Biography of Jean Creton Chronicler -1420

The Deposition of King Richard II. Then replied the earl, "Sire, let the body of our Lord be consecrated. I will swear that there is no deceit in this affair; and that the duke will observe the whole as you have heard me relate it here." Each of them devoutly heard mass:^u then the earl without farther hesitation made oath upon the body of our Lord. Alas! his blood must have turned (at it), for he well knew to the contrary; yet would he take the oath,^w as you have heard, for the accomplishment of his desire, and the performance of that which he had promised to the duke, who had sent him to the king.

Note u. The translator, in the course of his enquiries, not long since took this metrical history and compared it upon the spot with the castle of Conway. There he recognised the venerable arch of the eastern window of the chapel still entire, where must have stood the altar at which this mass was performed, when the fatal oath was taken. The chapel, in which Richard conferred with his friends, is at the eastern extremity of the hall.

Note w. Unfortunately this is not a solitary instance of such abominable depravity. Sir Emeric of Pavia, Captain of the castle of Calais, in 22 Edw. III swore upon the sacrament to Lord Geoffry Charney that he would deliver up that castle to him for 20,000 crowns of gold: but he communicated the secret to the King of England, and the French were foiled in their attempt. "A thing," says Barnes, "scarce credible among Christians;" though he obscurely adduces another case of the same nature in his own time. Too many more might be found to add to the melancholy list. It must be admitted that the abuse of absolution by the church perniciously weakened the effect of such bonds of conscience, and encouraged the crime; but some periods seem more particularly infected with these blots upon the page of history; and certainly the age in which the metrical history was written had been profligate in the highest degree, with regard to what Lydgate calls, "assured othes at fine untrewe."

Richard and Bolingbroke appear to have been both guilty of this species of perjury. The first is accused with having broken a corporeal oath, in the instance of his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and one of another description sworn to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Carte, ever ready to vindicate the king at all hazards, treats these accusations with contempt. "The substance of the charge," he says, "is either false, trifling, or impertinent." But it is easier to deny than to disprove: he has not attempted to make it clear that the allegations are untrue; and unless he could have done it, they can never be looked upon as "trifling or impertinent." They came indeed from Richard's enemies, who stuck at nothing which could blacken his character, or make him appear unworthy of his exalted station; but there is much in his own conduct which might dispose an impartial person to suspect, that these are not aspersions that could easily have been refuted, even at the time in which they were advanced. It may be inferred that he had imbibed no serious impressions of the solemnity of oaths from the levity of an observation made by him at the installation of Scroope, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, August 9, 1386. After that prelate had sworn to be faithful to the church according to the prescribed form, the king, in the hearing of all present, and apparently, as the Lichfield historian represents it, in the most idle manner observed to him, Certe, domini, magnum præstitisti juramentum [Truly, my lords, you have sworn a great oath.]. Without the slightest wish to overstrain the bearing of these words for the establishment of a point, I cannot but consider that they clearly admit of the interpretation which has been assigned to them.

Henry of Lancaster was also manifestly perjured as to the oaths upon the sacrament which he took at Doncaster and Chester, to assure the public of the unambitious views with which he designed to carry on his proceedings. If charity might incline us at first to believe, with Daniel,

"That then his oath with his intent agreed;"

a closer investigation of his temper and behaviour from his first setting foot on shore to his calling together the parliament, shews that his mind was bent upon a higher aim. The challenge of the Percys sent to him before the battle of Shrewsbury, and Scroope's manifesto tax him with perjury in the most unqualified manner.

The grossest perjury was lightly thought of, and unblushingly committed in England. The citizens of Lincoln were notorious for it; and the biographer of Spencer, Bishop of Norwich, commends him for the steps that he took to expel it from the courts of inquest. and assize in his diocese. Sir Roger Fulthorpe, one of the judges, was guilty of this offence; and all the members, peers, clergy, and commons, of the vindictive parliament of 1397, swore to observe every judgment, ordinance, and declaration made therein; and were afterwards as little mindful of their obligation as if it had never been entered into. "What reliance could be placed on such oaths," says Lingard, "it is difficult to conceive. Of the very men who now swore, the greater part had sworn the contrary ten years before; and as they violated that oath now, so did they violate the present before two years more had elapsed."

Not a little of this general depravity may be attributable, I fear, to the evil example and arbitrary authority of the king; who, when he found his power declining, more than ever adopted this injurious mode of securing the obedience of his subjects. At that time, as it is found at all other times, the frequent requirement of these sacred pledges lessened the respect due to them; and whether they were by the cross of Canterbury, or the shrine of Saint Edward, the Holy Evangelists, or the body of our Lord, they produced little or no impression; or they were deliberately undertaken with mental reservation, and rendered subservient to the purpose of the day.

Illustration 12. Jean Creton Chronicler. Henry Percy 1st Earl of Northumberland (age 57) swearing an oath in the Chapel of Conwy Castle [Map] with King Richard II of England (age 32), in black and red, looking on.

In 1420 Jean Creton Chronicler died.