630 



ENGLAND. 



^Htrtcry. ^ bitrary power. He was all his life the dupe of worthless 

 "^ ' favourites, who used his authority for the aggrandise- 

 ment of themselves, and the overthrow ofiluir enemies ; 

 and had he possessed only the talent of gaining or of 

 overawing his barons, his oppressions would have been 

 >oked, and he would have been spared his misery 

 and disgrace. His misfortunes, however, gained more 

 adherents to his family and cause, than all the meritori- 

 ous actions of his lite. 



Henry IV. As Henry had usurped die throne, to die exclusion of 

 the lawful heir, he had reason to dread a continued op- 

 position to his government. A turbulent and divided 

 aristocracy, inflamed by party zeal and personal hostility, 

 would be ever ready to rise against his authority ; and it 

 would require all his abilities and foresight to ward off the 

 dangers with which lie was surrounded. In his first 

 parliament, their fierce passions burst forth in mutual ac- 

 cusations and insults ; and traitor and liar resounded 

 from all quarters of the House. Henry had as much in- 

 fluence and address, as to prevent diese animosities from 

 being immediately attended with any serious consequen- 

 ces ; but he was unable to repress those hostile feelings 

 which they engendered, and which afterwards broke into 

 action, in continual insurrections and conspiracies against 

 A. D. 1400. himself. He was scarcely seated on the throne, when a 

 ' combination was formed among the principal nobility for 

 a?i,~fcii. seizing his person at Windsor, and replacing the crown 

 through the upon the head of Richard. But the attempt failed, through 

 jf the treachery of the Earl of Rutland, who betrayed his 

 confederates, and warned the king of his danger. The 

 conspirators came to Windsor with 500 horse, but Hen- 

 ry had withdrawn to London ; and next day appeared at 

 the head of 20,000 men. His enemies, unable to resist 

 such a force, immediately dispersed to dieir several 

 homes, in order to excite their followers to arms ; but 

 most of them were intercepted by Henry's adherents. 

 The Earls of Kent and Salisbury were taken at Ciren- 

 cester, and executed without ceremony ; the Lords Spen- 

 cer and Lumley met the same fate at Bristol ; and die 

 Earl of Huntingdon, Sir Thomas Blount, and Sir Bene- 

 dict Sely, with many others, were taken prisoners, and 

 suffered death. The infamous Rutland presented to the 

 king die head of Lord Spencer, his brother-in-law, as a 

 testimony of his loyalty. 



Though an unsuccessful rebellion in general serves only 

 to establish more firmly the dirone which it was intended 

 to overthrow; yet Henry found it difficult to shield himself 

 from the designs of his numerous enemies. Conscious of the 

 injustice of his title to die crown, hetried to soothe them 

 by conciliatory measures, rather than stimulate their re- 

 sentment by severity. Knowing also the influence which 

 pageantry and show has upon the minds of the people, he 

 caused the ceremony of his coronation to be performed 

 with all possible solemnity. A peculiar oil was used upon 

 the occasion ; and he affected the greatest humility and 

 devotion. While a subject, he was supposed to have 

 imbibed die religious principles of his father, the Duke 

 of Lancaster, who was the great patron of the Wi.-klif- 

 fites, or Lollards, in England ; but his throne now re- 

 quired the support of the clergy ; and he endeavoured, 

 by every ex|>cdieni, to strengthen himself by their influ- 

 ence. He made his faith yield to his interest, and at 

 ciu-e procured their favour, by employing his authority 

 for the suppression of those opinions which his father had 

 thought it his wisdom to encourage and protect. He ob- 

 UnU. taincd an act of parliament against them, in which it was 



Penal ita- 

 tute* against 



enacted, that if any heretic should relapse or refuse to ab Hutory. 

 jure his opinions, he should be delivered over to the civil V ""Y" - ' 

 magistrate by the church, and be committed to the flames 



e all the people. A statute, for the suppression of A - D - lt l. 

 heresy, had been surreptitiously obtained l>v the clergy 

 during the former reign, but as it had never received the 

 consent of the commons, it was never put in execution, 

 and was soon after repealed. But being now supported 

 by the king and a formal statute, they proceeded to gra- 

 tify their vengeance upon their opponents; and William 

 Sautre, rector of St Osithcs in London, was selected as 

 the first victim, who was made to atone for his erroneous 

 opinions by the penalty of fire. 



Henry, however, notwithstanding all his prudence and 

 caution, was involved in numerous inquietudes. The Incursions 

 Welsh, led on by Owen Glendour, a name revered among 

 that people even to this day, continued for several years 

 to give disturbance to his goernment ; and the Scots, 

 by their frequent incursions and devastations, kept the 

 northern counties in constant alarm. Henry, in order to A.D. 14o? 

 chastise those troublesome plunderers, assembled his ba- 

 rons and their retainers, and marched to Edinburgh 

 without meeting with any resistance. He there sum- 

 moned Robert III. to do homage for his crown ; but the 

 Scots were determined neither to submit, nor give him 

 battle, and, satisfied with this useless bravado, he mea- 

 sured back his steps to England. In the following year, 

 the Earl of Douglas passed the borders with 12,000 men, 

 and, after ravaging the country, was returning home with 

 his booty, when he was overtaken by the Percies at 

 Homeldon. A fierce battle ensued, in which tlie Scots 

 were completely routed, and Douglas, and many of the 

 Scottish nobility, fell into the hands of the victors. As 

 soon as the king was informed of this success, he com- 

 manded the Earl of Northumberland not to ransom his 

 prisoners, as he expected, by detaining them in his own 

 power, to make a more advantageous peace with Scot- 

 land. This demand was considered by that nobleman T), e j^ # 

 not only as an entrenchment upon his right of disposing N T <m!.um- 

 of his prisoners as he thought best, which was acknowled- b "lun<l re- 

 ged by the laws of war in that age, but also as an insult bds- 

 to one, who had been the means of placing him upon the 

 throne. His discontent had also been inflamed by the refu- 

 sal of Henry, to allow him to treat for the ransom of the 

 young Earl of Marche, to whom he was nearly allied, and 

 who bad been takenprisoner byGlendour. These injuries 

 determined him to withdraw his allegiance from Henry, 

 and support the claim of the Earl of Marche, the true 

 heir to the English throne. For this purpose, he enter- 

 ed into an alliance with Glendour, and received assuran- 

 ces of assistance from Douglas, whom he restored to li- 

 berty. But just when he was ready to take the field, 

 he was seized with a sudden illness at Berwick. His 

 son Harry Percy, however, took the command of tlie 

 troops, and marched to Shrewsbury to join the forces of 

 Glendour. The king fortunately had an army in readi- 

 ness, which he was about to lead against the Scots; but 

 as soon as he received intelligence of the rebellion, he has- 

 tened to Shrewsbury before the rebels could form a junc- 

 tion. Percy, impatient to engage, did not wait for the 

 Welsh; and the night before the battle, he sent a mani- 

 festo to Henry, wherein, after charging him with perjury, 

 usurpation, and tyranny, he renounced his allegiance, and 

 set the king at defiance. The two armies were nearly 

 equal in numbers, being about 12,000 strong; and their 

 commanders were both renowned for their military at- 



