and gentlemen in the northern counties to repair to his presence; and
now, at last, Lord Darcy believed that the time was come when he might
commit himself with safety; or rather, since the secrets of men's minds
must not be lightly conjectured, he must be heard first in his own
defence, and afterwards his actions must speak for him. On the night of
the surrender of York he sent his steward from Pomfret, with a request
for a copy of the oath and of the articles of the rising, promising, if
they pleased him, to join the confederacy. The Archbishop of York, Dr.
Magnus, an old diplomatic servant of the crown, Sir Robert Constable,
Lord Neville, and Sir Nicholas Babthorpe, were by this time with him in
the castle. His own compliance would involve the compliance of these,
and would partially involve their sanction.
[Sidenote: He apologizes to the king, and professes inability to help
himself.]
[Sidenote: Lord Shrewsbury promises to relieve him,]
[Sidenote: But Aske advances,]
[Sidenote: Thursday, October 19.]
On the morning of the 16th or 17th he received a third letter from the
king, written now in grave displeasure: the truth had not been told; the
king had heard, to his surprise, that Lord Darcy, instead of raising a
force and taking the field, had shut himself up, with no more than
twelve servants, in Pomfret; "If this be so," he said, "it is
negligently passed."[132] Lord Darcy excused himself by replying that he
was not to blame; that he had done his best; but there were sixty
thousand men in arms, forty thousand in harness. They took what they
pleased--horses, plate, and cattle; the whole population was with them;
he could not trust his own retainers; and, preparing the king for what
he was next to hear, he informed him that Pomfret itself was
defenceless. "The town," he said, "nor any other town, will not victual
us for our money; and of such provision as we ourselves have made, the
commons do stop the passage so straitly, that no victual can come to us;
the castle is in danger to be taken, or we to lose our lives."[133] The
defence may have been partially true. It may have been merely plausible.
At all events, it was necessary for him to come to some swift
resolution. The occupation of Lincoln by the Duke of Suffolk had set
Lord Shrewsbury at liberty; arms had been sent down, and money; and the
midland counties, in recovered confidence, had furnished recruits,
though in limited numbers. He was now at Newark, in a condition to
advance; and on the same 17th of October, on which this despairing
letter was written, he sent forward a post to Pomfret, telling Darcy to
hold his ground, and that he would join him at the earliest moment
possible.[134] Neither the rebels nor Shrewsbury could afford to lose so
important a position; and both made haste. Again, on the same Tuesday,
the 17th, couriers brought news to Aske, at York, that the commons of
Durham were hasting to join him, bringing with them Lord Latimer, Lord
Lumley, and the Earl of Westmoreland. Being thus secure in his rear,
the rebel leader carried his answer to Lord Darcy in person, at the head
of his forces. He reached Pomfret on the afternoon of Thursday, the
19th; finding the town on his side, and knowing or suspecting Darcy's
disposition, he sent in a message that the castle must be delivered, or
it should be immediately stormed. A conference was demanded and agreed
to. Hostages were sent in by Aske. Lord Darcy, the archbishop, and the
other noblemen and gentlemen, came out before the gate.
[Sidenote: Declares the intentions of the people,]
"And there and then the said Aske declared unto the said lords spiritual
and temporal the griefs of the commons; and how first the lords
spiritual had not done their duty, in that they had not been plain with
the King's Highness for the speedy remedy and punishing of heresy, and
the preachers thereof; and for the taking the ornaments of the churches
and abbeys suppressed, and the violating of relics by the suppressors;
the irreverent demeanour of the doers thereof; the abuse of the
vestments taken extraordinary; and other their negligences in doing
their duty, as well to their sovereign as to the commons.
"And to the lords temporal the said Aske declared that they had misused
themselves, in that they had not prudently declared to his Highness the
poverty of his realm, whereby all dangers might have been avoided; for
insomuch as in the north parts much of the relief of the commons was by
favour of abbeys; and that before this last statute made the King's
Highness had no money out of that shire in award yearly, for that his
Grace's revenues of them went to the finding of Berwick; now the
property of abbeys suppressed, tenths, and first-fruits, went out of
those parts; by occasion whereof, within short space of years, there
should no money nor treasure then be left, neither the tenant have to
pay his yearly rent to his lord, nor the lord have money to do the king
service. In those parts were neither the presence of his Grace,
execution of his laws, nor yet but little recourse of merchandize; and
of necessity the said country should either perish with skaith, or of
very poverty make commotion or rebellion: and the lords knew the same to
be true, and had not done their duty, for they had not declared the said
poverty of the said country to the King's Highness."[135]
[Sidenote: And threatens to storm the castle.]
[Sidenote: Friday, October 20. Lord Darcy surrenders.]
"There were divers reasonings on both parts." Darcy asked for time; if
not relieved, he said he would surrender on Saturday; but Aske, to whom
Shrewsbury's position and intentions were well known, and who was
informed privately that the few men who were in the castle would perhaps
offer no resistance to an attack, "would not condescend thereto." He
allowed Lord Darcy till eight o'clock the following morning, and no
longer. The night passed. At the hour appointed, fresh delay was
demanded, but with a certainty that it would not be allowed; and the
alternative being an immediate storm, the drawbridge was
lowered--Pomfret Castle was in possession of the rebels, and Lord Darcy,
the Archbishop of York, and every other man within the walls, high and
low, were sworn to the common oath.
The extent of deliberate treachery on the part of Darcy may remain
uncertain. The objects of the insurrection were cordially approved by
him. It is not impossible that, when the moment came, he could not
resign his loyalty without a struggle. But he had taken no precautions
to avert the catastrophe, if he had not consciously encouraged its
approach; he saw it coming, and he waited in the most unfavourable
position to be overwhelmed; and when the step was once taken, beyond any
question he welcomed the excuse to his conscience, and passed instantly
to the front rank as among the chiefs of the enterprise.[136]
The afternoon of the surrender the insurgent leaders were sitting at
dinner at the great table in the hall. A letter was brought in and given
to Lord Darcy. He read it, dropped it on the cloth, and "suddenly gave a
great sigh." Aske, who was sitting opposite to him, stretched his hand
for the paper across the board. It was brief, and carried no signature:
Lord Shrewsbury, the writer merely said, would be at Pomfret the same
night.[137]
[Sidenote: The rebels secure the passages of the Don.]
The sigh may be easily construed; but if it was a symptom of repentance,
Darcy showed no other. A council of war was held when the dinner was
over; and bringing his military knowledge into use, he pointed out the
dangerous spots, he marked the lines of defence, and told off the
commanders to their posts. Before night all the passages of the Don by
which Shrewsbury could advance were secured.[138]
[Sidenote: Siege of Hull.]
Leaving Pomfret, we turn for a moment to Hull, where Stapleton also had
accomplished his work expeditiously. On the same day on which he
separated from Aske he had taken a position on the north of the town.
