Humphrey Duke of Gloucester Part 10

[295] John Page, 16.

[296] John Page, 18.

[297] Waurin, ii. 257; St Remy. 433.

[298] John Page, 21.

[299] John Page, 33.

[300] Waurin, ii. 261.

[301] Elmham, _Vita_, 199.

[302] Harleian MS., 2256, f. 189.

[303] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 746.

[304] Waurin, ii. 262. Livius, 68, says 300,000 crowns, which is equal to 150,000 English n.o.bles.

[305] Des Ursins, 545.

[306] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 746; Elmham, _Vita_, 205, 206.

[307] Monstrelet, 450.

[308] Elmham, _Vita_, 191.

[309] Waurin, ii. 252.

[310] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 739.

[311] Rymer, iv. III. 130; Elmham, _Vita_, 209, 210.

[312] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 762; Rymer, IV. iii.

102-104.

[313] _Cal. of French Rolls_, Rep. 44, App. 610.

[314] Rymer, IV, iii. 102. William Beauchamp was the leader of a company in Gloucester's retinue. Stokes was much employed by the King in negotiations at this time, and is possibly the John Stoke who in 1440 became Abbot of St. Albans.

[315] Rymer, IV. iii. 112.

[316] There is considerable uncertainty as to when Gloucester went to besiege Ivry. Elmham (_Vita_, 210) says that Gloucester was sent from Vernon, but at this time Elmham was absent with Warwick (Vita, 215), and so may well have made a mistake. The _Chronique de Normandie_, 244, says that the siege was begun by Gloucester in March, on the Friday after the Feast of our Lady (March 25), and lasted forty days. Ivry surrendered on May 10, therefore this would mean that Gloucester began the siege on April 1, marching thither from Evreux, where the King was on that day. It is inconceivable that Gloucester would go to Vernon and then back to Ivry, which would be to make two sides of a triangle. See also Livius, 32, who puts the expedition immediately after the fall of Rouen. The fact that Gloucester promised to observe the treaty signed at Vernon April 7, does not prove that he was there. Clarence did the same, and he had gone to Mantes long before.

[317] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 42, App. 314.

[318] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 746; Rymer, IV. iii.

52. In Rymer, though the doc.u.ment expressly says May 10, 1419, it is put under May 5, 1418; Elmham, _Vita_, 211; Livius, 72; _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 776; Carte, i. 303.

[319] The _Chronique de Normandie_, 244, says that after taking Ivry Gloucester overran the county of Chartres with a large force.

No other authority mentions this, and it seems unlikely that Gloucester would have taken the offensive in Chartres, in view of the truce which he had sworn to observe. The truce excluded the Duchy of Normandy, so that his operations before Ivry did not infringe it. See Rymer, IV. iii. 102-104.

Holinshed, iii. 107, follows the _Chronique de Normandie_.

[320] See Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII._, vol. i. pp. 296, 297.

[321] Elmham, _Vita_, 219.

[322] Waurin, ii. 268, 269; Elmham, _Vita_, 222. Elmham takes a long time to describe in his usual florid style the maiden modesty with which Catherine received Henry's kiss.

[323] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 783; Rymer, IV. iii.

119.

[324] Elmham, _Vita_, 219-226; _Chronique de Normandie_, 246; Waurin, ii. 268-270; Monstrelet, 453, 454.

[325] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 41, App. I. 789.

[326] Waurin, ii. 276; Elmham, _Vita_, 227-231; St. Remy, 438.

[327] He was still at Mantes on August 5, when he wrote to tell the Londoners of the capture of Pontoise. Delpit, _Doc. Fr._, p.

227, No. CCCLIII.

[328] Elmham, _Vita_, 231, 232.

[329] Elmham, _Vita_, 232-234; Waurin, ii. 276, 277.

[330] _Chronique de Normandie_, 248, says November 6; Elmham, _Vita_, 239, says October 29; _Gesta_, 132, October 30. Cf.

Livius, 79.

[331] _Chronique de Normandie_, 248. _Gesta_, 132, puts this expedition before the siege of Meulan; Elmham, _Vita_, 239, puts it during the progress of the siege of Meulan; Livius, 79, puts it immediately after the Conference of Meulan; Stow, 359, follows Livius.

