UBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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Epochs of History 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A. 
 
 THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK 
 
 JAMES GAIRDNER. 
 
EPOCHS OF ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 Edited by Rev, G. "W. Cox and Charles Sankey, M.A. 
 Eleven volumes, 16mo, with 41 Maps and Plans. Price per 
 vol., 1)1.00. The set, Eoxburglistyle,gilttop,in box, $11.00. 
 
 Troy — Its Legend, History, and Literature. By S. G. W. 
 Benjamin. 
 
 The Greeks and the Persians. By G. W. Cox. 
 
 The Athenian Empire. By G. W. Cox. 
 
 The Spartan and Theban Supremacies. By Charles Sankey. 
 
 The Macedonian Empire, By A. M. Curteis. 
 
 Early Rome. By W. Ihne. 
 
 Rome and Carthage. By R. Bosworth Smith. 
 
 The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla. By A. H. Beesley, 
 
 The Roman Triumvirates By Charles Merivale. 
 
 The Early Empire. By W. Wolfe Capes. 
 
 The Age of the Antonines. By W. Wolfe Capes. 
 
 EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 Edited by Edward E. Morris. Eighteen volumes, 16mo, 
 with 77 Maps, Plans, and Tables. Price per vol., $1.00. 
 The set, Roxburgh style, gilt top, in box, $18.00. 
 
 The Beginning of the Middle Ages, By R. W. Church. 
 
 The Normans in Europe. By A. H. Johnson. 
 
 The Crusades. By G. W. Cox. 
 
 The Early Plantagenets. By Wm. Stubbs. 
 
 Edward III. By W. Warburton. 
 
 The Houses of Lancaster and York. By James Gairdner. 
 
 The Era of the Protestant Revolution. By Frederic Seebohm. 
 
 The Early Tudors. By C. E. Moberly. 
 
 The Age of Elizabeth. By M. Creighton. 
 
 The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648. By S. R. Gardiner. 
 
 The Puritan Revolution. By S. R. Gardiner. 
 
 The Fall of the Stuarts. By Edward Hale. 
 
 The English Restoration and Louis XIV. By Osmund Airy. 
 
 The Age of Anne. By Edward E. Morris. 
 
 The Early Hanoverians. By Edward E. Morris. 
 
 Frederick the Great. By F. W. Longman. 
 
 The French Revolution and First Empire, By W. O'Connor 
 Morris. Appendix by Andrew D. White. 
 
 The Epoch of Reform, 1830-1850. By Justin Macarthy. 
 
I'RANCE AT THE DEATH OF EDWARD HI. 
 
 Boundary of \ ^ ,. 
 
 English Territoru as settled by V ^«'""« j)o. at death of Edward III Red 
 
 heTreatyof Bretigni,lZ60. ) 
 
 Note. 
 
 The treaty of Bretigny was made in 1360 betwen Edward III. and King John of 
 France. After it Edward lost the actual possession of nearly the whole South of France, 
 but he never gave up hia pretensions to the Sovereignty of Guienne and Gascony, 
 
THE HOUSES 
 
 OF 
 
 Lancaster and York 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 CONQUEST AND LOSS OF FRANCE 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES GAIRDNER 
 
 Editor of "the paston letters" btc. 
 
 WITH FIVE MAPS 
 
 NEW YOEK: 
 
 CHAKLES SCEIBNEE'S SONS, 
 
 1889. 
 
MAY 2 7 1904 
 
 
 Transfer 
 D pf C&L 
 1 F£bi9a& 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 For the period of English history treated in this 
 volume, we are fortunate in possessing an unrivalled 
 interpreter in our great dramatic poet, Shakspeare. 
 A regular sequence of historical plays exhibit to us 
 not only the general cnaracter of each successive 
 reign, but nearly the whole chain of leading events, 
 from the days of Richard II. to the death of Richard 
 III. at Bosworth. Following the guidance of such a 
 master mind, we realize for ourselves the men and 
 actions of the period in a way we cannot do in any 
 other epoch. And this is the more important, as the 
 age itself, especially towards the close, is one of the 
 most obscure in English history. During the period 
 of the Wars of the Roses, we have, comparatively 
 speaking, very few contemporary narratives of what 
 took place, and anything like a general history of the 
 times was not written till a much later date. But the 
 doings of that stormy age — the sad calamities endured 
 by kings — the sudden changes of fortune in great men 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 — the glitter of chivalry and the horrors of civil war, 
 — all left a deep impression upon the mind of the 
 nation, which was kept alive by vivid traditions of 
 the past at the time that our great dramatist wrote. 
 Hence, notwithstanding the scantiness of records 
 and the meagerness of ancient chronicles, we have 
 singularly little difficulty in understanding the spirit 
 and character of the times. 
 
 Shakspeare, however, made ample use besides, of 
 whatever information he could obtain from written 
 histories. And there were two works to which he 
 was mainly indebted, which deserve to be read more 
 generally than they are at the present day — the 
 Chronicles, namely, of Hall and Holinshed. Hall's 
 Chronicle was written in the reign of Henry VHI., 
 and gives a complete account of the whole sequence 
 of events from the last days of King Richard II. to 
 the time in which the author wrote. The title of the 
 work prefixed to it by himself, or possibly by his 
 printer, Grafton, who completed it, was ''The Union 
 of the Two Noble and Illustrate Families of Lancastre 
 and Yorke."^ This expresses exactly the general 
 scope of the book, which traces out very clearly the 
 
 1 The full title is as follows : — " The Union of the two Noble and 
 Illustrate Families of Lancaster and York being long in continual 
 dissension for the crown of this noble realm, with all the acts done 
 in bolih the times of the Princes, both of the one lineage and of the 
 
Preface, vii 
 
 story of each separate reign, first of the one family 
 and afterwards of the other, winding up with a narra- 
 tive of the reign of Henry VIII., in whom the blood 
 of both Houses was mingled. The style of Hall, 
 though antiquated, is remarkably clear, graphic, and 
 interesting. The headings that he has prefixed to 
 the several reigns are in themselves no small help to 
 the student to remember their general charac'er. 
 The book is divided into the following chapters : — 
 
 " An Introduction into the Division of the Two Houses of 
 Lancaster and York. 
 
 " I. The Unquiet Time of King Henry the Fourth. 
 " n. The Victorious Acts of King Henry the Fifth. 
 " HI, The Troublous Season of King Henry the Sixth. 
 " IV. The Prosperous Reign of King Edward the Fourth. 
 " V. The Pitiful Life of King Edward the Fifth. 
 " VI. The Tragical Doings of King Richard the Third. 
 " VII. The Politic Governance of King Henry the Seventh. 
 " VIII. The Triumphant Reign of King Henry the Eighth." 
 
 This table of contents is quite a history in little. 
 The feeling with which Hall wrote is that of a 
 man living under a '^ triumphant " king who, after a 
 century of disorder and civil war occasioned by a 
 disputed succession, had succeeded peacefully to the 
 crown, uniting the claims of the two rival families in 
 
 other, beginning at the time of King Herry the Fourth, the 
 first author of this division, and so successively proceeding to the 
 reign of the high and prudent prince King Henry the Eighth, the 
 indubitate flower and very heir of both the said lineages." 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 his own person and raising his country in the estima- 
 tion of the whole world by his kingly valor. From 
 the happy and prosperous days of Henry VIII., — for 
 such they were u]Don the whole, especially the early 
 part of the reign, when Hall wrote — he looked back 
 with the eye of an historian upon that epoch of 
 tragedy and confusion, and carefully collected all 
 that he could find relating to it. In the beginning 
 of the work he gives a list of the authorities he had 
 consulted, among which there are one or two that 
 cannot at this day be identified, and perhaps may 
 not be now extant. 
 
 On the whole, those who desire to obtain a clear 
 impression of the history of this period cannot do 
 better than read the Chronicle of Hall, of which it 
 is greatly to be desired that some more handy and 
 convenient edition were published for general use. 
 It is, however, for the most part accessible in public 
 libraries, either in the original black-letter edition 
 or in that of Sir Henry Ellis. 
 
 The later Chronicles of Stow and Holinshed, pub- 
 lished during the latter part of the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, add many important particulars not to be 
 found in Hall. John Stow was a most industrious 
 antiquary, who spent the greater portion of his life 
 in collecting and taking notes from MSS., and in 
 
Preface, ix 
 
 his Chronicle, or, as he himself calls it, his ''An- 
 nals," he gives the fruit of his gleanings, not in a 
 connected narrative but in a record of events from 
 year to year, as the name of the work implies. The 
 work of Holinshed, on the other hand, is called on 
 the title-page a Chronicle, but is, in fact, a regular 
 history, embodying the substance of Hall's narrative, 
 sometimes nearly in the words of the earlier writer, 
 with a great deal that is contained in Stow and a 
 large amount of additional information from other 
 sources; 
 
 Modern writers have not improved upon these 
 admirable works in extent or fulness of information, 
 though they have undoubtedly brought criticisms to 
 bear on many points of detail. Of popular histories 
 written in recent times, Lingard's is upon the whole 
 the most careful and trustworthy ; but any one de- 
 siring really to study the period can only refer to 
 such works as a help to rectify and to test the accu- 
 racy of his own judgments after saturating his mind 
 with the perusal of earlier authorities. Those who 
 have not an opportunity of referring to Hall or 
 Holinshed, would do well 'not to take their whole 
 view of the history from any one historian, however 
 accurate he may be, but to jot down the simple facts 
 for themselves, comparing one writer with another 
 
X Preface, 
 
 to ensure accuracy, and from them form their own 
 conclusions. 
 
 If, however, it be desired to examine the original 
 sources from which information about the period is 
 obtained, the student must of course go to earlier 
 writings even than Hall's Chronicle. He must 
 examine the authorities used by Hall himself, and a 
 number of other chronicles and narratives besides, 
 many of which have been only published in compara- 
 tively recent times. Of these works it would be un- 
 necessary here to give a list ; but it is right to say 
 that the present volume has been written from a 
 direct study of all the contemporary testimony that 
 exists relative to the events of each particular reign. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. I. 
 
 PAG8 
 PRELIMINARY I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RICHARD II. 
 X The French War — Wychffe and John of Gaunt 
 
 land 
 
 IL Wat Tyler's Rebellion .... 
 
 III. The Crusade in Flanders. Invasion of Sco 
 
 The King's Favorites .... 
 
 IV. Revolution and Counter-Revolution . 
 
 V, The Struggle Continued. The Wonderful Parlia 
 
 ment — The King of age . . . 
 
 VI. The King and the Duke of Gloucester . 
 
 VII. The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk . 
 
 VIII. The King and Henry of Lancaster , , 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 20 
 
 26 
 
 39 
 44 
 50 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. • .62 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HENRY IV. 
 
 I, The Revolution Completed. Invasion of Scotland . 67 
 II. Eastern Affairs ........ 72 
 
 III. Owen Glendower's Rebellion and the Battle of 
 
 Shrewsbury 76 
 
 IV. Capture of Prince James of Scotland ... 81 
 V. The Church. French Affairs. Death of Henry IV. 85 
 
 xi 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HENRY V. PAGB 
 
 T. Oldcastle and the Lollards 90 
 
 II. The War with France and the Battle of Agincourt . 96 
 
 III. The Emperor Sigismund. Henry Invades France a 
 
 Second Time. The Foul Raid. Execution of 
 Oldcastle ........ 104 
 
 IV. Siege and Capture of Rouen. Murder of the Duke 
 
 of Burgundy. Treaty of Troyes . . . .108 
 V. Henry's Third Invasion of France. His Death • 114 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE AND THE WAR IN BOHEMIA . 1 18 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 I. The King's Minority and the French War . .128 
 
 II. The Siege of Orleans. Joan of Arc .... 132 
 
 III. Gloucester and Beaufort. Negotiations for Peace . 140 
 
 IV. The King's Marriage. Deaths of Gloucester and 
 
 Beaufort ........ 146 
 
 V. Loss of Normandy. Fall of the Duke of Suffolk . 150 
 
 VI. Jack Cade's Rebellion, Loss of Guienne and Gascony 155 
 
 VII. The King's Illness. Civil War 161 
 
 VIII. The Duke of York's Claim. His Death. Henry 
 
 Deposed , . ... . . . . 167 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 EDWARD IV. 
 
 I. Triumph of the House of York .... 
 
 II. Edward's Marriage. Louis XI. 
 III. The Burgundian Alliance. Warwick's Intrigues 
 IV. Edward driven out, and Henry VI. Restored . 
 
 V. Return of King Edward ..... 
 
 173 
 178 
 
 183 
 188 
 192 
 
Contents, xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 VI. War with France ....... 198 
 
 VII. France and Burgundy 200 
 
 VIII. t ate of Clarence. The Scotch War. Death of Edward 203 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EDWARD V. . . . . 209 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 I. The Royal Progress. Murder of the Princes . . 218 
 
 II. The Rebellion of Buckingham ..... 222 
 III. Second Invasion of Richmond. Richard's Overthrow 
 
 and Death . 227 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. . 236 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. . , o 25c 
 
LIST OF MAPS. 
 
 I. France at the Death of Edward III. 
 
 Opposite Title-page 
 
 \ll. Extent of the English Conquests in 
 
 France • - - - -To face page i 
 
 \\\\. Henry V.'s First Campaign in France " loo 
 
 \ IV. England during the Wars of the 
 
 Roses - • - - - • - « 172 
 
 V. Europe in the Fifteenth Century ** 250 
 
THE HOUSES 
 
 OF 
 
 LANCASTER AND YORK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRELIMINARY. 
 
 The reign of Edward III. may be considered the climax 
 of mediaeval civilization and of England's early great- 
 ness. It is the age in which chivalry ^^^ ^f j-^. 
 attained its highest perfection. It is the "^^^^ ^^^• 
 period of the most brilliant achievements in war, and of 
 the greatest development of arts and commerce before 
 the Reformation. It was succeeded by an age of decay 
 and disorder, in the midst of which, for one brief interval, 
 the glories of the days of King Edward were renewed ; 
 for the rest, all was sedition, anarchy, and civil war. 
 Two different branches of the royal family set up rival 
 pretensions to the throne ; and the struggle, as it went 
 on, engendered acts of violence and ferocity which de- 
 stroyed all faith in the stability of government. 
 
 2. Even in Edward's own days the tide had begun to 
 turn. Of the lands he had won in France, Loss of French 
 and even of those he had inherited in that conquests, 
 country, nearly all had been lost. Calais, Bordeaux, 
 Bayonne, and a few other places still remained; but 
 B 
 
EXTENT OF THE ENGLISH CONQUESTS m ERA^NTCE 
 
THE HOUSES 
 
 OF 
 
 LANCASTER AND YORK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PRELIMINARY. 
 
 The reign of Edward III. may be considered the climax 
 of mediaeval civilization and of England's early great- 
 ness. It is the age in which chivalry ^„^ ^^ -^^^ 
 attained its highest perfection. It is the ^"^^^^ ^^^■ 
 period of the most brilliant achievements in war, and of 
 the greatest development of arts and commerce before 
 the Reformation. It was succeeded by an age of decay 
 and disorder, in the midst of which, for one brief interval, 
 the glories of the days of King Edward were renewed ; 
 for the rest, all was sedition, anarchy, and civil war. 
 Two different branches of the royal family set up rival 
 pretensions to the throne ; and the struggle, as it went 
 on, engendered acts of violence and ferocity which de- 
 stroyed all faith in the stability of government. 
 
 2. Even in Edward's own days the tide had begun to 
 turn. Of the lands he had won in France, Loss of French 
 and even of those he had inherited in that conquests, 
 country, nearly all had been lost. Calais, Bordeaux, 
 Bayonne, and a few other places still remained; but 
 B 
 
2 Preliminary. CH. i. 
 
 Gascony had revolted, and a declaration of war had 
 been received in England from Charles V., the son of 
 that king of France who had been taken prisoner at 
 Poitiers. Edward found it impossible in his declining 
 years to maintain his old military renown. His illus- 
 trious son, the Black Prince, only tarnished his glory 
 by the massacre of Limoges. Even if England had 
 still possessed the warriors who had helped to win her 
 earlier victories, success could not always be hoped for 
 from that daring policy which had been wont to risk 
 everything in a single battle. The French, too, had 
 learned caution, and would no longer allow the issue to 
 be so determined. They suffered John of Gaunt to march 
 through the very heart of their country from Calais to 
 Bordeaux, only harassing his progress with petty skir- 
 mishes, and leaving hunger to do its work upon the in- 
 vading army. England was exhausted and had to be 
 content with failure. During the last two years of 
 Edward's reign there was a truce, which expired three 
 months before his death. But no attempt was made to 
 do more than stand on the defensive. 
 
 3. In domestic matters a still more m.elancholy re- 
 action had taken place. The great King had become 
 , , ... , weak, and the depravity from which he and 
 
 Imbecility of • i 1 1 
 
 Edward in his his people had emancipated themselves at 
 years. ^^ beginning of his reign reappeared at the 
 close in a form almost as painful. Alice Perrers ruled 
 the King and sat beside the judges, corrupting the 
 administration of the law. In the King's imbecility his 
 sons conducted the government, and chiefly John of 
 Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose elder brother the Black 
 Prince had, for the most part, withdrawn from public life, 
 owing to his shattered health. But just before his death 
 in 1376, the latter, conscious of the corrupt state of the 
 
1377- Preliminary. 3 
 
 whole administration, gave his countenance , ^, ^ , 
 
 The Good 
 
 to what was called 'the Good Parliament,' Parliament.' 
 in attacking the principal abuses. They impeached, 
 fined, and imprisoned various offenders who had been 
 guilty of extortion as farmers of the revenue, or of 
 receiving bribes for the surrender of fortresses to the 
 enemy; then, aiming higher still, not only ventured to 
 complain of Alice Ferrers, but compelled the King to 
 banish her from his presence. Unfortunately, the good 
 influence did not last. On the death of the Black Prince 
 everything was again undone. Alice Perrers returned to 
 the King. The Speaker of ' the Good Parliament ' was 
 thrown into prison. John of Gaunt returned to power 
 and brought charges against William of Wykeham, 
 bishop of Winchester, once the all-powerful minister of 
 Edward III., in consequence of which he was dismissed 
 from the Chancellorship, and ordered to keep at a dis- 
 tance from the court, while the men who had been cen- 
 sured and condemned by Parliament were released from 
 their confinement. 
 
 4. One act, however, the Good Parliament accom- 
 plished which was not to be undone. Immediately on 
 the death of the Black Prince the Commons Richard 
 petitioned that his son Richard might be g,"^^"^^^ 
 publicly recognized as heir to the throne. Prince, re- 
 The significance of this act is not at once heir to the 
 apparent to us who are accustomed to a *^''°^"- 
 fixed succession. But the days were not then so very 
 remote when it had been not unusual to set aside the 
 direct line of the succession, either to avoid a minority 
 or for some other reason ; and it might have been ques- 
 tioned still whether the right of a younger son, like John 
 of Gaunt, was not preferable to that of a grandson, like 
 young Richard. In this case, however, the general feel- 
 
4 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 ing was marked and unmistakable. The great popu- 
 larity of the Black Prince made the nation desire the 
 succession of his son ; and the unpopularity of John of 
 Gaunt strengthened that desire still further. Hence it 
 was that on the death of Edward III. his grandson 
 Richard succeeded quietly to the throne. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RICHARD II. 
 
 I. The French War. — Wy cliff e and yohn of Gaunt. 
 
 I. It was just twelve months after the death of the Black 
 Prince that his father, King Edward III., died at Sheen. 
 A. D. 1377. According to what had been determined in 
 June 21. Parliament, Richard was immediately re- 
 
 cognized as king. He was at this time only eleven years 
 Accession of o^^' ^^^ could not be expected to discharge 
 Richard. ^hc actual functions of government for many 
 
 years to come. The utmost that could have been hoped 
 under circumstances so disadvantageous was that he 
 might have been placed under such tuition as would 
 have taught him to exercise his high powers with vigor 
 and discretion when he came of age. But even of this 
 the state of parties afforded very little prospect. His 
 eldest uncle, John of Gaunt, was so generally disliked 
 that his influence would not have been tolerated, and no 
 one else had any claim to be his political instructor. No 
 attempt was made to form a Regency or to appoint a 
 Protector during the minority. The young King was 
 crowned within a month after his accession, and was in- 
 vested at once with the full rights of sovereignty. All 
 
1377- ^^ French War. 5 
 
 parties agreed to support his authority, and seemed anx- 
 ious to lay aside those jealousies which had disturbed the 
 latter days of the preceding reign. John of Gaunt and 
 William of Wykeham were made friends ; and the city 
 of London, which had been much opposed to the for- 
 mer, was assured both of his and of the new King's 
 good will. 
 
 2. It was, indeed, a very proper time to put away 
 dissensions, for the French were at that moment harass- 
 ing the coasts. A week after King Edward's death they 
 burned Rye. A little later they levied contributions in 
 the Isle of Wight, attacked Winchelsea, and -pj^^ French 
 set fire to Hastings. About the same time ^"''^ ^y^- 
 the Scots were busy in the North, and burned the town 
 of Roxburgh. These and a number of other misfortunes 
 were due mainly to the weakness of the government. 
 
 3. A Parliament, however, presently assembled at 
 London, composed mainly of the same persons as the 
 Good Parliament of 1376. In this Parliament 
 
 , . , , - . . Parliament. 
 
 a subsidy was voted for carrymg on the war ; 
 but to prevent a repetition of old abuses, the control of 
 the money was placed entirely in the hands of two lead- 
 ing citizens of London, who were charged not to allow 
 it to be diverted from the use for which it was intended. 
 The names of these two citizens were Wilham Walworth 
 and John Philipot ; and they deserve to be noted here as 
 we shall meet v/ith each of them again in connection 
 with other matters. 
 
 4. About the end of the year there arrived in England 
 certain bulls — not the first that had been issued by the 
 Pope to denounce his teaching — against John 
 Wyclifife, a famous theologian at Oxford, ^"^^ ^' 
 whose tenets, both political and religious, had created no 
 small stir. Wycliffe denied that the Pope, or any one 
 
6 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 but Christ, ought to be called Head of the Church. He 
 treated as a fiction that primacy among the Apostles 
 which the Church of Rome had always claimed for St. 
 Peter. He maintained that the power of kings was su- 
 perior to that of the Pope, and that it was lawful to ap- 
 peal from the sentence of a bishop to a secular tribunal. 
 It was one of his cardinal principles that dominion was 
 founded on grace, and that any one who held authority, 
 either temporal or spiritual, was divested of his power by 
 God whenever he abused it, so that it then became not 
 only lawful but right to disobey him. This teaching 
 shook to its foundation the view commonly entertained 
 of the relations of Church and State, but it recommended 
 itself in many ways to no small section of the nation. 
 As early as the year 1366 it had become of value to the 
 Court ; for the Pope had revived the claim made by the 
 See of Rome for tribute in the days of King John, and 
 while the papal pretensions were repudiated by the Par- 
 liament at Westminster, Wycliffe defended in the schools 
 of Oxford the decision come to by the legislature. 
 
 5. In truth the authority of the Pope had not been 
 strengthened in the estimation of Englishmen since the 
 days when that tribute had been submitted to, especially 
 not in the days of Wycliffe. For nearly sixty years the 
 Papal See had been removed from Rome to Avignon, 
 and in matters of international concern the Pope was 
 looked upon as a partisan of the French king. Of the 
 The Popes six Popcs who had reigned at Avignon, 
 at Avignon. every one had been a native either of Gas- 
 cony or of the Limousin. The exactions of the Papal 
 Court rendered it still more odious. The See of Rome 
 had gradually usurped the right of presentation to bish- 
 oprics and prebends, and received the first-fruits of each 
 new-filled benefice, of which it endeavored to make the 
 
1377- Wydiffe. 7 
 
 utmost by frequent translations. At "the sinful city of 
 Avignon," as it was called by the Good Parliament, there 
 lived a set of brokers who purchased benefices and let 
 them to farm for absentees. Thus a number of the most 
 valuable preferments were absorbed by Cardinals and 
 other foreigners residing at the Papal Court. And worse 
 than all, the revenues of the English Church went fre- 
 quently to support the enemies of England. For the 
 Pope claimed a general right of taxing benefices, and 
 when he required money for his wars in Lombardy, or to 
 ransom French prisoners taken by the English, he could 
 always demand a subsidy of the English clergy. The 
 bishops did not dare to resist the demand, however little 
 they might approve the object. In this way the Pope 
 drew from the possessions of the Church in England five 
 times the amount the King received from the whole 
 taxation of the kingdom. And while all this wealth was 
 withdrawn from the country, and some of it applied in a 
 manner opposed to the country's interest, the people 
 were so ground down with taxation that they were unable 
 to provide effectively for defence against a foreign enemy. 
 Statesmen therefore desired the opinion of divines 
 whether England might not lawfully, as a Christian 
 nation, refuse to part with her treasures to the See of 
 Rome. Wycliffe had no doubt upon the subject. He 
 declared that every community had a right to protect 
 itself, and that it might detain its treasure for that pur- 
 pose whenever necessity required ; moreover, that on 
 Gospel principles the Pope had no right to anything at 
 all, except in the way of alms and free-will offerings of 
 the faithful. 
 
 6. Unselfish as his aim undoubtedly was, it was only 
 natural that doctrines such as these should have recom- 
 mended Wycliffe to the favor of the great. Even in the 
 
8 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 days of Edward III. he was a royal chaplain; and in 
 the very first year of Richard II. his advice was asked 
 by the King's council upon the question just referred to. 
 On the other hand, he was naturally looked upon by 
 churchmen as a traitor to the principles and constitution 
 of the Church ; nor could he hope to escape their ven- 
 geance except by the protection of powerful laymen. In 
 this respect the friendship of John of Gaunt was of most 
 signal use to him ; and it was shown in an especial man- 
 ner not long before the death of Edward III. On that 
 occasion Wycliffe had been cited before the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury and the Bishop of London at St. Paul's ; 
 and the Duke of Lancaster not only took his part, but 
 befriended him so warmly as to let fall some offensive 
 expressions against the Bishop of London. But he had 
 very soon cause to repent the indiscretion. The Lon- 
 doners resented either the affront to their bishop or the 
 stretch of authority on the duke's part in protecting a 
 heretic, and it was only at the bishop's own intercession 
 that they refrained from attacking the duke himself or 
 setting fire to his palace of the Savoy. 
 7. The incident was characteristic of John of Gaunt, 
 a man whose inward endowments, either of 
 Gaunt! virtue or discretion, by no means corre- 
 
 sponded with his artificial greatness. Al- 
 though only the fourth son of King Edward III., he was 
 the eldest that survived his father, and had, as we have 
 already shown, taken the lead in public affairs even 
 during his father's latter days. On the day that Edward 
 attained the age of fifty, he and an elder brother Lionel 
 were raised by the King to the dignity of dukes — a title 
 unknown in England till the beginning of his reign ; and 
 having "married the daughter of a nobleman, then de- 
 ceased, who had been created Duke of Lancaster, ha 
 
1377- John of Gaunt. 9 
 
 was made Duke of Lancaster himself. On the death of 
 his elder brother Lionel, who had been made Duke of 
 Clarence, John of Gaunt was left the only duke in Eng- 
 land, and when the Black Prince also died, he was the 
 greatest subject in the realm. But his ambition had not 
 been satisfied even with the great pre-eminence of a 
 dukedom ; for, having taken as his wife in second mar- 
 riage, Constance, the eldest daughter of Peter the Cruel 
 of Castile, he assumed the title of King of Castile. The 
 claim was utterly futile, and served only to exasperate 
 both France and Spain against England. For Henry 
 of Trastamara, the illegitimate brother of Peter the Cruel, 
 against whose pretensions the Black Prince had won for 
 Peter in Spain the battle of Navarrete, had been since 
 firmly established on the throne by the aid of the King 
 of France. Moreover, at that very time the affairs of 
 England in France were in a most critical condition ; 
 yet John of Gaunt, whom his brother the Black Prince 
 had left to defend Aquitaine a year before, returned to 
 England with his newly married wife and empty title 
 just when his presence was most specially wanted in the 
 south of France. After he was gone the English arms 
 experienced a series of reverses ending in the complete 
 loss of Aquitaiiie, and a new invasion of France, which 
 he undertook in order to retrieve these disasters, was 
 even more unfortunate. 
 
 8. Altogether, he had shown little evidence of either 
 military or political capacity ; and yet at the commence- 
 ment of his young nephew's reign his influence was so 
 great by the mere fact of his relation to the King, that 
 everything was at his disposal. It was in vain even that 
 Parliament had committed to Walworth 
 
 A P. 1378. 
 
 and Philipot the control of the war expen- 
 diture. The Duke of Lancaster requested that the 
 
lO 
 
 Richard IT. CH. li. 
 
 money granted by Parliament should be placed in his 
 hands, that he might fit out a fleet and drive the enemy 
 from the shores of England. The Lords of the Council, 
 though with great misgivings, felt it necessary to com- 
 ply. They had little confidence in the duke, but durst 
 not go against his will. Their distrust was justified by 
 the result. The duke was very tardy in his prepara- 
 tions. The fleet at length sailed without him, was en- 
 countered by the Spaniards and was defeated. The 
 commercial classes seemed to have felt that they must 
 see to the protection of their own interests themselves, 
 for English shipping was exposed to the attacks of vari- 
 ous enemies. John Mercer, a Scotch captain, who was 
 a man of considerable influence with the French king, 
 had been taken at sea by some Northumbrian sailors 
 and committed to the castle of Scarborough. His son, 
 with the aid of a small force consisting of Frenchmen, 
 Scots, and Spaniards, suddenly entered the port of Scar- 
 borough and carried off a number of ships. But John 
 John Phiii- Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, 
 pot. which after a short time fell in with the 
 
 younger Mercer, and not only recovered the ships that 
 he had captured but took him and fifteen Spanish ves- 
 sels laden with rich booty. 
 
 9. The fame of this achievement made Philipot highly 
 popular, and people could not help contrasting it with 
 the supineness and inactivity of John of Gaunt. When 
 at last the duke set to sea he unfortunately did little to 
 retrieve his past mismanagement, but failed again as he 
 Siege of St. ^^^ ^^ often done before. He crossed to 
 Maio. Brittany, besieged St. Malo, and so terrified 
 
 the inhabitants that at first they were disposed to come 
 to terms with him. But the duke insisting on uncondi- 
 tional surrender, the citizens held out and the siege was 
 
1378. The Great Schism. ii 
 
 prolonged, till at length, after losing a number of men, 
 the English were compelled ignominiously to withdraw 
 and return home. 
 
 10. The war went on for some years languidly, with 
 little glory to England, The national disasters, how- 
 ever, together with the intolerable burden of taxation 
 imposed to avert them, had a most impor- 
 tant effect in stimulating Parliament to in- q^resTm? '"' 
 quire into the expenditure, a claim which ^,^e expen- 
 
 ^ ^ diture. 
 
 was not yet conceded to them by right, but 
 under the circumstances could not be refused. The 
 English also were deceived in their expectations of aid 
 from the Duke of Brittany against France. John de 
 Montfort, Duke of Brittany, had done homage to Ed- 
 ward III. for his duchy, and had been assisted by Ed- 
 ward against his rival Charles of Blois, supported by the 
 King of France. His son John, who was now duke, 
 with an undisputed title, had fought side by side with 
 the English, and since Richard's accession had been 
 placed in command of a portion of the English fleet. 
 But he had pursued a double game from the first, and 
 being recalled to his duchy, by the earnest entreaties of 
 his people he soon afterwards made a treaty with 
 France to dismiss the English from his dominion. 
 
 Meanwhile, events had taken place at Rome which 
 affected both the political and religious condition of 
 every country in Europe. Gregory XL, the last of the 
 Popes who reigned at Avignon, had felt it necessary to 
 remove to Rome in order to prevent the Romans setting 
 up an anti-Pope. At Rome he died the year after his 
 removal. Three quarters of the Cardinals in 
 
 . . A. D. 1378. 
 
 the imperial city were French, but another 
 
 French Pope they did not dare elect. Their choice fell 
 
 upon a Neapolitan, the Archbishop of Bari, who assumed 
 
12 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 the title of Urban VI. But shortly afterwards a portion 
 of the Cardinals, pretending that the election had not 
 been free, caused a new election to be made of Robert 
 of Geneva, Cardinal of Cambray, who took the title of 
 Th s h' Clement VII,, and once more set up a Pa- 
 in the pal court at Avignon. Such was the begin- 
 ning of what is known in history as the 
 Great Schism. While Urban was recognized as Pope 
 by England, Germany, and the greater part of Europe, 
 Clement was regarded as head of the church by France, 
 Spain, Scotland, and Sicily. Religion was mixed up 
 with the political animosities of nations, and crusades 
 against the Clementines, as they were called, were pro- 
 claimed as if they had been directed against infidels. 
 Nor was the breach in the Church repaired until thirty- 
 seven years after it began. 
 
 II. Wat Tyler s Rebellion. 
 
 1. In June 1381 there broke out in England the for- 
 midable insurrection known as Wat Tyler's rebellion. 
 
 Wat Tyler's '^^^ movement seems to have begun among 
 rebellion. ^]^g bondmcn of Esscx and Kent, but it 
 spread at once to the counties of Sussex, Hertford, 
 A. D. 1381. Cambridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The pea- 
 June, santry, armed with bludgeons and rusty 
 swords, first occupied the roads by which pilgrims went 
 to Canterbury, and made every one swear that he would 
 be true to King Richard and not accept a king named 
 John. This, of course, was aimed at the government o^f 
 John of Gaunt, who called himself King of Castile, and 
 to whom the people attributed every grievance they had 
 to complain of. 
 
 2. The principal, or at least the immediate cause of 
 offence, arose out of a poll-tax which had been voted in 
 
1 38 1. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. 13 
 
 the preceding year, in addition to other -pj^g jj, 
 sources of revenue, for the war in Brittany. '^^^• 
 A poll-tax of fourpence a head had already been levied 
 in the year 1377 ; but this time the deficiency in the ex- 
 chequer was so great that three times the amount was 
 imposed. Every person above fifteen years of age was 
 to contribute three groats to the revenue ; but to make 
 the burden as equitable as possible, it was enacted that 
 the rich should contribute for the poor, no one (except 
 beggars, who were exempted) contributing less than one 
 groat or more than sixty. When, however, the first 
 collection was made, which should have brought in two- 
 thirds of the whole amount, it was found not to have 
 yielded so much as the former poll-tax. Commissions 
 were accordingly issued to inquire in what cases the tax 
 had been evaded. 
 
 3. The investigation was one that could not have been 
 conducted with too great delicacy ; but the manner in 
 which the commissioners discharged their functions was 
 offensive beyond measure. Even without very special 
 provocation, there was at this time a dangerous spirit 
 among the lower orders. The condition of ^ ,. . 
 
 '-' Condition 
 
 the peasantry had for a long time been of the 
 
 1-1 • • rT>i 1 1-1 peasantry. 
 
 steadily improvmg. The great plague which 
 desolated England in the year 1348 had so thinned the 
 population that agricultural labor was much less easily 
 procurable than it had been before ; and as wages had 
 risen about one-half, those compulsory services which 
 bondmen were still obliged to render to their lords, such 
 as tilling his fields, or carrying in the harvest, were sub- 
 mitted to with far less good-will. A feeling had spread 
 far and wide that bondage was a thing essentially unjust ; 
 and with this grew up an intense hatred of the lawyers 
 and of the laws which kept men in subjection. 
 
14 Richard IL ch. ii. 
 
 4. The commissioners, however, set about their in- 
 quiries in a way which was not only calculated to give 
 needless offence, but which was in many cases indecent 
 and revolting. They soon found the whole peasantry of 
 Kent and Essex banded together to withstand them. 
 From village to village they mustered in hosts, putting to 
 death all lawyers and legal functionaries, and destroying 
 the court-rolls of manors which contained the evidences 
 of their servile condition. And so in overpowering 
 Muster upon numbers they proceeded to Blackheath, 
 Blackheath. where they are said to have mustered 
 100,000 men. Their leader was a man of Dartford, 
 named from his occupation Wat the Tyler, whose 
 daughter had been subjected to insulting treatment by 
 the commissioners, and who had avenged the indignity 
 by cleaving the collector's head with his lathing-staff. 
 They had also with them a fanatical priest named John 
 Balle, whom they had liberated from Maidstone jail, 
 where he had been confined by the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury. This man had been notorious for many years 
 for the extravagance of his preaching, in which, how- 
 ever he addressed himself to the popular prejudices, and 
 seems in part to have adopted the teaching of Wycliffe. 
 Letters written by him in a kind of doggerel rhyme were 
 dispersed about the country. At Blackheath he addressed 
 the multitude in a sermon beginning with what was then 
 a popular saying — 
 
 When Adam dalf and Eve span, 
 Who was then a gentleman ? 
 
 From which he proceeded to point out the injustice of 
 servitude and the natural equality of men. 
 
 5. The appearance and numbers of the insurgents 
 were so formidable that the King, although he had gone 
 down the river in his barge to meet them and learn their 
 
1 38 1. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. 15 
 
 demands, was counselled not to land. The multitude 
 accordingly passed on through Southwark into London, 
 destroying the Marshalsea and King's Bench prisons. 
 The lord mayor and aldermen at first resolved to shut 
 the gates of the city against them ; but they had so many 
 friends within, that the attempt to do so was in vain. 
 When they came in they showed their hostility to John 
 of Gaunt by setting fire to his magnificent ^, ^ 
 
 •; ° The Savoy 
 
 mansion, the Savoy Palace. They also palace 
 burned the Temple and broke open the 
 Fleet prison and Newgate, liberating all the prisoners. 
 At the same time their motives seem to have been free 
 from dishonesty. Strict orders were given against theft, 
 and one fellow who was detected purloining a piece of 
 plate at the burning of the Savoy, was hurled by his 
 comrades into the flames along with the stolen article. 
 
 6. The King had removed for security into the Tower, 
 along with his mother the Princess of Wales, once 
 popularly known as " the Fair Maid of Kent." Two 
 leading members of his council were with him, Simon 
 Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was then Lord 
 Chancellor, and Sir Robert Hales, Prior of the Knights 
 of St. John, who filled the office of Lord Treasurer. To 
 the Tower, also, as a place of safety, flocked many of the 
 citizens. But as the insurgents so strongly insisted on 
 laying their grievances before the King himself, Richard 
 agreed to go out and meet them at Mile End, where 
 they preferred to him certain requests, of which the prin- 
 cipal was for a general abolition of bondage. This and 
 their other demands the King felt it necessary to con- 
 cede, and a charter was granted accordingly under the 
 great seal. The charter was revoked after the insurrec- 
 tion was quelled ; but it satisfied the assembly at the 
 time, and the men of Essex took their departure home- 
 
1 6 Richard II. ch.il 
 
 wards. Another party of the insurgents, however, under 
 Wat Tyler hunself, had at this very time forced an 
 entrance into the Tower, and after conducting them- 
 selves with the greatest insolence towards the King's 
 The Arch- mother and her attendants, dragged out the 
 Canterbury Archbishop of Canterbury and Sir Robert 
 murdered. Rales, and beheaded them on Tower Hill. 
 The garrison within the Tower seem to have been utter- 
 ly paralyzed. The irruption of such an unclean and 
 disorderly mob into the fortress seems altogether to have 
 taken away their courage. At the same time many other 
 decapitations took place, both on Tower Hill and in the 
 city; and, as if to show that no restraints would be re- 
 garded, men were dragged out of churches and sanctu- 
 aries to be beheaded in the public streets. 
 
 7. But though for the time absolute masters of every- 
 thing, the triumph of the insurgents was short-lived. 
 For the very next day, Wat Tyler had a conference with 
 _ , ^ ,„ the young King at Smithfield, at which he 
 
 Death of Wat ^ * ^ 
 
 Tyler. displayed so much msolence that William 
 
 Walworth, who was this year Mayor of London, killed 
 him with a blow of his sword. A cry immediately rose 
 from the assembled multitude: — "Our captain is slain. 
 Let us stand together and revenge his death." Bows 
 were bent and arrows were about to be aimed at the 
 King and his attendants. But Richard, who was at this 
 time only in his fifteenth year, exhibited in the crisis the 
 spirit of a true Plantagenet. Putting spurs to his horse 
 he rode right into the midst of the rebels, and said to 
 them, "What, my friends, would you shoot your king ? 
 Do not grieve for the death of that traitor. I will be 
 your captain and leader. Follow me, and you shall 
 have whatever you please to ask." This boldness had a 
 marvellous effect. The multitude, disconcerted, followed 
 
1 38 1 . Wat Tyler' s Rebellion. 1 7 
 
 their young king into the open field. Still, it was doubt- 
 ful whether they would kill him, or accept a pardon and 
 go home, when fortunately there came from the city a 
 band of volunteers, hastily collected under Sir Robert 
 Knolles, an experienced captain in the wars of Edward 
 III., which surrounded the insurgents and placed the 
 Xing in safety. 
 
 8. This gave a fatal blow to the rebellion in London. 
 The insurgents dispersed and went home, and the King 
 conferred on William Walworth the honor of knight- 
 hood, and land of the value of 100/. But out of London 
 there had been at the same time a general Commotions in 
 rising over all the country, extending even ^^^ country. 
 to the county of Norfolk, and northwards to the Humber. 
 At St. Alban's the bondmen of the monastery committed 
 many outrages, demanding emancipation from the 
 abbot. In Suffolk the movement was kept up by a 
 priest named John Wraw, sent down by Tyler from 
 London ; and, as in London, houses were destroyed and 
 lawyers everywhere beheaded, including even one of the 
 justices. The prior of Bury, too, was put to death, and 
 his head stuck upon the pillory. 
 
 9. In Norfolk there was a rising under one John 
 Litster, a dyer of Norwich, whose surname, like Tyler's, 
 denoted his occupation ; for "litster" was old English for 
 a dyer. Here the insurgents proposed to take the Earl 
 of Suffolk by surprise, and make use of his name as 
 their leader ; but the earl, being warned while he was at 
 supper, made his escape and fled in disguise to the King. 
 The insurgents, however, compelled one nobleman and 
 some knights to go along with them, putting one to 
 death who declared plainly his disapproval of their pro- 
 ceedings. Litster assumed the title of "king of the com- 
 mons," compelled the knights to serve him at table with 
 
 C 
 
1 8 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 meat and drink, and sent two of them up to London in 
 
 company with three of his men, to obtain for the risers 
 
 charters of manumission and pardon from the King. 
 
 The knights set out, but were met before 
 
 Bishop Spen- ° 
 
 cer of Nor- long by Spencer, bishop of Norwich, a young 
 and warhke prelate, who, having got news 
 of the insurrection, was armed to the teeth, with a few 
 attendants. The bishop demanded of the knights 
 whether they had not some of the traitors in their com- 
 pany ; on which the knights delivered up their custo- 
 dians, whom the bishop caused at once to be beheaded. 
 He then hurried onwards into Norfolk, where the gentry 
 flocked to his standard, and defeated the insurgents in a 
 regular battle at North Walsham, which put an end to 
 the disorders in the county of Norfolk. 
 
 ID. The spirit which animated all of these commotions 
 was of a kind that naturally spread the greatest possible 
 Spirit of the s-l^-rm through all but the lower ranks of 
 rebellion. society. Nothing like it is to be seen at an 
 earlier date, nor even very much later. The rebellion 
 of Jack Cade, which occurred nearly seventy years after, 
 did not affect a democratic character, or a positive hatred 
 of law ; though in this respect Shakespeare has mixed 
 up the features of both movements, in describing the 
 rebellion of Jack Cade. The insurgents under Wat 
 Tyler were, as we have seen, bondmen clamoring for 
 emancipation, and journeymen artificers who believed 
 in the natural equality of men. The names of their 
 leaders bespoke their plebeian origin, which they made 
 no effort to disguise. They were Wat the Tyler, and 
 Jack Straw, and John Wrawe, with John Litster in Nor- 
 folk. These men and their doings are pithily described 
 by the contemporary poet Gower, in some Latin verses, 
 
1382. Wat Tyler's Rebellion. xg 
 
 of which Fuller, the Church historian, gives the follow- 
 ing spirited translation : — 
 
 Tom comes thereat, when called by Wat, and Simon as forward 
 we find ; 
 
 Bet calls as quick to Gibb and to Hykk, that neither would tarry 
 behind. 
 
 Gibb, a good whelp of that litter, doth help mad Coll more mis- 
 chief to do. 
 
 And Will he doth vow, the time is come now, he'll join with their 
 company too. 
 
 Davie complains, whiles Grigg gets the gains, and Hobb with them 
 doth partake, 
 
 Lorkin aloud, in the midst of the crowd, conceiveth as deep is his 
 stake. 
 
 Hudde doth spoil whom Judde doth foil, and Tebb lends his help- 
 ing hand. 
 
 But Jack, the mad patch, men and houses doth snatch, and kills 
 all at his command. 
 
 However they might profess social equality as their 
 doctrine, these men practically insisted, not upon 
 equality, but on changing places with their masters. In 
 this same poem of Gower's, which he called the Vox 
 Clamantis, he likened the whole movement to a rising 
 of asses that suddenly disdained the curb, and oxen that 
 refused the yoke. Changing their natures, they became 
 lions and fire-breathing monsters, and forgot entirely 
 their original characters. 
 
 ir. It was in the beginning of the year following these 
 insurrections that the young King, having just attained 
 the age of fifteen, married Anne, the sister of 
 Wenceslaus VI,, king of Bohemia, daugh- jaiTuaJy.^' 
 ter of the last Emperor of Germany, Charles 
 IV. On the eve of his marriage he granted a general 
 amnesty to all but the leading insurgents, which was 
 
20 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 politically set forth as having been con- 
 marriage, ceded at the request of his future queen. At 
 
 the same time strong measures were taken, 
 and commissions sent out to repress and punish any 
 future movements of the like description, which were 
 only too likely to arise from the lenity displayed on this 
 occasion. For, in point of fact, the evil influence of the 
 rebellion was palpable for many years afterwards. 
 Government was unhinged and authority was effectually 
 weakened. John of Northampton, the mayor who suc- 
 ceeded Walworth, pursued a very different line of policy 
 from his predecessor; and the city of London, influ- 
 enced by Wyclifife's teaching, usurped episcopal rights 
 in dealing with offenders against morality. Two years 
 later the same John of Northampton raised factious dis- 
 turbances in the city in opposition to another lord mayor, 
 and being convicted of sedition before the King, was 
 banished into Cornwall. 
 
 III. The Crusade in Flanders — The Invasion of Scot- 
 land — The Kings Favorites. 
 
 I. At this time a revolution took place in Flanders 
 which had a special interest for Englishmen. The peo- 
 ple of the Low Countries were always well affected to 
 the English, with whom they were united by commer- 
 cial interests ; but the Counts of Flanders favored 
 France. In the days of Edward III., the Flemings 
 under James Van Artevelde, had for some tim,e thrown 
 off allegiance to their count and openly allied them- 
 selves with England. And now under the 
 Artevelde" guidance of Philip Van Artevelde, the son 
 of their former leader, they in like manner 
 rose against Count Louis II., who was driven out of 
 
1382. The Crusade in Flanders. 21 
 
 Ghent, first to Bruges and afterwards into France. The 
 King of France, Charles VI,, who had succeeded his 
 father since Richard came to the throne in England, 
 was only a boy ; but his guardian, the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, was son-in-law of Count Louis, and a French 
 army, led by the young King himself, soon marched 
 into the Netherlands. Artevelde, on the other hand, 
 sought the support of England ; and it was so manifestly 
 the interest of England to avail itself of Flemish sym- 
 pathy against France, that the success of his application 
 might almost have been supposed a matter of course. 
 The English Council, however, were lukewarm and 
 dilatory : and, while Philip Van Artevelde was besieging 
 Oudenarde, he found himself obliged to turn aside and 
 give battle to the French, unaided by any but his own 
 countrymen. The Flemings, though strong in numbers, 
 were deficient in cavalry, and were defeated by the 
 French in three several engagements, in 
 
 ^ *' A. D. 1382. 
 
 the last of which, the battle of Roosebeke, 
 Van Artevelde was slain. 
 
 2. So great a triumph to France — so complete an 
 overthrow to allies like the Flemings — created serious 
 alarm in England for the safety of Calais. A great 
 opportunity had been lost ; but could anything be done 
 even now ? The question was anxiously discussed in 
 Parliament, and it seemed there was still one effective 
 mode of punishing the pride of France. Papal bulls 
 had arrived in England authorizing the warlike Bishop 
 of Norwich to proclaim a crusade against ^^ ^^ 
 
 the adherents of the anti-Pope Clement, Bishop of Nor- 
 which would enable the English to carry 
 on war with their old enemy under the color of religion. 
 The project on the whole gave satisfaction ; it received 
 the sanction of Parliament, and people came flocking in 
 
2 2 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 great numbers to the bishop's standard. One point only 
 occasioned some little difficulty in point of principle. 
 Although the French were Clementists, the Count of 
 Flanders and his native followers adhered to Pope 
 Urban. But the bishop had engaged beforehand that if 
 the religious pretexts would not serve the purposes of 
 England, he would furl the banner of the cross and dis- 
 play his own. He accordingly crossed over to Calais 
 and without even declaration of war suc- 
 ceeded in taking possession of Gravelines, 
 Dunkirk, and a few places near the sea-coast of Flan- 
 ders. But after laying siege unsuccessfully to Ypres he 
 found it necessary to withdraw once more to Gravelines, 
 surrender the places he had taken, and finally return to 
 England after razing Gravelines to the ground. The 
 result of the expedition was humiliating enough ; but 
 when Parliament met soon after, worse things were dis- 
 covered. Money had been received from the enemy for 
 the evacuation of Gravelines, and imputations of corrup- 
 tion were made against the bishop himself. This was a 
 charge from which he succeeded in clearing himself, but 
 it was fully proved against several of the captains ; and 
 even the bishop did not escape severe censure and pun- 
 i'shment for his conduct of the expedition. His tem- 
 poralities were seized by the King and the offending 
 captains were imprisoned. Nevertheless the bishop 
 retained the good-will of many who admired his spirit, 
 and in their partiality put a more favorable construc- 
 tion on his conduct than the facts would fairly warrant. 
 
 3. The King at this time, though still under age, was 
 not, strictly speaking, kept in tutelage. He had been 
 crowned within a month after the death of his grand- 
 father, and with that great act of State the full rights of 
 sovereignty had devolved upon him. But the fact that 
 
1383' The King s Favorites. 23 
 
 he was without a guardian only kept him more com- 
 pletely under the practical control of the Council, who 
 were responsible to Parliament. As he grew up, this 
 control became more and more distasteful to him, and he 
 showed a disposition to seek counsel from men of his 
 own choosing. More especially he was impatient of the 
 authority and influence claimed by his uncle, John of 
 Gaunt, whose ambition was believed to aspire to the 
 crown itself. Distrust and suspicions arose between 
 uncle and nephew, which the King's mother strove in 
 vain to abate. The Duke of Lancaster being summoned 
 to a council came with a number of armed men, saying 
 that he had been warned of a plot to entrap him. 
 Shortly afterwards the King invaded Scot- invasion of 
 land with the Duke in his company, laid Scotland. 
 
 ^ -I ' A. D. 1385. 
 
 waste the country as far as the Forth, and 
 burned Edinburgh. Lancaster then advised the King 
 to go further and cross the estuary into Fife. The Scots, 
 in fact, following their usual policy, had retired before 
 the invading army and left even their towns an easy 
 prey to the English, who had destroyed and wasted all 
 they could, but still could not find their enemy. But the 
 Duke of Lancaster's advice was the most impolitic that 
 could have been given, and might well have justified 
 a suspicion that he was acting treacherously, if it were 
 not that he had already in times past given ample evi- 
 dence of his utter incompetence as a general. Richard, 
 though not himself over-discreet at all times, was too 
 wise to follow the advice. He told his uncle that he 
 might conduct his own men where he pleased, but as 
 provisions failed them where they were, the royal army 
 would certainly return to England. 
 
 4. It was perhaps with a view to counterbalance the 
 great authority of John of Gaunt, who was at this time 
 
24 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 The King's ^he Only duke in England, that Richard now 
 uncles. raised his two other uncles, hitherto Earls of 
 
 Cambridge and Buckingham, to the dignity of dukes. 
 The former was made Duke of York, the latter Duke of 
 Gloucester. The characters of these two brothers were 
 very different. Except a sense of responsibihty to the 
 reigning power, whatever it might be, we fail to see any- 
 thing very remarkable in that of the Duke of York. 
 But the younger brother, Gloucester, was an active and 
 ambitious prince who very soon made his influence felt 
 to an extent that John of Gaunt never had done. Rich- 
 ard also at the same time bestowed honors and titles on 
 two other persons who were invidiously pointed at as 
 favorites, and who were believed, justly or unjustly, to 
 exercise over him an influence injurious to the general 
 weal. 
 
 5. The first of these was Michael de la Pole, not a 
 man of noble lineage, but the son of a wealthy merchant 
 Michael de la ^^ Hull, who in the days of Edward III. had 
 Pole. most patriotically lent the King enormous 
 
 sums of money which were never truly repaid him, 
 though by Edward's own confession they had been the 
 means of averting great national calamities. William 
 de la Pole, however, had received grants from the crown 
 of various lands and offices, and also the honor of 
 knighthood. Michael, his son, had served in the 
 French wars under Henry, Duke of Lancaster, and 
 more recently under the Black Prince. His merits, 
 even as an administrator, were certainly detected long 
 before young Richard was of age to recognize them ; 
 for in the very first year of the reign he was appointed, 
 an admiral, and went to sea with John of Gaunt. A 
 few years later the care of the King's household was by 
 Parliament committed to him and to the Earl of Arun- 
 
1385. The Kin^ s Favorites. 2 5 
 
 del. Finally, in 1383, he was appointed Chancellor. 
 So far he had risen without any personal help from 
 Richard ; and, to all appearance, the integrity of his 
 political career fully justified his promotion. But even 
 by the probity of his administration he had made some 
 enemies, and he had criticised very severely the con- 
 duct of the warlike Bishop of Norwich. This was un- 
 fortunate, for the bishop was a popular favorite. The 
 expedition to Flanders, it was commonly believed, had 
 failed only from the selfishness of John of Gaunt and 
 the misconduct of others at home. The punishment 
 imposed upon the bishop only raised him all the more 
 in the esteem of the public, and De la Pole received 
 little thanks for having been instrumental to his dis- 
 grace. 
 
 6. The other person to whom we have alluded was 
 Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a young man like the 
 King himself, and one who owed his posi- -p^e Earl of 
 tion at court, not to natural ability like De Oxford. 
 la Pole, but to his ancestry. The office of Lord High 
 Chamberlain had been hereditary in the family of 
 Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, since the days of 
 Henry II. This office brought him near the King's 
 person, and whether it was due to mental endowments 
 or only to superficial accomplishments Richard showed 
 great partiality for his company. Accordingly, when 
 the King had promoted in honor his two uncles and 
 his Chancellor, he determined that the Earl of Oxford 
 should not be passed over. He created him Marquis of 
 Dublin — a new dignity, for till now there never had 
 been a marquis in England — and the young man, to the 
 envy of all the peerage, took precedence of every one 
 not of the blood royal. With this honor was accom- 
 panied a gift of the whole land of Ireland, which it was 
 
26 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 intended that he should rule and bring into subjection; 
 and next year, to make his title correspond with his 
 domain, the King created him Duke of Ireland. 
 
 7, His moral qualities, certainly, did not entitle him 
 to so much honor ; for notwithstanding his influence 
 over the King, his character was in some things greatly 
 inferior to that of Richard himself. Among all the 
 charges brought against Richard the purity of his mar- 
 ried life has never been assailed. The warmth of his 
 domestic affection seems to have preserved him from 
 those vices in which kings are but too easily led to in- 
 dulge. The Duke of Ireland, on the other hand, as his 
 fortunes rose, threw off the restraints both of morality 
 and prudence. Although he had married Philippa, 
 daughter of Ingram de Coucy, Duke of Bedford, and 
 was thus allied to the royal blood, he fell in love with a 
 German lady who came over in the Queen's suite. By 
 the influence of his position he was enabled to obtain at 
 Rome a divorce from his wife, and to marry this lady. 
 His own mother, grieved at his conduct, took the 
 divorced woman into her house. The Duke of Glou- 
 cester was specially indignant at the insult offered to 
 the royal family. It exhibited in a most painful light 
 the ascendancy gained over the mind of the King by 
 mere personal predilection, and the little regard he felt 
 for more aged advisers of his own blood and lineage. 
 The Duke of Ireland was supposed by some to be the 
 absolute governor of the kingdom, and years afterwards 
 it was said, though untruly, that the King listened to 
 none but young and inexperienced counsellors. 
 
 IV. Revolutioti afid Counter-Hevolution. 
 
 I. If it was disagreeable to Richard to submit to the 
 influence of John of Gaunt, he soon found that he could 
 
1386. Revolution and Counter- Reiwlution. 27 
 
 be subjected to still greater tyranny when 
 that influence was removed. The year af- John of Gaunt 
 ter the Scottish campaign the Duke of Lan- ^°^^ '^° ^^^^' 
 caster sailed into Spain with a great fleet to make good 
 his title to the kingdom of Castile. He was aided by 
 the Pope, who, as the Spaniards were Clementists, 
 granted indulgences to all who joined the expedition, 
 and he did not return to England till three years after. 
 Tn his absence his youngest brother, Thomas, Duke of 
 Gloucester, immediately stepped into the place that he 
 had occupied, and not having Lancaster's mistakes to 
 answer for, soon became a general favorite with the 
 people. 
 
 2. At this time very great alarm was caused in Eng- 
 land by preparations made by France to invade the 
 country. Not only were large bodies of ^ 
 
 J J ^ Intended 
 
 troops assembled and a great fleet collected French inva- 
 at Sluys, but an extraordinary apparatus had 
 been constructed, in the shape of a movable wall of 
 wood, with towers at short intervals which it was pro- 
 posed to carry over the sea with the invading army and 
 set up as a temporary fortification for any place they 
 might succeed in taking. So great was the terror in- 
 spired by these preparations that the Londoners them- 
 selves were not without serious apprehension that the 
 enemy might one day be seen unexpectedly at their 
 gates ; and the Chancellor, De la Pole, now Earl of Suf- 
 folk, caused large musters of men to be taken in the 
 country within easy reach of the capital, that they might 
 be ready when called for. But the danger shortly after- 
 wards passed away. Some French vessels were taken 
 at sea in which part of the wooden wall was found by 
 the English \ and it was set up at Sandwich as a bul- 
 wark against that very enemy for whose use it had 
 
28 Richard II. ch. ir. 
 
 been intended. The French King had 200 ships col- 
 lected at Sluys, but the plan of the expedition was too 
 cumbrous, and after putting off for three months from 
 one cause or another, the wind became unfavorable 
 and the season was too late to cross the Channel. The 
 alarm in England then subsided, but it was remembered, 
 to Suffolk's prejudice, that it was he who had caused 
 those levies of troops in the neighborhood of London 
 which had eaten up all the food of the people and op- 
 pressed the inhabitants almost as if they had been ene- 
 mies. 
 
 3. Meanwhile a Parliament had assembled in London. 
 The immediate danger had not yet passed away, but the 
 feeling of alarm was mingled with a sense of indignation. 
 How came it that an enem,y like the French, whom 
 Englishmen had so often fought in their own country, 
 were now able to inspire England with terror ? What a 
 change since the days of King Edward III. and the 
 Black Prince ! Whose fault could it be that no one went 
 to fight the ships at Sluys and to disturb the enemy's 
 preparations ? The Parliament felt very much inclined 
 to censure those who had been intrusted with the ad- 
 ministration, and sent a deputation to the King at Elt- 
 ham, stating that they desired to treat of certain matters 
 touching the Earl of Suffolk, which could not be properly 
 discussed while he remained Chancellor. The King was 
 indignant at this attempt to remove a minister of whose 
 merits he himself had a high and apparently well- 
 founded opinion. He returned a haughty and impudent 
 answer, saying that he would not at the suggestion of 
 Parliament dismiss the meanest valet of his kitchen, and 
 he forbade them to say anything more on the subject. 
 The Parliament, however, refused to proceed with any 
 other business till their request was granted, and Richard 
 
1386. Revolution and Counter-Revolution. 29 
 
 was obliged to yield. Suffolk was dismissed Disgrace of 
 from the office of Chancellor and impeached Suffolk. 
 in parliament. Of the charges brought against him the 
 gravest was that he had misapplied money granted for 
 the defence of the kingdom and disobeyed ordinances 
 of the preceding Parliament ; but of these points he was 
 in effect acquitted, as it was considered that his fellows 
 in the King's council were no less answerable for them 
 than himself. To the others which accused him of en- 
 riching himself unduly by grants from the Crown his 
 answers were declared insufficient. He was accord- 
 ingly condemned to forfeit all that had been granted 
 to him by the Crown, and to be imprisoned during 
 the King's pleasure. 
 
 4. The disgrace of Suffolk, however, was only intended 
 to clear the way for a new scheme of government devised 
 by the ambition of Gloucester. On the plea that the 
 Crown revenues were wasted by mismanagement, a com- 
 mission of regency was demanded, by which it was vir- 
 tually proposed to deprive the King of all authority what- 
 ever, from that time forward. To terrify him into com- 
 pliance, the Commons sent for the statute commission 
 by which Edward II. had been deposed, and of regency. 
 a friend of the Duke of Gloucester represented to him that 
 if he obstinately resisted, it would endanger his life. Un- 
 der these circumstances Richard only contended for the 
 control of his own household by the nomination of his own 
 steward, and that the powers of the commission should 
 not continue more than one year, unless renewed by Par- 
 liament. Eleven lords and three great officers of state, 
 were then named to carry on the government, with full 
 power to examine into the accounts of the treasury, to 
 inquire into past abuses, and to administer justice where 
 grievances could not be redressed by the common law. 
 
