Richard II Part 7

It happened that all these three lives _were_ terminated in a comparatively brief period, so that Richard really became King of England before he grew up to be a man.

The first important occurrence which took place at the monastery at Bordeaux, where little Richard remained with his mother after his father had gone, was the arrival of his uncle John, that is, John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, who was on his way from England at the head of an army to accompany his brother into Spain. John stopped at Bordeaux to see the princess and the infant child. He was very joyfully received by the princess, and by all the ladies in attendance upon her. The princess was very fond of her brother, and she was much pleased that he was going to join her husband in the war in Spain; besides, he brought her late and full news from England. The duke, however, did not remain long at Bordeaux, but, after a brief visit to his sister, he put himself again at the head of his troops, and hurried forward to overtake the prince, who was already far on his way toward the Pyrenees and Spain.

Little Richard remained in Bordeaux for three or four years. During this time he had his brother for a playmate, but he saw little of his father. It was some time before his father returned from Spain, and when he did return he came home much depressed in spirits, and hara.s.sed and vexed with many cares. He had succeeded, it is true, in conquering Don Pedro's enemies, and in placing Don Pedro himself again upon the throne; but he had failed in getting back the money that he had expended. Don Pedro could not or would not repay him. What Prince Edward did with the three daughters of the king that had been left with him as hostages I do not know. At any rate, he could not pay his debts with them, or raise money by means of them to silence his clamorous troops. He attempted to lay fresh taxes upon the people of Aquitaine. This awakened a great deal of discontent. The barons who had had disagreements of any sort with Edward before, took advantage of this discontent to form plots against him, and at last several of them, D'Albret among the rest, whom he had mortally offended by countermanding his orders for the thousand men, combined together and sent to the King of France, complaining of the oppressions which they suffered under Edward's rule, and inviting him to come and help them free themselves. The king at once determined that he would do this.

This King of France was, however, not King John, whom Edward had made prisoner and sent to London. King John had died, and the crown had descended to his successor, Charles the Fifth.

King Charles determined first to send two commissioners to summon the Prince of Aquitaine into his presence to give an account of himself.

He did this under the pretext that Aquitaine was part of France, and that, consequently, Prince Edward was in some sense under his jurisdiction.

The two commissioners, with their attendants, left Paris, and set out on their journey to Bordeaux. People traveled very slowly in those days, and the commissioners were a long time on the way. At length, however, they reached Bordeaux. They arrived late in the evening, and took up their quarters at an inn. The next day they repaired to the monastery where the prince was residing.

They informed the attendants who received them at the monastery that they had been sent by the King of France with a message to the prince.

The attendants, who were officers of the prince's court, informed the prince of the arrival of the strangers, and he ordered them to be brought into his presence.

The commissioners, on being brought before the prince, bowed very low in token of reverence, and presented their credentials. The prince, after reading the credentials, and examining the seals of the King of France by which they were authenticated, said to the commissioners,

"It is very well. These papers show that you are duly commissioned emba.s.sadors from the King of France. You are welcome to our court. And you can now proceed to communicate the message with which you have been charged."

Of the two commissioners, one was a lawyer, and the other a knight.

The knight bore the singular name of Caponnel de Caponnal. The lawyer, of course, was the princ.i.p.al speaker at the interview with the prince, and when the prince called for the communication which had been sent from the King of France, he drew forth a paper which he said contained what the King of France had to say, and which, he added, they, the commissioners, had promised faithfully to read in the prince's presence.

The prince, wondering greatly what the paper could contain, ordered the lawyer to proceed with the reading of it.

The lawyer read as follows:

"Charles, by the grace of G.o.d, King of France, to our nephew the Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, health.

"Whereas several prelates, barons, knights, universities, fraternities, and colleges of the country and district of Gascony, residing and inhabiting upon the borders of our realm, together with many others from the country and duchy of Aquitaine, have come before us in our court to claim justice for certain grievances and unjust oppressions which you, through weak counsel and foolish advice, have been induced to do them, and at which we are much astonished;

"Therefore, in order to obviate and remedy such things, we do take cognizance of their cause, insomuch that we, of our royal majesty and sovereignty, order and command you to appear in our city of Paris in person, and that you show and present yourself before us in our chamber of Paris, to hear judgment p.r.o.nounced upon the aforesaid complaints and grievances done by you to our subjects, who claim to be heard, and to have the jurisdiction of our court.

