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[Illustration: Henri of Monmouth]
HENRY OF MONMOUTH:
OR,
MEMOIRS
OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF
HENRY THE FIFTH,
AS
PRINCE OF WALES AND KING OF ENGLAND.
BY J. ENDELL TYLER, B.D.
RECTOR OF ST. GILES IN THE FIELDS.
"Go, call up Cheshire and Lancashire,
And Derby hills, that are so free;
But neither married man, nor widow's son;
No widow's curse shall go with me."
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1838.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
TO HER MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY THE QUEEN. (p. iii)
MADAM,
The gracious intimation of your Royal pleasure that these Memoirs of
your renowned Predecessor should be dedicated to your Majesty, while
it increases my solicitude, suggests at the same time new and cheering
anticipations. I cannot but hope that, appearing in the world under
the auspices of your great name, the religious and moral purposes
which this work is designed to serve will be more widely and
effectually realised.
* * * * *
Under a lively sense of the literary defects which render these
volumes unworthy of so august a patronage, to one point I may revert
with feelings of satisfaction and encouragement. I have gone only (p. iv)
where Truth seemed to lead me on the way: and this, in your Majesty's
judgment, I am assured will compensate for many imperfections.
* * * * *
That your Majesty may ever abundantly enjoy the riches of HIS favour
who is the Spirit of Truth, and having long worn your diadem here in
honour and peace, in the midst of an affectionate and happy people,
may resign it in exchange for an eternal crown in heaven, is the
prayer of one who rejoices in the privilege of numbering himself,
Madam,
Among your Majesty's
Most faithful and devoted
Subjects and servants.
J. ENDELL TYLER.
24, Bedford Square,
May 24, 1838.
PREFACE. (p. v)
Memoirs such as these of Henry of Monmouth might doubtless be made
more attractive and entertaining were their Author to supply the
deficiencies of authentic records by the inventions of his fancy, and
adorn the result of careful inquiry into matters of fact by the
descriptive imagery and colourings of fiction. To a writer, also, who
could at once handle the pen of the biographer and of the poet, few
names would offer a more ample field for the excursive range of
historical romance than the life of Henry of Monmouth. From the day of
his first compulsory visit to Ireland, abounding as that time does
with deeply interesting incidents, to his last hour in the now-ruined
castle of Vincennes;--or rather, from his mother's espousals to the
interment of his earthly remains within the sacred precincts of
Westminster, every period teems with animating suggestions. So far,
however, from possessing such adventitious recommendations, the point
on which (rather perhaps than any other) an apology might be expected
for this work, is, that it has freely tested by the standard of (p. vi)
truth those delineations of Henry's character which have contributed
to immortalize our great historical dramatist. The Author, indeed, is
willing to confess that he would gladly have withdrawn from the task
of assaying the substantial accuracy and soundness of Shakspeare's
historical and biographical views, could he have done so safely and
without a compromise of principle. He would have avoided such an
inquiry, not only in deference to the acknowledged rule which does not
suffer a poet to be fettered by the rigid shackles of unbending facts;
but from a disinclination also to interfere, even in appearance, with
the full and free enjoyment of those exquisite scenes of humour, wit,
and nature, in which Henry is the hero, and his "riotous, reckless
companions" are subordinate in dramatical excellence only to himself.
The Author may also not unwillingly grant, that (with the majority of
those who give a tone to the "form and pressure" of the age)
Shakspeare has done more to invest the character of Henry with a
never-dying interest beyond the lot of ordinary monarchs, than the
bare records of historical verity could ever have effected. Still he
feels that he had no alternative. He must either have ascertained the
historical worth of those scenic representations, or have suffered to
remain in their full force the deep and prevalent impressions, as to
Henry's principles and conduct, which owe, if not their origin, yet,
at least, much of their universality and vividness, to Shakspeare. (p. vii)
The poet is dear, and our early associations are dear; and pleasures
often tasted without satiety are dear: but to every rightly balanced
mind Truth will be dearer than all.
* * * * *
It must nevertheless be here intimated, that these volumes are neither
exclusively, nor yet especially, designed for the antiquarian student.
The Author has indeed sought for genuine information at every
fountain-head accessible to him; but he has prepared the result of his
researches for the use (he would trust, for the improvement as well as
the gratification,) of the general reader. And whilst he has not
consciously omitted any essential reference, he has guarded against
interrupting the course of his narrative by an unnecessary accumulation
of authorities. He is, however, compelled to confess that he rises
from this very limited sphere of inquiry under an impression, which
grew stronger and deeper as his work advanced, that, before a history
of our country can be produced worthy of a place among the records of
mankind, the still hidden treasures of the metropolis and of our
universities, together with the stores which are known to exist in
foreign libraries, must be studied with far more of devoted care and
zealous perseverance than have hitherto been bestowed upon them. That
the honest and able student, however unwearied in zeal and industry,
may be supplied with the indispensable means of verifying what (p. viii)
tradition has delivered down, enucleating difficulties, rectifying
mistakes, reconciling apparent inconsistencies, clearing up doubts,
and removing that mass of confusion and error under which the truth
often now lies buried,--our national history must be made a subject of
national interest. It is a maxim of our law, and the constant practice
of our courts of justice, never to admit evidence unless it be the
best which under the circumstances can be obtained. Were this principle
of jurisprudence recognised and adopted in historical criticism, the
student would carefully ascend to the first witnesses of every period,
on whom modern writers (however eloquent or sagacious) must depend for
their information. How lamentably devoid of authority and credit is
the work of the most popular and celebrated of our modern English
historians in consequence of his unhappy neglect of this fundamental
principle, will be made palpably evident by the instances which could
not be left unnoticed even within the narrow range of these Memoirs.
And the Author is generally persuaded that, without a far more
comprehensive and intimate acquaintance with original documents than
our writers have possessed, or apparently have thought it their duty
to cultivate, error will continue to be propagated as heretofore; and
our annals will abound with surmises and misrepresentations, instead
of being the guardian depositories of historical verity. Only by the
acknowledgment and application of the principle here advocated will (p. ix)
England be supplied with those monuments of our race, those
"POSSESSIONS FOR EVER," as the Prince of Historians[1] once named
them, which may instruct the world in the philosophy of moral cause
and effect, exhibit honestly and clearly the natural workings of the
human heart, and diffuse through the mass of our fellow-creatures a
practical assurance that piety, justice, and charity form the only
sure groundwork of a people's glory and happiness; while religious and
moral depravity in a nation, no less than in an individual, leads,
(tardily it may be and remotely, but by ultimate and inevitable
consequence,) to failure and degradation.
[Footnote 1: Thucydides.]
In those portions of his work which have a more immediate bearing upon
religious principles and conduct, the Author has not adopted the most
exciting mode of discussing the various subjects which have naturally
fallen under his review. Party spirit, though it seldom fails to
engender a more absorbing interest for the time, and often clothes a
subject with an importance not its own, will find in these pages no
response to its sentiments, under whatever character it may give
utterance to them. In these departments of his inquiry, to himself far
the most interesting, (and many such there are, especially in the
second volume,) the Author trusts that he has been guided by the
Apostolical maxim of "SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE." He has not
willingly advanced a single sentiment which should unnecessarily (p. x)
cause pain to any individual or to any class of men; he has not been
tempted by morbid delicacy or fear to suppress or disguise his view of
the very TRUTH.
The reader will readily perceive that, with reference to the foreign
and domestic policy of our country,--the advances of civilization,--the
manners of private life, as well in the higher as in the more
humble grades of society,--the state of literature,--the progress of
the English constitution,--the condition and discipline of the army,
which Henry greatly improved,--and the rise and progress of the royal
navy, of which he was virtually the founder, many topics are either
purposely avoided, or only incidentally and cursorily noticed. To one
point especially (a subject in itself most animating and uplifting,
and intimately interwoven with the period embraced by these Memoirs,)
he would have rejoiced to devote a far greater portion of his book,
had it been compatible with the immediate design of his
undertaking;--THE PROMISE AND THE DAWN OF THE REFORMATION.
* * * * *
However the value of his labours may be ultimately appreciated, the
Author confidently trusts that their publication can do no disservice
to the cause of truth, of sound morality, and of pure religion. He
would hope, indeed, that in one point at least the power of an (p. xi)
example of pernicious tendency might be weakened by the issue of his
investigation. If the results of these inquiries be acquiesced in as
sound and just, no young man can be encouraged by Henry's example (as
it is feared many, especially in the higher classes, have been
encouraged,) in early habits of moral delinquency, with the intention
of extricating himself in time from the dominion of his passions, and
of becoming, like Henry, in after-life a pattern of religion and
virtue, "the mirror of every grace and excellence." The divine, the
moralist, and the historian know that authenticated instances of such
sudden moral revolutions in character are very rare,--exceptions to
the general rule; and among those exceptions we cannot be justified in
numbering Henry of Monmouth.
