Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

Shortly after the surrender of Melun, Charles and Henry went (p. 284)
together to Paris, accompanied by their Queens. The royal party were
met by the citizens with every demonstration of joy and devotedness;
and, in honour of Henry, most persons of quality dressed themselves in
red.[210] The first solemn act performed at Paris after the rejoicings
were ended, was the attainder of the Dauphin and his accomplices for
the murder of the Duke of Burgundy. He was denounced as unworthy of
succeeding to any inheritance, and sentenced to perpetual banishment;
judgment of death being pronounced against all his accomplices. A
knowledge of these proceedings only stimulated him to further acts of
violence.

[Footnote 210: "The English colour." See Goodwin.]

Henry's court was at the Louvre, whilst Charles' was at the Hotel de
St. Paul. The two courts were marked by a wide difference in splendour
and attendance. The palace of Charles was deserted, whilst Henry's was
crowded by almost all the great men of France.

Having now established the government of France, and provided for its
maintenance during his absence, Henry proceeded with his royal bride
towards England. In Normandy he was well received by the estates, who
were assembled at Rouen, and who voted him a subsidy of 400,000
livres. On leaving this place, he constituted the Duke of Clarence his
Lieutenant of Normandy, and gave commission to the Duke of Exeter (p. 285)
to administer the government in Paris.[211] With his Queen and the
Duke of Bedford he reached his native land in safety on the last day
of January, or the first of February 1421; and he immediately
communicated to the Archbishop his wish for him to appoint a day of
public thanksgiving.[212]

[Footnote 211: In the parliament (2nd December
1420), Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, being
Lieutenant of the kingdom, provision was made that,
should the King arrive, the parliament should
continue to sit without any new summons: the reason
also is given; because the King, being heir and
Regent of France during the life-time of his
father-in-law, and King after his death, would
often be in England and often also in France. In
this parliament a prayer is preferred against the
Oxford scholars, who in vast numbers and armed
attacked gentlemen in the counties of Oxford,
Bucks, and Berks, and robbed them.]

[Footnote 212: On 30th January, the Pell Rolls
record payment of 20 _l._ for bows, arrows, and
bowstrings, a present from Henry to his
father-in-law, the King of France.]

CHAPTER XXVIII. (p. 286)

KATHARINE CROWNED. -- HENRY AND HIS QUEEN MAKE A PROGRESS THROUGH A
GREAT PART OF HIS DOMINIONS. -- ARRIVAL OF THE DISASTROUS NEWS OF HIS
BROTHER'S DEATH (THE DUKE OF CLARENCE). -- HENRY MEETS HIS PARLIAMENT.
-- HASTENS TO THE SEAT OF WAR. -- BIRTH OF HIS SON, HENRY OF WINDSOR.
-- JOINS HIS QUEEN AT BOIS DE VINCENNES. -- THEIR MAGNIFICENT
RECEPTION AT PARIS. -- HENRY HASTENS IN PERSON TO SUCCOUR THE DUKE OF
BURGUNDY. -- IS SEIZED BY A FATAL MALADY. -- RETURNS TO VINCENNES. --
HIS LAST HOUR. -- HIS DEATH.

1421-1422.

Henry, now in the enjoyment of peace in England, Ireland, and France,
(except only so far as the Dauphin was yet unsubdued,) in the
enjoyment, too, of a union with the most beautiful Princess of the
age, seems to have reached the highest pinnacle of his ambition and
his hopes. The Queen was crowned with great solemnity and magnificence
in Westminster Abbey,[213] on the third Sunday in Lent. (23rd February
1421.)

[Footnote 213: Walsingham says, that she was
crowned on the first Sunday in Lent, which in that
year fell on the 9th February. But the Pell Roll
(Mich. 8 Hen. V.) contains a payment to divers
messengers sent through England, to summon the
spiritualty and laity to assist at the solemnizing
of the coronation of Katharine Queen of England, at
Westminster, on the third Sunday in Lent.]

