The Leading Facts of English History Part 25

Owen Glendower, a Welshman, whom the late King had befriended, declared that Richard was still living, and that the corpse exhibited was not his body. Glendower prepared to maintain his belief by arms.

King Henry mustered a force with the intention of invading Wales and crushing the rebel on his own ground; but a succession of terrible tempests ensued.

The English soldiers got the idea that Glendower raised these storms, for as an old chronicle declares: "Through art magike he [Glendower]

caused such foule weather of winds, tempest, raine, snow, and haile to be raised for the annoiance of the King's armie, that the like had not beene heard of."[2] For this reason the troops became disheartened, and the King was obliged to postpone the expedition.

[2] Holinshed's "Chronicle."

281. Rovolt of the Percies; Bold Step of the House of Commons, 1407.

The powerful Percy family had been active in helping Henry to obtain the throne,[3] and had spent large sums in defending the North against invasions from Scotland.[4] They expected a royal reward for these services, and were sorely disappointed because they did not get it.

As young Henry Percy said of the King:

"My father, and my uncle, and myself, Did give him that same royalty he wears; And,--when he was not six-and-twenty strong, Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, A poor, unminded outlaw sneaking home,-- My father gave him welcome to the sh.o.r.e: . . . . . . . .

Swore him a.s.sistance and perform'd it too."[1]

[3] Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, with Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and his son, Sir Henry Percy, or "Hotspur" (S257).

[4] See the "Ballad of Chevy Chase."

[1] Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Part I, Act IV, scene iii.

But the truth is, King Henry had little to give except promises.

Parliament voted money cautiously, limiting its supplies to specific purposes. Men of wealth, feeling anxious about the issue of the King's usurpation,--for such many regarded it,--were afraid to lend him what he required.

In 1406 the House of Commons (SS213, 217) took a very decisive step.

It demanded and obtained first, the exclusive right of originating all "Money Bills," or in other words, of making all grants of money which the King asked for. This practically gave the people the control of the nation's purse.[2] Secondly, the Commons demanded and obtained from the King that he should not in any way interfere with the right to deliberate what action they should take in regard to making such grants of money. Besides being held in check by the House of Commons, the King was hampered by a council whose advice he had pledged himself to follow. For these reasons Henry's position was in every way precarious.

[2] This right of originating "Money Bills" had been claimed as early as the reign of Richard II, but was not fully and formally recognized until 1407. See Taswell-Langmead's "English Const.i.tutional History,"

p. 260, and Summary of Const.i.tutional History in the Appendix, p. xii, S13.

He had no clear t.i.tle to the throne, and he had no means to buy military support. In addition to these difficulties, he had made an enemy of Sir Henry Percy. He had refused to ransom his brother-in-law, a Mortimer,[3] whom Glendower had captured, but whom the King wished well out of the way with others of that name.

[3] Sir Edmund Mortimer: He was uncle to the Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who was heir to the crown. See Bailey's "Succession to the English Crown."

Young Percy proved a dangerous foe. His hot temper and impetuous daring had got for him the t.i.tle of the "Hotspur of the North." He was so fond of fighting that Shakespeare speaks of him as "he that kills me osme six or seven dozen of scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife, Fie upon this quite life! I want work."[1] This "fire eater," with his father, his uncle (the Earl of Worcester), the Scotch Earl of Douglas, and, last of all, Owen Glendower, now formed an alliance to force Henry to give up the throne.

[1] Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Part I, Act II, scene iv.

282. Battle of Shrewsbury (1403).

At Shrewsbury, on the edge of Wales, the armies of the King and of the revolutionists met. A number of Henry's enemies had sworn to single him out in battle. The plot was divulged, and it is said that thirteen knights arrayed themselves in armor resembling the King's in order to mislead the a.s.sailants. The whole thirteen perished on that b.l.o.o.d.y field, where fat Sir John Falstaff vowed he fought on Henry's behalf "a long hour by Shrewsbury clock."[2]

[2] Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Part I, Act V, scene iv.

283. Persecution of the Lollards; Statute of Heresy; the First Martyr (1401).

Thus far Henry had spent much time in crushing rebels, but he had also given part of it to burning heretics. To gain the favor of the clergy, and so render his throne more secure, the King favored the pa.s.sage of a Statute of Heresy. The Lords and bishops pa.s.sed such a law (to which the House of Commons seems to have a.s.sented).[3] It punished the Lollards (S255) and also all others who dissented from the essential doctrines of Rome with death.

[3] See Stubb's "Const.i.tutional History of England," III, 32.

William Sawtrey, a London clergyman, was the first victim under the new law (1401). He had declared that he would not worship "the cross on which Christ suffered, but only Christ himself who had suffered on the cross." He had also openly denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, which teaches that the sacramental bread is miraculously changed into the actual body of the Saviour. For these and minor heresies he was burned at Smithfield, in London, in the presence of a great mult.i.tude.

