Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber's Notes
All obvious spelling errors have been corrected.
The Greek word Ὠθεὰ has been corrected to Ὠ θεὰ.

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS
_General Editors_: +S. E. Winbolt+, M.A., and +Kenneth Bell+, M.A.

YORK AND LANCASTER

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS.

_Volumes now Ready, 1s. net each._

=449-1066.= =The Welding of the Race.= Edited by the Rev.
+John Wallis+, M.A.

=1066-1154.= =The Normans in England.= Edited by +A. E.
Bland+, M.A.

=1154-1216.= =The Angevins and the Charter.= Edited by
+S. M. Toyne+, M.A.

=1216-1307.= =The Growth of Parliament, and the War with
Scotland.= Edited by +W. D. Robieson+, M.A.

=1307-1399.= =War and Misrule.= Edited by +A. A.
Locke+.

=1399-1485.= =York and Lancaster.= Edited by +W. Garmon
Jones+, M.A.

=1485-1547.= =The Reformation and the Renaissance.= Edited
by +F. W. Bewsher+, B.A.

=1547-1603.= =The Age of Elizabeth.= Edited by +Arundell
Esdaile+, M.A.

=1603-1660.= =Puritanism and Liberty.= Edited by +Kenneth
Bell+, M.A.

=1660-1714.= =A Constitution in Making.= Edited by +G. B.
Perrett+, M.A.

=1714-1760.= =Walpole and Chatham.= Edited by +K. A.
Esdaile+.

=1760-1801.= =American Independence and the French
Revolution.= Edited by +S. E. Winbolt+, M.A.

=1801-1815.= =England and Napoleon.= Edited by +S. E.
Winbolt+, M.A.

=1815-1837.= =Peace and Reform.= Edited by +A. C. W.
Edwards+, M.A., Christ's Hospital.

=1837-1856.= =Commercial Politics.= By +R. H.
Gretton+.

=1856-1876.= =Palmerston to Disraeli.= Edited by +Ewing
Harding+, B.A.

=1876-1887.= =Imperialism and Mr. Gladstone.= Edited by
+R. H. Gretton+, M.A.

* * * * *

=1563-1913.= =Canada.= Edited by +James Munro+,
Lecturer at Edinburgh University.

BELL'S SCOTTISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS.

=1637-1688.= =The Scottish Covenanters.= Edited by +J.
Pringle Thomson+, M.A.

=1689-1746.= =The Jacobite Rebellions.= Edited by +J.
Pringle Thomson+, M.A.

LONDON: G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.

YORK AND LANCASTER

1399-1485

COMPILED BY

W. GARMON JONES, M.A.

ASSISTANT LECTURER IN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
1914

INTRODUCTION

This series of English History Source Books is intended for use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable--nay, an indispensable--adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a _History of England for Schools_, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of the books in this series should bring them within the reach of every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson. Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to teacher and taught.

Our belief is that the books may profitably be used by all grades of historical students between the standards of fourth-form boys in secondary schools and undergraduates at Universities. What differentiates students at one extreme from those at the other is not so much the kind of subject-matter dealt with, as the amount they can read into or extract from it.

In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter. It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be lively in style--that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical, or even strongly partisan--and should not so much profess to give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters, biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.

The order of the extracts is strictly chronological, each being numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given. The text is modernised, where necessary, to the extent of leaving no difficulties in reading.

We shall be most grateful to teachers and students who may send us suggestions for improvements.

S. E. WINBOLT.
KENNETH BELL.

NOTE TO THIS VOLUME

I have to thank Sir E. Maunde Thompson and the Council of the Royal Society of Literature for so readily permitting me to quote from Sir E. Maunde Thompson's edition of Adam of Usk's _Chronicle_. With three exceptions, the sources quoted in this volume are contemporary, and, where I have employed non-contemporary material, I have endeavoured to justify its use in a prefatory note to the extract.

