The power of the Beginning of the Civil War been ailing since 1405, but at the end of 1409 was too ill for business, so that till 1412 his son, the Prince of Wales, and his brothers, the Beauforts, ruled for him, John being Earl of Somerset, Henry Bishop of Winchester, and Thomas Chancellor, for Arundel (whose harsh treatment of the Lollards had brought the dislike of many) had resigned. The chief business was the Welsh war, and the danger from France. For Burgundy had made up his mind to win Calais back, if possible, and this he might have accomplished but for the greed and spite of Orleans, who, for his part, had designs on Guienne. Disgusted with Orleans's treachery, jealous of his rule, and maddened by his mocking, in 1407 John stirred one of his gentlemen, Rollet of Actonville, who had his own quarrel with Louis, to take that prince's life. On the evening of the 23d November 1407, as Orleans sat at supper with Queen Isabel, his brother's wife, he was told that the king wished to speak with him. Rising straight from table, he mounted his mule, and set out for Charles's lodging, followed by his two squires on one horse, and a few footmen, with torches. As he rode through the Temple in France, 1407. Street, at seven o'clock, singing to himself, and beating time with his glove on his thigh, Rollet, with seventeen armed followers, ran out from under the dark eaves of a house, and struck fiercely at him, with shouts of "Death! death!" One sharp blow cut off his left hand. I am Louis of Orleans," he cried, "what would ye do?" "We do that for which we came!" they answered, and stabbed him again and again as he lay helpless on the ground, killing also the faithful German squire who tried to cover him from their weapons. Then John of Burgundy, who had stood by, stepped forward, and, looking carefully at his dead cousin's face by the light of a link, cried, "Yes, it is he, sure enough," and, leaving the corpses there in the kennel, hurried off with his men. When the news of the murder got about, the proofs were strong against John, who at first denied it, but afterwards, when he was in safety, dared to boast of the deed as the lawful taking-off of a tyrant. Orleans' party (called Armagnacs, because the Earl of Armagnac, father-in-law of Duke Charles, Louis' son, was their leader for the time) resolved upon revenge, and open civil war broke out in France. Burgundy, in 1411, begged help from England, and the Prince of Wales, who disliked the house of Orleans, sent the Earl of Arundel and Kyme and Sir John Oldcastle to help him. They beat the 1 Armagnacs at St. Cloud, November 1411, and helped Duke John to take Paris before they came home. The defeat of Glyndwr's great raid in 1409, and the execution of its leaders, Rhys ddu and Philpot Scudamour, led to the submission of most of Mid-Wales. The Lollards now began to stir in England again; a scheme was brought forward by the Commons to take a third of the Church lands, £110,000, for keeping a regular standing army, and another third for the king's other needs, leaving a third to the clergy, besides the lands of the friars, cathedrals and colleges. However, the prince would not hear of this, though he withstood Arundel's attempt to force Courtenay, the chancellor of the university of Oxford, into severities against the Lollards. Henry's death and character 9. In 1411 the king grew better, and in his anger at the Beauforts, who had moved him to give up his crown to the Prince of Wales, turned them out of office to make way for his second son, Thomas (whom he made Duke of Clarence), and Archbishop Arundel. Clarence heard that the French princes were likely to make up their quarrel for a time, so he offered help to Orleans, and led an army into Normandy in 1412. But after laying waste that dukedom, and Maine and Anjou, he was bought off and marched into Guienne. Before more was done the king fell ill again. After a fit, which seized him while he was praying at S. Edmund's chapel in Westminster, he sank rapidly, and died on March 20, 1413, in the Jerusalem Chamber. His body is buried in Canterbury minster. In his last illness his confessor begged him to repent for three great sins-the murder of Richard, the execution of the archbishop, and the wrongful seizure of the crown-and the dying king answered him, "As for the two first, the pope has absolved me; and for the third, even though I gave up the crown, my sons would not let it go out of the family." It is said that he called the prince to him and warned him that he had won his crown ill, and that he that should wear it must render a strict account therefor. He also spoke of his great desire to go on a crusade, saying that he had laid money aside to take an army to win back the Lord's sepulchre, and thus atone for his sins. Henry was a strong and handsome man, of grave face and staid speech, a trained knight, a persevering and shrewd party leader, yet he found the burden he had taken upon himself almost too heavy for him. He had been bold and ambitious in his youth, but as king he was slow to do anything that might endanger his crown, and took great pains to please those upon whose goodwill his power rested, though he was never popular. He had not scrupled to shed blood to gain his own ends, yet he was merciful by nature, and could never altogether shake off the feeling that he had sinned heavily. The continual resistance he met even in his family aged him before his time, and his mistrust of his own son is but a single proof of his uneasy mind. CHAPTER II. Henry V. of Monmouth, 1413–1422. 1. On taking up the rule of the nation, Henry, who was crowned on Palm Sunday, April 9, 1413, on a dark, cloudy, wet day, at once showed such zeal and earnestness that those who had looked on him as a selfish, reckless, and quarrelsome young man wondered at his wisdom. On the other hand, those who had hoped that he would dismiss his father's friends and show favour to the Lollards were not well pleased. Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, the new king's uncle, being made chancellor in Arundel's place, the archbishop busied himself with attacking the Wicliffites. He got Convocation to send up to the council the name of Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, an old friend and fellowsoldier of Henry's, as one that sheltered heretics and spread evil teaching. The king himself spoke with Sir John, but could not get him to change his views, so the summons was issued for his trial. But Oldcastle paid no heed till he was taken by the king's officers and brought before Arundel. He then defended himself boldly, charging his judges and accusers with sin and crime. But he was sentenced to death, forty days' grace being given him wherein to repent if he would. Within two weeks, however, he broke out of the Tower, and in spite of the curse of the bishops and the high reward set on his head by the king, was kept in safe Oldcastle's plot, hiding. And now he and his Lollard friends January 1414. made a plot to seize Henry at Eltham, and force him to rule as they thought good, but he hurried to London before they could take him. Their next plan was to call a meeting of all their followers for the 12th January 1414, at St. Giles's Fields. But, on the evening before, Henry closed and guarded the gates of London, and rode out with many knights to stop the gathering. Those already at the tryst were seized or killed, and the other bands taken or driven off as they came up one by one. Oldcastle took alarm and fled, but his friend, Sir Roger Acton, was tried for treason, found guilty, and put to death with some thirty more. It was said that these men, had they been successful, meant to set right both Church and State, choosing Captains for each shire to rule them under Oldcastle (who was to be Captain of England), doing away with serfdom, harsh land-laws, and heavy taxes, and taking the estates of the Church for the defence of the realm. Many in south England still clung to the hope of such changes, so this year the Parliament was held at Leicester, where it was made law (a) That constables and justices should not wait for the bishop's orders, but of their own accord send to the Church courts for trial all whom they believed to be Lollards. (b) That the lands of the alien priories, namely, the estates in England belonging to monasteries over sea, should be in the king's charge for ever, lest English wealth should be used against England. (c) That henceforward no law made on the request of the Commons should be entered on the rolls so as to change its meaning and intent. (d) John and Humfrey, the king's brothers, were made Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, his cousin Richard, Earl of Cambridge, and Thomas Beaufort, his kinsman, confirmed as Earl of Dorset. (e) It was resolved to send and demand the king's rights from France, and, upon refusal, to enforce these rights by arms. This last step was taken because the king wished to win a principality in France wherein to find help and refuge if he were ever driven from England, and because the nobles were eager for a chance of winning fame and riches, while the merchants looked to the gain that would flow from trade when Normandy and north France were in English hands, and the safety of the sea thereby secured. Most eager of all were the clergy, who hoped that a war would turn men's minds from the ideas spread by the Lollards. France was weak at this time. Charles VI. was still mad, and therefore helpless to curb the feuds of his selfish kinsmen, who were ruining their country; on one side the dauphin, the Duke of Orleans, and the southern lords; on the other, John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, who was favoured by Paris and the great towns. Knowing the danger, the French court offered Henry's ambassadors Aquitaine and the hand of the king's daughter Katherine, with a dower of 400,000 nobles. But this was not enough for him. So calling a fresh Parliament, November 1414, he got a large grant, and raising all the money he could, made ready for war. Bedford was made Lieutenant of the realm, and the noble houses that had quarrelled with the late king were pacified by the burial of Richard II. at Westminster, and the promise of giving back to the young earls, March, Northumberland, and Huntingdon, their rank and royal favour. An army was raised by contract, and a navy gathered to ship it over Channel. Rules were made for the sharing of the booty, and the ransom of the prisoners that might be taken. Henry went Cambridge's plot, down to Portsmouth to embark, when a plot July 1415. formed against him by the Earl of Cambridge was revealed to him by that earl's brother-in-law, March. As soon as the king had sailed, March, now heir-by-blood to the crown, was to have been carried off to Wales and proclaimed king, if it were found for certain that Richard II. was dead; the Scots were to be called in, and money was to be got from France. Cambridge and his fellows were at once tried, found guilty, and put to death, August 2 and 5. 2. On the 13th August, Henry brought up his fleet of 1500, and, landing, beset Harfleur with an army of 6000 men-at-arms, 24,000 archers, and a number of bombards or siege guns. The English suffered much from sickness caused by bad weather, unwholesome food, drunkenness, and dirt; but the great guns London, Messenger, and King's Daughter breached the walls before any aid came from the French council, and Gaucourt, the governor, yielded in despair, September 22. Henry repaired the walls, and put in an English garrison, under the Earl of Dorset, his uncle, sent the sick and wounded back to England, and before leaving the place, wrote a letter to the dauphin in which he offered to fight him man to man, to settle their quarrel without further bloodshed of their countrymen. But the dauphin made no answer, and, October 8, Henry started for Calais, with 900 lancers and 5000 bowmen. His way was not easy; the country before him was laid bare by the peasants, some days his men got nothing but walnuts to eat, and the weather was rainy. The lower fords were stopped; but by swift marching and good luck they crossed the Bresle, the Somme, and the water of Swords, and reached Maisoncelles October 24. Here the way was barred by the Constable of France, at the head of 80,000 men. The English halted, watched all night under arms without food, within sight of the French camp-field, and within hearing of their boastful merriment. In the morning, |