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[Illustration: Great Seal of Owen Glyndowr as Prince of Wales.
Published by R. Bentley, 1838]
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. II.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1838.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,
Dorset Street, Fleet Street.
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. (p. iii)
CHAPTER XVII.
1413-1414.
Henry of Monmouth's Accession. -- National rejoicings. -- His profound
sense of the Awfulness of the Charge devolved upon him. -- Coronation.
-- First Parliament. -- Habits of business. -- He removes the remains
of Richard to Westminster. -- Redeems the Son of Hotspur, and restores
him to his forfeited honours and estates. -- Generous conduct towards
the Earl of March. -- Parliament at Leicester. -- Enactments against
Lollards. -- Henry's Foundations at Shene and Sion. Page 1
CHAPTER XVIII.
1414-1417.
State of the Church. -- Henry a sincere Christian, but no Bigot. --
Degraded state of Religion. -- Council of Constance. -- Henry's
Representatives zealous promoters of Reform. -- Hallam, Bishop of
Salisbury, avowed enemy of the Popedom. -- Richard Ullerston:
primitive views of Clerical duties. -- Walden, his own Chaplain,
accuses Henry of remissness in the extirpation of Heresy. --
Forester's Letter to the King. -- Henry Beaufort's unhappy
interference. -- Petition from Oxford. -- Henry's personal exertions
in the business of Reform. -- Reflections on the then apparent dawn of
the Reformation. Page 32
CHAPTER XIX. (p. iv)
1414.
Wars with France. -- Causes which influenced Henry. -- Summary of the
affairs of France from the time of Edward III. -- Reflections on
Henry's Title. -- Affairs of France from Henry's resolution to claim
his "Dormant Rights," and "Rightful Heritage," to his invasion of
Normandy. -- Negociations. -- His Right denied by the French. --
Parliament votes him Supplies. Page 70
CHAPTER XX.
Modern triple charge against Henry of Falsehood, Hypocrisy, and
Impiety. -- Futility of the Charge, and utter failure of the Evidence
on which alone it is grounded. -- He is urged by his people to
vindicate the Rights of his Crown, himself having a conscientious
conviction of the Justice of his Claim. -- Story of the Tennis-Balls.
-- Preparations for invading France. -- Henry's Will made at
Southampton. -- Charge of Hypocrisy again grounded on the close of
that Testament. -- Its Futility. -- He despatches to the various
Powers of Europe the grounds of his Claim on France. Page 89
CHAPTER XXI.
1415.
Preparations for invading France. -- Reflections on the Military and
Naval State of England. -- Mode of raising and supporting an Army. --
Song of Agincourt. -- Henry of Monmouth the Founder of the English
Royal Navy. -- Custom of impressing Vessels for the transporting of
Troops. -- Henry's exertions in Ship-building. -- Gratitude due to
him. -- Conspiracy at Southampton. -- Prevalent delusion as to Richard
II. -- The Earl of March. -- Henry's Forces. -- He sails for Normandy.
Page 119
CHAPTER XXII. (p. v)
1415.
Henry crosses the Sea: lands at Clef de Caus: lays Siege to Harfleur.
-- Devoted Attendance on his dying Friend the Bishop of Norwich. --
Vast Treasure falls into his hands on the Surrender of Harfleur. -- He
challenges the Dauphin. -- Futile Modern Charge brought against him on
that ground. Page 143
CHAPTER XXIII.
1415.
Henry, with Troops much weakened, leaves Harfleur, fully purposed to
make for Calais, notwithstanding the threatened resistance of the
French. -- Passes the Field of Cressy. -- French resolved to engage.
-- Night before the Conflict. -- FIELD of AGINCOURT. -- Slaughter of
Prisoners. -- Henry, his enemies themselves being Judges, fully
exculpated from every suspicion of cruelty or unchivalrous bearing. --
He proceeds to Calais. -- Thence to London. -- Reception by his
Subjects. -- His modest and pious Demeanour. -- Superstitious
proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Authorities. -- Reflections. --
Songs of Agincourt. Page 156
CHAPTER XXIV.
1415-1417.
Reasons for delaying a Second Campaign. -- Sigismund undertakes to
mediate. -- Reception of Sigismund. -- French Ships scour the seas,
and lay siege to Harfleur. -- Henry's vigorous measures thereupon. --
The Emperor declares for "Henry and his Just Rights." -- Joins with
him in Canterbury Cathedral on a Day of Thanksgiving for Victory over
the French. -- With him meets the Duke of Burgundy at Calais. (p. vi)
-- The Duke also declares for Henry. -- Second Invasion of France. --
Siege of Caen. -- Henry's Bulletin to the Mayor of London. -- Hostile
Movement of the Scots. Page 203
CHAPTER XXV.
1418-1419.
Henry's progress in his Second Campaign. -- Siege of Rouen. --
Cardinal des Ursins. -- Supplies from London. -- Correspondence
between Henry and the Citizens. -- Negociation with the Dauphin and
with the French King. -- Henry's Irish Auxiliaries. -- Reflections on
Ireland. -- Its miserable condition. -- Wise and strong measures
adopted by Henry for its Tranquillity. -- Divisions and struggles, not
between Romanists and Protestants, but between English and Irish. --
Henry and the See of Rome. -- Thraldom of Christendom. -- The Duke of
Brittany declares for Henry. -- Spaniards join the Dauphin. --
Exhausted State of England. Page 221
CHAPTER XXVI.
1419-1420.
Bad faith of the Dauphin. -- The Duke of Burgundy brings about an
Interview between Henry and the French Authorities. -- Henry's first
Interview with the Princess Katharine of Valois. -- Her Conquest. --
The Queen's over-anxiety and indiscretion. -- Double-dealing of the
Duke of Burgundy; he joins the Dauphin; is murdered on the Bridge of
Montereau. -- The Dauphin disinherited. -- Henry's anxiety to prevent
the Escape of his Prisoners. Page 249
CHAPTER XXVII. (p. vii)
1419-1420.
