Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2

J >> J. Endell Tyler >> Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2

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[Footnote 107: To one of these, Robert Hull, the
payment of one hundred marks was ordered to be
made, February 7, 1418, for lately holding his
sessions in South Wales; and also for his trouble
and expenses in delivering the gaol at Southampton
of Richard Earl of Cambridge, Henry Lord Scrope,
and Thomas Grey, Knight, there for treason adjudged
and put to death.]

Lord Scrope denied having consented to the death of the King, or
having had any communication with the other conspirators on that
point; and he declared that he had communicated with them on the other
points solely to possess himself of a knowledge of their designs in
order to frustrate them. He then pleaded his peerage, and his right to
be tried by his peers.

Sentence of death in the usual manner was passed upon Grey; but the
King having, by a most rare instance of mercy in those days, remitted
that part of the sentence which directed him to be drawn on a hurdle
and hung, he was allowed to walk through the town to the Northgate,
and was there immediately beheaded. On Monday, August 5, the Duke of
Clarence presided in a court of the peers, who, having satisfied
themselves by carefully examining the record of the conviction of the
prisoners, Scrope and Cambridge, adjudged them to death. They were
both executed within a few hours of this judgment. The head of Scrope
was ordered to be affixed on one of the gates of York and the (p. 136)
head of Grey to be stuck up at Newcastle upon Tyne, to mark the baseness
of their ingratitude, who had enjoyed so closely the confidence and
friendship of Henry.[108]

[Footnote 108: The King's writ, dated Southampton,
8th of August, orders "the head of Henry Lescrop de
Masham to be stuck up at York, and the head of
Thomas Grey de Heton to be stuck up at Newcastle
upon Tyne."--Close Roll, 3 Henry V. m. 16.]

Nothing is recorded officially of any bribe from France, but the fact
of "one million of gold" having been promised as the wages of their
treason is asserted by historians. "These lords, for lucre of money,"
(to use the words of a manuscript[109] apparently contemporary with
the event,) "had made promise to the Frenchmen to have slayne King
Henry and all his worthy brethren by a false trayne [treason?]
suddenly or they had beware. But Almighty God, of his great grace,
held his holy hand over them, and saved them from this perilous meyne
[band]. And for to have done this they received of the Frenchmen a
million of gold, and that was there proved openly."

[Footnote 109: Cotton MS. Claudius A. viii. 2.]

As to the guilt or innocence of the Earl of March himself, no proof
can be drawn from the fact of his having obtained a full and free
pardon[110] a few days after the event. "Such pardons" (as Dr. Lingard
rightly observes) "were frequently solicited by the innocent as a
measure of precaution to defeat the malice and prevent the (p. 137)
accusations of their enemies." Sir Harris Nicolas indeed suggests,
"that it would be difficult to show an instance in which they were
granted in favour of a person who was not strongly suspected, or who
had not purchased them at the expense of his accomplices." But it
requires little more than a cursory glance at our authentic records to
be assured that Dr. Lingard's view is the more correct. Take, for
example, the pardon granted in 1412 to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and couched in almost the same words. There is indeed in this pardon a
clause very different from the pardon of the Earl of March; but it is
a difference which only tends to establish this point, that the
pardons in many cases were _formal_, and altogether independent of the
guilt or innocence of the party. The Archbishop (Arundel) is pardoned
for all treasons, felonies, and so forth, excepting some outrageous
crimes of which he was never suspected; and also provided he was not
then lying in prison as a felon convict, or as an adherent to Owyn
Glyndowr. Many such instances occur.[111]

[Footnote 110: His pardon is dated 8th August.]

[Footnote 111: Some of the best antiquaries of the
present day are disposed to pronounce, that a
pardon was never granted, unless there had existed
some cause of suspicion or offence,--something, in
short, which might have involved in trouble the
individual for whom the pardon was obtained.]

On this sad subject two original letters are preserved, addressed to
Henry by the Earl of Cambridge; they are found among the "Original
Letters" published by Sir Henry Ellis, accompanied, as is (p. 138)
usual[112] in his valuable collection, by a succinct and clear
statement of such facts as may be necessary for their elucidation. The
first contains the Earl's confession; whether written before or after
his trial, is not evident. The second sues for mercy, probably after
the jury had returned their verdict; it may be even after the sentence
was passed by the peers, though a very short portion of a day elapsed
between that sentence and his execution.

