A Child's History of England

by Dickens, Charles

  three noblemen to death. The Regent then remained there, and Henry

  went on to Chester.

  All this time, the boisterous weather had prevented the King from

  receiving intelligence of what had occurred. At length it was

  conveyed to him in Ireland, and he sent over the EARL OF SALISBURY,

  who, landing at Conway, rallied the Welshmen, and waited for the

  King a whole fortnight; at the end of that time the Welshmen, who

  were perhaps not very warm for him in the beginning, quite cooled

  down and went home. When the King did land on the coast at last,

  he came with a pretty good power, but his men cared nothing for

  him, and quickly deserted. Supposing the Welshmen to be still at

  Conway, he disguised himself as a priest, and made for that place

  in company with his two brothers and some few of their adherents.

  But, there were no Welshmen left - only Salisbury and a hundred

  soldiers. In this distress, the King's two brothers, Exeter and

  Surrey, offered to go to Henry to learn what his intentions were.

  Surrey, who was true to Richard, was put into prison. Exeter, who

  was false, took the royal badge, which was a hart, off his shield,

  and assumed the rose, the badge of Henry. After this, it was

  pretty plain to the King what Henry's intentions were, without

  sending any more messengers to ask.

  Page 110

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  The fallen King, thus deserted - hemmed in on all sides, and

  pressed with hunger - rode here and rode there, and went to this

  castle, and went to that castle, endeavouring to obtain some

  provisions, but could find none. He rode wretchedly back to

  Conway, and there surrendered himself to the Earl of

  Northumberland, who came from Henry, in reality to take him

  prisoner, but in appearance to offer terms; and whose men were

  hidden not far off. By this earl he was conducted to the castle of

  Flint, where his cousin Henry met him, and dropped on his knee as

  if he were still respectful to his sovereign.

  'Fair cousin of Lancaster,' said the King, 'you are very welcome'

  (very welcome, no doubt; but he would have been more so, in chains

  or without a head).

  'My lord,' replied Henry, 'I am come a little before my time; but,

  with your good pleasure, I will show you the reason. Your people

  complain with some bitterness, that you have ruled them rigorously

  for two-and-twenty years. Now, if it please God, I will help you

  to govern them better in future.'

  'Fair cousin,' replied the abject King, 'since it pleaseth you, it

  pleaseth me mightily.'

  After this, the trumpets sounded, and the King was stuck on a

  wretched horse, and carried prisoner to Chester, where he was made

  to issue a proclamation, calling a Parliament. From Chester he was

  taken on towards London. At Lichfield he tried to escape by

  getting out of a window and letting himself down into a garden; it

  was all in vain, however, and he was carried on and shut up in the

  Tower, where no one pitied him, and where the whole people, whose

  patience he had quite tired out, reproached him without mercy.

  Before he got there, it is related, that his very dog left him and

  departed from his side to lick the hand of Henry.

  The day before the Parliament met, a deputation went to this

  wrecked King, and told him that he had promised the Earl of

  Northumberland at Conway Castle to resign the crown. He said he

  was quite ready to do it, and signed a paper in which he renounced

  his authority and absolved his people from their allegiance to him.

  He had so little spirit left that he gave his royal ring to his

  triumphant cousin Henry with his own hand, and said, that if he

  could have had leave to appoint a successor, that same Henry was

  the man of all others whom he would have named. Next day, the

  Parliament assembled in Westminster Hall, where Henry sat at the

  side of the throne, which was empty and covered with a cloth of

  gold. The paper just signed by the King was read to the multitude

  amid shouts of joy, which were echoed through all the streets; when

  some of the noise had died away, the King was formally deposed.

  Then Henry arose, and, making the sign of the cross on his forehead

  and breast, challenged the realm of England as his right; the

  archbishops of Canterbury and York seated him on the throne.

  The multitude shouted again, and the shouts re-echoed throughout

  all the streets. No one remembered, now, that Richard the Second

  had ever been the most beautiful, the wisest, and the best of

  princes; and he now made living (to my thinking) a far more sorry

  spectacle in the Tower of London, than Wat Tyler had made, lying

  dead, among the hoofs of the royal horses in Smithfield.

  The Poll-tax died with Wat. The Smiths to the King and Royal

  Family, could make no chains in which the King could hang the

  people's recollection of him; so the Poll-tax was never collected.