Henry's extraordinary attention to the Civil and Private duties of his
station, in the midst of his career of Conquest, instanced in various
cases. -- Provost and Fellows of Oriel College. -- The Queen Dowager
is accused of Treason. -- Treaty between Henry, the French King, and
the young Duke of Burgundy. -- Henry affianced to Katharine. -- The
Dauphin is reinforced from Scotland. -- Henry, accompanied by his
Queen, returns through Normandy to England. Page 262
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1421-1422.
Katharine crowned. -- Henry and his Queen make a progress through a
great part of his Dominions. -- Arrival of the disastrous news of his
Brother's Death (the Duke of Clarence). -- Henry meets his Parliament.
-- Hastens to the Seat of War. -- Birth of his Son, Henry of Windsor.
-- Joins his Queen at Bois de Vincennes. -- Their magnificent
Reception at Paris. -- Henry hastens in person to succour the Duke of
Burgundy. -- Is seized by a fatal Malady. -- Returns to Vincennes. --
His Last Hour. -- HIS DEATH. Page 286
CHAPTER XXIX.
Was Henry of Monmouth a Persecutor? -- Just principles of conducting
the Inquiry, and forming the Judgment. -- Modern charge against Henry.
-- Review of the prevalent opinions on Religious Liberty. -- True
principles of Christian Freedom. -- Duty of the State and of
Individuals to promote the prevalence of True Religion. -- Charge
against Henry, as Prince of Wales, for presenting a Petition against
the Lollards. -- The merciful intention of that Petition. -- His
Conduct at the Death of Badby. Page 319
CHAPTER XXX. (p. viii)
1413.
The Case of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham. -- Reference to his
former Life and Character. -- Fox's Book of Martyrs. -- The
Archbishop's Statement. -- Milner. -- Hall. -- Lingard. Cobham offers
the Wager of Battle. -- Appeals peremptorily to the Pope. -- Henry's
anxiety to save him. -- He is condemned, but no Writ of Execution is
issued by the King. -- Cobham escapes from the Tower. Page 348
CHAPTER XXXI.
Change in Henry's behaviour towards the Lollards after the affair of
St. Giles' Field. -- Examination of that affair often conducted with
great Partiality and Prejudice. -- Hume and the Old Chroniclers. --
Fox, Milner, Le Bas. -- Public Documents. -- Lord Cobham, taken in
Wales, is brought to London in a Whirlicole; condemned to be hanged as
a Traitor, and burned as a Heretic. -- Henry, then in France,
ignorant, probably, of Cobham's Capture till after his Execution. --
Concluding Reflections. Page 376
CHAPTER XXXII.
The Case of John Clayton, Richard Gurmyn, and William Taylor, burnt
for Heresy, examined. -- Result of the Investigation. -- Henry not a
Persecutor. -- Reflections. Page 393
APPENDIX.
No. I. Ballad of Agincourt. 417
No. II. Siege of Rouen. 422
No. III. Authenticity of the Manuscripts--Sloane 1776, and
Reg. 13, c. 1. 425
MEMOIRS OF HENRY OF MONMOUTH (p. 001)
CHAPTER XVII.
HENRY OF MONMOUTH'S ACCESSION. -- NATIONAL REJOICINGS. -- HIS PROFOUND
SENSE OF THE AWFULNESS OF THE CHARGE DEVOLVED UPON HIM. -- CORONATION.
-- FIRST PARLIAMENT. -- HABITS OF BUSINESS. -- HE REMOVES THE REMAINS
OF RICHARD TO WESTMINSTER. -- REDEEMS THE SON OF HOTSPUR, AND RESTORES
HIM TO HIS FORFEITED HONOURS AND ESTATES. -- GENEROUS CONDUCT TOWARDS
THE EARL OF MARCH. -- PARLIAMENT AT LEICESTER. -- ENACTMENTS AGAINST
LOLLARDS. -- HENRY'S FOUNDATIONS AT SHENE AND SION.
1413-1414.
HENRY, KING.
Henry IV. died at Westminster on Monday, March 20, 1413, and Henry of
Monmouth's proclamation bears date on the morrow, March 21.[1] Never
perhaps was the accession of any prince to the throne of a kingdom
hailed with a more general or enthusiastic welcome. If serious minds
had entertained forebodings of evil from his reign, (as we (p. 002)
believe they had not,) all feelings seem to have been absorbed in one
burst of gladness. Both houses of parliament offered to swear
allegiance to him before he was crowned: a testimony of confidence and
affection never (it is said) before tendered to any English
monarch.[2] This prevalence of joyous anticipations from the accession
of their young King could not have sprung from any change of conduct
or of principle then first made known. Those who charge Henry most
unsparingly represent his conversion as having begun only at his
father's hour of dissolution. But, before that father breathed his
last, the people of England were ready to welcome most heartily his
son, such as he was then, without, as it should seem, either (p. 003)
hearing of, or wishing for, any change. His principles and his conduct
as a ruler had been put to the test during the time he had presided at
the council-board; and the people only desired in their new King a
continuance of the same wisdom, valour, justice, integrity, and
kind-heartedness, which had so much endeared him to the nation as
their Prince. In his subjects there appears to have been room for
nothing but exultation; in the new King himself widely different
feelings prevailed. Ever, as it should seem, under an awful practical
sense, as well of the Almighty's presence and providence and majesty,
as of his own responsibility and unworthiness, Henry seems to have
been suddenly oppressed by the increased solemnity and weight of the
new duties which he found himself now called upon to discharge. The
scene of his father's death-bed, (carried off, as that monarch was, in
the very meridian of life, by a lingering loathsome disease,) and the
dying injunctions of that father, may doubtless have added much to the
acuteness and the depth of his feelings at that time. And whether he
be deemed to have been the licentious, reckless rioter which some
writers have been anxious to describe, or whether we regard him as a
sincere believer, comparing his past life (though neither licentious
nor reckless) with the perfectness of the divine law, the retrospect
might well depress him with a consciousness of his own unworthiness,
and of his total inability to perform the work which he saw (p. 004)
before him, without the strength and guidance of divine grace. For
that strength and that guidance, we are assured, he prayed, and
laboured, and watched with all the intenseness and perseverance of an
humble faithful Christian. Those who are familiar with the expressions
of a contrite soul, will fully understand the sentiments recorded of
Henry of Monmouth at this season of his self-humiliation, and the
dedication of himself to God, and may yet be far from discovering in
them conclusive arguments in proof of his having passed his youth in
habits of gross violation of religious and moral principle. We have
already quoted the assertions of his biographer, that day and night he
sought pardon for the past, and grace for the future, to enable him to
bend his heart in faith and obedience to the Sovereign of all. And
even during the splendour and rejoicings of his coronation he appeared
to withdraw his mind entirely from the greatness of his worldly state,
thus forced upon him, and to fix his thoughts on the King of kings.[3]
[Footnote 1: Close Roll.]