He was bold and merciful and kind, but he was no libertine, in his
youth; he was brave and generous and just, but he was no persecutor,
in his manhood. On the throne he upheld the royal authority with
mingled energy and mildness, and he approved himself to his subjects
as a wise and beneficent King; in his private individual capacity he
was a bountiful and considerate, though strict and firm master, a warm
and sincere friend, a faithful and loving husband. He passed through
life under the habitual sense of an overruling Providence; and, in his
premature death, he left us the example of a Christian's patient and
pious resignation to the Divine Will. As long as he lived, he was (p. xii)
an object of the most ardent and enthusiastic admiration, confidence,
and love; and, whilst the English monarchy shall remain among the
unforgotten things on earth, his memory will be honoured, and his name
will be enrolled among the NOBLE and the GOOD.
TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS, (p. xiii)
IN THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.
[*] Those years, months, or days, respectively, to which an
asterisk is attached, are not considered to have been so fully
ascertained as the other dates.
1340* Feb.* John of Gaunt born.
1340} Earl of Northumberland, Hotspur's father, born,
1341} before Nov. 19, 1341.
1359 May 19, John of Gaunt married to Blanche.
1358} Owyn Glyndowr born, before Sept. 3, 1359.
1359}
1366 April 6, Henry Bolinbroke born.
1365} May 20,* Henry Percy (Hotspur) born before 30th Oct. 1366.
1366}
1367 Jan. Richard II. born at Bourdeaux.
1369* Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt died.
1371* John of Gaunt married Constance.
1376 June 8, Edward the Black Prince died.
1377 June 21, King Edward III. died.
1378 Nov. Hotspur first bore arms at Berwick.
1381 Bolinbroke nearly slain by the rioters.
1382 Richard II. married to Queen Anne.
1384 Dec. 31, Wickliffe's death.
1386* Bolinbroke married Mary Bohun.
1387 John of Gaunt went to Spain.
1387* Aug. 9,* HENRY born at MONMOUTH.
1388 Hotspur taken prisoner by the Scots.
1388 Thomas Duke of Clarence born.
1389 Nov. 9, Isabel, Richard II.'s wife, born.
1389* Nov.* John of Gaunt returned from Spain. (p. xiv)
1389* John Duke of Bedford born.
1390* Humfrey Duke of Gloucester born.
1390} Bolinbroke visited Barbary.
1391}
1392} Bolinbroke visited Prussia and the Holy Sepulchre.
1393}
1394* Mary, HENRY's mother, died.
1394* Constance, John of Gaunt's wife, died.
1394 June 7, Anne, Richard II.'s Queen, died.
1396 John of Gaunt recalled from Acquitaine by Richard II.
1396 John of Gaunt married Katharine Swynford.
1397 Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, banished.
1397 Sept. 29, Bolinbroke created Duke of Hereford.
1397* John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, banished.
1397 Nov. 4, Richard II. married to Isabel.
1398* Henry of Monmouth resided in Oxford.
1398 July 14, Henry Beaufort consecrated Bishop of Lincoln.
1398 Sept. 16, Bolinbroke and Norfolk at Coventry.
1398 Bolinbroke banished.
1399 Feb. 3, John of Gaunt died.
1399 May 29, Richard II. sailed for Ireland.
1399 June 23, HENRY of Monmouth knighted.
1399 June 28, News of Bolinbroke's designs reached London.
1399 July 4, Bolinbroke landed at Ravenspur.
1399 August, HENRY shut up in Trym Castle.
1399 August, Richard landed at Milford.
1399 Aug. 14, Richard fell into Bolinbroke's hands.
1399 August, Bolinbroke sent to Ireland for HENRY.
1399 August, Death of the young Duke of Gloucester.
1399 Sept. 1, Bolinbroke brought Richard captive to London.
1399 Oct. 1, Richard's resignation of the crown read in Parliament.
1399 Oct. 13, Bolinbroke crowned as Henry IV. (p. xv)
1399 Oct. 15, HENRY created PRINCE of Wales.
1400 Jan. 4, Conspiracy against the King at Windsor.
1400* Feb. 14,* Richard II. died at Pontefract.
1400* Oct. 25,* Chaucer died.
1400 June Henry IV. proceeded to Scotland.
1400 June 23, Lord Grey of Ruthyn's letter to HENRY.
1400 Sept. 19, First proclamation against the Welsh.
1400 Owyn Glyndowr in open rebellion.
1401 HENRY in Wales, before April 10.
1401 April 10, Hotspur's first Letter.
1401* Sept. 13,* KATHARINE, HENRY's Queen, born.
1401* Nov. 11,* Restoration of Isabel.
1402 April 3, Henry IV. espoused to Joan of Navarre.
1402 June 12,* Edmund Mortimer taken prisoner.
1432 Sept. 14, Battle of Homildon.
1402* Nov. 30,* Edmund Mortimer married to a daughter of Owyn Glyndowr.
1403 March 7, HENRY appointed Lieutenant of Wales.
1403* May 30, HENRY's Letter to the Council.
1403 July 21, Battle of Shrewsbury.
1404 May 10, Glyndowr dated "the fourth year of our Principality."
1404 June 10, Welsh with Frenchmen overran Archenfield.
1404 June 25, HENRY's letter to his father.
1404 Oct. 6, Parliament at Coventry.
1405 Feb. 20, Sons of the Earl of March stolen from Windsor.
1405 March 1, Crown settled on HENRY and his brothers.
1405 March 11, Battle of Grosmont.
1405 May, Revolt of the Earl of Northumberland and Bardolf.
1405 June 8, Scrope, Archbishop of York, beheaded.
1406 June 7, Testimony of the Commons to HENRY's excellences.
1406* June 29,* Isabel married to Angouleme.
1407* Nov. 1,* HENRY went to Scotland.
1408 Feb. 28,* Earl of Northumberland, Hotspur's father, fell (p. xvi)
in battle.
1408 July 8, HENRY in London, as President of the Council.
1409 Feb. 1, HENRY, Guardian of the Earl of March.
1409 Feb. 28, HENRY, Warden of Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover.
1409* Sept. 13,* Death of Isabel, Richard II.'s widow.
1410 March 5, Warrant for the burning of Badby.
1410 March 18, HENRY, Captain of Calais.
1410 June 16, HENRY sate as President of the Council.
1410 June 18, Dº. dº.
1410 June 19, Dº. dº.
1410 June 23, Affray in Eastcheap, by the Lords Thomas and John,
his brothers.
1410 July 22, HENRY, as President.
1410 July 29, Dº.
1410 July 30, Dº.
1411 March 19, HENRY with his father at Lambeth.
1411 August,* Duke of Burgundy obtained succour.
1411 Nov. 3, Parliament opened.
1411 Nov. 10, Battle of St. Cloud.
1412 May 18, Treaty with the Duke of Orleans.
1412* June 30,* HENRY came to London attended by "Lords and Gentils."
1412 July 9, The Lord Thomas created Duke of Clarence.
1412* Sept. 23,* He came again with "a huge people."
1413 Feb. 3, Parliament opened.
1413 March 20, Henry IV. died.
1413 April 9, HENRY V. CROWNED.
1413 May 15, Parliament at Westminster.
1413 June 26, Convocation of the Clergy.
1413 Lord Cobham cited.
1413 Lord Cobham escaped from the Tower.
1414 Jan. 10, Affair of St. Giles' Field.
1414 April 20, Parliament at Leicester.
1414 HENRY founded Sion and Shene.
1414 Council of Constance.
1415 May 4, The Council of Constance condemned Wickliffe's (p. xvii)
memory, and commanded the exhumation of his bones.
1415 July 6, John Huss condemned.
1415 July 20, Conspiracy at Southampton.
1415 Aug. 11, HENRY sailed for Normandy.
1415 Sept. 15, Death of Bishop of Norwich in the camp.
1415 Sept. 22, Surrender of Harfleur.
1415 Clayton and Gurmyn burnt for heresy.
1415 Oct. 25, Battle of AGINCOURT.
1415 Nov. 16, HENRY returned to England.
1415 Nov. 22, Thanksgiving in London.
1416 April 29, Emperor Sigismund visited England.
1416 May 30, Jerome of Prague burnt.
1416 Aug. 15, League signed by HENRY and Sigismund.
1417 July 23, HENRY's second expedition.
1417 Sept. 4, Surrender of Caen.
1417 Dec. Execution of Lord Cobham.
1418 July 1, Rouen besieged.
1419 Jan. 19, Rouen taken.
1419 May 30, HENRY and KATHARINE first met.
1419* July 7, HENRY's letter concerning Oriel College.
