Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2

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These are very hard words, much more readily written than justified.
Such sentences of condemnation require a much clearer insight (p. 025)
into the workings of the human heart than falls to the lot of any
human being to possess, when he would examine into the motives of a
fellow-mortal. It is very easy by one sweeping clause to denounce the
war as unjust, and to ascribe it to the ambition of Henry, reckless of
human suffering. But truth requires us to weigh the whole matter far
more patiently, and to substitute evidence in the place of
assumptions, and argument instead of declamation. And it is impossible
for the biographer of Henry V. to carry his reader with him through
the scenes of his preparation for the struggle with France, and his
conduct in the several campaigns which chiefly engaged from this time
till his death all the energies of his mind and body, without
recalling somewhat in detail the circumstances of Henry's position at
this time. This, however, will require also a brief review of the
state of France through some previous years of her internal discords
and misery. Reserving them for another chapter, there are some
circumstances of a more private and domestic character which it might
be well for us first to mention in this place.

That Henry was habitually under the influence of strong religious
feelings, though his views of Christian doctrine partook much of the
general superstition of the age, is evident; and one of the first acts
of his government was to satisfy his own conscience, and to give full
testimony to the church of his piety, and zeal, and devotedness, (p. 026)
by founding three religious houses. When, exactly a century later,
Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, communicated to his friend, Hugh
Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, his intention of founding a monastery, his
friend, instead of giving him encouragement to proceed with his plan,
remonstrated with him on the folly of building houses, and providing a
maintenance for monks, who would live in idleness, unprofitable to
themselves and to society;[27] urging him at the same time rather to
found a college for the encouragement of sound learning: and the
College of Corpus Christi in Oxford owes its existence, humanly
speaking, to that sound admonition. Perhaps, had Henry V. been
fortunate enough to meet with so able and honest an adviser, Oxford
might have had within its walls now another nursery of religion and
learning,--a monument of his piety and of his love for whatever was
commendable and of good report. Our Oxford chronicles record his
expressed intention both to reform the statutes of the University,
and also to found an establishment within the castle walls, (p. 027)
annexing to it all the alien priories in England for its endowment, in
which efficient provision should be made for the instruction of youth
in all the best literature of the age.[28] Had he first resolved to
found his college, and reserved his religious houses for later years,
his work might still have been flourishing at this day, and might have
yet continued to flourish till the hand of spoliation and refined
barbarism shall be strong and bold enough (should ever such a calamity
visit our native land) to wrest these seminaries of Christian
principles and sound learning from the friends of religion, and order,
and peace. As it is, Henry's establishments survived him little more
than a century; and the lands which he had destined to support them
passed away into other hands, and were alienated from religious
purposes altogether.

[Footnote 27: The answer which Bishop Oldham is
said to have made on this occasion is chiefly
remarkable for the intimation it conveys, that the
downfall of the monasteries was anticipated a
quarter of a century before their actual
dissolution. "What, my lord, shall we build houses
and provide livelihoods for a company of bussing
monks, whose end and fall we may ourselves live to
see? No, no; it is more meet that we should provide
for the increase of learning, and for such as by
their learning shall do good to the church and
commonwealth."--Anthony Wood.]

[Footnote 28: Henry had much at heart the
maintenance of the truth of the Christian religion,
such as he received it. Of this he is thought to
have given early proof, by confirming a grant of
fifty marks yearly, during pleasure, to the prior
and convent of the order of Preachers in the
University of Oxford, to support the doctrine of
the Catholic faith. It will be said that this was
merely to repress the Lollards. Be it so, though
the original document is silent on that point. It
proves, at least, that he wished to maintain his
religion by argument rather than by violence. The
circumstance, however, of its being merely a
confirmation of a grant, which even his father
found in existence when he became King, takes away
much from the importance of the fact.--Pell Rolls,
1 Henry IV.]

The sites which Henry selected for his establishments were, (p. 028)
one at Shene, in Surrey; the other at Sion, in the manor of Isleworth,
on the Thames.