There was a private feud between Beverley and Hull. His men were unruly,
and eager for spoil; and the harbour being full of shipping, it was with
difficulty that he prevented them from sending down blazing
pitch-barrels with the tide into the midst of it, and storming the walls
in the smoke and confusion. Stapleton, however, was a resolute man; he
was determined that the cause should not be disgraced by outrage, and he
enforced discipline by an act of salutary severity. Two of the most
unmanageable of his followers were tried by court-martial, and sentenced
to be executed. "A Friar," Stapleton says, "was assigned to them, that
they might make them clean to God," and they expected nothing but death.
But the object so far was only to terrify. One of them, "a sanctuary
man," was tied by the waist with a rope, and trailed behind a boat up
and down the river, and "the waterman did at several times put him down
with the oar under the head." The other seeing him, thought also to be
so handled; "howbeit, at the request of honest men, and being a
housekeeper, he was suffered to go unpunished, and both were banished
the host; after which there was never spoil more."[139]
[Sidenote: Hull surrenders.]
In the town there was mere despondency, and each day made defence more
difficult. Reinforcements were thronging into the rebels' camp; the
harbour was at their mercy. Constable was for holding out to the last,
and then cutting his way through. Ellerkar would agree to surrender if
he and his friend might be spared the oath and might leave the county.
These terms were accepted, and on Friday Stapleton occupied Hull.
[Sidenote: Skipton Castle holds out for the king.]
So it went over the whole north; scarcely one blow was struck any where.
The whole population were swept along in the general current, and
Skipton Castle alone in Yorkshire now held out for the crown.
With the defence of this place is connected an act of romantic heroism
which deserves to be remembered.
Robert Aske, as we have seen, had two brothers, Christopher and John. In
the hot struggle the ties of blood were of little moment, and when the
West Riding rose, and they had to choose the part which they would take,
"they determined rather to be hewn in gobbets than stain their
allegiance." Being gallant gentlemen, instead of flying the county, they
made their way with forty of their retainers to their cousin the Earl of
Cumberland, and with him threw themselves into Skipton. The aid came in
good time; for the day after their arrival the earl's whole retinue rode
off in a body to the rebels, leaving him but a mixed household of some
eighty people to garrison the castle. They were soon surrounded; but
being well provisioned, and behind strong stone walls, they held the
rebels at bay, and but for an unfortunate accident they could have faced
the danger with cheerfulness. But unhappily the earl's family were in
the heart of the danger.
[Sidenote: Christopher Aske saves Lady Eleanor Clifford from outrage.]
Lady Eleanor Clifford, Lord Clifford's young wife, with three little
children and several other ladies, were staying, when the insurrection
burst out, at Bolton Abbey. Perhaps they had taken sanctuary there; or
possibly they were on a visit, and were cut off by the suddenness of the
rising. There, however, ten miles off among the glens and hills, the
ladies were, and on the third day of the siege notice was sent to the
earl that they should be held as hostages for his submission. The
insurgents threatened that the day following Lady Eleanor and her infant
son and daughters should be brought up in front of a storming party, and
if the attack again failed, they would "violate all the ladies, and
enforce them with knaves" under the walls.[140] After the ferocious
murder of the Bishop of Lincoln's chancellor, no villany was impossible;
and it is likely that the Catholic rebellion would have been soiled by
as deep an infamy as can be found in the English annals but for the
adventurous courage of Christopher Aske. In the dead of the night, with
the vicar of Skipton, a groom, and a boy, he stole through the camp of
the besiegers. He crossed the moors, with led horses, by unfrequented
paths, and he "drew such a draught", he says, that he conveyed all the
said ladies through the commons in safety, "so close and clean, that the
same was never mistrusted nor perceived till they were within the
castle;"[141] a noble exploit, shining on the by-paths of history like a
rare rich flower. Proudly the little garrison looked down, when day
dawned, from the battlements, upon the fierce multitude who were howling
below in baffled rage. A few days later, as if in scorn of their
impotence, the same gallant gentleman flung open the gates, dropped the
drawbridge, and rode down in full armour, with his train, to the
market-cross at Skipton, and there, after three long "Oyez's," he read
aloud the king's proclamation in the midst of the crowd ... "with
leisure enough," he adds, in his disdainful way ... "and that done, he
returned to the castle."
[Sidenote: The Duke of Norfolk goes down to the north to support
Shrewsbury.]
[Sidenote: The government are in want of money.]
[Sidenote: October 24.]
While the north was thus in full commotion, the government were
straining every nerve to meet the emergency. The king had at first
intended to repair in person to Lincolnshire. He had changed his mind
when he heard of Suffolk's rapid success.[142] But Yorkshire seemed
again to require his presence. The levies which had been sent for from
the southern counties had been countermanded, but were recalled within a
few hours of the first order. "The matter hung like a fever, now hot,
now cold." Rumours took the place of intelligence. Each post
contradicted the last, and for several days there was no certain news,
either of the form or the extent of the danger. Lord Shrewsbury wrote
that he had thrown his outposts forwards to the Don; but he doubted his
ability to prevent the passage of the river, which he feared the rebels
would attempt. He was still underhanded, and entreated assistance. The
Earls of Rutland and Huntingdon were preparing to join him; but the
reinforcement which they would bring was altogether inadequate, and the
Duke of Norfolk and the Marquis of Exeter were sent down to add the
weight of their names; their men should follow as they could be raised.
Cromwell was collecting money in London. The subsidy had not been paid
in; large sums belonging to the crown had fallen into the hands of Aske
at York, and the treasury was empty. But "benevolences" were extorted
from the wealthy London clergy: "they could not help in their persons,"
the king said, and "they must show their good will, if they had any," in
another way.[143] Loans could be borrowed, besides, in the City; the
royal plate could go to the Mint; the crown jewels, if necessary, could
be sold. Henry, more than any of the council, now comprehended the
danger. "His Majesty," wrote his secretary on the 18th of October,
"appeareth to fear much this matter, specially if he should want money,
for in Lord Darcy, his Grace said, he had no great hope." Ten thousand
pounds were raised in two days. It was but a small instalment; but it
served to "stop the gap" for the moment. Three thousand men, with six
pieces of field artillery, were sent at once after Norfolk, and overtook
him on the 24th of October at Worksop.
[Sidenote: Norfolk and Shrewsbury advance to Doncaster,]
[Sidenote: Weak in numbers, and doubtful of their followers' fidelity,]
[Sidenote: Henry urges Norfolk to be cautious.]
