his camp at Swartmore, near Ulverstone, till he had been joined by the tenantry of sir Thomas Broughton, and was actually on his march through the county of York. The king soon found himself surrounded by his friends with their retainers, and orders were published by his authority for « the goode rule of his hooste ». To steal, rob, or ravish; to take provisions witbout paying the price affixed by the clerk of the market; and to arrest or imprison any man on the pretext of delinquency, but without special orders, were made crimes punishable with death. To take other lodgings than were assigned by the proper officers, to cause any quarrel or affray, or to prevent persons from bringing provisions to the army, subjected the offenders to the lesser punishment of imprisonment. Every man was ordered, under the same penalty, to saddle his horse at the first blast of the trumpet, to bridle it at the second, and at the third to be mounted and ready to march. Vagabonds, who had no master, and common women, were threatened with the stocks and imprisonment. '

Stoke.

The two armies, as if by mutual compact, hastened Battle at towards Newark. It was in vain that the earl, as he advanced, tempted the loyalty of the inhabitants by proclaiming Edward VI. the head of the house of York. The real partisans of that family were restrained by their fears or their incredulity: and the few, who joined the standard of the adventurer, were outlaws or men of desperate fortunes. Disappointed but undismayed, Lincoln resolved to stake his life on the event of a battle; and precipitated his march, that he might find the king

See Lel. Coll. iv. 210-212. These orders were strictly put in execution, so that at Leicester and Loughborough « the stokks and prisonnes wer reasonabley fylled. » Ibid.

.

unprepared. The royalists had moved from Kenilworth June 8. by Coventry, Leicester, and Nottingham. Their numbers daily increased: but their quarters were ill chosen: and night after night they were thrown into confusion by alarms which furnished opportunities of desertion to the timid and disaffected. But, what will excite the surprise of the reader, the whole army lost its way between Nottingham and Newark. Five guides were at length procured from the village of Ratcliffe, and soon afterwards the vanguard, under the earl of Oxford, was attacked at Stoke by the insurgents, amounting to eight thousand men, The action was short but sanguinary. June 16. The Germans fought and perished with the resolution

of veterans the adventurers from Ireland displayed their characteristic bravery, but with their darts and skeans (for the English settlers had adopted the arms of the natives) they were no match for the heavy cavalry; and though a portion only of the royalists were engaged, the victory was won with the slaughter of one half of their opponents. Of the leaders of the insurgents, the earl of Lincoln, the lords Thomas and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, sir Thomas Broughton, and Martin Swartz, remained on the field of battle: lord Lovell was seen to escape from his pursuers: but whether he perished in crossing the Trent, or contrived to secrete himself from the notice of his friends and foes, is uncertain. He was never seen or heard of after that day'.

'On account of his disappearance several writers have supposed that he perished in the battle. But the journal of the herald who was present, evidently proves that he escaped. After mentioning the names of the slain, he adds, « and the viscount lorde Lovell was put « to flight. » Lell. Coll. 214. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, at his seat at Minster Lovel in Oxfordshire, was accidentally discovered a chamber under the ground, in which was the

α

Simons and his pupil surrendered to Robert Bellingham, one of the king's esquires. The priest was made to confess the imposture before the convocation, and then thrown into a prison, in which he perished. But the pretended Edward VI. obtained his pardon, resumed his real name of Lambert Simnel, was made a scullion in the royal kitchen, and afterwards, in reward of his good conduct, was raised to the more honourable office of falconer. 1

of the

queen.

From this insurrection the king learned an important Coronation lesson, that it was not his interest to wound the feelings of those whose principles had attached them to the house of York. His behaviour to the queen had created great discontent. Why, it was asked, was she not crowned? Why was she, the rightful heir to the crown, refused the usual honours of royalty? Other kings had been eager to crown their consorts : but Elizabeth had now been married a year and a half; she had borne the king a son to succeed to the throne; and yet she was kept in obscurity, as if she were unworthy of her station. Henry resolved to silence these murmurs and from Warwick issued the requisite orders for her coronation. The ceremony was performed during the session of parliament: an, ample

skeleton of a man seated in a chair, with his head reclined on a table. Hence it is supposed that the fugitive had found an asylum in this subterraneous chamber, where he was perhaps starved to death through neglect. There is also a tradition that sir Thomas Broughton escaped from the field, and lived till his death in concealment among his tenants at Witherslack in the county of Westmoreland. West's Furness, 210.