The terms of the foundation-charters of these religious houses, their
rules, and circumstances, and possessions, it does not fall within the
plan of this work to specify in detail. The brothers and sisters
admitted into these asylums appear to have been bound by very strict
rules of self-denial and poverty.

The monastery at Shene, built on the site of Richard II.'s palace,
which he never would enter after the loss of his wife Anne, who died
there, and which on that account he utterly destroyed, was called "The
House of Jesus of Bethlehem," and was dedicated "to the honour, and
glory, and exaltation of the name of Jesus most dear;" Henry
expressing in the foundation-charter, among sentiments less worthy of
an enlightened Christian, and savouring of the superstition of those
days, that he founded the institution in pious gratitude for the
blessings of time and of eternity, which flow only from HIM.

The house of Sion in Isleworth, or Mount Sion, as it is called in the
Pope's bull of confirmation, was dedicated "to the honour, praise, and
glory of the Trinity most High, of the Virgin Mary, of the Disciples
and Apostles of God, of all Saints, and especially of the most holy
Bridget." This house was suppressed by Henry VIII; when the nuns fled
from their native country, and took refuge, first in Zealand, then at
Mechlin, whence they removed to Rouen; at last, fifteen reached (p. 029)
Lisbon in 1594. The history of this little company of sisters is very
remarkable and interesting. In Lisbon they were well received, and
were afterwards supported by royal bounty, as well as by the
benevolence of individuals. They seem to have settled there peaceably,
and to have lived in their own house, and to have had their own
church, for more than fifty years. In 1651 their house and church were
both burnt to the ground; but, through the beneficence of the pious,
they had the happiness of seeing them restored. In 1755 this little
community suffered in common with the other unfortunate inhabitants of
Lisbon, and seem to have lost their all in the earthquake. In their
distress they cast their eyes to the land of their fathers, and
applied for the charity of their countrymen. There is something very
affecting in the language of the petition by which our countrywomen in
their calamity sought to excite the sympathy, and obtain the
benevolent aid, of their fellow-Christians at home.

We, the underwritten, and company, having on the 1st of November
last suffered such irreparable losses and damage by the dreadful
earthquake and fire which destroyed this city and other parts of
the kingdom, that we have neither house nor sanctuary left us
wherein to retire; nor even the necessaries of life, it being out
of the power of our friends and benefactors here to relieve us,
they all having undergone the same misfortune and disaster. So
that we see no other means of establishing ourselves than by
applying to the nobility, ladies, and gentlemen of our (p. 030)
dear country, humbly imploring your tender compassion and pious
charity; that, so being assisted and succoured from your
bountiful hands, we may for the present subsist under our
deplorable misfortune, and in time retrieve so much of our losses
as to be able to continue always to pray for the prosperity and
conservation of our benefactors.
Augustus Sulyard, Eliz. Hodgeskin,
Peter Willcock. Frances Huddleston,
Cath. Baldwin,
_Sion House, Lisbon_, Winifred Hill.
_May 25, 1756_.

Through another fifty years, the little band, still keeping up the
succession by novices from England, remained in the land of their
refuge; till, in 1810, nine of them, the majority, it is said, of the
survivors, fled from the horrors of war to their native island; and
their convent, whose founder was Henry, the greatest general of his
age, became the barracks of English soldiers under Wellington, the
greatest general of the present day. On their first return they lived
in a small house in Walworth; and in 1825, the remainder, now advanced
in years and reduced to two or three in number, were still living in
the vicinity of the Potteries in Staffordshire,--the last remnant of
an English convent dissolved in the time of Henry VIII. There are at
this time mulberry-trees growing at Sion House, one of the Duke of
Northumberland's[29] mansions, which are believed, not only (p. 031)
to have been living, but to have borne fruit, in the time of the
monastery.[30]

[Footnote 29: The present Duke and Duchess kindly
searched out and visited the remaining sisters in
Staffordshire.]

[Footnote 30: Dugdale; ed. 1830.]