30 
 
 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 In short, the power of the commissioners was to be abso- 
 lute, and while it lasted the King's authority was to be ex- 
 tinguished ; yet, to prevent the smallest attempt being 
 made to undermine their authority, the King was com- 
 pelled to give his assent to an enactment that whoever 
 counselled opposition to the new regency should be lia- 
 ble, for the first offence, to imprisonment with forfeiture 
 of his goods, and for the second, to the loss of life or 
 limb. 
 
 5. The King at the close of the session was bold enough 
 to make a personal protest in Parliament against any- 
 thing that had been done contrary to the prerogatives 
 of the Crown. He was at this time nearly twenty years 
 of age, and a tame submission to enactments so very 
 stringent would have sacrificed his authority for ever. To 
 emancipate himself he took counsel with the Duke o! 
 Ireland, who for some time delayed his departure for 
 that country which he was to govern. After Easter the 
 duke at length made arrangements for his going, and the 
 King, leaving London along with him, accompanied him 
 into Wales. But the duke had no intention yet to cross 
 the Channel. On the contrary, the journey had been 
 arranged that the King might take counsel undisturbed, 
 not only with him, but also with some others, such as the 
 Earl of Suffolk, the Archbishop of York, and Sir Robert 
 Tresilian, Chief Justice of England. This Tresihan was 
 a severe but undoubtedly sagacious judge. He had been 
 appointed Chief Justice at the time of Wat Tyler's rebel- 
 lion, when his predecessor was slain by the rioters. Men 
 were at that time so terrified by what had passed, that 
 juries showed great unwillingness to indict ; and at St. 
 Alban's, where the insurgents had been peculiarly vio- 
 lent, one jury refused. But Tresilian, warning them that 
 they would endanger their own lives by a verdict against 
 
1387. The Struggle Continued. 31 
 
 the evidence where the facts were so well known, at 
 length got them to find a true bill against the rioters, 
 which being obtained, he procured two other juries to 
 give answer on the same cases exactly in agreement with 
 the verdict of the first. By this means the offenders 
 were at length brought to justice, and a wholesome fear 
 of the law was re-established. But Tresilian's name was 
 not the more loved in consequence. 
 
 6. The King and his friends remained some time in 
 Wales, but afterwards assembled a council 
 at Nottingham, to which were summoned Nottingham. 
 all the justices and sheriffs from every coun- 
 ty, and. some of the more notable citizens of London. In 
 the midst of this assembly the King demanded of the 
 judges their opinion as to the statutes passed in the pre- 
 ceding session of Parliament, whether they were dero- 
 gatory to the royal prerogative, and if so, what punish- 
 ment was incurred by those who had impelled the King 
 to subscribe to them. A unanimous answer was returned 
 that the statutes were an invasion of the prerogative, and 
 that those who had extorted the King's compliance had 
 incurred the penalty of treason. This opinion was 
 signed by all the judges, and countersigned by the mem- 
 bers of the Council. It is true that some who signed it 
 afterwards alleged that they had been driven to do so by 
 fear ; but to all appearance, it was by fear that they were 
 induced to make such an assertion. The commission of 
 regency was distinctly unconstitutional, and quite as 
 great an outrage on the liberty of the subject as on the 
 rights of the King. It was now declared invalid. 
 
 Y. The Struggle Continued — The Wonderful Parlia- 
 ment — The King of age. 
 
 I. Hoping, accordingly, that he was now emancipa- 
 
32 Richard II, ch. ii. 
 
 ted from the control under which he had been placed, 
 Richard proceeded to London, where he 
 Nov. lo/* arrived a few days before the date at which 
 the commission of regency was to expire. 
 He was met outside the capital by the mayor and citi- 
 zens, wearing his own livery of white and crimson, and 
 by them he was conducted, first to St. Paul's and after- 
 wards to Westminster. But the Duke of Gloucester, and 
 his allies the Earls of Arundel and Nottingham, had 
 meanwhile taken the alarm, and having advanced to 
 Hackney at the head of 40,000 men, were joined the 
 next day at Waltham Cross by Henry, Earl of Derby, - 
 the son of John of Gaunt, and by the Earl of Warwick. 
 These five lords gave it out as their object to deliver the 
 King from certain traitors who, they said, kept him un- 
 der undue control, and, according to the phraseology 
 then in use, they "appealed of treason" five of the 
 King's principal advisers. 
 
 2. Richard had at first thought of resistance to this 
 great armed host, but he soon found the city of London 
 was not to be depended on. The lords gave out that 
 the King's chosen counsellors urged him to treat with 
 France for aid to put them down. Richard, it was said, 
 was going to sell Calais to the French king. The Mayor 
 of London told the King the city was willing to arm 
 against his enemies, but not against his friends. Every- 
 where the favorites were unpopular, and the Duke of 
 Gloucester and his allies were looked upon as the true 
 friends of the King and kingdom. The city opened its 
 gates to them, and the five " lords appellants " presented 
 themselves before Richard in Westminster Hall, named 
 the five councillors whom they accused as traitors, flung 
 down their gloves, and offered to prove the truth of their 
 accusations by single combat. The King, however, de- 
 
1387. The Struggle Continued. 33 
 
 cided that the matter should not be so determined, pro- 
 mising that it should be fully discussed in the next Par- 
 Hament. Meanwhile, he insisted that both parties should 
 be considered as remaining under his protection. 
 
 3. Unfortunately, the King's protection, so far as the 
 one side was concerned, was now of very little value. 
 Richard was again in the hands of those ^j. ^^ ^^ ^^^ 
 from whom he had been endeavoring to King's 
 escape, and they consulted seriously about 
 
 his deposition. The favorites saw that there was no 
 safety for them except in flight, and they one and all 
 escaped from London in disguise. Archbishop Nevill of 
 York retired into the north country in the habit of a 
 simple priest. The Duke of Ireland fled to Chester in 
 the character of a groom, accompanied by four or five 
 others. The Earl of Suffolk betook himself to Calais, 
 where his brother Edmund de la Pole was governor of 
 the castle. Dressed as a Flemish poulterer and carrying 
 a basket with capons as if to supply the garrison, he 
 sought admission to the fortress ; but his brother thought 
 it his duty to deliver him to Lord Wilham Beauchamp, 
 governor of the town, by whom he was sent back to 
 England. 
 
 4. The King was utterly deserted. He had, however, 
 commissioned the Duke of Ireland to raise forces for him 
 in Cheshire, and the Duke collected a body of 5,000 men 
 with whom he marched southwards to the borders of 
 Oxfordshire. He was met at Radcot Bridge ^^counter at 
 upon the Thames by a force under the Earl Radcot Bridge, 
 
 Dec 20 
 
 of Derby. Seeking to avoid this army he 
 was confronted by another under the Duke of Gloucester. 
 Hemmed in on all sides he at once gave up the hope of 
 victory and endeavored to save himself by flight. He 
 plunged on horseback into the river, leaving his helmet 
 
 D 
 
34 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 and armor on the bank. It was now night, and no one 
 saw what had become of him. He was supposed to have 
 been drowned. Molyneux, Constable of Chester, who 
 also dashed into the river, was forced to return for fear 
 of being pierced with arrows, and had his skull cleft on 
 relanding. A groom and a boy were also killed, For 
 the rest there was little fighting, or rather none. The 
 Cheshire men were stripped of their weapons and even 
 of their very clothes, and were left to go home in a state 
 of disgraceful nakedness. The Duke of Ireland found 
 means to escape to Ireland. 
 
 5. The lords returned in triumph to London. Their 
 armies, in three divisions, mustered at Clerkenwell, 
 40,000 strong. After a little hesitation the 
 city opened its gates to them. The King, 
 who was spending his Christmas in the Tower, knew 
 now that he was completely in their power. The victors 
 sought an interview with him and were admitted within 
 the fortress. They showed him the letters he himself 
 had written to the Duke of Ireland ordering him to raise 
 a force to oppose them, and they led him on to the ram- 
 parts from whence he could see Tower Hill covered with 
 an immense multitude of their followers, "These," said 
 the Duke of Gloucester, "are but a tenth part of the 
 numbers who will join us to put down traitors." The 
 lords had not been able to agree about Richard's depo- 
 sition, which, however acceptable it might have been to 
 the Duke of Gloucester, was opposed by the Earls of 
 Derby and Nottingham. But they were quite united in 
 the determination to take vengeance on all who had 
 given the King independent advice. Writs of summons 
 had been issued by Richard for the meeting of Parlia- 
 ment, in which, considering the subjects that were to be 
 discussed, the sheriffs had been instructed to return as 
 
1388. The Struggle Continued, 35 
 
 knights of the shire persons who had not taken part in 
 the recent quarrels. These writs were revoked on the 
 ground that such a quahfication was contrary ^ d 1 88 
 to the ancient form, and new writs were J^"- ^• 
 issued omitting the objectionable clause. Proclamations 
 were then issued for the appearance before 
 the Parliament of the Archbishop of York, 
 the Duke of Ireland, Suffolk, Tresilian, and Sir Nicholas 
 Brambre ; while at the same time orders were sent out 
 consigning the two latter to Gloucester Castle, and a 
 number of other friends of the King to confinement in 
 other places. But Tresilian was not yet in custody. 
 He was hiding himself from the vengeance that pursued 
 him. 
 
 6. Every one in whom the King had hitherto placed 
 his confidence was now removed. Even his confessor, 
 the Bishop of Chichester, was forbidden to come near 
 him. The dominant party had not the least opposition 
 to fear in the approaching Parliament. Some rumors, 
 however, had got abroad which they felt it would be 
 well to contradict at the commencement of the session. 
 So after the causes for which Parliament 
 
 Feb. 3. 
 
 was summoned had been declared by the 
 Bishop of Ely as Chancellor in the King's name, the 
 Duke of Gloucester came forward and knelt before his 
 sovereign, saying that he understood he had been ac- 
 cused of an intention to depose him and make himself 
 king, from which he offered to justify himself in what- 
 ever manner the peers thought proper. The charge was 
 certainly not without some foundation in truth, and the 
 other " lord appellants " knew it well. But Richard at 
 once declared in full Parhament that he held his uncle 
 perfectly innocent. 
 
 7. After this the serious work of the session com- 
 
36 Richard II. ch. 11. 
 
 menced, and very serious work it proved to be. It was 
 not without significance that the clause in the writs in- 
 tended to secure impartiahty was cancelled. The doings 
 of this Parliament are without a parallel in English his- 
 , , . , tory, — so much so that the name " Wonder- 
 
 The Wonder- ^ /' ,. ,, 
 
 fui Par- nil Parliament came afterwards to be ap- 
 
 lamen . plied to it. With equal truth it was also 
 
 called " the Merciless Parliament." On the very first 
 day, all but one of the judges were arrested in their own 
 courts while sitting upon the bench, and sent to the 
 Tower. They were to be brought to account for the 
 advice they had given the King that the proceedings of 
 the last Parliament were unconstitutional. A long im- 
 peachment was then drawn up against the five ministers 
 accused by the five lords appellants. The charges against 
 them were mainly that they had misled the King and 
 alienated his true lords from him, with some more 
 specific accusations in connection with the conference at 
 Nottingham and similar matters. One article also spoke 
 of an intention, that it was said had been entertained, 
 to make the Duke of Ireland king of that country and 
 alienate it from the Crown of England. 
 
 8. Before pronouncing judgment upon this impeach- 
 ment, the King desired to have the advice of the lawyers. 
 The bill was laid before a committee of the profession, 
 who pronounced it altogether irregular, either in civil or 
 ecclesiastical law. The lords, however, decided that in 
 cases of treason, and when the accused were members 
 of their own body, no other law could be recognized 
 than the law of Parliament itself. After some days' dis- 
 cussion fourteen articles of the indictment were declared 
 to amount to treason, and four of the appellees were 
 found guilty. The Duke of Ireland, Suffolk and Tre- 
 silian were condemned to be hanged and forfeit all their 
 
1388. The St7'uggle Continued. 37 
 
 goods. The Archbishop of York was found guilty, and 
 his temporahties were seized ; but being a churchman, 
 the penalty of death could not be pronounced against 
 him. The King, however, was made to write to Rome 
 for his translation to the Archbishopric of St. Andrew's 
 in Scotland, a country where the authority of Urban VI. 
 was not recognized, and by this means he was in effect 
 deprived. He escaped to Flanders, where he by some 
 means was fortunate enough to obtain possession of a 
 small living. 
 
 9. The Archbishop, the Duke of Ireland, Suffolk, and 
 Tresilian were all absent when judgment was pro- 
 nounced against them. The duke had escaped to the 
 Continent, and the earl had found a refuge in France. 
 But Tresilian was lurking disguised in Westminster. 
 He was discovered, brought up for sentence, and dis- 
 missed to immediate execution. The last of the accused 
 councillors, Sir Nicholas Brambre, was in prison. He 
 offered to prove his innocence by wager of battle, but it 
 was decided that such a mode of defence was not appli- 
 cable to the case ; so he too underwent the capital sen- 
 tence. 
 
 10. The Commons next impeached the judges and 
 law officers who had counselled the King at Nottingham 
 to set aside the ordinances of the last Parliament. They 
 endeavored to save themselves by alleging that they 
 had acted under compulsion, but the excuse was not ad- 
 mitted. They were found guilty of treason, but at the 
 intercession of the bishops their lives were spared and 
 they were banished to Ireland for the remainder of their 
 days. But John Blake, a lawyer who had proposed to 
 indict the five lords for conspiracy, and Thomas Uske, 
 who had accepted the office of under-sheriff of Middle- 
 sex for the purpose, were condemned and executed. 
 
38 Richard II. ch. 11. 
 
 The Bishop of Chichester, who, as we have already 
 mentioned, was the King's confessor, was then called 
 before Parliament. He denied a charge imputed to him 
 of having used threats to the judges at Nottingham, and 
 said they were placed under no constraint whatever. 
 But he had been guilty of concealing the " treason " of 
 the condemned councillors ; in excuse for which he in 
 vain pleaded the confidential nature of his office, and 
 that he had used his best efforts with the King to pre- 
 vent mischief. He was banished, like the judges, into 
 Ireland. 
 
 1 1 . Not satisfied with this, the Commons proceeded 
 to impeach four other knights as accomplices of the con- 
 demned traitors. The first was Sir Simon Burley, lately 
 Constable of Dover Castle, a veteran of the preceding 
 reign, to whom the Black Prince had committed the 
 care of Richard's childhood. He offered, like Brambre 
 to prove his innocence in the ordinary manner of 
 knights. This he was not allowed to do, but his ac- 
 cusers had much trouble to establish his guilt. The 
 King, the Queen, and even the Earl of Derby, one of 
 the lords appellants, made the most urgent efforts to in- 
 duce the Duke of Gloucester to spare his life ; but all 
 was to no purpose. Of thirteen charges one was at 
 length declared to be proved ; sentence of death was 
 passed upon him, and he was beheaded the same day. 
 The three other knights suffered a week later. 
 
 12. At the end of four months — an unusually long ses- 
 sion in those days — Parliament was dissolved, but not 
 until it had made the king renew his coronation oath 
 and every member of both Houses swear that they would 
 never allow its ordinances to be repealed. Already all 
 the members had sworn at the beginning of the session 
 to be true to the five lords and take their part against all 
 
1389. The Sti'-uggle Continued. 39 
 
 opponents so long as Parliament should last ; the sheriffs 
 also throughout the kingdom were ordered to exact a 
 similar oath of all the principal residents within their 
 jurisdictions. 
 
 13. Even after the breaking up of such a Parliament 
 the King was left for some time in subjection to the 
 confederate lords. But next year, at a coun- 
 
 A. D. 1389. 
 
 cil held in the beginning of May, he sud- May 3. The 
 denly asked his uncle Gloucester to tell him '°^ ° ^^^' 
 his age. " Your Highness," said the Duke, " is in your 
 twenty-second year." "Then," replied the King, "I 
 must be old enough to manage my own affairs, as every 
 heir in my kingdom is at liberty to do when he is twenty- 
 one. I thank you, my lords, for the trouble you have 
 taken on my behalf hitherto, but I shall not require your 
 services any longer." On this he required the Great 
 Seal and the keys of the Exchequer to be given up to 
 him, and made the venerable Bishop Wykeham his 
 chancellor instead of the Archbishop of York. Of the 
 other lords then in his council he retained the Duke of 
 York and the Earl of Derby as members of a new coun- 
 cil ; but Gloucester and the rest he dismissed. At the 
 same time no violent change was effected ; and the 
 King's assertion of his independence seems to have met 
 with general approbation. 
 
 VI. The King and the Duke of Gloucester. 
 
 I. For some years little or nothing occurred to dis- 
 turb the harmony between King and people. There 
 was, it is true, at one time, a renewal of the 
 
 A. D. 1393. 
 
 old distrust between the city of London and 
 the Court, and the city not only refused the King a loan 
 of 1,000/., but actually maltreated a Lombard who was 
 willing to accommodate him. For this the mayor and 
 
40 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 sheriffs were arrested, and it was determined that the 
 Londoners should no longer have the free election of 
 their rulers, but be governed by a warden appointed by 
 the King. But Richard was soon persuaded to forgive 
 the citizens. He consented to receive deputies from the 
 city, who pleaded hard in behalf of their ancient liber- 
 ties. He ratified some of their franchises, amended 
 others, and restored the right of self-government to the 
 city on their finding him 10,000/. security for their future 
 good behaviour. Finally, he consented to pay the city 
 a visit, when he was received with every possible demon- 
 stration of joy and satisfaction. The nobles, however, 
 we are told, were offended at his lenity toward a turbu- 
 lent metropolis. 
 
 2. But from the time of the dismissal of the five lords, 
 it was hardly possible that those noblemen could be so 
 assured of the King's forgiveness and cordiality as to feel 
 no kind of anxiety for the consequences of their past con- 
 duct. The Duke of Gloucester, in particular, distrusted 
 his nephew, and held aloof from his councils. When 
 summoned to attend and give his advice on public affairs 
 with other lords, it is said that he was always the last to 
 come and the first to go. Richard, nevertheless, showed 
 
 him a remarkable degree of confidence. 
 A. D. 1393. He employed him in negotiations for peace 
 A. D. 1394. with France, took him in his company over 
 
 to Ireland, to subdue some rebellious chief- 
 A. D. 1395. tains, and while remaining in that country 
 
 sent him over again to England to demand 
 supplies from a Parliament at London. But the old 
 breach was not effectually healed. The duke courted 
 popularity, and whenever the policy of Richard was in 
 any degree opposed to the prejudices of the majority, he 
 was always on the people's side. In the year 1394 Rich- 
 
1396- The King a7id the Duke of Gloucester. 41 
 
 ard lost his Queen, Anne of Bohemia, to whom he was 
 most devotedly attached. Two years later he endea- 
 voured to convert an old enemy into a friend, and pro- 
 posed to form a firm alliance with France, cemented by 
 a marriage with Isabella, the French king's daughter, 
 though she was only eight years old. To this the Duke 
 of Gloucester showed himself strongly opposed, appeal- 
 ing to the old national hatred of France, and insinu- 
 ating that Richard would give up Calais and all the 
 English conquests to the French king. The 
 
 A. D. 1396. 
 
 marriage nevertheless was duly celebrated, 
 and it was not long after that the misunderstanding be- 
 tween the King and his uncle came to a crisis. 
 
 3. Information was conveyed to the King that Glou- 
 cester had formed a new conspiracy against him with 
 his old associates. According to Froissart, 
 
 ° A. D. 1397. 
 
 he applied to his two other uncles for ad- 
 vice. They confessed the duke was greatly given to in- 
 trigue, but advised the King to let the matter sleep, as 
 he had no power to carry his designs into execution. 
 Richard, however, was not thus satisfied ; and if we may 
 trust his own proclamation afterwards, his uncles must 
 have admitted at length that it was needful to anticipate 
 the danger. He accordingly paid a visit to the Duke of 
 Gloucester at his castle of Fleshy, in Essex, and there 
 caused him to be arrested and delivered to the custody 
 of the Earl of Nottingham, the Earl Marshal, by whom 
 he was immediately conducted to the Thames, put on 
 board a boat, and conveyed over to Calais. The Earls 
 of Warwick and Arundel were arrested at the same time. 
 
 4. The policy pursued by these same lords ten years 
 before was now turned against themselves. At a coun- 
 cil held at Nottingham, a number of the other nobles, 
 including Edward, Earl of Rutland, a son of the Duke 
 
42 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 of York, and Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal, engaged 
 to "appeal" them of treason at a coming parliament. 
 On its assembling, the Commons petitioned that the 
 commission of regency of the year 1386 should be 
 repealed, as having been extorted by violence, and that 
 it should be treason to attempt to procure such a com- 
 mission in future. They also desired that all pardons, 
 whether general or special, heretofore granted to the 
 Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and War- 
 wick, should be revoked, as having been given under 
 constraint or passed in ignorance. This was in effect 
 but the first step towards calling them to account for 
 actions which had been for many years condoned. The 
 petitions, however, were unanimously agreed to by both 
 Houses ; and the Commons, leaving to the Peers the 
 trial of the charges brought by the appellants against 
 the three lords, proceeded to impeach Thomas Arundel, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, a brother of the Earl of 
 Arundel, of high treason, as having been instrumental 
 in procuring the commission of regency and the execu- 
 tion of Sir Simon Burley, against the will of the King. 
 The archbishop acknowledged the facts in the presence 
 of the King and certain lords ; his confession was 
 recorded in Parliament, and sentence of banishment 
 and confiscation was pronounced against him. 
 
 5. Of the three lords who were to be tried in Parlia- 
 ment, the first who was brought up for judgment was 
 „ Arundel, the archbishop's brother. He was 
 
 Execution of ^ 
 
 the Earl of a favorite with the people, but had enemies 
 among his brother peers, besides being dis- 
 liked by the King. In the early part of the reign he 
 had been appointed admiral, and had won for himself 
 general admiration by a splendid victory over a com- 
 bined fleet of Flemings, French, and Spaniards, when 
 
1397" The King and the Duke of Gloucester. 43 
 
 he captured a hundred ships. Such a man was of course 
 looked up to by all those who were opposed to the 
 French alliance. But John of Gaunt, with whom he 
 had more than once quarreled, was commissioned to 
 preside at his trial as Lord High Admiral of England ; 
 and the revocation of all the pardons previously granted 
 to him destroyed the only plea by which he ventured 
 to defend himself. He was condemned to be beheaded, 
 and was executed the same day in Cheapside. 
 
 6. The Earl Marshal, who was governor of Calais, 
 was then commanded to bring over the Duke of Glou- 
 cester to be tried before his peers. He sent back an 
 answer that the duke could not be produced, as he had 
 died in his custody at Calais. It was natu- ,, , 
 
 ■' Murder of the 
 
 rally believed that he had been put to death Duke of Glou- 
 by Richard's order ; and though the fact is 
 not absolutely free from doubt, there is certainly great 
 reason to suspect that it was true. The duke, however, 
 had made a written confession in his own hand before 
 his death, in reply to certain questions which William 
 Rickhill, one of the justices, had been commissioned to 
 administer to him. He had acknowledged the offences 
 he had committed against the King ten years before. 
 He admitted that he had come armed into the King's 
 palace, taken the King's letters from his messengers 
 and opened them without his leave ; that he had taken 
 counsel about throwing up his allegiance and deposing 
 his sovereign. All these acts, however, he professed to 
 have done in self-defence and for fear of his life ; more- 
 over, the deposition of the King, he affirmed, was only 
 intended to be for two or three days, after which the 
 confederate lords would have renewed their oaths to him 
 and placed him in as high a position as before. But 
 since a certain day when he had been sworn to the King 
 
44 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 upon the Sacrament at Langley, he denied that he had 
 ever made or known of any gatherings against him '. 
 and on these grounds, he appealed to the King's com- 
 passion, as a prince that had always shown himself 
 merciful in pardoning offenders. 
 
 7. His own acts, certainly, when he was in power, 
 gave him but little claim to compassion now ; yet it 
 would have been well for Richard if, after obtaining 
 from him such a confession, he had suffered his uncle to 
 live. The murder, indeed, was quite unnecessary, for 
 he could have had no difficulty, if so minded, in bring- 
 ing Gloucester to the block by the judgment of his peers 
 in parliament ; and if he feared the spirit of disaffection 
 such an act would probably have aroused, he ought to 
 have feared no less a public rumor that the duke had 
 been foully dealt with. But the time had come, appar- 
 ently, when he thought it necessary for his own safety 
 altogether to extinguish the confederacy which, eleven 
 years before, had stripped him of his royal power and 
 almost succeeded in preventing the possibility of his 
 recovering it. If treason of such a magnitude could be 
 condoned, — if any pardon afterwards granted could 
 shield such great offenders, — was there not very serious 
 danger that a similar attempt would be made another 
 time ? 
 
 8. The Earl of Warwick did not undergo the fate 
 ^^ ^ , , either of Gloucester or of Arundel. When 
 
 The Earl of 
 
 Warwick brought to trial he confessed his guilt, and 
 
 sentence was pronounced upon him, but the 
 King commuted it into exile, and banished him to the 
 Isle of Man. 
 
 VII. The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 
 I. Thus were three of the five " lords appellants " of 
 
1397- The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 45 
 
 1387 incapacitated for giving further trouble. The other 
 two still remained alive, but their conduct was more 
 favourably construed. It was declared that the Earls of 
 Derby and Nottingham had separated from their col- 
 leagues whenever they perceived the true nature of 
 their designs ; and so far were they from being incrimi- 
 nated on the present occasion, that they stood among 
 the accusers of their old confederates. In point of fact 
 they were justified in disclaiming full complicity with 
 Gloucester, for it was owing to their opposition that he 
 was obliged to abandon the design of deposing his 
 nephew. Besides, the Earl of Derby had made the 
 strongest remonstrances against the execution of Sir 
 Simon Burley, and even quarreled with his uncle for 
 insisting on it. As to Nottingham, the Earl Marshal, 
 his conduct had evidently, long before this, regained 
 him the king's confidence, for Richard had sent him 
 into France to negotiate his marriage with Isabella, and 
 even as his proxy to marry her. But at this time, as if 
 to remove all possible misapprehension, the King took 
 occasion to acknowledge both these lords publicly as 
 his friends, by creating the Earl of Derby Duke of 
 Hereford, and the Earl Marshal Duke of Norfolk. 
 
 2. Unfortunately the turn which affairs were now 
 taking hardly allowed them to repose with confidence 
 even on these strong evidences of the King's regard. 
 Parliament v/as busy reversing all that the Wonderful 
 Parliament had done, and in a supplementary session 
 held at Shrev/sbury in the beginning of the 
 following year the whole of the proceedings ment of 
 of that Parliament were expressly annulled. , ^^^^ "'^' 
 It would have been well if this had been done by mea- 
 sures that were not open to very much the same objec- 
 tions. But the acts, of this Parliament were in reality 
 
46 Richard II. CH. il. 
 
 nothing else than a copy of those passed in the Parlia- 
 ment which they condemned. As in 1387 five lords ap- 
 pealed the King's favorites of treason, so now the 
 friends of the King appealed three of the former lords 
 appellants. As in 1387 an impeachment was sustained 
 declared by the lawyers to be irregular, so now it was 
 ruled that no pardons, general or particular, could be 
 pleaded against the appeal. As in 1388 Lords and Com- 
 mons all took an oath that they would not allow the acts 
 of that Parliament to be repealed, the very same was 
 done on this occasion. Further, as in 1388 Archbishop 
 Nevill of York had been, on application to the Pope, de- 
 prived of his archbishopric by being translated to the 
 See of St. Andrew's in Scotland, where the authority of 
 Urban was not acknowledged, the very same means 
 were now used to deprive Archbishop Arundel of the See 
 of Canterbury. He, too, was translated by Urban to St. 
 Andrew's. It was a great day of retribution for past mis- 
 deeds, and warning had been given already that royal 
 pardons were no security to the offenders. 
 
 3. Such being the case, it happened that one day in 
 December, 1397, the new-made Duke of Norfolk over- 
 took the new-made Duke of Hereford on the road be- 
 tween Brentford and London, and in the course of con- 
 versation expressed a fear that even they two might be 
 brought to account for their old confederacy with Glou- 
 cester and the affair of Radcot Bridge. The Duke of 
 Hereford said he could not believe that the King would 
 be guilty of so great perfidy, but Norfolk insinuated that 
 it was no longer possible to trust to anything, and that 
 they would be made responsible like the others. In 
 communicating his thoughts thus freely to the Duke of 
 Hereford, Norfolk doubtless trusted either to his sense of 
 honor or of interest to keep it secret. But his confidence 
 
1398- The Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. 47 
 
 was misplaced. The general drift of the conversation 
 was communicated by Hereford to the King, who com- 
 manded him to submit a report of it to Parliament. This 
 he did in the session held at Shrewsbury in 
 the beginning of the year 1398 — with what ** "' ^^^^* 
 results we shall see presently. 
 
 4. It is evident that since the days of the commission 
 of regency a considerable reaction had taken place in 
 favor of the royal prerogative. Authority had been 
 shaken to its foundation at the beginning of the reign. 
 Wat Tyler and the rebels had shown its weakness. The 
 King, who was the constitutional source of power, was 
 then a minor, and a strong despotism, under a popular 
 favorite like Gloucester, was preferred to a more equita- 
 ble government by weaker men. The spirit of the 
 King himself was cowed by being thus brought into sub- 
 jection. He failed in one attempt to reassert his author- 
 ity, and even when he did regain his liberty he made no 
 attempt to punish the wrong that had been done to him. 
 The opinions given by his judges at Nottingham were 
 still branded as treason. The judges themselves he only 
 ventured to recall from banishment in 1397. But now he 
 had a Parliament desirous of restoring authority to its 
 old foundations. The constraint that had been put upon 
 the King in former days was at length declared to have 
 been illegal. The questions addressed by the King to 
 the judges at Nottingham and the answers given by them, 
 which they themselves afterwards disowned through 
 fear, were read in the Parliament at Shrewsbury. The 
 judges and serjeants-at-law were called in and asked to 
 give their opinion on the subject. They one and all 
 confirmed the answers given by the former judges, and 
 declared that they would have made the same replies. 
 The commission of regency, the Wonderful Parliament 
 
48 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 and all its acts, were therefore illegal, and were accord- 
 ingly so declared. As the King, was the real source of 
 all legitimate power, the King's will could not be lawfully 
 put under constraint of any kind. 
 
 5. The reaction was not unnatural, but it was a dan- 
 gerous one to carry too far; and the Parliament at 
 Shrewsbury carried it to an extreme. It was not in itself 
 calculated to give greater weight to their proceedings, 
 that having once met at Westminster, they should have 
 assembled after the Christmas recess on the borders of 
 Wales. Yet in a very brief sitting at Shrewsbury, this 
 Parliament not only annulled the whole proceedings of 
 the Wonderful Parliament, but enacted that any attempt 
 to annul their own should be considered treason. The 
 King even asked if greater security could be given on 
 this head, and if he could bind his successors ; but being 
 told that he could not, he made application to the Pope 
 and obtained a bull denouncing excommunication against 
 any one who should attempt to reverse what had been 
 done. To complete the fabric of despotism, the Parlia- 
 ment, after sitting only four days, delegated its whole 
 powers to a committee of twelve lords and six com- 
 moners, special friends of the King, who were to act 
 after its dissolution. By this ingenious device Richard 
 was made practically 'absolute. It could hardly be ne- 
 cessary for him ever to call a parliament again ; for where- 
 everthe King himself was with a sufficient number of the 
 committee, he had the full powers of Parliament with him. 
 
 6. To this tribunal were referred the accusations 
 brought by the Duke of Hereford against Norfolk. Both 
 parties were summoned to appear before it, first at Os- 
 westry and afterwards at Windsor : but as nothing could 
 Wager ^^ elicited from either, except assertion on 
 of baitie. the one hand and denial on the other, it 
 
1398- The Dukes of Her efo7'd and No7^f oik. 49 
 
 was proposed, and agreed to by both dukes, to settle 
 the matter by wager of battle according to the laws of 
 chivalry. The combat was appointed to be at Coventry 
 on September 16. The whole nation was agitated at the 
 prospect of the coming event, and when the lists were 
 drawn up on the day appointed, Richard fearing distur- 
 bances among the nobles, had 10,000 persons in arms 
 to keep the peace. On which side lay the sympathies 
 of most men there could not be a doubt, for the Duke 
 of Norfolk was commonly looked upon as the murderer 
 of the Duke of Gloucester, and the Londoners even in- 
 sinuated that the wager of battle was a plot of the King's 
 to destroy his cousin as he had already destroyed his 
 uncle. Henry of Lancaster, as he was popularly called, 
 the Duke of Hereford, was everywhere the favorite. 
 
 7. At Coventry, on the day appointed, the combatants 
 entered the lists. Each took an oath that his quarrel 
 was just, the Lord Marshal examined their spears to see 
 that they were of equal length, and a herald commanded 
 them to mount their horses and proceed to the combat. 
 But at this point the King threw down his warder as a 
 signal to suspend further proceedings, and consulted 
 with his parliamentary council what course it was best to 
 take in a matter so full of danger. After two hours* 
 deliberation, the determination was an- ^, 
 
 Ihe two 
 
 nounced. To preserve the peace of the dukes 
 realm the King decreed that the Duke of 
 Hereford should be banished for ten years, and that 
 the Duke of Norfolk, as it appears he had confessed to 
 some points which might have occasioned trouble in the 
 land, should quit the kingdom as a pilgrim, never to re- 
 turn, and should dwell in Germany, Bohemia, or Hun- 
 gary for the rest of his days. Finally, lest they should 
 become reconciled abroad and combine against the 
 
5© Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 King, they were forbidden to communicate with each 
 other or with the deprived Archbishop Arundel. 
 
 8. A decision like this was a strange perversion of 
 justice. On the face of the matter one party was guilty 
 of treason, or the other of gross and malicious libel. The 
 King could not determine on which side lay the guilt, 
 and professed to regard either party as innocent, yet 
 out of considerations of expediency he punished both as 
 if they had both been guilty. There was, besides, an 
 apparent partiality shown to the Duke of Hereford on 
 grounds which were not very explicitly declared. But 
 the unfairness of the original decision was not all ; for 
 while the sentence against Norfolk passed uncriticised, 
 the milder sentence against Hereford was still further 
 mitigated. Owing, doubtless, to the influence of his 
 father, John of Gaunt, and to his general popularity, 
 the term of his exile was reduced from ten years to six be- 
 fore he left the country. That of Norfolk was not 
 altered. So the latter went abroad, made a pilgrimage 
 to Jerusalem, and died on his return at Venice of a 
 broken heart. What became of the Duke of Hereford 
 must be related at greater length. 
 
 Vni. The King and Henry of Lancaster. 
 I. Richard had now got rid of all the five lords who 
 had leagued themselves together against him in 1387. 
 He had also got rid of parliamentary control. But he 
 could not be altogether free from the fear of future com- 
 binations. And having already entered on a career of 
 
 despotism he saw no means to make him- 
 destSSm. self secure except to become more and 
 
 more despotic. He and his parliamentary 
 committee issued an ordinance declaring it treason to 
 attempt to obtain a reversal of any of their decrees, just 
 
1399- ^^^^ ^^^^S '■^'^^ Henry of Lancaster. 51 
 
 as it had been already declared treason to attempt to 
 annul those of the Parliament. Every bishop before 
 obtaining possession of his temporalities, and every lord 
 before coming into his inheritance, was to swear to ob- 
 serve, not only the statutes made in the Parliament of 
 the twenty-first year of the reign, but also all the ordi- 
 nances made afterwards by the parliamentary committee. 
 
 2. But even this abuse of power was not so much felt 
 as some others to which the King was afterwards 
 driven by the state of his exchequer. His 
 
 •' -^ , A. D. 1399. 
 
 finances were getting low, and he raised 
 
 money by forced loans. All who were any way im- 
 
 phcated in the acts of Gloucester, Warwick, „. ^ . 
 
 " His extortions. 
 
 and Arundel, were compelled to purchase 
 their pardons by fines ; and seventeen counties were in 
 this way amerced as having assisted the confederates at 
 Radcot Bridge. But the mode of extortion which na- 
 turally excited the greatest amount of discontent was the 
 issuing of what were called blank charters, to which 
 even those not accused of treason, but the moneyed 
 men of the kingdom generally, were compelled to set 
 their seals, without knowing to what amount they made 
 themselves liable. 
 
 3. The exigency which led him to resort to this last 
 means of raising money seems to have been occasioned 
 by a rebellion in Ireland which he determined r ebellion in 
 to go and put down with an army under his ^''^^^^'i- 
 personal command. He had already, some years before, 
 visited that country with results which appeared at the 
 time to be satisfactory. All attempts to oppose his power 
 were soon abandoned. The native chieftains submitted 
 and did him homage. Four native kings acknowledged 
 his sovereignty at Dublin, received the honor of knight- 
 hood, and promised to adopt English customs. But now 
 
52 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 he learned that his cousin, Roger Mortimer, Earl of 
 March, whom he had left as his vicegerent, had been 
 slain in a new revolt of the natives, and he determined 
 to go thither once more and bring the Irish into more 
 complete subjection. 
 
 4. But meanwhile an event had taken place which 
 unhappily suggested to the King's mind the thought of 
 
 Death of an act still more arbitrary and perfidious. 
 Gaunt° . 01<i John of Gaunt died in the early part of 
 Feb. 3. ^j^g year, and his title as Duke of Lancaster 
 
 devolved rightly on his son the banished Hereford. It 
 had also been conceded to the Dukes of Hereford and 
 Norfolk before they left England, that notwithstanding 
 their banishment they might by attorney take possession 
 of any inheritance that might fall to them in their 
 absence. But the King's wants were great, the duchy 
 of Lancaster was wealthy, and it occurred to Richard 
 and his council (now that there was no one on that 
 council to represent the interests of the family), that a 
 banished man was not qualified to inherit property. 
 The former grant was consequently annulled, and the 
 King's officers took possession of the property of the de- 
 ceased duke, as a forfeiture due to the Crown. 
 
 5. After Whitsuntide Richard sailed for Ireland from 
 Milford Haven with a fleet of 200 ships. Within two 
 
 ^, ,,. days he arrived at Waterford, from which 
 
 The King ^ ' 
 
 sails to he advanced to Kilkenny. There several 
 
 chieftains submitted to him with halters 
 round their necks. He then went onto Dublin, and was 
 preparing fof a further campaign when he suddenly re- 
 ceived news from England of a most alarming nature, 
 which showed how much his presence was required in 
 his own kingdom. Henry of Lancaster, who since he 
 left the country had resided at Paris, had obtained per- 
 
1399- Tf^(^ ^ing and Henry of Lancaster. 53 
 
 mission of the French kin^ to pay a visit to the Duke 
 of Brittany. Arrived in that country he hired three small 
 vessels with which he sailed for England, having in his 
 company the deprived Archbishop of Canterbury and a 
 very small band of followers. After some days he landed 
 at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, a harbor at the Henry of 
 mouth of the Humber now washed away by x^nAstn^ 
 the sea. He made known that it was his ^"^land. 
 object to recover his paternal estates, with the title, which 
 justly belonged to him, of Duke of Lancaster, and he 
 was joined by the Earls of Northumberland and West- 
 moreland, before whom he took oath at Doncaster that 
 he had no further aim than to seek his own inheritance. 
 6. The King's uncle, Edmund, Duke of York, whom 
 Richard had appointed keeper of England during his 
 absence, on hearing of Henry's landing took 
 counsel how to oppose him. He summoned ^^f Yo"rk^ 
 the King's retainers to join his standard at 
 St. Alban's, where he mustered 1,000 lances and 60,000 
 archers ; but so high was the popularity of the Duke of 
 Lancaster, so deep the general sense of the injustice with 
 which he had been treated, that these very men de- 
 clared they would not go against him. On this the 
 Duke of York bent his course towards Wales, where 
 Richard had always met with the most unwavering sup- 
 port. He reached Berkeley Castle, while the Lord Trea- 
 surer, Scrope, Earl of W^iltshire, with Bushy and Green, 
 two leading members of Richard's parliamentary com- 
 mittee, went to Bristol. Sir John Bushy had been the 
 Speaker of the House of Commons before the last Par- 
 liament was dissolved ; and he, with Sir Henry Green 
 and Sir William Bagot, were universally detested as the 
 principal agents of the King's extortions. Meanwhile 
 the Duke of Lancaster had passed southwards with a 
 
54 Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 following which continually increased the further he 
 went on, and had arrived at Evesham as the Duke of 
 York reached Berkeley. The latter had now no hope 
 of taking the field against him ; but the thought of his 
 duty to Richard still weighed upon his mind, and he 
 seems to have cast about for some means of satisfying 
 his conscience on the score of his allegiance, without 
 attempting an enterprise which was manifestly hopeless. 
 Was the Duke of Lancaster really a rebel after all? He 
 sent him a message to demand his object in coming thus 
 armed into the land — did he mean to dispossess King 
 Richard of the crown, or did he only seek to recover his 
 own property ? According to the oath already taken by 
 Duke Henry at Doncaster this last was his only object; 
 but that object could not be effected unless the evil 
 counsellors who had persuaded Richard to confiscate 
 his possessions were removed and punished. So Henry 
 confessed that he came to remove the King's evil coun- 
 sellors, but he denied that he had any designs against 
 the King himself. This declaration appears to have 
 satisfied the scruples of the Duke of York, and he, the 
 chosen guardian of Richard's kingdom in his absence, 
 went over to Henry's side. 
 
 7. Duke Henry, now practically master of the whole 
 kingdom, went on to Bristol, where he caused the Earl 
 of Wiltshire, Green, and Bushy to be beheaded ; the first 
 for an alleged bargain that he had made to sell Calais to 
 the French king, and the two others on the ground that 
 they had counselled extortionate taxation. All three, 
 indeed, along with Bagot, had farmed the revenues of 
 the kingdom, and derived large profits from the people's 
 burdens; so they met with little compassion. It was 
 fortunate for Bagot that he was not apprehended at the 
 same time ; but instead of going to Bristol on Henry's 
 
1399- ^^^ King and Henry of Lancaster. 55 
 
 approach, he had escaped into Cheshire, from which he 
 passed over into Ireland. 
 
 8. Meanwhile the King himself was in Ireland, igno- 
 rant of the revolt of his kingdom at home. When he 
 was first apprised of Henry's invasion he was thunder- 
 struck. He had with him at that very time the son of the 
 invader, afterwards the brilliant victor of Agincourt, 
 Henry V. He was his godson, and he had just recently 
 made him a knight with his own hands. But his thoughts 
 first turned not to the son but to the father of his present 
 enemy. " Ha, good uncle of Lancaster," he exclaimed, 
 " God have mercy upon your soul! For had I believed 
 you, this man would not have angered me now. You 
 told me truly I did ill to forgive him so frequently. 
 Three times have I pardoned him his offences against 
 me ; this is the fourth time he has provoked me." An- 
 other time, addressing the young man, "See," he said, 
 " what thy father has done. He has invaded my realm 
 as an enemy, killing and imprisoning my lieges without 
 pity. I grieve for thee, for this mischance may cost thee 
 thine inheritance." " My gracious lord," said the other, 
 "this news distresses me greatly; but you see that I am 
 innocent of what my father has done." " I know it," 
 said the King, "and I hold thee guiltless." The young 
 prince, however, along with a son of the Duke of Glou- 
 cester, was removed to the Castle of Trim for security. 
 
 9. Yet even now the urgency of the crisis was scarcely 
 realized. That the King must return to England was 
 obvious, but there were not enough vessels at Dublin to 
 transport a large army, so the question was whether the 
 King himself should go over at once, or send the Earl of 
 Salisbury first into Wales. By the advice of the Duke 
 of Albemarle (or as his name was popularly called, Au- 
 merle), the Duke of York's son, the latter course was 
 
06 Richard II. CH. IL 
 
 resolved on. Salisbury was sent over with as large a 
 force as the ships could convey, and the King marched 
 with the rest to Waterford to embark there, intending to 
 rejoin the Earl in Wales. The resolution was most un- 
 fortunate. The Earl of Salisbury la-nded at Conway and 
 soon gathered to his standard a large number of the 
 Welsh. But a whole fortnight elapsed and nothing was 
 heard of the King, while it was known that Henry had 
 gained nearly the whole of England, and was every- 
 where removing the King's officers and putting to death 
 those who opposed him. At last the King arrived at 
 Milford Haven along with his cousin the Duke of Albe- 
 marle, his half-brother the Duke of Exeter, and his 
 nephew the Duke of Surrey, three bishops, and a pretty 
 considerable army. But the news which met them on 
 their arrival was so discouraging that the great bulk of 
 these forces very speedily deserted him ; and Richard, 
 after a consultation, set out in disguise by night, accom- 
 panied by just fourteen of his more trusty friends, to join 
 the Earl of Salisbury at Conway, desiring the Duke of 
 Albemarle and Sir Thomas Percy to follow him. They, 
 however, in the morning dismissed the remaining forces 
 and hastened to join Henry. 
 
 lo. At Conway the King arrived in safety, but it was 
 only to learn that his last hope had failed him. The 
 Earl of Salisbury indeed was there ; but the men whom 
 he had at first succeeded in raising for the King's ser- 
 vice were no longer with him. In the utter absence of 
 all tidings from Richard disagreeable rumors had got 
 abroad and he had found it impossible to keep them 
 together. The Earl burst into tears when he saw his 
 sovereign and explained to him the hopelessness of the 
 situation, but it was presently arranged that the Dukes 
 of Exeter and Surrey should go to Henry to learn the 
 
1 399- The King and Henry of Lancaster. 5 7 
 
 extent of his demands, and report them to the King. 
 The Duke of Exeter was the King's brother, but he had 
 married Henry's sister, and Henry on seeing him endea- 
 vored to win him to his side ; but he dedined to allow 
 either him or Surrey to return to the King, and sent the 
 latter a prisoner to Chester Castle. Henry now resolved 
 on obtaining possession of Richard's person, and com- 
 missioned the Earl of Northumberland to go to Conway. 
 The Earl took with him a body of men and archers, with 
 whose aid he took possession of Flint and Rhuddlan 
 Castles, but before coming in sight of Conway he left 
 them behind. That castle was too strong to be easily 
 taken, and the King might have escaped from it by sea. 
 Northumberland accordingly went forward with only 
 five attendants, and obtained an audience of Richard 
 as the bearer of a letter from the Duke of Exeter and 
 ofHeni-y's answer to his message. The demands of 
 Henry, he said, were that Richard should promise to 
 govern according to law, that Exeter, Surrey, Sahsbury, 
 and the Bishop of Carlisle should be tried in Parliament 
 as accompUces in the murder of Gloucester, and that 
 Henry should be made grand justiciary of the kingdom, 
 as his ancestors had been. On these conditions Henry 
 was willing to come to Flint, ask the King's pardon on 
 his knees, and go with him to London. 
 
 II. Only a sense of utter helplessness induced Richard 
 to hsten to these terms with patience. They imphed that 
 he was to deliver up, nominally only for trial, but really 
 to execution, his brother, his nephew, and the counsellors 
 who were then about him. On consultation with these 
 last, however, it was thought good that he should dissem- 
 ble, and only exact an oath from the Earl of Northum« 
 berland, which he had expressed himself quite ready to 
 take, that Henry would adhere to these conditions. The 
 
58 Richard II. ch. ii. 
 
 Earl then swore to that effect upon the Sacrament, and 
 Richard consented to accompany him. But they had 
 not gone far when the King came in view of Northum- 
 berland's followers and saw he was betrayed. He would 
 have returned, but the Earl seized his horse by the bri- 
 dle and carried him off in all haste to Flint Castle, there 
 to await an interview with Henry. On August 19 Henry 
 came at the head of a mighty host, and presented him- 
 self before the King in full armor. "My Lord," he said, 
 " I have come before you have sent for me. The reason 
 is that your people commonly say you have ruled them 
 very rigorously for twenty or two and twenty years ; but, 
 if it please God, I will help you to govern better." 
 
 12. With great parade and blowing of trumpets Rich- 
 ard and his little company were conducted to Chester, 
 where the King was confined in the dungeon of the 
 castle. Writs, however, were issued in his name, sum- 
 moning Parliament to meet at London. In a few days 
 the journey was resumed, and dismissing most of his 
 forces the duke brought Richard to the capital, where 
 the former was received with acclamations, the latter 
 with curses. The King was committed to the Tower, 
 and even his child-queen, who was at this time but ten 
 years old, was forbidden to visit him. On Michaelmas 
 day his signature was obtained to an act of abdication 
 in which he declared himself utterly incapable of gov- 
 erning and worthy to be deposed. The Parliament met 
 Deposition of ^^ the following day. In it the King's resig- 
 the King. nation was read, and gave great satisfac- 
 
 tion. An act was then passed setting forth a number 
 of charges against his government as reasons for his de- 
 position ; which met with no opposition except from his 
 faithful counsellor the Bishop of Carlisle, who for chal- 
 lenging the right of the two Houses to take such a step 
 
1 399- ^^'^ King and Henry of Lancaster, 59 
 
 was sent prisoner to the Abbey of St. Alban's. Henry 
 next stepped forward and claimed the throne as rightly 
 due to him by descent from King Henry HI. 
 
 13. Now in point of fact Henry was not the next in 
 succession. His father John of Gaunt was the fourth son 
 of Edward HI., and there were descendants 
 of that King's third son, Lionel Duke of Cla- claim by 
 rence, living ; so that it should have been '^^'^^"'^• 
 quite unnecessary to go back so far as Henry III. At 
 one time Richard himself had designated as his succes- 
 sor the nobleman who really stood next to him in the 
 line of descent. This was Roger Mortimer, Earl of 
 March, the same who was killed by the rebels in Ire- 
 land. This Roger had left a son Edmund to inherit his 
 title ; but Edmund was a mere child, and the inconve- 
 nience of another minority could not have been en- 
 dured. So the nation was very well disposed to accept 
 Henry as king without inquiring too closely into his claim 
 by birthright ; and Henry put forward a claim through 
 his mother founded upon a very idle story indeed, a 
 story so extravagant and untrue that it looks as if it had 
 been invented to serve his purpose. The truth, how- 
 ever, seems to be that it was current in the days of his 
 father John of Gaunt, who got it written in some chroni- 
 cles which were sent to different monasteries, to flatter 
 his vanity ; and perhaps John of Gaunt expected that he 
 himself might have been able one day to claim the crown 
 upon the strength of it. This story was that so far back 
 as the days of King Edward I. the succession had got out 
 of the true line of descent ; that the eldest son of Henry 
 III. was not King Edward, but his brother Edmund 
 Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, who was commonly re- 
 puted the second son ; and that this Edmund had been 
 purposely set aside on account of his personal deformity. 
 
6o Richard II. CH. ii. 
 
 The plain fact of the matter was that Edmund Crouch- 
 back was six years younger than his brother Edward I., 
 and that his surname of Crouchback had not the small- 
 est reference to personal deformity, but only implied that 
 he wore the cross upon his back as a crusader. 
 
 14, Archbishop Arundel then stepped forward and led 
 Henry to the throne, on which, after a brief prayer, he 
 took his seat amid general applause. The Parliament 
 then dissolved after having sat a single day. As it had 
 been summoned in Richard's name, its authority expired 
 with his. Neither Parliament, judges, nor officers of any 
 kind throughout England had any authority now till the 
 new King had renewed their commissions. But Henry 
 summoned the same Parliament to meet again six days 
 afterwards, appointed new officers of the crown, and then 
 withdrew to his palace. 
 
 15. So ended the unhappy reign of Richard H., a 
 prince who had certainly very little natural capacity to 
 govern, and who, called to the throne in boyhood, could 
 never be placed under such tuition as would have brought 
 out the little capacity he had. It was the desire of the 
 nation itself during his minority to emancipate him as 
 much as possible from the control of his natural protector 
 John of Gaunt; but when, yielding to this influence, he 
 chose his own advisers, there rose up a cry that he was 
 misled by favorites and abandoned himself entirely to 
 the counsels of young men. These complaints, which, 
 after all, were not altogether true, served the purpose of 
 the factious Duke of Gloucester, and enabled him to 
 establish for a time a despotism quite as odious and as 
 absolute as any that an anointed king could have at- 
 tained to. It was terminated, apparently, to the general 
 satisfaction, by an act of self-assertion on Richard's own 
 part, when he came of age; and for some years after 
 
1399- The King and He?iry of Lancaster. 61 
 
 things went pretty smoothly. But as new dangers crossed 
 his path he grew more arbitrary, imperious, and unjust. 
 He met intrigue by treachery, put his troublesome uncle 
 to death without a trial, extorted money from his subjects 
 by forced loans, and by his own kingly authority perverted 
 law and justice. Yet it may be questioned whether he 
 was at heart the cruel and vindictive character he is 
 often represented to have been. He was undoubtedly 
 a man of very sensitive feehngs, a most devoted husband, 
 and apparently to his true friends steadfast, as far as his 
 power would reach. But it was a question through the 
 whole reign whether the kingly power was to be treated 
 as a reality or as a fiction, and Richard, who was of an 
 angry and passionate temper, was not the man to use 
 any power entrusted to him with discretion. 
 
 16. In personal appearance he was handsome. There 
 was a delicate beauty in his features which corresponded 
 with a mode of life too luxurious for the age. He was a 
 lover both of art and literature, the patron of Froissart, 
 Gower, and Chaucer, and the builder of Westminster 
 Hall. But he was thought too fond of sh6w and mag- 
 nificence, and some of his contemporaries accused him 
 of too great love of pleasure. Yet of positive immorality 
 we have no real evidence, and his devotion and tender- 
 ness to both his queens (child as the second was) is a 
 considerable presumption to the contrary. And as re- 
 gards the expenses of his household, it does not appear 
 that he was led on this account to tax his people im- 
 moderately. His ruin was simply owing to despotic and 
 arbitrary measures — not in any way to pecuniary burdens 
 that he inflicted on the nation. 
 
62 Literature and Science. ch. hi. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 
 
 I. The reign of Richard II. is an interesting period in 
 English literature. Before that time there was, strictly 
 speaking, hardly any English literature at all. There 
 were, indeed, ballads and some rhyming chronicles in 
 English, but all serious authors wrote in Latin. An 
 author who desired many readers naturally preferred to 
 use a language which was understood over all Europe. 
 A courtly author, or one who aimed at refinement, would 
 rather have written in French than in English ; for 
 French was the language of the King's court and also 
 of the courts of law. Besides, the English spoken in 
 one part of the country was so unlike the language cur- 
 rent in another part, that an author writing in English 
 could not have spoken to the whole people. But by this 
 time Englishmen had begun to write in English for 
 serious purposes. It was, apparently, in the latter part 
 of the reign of Edward III. that a religious poet, whose 
 name is believed to have been William Langland, wrote 
 a remarkable allegorical work called "The Vision of 
 Piers Plowman." A little later, Wycliffe translated the 
 Wycliffe's Bible into English for the use of the un- 
 Bibie. learned. The influence of this latter work 
 
 was extraordinary. It created throughout the land a 
 much stronger sense of the reality of religious truth ; 
 and it placed in the hands of the common people a rich 
 and suggestive literature, full of inexhaustible material 
 for thought and reflection. 
 
 2. A native literature naturally grew up in the wake 
 of such a book. The learned began to write for the 
 people in their own tongue. Wycliffe himself wrote 
 
1399- Literature and Science. 63 
 
 several treatises in English. The poet Chaucer, too, 
 and his brother poet Gower, wrote for amusement or 
 edification, tales, poems, and prose compositions in 
 English. Chaucer especially was a poet of the people ; 
 his English compositions are very numerous, 
 
 1 . , •,. 1 . . - , Chaucer. 
 
 and notwithstandmg the antiquity of the 
 language, are read with a living interest at this day. His 
 mind is typical of the nation in its breadth and cultiva- 
 tion. While describing with intense enjoyment the 
 humors of the road and of the tavern, he nevertheless 
 paid the highest honor to the knight's ideal of chivalry 
 and the parson's ideal of godliness. He looked into all 
 the science and philosophy of the day, and expounded 
 them in the vulgar speech. He wrote a book on 
 astronomy for his little son Lewis. He translated from 
 the French the poem, so popular upon the Continent, 
 called the "Romaunt of the Rose," and he adapted 
 tales from the Italian of Petrarch and Boccaccio, authors 
 who lived in his own day, and one of whom he is sup- 
 posed personally to have known. His best known work 
 is the "Canterbury Tales," in which he describes a 
 pilgrimage, such as was common in those days, to the 
 shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. Persons 
 who had been ill used to make vows to visit that shrine 
 on their recovery ; and Chaucer represents about thirty 
 pilgrims starting from the Tabard Inn in Southwark and 
 telling stories, each in his turn, to amuse them on the 
 way. 
 
 3. Chaucer was a man who had seen much of the 
 world. He had fought in the wars of Edward III. in 
 France, and had been some time a prisoner. He had 
 visited Italy. He had been sent on embassies. He was 
 patronized by John of Gaunt and was attached to the 
 royal household. In 1386 he sat in Parliament — in that 
 
64 Literature and Science, ch. hi. 
 
 parliament in which Michael de la Pole was indicted ; 
 but what part he took in the proceedings we cannot say. 
 When the commission of regency was instituted he was 
 dismissed from the office of controller of Customs in 
 London which had been granted to him by the Crown. 
 But with some changes of fortune Chaucer generally re- 
 mained in favor at Court, not only under Edward III. 
 and Richard II., but also under Henry IV., in the be- 
 ginning of whose reign he died. 
 
 4. The other poet of the day, John Gower, was Chau- 
 cer's personal friend, and was, like him, patronized by 
 John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. " Moral 
 Gower " he was called by Chaucer, and the 
 name was most appropriate. In all he wrote he was 
 perpetually moralizing. His principal works were three, 
 entitled respectively, "Speculum Meditantis," "Vox 
 Clamantis," and " Confessio Amantis " (the Mirror of one 
 Meditating, the Voice of one Crying, and the Confession 
 of a Lover). The first of these poems was written in 
 French and does not appear now to be extant. The 
 second was written in Latin on the subject of Wat 
 Tyler's rebeUion. The third was written in English, in 
 his old age, in obedience to a command of Richard II., 
 who one day invited the poet into his barge and desired 
 that he would dedicate some composition to him. He 
 accordingly produced a long poem on the subject of 
 love, which he made the vehicle of a multitude of tales 
 and reflections. But the book was not dedicated to 
 King Richard after all, or rather that dedication was 
 withdrawn ; for John Gower, who was what Dr. Johnson 
 called " a good hater," was completely ahenated from his 
 sovereign in the latter part of his reign, and he presented 
 the completed labor to Henry of Lancaster. Gower also 
 wrote a political poem called a "Tripartite Chronicle," 
 
1399* Literature and Science. 65 
 
 in honor of the revolution which placed Henry IV. 
 upon the throne, in which he very severely reviewed the 
 whole government of Richard II., calling it " a work of 
 »iell," and extolling his dethronement and the accession 
 ijf Henry as " a work in Christ." 
 
 5. Wycliffe died on the last day of the year 1384, 
 three years after Wat Tyler's rebellion, and two years 
 before the impeachment of the Duke of Suffolk. His 
 name must always be chiefly associated in our minds 
 with the translation of the Bible and the doctrine pro- 
 mulgated by himself and his followers. For it was 
 through that >vork that he exerted so powerful an influ- 
 ence on the succeeding age, and to it his followers, who 
 were commonly called Lollards, continu- ^, ^ „ , 
 
 , The Lollards. 
 
 ally appealed m proof of their favorite 
 tenets. But there is another aspect in which Wycliffe 
 may be regarded. He was the last of what are com- 
 monly called the great Schoolmen — distinguished philo- 
 sophers, who, during the Middle Ages, upheld and pro- 
 mulgated at the universities new systems of thought, 
 which they themselves had introduced. Such were, in 
 former days, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Roger 
 Bacon, and a number of others, whose teaching at the 
 universities was celebrated throughout the world. And 
 even after Wycliffe' s day there were schoolmen of high 
 celebrity, such as his great theological opponent Thomas 
 Netter of Walden, who was esteemed the prince of con- 
 troversialists. But there was no schoolman after Wy- 
 cliffe who could be regarded as the originator of the 
 philosophy which he defended in the schools. He was 
 the last who had a system of his own. 
 
 6. His followers increased rapidly in England, and, 
 partly perhaps in consequence of the intercourse with 
 Bohemia created by Richard's first marriage, his doc- 
 
66 Literature and Science, ch. hi. 
 
 trines found a large amount of favor in that country also. 
 Of this we shall have occasion to take notice hereafter. 
 In other countries the opinions of Wycliffe do not appear 
 to have produced any perceptible effect. 
 
 7. The whole learning of the age was contained in the 
 writings of these schoolmen ; yet they had done little or 
 
 Learning and nothing to advance that which forms so great 
 science. g. study in our own day — natural science. 
 
 Some, like Roger Bacon, had made a remarkable number 
 of experiments and pushed their inquiries into nature as 
 well as into logic and mathematics, but nothing had yet 
 been done to classify the results of repeated observations. 
 The virtues of particular herbs were known, but botany 
 had not yet been heard of, still less geology or mineralogy. 
 Of chemistry there was no real knowledge, but experi- 
 ments were made in a kind of spurious science called 
 alchemy, by which it was supposed that a process might 
 one day be discovered of transmuting other substances 
 into gold. Of astronomy, in like manner, nothing was 
 truly known, but there was a good deal of misdirected 
 observation of astronomical facts, from the supposition 
 that a man's fortune in life was influenced by the position 
 of the planets at the time of his birth. Astrology, how- 
 ever, did teach men to observe before the day of true 
 science came. 
 