[Sidenote: In case of real danger he shall fall back on the Trent, where
the king will join him;]
Norfolk, it was clear, had gone upon the service most reluctantly. He,
too, had deeper sympathy with the movement than he cared to avow; but,
even from those very sympathies, he was the fittest person to be chosen
to suppress it. The rebels professed to have risen in defence of the
nobility and the Catholic faith. They would have to fight their way
through an army led by the natural head of the party which they desired
to serve.[144] The force under Shrewsbury was now at Doncaster, where,
on the 25th, the Duke joined him. The town was in their hands, and the
southern end of the bridge had been fortified. The autumn rains had by
this time raised the river, securing their flank, and it would have been
difficult for an attacking army to force a passage, even with great
advantage of numbers. Their situation, at the same time, was most
precarious; of the forty thousand men, of whom Shrewsbury had written to
Lord Hussey, he had not been able to raise a tenth; and, if rumour was
to be believed, the loyalty of the few who were with him would not bear
too severe a strain. With Norfolk's reinforcements, the whole army did
not, perhaps, exceed eight thousand men, while even these were divided;
detachments were scattered up the river to watch and guard the few
points at which it might be passed. Under such circumstances the conduct
which might be necessary could only be determined on the spot; and the
king, in his instructions, left a wide margin of discretion to the
generals.[145] He had summoned the whole force of the south and west of
England to join him in London, and he intended to appear himself at
their head. He directed Norfolk, therefore, to observe the greatest
caution; by all means to avoid a battle, unless with a certainty of
victory; and "the chances of war being so uncertain," he said, "many
times devices meant for the best purpose turning to evil happs and
notable misfortunes," he advised that rather than there should be any
risk incurred, the duke should fall back on the line of the Trent,
fortify Newark and Nottingham, and wait on his own arrival; "until," to
use the king's own words, "with our army royal, which we do put in
readiness, we shall repair unto you, and so with God's help be able to
bear down the traitors before us; yourselves having more regard to the
defence of us and of your natural country than to any dishonour that
might be spoken of such retirement, which in the end shall prove more
honourable than with a little hasty forwardness to jeopard both our
honour and your lives." "For we assure you," he said "we would neither
adventure you our cousin of Norfolk, nor you our cousin of Shrewsbury,
or other our good and true subjects, in such sort as there should be a
likelihood of wilful casting of any of you away for all the lands and
dominion we have on that side Trent."
The Duke of Norfolk, on his way down, had written from Welbeck, "all
desperately." By any means fair or foul, he had said that he would crush
the rebels; "he would esteem no promise that he would make to them, nor
think his honour touched in the breach of the same."[146]
[Sidenote: And he must be careful to make no promises which cannot
afterwards be observed.]
To this Henry replied, "Albeit we certainly know that ye will pretermit
none occasion wherein by policy or otherwise ye may damage our enemies,
we doubt not, again, but in all your proceedings you will have such a
temperance as our honour specially shall remain untouched, and yours
rather increased, than by the certain grant of that you cannot certainly
promise, appear in the mouths of the worst men anything defaced."
Finally, he concluded, "Whereas you desire us, in case any mischance
should happen unto you, to be good lord unto your children, surely, good
cousin, albeit we trust certainly in God that no such thing shall
fortune, yet we would you should perfectly know that if God should take
you out of this transitory life before us, we should not fail so to
remember your children, being your lively images, and in such wise to
look on them with our princely favour as others by their example should
not be discouraged to follow your steps."[147]
[Sidenote: Saturday, October 21.]
[Sidenote: Lancaster Herald is sent to Pomfret.]
Lord Shrewsbury, as soon as he found himself too late to prevent the
capture of Pomfret, sent forward Lancaster Herald with a royal
proclamation, and with directions that it should be read at the market
cross.[148] The herald started on his perilous adventure "in his king's
coat of arms." As he approached Pomfret he overtook crowds of the
country people upon the road, who in answer to his questions told him
that they were in arms to defend Holy Church, which wicked men were
destroying. They and their cattle too, their burials and their weddings,
were to be taxed, and they would not endure it. He informed them that
they were all imposed upon. Neither the king nor the council had ever
thought of any such measures; and the people, he said, seemed ready to
listen, "being weary of their lives." Lies, happily, are canker-worms,
and spoil all causes, good or bad, which admit their company, as those
who had spread these stories discovered to their cost when the truth
became generally known.
Lancaster Herald, however, could do little; he found the town swarming
with armed men, eager and furious. He was arrested before he was able to
unroll his parchment, and presently a message from the castle summoned
him to appear before "the great captain."
[Sidenote: He is introduced into the castle,]
"As I entered into the first ward," he said, "there I found many in
harness, very cruel fellows, and a porter with a white staff in his
hand; and at the two other ward gates a porter with his staff,
accompanied with harnessed men. I was brought into the hall, which I
found full of people; and there I was commanded to tarry till the
traitorous captain's pleasure was known. In that space I stood up at the
high table in the hall, and there shewed to the people the cause of my
coming and the effect of the proclamation; and in doing the same the
said Aske sent for me into his chamber, there keeping his port and
countenance as though he had been a great prince."
[Sidenote: Where he has an interview with Aske.]
The Archbishop of York, Lord Darcy, Sir Robert Constable, Mr. Magnus,
Sir Christopher Danby, and several other gentlemen were in the room. As
the herald entered, Aske rose, and, "with a cruel and inestimable proud
countenance, stretched himself and took the hearing of the tale." When
it was declared to him, he requested to see the proclamation, took it,
and read it openly without reverence to any person; he then said he need
call no council, he would give an answer of his own wit himself.
"Standing in the highest place in the chamber, taking the high estate
upon him, 'Herald,' he replied, 'as a messenger you are welcome to me
and all my company, intending as I do. And as for the proclamation sent
from the lords from whom you come, it shall not be read at the market
cross,[149] nor in no place amongst my people which be under my
guiding.'"
[Sidenote: Aske will go to London and restore the faith of Christ.]
He spoke of his intentions; the herald enquired what they were. He said
"he would go to London, he and his company, of pilgrimage to the King's
Highness, and there to have all the vile blood of his council put from
him, and all the noble blood set up again; and also the faith of Christ
and his laws to be kept, and full restitution to Christ's Church of all
wrongs done unto it; and also the commonalty to be used as they should
be." "And he bade me trust to this," the herald said, "for he would die
for it."
Lancaster begged for that answer in writing. "With a good will," Aske
replied; "and he put his hand to his bill, and with a proud voice said,
'This is mine act, whosoever say to the contrary. I mean no harm to the
king's person, but to see reformation; I will die in the quarrel, and my
people with me.'"
Lancaster again entreated on his knees that he might read the
proclamation. On his life he should not, Aske answered; he might come
and go at his pleasure, and if Shrewsbury desired an interview with the
Pomfret council, a safe conduct was at his service; but he would allow
nothing to be put in the people's heads which might divert them from
their purpose. "Commend me to the lords," he said at parting, "and tell
them it were meet they were with me, for that I do is for all their
wealths."[150]
[Sidenote: The gathering of the nobility at Pomfret.]
[Sidenote: Loyalty of the Earl of Northumberland.]
By this time the powers of all the great families, except the Cliffords,
the Dacres, and the Musgraves, had come in to the confederacy. Six
peers, or eldest sons of peers, were willingly or unwillingly with Aske
at Pomfret. Lord Westmoreland was represented by Lord Neville. Lord
Latimer was present in person, and with him Lord Darcy, Lord Lumley,
Lord Scrope, Lord Conyers. Besides these, were the Constables of
Flamborough, the Tempests from Durham, the Boweses, the Everses, the
Fairfaxes, the Strangwayses, young Ellerkar of Ellerkar, the Danbys, St.
