vous et a mov, et a tous autres il voudroit estre droiturier jtige. Monst ii. 2l».
VOL. V. F
66 HENRY VI. CHAP. II.
the Burgundians to be detained a captive till the see of Rome should pronounce on the validity of her marriage. The intended duel between the two princes was never fought. In a letter to the duke of Gloucester, the pontiff declared him excommunicated, if he persisted in put- ting his design in execution ; and by a circular brief directed to all the Christian princes in Europe, exhorted them not to permit the combat within their respective dominions. The English parliament, seconding his views, July, recommended that the dowager queens of France and England, with the regent, should take the quarrel into their hands ; and in a council held at Paris, it was de- cided that the challenge had been given without suffi- cient cause *. In the mean time Jacqueline was con- ducted by the prince of Orange to Ghent, where she Sept. bore her confinement with impatience, and exerted all 1. her ingenuity to contrive her escape. At length she dressed herself and her female attendant in male attire, mounted a horse, rode unobserved in the dusk of the evening out of one of the gates, and continued her flight till she reached in safety the borders of Holland, where she was joyfully received by her subjects. The Burgun- dians pursued her thither ; and Holland became for two years the theatre of war. The duke of Gloucester sent her five hundred men-at-arms, and was severely repre- hended by the council : he renewed the attempt ; but was prevented by his brother the regent t. In 1426 the pope is said to have pronounced in favour of the first marriage J : but the duke of Brabant died soon after- wards, and Jacqueline assumed the title of duchess of Gloucester. The slender aid which she received from England served to defer her submission till 1428, when she was compelled to appoint the duke of Burgundy her
* Ep. Mart. V. apud Raynald. vi. 75. Rot. Parl. iv. 277.
t Monstrel. ii. 18—29.
j This is said by different writers. If it were true, I know not how the English government could, consistently with the agreement at Paris, con- tinue to acknowledge her for duchess of Gloucester. Yet she is so called in two different instruments in Rymer, dated in 142" and 1423. Rym. x. 375. 398, and in tne address of the commons of 1427. Rot. Parl. iv. 318.
A. D. 1425.] GLOUCESTER'S MARRIAGE. 67
heir, to allow him to garrison her fortresses, and to give her word that she would never marry without his con- sent*. In the terms of this treaty she virtually acknow- ledged that she was not the wife of the duke of Glouces- ter ; and yet, only a few weeks before it was concluded, her interests had been espoused in England by a party of females against the neglect of her supposed husband. A lady of the name of Stokes, attended by the wives of A. u. the principal citizens of London, went to the house of 1124. lords, and presented a petition against the duke, accus- ing him of having neglected his lawful wife, the duchess Jacqueline, and of living in open adultery with Eleanor Cobham t, daughter of Reginald lord Cobham of Ster- borough. The beauty of Eleanor was as distinguished as her morals were dissolute. After contributing to the pleasures of different noblemen, she became acquainted with the duke, whose attachment to her was so great, that, even after his union with Jacqueline, he kept her always near his person, and took her with him in his expedition to Hainault J. What answer was returned to the petition of these female champions in the cause of conjugal fidelity, is not known : but the duke soon afterwards, to the surprise of Europe, publicly acknow- ledged Cobham for his wife ; and Jacqueline, in breach of her promise to her adversary, married a gentleman called Frank of Bursellen. He was immediately seized by the Burgundians, and his wife, to purchase his liber- ty, ceded the greater part of her dominions, retaining only an annual rent for her own support. She died Oct. without issue in 1436 §. 8.
Had it not been for this unfortunate attempt of Glou- cester to obtain the inheritance of Jacqueline, it was pretended that the party of Charles might have been
« Mnnstr»l. ii. 37. Meyer, lib. xv. p 310. + Stow. 369.
J Laqnplle le dit due par avant avoit tenue en s=a compagnie certain t''nij)s, eomine s:v dame y>:»r amours: et avec ce avoit este diffamee de aiicuns an! res homines qutr de icelui dac. Monstrel. ii. 32. Also, ii. i9.
§ Meyer, 3~i9.
F2
68 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
effectually crushed after the battle of Verneuil. But to defend the duke of Brabant, the duke of Burgundy- withdrew his forces from the scene of action, and em- ployed them in Hainault and Holland; and the duke of Bedford, reduced to depend on his own resources, be- came unable to improve the advantages which he had gained. For three years the war in France was suffered to languish ; and the operations on both sides were con- fined to skirmishes and sieges, unimportant in their consequences to the two parties, but most disastrous to the unfortunate inhabitants. If the regent was inactive through weakness, Charles was equally so through po- verty ; and if the court of the latter became a scene of intrigue, dissension, and bloodshed, the council of the king of England was not less divided by the jealousy of its members, their quarrels, and their opposite inte- rests *.
Among these the minister who bore the chief sway, both from his situation and relationship to the king, was the duke of Gloucester : but he was often, and some- times successfully, opposed in his views by Henry Beaufort, the great bishop of Winchester. That prelate was second son to John of Ghent by Catherine Swynford, and was consequently uncle to the regent and his bro- ther, and great-uncle to the king. From the bishopric of Lincoln he had been translated to the more valuable see of Winchester, had thrice borne the high office of chancellor, had assisted at the council of Constance, and had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His frugality multiplied his riches : but they were rendered subser- vient to the interests of his country ; and his loans to the late monarch amounted to twenty-eight, to the pre-
* The pontiff, as if he had foreseen the evils which followed, had on the succession of the yoiini; Henry written to the council, recommending to them above all things to live in harmony with each other, as the best means of preserving the dominions of their infant sovereign. Ad regnum hoc in rerum statu salubriter dirigendum nulla res est tantum necessaria, quantum est vestra concordia, qui reipublicae prfesidetis ; vobis enrm ha- bentibus unam mentem.una voluntate regentibus, nulla acciderecalamitas potest Apud Raynaid. vi. 51.
CHAP. II.] GLOUCESTER AND BEAUFORT QUARREL. 69
sent king to more than a eleven, thousand pounds *. A. u. He had again accepted the office of chancellor, and in 14-J4. that situation had strenuously opposed Gloucester's fa-July vourite plan of claiming the inheritance of Jacqueline. During the absence of that prince, the council, under A D the influence of the prelate, and with a view to repress 14-25. the mutinous disposition of the populace, had garrisoned Feb. the Tower, and committed it to the care of Richard '-6- Wydevile, with orders " to admit no one more powerful " than himself." When Gloucester returned, he de- manded lodgings in that fortress, and attributed the refusal of Wydevile to the secret instructions of his uncle. In his resentment he ordered the mayor to close .,9° the gates of the city against the bishop, and to furnish him with five hundred horsemen, that he might visit in safety the young king at Eltham. The next morning Oct. the retainers of Beaufort attempted to burst open the 30. gate on the bridge, barricadoed the road, placed archers in the houses on each side, and declared that, as their lord was excluded from entering the city, so they would prevent the duke from leaving it t. It cost the arch- bishop of Canterbury and the duke of Coimbra, second son of the king of Portugal by Philippa, the sister of the late monarch, eight journeys in the same day from party to party, to prevent the effusion of blood, and to induce them to keep the peace, tjll the return of the duke of Bedford J. With reluctance the regent left Paris, landed in England (Dec. 20), and summoned a parliament at Leicester. It was, however, his hope that a reconcilia- tion between his brother and uncle might be effected before that meeting. With this view the archbishop and
* Rot. Par), iv. 111. 132. 2?5. 277.
+ See the charges of Gloucester, and the answers of the bishop in Hall, f. 94. 97.
J The bishop wrote on the 30th of October to the regent, requesting his immediate return: " for," he adds, " by my troth, and ye tarry Ion;,', we " shall put this land in jeopardy with a field, such a brother ye have here : " God make him a good man!" They entered the city of London to- gether. Bedford appears to have favoured his uncle, and to have blamed his brother. When the citizens made him a present of 1000 marks in two basins of silver gilt, he hardly thanked them. Fabvan, 414, 415.
70 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
A. ». several lords waited on Gloucester, and requested him I'l26.on tne part Of the king to attend the council at Nirth- og11 ampton. They were instructed to represent to him that he could have no reasonable objection to meet his uncle on such an occasion ; that measures would be taken to prevent any affray between their followers ; that the bishop, as the accused party, had a right to be confronted with his accuser, and that the king could not be expect- ed to deprive him of office before the charge against him had been proved. But the duke's obstinacy was not to be subdued by argument, and he received a royal order to attend in his place at the approaching parliament*. F , There the commons, by their speaker, conjured the re- '28 ' §en* an<^ ^e l°r^s t° reconcile the duke of Gloucester with the bishop of Winchester. The former had pre- ferred a bill of impeachment against his uncle, in which to his own grievances he added two charges, which, if we may believe him, he had received from his brother, the late king ; the first, that the prelate had hired an assas- sin to take Henry's life while he was yet prince of Wales ; the second that he had exhorted him to usurp the crown during the life of his father. In his answer, Beaufort endeavoured to show that, if he had given personal of- fence to the duke, yet his conduct was justified by the behaviour of that prince ; and to the charges said to have been made by Henry V., he opposed the confidence and employments with which that king had honoured the man, who was now accused of having attempted his ,, life. The duke of Bedford and the other lords took an 4 ' oath to judge with impartiality : but in what manner the Mar. trial proceeded we are not informed. Three days later 7. the duke and bishop consented to leave their quarrel to the decision of the primate and eight other arbitrators, by whose award the following farce was enacted. Beau-
* Acts of Coun. iii. 181 — 7- This parliament was called the parliament of bats. As arms had been forbidden, the servants of the members fol- lowed their lords with bats or clubs on their shoulders ; when these also were forbidden, they concealed stones, and plummets of lead in their sleeves and bosoms ; so suspicious were they of each oilier. Fab. ibid.
CHAP. II.] THEY ARE RECONCILED. 71
fort began by addressing the king, to whom he protested Mar, his innocence of the charges which respected Henry '^' V. ; and the duke of Bedford replied, in the name of the infant sovereign, that the king had no doubt of the in- nocence of his great-uncle, and held him to have ever been a true man to the late monarch both before and after his succession to the throne. Then turning to the duke of Gloucester, the bishop expressed his sorrow that his nephew should have conceived any displeasure against him : "but, sir," he continued, "I take God to witness, " that what reports soever have been made unto you of " me, (peradventure by such as have not had great affec- " tion unto me : God forgive them !) I never imagined " nor purposed thing that might be hindering or preju- " dice to your person, honour, or estate ; and for so much " I pray you that you will be unto me good lord from " this time forth ; for by my will I gave you never other " occasion, nor purpose not to do hereafter through God's " grace.'' The duke replied : " Fair uncle, since you so " declare you such a man as you say, I am right glad " that it is so, and for such I take you." Each then took the other by the hand, and the ceremony was finish- ed. Such a reconciliation could not be real ; and the bishop, whether it were his own resolve, or had been previously stipulated, resigned the seals the next day, and soon afterwards requested permission to travel. He jiay remained however in England till the beginning of the 12. following year, when he accompanied his nephew, the A_ u> duke of Bedford, to Calais. There he received the wel- 1427. come intelligence that he had been named a cardinal by Feb. pope Martin, and was invested with the insignia of his Mar. dignity in the presence of the regent and a numerous ~°' court*.
There is reason to believe that this quarrel between the uncle and nephew originated in the jealousy which Beaufort entertained of the ambition of the duke, who
* See the proceedings in the Rolls of Parliament, iv. 296. 299. Rym. x. 358. fa.b. 416. Ellis. 2. ser. 1. lOi
72 HKNRY vi. [CHAP. n.
on many occasions had acted as if he were independent of the council, and to their remonstrances had replied, that he would be accountable to no man but the king, when he should come of age. Even of late he had said, " Let my brother govern as him lusteth, whiles he is in " this land : after his going over into France, I woll go- " vern as me seemeth good." On this account the other members sent for the duke of Bedford to the star-
9^"' chamber, a few days before his departure, and the next morning waited in a body on the duke of Gloucester,
29°' who was confined by sickness to his " inne." To both the chancellor made a similar address, stating that the young prince was the rightful king of England, and en- tilled to the obedience of all his subjects, of whatever rank they might be ; that young as he was, he yet pos- sessed by law all the authority which would belong to him at a more mature age ; that, as during his infancy he could not exercise such authority, it was vested in the lords spiritual and temporal assembled in parlia- ment, or in the great council, and, at other times, in the lords appointed to form the "continual council;" and that this council, representing the king's person, had a right to exercise the powers of government, " withouten " that any one person may or ought to ascribe to him- " self the said rule and government." They concluded by begging the two dukes to inform them, whether they held the same sentiments. Both replied (and subscrib- ed their replies with their own signatures) that they cheerfully assented to the principles which had been laid down, and that " in all things that belonged to the rule " of the land and the observances of the king's laws, and " to his estate, they would be advised, demeaned, and " ruled by the lords of the council, and obey unto the " king, and to them as for the king, as lowly as the least " and poorest of his subjects." It should, however, be observed, that the answer of the duke of Bedford was much more full and submissive than that of his brother ; arid that taking up the book of the Gospels, he solemnly
CHAP. II.] SUBMISSION OF BRETAGNE. 73
swore to observe through life the promise which he then made. Gloucester did not swear *.
But the regent was hastily recalled to France by the vacillating conduct of the duke of Bretagne, who through apprehension rather than inclination had formerly espoused the interests of the English. Now, when he saw the seeds of dissension sown between them and the Burgundians, he willingly listened to the suggestions of his brother Arthur, who had been raised to the office of constable of France. His forces were recalled from the A. n. armies of the allies ; men for the service of Charles were l^-o. raised in his territories ; and a promise was given of open co-operation, as soon as the duke of Burgundy could A. o. be detached from the allies. Informed of these proceed- i. ^' ings, the regent poured his troops into Bretagne : they 9/" * spread the tlames of war to the very gates of Rennes, defeated the Bretons in several rencontres, and com- A.D. pelled the duke to solicit a reconciliation. By an instru- 1427. ment under his seal, and those of his sons, barons, pre- ^P** lates, and the commonalties of his duchy, he acknow- ledged Henry for his rightful sovereign, and promised upon oath to observe the treaty of Troyes, to obey the commands of the regent, and to do homage for his ter- ritories to the king of England, and to no other per- son t.
Five years had now elapsed since the death of the late A- "• monarch ; and, if no addition had been made to his con- l4^- quests, at least no considerable loss had been experienc- ed. But at length in an evil hour it was determined to cross the Loire, and to attack Charles in the provinces which had always adhered to his cause. With this view several councils were held at Paris : the regent yielded, ;,t is said with regret, to the majority of voices ; and a resolution was taken to open the campaign with the re- duction of Orleans j. Montague, earl of Salisbury, had
« Rot. Par!, v. 409—41 1. Acts of Coun. iii. 231—242.
f Ryra. x 350. 378. 385.
I III his letter to '.he king, the regent certainly appears to disclaim
74 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
lately returned from England with a reinforcement of six thousand men. After the earl of Warwick, he was the most renowned of the English commanders; and to him by common consent was intrusted the conduct of the siege. On the part of the French no preparation was omitted, no sacrifice was spared, to preserve the city, and annoy the aggressors. The garrison received a plentiful supply of ammunition and provisions ; numerous batte- ries were erected on the walls ; and every building with- in the range of the cannon was levelled to the ground, (jet. The earl having previously reduced several places in the 12. neighbourhood, passed the Loire with ten thousand men, and established his head-quarters on the left bank amid the ruins of a convent. His first operations were di- rected against the Tournelles, a castle which defended the passage of the bridge. It was carried by assault : but the garrison had previously broken down one of the arches, and had built an additional work at the other ex- Oct. tremity. A few days afterwards, as the English com- '23. mander stood at a window in one of the towers of the fort, and was carefully examining the defences of the city, a shot was fired at him from the rampart. He saw the flash and attempted to withdraw ; but the ball tore away the iron of the casement, and so lacerated his face, j^OT> that he died in the course of the next week *. The com- 3. mand devolved on the earl of Suffolk, who received se- veral reinforcements, and successively established his men in different posts round the city. They were lodged in huts, and covered from the fire of the besieged by in- trenchments of earth. But the walls were of such ex- tent, and the intervals between these posts, which were
having given any approbation to the attempt " Alle things prospered " for you, till the tynie of the seage of Orleans taken in baud God knoweth " by what advice." Rot. Parl. v. 435.
* Gunpowder was now in constant use both in the attack and defence of places. The pieces were called guns and culverins. The first threw stone balls, sometimes 26 inches in diameter: the second threw plummets or balls of lead. The powder was of a different sort for each. Tlie guns were worked by a master gunner with varlets under him. Masons and car- penters were attached to them. See accounts of the master of the ordnance during the war in the archives de France, 395. 4:21. 428. 459, 460. Acts of Council, v. 25/.
CHAP. II,] THE BATTLE OF ROUVRAI. 75
called bast iles, were so spacious, that often in the night supplies of men and provisions forced their way into the place ; for which purpose Charles had established im- mense magazines in the neighbouring city of Blois*.
The siege, or rather blockade, continued during the winter. In the beginning of Lent sir John Falstaff left Paris with fifteen hundred men, to conduct to Orleans four hundred waggons and carts, laden with stores and provisions. He had almost reached the village of Rouvrai en Beausse, when he received the alarming intelligence A. D. that the earl of Claremont was advancing to intercept 1-4-9 him with from four to five thousand cavalry. He halted Fel)- immediately, surrounded his little army with a circle of carriages, and left but two openings, at each of which he posted a strong body of archers. It was the middle of the night ; and for two hours the attack of the enemy- was delayed by the disputes among their leaders. Sir John Stuart, who commanded the small remnant of the Scots in the service of Charles, earnestly contended that the men-at-arms should dismount : the earl of Clare- mont, by the advice of his countrymen, preferred to charge on horseback. At three in the morning it was agreed that each nation should follow its own judgment. An attempt was made to force an entrance at each open- ing ; but the cavalry were repulsed by showers of arrows, and the Scots on foot were all slain. About six hundred dead bodies were left on the field ; and Falstaff continued his march in triumph to the camp before Orleans f. In the spring the English resumed their operations : lines of communication were drawn from one bastile to ano- ther ; and the besieged, seeing themselves invested on all sides, proposed, with the permission of Charles, to deliver the city into the hands of the duke of Burgundy, to be held by him as neutral during the war, for the benefit of the duke of Orleans, a captive in England.
* Monstrel. 33, 39.
t In the quaint language of the times, this was called "the battle of " herrings :'' because salt herrings formed a great portion of the provisions. Monstrel. ii. 42.
76 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
The regent refused the offer. It was but just, he said, that what had been won with English blood, should be the reward of English valour. In this determination the Burgundian acquiesced with apparent cheerfulness ; but the refusal sank deep into his heart ; nor was it for- gotten on a subsequent occasion.
The fall of Orleans was now confidently anticipated ; and the most gloomy apprehensions prevailed in the councils of the French monarch. Many of those who had been the warmest in their professions of attachment silently withdrew from his court ; and the prince him- self meditated a retreat into the distant county of Pro- vence, perhaps into the friendly kingdom of Scotland, when the French throne was saved from ruin by the daughter of a small farmer at Domremy, a hamlet in Champagne, situate between Neuchateau and Vaucou- leurs. The wonderful revolution which she accomplish- ed, by means apparently supernatural, will justify an endeavour to trace the origin and progress of the enthu- siasm which, while it deluded, yet nerved and elevated the mind of this young and interesting female *.
Joan d'Arc was born about the year 1412. Her edu- cation did not differ from that of the other poor girls in the neighbourhood : but she was distinguished above them all by her diligence, modesty and piety. Dom- remy, like other villages, had its traditionary tales of wonder and supernatural agency. There stood at no great distance an old spreading beech-tree, under the branches of which the fairies were said to hold their noc- turnal meetings ; near its foot ran a clear streamlet, the waters of which were believed to work astonishing cures ; and a little farther off was a still more sacred spot, a solitary chapel called the Hermitage of the Virgin. Joan was accustomed to visit all these places with her companions. But the hermitage was her favourite re-
* The narrative which follows is compiled from the answers of " the maid," and the depositions of the witnesses, which will be found in vha Yolumesof Descharnettes, and the Tome viii. of Petitot's Memoiies,
CHAP, ii.] STORY OF JOAN D'AKC. 77
sort, where every Saturday she hung up a garland of flowers, or burnt a taper of wax in honour of the mother of Christ. These her early habits are worthy of notice, as they probably served to impress on her mind that credulous and romantic character which it afterwards exhibited. The child was fond of solitude : whatever interested her, became the subject of long and serious thought ; and in these day dreams the young enthusiast learned to invest with visible forms the creations of her own fancy. She was but twelve years old, when, walk- A- n ing in her father's garden on a Sunday, she thought that she observed a brilliant light on one side, and heard a voice calling on her by her name. She turned, and saw, as she believed, the archangel Michael, who told her to be good, dutiful, and virtuous, and God would protect her. She felt abashed in his presence, but at his departure wept, wishing that he had taken her with him.
Besides religion there was another sentiment, which sprung up in the breast of Joan. Young as she was, she had heard enough of the calamities which oppressed her country, to abhor the unnatural union of the Bur- gundians with the English, and to bewail the hard fate of her natural sovereign, driven by rebels and strangers from the throne of his fathers. The inhabitants of Domremy were royalists ; those of the neighbouring village of Marcey, Burgundians : the two parties fre- quently met, quarrelled and fought; and these petty feuds served to rivet the attention of the girl on this Aug- most exciting subject. At length arrived the news of the disastrous battle of Verneuil. She witnessed the despair of her parents and neighbours ; and learned from them, that there remained but one source of hope for her country, the possible accomplishment of a tra- ditionary prophecy, that from Bois-chesnu, the adjoining forest of oaks, would come a maid, destined to be the saviour of France.
Such a prediction was likely to make a deep impres-
78 HENRY vi. [CHAP. it.
sion on the mind of Joan. One day, when she was alone, tending her father's flock, she again heard the voice, and saw the form of the archangel : but he was now accompanied by two females, the saints Catherine and Margaret, names, it should be observed, familiar to her, for they were the patronesses of the parish church. He announced to her that she was the woman pointed out by the prophecy ; that hers was the impor- tant commission to conduct her sovereign to Rheims preparatory to his coronation ; that with this view she ought to apply to Baudricourt, governor of Vaucouleurs, for the means of access to the royal presence ; and that Catherine and Margaret would accompany her as guides and monitors, whom it was her duty to obey. It is plain that the enthusiast mistook for realities the workings of her own imagination. Even she herself, in her more sober moments, was appalled at the idea of so extra- ordinary a mission, and her confidence was shaken by the incredulity and disapprobation of her parents. But " her voices," as she called them, reiterated the com- mand : they reprimanded her for her disobedience ; and she began to fear that any longer delay might be a sin, which would endanger her salvation.
It chanced that a marauding party of Burgundians compelled the inhabitants of Domremy to seek an asylum in Neufchateau. The village was plundered, and the church reduced to a heap of ruins. On their departure the fugitives returned, and the sight wound up the enthusiasm of Joan to the highest pitch. She escaped 1*428 fr°m ner parents, prevailed on an uncle to accompany jj" 'her, and announced her mission to Baudricourt. Though he treated her with ridicule, she was not discouraged, but remained at Vaucouleurs, where her pretensions gradually transpired, and made her the object of public curiosity. The duke of Lorrain, who laboured under an incurable disease, applied to her as a woman pos- sessed of supernatural powers ; but she answered with her characteristic simplicity, that she had no mission
CHAP. II.] IS INTRODUCED TO CHARLES. 79
to him : he had never been named to her by " her voices."
At length the governor, who had deemed it his duty A. n. to communicate her history to the dauphin, received 1429. an order to forward her to the French court. To pene- trate from Vaucouleurs on the eastern border of Cham- pagne to Chinon in Tourraine, a distance of one hun- dred and fifty leagues, through a long tract of country, of which one portion was possessed by hostile garrisons, and the other perpetually infested by parties of plun- derers, was a perilous and almost hopeless attempt. But Feb. Joan was confident of success. On horseback, and in 19. male attire, with an escort of seven persons *, she passed without meeting an enemy; and on the tenth dayat^e1'- Fierbois, a few miles from Chinon, announced to Charles her arrival and object. That she should have come safe, was thought miraculous : yet two days were spent in deliberation : she might be, it was wisely contended, an emissary of the devil ; and to elucidate this important question, a commission was appointed to receive her answers to certain interrogatories. The report proved favourable : after much delay and vacillation, an hour was fixed for her admission to the royal presence ; and the poor maiden of Domremy was ushered into a spa- cious hall, lighted up with fifty torches, and filled with some hundreds of knights, among whom Charles him- self had mixed unnoticed, and in plain attire. Joan entered without embarrassment : the glare of the lights, the gaze of the spectators did not disconcert her. Singling out the dauphin at the first glance, she walked up to him with a firm step, bent her knee, and said, " God " give you good life, gentle king." He was surprised, but replied : " I am not the king, he is there," pointing at the same time to a different part of the hall. " In " the name of God," she exclaimed, " it is not' they,
•The escort consisted of her brother Peter, the seigneurs de Metz and Poiilenijy, their two servants, Colet. a king's messenger, and Kichard, an archer ol the royal guard. Mem. 236.
80 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
" but you who are the king. Most noble lord dauphin, " I am Joan the maid, sent on the part of God to aid " you and the kingdom, and by his order I announce " to you that you will be crowned in the city of " Rheims *." Charles took her aside ; spent some time with her in earnest conversation, and, rejoining the company, affirmed that she had discovered to him se- crets of his own, which could not have been communi- cated to her by agency merely human. The following day, " the maid" (so she was now called) made her appearance in public and on horseback. From her look she was thought to be in her sixteenth or seventeenth year; her figure was slender and graceful, and her long black locks fell in ringlets on her shoulders. She ran a course with the lance, and managed her horse with ease and dexterity. The crowd burst into shouts of admiration: they saw in her something more than human ; she was a knight descended from heaven for the salvation of France t.
Had the pretensions of " the maid" been a political artifice to raise the desponding spirits of his followers, Charles would have seized the present moment to lead them against the enemy. But opposite opinions divided his council. Many, instead of seeking to avail them- selves of the public delusion, were afraid of being de- luded themselves. She was said to be sent to them from heaven : but was it not possible that she might be an imp from hell ? To elucidate this grave and obscure question, Joan was examined and re-examined by a committee of theologians, by the parliament of Poitiers, and by the whole body of the privy councillors ; and three weeks elapsed before the king would consent to acknowledge her in her supernatural character. That
* " Dieu vous doiut bonne vie, gentil Roy." " Ce ne suis pas qui
" sui Rcy. Void le Roy" ..." En noa Dieu c'estes vous et non aultres " M4m. vi'ii. 268.
t Se mble chose toute divine de son faict, et de la voir et de 1'ouir. See the enthusiastic letter du sire de Laval a sa mere. Mem. viii. 2'2i. Also
A. D. 1429.] SHE ENTERS ORLEANS. 81
interval she spent in seclusion and prayer ; and then was exhibited a second time to the multitude, sitting on a grey charger with her banner borne before her, and armed at all points as a knight. The air resounded with acclamations : men of every rank caught the en- thusiasm ; and thousands offered their services to follow her to battle. She herself was eager to prove in action the truth of her pretensions : but the king checked her impetuosity, and coolly watched the effect of her pre- sence both on the English as well as on his own subjects. Care had been taken that the history of " the maid" should be communicated with due exaggeration to the besieging army before Orleans. At first it was received with scorn and derision ; soon it began to make im- pression on the more credulous : from them the alarm was gradually communicated to their neighbours ; and at last men of the stoutest hearts shrunk from the task of encountering a supernatural though female champion. It was in vain that Suffolk and his officers sought to check and subdue this dangerous feeling. If they called her an impostor, appeal was made to the wonders attri- buted to her by report : if a sorceress, the men replied that they feared no mortal like themselves, but were not a match for the spirits of darkness.
Sixty bastiles or forts, erected in a circle round Or- leans, had effectually intercepted the communication with the country ; and the horrors of famine were al- ready felt within the walls, when it was resolved by the French cabinet to make a desperate effort to throw a supply of provisions into the city. A strong body of men, under some of the bravest officers in France, as- sembled at Blois, and " the maid" solicited and obtained permission not only to join, but also to direct, the expe- dition. She was received as an envoy from heaven, and began the exercise of her supernatural authority by expelling all women of loose character from the army, and calling on the men to prepare for combat by ex- ercises of devotion. To Suffolk, Glasdale and Pole, the VOL. v. G
82 HENRY vi. [CHAP. u.
English commanders, she sent orders in the name of God to withdraw from France, and return to their native country : to the chiefs of her own nation she promised complete success, if they would cross the Loire, and march holdly through La Beauce and the quarters of the enemy. But they were not disposed to sacrifice their own plans to the suggestions of an inexperienced April enthusiast. Dunois, the governor of Orleans, taking 29. advantage of her ignorance of the country, proceeded by la Sologne on the left bank, and, prevailing on her to cross the river with him in a boat, led her secretly into Orleans, where she was received by the citizens with lighted torches and acclamations of joy. The relieving party had also embarked in boats, and endea- voured to reach Orleans by water : but the wind and current forced them back : they landed, crossed by the bridge at Blois, and were thus compelled to pursue the route previously pointed or.t by " the maid." Her pro- mise, however, or prediction was verified. The besiegers did not stir from their entrenchments, and the convoy entered the city.
From this moment it became dangerous to dispute the celestial mission of Joan. Her presence created in the soldiers a spirit of daring and a confidence of success, which might perhaps be guided, but could not be restrained by the authority of their leaders. Day May after day sallies were made, and the strongest of the 4. English forts, the bastiles of St. Loup, and St. Jean le 6. blanc, and Augustus, and les Tournelles, successively fell into the hands of the assailants. On every occasion " the maid" was to be seen in the foremost rank, with her banner displayed, and encouraging her countrymen by her voice and gestures : but at the storming of the Tournelles, whilst she was in the act of planting the first ladder against the wall, an arrow passed through an opening in her corslet, and fixed itself between the chest and the shoulder. Her companions conveyed her out of the crowd ; the wound was dressed ; and the
A. D. 14:29.] LOSSES OF THE ENGLISH. 83
heroine, after a few minutes spent in prayer, rejoined the combatants. At her appearance the assailants re- doubled their efforts, and the fort was won.
Suffolk, disconcerted by these repeated losses, and warned by the desponding countenances of his followers, called in the night a council of war, and determined to raise the siege. At dawn the English army was seen .May at a short distance from the walls, drawn up in battle 8. array, and braving the enemy to fight in the open field : but " the maid" forbad any man to pass the gates of the city. It was Sunday, she said, a day to he spent in prayer and not in battle. Suffolk waited some hours in vain : at length he gave the signal : the long line of forts, the fruit of so many months' labour, was in- stantly in flames ; and the soldiers, with feelings of shame and regret, turned their backs to the city. The authority of Joan prevented any pursuit *, and Suffolk having distributed his men in the neighbouring for- tresses, informed the regent that he should be able to maintain his position till the arrival of reinforcements from Paris.
But it was not the intention of Charles to allow his enemies the leisure to breathe. The earl of Suffolk was june soon besieged in Jargeau, and the place on the tenth 12. day was carried by storm. The Maid of Orleans (she had now received this addition to her former appellation) led the assailants, and reached the top of the wall, from which, by a stroke on the head, she was precipitated into the ditch. As she lay, unable to rise, she continued to exhort her friends with her voice. " Forward, country- " men," she exclaimed, " fear nothing : the Lord has " delivered them into our hands." During the assault an unguarded corner had been discovered ; the French poured into the place ; more than three hundred of the garrison perished ; and Suffolk with the remainder fell into the hands of the enemy. Of the officer, who
*" En nom Dieu, laissez leg partir, et allons rendre graces a Dieu." Mum. viii. '2"j'2.
84 HENRY VI. LCHAP- H-
demanded his sword, he inquired if he were a knight ; and being answered in the negative, " Then," said he, " I will make thee one." Having knighted him, he surrendered. Mehun, Baugeney, and other fortresses, experienced the same fate as Jargeau; and the lord Talbot, who had succeeded to the command, retired towards Paris, till he received a reinforcement of four June thousand men. He halted at Patay : but the enemy 18. advanced to the town ; and the time for preparation was lost in unavailing debate. Sir John Falstaff proposed to retreat with expedition : Talbot refused to show his back to the enemy. He dismounted, and after a sharp action was made prisoner, with the loss of twelve hun- dred men. Falstaff fled in the beginning of the action ; and in punishment of his cowardice was condemned to forfeit the garter. He proved, however, to the satis- faction of the regent, that to fight with men so dispirited as were the soldiers at Patay, was not to avoid disgrace, but to invite defeat. His excuse was admitted, and he recovered his former honours.
Joan had always declared that the object of her mis- sion was twofold, the liberation of Orleans, and the coronation of the king at Rheims. Of these the first had been accomplished, and she vehemently urged the execution of the second. Though to penetrate as far as Rheims was an enterprise of difficulty ami danger, though every intermediate fortress was in the possession of the English or the Burgundians, Charles determined to trust to his own fortune and the predictions of his inspired deliverer. Having sent a strong division of troops to alarm the frontiers of Normandy, and another to insult those of Guienne, he commenced his march with an army of ten thousand cavalry. At Auxerre the citizens refused to admit him within their walls ; hut they supplied him with provisions, and engaged to imi- tate the conduct of the other cities. Those of Troyes, after a debate of four days, opened their gates. The inhabitants of Chalons spontaneously sent him the keys
A. D. l42l>.] THE ARMIES MEET AT SENLIS. 85
of the town ; and the citizens of Rheims, having ex- j,,iv pelled the Burgundian garrison, received him with the 16. most Haltering testimonies of joy *. The coronation was performed in the usual manner : but as none of the peers of France attended, Charles appointed proxies July to perform their duties. During the ceremony, the 17. maid, with her banner unfurled, stood by the king's side: as soon as it was over, she threw herself on her knees, embraced his feet, declared her mission accom- plished, and with tears solicited his leave to return to her former station. But the king was unwilling to lose the services of one who had hitherto proved so useful ; and at his earnest request she consented to re- main with the army, and to strengthen that throne, which she had in a great measure established. This unexpected revolution in the relative situation of the two parties, while it afflicted the duke of Bedford, stimu- lated him to new exertions. He obtained fresh as- surances of fidelity from the duke of Burgundy, with- drew five thousand men from his Norman garrisons, and received an equal number from his uncle Beaufort, who had raised a small army for the chimerical purpose of suppressing the Bohemian Hussites t. With these he went in pursuit of Charles, who, unwilling to stake his crown on the uncertain event of a battle, avoided him with equal industry. Weary of this useless labour, . he wrote to the king a letter, in which he charged him 7 with deluding the people with the impostures of a dis- solute woman, and the sermons of an apostate friar ; required him like a loyal prince to name a day and a place where they might meet in the county of Brie ; promised that, if a stable peace could be made with a man who had violated his word to the late duke of Bur- gundy, and stained himself with innocent blood, he would condescend to reasonable conditions ; and if not,
* 1? ym. x. 432. f Rot. Parl. v. 435.
86 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II
he offered to fight him hand to hand, that from the issue of the combat the world might know whose claim was favoured by Heaven. To so uncourteous a message Charles did not vouchsafe an answer : but what the duke could not effect, was brought about by accident ; and in the neighbourhood of Senlis the two armies unde- signedly came in sight of each other. The English, inferior in number, prepared for the fight after their usual manner: the French officers, flushed with suc- cess, impatiently demanded the signal of battle. But the defeats of Azincourt and Verneuil had taught Charles not to rely on mere superiority of number. He con- sulted the maid: her inspiration had deserted her since the expedition to Rheims. Sometimes she ad- vised, at others dissuaded an engagement : two days were passed in deliberation ; and on the third, after a few sharp skirmishes, the armies separated as if it had been by mutual consent. The regent hastened into Normandy, and repulsed the constable, who had pene- trated into that duchy ; and Charles, at the solicitation of his female champion, took advantage of the duke's absence to make an attempt on the capital. Soissons, Senlis, Beauvais, and St. Denis opened their gates. s t He advanced to Montmartre, published an amnesty, 12. and directed an assault on the fauxbourg of St. Honore. The action lasted four hours. At its very commence- ment Joan received a dangerous wound, was thrown into the ditch, and lay there unnoticed, till she was discovered in the evening, and carried off by a party sent to search after her. Charles, mortified by the ob- stinate resistance of the Parisians, retired to Bourges ; whilst the maid, looking on her wound as an admoni- tion from Heaven that her commission had ceased with the coronation at Rheims, consecrated her armour to God in the church of St. Denis. Her services, however, were still wanted. At the solicitation of her sovereign she consented to resume the profession of arms, and
CHAP. II.] JOAN IS MADE PRISONER. 87
accepted a patent of nobility for herself and her family, Dec. accompanied with a grant of income equal to that of an ^9. earl *.
While the severity of the weather suspended the ope- rations of war, hoth parties endeavoured to strengthen themselves hy means of negotiation. It was more than suspected that the duke of Burgundy began to repent of his alliance with England ; and his fidelity was tempted by an honourable embassy from Charles, who offered him every reasonable satisfaction for the murder of his father. By the majority of his council the pro- posal was cheerfully received: but the iniluence of his sister, the duchess of Bedford, fixed the wavering senti- ments of her brother ; and the duke, in consideration of the payment of twenty-five thousand nobles, engaged A. D. to assume the command of the united army at the com- J.J'*0' mencement of spring. He undertook to reduce the city I of Compeigne ; and the maid was selected to raise the siege. On her march she met an inferior force of Bur- gundians, defeated it after an obstinate resistance, and ordered its commander, Franquet, to be beheaded on ^ the spotf. On the very evening of her arrival she-/5. surprised the post of Marigni : but reinforcements poured in from every quarter, and in a short time the assailants turned their backs. The heroine immediately took the command of the rear-guard, and repeatedly facing about, repulsed the pursuers. At last, however, her men were broken ; an archer pulled her from her horse ; and, as she lay on the ground, she surrendered to the bastard of Vendome. The shouts of the allied army announced to the besieged the fate of their heroine, who was conducted to the quarters of John of Luxem- burgh, and after some months was sold by him to the regent. Though the garrison was grieved, it was not dismayed by this accident; and the place defied the
• Monstrel. ii. 52. Mem. viii. 337.
t So said her enemies: she says, that she sought to exchange him for de Lours, but the judges of Lagny condemned him to death. Petitol, 283.
88 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
power of the enemy, till the siege was raised by the approach of the French array under the marshal de Boussac *.
The unfortunate maid was treated with neglect hy her friends, with cruelty by her enemies. If ever prince had been indebted to a subject, Charles VII. was in- debted to Joan d'Arc. She had dispelled the terror with which success had invested the English arms, had re-animated the courage of the French soldiery, and had firmly established the king on the throne of his ancestors. Yet, from the moment of her captivity she appears to have been forgotten. We read not of any sum oiFered for her ransom, or attempt made to alleviate the rigour of her confinement, or notice taken of her trial and execution. Her enthusiasm had produced the promised effect ; and when it was no longer wanted, the jealousy of the French commanders was not dis- pleased at the removal of a female and plebeian rival.
By the humanity of later ages, the life of the prisoner of war is considered as sacred : a few centuries ago he remained at the mercy of the captor, who might retain him in custody, liberate him for money, or put him to death f . Avarice, however, generally prevailed over cruelty or resentment ; and the wealth to be obtained from the ransom of prisoners was one of the most powerful inducements to military service. Yet, even the present war had furnished several instances-, in which captives, distinguished for their ferocity or obstinacy, had suffered death ; and the recent execution of the celebrated Bur- gundian leader, Franquet, made it doubtful whether the maid herself did not approve of the practice. Had, therefore, her enemies dealt with her in the same man-
* Mem. viii. ibid. Monstrelet, 59—67. He was present at the time, and saw " the maid" in the tent of John of Luxemburgh.
f Of this a memorable instance occurs in Fenn's collection of original letters, among which is one from Wennyngton the English admiral, stat- ing his determination to kill or drown the crews of one hundred merchant- men, which he had taken, unless the council should think it better to preserve their lives. Vol. i p. 213.
CHAP. II.j HKR TRIAL AND JUDGMENT. 89
ner, though her partisans might have lamented her fate, they could not have charged them with injustice * : but the hishop of Beauvais, in whose diocese she had heen taken, claimed the right of trying her in his court on an accusation of sorcery and imposture t. It is generally supposed that this claim was made at the suggestion of the duke of Bedford, who trusted that the general belief of her supernatural mission would yield to the con- demnation of an ecclesiastical tribunal. That he con- sidered her an agent of the devil, is evident from one of his own letters $: and the history of her trial shows that the same opinion had been imbibed by the credulity of her judges. The inquiry was opened at Rouen: on A.U.. sixteen different days she was brought to the bar; the 1431. questions with her answers, were laid before the uni- ?5 versity of Paris ; and the opinion of that body concurred with the judgment of the court. Still the sentence was delayed from day to day ; and repeated attempts were made to save her from the punishment of death, by in- ducing her to make a frank and explicit confession. But the spirit of the heroine continued undaunted : she proudly maintained that she had been the inspired mi- nister of the Almighty ; and repeated her conviction that she was often favoured with visits from the arch- angel Michael, and the saints Margaret and Catherine. The fatal day, however, arrived, and the captive was placed at the bar : but, when the judge had prepared to pronounce sentence, she yielded to a sudden impulse of terror, subscribed an act of abjuration, and, having promised upon oath never more to wear male attire,
* This is the observation made in a letter written in the name of Henry to tile duke of Burgundy. Ainsi que faire nous estoit raisonablement licile, attendu les grans dommageset inconveniens, les horribles homicides, et detestables cruautez, et autres maux innumerables, qu'elle avoit commis a 1'encontre denostre seigneurie, et loyal peuple obeissant. Apud Monstrel. ii. 72.
t This bishop was so devoted to the English interest, that in the pre- ceding year he had been recommended by the council to the pope to b« translated i» the archbishopric of Rouen. Rym. x. 438.
t" A disciple and lyrae of the tiende, that- used false enchauntments aud loreerie. Kym. x. 40si.
(JO HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
was remanded to her former place of confinement. Her enthusiasm, however, revived in the solitude of a prison ; her cell was again peopled with celestial visitants, and new scenes of military glory opened to her imagination. An impartial observer would have pitied and respected the mental delusion with which she was afflicted : the credulity of her judges condemned her, on the charge of having relapsed into her former errors. She was led sobbing and struggling to the stake : nor did the expectation of a heavenly deliverer forsake her, till she saw the fire kindled at her feet. She then burst into loud exclamations, protesting her innocence, and in- voking the aid of the Almighty; and just before the flames enveloped her, was seen embracing a crucifix, May an(l calling on Christ for mercy. This cruel and un- 30. justifiable tragedy was acted in the market-place of Rouen, before an immense concourse of spectators, about twelve months after her capture *.
According to the general persuasion of the age, the ceremony of coronation was believed to consecrate the person, and confirm the right of the sovereign. No sooner had Charles been crowned at Rheims, than the duke of Bedford determined that his nephew should A.D. be also crowned at the same place. The young king, 1429. as a preparatory step, received the regal unction at . • Westminster in his eighth year ; from which moment the title of protector was suppressed, and that of prime counsellor only retained t. But the poverty of the ex- A. i). chequer, joined to the untoward events of the war, re- 1430. tarded his progress; and six months elapsed before he ^'^was enabled to leave England. At length the sums necessary for his journey were raised by loan : the car- dinal of Winchester consented to accompany him : and the duke of Gloucester was appointed the king's lieu-
* Meyer, 316, 317- Mem. viii. 337— 402. Twenty-five years later this judgment was reversed by the archbishop of Rheims and the bishop of Paris (7th July, 1456,) whom pope Calixtus had appointed to revise it, at the solicitation of her mother Isabella. Raynald. vi. 77.
f Rot. ParL iv. 337.
CHAP. II.] HENRY CROWNED IN ENGLAND AND PARIS. 91
tenant during his absence. He proceeded to Rouen : May. but the prospect of penetrating to Rheims grew fainter every day ; and at the end of eighteen months it was determined that the coronation should take place in Paris. In November, 1431, attended by the chief of the English nobility, and three thousand horse, he left Pontoise, and was met on the road by the clergy, the parliament, the magistrates, and the citizens of the capital. Triumphal arches had been erected : mysteries were performed, and devices were exhibited to honour and entertain the young king. But under these public demonstrations of joy, the Parisians could with diffi- culty conceal their forebodings of subsequent calamities. The coronation of Henry bore but little resemblance to |vc* the coronation of their native monarchs. The ceremony was performed by an English prelate, the cardinal of Winchester ; the high offices of state were filled by foreigners, or by natives of inferior rank ; and no prince of the blood royal of France, not one of the lay peers, D«c. not even the duke of Burgundy attended to grace the "^ court of the new king. After a few days Henry was f^i re-conducted to Rouen ; where he resided a year, and Feb. then returned by Calais to England *. 9.
During the king's absence in France the duke of Gloucester had displayed his zeal for religion and the public tranquillity, by the suppression of riots and in- surrections in several counties, occasioned by the circu- lation of seditious handbills, and the spread of the Lol- lard doctrine, that priests ought not to be " possessioners," and that among Christians all things ought to be in common. He spent the summer in moving from place to place, attended by one of the judges, and inflicting the penalty of death on the guilty : but it appears that his loyalty and religion were inspired and invigorated *' D- by his passion for money. In the month of May he de- M ' manded and obtained from the council a reward
* Monstrel. ii. /o— 80.
92 HENRY vi. [CHAP. 11.
July 500 marks ; in July he made another demand, and 16- received an equal sum : his rapacity was not yet satis- fied, and in November the lords consented that he N should be entitled to a yearly salary of 6000 marks 18.W during the king's absence, and of 5000 after the king's 19. return, but on condition that he should perform his duty without making any additional claim for particular ser- vices *.
The war languished during the two following years. Its duration had impoverished and exhausted both par- ties : but, if they were unable through weakness to act with vigour, they were equally unwilling through pride to put an end to the contest. In 1432 happened an event which inclined the balance in favour of Charles. The duchess of Bedford, whose influence with her hus- band and brother had kept together the discordant ma- terials of which the confederacy was composed, died in November ; and the precipitate union of the regent A. u. with Jacquetta of Luxemburg, a vassal of the Burgun- 1433.dian, hastened its dissolution. Philip's disapprobation Way was received by the duke with anger and contempt : ' officious friends were not wanting to widen the breach by their malicious suggestions ; and so marked and public was the alienation of the two princes, that when the cardinal of Winchester laboured to effect a recon- ciliation, and had brought them both within the walls of St. Omer, he could not induce them to speak to each other t. This propitious opportunity was not lost by the ministers of Charles, who employed every expedient to detach the Burgundian from his allies. He had now taken ample revenge for the murder of his father : his prejudices and his interest were intimately connected with the cause of his native sovereign ; and the wishes
« See Fabyan, 602, Chron. of London, 119. Hall, 166. Acts of Coun. iv. 88,89. 91. 100. 4, 5, 6, /. Pell Records, 412. 415. It is singular that, though in the minutes of the council 100 marks only are ordered to be paid to the duke in July, yet it appears from the " Issue Roll" that pay- ment of 500 marks was made to him on the same account the next day. Pell Records, 412. t Monstrel. ii. 90.
C.IAP. II.] CONGRESS AT ARRAS. 93
of his council and subjects ran in the same channel. If he still adhered to a league which he now hated and condemned, it was in consideration of his oath not to make peace without the consent of the English. To remove the difficulty it was suggested in a conference between him and his brothers-in-law, the duke of Bour- bon, and the constable of France, to attempt a general pacification under the mediation of the pope, as the common father of Christian princes.
To this proposal Eugenius IV. gladly acceded ; and \. n. in 1 435 was held the congress of Arras, the most illus- 1435. trious meeting for political purposes which Europe had yet witnessed. The duke of Burgundy, the most mag- nificent prince of the age, summoned to his court all the nobility of his states ; the pontiif was represented by the cardinal of Santa Croce ; and the council of Basil, which was then sitting, by the cardinal of Cyprus ; the interests of the young Henry were supported by his great-uncle cardinal Beaufort, with twenty-six colleagues, half French and half English* ; and Charles sent a legation Aug. of twenty-nine noblemen and ministers, at the head of19- whom were the duke of Bourbon and the constable. To these were added envoys from the kings of Sicily, Norway, Denmark, and Poland, from many of the princes of Germany and Italy, and from the cities of Flanders and the Hanse Towns. The first days were spent in feastings, tournaments, and parties of pleasure : but even in these the cordiality between the Burgun- dians and French was sufficiently apparent to awaken the jealousy and apprehensions of the English. The cardinal of Santa Croce opened the conferences with a common-place harangue on the ravages and evils of war; and projects and counterprojects were exchanged for several days : but the pretensions of the two courts were so opposite and extravagant, that every hope of pacification speedily vanished t. Both the cardinals
* Kym. x 611. -j Rllt. parl. iv. 481.
94 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
mediators and the Burgundian ministers had been gained by the French. The former openly blamed the inflexibility of the English ; the latter had prepared for signature a treaty of amity between their master and Charles. To spare himself the mortification of witness- Sept, ing so unfavourable a transaction, the cardinal of Win- 6. Chester, with his colleagues, departed from the scene of negotiation ; and three weeks afterwards peace was pro- ^pt- claimed between France and Burgundy. The conditions had been dictated by Philip ; that Charles should express his sorrow for the murder, and engage to punish the murderers of the late duke, and should surrender to Philip several fortresses as a security for the payment of four hundred thousand crowns. As soon as the treaty had been signed, the French negotiators, falling on their knees in presence of the duke, begged pardon for the murder of his father ; and he laying his hands on a golden cross placed before the eucharist, solemnly declared that he forgave the king from his heart. The cardinals then absolved him and his lords from the oath of alliance with England. To conclude the ceremony, the barons on each side, according to the custom of the age, swore to enforce the observance of the treaty. The inutility and impiety of such oaths were shown by the remark of the lord of Launay, who, when it came to his turn, exclaimed ; " This is the sixth peace to " which I have sworn since the beginning of the war. " The five first were all broken. But as for this, what- " soever others may do, I declare before God that I " will observe it *."
. To detail the complex but unimportant operations of the war during the ten following years would be a tedi- ous and intricate task. The leading particulars under different heads may suffice to gratify the curiosity of the Sept. reader. 1. Before the dissolution of the congress of 14. Arras, the duke of Bedford expired at Rouen. He left
* Monstrel. ii. 108—119. Meyer, 323.
OHAF. II.] LOiS OF PARIS. 95
the reputation of a prudent statesman, and a brave and experienced general; and his name was long and re- spectfully remembered by his enemies as well as his countrymen. He was buried in the cathedral on the right hand of the high altar ; and when some years later it was suggested to Louis XI. to remove his bones to a less honourable situation, the monarch angrily replied : " I will not war with the remains of a prince who was "once a match for your fathers and mine; and who, " were he now alive, would make the proudest of us " tremble. Let his ashes rest in peace, and may the Al- " mighty have mercy on his soul * !"
2. To the duke of Bedford succeeded Richard duke of York: but before his arrival Paris had returned to the obedience of its native sovereign. The citizens had always been attached to the Burgundians, and with them were willing to transfer their services from Henry to Charles. The gate of St. Jacques was betrayed in the night to Adam de Lisle, and the count de Dunois: chains thrown across the streets prevented the arrival^ J"' of the English ; the lord Willoughby with the garrison retired into the bastile ; and an honourable capitulation freed the capital from the dominion of strangers. The duke landed in Normandy with eight thousand men. He soon reduced the towns which had revolted or sur- rendered to the enemy ; and John lord Talbot, after- wards earl of Shrewsbury, by his activity and courage restored the reputation of the English arms. He defeated near Rouen a body of French, who had been invited by
the treachery of the inhabitants ; and soon afterwards, taking advantage of a fall of snow, surprised the town of Poutoise with a body of men, who, dressed in white, had A. n. concealed themselves in the ditch. Thence he spread 1-437. desolation and terror to the very walls of Paris t.
3. The duke of Burgundy intended to remain neutral : A. u. the insults of the English and the inclination of his1435-
• Stow. p. .475. Hal!, 129. f Monstrel. ii !2?.
9G HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
subjects dragged him into the war. He proved, how- ever, a feeble enemy. Some of his nobles refused to assist him, on the ground of the fealty which they had sworn to the king of England : nor is it improbable that he himself felt some scruple on the same account. This is certain, that he never could be induced to face an English army. At the request of the people of Flanders he undertook to reduce Calais ; and the duke of Glou- July. cester, who had been ordered to relieve it, sent the Bur- Aug. gulldian a challenge to fight in the open field : but four 2. days before his arrival Philip had retired with precipita- tion into his own territories. It was in vain that he was followed by Gloucester, to whom Henry, as king of France, had ridiculously granted the earldom of Flan- ders, forfeited, as it was pretended, by the treason of the Burgundian *. The next year Philip besieged the town of Crotoi at the mouth of the Somme. To succour that fortress Talbot marched from Normandy with a small army of four thousand men. They spent the night at St. Valery : the next morning they plunged into the water at Blanchetaque ; and, though it reached to their breasts, crossed the ford without accident. Astonished at their boldness the besiegers retired within their lines, and the duke withdrew to Abbeville. Talbot ravaged the country with impunity : the Burgundians mutinied in the camp ; and the garrison seized the opportunity to pursue them to a considerable distance t.
In 1437 the duke of York was recalled, and succeeded ' by Beauchamp, surnamed the good, earl of Warwick, 1 . J with the title of lieutenant-general, and Governor of _A.D. France $. His short administration (for he died at T9- Rouen in less than two years) was not distinguished by any remarkable event. Instead of the ravages of war, both countries were exposed to a more dread-
•Ryrn. x. 653. For the charges brought by the duke against the Eng- lish, and the answer given by the council, see Monstielet, ii. 125, and Acts of Coun. iv. 329.
t Monstrel. ii. 148—150. j Rym. x. 675.
CHAP. II.] SIEGE OF HARFLEUR. 97
ful scourge in the combined operation of famine and pestilence*.
5. In 1439 the earl of Richemont, constable of France, recovered tbe city of Meaux in defiance of the lord Talbot, who endeavoured to raise the siege. But this loss was compensated the next year by the capture of Harfleur, which, with the greater portion of Caux, had been wrested from Henry in 1 432. The earl of Somer- set, with Talbot and many other distingu;shed officers, lay before it during several months ; and so secure did they consider themselves, that the countess with several ladies consented to spend the summer in the midst of the camp. The 'count d'Eu, by order of Charles, at- tempted to relieve the place. The besiegers were attacked at the same time in four different points by sea and land : but every effort to break through their intreiich- ments proved ineffectual ; the assailants were repulsed with considerable loss ; and the garrison surrendered *h
6. The complaints of the Parisians stimulated Charles A>]) to undertake the siege of Pontoise. He invested it with 1441 twelve thousand men, threw up bastiles, and fortified May. them with batteries. Talbot on two occasions succeeded
in throwing supplies and reinforcements into the place. The duke of York, who had been appointed the king's lieutenant a second time, arrived with eight thousand men, and offered battle to Charles. But the French monarch still respected the valour of his opponents, he refused to fight without a manifest advantage, and contented himself with observing the fords over the
* In England the value of wheat rose to what was then considered the enormous price of three shillings and four pence the bushel: and the people supported life by making bread of pease, beans, and vetches, though in London the merchants by the importation of rye from the Baltic contributed to lessen the scarcity. lu France we are told by an eye-wit- ness that the advance in the price of provisions was tenfold; and that the Dumber of those who expired of want and disease among the lower classes was immense. This calamitous visitation lasted two years. See Wyrcest. 459. Monstrel. ii. 151. 155. Fab. 435. On account of the dan- ger of infection, an act was passed that no person, when he did homage, should, as usual, kiss the king, but the homage should be deemed good iu law with the omission of that ceremony. Rot. Parl. v. 31.
t Monstrel. ii. 173, 17*. VOL. V. H
98 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
Oise. In the night Talbot made a false attack on the bridge of Beaumont, while lower down the river four men silently crossed to the opposite side in a boat of leather, and drew after them several others. A bridge of ropes was now thrown across ; and before any dis- covery was made, six hundred men had strongly in- trenched themselves on the left bank. A fruitless attempt was made to dislodge them : the French army dispersed, and the duke reinforced the garrison. He returned to Normandy, leaving two thousand of the enemy in one of the bastiles, which was too strongly fortified to be attacked with impunity ; and the sarcasm of the Parisians compelled Charles to resume the siege. Sept. At length the French got possession of the church of 16. Notre Dame, which overlooked the walls ; and three days afterwards a bloody but successful assault restored Sept. this important place to the dominion of the French
10 , .,,
*"• monarch*.
7. In the two next years Charles reduced several for- tresses in Guienne, while the English spread themselves over Picardy, Maine, and Anjou. The pope repeatedly D exhorted the rival powers to lay aside their arms ; and 1439. Isabella, duchess of Burgundy, offered herself as a Jan. mediatrix equally attached to each party ; to France by 31- her marriage with duke Philip, to England by her de- scent from John of Ghent, by her mother the queen of Portugal. Her efforts were powerfully seconded by cardinal Beaufort, who, aware that the resources of the country and the patience of the people were exhausted, proclaimed himself the advocate of peace ; but were as strenuously opposed by the duke of Gloucester, who would never subscribe to the disgrace of surrendering to the enemy what his brother had won at the cost of so much treasure and blood. The cardinal might rely on a majority in the council and among the people ; but was effectually thwarted by the obstinacy of the French
* MonstreL ii. 187—191.
A. D. 1439.] NEGOTIATIONS. 99
cabinet, to whom the continuation of war promised greater advantages than any peace which the English ministers dared to conclude. Hence the frequent at- tempts at negotiation served only to show the superiority assumed by one nation, and to excite irritation and despondency in the other *. But the quarrel with Bur- gundy, as it involved no great national interest, was more easily appeased. It had arisen from resentment for the apostacy of the duke: but England, in her
* The instructions delivered to the English negotiators on one of these occasions (at Calais, 1439) are still extant, and present a most curious specimen of diplomatic finesse. They were ordered, 1 °. To demand from Charles a formal recognition of Henry's title to the throne of France, and to enforce this demand, not by any inquiry into the king's right, (that had been placed beyond the reach of doubt by tlie decision of his royal father and Edward III.) but by insisting on the pacification of Troyes, and the judgment of God, manifested by the victories which he had given to small bodies of Englishmen over the immense hosls of their enemies. But 2°. If the demand were refused, they were to make an offer to Charles of a principality beyond the Loire with an annual income of twenty millions of crowns. 3". These, however, were but preliminary flourishes, proposals made that they might be rejected. The lord cardinal of Winchester was now to address the ambassadors of both parties, not as a negotiator, (he was not even named in the commission,) but as a prince of the church, whom his desire to stop the effusion of human blood had induced to as- sume the character of mediator with the duchess of Burgundy. In a set speech he was to exhort 'both parties to terminate a quarrel, which had now lasted a hundred years, and which had sacrificed the lives of more men than were at that time alive in the two kingdoms. He was to paint in strong colours the evils of war, both as to the temporal calamities which it inflicts, and the spiritual loss of souls, sent before the tribunal of God in the midst of their sins ; he was to observe that the question could be de- cided only by one of these two ways, the destruction of the English or French people, which was impracticable, or by an equitable adjustment of claims, which, if it were to be adopted, could not be adopted too soon. 4a. The English ministers were to be marvellously affected by this speech, and in consequence of it to relax in their pretensions, and to offer to Charles the whole of France beyond the Loire, with the exception of Guienne. Nay : rather than incur the guilt of contributing to the evils so feelingly deplored by the cardinal, they were to suffer themselves to be satisfied with the faithful accomplishment of the great peace of Bretigny, But the French envoys were not to be blinded by so flimsy an artifice. They insisted that Henry should cede all his conquests besides Normandy, and hold that duchy, with Guienne, of the crown of France. The proposal was received as an insult ; and the duchess proposed a peace for a limited number of years, on condition that Henry should not take, during that time, the title of king of France, nor Charles make any claim of homage during the same period. The ambassadors separated to receive the com- mands of their sovereigns on this project. At the appointed time the Eng- lish returned with instructions to refuse, because it would show in the king a lack of might or of right, or of courage ; but they had no oppor- tunity of delivering their answer; for the French did not think it worth their while to return at all. See Rym. •&. 724, and Acts of Coun. v. 334.
H 2
100 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
endeavour to punish him, had, by the interruption of the trade with Flanders, inflicted a severe injury on herself. In 1443 Isabella (with her husband Henry seems to have refused to treat * ) concluded a suspension of hostilities for an indefinite period with the duke of Apr Yorkt. In the next year her efforts to extend that •24. benefit to all the belligerents were seconded by the more powerful influence of the duke of Orleans, who had been made prisoner at the battle of Azincourt, and after a captivity of twenty-four years had been permitted to revisit his country. Before his departure he paid down forty thousand nobles, gave security for the pay- ment of eighty thousand more in the course of six months, and bound himself to return at the expiration of the year, unless he should prevail on Charles to consent to a final peace ; and Henry on his part engaged to repay him the money on the signature of the treaty, or, in failure of that, on his return to captivity $. He was A D released about the end of the year 1440 ; and instead of 1440. effecting the purpose of his mission, found himself ex- Nov. eluded from the court by the intrigues of the royal 13- favourites. Henry was compelled to enlarge the time fixed for his return ; and he at length gained that in- fluence in the council which was due to his rank and abilities. Charles now listened to his suggestions in A. D. favour of peace. The duke himself and the earl of 1444. Suffolk were the principal negotiators ; and though they could not induce their respective courts to agree to any general basis of pacification, concluded an armistice for two years, during which it was hoped that some way might be discovered of adjusting the opposite claims, and reconciling the interests, of the contending sove- reigns $.
Hitherto the attention of the reader has been occupied
* Many conferences were held with her, none with him, as appears from the instruments in Rymer, x. /13. 730. 761. 767. 80L', &c.
t Rym. xi. 24. ' I Ibid. ». 820—829.
§ Rj-ra. xi. 59—67.
CHAP. II ] TRANSACTIONS WITH SCOTLAND. 101
with the conduct of the war in France : this temporary suspension of hostilities will afford him leisure to revert to the domestic occurrences of the last twenty years, and the miscellaneous incidents, which diversify the history of that period. I. Before James of Scotland was restored A.U. to his throne, a truce of seven years had been concluded 1424. between the two kingdoms*. By the king it was care-]jrur' fully observed ; not that he retained any warm attach- " ment for the place of his captivity, but that he wished for peace, in order to curb the factious spirit of his nobles, and to encourage habits of industry and subor- dination among his people. Hence his connxeion with England did not prevent him from receiving the am- bassadors of the French monarch. He renewed the A>1). ancient league between the two crowns, and agreed to 1428. give the princess of Scotland in marriage to the dau- J^'ty phin, as soon as the parties should have attained the age of puberty. His poverty did not enable him to offer with his daughter a portion becoming her rank : but he assented to what was still more acceptable, an aid of six thousand Scottish troops, whenever a fleet for their con- veyance should arrive from France -K To secure his friendship, Charles made him a grant of the county of ^ov. Xaintogne, and the lordship of Rochefort, which the king of Scots condescended to hold of the French crown, with an engagement to send the first prince of his blood to per- form the accustomed homage $. These treaties alarmed the English government. The cardinal of Winchester ob- tained a personal interview with James at Durham ; and, ^'.79 whether it were owing to his suggestions, or to the dif- Feb. ficulty of providing a sufficient number of vessels, the
• Rym. x. 329-332.
f Du Tillet, 138. Ford. xvi. 11. Thresor des Chnrtres, 128. By mis- take thedate nf 1448 has been substituted for 1428 iu this and the" other articles under the head of" huietiesm piece."
J Du Tillet, ibid. The next month by a new agreement it was stipu- lated that after the expulsion of the English from France, the Scottish kinjr, in lieu of Xaintogne and Rochefort, should receive either the duchy of Herri or the county of Evreux, to be held on the same terms. Ibid. Dec. 10, 1428.
102 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II
stipulated auxiliaries never left Scotland *. James even threw out some hint of a final peace in lieu of the exist- ing truce, to be founded on a marriage between Henry and one of his daughters. The council hastened to profit 1430 by the suggestion, and lord Scrope was authorised to Jan. negotiate a peace "by way of marriage and other lawful 24. " and honourable means ;" but at the same time, whe- ther it were through pride or policy, he was instructed not to make the proposal himself, but to draw it artfully from the Scottish commissioners. He failed ; made his July reP°rt to l^e council in England and to the king in France, and returned to Scotland with new powers to conclude a peace "on any terms and in any manner ;" an alteration which sufficiently proved the great anxiety of the English government to withdraw James from his alliance with Charles, as long as that prince should be at war with England t. But the Scottish king adhered firmly to his engagements with France ; and the utmost which the envoy could accomplish was to renew the truce for five years, with an understanding that, if any ]-)ee- Scotsmen should sail to the assistance of the enemies of 15. Henry, they might be treated as enemies themselves, •without any interruption of the harmony between the two crowns J.
