CHILDHOOD OF RICHARD.
A.D. 1366-1370
Prince Edward becomes Prince of Aquitaine.--Various calls made
upon him.--Don Pedro.--Edward's plans and arrangements.--Lord
D'Albret.--Lord D'Albret offers a thousand men.--King Edward offers
his aid.--John of Gaunt.--Why the princess wishes to have Edward's
departure postponed.--Prince Edward's letter to Lord D'Albret.--Lord
D'Albret is very angry.--His determination.--Lord D'Albret's letter
to the prince.--Edward in want of money.--Don Pedro pledges his
three daughters.--The baptism of the young Prince Richard.--Richard
receives a visit from his uncle John.--Richard at Bordeaux.--Don
Pedro's troubles and perplexities.--King Charles determines to call
Prince Edward to account.--The commissioners arrive, and are received
by the prince.--The lawyer reads the letter.--The prince is very much
displeased.--He dismisses the commissioners.--Indignation of the
prince.--He wishes to arrest the commissioners.--The commissioners
seized and imprisoned.--Death of Richard's brother.--The prince
determines to go to England.--Prince Edward's farewell speech.--He
sails for England.--Little Richard at sea.--Pleasant and prosperous
voyage.--Portrait of Edward III.--Richard's first entrance into
England.
The child of Edward the Black Prince, who afterward became Richard the
Second, king of England, was born at Bordeaux, in the southwestern
part of France, in the year 1367, in the midst of a scene of great
military bustle and excitement. The circumstances were these.
When peace was finally made between England and France, after the wars
described in the last chapter were over, one of the results of the
treaty which was made was that certain provinces in the southwestern
part of France were ceded to England, and formed into a principality
called Aquitaine, and this principality was placed under the dominion
of the Black Prince. The title of the prince was thenceforth not only
Prince of Wales, but also Prince of Aquitaine. The city of Bordeaux,
near the mouth of the Garonne, as shown by the map,[E] was the chief
city of Aquitaine. There the prince established his court, and
reigned, as it were, for several years in great splendor. The fame
which he had acquired attracted to his court a great number of knights
and nobles from all lands, and whenever a great personage had any
wrongs, real or imaginary, to be redressed, or any political end to
gain which required the force of arms, he was very likely to come to
the Prince of Aquitaine, in order, if possible, to secure his aid.
Prince Edward was rather pleased than otherwise with these
applications, for he loved war much better than peace, and, though he
evinced a great deal of moderation and generosity in his conduct in
the treatment of his vanquished enemies, he was none the less really
excited and pleased with the glory and renown which his victories
gained him.
[Footnote E: See map on page 110.]
About six months before Richard was born, while Edward was living with
the princess, his wife, in Bordeaux, he received an application for
aid from a certain Don Pedro, who claimed to be King of Navarre in
Spain, but who had been expelled from his kingdom by his brother.
There was also a certain James who claimed to be the King of Majorca,
a large island in the Mediterranean Sea, who was in much the same
situation in respect to _his_ kingdom. Prince Edward promised to aid
Don Pedro in recovering his throne, and he forthwith began to make
preparations to this end. He also promised James that, as soon as he
had accomplished the work which he had undertaken for Don Pedro, he
would fit out an expedition to Majorca, and so restore him too to his
kingdom.
The preparations which he made for the expedition into Spain were
prosecuted in a very vigorous manner. Don Pedro was destitute of means
as well as of men, and Edward was obliged to raise a large sum of
money for the provisioning and paying of his troops. His vassals, the
nobles and barons of his principality, were obliged to furnish the
men, it being the custom in those times that each vassal should bring
to his lord, in case of war, as many soldiers as could be spared from
among his own tenants and retainers--some fifty, some one hundred, and
some two hundred, or even more, according to the extent and
populousness of their estates. One of the nobles in Prince Edward's
service, named Lord D'Albret, had offered to bring a thousand men. The
prince had asked him on some public occasion, in presence of other
knights and noblemen, how many men he could furnish for the
expedition.
