Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2

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1.--All prayer which is a petition for any supernatural or gratuitous
gift, is to be offered to God alone.

2.--Prayer is to be addressed only to God.[302] (p. 410)

[Footnote 302: The Canonists seem to have made some
distinction between the first and the second of
these sentences.]

3.--To pray to any creature is to commit idolatry.

4.--The faithful ought to address their prayers to God, not in
reference to his humanity, but only with regard to his Deity.

This was the sum of his offence, involving precisely the identical
opinions of which he had been pronounced guilty in 1421, after his
recantation in 1420.[303]

[Footnote 303: Consequently he was then, in 1421,
as much, as afterwards in 1423, a relapsed heretic,
subject to the punishment of death.]

After Lynewood had given his opinion that a relapsed heretic was to be
left to the secular court, without hope of pardon, and without being
heard as to the corporal punishment, his judges proceeded to the
extreme execution of the law. Taylor was degraded on Monday the 1st of
March, 1423, in the first year of Henry VI; and, the writ for his
burning being issued on the same day, he suffered death in Smithfield.

* * * * *

How far these circumstances may be pronounced to bear on the subject,
and to conspire in acquitting Henry of Monmouth of the charge with
which his name has been unsparingly assailed, of having been in spirit
and conduct a persecutor for religious opinions, deserves serious
consideration. When it is borne in mind that the Lollards were (p. 411)
certainly represented to Henry as the enemies of his throne and of the
peace of the realm; that the Pope and the hierarchy of England were
loud and incessant in their appeals to the authorities to extirpate
such poisonous weeds from the garden of the Lord's heritage; that the
Emperor Sigismund was most zealous in obeying such calls of the
church, and caused his own land to flow with blood; that Henry's
prelates made a direct personal appeal to him to prosecute heretics;
that his council deemed it necessary to remind him of his duty in that
point;[304] that his own chaplain openly charged him with want of zeal
and with apathy in that good cause; that no single warrant for the
execution of any one condemned for heresy alone was ever signed, or,
as far as we can ascertain, was ever sanctioned, by him; that the only
victims of the priesthood actually burnt for heresy alone during his
reign were condemned and executed in Henry's absence from the kingdom;
and that one person sentenced to imprisonment during Henry's life was,
within a few months after his death, condemned to the flames, and
actually burnt for the same offence; when all these points are fairly
weighed, probably few will not feel satisfied that the judgment (p. 412)
passed upon Henry, on the charge of persecution, is inconsistent with
the soundest principles of historical investigation.

[Footnote 304: The Minutes of Council, 27th May,
1415, record that the King should be advised, as to
issuing a commission to the Archbishops and
Bishops, to take measures, each in his own diocese,
to resist the malice of the Lollards. The King
replied, that he had committed the subject to the
charge of the chancellor.]

* * * * *

The Author, however, is induced to confess that a comparison of the
events of Henry's reign with those which preceded his accession, and
followed his death, has compelled him to form more than a merely
negative opinion on Henry of Monmouth's principles and conduct and
influence. In addition to the circumstances detailed in these
chapters, he would solicit attention to one fact, which no historical
writer seems to have noticed. During the last years of Henry IV. a
greater number of persons appear to have suffered in the fires of
martyrdom than the accounts of our chroniclers would lead us to
suppose.[305] By the cruel operation of the law, the goods and
chattels of convicted heretics were escheated to the crown; and when
Henry came to the throne, several widows and orphans were suffering
severely from the effects of that ruthless enactment. No sooner had he
the power of relieving their distress, than, in the exercise of the
most divine prerogative of the kingly office, he restored to many
their confiscated property. The most correct notion of the motives
which influenced him will be conveyed by the language itself of (p. 413)
the several grants: "We, compassionating the poverty of Isabella,
widow of Richard Turner, who was convicted and put to death for
heresy, of our especial grace have granted to the said Isabella all
the goods and chattels to us forfeited, for the maintenance of herself
and of her children."[306] Similar grants are recorded, and all in the
first year of his reign, to Alice widow of Walter Yonge, Isabella
widow of John Horewood, and Matilda widow of John Fynche; their
several husbands having suffered for maintaining opinions then
pronounced heretical. This fact seems to be not only confirmatory of
the views we have taken of Henry's tender-heartedness and sympathy
with the afflicted and helpless, but indicative also of the absence of
whatever approaches a persecuting and vindictive spirit towards those
who had incurred the extreme penalty of the law for conscience-sake.
The Author cannot but infer that Henry's dislike of persecution placed
a considerable check on the fierceness with which it raged, both
before and after his reign; that the sanguinary intentions of the
priesthood were, to a very considerable degree, frustrated by his
known love of gentler means; and that in England a greater portion of
religious liberty was enjoyed during the years through which he sat on
the throne, than had been tolerated under the government of his
father, or was afterwards allowed through the minority of his son.