Johns, Bulmers, Mallorys, Lascelleses, Nortons, Moncktons, Gowers,
Ingoldsbys: we scarcely miss a single name famous in Border story. Such
a gathering had not been seen in England since the grandfathers of these
same men fought on Towton Moor, and the red rose of Lancaster faded
before "the summer sun of York." Were their descendants, in another
bloody battle, to seat a fresh Plantagenet on Edward's throne? No such
aim had as yet risen consciously into form; but civil wars have strange
issues--a scion of the old house was perhaps dreaming, beyond the sea,
of a new and better-omened union; a prince of the pure blood might marry
the Princess Mary, restored to her legitimate inheritance. Of all the
natural chiefs of the north who were in the power of the insurgents,
Lord Northumberland only was absent. On the first summons he was spared
for his illness; a second deputation ordered him to commit his powers,
as the leader of his clan, to his brothers. But the brave Percy chose to
die as he had lived. "At that time and at all other times, the earl was
very earnest against the commons in the king's behalf and the lord privy
seal's." He lay in his bed resolute in loyalty. The crowd yelled before
the castle, "Strike off his head, and make Sir Thomas Percy earl."--"I
can die but once," he said; "let them do it; it will rid me of my
pain."--"And therewith the earl fell weeping, ever wishing himself out
of the world."[151]
[Sidenote: The insurgents march to Doncaster.]
They left him to nature and to death, which was waiting at his doors.
The word went now through the army, "Every man to Doncaster." There lay
Shrewsbury and the Duke of Norfolk, with a small handful of disaffected
men between themselves and London, to which they were going.
They marched from Pomfret in three divisions. Sir Thomas Percy, at the
head of five thousand men, carried the banner of St. Cuthbert. In the
second division, over ten thousand strong, were the musters of
Holderness and the West Riding, with Aske himself and Lord Darcy. The
rear was a magnificent body of twelve thousand horse, all in armour: the
knights, esquires, and yeomen of Richmondshire and Durham.[152]
In this order they came down to the Don, where their advanced posts were
already stationed, and deployed along the banks from Ferrybridge[153]
to Doncaster.
[Sidenote: Disaffection in the royal army.]
A deep river, heavily swollen, divided them from the royal army; but
they were assured by spies that the water was the only obstacle which
prevented the loyalists from deserting to them.[154]
[Sidenote: Expectation that the Duke of Norfolk would give way;]
There were traitors in London who kept them informed of Henry's
movements, and even of the resolutions at the council board.[155] They
knew that if they could dispose of the one small body in their front, no
other force was as yet in the field which could oppose or even delay
their march. They had even persuaded themselves that, on the mere
display of their strength, the Duke of Norfolk must either retire or
would himself come over to their side.
[Sidenote: Which, however, is disappointed.]
Norfolk, however, who had but reached Doncaster the morning of the same
day, lay still, and as yet showed no sign of moving. If they intended to
pass, they must force the bridge. Apparently they must fight a battle;
and at this extremity they hesitated. Their professed intention was no
more than an armed demonstration. They were ready to fight;[156] but in
fighting they could no longer maintain the pretence that they were loyal
subjects. They desired to free the king from plebeian advisers, and
restore the influence of the nobles. It was embarrassing to commence
with defeating an army led by four peers of the purest blood in
England.[157]
[Sidenote: Oct. 25, 26. Eagerness of the clergy to advance.]
For two days the armies lay watching each other.[158] Parties of clergy
were busy up and down the rebel host, urging an advance, protesting that
if they hesitated the cause was lost; but their overwhelming strength
seems to have persuaded the leaders that their cause, so far from being
lost, was won already, and that there was no need of violence.
On the 25th, Lancaster Herald came across to desire, in Norfolk's name,
that four of them would hold an interview with him, under a safe
conduct, in Doncaster, and explain their objects. Aske replied by a
counter offer, that eight or twelve principal persons on both sides
should hold a conference on Doncaster bridge.
[Sidenote: Council of war.]
[Sidenote: Aske advises negotiations.]
Both proposals were rejected; the duke said that he should remain in his
lines, and receive their attack whenever they dared to make it.[159]
There was a pause. Aske called a council of war; and "the lords"--or
perhaps Lord Darcy--knowing that in rebellions half measures are
suicide, voted for an immediate onset. Aske himself was of a different
opinion. Norfolk did not wholly refuse negotiation; one other attempt
might at least be made to avoid bloodshed. "The duke," he said, in his
account of his conduct, "neither of those days had above six or eight
thousand men, while we were nigh thirty thousand at the least; but we
considered that if battle had been given, if the duke had obtained the
victory, all the knights, esquires, and all others of those parts had
been attainted, slain, and undone for the Scots and the enemies of the
king; and, on the other part, if the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of
Shrewsbury, the Earl of Rutland, the Earl of Huntingdon, the Lord
Talbot, and others, had been slain, what great captains, councillors,
noble blood, persons dread in foreign realms, and Catholic knights had
wanted and been lost. What displeasure should this have been to the
king's public wealth, and what comfort to the antient enemies of the
realm. It was considered also what honour the north parts had attained
by the said duke; how he was beloved for his activity and fortune."[160]
[Sidenote: Commissioners from the rebels are sent into Doncaster.]
[Sidenote: Conditions on which the rebels will treat.]
If a battle was to be avoided nevertheless, no time was to be lost, for
skirmishing parties were crossing the river backwards and forwards, and
accident might at any moment bring on a general engagement. Aske had
gained his point at the council; he signified his desire for a further
parley, and on Thursday afternoon, after an exchange of hostages, Sir
Thomas Hilton, Sir Ralph Ellerkar, Sir Robert Chaloner, and Sir Robert
Bowes[161] crossed to the royal camp to attempt, if possible, to induce
the duke to agree to the open conference on the bridge.[162] The
conditions on which they would consent to admit even this first slight
concession were already those of conquerors. A preliminary promise must
be made by the duke that all persons who, in heart, word, or deed, had
taken part in the insurrection, should have free pardon for life, lands,
and goods; that neither in the pardon nor in the public records of the
realm should they be described as traitors. The duke must explain
further the extent of his powers to treat. If "the captain" was to be
present on the bridge, he must state what hostages he was prepared to
offer for the security of so great a person; and as Richard Cromwell was
supposed to be with the king's army, neither he nor any of his kin
should be admitted among the delegates. If these terms were allowed, the
conference should take place, and the objects of the insurrection might
be explained in full for the duke to judge of them.[163]
[Sidenote: Conference on the bridge at Doncaster.]