"My lord," replied Lord D'Albret, "if you really wish for all the
strength that I can furnish, I can bring you a thousand lances, and
still have enough at home to guard the country."
The prince was surprised at this answer. He did not know, it seems,
how powerful the barons of his principality were.
"By my head!" said he, addressing Lord D'Albret and speaking in
French, which was, of course, the language of Aquitaine, "that will be
very handsome."
He then turned to some English nobles who were near, and speaking in
English, said it was worth while to rule in a country where one baron
could attend his lord with a thousand lances. He was ashamed not to
accept this offer, for, according to the ideas of these times, it
would not be at all consistent with what was expected of a prince that
he should not be able to maintain and pay as many troops as his barons
could bring him. So he said hastily, turning to D'Albret, that he
engaged them all.
Although, in the end, Don Pedro, if he succeeded in regaining his
kingdom, was to refund the expenses of the war, yet, in the first
instance, it was necessary for the prince to raise the money, and he
soon found that it would be very difficult for him to raise enough. He
was unwilling to tax too heavily the subjects of his principality, and
so, after collecting as much as he thought prudent in that way, he
sent to England to his father, explaining the nature and design of
the proposed expedition, and soliciting his father's approval of it,
and, at the same time, asking for aid in the way of funds. King Edward
replied, cordially approving of the enterprise. He also promised to
send on the prince's brother John, with a body of troops to accompany
the expedition. This John was the one who has already been mentioned
as born in Ghent, and who was called, on that account, John of Gaunt.
He was also Duke of Lancaster, and is often designated by that name.
Edward was very much attached to his brother John, and was very much
pleased to hear that he was coming to join him.
The King of England also, Edward's father, made arrangements for
sending to his son a large sum of money. This was of great assistance
to him, but still he had not money enough. So he broke up his plate,
both gold and silver, and caused it to be coined, in order to assist
in filling his treasury. Still, notwithstanding all that he could do,
he found it difficult to provide sufficient funds for the purchase of
the provisions that he required, and for the pay of the men.
It was rather late in the season when the prince first formed the plan
of this expedition. He was very anxious to set out as soon as
possible, for he had the Pyrenees to cross, in order to pass from
France into Spain, and it would be impossible, he knew, to conduct an
army over the mountains after the winter should set in; so he hastened
his preparations as much as possible. He was kept in a continued fever
by his impatience, and by the various delays and disappointments which
were constantly occurring. In the mean while, time moved on, and it
began at length to be doubtful whether he should be ready to march
before the winter should set in.
To add to his perplexity, his wife begged him to postpone his
departure till the spring, in order that he might remain at home with
her until after their child should be born. She was dejected in
spirits, and seemed particularly sad and sorrowful at the thought of
her husband's going away to leave her at such a time. She knew, too,
the undaunted recklessness with which he was accustomed to expose
himself to danger in his campaigns, and if he went away she could not
but think that it was uncertain whether he would ever return.
Finally, the prince concluded to put off his departure until spring.
This determination, however, in some sense increased his perplexities,
for now he had a large proportion of his force to maintain and pay
through the winter. This made it necessary that he should curtail his
plans in some degree, and, among other things, he resolved to notify
the Baron D'Albret not to bring his whole complement of one thousand
men. It was a great humiliation to him to do this after having
formally agreed to engage the men, but he felt compelled, by the
necessity of the case, to do so, and he accordingly wrote to the baron
the following letter:
"MY LORD D'ALBRET,
"Whereas, out of our liberal bounty, we have retained you,
with a thousand lances, to serve under us in the expedition
which, through the grace of God, we intend speedily to
undertake and briefly to finish, having duly considered the
business, and the costs and expenses we are at, we have
resolved that several of our vassals should remain at home
in order to guard the territories. For these causes, it has
been determined in our council that you shall serve in this
expedition with two hundred lances only. You will choose the
two hundred out from the rest, and the remainder you will
leave at home to follow their usual occupations.