 8. That the earth itself was a planet no one had any 
 idea. It was believed to be the centre of the universe, 
 round which the heavens revolved with all their hosts, 
 the sun, moon, and planets making special circuits of 
 their own. Wise men did indeed believe the earth to be 
 a sphere, but no one had hitherto thought of attempting 
 to reach the other side of it. Nothing was known of any 
 lands west of the Atlantic or south of Central Africa ; 
 while the most remote country to the east was the distant 
 
1399- "^^^^ Revolution Completed. 67 
 
 Cathay or China, which had been visited by the great 
 traveller Sir John Mandeville in the days of Edward III. 
 Very little, however, was known of any part of Asia. The 
 Genoese and Venetian merchants could extend their 
 commerce no further than the Black Sea and the river 
 Don, and the world which lay beyond excited very little 
 interest. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HENRY IV. 
 
 I. The Revolution Completed — Invasion of Scotland. 
 
 I. The reign of Richard II. was a series of reactions, in 
 which each successive revolution undid the work of the 
 last revolution and confirmed anew that of a 
 former one. A new reign and a new dynasty 
 had now begun, with a King who was not fitful, weak, or 
 passionate, and who was not likely to suffer mob-law or 
 confederacies to gain the upper hand with him. But the 
 case was still the same as heretofore ; the first act of the 
 new revolution was necessarily the annulling of the last. 
 Parliament accordingly declared null and The new revo- 
 void the whole proceedings of the Parliament lotion. 
 of Shrewsbury, and confirmed again those of the Won- 
 derful Parliament which the Parliament of Shrewsbury 
 had declared null. The judgments upon the Duke of 
 Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick were 
 reversed, and those who had been accessory to the pro- 
 ceedings against the duke were called to account for their 
 conduct. They one and all gave it as an excuse that 
 they had acted under compulsion, and laid the blame 
 upon the deposed King. On this a stormy scene took 
 place. Lord Fitzwalter maintained that the Duke of 
 
68 Henry IV. ch. iv. 
 
 Albemarle's excuse was untrue, and offered to prove it so 
 in combat. Lord Morley in like manner gave the Earl 
 of Salisbury the lie. Other lords joined and threw down 
 their gauntlets or their hoods as gages of the combat. 
 No less than twenty pledges were thrown in support of 
 the charge against Albemarle, and no one took his part 
 except the Duke of Surrey. The gages, however, were 
 given into the custody of the Constable and Marshal of 
 England until the King should appoint a day of trial ; 
 and meanwhile it was adjudged in Parliament that the 
 lords who had appealed the Duke of Gloucester should 
 be deprived of the dignities that had been conferred upon 
 them after his death. Albemarle, Surrey, and Exeter 
 were to be no longer dukes, but as they had been before, 
 Earls of Rutland, Kent, and Huntingdon. John Beau- 
 fort, Marquis of Dorset, was to be no longer a marquis, 
 and Spenser, Earl of Gloucester, was to lose his title 
 entirely. Not a few were dissatisfied that they did not 
 lose their heads as well. 
 
 2. But it was very necessary on all accounts that 
 matters should not be pushed to extremity. Severe 
 justice would not have suited the new King's policy, and 
 appeals of treason which had already been the cause of 
 so many revolutions threatened to make the 
 treason pcacc of the kingdom hopeless forever. An 
 
 mitigated. ^^^ ^^^ accordingly passed to mitigate the 
 evil by forbidding such appeals in Parliament. All trea- 
 sons done within the realm were henceforth to be tried 
 by law ; and where the crime was alleged to have been 
 done abroad, the appeal was to be tried by the Constable 
 and Marshal of England. At the same time the guilt of 
 treason was limited to offences that had been recognized 
 as such by statute. It was also remembered that there 
 had been arbitrary measures during the late reign which 
 
I400. The Revolution Completed. 69 
 
 were not due to Richard himself. The shameful statute 
 of the Merciless Parliament, making it treason in any- 
 one to attempt to procure the repeal of its enactments, 
 was annulled. Government by terror was henceforth 
 to be disused. But the Commons were by no means 
 invariably successful in obtaining redress for past abuses. 
 When they petitioned for repayment of Richard's forced 
 loans, and for remission of the heavy penalties incurred 
 by the judges who had been so cruelly fined and ban- 
 ished for supporting Richard's prerogative, their re- 
 quests were politely refused, with the answer, Le Roy 
 s'avisera. 
 
 3. As to the late King Richard himself, he was now 
 a subject, and had been publicly declared in Parliament 
 guilty of serious misconduct. What was to ^, ^ 
 
 *^ ^ , ihe deposed 
 
 be done with him ? A deputation of lords. King 
 with the Archbishop of Canterbury at their 
 head, urged the King to put him to death, but Henry 
 firmly refused to do so. Still, as he was no longer a 
 sovereign, he was amenable to the judgment of the King 
 and Parliament ; so it was decreed that he should be 
 imprisoned for life, and Henry shut him up in the castle 
 of Pomfret. 
 
 4. But not many months passed away before the King 
 received intelligence of a formidable conspiracy against 
 him in Richard's favor. It was formed by ^ 
 
 •^ Conspiracy 
 
 the degraded peers, Rutland, Kent, and in his 
 Huntingdon, who had been formerly dukes, 
 and Lord Spenser, formerly Earl of Gloucester, with the 
 Earl of Salisbury and some other noblemen, including 
 the Bishop of Carlisle, who had always been a staunch 
 friend to Richard. These all dined together in the 
 chambers of the Abbot of Westminster a few days be- 
 fore Christmas, and set their seals to certain indentures 
 
70 Henry IV. ch. iv. 
 
 promising to be faithful to one another in what they were 
 A. D. 1400. to undertake. On Sunday, the 4th of Jan- 
 january4. uary, they made an attempt to surprise the 
 King at Windsor ; but one of their number had already 
 betrayed the secret, and Henry had escaped to London. 
 The traitor was the Earl of Rutland, formerly Duke of 
 Albemarle, who had before shamefully abandoned Rich- 
 ard in the day of his adversity. The others, finding 
 that the King was gone, very naturally took alarm. 
 They, however, visited Richard's Oueen at Sonning, 
 near Reading, and passed on westward to Cirencester, 
 proclaiming King Richard as they went along. But the 
 mayor summoned the country people, attacked them in 
 the middle of the night, and after some hours' fighting 
 compelled them to surrender. The Earls of Kent and 
 Salisbury were beheaded by the people ; Lord Spenser 
 met with the same fate from the inhabitants of Bristol ; 
 and the Earl of Huntingdon, who, apart from his con- 
 federates, had awaited the issue of the affair at London, 
 having fled into the county of Essex, was taken and be- 
 headed at Fleshy, the mansion of the murdered Duke of 
 Gloucester. 
 
 5. Every one of these executions was an act of sum- 
 mary justice, the people taking the law into their own 
 hands as they had done under Wat Tyler. But mob law, 
 perhaps, was not displeasing to Henry when it tended 
 to the suppression of rebellion. He was unquestionably 
 popular with the masses, who believed that he had been 
 a victim of political perfidy in the preceding reign, and 
 they warmly took his part against any attempt to bring 
 back the detested tyrant of whose exactions they had 
 formerly stood in dread. Indeed, Henry himself, after 
 this, seems to have dismissed the scruples he had before 
 professed to entertain about putting his rival to death. 
 
i4oo. The Revoiutio7t Completed. 71 
 
 It would be rash, perhaps, to say that he distinctly au- 
 thorized his murder; but it appears pretty evident that 
 he was no longer careful to preserve his hfe. Within 
 little more than a month after the rising, 
 Richard died in his prison. It was pre- Rfcw^n. , 
 tended by some that on hearing of the 
 failure of the conspiracy he wilfully starved himself to 
 death ; but there is not a little reason to suspect that he 
 was starved by his keepers. Another story, however, got 
 abroad that he was assassinated by Sir Piers Exton. What- 
 ever may have been the mode of death, his body was sent 
 up to London and exposed to public view, with the face 
 uncovered from the forehead downwards. Funeral rites, 
 attended by the King himself, were celebrated for him at 
 St. Paul's, and he was buried at Langley. In the next reign 
 the body was removed by order of Henry V. to West- 
 minster, and was buried among the kings of England. 
 6. Just after the death of Richard, Henry found him- 
 self at war with Scotland. A Scottish nobleman, the 
 Earl of March, disappointed of a hope held out to him 
 by the Scotch king of marrying his daughter to the heir- 
 apparent, and smarting besides from other injuries, had 
 fled from his country and taken refuge with the Earl of 
 Northumberland in England. From the English Border 
 he made inroads into Scotland, devastating the lands 
 of his great rival the Earl Douglas, and King Robert III. 
 made application to Henry for his surrender as a traitor. 
 But Henry determined to anticipate the hostile measures 
 of the Scots, and after renewing the old claims of his 
 predecessors by summoning King Robert to come and do 
 him homage as his vassal, marched an army jjenry 
 across the Borders and invaded the northern invades 
 
 , . - . bcotland. 
 
 kmgdom m person. The Scots, however, 
 
 pursuing their usual policy, retired as he advanced ; and 
 
72 Henry IV, ch. iv. 
 
 Henry marched on to Edinburgh without opposition. 
 He laid siege to Edinburgh Castle, which was in the 
 hands of the King's son, the Duke of Rothesay. An army 
 under the Duke of Albany, the King's brother, who had 
 been made governor of the kingdom, lay at some dis- 
 tance, ready to come to the rescue if occasion should 
 require it ; but the Scots trusted to famine to compel the 
 English to withdraw, and left them unattacked. This 
 policy proved successful; after a short time Henry found 
 it necessary to raise the siege of Edinburgh Castle and 
 return home. The expedition in one sense was a failure ; 
 but Henry had at least impressed the Scots with a sense 
 of his warlike character. What is still more to his credit, 
 he impressed them with a sense of his humanity by pro- 
 tecting the unoffending inhabitants from violence and 
 outrage, a moderation of which former wars afforded 
 them no experience. 
 
 n. Eastern Affairs. 
 
 I. When Henry had been a year upon the throne he 
 
 received a visit from the Emperor of Constantinople, 
 
 Manuel Palasologus, who had traversed Eu- 
 
 The Emperor i • • j r /^i. ■ ,.• 
 
 ofConstanti- Tope Seeking aid irom Christian princes 
 Taiid^ ^" ^"^" against the Turks. The event was of a 
 character quite unprecedented, and exci- 
 ted a remarkable degree of interest. The Eastern po- 
 tentate was met by the King at Blackheath and con- 
 ducted with peculiar honors into London, where he was 
 magnificently entertained for the space of two or three 
 months. The project of a crusade to the Holy Land 
 was quite of a character to recommmend itself to Henry, 
 for he was deeply imbued with the notions of Christian 
 chivalry. Even before he came to the throne, when he 
 was only Earl of Derby, he had gone like Chaucer's 
 
I400. Eastern Affairs. 73 
 
 knight, against the infidels of Lithuania, and he doubt- 
 less regarded a visit to the Holy Land as the best atone- 
 ment he could make for sin. But there were special cir- 
 cumstances at this time which drew the attention of Eu- 
 rope towards the East more than had been the case 
 since the great days of the Crusades. The cause of the 
 Greek emperor who was Henry's guest was the cause of 
 Christianity in the East ; and never had the prospects 
 of Christianity been a subject of so much anxiety. The 
 dominions of the Turk already covered the greater por- 
 tion of the territory that they do at the present day, 
 while Constantinople itself was now all that remained of 
 the once powerful Eastern empire. Yet even Constan- 
 tinople had been besieged, and though not entirely won, 
 a suburb had been actually given up to the enemy. 
 Unless European princes would combine, a Christian 
 empire in the East was a thing that could not live much 
 longer. 
 
 2. The Sultan by whose extraordinary energy these 
 results had come about was Bajazet, the first of that 
 name, appropriately surnamed Ilderim, or ,,. 
 
 ' jrx- X- J ^ ^ ' ^ Victorious ca- 
 
 the Lightning. From the beginning of his reer of the Sul- 
 reign in 1389 he had been continually mov- ^"^ ^^^^^ ' 
 ing about at the head of armies, and men were amazed 
 at the rapidity with which he passed and repassed be- 
 tween Europe and Asia, subduing petty Mahometan 
 princes, or making war on the confines of Hungary 
 against armies in which were gathered the flower of 
 Christendom. In 1396 he had defeated at Nicopohs an 
 army of 100,000 men under Sigismund, King of Hun- 
 gary, who by an appeal to Europe had gathered to his 
 standard many of the bravest knights in Germany and 
 France. The greater part of that magnificent army was 
 cut to pieces or driven into the Danube ; of the prisoners 
 
74 Henry IV. ch. iv. 
 
 taken, all but twenty-four nobles were put to death ; and 
 Sigismund himself, having escaped by water to Constan- 
 tinople, only returned to Hungary after a long and peril- 
 ous circuit. 
 
 3. But there was another great conqueror in Asia 
 whose achievements eclipsed even those of Bajazet ; and 
 while Manuel was making fruitless appeals to the princes 
 of Western Europe, Constantinople was saved from cap- 
 Tamerlane ^ure by a Mahometan. Timour, commonly 
 the Tartar, called Tamerlane, a native of Central Asia, 
 was by birth a Tartar, but a descendant of the great 
 Mongol emperor Genghis Khan, the traditions of whose 
 power and greatness he was ambitious to revive. With 
 a mind highly cultivated in many respects, he was not 
 neglectful of those practices by which Eastern despots 
 knew how to inspire respect. As monuments of his vic- 
 tories he would leave behind him pyramids of human 
 heads. From his native district, not far South of Samar- 
 cand, he extended his dominions first on the side of 
 Persia, which he completely annexed to his rule. He 
 then carried his arms into Eastern and Western Tartary, 
 and made inroads into Russia nearly as far as Moscow ; 
 after which he crossed the Indus, captured Delhi, and 
 overran the Northeastern provinces of India about the 
 time that Henry IV, was ejecting Richard from the 
 throne of England. But from India he was drawn towards 
 Georgia and the shores of the Black Sea by jealousy of 
 the increasing power of Bajazet. He did not, however, 
 at once come into open conflict with his rival. He made 
 the Christians of Georgia tributary, took Sivas on the 
 borders of Anatolia, then marched southwards, intend- 
 ing to make war upon the Mamelukes in Egypt ; but 
 after the capture and destruction of Aleppo and Damas- 
 cus he changed his plan, returned to the Euphrates, laid 
 
1 40 2 . Eastern Affairs. 7 5 
 
 Bagdad in ruins, and erected upon its site a pyramid of 
 90,000 heads. 
 
 4. He now marched against Bajazet with an army of 
 80,000 men, to which his rival could oppose but half the 
 number. The two great conquerors met at ^ , ^ 
 
 ° ^ Battle of 
 
 Angora in Asia Mmor, where the army of Angora, 
 Bajazet was completely overthrown and ^'^°^' 
 himself taken prisoner. A curious story is told of the 
 interview which took place after the battle between the 
 captive Sultan and his conqueror. Timour was lame from 
 a wound in the thigh received in one of his early battles. 
 Bajazet was blind. On seeing his prisoner, Timour, it is 
 said, could not refrain from laughing. " Surely," he re- 
 marked, " God does not hold the empires of this world 
 in very high estimation when he commits them to a blind 
 man like you and a lame one like myself ! " 
 
 5. There is a great deal of uncertainty as to many par- 
 ticulars connected with this victory. Accounts vary very 
 much as to the day and month and even as to the year 
 when the battle was fought ; but the most critical opinion 
 seems to be that it was on July 28, 1402. The Emperor 
 of Constantinople, who took his leave of the King of 
 England and returned to the Continent in the spring of 
 the preceding year, could scarcely have anticipated this 
 good news ; but it is said that he had heard some en- 
 couraging rumors before he left of successes in the East 
 against the infidels and of the conversion of a large 
 number of pagans to Christianity. There is no doubt, 
 however, that the defeat of blind Bajazet by the limping 
 Tamerlane was an immense relief to Europe. The Tar- 
 tar despot was looked upon as if he were almost a Chris- 
 tian prince, and so highly was his victory esteemed that 
 even Henry IV. wrote to him from England to congratu- 
 late him. 
 
Henry IV. ch. iv. 
 
 III. Owen Glendower' s Rcbetlioti and the Battle of 
 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
 1, At home, however, Henry was troubled with con- 
 spiracies and rebeUions from the very commencement of 
 his reign ; nor did the death of his rival Richard render 
 them less frequent. Not long after that event a rumor 
 
 got abroad that Richard was still alive and 
 spread that was in Scotland. It seems that he had a 
 Richard is chaplain who resembled him in features, 
 still ahve. ^j^^ many affected to believe that the body 
 shown as his was not really that of the deposed King. 
 This shadow of King Richard was more troublesome to 
 Henry than Richard himself could have been if he had 
 lived. Repeated proclamations were issued against the 
 dissemination of false news, but the reports were still 
 propagated, and a man said to be Richard II. was main- 
 tained at the Court of Scotland to give England trouble. 
 The rumor in fact was very readily listened to by many, 
 and was found a very excellent means for nursing dis- 
 affection. Henry required the most incessant watchful- 
 ness and policy to guard himself against these intrigues. 
 Even his own palace was not secure against a secret 
 enemy. In 1401 an iron with three spikes was laid in 
 the King's bed. In 1402 a bastard son of the Black 
 Prince named Sir Roger Clarendon and nine Franciscan 
 friars were put to death for declaring that Richard was 
 alive. And in the same year broke out the formidable 
 rebellion of Owen Glendower in Wales. 
 
 2. Since the day when it was conquered by Edward I. 
 Wales had given the kings of England very little trouble. 
 The Welsh remained loyal to the son and grandson of 
 their conqueror, and were the most devoted friends of 
 Richard II., even when he had lost the hearts of his 
 
140 2. Owen Glendower' s Rebellion. 77 
 
 English subjects. But on the usurpation of ^ ^ j^^^. 
 Henry their allegiance seems to have been ^J^g".^'^"' 
 shaken : and Owen Glendower, who was de- rebellion. 
 scended from .Llewelyn, the last native prince of Wales, 
 laid claim to the sovereignty of the country. He rav- 
 aged the territory of Lord Grey of Ruthin, and took him 
 prisoner near Snowdon ; then, turning southwards, over- 
 ran Herefordshire and defeated and took prisoner Sir 
 Edmund Mortimer, uncle to that young Earl of March, 
 who should have been heir to the crown after Richard 
 according to the true order of descent. In this battle 
 upwards of a thousand Englishmen were slain, and such 
 was the fierce barbarity of the victors that even the 
 women of Wales mutilated the dead bodies in a manner 
 too gross to be described, and left them unburied upon 
 the field till heavy sums were paid for their interment. 
 3. It was necessary to put down this revolt of Glen- 
 dower, and the King collected an army and went against 
 him in person. It was the beginning of September ; but 
 owing, as the people thought, to magical arts and en- 
 chantments practised by the Welshman, the army suf- 
 fered dreadfully from tempests of wind, rain, snow, and 
 hail before it could reach the enemy. In one night the 
 King's tent was blown down, and he himself would have 
 been killed if he had not retired to rest with his armor 
 on. Finally the enterprise had to be abandoned. The 
 Scots, meanwhile, thinking it a good opportunity to re- 
 quite the King of England for his invasion of their 
 country while his forces were engaged against the Welsh, 
 made an irruption into Northumberland. They were, 
 however, pursued on their retreat by the 
 Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Bauie'^of " 
 Percy, commonly named Hotspur, who gn^^^pt. 14. 
 compelled them to come to an engagement 
 
78 Henry IV. ch, iv. 
 
 at Homildon Hill near Wooler, when they were put 
 to flight and their leader the Earl Douglas was taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 4. This success might have seemed a slight compen- 
 sation for the failure of the expedition against Glen- 
 dower; but unfortunately the victors at Homildon Hill 
 at this time found cause of offence with Henry. Of the 
 two distinguished prisoners in Wales, the Lord Grey of 
 Ruthin was ransomed by his friends for a sum of 10,000 
 marks ; but when the kinsmen of Sir Edmund Morti- 
 mer proposed to ransom him, the King expressly 
 forbade them. He pretended that Mortimer had shown 
 symptoms of disaffection, and had given himself up a 
 willing prisoner to the King's enemies. The truth was, 
 the young Earl of March was in the King's keeping, 
 and Henry was not sorry that the only relation who 
 could do much to advance his pretensions to the throne 
 should be in the keeping of Owen Glendower.v But this 
 injustice only served to alienate some who had been the 
 King's friends hitherto, among whom was Harry Hot- 
 spur ; for Hotspur had married Mortimer's sister. He 
 entered into a secret understanding with the Welsh.^ 
 orince, and drew into the conspiracy his father, the Earl 
 of Northumberland, and his uncle, Thomas Percy, Earl 
 of Worcester. 
 
 5. It was a strange revolt, seeing that the Percys had 
 been greatly instrumental to Henry's success against 
 Richard. The reader, no doubt, has not forgotten the 
 part taken by the Earl of Northumberland in bringing 
 the deposed King into Henry's power; and Henry for 
 his part exhibited such marks of confidence that he had 
 committed to the Earl of Worcester the care of his son 
 Henry, Prince of Wales. But Worcester sud- 
 
 A. D. 1403. ... 
 
 denly withdrew himself from Court and jomed 
 
1403. Owen Glendower' s Rebellion. 79 
 
 his nephew in the north, where they published mani- 
 festoes still pretending loyalty, professing that they had 
 only been driven to take up arms in self-defence, as 
 there were certain abuses which required reform, but 
 owing to prejudices raised against them in the King's 
 mind by their personal enemies, they dared not visit 
 him. The King endeavored to meet this by an offer of 
 safe-conduct to Worcester and others to come to him 
 and return freely ; but instead of doing so, he and his 
 nephew hastened towards Wales to join Glendower,' 
 spreading reports as they went that King Richard was 
 alive and that they had taken up arms in his cause. 
 The Percys had set their prisoner the Earl Douglas free, 
 and expected that Owen Glendower would do the like 
 to his prisoner. Sir Edmund Mortimer, and that they 
 would all unite their forces against Henry. But the 
 King was not unprepared, and having gathered a suf- 
 ficient force, intercepted the march of the Percys at 
 Shrewsbury. A very fierce and bloody ^ 
 battle took place, in which Hotspur was Battle of 
 killed, the Earl Douglas again taken July 21. 
 prisoner, and the insurgents utterly defeated. The Earl 
 of Worcester was beheaded at Shrewsbury after the 
 fight, and Northumberland, who had not yet openly 
 joined the rebels, on marching southwards, was stopped 
 by an army under the Earl of Westmoreland, and with- 
 drew again into the north. The King afterwards coming 
 to York commanded Northumberland to meet him, and 
 ordered him into confinement for life as a traitor ; but a 
 few months later the earl obtained a full pardon, and his 
 attainder was reversed in Parliament. 
 
 6. Thus by a hard-won victory Henry had preserved 
 himself upon a throne which he had acquired by intrigue 
 and usurpation. But rebeUion was not at an end. Glen- 
 
8o Hemj IV. ch. iv. 
 
 dower continued as troublesome as ever, and the King 
 was unable from various causes to make much progress 
 against him. At one time money could not easily be 
 raised for the expedition. At another time, when he 
 actually marched into the borders of Wales, 
 his advance was again impeded by the ele- 
 ments. The rivers swelled to an unusual extent, and 
 the army lost a great part of its baggage by the sudden- 
 ness of the inundation. The French, too, sent assist- 
 ance to Glendower, and took Carmarthen Castle. Some 
 time afterwards the King's son, Henry, Prince of Wales, 
 succeeded in taking the castle of Aberyst- 
 
 A. D. 1407, r r^ ^11 
 
 with ; but very soon after Owen Glendower 
 recovered it by stealth. In short, the Welsh succeeded 
 in maintaining their independence of England during 
 this whole reign, and Owen Glendower ultimately got 
 leave to die in peace. 
 
 7. Another source of danger to Henry was the young 
 Earl of March, whom he kept in prison. Many sympa- 
 thized with his cause and resented the treatment of a 
 prince whose natural claim to the throne was much 
 better than that of Henry himself. So by the aid of 
 A D 1405. friends who procured forged keys, he and 
 February. j^jg brother made their escape from Windsor 
 Castle where they were confined ; but they were soon 
 recaptured. New confederacies again sprang up in the 
 Another rising north, to which, notwithstanding his pardon, 
 in the North, ^j^g Y.2cx\ of Northumberland became a party. 
 His associates were Mowbray the Earl Marshal, who 
 v/as the son of Henry's old rival the Duke of Norfolk, 
 the Lord Bardolf, and Richard Scroop, Archbishop of 
 York. This archbishop, a man much beloved by the 
 people, was brother to one of King Richard's favorites 
 — the Earl of Wiltshire, whom Henry had put to death 
 
1404. Captuf-e of Prmce James of Scotland. 81 
 
 at Bristol, His dislike of Henry's government was 
 undisguised ; for he had accused the King of perjury 
 and treason to King Richard, and had advocated the 
 claims of the Earl of March, The confederates caused 
 manifestoes to be set on the doors of churches and 
 monasteries, and a considerable body of men gathered 
 to their standard in Yorkshire. But the Archbishop and 
 the Earl Marshal were entrapped into a conference with 
 the Earl of Westmoreland, and were taken and be- 
 headed at York. The former was venerated by the 
 people as a martyr, and pilgrimages began to be made 
 to his tomb, but were very speedily put down by order 
 of the King. The Earl of Northumberland retired for a 
 time into Scotland, but afterwards fled with Lord Bardolf 
 into Wales ; from which country, two years after, these 
 two noblemen escaped and raised an unsuc- 
 cessful rebellion in Yorkshire. The earl 
 was killed in battle and his head was stuck upon London 
 Bridge. The Lord Bardolf was taken in the same fight, 
 mortally wounded. 
 
 IV. Capture of Prince fames of Scotland. 
 
 I. Amid commotions such as these, nearly the whole 
 reign of Henry IV. was spent. The intervals were few 
 in which " frighted peace " could find a time 
 
 To pant, 
 And breathe short-winded accents of new broils.* 
 
 However popular may have been Henry's usurpation, 
 however arbitrary and tyrannical the government of his 
 predecessor, the power of the Crown had been weakened 
 by the fact of a usurpation having taken place. And 
 
 * Shakespeare's "Henry TV.," Part I. 
 G 
 
82 Henry IV. ch. iv. 
 
 young as Henry was when he assumed the crown — for 
 he was exactly the same age as his cousin Richard 
 whom he displaced — these repeated rebellions overtaxed 
 his energies and wore out his strength prematurely. 
 They also compelled him, much against his will, to 
 make continual application to Parliament for supplies, 
 which were often grudgingly and insufficiently conceded. 
 Heavy taxa- -^^ extraordinary subsidy was granted to 
 'i°"- him by the Parliainent which met in the 
 
 beginning of the year 1404, in which every one who held 
 lands of the value of twenty shillings and upwards was 
 charged a shilling in the pound on the annual value. 
 But this concession was made with a special request that 
 it might not be drawn into a precedent, and with the 
 very peculiar stipulation that the records of the receipt 
 of the money might be destroyed as soon as it was 
 gathered in. Yet the proceeds of the tax proved quite 
 inadequate to meet the pressing wants of the King's 
 exchequer ; and in October of the very same year 
 another Parliament was called, to meet at Coventry. 
 This Parliament, owing to the mode in which it was 
 elected, and possibly by the character of some of its 
 proposals, gained for itself the name of the Lack-learn- 
 ing Parliament. A clause was inserted in the writs of 
 summons, requiring that no lawyer should be returned 
 in any county as knight of the shire. When the ques- 
 tion of supply came before the Commons it was thought 
 that the readiest way to relieve an overtaxed people was 
 to throw the burdens of the nation upon the clergy, and 
 a general confiscation of the property of the Church was 
 seriously recommended. This brought about a collision 
 between the two Houses ; but the Chancellor, Arch- 
 bishop Arundel, altogether confuted the arguments in 
 which the Speaker of the House of Commons endea- 
 
1404. Capture of Prince James of Scotland, "^t^ 
 
 vored to show that the clergy did not contribute their 
 fair share to the national burdens, and the proposal had 
 to be abandoned. Two tenths and two fifteenths were 
 then voted in its place. 
 
 2. To strengthen himself on his unsteady throne, 
 Henry courted alliances with foreign princes by mar- 
 riage and other means. Soon after the be- 
 ginning of his reign, he himself, being then ^m\\^^s. 
 
 a widower, married Joan of Navarre, widow 
 of Simon de Montfort, Duke of Brittany. He had 
 already, by his former wife Mary de Bohun, four sons 
 and two daughters ; and he married his eldest daughter 
 Blanche to Lewis of Bavaria, eldest son of the Emperor 
 Rupert, in the very same year in which he himself 
 took a second wife. Some time afterward he married 
 his second daughter Philippa to Eric IX., King of 
 Denmark. 
 
 3. But fortune threw into Henry's hands an advan- 
 tage to which he could not have attained by mere diplo- 
 macy. Of all the foreign powers whose enmity he had 
 to fear, Scotland, though certainly one of the least, 
 might have given him the most annoyance. It was 
 Scotland that harbored the false King Richard, and 
 which received with open arms the Earl of Northumber- 
 land and other Englishmen whenever they were disaf- 
 fected towards their sovereign. Yet the only security 
 against Scotland hitherto lay in the doubtful fidelity of 
 the northern lords, — men like Northumberland himself or 
 Westmoreland, unscrupulous and changeable, who feel- 
 ing themselves masters of the situation, fought for their 
 sovereign or conspired against him as they pleased. But 
 in the year 1405 an incident occurred which at once re- 
 lieved Henry of all anxiety about the Scots for the re- 
 mainder of his days. 
 
84 Henry IV. ch. iv. 
 
 4. Scotland at this time was in a deplorable condition. 
 Robert III., who is characterized by historians as a well- 
 intentioned king-, was singularly devoid of 
 
 Scotland. t^ i r a n 
 
 energy. His brother, the Duke of Albany, 
 whom he himself had named as governor, secretly as- 
 pired to the succession, but the King relied upon him 
 with a blind confidence. David, Duke of Rothesay, the 
 heir apparent, was a dissolute, licentious prince, and his 
 intrigues with married ladies occasioned so much scan- 
 dal that the King thought proper to commit him to the 
 keeping of his uncle. Albany imprisoned theyoung man 
 
 in his own castle at Falkland in Fife, where 
 
 A. D. 1401. 
 
 he was miserably starved to death in a dun- 
 geon. It is said that two women for some days protracted 
 his unhappy life ; the one by covertly passing through 
 the narrow window of his cell supplies of oatmeal cakes ; 
 the other, a country nurse, by conveying milk from her 
 breast to his mouth through a tube. But they were both 
 detected and put to death. The poor King was over- 
 whelmed with grief at the news of his son's murder, but 
 Albany had a plausible story to lay the guilt on others, 
 and was too powerful to be brought to justice. All that 
 the King could do was to provide for the safety of his 
 second son James ; and on taking advice of such as he 
 believed trustworthy, he resolved to send him to France 
 
 to be educated at the court of Charles VI. 
 
 A. D. 1405. 
 
 Accompanied by one or two Scotch noble- 
 men, the young prince set sail from the Bass rock at the 
 mouth of the Frith of Forth. On his passage he came 
 near the English coast, or, as some say, was driven to 
 
 land. Notwithstanding that a truce then 
 o/sccTtiand^^^ existed between the two realms, he was 
 En^^sh^ "^^^ taken by some Norfolk sailors and brought 
 
 to Henry, who seeing the importance of this 
 
1405. The Church — French Affairs, etc. S5 
 
 capture resolved to detain him. He had been provided 
 with letters from his father to the King, to be used in 
 case of his landing in England ; but Henry jestingly re- 
 marked that if the Scots had been friendly they would 
 have sent the young man to him for his education, as 
 he knew the French tongue quite as well as King 
 Charles. 
 
 5. The news of this final calamity was too much for 
 the old King of Scots, who died the third day after it was 
 reported to him. The government of Scotland, though 
 not the name of king, fell into the hands of the Duke of 
 Albany, who was by no means anxious that the captive 
 should be set free. Henry, however, made the detention 
 of the young prince as little galling to him as possible, 
 and gave him an excellent education, of which Scotland 
 in after days reaped the benefit. He was the first of the 
 Scotch kings named James, and was distinguished not 
 only as a very enlightened king but as a poet, some of 
 whose works were above mediocrity. 
 
 V. The Chujxh — French Affairs — Death of Henry IV. 
 
 I. King Henry was now solicited to take part along 
 with France in putting an end to the papal schism which 
 had so long troubled the world. On the -pj^g schism in 
 death of Pope Innocent VII. in 1406, the the papacy. 
 cardinals at Rome, before proceeding to a new election, 
 made a compact that whoever should be elected Pope 
 should abdicate if the anti-Pope would do the same, so 
 as to allow the rival colleges to coalesce in the election 
 of one pontiff. The election fell upon the Cardinal St. 
 Mark, who thereupon assumed the title of Gregory XII., 
 and bound himself by oath after his election to fulfil the 
 agreement to which he had already given his consent 
 
86 Henry IV, CH. iv. 
 
 as cardinal. He accordingly a few months later made 
 preparations to go to Savona, where he was to hold a 
 conference with his rival as to the proposed renunciation 
 of their dignities. But the King of Naples took advantage 
 of his intended departure to march on Rome ; and though 
 he was driven back by Paolo Orsini, the occurrence 
 served as an excuse to the Pope for not fulfiling his 
 engagement. After a time it became evident that the 
 Pope had no real intention to resign, and the Cardinal 
 of Bordeaux was sent over to England by the college at 
 Avignon to represent the bad faith of Pope Gregory and 
 to solicit Henry's assistance in referring the affairs of the 
 Church to a general council to be held at Pisa. To this 
 Henry readily agreed, and with the general consent of 
 Christendom the council was held at Pisa in 1409, when 
 both Pope Gregory and the anti-Pope were deposed, and 
 a new pope elected who took the name of Alexander V. 
 2. At this time the religious condition of England 
 was still very strongly affected by the teaching of Wy- 
 cliffe. The influence of his opinions, however, was not 
 quite what it had been. In the days of King Richard it 
 was said that you could hardly see two persons together 
 in the street but one of them was a Lollard. John of 
 Gaunt was their avowed protector, and. seems to have 
 been himself a disciple of the bold reformer. And not- 
 withstanding papal censures, the teaching of the Lollards 
 was not in Richard's time visited with civil penalties. 
 But when Henry came to the throne he found the neces- 
 sity of supporting the authority of the Church. The 
 clergy, too, were recovering their influence, and the 
 votaries of Lollard doctrines were chiefly among the 
 laity. Before the King had been two years upon the 
 throne a very severe enactment was passed against 
 heresy, by which for the first time it was ordained that a 
 
1 41 1. The Church — French Affairs, etc, 87 
 
 heretic should be committed to the flames. Heretics 
 A case immediately occurred for putting this bumed. 
 cruel statute into effect, and a clergyman named William 
 Sawtre was burned in Smithfield as a Lollard, Nine 
 years later a still more cruel case occurred at the same 
 place of execution. A smith named Thomas Badby was 
 burned for denying the Real Presence. The King's 
 eldest son, Prince Henry, was present on the scene and, 
 probably out of real compassion for the sufferer, endea- 
 vored to persuade him to recant. This he steadily 
 refused to do, and allowed himself to be closed in and 
 the fire lit around him. In the midst of the flames, 
 however, his courage failed, and he cried out for mercy. 
 The Prince ordered the burning heaps to be removed 
 and the man extricated; then promised, if he would 
 retract his heresy, to give him threepence a day for life. 
 But the poor man was now ashamed of his weakness, 
 and refused to accept the prince's bounty. He was there- 
 fore again shut up and perished in the fire. 
 
 3. Nevertheless, the repeated attacks made in Parlia- 
 ment on the possessions of the clergy evince a strong 
 feehng of animosity against the Church which must 
 have been due to the prevalence of Lollard 
 
 ^ _ Proposals to 
 
 opinions in the community. We have already confiscate 
 noticed the proposal of the Lack-learning sionsofthe 
 Parliament for the confiscation of the •^^^''sy- 
 Church's property. Although that proposal was with- 
 drawn for the time it was renewed six years afterwards, 
 and a bill to that effect actually passed the Commons at 
 the very time that Badby suffered at Smithfield. It was 
 seriously represented to the King that the revenues of the 
 bishops, abbots, and priors were sufficient to maintain 
 fifteen earls, 1,500 knights, and 6,200 esquires for the 
 defence of the kingdom, besides 100 hospitals for the 
 
88 Henry IV. CH. iv. 
 
 care of the infirm. The measure was rejected by the 
 Lords, owing mainly to the opposition of Prince Henry ; 
 but the Commons did not desist from their efforts to im- 
 pair the privileges of the Church. They first proposed 
 to abolish episcopal jurisdiction in the case of clerical 
 convicts ; for it was at this time the privilege of bishops 
 to retain in their own prisons clergymen who had been 
 convicted of any crimes. Afterwards they endeavored 
 to procure a mitigation of the severe law already passed 
 against the Lollards by which any one found preaching 
 heresy might be committed to prison without the King's 
 writ or warrant. But all their efforts in these directions 
 proved totally ineffectual. 
 
 4. Scarcely anything of domestic interest occurred 
 during the last few years of Henry's reign. But the 
 events which took place in the neighboring kingdom of 
 France were such as to excite no small degree of interest, 
 and they had a most important bearing on the history of 
 the succeeding reign. France was at this time torn by 
 internal discords. For many years King Charles VI.— 
 the same king who, being yet a young man, had assem- 
 bled the great fleet at Sluys that was to have conquered 
 England, had been afflicted with hopeless insanity. His 
 queen, Isabel of Bavaria, left him helpless in his malady, 
 and lived in shameless adultery with Louis Duke of Or- 
 leans, who, being the King's own brother, aspired to 
 govern everything. He was, however, hated by the 
 Parisians for his immoralities, and more than all, for 
 reasons personal and political, he was hated by the Duke 
 of Burgundy, who was powerful over all the northern 
 parts of France. On November 23, 1407, the Duke of 
 Orleans was murdered in the streets of Paris, and when 
 inquiry was made into the circumstances of the crime 
 the Duke of Burgundy confessed that it had been done 
 
1413- "The Church — French Affairs, etc. 89 
 
 at his instigation. It was an act of peculiar treachery, 
 for a seeming reconciUation had just been effected be- 
 tween the rivals, who had taken the sacrament together 
 the previous Sunday and had agreed to dine together on 
 the Sunday following. A son of the Duke of Orleans 
 succeeded to his father's title and bent every effort to 
 revenge his murder ; but the King of France, under the 
 guidance of his son, the heir-apparent, who had been 
 entirely alienated from the Orleanist party and from his 
 own mother, favored the party of his opponent. The 
 young Duke of Orleans, however, strengthejied himself 
 by marrying a daughter of the Count of Armagnac, and 
 his whole party became known as the party of the Ar- 
 magnacs. In short, these private feuds became national, 
 and separated for many years the north and south of 
 France into two hostile factions. During the days of 
 Henry IV. the English at first favored the party of the 
 Duke of Burgundy, and a body of Englishmen helped 
 to defeat the Orleanists in an engagement at St, Cloud. 
 But afterwards the Duke of Orleans sent an embassy to 
 England and induced Henry to send aid to him and 
 abandon the party of his rival. 
 
 5. Things were in this state when Henry IV. died on 
 March 20, 141 3. For years he had been subject to epi- 
 leptic fits, brought on, doubtless, by the pressure of con- 
 stant anxieties. Not only had his reign been troubled 
 with incessant rebellions, but many conspi- Death of 
 racies had been formed against his life. ^""^ 
 Sometimes the attempt had been made to put poison in 
 his food ; at other times his hose or his shirt was smeared 
 with venom ; sharp irons were cunningly laid within his 
 bed, and other subtle means were employed to put an 
 end to him. Secret enemies evidently lurked within his 
 household and filled him with continual fear. Cutaneous 
 
90 Henry V. CH. v, 
 
 eruptions also broke out upon his face, which some re- 
 garded as a judgment of God for the murder of Arch- 
 bishop Scrope. His last attack overtook him in West- 
 minster Abbey. He was carried into the abbot's lodging 
 and expired in the Jerusalem Chamber, — the event, we 
 are told, being regarded as the fulfilment of a misunder- 
 stood prophecy, which said that he was to die at Jerusa- 
 lem. It was doubtless a real aspiration of Henry's to 
 have ended his life in the Holy Land. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HENRY V. 
 
 I. O Ideas tie and tJie Lollards. 
 
 I. Henry, the eldest son of the deceased King — a 
 young man of six-and-twenty — succeeded at 
 
 A.D. I413. JO ^ 
 
 once to the crown which it had cost his 
 
 father so much anxiety to keep. It is said that the latter, 
 
 while he lay upon his death-bed, demanded 
 
 character of of liis hcir-apparcnt how he proposed to de- 
 Henry V. . , , .„ 
 
 tend such an ill-gotten possession; upon 
 
 which the young prince replied that he would trust for 
 that to his sword, as his father had done before him. 
 This policy he pursued most successfully throughout his 
 rather brief reign, and by brilliant achievements in arms 
 and foreign conquest made the world forget the original 
 weakness of the Lancastrian title. Already he had dis- 
 tinguished himself by his bravery in the war against 
 Glendower, and more particularly in the battle of Shrews- 
 bury, where he was wounded in the face with an arrow. 
 His attendants would have carried him off the field, but 
 
1413- Oldcastle and the Lollards. 91 
 
 he insisted rather on being led to the front of the battle 
 to animate his followers ; and it was probably his per- 
 sonal prowess that day that determined the issue. The 
 Welsh, who had been so troublesome to his father, ad 
 mired his valor and claimed him as a true prince of 
 Wales, remembering that he had been born at Mon- 
 mouth, which place was at that time within the princi- 
 pality, j' They discovered that there was an ancient 
 prophecy that a prince would be born among themselves 
 who should rule the whole realm of England ; and they 
 saw its fulfilment in King Henry V. 
 
 2. He was popular besides for other things than 
 bravery. Young and handsome, with abundance of 
 animal spirits, he delighted in feats of agility and 
 strength. He was tall and slender in person, with rather 
 a long neck and small bones — a frame admirably adapted 
 to nimble exercises. So swift was he in running that he 
 could run down and capture a wild buck in a park with- 
 out dogs, bow, or weapon of any sort. His mental en- 
 dowments, too, were above the average, and he had 
 received an excellent education. He delighted in songs 
 and music, was very affable, and mixed readily with the 
 people ; nor could he be restrained by the dull decorum 
 of the court, like the heir-apparent of a long- ^^^^ 
 settled dynasty. On many occasions he had life. 
 displayed a love of frolic which gave rise to some degree 
 of scandal. Sometimes he and his companions in dis- 
 guise would waylay his own receivers and rob them of 
 the rents they had collected from his tenants. When the 
 receivers came to account with him afterwards he would 
 enjoy their mortification in telling how they had lost the 
 money, until he declared by whom they had been robbed 
 and gave them a full discharge, with special rewards to 
 those who had offered him the most valiant resistance. 
 
92 Henry V. ch. v^ 
 
 At another time one of his riotous comrades was brought 
 before the Chief Justice for transgression of the law. The 
 prince attended at the trial, and demanded that the 
 offender should be set free. The judge refused to comply, 
 observing that the prince might be able to obtain a par- 
 don from the King his father, but that for his own part 
 he must administer justice according to the laws. Young 
 Henry, who was not satisfied to adopt such a round- 
 about method of procedure, threatened to rescue the 
 man and laid his hand upon his sword, or, as some 
 writers say, struck the Chief Justice with his fist. The 
 judge, however, showed himself unmoved, and committed 
 the prince to prison for contempt of court. This firmness 
 produced a marked effect. The prince, who had a real 
 respect for authority, became at once submissive and 
 allowed himself to be taken into custody. And the King 
 his father, being informed of the incident, thanked God 
 for having given him so upright a judge and so obedient 
 a son. 
 
 3. When he came to the throne he at once made it 
 evident that it was from no insensibility to his high future 
 destiny that he had indulged so freely the frolicsome 
 ,, , humors of his youth. The men who had 
 
 He dis- . ^ . ^ 
 
 misses his been the companions of his pleasures he im- 
 
 companions. ,.,,.. ,.. - 
 
 mediately dismissed, giving them presents, 
 but at the same time commanding them never again to 
 come within ten miles of the Court. On the other hand, 
 he took at once into his confidence the ministers of his 
 father and showed a sagacity in the discussion of state 
 affairs which they had not expected to find in a young 
 man who had shown himself so fond of amusement. 
 Every one perceived that he was altogether an altered 
 man, and every one was loud in the praises of his wisdom, 
 modesty, and virtue. 
 
1 41 3' Oldcastle and the Lollards. 93 
 
 4. One party among his subjects, however, gave the 
 new King trouble at the very commencement of his 
 reign. From his conduct at the execution of Thomas 
 Badby, the Lollards possibly may have expected to find 
 in him a friend and protector. The chief Sir John Old- 
 man among them. Sir John Oldcastle (who, tector'o^f the' 
 though remembered afterwards chiefly by Lollards. 
 
 his family surname, was by right of his wife Lord Cob- 
 ham), belonged to the royal household, and was greatly 
 esteemed by Henry for his integrity of character. But, 
 either being disappointed in the King, or presuming too 
 much on the influence of Lord Cobham, they began to 
 put up seditious papers on the doors of the London 
 churches, stating that a hundred thousand men would 
 rise in arms against all who were not of their way of 
 thinking. By this the clergy were stirred into activity, 
 and in a convocation held at London it was found that 
 the Lollards had been instigated to various irregularities 
 by the protection afforded to them by Oldcastle. He 
 had stirred up men to preach in various places without 
 their having received a license from their bishops, and 
 had put down by violence all who protested against this 
 irregularity, declaring that the Archbishop of Canterbury 
 and his suffragans had no right to make any regulations 
 on the subject. He had also put forth opinions opposed 
 to the teaching of the Church as to the Sacrament, 
 penance, pilgrimages, the worship of images, and the 
 power of the keys. 
 
 5. The clergy in convocation accordingly called upon 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury to take proceedings 
 against Oldcastle. The primate, however, with a deputa- 
 tion of his clergy, first waited upon the King ^ 
 
 °-' ^ ^ Proceedings 
 
 at Kennington. At Henry's request the against him 
 matter was for some time put off in order °^ ^^^^v- 
 
94 Henry V. CH. v. 
 
 that he might use his own personal influence to induce 
 Oldcastle to desist from his opposition to the Church. 
 But the King's efforts were useless ; and the archbishop 
 at length, with the King's consent, issued a citation 
 against the offender. The messenger brought it to Cow- 
 ling Castle in Kent, where Lord Cobham then resided, 
 but the latter would not allow it to be served upon him, 
 and it was posted on the doors of Rochester Cathedral. 
 As he refused to appear on the day named, he was ex- 
 communicated as contumacious, and the King caused 
 him to be apprehended and committed to the Tower. 
 From thence he was brought in custody of the Lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower before a spiritual court at St. Paul's, 
 when the archbishop offered to absolve him from the 
 sentence of excommunication. But Oldcastle -declined 
 to ask for absolution, and, turning to another subject, 
 said he was ready to declare to the archbishop the arti- 
 cles of his belief. 
 
 6. On this he drew from his bosom an indented parch- 
 ment, read out the contents, and laid it before the Court. 
 The archbishop said that the substance of his confession 
 was orthodox enough, but that it did not contain any- 
 thing explicit on the subject of those heresies that he 
 was accused of propagating, and he desired that he 
 would explain particularly his opinions touching the 
 sacrament of the altar and the sacrament of penance. 
 Oldcastle replied that he would make no further answer 
 on these points than was contained in the documents he 
 had given in. The archbishop then set before him the 
 opinions of St. Augustine and other saints, which he said 
 had been adopted by the Church, and which all good 
 Catholics ought to accept. Oldcastle answered that he 
 wished to believe in whatever Holy Church had deter- 
 mined and God had enjoined; but that the pope and 
 
1 41 4' Oldcastle and the Lollai'ds. 95 
 
 cardinals and the bishops of the Church had any 
 authority to decide these points he could not admit. 
 
 7. Being examined a second day he at length gave a 
 pretty full statement of his opinions, and among other 
 things declared that the pope, bishops, and friars consti- 
 tuted the head, members, and tail of Antichrist. After 
 this the decision of the tribunal could not be doubtful. 
 The courts and officers of the Church were unable to 
 inflict any punishment on an offender except excommu- 
 nication ; but he was pronounced a heretic and delivered 
 over, as the expression was, to the secular arm. Under 
 the law passed in the preceding reign he was thus liable 
 to be burnt; but his judges interceded with the King to 
 grant him forty days' respite, during which it was hoped 
 he might recant. During this interval, however, he 
 effected his escape from the Tower, and very shortly 
 afterwards his followers occasioned more than usual 
 trouble. So many persons were apprehended for se- 
 dition and heresy that the jails of London were full, and 
 rumors of a most alarming conspiracy reached the King 
 soon after Christmas. 
 
 8. A large meeting of Lollards from various parts of 
 the kingdom had been secretly arranged to meet by night 
 in St. Giles's Fields near London, Thou- conspiracy of 
 sands of apprentices from the city were "^^^ Lollards. 
 expected to join it. The design was said to be to seize, 
 if not put to death, the King and his brothers, to pro- 
 claim Oldcastle Regent, and to destroy the monasteries 
 of Westminster and St. Alban's, St. Paul's, and the houses 
 of the friars in London. Oldcastle himself was expected 
 to be present at the muster and to put himself at the head 
 of the insurgents. The world, perhaps, had yet to be con- 
 vinced that the young King was competent to rule with a 
 strong hand and maintain the House of Lancaster upon 
 
96 Henry V. ch. v. 
 
 the throne of England. But Henry was fully equal to the 
 A. D. 14x4 emergency. The meeting, he learned, was 
 
 Jan. 7. ^Q X2ik.^ place on Sunday night after Twelfth 
 
 Day. He quietly removed from Eltham, where he had 
 been keeping his Christmas, to the palace at Westminster, 
 and there ordered a body of followers under arms to ac- 
 company him by night to the place of meeting. He at 
 the same time commanded the gates of the city to be 
 securely kept, so as to prevent any one from leaving. On 
 the news of his approach the rebels were thrown into 
 consternation. A number of them were killed, and others 
 taken prisoners. What became of Oldcastle, or whether 
 he had actually been there, no one knew. The King 
 offered a reward of 1,000 marks for his apprehension; 
 but he was a popular hero, and no one could be induced 
 to betray him. His unhappy followers were speedily put 
 to execution ; and some, who had been condemned for 
 heresy as well as sedition, were not only hanged, but 
 burnt at the same time, with the gallows from which they 
 were suspended. 
 
 il. The War with France and the Battle of Agmcourf. 
 
 I. During the first year of Henry's reign the unhappy 
 King of France was induced to appeal to England and 
 other countries against rebels within his own kingdom, 
 lest they should obtain the assistance of foreign govern- 
 ments. We have already shown how the French nation 
 was divided into the two hostile factions of the Burgun- 
 dians and the Armagnacs. But within the city of Paris 
 a still more dangerous party was formed out of the popu- 
 lace with a few of the leading butchers at their head. 
 From the name of their ringleader, one Caboche, whose 
 occupation consisted in flaying slaughtered animals, they 
 were called the Cabochians. They wore white scarfs or 
 
141 4« The War with France. 97 
 
 hoods, and were at first secretly encouraged ^^^ ^^ 
 by the party of the Burgundians. But they chians in Paris. 
 soon became so powerful that for a time all authority 
 was suspended. Paris lay at their mercy, and scenes 
 were enacted not unlike those which had been witnessed 
 in London under Wat Tyler, They took possession of 
 the Bastille, broke into the house of the Dauphin, Louis 
 Duke of Guienne, forced themselves into the King's 
 presence, and took and imprisoned the Queen's brother, 
 the Duke of Bavaria, with the Duke of Bar, a prince of 
 the Blood Royal, all the ministers of state, and several 
 ladies of the court. The King was obliged to wear in 
 public a white scarf and to make ordinances for the 
 reform of abuses, while the bodies of some unpopular 
 noblemen and ministers, who were alleged by the in- 
 surgents to have put an end to their own lives, were ex- 
 hibited upon a gibbet. 
 
 2. This revolution took place at the end of April in 
 the year 141 3, little more than a month after the death of 
 Henry IV. of England. The government of the Cabo- 
 chians, however, did not last long. The princes of the 
 Blood and the university of Paris combined to put an 
 end to their usurpation. Order was restored under the 
 Duke of Orleans, to whom the King now gave his confi- 
 dence, and the Duke of Burgundy withdrew into Flan- 
 ders. The war between the two factions was renewed, 
 and each party sought to strengthen itself by an alfiance 
 with England. Henry, for his part, saw his Henry takes 
 advantage in the divided state of the country, the divisions in 
 and negotiated with both parties at one and France. 
 the same time. He even sent and received embassies 
 to and from both parties on the subject of his own 
 marriage, proposing on the one hand to ally himself 
 with a daughter of the Duke of Burgundy, on the other, 
 
 H 
 
98 Henry V. CH. v. 
 
 with a daughter of the King of France. At length he 
 suddenly revived the claim made by Edward III., 
 asserted his own right to the French crown, and required 
 Charles at once to yield up possession of his kingdom, or 
 at least to make immediate surrender of all that had been 
 ceded to England by the treaty of Bretigni (see Map I.), 
 together with the duchy of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, 
 and a number of other provinces. 
 
 3. The claim made by Edward III. to the French 
 crown had been questionable enough. That of Henry 
 
 His claim to '^'^s Certainly most unreasonable. Edward 
 the kingdom. ^^^^d maintained that though the Salic law, 
 which governed the succession in France, excluded 
 females from the throne, it did not exclude their male 
 descendants. On this theory Edward himself was 
 doubtless the true heir to the French monarchy. But even 
 admitting the claims of Edward, his rights had certainly 
 not descended to Henry V., seeing that even in England 
 neither he nor his father was true heir to the throne by 
 lineal right. A war with France, however, was sure to 
 be popular with his subjects, and the weakness of that 
 country from civil discord seemed a favorable oppor- 
 tunity for urging the most extreme pretensions. 
 
 4. To give a show of fairness and moderation the 
 English ambassadors at Paris lessened their demands 
 more than once, and appeared willing for some time to 
 renew negotiations after their terms had been rejected. 
 But in the end they still insisted on a claim, which in 
 point of equity was altogether preposterous, and rejected 
 a compromise which would have put Henry in possession 
 of the whole of Guienne and given him the hand of the 
 French king's daughter Catherine with a marriage por- 
 tion of 800,000 crowns. Meanwhile Henry was making 
 active preparations for war, and at the same time carried 
 
1415- The VVdr with Frame. 99 
 
 on seci^t negotiations with the Duke of Burgundy, trust- 
 ing to have him for an ally in the invasion of France. 
 
 5. At length in the summer of 141 5, the King had 
 collected an army and was ready to embark at South- 
 ampton. But on the eve of his departure 
 
 . A. D. 1415. 
 
 a conspiracy was discovered, the object of 
 which was to dethrone the king and set aside the House 
 of Lancaster. The conspirators were Richard Earl of 
 Cambridge, Henry Lord Scrope of Masham, and a 
 knight of Northumberland named Sir Thomas Grey. 
 The Earl of Cambridge was the King's cousin-germ^n, 
 and had been recently raised to that dignity by Henry 
 himself. Lord Scrope was, to all appearance, the King's 
 most intimate friend and counsellor. The design seems 
 to have been formed upon the model of similar projects 
 in the preceding reign. Richard II. was to be proclaimed 
 once more as if he had been still alive ; but the real in- 
 tention was to procure the crown for Edmund Mortimer, 
 Earl of March, the true heir of Richard whom Henry 
 IV. had set aside. At the same time the Earl of March 
 himself seems hardly to have countenanced the attempt ; 
 but the Earl of Cambridge, who had married his sister, 
 wished, doubtless, to secure the succession for his son 
 Richard, as the Earl of March had no children. Evident- 
 ly it was the impression of some persons that the House 
 of Lancaster was not even yet firmly seated upon the 
 throne. Perhaps it was not even yet apparent that the 
 young man who had so recently been a gamesome 
 reveller, was capable of ruling with a firm hand as king. 
 6. But all doubt on this point was soon terminated. 
 The commissioners were tried by a commission hastily 
 issued, and were summarily condemned and put to 
 death. The Earl of March, it is said, revealed the plot 
 to the King, sat as one of the judges of his two brother 
 
 LofC. 
 
loo Henry V. ch. v. 
 
 peers, and was taken into the King's favor. 'Die Earl 
 of Cambridge made a confession of his guilt. Lord 
 Scrope, though he repudiated the imputation of dis- 
 loyalty, admitted having had a guilty knowledge of 
 the plot, which he said it had been his purpose to de- 
 feat. The one nobleman, in consideration of his royal 
 blood was simply beheaded ; the other was drawn and 
 quartered. We hear of no more attempts of the kind 
 during Henry's reign. 
 
 7. With a fleet of 1,500 sail Henry crossed the sea 
 and landed without opposition at Chef de Caux, near 
 Harfleur, at the mouth of the Seine. The force that he 
 brought with him was about 30,000 men, and he imme- 
 diately employed it in laying siege to Harfleur. The 
 place was strong, so far as walls and bulwarks could 
 make it, but it was not well victualled, and after a five 
 
 weeks' siege it was obliged to capitulate. 
 
 But the forces of the besiegers were thinned 
 by disease as well as actual fighting. Dysentery had 
 broken out in the camp, and, though it was only Sep- 
 tember, they suffered bitterly from the coldness of the 
 niofhts : so that when the town had been won and 
 garrisoned, the force available for further operations 
 amounted to less than half the original strength of the 
 invading army. Under the circumstances it was hope- 
 less to expect to do much before the winter set in, and 
 many counselled the King to return to England. But 
 Henry could not tolerate the idea of retreat or even of 
 apparent inaction. He sent a challenge to the Dauphin, 
 offering to refer their differences to single combat ; and 
 when no notice was taken of this proposal, he deter- 
 mined to cut his way, if possible, through the country to 
 Calais, along with the remainder of his forces. 
 
 8. It was a difficult and hazardous march. Hunger, 
 
1 41 5- '^h^ Wa?' with France. loi 
 
 dysentery and fever had already reduced the httle band 
 to less than 9,000 men, or, as good authorities say, to 
 little more than 6,000. The country people were un- 
 friendly, their supplies were cut off on all sides, and the 
 scanty stock of provisions with which they set out was 
 soon exhausted. For want of bread many were driven 
 to feed on nuts, while the enemy harassed them upon 
 the way and broke down the bridges in advance of 
 them. On one or two occasions having repulsed an 
 attack from a garrisoned town, Henry demanded and 
 obtained from the governor a safe-conduct and a certain 
 quantity of bread and wine, under threat of setting fire 
 to the place if refused. In this manner he and his army 
 gradually approached the river Somme at Blanche 
 Tache, where there was a ford by which King Edward 
 III. had crossed before the battle of Cressy. But while 
 yet some distance from it, they received information 
 from a prisoner that the ford was guarded by 6,000 
 fighting men, and though the intelligence was untrue, 
 it deterred him from attempting the passage. They 
 accordingly turned to the right and went up the river as 
 far as Amiens, but were still unable to cross, till, after 
 following the course of the river about fifty miles further, 
 they fortunately came upon an undefended ford and 
 passed over before their enemies were aware 
 
 9. Hitherto their progress had not been without ad- 
 ventures and skirmishes in many places. But the main 
 army of the French only overtook them when they had 
 arrived within about forty-five miles of Calais. On the 
 night of the 24th of October they were posted at the vil- 
 lage of Maisoncelles, with an enemy before them five or 
 six times their number, who had resolved to stop their 
 further progress. Both sides prepared for battle on the 
 following morning. The English, besides being so much 
 
I02 Henry V. ch. v. 
 
 inferior in numbers, were wasted by disease and famine, 
 while their adversaries were fresh and vigorous, with a 
 plentiful commissariat. But the latter were over-confi- 
 dent. They spent the evening in dice-playing and 
 making wagers about the prisoners they should take ; 
 while the English, on the contrary, confessed themselves 
 and received the sacrament. Heavy rain fell during the 
 night, from which both armies suffered ; but Henry 
 availed himself of a brief period of moonlight to have the 
 ground thoroughly surveyed. His position was an ad- 
 mirable one. His forces occupied a narrow field hemmed 
 in on either side by hedges and thickets, so that they 
 could only be attacked in front, and were in no fear of 
 being surrounded. Early on the following 
 morning Henry rose and heard mass ; but 
 the two armies stood facing each other for some hours, 
 each waiting for the other to begin. The English archers 
 ^, „ , were drawn up in front in form of a wedge, 
 
 The Battle ^ • •, j • i i 
 
 of Agin- and each man was provided with a stake 
 
 shod with iron at both ends, which being 
 fixed into the ground before him, the whole line formed 
 a kind of hedge bristling with sharp points, to defend 
 them from being ridden down by the enemy's cavalry. 
 At length, however, Henry gave orders to commence the 
 attack, and the archers advanced, leaving their stakes 
 behind them fixed in the ground. The French cavalry 
 on either side endeavored to close them in, but were 
 soon obliged to retire before the thick showers of arrows 
 poured in upon them, which destroyed four-fifth's of 
 their numbers. Their horses then became unmanage- 
 able, being plagued with a multitude of wounds, and the 
 whole army was thrown into confusion. Never was a 
 more brilliant victory won against more overwhelming 
 odds. 
 