"Let there be no delay in obeying this summons, but set out as speedily as possible after having heard this order read.

"In witness whereof we have affixed our seal to these presents.

"Given at Paris the twenty-fifth day of January, 1369.

"CHARLES R."

On hearing this letter read, the prince was filled with astonishment and indignation. He paused a moment, with his eyes fixed upon the commissioners, as if not knowing what to reply. At length, with an expression of bitter irony upon his countenance, he said,

"We shall willingly appear at the appointed day at Paris, since the King of France sends for us, but it will be with our helmet on our head, and accompanied by sixty thousand men."

The commissioners, seeing how much the prince was displeased, began immediately to entreat him not to be angry with them as the bearers of the message.

"Oh no," said the prince, "I am not in the least angry with you, but only with those that sent you hither. Your master, the King of France, has been exceedingly ill advised in thus pretending to claim jurisdiction over our dominion of Aquitaine, and in taking the part of our discontented subjects against us, their rightful sovereign. When he surrendered the provinces to the King of England, my father, as he did by solemn treaty, he relinquished forever all jurisdiction over them, and in the exercise of my government I acknowledge no superior except my father. Tell the King of France that is what I claim and will maintain. It shall cost a hundred thousand lives before it shall be otherwise."

Having spoken these words in a calm and quiet, but very resolute and determined tone, the prince walked off out of the apartment, leaving the commissioners in a great state of astonishment and alarm. They seemed to know not what to do.

Some of the courtiers came to them and advised them to withdraw. "It is useless," said they, "for you to attempt any thing more. You have delivered your message faithfully, and the prince has given his answer. It is the only answer that he will give, you may depend, and you may as well return with it to the king."

So the messengers went back to the inn, and on the evening of the same day they set out on their return to Paris. In the mean time, Prince Edward continued to feel extremely indignant at the message which he had received. The more he reflected upon it, indeed, the more angry he became. He felt as if he had been insulted in having had such a summons from a foreign potentate served upon him by a lawyer in his own house. The knights and barons around him, sharing his anger, proposed that they should pursue and seize the commissioners, with a view of punishing them for their audacity in bringing such a message.

At first the prince was unwilling to consent to this, as the persons of emba.s.sadors and messengers of all sorts sent from one sovereign to another were, in those days as now, considered sacred. At last, however, he said that he thought the men were hardly to be considered as the messengers of the King of France.

"They are virtually," said he, "the messengers of D'Albret and the other factious and rebellious barons among our own subjects, who complained to the King of France and incited him to interfere in our affairs, and, as such, I should not be sorry to have them taken and punished."

This was sufficient. The knights who heard it immediately sent off a small troop of hors.e.m.e.n, who overtook the commissioners before they reached the frontier. In order not to compromise the prince, they said nothing about having been sent by him, but arrested the men on a charge of having taken a horse which did not belong to them from the inn. Under pretense of investigating this charge, they took the men to a neighboring town and shut them up in a castle there.

Some of the attendants of the commissioners, who had come with them from France, made their escape, and, returning to Paris, they reported to the King of France all that had occurred. It now came his turn to be angry, and both parties began to prepare for war.

The King of England took sides with his son, and so was drawn at once into the quarrel. Various military expeditions were fitted out on both sides. Provinces were ravaged, and towns and castles were stormed. The Prince of Wales was overwhelmed with the troubles and perplexities which surrounded him. His people were discontented, his finances were low, and the fortune of war often turned against him. His health, too, began to fail him, and he sank into a state of great dejection and despondency. To complete the sum of his misfortunes, his oldest son, Richard's brother, fell sick and died. This was a fortunate event for Richard, for it advanced him to the position of the oldest surviving son, and made him thus his father's heir. It brought him, too, one step nearer to the English throne. Richard was, however, at this time only four years old, and thus was too young to understand these things, and probably, sympathizing with his father and mother, he mourned his brother's death. The parents, at any rate, were exceedingly grieved at the loss of their first-born child, and the despondency of the prince was greatly increased by the event.

At last the physicians and counselors of Edward advised that he should leave his princ.i.p.ality for a time and repair to England. They hoped that by the change of scene and air he might recover his spirits, and perhaps regain his health. The prince resolved on following this advice. So he made arrangements for leaving his princ.i.p.ality under the government and care of his brother, John of Gaunt, and then ordered a vessel to be made ready at Bordeaux to convey himself, the princess, and Richard to England.