  Page 111

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  CHAPTER XX - ENGLAND UNDER HENRY THE FOURTH, CALLED BOLINGBROKE

  DURING the last reign, the preaching of Wickliffe against the pride

  and cunning of the Pope and all his men, had made a great noise in

  England. Whether the new King wished to be in favour with the

  priests, or whether he hoped, by pretending to be very religious,

  to cheat Heaven itself into the belief that he was not a usurper, I

  don't know. Both suppositions are likely enough. It is certain

  that he began his reign by making a strong show against the

  followers of Wickliffe, who were called Lollards, or heretics -

  although his father, John of Gaunt, had been of that way of

  thinking, as he himself had been more than suspected of being. It

  is no less certain that he first established in England the

  detestable and atrocious custom, brought from abroad, of burning

  those people as a punishment for their opinions. It was the

  importation into England of one of the practices of what was called

  the Holy Inquisition: which was the most UNholy and the most

  infamous tribunal that ever disgraced mankind, and made men more

  like demons than followers of Our Saviour.

  No real right to the crown, as you know, was in this King. Edward

  Mortimer, the young Earl of March - who was only eight or nine

  years old, and who was descended from the Duke of Clarence, the

  elder brother of Henry's father - was, by succession, the real heir

  to the throne. However, the King got his son declared Prince of

  Wales; and, obtaining possession of the young Earl of March and his

  little brother, kept them in confinement (but not severely) in

  Windsor Castle. He then required the Parliament to decide what was

  to be done with the deposed King, who was quiet enough, and who

  only said that he hoped his cousin Henry would be 'a good lord' to

  him. The Parliament replied that they would recommend his being

  kept in some secret place where the people could not resort, and

  where his friends could not be admitted to see him. Henry

  accordingly passed this sentence
upon him, and it now began to be

  pretty clear to the nation that Richard the Second would not live

  very long.

  It was a noisy Parliament, as it was an unprincipled one, and the

  Lords quarrelled so violently among themselves as to which of them

  had been loyal and which disloyal, and which consistent and which

  inconsistent, that forty gauntlets are said to have been thrown

  upon the floor at one time as challenges to as many battles: the

  truth being that they were all false and base together, and had

  been, at one time with the old King, and at another time with the

  new one, and seldom true for any length of time to any one. They

  soon began to plot again. A conspiracy was formed to invite the

  King to a tournament at Oxford, and then to take him by surprise

  and kill him. This murderous enterprise, which was agreed upon at

  secret meetings in the house of the Abbot of Westminster, was

  betrayed by the Earl of Rutland - one of the conspirators. The

  King, instead of going to the tournament or staying at Windsor

  (where the conspirators suddenly went, on finding themselves

  discovered, with the hope of seizing him), retired to London,

  proclaimed them all traitors, and advanced upon them with a great

  force. They retired into the west of England, proclaiming Richard

  King; but, the people rose against them, and they were all slain.

  Their treason hastened the death of the deposed monarch. Whether

  he was killed by hired assassins, or whether he was starved to

  death, or whether he refused food on hearing of his brothers being

  killed (who were in that plot), is very doubtful. He met his death

  Page 112

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  somehow; and his body was publicly shown at St. Paul's Cathedral

  with only the lower part of the face uncovered. I can scarcely

  doubt that he was killed by the King's orders.

  The French wife of the miserable Richard was now only ten years

  old; and, when her father, Charles of France, heard of her

  misfortunes and of her lonely condition in England, he went mad:

  as he had several times done before, during the last five or six

  years. The French Dukes of Burgundy and Bourbon took up the poor

  girl's cause, without caring much about it, but on the chance of

  getting something out of England. The people of Bordeaux, who had

  a sort of superstitious attachment to the memory of Richard,

  because he was born there, swore by the Lord that he had been the

  best man in all his kingdom - which was going rather far - and

  promised to do great things against the English. Nevertheless,

  when they came to consider that they, and the whole people of

  France, were ruined by their own nobles, and that the English rule

  was much the better of the two, they cooled down again; and the two

  dukes, although they were very great men, could do nothing without

  them. Then, began negotiations between France and England for the

  sending home to Paris of the poor little Queen with all her jewels

  and her fortune of two hundred thousand francs in gold. The King

  was quite willing to restore the young lady, and even the jewels;

  but he said he really could not part with the money. So, at last

  she was safely deposited at Paris without her fortune, and then the

  Duke of Burgundy (who was cousin to the French King) began to

  quarrel with the Duke of Orleans (who was brother to the French

  King) about the whole matter; and those two dukes made France even

  more wretched than ever.

  As the idea of conquering Scotland was still popular at home, the

  King marched to the river Tyne and demanded homage of the King of

  that country. This being refused, he advanced to Edinburgh, but

  did little there; for, his army being in want of provisions, and

  the Scotch being very careful to hold him in check without giving

  battle, he was obliged to retire. It is to his immortal honour

  that in this sally he burnt no villages and slaughtered no people,

  but was particularly careful that his army should be merciful and

  harmless. It was a great example in those ruthless times.