Henry seems to have had much at heart the intellectual, moral, and
religious improvement of those who might be admitted to a share of his
bounty in these establishments. The Pell Rolls record a payment "of
100_l._ part only of a larger sum, to the prior and convent of Mount
Grace, for books and other things to be supplied by them to his new
foundation at Sion."[31] Whether the prior and brethren of Mount Grace
had duplicates, or were mere agents, or parted with their own stock to
meet the wishes of their King, the record does not tell.

[Footnote 31: April 11, 1415.]

CHAPTER XVIII. (p. 032)

STATE OF THE CHURCH. -- HENRY A SINCERE CHRISTIAN, BUT NO BIGOT. --
DEGRADED STATE OF RELIGION. -- COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. -- HENRY'S
REPRESENTATIVES ZEALOUS PROMOTERS OF REFORM. -- HALLAM, BISHOP OF
SALISBURY, AVOWED ENEMY OF THE POPEDOM. -- RICHARD ULLESTON: PRIMITIVE
VIEWS OF CLERICAL DUTIES. -- WALDEN, HIS OWN CHAPLAIN, ACCUSES HENRY
OF REMISSNESS IN THE EXTIRPATION OF HERESY. -- FORESTER'S LETTER TO
THE KING. -- HENRY BEAUFORT'S UNHAPPY INTERFERENCE. -- PETITION FROM
OXFORD. -- HENRY'S PERSONAL EXERTIONS IN THE BUSINESS OF REFORM. --
REFLECTIONS ON THE THEN APPARENT DAWN OF THE REFORMATION.

1414-1417.

Some writers, (taking a very narrow and prejudiced view of the affairs
of the age to which our thoughts are directed in these Memoirs, and of
the agents employed in those transactions,) when they tell us, that
Henry was so devotedly attached to the church, and so zealous a friend
of her ministers, that he was called the Prince of Priests, would have
us believe that he "entirely resigned his understanding to the
guidance of the clergy." But his principles and his conduct (p. 033)
in ecclesiastical matters have been misunderstood, and very unfairly
exaggerated and distorted. That Henry was a sincere believer in the
religion of the Cross is unquestionable; and that, in common with the
large body of believers through Christendom, he had been bred up in
the baneful error of identifying the Catholic church of Christ with
the see of Rome, is in some points of view equally evident: but that
he was a supporter of the Pope against the rights of the church in
England and other his dominions, or was an upholder of the abuses
which had then overspread the whole garden of Christ's heritage, so
far from being established by evidence, is inconsistent with the
testimony of facts. The usurpations of the Romish see called for
resistance,[32] and Henry to a certain extent resisted them. The
abuses in the church needed reformation, and Henry showed that he
possessed the spirit of a real reformer, bent on the correction of
what was wrong, but uncompromising in his maintenance of the religion
which he embraced in his heart. He gave proof of a spirit more
Catholic than Roman, more Apostolic than Papal.

[Footnote 32: In the early part of his father's
reign, an ordinance was made, charging the King's
officers not to suffer aliens to bring bulls or
other letters into the kingdom, which might injure
the King or his realm.--Cleop. F. III. f. 114.]

In his very first parliament strong enactments were passed forbidding
ecclesiastics to receive bishoprics and benefices from Rome, on pain
of forfeiture and exile. And on complaints being made against (p. 034)
the ordinaries, Henry's answer is very characteristic of his
principles of church reform: "I will direct the bishops to remedy
these evils themselves; and, if they fail, then I will myself take the
matter into my own hands."