After Henry had gratified his royal consort by proving to her how (p. 287)
deep and lively an interest the people of England took in her welfare
and happiness, he retired with her for a time to Windsor. A
combination, however, of various motives, induced him to propose to
her to join him in the execution of a design on which he seems to have
been bent, and to accompany him[214] in a progress through the
kingdom. He was most anxious to ascertain by personal inspection the
state and condition of his subjects in various parts of the realm;
more especially with the view of satisfying himself that justice (p. 288)
was impartially administered, crimes repressed, and innocence
protected. He felt also naturally a desire to present his loyal
subjects to his Queen, of whom we have many proofs that he was in no
ordinary degree proud; and, at the same time, to add to her
gratification by visiting in her society those places with which he
had early associations of pleasure, or which it would be most
interesting to a foreigner to see. He was also influenced, perhaps, in
some measure by a desire of visiting, in a sort of pilgrimage, the
shrine of the patron saint of his family, John of Bridlington; and
that of John of Beverley, the saint to whose merits the hierarchy, as
we have seen, so presumptuously ascribed the turn of the battle on the
day of Agincourt.

[Footnote 214: There is so much inconsistency in the
accounts of chroniclers as to the royal proceedings
on this occasion, that to attempt to reconcile them
all seems a hopeless task. The Author, however,
having been furnished with the following facts
ascertained from the "Teste" of several writs and
patents preserved in the Tower, is able to
recommend, with greater confidence in its accuracy,
the adoption of the journal offered in the text.

In the year 1421, King Henry V. was
January, from 1 to 31, at Rouen.
February 1, " Dover.
2 to 28, " Westminster.
March 1 to 5, " Westminster.
5 to 14, " Uncertain.
15, " Coventry.
27, " Leicester.
From March 28 to April 2, " Uncertain.
April 2 to 4, " York.
15, " Lincoln.
18, " York.
From 18 to 30, " Uncertain.
May 1 to 31, " Westminster.]

With these motives,[215] combined, it may be, with others, Henry lost
no time in carrying his intention into effect. He seems to have always
acted under a practical sense of the maxim, never to put off till
to-morrow what is to be done, and what may be done, to-day. Without
waiting for the summer, or a more advanced stage of the spring,--and,
had he delayed for longer days and more genial weather, the journey
would never have been taken,--we conclude that, about the beginning of
the second week in March, the King and Queen, attended by a large (p. 289)
retinue of friends and nobles, began their journey northward.[216] The
first place in which we are sure they rested is Coventry, which they
reached probably about the 8th of March, and where they were certainly
on the 15th of that month, the eve of Palm Sunday. Henry had a house
at Coventry, in right of the duchy of Cornwall, called Cheylesmoor;
and probably they took up their abode in that mansion during their
stay at Coventry. The greater part of the time spent in Warwickshire
was perhaps passed in the castle of Kenilworth, a favourite residence
of his grandfather, John of Gaunt, who made very great additions to
the mansion, always afterwards called the Lancaster Buildings. Henry
himself, too, had been much employed in improving this place, and
surrounding it with pleasure-grounds and arbours,[217] instead of the
thorns and brakes which had formerly been seen there. Just seven years
before this visit with his Queen, he had drained and planted the rough
land near the castle; and the local historians tells us the spot was
called "The Plesance in the Marsh."

[Footnote 215: Rapin says, but, as it should seem,
without reason, that Henry's aim was, under colour
of shewing the country to the Queen, to procure by
his presence the election of members for the
parliament who would be favourable to him.]

[Footnote 216: MS. Cott. Domit. A. 12.]

[Footnote 217: Elmham says, that, in 1414, Henry
kept his Lent in the castle of Kenilworth, and
caused an arbour to be planted in the Marsh there,
for his pleasure, amongst the thorns and bushes
where a fox before had harboured, which he killed.]

