CHAPTER XX--ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE FOURTH, CALLED BOLINGBROKE
During the last reign, the preaching of Wickliffe against the pride andcunning of the Pope and all his men, had made a great noise in England.Whether the new King wished to be in favour with the priests, or whetherhe hoped, by pretending to be very religious, to cheat Heaven itself intothe belief that he was not a usurper, I don't know. Both suppositionsare likely enough. It is certain that he began his reign by making astrong show against the followers of Wickliffe, who were called Lollards,or heretics--although his father, John of Gaunt, had been of that way ofthinking, as he himself had been more than suspected of being. It is noless certain that he first established in England the detestable andatrocious custom, brought from abroad, of burning those people as apunishment for their opinions. It was the importation into England ofone of the practices of what was called the Holy Inquisition: which wasthe most _un_holy and the most infamous tribunal that ever disgracedmankind, and made men more like demons than followers of Our Saviour.
No real right to the crown, as you know, was in this King. EdwardMortimer, the young Earl of March--who was only eight or nine years old,and who was descended from the Duke of Clarence, the elder brother ofHenry's father--was, by succession, the real heir to the throne. However,the King got his son declared Prince of Wales; and, obtaining possessionof the young Earl of March and his little brother, kept them inconfinement (but not severely) in Windsor Castle. He then required theParliament to decide what was to be done with the deposed King, who wasquiet enough, and who only said that he hoped his cousin Henry would be'a good lord' to him. The Parliament replied that they would recommendhis being kept in some secret place where the people could not resort,and where his friends could not be admitted to see him. Henryaccordingly passed this sentence upon him, and it now began to be prettyclear to the nation that Richard the Second would not live very long.
It was a noisy Parliament, as it was an unprincipled one, and the Lordsquarrelled so violently among themselves as to which of them had beenloyal and which disloyal, and which consistent and which inconsistent,that forty gauntlets are said to have been thrown upon the floor at onetime as challenges to as many battles: the truth being that they were allfalse and base together, and had been, at one time with the old King, andat another time with the new one, and seldom true for any length of timeto any one. They soon began to plot again. A conspiracy was formed toinvite the King to a tournament at Oxford, and then to take him bysurprise and kill him. This murderous enterprise, which was agreed uponat secret meetings in the house of the Abbot of Westminster, was betrayedby the Earl of Rutland--one of the conspirators. The King, instead ofgoing to the tournament or staying at Windsor (where the conspiratorssuddenly went, on finding themselves discovered, with the hope of seizinghim), retired to London, proclaimed them all traitors, and advanced uponthem with a great force. They retired into the west of England,proclaiming Richard King; but, the people rose against them, and theywere all slain. Their treason hastened the death of the deposed monarch.Whether he was killed by hired assassins, or whether he was starved todeath, or whether he refused food on hearing of his brothers being killed(who were in that plot), is very doubtful. He met his death somehow; andhis body was publicly shown at St. Paul's Cathedral with only the lowerpart of the face uncovered. I can scarcely doubt that he was killed bythe King's orders.
The French wife of the miserable Richard was now only ten years old; and,when her father, Charles of France, heard of her misfortunes and of herlonely condition in England, he went mad: as he had several times donebefore, during the last five or six years. The French Dukes of Burgundyand Bourbon took up the poor girl's cause, without caring much about it,but on the chance of getting something out of England. The people ofBordeaux, who had a sort of superstitious attachment to the memory ofRichard, because he was born there, swore by the Lord that he had beenthe best man in all his kingdom--which was going rather far--and promisedto do great things against the English. Nevertheless, when they came toconsider that they, and the whole people of France, were ruined by theirown nobles, and that the English rule was much the better of the two,they cooled down again; and the two dukes, although they were very greatmen, could do nothing without them. Then, began negotiations betweenFrance and England for the sending home to Paris of the poor little Queenwith all her jewels and her fortune of two hundred thousand francs ingold. The King was quite willing to restore the young lady, and even thejewels; but he said he really could not part with the money. So, at lastshe was safely deposited at Paris without her fortune, and then the Dukeof Burgundy (who was cousin to the French King) began to quarrel with theDuke of Orleans (who was brother to the French King) about the wholematter; and those two dukes made France even more wretched than ever.
As the idea of conquering Scotland was still popular at home, the Kingmarched to the river Tyne and demanded homage of the King of thatcountry. This being refused, he advanced to Edinburgh, but did littlethere; for, his army being in want of provisions, and the Scotch beingvery careful to hold him in check without giving battle, he was obligedto retire. It is to his immortal honour that in this sally he burnt novillages and slaughtered no people, but was particularly careful that hisarmy should be merciful and harmless. It was a great example in thoseruthless times.