Hilton and his companions remained for the night in Doncaster. In the
morning they returned with a favourable answer. After dinner the same
four gentlemen, accompanied by Lords Latimer, Lumley, Darcy, Sir Robert
Constable, and Sir John Bulmer, went down upon the bridge. They were met
by an equal number of knights and noblemen from Norfolk's army; Robert
Aske remaining on the bank of the Don, "the whole host standing with him
in perfect array."[164] The conference lasted till the October day had
closed in darkness. What destinies did not hang upon its issue? The
insurgents it is likely might have forced the passage of the river; and
although the river of time was running with too full a current for them
or any man to have stayed its course, yet they might have stained its
waters with streams of English blood; the sunrise of the Reformation
might have been veiled in storms; and victory, when it came at last,
have shone over gory battle-fields and mangled ruins.
Such was not the destiny appointed for England. The insurgents were
deceived by their strength. They believed themselves irresistible, and
like many others who have played at revolutions, dreamt that they could
afford to be moderate.
[Sidenote: Sir Robert Bowes and Sir Ralph Ellerkar carry the petition of
the rebels to the king.]
It was agreed that Sir Robert Bowes and Sir Ralph Ellerkar should carry
the articles to the king; that the Duke of Norfolk should escort them in
person, and intercede for their favourable hearing. Meanwhile, and till
the king's reply was known, there should be an armistice. The musters on
both sides should be disbanded,--neither party should "innovate" upon
the _status in quo_.
The loyalists and the rebels alike expected to gain by delay. Letters
from all parts of the kingdom were daily pouring in to Aske, full of
gratitude, admiration, and promises of help.[165] He had leisure to
organize the vast force of which the command had been thrust upon him,
to communicate with the Emperor or with the regent's court at Brussels,
and to establish a correspondence with the southern counties.
[Sidenote: Both parties expect to gain by delay.]
The Duke of Norfolk escaped an immediate danger agreeing in heart with
the general objects of the rising, he trusted that the petition,
supported by the formidable report which he would carry up with him,
might bring the king to consent to a partial reaction; if not to be
reconciled to the Pope, at least to sacrifice Cromwell and the heretical
bishops.
The weight of the crisis now rested on Henry himself. Cromwell was
powerless where his own person was the subject of contention. He had no
friends,--or none whose connexion with him did not increase his
danger,--while by his enemies he was hated as an incarnation of Satan.
He left his cause in the king's hands, to be supported or allowed to
fall.
[Sidenote: Advice of the Privy Council to the king.]
[Sidenote: Which he will not receive.]
But the Tudor princes were invariably most calm when those around them
were panic-stricken. From the moment that the real danger was known, the
king's own hand was on the helm--his own voice was heard dictating his
orders. Lincolnshire had again become menacing, and Suffolk had written
despairing letters; the king told him "not to be frightened at his
shadow."[166] The reactionary members of the council had suggested a
call of parliament, and a proclamation that if any of the king's
subjects could prove the late measures of the government to be against
the laws of God or the interests of the commonwealth, these measures
should be undone. They had begged, further, that his Highness would
invite all persons who had complaints against Cromwell and the bishops
to come forward with their proofs, and would give a promise that if the
charges could be substantiated, they should be proceeded against and
punished.[167] At such a crisis the king refused either to call a
parliament to embarrass his hands, or to invite his subjects to argue
against his policy. "He dared rather to testify that there never were in
any of his predecessors' days so many wholesome, commodious, and
beneficial acts made for the commonwealth: for those who were named
subverters of God's laws he did take and repute them to be just and true
executors of God's laws." If any one could duly prove to the contrary,
they should be duly punished. "But in case," he said, "it be but a false
and untrue report (as we verily think it is), then it were as meet, and
standeth as well with justice, that they should have the self-same
punishment which wrongfully hath objected this to them that they should
have had if they deserved it."[168]
[Sidenote: November 1.]
On the 29th of October he was on the point of setting off from London;
circulars had gone out to the mayors of the towns informing them of his
purpose, and directing them to keep watch and ward night and day,[169]
when Norfolk reached the court with the two messengers.
[Sidenote: The insurgent emissaries are detained at the court.]
[Sidenote: The king writes private letters to the lords and gentlemen.]
Henry received them graciously. Instead of sending them back with an
immediate answer, he detained them for a fortnight, and in that interval
gained them wholly over to himself. With their advice and assistance he
sent private letters among the insurgent leaders. To Lord Latimer and
the other nobles he represented the dishonour which they had brought
upon themselves by serving under Aske; he implored both them and the
many other honourable men who had been led away to return to their
allegiance, "so as we may not," he said, "be enforced to extend our
princely power against you, but with honour, and without further
inconvenience, may perform that clemency on which we have
determined."[170]
[Sidenote: Heralds are sent into the northern towns to combat the
delusions to which the people have been exposed.]
By infinite exertion he secured the services, from various parts of
England, of fifty thousand reliable men who would join him on immediate
notice; while into the insurgent counties he despatched heralds, with
instructions to go to the large towns, to observe the disposition of the
people, and, if it could be done with safety, to request the assistance
of the mayor and bailiffs, "gently and with good words in his Grace's
name." If the herald "used himself discreetly," they would probably make
little difficulty; in which case he should repair in his coat of arms,
attended by the officers of the corporation, to the market cross, and
explain to the people the untruth of the stories by which they had been
stirred to rebellion. The poorest subject, the king said, had at all
times access to his presence to declare his suits to him; if any among
them had felt themselves aggrieved, why had they not first come to him
as petitioners, and heard the truth from his own lips. "What folly was
it then to adventure their bodies and souls, their lands, lives and
goods, wives and children, upon a base false lie, set forth by false
seditious persons, intending and desiring only a general spoil and a
certain destruction of honest people, honest wives, and innocent
children. What ruth and pity was it that Christian men, which were not
only by God's law bound to obey their prince, but also to provide
nutriment and sustentation for their wives and children, should forget
altogether, and put them in danger of fire and sword for the
accomplishment of a certain mad and furious attempt." They could not
recall the past. Let them amend their faults by submission for the
future. The king only desired their good. He had a force in reserve with
which he could and would crush them if they drove him to it; he hoped
that he might be able only to show them mercy and pardon.[171] As to the
suppression of the abbeys, the people should learn to compare their
actual condition with the objects for which they were founded. Let them
consider the three vows of religion--poverty, chastity, and
obedience--and ask themselves how far these vows had been
observed.[172]
[Sidenote: Continued irritation in the disturbed counties.]
[Sidenote: Aske's measures of organization.]
[Sidenote: Posts are laid down.]
[Sidenote: Hull is fortified.]
[Sidenote: Rumour of the intended advance of Aske and Lord Darcy.]