From Kenilworth the royal party went (probably about the 20th of
March) to their house at Leicester, where they kept the festival (p. 290)
of Easter.[218] Easter Sunday fell that year on the 23rd of March.
Could Henry have known of the sad calamity which befel him that very
Easter, his rejoicings would have been turned into mourning. It was at
that very time that the disastrous conflict took place, in which the
English were routed, and the Duke of Clarence, whom Henry had left his
representative on the Continent, was slain. Where the King was when
the melancholy tidings reached him, and which induced him to cut short
his progress, does not appear. We know that the joyful news of
Agincourt reached London on the fourth morning after the battle; and
probably the sad report of his brother's death, and of the
discomfiture of his troops, was posted on to Henry whilst he was at
York. Towards this, his northern capital, we conclude that he
proceeded from Leicester, about the last day of March. The inhabitants
of York had made most costly preparations for the reception of their
royal visitors; and on their arrival they welcomed their conquering
sovereign, and the partner of his joys and cares, with every
demonstration of loyalty and devotedness. The most princely presents
were offered to Henry in the most dutiful and cordial spirit of loving
and admiring subjects. How many days they remained together (p. 291)
amidst the festivities and rejoicings of the province of York, is not
recorded; perhaps the limit to this festival was the hour when the
gloom which spread over the kingdom on the death of Clarence reached
the royal party. It is not improbable that the news of his loss gave a
turn to Henry's mind, and induced him with sentiments of piety and
mourning to leave the splendour of his court for a while, and, laying
aside the feelings of the triumphant monarch, to give himself up to
exercises of devotion, and to a preparation for the same awful change
which had so unexpectedly stopped the career of his younger brother.
Leaving his Queen among his friends and faithful lieges of York, he
proceeded on a kind of pilgrimage to Bridlington, Beverley, and
Lincoln;[219] but in what order he visited those places it does not
appear. He was at York on the 4th of April, and again on the 18th;
whilst it is equally certain that on the 15th he was at Lincoln. (p. 292)
The author of the manuscript which tells us that his object in going
to Lincoln was to be present at the installation of Richard Flemming,
then lately elected Bishop, seems to be in error when he adds, that
the King rejoined the Queen at Pontefract, and thence proceeded to
Lincoln, and thence to London; unless, indeed, the King visited
Lincoln once by himself, and once with Katharine; a supposition in the
last degree improbable. He certainly returned to York after his
sojourn at Lincoln on the 15th. It is very probable that, when he left
York, he proceeded first to Bridlington, thence to Beverley, and so,
crossing the Humber at Hull, reached Lincoln about the 13th of April,
and, having passed two or three days there, returned to York on the
17th. The only other town mentioned by chroniclers is Pontefract.
Documents may, perhaps, be hereafter discovered to account for him
between the 18th of April, when he was certainly at York, and the 1st
of May, when he had returned to Westminster. At present we are left to
conjecture: but it cannot be thought improbable if we suppose that,
from his castle of Pontefract, (where he would have seen the Duke of
Orleans[220], then a prisoner there, whom he always treated with (p. 293)
respect and kindness, and whom he indulged with as much relaxation of
his confinement as was compatible with his safe custody,) he took the
route for Chester, the place where he had formerly landed on his
return from Trym Castle. Thence pointing out to his bride the country
of Glyndowrdy, in which he passed his noviciate in arms; and the whole
line of the Welsh borders, with which he had been long familiar, he
would probably have passed on to Shrewsbury, where he might have taken
Katharine to the spot in the battle-field on which Hotspur fell. From
Shrewsbury, his line would be through Worcester, in which city he had
often been stationed during the Welsh rebellion; and so onwards
through Oxford, (a place he probably had visited on his journey
northward, and where he would have been delighted to show Katharine
the "narrow chamber" assigned to him when he studied there,) thus
finishing his circuit where it began, at Windsor.

[Footnote 218: Walsingham says, that Henry put off
the celebration of the feast of St. George, (which,
being the 23rd of April, must have fallen on a day
after he had left York,) and directed it to be
celebrated at Windsor on the Sunday after
Ascension-day.]