'I' a.' I1 was not l°n§> however, before the French ministry
^ reminded the Scottish king of his engagements : whilst
the lord Scrope, if we may believe the Scottish histo-
rians §, offered on the part of England the cession to
* Rym. x. 409, 410. Pell Records, 407. 8.
t The words iu the first commission are, " per medium sponsaliorum sive matrimonii, ac per media quaecumque alia licita et honesta.'1 — In place of all these in the second \ve read," per quaecumque media quoque modo." Rot Scot. ii. 269. 27'2.
| Rym. and Acts of Coun. iv. 19— '27. 53.75. Ibid. x. 482—488. By a curious clause were excepted Irom the Irucc all the lands in England south of St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, and all the lands in Scotland, north of the river Forn, between Moray and Ross to the sea (Ibid. 4ci4); that is, as far as I can understand it, no lands at all.
§ Major, vi. 13. Leslie, 246. Buchan, ix. 50. Drummond (p. 30) adds an offer of marriage with a Scottish princess, but on what authority is unknown. Th.it there is no great improbability in these statements ap-
CHAP. II.] DEFEAT OF SIR ROBERT OGLE. 103
Scotland of Berwick, Roxburgh, and the debateable lands, as the price of a perpetual peace and alliance. This proposal divided the Scottish parliament. During a debate of two days one party maintained that the king by his previous treaty with France was precluded from listening to the offers of England : the other, that no prince could conscientiously bind himself to follow the dictates of another in the matter of war and peace, con- trary to the commands of the gospel, and the interests of his people. They separated without coming to any result ; and both the French and English envoys failed in the object of their missions *.
Two years later sir Robert Ogle had the presumption to pass the borders, and assist a Scottish lord, who had taken up arms against the king. He was defeated at Piperdan by the earl of Angus. James, irritated by this breach of the armistice, demanded reparation ; but, though commissioners were appointed by Henry, and a letter was written by him to the king of Scots with his AiD own hand, the difference was not accommodated*. Sus- 1435. picious of his intention, the council ordered a fleet of Mai. one hundred and eighty sail to cruise in the German 7> ocean, and intercept the princess of Scotland in her way to the French coast. She was, however, more fortunate than her father had been in similar circumstances ; and by steering round the north of Scotland, eluded the English squadron, and reached the port of llochelle $. This new insult determined James to seek revenge with the sword. He summoned every Scot between the ages of sixteen and sixty to join his banner; and, if we may believe a native and contemporary writer, more than two hundred thousand men followed him to the siege of Roxburgh §. The fall of the fortress was prevented by the inconstancy of the king, who, after a few days, on
pears from the commissions mentioned in the last note but one : there may, however, be some mistake either as to the exact time, or to the name of the negotiator. « Ford. xvi. 23, 24.
f Ry m. 1535. Ford. xvi. 9. J Ford. xvi. 9. ' § Ford. xvi. £6.
104 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
the approach of the earl of Northumberland, disbanded the army, and hastened to Edinburgh. It were idle to enumerate all the motives to which different writers have attributed his conduct : the most plausible conjecture supposes him to have received a hint of the dark and mysterious conspiracy, which within six months deprived him of life *. He was succeeded by his son, James II., who had only completed his fifth year ; and one of the first acts of the new reign was the conclusion of a truce with Henry till the year 1447 1.
II. England, during this period, exhibited the unusual spectacle of two princesses, who, despising the pride of birth, had married into the families of commoners. 1°. Jacquetta of Luxemburgh, after the death of the duke of Bedford, married sir Richard Wydeville, an English gentleman, distinguished by the extraordinary beauty of his person. Wyduville was immediately cast into prison for the offence of marrying a tenant of the crown with-
* It was in August that he raised the siege : at Christmas he repaired to his favourite residence in the Dominican convent at Perth. On the evening of the 20th of February, after drinking the voidee, or parting cup, with his company, he retired to his bed-chamber, and as he stood in his gown before the fire, conversing with the queen and her attendants, he was suddenly alarmed by the clash of arms. Aware of the danger, he called to the ladies to bolt the door, while he should escape by the win- dow. But the iron bars were too close to admit a human body between them ; and the king, seizing the tire-tongs, rushed into an adjoining closet, wrenched up one of the boards from the floor, ati'i let himself through the aperture into the privy. The board immediately dropped into its former place; and it soon appeared that the noise proceeded from sir Robert Gra- ham, who, with three hundred highlanders had scaled the defences of the monastery. They burst open the noor, broke the arm of Catherine Douglas, who attempted to exclude them, and «ounded tlie queen, when a voice exclaimed, " For shame ! She is but a woman. Look after her " husband." Not finding him in the bed-chamber, they parted in separate directions to search the adjoining rooms ; and James, seizing the oppor- tunity, called to the ladies to draw him out la the attempt Elizabeth Douglas fell through the aperture; and during the confusion caused by this event one of the assassins entered the closet. He informed his asso- ciates. Sir John Hall leaped below, and was followed by his brother ; but the king, an athletic man, seized each in the descent, and attempted to throttle them on the floor. Graham sprang to their assistance. At the entreaties and promises of James he began to waver; but his confederates above terrified him by their threats; and the unarmed monarch was despatched with sixteen wounds. See the contemporary relation of thig tragical event, published by Hnkerton, vol. i. App. No. xiii.
t Rym. x. 6o9.
CHAP. I!.] MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN DOWAGER. 105
out the voval license ; but obtained his liberty on the A. D. payment of a fine of one thousand pounds, and was Iij37. afterwards, out of respect to his wife, created baron ^iiir- Rivers *. 2°. Catherine, a daughter of Fra..ce, the widow of the last, the mother of the present sovereign, married Owen ap Tudor, a Welsh gentleman, said to be descend- ed from the celebrated Cadwalladert. It does not ap- pear that this marriage was ever formally acknowledged ; but it was followed by an act of parliament, by which to marry a queen dowager without license from the king A. D. was made an offence punishable with the forfeiture of 1-J1S. lands and goods J ; and, as soon as Catherine was dead, A. „. Tudor received a summons at Daventry to appear in 1437 person before the king. At his demand a safe conduct Jan- was granted him, but afterwards violated. He escaped ^j from prison, was retaken, and escaped a second time. With the real cause of this severity we are not acquaint- ed : the act of parliament had passed after his marriage, and there is no mention made of it in the acts of the council : from the expressions used there it may perhaps be inferred that he had done or said something to raise apprehensions, that sprung, as was pretended, from the ancient princes of Wales, and proud of his alliance by marriage with the royal families of England and France, Owen ap Tudor might be tempted to re-enact the part of Owen Glendower, and might, like that chieftain, meet with willing and enthusiastic support from the national predilections of his countrymen §. However that may
* This offence was common, and always punished with fine, and often with imprisonment also, it' the husband were of inferior rank to the wile. In the acts of the Council we meet with such tines of 1,0001. or 12,000 marks, &c. See Acts, iii. 130. 145. 164. 252.
t The Chronicle of London asserts the Tudor was "no man of birthe, Mother of iyflod." (p. 123.) Yet the council in an official instrument gives him the title of " armiger." Rym. x.709. His sons Edmund and Jasper were placed under the care of Catherine de la Pole, abbess of Barking.
t There can be no doubt that such act was passed, though it is not found on the Rolls now. Hut sir Harris Nicolas informs us that the mem- brane, on which it ou;;ht to be found, is wanting, and that the numbers of the following membranes have been altered. Acts of Coun. v. xvii. not. -2.
§ We meet with these expressions : " his malicious purpos and ymagina- "tion;" the danger of" rebellion, murmur, or inconvenience from his en- " largement ;" " the disposition of Walys." Ibid. p. 50.
1GG HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
have been, Tudor, after his second escape, was suffered to remain without molestation. Henry acknowledged A. n. his sons by Catherine for brothers, and created Edmund, 1 -152. earl of Richmond, and Jasper, earl of Pembroke. Owen, the youngest, became a monk in the abbey of West- minster.
III. It was probably owing to this marriage that Henry, when he was only in his third year, had been taken out of the hands of his mother, and intrusted to the care of A. D. dame Alice Botiller, to whom as his governess the in- 1 424. fant monarch was made to give authority by special war- Feb. rant, and with the advice of the council, to chastise him ~1- from time to time, in reasonable wise, as the case might require, without being subsequently called to account *. A D From the tuition of dame Alice he passed in his seventh 1428. year to the charge of the earl of Warwick, who, in his June patent of appointment, was ordered to look to the health and safety of the royal person, to watch over the educa- tion of his pupil in morals and virtue, in literature and the languages, in manners and courtesy, and in all the acquirements which become a great king : and to chas- tise his negligence or disobedience in such manner as other princes of the same age were wont to be chas- tised t. But when Henry had reached his eleventh year, "Warwick applied to the council for more ample powers. He found that officious persons, to make their court to the sovereign, had filled his mind with notions of his own importance, and that he would no longer submit A D to the punishments, which it was occasionally deemed 143.'. necessary to inflict. The earl therefore demanded au- Nov. thority to appoint or dismiss the persons composing the 29- royal household ; to prevent any stranger from speaking
» De nous resonab'ement chastier de temps en temps ainsi comme le cas requerera. Ibid. iii. 143. This lady in return for her services received a pension for life of iOl., to which another of thirty marks was afterwards added. I may observe that king John fiave pensions of two pi'nce per day to the nurses of his children. Rot. Glaus. 1. 150. 175: but the nurses of Henry V. VI. VII. received '201. per annum as long as the king please), which was, in fact, for life. Acts of Conn. iii. Pell Records, 384. Ellis, 'J. sw. i. 171. t Bym. x. 399. Uot. Pail. iv. 411.
CHAP, ii.] HENRY'S EDUCATION. 107
with the king unless it were in presence of one of the four knights of the body ; and to remove him from place to place as he saw it necessary for his health or security. He also required the council to admonish the king in a body, of the necessity of obedience to his preceptor, and to promise that they would stand by him, if on account of chastisement his pupil should conceive any antipathy against him*. All these demands were granted. It was, however, impossible to exclude flatterers from the prince ; who, at their suggestions, in his fourteenth year A D demanded to he admitted into the council, and to be 1434. made acquainted with the manner in which the concerns Nov. of his kingdom were conducted. This claim was resisted ^- with firmness, but with respect t. Yet Henry, though he acquiesced for the present, three years afterwards re- 1 ^,~ newed his demand. To satisfy him, it was resolved, Xov.' that the pardon of offences, the collation of benefices, 13. and all special graces should be reserved to the king ; that he should be made acquainted with all debates of importance respecting his crown and prerogatives ; and should decide in all matters, regarding which the council should be so far divided in opinion that the majority did
• Rot. Par. 433, 434. If we believe Hardy ng, though " Th'erle Richard in mykell worthy heade Enformed hym, yet of his symple heade He coulde little withiu his breast conceyve, The good from eivill he could uneth percey ve."
p. 394.
t The members of the council (the dukeof Gloucester alone was absent) replied, that, " God, indeed, had endowed the king with as great under- " standing and feeling as ever they saw or knew in any prince or other " person of his age : nevertheless, to quit them truly to God, to the king, " and to his people, they dare not take upon them to put him in conceit or opinion that he is yet endowed with so great feeling, knowledge, and wisdom, the which must in great part grow of experience, nor with so great foresight and discretion to depart and choose in matters of great weight and difficulty, as is expedient and behoveful to him and his peo- ple. They therefore think it would be perilous and harmful to change the rule and governance that afuve this in his tender age hath been ap- pointed for the good and surety of his noble person, and of this land : and trust, that it' any such motion be again made to him, before he agree to it, he will take the advice of his great council, or of his contTiual council, for the time being: the which manner of his demeaning, it is trowed and thought, will be the best that can be advised." Ibid. 438.
108 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
not exceed two-thirds of the members*. Thus the go- vernment remained till he became of full age.
IV. The reader has already noticed the commence- ment of the quarrel between the duke of Gloucester and his uncle the bishop of Winchester. Their mutual rivalry converted these near relations into the bitterest enemies, and gave insensibly an opposite direction to their views of national polity. The duke proclaimed him- self the warm and inexorable advocate of war : the bishop contended with equal vehemence for peace ; and, as the council perpetually oscillated between the influence of the one and of the other, the war was never conducted with vigour, and obstacles were constantly opposed to the conclusion of peace. The bickerings between these two ministers are of themselves beneath the notice of history ; but they derive importance from their conse- quences, which were felt through the greater portion of Henry's reign.
When Beaufort, during the life of the last monarch, visited the council of Basil, he was named by Martin V. cardinal and apostolic legate in England, Ireland, and Wales, with a promise that his creation and appointment should be afterwards published in the accustomed man- A.D. nert. The intelligence alarmed the jealousy of arch- 1417. bishop Chichely. Other legates were foreigners, whose ngC' stay was too short to create any permanent prejudice to the rights of the metropolitan : but Beaufort would fix his residence in England, and by his superior authority suspend or limit for years that jurisdiction which be- longed to the successors of St. Augustine. On this A. n. account he wrote a long letter to the king, who, per- 1419. suaded by his arguments, forbade the bishop of Win- jrar> Chester to accept the dignity which had been offered him $. Thus the matter rested, till the quarrel arose
* Hym. 438, 439. f Anj. Sac. i. 800.
I Alter aUiuliiig to the ambition of Beaufort, he tells the king that. " There never was no legate a latere sent into no land, and specially into " the realm of England, without great and notable cause. And they, "when
CHAP. II.] BEAUFORT CREATED APOSTOLIC LEGATE. 109
between that prelate and his nephew of Gloucester. It. has been already mentioned that Beaufort condescended to make him an apology, resigned the chancellorship, and obtained permission to travel : but it is probable that by these concessions he purchased the royal license to accept the preferments to which he had been named A. D. in the court of Rome. He was soon afterwards declared } cardinal priest of St. Eusebius, was invested with the 25 usual habit at Calais, received the hat at Mechlin, and 1427. •was appointed captain-general of the crusaders destined Feb. to oppose the Bohemian Hussites *. His absence perhaps '-• encouraged, or his promotion stimulated the ambition of ^ the duke of Gloucester, who at the next meeting of parliament required of the lords a declaration of the Oct. powers invested in him as protector. Whether it was 15. on this or some other account, is uncertain, but the par- liament was soon afterwards prorogued. When it opened again, the duke repeated his demand, adding that he would not take his seat till it was answered, and admo- 3. nishing the house not to pass any bill in his absence. The reply must have proved most mortifying to his ambition. They reminded him that the act which gave him the title of protector invested him with no authority except in the two cases of foreign invasion, and internal revolt ; " marvelled from their hearts " that after he had subscribed this act he should pretend to any additional power ; declared that in parliament he was no more than any other peer ; and exhorted him to resume his seat, and attend to the business of the nation, as he was hound to do in obedience to the king's writ. The duke reluctantly acquiesced t.
About six months later the cardinal ventured to return to England ; and at his entry into the metropolis was
" they came, ahiden hut little while, not over a year, and some a quarter " or two months, as the needs required; and yet over that he was treated " with ere he came into the land, wheu he should have exercise oE his " power, and how much should be put into execution." See the whole letter apud Duck, Vit. Chich. p. 129.
• A :ij{. Sac. 318. Haynald. vi. 92, 93. t R"t- Pail. iv. 326, 327.
110 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
Sept. met in solemn procession by the clergy, the mayor, and *• the citizens. But it soon appeared that though he had been received with honour, his new dignity had made him an object of suspicion. In the presence of the council, and at the requisition of the king's attorney, he was compelled to promise that he would abstain in the execution of his office from every act which might dero- A. u. gate from the rights of the crown or of the subject *; 1429. and when the feast of St. George arrived, was forbidden April to attend as chancellor of the order of the garter, on the ground that he ought to have vacated that office, toge- ther with the bishopric of Winchester, from the day on which he accepted the dignity of cardinal t. When he remonstrated, the council replied, that it was at least a difficult and doubtful question, which they dared not solve during the minority of the king ; and to this an- swer he was content to submit, that he might not by opposition defeat the project in which he was now en- gaged. As soon as Cunzo, the papal envoy, had delivered ^r r the letters of Martia V. to the council, the cardinal ex- 10< hibited the bull appointing him captain-general against the Hussites, and solicited the royal license to publish the crusade, and to raise an army of five hundred lancers, and five thousand archers for the expedition. june Both petitions were granted, but on condition that the 1 ! . troops should be reduced to one half of the number de- manded, and the donations of the- people should be expended in the purchase of arms and provisions within the realm J. But soon a transaction occurred most dis- graceful to all the parties concerned. For a bribe of one thousand marks the cardinal consented that the
• The protest of Caudray, the king's attorney, is still extant. He main- tains that it is the right of the crown, founded on special privilege and prescription, with the knowledge and tolerance of the pontiffs, that no legate should come to England unless at the petition of the king; and that, as the cardinal had come without beinjj asked for, it was not the in- tention of the king or council to approve ot his entrance in derogation of the laws or rights of the kingdom, or to admit him as legate contrary to law and right, or to consent that he should exercise his legation in opposi- tion to the same. Fox, i 920.
tRvm. x. 414. Acts of Coun. iii. 324. fRvm. x. 419—423
\. D. 1429.] BEAUFORT AND THE CRUSADERS. 1 1 1
men whom he had raised for the crusade should be led July against the king's enemies in France : and the council, *• on their part, engaged to indemnify him to the pontiff for this breach of his duty. He received their bonds ; but promised to keep this part of the transaction secret, and not to apply for payment from them till he should fail in his attempt to procure it from the regency of France *. When Charles found the crusaders arrayed AurT> against himself, he complained most bitterly to the pon- u." tiff, who loudly protested his ignorance of this fraudulent transaction, and upbraided the cardinal with having in- jured the cause of religion, and stained the reputation of the holy see. Beaufort attempted to justify himself by allegations which it is difficult to believe ; that the orders of his sovereign were intimated to him in such terms that he durst not disobey ; and that the men themselves declared to his face that they would not march against the Hussites, but were determined to restore the superiority of the English arms in France*. If the conduct of the cardinal on this occasion irritated the court of Rome, it served to add to his popularity in England ; and when the parliament assembled, both houses seemed to contend which should heap upon him the most distinguished honours. The same objection gept. which excluded him from the feast of St. George had 22. also excluded him from the king's council : but the lords ^ now requested him, for the service of the king, and the \^ ' benefit of the nation, to resume his seat at that board, and to absent himself only when subjects were debated which concerned the court of Rome $. To this flattering fiec request he willingly assented ; and two days later the 20. commons, when they presented to the king a grant of a
* Rytn. 424 — 426. I suspect that the whole business was a fraud from the very beginning. The cardinal's petition to raise men was granted, and the agreement signed on the 18th of June; and yet on the 15th and 16th of the same month orders had been given to prepare quarters for him and his army in Kent, and to provide a fleet for their passage to foreign parts. on the king's service : in obsequium nostrum. Id. 418.
t Raynald. vl 73, 74. ; Rot. Parl. iv. 333.
112 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
second supply, took the opportunity to preface it with a panegyric on the virtues and services of the cardinal *.
It is generally believed that the duke of Gloucester, finding himself unable to exclude his rival from the cabinet by force, undertook to remove him by policy. So much is certain, that Beaufort, at the repeated in- stances of the council, consented to accompany the young king to France ; and that during his absence an ungene- rousattempt was made to ruin him forever. In a numerous A D< meeting of the peers, the king's attorney, on the ground 1431. that the dignity of cardinal was incompatible with the Nov. possession of a bishopric, proposed that he should be 6- removed from the see of Winchester, and condemned to refund its revenues from the day of his promotion in the court of Rome. Gloucester immediately rose, charged his uncle with having obtained for himself and his dio- cese a bull of exemption from the jurisdiction of Canter- bury, and contended that by such act he had incurred the penalties of premunire. But of this charge no satis- factory evidence was produced ; and the lords after a long debate resolved, that the cardinal should be heard in his own defence, and that in the interval the records should be searched for precedents, and the judges be Nov. required to deliver their opinions t. The duke, how- 28. ever, was not discouraged. Three weeks later the sub- ject was again brought forward in a meeting of the
* Facta prius special! recommendatione reverendissimi in Christo patris et domini, domini Henrici, permissions divina titulo S. Eusebii, presbvteri cardinalisde Anglia vulgariter nuncupati, per prolocutorem suum ulterius declarabant,&c. Ibid. p. 337. I quote the words of the record, because they have generally been misunderstood to mean, that the commons granted a second subsidy at the recommendation of the cardinal.
t Rym. x. 497. The objections now made were the cause, that when Eugeuius in 1440 named the archbishops of York and Koiien cardinals, both these prelates refused that dignity ; and to relieve them from all ap- prehension, Henry granted them the royal license to retain their bishop- rics together with the cardinalate, and the pope solemnly declared that it had not been his intention by introducing ttiem into the sacred college, to remove them from their churches of York and Rouen. The writs issued on this occasion show how difficult it was for ecclesiastics at" this period to secure themselves from the operation of the statutes of premunire. Rvm x. 753. 840.
CHAP. II.] HE BECOMES POPULAR. 113
privy council, in which the majority of the members belonged to his party : but the abbot of Chertsey, the cardinal's vicar general, pleaded successfully for de- lay, urging among other reasons the indecency of con- demning in his absence a prelate so nearly related to the king, and actually attendant on the royal person beyond the sea at the request of the council ; and the lords, though, to gratify the duke, they ordered the sealing of the writs of premunire and attachment, pre- vailed on him to consent that the execution should be suspended till the return of the king *.
It was not to be expected that Beaufort, with such writs hanging over his head, would venture upon English ground till he was secure of protection from the enmity of his nephew. He accompanied the young Henry from A. D. Rouen to Calais: but there, having obtained permission 1432. to travel to Rome, he took leave of his sovereign. His * e^- intended journey was probably a pretence. He felt too ' seriously interested in the proceedings against him in England to leave the coast of Flanders. Two months May after the arrival of Henry a parliament assembled, and 12, a bill of indemnity, to protect him from the penalties of premunire, if they had been incurred, was brought into the commons, and met with no opposition in its progress through either house. Shortly afterwards he appeared in his place, on a day when Henry was present t. He had obtained, he said, the king's leave to proceed to Rome at the requisition of the sovereign pontiff, when he heard that it was intended to charge him with treason in his absence. As his reputation was dearer to him than any other treasure, he had returned to face his accuser. Let him come forth, whosoever he might be, and he should find him ready to answer. After some delibera-
* For the knowledge of this circumstance, and for some alterations in the narrative. I am indebted to the researches of sir Harris Nicolas. Acts of Coun. iv. Pref. xxxi— xlii.
t We know not the exact order in which these events occurred. On the rolls the act of indemnity occupies the last place: but in the exemplifica- tion granted at the time to the cardinal it occupies the first. VOL. V. I
114 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
tion between the duke and the lords, it was replied; that no one appeared to make such a charge, and that the king held him to be a good and faithful subject. Beaufort thanked his sovereign for his gracious declara- tion, and demanded that it might be delivered to him in writing under the king's signature : not that he meant to plead it on a future occasion — he scorned to depend on any thing but his own innocence — but that it might be publicly known that no one dared to support such an accusation against him. His request was granted, and the declaration was entered on the rolls *.
A seizure of jewels, belonging to the cardinal, had lately been made at Sandwich, by order of Gloucester, and probably under the pretence of a false entry at the custom-house, as to their description or value t. Beau- fort now demanded the restoration of his property: which after a long debate was ordered in parliament on the following singular condition ; that he should de- posit 6000/. in the king's hands ; that Henry within the six next years should determine whether the seizure was just and legal or not, and that in accordance with such determination he should retain or repay the money. At the same time the cardinal made to the king a loan of 6000/., in addition to 8000/. previously advanced, to be repaid out of the first supply granted by parliament $.
From this period, during several years, the uncle and nephew, equally jealous of each other, laboured to strengthen their own influence by the advancement of their dependents. Gloucester on all occasions brought
* Rot. Parl. iv. 390, 391. Rym. x. 516, 517.
tThat the seizure was made by order of the duke appears to me plain from the proviso at the end of the act; and I think it probable that the jewels had been condemned in the exchequer under pretence of the entrv, from the non obstante clause. Rym. x. 517.
t Ibid. Two years later, in a great council, the king at the request of the lords admitted that he had no right in conscience to the jewels, and ordered the 6,000^. to be repaid : on which the cardinal lent him 1,000 marks towards the war in France. Acts of Coun. iv. 238. Notwithstand- ing the compromise in parliament the jewels had not been restored ; for the king paid for them to the cardinal 8.000/., their estimated value, on Juue 10, 1434. Pell Records, 425.
CHAP. II.] LIBERATION OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS. 11 5
forward Richard duke of York, in whom were now cen- tred the rights of the family of Clarence : the cardinal espoused on all occasions the interests of his nephew, Henry Beaufort, earl, and afterwards duke of Somerset. The former continued to preside in the cabinet, and to gratify his rapacity by obtaining grants from the crown : the latter annually aided the government with loans, and conducted in person almost every negotiation with foreign powers. Though these, as far as regarded peace, had been hitherto unsuccessful, they served to augment his popularity. The nation, exhausted by a long and ruinous contest, naturally transferred its attachment from the patron of war to the advocate of peace.
At length the two rivals made the grand trial of their strength. The duke of Orleans had often and earnestly 1439. sued to obtain his liberation, promising to exert all his influence to bend the French cabinet to proposals of peace. The cardinal favoured, the duke opposed his petition. The former argued, that in the present ex- hausted state of the nation, it was prudent to employ every probable expedient to put an honourable termina- tion to the war ; and that at all events the ransom of the duke would enable the king to continue the contest for two years without any additional burden to the people. Gloucester built his opposition on the abilities of the prisoner, and his acquaintance with the policy and re- sources of England. Charles and his son, he observed, were princes of slender capacity, guided by their minis- ters, and placed in opposition to each other by the in- trigues of their favourites : but were the duke of Orleans to obtain his liberty, he would unite the two parties, assume the direction of the cabinet, and teach the Eng- lish to condemn their own folly in supplying the enemy with so able a counsellor *. To lessen the influence of the cardinal, Gloucester delivered to the king a memorial, containing the real or supposed transgressions of that
* Rym. x. 765.
I 2
116 HEXRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
prelate, under twenty different heads: but though it is probable that out of so great a number some charges may have been founded in fact, the majority prove rather the enmity of the nephew than the guilt of the uncle *. The king read the memorial : but it seems not to have made on his mind any impression unfavour- able to Beaufort. The negotiation with the duke of Orleans continued ; and, as the council was divided in opinion, the arguments on both sides, according to the late arrangement respecting such cases, were laid be- fore Henry in writing. He decided in favour of the cardinal. Gloucester, who could ill brook his defeat, lodged on the rolls of chancery a solemn and argu- mentative protest against the measure t; and, to give Oct. the greater publicity to his disapprobation, retired to -8- his barge on the river, as soon as the mass began, during
* He accuses him of ambition in seeking the dignity of cardinal after he had been prohibited by the late king, and of contempt of the royal au- thority in receiving the papal bulls, retaining his bishopric of Winches- ter, and procuring an exemption from the authority of the primate, with- out the king's permission. But if these offences subjected him, as Glou- cester maintained, to the penalties of premunire, it should be remem- bered that they had been long ago pardoned by act of parliament. In the next place he complains of Beaufort's avarice, whose riches are too great to have been honestly procured. He makes, indeed, loans to the king, but seldom executes his engagements with fidelity, seeking pretexts to appropriate to himself the securities which he obtains, and defrauding ihe crown by means of his officers, who receive the customs in the port of Southampton. The cardinal's services in foreign embassies, so frequi-ntly applauded by the parliament, have, he maintains, produced advantage to no one but the king's enemies. By the congress at Arras he furtislied the means of reconciliation to Charles and the duke of Burgundy ; and by the late negotiation at Calais, to the duke of Burgundy and the duke of Bourbon. It was the private interest of his family that induced him to liberate without authority the king of Scots ; and some similar motive urges him now to insist so earnestly on the release of the duke of Orleans. In short he lias contrived to arrogate all the powers of government to him- self and his creature the archbishop of York; keeps at a distance from the king all those prelates and lords that are sincerely attached to the royal person ; and has on all occasions opposed the offers of the duke of Glou- cester to lead an army into France and recover for Henry the whole of his inheritance. See his memorial at length in Hall, (16i — 166; who has placed it in the wrong year. From internal evidence it appears to have been composed after the uegotiutiou at Calais in June, 1439, and before the renewal of that negotiation in May, 1440, or the assumption of the cardi- nalate by the archbishop of York on 4th February, 1440. I conceive there- fore that it was pi&sented to the king about the close of 1439. t Rym. x. 765—767.
CHAP. II.] DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER'S PROSECUTION. 117
which the duke of Orleans was to swear on the sacra- ment that he would fulfil his engagements*.
The duke was, however, destined to experience a still more cruel disgrace. Though, by his marriage with his mistress, he had legitimated their union, he had not raised her character in the estimation of the public ; and the pride, the avarice, and the licentiousness of dame Eleanor (so she was called) ultimately led to her ruin. There have been in all ages professors of the black art; nor is it so very long since men have had the good sense to laugh at their pretensions. One of /•"• the duke's chaplains, Roger Bolingbroke, was accused june' of necromancy, and exhibited with the instruments of 28. his art to the admiring populace on a platform before July St. Paul's, " arrayed in marvellous attire," bearing in 25- his right hand a sword, and in his left a sceptre, and sitting in a chair, on the four corners of which were fixed four swords, and on the points of the swords four images of copper f. The second night afterwards dame ^u'y Eleanor secretly withdrew into the sanctuary of West- minster, a step which naturally excited suspicion. She was confronted with Bolingbroke, who declared that it was at her instigation that he had first applied to the study of magic. From the inquiry which followed, it appeared that Eleanor was a firm believer in the mys- teries of the art ; that, to secure the affection of the duke, she had employed love-potions furnished by Mar- jory Jourdemain, the celebrated witch of Eye ; and that, to learn what would be her subsequent lot (her husband was presumptive heir to the throne) she had
* See Fenn's original Letters, vol. i. p. 3.
t Clericus farr.osissimus unus illorum in toto mundo in astronomia et arte nigromantica. Wil. Wyrces. 461. It was probably on account of his learning that he had been admitted into the duke's family. That prince is celebrated by contemporaries as the great patron of learned men. .•Eneas Sylvius, afterwards pope Pius II., in a letter to Adam Molins,
118 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
charged Bolingbroke to discover the duration of the king's life. Soon afterwards an indictment of treason was found against Bolingbroke and Southwell, a canon of St. Paul's, as principals, and the duchess as an acces- sary. The former were said, at the solicitation of the latter, to have formed an image of wax, and to have exposed it to a gentle heat, under the persuasion, that as the image melted away, the health of the king would gradually decline. The two women, however, were Oct. arraigned before the ecclesiastical court. Jourdemain, 21. as a relapsed witch, was condemned to be burnt : Elea- nor, out of twenty-eight articles brought against her, confessed some and denied others ; but when the testi- 23° ' mony of the witnesses had been heard, withdrew her plea, and submitted to the mercy of the court. She was compelled, on three days of the week, to walk hoodless, and bearing a lighted taper in her hand, through the Nov. streets of the capital ; and was afterwards confined a 13- prisoner for life, with an annuity of one hundred marks for her support*. Southwell died in the Tower before his trial : two others obtained their pardon : but Boling- Nov. broke was convicted and executed, acknowledging the 18. guilt of necromancy, but denying that of treason t. Though the duke himself does not appear to have been implicated in this ridiculous but tragical business, he must have deeply felt on account of the disgrace of his wife, and the notion generally entertained that he was looking forward to the succession for himself.
The character which the duke of Gloucester had attributed to Charles of France belonged with more justice to his own nephew, the king of England. Henry
* See different payments on her account in the Pell Records, 440, 1. 8. She is described as " Eleanor Cobham, lately called duchess of Glou- cester."
t Wil. Wyrcester, 460, 461 Ellis, 2nd scr. i. 107. Stow, 379, 380. Fabyau, 438, 439. Some writers have attributed the prosecution of dame Eleanor to Beaufort's enmity to her husband. But iheir assertion stands on the slightest foundation, a mere conjecture of Fox that it might be so, because the witcli lived, according to Fabyan, in the neighbourhood of Winchester, of which Beaufort was bishop. See Fuller, 174.
CHAP. II.] THE KIXG'S MARRIAGE. 119
was free from vice, but devoid of capacity. Gentle and inoffensive, he was shocked at the very shadow of in- justice, but easy and unassuming, was always ready to adopt the opinion of his advisers. He was now twenty- three years old : his council suggested that it was time he should marry ; and every one foresaw that the queen, whoever she might be, would possess the control over the weak mind of her husband. When the count of Armagnac quarrelled with the king of France, it was thought that the power of that nobleman might form a bulwark of defence to the province of Guienne ; and t> ^ commissioners were appointed to offer to his daughter 14-4'2. the hand of the English monarch*. But the transaction May did not elude the vigilance of Charles, who immediately ^ invaded the territories of the count, and made him and his family prisoners. Two years later the choice of Henry was directed towards Margaret, the daughter of Rene, king of Sicily and Jerusalem, and duke of Anjou, Maine, and Bar. In personal beauty she was thought superior to most women, in mental capacity equal to most men of the age. But it was not the charms of her person, nor the powers of her mind that recom- mended her to the notice of the king's ministers. She was a near relation to Charles, who had always treated her with marked partiality ; and a hope was cherished that through her mediation a satisfactory and perma- nent peace might be established between the two king- doms. The charge of conducting the negotiation was intrusted to William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, and was accepted by him with real or affected reluctance. He professed to believe himself unequal to the task. Per- haps he feared the subsequent resentment of Gloucester, who opposed the measure : perhaps he felt uneasy under the menaces of an act of parliament, passed in the reign of Henry V., which made it highly penal in any man
* Rym. xi 6—8. Heckinglou's Journal, 8vo. 1828.
120 HEXRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
to conclude a peace with Charles, unless the consent of the three estates in both realms had been previously obtained. To tranquillize his mind a singular instru- ment was signed by the king, and approved by the par- liament, which authorized the earl to conduct the treaty to the best of his abilities, and pardoned beforehand every error of judgment into which he might fall *. A. D. He met the duke of Orleans at Tours : a truce pre- 1444, paratory to a peace was concluded, and the ques- 1'eb. |.jon of jne marriage repeatedly discussed. On the part of the French no opposition was raised : but seve- ral alarming difficulties suggested themselves to the mind of the English negotiator. The father of the princess with all his sounding titles was in reality a pauper. This nominal king of Jerusalem and Sicily possessed not one foot of land in either country ; his duchies of Maine and Anjou were, and had long been, in the possession of the English ; and his territory of Bar was mortgaged to the duke of Burgundy for the payment of his ransom. Suffolk consented to take the lady without a marriage portion. But it was asked, could the king of England think of marryingthe daughter, while he kept the father out of his patrimonial dominions ? The earl felt the force of the objection, but foresaw the danger of making the cession. At length he yielded : it was stipulated that Maine and Anjou should be re- stored ; and at his return he prevailed on the majority of the council to approve of his conduct. In a general promotion of the chief nobility he was created marquess of Suffolk, and measuring back his steps, was solemnly ^ct- contracted, as proxy for Henry, with Margaret in the ~&< cathedral of Nanci. Justs and tournaments for eight 1445. days testified the joy of the court : Charles attended his April fair kinswoman some miles from the city, and parted 18. from her in tears. Her father accompanied her to Bar
•Rym. si 53.
A.. D. 144j/] ARREST AND DEATH OF GLOUCESTER. 121
le Due. She landed at Porchester, was married to Henry May at Tichfield, and crowned with the usual ceremony at30- Westminster *.
If Henry had flattered himself that his marriage would be followed by a peace, his expectations must have been grievously disappointed. Charles had de- termined to exclude, if it were possible, the English from the soil of France, and would only consent to short prolongations of the armistice, that he might improve the first opportunity, which should be offered by chance, or by the imprudence of the English monarch. His hopes were encouraged by the disputes in the council of his adversary, whose ministers were too busily em- ployed in struggles for power at home to support with vigour the national interests abroad. The queen had already gained the ascendancy over the easy mind of her husband ; and Suffolk, the favourite of them both, gradually supplanted all his colleagues. The cardinal, who had retired to his bishopric soon after the last dis- pute with his nephew, appeared no more on the scene, unless it were to relieve the urgent wants of the crown with advances of money. Gloucester still attended the council occasionally: but, if we may believe the un- authenticated accounts of some writers, was chiefly em- ployed in opposing the plans, and protecting himself against the intrigues of the favourite. We may how- ever question their accuracy. Certain it is that he pub- licly testified his approbation of the king's marriage ; and that, when Suffolk in parliament detailed the par- ticulars of the treaty, and the commons petitioned Henry to approve the conduct of that minister, the duke on his knees seconded their request *K Of his conduct June from that period we are ignorant ; and our ignorance 4. prevents us from unravelling the causes of the myste- rious transaction which followed. It may be that Glou- cester, harassed by the accusations of his enemies, had
* Will. Wyrees. 462. 463 } Rot. Parl. v. 73.
122 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
formed a plan to make himself master of the royal per- son*; or that Suffolk, to screen himself from the re- sentment of the duke, infused into the mind of Henry suspicions of the loyalty of his uncle*. However it were, Henry summoned a parliament to meet, not as usual, at Westminster, but at Bury St. Edmund's. The precautions which were taken excited surprise, and gave birth to numerous conjectures. The knights of the shire received orders to come in arms; the men of Suffolk were arrayed : numerous guards were placed round the king's residence ; and patrols during the
A' ?^ nisht watched all the roads leading to the town. The
1447.
Feb. duke of Gloucester left his castle of Devizes, and was
10. present at the opening of parliament: the next day he peh. was arrested in his lodgings on a charge of high treason,
1 1. by the lord Beaumont, constable of England ; and jrejj seventeen days later was found dead in his bed, without 28. any exterior marks of violence. Reports were spread
that he died of apoplexy, or of a broken heart : sus- picion whispered that he had been privately murdered $. Several knights and esquires in his service, most of
* We are told that he was accused in the council of illegal executions, and of having unjustly enriched himself at the expense of the crown. From tt singular instrument in Rymer it appears that he had been compelled to resign some possessions in Guienne, which were immediately given to John de Foix, who had married a niece of Suffolk ; both circumstances of a nature to irritate a proud and ambitious mind. Rvm. xi. 147, 22, Aug. 1446.
t What evidence the king had \veknownot: but nothing could per- suade him that his uncle was innocent. Whethamstede, 3G7-
J I am inclined to believe that he died a natural death, ou the authority of Whethamstede, abbut of St Alban's. That writer, who had received many benefits from the duke, was much attached to his memory, which he vindicates on all occasions, and equally prejudiced against his enemies, whom he calls canes, scorpiones, impii susurrones, p. 366. And yet, though he wrote when the royal party was humbled in the dust, and he had of course nothing to fear from their resentment, he repeatedly asserts that the duke fell ill immediately after his arrest, and died of his illness. Fecit eum arrestari, ponique in tarn aria custodia, quod prae tristitia decideret in lectum aegritudinis, et infra paucos dies posterius secederet in fata, p. 365. Of course lie could not be in perfect health on the evening preceding his death, as we are told by some writers. Again, Whethamstede says: " This great warrior and second David, prae tristitia " modo deposuit arma sua, recessitque ad regionem illam, ubi pax est ot " tranquilla requies sine inquietuduie ulla," p. 366. Also Hardjng, 400.
A. D. 1447.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE KING. 1'23
them Welshmen, had assembled at Greenwich on the very day of his arrest, and purposed to join him at Bury. They were, however, made prisoners, and five of their number were brought to trial, and convicted, on a charge July of having conspired to release dame Eleanor, to come 8. to the parliament in arms, to destroy the king, and to raise Gloucester to the throne*. But the humanity of Henry did not permit them to suffer. He had been much affected by a sermon of Dr. Worthington, a cele- brated preacher, on the forgiveness of injuries; and declared that he could not better prove his gratitude for the protection afforded to him by the Almighty, than July by pardoning in obedience to the Divine command the 14. persons who, so he believed, had plotted his destruction -K Dame Eleanor, on account of " her former misgovern- " ment of herself," was rendered, by act of parliament, incapable of claiming as the duke's widow J, and a great part of his estates was distributed among the marquess of Suffolk, and Suffolk's relatives and adherents $. But Gloucester, though he had no issue, left many friends, who laboured to clear his memory from the stain of treason. In each successive parliament they introduced a bill declaratory of his loyalty : but no arguments
• Rym. xi. 178. ElKs, 2nd ser. i. 108.
t They were, however, tied up, instantly cut down, stripped, and marked for dismemberment by the knife of the executioner. At that momeni Suffolk announced to them the king's mercy. Stow, 386. This pardon, however, has been represented, on mere conjecture, as an artifice of Suffolk to lessen the odium which lie had incurred by the murder of Glou- cester. But it is well known that Henry's humanity abhorred the punish- ment usually inflicted for treason. One day seeing the quarter of a persou, who had been executed, fixed on the Tower, heexelaimed : " Take it away. " It is a shame to use any Christian so cruelly on my account." (Black- man, 301.) In the present case the king asserts that the pardon had not been suggested to him by any person, either layman or clergyman, but that it originated I'rom religious considerations, principally because God seemed to have taken the cause into his own hands, having during the late year " touched and stricken certain of those who had been disloyal to " him ;" supremus judex nonnullas personas nobis inlideles tetigit et per- cussit. Rym. xi. 178. Who were the persons whom God had stricken ? Of course Gloucester was one ; and the expression is a proof that in the opinion of Henry he died a natural death; for this religious prince would never have used it, if the duke had been murdered. But who were the others ?
i Rot. I'arl. v. 135. { Rym. xi. 153.
124 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
could subdue the conviction or prejudice of the king ; the bill was repeatedly thrown out by the influence of the crown ; and, if the attempt at last succeeded, it was under the protection of the duke of York, who had by force invested himself with the powers of government *. Within six weeks the duke was followed to the grave by his uncle and former competitor, cardinal Beaufort. April That prelate, since his retirement from court, had }!• resided in his diocese, and applied himself to the exer- cise of his functions. That he expired in the agonies of despair, is a fiction, which we owe to the imagination of Shakspeare : from an eye-witness we learn that during a lingering illness he devoted most of his time to religi- ous exercises t. According to the provisions of his will, his wealth was chiefly distributed in charitable dona- tions : no less a sum than four thousand pounds was set aside for the relief of the indigent prisoners in the capital; and the hospital of St. Cross, in the vicinity of Winchester, still exists a durable monument of his munificence $.
« Whethamstede, 367, 3g8.
t Hall tells us that, according to liis chaplain John Baker, he lamented on his death-bed that money could not purchase life; and that death should cut him off when he hoped, now his nephew Gloucester was gone, to procure the papal tiara. Hall, p. 152. It is not, however, probable that such an idea could be entertained by a man eighty years of age, and labouring under a mortal disease. Three weeks after the death of the duke, the cardinal ordered himself to be carried into the great hail of his palace of Wolvesey, where the clergy of the city and the monks of the cathedral were assembled. There he sat or lay while a dirge was sung, the funeral ceremony performed, and his will publicly read. The next morning they assembled again : a mass of requiem was celebrated, ami his will was again read with the addition nf several codicils. He then took leave of all, and was carried back to his chamber. What was the object of this singular ceremony, I know not; but it was much admired by the writer, who was present; and sufficiently disproves the story of his having died in despair. Cont. Hist. Croyl. 582.
J His executor offered the king a present of SOOOi. Henry refused it, saying, " He was always a most kind uncle to me, while he lived. God "reward him! Fulfil his intentions I will not take his money." It was bestowed on the two colleges founded by the king at Eton "and in Cambridge. Ulackm. 294. It should be remembered that he received no interest on the monies which he lent to the king: whatever benefit he could derive from them, seems to have arisen from the forfeiture of pledges if not redeemed, and the repayment in gold instead of silver coin. Tims he demands "that paiement l>e maad in goldeof the coigne of Eng- " lumi of juste weighte : elles I not to be bouude to delyver ayeue the
A. D.I 447.] RICHARD, DUKK OF YORK. 125
The deaths of the duke and the cardinal removed the two firmest supports of the house of Lancaster, and awakened the ambition of Richard, duke of York, who by the paternal line was sprung from Edward Langley, the youngest son of Edward III., and by the maternal had become, after the death of the earl of March, in 1424, the representative of Lionel, the third son of the same monarch. But, if he now began to turn his eyes towards the throne, he had the prudence to conceal his intentions till the incapacity of Henry, or the impru- dence of his ministers, should offer him an opportunity of seizing the splendid prize. He had been appointed regent of France during five years : but the duke of Somerset, who sought to succeed to the influence of his relatives, the late cardinal and the duke of Gloucester, expressed a wish to possess that command ; and York was reluctantly induced to exchange it for the govern- ment of Ireland. The affront sank deep into his breast : he began to consider Somerset as a rival ; and, to pre- pare himself for the approaching contest, sought to win by affability and munificence the affections of the Irish.
If Henry felicitated himself on the acquisition of so accomplished and beautiful a wife, his dreams of happi- ness were disturbed by the murmurs of the people. It was said that his union with Margaret had been pur- chased at too great a price ; that no minister could be authorized to give away the inheritance of the crown ; and that the cession of Anjou and Maine, the keys of Normandy, would inevitably draw after it the loss of all the conquests made by the king's father. At first these complaints were despised : insensibly they grew louder and more frequent ; and Suffolk for his own protection jyia demanded to be confronted with his accusers in presence 25.
" seide weddes (pledges) thou«h the seide paiement were oflrede to be
" maad iu silver." The kiu<; in consequence c.rders the treasurer to make
lepaynifin " en ore a nos cou stages." Acts of Coun. iv. 234. 243.
• Kym. xi. 173. f Rym. 203—206.
t Rot. Parl. 147, 148.
J'26 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
of the king and the council. His request was granted ; the pleadings of each party were heard ; and the favou- June rite, as was to be expected, triumphed in the judgment i/- of Henry. A proclamation was published, declaring Suffolk to have acted the part of a true and loyal ser- vant, and imposing silence on his accusers under the penalty of losing the offices which they held under the crown *. Still, however, obstacles were opposed to the cession of Maine by the persons holding grants of land A. i). in that country ; and Charles, weary of the tergiversa- 14^8'tion of the English government, resolved to cut the knot , :ar' with the sword, and invested the capital of the province with an army. Henry was in no condition to recom- mence the war ; and the bishop of Chichester hastened to the scene of hostilities ; surrendered the whole pro- vince with the exception of Fresnoi, and obtained in return a truce to last for two years, and an assurance that the grantees of the English crown should receive from France a sum of money equal to ten years' value of the lands which they had lost. At the same time a protestation was made, that Henry did not resign his right to the sovereignty of the province, but only its actual possession, on condition that the revenue might be enjoyed by the father and uncle of his queen t.
Maine was soon filled with French troops, and the duke, alarmed at their approach, represented to the council that almost every fortress under his command had been suf- fered to fall into ruins ; that the three estatesof Normandy had, under the plea of poverty, refused any aid ; and that, unless speedy and plentiful assistance were furnished from England, the province would in all probability be lostl. Charles, however, did not allow his adversaries
TVT
Mar. tjme to mrnish such assistance. It had chanced that " ' the soldiers, who had withdrawn from the ceded terri- tory, finding themselves without quarters and without subsistence, surprised and pillaged Fougeres, a town in
* Rym. xi. 173. t Ibid. 203-6. J Rot Parl. 147.
CHAP. II.] THE LOSS OF ROUEN. 127
Bretagne. Somerset, aware of the consequences, has- tened to disavow the act ; and Charles, with equal promp- titude, demanded instant and satisfactory reparation. As, however, such reparation would have deprived him of a decent pretext for war before the end of the armis- tice, he was careful to estimate the damages at one mil- lion six hundred thousand crowns, a sum which he knew could not be raised. While the English envoys were offering excuses and remonstrances, Pont de 1'Arche, a May fortress within twelve miles of Rouen, was surprised by 16. a small band of adventurers, and a proposal was made to exchange it for Fougeres. This might have been ac- cepted ; but the indemnification of sixteen hundred thou- sand crowns was still demanded and refused ; and the king and the duke of Bretagne resolved to unite their A. D. forces, and sweep the English from the soil of France. 1449. The campaign opened with the surprisal of VerneuilJuly through the treachery of a townsman : soon afterwards ' Dunois, commonly called the bastard of Orleans, took the command ; and within two months one half of Nor- mandy was in his possession. The duke of Somerset, surrounded with disaffection and treason, unable to face the enemy in the field, and forbidden to hope for assist- ance from England, was compelled to shut himself up in the capital, and to behold from the walls of the castle the fall of the fortresses around him. Encouraged by his correspondents within the city, Dunois approached with his army : at the end of three days he decamped, was recalled by his friends, and had the satisfaction to Qct. see the walls scaled by his men between two towers, 16. which had been intrusted to the care of the citizens. Rouen would that day have been taken had not Talbot hastened with his banner to the spot, hurled the enemy into the ditch, and put the guards to the sword. But a garrison of twelve hundred men could not protect an extensive and populous city against a powerful army without, and a still more dangerous enemy within. The duke with a guard of sixty men was surrounded in the
128 HENRY vi. [CHAP. 11.
Oct. street by more than eight hundred armed citizens, who 18> extorted his assent to their proposal of treating with Charles. It was agreed between the archbishop and the king that Rouen should open its gates, that the Eng- lish should retire with all their effects, and that such as should prefer it might remain unmolested. The duke, however, refused these terms, and was besieged by the citizens and the French troops in the citadel. After tsvo fruitless attempts to obtain the conditions which had been rejected, he consented to pay fifty-six thousand francs, to surrender most of the fortresses in the district IV' of Caux for his ransom and that of his companions, and to deliver Talbot and several other knights as hostages for the faithful performance of his engagements *.
At length, the English ministry made a feeble at- tempt to succour the duke, who had fixed his head-quar- A. T). ters at Caen ; and sir Thomas Kyriel, having landed 14.">0. with three thousand men, and drawn about an equal APril number from the neighbouring garrisons, marched for- ward to join that commander. But near Fourmigni he ^rr was intercepted by the earl of Clermont ; and after a 18. contest of three hours his men were alarmed by the arrival of a new army under the constable of France. Some saved themselves by flight : the rest, after a bloody resistance, were either slain or made prisoners. As this was the first victory which, for many years, had been gained over the English in the open field, the account was industriously circulated throughout France, and was everywhere received with the loudest acclamations of joy. Avranches, Bayeux, Valonges, immediately opened their gates ; the duke was besieged in Caen ; June the town, after several breaches had been made, surren- dered ; and a capitulation was concluded for the citadel, unless it were relieved within a certain period. Cher- AUg. bourg alone remained to the English : it was taken after 12. a short siege ; and within the space of a year and six
* Monstrel. iii. 721. Hall, 163, 164. Will. Wyrcest. 465.
CHAP. II.] THE PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 129
days, Normandy, with its seven bishoprics, and one hun- dred fortresses, was entirely recovered by the French monarch *.
Charles, however, was not satisfied with the conquest of Normandy : the moment Cherbourg surrendered, his army began its march towards Guienne. The inhabit- ants were by principle attached to the descendant of their ancient dukes : but the absence of succour, and the pressure of immediate danger, induced the most opu- lent to submit, as the only means of preserving their honours and property. Not a man was sent from Eng- land for the protection of the duchy ; not a battle was fought to expel the invaders ; not a governor defended his charge against the enemy. Uniformly each fortress, as soon as a respectable force made its appearance, was surrendered. Before Christmas all the territory on the banks of the Dordogne had fallen into the possession of Charles : by the following August the French banner waved in triumph, from the mouth of the Garonne to A H the very borders of Spain. When nothing but Calais 1451. remained to England, Charles offered to treat of peace. The proposal was rejected with an idle threat, that Henry would never sheath his sword till he should have recon- quered all that had been lost t.
The public mind had been sufficiently exasperated by the cession of Maine and Anjou: but when that cession was followed by the invasion of Normandy ; when each messenger brought fresh accounts of the rapid progress of the enemy ; every tongue was employed in bewailing the fallen glory of England, and every place resounded with cries of vengeance on the head of the minister. He was described as the queen's minion, who, to please a foreign mistress, did not hesitate to betray his sove- reign, and to sacrifice the inheritance of the crown. To him were attributed the release of the duke of Orleans, the death of the duke of Gloucester, the poverty of the
« Monstrel. iii. 21—32. Hall, 165, 166. Will. Wvrcest. 4fi9. + Moustrel. iii. 32—33. Hall, 161, 162. VOL. V. K
130 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
treasury, and all the calamities which had befallen the English arms on the continent. In this state of public Nov. opinion a parliament had been called to provide for the de- 6- fence of Normandy : but it had hardly assembled.when the news of the loss of Rouen arrived to inflame the discon- tent of the people, and to multiply the embarrassments of the government. Six weeks were spent in violent but useless altercation ; and nothing more was concluded before the holidays than to send sir Thomas Kyriel with a small force to the aid of the duke of Somerset. But during the recess two events occurred which foreboded jjec the ruin of Suifolk. One evening William Tailbois was 24. discovered lurking with several armed men near the door of the council chamber. It was in vain that the favourite took him under his protection. Tailbois was committed to the Tower at the requisition of the lord Cromwell, the most active among the enemies of the minister ; was tried on a charge of plotting the death of that nobleman, and was condemned to pay him damages to the amount of three thousand pounds *. Soon after- wards the bishop of Chichester, keeper of the privy seal, proceeded to Portsmouth to pay the soldiers and sailors A. D. engaged for the expedition : but it was no sooner known 1450. that he was the man who had delivered Maine to the Jan. French king, than the populace rose, and the prelate lost 9' his life in the tumult t. Whether it was that this pre- late sought to divert their indignation from himself, or that the story was invented by the opponents of Suffolk, he is said to have declared before his death that the favourite was a traitor, who had sold Maine to the enemy, and had boasted of having as much influence in the French as in the English council. It was thought ne- cessary that the duke (he had lately been raised to that dignity) should notice this report ; and, as soon as the 22 " parliament assembled after the recess, rising in his place, he besought the king to recollect that his father had
• Will. Wvrcest. 466, 46?. t Will. Wyrcest. 467.
A. D. 1450.] CHARGES AGAINST SUFFOLK. 131
died in the service of his country at Harfleur, his elder brother had fallen in the battle of Azincourt, his second and third brothers had perished at Jargeau, and his youngest brother had expired a hostage in France ; that he himself had been a knight of the garter thirty years, had spent thirty-four years in arms, during one half of which time he had never visited his native country ; that he had been fifteen years sworn of the king's council ; that he was born in England ; that his inheritance, and the inheritance of his children and posterity, lay in this coun- try. Was it then possible, he asked, that for any pro- mises of an enemy he could become a traitor ? " Where- " upon," he added, " I beseech your highness in the " most humble wise I can bethink, that if any man will " charge me with the report aforesaid, or any other " thing against your royal person and land, he may " come forth, and say to me in these matters what he " wills ; and that in your presence, my sovereign lord, I " may be heard in my excusations and defences reason- " able, the which I trust shall be so open and so plain, " that your highness and your land shall be content of " me ; for God knoweth I am, and shall be, and never " was other but true to you, sovereign lord, and to your " land." At his request the speech was entered on the rolls *.
But by this time his enemies in the lower house had formed themselves into a powerful party, which was en- tirely, though secretly, guided by the counsels of the lord Cromwell t. Four days after the duke had so solemnly Jan. declared his innocence, a deputation from the commons ^g requested, that since, according to his own confession, he lay under the suspicion of treason, he might be im- mediately committed to the Tower. But the lords, hav- ing consulted the judges, replied that they had no power to order any peer into confinement, unless some specific Jan. charge were brought against him. Two days later the 2& «
* Rot. Part. v. 176.
t Domino Cromwell secrete laborante. Will, Wyrcest. 467.
K2
132 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
speaker returned, and accused him of having furnished the castle of Wallingford with stores and provisions for the purpose of aiding the king of France, who, he pre- tended, was then making preparations to invade the country. On this incredible and ridiculous charge he was arrested, and confined in the Tower. The arch- bishop of Canterbury immediately resigned the office of chancellor, which was given to the cardinal archbishop of York*.
Ten days were employed in framing the bill of im- peachment, which, when it was finished, left the delin- quency of the prisoner more problematical than before. Most, indeed, of our ancient writers, borne along by the torrent of popular prejudice, have pronounced him guilty ; but the improbability or insufficiency of the eight articles of treason alleged against him will establish his Feb. innocence in the mind of the impartial reader. The 7- first, and therefore we may suppose the most important charge, was, that he had plotted to dethrone the king, and place the crown on the head of his own son, whom for that purpose he intended to marry to the only daugh- ter of the late duke of Somerset, that he might be allied to the royal family ; and that for this purpose he had so- licited the aid of the French king. Next followed the usual charges of his having liberated the duke of Or- leans against the opinion of the council, and surrender- ed Maine and Anjou without consulting his colleagues; and the weakness of these accusations was bolstered up with vague assertions, that he had betrayed the king's secrets, and conveyed intelligence to the king's enemies. Sensible, however, of their inability to prove these eight Mai. articles, the commons a month afterwards sent to the 7. lords a new impeachment, in which the duke was charged with misprision of treason under sixteen heads, by im- provident waste of the public money ; by diverting the supplies from the purposes for which they had been ori-
« Rot. Parl.v. 172. 176, 177.
A. D. 1450.] SUFFOLK'S DEFENCE. 133
finally voted ; by advising the king to impoverish him- self by unnecessary grants ; by bestowing offices under the crown on suspicious or disloyal persons ; and by screening from the pursuit of justice a notorious outlaw, named William Tailbois. The duke was now removed from his prison to a tower in the garden of the palace, that he might be nearer the parliament *
On the day appointed for his answer he was intro- duced into the house of lords, and falling on his knees before the king, solemnly declared his innocence. To jyf ar> the first article he replied that it was ridiculous and im- 13. possible, and appealed to several of the peers present, who knew that he had intended to marry his son to a daugh- ter of the earl of Warwick. For the cession of Anjou and Maine, if it were a crime, he was not more respon- sible than the other lords of the council, or the other peers of the parliament ; since the first had authorised, the second had approved the measure. The remaining charges, he contended, were frivolous and vexatious, resting on no other proof than the reports raised by his enemies, or on acts of the council, emanating from many of his judges equally with himself. The second impeach- ment he did not notice t.
But whatever might be the guilt or innocence of Suffolk, it was evident that his enemies thirsted for his blood ; nor would the commons grant any supply till ( their cry for vengeance had been appeased. It became therefore the policy of the court to devise the means of satisfying them without endangering his life. He was again called before the king and lords ; and the chancellor, Mar. observing that he had not claimed the privilege of the peer- 17. age, asked if he had any thing more to say in his defence. It was his hope, he replied, that he had sufficiently esta- blished his innocence ; he had shown that the charges
« Rot. Parl v. 174—182. Will. Wyrcest. 468. In neither of these im- peachments is there any allusion to the death of the duke of Gloucester, a pretty plain proof that there was no evidence of his having been mur- dered, t Rot. Parl. v. 182.
134 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
against him were false, and some of them impossible ; he had denied the facts, the times, the places, and the conversations ; he repeated that he was as ignorant of them as " the child still in the mother's womb," and therefore threw himself without reserve on the will of his sovereign. The chancellor immediately resumed : " Sir, since you do not put yourself on your peerage for " trial, the king will not hold you either guilty or inno- " cent of the treasons with which you have been charged : " but with respect to the second impeachment, not as a " judge advised by the lords, but as one to whose control " you have voluntarily submitted, he commands you to " quit this land before the first of May, and forbids you " ever to set your foot during the five next years on his " dominions either in this kingdom or beyond the sea." The lords immediately protested by the mouth of the constable, the viscount Beaumont, that this was the act of the king alone, and should form no precedent to bar them or their heirs of the privilege of the peerage. The parliament was soon afterwards prorogued, to meet again in a month's time in the city of Leicester*.
During these proceedings the public mind had been
kept in a continual ferment ; and, as soon as the king's
decision was published, the most incredible reports were
circulated, inflammatory libels were affixed to the doors
of the churches, and the life of the duke was openly
threatened t. To intercept him on his discharge from.
i^" confinement two thousand persons assembled in St.
Giles's : but though they surprised his servants, the
object of their hatred fortunately escaped, and proceeded
Apr. to his estates in the county of Suffolk $. On the day
30. fixed for his departure he assembled the knights and
* Rot. Parl. v. 182, 183. If the king ordered this judgment to be pronounced of his own authority, it was certainly illegal : but it appears to have been in consequence of a compromise between the two parties. Wyrcester says it was with the consent of parliament (p. 468) ; and the contiuuator of the history of Croyland hints that Suffolk's enemies intended to make away with him before he could leave the realm. Insidias ei ponentes ad tempus, p. 525. t K yra. xi. 268. t Will. Wyrcest. 468.
A. D. 1459.] SUFFOLK MURDERED AT SEA. 135
esquires of the neighbourhood, and in their presence swore on the sacrament that he was innocent of the crimes with which he had been charged by his enemies *. At the same time he wrote to his son a most eloquent and affectionate letter, laying down rules for his conduct, and inculcating in the most forcible terms the duty of piety towards God, loyalty to the king, and obedience to his mother. Whoever has read this affecting composi- tion will find it difficult to persuade himself that the writer could have been either a false subject or a bad man t. He sailed from Ipswich with two small vessels, and sent a pinnace before him to inquire whether he might be permitted to land in the harbour of Calais. But the pinnace was captured by a squadron of men of Apr. war ; and immediately the Nicholas of the Tower, one 30. of the largest ships in the navy, bore down on the duke's vessels. He was ordered on board, and received on deck by the captain with the ominous salutation of "Wel- " come, traitor." It is probable that a messenger was sent on shore to announce his capture, and require in- structions ; for the duke remained two nights in the Nicholas, during which he spent much of his time in conversation with his confessor, wrote a long letter to the king, and underwent a mock trial before the sailors, by whom he was condemned to suffer death. On the May second morning a small boat came alongside, in which 2. were a block, a rusty sword, and an executioner : the duke was lowered into it ; and the man, telling him that he should die like a knight, at the sixth stroke smote off his head. His remains were placed on the sands near Dover, and watched by the sheriff of Kent, till the king ordered them to be delivered to his widow, by whom they were interred in the collegiate church of Wingfield in Suffolk!.
» Will. Wyrcest. 469.
t It is published amons; Fenn's original Letters, i. 33.
: Will. Wyrcest. 469. 477- Croyl. cont. 525. T«o letters, apud Fenn, i. 38—45. It may be observed that there are many mistakes in the re- marks of the editor on these letters
136 HENRY vi. [CHAP, i
From the preceding narrative it is evident that there existed a party which had sworn the destruction of this unfortunate nobleman. Not deterred by the failure of the prosecution in parliament, nor by the escape of their victim from St. Giles's, they even despatched an armed forced to assassinate him at sea. But of the leaders of this party we know no more than that they were persons of the first consideration in the state ; and of their im- mediate motives we are entirely ignorant. By some writers the murder has been attributed to disappointed ambition, which could not brook the ascendancy of the favourite in the councils of his sovereign : by others to the policy of the duke of York, who deemed it necessary to remove so faithful a minister before he should openly take any measure to place himself on the throne. The last hypothesis has been thought to derive confirmation from the fact, that some of the noblemen, who after- wards espoused his interests, came to the parliament at Leicester, accompanied by hundreds of armed men *.
The news of this tragical event plunged the king and queen into the deepest distress : in a few days they were awakened from their sorrow by the danger which threatened themselves. Whether the men who had taken the life of Sutfolk had any part in kindling this flame which now burst forth, or whether it sprung spon- taneously from the irritation of the public mind, it is difficult to determine. Intelligence had just arrived of the defeat of sir Thomas Kyriel ; the commons in several counties threatened to rise and reform the government ; and the people of Kent were goaded to madness by repeated rumours of the signal vengeance which Henry had determined to inflict on them for having furnished May the ships which intercepted his friend. It was a crisis 28. most favourable to the views of artful and designing
* " Upon the iiiith day of this monthe the erle of Deveneschire como hydre wt. iiic. Warrewyke wt Letters, i. 44 46.
