CHAP. I. of the in surgents. 1414. Jan. 7. livered him to the civil magistrate, procured from the king a respite of fifty days during which Oldcastle found the means to escape from. the Tower, and to assemble the most ardent of his partisans. Emissaries were immediately dispatched into the neighbouring counties: an army was secretly organized: and thousands of fanatics held themselves in readiness to march to the metropolis, though they were kept in ignorance of the real object of their leaders. The Dispersion first plan of the conspirators, to surprise the king at Eltham, was defeated by his unexpected departure for Westminster and a second resolution was formed to collect all their adherents in the fields at St. Giles's, on the day after the epiphany. The king, who was perfectly apprized of their intentions, having secured the gates of the city to separate the lollards within the walls from those without, proceeded a little after midnight with a strong body of forces to the place of rendezvous. The roads were covered with insurgents hastening from all quarters towards St. Giles's: but the first companies that arrived were surrounded and secured: the fugitives who escaped, spread the alarm, and the parties on their march precipitately dispersed.10 Their number and designs. The number of the insurgents on this occasion is calculated at twenty thousand: and the object of their leaders was, if we may credit royal pro 10 Tit. Liv. 6. Wals. 385, 386. Elm. 31, 32. clamations and parliamentary records, of the CHAP. most dangerous tendency. The commons in their address state, that the lollards had sought "to destroy the christian faith, the king, the spi"ritual and temporal estates, and all manner of policy and law :" Henry in his proclamation declares that they meant "to destroy him, his "brothers, and several of the spiritual and temporal lords, to confiscate the possessions of the 66 66 church, to secularize the religious orders, to "divide the realm into confederate districts, and "to appoint Sir John Oldcastle president of the "commonwealth."" That leader escaped; and though the king offered the most tempting rewards for his apprehension, eluded for several years the pursuit and search of his enemies. Of his accomplices many were secured, condemned, and executed. The failure of the insurrection had the usual effect of adding to the severity of the penal laws already in existence. It was enacted that all judges and magistrates should be authorized to arrest persons suspected of lollardism: and that the prisoners on their conviction should forfeit their lands, goods, and chattels, as in cases of felony.12 The restoration of tranquillity allowed the Henry king to direct his attention towards the French "Rot. Parl. iv. 24. 108. Rym. ix. 89. 119. 129. 170. 193. 12 Rot. Parl. iv. 24. In this parliament the king's brothers, John and Humphrey, were made dukes of Bedford and Glocester. Elm. 33. claims the crown of France. I. 1413. April 28. CHAP. throne, which was still occupied by an imbecile monarch, and was daily undermined by the rage of contending factions. Within the course of a few months the reins of government had successively passed from the hands of John the fearless, duke of Burgundy, to the dauphin, a young prince, rash, headstrong, and capricious;13 to the populace of the capital, whose ephemeral superiority had been accompanied with the imprisonment or massacre of the lords and ladies attached to the court;1 and lastly to the duke of Orleans, who persisted in waging a successful but impolitic war against the Burgundians, the ancient foes of his family. To the aspiring mind of Henry these troubles opened a most alluring prospect. He determined to revive the claim, and tread in the footsteps, of his great grandfather, Edward III.; and, if he consented to a succession of short truces at the prayer of Charles, it was only that he might: have leisure to mature his plans, to provide money for his expenses, and to open the war with an army adequate to his object. A little more than a year had elapsed from his accession, when he unexpectedly demanded the crown July 10. of France, with all its appurtenances, as the heir 1414. 13 He is said to have sent in derision to Henry a present of tennis balls. The king promised to return the compliment with English balls, which should batter to the ground the walls of Paris. Otterb. 275. 11 See the letter of the king of France in Rymer, ix. 51. and the account of Monstrelet, i. 165–170. I. of Isabella, daughter of Philip IV. The French CHAP. ministers might have replied, that he was not the legitimate representative of that princess :15 but they deemed the claim an insult to the national independence; and refused to admit it even as a subject of discussion. Henry therefore con- August. sented that Charles should continue to possess his throne, but required as the price of his forbearance conditions, which would have reduced France to a secondary station among the powers of Europe: that he should cede to England in full sovereignty the provinces of Normandy, Maine, and Anjou; the territories which formerly composed the dutchy of Aquitaine; and the several towns and counties included in the great peace of Bretigny: that he should put Henry in possession of one half of Provence, the inheritance of Eleanor and Sanchia, the queens of Henry III. and of his brother Richard, and two of the four daughters of Berenger, once sovereign of that country: that he should faithfully discharge the arrears of the ransom of king John, amounting to twelve hundred thousand crowns; and that he should give his daughter Catharine in marriage to the king of England with a portion of two millions of crowns.16 To these demands the duke of Berri, the organ of 15 The reader will recollect that our kings claimed the French crown on the plea that it could descend by females. Now in that hypothesis it belonged not to Henry, but to the earl of March. 16 Two crowns were equal to a noble English. CHAP. I. the French government, replied: that Charles for the sake of peace was willing to restore all the territories anciently comprehended within the dutchy of Aquitaine; and to give with his daughter six hundred thousand crowns, a greater portion than had ever been given on a similar occasion by any of his predecessors. By a prince of ordinary ambition such offers would have been cheerfully accepted. It was evident that they were made not on account of the real superiority of England, but of the temporary embarrassments of France; and there was reason to fear, that, if they should be refused, the different factions might unite against the common enemy, and by their union defeat all his projects.. Great, however, as they were, they did not satisfy the expectations of Henry." He recalled his ambassadors, summoned a parliament, avowed his intention of vindicating his right by arms, and obtained a supply of two tenths, and twe fifteenths.18 The grant of so large a sum created considerable alarm in the French court: and Henry resolved to make a second attempt by negociation. A few days before the conclusion of the armistice, the earl of Dorset, with the bishops of Durham and Norwich, and a retinue of six hundred horsemen, entered Paris, where Jan. 24. by their parade and magnificence, they surprised Oct. 3. Nov. 19. 1415. 17 The whole process of the negociation is to be found in Rymer, ix. 208. 18 Rot. Parl, iv. 35. |