Chapter VI: Introduction: The Paston Family (4)

Full well might Sir John Fastolf and others apprehend that if Heydon or Tuddenham appeared in answer to the indictment, it would be with such a following at his back as would overawe the court. No appearance was put in for them at all at several of the sessions of _Oyer and Terminer_. One sitting was held at Norwich on the 2nd of March. Another was held just after Easter on the 29th of April, and Justice Prisot, not the most impartial of judges, was sent down to Norwich to hold it. Strong complaints were put in against Tuddenham and Heydon on the part of the city of Norwich, and also by the town of Swaffham, by Sir John Fastolf, Sir Harry Inglos, John Paston, and many others; but, as Fastolf’s chaplain afterwards informed his master, ‘the judges, by their wilfulness, might not find in their heart to give not so much as a beck nor a twinkling of their eye toward, but took it to derision, God reform such partiality!’ The one-sidedness of Prisot, indeed, was such as to bring down upon him a rebuke from his colleague Yelverton. ‘Ah, Sir Mayor and your brethren,’ said the former, ‘as to the process of your complaints we will put them in continuance, but in all other we will proceed.’ Yelverton felt bound to protest against such unfairness. [Sidenote: Partial justice.] Yet even this was not the worst; for Prisot, seeing that, with all he could do, the result of the proceedings at Norwich would scarcely be satisfactory to Tuddenham and Heydon, took it upon him, apparently by his own authority, to remove them to Walsingham, where they had most supporters. And there, accordingly, another session was opened on Tuesday the 4th of May.[91-1]

[Footnote 91-1: Nos. 119, 185, 186, 192.]

It was, according to Sir Thomas Howys, ‘the most partial place of all the shire.’ All the friends and allies of Tuddenham and Heydon, knights and squires, and gentlemen who had always been devoted to their pleasure, received due warning to attend. A body of 400 horse also accompanied the accused, and not one of the numerous complainants ventured to open his mouth except John Paston. Even he had received a friendly message only two days before that he had better consider well whether it was advisable to come himself, as there was ‘great press of people and few friends’; and, moreover, the sheriff was ‘not so whole’ as he had been. What this expression meant required but little explanation. As Sheriff of Norfolk, John Jermyn was willing to do Paston all the service in his power, but simple justice he did not dare to do.[91-2]

[Footnote 91-2: Nos. 189, 192.]

[Sidenote: John Paston and Lord Molynes.] He had but too good an excuse for his timidity. Of John Paston’s complaint against Tuddenham and Heydon we hear no more; we can easily imagine what became of it. But we know precisely what became of an action brought by Paston at this sessions against his old adversary Lord Molynes, for his forcible expulsion from Gresham in the preceding year. John Paston, to be sure, was now peaceably reinstated in the possession of that manor;[91-3] but he had the boldness to conceive that undermining his wife’s chamber, turning her forcibly out of doors, and then pillaging the whole mansion, were acts for which he might fairly expect redress against both Lord Molynes and his agents. He had accordingly procured two indictments to be framed, the first against his lordship, and the second against his men. But before the case came on at Walsingham, Sheriff Jermyn gave notice to Paston’s friends that he had received a distinct injunction from the king to make up a panel to acquit Lord Molynes.[92-1] Royal letters of such a tenor do not seem to have been at all incompatible with the usages of Henry VI.’s reign. John Paston himself said the document was one that could be procured for six-and-eightpence.

[Footnote 91-3: No. 178.]

[Footnote 92-1: No. 189.]

There was no hope, therefore, of making Lord Molynes himself responsible for the attack on Gresham. The only question was whether the men who had done his bidding could not be made to suffer for it. After the acquittal of their master, John Osbern reports a remarkable conversation that he had with Sheriff Jermyn in which he did his best to induce him to accept a bribe in Paston’s interest. The gift had been left with the under sheriff for his acceptance. Jermyn declined to take it until he had seen Paston himself, but Osbern was fully under the impression that he would be glad to have it. Osbern, however, appealed also to other arguments. ‘I remembered him,’ he tells Paston, ‘of his promises made before to you at London, when he took his oath and charge, and that ye were with him when he took his oath and other divers times; and for those promises made by him to you at that time, and other times at the _Oyer and Terminer_ at Lynn, ye proposed you by the trust that ye have in him to attempt and rear actions that should be to the avail of him and of his office.’ The prospect of Paston being valuable to him as a litigant had its weight with the sheriff, and he promised to do him all the good in his power except in the action against Lord Molynes’ men; for not only Lord Molynes himself but the Duke of Norfolk had written to him to show them favour, and if they were not acquitted he expected to incur both their displeasure and the king’s. In vain did Osbern urge that Paston would find sufficient surety to save the sheriff harmless. Jermyn said he could take no surety over £100, and Lord Molynes was a great lord who could do him more injury than that.[93-1]

[Footnote 93-1: No. 193.]