1 41 5- ^^^^ War with Fraiice, 103 
 
 10. One sad piece of cruelty alone tarnished the glory 
 of that day's action, but it seems to have been dictated 
 by fear as a means of self-preservation. After the enemy 
 had been completely routed in front, and a multitude of 
 prisoners taken, the King hearing that some detachments 
 had got round to his rear, and were endeavoring to 
 plunder his baggage, gave orders to the whole army to 
 put their prisoners to death. The order was executed in 
 the most relentless fashion. One or two distinguished 
 prisoners afterwards were taken from under heaps of 
 slain, among whom were the Dukes of Orleans and 
 Bourbon. Altogether, the slaughter of the French was 
 enormous. There is a general agreement that it was 
 upwards of 10,000 men, and among them were the flower 
 of the French nobility. That of the English was dispro- 
 portionately small. Their own writers reckon it not more 
 than 100 altogether, some absurdly stating it as low as 
 twenty or thirty, while the French authorities estimate it 
 variously from 300 to 1,600. Henry called his victory 
 the battle of Agincourt from the name of a neighboring 
 castle. The army proceeded in excellent order to Calais, 
 where they were triumphantly received, and after resting 
 there a while recrossed to England. The news of such 
 a splendid victory caused them to be welcomed with an 
 enthusiasm that knew no bounds. At Dover the people 
 rushed into the sea to meet the conquerors, and carried 
 the King in their arms in triumph from his vessel to the 
 shore. From thence to London his progress was like 
 one continued triumphal procession, and the capital it- 
 self received him with every demonstration of joy. 
 
I04 Henry V. CH. v. 
 
 III. The Emperor Sigismund — Henry invades France a 
 second time — The Foul Raid — Execution of Oldcastle. 
 
 1. In the following spring Henry was honored with a 
 A. D. 1416. "^^s^t from Sigismund, King of the Romans 
 Visit of the 2js\.^ Emperor elect. His great object was to 
 Sigismund heal the divisions in Christendom, and he 
 
 to England. 11,1 • i i • r i 
 
 had already presided at one session of the 
 Council of Constance which had been convoked by him 
 for the purpose of terminating the schism in the papacy. 
 At that session two of the rival popes, John XXIII. and 
 Gregory XII., were persuaded to resign, and he had 
 afterwards obtained from the third, Benedict XIII., an 
 engagement to acknowledge the authority of the council. 
 Before leaving Constance, too, he had, though most 
 unwillingly, yielding to the solicitations of the divines, 
 consented to the execution of John Huss, the Bohemian 
 heretic, to whom he had given a safe-conduct. Extin- 
 guishing heresy was supposed to be a great means of 
 promoting harmony among Christians, and he was taught 
 by his spiritual instructors that he had no right to keep 
 faith with the Church's enemies. But now he was on a 
 mission to prevent war and bloodshed between two 
 nations ; for he wished to be the negotiator of peace 
 between France and England, and Charles VI., whom 
 he had visited on his way, had desired him to use his 
 best efforts towards that end. 
 
 2. If, however, he was at any time sincere in this 
 intention, he very soon became convinced that a firm 
 
 He becomes P^ace between the two countries was hope- 
 an ally of iggg, and, as his stay in England was pro- 
 tracted he ceased to be a mediator and 
 became more and more a partizan of Henry. Just before 
 his arrival the Earl of Dorset, whom Henry had left as 
 governor of Harfleur, overran the adjacent country up to 
 
1416. The IVa?' ivith France. 105 
 
 the gates of Rouen. The Count of Armagnac, Constable 
 of France, retahated by laying siege to Harfleur by land 
 and sea, and succeeded in reducing it to great extremi- 
 ties for want of victuals. Henry proposed to go thither 
 with a fleet for its rehef, but was dissuaded by the Em- 
 peror from hazarding his person in the enterprise, and 
 gave the command of the squadron to his brother the 
 Duke of Bedford, who soon took or sunk several of the 
 enemy's vessels, and compelled him to raise the siege. 
 The Emperor highly applauded the Duke of Bedford's 
 gallantry, and becoming every day more cordial to 
 Henry, at length entered into an offensive and defensive 
 league with him against France. On the conclusion of 
 his visit Henry accompanied him over to Calais. 
 
 3. To Calais John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, 
 then came to pay a visit to the King and Emperor. 
 From his past conduct it was naturally sus- 
 
 . J 1 1 . . The Duke 
 
 pectea that he was once more seekmg to of Bur- 
 make an alliance with his country's enemies. ^"" ^' 
 So deeply, indeed, was he distrusted by the Court of 
 France, that his assistance had not been asked to repel 
 the English invasion, and he was accordingly not present 
 at the battle of Agincourt, though two of his brothers 
 died upon the field. He professed great anxiety to 
 avenge their deaths, and, as if to do his country service, 
 advanced towards Paris with a large body of followers. 
 But the city of Paris remembered the rule of the Cabo- 
 chians and kept him at a distance. Of course, when 
 after this he went to Calais and conferred with the Kino- 
 of England, the worst possible inferences were drawn as 
 to his intention. It appears, however, that he did not 
 actually ally himself with Henry against France, but only 
 concluded a truce with him for the counties of Flanders 
 and Artois. He was more concerned to form an alliance 
 
io6 Henry V. CH. v. 
 
 within the kingdom against the Afmagnacs, and for this 
 purpose, after leaving Henry, he had conferences at 
 Valenciennes with John, the second son of the French 
 king, who had recently become dauphin by the death of 
 his brother, Louis Duke of Guienne. The two princes 
 made a firm alliance together, and the duke promised to 
 aid the dauphin in defending the kingdom against the 
 English. But before many months were over the new 
 
 dauphin followed his brother to the grave. 
 A. v>. 1417. . 
 
 April 4. Charles, the third brother, who became dau- 
 
 phin in his place, was a boy of fourteen, completely under 
 the control of the Count of Armagnac, who was now all- 
 powerful. Suspicions were expressed that both his 
 brothers had met with foul play in order that he might 
 be heir-apparent. The last dauphin, indeed, had in all 
 probability been poisoned. The Count of Armagnac ruled 
 Paris with great despotism and cruelty by means of an 
 army of Gascons ; and the citizens at length began to 
 form conspiracies in favor of the Duke of Burgundy. 
 Queen Isabel herself relented towards her old enemy ; 
 but Armagnac sent her away to Tours and shut her up in 
 prison. The Queen, however, declared herself Regent, 
 protested against the assumption of authority by Armag- 
 nac, and ordered that the taxes he imposed should not be 
 levied. The Duke of Burgundy made war in her behalf, 
 released her from captivity and brought her back to 
 Paris. Her son, the dauphin, whom she hated as an 
 enemy, was obliged to leave the capital ; and, as he also 
 claimed to be regent, and disputed the authority of Bur- 
 gundy and his own mother, the war was renewed in the 
 provinces with as much violence as ever. 
 
 4. A kingdom in such a condition as this could not 
 but be an easy prey to an invader. Henry crossed the 
 sea once more and landed again in Normandy, at Touc- 
 
141 7- Henry'' s Second Invasion of France. igy 
 
 ques, near the mouth df the Seine, but on the 
 opposite side to Harfleur, The Count of Ar- invades 
 magnachad withdrawn most of the garrisons again.^ 
 and placed them about Paris to act against August, i. 
 the Duke of Burgundy, so that town after town submitted 
 to the EngHsh with httle or no resistance. And as Henry 
 estabhshed good government wherever he advanced, 
 enforcing respect for women and for property, the 
 country was beyond all question benefited by the inva- 
 sion. In the course of a few months the English were 
 masters of the greater part of Normandy. 
 
 5. Meanwhile the Scots, following their usual policy, 
 took advantage of the King's absence in France to at- 
 tempt an inroad into the northern counties. "The Foul 
 The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, ^^i^" 
 accompanied by the Earl Douglas — that same Douglas 
 who had fought against Henry IV. at Homildon and 
 Shrewsbury, and lost an eye in the former battle — laid 
 siege to Roxburgh castle. The expedition — unless it was 
 intended by Albany simply to irritate the English and 
 confirm them in their determination to keep King James 
 a prisoner — appears to have been singularly ill-planned. 
 Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, who had gone on a pilgrimage 
 to Bridlington, no sooner heard the news than he hur- 
 ried to the Borders, collecting men upon his way, and 
 joined with the northern barons to resist the invaders. 
 Another army hastened northwards under John Duke of 
 Bedford, the King's brother, who had been left as guar- 
 dian of the kingdom in Henry's absence. But the Scots, 
 finding that England was in a much better state to resist 
 them than they had anticipated, abandoned the siege of 
 Roxburgh, and shamefully returned home. The expedi- 
 tion reflected so little honor upon the country that it was 
 called by the Scots themselves "the Foul Raid," and by 
 
io8 Henry V. CH. v. 
 
 that name is known in history. It was severely punished 
 by the Warden of the Marches, who, during the next 
 two years laid waste the whole of the eastern borders 
 of Scotland, reducing Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh, and 
 Dunbar to ashes. 
 
 6. By some it was insinuated that Sir John Oldcastle 
 had been privy to this invasion. It was said that an 
 emissary of the Scots had conferred with Oldcastle at 
 Pomfret, and that Oldcastle had offered him a large sum 
 of money if he would get his countrymen to bring the 
 supposed King Richard with him into England. Such 
 reports, of course, are evidence of nothing but the strong 
 feeling of aversion with which the Lollards were re- 
 garded ; but as such they are significant. Oldcastle had 
 Oldcastle ^^^ lain Concealed from the King's officers 
 
 u^Pj^'j J for two years and a half; but about this 
 
 hended and •' ' 
 
 executed. time he narrowly escaped being appre- 
 
 hended at St. Alban's, after which he was actually cap- 
 tured on the lands of Lord Powis in Wales. He was at 
 once brought up to London, and, as Parliament was 
 then in session, he was put on trial before his peers. 
 The old indictment was brought up against him, and he 
 was condemned to death. The sentence was executed 
 upon him in the same barbarous manner in which it had 
 already been executed on some of his followers. He 
 was taken to St. Giles's Fields where the rising had oc- 
 curred in his favor nearly three years before ; and there 
 he was hung from a gallows by a great iron chain, and 
 a fire being kindled beneath him he was burned to death. 
 
 IV. Siege and Capture of Rouen — Murder of the Duke 
 of Burgundy — Treaty of Troyes. 
 
 I. The progress of the English arms in France did 
 not, for a long time, induce the rival factions in that 
 
I4I9* Siege and Capture of Rouen, 109 
 
 country to suspend the civil war among 
 themselves. But at length some feeble ef- • 141 • 
 
 forts were made towards a reconciliation. The Council 
 of Constance having healed the divisions in the Church 
 by the election of Martin V. as pope in place of the three 
 rival popes deposed, the new pontiff despatched two 
 cardinals to France to aid in this important object. By 
 their mediation a treaty was concluded be- 
 tween the Queen, the Duke of Burgundy, 
 and the dauphin ; but it was no sooner published than 
 the Count of Armagnac and his partisans made a vehe- 
 ment protest against it and accused of treason all who 
 had promoted it. On this Paris rose in an- ^^^ p^^. 
 ger, took part with the Burgundians, fell sia-s revolt 
 
 1 aaainst the 
 
 upon all the leadmg Armagnacs, put them Armagnacs, 
 in prison and destroyed their houses. The ^^ ■^°" 
 dauphin was only saved by one of Armagnac's principal 
 adherents, Tannegui du Cheitel, who carried him to the 
 Bastille. The Bastille, however, was a few ^ 
 
 June 4. 
 
 days after stormed by the populace, and Du 
 Chatel was forced to withdraw with his charge to Melun. 
 The Armagnac party, except those in prison, M^ere en- 
 tirely driven out of Paris. But even this did not satisfy 
 the rage of the multitude. Riots continued from day to 
 day, and a report being spread that the King was willing 
 to ransom the captives, the people broke open the 
 prisons and massacred every one of the ^^^ ^^ 
 
 prisoners. The Count of Armagnac, his 
 chancellor, and several bishops and officers of state 
 were the principal victims ; but no one, man or woman, 
 was spared. State prisoners, criminals, and debtors, 
 even women great with child, perished in this indiscrim- 
 inate slaughter. 
 
 2. Almost the whole of Normandy was by this time in 
 
no Henry V. ch. v. 
 
 possession of the English ; but Rouen, the capital of the 
 Siege of duchy, Still held out. It was a large city, 
 
 Rouen. strongly fortified, but Henry closed it in on 
 
 every side until it was reduced to capitulate by hunger. 
 At the beginning of the siege the authorities took mea- 
 sures to expel the destitute class of the inhabitants, and 
 several thousands of poor people were thus thrown into 
 the hands of the besiegers, who endeavored to drive 
 them back into the town. But the gates being absolutely 
 shut against them, they remained between the walls and 
 the trenches, pitifully crying for help and perishing for 
 want of food and shelter, until, on Christmas Day, when 
 the siege had continued nearly five months, Henry 
 ordered food to be distributed to them " in the honor of 
 Christ's Nativity." Those within the town, meanwhile, 
 were reduced to no less extremities. Enormous prices 
 were given for bread, and even for the bodies of dogs, 
 cats, and rats. The garrison at length were induced to 
 offer terms, but Henry for some time insisted on their 
 surrendering at discretion. Hearing, hov/ever, that a 
 desperate project was entertained of undermining the 
 wall and suddenly rushing out upon the besiegers, he 
 consented to grant them conditions, and the city capitu- 
 A. D. 1419. lated on January 19. The few places that 
 Jan. 19. remained unconquered in Normandy then 
 
 opened their gates to Henry ; others in Maine and the 
 Isle of France did the same, and the English troops 
 entered Picardy on a further career of conquest. 
 
 3. Both the rival factions were now seriously anxious 
 to stop the progress of the English, either by coming at 
 once to terms with Henry, or by uniting together against 
 him ; and each in turn first tried the former course. The 
 dauphin offered to treat with the King of England ; but 
 as Henry demanded the whole of those large possessions 
 
I4I9* Siege and Capture of Roicen. m 
 
 in the north ard south of France which had been secured 
 to Edward III. by the treaty of Bretigni, he felt that it 
 was impossible to prolong the negotiation. The Duke 
 of Burgundy then arranged a personal interview at Meu- 
 lan between Henry on the one side and himself and the 
 French queen on behalf of Charles, at which terms of 
 peace were to be adjusted. The Queen brought with 
 her the Princess Catherine her daughter, whose hand 
 Henry himself had formerly demanded as one of the 
 conditions on which he would have consented to forbear 
 from invading France. It was now hoped that if he 
 would take her in marriage he would moderate his other 
 demands. But Henry, for his part, was altogether un- 
 yielding. He insisted on the terms of the treaty of Bre- 
 tigni, and on keeping his own conquests besides, with 
 Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and the sovereignty over 
 Brittany. 
 
 4. Demands so exorbitant the Duke of Burgundy did 
 not dare to accept, and as a last resource, he and the 
 dauphin agreed to be reconciled and to unite in the de- 
 fence of their country against the enemy. They held a 
 
 personal interview, embraced each other, 
 
 J • -1 1 1 • 1 •. July !!• 
 
 and signed a treaty, by which they promised 
 
 each to love the other as a brother, and to offer a joint 
 resistance to the invaders. A further meeting was ar- 
 ranged to take place about seven weeks later to com- 
 plete matters and to consider their future policy. France 
 was delighted at the prospect of internal harmony and 
 the hope of deliverance from her enemies. But at the 
 second interview an event occurred which marred all 
 her prospects once more. The meeting had been ap- 
 pointed to take place at Montereau, where the river 
 Yonne falls into the Seine. The duke, remembering 
 doubtless, how he himself had perfidiously murdered the 
 
112 Henry V, CH. v. 
 
 Duke of Orleans, allowed the day originally appointed 
 to pass by, and came to the place at last after considera- 
 ble misgivings, which appear to have been overcome by 
 the exhortations of treacherous friends. When he ar- 
 rived he found a place railed in with barriers for the 
 meeting. He nevertheless advanced, accompanied by 
 ten attendants, and being told that the dauphin waited 
 for him, he came within the barriers, which were imme- 
 diately closed behind him. The dauphin was accom- 
 panied by one or two gentlemen, among whom was his 
 devoted servant, Tannegui du Chatel, who had saved 
 him from the Parisian massacre. This Tannegui had. 
 been formerly a servant of Louis, Duke of 
 
 Murder of 
 
 the Duke of Orleans, whose murder he had been eager- 
 urgun y. ^^ seeking an opportunity to revenge ; and 
 as the Duke of Burgundy knelt before the dauphin, he 
 struck him a violent blow on the head with a battle-axe. 
 The attack was immediately followed up by two or three 
 others, who, before the duke was able to draw his sword, 
 had closed in around him and despatched him with a 
 multitude of wounds. 
 
 5. The effect of this crime was what might have been 
 anticipated. Nothing could have been more favorable 
 to the aggressive designs of Henry, or more ruinous to 
 the party of the dauphin, with whose complicity it had 
 been too evidently committed. Philip, the son and heir 
 of the murdered Duke of Burgundy, at once sought 
 means to revenge his father's death. The people of 
 Paris became more than ever enraged against the Ar- 
 magnacs, and entered into negotiations with the King 
 of England. The new Duke Phihp and Queen Isabel 
 did the same, the latter being no less eager than the 
 former for the punishment of her own son. Within less 
 than three months they made up their minds to waive 
 
1420. Murder of the Duke of Burgundy. 113 
 
 every scruple as to the acceptance of Henry's most ex- 
 orbitant demands. He was to have the Princesss Cathe- 
 rine in marriage, and, the dauphin being disinherited, 
 to succeed to the crown of France on her father's death. 
 He was also to be regent during King Charles's hfe ; and 
 all who held honors or offices of any kind in France were 
 at once to swear allegiance to him as their future sove- 
 reign. Henry, for his part, was to use his utmost power 
 to reduce to obedience those towns and places within the 
 realm which adhered to the dauphin orthe Armagnacs. 
 
 6. A treaty on this basis was at length concluded at 
 Troyes in Champagne on May 21, 1420, and on Trinity 
 Sunday, Tune 2, Henry was married to the 
 
 •' -' . ^ A. D. 1420- 
 
 Princess Catherine. Shortly afterwards, the May 21. 
 treaty was formally registered by the states Troyes. 
 of the realm at Paris, when the dauphin was ^^rriaee 
 condemned and attainted as guilty of the 
 murder of the Duke of Burgundy and declared incapa- 
 ble of succeeding to the crown. But the state of affairs 
 left Henry no time for honeymoon festivities. On the •, 
 Tuesday after his wedding he again put himself at the 
 head of his army, and marched with Philip of Burgundy 
 to lay siege to Sens, which in a few days capitulated. 
 Montereau and Melun were next besieged in succession, 
 and each, after some resistance, was compelled to sur- 
 render. The latter siege lasted nearly four months, and 
 during its continuance Henry fought a single combat 
 with the governor in the mines, each combatant having 
 his vizor down and being unknown to the other. The 
 governor's name was Barbason, and he was one of those 
 accused of complicity in the murder of the Duke of 
 Orleans ; but in consequence of this incident, Henry 
 saved him from the capital punishment which he would 
 otherwise have incurred on his capture. 
 
 I 
 
114 Henry V. ch. v^ 
 
 V. Henry's Third hivasion of France — His Death. 
 
 1. Towards the end of the year Henry entered Paris 
 in triumph with the French king and the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy. He there kept Christmas, and shortly afterwards 
 
 removed with his Queen into Normandv on 
 A. D, 1421. . ^ 
 
 his return into England. He held a parlia- 
 ment at Rouen to confirm his authority in the duchy, 
 after which he passed through Picardy and Calais, and 
 crossing the sea came by Dover and Canterbury to 
 London. By his own subjects, and especially in the 
 capital, he and his bride were received with profuse 
 
 demonstrations of joy. The Queen was 
 
 The Queen , ,,t . ^ . , ^ 
 
 crowned, crowned at Westmmster with great magni- 
 
 ■ ^^' ficence, and afterwards Henry went a pro- 
 
 gress with her through the country, making pilgrimages 
 to several of the more famous shrines in England. 
 
 2. But while he was thus employed, a great calamity 
 befell the English power in France, which, when the news 
 arrived in England, made it apparent that the King's 
 presence was again much needed across the Channel. 
 His brother, the Duke of Clarence, whom he had left as 
 
 his lieutenant, was defeated and slain at 
 
 Battle of ^ . ■ A • 1 r -r- 1 J 
 
 Beauge, Bcaugc in Anjou by an army of French and 
 
 March 22. Scots, a number of English noblemen being 
 
 also slain or taken prisoners. This was the first impor- 
 tant advantage the dauphin had gained, and the credit of 
 the victory was mainly due to his Scotch allies. For the 
 Duke of Albany, who was Regent of Scotland, though it 
 is commonly supposed that he was unwilling to give 
 needless offence to England lest Henry should terminate 
 his power by setting the Scotch king at liberty, had been 
 compelled by the general sympathy of the Scots with 
 France to send a force under his son the Earl of Buchan 
 to serve against the English. The service which they 
 
1 42 1. Henrf s Third Invasion of France. 115 
 
 did in that battle was so great that the Earl of Buchan 
 was created by the dauphin Constable of France. 
 
 3. Again Henry crossed the sea with a new army, 
 having borrowed large sums for the expenses of the ex- 
 pedition. Before he left England he made ^ 
 
 . . , , . . ^^. ^ Henry's thira 
 
 a private treaty with his prisoner King James invasion of 
 of Scotland, promising to let him return to ^^"'^^• 
 his country after the campaign in France on certain 
 specified conditions, among which it was agreed that 
 he should take the command of a body of troops in aid 
 of the English. James had accompanied him in his last 
 campaign, and Henry had endeavored to make use of 
 his authority to forbid the Scots in France from taking 
 part in the war, but they had refused to acknowledge 
 themselves bound to a king who was a captive. By this 
 agreement, however, Henry obtained real assistance and 
 co-operation from his prisoner, whom he employed, in 
 concert with the Duke of Gloucester, in the siege of 
 Dreux, which very soon surrendered. He himself mean- 
 while marched towards the Loire to meet the dau- 
 phin, and took Beaugency ; then returning northwards, 
 first reduced Villeneuve on the Yonne, and afterwards 
 laid siege to Meaux on the Marne. The latter place 
 held out for seven months, and while Henry Birth of Henry 
 lay before it, he received intelligence that ^^•' •^^^- ^• 
 his queen had borne him a son at Windsor, who was 
 christened Henry. 
 
 4. The city of Meaux surrendered on May 10, 1422. 
 The governor, a man who had been guilty of great 
 cruelties, was beheaded, and his head and ^^ j^^^. 
 body were suspended from a tree, on which ^^^ ^°- 
 
 he himself had caused a number of people to be hanged 
 as adherents of the Duke of Burgundy. Henry was now 
 master of the greater part of the north of France, and 
 
ii6 Henry V. CH. v. 
 
 his queen came over from England to join him, with re- 
 inforcements under his brother the Duke of Bedford. 
 But he was not permitted to rest; for the dauphin, hav- 
 ing taken from his ally the Duke of Burgundy the town 
 of La Charte on the Loire, proceeded to lay siege to 
 C6sne, and Philip, having applied to Henry for assist- 
 ance, he sent forward the Duke of Bedford with his 
 army, intending shortly to follow himself. This demon- 
 stration was sufficient. The dauphin felt that he was too 
 weak to contend with the united English and Burgun- 
 dian forces, and he withdrew from the siege. 
 
 5. Henry, however, was disabled from joining the 
 
 army by a severe attack of dysentery ; and 
 death of though he had at first hoped that he might 
 
 be carried in a litter to head-quarters, he 
 soon found that his illness was far too serious to permit 
 him to carry out his intention. He was accordingly con- 
 veyed back to Vincennes near Paris, where he grew so 
 rapidly worse that it was evident his end was near. In 
 a few brief words to those about him he declared his will 
 touching the government of England and France after 
 his death, until his infant son should be of age. The 
 regency of France he committed to the Duke of Bedford, 
 in case it should be declined by the Duke of Burgundy. 
 That of England he gave to his other brother, Humphrey 
 Duke of Gloucester. To his two uncles, Henry Beaufort, 
 Bishop of Winchester, and Thomas Beaufort, Duke of 
 Exeter, he entrusted the guardianship of his child. He 
 besought all parties to maintain the alliance with Bur- } 
 gundy, and never to release the Duke of Orleans and the 
 other prisoners of Agincourt during his son's minority. 
 
 Having given these instructions he expired, 
 
 lug. 31. ° ° 
 
 on the last day of August, 1422. 
 
 6. His death was bewailed both in England and 
 
1 42 1. Henry's Third Invasio7i of France. 117 
 
 France with no ordinary regret. The great achieve- 
 ments of his reign made him naturally a popular hero ; 
 nor was the regard felt for his memory diminished when 
 under the feeble reign of his son all that he had gained 
 was irrecoverably lost again, so that nothing remained 
 of all his conquests except the story of how they had 
 been won. Those past glories, indeed, must have seemed 
 all the brighter when contrasted with a present which 
 knew but disaster abroad and civil dissension at home. 
 The early death of Henry also contributed to the popular 
 estimate of his greatness. It was seen that in a very few 
 years he had subdued a large part of the territory of 
 France. It was not seen that in the nature of things this 
 advantage could not be maintained, and that even the 
 greatest military talents would not have succeeded in 
 preserving the English conquests. 
 
 7. Nor can it be said that Henry's success, extra- 
 ordinary as it was, was altogether owing to his own 
 abilities. That he exhibited great qualities as a general, 
 cannot be denied ; but these would have availed him 
 little if the rival factions in France had not been far 
 more bitterly opposed to each other than to him. In- 
 deed, it is difficult after all to justify, even as a matter 
 of policy, his interference in French affairs, except as a 
 means of diverting public attention from the fact that 
 he inherited from his father but an indifferent title even 
 to the throne of England. And though success attended 
 his efforts beyond all expectation, he most wilfully en- 
 dangered the safety, not only of himself, but of his 
 gallant army, when he determined to march with re- 
 duced forces through the enemy's country from Harfleur 
 to Calais. It was a rashness nothing less than culpable, 
 but that in his own interest rashness was good policy. 
 Unless he could succeed in desperate enterprises against 
 
ii8 Henry V. CH. vi. 
 
 tremendous odds and so make himself a military hero 
 and a favorite of the multitude, his throne was insecure. 
 He succeeded ; but it was only by staking everything 
 upon the venture — his own safety and that of his whole 
 army, which if the French had exercised but a little 
 more discretion, would inevitably have been cut to 
 pieces or made prisoners to a man. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE AND THE WAR IN 
 BOHEMIA. 
 
 T. In speaking of the visit of the Emperor Sigismund to 
 England, we have already made allusion to the famous 
 Council of Constance, which commenced its sittings in 
 the year 141 5. But it is right that we should here give 
 some account of what led to the meeting of that council, 
 and also of what it did, and of the events to which its 
 proceedings gave rise. 
 
 2. It has been observed in a former chapter that on 
 the election of Urban VI. at Rome in 1378, a portion of 
 „, , . the cardinals set up a rival pope named 
 
 Tine schism ^ ^ ^ 
 
 in the Clement VII. who brought back the see to 
 
 papacy. Avignon and was recognized by France 
 
 and some other countries. This Antipope Clement died 
 in 1394; but the party which had adhered to him elected 
 as his successor a native of Arragon, who assumed the 
 name of Benedict XIII. Meanwhile the other party, 
 which had adhered to Urban, elected a new pope on his 
 death, and afterwards two more in succession, the last 
 of whom was named Gregory XII. But efforts were 
 
1 4 1 o . The Coujicil of Constance. 119 
 
 now made on both sides to terminate the evils of this 
 long-continued schism. Benedict XIII. at Avignon and 
 Gregory XII. at Rome, were each elected under a pro- 
 mise to resign if his rival would do the same, in order 
 that a new pope might be chosen who should be acknow- 
 ledged by both parties. But neither Gregory nor Bene- 
 dict showed any willingness to give up his title for the 
 good of Christendom, and, a council being Council of 
 held at Pisa in 1409, they were both deposed, ^^^' 
 and a new pope, Alexander V., elected in their place. 
 The decision of the council, however, did not very much 
 mend matters, for neither of the deposed popes would ac- 
 knowledge its authority, and the result was to make three 
 rival pontiffs instead of two. The validity of the act of 
 deposition, however, was generally acknowledged, and 
 when Alexander V. died the year after his 
 
 -' , A. D. 1410. 
 
 election, he was succeeded by Cardinal 
 Cossa, who called himself John XXIII. 
 
 3. Now it must be mentioned that this schism in the 
 papacy was also the cause of a succession of rival claim- 
 ants to the throne of Naples ; for the kings Ri^ai kings 
 of Naples held their kingdom of the Pope as of Naples. 
 their superior lord, and when Queen Joanna, who then 
 ruled, adhered to the Avignon pope, Clement VII., she 
 was deposed by a bull of the Roman Pope, Urban VI. 
 who called in Charles of Durazzo to give effect to his 
 sentence. This Charles soon took posses- ^ 
 
 ^ A. D. 1302. 
 
 sion of the kingdom and put Joanna to 
 death ; but Louis Duke of Anjou, whom she had named 
 as her successor, was crowned at Avignon by Clement 
 VII. and went to Italy to dispute his title. Within a 
 very few years both the rivals died, leaving their pre- 
 tensions to their sons, who with very varying fortune, 
 each at times gaining great successes against the other. 
 
I20 Henry V. CH. vi. 
 
 kept up the struggle for nearly thirty years. In 1399, 
 the year when Henry IV. obtained the throne of England, 
 Ladislaus, the king who adhered to the Roman pope, 
 made himself for the time completely master of the king- 
 dom, of which he kept undisturbed possession for ten 
 years. During this interval he was also invited to be- 
 come king of Hungary, and crowned in opposition to 
 King Sigismmnd, who was afterwards Emperor. But in 
 1408 his rival, Louis of Anjou, having been recalled by 
 the Neapolitans, obtained a recognition of his title from 
 the Council of Pisa and the new pope Alexander V. 
 Two years later a battle took place between the two 
 rivals, in which Ladislaus was utterly defeated, to the 
 great delight of John XXIII., Alexander's successor, 
 who denounced him as a heretic and published a cru- 
 sade against him. Ladislaus was shortly afterwards 
 driven to make his peace with Pope John ; but in 141 3 
 he suddenly gained possession of Rome, and was medi- 
 tating an attack on Bologna, whither John had retired, 
 when he was seized with mortal illness. 
 
 4. It was no great wonder that Ladislaus showed v.ery 
 little respect for the authority of Pope John. That pon- 
 Pope John ^^^ ■'^^^ been elected at Bologna, where his 
 XXIII. predecessor died, by the influence of Louis 
 
 of Anjou, the French king of Naples, who had at the 
 time a fleet off Genoa intending to act against Ladislaus. 
 Pope John was a Neapolitan by birth, and in his youth 
 though he had already entered the Church, he had 
 served at sea in the war between Louis and Ladislaus. 
 Afterwards he had gone to Rome, where being made 
 chamberlain to Pope Boniface IX., he had driven a trade 
 in simony and the sale of indulgences. His morals were 
 a matter of public scandal, and his election was a shock 
 to all good men. But he was a man of great ability and 
 
i:4iO' The Council of Constance. 121 
 
 a consummate politician. Of course when he was made 
 pope he took the part of Louis against Ladislaus ; but 
 when Ladislaus took possession of Rome and drove him 
 to Bologna, he suggested to Sigismund, who was now 
 become emperor, the convocation of a general council 
 to promote the peace of Europe by restoring unity to the 
 Church. Sigismund acquiesced in the proposal and ap- 
 pointed that the council should meet at Constance. By 
 this time Pope John repented of the advice that he had 
 given, as the death of Ladislaus left him free to go back 
 to Rome ; but the matter was now settled. 
 
 5. Besides the rival claims of three different popes, the 
 council had to take into consideration the subject of 
 heresy ; for the doctrines of Wycliffe had spread beyond 
 England and were very popular in Bohemia. , , „ 
 
 ^ ^ JT JT John Huss. 
 
 John Huss, the confessor of Sophia, Queen 
 of Bohemia, was deeply imbued with them, and had 
 translated several of Wycliffe' s works into the Bohemian 
 language. So great was the influence he had obtained 
 that he was made rector of the university of Prague, and 
 though excommunicated by the Archbishop of Prague, 
 he gathered by his preaching a considerable party, till 
 disturbances took place in public between his followers 
 and the supporters of papal authority. These evils were 
 aggravated by the publication of a bull of Pope John for 
 a crusade against King Ladislaus — a project which Huss 
 strongly denounced both by word and writing. People 
 in the streets of Prague cried out that Pope John was Anti- 
 christ. Some of the ringleaders were captured by the 
 authorities and put to death in prison. But their parti- 
 sans obtained possession of their bodies and carried 
 them to different churches wrapped in cloth of gold, 
 where the priests exhibited them to the assembled wor- 
 shippers as saints and martyrs for the truth. 
 
122 Henry V. CH. vi. 
 
 6. The Council at Constance was opened on Friday, 
 November i6, 1414, Pope John himself presiding. The 
 
 _. ^, ., Emperor Sisrismund arrived at Christmas. 
 
 The Council ■■ _ ^ 
 
 of Con- At the first session some one accused the Pope 
 
 of a long catalogue of crimes, some of which 
 were regarded as too scandalous to be divulged. He was 
 struck with consternation at the indictment, and took 
 counsel with a few confidential friends what to do. He 
 confessed to them that some of the charges were true, 
 but was disposed to take comfort in the thought that a 
 pope could not be deposed except for heresy. He was, 
 however, advised by his friends to resign, and 
 
 March 2. this he promised to do on March 2, at the 
 second session of the council. Shortly afterwards he 
 escaped from the city in disguise, and resuming his 
 authority, ordered the council to dissolve. But the 
 council came to a determination that their authority as a 
 general council was superior to that of the Pope himself, 
 and that instead of their obeying the Pope, he was bound 
 to obey them. Pope John was accordingly sent for and 
 brought back to Constance; the charges against him 
 were examined, and on May 29 he was deposed and 
 thrown into prison. 
 
 7. After this Gregory XH. submitted to the authority 
 of the council, and his resignation of the papacy was 
 received on July 4. Benedict XIII., the one remaining 
 claimant of pontifical honors, was in Spain, and some 
 negotiation was required to induce him to resign as well. 
 But the Emperor left the Council and went to Narbonne, 
 where he had a meeting with the King of Arragon, who 
 with the Kings of Castile, Navarre, and other countries 
 which had hitherto supported Benedict, engaged by their 
 ambassadors to withdraw their obedience from him ; after 
 which he was deposed by the council on March 30, 1417. 
 
1 41 4* "^^^^ Council of Constance. 123 
 
 Thus, a way being opened for the election of a new pope 
 with a vahd title, a conclave was held at Con- 
 stance, in which Martin V. was chosen as Nov. n. 
 head of the Church. 
 
 8. John Huss had received a summons to appear 
 before the council. He obtained a safe-conduct from 
 the Emperor Sigismund, and arrived at Constance with 
 a large suite of followers on November 3, 1414. On his 
 way thither he had posted up placards in the different 
 towns, offering to dispute with any one on matters of 
 theology. He had challenged the Archbishop of Prague 
 in this manner to a disputation before he left Bohemia. 
 But he found Constance a very different place from his 
 own city, and soon had cause to doubt about the treat- 
 ment he should receive there notwithstanding his safe- 
 conduct. He attempted to escape, but was brought back 
 and committed to prison. Efforts were made to get him 
 to retract his heresies, but in vain. The council passed 
 sentence upon him, ordered his books to be burned, and 
 himself to be degraded from the priesthood. Being then 
 as a layman delivered over to the secular arm. Martyrdom 
 he was by the authorities of Constance, con- a. d. 1415. 
 demned to be burned at the stake, — a fate J^'^y ^• 
 which he endured with great firmness and heroism. His 
 ashes were then thrown into the Rhine, from a fear lest 
 his disciples should preserve them as relics. 
 
 9. The infliction of capital punishment, after he had 
 received the Emperor's safe-conduct, was a thing which 
 apart from the cruelty of the sentence, seemed inconsistent 
 with good faith and honor. But in the eyes of the 
 council heresy was a noxious disease which must be 
 suppressed at any cost for the good of the whole Christian 
 world; and the Emperor's safe-conduct, it was consid- 
 ered, was only intended to assure his safety in coming 
 
124 Henry V. CH. vi. 
 
 up to Constance and pleading his own cause before the 
 council. It gave him an opportunity of vindicating his 
 doctrine by argument, if it could be vindicated to the 
 council's satisfaction , but it was no more intended to 
 protect an obstinate heretic than if he had been a mur- 
 derer. As John Huss had failed to justify his doctrines to 
 the satisfaction of the council, and refused to abandon them 
 at their bidding, his safe-conduct availed him no further. 
 
 10. The attention of the council was at the same time 
 called to the doctrines of his master, Wycliffe, which 
 were likewise condemned as heretical ; and so anxious 
 were the assembled fathers to give effect to their censure 
 that they ordered Wyclifife's bones to be dug up and 
 burned. This sentence was put in execution in England 
 shortly afterwards, and the Reformer's ashes were thrown 
 into a rivulet which flows by the town of Lutterworth. 
 
 11. Before the condemnation of Huss, his friend and 
 most devoted follower, Jerome of Prague, was also cited 
 
 Jerome of before the council. He had already come to 
 Prague. Constancc, but finding that Huss had been 
 
 thrown into prison he withdrew, and wrote to the Em- 
 peror from Uberlingen, desiring a safe-conduct to return. 
 He also caused placards to be set upon the church doors 
 at Constance, offering to come and clear himself from 
 the imputation of heresy if no violence were offered him. 
 It was in answer to this that the summons was sent out 
 against him. Jerome, meanwhile, receiving no satisfac- 
 tory assurances of safety, was making his way back to 
 Bohemia, but he was arrested on the road and brought 
 back to Constance. After the sentence executed upon 
 Huss he made a retractation, but, doubts being enter- 
 tained as to the sincerity of his conversion, he was sub- 
 jected to further examination, and confessed that he 
 had only been driven to recant by fear. He denounced 
 
1 41 6. The Council of Constance. 125 
 
 his own cowardice, recalled what he had said, and ex- 
 pressed his full adhesion to the doctrines of Wycliffe 
 and Huss. Sentence of condemnation was accordingly- 
 passed against him as a relapsed heretic, and on May 
 30, 1416, he suffered the same fate that Huss had 
 suffered nine months before. His fortitude at the last, 
 like that of Huss, struck beholders with admiration. 
 The learned Poggio Bracciolini, who, by his examina- 
 tion of convent libraries, recovered a number of the 
 writings of the ancient classic authors which had been 
 lost to the world for centuries, was present at his trial 
 and execution. The learning and eloquence of Jerome 
 won his highest admiration, and his constancy at the 
 stake he could not help comparing with that of Socrates 
 when he drank the cup of hemlock. 
 
 12. The executions of Huss and Jerome of Prague 
 were intended to promote peace and religious union 
 throughout Christendom. They brought anything but 
 peace, however, to Bohemia, the country to which the 
 two martyrs belonged. No sooner was the execution of 
 Huss known at Prague than a great sedition Troubles in 
 arose. His followers attacked the palace of Bohemia. 
 the archbishop and the houses of the orthodox clergy. 
 The Bohemian nobles wrote an indignant letter to the 
 council, whom they accused of putting to death as a 
 heretic a man who had not been convicted of any error, 
 and they declared their intention of appealing from the 
 council to the future pope against his condemnation. 
 But stronger measures were taken by John 
 Ziska of Trocznow, chamberlain of Wences- leader of the 
 laus. King of Bohemia, the deposed empe- 
 ror. This Ziska was a man of considerable experience 
 in war, who had lost an eye in battle. In 1410 he had 
 lent his services to Jagellon, King of Poland, and dis- 
 
126 Henry V. ch. vi. 
 
 tinguished himself at the great battle of Tannenberg 
 against the Teutonic knights. He was a personal friend 
 of Huss, and resented his persecution besides as an 
 affront to the people of Bohemia, The same feeling was 
 largely shared by the peasantry, who assembled in great 
 numbers to revenge the martyr's death, and chose Ziska 
 for their leader. 
 
 13. The death of Jerome, added to that of Huss, in- 
 creased their indignation. Great disturbances took 
 place, which King Wenceslaus, who partly sympathized 
 with the Hussites, was unable to appease. He conceded 
 to them the use of a number of churches in which they 
 might administer the sacrament to the people in both 
 kinds ; but while the Catholic party did all in their 
 power to resist this innovation, the Hussites only in- 
 creased their demands. Wenceslaus in vain endeavored 
 to temporize. The government of Prague was in the 
 hands of the Catholics, but on July 30, 1419, a collision 
 took place between the two parties in the streets ; on 
 which the Hussites, under Ziska, attacked the town hall, 
 and having forced an entrance, threw the magistrates 
 out of the windows. The mob below received them on 
 the points of lances. 
 
 14. King Wenceslaus was much agitated on receiving 
 the news of this outrage, and died a few days after. His 
 brother, the Emperor Sigismund, succeeeded him as 
 King of Bohemia. But the Hussites, remembering the 
 persecution of their leader, refused to acknowledge his 
 title, and Ziska overthrew his troops in numerous en- 
 gagements, although the Pope, to assist the Emperor, 
 proclaimed a crusade against the heretics. In the course 
 of these wars Ziska lost his other eye ; but he still con- 
 tinued to lead the insurgents with vigor, and soon suc- 
 ceeded in driving the Emperor out of Bohemia. 
 
1 41 6. The Council of Cojistance. 127 
 
 15. Such was the state of matters in that kingdom at 
 the time when Henry V, of England died. Sigismund 
 had for the time lost possession of his kingdom, and 
 armies were being raised by the German electors to assist 
 him to recover it. But these armies, too, were defeated 
 by the victorious Ziska, who maintained the cause of the 
 Hussites successfully till his death in 1424 ; and even for 
 several years after that they were victorious under other 
 leaders. Divisions, however, sprang up among them- 
 selves which were far more disastrous to their cause than 
 all the armies sent against them. The first insurgents 
 under Ziska encamped upon a hill, named by them 
 Mount Tabor, about fifty miles south of Prague. This 
 hill was all but completely surrounded by the river Lusch- 
 nitz, a tributary of the Moldau, so that it could not be ap- 
 proached except upon one side without crossing the 
 stream. Taking advantage of this position Ziska con- 
 verted his camp into a fortified town, and his followers 
 obtained the name of Taborites. Other sections of the 
 party were called Horebites, Orphanites, and Calixtines. 
 There was also a very repulsive sect of fanatics called the 
 Adamites, who went about naked after the manner of 
 our first parents. This latter sect Ziska had made war 
 upon, nor do they appear to have been at any time part 
 of the Hussite party ; but their mere existence serves to 
 mark how greatly the people of Bohemia were at this 
 time influenced by religious ideas of the most extrava- 
 gant description. So little had the Council of Constance 
 done to put an end to heresy ! 
 
 16. The Council of Basle which met in 143 1 adopted 
 a different line of policy. As the burning of heretics, 
 instead of confuting their arguments, had 
 
 not restored peace to the Church, this coun- J/SaSe""'''' 
 cil used every means in its power to assure 
 
128 Henry V. ch. vi. 
 
 the Hussites that they might come and discuss their 
 doctrines before them in perfect freedom and security. 
 Won by this invitation, Procopius, surnamed the 
 Shaven, general of the Taborities, came to Basle with a 
 number of his followers. The matters in controversy 
 between them and the Church were discussed at length ; 
 and some concessions were made by the council, es- 
 pecially permitting the laity to partake of the commu- 
 nion in both kinds. On this a large number of the Hus- 
 sites became reconciled to the Church. The remainder 
 still held out ; but their strength was broken, and after 
 some defeats they agreed to recognize Sigismund as 
 their king, so that in the year 1436 he entered Prague 
 triumphantly. Still disaffection was not at an end, and 
 long after the death of Sigismund religious factions con- 
 tinued to agitate Bohemia. Even two centuries later 
 the Bohemians rose in arms and commenced a long and 
 bloody war to vindicate anew those principles for which 
 the Hussites had contended. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HENRY VI. 
 
 I. The King's Minority and the Fretich War. 
 
 I. The death of Henry V. was an event which the 
 Enghsh could not help feeling as a calamity of no ordi- 
 nary kind. No other of their kings had ever been so 
 lamented. In his brief reign of nine years and a half he 
 had done more than Edward III. and the Black Prince 
 had succeeded in effecting. He had virtually added 
 another kingdom to his inheritance — a kingdom larger, 
 richer, and with a finer climate than his own. He had 
 
1 43 1. The King' s Minority. 129 
 
 compelled the King of France to disinherit his own son 
 and to adopt him as his heir, with the concurrence of the 
 estates of the realm. Yet he was called away before he 
 could secure these advantages on a satisfactory basis, 
 and he was obliged to leave to others the task of vindi- 
 cating for his son against the dauphin the rights that had 
 been conceded to him by the treaty of Troyes. 
 
 2. It was a task that occupied the attention and fully 
 engaged the energies of all England for a long time after. 
 Nothing is more remarkable in the history of the next 
 twenty years than the almost total absence of domestic 
 events of any interest. The whole mind of ^ , , 
 
 , . . England 
 
 the nation was absorbed with the war in whoiiy oc- 
 France, and even the arrangements for the the French 
 government at home were at first of subor- ^^'^• 
 dinate importance. The crown of England was no 
 longer a question in dispute. Though the son of Henry 
 was an infant of only nine months old, the claims of the 
 Earl of March were not for a moment thought of. Every 
 Englishman desired that infant peacefully to succeed his 
 father. The title to the crown of France was the only 
 thing in question, and to maintain that every nerve was 
 strained : on France all eyes were riveted. 
 
 3. One domestic question, however, had to be settled 
 at the outset. According to the constitution of England 
 all acts of government emanate from the king ; but when 
 the king, either, from being under age or from some 
 other disqualification, is unable to act himself, his au- 
 thority devolves upon the great council of the lords, who, 
 if he were capable of acting, would be his natural ad- 
 visers. • This authority the lords on the pre- ^, 
 
 •^ -^ The council 
 
 sent occasion were solicited to yield up to win not 
 
 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who regency in 
 
 claimed the regency under the will of the ^^s^^^'^' 
 
 K 
 
130 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 late King his brother. But the council withstood his 
 claim, and when Parliament assembled, the House of 
 Lords determined that the late King's will on this point 
 was invalid, not being warranted by precedent or con- 
 stitutional usage. The Duke of Gloucester was empow- 
 ered to act, but only with the consent of the council, as 
 the young King's representative in summoning and dis- 
 solving Parliament. He was admitted to be the King's 
 chief councillor in the absence of his brother Bedford ; 
 and an act was passed committing to him in Bedford's 
 absence the care of defending the kingdom, with the ti- 
 tle of Protector. But his functions in this respect were 
 very limited, and the real work of government was 
 entrusted to a committee of lords and commoners. 
 
 4. As for France, King Charles, according to Henry's 
 dying request, first offered the regency to the Duke of 
 
 _, _ , , Burgundy, and on his refusal gave it to Bed- 
 
 The Duke of & J ' & _ 
 
 Bedford Re- ford. He was at first to govern m the name 
 gen in ranee. ^^ Charlcs ; but within two months after 
 the death of Henry, the unhappy King of France 
 
 ^ also died. The infant who had already suc- 
 
 Oct. 21. •' 
 
 ceeded to the throne of England by the name 
 of Henry VI. was now, by the treaty of Troyes, King of 
 France as well, and had in his uncle Bedford the ablest 
 administrator that could have been found to advance his 
 interests there. The dauphin, however, on his father's 
 death, of course claimed to succeed him. The English 
 laughed at his pretensions, and called him in mockery 
 the King of Bourges ; but he was acknowledged south of 
 the Loire to the borders of Guienne, and he had no lack 
 of good soldiers, both of his own country and of the Scots, 
 to assist him in recovering his inheritance. 
 
 5. In accordance with the advice of Henry V. to 
 preserve at all hazards the friendship of the Duke of 
 
1422. The King^ s Minority. 131 
 
 Burgundy, Bedford began by marrying that duke's sister. 
 He also promoted another marriage by which the duchy 
 of Brittany was for a time won over to the league against 
 Charles VII., and nearly the whole sea-coast of France 
 was placed practically in the power of the English. These 
 marriages took place amid the stir and bustle of war, and 
 small time was wasted by the duke in wedding festivities. 
 The enemy had surprised various places in Champagne 
 and even in Normandy. But Bedford sent an ariliy into 
 Burgundy under the Earl of Salisbury, who after an 
 obstinate battle raised the siege of Crevant on the Yonne. 
 For some years afterwards the war went on 
 
 Progress of 
 
 very favorably to England. The great victory the English 
 of Verneuil in 1424 opened to the English the 
 way into the province of Maine, which they reduced with 
 ease. The affairs of Charles were in a desperate con- 
 dition, and would probably have been still more so but 
 for dissensions which sprang up among the English at 
 home between the Duke of Gloucester and Henry Beau- 
 fort, Bishop of Winchester, the Lord Chancellor, of 
 which we shall give an account hereafter. 
 
 6. To put an end to the interference of Scotland in 
 the war with France, the English council determined in 
 1423 to fulfil the promise made by Henry V. Liberation of 
 to liberate King James and restore him to his J^mes I. 
 country. Accordingly, after an unjust confinement of 
 more than eighteen years, the ambitious Duke of Albany 
 being now dead, James was set at liberty for a ransom of 
 40,000 pounds, on swearing to a treaty by which the 
 kings of England and Scotland were forbidden to assist 
 each other's enemies. To engage James still further to 
 the English interest he was given in marriage Lady Jane 
 Beaufort, sister of the Duke of Somerset, a lady for whom 
 he had conceived a great affection, and the sum of 
 
132 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 10,000 marks was deducted from his ransom for her 
 dower. 
 
 II. The Siege of Orleans. Joan of Arc. 
 
 1. By the ability and vigor of the Duke of Bedford's 
 administration the Enghsh not only succeeded in main- 
 taining their conquests for several years, but even gained 
 ground upon their enemies. For a time they made them- 
 selves undisputed masters of nearly the whole territory 
 north of the Loire ; and in the summer of 1428 it was 
 determined to make one great eifort to drive the forces 
 of Charles south of that river. Accordingly, reinforce- 
 ments having arrived from England under the Earl of 
 Salisbury, an advance was made upon Orleans. After 
 Siege of taking several places round about, the 
 Orleans. Enghsh laid siege to the city in October. 
 The undertaking was a great one. Salisbury caused 
 sixty forts to be built about the city, to prevent succors 
 being sent in ; and on six of the largest he planted 
 batteries which opened fire upon the walls. In course 
 of time the English gained possession of a tower which 
 commanded the city. From a window in this tower 
 Salisbury one day took a survey of the fortifications, 
 when a shot from the besieged shattered the iron case- 
 ment, so that the earl was mortally wounded by the 
 fragments. His command was immediately taken by 
 the Earl of Suffolk. 
 
 2. The siege continued for several months, and in the 
 spring of the following year gave rise to a remarkable 
 
 action called the Battle of Herrings. At the 
 
 A. D. 1429. . ° 
 
 Battle of beginning of Lent Sir John Fastolf, a brave 
 
 ernngs. warrior, who, having distinguished himself 
 
 at Agincourt and elsewhere, had been entrusted with 
 
 the government of Normandy, and afterwards with that 
 
1429. The Siege of Orleans. 133 
 
 of Anjou and Maine, was commissioned by the Regent 
 to conduct a convoy of provisions, chiefly consisting of 
 salt fish, to Orleans for the use of the besiegers. The 
 French, having ascertained that such a convoy was to 
 be sent, determined to intercept it upon the road. Fas- 
 tolf had an escort of 1,700 men, but the enemy came 
 upon him in superior numbers. He, how- 
 ever, entrenched his men behind the wag- 
 ons containing the provisions, and they not only 
 sustained the attack without flinching, but fought so 
 bravely that they threw their assailants into confusion. 
 As soon as it appeared that they began to give way, 
 Fastolf ordered the barricade to be removed, and the 
 enemy were pursued with very great slaughter. Among 
 the slain were six-and-twenty officers of distinction. 
 
 3. The fall of Orleans seemed now inevitable. The 
 policy of undertaking the siege of such a city had been 
 doubted by Bedford in the first instance. The eftbrt 
 had certainly taxed the resources of England to the ut- 
 most ; but apparently it was about to be crowned with 
 success. Charles expected to be driven entirely from 
 the central parts of France, and talked of retiring into 
 Dauphine, A proposal was made by the French to put 
 Orleans into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy. It 
 was scouted by the Regent Bedford in terms which per- 
 haps increased the coolness of his ally. He was not 
 the man, he said, to beat the bush that others might 
 catch the birds. The besieged were reduced to almost 
 utter despair, when one of the most marvellous occur- 
 rences in history put an end to their suspense. 
 
 4. In the month of February, 1429 — about the very 
 time that Sir John Fastolf disconcerted the attempt of 
 the French to surprise his convoy of herrings — a young 
 woman in a remote province of France presented herself 
 
134 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 before the commanding officer of the district, declaring 
 that she had a divine commission to succor Orleans and 
 to conduct King Charles .to Rheims, to be crowned after 
 the manner of his ancestors. The name of this enthu- 
 siast was Jeanne d'Arc, or as some French antiquarians 
 prefer to write it, Dare; but for ages the French them- 
 Joan of selves have spelt it with an apostrophe, and 
 
 in English we have been accustomed to 
 call hei* Joan of Arc. She was a native of the village 
 of Domremy, on the Meuse, in the Duchy of Bar, on the 
 borders of Lorraine. She was of poor but pious parents. 
 Even from her girlish years she had seen visions and 
 heard voices from Heaven, and so persuaded was she 
 of her divine mission that she had kept herself unmarried 
 against the wish of her father. The officer to whom she 
 made known her intentions naturally thought her at first 
 a person of deranged intellect ; but on further consider- 
 ation he determined to comply with her request and send 
 her to King Charles, who was then at Chinon in Tou- 
 raine. Dressed and armed like a man, she set out in 
 the company of two neighbors, a herald, an archer, 
 and two pages, on a journey of almost two hundred and 
 fifty miles, through a country intersected by numerous 
 rivers and mostly in the possession of the English. On 
 March 5 she arrived at Chinon, after eleven days' trav- 
 elling. 
 
 5. On her coming to the King it is related that she 
 
 gave evidence, in more ways than one, of the possession 
 
 ,, „ of supernatural gifts. It is said that she 
 
 Marvellous .. , ^, , . ^.. g. . . 
 
 stories about identified Charles m a dress like that 01 his 
 
 courtiers, and revealed to him a secret 
 
 known only to himself. She also demanded and had 
 
 given to her a sword, from a church in Touraine ; which 
 
 sword, according to the most marvellous reports, she 
 
1429. The Siege of Orleans. I35 
 
 described minutely before seeing it, although it was 
 buried in the ground beneath the altar. Whatever may 
 have been the facts, she succeeded in persuading people 
 that she had been sent either by God or by the Devil. 
 Belief in all sorts of occult influences was in this age 
 particularly strong, and Charles commissioned a number 
 of divines to inquire as to the source of her inspiration. 
 The purity of her patriotism — the genuineness of her 
 religious feeling — were such as to make a sinister inter- 
 pretation impossible, and the divines reported that she 
 had clearly a call from Heaven. She was accordingly 
 furnished with a charger, a suit of armor, and a banner 
 after her own directions ; and with a squire and three 
 other attendants she set forth upon her mission. She 
 sent a formal summons to the Duke of Bedford to raise 
 the siege as he would avoid the wrath of God. • This the 
 English treated with the contempt which might have 
 been expected. But the Maid came to Blois where a 
 force had assembled to make a great effort for the relief 
 of Orleans. She was allowed to take the command of 
 this detachment, and she gave stringent orders to free 
 the camp of all loose characters, and ordered every 
 soldier to be confessed. She then, by a rapid march, 
 arrived in two days before Orleans. After the first 
 night's camping out she took the sacrament in presence 
 of the troops. A multitude of dissolute soldiers, sud- 
 denly animated by a new spirit, bent their knees before 
 their priests and did the same. The whole army was 
 raised out of despondency to the highest pitch of enthu- 
 siasm ; and rumors of the holiness and of the miracles 
 of the Maid were repeated even in the English camp. 
 
 6. Even where her over-confidence might have been 
 disastrous it had the effect of increasing her repute. 
 She had proposed to come upon Orleans by the right 
 
136 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 bank of the Loire through the thick of the Enghsh army. 
 In this she was overruled by the generals, who took her 
 the other way. But when she saw the river between her 
 and the city, she insisted that the troops should return 
 to Blois and go against Orleans by the north side. To 
 satisfy her the main body of the army was dismissed, 
 but she herself was persuaded to embark a few miles up 
 the stream to conduct a convoy of provisions into the 
 city. The wind and tide were contrary when she yielded 
 to the entreaties of the marshals. But the wind changed, 
 so that vessels came up from Orleans, and she em- 
 barked. At nightfall she entered the city, bringing 
 victuals and stores for the garrison. She was received 
 as if she had been an angel from heaven, and rode 
 through the streets on a white charger, amid the accla- 
 mations of the people. 
 
 7. After this she directed operations against some of 
 the forts surrounding the city, and obtained possession 
 of four successively after inflicting great losses on the 
 besiegers. The English had lost all spirit for the fight. 
 They were persuaded that a power now fought against 
 them that was more than human. Already the siege had 
 lasted seven months, and it was difficult to maintain the 
 strain much longer. The besieging army withdrew on 
 May 12, pursued by the French in its retreat. Misfor- 
 fortunes began to overtake the English arms on all sides. 
 The Earl of Suffolk was made prisoner at the capture of 
 Jargeau. The brave Lord Talbot was made prisoner at 
 the battle of Patay. The Regent Bedford was forced to 
 return once more to Paris, and wrote home to the gov- 
 ernment in England that the tide of success had been 
 turned by " a limb of the Fiend," called by the enemy 
 the Pucelle. Such were the terms in which even he did 
 not disdain to speak of the heroic Maid 1 
 
1 429* Joan of Arc. 
 
 137 
 
 8. She now persuaded Charles to march to Rheims 
 that he might be crowned. He set out at the head of 
 10,000 men, summoning the towns to surrender as he 
 went along. After a short resistance Troyes capitu- 
 lated, and Chalons followed its example. The citizens 
 of Rheims then drove out the English gar- 
 rison, and presented the keys to Charles, crownedlt 
 who entered the city in triumph. The coro- Rheims, 
 nation took place the day after. 
 
 9. The Maid had accompHshed her mission, and 
 would now have withdrawn once more into private life ; 
 but the King persuaded her to remain in his service, and 
 expressed his gratitude for what she had done by grant- 
 ing her native village of Domremy a perpetual exemp- 
 tion from tributes. The effect of the coronation was seen 
 immediately afterwards in the surrender of a large num- 
 ber of other towns to Charles, while Bedford felt himself 
 so weak that he did not dare hazard a blow in their de- 
 fence. He sent pressing messages to England for re- 
 inforcements, and urged that, to counterbalance the 
 coronation of Charles, the boy King Henry should also 
 be crowned king of France. The EngHsh council agreed 
 with this advice, but thought it desirable that he should 
 first be crowned in England. That cere- 
 mony was accordingly performed on No- cr^Sin 
 vember 6 at Westminster ; and as it implied ^ov ^^6^' 
 that Henry, though only eight years old, 
 
 entered then on the actual functions of royalty, the 
 Parliament decreed a few days later that the title of Pro- 
 tector given to the Duke of Bedford and to Humphrey 
 Duke of Gloucester should from that time cease. 
 
 10. Two whole years elapsed after the coronation at 
 Westminster before Henry could be crowned in France. 
 He went thither in 1430, accompanied by a. d. 1430, 
 
138 Hem J VI. CH. vil. 
 
 Cardinal Beaufort, leaving the Duke of Gloucester 
 in England as guardian of the realm. He seems 
 to have stayed at Rouen the whole of that year and the 
 
 and in next, and only towards the close of the year 
 a!^ 0^^431. 143 1 he went to Paris, where he was crowned 
 Dec. 16. Qj^ December 16. Bedford would fain have 
 
 carried him through the country to Rheims and had the 
 ceremony performed there ; but it was found impossible 
 to make the attempt with safety. The journey, even to 
 the capital, was not wholly free from danger ; for Charles 
 had already approached dangerously near to Paris, while 
 the Regent was in Normandy. The latter was also con- 
 scious that he could not greatly rely on the constancy 
 of the Duke of Burgundy, to whom he gave up the pro- 
 vinces of Champagne and La Brie* in order to secure 
 his friendship. 
 
