give his archers a decided advantage, and awaited the king's coming. On his side, Henry, though he had an army at least as large as Hotspur's, was by no means eager to fight, but made every effort to induce the rebels to agree to an accommodation. His efforts, however, were fruitless; and on July 21 he gave the order for attack. A most obstinate battle was the result. The struggle began at noon: it did not close till nightfall. Seven thousand men are said to have fallen, and the struggle was probably more severe than any battle on English soil since Northallerton and Hastings. The result, however, was a complete victory for Henry. Hotspur fell in the thick of the fight, and the earls of Worcester and Douglas were taken prisoners. Two days after the battle, the earl of Worcester and two Cheshire gentlemen were executed for treason, and, as a proof of Hotspur's death, his head was exposed for a month on London Bridge.

Submission of Northumberland.

Henry seems to have been really grieved by Hotspur's fate, and did all he could to avoid the slaughter of another battle. Fortunately, the aged earl of Northumberland had been completely cowed by his son's death. On August 11 he met Henry at York, surrendered his person, and agreed to all the stipulations made by the king for the security of peace. Henry then marched to Worcester, to see what could be done against Owen. The depredations of that chieftain were at least as audacious as ever; but he had no force in the field that could be regarded as a regular army, and Henry experienced exactly the same trouble in dealing with his guerilla troops as had twice before defeated his efforts. In these circumstances nothing could be done but to keep up as far as possible the garrisons of the border castles, and to wait till the insurrection died out. The process, however, was excessively slow; and Owen's power was a thorn in Henry's side till the day of his death. After 1407, however, the actual business of dealing with him was left to the Prince of Wales, who acquired on the Welsh borders the military experience which afterwards served him in such good stead. Within six months of his surrender, the earl of Northumberland was restored to liberty and his estates; but Henry's kindly attempt to give his old friend a chance of making a fresh start met with little gratitude. Nothing could stop the earl from intriguing; and in 1405 another conspiracy was formed between him and Conspiracy of Mowbray Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham, son of the late duke and Scrope. of Norfolk, and Richard le Scrope, archbishop of York, brother of Lord Scrope of Masham, and a kinsman of the earl of Wiltshire (see page 291), The rebels, with 8000 men, were met on Shipton Moor, near York, by the king's third son John, afterwards the great

duke of Bedford, and by Northumberland's old rival, Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland. In some negotiations which passed between the leaders, Scrope stated their case against the king, accusing him of getting the crown by treachery and false promises, of conniving at Richard's murder, of illegally putting both clergy and laity to death, and generally of causing the destruction and misery of the country. He demanded a free parliament, a reduction of taxation, and the vigorous prosecution of the war against the Welsh. Reform, not revolution, seems to have been Scrope's desire, and no suggestion of March's claim seems to have been made. Though Mowbray had certainly been privy to an abortive attempt just made to release the Mortimers, Westmorland promised to lay their demands before the king, and on this assurance the rebel soldiers dispersed. Of this advantage was immediately taken to arrest Mowbray and Scrope. This time Henry showed no mercy; and, after the bare semblance of a trial, both prisoners were beheaded. No such public execution of a bishop had ever yet taken place in England. The audacity of the act seems to have struck universal horror; miracles were soon reported to be worked at the tomb, and an illness with which Henry was subsequently affected was generally believed to be a judgment for his crime.

Meanwhile, Northumberland and Lord Bardolph had made their way north and escaped across the border; while Henry seized Alnwick, Prudhoe, and Cockermouth, and other Percy strongholds. There they vainly attempted to gain Albany's assistance, and, failing, made their way to Owen in Wales, and thence visited France and Flanders. At length, in 1407, they again returned to Scotland, and having crossed the border with some Scottish troops, were joined by a few of Northumberland's former tenants. Yorkshire, however, was against them; and Sir Thomas Rokeby, the sheriff, at the head of the posse-comitatus, put them to rout at Bramham Moor, near Tadcaster. Northumberland perished on the field; Bardolph was mortally wounded; Bramham and the long struggle between Henry and the barons was virtually at an end. About the same time, though Owen was still at large, he ceased to be formidable. A French force, which landed at Milford Haven in 1406, found almost as poor entertainment on the Welsh mountains as Henry himself, and returned home in disgust; and after this effort the war gradually died out, though the fidelity of his countrymen enabled Owen himself to preserve his freedom till his death, which occurred several years after that of Henry himself.

Battle of

Moor.

The prolonged struggle with Owen and the Scots, the rebellion of the Percies, coupled with the constant anxiety about money matters, made

Difficulties

Henry's throne no enviable seat during the first eight years of his reign; and no one but a man of first-rate ability and of iron resolution could have battled through his difficulties. As it was, the of Henry's victory of Bramham found Henry, though only forty-one years Position. of age, a worn-out and enfeebled man; and the last six years of his reign, though a period of comparative peace as far as external affairs were concerned, were passed by him in a constant struggle against a debilitating and wearisome disease.

In other respects, however, fortune was kind, and two strokes of luck relieved him from anxiety on the score of Scotland and France. For years Robert III. had been only in name a king-wandering from one abbey to another, a mere looker-on at the proceedings of his strong and energetic brother, the duke of Albany. At length Albany seized Robert's eldest son, the duke of Rothesay, and starved him to death in Falkland Castle. In 1406 the poor king despatched his second son James, then about twelve years old, to France. On his voyage, while becalmed off Flamborough Head, his ship was boarded by some English seamen, and James was taken to Henry's court. Delighted to possess a further hostage for the good behaviour of the Scots, for Murdoch, Albany's eldest son, was already in his hands, Henry caused the boy to be carefully guarded at Windsor; but gave him an excellent education, and the nineteen years passed by James in England were probably the happiest, and certainly the most peaceful, of his life.