Some years later a second martyrdom took place. But as the English people would not allow torture to be used in the case of the Knights Templars in the reign of Edward II (S265), so but very few of them seem to have believed that by committing the body to the flames they could burn error out of the soul.

The Lollards, indeed, were still cast into prison, as some of the extreme and communistic part of them doubtless deserved to be (S255), but we hear of no more being put to cruel deaths during Henry's reign, though later, the utmost rigor of the law was again to some extent enforced.

284. Henry's Last Days.

Toward the close of his life the King seems to have thought of reviving the Crusades for the conquest of Jerusalem (S182), where, according to tradition, an old prediction declared that he should die. But his Jerusalem was nearer than that of Palestine. While praying at the tomb of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey (S66), he was seized with mortal illness. His attendants carried him into a room near by.

When he recovered consciousness, and inquired where he was, he was told that the apartment was called the Jerusalem Chamber. "Praise be to G.o.d," he exclaimed, "then here I die!" There he breathed his last, saying to his son, young Prince Henry:

"G.o.d knows, my son, By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways, I met this crown; and I myself know well How troublesome it sat upon my head; To thee it shall descend with better quiet, Better opinion, better confirmation; For all the soil of the achievement[1] goes With me into the earth."

[1] "Soil of achievement": stain or blame by which the crown was won.

Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Part II, Act IV, scene iv.

285. Summary.

At the outset of his reign Parliament showed its power by changing the succession and making Henry King instead of young Edmund Mortimer, the direct hereditary heir to the crown. Though successful in crushing rebellion, Henry was obliged to submit to the guidance of a council.

Furthermore, he was made more entirely dependent on Parliament, especially in the matter of supplies, than any previous King, for the House of Commons now got and held control of the nation's purse. For the first time in English history heresy was made punishable by death; yet such was the restraining influence of the people, that but two executions took place in Henry IV's reign.

Henry V--1413-1422

286. Lollard Outbreak at Henry's Accession.

Henry's youth had been wild and dissolute, but the weight of the crown sobered him. He cast off poor old "Jack Falstaff"[1] (S282) and his other roistering companions, and began his new duties in earnest.

[1] Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Part II, Act V, scene v, beginning, "I know thee not, old man."

Sir John Oldcastle, or Lord Cobham, was at this time the most influential man among the Lollards (SS255, 283). He was brought to trial and convicted of heresy. The penalty was death; but the King granted him a respite, in the hope that he might recant, and Oldcastle managed to escape from prison (1414).

Immediately after, a conspiracy was detected among the Lollards for seizing the government, destroying the chief monasteries in and about London, and raising Oldcastle to power. Henry attacked the rebels unawares, killed many, and took a large number of prisoners, who were executed on a double charge of heresy and treason. Several years afterwards Oldcastle was burned as a heretic.

287. Report that Richard II was alive.

A strange report now began to circulate. It was said that Richard II (S257) had been seen in Scotland, and that he was preparing to claim the throne which Henry's father had taken from him. To silence this seditious rumor, the King, it is said, exhumed Richard's body from its grave in the little village of Langley, Hertfordshire. At any rate, a dead body, reputed to be Richard's, was brought to London and propped up in a chair, so that all might see it.

In this manner the King and his court escorted the corpse in solemn procession to Westminster Abbey, where it was reinterred among the tombs of the English sovereigns. With it he buried once for all the troublesome falsehood which had kept up insurrection, and had made the deposed King more feared after death than he had ever been during life.

288. War with France (1415).

To divert the attention of the nation from dangerous home questions likely to cause new plots and fresh revolts (SS286, 287), Henry now determined to act on his father's dying counsel and pick a foreign quarrel. The old grudge against France, which began with the feuds of Duke William of Normandy before he conquered England, made a war with that country always popular. At this period the French were divided into fierce parties that hated each other even more, if possible, than they hated the English. This, of course, greatly increased the chances of Henry's success, as he might form an alliance with one of these factions.

The King believed it a good opportunity to get three things he wanted,--a wife, a fortune, and the French crown. The King of France and his most powerful rival, the Duke of Burgundy, had each a daughter. To make sure of one of them, Henry secretly proposed to both. After long and fruitless negotiations the French King declined to grant the enormous dowry which the English King demanded. The latter gladly interpreted this refusal as equivalent to a declaration of war.

289. The Great Battle of Agincourt, 1415.

Henry set to work with vigor, raised an army, and invaded France. He besieged Harfleur, near the mouth of the Seine, and took it; but his army suffered so much from sickness that, after leaving a garrison in the place, he resolved to move north, to the walled city of Calais.

It will be remembered that the English had captured that city nearly seventy years before (S240), and Henry intended to wait there for reenforcements. (See map facing p. 128.)