"May God have you under his holy protection.
"Given at Bordeaux, the eighth day of December.
"EDWARD."
This letter was sealed with the great seal of the prince, and sent to
D'Albret, who was in his own country, busily engaged in assembling and
equipping his men, and making the other necessary preparations. The
baron was exceedingly indignant when he received the letter. In those
days, every man that was capable of bearing arms liked much better to
be taken into the service of some prince or potentate going to war
than to remain at home to cultivate the ground in quiet industry.
D'Albret knew, therefore, very well, that his vassals and retainers
would be all greatly disappointed to learn that four fifths of their
whole number were, after all, to remain at home, and then, besides
this, his own importance in the campaign would be greatly diminished
by reducing the force under his command from one thousand to two
hundred men. He was extremely angry when he read the letter.
"How is this?" he exclaimed. "My lord the Prince of Wales trifles with
me when he orders me to disband eight hundred knights and squires
whom, by his command, I have retained, and have diverted from other
means of obtaining profit and honor." Then he called for a secretary,
and said to him in a rage,
"Write what I shall dictate to you."
The secretary wrote as follows from his master's dictation:
"MY DEAR LORD,
"I am marvelously surprised at the contents of the letter
which you have sent me. I do not know and can not imagine
what answer I can make. Your present orders will do me a
great injury, and subject me to much blame. For all the
men-at-arms whom I have retained by your command have
already made their preparations for entering your service,
and were only waiting your orders to march. By retaining
them for your service I have prevented them from seeking
honor and profit elsewhere. Some of the knights had actually
made engagements to go beyond sea, to Jerusalem, to
Constantinople, or to Russia, in order to advance
themselves, and now, having relinquished these advantageous
prospects in order to join your enterprise, they will be
extremely displeased if they are left behind. I am myself
equally displeased, and I can not conceive what I have done
to deserve such treatment. And I beg you to understand, my
lord, that I can not be separated from my men; nor will they
consent to be separated from each other. I am convinced
that, if I dismiss any of them, they will all go."
The baron added other words of the same tenor, and then, signing and
sealing the letter, sent it to the prince. The prince was angry in his
turn when he received this letter.
"By my faith," said he, "this man D'Albret is altogether too great a
man for my country, when he seeks thus to disobey an order from my
council. But let him go where he pleases. We will perform this
expedition, if it please God, without _any_ of his thousand lances."
This case presents a specimen of the perplexities and troubles in
which the prince was involved during the winter, while organizing his
expedition and preparing to set out in the spring. The want of money
was the great difficulty, for there was no lack of men. Don Pedro
agreed, it is true, that when he recovered his kingdom he would pay
back the advances which Edward had to make, but he was so unprincipled
a man that Edward knew very well that he could not trust to his
promises unless he gave some security. So Don Pedro agreed to leave
his three daughters in Edward's hands as hostages to secure the
payment of the money.
The names of the three princesses thus pledged as collateral security
for money borrowed were Beatrice, Constance, and Isabel.
At length, on the third day of April, the child was born. The
princess was in a monastery at the time, called the monastery of St.
Andrew, whither she had retired for privacy and quiet. Immediately
after the event, Prince Edward, having made every thing ready before,
gave orders that the expedition should set forward on the road to
Spain. He himself was to follow as soon as the baptism of the child
should be performed. The day on which the child was born was
Wednesday, and Friday was fixed for the baptism. The baptism took
place at noon, at a stone font in the church of the monastery. The
King of Majorca, whom the prince had promised to restore to his
kingdom, was one of the godfathers. The child was named Richard.
On the Sunday following the prince bade his wife and the little infant
farewell, and set out from Bordeaux with great pomp, at the head of an
immense cavalcade, and went on to join the expedition which was
already on its way to Spain.
[Illustration: RICHARD RECEIVING THE VISIT OF HIS UNCLE JOHN.]