W. G. J.

_Postscript._--Mr. C. L. Kingsford, in his valuable critical account, _English Historical Literature in the Fifteenth Century_, recently published, argues strongly against the accepted authorship of the _Vita et gesta Henrici Quinti_ (quoted on pp. 15-19). Hearne erroneously attributes it to Thomas Elmham. Mr. Kingsford shows that the date of its composition lies between 1446 and 1449, and that its anonymous author was, in all probability, a foreigner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
+Introduction+ v

DATE

1399. +The Coronation of Henry IV.+ _Chronicle of Adam of Usk_ 1

1400. +Conspiracy of the Earls+ _Capgrave's Chronicle_ 2

1401. +De Heretico Comburendo+ _Statutes of the Realm_ 3

1401-2. +The Glendower War+ _Chronicle of Adam of Usk_ 4

1403. +The Peril of Henry+ _Ellis's "Original Letters"_ 6

+The Battle of Shrewsbury+ _Chronicle of Adam of Usk_ 7

1404. +French Aid for Glendower+ _Ellis's "Original Letters"_ 8

1406. +Election of Knights of the
Shire+ _Statutes of the Realm_ 8

1407. +Money-Grants to Initiate in
the Commons+ _Rotuli Parliamentorum_ 9

1410. +Prince Henry and the Heretic+ _Gregory's Chronicle_ 11

1413. +The Death of Henry IV.+ _Fabyan's "Chronicle"_ 12

+Electors and Elected to
Parliament to be Resident+ _Statutes of the Realm_ 13

1414. +The Dauphin's Reply to Henry+ _Chronicle of Henry V._ 13

+The Commons and Legislation+ _Rotuli Parliamentorum_ 14

1415. +The Conspiracy of Cambridge+ _Nicolas's "Agincourt"_ 15

+The Battle of Agincourt+ _Elmham's "Vita et gesta
Henrici Quinti"_ 15

1416. +Borough Customs+ _Customs of Hereford_ 19

1417. +The Execution of Sir John _Brief Chronicle of Sir John
Oldcastle+ Oldcastle_ 22

1418. +The Siege of Rouen+ _Collections of a London
Citizen_ (_Camden Soc._) 23

1420. +The Treaty of Troyes+ _Rymer's "Fœdera"_ 24

1422. +The Death of Henry V.+ _Monstrelet's "Chronicles"_ 26

+A Begging Letter to Henry VI.+ _Ellis's "Original Letters"_ 27

1424. +The Battle of Verneuil+ _Waurin's "Chronicles"_ 28

1429. +To King Henry VI.+ _Wright's "Political Poems"_ 30

+The Battle of Herrings+ _Monstrelet's "Chronicles"_ 31

+Joan of Arc Raises the Siege
of Orleans+ _Waurin's "Chronicles"_ 32

1430. +The Forty-Shilling Franchise+ _Statutes of the Realm_ 35

1431. +The Condemnation of the Maid+ _Waurin's "Chronicles"_ 36

1432. +The Education of Henry VI.+ _Paston Letters_ 40

1439. +Precautions to Protect the
King against Infection+ _Rotuli Parliamentorum_ 43