[Footnote 305: It will be remembered, that those
who were put to death in 1414, after the affair of
St. Giles' Field, were sentenced by the civil
courts on a charge of treason.]

[Footnote 306: Pat. p. 5, 1 Henry V.]

The Author entered upon the subject of the three last chapters (p. 414)
with the view of ascertaining, on the best original evidence, the
validity or the unsoundness of the charge of persecution for religion
brought against Henry of Monmouth. Independently of the result of that
investigation, he confesses himself to have risen from the inquiry
impressed with mingled feelings of apprehension and of
gratitude:--gratitude for the blessings of the Reformation; and
apprehension lest, in our use of those blessings, and in the return
made to their Almighty Donor, we may be found wanting. For no maxim
can be more firmly established by the sound deductions of human
wisdom, or more unequivocally sanctioned by the express words of
revelation, than the principle that to whom much is given, of them
will much be required. And on this principle how awfully has our
increase of privileges enhanced our responsibility! By the
Reformation, Providence has rescued us from those dangers which once
attended an honest avowal of a Christian's faith; has freed us from
those gross superstitions which once darkened the whole of
Christendom; and has released us from that galling yoke under which
the disciples of the Cross were long held in bondage. The bestowal of
these blessings exacts at our hands many duties of indispensable
obligation. The Author hopes he may be pardoned, if, in closing this
subject, he refers to some of those points which press upon his (p. 415)
own mind most seriously.

Those who are intrusted with a brighter and a more pure light of
spiritual truth, are, first of all, bound to prove by their lives that
religion is not in them a dead and inoperative letter; but a vivifying
principle, productive of practical holiness and virtue. Enlightened
Christians are bound to show forth their principles by the exercise of
every Christian excellence, and so to prove to the world that God is
with them of a truth.

Another indispensable duty is, that those who possess the truth should
individually and by combined exertions labour to spread its heavenly
influence throughout the whole mass of their fellow-creatures, not
only in every corner of their own land, but to the utmost coasts of
the civilized world, and through the still numberless regions of
barbarism and idolatry. "Freely ye have received, freely give."

Again, it were a narrow view of our duty were we to feel an anxiety
for the preservation, through the period only of our own existence
upon earth, of the benefits which we now enjoy. To be satisfied with
the assurance that provision is made for our own times, is a principle
altogether unworthy a philanthropic and a Christian mind: and the more
valuable and essential the blessing, the more steady and vigorous
should be our labour in providing for its permanency and its future
increase. If we are honest in our own choice, we believe that (p. 416)
by delivering down to posterity, in its integrity and pureness, the
blessing which has been committed to us in especial trust, we are
transmitting not a state-device (as its enemies delight to call it),
but an institution founded on the surest principles of true philosophy
and of revelation, with a view to the best interests of the whole
human race. If, aided by the Divine Founder of the church, we resign
to those who come after us the fostering and mild, but firm and
well-grounded establishment of the Protestant faith, removed equally
from latitudinarian indifference and from the intolerance of bigotry,
with an ungrudging spirit sharing with others the liberty of
conscience we claim for ourselves, we shall transmit an inheritance
which may be to future ages what it has proved itself to be towards
many among ourselves, and of those who have gone before us,--the
instructor and guide of their youth, the strength and stay of their
manhood, the support and comfort of their declining years;--an
institution which is the faithful depository of Christian truth; the
surest guardian of civil and religious liberty; the parent of whatever
is just, and generous, and charitable, and holy. ESTO PERPETUA!