[[The gift had been left with the under sheriff
_text unchanged: expected form “under-sheriff”_]]

The diplomacy on either side seems to have been conducted with considerable _finesse_. Jermyn declared that he had been offered twenty nobles at Walsingham in behalf of the Lord Molynes, but that he had never received a penny either from him or from any of Paston’s adversaries. Osbern then offered if he would promise to be sincere towards Paston, that the latter would give him a sum in hand, as much as he could desire, or would place it in the hands of a middle man whom Jermyn could trust. In the end, however, he was obliged to be satisfied with Jermyn’s assuring him that if he found it lay within his power to do anything for Paston, he would take his money with good will. The negotiator’s impression was that he was fully pledged to get Lord Molynes’ men acquitted, but that in all other actions he would be found favourable to Paston.[93-2]

[Footnote 93-2: _Ibid._]

[Sidenote: Parliament.] About this time Parliament, which had now been prorogued for nearly five months, met again at Westminster. The king’s necessities were doubtless the all-sufficient cause why its meeting could no longer be dispensed with. The Crown was already in debt to the sum of £372,000, and was daily becoming more so. The expenses of the royal household amounted to £24,000 a year, while the yearly revenue out of which they should have been paid was only £5000. Nor was it by any means advisable to remedy the matter by imposing fresh taxation; for the people were so impoverished by the payment of subsidies, the exactions of the king’s purveyors, and the general maladministration of justice, that the experiment could hardly have been made with safety. An act of resumption was the only expedient by which it seemed possible to meet the difficulty; and all grants of crown lands made to any persons since the first day of the reign were accordingly recalled by statute.[93-3] In return for this the Commons preferred a petition to the king that he would for ever remove from his presence and counsels a number of persons to whom they alleged it was owing both that his possessions had been diminished, and that the laws had not been carried into execution. Foremost on the list was the Duke of Somerset; and with him were named Alice, widow of the late Duke of Suffolk, William Booth, Bishop of Chester (that is to say, of Coventry and Lichfield),[94-1] Lord Dudley, Thomas Daniel, and twenty-five others. It was petitioned that they should never again be permitted to come within twelve miles of the royal presence, on pain of forfeiture of lands and goods. But the days had not yet come when a petition against ministers by the Commons was tantamount to their dismissal. The king indeed felt it best on this occasion to yield somewhat; but he yielded on no principle whatever. He declared in reply that he himself saw no cause for their removal; but he was content to dismiss the most of them for a year, during which period accusations brought against any of them might be inquired into. Those who were Peers of the realm, however, he refused to send away; and he insisted on retaining the services of one or two others who had been accustomed continually to wait upon him.[94-2]

[Footnote 93-3: _Rolls of Parl._ v. 217.]

[Footnote 94-1: The modern see of Chester was separated from this
diocese in the time of Henry VIII.]

[Footnote 94-2: _Rolls of Parl._ v. 216.]

Parliament seems shortly after this to have been dissolved, and no parliament met again till two years later. Of course the influence of Somerset increased when both Lords and Commons were dismissed into the country; and we perceive that by the end of the year Thomas Daniel, one of the old unpopular adherents of the Duke of Suffolk, who, nevertheless, had not always been acceptable to the Court, was expecting to recover favour by means of Somerset.[94-3] He is represented as having cultivated the Duke’s friendship for a quarter of a year; so that we may conclude Somerset’s ascendency was at this time unmistakable. With what degree of discretion he made use of it there is little evidence to show. One advantage that Daniel hoped to gain through his influence was the friendship of Tuddenham and Heydon, by whose means, and by the good offices of Lord Scales, he expected to be allowed to re-enter the manor of Bradeston, of which he had already dispossessed one Osbert Munford last year, but had subsequently been dispossessed himself. The value of a disputed title in any part of England probably depended very much upon who was supreme at Court.

[Footnote 94-3: No. 206. Daniel had been out of favour at one time
during Suffolk’s ascendency. _See_ No. 75, p. 86.]

But high as Somerset stood in the king’s favour, the course of events did not tend to make him more acceptable to the people. The loss of Normandy, in the preceding year, was itself a thing not likely to be readily forgotten; but the misfortunes of the English arms did not end with the loss of Normandy. So great, indeed, was the despondency occasioned by that event that, in the opinion of French writers, Calais itself would not have been able to hold out if the French had immediately proceeded to attack it. But Charles was afraid he might have been deserted by the Duke of Burgundy, whose interests would hardly have been promoted by the French king strengthening himself in that quarter, and he declined to attempt it.[95-1] Relieved, however, of the necessity of maintaining a large force in Normandy, he found new occupation for his troops in completing the conquest of Guienne, of which a beginning had already been made by the capture of Cognac and of some places near Bayonne and the Pyrenees. In November 1450 the French laid siege to Bourg and Blaye on the Garonne, both of which places capitulated in the spring of the following year. They were the keys of the more important city of Bordeaux, which, now perceiving that there was no hope of succour from England, was obliged to follow their example. This was in June 1451. [Sidenote: Loss of Gascony and Guienne.] Two months afterwards Bayonne, too, was obliged to capitulate; and with it the whole of Gascony and Guienne was as completely lost to the English as Normandy had been in the preceding year. Calais was now all that remained to them of their conquests and possessions in France; nor were they without considerable apprehension that they might be expelled from Calais too.

[Footnote 95-1: Basin, i. 247-48.]

These disasters, which were but the natural sequel to the loss of Normandy, only served to make more bitter the reflection how the government of that duchy had been taken out of the able hands of the Duke of York and given to the incompetent Somerset. The jealousy with which the latter regarded his rival was heightened by the consciousness of his own unpopularity. The Duke of York was living in seclusion at his castle of Ludlow, but Somerset seems to have regarded him with daily increasing apprehension. He was continually instilling into the king distrust of York’s fidelity as a subject; until at last the latter thought it expedient to make a public declaration of his loyalty. [Sidenote: York’s manifesto.] He accordingly issued the following manifesto:--

[Sidenote: A.D. 1452.]