[332] Walsingham, _Hist. Angl._, ii. 331; Otterbourne, 283.

[333] _Cal. of Norman Rolls_, Rep. 42, App. 331; Carte, i. 527; Walsingham, _Hist. Angl._, ii. 331.

CHAPTER III

THE EVOLUTION OF GLOUCESTER'S POLICY

After landing in England Gloucester had not long to wait before he took up his new duties. On December 30, 1419, his commission to be 'guardian and lieutenant of England' in the place of Bedford, who was about to go to France, was sealed at Westminster, and his powers in this office were defined. He was to preside at the meetings of Parliament and Council, and to summon the lords and the commonalty of the kingdom for consultation. The executive power was put into his hands, and he was empowered to do all things necessary for the welfare of the country, with the a.s.sent of Parliament and the Council; whilst he was also to exercise the royal prerogative in ecclesiastical matters, giving licences to elect to vacancies, and his a.s.sent or veto to these elections when made. The commission concluded with emphatic instructions that the Regent 'shall carry out all matters of governance with the a.s.sent of and after deliberation by the Council, and not otherwise.'[334] Meanwhile, Bedford was in England, and he did not leave for France until the spring,[335] but the control of affairs was in the hands of his brother. This was the first time that Gloucester had been brought into official contact with English politics, though he had been a member of the Council and of Parliament since his elevation to the peerage in 1414. The country was in that state of peace which so often precedes a violent storm. Of internal strife there had been none since Sir John Oldcastle had been captured and executed in December 1417,[336]

and the threatening of revolution which had preceded Henry's first expedition to France had pa.s.sed away. On the other hand, the war was beginning to outlive its popularity. The steady successes of Henry had none of the glamour of such a victory as Agincourt, which alone could kindle the enthusiasm of the people at home. There were signs that the soldiers themselves were tiring of the successive sieges,[337] while in England men did not grasp with what determination the military genius and the patient diplomacy of Henry were working up to the approaching culmination of the Treaty of Troyes. Moreover, the French prisoners in England, for whom Gloucester now became responsible, had been showing signs of restlessness, and Orleans for one had been discovered in intrigue with the Scotch.[338]

1419] RISE OF MIDDLE CLa.s.sES IN ENGLAND

The most notable aspect of England, however, when Gloucester took up the reins of government in 1419, was the development of the power of the great middle cla.s.s. The dangers which Henry IV. had had to meet amongst the rebellious n.o.bility had driven him to rely on the cla.s.s which would give him the support he needed, and this increased the importance of the trader and the townsman, whose influence was still further expanded by the absence of almost the whole n.o.bility and a large proportion of the ecclesiastical hierarchy in France. The const.i.tutional aspect of Parliament was becoming more than a name in the days of Gloucester's first regency, and public opinion was beginning to mirror the interests of the money-making portion of the community. Ever since the days of the Black Death this change had been slowly moving to its completion, and the success of the archers in the French wars announced the fact that the old fixed state of society had come to an end. Now for the first time appeared the ambition of men of one cla.s.s to raise themselves to the level of the next; now for the first time poverty and incompetence became a disgrace. These all were the outward signs of a great industrial revolution. Till the middle of the fourteenth century England had been a mere producer of raw material; now she was on the high-road to take a definite place as the manufacturer of finished goods in all the chief markets of Europe. A striking instance of this change is to be found in the way the export of wool dropped, whilst its production increased, for the manufacture of broadcloth was no longer confined to the foreign buyers of English wool. This increased production entailed a corresponding increase in the number of traders and carriers of English produce, and it is at this time that such companies as the Merchant Adventurers rose to great power. This change from the production of raw material to the manufacture of the finished article not only gave a new power to the middle cla.s.ses, but it had its influence also in bringing the English town into greater prominence. 'Mediaeval economy, with its constant regard to the relations of persons, was giving place to the modern economy, which treats the exchange of things as fundamental,' and this resulted in increased power to those corporate bodies which were favoured by this change. New and substantial town-halls were being built in all parts of England, and the towns themselves were becoming an important factor in English life. The days when a group of n.o.bles enjoyed the whole political influence of the community were at an end, and a foreign observer could declare that the nation 'consists of churchmen, n.o.bles, and craftsmen, as well as common people.'[339]