" hydre wt. iiic. men well byseen, and upon the morrow after my lord of '• Warrewyke wt. iiiic. and moo. Leycestr the vi. day of May." Peon's
A. D. 1450.] DEMANDS OF THE INSURGENTS. 137
men ; and an Irish adventurer, whose real name was John Cade, but who had assumed that of Mortimer, cousin to the duke of York, seized the moment to unfurl the standard of insurrection. At the head of twenty June thousand men he marched to Biackheath. Henry in- 1 ' • stantly dissolved the parliament, and summoning his forces, advanced to London *. Many messages passed between the king and the feigned Mortimer, who deli- June vered the wishes of his followers in two papers, entitled ^0. " The Complaints of the Commons of Kent," and " The " Requests by the Captain of the great Assembly in " Kent." The complaints stated that the king purposed to punish the men of Kent for a murder of which they were not guilty ; that he gave away the revenues of the crown, and took for his own maintenance the goods of the people ; that he excluded from his council the lords of his own blood, to make place for men of low rank, who oppressed his subjects ; that the sheriffs, under-sheriffs, and collectors of taxes, were guilty of intolerable extor- tions ; that in the election of knights of the shire the free choice of the people was superseded by the influence of the lords ; and that numerous delays and impediments had been introduced to prevent the speedy administra- tion of justice. Their "requests" demanded, that the relatives of the duke of Suffolk should be banished from the court, and the dukes of York, Exeter, Buckingham, and Norfolk, with the earls and barons, be employed about the king's person ; that the traitors should be punished who contrived the death of the duke of Glou- cester, of the holy father the cardinal, of the duke of Exeter, and of the duke of Warwick, and who occasioned the loss of Normandy, Guienne, Anjou, and Maine ; and that all extortions should be abolished, and the great extortioners, Sleg, Cromer, Lisle, and Robert Est, be brought to justice t.
Henry had levied between fifteen and twenty thousand
* Will. Wyrcest. 469, 470.
t See both" these instruments in Stow, 388 — 390.
138 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
,T,me men, with whom he marched to suppress the insurgents ;
•23. but Cade withdrew before the king's arrival, and was pursued by a detachment of royalists under sir Hum- phrey Stafford. At Sevenoaks he turned on his pur-
', 'me suers, put them to flight, killed their commander, and arrayed himself in the knight's armour. When the news was brought to Blackheath, the royalists began to waver : the requests of the Kentish men they now thought reasonable : and it was asked why they should fight against their own countrymen, who had taken up arms in defence of the national liberties. At the persuasion of the lords, who distrusted, or pretended to distrust, the fidelity of their followers, Henry sent to the Tower his chamberlain the lord Say, one of the most obnoxious ministers, disbanded his forces, and retired to the castle
June of Kenilworth. Lord Scales, with a thousand men, un-
29. dertook the defence of the Tower; Cade resumed his
•Jub' former position on Blackheath, and two days later took possession of Southwark*. The mayor had summoned a common council, in
j,,ly which, after a long debate, it was resolved to offer no re-
3. sistance ; and in the afternoon Cade entered in martial array, cutting with his sword the ropes of the drawbridge as he passed. He preserved the strictest discipline among his followers, and in the evening, to prevent, dis-
j, , , order, led them back into the Borough. He acted in
4. the same manner the next day ; but compelled the mayor and judges to sit in the Guildhall ; and having, by some means which are not mentioned, got possession of lord Say, arraigned him before them. Bills of indict- ment were immediately found against the prisoner, the duchess of Suffolk, the bishop of Salisbury, Thomas Daniel, and several others, who in the parliament at Leicester had been pointed out as the accomplices of the late minister. Fortunately the rest were absent: lord Say pleaded the privilege of the peerage, but was
• Will. Wyrcest. 470. Fab. 449, 450.
A, D. 14iO.] FATE OF CADE AND HIS FOLLOWERS. 139
hurried to the standard in Cheapside, and immediately beheaded. His son-in-law Cromer, sheriff of Kent, was soon afterwards discovered, and underwent the same fate *.
On the third day a few houses were pillaged ; and the citizens fearing the same violence on the next morning, determined with the assistance of lord Scales to defend the bridge and exclude the insurgents. Cade received July intelligence of their design, and a bloody conflict en- 5- sued during the night : sometimes the citizens, some- times the men of Kent prevailed : but at the end of six hours, the royalists were in possession of the bridge, and a short truce was taken by mutual consent. The archbishops of Canterbury and York, who were in the Tower, deemed this a favourable moment to divide the insurgents ; and the bishop of Winchester crossing the river, carried with him pardons under the great seal for all who should immediately return to their own homes t.juiy The offer, after some demur, was gratefully accepted, 6. and the army immediately dispersed. Cade, however, ju]y repenting of his credulity, again unfurled his banner, 8. and found men prepared to rejoin it. But their number was too small to attack the city : they retired from Southwark through Deptford to Rochester, and there quarrelled among themselves respecting the partition of their plunder. The captain in despair mounted hisjuiy horse, and fled in the direction of Lewes, but was hotly 9. pursued by Iden, the sheriff of Kent, and taken and be- headed in a garden at Heyfield$. The chief of his fol-
* Will. Wyrcest. 471. Fab. 451. But the bishop of Salisbury had suffered already. He had been pointed out to public resentment by the commons at Leicester, and on the 29th of June was seized by his own tenants at ICddin<;ton, just as he had finished mass, was dragged out of the church in his vestments, and carried to an eminence, where one of them clove his skull with a bill. Fab. 448. 453. Stow, 392.
t Will. Wyrcest. 470. Fenu's Letters, 60. Fab. 452, 453.
J That Cade accepted the pardon, but afterwards repented of it, is stated iu the proclamation against him, dated July 10. (Apud Stow, p. 391.) Hence in his attainder no mention is made "of any act of treason committed by him before the 8th of July (Rot. Parl. v. 224). Iden con- veyed the dead body to London for the satisfaction of the king and coun-
140 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
July lowers were afterwards executed ; of whom some, if we •*• may believe a subsequent act of attainder against the duke of York, confessed on the scaffold that it had been their intention to place that prince on the throne *.
During his absence the interests of the duke had been intrusted to the care of his friends : now it was deemed time that he should appear on the scene in person. Leaving his government of Ireland without permission, he landed in England, and, to the terror of the court, Sept. hastened towards London with a retinue of four thousand 1. men. On his road through Northamptonshire he sent for William Tresham, the speaker of the late house of com- mons, a partisan who had distinguished himself by his zeal in the prosecution of Suffolk : but Tresham had hardly left his own home, when he was intercepted and murdered by a party of armed men belonging to the lord Grey of Ruthyn, probably in revenge of the part which he had acted in procuring the death of the late minister. York pursued his journey, was introduced to Henry, behaved with insolence in his presence, extorted a promise that he would summon a parliament, and in the interval be- Sept. fore its meeting retired to his castle of Fotheringay t. 30. He was scarcely gone, when the duke of Somerset re- Oct. turned from France. The king and queen hailed his arrival as a blessing. He was the nearest of kin to Henry J, and it was hoped that his fidelity and services would prove a counterpoise to the ambition of Richard. But unfortunately he came from the loss of Normandy, and in the opinion of the people was already numbered
cil, and claimed the reward of 1000 marks for himself and his companions according to the promise in the king's proclamation. Hym. xi. 2/5. Pell Records, 467. * Rot Par), v. 346.
t " Unto youre presence, and there bette down the speres and walles in " your chamber,'1 &c. Ibid.
J John of Ghent, duke of Lancaster.
John Beaufort, earl of Somerset.
Henry, John, Edmund,
earl of Somerset, duke of Somerset, duke of Somerset, died young. died 1441.
CHAP. II.] DISPUTES IX PARLIAMENT. 141
among those who were supposed to have sold to the enemy the inheritance of the crown *.
The session of parliament was unquiet and stormy. Nov. The rival leaders boldly opposed each other ; and, though *• the life of Somerset was threatened, though his treasures were pillaged by the populace, his opponents could not obtain any decided advantage. Young, one of the members for Bristol, moved that, as Henry was without children, the duke of York should be declared heir ap- parent : but the motion met with very feeble support, and the mover was afterwards committed to the Tower t. A bill was carried through the lower house to attaint the memory of the duke of Suffolk, and another to re- move from the court the duke of Somerset, and the duchess of Suffolk, and most of the king's friends : but Henry refused his assent to the first $, and replied to the other, that he could not dispense with the services of the lords, and a few others who had for years been near his person, but would order the rest to absent themselves for twelve months, during which their conduct might be investigated, if any charge could be brought against them $. At the same time the duchess of Suffolk, and the persons indicted of treason at the Guildhall during the insurrection, demanded to be brought to trial, and were instantly acquitted ||.
During the parliament the duke of York held frequent A. ». consultations with his friends ; the result of which was a 1451.
* Will. Wyrcest. 473. Rot. Parl. v. 211. f Will. Wyrcest. 475.
f In this bill was adopted the language of the Kentish insurgents: that Suffolk h;id been the cause of the arrest and death of the duke of Glou- cester; and of " abridging the days of other princes of the blood." Rot. Parl. v. 226. Yet while he was alive, they never ventured to pro- duce these charges; an omission which, considering all the circum- stances, is a proof of Suffolk's innocence. The other princes mentioned in Cade's memorial were, the duke of Warwick, who was descended from Edmund Langley duke of York, and died llth June, 1445; cardinal Beau- fort, who died April llth, 1447; and Holand duke of Exeter, who had married the grand-daughter of the duke of Gloucester, and died 5th of August. H47. § Rot. Parl. v. 216.
|| The duchess was tried before the peers, according to an act passed in 1U2 (Rot. Parl. v. 56); the rest before the judges. Will. Wyrcest 475. The murderers of Tresham were outlawed. Rot. ParL 211.
142 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
determination to appeal to the sword on the first favour- able occasion *. For several months the nation was agitated by quarrels between the adherents of the two parties, by acts of violence and bloodshed, and by fruit- less attempts to effect a reconciliation t. At length the duke repaired to his castle at Ludlow ; and while, under the pretext of opposing the pernicious projects of the duke of Somerset, he raised the tenants of the house of Mortimer in the marches of Wales, published a procla- mation containing strong professions of loyalty, and offered to swear fealty to Henry on the sacrament before A. D. the bishop of Hereford, and the earl of Shrewsbury. 1452. The king at the head of an army immediately marched ,,an' against him : but York, avoiding the direction of the Feb. royalists, advanced to London by a different road, and 16. finding the gates shut against him, proceeded as far as Dartford, in the hope of alluring to his standard the men of Kent. Henry followed him, and from Black- heath sent the bishops of Winchester and Ely to demand an explanation of his conduct. The duke's answer began with the usual protestation of his loyalty ; he then com- plained that both before his departure to Ireland, and since his return to England, attempts had been made to arrest him for treason ; and concluded with asserting
* He had married Cecily, daughter of Nevil, earl of Westmoreland, and grand daughter of John of Ghent, This marriage secured to him the ser- vices of the earl of Salisbury, and the lords Falconberg, Bergavenny, and Latimer, the brothers of his wife. He was also supported by the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Devon, and the lords Cromwell and Cobham.
t I have omitted in the text the three principal events of the year, as, in our ignorance of their causes, it is difficult to connect them together. 1. In the spring the earl of Devon besieged the castle of Tauntou, held by the lord Bonville, a royalist. The duke of York joined the earl, and Bonville surrendered. Wyrcest. 475. 2. In August, Thomas Nevil, son of the earl of Salisbury, married a niece of lord Cromwell. In returning from the marriage, Percy lord Egremont quarrelled with the earl of Salisbury near York. It was, says the writer, the commencement of the greatest calami- ties to England. Id. p. 476. 3. A great council was held at Coventry. Several men were killed in an affray between the servants of Somerset and the armed townsmen. It was proposed to arrest the duke of York. The duke of Buckingham, a stanch loyalist, prevented it. It was agreed that all differences should be left to the decision of the peers. Id. 476. Fenu's Letters, i. 26. The editor appears to me to have affixed to this letter a wrong dale.
A. D. 1452.] YORK RAISES FORCES AND SUMMITS. 143
that he was come to vindicate his innocence, and set the question at rest for ever. The king in reply reminded him, that since he had unlawfully slain the bishop of Chichester *, his adherents had openly boasted of his pretended claim to the succession, whence it was not surprising if the advisers of the crown should occasionally adopt measures of precaution : but added, that to set his mind at ease on that subject, he still held him to be a true and faithful subject, and his own well-beloved cousin. York now demanded that all persons " noised " or indicted of treason " should be apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower till they could be brought to trial ; and the king replied that a new council should be appointed, in which he should be included, and that all matters in debate should be decided by the majority of that council •(•. To satisfy him, however, he ordered the duke of Somerset into custody ; on which York disbanded his army, and submitted to visit Henry in his tent un- M ar. armed and bare-headed. There the two rivals met ; the J> charge of treason was retorted from one to the other ; and the duke, as he left the king, was immediately arrested. Had the advice of Somerset been followed, he would have been brought to his trial, or terrified into a confession, and executed. But Hemy recoiled from the idea of shedding the blood of a relation : the report, that the earl of March was advancing with an army to liberate his father, intimidated the council, and an offer of his liberty was made to the duke on condition that he would again swear fealty to the king. He took the oath on the sacrament in St. Paul's before the lords and a numerous audience, and was permitted to retire to his castle of Wigmore $.
At this moment, when Henry was relieved from all apprehension of a contest for the throne, arrived a de-
* The murder of the bishep at Portsmouth was attributed to the emis- saries of the duke.
t These instruments have been preserved by Stow, 393— 395. The last is also in Fenn, i. 65.
| See the oath in Stow, 395. Whethamstede, 349, and Rot. Varl. v. 346^
144 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II
putation from the inhabitants of Guienne, who, impa- tient under the yoke of their new masters, offered to renew their allegiance, and solicited the aid of an English army. The invitation was accepted with eagerness, and the command given to Talbot, the veteran earl of Shrews- Q . bury, who had reached his eightieth year. With four 17. thousand men he sailed to Guienne ; his son lord Lisle brought him a reinforcement of an equal number ; and before winter Bordeaux, with the whole of the Bordelais, and Chatillon in Perigord, had submitted. The next spring he opened the campaign with the capture of the town of Fronsac : but there the tide of victory turned ; the French marshals Loheac and Jalagnes advanced with twenty-two thousand men ; and the count of Pen- thibvre invested the important fortress of Chatillon. Talbot hastened to its relief: early in the morning he surprised and defeated a numerous body of the enemy : but the fugitives gave the alarm, and the French retired A D_ into an intrenched camp lined with three hundred pieces 1453. of cannon*. Talbot, yielding to the ardour of his fol- J"ly lowers, ordered an assault ; and his opponents were seen •^ to waver, when the count of Penthievre, arriving with a new body of men, determined the fate of the battle. The English commander, who had his horse killed under him, and his leg broken, was slain as he lay on the field, with a bayonet ; his son, though repeatedly urged to retire, fell in attempting to rescue his father ; and the army, after the dsath of its leader, dispersed in every direction. A thousand men, who had fought their way into the fortress, were made prisoners.
From Chatillon Charles, who now took the command,
pursued his victorious career till he reached the gates of
Bordeaux. That city was obstinately defended by six
Oct. thousand armed citizens, and four thousand English :
19. but famine compelled them to surrender after a siege of
* jEneas Sylv. oper. p. 441. He says these bombards had been brought on carriages, and discharged three hundred stones into the midst of the English.
A. D. 1453.] BIRTH OF A PRINCE. 145
seven weeks, on condition that the English should retire with all their property, and the natives with a few ex- ceptions should be received under the protection of the conqueror. From that moment 'Guienne was incorpo- rated with the dominions of the French monarch *.
While the nation was intoxicated with joy caused hy Mar. the first success of Talbot, Henry summoned a parlia- 6- ment, which, besides liberal supplies of money, voted an army of twenty thousand archers to be raised and paid at the expense of the several counties t. It had been intended that the king should put himself at the head of this force : but the design was at first postponed, and ultimately abandoned on account of the declining state of his health. If that circumstance raised, another oc- curred to lower the hopes of the Yorkists. In autumn the Qct queen was delivered of a son, whom she called Edward. 13. It was in vain that the king's enemies attempted to throw doubts on the legitimacy of the young prince. Their suspicions were silenced by the concurrent voice of the nation ; and the prospect of an undisputed suc- cession was hailed with joy by the friends of tranquil- lityt
Unfortunately, however, Henry by this time had sunk into a state of mental, as well as bodily incapacity §. His melancholy situation, which could not be concealed, rendered it necessary to prorogue the parliament, and recalled the duke of York into the cabinet. He soon Nov. gained the ascendency over his rival, and Somerset was 25.
* Monstrel. iii. 41—59. Hall, 165, 166. .Eneas Sylv. ibid.
t Rot. Parl. 230 — 233. On what principle the different proportions were fixed is not mentioned : but if on that of population, it will follow that Norfolk contained more inhabitants than any oilier county. It had to raise 1012 men: the next in number were, Lincoln 910, York 713, Kent 575, and Wilts 4/8. The cities and towns, which were counties at the same time, were rated as follows: London 1137, York 152, Norwich 121, Bristol 86. Coventry /6, Newcastle 53, Hull 50, Southampton and Lincoln 44. and Nottingham 30. Ib. t Fab. 456.
§ Apud Claryngtone subito occidit in gravem infirmitatem capitis, ita quod extractus a mente videbatur. Wyrcest 4/7- Ut sensu pro tempore
careret et memoria nee valeret pedibus pergere, nee sursum erigere
verticem, nee de loco in quo sedebat, bene se movere. Whetharu. 3i9.
VOL. V. L
146 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II
A. p, committed to the Tower*. When the parliament re- j.^- assembled, he opened the session in the king's name, j| ' with the title of his lieutenant. The commons had al- ready shown themselves stedfastly attached to the royal cause : but the duke had contrived to throw into prison their speaker, Thomas Thorpe, one of the barons of the exchequer. In an action for trespass (whether it were real or feigned is unknown) he had obtained a verdict in his own favour with damages to the amount of one thousand pounds ; and Thorpe had been committed to the Fleet, till he should give security for that sum, and Feb. PaY a proportional fine to the crown. It was in vain 16. that the commons petitioned for the release of their speaker; the lords refused their assent; and a new speaker was chosen t. From the confused order and im- perfect nature of the notices entered on the rolls, it is difficult to collect the proceedings of this session of par- og ' liament. It appears that many of the lords had absent- ed themselves, and were compelled to attend by heavy Mar fines $. The lord Cromwell obtained an act to bind the 9- duke of Exeter to keep the peace under a severe penal- ty $ ; and the earl of Devonshire, another of the Yorkists. xj having been charged with treason, was tried and acquit- 14. ted by his peers. The duke, conceiving that the accu- sation was aimed at himself, arose and said : " As far as " this indictment toucheth me, I say that it is false and " untrue ; and that I am, all the days of my life have " been, and to the end thereof shall be, true and humble
* Rym. xi. 362. Rot. Parl. v.
t Rot. Pail. v. 238 — 240. The lords consulted the judges, who declined to give their opinion, " for the court of parliament is so high and so " mighty in its nature, that it may make law, and that that is law, it " may make no law : and the determination and knowledge of that privi- " lege belon<{eth to the lords of parliament and not to the justices." Ibid.
J Ibid. 248. The duke of Somerset and lord Cobham were exempted, because they were in prison. Cobham was a partisan of York's.
§ Ibid. 264. From Fenn's letters it appears that the duke of York, in one part of this year, had the duke of Exeter in his own custody ; and that he was afterwards at large, and had come secretly to London. " God," adds the writer, " send him good council hereafter." Fenn, i. 72. 76. He was afterwards confined at Pontefract. Rym. xi. 365.
A. D. 1454.] YORK IS MADE PROTECTOR. 147
" liegeman to the king, my most dread sovereign lord, " and never privily nor apertly thought nor meant the " contrary, whereof I call unto witness God, and all the " saints of heaven." The lords of course replied, that they gave full belief to so solemn a protestation *.
A committee of peers was now chosen to visit the king ; and as soon as they had reported that he was inca- pable of transacting business, an act was passed appoint- ing the duke protector with a yearly salary of two thou- sand marks. The Lancastrians, however, had sufficient Mar. influence to preserve the king's rights inviolate. It was 27> declared, agreeably to former precedents, that the title of protector imported no authority ; that it merely gave the precedence in the council, and the command of the army in time of invasion or rebellion ; that it was revo- cable at the will of the king ; that it should not preju- dice the rights of his son, who had already been created prince of Wales and earl of Chester ; and that, if Henry's incapacity were permanent, the protectorate should devolve on the prince, as soon as he came of age t. ' The custody of the sea was intrusted for seven years to Api. five noblemen selected from the two parties, the earls of 16. Salisbury, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Wiltshire, and the lord Stourton $, but the government of Calais, a most important asylum in case of misfortune, was taken from
* Rot. Part. v. 249, 250. t Ibid. 242—244.
t Ibid. 244 — 246. Of the manner in which provision was usually made for the safeguard of the sea, we have an instance on the rolls for the year 1443. The fleet consisted of 8 large ships with fore stages, each earning 150 men ; 8 barges, carrying 80 ; 8 balyngers, 40; 4 pinnaces, 25. Each of the large ships had a captain, who was a knight, besides a master. The barges and balyngers had also masters. The expense of provisions for each man was estimated at two-pence the day, his pay at two shillings the month. The masters had in addition a reward of 3s. 4d. per month. The ships were to be on the sea from Candlemas to Martinmas ; and in case they made any captures, the value was to be divided into two halves, of which one belonged to the masters, quarter-masters, shipmen and sol- diers ; the other was to be subdivided into three equal parts, of which two were to be given to the owners of the ships, barges, balyngers, and pin- naces, and one to the captains, by whom it was to be apportioned into eight shares, two for the commander-in-chief, and one for each of the others. Ibid. 59, 60.
L 2
148 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
Somerset, and bestowed on the duke of York for the same period *.
The king's malarly was not permanent. About Christ- mas he recovered his health, and with it the use of his reason t. Though he received the duke of York with his usual kindness, he put an end to the protectorate, and liberated the duke of Somerset from the Tower. A. r>. At first that nobleman gave bail for his appearance at 1455. Westminster to answer the charges laid against him: *"• but on his appeal to the council that he had beeii com- mitted without any lawful cause, the recognizances were discharged. Henry laboured most earnestly to recon- Mar. cjje tne two dukes. As the government of Calais, which had been taken from Somerset and given to York, was likely to prove a new source of dissension, the king as- sumed it himself, and prevailed on both to submit, under the penalty of twenty thousand marks, their other dif- ferences to the decision of eight arbitrators, who should present their award before the twentieth of June $.
York, however, had no intention to await that award,
but took the first opportunity to retire from court, invited
his friends to meet him in the marshes of Wales, and
soon saw himself at the head of threfe thousand men,
with the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Salisbury, and his
son the celebrated earl of Warwick. At the news Henry
May left London, and early the next morning, as he entered
22. St. Alban's, was surprised to behold the banners of the
Yorkists advancing towards the town. They halted in
* Rot. Parl. v. 254—256. On the death of Kempe, archbishop of Canter- bury and chancellor, York gave the seals to his great friend, the earl of Salisbury, Ap. 2. 1454. See R)m. xi. 344.
t Fenn's letters, i. 80. '• And on the Monday afternoon the queen came " to him, and brought my lord prince with her, and there he asked what " the prince's name was, and the queen told him Edward, and then he " held up his hands and thanked God thereof. And he said he ne\er " knew till that time, nor wist not what was said to him, nor wist not " where he had been, whilst lie hath been sick till now." Ibid.
J Rym. 361— 3f>4. The arbitrators were the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of Ely, the duke of Buckingham, the earls of Wiltshire and Worcester, the Viscount Beaumont, and the lords Cromwell and Stourton. Ibid. The duke of Exeter was also liberated from his confinement in the castle of Pontefract. Rym. xi. 365.
A. D. 1455.] BATTLE OF ST. ALBAN'S. 149
a neighbouring field ; and, after a pause of three hours, sent a message to the king with strong professions of at- tachment and loyalty, but demanding the immediate surrender of Somerset and his associates, and declaring that they would die themselves, or pursue their enemies to the death. Henry refused with firmness, declaring that, " sooner than abandon any of the lords who were " faithful to him, he was ready that day in their quarrel " to live and die*." Though the barriers at the entrance of the town were gallantly defended by the lord Clif- ford, Warwick forced his way through the gardens into the street, and his followers rent the air with shouts of A Warwick ! a Warwick ! At the sound alarm spread among the royalists ; the barriers were abandoned ; the Yorkists poured through the opening ; and the victory- was won.
Henry had taken refuge in the house of a tanner, where the duke immediately visited him. He bent his knee with apparent humility, bade the king rejoice that the traitor (meaning Somerset) had met with his desert, and, taking him by the hand, led him first to the shrine of St. Alban, and then to his apartment in the abbey. The battle seems to have been won by the archers. Henry was wounded in the neck, the duke of Bucking- ham and lord Dudley in the face, the earl of Stafford in the arm, all of them with arrows. The duke of Somer- set, the earl of Northumberland, and the lord Clifford were slain ; and, as soon as they fell, their men threw down their arms and fled t. Some writers tell us that the slain amounted to many thousands : but a letter written three days after the battle reduces it to six score, and sir William Stonor, at that time steward of the abbey, seems to make the number still smaller J.
» Whetham, 352. Stow, 398. I Rot ParL v. 347.
J Hull has 8000 (p. 168), Stow 5000 (p. 400), but Crane in his letter to his cousin John Paston, dated Whitsunday, had at first written ten score, which he afterwards corrected to six. Fenn's Letters, i. p. 100. Accord- ing to sir William Stonor forty eight were buried in St. Alban's. Arch. xx. 622. .Numbers are generally exaggerated in the ancient writers.
150 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
The unfortunate king, in the hands, and at the mercy of his enemies, was compelled to lend the sanction of his authority to the very acts by which he had been depriv- July ed of his liberty. When the parliament assembled, he -'• was told that York and his adherents had in all their proceedings been actuated by sentiments of the purest loyalty ; that their only object had been to explain to him the disgraceful practices of his ministers, and to assist him with their advice in redressing the grievances of the nation ; that previously to the battle they had an- nounced their motives and views in letters, which had been withheld from his notice by the arts of the late duke of Somerset, of Thorpe, formerly speaker of the house of commons*, and of William Joseph, the confi- dant of these traitors ; that at last they determined to lay their complaints before him in person, but, as they entered the town of St. Alban's for that purpose, were opposed by Somerset, who, in the affray which followed, paid with his life the penalty of his treason. The king, affecting to give credit to this incredible tale, acquitted York, Warwick, and Salisbury, of all disloyal practices, pronounced them good and faithful subjects, and grant- ed them a full pardon for all offences committed before July the first day of the session. The peers renewed their 18. oath of fealty, the spiritual lords laying their right hands on their breasts, the temporal placing their hands be- tween those of the king. On the last day of July the juiy parliament was prorogued to the twelfth of Novem- 31. bert.
* Thorpe was in the battle; " he and many other fflede, and left her " barneys bdiynde him cowardly." Ibid. The very letter or remon- strance 'said to have been kept back, was lately in the possession of Mr. Thorpe.
+ Rot. ParL v. 275 — 283. The Yorkists appear to have quarrelled among themselves. On the day on which they swore fealty " there was language between my lords of Warwick and Cromwell afore the king, insomuch as the lord Cromwell would have excused himself of all the stirring or moving of the mal journey (the battle) of St Alban's, of the w hich excuse making my lord of Warwick had knowledge, and in haste was with the kin?, and swore by his oath that the lord Cromwell said not truth, but that he was beginner of all that journey at St.
CHAP. II.] YORK IS PROTECTOR A SECOND TIME. 151
About the end of October it was rumoured that Henry ™ had relapsed into his former disorder, and the session 12. was opened by the duke of York as his lieutenant. The 13. next day the commons requested the lords to petition the king, that, if he were unable to attend to the public ^ov- business himself, a protector might be immediately ap- D' pointed. Two days later they renewed their request, adding, that till it was granted they should suspend the consideration of every other subject. As soon as they left the house, the lords conjured the duke of York to undertake the charge ; but he, with affected humility, alleging his own incapacity, and solicited them to select from their body a peer more worthy of the honour, and more equal to the burden. They in return renewed their prayer with many compliments to his abilities and wisdom. When this farce had been acted for a consi- derable time, he condescended to accept the protectorate, but on condition that it should not be, as before, revoc- able " at the will of the king, but by the king in parlia- " ment, with the advice and assent of the lords spiritual " and temporal *." Still ihe powers of government were vested, not in him, but in the members of the council : but this provision was intended merely to blind the eyes of the nation ; for he had previously secured a majority in the council, and the office of chancellor, and the go- vernment of Calais, were bestowed on his associates, the earls of Salisbury and Warwick f.
After these arrangements the protector might think A. "• himself secure, and might expect at a convenient time 1456.
" Alban's : and so between my said two lords of Warwick and Cromwell " there is at this day great grudging, insomuch as the earl of Shrewsbury " bath lodged him at the hospital of St. James beside the Mews, by the " lord Cromwell's desire, for his safeguard." Fenn's Let. i. 110. In this session was passed an act, declaring the duke of Gloucester to have been till his death A loyal subject Whetham. 365. Rot. Parl. v. 335.
* In the act confirming this appointment, as well as that which con- fi-med the former, a clause was introduced transferring it to the prince of W;ile~, as soon as he should come to the years of discretion. I bid. 288.
t Rot. 1'arl. v. 283—290. 441. Young, "who had been imprisoned for his bold motion in favour of the duke of York, presented a petition for damages on account of his imprisonment. Ibid. 33;.
152 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
to exchange his present for a still higher title. But the meek and inoffensive character of Henry had preserved him friends, who were unwilling that he should be stripped of his authority ; and the lofty spirit of the queen sought every opportunity to oppose the rival pre- tensions of the Yorkists. When the parliament met after the holidays, Henry had recovered his health. To Jan. strengthen his party York had called sir Thomas Stan- 14. ley and sir Richard West to the house of peers : but the current ran in the king's favour : Henry proceeded in *,. person to the parliament, and the protector's commission was formally revoked *.
With apparent willingness the duke descended from his high station ; the earl of Salisbury resigned the great seal ; and the offices of government were again filled by the king's friends. Two years passed without any im- portant occurrence : but they were years of distrust and alarm ; the relatives of the lords slain at St. Alban's loudly demanded vengeance ; and their adversaries sur- rounded themselves with bands of armed and trusty re- A lt tainers. Henry called a great council at Coventry, and 1457. by the mouth of his chancellor repeatedly communicated his complaints and intentions to the duke of York. At length the duke of Buckingham, as speaker of the house, rehearsed all the real or supposed offences with which that prince had been charged ; and at the conclusion, the peers falling on their knees, besought the king to declare that he would never more " show grace" to the duke or any other person, who should oppose the rights of the crown, or disturb the peace of the realm. Henry as- sented ; and York repeated his oath of fealty, and gave a copy of it under his own signature to the king. The same was exacted from the earl of Warwick. In conclu- sion, all the lords bound themselves never for the future to seek redress by force, but to remit their quarrels to the justice of their sovereignt.
* Rot. Parl. v. 421.
t Such is the account on the rolls, v. 34J. Our chroniclers tell us that
CHAP. II.] RECONCILIATION OF THE TWO PARTIES. 153
In consequence of this resolution Henry, who had long acted as the only impartial man in his dominions, laboured to mitigate the resentments of the two parties ; and at last had reason to hope that his endeavours would be crowned with complete success. By common agree- ment they repaired with their retainers to London * : the royalists were lodged without, the Yorkists within *• "• the walls ; and the mayor, at the head of five thousand , armed citizens, undertook to preserve the peace. The 26. duke assembled his partisans every morning at the Black Friars : their resolves were communicated by the pri- mate and other prelates to the royalists, who met at the White Friars every afternoon ; and the proceedings 01 the day were in the evening laid before the king, who with several of the judges resided at Berkhamstead. At length, as umpire between them, he pronounced his Mar. award ; that within the two following years a chantry -4. should be founded at the expense of the duke of York, and the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, for the souls of the three lords slain in battle at St. Alban's ; that both those who were dead, and the lords who had been the cause of their death, should be reputed faithful sub- jects ; that the duke of York should pay to the dowager duchess of Somerset and her children the sum of five thousand, and the earl of Warwick to the lord Clifford that of one thousand marks ; and that the earl of Salis- bury should release to Percy lord Egremont all the da- mages he had obtained against him for an assault, on condition that the said lord Egremont should enter into a sufficient recognizance to keep the peace for ten years t. Mar. The next day Henry, attended by his whole court, ^'
York, Salisbury, and Warwick had arrived near Coventry, when they re- ceived advice of a conspiracy against their lives, and immediately fled, York to Wigmore, Salisbury to Middleham, and Warwick to Calais. Fab. 462. Stow. 402.
* The duke of York had only 140 horse, the new duke of Somerset 200, the earl of Salisbury 400, besides fourscore knights and esquires. Feun's Letters, i. 151.
+ It is given at length in Whethamstede, 418 — 1£8. See also Rot Putl. v. 34?.
154 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
walked in procession to St. Paul's. In token of their reconciliation the queen was conducted by the duke of York ; and the lords of each party walked before them arm in arm as friends and brothers. To the beholders it was a spectacle which appeared to promise harmony and peace : but no external ceremony could extinguish the passions of ambition and revenge, which yet lay smouldering in their breasts*.
The king a short time before had taken the custody of the sea from the duke of Exeter, and given it to the earl of Warwick for a term of five years. His object probably was to attach that enterprising nobleman to the throne, or to remove him to a distance from his as- sociates. In May intelligence was brought to Calais, May that a strange fleet of twenty-eight sail had been met at 29. sea; and Warwick, with his characteristic intrepidity, hastened to intercept it with only five large and seven small vessels. The battle lasted from four in the morn- ing till ten ; and the English, though they had captured six sail, were compelled to retire with considerable loss into Calais t. The fleet, or at least the merchandise, belonged to the citizens of Lubeck, whose commerce had been hitherto conducted under the faith of treaties July with England. On the complaint of the sufferers a 31. commission was appointed to inquire into the causes of the engagement ; and Warwick was in consequence sum- K moned to attend the council at Westminster $. One y ' day, as he left the court, a quarrel arose between one of his livery and one of the king's servants : the affray gradually became more alarming ; and the earl believed, or affected to believe, that his life was in danger. He hastened into the north to consult his father the earl of Salisbury and the duke of York ; and having settled with
* Fab. 464. Holinshed, 64J. Hall, 172.
t John Jernin<rham, who was in the battle, acknowledged the defeat ' " Men says, there was not so great a battle upon the sea. this forty winters : " and forsooth we were well and truly beat." Fenn's Letters, i. 161.
J Rym. xi. 415.
CHAP. II.] BATTLE OF BLOREHEATH. 155
them the plan of his future operations, returned to his command at Calais *.
The winter was passed in preparations for the subse- quent contest. The three lords actively solicited the aid of their partisans ; and Warwick in particular called under his banner the veterans who had served in the late wars in Normandy and Guienne. The court distri- buted with profusion collars of white swans, the badge of the young prince, and by letters under the privy seal invited the king's friends to meet him in arms in the A- D- city of Leicester t. The dissension was no longer con- \j fined to the higher classes : it divided almost every fa- J0a> mily in the nation ; it had penetrated into the convents of the monks, and the cottages of the poor. One party maintained that the duke of York was an injured prince, who with his associates was trampled under foot by the minions of the court, and was compelled to arm in order to preserve his own life : the other pronounced him a traitor, who under false pretences sought to place him- self on the throne, and who owed to the king's clemency that life which he had already forfeited to the laws J. The greater part of the summer passed without any im- portant event. At last the earl of Salisbury moved from his castle ofMiddleham to join the duke of York on the borders of Wales. The lord Audley with ten thousand men interposed himself between them at Bloreheath in Staffordshire. Salisbury, whose force was small, pre- Sept. tended to fly ; the royalists pursued in confusion ; and, 23. as soon as one half of them had crossed a rapid torrent, the fugitives turned, fell on the pursuers in the glen, and obtained with ease a complete victory. Audley with more than two thousand men remained on the field of battle : the Lord Dudley with many knights and esquires was made prisoner. The earl led his troops without further molestation to Ludlow, where he found
• Hall. 172, 173. f Fenn. 1 1J5.
J Cont. Croyl. i. 529. VThetliam. 454.
156 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
the duke of York, and was in a few days joined by his son from Calais with a large body of veterans under sir John Blount and sir Andrew Trollop *.
The king with an army of sixty thousand men lay at Worcester, and had sent the bishop of Salisbury to his opponents with offers of reconciliation and pardon, if they would submit within six days. They replied that they had no reliance on his promises ; that his friends, depending on their own favour, transgressed his com- mands; and that the earl of Warwick had the last year nearly lost his life by their treachery. He advanced Oct. to Ludiford, within half a mile of their camp : when they 1U. sent him a second message, declaring that, if they had taken up arms, it was solely in their own defence ; that though they could have revenged themselves on their enemies, they had refrained through respect to him ; and that even now, when they had retired to the very borders of his kingdom, they had determined not to draw the sword against their sovereign, unless they should be compelled by necessity t. The Yorkists were 5^ct- intrenched behind several batteries of cannon, which played incessantly on the royal army. To keep up the spirits of his men, the duke had spread a report that Henry had died the day before, and in the morning had ordered mass to be chanted for the repose of his soul. But the same afternoon sir Andrew Trollop, marshal of the army, who, though attached to his sovereign, had hitherto been deceived by the fair speeches of the in- surgents, discovered the real object of the duke. He did not hesitate a moment ; but, taking with him his veterans, departed to offer his services to the king. Dis- trust and consternation instantly spread through the camp ; and the confederate lords about midnight fled Nov. with precipitation into the heart of Wales. There they 2. separated, York with one of his sons sailing to Ireland,
* Hall. 173. Stow, 405. Whetham. 445. Rot. Parl. v. a*4. i Whetham. 468. Stow, 406.
CHAP. IT.] YORKISTS ATTAINTED. 157
the rest accompanying Warwick into Devonshire, whence he made his way back to Calais *.
This bloodless victory was most gratifying to the mer- ciful disposition of Henry, who the next morning grant- ed an amnesty to the insurgents abandoned by their leaders, and convoked a parliament to meet at Coven- try. Its principal employment was to pass an act of at- tainder against the duke and duchess of York, and their Nov. children the earls of March and Rutland, against the 20. earl and countess of Salisbury, and their son the earl of Warwick, the lord Clinton, and a few other knights and esquires t. It was with pain that Henry acquiesced in this act of severity. When it was read before him pre- paratory to the dissolution, he insisted on the addition of a clause enabling him to dispense with the attainder, whenever he should think proper, and refused his assent to that part of it which confiscated the property of the lord Powis and two others, who had thrown them- selves on his mercy the morning after the flight of their leaders J.
In this desperate situation the hopes and fortunes of the Yorkists rested on the abilities and popularity of the earl of Warwick, who by a most fatal error had been permitted to retain the command of the fleet with the government of Calais. He was now superseded in both ; in the former by the duke of Exeter, in the latter by the duke of Somerset. But when Somerset prepared to enter the harbour, he was driven back by the fire from the batteries ; and as soon as he had landed at Guisnes, his ships were carried off by his own mariners to their favourite commander at Calais. They were a most va- &. D. luable acquisition to Warwick, who while Somerset and 14'iO. his veterans were uselessly detained in Guisnes, sur-iJune prised two successive armaments fitted out by the royal- ' ists in the ports of Kent. He sailed even to Dublin to concert measures with the duke of York, and in his re-
» Rot. Parl. v. 349. \Vhetham.461. Hall, 174. Fab. 466.
t Hot. Parl. v. 345—351. ; I bid. 350. Whetham. 4 73.
158 HENRY vi. [CHAP. it.
turn was met by the duke of Exeter : but that comman- der, alarmed at symptoms of disaffection in his fleet, turned into Dartmouth, and Warwick rejoined his friends in Calais *.
The result of the conference at Dublin was soon dis- closed. Emissaries were sent to all the friends of the party to hold themselves in readiness for action ; and reports were spread that Henry had not given his assent to the act of attainder ; that he was still convinced of the innocence of the exiles ; and that, instead of being free, he was a reluctant captive in the hands of a fac- tion. At the same time was circulated an appeal to the nation by the duke of York, enumerating all the griev- ances under which the people were said to labour ; ac- cusing the earls of Shrewsbury and Wiltshire and the lord Beaumont of guiding the king contrary to his own interests ; complaining of the act of attainder against himself and his friends ; asserting that letters had been sent to the French king to besiege Calais, and to the na- tives of Ireland to expel the English ; and declaring that the fugitive lords were faithful subjects, and intended June to prove their innocence before their sovereign t. This 5. manifesto was followed by the arrival of Warwick, who with fifteen hundred men landed in Kent, a county much attached to the house of York. He was joined by the lord Cobham with four hundred followers, by the archbishop of Canterbury, who owed his dignity to the favour of the duke during the protectorate, and by most of the neighbouring gentlemen. As he advanced, his army swelled to the amount of twenty-five, some say to July forty thousand men ; London opened its gates ; and the 2. earl going to the convocation, asserted his loyalty upon
' call him and those other lords traitors ; for they should be found the ' king's true liege men, when he should be found a traitor." Fenn's Letters, i. 187. t Stow, 407, 403.
A D. 1460.] THEY MAKE THE KING PRISONER. 1 J9
oath, and prevailed on five of the bishops to accompany him, for the purpose of introducing him to his sovereign. Henry had collected his army at Coventry, and advanced to Northampton, where he intrenched himself. The July royalists seemed confident of victory, but were betrayed 1°. by the lord Grey of Ruthyn, who instead of defending his post, introduced the Yorkists into the heart of the camp. Though the combat lasted but a short time, the duke of Buckingham, the earl of Shrewsbury, lord trea- surer, the viscount Beaumont, the lord Egremont, with three hundred knights and gentlemen were slain* ; for it had long been and still was the policy of Warwick to direct his followers to spare the people, but to refuse quarter to the nobility. Henry retired to his tent, where he received from the victors every demonstration of re- spect : his queen and her son fled towards Chester, and though they were rifled by their own servants, escaped into Wales, and thence after many adventures sailed to one of the Scottish ports t.
The captive monarch was conducted to London. But though he entered the capital in great pomp, the earl of Warwick riding bareheaded and carrying the sword be- fore him, he was compelled to give the sanction of his authority to such measures as the victors proposed, to issue writs in approbation of the loyalty of those who had borne arms against him, and to call a parliament for the pretended purpose of healing the dissensions be- tween the two parties. It had scarcely repealed all the acts passed by the last parliament at Coventry $ when Oct. the duke of York entered the city with a retinue of five ^
• Wyreest. 481. Whetham. 479—481. Hardyng, 403.
t Wyreest. 431, 482.
J Rot. Parl. v. 37*. The reasons given are, that it was not duly sum- moued, and that many of the members were returned, some without due and free election, and some without any election at all. Ibid. How far this was true in the present instance we know not : it should, however, be observed that the sheriffs prayed for a bill of indemnity, not because they had made false returns, as some writers have imagined, but for having held the elections in obedience to the writ after the year of their shrievalty was expired, contrary to the statute of the 23d of the king. Ibid. 367.
160 HENRY VI. [CHAP. II.
hundred horsemen, and riding to Westminster, passed through the hall into the house, and stood for a short time with his hand on the throne. To the spectators he appeared to wait for an invitation to place himself on it. But every voice was silent. He turned and surveyed the assembly, when the primate ventured to ask him if he would visit the king, who was in the queen's apart- ment. " I know no one in this realm," he replied, "who " ought not rather to visit me ;" and leaving the house, appropriated to himself that part of the palace which had been usually reserved for the accommodation of the monarch *.
This was the first time that the duke had publicly ad- vanced his claim : but though he was really in posses- sion of the royal authority, the people were not prepared to deprive Henry of the crown. The meek and inoffen- sive character of the king strongly interested the feel- ings of men in his favour. His family had been seated on the throne for three generations; he had filled it himself thirty-nine years ; most of his opponents owed their honours, many of them their estates to his bounty. York himself, on succeeding to the inheritance of the earl of March from whom he claimed, had sworn fealty and done homage to Henry ; when he accepted the go- vernment of Normandy, when he was appointed lieute- nant in Ireland, when he was raised to the protectorate during the king's incapacity, he had, under his own seal and on the rolls of parliament acknowledged him for his sovereign ; and of late he had repeatedly sworn, on the sacrament, that he would be faithful to him, would maintain him on the throne, and would even augment, if it were possible, his royal dignity. On these accounts many of his adherents would never be persuaded that he intended to dethrone Henry ; and when he made the attempt, he found his hopes unexpectedly checked by their apathy, and the murmurs of the people t.
* Whetham. 483. Wyrcest. 483.
t Et illo die pauci dominorum sibi favebant sed solummcxlo absent i-
A. D. 1460.] OBJECTIONS TO THE DUKE'S CLAIM. 161
On the ninth day of the session the duke of York by ()ct- his counsel delivered to the bishop of Exeter, the new 1G- chancellor, a statement of his claim to the crown, and requested that he might have a speedy answer. The lords resolved that, since every man who sued in that court, whether he were high or low, had a right to be heard, the duke's petition should be read, but that no answer should be returned without the previous com- mand of the king. In this writing, having first derived his descent from Henry III., by Lionel third son to Edward III., he stated, that on the resignation of Richard II., Henry earl of Derby, the son of John of Ghent, the younger brother of the said Lionel, had, against all manner of right, entered on the crowns of England and France and the lordship of Ireland, which by law belonged to Roger Mortimer earl of March, great-grand- son to the said sir Lionel ; whence he concluded that of right, law, and custom, the said crown and lordship now belonged to himself, as the lineal representative of Roger Mortimer, in preference to any one who could claim only as the descendant of Henry earl of Derby *.
The next day Richard demanded an immediate an- oct. swer, and the lords resolved to wait on the king, and 1?. to receive his commands. Henry, when the subject was first opened to him, replied : " My father was king ; " his father was also king ; I have worn the crown forty " years from my cradle ; you have all sworn fealty to " me as your sovereign, and your fathers have done the " like to my fathers. How then can my right be dis- puted-I1?" In conclusion, he recommended his inte- rests to their loyalty, and commanded them to " searcfi " for to find, in as much as in them was, all such things " as might be objected and laid against the claim and " title of the said duke." The lords the next day sent Oct. for the judges, and ordered them to defend to the best 18.
bant. Wyrcest. 484. Coepit protinus status cmnis et frradus, a>tas et SUXM.S, onlo ct cnnilitio contra earn aurrauranter agere. Whetham. 485. » Whetham. 373. t Blai-km. 305.
162 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
of their power the king's claims. They, however, de- manded to be excused. By their office they were not to be of counsel between party and party, but to judge according to law of such matters as came before them : but the present question was above the law ; it ap- pertained not to them ; it could be decided only by the lords of the king's blood and the high court of parlia- Cht. ment. An order was then made for the attendance of the -0. king's Serjeants and attornies : they also presented their 22- excuses, which, however, were not admitted, because by their office they were bound to give advice to the crown. After several debates, in which each lord gave his opinion with apparent freedom, the following objections were sent to the duke: 1°. That both he and the lords had sworn fealty to Henry, and of course he by his oath was prevented from urging, they by theirs from ad- mitting, his claim : 2°. That many acts, passed in divers parliaments of the king's progenitors, might be opposed to the pretensions of the house of Clarence, which acts " have been of authority to defeat any manner " of title :" 3°. That several entails had been made of the crown to the heirs male, whereas he claimed by descent from females: 4°. That he did not bear the arms of Lionel the third, but of Edmund, the fifth son of Edward III. ; and, 5°. That Henry IV. had declared that he entered on the throne as the true heir of Henry III. To the three first objections the duke's counsel replied ; that as priority of descent was evidently in his favour, it followed that the right to the crown was his ; which right could not be defeated by oaths or acts of parliament, or entails. Indeed the only entail made to the exclusion of females was that of the seventh year of Henry IV., and would never have been thought of had that prince claimed under the customary law of descents ; that the reason why he had not hitherto taken the arms of Lionel was the same as had prevented him from claiming the crown, the danger to which such a proceeding would have exposed him ; and lastly, that,
A. D. 1460.] A COMPROMISE. 163
if Henry IV. pronounced himself the rightful heir of Henry III., he asserted what he knew to be untrue. As, however, the principal reliance of his adversaries was on the oaths which he had taken, and which it was contended were to be considered as a surrender of his right by his own act, he contended that no oath contrary to truth and justice is binding ; that the virtue of an oath is to confirm truth and not to impugn it ; and that as the obligation of oaths is a subject for the determina- tion of the spiritual tribunals, he was willing to answer in any such court all manner of men, who should bring forward his oath in bar of his claim.
At length the lords resolved that the title of the duke of York could not be defeated ; yet they refused to pro- Oct. ceed to the next step of dethroning the king. To " save -4. " their oaths and clear their consciences," they proposed a compromise ; that Henry should possess the crown for the term of his natural life, and that the duke arid his heirs should succeed to it after Henry's death. To this both parties agreed. The duke and his two sons, the earls of March and Rutland, swore not to molest the king, but to maintain him on the throne ; and Henry gave the royal assent to the bill declaring the duke heir Q ^ apparent, allotting certain estates to him and his sons 31, on that account, and pronouncing any attempt against his person a crime of high treason. On the conclusion of this important affair the king with the crown on his head, and attended by the duke as heir apparent, rode in state to make his thanksgiving at St. Paul's *.
But though the unfortunate monarch had consented
• Rot. Parl. 375—383. From the history of this controversy, as it is en- tered on the roll*, it is plain that both the' feelings and the opinions of the lords were in favour of Henry. The original defect iu his descent had been supplied by the consent of the nation, the undisturbed possession of the crown by his family during sixty years, and the numerous oaths of fealty taken by all men, even his very competitor. No considerations CDulii induce them to dethrone him : all that could be extorted from them by the victorious party was a compromise, which secured the crowu to him iliiriu^ his life, and then took it from his son, to whom they had never sworn fealty, and gave it to another branch of tbe royal family.
M 2
164 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
to surrender the interests of his son, they were still up- held by the queen, and the lords who had always ad- hered to the house of Lancaster. The earl of Northum- berland, the lords Clifford, Dacres, and Neville, assem- bled an army at York ; and the duke of Somerset and the earl of Devon joined them with their tenants from those counties. This union alarmed the victorious party :
D, c. York and Salisbury hastened to anticipate their designs ;
2. and though Somerset surprised the vanguard of the Yorkists at Worksop, they reached before Christmas
- the strong castle of Sandal. Whether it were that the duke of York was compelled to send out strong parties to forage, or that his pride could not brook the .taunts of his enemies, he fought them with inferior forces near Wakefield, and was either killed in the battle, or taken
Dec. and beheaded on the spot. Two thousand of his men
2V- with most of their leaders remained on the field ; and the earl of Salisbury was taken during the night, and decapitated the next day at Pontefract. But no one was more lamented than the earl of Rutland, who had only reached his eighteenth year*. Accompanied by one to whose care he had been entrusted, he fled from the conflict, but was stopped on the bridge ofWakeSeld. When he was asked his name, unable to speak through terror, he fell on his knees ; and his attendant, thinking to save him, said that he was the son of the duke. " Then," exclaimed Clifford, " as thy father slew mine, " so will I slay thee, and all of thy kin," and plunging his dagger into the breast of the young prince, bade the tutor go, and bear the news to the boy's mother. The queen on her arrival was presented with the head of her enemy, the duke, and ordered it to be encircled with a diadem of paper, and placed on the walls of York t.
A. D. From this moment the war assumed a new character ;
146 Land the thirst for revenge gave to the combatants of
• He was born 17th May, 1443. Wyrcest. 462.
t Hot. Parl. v. 466. Wyrcest. 484, 485. Whethara. 48.). Cont. Croyl. 530. Hall, 183.
A. D. 14(51.] BATTLE OF MORTIMER'S CROSS. 165
each party a ferocity to which they had hitherto been strangers. Edward earl of March, and heir to the late duke of York, was at Gloucester when he received the melancholy intelligence of the fate of his father and brother : and having completed his levies, hastened to interpose an army between the royalists and the capital. He was closely followed by an inferior force of Welsh and Irish, under the king's uterine brother, Jasper earl of Pembroke : but, apprehensive of being surrounded, Ye\). he suddenly faced about and obtained the bloody victory -2. of Mortimer's Cross, near Wigmore. The royalists are said to have lost about four thousand men. Pembroke himself escaped: but his father Owen Tudor was taken, and with Tiirogmorton and seven other captains be- headed at Hereford, as a sacrifice to the manes of those who had been executed after the battle of Wakefield *.
While Edward was thus occupied in the west, the queen with her victorious army advanced on the road to London, and met with no opposition till she had reached the towa of St. Albans. It was held by the earl of Warwick, who had drawn up his troops on the low hills to the south. The royalists penetrated as far Feb. as the market cross, but were repulsed by a strong body 17. of archers. They next forced their way by another street as far as Barnet heath, where, after a long con- flict, they put to flight the men of Kent. Night saved the Yorkists from utter destruction. They separated and lied in different directions, leaving the king in his tent under the care of the lord Montague, his chamber- lain. He was soon visited by Margaret and his son, and embraced them with transports of joy. There fell in this battle about two thousand men. The next day Feb. the lord Bonville and sir Thomas Kyriel were beheaded 13. in retaliation for the executions at Hereford t.
* Wyrrest. 436. Contin. Croyl. 550.
tWyrcest. 4*6. Whethamrt. 49?— 501. Cont Croylan 550. It is oftrn said tuat Uonville and Kyriel atu-udt-d the king, ami would liave fled, but were persuaded to remain by Henry, who gave them his woru that they
166 HENRY vi. [CHAP. ii.
Thus by another unexpected revolution Henry was restored to his friends, and placed at the head of a vic- torious army. Could he have conducted that army im- mediately to the capital, the citizens must have opened the gates: but his soldiers were principally borderers, accustomed to live by rapine, and had been allured to the royal standard by the promise of plunder. No en- treaty could prevail on them to march forward ; no pro- hibition prevent them from dispersing to pillage the country ; and the necessity of protecting their property attached to the banners of the house of York the citizens of London and the inhabitants of the neighbouring counties. Henry announced by proclamation that his assent to the late award had been extorted by violence, and issued orders for the immediate arrest of Edward, Feb. late earl of March, and son to the late duke of York *. "• But Edward had now united his forces with those of the earl of Warwick ; and their superiority of numbers induced the royalists to retire with expedition into the northern counties. They were not pursued. Edward Feb. had a more important object in view, and entered Lon- 25. don with all the pomp of a victorious monarch. His youth (he was in his nineteenth year), his beauty and accomplishments, the unfortunate fate of his father and brother, the fame of his late success, and the ravages of the royalists, conspired to multiply the number of his adherents. To sound the disposition of the citizens, the lord Falconberg reviewed four thousand men in the fields, and Neville, bishop of Exeter, seized the oppor- tunity to harangue the spectators on the unfounded claim, and the incapacity of Henry, the just title and Mar. the abilities of Edward. The acclamations which fol- -• lowed his speech were considered as a proof of the pub- lic feeling ; and the next day it was resolved, in a great
should not suffer. These contemporary writers do not mention it, and \Vyrcester expressly asserts that it was the lord Montague who was taken with Henry. However, in the act of attainder passed in the 1st of Edward IV., it is said thev had received from him a promise of p:o»ection. Rot. Part. v. 47 7. • Hot Parl. v. 466.
A. D. 146L] POWERS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 167
council, that Henry, by joining the queen's forces, had Mar. violated the award, and forfeited the crown to Edward, 3t the heir of Richard late duke of York. As soon as this resolution was announced the prince rode in procession to Westminster-hall, and mounting the throne, explained Mar. to the audience the rights of his family. He then en- 4. tered the church, repeated his speech, and on both oc- casions was frequently interrupted with cries of " Long " live king Edward." He was immediately proclaimed in the usual style by the heralds in different parts of the city *.
On that day expired the reign of Henry VI., a prince, whose piersonal character commanded the respect of his very enemies, and whose misfortunes still claim the sympathy of the reader. He was virtuous, and religious ; humane, forgiving, and benevolent ; but nature had refused him that health of body and fortitude of mind which could have enabled him to straggle through the peculiar difficulties of his situation. It would be unjust to ascribe those difficulties to his misconduct : they arose from causes over which he had no control, the original defect in his title, the duration of his minority, the dissensions of his uncles, and the frequent recur- rence of corporal debility, generally accompanied with the privation of reason. Some of these causes, however, gave birth to proceedings most interesting to those who wish to investigate the principles of our ancient consti- tution. From them it appears that, though the king, in the case of temporary absence from the realm, might appoint a regent with delegated authority during his absence, yet he could not, without the concurrence of the three estates, provide for the government during the minority of his successor — that whenever the reign- ing monarch, either through extreme youth or mental disease, was incapable of performing the functions of royalty, the exercise of his authority devolved exclu-
» Contiu. Croyl. 550. NVhetham, 511— 5.'4. YVyrcest. 483, 489
16& HENRY VI. ^CHAP. II.
sively on the house of lords, who appointed the great officers of state and the members of the council, giving to them powers to transact the ordinary business of government, but resuming those powers, as often as they themselves were assembled either in parliament or in a great council ; and that the recognition of these doc- trines was required from the first princes of the blood, the dukes of Bedford, Gloucester, and York, who at different times acknowledged that, during the king's minority or incapacity, they were entitled to no more authority than any other peer, unless it were conferred upon them by the whole body *. For the same reason, when the succession to the crown was disputed, the claims of each party were brought before the house of lords, as the only legitimate tribunal, which possessed the authority to pronounce on so important a question. The commons neither presumed, nor would have been suffered to interfere. They might indeed represent the urgency of the case to the upper house, might ask to be made acquainted with its resolutions, and, if an act of parliament were necessary, might give their as- sent ; but the nomination of the protector and the counsellors was made, and their powers were determined by the peers alone ; and the functions of the two houses were accurately distinguished in the language of the statutes, which attribute the appointment to the king by the advice and assent of the lords, and with the assent only of the commons t.
The commons, however, during this reign were care- ful to maintain that importance in the state which they had inherited from their predecessors. They continued to vote and appropriate the supplies ; their concurrence was deemed necessary in the enactment of statutes ; and they exercised the right of impeaching those minis- ters who had forfeited the confidence of the nation. If they suffered their claims of liberty of speech and free-
• See Rot. Part. iv. 326. v. 242. 409—411 f Ibid.
A. D. 1461.] RIGHTS OF THE COMMONS. 169
dom from arrest to be invaded by the imprisonment of Thorpe through the influence of the duke of York, and of Young by the order of the king, it should be remembered that these illegal acts were committed when the minds of men were heated by a contest for the crown, and therefore could form no precedents for more peaceable times. From Henry the commons ob- dained what had been refused or eluded by former sove- reigns, a law for the personal security of all members of parliament while they attended their duty * ; and several statutes were enacted to regulate the manner of elections, to prevent false returns, and to fix the quali- fications both of the candidates and the voters. The sheriff was ordered to proceed to the election in the first county court after the receipt of the king's writ, between the hours of nine and eleven in the morning ; to admit no longer the votes of all who attended, but to examine them upon oath, and to exclude these who did not both reside in the county, and possess within it a free tenement of the yearly value of forty shillings after the reduction of all charges ; to return no candidate who was not a knight, " or notable esquire, or gentle- " man of birth, able to be a knight;" and to write the uames of the persons returned in an indenture under the seals of all the voters. It was also provided that the representatives of the cities and burghs should be inhabitants of the same cities and burghs ; that when the mayors or bailiffs made the return to the sheriff, he should give them his receipt ; and that for every false return he should be liable to imprisonment, to a fine to the king, and to payment of damages to the injured candidate t.
The hereditary revenue of the crown had during se- veral reigns been continually on the decrease : under
* Rot. Parl. iv. 453. The same privileges were granted to the clergy called to convocation, and to their servants by act of parliament, of the 8th of the king. Stat. of Realm, ii. 238.
t Rot. HarL iv. 331. 350. 402. v. 7. 115.
170 HENRY vi. [CHAP. n.
Henry it was more rapidly diminished by the enormous expenses incurred during the war in France, and by the numerous grants which were easily obtained from the benevolence of his disposition. In 1429 it was ascer- tained that the monies annually absorbed by the war exceeded the whole amount of the revenue by twenty thousand marks *, and four years later the receipts fell short of the expenses of government by the yearly sum of thirty-five thousand pounds: to which were to be added the outstanding debts of the crown, amounting to more than one hundred and forty-four thousand t. The only mode of relief which occurred to the financiers of the age was a general resumption of the grants made by the king since his accession ; but, though such re- sumptions were repeatedly enacted, they were always rendered nugatory by the introduction of exceptions, at the demand of the king, or of the members, who sought to screen their friends from the operation of the act $. In the mean while the ordinary revenue of the crown dwindled to the paltry sum of five thousand pounds ; and it became necessary to make parliamentary provision for the support of the royal household. This was effected on some occasions by authorizing the trea- surer to devote to that purpose a certain sum out of the monies voted for different objects; at others by ap- propriating a certain portion of the revenue to the royal
* Rym. x. 413. The receipts iu the eleventh year of Henry amounted to about thirty- five thousand pounds; but this sum was reduced to less than one-fourth by fees, wages, and annuities, which had been granted by the crown to different individuals, and hiid been made payable out of these funds, before they were transferred to the royal treasury. But to the ordinary roust be added the extraordinary revenue, which consis'edof the customs on wool, and skins, and the tonnage and poundage, which, though not always, yet generally were granted by parliament. This, after the usual deductions had been made, amounted on an average of three years to about twenty-seven thousand pounds. The annual expenses to be-defrayed by these funds were classed under the heads of the household about 13,70(K., of the government of Ireland, Aquitaine, aud the marches of Scotland 10.90W., of Calais 11,000*!., of the navy, prisoners, &c.,3,700/., of fees and annuities payable at the exchequer 11.150/., and other annui- ties at will 5.500/. Rot. Parl. iv. 433—438.
•f Ibid. 436—438.
} Ibid. v. 183—199. 217—224. 300-320.
A.D. 1461.] PROVISION FOR THK ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 171
use before any other claims upon it should be satisfied *. In defiance, however, of these precautions, the king's debts continued to increase , and long before the ter- mination of his reign thev amounted to the sum of three hundred and seventy-two thousand pounds t.
* Ibid. v. 7. 32. 174. 214. 246. f Rut. Parl. v. 183. 2iy.
172
CHAPTER III.
EDWARD IV.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Emp. of Oer. Frederic III.
K. of Scotland. James III.
K. of France. ClarlesVII.1461. Louis XI.
K. of Spain. Menry IV. 1474 Isabella 1 Ferdinand i
Popes : Pius II., 1464. Paul II., 1471. Sixtus IV.
Edward is crowned — Misfortunes of the Lancastrians — Henry VI. is made prisoner — Edward's marriage — Insurrection— the king imprisoned by the Nevilles — His release — Another insurrection — Clarence and Warwick leave the realm — Return — Expel Edward — And restore Henry — Ed- ward returns — His victory at Barnet — Capture and death of Henry — Battle of Tevrkslmry — War with France — Peace — Attainder of Cla- rence—Death of the king.
THOUGH Edward had assumed the title of king, he was not ignorant that he held it by a very precarious tenure. The losses and advantages of the two parties were still A D nearly balanced ; and if he was acknowledged by the 1 46 i. southern, his rival could depend on the support of the Mar. northern counties. The earl of Warwick, anxious to 7- bring the question to an issue, marched from London at the head of a body of veterans ; Edward in a few days followed with the main army ; and by the time of his arrival at Pontefract, forty-nine thousand men had ar- rayed themselves under his banner. The preparations of the house of Lancaster were equally formidable. The
12.
A. D. 1461.] BATTLE OF TOWTON. 173
duke of Somerset with sixty thousand infantry and ca- valry lay in the neighbourhood of York ; and the queen, who with her husband and son had consented to remain within the city, employed all her address to confirm their loyalty, and animate their courage. Both armies M..r. advanced towards Ferrybridge. The passage had been 28. gained by the lord Fitzwalter on the part of Edward * : but that nobleman was surprised and slain by lord Clif- ford, who within a few hours me^t on the same spot with a similar fate from the lord Falconberg. The next day Mar between the villages of Towton and Saxton was fought -29. the battle which fixed the crown on the brow of Edward. The engagement began at nine in the morning amidst a heavy fall of snow : the obstinacy of the combatants protracted it till three in the afternoon. At that hour the Lancastrians began to give way, at first leisurely and in good order ; but finding their retreat interrupted by the river Cock, they abandoned themselves to despair, and while some plunged into the torrent, others offered themselves without resistance to the swords of the enemy. Edward had forbidden his followers to give quarter, and, as the pursuit and slaughter continued all the night and great part of the following day, one half of the Lancastrians are said to have perished. The earl of Northumberland and six barons fell in the battle : the earls cf Devon and Wiltshire were taken in their flight and beheaded. The dukes of Somerset and Exeter had the good fortune to reach York, and con- ducted Henry and hi's family to the borders. The vic- tory was decisive ; but it cost the nation a deluge of blood. Besides those who perished in the waters, a
* Who this lord Fitzwalter was is unknown. Monstrelet makes him uncle to Warwick. The earl, when he heard of Fitzwalter' s death, ex- ci ,iii:ed, " Je prie Dien, qu'il ayt les ames de ceux qui sont morts en cel.e baiaille. Hi-au sire Dieu, ore s n'ay je recours an monde Mnou a tuy, qui es ir.oti deateur, et mon D.eu: si te requiers vengeance. Et lurs, eu liiaut son espee, baisa la croix. et dit a ses gens, " qui veult retourner, .-i s'rii vuise : car je viviay ou mouiray aujoud'luiy avec ceux qui demeurrout avec moy." A celle paroles il saillis a pied, et tuu son clieval de sou espPe. Moiiit. :ii. 84.