The heralds attempted their mission, and partially succeeded; but so hot
a fever was not to be cooled on a sudden; and connected with the delay
of the messengers, and with information of the measures which the king
was procuring, their presence created, perhaps, more irritation and
suspicion than their words accomplished good. The siege of Skipton
continued; separate local insurrections were continually blazing; the
monks everywhere were replaced in the abbeys; and Aske, who, though
moderate, was a man of clear, keen decision, determined, since the king
was slow in sending up his concessions, to anticipate them by calling a
parliament and convocation of the northern notables, to sit at
York.[173] "The king's treasure," which had fallen into his hands, gave
him command of money; the religious houses contributed their plate;
circulars were addressed to every parish and township, directing them
to have their contingents ready at any moment to march; and, to insure a
rapid transmission of orders, regular posts were established from Hull
to Templehurst, from Templehurst to York, from York to Durham, from
Durham to Newcastle. The roads were patrolled night and day; all unknown
persons in town or village were examined and "ripped."[174] The harbour
at Hull was guarded with cannon, and the town held by a strong garrison
under Sir Robert Constable, lest armed ships from Portsmouth might
attempt to seize it. Constable himself, with whose name we have already
become familiar, was now, after Robert Aske and Lord Darcy, the third
great leader of the movement.[175] The weather had changed, an early
winter had set in, and the rivers either fell or froze; the low marsh
country again became passable, and rumours were abroad that Darcy
intended to surprise Doncaster, and advance towards Nottingham; and that
Aske and Constable would cross the Humber, and, passing through
Lincolnshire, would cut off Suffolk, and join him at the same
place.[176]
[Sidenote: Nov. 9. Reinforcements are sent to Lord Shrewsbury.]
The king, feeling that the only safety was in boldness, replied by
ordering Lord Shrewsbury to advance again to his old position. The
danger must have been really great, as even Shrewsbury hesitated, and
this time preferred to hold the line of the Trent.[177] But Henry would
now hear nothing of retreat. His own musters were at last coming up in
strength. The fortification of Hull, he said, was a breach of the
engagement at Doncaster; and Vernon, one of the lords of the Welsh
Marches, Sir Philip Draycote, and Sir Henry Sacheverell, going to
Shrewsbury's assistance, the line of the Don was again occupied. The
head-quarters were at Rotherham, and a depôt of artillery and stores was
established at Tickhill.[178]
[Sidenote: Projects to seize or murder Aske.]
In Suffolk's camp at Lincoln a suggestion was started whether Aske's
attack might not be anticipated,--whether, by a swift, silent
enterprise, it might not be possible to seize and carry off both him and
Sir R. Constable. Two volunteers were found who offered to make the
experiment. One of them, Anthony Curtis, a cousin of Aske, "for private
malice, said that if he might have licence, he would find sureties, and
would either kill his kinsman or be killed himself."[179] Another
attempt for Aske's destruction was made by the Duke of Norfolk, who had
no objection to a coalition of noblemen against Cromwell, but disdained
the dictation of an unknown upstart. He supposed that he might tempt
Lord Darcy to an act of treachery, and sent a questionable proposal to
him by the hands of a servant of Lord Hussey, a certain Percival
Cresswell. The attempt failed; but Cresswell's account of his mission is
not a little curious.
[Sidenote: November 10.]
[Sidenote: The Duke of Norfolk sends Percival Cresswell to Lord Darcy.]
[Sidenote: The anteroom at Templehurst.]
[Sidenote: The Duke of Norfolk desires Lord Darcy to betray Aske.]
[Sidenote: Darcy will not stain his coat for the best dukedom in
France.]
[Sidenote: November 11.]
He arrived at Templehurst on Friday, November the 10th, shortly before
dinner. Lord Darcy was walking with Aske himself, who was his guest at
the time, and a party of the commons in the castle garden. Cresswell
gave him a letter from Norfolk, which was cautiously worded, in case it
should fall into wrong hands, and said he was charged also with a
private message. The danger of exciting suspicion was so great that
Darcy had a difficulty in arranging a separate conversation. He took
Cresswell into the castle, where he left him in an anteroom full of
armed men. They gathered about him, and inquired whether Cromwell, "whom
they called most vilipendiously," was put out of the king's council. He
replied that the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Oxford, Lord Sussex, and Sir
William Fitzwilliam were with the king. "God save the king!" they said;
"as long as noblemen of the true blood rule about the king all will be
well. But how of Cromwell? Is he put from the council or no?" Cresswell
said that he was still on the council. "Then, whatsoever the Lord Darcy
say to you," they answered, "show the king and the lords that until our
petitions are granted we will take no pardon till we have our will."
Darcy had by this time secured a private room and a few private moments.
He called Cresswell in. "Now tell your message," he said. "The Duke of
Norfolk desires you," announced the messenger, "to deliver up Aske,
quick or dead, but if possible, alive; and you shall so show yourself a
true subject, and the king will so regard you."[180] Darcy replied like
a nobleman. He had given his faith, he said, and he would not stain his
coat.[181] He wrote a few lines to Norfolk. "Alas, my Lord!" his letter
said, "that you, being a man of so great honour, should advise or choose
me to betray any living man, Frenchman, Scot, yea, or even Turk. To win
for me or for mine heirs the best duke's lands that be in France, I
would not do it to no living person."[182] The next morning, after mass,
he again called Cresswell to him, and bade him tell the king that he had
never done better service either to him or to his father than he was
doing at that moment, and if there was to be peace, he recommended that
the answer to the petition should be returned instantly.
The king had written more than one answer; but in each draught which he
had made there was a reservation attached to the promise of a general
pardon, excluding in one instance ten persons, in another, six, from the
benefit of it;[183] and they were withdrawn all of them in deference to
the protests of the Duke of Norfolk. Ellerkar and Bowes were dismissed
on the 14th of November, "with general instructions of comfort."[184]
Norfolk himself, with other commissioners, would return to the north at
the end of the month with a final reply.
[Sidenote: Rebel council at York.]
[Sidenote: Advice of Sir Robert Constable to make sure the northern
counties.]
The ill-humour of the insurgents was meanwhile increasing; division had
begun to show itself; the people suspected the gentlemen, the gentlemen,
feared the people, and noisy demonstrations showed Aske that a state of
inaction was too dangerous to continue. On the return of Bowes and
Ellerkar a hasty council was called at York. The question was put
whether they should wait or not for the arrival of the commissioners.
Especial exasperation had been caused by a letter of Cromwell to Sir
Ralph Evers, in which it was said that, "unless the commons would be
soon pacified, there should be such vengeance taken that the whole world
should speak thereof."[185] It was proposed to cut short further parley,
and leave the cause to be decided by the sword. Darcy had already
selected an agent to the court of Brussels, to beg that arms and
ammunition might be sent at once to Hull.[186] Sir Robert Constable
declared openly, "that if his advice might be taken, seeing he had
broken one point in the tables with the king, he would yet break
another, and have no meeting. He would have all the country made sure
from Trent northward; he doubted not they would have joined with them
all Lancashire and Cheshire, which would make them strong enough to
defend themselves against all men; and then," he said, "he would be
content to condescend to the meeting."[187]
Had this advice been taken, the consequences might have been serious;
but the fatal moderation of the leader prevailed over the more audacious
but safer counsel. The terms offered by the government should be first
discussed, but they should be discussed in security. The musters should
reassemble in full force.[188] They had summoned a northern parliament
and convocation. The two assemblies should sit at Pomfret and not at
York, and should meet at the time of the conference.
[Sidenote: November 26.]
[Sidenote: Aske again collects his army.]