1420 May 30, HENRY and Katharine married.
1420 July, Katharine lodged in the camp before Melun.
1420 HENRY and Katharine, with the King and Queen of
France, entered Paris.
1421 Jan 31, HENRY and Katharine arrived in England.
1421 Feb 23, Katharine crowned in Westminster.
1421 March 23, They passed their Easter at Leicester.
{Between}
1421 {March &} They travelled through the greater part of England.
{May, }
1421 March 23, Death of the Duke of Clarence.
1421 May 26, Taylor condemned to imprisonment for heresy.
1421 June 1, HENRY left London on his third expedition.
1421 June 10, HENRY landed at Calais. (p. xviii)
1421 Oct. 6, Siege of Meaux began, and lasted till the April
following.
1421 Dec. 6, HENRY's son born at Windsor.
1422 May 21, Katharine landed at Harfleur.
1422 HENRY met her at the Bois de Vincennes.
1422 They entered Paris together.
1422 Aug. HENRY left Katharine at Senlis.
1422 Aug. 31, DEATH of HENRY.
1423 March 1, William Taylor burnt for heresy.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. (p. xix)
CHAPTER I.
1387-1398.
Henry of Monmouth's Parents. -- Time and place of his Birth. -- John
of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster. -- Henry Bolinbroke. -- Monmouth
Castle. -- Henry's infancy and childhood. -- His education. --
Residence in Oxford. -- Bolinbroke's Banishment. Page 1
CHAPTER II.
1398-1399.
Henry taken into the care of Richard. -- Death of John of Gaunt. --
Henry knighted by Richard in Ireland. -- His person and manners. --
News of Bolinbroke's landing and hostile measures reaches Ireland. --
Indecision and delay of Richard. -- He shuts up Henry and the young
Duke of Gloucester in Trym Castle. -- Reflections on the fate of these
two Cousins -- of Bolinbroke -- of Richard -- and of the widowed
Duchess of Gloucester. Page 32
CHAPTER III. (p. xx)
1398-1399.
Proceedings of Bolinbroke from his Interview with Archbishop Arundel,
in Paris, to his making King Richard his prisoner. -- Conduct of
Richard from the news of Bolinbroke's landing. -- Treachery of
Northumberland. -- Richard taken by Bolinbroke to London. Page 52
CHAPTER IV.
1399-1400.
Richard resigns the Crown. -- Bolinbroke elected King. -- Henry of
Monmouth created Prince of Wales. -- Plot to murder the King. -- Death
of Richard. -- Friendship between him and Henry. -- Proposals for a
Marriage between Henry and Isabel, Richard's Widow. -- Henry applies
for an Establishment. -- Hostile movement of the Scots. -- Tradition,
that young Henry marched against them, doubted. Page 68
CHAPTER V.
1400-1401.
The Welsh Rebellion. -- Owyn Glyndowr. -- His former Life. -- Dispute
with Lord Grey of Ruthyn. -- That Lord's Letter to Prince Henry. --
Hotspur. -- His Testimony to Henry's presence in Wales, -- to his
Mercy and his Prowess. -- Henry's Despatch to the Privy Council. Page 88
CHAPTER VI. (p. xxi)
1403.
Glyndowr joined by Welsh Students of Oxford. -- Takes Lord Grey
prisoner. -- Hotspur's further Despatches. -- He quits Wales. --
Reflections on the eventful Life and premature Death of Isabel,
Richard's Widow. -- Glyndowr disposed to come to terms. -- The King's
Expeditions towards Wales abortive. -- Marriage proposed between Henry
and Katharine of Norway. -- The King marries Joan of Navarre. Page 108
CHAPTER VII.
1402-1403.
Glyndowr's vigorous Measures. -- Slaughter of Herefordshire Men. --
Mortimer taken prisoner. -- He joins Glyndowr. -- Henry implores
Succours, -- Pawns his Plate to support his Men. -- The King's
Testimony to his Son's conduct. -- The King, at Burton-on-Trent, hears
of the Rebellion of the Percies. Page 129
CHAPTER VIII.
1403.
The Rebellion of the Percies, -- Its Origin. -- Letters of Hotspur and
the Earl of Northumberland. -- Tripartite Indenture between the
Percies, Owyn, and Mortimer. -- Doubts as to its Authenticity. --
Hotspur hastens from the North. -- The King's decisive conduct. -- He
forms a junction with the Prince. -- "Sorry Battle of Shrewsbury." --
Great Inaccuracy of David Hume. -- Hardyng's Duplicity. -- Manifesto
of the Percies probably a Forgery. -- Glyndowr's Absence from the
Battle involves neither Breach of Faith nor Neglect of Duty. --
Circumstances preceding the Battle. -- Of the Battle itself. -- Its
immediate consequences. Page 141
CHAPTER IX. (p. xxii)
1403-1404.
The Prince commissioned to receive the Rebels into allegiance. -- The
King summons Northumberland. -- Hotspur's Corpse disinterred. -- The
Reason. -- Glyndowr's French Auxiliaries. -- He styles himself "Prince
of Wales." -- Devastation of the Border Counties. -- Henry's Letters
to the King, and to the Council. -- Testimony of him by the County of
Hereford. -- His famous Letter from Hereford. -- Battle of Grosmont.
Page 178
CHAPTER X.
1405-1406.
Rebellion of Northumberland and Bardolf. -- Execution of the
Archbishop of York. -- Wonderful Activity and Resolution of the King.
-- Deplorable state of the Revenue. -- Testimony borne by Parliament
to the Prince's Character. -- The Prince present at the Council-board.
-- He is only occasionally in Wales, and remains for the most part in
London. Page 207
CHAPTER XI.
1407-1409.
Prince Henry's Expedition to Scotland, and Success. -- Thanks
presented to him by Parliament. -- His generous Testimony to the Duke
of York. -- Is first named as President of the Council. -- Returns to
Wales. -- Is appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of
Dover. -- Welsh Rebellion dwindles and dies. -- Owyn Glyndowr's
Character and Circumstances; his Reverses and Trials. -- His Bright
Points undervalued. -- The unfavourable side of his Conduct unjustly
darkened by Historians. -- Reflections on his Last Days. -- Fac-simile
of his Seals as Prince of Wales. Page 232
CHAPTER XII. (p. xxiii)
1409-1412.
Reputed Differences between Henry and his Father examined. -- He is
made Captain of Calais. -- His Residence at Coldharbour. -- Presides
at the Council-board. -- Cordiality still visible between him and his
Father. -- Affray in East-Cheap. -- No mention of Henry's presence.
--Projected Marriage between Henry and a Daughter of Burgundy. --
Charge against Henry for acting in opposition to his Father in the
Quarrel of the Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans unfounded. Page 252
CHAPTER XIII.
1412-1413.
Unfounded Charge against Henry of Peculation. -- Still more serious
Accusation of a cruel attempt to dethrone his diseased Father. -- The
Question fully examined. -- Probably a serious though temporary
Misunderstanding at this time between the King and his Son. -- Henry's
Conduct filial, open, and merciful. -- The "Chamber" or the "Crown
Scene." -- Death of Henry the Fourth. Page 278
CHAPTER XIV.
Henry of Monmouth's Character. -- Unfairness of Modern Writers. --
Walsingham examined. -- Testimony of his Father, -- of Hotspur, -- of
the Parliament, -- of the English and Welsh Counties, -- of
Contemporary Chroniclers. -- No one single act of Immorality alleged
against him. -- No intimation of his Extravagance, or Injustice, or
Riot, or Licentiousness, in Wales, London, or Calais. -- Direct
Testimony to the opposite Virtues. -- Lydgate. -- Occleve. Page 313
CHAPTER XV. (p. xxiv)
Shakspeare. -- The Author's reluctance to test the Scenes of the
Poet's Dramas by Matters of Fact. -- Necessity of so doing. -- Hotspur
in Shakspeare the first to bear evidence to Henry's reckless
Profligacy; -- The Hotspur of History the first who testifies to his
Character for Valour, and Mercy, and Faithfulness in his Duties. --
Anachronisms of Shakspeare. -- Hotspur's Age. -- The Capture of
Mortimer. -- Battle of Homildon. -- Field of Shrewsbury. -- Archbishop
Scrope's Death. Page 337
CHAPTER XVI.
Story of Prince Henry and the Chief Justice, first found in the Work
of Sir Thomas Elyot, published nearly a century and a half
subsequently to the supposed transaction. -- Sir John Hawkins -- Hall
-- Hume. -- No allusion to the circumstance in the Early Chroniclers.