1/4 EDWARD iv. [CHAP, in
contemporary writer assures us that thirty-eight thousand men remained on the field * : nor can we reasonably accuse him of exaggeration, since Edward himself, in a confidential letter to his mother, while he conceals his own loss, informs her that the heralds, employed to number the dead bodies, returned the Lancastrians alone at twenty-eight thousand t.
From this scene of carnage the conqueror rode to- wards York, which he entered the next morning. The escape of Henry disappointed his hopes : but during his stay in the city he gave orders that several of his prisoners should be executed, and their heads substi- tuted on the walls for those of his father and brother. From York he proceeded to Newcastle, receiving in his progress the homage of the inhabitants, and watching the motions of the fugitives. Henry, to purchase the Apr. aid of the Scots, had delivered to them the town of Ber- 2i. wick, and, while they with a powerful army undertook the reduction of Carlisle, penetrated with a few faithful friends into the county of Durham. He narrowly es- caped being taken by the superior number of his enemies ; and Carlisle was relieved by the lord Montague, who slew six thousand of the besiegers. Edward, who had already left the theatre of war, and hastened to London, June was crowned at Westminster with the usual solemni- 29. ty, and created his two younger brothers, George and Richard, who had returned from their asylum in Flan- ders, dukes of Clarence and Gloucester $. Nov. When the parliament assembled, both houses were 4' eager to display their attachment to their new sovereign They first pronounced the reigns of the three last kings a tyrannical usurpation, and declared that Edward had been rightfully seized of the crown and the profits of the realm, from the fourth day of March last, in the same manner as they had been enjoyed by Richard II on the feast of St. Matthew in the twenty-third year of
* Cunt. Hist. Croyl. 533. t Fenn's Letters, i. 217-
t Hall, 86—89. Monstrel. iii. 84. Rym. xi. 4/6. Fenn, i. 230—235.
A. D. 1461.] THE KING'S SPEECH. 175
his reign. With certain exceptions the grants of Henry IV., V., and VI., were revoked, but their judicial acts were ratified, and the titles of honour which they had conferred were allowed *. Next followed a long and sweeping bill of attainder, which extended to almost every man who had distinguished himself in the cause of the house of Lancaster. Henry VI., his queen, their son Edward, the dukes of Somerset and Exeter, the earls of Northumberland, Devon, Wiltshire, and Pem- broke, the viscount Beaumont, the lords Roos, Neville, Rougemonte, Dacre, and Hungerford, with one hun- dred and thirty-eight knights, priests, and esquires, were adjudged to. suffer all the penalties of treason, the loss of their honours, the forfeiture of their estates, and an ignominious death, if they had not already fallen in the field of battle t. In defence of such unexampled severity was alleged the advantage of annihilating at once the power of the party ; and to this motive was probably added another, the necessity of providing funds, from which Edward might satisfy the demands and expec- tations of those to whose services he owed the present possession of the crown. Before he dissolved the par- liament he addressed the commons in the following terms: "James Strangways" (he was the speaker), p " and ye that be come for the commons of this land, for 21 " the true hearts and tender considerations that ye have " had to my right and title, I thank you as heartily as " I can. Also for the tender and true hearts that " ye have shewed unto me, in that ye have tenderly " had in remembrance the correction of the horrible " murder, and cruel death of my lord my father, my " brother Rutland, and my cousin of Salisbury, and " other, I thank you right heartily, and I shall be unto
• Rot. Parl. v. 463— 4J5. 489. Stat. of Realm, iL 380. But the titles were allowed only on condition that the holders should receive from the kinu' new grants of the annuities attached to them. Ibid.
t Rot. Varl. v. 476—486. In the February following the earl of Ox- ford, the lord Aubrey, and three kniylits of the Lancastrian party were beheaded on Tower Hill. Fabyan, 652.
176 EDWARD iv. [CHAP, nr
" you, with the grace of Almighty God, as good and " gracious sovereign lord as ever was any of my noble " progenitors to their subjects and liegemen. And for " the faithful and loving hearts, and also the great la- " hours that ye have borne and sustained toward me in " the recovering of my said right and title which I now " possess, I thank you with all my heart, and if I had " any better good to reward you withal than my body, " ye should have it, the which shall always be ready " for your defence, never sparing nor letting for no jeo- " pardy, praying you all of your hearty assistance and " good countenance, as I shall be unto you very right- " wise, and loving liege lord *."
The cause of the red rose now appealed desperate ; but it was still supported by the courage and industry of Margaret. The surrender of Berwick had given her a claim to the protection of the Scottish government ; and the promise of an English dukedom, with lands to the yearly value of two thousand marks, had secured to her the services of the powerful earl of Angus ; while *' n* Edward, as a counterpoise, purchased with an annual Mar ' pension the fealty of the earl of Ross, lord of the isles, 17. and sought to amuse Mary the queen dowager of Scot- land t with a deceitful offer of marriage J. To aid her cause Margaret resolved to visit the continent, and invite all true knights to avenge the wrongs of an injured mo- *• !?• narch. Sailing from Kirkcudbright, she landed in A . ' Bretagne ; and the duke made the royal suppliant a 8. present of twelve thousand crowns. From Bretagne she repaired to the French court at Chinon. Lewis XI. (his father Charles was lately dead) seemed insensible to the tears of beauty, and the claims of relationship : but, when she offered Calais as a security, he lent her
• Ibid. 487- In this parliament it was enacted that no lord or other should allow playing at dice or cards in his house or elsewhere if he couid hinder it, except during the twelve days at Christmas. Ibid. 488.
t Her husband James II. had been accideutly killed in 1460 by ths bursting of a cannon.
J Humi-, Douglas, ii. 21. Rym. xi. 484—488. Wyrcest. 493.
CKAP. III.] QUEEN MARGARET IS SHIPWRECKED. 177
twenty thousand crowns, and permitted Breze, the sene- schal of Normandy, to follow her fortunes with two thousand men. After an absence of five months she Oct. returned, eluded the pursuit of the English fleet, and summoned to her standard her Scottish allies on the borders, and the friends of her family in Northumber- land. Her hopes were cheered with a temporary gleam of success. Three strong fortresses, Bamborough, Aln- wick, and Dunstanburgh, fell into her hands *. But Nov. when the earl of Warwick arrived with twenty thousand 3. men, and intelligence was received of the advance of Edward with an equal number, the Lancastrians sepa- rated to garrison their conquests, and the queen with her French auxiliaries repaired to their ships. The winds and the waves now seemed to have conspired against her : part of her fleet with all her treasures was dashed against the rocks ; five hundred foreigners, who intrenched themselves in Holy Island, were killed or made prisoners by the lord Ogle; and Margaret and Breze in a fishing boat carried the melancholy intelli- gence to their friends in Berwick. Edward proceeded Dec. no further than Newcastle. He laboured under diseases caused by immoderate indulgence. But Warwick, divid- ing the royal army into three bodies, besieged at the same time the three fortresses, which made a brave and obstinate resistance t. At length Bamborough and Dec. Dunstanburgh were surrendered on condition that the 24. duke of Somerset, sir Ralph Percy, and some others, should take an oath of fealty to Edward and recover their estates and honours, and that the earl of Pembroke, the lord Roos, and the rest of the two garrisons should A D be conducted in safety to Scotland $. Alnwick still 1463. bade defiance to the besiegers; and an army of Lan-Jan. castrians advanced apparently to its relief. Warwick 5t
• Wyrcest. 493, 494. Duclos, Hist, of Lew. XI. Monstrel. Hi. 95.
t Fab. 493. Fenn, i. ?/3— 279. Stow, 416.
J The reason of this difference was that the king had it not in his power to restore the lands of the latter, because they had been given away to his friends. So I understand Worcester, 495.
VOL. V. N
178 EDWARD IV. [CHAP. in.
drew up his forces to receive them ; hut the lord Hun- geribrd, the sou of Breze, and a few knights, having cut their way to their friends in a sally from the walls, Margaret's army retired, and the garrison, deserted by its leaders, capitulated. Edward was satisfied with the conduct of Somerset and Percy on this occasion. He repealed their attainders with the consent of parliament, restored to them their lands, granted a pension to Somerset, and re-established Percy in the possession of Bamborough and Dunstanburgh. But Alnwick was given to sir John Ashley, to the great offence of sir Ralph Grey, a partisan of the Yorkists, who had formerly won it for Edward, and now expected to possess it again *.
The spirit and activity of Margaret exposed her during this winter campaign to numerous privations and dan- gers. On one occasion it is said that, as she was riding secretly with her son and the seneschal through a wild and mountainous district, they were surprised by a party of banditti, who despoiled them of their money, jewels, and every other article of value. It is probable that the queen concealed her quality, or such distinguished cap- tives would have been more carefully guarded. The ruffians quarrelled about the partition of the booty: menaces were uttered, and swords drawn, when Mar- garet, watching her opportunity, grasped her son by the arm, and plunged into the thickest part of the wood. She had not proceeded far when another robber made his appearance. The queen, with the intrepidity of despair, advanced to meet him ; and taking the young Edward by the hand, " Friend," said she, " I intrust to " your loyalty the son of your king." This address awakened his generosity. He took them both under his protection, and conducted them to the quarters of the Lancastrians t. Henry for security had been con- veyed to the castle of Hardlough in Merionethshire, commanded by David ap Jevan ap Eynion, who in de-
* Wyrcest. 49i— 496. Rot. Purl. v. 511. | Moustrel. iii. 29.
CHAP. III.] BATTLES OF HEDGLEY MOOR AND HEXHAM. K'J
fiance of repeated acts of attainder refused to submit to Edward*: the queen, accompanied by the duke of Exeter, Breze, and two hundred exiles, sailed to Sluys, Apr in Flanders, and was received with real kindness by the count of Charolois, and with outward distinction by his father the duke of Burgundy. To her solicitations in favour of her husband that prince refused to listen : but he gave her a supply of money for her present expenses, and forwarded her in safety as far as the duchy of Bar in Lorrain, belonging to her father. There she fixed her residence, watching with anxiety the course of events, and consoling her sorrows with the hope of yet placing her husband or her son on the English throne t.
The Lancastrians, though by the conclusion of an armistice with France and another with Burgundy Edward had cut off the hope of foreign assistance $, re- solved to try a»ain the fortune of war. Henry was sum- moned to put himself at the head of a body of exiles and Scots; Somerset, notwithstanding his submission, hastened from his own country, through Wales and Lancashire, to join his former friends ; Percy assembled all the adherents of his family ; and the resentment of Grey prompted him to surprise the castle of Alnwick, and to hold it against Edward. But their designs were disconcerted by the promptitude of Neville lord Montague, the warden of the east marches. He defeated and killed A. D. Percy at Hedgley moor, near Wooller$, and advanced 1464. with four thousand men to surprise Somerset in his^.l)r- camp on the banks of the Dilswater, near Hexham. " That unfortunate nobleman, whose forces did not exceed five hundred men, endeavoured to save himself by flight,
» Rot. Parl. v. 486. 512. Moustrelet says that Henry was in Wales in one of the strongest fortresses iu the island. I have therefore placed him «t Hardlou^li. Moust. iii. 96.
t \Vyrcest. 496, 497. It was saiil that the duke of Burgundy gave to her 2000 crowns, 1000 to Bri'ze, and one hundred to each of her iiiaids. Mon- slrel. iii. 96. |Hyra.x. 508.
§ The others fled : Percy refused, " and nieil like n man." Come home fait uccUe. Year-book, Term. Pusch. 4 Ed. IV. 19.
180 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
but was taken, beheaded the same day, and buried in the abbey. Three days later the lords Roos and Hun- gerford met with the same fate on the Sandhill at Newcastle; and many of their followers were succes- May sively executed in that town and at York*. Of those 1)s- who escaped, the major part followed Grey to the castle of Bamborough, which was immediately besieged by the earl of Warwick. This impregnable fortress might have defied his efforts, had not a wall by accident fallen on the commander ; and the garrison not expecting him to recover, hastened to surrender without requiring any July, stipulation in his favour. But Grey was carefully nursed by the cruelty of the victors, and reserved for the more disgraceful death of a traitor. He was conducted to the king at Doncaster, and received the following judgment fromTiptoft, earl of Worcester, and constable of England: " Sir Ralph Grey, for thy treason the king had ordained " that thou shouldest have thy spurs stricken off by the " hard heels, by the hand of the master cook, who is " here present. Moreover, he had ordained here as thou " mayest see, the kings of arms and heralds, and thine " own proper coat of arms, which they should tear off " thy body, that thou mightest be degraded as well of " thy worship, noblesse, and arms, as of thy knighthood. " Also here is another coat of thine arms reverse, the " which thou shouldest wear on thy body, going to thy " death-wards, for that belongeth to thee after the law. " Notwithstanding, the degrading thee of knighthood, " and of thine arms, and thy noblesse, the king pardoneth '' for the sake of thy noble grandfather, who suffered " trouble for the king's most noble predecessors. Now, " sir Ralph, this shall be thy penance. Thou shalt go " on thy feet to the town's end, and there thou shalt bo " laid down, and drawn to a scaffold made for thee, and " thou shalt have thy head smitten off, thy body to be
* Wyrcest. 497, 498. Fab. 494. Feun, i. 284.
CHAP. III.] HENRY IS MADE PRISONER. 181
" buried in the Friars, and thy head where the king's " pleasure shall be." This sentence was immediately executed *.
Henry, who had fled from Hexham before the arrival of Montague, was so closely pursued that three of his henchmen were taken clothed in gowns of blue velvet, and on them was found his bycoket or cap of state, em- broidered with two crowns of gold, and ornamented with pearls. He had however the good fortune to escape, and sought an asylum among the natives of Lancashire and "Westmoreland, a people sincerely devoted to his interests •(•. Their fidelity enabled him for more than a year to elude the vigilance and researches of the govern- ment : but he was at last betrayed by the perfidy of a A. D. monk of Abingdon, and taken by the servants of sir James '465. Harrington, as he sate at dinner in Waddington hall in une' Yorkshire. At Islington the unfortunate king was met by the earl of Warwick, who ordered by proclamation that no one should show him any respect, tied his feet to the stirrups as a prisoner, led him thrice round the pillory, and conducted him to the Tower. There he was treated with humanity, but kept in the most rigorous confinement for some years J.
After the flight from Hexham the Lancastrians aban- doned the contest ; and the conqueror had leisure to reward his partisans, and attend to the confirmation of his throne. Lord Montague was created earl of Nor- M.iy thumberland, and lord Herbert earl of Pembroke ; 27. another Ion EC list of attainders contributed to exhaust the
• Wyrcest 499. Stow, 418. In the year-book it is said that the degrad- ing part of the sentence was actually carried into execution : et le cause del eel punishment de luy en tiel maner, fuit per cause de son perjury et doublenesse, que il avoit fait al roy Henry le size jadis roy, &c. — et auxy al roy Edward le quart, qui ore est. Terra. Pasch. 4 Ed. IV*. 20.
t He was during this time frequently concealed in the house of John MacheU, at Crakenthorp in Westmoreland. Rym. xi. 5J5.
t Rym. xi. 518. Wyrcest. 504. Fab. 494. MonstreL iii. 119. Harring ton received for his services the lands belonging to Tunstal of Thurlaml castle, to the amount of lOOi. per annum : his associates, who were prinri- pally Tempests, and Talbots, had annuities out of Holland and Tickel, till they could be provided with lands. Rot Parl. v. 584.
182 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. m.
resources of his opponents and to add to those of his own partisans ; and an act of resumption was passed to enable the ting to live on the income of the crown, but clogged, as usual with so many exceptions, as to render it useless*. From internal polity he turned his thoughts to his rela- tions with foreign states. To the pope he had already notified his accession, and sent an abstract of the argu- ments on which he founded his claim. The answer of Pius II. was civil, but guarded ; and, while the pontiff con- gratulated the king on his elevation to the regal dignity, he cautiously abstained from any expression which might be deemed an approbation of his title f. With Scotland, which had so long offered an asylum to his enemies, Edward concluded a peace for fifteen, and afterwards prolonged it for fifty-five years. What measures the policy of Louis of France might have pursued, is uncer- tain : but that monarch was so harassed by the war of " the public good,'' as it was called, that he had no lei- sure or temptation to intermeddle with the concerns of foreign states ; and the two most powerful of the French
* Rot. Parl. v. 511 — 543. In this parliament was made a law respecting dress, forbidding any man or woman under the estate of a lord to wear cloth of gold, or cloth wrought witli gold, or furs of sables ; any person under the estate of a knight to wear velvet, satin, or silk made like to vel- vet or satin, or furs of ermine; any yeoman to wear stuffing in his doublet but only the lining ; or any one under the estate of a lord to wear gown, jacket or cloak, which did not reach to his thighs, or shoes with pikes above two inches in length. Rot. Parl. v. 504. "Ever since the year 1382," says Stow, " the pikes of shoes and boots were of such length that they " were fain to be tied up to their knees with chains of silver, or at the least " with silk laces." Stow, 429. Such interference with private expendi- ture was very common, and at the same time very useless. Its object, as \ve learn from the rolls, was to prevent " the impoverishment of the " realm," by the sums of money sent into "strange countries'" in ex- change for articles of luxury. Rot. Parl. ibid-
t Rym. xi. 489. This pontiff had always favoured Henry, though his legate, Francesco Copini, bishop of Terni, had favoured Richard duke of York, and his son Edward. He had even presumed to excommunicate their opponents; and the pontiff in consequence had deposed him, and sent him to a monastery to do penance for life. Raynald. vii. 68. 122, 123. It would appear, however, that he was afterwards liberated ; for Edward appointed him his procurator in the court of Rome, granted to him an an- nuity of 100/., gave him permission to distribute the royal livery to twelve of hi's friends, and authorised him and his two brothers to bearon the upper part of their coat of arms the white rose, the device of the house of York. All these grants were confirmed by parliament. Rym. xi. 479, 480.
A. D. 1465.] EDWARD'S CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE. 183
princes, the dukes of Burgundy and Bretagne, had en- tered into alliances defensive and offensive with the new king of England. Treaties almost similar were signed between him and the kings of Denmark and Poland in the north and east, and those of Castile and Arragon in the south, so that he might consider himself on terms of amity with almost all the great powers of Europe*.
In these circumstances the king no longer hesitated to acknowledge in public a marriage which he had some time before contracted in private. Ever since the battle of Towton he had resigned the management of affairs to the wisdom and activity of the Nevilles, and had de- voted his own attention to the pursuit of pleasure. They had frequently urged him to marry into some royal or princely family, which might contribute to support him against his competitor ; but the king felt no inclina- tion to shackle himself with the chains of matrimony ; and foreign princes were not anxious to offer their daughters to one whose claim to the crown was disputed, and whose possession of it was still precarious. It chanced that Edward visited Jacquetta the duchess of Bedford, and her husband Wydevile, lord Rivers, at Grafton, where he saw their daughter Elizabeth, a woman of superior beauty and accomplishments, and the relict of sir John Grey, a Lancastrian, who had fallen at the second battle of St. Albans. The lady Grey seized the opportunity to throw herself at the feet of her sovereign, and solicited him to reverse the attainder of her late husband in favour of her destitute children. The king pitied the suppliant ; and that pity soon grew into love. To marry a woman so far beneath him, without the ad- vice of his council, and at a moment when his throne tottered under him, was a dangerous experiment. But the virtue of Elizabeth was proof against the arts of the I^KA royal lover, and his passion scorned the cooler calcu- April lations of prudence. About the end of April, 1464,30.
» Rot. Parl. v. 622. Bym. xi. 525. 532. 536. 551. 557, &c.
184 EDWARD iv [CHAP. in.
when the friends of Henry were assembling their forces in Northumberland, he repaired to Stony Stratford, whence early on the morning of the first of May he stole in great secrecy to Grafton. The marriage cere- May mony was performed by a priest in the presence of his 1' clerk, of the duchess of Bedford, and of two female at- tendants. After an hour or two Edward returned to Stony Stratford, and pretending lassitude from hunting, shut himself up in his chamber. Two days afterwards May he invited himself to Grafton. To divert the attention 3. of the courtiers, their time was wholly occupied with the pleasures of the chase ; nor did the king and Eliza- beth ever meet in private till the duchess had ascer- May tained that the whole family had retired to rest. Thus
7. he spent four days ; and then returning to London, in • •
issued orders for his army to join him in Yorkshire.
But before his arrival in the north the war had been ended by the two victories of Hedgley Moor and Hex- ham ; and after his return it became the principal sub- ject of his solicitude to open the matter to his coun- sellors, and to obtain their approbation *.
For this purpose he summoned at Michaelmas a general council of the peers to met in the abbey of Read- ing; and the duke of Clarence and the earl of Warwick, though they are supposed to have disapproved of the marriage, taking Elizabeth by the hand, introduced her to the rest of the lords, by whom, in the presence of the
* By all our ancient historians, with the exception of the unknown au- thor of the Fragment published by Hearne at the end of Sproi.lhe mar- riage of Edward has been fixed on the 1st of May, 1464. That w ritcr dates it in the preceding year (p. 29,1") : and it has been urged in favour of the earlier dale, that Edward in 1461 was too much occupied with the war to think of marriage, and that the anonymous writer expres-ly refutes from his own knowledge those who place it later. Carte, ii. 770. But it may be observed that, according to the dates in Rymer, the king did not sum- mon his army till the ninth day after that on which the marriage is said to have taken place, and that the anonymous writer refutes, not those who place the marriage in a different year, but those who say the king was to have married the dowager queen of Scotland, p. 203. !2'U. Indeed lie is at variance with himself. For though he places the marriage in 14^3, he says it was in the same year as the battle of Hexham (2iV2 ), whicli certainly took place in 1464 For the particulars of the marriage see that writer, and Fabyan, p. 494. 495.
CHAP. III.] THE QUEEN IS CROWNED. 185
king, she was acknowledged and complimented as queen. Dec. Soon afterwards a second council was held at West- minster, and an income was settled on her of four thousand marks a year *. But, notwithstanding this outward show of approbation, there were many who murmured in private, and could ill disguise their jea- lousy at the elevation to the throne of a woman, whose father a few years ago was no more than a simple knight. To excuse the king, his friends circulated reports, that his inexperience had been deceived by the arts of the duchess and her daughter ; that philtres and magic had been employed to extort his consent ; and that he had since repented of his precipitancy, and struggled but in vain to dissolve the marriage •(•. But Edward himself, that he might silence those who objected the meanness of her birth, invited her maternal uncle, James of Lux- emburgh, who with a retinue of one hundred knights and gentlemen attended her coronation J. On the feast A. D. of the Ascension the king created thirty-eight knights 1465. of the bath, of whom four were prudently selected from ^f av the citizens of London. The next day the mayor, al- dermen and different companies met the queen at Shooter's Hill, and conducted her in state to the Tower. On the Saturday, to gratify the curiosity of the popu- lace, she rode in a horse litter through the principal streets, preceded by the newly created knights. Her coronation followed on the Sunday, and the rest of the jyjay week was devoted to feasting, tournaments, and public 26. rejoicings $.
The elevation of Elizabeth was the elevation of her family. By the influence of the king her five sisters were married to the young duke of Buckingham, and to the heir of the earl of Essex, the earl of Arundel, the earl of Kent, and the lord Herbert ; her brother Anthony to the daughter of the late lord Scales, with
* Wyrcest. 500, 501. f Fab. 495.
J Monstrel. iii. 105.
§ Wyrcest. 501—503. Fragment, ad flu. Sprot, 294, 295.
186 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
whom he obtained the estate and title ; her younger brother John in his twentieth year to Catherine, the do wager but opulent duchess of Norfolk, in her eightieth*; and her son Thomas, by her former husband to Anne, the king's niece, and daughter and heiress to the duke of Exeter. We are assured by a contemporary that these marriages were viewed with jealousy by most of the nobility. Many saw those projects disconcerted which they had formed for the advancement of their own children, particularly the earl of Warwick, who had previously solicited the hand of the heiress of Exeter for his own nephew : all considered the sudden rise of the new family as an injury offered to themselves. To add to their discontent, the lord Mountjoy, treasurer of England, was removed to make place for the queen's father, who was created earl Rivers, and soon afterwards, at the resignation of the earl of Worcester, lord high constable t.
Of the three Nevilles, sons of the earl of Salisbury, George the youngest brother, bishop of Exeter, had received the seals on Edward's accession, and had lately been translated to the archiepiscopal see of York J. The next, the lord Montague, was warden of the east marches of Scotland, and with the title of earl of Northum- berland had obtained the estates of the Percies. The earl of Warwick, the third, had hitherto been the king's chief minister and general. He held the wardenship of the west marches, the office of chamberlain, and the government of Calais, the most lucrative and important appointment in the gift of the sovereign §. Hitherto
* Juvencula fere 80 annorura. Wyrcest. 501. On account of the dis- parity of their ages, Wyrcester calls this maritagium diabolicum. But adds, vindicta Bernardi inter eosdem postea patuit. Ibid. What was the vindicta Bernardi ? + Wyrcest. 500, 501. 505, 506, 507.
$ The reader may see the particulars of the feast at his installation, and the names of the guests in Lei. Coll. vi. 1—14.
§ Comines, who was often at Calais, tells us, on the authority of the chief officer of the staple, that the government of that town was worth 15,000 crowns a year. Com. 1. iii. c. 4. — Stow adds that Warwick was a great favorite with the people, on account of his hospitality. " When he came
CHAP. III.] DISCONTENT OF THE NEVILLES. 187
they had governed the king and the kingdom : now they foresaw the diminution of their influence by the ascen- dency of a rival family. Edward had grown weary of the state of tutelage in which they detained him ; the Wydeviles urged him to emancipate himself from the control of his own servants ; and his affections were in- sensibly transferred from the men, who had given him the title, to those who exhorted him to exercise the authority of king. This coldness was first made pub- lic in the year 1467. A marriage had some time before been suggested between Margaret the king's sister and Charles count of Charolois, son to the duke of Burgundy, who, as he was sprung from the house of Lancaster, had always favoured the friends of Henry, but now, from motives of policy, sought an alliance with Edward to protect himself against his adversary the king of France. Warwick, who at the Burgundian court had become A. D. the determined enemy of Charles *, and condemning 1466. the project, advised a marriage with one of the French ^ar- princes. To his objections were opposed the advantages " which would result from the intended alliance, to the king by converting the enemy of his family into a friend, and to the nation by affording greater facility to the commercial intercourse between England and the Ne- therlands. Edward, however, perhaps to free himself from an imperious counsellor, commissioned Warwick A. D. to treat with the king of France, who received him at 1467. Rouen with all the respect due to a sovereign prince ; ^ay gave him for his residence the house next to his own, and by a private door repeatedly visited him in secret for the space of twelve days t. In England, when the parliament assembled, the chancellor did not attend, on
" to London, lie held such an house, that six oxen were eaten at a break- " fast, and every tavern was full of his meat; for who that had any ac- " quaintance in that house, he should have as much sodden (boiled) and " roast as he might carry upon a lon» dagger." Stow, 421.
* Cont. Hist. Cruyl. 551. Capital! odio prosecutus est hominem ilium, scilicet Carolum. Ibid.
t Monstrel. App. 22. Fragment, 22?.
188 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
account of a real or affected sickness: but Edward, whose suspicions had been awakened by the conferences between Warwick and the French king, went to the house of the prelate with a numerous retinue, required June him to deliver up the seals, and, in virtue of an act of 8- resumption passed at the time, took from him two manors, which he had formerly obtained from the May crown *. About the same time the bastard of Burgundy 3U. arrived, avowedly to perform feats of arms with the lord Scales, by whom he had been challenged, though public suspicion assigned to him a secret and more important June object, the negotiation of the intended marriage. The ] ]. tournament took place t: but a few days later the duke 15- of Burgundy died, and the bastard immediately departed j • with his retinue. Warwick then returned, bringing j y with him ambassadors from France, whose object it was to prevent the alliance between Edward and Charles. They had been instructed to offer to the king an annual pension from Louis, and to consent that his pretensions to Normandy and Aquitaine should be referred to the decision of the pope, who should be bound to give judg- ment within four years. But Edward received them coldly, left the capital, and appointed an inferior agent to hear, or rather to reject, their proposals. The earl by increased attention sought to compensate for the neglect of the king : but he was not sparing of hints and menaces in the company of his friends, and on the Sent departure of the ambassadors retired in discontent to 20. his castle at Middleham in Yorkshire J. During his Oct. absence the treaty was resumed with Charles, now duke !• of Burgundy ; the princess gave her consent to the marriage in a great council of peers at Kingston ; and soon afterwards an emissary from queen Margaret, who had been taken in Wales, informed the king that War-
* Bym. xi. 578.
•(• See the ancient and interesting accounts of the origin and perform- ance of this tournament in Excerpt. Hist. 176 — 222. $ Wyrcest. 510. Duclos, Hist, of Louis XI.
CHAP. III.] RECONCILIATION. 189
wick was considered in the French court as a secret partisan of the house of Lancaster. As the earl refused to quit his castle, he was confronted with his accuser at Middleham ; and though the charge was declared to be groundless, the king selected a body guard of two hundred archers, who were ordered to attend always on his person. Every thing seemed to threaten a rupture, when their common friends interfered, by whose means A. D. the archbishop of York and the earl Rivers met at Not- 1468. tingham, and settled the terms of reconciliation. The ^an> prelate conducted his brother to Coventry, where he was graciously received by the king ; all subjects of offence between him and the lords Herbert, Stafford, and Audeley were reciprocally forgiven ; and the arch- bishop, as the reward of his services, recovered the pos- session of his two manors *. In the course of the year Warwick appeared again at court. When Edward con- june ducted his sister to the coast, on her way to Flanders, 18. she rode behind the earl through the streets of the me- tropolis •*•; and on the discovery of a conspiracy in favour of Henry, he sat among the judges on the trial of the accused. But these outward appearances of harmony and confidence did not deceive the people : they foresaw the storm which was gathering ; and while they pitied the real or imaginary wrongs of their favourite, laid the blame on the ambition of the queen and her relatives $. I have been the more particular in these details, that the reader might observe the origin and progress of the A. n. jealousies and dissensions which dissolved the friendship 1469. between Warwick and Edward, and led to the flight of the latter and the restoration of Henry §. But with
* The grant of the manors is dated 1469 in Rymer (x. 642), which proves that Wyrcester is wrong, unless it be a second grant for greater se- curity.
)• She was married to Charles, now duke of Burgundy, at Damme on the 10th of July, at five in the morning. Fenn, ii. 4.
J See in particular Wyrcester, 510 — 515.
§ Many writers tell us that the enmity of Warwick arose from his dis- appointment, caused by Edward's clandestine marriage with Elizabeth. If we may believe them, the earl was at the very time in France negoti-
190 EDWARD IV. [CHAP. III.
respect to most of the events which follow, he must be content with a bare and very imperfect narrative ; for though they were extraordinary in their nature, and most important in their results, yet, in the confused and mutilated records of the time, it is impossible to discover the immediate causes by which they were produced, or the secret relations which connected them with each other.
1. George, the elder of the surviving brothers of Ed- ward, had received with the title of duke of Clarence a proportionate income, and had been named to the lieutenancy of Ireland, which office, on account of his age, he was permitted to execute by his deputy, the earl of Worcester. This young prince, dissatisfied at the ascendency of the Wycleviles, absented himself fre- quently from court, and preferred to the company of his brother that of the earl of Warwick. Another cause for this preference may, perhaps, be found in the attach- ment which he had formed for Isabella, the daughter of that nobleman. Clarence was yet the next male heir to the throne ; and Edward, aware of the ambition of Warwick, earnestly laboured to prevent the marriage of the parties. His efforts were ineffectual ; and the
ating on the part of the king a marriage with Bona of Savoy, sister to the queen of France ; and having succeeded in his mission, brought back with him the count of Dampmartin as ambassador from Louis To me the whole story appears a fiction. 1. It is not to be found in the more ancient his- torians. 2. Warwick was not at the time in France. On the 20th of April, ten days before the marriage, he was employed in negotiating a truce with the French envoys in London (Rym. xi. 521), and on the 26th of May, about three weeks after it, was appointed to treat of another truce with the lung of Scots (Rym. xi. 424). 3. Nor could he bring Dampmartin with him to England ; for that nobleman was committed a prisoner to the Bastile in September, 1463, and remained there till May, 1465. Monstrel. iii. 97- 109. Three contemporary and well-informed writers, the two con- tinuators of the History of Croyiand, and Wyrcester, attribute his discon- tent to the marriages and honours granted to the Wydeviles, and the mar- riage of the princess Margaret with the duke of Burgundy: a fourth tells us, from the mouth of Edward himself, that the king's suspicion of War- wick's fidelity arose from the secret conferences of that nobleman with Louis at Rouen ; and a fifth that Edward had made an attempt in the earl's house to violate the chastity of his niece or daughter. Grafton, 439. See Cont. Hist. Cioyl. 542. 55. Wyrcester, 504—510. Fragment, 299. Wyrcester's annals end iu 1468: from a letter in Fenu, ii. 112, it is pro- bable that lie died in 1472.
A.D. 14G9.] INSURRECTION IN YORKSHIRE. 191
ceremony was performed without his consent, in the July church of St Nicholas at Calais, by the uncle of thell. bride, the archbishop of York.
2. It is a singular circumstance that at the very time when this prelate and his brother met at Calais to cele- brate the marriage in defiance of the king, an insurrec- tion should burst forth in that part of the realm where they possessed the principal influence. Its ostensible cause was the determination of the farmers of Yorkshire to resist the demand of a thrave of corn from every plough-land, made by the warden of the hospital of St. Leonard's. The thrave had been paid since the time of king Athelstan ; and at the beginning of the last reign, when it had been withheld by some, was confirmed to the hospital by act of parliament * : now, however, when the officers attempted to levy its value by distress, the peasants flew to arms, chose for their leader Robert Hilyard, commonly called Robin of Redesdale, and threatened to march to the south, and reform the abuses of government. The citizens of York were alarmed by the approach of fifteen thousand insurgents: but the earl of Northumberland, Warwick's brother, to prevent the destruction of the city, attacked and defeated them with considerable slaughter. Their leader was executed on the field of battle.
3. This circumstance seems to acquit one of the Ne- villes from all share in the insurrection : yet his subse- quent inactivity, and the conduct of his two brothers prove, that whatever were its original cause, they were willing at least to convert it to their own purposes. Nor- thumberland could, if he had pleased, have instantly extinguished the flame : he carelessly looked on, till it grew into a general conflagration. The rebels, though repulsed, were neither dispersed nor pursued ; and in the place of the leader whom they had lost, they found two others of more illustrious name, and more powerful
* Stat. of Realm, ii. 21J.
192 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
connexions, the sons of the lords Fitzhugh and Latimer ; the one the nephew, the other the cousin-german of Warwick. These young men, though nominally at the head of the army, in reality obeyed the commands of sir John Conyers, an old and experienced officer. The claim of the hospital was now forgotten. Their avowed object was to meet the earl of Warwick, that with his advice they might remove from the king's councils the Wydeviles, the authors of the taxes that impoverished, and of the calamities that oppressed the nation. At the name of Warwick his tenants crowded from every quarter ; and in a few days the insurgents were said to amount to sixty thousand men *.
On the first intelligence of the rising in Yorkshire Edward had summoned his retainers ; and in the inter- val having visited the monasteries in Suffolk and Nor- folk, fixed his head-quarters at the castle of Fotherin- gay. Here the advance of the insurgents, their in- creasing numbers, and their menaces of vengeance, created considerable alarm ; and it was resolved that the Wydeviles should retire from the( army, and secrete themselves at their different seats in the country. From Fotheringay the king marched to Newark ; but alarmed
* During this insurrection reports of witchcraft were circulated against Jacquetta, the king's mother-in-law. She afterwards exhibited the fol- lowing complaint to Edward : " To the king, our sovereign lord, sheweth, " and lamentably complaineth unto your highness your humble and true " liege woman Jacquetta, duchess of Bedford .... that when she at all " time hath and yet doth truly believe on God according to the faith of " holy church, as a true Christian woman ought to do, yet Thomas Wake, " esq. . . . hath caused her to be brought in a common noise and dis- " clander of witchcraft throughout a great part of your realm, surmising " that she should have used witchcraft and sorcery, insomuch as the said " Wake caused to be brought to Warwick at your last being there, sove- " reign lord" (lie was then in the custody of Clarence, Warwick, and the archbishop), " to divers of the lords being there present, an image of lead " made like a man of arms containing the length of a man's finger, and " broken in the middle, and made fast with a wire, saying that it was made " by your said oratrice, to use with the said witchcraft and sorcery; where " she, nor none for her or by her ever saw it, God knoweth." Of course her innocence was admitted by the king. Rot. Parl. vi. 232. I have men- tioned this, that the reader may see on what frivolous grounds these accu- sations n-ere brought, and how anxious the highest personages were to guard against them.
A D. 14G9.] BATTLE AT EDGECOTE. 193
at the signs of disaffection which he everywhere ob- served, turned back to the castle of Nottingham. Thence he despatched letters written with his own hand to his juiy brother Clarence, the earl of Warwick, and the arch- 9. bishop, requesting them to hasten to him at Notting- ham with the same retinue which usually attended them in time of peace. In the note to Warwick he added these significant words : " and we do not believe " that ye should be of any such disposition toward us, " as the rumour here runneth, considering the trust " and affection we bear you. And, cousin, ne think " but ye shall be to us welcome *." But the noblemen, on whose attachment and services he rested his chief hopes, were the lords Herbert and Stafford, lately created earls of Pembroke and Devon. The former, who had reduced the strong castle of Hardlough, hastened from Wales to the aid of his sovereign with eight thousand men ; the latter with five thousand joined him at Ban- bury : but an unfortunate dispute about quarters irri- tated the new earl of Devon, who withdrew to another town at the distance of twelve miles. A numerous July party of the insurgents seized the opportunity to attack 26. the royalists the next day .at Edgecote, who, without archers, and deserted by their friends the Welshmen, offered an easy victory to the multitude of their enemies. Five thousand with their leader are said to have perished on the field : during the pursuit the victors discovered the earl Rivers and sir John Wydevile, the father and brother of Elizabeth, in the forest of Dean. They were seized, brought to Northampton, and executed by the Aug. order, or the pretended order, of Clarence and Warwick. 12." Even Devon did not escape. He was afterwards be- ^u_ headed at Bridgewater, some say by command of the 17.
* Fenn, ii. 40. Tlie letters are dated at Nottingham, July 9th, without any year. 1 have placed them in 1469, because Eilward was then at Not- tingham ; Clarence, Warwick, and the archbishop were together at Calais, and consequently could receive letters by the same messengers ; and actu- ally did all three wait on the king a few weeks later. See Cont. Hist. Cruyl. 542, 543.
VOL. V. O
194 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
king, in revenge for the loss of the battle : others, with more probability, through the fury of the people, who hated him, as a friend of the Wydeviles*.
4. Clarence, Warwick, and the archbishop had pre- viously landed in England, and, taking with them the archbishop of Canterbury, they proceeded in search of the king, whom they found at Olney, plunged in the deepest distress by the defeat of Pembroke, the murder of the Wydeviles, and the desertion of his friends. At the first interview they approached him with all those expressions of respect which are due from the subject to the sovereign ; and Edward, deceived by these ap- pearances, freely acquainted them with his suspicions and displeasure. But his imprudence was soon checked by the discovery that he was in reality their captive ; and he hastily accepted those excuses, which it would have been dangerous to refuse. The few royalists who had remained with the king dispersed with the permission of Warwick : at his command the insurgents returned to their homes laden with plunder; and Edward ac- companied the two brothers to Warwick ; whence, for greater security, he was removed to Middleham, under the custody of the archbishop •('.
* See Cent. Hist. Croyl. 543. 551. Fragment, 300,301. Stow, 422.
•f Cont. Hist Croyl. 543. 551. By modern writers the captivity of Ed- ward has been scornfully rejected. Hume says it is contradicted by records. Carte and Henry pronounce it incredible and romantic, but, if it were, they should have accounted for what in that case were more in- conceivable, the mention which is made of it by almost every writer of the ;ige, whether foreigner or native, even by Commiiies (iii. 4), who says that he received the principal incidents of Edward's history from the mouth of Edward himself, and by the annalist of Croyland (551), who was high in the confidence of that monarch. Hume's arguments are, 1°. That the records in Rymer allow of no interval for the imprisonment of Edward in 1470; and, 2°. That it is not mentioned, as, ii' it had happened, it must have been, in the proclamation of Edward against Clarence and Warwick of the same year. But, in the first place, lie has mistaken the date of the imprisonment, which was not in 1470, but in 1469 (ea aetate quae contiuge- bat anno nono regis, qui erat anuus domini 1469. Cont. Croyl', 551} : and, in the second, the proclamation ought not to have named it; because it confines itself to the enumeration of those offences only which had been committed after the pardon granted to them at Christmas 1469 (Rot. Par), vi. 233). But there is a record, which places the existence of the im- > risoument beyond a doubt, the attainder of Clarence, in which the king enumerates it among his offences: "as in jnpartyng the king's royall
A. D. 1469.] EDWARD RELEASED FROM PRISON. 195
England exhibited at this moment the extraordinary spectacle of two rival kings, each confined in prison, Henry in the Tower, Edward in Yorkshire. What- ever might have been the intentions of Warwick, they were disconcerted by the friends of the former, who seized the opportunity to unfurl his standard in the marches of Scotland, under sir Humphrey Neville *. The conduct of the earl proved that the suspicions pre- viously entertained of his acting in concert with the partisans of that monarch, were groundless. He sum- moned all the lieges of Edward to oppose the rebels : but the summons was disregarded, and men refused to fight in defence of a prince, of whose fate they were ignorant. He therefore found it necessary to exhibit the king in public at York, having first obtained from him a grant of the office of justiciary of south Wales, and of all the other dignities held by the late earl of Aug. Pembroke. From York he marched into the north, 17. defeated the Lancastrians, and conducted their leader to Edward, by whom he was condemned to lose his head on a scaffold. By what arguments or promises the king procured his liberty we know not. A private treaty was signed : he repaired to the capital, accom- panied by several lords of the party; and his return was hailed by his own friends as little short of a mi- racle. A council of peers was now summoned, in which, £j-ov after many negotiations, Clarence and his father-in-law 6. condescended to justify their conduct. Edward with apparent cheerfulness accepted their apology, and a general pardon was issued in favour of all persons who had borne arms against the king from the first rising in Yorkshire under Robin of Redesdale, to the time
" estate, persone and life in straite warrlf. putting him thereby from oil his '• libertie, a ft re piocuryiug grete commocions." Rot. Pad. vi/193. I may add, that in the records in Kymer for 1469 there is a sufficient interval o'f three months fiom the 12th of May to the IJth of August, the very time assigned to the insurrection and imprisonment.
* Sir Humphrey had lied from the defeat at Hexham in 1464, and con cealed himself during five years in a cave, opening into the river Denvent. Year book, Ter. Pawn. 4 Ed. IV. 20.
196 EDWARD IV. [CHAP. III.
when they were dismissed by the earl of Warwick at Olney*.
5. Elizabeth had not yet borne her husband a son, and though the eldest daughter was but four years old, Edward in this assembly asked the advice of the lords, how he should dispose of the young princess in marriage. For his own part, he wished to give her to George, the son of the earl of Northumberland, and presumptive heir to all the three Nevilles. His choice was unani- mously approved ; and the young nobleman, that his rank might approach nearer to that of his intended bride, was created duke of Bedford. This extraordinary measure has been explained on two suppositions ; either that the king, alarmed at the marriage between his brother and the daughter of Warwick, sought to raise up a new and opposite interest in the family ; or that, as the price of his liberation, he had promised to give his daughter to this young nobleman, the son of a brother who had never offended him, and the nephew of the two brothers, who kept him in confinement.
6. To those, who were not in the confidence of the parties, their reconciliation appeared sincere. For greater security, a pardon for all offences committed before the feast of Christmas was granted to Clarence and War- wick ; and in consequence of the restoration of peace within the realm, proposals were made to invade France
* The account of Edward's escape, which is generally given is, that the archbishop allowed him to hunt, and that one day, while he was employed in that exercise, he was carried off by his friends (Hall, 203). That which I have given depends on the superior authority of the historian of Croy- land, who, while he considers the king's liberation almost miraculous, yet asserts that it had the express consent of Warwick. Prseter omuem spem pene miraculose non tarn evasit, quam de expresso ipsius comitis eonsensu dimissus est, p. 551. Stow mentions Edward's promises, and that he re- mained at York till after the execution of sir Humphrey Neville, p. 421. In Fenn there is a letter without date, which I believe refers to this period. It relates the king's return from York to London in company with the archbishop, who, however, was not permitted to enter the capi- tal with him, but ordered to remain at the Moor, his seat in Hertfordshire. The earl of Oxford, a Lancastrian, was treated in the same manner. — " The king," adds the writer, " hath himself good language of the lords of " Clarence and Warwick, and of my lords of York and Oxford saying " they be his best friends ; but his household men have other language, " so that what shall hastily fall, I cannot say." Fenn, i. 291.
CHAP. III.] RUPTURE AND RECONCILIATION. 197
in concert with the king's brother-in-law, the duke of A.i>. Burgundy. The French ambassadors, who came over 1470. probably to learn the state of the different parties, were so much deceived, that Louis XI., in consequence of their representations, published an order to all his sub- jects to meet in arms on the first of May, that they might be in readiness to repel the threatened inva- sion*. Yet under this outward appearance of har- mony, distrust and resentment festered in their breasts ; and a singular occurrence proved how little faith was to be given to the protestations uttered on either side. The archbishop had invited the king to meet Clarence and Warwick at an entertainment, which he designed to give at his seat at the Moor in Hertfordshire. As Edward was washing his hands before supper, John Ratcliffe, afterwards lord Fitz-walter, whispered in his ear that one hundred armed men were lying in wait to surprise, and convey him to prison. Without inquiring into the grounds of the information, he stole Feb. to the door, mounted a horse, and rode with precipitation to Windsor. His abrupt departure revived all the former dissensions ; fresh conferences were held at Baynard's castle, under the mediation of Cecily, duchess of York, the king's mother ; and a new reconciliation was effected equally insincere with all those which had preceded it t. 7. During these conferences an insurrection burst out in Lincolnshire, of which the king could at first discovei neither the real object nor the authors. The inhabitants, provoked by the extortions of the officers of the household, rose in arms, chased sir Robert Burgh, a purveyor, out of the county, burnt his mansion, and pillaged his estates. This outrage, and the fear of punishment, bound them more strongly to each other, and emboldened sir Robert Welles, the real instigator of the rising, to place himself
138 EDWARD IV. [CHAP. III.
openly at their head. The king, to the great surprise of his friends *, gave a commission to the duke and the earl to levy troops for his service ; and hefore he left London sent for the lord Welles, father of sir Robert, and for sir Thomas Dymock, the champion, to appear before the council. They wavered, obeyed the summons, then fled to a sanctuary, and afterwards, on the promise of pardon, repaired to the court. Edward insisted that lord Welles should employ his paternal authority, and command his son to submit to the royal mercy : but the young man at the same time received letters from Warwick and Cla- rence, exhorting him to persevere, and assuring him of speedy and powerful aid. When the king had reached Stamford, and found that sir Robert was yet in arms, he ordered the father and Dymock to be beheaded, in viola- tion of his promise ; and then sent a second summons to sir Robert, who indignantly replied, that he would never trust the perfidy of the man who had murdered his pa- rent. This answer was, however, dictated by revenge and despair. The king attacked the insurgents at Erpingham ]yjar in Rutlandshire : his artillery mowed down their ranks : 12. their leaders were taken : and while the meaner prisoners |:>- were dismissed, sir Thomas Delalaunde and sir Robert ij* Welles paid the forfeit of their lives. Before their exe- cution they confessed that they had raised the men of Lincolnshire to favour the designs of the earl and the duke, whose object it was to place Clarence on the throne : that during the insurrection they had been guided by the counsels of these noblemen ; but had fought contrary to their instructions, which stated, that, if they would allow the king to pass forward, they might expect to be joined in a day or two by Warwick with 20,000 men t. The earl of Worcester had been appointed
* Rym. xi. 652. Sir John Paston in one of his letters says, " My lord of ' Warwick, as it is supposed, shall go with the king into Lincolnshire.: " some men say that his going shall do good, some say that it doth harm." Fenn, ii. 32.
t Rot Parl. vi. 144. " As the said sir Robert Welles, &c. have openly " confessed and shewed before his said highness, the lords of his blood, " and the multitude of his subjects attending upon him in his host at this
A. D. 1470.] FLIGHT OF CLARENCE AND WARWICK. 199
lord constable ; and under that cruel nobleman the lord Willouijhby lost his head at York, and several knights and gentlemen were put to the most barbarous and ignominious deaths *.
By the premature defeat of the Lincolnshire insur- gents Clarence and Warwick found them selves in a most perplexing situation. They had purposed to join sir Robert Welles on the morrow: now, seeing themselves unable to cope with the king, they advanced towards Yorkshire, having previously by proclamation ordered every man able to bear arms to join them, under the penalty of death •!•. The king was at Doncaster when they reached Esterfield, at the distance of twenty miles ; and, having arrayed his forces to receive them, he sent Mar. Garter-king-at-arms to summon them to appear before -u- him, and clear themselves of the offences laid to their charge. They immediately turned to the west, and marched to Manchester, to solicit the aid of the lord Stanley, who had married the sister of Warwick. Want of provisions prevented the pursuit by the royal army, and Edward hastening to York published a proclama- Mar. tion, in which he enumerated their offences, but exhorted 23. them to return to their duty withiri a certain term, assuring them, that if they could vindicate their inno- cence, he would accept their justification with pleasure ; and that if they could not, he would still remember that they were allied to him by blood, and had been once numbered amongst his dearest friends $. At the same time he took from Clarence the lieutenancy of Ireland, and gave it to the earl of Worcester ; restored to Henry Percy the earldom of Northumberland and the warden- ship of the east marches, giving in compensation to Mar. Warwick's brother, who had held them ever since the 2">.
" time, which they affirmed to be true at their deaths, uncompelle<l.
" unstirred, and undesired so to do." Ibid. p. 233. The confession of sir Robert is still extant. Excerp. Hist. 282.
* I shall not shock the feelings of the reader by relating the cruelties mentioned by Stow, 422.
t Rot. Pari. vi. 23a + Rot. Parl. vi. 233. and Fenn, ii. 36.
200 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
battle of Towton, the barren title of marquess Montague ; and having learned that the fugitives, unable to corrupt the fidelity of the lord Stanley, had marched to the south, Mar. issue(j commissions to array the population of all the counties through which it was probable they would pass. From York he hastened to Nottingham ; where, as the Mar. time allotted to them had expired, he declared them 31. traitors, and, having offered rewards for their apprehen- sion, continued his march with the greatest expedition. But they fled more rapidly than he could pursue ; and April by the time that he reached Exeter, had collected ships 1J- at Dartmouth, whence they set sail for the harbour of Calais*.
Warwick had intrusted the government of Calais to a gentleman of Gascony, named Vauclerc, a knight of the garter. To his dismay and astonishment the batteries of the place opened upon him, as he attempted to enter. It was in vain that he sent an officer to remonstrate. Vauclerc, acquainted with the recent transactions in England, had resolved to play a deep, but, he trusted, a secure game. To Warwick he apologized for his conduct, by informing him that the garrison was disaffected, and would, if he landed, infallibly betray him. At the same time he despatched a messenger to Edward with assur- ances of his loyalty, and his determination to preserve so important a fortress for his sovereign. What impression his reasons made on the mind of Warwick we know not ; but Edward rewarded him with the government of Calais, and the duke of Burgundy granted him a pension of a thousand crowns. The fugitives, after some delibera- tion, steered their course towards Normandy, captured every Flemish merchantman which fell in their way, and were received at Harfleur, with distinguished honours, by the admiral of France t.
* Ibid. Rym. 654— 65/. The reward was 100/. per annum in land or 1000J. in money. Hence we may infer that land in this reign sold at ten years' purchase.
t Commines, Hi. 4. Monstrel. addit. 34.
A. D. 1470.] THEIR RECEPTION BY LOUIS XI. 201
Louis XI. had hitherto espoused but faintly the cause of the house of Lancaster : but he now saw the advan- tage to be derived from the arrival of Warwick and his friends, and ordered them and their ladies to be pro- vided with the best accommodations in the neighbouring towns. Clarence and the earl were invited to his court at Amboise and Angers; where they met Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou. No two persons had ever July inflicted more serious injuries on each other than the 15. earl and that princess : but misfortune blunted the edge of their mutual hatred, and interest induced them to forget their past enmity. After a decent struggle Mar- garet suffered her antipathy to be subdued by Warwick's oaths, and the authority of Louis. She promised on the gospels never to reproach him with the past, but to re- pute him a true and faithful subject for the future : to cement their friendship, it was agreed that the prince, her son, should marry his daughter Anne, and to lull the probable discontent of Clarence, that in failure of issue by such marriage, the right to the crown should, on the death of the prince, devolve on the duke ; and lastly, Louis in consequence of this reconciliation en- gaffed to furnish the aid which Warwick required for his projected expedition to England*.
The only persons dissatisfied with this arrangement were Clarence and his consort. He had hitherto been induced to follow the counsels of Warwick by the pros- pect of succeeding to his brother on the throne : he now saw another claimant interposed between himself and the object of his ambition, and his chance of success made to depend on a distant and very uncertain contin- gency. His discontent was artfully fomented by the
* Cora. ibid. Hall, 206, 207. Frag. 304. Lei. Coll. ii. 503. Ellis, i. 132. That this marriage actually took place, is clear both from the testimony of our own historians, and from the order given by Louis that the city cf Paris should receive in public procession the queen of England avec sou fils le prince de Galles et sa fnnme rllle dudit comte de Warvick, avec la femme dudit de Warvick mere de lafemme dudit prince de Galles. Monst. Nouvelles Chroniques, 33.
202 EDWARD iv. [CHAP, in
intrigues of a female agent. A lady in the suite of the duchess had in the hurry of the flight been left in Eng- land, but was permitted to follow, in appearance through the attention of the king to his sister-in-law, — in reality, that she might carry private instructions to Clarence. She represented to that prince how unnatural it was for him to fight against his brother, and to support the cause of a family, the prosperity of which must depend on the destruction of his own. These suggestions were not lost on a mind already predisposed to receive them ; and the duke, it^is said, found the means to assure Edward, that when the occasion should offer, he would prove himself a loyal subject and affectionate kinsman *.
The conduct of that prince during this interval is almost inexplicable. If we except the execution of some, and the banishment of others, among the adherents of Warwick, he took no precautions to avert, made no pre- parations to meet, the approaching storm. His time was spent in gallantries and amusements : the two bro- thers of Warwick were received into favour ; and one of them, the marquess Montague, was honoured with the royal confidence t. In such circumstances, no man but the infatuated monarch himself entertained a doubt of the result, if Warwick should effect a landing. That nobleman had always been the favourite, his exile had made him the idol, of the people ; no ballad was popular in the towns and villages which did not resound his praise ; and every pageant and public exhibition made allusions to his virtues and his misfortunes. But if Edward was indolent, his brother-in-law, the duke of Burgundy, was active. He sent emissaries to Calais to watch the conduct of Vauclerc ; complained to the par- liament of Paris of the reception which had been given to his enemy ; sought by menaces and preparations of
* Coalmines, iii. 5.
t Though the archbishop was allowed to remain at the Moor in Hert- fordshire, " ther was beleffte with hym dy verse of the kynge's servantes,'1 evidently to watch his motions. Fenn, ii. 48.
A. D. 1470.] EDWARD DRIVEN OUT OF THE KINGDOM. 203
war to intimidate Louis ; seized all the French mer- chandize in his territories as an indemnity for the cap- tures made by Warwick ; and despatched a powerful squadron to blockade the mouth of the river Seine. But the Burgundian ships were dispersed by a storm ; and the next morning the exiles, under the protection of a French fleet, left their anchorage, and steering across the chan- nel, landed without opposition at Plymouth and Dart- mouth*.
The incautious Edward had been drawn as far as York by an artifice of the lord Fitzhugh, brother-in-law to Warwick, who pretended to raise a rebellion in North- umberland, and on the approach of the king, retired within the borders of Scotland t. Thus the southern counties were left open to the invaders. The men of Kent had risen in arms: in London Dr. Goddard preached at St. Paul's Cross in favour of the title of Henry VI. ; Warwick proclaimed that monarch, ordered all men between sixteen and sixty to join his standard, and marched with an army, which increased every hour, in a direct line towards Nottingham. The thoughtless king had affected to treat the invasion with his usual levity : he was happy that his enemies had at last put themselves in his power, and trusted that the duke of Burgundy would prevent their escape by sea. But the delusion was soon dissipated. Very few of those whom he had summoned resorted to his quarters at Doncaster ; and of these few many took the first opportunity to de- part. As he sat at dinner, or lay in bed, word was brought that Warwick continued to approach with the utmost expedition ; nor had he recovered from his sur- prise before a second messenger informed him that six thousand men, who had hitherto worn the white rose,
204 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
had, at the instigation of Montague, thrown away that device, and tossing their bonnets into the air, had cried, " God bless king Harry." A battalion of guards was immediately despatched to secure a neighbouring bridge, and the king, after a short consultation with his friends, mounting his horse, rode, without stopping, to the town of Lynn. He found in the harbour an English ship, and two Dutch brigs ; and embarking in them with a few noblemen and about eight hundred followers, Qctj compelled the sailors to weigh anchor, and steer imme- 3. diately for the coast of Holland. The fugitives were de- scried by a fleet of pirates from the Hanse Towns ; and, to escape the pursuit of these unknown enemies, the king was compelled to run his vessel on shore. He landed near Alkmaar, was received with every token of respect by Grutuse the governor of the province, and conducted by him to the Hague to meet the duke of Burgundy. Thus, by his presumption and inactivity, did Edward lose his crown, before he could strike one blow to preserve it *.
Queen Elizabeth with her family "had remained in the
Tower : but perceiving that the tide of loyalty had turned
iu favour of Henry, she left that fortress secretly, and
Oct. fled with her mother and three daughters to the sanc-
!• tuary of Westminster, where she was shortly afterwards
delivered of a son +. Within a few days Clarence and
g ' Warwick made their triumphal entry into the capital.
Henry was immediately conducted from the Tower to
Oct. the bishop's palace ; and thence walked in solemn pro-
13. cession, with the crown on his head, to the cathedral of
St. Paul's. His friends attributed his restoration to
the undoubted interposition of Heaven $ ; by foreign
* Cont. Croyl. 554. Commines, iii. 5. Fragment, 306. Stow, 422 Hall, 209. Edward after his restoration rewarded Grutuse with the earldom of Winchester, which that nobleman was induced to resign by Henry VII. t Stow, 422, 423. Fenn, ii. 52. '
| Cont Croyl. 554, who adds, though himself a Yorkist, that the Lan- castrians were at that period the more numerous party. Ibid.
A. D. 1.470.] SETTLEMENT OF THE SUCCESSION. 205
nations it was viewed with wonder, or treated with ridi- cule ; to himself it is doubtful whether it proved a source of joy or regret. He had been the captive of Edward ; he was now the slave of Warwick *.
By a parliament summoned in the name of the re- stored king, Edward was pronounced an usurper, his adherents were attainted, and all acts passed by his au- Nov. thority were repealed. The next step was to ratify the 26. convention of Amboise. An act of settlement entailed the crown on the issue male of Heniy VI., and in de- fault of such issue, on the duke of Clarence and the heirs of his body ; and appointed that prince, with his father- in-law, protectors of the realm, during the minority of Edward, the present prince of Wales. All the lords, who had suffered for their attachment to the cause of Henry, recovered their titles and property ; Clarence was made heir to his late father Richard duke of York, promoted to the lieutenancy of Ireland, and in place of some manors, which had belonged to Lancastrians, received other grants of equal, perhaps of superior value ; Warwick reassumed his offices of Chamberlain of Eng- land and captain of Calais, to which was added that of lord high admiral ; his brother the archbishop was again intrusted with the seals ; and his other brother the mar- quess recovered the wardenship of the marches. But if the conquerors thus provided for themselves, it must be added in their praise that their triumph was not stained with blood. The only man who suffered was the earl of 0ct. Worcester ; whose cruelty in the office of constable had 18 acquired for him with the title of " the butcher," the hatred of the people t
* A foreigner writing on the subject to the cardinal of Pavia, says : Kidebunt poster!, credo, aut ut miracula mirabuntur, cum audierint tan- tam esse hujus comitis incenium ut indomitam gentem tarn facile regat. novos reges fecerit, his denuo pulsis veteres revocarit, et ipse pulsus intra vertentem annum, muliis intra et extra regnum adversantibus, in idem regmim redierit &c. Hesdini, Oct. xi. 1470. Apud Raynal. eodem anno.
t Cont. Croyl. 554. Rym. xi. 661— 679. fi93— 696. 699— 705. When the proceedings of Henry's parliament were afterwards repealed, it is probable that they were also cancelled. They do not now appear on the rolls. Rot. Parl. vi. 191.
206 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
To no one did this sudden revolution afford greater satisfaction than to Louis of France. By his orders it was celebrated with public thanksgivings and rejoicings for three days, and Margaret was received at Paris with A . i). the same distinction as a queen of France. To compli- 147Lment Henry, a splendid embassy proceeded to London, l'e"- and a treaty of peace and commerce for fifteen years cemented the union between the two crowns*. The duke of Burgundy, on the contrary, found himself placed in a most distressing dilemma. Edward had fled to him and solicited his aid. Could he refuse the brother of his consort ? The dukes of Exeter and Somerset had reached his court, and reminded him that he was de- scended from the same ancestor as Henry. Could he contribute to dethrone a prince of his own blood ? By aiding Edward, he might provoke Henry to espouse the cause of Louis, who had already wrested from him a rich and populous territory : by refusing to aid him, he should expose himself to equal danger from the friendship be- tween the two crowns. At last he adopted the crooked, but in this instance successful, policy, of rejecting in public, while he favoursd in private, the cause of the exile. By proclamation he forbade under severe penal- ties any of his subjects to lend assistance to Edward : in secret he made him a present of fifty thousand florins, ordered four large ships to be equipped for his use at Vere in Holland, and hired fourteen vessels from the Hanse Towns to transport him to England t.
About the middle of Lent the hostile fleet was descried
off the coast of Suffolk ; but the preparations which had
been made, and the activity of a brother to the earl of
Oxford, deterred it from approaching the land. Conti-
Y^ar- nuing his course to the north, Edward entered the
jj.'ir Humber, and with fifteen hundred men disembarked at
1 4. Ravenspur, the very place where Henry IV. landed to
* Rym. xi. 683. 690.
t Coinminos, iii. 6. He had 900 English and 300 Flemings, " with i iruims," forte, hande guuus. Lei. Coll. ii. 503.
A. D. 1471.] EDWARD LANES IN ENGLAND. 207
dethrone Richard II. The hostility of the inhabitants induced him to imitate the dissimulation and perjury of that monarch. He exhibited a pretended safe- conduct from the earl of Northumberland; protested that he came not to claim the throne but the inheritance of his late father, the duke of York ; wore in his bonnet an ostrich feather, the device of Edward, the Lancastrian prince of Wales ; and ordered his followers to shout " Long live king Henry," in every village and town through which they passed. At the gates of York, and jja afterwards on the altar of the cathedral, he was com- is. pelled to abjure on oath, in presence of the corporation and clergy, all his pretensions to the crown. Such a reception was not calculated to flatter his hopes : but he staked his life on the result ; he resolved to press for- ward ; and the boldness and decision which marked his conduct, contrasted with the inactivity, timidity, and irresolution of his adversaries, will justify a suspicion that he possessed resources, and was encouraged by pro- mises, of which we are ignorant. At Pontefract lay the marquess Montague with an army sufficiently numerous to have overwhelmed the invaders. A short correspon- dence passed between Edward and that commander. The former passed within four miles of the head-quarters Ma of his adversary, and not a sword was drawn to impede or retard his progress. But the rivulet, as it rolled on, was swelled by the accession of numberless streams : at Nottingham the exile saw himself at the head of several thousand men ; and in his proclamations he assumed the title of king, and summoned every loyal subject to hasten to the aid of his sovereign. Clarence also threw off the mask. He had raised a numerous body of men under a commission from Henry ; he now ordered them to wear the white rose over their gorgets *, and joined his brother near Coventry, where the earls of Warwick and Oxford had concentrated their forces. Both the battle
* Fenn, ii. 62.