[Footnote 112: (Ellis, Second Series, vol. i. p.
44.) "This conspiracy was the first spark of the
flame which in the course of time consumed the two
houses of Lancaster and York. Richard Earl of
Cambridge was the father of Richard Duke of York,
and the grandfather of King Edward IV."]

It is curious to learn, from the first of these letters, that even
down to the year of Henry's first expedition to France, the people
were from time to time deluded by rumours that Richard II. was still
alive. The Earl of Cambridge acknowledged that the conspirators
intended to set up the Earl of March, "taking upon him the sovereignty
of this land, if yonder man's person, which they call King Richard,
had not been alive, as I wot well that he is not alive." He confessed,
also, a guilty knowledge of a conspiracy to "bring in that person
which they named King Richard, and Harry Percy out of Scotland, with a
power of Scots."

Another very curious fact is alleged in this document, interesting in
more points than one. It shows what a powerful engine in those (p. 139)
days was the _Confessional_; and it proves also that, though Henry
has been called the King of Priests, there were some of the sacred
order in high station who were bent on his overthrow. Cambridge
declares that both the Earl of March and his man Lusy had assured him
that the Earl "was not shriven of a great while [had not attended the
priests for the purposes of confession] without his confessors, on
every occasion, putting him in penance to claim what they called his
right." His confessors would not absolve him without imposing upon
him, by way of penance, this condition, that he should claim his right
to the crown.

LETTER OF CONFESSION FROM THE EARL OF CAMBRIDGE.

My most dreadful and sovereign liege Lord, like to your Highness
to wit [please your Highness to know] touching the purpose cast
against your high estate. Having the Earl of March, by his own
assent, and by the assent of myself, whereof I most me repent of
all worldly things; and by the accord of Lord Scrope and Sir
Thomas Grey, to have had the aforesaid Earl in the land of Wales
without your licence, taking upon him the sovereignty of this
land, if yonder man's person, which they call King Richard, had
not been alive, as I wot well that he is not alive;[113] for (p. 140)
which point I put me wholly in your grace. And as for the form
of a proclamation which should have been cried in the Earl's
name as the heir to the crown of England against you, my liege
Lord, called by untrue name Harry of Lancaster, usurper of
England, to the intent to have made the more people to have drawn
to him and from you; of the which cry Scrope knew not of as from
me, but Grey did; having with the Earl a banner of the arms of
England, having also the crown of Spain on a pallet, which, my
liege Lord, is one of your weddys, for the which offence I put me
wholly in your grace. And as for the purpose taken by Umfrevyle
and Wederyngtoun for the bringing in of that person which they
named King Richard, and Herry Percy, out of Scotland, with a
power of Scots, and their power together seeming to them able to
give you a battle, of the which intent Sir Thomas Grey wist of,
but not Scrope as by me; of the which knowing I submit me wholly
into your grace. And as for the taking of your castles in Wales,
Davy Howell made me be host, so there were a stirring in the
North; of the which point I put me wholly in your grace. And as
touching the Earl of March and Lusy his man, they said me both,
that the Earl was not shriven of a great while, but at all his
confessors put him in penance to claim that they called his (p. 141)
right, that would be that time that every iknew anything that
ever to him longed.... [The MS. is here imperfect.] Of the which
points and articles here before written, and of all other which
now are not in my mind, but truly as often as any to my mind
fallen I shall duly and truly certify you thereof; beseeching to
you, my liege Lord, for His love that suffered passion on the
Good Friday, so have ye compassion on me, your liege man; and if
any of these persons, whose names are contained in this bill,
holden contrary the substance of that I have written at this
time, I shall be ready with the might of God to make it good, as
ye, my liege Lord, will award me.

