CHAPTER I.

HENRY IV., 1399-1413 (14 years).

Born 1366; married,

1380, Mary de Bohun.

1403, Joan of Navarre.

Chief Characters of the Reign.—Archbishop Arundel, the Earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy (Hotspur), Owen Glendower, Thomas Beaufort, and Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester.

Rebellion in favour of

THE first act of the new government was to imprison the late king. He had still a good many friends, and the Earl of Rutland, son of the Duke of York, Richard's half-brothers, the Earls of Huntingdon and Kent, and the Earl of SalisRichard. bury, entered into a conspiracy in his favour. The plot was either betrayed by the Earl of Rutland or detected by his father, and those who rebelled were captured by the common people, who were strong partisans of Henry. The chief result of the insurrection was to cause the murder of Richard. What was his exact fate is unknown, and this uncertainty served to keep alive reports that he was still living, which added much to Henry's difficulties.

Death of
Richard.

Henry's success had been much furthered by the assistance of the bishops, who had been opposed to the Lollardism of Richard's Act De Heretico Court. They were rewarded, in 1401, by the passing Comburendo. of the act De Heretico Comburendo, which enabled the ecclesiastical courts, on the conviction of any one of heresy, to hand him over to the civil powers for execution. This act was passed by the lords at the request of the clergy, but without the consent of the Commons. The first person executed for heresy was William Sawtre, at one time vicar of Lynn, in Norfolk. From this time forward executions were not unfrequent. They are not often mentioned by the chroniclers, but the expenses of burning a heretic occur from time to time in the accounts of cities and boroughs.

Henry soon found himself in difficulties, both in Wales and Scotland. In Wales, Owen Glendower, who had formerly been in the service of Richard, raised a rebellion, ravaged the lowlands, and retired for safety into the fastnesses

Glendower's
rebellion.

of the country. These tactics made it very difficult to bring him to battle, and the young Prince of Wales, to whom the duty was entrusted, found the task quite beyond his powers.

War with
Scotland.

With Scotland, since the release of David, the English had, on the whole, been on fair terms, but Richard had once, in 1385, invaded the country, and in 1388 a battle had been fought at Otterburn between the rival border lords, Percy and Douglas. Now, however, the Scots refused to acknowledge Henry, so he attacked them. With a powerful army he advanced to Leith and burnt the town; but the Scots refused to be drawn into a pitched battle, and the English, having consumed their provisions, returned home without glory. The conduct of the war was left to Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and his son Henry, surnamed Hotspur. In 1402 the Scots were beaten at Nesbit Moor and at Homildon Hill, where the Percies were fortunate enough to take prisoners the Earl of Douglas and Murdoch, Earl of Fife, the son of the Duke of Albany, brother of the Scottish king. Henry, of course, demanded possession of the prisoners, and this demand led to a quarrel.

Although the Percies had been the chief supporters of Henry's attempt against Richard, they complained that the king had never repaid them the sums they had advanced. Moreover, Rebellion of Hotspur had married Elizabeth Mortimer, the sister

the Percies.

of that Roger who had been declared heir to Richard II. Her brother Edmund, the guardian of Roger's children, who were kept by Henry in Windsor Castle, had been taken prisoner by Glendower, and Henry refused to do anything towards procuring his ransom. Exasperated by these grievances, the Percies in 1403 formed a conspiracy, into which they brought the Earl of Worcester, brother to the Earl of Northumberland, Douglas, Owen Glendower, and Mortimer.

The great object of the conspirators was to join their forces, so Hotspur and Douglas hurried to the Welsh border, while Northumberland stayed behind to wait for an army of Scots who were to join

1

Battle of

the enterprise. Hotspur had raised the men of Cheshire, who were devoted to the cause of Richard, and was close to Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury, the possession of which would have secured his junction with Glendower, when Henry entered the town before him. The next day an obstinate battle was fought within sight of the walls, and while the fortunes of the day were yet doubtful, Hotspur fell by a chance arrow, the rebel army was completely routed, and Douglas and Worcester were taken prisoners. Worcester was at once executed, and Henry marched north against Northumberland. That crafty nobleman, however, pretended that the troops he had levied were intended for the king's assistance, and Henry found himself obliged to accept this explanation.

Rebellion of
Scrope and

Two years later, in 1405, another conspiracy was discovered; its leaders were Scrope, Archbishop of York, the brother of one of Richard's ministers, and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, son of the Duke of Norfolk, whom Richard Mowbray. had banished. The insurgents were outwitted, not to say cheated, by John, the king's third son, and were both executed. The public execution of a prelate is noteworthy in the history of the Church, and shows how much the respect for the clergy had declined since the days of Thomas Becket.

Fate of Northumberland and of Glendower.

The Earl of Northumberland, who had sympathized with the rebels, escaped their fate by flying to Scotland. For some time he sought aid in that country and in Wales, but in 1408, having raised a small army on his northern estates, he was defeated and slain at Bramham Moor, near Tadcaster. During the whole of the reign Owen Glendower maintained himself in his fastnesses, and sometimes ventured to attack the English in the plains, and till his death in the next reign he managed to preserve his independence.

These troubles made Henry's throne no enviable seat during the early years of his reign, but his ability enabled him to overcome Good fortune of them, and by degrees he became firmly seated. Henry abroad. Fortune gave him great advantages in his relation to foreign countries. Scotland was distracted by the ambition of the Duke of Albany, the younger brother of the mad King Robert III., whose son Murdoch was in Henry's hands; and when the Scots sent James, Robert's little son and heir, to France to be out of

the way of his uncle's violence, he was captured off Flamborough Head by the English. These two captures gave Henry a great ascendency in Scotland, and in France circumstances were equally favourable. In that country the imbecility of the king, Charles VI., had allowed the nation to be convulsed by a struggle between the rival houses of Burgundy and Orleans. In 1407 the Duke of Orleans was murdered, and four years later Henry assisted the Burgundians against the revenge of the duke's followers. The next year he changed sides, and sent his son Clarence to help the Orleanists, and in this way he was able to keep France weak.

Constitutional rule of

Henry IV.

At home, however, Henry was totally unable to make head against the demands of his Parliament. The extravagance of Richard had left the crown poorer than ever. Henry feared to excite the country by asking for money, so his only chance was to rule as a constitutional sovereign. Accordingly, we find the Commons in 1406 insisting upon a proper audit of the accounts of their grants, and the king in 1407 conceding the right of the Commons alone to originate money grants, and allowing perfect freedom of deliberation on such grants between both Houses of Parliament. In 1404 the king even, at the request of the Commons, named twenty-two members of Parliament to be his great and continual council, and in 1406 and 1410 similar requests were made, showing that the notion that ministers should be chosen by consultation between king and Parliament, which had been stated under Edward III., was now being put into practical effect.

One great object of the Commons was to induce the king to confiscate the property of the Church, which they Proposed assured him would serve to support a large force of disendowment soldiers, and so give relief from taxation; and it was only the friendship of the king to the Church which prevented them from carrying this policy into effect.

of the Church.

Another object was the abolition of retainers. These were men, often disbanded soldiers, who wore the badge of some great lord and were bound to fight in his quarrels. They con- The retainers. stituted a standing army for those who could afford

to keep them, and were an incessant temptation to rebellion and private war. Three times during this reign the Parliament forbade