208 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
and the reconciliation, which Edward offered, were ob- stinately refused ; and the Yorkists directed their march with expedition to the capital, which had been intrusted April*0 tne care °f tne archbishop. That prelate already 11. began to waver. In the morning he conducted Henry, decorated with the insignia of royalty, through the streets of the city ; in the afternoon he ordered the recorder Urswick to admit Edward by a postern in the walls. In his excuse it was alleged, that the party of the house of York had gained the ascendency among the citizens ; that the richest of the merchants were the creditors of Edward ; that his affability and gallantries had attached numbers to his interests ; and that the sanctuaries contained two thousand of his adhe- rents, ready at a signal to unsheath the sword in his favour. However that may be, the archbishop secured a pardon for himself, and ruined the cause of his bro- thers*. Warwick and Montague followed their adver- sary, expecting to find him encamped before the capital : ^ prilbut he, apprehensive of the Lancastrians within its 13. walls, immediately left it, and taking Henry with him, advanced to meet his pursuers as far as Barnet. Cla- rence, who felt some compunction for the part which he had acted, sent to offer his services as mediator between his father-in-law and his brother. " Go and tell your " master," replied the indignant earl, " that Warwick, " true to his word, is a better man than the false and " perjured Clarence." He had appealed to the sword ; he would admit of no other arbiter between him and his enemies t.
It was late on Easter-eve when the two armies came
* " He was doble (as men suppose) to king Henry, and kept hym at " London, when he woold have beene at Westminster. He had lettres of " king Edward to kepe king Henry out of Sanctuary." Lei. Col. ii. 508. He swore allegiance to Edward on the sacrament in the morning before the king left London for Barnet. Rym. xi. 710. Yet he was committed or a few days to the Tower, either to conceal his treason, or through mis- trust. Fenn, ii. 64. His pardon includes all offences committed before Easter-eve. Rym. xi. 709.
f Contin. Croyl. 554. Speed, 881. Commines, iii. 7.
A. D. 1471.] BATTLE OF BARXET. 209
in sight of each other: before sunrise the next morning April their leaders had arrayed them in the field. The battle H- was more remarkable for its consequences to the rival parties, than for the number of the slain or the obstinacy of the combatants ; but to describe it, from the imperfect and discordant narratives which have descended to us, would be a perplexing and hopeless task. It is agreed that it lasted six hours ; that the left wing of the Yorkists was put to flight, and that intelligence of their total defeat reached their friends in the capital. The for- tune of the day was changed, if we may believe some writers, by the advance of Edward's reserve ; according to others by a fatal mistake of the earl of Warwick, whose men charged the followers of the earl of Oxford as enemies, and compelled them to exclaim " treason,'' and flee from the field *. Warwick was slain either fighting in the midst of his enemies, or in an attempt to secrete himself in a wood : his brother Montague also fell, whether it was that he offered himself bravely to the swords of the enemy, or that by putting on the livery of Edward he excited the resentment of his own party. The duke of Exeter was left as dead, but his servants found him breathing in the evening, and con- veyed him to the sanctuary at Westminster. Of all the Lancastrian leaders two only escaped, the duke of So- merset and the earl of Oxford, who joined the earl of Pembroke in Wales, and still defied the power of the Yorkists. Edward lost the lords Cromwell and Say, and the son of the lord Berners t. By many writers the number of the slain is swelled to several thousands : one of the Pastons, who was in the engagement, reduces it to ten or eleven hundred $. To Edward the death of
* The soldiers of the different parties were distinguished by the badges of tl:eir leaders, which they wore both on their breasts and their baiks. That day Edward had chosen for his badge a sun with rays, and Oxford a star with rays. It was easy to mistake one for the other. Lei. ColL ii. 504.
t Cont. Croyl. 555. Lei Col. 504, 505. Hall, 217, 218. Fab. 504.
f Fenn, ii. 64. Fabyau says 1500.
VOL. V. p
-10 EDWARD IV. [CHAP. III.
Warwick was of greate* importance than any victory. That nobleman by a long course of success had acquired the surname of the king-maker ; and the superstition of the vulgar believed that the cause which he supported must finally triumph. His body, with that of his bro- April ther Montague, was publicly exposed for three days in lo- the church of St. Paul's, and then deposited among the ashes of his fathers in the abbey of Bilsam. Edward entered the city in triumph, remanded the unfortunate Henry to his cell in the Tower, and resumed the exer- cise of the sovereign authority *. But he was not long permitted to indulge in repose or festivity. He had April fought at Barnet on the Sunday : on the Friday he was 1<J- again summoned into the field. Queen Margaret, who had been detained for weeks on the French coast by the state of the weather, had at last embarked at Harfieur ; but her hopes were again disappointed by the violence of the wind, and three weeks elapsed before she landed with a body of French auxiliaries at Weymouth. It was the very day of the battle of Barnet. She was hardly recovered from the fatigue of the voyage when a messenger arrived with the fatal intelligence. All her hopes were instantly broken : she sank to the ground in despair ; and, as soon as she came to herself, has- tened with her son to the sanctuary of Beaulieu. But the Lancastrian lords who still remained faithful to the cause induced her to quit her asylum, conducted her to Bath, and raised a considerable body of troops to fight under her banner. If this army could have joined that under the earl of Pembroke in Wales, the crown might perhaps have been again replaced on the head of Henry. But the citizens of Gloucester had fortified the bridge May over the Severn; and when she reached Tewksbury 4. Edward was already at hand with a more numerous army. The Lancastrians, posted behind a lofty intrench-
* Fab. 504. Henry had beeu taken by sir Thomas Talbot, to whom and his heirs male was granted an annuity of forty pounds out of the issues of the duchy of Lancaster. Transcripts for New Rym. 79.
A. D. 1471.] EXECUTION OF THE DUKE OF SOMERSET. 21 »
ment, easily repulsed the assailants ; and the duke of Somerset, flushed with this temporary success, sallied out to harass their retreat. But few followed their gal- lant leader : the rest were restrained by the treason or timidity of the lord Wenlock. The Yorkists turned on their pursuers, chased them back to the foot of the in- trenchments, and put most of them to the sword. Dis- trust and dismay now spread through the ranks of the Lancastrians • the rampart was but faintly defended : first the banner of the duke of Gloucester, soon that of Edward, waived in the midst of the camp ; and Somer- set in despair, riding up to lord Wenlock, at one stroke beat out his brains. The queen and her son were made prisoners in their attempt to escape. The former was reserved to grace the conqueror's triumph ; the latter was led to Edward, and being asked what had brought him to England, boldly but ingenuously replied, " To preserve my father's crown and my own inheritance." The king, it is said, had the barbarity to strike the young prince in the face with his gauntlet : Clarence and Gloucester, or perhaps the knights in their retinue, de- spatched him with their swords *.
It is probable that many of the Lancastrian leaders might have escaped by flight, if they had not sought an asylum within the church. While they were triumphant, they had always respected the right of sanctuary ; and a hope was cherished that gratitude for the preservation of his wife, his children, and two thousand of his parti- sans, would restrain Edward from violating a privilege, to which he was so much indebted. But the murder of the young prince had whetted his appetite for blood. With his sword drawn he attempted to enter the church :
» ('out. Croyl. 556. Holinshed, 1340. Stow, 424. Fabyan, 505. There may be exaggerations in the common account of the prince's death: hut I see no good reason to dispute Stow's narrative : " he smote him on the face with his gauntlet, and after his servants slew him." (Stow> ibid.) It is not contradicted by the writers who say that the prince fell " in the war or in the field :" it is countenanced by "those who s;iy that he was taken, and afterwards slain : " was taken fleeinge to the townward, and slayue in the fielde." Harl. MSS. 543.
P2
212 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
but a priest, bearing the host in his hand, ran to the door, and refused to move from the threshold till the king had given a reluctant promise to spare the lives of all who had taken refuge within the walls. For two days the promise was observed : on the third a body of armed May men burst into the church, seized the duke of Somerset, C. with the lord of St. John's, six knights, and seven esquires, dragged them before the dukes of Gloucester and Norfolk, and at their command struck off the heads of the victims*.
There now remained but one person whose life could give uneasiness to Edward. As long as the son lived to claim the crown of his father the blood of Henry was not worth the shedding: but now that the young prince was no more, to remove the old king, was to remove the last temptation from his adherents, whose attachment to their ancient sovereign appeared to grow with the de- cline of his fortunes. Only a week had elapsed after the battle of Tewksbury when the bastard of Falcon- berg, who had been vice-admiral to Warwick, and corn- May manded a fleet of adventurers, made a bold attempt to 12. liberate the royal prisoner from the Tower. Landing at Blackwall, and calling to his aid the commons of Essex and Kent, he advanced to attack the city, burnt Bishops- gate, and even won possession of Alrlgate ; but after a long and bloody contest was driven back to Stratford. Still he persevered; his followers were summoned to May meet him again on Blackheath, and a second assault had I?' been arranged, when the approach of Edward with his victorious army warned him to withdraw to his ships. It is probable that this bold though unsuccessful attempt May sealed the doom of the unfortunate captive. On the af- 21- ternoon of Tuesday the conqueror made his triumphal entry into the capital: on that of Wednesday the dead body of Henry was exposed in St. Paul's. To satisfy the credulous, it was reported, as had been formerly re-
* Lei. Col. ii. 506.
A. D. 1471.] MURDER OF HENRY VI. 213
ported of Richard II., that he died of grief. But though Edward might silence the tongues, he could not control the thoughts or the pens of his subjects * ; and the writers who lived under the next dynasty not only proclaim the murder, but attribute the black deed to the advice, if not the dagger, of the youngest of the royal brothers, Richard duke of Gloucester t. From St. Paul's the body of Henry was conveyed by water for interment at Chertsey, under a guard of soldiers, belonging to the garrison of Calais $. By the friends of the house of Lancaster the deceased monarch was revered as a mar- tyr. It was soon whispered that miracles had been wrought at his tomb, and Richard III., apprehensive of the impression which such reports might make on the
* There are two contemporary writers by whom the death of Henry is mentioned, the Croyland historian, and the narrator of the manner in which Edward recovered the crown (Hail, MSS. 543), both in the service of Edward, the one being a doctor of Canon law, and member of his coun- cil, the oilier a person who saw much of what he states, " and the residue knew by true relation of them that were present." Now the first employs language which not only shows his conviction that Henry was murdered, but seems to hint that it was ordered, if not perpetrated, by one of the brothers. " Parcat deus, et spatium pcenitentiae ei douet, quicumque tain " saerilegas manusin christurn domini ausus est immittere : unde et agpns " tyranni, patiensque gloriosi martyris titulum mereatur. ' Con. Croyl. 556. The other states merely, as was stated by Edward's friends, that Henry died of" pure displeasure and melancholy." It detracts, however, from his credit, that he appears in other instances to have suppressed or dis- guised facts which bore hard on the character of his patron, particularly Edward's perjury at York, and the murder of the prince after the battle of Tewksbury.
t Mr. Laing, in his dissertation at the end of Henry's history (xii. 393) undertakes to acquit Richard of the murder of Henry on the ground that he did not die at the time assigned, but much later. The proof is, that, as Maloue observes (Shakspeare, xL 653), " it appears on the face of the " public accounts allowed in the exchequer for the maintenance of Henry " VI. and his numerous attendants in the Tower, that he lived till the " twelfth of June, twenty-two days after the time assigned for his pre- " tended assassination.'' These accounts are to be found in Rym. xi. J12. But they afford no proof that Henry lived till the 12th of June. The latest date of any particular charge is that of William Sayerfor the maintenance of Henry and tea guards for a fortnight, beginning the llth of May, and of course ending on the day on which the king is said to have been buried. The mistake arises from this, that Malone has taken the day of the month on which the accounts were allowed at the exchequer, for the day on which the expenses ceased : which is so far from being the case that it even be- longs to a different year, H72 and not 1471 ; as appears from the two next accounts, which, though allowed on the 24th of June, refer to expenses in September and October of 1471. See them in Uym xi. 713, 714. t See the Pell Records, 495, 6.
214 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
public mind, removed his bones from Chertsey to Wind- sor. Henry VII. placed, or intended to place them among the tombs of his ancestors in Westminster ab- bey *.
Before I proceed with the reign of Edward, it may not be amiss to notice the history of the surviving adherents of Henry. — 1. Margaret was confined first in the Tower, afterwards at Windsor, and lastly at Wallingford, with a weekly allowance of five marks for the support of her- self and her servants. After a captivity of five years she was ransomed by Louis of France, and closed her eventful life in • 1 482 in her own country. 2. Henry Holand duke of Exeter, and great-grandson of John of Ghent by his second daughter Elizabeth, had been con- veyed, as the reader has seen, from the field of battle to the sanctuary at Westminster. It was expected that he would obtain his pardon by the influence of his wife Anne, the eldest sister of Edward. But that lady soli- ^•"v. cited and obtained a divorce in 1472, and married sir Thomas St. Leger. The duke was at the time in the custody of the king, with the weekly allowance of half a mark : the next year his dead body was found floating in the sea between Dover and Calais t. 3. Vere, earl of Oxford $, had escaped into Scotland, and thence into France : but disdaining a life of indolence, he collected A- D- a small squadron of twelve sail, swept the narrow seas, ''kept the maritime counties in perpetual alarm, and by ^ ' frequent captures enriched himself and his followers. With about four hundred men he surprised the strong Sept. fortress of Mount St. Michael in Cornwall, whence he 30- made repeated inroads into the neighbouring counties,
•Rons. 217-. Rym. xiii. 103. Pope Julius in his brief says of Henry's death, ante uiem facto, ut creditur, annulomm, debitum naturse persolvit — and of the translation of his body, that it was made by the same asmuli, qua mente ducti, ignoratur. Ibid. But Henry VII. gives the reason men- tioned above. Wilk. Con. iii. 653.
f Stow, 426. Fabyan, 663.
j His father and elder brother had been executed 26th Feb. 1462, for corresponding with queen Margaret after the battle of Towton. Frag, ad rniem Sprot. Wycest. 492.
CHAP. III.] FATE OF THE LANCASTRIANS. 215
receiving supplies from the friends of the house of Lan- caster, and wreaking his vengeance on those of the house of York. By Edward's command, sir Henry Bodrugan besieged the mount : but his fidelity was suspected ; and he was superseded by Richard Fortescue, sheriff of Corn- wall. The new commander had been a Lancastrian and a friend : he had recourse to promises and persuasion ; and the earl, apprehensive of the treachery of his own Ai Uj men, surrendered the place on condition that his life 1474. and the lives of his followers should be spared, with the Feb. exception of the lord Beaumont and sir Richard Lau- • marth. During eleven years he was confined a close prisoner in the castle of Ham, in Picardy ; while his countess, the sister to the great Warwick, was compelled to support herself by the profits of her needle and the secret presents of her friends *. 4. Though the arch- bishop of York had rendered the king many services, Edward did not feel easy on his throne as long as a Neville remained at liberty. They had hunted together at Windsor ; and the king in return promised to hunt with the prelate at the Moor in Hertfordshire. The most magnificent preparations were made for his reception : A. D. all the plate, which the archbishop had secreted since 1473. the death of his brothers, had been collected ; and the principal nobility of the neighbourhood were invited to partake of the entertainment. But Edward sent for him to Windsor, and arrested him on a charge of having lent money to the earl of Oxford. The revenue of his bishopric was seized ; his plate confiscated ; his mitre converted into a crown ; and his jewels divided between the king and the prince of Wales. The prelate lingered in prison for three years, partly in England and partly at Guisnes, and did not recover his liberty till a few weeks before his death, in the year 1476. 5. The earl
• Stow, 426. Lei. Col. ii. 508, 509. Fenn, ii. 133. 139. 142. 156. Rot. Parl. vi. 149. He escaped from Ham with the connivance of the governor, who had .been bribed by the earl of Richmond ; and we shall meet with him afjain fighting victoriously for the house of Lancaster.
216 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
of Pembroke, the uterine brother of Henry, with his nephew the young earl of Richmond, escaped from his town of Pembroke, in which he was besieged, took ship- ping at Tenby, and was driven by a storm on the coast of Bretagne. The king, as if he had foreseen the severe revenge which that young prince was destined to inflict on the house of York, employed both solicitations and promises to have the uncle and nephew delivered into his hands. But the duke Francis, though he stood in need of the assistance of Edward, refused to betray the exiles. On one occasion, indeed, his resolution was shaken by the offer of the English king to give him his daughter, with a princely portion in marriage, and his promise at the same time to do no injury to the captives. In consequence, Francis delivered one, the young earl of Richmond, to Edward's messengers : but his con- science immediately smote him, and distrusting the in- tention of the king, he took the earl from them before their embarkation at St. Malo. From that time the two fugitives remained with him in a sort of honourable confinement during the reign of Edward : the reader will see them again in England under that of his succes- sor *. 6. Of the other partisans of the house of Lancas- ter, the principal, as soon as their hopes were extin- guished by the death of Henry and his son, condescend- ed to implore the clemency of Edward ; and that prince, having no longer a competitor to fear, listened with greater attention to their petitions. Hence in the next parlia- ment several attainders were reversed in favour of per- sons whose services might prove useful, or whose influ- ence was too inconsiderable to make them subjects of jealousy. Of these I may mention two, Dr. Morton, parson of Blokesworth, and sir John Fortescue, lord chief justice, who had both been present in the field of Tow- ton, and both been attainted by act of parliament. In their petitions to Edward they use nearly the same ex-
* Com. v. 18. Stow, 426. 429.
A. D. 1473.] MORTON AND FOKTESCUE PARDONED. 217
pressions. "They are as sorrowful and repentant as " any creatures may be, for whatever they have done to " the displeasure of the king's highness ; and protest " that they are and ever will be true liegemen and obeis- " sant subjects to him their sovereign lord." Acquaint- ed with the talents of Morton, Edward had already granted him his pardon, and made him keeper of the rolls. Soon afterwards he preferred him to the bishopric of Ely. His attachment to the sons of his benefactor earned for him the enmity of Richard III. : and to his counsels were afterwards ascribed the deposition of that usurper, and the termination of civil discord, by the union of the two roses in the marriage of Henry VII. with the princess Elizabeth. Sir John Fortescuehad ac- companied Margaret and her son during their exile, and with the title of chancellor was intrusted with the edu- cation of the young prince. While he was with Henry in Scotland he had written a treatise in proof of the claim of the house of Lancaster, against that of the house of York. But he could support with equal ability either side of the question, and after the death of Henry wrote a second treatise in proof of the claim of the house of York, against the claim of that of Lancaster. The latter seems to have been required as the price of his pardon. In his petition he assures the king, "that he hath so " clearly disproved all the arguments that have been " made against his right and title, that now there re- " maineth no colour or matter of argument to the hurt " or infamy of the same right or title by reason of any " such writing, but the same right and title stand now " the more clear and open by that any such writings " have been made against them *."
* See Rot. Parl. vi. 26. 69. He maintained in his first work that Phi- lippa, daughter of Lionel duke of Clarence, through whom the house of "Yurk claimed, had never been acknowledged by her lather; in the second, that slu- « as his legitimate child and heir. See extracts from both trea- •ises in " The Hereditary Right Asserted," p. 234, 235, and App. i. ii. taken from the Cotton MS. Otho, B. i.— But the most important of the works of this learned judge is his tract De Laudibus Legum Auglise, which he wrote in exile for the instruction of the young prince, who was murdered after
218 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
Thus, after many a bloody field, and the most surpris- ing vicissitudes of fortune, was the head of the house of York seated on the throne of England, apparently with- out a competitor. His eldest son, who had been born A.D. jn ^6 sanctuary during his exile, and had also been lu^ ' named Edward, was now created prince of Wales and 26. earl of Chester, and was recognised as the heir-apparent July in a great council of peers and prelates *. The partisans 3- of the house of Lancaster had no leader in England: the marauding expeditions of the earl of Oxford had be- come subjects of ridicule rather than terror ; and the king was relieved from all apprehensions on the part of Scotland by the promising state of his negotiations with that kingdom'!'. His chief disquietude arose from the insatiate rapacity of his brothers, the dukes of Clarence and Gloucester. The immense property of the late earl of Warwick had been derived from two sources, the in- heritance of his father the earl of Salisbury, and the possessions of his wife Anne, the heiress to the noble and opulent family of Beauchamp. Clarence, who had married Warwick's eldest daughter, grasped at the
the battle of Tewksbury. He informs his royal pupil that the English is not an absolute but a limited monarchy. In the former, which is the offspring of force and conquest, the will of the prince is the law : in the latter, which arises from the free election of men for iheir own safety and ' convenience, the king can neither make laws nor take the goods of his subjects without their consent (c. 9. 12, 13, 14). Of the superior advan- tages of the latter the prince could have no doubt, if he would contrast the situation of the lower classes in his own country with that of similar classes in France. He would find that the English were better clothed, better fed, and enjoyed in greater abundance the comforts of life (c. 35,36). He then proceeds to give the preference to the English before the Roman law; 1°. Because the trial by jury is superior to that by witnesses ; and to a question from the young Edward, why then other nations do not adopt it, he replies, that they cannot, because in no other country are there to be found such numbers of substantial yeomen, qualified to serve as jurors; for perjury in a juror was punished with the forfeiture of all pro- perty real and personal; and if one might be willing to risk this the others would not (567); ^°- Because it bastardizes the issue born before wedlock, whereas the civil law legitimates it; 3°. Because it makes the child of the same condition as the father, not as the mother ; 4°. Because it refuses the guardianship of orphans to those who by law would succeed to their estates, &c. This treatise is deserving of attention, because it shows what notions prevailed at that period respecting the nature of the English con. stitution, and the liberties of the subject.
» Rym. xi. 713. t Id. xi 718. 733, 748.
CHAP. III.] CLARENCE AND GLOUCESTER QUARREL. 219
whole succession : Gloucester proposed by marrying the younger, the relict of the late prince of Wales, to claim for himself a proportionate share. To defeat the project of his brother, the former concealed the widow from the pursuit of Gloucester : but after some months she was discovered in London in the disguise of a cook-maid, and for greater security was conducted to the sanctuary of St. Martin's. Clarence could not prevent the marriage : but he swore that Gloucester " should not part the lively- " hood with him." The king endeavoured to reconcile the two brothers. They pleaded their cause repeatedly be - fore him in council ; arbitrators were appointed ; and at A. D. length an award was given, which, after assigning her por- 1473. tion to Anne, left the rest of the property to Isabella, the JJQ11' elder sister *. All this while the countess their mother was living, and to her belonged by law the possessions of her late brother and father, with the dower settled on her by her husband t. But her interests were disregarded. By act of parliament it was determined that the daughters A. D. should succeed as if their mother were dead; that, if 1474. either of them should die before her husband, he should May. continue to enjoy her portion for the term of his natural life ; and that if a divorce should be pronounced between Richard and Anne, Richard should still have the benefit of this act, provided he should marry, or do his endea- vours to marry, her again $. Still the two brothers were not secure. To preclude any claim from the son of the marquess Montague, Warwick's brother, it was enacted that Clarence and Gloucester, and their heirs, should
* Fenn, U. 90. During this quarrel sir John Paston writes thus : — "The world seems queasy here. For the most part that be about the king, Imve sent liither for their harness (armour). It is said for certain, that the duke of Clarence makfth himself big in that he can ; shewing as (if) he would but deal with the duke of Gloucester : but the king in- tended to lie as big as they both. Some men think that under this there should be some other thing intended, and some treason conspired; so what shall fall, can I not say." Fenn, ii. 12?. April 13, 1473. t She had been, since the death of her husband, in the sanctuary of
Heverley, but was removed to the north in June 14/3, by sir J. Tyrrell.
Edward had assented to it, but Clarence was displeased. t Rot. Parl. vi. 100, 101. Thus says the Continuator Hist. Croyl. Parura
aut nihil vera? dominse relictum est, p. 556, 557.
220 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
July, enjoy certain lands, the former property of the earl, as long as there should exist any male issue of the body of the marquess. By these acts of parliament, and the grant of different honours and emoluments, the demands of the royal brothers were satisfied : but a secret hatred had been kindled in their breasts, which was ready to burst forth on the first and most trivial provocation *.
Being at length relieved from all cause of disquietude at home, Edward turned his attention to the concerns of foreign powers. Louis king of France, and Charles le Temeraire, duke of Burgundy, had long been impla- cable enemies. The latter, with his ally the duke of Bretagne, solicited Edward to prosecute the ancient claim of the English monarchs to the French crown. Gratitude for the services which he had received from his brother-in-law, the desire of punishing Louis for the succours which he had furnished to the house of Lan- caster, and above all, the benefit of employing in a foreign war those who, from their former attachments, A. D. might be inclined to cabal against his government, in- 1-174. duced him to lend a willing ear to the project. Alli- July ances, offensive and defensive, were concluded between him and the two dukes ; the partition of their expected conquests was arranged ; and the respective quotas, with the payment of their troops were satisfactorily settled. France, according to these treaties, would have been divided into two independent states ; of which one, comprehending the northern and eastern provinces, would have belonged to the duke of Burgundy without any obligation of fealty or homage ; the other would have been possessed by Edward as the undoubted heir to the ancient monarchs t. The king found the nation From wiping to embark in the romantic undertaking : the 1-472, clergy, the lords, and the commons, separately granted Oct. him a tenth of their income ; and the parliament, which, 6. to with different prorogations, continued to sit during two
• Rot. Par), ri. 124.
f Rym. xi. 801 — 8i4, and transcript for New Rym. 75, /6.
CHAP. III.] ALLIANCE AGAINST FRANCE. 221
years and a half, voted supply upon supply with unpre- A. D. cedented rapidity *. But an additional aid was obtained 1475, by the king's own ingenuity. He assumed the tone of JIar- a sturdy beggar, called the more wealthy of the citizens ~^' before him, and requested from each a present for the relief of his wants. No one presumed to reject the prayer of his sovereign ; and considerable sums were thus procured from the shame, the hopes, or the fears, of the donors. Preceding monarchs had repeatedly bor- rowed on their own security, or that of the parliament: Edward nfas the first who demanded presents, and face- tiously termed the money which he had extorted a be- nevolence •>•. We may believe that the sums collected from these different sources exceeded the treasures amassed by any of his predecessors : but it is plain that the historian was not possessed of the gift of prophecy, when he asserted that they would never be equalled on any subsequent occasion $.
Though Europe had long resounded with the report of these preparations, from some accident or other the threatened expedition was annually postponed. Ed- ward, however, improved the delay to secure the friend- ship of the king of Scots. His commissioners offered ample indemnity for all injuries sustained by the Scot-A. D. tish merchants: the long truce was reciprocally con- 147-1. firmed; a marriage was contracted between the duke of ^ct- Rothsay, the eldest son of James, and Cecily the se- ' cond daughter of Edward, and the portion of the princess was fixed at twenty thousand marks, to be paid by equal instalments in ten years ; a mode of payment which, by making the king of Scots the pensioner, attached him to the interests of the king of England $. At length Ed-
» Rot. Part. vi. 3—153.
t Inaudita impositio m.unpris, ut per bcnevolentiam quisque darct quod vellet, imo verms quod nollet Cont. Croyl. 558.
J Ad eas summas, quarum summne noque antea visse, neque in futnrum de verosimili simul videndae sunt. Ibid. He got from ilie lord mayor 301., from each alderman 20 marks, or at It-ast l<>/., and from the wealthiest commoners 4/. lls. 3d., or" the wages of half a man for the year." Fab. 664. § Rym. xi. 821— 832.'
222 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
A. n- ward proceeded to Sandwich : his array, consisting of 0 fifteen hundred men-at-arms, and ten times that num-
' "ne ber of archers, was transported to Calais : and Charles duke of Burgundy was invited, according to the treaty, to join the king with his troops. But that prince, who had already wasted his resources by a romantic and un-
July successful expedition into Germany, arrived in the Eng-
4- lish camp with a slender retinue, and offered the best apology in his power for his inability to fulfil his engage- ments. Edward accompanied him to Peronne, where his chagrin was augmented by the jealousy with which Charles excluded the English from the town. Thence a detachment was sent to occupy St. Quintin's, but the constable of St. Pol, who had been represented as an ally, fired on it from the walls. The king could no longer check the expression of his disappointment; and the duke departed with a promise to return in a short time at the head of a numerous army.
From Sandwich, in conformity with the laws of chi- valry, Garter king-at-arms had been despatched to Louis, to make a formal demand of the French crown. The monarch heard him with composure, took him into his closet, expressed much esteem for the character of Edward, and a sincere desire to live in amity with so illustrious a prince. He then put three hundred crowns into the hands of the herald, and promised him a thou- sand more on the conclusion of peace. Won by his liberality and apparent confidence, Garter advised him to apply to the lord Howard or the lord Stanley, as mi- nisters averse from war, and high in the favour of then- sovereign. Louis immediately dismissed him, and pre- pared to avail himself of the information*.
While Edward lay in his camp near Peronne, rumi- nating on the unaccountable conduct of the Burgundian, a French herald addressed himself to the lords Howard and Stanley, and solicited an introduction to the king.
* Com. iv. c. 5 — 7-
A. D. 1474.] PEACH AND ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE. 223
Being admitted, he assured Edward that Louis had never entertained the slightest hostility against him personally ; and that, if he had lent assistance on one occasion to the earl of Warwick, it had been solely through his hatred to the duke of Burgundy : he in- sinuated that the friendship pretended by Charles was hollow and insincere ; that he had allured the English into France for his own individual advantage, and that he would desert them the moment he could obtain better terms for himself; and then added that, with a little forbearance on each side, it would be easy for two princes, who mutually esteemed each other, to pre- vent the etfusion of Christian blood, and agree to an accommodation equally beneficial to their subjects. By Edward, discontented as he was, the suggestion was received with pleasure. He convoked a council of^,lff> officers, and a resolution was taken that the king should 13. return with his army to England, if Louis would con- sent to pay him immediately seventy-five thousand crowns ; to settle on him an annuity for life of fifty thousand more ; to conclude a truce and commercial intercourse between the two nations for seven years ; and to marry his eldest son to Edward's eldest daughter ; or, in the event of her death, to her sister Mary, who at the age of puberty should be conveyed to France at the expense of Louis, and receive from him an annual in- come of sixty thousand francs. The motives assigned by the members for this resolution are, the approach of winter, the poverty of the treasury, and the insincerity of duke Charles*; but to these must be added the pre- sents which Louis distributed among the royal favourites, and the prospect of a supply of money, an object of high importance to a voluptuous and indigent prince. Commissioners on both sides were appointed to meet at a neighbouring village. Louis assented to every demand; Aug. and in addition, it was agreed that Margaret of Anjou 29.
* Rym xi. 14, 13.
2:24 EDWARD iv. [CHAP, in
should be set at liberty on the payment of fifty thou- sand crowns ; and that all differences between the two kings should be submitted to four arbitrators, the car- dinal of Canterbury and duke of Clarence on the part of Edward, the archbishop of Lyons and the count of Dunois on the part of Louis, who should be bound to pronounce their award within the course of three years *. As soon as these conditions had been mutually exchanged a bridge was thrown across the Somme at Picquigny near Amiens, on which were erected two lodges, sepa- rated from each other by a grating of wood. Here the monarchs met each other, shook hands through the grating, and swore on the missal to observe their en- gagements. They then entered into familiar conver- sation ; and Louis incautiously invited his new ac- quaintance to Paris. Edward, eager in the pursuit of pleasure, did not refuse ; and it required all the address of the French monarch to postpone the intended visit to an indeterminate period. The English kings, he afterwards observed to his confidants, had been too much in the habit of visiting France ; he liked them best on their own side of the water t.
All the immediate conditions of the treaty were faith-
, fully performed. Edward received the money on the
appointed day, and instantly commenced his march to
the coast ; the truce was published, and prolonged for
one year after the death of either king; the annual
pension, and the sum stipulated for the ransom of queen
Margaret, were carefully paid ; Edward resigned all
Nov. power over that princess as his captive, and Louis bound
13. himself never to make any demand in her favour ; and
4.J>. she herself, after she was delivered to the French com-
""•missioners at Rouen, signed a formal renunciation of
2y ' all her rights as queen dowager of England J. Each
* Rym. xi. 15— 21.xii. 52.
t Com. iv. 5 — 10. Addit. toMonstrel. 51.
j Rym. xii. 21. Du Tillet, 145. Archives i?e France, 242. He* de scriptiim is "Ego Margarita olim in rcgno Anglise raaritata." Thres. des Chart. 88.
A.D. 1470.] EDWARD'S METHOD OF RAISING MONEY. 225
kin"- congratulated himself on the issue of the expedition. Edward had not only filled his coffers, but had ensured for himself an annual supply of money : Louis, at an expense comparatively small, had escaped from a dan- gerous war, and had converted a powerful enemy into a faithful ally. To secure this advantage he had pur- chased the services of many in the English council, who did not hesitate to copy the example of their sovereign. The lord Hastings, Edward's principal favourite, and the chancellor, accepted annual pensions of two thou- sand crowns each; and twelve thousand more were yearly distributed among the marquess of Dorset, the lords Howard and Cheney, sir Thomas Montgomery, Thomas St. Leger, and a few others. Most of these were not ashamed to recognise themselves as pensioners of the king of France : the lord Hastings alone, though he greedily accepted the money, could never be induced to put his signature to a receipt *.
But though Edward was satisfied, the army and peo- ple did not conceal their disappointment. Of the former many accused the avarice of the king, and threatened with public vengeance the counsellors who had suffered themselves to be bribed by Louis : but they were care- fully watched, and severely punished for the imprudence of their language. Others, as soon as the army was disbanded, formed associations, extorted money by vio- lence, and threw several counties into confusion by re- peated robberies and murders. To suppress these dis orders the king directed the laws to be strictly enforced, accompanied the judges in their circuits, and inexorably refused mercy to every delinquent, whatever might have been his station or service. But the dissatisfaction of the people supplied a source of deeper disquietude. It was evident that they wanted only a leader to guide their efforts, and that the imposition of new taxes would infallibly goad them to insurrection. Hence it became
* Cam. iv. 8. vi. 2. VCL. V. Q
226 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
the great object of the king's policy to provide for the expenses of his household, and of the government, with- out laying any additional burden on the nation. With this view he ordered the officers of the customs to exact the duties with severity, extorted frequent tenths from the clergy, levied large sums for the restoration of the temporalities of abbeys and bishoprics, resumed most of the grants lately made by the crown, and compelled the holders of estates, who had omitted any of the nume- rous minutiae of the feudal tenures to compound by heavy fines for the rents which they had hitherto re- ceived. Neither did he disdain the aid which might be derived from commercial enterprise. Edward's ships were annually freighted with tin, wool, and cloth ; and the merchandise of the king of England was pub- licly exposed to sale in the ports of Italy and Greece. In a short time he became rich : though individuals might complain, the nation was satisfied ; and men grew insensibly attached to a prince who could support the splendour of the throne without making any general demand on the purses of his subjects*.
It was not, however, long before an event occurred
which embittered the remainder of Edward's days.
* His brother Clarence by the act of resumption had been
deprived of several estates, and seems to have considered
the loss an unjustifiable aggression. He withdrew
from court, could seldom be persuaded to eat at the
king's table, and at the council board observed the most
obstinate silence. His wife, after the birth of her third
child, fell into a state of debility, which, at the expira-
Dec. tion of two months, terminated her life; and Ankaret
22. Twynhyo, one of her female servants, was tried, con-
A-D clemned, and executed on the charge of having ad-
1477. ministered poison to the <luchess t. It chanced that
Jan. about the same time the duke of Burgundy fell at the
5< siege of Nanci ; and his immense possessions devolved
* For these interesting particulars we are indebted to the historian of Croylaml, p. 559. t Rot. Parl. vi. 173, 1/4.
A.D. 1-177.] IMPRISONMENT OF CLARENCE. 227
on Mary, his only daughter and heir. Clarence soli- cited her hand ; his suit was seconded by all the influ- ence of his sister, her mother-in-law: and it is thought that he would have succeeded had it not been for the resolute opposition of Edward. The king was too jea- lous of the ambition of a brother, who might employ the power of Burgundy to win for himself the crown of England, and too apprehensive of incurring the en- mity of Louis, who had already seized a considerable portion of Mary's inheritance. From that moment the brothers viewed each other as enemies, and scarcely pre- served in their intercourse the external forms of deco- rum. Wlnle they were thus irritated against each other, whether it were the effect of accident, or a preparatory step to the ruin of Clarence, Stacey, one of his servants, was accused of practising the art of magic, and of melt- ing certain images of lead to accelerate the death of the lord Beauchamp. On the rack he named as his accom- plice Thomas Burdett, a gentleman in the duke's family. They were arraigned together before the judges and most of the temporal peers; were charged with having calculated the nativities of the king and the prince ; and circulated certain rhymes and ballads of a seditious tendency ; and, after a short trial, were condemned and executed. On the scaffold both protested against the sentence; Clarence immediately professed himself the champion of their innocence ; and the next day Dr. Godard, an eminent divine, was introduced by him into the council chamber to depose to their dying declara- tions. When these particulars, exaggerated perhaps by officious friends, had been communicated to Edward, he hastened from Windsor to London, sent for the duke, upbraided him with insulting the administration of jus- tice, and in the presence of the mayor and sheriffs com- mitted him to the Tower*.
A parliament was now summoned, and the unfortunate
• Cont. Crovl. 561. 562, compared with the indictment, in Howell's £ '.ate Trials, iii. 304.
223 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
A.r>. Clarence stood at the bar of the house of lords under *•' 8- a charge of high treason. Not one of the peers ventured to speak in his favour : the king produced his witnesses, and conducted the prosecution. He described the ten- der affection which he had formerly cherished for his brother, and the great possessions with which he had enriched him. Yet the ungrateful prince had turned against his benefactor, had leagued with his enemies, had deprived him of his liberty, and during his exile had conspired to dethrone him. All this had been for- given. Yet what was the return ? Clarence had again formed the project of disinheriting him and his issue. For this purpose he had commissioned his servants to give public entertainments, during which they insinuated that Burdett had been innocent of the crime for which he suffered, that the king was himself a magician, and therefore unfit to govern a Christian people, and what was more, was a bastard, and consequently without any right to the crown. Moreover, Clarence had induced men to swear that they would be true to him without any reservation of allegiance to their sovereign ; had declared that he would recover both for himself and them the lands which had been lost by the act of re- sumption ; had obtained and preserved an attested copy of the act declaring him the next heir to the crown after the male issue of Henry VI. ; had sent orders to all his retainers to be "in readiness to join him in arms at an hour's notice ; and had endeavoured to substitute another person's child in the place of his own son, that he might send the latter out of the kingdom, as if his life were menaced by the enmity of his uncle*. How far these charges against Clarence were true, or whether they amounted to more than precautions against the malice of his enemies, it is impossible for us to de- cide ; for though we know that he replied with warmth and acrimony, his reply has not been preserved. The
* See the long and laboured bill of attainder in Rot. Purl. vi. 193, 194.
CHAP. III.] WAR WITH SCOTLAND. 229
peers were persuaded by the arguments of the royal accuser; they found Clarence guilty; and the duke of Buckingham, who had been appointed high steward for Yeb the occasion, pronounced on him the sentence of death *. 7. Soon afterwards an act was passed to reverse the judg- ment of Ankaret ; and the commons petitioned the king to execute justice on his brother t. But Edward dis- approved of a public exhibition. About ten days later it was announced that the duke had died in the Tower. The manner o-f his death has never been ascertained ; p^, but a silly report was circulated that he had been 18. drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine $.
It was a singular but leading feature in the policy of this king, that he negotiated marriages for his children, almost the very moment they were born. Elizabeth had long been contracted to the dauphin of France, Cecily to the son and heir of the king of Scotland, Anne to the infant son of Maximilian archduke of Austria, and his eldest son to the eldest daughter of the duke of Bretagne. In all these projects he was disappointed, in two of them he was completely overreached. The instalments of the sum to be given with Cecily had for some years been regularly paid: in 1478 they were sus- A.D. pended, and in 1480 war was declared between England H^O and Scotland. By some writers, the rupture has been attributed to the intrigues of Louis, who secretly stimu- lated James to break his alliance with Edward ; by
230 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
others, to the policy of Edward, who sought to convert to his own advantage the dissensions between the king and the nobles of Scotland. From public documents it appears that the two princes were highly exasperated against each other. Edward upbraided James with meanness of conduct and breach of faith ; and James returned the compliment with the contumelious appel- lation of " the robber," alluding probably to the manner in which his adversary had acquired the crown *. Great preparations were made : James placed himself at the head of the Scottish, the duke of Gloucester at the head of the English army ; and the borderers renewed their depredations : yet two years elapsed before the war as- sumed a formidable appearance. The king of Scotland, who aspired to the reputation of taste a-nd science, had long avoided the society of his proud but ignorant nobles, and admitted to his company none but a fewr artists, distinguished indeed in their respective professions, but born in the lower stations of life, and the more hateful in the sight of the natives, because some of them were foreigners. The discontent of the nobility was shared by the duke of Albany and the earl of Mar, the bro- thers of James, who, to intimidate the factious, suddenly arrested them both, and confined them in separate pri- sons, the former in the castle of Edinburgh, the other in that of Craigmillar. Albany, by the assistance of the captain of a French vessel, contrived to escape, and eluded the vengeance of his brother, by a voluntary exile in Paris. The unfortunate Mar, on the very doubt- ful charge of magical practices against the life of the king, was condemned by the council, conducted to the Cannongate, and there suffered to bleed to death by the opening of a vein. Revenge rankled in the breast of Albany, who, encouraged by the hostilities between the two powers, came to England, solicited the protec-
* Rym. xii. 115. 117. Black Acts, fol. 56.
CHAP. 111.] SIEGE OF BERWICK. 231
tiou of Edward, and under the pretence that his brother was illegitimate, proclaimed himself king of Scotland*. It was stipulated, that Edward should employ his forces A. D. to place Albany on the throne, who, in return, should U8-. surrender the town and castle of Berwick ; should hold ^"au the crown as the vassal of the English monarch; should abjure the national alliance with France; and should marry, if the laws of the church would permit (for he had even now two supposed wives living), one of the English princesses. Accompanied by the duke of Gloucester, who led an army of twenty-two thousand five hundred men, he laid siege to Berwick. The town opened its gates, the castle made a most obstinate re- sistance. James had summoned his retainers, and had advanced as far as Lauder, unaware of the danger which threatened him. It was generally during a military expedition that the Scottish barons made a successful stand against the authority of the sovereign. They were then assembled in a body ; they were surrounded with their clans and retainers ; and, if they were but united among themselves, they always proved more than a match for the power of the crown. They had met to consult in the church of Lauder, when Cochran the architect, whom the infatuated James had lately created earl of Mar, incautiously joined the assembly. He was instantly seized ; six more of the royal favourites were dragged from the king's tent ; and all were hanged over the bridge. The confederate chiefs immediately dis- banded the army, and conveyed the king to the castle of Edinburgh, menacing him with perpetual imprison- ment unless he should grant a full pardon for the mur- der of his friends t.
The news of this extraordinary revolution quickly reached the army, which lay before Berwick ; and Al- bany and Gloucester with sixteen thousand men hastened to Edinburgh. That capital received them as friends ;
* His mother, Mary of Gueklres, was not an immnc'ilate character. See Wyrcest. 492. f Abercromb. ii. 446. Buch. 234.
232 EDWARD iv. [CHAP. in.
and every man expected that the sceptre of Scotland would pass from the feeble hands of its possessor to the firmer grasp of his brother, when, to the astonishment of both nations, Albany signed an agreement with two Scottish peers and two prelates, by which he bound himself to act the part of a faithful subject, they to pro- cure for him a pardon without any exceptions, and the Aug. restoration of his estates and honours. It was, however, 2. stipulated, that to satisfy the king of England, the castle of Berwick should be surrendered, and the provost and merchants of Edinburgh should give security for the repayment of all monies advanced on account of the marriage portion of Cecily, unless Edward were willing that the former contract should still subsist. The king, however, demanded the money, which was faithfully re- paid. Albany took the castle of Edinburgh by force, and liberated his brother. To prove their reconciliation, they both rode to Holyrood-house on one horse, and slept in the same bed. Yet the restless mind of the A. i). duke was not satisfied. He renewed his negotiations 1483. w|th Edward : on the discovery of his traitorous designs escaped again into France, and was at last attainted by an act of the Scottish parliament*.
Another instance in which the expectations of Ed» ward were cruelly disappointed was the projected mar- riage of his daughter Elizabeth with the dauphin of France. When she had completed her twelfth year it was hoped that Louis, according to his engagement, would have sent for the princess, and have settled on her the stipulated annuity of sixty thousand francs. Four years passed ; still she remained in England. Remon- strances were made, but Louis always returned some plausible answer. The parliament warned the king of the artifices of the French court ; still he refused to sus-
* Rvm xii. 155—163. 172—179- Cont Hist Croyl. 56a He acquaints us that the king was nut pleased with the result of the expedition, which had cost him more than 100.000/. The possession of Berwick was an ad- vantage: but the expense of retaining it amounted to 10,000 marks yearly. Ibid.
CHAP. III.] SICKNESS AND DEATH OF THE KING. 233
pect the sincerity of his good broiher. An unexpected event opened his eyes. The princoss Mary of Burgundy, who had borne her husband Maximilian two children, Philip and Margaret, was unexpectedly killed by a fall fiv.m her horse; and Louis, forgetting the princess Elizabeth, instantly demanded Margaret for the dauphin. It was in vain that the father hesitated. The people of A. r>. Ghent, to whose custody the children had been intrusted, l^^' extorted his consent ; Margaret was delivered by them no ' to the commissioners of Louis; and the provinces which that monarch had ravished from her mother were settled upon her as her marriage portion. When the news reached Edward, he burst into a paroxysm of rage. From that moment his thoughts were constantly fixed, his conversation generally employed, on the readiest means of inflicting vengeance on the perfidy of the king of France. But whether it were owing to the agitation of his mind, or to the debaucheries in which he indulged, a slight ailment, which had been treated with neglect, suddenly exhibited the most dangerous symptoms. He spent the few days preceding his death in the exercises A. n. of religion, and directed that out of the treasures which 1483. he should leave behind him full restitution should be ^ P made to all whom he had wronged, or from whom he had extorted money under the name of benevolence. He expired in the twenty-first year of his reign.
Edward is said to have been the most accomplished, and, till he grew too unwieldy, the most handsome man of the age. The love of pleasure was his ruling passion. Few princes have been more magnificent in their dress *, or more licentious in their amours ; few have indulged more freely in the luxuries of the table t. But such pursuits often interfered with his duties, and at last in-
* At the Christmas before his death he appeared in a new dress. His robes were fanmrMtd with sleeves enormously lonj,' and deep, lined with the most precious furs, and folded back on his shoulders : - Novum" ?i\ys the historian, " et singulars intueutibus spectaculum.'' Oout. Crciyl. 563.
t In homine tarn curuuleuto, tautis sodalitiis, vauitatibus, ciupulis, luxuri, et cuuidiuuibus dedito. Id. 564.
234 EDWARD iv. [CHAP, m
capacitated him for active exertion. Even in youth, while he was fighting for the throne, he was always the last to join his adherents ; and in manhood, when he was firmly seated on it, he entirely abandoned the charge of military affairs to his brother the duke of Gloucester *. To the chief supporters of the opposite party he was cruel and unforgiving: the blood which he shed inti- midated his friends no less than his foes ; and both lords and commons during his reign, instead of contending like their predecessors for the establishment of right!, and the abolition of grievances, made it their principal study to gratify the royal pleasure t. He was as sus- picious as he was cruel. Every officer of government, every steward on his manors and farms was employed as a spy on the conduct of all around him : they regu- larly made to the king reports of the state of the neigh- bourhood; and such was the fidelity of his memory, that it was difficult to mention an individual of any con- sequence, even in the most distant counties, with whose character, history, and influence he was not accurately acquainted $. Hence every project of opposition to his government was suppressed almost as soon as it was formed ; and Edward might have promised himself a long and prosperous reign, bad not continued indul- gence enervated his constitution, and sown the seeds of that malady, which consigned him to the grave in the forty-first year of his age. He was buried with the usual pomp in the new chapel at Windsor $.
* During the Scottisli campaign posts were first established in England. Horsemen were placed at the distance of twenty miles from each other on the road from Scotland to Ixjndon. They delivered the dispatches from one to another at the rate of 100 miles a day. Cont. Croyl. 571.
t We shall search in vain on the rolls lor such petitions as were pre- sented to the throne by the commons in former reigns: but one improve- ment was firmly established, thai of framing the petitions in the form of an act of Parliament : an improvement which prevented any of those alterations in the statutes of which the commons formerly complained. The clerks liad now nothing more to do than to copy the words of the peti- tion, and add to it that the king hail given his assent.
J Coin, Croyl. 562. 5G4.
§ The ceremony of his interment mny be read in Sandford (Optical. Hist. p. 4 — 13). Immediately after liis death he was exposed on a
A. D. 1483.] MARRIAGE OF EDWARD'S DAUGHTERS. 235
The king left two sons, Edward in his twelfth year, who succeeded him, and Richard in his eleventh, duke of York, and earl marshal. This young prince had been married in his fifth year to Anne, the daughter and heiress of John Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, and thus be- came entitled to the immense estates of that nobleman. Five of Edward's daughters survived him. Of these four, whom he had so anxiously laboured to place on foreign thrones, found husbands in England. Elizabeth, contracted to the dauphin, was married to Henry VII. ; Cecily, the destined wife of the prince of Scotland, to the viscount Welles ; Anne, who had been promised to Philip of Burgundy, to Thomas Howard duke of Nor- folk ; and Catherine, the expected bride of the infant of Spain, to William Courtenay earl of Devon. Bridget became a nun in the convent at Dartford.
bo.ird, naked from the waist upwards, during ten hours, that he might be seen by all the lords spiritual and temporal, ami by the mayor and alder- men of London. Ibid.
236
CHAPTER IV.
EDWARD V.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCKS:
Emp. of Oer. K. of Scotland.
Frederic III.
James III.
K. of France. I.ouis XI.
Sorer, of Spain. Isabella
Ferdinand J I Pope.— Sixtus IV.
Conduct of the duke of Gloucester — Arrests — The duke is made Protec- tor— Murder of lord Hastings and the earl Rivers — Penance of Jane Shore — The duke aspires to the crown — Sermon in his favour — Speech of the duke of Buckingham — Offer of the crown to Gloucester — Who accepts it
A FAINT glimmering of light may be thrown on the dark transactions which followed the death of the late king by adverting to the slate of parties at the close of his reign. Whether it were that Edward had been compelled by the importunities of his wife, or that he felt a pride in aggrandizing the family of her whom he had placed by his side on the throne, he had successively raised her relations from the condition of knights and esquires to the highest honours and offices in the state. By the more ancient nobility their rapid elevation was viewed with jealousy and resentment ; and their influ- ence, though it appeared formidable, while it was sup- ported by the favour of the king, proved in the sequel to be very inconsiderable, and confined to the few fami- lies into which they had married. The marquess of
\. D. 1-433.] PROCLAMATION OF EDWARD V. 237
Dorset, the queen's son by a former marriage, and her brother, the accomplished but unfortunate earl Rivers, possessed the first seats at the council board : but they were continually opposed by the lords Hastings, Howard, and Stanley, the king's personal friends, particularly the first, whom Edward had chosen for the companion of his pleasures, and who on that very account was the more odious to the queen. The mo.iarch during his health had balanced by his prudence the rivalry, and silei.ced by his authority the dissensions, of the two parties ; and on his death-bed, warned by the unfortu- nate minority of Henry VI., had called them into his chamber, exhorted them to mutual forgiveness, and commanded them to embrace in his presence. They obeyed with apparent cheerfulness : but their hearts gave the lie to the sentiments which they uttered, and the lapse of a few days proved how treacherous were all such reconciliations, when he by whose order they had been made no longer lived to enforce them *.
As soon as the king had expired the council assem- bled, and resolved to proclaim his eldest son by the style of Edward V. But here their unanimity ended. April The younji prince, accompanied by his uncle, earl ^ Rivers, and his uterine brother, lord Grey, had been sent to Ludlow in Shropshire, under the pretext that his pre- sence would serve to restrain the natives of Wales; but in reality, that by growing up under their tuition, he might
* More's Woiks, 33 — 40, edit of 1"57- For our knowledge of the events of tliis period we are chiefly indebted to the continuator of the history of ('loyland, ami sir Thomas More. The first was a contemporary. His name is unknown: but it appears from his work that he was a doctor of canon law, sometimes a member of the council under Edward IV., and oc- casionally emploxed by him as envoy to loreign powers (p. 55J). He de- uiares that he lias written with truth and impartiality. Sine uila scita in- termixtione mendacii, odii, aut i'avoris. 5~5. Sir Thomas More was born in 1480. lu Iii3, wheiihe was under -sheriff of London, he wrote his history of Richaiil 111., accoidini' to Rastell, who printed it in 1537 from a copy in More's hand writing. But Mr. Ellis has observed that the writer speaks 01 Edward IV. as it lie had been present during the last sickness of that monarch, which could not lie the case with More, only three years old ; and In- is therefore inclined to believe that More, was only the copier of a MS. delivered to him by some one el<e, probably Dr. MortotK Pref. to Har- dy uge, xx.
238 EDWARD v. [CHAP. iv.
become more attached to his maternal relatives. A sus- picion was entertained that, in imitation of Isabella, the mother of Edward III., the queen would aspire to a con- siderable share of authority during the minority of her son ; and to defeat her designs, the enemies of the Wydeviles anxiously expected the arrival of the duke of Gloucester, the king's uncle, and the duke of Bucking- ham, the lineal descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest son of Edward III. When Elizabeth pro- posed that Rivers and Grey should conduct Edward from Ludlow to the metropolis under the protection of an army, Hastings and his friends took the alarm. Gloucester and Buckingham were still absent ; the Tower was in possession of the marquess of Dorset; the king was sur- rounded by the queen's creatures ; and the addition of an army would place her opponents at her mercy, and enable the Wydeviles to establish their authority. Where, they asked, was the necessity of an army ? Who were the enemies against whom it was to be directed ? Did the Wydeviles mean to break the reconciliation which they had sworn to observe ? A long and angry alter- cation ensued ; Hastings declared that he would quit the court, and retire to his command at Calais ; the queen thought it prudent to yield ; and in an evil hour the resolution was taken that the retinue of the young king should not exceed two thousand horsemen *.
Richard, duke of Gloucester, was a prince of insati- able ambition, who could conceal the most bloody pro- jects under the mask of affection and loyalty. Having the command of the army against the Scots, he was em- ployed in the marches at the time of his brother's death : but the moment he heard of that event, he re- paired to York with a train of six hundred knights and esquires dressed in mourning, ordered the obsequies of the deceased king to be performed with royal magnifi- cence in the cathedral, summoned the gentlemen of
* Cont. Croyl. 565. Mure, 41. >
A D. 1483.] ARREST OF THE KING'S UNCLES. 239
the county to swear allegiance to Edward V. ; and, to give them an example, was himself the first who took the oath. At the same time he despatched letters to profess his affection and loyalty to his nephew, to condole with Elizabeth on the loss of her consort, and to offer his friendship to the earl Rivers, and the other lords of the queen's family. Having added to the num- ber of his followers, he proceeded southward, avowedly for the purpose of assisting at the coronation, which had been fixed by the council for the fourth of May *.
With the object of the secret messages which during this interval had passed between the duke, and Buck- ingham, and Hastings, we are unacquainted : of their import we may form a probable conjecture from the events which immediately succeeded. The young Ed- j^.,r^ ward had reached Stony Stratford on his road to Lon- 2'J. don, on the same day on which his uncle arrived at Northampton, about ten miles behind him. The lords Rivers and Grey hastened to welcome Gloucester in the name of the king, and to submit to his approbation the orders which had been framed for the royal entry into the metropolis. They were received with distinction, and invited to dine with the duke, who lavished on them marks of his esteem and friendship. In the evening came the duke of Buckingham with a suite of three hundred horsemen. After supper Rivers and Grey re- tired to their quarters, highly pleased with their recep- tion : the two princes, left to themselves, arranged the plan of their proceedings for the next day.
In the morning it was discovered that every outlet from the town had been strongly guarded during the night, for the purpose, it was said, of preventing any Apr. person from paying his respects to the king before the :W. arrival of his uncle. The circumstance awakened sus- picion : but the four lords rode in company, and appa- rently in friendship, to the entrance of Stony Stratford,
• Cent. Croyl. 565. More, 41.
240 EDWARD v. [CHAP. iv.
when Gloucester suddenly accused Rivers and Grey of having estranged from him the affection of his nephew. They denied the charge, but were immediately arrested, and conducted into the rear. The two dukes proceeded to the house where the king resided, and approached him bending the knee, and professing their loyalty and attachment. But after this outward demonstration of respect, they apprehended sir Thomas Vaughan, and sir Richard Hawse, his confidential servants, ordered the rest of his retinue to disperse, and forbade by proclama- tion any of them to return into the royal presence under the penalty of death. The prince, abandoned and alarmed, burst into tears ; but Gloucester, on his knees, conjured him to dismiss his terrors, to rely on the affection of his uncle, and to believe that these pre- cautions had been rendered necessary by the perfidy of the Wydeviles. He conducted Edward back to North- ampton, and ordered the four prisoners to be conveyed under a strong guard to the castle of Pontefract *.
The same evening this mysterious transaction was confidentially announced to the lord Hastings, and soon afterwards was communicated to the queen mother, who, foreboding the ruin of her family, hastily retired May with her second son, Richard, her five daughters, and 1. the marquess of Dorset, into the sanctuary at Westmin- ster, and was there lodged in the abbot's apartments. That asylum had formerly been respected by her greatest enemy, the earl of Warwick : it would not, she trusted, be violated by a brother-in law. The capital was instantly thrown into confusion. The citizens armed themselves ; some repaired to Elizabeth in Westminster ; others to the lord Hastings in London. That nobleman in general terms assured his friends, what he probably believed himself, that the two dukes were loyal subjects ; but their real purpose was pre- served an impenetrable secret ; and the adherents of
* Cunt Croyl. 5G5. More, 41, 42.
A. D. 1483.] THE YOUNG KING ENTERS LONDON. 241
the queen, without a leader, and without information, awaited the result in the most anxious uncertainty *.
On the fourth of May, the day originally appointed for the coronation, Gloucester conducted his captive nephew into the metropolis. At Hornsey park they 4 a^ were met by the lord mayor and aldermen in scarlet, followed by five hundred citizens in violet. The young king wore a long mantle of blue velvet, his attendants were dressed in deep mourning : Gloucester rode before him with his head bare, and pointed him out to the acclama- tions of the citizens. He was lodged with all the ho- nours of royalty in the palace of the bishop, and imme- diately received the fealty and homage of the prelates, lords, and commoners, who were present. A great council had been summoned, and continued to sit dur- ing several days. On the motion of the duke of Buck- ingham the king was removed to the Tower ; a distant day, the 22nd of June, was fixed for the coronation : the seals were taken from the archbishop of York and given to the bishop of Lincoln ; several officers of the crown were dismissed, to make room for the adherents of the ruling party ; and Gloucester, who had been ap- May pointed protector, assumed the lofty style of " brother 27. " and uncle of kings, protectour and defensour, gret " chamberlayne, constable, and lord high admiral of " England -f."
What may have been the original object of this prince can be only matter fur conjecture. It is not often that the adventurer discerns at the outset the goal at which he ultimately arrives. The tide of events bears him for- ward ; and past success urges him to still higher at- tempts. If the duke aspired to nothing more than the protectorate, his ambition was not to be blamed. It was a dignity which the precedents of the two last minorities seemed to have attached to the king's uncle. But it
• Cent Ibid 565, 566. More. 43.
t root. Croyl. 566. More, 47. Rym. xii. B,:ck. 522. 185. F;ib 5i3. Drake's Bbone. 115.
242 EDWARD v. [CHAP, iv,
soon appeared that he could not stand so near to the throne, without wishing to place himself on it ; and that, when he had once taken his resolve, no considera- tion of hlood, or justice, or humanity, could divert him from his ohject. He proceeded, however, with that caution and dissimulation which marked his character : his designs were but gradually and partially unfolded ; nor did he openly avow his pretension to the crown till he had removed the most trusty of the king's friends, and taken from the rest every hope of opposing him with success.
While orders were issued and preparations made for the expected coronation, Gloucester was busily em- ployed in maturing his plans, and despatching instruc- tions to his adherents. The council met daily at the royal apartments in the Tower : the confidants of the protector at Crosby place, in Bishopsgate-street, his re- sidence in London. These separate meetings did not escape the notice of lord Stanley ; but his suspicion was lulled by the assurance of lord Hastings that he had secured the services of a trusty agent, through whom he learned the most secret counsels of Gloucester. The sequel will make it probable that this trusty agent de- ceived and betrayed him. A summons was issued to forty-eight lords arid gentlemen to attend, and receive knighthood preparatory to the coronation of the young king, a measure devised as a blind by the protector ; for three days later he despatched orders to his retainers in the north to hasten to London for his protection against the bloody designs of the queen and her kinsmen ; and shortly afterwards entering the council-chamber at the Tower, he stood at first in silence knitting his brows, and then in answer to a remark by lord Hastings, called him a traitor, and struck his fist upon the table. A voice at the door exclaimed, " Treason," and a body of ruffians bursting into the room arrested Hastings, Stan- ley, and the two prelates of York and Ely. The three last were conveyed to separate cells; Hustings was told
A. D. 1483.] MURDER OF HASTINGS AND OTHKRS. 243
to prepare for immediate execution. It was in vain that he inquired the cause. The order of the protector would not admit of delay ; the first priest who offered himself received his confession ; and a piece of timber, which accidentally lay in the green at the door of the chapel, June served for the block on which he was beheaded. A pro- 13. clamatioii was issued the same afternoon, announcing that Hastings and his friends had conspired to put to death the dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham, who had miraculously escaped the snare laid for their de- struction *.
On the same day (and the time should be noticed) Ratcliffe, one of the boldest partisans of the protector, at the head of a numerous body of armed men, entered the castle of Pontefract, and made himself master of the lord Grey, sir Thomas Vaughan, and sir Richard Hawse. To the spectators it was announced that they had been guilty of treason : but no judicial forms were observed ; and the heads of the victims were struck off in the presence of the multitude t. Two days after- June wards a letter from the duke was delivered by Ratcliffe 1 5. to the mayor and citizens of York, informing them of the traitorous designs imputed to Elizabeth and the Wydeviles; and four days later proclamations were 19.
« Cont. Croyl.566. More, 53, 54. Polydor. 536.
t Cont. Cruyl. 567. More asserts repeatedly that these murders occurred on the same day as that of lord Hastings. This rmy be true of the others, imt is not correct as to lord Hivers, who was indeed put to death at P'-ute- 1'ract, but a few days later, and by command of the earl of Northumber- land. (Rouse, 5214.) We have his will dated at Sheriff Mutton on the 23rd of June; a long and elaborate instrument , composed probably under the RjrprehentioD, but without any certain knowledge, of the fate which awaited him. If he die be>om! the Trent, he directs his body to be buried Wore our lady of Pewe besides St. Stephen's college at Westminster : otherwise liis heart to be taken and buried there. But at the end of the will, imme-
at'ier he had received notice of his approachin» execution, and at a mo- ment when haste or perturbation of mind prevented him from finishing what he me:mt to write. The direction for his burial with " the lord Rich- " ard (Grey)" shows that that nobleman had already been put to death, and was interred in the church at Pontefract. See the will, Excerpt. ili, -or. j-,. 246.
R2
244 EDWARD V. [CHAP. iv.
issued in the northern counties, commanding all men " to rise, and come to London under the earl of North- " umberland and the lord Neville, to assist' in subduing, " correcting, and punishing the quene, her blode, and " other her adherents, who entended to murder and " destroy the protectour and his cousyn the due of Buck- " yngham, and the old royal blode of the realm*."
With these proceedings in the north, the inhabitants cf London were yet unacquainted: but the murder of Hastings, and the arrest of Slanley and the two prelates, had liberated Richard from all apprehensions on the part of those who were most attached to the family of the late king. Of the royal brothers the elder had been securely lodged in the Tower ; the younger still remained in sanctuary under the eye of Elizabeth. Him also the protector resolved to have at his mercy ; and before the terror created by ihe late execution could subside, he proceeded to Westminster in his barge, ac- June companied by several noblemen and prelates, and fol- IG- lowed by a numerous body of armed men. There can- not be a doubt that he intended to employ force, if force should be found neces:-ary ; but he determined to try first the influence of persuasion, and ordered a deputa- tion of lords with the cardinal of Canterbury at their head, to enter and demand the young prince from his mother. The ingenious arguments which sir Thomas More has attributed to the prelate, and the affecting re- plies which he has put into the mouth of the queen, are probably the composition of the writer •!• : a better autho- rity assures us that Elizabeth, convinced of the inutility of resistance, affected to acquiesce with cheerfulness in the demand. She called for her boy, gave him a last
' See the originals in Drake's Eborac'im, 1 15. It is obsen alilp tha! (in the 8th Richard wrote to the citizens i.t York a c.-ijoliny letter, promising to rewan) them for their constant attvchmrnt to him : and two days laier, on the 10th, but three days before the murders in the Tower and at Pon- tefract. he wrote ayain to inform them of the plots asainst his life by the qu.>en and her friends. The letter w as five days on the road, and was de- livered by Ratclifle to ihe ma\or. t Moro, 4S — 51.