1445. +A Nobleman requests a Licence
for a Ship+ _Ellis's "Original Letters"_ 44

+Discomforts of Pilgrims at Sea+ _Early Naval Ballads_ 44

+Parliamentary Elections+ _Statutes of the Realm_ 46

1446. +Henry VI. Reforms the Grammar
Schools+ _Excerpta Historica_ 47

1449. +The French Recover Fougères+ _Reductio Normannie_ 48

+Capture of Verneuil+ _Reductio Normannie_ 49

1450. +The Battle of Formigny+ _Reductio Normannie_ 51

+A Father's Counsel+ _Paston Letters_ 52

1450. +Murder of Duke of Suffolk+ _Paston Letters_ 54

+Cade's Rebellion+ _Three 15th-Cent. Chronicles_ 55

1451. +Packing a Jury+ _Paston Letters_ 58

+Partial Judges+ _Paston Letters_ 58

1454. +Lawlessness+ _Paston Letters_ 59

+The Condition of Ireland+ _Ellis's "Original Letters"_ 62

+Beginnings of Civil Strife+ _Ingulph's "Chronicles"_ 63

+The King's Madness+ _Paston Letters_ 64

1455. +The Battle of St. Albans+ _Archæologia_ 65

+An Unruly Noble+ _Rotuli Parliamentorum_ 69

+The Litigiousness of the Age+ _Gascoigne's "Loci e Libro
Veritatum"_ 70

1457. +The Trial of Bishop Pecock+ _An English Chronicle_ 70

1458. +A Sea Fight+ _Paston Letters_ 72

+The Evils in the Church+ _Gascoigne's "Loci e Libro
Veritatum"_ 73

1459. +The Evils of Misgovernment+ _An English Chronicle_ 75

1460. +York's Popularity+ _An English Chronicle_ 75

+The Battle of Northampton+ _An English Chronicle_ 76

+The Wanderings of Margaret+ _Gregory's Chronicle_ 78

+The Battle of Wakefield+ _Hall's "Chronicle"_ 79

+Ravages of the Lancastrians+ _Ingulph's "Chronicles"_ 80

1461. +Battle of Mortimer's Cross+ _Collections of London
Citizen_ 81

+The Battle of Towton+ _Ingulph's "Chronicles"_ 81

+Accession of Edward IV.+ _Archæologia_ 83

1463. +Mayor of London's Dignity+ _Collections of London
Citizen_ 83

1464. +Marriage of Edward IV.+ _Collections of London
Citizen_ 84

1465 (_circa_). +A Dinner of Flesh+ _Russell's "Boke of Nurture"_ 85

1469. +Private Wars+ _Paston Letters_ 86

1470. +Restoration of Henry VI.+ _Chronicles of the White Rose_ 88

1471. +The Arrival of Edward IV.+ _Chronicles of the White Rose_ 88

+The Battle of Barnet+ _Chronicles of the White Rose_ 90

+The Plague+ _Paston Letters_ 92

+The Death of Henry VI.+ _Chronicles of the White Rose_ 92

1472. +King Edward's Court+ _Archæologia_ 93

1475. +An Englishman's Library+ _Paston Letters_ 96

1478. +The Death of Clarence+ _Ingulph's "Chronicles"_ 97

1479. +An Eton Boy's Letter+ _Paston Letters_ 100

+The University+ _Paston Letters_ 101

1483. +Richard Usurps the Throne+ _Ingulph's "Chronicles"_ 102

+The Murder of the Princes+ _More's "History of King
Richard III."_ 106

+Character of King Richard III+ _Harding's "Chronicle"_ 108

1484. +An Act against Benevolences+ _Statutes of the Realm_ 109

1485. +Henry Tudor and the Welsh+ _MSS. Sources_ 110

+Proclamation against Tudors+ _Ellis's "Original Letters"_ 111

+Henry's Landing+ _Cambrian Biography_ 113

+Henry Summons Welsh Chiefs+ _Wynne's "Gwydir Family"_ 115

+The Journey to Bosworth+ _Cambrian Biography_ 116

+The Eve of Bosworth+ _Paston Letters_ 117

+The Battle of Bosworth Field+ _Ingulph's "Chronicles"_ 118

+The Last of the Plantagenets+ _Percy Folio MS._ 120

YORK AND LANCASTER

1399-1485

THE CORONATION OF HENRY IV. (1399).

=Source.=--_The Chronicle of Adam of Usk_, edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, pp. 187, 188. (Royal Society of Literature, 1904.)

On the eve of his coronation, in the Tower of London and in the presence of Richard late King, King Henry made forty-six new knights, amongst whom were his three sons, and also the earls of Arundel and Stafford, and the son and heir of the earl of Warwick; and with them and other nobles of the land he passed in great state to Westminster. And when the day of Coronation was come (13th October), all the peers of the realm, robed finely in red and scarlet and ermine, came with great joy to the ceremony, my lord of Canterbury ordering all the service and duties thereof. In the presence were borne four swords, whereof one was sheathed as a token of the augmentation of military honour, two were wrapped in red and bound round with golden bands to represent twofold mercy, and the fourth was naked and without a point, the emblem of the executioner of justice without rancour. The first sword the earl of Northumberland carried, the two covered ones the earls of Somerset and Warwick, and the sword of justice the King's eldest son, the prince of Wales; and the lord Latimer bore the sceptre, and the earl of Westmoreland the rod. And this they did as well in the coronation as at the banquet, always standing around the King. Before the King received the crown from my lord of Canterbury, I heard him swear to take heed to rule his people altogether in mercy and in truth. These were the officers in the Coronation feast: The earl of Arundel was butler, the earl of Oxford held the ewer, and the lord Grey of Ruthin spread the cloths.

While the King was in the midst of the banquet, sir Thomas Dymock, knight, mounted in full armour on his destrier,[1] and having his sword sheathed in black with a golden hilt, entered the hall, two others, likewise mounted on chargers, bearing before him a naked sword and a lance. And he caused proclamation to be made by a herald at the four sides of the hall that, if any man should say that his liege lord here present and King of England was not of right crowned King of England, he was ready to prove the contrary with his body, then and there, or when and wheresoever it might please the King. And the King said: "If need be, sir Thomas, I will in mine own person ease thee of this office."

