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HISTORY

OF

ENGLAND.

CHAP. I.

HENRY V.

CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.

Emperor of Ger. | King of Scotl. | King of France. | Kings of Spain.
Sigismund.

James I.

Charles VI.

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Henry III. 1416.
John II.

John XXIII.
Martin V.

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OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY-HENRY IS MADE REGENT OF
FRANCE-REDUCES MEAUX-AND DIES-HIS FUNERAL-AFFAIRS

OF THE CHURCH.

THE late king had outlived his popularity: and the intelligence of his death excited little regret in any part of his dominions. His eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, immediately ascended the throne. He had so long been considered as heir

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CHAP.
I.

Succes

sion of Henry V.

1413.

Mar. 21.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP. apparent, that the claim of the earl of March

I.

was never mentioned; and though his errors had created a prejudice against him, his subjects were willing to attribute them rather to the giddiness of youth than to depravity of heart. Neither did he disappoint their expectations. As soon as his father expired, he withdrew to his closet, spent the rest of the day in privacy and prayer, and in the evening hastened to his confessor, a recluse in the church of Westminster; by whom he was confirmed in his resolution to atone for the scandal of his past, by the propriety of his subsequent conduct. The dissolute companions of his pleasures were instantly dismissed: men of knowledge and experience were invited round the throne: and those, who by checking his excesses had earned the enmity of the prince, found themselves, to their surprise, honoured with the approbation and friendship of the king. As an act of justice he set at liberty the earl of March, who from his childhood had been kept in confinement by the late monarch, for no other crime than his right to the throne: after some time he restored the son of Hotspur, an exile in Scotland, to the honours and hereditary estates of the Percies; and when the remains of the unfortunate Richard were removed by his orders from Langley to Westminster abbey, he testified his respect for that prince by

1

Tit. Liv. 5. Wals. 382. Otterb. 273. Elm. 16.

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attending as chief mourner in the funeral pro

cession.2

Henry had partaken of the general alarm excited among the higher classes by the levelling principles of the lollards: and, when he was only prince of Wales, had joined the lords and commons in presenting a petition to his father for the arrest and punishment of their preachers.3 Now, however, the chiefs of the sect, whether they were urged forward by enthusiasm, or intoxicated with success, instead of labouring to remove these unfavourable impressions, sought to intimidate their adversaries: and during the king's first parliament affixed papers to the doors of the different churches in the metropolis, stating that, if the authority of the crown should be employed in opposition to their doctrine, they were able to assemble one hundred thousand men ready to draw the sword in its defence.* This daring menace provoked an investigation : and it was discovered, that the person, by whose councils the party had been led, and on whom it chiefly relied, was Sir John Oldcastle, called from the inheritance of his wife, the lord of Cobham. His castle of Cowling had long been the head quarters of the teachers of lollardism: thence they issued forth on their missions in the

CHAP.
I.

Insurrec-
lollards.

tion of the

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I.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

5

CHAP. neighbourhood; and, protected by his servants, set at defiance the prohibitions of the bishops, and the citations of the spiritual courts. The convocation, to spare the honour of a man, who had been one of Henry's most intimate companions, instead of summoning him before the usual tribunal, denounced him to the king, who, with the zeal of an apostle, undertook the task of working his conversion. But the obstinacy of the disciple speedily exhausted the patience of the master: after a few days the king began to enforce his arguments with threats; and Oldcastle thought it time to withdraw from Windsor to his own residence at Cowling. His flight was followed by a royal proclamation, ordering the magistrates to arrest not only the itinerant preachers, but their hearers and abettors; and by a mandate to the archbishop of Canterbury, requiring him to proceed against the fugitive

Aug. 21.

5 Wilkins, Conc. iii. 330. 338. 352, 353.

6 Tit. Liv. p. 6. Elm. p. 31, who add that on account of his opinions he had been dismissed by the king before the coronation. From Fuller (p. 168) we derive the curious information that sir John Oldcastle was, among our more ancient dramatists, the debauched but facetious knight, who now treads the stage under the name of sir John Falstaff.

7 A book belonging to Oldcastle had been seized in the shop of a limner, with whom it had been left to be illuminated. It was read before the king in the presence of the owner. Henry declared that he had never heard doctrines so pernicious, and asked the knight what he thought of them. Of course he did not dispute the judgment of his sovereign, but alleged in his own excuse that he had never read more than two pages of the work. Conc. iii. 352.

The spiritual powers of that

CHAP.

I.

sion of

according to law. prelate were soon exhausted. Oldcastle disobeyed his summons, and laughed at his ex- Apprehencommunication; but was compelled to surren- Oldcastle. der to a military force sent by the king, and was conducted a prisoner to the tower. On his arraingment before the primate, his conduct was Sept. 23. as arrogant and insulting, as that of his judge was mild and dignified. Not content with signifying his dissent from the established creed, he poured out a torrent of abuse against all those by whom it was upheld. He maintained that the church had ceased to teach the doctrine of the gospel from the moment that it became infected with the poison of worldly riches: that the clergy were the antichrist: that the pope was the head, the bishops and prelates the limbs, and the religious orders the tail of the beast: and that the only true successor of St. Peter was he, who most faithfully practised the virtues of St. Peter. Then turning to the spectators, and extending his arms, he exclaimed: "Beware of the men who sit here as my judges.

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They will seduce both you and themselves, " and will lead you to hell." He was brought to the bar on two different days, and persisting in his opinions, was pronounced an obstinate heretic. The primate, however, when he de

Rym. ix. 46. Conc. 357.

9 Rym. ix. 61-66. Conc. 353--357.

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