[Footnote 2: "The high esteem which the nation had
of Henry's person produced such an entire
confidence in him, that both houses of parliament
in an address offered to swear allegiance to him
before he was crowned, or had taken the customary
oath to govern according to the laws. The King
thanked them for their good affections, and
exhorted them in their several places and stations
to employ all their power for the good of the
nation. He told them that he began his reign in
pardoning all that had offended him, and with such
a desire for his people's happiness, that he would
be crowned on no other condition than to make use
of all his authority to promote it; and prayed God
that, if he foresaw he was like to be any other
than a just and good king, he would please to take
him immediately out of the world, rather than seat
him on the throne, to live a public calamity to his
country."--Goodwin. See Stowe. Polyd. Verg.
Elmham.]
[Footnote 3: Elmham.]
But he never seems for a day to have been drawn aside by his private
devotions from the full discharge of the practical duties of his new
station. On the Wednesday he issued summonses for a parliament to meet
within three weeks of Easter. On Friday the 7th of April, he was
conducted to the Tower by a large body of men of London, who (p. 005)
went on horseback to attend him. The next day he was accompanied back
to Westminster, with every demonstration of loyalty and devotedness to
his person, by a great concourse of lords and knights, many of whom he
had created on the preceding evening. On the following morning, being
Passion Sunday, April 9th,[4] he was crowned with much[5] magnificence
in Westminster Abbey.[6]
[Footnote 4: Not Palm Sunday, but the fifth Sunday
in Lent, was called Passion Sunday.]
[Footnote 5: "With mickle royalty."--Chron. Lond.]
[Footnote 6: Chroniclers record that the day of his
coronation was a day of storm and tempest, frost
and snow, and that various omens of ill portent
arose from the circumstance.]
One of the first acts of a sovereign in England at that time was to
re-appoint the judges who were in office at the demise of his
predecessor, or to constitute new ones in their stead. Among other
changes, we find Hankford appointed as Chief Justice in the room of
Gascoyne, at least within ten days of the King's accession. For any
observation which this fact may suggest, so contrary to those
histories which repeat tales instead of seeking for the truth in
ancient records, we must refer to the chapter in which we have already
examined the credibility of the alleged insult offered by Prince Henry
to a Judge on the bench of justice.[7]
[Footnote 7: Henry had excited feelings of
confidence and admiration in the minds of foreign
potentates, as well as in his subjects at home.
Among the embassies, with offers and pledges of
friendship and amity, which hastened to his court
on his accession, are numbered those of John of
Portugal, Robert Duke of Albany, Regent of
Scotland, John King of Castile, John Duke of
Brittany, Charles King of France, and Pope John
XXIII.]
The first parliament of Henry V. met in the Painted Chamber (p. 006)
at Westminster, on Monday, 15th of May. The King was on his throne;
but the Bishop of Winchester, his uncle, then Chancellor of England,
opened the business of the session. On this, as on many similar
occasions, the chancellor, generally a prelate, addressed the
assembled states in an oration, half speech and half sermon, upon a
passage of Scripture selected as a text. On the opening of this
parliament, the chancellor informed the peers and the commons that the
King's purpose in calling them together as the Great Council of the
nation was threefold:--First, he was desirous of supporting the
throne,--"his high and royal estate;" secondly, he was bent on
maintaining the law and good government within his realm; and thirdly,
he desired to cherish the friends and to resist the enemies of his
kingdom. It is remarkable that no mention is made in this parliament
at all on the part of the King, or his chancellor, of either heresy or
Lollardism. The speaker refers to some tumults, especially at
Cirencester, where the populace appear to have attacked the abbey;
complaints also were made against the conduct of ordinaries, and some
strong enactments were passed against the usurpations of Rome, (p. 007)
to which reference will again be made: but not a word in answer
to these complaints would lead to the inference that the spirit of
persecution was then in the ascendant. It was not till the last day of
April 1414, after the affair of St. Giles' Field, that the statute
against the Lollards was passed at Leicester.[8] The chancellor at
that subsequent period speaks of their treasonable designs to destroy
the King having been lately discovered and discomfited; and the record
expressly declares that the ordinance was made with the consent and at
the prayer of the commons.
[Footnote 8: Sir Edward Coke, in his 4th Inst. ch.
i. declares that this act was disavowed in the next
parliament by the Commons, for that they never
assented. The Author has searched the Parliament
Rolls in vain for the authority on which that
assertion was founded.]