Forasmuch as I, Richard Duke of York, am informed that the King, my
sovereign lord, is my heavy lord, greatly displeased with me, and
hath in me a distrust by sinister information of mine enemies,
adversaries, and evil-willers, where[as] God knoweth, from whom
nothing is hid, I am, and have been, and ever will be, his true
liegeman, and so have I before this, divers times, as well by mouth
as by writing, notified and declared to my said sovereign lord: And
for that this notice so comen unto me of the displeasure of my said
sovereign lord is to me so grievous, I have prayed the reverend
father in God, the Bishop of Hereford,[96-1] and my cousin the Earl
of Shrewsbury, to come hither and hear my declaration in this
matter; wherein I have said to them that I am true liegeman to the
King my sovereign lord, ever have been, and shall be to my dying
day. And to the very proof that it is so, I offer myself to swear
that on the blessed Sacrament, and receive it, the which I hope
shall be my salvation at the day of doom. And so for my special
comfort and consolation I have prayed the said lords to report and
declare unto the King’s highness my said offer; and to the end and
intent that I will be ready to do the same oath in presence of two
or three lords, such as shall please the King’s highness to send
hither to accept it. In witness whereof I have signed this schedule
with my sign manual, and set thereunto my signet of arms. Written in
my castle of Ludlow, the 9th of January, the 30th year of the reign
of my sovereign lord, King Henry the Sixth.[96-2]

[Footnote 96-1: Reginald Butler or Boulers, whose appointment to
the see, dated 23rd December 1450, was no doubt due to the Duke of
York’s influence.]

[Footnote 96-2: Stow’s _Chronicle_, p. 393.]

He appears to have waited nearly a month to learn the effect of this remonstrance. Meanwhile reports came that the French were advancing to lay siege to Calais. At such a juncture it was peculiarly intolerable that the administration of affairs should still be intrusted to hands so notoriously incompetent as those of Somerset; and York, as being the only man who could stir in such a matter with effect, now made up his mind to take active steps for Somerset’s removal. Nothing, however, could be done for such an object without a considerable force of armed men to support him. York accordingly issued the following address to the burgesses of Shrewsbury:--

Right worshipful friends, I recommend me unto you; and I suppose it
is well known unto you, as well by experience as by common language
said and reported throughout all Christendom, what laud, what
worship, honour, and manhood, was ascribed of all nations unto the
people of this realm whilst the kingdom’s sovereign lord stood
possessed of his lordship in the realm of France and duchy of
Normandy; and what derogation, loss of merchandize, lesion of
honour, and villany, is said and reported generally unto the English
nation for loss of the same; namely (_i.e._ especially) unto the
Duke of Somerset, when he had the commandance and charge thereof:
the which loss hath caused and encouraged the King’s enemies for to
conquer and get Gascony and Guienne, and now daily they make their
advance for to lay siege unto Calais, and to other places in the
marches there, for to apply them to their obeisance, and so for to
come into the land with great puissance, to the final destruction
thereof, if they might prevail, and to put the land in their
subjection, which God defend. And on the other part it is to be
supposed it is not unknown to you how that, after my coming out of
Ireland I, as the King’s true liegeman and servant (and ever shall
be to my life’s end) and for my true acquittal, perceiving the
inconvenience before rehearsed, advised his Royal Majesty of certain
articles concerning the weal and safeguard, as well of his most
royal person, as the tranquillity and conservation of all this his
realm: the which advertisements, howbeit that it was thought that
they were full necessary, were laid apart, and to be of none effect,
through the envy, malice, and untruth of the said Duke of Somerset;
which for my truth, faith, and allegiance that I owe unto the King,
and the good will and favour that I have to all the realm, laboreth
continually about the King’s highness for my undoing, and to corrupt
my blood, and to disinherit me and my heirs, and such persons as be
about me, without any desert or cause done or attempted, on my part
or theirs, I make our Lord Judge. Wherefore, worshipful friends, to
the intent that every man shall know my purpose and desire for to
declare me such as I am, I signify unto you that, with the help and
supportation of Almighty God, and of Our Lady, and of all the
Company of Heaven, I, after long sufferance and delays, [though it
is] not my will or intent to displease my sovereign lord, seeing
that the said Duke ever prevaileth and ruleth about the King’s
person, [and] that by this means the land is likely to be destroyed,
am fully concluded to proceed in all haste against him with the help
of my kinsmen and friends; in such wise that it shall prove to
promote ease, peace, tranquillity, and safeguard of all this land:
and more, keeping me within the bounds of my liegeance, as it
pertaineth to my duty, praying and exhorting you to fortify,
enforce, and assist me, and to come to me with all diligence,
wheresoever I shall be, or draw, with as many goodly and likely men
as ye may, to execute the intent abovesaid. Written under my signet
at my castle of Ludlow, the 3rd day of February.

Furthermore I pray you that such strait appointment and ordinance be
made that the people which shall come in your fellowship, or be sent
unto me by your agreement, be demeaned in such wise by the way, that
they do no offence, nor robbery, nor oppression upon the people, in
lesion of justice. Written as above, etc.

Your good friend,
R. YORK.[98-1]

To my right worshipful friends, the bailiffs, burgesses and
commons of the good town of Shrewsbury.

[Footnote 98-1: Ellis’s _Letters_, First Series, i. 11-13.]

[Sidenote: York marches towards London.] Having thus collected a sufficient body of followers, the duke began his march to London. The Earl of Devonshire, Lord Cobham, and other noblemen also collected people and joined him.[98-2] The king and Somerset, however, being informed of his intentions, set out from the capital to meet him, issuing, at the same time, an imperative summons to Lord Cobham, and probably to the duke’s other adherents, to repair immediately to the royal presence.[98-3] But the duke, who had no desire to engage the king’s forces, turned aside and hoped to reach London unmolested. He sent a herald before him to desire liberty for himself and his allies to enter the city; but strict injunctions to the contrary had been left by the king, and his request was refused. Disappointed in this quarter, it was natural that he should look for greater sympathy in Kent, where, doubtless, smouldered still the remains of past disaffection. He accordingly crossed the Thames at Kingston Bridge, and proceeded with his host to Dartford. The king’s army followed and pitched their camp upon Blackheath. And so, on the 1st of March 1452, there lay, within eight miles of each other, two formidable hosts, which any further movement must apparently bring into collision.