[Footnote 113: The extraordinary prevalence of an
opinion that Richard was still alive and in
Scotland, has already been noticed. The Chronicle
of England informs us of some particulars relative
to the means by which the reports concerning him
were propagated, and the prompt, severe, and
decisive measures adopted by the King and his
supporters for suppressing them. "And at this time
(5 Henry IV.) Serle, yeoman of King Richard, came
into England out of Scotland, and told to divers
people that King Richard was alive in Scotland, and
so much people believed in his words. Wherefore a
great part of the people of the realm were in great
error and grudging against the King, through
information of lies and false leasing that this
Serle had made. But at the last he was taken in the
North country, and by law was judged to be drawn
through every city and good burgh town in England,
and was afterwards hanged at Tyburn and quartered."
It is also certain that many members of the
monastic orders were executed for spreading similar
reports. See Nichols' Leicester, vol. i. p. 368.]

LETTER OF THE EARL OF CAMBRIDGE, SUING FOR MERCY.

My most dreadful and sovereign liege Lord, I, Richard York, your
humble subject and very liege man, beseech you of grace of all
manner offenses which I have done or assented to in any kind, by
stirring of other folk egging me thereto, wherein I wot well I
han ill offended to your Highness; beseeching you at the
reverence of God, that you like to take me into the hands of your
merciful and piteous grace, thinking ye well of your great
goodness. My liege Lord, my full trust is that ye will have
consideration, though that my person be of no value, your high
goodness, where God hath set you in so high estate to every liege
man that to you longeth plenteously to give grace, that you like
to accept this mine simple request for the love of Our Lady and
the blissful Holy Ghost, to whom I pray that they might your
heart induce to all pity and grace for their high goodness.

Henry having taken every precaution for the preservation of his people
at home, as well against foreign designs as against disturbers of the
peace within the realm, left Porchester Castle on the 7th of (p. 142)
August, with the intention of superintending in person the embarkation
of his troops. This seems to have occupied him to the 10th, when he
went on board the "Royal Trinity," and immediately gave signal for the
ships to join him from the different stations in which they were
awaiting his command. The fleet consisted of about thirteen hundred
vessels of very different sizes, varying from twenty to three hundred
tons' burden. Probably, reckoning servants, attendants of every kind,
as well as fighting men, this fleet transported to the shores of
France not less than thirty thousand persons. Of these there were only
about two thousand five hundred men-at-arms, four thousand
horse-archers, four thousand foot-archers, and one thousand gunners,
miners, masons, smiths, with others. The whole amount of fighting men,
according to this calculation, does not exceed eleven thousand five
hundred. The expedition sailed with a favourable wind on Sunday,
August 11, 1415.[114]

[Footnote 114: It was shortly before he left London
on this expedition that Henry made that grant (to
which reference was made in the early part of our
first volume) of 20_l._ per annum on Joan Waring,
his nurse.--Rol. Pat. 3 Henry V. m. 13. It is dated
June 5th.]

Every document, probably, now known relative to this expedition, has
been examined by Sir Harris Nicolas; and to his able digest of the
facts relating to this part of Henry's proceedings the reader is
referred for the more minute details.

CHAPTER XXII. (p. 143)

HENRY CROSSES THE SEA: LANDS AT CLEF DE CAUS: LAYS SIEGE TO HARFLEUR.
-- DEVOTED ATTENDANCE ON HIS DYING FRIEND THE BISHOP OF NORWICH. --
VAST TREASURE FALLS INTO HIS HANDS ON THE SURRENDER OF HARFLEUR. -- HE
CHALLENGES THE DAUPHIN. -- FUTILE MODERN CHARGE BROUGHT AGAINST HIM ON
THAT GROUND.

1415.