[1] Destrier = a charger, a war-horse.

CONSPIRACY OF THE EARLS (1400).

=Source.=--Capgrave's _Chronicle of England_, pp. 275, 276 (Rolls Series).

In the second year of this King the earls of Kent, Salisbury and Huntingdon, unkind to the King, rose against him. Unkind were they, for the people would have them dead and the King spared them. These men, thus gathered, purposed to fall on the King suddenly at Windsor, under the colour of mummeries in Christmas time. The King was warned of this and fled to London. These men knew not that, but came to Windsor with four hundred armed men, purposing to kill the King and his progeny, and restore Richard again unto the crown. When they came to Windsor, and thus were deceived, they fled to a town where the queen lay, fast by Reading, and there, before the queen's household, he blessed him this earl of Kent. "O benedicite," he said, "who may this be that Harry of Lancaster hath taken the Tower at London, and our very King Richard hath broken prison, and hath gathered a hundred thousand fighting men." So gladded he the queen with lies, and rode forth to Wallingford, and from Wallingford to Abingdon, warning all men by the way that they should make them ready to help King Richard. Thus came he to Cirencester, late at even. The men of the town had suspicion that their tidings were lies, (as it was indeed,) rose and kept the entries of the inns, that none of them might pass. There fought they in the town from midnight unto nine of the clock in the morrow. But the town drove them out of the Abbey and smote off many of their heads. The earl of Salisbury was dead there; and worthy, for he was a great favourite of the Lollards, and a despiser of the sacraments, for he would not confess when he should die.

The earl of Huntingdon heard of this and fled unto Essex. And as often as he assayed to take the sea, so often was he born off with the wind. Then was he taken by the Commons and led to Chelmsford and then to Pleshy, and his head smote off in the same place where he arrested the Duke of Gloucester.

DE HERETICO COMBURENDO (January, 1401).

=Source.=--_Statutes of the Realm_, 2 Henry IV., c. xv.

Item, Whereas it is shewed to our Sovereign Lord the King on behalf of the Prelates and Clergy of his realm of England in this present Parliament, That although the Catholic Faith builded upon Christ and by his Apostles and the Holy Church sufficiently determined, declared and approved, hath hitherto by good and holy and most Noble Progenitors of our Sovereign Lord the King ... [been] most devoutly observed, and the Church of England most laudably endowed and in her Rights and Liberties sustained.... Yet divers false and perverse People of a certain New Sect of the Faith ... do perversely preach and teach these days, openly and privily, divers new Doctrines, and wicked, heretical and erroneous Opinions contrary to the same faith.... They make unlawful Conventicles and Confederacies, they hold and exercise Schools, they make and write Books, they do wickedly instruct and inform People, and, as much as they may, incite and stir them to Sedition and Insurrection, and maketh great Strife and Division among the people, and other Enormities horrible to be heard daily do perpetrate and commit, in subversion of the said Catholic Faith and Doctrine of the Holy Church.

_Then follow clauses forbidding the Lollards to preach without license, or to hold Schools for teaching the new doctrines, and a clause punishing by fine and imprisonment all offenders who abjure their heresy; finally_:--

If any Person within the said Realm and Dominions, upon the said wicked Preachings, Doctrines, Opinions, Schools and heretical and erroneous Information ... be before the Diocesan, and do refuse duly to abjure, or by the Diocesan of the same place or his commission, after the abjuration made by the same person, fall into relapse so that according to the Holy Canons he ought to be left to the secular Court, whereupon credence shall be given to the Diocesan of the same place, or to his Commissionaries in this behalf; then the Sheriff of the County of the same place, and Mayor and Sheriffs or Sheriff, or Mayor and Bailiffs of the City, Town and Borough of the same County shall be personally present in preferring of such sentences; and they, the same persons and every one of them, after such a sentence promulgate, shall receive them, and before the People in an high place do them to be burnt; that such punishment may strike in fear to the minds of others, whereby no such wicked doctrines and heretical and erroneous opinions ... against the Catholic Faith, Christian Law and Determination of Holy Church, which God forbid, be sustained or in any wise suffered.

THE GLENDOWER WAR (1401-1402).

=Source.=--_Chronicle of Adam of Usk_, edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, pp. 237, 238, 246, 247.