[Sidenote: The king is reluctant to grant a general pardon.]
Thus, on the 26th of November, as the king's commissioners approached
the borders of Yorkshire,[189] the news reached them that the beacons
were again burning, and the force of the commons was again collecting.
The conference, if conference there was to be, must be held with their
hands on their sword-hilts. The black squadrons, with St. Cuthbert's
banner, would be swarming on the banks of the Don as before.[190] They
had brought down extensive powers, but the king had refused absolutely
to grant a complete pardon. Five or six of the worst offenders, he
insisted, should be surrendered; and if the rebels were obstinate,
Norfolk had been directed to protract the discussion, to win time by
policy, that he might himself come to them; and in the meantime to
consent to nothing, to promise nothing, and yet do and say nothing
"which might give them warning and respite to fortify themselves."[191]
[Sidenote: The Duke of Norfolk returns to Doncaster,]
[Sidenote: And sends a messenger entreating the king to give way.]
But the waters had fallen low; the ground was hard; the sharpest winter
had set in which had been known for years. The force which Shrewsbury
had with him could not now hold its position in the face of the vast
numbers which were collecting. When the number of the rebels who had
reassembled was known, Sir John Russell was sent back from Nottingham to
tell the king that his conditions could not be insisted upon, and to
entreat him not only to grant the full pardon, but to promise also to
hold a parliament in person at York.
[Sidenote: Council and convocation at Pomfret.]
[Sidenote: Nov. 27. Gallant conduct of the Archbishop of York.]
[Sidenote: The northern convocation pronounce against the Reformation.]
Ignorant what the answer would be, Norfolk, with the other
commissioners, went on to Doncaster, having prepared his way by a letter
to Lord Darcy, to do away the effect of his late overtures.[192] He
arrived at the town on the 28th of November. On Monday the 27th, the
northern notables, laity and clergy, had assembled at Pomfret.
Thirty-four peers and knights, besides gentlemen and extemporized
leaders of the commons, sate in the castle hall;[193] the Archbishop of
York and his convocation, in Pomfret church. The discussions of the
latter body were opened by the archbishop in a sermon, in which he dared
to declare the meeting unlawful and the insurrection traitorous. He was
swiftly silenced: a number of soldiers dragged him out of the pulpit,
and threw him down upon the pavement. He was rescued and carried off by
a party of his friends, or in a few more moments he would have been
murdered.[194] The clergy, delivered from his control, drew up a list of
articles, pronouncing successively against each step which had been
taken in the Reformation;[195] and other articles simultaneously were
drawn by the council in the hall. One by one, as the form of each was
resolved upon, they were read aloud to the assembly, and were received
with shouts of "Fiat! Fiat!"
[Sidenote: Nov. 29. The deputation of 300 from Pomfret to Doncaster.]
[Sidenote: December 2.]
Ten knights were then told off, and ten followers for every knight, to
ride down to Doncaster and arrange the preliminaries of the meeting.
They saw the duke on the day of his arrival; and on Wednesday the 29th,
Lord Darcy, Robert Aske, and three hundred of the most eminent of their
party, passed the bridge of the Don with a safe conduct into the town.
Wearing their pilgrim's badges, the five wounds of Christ crossed on
their breasts, "they made obeisance on their knees before the duke and
earls, and did humbly require to have the king's most merciful and free
pardon for any of their offences committed." This done, they presented
their resolutions, on which they had just determined at Pomfret, and the
discussion opened. The duke's hands were tied; he could undertake
nothing. The debate continued till Saturday, "exceeding perplexed,"
messengers hurrying to and fro between Doncaster and Pomfret. At length,
on Saturday, Sir John Russell came with the king's revised commission.
[Sidenote: The king will grant the general pardon, but against his own
judgment.]
[Sidenote: He warns Norfolk to make no concession beyond the letter of
his commission.]
Against his judgment Henry had yielded to the entreaties of the Privy
Council. He foresaw that to allow a commotion of such a kind to pass
wholly unpunished, was to acknowledge a virtual defeat, and must
encourage conduct which would soon lead to a repetition of the same
scenes. He refused to admit that Norfolk was justified in his
despondency. Skipton still held out. Lord Clifford and Sir William
Musgrave had gained possession of Carlisle, and were raising men there.
Lord Derby was ready to move with the musters of Cheshire and
Lancashire. Besides Shrewsbury's forces, and the artillery at Tickhill,
Suffolk had eight thousand men in high order at Lincoln. He "marvelled
that Norfolk should write to him in such extreme and desperate sort, as
though the world were turned upside down." "We might think," he said,
"that either things be not so well looked on as they might be, when you
can look but only to the one side; or else that ye be so perplexed with
the brutes on the one part, that ye do omit to write the good of the
other. We could be as well content to bestow some time in the reading of
an honest remedy as of so many extreme and desperate mischiefs."
Nevertheless, he said, if the rebels would be contented with the two
concessions which Norfolk had desired,--a free pardon and a parliament
at York,--these, but only these, might be made. No further engagements
of any kind should or might be entered into. If more were insisted on,
the commissioners should protract the time as skilfully as they could,
and send secret expresses to Lord Derby and the Duke of Suffolk, who
would advance by forced marches to their support.[196] With this letter
he sent a despatch to Suffolk, bidding him hold himself in readiness,
and instructing him at the same time to use his influence in the West
Riding to induce the people to return to their allegiance, and
permitting him to make liberal offers and promises in the name of his
government.[197]
The limitation of the new commission was as clear as language could make
it. If the Duke of Norfolk committed himself more deeply, it was against
the king's express commands, and in the face of repeated warnings.
[Sidenote: Agreement of Doncaster.]
On the day of Russell's arrival an agreement was made and signed. The
pardon and the parliament were directly promised. It appears, certainly,
that further engagements were virtually entered upon, or that words were
used, perhaps intentionally vague, which were interpreted by the
insurgents through their hopes and wishes. They believed, perhaps they
were led to believe, that their entire petition had been granted;[198]
they had accomplished the object of their pilgrimage, and they were
satisfied.
[Sidenote: Aske throws off his badge.]
As the conference closed, Aske again fell upon his knees, "and most
humbly required the Duke of Norfolk and all the earls and lords of his
part, to desire the lords of the north part to relinquish and refuse
thenceforth to nominate him by the name of captain; and they promised:
which done, the said Aske, in the presence of all the lords, pulled off
his badge crossed with the five wounds, and in a semblable manner did
all the lords there, and all others there present, saying all these
words, 'We will wear no badge nor figure but the badge of our sovereign
Lord.'"[199] A fine scene ... yet, as we sometimes witness with a sudden
clearance after rain, leaving hanging vapours in the sky, indicating
surely that the elements were still unrelieved.
[Sidenote: The concessions on which the king had resolved,]
[Sidenote: And terms on which he had not resolved.]