The birth of Richard was an event of great importance, for he was not
only the son of the Prince of Aquitaine, but he was the grandson of the
King of England, and, of course, every one knew that he might one day be
the King of England himself. Still, the probability was not very great
that this would happen, at least for a long period to come; for,
though his father, Prince Edward, was the oldest son of the King of
England, he himself was not the oldest son of his father. He had a
brother who was some years older than himself, and, of course, there
were three lives that must be terminated before his turn should come to
reign in England--his grandfather's, his father's, and his brother's.
It happened that all these three lives _were_ terminated in a
comparatively brief period, so that Richard really became King of
England before he grew up to be a man.
The first important occurrence which took place at the monastery at
Bordeaux, where little Richard remained with his mother after his
father had gone, was the arrival of his uncle John, that is, John of
Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, who was on his way from England at the
head of an army to accompany his brother into Spain. John stopped at
Bordeaux to see the princess and the infant child. He was very
joyfully received by the princess, and by all the ladies in attendance
upon her. The princess was very fond of her brother, and she was much
pleased that he was going to join her husband in the war in Spain;
besides, he brought her late and full news from England. The duke,
however, did not remain long at Bordeaux, but, after a brief visit to
his sister, he put himself again at the head of his troops, and
hurried forward to overtake the prince, who was already far on his way
toward the Pyrenees and Spain.
Little Richard remained in Bordeaux for three or four years. During
this time he had his brother for a playmate, but he saw little of his
father. It was some time before his father returned from Spain, and
when he did return he came home much depressed in spirits, and
harassed and vexed with many cares. He had succeeded, it is true, in
conquering Don Pedro's enemies, and in placing Don Pedro himself again
upon the throne; but he had failed in getting back the money that he
had expended. Don Pedro could not or would not repay him. What Prince
Edward did with the three daughters of the king that had been left
with him as hostages I do not know. At any rate, he could not pay his
debts with them, or raise money by means of them to silence his
clamorous troops. He attempted to lay fresh taxes upon the people of
Aquitaine. This awakened a great deal of discontent. The barons who
had had disagreements of any sort with Edward before, took advantage
of this discontent to form plots against him, and at last several of
them, D'Albret among the rest, whom he had mortally offended by
countermanding his orders for the thousand men, combined together and
sent to the King of France, complaining of the oppressions which they
suffered under Edward's rule, and inviting him to come and help them
free themselves. The king at once determined that he would do this.
This King of France was, however, not King John, whom Edward had made
prisoner and sent to London. King John had died, and the crown had
descended to his successor, Charles the Fifth.
King Charles determined first to send two commissioners to summon the
Prince of Aquitaine into his presence to give an account of himself.
He did this under the pretext that Aquitaine was part of France, and
that, consequently, Prince Edward was in some sense under his
jurisdiction.
The two commissioners, with their attendants, left Paris, and set out
on their journey to Bordeaux. People traveled very slowly in those
days, and the commissioners were a long time on the way. At length,
however, they reached Bordeaux. They arrived late in the evening, and
took up their quarters at an inn. The next day they repaired to the
monastery where the prince was residing.
They informed the attendants who received them at the monastery that
they had been sent by the King of France with a message to the prince.
The attendants, who were officers of the prince's court, informed the
prince of the arrival of the strangers, and he ordered them to be
brought into his presence.
The commissioners, on being brought before the prince, bowed very low
in token of reverence, and presented their credentials. The prince,
after reading the credentials, and examining the seals of the King of
France by which they were authenticated, said to the commissioners,
"It is very well. These papers show that you are duly commissioned
embassadors from the King of France. You are welcome to our court. And
you can now proceed to communicate the message with which you have
been charged."
Of the two commissioners, one was a lawyer, and the other a knight.
The knight bore the singular name of Caponnel de Caponnal. The lawyer,
of course, was the principal speaker at the interview with the prince,
and when the prince called for the communication which had been sent
from the King of France, he drew forth a paper which he said contained
what the King of France had to say, and which, he added, they, the
commissioners, had promised faithfully to read in the prince's
presence.
