THE LANCASTRIAN DYNASTY

CONSISTED OF THREE KINGS, WHO REIGNED

FROM 1399 TO 1461 A.D.-62 YEARS.

HENRY THE FOURTH, SURNAMED BOLINGBROKE.

Eldest son of John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III. Born A.D. 1367. Crowned 1399 Married, firstly, Mary de Bohun, daughter of the Earl of Hereford, secondly, Jane, daughter of Charles, King of Navarre. Died 1413. Buried at Canterbury.

SUMMARY.

THE throne having been rendered vacant by the forced abdication of Richard, the question of a successor at once occupied the attention of Parliament, and they were

about to consider the validity of the claims advanced by different aspirants, when Lancaster declared that none possessed so great a right as himself. Being supported by a considerable army, his claim was admitted, and he ascended the throne under the title of Henry IV. Parliament

decided that Richard should be detained a state prisoner, Pontefract castle being named as his place of residence.

Henry had not been many months King when he realised the truth of those lines attributed to him by our immortal Shakespeare:

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

Mortimer, Earl of March, the real heir to the crown after Richard, resided on the borders of Wales, and early in 1400 a formidable confederacy was entered into by his turbulent neighbours for the purpose of placing him on the throne of his ancestors.

Nor were the Welsh the only subjects of Henry who were dissatisfied with his usurpation, for many powerful nobles conspired to restore the dethroned King. The Earls of Kent, Salisbury, and Huntingdon, were at the head of this scheme, some promoters of which believed that in order to its success it was necessary for Richard to lead their forces in person. As he was in captivity at Pontefract, this was impossible, but one Maudlin, a priest, said to bear a close resemblance to the

ELECTED KING.

displaced Monarch, was procured to personate him. Wherever he appeared, the impostor was received with enthusiasm, and the temper of the people having been thus tried, the confederates prepared to commence open hostilities.

They proclaimed a tournament to be held at Oxford, at which Henry was to be seized, and Richard proclaimed. Their plans faving been, however, revealed by the Earl of Rutland, whom they had admitted to their councils, Henry, instead of proceeding to Oxford, flew to London, where his popularity was undoubted, raised the train-bands, and marched to Kingston-onThames. In the meantime, after an abortive attempt upon Windsor, the rebels retired to Cirencester, where they were attacked by some

partisans of the King and defcated. The Earls of Kent, Salisbury, and Huntingdon were beheaded, and the priest Maudlin, after having been exposed in the pillory, was hanged.

Henry had now good reason for believing that while his unhappy prisoner existed, there would be neither safety for himself nor peace for his country, and, although the King solemnly denied all knowledge of the act, Richard the Second was barbarously murdered at Pontefract.

HELMETS, 1400.

Henry's enemies appeared to be now exterminated, but yet he reigned alone on sufferance, no party being enthusiastic in his cause; it is, therefore, not surprising that he should have endeavoured to attach the influence of the clergy to his support, and, with this object, he courted them by direct and indirect means. The Lollards, or followers of John Wycliffe, were rapidly increasing, so much so, that their growing numbers and power caused considerable alarm to the orthodox clergy. Henry, believing that persecution of the new sect would be pleasing to those whose support he wished to gain, caused the most severe and cruel laws

to be enacted against the Lollards, and William Sautre, rector of St. Osyth's, was burnt for professing the reformed faith.

But the King quickly found he had not yet secured immunity from conspiracies; in 1401 he was again defied by the Welsh, under Owen Glendower, a man, whose name even to this day, is remembered in Wales with affectionate respect.

In this year was fought the often sung battle of Otterburn, between Lord Douglas and the Percies of Northumberland. Douglas's party was defeated, the leader and many chieftians who fought under his banner being taken prisoners. Now it was the custom of the age to hold prisoners of war to ransom, but Henry dispatched messengers to the Earl of Northumberland, desiring that, in the present instance, the Douglas, should be detained in captivity. Negociations ensued, but the King refused to alter his purpose, and the powerful house of Percy prepared for civil war.

In 1402 a treaty was made between the Percies and Owen Glendower, by the conditions of which a large body of the northern chivalry marched across the kingdom to effect a junction with the forces of the Welsh chieftain. The Earl of Northumberland being ill, his contingent was commanded by his son Henry Percy (Hotspur.)

Hotspur undertook the siege of Shrewsbury, and as the King's army was advancing to the relief of the place, both parties prepared for a decisive conflict. An action was fought at Battlefield, in which the Percy army was defeated, and Hotspur, after performing prodigies of valour was slain. The Earl of Northumberland not having been actually engaged, was shortly afterwards pardoned.

In 1405, the Prince of Wales led an army into the principality, and having defeated Griffith, the son of Owen Glendower, the Welsh were once more reduced to submission.