But though neither the King nor his council gave any indication, in
his first parliament, of a desire to interfere with men's consciences
in matters of religion, the churchmen were by no means slumbering at
their post. Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, convened a council of
the bishops and clergy, who met by adjournment, in full numbers, at
St. Paul's, on the 26th of June 1413;[9] and adopted most rigorous
measures for the extirpation of heresy, levelled professedly with a
more especial aim against the ringleader of Lollardism, as he (p. 008)
was called, the valiant and unfortunate Lord Cobham. On these
proceedings we purpose to dwell separately in another part of this
work; and, in addition to what we shall there allege, little needs be
observed here by way of anticipation. In leaving the subject, however,
as far as Henry V.'s character is concerned, it may not be out of
place to remark, that historical facts, so far from stamping on him
the mark of a religious persecutor, prove that it required all the
united efforts of the clergy and laity to induce him to put the
existing laws in force against those who were bold enough to dissent
from the Romish faith. So far from his "having watched the Lollards as
his greatest enemies," so far from "having listened to every calumny
which the zeal and hatred of the hierarchy could invent or propagate
against the unfortunate followers of Wickliff," (the conduct and
disposition ascribed to him by Milner,) we have sufficient proof of
the dissatisfaction of the church with him in this respect; and their
repeated attempts to excite him to more vigorous measures against the
rising and spreading sect. By a minute of council, May 27, 1415, we
find that, whilst preparing for his expedition to France, he is
reminded to instruct the archbishops and bishops to take measures,
each within his respective diocese, to resist the malice of the
Lollards. The King merely answered, that he had given the subject in
charge to his chancellor; and we are assured that Dr. Thomas (p. 009)
Walden,[10] one of the most learned and powerful divines of the day,
but very violent in his opposition to the new doctrines, openly
inveighed against Henry _for his great negligence in regard to the
duty of punishing heretics_.[11] To his religious sentiments we must
again refer in the sequel, and also as the course of events may
successively suggest any observations on that head.
[Footnote 9: The Monday after Corpus Christi day;
which feast, being the Thursday after Trinity
Sunday, fell in the year 1413 on June 22.]
[Footnote 10: This Dr. Walden (so called from the
place of his birth in Essex) was so able a
disputant that he was called the Netter. He seems
to have written many works, which are either
totally lost, or are buried in temporary oblivion.]
[Footnote 11: Goodwin. Appendix, p. 361.]
When Henry IV. ascended the throne, parliament prayed that the Prince
might not leave the realm, but remain in England as the anchor of the
people's hopes; and, soon after his own accession,[12] Henry V. is
advised by his council to remain near London, that he might receive
prompt intelligence of whatever might arise in any quarter, and be
able to take immediate steps for the safety of the commonweal. He
seems to have carried with him even from his earliest youth, wherever
he went, a peculiar talent of exciting confidence in every one.
Whether in the field of battle, or the chamber of council,--whether as
the young Prince, just initiated in affairs of war and government, or
as the experienced captain and statesman,--his contemporaries looked
to him as a kind of guardian spirit, to protect them from (p. 010)
harm, and lead them onward to good success. No despondency, nor even
misgivings, show themselves in the agents of any enterprise in which
he was personally engaged. The prodigious effects of these feelings in
the English towards their prince were displayed in their full
strength, perhaps, at the battle of Agincourt; but similar results are
equally, though not so strikingly, visible in many other passages of
his life.
[Footnote 12: Minutes of Council, 29 June 1413.]
Among the various causes to which historians have been accustomed to
attribute the general anticipations of good from Henry's reign, which
pervaded all classes, is the appointment of Gascoyne to the high
station of Chief Justice immediately upon his ascending the throne.
But we have already seen that, however gladly an eulogist would seize
on such an exalted instance of magnanimity and noble generosity, the
truth of history forbids our even admitting its probability in this
place. Henry certainly did not re-appoint Gascoyne. But, whilst we
cannot admit the tradition which would mark the true character of
Henry's mind by his behaviour to the Chief Justice, there is not
wanting many an authentic record which would amply account for his
almost unprecedented popularity at the very commencement of his reign.
Among these we must not omit to notice the resolution which he put in
practice of retiring for an hour or more every day, after his early
dinner, to receive petitions from any of his subjects, however (p. 011)
humble,[13] who would appeal to him for his royal interposition;
to examine and consider the several cases patiently; and to redress
real grievances. Indeed, numberless little occurrences meet us on
every side, which seem to indicate very clearly that he loved the
right and hated iniquity; and that he was never more happy than whilst
engaged in deeds of justice, mercy, and charity. He seems to have
received the golden law for his rule, "See that they who are in need
and necessity have right;" and to have rejoiced in keeping that (p. 012)
law himself, and compelling all within the sphere of his authority and
influence to observe it also.
[Footnote 13: Many original petitions addressed to
Henry are still preserved among our records. In
one, which may serve as a specimen of the kind of
application to which this custom compelled him to
open his ear, Richard Hunt appeals to him as a
"right merciable lord, moved with pity, mercy, and
grace." "In great desolation and heaviness of
heart," the petitioner states that his son-in-law,
Richard Peke, who had a wife and four children, and
had been all his life a true labourer and innocent
man, and well-beloved by his neighbours, had been
detected in taking from a vessel goods not worth
three shillings; for which crime his mortal enemies
(though they might have their property again) "sued
to have him dead." He urges Henry to grant him
"full noble grace," at the reverence of Almighty
God, and for passion that Christ suffered for all
mankind, and for the pity that he had on Mary
Magdalene. The petitioner then promised (as
petitioners now do) to pray for endless mercy on
Henry; he adds, moreover, what would certainly
sound strange in a modern petition to a monarch,
"And ye, gracious and sovereign lord, shall have a
good ox to your larder." Henry granted the
petition. "The King woll that this bill pass
without any manner of fine, or fees that longeth to
him."]
Another incident recorded of Henry of Monmouth at this period,
strongly marking the kindness and generosity and nobleness of his
mind, was the removal of the remains of Richard II. from Langley to
Westminster. Without implying any consciousness, or even suspicion of
guilt, on the part of his father as to Richard's death, we may easily
suppose Henry to have regarded the deposition of that monarch as an
act of violence, justifiable only on the ground of extreme necessity:
he might have considered him as an injured man, by whose fall his
father and himself had been raised to the throne. Instead of allowing
his name and his mortal remains to be buried in oblivion, (with the
chance moreover of raising again in men's minds fresh doubts and
surmises of his own title to the throne, for he was not Richard's
right heir,) Henry resolved to pay all the respect in his power to the
memory of the friend of his youth, and by the only means at his
command to make a sort of reparation for the indignities to which the
royal corpse had been exposed. He caused the body to be brought in
solemn funeral state to Westminster, and there to be buried,[14] with
all the honour and circumstance accustomed to be paid to the earthly
remains of royalty, by the side of his former Queen, Anne, (p. 013)
in the tomb prepared by Richard for her and for himself. The diligent
investigator will discover many such incidents recorded of Henry V;
some of a more public and important nature than others, but all
combining to stamp on his name in broad and indelible letters the
character of a truly high-minded, generous, grateful, warm-hearted
man.