From this time Henry's is the life rather of a general than of a King.
His successive battles, and sieges, and victories throw but
occasionally more or new light on his character; and it is not within
the limits of these Memoirs to describe his military achievements, or
to enter upon a detailed examination of his campaigns, except so far
only as the events elucidate his character, or as a knowledge of them
may be necessary for a fuller acquaintance with his life. Many
circumstances of this kind occur between the day when he quitted his
port of Southampton, and the hour which terminated his brief but
eventful career on earth. The enemies of his fair fame cite some one
or other of those transactions to prove him a mass of ambition,
superstition, and cruelty. It will be the reader's part to decide (p. 144)
for himself whether the facts in evidence bear out those charges, or
whether a more equitable judgment would not rather pronounce him to be
a man who, in the midst of a most exciting and distracting career,
never forgot the principles of piety, justice, and mercy. To attest
his valour we need summon no evidence; though even in that point,
which the universal voice of Europe had pronounced to be unassailable,
his challenge to the Dauphin has been cited by one author as an act
that must tarnish his character. The justness of the reflection we
shall weigh hereafter. Of licentiousness after his accession to the
throne his enemies themselves have never ventured to whisper a
suspicion.

As Henry's fleet was leaving his native shores, two incidents are said
to have occurred of opposite omen, such as in those days of
superstition were wont to exercise powerful influence over the minds
of men far removed from the lowest ranks of the people. Swans were
seen swimming gaily and fearlessly around the ships, as if hailing
them on their own watery element; and their appearance was noted as a
happy and encouraging auspice. On the other hand, a fire broke out in
one of the large ships before Henry sailed, which did considerable
damage among the vessels, not without loss of many lives; and this was
deemed an omen of such dire portent, that many of the King's followers
would have dissuaded him from persevering in his expedition.

Henry's was a pious, but not a religiously timid or superstitious (p. 145)
mind; and, unaffected by this incident, or the entreaties of his
friends, he proceeded on his voyage forthwith, and on Friday, August
13, at five o'clock in the afternoon, he entered the mouth of the
Seine, and anchored at a place called Clef de Caus,[115] between
Honfleur and Harfleur, three miles from the latter town. He landed his
forces without opposition; and, on coming on shore himself, he knelt
down, and prayed to Almighty God to prosper his just cause.[116]

[Footnote 115: At the place also where he encamped,
he solemnly celebrated the festival of the
Assumption [so called] of the Virgin Mary, a feast
observed, in the countries on the Continent in
communion with Rome, with great rejoicings and
religious ceremonies, in the present day.]

[Footnote 116: See Chronicler A, and St. Remy, p.
82, quoted in Nicolas' Agincourt.]

Henry resolved on laying siege to Harfleur, the inhabitants of which
seemed equally determined to resist him. The siege of Harfleur, which
commenced on Sunday, August 18, is described with great minuteness by
several writers. His brother, the Duke of Clarence, appears to have
held the most prominent place among Henry's officers; and much praise
is ascribed to him for his prowess and military talent. Every mode of
attack and defence then reckoned among martial tactics was carried out
on both sides.

In addition, however, to the wonted privations and hardships of a
protracted siege, the English host was visited by a violent (p. 146)
disease, which spread rapidly through every grade of the army,
unsparingly thinning its ranks and carrying off its officers, and
threatening annihilation to the whole body. Whilst this calamity was
raging at its height, and making dreadful havoc among the soldiery, an
incident is recorded to have taken place, to which the mind gladly
turns from the din and turmoil of the siege, and the devastations of
that fatal scourge; and though the scene is itself the chamber of
death, we cannot but feel a melancholy satisfaction in contemplating
it for a while. An ecclesiastic, who was present in the camp, and in
attendance on his royal master, records the anecdote in the most
casual manner,[117] without a word of admiration or remark to call our
attention to it, as though he were relating a circumstance of no
unusual occurrence, and such merely as those who knew his master might
hear of without surprise; whilst few pages of history bear to any
monarch more beautiful and affecting evidence of habitual kindness of
heart, pure sympathy with a suffering fellow-creature, and devoted
fulfilment of the dearest offices of friendship. Whilst Richard
Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich, one of the victims of the dysentery, was
lingering in the agonies of death, we find Henry in the midst of his
besieging army, at the height of a very severe struggle, war and
disease raging on every side,--not in a council of his officers, (p. 147)
planning the operations of to-morrow,--nor on his couch, giving his
body and mind repose from the fatigues and excitement of his opening
campaign,--but we see him on his knees at the death-bed of a dying
minister of religion, joining in the offices of the church so long as
the waning spirit could partake of its consolations; and then not
commissioning others, however faithful representatives they might have
been, to act in his stead, but by his own hands soothing the
sufferings of the dying prelate, and striving to make the struggle of
his latter moments less bitter. Had Henry visited the tent of the good
Bishop when he first knew of his malady, and charged any of his
numerous retinue to pay especial attention to his wants and comforts,
it would have been regarded, at such an hour of pressing emergence, as
an act worthy of a Christian King. But Henry, who in no department of
his public duties ever willingly deputed to others what he could
personally attend to himself, carried the same principle into the
exercise of the charities of private life; and has here left a pattern
of Christian sympathy and lowliness of mind, of genuine philanthropy,
and the sincere affection of true friendship, worthy of prince and
peasant alike to imitate. Bishop Courtenay is said to have been among
Henry's chosen friends, recommended to him by the singular qualities
of his head and his heart. He was a person (we are told) endowed with
intellectual and moral excellences of a very high character; (p. 148)
and Henry knew how to appreciate the value, and cultivate the friendship,
of such a man. Having enjoyed the satisfaction and benefit of his
society in life, now, when he was on the point of quitting this world
for ever, Henry never withdrew from his bed; but, watching him with
tender anxiety till the ministers of religion had solemnized the last
rite according to the prevailing practice of the church in those days,
even then, "in his own person," he continued to supply the wants of
sinking mortality, "with his own hands[118] wiping the chilled feet"
of his dying friend. The manuscript proceeds to say, that, when life
was extinct, with pious regard for his memory, Henry caused his body
to be conveyed to England, and to be honourably buried among the royal
corpses in Westminster.