He had been little more than half a year on the throne,[33] when he
sent a peremptory mandate to the bishops of Aquitain, that they should
on no account obey any provision from the court of Rome, by which
preferment would be given to an enemy of England. And in the following
month, Dec. 11, 1413, Henry issued a prohibition, forbidding John
Bremore, clerk, whom the Pope had recommended to him when Prince of
Wales, to return to the court of Rome for the purpose of carrying on
mischievous designs against the King and his people, under a penalty
of 100_l._ And among his own bishops, countenanced and confidentially
employed by himself, were found men who protested honestly and
decidedly against the tyranny and corruption of Rome, and were as
zealously bent on restoring the church to the purity of its better
days, as were those martyrs to the truth who in the middle of the next
century sealed their testimony by their blood. To what extent Henry V.
must be regarded as having given a fair promise that, had he lived, he
would have devoted the energies of his mind to work out such an
effective reformation as would have satisfied the majority of the
people in England, and left little in that way for his successors (p. 035)
to do, every one must determine for himself. In forming our judgment,
however, we must take into account, not only what he actually did, but
also whatever the tone, and temper, and turn of his mind (from such
intimations as we may be enabled to glean scattered up and down
through his life) might seem to have justified persons in
anticipating. It would be vain to build any theory on what might have
happened had the course of Providence in Henry's destinies been
different: and yet we may without presumption express a belief that,
had his life been spared, and had he found himself seated in peace and
security on the united throne of England and France, instead of
exhausting his resources, his powers of body and mind, and his time,
in a fruitless crusade to the Holy Land, (by which he certainly once
purposed to vindicate the honour of his Redeemer's name,) he might
have concentrated all his vast energies on the internal reformation of
the church itself. Instead of leaving her then large possessions for
the hand of the future spoiler, he might have effectually provided for
their full employment in the religious education of the whole people,
and in the maintenance of a well-educated, pious, and zealous body of
clergy, restored to their pastoral duties and devoted to the ministry.
That the church needed a vigorous and thorough, but honest and
friendly reform,--not the confiscation of her property to personal
aggrandizement and secular purposes, but the re-adjustment of what
had degenerated from its original intention,--is proved by (p. 036)
evidence most painfully conclusive. Indeed, the enormities which had
grown up, and which were defended and cherished by the agents of Rome,
far exceed both in number and magnitude the present general opinion
with regard to those times. The Conventual system[34] had well nigh
destroyed the efficiency of parochial ministrations: what was intended
for the support of the pastor, was withdrawn to uphold the dignity and
luxury of the monastery; parsonage houses were left to fall to decay,
and hirelings of a very inferior class were employed on a miserable
pittance to discharge their perfunctory duties as they might.
"Provisions" from Rome had exempted so large a proportion of the
spirituality from episcopal jurisdiction, that, even had all the
bishops been appointed on the principle of professional excellence,
their power of restoring discipline would have been lamentably
deficient. But in their appointment was evinced the most reckless
prostitution of their sacred order. Not only was the selection of
bishops made without reference to personal merit and individual
fitness, whilst regard was had chiefly to high connexions and the
interests of the Papacy; but even children were made bishops, (p. 037)
and the richest dignities of the church were heaped upon them:
foreigners unacquainted with the language of the people were thrust
into offices, for the due discharge of the duties of which a knowledge
of the vernacular language was absolutely necessary. The courts
ecclesiastical ground down the clergy by shameless extortions; whilst
appeals to Rome put a complete bar against any suit for justice. Their
luxury and excesses, their pride and overbearing presumption, their
devotedness to secular pursuits, the rapacious aggrandizement of
themselves and their connexions, and the total abandonment of their
spiritual duties in the cure of souls, coupled with an ignorance
almost incredible, had brought the large body of the clergy into great
disrepute, and had filled sincere Christians (whether lay or clerical,
for there were many exceptions among the clergy themselves) with an
ardent longing for a thorough and efficient reformation. It is true
that their indignation was chiefly roused by the prostitution of the
property of the church, and its alienation from the holy purposes for
which the church was endowed; and that gross neglect of discipline
rather than errors in doctrine called into life the spirit of
reformation: but even in points of faith we perceive in many clear
signs of a genuine love of Evangelical and Catholic truth; among whom
we are not without evidence sufficient to justify us in numbering the
subject of these Memoirs. Henry of Monmouth, whilst he adhered (p. 038)
constantly to the faith of his fathers, yet manifested a sincere
desire to become more perfectly acquainted with the truth of the
Gospel; and spared no pains, even during his career of war and
victory, in providing himself with the assistance of those teachers
who had the reputation of preaching the Gospel most sincerely and
efficiently. Henry's, indeed, was not the religion which would
substitute in the scale of Christian duties punctuality of attendance
on frequent preaching for the higher and nobler exercises of
adoration. Many an unobtrusive incident intimates that his soul took
chief delight in communing with God by acts of confession, and prayer,
and praise. He seems to have imbibed the same spirit which in a
brother-monarch once gave utterance to expressions no less valuable in
the matter of sound theology, than exquisitely beautiful in their
conception:[35] "I had rather pass an hour in conversation with my
friend than hear twenty discourses in his praise." And yet Henry
delighted also in hearing Heaven's message of reconciliation
faithfully expounded, and enforced home.