[Footnote 98-2: _English Chronicle_ (ed. Davies), 69.]

[Footnote 98-3: Nicolas’s _Privy Council Proceedings_, vi. 116.
According to Fabyan, the king and Somerset set out on the 16th of
February. The summons to Lord Cobham, though dated Westminster,
was issued on the 17th.]

To judge from one contemporary account,[99-1] the duke’s position must have been a strong one. He had a body of ordnance in the field, with no less than 3000 gunners. He himself had 8000 men in the centre of his position; while the Earl of Devonshire lay to the south with another detachment of 6000, and Lord Cobham by the river-side commanded an equal force. Seven ships lay on the water filled with the baggage of the troops. But the strength of the king’s army appears to have largely exceeded these numbers;[99-2] and even if the duke had wished to provoke a conflict, it was evidently more prudent to remain simply on the defensive. He accordingly left the responsibility of further action to those of the king’s party.

[Footnote 99-1: _Cottonian Roll_, ii. 23. _See_ Appendix to this
Introduction.]

[Footnote 99-2: _Rolls of Parl._ v. 346. The statement in the Act
of Attainder passed against the Duke of York seven years
afterwards, that he was ‘of no power to withstand’ the king on
this occasion, is liable to suspicion, but it is confirmed by the
testimony of Whethamstede, 348.]

In this crisis the lords who were with the king took counsel together, and determined, if possible, to labour for a compromise.[99-3] An embassy was appointed to go to the Duke of York, and hear what he had to say. It consisted of the wise and good prelate Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, and Bourchier, Bishop of Ely (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, Lord Beauchamp, Lord Sudeley, and some others. The answer made by York was, that no ill was intended against either the king or any of his Council; that the duke and his followers were lovers of the commonweal; but that it was their intention to remove from the king certain evil-disposed persons, through whose means the common people had been grievously oppressed. Of these the Duke of Somerset was declared to be the chief; and, indeed, his unpopularity was such that even those on the king’s side would seem to have seconded the Duke of York’s demand. After a consultation the king consented that Somerset should be committed to custody until he should make answer to such charges as York would bring against him.[100-1]

[Footnote 99-3: ‘The Lords, both spiritual and temporal, took the
matter in hand.’ _Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles_ (Camden
Soc.), 69. So also _Chronicle of London_, 137.]

[Footnote 100-1: Fabyan.]

Nothing more seemed necessary to avert civil war. On a simple pledge given by the king that Somerset should be placed in confinement, and afterwards put on his trial, the Duke of York at once broke up his camp and ordered his men home. He then repaired himself to the king’s tent to express his loyalty. [Sidenote: York is entrapped,] But no sooner had he arrived there than he found he was deceived. The king, in violation of his promise, kept the Duke of Somerset attending upon him as his chief adviser, and York was virtually a prisoner. He was sent on to London in advance of the king, in a kind of honourable custody, attended by two bishops, who conducted him to his own residence; but what to do with him when he got there was a difficulty. His enemies feared to send him to the Tower. There were 10,000 men yet remaining in the Welsh Marches, who, on such a rumour, would have come up to London; and it was not very long before they were reported to be all under arms, and actually on the march, with the duke’s young son at their head--Edward, Earl of March, boy as he was, not yet quite ten years old.[100-2]

[Footnote 100-2: Fabyan. _Three Fifteenth Century Chronicles_, 69,
and the MS. Chronicle, Vitell. A. xvi.]

York had distinctly accused the Duke of Somerset as a traitor. He was now in Somerset’s power, but the latter did not dare to retort the charge upon him. Yet if Somerset was not a traitor, the course pursued by York was utterly indefensible. He had actually taken up arms against the Crown, to remove by force the minister in whom the king had placed his confidence. But unfortunately Somerset knew too well that if he made this a ground of accusation against his rival, recrimination would be sure to follow, and he himself would incur a weight of public odium which might possibly lead to the same result as in the case of Suffolk. The wisest and most politic course for himself was not to impeach the Duke of York, but, if possible, to shut his mouth and let him go free. No accusation, therefore, was drawn up. [Sidenote: and compelled to swear allegiance.] An oath of allegiance, binding him over to keep the peace in time coming, was all that was required. It was on the 1st of March that York had repaired to the king’s tent and found himself in his rival’s power. On the 10th he was brought to St. Paul’s, and there publicly made oath as follows:--