I

For an account of this insurrection, compare the journal of the herald in Lel. Coll. iv. 209-215. with Hall, 4-10, Bacon, 13-23, and the rolls, vi. 397.

Nov. 25.

Jurisdic

tion of the

provision was made for her maintenance; and from that period Elizabeth was brought forward on all occasions of parade, and seemed to enjoy the same consideration as former queens. '

star-cham- wants of the conqueror by a grant of

ber.

The first care of the parliament was to supply the money, and a bill of attainder, which included almost every man of property engaged in the late insurrection 2. Next the king required their aid to put down the dangerous and unlawful practice of «maintenance. » The reader will recollect that by «maintenance » was understood an association of individuals under a chief, whose livery they wore, and to whom they bound themselves by

'On the Friday before the coronation fourteen gentlemen were created knights of the Bath. On the Saturday the queen went in procession from the Tower to Westminster. She was dressed in white cloth of gold of damask, with a mantle of the same furred with ermine. Here faire yelow hair hung downe pleyne byhynd

« her bak, with a calle of pipes over it. » On her head was a circle of gold ornamented with precious stones. In this dress she was borne through the city reclining in a litter, with a canopy of cloth of gold carried over her by four knights of the body. Several carriages, and four baronnesses on grey palfreys followed. On the Sunday she was crowned, and afterwards dined in the hall. The lady Catharine Gray and mistress Ditton went under the table, and sate at her feet, while the countesses of Oxford and Rivers knelt on each side, « and << at certeyne tymys helde kerchief byfor her grace. » The king

viewed both the coronation and the dinner from behind a lattice. Lell. Coll. iv. 216-233.

2

Rot. Parl. vi. 386. 400. I have said, « almost every man of « property,» for by mistake or design lord Lovell was omitted. But the omission was discovered eight years afterwards, and a new bill of attainder was passed to include him (Rot. Parl. vi. 502). The number, however, of the insurgents had then dwindled from eight to five thousand, a proof that we are not to trust the acts of attainder for more than the substance of the offence.

oaths and promises, for the purpose of maintaining by force the private quarrels of the chief and the members. Hence the course of justice was obstructed, jurors were intimidated, and offenders escaped with impunity. Hence also (and this it was that chiefly provoked the hostility of the king), powerful noblemen were furnished with the means of raising forces at a short warning to oppose the reigning prince, or to assist a new claimant. In the preceding parliament an oath had been required from the lords, and was ordered to be taken by the commons in each county, that they would not keep in their service men openly cursed, or murderers, or felons, or outlaws; that they would not retain persons by indentures, or give liveries contrary to law and that they would not make riots or maintenances, nor oppose the due execution of the king's writs'. In the present it was enacted that the chancellor, treasurer, and keeper of the privy seal, or two of them with one bishop, one temporal peer, and the chief judges of the king's bench and common pleas, should have authority to call before them persons accused of having offended in any of these points, and to punish the guilty, as if they had been convicted by the ordinary course of justice. Thus the jurisdiction of the court of star-chamber, so celebrated afterwards, was confirmed by authority of parliament. It was not,

1 Ibid. 287. Rym. xii. 280. On that occasion the judges had been consulted, who replied that it was impossible to enforce the execution of the laws, as long as « maintenances existed. The chief justice, among other things observed, that in the time of Edward IV. the lords swore to observe the statutes, and yet in his presence several of them, within an hour afterwards, retained by oath persons to support their quarrels, and consequently to set aside the execution of the law. Year-book, Term Mich. 1 Hen. VII. 3.