In this autumn (1401), Owen Glendower, all North Wales and Cardigan and Powis siding with him, sorely harried with fire and sword the English who dwelt in those parts, and their towns, and specially the town of Pool. Wherefore the English, invading those parts with a strong power, and utterly laying them waste and ravaging them with fire, famine, and sword, left them a desert, not even sparing children or churches, nor the monastery of Strata-Florida, wherein the King himself was being lodged, and the church of which and its choir, even up to the high altar, they used as a stable, and pillaged even the patens; and they carried away into England more than a thousand children of both sexes to be their servants. Yet did the same Owen do no small hurt to the English, slaying many of them, and carrying off the arms, horses and tents of the King's eldest son, the prince of Wales, and of other lords, which he bare away for his own behoof to the mountain fastnesses of Snowden.

In these days, southern Wales, and in particular all the diocese of Llandaff, was at peace from every kind of trouble of invasion or inroad.... The commons of Cardigan, being pardoned their lives, deserted Owen, and returned, though in sore wretchedness, to their homes, being allowed to use the Welsh tongue, although its destruction had been determined on by the English, Almighty God, the King of Kings, the unerring Judge of all, having mercifully ordained the recall of this decree at the prayer and cry of the oppressed....

... On the day of St. Alban (22nd June, 1402) near to Knighton in Wales, was a hard battle fought between the English under sir Edmund Mortimer and the Welsh under Owen Glendower, with woeful slaughter even to eight thousand souls, the victory being with Owen. And alas! my lord, the said sir Edmund ... was by the fortune of war carried away captive. And, being by his enemies in England stripped of all his goods and hindered from paying ransom, in order to escape more easily the pains of captivity, he is known by common report to have wedded the daughter of the same Owen; by whom he had a son Lionel, and three daughters, all of whom, except one daughter, along with their mother are now dead. At last, being by the English host beleagured in the castle of Harlech, he brought his days of sorrow to an end, his wonderful deeds being to this day told at the feast in song.

In this year also the lord Grey of Ruthin,[2] being taken captive by Owen, with the slaughter of two thousand of his men, was shut up in prison; but he was set free on payment of ransom of sixteen thousand pounds in gold. Concerning such an ill-starred blow given by Owen to the English rule, when I think thereon, my heart trembles. For, backed by a following of thirty thousand men issuing from their lairs throughout Wales and its marches, he overthrew castles, among which were Usk, Caerleon, and Newport, and fired the towns. In short, like a second Assyrian, the rod of God's anger, he did deeds of unheard-of cruelty with fire and sword.

[2] Glendower's revolt arose out of a quarrel with Lord Grey of Ruthin.

THE PERIL OF HENRY (1403).

=Source.=--Ellis's _Original Letters_, second series, vol. i., pp. 17-19. (London: 1827.)

[_French._]--Our most redoubted and sovereign Lord the King, I recommend myself humbly to your Highness as your lowly creature and continual orator. And our most redoubted and sovereign Lord, please you to know that from day to day letters are arriving from Wales, containing intelligence by which you may learn that the whole country is lost, if you do not go there as quick as possible. For which reason may it please you to prepare to set out with all power you can muster, and march day and night for the salvation of these parts.... Written in great haste at Hereford, the 8th July.

Your lowly creature

+Richard Kingeston,+

_Archdeacon of Hereford._

[_Postscript in English._]--And for God's love, my liege Lord, think on yourself and your estate, or, by my troth, all is lost else; but and you come yourself with haste, all other will follow after. And note on Friday last Carmarthen town is taken and burnt, and the castle yielded by Roger Wigmore, and the castle Emlyn is yielded; and slain of the town of Carmarthen more than fifty persons. Written in right great haste on Sunday; and I cry you mercy and put me in your high grace that I write so shortly; for, by my troth that I owe to you, it is needfull.

THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY (1403).

=Source.=--_Chronicle of Adam of Usk_, edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, pp. 252, 253.