I, Richard, Duke of York, confess and beknow that I am and ought to
be humble subject and liegeman to you, my sovereign Lord, King Henry
the Sixth, and owe therefore to bear you faith and truth as to my
sovereign lord, and shall do all the days unto my life’s end; and
shall not at any time will or assent, that anything be attempted or
done against your noble person, but wheresoever I shall have
knowledge of any such thing imagined or purposed I shall, with all
the speed and diligence possible to me, make that your Highness
shall have knowledge thereof, and even do all that shall be possible
to me to the withstanding thereof, to the utterest of my life.
I shall not in no wise any thing take upon me against your royal
estate or the obeisance that is due thereto, nor suffer any other
man to do, as far forth as it shall lie in my power to let it; and
also I shall come at your commandment, whensoever I shall be called
by the same, in humble and obeisant wise, but if [_i.e._ unless] I
be letted by any sickness or impotency of my person or by such other
causes as shall be thought reasonable to you, my sovereign lord.
I shall never hereafter take upon me to gather any routs, or make any
assembly of your people, without your commandment or licence, or in
my lawful defence. In the interpretation of which my lawful defence,
and declaration thereof, I shall report me at all times to your
Highness, and, if the case require, unto my peers: nor anything
attempt by way of faite against any of your subjects, of what
estate, degree, or condition that they be. But whensoever I find
myself wronged or aggrieved, I shall sue humbly for remedy to your
Highness, and proceed after the course of your laws, and in none
other wise, saving in mine own lawful defence in manner above said;
and shall in all things abovesaid and other have me unto your
Highness as an humble and true subject ought to have him to his
Sovereign Lord.

All these things above said I promise truly to observe and keep, by
the Holy Evangelists contained in this book that I lay my hand upon,
and by the Holy Cross that I here touch, and by the blessed
Sacrament of our Lord’s body that I shall now with His mercy
receive. And over this I agree me and will that if I any time
hereafter, as with the grace of our Lord I never shall, anything
attempt by way of fear or otherwise against your royal majesty and
obeisance that I owe thereto, or anything I take upon me otherwise
than is above expressed, I from that time forth be unabled, [held
and taken as an untrue and openly forsworn man, and unable][102-1]
to all manner of worship, estate, and degree, be it such as I now
occupy, or any other that might grow unto me in any wise.

And this I here have promised and sworn proceedeth of mine own
desire and free voluntee and by no constraining or coercion. In
witness of all the which things above written I, Richard, Duke of
York above named, subscribe me with mine own hand and seal, with
this mine own seal, &c.[102-2]

[Footnote 102-1: These words are not in the copy in the _Rolls
of Parliament_, but they occur in that given in Holinshed’s
_Chronicle_.]

[Footnote 102-2: _Rolls of Parl._ v. 346.]

With this guarantee for his future loyalty, the duke was permitted to return into his own country.

Somerset might well be pleased that the matter should be settled thus; for if the charges York brought, or at least was prepared to have brought, against him were only one-half true (and some of them certainly were true altogether), his administration of the Duchy of Normandy was a mixture of indiscretion and dishonesty at which the nation had good right to be indignant. We have already seen how in concert with the Duke of Suffolk he had authorised a perfidious breach of the truce with France in the capture of Fougères. We have also seen how ill prepared he was for the consequences; how he discovered too late the weakness of all the garrisons; how the French king recovered town after town, and the English were finally expelled from Normandy in less than a year and a half after the unjustifiable outrage. [Sidenote: York’s charges against Somerset.] But if any credit may be given to the further charges brought against him by the Duke of York,--charges which agree only too well with the character attributed to him by the most impartial authorities[102-3]--Somerset had himself to blame in great measure for the defenceless condition of the country committed to his protection. On his first going into Normandy he had jobbed the offices under his control. For the sake of private emolument he had removed a number of trusty and experienced captains, filling their places with creatures of his own, or men who had paid _douceurs_ for their posts; and only on receipt of still greater bribes would he consent to restore any of those that had been put out. He had, however, actually reduced many garrisons, while he had taxed the inhabitants of the Duchy beyond all reason for the means of defence. His administration of justice, too, had been such as to excite the most vehement dissatisfaction, and had made the whole native population impatient of English government. He had, moreover, pocketed the compensation given by France to the dispossessed Englishmen of Anjou and Maine. Worse still, after all his maladministration and ill success, he had prevailed on the king to make him captain of Calais, which it seemed as if he was on the point of losing also in as careless and culpable a manner as he had already lost Normandy.

[Footnote 102-3: The character given of the Duke of Somerset by
the contemporary historian Basin is on the whole favourable, and
may be supposed to be impartial. He describes him as handsome in
person, gentle and urbane in manner, and well inclined towards
justice; but all these graces were marred by an insatiable avarice
which would not let him rest content with the immense wealth he
had inherited from Cardinal Beaufort; and by continually coveting
the riches of others he brought ruin on himself. Basin, i. 193.]

Here, however, is the full text of the accusation,[103-1] as prepared by York himself:--

Thies articles and pointes folowyng yeve, shewe and ministre I,
Richard Duc of York, youre true liegman and servaunt unto youre
highnesse, summarily purposyng and declaryng thaym ayeinst Edmond
Duc of Somerset for the grete welfare and the comen availle and
interesse of youre mageste Roiall and of this youre noble roialme,
aswell to bryng to knawlege and understondyng the meanes and causes
of the grete myscheves and inconvenientz which late befe[l] unto
this youre said noble roiame, as in losse of youre lyvelode by yonde
thee see and otherwyse in ponisshment of deservitours and excuse of
innocencie, and also in puttyng aside and eschuyng of the grete and
importable hurte and prejudice which ben like, withouten that
purviaunce be had of remedie, to succede in shorte tyme. To the
which articles and every of theym I, the seid Duc of York, desire of
youre egall and indifferent rightwesnesse that the seid Edmond
answere by his feith and trouth, the sacrement of his othe
thereuppon made, duly and truly as lawe and conscience requireth;
I also desiryng, for the veraly examinacion and knowlech of trouth
theruppon to be had, and for the grete and singuler weel of this
youre said Roiame, to be admytted to the prefe, and to yeve evidence
in the said articles that folowyn in such as he woll denye, after
the equite and consideracion of lawe in such case, and processe had,
and also of good feith and conscience justice thereafter to be don
and executid.