[Footnote 14: The Pell Rolls acquaint us with the
very great expense incurred on this occasion.]
Another instance of the same feeling, carried, perhaps, in one point a
step further in generosity and Christian principle, was evinced in his
conduct towards the son of Sir Henry Percy, Hotspur, the former
antagonist of his house. This young nobleman had been carried by his
friends into Scotland, for safe keeping, on the breaking out of his
grandfather's (Northumberland's) rebellion; and was detained there, as
some say, in concealment, till Henry V. made known his determination
to restore him to his title and estates. The Scots, who were in
possession of his person, kept him as a prisoner and hostage; and
although Henry might have considered a foreign land the best home for
the son of the enemy of his family, yet so bent was he on effecting
the noble design of reinstating him in all which his father's and his
grandfather's treason had forfeited, that he consented to exchange for
him a noble Scot, who had been detained in England for thirteen years.
Mordak of Fife, son and heir of the Duke of Albany, had been taken
prisoner at the battle of Homildon Hill, in 1402, (it is curious to
remark,) by Hotspur, and his father Northumberland; and now (p. 014)
Henry V. exchanges this personage for Hotspur's son, the heir of
Northumberland. This youth was only an infant when his father fell at
the battle of Shrewsbury; his mother was Elizabeth, eldest daughter of
Edmund Mortimer,[15] Earl of March: and thus a king, under the
circumstances of Henry, but with a less noble mind, might have
regarded him with jealousy on both sides of his parentage, and been
glad (without exposing himself to the charge of any positive act of
harshness) to allow him to remain in a foreign country deprived of his
honours and his estates. But Henry's spirit soared above these
considerations; and, in the orphan of a generous rival, he saw only a
fit object on whom to exercise his generosity and Christian charity. A
negotiation was carried on between Henry and some who represented
young Percy; care being taken to ascertain the identity of the person
who should be offered in exchange for Mordak. After certain prescribed
oaths were taken, and pledges given, and the payment of a stipulated
sum, 10,000_l._, the young man was invited to come to Henry's court
with all speed.
[Footnote 15: Dugdale's Baronage.]
There seems to have intervened some considerable impediment to this
proposed exchange.[16] The commission to John Hull and William
Chancellor to convey Mordak to the north bears date 21st of (p. 015)
May; and yet instructions for a negotiation with his father, the Duke
of Albany, then Regent of Scotland, for the exchange, were issued to
Sir Ralph Evre and others, as late as the 10th of the following
December. At the parliament, however, held March 16, 1416, Henry
Percy, in the presence of the King himself, does homage for his lands
and honours. And, before Henry's death, the Pell Rolls record payments
to this Earl of Northumberland, appointed guardian of Berwick and the
East March, as regularly as, in the early part of Henry IV.'s reign,
issues had been made to his father Hotspur, and his grandfather, the
aged Earl, for the execution of the same duties. The lands of the
Percies, on their attainder, were confiscated, and given to the King's
brother, the Duke of Bedford; to whom, on restoring his lands and
honours to the young Earl, Henry made an annual compensation in part
at least for the loss.[17]
[Footnote 16: Minutes of Council, 21 May and 10
Dec. 1415. Addit. MS. 4600. Art. 147.]
[Footnote 17: Pell Rolls, Mich. 4. Hen. V. Many
documents also in Rymer refer to this transaction.]
Another example of generous behaviour in the young King towards those
whom he had in his power, and of whom less noble minds would have
entertained suspicion and jealousy, is seen in his conduct towards the
Earl of March.[18] This young nobleman, by the law of (p. 016)
primogeniture, was rightful heir to the throne; being descended from
Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. And so much was he a
cause of apprehension and uneasiness to Henry IV. and his council,
that it was thought necessary to keep him in close custody, and also
near the person of the King, whenever the court removed towards the
borders of the kingdom. It was in the name of this young man that his
uncle Edmund Mortimer excited all his tenantry and dependents to join
Owyn Glyndowr in rebellion against Henry IV; and on all occasions the
malcontents of the whole country, supposing Richard to be dead, held
forth the Earl of March as their liege sovereign. Henry V. could not
have been charged with unwarrantable suspicions or severity, had he
continued the same system of watchfulness over this formidable
personage, which had been observed under the reign of his predecessor.
Provided only that he treated him with kindness, few would have
wondered or complained if he had still kept him as a prisoner on
parole.[19] But Henry, to whose guardianship, whilst Prince (p. 017)
of Wales, the young Earl had been intrusted, was no sooner seated on
the throne, than he admitted this young man into a full share of his
confidence; not with the suspicion of a rival, nor with the fear of an
enemy, but with the openness of an acknowledged and kind master
towards a trustworthy and devoted servant. The references to (p. 018)
him which are found in the authentic records of that time (and they
are not a few) all tend to establish this point.[20] Henry immediately
gave him, on his coming of age, full and free possession of all his
manors, castles, lands, advowsons, and honours; and seems to have had
him continually in his retinue as a companion and friend. On one
occasion we may suppose that Henry's suspicions and apprehensions of
danger from the young Earl must have been roused; and yet we find him
still continued in his confidence, and still left without any
restraint or estrangement. When the conspiracy against Henry was
discovered at Southampton, the Earl of Cambridge, (as we shall see
more in detail hereafter,) in his letter of confession, declares it to
have been the intention of the conspirators to carry the Earl of March
into Wales, and to proclaim him as their lawful king. How far the
young Earl was privy to this conspiracy, or to what extent he was "art
and part" in it, does not distinctly appear. An expression, indeed, in
the early part of the Earl of Cambridge's letter, "Having the Earl of
March by his own consent, and by the assent of myself," should seem to
imply that he was by no means ignorant of the plans of the
conspirators, nor averse to them. How far, moreover, Henry thought him
guilty, is matter of doubt; but certain it is, that he deemed (p. 019)
it necessary to have the King's pardon regularly signed in the usual
manner for all treasons, felonies, and misdemeanors. The instrument
bears date August 7, 1415, at Southampton. This document, however, by
no means proves his guilt: on many occasions such patents of pardon
were granted to prevent malicious and vexatious prosecutions.
