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and mortified the vanity of the French.19 Their CHAP. first object was easily attained, to prolong the truce during four months. They next proposed March 13. a treaty of peace and alliance on a new basis. The claim of Normandy, Maine, and Anjou, was entirely abandoned: they consented to accept of the princess with half the sum originally required: but every other demand made by the late embassy, was repeated and enforced. The duke of Berri gave the same answer, with this March 14. unimportant difference, that he offered eight instead of six hundred thousand crowns as the marriage portion of Catharine. The ambassadors immediately returned."

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It is probable that the result of the negocia- Makes tion was not displeasing to Henry. His coun- tions for sellors might wish to avert the impending cala- war. mities of war: but the young hero longed to encircle his brow with the laurels of a conqueror. A council of fifteen spiritual and April 16. twenty-eight temporal peers was immediately assembled: the king declared his resolution "to recover his inheritance" by arms: and his speech was received with applause, and assurances of support. The duke of Bedford, one of his brothers, accepted the office of regent during the royal absence: his duties and powers were specified: the members of the council

19 Monstrel. i. 216. 1 Rym. ix. 222.

20 Rym. ix. 205. 212–215.

21

CHAP. appointed: and the terms of military service ar

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Dismisses the French envoys.

22

ranged. The barons and knights, anxious to obtain renown, or to secure the royal favour, engaged to furnish troops according to their abilities and while they levied men, Henry himself pawned his jewels, solicited loans, and by great exertions amassed the sum of five hundred thousand nobles.23

The French ministers had made no preparations to meet the tempest, with which they were threatened. Occupied in maintaining the ascendency over the domestic rivals, they had flattered themselves that the king of England

22 The following were the terms, and the manner of raising the army. 1. Contracts were made by the keeper of the privy seal with different lords and gentlemen, who bound themselves to serve with a certain number of men for a year, from the day on which they were first mustered. 2. The pay of a duke was to be 13s. 4d. per day; an earl, 6s. 8d.; a baron or banneret, 4s.; a knight, 2s.; an esquire, ls.; an archer, 6d. 3. The pay, or security for its amount was to be delivered by the treasurer a quarter of a year in advance and if the money were not actually paid at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the engagement was to be at an end. As an additional remuneration, each contractor received “the usual "regard," or douceur of 100 marks for every 30 men at arms. 4. A duke was to have 50 horses; an earl, 24; a baron or banneret, 16; a knight, 6; an esquire, 4; an archer, 1. The horses were to be furnished by the contractor-the equipment by the king. 5. All prisoners were to belong to the captors: but if they were kings, the sons of kings, or officers high in command bearing commissions from kings, they were to belong to the crown, on the payment of a reasonable recompense to the captors. 6. The booty taken was to be divided into three parts. Two remained to the men: the third was again divided into three parts, of which the leader took two, and left the third to the king. See the several contracts in Rymer, ix. 223. 227-239. 23 Ibid. 241. 271. 284-287.

would accept of the terms which had been offered him and with this fallacious expectation they even now sent the archbishop of Bourges, and the earl of Vendome, to repeat the propósals which had lately been made by the duke of Berri. The ambassadors were introduced to the king at Winchester: the next day Henry Chichely, who had lately succeeded to the archbishopric of Canterbury, informed them that his sovereign would accept nothing short of the restoration of all the territories which had ever been possessed by his predecessors: and Henry following the primate, added, that the crown of France was his right, and that he would wrest it from its unjust possessor in defiance of all his enemies. These words aroused the spirit of the archbishop of Bourges, who having previously obtained permission, replied: that if the king attributed to fear the offers which had been made, he deceived himself. The throne of France was the most excellent in Europe. It would require more than the power of England to shake it. Let Henry, if he chose, make the attempt: he would either be driven back to the sea, or would pay the forfeit of his presumption with his liberty, perhaps with his life. As for himself, the archbishop added, that he had nothing more to do in England. He requested his passports: but trusted that the king would give the answer in writing, and spare him the pain of delivering so insulting a message by word of

CHAP.

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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

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CHAP. mouth. Henry did not resent the freedom of the prelate, but dismissed him and his colleague with valuable presents."

Conspiracy against him.

July 21.

Aug. 2.

Every preparation was now complete: the army had assembled at Southampton; and the king superintended the embarkation. At that very moment, while his mind was occupied with visions of conquest and glory, he was suddenly alarmed with the intelligence that a conspiracy against his life had been formed in the bosom of his own family and household. The ringleader was his cousin Richard, a brother to the duke of York, and lately created earl of Cambridge. The principal accomplices were sir Thomas Grey, of Heton, a Northumbrian knight; and the lord Scroop, of Masham, who had been honoured with the highest employments in the state, and was, both in bed and at board, at the council table and in the chase, the king's individual companion. What motives could induce them to form the design, or whence they derived their hopes of success, it is impossible to discover; the historian must content himself with describing the facts as they appear upon record. By an inquest of twelve jurors of the county it was found, but on what testimony is not mentioned, that the earl of Cambridge had conspired with sir Thomas Grey to collect a

24 See Monstrelet (i. 221), who praises the spirit, and Elmham (p. 30) and Walsingham (p. 389), who reprove the insolence, of the French prelate.

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body of armed men, to conduct the earl of CHAP. March to the frontiers of Wales, and to proclaim him the rightful heir to the crown in case Richard II. were really dead :25 and had also by their emissaries solicited Thomas of Trumpyngton, who still personated Richard, Henry Percy, who had not yet returned from Scotland, and several Scottish lords, to invade the king's dominions at an appointed time: and that the lord Scroop had received from them the knowledge of their treasonable intentions, had concealed that knowledge from the king and council, and given to the conspirators his aid and abettance. On this indictment the prisoners were arraigned, and severally pleaded guilty; but the lord Scroop added, that his intention was innocent, as his only object in learning, was to defeat, the plans of the conspirators. The usual judgment of treason was passed against Grey but the king commuted the most disgraceful parts of the sentence. Instead of being drawn, he was permitted to walk to the place of execution, and suffered decapitation instead of being hanged. Cambridge and Screep claimed the privilege of being tried by their peers. The duke of Clarence presided in the place of the Aug. 5. king all the lords in the army were summoned : and the duke of York, that he might not sit in

25 It should be observed that the earl of Cambridge had married Anne, sister to the earl of March, who, on the death of her brother without issue, would have had the real right to the crown.

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