APPENDIX. No. I. (p. 417)

To those, as we are led to believe, contemporary poems, which appear
in the body of the work, the Author is induced to subjoin a "Ballad of
Agincourt," of much later date indeed, but which, for the noble
national spirit which it breathes throughout, and the vigour of its
description, cannot easily be exceeded: it is not so generally known
as it deserves to be; though some of its expressions may sound
strangely and quaintly to our ears. It will be found in Drayton's
Works, p. 424.

"Fair stood the wind for France,
When we our sails advance;
Nor now to prove our chance,
Longer will tarry;
But, putting to the main,
At Kaux, the mouth of Seine,
With all his martial train,
Landed King Harry.

And taking many a fort,
Furnished in warlike sort,
Marcheth towards Agincourt,
In happy hour.
Skirmishing day by day, (p. 418)
With those that stopped his way;
Where the French general lay
With all his power.

Who, in the height of pride,
King Henry to deride,
His ransom to provide,
To the King sending:
Which he neglects the while,
As from a nation vile;
Yet with an angry smile
Their fall portending.

And turning to his men,
Quoth our brave Henry then,
Though they to one be ten,
Be not amazed.
Yet have we well begun,
Battles so bravely won
Have ever to the sun
By fame been raised.

And for myself, quoth he,
This my full rest shall be:
England ne'er mourn for me,
Nor more esteem me.
Victor I will remain,
Or on this earth be slain;--
Never shall she sustain
Loss to redeem me.[307]

Poitiers and Cressy tell, (p. 419)
Where most their pride did swell;
Under our swords they fell;--
No less our skill is,
Than when our grandsire great,
Claiming the regal seat,
By many a warlike feat
Lopped the French lilies.

The Duke of York so dread,
The eager vaward led;
With the main Henry sped
Amongst his henchmen.
Exeter had the rear,
A braver man not there!
How fierce and hot they were[308]
On the false Frenchmen!

They now to fight are gone,
Armour on armour shone;
Drum now to drum did groan--
To hear was wonder;
That with the cries they make,
The very earth did shake;
Trumpet to trumpet spake,
Thunder to thunder.

Well it thine age became,
O noble Erpingham!
Who didst the signal aim
To our hid forces;
When, from a meadow by,
Like a storm suddenly,
The English archery
Stuck the French horses.

With Spanish yew so strong, (p. 420)
Arrows a cloth-yard long,
That like to serpent stung,
Piercing the weather.
None from his fellow starts,
But playing manly parts,
And, like true English hearts,
Stuck close together.

When down their bows they threw,
And forth their bilbows drew,
And on the French they flew;--
Not one was tardy;
Arms were from shoulders sent,
Scalps to the teeth were rent;
Down the French peasants went:--
Our men were hardy.

This while our noble King,
His broad sword brandishing,
Down the French host did ding,
As to o'erwhelm it.
And many a deep wound lent,
His arms with blood besprent;
And many a cruel dent
Bruised his helmet.

Gloucester, that Duke so good,
Next of the royal blood,
For famous England stood
With his brave brother;
Clarence, in steel so bright,
Though but a maiden knight,
Yet in that famous fight
Scarce such another.

Warwick in blood did wade,
Oxford the foe invade,
And cruel slaughter made,--
Still as they ran up;
Suffolk his axe did ply; (p. 421)
Beaumont and Willoughby
Bare them right doughtily;
Ferrers and Fanhope.

Upon St. Crispin's day,
Fought was this noble fray;
Which fame did not delay
To England to carry;
Oh! when shall English men
With such acts fill a pen,
Or England breed again
Such a King Harry!"

[Footnote 307: This refers to the resolution which
Henry is said to have made, and to have declared to
his men immediately before the battle: That, as he
was a true King and knight, England should never be
charged with the payment of his ransom on that day,
for he had rather be slain.--MS. Cott. Cleop. C.
iv.]