Nevertheless, at all events, it shows that Henry's thoughts must have
been especially drawn to the relative circumstances under which
himself and the Earl of March were placed; and yet he continued to
behave towards him with the same confidence and friendship as before.
Two years afterwards, Henry appointed him his lieutenant at sea, with
full powers; yet so as not to supersede the privileges and authority
of the high admiral, the Duke of Exeter.[21] The following year, in
the summer, he was made lieutenant and guardian-general of all
Normandy; and in the December of the same year he was commissioned to
receive the homage and oaths of all in that country who owed suit and
service to the King. He fought side by side with Henry at the field of
Agincourt; and there seems to have grown stronger and riper between
them a spirit of friendship and mutual confidence.[22]
[Footnote 18: Roger Mortimer, fifth Earl of March,
son and heir of Philippa, daughter and heiress of
Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III,
died in 1398; leaving two sons, Edmund, of whom we
are here speaking, then about six years of age, and
Roger, about a year younger.]
[Footnote 19: In a previous section of these
Memoirs, brief mention has been made of the
abortive attempt to carry off into Wales this young
Earl of March and his brother, and of the generous
conduct of Henry of Monmouth in his endeavour to
restore the Duke of York to the King's favour,
which he had forfeited in consequence of his
alleged participation in that bold design. A
manuscript has since been brought under the
Author's notice, which places in a very strong
light the treasonable and murderous purpose of
those who originated the plot, and would account
for the most watchful and jealous caution on the
part of the reigning family against a repetition of
such attempts. Henry must have been fully aware of
his danger; and the fact of his throwing off all
suspicion towards the young Earl, and receiving him
with confidence and friendship, enhances our
estimate of the generous and noble spirit which
actuated him. The document, in other points
curious, seems to deserve a place here:
"The Friday after St. Vallentyne's day, anno 6
Henrici Quarti, ye Erll of Marche's sons was
secretly conveyd out of Wyndsor Castell yerly in ye
morninge, and fond af[ter?] by diligent serche. But
ye smythe, for makyng the key, lost fyrst his
lands; after, his heed. Ye Lady Spenser, wydow to
the Lord Spenser executed at Bristow, and syster to
ye Duke of York, was comytted cloase prysonner,
whare she accused her brother predict for the
actor, for ye children predict; and that he sholde
entend to breake into the King's manor att Eltham
ye last Crystmas by scaling the walles in ye
nighte, and there to murther ye Kinge; and, for
better proaffe hereof, that yf eyther knight or
squyer of England wold combatt for her in the
quarrell, she wold endure her body to be burned yf
he war vanquished. Then W. Maydsten, one of her
sqyres [undertook?] his Mrs. quarrell with gage of
his wheed [so], and was presently arrested by Lord
Thomas, ye Kyng's son, to the Tower, and his goods
confyscatt. Thomas Mowbray, Erll Marshall, accused
to be privy to the same, butt was
pardoned."--Lansdown, 860 a, fol. 288 b.]
[Footnote 20: 14 Nov. 1414. MS. Donat. 4600.
Reference is made there to June 9, 1413, not three
months after Henry's accession.]
[Footnote 21: 1417, July 20, at Porchester. 1418, 2
June, at Berneye. December 1418, in the camp before
Rouen. 11 June 1416.--Rymer.]
[Footnote 22: In the summer after the battle of
Agincourt the King "takes into his especial care
William of Agincourt, the prisoner of his very dear
cousin Edmund Earl of March."]
These are a few among the many examples upon record of the (p. 020)
generous and noble spirit of Henry; whilst history may be challenged
to bring forward any instances of cruelty or oppression to neutralize
them. Sir Matthew Hale confessed that he could never discover any act
of public injustice and tyranny during the Lancastrian sway; and the
inquirer into Henry of Monmouth's character may be emboldened to
declare, that he can discover no act of wanton severity, or cruelty,
or unkindness in his life. The case of the prisoners in the day and on
the field of Agincourt, the fate of Lord Cobham, and the wars in
France, require each a separate examination; and in our inquiry we
must not forget the kind, and gentle, and compassionate spirit which
appears to breathe so naturally and uniformly from his heart: on the
other hand, we must not suffer ourselves to be betrayed into such a
full reliance on his character for mercy, as would lead us to give a
blind implicit sanction to all his deeds of arms. In our estimate of
his character, moreover, as indicated by his conduct previously to his
first invasion of France, and during his struggles and conquests
there, it is quite as necessary for us to bear in mind the tone, and
temper, and standard of political and moral government which prevailed
in his age, as it is essential for us, when we would estimate his
religious character, to recollect what were in that age (p. 021)
throughout Christendom the acknowledged principles of the church in
communion with the see of Rome.
On Monday, April 30, 1414, Henry met his parliament at Leicester.[23]
Why it was not held at Westminster, we have no positive reasons
assigned in history;[24] and the suggestion of some, that the
enactments there made against the Lollards were too hateful to be
passed at the metropolis, is scarcely reasonable.[25] The Bishop of
Winchester, as Chancellor, set forth in very strong language the
treasonable practices lately discovered and discomfited; and the
parliament enacted a very severe law against all disturbers of the
peace of the realm and of the unity of the church. It is generally
said that the reading of the Bible in English was forbidden in this
session under very severe penalties; but no such enactment (p. 022)
seems to have been recorded. The prelates, however, were the judges of
what heresy was; and to study the Holy Scriptures in the vernacular
language might well have seemed to them a very dangerous practice; to
be checked, therefore, with a strong hand. The judges, and other state
officers, were directed to take an oath to exert themselves for the
suppression of Lollardism.