First, I article and declare that the seid Edmond Duc of Somersett
hath be meane, consenter, occasioner, cause and mediatour, both by
his inwarde knowlege and expresse consent, by counseill, and
worchyng thurghe diverse subtyle weyes and meanes, as by violent
presumpcion and otherwyse is knowen and understonde, and furthermore
also by his inordinate negligence, lacchesse and wilfull
rechelessnes and insaciate covetyse, of the losse and amission of
youre Duchie of Normandie, rejoissed and possessed at this tyme, for
the defence of his negligent kepyng and otherwyse before reherced,
by youre enemyes. Which may clerly by (_sic_) understonde by the
meanes and causes that folowen; of the which and for such one he is
openly called, reputed and had by the comen fame and voice. Of the
which oon cause is that the seid Duc of Somersett, at his first
comyng into Normandie, chaunged and putt out of theire occupacion
and youre service, withoute skyll, cause or reason, all the true and
feithfull officers, for the most partie, of all Normandie, and put
in such as hym liked for his owne singuler availe and covetyse, as
it apperith well, inasmoch as ther coude noon of theym that were so
put out be restored agayn withoute grete giftes and rewardes, which
was full unfittyng. And furthermore did put in prison many diverse
and notable persones of youre seid Duchie, withoute cause, justice
or any ordinarie processe made agayn theym or due examinacion, and
by that meane did grete extorcions and rered unlawfully grete sommes
undre colour of amendes and composicions, wherby the cuntre for such
wrong and faute of justice grucched sore agayn hym and his
governaunce and caused the people to arise in theire conseytes and
to take grete displeasir; and that was a grete occasion and cause of
the losse of youre said Duchie of Normandie.

Item, the seid Edmond Duc of Somerset was cause and consenter
voluntarie of the brekyng of the trues and pais for a tyme had
betwene youre highnes and youre uncle of Fraunce, which was well
understond at the taking of Fogiers in Britaigne by Sir Fraunceys
Larragonneys thurgh his avise, consentement, and counseile; and also
duryng the said trues made more strong and fortified diverse places
disopered by youre commaundement, as Morteyn and Seint Jakes de
Beveron, ageyn the appointement of the seid trues; uppon which youre
uncle did sommon hym to make a-seeth [_satisfaction_] and for to
disimpaire the seid fortifying and wrong don agayn the trues, and in
asmoch as non aseeth by hym was don, nor [he] lefte not of his seid
fortifiyng, caused youre seid uncle to have, as he pretende, cause
to breke the said trues on his partie; which brekyng of trues was
oon of the verray cause of losse of Normandie. And thus he brake the
seide trues ayeinst his promysse and true feith made to youre
highnes, which was to kepe and entretyn the said trues, and so did
ayen the lawe in this behalve and youre statutes of the roiame.

Item, he put away and diminisshed diverse garnisons and other strong
places of youre seid Duchie of Normandie of soudiours and of men of
werre which were accustumed to abide uppon the suerte and saufgarde
of the same, howe be hit he had verrayly knowlege that youre ennmyes
were full determi[ned] for to ley seges to put the same places in
theire subjeccion, not paiyng duely nor contentyng such soudiours as
abode uppon the defences of the same places; he reryng at that tyme
in youre said Duchie as grete tailles and aides as were in long tyme
before duryng the werre; and that caused the soudiours in diverse
strong places for poverte, not havyng hors nor harneys, and also the
nombre diminisshed, to be of non poiaire to make resistence, and
that was a grete cause of the losse of Normandie. The losse of which
caused the perdicion of Gascoigne and Guyen.

Item, the Duc of Somersett wold yeve noo counseile, aide ne helpe
unto the capitanis of diverse stronge places and garnisons which at
that tyme, constreyned by nede, desired of hym provision and relief
for abillement of werre to resiste the malice of theire enemyes
daily makyng fressh feetes of werre uppon theym; he gevyng theym
noone aide nor help, but lete theym contynue in theire malice, howe
be it that diverse places were lost before: and what tyme that the
said places were beseged and sent for help and socour unto hym he
wold graunte no maner of comforte, but suffred hem appoint and
compounde with here enemyes as well as they myght for theire ease
and suertee, makyng no maner of provision for the kepyng of the
places which remayned; insomuch that he made non ordinaunce nor
provision for the toun, castell, and places of Rouen, neither of
men, stuffe ne vitaile, the knowlage that he had of youre enemyes
comyng thereunto notwithstondyng, yevyng licence unto the
Archiebisshopp, chanons and burgeys of the same toun for to goo or
sende to compounde with youre enemyes for the deliveraunce of the
same, notwithstondyng that afore that tyme the enemyes which were
entred in to the same toun were worshiply put oute and betyn of by
the Erle of Shrowesbury and other notable persones, and withdrawen
to Pontlarge and Loviers, and at that tyme, they beyng so
withdrawen, licenced to appointe as it is aforeseid. Which was
plainly ayeinst his promys, feith and liegeaunce that he of right
oweth unto you, and ayeinst the tenure of the endentures made betwix
youre highnes and hym of the charge of that londe, the which
licence, and it had not ben don, the seid toun had abiden undre
youre obeisaunce, the losse of whiche was a verray ope
. . . .[106-1] cause of the perdicion of Normandie.