-- Dispute as to the Judge. -- Various Claimants of the distinction.
-- Gascoyne -- Hankford -- Hody -- Markham. -- Some interesting
particulars with regard to Gascoyne, lately discovered and verified.
-- Improbability of the entire Story. Page 358
APPENDIX.
No. 1. Owyn Glyndowr 385
2. Lydgate 394
3. Occleve 401
MEMOIRS OF HENRY OF MONMOUTH. (p. 001)
CHAPTER I.
HENRY OF MONMOUTH'S PARENTS. -- TIME AND PLACE OF HIS BIRTH. -- JOHN
OF GAUNT AND BLANCHE OF LANCASTER. -- HENRY BOLINBROKE. -- MONMOUTH
CASTLE. -- HENRY'S INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. -- HIS EDUCATION. --
RESIDENCE IN OXFORD. -- BOLINBROKE'S BANISHMENT.
1387-1398.
Henry the Fifth was the son of Henry of Bolinbroke and Mary daughter
of Humfrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford. No direct and positive evidence
has yet been discovered to fix with unerring accuracy the day or the
place of his birth. If however we assume the statement of the
chroniclers[2] to be true, that he was born at Monmouth on the ninth
day of August in the year 1387,[3] history supplies many ascertained
facts not only consistent with that hypothesis, but in (p. 002)
confirmation of it; whilst none are found to throw upon it the faintest
shade of improbability. At first sight it might perhaps appear strange
that the exact time of the birth as well of Henry of Monmouth, as of
his father, two successive kings of England, should even yet remain
the subject of conjecture, tradition, and inference; whilst the day
and place of the birth of Henry VI. is matter of historical record. A
single reflection, however, on the circumstances of their respective
births, renders the absence of all precise testimony in the one case
natural; whilst it would have been altogether unintelligible in the
other. When Henry of Bolinbroke and Henry of Monmouth were born, their
fathers were subjects, and nothing of national interest was at the
time associated with their appearance in the world; at Henry of
Windsor's birth he was the acknowledged heir to the throne both of
England and of France.
[Footnote 2: Monomothi in Wallia natus v. Id.
Aug.--Pauli Jov. Ang. Reg. Chron.; William of
Worcester, &c.]
[Footnote 3: At the foot of the Wardrobe Account of
Henry Earl of Derby from 30th September 1387 to
30th September 1388, (and unfortunately no account
of the Duke of Lancaster's expenses is as yet found
extant before that very year,) an item occurs of
341_l._ 12_s._ 5_d._, paid 24th September 1386, for
the household expenses of the Earl and his family
at Monmouth. This proves that his father made the
castle of Monmouth his residence within less than a
year of the date assigned for Henry's birth.]
To what extent Henry of Monmouth's future character and conduct were,
under Providence, affected by the circumstances of his family and its
several members, it would perhaps be less philosophical than
presumptuous to define. But, that those circumstances were (p. 003)
peculiarly calculated to influence him in his principles and views and
actions, will be acknowledged by every one who becomes acquainted with
them, and who is at the same time in the least degree conversant with
the growth and workings of the human mind. It must, therefore, fall
within the province of the inquiry instituted in these pages, to take
a brief review of the domestic history of Henry's family through the
years of his childhood and early youth.
John, surnamed "of Gaunt," from Ghent or Gand in Flanders, the place
of his birth, was the fourth son of King Edward the Third. At a very
early age he married Blanche, daughter and heiress of Henry
Plantagenet, Duke of Lancaster, great-grandson of Henry the Third.[4]
The time of his marriage with Blanche,[5] though recorded with
sufficient precision, is indeed comparatively of little consequence;
whilst the date of their son Henry's birth, from the influence which
the age of a father may have on the destinies of his child, becomes
matter of much importance to those who take any interest in the (p. 004)
history of their grandson, Henry of Monmouth. On this point it has
been already intimated that no conclusive evidence is directly upon
record. The principal facts, however, which enable us to draw an
inference of high probability, are associated with so pleasing and so
exemplary a custom, though now indeed fallen into great desuetude
among us, that to review them compensates for any disappointment which
might be felt from the want of absolute certainty in the issue of our
research. It was Henry of Bolinbroke's custom[6] every year on the
Feast of the Lord's Supper, that is, on the Thursday before Easter, to
clothe as many poor persons as equalled the number of years which he
had completed on the preceding birthday; and by examining the accounts
still preserved in the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster, the details
of which would be altogether uninteresting in this place, we are led
to infer that Henry Bolinbroke was born on the 4th of April 1366.
Blanche, his mother, survived the birth of Bolinbroke probably not
more than three years. Whether this lady found in John of Gaunt a
faithful and loving husband, or whether his libertinism caused her to
pass her short life in disappointment and sorrow, no authentic
document enables us to pronounce. It is, however, impossible to close
our eyes against the painful fact, that Catherine Swynford, who (p. 005)
was the partner of his guilt during the life of his second wife,
Constance, had been an inmate of his family, as the confidential
attendant on his wife Blanche, and the governess of her daughters,
Philippa and Elizabeth of Lancaster. That he afterwards, by a life of
abandoned profligacy, disgraced the religion which he professed, is,
unhappily, put beyond conjecture or vague rumour. Though we cannot
infer from any expenses about her funeral and her memory, that Blanche
was the sole object of his affections, (the most lavish costliness at
the tomb of the departed too often being only in proportion to the
unkindness shown to the living,) yet it may be worth observing, that
in 1372 we find an entry in the account, of 20_l._ paid to two
chaplains (together with the expenses of the altar) to say masses for
her soul. He was then already[7] married to his second wife,
Constance, daughter of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile. By this lady,
whom he often calls "the Queen," he appears to have had only one
child, married, it is said, to Henry III. King of Castile.[8]
Constance, the mother, is represented to have been one of the most (p. 006)
amiable and exemplary persons of the age, "above other women innocent
and devout;" and from her husband she deserved treatment far different
from what it was her unhappy lot to experience. But however severe
were her sufferings, she probably concealed them within her own
breast: and she neither left her husband nor abandoned her duties in
disgust. It is indeed possible, though in the highest degree
improbable, that whilst his unprincipled conduct was too notorious to
be concealed from others, she was not herself made fully acquainted
with his infidelity towards her. At all events we may indulge in the
belief that she proved to her husband's only legitimate son, Henry (p. 007)
of Bolinbroke, a kind and watchful mother.
[Footnote 4: His wife's sister, Matilda, married to
William, Duke of Holland and Zealand, dying without
issue, John of Gaunt succeeded to the undivided
estates and honours of the late duke.]
[Footnote 5: Froissart reports that Henry
Bolinbroke was a handsome young man; and declares
that he never saw two such noble dames, nor ever
should were he to live a thousand years, so good,
liberal, and courteous, as his mother the Lady
Blanche, and "the late Queen of England," Philippa
of Hainault, wife of Edward the Third. These were
the mother, and the consort of John of Gaunt.]
[Footnote 6: For this fact and the several items by
which it is substantiated, the Author is indebted
to the kindness and antiquarian researches of
William Hardy, Esq. of the Duchy of Lancaster
office. These accounts begin to date from September
30th 1381.]
[Footnote 7: In 1387 the Duke of Lancaster,
accompanied by Constance and a numerous retinue,
went to Spain to claim his wife's rights; and he
succeeded in obtaining from the King of Spain very
large sums in hand, and hostages for the payment of
10,000_l._ annually to himself and his duchess for
life. Wals. Neust. 544.]
[Footnote 8: There is an order, dated June 6th,
1372, to lodge two pipes of good wine in Kenilworth
Priory, and to hasten with all speed Dame Ilote,
the midwife, to the Queen Constance at Hertford on
horse or in carriage as should be best for her
ease. The same person attended the late Duchess
Blanche.
The Author has lately discovered on the Pell Rolls
a payment, dated 21st February 1373, which refers
to the birth of a daughter, and at the same time
informs us that his future wife was then probably a
member of his household. "To Catherine Swynford
twenty marks for announcing to the King (Richard
the Second) the birth of a daughter of the Queen of
Spain, consort of John, King of Castile and Leon,
and Duke of Lancaster."
The marriage of John of Gaunt with Catherine
Swynford took place only the second year after the
death of Constance, and seems to have excited among
the nobility equal surprise and disgust. "The great
ladies of England, (as Stowe reports,) as the
Duchess of Gloucester, &c. disdained that she
should be matched with the Duke of Lancaster, and
by that means accounted second person in the realm,
and be preferred in room before them."
King Richard however made her a handsome present of
a ring, at the same time that he presented one to
Henry, Earl of Derby, (Henry IV.) and another to
Lady Beauchamp. Pell Rolls.]
