Chronicle of the Betrayal of Richard II

Chronicle of the Betrayal of Richard II is in Late Medieval Books.

17th September 1397. It was the Sunday before the day of the Holy Cross in September, when King Richard entered London, and all the other nobles of the kingdom with him; and on the morrow began the great Parliament, which the King opened by complaining of the government of those lords¹, and that they had deprived him of the crown in his youth, and that the Queen was three hours on her knees interceding for one of her knights, named John of Burley², Jwho, notwithstanding, was beheaded; which Earl answered the Queen, 'My friend, pray for yourself and for your husband ; you had much better³.'

Note 1. The thirteen commissioners, ail of Gloucester's faction, who with the Archbishop of York held the reins of government after the King had attained his majority. (Hume.)

Note 2. The party intended is evidently Sir Simon Burley, Richard's tutor during his minority. At the same time it should be stated, that mention is made of a j Sir John Burley being associated with the poet Chaucer in some secret business, for which he received £13. 6s. 8d., 23rd Dec. 1376. (Issue Roll, Michs. 51 | Edw. III.) I know not whelher it was another party, or whether Sir Simon Burley is there misnamed. Sir Simon Burley was a K. G., Governor of Windsor Castle, "W'arden of the Cinque Ports, and Vice-chamberlain, Nov. 3, 1382. He was often employed in public embassies, and was the persoual friend of Froissart.

Note 3. I am much inclined to think that the version of MS. Y is the correct one, and that the intercessor was the widow of the Black Prince. It is not a valid objection to urge that her husband was dead; for, as a Roman Catholic, she could still pray for him. She would be more likely to be interested in the tutor of her son than even the 'good Queen Anne.' Dr. Vaughan, in his Life of Wycliffe, (a work of extensive research,) characterises her (ii. 157) as * a female whose intellectual character, and known solicitude for the tranquility of the nation, seemed to authorize that interference with the disputes of the period which is not unfrequent in her history.' It was owing to her interposition by Sir Lewis Clifford that no definite sentence was passed on Wycliffe by the Synod at Lambeth; and on another occasion she delegated Sir Simon Burley, with Sir Alfred Lewes, and the same Sir Lewis Clifford, to terminate a dispute between the Londoners and the Duke of Lancaster; when the Londoners answered, that 'they for the honour of the Princess would obey, and do with ail reverence what she would require (Fox's Acts and Monuments, i. 559.) In the 8th of Richard she travelled incessantly between Pomfret Castle and London to reconcile the Duke of Lancaster and Richard, notwithstanding she was both corpulent and in years. (Sir J. Hayward.)

In Rymer, 12th June 1385, I find the appointment of four parties 'to attend upon the person of our very dear mother the Queen, wherever in our kingdom she may wish to go for her comfort and security.' I may perhaps be allowed to add, that Queen Anne possessed the Gospel written in Bohemian, German, and Latin; and Archbp. Arundel remarked that 'she studied the four GospeIs constantly in English, examined by the expositions of the doctors; and in the study of these, and reading of godly books, she was more diligent than even the preIates themselves.' She appears to have imbibed the spirit of a pure Christianily froni Matthias Janovius, a native of Prague, and had several attendants who participated in lier religions feelings. (Fox, Acts, &c., and the History of the Bohemian Persecution, from the beginning of their conversion to Christianity in the year 894, to the year 1632, as quoted by Dr. Vaughan.)

I believe it is not generally known that a translation of the Old Testament into the French language was made as early as the year 1377, by Raoul de Presles, 'maître du requestre du Roi Charles.' It still exists. The MS. is in three volumes folio, two of them being at Paris, and one at Grenoble. (Vie des Ducs d'Orléans, par Champollion, i. 149.)

The greatest charge laid to good Queen Anne is that of Stow. 'Since the 5th of Richard II.,' says he, ' (when he took to wife Anne, daughter of Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia,) by her example the English people had used piked shoes to their knees, with silken laces or chains of silver and gilt.' (Survey of London, B. 200.) In the following reign the length of these pikes was restrained by statute.

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Epiphany Rising

[13th January 1400]. When the court of justice was over at Oxford, and Sir Thomas Blount was put to death, King Henry sent the Earl of Rutland and Sir Thomas Erpingham to seize the Lord Despencer (age 26) who was [formerly] Earl of Gloucester,¹ who took him and beheaded him; and the Earl of Rutland sent his head also to London.

Note 1. Thomas Despencer, son of Edward Lord Despencer, although he excused himself for the part he had taken on the plea of compulsion (Rot. Pari. iii. 451), was yet degraded from his title of Earl of Gloucester by Henry in his first Parliament. He escaped over the roofs of some houses at Cirencester, and fled to his castle of Cardilf. Hearing that King Henry had despatched a party to bring him to London, willing or unwilling, he disposed his affairs in the best manner he could, and, taking with him his jewels, entered a boat in the Severn; but, when they had reached the middle of the river, the captain refused to carry him anywhere but to Bristol. An altercation then commenced; twenty armed men, concealed in the hold, rushed upon deck; he defended himself manfully, and wounded some of the sailors, but was overpowered, and carried to the mayor of Bristol. Henry wished to hâve had an interview with him before he was put to death; but the second day after his capture the people cried out, 'Bring forth the traitors!' and, the mayor having failed to appease them, he was beheaded before the market-cross. His body was buried in the choir at Tewkesbury. (Monk of Evesham,Cotton. MS.TiberiusC. ix.) Henry gave to William Flaxman the cloak of motley velvet and furred damask which Lord Despencer wore when he was captured. (Rot. Pat. 1 Hen. IV. p. 5. m. 8.)