A. D.I 483.] PE.VANCE OF JANE SHORE. 245
and hasty embrace, and turning her back, burst into tears. The innocent victim was conducted with great pomp to the Tower ; and while the mother abandoned herself to the prophetic misgivings of her heart, her sons made themselves happy in the company of each other, little suspecting the wiles and cruelty of their unnatural uncle *.
The partisans of the protector were now employed in circulating the most strange and incredible rumours. Some revived the tale originally invented by Clarence, that the late king, though the reputed son of the duke of York, was in reality the fruit of an adulterous inter- course between his mother Cecily and a knight in the service of her husband. Others, and in greater num- bers, affected to throw doubts on the validity of his marriage with Elizabeth, and consequently on the legi- timacy of his children by that lady. To aid these im- pressions the protector appeared in a new character, that of the patron and avenger of public morals. Among the married women who were known to have yielded to the unprincipled desires of Edward, was Jane, the wife of Shore, a young and opulent citizen. From the mo- ment that her seduction became public, she had been abandoned by her husband ; and notwithstanding the inconstancy of her lover, had contrived to retain the principal place in the king's affections till the time of his death. This woman, whose husband was now dead, Richard singled out for punishment. Her plate and jewels, to the value of three thousand marks, he very June wisely appropriated to himself: her person he delivered 1 8. over to the ecclesiastical court to be punished according to the canons. In her kirtle, with her feet bare, carry- ing a lighted taper in her hand, and preceded by the cross, Shore was compelled to walk through the streets of the capital, lined with an immense concourse of
• Cont. Croyl. 566.
246 EDWARD v. [CHAP. iv.
people*. That her penance could not affect the title of Edward's children, is evident ; but it served to direct the attention of the public to the dissolute conduct of that monarch, and to prepare men for the marvellous scene which was soon to be exhibited.
By this time the retainers of the late lord Hastings, and a numerous body of Welshmen, had joined the duke of Buckingham ; and the ruffians who had mur- dered the prisoners at Pontefract had reached the neigh- bourhood of London with a force of Yorkshiremen. It was believed that, in the course of the week, the pro- tector and the duke would have twenty thousand armed men under their command in the metropolis t. In these circumstances no danger could be apprehended from the public exposure of Gloucester's object. On the next Sunday, therefore, he appointed Dr. Shaw, the brother of the lord mayor, to preach at St. Paul's cross, who selected for his text the following passage of the Book of Wisdom : " Bastard slips shall not strike deep " roots." Having maintained from different examples that children were seldom permitted to enjoy the fruit of their father's iniquity, he proceeded to describe the well-known' libertinism of the late king, who, he averred, had been in the habit of promising marriage to every woman whom he found it difficult to seduce. Thus, in the beginning of his reign, to gratify his passion, he had not hesitated to contract marriage in private with Elea- nor, the widow of the lord Boteler of Sudely $; and after-
* More, 66, 5J. He gives her in one respect a commendable character. Many the king had, but her he loved, whose favour to say the truth (for sin it were to belie the devil) she never abused to any man's hurt, but to many a man's comfort and relief .... and now she beggeth of many at this day living, that at this day had begged, if she had not been." Ibid. t " Yt is thought ther schalbe xx thousand of my lord protectour and my lord Bukyngham men in London this weike, to what intent 1 knowe note but to kep the peas." Stallworth to Sir William Stoner, xxi June.
Excerpt Hist. 1?.
t In sir Thomas More, Elizabeth Lucy is substituted for lady Boteler.
It is probably an accidental mistake, as both are said to have been
Edward's mistresses. More, 61.
A. D. 1483.] SERMON IN FAVOUR OF THE PROTECTOR. 247
wards had married in the same clandestine manner Elizabeth, the widow of sir John Grey. At a subse- quent period he had thought proper to acknowledge the second contract : but such acknowledgment could not annul the prior right of Eleanor, who in the eyes of God and man was the true wife of the king. Hence the preacher concluded that Elizabeth, though admitted as queen of England, could be considered in no other light than a concubine ; and that her children by Ed- ward had no legitimate claim to the succession of their father* Indeed, he entertained a doubt, whether that prince were in reality the son of Richard duke of York, and real heir to the crown. All who had been ac- quainted with the duke must know that there existed no resemblance between him and Edward. " But," he exclaimed (and at the very moment the protector, as if by accident, passing through the crowd, showed himself from a balcony near the pulpit), " here, in the duke of " Gloucester, we have the very picture of that hero : " here every lineament reflects the features of the " father." It was expected that at these words the citi- zens would have exclaimed, " Long live king Richard ;" but they gazed on each other in silent astonishment ; the protector put on an air of displeasure ; and the preacher having hastily concluded his sermon, slunk away to his home. It is said that he never afterwards ventured beyond his own door, but pined away through shame and remorse *.
Richard, however, was not disheartened by the failure
• More, 60, 61. This sermon is rejected by the author of the Historic Doubts. That several of the speeches recorded by sir Thomas More are mere rhetorical exercises, is indeed probable ; but it is equally probable that in mentioning this public and celebrated seimon, which was still in the recollection of many of his readers, he would preserve at least its sub- stance. The principal part of his narrative is moreover corroborated by tha testimony of Fabyan (p. 514, 515), who was probably present. To the objection that the protector lived in habits of friendship with his mother, and therefore would not allow her character to lie aspersed, it may l>« replied that there is no satisfactory proof of that friendship, and that the man who could shed the blond of two nephews to procure the crown, would not refsise to allow the character of his mother to be slandered for the same purpose.
248 EDWARD V. LCHAP. IV-
of this attempt ; but intrusted his cause to the eloquence of a more noble advocate. On the next Tuesday the June duke of Buckingham, attended by several lords and 24. gentlemen, harangued the citizens from the hustings at the Guildhall. He reminded them of Edward's tyranny, of the sums which he had extorted under the name of benevolence, and of the families which he had rendered unhappy by his amours. He then took occasion to al- lude to the sermon which they had heard on the last Sunday, the story of the king's pre-contract with the lady Boteler, his subsequent union with the lady Grey, and the illegitimacy of the children, the fruit of that pretended marriage. He added, that evidently the right to the crown was in Richard duke of Gloucester, the only true issue of the duke of York, and that the lords and commons of the northern counties had sworn never to submit to the rule of a bastard. Contrary to his ex- pectations, the citizens were still silent : he at length required an answer, whether it were in favour of the protector or not ; and a few persons, hired for the pur- pose, and stationed at the bottom of the hall, having thrown up their bonnets, and exclaimed, " King Rich- " ard," the duke gave the assembly his thanks for their assent, and invited them to accompany him the next day to Baynard's castle, which was at that time the residence of the duke of Gloucester *.
In the morning Buckingham, with many lords and June gentlemen, and Shaw, the lord mayor, with the principal 25- citizens, proceeded to the palace, and demanded an au- dience t. The protector aifected to be surprised at their
•More, 61-65. Fab. 515.
t A parliament had been summoned for this very clay, and Buckingham would take advantage of the arrival of the members to induce many of them to accompany him. Hut there is no reason to believe thiit any parliament was regularly held, though there exists nmor.a the Cotton MS. (Vitel. E. 10) a copy of a speech, with which the bishop of Lincoln, the chancellor, is supposed to have opened it, beginning with a text from the service of the Feast of St John the Baptist, kept on Uie 24th. the <iay before. The chancellor, unaware of the revolution which was about to take place, had prepared his speech, which, though never spoken, has accidentally been preserved.
A. D. 1483.] PETITION PRESENTED TO THK PROTECTOR. 249
arrival ; expressed apprehensions for his safety ; and when at last he showed himself at a window, appeared before them with strong marks of embarrassment and perturbation. Buckingham, with his permission, pre- sented to him an address, which, having been afterwards embodied in an act of parliament, still exists for the in- formation of posterity. It is styled the consideration, election, and petition of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons of this realm of England ; and after an ex- aggerated picture of the former prosperity of the king- dom, and of its misery under the late king, proceeds thus: "Also we consider how the pretensed marriage " betwixt the above-named king Edward and Elizabeth " Grey was made of great presumption, without the " knowing and assent of the lords of this land, and also " by sorcery and witchcraft committed by the said Eliza- " beth and her mother Jacquetta, duchess of Bedford, as " the common opinion of the people, and the public voice " and fame is throughout all this land, and hereafter, if, " and as the case shall require, shall be proved suffi- " ciently in time and place convenient ; and here also we " consider how that the said pretensed marriage was " made privily and secretly, without edition of banns, " in a private chamber, a profane place, and not openly " in the face of the church after the law of God's church, " but contrary thereunto, and the laudable custom of " the church of England : and how also that at the time " of the contract of the said pretensed marriage, and " before and long after, the said king Edward was and " stood married and troth-plight to one dame Eleanor " Butteler, daughter of the old earl of Shrewsbury, with " whom the said king Edward had made a pre-contract " of matrimony long time before he made the said " pretensed marriage with the said Elizabeth Grey in " manner and form aforesaid ; which premises being " true, as in very truth they be true, it appeareth and " followeih evidently that the said king Edward, during " his life, and the said Elizabeth, lived together sinfully
250 EDWARD v. [CHAP. iv.
" and damnably in adultery against the law of God and " of his church. Also it appeareth evidently and fol- " loweth, that all the issue and children of the said king " Edward be bastards, and unable to inherit or to claim " any thing by inheritance by the law and custom of Eng- " land." Next is recited the attainder of the duke of Clarence, by which his children were debarred from the succession ; and thence it is inferred that the pro- tector is the next heir to Richard late duke of York. " And hereupon," continues the petition, " we humbly " desire, pray, and require your noble grace, that accord- " ing to this election of us the three estates of your land, " as by your true inheritance, you will accept and take " upon you the said crown and royal dignity, with all " things thereunto annexed and appertaining, as to you " of right belonging, as well by inheritance as by lawful " election*."
The protector was careful not to dispute the truth of these assertions. But he replied with modesty, that he was not ambitious : that royalty had no charms for him : that he was much attached to the children of his brother, and resolved to preserve the crown that it might grace the brows of his nephew. "Sir," returned the duke of Buckingham, "the free people of England will never " crouch to the rule of a bastard, and if the lawful heir " refuse the sceptre, we know where to find one who " will cheerfully accept it.'' At these words Richard affected to pause: and after a short silence replied, " that it was his duty to obey the voice of his people : " that since he was the true heir and had been chosen " by the three estates, he assented to their petition, and
* Rot. Pad. vi. 240, 2-41. Cont. Croyl. 567. But was there ever any such person as dame Eleanor Butteler. daughter of the old earl of Shrews- bury ? We know so little about her, that her existence has beeu called in question. There is, however, in the possession of lord Shrewsbury, an illuminated pedigree by Gloverin 1580, in which she is named as the first- born of the second marriage of the first earl (with a daughter of Beau- champ, earl of Warwick), and as wife of sir Thomas Butler, lord Sutleley. If this be correct, there must have been the disparity of at least fifteen years, probably of more, between her age and that of Edward.
A. D. I483.J THE PROTECTOR TAKES POSSESSION. 251
" would from that day take upon himself the royal estate, " pre-eminence, and kingdom of the two noble realms of " England and France ; the one from that day forward " by him and his heirs to rule, the other by God's grace " and their good help to get again and subdue*."
Thus ended this hypocritical farce. The next day Richard proceeded to Westminster in state, and took June possession of his pretended inheritance by placing him- 26. self on the marble seat in the great hall, with the lord Howard, afterwards duke of Norfolk, on his right hand, and the duke of Suifolk on his left. To those present he stated that he had chosen to commence his reign in that place, because the administration of justice was the first duty of a king ; and ordered proclamation to be made that he forgave all offences which had been committed against him before that hour. From Westminster he went to St. Paul's, where he was received by the clergy in procession, and welcomed with the acclamations of the people. From that day, the 26th of June, he dated the commencement of his reign t.
« More, 66.
t Id. 6J. Fab. 515. Cont. Croyl. 56G, and Richard's own letter to the garrison of Calais, Buck, p. 522. See Note [A] at the end of the volume.
252
CHAPTER V.
RICHARD III.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Emj.r ttffler. King uf Scot. I Kings of France, I Sorer, of Spain Fivtieric III. James JU. ] Louis XI .., 1483;; sabella i
Charles VIII. Ferdinand / Popes : Sixtus IV. 1484. Innocent VIII.
Coronation of Richard — Death of his two nephews — Conspiracy against him defeated — Is reconciled with Elizabeth — Wishes to marry his niece — Raises an army against the earl of Richmond — Is killed in the battle at Bosworth.
THE preparations which had been made for the corona- tion of the nephew served for that of the uncle ; and the arrival of RatclifFe, with four thousand armed men from the north, dispelled all fear of opposition from the friends of the Wydeviles. In less than a fortnight from juj his acceptance of the petition at Baynard's castle, Richard C, was crowned at Westminster with his consort Anne, the daughter of the late earl of Warwick*. No expense was spared to give splendour to the ceremony : almost all the peers and peeresses graced it with their presence ;
• In the contemporary account of this coronation we are told that the anointing was performed in tlie following extraordinary manner. " Then " the kyn^' and the quene put of ther robes, and there ( at the high altar) " stode all nak\d from the medell upwards, and anone the Bushope " anoynted bothe the kyng and the q.iyne." Excerpt. Hist. 381.
\. D. 1483.] HIS PROGRESS THROUGH THE KINGDOM. 2J3
and it was remarked that the train of the king was borne by the duke of Buckingham, that of the queen by the countess of Richmond, both descendants of John of Ghent, and the heads of the house of Lancaster *.
The new king employed the first days of his reign in acts of favour and clemency. The lord Stanley, the hus- band of the countess of Richmond, had not only ap- peased his jealousy, but was appointed steward of the household, and afterwards constable of England ; the archbishop of York regained his liberty; Morton, bishop of Ely, was released from his dungeon in the Tower, and committed to the custody of the duke of Buckingham in the castle of Brecknock ; the lord Howard obtained the office of earl marshal, with the title of duke of Nor- folk : his son was created earl of Surrey ; many of the nobility were raised to a higher rank ; and the trea- sures amassed and left by Edward were lavishly em- ployed in the reward of past, and the purchase of future services.
Richard had of late affected an extraordinary zeal for the suppression of crime, and the reformation of man- ners. Before their departure he called the lords before him and admonished them to keep the peace in their counties, and to assist his officers in the apprehension and punishment of offenders. Within a few days he followed them himself, declaring it to be his intention to July travel through the kingdom for the same purpose. His 23. progress was slow. In all the great towns he adminis- tered justice in person, listened to petitions, and dis- pensed favours t. The inhabitants of Oxford, Wood- stock, Gloucester, and Worcester, were honoured with
• Cont. Croyl. 567- Hall, £5, 56. In the Historic Doubts (p. 65) we are t ild that the deposed prince walked in the procession ; because it appears that robi-s were ordered for liim and his henchmen or pages. The infer- ence is far from correct, as the robes charged in ihe roll (Archseol. i 372, 373) are piobably those which had been on! ere. 1 and made for Edward's own coronation To have forced him to walk on such an occasion would have been a dangerous experiment : nor could it have escaped the notice •jf fie c»'ntem Hir.iry writers, who mention the principal personages.
t Apud Drake, Iifborac. 1 16.
2o4 RICHARD in. [CHAP, v.
Aug. his presence : at Warwick he was joined by the queen,
a- the Spanish ambassadors, and many of the nobility ; and the court, after a week's residence in that city, proceeded
!•">. through Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, and Ponte- fract, to York*. The inhabitants had been previously
31. warned to display every mark of joy, "that the southern " lords might mark the resayving of their graces." The gentlemen of the neighbourhood had received orders to attend, and to do the king homage ; and the royal ward- robe had been forwarded from London, that Richard and his queen might appear in their most splendid dresses. To please the men of the north, among whom he had for some years been popular, he was again crowned with his consort ; and the ceremony was performed with the same pomp and pageantry which had been exhibited in the metropolis f .
While Richard was thus spending his time in appa- rent security at York, he was apprised of the tempest which had been gathering behind him. The terror of his presence had before silenced the suspicions of the public : but he was no sooner gone, than men freely communicated their thoughts to each other, commise- rated the lot of the young Edward and his brother in the Tower, and openly condemned the usurpation of the crown by their unnatural uncle. Different plans were suggested. Some proposed to liberate the two princes from their confinement : others preferred the less dan- gerous measure of conveying one or more of their sisters beyond sea, that, whatever might be the subsequent policy of Richard, the posterity of his brother might sur- vive to claim, perhaps to recover, the crown. But the king, though it was unkno%vn, had already guarded against the first of these projects by the murder of his nephews; and to prevent the second, he had ordered John Nesfielc! to surround the sanctuary of Westminster
* Rouse, 217. I am the more particular in noticing this progress, ns
I.aing has crowded th< V. 4TO.
• whole of it into tlin short space of seven days, f Drake's Eborac. 116, 117. Cont. Croyl. 56;'.
A. D.I 483.] CONFEDERACY AGAINST HIM. 255
with a body of armed men, and to refuse ingress or egress to any person without a special license *. Mean- while the friends of the princes steadily pursued their object. In Kent, Essex, and Sussex, in Berkshire, Hants, Wilts, and Devonshire, meetings were privately held ; a resolution was taken to appeal to arms ; and the hopes of the confederates were raised by the unex- pected accession of a most powerful ally. What, in the course of a few weeks could have changed the duke of Buckingham from a zealous friend into a determined enemy to the new king, it is in vain to conjecture. If his services to Richard had been great, they had been amply rewarded. He had been made constable of Eng- land, justiciary of Wales, governor of the royal castles in that principality, and steward of the king's manors in Hereford and Shropshire ; and in addition had obtained the opulent inheritance of Humphrey de Bohun, which the late monarch had unjustly annexed to his own de- mesnes-K Perhaps his knowledge of the cruel and sus- picious character of the usurper had taught him to fear that he himself, to whom the Lancastrians looked up fur protection, might be the next victim : perhaps, as has teen said, his opinions were changed by the artful and eloquent observations of his prisoner Morton. How- ever that may be, Buckingham, whose wife was the sister of Elizabeth, engaged to restore the crown to the young prince, whom he had contributed to dethrone ; and his resolution to put himself at the head of the party was communicated in circular letters to the principal of the confederates. At that very moment, when their hearts beat with the confidence of success, their hopes were suddenly dashed to the ground by the mournful intelli-
* Cnnt. Croyl. 5G7, 568.
t liolum had left two daughters, who divided his property between them. One married Henry IV., the other an ancestor of the duke. When the posterity of Henry I V". became extinct in Henry VI., Buckingham claimed the share of the second sister; but it was refused by Edward I\ . Most writers say that Richard also refused it: but the contrary appears f:om Pu^'ale's Jlaromge., i. li'.S.
25(> RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
gence that the two princes for whom they intended to fight, were no longer alive *.
On what day, or in what manner they perished, was kept a profound secret : the following is the most con- sistent and probable account, collected from the confes- sion made by the murderers in the next reign. Soon after his departure from London, Richard had tampered in vain with Brakenbury, the governor of the Tower. From Warwick he despatched sir James Tyrrel, his master of the horse, with orders that he should receive the keys and the command of the fortress during twenty- four hours. In the night Tyrrel, accompanied by Forest, a known assassin, and Dighton, one of his grooms, as- cended the staircase leading to the chamber in which the two princes lay asleep. While Tyrrel watched with- out, Forest and Dighton entered the room, smothered their victims with the bed-clothes, called in their em- ployer to view the dead bodies, and by his orders buried them at the foot of the staircase. In the morning Tyrrel restored the keys to Brakenbury, and rejoined the king before his coronation at York. Aware of the execration to which the knowledge of this black deed must expose him, Richard was anxious that it should not transpire ; but when he understood that men had taken up arms to liberate the two princes, he suffered the intelligence of their death to be published, that he might disconcert the plans, and awaken the fears of his enemies t.
The intelligence was received with horror both by the friends and the foes of the usurper ; but, if it changed the object, it did not dissolve the union of the conspira- tors. They could not retrace their steps with security; and since the princes for whom they had intended to
* Cont. Croyl. 568.
t See More's account of the murder, 67, 6^. Objections have been raised against it, but I hope to show that they are of no weight in ;i mite at the end of this vo urae.— Carte attributes the story of llie death of the }>iinces to Buckingham and his frit-mis, as if it were intended to aid the insurrection (iii. 82:O : from the Croyland his'urian it is certain that it «as published In others, and had a: first the effect of disconcerting all their projects. Cunt. Civyl. 558.
A. D. 1483.] CONSPIRACY IN FAVOUR OF RICHMOND. 257
fight were no longer alive, it became necessarv to setup a new competitor in opposition to Richard. The bishop Wy proposed that the crown should be offered to Henry the young earl of Richmond, the representative m right of his mother, of the house of Lancaster * but on the condition that he should marry the princess Eli- iabetb, to whom the claim of the house of York had now devolved; a marriage which, the prelate observed, would unite the partizans of the two families in one common ise, enable them to triumph over the murderer, and put an end to those dissensions which had so lono- con- vulsed and depopulated the nation. The suo-o-estioi was approved by the queen dowager, the duke of Buck- mgham, the Marquess of Dorset, and most of their
John, = Catherine duke of Lancaster.
Thomas,
Suynford. duke of Gloucester.
John,
earl of
Somerset.
Catherine,=0wpn John,
relict of Henry V.
Tudor, duke of Somerset.
Edmund
earl of
Richmond.
Edmund,
duke of
Somerset.
Anne=Edmund earl of Stafford.
Humphrey,
duke of Buckingham.
Margaret. Henry Edmund Margawt-Hapbwy duke ot duke of Pari „,- •
Somerset, Somi-rset, o. s. p. o. s. p.
Henry,
earl of Richmond.
Stafford.
VOL. V.
Henry,
duke "of
Buckingham.
258 RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
Pept. friends ; the countess of Richmond consented in the '" *' name of her son ; and a messenger was despatched to Bretagne, to inform the earl of the agreement, to hasten his return to England, and to announce the eighteenth of October as the day fixed for the general rising in his favour *.
The new plan of the confederates escaped the vigi- lance of the king, who, ignorant of his danger, proceeded from York into Lincolnshire : but in a fortnight the an- swer of Henry was received, and was no sooner commu- nicated to his friends than it reached the ears of Rich- Oct. ard. To prepare for the contest, he summoned all his 1 ' • adherents to meet him with their retainers at Leicester, 15. proclaimed Buckingham a traitor, and sent for the great seal from London t. On the appointed day the rising 18. took place. The marquess of Dorset proclaimed Henry at Exeter ; the bishop of Salisbury declared for him in Wiltshire ; the gentlemen in Kent met for the same Oct. purpose at Maidstone ; those of Berkshire at Newberry ; '23. and the duke of Buckingham unfurled his standard at Brecon $.
Five days later, Richard joined his army at Leicester, where he issued a most singular proclamation. He begins by boasting of his zeal for morality and the ad- ministration of justice ; then calls his enemies "traitors, " adulterers, and bawds ;" asserts that their object is not only the destruction of the throne, but " the letting " of virtue, and the damnable maintenance of vice ;" grants a free pardon to all yeomen and commoners who have been deluded by the false pretensions of the rebels ; threatens with the punishment of treason all who shall hereafter lend them assistance ; and promises rewards for the apprehension of Buckingham and his associates $. But Richard's good fortune served him better than his
* Cont. Croyl. 568.
•f Drake, Eborac. 119. Rym. xii. 203. Ellis, i. 160. j Rot Parl. vi. 245, 246. § Rym. xii. 204.
A. 1J. 1483.] RICHARD IS SUCCESSFUL. 059
troops or his proclamations. Had Henry landed, or bad the duke been able to join the other insurgents, the reio-n of the usurper would probably have been terminated, tfut though Henry had sailed from St. Malo with a fleet Oct. f forty sail, the weather was so tempestuous that but l- few could follow him across the Channel ; and when he reached the coast of Devon, the insufficiency of his force arbade him to disembark. Buckingham was still more infortunate From Brecon he had marched through the forest of Deane to the Severn : but the bridges were broken down, and the river was so swoln that the fords had become impassable. He turned back to Weoblev, the seat of the lord Ferrers: but the Welshmen who had followed him disbanded ; and the news of their deser- tion induced the othei bodies of insurgents to provide for their own safety. Thus the king triumphed without Tawing the sword. Weobley was narrowly watched on e one side by sir Humphrey Stafford, on the other by the clan of the Vaughans, who for their reward had re ved a promise of the plunder of Brecon. Morton acted his escape in disguise to the isle of Ely, and hence passed to the coast of Flanders • the duke in a similar dress reached the hut of Banister, one of his ser- vants in Shropshire, where he was betrayed by the per- fidy of his host. If he hoped for pardon on the merit of former services, he had mistaken the character of Kichard. That prince had already reached Salisbury with his army: he refused to see the prisoner, and or- his head to be immediately struck off in the trket-p lace. From Salisbury he marched into Devon- NOV ire. The insurgents dispersed: the marquess of Dor- 2. *et and Courtenay bishop of Exeter, crossed the Channel coast of Bretagne ; and others found an asylum in the fidelity of their neighbours, and the respect which was still paid to the sanctuaries. Of the prisoners, St Leger, a kmght, had married the duchess of Exeter, the sister of Richard. But it was in vain that the plea of affinity was urged in his favour, and a large sum of
260 RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
money offered for his ransom. By the king's order he suffered with others at Exeter *.
When the conqueror had traversed the southern counties, and by repeated executions punished such of his enemies as fell into his hands, he returned to the capital, and summoned a parliament. This assembly, like those of the last reign in similar circumstances, Nov. proved its loyalty by its eagerness to anticipate every 11. wish of the monarch t. It adopted and confirmed the celebrated petition presented to Richard during his pro- tectorate ; pronounced him " undoubted king of this " realm of England as well by right of consanguinity " and inheritance, as by lawful election, consecration " and coronation ;" and entailed the crown on the issue of his body, particularly his son, Edward prince of Wales, whose succession the lords spiritual and temporal bound themselves to uphold. Then followed a bill of attainder, which, though a common measure in these turbulent times, is said to have been severe and comprehensive be- yond all precedent. One duke, one marquess, three earls, three bishops, with many knights and gentlemen, were deprived of their estates, honours, and rights. The forfeitures were employed partly to augment the revenue of the crown, partly to remunerate the king's northern adherents, who were thus transplanted into the southern counties, and converted into spies on the disaffection of their neighbours. Among the attainted was the coun- tess of Richmond. But she was spared from execution at the intercession of her husband the lord Stanley, who had convinced Richard of his own loyalty, and who, on his promise to watch over the conduct of his consort, was permitted to retain the possession of her estates during his life*.
As the marriage between Edward IV. and Elizabeth Grey had now been declared null by the approbation
* Cout Croyl. 563. 570.
f The historian attribute* the conduct of the parliament to fe;ir, propter inL-en'.em in constantissiinosciidentem metum. Cont. Cn;\l. 570. t Rot. Parl. vi. 240-251.
A. D. 1483.] ATTEMPTS TO DEFEAT HENRY'S PLANS 261
given to the petition presented at Baynard's castle, their son was officially termed " Edward the bastard, lately " called Edward the fifth :" his mother was designated Elizabeth late wife of sir John Grey, and the letters patent were annulled by which she had been entitled to her dower as queen of England *. Still the king was seriously alarmed at the idea of a marriage between the young earl of Richmond and the eldest of her daughters. At the last festival of Christmas a meeting had been held at Rhedon in Bretagne, where Henry solemnly swore to make her his queen as soon as he should triumph over the usurper ; and the exiles to the number of five hundred had on that condition promised him fealty, and done homage to him as to their sovereign. It was not that Henry of himself could advance any right to the crown. By the father's side he was descended from Owen Tudor and Catherine, the relict of Henry V. : by the mother's from John Beaufort earl of Somerset, the natural son of John of Ghent by Catherine Swyn- ford. Somerset, indeed, had been legitimated : but the reader is aware that an act of parliament had ex- pressly excluded him and his posterity from the succes- sion to the crown. There were still in Spain and Portu- gal princes and princesses of the house of Lancaster : but they despised or neglected a disputed title, and the partisans of the family looked up to Henry and his mother as their natural chiefs. Under no circumstances, much less under these, would the lords attached to the house of York have admitted the claim of the earl of Richmond. But convinced of the death of the two sons of Edward, they considered his eldest daughter as right- ful sovereign ; and the moment Henry bound himself by oath to marry that princess, they swore fealty to him as the future husband of her, who was by succession queen of England. To defeat this project now became the chief policy of
• Rym. xii. 259. Rot. Parl. vi, 263.
262 RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
A. n. Richard. That lie might draw the late queen out of the l^' sanctuary, he tempted her with the most flattering pro- , ar' raises, and harassed her with the most terrible threats. Message after message was interchanged ; and at last a private treaty was concluded, in consequence of which he swore in the presence of several lords and prelates, and the mayor and aldermen, that she and her daughters should be treated by him as his kinswomen ; that their lives should be in no danger ; that the mother should possess an annuity of seven hundred marks for life ; and that each of the daughters should receive lands to the value of two hundred marks as a marriage portion, and be married to none but gentlemen *. Induced by these promises she repaired with her family to court : both mother and daughters were kindly received ; and marks of peculiar distinction were lavished upon the young Elizabeth, whom Richard had probably destined to be wife of his son Edward. But that prince suddenly ex- April pired at Middleham, and the king and his consort were 9- for a time inconsolable on account of their loss •*•. What Richard's designs might now be with respect to Eliza- beth were unknown ; but she was attached to the com- pany of the queen, and thus kept in real though honour- able captivity.
At length the king had leisure to direct his attention to Bretagne, where the earl of Richmond and the exiles were busily employed in devising the means of expelling him from the throne. No expense was spared to pro- cure the most accurate information of their numbers and projects ; and the useful aid of Landois, the Breton mi- nister, was purchased with valuable presents. The duke Francis listened by degrees to the suggestions of his favourite : an armistice between the two nations pre- pared the way for more frequent intercourse ; the king raised a body of a thousand archers for the service of his new friend ; and a dark plot was framed for the appre-
* Ellis, 2 ser. i. 149. Buck apud Kennct, p. 523. t Cont. Croyl. 571.
A.D. 1484.] NEGOTIATION WITH SCOTLAND. 263
hension of Henry and of his principal adherents*. They would have been caught in the toils of their wily adver- sary had they not been warned of their danger, and found a new and safer asylum in the dominions of Charles VIII. king of France, where they employed more than a year in making new preparations for their intended expedition.
During the interval Richard put an end to the tedious and destructive hostilities between the Scots and his subjects. The duke of Albany and the earl Douglas had received from him the same protection which on a for- mer occasion they had received from his brother : but he was too much occupied with his own concerns to lend them effectual aid ; and their efforts were confined to occasional inroads by land, and piratical depredations by sea. During this summer they had attempted to surprise the merchants at the fair of Lochmaben ; but were repulsed with considerable loss, and the capture of Douglas and several of his English associates. This dis- grace, however, was more than compensated by the suc- cess of the English cruizers against the commerce of Scotland ; and at the solicitation of James an armistice for three years, and an alliance by marriage between the royal families of the two kingdoms, was concluded at g ^ Nottingham. Richard, indeed, after the death of his 21. son, was without legitimate children : but he had de- clared John earl of Lincoln, and son of his sister the duchess of Suffolk, heir apparent to the crown ; and he now affianced the sister of that young prince, Anne de la Pole, to the eldest son of the king of Scotland. It was mutually stipulated that the marriage should take place as soon as the parties had arrived at the age of puberty t.
At Christmas the king kept his court in the palace of
* Kym. xii. 226. 229. Argentre, xiii. 26.
t Rym. xii. 235 — 246. Rouse informs us that the young earl of Warwick, the son of the late duke of Clarence, was treated at first as heir apparent ; but that after some time he was removed, put into close custody, and the young earl of Lincoln substituted for him. — p. 218.
264 RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
Westminster. Whether it were from policy or inclina- tion, he affected extraordinary magnificence : the holi- days were a constant repetition of feasting, balls, and amusements ; and it was remarked with surprise that in every company his niece Elizabeth appeared in robes exactly similar to those worn by the queen consort. Be- fore men could discover the cause of this unusual ar- rangement the latter suddenly fell sick ; and Richard, in expectation of her death, offered his hand to his niece. Her mother is said not to have disapproved of the unna- tural union, but to have written to her son the marquess A. D. of Dorset at Paris, and to have ordered him to retire 1485. from the councils of Henry. The princess herself, in a Feb- letter which she wrote to the duke of Norfolk, showed how much she was dazzled with the splendours of royal- ty. She solicited the good offices of that nobleman in her favour, protested that the king was " her joy and " maker in this world, and that she was his in heart and " thought," and hinted her surprise at the duration of Mar the queen's illness, and her apprehensions " that she 16. " would never die *." These apprehensions, however, were soon quieted : in less than a month the queen ex- pired ; and Elizabeth was flattered with the idea of mounting the throne, Richard with the prospect of dis- concerting by this marriage the machinations of his rival. But when the king communicated the plan to Ratcliffe and to Catesby, " knight and esquire of the body," both confidants by whose advice he was generally ruled, he experienced an unexpected and most obstinate oppo- sition. Their objection perhaps arose, as the historian surmises, from a well-grounded apprehension, that if Elizabeth should become queen, she would revenge on them the murder of her uncle and brother at Pontefract : but their arguments, whatever were their secret motives, deserved the most serious attention of their master. They represented to him that this incestuous marriage
• See Buck, p. 568.
A. D. 1485.] THE KING'S DIFFICULTIES. 265
would be an object of horror to the people, and would be condemned by the clergy ; that suspicions were already entertained of his having removed the queen by poison to make room for the niece * ; that to marry her in the present circumstances would convert such suspicions into a certainty, and would in consequence deprive him of his stanchest adherents, the men of the northern coun- ties, for whose support he had been hitherto indebted to the respect which they bore to his late consort, as daughter of the great earl of Warwick. The king, though with considerable reluctance, yielded to their remonstrances. In the great hall of the Temple he as- sured the mayor, aldermen, and commoners, that no such marriage had ever been contemplated ; and by a Apr. letter to the citizens of York, required them to refuse **• credit to the slanderous tales which had been circulated, and to apprehend and bring before the council all per- sons known to advance or propagate reports to his pre- judice t.
As the time approached, in which the contest for the crown was to be decided, the mind of Richard became the prey of doubts and apprehensions. It may be that the disturbed rest, the imaginary spectres, and the sud- den terrors described by sir Thomas More, were the fic- tions of his enemies t'- but, unfurnished as he was with
* From the expressions in Elizabeth's letter mentioned before, there is reason to fear that this suspicion was too true. It is evident Richard had not only promised to marry her, but had told her that the queen would die in February. Hence she observes that the better part of February is past, and the queen still alive. Buck, p. 568.
t See the whole account in the Croyland Historian, 572. The letter to the citizens of York is in Drake's Eboracum, p. 119. That writer supposes it to have been written in 1484. But as it alludes to the reports about the marriage, and observes that the king had already explained matters to the citizens of London, which the Croyland Historian says he did some time before Easter, I have no difficulty in fixing it to the present year.
J " I have heard by credible report of such as were secret with his " chamberers, that he never had quiet in his mind, never thought himself " sure. When he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his body privily " fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance and manner like " one always ready to strike again. He took ill rests at night, lay long " waking and musing, sore weuiied with cave and watch, rather slumbered
266 RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
money, and suspicious of his adherents, he could not look forward to a contest, in which his crown and life were at stake, without feeling considerable alarm. The treasures left by his brother, the monies arising from the late forfeitures, and three tenths obtained from the clergy, had all been expended. He dared not summon a parliament for the purpose of demanding a subsidy : and to solicit a benevolence he had already pronounced illegal and unconstitutional. Yet his necessities com- pelled him to adopt the thing, while he refused it the name . and though by extorting different sums from the most wealthy of the citizens, he replenished his coffers, he forfeited at the same time the small share which he retained in their affection *. He no longer knew whom to trust or distrust. Daily defections taught him to sus- pect the fidelity of the most attached among his adhe- rents. Sir Walter Blount, the governor of Ham, deserted to Henry with his prisoner, the old earl of Oxford : se- veral officers of the garrison of Calais, and the sheriffs of some counties, followed their example ; and numerous emigrations from the coast doubled the amount of the exiles. But no one gave him more anxiety than lord Stanley, a nobleman of extensive influence in Cheshire and Lancashire. On the one hand he had hitherto served Richard with unwearied zeal ; on the other he had married the mother of the pretender to the crown. To attach him the more firmly to the royal interests, the king had lavished favours upon him ; but at the same time to keep him always under his own eye, he had made him steward of the household. When at last lord Stanley urged his former services to obtain permission to visit his estates, Richard consented with reluctance,
" than slept, troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly sometimes started up, " leapt out of bed, and run about the chamber; so was his restless heart " continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression and stormy " remembrance of this abominable deed." More, 69.
* As the king would not allow the name of benevolence to be applied to this extortion, the people gave to it that of malevolence. Cont. Croyl, 572.
A. D.I 485.] THE KING'S PROCLAMATION. 267
but retained at court the lord Strange as an hostage for the fidelity of his father *.
At length the king was informed by his emissaries that the earl of Richmond with the permission of Charles had raised an army of three thousand adventurers, most of them Normans; and that a fleet was lying in the mouth of the Seine to transport them to England. He june affected to receive the intelligence with joy ; and imme- 23. diately, to prepare the public for the event, published a longand artful proclamation.which stated that " the king's " rebels and traitors, disabled and attainted by authority " of the high court of parliament, of whom many were " known for open murderers, adulterers, and extor- " tioners, had forsaken their natural country, and put " themselves at first under the obedience of the duke of " Bretagne, to whom they had made promises so unna- " tural and abominable that they had been refused by " that prince — that they had next betaken themselves " to the king's ancient enemy, Charles, calling himself " king of France, and chosen for their captain one Henry " Tudor, descended of bastard blood both by the father's " and the mother's side, and who therefore could never " have any claim to the crown of England but by con- " quest — that the said Henry Tudor, in order that he " might achieve his false intent by the aid of the king's " ancient enemy of France, had covenanted with him to " give up in perpetuity all the right, which the king of " England had to the crown of France, to Normandy, " Anjou, Maine, Guienne, Calais, and the marches, and " to dissever the arms of France from the arms of Eng- " land for ever — that in more proof of his said purpose " of conquest, the said Henry Tudor had given away " archbishoprics, bishoprics, and other dignities spiritual, " and the duchies, earldoms, baronies, and other inherit- " ances of knights, esquires, and gentlemen, within the '' realm — that he intended to change and subvert the
* Cout. Croyl. 5?3.
268 RICHARD in. [CHAP. v.
" laws of the same, and to do the most cruel murders, " slaughters, robberies, and disherisons, that were ever " seen in any Christian realm — wherefore, the king willed " that all his subjects, like good and true Englishmen, " should endower themselves with all their power for the '• defence of them, their wives, children, goods, and he- " reditaments, and as he, like a diligent and courageous " prince, would put his most royal person to all labour " and pain necessary in that behalf, to the comfort and " surety of his faithful subjects, so he commanded all " his said subjects to be ready in their most defensible " array to do his highness service of war, when they by " open proclamation or otherwise should be commanded " so to do, for the resistance of the king's said rebels, " traitors and enemies*."
Having issued instructions to his friends in the mari- July time counties, and established posts of cavalry on the 24. high roads for the more speedy transmission of intelli- gence, Richard sent for the great seal, and fixed his head- quarters at Nottingham. There he was nearer to his partisans in the north, on whose fidelity he chiefly relied ; and thence, as from the centre, he could watch the ex- Aug. tremities, of the kingdom. On the first of August his 1. competitor sailed from Harfleur : on the seventh he landed at Milford haven, and directed his march through ^' the northern districts of Wales, a tract of country in the interests of the Stanleys. He met with little to oppose or to encourage him : if the Welsh chieftains did not impede his progress, few joined his standard : and when he took possession of Shrewsbury his army did not ex- ceed four thousand men. A week elapsed before Richard heard of his landing; but orders were instantly de- spatched for all his subjects to meet him at Leicester,
* Fenn, ii. 318 — 326. I have abiidged the proclamation, hut have, as much as possible, retained the very words, that the reader may notice how near the language approaches to that of the present day. It is dated 23rd of June anno 2: which Fenu has made 14^4 : but as Kichard did not begin his reign till the 26th of that month, it should be 1485.
A. D. 1485.] BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. 269
with the most alarming menaces against tne defaulters. The duke of Norfolk obeyed with the men of the eastern counties, the earl of Northumberland with the northern levies, the lord Lovet from Hampshire, and Brakenbury from London ; but the man whom he most feared, the lord Stanley, replied that he was confined to his bed by the sweating sickness. This feint could not deceive the king ; and lord Strange, fearing for his life, made an at- tempt to escape. He was discovered, taken, and in- duced to confess, that he himself, his uncle sir William Stanley, chamberlain of North Wales, and sir John Savage, had engaged to join the invaders : but he pro- tested that his father was ignorant of their intention, and already on his way to join the royal standard. He was permitted to write to lord Stanley, and to inform, him that he must accelerate his march, if he wished to save the life of his son *.
At Leicester the king found himself at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, which, had it been Aug. attached to its leader, might have trampled under foot 20. the contemptible force that followed the banner of his competitor. But Henry, assured by the promises of his secret adherents, continued to press forward, as if he were determined to rush into the very jaws of destruc- tion. He crossed the Severn at Shrewsbury : at New- port he was joined by the tenantry of the Talbots: at Stafford he had a private conference with sir William Stanley ; and consented, in order to save, if it were pos- sible, the life of lord Strange, that the Stanleys should continue to wear the appearance of hostility, and con- stantly retire before him, as he advanced. On the twenty-first of August Richard rode from Leicester with . the crown on his head, and encamped about two miles 21 °' from the town of Bosworth. The same night Henry proceeded from Tamworth to Atherston, where he joined the Stanleys, and was encouraged by the repeated arri-
* Coiit. Croyl. 5/3.
'270 RICHARD III. [CHAP. V.
vals of deserters from the enemy. In the morning both armies (that of Richard was double in number) advanced to Redmore ; and the vanguards, commanded by the duke of Norfolk and the earl of Oxford, engaged. Richard was dismayed to see the Stanleys opposed to him, the earl of Northumberland remaining inactive at his post, and his men wavering and on the point of flying, or going over to his competitor. Chancing to espy Henry, he determined to win the day, or perish in the attempt. Spurring his horse and exclaiming, " Trea- " son, treason, treason *," he slew with his own hand sir William Brandon, the bearer of the hostile standard, struck to the ground sir John Cheney, and made a des- perate blow at his rival, when lie was overpowered by numbers, thrown from his horse and immediately slain Lord Stanley, taking up the crown, placed it on the head of Henry, and the conqueror was instantly greeted with the shouts of " Long live king Henry." In the battle and pursuit the duke of Norfolk, the lord Ferrers, some knights, and about three thousand others were killed. The victors lost but few : and to add to their joy, lord Strange, whom Richard had ordered to be beheaded at the beginning of the battle, escaped in the confusion, and rejoined his father. The body of the late king was stript, laid across a horse behind a pursuivant at arms, and conducted to Leicester, where, after it had been ex- posed for two days, it was buried with little ceremony in the church of the Grey friars t. Henry entered the town with the same royal state with which Richard had marched out on the preceding day. He was careful, how- ever, not to stain his triumph with blood. Of all his prisoners three only suffered death, the notorious Cates- by, and two persons of the name of Brecher, who proba- bly had merited that distinction by their crimes $.
» Ross, 218.
f Ten years later Henry caused a tomb to be erected over him. The cost was only £10. Is. Kxcerp. Hist. 105. It was defaced at tiie dissolu- tion of the convent, Saudfurd, 432.
J Cont. Croyl. 573—575. Ross, 218. Fab. 520.
A. n.l 485.] RICHARD'S CHARACTER. 271
Of the character of Richard it is unnecessary to say much. If he was guilty of the crimes laid to his charge, he was little better than a monster in human shape. Writers have indeed existed in modern times who have attempted to prove his innocence ; but their arguments are rather ingenious than conclusive, and dwindle into groundless conjectures when confronted with the evi- dence which may be arrayed against them *.
* See Note [B] at the end of the volume.
272
CHAPTER VI.
HENRY VII. CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
Empr. of Gtr. Frederic III. 1493 Maximilian.
Kings of Scot. James III. .1487. .lames IV.
Kings of France. Charles VI 1 1. 1498 Louis XI I.
Sorer, of Spain. Isabella. ..1504. Ferdinand.
Popes. Innocent VIII., 1492. Alexander VI.. 1503. Pius III., 1503. Julius II.
Proceedings in parliament — The king's marriage — Insurrection in favour of a pretended earl of Warwick — Coronation of the queen — War in Bre- tagne — Imposture of Perkin Warbeck — He is executed — Also the earl of Warwick— Treati. s with France— With Scotland— With Spain— Mar- riage and death of prince Arthur — Henry's rapacity— His illness and death — His character.
THE long quarrel between the two houses of York and Lancaster had deluged England with blood : by a for- tunate concurrence of circumstances it was given to Henry of Richmond, an exile and an adventurer, with- out means and without title, to unite the interests of the " two roses," and to bequeath to posterity the benefit of an undisputed succession. From the field of Bosworth he proceeded to Leicester. Victory had placed the crown on his temples ; and the absence of a rival secured to him the present possession of the sovereignty. But a perplexing question occurred : en what title was he to ground his claim ? On that of hereditary descent ? The right of hereditary descent, even supposing it to be in the family of Lancaster, and not of York, could not be pro-
A. D. 1485.] DEFECTS OF HENRY'S TITLE. 273
pagated through an illegitimate branch, which to pre- vent dispute, had been originally cut off from the suc- cession by act of parliament. Should he then depend on his stipulated marriage with the princess Elizabeth ? But his pride disdained to owe the sceptre to a wife, the representative of a rival and hated family. That would be to justify the dethronement of Henry VI., to acknow- ledge himself a king only by courtesy, and to exclude his issue by any succeeding marriage from all claim to the throne. There remained the right of conquest: but, though he might appeal to his late victory as an argu- ment that Heaven approved of his pretensions *, he dared not mention the name of conquest, or he would have united his friends with his foes in a common league against him t. The question became the subject of long and anxious deliberation ; and it was at last re- solved to follow a line of proceeding, which, while it settled the crown on the king and his heirs in general, should not bring either his right, or that of the princess, into discussion $•
The reader has seer, that Richard before his fall had named his nephew, John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, to be his successor. Him and his pretensions Henry treated with contempt ; but there was another prince, Edward Plantagenet, son of the late duke of Clarence, whom he viewed with peculiar jealousy. After the execution of Clarence, Edward IV. had sent for the child to court, and had created him earl of Warwick, the title borne by his grandfather. Even Richard, when his own son was dead, had at first assigned to him the
* It was tlie common persuasion at the time that, as in private duels, so in battles, the event showed the right of the victorious party. Henry alluded to it in parliament. Rot. Parl. vi. 268. And the same doctrine had been openly maintained by Edward IV. "In division and contra- " versie moved betwyxt princes uppcn the high soveraigne power roiell, " more evident prove or declaration of trouth, right and Godds will may not " be had than by the means of reason, auctorite, andvictoriein batailles." Rym. xi. /10.
t Because it was taught that a conqueror might dispossess all men of their lands, since they held them of the prince who had been conquered.
| Bacon, 2—4.
VOL. V. T
274 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
honours of the heir-apparent: but afterwards, fearing that he might become a dangerous competitor, had con- fined him in the castle of Sheriff-Hutton in Yorkshire. The first act of the new king at Leicester was to trans- fer the young prince, who had only reached his fifteenth year, from his prison in the north to a place of greater security, the Tower. The public commiserated the lot of the innocent victim, who thus to satisfy the ambition of others, was condemned to perpetual imprisonment from his childhood ; and the spot chosen for his confine- ment, a spot so lately stained with the blood of princes, was considered as an omen of his subsequent destiny. The princess Elizabeth had been his fellow captive at Sheriff-Hutton. Richard had sent her there as soon as he heard of the invasion ; Henry ordered her to be con- ducted by several noblemen to the house of her mother in London *.
The fall of the usurper excited little regret. No man could pity his death, who had pitied the fate of his un- offending nephews. When the cjnqueror entered the ' capital, he was received with unequivocal demonstra- tions of joy. The mayor and principal citizens met him at Hornsey park, and were permitted to kiss his hand. As he passed through the streets in a close carriage, the crowd obstructed his way, that they might behold and greet the deliverer of his country t. Before him were borne the ensigns of his triumph, the three stand- ards which had led his small army to victory, and these he devoutly offered on the high altar of St. Paul's J. But his coronation was delayed, and the joy of the public was damped, by the sudden spread of a disease, which acquired from its predominant symptoms the appellation of the sweating sickness. It generally extinguished life within the course of twenty-four hours ; and some
* Bacon, 1. Polyd. 553.
•(• Andre, who was present, and recited verses in his honour. — Domit. A. xviii.
J Th:-se standards were an " ymage of Saline George, a red firye dragon, " and a done ko«e." Hall, i.
A. D.I 485.] PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 275
idea may be formed of its ravages, when it is known that within eight days it proved fatal to two successive lord mayors, and six of the aldermen of London. At the end of a month, whether it were owing to the greater experience of the physicians, or the coldness of the sea- son, its violence began to abate *, and the new king Oct. received the rite of coronation from the hands of the 30. cardinal archbishop of Canterbury. On that occasion twelve knights bannerets were created, and the king's uncle, the earl of Pembroke, was raised to the dignity of duke of Bedford, the lord Stanley to that of earl of Derby, and sir Edward Courtenay to that of earl of Devon t. At the same time he appointed a body of select archers, amounting to fifty men, to attend on him, under the appellation of yeomen of the guard. The insti- tution excited surprise : but Henry justified it on the ground that by foreign princes a guard was considered as a necessary appendage to the regal dignity $.
As soon as he was crowned, the king summoned a parliament ; and when the commons presented to him -j\jov their speaker, was careful to inform them, that " he 7. " had come to the throne by just title of inheritance, " and by the sure judgment of God, who had given him " the victory over his enemy in the field :" but, lest they should be alarmed by the last words, he added that every man should continue " to enjoy his rights " and hereditaments, with the exception of such persons " as in the present parliament should be punished for " their offences against his royal majesty §." When the commons returned to their own house, an unexpected difficulty arose. A large proportion of the members had
* After the loss of many lives it was discovered, that if the patient lay still lor twenty-four hours, aud carefully abstained from whatever might add to the heat, or induce cold, he generally recovered. By this method the mortality was much diminished, when "the same disease re-appeared in England, though it still proved fatal to thousands in Flanders and Germany. Hall, 3, 4. Bacon, 6. Polyd. 561.
t Cent Crovl. 557. Bacon, 6. Hall, 3.
t H ill. 3. Yet it is certain that former kings had guards of archers, but probably unly on particular occasions. § Rot. Parl. vi. 263.
T2
276 HENRY vii. [CHAP, vi-
been outlawed by the last monarch. Could they sit there in quality of lawgivers? Even the king, w'ho had summoned them together, had been attainted. Was that attainder to continue unrepealed ? Henry was dis- pleased with the boldness of these questions : but dis- sembling his resentment, he consulted the judges, who replied that as far as regarded the king himself, the crown had cleared away all legal corruption of blood ; but that the members attainted by course of law must forbear to sit till their attainders had been reversed by equal authority. The advice was followed : all who had been disinherited by Richard were by one act re- stored to their former rights ; and separate bills were passed in favour of the king's mother, the dukes of Bedford, Buckingham, and Somerset, the marquess of Dorset, the earl of Oxford, the lords Beaumont, Wells, Clifford, Hungerford, Roos, and several others. The whole number of those who profited by this measure amounted to one hundred and seven *. The transac- tions which followed were important and interesting. 1°. In the settlement of the crown by legislative enact- ment, Henry proceeded with cautious and measured steps. Jealous as he was of the pretended right of the house of Lancaster, he was equally sensible that the claim of the princess Elizabeth would prove the firmest support of his throne. Hence he watched all the pro- ceedings with the most scrupulous solicitude. To weaken her claim would be to undermine his own interest : to confirm it would encourage a suspicion that he was con- scious of a defect in his own title. He therefore re- fused both to revive the act of Henry IV., which esta- blished the succession in the line of John of Ghent, and to repeal that of Edward IV., which established it in the line of Lionel duke of Clarence. In his own favour he commanded that all records, containing any mention of his attainder, should be cancelled and taken off the
•Rot. Parl. vi. 273. 278. 280-28;. Year-book, Term Mich. 1 Henrv VII. 5. Bacon, 8.
A.D. 1485.] SETTLEMENT OF THE CROWN. 277
file * : ill favour of his Lancastrian predecessors, he annulled the act of Edward IV., which had pronounced Henry IV. and Henry V. usurpers, Henry VI. an usurper and traitor, Margaret and Edward, the wife and son of that monarch, traitors, and all the heirs of the body of Henry of Derby incapable of holding or inheriting any estate, dignity, pre-eminence, heredita- ment, or possession within the realm t : and in favour of Elizabeth he repealed the act of the 1st of Richard III., by which that princess had been pronounced a bastard, in common with the rest of her father's children by Elizabeth Grey. Out of respect for her who was to be queen, neither the title nor the body of the act was read in either house. By advice of the judges it was merely designated by the first words ; the original was then ordered to be burnt ; and all persons possessed of copies were commanded to deliver them to the chan- cellor before Easter, under the penalty of fine and im- prisonment $. I« the act of settlement itself no men- tion was made of Elizabeth or her heirs ; even Henry's own claim, which he so ostentatiously brought forward in his speech to the commons, " of- his just right of in- " heritance, and the sure judgment of God," was stu- diously omitted; and it was merely enacted, that " the " inheritance of the crown should be, rest, remain, and " abide in the most royal person of the then sovereign " lord, king Henry VII., and the heirs of his body law- " fully coming, perpetually with the grace of God so to
* Bacon, 9.
t Rot. Had. vi. 288. An act was also passed restoring Elizabeth the widow of Edward IV. to the same title and dignity as she would have had if no act had passed against her under Richard III., and rendering her able to plead, and be impleaded, and to receive and grant lands and chattels. But it does not appear that her dower was restored. Ibid.
i Ibid. 289. Year-book, Term Hil. 1 Henry VII., 5. Stillington, bishop of Bath, who had composed the petition and act now repealed, had been apprehended by order of the king immediately after the battle of Bos- woith. We find him soon afterwards a prisoner at York, " sore erased by " reason of his trouble and carrying." (Drake's Eborac. 123.) He how- ever made his peace with Henry, was not included in the act of attainder, and obtained a full pardon. On tins account Henry opposed a motion to call him before the house of lords for his conduct in composing the peti- tion and act of bastardy of Edward's cl'uldren. Year-book, Ibid,
278 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
" endure, and in none other*." 2°. But this cautious policy, and in particular this silence with respect to the princess, seems to have alarmed not only the partisans of the house of York, but even Henry's own friends, who had trusted that under the union of the red and white roses domestic peace would succeed to war and dissension. When the commons presented to the king the usual grant of tonnage and poundage for life, they coupled with it a petition, that he would be pleased to " take to wife and consort the princess Elizabeth, which Dec. « marriage they hoped God would bless with a progeny " of the race of kings^:" the lords spiritual and tem- poral, rising from their seats, and bowing to the throne, signified their concurrence ; and Henry graciously an- swered that he was willing to comply with their request^. 3°. At the very commencement of the session the king had alluded to " the punishment of those who had " offended his royal majesty.'' The expression was noticed : how, it was asked, could the late monarch and his supporters have offended the majesty of the earl of Richmond, at a time when he had never publicly ad- vanced any claim to the throne ? The case differed from the precedents of the past reigns. If Henry VI. and his friends had been pronounced traitors by Edward, and Edward and his adherents by Henry, on each oc- casion the supposed offence had been committed against a king, whose claim to the crown had been previously admitted by parliament §. But the treasury was ex- hausted ; Henry wanted the means to defray his ex- penses, and to reward his followers ; and in defiance of the murmurs of the people, Richard III., the duke of
* Rot. Pad. vi. 270. While this bill was before the lords, the chancellor assembled all the judges, and required their opinion, whether such an act, if it were passed, would have the effect "of resuming all the franchises " and liberties uf all manner of persons.1' It seems to have been appre- hended that the new settlement might have had the same effect as the acquisition of the crown by conquest The judges replied in the negative. Year-book Term Hil. 1 Hen. VII. 25.
t DC stirpe regum. Rot. Parl. vi. 278. By this unusual expression I conceive was meant the kings of each lii:e.
1 Ibid. § ConL Croyl. 581.
CHAP. VI.] THE KING MARRIES ELIZABETH. 279
Norfolk, the earl of Surrey, the lords Lovell, Zouch, and Ferrers, with several knights and gentlemen, amounting in all to thirty individuals, were included in an act of attainder*. 4°. The act of resumption which followed was less invidious, and equally politic. Treading in the footsteps of former monarchs, the king revoked all grants made by the crown since the 34th of Henry VI., and as the grantees were chiefly the partisans of the house of York, they were all placed at the mercy of the king, who, according to his judgment or caprice, had it in his power to take from them, or to confirm to them, the possession of their property t. 5°. Before he dissolved the parliament, he granted a general pardon to the adherents of Richard : hut that he mi'jjht mono- polise the whole merit of the measure, he would not allow it to originate at the intercession, or to be issued A. D. with the concurrence, of the two houses J. 6°. During 1486. the recess after Christmas he married Elizabeth §. ItJan- was believed that the delay arose from a desire to pre- vent her name from being inserted in the act of settle- ment. When that point had been obtained, he hastened to gratify- the wishes of his people and parliament. If the ambition of the princess was flattered by this union, we are told (on what authority I know not) that she had little reason to congratulate herself on the score of do- mestic happiness ; that Henry treated her with harsh- ness and with neglect ; and that in his estimation nei- ther the beauty of her person, nor the sweetness of her disposition, could atone for the deadly crime of being a descendant of the house of York ||.
* Rot. Parl vi. 275 — 278. In the act Richard is accused of " unnaturall. " mischevous, and grete perjuries, treasons, homicides, and murdres in " ikedding of infants blood." Is not this an allusion to the death of his nephews ? I know of no other infants, whom he is said to have murdered
t Rot. Parl. vi. 336—384. f Bacon, 9.
§ Cont Croyl. 581. Andre tells us that Edward IV. had before offered Elizabeth to Henry during his exile in Bretagne, but that it was considered as an artifice to entice him into England. Domit. A. xviii.
y This is asserted by all our historians. The reader will meet hereafter with some reasons to induce a belief, that the statement, ifitbe true, must at least be couliued to the first years of the king's reign.
280 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
As the king and queen were relatives, a dispensation had been granted previously to the marriage by the bishop of Imola, the legate of Innocent VIII. But Henry applied for another to the pontiff himself, avow- edly for the purpose of removing every doubt respecting the validity of the marriage, but in reality that by in- troducing into it the meaning which he affixed to the act of settlement, that meaning might have the sanc- tion of the papal authority. Innocent in his rescript Mar. informs us that, according to the representation made *'• to him in the name of the king, the crown of England belonged to Henry by right of war, by notorious and indisputable hereditary succession, by the wish and election of all the prelates, nobles, and commons of the realm, and by the act of the three estates in parliament assembled : but that nevertheless, to put an end to the bloody wars caused by the rival claims of the house of York, and at the urgent request of the three estates, the king had consented to marry the princess Elizabeth, the eldest daughter and true heir of Edward IV. of im- mortal memory *. The pontiff, therefore, at the prayer of the king, and to preserve the tranquillity of the realm, confirms the dispensation which has already been granted, and the act of settlement passed by the parliament ; de- clares the meaning of that act to be, that if the queen should die without issue before the king, or if her issue should not survive their father, the crown should in that case devolve to Henry's other children, if he should have any other by a subsequent marriage ; and con- cludes by excommunicating all those, who may here- after attempt to disturb him or his posterity in the pos- session of their rights t. The existence of this extra-
* Immortalis famae regis Edvardi prsefati primogenitam et veram haere- dem. Rym. xii. 297. Carte by some mistake has translated these words " the true heiress of the kingdom" (ii. 825). The reader may notice the expression vera hseres, and in another instrument indubitata ha?res. Rym. xii. 294. If the pontiff believed Elizabeth to be the true and un- doubted heir to her father, he must also have been informed that her brothers had perished. f Rym. ibid.
A. D. I486.] INSURRECTION OF LORD LOVELL. 231
ordinary instrument betrays the king's uneasiness with respect to the insufficiency of his own claim.
After his marriage and the dissolution of the parlia- ment, the new monarch, in imitation of his predecessors, resolved to signalise the commencement of his reign by a progress through the kingdom. The natives of the northern counties had been much devoted to Richard : Henry hoped by spending the summer among them to attach them to his own interests. He was keeping the festival of Easter at Lincoln, when he heard that lord Apr, Lovell, with Humphrey and Thomas Stafford, had sud- 2> denly left the sanctuary of Colchester ; but whither they were fled, or what might be their object, remained a profound secret. Despising the information, he left Lincoln for Nottingham, with a numerous and splendid Apr. retinue: from Nottingham, where he received an em- 6. bassy from the king of Scots, he continued his journey ; but was stopped at Pontefract by the intelligence that 1 7 lord Lovell had passed him on the road, had raised a force in the neighbourhood of Rippon and Middleham, and was preparing to surprise him at his entry into York. But Henry's court was now attended by most of the southern and northern nobility ; and their followers formed a pretty numerous army. The duke of Bedford led the royalists : by his order an offer of pardon was made to all who should return to their duty ; and the insurgent force immediately dispersed. A few were taken and executed by the earl of Northumberland : Lovell himself escaped to his friend sir Thomas Broughton in Lancashire, and thence to the court of Margaret dowager duchess of Burgundy *. At the same time the Staffords had prepared to take possession of the city of Worcester : but the dispersion of the Yorkshire insurgents proved the hopelessness of the attempt ; and the two brothers
* Hall, 3, Bacon. 11, and others tell us that Lovell's attempt happenfl after Henry's arrival at York, and was put down by the duke of Bedford. I have followed the journal of one of the heralds" who accompanied the court. Lei. Coll. iv. 186.
282 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
fled for sanctuary to the church of Colnham, an obscure village near Abingdon. Humphrey Stafford was taken thence by force ; was condemned by the judges in vir- tue of the act of attainder formerly passed against him, and suffered at Tyburn the death of a traitor. It is said that the younger brother obtained a pardon, on the plea that he had acted under the control of the elder*.
The king made his entry into York with royal mag- April nificence. Three miles from the city he was met by 20. the mayor and aldermen on horseback : at the gate he was received with a procession of the clergy, the accla- mations of the populace, and the exhibition of pageants 'h He spent three weeks in that city, dispensing favours, conferring honours, and redressing grievances : a con- duct, the policy of which was proved by the loyalty of May the country during the invasion of the following year $. '20. Thence he returned through Worcester, Hereford, Glou- cester, and Bristol, to London, to receive a numerous June an^ splendid embassy sent by James king of Scotland. 5. During his progress through each county, he was ac- companied by the sheriffs, and the resident nobility and gentry ; on all Sundays and festivals he attended divine service in public ; and on such occasions he heard a sermon from one of the bishops, who -was ordered to read and explain to the audience the papal bull confir- matory of the king's marriage and title. He left the citizens of Worcester with evident marks of displeasure: but by his condescension attached to himself those of
* The prisoner had been brouiht to Worcester to suffer there (May 20), but the abbot of Abingdon arrived on the same day, and required that he should be replaced in the sanctuary. This saved his life for the time. He was sent to theTower, and the judges were consulted by the king, whether Colnham had the privilege of a sanctuary. They replied it was hard, and contrary to order that they should give their opinions beforehand on a matter on which they would have to decide judicially. Henry assented with reluctance : the point was argued before all the judges ; and the claim of sanctuary was rejected. Year-book, Term Pas. 1 Henry VII. 15. Term Trin. 1.
t The people cried, " King Henry, king Henry, our Lord preserve that " sweet and well-savoured face." Lei. Coll. iv. 187. Ibid. 188.
J He diminished the yearly rent of 160?. paid by the citizens of York to tlie crown to the small sum of IS/. 5s. Rot. Parl. Vi 390.
A.. D. I486.] TREATY WITH SCOTLAND. 283
Bristol, whom he consulted on the causes of the decay of their trade, and at the same time encouraged by his promise to restore their city to its former prosperity *.