[Footnote 308: The two first words of this line are
different in the original.]

APPENDIX, No. II. (p. 422)

To the miseries which fell upon the inhabitants of Rouen during the
siege, a brief reference has been made in the body of this work. The
following lines, by an eye-witness, record a very pleasing
circumstance indicative of Henry's piety and benevolence. The wretched
inhabitants, who could contribute no aid in the defence of the town,
were driven by the garrison beyond the gates with the most unmerciful
hardheartedness. On Christmas-day Henry offered, in honour of the
festival, to supply all the inhabitants, great and small [meste and
least], with meat and drink. His offer was met very uncourteously by
the garrison, and his benevolent intentions were in a great degree
frustrated. The poem called "The Siege of Rouen" may now be read in
the Archaeologia, vol. xxi, with an interesting introduction by the
Reverend William Conybeare.

SIEGE OF ROUEN.

"But then, within a little space,
The poor people of that same place
At every gate they were put out,
Many a hundred on a rout.
It was great pity them for to see,
How women came kneeling on their knee;
And their children also in their arms,
For to save them from harms.
And old men came kneeling them by, (p. 423)
And there they made a doleful cry;
And all they cried at once then,
'Have mercy on us, ye English men!'
Our men gave them some of their bread,
Though they to us were now so quede.[309]
Harm to them we did none,
But made them again to the ditch gone:
And there we kept them all abache,
Because they should not see our watch:
Many one said they would liefer be slain,
Than turn to the city of Rouen again.
They went forth with a strong murmuration,
And ever they cursed their own nation;
For the city would not let them in,
Therefore they did full great sin;
For many one died there for cold,
That might full well their life have hold.
This was at the time of Christmas:
I may you tell of a full fair case,
As of great meekness of our good King;
And also of meekness a great tokening.
Our King sent into Rouen on Christmas day,
His heralds in a rich array;
And said, because of this high feast,
Both to the meste and to the least
Within the city, and also without,
To tell, that be scanty of victuals all about,
All they to have meat and drink thereto,
And again safe-conduct to come and to go.
They said, 'Gramercy!' all lightly,
As they had set little prize thereby;
And unnese [scarcely] they would grant any grace
To the poor people that out put was,
Save to two priests, and no more them with,
For to bring meat they granted therewith;
'But an there come with you and mo [more], (p. 424)
Truly we will shoot you too.'
All on a row the poor people were set,
The priests come and brought them meat;
They ate and drank, and were full fain,
And thanked our King with all their main;
And as they sate, their meat to fong,
Thus they talked them among:
'O Mightiful Jesu!' they said then,
'Of tender heart is the Englishmen;
For see how this excellent King,
That we have been ever again standing;
And never would we obey him to,
Nor no homage to him would we never do;
And yet he hath on us more compassion,
Than hath our own countrymen;
And therefore, Lord Jesu, as Thou art full of mercy,
Grant him grace to win his right in hey.'[310]
And thus the poor people that time spake,
And full good tent thereto was take;
But when they had eaten and went their way,
The truce adrew, and war took his way."

[Footnote 309: _Quede_, or quade,--evil, bad.--See
Glossary to Chaucer.]

[Footnote 310: _In hey_,--in haste, speedily.]

APPENDIX, No. III. (p. 425)

AUTHENTICITY OF THE MANUSCRIPTS

Sloane 1776, and Reg. 13, c. 1.

It will be borne in mind that the only document which contains the
charge brought against Henry of Monmouth of unfilial conduct and cruel
behaviour towards his afflicted father is a manuscript, two copies of
which are preserved in the British Museum; and that a thorough
examination of the authenticity of that manuscript was reserved for
the Appendix. Every right-minded person will agree that the magnitude
and dark character of a charge, so far from justifying a prejudice
against the accused, should induce us to sift with more scrutinizing
jealousy the evidence alleged in support of the accusation.