The prince, wondering greatly what the paper could contain, ordered
the lawyer to proceed with the reading of it.
The lawyer read as follows:
"Charles, by the grace of God, King of France, to our nephew
the Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, health.
"Whereas several prelates, barons, knights, universities,
fraternities, and colleges of the country and district of
Gascony, residing and inhabiting upon the borders of our
realm, together with many others from the country and duchy
of Aquitaine, have come before us in our court to claim
justice for certain grievances and unjust oppressions which
you, through weak counsel and foolish advice, have been
induced to do them, and at which we are much astonished;
"Therefore, in order to obviate and remedy such things, we
do take cognizance of their cause, insomuch that we, of our
royal majesty and sovereignty, order and command you to
appear in our city of Paris in person, and that you show and
present yourself before us in our chamber of Paris, to hear
judgment pronounced upon the aforesaid complaints and
grievances done by you to our subjects, who claim to be
heard, and to have the jurisdiction of our court.
"Let there be no delay in obeying this summons, but set out
as speedily as possible after having heard this order read.
"In witness whereof we have affixed our seal to these
presents.
"Given at Paris the twenty-fifth day of January, 1369.
"CHARLES R."
On hearing this letter read, the prince was filled with astonishment
and indignation. He paused a moment, with his eyes fixed upon the
commissioners, as if not knowing what to reply. At length, with an
expression of bitter irony upon his countenance, he said,
"We shall willingly appear at the appointed day at Paris, since the
King of France sends for us, but it will be with our helmet on our
head, and accompanied by sixty thousand men."
The commissioners, seeing how much the prince was displeased, began
immediately to entreat him not to be angry with them as the bearers of
the message.
"Oh no," said the prince, "I am not in the least angry with you, but
only with those that sent you hither. Your master, the King of
France, has been exceedingly ill advised in thus pretending to claim
jurisdiction over our dominion of Aquitaine, and in taking the part of
our discontented subjects against us, their rightful sovereign. When
he surrendered the provinces to the King of England, my father, as he
did by solemn treaty, he relinquished forever all jurisdiction over
them, and in the exercise of my government I acknowledge no superior
except my father. Tell the King of France that is what I claim and
will maintain. It shall cost a hundred thousand lives before it shall
be otherwise."
Having spoken these words in a calm and quiet, but very resolute and
determined tone, the prince walked off out of the apartment, leaving
the commissioners in a great state of astonishment and alarm. They
seemed to know not what to do.
Some of the courtiers came to them and advised them to withdraw. "It
is useless," said they, "for you to attempt any thing more. You have
delivered your message faithfully, and the prince has given his
answer. It is the only answer that he will give, you may depend, and
you may as well return with it to the king."
So the messengers went back to the inn, and on the evening of the same
day they set out on their return to Paris. In the mean time, Prince
Edward continued to feel extremely indignant at the message which he
had received. The more he reflected upon it, indeed, the more angry he
became. He felt as if he had been insulted in having had such a
summons from a foreign potentate served upon him by a lawyer in his
own house. The knights and barons around him, sharing his anger,
proposed that they should pursue and seize the commissioners, with a
view of punishing them for their audacity in bringing such a message.
At first the prince was unwilling to consent to this, as the persons
of embassadors and messengers of all sorts sent from one sovereign to
another were, in those days as now, considered sacred. At last,
however, he said that he thought the men were hardly to be considered
as the messengers of the King of France.
"They are virtually," said he, "the messengers of D'Albret and the
other factious and rebellious barons among our own subjects, who
complained to the King of France and incited him to interfere in our
affairs, and, as such, I should not be sorry to have them taken and
punished."
This was sufficient. The knights who heard it immediately sent off a
small troop of horsemen, who overtook the commissioners before they
reached the frontier. In order not to compromise the prince, they said
nothing about having been sent by him, but arrested the men on a
charge of having taken a horse which did not belong to them from the
inn. Under pretense of investigating this charge, they took the men to
a neighboring town and shut them up in a castle there.