To a prince in Henry's situation it was of the highest importance to live on terms of amity with his neigh- bours. Among these the most to be feared was James king of Scotland, from his proximity, from the ancient enmity between the two nations, and from that attach- ment to the house of York, which still lurked among the inhabitants of the northern counties. Fortunately James had long cherished a strong partiality for the English ; a partiality so marked, that it formed the prin- cipal of the charges alleged against him by the rebels, who afterwards deprived him of life. He had sent a deputation to assist at the coronation of Henry ; other envoys had met the king at Nottingham ; and now a most honourable embassy awaited his arrival in London. The negotiation lasted almost a month. As the former truce between the two crowns was supposed to have expired at the death of Richard, both kings readily con- sented to its renewal. But the turbulence and discon- tent of the Scottish nobility compelled James to limit July its duration to three years ; and Henry could only obtain 3. a promise that it should be continued till the death of one of the two monarchs, and that a matrimonial al- liance should be contracted between the royal families of England and Scotland t.
It might have been expected that the king would have taken his queen with him during his progress, to gratify the partisans of the house of York : it was sup- posed that he refused through his jealousy of her in- fluence, and his unwillingness to seem indebted to her for his crown. She kept her court at Winchester with her mother and sisters, and the countess of Richmond, her mother-in-law. As she advanced in her pregnancy, the king removed from London to hunt in the new
* See the sequel of the heralds' journal. Rot. Parl. vi. 390. t Kym. xii. 290.
284 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
forest ; and in her eighth month she was safely delivered Sept. of a son, whose hirth gave equal joy to the king and the ^- nation. He was christened with extraordinary parade in the cathedral ; and at the font received the name of Arthur, in memory of the celebrated king of the Britons, from whom Henry wished it to be thought that he was Irmself descended*. Hitherto the king's enemies had given him little uneasiness : but the birth of his son, which threatened to perpetuate the crown in his family, urged them to one of the most extraordinary attempts recorded in history. First a report was spread that the young earl of Warwick had perished in the Tower : soon afterwards one Richard Simons, a priest of Oxford, entirely unknown in Ireland, landed at Dublin with a boy about fifteen years of age, presented his ward to the lord deputy of Ireland, by the name of Edward Plantagenet, the very earl so lately reported to have been murdered, and implored the protection of that nobleman for a young and innocent prince, who, by escaping from the Tower, had avoided a fate similar to that of his un- fortunate cousins, the sons of Edward IV. The boy — he was the son of Thomas Simnel, a joiner at Oxford t — had been well instructed in the part which he had to perform. His person was handsome : his address had something in it which seemed to bespeak nobility of descent; and he could relate with apparent accuracy his adventures at Sheriff-Hutton, in the Tower, and
* Lei. Coll. iv. 204. On this occasion the king's mother made " ordi- " naunoes as to what preparation is to be made against the deliveraunce of " a queen, as also for the christening of the child, when she shall be de- " livered." They descend to every particular " of the furniture of her " highnesses chamber, and the furniture appertayning to her bedde, how " the churche shall be arraied againste the christeninge, how the child " shall go to be christened ;" the length and breadth of the cradle " to be " faire set forth by painters cral'te," and the dimensions of another cradle of state, which is to be much larger than the other, and to be furnished with " greate magnificence, like as the prince or princesse herselle were " lyir.ge therein." Ibid. 179 — 184. The ceremony of the christening of Arthur is afterwards described (204 — 207). I observe that the queen dowager was godmother, and that her daughter Cecily, attended by Anne, another of her daughters, carried the child ; a proof that the queen's family was at this period in high favour with the king.
t Rot. Parl. vi. 39?.
A. D. I486.] SIMNEL, AN IMPOSTOR IN IRELAND. 235
during his escape. But why he should be seduced to personate a prince who was still living, and who might any day be confronted with him, is a mystery difficult to unravel. Of the reasons which have been assigned, the least improbable is that, which supposes that the framers of the plot designed, if it succeeded, to place the real Warwick on the throne ; but that, sensible how much they should endanger his life, if they were to proclaim him while he was in the Tower, they set up a counterfeit Warwick, and by this contrivance made it the interest of Henry to preserve the true one.
Among the English settlers in Ireland the partisans of the house of York had maintained a decided ascen- dency ever since the administration of duke Richard in the reign of Henry VI. The Butlers alone had dared to unsheath the sword in favour of the Lancastrians ; and they had paid by attainders and executions the penalty of their attachment to the interests of the red rose. At the time of the battle of Bosworth the reins of administration were held by the chief of the Yorkists, the earl of Kildare ; nor did Henry venture, at the com- mencement of his reign, to irritate a powerful faction by removing either the lord deputy, or the members of the council. But his jealousy was soon awakened by the reports of his spies : Kildare received a mandate to attend the English court; and his disobedience was excused by a petition from the spiritual and temporal peers, stating in forcible terms the necessity of his pre- sence in Ireland. His conduct on the arrival of Simons was of a nature to confirm Henry's suspicions. He showed no distrust of the two adventurers ; he inquired not how the earl came to be committed to the charge of an unknown priest, only twenty-seven years old ; he evinced no anxiety to ascertain whether the real Warwick were still in the Tower or not ; he allowed the lord Thomas Fitz-Gerald, the chancellor, to introduce the boy under his assumed name to the nubility of Ireland and the citizens of Dublin, and to promise him protection againbt
286 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
his enemies, and those of his family. The Butlers, the bishops of Cashel, Tuam, Clogher, and Ossory, and the citizens of Waterford, remained steady in their alle- giance : the rest of the population, relying on the ac- quiescence or authority of Kildare, admitted the title of the new Piantagenet without doubt or investigation ; and the adventurer was proclaimed by the style of Edward VI., king of England and France, and lord of Ireland *. Most assuredly the deputy had been already admitted into the secret.
When the intelligence reached Henry he was alarmed, not so much at what had happened, as from his ignorance of what might follow. I.He assembled a great council of peers and prelates, and by their advice consented to do what he ought to have done long before t. The par- don which he had issued in favour of his opponents had been not only clogged with restrictions, but frequently violated. He now published a pardon which was full, without exceptions, and extended to every species of treason. 2. He conducted the real earl of Warwick from the Tower to St. Paul's, that he might be publicly recognised by the citizens : and took him with him to the palace of Shene, where the young prince conversed daily with the noblemen and others who visited the court $. Tin's prudent measure satisfied the people of England. They laughed at the impostor in Ireland, while the Irish maintained that theirs was the real, and that the boy at Shene was the pretended Piantagenet. 3. But the next measure created surprise. The reader has witnessed the honourable manner in which the queen dowager lived at court. Suddenly, if we may believe several writers, she was arrested, despoiled of her goods, and committed to the custody of the monks of Bermondsey. The reason assigned for this harsh treatment was, that after having, in the last reign, pro- mised her daughter to Henry, she had delivered her into
» Bacon, 14, 15. Polydor. 563. Wilk. Con. iii. 618. R22. t Lei. Coll. iv. 209. } Ibid.
CHAP. VI.] THE PRETENDER JOINED BY LINCOLN. '287
the hands of the usurper. But the pretext was too im- probable to obtain credit. It was suspected that she had been concerned in the present plot *. Yet where could be her inducement ? If Henry were dethroned, her daughter must share the fate of her husband. If the real or pretended Warwick should obtain the crown, all her children would of course be disinherited. At every step of this affair we meet with new mysteries. It will be recollected that the earl of Lincoln had been treated by Richard as heir apparent. Though he viewed the new king as an usurper, he had carefully suppressed his feelings, and had been summoned to the last coun- cil, as one in whom Henry placed confidence. Yet the moment it was dissolved he repaired to the court of his aunt, the duchess of Burgundy, consulted with her and lord Lovell, and receiving an aid of two thousand vete- rans under Martin Swartz, an experienced officer, sailed A. „. to Ireland, and landed at Dublin. His arrival gave 1487. new importance to the cause of the counterfeit Warwick. ^Iar- Though Lincoln had frequently conversed with the real prince at Shene f, he advised that the impostor should be crowned : the ceremony of his coronation was per- jjay formed by the bishop of Meath, with a diadem taken -24. from a statue of the virgin Mary ; and the new king was carried, after the Irish manner, from the church to the castle on the shoulders of an English chieftain of the name of Darcy. Writs were even issued in his name ; a parliament was convoked ; and legal penalties were enacted against his principal opponents, Thomas
* Bacon, 16, 17. Polyd. 564. The modern writers who m;iint;iin that Richard did not murder his nephews in the Tower draw an inference in favour of their opinion from the confinement of Elizabeth. It is plain, they contend, that she was in the possession of some secret of ihe highest importance to the government, and are confident that this secret was the existence at the time of one or both of her .>ons. Hence it became neces- sary to place her under the most rigorous confinement, that she might not reveal il to the partisans of the house of York. Laing, 433. Hut all this conjectural reasoning is completely overturned by a fact, which will be mentioned in the course of a few pages. t Lei. Coll. i-f. 209.
288 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
and William Butler, and the citizens of Waterford*. But what could be Lincoln's object in contributing to this farce ! Even the real earl of Warwick could not be heir to the crown as long as any of the posterity of Edward IV. were alive. If it be said that they had been declared illegitimate, so had Clarence the father of War- wick been attainted. In that case Lincoln himself had a better claim than the prince in whose right he pre- tended to draw the sword. AVhen Henry first heard of the departure of Lincoln, he made a progress through the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, in which the earl possessed considerable interest ; and thence proceeded through Northampton and Coventry to his castle of Kenilworth, which he had appointed for the residence of his queen, and his mother. There intelli- gence was received that Lincoln with his Gei man aux- iliaries, and a body of Irish associates, had landed at the pile of Foudray in the southern extremity of Fur- ness ; had remained in his camp at Swartmore, near Ulverstone, till he had been joined by the tenantry of sir Thomas Broughton ; and was actually on his march through the county of York. The king soon found him- self surrounded by his friends with their retainers, and orders were published by his authority for " the goode " rule of his hooste." To steal, rob, or ravish ; to take provisions without paying the price affixed by the clerk of the market ; and to arrest or imprison any man on the pretext of delinquency but without special orders, were made crimes punishable with death. To take other lodgings than those assigned by the proper officers, to cause any quarrel or affray, or to prevent persons from bringing provisions to the army, subjected the offenders to the lesser punishment of imprisonment. Every man was ordered under the same penalty to saddle his horse at the first blast of the trumpet, to bridle it at the
* Bacon, 18, 19. Irish Slat. 8 Henry VIII
A. D. 1487.] BATTLE OF STOKE. 289
second, and at the third to be mounted and ready to march. Vagabonds, who had no master, and common women, were threatened with the stocks and imprisonment *.
The two armies, as if by mutual compact, hastened towards Newark. It was in vain that the earl, as he advanced, tempted the loyalty of the inhabitants by proclaiming Edward VI. the head of the house of York. The real partisans of that family were restrained by their fears or their incredulity ; and the few, who joined the standard of the adventurer, were outlaws or men of desperate fortunes. Disappointed but undismayed, Lincoln resolved to stake his life on the event of a battle ; and precipitated his march, that he might find the king unprepared. The royalists had moved from June Kenilvvorth by Coventry, Leicester, and Nottingham ; 8. their numbers daily increased : but their quarters were ill chosen : and night after night they were thrown into confusion by alarms which furnished opportunities of desertion to the timid and disaffected. But, what will excite the surprise of the reader, the whole army lost its way between Nottingham and Newark. Five o-uides were at length procured from the village of Ratcliffe, and soon afterwards the vanguard, under the earl of Oxford, was attacked at Stoke by the insurgents, amount- ing to eight thousand men. The action was short but sanguinary. The Germans fought and perished with the resolution of veterans ; the adventurers from Ire- land displayed their characteristic bravery, but with f6'ne their darts and skeans (for the English settlers had adopted the arms of the natives) they were no match for the heavy cavalry ; and though a portion only of the royalists was engaged, the victory was won with the slaughter of one half of their opponents. Of the leaders of the insurgents, the earl of Lincoln, the lords Thomas and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, sir Thomas Broughton, and
tio*nS^theatat0Leice«2tl0~212' ^^ °^"S W6re S'™tly put in execu' " wer reasonable}- lyllert" Ibid.
VOL. V.
U
290 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
Martin Swartz, remained on the field of battle ; lord Lovell was seen to escape from his pursuers ; but whe- ther he perished in crossing the Trent, or contrived to secrete himself from the notice of his friends and foes, is uncertain. He was never seen or heard of after that day *. Simons and his pupil surrendered to Robert Bellingham, one of the king's esquires. The priest was made to confess the imposture before the convocation, and then thrown into a prison, in which he perished. But the pretended Edward VI. obtained his pardon, re- sumed his real name of Lambert Simnel, was made a scullion in the royal kitchen, and afterwards, in reward of his good conduct, was raised to the more honourable office of falconer t.
From this insurrection the king learned an import- ant lesson, that it was not his interest to wound the feelings of those, whose principles had attached them to the house of York. His behaviour to the queen had created great discontent. Why, it was asked, was she not crowned ? Why was she, the rightful heir to the crown, refused the usual honours of royalty? Other kings had been eager to crown their consorts ; but Eli- zabeth had now been married a year and a half ; she had borne the king a son to succeed to the throne ; and yet she was kept in obscurity, as if she were unworthy of her station. Henry resolved to silence these mur-
* On account of his disappearance several writers have supposed that lie perished in the battle. But the journal of the herald who was present evidently proves that he escaped. After mentioning the names of the slain, he adds, " and the viscount lorde Lovell was put to flight." Lei. Coll. 214. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, at his seat at Minste. Lovell in Oxfordshire, was accidentally discovered a chamber under the ground, in which was the skeleton of a man seated in a chair, with his head reclined on a table. Hence it is supposed that the fugitive had found an asylum in this subterraneous chamber, where he was per- haps starved to death through neglect There is also a tradition that sir Thomas Broughton escaped from the field, and lived till his death in con- cealment among his tenants at Witherslack in the county of Westmore- land. West's Furness, 210.
t For an account, of this insurrection, compare the journal of the herald in Lei. Coll. iv. 209—215, with Hall, 4—10, Bacon, 13—23, and the rolls, vi. 3S7- Vivit adhuc Lambertus ex rege accipitrum domitor factus, post- quam aliquantisper in coquina regia veru verterat. Polyd. 568."
A. D. 1487.] JURISDICTION OF THE STAR-CHAMBER. 291
niurs, and from Warwick issued the requisite orders for her coronation. The ceremony was performed during NO the session of parliament : an ample provision was made 25. for her maintenance ; and from that period Elizabeth was brought forward on all occasions of parade, and seemed to enjoy the same consideration as former queens*.
The first care of the parliament was to supply the wants of the conqueror by a grant of money, and a bill of attainder, which included almost every man of pro- perty engaged in the late insurrection t. Next the king required their aid to put down the dangerous and un- lawful practice of " maintenance." The reader will recollect that by " maintenance" was understood an as- sociation of individuals under a chief, whose livery they wore, and to whom they bound themselves by oaths and promises, for the purpose of maintaining by force the private quarrels of the chief and the members. Hence the course of justice was obstructed, jurors were intimi- dated, and offenders escaped with impunity. Hence also (and this it was that chiefly provoked the hostility of the king) powerful noblemen were furnished with the means of raising forces at a short warning to oppose the reigning prince, or to assist a new claimant. In the
* On the Friday before the coronation fourteen gentlemen were ereaterl knights of the Bath. On the Saturday the queen went in procession from the Tower to Westminster. She was dressed in white cloth of gold of damask, with a mantle of the same furred with ermine. " Her faire yelow hair " hung downe pleyne byhynd her bak, with a calle of pipes over it." On her head was a circle of gold ornamented with precious stones. In this dress she was borne through the city reclining in a litter, with a canopy of cloth of gold carried over her by four knights of the body. Several carriages, and four baronesses on grey palfreys followed. On the Sunday she was crowned, and afterwards dined in the hall. " The lady Catharine " Grey and mistress Ditton went under the table, and sate at her feet, while " the countesses of Oxford and Rivers knelt on each side, and at certej ne " tymys helde a kerchief byfor her grace." The king viewed both "the coronation and the dinner from behind a lattice. Lei. Coll. iv. 216 — 233.
t Rot, Parl. vi. 386. 400. I have said, " almost every man of property," for by mistake or design lord Lovell was omitted. But the omission was discovered eight years afterwards, and a new bill of attainder was passed to include him (Rot Parl. vi. 502). The number, however, of the insur- gents had then dwindled from eight to five thousand, H proof that we are not to trust to acts of attainder for more than the substance of the offence.
U 2
292 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
preceding parliament an oath had been required from the lords, and was ordered to be taken by the commons in each county, that they would not keep in their ser- vice men openly cursed, or murderers, or felons, or out- laws ; that they would not retain persons by indentures, or give liveries contrary to law ; and that they would not make riots or maintenances, nor oppose the due execution of the king's writs*. In the present it was enacted that the chancellor, treasurer, and keeper of the privy seal, or two of them with one bishop, one temporal peer, and the chief judges of the king's bench and com- mon pleas, should have authority to call before them persons accused of having offended in any of these points, and to punish the guilty, as if they had been con- victed by the ordinary course of justice. It appears from the acts of the council that in cases of breach of the peace committed, or of combinations likely to lead to such breach formed, by persons whose rank and power screened them from the ordinary pursuit of justice, it had been the custom for the king to call such individuals before the council, where contending parties were re- conciled, the guilty punished, and the suspected com- pelled to give security for their good behaviour. This, which might be called the criminal jurisdiction of the council, was transferred to the new court now erected : but though its limits were defined by the statute, they were gradually extended by successive decisions, till they were made to include libels and misdemeanours ; and though the power of inflicting punishment was to be " ordered by law," it came in time to be exercised at discretion, and with such severity as to provoke the hatred and curses of all classes of men. This court
• Ibid. 28J. Rym. xii. 280. On that occasion the judges had been con- sulted, who replied that it was impossible to enforce the execution of the laws, as long as " maintenances" existed. The chief justice, among other things observed, that in the time of Edward IV. the lords swore to ob- serve the statutes, and yet in his presence several of them, within an hour afterwards, retained by oaths persons to support their quarrels, and conse quentlv to set aside the execution of the law. Year-book, Term Mich. 1 Hen." VII. 3.
A. D. 1487.] PEACE PROLONGED WITH SCOTLAND. 293
was called the court of the star-chamber, from the ac- cidental decorations of the room, in which it usually sate *.
Henry was careful to cultivate the friendship which subsisted between him and the king of Scots. To ce- ment it the more firmly, Fox bishop of Durham had been sent during the summer to Edinburgh; and a mutual agreement had been made, that James, who Nov. had lost his consort, the daughter of the king of Den- 28. mark, should marry Elizabeth, the queen dowager of England, and that his two sons should also marry two of her daughters t. Days were even appointed for the
• Statutes of Realm, ii. 509. Bacon, 38. On the 15th of Decem- ber, during this parliament, a conspiracy was formed among the servants of the household to murder some of the superior officers. Six of the ring- leaders were attainted of felony by parliament, and an act was passed which made it felony without benefit of clergy for any person under the rank of a lord, if he were entered on the cheque-roll of the household, to conspire the death of the king, of any peer, of any privy counsellor, or of the steward, treasurer, or comptroller of the household'. Before this act they could not be so punished for the conspiracy itself, unless the act followed. Rot. Parl. vi. 402. Stat. of Realm, ii. 521.
f Rym. xii. 329. This fact deserves particular notice, as it invincibly disproves the hypothesis of those writers, who maintain that Henry knew that one of the sons of Edward IV. was still living, and had confined their mother Elizabeth, that she might not divulge the secret. If this were true, it is incredible that he could have wished to marry Elizabeth to the king of Scots, and her two daughters to two Scottish princes. Such marriages would have placed her in a situation where she might have published the truth without fear, have secured an asylum for her son, and have se- conded his claim with all the power of Scotland. Indeed I think the whole story of Elizabeth's punishment extremely doubtful. That she was high in the king's favour just before the rebellion of Lincoln, appears from his having chosen her to be godmother to his son : that she was equally so after, may be inferred from his wish to mairy her the same year to his friend the king of Scots. — Pol\ dore, indeed (p. 571), and Bacon (p. 16), who transcribes Hall (p. 3), tell us that the king, on the rebellion of Lincoln, deprived her of all her lands and estates. If they mean her dower as queen, the only property which she had, their assertion is un- doubtedly false. She had been deprived of that by Richard III. : nor svas it restored by Henry's parliament, when it repealed so much of the act as deprived her " of the name, estate, and dignity of queen" (Rot. Parl. vi. 288). In lieu of it the king granted her a compensation. Seethe collec- tion of unpublished acts by Rymer, Hen. VII. torn. 1. Nos. 29. 39. Again, Polydore (ibid.) assures us that she ever afterwards led a miserable life, Carte (p. 827), and Laing (p. 433), that she was kept in the strictest con- finement. But this too must be in a gieat measure, if not entirely, false ; for we accidentally learn from the journal of the herald (Lei. Coll. iv. 249), that when the French ambassadors were introduced to the queen at Westminster in November, 1489, " ther was with hir hir moder queue Eli- " zabeth, and my lady the kinge's moder :".and we find her next year re-
294 HENRY vii. [CHAP, vi
meeting of ambassadors to fix the marriage settlements : but the project was interrupted by the rebellion of the Scottish lords, and finally defeated by the death of James, who,' after losing the battle of Canglor in June 1488,
June was murdered at the mill of Beaton during his flight.
11 • Though Henry grieved for the death of his friend, he was anxious to maintain the relations of amity with his successor ; and therefore, as the truce might be said to have terminated at the death of James, he ratified it anew in the following month. Thus was peace continued between the two crowns for the space of eleven years ; an unusual duration, preparative of that harmony, which after centuries of rapine and bloodshed, was at last happily established *.
As soon as the king was relieved from domestic ene- mies, he was compelled to direct his attention to the continent. By force, or policy, or good fortune, the French monarchs had gradually obtained possession of the other great fiefs of the crown : Bretagne alone re- tained its own prince, and its ancient constitution. But the duke Francis was advanced in age, and weak both in mind and body. His family consisted of two daughters, the elder of whom named Anne had reached her twelfth year. So rich an heiress attracted a number of suitors, among whom the most distinguished were, Maximilian king of the Romans, the duke of Orleans, first prince of the blood in France, and the lord d' Albret, a powerful chieftain near the foot of the Pyrenees. Each of these might flatter himself with the hope of obtaining with the princess her ample patrimony ; but they had all a dangerous enemy in the king of France, who, though
cerving an annuity from the king (Rym. ibid. No. 75). Hence I am in- clined to believe that, if she were confined at all in 1487, it was only as a measure of precaution, during the time of the insurrection. Her son the marquess of Dorset was then in the Tower, but was released soon after- wards at the coronation of his sister. The reader will recollect that Eli- zabeth had formerly tampered with him, to draw him from the party of Henry to that of Richard. On this account perhaps the king might dis- trust them both, and secure them till the danger was past. * Rym. xii. 323-331. 346.
A. D. 1487.] ANNE OF BRETAGNE. 295
he was prevented from soliciting the hand of Anne by a previous contract with the daughter of Maximilian, had determined at the death of the duke to take pos- session of the duchy in virtue of some ancient and un- intelligible claim, which had lain dormant for centuries. Charles VIII. had ascended the throne in 1483, at the age of fourteen, an age at which the law presumed that the heir to the sceptre must be possessed of suffi- cient capacity and experience to govern the kingdom. But his father Louis XI. had thought otherwise ; and in obedience to the instructions of that monarch, the states placed the young king under the tutelage of his elder sister, Anne of France, who had married Pierre de Bourbon, lord of Beaujeu. The duke of Orleans, though he had not reached his twenty-fourth year, was offended with the choice : he raised forces against the regent, and was compelled to seek the protection of the duke of Bretagne. It so chanced that at the same time several Breton nobles, who had incurred the re- sentment of Francis by the murder of his favourite minister Pierre de Landois, had fled to the court of Charles. The regency declared war, for the apparent purpose of compelling the duke to pardon the exiles, and give up the French prince, but with the real view of preventing the marriage of Anne, and of annexing Bre- tagne to the crown. Both parties applied to Henry. The king of France deprecated his interference: the duke solicited immediate assistance. Charles, to lull his jealousy, represented the war as an unimportant quarrel between himself and the protector of a rebellious vassal ; Francis endeavoured to awaken his fears, by describing the accession of power which France would derive from the conquest of the duchy. Each appealed to his gratitude. The former reminded him of the French auxiliaries who fought under his banner at the battle of Bosworth ; the latter of the protection which he had experienced during his long exile in Bretagne. Henry was perplexed ; and unwilling to offend either, he offered
296 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
himself as a mediator between both. With this view his almoner Urswick was employed month after month in useless journeys between the courts of Paris, Rennes, and Westminster. Charles, while he professed himself willing to accept the mediation, prosecuted the war with additional vigour. In May he entered Bretagne : Plo- June ermel an^ Vannes were compelled to open their gates ; 19. and in June the duke saw himself besieged in his capital. Maximilian sent to his assistance a body of fifteen hun- dred men, who, with a reinforcement of Bretons, fought *<*ly. their way through the French lines, and ultimately com- pelled the enemy to abandon the siege. Charles, how- ever, continued the war; and to be revenged of the king of the Romans, ordered the mareschal de Cordes Aug. to aid the citizens of Bruges and Ghent, who had re- 28. volted from Maximilian. Francis reiterated his solici- tations to Henry ; but the king trusting to the chance of events, and the internal resources of Bretagne, always promised and always delayed. It was not that he could plead poverty. His parliament had granted him two fifteenths, and advised him to assist his friend ; but avarice prompted him to accept the money, and to neg- lect the advice. He acquainted the French court with the proceedings of parliament, in the vain hope that Charles might be terrified into forbearance ; he refused to English adventurers the royal permission to serve in A*sft *ne army °f Francis ; and when sir Edward Wydevile j, ' with four hundred men privately sailed from the Isle 14/ of Wight for Bretagne, he not only disavowed the ex- pedition to the French government, but consented to an armistice which should last for six months *.
It was not, however, long before he saw reason to
doubt the policy of such vacillating conduct. In the
disastrous battle of St. Aubin, sir Edward Wydevile
2g ^ was slain with all his countrymen and seventeen hundred
Bretons, who, to deceive the enemy, had adopted the
• Bacon, 29—32. Rym. xii. 344 34J. Com. Supplem. c. iii. iv. Polyd. 569. Hail, 11— 14. D'aniel. ann. 1485— 1488.
CHAP. VI.] HENRY PRETENDS TO ASSIST HER. 297
white coats and red crosses of the English soldiers. The duke of Orleans was made prisoner ; St. Aubin, Dinant, and St. Malo surrendered ; and Francis signed a Aug. treaty, by which he consented that Charles should re- 21- tain all his conquests, and that neither of his daughters should marry without the approbation of the French king. But the sequel was still more perplexing. In a Sept. few weeks Francis died, and soon afterwards his younger^- daughter followed him to the grave. The king of France, in virtue of his pretended claim, demanded the whole succession : hostilities recommenced ; and before Christ- mas one half of Bretagne was in the hands of the French. The clamour of the nation now roused Henry from his apathy. On the same day he despatched envoys to the kings of Spain and Portugal, to Maximilian and his son Dec. the archduke Philip, to Anne of Bretagne, and Charles 11> of France. Of these embassies the four first were chiefly meant for parade ; to the orphan princess he made the offer of an English army ; to the king of France he proposed a renewal of the truce, but with an additional clause, that each party might include his allies. Sensible that the proposal would be rejected, he insinuated to Charles, that if his people compelled him to aid the Bretons, his army should act entirely on the defensive *.
Henry now summoned a parliament. The" nation A'^ was anxious to rescue a young and unfortunate princess jan * from the power of a victorious enemy: but the cold- 13. hearted king had determined to enrich himself from the generosity of the one, and the necessities of the other. From his subjects he demanded an aid of one hundred thousand pounds for the maintenance of ten thousand archers during twelve months : but the amount was cut down to seventy-five thousand ; and to raise that sum, the lords for themselves, the commons for themselves and their constituents, granted to the king a tenth of the
• Rym. sii. 347—355. Bacon, 37- Hall, v. 15. Com. Supplem. v.
298 HEXK.Y vn. [CHAP. vi.
yearly produce of their lands, fees, and pensions, with a tax on personal property of one penny in eight. To Feb. Anne he promised an army of six thousand archers to 10- serve for six months; but on conditions to which her necessities compelled her to subscribe, that she should surrender two fortresses as securities for the repayment of the expense, and should take an oath not to marry without his consent. In the spring sir Robert Willoughby de Brooke landed in Bretagne with the stipulated number of men : but as Charles knew that the English were forbidden to undertake offensive operations, he ordered his own forces to abstain from a general engagement. The consequence was that a few skirmishes kept up the appearance of hostilities ; and the auxiliaries, as soon as •*}ov. the six months of their service were completed, returned to their own country *.
But, if the war languished in Bretagne, it was distin- guished by a most brilliant action in Flanders. The revolted Flemings with the aid of De Cordes had be- sieged Dixmude ; and the lords Daubeney and Morley with two thousand archers and thrice that number of Germans, attacked them in their camp, though it was defended by a strong battery. The archers poured a volley of arrows into the trenches, fell on the ground till the guns had been discharged, rose on their feet, poured^in a second volley, and rushed precipitately into the camp. The victory was complete : but it was stained with cruelty. Revenge for the death of " that gentiil " yong knight the lord Morlay" so transported the vic- tors, that they refused to give quarter, and eight thou- sand of the enemy are said to have been slain, a carnage almost incredible, if we consider the small number of the combatants in each army t.
* Bacon, 37. Ryra. xii. 362. 372. Rot. Parl. vi. 420.
t Hall, 18. Bacon, ij. The herald has celebrated in his journal the resolution of an archer, called John Pearson, of Coventry, who, having lost a leg by a cannon shot, continued to discharge his arrows kneeling or sitting, " And when the Frenchemen fledde, he cried to one of his felowes, " and saide, have thow these sis arrowes that I have lefte, and folow thow
CHAP. VI.] INSURRECTION IN NORTHUMBERLAND. 299
The expedition to Bretagne had, however, been pro- ductive of some advantage. It had stopped the progress of the French arms. At the same time the levies of Fer- dinand king of Spain had compelled Charles to detach a numerous force to Fontarabia, for the protection of that frontier. In these circumstances the defeat at Dix- mude, and the surrender of St. Omer to the king of the Romans, induced the French monarch to listen to pro- posals for peace ; and in a convention with Maximilian, he consented to restore to the princess all the towns which belonged to Francis at the time of his death, and promised that, as soon as the English forces should re- tire, and she should give security for her allegiance, St. Malo, Fougeres, Dinant, and St. Aubin should be se- questered, to remain in the hands of an indifferent per- son till the claim of Charles to the duchy could be satis- factorily determined.
We may now return to England, where of the sum voted in the last session of parliament only a small part had been raised. The commons of the northern coun- ties had not only refused to pay their proportion, but had even murdered the king's lieutenant, the earl of Northumberland. But the insurrection was quickty April suppressed by the earl of Surrey : John a Chambre, one 2s. of the ringleaders, suffered at York; and sir John Egremond, the other, escaped to the duchess of Bur- gundy *. In the next session, the deficiency of the tax, A. n, which instead of seventy-five had produced no more 14SO. than twenty-five thousand pounds, was amply supplied Fel - by the grant of a tenth and fifteenth. Henry with great care deposited the money in his coffers. War was not his object. Instead of military preparations he con- sumed the whole of the present and a great part of the next year in forming and re-forming alliances with the kings of Spain and of the Romans. Never perhaps did
* the chase, for I may not. The which John Pearson died within few " days after, on whose soulle God have mercy." Lei. Coll. iv. 247- •Hall, 16. Bacon, 41. Fab. 528. Lei. Coll. iv. 246.
300 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
three princes profess more, and feel less, affection for each other. For the common advantage of Christendom they agreed to set bounds to the ambition of France : but in reality each sought, by working on the appre- hensions of Charles, to promote his individual interest. Maximilian hoped to recover the ancient patrimony of his family on the north of France', and with the duchess to obtain the duchy of Bretagne ; Ferdinand expected to procure the restitution of Roussillon, which he had formerly mortgaged for a loan of three hundred thou- sand crowns ; while Henry cared little for the fate of Bretagne, or the interest of his allies, provided he could extort from Anne security for the repayment of his ex- penses, and from Charles a valuable present in reward of his forbearance *.
The king of the Romans, both by the promptitude with which he had formerly sent succours to Francis, and the attention which he had lately paid to the inter- ests of Anne, had won the esteem of both the father and daughter ; and when, during the cessation of hos- tilities, she signified her consent to his proposal of mar- riage, she did no more than comply with the wishes of her deceased parent. If Maximilian had improved the golden opportunity to visit Bretagne, he would have se- cured the object of his ambition ; but his Flemish sub- jects were in rebellion ; the journey by land or water would expose him to his enemies ; and it was thought that the marriage by proxy would be equally certain, and less dangerous. With this view the prince of 1*101 Orange> as the representative of the king of the Romans, ^ ' married the duchess in his name in the month of April ; and within a few weeks, the lord d'Albret, one of her suitors, to revenge the disappointment, betrayed to the v, French the important city of Nantes. War was now a^' renewed ; the king of the Romans thinking himself secure, neglected to succour his wife ; Henry harassed
• Rot. Parl. vi. 438. Rym. xi. 387. 394—430. 437. 440. 443.
A. D. 1491.] SHE IS COMPELLED TO MARRY CHARLES. 301
her with demands of money for the repayment of his former expenses ; and Charles formed the plan, sus- pected hy neither of these powers, of compelling her to break her contract with Maximilian, and to marrv him- self*.
It was true that at an early age he had been contracted to Margaret of Austria, Maximilian's daughter, who had been educated in France as his consort, and only waited till she reached the age of puberty to ratify the marriage. But this circumstance, which might have deterred other princes, only supplied Charles with a cloak to conceal his real intention. By promises and bribes he bought the counsellors of the duchess : but when the proposal was made to her, she rejected it with disdain. Was not Charles her natural enemy ? Was he not contracted to Margaret ? Was not she herself married to Maximilian ? They replied that she ought to sacrifice a feeling of dislike to the interest of her country : that the contract between Charles and Marga- ret was void, because that princess was under age ; and that the marriage between herself and Maximilian had not been consummated, and might therefore be dissolved, because Bretagne was a fief of the French crown, and by law an heiress could not marry without the consent of her lord. These reasons made no impression on the mind of Anne; but they were supported by a French army, which appeared before the gates of Rennes. She was now told that her obstinacy had been punished. There remained no hope of escape. She must be either the wife or the captive of Charles. Subdued at last by- importunity and terror, she consented to a treaty, of which the principal articles were that she should marry the French king ; that the rights of each should be re- ciprocally communicated to the other ; that the survivor should retain possession of the duchy ; but that, in case
* Hall, 20. Bacon, 48. Com. Supplem. vi.
302 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
she were the survivor, she should, if she remained single, bequeath her dominions to the reigning prince, or, if she chose to many, marry no one but the actual posses- sor, or the presumptive heir, of the French crown. She Dec. was married to Charles at Langey in Tourraine, and 13. crowned in the abbey church of St. Denis *.
The reader may conceive the feelings of Maximilian at this double disappointment. By his own inactivity, and the arts of his enemy, he had lost for himself a wife and a principality, for his daughter a husband and a throne. His rage vented itself in threats and impre- cations: but the exhaustion of his treasury, and the fac- tious temper of his people, forbade him to seek revenge by open hostilities. Henry received the intelligence with the coolness of a philosopher ; and, instead of irri- tating his mind by reflecting on what he had lost, sate himself down to calculate the chances of deriving pe- .Tuly cuniary advantages from the event. During the last 7. year he had repeatedly assumed a warlike attitude : he had ordered troops to be levied, stores to be provided ; he had even appointed commissioners to extort money in the different counties under the illegal and vexatious Qct name of " benevolence t." In October he acquainted 17. the parliament with his resolution of chastising the per- fidy of the French king, (though Charles had not then married the princess,) and obtained from it a grant of two tenths, and two fifteenths $. After Christmas he found both houses still more eager for war : an act was passed in favour of those who should accompany the king, enabling them to alienate their estates without 1492 the Payment of fines, and to enfeoff lands, that their Jan. executors might have funds to fulfil their bequests ; 26. and laws were made, compelling the captains under pain of imprisonment and forfeiture to pay their men within six days after the money was issued from the
* Hall, 29. Bacon, 55. Com. Supplem. vi. Daniel, anno 1489—1491. f Rym. xii. 446. 455. 464. i Hot. Parl. vi. 442.
A.D. 1402.] PEACE BETWEEN HENRY AND CHARLES. 303
treasury, and making it felony for any soldier to leave the array without the permission of his superior officer *.
Still these laws and preparations were but a mask, under which the king sought to conceal his designs from his own subjects as well as the enemy. The for- mer would pay the tenths and fifteenths; the latter might perhaps offer a valuable sum for the purchase of peace. With this view he continually invented reasons for delay. It would be dangerous to leave the kingdom exposed to the inroads of the Scots ; four months were employed in negotiating a prolongation of the armistice between the two kingdoms t. Two more were consumed in forming contracts for the levy of different descriptions offeree; of men at arms each attended by his custrel and page, of lancers and archers on horseback, and of foot soldiers armed with bows, halberds, and bills $. These troops were mustered and inspected in June and July; yet week passed after week, and the season for active operations was suffered to elapse before the king put himself at the head of the army. In the beginning of QCJ. October he landed at Calais ; a fortnight later he sate 2. down before Boulogne, with sixteen hundred men at 18. arms, and twenty-five thousand infantry.
It was now believed that the war had begun ; and the people of England flattered themselves with the antici- pation of victory and conquest. Henry had other ob- jects in view. As long back as the month of June he had commissioned the lord d'Aubigny, governor of Ca- lais, to negotiate a peace and alliance with Charles ; and, if we may judge from appearances, that peace was, in substance at least, already concluded. On the part of France no preparations were made to repel the invaders ; and Henry, instead of acting with vigour, first published a letter from his envoy in the court of Maximilian, and then another from his ambassador with Ferdinand, that the army might know how little was to be expected from
* Stat. of Realm, ii. 5*9. f Uym. xii. 4G5. 47a
| Rym. xii. 478—480.
304 HENRY viii. [CHAP. xi.
Oct. either of those princes. Soon afterwards he received 27- from D'Aubigny the rough draft of a treaty, which was immediately submitted to the consideration of twenty- four of his principal officers. In their report to the king they advised him to sign it, alleging the lateness of the season, the sickness of the army, the inactivity of his allies, the strength of Boulogne, and the neighbour- ing fortresses, and the advantageous offers of his anta- gonist. Henry had asked their opinion merely to ex- N°v. onerate himself from the blame ; and two treaties, the one public, the other private, were immediately con- cluded. By the former, peace, alliance, and confederacy, were established between the two crowns, to last during the lives of both kings, and for one year after the death of the survivor ; by the latter Charles bound himself to pay to Henry by half-yearly instalments of twenty-five thousand francs, the aggregate sum of one hundred and forty-nine thousand pounds sterling ; one hundred and twenty-four thousand of which should be received in lieu of all claims against Anne of Bretagne, and twenty- five thousand as the arrears of the annuity due to the late king Edward IV. Henry returned to Calais. His favourites, who had received bribes from the French king, applauded the wisdom and good fortune of their master ; but the army loudly condemned the dissimu- lation and avarice of a prince, who, to replenish his own coffers, had not hesitated to disappoint the hopes of the nation, and to lead so many knights and noblemen into ruinous, and at the same time unnecessary expenses *.
It is now time to introduce to the reader one of the
most mysterious personages recorded in English history.
About the time when Henry declared war against
France, a merchant vessel from Lisbon cast anchor in
May tne cove °f Cork. Among the passengers was a youth,
5 whom no person knew, about twenty years of age, of
handsome features and courtly deportment. It was
•Rym.xii, 490— 508. Bacon, 63. Rot ParL yi. 50/.
A. D. 1492.] ANOTHER PRETENDED DUKE OF YORK. 305
soon rumoured that he was Richard duke of York, the second son of Edward IV.: but how his birth was as- certained, or in what manner he accounted for his es- cape from the Tower, when Edward V. was murdered *, or where he had lived during the last seven years', though questions which must have been asked, are' secrets, which have never been explained. To such inquiries, however, he gave answers which satisfied the credulity of his friends ; and, as the English settlers were warmly attached to the house of York, O'Water, the late mayor of Cork, easily induced the citizens to' declare in his favour. An attempt was even made to secure the assistance of the earl of Kildare, and of his kinsman the earl of Desmond, formerly the great sup- porters of the white rose. The latter declared in fa- vour of Perkin : the former, who had lately been dis- graced by Henry, returned an ambiguous but courteous answer. The adventurer had yet no apparent reason to be displeased with his reception ; when he suddenly accepted an invitation from the ministers of Charles VIII., to visit France, and place himself under the pro- tection of that monarch. He was received by the king as the real duke of York, and the rightful heir to the taglish throne. For his greater security a guard of honour was allotted to him under the command of the ord of Concressault t : and the English exiles and out- laws, to the number of one hundred, oifered him their services by their agent sir George Neville. Henry was perplexed and alarmed. He hastened to sign the peace N°v- with the French monarch ; and Charles instantly ordered 3>
3 adventurer to quit his dominions. This order be- trays the real object of the countenance which had been
i^MMM6 ^°asseri '}"* thi. adventurer was the real duke of York ;4TtaV\athf8tame.V-WaS ^ ™ *' MVM a™M ™ did «* °ne
itt^nr H°tCh fa"!n^0/1th,e Dame °f Monipeny- "I understand rightly
JE$ I f v™^ I"? Bothwe11' C°n«ew«ult told him that he and the
France had made many inquiries respecting the birth of the
?i 438 El'r ' 28 nOVUrpOSe- See the ietter in Piukerton's Scotlaud,
VOL. V.
306 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
given to his pretensions : perhaps it may explain why he made his appearance at that particular period *.
Leaving France, he solicited the protection of Marga- ret, the dowager duchess of Burgundy, who received him with joy, appointed him a guard of thirty halberd- iers, and gave him the surname of " The white rose of " England." Her conduct revived the alarm of the king, and the hopes of his enemies. Could the aunt, it was asked, be deceived as to the identity of her nephew ? Or would so virtuous a princess countenance an impos- tor ? Henry spared neither pains nor expense to un- ravel the mystery. His agents were distributed through the towns and villages of Flanders, and valuable re- wards were offered for the slightest information. The Yorkists were equally active. Their secret agent sir Robert Clifford was permitted to see " the white rose," and to hear from the pretender and his aunt the history of his adventures. He assured his employers in Eng- land that the claim of the new duke of York was indis- putable ; while the royal emissaries reported that his real name was Perkin Warbeck ; that he was born of respectable parents in the city of Tournay ; that he had frequented the company of the English merchants in Flanders, and had some time before sailed from Mid- dleburgh to Lisbon in the service of lady Brompton, the wife of one of the outlaws t.
With this clue Henry was satisfied, and immediately despatched sir Edward Poynings, and Dr. Warham, as his ambassadors to the archduke Philip, the sovereign A>Dt of Burgundy. Their ostensible object was to renew the 1493. treaties between England and the Netherlands ; but July their secret instructions commissioned them to demand *3< the surrender, or, if that could not be obtained, the ex- pulsion of Warbeck. The ministers of the archduke were divided, some maintaining the identity, others the imposture of the pretender. An answer was ultimately
« Hall, 30, 31. Polyd. 582. t Ibid. 31, 32.
CHAP. VI.] HIS FRIENDS ARE BETRAYED. 307
returned, that Philip, through friendship for the king, would abstain from affording aid to his enemy, but that he coul:l not control the duchess, who was absolute mis- tress within the lands of her dower. Henry, to manifest his displeasure, withdrew the mart of English cloth from Antwerp to Calais, and strictly prohibited all inter- course between the two countries *.
Clifford, and Barley his associate, had gone to Flan- A. ». ders, as the envoys of the Yorkists : others, spies in the pay of Henry, repaired to Brussels under the pretence of testifying their attachment to the new duke of York. These, the moment they had wormed themselves into the confidence of the adventurer, betrayed to the king all his secrets, with the names of his partisans. The consequence was, that on the same day the lord Fitz- walter, sir Simon Mountford, sir Thomas Thwaites, Ro- bert Ratcliffe, William Daubeney, Thomas Cressemer, Thomas Atwood, and several clergymen, were appre- hended on the charge of high treason. Their corre- spondence with the friends of the pretender in Flanders was considered a sufficient proof of their guilt ; and all received judgment of death. Mountford. Thwaites, and Ratcliffe, suffered immediately ; lord Fitzwalter was imprisoned at Calais, where three years later he for- feited his life by an unsuccessful attempt to escape. The rest were pardoned: but this act of vigour asto- nished and dismayed the unknown friends of the adven- turer, many of whom, conscious of their guilt, and sensible that their associates had been betrayed, fled for security to the different sanctuaries t.
There remained, however, one, who, while he flattered A. D. himself that he possessed a high place in the royal 1495. favour, had been secretly marked out for destruction. Jan- After the festivities of Christmas,. Henry repaired with ' his court to the Tower. Clifford, whose fidelity had been corrupted by promises and presents, arrived from
« Rym. xii. 544. Hall, 33. Polyd. 534. t Rot. Par!, vi. 503, 504. Hall, 34.
308 HENRY vii. [CHAP. VK
Flanders, was introduced to the king in council, and on his knees obtained a full pardon. Being exhorted to prove his repentance by discovering what he knew of the conspiracy, he accused the lord chamberlain, sir William Stanley. The king started with affected horror, and refused to give credit to the charge. To sir William he was indebted both for his crown and his life. At the battle of Bosworth, when he was on the point of sinking under the pressure of the enemy, that nobleman had rescued him from danger, and had secured to him the victory. But Clifford repeated the accusation with greater boldness, and Henry, out of apparent tenderness to his friend, desired sir William to confine himself to his apartment in the square tower, and to reserve his defence till his examination on the following morning. Whether it arose from consciousness of guilt, or from confidence in his past services, the prisoner confessed the truth of the charge on that confession he was ar- raigned and condemned at Westminster; and after a decent interval suffered the punishment of decapitation. P ^ His death gave rise to contradictory reports. By some 15 ' it was said that he had supplied the pretender with money : by others, that when he was solicited to declare for him, he had replied : " Were I sure that he was the " son of Edward, I would never fight against him *." This at least is probable, that unless he had been really entangled in the conspiracy, Henry would never have proceeded to the execution of a nobleman, to whom he was under so many obligations : but the king's avarice provoked a suspicion that the enormous wealth of the prisoner was the chief obstacle to his pardon. By his death, plate and money to the value of forty thousand pounds, with lands to the amount of three thousand pounds a-year, devolved to the crown. A reward of
* Polyd. Virg. 58r>. Andre says that he not only sent money to the pre- tender, hut ilium tutari et in re^num adilucere promisserat. MS. Dom. A. xviii. The indictment charges him with having consented to the mission of Clifford, and promised to receive and aid such persons as Clifford should send to him with a private sign. Howell, State Trials, iii. 366.
A. D. 1495.] SUBMISSION OF THE IRISH. 309
5001. had already been given to Clifford : but he was never afterward trusted by Henry *.
In the mean time, as the natives of Ireland had long been warmly attached to the rival family, Henry had devoted a part of his attention to the pacification of the island. He nominally intrusted the government, with the title of Duke of York, to his second son Henry : but as the prince was only four years old, sir Edward Poynings was appointed his deputy, and took possession with a small army of one thousand men. Poynings was soon called into the field by the turbulence of O'Hanlan, an Irish chieftain : but the natives retired before him into their woods, and thence by sudden and repeated sallies inflicted severe injuries on their opponents. The deputy, attributing his bad success to the jealousy or perfidy of the earl of Kildare, arrested that nobleman, sent him to England, and summoned a parliament. In that assembly several statutes were enacted to free the i ' lower classes of inhabitants from the grievous imposi- tions of coyne and livery ; to break the power of the great lords by the prohibition of maintenance ; to pre- serve the English ascendency within the pale by the revival of the statutes of Kilkenny t ; and to provide for the good government of the English domains by giving to all statutes " lately made in England, and belonging " to the public weal of the same," the force of law in Ireland. As the people had been harassed by fre- quent parliaments, in which ordinances were repeatedly made for the sole profit of the chief governor, or of the party which he espoused, it was enacted that for the future no parliament should be holden till the king had been informed, by the lieutenant and council, of the necessity of the same, and of the acts intended to be passed in it, and had previously given his license and
• Rot Parl. vi. 504. Fab. 530. Hall, 33. Bacon, 76—78. Speed, ex MS. Bern. Andreae, 974. Exeerp. Hist. 100.
t That forbidding the use of the Irish language was excepted : a proof that the English settlers had by this time generally adopted it.
310 HENRY VU. [CHAP. VI.
approbation under the great seal *. In these provisions the deputy appears to have had no other object than the welfare of the state : but he was thought to have been swayed by private considerations in the, act of attainder which he procured against the earl of Kildare, his family, and adherents. Henry, however, whose object it was to strengthen his interest in the sister island, ac- cepted the apology offered by Kildare, and reversed the attainder in the English parliament. The earl of Des- A. D. mond, whose guilt was less ambiguous, had previously 1495.su|}mitted, had given one of his sons as a hostage for j .° * his fidelity, and had taken a second time the oath of allegiance. A free pardon was afterwards granted to the rest of the natives, with the exception of lord Bam and O'Watei'j and tranquillity was fully restored in the island T.
Three years had now elapsed since the pretender first set forth his claim ; and yet, during that long interval, he had never made any attempt to establish it by legal proof, or to enforce it by an appeal to the sword. This protracted delay, the accounts which had been published of his country and parentage, the punishment of his friends in England, and the pacification of Ireland, made his cause appear desperate ; and both the Fle- mish, whose commerce had been suspended on his account, and the archduke, wThose treasury suffered from the deficiency of the customs, began to complain of the countenance which he had hitherto received from the duchess Margaret. In this emergency he sailed from the coast of Flanders with a few hundreds of ad- venturers attached to his fortunes, and, while Henry was on a visit to his mother at Latham in Lancashire, July made a descent in the neighbourhood of Deal. But the 3- inhabitants, either believing him an impostor, or urged
* On Poyuing's law, 1 have followed the opinion of Leland, ii. App. 512—51.6. " t Rot. ParL vi. 482. Rym. xii. 558—562. 634. Slat, o Realm, ii. 612.
A. U. 1495.] PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. 311
by the fear of incurring the royal dipleasure, attacked the invaders, made one hundred and sixty-nine prison- ers, and drove the remainder into their boats. All the captives were hanged by the order of Henry, some in London, and others in different parts of the coast. War- beck returned in despair to Flanders *.
In autumn the parliament assembled, and at the king's request passed a bill of attainder against twenty- one gentlemen who had suffered, or had been con- demned, for their adhesion to the pretender. The other Oct. acts of the session were to ratify the peace of Estaples, -?• according to one of the articles of the treaty t ; and to enact the penalty of forfeiture against all persons hold- ing fees, annuities, or offices from the crown, (and to these were afterwards added, all possessing lands, here- ditaments, and honours by letters patent J,) who should neglect to attend in person the king in his wars. But the nation had now grown weary of civil dissension. The extinction or beggary of so many noble and opu- lent families had proved a useful lesson to the existing generation ; and men betrayed a reluctance to engage in contests in which they knew from experience that they must either gain the ascendency, or lose their lives or their fortunes. To obviate these disastrous conse- quences a statute was made, declaring, that no one who should attend on the king and sovereign lord for the time bein'j;,to do him faithful service in the wars, should hereafter, on that account, whatever might be the for- tune of battle, be attainted of treason, or incur the pe- nalty of forfeiture. That this act might be set aside by the avarice or the resentment of a successful competitor was indeed evident : yet it was perhaps the best remedy that could be devised for the evil ; and a hope was che- rished, both from the reasonableness of the measure,
» Fab. 530. Hall, 37. Stow, 479. Rot. Pad. vi. 504. Polycl. 589 t Rot. Pad. vi. 503—508. Kyra. xii. 710. } Ibid. vi. 525.
312 ICENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
and from the benefits which it promised to all parties, that in future contests it would be generally respected*. The repulse of Warbeck in his late expedition, and *• u- the complaint of the Flemish merchants, induced the ' , archduke to solicit a reconciliation with Henry; and, 24 ' after a few conferences between their respective envoys, the " great treaty of commerce between England and " the Netherlands" was signed. By it every facility was afforded to the trade of the two countries ; but there was appended to it a provision, which from this period Henry inserted in every treaty with foreign sovereigns, that each of the contracting parties should banish from his dominions the known enemies of the other : and to preclude the possibility of evasion in the present in- stance, it was expressly stipulated that Philip should not permit the duchess to aid or harbour the king's rebels, but should deprive her of her domains if she acted in opposition to this engagement t. Warbeck could no longer remain in Flanders. He sailed to Cork ; but the Irish refused to venture their lives in his service. From Cork he passed to Scotland, and exhibited, it is said, to the king, recommendatory letters from Charles VIII. and his friend the duchess of Bur- gundy. James received the adventurer with kindness, saying that whosoever he might be, he should not repent of his confidence in the king of Scotland. After- wards by advice of his council he paid to him the honours due to the prince whose character he had assumed ; and to evince the sincerity of his friendship, gave to him in marriage his near relation, the lady Ca- therine Gordon, daughter to the earl of Huntley J.
This sudden improvement in the fortune of the ad- venturer renewed the jealousy and apprehensions of the king, who had good reason to suspect the enmity of James. That prince, fifteen years of age, had been
« Stat. of Realm, ii. 568. + Rym. xii. 579—591.
JPolyd. 593. Hall, 38, 39. Stow, 4?9. Speed, 977.
CHAP. VI.J WARBECK INVADES ENGLAND. 313
placed on the throne by the murderers of his father, a faction hostile to the interests of England ; and Henry had in consequence entered into engagements with a A. o. party of the Scottish nobles, their opponents, who un-1491- dertook to seize the person of the young sovereign, "P1* and to conduct him to London *. Now, however, " Fox, bishop of Durham, was commissioned to open a negotiation, and to tempt the fidelity of James with the Dec. offer of an English princess in marriage. But he list- ened rather to the suggestions of resentment or ambi- tion, and demanded as the price of his forbearance terms to which the king refused his assent. Fox was followed by Concressault, as ambassador from the French monarch, who proposed that all subjects of dis- pute between the two kings should be referred to the decision of his sovereign ; and when that was refused, offered him one hundred thousand crowns for the person of the adventurer, to be sent a captive into France T. The bribe was indignantly rejected by James, who coined his plate into money, obtained a small supply from the duchess of Burgundy, and engaged to place the pretender on the throne, on condition that he should receive as the reward of his services the town of Ber- wick, and the sum of fifty thousand marks in two years $. Warbeck had mustered under his standard fourteen hundred men, outlaws from all nations; to these James added all the forces it was in his power to raise ; and the combined army crossed the borders in the depth of winter, and when no preparation had been made to oppose them. They were preceded by a pro-
Knglun queen dowager and her daughters.
t Was it Charles, who wished to (jet possession of Warbeck, or Henry, \vhomadetheofferthroughCharles? It is certain that the ambassador was sent nt the instance of Henry. Pink. Scot. ii. App. 1. ibid.
} All these particulars are takeu from a letter of lord Bothwell. Ibid. Ellis, i. 25. 32.
314 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
clamatiou, in which the adventurer styled himself Richard, by the grace of God king of England and France, lord of Ireland, and prince of Wales. It nar- rated in general terms his escape from the Tower, his wanderings in foreign countries, the usurpation of " Henry Tydder," the attempts to debauch the fidelity of his confidants, the execution and attainder of his friends in England, and the protection which he had received from the king of Scots. He was now in Eng- land, accompanied by that monarch, for the purpose of reclaiming his right ; and James, whose only object was to assist him, had engaged to retire the moment that he should be joined by a competent number of natives. He therefore called on every true Englishman to arm in his cause ; and promised to the man who should " take or distress Henry Tydder" a reward pro- portioned to his condition, " so as the most low and " simplest of degree should have for his labour one " thousand pounds in money, and lands to the yearly " value of one hundred marks to him and his heirs for " ever *." But the proclamation had no effect. The novelty of the thing had worn away, and not a sword was unsheathed in favour of the white rose. The Scots, to console their disappointment, and to repay themselves for their trouble, pillaged the country without mercy, und returned, laden with spoil, to their homes.
As soon as the intelligence of this invasion reached
A D Henry, he ordered Daubeney, the lord chamberlain, to
1497. raise forces, summoned a great council, and afterwards
Feb. a parliament, and obtained a grant of two tenths and
13- two fifteenths t. In most counties the tax was levied
without opposition : in Cornwall the people, inflamed
by the harangues of Flammock, an attorney, and of
Joseph, a farrier, flew to arms; refused to pay their
money for an object which, it was pretended, did not
concern them but the natives of the northern counties ;
* This proclamation is printed in Henry, xii. App. i. p. 38J. It is much altered by Bacon, 87. t Hot. Parl. vi. 513-519.
A. D. ].497.] INSURRECTION IN CORNWALL. 3 1 :'i
and resolved, to the number of sixteen thousand men, to demand of the king the punishment of archbishop Morton, and sir Reginald Grey, the supposed authors of this unjustifiable impost. The misguided multitude commenced their march : at Wells they were joined by the lord Audley, who placed himself at their head, and conducted them through Salisbury and Winchester into Kent. Opposed by the gentlemen of the county, he turned towards London, and encamped on Blackheath in sight of the capital. But Henry had by this time been joined j by most of the southern nobility, and by the troops that 22." iiad been previously raised against the Scots. On a Saturday, (the king superstitiously believed that Satur- day was his fortunate day,) the lord chamberlain marched to attack the insurgents ; while the earl of Oxford made a circuit to fall on their rear ; and Henry with the artillery waited in St. George's fields the event of the battle. The Cornish archers defended with obstinacy the bridge at Deptford strand : but the moment it was forced, the insurgents fled in despair. Two thousand were killed : fifteen hundred were taken. Lord Audley , lost his head ; Flammock and Joseph were hanged * ; ^ the rest obtained a pardon from the king, and were allowed to compound for their liberty with their captors, on the best terms in their power. This lenity, so un- usual in Henry, was attributed by some to policy, and a desire to attach to his cause the men of Cornwall ; by others to gratitude for the life of the lord chamberlain, whom the insurgents had made prisoner at the com- mencement of the action, and had restored to liberty without ransom.
While the attention of the king was occupied by the Cornish insurgents, James again crossed the borders, and laid siege to the castle of Norham, while his light troops scoured the country as far as the Tees. But the earl of Surrey, with twenty thousand men, was now
* Joseph said he cared not ; for his name would be immortal. Polyd.
5.U
316 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
hastening towards the north. The plunderers cau- tiously retired as he advanced: James abandoned the siege : and Surrey retaliated on the Scottish borderers the injuries which they had inflicted on their English neighbours. The failure of this second expedition, with the news of the defeat of the Cornishmen, induced the king of Scots to listen to the suggestion of don Pedro Ayala, the Spanish ambassador, who laboured with ear- nestness to reconcile the two monarchs. Commissioners met at Aytoun, in Scotland: Fox, the chief of the English envoys, was ordered by his private instructions to insist on the delivery of Perkin, because, " though " the delyveraunce, or the havyng of hym was of " no price or value, yet it was necessary to save the " honour of the English king : and if that could not be " obtained, that at least James should send to him an " embassy, and consent to meet him at Newcastle." To these demands the Scottish prince demurred: Ayala then came forward as mediator, and James, satis- fied with his impartiality, intrusted the interests of his crown to the discretion of the Spaniard. A truce was concluded for seven years, and subsequently prolonged by Ayala to the termination of one year after the death of the survivor of the two monarchs. Still there re- mained some demands on the part of Henry, which James considered derogatory from his honour ; but the difficulty was surmounted by the ingenuity of Ayala, who proposed that these questions should be referred to the impartial decision of the Spanish monarch*.
The enthusiasm which had been excited by the first appearance of Warbeck in Scotland had long been on the decline ; and about the time of the meeting of the commissioners, whether it were that he saw the current of public opinion setting against him, or hoped to profit by the troubles in Cornwall, or had received a hint from his royal protector (for all these reasons have been
* Rym. xii. 671. 673—680. Transcripts for New Rym. 82. Polydore, 593. Hall, 45.
A. D. 1497.] WARBECK IN CORNWALL. 317
assigned), he departed from Scotland with four ships, and six score companions. He first touched at Cork, and solicited in vain the aid of the earl of Desmond. From Cork he directed his course across the channel to Whitsand bay ; and proceeding by land to Bodmin, unfurled the standard of Richard IV. The men of Cornwall had not acquired wisdom from their recent defeat. Three thousand offered their services to the adventurer ; and that number was doubled before he reached the city of Exeter. Here he formed his army into two divisions, with which he attempted to force his way by the only entrances into the city, the east and north gates. From one he was repulsed with consi- derable loss : the other he reduced to ashes ; but the citizens fed the fire with fresh fuel till they had dug a deep trench behind it, between themselves and the enemy. On the next morning Warbeck returned to the assault ; but the loss of two hundred men, and the arrival of aid to the besieged from the country, induced him to solicit a suspension of hostilities, during which he withdrew his followers. Many of these now aban- doned him ; but the Cornish men advised him not to despair ; and he had reached Taunton, when he was apprised of the approach of the royal army under the lord chamberlain, and lord Brooke, the steward of the household. During the day the adventurer, with great Xf P * composure of countenance, made preparations for battle ; but his heart failed him at the sight of the royal stand- ard ; and at midnight, leaving his followers to their fate, he rode away, with a guard of sixty men, to the sanc- tuary of Beaulieu, in Hampshire. In the morning the insurgents submitted to the royal mercy. The ring- Oct. leaders were hanged : the crowd, on the arrival of 1' Henry at Exeter, were led, bareheaded and with halters round their necks, into his presence, and discharged after a suitable admonition ; and the inhabitants of the villages in which Warbeck had obtained either aid or refreshment were amerced in proportionate sums of
318 HENRY VII. [CHAP. VI.
money to the amount of ten thousand pounds. The pretender's wife, the lady Catherine Gordon, who had been left at Mount St. Michael, submitted at the first summons. When she was introduced to the king, she blushed and burst into tears * : but he relieved her ap- prehensions, and sent her to the queen, with whom she afterwards lived as an attendant, still retaining, on account of her beauty, the appellation of " the white " rose," which she had originally derived from the pre- tensions of her husband t.
In the sanctuary of Beaulieu the fugitive had leisure to reflect on his melancholy situation. He saw the abbey constantly surrounded with a guard ; he was repeatedly tempted to leave it by promises of pardon ; and, after a Qet severe struggle, resolved to throw himself on the mercy a. of the conqueror. The king did not violate his word, but refused to admit him into his presence. When he Nov. returned to London, Warbeck rode in his suite, sur- 27. rounded by multitudes, who gazed with wonder at the man, whose claim and adventures had so long engaged their attention. He was conducted as a spectacle through the principal streets of the city ; ordered to confine him- self within the precincts of the palace ; and repeatedly examined before a board of commissioners, as to his pa- rentage, his instructors, and his associates. Whatever disclosures he made, were kept secret : but he grew weary of his confinement in the palace, and at the end of six months contrived to elude the vigilance of his A-D- keepers. The alarm was instantly given : patroles watched Tun ' every roarl to the coast ; an(i the fugitive, in despair of 8_ success, surrendered himself to the prior of the monas- tery at Shene. The monk encouraged him with the hopes of pardon, and by his solicitations extorted from
* Magno cum rubore et obortis lacrymis. Andre, MS. Domit. A. xviii. See Ellis, Letters, i. 34—7- Polyd. 59?."
t Fab. 531. Hall, 46, 47. Bacon, 104. " The white rose" was after- wards married to sir Matthew Cradock, and was buried with him in the church of Swansea, in Wales, where their tomb and epitaph are still to be seen. Histor. Doubts, addition.
A.D. 1498.J CONFESSES THE IMPOSTURE. 31!)
the king a promise to spare the life of the suppliant. But he was compelled to stand a whole day in the stocks at Westminster hall, and the next in Cheapside ; and on Ju both occasions to read to the people a confession which 14. he had signed with his own hand. In this barren and *5- unsatisfactory document he acknowledged that he was a native of Tournay, the son of John Osbeck and Cathe- rine di Faro ; gave the names and professions of his re- lations, and of the persons with whom he had lived at Antwerp, Middleburgh, and Lisbon ; and stated that on his arrival at Cork he was taken first for Simnel, who had personated the earl of Warwick, then for an illegi- timate son of Richard III., and lastly for the duke of York, the second son of Edward IV. ; that he was in- vited into France by Charles VIII. ; " from France he " went into Ireland, from Ireland into Scotland, and so " into England*." It is plain that this confession was composed from the disclosures which he had previously made. It describes with minuteness his parentage and original occupation, points which Henry wished to im- press on the minds of the people, but was silent on sub- jects which it might have been unpleasant or impolitic to disclose, his transactions with foreign princes, and the assurances of support which he had received from native subjects. After suffering his punishment he was com- mitted to the Tower t.