Capture of James of Scotland.

The Burgundians and

Armagnacs.

In France a struggle was taking place, not unlike the English Wars of the Roses, where the government of the country during the incapacity of the imbecile king Charles vI., was the prize contended for by John, duke of Burgundy, the king's cousin, and Louis, duke of Orleans, his brother. This civil contest made foreign war impossible, and Henry had merely to watch his opportunity, and prevent the weaker side from being overwhelmed by the other. In 1407 the duke of Orleans was murdered in the streets of Paris; but the quarrel was kept up by his son Louis, whose father-in-law, the count of Armagnac, was so powerful that the name of Armagnacs was frequently given to the whole Orleanist or southern party. The first duke of Orleans had made himself a personal enemy of Henry IV., so the English influence generally inclined to support the Burgundians, even after the murder of Orleans. In 1411 a considerable force was sent to their aid; but in 1412, finding the cause of the Armagnacs failing, Henry transferred his assistance to them, and in this way peace was secured at the price of consistency.

Government.

The real interest, however, of the reign of Henry IV. lies not in the national aspirations of the Welsh, or the rebellions of the Percies, or the fighting in Scotland, or the intrigues in France, but in the Constitufact that Henry IV., as representative of the constitutional tional ideas of the Lancastrian party, was honestly trying to govern as a parliamentary sovereign. In this respect, as well as in others, a profitable comparison might be instituted between him and William III. Both were compelled to engage in long and not very successful wars; both were confronted by a rival supported by a powerful party; both were extremely badly off; and both had to deal with parliaments determined to use the king's necessities for the advancement of their own rights.

Throughout the whole reign, finance was Henry's great difficulty. His normal income amounted to rather over £100,000 a year; made up of £50,000 yielded by the 'great custom' on wool and the Financial 'small customs' on other articles, and the remainder from Difficulties. the crown lands, feudal dues, fines, forfeitures, annual payments for charters, and a practically annual grant of fifteenths and tenths. During the first year of his reign, which included the putting down of the rising of the earls and the expedition to Scotland, his income was £109,249, his expenses £109,006, leaving a balance in hand of £243. As time went on, however, things grew worse. The expenses of the Welsh war alone were enormous; a large force had constantly to be kept on foot; castles to be garrisoned and kept in repair. Even in time of peace Calais cost £18,000; while the six great castles of North Wales: Conway, Carnarvon, Criccieth, Harlech, Denbigh, and Beaumaris, consumed over £5000, to say nothing of some fifty smaller strongholds, each of which required its garrison. The expenses connected with the restoration of Richard's widow, Isabella, accounted for £8000. Money was also needed for Guienne, for Ireland, for the Scottish border; and, year after year, Henry had to tell his officers and his parliament that the exchequer was empty, and that he had no idea where money was to be got.

In these circumstances, any attempt to govern without reference to the wishes of parliament would obviously have been futile; but Henry

Influence.

was on principle a constitutional ruler, and had no desire Parliato revert to the arbitrary practice of his predecessor. mentary Accordingly, we find him carrying into practice the principle so often enunciated, that the king's ministers should be a body possessing the confidence of parliament. For example, in 1404 the king, at the request of the commons, named twenty-two members of parliament to be his great and continuous council; and changes in its composition

were made at the request of the commons in 1408 and 1410, throwing upon the council the responsibility of government, just as a constitutional sovereign would now do; and in 1406, when complaints were made of the inefficiency of government, Henry's reply was that he would ask the council to do its best. Equally complete was the control of parliament over finance. The expenses of the royal household were regulated again and again, and various sums, ranging from about £7000 to £12,000 a year, were assigned for its maintenance, an arrangement which anticipates the modern Civil List. In spite of some reluctance on Henry's part, the commons were permitted to name auditors to inspect the national accounts, and taxation without consent of parliament was not even imagined. Little less striking was the advance made by the House of Commons. Regular sessions, one even extending over one hundred and fifty-nine days, consolidated the corporate feeling of the members and accustomed them to act together. The paramount importance of finance increased the power of the commons. Being the poorer house, its votes were a fair test of the taxation which the nation was able to bear, and in 1407 the constitutional practice was made definite by a declaration of the king. For the future no report about money grants was to be made by either house till both were agreed, and then the report was invariably to be made through the Speaker of the House of Commons. The adoption of such constitutional principles and practice make the relations between Henry IV. and his parliaments quite unique in the history of the middle ages.

One cause which decidedly aided Henry to maintain his position was the unvarying support he received from the church, as a body, under the Support of leadership of archbishop Arundel. The church, indeed, had the Church. need to walk warily. The Lollard movement-particularly the non-doctrinal part of it, directed against the position and wealth of the clergy-had, for almost a generation, been undermining their position; while the papal schism, which had followed the return of the popes from Avignon, had deprived them of any effective support from the holy see. Consequently, they were compelled to rely on the king, and a sovereign at once so orthodox and so constitutional as Henry became their natural ally. We, therefore, find the great ecclesiastics, such as Arundel and Beaufort, ready to advance money for the royal necessities, and the general body of the clergy making no objection to the severe taxation which Henry's difficulties entailed. From time to time, indeed, the grumbling of the commons reminded the clergy of the insecurity of their tenure. On several occasions it was suggested that the whole revenue of the clergy might be impounded for a year; and in 1410 the