Some of the attendants of the commissioners, who had come with them
from France, made their escape, and, returning to Paris, they reported
to the King of France all that had occurred. It now came his turn to
be angry, and both parties began to prepare for war.
The King of England took sides with his son, and so was drawn at once
into the quarrel. Various military expeditions were fitted out on both
sides. Provinces were ravaged, and towns and castles were stormed. The
Prince of Wales was overwhelmed with the troubles and perplexities
which surrounded him. His people were discontented, his finances were
low, and the fortune of war often turned against him. His health, too,
began to fail him, and he sank into a state of great dejection and
despondency. To complete the sum of his misfortunes, his oldest son,
Richard's brother, fell sick and died. This was a fortunate event for
Richard, for it advanced him to the position of the oldest surviving
son, and made him thus his father's heir. It brought him, too, one
step nearer to the English throne. Richard was, however, at this time
only four years old, and thus was too young to understand these
things, and probably, sympathizing with his father and mother, he
mourned his brother's death. The parents, at any rate, were
exceedingly grieved at the loss of their first-born child, and the
despondency of the prince was greatly increased by the event.
At last the physicians and counselors of Edward advised that he should
leave his principality for a time and repair to England. They hoped
that by the change of scene and air he might recover his spirits, and
perhaps regain his health. The prince resolved on following this
advice. So he made arrangements for leaving his principality under the
government and care of his brother, John of Gaunt, and then ordered a
vessel to be made ready at Bordeaux to convey himself, the princess,
and Richard to England.
When every thing was ready for his departure, he convened an assembly
of all the barons and knights of his dominions in a hall of audience
at Bordeaux, and there solemnly committed the charge of the
principality to his brother John in the presence of them all.
He said in the speech that he made to them on that occasion, that
during all the time that he had been their prince, he had always
maintained them in peace, prosperity, and power, so far as depended on
him, against all their enemies, and that now, in the hope of
recovering his health, which was greatly impaired, he intended to
return to England. He therefore earnestly besought them to place
confidence in, and faithfully serve and obey, his brother, the Duke of
Lancaster, as they had hitherto served and obeyed him.
The barons all solemnly promised to obey these injunctions, and they
took the oath of fealty and homage to the duke. They then bid the
prince farewell, and he soon afterward embarked on board the ship with
his wife and son, and set sail for England.
The fleet which accompanied the prince on the voyage, as convoy to the
prince's ship, contained five hundred men-at-arms, and a large body of
archers besides. This force was intended to guard against the danger
of being intercepted by the French on the way. The prince and the
princess must, of course, have felt some solicitude on this account,
but Richard, being yet only four years old, was too young to concern
himself with any such fears. So he played about the ship during the
voyage, untroubled by the anxieties and cares which weighed upon the
spirits of his father and mother.
The voyage was a very prosperous one. The weather was pleasant and the
wind was fair, and after a few days' sail the fleet arrived safely at
Southampton. The king, with his family and suite, disembarked. They
remained two days at Southampton to refresh themselves after the
voyage, and to allow the prince, who seemed to be growing worse rather
than better, a little time to gather strength for the journey to
London. When the time arrived for setting out, he was found too ill to
travel by any of the ordinary modes, and so they placed him upon a
litter, and in this way the party set out for Windsor Castle.
The party traveled by easy stages, and at length arrived at the
castle. Here Richard for the first time saw his grandfather, Edward
the Third, King of England. They were all very kindly received by him.
After remaining a short time at Windsor Castle, the prince, with his
wife and Richard, and the knights, and barons, and other attendants
who had come with him from Aquitaine, proceeded to a place called
Birkhamstead, about twenty miles from London, and there took up his
abode.
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF EDWARD THE THIRD, RICHARD'S GRANDFATHER.]
And thus it was that Richard for the first time entered the country
which had been the land of his ancestors for so long a time, and over
which he was himself so soon to reign.