 II. But in the meantime an event had occurred 
 which revived considerably the spirits of the English. 
 The Duke of Burgundy, gratified by the cession of 
 Champagne, laid siege to Compiegne. The Pucelle, 
 hearing of the attempt, threw herself into the town, not 
 altogether, as it is supposed, to the satisfaction of the 
 governor, who did not desire to share with a woman the 
 
 A. D. 1431 glory of defending it. On May 25, 1431, she 
 
 May 25. made a sortie, but was obliged to retire. Her 
 retreat, however, was cut off, orders having been given, 
 Capture of either by mistake or malice, to shut the gates 
 Joan of Arc. q{ ^^q town and to raise the drawbridge. 
 Under these circumstances she was compelled to yield 
 herself a prisoner to the officers of the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy. The English were delighted beyond measure at 
 
 * La Brie was a district to the west of Champagne proper, nearly 
 corresponding with the modern department of Seine and Marne, 
 
1 431* ^i^ Coronation in Paris. 139 
 
 the incident, and the Regent Bedford lost no time in 
 obtaining from the Burgundian general her delivery into 
 his own hands. The English government then instituted 
 a process against her for witchcraft before ecclesiastical 
 judges, by whom she was found guilty ; but on recanting 
 her pretensions of a divine mission her life was spared, 
 and she was condemned to be imprisoned for life and 
 fed on bread and water. This humiliation might have 
 been sufficient to satisfy the vengeance of her enemies ; 
 but further punishment was in store for her. In her 
 recantation she abjured from thenceforth the wearing of 
 male attire ; but after her return to prison her own armor 
 was left in her way, and she could not resist the tempta- 
 tion to put it on. The act was observed by spies, a new 
 information was laid against her, and it was at once 
 determined to carry out the capital sentence already 
 passed upon her, as upon a relapsed heretic, ghe is burned 
 She was burned to death in the market-place ^^ * heretic 
 at Rouen, on May 30, 143 1. 
 
 12. The cruelty and vindictiveness of this wicked act 
 did not help to retrieve the fortunes of the English in 
 France. Superstitious fear seems to have largely in- 
 fluenced her persecutors, but they were not reheved from 
 it by her death. The Church had pronounced sentence 
 upon her, most of the judges were her own countrymen, 
 and even Charles did not make an effort to save her ; 
 but the English themselves could not feel satisfied that 
 all was fair. The majority might still talk of her as a 
 witch and a sorceress, but those who had witnessed her 
 deeds and sufferings were not without a sense that an 
 innocent woman had been slain and that God would 
 take vengeance on the act. The war went on languidly. 
 The French obtained possession of Chartres, and the 
 lukewarmness of Burgundy as an ally was more manifest 
 
140 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 every day. At home, people were becoming weary of 
 the cost of the protracted struggle. Efforts were made 
 by the Pope to negotiate a peace, which came to nothing, 
 as the English refused to acknowledge Charles as King 
 of France. But Bedford himself was well aware that 
 his power of maintaining the struggle was no longer 
 what it had been. 
 
 III. Gloticester and Beaufort. Negotiations for Peace. 
 
 1. In England, from the very beginning of Henry's 
 reign, there had been a struggle for power between Hum- 
 phrey Duke of Gloucester and Henry Beaufort, Bishop of 
 Winchester, afterwards Cardinal. The former was the 
 brother, the latter the uncle, of the late King Henry V. 
 R" 1 r f h ^^ have already mentioned that the council 
 Duke of Glou- from the first disallowed the claim of Glou- 
 Beaufort Bishop ccstcr to be regent under his brother's will, 
 of Winchester. ^^^ appointed him merely Protector. But 
 the duke was dissatisfied with his limited powers, and 
 showed a great inclination to presume upon his position 
 as the King's leading councillor. Beaufort took the lead 
 in opposing these pretensions, and his opposition to the 
 duke led to a number of unseemly quarrels, in which 
 the bishop had certainly the advantage in point of wis- 
 dom, while his rival endangered the affairs of the whole 
 kingdom by his extraordinary indiscretion. At one time 
 his conduct, besides being scandalous in point of mo- 
 rality, very nearly alienated the Duke of Burgundy from 
 the English alliance. He enjoyed, however, considerable 
 popularity, and was called "the good Duke Humphrey," 
 while the manifest ambition of Beaufort, and the fact of 
 his being a churchman, prevented him from gaining the 
 entire good-will of the nation. 
 
 2. In 1427 Beaufort received from the Pope the 
 
1 43 1 • Gloucester and Beaufort. 141 
 
 dignity of cardinal, and was shortly after appointed papal 
 legate in England. This at once created a g^^^^^^^ 
 new subject of dispute. A cardinal was a made a 
 
 C3.rciiii3,l 
 
 servant of the Church, not of the State. He 
 was a vassal of the Pope, not a minister of England; 
 and the question was raised whether by the mere accept- 
 ance of such a position Beaufort had any longer a right 
 to sit in the King's council or to enjoy the revenues of 
 the bishopric of Winchester. Gloucester strongly urged 
 his exclusion, and for some time the council entertained 
 so much doubt upon the question that they refused to 
 come to a decision, and desired the cardinal to abstain 
 from attending the chapters of the Garter till the King 
 should come of age. 
 
 3. The cardinal, however, soon made it evident that 
 his promotion in the Church did not by any means make 
 him less zealous for the interests of his country. It was 
 Rome he intended to betray, not England. His dignity 
 had been conferred on him that he might make war on 
 heretics, and the Pope had issued a bull for xhe cm- 
 a crusade against the Hussites in Bohemia. J^?^^^ ^^^ 
 Beaufort petitioned the King's council for Hussites. 
 leave to publish it in England, and to collect subscrip- 
 tions and raise men for the enterprise. This was 
 granted, but the number of men was reduced to half of 
 the demand on the ground that men were so much 
 needed for the defence of the kingdom. Still, it was the 
 Church's cause. Englishmen were invited by the car- 
 dinal to enlist for the benefit of their souls. A force was 
 conveyed across the sea ; but before it left England, it 
 was arranged between the council and the cardinal that 
 it should be detained in France and employed against 
 the enemies of England. Joan of Arc had already 
 raised the siege of Orleans, and was conveying Charles 
 
142 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 to be crowned at Rheims. It was a great crisis, and 
 Beaufort could excuse himself to the Pope by pretending 
 that the expedition had been diverted from its professed 
 object against his will. 
 
 4. By this discreditable juggle the cardinal had at 
 least proved to the satisfaction of the council and the 
 House of Lords that he preferred at heart the interests 
 of his country to those of the Church. Notwithstanding 
 that the fact was unprecedented of a cardinal taking part 
 in the deliberations of the King's council, he was invited 
 to resume his seat there on the understanding that he 
 should absent himself whenever matters came to be dis- 
 cussed between England and the court of Rome. Both 
 Beaufort's Houses of Parliament commended his loy- 
 ascendancy. ^jty, and it was evident that he had com- 
 pletely re-established his ascendancy. Duke Humphrey, 
 on the other hand, was divested of his title of Protector 
 at the coronation, and though he never desisted, while 
 he lived, from his efforts to supplant or injure his rival, 
 those efforts were from this time utterly ineffectual. 
 
 5. These disputes at home affected seriously the inter- 
 ests of England in the war with France ; and after the 
 humiliation inflicted on the English arms by Joan of 
 Arc, other causes contributed to render the struggle al- 
 together a hopeless one for England. The Duke of 
 Burgundy cooled in his friendship for his allies. The 
 
 Duchess of Bedford, his sister, died. Con- 
 
 Pc3.cc cori" 
 
 ferences, ferences for peace took place at Arras, and 
 A. D. 1435. ^^^^^ their failure the Duke of Burgundy 
 made a separate treaty with France. The English wished 
 for a termination of the war, but still looked upon the 
 whole of France as theirs by right, and would only con- 
 sent to allow Charles a portion of his own dominions as 
 A. D. 1435. an appanage for which he was to do fealty. 
 
 DCpt. 14* 
 
1436. Gloucester and Beaufort. 143 
 
 At length the Regent Bedford died, heart-broken at 
 seeing his whole policy undermined. Owing to di- 
 vided counsels, the English government delayed 
 the appointment of his successor until the ^ ^ ^^^6. 
 French had already retaken Paris ; and ^p"^ ^3- 
 though the man whom they at length appointed as regent 
 proved himself both a statesman and a general of great 
 ability, he was ill-supported at home, and after a very 
 short time he was recalled. 
 
 6. That man was Richard Duke of York, the son of 
 that Earl of Cambridge who was put to death for con- 
 spiracy against Henry V. (See Chap. V. iii. Richard 
 
 5, 6.) After his appointment he retook a ^^^ °^ 
 number of towns and castles which had been 
 lost, but he had not been a twelvemonth Regent when 
 he was recalled, and his place was given to Richard 
 Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who did nothing remarka- 
 ble, and died two years after his appointment. York 
 was then made Recent a second time ; but 
 
 A. D. 1440. 
 
 it was now utterly impossible for the English 
 to do more than stand on the defensive. The loss of the 
 Burgundian alliance made it difficult for them to hold 
 their own in a hostile country, and endangered even 
 Calais, which lay near Philip's Flemish territories. He 
 had, in fact, already once laid siege to it, and was only 
 driven away by an army sent over into Normandy under 
 the Duke of Gloucester 
 
 7. Both countries had great cause to wish for peace. 
 France was overrun by robber bands, popularly called 
 ecorcheurs, or flayers, who not only waylaid 
 
 and plundered their victims, but stripped bands in 
 them of every vestige of clothing, leaving 
 them nothing but their shirts. These freebooters attacked 
 defenceless men of either party, and could not be con- 
 
144 Henry VI. ch. vi. 
 
 trolled by either government. Nothing could exceed the 
 misery of a country so long desolated by war and rapine. 
 
 8. But the need of peace for England was even greater, 
 and the English council, under the guidance of Cardinal 
 Beaufort, thought that it might be promoted by the 
 
 Liberation liberation of the Duke of Orleans, who had 
 "^f o'l ^"^^ remained a prisoner in England ever since 
 the days of Agincourt. This proposition was 
 directly opposed to the advice given by Henry V. on his 
 death-bed, and it met with the strongest opposition from 
 the Duke of Gloucester ; but the young King, who was 
 now rapidly advancing to manhood, deferred much more 
 to the advice of his grand-uncle the cardinal than to that 
 of his uncle Gloucester. The Duke of Orleans engaged 
 that if permitted to return to his country he would use 
 his best efforts for peace. He took oath never to bear 
 arms against England, and to pay a ransom of 60,000 
 crowns, which was to be remitted to him if his efforts for 
 peace were successful ; and he was allowed to go. 
 
 9. When the Duke of Orleans was about to take this 
 oath, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, to show his dis- 
 pleasure, abruptly left the council and took his barge. 
 His feelings were undoubtedly shared by a large part of 
 the nation ; but his influence was less than it had ever 
 been, and next year he was made to undergo a great 
 humiliation. His private life had been very discredit- 
 able. He had married in 1423 the heiress of the Count of 
 Hainault, a lady who had a husband then alive, and who 
 had only been able to obtain a divorce from him by ap- 
 plying to the Antipope Benedict. To vindicate his claim 
 to her possessions he had invaded the Low Countries, 
 and by so doing had almost provoked the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy even then to renounce his alliance with England. 
 Yet after all he got tired of her, and began to take plea- 
 
1 44 1- Negotiations for Peace. 14^ 
 
 sure in the society of another woman named Eleanor 
 Cobham, whom he first made his mistress and afterwards 
 his wife. At the period of which we are now speaking 
 this woman was called Duchess of Gloucester. 
 
 10. Suddenly the Duchess Eleanor was accused of 
 witchcraft and treason. Roger Bolingbroke, a chaplain 
 of the duke her husband, was famous for his 
 astronomical learning and had been led by fheDu-^' 
 the study of occult science to practise the art Gloucester 
 of necromancy. He was arrested, and exhibit- accused of 
 
 , witchcraft. 
 
 ed at St. Paul s some wax images and other 
 apparatus with which he had practised divination ; after 
 which he was drawn, hanged, and quartered. But it was 
 found that he and one Margery Jourdemain, commonly 
 called the Witch of Eye, had been employed by the 
 duchess to destroy the King's hfe by incantations. The 
 process consisted in making an image of wax like the 
 King which they by degrees consumed, with various 
 spells, it being expected that the King's life would 
 gradually waste away as the image was acted upon. 
 
 II. It would seem that Dame Eleanor had been origi- 
 nally led to take counsel of these persons by her own 
 anxiety to know her future destiny. If Henry happened 
 to die unmarried or without an heir, her husband stood 
 next in the succession, and the prospect of being one day 
 queen inflamed her ambition. She inquired of the magi- 
 cian and of the witch how long Henry was likely to live ; 
 and from this it was but a short step to use the forbidden 
 arts to hasten his end. Her ambition, however, was her 
 ruin ; and the discovery of her deahngs with the sorcerers 
 threw additional discredit on her whole past life. It was 
 declared that she had originally employed love potions 
 to secure the affections of the duke, and to draw him 
 into his second, not very creditable marriage. Never- 
 
 L 
 
146 Henry VI. ch. vu. 
 
 theless, out of consideration for the duke, the punish- 
 ment of her crime against the King was mitigated. 
 Instead of being made to suffer as a traitor, she was com- 
 pelled to do public penance for her breach of Christian 
 morality. On three different days she walked through 
 the streets of London with a taper in her hand ; after 
 which she was handed over to the custody of Sir Thomas 
 Stanley, to be imprisoned for life. Her accomplice, the 
 Witch of Eye, was apprehended at Westminster, and 
 was burned to death at Smithfield the day after Boling- 
 broke's execution. 
 
 IV. The Kings Marriage. Deaths of Gloucester and 
 Beaufort. 
 
 1. The young King had now come to years of maturity, 
 but he had received his political education mainly from 
 
 Cardinal Beaufort, and he displayed little in- 
 
 Henry s . ^ ^ 
 
 character. dependence of judgment as he grew up. He 
 was a prince of amiable disposition, and free from all the 
 ordinary forms of youthful vice, but his intellectual 
 endowments were slender, and he became a complete 
 partizan of his grand-uncle the cardinal. His uncle 
 Gloucester he looked upon with positive aversion, partly 
 perhaps in consequence of his immoral life and the 
 scandal arising from the incident of Eleanor Cobham, 
 but also, no doubt, in great part for his persistent advo- 
 cacy of the policy of continuing the war. For Henry's 
 ardent love for peace, associated in his mind with the 
 principles of Christianity and religion, on which he de- 
 sired his government to be founded, caused him to give 
 ready ear to politicians who offered to point out a way 
 of terminating the long-standing war with France, 
 
 2, Among these politicians there was now another be- 
 sides Beaufort who began to have considerable influence. 
 
1 444* "^f^^ King' s Marriage. 147 
 
 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the 
 
 second son of that earl who had been chan- The Eai-i of 
 
 cellorto Richard II. — a brave man, who had ^^^^^ the°* 
 
 disting-uished himself in battle with the king's mar- 
 
 o riage with 
 
 French, and had once been taken prisoner Margaret of 
 
 T /• Anjou. 
 
 — urged upon Henry the policy of a match 
 with Margaret daughter of Rene Duke of Anjou, titular 
 King of Naples and Jerusalem. She was a woman of 
 great force of character and considerable personal 
 attractions. But the motive which decided Henry in her 
 favor was the same that had induced him to liberate the 
 Duke of Orleans. Her father was the brother of 
 Charles's queen, Mary of Anjou; and Henry considered 
 that by marrying Margaret he would open a surer way 
 for peace with France than by any other method. He 
 accordingly commissioned Suffolk to negotiate the 
 match, and a treaty of peace or truce at the same time. 
 
 3. The task was a delicate one. English prejudice 
 might be expected to view such a marriage with dislike, 
 not only because the lady was related to the French king, 
 but because the compact for her marriage included a 
 cession of territory to her father. The provinces of 
 Maine and Anjou which were then partly in the posses- 
 sion of the English and partly were continually overrun 
 by them, were to be given up to Ren^, while at the same 
 time, in consideration of Rene's poverty, Henry was to 
 accept his daughter without a marriage portion. Suffolk, 
 however, accepted the commission, and met the Duke 
 of Orleans at Tours, with whom he arranged a truce pre- 
 paratory to a more enduring peace. The marriage treaty 
 was then concluded, and Suffolk shortly after hisireturn 
 home went over again as Henry's proxy to 
 marry her and convey her to England, She Henry maVrieg 
 accordingly crossed the sea and landed at "' ^^ ^°* 
 
148 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 Porchester, was married to Henry in person at Titchfield 
 a few days after, and a month later was crowned at 
 Westminster. 
 
 4. Suffolk now rose highly in the royal favor. He 
 was raised from the dignity of earl to that of marquis, 
 Suffolk is made and four years later to that of duke. The 
 a duke. Queen especially felt that she owed him 
 much, and the Queen now ruled the King. Suffolk 
 became the leading councillor, whose ascendancy was 
 past dispute. The Duke of Gloucester had less weight 
 than ever, and even Cardinal Beaufort was thrown into 
 the shade. But on one point he knew that his conduct 
 could not escape criticism. No one ventured to speak 
 a word against the King's marriage itself. The Duke of 
 Gloucester even headed an address in parliament, recom- 
 mending Suffolk to the King's favor for promoting it. 
 But the terms on which it had been negotiated were such 
 as could not possibly be acceptable to the nation, and 
 notwithstanding many precautions taken by Suffolk to 
 guard himself against censure, a day of reckoning was 
 not far off. It was not merely that the giving had been 
 all on one side, and that Henry had accepted a bride 
 without a portion ; but he had given up to King Rene, 
 the ally and relative of Charles, two rich and important 
 provinces which were the keys of Normandy. More- 
 over, peace was not made, because, as might have been 
 expected, the very anxiety for it manifested by Henry 
 only served too well the purposes of Charles. Truce 
 only was concluded from time to time with a view to a 
 more lasting treaty, but difficulties were always found 
 about the final settlement, and in the meanwhile the 
 English still put off the fulfilment of the compact with 
 regard to the cession of Maine. 
 
 5. At the same time the Duke of Gloucester — " the 
 
1445' "^^^^ King's Marriage. 149 
 
 good Duke Humphrey," who had always opposed any- 
 thing hke concessions to France — fell more than ever 
 under the King's displeasure. Suffolk had secretly 
 accused him to the King of treason, and it was deter- 
 mined by Henry that he should be arrested. A Parlia- 
 ment was summoned to meet at Bury St. 
 
 A. D. 1447. 
 
 Edmund's in the beginning of the year 1447. 
 Some unusual measures were taken which seemed to be 
 for the protection of the peace against an apprehended 
 revolt. The Duke of Gloucester came from Devizes to 
 take his place among the peers. He was attended by a 
 retinue of eighty gentlemen on horseback ; but this 
 does not appear to have been a greater company than 
 his rank was supposed to warrant. On his . 
 
 ■^ -^ Arrest and 
 
 arrival he was placed under arrest by four death of the 
 or five noblemen sent to him for the pur- Gloucester. 
 pose by. the king. A few days afterwards ^ • ^^" 
 he died in his lodging. 
 
 6. Suspicions at once began to be entertained that he 
 had been privately murdered ; and the popular odium 
 rested upon Suffolk as the author of the deed. The case 
 is certainly not free from doubt, but it may very well be 
 believed that the death|Was really due to natural causes. 
 The occurrence, however, added greatly to the deep 
 feeling of dissatisfaction with which Suffolk's influence 
 over the King was now generally regarded. A number 
 of Gloucester's followers had been arrested at the same 
 time as himself on the pretence that they had conspired 
 to release Dame Eleanor Cobham and make the duke 
 her husband king. Some of them were condemned to 
 die as traitors, but at the intercession of a London clergy- 
 man their lives were pardoned by Henry, and after 
 being actually tied up and hanged on the gibbet they 
 were cut down alive and set free. But the charge of 
 
150 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 disloyalty against the Duke of Gloucester was very 
 generally disbelieved, and attempts were made in suc- 
 cessive parliaments to clear his memory of the stain. 
 Owing, however, to the King's own strong belief, 
 whether well or ill-founded, in his uncle's guilt, these at- 
 tempts were for a long time unsuccessful. 
 
 7. Within a very short time after the death of 
 Gloucester his old rival. Cardinal Beaufort, also died. 
 Death of The idea that Gloucester had been murdered, 
 
 Beaufort, ^"^^ the fact that Beaufort so soon fol- 
 
 Apni II. lowed him to the grave, made a deep im- 
 
 pression on the popular imagination. In after times it 
 was said that the Cardinal had died in agonies of re- 
 morse ; and this view of the case is vividly represented 
 by Shakespeare in the play. But there is very good 
 warrant for believing it to be unfounded. A witness 
 tells us that when he was on the point of death he sum- 
 moned the clergy of his cathedral to his palace, caused 
 requiems and other services to be chanted for his de- 
 parting soul, ordered his will to be read aloud and some 
 corrections to be made in it, and finally took a solemn 
 farewell of all his friends. Apparently, on the rise of 
 Suffolk his advice was no longer asked on state affairs, 
 and he applied himself from that time undisturbed to 
 the duties of his bishopric. 
 
 V. Loss of Normandy — Fall of the Duke of Suffolk. 
 
 I. The Marquis of Suffolk, as he was at this time 
 called, though soon afterwards he was made duke, 
 was now the only minister or statesman whose advice 
 Suffolk was much regarded by the King. But 
 
 unpopular. ^s^^^^ ^^ death of Gloucester the complaints 
 against his policy, especially in relation to the stipulated 
 cession of Maine and Anjou, became so general that he 
 
T450. Loss of Normandy. 151 
 
 himself requested that his conduct in that transaction 
 might be inquired into. It was accordingly -^ 
 examined by the council, who pronounced 
 him free from blame; and a proclamation was issued 
 shortly afterwards forbidding any one to propagate scan- 
 dalous rumors against him on pain of the King's dis- 
 pleasure. As yet, however, Maine had not been actually 
 delivered. As for Anjou, it had never been really in pos- 
 session of the English, so that no delivery of it was 
 necessarv. But the French kinsc, weary of 
 
 ' A. D. 1448. 
 
 the long delay made by the English in fulfil- 
 ling their engagements, sent an army to besiege Le Mans. 
 The English authorities remonstrated, and an embassy 
 was sent over in great haste to settle the matter without 
 hostilities. Finally the garrison gave up ,, , 
 
 •' ° tor March 15. 
 
 possession, but protested that in yielding up 
 
 the city they did not yield up the rights of Henry as 
 
 sovereign. 
 
 2, But in truth the loss of such a province as Maine 
 weakened the hold of the English even in the neighbor- 
 ing duchy of Normandy, which was now all that remained 
 to them in the north of France except Calais. The 
 government of Normandy was at this time in the hands 
 of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, a nephew of 
 Cardinal Beaufort, of whose immense wealth he inherited 
 the principal portion. His influence with the King or 
 with Suffolk had procured him this appointment, and the 
 Duke of York had been recalled from France to make 
 way for him. Unfortunately, he proved himself a sadly 
 incompetent ruler, and the Duke of York, whom he had 
 replaced, was led afterwards to criticise his conduct with 
 extreme severity. It was a time when it was peculiarly 
 important not to give needless provocation to the King 
 of France. Yet with Somerset's full connivance the 
 
152 Henry VL CH. vii. 
 
 forces that had iDeen withdrawn from Maine 
 March!^'^^ took by assault and pillaged the rich manu- 
 
 Capture ot facturins: town of Fougeres, on the borders 
 
 rougeies. o t? ' 
 
 of the duchy of Brittany. 
 
 3. The act was a perfidious violation of the truce with 
 France, in which Brittany had been expressly included. 
 It was disavowed by Somerset, who pretended that it 
 had been done without authority ; but it was impossible 
 that Charles could be deceived by so impudent a false- 
 hood, and he soon repaid the outrage by a similar 
 manoeuvre. He made a secret treaty with the Duke of 
 Brittany. A body of men, professedly in the service of 
 the duke, took by surprise the town of Pont de I'Arche 
 on the Seine — a most important position for the French 
 in the recovery of Normandy. When complaints were 
 made by the English, Charles offered to restore it if they 
 would restore Fougeres. All attempts, however, to 
 adjust the matter by conference proved ineffectual. The 
 French followed up their advantage by taking one or 
 
 two places more. At last open war was 
 
 War renewed. 
 
 declared, and Somerset found when it was 
 too late that he was utterly unprepared for the emergency. 
 
 4. He wrote over to England in alarm about the 
 strength of the enemy's musters and the weakness of the 
 English garrisons ; but before any efficient succors could 
 be sent a number of towns had already been recovered 
 Rouen ^Y ^^^ French. In October 1449 they laid 
 besieged. siege to Rouen, drove the English out of the 
 town into the castle, and there shut up Somerset himself, 
 who, to procure his own liberty, had to surrender not only 
 that city but several others, leaving the gallant Talbot 
 Earl of Shrewsbury as a hostage till they were delivered 
 up. At the same time the Duke of Brittany invaded 
 Lower Normandy and recovered Fougeres. By the end 
 
I450- ^^^^ of Normandy. 153 
 
 of the year nearly the whole of Normandy was lost, 
 except Cherbourg, Caen, Bayeux, and a few other towns 
 on or near the coast. In a very few months Loss of Nor- 
 more, even these were gone. Cherbourg, the mandy. 
 last English stronghold, surrendered on August 12, 
 1450. 
 
 5. As the news of these successive reverses reached 
 England, the general indignation against Suffolk's gov- 
 ernment could no longer be restrained. Political ballads 
 were circulated in which he was designated jackanapes 
 — the first instance that has yet been found of the use 
 of this expression. He was rhymed at as the ape with 
 his clog who had tied Talbot our good dog. The people 
 at large could hardly I:: persuaded that selfishness and 
 covetousness were not at the bottom of the mismanage- 
 ment which had created such disasters, and a most dan- 
 gerous spirit began to display itself in acts of popular 
 violence. At the beginning of the year 
 
 O '=> J A. D. 1450. 
 
 1450, Adam de Moleyns, Bishop of Chiches- 
 ter, who was keeper of the Privy Seal and one of the 
 most learned men in England, was sent to Portsmouth 
 to pay the wages of some soldiers and sailors. He was 
 a wealthy but a very avaricious man. The King's trea- 
 sury was ill provided with money, and he endeavored to 
 persuade the men to be content with less than their due. 
 But they broke out into a mutiny, cried out Murder of 
 that Normandy had been sold to the French, JJf^(.^'f^h°eL 
 and accused the bishop of being privy to ter, Jan. 9. 
 the transaction ; on which they fell upon him and put 
 him to death. 
 
 6. Some words uttered by this murdered bishop just 
 before his death were reported eagerly by Suffolk's ene- 
 mies as containing serious reflections on his conduct ; 
 and the circumstance probably contributed to his ruin. 
 
154 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 ^ ^ „ . Within a month after he was impeached in 
 
 SuiFolk im- . ^ 
 
 peached in parliament. He was accused of having been 
 
 parliament. ^ , ^ . , ^ _, 
 
 for many years a secret friend of France, 
 influenced by corrupt motives to procure the hberation 
 of the Duke of Orleans and the cession of Anjou and 
 Maine. It was also alleged that he had betrayed the 
 designs of England to her enemies, and that he had 
 formed an ambitious project for the elevation of his son 
 to the throne by proposing to marry him to Margaret 
 Beaufort, daughter of the last Duke of Somerset, who 
 stood next in succession to the crown. It was even in- 
 sinuated that had the match taken effect he would have 
 attempted to depose the King — a charge altogether pre- 
 posterous and incredible. In another bill of indictment 
 his whole policy was severely censured and attributed to 
 corrupt and treasonable motives. 
 
 7. The duke made answer to the first bill before the 
 King and lords, entirely denying the truth of the accu- 
 sations, and offering to prove them false in any manner 
 the King chose to direct. As to the second he declined 
 to ask a trial by his peers, but trusted he had sufficiently 
 vindicated his loyalty, and expressed himself ready to 
 submit to any judgment the King might think proper to 
 pronounce. On this he was told by the lord chancellor 
 in the King's name that on the more serious charges 
 Henry would not pronounce him either guilty or inno- 
 cent ; but, as he had himself agreed to submit to any- 
 Suffoik is thing the King thought expedient, Henry, 
 banished, jj^ ^j^g excrcise of his own discretion, and 
 not by way of sentence, bade him absent himself from 
 England for five years from the first day of May following. 
 
 8. This was imitating the weakness and the tyranny 
 of Richard II.; and, as the issue proved, it protected 
 neither Suffolk nor the King. The duke went down to 
 
1450. Jack Cade* s Rebellion. 155 
 
 Ipswich and embarked for Flanders. A London mob 
 endeavored to intercept him before leaving Westminster, 
 but he took ship in safety. At sea, however, he was 
 pursued by a ship called the "Nicholas of the Tower," 
 the crew of which insisted on having him delivered up to 
 them, and he was saluted by the master with the words 
 "Welcome, traitor!" He was then told that he must 
 die, and after being allowed a day to confess ^,jj murdered 
 himself, he was beheaded in a small boat. ^"^ ^^'^^ 
 The body was then brought to land and thrown upon 
 the sands at Dover. 
 
 VI. Jack Cades Rebellion — Loss of Guienne and Gascony. 
 
 I. Within a month after the murder of the Duke of 
 Suffolk a great rebellion took place in Kent and Sussex. 
 The people complained of extortions prac- ^ ^ j^^o 
 tised by the King's officers in the collection i^'^,!' ir^^^ ^ 
 
 •' o Rebellion. 
 
 of the revenue, and also that their griev- May. 
 ances could not be heard because the knights of the 
 shire were not freely elected. As their leader they se- 
 lected a man of some ability, who called himself by the 
 name of John Mortimer, and professed to be a cousin of 
 the Duke of York ; but it was afterwards discovered that 
 he was an Irishman, whose real name was Jack Cade. 
 He was, however, a very good disciplinarian and kept 
 his forces together in excellent order. On June i they 
 encamped upon Blackheath. The King was at that 
 time holding a Parliament at Leicester ; but he imme- 
 diately dissolved the legislature and came up to London. 
 With an army of 20,000 men he marched against the 
 rebels, who withdrew before him, so that the King occu- 
 pied their position on Blackheath. A detachment under 
 Sir Humphrey Stafford and his cousin William Stafford 
 
156 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 went forward to pursue the insurgents, but was defeated 
 at Sevenoaks and both the Staffords slain. The nobles 
 who were with the King now declared that they could 
 not keep their men together unless the King would con- 
 sent to dismiss and punish some of his principal advisers. 
 To satisfy them, Lord Say was arrested and sent to the 
 Tower. But the concession was of little service. The 
 royal forces disbanded, and though the city of London 
 offered the King their services, he thought it best to with- 
 draw, and retired to Kenilworth. 
 
 2. The result of this was that the citizens consented 
 to admit the rebels. Cade passed over London Bridge 
 with his followers. He struck his sword against London 
 Stone and said, "Now is Mortimer lord of this city." 
 He caused Lord Say to be fetched from the Tower and 
 arraigned before a court at the Guildhall. The unfortu- 
 nate nobleman claimed to be tried by his peers; but he 
 was hurried off and beheaded in Cheapside. One Crow- 
 mer, sheriff of Kent, who was Lord Say's son-in-law, 
 was beheaded at the same time in Cade's presence ; and 
 the two heads were barbarously carried through the 
 streets on poles and made to kiss each other. Cade now 
 began to relax discipline. He entered the houses of 
 unpopular citizens and pillaged them, so that men 
 who had anything to lose became alarmed for their pro- 
 perty. For three days he held possession of the city, 
 retiring every evening into Southwark for the night ; but 
 the mayor and aldermen applied to Lord Scales, who 
 had the keeping of the Tower, for a force to drive him 
 out; and a hard-fought battle took place on London 
 Bridge during the night between the 5th and 6th of July. 
 In the morning the result was still uncertain, when a 
 truce was agreed to for a few hours, and such of the 
 King's councillors as remained in London offered a 
 
I450* Jack Cade's Rebellion. 157 
 
 general pardon to the insurgents on condition of their 
 laying down their arms. The offer was very generally 
 accepted, and most of the men returned homewards. 
 Cade was pardoned under the name of Mortimer, his 
 real name being still unknown. But doubtful, perhaps, 
 lest he might still be made responsible, he broke open 
 the King's Bench and Marshalsea prisons and formed a 
 new company out of the criminals detained there. With 
 this force he retired to Rochester and tried to raise new 
 disturbances, but these were soon quelled, and Cade was 
 pursued out of Kent into Sussex, where he was captured 
 by Alexander Iden, a gentleman who was about this 
 time appointed sheriff of the former county in place of 
 the murdered Crowmer. On being taken, however, he 
 received a mortal wound and he died before he could be 
 conveyed to London. His head was fixed upon London 
 Bridge with the face looking towards Kent. 
 
 3. It was now evident that the King required the aid 
 of some strong hand to administer the government. 
 Even before the fall of Suffolk there had been much 
 complaint that he did not employ the Duke of York to 
 redress the wrongs of the people. But the Duke of York 
 had in fact been sent to Ireland as the King's lieutenant 
 some time before, mainly through the influence of Som- 
 erset, and in order that he might be out of the way. The 
 crisis, however, was now so ursrent that he 
 
 1 1 1 , ■ ^r . -^ . . The Duke 
 
 appears to have thought himself justified m of York 
 coming over without leave. He crossed the 'frS^^''^^^ 
 Channel to Beaumaris in Anglesea, where l^^'*"^- 
 attempts were made to stop his landing, then collecting 
 a body of his followers in Wales, marched on to Lon- 
 don and presented himself before the King. Efforts 
 were made in several places to arrest his progress or 
 prevent his friends from joining him upon the way; but 
 
158 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 they were ineffectual as regards himself. When he 
 reached the King's presence, the first thing that he did 
 was to demand and obtain a repudiation by Henry him- 
 self of certain imputations of disloyalty that had been 
 made against him, and which had been the pretext of 
 many attempts against his person. He then presented 
 a petition for better administration of justice, complain- 
 ing that persons indicted of treason or accused of it by 
 public rumor were not brought to trial or even put un- 
 der arrest ; and he so far prevailed that the King pro- 
 mised to establish a new council, of which York himself 
 should be a member, to inquire into all abuses. 
 
 4. The Duke of Somerset, who had come over from 
 Normandy just before York himself came over from 
 Ireland, now found himself in a painful situation. Fa- 
 vored though he was by the court, he was one of the 
 most unpopular men in England. He was generally 
 considered responsible for the surrender of Caen and the 
 total loss of Normandy ; and when Parliament met 
 towards the close of the year to consider the state of 
 matters in France, he failed to satisfy the peers of the 
 integrity of his conduct. He was accord- 
 aJr'^sTed;'' Jngly placed under arrest. But owing to 
 but soon ^j^g favor of the court he did not long re- 
 
 leased and main in custody. The King, in defiance of 
 
 in favor. . . , , j i • r 
 
 popular opmion, not only released hnn from 
 confinement, but made him captain of Calais and gave 
 him the control of the royal household. For a whole year 
 afterwards his ascendancy was undisputed, and the Duke 
 
 of York found it advisable to withdraw from 
 Lo^so?"'" court to his own castle of Ludlow. But 
 
 Sd^""^ meanwhile a series of reverses overtook the 
 
 Gascony. English arms in France, and the loss of 
 
 Normandy was followed by the no less complete loss of 
 
1 451* Loss of Guienne and Gas cony. .159 
 
 Guienne and Gascony. First Bordeaux capitulated, then 
 Bayonne ; the whole south of France surrendered, and 
 Calais was now all that was left of English possessions 
 upon the Continent. Nor was even this last stronghold 
 safe ; for not only at this time, but during the whole re- 
 mainder of Henry's reign, there were continual alarms 
 lest the French should recover Calais also. 
 
 5. It was impossible that the Duke of York could view 
 this state of matters with indifference, — especially when 
 his rival Somerset had the ear of the King and was in- 
 stilling continually into Henry's mind distrust and sus- 
 picion against himself. He accordingly mus- York 
 tered a number of his followers and marched London^. '° 
 up to London. The King and Somerset had ■*■• ^- ^452- 
 full warning, as York had made no secret of his inten- 
 tions, and having collected another army on their side, 
 set out to meet him. York, however, avoided an engage- 
 ment and pressed on to London, which he hoped 
 would have opened its gates to him ; but being denied 
 entrance there, he crossed the Thames at Kingston 
 Bridge and marched into Kent, taking up his position at 
 Dartford. The King's army followed and encamped a 
 few miles from him upon Blackheath. A battle ,^ , 
 
 . ^ March i. 
 
 might now easily have taken place, but some 
 of the lords on the King's side made proposals for a 
 compromise, and Bishop Waynflete of Winchester, with 
 the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick and some other 
 noblemen, were sent to the Duke of York in embassy 
 to ask the reason why he appeared in arms. The duke 
 replied that he intended no ill to the King or his council, 
 but only desired the removal of the Duke of Somerset 
 and other persons by whom the people had been mis- 
 governed. Several of the lords on the King's side were 
 so far favorable to this object, that they induced the 
 
i6o Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 King to return an answer that Somerset should be placed 
 in custody until he had acquitted himself of such charges 
 He is per- ^^ York would bring against him. With this 
 
 suadedto promise the Duke of York was so entirely 
 
 dismiss his -^ _ ^ 
 
 forces ; but Satisfied that he at once broke up his camp, 
 
 faith is not t • j i • i -11 
 
 kept with Qismissed his army, and repaired alone to 
 
 ^^^' the King's tent to declare his loyalty. But 
 
 here he found himself deceived. Somerset had not 
 been placed in confinement according to promise, but 
 was attending on the King just as before; and the Duke 
 of York had in fact placed himself in the power of his 
 rival. 
 
 6. Somerset, however, did not dare to make an ex- 
 treme use of this advantage. The duke had still on the 
 Welsh borders about 10,000 men, who, it was said, were 
 actually on the march to London, led by his son Edward 
 Earl of March, a boy of ten years of age. It was resolved, 
 therefore, merely to demand from him an oath of alle- 
 giance as a guarantee for his future loyalty. This oath he 
 A. D. 1452. took at St. Paul's on March 10, 1452, and 
 March 10. -^^g allowed to go at large. 
 
 7. After this the King issued a general amnesty on 
 Good Friday, April 7, and civil dissensions were for a 
 Attempt to while allayed. Towards the close of the 
 recover same year an attempt was made to recover 
 
 Guienne '' 
 
 and Guienne and Gascony from the French, The 
 
 ascony. inhabitants of those provinces found them- 
 
 selves more severely taxed by their new masters than 
 they had been when under English rule, and they 
 offered their allegiance again to the King of England. 
 A force was despatched under Talbot Earl of Shrews- 
 bury, which at once took possession of Bordeaux 
 and in a wonderfully short space of time succeeded 
 in recovering for a while nearly all the lost provinces. 
 
1453- Loss of Guiennt and Gas cony. i6i 
 
 But in the beginning of the following June, 
 the French king, having carefully matured June. * _ 
 his plans, retook, one by one, the fortresses north of the 
 Gironde, and laid siege to Castillon on the Dordogne. 
 The place was important as giving its possessors free 
 navigation into the Gironde ; and the Earl of Shrews- 
 bury, hearing that it was in danger, suddenly left Bor- 
 deaux with a rather inadequate force to compel the 
 enemy if possible to raise the siege. Urged on by a 
 false report that the French were in retreat, he pursued 
 in the direction of their supposed flight, and found a 
 well-ordered army with artillery drawn up in battle 
 array. With heedless impetuosity he rushed upon the 
 enemy, his followers uttering their usual war-cry, "A 
 Talbot! St. George !" His gallant army was r^ ,, , 
 mowed down by the fire of the French guns feated and 
 
 , , , - slain. 
 
 or cut to pieces m hand-to-hand encounter, 
 
 and he himself fell in the midst of the fight. His body 
 
 was found covered with wounds on the limbs and on the 
 
 face. 
 
 8. With the death of Talbot all hope of the English 
 retaining their hold on Gascony was practically at an 
 end. Castillon at once surrendered ; then a number of 
 other places ; and finally Bordeaux, after 
 every other stronghold had been evacuated, octobe/17. 
 was obliged to submit to Charles. Thus 
 was Gascony finally lost, after having been in English 
 possession, with little interruption, for the 
 
 - , . Gascony is 
 
 space of three centuries. finally lost. 
 
 Vn. The King's Illness — Civil War, 
 
 I. About this time King Henry fell seriously ill, and 
 lost entirely, for the time, the use of his mental faculties. 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 In October he became a father, the Queen, 
 his"faculdes. after eight years of married Hfe, giving 
 birth to a son who was baptized by the 
 name of Edward ; but the news could not be communi- 
 cated to the King so as to reach his understanding. In 
 this crisis the government naturally came to a standstill, 
 and the councillors about the King, however unwillingly, 
 could no longer avoid seeking the advice of all the peers 
 of the realm, including the Duke of York. The result 
 was that before the end of the year Somerset was 
 accused of treason by the Duke of Norfolk, and com- 
 mitted to the Tower. Norfolk demanded that the cir- 
 cumstances of the loss of Normandy and of Guienne 
 should be made the subject of a criminal inquiry accord- 
 ing to the laws of France ; and that other matters relating 
 to Somerset's administration should be investigated ac- 
 cording to the law of England. Somerset, however, re- 
 mained in prison a whole year and upwards of two 
 months, without being brought to trial. 
 
 2. Meanwhile the King's infirmity made it necessary 
 that some one should be appointed to act in his name. 
 Parliament had been summoned to meet at 
 Y&^',lx^^' Reading on February ii, 1454. It was im- 
 mediately adjourned to Westminster and a 
 commission was given to the Duke of York to act as the 
 King's lieutenant on its reassembling. Soon after it met 
 again Cardinal Kemp, Archbishop of Canterbury, died. 
 He was an accomplished statesman, and held at the 
 time the office of lord chancellor. It was important that 
 both the primacy and the lord chancellorship should be 
 fdled up wi'thout delay ; and a deputation was sent by 
 the lords in Parliament to Windsor to ascertain whether 
 the King then possessed such a degree of consciousness 
 as to comprehend the situation. But the deputation 
 
1455- ^^ King's Illness. i6 
 
 o 
 
 were obliged to report that their efforts were an utter 
 failure. They waited on the King and expressed in the 
 first place their anxiety to hear of his recovery ; but the 
 King gave no answer. Not a word did he utter ; not a 
 nod or faintest gesture implied that he understood a sin- 
 gle thing that was said to him. To provide, therefore, 
 for the necessary government of the king- 
 dom, the lords in Parliament appointed the Protector.^ 
 Duke of York Protector of England. 
 
 3. For the first time Margaret of Anjou now found 
 herself entirely without influence in the affairs of the 
 kingdom, which she had, in fact, ruled for years in her 
 husband's name. York exercised his new power with 
 vigor, and put down with remarkable facility some fac- 
 tious disturbances in the North. But his authority was 
 short-lived ; for at Christmas the King re- The King 
 gained possession of his faculties, and as a recovers. 
 necessary consequence the power of the Protector termi- 
 nated. The Duke of Somerset was still in 
 
 A. D. 1455. 
 
 prison, but was presently released on bail ; 
 after which, at a meeting of the council held before the 
 King, his sureties were discharged and he was declared 
 free from any suspicion of disloyalty. It was now clear 
 that the King would be again guided entirely by the 
 advice of Somerset. York was deprived even of the 
 government of Calais. The Earl of Salisbury, who had 
 been appointed chancellor about the time that York was 
 made Protector, was removed from his post, and Bour- 
 chier. Archbishop of Canterbury, was appointed in his 
 room. York and his friends knew well that they were 
 out of favor and held in great distrust. 
 
 4. A council being summoned to meet at Leicester for 
 the surety of the King's person, the Duke of York, with 
 the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, who had withdrawn 
 
164 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 into the North, determined to 2^0 up to the 
 
 A. D. 1455. & r- 
 
 Kmg with an armed force. They feared 
 that if they attended the council they would be en- 
 trapped : but if the King were in any real danger they 
 professed themselves ready to offer him their services. 
 They wrote to Archbishop Bourchier to explain to Henry 
 their motives for taking up arms, and they marched on 
 till they came to St. Alban's. Here they were met by 
 the King and Somerset ; and a sharp battle took place, 
 in which Somerset and a number of other lords were 
 slain, and the King was wounded in the neck with an 
 
 arrow. The Duke of York was master of 
 
 May 22. 
 
 First battle of the field ; but he and the Earls of Salisbury 
 and Warwick came after the engagement 
 and knelt before the King, beseeching his forgiveness 
 and disowning all intention to do him injury. Henry 
 forgave them willingly and went on with them to Lon- 
 don, where they were received in triumph the following 
 day. 
 
 5. A Parliament was immediately afterwards sum- 
 moned in which the acts of the Duke of York and his 
 friends were declared to have been those of good and 
 loyal subjects. It was prorogued till November. In the 
 interval the King fell ill again, and when it reassembled 
 York again York was again nominated as Protector. 
 Protector, The Parliament also determined that the 
 Protectorship this time should not cease by the mere 
 fact of the King being once more able to exercise his 
 functions, but that whenever the King was so far re- 
 covered York should be discharged of his functions in 
 full parliament. 
 
 6. In February following he was so discharged. The 
 King had regained his health, and was once more able 
 to perform the duties of royalty. Apparently York still 
 
1459- Civil War. 165 
 
 retained some influence in the conduct of ^^^ -j. 
 affairs, but the Kino^ now croverned in discharged 
 
 . ° ° of the office. 
 
 his own name. Things generally were in a. d. 1456. 
 an uncertain state for about two years. The ' ^''' 
 court seems to have moved about a good deal at a dis- 
 tance from London. The Queen kept at a distance 
 from the King. The Scots attacked the borders and 
 the French insulted the coast with impunity. At length 
 it was felt desirable that there should be a reconcilia- 
 tion between York and his friends on the one side, and 
 the Queen and her friends on the other. A great coun- 
 cil was held in London in February 1458. a. d. 1458. 
 York, Salisbury, and Warwick took up their ^^^^^''y- 
 quarters in the city ; but the Duke of Somerset and 
 other lords of the Queen's party were not admitted within 
 it lest they should take occasion to revenge the death of 
 their fathers and other relatives at St. Alban's. Confer- 
 ences took place daily between the two parties in the 
 suburbs, in the morning at the Blackfriars and in the 
 afternoon at the Whitefriars in Fleet Street. In the end 
 terms of agreement were come to by which ^ ... . 
 
 " ^ Keconciliatjon 
 
 the Yorkists undertook to bestow a certain of the opposite 
 sum in masses for the souls of the lords 
 slain at St. Alban's, and the other party to forego all 
 claims and actions against their opponents arising out 
 of that battle. 
 
 7. A great procession was held in honor of the recon- 
 ciliation. The rival lords marched together to St. Paul's. 
 The young Duke of Somerset went hand in hand with 
 Salisbury ; the Duke of Exeter with the Earl of Warwick. 
 The King then followed, wearing his crown upon his 
 head. The Duke of York and the Queen walked after 
 him, arm in arm. This good-will and amity, however, 
 scarcely lasted a whole year. A quarrel between the 
 
i66 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 servants of the King and the Earl of Warwick led to 
 
 imputations against the earl's loyalty, and he retired to 
 
 Calais, of which place he had been made lord deputy. 
 
 The Queen then endeavored to arrest his 
 
 A. D. 1459. 
 
 father the Earl of Salisbury, whom she com- 
 missioned Lord Audley to intercept on a journey. But 
 „ , , the earl, being forewarned, had collected a 
 
 Battle of ' & ' 
 
 Bioreheath. Considerable force, and completely over- 
 ^^ ■ ^^' threw Lord Audley at Bioreheath in Staf- 
 
 fordshire on Sunday, September 23, 1459. 
 
 8. It was now evident that the question must be fought 
 out between the party of the Queen and that of the Duke 
 of York. The duke mustered his forces in the marches 
 of Wales, and was joined at Ludlow by the Earls of 
 Salisbury and Warwick, the latter having come over 
 from Calais to give him aid. An army commanded by 
 the King himself approached Ludlow. The confederate 
 lords endeavored to avoid a conflict by strong protesta- 
 tions of loyalty, declaring that they only remained 
 under arms in self-defence. But the King issued procla- 
 mations of pardon to all who would desert their standard, 
 and when the two armies lay opposite each other, one 
 Andrew Trollope, who had come over from Calais with 
 the Earl of Warwick, withdrew by night with a con- 
 siderable body of men and went over to the King. His 
 defection made the Yorkists despair of further resistance. 
 ^. They fled and left their banners on the 
 
 Dispersion "^ 
 
 ofthe field. The duke and his second son, Ed- 
 
 mund Earl of Rutland, escaped by Wales 
 into Ireland. His eldest, Edward Earl of March, along 
 with the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury, passed into 
 Devonshire, where they took ship and sailed, first to 
 Guernsey and afterwards to Calais. 
 
 9, In November a Parliament met at Coventry in 
 
1460. Civil War, 167 
 
 which the Duke of York and all his party were attainted. 
 But the duke was safe in Ireland, and War- They are 
 wick could not be dispossessed of Calais, ^"^^"^^ • 
 where the soldiers were devoted to him. The latter had 
 also the command of the King's fleet, having been in 
 the preceding year entrusted with the keeping of the sea, 
 in which he had distinguished himself by a splendid 
 victory over a Spanish fleet. It was in vain that other 
 persons were appointed to replace him in either of his 
 two commands. The young Duke of Somerset, who 
 was sent over as Captain of Calais, Avas unable to take 
 possession of his post. He was obliged to land at some 
 little distance from Calais, and the very sailors who had 
 brought him over conveyed their ships afterwards into 
 Calais haven and offered their services to the Earl of 
 Warwick. Many friends at the same time came flocking 
 over from England to join the Earls of March, Salis- 
 bury, and Warwick. Measures were concerted by these 
 lords for the invasion of England, and the Earl of War- 
 wick sailed to Ireland, where he arranged a plan of 
 action in concert with the Duke of York, and returned 
 to Calais. 
 
 VIII. The Duke of York's Claim— His Death— Henry 
 
 Deposed,' 
 
 I. At length, in June 1460, the three earls crossed the 
 Channel. There went over with them a papal legate 
 named Coppini who had been sent to Eng- ^ j^ j^g^^ 
 land in the preceding year and was return- |^"% 
 ing from a fruitless mission, when those Salisbury 
 lords persuaded him to stay a while at return to 
 Calais and use his influence to promote ^^^'^ ' 
 peace between them and the King. They landed at 
 
1 68 Henry VI. ch. vii. 
 
 Sandwich, and were received with joy by a great multi- 
 tude of people. Archbishop Bourchier met them and 
 conducted them to London. The legate in their com- 
 pany displayed the standard of the Church. Their fol- 
 lowers increased in numbers as they went along, and 
 the city of London opened its gates to them. They 
 published manifestoes declaring how they had been 
 debarred from setting before the King himself matters 
 of great importance to the kingdom, how the laws were 
 ill administered and justice was perverted ; how the 
 people were grievously taxed and the patrimony of the 
 Crown was wasted by men who had too much influence 
 over the King ; how the King's purveyors were driven 
 to great extortion to supply the wants of the household ; 
 and how the King was forcing every township to raise 
 men for him at its own cost. Moreover letters had been 
 written by authority encouraging the French to attempt 
 the siege of Calais, and the Irish chieftains to rise 
 against the English. 
 
 2. The King collected his forces at Coventry and 
 went on to Northampton, where he was met by the 
 ,, , ^ army of the confederate lords. In a brief 
 
 Battle of ^ 
 
 Northampton, but sharp engagement the royal forces were 
 ^ ^°' defeated and the King himself taken pri- 
 
 soner. He was conducted to London, and of course the 
 government fell into the hands of the victors. New 
 officers of state were appointed and a Parhament was 
 summoned which met at Westminster in October. Here 
 the attainders of the Duke of York and his party were 
 reversed. But before it had sat many days the Duke of 
 Vork himself came over from Ireland, and his appear- 
 ance gave rise to proceedings of a kind altogether un- 
 usual. 
 
 3. He arrived in London with a retinue of 500 men, 
 
1460. The Duke of York' s Claim. 169 
 
 proceeded to Westminster, and took up quarters in the 
 royal palace. On October 16 he entered the House of 
 Lords, took his seat on the King's throne, and delivered 
 to the chancellor a writing in which he ,, , 
 
 York 
 
 claimed the crown for himself by lineal claims the 
 descent from Edward III., and maintained ^ ^"* 
 that Henry was not rightful king. He was, in fact, de- 
 scended from Lionel Duke of Clarence, the elder brother 
 of John of Gaunt, from whom Henry and the last two 
 kings had derived their title. Many historians have 
 been of opinion that he had been ambitious to vindicate 
 this claim all along ; but it must be confessed that be- 
 fore this time he had always conducted himself with re- 
 markable moderation, and when we consider the bad 
 faith he had repeatedly experienced from the opposite 
 party, owing to the weakness of the King and the over- 
 bearing character of his consort, we can quite well un- 
 derstand that he may have been led to advance his pre- 
 tensions from other motives than mere ambition. At 
 the same time, it naturally seemed to the peers an un- 
 precedented thing to deprive a king like Henry of his 
 crown after he and his family had worn it for three gene- 
 rations. The greater number of the lords stayed away 
 from the House ; but the duke insisting on an answer, 
 those present referred the matter to the King himself, 
 desiring to know what he could allege in opposition to 
 the duke's claim. The King consulted his judges and 
 lawyers, but they declined to advise him in a matter of 
 such grave responsibility ; so that finally it was referred 
 again to the lords, who gave it as their opinion that the 
 duke's title could not be defeated. But as Henry VI. 
 had been actually crowned as king and they had all 
 sworn fealty to him, it was suggested as a compromise 
 and agreed to by both parties, that he should be al- 
 
170 Henry VI. CH. vii. 
 
 lowed to retain his crown for life, but that the duke and 
 his heirs should succeed after Henry's death. This ar- 
 rangement was embodied in an act of parliament which 
 received the royal assent ; and Henry, wearing his crown 
 upon his head, made a public procession to St. Paul's, 
 accompanied by the duke as heir-apparent, to give it 
 greater solemnity. 
 
 4. Queen Margaret, however, was not so easily satis- 
 fied with this tame surrender of the rights of her son. 
 Since the battle of Northampton she had retired into 
 Wales, and afterwards into Scotland ; but a strong party 
 in the north of England maintained her cause. The 
 Duke of York proceeded northwards, ano towards the 
 end of the year took up his quarters at Sandal Castle. 
 From this position he allowed himself to be lured to 
 attack the (2ueen's adherents at Wakefield, 
 Battle of Wake- where his army suffered a total defeat and 
 
 field, Uec. 30. •' 
 
 he himself was slain in the field. The 
 victors were most merciless and insolent. It is true 
 there is some uncertainty about the stories which were 
 reported by writers of somewhat later date. Queen 
 Margaret herself is said to have been present at the 
 battle ; and Lord Clifford, who, having lost his father at 
 the battle of St. Alban's, nourished a deadly feeling of 
 hatred and revenge against the Duke of York, presented 
 his slain enemy's head to Margaret with the words, 
 " Madam, your war is done. Here is your king's ran- 
 som." The same Clifford, after the battle, also put to 
 death most cruelly the duke's second son, Edmund Earl 
 of Rutland, a young man not quite eighteen years of age, 
 whose fate excited great compassion, and whom later 
 writers represented to have been a mere boy. But from 
 what the few really contemporary writers say in refer- 
 ence to this battle it may be doubted whether Margaret 
 
1 46 1. The Duke of Yo7'k' s Claim. 171 
 
 arrived upon the scene till after it was fought. There 
 seems no question, however, that in this particular en- 
 gagement there was manifested a spirit of ferocity and 
 vindictiveness which had not been seen before, and 
 which afterwards caused these wars to be looked back 
 upon with feelings of peculiar pain and horror. The 
 Duke of York's head, which Margaret caused to be 
 crowned with a paper crown, was stuck upon the walls 
 of York city. And the Earl of Salisbury, having been 
 taken prisoner in the fight, was beheaded, and his head 
 was placed there too. 
 
 5. Edward Earl of March, the Duke of York's eldest 
 son, had left London shortly before his father and gone 
 into the borders of Wales. He was at 
 
 A. D. 1461. 
 
 Gloucester when he received the news of 
 his father's death. He immediately moved on to 
 Shrewsbury. The men of the country flocked to him in 
 numbers, eager to offer their services against Queen 
 Margaret. But hearing that Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pem- 
 broke, the half brother of King Henry, was raising 
 forces in Wales along with James Butler, ^^^^^^ ^^ 
 Earl of Ormond, who brought some bands Mortimer's 
 
 Cross Feb. 2. 
 
 of Irishmen into the field, he turned back 
 and met them at Mortimer's Cross to the south of Wig- 
 more, in Herefordshire, where he thoroughly defeated 
 them on Candlemas Day, 1461. It is said that on the 
 morning of that day, just before the battle, he was 
 struck by the appearance of the sun ; for it seemed as 
 if three suns were seen together in the sky, and that 
 they all at once merged into one, — an omen of ap- 
 proaching success by which he was greatly encouraged. 
 The Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire fled from the field ; 
 but Sir Owen Tudor, Pembroke's father, was taken prison- 
 er, and was beheaded at Hereford along with some others. 
 
172 Henry ^J. cii. vii. 
 
 6. This Sir Owen Tudor deserves notice here as 
 being the aiicesLor of a line of icings and queens who 
 
 Sir Owen afterwards sat upon the KngHsh throne. He 
 Tudor. ^;^y ^ Welsh chieftain of handsome person 
 
 and great accomplishments, who boasted a pedigree from 
 the ancient line of Cadwallader, the last king of the 
 Britons. Perhaps the possession of such a lineage 
 placed him, in his own eyes, on a level with kings and 
 princes; but whetlier it was due to this, or to his own 
 personal merits, he succeeded in producing such an im- 
 pression on the French princess, Catherine, widow of 
 Henry V,, that she became his wife. By her he had, 
 bcsi<les some other children, two sons, who being the 
 half-brothers of Henry VI., were afterwards raised to the 
 peerage. Edmund, the eldest, was created Earl of Rich- 
 mond, and became the father of King Henry VII. Jasper, 
 the second, was made Earl of Pemliroke ; and it is he 
 who was, as we have seen, defeated by young Edward 
 Earl of March at Mortimer's Cross. 
 
 7. Ikit although lOdward had gained a signal victory, 
 Queen Margaret had profited by the resistance offered to 
 him in Wales, and drew towards London with a host of 
 northern men who devastated the country as they went 
 along. The Earl of Warwick brought the King out of 
 Loudon ;iii<l nu I her at St. Alban's, where, for a second 
 time, a battle was fought in this civil war. On this occa- 
 
 , , , sion the Oueen's party were victorious and 
 
 Second l);U(l«i <^ i j 
 
 of St. Ail)an's. tlie Yorkists were put to flight. The King, 
 ^'■'''' who had been left behind, was again at 
 
 liberty and w:i.s rejoined by his wife and son. He issued 
 a procl;nn:ilion against the Earl of March, who was now 
 on his w;iy (ow;irds London; but Edward, joining his 
 forces wilh (he remainder of Warwick's army, marched 
 on unopposed and was rereivetl wilh acclamations as he 
 
Russell & Struthers.N.Y. 
 
 Ex pi anati on. 
 X Tndicates a Battle Field. 
 
 * Attached to a date indicates that the place was taken, sacked or ravaged at that date. 
 A Indicates an Encampment. 
 
 A mere date following the name of a place indicates a treaty or some other point of interest connected 
 ■with the place, which will be found recorded in the history. 
 
1 46 1. Triumph of the House of York. 173 
 
 entered the city. For the citizens, who had always 
 favored his father, were now driven to take part with 
 him all the more in consequence of what they heard of 
 the depredations committed by Margaret's northern 
 troops. 
 
 8. Being therefore now lodged in the capital and 
 assured of the friendship of the people, Edward sum- 
 moned a council of lords, before whom he declared his 
 right to the crown of England ; and it was determined 
 to depose King Henry on the ground that he had broken 
 the agreement made with the Duke of York in the last 
 Parliament, and shown himself besides incompetent to 
 rule. The lords accordingly named Edward king. 
 That day, at a great meeting in St. John's Field, the 
 people were asked if they would accept the ^, ^ , 
 
 . ,.. 7- The Earl of 
 
 Earl of March as their sovereign. Cries of March de- 
 " Yea, yea. King Edward !" filled the air, ^"^^^ '"^' 
 with great shouts and clapping of hands. A deputation 
 of lords and commons then waited upon him at Baynard's 
 Castle, the mansion of his father in Thames Street, to 
 notify to him his election as king. He accepted the 
 dignity, proceeded in state to St. Paul's and afterwards 
 to Westminster, and from that day began to rule. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EDWARD IV. 
 
 I. Triu77iph of the House of York. 
 
 I. Edward was king; but Henry and Margaret had 
 withdrawn into the North, and an army of 60,000 men 
 under Somerset lay near York. Both Ed- 
 
 ■^ . A. D. I4OI. 
 
 ward and his supporters prepared for a deci- 
 
174 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 sive struggle. The Duke of Norfolk went down into his 
 own country to summon his retainers, the Earl of War- 
 wick left London with a great body of men, and Edward 
 himself followed northwards a few days later. The more 
 advanced divisions of their forces had reached Pomfret 
 and had secured the passage of the river Aire at Ferry- 
 bridge, when Lord Fitzwalter, who kept the bridge, was 
 Battle of surprised and slain by Lord Clifford in the 
 
 b^d^ early morning. Lord Falconbridge, how- 
 
 March 27, ever, came up immediately afterwards and 
 
 defeated Clifford, who was also slain in the encounter. 
 The united forces of Warwick and of Edward then 
 pushed on in the direction of York, and between the 
 villages of Towton and Saxton, about eight miles from 
 the city, found the whole army of the enemy drawn up 
 to give them battle. The conflict began about four 
 o'clock in the afternoon, the day after the battle of 
 Ferrybridge. The fighting was continued through the 
 night, and renewed with vigor next morning about nine 
 and Towton o'clock, notwithstanding a heavy snow 
 March 29. shower which blew in the facc3 of the Lan- 
 
 castrians. That day was Palm Sunday, The forces 
 engaged on either side were enormous, and never was 
 battle fought so obstinately. About mid-day the Duke 
 of Norfolk came up to the assistance of the Yorkists, 
 with fresh forces that he had levied in Norfolk. Still 
 the Lancastrians kept the field, fighting most obstinately 
 till about three in the afternoon. But their ranks being 
 broken they were at last compelled to give way, and 
 were pursued in various directions, no quarter being 
 granted by the conquerors. Some ^ycrG drowned in at- 
 tempting to cross rivers ; numbers were cut down in the 
 pursuit, and the way was strewn with corpses for ten 
 miles, up to the very gates of York. On the field itself, 
 
1463. Trimnph of the House of York. 175 
 
 after the battle, the spectacle was most ghastly. The 
 snow was crimsoned with the blood of the slain, and as 
 it melted a crimson stream poured down every furrow. 
 The dead were heaped up in trenches, and their numbers, 
 counted by the heralds, were declared to amount to no 
 less than eight-and-twenty thousand. 
 