[Footnote 23: This parliament was summoned to be at
Leicester on the 29th of February, but was
prorogued to the 30th of April. At this period
parliaments were by no means uniformly held at
Westminster.]
[Footnote 24: In this parliament we find a petition
loudly complaining of the outrages of the Welsh.]
[Footnote 25: About this time there seems to have
been entertained by the legislature a most
determined resolution to limit the salaries of
chaplains in private families. Many sumptuary laws
were made on this subject. Provisions were made
repeatedly in this and other parliaments against
excessive payments to them. The origin of this
feeling does not appear to have transpired.
Probably it was nothing more than a jealousy
excited by the increasing wealth of the
church.--Parl. Rolls, 2 Henry V.]
Again and again are we reminded, through the few years of Henry's
reign, that the cause of liberty was progressive; and any
encroachments of the royal prerogative upon the liberties of the
Commons were restrained and corrected, with the free consent and full
approbation of the King. A petition in English, presented to him in
this parliament, in many respects a curious document, with the King's
answer, bears testimony to the same point. "Our sovereign lord,--your
humble and true lieges that been come for the commons of your land,
beseech unto your right righteousness, that so as it hath ever been
their liberty and freedom that there should be no statute nor law made
otherwise than they gave their assent thereto, considering that the
commons of your land (the which is and ever hath been a member of your
parliament) been as well assenters as petitioners, that from this time
forward, by complaint of the commons of any mischief asking remedy by
mouth of their Speaker, or else by petition written, that there never
be no law made thereupon, and engrossed as statute and law, (p. 023)
neither by addition, neither by diminution, by no manner of term or
terms, the which should change the sentence and the intent asked by
the Speaker's mouth, or the petitions before said, given up in writing
without assent of the aforesaid commons." To this petition the
following answer was made: "The King, of his grace especial, granteth,
that from henceforth nothing be enacted to the petitions of his
commons that be contrary to their asking, whereby they should be bound
without their assent; saving alway to our liege lord his real
prerogative to grant or deny what him lust of their petitions and
askings aforesaid."
This parliament was adjourned from Leicester, and re-assembled at
Westminster on the Octaves of St. Martin, 18th November 1414. The most
gratifying record of this great council of the realm is that which
informs us of the restoration of Henry Percy to his estates and
honours. The most important subject to which the thoughts of the peers
and commons were drawn was the King's determination to recover his
rights in the realm of France.
The motives which influenced Henry to undertake this extraordinary
step can be known only to the Searcher of hearts. Some writers, in
their excessive zeal for Protestantism, anxiously bent on stamping
upon Henry the character of an ambitious tyrant and a religious
persecutor, employ no measured language in their condemnation (p. 024)
of his designs against France. Milner thus gives his summary of the
proceedings of this reign at home and abroad. "Henry Chicheley, now
Archbishop of Canterbury, continued at the head of that see from
February 1414, to April 1443. This man deserves to be called the
firebrand of the age in which he lived. To subserve the purposes of
his own pride and tyranny, he engaged King Henry in his famous contest
with France, by which a prodigious carnage was made of the human race,
and the most dreadful miseries were brought upon both kingdoms. But
Henry was a soldier, and understood the art of war, though perfectly
ignorant of religion; and that ardour of spirit, which in youth[26]
had spent itself in vicious indulgences, was now employed under the
management of Chicheley in desolating France by one of the most unjust
wars ever waged by ambition, and in furnishing for vulgar minds matter
of declamation on the valour of the English nation. While this scene
was carrying on in France, the Archbishop at home, partly by exile,
partly by forced abjurations, and partly by the flames, domineered
over the Lollards, and almost effaced the vestiges of godliness in the
kingdom."
[Footnote 26: When his determination to recover his
rights was announced in parliament, he was
twenty-seven years of age.]
These are very hard words, much more readily written than justified.
Such sentences of condemnation require a much clearer insight (p. 025)
into the workings of the human heart than falls to the lot of any
human being to possess, when he would examine into the motives of a
fellow-mortal. It is very easy by one sweeping clause to denounce the
war as unjust, and to ascribe it to the ambition of Henry, reckless of
human suffering. But truth requires us to weigh the whole matter far
more patiently, and to substitute evidence in the place of
assumptions, and argument instead of declamation. And it is impossible
for the biographer of Henry V. to carry his reader with him through
the scenes of his preparation for the struggle with France, and his
conduct in the several campaigns which chiefly engaged from this time
till his death all the energies of his mind and body, without
recalling somewhat in detail the circumstances of Henry's position at
this time. This, however, will require also a brief review of the
state of France through some previous years of her internal discords
and misery. Reserving them for another chapter, there are some
circumstances of a more private and domestic character which it might
be well for us first to mention in this place.
That Henry was habitually under the influence of strong religious
feelings, though his views of Christian doctrine partook much of the
general superstition of the age, is evident; and one of the first acts
of his government was to satisfy his own conscience, and to give full
testimony to the church of his piety, and zeal, and devotedness, (p. 026)
by founding three religious houses. When, exactly a century later,
Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, communicated to his friend, Hugh
Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, his intention of founding a monastery, his
friend, instead of giving him encouragement to proceed with his plan,
remonstrated with him on the folly of building houses, and providing a
maintenance for monks, who would live in idleness, unprofitable to
themselves and to society;[27] urging him at the same time rather to
found a college for the encouragement of sound learning: and the
College of Corpus Christi in Oxford owes its existence, humanly
speaking, to that sound admonition. Perhaps, had Henry V. been
fortunate enough to meet with so able and honest an adviser, Oxford
might have had within its walls now another nursery of religion and
learning,--a monument of his piety and of his love for whatever was
commendable and of good report. Our Oxford chronicles record his
expressed intention both to reform the statutes of the University,
and also to found an establishment within the castle walls, (p. 027)
annexing to it all the alien priories in England for its endowment, in
which efficient provision should be made for the instruction of youth
in all the best literature of the age.[28] Had he first resolved to
found his college, and reserved his religious houses for later years,
his work might still have been flourishing at this day, and might have
yet continued to flourish till the hand of spoliation and refined
barbarism shall be strong and bold enough (should ever such a calamity
visit our native land) to wrest these seminaries of Christian
principles and sound learning from the friends of religion, and order,
and peace. As it is, Henry's establishments survived him little more
than a century; and the lands which he had destined to support them
passed away into other hands, and were alienated from religious
purposes altogether.