In the next year, on behalf of the crown of England claimed for the earl of March, a deadly quarrel arose between the King and the house of Percy of Northumberland, as kin to the same earl, to the great agitation of the realm...; and a field being pitched for the morrow of Saint Mary Magdalene (23rd July), the King, by the advice of the earl of Dunbar of Scotland, because the father of the lord Henry Percy and Owen Glendower were then about to come against the King with a great host, anticipating the appointed day, brought on a most fearful battle against the said lord Henry and the lord Thomas Percy, then earl of Worcester. And after that there had fallen on either side in most bloody slaughter to the number of sixteen thousand men, in the field of Berwick (where the King afterwards founded a hospice for the souls of those who there fell) two miles from Shrewsbury, on the eve of the said feast, victory declared for the king who had thus made the onslaught. In this battle the said lord Percy, the flower and glory of Christendom, fell, alas! and with him his uncle.... There fell also two noble knights in the King's armour, each made conspicuous as though a second King, having been placed for the King's safety in the rear line of battle. Whereat the earl of Douglas of Scotland, then being in the field with the said lord Henry, as his captive, when he heard victory shouted for King Henry, cried in wonder: "Have I not slain two King Henries (meaning the said knights) with mine own hand? 'Tis an evil hour for us that a third yet lives to be our victor."

FRENCH AID FOR GLENDOWER (1404).

=Source.=--Ellis's _Original Letters_, second series, vol. i., pp. 33, 34. (London: 1827.)

+William Venables and Roger Brescy to the King.+

Most puissant and redoubted liege Lord, we recommend us to your sovereign Lord in all ways respectful and revered. May it please your Royal Majesty to understand that Robert Parys, the deputy constable of Carnarvon Castle, has apprized us through a woman, because there was no man who dared to come--for neither man nor woman dare carry letters on account of the rebels of Wales,--that "Oweyn de Glyndour," with the French and all his other power, is preparing to assault the town and castle of Carnarvon, and to begin this enterprize with engines, sowes[3] and ladders of great length; and in the town and castle there are not in all more than twenty-eight fighting men, which is too small a force; for eleven of the more able men who were there at the last siege of the place are dead; some of the wounds they received at the time of the assault, and others of the plague; so that the said castle and town are in imminent danger, as the bearer of this will inform you by word of mouth, to whom your Highness will be pleased to give full faith and credence, as he can inform you most accurately of the truth.... Written at Chester the 16th day of January.

Your poor lieges

+William Venables of Kinnerton+

and +Roger Brescy+.

[3] A machine for mining the walls.

THE MANNER OF ELECTION OF KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE (1406).

=Source.=--_Statutes of the Realm_, 7 Henry IV., c. xv.

Item our Lord the King, at the grievous complaints of his Commons [in this present Parliament] of the undue election of the Knights of Counties for the Parliament, which be sometimes made of affection of the Sheriff, and otherwise against the form of the writs directed to the Sheriff, to the great slander of the Counties and the hindrance of the business of the Commonalty of the said County; Our Sovereign Lord the King, willing therein to provide a remedy, by the assent of the Lords spiritual and temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, hath ordained and established, that from henceforth the elections of such knights shall be made in the form that followeth: That is to say at the next County to be holden after the delivery of the writ of the Parliament, proclamation shall be made in the full County of the day and place of the Parliament, and that all they that be there present, as well suitors duly summoned for the same cause as other, shall attend to the election of their knights for the Parliament; and then, in the full County, they shall proceed to the election freely and indifferently, notwithstanding any request or command to the contrary; and after that they be chosen, the names of the persons so chosen, be they present or absent, shall be written in an Indenture under the Seal of all them that did choose them, and tacked to the same Writ of Parliament; which indenture, so sealed and tacked, shall be holden for the Sheriff's return of the said writ touching the knights of the Shires. And in the writs of Parliament to be made hereafter this Clause shall be put: _Et electionem tuam in pleno Comitatu tuo factam distincte et aperte sub sigillo tuo et sigillis eorum qui electioni illi interfuerint nobis in cancellaria nostra ad diem et locum in brevi contentos certifices indilate_.[4]

[4] And thy election in thy full county made, distinctly and openly
under thy seal and the seals of those present at that election, certify
without delay, to us in our chancery, at the day and place contained in
the writ.

MONEY-GRANTS TO INITIATE IN THE COMMONS (1407).

=Source.=--_Rotuli Parliamentorum_ (Record Commission), vol. iii., p. 611, § 21.