[Footnote 33: November 7, 1413.]

[Footnote 34: By a statute (4 Hen. IV. 1402), after
the Legislature had complained that the Convents
put monks, and canons, and secular chaplains into
the parochial ministry, by no means fit for the
cure of souls, it is enacted, that a vicar
adequately endowed should be everywhere instituted;
and, in default of such reformation, that the
licence of appropriation should be forfeited.]

[Footnote 35: Henry III. is said to have assigned
to Louis IX. this reason for his preference of
devotional exercises to sermons.]

Whilst, for example, he was pursuing his conquests in Normandy, the
report no sooner reached him of a preacher named Vincentius, (who was
labouring zealously in the cause of Christ in various parts of
Brittany, and who was said by his earnest and affectionate (p. 039)
preaching to have converted many to the Lord their God,) than Henry
sent for him, and took great delight in hearing his faithful
expositions of the word of truth and life. And we have good reason for
believing that the consolations of the pure doctrines of the Gospel,
as a guardian angel ministering the cup of Heaven, attended him
through life and in death.

There is no intimation dropped by historians, nor is it intended in
these Memoirs to intimate, that Henry's eyes were opened to the
doctrinal errors of the church of Rome. But there are circumstances
well worthy of consideration before we pronounce definitively on that
point. When we bear in mind that, in those days, prayers and vows were
habitually made to the Virgin for success, and, after any prosperous
issue of the supplicants' exertions in war or peace, offerings of
thanksgiving were addressed to her as the giver of victory and of
every blessing; and whilst, at the same time, we find in Henry of
Monmouth's letters and words no acknowledgment of any help but God's
only; the question may be fairly entertained, whether he had not
imbibed some portion of the pure light of Gospel truth on this very
important article of Christian faith. The Author is well aware of the
words at the close of his Will, referred to hereafter; and is very far
from saying that he should be surprised to find other instances of a
similar character. Still Henry's silence as to the power and (p. 040)
assistance of the Virgin, the absence of prayer to her in his
devotions, many of which are especially recorded; the absence of
praise to her after victory and success, though he was very far from
taking praise to himself, always ascribing it to God Almighty only,
may seem to justify the suggestion of an inquiry into this point.

For a knowledge of the degraded state to which the church had sunk,
and her inefficiency as the guardian and dispenser of religious truth,
we are not left to the vague representations of declaimers, or the
heated exaggerations of those by whom everything savouring of Rome is
held in abomination. The preambles of the laws which were intended to
cure the evils, bear the most direct and full evidence of their
existence and extent. One parliamentary document, after prefacing that
"Benefices were founded for the honour of God, the good of the
founders, the government and relief of the parishioners, and the
advancement of the clergy," then states "that the spiritual patrons,
the regular clergy throughout the whole realm, mischievously
appropriate to themselves the said benefices, and lamentably cast to
the ground the houses and buildings, and cruelly take away and destroy
divine service, hospitality, and other works of charity, which used to
be performed in the said benefices to the poor and distressed; that
they exclude and ever debar the clergymen from promotion, and
privately convey the treasure of the realm in great sums to the court
of Rome,--to the confusion of their own souls, the grievous (p. 041)
desolation of the parishioners[36] and the whole country, the ultimate
ruin of the clergy, the great impoverishment of the realm, and the
irrecoverable ruin of the holy church of England."[37]

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