 2. King Henry and Margaret fled towards Scotland, 
 while Edward entered York in triumph. The power of 
 Henry was completely crushed, and the first step he took 
 to recover it was not much calculated to advance his 
 object. Driven to seek refuge in Scotland he dehvered 
 up Berwick to the Scots and encouraged them to under- 
 take the siege of Carlisle. But the latter place was 
 relieved by Lord Montague, and Edward -- 
 
 •' <=> > Coronation 
 
 having returned to London was crowned on of Edward. 
 Sunday, June 28. His two brothers, George and Rich- 
 ard, who had been sent abroad for security, returned 
 and were created dukes, with the titles of Clarence and 
 Gloucester. Parliament was then summoned to meet at 
 Westminster in November, and an act was passed con- 
 firming Edward's claim to the crown by hereditary right, 
 and declaring the three preceding kings to have been 
 usurpers. All who had been active in the cause of the 
 House of Lancaster were attainted and their possessions 
 forfeited. Henry himself and Queen Margaret were 
 declared traitors. 
 
 3. Still, the whole kingdom was not for some time 
 absolutely in Edward's power. There were castles in 
 Wales which held out for Henry, and Margaret hoped, 
 with the aid of the French and Scots, to make a success- 
 ful invasion. She sailed from Kirkcudbright ^ ^ ^^g^ 
 through the Irish Channel into Brittany, -^P"* 3- 
 and, repairing to the French Court, made a treaty with 
 the new King of France, Louis XL, by which she en- 
 
176 Edwaj'd IV. CH. VIII. 
 
 gnj^ed to surrender C:i,l;iis as the price of his assistance, 
 Louis lent her some money and a small force, with which 
 she returned to Scotland, and made an attempt to invade 
 England by sea. But a violent storm arose, some of the 
 vessels were sunk and others driven to land on Holy 
 Island off Northumberland, and Margaret herself only 
 escaped in a small fishing-smack to Berwick. Shortly 
 afterwards, however, she made another attempt by land, 
 and, witli the aid of the Borderers, entered Northumber- 
 land. Her efforts were at first crowned with success. 
 Three strong castles, Bamborough, Dunstanborough, and 
 Abiwick fell into her hands. But before the end of the 
 year two of them were recovered by the Karl of War- 
 wick, while Edward himself was advancing northwards 
 A o 1465. ^^ drive out the invaders ; and on Twelfth 
 jaimary 6. Day, Alnwick, the sole remaining fortress, 
 capitulated to Lord Hastings. 
 
 4. The cause of Lancaster was now desperate. The 
 castle of Harlech in Wales alone held out for Henry, 
 who appears ;it this time to have gone thither from 
 Scotland. The l)uk(t of Somerset made his peace with 
 Edward, and was received into favor. Sir Ralph l*ercy 
 too, on the surrender of Bamborough and Dunstanbo- 
 rough, had agreed to swear allegiance to Edward on 
 condition th;il those castles should again be committed 
 to his custody. As for Margaret, she appears to have 
 met with many adventures, and to have narrowly es- 
 caped falling into the hands of the English. At least 
 there is an anecdote related of her by an old French 
 chronichT referring to this period, which we will here 
 translate from the original. 
 
 5. "The Queen of England having lost herself one 
 day in a forest in I'lngland, and her son along with 
 her, they were taken by thieves, who robbed them and 
 
1463. Triumph of ilic House of York. 177 
 
 stripped them of their valuables, and it must . , 
 
 ^ ' Aflventurc 
 
 be supposed would have murdered them, ofgviccn 
 but that they squabbled among themselves ^^'^^^'^ • 
 about the division of the jewels, till they came to blows. 
 Then the Queen, sccinj^ them fij^ht, took up her son in 
 her arms, and fled into the depth of the forest, where she 
 was so overcome with fatigue that she could go no fur- 
 ther, flere she found a brij^and to whom she gave her 
 son to carry, saying to him, ' Here, my friend, save the 
 son of your king ! ' The brigand took him with very 
 good will, and they departed, so that shortly after they 
 came by sea to Sluys. And from Sluys she went to 
 Bruges, her son still with her ; where she was received 
 very honorably, while her husband. King Henry, was 
 in Wales, in one of the strongest places in ICngland." 
 
 6. In Flanders Margaret sought the aid of Philip Duke 
 of Ikugundy, but he refused to take her part against Ed- 
 ward. He, however, relieved her necessities, and she 
 retired to the duchy of T^ar in Lorraine which c;i,^ retires 
 belonged to her father, where she remained ^^ Lorraine, 
 for some time, watching the course of events, 
 
 7. The triumph of Edward, meanwhile, was not un- 
 disturbed. The Scots invaded England ;igain, and re- 
 took the castle of liamborough. Men to whom much 
 had been intrusted proved unworthy of the confidence 
 reposed in them. Sir Ralj)h Percy, notwithstanding his 
 late oath of fealty to King Edward, turned traitor once 
 more, and in concert with a certain Sir Ralph Gray, who 
 was disappointed of being made governor of Alnwick 
 Castle, surprised that fortress and delivered the govern- 
 or, Sir John Astley, into the hands of the French. A 
 little later the Duke of Somerset also declared again for 
 Henry, and passed from Wales into Northumberland to 
 join with Percy ; while King Henry once more re-ap- 
 
 N 
 
178 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 peared upon the E orders with a body ot 
 
 A. D. 1464. 
 
 Scots and refugees. But the Earl of War- 
 wick's brother, John Nevill, Lord Montague, whom Ed- 
 Battles of ward had appointed Heutenant of the North, 
 Hedgeiey f^j-gt defeated and killed Percy in battle at 
 
 Moor, . •' 
 
 April 25, Hedgeiey Moor some miles south of Wooler, 
 
 ham, " and next overthrew the forces of Henry and 
 
 May 8. ^-j^^ Duke of Somerset at Hexham. King 
 
 Henry himself fled away and lived in concealment for 
 more than a year afterwards. But Somerset was taken, 
 and in consideration of his treason was beheaded after 
 the battle ; and several others of the leaders of this 
 movement were executed in the same manner, shortly 
 afterwards at Newcastle and at York. 
 
 n. Edward's Marriage — Louis XI. 
 
 I. So this last effort of the Lancastrians was crushed 
 before Edward himself appeared in arms to oppose it. 
 Edward actually, however, did leave London before the 
 end of April, and his journey northward led to most im- 
 portant consequences of another kind ; but the victory 
 had already been gained for him in his absence, long 
 before he could reach Northumberland. Nor does it ap- 
 pear in fact that he was aware that there was any serious 
 rebellion to put down. By April 30 he had reached Stony 
 Stratford, we know not with what amount of retinue ; 
 but so little was his mind occupied with military matters, 
 that he stole off early on the following morning to pay a 
 secret visit to Grafton, the residence of the old Duchess 
 of Bedford, widow of that nobleman who had been Re- 
 gent of France during the minority of Henry VI. This 
 duchess since her husband's death had been married to 
 Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers, and she had a grown- 
 up daughter, Elizabeth, who had been married to a cer- 
 
1464. Edwqrd' s Marriage. 179 
 
 tain Sir John Grey, but lost her husband at the second 
 battle of St. Alban's, where he had fought on the side of 
 King Henry. Edward was greatly fascinated by the 
 charms of this widow ; and though he spent on this oc- 
 casion a very brief time in her company and returned in 
 a few hours to Stony Stratford, he was, at ^ , 
 
 Edward s 
 
 his return, a married man. The marriage marriage, 
 ceremony had been performed in secret at ^ ^* 
 Grafton, but he did not dare avow the fact for some 
 months afterwards. 
 
 2. He was at this time but two-and- twenty years of age, 
 but he had already been often urged to marry. An alliance 
 with the royal family of France or Spain it was thought 
 would do much to secure his throne ; but Edward cared 
 far less for such considerations than for the gratification 
 of his own pleasure, which indeed was not always so in- 
 nocent as on this occasion. Good fortune, far beyond 
 his own merits, had hitherto attended his course, and 
 leaving the cares of state to others he had given himself 
 up to the vices of a libertine. His marriage, too, was an 
 act of blind imprudence. From the manner in which it 
 was contracted it disappointed the Earl of Warwick and 
 others who had expected him to be guided by their 
 counsels ; while, on the other hand, the comparatively 
 humble rank of the lady excited the jealousy of many 
 powerful families. 
 
 3. But at Michaelmas following Edward publicly ac-- 
 knowledged her as his queen, and next year she was 
 crowned with great solemnity. Riches and honors were 
 showered upon her relations. Her father, from being a 
 simple baron, was created Earl Rivers. Her brother 
 Anthony had already married a wealthy heiress and re- 
 ceived the title of Lord Scales, but another brother, five 
 sisters, and her son by her first husband, Thomas Grey, 
 
i8o Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 were also married to leading members of the nobility. 
 These promotions were looked upon with anything but 
 satisfaction by many who had entertained hopes of se- 
 curing for their own families the heirs or heiresses mono- 
 polized by the Woodvilles. Offices of state, too, were 
 taken from old friends of the House of York and con- 
 ferred upon the Queen's relations. Lord Mountjoy was 
 discharged of the office of lord treasurer to make room 
 for her father Rivers, who on the resignation of the Earl 
 of Worcester was also created lord high constable. 
 
 4. With these changes came also a change of policy. 
 Of all Edward's councillors the most powerful was Richard 
 
 The Earl of Earl of Warwick, the owner of immense pos- 
 Warwick. scssions and the governor of the important 
 
 dependency of Calais. It was owing to Warwick more 
 than to any other man that Edward had been seated on 
 the throne. No other nobleman in England could call into 
 the field such an army of feudal vassals and retainers. 
 No other nobleman kept such an enormous household. 
 When he came to London, the carcasses of six oxen were 
 consumed at a breakfast at Warwick's Inn in Holborn. 
 His wealth, his power, his experience, and the distin- 
 guished services he had done for Edward's house gave 
 him a right to direct the young King's counsels to which 
 no one else could naturally pretend. Moreover his 
 brother Lord Montague had won for Edward the victory 
 over Henry VI. at Hexham, for which the King had 
 worthily promoted him to the dignity of Earl of North- 
 umberland, with a grant of all the forfeited lands of the 
 Percies. Also his youngest brother George, whom the 
 King had promoted from the bishopric of Exeter to the 
 archbishopric of York, was Edward's chancellor. 
 
 5. But with the marriage of the King Warwick and 
 the Nevills must have known that their influence over 
 
1464- Edward^ s Marriage. 181 
 
 him was certain to decline. The act itself, indeed, was 
 something like a forcible breaking away from their rule ; 
 for Warwick had already set on foot negotia- 
 tions for marrying the King to Bona of Savoy, n"|e of the^*^' 
 who was sister to the queen of Louis XI. of ^^^1^^° ^""^^ 
 France. It is not true, as stated by some old 
 historians, that Warwick was at the time absent at the 
 French Court for the express purpose of concluding this 
 match ; but there is quite distinct evidence that he had 
 promoted it. Warwick's policy evidently was to strengthen 
 the new dynasty upon the throne by a strict and cordial 
 alliance with the French king. But Edward and his 
 new advisers had quite different ideas. To them the 
 friendship or enmity of France was a matter of compara- 
 tive indifference ; and they turned their eyes in preference 
 to France's powerful vassal the Duke of Burgundy. The 
 French monarchy was not yet so strong that England 
 need have any great cause to fear it as a rival, while the 
 Court of Burgundy was the most magnificent in Europe. 
 Besides, the traditional policy of England was to humble 
 France as much as possible, and Edward was quite dis- 
 posed to follow it out if once his own dominions were at 
 peace under his rule. 
 
 6. It may be questioned, indeed, whether an alliance 
 with France would have been really so beneficial to him 
 as Warwick supposed. The King of France, Louis XL, 
 was the most subtle and astute politician of his time. He 
 had ascended the throne in the same year as Edward, 
 and the state of his kingdom hitherto had made it a far 
 greater object with him to have peace with England 
 than it was even for Edward to be undisturbed by foreign 
 invasion while putting down Lancastrian in- ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 surrections. In the very year after Edward's 
 marriage the throne of Louis was exposed to extreme 
 
1 82 Edward IV. CH. viii. 
 
 and unprecedented danger, A league was formed 
 
 Lea e fth ^g^^i^st him by the great vassals of the French 
 
 Public Weal in Crown, the Duke of Burgundy and his son the 
 
 Count of Charolois, the Dukes of Britanny 
 
 and Bourbon, and some others, with the view of securing 
 
 their independence by united action. They called it the 
 
 League of the Public Weal, and they won over the King's 
 
 own brother, the Duke of Berry, to take part in it. This 
 
 formidable confederacy engaged the forces of Louis in a 
 
 , , , pitched battle at Montlhery , a few miles south 
 
 July ID. 
 
 of Paris. The field was most obstinately 
 
 contested on both sides, and when night fell the issue was 
 
 still undecided. But Louis withdrew his forces in the 
 
 night time, and bent every effort to fortify Paris itself, 
 
 which he succeeded in making so strong that the allies 
 
 could not effectually besiege it. After a few months the 
 
 ^ , war was terminated by the treaty of Con- 
 
 October 5. , . , . 
 
 flans, in which Louis was obliged to make 
 
 considerable concessions ; but, profiting afterwards by 
 the dissensions which sprang up among the confederates, 
 he very soon recovered his lost ground and became 
 much stronger than he had been before. 
 
 7, This struggle between Louis and his powerful 
 vassals was essentially the great struggle that occupied 
 Policy of him through his whole reign. It was his 
 
 Louis XL p^^^ ^Q recover and reanimate the depressed 
 
 and all but extinguished monarchy of France, to vindi- 
 cate the independence of her Crown and put an end to 
 domestic feuds. As regards foreign princes his only 
 anxiety was that they should leave him at peace to work 
 out this great home problem undisturbed ; and perhaps 
 the very insignificance to which French royalty had been 
 reduced in some degree favored his design. For Louis 
 was a king that scorned appearances, and could well be 
 
1465. The Burgimdian Alliance, 183 
 
 content to secure the reality of power without its sem- 
 blance. Never perhaps was there a king in Europe 
 whose manners were less kingly. His way of life was 
 not merely unostentatious but parsimonious. He avoided 
 show as much as possible. In appearance he was not 
 imposing, in dress he was peculiarly slovenly, and he 
 utterly despised the pomp of state. He treated in the 
 most familiar manner men of the lowest birth, made his 
 barber his chief councillor, and walked about in the 
 company of hangmen. This familiarity with men of 
 low rank in itself did much to alienate the nobles, but 
 on the other hand it identified the interests of the people 
 with those of a king who was always affable, always 
 accessible, who took men for what they were really 
 worth, and not for what they were made by birth and 
 station. 
 
 HI. The Burgundian Alliance — Warwick's Intrigues. 
 I. Still, England was at peace with France, and there 
 might be hopes of a cordial amity. Nor had any open 
 dissensions broken out among the English nobles at 
 home. Edward summoned both the Nevills and the 
 Woodvilles to his counsels, and they came. Questions 
 regarding foreign alliances were freely discussed by 
 both parties. A match was proposed between the King's 
 sister Margaret and Charles Count of Charo- ^ , 
 
 !• 11-ri-i-vi r Ts Alliance with 
 
 lois, son and heir of the Duke of Burgundy. Burgundy 
 Warwick, on the other hand, advocated a p^°P'^^ 
 lasting peace with France, and the King so far yielded 
 to his remonstrances as to send him over . . 
 
 A. D. 1407. 
 
 to treat with Louis upon the subject. Louis May. 
 received him at Rouen with peculiar honor, and had a 
 number of private interviews with him which were 
 afterwards made grounds of suspicion against his 
 
1S4 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 loyalty. On his return he brought with him ambassadors 
 from France who were instructed to do all in their power 
 to hinder the alliance between England and Burgundy. 
 Louis was willing to pay the King of England a pension, 
 and refer his claims to Normandy and Aquitaine to the 
 decision of the Pope. But Edward received these pro- 
 posals with disdain, and treated the envoys with very 
 little courtesy. On the other hand the ambassadors of 
 the Duke of Burgundy were received with special favor. 
 Feasts and banquetings and disguisings were given in 
 their honor. There was also a great display of chivalry 
 in Smithfield. The Queen's brother, Anthony Lord 
 Scales, had two years before sent a friendly challenge 
 or invitation to the Count de la Roche, commonly called 
 the Bastard of Burgundy, one of the most noted warriors 
 of the time, to come to England and perform some feats 
 of arms along with him. The offer was readily accepted, 
 and though various impediments seem to have delayed 
 its fulfilment, the Bastard had at length come to Eng- 
 land with a train of Burgundian gentlemen, who gave 
 similar challenges to the gentlemen of England. For 
 several days in succession there were jousts between 
 the Englishmen and Burgundians, and the success of 
 the whole display was only marred by an accident at 
 the first feat of arms between Lord Scales and his oppo- 
 nent, when the latter was thrown backwards off his 
 horse, the rider, who was shortsighted, having made 
 the animal strike its head against an iron spike project- 
 ing from Lord Scales' saddle-bow. 
 
 2. Just after this Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, 
 died, and his son Charles, the intended husband of 
 Edward's sister, became duke in his place. The 
 marriage took effect in the year following, and Eng- 
 land and Burgundy were knit together in a firm 
 
1469- The Burgundian Alliance. 185 
 
 alliance, greatly to the satisfaction of the Marriage of 
 King and of the people generally, espe- sis^terSfrgaret 
 cially of the London merchants who traded ^^f Bu^^u^nd^^ 
 with the Duke's subjects in Flanders, but not 
 at all to the satisfaction of the Earl of Warwick, who hated 
 the duke extremely. He, however, disguised his feelings 
 and accompanied Margaret to the seaside on her way to 
 Flanders. But from this time, if not before, he continu- 
 ally plotted the humiliation of Edward, whom he him- 
 self had been the means of placing on the throne. The 
 King had as yet no male children, and although he had 
 two daughters, who by the modern rule of descent 
 should have succeeded him before his brothers, the 
 Duke of Clarence seems to have anticipated that he had 
 some chance of the crown. Warwick encouraged this 
 hope, and gave him his own daughter Isabel in marriage, 
 hoping that by so doing he himself might 
 recover that influence in the affairs of Eng- 
 land which he had lost by the marriage of Edward. The 
 wedding took place at Calais, where Warwick was gov- 
 ernor, without the King's knowledge and against his 
 will. But the King's attention was at that very time 
 engaged by an insurrection in Yorkshire which had been 
 carefully arranged by Warwick beforehand. It was led 
 by one who called himself Robin of Redes- -^^^^^ ^f 
 dale, whose real name was Sir William Redesdale's 
 
 insurrection. 
 
 Conyers. Manifestoes were pubhshed by 
 the insurgents showing why they had taken up arms and 
 complaining of the influence of Lord Rivers and the 
 Queen's friends. The King proceeded northwards to 
 meet them, but ordered also Lord Herbert, whom he 
 had created Earl of Pembroke, to bring up forces from 
 Wales, and sent a message to his brother ^ ^ ^ (^ 
 and the Earl of Warwick to induce them to 
 
1 86 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 come to him peaceably. But the insurgents came upon 
 the Earl of Pembroke and his Welsh levies near Ban- 
 bury, at a place called Edgecote, and gained 
 a complete victory, taking prisoners the earl 
 and his brother, Sir Richard Herbert, whom they after- 
 wards beheaded. Clarence and the Earl of Warwick 
 came over from Calais, along with the Archbishop of 
 York, who was Warwick's brother and had once been 
 Edward's chancellor. But their coming was not to assist 
 the King. On the contrary they took him prisoner near 
 Coventry, and led him first to Warwick Castle and after- 
 wards into Yorkshire. The insurgents at the same time 
 took the Earl Rivers and his son Sir John Woodville 
 prisoners, and put them to death at Coventry. 
 
 3. Thus the government was for a time completely in 
 Warwick's hands, the King being his prisoner, and the 
 power of the Woodvilles altogether broken. But pre- 
 sently Edward made his escape, or perhaps was suffered 
 to regain his freedom, and a general pardon was after- 
 wards proclaimed to all who had taken part in these 
 commotions. This, however, did not pre- 
 
 A. D. 1470. r T 1 1-1 
 
 Insurrection vent a renewal of distuibances early m the 
 Robert following year, when Sir Robert Welles, the 
 
 Welles. eldest son of Lord Welles, raising the cry 
 
 of "King Henry!" gathered to his standard a great 
 number of the commons of Lincolnshire, where he at- 
 tacked the house of Sir Thomas ^ Borough, a knight of 
 the royal household, and razed it to the ground. With 
 Sir Robert Welles was associated Sir Thomas Dymock, 
 the King's champion, who was his uncle by marriage. 
 When the news of this insurrection reached the King he 
 was provoked and alarmed in a way he had not been 
 before. He was now convinced that a secret confederacy 
 had been formed against him which any further acts of 
 
147c. PVarwi'c^^s Intrigues. 187 
 
 clemency would only serve to encourage, and he sum- 
 moned Lord Welles, the father of Sir Robert, and Sir 
 Thomas Dymock, to repair to him immediately. Hear- 
 ing that the King's suspicions were fully roused they 
 came up to London, and at first entered the Sanctuary 
 at Westminster, but being assured of pardon, Lord 
 Welles came to the King and wrote a letter to his son 
 desiring him to desist from his enterprise. His son, 
 however, did not obey, and Edward, enraged at his ob- 
 stinacy, violated the promise of security he had given to 
 the father, and ordered both Lord Welles and Sir Tho- 
 mas Dymock to be beheaded. 
 
 4. It was only meeting perfidy by perfidy. As might 
 be expected, the King's enemies were confounded. Sir 
 Robert Welles and his confederates were desperate. He 
 had been promised assistance from the Earl of Warwick 
 and the Duke of Clarence ; but the king had gone north- 
 wards with his army as far as the confines of Lincoln- 
 shire, and no succors were at hand. Sir Robert engaged 
 the royal forces in the neighborhood of Stamford ; but 
 when the King's artillery opened fire the greater part of 
 the insurgents flung away their coats and ^ ^ ^^^^ 
 took to flight, leaving their leader a priso- g^Ytk ^f 
 ner in the hands of his enemies. The Lnse-coat 
 
 Field. 
 
 manner in which the rebels were dispersed 
 caused the action to be spoken of as the battle of Lose- 
 coat Field. The defeated knew that they had no mercy 
 to expect, and fled, some of them as far as Scarborough, 
 where several were beheaded. Sir Robert Welles was 
 beheaded the day after the battle. Before his death he 
 made a full confession as to the plan and motives of the 
 insurrection, by which it appeared beyond all doubt that 
 the intention was to have deposed King Edward and 
 made the Duke of Clarence king. 
 
1 88 Edwai-d IV. CH. viil 
 
 5. But the rebellion was now paralyzed. The Duke 
 of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick fled into Lan- 
 cashire, from whence they passed by sea to Southampton, 
 hoping there to have secured a large ship called the 
 "Trinity," belonging to the Earl of Warwick. In this 
 attempt, however, they were defeated by the Queen's 
 brother. Lord Scales, who by the death of his father had 
 now become Earl Rivers ; for Edward had given him the 
 command of some ships at Southampton and he cap- 
 tured several vessels of Warwick's little fleet. Warwick 
 and the Duke of Clarence escaped across the sea, while 
 John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, was commissioned to 
 try the prisoners taken in their ships. The result was 
 that twenty persons were hanged, drawn, and quartered, 
 and their heads cut off. To exhibit their quarters to 
 public view in some conspicuous position was only one 
 of the commonplace barbarities of the age in the punish- 
 ment of treason. But by Worcester's orders a new hor- 
 ror was given to this practice. The head and members 
 of each of the unfortunate men were impaled on a stake 
 in a manner peculiarly hideous and unaccustomed. 
 Civil war, conspiracy, and rebellion had not only har- 
 dened the hearts of men on both sides, but had brutal- 
 ized the most refined. The Earl of Worcester was one 
 of the most accomplished scholars of the time ; but he 
 was remembered after this as " the butcher of England." 
 
 IV. Edward driveti otit, and Hejtry VI. restored. 
 I. As for the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of 
 Clarence, they naturally sought to take refuge in Calais, 
 where the Earl was governor. But Lord Wenlock, who 
 had been recently appointed his lieutenant, opposed 
 their landing and turned the guns of the fortress against 
 them. The Duchess of Clarence, who accompanied her 
 
I470- Edward driven out. iSo 
 
 husband, gave birth to a son on board ship while they 
 were lying at anchor before the town, and with great 
 difficulty Lord Wenlock was induced to send her two 
 flagons of wine for her comfort ; but on no account 
 would he suffer them to approach the harbor. So that 
 in the end the duke and earl were obliged to turn aside 
 and seek in the French king's dominions an asylum that 
 was denied them everywhere else. 
 
 2. Louis XL, we may be sure, was not sorry to have 
 an opportunity of giving protection and comfort to Ed- 
 ward's enemies. Margaret of Anjou was at that very 
 time living in his dominions ; and if by any means her 
 cause and that of the two English noblemen could be 
 made the same, Edward would certainly have occasion 
 to repent his want of cordiality towards the French king. 
 But what chance could there be of an alliance between 
 those who had been such bitter enemies ? The Earl of 
 Warwick had been the principal cause of the deposition 
 and captivity of King Henry ; and even if Margaret 
 could mitigate her resentment on this account, she held 
 it very questionable policy to forgive so notorious an 
 offender. But Warwick was now most anxious to be 
 
 reconciled to her; he had offended King- t • 
 
 ' -^"-'^^s Louis pro- 
 
 Edward beyond hope of pardon, and unless ^o^^^ a re- 
 
 , TJ1,- 1 ,.. ■,,. ^ conciliation 
 
 he could obtam the friendship of Margaret between 
 he was undone for ever. The French king AnTouTna"^ 
 offered himself a willing mediator, and ^^^''^'c^- 
 through his intercession a reconciliation was at last 
 accomplished. It was agreed that the Earl of Warwick 
 should lead an expedition into England to recover the 
 throne for King Henry, and that if it proved successful, 
 Warwick's second daughter Anne was to be married to 
 Henry's son, the prince of Wales. The King of France, 
 for his part, engaged to lend every assistance to the 
 
ipo Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 attempt, and he accordingly furnished a fleet to protect 
 the earl in crossing against the Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 3. The earl and his company accordingly sailed from 
 Harfleur and landed safely in the west of England. The 
 _ ^ Duke of Clarence came along -with him; 
 
 Sept. 13. ° ' 
 
 and the whole expedition disembarked in 
 the ports of Plymouth and Dartmouth. King Edward 
 seems to have been lulled into a sense of false security 
 which is altogether inexplicable. He had already had 
 sufficient experience of the turbulent character of War- 
 „, . , , wick and the inconstancy of his brother 
 
 Warwick and ^ 
 
 Clarence in- Clarencc, Yct he actually allowed himself 
 ngan . ^^ ^^ taken by surprise, believing himself 
 secure in the affections of his people generally, and 
 paid no attention to the warnings of his brother-in-law 
 the Duke of Burgundy, who, from dread and dislike of 
 Warwick even more than from love of Edward, en- 
 deavored by repeated messages to put him on his guard. 
 He was even indiscreet enough, at a time when the land- 
 ing of Clarence and Warwick was very generally ex- 
 pected, to intrust the command of forces for the protec- 
 tion of the kingdom to the Marquis of Montague, War- 
 wick's brother, who, besides his relationship to the prin- 
 cipal leader of the invasion, had a secret grudge of his 
 own against Edward, to induce him to turn traitor. 
 For this marquis, formerly simple Lord Montague, had 
 been as we have already mentioned, created by Edward 
 Earl of Northumberland in reward for the victory of 
 Hexham ; but the King, finding that the people in the 
 North were much devoted to Henry Percy, son of that 
 Earl of Northumberland who was slain at Towton, was 
 induced to reserve the attainder and restore him to his 
 father's dignity. Montague was accordingly prevailed 
 on to surrender the earldom and to accept the higher 
 
1 4 7 o • Edward driven out, i g i 
 
 rank of marquis for his compliance. But this was a 
 mere empty honor, not accompanied by a suitable pro- 
 vision in lands to maintain the increased dignity : so he 
 openly told the men whom he had assembled in King 
 Edward's name that the king had given him but " a 
 pie's nest" to support his state, and that he would 
 therefore take the part of his brother the Earl of War- 
 wick in opposition to King Edward, 
 
 4, Before the landing of Clarence and the Earl of 
 Warwick, Edward had been drawn into the north to put 
 down some commotions raised by Warwick's brother-in- 
 law Lord Fitzhugh, who on his approach fled into Scot- 
 land. He had gone as far as York, where, finding it 
 needless to pursue the enemy, he rested for awhile, 
 when he received the news of the invasion. Even then 
 he would not at first believe his danger, and wrote to 
 the Duke of Burgundy to have his fleet ready to prevent 
 their escape by sea, for on land he knew how to deal 
 with them. But shortly afterwards he learned to his 
 dismay that Montague's soldiers were crying "God bless 
 King Henry !" Very few men gathered about his stan- 
 dard in Yorkshire, and he was warned that there was 
 now little security for him except in flight. Edward 
 Accompanied by a small body of men he '^''^' ^'^^^ 
 rode through the night to Lynn, He had a few ships 
 riding at anchor in the Wash not far off, but one lay in 
 the harbor. Availing himself of this and two Dutch 
 merchant ships he embarked with his 
 brother the Duke of Gloucester, his brother- and e^barks 
 in-law Rivers, his chamberlain Lord Hast- ^^ ° ^" * 
 ings, and about 800 followers. The little company were 
 without clothes except what they had upon their backs ; 
 but no time was to be lost and they set sail for Holland. 
 Edward landed at Alkmaar and proceeded to the 
 
192 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 Hague, where he threw himself upon the protection of 
 the Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 5. The Earl of Warwick was now master of the king- 
 dom. King Henry was released from the Tower, and 
 was once more recognized as king. The Earl of Wor- 
 cester, whose hideous executions at Southampton were 
 fresh in people's memory, was arraigned of treason at 
 Whitehall, condemned, and executed upon Tower Hill, 
 Parliament was then assembled to ratify the arrange- 
 ments that had been made in France. An act was 
 passed entailing the crown on the male issue of King 
 Henry, and in default of such issue on the Duke of 
 Clarence and the heirs of his body. The duke and 
 Warwick were appointed protectors of the kingdom dur- 
 ing the minority of Edward Prince of Wales. The 
 former was recognized as heir to his father the late Duke 
 of York ; while the latter was appointed to a number of 
 high offices of state, some of which he had held before. 
 
 V. Return of King Edward. 
 
 I. But in less than six months after being driven from 
 his kingdom Edward was enabled to return to it by the 
 A D 1471 private assistance of his brother-in-law the 
 
 March 14. Duke of Burgundy. He embarked at Flush- 
 
 ing on March 2, and landed on the 14th at Ravenspur, 
 where Henry IV. had disembarked when he came to 
 dethrone King Richard. His circumstances in other re- 
 spects were so similarto those of Henry, that he adopted 
 precisely the same line of policy. To induce the people 
 of Yorkshire to withdraw their opposition to him, he pro- 
 fessed that he came only to seek his rightful inheritance, 
 the dukedom of York, He disclaimed any intention of 
 removing King Henry, and being admitted into the city 
 of York he solemnly abjured all pretensions to the crown. 
 
t47i- Return of King Edwa7'd. 193 
 
 But as he passed southwards numbers came to his 
 standard, and in direct violation of his oath he issued 
 proclamations as king. No attempt was made to resist 
 his progress before he reached the capital. He was 
 joined near Coventry by his brother Clarence, who for a 
 long time had been secretly anxious for a reconciliation, 
 or at least had expressed to secret agents his willingness 
 to abandon Warwick's party on a favorable opportunity. 
 Edward advanced to London, and was readily admitted 
 by the citizens, many of whom were his creditors. He 
 then went out to meet his opponents, Warwick and 
 Montague, at Barnet, carrying with him the unhappy 
 King, Henry VI., once more a captive in his hands. 
 
 2. Edward occupied the town of Barnet on the even- 
 mg of April 13. The enemy were encamped on the 
 north. During the night Edward drew up 
 his forces opposite to them, intending to give ^' ^' ^^'^^' 
 them battle at daybreak. That morning was Easter 
 Sunday. About 4 o'clock the day began to Battle of Bar- 
 dawn, but the whole scene was obscured "^t, April 14. 
 by a dense fog, which prevented Edward from discover- 
 ing that he had mistaken during the darkness the pre- 
 cise position of the enemy. At 5 o'clock, however, the 
 fighting commenced. Edward's forces on the left were 
 very much outflanked by those of the Earl of Warwick, 
 and after some time began to give way. A number of 
 Edward's men fled the field and spread news in Barnet 
 and on the road to London that the day was lost. The 
 EarFs right wing closed upon the retreating combatants 
 and came opposite their own left wing commanded by 
 the Earl of Oxford. But owing to the fog that still pre- 
 vailed they did not know their own men, and Oxford's 
 badge, a star with streams, was mistaken for the "sun 
 of York." Warwick's men accordingly shot at Oxford's* 
 
 o 
 
194 Ed7vard /V. ch. vni. 
 
 and the latter cried out " Treason ! " and fled. At length 
 after six hours' fighting the Earl of Warwick and his 
 brother Montague were slain, and King Edward's party 
 were triumphant. But the slaughter on both sides was 
 very heavy ; for the action being a critical one for King 
 Edward, he forebore to order his soldiers to spare the 
 common people in the ranks of his antagonists, which 
 had been his usual practice in these wars. 
 
 3. The Earl of Warwick is known in history by the 
 name of Warwick the " King-maker." The title is truly 
 significant of his power, which had been twice most 
 signally shown in the setting up of one king and the 
 deposition of another. He was the last great feudal 
 noblemr"'i who ever made himself dangerous to a reigning 
 king. His policy throughout appears to have been 
 selfish and treacherous, and his removal was an un- 
 questionable blessing to his country. 
 
 4. Edward now entered London in triumph, and sent 
 back King Henry a prisoner to the Tower. But he was 
 
 immediately compelled to leave the city in 
 lands ill order to meet a new enemy. Por f2ueen 
 
 '-•'g'l'i' • Margaret, who had not yet come over from 
 France to join her husband in his prosperity, at length 
 landed with a body of Frenchmen at Weymouth on the 
 very day her great ally was defeated and slain at Bar- 
 net. Next day she proceeded to Cerne Abbey, where 
 she was visited 1)y the Duke of Somerset and other lords 
 of her party, who assured her that, notwithstanding the 
 reverse sustained by their side, she would still be able to 
 raise a power, especially in the western counties where 
 she had landed. By their advice she accordingly pro- 
 ceeded, with her son the prince, to Exeter. The people 
 of Cornwall and Devon rose to do her service, and in a 
 very few days she again moved eastward by (Glastonbury 
 
1471. Kctiini of Kin\:^ luiward. 195 
 
 to Bath. Here learning that Julward wa^i approaching 
 with his army, she turned aside to Bristol, and afterwards 
 bent her course northward by Gloucester, where the 
 gates were shut against her, and after a fatiguing day's 
 march of thirty-six miles, arrived at Tewkesbury. That 
 same evening King Edward passed Cheltenham and 
 lodged within three miles of them. Next ^^ 
 
 " May 4. 
 
 morning. May 4, he gave them battle. 
 
 5. In this action the Lancastrians were utterly de- 
 feated. Queen Margaret was taken prisoner. Her son 
 Edward by some accounts was slain on the 
 field; according to others he was murdered Tcwkes- 
 after the battle in the presence of King Ed- ^'""y- 
 ward himself. The tradition in a later age was that ho 
 was murdered by Richard Duke of (Gloucester; but the 
 fact may be that when Richard in after years horrified 
 the world by a crime still more revolting, a number of 
 earher deeds of violence were attributed to him (jf wliif;h 
 he was really guiltless. Richard, although he had led 
 the van of Edward's army at Barnet, was at this time 
 only in his nineteenth year; and though doubtless he w;is 
 receiving an education in ferocity from the unnaturnl 
 character of the wars in which he was engaged, it may 
 perhaps be questioned whether the writers of the next 
 age were right in thinking he had begun his career of 
 violence so early. King Edward's own conduct at this 
 time was cruel and unscrupulous enough. He himself, 
 sword in hand, pursued a number of the defeated party 
 into the abbey church of Tewkesbury. A priest, bearing 
 the host in his hand, came out to meet him at the door, 
 and oh)tained from him a promise that he would spare 
 the lives of the Duke of Somerset and fourteen other 
 persons who had sought refuge there. But in violation 
 of this pledge they were all beheaded two days later. 
 
196 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 6. The utmost that can be said to extenuate Edward's 
 perfidy on this and other occasions is that he had re- 
 course to it at the most critical period in his fortunes, 
 when beset with difficuhies at every turn. His natural 
 disposition does not appear to have been cruel ; but at 
 Barnet he gave no quarter, feeling that all was lost for 
 him if he did not deal that day a decisive blow against 
 the enemy. He was victorious, yet he was immediately 
 called to contend with a new enemy in the west ; and 
 now while he was away in Gloucestershire one of War- 
 wick's sea-captains named the Bastard Fal- 
 
 Fafconbridge conbridge landed in Kent to make another 
 makes an diversion in favor of Kinsr Henry. In Kent 
 
 attempt in . 
 
 Henry's he procured a certain number of followers, 
 
 A D 1471 ^^^ coming up to London endeavored to 
 force an entrance into the city with the view 
 of liberating Henry from the Tower. But having set 
 Aldgate and London Bridge on fire he exasperated the 
 citizens, so that they made a more resolute resistance 
 than they would otherwise have done, and he found it 
 necessary to give up the attempt. 
 
 7. King Edward returned with his army to London 
 on May 21. He was received in triumph by the mayor 
 
 and citizens, who went out to meet him be- 
 
 May 21. 
 
 tween Shoreditch and Islington ; and on the 
 highway before he entered the city he made knights of 
 a number of the aldermen. Three days later he marched 
 into Kent in pursuit of the Bastard Falconbridge. But 
 during his brief stay in London an event occurred which 
 throws the deepest shadow of suspicion upon Edward's 
 . . conduct. On the very ni?ht of his arrival 
 
 Suspicious , _ . . 
 
 death of King Henry died in his prison within the 
 
 Tower. Hisbody was exhibited at St. Paul's 
 
 the following day, and it was given out that his death had 
 
1 4 7 1 • Return of King Edward. 197 
 
 been owing to " pure displeasure and melancholy." 
 But the coincidence of the event with Edward's arrival 
 in the capital, and the too obvious advantage to the King 
 of getting rid of a rival whose adherents gave him so 
 much trouble, convinced the world at large that this was 
 only a pretence. Henry had now no son to avenge his 
 death or to claim succession to his kingdom ; and from 
 what we have already seen of Edward there is very little 
 reason to doubt that he caused the poor feeble monarch 
 to be secretly assassinated. The suspicion, indeed, is 
 hinted even by a writer friendly to the King, who wrote 
 within the security of a monastery. From this time, at 
 all events, Edward was no longer troubled with rebellions 
 in favor of the house of Lancaster. 
 
 8. The sudden and extraordinary changes ^ 
 
 r r • 111 • 1 1 • Changes of 
 
 of fortune experienced by the two rival kings fortune 
 during those unhappy commotions were Wars^of 
 shared by their adherents among the no- ^^^ Roses, 
 bility, some of whom during the adverse circumstances 
 of their party suffered the most severe distress and pov- 
 erty. Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, who, though he 
 had married a sister of Edward IV., took part with the 
 House of Lancaster, was seen at one time in the Low 
 Countries bare-footed and bare-legged, begging his 
 bread from door to door, till he was recognized and 
 pensioned by the Duke of Burgundy. Queen Elizabeth 
 Woodville, when her husband was driven into exile, was 
 obliged to take refuge in the Sanctuary at Westminster, 
 where she gave birth to her eldest son, afterwards Ed- 
 ward V. As for Margaret of Anjou, she remained a 
 prisoner in England after the battle of Tewkesbury un- 
 til, on Edward making peace with France in 1475, she 
 was ransomed by Louis XL and returned to her own 
 country. 
 
198 Edward IV, ch. viii. 
 
 VI. War with France. 
 
 I. Civil dissensions being now appeased, Edward was 
 easily induced to combine with Charles of Burgundy 
 against Louis. The proposal to make war on France 
 met with general approbation from his subjects, supplies 
 were voted for the purpose by Parliament, and by the 
 clergy in convocation, and to crown all, large sums were 
 subscribed by the wealthy at the King's particular re- 
 quest. An unprecedented treasure was thus accumulated, 
 but the means employed to raise it were not greatly 
 " Benevo- relished. The subscriptions of the wealthy 
 
 lences." were called be?tevolences, being regarded as 
 
 voluntary donations expressive of the good-will and 
 patriotism of those contributing. But from the influence 
 brought to bear upon the donors they were felt to be of 
 the nature of extortion ; for Edward himself, in many 
 cases, solicited contributions personally. Though nomi- 
 nally a free gift, no tax was ever felt more oppressive ; 
 and the evil example set by Edward was unfortunately 
 followed by several of his successors. 
 
 2. In the summer of 1475 Edward crossed the sea 
 with a magnificent army. Before embarking, he sent 
 Edward in- Garter king of arms to Louis to require him 
 vades France, ^q deliver up the kingdom of France to him 
 as his lawful inheritance. Another king of France 
 would doubtless have treated with contempt this extra- 
 vagant claim which the English still continued to reas- 
 sert. But Louis had no thought of resisting by force of 
 arms. The invading army was strong, and if the Duke 
 of Burgundy had brought the amount of aid that might 
 have been expected, it would have been quite within the 
 power of the allies to have dealt a very severe blow 
 against France. The duke, however, had allowed him- 
 
1475* IVar with France. 1 9 9 
 
 self to be occupied too long with an expedition into Ger- 
 many, where he laid siege to Neuss near Diisseldorf, 
 and at his coming he failed to give Edward satisfaction. 
 Of this Louis took advantage. He told Garter he was 
 well aware that the King of England did not mean to 
 invade France on his own account, and that it was appa- 
 rent the Duke of Burgundy could not give him much 
 assistance ; then dismissing the herald with a handsome 
 present, he promised him a still more valuable reward 
 if he could prevail upon his master to consent to peace. 
 3. Edward was greatly flattered with the thought that 
 he had so soon inspired his enemy with a desire to treat, 
 and the wily King of France omitted no art to deepen 
 the impression. No sooner, therefore, had the English 
 king set foot upon the Continent than Louis Louis offers to 
 sent to him to know if he was disposed to *'^^^'- 
 come to terms, suggesting at the same time that the 
 Duke of Burgundy had been using Edward for his own 
 ends, and that the year was so far advanced that the 
 invaders could not hope to make much progress before 
 the winter. Negotiations were accordingly opened, and 
 though the English began, as usual, with their formal 
 demand of the whole realm of France, they gradually 
 abated their pretensions. First they lowered their de- 
 mands to the restitution of Normandy and Guienne. 
 But Louis had fully resolved beforehand to consent to no 
 cession of territory ; and in the end the Enghsh were 
 satisfied with a seven years' truce and the a seven years- 
 payment of a large yearly pension by France ^"^"^^ arranged, 
 to England. This payment they were free to regard as 
 an acknowledgment of Edward's sovereignty over 
 France, while Louis and his friends took a different view 
 of it. They called it a pension; the Enghsh a tribute. 
 A liberal distribution of pensions was also made by 
 
300 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 Louis to the chief councillors of the King of England 
 for their services in promoting the peace. 
 
 4. At the same time provisions were made in the 
 treaty which gave hope that it might one day be turned 
 into a lasting peace ; for it was arranged that the Dau- 
 phin Charles should marry Edward's eldest daughter 
 Elizabeth as soon as the parties were of sufficient age. 
 
 5. Matters being thus settled, an interview took place 
 between the two kings at Pequigny on the Somme. A 
 
 Interview at bridge was thrown across the river with a 
 Pequigny. wooden grating in the middle, through 
 which they shook hands. This arrangement had been 
 made by the suspicious Louis to prevent the possibility 
 of treachery ; mindful of the fate of John the Fearless, 
 Duke of Burgundy, he allowed no wicket within the 
 barrier. But after swearing to observe the treaty on both 
 sides, the two kings entered into conversation with the 
 utmost freedom and familiarity ; insomuch that Louis, in 
 an unguarded moment, half invited the other to come 
 and see him at Paris. The invitation was indeed thrown 
 out in the way of jest, with some raillery about Edward's 
 devotion to the fair sex, and the beautiful ladies who 
 would be sure to captivate him in France ; but Edward, 
 to the other's no little annoyance, seemed not at all dis- 
 inclined to accept it seriously. Louis, however, took 
 care not to give him an opportunity ; and in private he 
 afterwards expressed an opinion to Commines that the 
 kings of England had been often enough in Paris and 
 in Normandy already. He had great desire to preserve 
 the friendship of Edward, but much preferred that he 
 should keep on his own side of the water. 
 
 VII. France and Burgundy. 
 I. Before proceeding further with the story of English 
 events it will now be advisable that we should say some- 
 
1475- France and Burgundy. 201 
 
 thing of the rivalry between the French king and his 
 powerful vassal, Charles Duke of Burgundy. We have 
 already seen the weakness to which the French monarchy 
 was reduced at the beginning of the reign of Louis XI. 
 The Burgundian court, on the other hand, although that 
 of a feudal inferior, was the most wealthy and magnifi- 
 cent in all Europe. For some time also the Duke of 
 Burgundy maintained the advantage he had gained over 
 his sovereign in the war of the Public Weal. Louis 
 formed a league against him with the citizens of Liege, 
 but Charles contrived to seize his person and shut him 
 up in the castle of Peronne until he made him atone for 
 his intrigues by a considerable cession of territory. The 
 people of Liege were at this time engaged in a second 
 revolt against their bishop (who was their temporal ruler 
 as well), although they had been already severely pun- 
 ished for their insubordination by Charles, by the for- 
 feiture of all their ancient chartered rights and the 
 demolition of the walls of the town. They would natu- 
 rally have looked for assistance from the King of France ; 
 but Louis had fallen so completely into the power of 
 Charles, that to gain his liberty he disowned his allies 
 and offered to come with the Duke of Burgundy to 
 Liege, where he witnessed with apparent satisfaction the 
 most terrible vengeance taken on his own Massacre 
 supporters. The city was completely sacked, ° ^^^'^" 
 and the inhabitants were massacred even in the churches 
 by a brutal soldiery. After this, Louis endeavored, by sup- 
 porting the Earl of Warwick, to deprive Charles of his 
 ally the King of England, — a design which, as we have 
 seen, gave much greater anxiety to the Duke of Bur- 
 gundy than it did to Edward himself, who could not be 
 awakened to his danger until it was too late. At length, 
 owing to the French king's repeated breaches of faith, 
 
202 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 Charles took it upon him to declare his independence 
 of the French crown and made a treaty with the Em- 
 peror Frederic III., who engaged to bestow upon him the 
 title of king, instead of duke, of Burgundy, on condition 
 that he would give his daughter Mary in marriage to 
 „, . , the Emperor's son Maximilian. To conclude 
 
 Bold and the this matter Charles repaired to a diet at 
 
 Emperor. . , . 
 
 Treves in 1473, but the Emperor receded 
 from his part of the engagement and retired from Treves 
 when everything was ready for Charles' coronation. In 
 resentment of this affront Charles next year invaded 
 Germany and laid siege to Neuss — an operation which, 
 as already mentioned, prevented him from fulfilling 
 punctually his engagements with England in the war 
 which they had agreed to undertake together against 
 France. 
 
 2. It was always the policy of Louis to raise up ene- 
 mies for Charles without, if possible, allowing his own 
 hand to be seen in the business. By his subtle and mys- 
 terious diplomacy, Charles was involved in wars with 
 the Swiss, and in 1476 he sustained a ffreat 
 
 A. D. 1476. '^ 
 
 defeat at Granson on the borders of Lake 
 Neufchatel, which was followed by another equally dis- 
 astrous at Morat. Here another enemy had taken part 
 against him, Rene II., Duke of Lorraine, whom he had 
 deprived of the possession of his duchy. The people of 
 Lorraine now expelled the Burgundian garrisons, and 
 the retreat of Charles seemed almost hopelessly cut off. 
 Nevertheless, even in the midst of winter, Charles pene- 
 trated into Lorraine and compelled the duke to return in 
 A. D. 1477, haste to defend his capital, Nancy. A short 
 Jan. 5. aj^fj decisive battle took place under the 
 
 walls of the town. The Burgundians were put to flight, 
 and Charles himself was slain. By his last campaigns 
 
1476. Fate of Clarence. 203 
 
 he more especially merited the title by which he is 
 known in history. His cavalry and artillery labored 
 under the greatest disadvantages among the Swiss 
 mountains, and he lost two great battles by a disregard 
 of common prudence. He is commonly spoken of in 
 English as Charles the Bold, but the French still more 
 truly name him Charles the Rash. 
 
 VIII. Fate of Clarence — The Scotch War— Death of 
 Edward. 
 
 I. It might have been supposed that the House of 
 York was now securely seated upon the throne ; and, 
 so far as regarded Edward himself, nothing more oc- 
 curred to disturb his possession. But the family divisions 
 which had already sprung up pursued that house ulti- 
 mately to its ruin. The breach between the King and 
 his brother Clarence, it soon appeared, was q^^^^.^^ 
 onlv superficially healed over. A quarrel between the 
 
 , , , 1 ^1 J 1,- Cukes of 
 
 also took place between Clarence and his clarence 
 other brother, Richard Duke of Gloucester. ^^,^t,^'°"- 
 After the death of Edward Prince of Wales, 
 the san of King Henry, at Tewkesbury, his widow Anne, 
 who, it will be remembered, was a daughter of Warwick 
 the King-maker, was sought by Gloucester in marriage ; 
 but Clarence, who had married her elder sister, opposed 
 his suit and attempted to conceal her. Richard, how- 
 ever, discovered her in London in the disguise of a cook- 
 maid, and had her removed to the Sanctuary of St. Mar- 
 tin's. When Clarence was no longer able to prevent 
 the match, he still refused to divide with his brother the 
 inheritance of their father-in-law the Earl of Warwick. 
 By the mediation of Edward the matter was at length 
 settled, and an act was passed in Parhament making a 
 division of Warwick's lands between the royal brothers, 
 
204 Edward IV. CM. viil. 
 
 with very little consideration for the rights of his survi- 
 ving countess. 
 
 2. But in the course of a few years symptoms of the 
 old ill-will broke out between the Duke of Clarence and 
 Clarence Edward himself. On the death of Charles 
 f^yo° Duke of Burgundy, Clarence, who was then 
 ^s^'"' a widower, was desirous to marry his daugh- 
 ter and heiress Mary. Such a match would have made 
 him a powerful continental prince, and his suit was 
 favored by his sister Margaret, the widow of the duke ; 
 but Edward threw every obstacle in the way. This, in 
 addition to some former injuries, real or supposed, em- 
 bittered Clarence against his brother in a way he did not 
 care to conceal. At last, some gentlemen of his house- 
 hold having been accused of sorcery, condemned, and 
 executed, Clarence, before the King's council, protested 
 his belief in their innocence. This step was treated by 
 the King as dangerous to the administration of justice, 
 and he caused his brother to be arrested and committed 
 to the Tower. 
 
 3. When Parliament met in the beginning of the year 
 
 1478, Clarence was impeached of treason by 
 A. D. 147 , j^j^g o\^xY brother before the House of Peers. 
 impeached of jvJq other accuser stepped forward but the 
 
 treason, _ ^^ 
 
 King himself; but the whole of his past in- 
 trigues and rebellions were now brought up against him. 
 It was related in the indictment how he had been already 
 pardoned the most serious offences, and yet had conspired 
 again against his brother. It was set forth also how at one 
 time, for the gratification of his ambition, he had not hesi- 
 tated to cast a stigma upon his own mother, declaring 
 his brother Edward illegitimate and himself the true heir 
 of his father. With these a number of other circum- 
 stances were related, all tending to show that he made it 
 
147^- P(^f^ of Clarence- 205 
 
 still his aim to supplant King Edward. The 
 lords found Clarence guilty and he was con- " '^' 
 
 demned to death. Execution of the sentence was, how- 
 ever, delayed for several days, until the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons, coming to the bar of the Lords, 
 desired that the matter might be brought to a ^^^ ^^ ^^ 
 conclusion. Shortly afterwards the duke was death, Feb. 18. 
 put to death within the Tower in a manner so very secret 
 that, although the day was known, the kind of death he 
 suffered was a matter of uncertainty. A singular report, 
 however, got abroad that he had been drowned in a butt 
 of Malmsey wine. 
 
 4. Perhaps the very secrecy of the execution, if such it 
 might be called, was owing to Edward's reluctance to 
 carry out the sentence ; for there is reason to beheve, 
 after all, that the whole proceedings were painful to him. 
 After the death of Clarence, it is said, when any man 
 besought the King for the pardon of an offender, he 
 would exclaim, "O unfortunate brother, that no man 
 would ask pardon for thee !" But whatever the effect on 
 Edward's peace of mind, the removal of Clarence con- 
 tributed to the quiet of his kingdom. For he had been, 
 beyond all question, factious and turbulent in the ex- 
 treme. Yet he had some qualities which won him the 
 favor of the multitude and made him a popular idol. 
 His popularity, too, was all the more dangerous to 
 Edward because, according to an act of Parliament 
 passed during the restoration of Henry VI., Clarence 
 ought to have been the legitimate king after the death 
 of Edward Prince of Wales. Of this act of Parhament, 
 of course, Edward did not recognize the authority ; but 
 he felt it necessary now to get his Parliament to repeal it. 
 
 5. There is little else that is memorable in Edward's 
 reign except a war with Scotland that broke out at the 
 
2o6 Edward IV. ch. viii". 
 
 close of it. To strengthen his family upon the throne, 
 Edward had arranged marriages for most of his children 
 with foreign princes, and while his eldest daughter Eliza- 
 beth was contracted by treaty to the dauphin, Cecily, the 
 third, was engaged to Prince James, the eldest son of 
 James III. of Scotland. In consideration of this latter 
 match Edward had agreed to give with his daughter a 
 dower of 20,000 marks, of which three instalments had 
 already been paid in advance, though the parties had 
 not yet arrived at a marriageable age. Some misunder- 
 standing, however, broke out between the two kings, 
 partly, as it is supposed, through the intrigues of Louis XL, 
 who, as the time drew near when the dauphin ought to 
 have claimed his bride, showed a great disposition to 
 evade his own obligations to England. But whatever 
 ,,^ . may have been the exact cause, Edward and 
 
 James 111. in- 
 vades England, Jamcs each accused the other of unfair deal- 
 A. D. 14 o. .^^^ and James in the spring of 1480 actually 
 
 marched an army across the Borders into Northumber- 
 land. 
 
 6. The King of England, for his part, commissioned 
 
 his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester to lead his forces 
 
 against the invader. At the same time the 
 
 May 12. ° 
 
 domestic state of Scotland gave Edward great 
 advantages. James III. was a king distinguished for a 
 love of art and science, which his nobles held in great 
 contempt. His court was the resort of musicians and 
 architects, by whose advice he was supposed to be 
 governed in matters affecting the weal of his kingdom. 
 His own brothers were disaffected to him. One of 
 them, the Earl of Mar, is said to have been put to 
 death by his orders. The other, Alexander Duke of 
 Albany, escaped to France, but was invited over to 
 England by Edward, with whom he entered into treaty 
 
1482. Fate of Clarence. 207 
 
 for assistance to make himself King of Scot- 
 
 A. D. 
 
 land, pretending that his brother was ille- June n. 
 gitimate. He engaged, on obtaining his kingdom, to 
 deliver up Berwick to the English, and he went with the 
 Duke of Gloucester to lay siege to that town, which sur- 
 rendered with very little resistance. James, meanwhile, 
 was advancing at the head of his forces to make a new 
 inroad on the Enghsh Border ; but having arrived at 
 Lauder, a conference was held in the church by his dis- 
 contented lords, who in the end seized seven ™ ^ . u 
 
 ' 1 he bcotcn 
 
 of the detested favorites and hanged them lords seize and 
 
 , . , _,, ^ , , out to death the 
 
 over the bridge. The Scotch army was then king's favor- 
 disbanded and the King conveyed back to "^^• 
 Edinburgh by the nobles, who extorted from him a full 
 pardon for what they had done. Albany Albany and 
 and Gloucester then marched on to Edin- march to Edin- 
 burgh, and were received within the city as ^urgh. 
 friends. 
 
 7. But Albany was well aware that his title to the 
 crown of Scotland would not be supported within the 
 realm itself. A compromise was therefore arranged, and 
 a peace was concluded between all parties. The sums 
 advanced by Edward for his daughter's dower were re- 
 paid, and Berwick was given up to England. Albany, 
 however, very soon afterwards renewed his intrigues with 
 Edward; as a consequence of which he was attainted 
 by the Parliament of Scotland. 
 
 8. As for Edward, he had scarcely composed this dis- 
 pute with Scotland when he met with a cruel mortifica- 
 tion at the hands of Louis XL of France. ^ . ^^ 
 
 Louis XI. 
 
 It is evident that that wily monarch had breaks faith 
 never really intended the match between 
 the dauphin and the Princess Ehzabeth to take effect, 
 Edward, on the other hand, had been induced by the 
 
2o8 Edward IV. ch. viii. 
 
 prospect of this alliance to make peace with Louis on 
 more easy terms, perhaps, than he might otherwise have 
 granted. Time passed away, however, and Louis took 
 no steps to bring the matter to a conclusion, till at last 
 a great opportunity presented itself of violating his 
 engagement openly. Charles the Bold, Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, had been defeated and slain at Nancy in 1477. 
 He left an only daughter, Mary, to. inherit his rich 
 dominions, which included not only Burgundy but a 
 great part of the Low Countries. Her territories were 
 invaded by Louis, but she married Maximilian of Austria, 
 son of the Emperor Frederick III., who, though the 
 poorest prince of Europe, was a very good soldier and 
 recovered for her several places that had submitted to 
 the French. The Duchess Mary, however, was unex- 
 pectedly cut off in March 1482 by a fall from her horse. 
 She left two young children, Philip and Margaret, of 
 whom the former was heir to the duchy ; but their father 
 Maximilian was despised by the Flemings and had no 
 means of making his authority respected. The men of 
 Ghent, who were secretly encouraged by Louis, took 
 possession of his children and compelled him to govern 
 as they pleased ; till in the end he was driven to con- 
 clude with the French king a treaty at Arras by which 
 Margaret was to be married to the dauphin and to have 
 as her dower some of the most valuable lands in Bur- 
 gundy, taken from the inheritance of her brother Philip. 
 
 9. This treaty was concluded on December 23, 1482. 
 The mortification it gave to Edward was extreme, and 
 
 ^ , , French writers say that he died of the disap- 
 
 Death of -^ 
 
 Edward. pointment. Whether that be the case or not, 
 
 he did not survive it four months ; for he died on April 9, 
 1483. With many great defects in his character, he was 
 a king more in sympathy with his people than any sove- 
 
1483. Death of Edward IV. 209 
 
 reign that had been seen in England since the days of 
 Edward III. Handsome in person and affable in man- 
 ner, he was always easy to be approached. He was a 
 great favorite with the citizens of London, and rather 
 too much so with their wives. Careless and self-indul- 
 gent, he was greatly given to licentiousness, and forgot 
 the affairs of his kingdom in pursuing his own pleasures. 
 He was a good soldier but a bad general, a jovial com- 
 panion but a poor statesman. His personal influence 
 with his subjects was higher perhaps than that of any of 
 his predecessors ; but he cannot be regarded as by any 
 means a great king. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 EDWARD V. 
 
 I. Edward, the son and heir of the deceased king, was 
 at Ludlow on the borders of Wales when his father died. 
 He had been sent thither as Prince of Wales to hold a 
 court and keep the country in good order; for which 
 purpose a council had been assigned to him consisting 
 originally of his uncles the Dukes of Clarence and Glou- 
 cester, his maternal uncle Anthony Earl Rivers, Lord 
 Hastings, and several others. But the Duke of Clarence 
 was dead, the Duke of Gloucester in the North, and Lord 
 Hastings in London ; so that when young Edward, who 
 was only in his thirteenth year, received the news of his 
 own accession to the throne, he was surrounded prin- 
 cipally by his mother's relations. 
 