Item, the said Duc of Somersett, for to colour his defautes and
wilfull purp[o]s in the premisses, entred in to youre palaice of
Rouen not vitailed nor fo[rnisshed][106-1] for defence, where he
myght savely absentid hym, and yeldid up the said Palaice and
Castell, and moreover other good tounes, castels and
[fortresses],[106-1] as Caudebek, and other diverse, as Tancarville,
Moustervillers, Arques, key of all Caulx, not beseged nor in perell
of losse at that tyme, for the enlargisshyn[g] and deliveraunce of
hym, his childre and goodes; which myght not, nor hath not, be done
nor seen by lawe, resoun or cronikel, or by cours or a . . . . . .
any leftenant, all though that he had be prisoner: Witnesse the Duc
of Orliaunce, the Duc of Burbon, the Duc of Alansum and other . . .
. . . for whom was none delyvered, al though they had many strong
places of theire owen. And furthermore fore the suertee of
delyveraunce of . . . . . . tounes, castell and forteresses which
were wel furnysshed for to have resisted youre enemyes, and to have
biden within youre obeisaunce, delyvered in ostage the Erle of
Shrowesbury, that tyme Marescall of Fraunce, and other notable
persones which shuld have defended youre lande there ayens the
malice of youre enemyes; and in likewyse apointed to delyver Honflu,
which was in noo gret perell, ne had be that it was retardyd by
youre lettres and so by that fraudelent and inordinat meane all was
lost and yoldon up, as hereafter by more evident declaracions it
shalbe clerely [proved].[106-2]

Item, the said Duc of Somerset hath contrived and ymagined, helped
or consented to the grete and importable losse of Cales to be undre
the obeisaunce of the Duc of Burgoyn, as it apperith openly by
diverse skilles, evidencez, and resons; that is to sey, in asmuch as
he desired and made laboures, or at the lest toke uppon hym, for to
be capiten of the seid Toun of Cales, knowyng and understondyng well
the grete murmur and sclaunder which daily rennyth agayn hym for the
losse and sale, as it is surmyttid, of Normandie, to the grete
discoragyng of the soudiours of the said Toun; where as the comen
fame is that he will bylike sotill meanes contrive and ymagyn the
losse and amission of youre said Toun of Cales, like as he hath
afore causid the perdicion of youre Duchie of Normandie; which
apperith well, in asmoch as he hath desirid the terme of a monyth
without more, that, in case that the said Toun were besegid and not
rescuyd within the said monyth, that than he shuld stond discharged
though it were delyvered to youre enemyes; within which tyme it were
impossible, or at the lest full unlikly, that never myght be
assembled for the rescu therof, where as it may and hath be
here-before kept ayens the force of youre enemyes moche lenger tyme
in grete jupardy; which is so grete an hevynesse and trouble to
youre said soudiours, that by theire langage, demenyng and
communicacion it may be understond that they will not be so herty
nor feithfull to the welfare and defence of the said Toun as they
shuld be in case they had a captayn more agreable unto theym. And
also this premisse apperith well in asmoch as the comen voyce,
langage, and fame is, and also grete prefe and evidence shalbe made
theruppon, that the seid Duc of Somerset, in hope of mariage to be
doon and had be twix the Duc son of Burgoyn[107-1] and one of his
doughters, had made a promysse and behest to the said Duc of
Burgoyne, or Duchesse by his meane, concent and massangers, of the
delyverey of the Toun of Cales, to be done by such sotill meanes as
shuld not be understond neither of youre highenes nor of youre
subgettz.

Item, the said Duc of Somerset is cause of grete hurte, robbery,
manslauter and other myscheves daily done and contynued in this
youre roialme, in asmoch as he resceyved and had at the delyverey of
Anjoy and Mayn iij.{xx} xij.{m} (72,000) frankes or there aboutes,
which were graunted and ordeyned to the Englisshmen havyng theire
[_there_] lyvelode for theire recompense and asyth for the lyverey
up of theire seid lyvelode at the said delyveraunce, and wold not
dispose the same money nor departe therfrom, bot kepith it still to
his owne use and singuler availe, notwithstondyng that he was
recompensid for his lyvelode in that cuntrey in youre Duchie of
Normandie of a more value than the gift therof was worth, which
causith the said Englisshmen to be here in grete povertee; of which
povertee no doute commyth grete myscheve daily within your said
roiame. And also in so muche as many diverse soudiours of Normandye
were not paied theire wages, where he rerid grete and notable sommes
of youre Duchie of Normandie for ther agrement, which non paiement
and poverte causith also daily grete inconvenientz within this your
lande.

Item, that these forsaid articles and poyntz be just and true it may
well appere by many grete presumpcions beside evident prefes that
shalbe made thereuppon with open and notarie fame and voice of the
people, and also inasmoch as the said Duc of Somerset hath be double
and untrue in many and diverse pointes, and in especiall that he
hath desirid a recompense of youre highnes for the counte of Mayn
for the delyverance therof, where it was specified in youre lettres
patentes of your graunte therof to hym made that ye shuld be at your
libertee to dispose it at your pleasere in case that ye for the
meane of the pease wold do make a lyverey thereof unto youre uncle
of Fraunce; and yit at the tyme of delyveraunce thereof he wold not
agree therto unto tyme that he were recompensid, as it is aforesaid,
in youre Duchie of Normandie to a more value than his said graunte
drue to.

Item, thees forsaid articles, everyche of theym and every parte of
theym, purposyth and ministre I, Richard, Duc of York, ayens the
said Duc of Somersett joyntly and severally not atteigne to a more
strate nor chargeable prefe than your lawe in such case and processe
will require; desiryng of youre highnesse and rightuous justice that
in asmoche as lawfully may ayenst hym be foundon or previd, that
jugement in that partie be had and executid unto youre highnes for
yours and youre roialmes prosperite and welfare, indende not elles
bot the salvacion and indempnite of youre most roiale persone, and
also alle youre feithfull subgettz, in which y reporte me to God and
all the word [_world_].