When every thing was ready for his departure, he convened an a.s.sembly of all the barons and knights of his dominions in a hall of audience at Bordeaux, and there solemnly committed the charge of the princ.i.p.ality to his brother John in the presence of them all.

He said in the speech that he made to them on that occasion, that during all the time that he had been their prince, he had always maintained them in peace, prosperity, and power, so far as depended on him, against all their enemies, and that now, in the hope of recovering his health, which was greatly impaired, he intended to return to England. He therefore earnestly besought them to place confidence in, and faithfully serve and obey, his brother, the Duke of Lancaster, as they had hitherto served and obeyed him.

The barons all solemnly promised to obey these injunctions, and they took the oath of fealty and homage to the duke. They then bid the prince farewell, and he soon afterward embarked on board the ship with his wife and son, and set sail for England.

The fleet which accompanied the prince on the voyage, as convoy to the prince's ship, contained five hundred men-at-arms, and a large body of archers besides. This force was intended to guard against the danger of being intercepted by the French on the way. The prince and the princess must, of course, have felt some solicitude on this account, but Richard, being yet only four years old, was too young to concern himself with any such fears. So he played about the ship during the voyage, untroubled by the anxieties and cares which weighed upon the spirits of his father and mother.

The voyage was a very prosperous one. The weather was pleasant and the wind was fair, and after a few days' sail the fleet arrived safely at Southampton. The king, with his family and suite, disembarked. They remained two days at Southampton to refresh themselves after the voyage, and to allow the prince, who seemed to be growing worse rather than better, a little time to gather strength for the journey to London. When the time arrived for setting out, he was found too ill to travel by any of the ordinary modes, and so they placed him upon a litter, and in this way the party set out for Windsor Castle.

The party traveled by easy stages, and at length arrived at the castle. Here Richard for the first time saw his grandfather, Edward the Third, King of England. They were all very kindly received by him.

After remaining a short time at Windsor Castle, the prince, with his wife and Richard, and the knights, and barons, and other attendants who had come with him from Aquitaine, proceeded to a place called Birkhamstead, about twenty miles from London, and there took up his abode.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PORTRAIT OF EDWARD THE THIRD, RICHARD'S GRANDFATHER.]

And thus it was that Richard for the first time entered the country which had been the land of his ancestors for so long a time, and over which he was himself so soon to reign.

CHAPTER VI.

ACCESSION TO THE THRONE.

A.D. 1376

John of Gaunt.--His thoughts in respect to the kingdom.--Laws of succession.--Prince Edward grows worse.--He dies.--Grand burial of the prince at Canterbury.--Richard is declared heir to the crown.--Grand entertainment at Christmas.--Bad character of the king.--Alice Perrers.--Death of the king.--A council of government appointed.--Chivalry.--Fear of the French.--Embargo.--Some account of Wickliffe the reformer.--The Pope's bulls.--Meaning of the term.--The golden bull.--Trial of Wickliffe in London.--The a.s.sembly.--Violent disputes.--Rudeness of the Duke of Lancaster.--Indignation of the people.--Priest murdered.--Alarm of the mayor and aldermen.--Deputation sent to the young king.--The Londoners summoned.--Richard holds a court.--The whole difficulty amicably settled.

Young Richard lived in comparative retirement with his mother for about six years after his return to England. His father's sickness continued. Indeed, the prince was so feeble in body, and so dejected and desponding in mind, that he was well-nigh incapable of taking any part in public affairs. His brother, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, remained for some time in Aquitaine, and was engaged in continual wars with France, but at length he too returned to England. He was a man of great energy of character and of great ambition, and he began to revolve the question in his mind whether, in case his brother, the Prince of Wales, should die, the inheritance of the kingdom of England should fall to him, or to Richard, the son of his brother.

"My brother Edward is older than I," he said to himself, "and if he should live till after our father the king dies, then I grant that he should succeed to the throne. But if he dies before the king, then it is better that I should succeed to the throne, for his son Richard is but a child, and is wholly unfit to reign. Besides, if the oldest son of a king is dead, it is more reasonable that the next oldest should succeed him, rather than that the crown should go down to the children of the one who has died."

The laws of succession were not absolutely settled in those days, so that, in doubtful cases, it was not uncommon for the king himself, or the Parliament, or the king and Parliament together, to select from among different claimants, during the life-time of the king, the one whom they wished to succeed to the crown.