II. mind of Henry suspicions of the loyalty of his CHAP. uncle.108 However it were, Henry summoned a parliament to meet, not as usual at Westminster, but at Bury St. Edmund's. The precautions which were taken, excited surprise, and gave birth to numerous conjectures. The knights of the shire received orders to come in arms: the men of Suffolk were arrayed: numerous guards were placed round the king's residence: and patroles during the night watched all the roads leading to the town. The duke of Glocester left his castle of Devizes, and was present at the opening of parliament: the next day he was arrested in his lodgings on a charge of high treason, by the lord Beaumont, constable of England and seventeen days later was found dead in his bed, without any exterior marks of violence. Reports were spread that he died of apoplexy, or of a broken heart: suspicion whispered that he had been privately murdered.109 108 What evidence the king had we know not: but nothing could persuade him that his uncle was innocent. Whethamstede, 367. 109 I am inclined to believe that he died a natural death, on the authority of Whethamstede, abbot of St. Alban's. That writer, who had received many benefits from the duke, was much attached to his memory, which he vindicates on all occasions, and equally prejudiced against his enemies, whom he calls, canes, scorpiones, impii susurrones, p. 366. And yet, though he wrote when the royal party was humbled in the dust, and he had of course nothing to fear from their resentment, he repeatedly asserts, that the duke fell ill immediately after his arrest, and died of his illness. Fecit eum arrestari, ponique in tam arta custodia, quod præ tristitia decideret in lectum ægritudinis, et infra paucos dies posterius sece 1447. Feb. 10. Feb. 11. Feb. 28. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. II. July 8. CHAP. Several knights and esquires in his service had assembled at Greenwich on the very day of his arrest, and purposed to join him at Bury. They were, however, made prisoners, and five of their number were brought to trial, and convicted, on a charge of having conspired to release dame Eleanor, to come to the parliament in arms, to destroy the king, and to raise Glocester to the throne.110 But the humanity of Henry did not permit them to suffer. He had been much affected by a sermon of Dr. Worthington, a celebrated preacher, on the forgiveness of injuries : and declared that he could not better prove his gratitude for the protection afforded him by the July 14. Almighty, than by pardoning in obedience to the divine command the persons who, so he believed, had plotted his destruction. Dame 111 deret in fata, p. 365. Of course he could not be in perfect health 111 They were, however, tied up, instantly cut down, stripped, and marked for dismemberment by the knife of the executioner. At that moment Suffolk announced to them the king's mercy. Stow. 386. This pardon, however, has been represented, on mere conjecture, as an artifice of Suffolk to lessen the odium, which he had incurred by the murder of Glocester. But it is well known that Henry's humanity abhorred the punishment usually inflicted for treason. One day seeing the quarter of a person, who had been executed, fixed on the tower, he exclaimed: "Take it away. It is a shame to use any christian so cruelly on my account." (Blackman, 301.) In the present case the king asserts that the pardon 68 II. Eleanor, on account of "her former misgovern- CHAP. ment of herself," was rendered, by act of parliament, incapable of claiming as the duke's widow,112 and a great part of his estates was distributed among the marquess of Suffolk, his relatives and adherents.113 But Glocester, though he had no issue, left many friends, who laboured to clear his memory from the stain of treason. In each successive parliament they introduced a bill declaratory of his loyalty: but no arguments could subdue the conviction or prejudice of the king: the bill was repeatedly thrown out by the influence of the crown: and if the attempt at last succeeded, it was under the protection of the duke of York, who had by force invested himself with the powers of government.114 Within six weeks the duke was followed to the grave by his uncle and former competitor, cardinal Beaufort. That prelate, since his retirement from court, had resided in his diocese, and applied himself to the exercise of his func had not been suggested to him by any person, either layman or clergyman: but that it originated from religious considerations, principally because God seemed to have taken the cause into his own hands, having during the late year "touched and stricken certain of "those who had been disloyal to him :" supremus judex nonnullas personas nobis infideles tetigit et percussit. Rym. xi. 178. Who were the persons whom God had stricken? Of course Glocester was one and the expression is a proof that he died a natural death; for this religious prince would never have used it, if the duke had been murdered. But who were the others? Death of Beaufort. April 11. II. CHAP. tions. That he expired in the agonies of despair, is a fiction, which we owe to the imagination of Shakespeare: from an eye-witness we learn that during a lingering illness, he devoted most of his time to religious exercies.115 According to the provisions of his will, his wealth was chiefly distributed in charitable donations: no less a sum than four thousand pounds was set aside for the relief of the indigent prisoners in the capital: and the hospital of St. Cross, in the vicinity of Winchester, still exists a durable monument of his munificence.1 116 The death of the duke and the cardinal re 115 Hall tells us that, according to his chaplain, John Baker, he lamented on his death-bed that money could not purchase life: and that death should cut him off when he hoped, now his nephew Glocester was gone, to procure the papal tiara. Hall, p. 152. It is not, however, probable that such an idea could be entertained by a man eighty years of age, and labouring under a mortal disease. Three weeks after the death of the duke, the cardinal ordered himself to be carried into the great hall of his palace of Wolvesey, where the clergy of the city and the monks of the cathedral were assembled. There he sate or lay, while a dirge was sung, the funeral ceremony performed, and his will publicly read. The next morning they assembled again: a mass of requiem was celebrated, and his will was again read with the addition of several codicils. He then took leave of all, and was carried back to his chamber. What was the object of this singular ceremony, I know not: but it was much admired by the writer who was present; and sufficiently disproves the story of his having died in despair. Cont. Hist. Croyl. 582. Henry refused me, while he 116 His executor offered the king a present of 2001. it, saying: "He was always a most kind uncle to "lived. God reward him. Fulfil his intentions. I will not take "his money." It was bestowed on the two colleges founded by the king at Eton and in Cambridge. Black m. 294. II. duke of moved the two firmest supports of the house of CHAP. Lancaster, and awakened the ambition of Richard duke of York, who by the paternal line was Richard sprung from Edward Langley, the youngest son York. of Edward III., and by the maternal from Lionel the third son of the same monarch. But if he now began to turn his eyes towards the throne, he had the prudence to conceal his intentions, till the incapacity of Henry, or the imprudence of his ministers, should offer him an opportunity of seizing the splendid prize. He had been appointed regent of France during five years: but the duke of Somerset, who sought to succeed to the influence of his relatives, the late cardinal and the duke of Gloucester, expressed a wish to possess that command: and York was reluctantly induced to exchange it for the government of Ireland. But the affront sank deep into his breast he began to consider Somerset as a rival; and, to prepare himself for the approaching contest, sought to win by affability and munificence the affections of the Irish. If Henry felicitated himself on the acquisition Cession of so accomplished and beautiful a wife, his of Anjou dreams of happiness were disturbed by the mur- Maine. murs of the people. It was said that his union with Margaret had been purchased at too great a price that no minister could be authorised to give away the inheritance of the crown; and that the cession of Anjou and Maine, the keys of Normandy, would inevitably draw after it the : |