In the same year a dangerous alliance was entered into by the Earls of Nottingham, Northumberland, and the Archbishop of York, their object being to dethrone the King. Having marched an army to York, they issued a manifesto declaratory of their intentions, and then prepared to carry out their plans. The Earl of Westmoreland, at the head of the royal forces, met the leaders of the conspiracy on Shipton Moor, and having promised that the King would redress the grievances complained of, he induced the confederates to disband their army. No sooner was this manoeuvre effected than Westmoreland arrested the leaders, and Nottingham and the Archbishop of York were beheaded.

The Earl of Northumberland fled to France, but in 1408 he once more appeared in arms, when he was met on Barham-downs by the Sheriff' of Yorkshire, defeated and slain.

Contrary to all expectation the persecution of the Lollards appeared to impart fresh vigour to the leaders of that party. The Wycliffe doctrines spread, and the faggot and stake were again in requisition. A tradesman, by name Badby, was in 1410 burnt for his faith; the Prince of Wales who was a spectator of this terrible scene was induced to offer the unfortunate man his life if he would abjure the obnoxious

doctrines. Badby refused to accept liberty on such terms, and joyfully submitted to the fire.

Now that his last and constant enemy, the Earl of Northumberland, was dead, Henry might be supposed to look for some peaceful years; but his last days were embittered by the dissolute conduct of his son, the Prince of Wales. This Prince, on one occasion, was committed to prison for striking the Chief Justice a blow in the open court; and so irregular were his habits, that his unhappy father was haunted with fear that his own life was sought by his son. The young Prince, however, in an interview with his parent, cleared himself of this horrible imputation.

The turbulent career through which he had passed, and the constant anxiety of a life tortured with an ever present dread of conspiracy or assassination, so affected the health of Henry the Fourth, that he became subject to fits, one of which, in 1413, terminated his existence. He was engaged at his devotions, when he was attacked with apoplexy; his attendants bore him into the Jerusalem chamber, where, having given some excellent advice to his son, King Henry the Fourth expired, after an anxious and troubled reign of fourteen years.

PRINCE HENRY AT THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY.

When but sixteen years of age, the Prince of Wales fought in the desperate engagement between his father's troops and those of the Percies and Glendowers, at Shrewsbury. Advancing with his usual intrepidity, he received a wound in the face, the scar of which he carried with him to the grave. Being advised to retire and have the steel extracted. "To what place?" he asked; "Who will remain

fighting, if I, the Prince, and a King's son, retire for fear at the first taste of steel ? Let my fellow soldiers see that I bleed at the first onset, for deeds, not words, are the duties of Princes, who should set the example of goodness."

THE PRINCE'S DISSOLUTE COURSES.

Old Stowe tells us, that the Prince used to disguise himself, and

lie in wait for the receivers of the rents of the crown lands, or of his father's patrimony, and, dressed like a highwayman, would set upon and rob them. Sometimes he was soundly beaten, but he always rewarded those who made the stoutest resistance,

THE PRINCE AND THE JUDGE.

During a riot in the city, the Lord Mayor captured a follower of Prince Henry, and carried him before the judge, Sir William Gascoigne. When the Prince of Wales heard of the circumstance, he rushed to the court and found his servant standing at the bar. With his own hands he endeavoured to relieve the man of his fetters, and upon the judge interfering, the Prince gave him a box on the ear. For this Gascoigne severely reprimanded him, and after a long lecture committed the Prince of Wales to the prison of the King's Bench.

To this sentence, Henry, struck with remorse at his own outrageous conduct, cheerfully submitted himself. On hearing of the circumstance, the King exclaimed, "I am proud that I have a son who will submit to the laws, and that I have a judge so fearlessly to enforce them."

At a future time, when Prince Henry became King, he raised Gascoigne to the dignity of Lord Chief Justice of England.

AFFECTING SCENE BETWEEN THE KING AND PRINCE.

Henry IV. felt himself so much injured by his son's reckless conduct, that he removed him from his place at the council board; after mature thought the Prince resolved to seek his father's pardon. On New Year's day he sought his outraged parent, attired in his simple student's garb, and advancing up Westminster Hall, went alone

to pay his filial duty. The King, who was
in a most feeble condition, made a sign
that he wished to be carried to his private
chamber, and there, the Prince of Wales,
falling on his knees, presented his dagger
to his father, and requested him to
pierce him to the heart if he deemed that
it contained aught but duty and loyalty.
to him. After mutual explanation the
parent and child were reconciled.

PRINCE HENRY TRYING ON THE
CROWN.

The King suffered from occasional fits of epilepsy, and during one of these attacks, the Prince of Wales, believing his father to be dead, conveyed the crown,which, according to custom, had been placed on a cushion by the royal couch,into an adjoining room. The King, hav

ing recovered his consciousness, sternly inquired who had dared to

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