At that period of our history, persons married at a much earlier age
than is usually the case among us now; and the espousals of young
people often preceded for some years the period of quitting their
parents' home, and living together, as man and wife. In the year 1381
Henry, at that time only fifteen years of age, was espoused[9] to his
future wife, Mary Bohun, daughter of the Earl of Hereford, who had (p. 008)
then not reached her twelfth year. These espousals were in those days
accompanied by the religious service of matrimony, and the bride
assumed the title of her espoused husband.[10]
[Footnote 9: In this same year Bolinbroke's life
was put into imminent peril during the insurrection
headed by Wat Tiler. The rebels broke into the
Tower of London, though it was defended by some
brave knights and soldiers; seized and murdered the
Archbishop and others; and, carrying the heads of
their victims on pikes, proceeded in a state of
fury to John of Gaunt's palace at the Savoy, which
they utterly destroyed and burnt to the ground.
Gaunt himself was in the North: but his son
Bolinbroke was in the Tower of London, and owed his
life to the interposition of one John Ferrour of
Southwark. This is a fact not generally known to
historians; and since the document which records
it, bears testimony to Bolinbroke's spirit of
gratitude, it will not be thought out of place to
allude to it here. This same John Ferrour, with Sir
Thomas Blount and others, was tried in the Castle
of Oxford for high treason, in the first year of
Henry IV. Blount and the others were condemned and
executed; but to John Ferrour a free pardon, dated
Monday after the Epiphany, was given, "our Lord the
King remembering that in the reign of Richard the
Second, during the insurrection of the Counties of
Essex and Kent, the said John saved the King's life
in the midst of that commonalty, in a wonderful and
kind manner, whence the King happily remains alive
unto this day. For since every good whatever
naturally and of right requires another good in
return, the King of his especial grace freely
pardons the said John." Plac. Cor. in Cast. Oxon.]
[Footnote 10: Thus, in a warrant, dated 6th March
1381, an order is given by the Duke for payment to
a Goldsmith in London, of 10_l._ 18_s._ for a
present made by our dear daughter Philippa, to our
very dear daughter Mary, Countess of Derby, on the
day of her marriage; and also "40 shillings for as
many pence put upon the book on the day of the
espousals of our much beloved son, the Earl of
Derby." Eight marks are ordered to be paid for "a
ruby given by us to our very dear daughter Mary:"
13_s._ 4_d._ for the offering at the mass. Ten
marks from us to the King's minstrels being there
on the same day; and ten marks to four minstrels of
our brother the Earl of Cambridge being there; and
fifty marks to the officers of our cousin, the
Countess of Hereford! On the 31st of January
following, the Duke lays himself under a bond to
pay to "Dame Bohun, Countess of Hereford, her
mother, the sum of one hundred marks annually, for
the charge and cost of his daughter-in-law, Mary,
Countess of Derby, until the said Mary shall attain
the full age of fourteen years."]
We shall probably not be in error, if we fix the period of the
Countess of Derby leaving her mother's for her husband's roof
somewhere in the year 1386, when he was twenty, and she sixteen years
old; and we are not without reason for believing that they made
Monmouth Castle their home.
Some modern writers affirm that this was the favourite residence of
John of Gaunt's family: but it is very questionable whether from
having themselves experienced the beauty and loveliness of the spot,
they have not been unconsciously tempted to venture this assertion (p. 009)
without historical evidence. Monmouth is indeed situated in one of the
fairest and loveliest valleys within the four seas of Britain. Near
its centre, on a rising ground between the river Monnow (from which
the town derives its name) and the Wye and not far from their
confluence, the ruins of the Castle are still visible. The poet Gray
looked over it from the side of the Kymin Hill, when he described the
scene before him as "the delight of his eyes, and the very seat of
pleasure." With his testimony, unbiassed as it was by local
attachment, it would be unwise to mingle the feelings of affection
entertained by one whose earliest associations, "redolent of joy and
youth," can scarcely rescue his judgment from the suspicion of
partiality. At that time John of Gaunt's estates and princely mansions
studded, at various distances, the whole land of England from its
northern border to the southern coast. And whether he allowed Henry of
Bolinbroke to select for himself from the ample pages of his rent-roll
the spot to which he would take his bride, or whether he assigned it
of his own choice to his son as the fairest of his possessions; or
whether any other cause determined the place of Henry the Fifth's
birth, we have no reasonable ground for doubting that he was born in
the Castle of Monmouth, on the 9th of August 1387.
Of Monmouth Castle, the dwindling ruins are now very scanty, and in
point of architecture present nothing worthy of an antiquary's (p. 010)
research. They are washed by the streams of the Monnow, and are
embosomed in gardens and orchards, clothing the knoll on which they
stand; the aspect of the southern walls, and the rocky character of
the soil admirably adapting them for the growth of the vine, and the
ripening of its fruits. In the memory of some old inhabitants, who
were not gathered to their fathers when the Author could first take an
interest in such things, and who often amused his childhood with tales
of former days, the remains of the Hall of Justice were still
traceable within the narrowed pile; and the crumbling bench on which
the Justices of the Circuit once sate, was often usurped by the boys
in their mock trials of judge and jury. Somewhat more than half a
century ago, a gentleman whose garden reached to one of the last
remaining towers, had reason to be thankful for a marked interposition
in his behalf of the protecting hand of Providence. He was enjoying
himself on a summer's evening in an alcove built under the shelter and
shade of the castle, when a gust of wind blew out the candle by his
side, just at the time when he felt disposed to replenish and rekindle
his pipe. He went consequently with the lantern in his hand towards
his house, intending to renew his evening's recreation; but he had
scarcely reached the door when the wall fell, burying his retreat, and
the entire slope, with its shrubs and flowers and fruits, under one
mass of ruin.
From this castle, tradition says, that being a sickly child, Henry (p. 011)
was taken to Courtfield, at the distance of six or seven miles from
Monmouth, to be nursed there. That tradition is doubtless very ancient;
and the cradle itself in which Henry is said to have been rocked, was
shown there till within these few years, when it was sold, and taken
from the house. It has since changed hands, if it be any longer in
existence. The local traditions, indeed, in the neighbourhood of
Courtfield and Goodrich are almost universally mingled with the very
natural mistake that, when Henry of Monmouth was born, his father was
king; and so far a shade of improbability may be supposed to invest
them all alike; yet the variety of them in that one district, and the
total absence of any stories relative to the same event on every other
side of Monmouth, should seem to countenance a belief that some real
foundation existed for the broad and general features of these
traditionary tales. Thus, though the account acquiesced in by some
writers, that the Marchioness of Salisbury was Henry of Monmouth's
nurse at Courtfield, may have originated in an officious anxiety to
supply an infant prince with a nurse suitable to his royal birth;
still, probably, that appendage would not have been annexed to a story
utterly without foundation, and consequently throws no incredibility
on the fact that the eldest son of the young Earl of Derby was nursed
at Courtfield. Thus, too, though the recorded salutation of the
ferryman of Goodrich congratulates his Majesty on the birth of a (p. 012)
noble prince, as the King was hastening from his court and palace of
Windsor to his castle of Monmouth; yet the unstationary habits of
Bolingbroke, his love of journeyings and travels, and his restlessness
at home, render it very probable that he was absent from Monmouth even
when the hour of perilous anxiety was approaching; and thus on his
return homeward (perhaps too from Richard's court at Windsor) the
first tidings of the safety of his Countess and the birth of the young
lord may have saluted him as he crossed the Wye at Goodrich Ferry. So
again in the little village of Cruse, lying between the church and the
castle of Goodrich, the cottagers still tell, from father to son, as
they have told for centuries over their winter's hearth, how the
herald, hurrying from Monmouth to Goodrich fast as whip and spur could
urge his steed onward, with the tidings of the Prince of Wales' birth,
fell headlong, (the horse dropping under him in the short, steep, and
rugged lane leading to the ravine, beyond which the castle stands,)
and was killed on the spot. No doubt the idea of its being the news of
a prince's birth, that was thus posted on, has added, in the
imagination of the villagers, to the horse's fleetness and the
breathless impetuosity of the messenger; but it is very probable that
the news of the young lord's birth, heir to the dukedom of Lancaster,
should have been hastened from the castle of Monmouth to Goodrich;
and there is no solid reason for discrediting the story. (p. 013)
Still, beyond tradition, there is no evidence at all to fix the young
lord either at Courtfield, or indeed at Monmouth, for any period
subsequently to his birth. On the contrary, several items of expense
in the "Wardrobe account of Henry, Earl of Derby," would induce us to
infer either that the tradition is unfounded, or that at the utmost
the infant lord was nursed at Courtfield only for a few months. In
that account[11] we find an entry of a charge for a "_long gown_" for
the young lord Henry; and also the payment of 2_l._ to a midwife for
her attendance on the Countess during her confinement at the birth of
the young lord Thomas, the gift of the Earl, "_at London_". By this
document it is proved that Henry's younger brother, the future Duke of
Clarence, was born before October 1388, and that some time in the
preceding year Henry was himself still in the long robes of an infant;
and that the family had removed from Monmouth to London. In the
Wardrobe expenses of the Countess for the same year, we find several
items of sums defrayed for the clothes of the young lords Henry and
Thomas together, but no allusion whatever to the brothers being
separate: one entry,[12] fixing Thomas and his nurse at Kenilworth
soon after his birth, leaves no ground for supposing that his (p. 014)
elder brother was either at Monmouth or at Courtfield. It may be
matter of disappointment and of surprise that Henry's name does not
occur in connexion with the place of his birth in any single
contemporary document now known. The fact, however, is so. But whilst
the place of Henry's nursing is thus left in uncertainty, the name of
his nurse--in itself a matter not of the slightest importance--is made
known to us not only in the Wardrobe account of his mother, but also
by a gratifying circumstance, which bears direct testimony to his own
kind and grateful, and considerate and liberal mind. Her name was
Johanna Waring; on whom, very shortly after he ascended the throne, he
settled an annuity of 20_l._ "in consideration of good service done to
him in former days."[13]
[Footnote 11: Between 30th Sept. 1387 and 1st Oct.