A war among the border people of England and Scotland went on for twelvemonths, and then the Earl of Northumberland, the nobleman who had helpedHenry to the crown, began to rebel against him--probably because nothingthat Henry could do for him would satisfy his extravagant expectations.There was a certain Welsh gentleman, named OWEN GLENDOWER, who had been astudent in one of the Inns of Court, and had afterwards been in theservice of the late King, whose Welsh property was taken from him by apowerful lord related to the present King, who was his neighbour.Appealing for redress, and getting none, he took up arms, was made anoutlaw, and declared himself sovereign of Wales. He pretended to be amagician; and not only were the Welsh people stupid enough to believehim, but, even Henry believed him too; for, making three expeditions intoWales, and being three times driven back by the wildness of the country,the bad weather, and the skill of Glendower, he thought he was defeatedby the Welshman's magic arts. However, he took Lord Grey and Sir EdmundMortimer, prisoners, and allowed the relatives of Lord Grey to ransomhim, but would not extend such favour to Sir Edmund Mortimer. Now, HenryPercy, called HOTSPUR, son of the Earl of Northumberland, who was marriedto Mortimer's sister, is supposed to have taken offence at this; and,therefore, in conjunction with his father and some others, to have joinedOwen Glendower, and risen against Henry. It is by no means clear thatthis was the real cause of the conspiracy; but perhaps it was made thepretext. It was formed, and was very powerful; including SCROOP,Archbishop of York, and the EARL OF DOUGLAS, a powerful and braveScottish nobleman. The King was prompt and active, and the two armiesmet at Shrewsbury.
There were about fourteen thousand men in each. The old Earl ofNorthumberland being sick, the rebel forces were led by his son. TheKing wore plain armour to deceive the enemy; and four noblemen, with thesame object, wore the royal arms. The rebel charge was so furious, thatevery one of those gentlemen was killed, the royal standard was beatendown, and the young Prince of Wales was severely wounded in the face. Buthe was one of the bravest and best soldiers that ever lived, and hefought so well, and the King's troops were so encouraged by his boldexample, that they rallied immediately, and cut the enemy's forces all topieces. Hotspur was killed by an arrow in the brain, and the rout was socomplete that the whole rebellion was struck down by this one blow. TheEarl of Northumberland surrendered himself soon after hearing of thedeath of his son, and received a pardon for all his offences.
There were some lingerings of rebellion yet: Owen Glendower being retiredto Wales, and a preposterous story being spread among the ignorant peoplethat King Richard was still alive. How they could have believed suchnonsense it is difficult to imagine; but they certainly did suppose thatthe Court fool of the late King, who was something like him, was he,himself; so that it seemed as if, after giving so much trouble to thecountry in his life, he was still to trouble it after his death. Thiswas not the worst. The young Earl of March and his brother were stolenout of Windsor Castle. Being retaken, and being found to have beenspirited away by one Lady Spencer, she accused her own brother, that Earlof Rutland who was in the former conspiracy and was now Duke of York, ofbeing in the plot. For this he was ruined in fortune, though not put todeath; and then another plot arose among the old Earl of Northumberland,some other lords, and that same Scroop, Archbishop of York, who was withthe rebels before. These conspirators caused a writing to be posted onthe church doors, accusing the King of a variety of crimes; but, the Kingbeing eager and vigilant to oppose them, they were all taken, and theArchbishop was executed. This was the first time that a great churchmanhad been slain by the law in England; but the King was resolved that itshould be done, and done it was.
The next most remarkable event of this time was the seizure, by Henry, ofthe heir to the Scottish throne--James, a boy of nine years old. He hadbeen put aboard-ship by his father, the Scottish King Robert, to save himfrom the designs of his uncle, when, on his way to France, he wasaccidentally taken by some English cruisers. He remained a prisoner inEngland for nineteen years, and became in his prison a student and afamous poet.
With the exception of occasional troubles with the Welsh and with theFrench, the rest of King Henry's reign was quiet enough. But, the Kingwas far from happy, and probably was troubled in his conscience byknowing that he had usurped the crown, and had occasioned the death ofhis miserable cousin. The Prince of Wales, though brave and generous, issaid to have been wild and dissipated, and even to have drawn his swordon GASCOIGNE, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, because he was firmin dealing impartially with one of his dissolute companions. Upon thisthe Chief Justice is said to have ordered him immediately to prison; thePrince of Wales is said to have submitted with a good grace; and the Kingis said to have exclaimed, 'Happy is the monarch who has so just a judge,and a son so willing to obey the laws.' This is all very doubtful, andso is another story (of which Shakespeare has made beautiful use), thatthe Prince once took the crown out of his father's chamber as he wassleeping, and tried it on his own head.
The King's health sank more and more, and he became subject to violenteruptions on the face and to bad epileptic fits, and his spirits sankevery day. At last, as he was praying before the shrine of St. Edward atWestminster Abbey, he was seized with a terrible fit, and was carriedinto the Abbot's chamber, where he presently died. It had been foretoldthat he would die at Jerusalem, which certainly is not, and never was,Westminster. But, as the Abbot's room had long been called the Jerusalemchamber, people said it was all the same thing, and were quite satisfiedwith the prediction.
The King died on the 20th of March, 1413, in the forty-seventh year ofhis age, and the fourteenth of his reign. He was buried in CanterburyCathedral. He had been twice married, and had, by his first wife, afamily of four sons and two daughters. Considering his duplicity beforehe came to the throne, his unjust seizure of it, and above all, hismaking that monstrous law for the burning of what the priests calledheretics, he was a reasonably good king, as kings went.