[Footnote 103-1: Printed in this Introduction for the first time
from the original in the Cottonian MS., Vesp. C. xiv. f. 40. The
first paragraph of this document is quoted by Stowe in his
_Chronicle_, p. 397, and the charges are referred by him to the
thirty-third year of the king’s reign, _i.e._ the latter part of
A.D. 1454, which is certainly erroneous. The date which he
intended, indeed, was the latter part of the year 1453, when the
Duke of Somerset was arrested and sent to the Tower; but this date
also is quite impossible.]

[Footnote 106-1: MS. mutilated.]

[Footnote 106-2: A line seems here to be cut off in the MS. at
the bottom of the leaf.]

[Footnote 107-1: Charles, afterwards Charles the Bold, son of
Philip the Good, who was at this time Duke of Burgundy.]

[[Anjoy and Mayn iij.{xx} xij.{m} (72,000) frankes
_the letters shown as {superscripts} were printed directly above
the preceding numbers_]

I imagine this paper must have been really handed in by York to the lords of the king’s Council. It is preserved among the MSS. in the Cottonian Library, a large number of which were undoubtedly at one time part of the public records of the realm. But in any case we can hardly doubt that Somerset understood quite sufficiently the grounds on which he was so generally hated; nor is it by any means improbable that the armed remonstrance of the Duke of York produced some real effect, if only for a time. This at least we know, that only four days after the oath taken by York at St. Paul’s, active and energetic measures began to be taken for the defence of Calais. [Sidenote: Defence of Calais.] Historians, as Sir Harris Nicolas truly remarks, do not seem hitherto to have been aware of the imminent danger in which even Calais at this time stood of being lost, like the other English conquests, a full century before it was actually recovered by the French. Rumours that Calais would be besieged reached England in the beginning of May 1450, along with the news of the Duke of Suffolk’s murder.[108-1] In August 1451 a reinforcement of 1150 men was sent thither in twelve vessels, under the Lords Beauchamp and Sudeley. In the February following, as we have seen, York wrote of the success of the French in Gascony having emboldened them to lay siege to Calais again. And now, on the 14th of March, when Charles was advancing towards the last English stronghold, with the most formidable army that had been seen for years, and when men had begun to fear that he would be able not only to gain possession of Calais with ease, but even to invade and ravage England, steps were at last taken for the immediate formation of a fleet.

[Footnote 108-1: Letter 121.]

A royal navy had undoubtedly existed for a long time before the days of Henry VI., but it never amounted in itself to a very formidable force, and in time of war recourse was always had to impressment on the large scale. But the neglect of the sea was during this reign the constant complaint of Englishmen. For want of an efficient fleet the mercantile interest continually suffered, the fisheries could not safely be visited, and even the dwellers at home were insecure. The fact was confessed by the greatest eulogists of Henry VI., who had not a thought of impugning his government. ‘Our enemies,’ says Capgrave in his _Illustrious Henries_,--‘Our enemies laugh at us. They say, “Take off the ship from your precious money, and stamp a sheep upon it to signify your sheepish minds.” We who used to be conquerors of all nations are now conquered by all. The men of old used to say that the sea was England’s wall, and now our enemies have got upon the wall; what think you they will do to the defenceless inhabitants? Because this business has been neglected for so many years it now happens that ships are scanty, and sailors also few, and such as we have unskilled for want of exercise. May God take away our reproach and raise up a spirit of bravery in our nation!’[109-1]

[Footnote 109-1: _Capgrave de Illust. Henricis_, 135.]

There were already available for the king’s service a certain number of ships in the Thames, and at Winchelsea and Sandwich. The chief of these vessels was called the _Grace Dieu_--a name which was perhaps traditional, for it was handed down to Tudor times when, with the king’s own Christian name prefixed, it was always given to the largest of the fleet.[109-2] The Earl of Shrewsbury[110-1] was appointed to take the command of the whole army at sea, and efforts were made to augment the squadron with as large a force as possible. On the 14th of March 1452 a commission was given to Lord Clifford, which was doubtless one of a number given to various noblemen, to negotiate for this purpose with shipowners, knights, and gentlemen in the district where he commonly resided; and he was instructed to take the command of all such vessels as he could raise, and bring them into the Downs to join with Shrewsbury. The appeal to patriotism was not made in vain. Many shipowners came forward, offering not only to lend but to victual their own ships for the service. But full powers were also given to arrest ships, shipmasters, and mariners, to make up a sufficient number. To every man not furnished with victuals by the benevolence of others, twelve pence a week was offered on the king’s behalf, with a customary share in any booty that he might help to capture at sea. Captains of ships were to have in addition a reward of ten marks, or £10, at the discretion of Lord Clifford. Altogether we may presume that the defensive measures taken at this time were sufficient, for we hear no more during the next few years of any attempt to lay siege to Calais.

[Footnote 109-2: The _Henry Grace Dieu_ of Henry VIII.’s time is,
however, better known by its popular epithet of the _Great
Harry_.]

[Footnote 110-1: The Earl of Shrewsbury, as already mentioned, had
been given up to the French in 1449 as a hostage for the delivery
of certain towns in Normandy. It is said that he only recovered
his liberty on taking oath never to bear arms again against the
French, but that on visiting Rome in the year of Jubilee, 1450, he
obtained an absolution from this engagement.--_Æneæ Sylvii Opera_,
441.]

_Amnesty at Home--Disaster Abroad_