 2. Now it was most unfortunate for the young King 
 himself that both his mother and her kinsfolk were looked 
 upon with dislike and jealousy by the old nobility. The 
 
 P 
 
210 Edward V. ch. ix. 
 
 „, , , Woodvilles had always been res^arded as up- 
 
 The old no- , , ^ ^ . ^ , , , . ^ 
 
 biiity jealous of Starts, Dut under the reign of the late king no 
 
 the Woodvilles. ^ ^ -i- . ij ■i- •, 
 
 loyal subject could say anything against 
 them. The Council in London, however, were of 
 opinion that it would be advisable to remove the new 
 King entirely from the influence of his maternal relatives ; 
 and though the Queen Dowager desired that he should 
 be brought up to London with as large an escort as 
 possible, the lords could not be persuaded to sanction a 
 stronger retinue than was needed for his personal safety. 
 Lord Hastings, who was governor of Calais, took alarm, 
 and talked of departing immediately across the sea. The 
 Queen's friends were obliged to give assurances that no 
 large force should come up ; and orders were sent down 
 to Ludlow that the company should on no account exceed 
 2,000 horse. 
 
 3. On his death-bed the late king had bequeathed the 
 care of the young prince and his kingdom more especially 
 to his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester. When, there- 
 fore, tidings of Edward's death were sent into the North, 
 Richard at once set out for London. He reached North- 
 ampton on April 29, and found that the young King had 
 been there that day before him and had passed on to 
 Stony Stratford, ten miles further on. He was met, how- 
 ever, by the young King's uncle and half-brother, the 
 Earl Rivers and Lord Richard Grey, who had ridden 
 back to pay their respects to him in Edward's name. 
 Henry Duke of Buckingham also joined the party. He, 
 it is said, had been already in communication with Glou- 
 cester. With apparent cordiality all sat down together 
 to supper ; but after the retirement of Rivers and Grey 
 the two dukes held a consultation, the result of which 
 
 Arrest of was that early next morning they caused 
 Rivers and ^j^^-„ g^gg^g ^-q j^g arrestcd, and pushed on 
 
1483. Gloucester and the Queen' s Kin. 211 
 
 to Stony Stratford before the royal party had time to 
 get away. They obtained an audience of the young 
 King, and in his presence accused his uncle Rivers 
 and his two half-brothers, the Marquis of Dorset and 
 Lord Richard Grey, of a design to usurp the government 
 and oppress the old nobility. Dorset, it seems, who was 
 Constable of the Tower, had taken supphes of arms and 
 money out of that fortress and fitted out a small fleet; 
 while Rivers and Lord Richard Grey had shown a most 
 suspicious haste in bringing young Edward up to London. 
 4. The poor lad could not believe these accusations, 
 and burst into tears on hearing them. The two dukes, 
 however, caused Rivers and Grey, with two other gentle- 
 men of his household, to be sent in custody into York- 
 shire, where, after being confined for nearly two months 
 in different places, they were ultimately beheaded at 
 Pomfret. Meanwhile the young King continued his jour- 
 ney to London in the company of his uncle Gloucester 
 and the Duke of Buckingham. Alarm had been at first 
 created in the city by the news of the arrests made at 
 Northampton, but the fact became known that large 
 quantities of armor and weapons were found among 
 the baggage of Rivers and the King's attendants ; and 
 this discovery produced an impression that their impris- 
 onment was perfectly justified. The mayor and citizens 
 accordingly met the young King and his uncle at Horn- 
 sea Park and conducted him into the city. They en- 
 tered it on May 4, a day that had been originally set 
 apart for Edward's coronation. That ceremony was 
 now deferred till June 22. Meanwhile the Duke of 
 Gloucester was declared Protector of the The Duke 
 young King and his kingdom, and a parlia- °er named' 
 ment was summoned to assemble three Protector. 
 days after the coronation. 
 
212 Edward V. ch. ix. 
 
 5. But the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Woodville, on 
 hearing that her brother and her son had been arrested 
 The Queen at Northampton, had quitted Westminster 
 takes^^^^ Palace and gone into the adjoining Sanctu- 
 Sanctuary. g^j-y^ Here Rotherham, Archbishop of York, 
 who had been lord chancellor at the death of Ed- 
 ward IV., brought her the Great Seal of England as a 
 guarantee that nothing should be done against the in- 
 terest of her son. This act was a grave official mis- 
 demeanor, which he had soon cause to repent ; for the 
 office of chancellor was taken from him, and a censure 
 was passed upon him by the Council for letting the Seal 
 go out of his custody. The Queen's influence, which 
 had been so great during the reign of her husband, was 
 now completely at an end, and the old nobility rejoiced 
 at having got rid of her ascendancy — a revolution, as 
 Lord Hastings triumphantly remarked, that had cost no 
 more blood than a cut finger. 
 
 6. Hastings, indeed, had been a principal cause of 
 this change ; but notwithstanding his open boast he 
 seems very soon to have repented it and held meetings 
 with the Queen's friends at St. Paul's to consider how to 
 get the King out of Richard's power. Richard at the 
 same time held meetings with his supporters at Crosby's 
 Place in Bishopsgate Street, where he then resided. At 
 last at a council held within the Tower, he caused Has- 
 Hastings tings suddenly to be arrested and immedi- 
 beheaded. ^^^j^ ^^^^^ beheaded on Tower Green. Mor- 
 ton Bishop of Ely, and Archbishop Rotherham were 
 also placed in confinement. The Dukes of Gloucester 
 and Buckingham then sent for the principal citizens, 
 and appearing before them in rusty armor which they 
 had suddenly put on, explained that they had only that 
 morning heard of a conspiracy formed against them by 
 
1483. Execution of Hastings. 213 
 
 Hastings and others, who would have killed the Protec- 
 tor and taken the government into their own hands. 
 
 7. This sudden execution of one who, to outward ap- 
 pearance, had been all along most friendly to the two 
 dukes against whom he was said to have conspired, oc^ 
 casioned general astonishment. The act was certainly 
 quite illegal, and it is hard to see how it could have been 
 necessary even in self-defence. Read by the light of 
 subsequent events it seems to admit only of one inter- 
 pretation — that Richard was at this time plotting his own 
 elevation to the throne, and, finding that Hastings could 
 not be relied on to second his designs, had determined 
 to remove him. But an impression does seem to have 
 been conveyed, which is stated as a simple fact in a 
 history written many years after, that Richard on this 
 occasion only anticipated violence by equally high- 
 handed measures of his own. The view, however, which 
 has obtained most general currency is derived from a 
 very graphic account of the scene in the council cham- 
 ber written by Sir Thomas More, who unquestionably 
 obtained his information from Cardinal Morton, at that 
 time Bishop of Ely, one of the persons then arrested by 
 the Protector. According to this narrative the blow 
 which fell upon Hastings altogether took him by sur- 
 prise. The story is, in brief, as follows. 
 
 8. The Protector made his appearance in the council 
 chamber about nine o'clock in the morning. His man- 
 ner was gracious. He blamed his own lazi- The scene 
 
 r . • 1- J ^ • 0. at the Coun- 
 
 ness for not commg earlier and turnmg to ^ii in the 
 Morton Bishop of Ely, said, " My lord, you '^°^^^- 
 have very good strawberries in your garden at Holborn ; 
 I pray you let us have a mess of them." After this, 
 having opened the business of the council and engaged 
 the lords in conversation he took leave of them for a 
 
214 Edward V. Ch. ix. 
 
 time. Between ten and eleven o'clock he returned. 
 His manner was altogether altered, and as he took his 
 seat he frowned on the assembly and bit his lips. After 
 a pause he asked what punishment they deserved who 
 had conspired against the life of one so nearly related 
 to the King as himself, and intrusted with the govern- 
 ment of the kingdom. The council was confounded, 
 but Hastings, presuming on his familiarity with the Pro- 
 tector, said they deserved the punishment of traitors. 
 "That sorceress, my brother's wife," exclaimed Rich- 
 ard, " and others with her, see how they have wasted 
 my body by their sorcery and witchcraft ! " And as he 
 spoke he bared his left arm and showed it to the coun- 
 cil, shrunk and withered, as it always had been. He 
 added that one of the accomplices of the Queen Dowager 
 in this business was Jane Shore, who had been one of 
 the mistresses of the late king her husband, and since 
 his death had become the mistress of Hastings. 
 
 9. The accusation against the Queen Dowager, we 
 are told, was not at all displeasing to Hastings, who 
 regarded her with deadly hatred ; but when the protect- 
 or mentioned the name of Shore's wife he felt very 
 differently. He, however, ventured to reply, " Certainly, 
 my lords, if they have done so heinously, they are 
 vi^orthy of heinous punishment." "What," exclaimed 
 Richard, " dost thou serve me with ifs and ands ? I 
 tell thee they have done it, and that I will make good on 
 thy body, traitor!" On this he struck his fist upon the 
 council table with great force. Armed men rushed in, 
 crying " Treason ! " Hastings and some others, includ- 
 ing Morton, were arrested, and Lord Stanley had a blow 
 aimed at his head with a pole-axe. Richard then bade 
 Hastings instantly prepare for death, swearing by St. 
 Paul that he would not dine till he had seen his head 
 
1483. Jane Shore. 215 
 
 off. He accordingly made his confession to the first 
 priest that could be found. A log of timber intended 
 for some repairs in the Tower served the purpose of a 
 block, and before noon his head was severed from his 
 body. 
 
 10. In what manner Jane Shore had incurred the 
 Protector's displeasure it is difficult to understand. 
 Richard accused her of witchcraft and of being an ac- 
 complice of Hastings in a scheme for his destruction ; on 
 which charges he sent her to prison and stripped her of 
 almost all her property. After a time, however, he 
 handed her over to the Bishop of London to inflict spirit- 
 ual punishment upon her as an unchaste woman, and 
 she was compelled to do open penance one Sunday, 
 going through the streets in her kirtle with a taper in her 
 hand. The exhibition, however, excited the compassion 
 of the spectators, who looked upon her punishment as 
 due only to malice and not to any real desire on Rich- 
 ard's part to promote public morality. 
 
 11. Three days before the execution of Hastings the 
 Protector had written to the city of York, desiring a force 
 to be sent up immediately to London to counteract the 
 designs of the Queen Dowager and her friends, whom 
 he accused of conspiring against him and Buckingham, 
 and attempting the ruin of the old nobility. Some hasty 
 levies arrived in consequence in the course of a week or 
 ten days, and were mustered in Moorfields. Orders were 
 also sent into the North for the execution of Rivers, 
 Lord Richard Grey, and two other gentlemen who 
 had been arrested in accompanying the King up to 
 London. Meanwhile Richard persuaded the council 
 that his nephew Richard Duke of York, who was with 
 the Queen his mother in Sanctuary, should be sent for 
 to take up his residence with the King his brother. A 
 
2i6 Edward V. ch. ix. 
 
 deputation, headed by Cardinal Bourchier, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, was accordingly sent to the Queen, and 
 blie delivered the lad into their hands. A letter written 
 a few days after says that he was received by Richard at 
 the Star Chamber door " with many loving words." He 
 Richard ^'^'^ couductcd by the Cardinal to the Tower 
 
 Duke of and was treated with all the honor that be- 
 
 York de- 
 livered to came his birth. But neither he nor the King 
 
 tiic Prolector. , • , i i r i ^t- 
 
 his brother ever leit the lower again. 
 
 12. On Sunday, June 22, the citizens of London were 
 astonished by a sermon delivered at Paul's Cross, a little 
 open-air pulpit which stood at the north-east corner of 
 St. Paul's Churchyard. Here preachers of distinction 
 often addressed tlic people on public questions ; but the 
 boldness of the ])reacher on this occasion was quite un- 
 precedented. He was a man of considerable reputation, 
 
 Dr Shaw's ^^ name Dr. Shaw. His text was taken from 
 sermon. the Book of Wisdom iv. 3 — " Bastard slips 
 
 shall not take deep root," — and the whole line of his 
 argument was to show that the children of King Edward 
 IV. were illegitimate. From this it was inferred that the 
 true right to the crown was in the person of Richard 
 Duke of Gloucester, who, having arranged to be present 
 during the discourse, was made the object of a special 
 compliment. The people, however, listened in mute 
 astonishment, and the preacher seems to have gained 
 little credit for an act which was clearly that of a syco- 
 phant. 
 
 13. Nevertheless, on the Tuesday following, at a meet- 
 ing of the common council of the city of London in the 
 
 Guildhall, a message was received from the 
 
 June 24. *^ 
 
 Protector through the medium of the Duke 
 of Buckingham and other lords, as to the claim advanced 
 by him to the crown. Buckingham, who spoke with re- 
 
1483. Edward deposed. 217 
 
 markable ability, entered into a statement from which 
 he drew the conclusion that the title of the Duke of 
 Gloucester was preferable to that of his nephew Edward. 
 And although we are told by a city chronicler that the 
 matter of his address was not so much admired as the 
 eloquence with which it was delivered, the mayor and 
 aldermen certainly proceeded to act upon the informa- 
 tion thus given them. 
 
 14. A Parliament had been summoned to meet on the 
 following day, and it is certain that a meeting of lords 
 and commons actually took place, though, owing to some 
 informality it was not afterwards regarded as a true par- 
 liament. In this assembly, however, the question of 
 Richard's title was brought forward, and the facts were 
 stated to be as follows. The marriage of Edward IV. 
 with Elizabeth Woodville had been invalid from the 
 first. Not only had it been brought about by sorcery and 
 witchcraft (this was gravely alleged in an act of Parlia- 
 ment !) but at the very time it took place Edward was 
 under a precontract to marry a certain Lady Eleanor 
 Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and widow 
 of Lord Butler ; and this according to the canon law 
 made his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville void. More- 
 over, the Duke of Clarence had been attainted by Par- 
 liament, so that none of his children could inherit. Thus 
 Richard was the only true heir of his father ^^^ ^^^^^ .^ 
 Richard Duke of York, and of the crown offered to 
 of England ; and he was desired by the 
 lords spiritual and temporal and the commons then 
 assembled to assume that to which he was so entitled. 
 
 15. A deputation consisting of a number of the lords 
 and some of the principal knights, joined by the mayor 
 and aldermen and chief citizens of London, then waited 
 on Richard at Baynard's Castle, the residence of his 
 
2i8 Richard III. CH. x. 
 
 mother the Duchess of York, and presented the petition. 
 
 Richard intimated his acceptance, and next morning, 
 
 accompanied by a great number of the 
 
 June i6. ^ 1 
 
 nobihty, proceeded m state to Westmmster 
 Hall, and afterwards to the Abbey and St. Paul's. From 
 that day he began to reign as king by the name of 
 Richard III. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 I. The Royal Progress — Murder of the Princes, 
 
 I. From what has been already said it will be seen that 
 the accession, or, as it is commonly called, the usurpa- 
 tion of Richard III., was the result of a struggle between 
 different parties among the nobility, in which the ablest 
 and the most high-handed carried the day. Dislike of 
 the Woodvilles was the one common bond by which the 
 greater part of the nobles could be united ; and Richard, 
 with his ally the Duke of Buckingham, made use of it 
 for his own purposes. But though this feeling was strong 
 Change of and general enough to give him a complete 
 R?ch?rd Ifte? victory over his opponents, there was no 
 tSn^d^the' ^^^^ Sympathy between him and the greater 
 Crown. part of those who for the moment supported 
 
 him, and it was inevitable that when he had attained 
 the crown, feelings of a different kind should begin to 
 show themselves. And so we are told expressly by one 
 writer of the time that as soon as he had become king 
 he lost the hearts of his nobility, " insomuch that such as 
 before loved and praised him and would have jeopardied 
 life and goods with him if he had remained still as Pro- 
 
1483- Accession of Richard III. 21 g 
 
 tector, now murmured and grudged against him in such 
 wise that few or none favored his party, except it were 
 for dread or for the great gifts that they received of him ; 
 by mean whereof he wan divers to follow his mind, the 
 which after deceived him," Yet, looking merely to the 
 circumstances of his accession, Richard was not a usurper 
 in the strict sense of the word. He did not seize, but 
 was invited to assume, the crown : and the body by 
 which he was invited so to do had all the weight and 
 dignity of a regular parliament. 
 
 2. His coronation, which was fixed for July 6, just ten 
 days after his accession, was celebrated with peculiar 
 magnificence, and preceded by a gorgeous jjis corona- 
 procession the day before, in which the ^'O"' J^^y ^■ 
 greater number of the nobility took part. At this time 
 he made great professions that he would rule with clem- 
 ency. A day or two before his coronation he entered 
 the Court of King's Bench and sat down in the seat of 
 the chief justice, from which he proclaimed a general 
 amnesty for all offences against himself. In token of his 
 sincerity he also sent for one Sir John Fogge, who had 
 notoriously incurred his displeasure and taken refuge in 
 a neighboring sanctuary. Fogge had been a member 
 of his brother King Edward's council, and had filled the 
 office of treasurer of the household during his reign. 
 On being sent for he came out of sanctuary, and Rich- 
 ard in the presence of all the people took him openly 
 by the hand. 
 
 3. To confirm the good impression which these and 
 other acts were calculated to make upon his subjects, 
 Richard then set out upon a progress jj^ 
 through the midland and northern counties, soes on a 
 
 TT. , progress. 
 
 His course lay m the first place through 
 
 Windsor, Reading, and Oxford, to Woodstock and Glou- 
 
220 Richard III. CH. x. 
 
 cester. At Oxford he met with a magnificent reception, 
 in which Bishop Waynflete, the founder of Magdalen 
 College, took a leading part. At Gloucester the city- 
 offered him a handsome present or "benevolence," un- 
 solicited ; and the same was done at Worcester, which 
 was the next place he visited. Both these gifts he de- 
 clined, as he had already done a similar offer from the 
 metropolis, declaring he would rather have the hearts of 
 his subjects than their money. He went on to Warwick, 
 where he received ambassadors from Ferdinand and 
 Isabella of Spain ; and from thence by Coventry, Lei- 
 cester, and Nottingham he went on to York, where the 
 citizens had prepared for him a reception of more than 
 ordinary splendor. It has been said that he was crowned 
 a second time in this city ; but the truth seems to be 
 merely that he and his queen, who had joined him at 
 Warwick, with the Prince Edward their son, whom he 
 that day created Prince of Wales, walked in a grand 
 procession through the streets with crowns upon their 
 heads. 
 
 4. All this display tended to increase his popularity, 
 especially in the North where he had been a long time 
 resident before he became king. But in London and the 
 southern counties people began to be uneasy about his 
 conduct towards the young princes his nephews. It is 
 true King Edward himself, out of a confidence which was 
 certainly misplaced, had appointed Richard the guardian 
 of his children after his death, but the mode in which 
 he exercised his rights was exceedingly suspicious. The 
 two young princes were never seen out of the Tower, 
 and nobody appears to have known anything about 
 them. Their five sisters remained with their mother in 
 the Sanctuary at Westminster ; but Richard had caused 
 the Sanctuary to be surrounded with a band of armed 
 
1483. Murder of the two Frinces. 221 
 
 men lest any of them should make their escape beyond 
 sea. For it appears that plans had begun to be formed 
 for carrying off one or more of them in disguise ; doubts 
 being already entertained whether their two brothers 
 would not be cut off by violence. 
 
 5. At length it was announced that even the Duke of 
 Buckingham, who had hitherto been so strong a partizan 
 of Richard, was interested in behalf of the young princes, 
 and would put himself at the head of a confederacy for 
 their liberation from the Tower. But scarcely had this 
 news got abroad when it was made known that the ob- 
 ject of the proposed rising was hopeless, Murder of 
 for the princes were no more. No one could ^^^ ^"^° 
 
 tell how or when they had been put to 
 death ; but that they had been murdered was the cur- 
 rent rumor of the time, and it was not, for it could not 
 be, contradicted. 
 
 6. The circumstances of the crime seem, in fact, to 
 have remained a secret for nearly twenty years ; but at 
 length by the confession of some of the circumstances 
 murderers they were found to be, briefly, as °^^^^ '^"'"^■ 
 follows : — Some time after Richard had set out upon his 
 progress he sent a messenger named John Green to Sir 
 Robert Brackenbury, the Constable of the Tower, com- 
 manding him to put his two young nephews to death. 
 This order Brackenbury would not obey, and Green re- 
 turned to his master at Warwick. Richard was greatly 
 mortified, but sent one Sir James Tyrell to London with 
 a warrant to Brackenbury to deliver up to him for one 
 night all the keys of the Tower. Tyrell thus took the 
 place into his keeping, and engaged the services of Miles 
 Forest, one of those who kept the princes' chamber, and 
 John Dighton, his own groom, to carry out the wishes of 
 the tyrant. These men entered the chamber when the 
 
2 22 Richard III. ch. x. 
 
 two unfortunate lads were asleep and smothered them 
 under pillows ; then having called Sir James to see th6 
 bodies, buried them at the foot of a staircase. Bracken- 
 bury, it was supposed, caused them afterwards to be re- 
 moved and buried secretly in some more suitable place ; 
 but as he was dead long before the story got abroad, the 
 place could never be ascertained. The fact, however, 
 appears to have been that they were not removed at all ; 
 for nearly two hundred years later, two skeletons cor- 
 responding to the age of the murdered youths were 
 found in the very position where they were said to have 
 been originally buried — at the foot of a staircase in the 
 Tower. 
 
 7. Unscrupulous as Richard was, the remorse that 
 overtook him after this dreadful crime appears to have 
 Richard's been very terrible indeed. "I have heard," 
 
 remorse. wrote Sir Thomas More, "by credible re- 
 
 port of such as were secret with his chamberers, that 
 after this abominable deed done he never had quiet in 
 his mind ; he never thought himself sure. When he 
 went abroad his eyes whirled about, his body privily 
 fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance 
 and manner like one always ready to strike again. He 
 took ill rest at night, lay long waking and musing ; sore 
 wearied with care and watch, he rather slumbered than 
 slept. Troubled with fearful dreams, suddenly some- 
 times started he up, leaped out of his bed and ran about 
 the chamber. So was his restless heart continually tossed 
 and turiibled with the tedious impression and stormy 
 remembrance of his most abominable deed." 
 
 II. The Rebellion of Buckingham. 
 
 I. The news of the murder excited throughout the 
 country strong feelings of grief and indignation. But to 
 
 A 
 
1483. 
 
 Earl of Richmond'' s Pedigree. 
 
 223 
 
 W 
 
 H 
 m 
 
 < 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 w 
 O 
 
 Q 
 
 Pi; 
 
 Q 
 
224 Richard III. ch. x. 
 
 those implicated in the conspiracy for the Hberation of 
 the princes it was more especially alarming. A new 
 object, however, was presently supplied to them. The 
 male issue of Edward IV. being now extinct, a project 
 ^ . , was formed for marrying his eldest daughter 
 
 Projected mar- i r • ■, 
 
 riageofPrin- Elizabeth to Henry, Earl of Richmond, a 
 
 cess Elizabeth r • -r-> -^^ -l j j 
 
 to Henry Earl refugee m Brittaiiy, who was regarded as 
 of Richmond. ^]^g head of the deposed House of Lancas- 
 ter ; and Buckingham wrote to the earl to cross the seas, 
 while he and others in England should make an insur- 
 rection in his favor. 
 
 2. Now, it is true the direct male line of the House 
 of Lancaster died with King Henry VI. ; but this Earl 
 ^ , of Richmond was descended from John of 
 
 Descent the 
 
 Earl of Rich- Gaunt through his mother Margaret Beau- 
 fort in the manner shown in the subjoined 
 pedigree. He was also, by the father's side, a nephew 
 of Henry VL, but this relationship, it will be seen, gave 
 him 110 claim to the crown. On the other hand, his 
 claim through the Beauforts was a little doubtful, as 
 John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, the first of the line, 
 was born before the marriage of his father John of 
 Gaunt with his mother Catherine Swynford. The Beau- 
 forts, it is true, had been made legitimate by an Act of 
 Parliament, but there was still some question whether 
 they were not excluded from the crown. Richmond, 
 however, was undoubtedly, after the death of Henry 
 VI., the most direct representative of the line of John of 
 Gaunt, and had been carried over to Brittany by his 
 uncle the Earl of Pembroke, soon after the final over- 
 throw of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury. 
 
 3. Now it will be seen that the Duke of Buckingham 
 was also descended from the Beauforts, and it is said that 
 owing to this fact he had thought at one time of laying 
 
1483- Rebellion of Buckingham. 225 
 
 claim to the crown himself. It is also supposed that he 
 had received a private disappointment from King Rich- 
 ard which had done much to cool the 'v^. t^ ^ c 
 
 ine Duke of 
 
 friendship he had hitherto entertained to- Buckingham, 
 wards him. But he was further greatly influenced by 
 some conversations that he held with Morton Bishop of 
 Ely, whom Richard had delivered to his custody after 
 his accession ; and whom he kept as a prisoner at 
 Brecknock. Morton very soon discovered his disaffec- 
 tion towards King Richard, and led him gradually into 
 the design of calling over the Earl of Richmond from 
 Brittany and marrying him to the Princess Elizabeth. 
 This project was communicated to the Countess of Rich- 
 mond, the earl's mother, and to the Queen Dowager, by 
 both of whom it was warmly approved. The Marquis 
 of Dorset and others of the Woodville party arranged 
 with Buckingham a number of simultaneous risings to 
 take place on October 18 in the south and west of Eng- 
 land ; and the Earl of Richmond was expected at the 
 same time to land on the southern coast and lead the 
 movement in person. 
 
 4. On the day appointed, accordingly, the partisians 
 of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, took up arms under 
 different leaders in Kent, in Berkshire, at 
 Salisbury, and at Exeter. The Duke of Ae^RebdiiJii, 
 Buckingham also took the field that day at ^''^' '^" 
 Brecknock. The King seems to have been nearly taken 
 by surprise, but the news of the intended outbreak had 
 reached him, a Aveek before it took place, at Lincoln. 
 He wrote in great haste to his chancellor to bring or send 
 immediately the Great Seal in order that he might make 
 out commissions of array. Hastening southwards he 
 received it at Grantham on the 19th. Commissions were 
 immediately sent out to levy troops in the King's name, 
 
 Q 
 
226 Richard III. ch. x. 
 
 and a singular proclamation was issued on the 23d, en- 
 deavoring to excite public indignation against his oppo- 
 nents as men of immoral lives who, despising the gene- 
 ral pardon issued by the King for political offences, 
 were leagued together for the maintenance of vice and 
 the indulgence of unlawful pleasures. The Marquis of 
 Dorset, it seems, had, since the death of Hastings, taken 
 Jane Shore into his keeping, and according to this pro- 
 clamation had been guilty of many other acts of immo- 
 rality. 
 
 5. Great rewards were offered by this proclamation 
 for the capture of Buckingham, Dorset, and the Bishops 
 of Ely and Salisbury ; for Bishop Morton, it should be 
 mentioned, after his conversations with Buckingham, 
 had contrived to make his escape from Brecknock into 
 the Isle of Ely, and soon after got beyond sea. The 
 Bishop of Salisbury was a brother of Queen Elizabeth 
 Woodville. One thousand pounds in money, or an 
 estate in land worth one hundred pounds a year, was the 
 price set upon the head of Buckingham. Such an 
 amount was probably equal in value to about twelve 
 thousand pounds in modern money, or twelve hundred 
 pounds a year in land. For the others the sums offered 
 were not quite so large. Buckingham had boasted that 
 he had as many liveries of the Stafford knot as Warwick 
 the King-maker had of his cognisance, the bear and 
 ragged staff. But however numerous the forces he 
 could bring into the field, he was utterly unable to make 
 use of them. Two gentlemen named Thomas Vaughan 
 and Humphrey Stafford watched the roads about Breck- 
 nock to prevent his leaving Wales, and destroyed all 
 the bridges across the Severn. Heavy rains then 
 swelled the rivers and made a passage utterly impracti- 
 cable. A great part of the land was flooded, provisions 
 
1484. Second Invasion of Richmond. 227 
 
 were not to be obtained, and the men of Buckingham 
 disbanded. The duke himself retired into Shropshire and 
 took refuge with one of his retainers named c , . , 
 
 o Buckingham 
 
 Ralph Banaster, who, tempted by the great betrayed, 
 reward offered for his apprehension, delivered him up 
 to the sheriff of the county. 
 
 6. Richard, meanwhile, had been collecting forces 
 and advancing towards the west of England. Buckino-- 
 ham on his capture was brought to him at Salisbury, 
 and the King gave orders for his instant . . a 
 
 ° ^ and executed, 
 
 execution. Richard acted wisely in refu- Nov. 2. 
 sing him an interview, for which he made urgent re- 
 quest ; for it seems to have been well known afterwards 
 that he intended to have stabbed him to the heart. 
 
 7. The capture and death of Buckingham completely 
 put an end to the rebellion. Dorset and some of the 
 other leaders at once abandoned all hope p^jj^ ^ r 
 of resistance and fled to Brittany. A few the rebellion. 
 others were taken and executed — among- the rest Sir 
 Thomas St. Leger, who had married the Duchess of Exe- 
 ter, the King's sister ; but the common people were 
 spared. The Earl of Richmond set sail from Brittany 
 but met with a storm in mid-channel which dispersed 
 his ships ; and though his own vessel neared the coast 
 at Poole and at Plymouth, he could obtain no satisfac- 
 tory assurance of a friendly reception on landing. He 
 therefore hoisted sail and recrossed the sea. 
 
 III. Second Invasion of Richinond — Richard's Over- 
 throw and Death. 
 
 I. Thus Richard had obtained an almost bloodless 
 triumph. He passed on to Exeter, where he received 
 the congratulations of the citizens, and a purse of 200 
 gold nobles was presented to him. In the January fol- 
 
228 Richard III. ch. x. 
 
 lowing^ a Parliament met at Westminster 
 
 A. D. 1484. , . , _ 
 
 Richard's ■which Confirmed his title to the crown and 
 
 in Pariia- passed an act of attainder against the Earl 
 
 ™^'^*- of Richmond and his adherents. Upwards 
 
 of ninety persons were by this act branded as traitors 
 and deprived of all their lands and honors ; but the 
 Countess of Richmond, Henry's mother, who had been 
 the chief organizer of the whole rebellion, was treated 
 with leniency out of consideration for her husband, Lord 
 Stanley. Her lands were given to her husband for life, 
 and he undertook to be responsible for her conduct in 
 the future. Another act of this Parliament was to 
 abolish the oppressive kind of taxation introduced by 
 Edward IV. under the name of benevolences, which 
 though they were professedly free-will offerings, had 
 been really exacted under so much pressure as to re- 
 duce many persons from affluence to poverty. 
 
 2. Before the Parliament separated the lords all took 
 an oath of allegiance, not only to Richard as king, but 
 to his son Edward Prince of Wales as heir- apparent, to 
 whom they promised fealty after Richard's death. But 
 within a few weeks the young prince died after a brief 
 illness, and Richard was childless. As the children of 
 Edward IV. had been declared illegitimate and those of 
 the Duke of Clarence could not inherit by reason of their 
 father's attainder, Richard then recognized as his heir John 
 De la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, son of the Duke of Suifolk. 
 
 3. Meanwhile, the Earl of Richmond was busy pre- 
 paring for a second attempt at invasion. On Christmas 
 
 Day he had held a meeting with his princi- 
 
 Ricnmond and ,1, . ^itii 
 
 his followers pal adherents m Rennes Cathedral, where 
 m Brittany. ^^ ^^^^ ^_^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^^ Princess Eliza- 
 beth as soon as he should obtain possession of the 
 crown. Richard made application to the Duke of Brit- 
 
1485- The Queen Dowager and Richard III, 229 
 
 tany to deliver him up into his hands ; but the earl, 
 having received warning, escaped into the dominions 
 of Charles VIII., the new King of France, who had just 
 succeeded his father Louis XL, where he was soon re- 
 joined by about 300 of his followers. Richard, however, 
 endeavored to defeat his designs in another 
 way. He summoned a council of the lords 
 spiritual and temporal, then in London, together with 
 the lord mayor and aldermen of the city, , 
 
 ^ ■' March i. 
 
 and took oath in their presence that if the 
 five daughters of " Dame Elizabeth Grey " (meaning by 
 that name the Queen Dowager, whom he no longer recog- 
 nized as such) would come out of sanctuary and place 
 themselves under his protection, he would not only as- 
 sure them of life and liberty, but provide them with hus- 
 bands as they came of age, and give each of them a mar- 
 riage portion of the value of 200 marks a ^^ ,., 
 
 ° ^ The Queen 
 
 year. He also engaged to allow Elizabeth Dowager and 
 
 1 , P . ^ T ^ her daughters 
 
 herseli a pension of 700 marks a year tor leave sane- 
 life. This offer the Queen Dowager and ^"^'"^' 
 her daughters thought it well to accept, and accordingly 
 came out of sanctuary. 
 
 4. It seems extraordinary that after the murder of her 
 two sons the Queen Dowager should ever have been in- 
 duced to repose the slightest confidence in Richard ; 
 and yet there appears to be no doubt of the fact that 
 some time after this she was nearly won over by his 
 blandishments to break off her compact with Henry, 
 whose cause she probably considered hopeless. She 
 wrote to her son the Marquis of Dorset in France to 
 withdraw himself from the Earl of Richmond's com- 
 pany ; and Dorset had in consequence secretly left 
 Paris, where the earl was then staying, and was hasten- 
 ing towards Flanders on his way to England, when the 
 
230 Richard III. CH. x. 
 
 French king's council, at the earl's urgent request, 
 caused his flight to be arrested. It is even asserted that 
 Richard attained such favor with the Queen Dowager, 
 that in order to prevent her daughter's marriage with 
 the Earl of Richmond he proposed, in the expectation 
 of his own queen's death, to marry her himself; and 
 this project, as the chronicles relate, was actually ap- 
 proved by the mother, although very abhorrent to the 
 feelings of the princess herself. Such a story seems al- 
 most too monstrous to be believed. Perhaps the truth 
 may be that immediately after his queen's 
 death Richard did make some advances of 
 he kind, which even under these circumstances were 
 J,. , , disgraceful enough ; and the indignation 
 disavows an they aroused may have caused the story to 
 
 intention to , ^ . . . , 
 
 marry his be exaggerated. Certam it is that the King 
 felt it necessary to make a public disavowal 
 of the intention within a very few weeks after his wife's 
 death. 
 
 5. But whatever arts Richard used — cajolery, pro- 
 mises, bribes, or threats — to turn enemies into friends or 
 to defeat the plans of his opponents, they never were 
 successful except partially and for a time. Sir Thomas 
 More, a great wit and genius, who in those days was a 
 child, but afterwards wrote a life of King Richard from 
 the information of persons then living, says of him that 
 " with large gifts he got him unsteadfast friendship, for 
 which he was fain to pill and spoil in other places and 
 get him steadfast hatred." Before his brief reign came 
 to an end he found himself obliged to replenish his 
 „ . empty exchequer by having recourse once 
 
 money by morc to those detested benevolences which 
 he had promised in Parliament should 
 never again be levied. Such measures, of course, made 
 
1485. Second Invasion of Richmond, 231 
 
 him more than ever unpopular at home, while the pre- 
 parations of the Earl of Richmond abroad continually 
 gave him more anxiety. The Earl of Oxford, who had 
 given much trouble to his brother Edward IV., had been 
 committed to the custody of Sir James Blount, governor 
 of Hammes Castle, near Calais, brother of the Lord 
 Mountjoy. Sir James released his prisoner, and both 
 offered their services to the Earl of Richmond. The 
 castle of Hammes was afterwards recovered into the 
 King's hands, but only on condition that the garrison 
 should be allowed to depart with bag and baggage. 
 
 6. By repeated proclamations Richard called upon 
 his subjects to resist the intended invasion of Richmond 
 with all their force. He denounced the earl and his fol- 
 lowers as men who had forsaken their true allegiance and 
 put themselves in subjection to the French king. He 
 pointed out that owing to the illegitimacy of the Beauforts 
 Henry could have no claim to the crown, and that even 
 on the father's side he was come of bastard blood. He 
 declared that he had bargained to give up for ever all 
 claims hitherto made by the kings of England either to 
 the crown of France, the duchy of Normandy, Gascony, 
 or even Calais. Richmond, however, had sent messages 
 into England by which he was assured of a considerable 
 amount of support ; and he borrowed money 
 
 from the King of France with which he fitted embarks for 
 out a small fleet at Harfleur and embarked * 
 
 for Wales, where his uncle, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pem- 
 broke, possessed great influence. 
 
 7. Richard, knowing of the intended invasion, but 
 being uncertain where his enemy might land, had taken 
 up his position in the centre of the kingdom. Following 
 a plan first put in use by his brother Edward during the 
 Scotch war, he had stationed messengers at intervals of 
 
232 Richard III. CH. x. 
 
 and lands twcntv miles along all the principal roads to 
 
 atMilford , ^ , . , . ^ , .^ ... 
 
 Haven, the coast to bring him early intelligence. 
 
 ^'^^' ^' But Henry landed at Milford Haven at the 
 
 farthest extremity of South Wales, where, perhaps, 
 Richard had least expected him ; and so small was the 
 force by which he was accompanied that the news did 
 not at first give the King very much anxiety. He pro- 
 fessed great satisfaction that his adversary was now com- 
 ing to bring matters to the test of battle. The earl, 
 however, was among friends from the moment he landed. 
 Pembroke was his native town, and the inhabitants ex- 
 pressed their willingness to serve his uncle, the Earl of 
 Pembroke, as their natural and immediate lord. The 
 very men whom Richard had placed to keep the coun- 
 try against him at once joined his party, and he passed 
 on to Shrewsbury with little or no opposition. 
 
 8. The King's " unsteadfast friendships " on the other 
 hand were now rapidly working his ruin. His own at- 
 Richard toriiey general, Morgan Kidwelly, had been 
 
 by his ill communication with the enemy before he 
 
 friends. landed. Richard, however, was very natu- 
 
 rally suspicious of Lord Stanley, his rival's stepfather, 
 who though he was steward of the royal household, had 
 asked leave shortly before the invasion to go home and 
 visit his family in Lancashire. This the King granted 
 only on condition that he would send his son, George 
 Lord Strange, to him at Nottingham in his place. Lord 
 Strange was accordingly sent to the King ; but when the 
 news arrived of Henry's landing, Richard desired the 
 presence of his father also. Stanley pretended illness, 
 an excuse which could not fail to increase the King's 
 suspicions. His son at the same time made an attempt 
 to escape, and being captured confessed that he himself 
 and his uncle Sir WiUiam Stanley had formed a project 
 
1485. The Battle of Boswortk, 233 
 
 •with others to go over to the enemy : but he protested 
 his father's innocence and assured the King that he 
 would obey the summons. He was made to understand 
 that his own life depended on his doing so, and he wrot 
 a letter to his father accordingly. 
 
 9. Richard having mustered his followers at Notting- 
 ham went on to Leicester to meet his antagonist, and 
 encamped at Bosworth on the night of August 21. The 
 Earl of Richmond had arrived near the same place with 
 an army of 5,000 men, which is supposed to have been 
 not more than half that of the King, That day, how- 
 ever, Lord Stanley had come to the earl secretly at 
 Atherstone to assure him of his support in the coming 
 battle. He and his brother Sir'William were each at 
 the head of a force not far off, and were only tempori- 
 zing to save the life of his son Lord Strange. This in- 
 formation relieved Henry's mind of much anxiety, for at 
 various times since he landed he had felt serious mis- 
 givings about the success of the enterprise. The issue 
 was now to be decided on the following day. 
 
 10. Early in the morning both parties prepared for 
 the battle. Richard arose before daybreak, much agi- 
 tated, it is said, by dreadful dreams that 
 
 had haunted his imagination in the night 
 time. But he entered the field wearing his crown upon 
 his head, and encouraged his troops with an eloquent 
 harangue. There was, however, treason in his camp, 
 and many of his followers were only seeking an oppor- 
 tunity to desert and take part with the enemy. A warn- 
 ing indeed had been conveyed by an unknown hand 
 to his foremost supporter, the Duke of Norfolk, in the 
 following rhyme, which was discovered the night before, 
 written on the door of his tent : — 
 
234 Richard III. ch. x. 
 
 " Jack of Norfolk, be not too bold, 
 For Dickon, thy master, is bought and sold." 
 
 11. Lord Stanley, who had drawn up his men at about 
 equal distance from both armies, received messages early 
 in the morning from both leaders, desiring his immediate 
 assistance. His policy, however, was to stand aloof to 
 the very last moment, and he replied in each case that 
 he would come at a convenient opportunity. Dissatis- 
 fied with this answer, Richard ordered his son to be 
 beheaded, but was persuaded to suspend the execution 
 of the order till the day should be decided. 
 
 12. After a discharge of arrows on both sides the 
 armies soon came to a hand-to-hand encounter. Lord 
 ^, , , Stanley joined the earl in the midst of the 
 
 The battle ^ •' 
 
 of Bos- engagement, and the earl of Northumber- 
 
 land, on whose support Richard had'relied, 
 stood still with all his followers and looked on. The 
 day was going hard against the King. Norfolk fell in 
 the thickest of the fight, and his son the Earl of Surrey, 
 after fighting with great valor, was surrounded and 
 taken prisoner. Richard endeavored to single out 'his 
 adversary, whose position on the field was pointed out 
 to him. He suddenly rushed upon Henry's body-guard 
 and unhorsed successively two of his attendants, one of 
 whom, the earl's standard-bearer, fell dead to the ground. 
 The earl himself was in great danger but that Sir Wil- 
 liam Stanley who had hitherto abstained from joining 
 the combat, now endeavored to surround the King with 
 his force of 3,000 men. Richard perceived that he was 
 Death of betrayed, and crying out " Treason ! Trea- 
 
 Richard. son!" endeavored only to sell his life as 
 
 dearly as possible. Overpowered by numbers he fell 
 dead in the midst of his enemies. 
 
 13. The battered crown that had fallen from Richard's 
 
1485. End of the Civil War. 235 
 
 head was picked up upon the field of battle and Sir 
 William Stanley placed it upon the head „ , 
 
 •' ^ ^ _ Henry crowned 
 
 of the conqueror, who was saluted as king upon the 
 by his whole army. The body of Richard 
 on the other hand, was treated with a degree of in- 
 dignity which expressed but too plainly the disgust ex- 
 cited in the minds of the people by his inhuman tyranny. 
 It was stripped naked and thrown upon a horse, a halter 
 being placed round the neck, and in that fashion carried 
 into Leicester, where it was buried with little honor in 
 the Grey Friars' church. 
 
 14. Such was the end of the last Kmg of England of 
 the line of the Plantagenets. In warlike qualities he 
 was not inferior to the best of his predecessors, but his 
 rule was such as alienated the hearts of the greater part 
 of his subjects, and caused him to be remembered as a 
 monster. In person, too, he is represented to have been 
 deformed, with the right shoulder higher than the left ; 
 and he is traditionally regarded as a hunchback. But 
 It may be that even his bodily defects were exaggerated 
 after he was gone. Stories got abroad that he was born 
 with teeth, and hair coming down to the shoulders, and 
 that his birth was attended by other circumstances alto- 
 gether repugnant to the order of nature. One fact that 
 can hardly be a mis-statement is that he was small of 
 stature — which makes it all the more remarkable that 
 in this last battle he overthrew in personal encounter 
 a man of great size and strength named Sir John 
 Cheyney. He was, in fact, a great soldier-king, in whom 
 alike the valor and the violence of his race had been 
 matured and brought to a climax by civil wars and 
 private dissensions. 
 
 15. It was inevitable that kings of this sort should 
 give place to kings of a different stamp. His rival 
 
236 General View of Europeaii History, CH. xi. 
 
 Henry, henceforth King Henry VU., inaugurated a 
 new era, in which prudence and policy were made 
 to serve the interests of peace, and secure the throne, 
 even with a doubtful title, against the convulsions to 
 which it had been hitherto exposed. By his marriage 
 with the Princess Elizabeth he was; considered to have 
 at length united the Houses of York and Lancaster, and 
 he left to his son Henry VIII., who succeeded him, a 
 title almost as free from dispute or cavil as that of any 
 king in more recent times. 
 
 16. The civil wars, in fact, had worked themselves 
 out. The too powerful nobility had destroyed each other 
 in these internecine struggles ; and as the lords of 
 each party were attainted by turns, their great estates 
 were confiscated and passed into the hands of the 
 crown. This gave the Tudor sovereigns an advantage 
 that they knew well how to use. Watchful and sus- 
 picious of their nobility, they understood, as few other 
 sovereigns did, the value of property; and under 
 Henry VIII. the English monarchy attained a power 
 and absolutism unparalleled before or since. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. 
 
 I. The civil wars in England of which we have now 
 related the history are commonly called the Wars of 
 Wars of the Roses, from the fact that the House of 
 
 the Roses. Lancaster assumed a red rose for its badge, 
 
 and the House of York a white rose. Shakspeare, who 
 has preserved in his plays a number of historical tradi- 
 tions the authority of wliich we cannot always verify, 
 represents in one interesting scene at the beginning of 
 
Decay of Feudalism, 237 
 
 the struggle the lords of both parties meeting in the 
 Temple Gardens, and each plucking a rose, red or white, 
 to indicate his attachment to the Duke of Somerset or 
 York. Whether such a scene actually took place and 
 gave rise to those party badges it is impossible to say ; 
 but there is no doubt that the Yorkists were known as 
 the party of the White Rose, and their opponents as 
 that of the Red. When at length Henry VII., the 
 representative of the House of Lancaster, attained the 
 crown and married the daughter of Edward IV., the 
 marna<::;e was spoken of as the union of the Roses. 
 
 2. This union was the first step in England towards 
 that strengthening of the powers of the crown which 
 was now absolutely necessary for the restoration of 
 order. Since the days of Edward III., all authority had 
 been weak because the sovereign power itself was weak. 
 It was the weakness of despotic caprice in Richard II., 
 of usurpation and civil war under the House of Lan- 
 caster, and of internal division in the House of York; 
 and all these causes combined to make the fifteenth 
 century a period of violence and disorder ^^^^^ ^^^^ 
 approaching at times to anarchy. Under Tudors 
 
 ,- , rr^ 1 X- 1 J England 
 
 the Steady rule of the Tudors England re- recovers 
 covered from this confusion; the claims of ^?ckn"" 
 the two rival houses were blended, the tur- 
 bulent nobility were kept in strict subjection, law was 
 administered with generally an impartial hand, peace 
 was for the most part cherished, and commerce was 
 protected. Disencumbered of the rule of any French 
 territory except Calais, the English grew strong at home 
 and became a nation compact and united under a race 
 of sovereigns who were powerful enough to throw off 
 the spiritual dominion of Rome, and to take a leading 
 position among the potentates of Europe. 
 
238 General View of European History. ch. xi. 
 
 3. But that which occurred in England occurred in 
 other countries also. What are called the Middle Ages 
 came to an end with the fifteenth century — a time of 
 universal disorder, in the midst of which, however, a 
 new order was gradually forming itself and gathering 
 strength. The decay of feudalism, in fact, paved the 
 Qj.gj^j way for the reorganization of Europe. 
 kingdoms Great kingdoms sprang up where formerly 
 
 forming m . ° . 
 
 Europe. had existed a number of principalities held 
 
 only in nominal subjection to a feudal sovereign, or 
 where, as in England, a too powerful nobility had almost 
 made themselves independent of the crown. France 
 first emerged from the confusion ; afterwards Spain and 
 England. By the end of the fifteenth century the na- 
 tions of western Europe had settled down into nearly the 
 same relative positions and occupied nearly the same 
 territory that they have since retained. 
 
 4. The connection between English and Continental 
 history during this period is a subject which has not 
 been altogether lost sight of in the preceding pages. 
 But some general remarks on the progress of European 
 nations may be desirable before we bring this work to a 
 conclusion. 
 
 5. There is at once a parallelism and a contrast during 
 this period between the career of England and that of 
 
 France. At no time were the fortunes of 
 conrfection ^^ ^^o nations more closely linked together, 
 between Th.^ vcry Same events form, during a con^ 
 
 and French sidcrable part of the fifteenth century, the 
 
 leading features in the history of both. But 
 the same events have in either case an opposite signifi- 
 cance. The triumph of the one country was the abase- 
 ment of the other, and the recovery of the second was 
 accompanied by the demoralization of the first. There 
 
Decay of Feudalism, 239 
 
 is, moreover, quite an extraordinary amount of coinci- 
 dence, and at the same time contrast, between the cir- 
 cumstances by which the contemporary kings of England 
 and of France were surrounded during the whole period 
 of our narrative. The reign of Charles VI., who came 
 to the throne just three years after Richard II., corre- 
 sponds to those of three successive kings in England. 
 At his accession he and Richard were both under age ; 
 but Charles led his armies in person when he was four- 
 teen, while Richard, though not deficient in courage, 
 seldom asserted himself in any way except at a crisis like 
 Wat Tyler's rebellion. The complaint in Richard's case 
 was that he allowed himself to be governed by favorites ; 
 which was perfectly true at those times when he was not 
 coerced by his uncles. Towards the end of his reign, 
 however, Richard, weary of his long subjection, laid 
 claim to absolute power ; while Charles about the same 
 time became deranged and was obliged to surrender the 
 government to his uncles. After this the French court 
 became divided by factions which left the kingdom an 
 easy prey to the invader ; and the same king who, when 
 a boy, had alarmed all England by the fleet he had col- 
 lected at Sluys, was obliged in his latter days to make 
 an English king his heir and invest him with all the 
 powers of royalty to the exclusion of his own son. 
 
 6. But the parallelism of which we have spoken is 
 more striking after the death of Charles VI., when by a 
 singular coincidence the reigns of the English and French 
 sovereigns correspond during three successions exactly 
 to a year, with circumstances either so much alike, or so 
 contrasted, that they may be shown in parallel columns 
 as follows : — 
 
240 General View of Ewro_pean History. ch. xi. 
 
 Ff'ance. 
 
 A. D. 1422. Charles VII. suc- 
 ceeds his father Charles 
 VI., and 
 
 France loses an imbecile 
 king and gets a stronger, who 
 displays great abilities as a 
 ruler. In his time — 
 
 England. 
 
 Henry VI. succeeds his father 
 Henry V. 
 
 England loses a strong king 
 and gets an infant who exhibits 
 no capacity for government 
 even when he grows up. In his 
 time — 
 
 France recovers Normandy and Guienne, and deprives England 
 of all her French dominions, except Calais. 
 
 A, D. 1461. Louis XI. succeeds 
 his father Charles VII., 
 and 
 
 A politic king consolidates 
 the French monarchy, notwith- 
 standing powerful combinations 
 against him. 
 
 A. D. 1483. Charles VIII. suc- 
 ceeds his father Louis XL, 
 and 
 
 A minority ; bvit France being 
 now settled the consolidation of 
 her dominions is completed in a 
 few years by the annexation of 
 Brittany. 
 
 Edward IV. deposes Henry VI. 
 
 A military king displaces 
 one too weak to rule, but holds 
 the throne insecurely, and is 
 temporarily displaced himself. 
 
 Edward V, succeeds his father 
 Edward IV. 
 
 t 
 
 A minority; but it does not 
 last three months. Richard III. 
 usurps the crown; but even his 
 reign of tyranny and violence 
 only lasts two years, and 
 Henry VII., who succeeds him, 
 is for a long time troubled with 
 rebellion*. 
 
 7. Of all the great feudal lords of France the Dukes of 
 Burgundy were by far the most powerful. The duchy 
 itself was one of the richest parts of France, but the 
 Dukes also possessed Franche Comte — "the Free 
 County " of Burgundy, which they held of the Empire 
 
Engla7id and France, 241 
 
 and not of the French crown ; and to these possessions 
 had been added, ever since 1384, some of the most 
 flourishing provinces of the Netherlands, which were 
 acquired by Duke Phihp the Bold in right of his wife, 
 Margaret, daughter of the Count of Flanders. These 
 provinces, full of populous towns such as Ghent, Bruges, 
 and Antwerp, seats of the largest commerce and manu- 
 factures in the world, were likewise held of the empire. 
 Hence the Dukes of Burgundy became so exceedingly 
 powerful, that instead of being subject to the kings of 
 France, they at times held those kings in practical sub- 
 jection to themselves. But after the death of Charles the 
 Bold, Louis XI. seized upon the Duchy and even the 
 Franche Comte, which he succeeded in uniting to the 
 French crown. The rest of the dominions of the House 
 of Burgundy were conveyed to the Archduke Maximilian, 
 son of the Emperor Frederic III. by his marriage with 
 Charles the Bold's daughter; so that the Netherlands 
 came into the possession of the House of Austria, an am- 
 bitious and grasping family, in whom the empire itself 
 ultimately became hereditary, and with it under Charles 
 v., in the sixteenth century, was joined the sovereignty 
 of Spain. 
 
 8. The Spanish peninsula at the beginning of the fif- 
 teenth century was divided into the four Christian king- 
 doms of Castile, Arragon, Navarre, and Portugal, besides 
 the Moorish kingdom of Granada. The dif- ^ . , 
 
 ° Spain becomes 
 
 ferentkingshad wars among each Other, and by degrees a 
 
 ,. . , , , united king- 
 
 sometimes disputes with regard to the sue- dom. 
 cession at home. But in 1458, John II., King of Na- 
 varre, succeeded to the crown of Arragon, and on his 
 death in 1479 ^^ "^^^ succeeded by his son Ferdinand, 
 who with his wife Isabella, the heiress of Castile, had 
 already been proclaimed joint sovereign of that country. 
 
 R 
 
24^ General View of Europeaii History, ch. xi. 
 
 In this manner, the three Christian kingdoms of Spain 
 would have been united; but after the death of King 
 John, Navarre became again a separate kingdom, and 
 owing to French interest was kept so for another century. 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, however, united Arragon and 
 Castile, turned their arms against the Moors, conquered 
 Granada, and became masters of nearly the whole penin-- 
 sula except Portugal. That country, which has maintained 
 its independence to this day, became great in another way 
 ,, .. — ^by maritime expeditions. Alfonso V. made 
 
 Maritime en- 
 terprise of Por- several descents upon the coast of Africa, 
 
 "^^ ■ conquered Ceuta, Tangier, and other places. 
 
 Portuguese enterprise discovered the island of Madeira 
 in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and afterwards 
 the Azores ; then gradually explored the western coast 
 of Africa by Cape Bojador and Cape Verd, until, in 1497, 
 Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope and 
 made his way to India. The discovery of the New 
 World by Columbus in 1492 was unquestionably stimu- 
 lated by the knowledge of what the Portuguese had done 
 before him. 
 
 9. But while the western kingdoms all passed through 
 a period of weakness and became stronger, the states 
 situated in the centre of Europe remained in the old con- 
 fusion, and in the East Christianity was actually receding 
 Divided state before the armies of the Turk. Italy was 
 of Italy. parcelled out into small states. In the north 
 
 there was the dukedom of Milan and the republics of 
 Venice, Genoa, and Florence, besides some minor prin-. 
 cipalities. In the centre were the States of the Church, 
 of which the Pope was sovereign. In the south were the 
 two separate kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. The prin- 
 cipalities in the north belonged to the empire, the centre 
 of Italy was governed by the Church, the south was a 
 
Spain and Italy. 243 
 
 bone of contention between foreign princes. Milan was 
 erected into a dukedom by the Emperor ,,, 
 
 ^ ^ Milan. 
 
 Wenceslaus m 1395. It had long been 
 under the dominion of the Visconti, who then became 
 its dukes — a family noted for deeds of violence and 
 cruelty. But on the death of Philip Maria Visconti in 
 1445 the dukedom was claimed by his son-in-law Fran- 
 cesco Sforza, who, after some fighting obtained it, and 
 became the head of another line. This Francesco, who 
 was the most noted soldier of his day, had fought by 
 turns in the service of Visconti, the Pope, and the Vene- 
 tians, and, generally speaking, had taken part in all the 
 Italian wars of his time, sometimes on one side and 
 sometimes on the opposite. He had fought against Pope 
 Eugenius IV, in the name of the Council of Bale till the 
 prudent pontiff turned him into a friend by making him 
 gonfalonier, or standard-bearer of the Church. He had 
 been out of favor with the Duke of Milan, but the duke 
 found the need of his assistance, appointed him captain- 
 general of his army, and gave him his daughter in mar- 
 riage. After the duke's death the Milanese wished to 
 form themselves into a republic like several of the neigh- 
 boring states ; but Sforza formed a league with his old 
 enemies the Venetians, laid siege to the city, and forced 
 it to surrender for fear of starvation. He was then pro- 
 claimed duke, and his alliance was sought, not only by 
 the princes of Italy, but by Louis XI. of France and by 
 the King of Arragon. His sons and grandsons were 
 dukes after him, but scarcely sustained his greatness, 
 and in the last year of the century the Duke Ludovico 
 Maria Sforza was taken prisoner and his duchy seized 
 by Louis XII. of France. 
 
 10. In Naples, as we have seen, the House of Anjou 
 disputed the throne for some time with the family of 
 
244 General View of European History. ch. xi. 
 
 j^ , jj Durazzo. Afterwards the Kings of Arragon, 
 
 who ruled in Sicily, laid claim to Naples 
 also, and the House of Anjou was unable to vindicate 
 its pretensions against them. King Rene at first attempt- 
 ed to make good his claims, but was soon driven out and 
 left with a barren title. A bastard branch of the royal 
 family of Arragon then for some time succeeded, but in 
 the end this kingdom, as well as Sicily, came into the 
 hands of Ferdinand the Cathohc. Thus ultimately the 
 greater part of Italy fell under the power either of France 
 or Spain, and so it continued for a lang time afterwards. 
 
 11. The two maritime republics of Genoa and Venice 
 did little to avert this result. The former, a prey to civil 
 
 „ dissensions, submitted, in the end of the 
 
 Genoa. 
 
 fourteenth century, to France, and never 
 completely regained its independence till 1528. Its ter- 
 ritory on the mainland was but a narrow fringe along the 
 coast, but it possessed the land of Corsica, and in the 
 Grecian Archipelago the island of Scio. It had also made 
 Cyprus tributary and colonized the Crimea and other set- 
 tlements on the Black Sea. But the fall of Constantino- 
 ple in 1453, which the Genoese, of all European powers, 
 made the greatest efforts to prevent, deprived them of 
 their colonies on the Black Sea and thereby crippled 
 ^r . their commerce. Their rivals the Venetians 
 
 Venice. 
 
 also suffered from the advance of the Turks 
 in Greece and on the shores of the Adriatic. Venice, 
 however, did not succumb, as Genoa did, to any other 
 great European power, and she was so formidable in the 
 year 1508 that France, Spain, and Germany combined 
 together in the league of Cambray to humble her. 
 
 12. Of the history of the Popes we have already said 
 „ p so much that a very few words may suffice to 
 
 complete it. We have seen how even after 
 
Italy. 2 45 
 
 the papal see was brought back from Avignon to Rome 
 the French party were strong enough to maintain a series 
 of Antipopes at Avignon until the schism was terminated 
 by the proceedings of the Council of Constance. But 
 factions prevailed at Rome, and Pope Eugenius IV. took 
 part with the Orsini family against the Colonnas. He 
 also came into coUision with the Council of Bale, which 
 was assembled in 1431 to promote a union of the Greek 
 Church with the^ Roman. Eugenius sought to dissolve 
 this council, but the council, maintaining the principle 
 asserted by the previous council of Constance, declared 
 itself superior to the Pope and ultimately deposed him 
 and set up Amadeus Duke of Savoy in his place as 
 Pope Felix V. Eugenius, however, convoked another 
 council at Ferrara, which he afterwards removed to Flo- 
 rence, and therein pronounced the council of Bale he- 
 retical and the Antipope Felix a schismatic. Felix, in- 
 deed, was only recognized in Hungary and a few of the 
 minor European states, and after the death of Eugenius 
 he was persuaded to resign. After this there is little that 
 is remarkable in the history of the papacy for some time, 
 except that in 1458 a great scholar and traveller, ^neas 
 Sylvius Piccolomini, was made Pope by the name of 
 Pius 11. , who, like all the other popes of this period made 
 great but ineffectual efforts to unite Europe against the 
 Turks. The princes of Europe were engrossed with their 
 own affairs, and the authority of the Holy See was no 
 longer what it had been before the popes took up their 
 abode at Avignon. 
 
 13. We have already spoken of the conquests of the 
 Sultan Bajazet, of the great battle of Nicopolis in which 
 he defeated the flower of European chivalry, ^^^ ^^^^^^ 
 and of his final overthrow by Timour the 
 Tartar. This saved for a while from extinction the old 
 
246 General View of European History. CH. xi. 
 
 Eastern Empire, which had continued from the days of 
 Constantine, and Solyman I., the son of Bajazet, re- 
 covered the greater part of Asia from Tamerlane by 
 ceding to the Emperor Manuel the conquests of his 
 father in Europe. But his successors renewed their 
 aggressions on Christendom, which would have been 
 still more effective but for family quarrels among the 
 Ottoman princes themselves. The armies of Amurath 
 II. were defeated when they invaded Hungary by Jo- 
 hannes Gorvinus Hunniades, Waywode of Transylvania. 
 The Prince of Albania at the same time threw off the 
 yoke and succeeded in maintaining for three and twenty 
 years the independence of his country. The name of 
 this prince was George Castriot, but he is better known 
 in history by that of Scanderbeg — meaning in Turk- 
 ish the Great Alexander — which was given him in 
 compliment to his military genius. He certainly did not 
 a little while he lived to divert the forces of the Turk 
 from Europe generally. Yet in the year 1453 Mahomet 
 II. took by assault Constantinople, and the Eastern Em- 
 pire came to an end. In a few years more he took 
 Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, and conquered the Morea. 
 Finally, after the death of Scanderbeg he made himself 
 master of Albania and Negropont, invaded Croatia, and 
 sent a fleet across the Adriatic which surprised Otranto. 
 Italy and Europe generally heard of his doings with 
 terror. 
 