The king had resolved on concession, but not on such concession as the
Pomfret council demanded and Norfolk had seemed to promise. He would
yield liberally to the substantial interests of the people, but he would
yield little to their imaginative sympathies; and to the clergy and the
reactionist lords he would not yield a step. The enclosures he intended
should be examined, the fines on renewals of leases should be fixed, and
the relations of landlord and tenant so moderated that "rich and poor
men might live together, every one in his degree according to his
calling."[200] The abbey lands would not be restored to the monks, but
he saw the inconvenience of attaching them to the domains of the crown.
They should be disposed of rapidly on terms favourable to the people and
unfavourable to himself. In this direction he was ready to do all that
he was desired to do; but undo the Reformation--never.
[Sidenote: Intended parliament at York, in the summer of 1537.]
A remarkable state paper, in Cromwell's handwriting, indicates the
policy which the king then intended. The northern parliament was to meet
the following summer. There is not the smallest doubt that Henry meant
to observe his own promises. He would be present in person. The queen
would accompany him, and the opportunity would be taken for her
coronation. Meanwhile, to clear up all misunderstandings, every nobleman
and gentleman who had taken part in the insurrection was to be sent for,
and should learn from the king himself the bearing of the measures
against which they had clamoured, the motives which had led to the
adoption of such measures, and the extent to which they would be further
carried. A similar invitation should be sent to the principal persons in
all other English counties, to come to London and give their advice on
questions of social and local reform; and, further, to receive
directions to try various experiments in such matters before the meeting
of parliament, "that his Grace might see what fruit should succeed of
them, and so alter and change as he should think meet." To do away with
the suspicion that the government were favouring heresy, copies of the
"Articles of Faith" were to be scattered liberally through England;
select preachers were to be sent in sufficient numbers into the north to
explain their meaning; and next there follows a passage which, as
written by Cromwell, was a foreshadowing of his own fate.
[Sidenote: Cromwell's advice to the king.]
"Forasmuch as the rebels made the maintenance of the faith one of the
chief grounds and cause of the rebellion, it shall be necessary that the
King's Highness, in the mean season, see his laws, heretofore taken for
the establishment of an unity in the points of religion, put in such
experience and execution in those parts as it may appear that his Grace
earnestly mindeth and desireth an agreement specially in those things;
which will not be done without his Highness do some notable act in those
quarters for that purpose."
Finally, a lieutenant-general and a council should be permanently
established at York as a court of appeal, empowered to hear and decide
all local causes and questions. That the government might not again be
taken by surprise, garrisons, Cromwell thought, might be established in
the great towns, "in such order as they might be continued without
hatred of the people." The ordnance stores should be kept in better
preparation, and should be more regularly examined; and, above all, the
treasury must be better furnished to meet unforeseen expenses,
"experience showing that princes be not so easily served save where
there is prompt payment for service rendered, and the honest labourer is
not kept waiting for his hire."[201]
[Sidenote: Lord Darcy and Sir Robert Constable refuse to go to London to
the King.]
[Sidenote: The king invites Aske,]
These well-considered suggestions were carried at once into effect. By
the end of December many of the gentlemen who had been out in the
insurrection had been in London; in their interviews with the king they
had been won back to an unreserved allegiance, and had returned to do
him loyal service. Lord Darcy and Sir Robert Constable had been invited
with the rest; they had declined to present themselves: the former
pretended to be ill; Constable, when the king's messenger came to him,
"using no reverend behaviour nor making any convenable answer such as
might have tended to his Grace's satisfaction," shut himself up in a
remote castle on the Yorkshire coast.[202] Of the three leaders who had
thrown themselves into the insurrection with a fixed and peremptory
purpose, Aske alone, the truest and the bravest, ventured to the king's
presence. Henry being especially desirous to see a man who had shaken
his throne, paid him the respect of sending his request by the hands of
a gentleman of the bedchamber. He took him now, he said, for his
faithful subject, he wished to talk with him, and to hear from his own
lips the history of the rising.[203]
[Sidenote: Who consents to go, and writes a narrative of the
insurrection at the king's request.]
Aske consulted Lord Darcy. Darcy advised him to go, but to place relays
of horses along the road, to carry six servants with him, leaving three
at Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Ware, and taking three to London, that in
case the king broke faith, and made him prisoner, a swift message might
be brought down to Templehurst, and Darcy, though too sick to pay his
court to Henry, would be well enough to rescue Aske from the Tower.[204]
They would have acted more wisely if they had shown greater confidence.
Aske went, however. He saw the king, and wrote out for him a
straightforward and manly statement of his conduct--extenuating
nothing--boasting of nothing--relating merely the simple and literal
truth. Henry repeated his assurance to him that the parliament should
meet at York; and Aske returned, hoping perhaps against hope; at all
events, exerting himself to make others hope that the promises which
they supposed to have been made to them at Doncaster would eventually be
realized. To one person only he ventured to use other language.
Immediately that he reached Yorkshire, he wrote to the king describing
the agitation which still continued, and his own efforts to appease it.
He dwelt upon the expectations which had been formed; in relating the
expressions which were used by others, he indicated not obscurely his
own dissatisfaction.
[Sidenote: On his return to the north Aske gives the king notice of the
suspicions still entertained by the people.]
"I do perceive," he said, "a marvellous conjecture in the hearts of the
people, which is, they do think they shall not have the parliament in
convenient time; secondly, that your Grace hath by your letters written
for the most part of the honourable and worshipful of these shires to
come to you, whereby they fear not only danger to them, but also to
their own selves; thirdly, they be in doubt of your Grace's pardon by
reason of a late book answering their first articles, now in print,[205]
which is a great rumour amongst them; fourthly, they fear the danger of
fortifying holds, and especially because it is said that the Duke of
Suffolk would be at Hull, and to remain there; fifthly, they think your
Grace intendeth not to accomplish their reasonable petitions by reason
now the tenths is in demand; sixthly, they say the report is my lord
privy seal[206] is in as great favour with your Grace as ever he was,
against whom they most specially do complain;
[Sidenote: Of the wild humour of the midland counties,]
[Sidenote: And of his fear that the end will yet be by battle.]
"Finally, I could not perceive in all the shires, as I came from your
Grace homewards, but your Grace's subjects be wildly minded in their
hearts towards commotions or assistance thereof, by whose abetment yet I
know not; wherefore, sir, I beseech your Grace to pardon me in this my
rude letter and plainness of the same, for I do utter my poor heart to
your Grace to the intent your Highness may perceive the danger that may
ensue; for on my faith I do greatly fear the end to be only by
battle."[207]
These were the words of a plain, honest man, who was convinced that his
conduct had been right, that his demands had been wise, and was ready to
return to rebellion when he found his expectations sliding away. Here,
as so often in this world, we have to regret that honesty of purpose is
no security for soundness of understanding; that high-hearted, sincere
men, in these great questions, will bear themselves so perversely in
their sincerity, that at last there is no resource but to dismiss them
out of a world in which they have lost their way, and will not, or
cannot, recover themselves.
But Aske, too, might have found a better fate, if the bad genius of his
party had not now, in an evil hour for him and for many more, come
forward upon the scene.