[15th January 1400]. The Duke of Exeter Earl of Huntingdon (age 48), King Richard's brother, and Sir Thomas Shelley,¹ a worthy knight, who had been his steward of the household, fled into Essex, into a small town where dwelt the Countess of Hereford, the sister of the late Earl of Arundel, who had been beheaded in the great Parliament; and they went to lodge in the house where they had been accustomed to stop when they went that way;² and the Countess, having received information that the Earl of Hantingdon had arrived, ordered the constable of the town to collect secretly ail the townsmen to seize him and all his people, for she wished to take vengeance upon him for the cause of her brother. The constable accordingly did as he was commanded, and captured the Earl of Huntingdon, as well as bis knight and bis butler, of the name of Hugb Cade. The greater part of the knights and esquires of the Earl's army were taken here and there in different parts of the country, for they did not know which way to turn nor where to go.

Note 1. The Earl of Huntingdon made several attempts to escape with his followcrs by sea to France, But was always driven back by stress of woathcr. (Sir J. Hayward, Life of Henry IV.) Richard had given to Sir Thomas Shelley the goods and chattels of Roger Nele of Toppesham, forfeited to him. (Rot. Pat. 20 Rie. II. p. 1. 23rd Oct.) After his execution, Henry gave the mayor of London two of Sir Thomas Shelley's mantles, with doublets of red velvet, &c. (Rot. Claus. 1 Hen. IV. 14th April.)

Note 2. The Earl was captured at the house of John Pritelwell or Pritewell, at Pritelwell, Essex, on the Thames, and was thence taken by the people of the country to the Countess of Hereford at Pleshey. (See Appendix A.) Walsingham says, he was taken on the festival of St. Maur (Jan. 15th) towards evening. It does not appear whether the Countess had Henry's order for the exécution of the Earl. Sir Harris Nicolas quotes William of Malmesbury to prove that the ancient Earls had a power of legislation within their counties (Life of Chaucer, i. 157); and as late as the reign of Henry the Sixth we find the great Earls beheadiug prisoners taken in battle. But an order of council was issued by Henry to stop such irregular proceediugs,and to bring the parties offending to justice. The following is the reason stated: "Considering that the commons of the country, on account of the destruction of the Earls of Kent, of Salisbury, and of Huntingdon, and of the Lord le Despencer, and other traitors to the King, have become so proud, that they fear not to put to death of their own will many of the King's lieges without process of law." (Minutes of Council, Feb. 1400.) Henry gave the goods and chattels of the Earl to Richard Spicer of Plymoulh, and others. (Rot. Claus. 30th INLir. 1 Hen. IV.) No less than eleven commissioners were appointed to take into the King's lands the property of the Earls of Kent and Salisbury, Sir Ralph Lunley, and Sir Thomas Blount. (Pell of Issue Rolls, Jan, 1400.)

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[After 15th January 1400]. The Countess (age 53)¹ sent a letter to King Henry to acquaint him that she had seized the Earl of Huntingdon (age 48), and to beg him to send his cousin of Arundel to take vengeance upon him for the death of his father, for she was determined to hâve him drawn and hung. Then the King sent the Earl of Arundel thither, and said, "Cousin, go to your aunt, and fetch the prisoners dead or alive." When the Earl of Arundel arrived at the town where the Earl of Huntingdon was taken, he found there his aunt, and eight thousand or more of the villeins of the country, before whom his aunt had led forth the Earl of Huntingdon to put him to death; and there was not one of the villeins present who did not take compassion on him.

Note 1. Joan, widow of Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford, Lord Constable of England, mother of Mary de Bohun, the first wife of Henry IV, who died in 1394. This extraordinary woman, sister to the Earl of Arundel executed by Richard (age 33), and to the Archbishop of Canterbury (age 47) whom he had banished, and mother to Aleanora Duchess of Gloucester, was completely identified by ail the ties of relationship with Henry and his party. Imbued with the feelings of chivalry, she, like our Queen Philippa, the Countess of Salisbury, and some others, was equal, in case of emergency, to daring exploits at the heads of armies. (See Froissart, i. 77, 81, 134,137, 139.) Humanity, in its nobler meauing, was, however, without the circle of the sympathies of chivalry. She appears to have acted a mother's part to Henry's children after they had lost their natural protector. Henry V. bequeathed to Thomas Bishop of Durham 'the missal and portophoriuin which we had of the gift of our dear grandmother the Countess of Hereford.' He also bequeathed her 'a gold cyphus.' But she did not survive him. She died on the 7th of April 1416. [Note. Most sources give her death in 1419.]

After the Earl of Arundel had alighted, and saluted his aunt, he said to the Earl of Huntingdon, 'Sir, what say you? Do not you repent that by your counsel you were the cause of my father being put to death, — that you hâve so long retained my possessions, and bave so badly governed my sister? And from sheer poverty I was obliged to leave the kingdom secretly, and to dwell abroad, where I should bave starved if it had not been for my cousin the Count of Gueldres. Rascal! do you not remember that I hâve many a time taken ofF and blacked your shoes when you were an esquire, and you behaved to me as if I had been your drudge? But now I will be well revenged for ail this, and for the spite which your lord and master and you bave sbewn to my sister and me.¹

Note 1. To the Earl of Huntingdon had been committed by Richard the custody of the young Earl of Arundel. He, however, managed to escape to the Continent. (See note, p. 160.)