[Footnote 219: His visits to the hallowed
resting-places of these saints are not at all
inconsistent with the opinion which we have
ventured already to give, that he was never heard
to address in the language of prayer or
thanksgiving any other being than the one true God.
A similar feeling of love for the holy men of God,
whether he could testify that love to the living,
or merely record it for the memory of the dead,
might have led him to the installation of the
Bishop of Lincoln, and to the tomb of John of
Bridlington and John of Beverley. Henry was not a
Protestant by profession; but, compared with the
hierarchy by whom he was surrounded, he approached
almost, if not altogether, this fundamental point
of difference between the two churches, the
rejection of the adoration of any being, save the
one only God.]

[Footnote 220: Henry's prisoners of war were
dispersed among various castles and strong places
throughout the kingdom in England and Wales.
Payment is recorded, July 10, 1422, to John
Salghall, Constable of Harlech, of 30_l._ for the
safe custody of thirty prisoners, conveyed by him
from London.--Pell Rolls, 9 Henry V.]

There are difficulties attending this supposition, to the existence of
which the Author is fully alive; but in the whole affair there is only
a choice of difficulties. He is aware that the journey from York
through Chester and Shrewsbury to Windsor would have required the
royal party to travel for fourteen days at the rate of twenty miles on
the average each day consecutively. But, on the other hand, without
such a supposition, the old chroniclers[221] must be altogether (p. 294)
laid aside, (though there is no other evidence to make their statement
improbable,) when they assure us that Henry took Katharine to visit
his principality, as well as the distant parts of his kingdom.[222] It
must, moreover, be borne in mind that although he might have felt a
reluctance (notwithstanding the melancholy event which hastened his
return to the capital) to break off his intended progress without
visiting at least the borders of Wales, yet he was pressed for time,
and would therefore not willingly lose a day on the road. Be this as
it may, we are assured[223] that, wherever he went, his ears were in
all places open to the complaints of the injured and oppressed; he
redressed their wrongs, punished the perverters of public trusts, (p. 295)
reformed many abuses in the local governments, and established such
ordinances as should secure for the future the impartial
administration of justice to high and low alike.

[Footnote 221: Holinshed and others.]

[Footnote 222: The Author has invariably discarded
the assertions of the chroniclers, however
positively affirmed, or frequently reiterated,
whenever they have appeared to be incompatible with
ascertained facts, or inconsistent with what would
otherwise be probable. In the present instance,
after a review of all the circumstances, and an
examination of all the documents with which he is
acquainted, though the supposition here adopted may
be deemed ideal and fanciful, he is inclined to
think that the acquiescence in that view will be
attended with fewer difficulties than the adoption
of any other.]

[Footnote 223: But whilst Henry was thus actively
employed in visiting his subjects, and spreading
the blessing which a good King can never fail to
dispense wherever his influence can be felt, his
ministers of state sought his directions on all
important matters for the management of his affairs
on the Continent. Thus a despatch addressed to the
Treasurer by William Bardolf, Lieutenant of Calais,
is forwarded with all speed to the King in
Yorkshire, that his especial pleasure might be
taken thereon. Payment of the messenger appears in
the Pell Rolls, April 1, 9 Hen. V.]

If, as we are led to believe, Henry returned by the way of Chester,
his ardent imagination and pious turn of thought would have reverted
with mingled feelings of wonder and gratitude to his journey along the
same road two-and-twenty years before; when, returning from his own
captivity in Ireland, he accompanied the captive Richard towards his
metropolis, to resign his throne there, and soon afterwards to lay
down his life. To Henry, indeed, mementos presented themselves on
every side of the frailty of all sublunary possessions, the precarious
tenure by which king or peasant alike holds any earthly thing; whilst
he was himself destined, in the revolution of the next year, to become
in his own person a marked example of the same uncertainty. His spirit
might seem to address us from the grave, in the words of a reflecting
man.[224] "A day, an hour, a moment is sufficient for the overthrow of
dominions which are thought to be grounded on foundations of adamant."