It will require but a very brief inspection of the two MSS., Sloane
1776, and Reg. 13, c. 1.,[311] to be assured that they are either both
transcripts from one document in that part of the volume which
contains the history of Henry IV, or that one of these is copied from
the other.[312] Unless, therefore, an intimation be given to the
contrary, it will be understood that reference is made to the Sloane
MS., which, though not copied with equal correctness in point of (p. 426)
orthography and grammar, is still far superior to the King's in the
clearness of the writing.

[Footnote 311: See Sloane, p. 27. King's, p. 11, b.
The same gap between "nominati" and "fratris," &c.]

[Footnote 312: The volume in the King's Library is
made up of a great variety of documents independent
of that history and of each other.]

The Sloane MS. 1776,[313] appears to consist of four portions, though
the same hand copied the whole.

[Footnote 313: The Sloane MS. is assigned in the
Catalogue to Higden. By Sir H. Ellis, it is
attributed, though not correctly, to a Chaplain of
Henry V; a small portion only having been the work
of that eye-witness of the field of Agincourt. By
Mr. Sharon Turner, it is attributed, without a
shadow of reason, to Walsingham. Mr. Turner,
however, has, though in a very inadequate manner,
attempted in one part of his new edition to rectify
the error, leaving it altogether unacknowledged
where the correction is most needed, in the passage
where he grounds upon its testimony his severe
charge against Henry's character. See Turner, third
ed. vol. ii. p. 373 and p. 398.]

The first portion extends from the commencement to page 40.

The second from page 40 to the end of the account of Henry IV. at page
49.

The third from the commencement of the reign of Henry V. page 50, to
his second expedition to France, mentioned in page 72.

The fourth from that point to the end, at page 94, b.

1. The first portion embraces that part of the reigns of Richard II.
and Henry IV. which falls within the range of the chronicle of the
Monk of Evesham; ending with an account of the marriage of Edmund
Mortimer with a daughter of Owyn Glyndowr, and two cases of sacrilege.

2. The second carries on the history of Henry IV. to the beginning of
his thirteenth year, and contains the passage which charges Henry V.
with the unfilial attempt to supplant his father on the throne. These
first two parts must be examined together, and in detail; the last (p. 427)
two will require only a few remarks, and may then be dismissed.

That the history which commences at p. 50 of the Sloane MS. was the
work of an ecclesiastic who attended Henry V. in his first expedition
to France, is made evident at a much earlier point of the narrative
than the translation of it by Sir Harris Nicolas, in the Appendix to
his "Battle of Agincourt," would enable us to infer. The passage
"After having passed the Isle of Wight, swans were seen," should have
been rendered, "After _we_ left the shores of the Isle of Wight
behind, swans appeared." The writer was at the battle of Agincourt,
stationed with the baggage, and with his clerical associates praying
for God's mercy to spare themselves and their countrymen.

That he was not the same person who wrote the history of Richard II.
and Henry IV, now found in the same fasciculus, seems to be placed
beyond doubt; his style is very different, and his tone of sentiment
directly at variance with what is found in the preceding portion. He
is a devoted admirer of Henry V, a characteristic which no one will
ascribe to the writer of the preceding page.[314]

[Footnote 314: In p. 48, b, the writer speaks of
"Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham," being sent as a
military commander to aid the Duke of Burgundy. In
p. 50 the same person is spoken of as Johannes _de
Veteri Castro_. In the former parts the word used
for the _enemy_ is "_aemuli_;" the Chaplain employs
"_adversarii_."]

This writer had composed his history before the year 1418; for of Sir
John Oldcastle he says, "that he broke prison after his condemnation,
and lurked in caves and hiding-places, _and is still lurking_."[315]
This portion of the MS. offers evidence in almost every page that its
author was an eye-witness of what he describes. Probably no (p. 428)
doubt will be entertained that it is the genuine production of an
ecclesiastic in attendance on the King. But his work evidently ceases
at page 72, where he offers a prayer that the Almighty "would give
good success to his master, then going on his second expedition, and
grant him victory as he had twice before; and fill him with the spirit
of wisdom, and heavenly strength, and holy fear."

[Footnote 315: Latitavit et latitat.]

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