  A war among the border people of England and Scotland went on for

  twelve months, and then the Earl of Northumberland, the nobleman

  who had helped Henry to the crown, began to rebel against him -

  probably because nothing that Henry could do for him would satisfy

  his extravagant expectations. There was a certain Welsh gentleman,

  named OWEN GLENDOWER, who had been a student in one of the Inns of

  Court, and had afterwards been in the service of the late King,

  whose Welsh property was taken from him by a powerful lord related

  to the present King, who was his neighbour. Appealing for redress,

  and getting none, he took up arms, was made an outlaw, and declared

  himself sovereign of Wales. He pretended to be a magician; and not

  only were the Welsh people stupid enough to believe him, but, even

  Henry believed him too; for, making three expeditions into Wales,

  and being three times driven back by the wildness of the country,

  the bad weather, and the skill of Glendower, he thought he was

  defeated by the Welshman's magic arts. However, he took Lord Grey

  and Sir Edmund Mortimer, prisoners, and allowed the relatives of

  Lord Grey to ransom him, but would not extend such favour to Sir

  Edmund Mortimer. Now, Henry Percy, called HOTSPUR, son of the Earl

  of Northumberland, who was married to Mortimer's sister, is

  supposed to have taken offence at this; and, therefore, in

  conjunction with his father and some others, to have joined Owen

  Glendower, and risen against Henry. It is by no means clear that

  this was the real cause of the conspiracy; but perhaps it was made

  Page 113

  Dickens, Charles - A Child's History of England

  the pretext. It was formed, and was very powerful; including

  SCROOP, Archbishop of York, and the EARL OF DOUGLAS, a powerful and

  brave Scottish nobleman. The King was prompt and active, and the

  two armies met at Shrewsbury.

  There were about fourteen thousand men in each. The old Earl of

  Northumberland being sick, the rebel forces were led by his son.

  The King wore plain armour to deceive the enemy; and four noblemen,

  with the same object, wore the royal arms. The rebel charge was so

  furious, that every one of those gentlemen was killed, the royal

  standard was beaten down, and the young Prince of Wales was

  severely wounded in the face. But he was one of the bravest and

  best soldiers that ever lived, and he fought so well, and the

  King's troops were so encouraged by his bold example, that they

  rallied immediately, and cut the enemy's forces all to pieces.

  Hotspur was killed by an arrow in the brain, and the rout was so

  complete that the whole rebellion was struck down by this one blow.

  The Earl of Northumberland surrendered himself soon after hearing

  of the death of his son, and received a pardon for all his

  offences.

  There were some lingerings of rebellion yet: Owen Glendower being

  retired to Wales, and a preposterous story being spread among the
>
  ignorant people that King Richard was still alive. How they could

  have believed such nonsense it is difficult to imagine; but they

  certainly did suppose that the Court fool of the late King, who was

  something like him, was he, himself; so that it seemed as if, after

  giving so much trouble to the country in his life, he was still to

  trouble it after his death. This was not the worst. The young

  Earl of March and his brother were stolen out of Windsor Castle.

  Being retaken, and being found to have been spirited away by one

  Lady Spencer, she accused her own brother, that Earl of Rutland who

  was in the former conspiracy and was now Duke of York, of being in

  the plot. For this he was ruined in fortune, though not put to

  death; and then another plot arose among the old Earl of

  Northumberland, some other lords, and that same Scroop, Archbishop

  of York, who was with the rebels before. These conspirators caused

  a writing to be posted on the church doors, accusing the King of a

  variety of crimes; but, the King being eager and vigilant to oppose

  them, they were all taken, and the Archbishop was executed. This

  was the first time that a great churchman had been slain by the law

  in England; but the King was resolved that it should be done, and

  done it was.

  The next most remarkable event of this time was the seizure, by

  Henry, of the heir to the Scottish throne - James, a boy of nine

  years old. He had been put aboard-ship by his father, the Scottish

  King Robert, to save him from the designs of his uncle, when, on

  his way to France, he was accidentally taken by some English

  cruisers. He remained a prisoner in England for nineteen years,

  and became in his prison a student and a famous poet.

  With the exception of occasional troubles with the Welsh and with

  the French, the rest of King Henry's reign was quiet enough. But,

  the King was far from happy, and probably was troubled in his

  conscience by knowing that he had usurped the crown, and had

  occasioned the death of his miserable cousin. The Prince of Wales,

  though brave and generous, is said to have been wild and

  dissipated, and even to have drawn his sword on GASCOIGNE, the

  Chief Justice of the King's Bench, because he was firm in dealing

  impartially with one of his dissolute companions. Upon this the

  Chief Justice is said to have ordered him immediately to prison;