ENGLAND. 



629 



History. 



Invade* 

 England, 



merit, of having spoken slanderous words against the 

 king. Norfolk denied the charge, and offered to prove 

 his innocence by duel. The challenge was accepted 

 by Hereford ; and the lists were prepared at Coventry 

 before the king and a committee of parliament. The 

 combatants appeared in the field, and, after the usual 

 ceremonies, were about to engage, when Richard inter- 

 posed, and, without farther enquiry, ordered them both 

 to leave the kingdom. Norfolk was banished for life, 

 and Hereford for ten years; the one without being 

 convicted of any crime, the other without even being 

 charged with one. This decision produced general 

 disapprobation. Norfolk was so overwhelmed with grief 

 and despondence at the judgment awarded against him, 

 that he died soon after at Venice of a broken heart. 

 Hereford's conduct was more temperate and submis- 

 sive ; and he behaved with such respect before the 

 king, that Richard remitted four years of his exile, 

 and granted him letters patent, by which he could take 

 possession of any inheritance that might fall to him 

 during his absence. 



Hereford retired to Paris, where he met with a fa- 

 vourable reception from the French king, and soon 

 after entered into a treaty of marriage with the cousin 

 of that monarch, the only daughter of the Duke of 

 Berry. This alliance, however, excited the jealousy of 

 Richard, who resolved to prevent it, and dispatched 

 the Earl of Salisbury to represent the exiled Duke as a 

 person guilty of treasonable practices, and who would 

 never be allowed to return to his native country. The 

 resentment of Hereford, which he had hitherto endea- 

 voured to conceal, now burst forth ; and it was aggra- 

 vated by new ii'juries. On the death of his father, the 

 Duke of Lancaster, Richard revoked the letters patent 

 which he had given him, and seized upon his inheri- 

 tance. This determined the Duke to seek justice, and 

 attempt the recovery of his possessions by force of 

 arms ; and he now, perhaps for the first time, cherish- 

 ed the thought of aspiring to the crown of England. 

 He was generally beloved, both on account of his piety 

 and valour ; and all ranks had exclaimed against his ba- 

 nishment. He was also possessed of great prudence 

 and firmness, and was connected by blood or alliance 

 with the noblest families in England. The king, on 

 the contrary, was universally hated. His total disre- 

 gard of justice, and of the public welfare, had estranged 

 from him the affections of his people ; and his weak- 

 ness and effeminacy had excited their contempt. Their 

 minds were now ripe for a revolution ; and while 

 Richard was indulging himself in careless security, his 

 throne was tottering to its fall. Unmindful of his pre- 

 carious situation, he imprudently undertook an expedi- 

 tion to Ireland, to revenge the death of his cousin the 

 Karl of Marche, who had been killed in a skirmish with 

 the native Irish. Hereford, who had now become 

 Duke of Lancaster, taking advantage of his absence, 

 came over to England with a few followers; and on his 

 arrival at Havenspur in Yorkshire, was immediately 

 joined by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmore- 

 land, bef'ore whom he took an oath, that his sole object 

 wa to recover the duchy of Lancaster, which had been 

 so unjustly withheld from him. This reasonable de- 

 mand was seconded by his numerous friends, and all 

 the malcontents of the kingdom ; and before he reach- 

 ed the capital, his army had swelled to 60,000 men. 



The Duke of York, who had been left guardian of 

 the realm, and had collected an army of 40,000 men, 

 found his troops very little disposed to resist die re- 



History. 



and is. join- 

 ed by the 

 Duke of 

 York. 



Richard is 

 taken pri- 

 soner, 

 A. D. 1399. 



tried be- 

 fore Par- 

 liament, 



bels, and being at the same time intreated by Lancaster, 

 not to oppose his moderate request, he joined him 

 with all his forces. When the king received intelli- 

 gence of this invasion, he hastened to England, and 

 landed at Milford haven with 20,000 troops ; but he 

 had not proceeded far, when this army was diminished 

 by desertion to 6000. Finding himself thus forsaken, 

 and exposed to the insults of an enraged people, he 

 privately withdrew from his army, and fled to the isle of 

 Anglesea, where he intended to embark for France. 

 Lancaster, aware of his danger should the king escape, 

 prevailed upon him, by professions of loyalty and sub- 

 mission, to trust himself in his power ; but he had no 

 sooner got possession of his person, than he prepared 

 to usurp his throne. He carried him to London amidst 

 the shouts of the multitude, who every where exclaim- 

 ed, " Long live the good Duke of Lancaster, our deli- 

 verer !" and immediately issued writs of election in the 

 king's name, for a meeting of parliament at Westminster. 



The House of Commons had as yet but too little 

 weight in the constitution to be able to controul the 

 violence of a powerful faction ; and had generally ad- 

 hered to the interests of the prevailing party. Lancas- 

 ter consequently found them most obsequious to his 

 wishes, and ready to second him in all his pretensions. 

 The peers were equally at his devotion ; and when a 

 charge, consisting of thirty-three articles, was drawn up 

 against the king, accusing him of tyranny and mis- 

 conduct, it was received with universal approbation. 

 Though every article of it was liable to objections, it was 

 neither examined nor disputed in either House. The 

 Bishop of Carlisle alone stood up in defence of his un- 

 happy master ; among other things, he represented to 

 the parliament, that the misconduct of Richard had 

 arisen entirely from the errors of youth or misguided 

 council ; and that his tyranny, if it might be so called, 

 was the consequence of a rebellious disposition in his 

 subjects, which obliged him to establish his throne by 

 irregular and arbitrary expedients. If his deposition 

 was demanded, the son of Mortimer, Earl of Marche, 

 who had been formerly recognised as his successor by 

 the Parliament, was the rightful heir to the throne; and 

 however unworthy of reigning Richard might have 

 rendered himself by his weakness or his vices, the same 

 reasons could not be advanced for excluding him. The 

 noble freedom of this virtuous prelate, however, was 

 received with marked disapprobation. He was imme- 

 diately arrested by order of Lancaster, and conveyed a 

 prisoner to the abbey of St Albans. The sentence of deposed, 

 deposition was then unanimously passed against Rich- , 



arc! ; and the Duke of Lancaster was raised to the 

 throne by the title of Henry IV. 



Richard was committed a close prisoner to Pomfret 

 castle, and was soon after murdered. The manner of 

 his death, however, has not been precisely ascertained. 

 It was the prevailing opinion that his guards, to the 

 number of eight, rushed into his apartment, and fell 

 upon him with their halberts; but that the king, wrest- 

 ing a weapon from one of them, laid four of the assas- 

 sins dead at his feet before he was overpowered and 

 dispatched. Others relate, that he was starved to death 

 in prison ; and that after all sustenance was denied ^ m 

 him, he prolonged his wretched existence for a fort- Ji crc d. 

 night, by feeding on the flocks of his bed. Thus died 

 the unfortunate Richard, in the 34th year of his age, 

 and 23d of his reign. Hi errors were of the head ra- 

 ther than of the heart ; and his oppressions proceeded 

 more from want of judgment than trom any love of ar- 