 14. Of all European kingdoms Hungary was most 
 exposed to this invader, and Hungary had not unfre- 
 quently troubles of its own, in the nature of the disputed 
 Hungary and succcssion, to encourage his audacity. The 
 Bohemia. crowns of Hungary and of Bohemia were 
 
 united with the Empire of Germany under Sigismund, 
 of whose contests both with the Turks and with the Huss- 
 
The Turks. 247 
 
 ites we have already spoken ; but a party in each of 
 these countries sought rather to promote a union with 
 Poland. After the death of Sigismund, Albert of Aus- 
 tria, who had married his daughter Elizabeth, succeeded 
 to the throne of both kingdoms and became emperor as 
 well ; but he died within two years. At the moment of 
 his death he was without an heir, but his queen, Eliza- 
 beth, was with child and gave birth to a son who was 
 called Ladislaus the Posthumous, and succeeded to the 
 throne of Bohemia. The Hungarians, however, offered 
 their crown to another Ladislaus, the King of Poland, 
 with whom Elizabeth, so long as she lived, in vain at- 
 tempted to dispute the succession on her son's behalf. 
 Under this Polish King and the brave general John 
 Hunniades, the Hungarians succeeded for some time in 
 repelling the Turks ; but being incited by the Pope to 
 violate a truce with the enemy, the King met with a 
 great defeat, and perished in battle near Varna. After 
 his death Hunniades was made Regent for Ladislaus the 
 Posthumous, who was still a minor, and invaded the do- 
 minions of the Emperor Frederic IIL to make him de- 
 liver up the young prince, who had been placed under 
 his protection. Young Ladislaus was restored, but those 
 by whom he was surrounded caused Hunniades to be 
 dismissed from the regency, and some years after 
 goaded the hero's sons into a conspiracy which cost the 
 eldest his hfe. The people, however, were indignant, 
 and on the death of Ladislaus raised Mathias Corvinus, 
 the second son of Hunniades, to the throne. Like his 
 father he was a brave warrior, and he regained from the 
 Turks the strong town of Jaicza in Bosnia. But unfor- 
 tunately the Turks were not his only enemy, and he was 
 compelled to make war by turns against the King of Bo- 
 hemia, the King of Poland, and the Emperor ; and al- 
 
248 General View of European History. CK. xi. 
 
 though a king of very noble qualities and very successful 
 in all his campaigns, it was perhaps a happiness for his 
 country that he left no son to continue his line in the 
 face of so many adversaries. The crown of Hungary 
 was again united with that of Bohemia, and in the fol- 
 lowing century both crowns came to the House of Aus- 
 tria. 
 
 15. The kingdom of Poland had long been exposed to 
 attack from another set of infidels — the hordes inhabit- 
 ing Lithuania. But in 1386, the Princess Hedwig hav- 
 Poland. ^^Z succeeded to the crown, took for her 
 
 husband Jagcllon, Grand Duke of Lithu- 
 ania, on condition that he would be baptized. This act 
 was followed by the conversion of the Lithuanians gene- 
 rally. Jagellon became King of Poland by the name of 
 Ladislaus V., and the country was no longer exposed to 
 pagan inroads ; but he and his successors had fierce 
 wars with the Teutonic knights of Prussia. 
 
 16. Germany had been for centuries under the rule 
 of the emperors — successors of Charlemagne, who was 
 
 The German Considered to have revived the old empire 
 Empire. q{ Rome. Theoretically, the Emperor was 
 
 in temporal matters what the Pope was in spiritual — the 
 head of all western Europe, or rather of the world. But 
 these proud pretensions had never been justified by facts 
 since the days of Charlemagne himself. For a long time 
 the empire had been united with the old kingdom of 
 Germany, and the Emperor had been fleeted by a diet 
 of German princes. He commonly received three crowns 
 in succession — first a silver crown at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 which was the crown of Germany ; afterwards what is 
 called the iron crown of Lombardy at Milan (it is of 
 silver but has a circle of iron within it) ; and finally 
 the golden crown of empire at Rome. This last crown 
 
Germany. 249 
 
 was placed upon his head by the Pope, and until he 
 received it he was not fully entitled to the name of 
 emperor. Till then he was only called King of the 
 Romans. For a long time the emperors had asserted 
 their dominion over Italy, but now this was little more 
 than a tradition. Even over Germany their rule was no 
 longer what it had once been. The revenues attached 
 to the imperial dignity were totally inadequate, and the 
 electors were fain to offer it to foreign princes able to 
 support the burden. The German princes cared little 
 for their sovereign ; and the Emperor himself cared 
 more for his own patrimony than for the interests of 
 Germany. Wenceslaus, who was King of Bohemia as 
 well as Emperor, seldom visited the rest of his domin- 
 ions, and was deposed in 1400, the year after his brother- 
 in-law Richard II. was deposed in England. Sigismund, 
 the brother of Wenceslaus, was a more active ruler, but 
 even he cared more for Hungary than for Germany. 
 Still more indifferent to the affairs of the empire was 
 Frederic III., who was elected Emperor in 1440, and 
 who made it his principal aim to advance the interests 
 of the House of Austria. He created the duchy of 
 Austria into an archduchy, married his son Maximilian 
 to Mary, the rich heiress of Burgundy, and got him 
 elected King of the Romans during his own lifetime so 
 as to ensure his succession to the empire after his death. 
 The policy which he thus initiated was continued by 
 Maximilian and his other descendants. The empire 
 was preserved in the possession of the family, and the 
 fortunes of the House of Austria were continually in- 
 proved by politic marriages. But Germany became more 
 and more disunited, each of her princes being virtually 
 supreme in his own dominions. 
 
250 Conclusion, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I. The fifteenth century was not an age of really great 
 men. Amid schisms in the Church, wars, rebellions, and 
 disputed successions in every kingdom of 
 teenth cen- Europe, it seems to have been impossible 
 age of great for any mind to realize to itself one grand 
 '"^"' idea, to work out one great work, or to set 
 
 forth one great thought. The best minds of the age 
 looked back upon the past and regretted the chivalry 
 that was passing away. Order was the one great need 
 of the time, and as yet men could see no order except 
 of a kind already past recovery, which they were vainly 
 endeavoring to restore. So for the peace of the Church 
 they burned heretics and put witches to open penance, 
 while, adhering to the traditions of a moribund chival- 
 ry, they plunged Europe into war and anarchy. The 
 one direction in which there was a visible movement 
 Revival of ^^ men's minds was in a revival of ancient 
 letters. learning. Scholars were recovering lost 
 
 literature to the world, and the classic writers of ancient 
 Rome were studied and imitated in a way they had not 
 been before. Greek, too, began to engage more atten- 
 tion in Europe after the fall of Constantinople ; for refu- 
 gees carried the language and the literature into Italy 
 and elsewhere. The art of printing, first used in Ger- 
 many about the year 1440, and brought into England by 
 Caxton in 1474, helped to multiply copies of the best 
 ancient authors. 
 
 2. In England, after the days of Gower and Chaucer 
 
250 ' Conclusion, 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I. The fifteenth century was not an age of really great 
 men. Amid schisms in the Church, wars, rebellions, and 
 disputed successions in every kingdom of 
 teenth cen- Europc, it seems to have been impossible 
 age^of great for any mind to realize to itself one grand 
 ^^^' idea, to work out one great work, or to set 
 
 forth one great thought. The best minds of the age 
 looked back upon the past and regretted the chivalry 
 that was passing away. Order was the one great need 
 of the time, and as yet men could see no order except 
 of a kind already past recovery, which they were vainly 
 endeavoring to restore. So for the peace of the Church 
 they burned heretics and put witches to open penance, 
 while, adhering to the traditions of a moribund chival- 
 ry, they plunged Europe into war and anarchy. The 
 one direction in which there was a visible movement 
 Revival of ^^ men's minds was in a revival of ancient 
 letters. learning. Scholars were recovering lost 
 
 literature to the world, and the classic writers of ancient 
 Rome were studied and imitated in a way they had not 
 been before. Greek, too, began to engage more atten- 
 tion in Europe after the fall of Constantinople ; for refu- 
 gees carried the language and the literature into Italy 
 and elsewhere. The art of printing, first used in Ger- 
 many about the year 1440, and brought into England by 
 Caxton in 1474, helped to multiply copies of the best 
 ancient authors. 
 
 2. In England, after the days of Gower and Chaucer 
 
Conclusion. 251 
 
 we had very little literature that deserved the name. 
 The principal poet of the succeeding age was 
 John Lydgate, a monk of Bury, whose small 
 lyric effusions, though not altogether contemptible, 
 scarcely rank above mediocrity. It is remarkable, how- 
 ever, that two foreign princes — James I. of , 
 
 ° ^ James I. and 
 
 Scotland and Charles Duke of Orleans — Charles, Duke 
 
 1 r 1 r J ^ • J of Orleans. 
 
 each of whom was for many years detamed 
 
 a prisoner in England, each contributed to his native 
 
 literature poetry that was far from commonplace. 
 
 3. In religion men testified what was going on beneath 
 the surface rather by acts than by words. Men who felt 
 more deeply than their neighbors some .„ , 
 
 .. . Religion. 
 
 neglected phase of Christianity drifted away 
 from the authority of the Church. There were the 
 Flagellants in Italy, the Lollards in England, the Huss- 
 ites in Bohemia. But their zeal was found to be incom- 
 patible even with civil peace, and they were met by a 
 spirit of persecution, in which it is to be lamented that 
 some of the noblest minds of the day concurred. Such 
 was John Gerson at the Council of Con- 
 
 . Gerson. 
 
 Stance — the man who in defiance of danger 
 tore to rags all the miserable special pleadings by which 
 the creatures of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, 
 sought to justify or extenuate the murder of his rival 
 Orleans, — even he, so bold and upright in defence of 
 public morals, took the lead in the persecution of Huss 
 and Jerome of Prague. A quieter mind was that of Tho- 
 mas a Kempis, to whom, as it is generally Thomas i 
 believed, the world is indebted for the ex- ^"^P'^- 
 quisitely beautiful book, still so popular, upon the Imi- 
 tation of Christ. Nothing can excel it as an exposition 
 of that pure and peaceful devotion for which monasticism 
 still offered a safe asylum amid <"he perverseness and 
 
252 Conclusion, 
 
 errors of the time. Outside the cloister zeal was sure to 
 be persecuted, even if it endeavored to vindicate au- 
 Reginaid thority. Such was the fate of Reginald 
 
 Pecock. Pecock, Bishop of Chichester, a man not 
 
 less remarkable for his vigor of intellect than for his love 
 of toleration, who wrote a number of treatises in English 
 in defence of the Church against the Lollards. His 
 object was to win over heretics by reason instead of by 
 the fires of persecution. His arguments generally are 
 remarkably clear and lucid, tending to show that the 
 Lollard position was founded upon an undue deference 
 to the mere letter of Scripture, and that the Bible was 
 not given us to supersede the use of our natural reason. 
 But this mode of treatment satisfied no one. During 
 the short lull in the civil war in 1457 — not long before 
 the procession of the reconciled leaders to St. Paul's — 
 Bishop Pecock was accused of heresy, forced to recant 
 for fear of martyrdom, and deprived of his bishopric. 
 The Church declined to be defended in the spirit of 
 toleration. 
 
 4. Thus whatever was noble was distressed and perse- 
 cuted. Commerce and money-getting went on, and the 
 Commerce Spirits of men, broken by invariable disap- 
 alone goes pointment when they attempted anything 
 
 on umnter- ^ j r j o 
 
 rupted. higher, became generally sordid and merce- 
 
 nary. Kings grasped at territory instead of money, but 
 in England they soonest tired of the game, and even 
 they, in the end, joined in the general pursuit of wealth 
 in preference to honor or reputation. Ed- 
 traffic in ward IV. first set the example of "traffick- 
 ^^^' inginwar" which Lord Bacon notes as a 
 
 feature of the policy of Henry VII. Both these kings 
 raised great supplies from their own subjects, and then 
 accepted money from the enemy to forbear fighting. 
 
Conclusion, 253 
 
 5. But from the commercial enterprise of the day arose 
 those discoveries which in the end, perhaps, had most 
 influence in the formation of a new era. Newdis- 
 New coasts, new seas, new islands, and in 5°Jf;j\ 
 the end a complete New World, were sue- new era. 
 cessively revealed. The thoughts of men were expanded, 
 their imaginations fired with new ideas. Old philoso- 
 phies insensibly passed away as the ambition, the enter- 
 prise, and the avarice of a new generation found channels 
 which had been hitherto unknown. The world, even 
 the material world, was found to be much larger than 
 had been supposed. As for the world unseen, was it 
 likely that popes and councils had taken the true mea- 
 sure of that? 
 
INDEX. 
 
 BAG 
 
 ABERYSTWITH, castle of, 80 
 Adamites in Bohemia, 127 
 
 ^neas Sylvius, 245 
 Agincourt, battle of, 102-3 
 Albania, 246 
 
 Albany, Duke of, brother of Robert 
 111. of Scotland, 72, 84, 107, 114, 
 
 — fVlexander, Duke of, brother of 
 James III , 206 
 
 Aloemarle, Duke of {see Rutland, 
 
 Edward, Earl of ) 
 Aleppo, 74 
 
 Alexander V., Pooe, 86, 119 
 Alnwick Castle, 176, 177 
 Angora, battle of, 75 
 Anjou, 147^ 151 
 
 — Louis, Duke of, 119 
 
 Anne of Bohemia , queen of Richard 
 
 II., 19, 38, 41 
 Aquinas, Thomas, 65 
 Aquitaine, 9 
 Arc, Joan of (see Joan) 
 Armagnac, Count of, 105, 106, 109 
 Armagnacs, party of the, 89 
 Arras, p^ace conferences at, 142 
 >— trea y of, 208 
 Artevelde, James van, 20 
 
 — Philip van, 20 
 
 Arundel, Earl of 32, 41, 42, 67 
 Arundel, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 42, 46, 60, 82 
 Astley, Sir John, 177 
 Audley, Lord. 166 
 Avignon, 7, u, ng 
 
 BACON, Roger, 65 
 Badby, Thomas, 87 
 Bagdad, 75 
 
 BOH 
 
 t, Sir William, 53 
 
 Pajiazet, the sultan, 73-5 
 
 Balle, John, 14 
 
 Bamborough Castle, 176 
 
 Banaster, Ralph, 227 
 
 B ir, Duke of, 97 
 
 Barbason, governor of Melun, 11^ 
 
 Bardolf, Lord, 80 
 
 Barnet, battle of, 193 
 
 Basle, council of, 127 
 
 Bastille, th", at Paris, 109 
 
 Bavaria, Lewis of, son of the Empe 
 ror Rupert, 83 
 
 — Ernest, Duke of, 97 
 
 Bayonne, i, 159 
 
 Beaufort family, 223-4 
 
 Beaufort, Henry, Bishop of Winches- 
 ter, afterwards Cardinal, 116, 131, 
 137, 140-2, 144 
 
 Beaufort, Lady Jane, 131 
 
 Beaufort, Margaret, Countess of 
 Richmond, daughter of the Duke 
 of Somerset, 154, 222-4, 228 
 
 Beauge, battle of, 114 
 
 Beaugency, 115 
 
 Bedford, John, Duke of, 105, 107, 1 16 ; 
 Regent of France, 130-3, 136-40, 143 
 
 Bedford, Duchess of, 178 
 
 Benedict XIII., Pope, 105, 118, 122 
 
 Berwick, 176, 207 
 
 Bible, the, translated by WyclifFe, 
 62, 65 
 
 Blackheath, 14, 72, 159 
 
 Black Prince {see Edward) 
 
 Blanche, daughter of Henry IV., 7 
 
 Blank charters issued by Richard 
 H.. 51 
 
 Bloreheath, battln of, 169 
 
 Blount, Sir Jasper. 231 
 
 Bohemia, 120, 125-8, 141 
 
256 
 
 Index. 
 
 CHA 
 
 Bohun, Mary de, first wife of Henry 
 
 ly., 83 
 
 Bolingbroke, Roger, 145 
 
 Boua of Savoy, 181 
 
 Bondmen stir up rebellion, la, 13 
 
 Bordeaux, i, 2. 159 
 
 Borough, Sir Thomas ^, 186 
 
 Bosworth, battle of, 233-5 
 
 Bourbon Duke of, 103 
 
 Bourchier, Thomas, Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury, 164, 168 
 Bracciolini, Poggio, 125 
 Brackenbury, Sir Robert, 221 
 Brambre, Sir Nicholas, 37 
 Bretigni, treaty of, 98, iii 
 Brittany, treaty of, 10, 131, 152 
 Bnchan, Earl of, 115 
 Buckingham, Henry, Duke of, 210- 
 
 212, 216, 221, 222-27 
 Burgundian and Armagnac factions 
 
 in France, 89 
 Burgundy, Dukes of, 239-41 
 
 — John the Fearless, Duke of, 89, 97 
 99, 109, 1 1 1-2 
 
 — Philip, Duke of, 112-13, 116, 130, 
 139, 177. 184 
 
 — Charles, Duke of {see Charles the 
 Bold) 
 
 — the Bastard of, 184 
 Burley, Sir Simon, 38 
 
 Bury St. Edmund's, parliament at, 149 
 Bury, prior of, 17 
 Bushy, Sir John, 53-4 
 
 CABOCHIANS in Paris, 96 
 Cade, Jack, his rebellion, 155-57 
 
 Calais, i, 2, 22, 33, 43, 54, 105, 143, 
 159, 167, 176 
 
 Calixtines, a Bohemian sect, 127 
 
 Cambridge, Richard, Earl of, 99-100 
 
 Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, 63 
 
 Carlisle, besieged, 175 
 
 Carlisle, Bishop of, 57-8 
 
 Carmarthen Castle, 80 
 
 Castillon, siege of, 161-2 
 
 Castriot, George, 246 
 
 Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. of 
 France, 98, iii ; married to Henry 
 v., 113 ; crowned, in ; marries Sir 
 Owen Tudor after Henry's death, 
 172 
 
 Cecily, daughter of Edward IV., 206 
 
 Chalons, 137 
 
 Charite, la, on the Loire, 116 
 
 Charles V. of France, 2 
 
 Charles VI., 21 ; prepares to invade 
 
 DOU 
 
 England, 27 ; his daughter married 
 
 to Richard II., 41 ; he becomes in- 
 sane, 88 : his death, 130 
 Charles VII., as dauphin, 106-7, ^^09* 
 
 10, 130-4 ; crowned at Rheims, 137 ; 
 
 as king, 148 
 Charles VIII , 229 
 Charles of Blois, 11 
 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; 
 
 as Count of Charlois, 182-3 .' a* 
 
 Duke, 183, 190-2, 200-3 
 Charlois, Count of {i,ee L.harles) 
 Chartres, 139 
 
 ChS.tel, Tannegu; du, 109-12 
 Chaucer, Geof , poet, 63-4 
 Cherbourg, 153 
 Chester, 58 
 
 Cheyney, Sir John, 235 
 Chichester, Bishop of, confessor to 
 
 Richard II., 35, 38 
 Church, possessions of the, 7, 87 
 Clarence, Duke of {see Lionel) 
 Clarence, Thomas, Duke of, brother 
 
 of Htnry V., 115 
 Clarence, George, Duke of, brot'ier 
 
 of Edward IV., 175, 185, 187-92, 
 
 203-5, 209 
 Clarendon, Sir Roger, 76 
 Clement VII., anti-pope, 11, 20, 118 
 Clifford, Lord, 170, 174 
 Cobham, Eleanor, Duchess of GloU" 
 
 cester, 145 46 
 Cobham, Lord {see Oldcastle) 
 Con flans, treaty cf, 182 
 Constance, Council of, 104, 118, 121-93 
 Constantinople, 74 
 Constantinople, Emperor of, 73 
 Conway, 57 
 
 Ccnyers, Sir Will., 185 
 Coppini, the legate, 166 
 Cosne, siege of, 116 
 Coventry, parliament at, 166 
 Crevant, siege of, 131 
 Crowmer, sheriff of Kent, 156 
 
 DAMASCUS, 74 
 Dartford, 159 
 Delhi, 74 
 
 Derby, Henry, Earl of {see Henry) 
 Dighton, John, 221 
 Doncaster, 52 
 Dorset, John Beaufort, Marquis of, 68 
 
 — Thos Beaufort, Earl of, 104 ; {sei 
 also Exeter, Duke of) 
 
 — Grey, Marquis of (see Grey) 
 Douglas, Earl, 71, 78, 79, 107 
 
Index. 
 
 257 
 
 FLI 
 
 Dreux, 115 
 
 Dublin, 52 
 
 — Marquis of {see Vere) 
 Duns Scotus, 65 
 Dunstanborough Castle, 176 
 Durazzo, Charles of, 119 
 Dymock, Sir Thos., 187 
 
 ECORCHEURS, 143 
 Edinburgh, 23, 72, 207 
 Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lan- 
 caster, 207 
 Edward III., 1-4 
 Edward IV., as Earl of March 160, 
 
 166, 171 ; declared king, 173 , his 
 
 reign, 173-209 
 Edward V., his birth, 198 ; his reign, 
 
 209-18; his murder, 221-22 
 Edward the Black Prince, 2-4 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, son of 
 
 Henry VI., 162, 192, 195 
 Edward, Prince of Wales, son of 
 
 Richard III., 227 
 Egypt, 74 
 Elizabeth, Queen of Edward IV. 
 
 {see Woodville) 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., 
 
 206, 207, 224, 228-9 
 Ely, Bishop of {see Morton) 
 Eric IX., King of Denmark, 83 
 Euphrates, the river, 74 
 Exeter, Duke of (John Holland), 56- 
 
 7, 68 ; degraded to the rank of Earl 
 
 of Huntingdon, 68 ; conspires 
 
 against Henry IV., 69 
 Exeter, Duke of (Thomas Beaufort, 
 
 previously Earl Dorset), 107, 116 
 Exeter, Duke of (Henry Holland), 
 
 165, 197 
 Exeter, Duchess of, sister of Edward 
 
 IV., 227 
 Eye, the Witch of, 145, 146 
 
 FALCONBRIDGE, Lord, 174 
 Falconbridge, the Bastard, 196 
 Fastolf, Sir John, 132 
 Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 
 
 220, 242 
 Ferrybridge, battle of, 174 
 Fitzhugh, Lord, 191 
 Fitzwalter, Lord, 69, 174 
 Flanders, crusade of, the Bishop of 
 
 Norwich in, 20-21 
 Flanders, Count Louis II. of, 20 
 Flint CasUe, 57-8 
 
 S 
 
 HEN 
 
 Fogge, Sir John, 219 
 Forest, Miles, 221 
 Foug^res taken, 152 
 Foul Raid, the, 107 
 France, i, 27, 238-40 
 France, Isle of, iio 
 Frederic H.I., Emperor, 202 
 
 GASCONY, 2^, 6, 157, 159 
 Gaunt, John of ysee John) 
 Genoa, 244 
 Georgia, 74 
 Germany, 248 
 Gerson, John, 251 
 
 Glendower, Owen, rebellion of, 76-81 
 Gloucester, Thomas, Duke of, son of 
 
 Edward III., 24, 26, 29, 31-34, 38- 
 
 42 ; his murder, 42 ; the judgment 
 
 upon him reversed, 67 
 Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 
 
 brother of Henry V,, 115, 116, 129 ; 
 
 protector of England, 130-1, 137, 
 
 140-50 
 Gloucester, Richard, Duke of (see 
 
 Richard III,) 
 Gloucester, Spenser, Earl of {set 
 
 Spenser) 
 Good Parliament, the, 3 
 Gower, John poet, 63-7 
 Grans on, battle of, 202 
 Gravelines, in Flanders, 22 
 Gray, Sir Ralph, 177 
 Green, John, 221 
 Green, Sir Henry, 53 
 Gregory XL, Pope, 11 
 Gregory XII., Pope, 85, 104, 119, 122 
 Grey of Ruthin, Lord, 77 
 Grey, Lord Richard, 211, 215 
 Grey, Sir John, 179 
 Grey, Sir Thomas, 99 
 Grey, Thomas, afterwards Marquis 
 
 of Dorset, 119, 210, 236-37, 230 
 Guienne and Gascony, 159 
 Guienne, Louis, Duke of, dauphin, 97 
 
 HALES, Sir Robert, 15 
 Hammes Castle, 231 
 Harfleur, siege of, 100 
 Harlech Castle, in Wales, 176 
 Hastings, 5 
 
 Hastings, Lord, 176, 191, 209-10, 212-17 
 Hedgeley Moor, battle of, 178 
 Henry of Trastamara, 8, 9 
 Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards 
 Henry IV., 32, 34, 38, 45 ; created 
 
258 
 
 Index. 
 
 JOH 
 
 Duke of Hereford, 45, 46, 48 ; 
 banished, 49 ; his return, 52-9 ; his 
 reign as king, 67-90 
 
 Henry V., his early life, 55 ; as 
 Prince of Wales, 79, 87 ; his cha- 
 racter, 90-2 ; his reign, 92-118 
 
 Henry VI., birth of, 115 ; his reign, 
 128-173 ; his acts after being de- 
 posed, 173-178 ; restored, 192 ; 
 again in Edward's power, 192, 194 ; 
 his murder, 196 
 
 Henry VII. {see Richmond, Henry, 
 Earl of) 
 
 Herbert, Lord, Earl of Pembroke, 185 
 
 — Sir Richard, 186 
 
 Herrings, battle of, 132 
 
 Hexham, battle of, 178 
 
 Holy Land, 72 
 
 Homildon Hill, battle of, 78 
 
 Horebites, a Bohemian sect, 127 
 
 Hotspur {see Percy, Henry) 
 
 Hungary, 246 
 
 Hunniades, Johannes Corvinus, 246 
 
 Huss, John, 104, 121, 123 
 
 Hussites, the, 126-7, ^4^^ 
 
 TNDFA, 74 
 
 J. Innocent VII., 85 
 
 Ireland, Duke of {see Vere) 
 
 Ireland, Richard II. goes to, 52 
 
 Isabel of Bavaria, queen of Charles 
 
 VI. of France, 88, 106, 109, iii, 
 
 112 
 Isabella of France, second queen of 
 
 Richard II., 41, 70 
 Italy, 242-45 
 
 TAGELLON, King of Poland, 125, 
 
 J 248 
 
 James I. of Scotland, when prince, is 
 captured by the English, 84 ; with 
 Henry V. in France, 115 ; liberated 
 and returns to Scotland, 131 ; his 
 poetry, 251 
 
 James III. of Scotland, 106 
 
 Jargeau, capture of, 136 
 
 Jerome of Prague, 124-25 
 
 Joan of Arc, 134 
 
 Joan of Navarre, queen of Henry 
 IV., 83 
 
 Joanna, Queen of Naples, 119 
 
 John, King of England, 6 
 
 John XXIII. , Pope, 104, 119-20 
 
 John of Gaunt, Duke of Lmcaster, 
 2-4, 8-10, 12, 15, 23, 27, 43. 52 
 
 MAN 
 
 John, son of Chas. VI. of France, 103 
 Jourdemain, Margery, the Witch of 
 Eye, 145, 146 
 
 KEMP, Cardinal, 162 
 Kempis, Thomas £^,251 
 Kent, the Fair Maid of, mother of 
 
 Richard II., 15 
 Kent, Earl of (.r^^ Surrey, Duke of) 
 Kidwelly, Morgan, 232 
 Kilkenny, 52 
 KnoUes, Sir Robert, 17 
 
 LACK-LEARNING Parliament, 
 82 
 
 Ladislaus, King of Naples and Hun- 
 gary, 120 
 
 Lancaster, John, Duke of {see John 
 of Gaunt) 
 
 Lancaster, Henry, Duke of, 8 
 
 Langland, Wm., a religious poet, 62 
 
 Langley, 71 
 
 Lauder, 207 
 
 Lawyers, particularly hated, 14, 17 
 
 League of the Public Weal, 182 
 
 Leicester, parliament at, 155; coun- 
 cil at, 163 
 
 Liege, massacre of, 201 
 
 Limoges, massacre of, 2 
 
 Limousin, the, 6 
 
 Lincoln, John de la Pole, Earl of, 228 
 
 Lionel, Duke of Clarence, son of El- 
 war-d III., 8, 59 
 
 Lithuania, 73 
 
 Litster, John, 17, 18 
 
 Llewelyn of Wales, 77 
 
 Lombardy, 7 
 
 London Bridge, 81 
 
 London, Tower of {see Tower) 
 
 Lorraine, 202 
 
 Lose-coat Field, battle of, 187 
 
 Louis, Duke of Anjou, King of Na- 
 ples, 119 
 
 Louis XL, King of France, 175, 181- 
 92, 189, 197-201, 206, 207 
 
 Low C untries {see Flanders) 
 
 Ludlow, 166, 210 
 
 Lutterworth, 124 
 
 Lydgate, John, the poet, 251 
 
 1\ /[■ AINE, in France, 210, 131. 147, 
 
 Mamelukes, 74 
 
 Man, Isle of, 44 
 
 Mandeville, Sir John, the traveller, 67 
 
 Mans, le, 151 
 
Index. 
 
 259 
 
 MOW 
 
 Manuel Palaeologus, Emperor of 
 
 Constantinople, 72 
 Mar, Earl of, brother of James III. 
 
 of Scotland, 206 
 March, Roger Mortimer, Earl of, 52, 
 
 59 
 
 — Edmund Mortimer, Earl of, son 
 of Roger, 59, 78, 80, 99 
 
 — Edward, Earl of {see Edward IV.) 
 
 — Tne Scotch Earl of, 71 
 Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry 
 
 VI., 147-8, 162, 163, 170, 172-7, 
 189, 194, 197 
 
 Margaret, sister of Edward IV., 183- 
 5. 203 
 
 Martin V., Pope, 109, 123 
 
 Mary of Anjou, Queen of Charles 
 VII., 147 
 
 Mary of Burgundy, daughter of 
 Charles the Bold, 202, 204, 208 
 
 Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, son 
 of the Emperor Frederick III., 202, 
 2o8 
 
 Meaux, on the Maine, 115 
 
 Melun, 113 
 
 Mercer, John, 10 
 
 Meulan, iii 
 
 Milan, 242 
 
 Mile End, 15 
 
 Milford Haven, 52, 56, 232 
 
 Moleyns, Adam de. Bishop of Chi- 
 chester, 153 
 
 Molyneux, Constable of Chester, 34 
 
 Montague, John Nevill, Lord, 175, 
 178; made Earl of Northumber- 
 land, 180 ; afterwards Marquis 
 Montague, 190-2 
 
 Montereau, iii, 113 
 
 Montfort, John de, Duke of Biittany, 
 II 
 
 Montlhery, battle of, 182 
 
 Morat, battle of, 202 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, his History of 
 Richard III., 213, 222, 230 
 
 Morley, Lord, 68 
 
 Mortimer, Roger, Earl of March {see 
 March) 
 
 Mortimer, Sir Edmund, 77-9 
 
 Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 171 
 
 Morton, John, Bishop of Ely, after- 
 wards Cardinal, 212-14, 225-6 
 
 Mountjoy, Lord, iSo 
 
 Mowbray, John, Earl Marshal, 80 
 
 Mowbray, Thomas, Earl of Notting- 
 ham and Earl Marshal, 32, 34, 41- 
 43 ; created Duke of Norfolk, 45, 
 46, 48 ; banished, 49 
 
 PAU 
 
 NANCY, batde of, 202 
 Naples, rival kings of, 119,243 
 
 Narbonne, 122 
 
 Navarrete, battle of, 9 
 
 Netter, Thomas, of Walden, 65 
 
 Neuss, siege of, 199, 202 
 
 Nevill, Alexander, Archbishop of 
 York, 33, 35 
 
 Nevill, Ann, second daughter of 
 Warwick the King Maker, 189 
 
 Nevill, Geoige, Archbishop of York, 
 180 
 
 Nevi 1, Isabel, eldest daughter of 
 Warwick, the King Maker, 185, 204 
 
 Nicopolis, battle of, 73 
 
 Norfolk, John Mowbray, third Duke 
 of, 162, 174 
 
 Norfolk, John Howard, Duke of, 234 
 
 Norfolk, Thomas, Duke of {see Mow- 
 bray) 
 
 Normandy, 107 
 
 Northampton, battle of, 168 
 
 Northampton. Johii of, 20 
 
 Northumberland, i 76 
 
 Northumberland, Earl of, 53, 57-8, 
 77-80 
 
 Northumberland, Henry Percy re- 
 stored to the earldom of, 190, 234 
 
 Norwich, Spencer, Bishop of {see 
 Spencer) 
 
 Nottingham, council at, 31 
 
 Nottingham, Thomas Mowbray, Earl 
 oi{see Mowbray) 
 
 OLDCASTLE, Sir John, Lord 
 Cobham, 93-6, 107-8 
 Orleans, Louis, Duke of, murdered, 88 
 — Charles, Duke of, son of the pre- 
 ceding, 97, 103, 116, 144, 147, 251 
 Orleans, siege of, 132-6 
 Ormond, Earl of (j^^ Wiltshire) 
 Orphanites, a Bohemian sect, 127 
 Orsini, Paolo, 86 
 Oxford, 6 
 
 Oxford, Earl of {see also Vere) 
 Oxford, Earl of, 193, 231 
 
 PALiEOLOGUS, Manuel, Empe- 
 ror of Constantinople, 72 
 Paris, 97, 109, 143 
 Parliament, the Good, 3 
 
 — the Wonderful, or Merciless, 36-9 
 
 — of Shrewsbury, 45 
 
 — the Lack-learning, 82 
 Paul's Cross, 2x6 
 
'2bo 
 
 Index. 
 
 RIC 
 
 Peasantry, condition of the, 13 
 
 Pecock, Reginald, Bishop of Chiches- 
 ter, 252 
 
 Pembroke, 231 
 
 Pembroke, Jasper Tudor, Earl of, 
 171-2, 231 
 
 Pembroke, Lord Herbert, Earl of, 185 
 
 Percy, Henry, called Hotspur, son 
 of the Earl of Northumberland, 
 77-8 
 
 Percy, Sir Ralph, 177 
 
 Percy, Sir Thos., Earl of Worcester, 
 {see Worcester) 
 
 Percy, Sir Thos., 56 
 
 Ferrers, Alice, 2, 3 
 
 Persia, 74 
 
 Peter the Cruel of Castile, 9 
 
 Philippa, daughter of Henry IV., 83 
 
 Philipot, John, 5-10 
 
 Picardy, no 
 
 Piccolomini, ^neas Sylvius, 245 
 
 Piers Plowman, the Vision of, 62 
 
 Pisa, Council of, 119 
 
 Pius II., Pope, 245 
 
 Pleshy, castle of, in Essex, 41 
 
 Poggio Bracciolini, 125 
 
 Poitiers, battle of, 2 
 
 Poland, 247-8 
 
 Pole, Michael de la, 24 {see also 
 Suffolk, Earl of; 
 
 Poll tax, 13 
 
 Pomfret Castle, 69 
 
 Pont de I'Arche taken, 152 
 
 Popes, the, 244-5 
 
 Pertugal, 242 
 
 Prague, 125-6, 128 
 
 Prague, Jerome of, 124 
 
 Proccpius the Shaven, 128 
 
 Public Weal, league of the, 182 
 
 RADCOTE BRIDGE, encounter 
 at, 33 
 Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, 53, 192 
 Reading, parliament at, 162 
 Religion, state of, 251-2 
 Rene, Duke of Anjou and King of 
 
 Naples, 147 
 Rene II., Duke of Lorraine, 202 
 Rheims, coronation of Charles VII. 
 
 r. ^'^' ^37 
 
 Rhuddlan Castle, 57 
 
 Richard II., 3, 4, 38, 50, 51 ; his 
 deposition, 59 ; his reign and charac- 
 ter, 61-2 ; conspiracy in his favor, 
 69 ; his death, 71 ; reported to be 
 alive in Scotland, 76, 99, 107 
 
 SHO 
 
 Richard III., as Duke of Gloucestel 
 
 175, 191, 195-6, 203, 206-7, 209-785 
 
 as king, 218-36 
 Richmond, Edmund, Earl of, 172 
 Richmond, Henry, Earl of, after* 
 
 wards, Henry VII., 224-36 
 RickhiU, William. 43 
 Rivers, Lord (see Woodville) 
 Robert III. of Scotland, 71, 84 
 Robin of Redesdale's insurrection, i8e 
 Roche, Count de la, 184 
 Rome, 6, II 
 
 Roosebeke, battle of, 21 
 Rotherham, Archbishop of York, 212 
 Rothesay, David, Duke of, 72, 84 
 Rouen, no, 114, 139, 152 
 Roxburgh, 5, 107 
 Russia, 74 
 Rutland, Edmund, Earl of, son of 
 
 Richard Duke of York, 166, 170 
 Rutland, Edward, Earl of, 41 ; 
 
 afterwards duke of Albemarle, 
 
 55-6 ; degraded again to the 
 
 earldom, 68; conspires against 
 
 Henry IV., 69, 70 
 Rye, burned by the French, 5 
 
 ST. ALBAN'S, 17, 53, 59; first 
 battle of, 164-5 ; second battle 
 of, 172 
 St. Giles' Fields, meeting of Lol'ards 
 
 at, 95 
 St. John's Field, 173 
 St. Leger, Sir Thos., 227 
 Salisbury, John de Montacute, Earl 
 of, 56-8, 68-9 
 
 — Thomas de Montacute, Earl of, 
 
 1 1 3-4 
 
 — Richard Nevill, Earl of, 150, 163-5, 
 171 
 
 Savoy, palace of the, 8, 15 
 
 Sawtre, William, 87 
 
 Say, Lord, 156 
 
 Scales, Anthony, Lord {see Woodrille) 
 
 Scales, Lord, 156 
 
 Scanderbeg, 246 
 
 Scarborough, 10 
 
 Schism, the Great, 12 
 
 Scotland, 23, 71, 206-7 
 
 Scots, the, 5, 108 
 
 Scctus, Duns, 65 
 
 Scrope, or Scroop, Ric, Archbishop 
 
 of York, 88 
 Scrope of Masham, Lord, 99-100 
 Shaw, Dr., 216 
 Shore, Jane, 214-15, 226. 
 
Index. 
 
 261 
 
 TOW 
 
 ^Arewsbury, Earl of i^see Talbot) 
 Sigismund, King of Hungary, 73 ; 
 
 afterwards King of the Romans and 
 
 Emperor elect, 104, 126-7 ; and King 
 
 of Bohemia, 128, 247 
 Sivas, in Asia Minor, 74 
 Sluys, fleet assembled at, 27 
 Smithfield, 16, 146, 184 
 Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, Duke, 
 
 I5i"54> 158-59, 162-63 
 — Henry Beaufort, Duke of, 165, 166, 
 
 173, 176, 178, 194-95 
 
 Southampton, 99 
 
 Spain, 241 
 
 Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, 18 ; his 
 crusade in Flanders, 21-25 
 
 Spenser, Lord, Earl of Gloucester, 
 68,69 
 
 Stafford, Humphrey, 227 
 
 Stafford, Sir Humphrey and Wm., 155 
 
 Stamford, battle of Losecoat Field, 
 near, 187 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 214, 232-33 
 
 Stanley, Sir William, 232-33 
 
 Strange, Geo., Lord, 232-33 
 
 Straw, Jack, 18 
 
 Sudbury, Simon, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, 15 
 
 SuflFolk, Earl of, 17 
 
 Suffolk, Michael de la Pole, Earl of, 
 24, 27-33 
 
 Suffolk, William de la Pole, Earl of, 
 afterwards Marquis and Duke of, 
 132, 136, 147-51 
 
 Surrey, Duke of, 56-8 ; degraded to 
 the rank of Earl of Kent, 68 ; con- 
 spires against Henry IV., 69; be- 
 headed, 70 
 
 Surrey, Thos. Howard, Earl of, 234 
 
 TABORITES, a Bohemian sect, 
 127 
 Talbot, Lady Eleanor, 217 
 Talbot, Lord, afterwards Earl of 
 
 Shrewsbury, 136, 153, 161 
 Tamerlane, or Timour, the Tartar, 
 
 74-5 
 
 Tanaenberg, battle of, 126 
 
 Tartary, 74 
 
 Tewkesbury, battle of, 195 
 
 Timour {see Tamerlane) 
 
 Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester {see Wor- 
 cester) 
 
 Tower Hill, 16 34 
 
 Tower of London, 15, 16, 36, 58, 216, 
 
 221-22 
 
 WIG 
 
 Towton, battle of, 174 
 
 Treason, laws of, mitigated by Henry 
 
 IV., 68 
 Tresilian, Sir Robert, 30, 35, 37 
 Trollope, Andrew, 166 
 Troyes, 137 
 Troyes, Treaty of, 113 
 Tudor, Sir Owen, 172 
 Turks, the, 245-47 
 Tyler, Wat, rebellion of, 12-18 
 Tyrell, Sir Jas., 221 
 
 u 
 
 RBAN VI., Pope, 12, 118 
 
 VAUGHAN, Thos., 226 
 Venice, 244 
 Vere, Robert de. Earl of Oxford, 
 created Marquis of Dublin and 
 Duke of Ireland, 25, 34, 37 
 Verneuil, battle of, 131 
 Villeneuve, on the Yonne, 115 
 Vincennes, 115 
 
 WAKEFIELD, battle of, 170 
 Wal< s, 78, 79, 175 
 Wales, Joan, Princess of, mother of 
 
 Richard II., 15 
 Wales, Princess of {see under Chris- 
 tian names) 
 Wales, women of, their barbarity, 77 
 Walworth, Sir William, 5, 9, 16, 17 
 Warwick, Richard Beauchamp, Earl 
 
 of, 143 
 
 Warwick, Thomas Beauchamp, Ear? 
 of, 32, 41, 42, 44, 67 
 
 Warwick, Richard Nevill, Earl of, 
 (the King-Maker), 159, 163-68, 172, 
 174, 176, 379-81, 183, 185-94 
 
 — his daughters, Isabel and Anne 
 {see Nevill) 
 
 Waterford, 52, 56 
 
 Waynflete, William, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 159, 220 
 
 Welles, Lord, 186, 187 
 
 Welles, Sir Rob., insurrection of, 186, 
 187 
 
 Wenceslaus VI. of Bohemia, 19, 
 125-26 
 
 Wenlock, Lord, 188 
 
 Westminster, abbot of, 73 
 
 Westmoreland, Earl of, 53, 80 
 
 Wight, Isle of, 5 
 
262 
 
 Index. 
 
 Wiltshire and Ormond, Jas. Butler, 
 
 Earl of, 1 71-2 
 Wiltshire, Scrope, Earl of, 53-4 
 Winchelsea, 5 
 Windsor Castle, 80 
 Woodville, Anthony, Lord Scales, 180, 
 
 184; becomes Earl Rivers, 188, 191, 
 
 209-11 
 Woodville, Elizab., queen of Edward 
 
 IV., 178, 197, 210, 212, 214-15, 217 
 Woodville, Richard, Earl Rivers, 
 
 178-9, 185-6 
 Worcester, John Tiptoft, Earl of, 
 
 180, r88, IQ2 
 Worcester, Thos. Percy, Earl of, 78-9 
 Wraw, John, 17, 18 
 Wycliffe, John, 5-7, 14; his Bible, 62, 
 
 65 
 •— his doctrines popular in Bohe- 
 mia, 121 
 
 ZIS 
 
 Wykeham, William, Bishop of Win- 
 chester, 3, 39 
 
 YORK, 174, 211 
 York, Alex. Nevill, Archbishop 
 of, 32, 35, 46 
 
 York, Richard, Duke of, son of the 
 Earl of Cambridge, 143-4, 151, 157- 
 60, 162-70 
 
 York, Edmund, Duke of, son of Ed- 
 ward III., 24, 55 
 
 York, Richard, Duke of, son of Ed- 
 ward IV., 215, 220-21 
 
 Yorkshire, rebellion in, 81-2 
 
 'ISKA, John, Bohemian leader 
 t 125-27 
 
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 the causes and results of the vast changes which came upon 
 Europe during the period discussed. The book is adapted to 
 be exceedingly serviceable." — Chicago Standard. 
 
 "At once readable and valuable. It is comprehensive and 
 yet gives the details of a period most interesting to the student 
 of history. " — Herald and Presbyter. 
 
 " It is written with a clearness and vividness of statement 
 which make it the pleasantest reading. It represents a great 
 deal of patient research, and is careful and scholarly." — 
 Boston Journal. 
 
 THE NORMANS IN EUROPE— The Feudal 
 System and England under the Norman 
 Kings. By Rev. A. H. Johnson, M.A. 
 
 " Its pictures of the Normans in their home, of the Scan- 
 dinavian exodus, the conquest of England, and Norman 
 administration, are full of vigor and cannot fail of holding the 
 reader's attention." — Episcopal Register. 
 
 " The style of the author is vigorous and animated, and he 
 has given a valuable sketch of the origin and progress of the 
 great Northern movement that has shaped the history of 
 modern Europe." — Boston Transcript. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 
 
 THE CRUSADES. By Rev. G. W. Cox. 
 
 " To be warmly commended for important qualities. The 
 author shows conscientious fidelity to the materials, and such 
 skill in the use of them, that, as a result, the reader has 
 before him a narrative related in a style that makes it truly 
 fascinating. ' ' — Congregationalist. 
 
 " It is written in a pure and flowing style, and its arrange- 
 ment and treatment of subject are exceptional." — Christian 
 Intelligencer. 
 
 THE EARLY P LA NT AGEN ETS— Their 
 Relation to the History of Europe; The 
 Foundation and Growth of Constitutional 
 Government. By Rev. W. Stubbs, M.A. 
 
 "Nothing could be desired more clear, succinct, and well 
 arranged. All parts of the book are well done. It may be 
 pronounced the best existing brief history of the constitution 
 for this, its most important period." — The Nation. 
 
 ''Prof. Stubbs has presented leading events with such fair- 
 ness and wisdom as are seldom found. He is remarkably 
 clear and satisfactory." — The Churchman. 
 
 EDWARD III. By Rev. W. Warburton, M.A. 
 
 " The author has done his work well, and we commend it 
 as containing in small space all essential matter." — New York 
 Independent. 
 
 ' '• Events and movements are admirably condensed by the 
 author, and presented in such attractive form as to entertain 
 as well as instruct." — Chicago Interior. 
 
 THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK 
 —The Conquest and Loss of France. By 
 
 James Gairdner. 
 
 ** Prepared in a most careful and thorough manner, and 
 ought to be read by every student. " — New York Times. 
 
 "It leaves nothing to be desired as regards compactness, 
 accuracy, and excellence of literary execution." — Boston 
 Journal. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY 
 
 THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REVO- 
 LUTION. By Frederic Seebohm. With Notes, on 
 Books in English relating to the Reformation, by Prof. 
 George P, Fisher, D. D. 
 
 ' ' For an impartial record of the civil and ecclesiastical 
 changes about four hundred years ago, we cannot commend a 
 better manual." — Sunday- School Times. 
 
 "All that could be desired, as well in execution as in plan. 
 The narrative is animated, and the selection and grouping of 
 events skillful and effective." — The Nation. 
 
 THE EARLY TUDORS— Henry VII., Henry 
 
 VIII. By Rev. C. E. Moberley, M.A., late Master in 
 Rugby School. 
 
 "Is concise, scholarly, and accurate. On the epoch of which 
 it treats, we know of no work which equals it. " — N. V. Observer. 
 
 " A marvel of clear and succinct brevity and good historical 
 judgment. There is hardly a better book of its kind to be 
 named." — New York Independent. 
 
 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By Rev. M. 
 Creighton, M.A. 
 
 "Clear and compact in style ; careful in their facts, and 
 just in interpretation of them. It sheds much light on the 
 progress of the Reformation and the origin of the Popish 
 reaction during Queen Elizabeth's reign ; also, the relation of 
 Jesuitism to the latter." — Presbyterian Review. 
 
 " A clear, concise, and just story of an era crowded with 
 events of interest and importance." — New York World. 
 
 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR— 1 61 8-1 648. 
 
 By Samuel Rawson Gardiner. 
 
 " As a manual it will prove of the greatest practical value, 
 while to the general reader it will afford a clear and interesting 
 account of events. We know of no more spirited and attractive 
 recital of the great era. " — Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 " The thrilling story of those times has never been told so 
 vividly or succinctly as in this volume." — Episcopal Register. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 THE PURITAN REVOLUTION; and the First 
 Two Stuarts, 1 603- 1 660. By Samuel Rawson 
 Gardiner. 
 
 " The narrative is condensed and brief, yet sufficiently com- 
 prehensive to give an adequate view of the events related." 
 — Chicago Standard. 
 
 "Mr. Gardiner uses his researches in an admirably clear 
 and fair way." — Congregaiionalisi. 
 
 ' ' The sketch is concise, but clear and perfectly intelligible." 
 —Hartford Courant. 
 
 THE ENGLISH RESTORATION AND LOUIS 
 XIV., from the Peace of Westphalia to the 
 Peace of Nimwegen. By Osmund Airy, M.A. 
 
 " It is crisply and admirably written. An immense amount 
 of information is conveyed and with great clearness, the 
 arrangement of the subjects showing great skill and a thor- 
 ough command of the complicated theme." — Boston Saturday 
 
 Evening Gazette. 
 
 " The author writes with fairness and discrimination, and 
 has given a clear and intelligible presentation of the time." — 
 
 New York Evangelist. 
 
 THE FALL OF THE STUARTS; and Western 
 Europe. By Rev. Edw^ard Hale, M.A. 
 
 " A valuable compend to the general reader and scholar." 
 — Providence Journal. 
 
 "It will be found of great value. It is a very graphic 
 
 account of the history of Europe during the 17th century, 
 
 and is admirably adapted for the use of students. " — Boston 
 
 Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 ' 'An admirable handbook for the student. " — 77/*? Churchman. 
 
 THE AGE OF ANNE. By Edward E. Morris, M.A. 
 
 "The author's arrangement of the material is remarkably 
 clear, his selection and adjustment of the facts judicious, his 
 historical judgment fair and candid, while the style wins by 
 its simple elegance." — Chicago Standard. 
 
 ' ' An excellent compendium of the history of an important 
 period." — The Watch/nan. 
 
EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 THE EARLY HANOVERIANS— Europe from 
 the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix- 
 la-Chapelle. By Edward E. Morris, M,A. 
 
 *' Masterly, condensed, and vigorous, this is one of the 
 books which it is a delight to read at odd moments ; which 
 are broad and suggestive, and at the same time condensed in 
 treatment. " — Christian Advocate. 
 
 " A remarkably clear and readable summary of the salient 
 points of interest. The maps and tables, no less than the 
 author's style and treatment of the subject, entitle the volume 
 to the highest claims of recognition." — Boston Daily Ad- 
 vertiser. 
 
 FREDERICK THE GREAT, AND THE SEVEN 
 YEARS' WAR. By F. W. Longman. 
 
 ' ' The subject is most important, and the author has treated 
 it in a way which is both scholarly and entertaining." — The 
 Churchman. 
 
 "Admirably adapted to interest school boys, and older 
 heads will find it pleasant reading." — New York Tribune. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND FIRST 
 EMPIRE. By William O'Connor Morris. With 
 Appendix by Andrew D. White, LL.D., ex-President of 
 Cornell University. 
 
 "We have long needed a simple compendium of this period, 
 and we have here one which is brief enough to be easily run 
 through with, and yet particular enough to make entertaining 
 reading." — New York Evening Post. 
 
 " The author has well accomplished his difficult task of 
 sketching in miniature the grand and crowded drama of the 
 French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, showing 
 himself to be no servile compiler, but capable of judicious 
 and independent criticism." — Springfield Republican. 
 
 THE EPOCH OF REFORM— 1 830-1 850. By 
 
 Justin McCarthy. 
 
 "Mr. McCarthy knows the period of which he writes 
 thoroughly, and the result is a narrative that is at once enter- 
 taining and trustworthy." — New York Examiner. 
 
 " The narrative is clear and comprehensive, and told with 
 abundant knowledge and grasp of the subject." — Boston 
 Courier. 
 
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL 
 WORKS. 
 
 THE DAWN OF HISTORY. An Introduction 
 
 to Pre-Historic Study. New and Enlarged Edition. 
 Edited by C. F. Keary. i2mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 This work treats successively of the earliest traces of man ; 
 of language, its growth, and the story it tells of the pre-his- 
 toricusersof it ; of early social life, the religions, mythologies, 
 and folk-tales, and of the history of writing. The present 
 edition contains about one hundred pages of new matter, 
 embodying the results of the latest researches. 
 
 " A fascinating manual. In its way, the work is a model 
 of what a popular scientific work should be. " — Boston Sat. 
 Eve. Gazette. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS. By Professor George 
 Rawlinson, M.A, i2mo, with maps, $i.oo. 
 
 The first part of this book discusses the antiquity of civiliza- 
 tion in Egypt and the other early nations of the East. The 
 second part is an examination of the ethnology of Genesis, 
 showing its accordance with the latest results of modem 
 ethnographical science. 
 
 ' ' A work of genuine scholarly excellence, and a useful 
 offset to a great deal of the superficial current literature on 
 such subjects. " — Congregationaiist. 
 
 MANUAL OF MYTHOLOGY. For the Use 
 of Schools, Art Students, and General 
 Readers. Founded on the Works of Pet- 
 iscus, Preller, and Welcker. By Alexander 
 S. Murray, Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
 British Museum. With 45 Plates. Reprinted from the 
 Second Revised London Edition. Crown 8vo, $1.75. 
 
 " It has been acknowledged the best work on the subject 
 to be found in a concise form, and as it embodies the results 
 of the latest researches and discoveries in ancient mythologies, 
 it is superior for school and general purposes as a handbook 
 to any of the so-called standard works." — Cleveland Herald. 
 
 ' ' Whether as a manual for reference, a text-book for school 
 use, or for the general reader, the book will be found very 
 valuable and interesting." — Boston Journal. 
 
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ROME, from the Earliest 
 Time to the Period of Its Decline. By Dr. 
 
 Theodor Mommsen. Translated by W. P. Dickson, D.D., 
 LL.D, Reprinted from the Revised London Edition. Four 
 volumes, crown 8vo. Price per set, $8.00. 
 
 "A work of the very highest merit; its learning is exact 
 and profound ; its narrative full of genius, and skill ; its 
 descriptions of men are admirably vivid." — London Times. 
 
 "Since the days of Niebuhr, no work on Roman History 
 has appeared that combines so much to attract, instruct, and 
 charm the reader. Its style — a rare quality in a German 
 author — is vigorous, spirited, and animated." — Dr. Schmitz. 
 
 THE PROVINCES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 
 From Caesar to Diocletian. By Theodor 
 Mommsen. Translated by William P. Dickson, D.D., 
 LL.D. With maps. Two vols., Svo, $6.00. 
 
 " The author draws the wonderfully rich and varied picture 
 of the conquest and administration of that great circle of 
 peoples and lands which formed the empire of Rome outside 
 of Italy, their agriculture, trade, and manufactures, their 
 artistic and scientific life, through all degrees of civilization, 
 with such detail and completeness as could have come from 
 no other hand than that of this great master of historical re- 
 search." — Prof. W. A, Packard, Princeton College. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. 
 
 Abridged from the History by Professor Theodor Mommsen, 
 by C. Bryans and F. J. R. Hendy. i2mo, $1.75. 
 
 " It is a genuine boon that the essential parts of Mommsen's 
 Rome are thus brought within the easy reach of all, and the 
 abridgment seems to me to preserve unusually well the glov/ 
 and movement of the original." — Prof. Tracy Peck, Yale 
 University. 
 
 "The condensation has been accurately and judiciously 
 effected. I heartily commend the volume as the most adequate 
 embodiment, in a single' volume, of the main results of modern 
 historical research in the field of Roman affairs." — Prof. 
 Henry M. Baird, University of City of New York. 
 
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL WORKS. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Dr. 
 Ernst Curtius. Translated by Adolphus William Ward, 
 M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, Prof, of 
 History in Owen's College, Manchester, Five volumes, 
 crown 8vo. Price per set, $10.00. 
 
 " We cannot express our opinion of Dr. Curtius' book bet- 
 ter than by saying that it may be fitly ranked with Theodor 
 Mommsen's great work." — London Spectator. 
 
 "As an introduction to the study of Grecian history, no 
 previous work is comparable to the present for vivacity and 
 picturesque beauty, while in sound learning and accuracy of 
 statement it is not inferior to the elaborate productions which 
 enrich the literature of the age. " — N. Y. Daily 1 ribune. 
 
 C>^SAR: a Sketch. By James Anthony Froude, 
 M.A. i2mo, gilt top, $1.50. 
 
 ' ' This book is a most fascinating biography and is by far 
 the best account of Julius Caesar to be found in the English 
 language." — The London Standard. 
 
 "He combines into a compact and nervous narrative all 
 that is known of the personal, social, political, and military 
 life of Csesar ; and with his sketch of Caesar includes other 
 brilliant sketches of the great man, his friends, or rivals, 
 who contemporaneously with him formed the principal figures 
 in the Roman world." — Harper's Monthly. 
 
 CICERO. Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. By 
 
 William Forsyth, M.A., Q.C. 20 Engravings. New 
 Edition. 2 vols., crown 8vo, in one, gilt top, $2.50. 
 
 The author has not only given us the most complete and 
 well-balanced account of the life of Cicero ever published ; 
 he has drawn an accurate and graphic picture of domestic life 
 among the best classes of the Romans, one which the reader 
 of general literature, as well as the student, may peruse with 
 pleasure and profit. 
 
 "A scholar without pedantry, and a Christian without cant, 
 Mr. Forsyth seems to have seized with praiseworthy tact the 
 precise attitude which it behooves a biographer to take when 
 narrating the life, the personal life of Cicero. Mr. Forsyth 
 produces what we venture to say will become one of the 
 classics of English biographical literature, and will be wel- 
 comed by readers of all ages and both sexes, of all professions 
 and of no profession at all. " — London Quarterly. 
 
VALUABLE WORKS ON 
 CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 From the Earliest Period to the Death of 
 
 Marcus Aurelius. With Chronological Tables, etc., 
 for the use of Students. By C. T. Cruttwell, M.A. Crown 
 8vo, $2.50. 
 
 Mr. Cruttwell's book is written throughout from a purely 
 literary point of view, and the aim has been to avoid tedious 
 and trivial details. The result is a volume not only suited 
 for the student, but remarkably readable for all who possess 
 any interest in the subject. 
 
 " Mr. Cruttwell has given us a genuine history of Roman 
 literature, not merely a descriptive list of authors and their 
 productions, but a well elaborated portrayal of the successive 
 stages in the intellectual development of the Romans and the 
 various forms of expression which these took in literature." — 
 A^ V. Nation. 
 
 UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE. 
 
 A HISTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE. 
 From the Earliest Period of Demosthenes. 
 
 By Frank Byron Jevons, M.A., Tutor in the University 
 of Durham. Crown 8vo, $2.50. 
 
 The author goes into detail with sufficient fullness to make 
 the history complete, but he never loses sight of the com- 
 manding lines along which the Greek mind moved, and a 
 clear understanding of v/hich is necessary to every intelligent 
 student of universal literature. 
 
 " It is beyond all question the best history of Greek litera- 
 ture that has hitherto been published." — London Spectator. 
 
 ' ' With such a book as this within reach there is no reason 
 why any intelligent English reader may not get a thorough 
 and comprehensive insight into the spirit of Greek literature, 
 of its historic development, and of its successive and chief 
 masterpieces, which are here so finely characterized, analyzed, 
 and criticised." — Chicas^o Advance, 
 
TRANSLATIONS OF PLATO. 
 
 THE DIALOGUES OF PLATO. Translated 
 into English, with Analysis and Introduc- 
 tions. By B. JowETT, M.A., Master of Balliol College, 
 Oxford. A new and cheaper edition. Four vols. , crown 8vo 
 per set, $8.00. ' 
 
 " The present work of Professor Jowett will be welcomed 
 with profound interest, as the only adequate endeavor to 
 transport the most precious monument of Grecian thought 
 among the familiar treasures of English literature. The 
 noble reputation of Professor Jowett, both as a thinker and a 
 scholar, is a valid guaranty for the excellence of his perfor- 
 mance." — New York Tribune. 
 
 SOCRATES. A Translation of the Apoiogv, 
 Crito, and parts of the Phsedo of Plato. 
 
 Contammg the Defence of Socrates at his Trial, his Conver- 
 sation in Prison, with his Thoughts on the Future Life, and 
 an Account of his Death. With an Introduction by Professor 
 W. W. Goodwin, of Harvard College. i2mo, cloth, $1,00; 
 paper, 50 cents. 
 
 TALKS WITH SOCRATES ABOUT LIFE. 
 Translations from the Gorgias and the 
 
 Republic of Plato. i2mo, cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 
 cents. 
 
 A DAY IN ATHENS WITH SOCRATES. 
 Translations from the Protagoras and the 
 
 Republic of Plato. Being conversations betweem 
 Socrates and other Greeks on Virtue and Justice. i2mo, 
 cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents. 
 
 " Eminent scholars, men of much Latin and more Greek, 
 attest the skill and truth with which the versions are made ; 
 we can confidently speak of their English grace and clearness. 
 They seem a ' model of style,' because they are without 
 manner and perfectly simple." — W, D. Howells. 
 
 '' We do not remember any translation of a Greek author 
 which is a better specimen of idiomatic English than this, or 
 a more faithful rendering of the real spirit of the original 
 into English as good and as simple as the Greek." — New York 
 Evening Post. 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 
 
 743 and 745 Broadway, New York. 
 
 H 66 
 

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