This seems to have been the age of intrigue and im- posture. From the capture of Simnel to the appearance of Warbeck, Henry had been kept in constant alarm by repeated attempts in favour of the earl of Warwick.
* Hall, 49, 50. Grafton, 929. Andre, Domit. A. xviii. Andre was pen- sioned by Henry. Rym. xii. 643. His evidence (for he says the confes- sion was printed by order of the king) proves its authenticity, which Mr. Lain;,' has denied, because it is not mentioned by Fabyan or Polydore. Hen. xii. 444.
t Hall, ibid. Fab. 533. Stow, 4H1. From some imaginary improbabili- ties in the confession, it has been inferred that it was a mere fiction in- Tented by Henry and his ministers. I should have thought that they might have invented a fiction of that description without crowding it with improbabilities.
320 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
About the close of 1498 a plan had been adopted to libe- rate that prince from prison : but it failed through the ignorance of the conspirators, who mistook the place of his confinement*. The following year a new plot was contrived in the council of the king of France, who sought to divert Henry from the threatened invasion of his dominions. That monarch had expressed his regret that he had ever granted assistance to the usurper of the rights of the house of York, and offered to the friends of the earl of Warwick ships, money, and troops, to place him on the throne of his ancestors. Letters were written to the retainers of his father the late duke of Clarence ; lady Warwick was solicited to favour the enterprise ; and an invitation was sent to the most distinguished of the Yorkists to repair to France, and take the com- mand t. When this attempt also failed, Warbeck put forth his claim as the duke of York ; and as long as he was able to prosecute it, the earl of Warwick seemed to be forgotten. Now that Warbeck was in prison, the rights of the earl were again brought forward ; and a person of the name of Ralph Wulford undertook to personate the young prince. He was taught to act his part by Patrick, an Augustinian friar, and chose the county of Kent for the theatre on which he should make his first appear- ance. As a preparatory step a report was circulated of the death of Warwick ; after a short interval the pre- tender whispered in the ears of a few confidants that he was the earl ; and soon afterwards his instructor pub lished to the world the important secret in a sermon It is difficult to conceive on what they could ground their hope of success. Both were immediately apprehended. 1499.The friar was condemned to perpetual imprisonment : Mar. Wulford paid with his life the forfeit of his temerity $.
The real earl of Warwick, and the pretended duke of York were now fellow-prisoners in the Tower. They soon
* Rot. Parl. vi. 437.
t Rot. Parl. 456. The token by which the conspirators knew each other was a particular squeeze of the thumb. Ibid. J Hall, 50
A.D. 1499.] EXECUTION OF WARBECK. 321
contracted a mutual friendship, wept over their common misfortune, and, whether it originated with themselves or was suggested to them by others, adopted a plan for Aug. their escape. Four of the warders were gained to mur- 2- der the governor, and conduct the captives to a place of security, where, if we may believe the records of their trials, Warbeck was to be again proclaimed by the title of Richard IV., and Warwick was to summon the re- tainers of his father to the standard of the new king. Warbeck was indicted in Westminster hall, as a fo- reigner, guilty of acts of treason since his landing in England. He received sentence of death, and at the Nov. place of execution affirmed on the word of a dying man 16. the truth of every particular contained in his original confession. With him suffered his first adherent O'Water ; and both, expressing their regret for the im- posture, asked forgiveness of the king. Before their NOV punishment the earl of Warwick was arraigned at the '21. bar of the house of lords. Of his own accord he pleaded guilty ; the earl of Oxford as lord steward pronounced judgment; and after a few days Henry signed the war- rant for the execution of the last legitimate descendant of the Plantagenets, whose pretensions could excite the jealousy of the house of Tudor *.
Warwick owed his death to the restless officiousness of his friends, who by repeated attempts had convinced Henry that the existence of the earl was incompatible with his own safety. Still it will be difficult to clear the king from the guilt of shedding innocent blood. This victim of royal suspicion had been confined from childhood for no other crime than his birth. Certainly he was justified in attempting to recover his liberty. Had he even been guilty of the other part of the charge, his youth, his ignorance, his simplicity, and the peculiar circumstances of his situation, ought to have saved him
* Hall, 51. Bacon, 110, 111. Rot. Parl.vi. 535. VOL. V. Y
322 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
from capital punishment*. The whole nation lamented his fate ; and to remove the odium from the king, a re- port, probably false, was circulated that Ferdinand of Spain had refused to bestow his daughter Catherine on the prince of Wales as long as so near a claimant of the house of York was alive. Catherine herself had been told of the report, and in the following reign was heard to observe that she could never expect much happiness from her union with the family of Tudor, if that union had been purchased at the price of royal and innocent blood t.
From this period the ambition of Henry was no more alarmed by pretenders to the crown, nor his avarice dis- tressed by the expense of foreign expeditions. The principal events of his reign during the ten years of tranquillity which preceded his death, may be comprised under the two heads, of his treaties with other powers, and his expedients to amass money.
I. 1 . Henry was not less careful than the French mo- narchs to preserve the alliance between the two crowns. His object was to ensure the payment of the annual pension secured to him by the treaty of Estaples : theirs to afford him no pretext to oppose the progress of their arms in the conquest of Italy. In 1494 Charles had j, D. poured a numerous army over the Alps into the plains 1495. of Lombardy ; the native princes yielded to the pressure Feb- of the torrent ; and in a few months Naples was con- • verted into a province of the French monarchy. But it was lost with the same rapidity with which it had been j^a^ won. The pope, the king of the Romans, the king of '31. Castile, the duke of Milan, and the republic of Venice entered into a league, by which they guaranteed to each other their respective dominions ; and Charles was com- pelled to abandon his conquest, and to fight his way
* I see nothing in the ancient authorities to prove that he was an " idiot."
t Hall, 51. Bacon, 112. See Note [C] at the end of the volume.
CHAP. VI.] TREATIES WITH SCOTLAND. 323
through his enemies, that he might return to his native kingdom. The next year Henry acceded to the general confederacy, a measure which might intimidate the French king, and by intimidating, cause him to be more punctual in the discharge of his pecuniary obligations. In 1498 Charles died, and was succeeded by Louis XII. ]'^^ That prince, who inherited the passion of his predeces- April sor for the conquest of Naples, cheerfully ratified the 7. treaty of Estaples, bound himself by the most solemn oaths to pay the remainder of the debt, and signed Henry's favourite stipulation, that if a traitor or rebel to either prince should seek refuge in the dominions of the other, he should be delivered up within twenty days at the re- quisition of the offended party*.
2. The truces between England and Scotland, though frequently renewed and enforced with menaces and pu- nishments, were but ill observed by the fierce and tur- bulent inhabitants of the borders. Soon after the last pacification, the garrison of Norham grew jealous of the repeated visits which they received from their Scottish neighbours. One day a serious affray was the conse- quence ; and the strangers, after losing some of their fellows, fled for protection to the nearest post of their countrymen. The intelligence was received with indig- nation by James, who instantly despatched a herald to Henry, to announce that the truce was at an end ; and a war must have ensued had not the English monarch *•»• been as phlegmatic as the Scottish was irascible. Fox, I4&5> bishop of Durham, to whom the castle belonged, first Nov' wrote to James, and afterwards visited him at the abbey 1,496« of Mel rose ; and so successful were the address and elo- ^e''' quence of that prelate, that the king was not only ap- ~" peased, but offered, what he had formerly refused, to marry Margaret the eldest daughter of Henry t. By the English prince the offer was most joyfully accepted ; and when some of his council expressed a fear that then,
• Kym. xiL 638—642. 681—695. •(• Hall, 48.
Y 2
324 HENRY vii. [CHAP, vi
in failure of the male line, England might hereafter be- come an appendage to the Scottish crown. " No," he re- plied, " Scotland will become an appendage to the Eng- " lish ; for the smaller must follow the larger king- " dom." The event has verified the prediction ; and the marriage has been productive of more substantial bene- fits than Henry could probably foresee. It has not only united the two crowns on one head ; it has also contri- buted to unite the two kingdoms into one empire *.
It would be tedious to narrate the repeated and pro- tracted negotiations respecting this marriage. The par- ties were related within the prohibited degrees, and the princess was not of sufficient age to make a contract valid in law. Both these impediments were removed by A. ij. a papal dispensation. Henry consented to give with his 150-2. daughter the paltry sum of thirty thousand nobles, to be Jan. paj^ jn fiu.ee yearly instalments ; and James settled on ' her lands to the annual value of two thousand pounds, in lieu of which she was to receive during his life five jan< hundred marks yearly t. The parties were now so- '29. lemnly affianced to each other in the queen's chamber, the earl of Bothwell acting as proxy for James ; tourna- ments were performed for two days in honour of the ceremony : and to exhilarate the populace twelve hogs- heads of claret were tapped in the streets, and twelve bonfires kindled at night $. At the same time was con- cluded, after one hundred and seventy years of war, or of truces little better than war, a treaty of perpetual peace between the two kingdoms, accompanied with the usual clause respecting the surrender of traitors, and a
» Bacon, 119.
t Rym. xii. 787—793. As the noble was 6s. 8d. the whole portion amounted to no more than lO.OOOf.
t Tl<e form was as follows : " I Patricke earl of Bothwel, procurator, " &c., contract matrimony with thee Margaret, and take thee into and for " the wieffe and spous of my soveraisjne lord James king of Scutlancl, and " all uthir for thee, as procurator forsaid, forsake, induring his and thine " lives naturall, and thereto as procurator forsaid, I plight, and gives thee " his faythe and truthe." Henry gave to the ambassadors at their de- parture presents to the value of several thousand pounds. Lei. Coll. iv. , 253—264.
CHAP. VI.] MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS MARGARET. 325
promise that neither prince would grant letters of pro- tection to the subjects of the other without having pre- viously obtained his permission. James, however, was careful that his new engagements should not interfere with the ancient alliance between Scotland and France. When he swore to observe the treaty, he had given to Henry the usual title of king of France ; but he instantly 1502. arose, protested that he had done it inadvertently, and Dec. repeated the oath with the omission of that word ; and 10- when he was requested by his father-in-law not to renew the French league, he acquiesced for the time, but re- served to himself the power of renewing i't, whenever he should be so advised *.
Al the time of the contract the princess was but twelve years of age, and James had consented that she should remain twenty months longer under the roof of her royal parents. At length she departed from her grandmother's palace at Colliweston, with a long train of ladies and *•"• gentlemen, who accompanied her a mile, kissed her, and / ,' ' returned to the court. The earl of Kent, with the lords g. Strange, Hastings, and Willoughby, escorted her as far as York. She rode on a palfrey attended by three footmen, and was followed by a magnificent litter drawn by two horses, in which she made her entry into the different towns. In her suit were a company of players and another of minstrels. From York she proceeded under the care of the earls of Surrey and Northumber- land to Lambertonkirk, where she was received by the Scottish nobility. James repeatedly visited her on her Aug. progress; and on her arrival in the neighbourhood ofl. Edinburgh, mounted her palfrey, and rode with her be- ?• hind him into his capital. The marriage ceremony was ' performed by the archbishop of Glasgow, and " the " Englishe lords and ladyes,'' says Hall, "returned into " their countrey, gevyinge more prayse to the manhoode, " than to the good maner, and nurture of Scotland t."
* Rym. xii. 793—804. xiii. 12. 43—4?. t Lei. Coll. IT. 265—300. Hall, 56.
326 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
3. Henry had always cultivated with particular soli- citude the alliance of Ferdinand king of Castile and Ar- ragon ; and the more strongly to cement their friendship had proposed a marriage between his eldest son, Arthur prince of Wales, and Catherine the fourth daughter of 1496. the Castilian monarch. A preliminary treaty on this Oct. subject was concluded as early as the year 1492 : it was !• followed in 149fi by another, according to which Ferdi- nand promised to give the princess a portion of two hun- dred thousand crowns ; and Henry engaged that his son should endow her with one-third of his income at pre- sent, and one-third of the income of the crown, if he should live to wear it *. The marriage was postponed on account of the youth of Arthur : but when he*had A. u. completed his twelfth year a dispensation was obtained 1499. to enable him to make the contract; and the marriage ~*y ceremony was performed in the chapel of his manor of ' Bewdley, where Catherine was represented by her proxy 1501. the Spanish ambassador t. At length the prince com- Oct. pleted his fourteenth year, and the princess landed at 2. Plymouth, after a wearisome and boisterous voyage. ^*ov- The king met her at DogmersfieldJ : she renewed to Arthur the contract which had been made by her proxy ; the marriage ceremony was performed in St. Paul's ; and at the door of the cathedral, and in the presence of
" Rym. xii. 658— 606. The Spanish crown was worth 4s. 2rf. English. Ibid. Transcripts for N. Rym. 80.
t Rym. xii. 754. As almost three years elapsed between the treaty of marriage and the contract, this delay has been urged as a proof that Fer- dinand would not consent to it till he was assured that the life of the earl of Warwick, the real heir, would be taken by Henry. But the fact is, that this was the earliest period stipulated in the treaty (Rym. xii. 663), which provided that, as soon as Arthur had completed his twelfth year, the parents might, if they pleased, apply to the pope for a dispensa- tion.
i An unexpected difficulty occurred on the road to Dogmersfield. The prothoriotary of Spain met the king, and told him that the Spanish noble- men who had charge of the princess had been charged by their sovereign that " they should in no manner of wise permit their lady to have any " meeting, ne to use any manner of communication, nithrr to receive any " compauye, unt'H the inception of the very daye of the solemnisation of " the marriadgc." hut Henry declared that he would be master in hi* own kingdom; he entered her thambei. introduced his pen to her, and caused them to renew the former contract. LeL Cell. v. 352—355.
CHAP. VI.] DEATH OF PRINCE ARTHUR. 3'27
the multitude, Arthur endowed her with one-third of Xov his property *. The king spared no expense to testify 14. his joy by disguisings, tournaments, and banquets: and several of the nobility, to flatter the monarch, indulged in a magnificence which proved ruinous to their fami- lies f- The abilities of Arthur, the sweetness of his temper, and his proficiency in learning $, had gained him the affection of all who knew him ; and his bride by her beauty, modesty, and accomplishments, became the object of general admiration. The castle of Ludlow in Shropshire was assigned for their residence ; their court represented in miniature the court of their royal parent ; and the prince amidst his vassals was instructed by his council in the rudiments of government. But the weak- .*.». ness of his constitution sank under the rigour of the 1502. winter ; and the hopes of the nation were unexpectedly .^' blighted by his premature death in the fourth month" after his marriage $. The intelligence of this event .
* Rym. xii. 780.
•t Those who are desirous of knowing what were the fashionable amuse- ments of our ancestors may read tiie account of the festivities on tins occasion added by Hearn to Leland's Collectanea, v. 356—373.
J Besides the most eminent grammarians, he had studied " in poetrie " Homer, \irgil, Lucan, Ovid, Silius, Plaulus, and Terence: in oratorie, " Tallies offices, epistles, yar.idoxes, and Quintilian: in historic, Thucy- " dides, Livie, Caesar's Commentaries, Suetonius, Tacitus, 1'linius, Vale- " rius Maximus, Salust, and Eusebius. Wherein we iiave been particular, " to signifie what authors were then thought fit to be elementary and " rudimentall unto princes." Speed (p. 988J, who quotes a manuscript of Andre, the preceptor of Arthur.
§ The intelligence \v,is first opened to the king by his coufessor. He sent for the queen, who seeing him oppressed with sorrow, " besought his " grace that he would first after God remember the weale of his owne noble " person, the comfort of his realme and of her. She then saied, that my ' ladle his mother had never no more children but him onely, and that " God by his grace had ever preserved him, and brought him where that " he was. Over that, howe that God had left him yet a fayre prince, two " fayre princesses; and that God is where he was, and we "are bo;h young " yuoHghe: and that the prudence and wisdom of his grace spronge over " all christeudome, so that it should please him to take this according "thereunto. Theu the king thanked her of her good comfort After that " she was departed and come to her owne chamber, natural and motherly • remembrance of that great losse smote her so sorrow-full to the hart, that " those that were about her were faiue to send for the king to comfort her. " Theu his grace of true gentle and faithfull love in good hast came ami " relieved her, and showed her how wise counsel! she had given him l»- " fore: and he fur his parte would thnnke God for his soun, and would she " should doe in likewise." 1 have transcribed this account of Henry's con-
328 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
alarmed Ferdinand and Isabella, the parents of the young widow. Anxious to preserve the friendship of England, as a counterpoise to the enmity of France, they hastened to propose a marriage between their daughter and her brother-in-law, Henry, now apparent heir to the throne. The English monarch affected to receive the communication with indifference ; and suspended his assent, that he might ascertain whether a more profitable bargain might not be made with some other court ; while, on the other hand, the Spaniard, to quicken the determination, sought to alarm the avarice of his ally, by requiring the immediate return of Ca- therine, with the restoration of the one hundred thou- sand crowns, the half of her marriage portion, which had already been paid. The negotiation at length was opened : but it proved as difficult to wring money from A. D. Ferdinand, as to satisfy the expectations of Henry ; and 130.3. a year elapsed before it was finally agreed that the mar- £?na riage should be contracted within two months after the arrival of a dispensation from the pope ; that it should be solemnised when the young prince had completed his fifteenth year ; and that Ferdinand should previously transmit to London another sum of one hundred thou- sand crowns, the remaining half of the portion of Cathe- Dec. rine. The dispensation was obtained: the parties were "^' contracted to each other * ; but the Spanish monarch either could not or would not advance the money ; and his English brother cared little for the delay. The prin- A D cess, a widow, and in his custody, was an hostage for the 1505. good will of her father ; and by retaining this hold on .lime the hopes and fears of the Spaniard, he expected to ex- 2& tort from him concessions of still greater importance.
duct on so interesting an occasion, as it appears to me to do away the charge which has been brought against him of treating Elizabeth witli indifference and neglect. I shall add, that I have not met with any good proof 01 'Henry's dislike of Elizabeth, so often mentioned by later writers. In the MS. of Andre, and the journals of the herald, they appear as if they entertained a real affection for each other. * Rymer, xiil 81. 83. 89. 114.
CHAP, vi.] HENRY'S MATRIMONIAL SCHEMES. 329
On the day before the young Henry completed his fif- teenth year, the canonical age of puberty, and the time fixed for the solemnization of the marriage, he was com- pelled to protest in due form, that he had neither done, nor meant to do any thing which could render the con- tract made during his nonage binding in law. It might be thought that this protestation was equivalent to a re- fusal : but the king assured Ferdinand that his only ob- ject was to free his son from all previous obligation ; he still wished to marry Catherine ; but was also free to marry any other woman *. Thus while he awakened the fears, he was careful to nourish the hopes of the Spaniard ; an expedient by which he flattered him- self that he should compel that monarch to submit to his pleasure in two other projects which he had now formed.
Soon after the death of the English prince, his mother Af D- Elizabeth had been carried to the grave t. Henry's 1502. mourning might be sincere: but it was short, and he Feb.
1 -I
quickly consoled himself for his loss by calculating the pecuniary advantages, which he might derive from a second marriage. The late king of Naples had be- queathed an immense property to his widow ; her pre- sumed riches offered irresistible attractions to the heart of the English monarch ; and three private gentlemen were commissioned to procure an introduction to the queen under the pretext of delivering to her a letter from the dowager princess of Wales. In their report to the king they praised her person, her disposition, and her acquirements, but added the unwelcome intelligence that the reigning king had refused to fulfil the testa- ment of his predecessor. Henry's passion was instantly extinguished : he cast his eyes on another rich widow,
» El se tenia por libre para casarse eon quien quisiese. Zurita, vi. 193. En Zaragoza, 1610. The contract is in Collier, ii. rec.
t The expense of her t'un»ral amounted to '28321. Is. 3d. Excerp. Hist 130.
330 HENRY vn. [CHAP, vi
Margaret, the duchess of Savoy, and from an accident which he attributed to his good fortune, he derived a strong hope of succeeding in his suit.
A. D. On the death of Isabella queen of Castile, which crown 1504. she held in her own right, her husband Ferdinand sur- *)V- rendered the sceptre of Castile to his daughter Juana the wife of the archduke Philip, but claimed the regency A- PJ in virtue of the will of his late consort. The new king jan 'and queen in the beginning of 1506 left the Netherlands 10. to take possession of the Castilian throne : but the weather was unfavourable ; and, after struggling with adverse winds for more than a fortnight, they sought shelter in the harbour of Falmouth. It was in vain that their council objected. They went on shore in search of refreshment, and Henry grasped at the opportunity of deriving advantage from their indiscretion. In terms which admitted of no refusal, he invited them to his court j detained them during three months in splendid captivity, and extorted from them several valuable con- cessions as the price of their enlargement. 1°. Margaret Mar. of Savoy was the sister of Philip, and that prince was 20. compelled to agree to a marriage between her and Henry, to fix the amount of her portion at the sum of three hundred thousand crowns ; and to give bonds for the faithful payment of the money *. 2°. Henry had for- merly obtained the consent of Maximilian that Charles, the infant son of Philip, should marry Mary, the youngest daughter of the English king. To this the captive prince, though he had formerly refused, now gave his assent •)-. 3°. A new treaty of commerce was negotiated between the
* Rymer, xiii. 126—157.
t Philip had previously engaged to marry Charles to Claude daughter of Louis XII. of France. After Philip's death (25th. Sep 1506), Maxi- milian, fearing that Ferdinand might keep possession of Castile to the prejudice of his graut'son, urged Henry to contract ihe young princes to each other, and then demand the regency of Castile, as guardian to his son-in-law. (Zuritu, vi. 163.) He was deterred by his desire of marrying Juana ; but afterwards, a few months before his death, in defiance of the objections of Ferdinand, proceeded to the contract with the approbatiou
CHAP. VI.] HENRY GETS POSSESSION OF SUFFOLK. 331
subjects of the two kings, as prejudicial to the interests of the Flemish, as it was favourable to those of the Eng- lish merchants. 4°. The king lent to the archduke on certain securities the sum of 138,000^. towards the ex- pense of his voyage to Spain. Lastly, Henry demanded the surrender of an individual whom he had long consi- dered the most dangerous enemy of the house of Lan- caster. This was Edmund, second son to the late duke of Suifolk. John earl of Lincoln, the eldest son, had fallen at the battle of Stoke, and had been attainted by parliament. When the duke himself died, Edmund claimed the honours and estate of his father : but Henry persisted in considering him as the heir of his attainted brother, maintained that he had no claim to the forfeited property, and compelled him to accept as a boon a small portion of the patrimony of his fathers, and to be con- tent with the inferior title of earl *. It was impossible to ascribe the king's conduct to any other motive than a desire to humble a rival family ; and the earl by his ungovernable passions soon involved himself in difficul- ties and danger. He had killed a man who had offended him, was arraigned as a murderer at the king's bench, and commanded to plead the king's pardon. His pride A. n. could not brook this indignity ; and the court of his aunt, 1499. the duchess of Burgundy, received the fugitive. Henry, ^uty who, on what grounds I know not, is represented as de- ' sirous to inveigle him into greater indiscretions, pre- vailed on him to return. At the marriage of the prince of Wales, he vied in the splendour of his equipage, and his attentions to the royal family, with the most opulent and favoured of the nobility ; and then, to the astonish-
i>f Maximilian and Margaret, Dec. 15, 1508. Ryra. xi.i. 236. Perhaps the following table may prove of use to the reader :
Maximilian. Ferdinand =• Is.-ibella
of Arnigon. of Castile.
Philip. - Juana, queen of
I Castile.
Charles. * Hot. Pail. vi. 4/4.
332 HENRY vn. [CHAP. vi.
merit of the public, fled a second time, with his brother Richard, to the court of his aunt. Henry immediately foreboded an insurrection. Sir Robert Curson was de- spatched to act the part of a spy under the mask of friend- 1502 S^P ' anfl m a few weeks the earl's brother William de Mar. la Pole, the lord Courtenay, who had married one of the May late queen's sisters, sir William Wyndham, and sir 6' James Tyrrel, with a few others, were apprehended *. To the two first no other crime could be objected than their relationship to the fugitive ; the other two were condemned and executed for having favoured the escape of the king's enemy ; and all were afterwards attainted by parliament t. By this act of vigour the conspiracy, if any conspiracy existed, was suppressed in its birth ; and Suffolk, left in extreme penury by the death of his aunt, after wandering for a time in Germany, had been permitted by the archduke Philip to reside in his domi- nions.
Henry now demanded of that prince the surrender of the fugitive. It was in vain that he pleaded his honour ; he was given to know that he was himself a captive, and could only purchase his liberty by consenting to the captivity of the earl. Compelled to yield, he exacted from Henry a promise that he would respect the life of 1506, Suffolk, and on the surrender of the fugitive was per- Mar. mitted to prosecute his voyage. The earl was sent to 16. the Tower. Though Henry thirsted for his blood, he feared to violate his engagement with Philip : but be- fore his death he left an order for the execution of his victim as a legacy to the filial piety of his succes- sor $.
* It was on this occasion that Tyrrel confessed the murder of Edward V. and his brother in the Tower. More, 68.
t Rot. Parl. 545. The forl'eiture was to take place trom the 1st of July 1499. If then, as our writers say, Wyndham and Tyrrel were executed for aiding the flight of Suffolk, it must have been on the first, and not the second time that he fled to the continent. I may remark that the charge of treason against them is laid on the first of July, that against the earl of Warwick and Warbeck on the 2d of August of the same year. Ibid. Was there any connexion between the two ?
J Hall, 54,55. Speed, 990— 994. Fab. 533.
CHAP.VI.] NEW PROJECTS OF MARRIAGE. 333
Philip was only one of the parties interested in the marriage of his sister Margaret. The consent of Maxi- milian and Ferdinand was also requisite: but while A. D. Henry was negotiating with these princes Philip died ; 1506. and his widow Juana, in her own right queen of Castile, |^Pt- appeared to the imagination of the king a still more de- sirable bride. There were indeed two obstacles to be surmounted, which would have deterred any other suitor. Juana laboured under a derangement of intellect, which rendered her incapable of giving her consent ; and Fer- dinand, her guardian, would naturally oppose any mea- sure which might deprive him of the government of her dominions. But Henry was not discouraged. He re- linquished the pursuit of Margaret ; contended that the malady of Juana was only temporary, occasioned by the bad usage which she had received from her last hus- band, and trusted to his own ingenuity to remove the objections of her father. That prince, unwilling to irri- tate a prince whom it was his interest to Hatter, had re- course to delay : he represented the present state of his daughter's mind ; he promised that if, on the recovery of her reason, she could be induced to marry, the king of England should be her husband. But Henry was suspicious of the king's sincerity ; he insisted that his ambassador Astill should speak to the queen in private, and receive an answer from her own mouth ; and appre- hensive that his son's attachment to Catherine might lead to a clandestine union, he forbad them to see each other, treated the princess with severity, and endeavour- ed to subdue the obstinacy of the father by punishing the innocence of his daughter*. However, the malady of Juana experienced no abatement. Henry desisted
* Catherine, in her letters to her father, professed to have no great in- clination for a srcond marriage iu England, but requested that her suffer- ings and wishes might be kept out of view. Is'o gustaba la princesa de casar segunda vez en Inglaterra. Asi le dio a eutender al rey su padre : cuando le supplicaba en lo qiie tocaba a su casamiento no mirase su gusto ni comodidad, sino solo lo que a el y sus cosa.s conveniese bieu. Mariana, Hist. 1. xx. c. i/.
334 HENRY vii. [CHAP. vi.
from his hopeless pursuit, and, accepting the apologies of Ferdinand for his delay in the payment of the mar- A. n. 1%iage portion, concluded with him a new treaty, by which 1508. the Spanish monarch was bound to transmit to London Apr. one hundred thousand crowns in four half-yearly instal- Sep,_ ments, and Henry to permit the solemnization of the marriage on the arrival of the last. Two were received by the king at the appointed time : he died before the arrival of the third *. Perhaps I should apologise to the reader for this long and tedious detail : but the import- ant controversy to which the marriage of Henry and Catherine gave birth, and the still more important con- sequences to which that controversy led, have imparted an interest to every circumstance which originally im- peded or facilitated their union.
II. While the king sought by foreign alliances to add to the security of his family, he was equally solicitous to amass riches at the expense of his subjects. What they termed avarice, he denominated policy ; observing that to deprive his adversaries of their wealth was to take from them the means of annoyance. But Henry's rapacity was not very scrupulous in its selection : it fed with equal appetite on his friends and his enemies. The men whom he employed as the agents of oppression were sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, both lawyers, of inventive heads, and unfeeling hearts; who despoiled the subject to fill the king's coffers, and despoiled the king to enrich themselves. The following are the chief of the numerous expedients by which they extorted money. 1. In the lapse of centuries the rigour of the feudal tenures had been gradually relaxed, and during the civil dissensions of the two roses many prestations
* The English historians seem entirely ignorant of the causes which for so many years delayed the marriage of Henry and Catherine. For tlie preceding narrative I have had recourse to the Spanish historians Zuritu and Mariana, and have compared their statements with extracts from the original documents preserved among the records at Simanoas, which have been copied for me by a friend in Spain. The receipts for the money in 1508 are signed by both Henries, the father and the son. The third pay- ment was made to the young king in May, and the last in September Io09.
A. D. 1508.] THE KING'S SCHEMES TO GET MONEY. 335
had been suffered to sink into desuetude. But these ministers are said to have revived all the dormant claims of the crown ; exacted with severity the payment of ar- rears ; discovered and enforced forgotten causes of for- feiture; and extended the feudal services to estates holden by different tenures. 2. The ancient statutes had created a multitude of offences punishable by fine, im- prisonment, and forfeiture, and had enacted the same penalties against officers who had failed in the execu- tion of their duty. Under these two heads hosts of in- formers were employed to cull out fit subjects for prose- cution ; and when the real or supposed delinquent was brought before Empson or Dudley (they were barons of the exchequer), unless he consented to pay an exorbi- tant fine, he was committed to prison. New offers of composition were made to him, while he lingered in cus- tody ; on his refusal, judgment was passed against him, sometimes without any trial by jury *, sometimes accord- ing to the verdict of a jury previously packed for the purpose. 3. Outlawry was the general consequence of non-appearance in personal actions ; but was always re- versed, on the payment by the party of a moderate fine. These harpies had the ingenuity to multiply such pro- ceedings, and the cruelty to wring from their victims the full amount of a year's income. By these arts, and others of a similar description, every class of subjects was harassed and impoverished, while a constant stream of wealth passed through the hands of Empson and Dudley, of which a part only was suffered to reach the treasury ; the remainder they diverted to their own coffers •!•.
If we may credit a story related by Bacon, Henry was not less adroit, or less unfeeling than his two minis- ters. Of the partisans of the house of Lancaster, there
* By a statute of llth of this reign, c. 3, judges of assize and justices of peace hail power in informations for the king before them to hear and de- termine all oflVnces and contempts against any statute unrepealed. It was repealed in the 1st of Henry VIII. Stat.of Realm, iii. 3.
t Fabyan, 5o4— 536. Hall, 5J, 58. Bacon, 119—121.
336 HENRY vn. [CHAP, vi
was no one whose exertions or sacrifices had been greater than those of the earl of Oxford. That nobleman on one occasion had entertained the king at his castle of Henningham : and when Henry was ready to depart, a number of servants and retainers in the earl's livery was drawn up in two lines, to do honour to the sovereign. "My lord," said the king, "I have heard much of your " hospitality, but I see it is greater than the speech. " These handsome gentlemen and yeomen that I see on " each side of me are surely your menial servants ?" The earl replied with a smile, " That, may it please your " grace, were not for mine ease. They are most of them " mine retainers, come to do me service at a time like " this, and chiefly to see your grace." Henry affected to start, and returned : " By my faith, my lord, I thank " you for your good cheer : but I may not endure to " have my laws broken in my sight. My attorney must " speak with you." He alluded to the statute against retainers, which had been passed in his first parliament ; and the earl for his misplaced generosity was condemned to pay a fine of ten thousand pounds ; an almost incre- dible sum, if we consider the relative value of money at that period *.
The king had for years been visited with regular fits of the gout. His strength visibly wasted away, and every spring the most serious apprehensions were enter- tained for his life. Whatever might be the hopes with which he flattered himself, his preachers did not allow him to be ignorant of his danger. From the pulpit they admonished him of the extortion of his officers, and ex- horted him to prepare for death by making reparation to the innocent sufferers. Henry does not appear to have been displeased with their freedom. He forgave all of- fences against the crown with the exception of felony and murder ; satisfied the creditors of all persons con- fined for debts under the amount of forty shillings ; and
* Bacon, 121.
CHAP. VI.] HIS SICKNESS AND DEATH. 33"
ordered strict justice to be done to all who had been in- jured by the tyranny of the ministers. The prosecu- tions, however, were soon revived : it was contended that no injustice could be committed where the convic- tion was procured by due process of law ; and several of the most respectable citizens in London were heavily amerced, and in default of payment thrown into prison. ThusEmpson and Dudley continued to pursue their ini- quitous career till they were arrested by the death of the king, who in the spring of 1509 sunk under the vio- A. D. lence of his disease. The anxiety of his mind is strongly 1509. depicted in the provisions of his will : but he might easily APr- have foreseen that his injunctions for the reparation of injuries would be despised or eluded by a young and thoughtless successor *. He left three children ; a son Henry, who inherited his father's crown, and two daugh- ters, Margaret, married to James king of Scots, and Mary, afterwards the wife of Louis XII. king of France. To Henry by his contemporaries was allotted the praise of political wisdom. He seems, indeed, to have been formed by nature for the circumstances in which acci- dent had placed him. With a mind dark and mistrust- ful, tenacious of its own secrets and adroit in divining the secrets of others, capable of employing the most un- principled agents, and of descending to the meanest ar- tifices, he was able to unravel the plots, to detect the impostures, and to defeat the projects of all his oppo- nents. But there was nothing open in his friendship, or generous in his enmity. His suspicions kept him always on his guard : he watched with jealousy the conduct of his very ministers, and never unbosomed himself with freedom even to his consort or his mother. It was his delight to throw an air of mystery over the most ordi- nary transactions : nor would pride or policy allow him, even when it appeared essential to his interests, to ex- plain away the doubts, or satisfy the curiosity of his sub-
* This singular will has been pubiis led by Mr. Astle. VOL. V. Z
338 HENRY vii. [CHAP, vi
jects. The consequence was, that no one knew what to believe, or what to expect. " All things," says sir Tho- mas More, " were so covertly demeaned, one thing pre- " tended and another meant, that there was nothing so " plain and openly proved, but that yet, for the common " custom of close and covert dealing, men had it ever " inwardly suspect, as many well counterfeited jewels " make the true mistrusted*."
He appears to have been the first of our kings since the accession of Henry III. who confined his expenses within the limits of his income t. But the civil wars had swept away those crowds of annuitants and credi- tors that formerly used to besiege the doors of the ex- chequer ; arid the revenue of the crown came to him free from incumbrances, and augmented by forfeitures. Hence he was enabled to reign without the assistance of parliament ; and, if he occasionally summoned the two houses, it was only when a decent pretext for de- manding a supply offered to his avarice a bait which it could not refuse $. He had, however, little to apprehend from the freedom or the remonstrances of these assem- blies. That spirit of resistance to oppression, that ar- dour to claim and establish their liberties, which cha- racterised the parliaments of former times, had been ex- tinguished in the bloody feuds between " the two roses." The temporal peers who had survived the storm were few in number, and without the power of their ances- tors : they feared by alarming the suspicions of the mo-
* More, 67.
t In his first parliament funds were placed at his disposal for the dis- charge of the yearly expenses of his household, estimated at 14,00(M., and of his wardrobe, estimated at 20001. Rot. Parl. vi. 299, also 497. By the treasurer's account of the last year delivered to Henry VIII. the expenses of the household amounted to 12,759i.9s. lid., and of the wardrobe to 1,J151. 19s. llrf. See Henry, xii. App. No. iv.
J During the last thirteen years of his reign he called but one parliament, in 1504. His object was to demand an equivalent in lieu of two reasonable aids due by the feudal customs for having made his eldest son a knight, and married his eldest daughter. It was, however, so contrived that he might have the merit of moderation, while he imposed the burden ; and there- fore when the parliament offered him 40.000/., he accepted but 30.000/. Rot. Parl. vi. 532.
CHAP, vi.] HENRY'S CHARACTER. 339
narch to replunge themselves into the dangers from which they had so lately emerged ; and the commons readily adopted the humble tone, and submissive demean- our of the upper house. Henry, and the same may be observed of his two last predecessors, found them always the obsequious ministers of his pleasure*.
But if the king was economical in his expenses, and eager in the acquisition of wealth, it should also be added, that he often rewarded with the generosity, and on oc- casions of ceremony displayed the magnificence, of a great monarch. His charities were many and profuse. Of his buildings, his three convents of friars fell in the next reign; his chapel at Westminster still exists, a monument of his opulence and taste. He is said to have occasionally advanced loans of money to merchants en- gaged in profitable branches of trade ; and not only gave 1*495 the royal license to the attempt of the Venetian naviga- Mar.' tor Cabot, but fitted out a ship at his own expense to 5. join in the voyage. Cabot sailed from Bristol, discovered A> D- the island of Newfoundland, crept along the coast of Flo- \4 rida, and returned to England. It was the first Euro- 24 ™ pean expedition that ever reached the American conti- nent t.
* In the composition of these sheets, I have frequently been inclined to
B that we ascribe to the spirit of the commons in former times move
ttian they really deserve. On many important occasions they appear to
ie to have been put forward and supported by the peers; on others to
have been merely the instruments employed by" the rulin" party If this
>e so, there can be no wonder that after the depression of U
lords, they fell into a state of dependence on the crown.
t Kym. xii. 595. Hackluyt, iii. 4.
party.
ne house o'
340 NOTES.
NOTE [A], Page 251.
IN perusing the petition presented to the protector at Baynard's castle, the attention of the reader will probably have been drawn to the alleged precontract of marriage between Edward and Eleanor Boteler. I shall make a few observations on the subject in the present note.
1 . It was now eighteen years since the marriage of the king with Elizabeth Grey. The validity of that marriage had never yet been disputed. The children by it had been considered as legitimate by the parlia- ment, the nation, and foreign sovereigns. They were acknowledged heirs to their father, and several of them had been contracted to princes of the first houses in Europe.
2. If any marriage had previously taken place, which would have annulled the succeeding marriage, would it not have been discovered and objected by those who opposed the union of the king with Elizabeth Grey ; by the numerous and violent enemies of that princess and her family ; and by Clarence and Warwick during their rebellion, when no one had any reason, to fear the re- sentment of Edward ? If they had heard of it, and yet did not allege it, the very circumstance is a proof that they knew the report to be groundless.
3. The time when it was at last brought forward fur- nishes a strong presumption against it. It was not till both the parties concerned were laid in their graves, almost twenty years after it was supposed to have taken place, and for the avowed purpose of enabling an uncle to disinherit his nephews.
4. There is no proof that witnesses were ever examined, or that any documents were produced to show the exist-
NOTES. 341
ence of the precontract in question, though it so much concerned Richard for his own security to place it be- yond the reach of doubt. The only authority on which it rests is the assertion in the petition presented to the protector at Baynard's castle, an authority which will have little weight with the impartial reader. That petition was said to have been composed and forwarded to London by the gentlemen in the north : but every one knew that it was written in that city by Dr. Stil- lington, bishop of Bath, and president of Richard's council (Cont. Croyl. 567). Le Evesque de B. fist le bill. (Year-book, Hilary term, 1 Hen. VII. Rym. xii. 189.) If it be said that it was approved by Richard's parlia- ment in 1484 (Rot. Parl. vi. 240); it may be replied that the next year it was condemned by another parlia- ment " for the false and seditious imaginations and un- " truths thereof," (ibid. 289) and pronounced by the judges false, slanderous, and shameful. (Year-book, ibid.) The only contemporary, by whom it is mentioned, treats it with little ceremony as seditious and infamous. Cont. Croyl. 567.
5. Though no ancient historian has written in favour of the alleged precontract, it has been warmly main- tained by two modern writers, Walpole in his Historic Doubts, and Laing in a dissertation at the close of Henry's History of England. I shall briefly notice the four arguments which they have adduced.
6. More informs us that after Edward " had between " them twain ensured Elizabeth," he communicated the matter to his council ; that his mother, to prevent the marriage, objected that he " was sure to dame Elizabeth " Lucy, and her husband before God ;" that Lucy was sent for and examined upon oath ; and that, " albeit
she was by the king's mother and many other put in
good comfort to affirm that she was ensured unto the
king, yet when she was solemnly sworn to say the
truth, she confessed that they were never ensured :
howbeit his grace spoke so loving words unto her, that
she verily hoped he would have married her." More,
59, 60. It is difficult to reconcile this story, as it is told
by More, with the account of Edward's marriage with
Elizabeth Grey, as it is given by all other writers. Ac-
342 NOTES.
cording to them it was clandestine, according to him it was. publicly solemnised. But what is there in it to favour the precontract of marriage with Eleanor Bo- teler ? Laing supposes that More has wilfully substi- tuted Elizabeth Lucy for Eleanor Boteler, that the ob- jection of the king's mother was good, and that the lady was compelled by Edward to give false evidence as to the contract between them. But if such suppositions are to be admitted, merely because they are convenient for the purpose of the writer, there is an end to all faith in history.
7. We are then led to the testimony of Commines, who informs us that Stillington had been formerly in favour with Edward, had incurred his displeasure, been imprisoned, and paid a large sum for his liberty. This prelate, if we may believe him, declared to Richard that Edward had formerly contracted marriage with a certain lady in his presence, that the contract was meant only to deceive her, and that he had concealed its existence for twenty years. He adds, that to reward him, Richard promised to give the princess Elizabeth, now considered as a bastard, to an illegitimate son of the bishop ; but the young man was cast on the coast of Normandy, car- ried to the chatelet at Paris, and by some mistake starved to death. Com. Ivi. c. ix. Those who have perused the foreign writers of these ages know how little they are to be credited, when they write of English affairs: but admitting the whole of this account, it will go but a short way towards the proof of the marriage. We knew be- fore that Stillington composed the petition ; we now know that he also suggested its contents. Whether those contents were true or false, Commines does not ha- zard a conjecture. Laing supposes that Edward impri- soned the bishop, to extort from him the contract, or to punish him for disclosing the secret. But neither hy- pothesis can stand. The historian assures us that Stil- lington kept the secret till Edward's death : and the idea of extorting from him the contract arises from a mistake as to the meaning of the words, " avoit faits la " promesse entre les mains du dit evesque ;" which allude to the manner in which such verbal promises were received, not to any written contract deposited in
NOTES. 343
the hands of the bishop, as Laing translates it. The true reason of Stillington's disgrace (we have no know- ledge of his imprisonment) may be found in Rymer, xii. 66. Soon after the attainder of Clarence, he was accused of having violated his oath of allegiance, probably by having associated with Clarence. He repaired to a great council of lords and prelates, proved his innocence to their satisfaction, was declared a loyal subject, and afterwards employed in several offices of great trust and importance.
8. Sir Thomas More's history terminates abruptly in the midst of a conversation between the duke of Buck- ingham and the bishop of Ely. Hall continues that conversation, without informing us where he obtained it ; and makes the duke say, " Richard brought in" (to the lords forming his private council) " instruments, au- ' thentic doctors, proctors, notaries of the law, with de- ' positions of divers witnesses, testifying Edward's chil- ' dren to be bastards ; which depositions I then thought
to be as true as now I know them to be false and ' feigned, and testified by witnesses with rewards untruly
suborned." Hall, f. 33. Hence Laing argues that proof of the precontract was produced to the council. But it may be replied, that these depositions were never judicially examined; that they are pronounced false, and purchased with money by the very authority here cited ; and lastly, that the whole speech is a mere fiction. For the duke is made to say, that Richard refused to restore to him the Hereford estate of which he had been deprived by Edward, though the truth is that Richard actually restored it to him (Dugd. Bar. i. 168, 169. ii. 248) : and if we may believe More himself, did not un- courteously refuse any one of his petitions. More, 70.
9. When Henry VII. had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward, the act which bastardised the chil- dren of that prince was repealed. It had been custo- mary on such occasions to rehearse the whole of the act, or to particularise its object, both of which were now by the advice of the judges omitted, and in their place the first words were inserted as sufficient to point out what individual act was repealed. A motion at the same time was made to call Stillington before the parliament, but
344 NOTES.
was opposed by the king. Hence Laing infers that Henry was satisfied the legitimacy of his wife would not bear investigation. But a complete answer may be given. The judges declared that their object was to pre- vent so false and shameful a calumny from appearing on the rolls of parliament (Year-book, Hilary term, I Henry VII.) ; arid the king replied, that as he had already granted a pardon to Stillington, he could not prosecute him for the onence. More, 73.
1 0. On the whole, it appears to me evident that Eli- zabeth was the real wife of Edward, and that the pre- contract was a fiction invented to justify Richard's usur- pation.
NOTE [B], Page 256.
I PURPOSE in this note to examine the arguments which have been employed to clear the memory of Richard from the imputation of having murdered his nephews.
1. It would be difficult to name a writer more de- serving of credit than the Croyland historian, who com- posed his narrative in the month of April following the death of Richard. He tells us that a widely extended confederacy had been formed to liberate the two princes from the Tower, and that the rising was on the point of taking place, when it was made public that both of them had perished. (Cont. Croyl. 568.) It has been said that this was a mere report raised by the conspira- tors themselves, and that the writer gives no opinion as to its truth. But, 1°. It could not have been raised by the conspirators, because it compelled them to defer their intended insurrection, and to look out for some other chief. (Ibid.) And, 2°. The writer proceeds with his narrative as if he believed the princes to be dead, and makes use of expressions which he would not have used if he had entertained any doubt of their murder. He says that it is not known by what particular kind of violent death they perished (quo genere violent! inte- ritus ignoratur, ibid.) ; that their cause had been avenged in the battle of Bosworth field (quorum causa hoc bello potissime vindicata est, p. 575); and that Richard, not
NOTES. 345
content with obtaining the treasures of Edward, destroyed his children. Amplo divitiarum Edwardi cumulo non contentus, oppressit proles. (Ibid.) I conceive that after the use of such expressions there can remain no doubt of the opinion entertained by that writer.
2. The same conviction appears to have been common to all those persons who were the most interested in ascertaining the truth. 1. The duke of Buckingham and the gentlemen of the southern counties, after the publication of the death of the princes, saw that there was no safety for themselves, unless they could raise up a new competitor for the throne, and therefore offered it to the earl of Richmond, on condition he would marry the princess Elizabeth, the next heir of the family of York. (Cont. Croyl. 568.) Can we believe that they would have acted in this manner on the credit of a meer report, the truth of which at that moment they would naturally suspect ? Must they not have inquired into the matter ; and have been convinced that the young Edward and his brother were dead, before they would offer the crown to an illegitimate branch of a rival
family ? 2. Richard, to defeat the plan, made the
strongest efforts to prevail on Elizabeth, the widow of Edward, to quit the sanctuary with her daughters : but he did not succeed till he had sworn before the peers, and prelates, mayor arid aldermen, that the lives of these daughters should be in no danger. Why did Elizabeth require such an oath ? Undoubtedly she believed that the king had already destroyed her sons, and feared a
similar fate for her daughters. Buck, p. 528. 3.
Richard, even before his wife died, proposed to marry the princess Elizabeth. And the reason was, because he saw that he could not otherwise secure the throne to himself, or cut off the hopes of his rival. (Non aliter videbat regnura sibi confirmari, neque spem competitoris sui auferri posse. (Cont. Croyl. 572.) This could only be true in case that the princes were dead, and that Elizabeth was the heir to the crown.
3. Rouse, who died in 1491, openly asserts that the princes were slain, but so privately that few knew in what manner. Edwardum cum amplexibus et osculis recepit, et infra circiter duo menses vel parum ultra cum
346 NOTES.
fratre suo interfecit ita quod ex post paucissirnis
notum fuit quamorte martyrizati sunt. Ross, 214, 215.
4. Andre, the contemporary historiographer of Henry VII., says that Richard ordered the princes to be put to the sword. Ferro feriri iussit. MS. Domit. A. XVIII.
5. Sir Thomas More, who wrote soon after, in 1513, not only asserts that they were murdered, but gives the particulars of the murder from the confession of the assassins themselves. The reader has seen his account in the preceding pages.
6. In July 1674, in consequence of an order to clear the White Tower from all contiguous buildings, as the workmen were " digging down the stairs which led from " the king's lodgings to the chapel in the said tower,
about ten feet in the ground, were found the bones of two striplings in (as it seemed) a wooden chest, which upon the survey were found proportionable to the ages of the two brothers, viz. about 13 and 11 years." On inquiry it was concluded that they were the bones of the murdered princes, and in consequence, after they had been sifted from the rubbish, they were honourably interred in the chapel of Henry VII. in Westminster. (Sandford, 427. 429.) This has been con- sidered as a strong confirmation of the murder ; since we know of no other two boys who perished in the Tower ; and are informed by More that a priest removed their bodies from the place where they had been deposited by the assassins to another spot ; and that, as he died soon afterwards, his secret perished with him. (More, 68.) From the words of More it may be inferred, that ineffec- tual attempts had been made to discover it.
7. It furnishes a strong presumption in favour of More's narrative, that all the persons mentioned by him as concerned in the murder became objects of the king's bounty. To Greene the messenger, was given the office of receiver of the lordships of the Isle of Wight and of Porchester castle ; and the numerous grants of money and lands, and lucrative offices to Tyrrell and Bracken - bury may be seen in the notes by Strype to Buck's his- tory in Kennet, i. 551, 552. Nor were the more obscure agents, the actual murderers, Dighton and Forrest, ne-
NOTES. 3-17
glected by the gratitude of their patron. The first was made bailiff for life of the manor of Aiton in Stafford- shire (ibid.) : and, as Forrest lived but a few months in possession of the office given to him in Barnard castle, an annuity of five marks was settled on his widow and his son. (Turner, iii. 491.) This coincidence must appear very extraordinary, if we suppose More's account to be fabulous.
8. In opposition to this evidence it has been ob- served, that even in the days of Henry VIII. it was con- sidered doubtful whether the princes had been mur- dered or not. I will therefore transcribe the words of More, whence it will appear that such doubts were not very common, nor built on any good foundation. "Whose death hath nevertheless so far come in ques- " tion, that some remain yet in doubt, whether they " were in his days destroyed or not. Not for that only, " that Parkin Warbeck, by many folks' malice, and " more folks' folly, so long space abusing the world, was, " as well with princes as the poorer people, reputed and " taken for the younger of these two, but for that also " that all things were in late days so covertly demeaned, " one thing pretended and another meant, that there " was nothing so plain and openly proved, but that yet " for the common custom of close and covert dealing " men had it ever inwardly suspect, as many well coun- " terfeited jewels make the true mistrusted .... But " I shall rehearse you the dolorous end of those babes, " not after every way that I have heard, but after that " way I have so heard by such men and by such means " as methinketh it were hard but it should be true." He then gives the account, and concludes : " Thus as I " have learned of them that much knew and little cause " had to lie, were these two noble princes privily slain." Pp. 67, 68.
9. It is however contended that More's narrative cannot be true. " A singular.'' says Laing, " and for Rich- " ard's memory, a providential concurrence of circum- " stances enables us to ascertain the duration, and to " trace the particular stages of that progress, in the " course of which the supposed destruction of his ne- " phews was planned and accort.phsb.ed. He was at
348 NOTES.
" Westminster on Sunday the 31st of August, where he " ratified the league with the king of Castile, and at " York the 7th of September, the day preceding his se- " cond coronation." (Laing, 420.) The writer then tells us that Richard was on Monday at Windsor, on Tuesday at Oxford, on Wednesday at Gloucester, on Thursday at Warwick, on Frirlay at Nottingham, on Saturday at Pontefract, and on Sunday at York. Now he contends that if More's account be true, Greene the messenger sent to tamper with Brakenbury, the governor of the Tower, must have left the king on his journey on the Monday or Tuesday, and have returned to Richard at Warwick on Thursday with the account of his failure, and that Tyrrel must have left Warwick on Friday, have committed the murder in the Tower on Friday night or Saturday night, and have reached the king previous to his arrival at York on Sunday : an expedition which it is impossible to believe. Hence it follows that the whole narrative is false. Laing, 420 — 423. •
Now it must be acknowledged that, if the limits as- signed to the progress of Richard by his advocates be correct, it is impossible to crowd within so short a space all the facts mentioned by More. But are those limits correct? It is certain that he was crowned with his queen at York, on Sunday the 8th of September (Drake's Eborac. 117-, Rouse, 217), after having created his son prince of Wales, in a full assembly of the nobility, the same day. (Rym. xii. 200.) Hence he must have ar- rived at York the day before, and if he left London only on the first, must have performed his long and circuitous journey in seven days. But is it then certain that he was at Westminster on the 31st of August ? for on the accuracy of that date depends all the reasoning of the king's advocates. The only proof of it is, that two in- struments are to be found in Rymer, dated August 31, teste rege apud Westmonasterium. (Rym. xii. 198, 199.) But such instruments prove nothing more than that the chancellor was at Westminster. The king might have been at the distance of 300 miles. They were said to be issued teste rege, because they were issued from his high court of chancery. Thus we know that at the death of Edward IV. on the 9th of April 1483, his son Edward V.
NOTES. 349
•was at Ludlow. and did not reach London before the 4th of May following. And yet on the 23d of April, eleven days before he came near Westminster, thirty-three writs were published in his name, dated at Westminster teste rege. (Rym. xii. 79 *.) Hence it is evident that the writs in question, on which Carte, Walpole, and Laing, rest their principal argument, prove nothing as to the presence or absence of Richard on the day on which they are dated.
It is, however, easy to show that he was on that day in the neighbourhood of York, and that his progress in- stead of six days occupied a whole month. The ancient writers mention that he set out shortly after his corona- tion on the 6th of July. (Cont. Croyl. 567. Fab. 516.) He went from London to Windsor ; from Windsor to Oxford. The day of his arrival is not specified : but he received from the university a petition in favour of the bishop of Ely, dated the 4th of August (apud Speed, p. 932), whence it is not improbable that he was there at that time. His next stage was Woodstock, where the people of the country complained to him that his brother had unjustly annexed a large tract of land to the forest of Wichwood : and on inquiry he granted to them a charter of disafforestation. Thence he proceeded to Gloucester ; and to honour a city from which he took his title of duke, he appointed there a mayor and sheriffs. The two next stages were Worcester and Warwick. Here he was joined by the queen and the Spanish ambassadors, who came direct from Windsor, and kept his court for a whole week t, having with him five bishops, the duke of Alba- ny, four earls, five barons, the chief justice of the king's bench, and other lords and knights, and a great number of noble ladies attending on the queen. He next pro- ceeded to Coventry, then to Leicester, and from Leices- ter to Nottingham, where he was on the 23d of August. For we have a letter written there on that day by his
• In former editions I referred to another instance from the reivn of Richard II. But Mr. Duffus Hardy (Introdue. to Close Rolls, xv.) has shown that Rymer, on whose authority I relied, had mistaken the real date.
t Of this circumstance, so important in the present inquiry, Rouse ci.uld not be ignorant, as he lived at the same time at Guy's cliff, only four milns from Warwick.
350 NOTES.
private secretary, announcing to the citizens of York his approach to their city, and telling them that " the " king's lords and judges were with him, sitting and de- " termining the complaints of poor folks, with due puni- " tion of offenders against his laws." (Drake, 116.) He afterwards stopped at Pontefract, where he appointed a mayor, and thence proceeded to York. (See this pro- gress in Rouse, 216, 217.) From York, on the 31st of August, he despatched an order to Piers Courties, keeper of the wardrobe, to send to that city his spurs, banners, coats of arms, &c. which might be wanted against his coronation. (Drake's Eborac. 119. Buck, 527.) It is evident, then, that instead of leaving London on Sept. 1st, to be crowned in York Sept. 8th, he was the whole month of August on his journey, and reached York be- fore the day on which he has been supposed to be still in London. — It may also be observed that this account agrees with that of More. He despatched Greene when he wason his way to Gloucester, and received Greene's report on his arrival at Warwick. Thence he sent Tyrrel to the Tower, and the murder was committed soon after, probably during the week that he remained at Warwick, which, from the date of his residence at Nottingham, must have been about the middle of August ; the time assigned by Rouse, who says, the young king was mur- dered something more than three months after he had been received and caressed by his uncle, which was on the last day of April. (Rouse, 215.)
10. Walpole (pp. 70, 71) transcribes a passage from the roll of parliament of 1484, to prove that Edward V. was alive when that parliament was sitting, and consequent- ly could not have been put to death during Richard's progress to York. But if he had paid more attention to the roll, he would have found that he was copying from the petition presented to the protector at Baynard's castle, and that the passage in question proved only that Ed- ward was alive at the time when his uncle usurped the throne. See Rot. Parl. vi. 241.
11. Mr. Bailey, in his history of the Tower (p. 343), notices certain warrants for the delivery of clothing, and the payment of provisions for the use of " the lord Bas- '' tard, given under our signet at Westminster the ix
NOTES. 3;> I
" day of March, anno secundo :" whence he infers tnat one of the royal brothers, under the name of the lord bastard, was living a year and a half after the time of their supposed death. But there can be no doubt that the lord bastard, mentioned in the warrants, was Richard's own son, John of Gloucester, whom he made two days later governor of Calais for life, reserving to himself the exercise of the office till the boy should come of age. Rym. xii. 265.
12. The last argument I shall mention is taken from Bacon's History of Henry VII., p. 71. He tells us, that soon after the appearance of Perkin, Tyrrel and Digh- ton (Forrest, the other murderer, was dead) were com- mitted to the Tower, and, as the king gave out, both agreed in the same tale : that nevertheless Henry made no use of their confessions : that Tyrrel was soon after- wards beheaded for other matters of treason, but Digh- ton, who it seems spake best for the king, was set at liberty, and was the principal means of divulging this tra- dition. Now, if it were true that Henry examined these persons at the time of Perkin's appearance, and yet did not use their evidence to prove that he was not the duke of York, the omission would certainly justify a suspicion that they did not acknowledge the murder. The real fact is, that they were examined only a short time before the execution of Tyrrel, as Bacon himself says ; but that execution did not take place, as he supposes, soon after the appearance of Perkin, but at the distance of ten years, in 1502, for having favoured the escape of the earl of Suffolk. (Rot. Parl. vi. 545.) Of course Henry could not employ their confession in any of his declara- tions against Perkin, which were published long before. This is also plain from sir Thomas More's history, who wrote a few years afterwards. " Very truth it is, and " well known, that at such time as sir James Tyrrel was " in the Tower for treason committed against king " Henry VII., both Dighton and he were examined, and " confessed the murder in manner above written." More, 68.
352 NOTES.
NOTE [C], Page 322.
THE pretensions of Warbeck offer a problem which has been thought of difficult solution. Was he an im- postor, or was he the real duke of York? Our ancient historians have unanimously adopted the former opi- nion : but their authority has been set aside by some modern writers, who contend that under the dynasty of the Tudors no man would venture to express even a doubt injurious to the cause of the reigning family. If credit be due to Carte, and Walpole, and Laing, War- beck was the real KOU of Edward IV., and the rightful heir to the throne.
The arguments most favourable to the claim of this adventurer are drawn from two sources, its admission by foreign princes, and the inability of Henry to dis- cover his real origin as an impostor. 1 . He was acknow- ledged as duke of York by Charles of France, by James of Scotland, and by Margaret of Burgundy. If it be said that the object of Charles was to distress Henry, James at least ought to have been convinced of the real character of Warbeck before he would give to him his kinswoman in marriage ; and the conduct of Margaret, who was less liable to be deceived, must prove that he was really her nephew, or that she knowingly promoted an imposture. But in the latter supposition what could be her object ? Her niece was queen of England ; the children of that niece were presumptive heirs to the crown. Would she attempt to disinherit her own fa- mily, in favour of an obscure and unknown adventurer ?
2. Henry with all his arts and intrigues could never form a plausible account of the origin and adventures of Warbeck. The stories circulated with his connivance bear evident marks of uncertainty and falsehood. There were two methods by which he might have successfully detected the imposture. He might have ascertained the death of the princes in the Tower by the apprehension and examination of the reputed assassins ; or after the surrender of Warbeck, he might have confronted him with his own queen and her sisters. Their testimony would have decided the question. If then he adopted
NOTES. 353
neither of these measures, it is an argument that he dared not. He must have known that both of the bro- thers were not put to death by their uncle, and that the younger had escaped, and now claimed the crown. Such are, in short, the arguments of those, who main- tain the cause of the adventurer.
To me, however, the arguments against the identity of Warbeck with Richard duke of York, appear greatly to preponderate. 1. From the preceding pages it has been seen that the death of the two princes was believed by all those who were most interested to know the truth, by their mother Elizabeth and their uncle Richard, by the partisans of the house of Lancaster, and those of the house of York, and even by Henry himself, as late at least as the summer of 1487, when he offered to marry their mother to the king of Scots, and their two sisters to his two sons. Four years later a young man appears in Ireland, and professes to be the younger of the two princes, who were believed to be dead. Was it not in- cumbent on him to prove his pretensions, to show how he had escaped from the murderers, to what place he had been conveyed, and where and how he had spent the eight years which had elapsed since his supposed death ? Yet all this was kept a profound secret. Even in his proclamation at the head of the Scottish army, when it was so much for his interest that the English should be convinced of his claim, he contents himself with assert- ing, " that in his tender age he had escaped by God's " great might out of the Tower of London, had been se- " cretly conveyed over sea to other divers countries, and " had remained there certain years as unknown." Does not this meagre account, in circumstances when the clearest proofs were required, betray a secret conscious- ness that his history would not bear investigation ?
2. His assertions seem to have been generally disbe- lieved by the nation. The persons who adhered to him in France were most, if not all, of them outlaws ; and the gentlemen who were attainted on his account in England seem to have suffered, not so much for having admitted his pretensions, as for their attempts to ascer- tain who he was, which Henry ascribed to a treasonable disaffection towards himself. After that period no per- VOL. v. 2 A.
354 NOTES.
son of note attached himself to the pretender. When he landed on the coast of Kent, he was immediately re- pulsed ; when he entered England successively at the head of a Scottish army, and was in a condition to pro- tect his friends, not an individual repaired to his stan- dard; and when he afterwards assumed the command of the Cornish insurgents, he did not debauch a single gentleman from his allegiance to Henry. It is not cre- dible that the numerous partisans of the house of York would have remained quiet on all these occasions, unless they had reason to believe him an impostor.
3. This is strongly corroborated by the conduct of Henry. Would his jealousy have spared the real duke of York, when he had him once in his power ? Would he have exhibited him to the gaze of the populace on the road, or of the citizens in London, of whom many could have recognised his features ? Would he have suffered him to roam at liberty through the palace at Westminster for six months, exposed to the daily view of the queen, her sisters, and the principal nobility ? After his flight and recapture, would not the king have gladly employed that plausible pretext to free himself from so dangerous a competitor ? Whoever compares his conduct to the earl of Warwick with his conduct to Warbeck, will be con- vinced that as he knew the former to be a real Plan- tagenet, so he believed the latter to be no other than an impostor.
4. But how are we to account for the acknowledg- ment of his claim by foreign powers ? It may be ob- served that, if the union of the two roses by the marriage of Henry and Elizabeth had satisfied many of the York- ists, there still existed a party, which through enmity to the house of Lancaster, sought to raise to the throne the young earl of Warwick. At its head was the duchess of Burgundy. She first patronised the imposture of Simnel, afterwards that of Warbeck. If either had suc- ceeded, there would have been little difficulty in remov- ing the phantom to make place for the reality. The conduct of Charles VIII. proves nothing more than his wish to distress and intimidate Henry. He had pre- viously attempted to raise the friends of Warwick ; when that failed, Warbeck, probably at his instigation,
NOTES. 355
solicited the aid of the Yorkists in Ireland : and on their refusal, was invited to the French court as heir to the English crown. But the event proved that this invita- tion had no other object than to induce Henry to sign the treaty. From the moment that was accomplished, Perkin received no countenance from the king of France. With respect to the king of Scotland, there seems to have been much also of policy in the reception which he gave to the adventurer. It was argued that if Perkin were successful, he could refuse nothing to the prince who had placed him on the throne ; that if he were not, Henry would still make advantageous offers to James to detach him from the cause of his rival. On this ac- count, says Polydore, the king, whether it were through error and pity, or only through dissimulation, began to show him great honour, &c. p. 590.
The consideration of these circumstances has left no doubt on my mind that Warbeck was an impostor. He was probably brought forward to screen the young earl of Warwick from the jealousy of Henry. If he fell in the attempt, Warwick was still safe ; if he succeeded, the disclosure of the secret would raise that young prince to the throne. This at least is certain, that as long as Warwick lived, pretenders to the crown rapidly succeeded each other ; after his execution, Henry was permitted to reign without molestation.
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