1388.]
[Footnote 12: An item of five yards of cloth for
the bed of the nurse of Thomas at Kenilworth; and
an ell of canvass for his cradle.]
[Footnote 13: This is one of those incidents,
occurring now and then, the discovery of which
repays the antiquary or the biographer for wading,
with toilsome search, through a confused mass of
uninteresting details, and often encourages him to
persevere when he begins to feel weary and
disappointed.]
Very few incidents are recorded which can throw light upon Henry's
childhood, and for those few we are indebted chiefly to the dry
details of account-books. In these many particular items of expense
occur relative as well to Henry as to his brothers; which, probably,
would differ very little from those of other young noblemen of England
at that period of her history. The records of the Duchy of Lancaster
provide us with a very scanty supply of such particulars as convey (p. 015)
any interesting information on the circumstances and occupations and
amusements of Henry of Monmouth. From these records, however, we learn
that he was attacked by some complaint, probably both sudden and
dangerous, in the spring of 1395; for among the receiver's accounts is
found the charge of "6_s._ 8_d._ for Thomas Pye, and a horse hired at
London, March 18th, to carry him to Leicester with all speed, on
account of the illness of the young lord Henry." In the year 1397,
when he was just ten years old, a few entries occur, somewhat
interesting, as intimations of his boyish pursuits. Such are the
charge of "8_d._ paid by the hands of Adam Garston for harpstrings
purchased for the harp of the young lord Henry," and "12_d._ to
Stephen Furbour for a new scabbard of a sword for young lord Henry,"
and "1_s._ 6_d._ for three-fourths of an ounce of tissue of black silk
bought at London of Margaret Stranson for a sword of young lord
Henry." Whilst we cannot but be sometimes amused by the minuteness
with which the expenditure of the smallest sum in so large an
establishment as John of Gaunt's is detailed, these little incidents
prepare us for the statement given of Henry's early youth by the
chroniclers,--that he was fond both of minstrelsy and of military
exercises.
The same dry pages, however, assure us that his more severe studies
were not neglected. In the accounts for the year ending February 1396,
we find a charge of "4_s._ for seven books of Grammar contained (p. 016)
in one volume, and bought at London for the young Lord Henry." The
receiver-general's record informs us of the name of the lord Humfrey's
tutor;[14] but who was appointed to instruct the young lord Henry does
not appear; nor can we tell how soon he was put under the guidance of
Henry Beaufort. If, as we have reason to believe, he had that
celebrated man as his instructor, or at least the superintendent of
his studies, in Oxford so early as 1399, we may not, perhaps, be
mistaken in conjecturing, that even this volume of Grammar was first
learned under the direction of the future Cardinal.
[Footnote 14: "Thomæ Rothwell informanti Humfridum
filium Domini Regis pro salario suo de termino
Paschæ, 13_s._ 4_d._"--1 Hen. IV.]
Scanty as are the materials from which we must weave our opinion with
regard to the first years of Henry of Monmouth, they are sufficient to
suggest many reflections upon the advantages as well as the
unfavourable circumstances which attended him: We must first, however,
revert to a few more particulars relative to his family and its chief
members.
His father, who was then about twenty-four years of age, certainly
left England[15] between the 6th of May 1390 and the 30th of April (p. 017)
1391, and proceeded to Barbary. During his absence his Countess was
delivered of Humfrey, his fourth son. Between the summers of 1392 and
1393 he undertook a journey to Prussia, and to the Holy Sepulchre.
[Footnote 15: The treasurer's account, during the
Earl's absence, contains some items which remove
all doubt from this statement: among others, 20_l._
to Lancaster the herald, on Nov. 5, going toward
England; and in the same month, to three
"persuivantes," being with the Earl, eight nobles;
and to a certain English sailor, carrying the news
of the birth of Humfrey, son of my lord, 13_s._
4_d._]
The next year visited Henry with one of the most severe losses which
can befall a youth of his age. His mother,[16] then only twenty-four
years old, having given birth to four sons and two daughters, was
taken away from the anxious cares and comforts of her earthly career,
in the very prime of life.[17] Nor was this the only bereavement which
befell the family at this time. Constance, the second wife of John of
Gaunt, a lady to whose religious and moral worth the strongest and
warmest testimony is borne by the chroniclers of the time; and who
might (had it so pleased the Disposer of all things) have watched (p. 018)
over the education of her husband's grandchildren, was also this same
year removed from them to her rest: they were both buried at
Leicester, then one of the chief residences of the family.
[Footnote 16: King Richard II, the Duke of
Lancaster, and his son, Henry of Bolinbroke, became
widowers in the same year.]
[Footnote 17: That Henry cherished the memory of
his mother with filial tenderness, may be inferred
from the circumstance that only two months after he
succeeded to the throne, and had the means and the
opportunity of testifying his grateful remembrance
of her, we find money paid "in advance to William
Goodyere for newly devising and making an image in
likeness of the Mother of the present lord the
King, ornamented with diverse arms of the kings of
England, and placed over the tomb of the said
king's mother, within the King's College at
Leicester, where she is buried and entombed."--Pell
Rolls, May 20, 1413.]
The mind cannot contemplate the case of either of these ladies without
feelings of pity rather than of envy. They were both nobly born, and
nobly married; and yet the elder was joined to a man, who, to say the
very least, shared his love for her with another; and the younger,
though requiring, every year of her married state, all the attention
and comfort and support of an affectionate husband, yet was more than
once left to experience a temporary widowhood. And if we withdraw our
thoughts from those of whom this family was then deprived, there is
little to lessen our estimate of their loss, when we think of those
whom they left behind. Henry's maternal grandmother, indeed, the
Countess of Hereford, survived her daughter many years; and we are not
without an intimation that she at least interested herself in her
grandson's welfare. In his will, dated 1415, he bequeaths to Thomas,
Bishop of Durham, "the missal and portiphorium[18] which we had of the
gift of our dear grandmother, the Countess of Hereford."[19] We may
fairly infer from this circumstance that Henry had at least one (p. 019)
near relation both able and willing to guide him in the right way. How
far opportunities were afforded her of exercising her maternal
feelings towards him, cannot now be ascertained; and with the
exception of this noble lady, there is no other to whom we can turn
with entire satisfaction, when we contemplate the salutary effects
either of precept or example in the case of Henry of Monmouth.
[Footnote 18: The portiphorium was a breviary,
containing directions as to the services of the
church.]
[Footnote 19: He bequeaths also, in the same will,
"to Joan, Countess of Hereford, our dear
grandmother, a gold cyphus." This lady, however,
died before Henry. In the Pell Rolls we find the
payment of "442_l._ 17_s._ 5_d._ to Robert Darcy
and others, executors of Joan de Bohun, late
Countess of Hereford, on account of live and dead
stock belonging to her, February 27, 1421."]
His father indeed was a gallant young knight, often distinguishing
himself at justs and tournaments;[20] of an active, ardent and
enterprising spirit; nor is any imputation against his moral character
found recorded. But we have no ground for believing, that he devoted
much of his time and thoughts to the education of his children.