[Footnote 224: Casaubon, quoted by Sir Walter
Raleigh.]

* * * * *

Where Henry was when the unexpected news arrested his progress is not
known. The certainty is, that whilst he was anxiously engaged in
reforming abuses, and preparing good laws at home; after he had (p. 296)
also just concluded a peace with Genoa, and, by generously releasing
the King of Scotland, had bound him by the strongest ties of gratitude
and affection; his exertions were suddenly arrested by the sad news of
the defeat of his forces at Baugy in Anjou, and the death, in battle,
of his brother, the Duke of Clarence.[225] These tidings caused him to
shorten his progress, and to return to his capital, where he arrived
at furthest on the 1st of May.

[Footnote 225: Monstrelet says, that the flower of
the English chivalry, who were with the Duke, fell
in that field, and, besides knights and esquires,
from two to three thousand men; and that, with the
Earl of Somerset and others of noble and gentle
blood, about two hundred were taken prisoners.
There was also, he says, a dreadful slaughter of
the French. The English, under the Earl of
Salisbury, recovered the body of the Duke from the
enemy, and it was carried with much ceremony to
England, and there buried.]

The Bishop of Durham, Chancellor of England, was charged to open the
Parliament, which met on the second of that month, Henry himself being
present, in the Painted Chamber. The Chancellor's address, though in
many points strange, and well-nigh ridiculous, is too interesting to
be passed by unnoticed. He began by uttering eulogies on the King,
specifying, among other topics of praise, this merit in
particular,--that, whilst God had granted him victories and conquests
as the fruits of his labour, he never assumed the least merit to
himself, but ascribed all the glory to God only, "_following in (p. 297)
a manner the example of the very valiant Emperor Julius Caesar_;"
and also because as Job, when news was brought to him of the death of
all his children as they were feasting in their eldest brother's
house, praised God, saying, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away, the will of the Lord be done; blessed be the name of the Lord!"
so our sovereign Lord the King, when he first heard of the death of
the noble prince, the Duke of Clarence, his own dear brother, and of
the gallant knights and others slain with him, praised and blessed God
for the visitation of that calamity, as he had before had cause to
praise Him for all his prosperity. In declaring the cause of summoning
this Parliament, he mentions the desire the King had of rectifying,
according to right and justice, all abuses and wrongs which had
prevailed through the realm since his last passage to foreign lands,
especially to the injury of those who had been with him there; and
also his wish that all the laws of the realm should be maintained and
enforced, and that further provision should be made for the
[226]better governance, and peace, and universal good of the realm.
The Parliament, it is said, cheerfully voted him a fifteenth,[227] (p. 298)
though many persons petitioned against further taxation, and gave
utterance to sad complaints of their poverty. The Convocation also met
on May 5th, and on the 12th; they voted him a tenth from the revenues
of the clergy: and his uncle, the Bishop of Winchester, advanced to
him by way of loan twenty thousand pounds. The Parliament guaranteed
payment of the loans to all who should advance money to the King for
this expedition.

[Footnote 226: In this Parliament a statute was
passed, the enactment, but more especially the
preamble of which presents a very formidable view
of the drain which Henry's continental campaigns
had made upon the English gentry.

"Whereas by the statute made at Westminster, the
14th year of King Edward III, it was ordained and
established, that no Sheriff should abide in his
bailiwick above one year, and that then another
convenient should be set in his place, which should
have lands sufficient within his bailiwick, and
that no Escheator should tarry in his office above
a year; and whereas also, at the time of making the
said statute, divers valiant and sufficient persons
were in every county of England, to occupy and
govern the same offices well towards the King and
all his liege people; forasmuch that as well by
divers petilences within the realm of England, as
by the wars without the realm, there is now not
such sufficiency; it is ordained and stablished
that the King by authority of this Parliament may
make the Sheriffs and Escheators through the realm
at his will until the end of four years."--9 Hen.
V. stat. 1, c. v.]

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30