[Footnote 117: Sloane MS. 1776.]

[Footnote 118: A very curious turn has been given
inadvertently to this circumstance by the
translation of the ecclesiastic's sentence, and the
comment upon it, now found in the Appendix to the
"Battle of Agincourt." "Rege praesente, pedes ejus
tergente post extremam unctionem propriis
manibus,"--words which can only be translated so as
to represent the King, "after extreme unction,
wiping the feet" of the Bishop,--the Editor of that
work, by the careless blunder of an amanuensis, or
some unaccountable accident, is made to render by
the strange sentence, "_covering_ his feet _with_
extreme unction;" and he is then led, as a comment
upon that text, to observe, that "the Bishop
received from Henry's own hand the last offices of
_religion_." Extreme unction, the last of the seven
sacraments of the see of Rome, was administered
doubtless by an attendant priest.]

Three days after this prelate's death, on Wednesday, September 18th,
an agreement to surrender on the following Sunday was entered (p. 149)
into; the inhabitants of the town pledging themselves by a most solemn
oath to abide by the terms of the agreement. The ceremony on this
occasion must have had a very imposing effect. The King's chaplain,
Benedict Bishop of Bangor, in his pontifical dress, carried the
consecrated Host to the walls of the town, preceded by thirty-two
chaplains, each in full canonicals, and attended by as many esquires,
one of whom bore a lighted taper before each priest. As soon as the
parties were sworn on the elements, the townsmen were assured that
they need fear no acts of wrong or violence, for the King wished
rather to preserve than to destroy his own territory.

On Sunday, September 22, the town was surrendered with much solemn
state into Henry's hands. At the appointed hour, Henry, being dressed
in the robes of royalty, ascended a throne erected under a silk
pavilion on the top of the hill opposite to the town. All his peers
and great men were assembled around him. "Our King"[119] (says a
writer who was probably an eye-witness) "sat in his estate as royal as
did ever any King; and, as it is said, there never was a Christian
King so royal, neither so lordly, sat in his seat as did he." From
this seat to the town a passage was formed by the English soldiers,
through which the late governor, Sir Lionel Braquemont, the Lord de
Gaucourt, and others, with the Host borne before them, attended by (p. 150)
those who had sworn to observe the treaty, and by thirty-four of the
chief inhabitants, passed to Henry's presence, "who forgave them their
injustice in keeping his own town from him; and, having hospitably
entertained them, dismissed them courteously." Thus fell into Henry's
hand one of the most important towns of Normandy, after a siege of
about thirty-six days, during which the zeal and valour of the
assailants and the besieged were equally displayed.[120]

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