[Footnote 20: Soon after Henry IV's accession, the
Pell Rolls, May 8, 1401, record the payment of
"10_l._ to Bertolf Vander Eure, who fenced with the
present lord the King with the long sword, and was
hurt in the neck by the said lord the King." The
Chronicle of London for 1386 says "there were
joustes at Smithfield. There bare him well Sir
Harry of Derby, the Duke's son of Lancaster."]
Henry Beaufort, the natural son of John of Gaunt, a person of
commanding talent, and of considerable attainments for that age,
whilst there is no reason to believe him to have been that abandoned
worldling whose eyes finally closed in black despair without a (p. 020)
hope of Heaven, yet was not the individual to whose training a
Christian parent would willingly intrust the education of his child.
And in John of Gaunt[21] himself, little perhaps can be discovered
either in principle, or judgment, or conduct, which his grandson could
imitate with religious and moral profit. Thus we find Henry of
Monmouth in his childhood labouring under many disadvantages. Still
our knowledge of the domestic arrangements and private circumstances
of his family is confessedly very limited; and it would be unwise to
conclude that there were no mitigating causes in operation, nor any
advantages to put as a counterpoise into the opposite scale. He may
have been under the guidance and tuition of a good Christian and (p. 021)
well-informed man; he may have been surrounded by companions whose
acquaintance would be a blessing. But this is all conjecture; and
probably the question is now beyond the reach of any satisfactory
solution.
[Footnote 21: The Author would gladly have
presented to the reader a different portrait of the
religious and moral character of "Old John of
Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster;" but a careful
examination of the testimony of his enemies and of
his eulogists, as well as of the authentic
documents of his own household, seems to leave no
other alternative, short of the sacrifice of truth.
Godwin, in his Life of Chaucer, has undertaken his
defence, but on such unsound principles of morality
as must be reprobated by every true lover of
Religion and Virtue. The same domestic register of
the Duchy which records the wages paid to the
adulteress, and the duke's losses by gambling,
proves (as many other family accounts would prove)
that no fortune however princely can supply the
unbounded demands of profligacy and dissipation.
Even John of Gaunt, with his immense possessions,
was driven to borrow money. This fact is
accompanied in the record by the curious
circumstance, that an order is given for the
employment of three or four stout yeomen, because
of the danger of the road, to guard the bearers of
a loan made by the Earl of Arundel to the Duke, and
sent from Shrewsbury to London.]
With regard to the next step also in young Henry's progress towards
manhood, we equally depend upon tradition for the views which we may
be induced to take: still it is a tradition in which we shall probably
acquiesce without great danger of error. He is said to have been sent
to Oxford, and to have studied in "The Queen's College" under the
tuition of Henry Beaufort, his paternal uncle, then Chancellor of the
University. No document is known to exist among the archives of the
College or of the University, which can throw any light on this point;
except that the fact has been established of Henry Beaufort having
been admitted a member of Queen's College, and of his having been
chancellor of the university only for the year 1398.
This extraordinary man was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln, July 14,
1398, as appears by the Episcopal Register of that See; after which he
did not reside in Oxford. If therefore Henry of Monmouth studied under
him in that university, it must have been through the spring and
summer of that year, the eleventh of his age. And on this we may rely
as the most probable fact. Certainly in the old buildings of Queen's
College, a chamber used to be pointed out by successive generations as
Henry the Fifth's. It stood over the gateway opposite to St. (p. 022)
Edmund's Hall. A portrait of him in painted glass, commemorative of
the circumstance, was seen in the window, with an inscription (as it
should seem of comparatively recent date) in Latin:
To record the fact for ever.
The Emperor of Britain,
The Triumphant Lord of France,
The Conqueror of his enemies and of himself,
Henry V.
Of this little chamber,
Once the great Inhabitant.[22]
[Footnote 22: Fuller in his Church History, having
informed us that Henry's chamber over the College
gate was then inhabited by the historian's friend
Thomas Barlow, adds "His picture remaineth there to
this day in _brass_".]
It may be observed that in the tender age of Henry involved in this
supposition, there is nothing in the least calculated to throw a shade
of improbability on this uniform tradition. Many in those days became
members of the university at the time of life when they would now be
sent to school.[23] And possibly we shall be most right in supposing
that Henry (though perhaps without himself being enrolled among the
regular academics) lived with his uncle, then chancellor, and studied
under his superintendence. There is nothing on record (hitherto (p. 023)
discovered) in the slightest degree inconsistent with this view;
whereas if we were inclined to adopt the representation of some (on
what authority it does not appear) that Henry was sent to Oxford soon
after his father ascended the throne, many and serious difficulties
would present themselves. In the first place his uncle, who was
legitimated only the year before, was prematurely made Bishop of
Lincoln by the Pope, through the interest of John of Gaunt, in the
year 1398, and never resided in Oxford afterwards. How old he was at
his consecration, has not yet been satisfactorily established;
conjecture would lead us to regard him as a few years only (perhaps
ten or twelve) older than his nephew. Otterbourne tells us that he was
made Bishop[24] when yet a boy.
[Footnote 23: Those who were designed for the
military profession were compelled to bear arms,
and go to the field at the age of fifteen:
consequently the little education they received was
confined to their boyhood.]
[Footnote 24: "Admodum parvo."]
In the next place we can scarcely discover six months in Henry's life
after his uncle's consecration, through which we can with equal
probability suppose him to have passed his time in Oxford. It is next
to certain that before the following October term, he had been removed
into King Richard's palace, carefully watched (as we shall see
hereafter); whilst in the spring of the following year, 1399, he was
unquestionably obliged to accompany that monarch in his expedition to
Ireland. Shortly after his return, in the autumn of that year, on his
father's accession to the throne, he was created Prince of Wales; and
through the following spring the probability is strong that his father
was too anxiously engaged in negotiating a marriage between him (p. 024)
and a daughter of the French King, and too deeply interested in
providing for him an adequate establishment in the metropolis, to take
any measures for improving and cultivating his mind in the university.
Independently of which we may be fully assured that had he become a
student of the University of Oxford as Prince of Wales, it would not
have been left to chance, to deliver his name down to after-ages: the
archives of the University would have furnished direct and
contemporary evidence of so remarkable a fact; and the College would
have with pride enrolled him at the time among its members: as the boy
of the Earl of Derby, or the Duke of Hereford, living with his uncle,
there is nothing[25] in the omission of his name inconsistent with our
hypothesis. At all events, whatever evidence exists of Henry having
resided under any circumstances in Oxford, fixes him there under the
tuition of the future Cardinal; and that well-known personage is
proved not to have resided there subsequently to his appointment to
the see[26] of Lincoln, in the summer of 1398.[27]
[Footnote 25: On the 29th of the preceding
September 1397, Richard II. "with the consent of
the prelates, lords and commons in parliament
assembled," created Bolinbroke, then Earl of Derby,
Duke of Hereford, with a royal gift of forty marks
by the year, to him and his heirs for ever. Pell
Rolls. Pasc. 22 R. II. April 15.]
[Footnote 26: The Lincoln register (for a copy of
which the Author is indebted to the present Bishop)
dates the commencement of the year of Henry
Beaufort's consecration from July 14, 1398.]
[Footnote 27: It is a curious fact, not generally
known, that Henry IV. in the _first_ year of his
reign took possession of all the property of the
Provost and Fellows of Queen's College (on the
ground of mismanagement), and appointed the
Chancellor, the Chief Justice, the Master of the
Rolls, and others, guardians of the College. This
is scarcely consistent with the supposition of his
son being resident there at the time, or of his
selecting that college for him afterwards.]