[Footnote 27: The answer which Bishop Oldham is
said to have made on this occasion is chiefly
remarkable for the intimation it conveys, that the
downfall of the monasteries was anticipated a
quarter of a century before their actual
dissolution. "What, my lord, shall we build houses
and provide livelihoods for a company of bussing
monks, whose end and fall we may ourselves live to
see? No, no; it is more meet that we should provide
for the increase of learning, and for such as by
their learning shall do good to the church and
commonwealth."--Anthony Wood.]
[Footnote 28: Henry had much at heart the
maintenance of the truth of the Christian religion,
such as he received it. Of this he is thought to
have given early proof, by confirming a grant of
fifty marks yearly, during pleasure, to the prior
and convent of the order of Preachers in the
University of Oxford, to support the doctrine of
the Catholic faith. It will be said that this was
merely to repress the Lollards. Be it so, though
the original document is silent on that point. It
proves, at least, that he wished to maintain his
religion by argument rather than by violence. The
circumstance, however, of its being merely a
confirmation of a grant, which even his father
found in existence when he became King, takes away
much from the importance of the fact.--Pell Rolls,
1 Henry IV.]
The sites which Henry selected for his establishments were, (p. 028)
one at Shene, in Surrey; the other at Sion, in the manor of Isleworth,
on the Thames.
The terms of the foundation-charters of these religious houses, their
rules, and circumstances, and possessions, it does not fall within the
plan of this work to specify in detail. The brothers and sisters
admitted into these asylums appear to have been bound by very strict
rules of self-denial and poverty.
The monastery at Shene, built on the site of Richard II.'s palace,
which he never would enter after the loss of his wife Anne, who died
there, and which on that account he utterly destroyed, was called "The
House of Jesus of Bethlehem," and was dedicated "to the honour, and
glory, and exaltation of the name of Jesus most dear;" Henry
expressing in the foundation-charter, among sentiments less worthy of
an enlightened Christian, and savouring of the superstition of those
days, that he founded the institution in pious gratitude for the
blessings of time and of eternity, which flow only from HIM.
The house of Sion in Isleworth, or Mount Sion, as it is called in the
Pope's bull of confirmation, was dedicated "to the honour, praise, and
glory of the Trinity most High, of the Virgin Mary, of the Disciples
and Apostles of God, of all Saints, and especially of the most holy
Bridget." This house was suppressed by Henry VIII; when the nuns fled
from their native country, and took refuge, first in Zealand, then at
Mechlin, whence they removed to Rouen; at last, fifteen reached (p. 029)
Lisbon in 1594. The history of this little company of sisters is very
remarkable and interesting. In Lisbon they were well received, and
were afterwards supported by royal bounty, as well as by the
benevolence of individuals. They seem to have settled there peaceably,
and to have lived in their own house, and to have had their own
church, for more than fifty years. In 1651 their house and church were
both burnt to the ground; but, through the beneficence of the pious,
they had the happiness of seeing them restored. In 1755 this little
community suffered in common with the other unfortunate inhabitants of
Lisbon, and seem to have lost their all in the earthquake. In their
distress they cast their eyes to the land of their fathers, and
applied for the charity of their countrymen. There is something very
affecting in the language of the petition by which our countrywomen in
their calamity sought to excite the sympathy, and obtain the
benevolent aid, of their fellow-Christians at home.
We, the underwritten, and company, having on the 1st of November
last suffered such irreparable losses and damage by the dreadful
earthquake and fire which destroyed this city and other parts of
the kingdom, that we have neither house nor sanctuary left us
wherein to retire; nor even the necessaries of life, it being out
of the power of our friends and benefactors here to relieve us,
they all having undergone the same misfortune and disaster. So
that we see no other means of establishing ourselves than by
applying to the nobility, ladies, and gentlemen of our (p. 030)
dear country, humbly imploring your tender compassion and pious
charity; that, so being assisted and succoured from your
bountiful hands, we may for the present subsist under our
deplorable misfortune, and in time retrieve so much of our losses
as to be able to continue always to pray for the prosperity and
conservation of our benefactors.
Augustus Sulyard, Eliz. Hodgeskin,
Peter Willcock. Frances Huddleston,
Cath. Baldwin,
_Sion House, Lisbon_, Winifred Hill.
_May 25, 1756_.
Through another fifty years, the little band, still keeping up the
succession by novices from England, remained in the land of their
refuge; till, in 1810, nine of them, the majority, it is said, of the
survivors, fled from the horrors of war to their native island; and
their convent, whose founder was Henry, the greatest general of his
age, became the barracks of English soldiers under Wellington, the
greatest general of the present day. On their first return they lived
in a small house in Walworth; and in 1825, the remainder, now advanced
in years and reduced to two or three in number, were still living in
the vicinity of the Potteries in Staffordshire,--the last remnant of
an English convent dissolved in the time of Henry VIII. There are at
this time mulberry-trees growing at Sion House, one of the Duke of
Northumberland's[29] mansions, which are believed, not only (p. 031)
to have been living, but to have borne fruit, in the time of the
monastery.[30]
[Footnote 29: The present Duke and Duchess kindly
searched out and visited the remaining sisters in
Staffordshire.]
[Footnote 30: Dugdale; ed. 1830.]
Henry seems to have had much at heart the intellectual, moral, and
religious improvement of those who might be admitted to a share of his
bounty in these establishments. The Pell Rolls record a payment "of
100_l._ part only of a larger sum, to the prior and convent of Mount
Grace, for books and other things to be supplied by them to his new
foundation at Sion."[31] Whether the prior and brethren of Mount Grace
had duplicates, or were mere agents, or parted with their own stock to
meet the wishes of their King, the record does not tell.
[Footnote 31: April 11, 1415.]