What were Henry's studies in Oxford, whether, like Ingulphus some (p. 025)
centuries before, he drank to his fill of "Aristotle's[28] Philosophy
and Cicero's Rhetoric," or whether his mind was chiefly directed to
the scholastic theology so prevalent in his day, it were fruitless (p. 026)
to inquire. His uncle (as we have already intimated) seems to have
been a person of some learning, an excellent man of business, and in
the command of a ready eloquence. In establishing his positions (p. 027)
before the parliament, we find him not only quoting from the Bible,
(often, it must be acknowledged, without any strict propriety of
application,) but also citing facts from ancient Grecian history. We
may, however, safely conclude that the Chancellor of Oxford confined
himself to the general superintendence of his nephew's education,
intrusting the details to others more competent to instruct him in the
various branches of literature. It is very probable that to some
arrangement of that kind Henry was indebted for his acquaintance with
such excellent men as his friends John Carpenter of Oriel, and Thomas
Rodman, or Rodburn, of Merton.[29]
[Footnote 28: The Author trusts to be pardoned, if
he suffers these conjectures on Henry's studies in
Oxford to tempt him to digress in this note further
than the strict rules of unity might approve. They
brought a lively image to his mind of the
occupations and confessions of one of the earliest
known sons of Alma Mater. Perhaps Ingulphus is the
first upon record who, having laid the foundation
of his learning at Westminster, proceeded for its
further cultivation to Oxford. From the
biographical sketch of his own life, we learn that
he was born of English parents and a native of the
fair city of London. Whilst a schoolboy at
Westminster, he was so happy as to have interested
in his behalf Egitha, daughter of Earl Godwin, and
queen of Edward the Confessor. He describes his
patroness as a lady of great beauty, well versed in
literature, of most pure chastity and exalted moral
feeling, together with pious humbleness of mind,
tainted by no spot of her father's or her brother's
barbarism, but mild and modest, honest and
faithful, and the enemy of no human being. In
confirmation of his estimate of her excellence, he
quotes a Latin verse current in his day, not very
complimentary to her sire: "As a thorn is the
parent of the rose, so was Godwin of Egitha." I
have often seen her (he continues) when I have been
visiting my father in the palace. Many a time, as
she met me on my return from school, would she
examine me in my scholarship and verses; and
turning with the most perfect familiarity from the
solidity of grammar to the playfulness of logic, in
which she was well skilled, when she had caught me
and held me fast by some subtle chain, she would
always direct her maid to give me three or four
pieces of money, and sending me off to the royal
refectory would dismiss me after my refreshment."
It is possible that many of our fair countrywomen
in the highest ranks now, are not aware that, more
than eight hundred years ago, their fair and noble
predecessors could play with a Westminster scholar
in grammar, verses, and logic. Egitha left behind
her an example of high religious, moral, and
literary worth, by imitating which, not perhaps in
its literal application, but certainly in its
spirit, the noble born among us will best uphold
and adorn their high station. Ingulphus (in the
very front of whose work the Author thinks he sees
the stamp of raciness and originality, though he
cannot here enter into the question of its
genuineness) tells us then, how he made proficiency
beyond many of his equals in mastering the
doctrines of Aristotle, and covered himself to the
very ankles in Cicero's Rhetoric. But, alas, for
the vanity of human nature! His confession here
might well suggest reflections of practical wisdom
to many a young man who may be tempted, as was
Ingulphus, in the university or the wide world, to
neglect and despise his father's roof and his
father's person, after success in the world may
have raised him in society above the humble station
of his birth,--a station from which perhaps the
very struggles and privations of that parent
himself may have enabled him to emerge. "Growing up
a young man (he says) I felt a sort of disdainful
loathing at the straitened and lowly circumstances
of my parents, and desired to leave my paternal
hearth, hankering after the halls of kings and of
the great, and daily longing more and more to array
myself in the gayest and most luxurious costume."
Ingulphus lived to repent, and to be ashamed of his
weakness and folly.]
[Footnote 29: John Carpenter. This learned and good
man could not have been much, if at all, Henry's
senior. He was made Bishop of Worcester (not as
Goodwin says by Henry V. but) in the year 1443. He
died in 1476; so that if he was in Oxford when we
suppose Henry to have studied there and to have
been only his equal in age, he would have been
nearly ninety when he died. Thomas Rodman was an
eminent astronomer as well as a learned divine, of
Merton College. He was not promoted to a bishopric
till two years after Henry's death.
Among other learned and pious men who were much
esteemed by Henry, we find especially mentioned
Robert Mascall, confessor to his father, and
Stephen Partington. The latter was a very popular
preacher, whom some of the nobility invited to
court. Henry, delighted with his eloquence, treated
him with favour and affectionate regard, and
advanced him to the see of St. David's. Robert
Mascall was of the order of Friars Carmelites. In
1402 he was ordered to be continually about the
King's person, for the advantage and health of his
soul. Two years afterwards he was advanced to the
see of Hereford. Pell Rolls.]
But whatever course of study was chalked out for him, and through (p. 028)
however long or short a period before the summer of 1398, or under
what guides soever he pursued it, it is impossible to read his
letters, and reflect on what is authentically recorded of him, without
being involuntarily impressed by an assurance that he had imbibed a
very considerable knowledge of Holy Scripture, even beyond the young
men of his day. His conduct also in after-life would prepare us for
the testimony borne to him by chroniclers, that "he held in great
veneration such as surpassed in learning and virtue." Still, whilst we
regret that history throws no fuller light on the early days of Henry
of Monmouth, we cannot but hope that in the hidden treasures of
manuscripts hereafter to be again brought into the light of day, much
may be yet ascertained on satisfactory evidence; and we must leave the
subject to those more favoured times.[30]
[Footnote 30: Many ancient documents (of the
existence of which in past years, often not very
remote, there can be no doubt,) now, unhappily for
those who would bring the truth to light, are in a
state of abeyance or of perdition. To mention only
one example; the work of Peter Basset, who was
chamberlain to Henry V. and attended him in his
wars, referred to by Goodwin, and reported to be in
the library of the College of Arms, is no longer in
existence; at least it has disappeared and not a
trace of it can be found there.]
But whilst doubts may still be thought to hang over the exact time and
the duration of Henry's academical pursuits, it is matter of (p. 029)
historical certainty, that an event took place in the autumn of 1398,
which turned the whole stream of his life into an entirely new
channel, and led him by a very brief course to the inheritance of the
throne of England. His father, hitherto known as the Earl of Derby,
was created Duke of Hereford by King Richard II. Very shortly after
his creation, he stated openly in parliament[31] that the Duke of
Norfolk, whilst they were riding together between Brentford and
London, had assured him of the King's intention to get rid of them
both, and also of the Duke of Lancaster with other noblemen, of whose
designs against his throne or person he was apprehensive. The Duke of
Norfolk denied the charge, and a trial of battle was appointed to
decide the merits of the question. The King, doubting probably the
effect on himself of the issue of that wager of battle, postponed the
day from time to time. At length he fixed finally upon the 16th of
September, and summoned the two noblemen to redeem their pledges at
Coventry. Very splendid preparations had been made for the struggle;
and the whole kingdom shewed the most anxious interest in the result.
On the day appointed, the Lord High Constable and the Lord High
Marshal of England, with a very great company, and splendidly arrayed,
first entered the lists. About the hour of prime the Duke of Hereford
appeared at the barriers on a white courser, barbed with blue and (p. 030)
green velvet, sumptuously embroidered with swans and antelopes[32] of
goldsmith's work,[33] and armed at all points. The King himself soon
after entered with great pomp, attended by the peers of the realm, and
above ten thousand men in arms to prevent any tumult. The Duke of
Norfolk then came on a steed "barbed with crimson velvet embroidered
with mulberry-trees and lions of silver." At the proclamation of the
herald, Hereford sprang upon his horse, and advanced six or seven
paces to meet his adversary. The king upon this suddenly threw down
his warder, and commanded the spears to be taken from the combatants,
and that they should resume their chairs of state. He then ordered
proclamation to be made that the Duke of Hereford had honourably[34]
fulfilled his duty; and yet, without assigning any reason, he
immediately sentenced him to be banished for ten years: at the same
time he condemned the Duke of Norfolk to perpetual exile, adding also
the confiscation of his property, except only one thousand pounds by
the year. This act of tyranny towards Bolinbroke,[35] contrary, (p. 031)
as the chroniclers say, to the known laws and customs of the realm, as
well as to the principles of common justice, led by direct consequence
to the subversion of Richard's throne, and probably to his premature
death.
[Footnote 31: Rot. Parl. 21 Rich. II. & Rot. Cart.]
[Footnote 32: It is curious to find that when Henry
V. met his intended bride Katharine of France, the
tent prepared for him by her mother the Queen, was
composed of blue and green velvet, and embroidered
with the figures of antelopes.]
[Footnote 33: The Duke of Hereford's armour was
exceedingly costly and splendid. He had sent to
Italy to procure it on purpose for that day; he
spared no expense in its preparation; and it was
forwarded to him by the Duke of Milan.]
[Footnote 34: "Rex proclamari fecit quod Dux
Herefordiæ debitum suum honorificè
adimplesset."--Wals. 356.]
[Footnote 35: The "Chronicle of London" asserts
that Richard sought and obtained from the Pope of
Rome a confirmation of his statutes and ordinances
made at this time.]
Whilst however the people sympathized with the Duke of Hereford, and
reproached the King for his rashness, as impolitic as it was
iniquitous, they seemed to view in the sentence of the Duke of
Norfolk, the visitation of divine justice avenging on his head the
cruel murder of the Duke of Gloucester. It was remarked (says
Walsingham) that the sentence was passed on him by Richard on the very
same day of the year on which, only one twelvemonth before, he had
caused that unhappy prince to be suffocated in Calais.