Be it remembered that on Monday the 21st day of November, the King our sovereign lord being in the Council Chamber in the Abbey of Gloucester, there being in his presence the lords spiritual and temporal at this present Parliament assembled, there was a discussion among them concerning the state of the realm and the defence of the same to resist the malice of the enemies, who on every coast appeared to be harassing the said realm and the faithful subjects of the same.... And thereon it was demanded of the said lords, what aid would be sufficient and necessary in this case. To which demand and question the lords replied severally, that considering the necessity of the King on the one part, and the poverty of his people on the other part, a less aid could not suffice than to have a tenth and a half from the cities and boroughs, and a fifteenth and a half from other laymen. Further, to grant an extension of the subsidy on wool, leather and woolfels, and three shillings on the ton, and twelve pence in the pound, from Michaelmas next until Michaelmas in two years next ensuing. Thereon, by command of the King our said lord, it was conveyed to the Commons of this present Parliament that they should send to our said lord the King and the said lords a certain number of persons of their company to hear and to report to their colleagues what they should have as a command of our said lord the King. And thereupon the said Commons sent to the presence of the King our said lord, and the said lords, twelve of their number: to whom, by command of our said lord the King, was declared the question above-mentioned and the reply of the aforesaid lords to it. This reply it was the will of our said lord the King that they should convey to the rest of their colleagues [in the Commons]; finally that they (of the Commons) should conform as near as possible to the purpose of the aforesaid lords. This report thus conveyed to the said Commons, they were greatly perturbed by it, saying and affirming this to be in great prejudice and derogation of their liberties; and when our said lord the King heard this, not wishing that anything should be done at present nor in the future, which could turn in any wise against the liberty of the estate for which they were come to Parliament, nor against the liberties of the lords aforesaid, willed and granted and declared, with the advice of the said lords, in the following manner: That is to say, that it is lawful for the lords to debate among themselves in this present Parliament, and in every other [Parliament] in time to come, in the absence of the King, touching the state of the realm and the remedy necessary for it. And that, in like manner, it is lawful for the Commons, on their part, to debate together touching the state and remedy aforesaid. Provided always that the lords on their part and the Commons on theirs, make no report to our said lord the King of any grant granted by the Commons and assented to by the lords, nor of the communications concerning the said grant, before the said lords and Commons shall be of one assent and of one accord in this matter, and then in the manner and form that is customary, that is to say by the mouth of the Speaker of the said Commons for the time being, so that the said lords and Commons should have the agreement of our said lord the King. Also our said lord the King wills, also with the assent of the aforesaid lords, that the communications held in this present Parliament as aforesaid shall not be treated as an example for the future, nor be turned to the prejudice or derogation of the liberty of the estate for which the Commons are now come together, neither in the present Parliament nor in any other in the future. But he [the King] wills that the said, and all the other estates, be as free as they had been before.

PRINCE HENRY AND THE HERETIC (1410).

=Source.=--Gregory's Chronicle in the _Collections of a London Citizen_ (Camden Society), pp. 105, 106.

And that year there was an heretic, that was called John of Badby, that believed not in the Sacrament of the Altar, and he was brought into Smithfield for to be burnt, and bound unto a stake; and Sir Harry Prince of Wales counselled him to hold the very right belief of Holy Church, and he should fail neither lack no good. Also the Chancellor of Oxford, one Master Courteney, informed him in the faith of Holy Church, and the Prior of Saint Bartholomew brought the Holy Sacrament with twelve torches and brought it before him. And it was asked him how that he believed. And he answered and said that he wist well that it was holy bread, and not God's own blessed body. And then was the tonne put over him and fire put unto him; and when he felt the fire he cried mercy. And anon the prince commanded to take away the fire, and it was done so anon. And then the prince asked him if that he would forsake his heresy and believe on the faith of all Holy Church, and he would give him his life and goods enough while he lived; but he would not, but continued forth in his heresy. And then the prince commanded him up to be burnt at once, and so he was. And John Gylott, vynter, he made two weavers to be taken, the which followed the same way of heresy.

THE DEATH OF HENRY IV. (1413).

=Source.=--Fabyan's _Chronicle_, edited by Ellis, p. 576. (London: 1811.)

In this year and 20th day of November, was a great council holden at the White Friars in London, by the which it was among other things concluded, that, for the King's great journey that he intended to make in visiting of the holy sepulchre of our Lord, certain galleys of war should be made, and other purveyance concerning the same journey. Whereupon all hasty and possible speed was made; but after the feast of Christmas, while he was making his prayers at Saint Edward's shrine, to take there his leave, and so speed him upon his journey, he became so sick that such as were about him feared that he would have died right there, wherefore they for his comfort bore him into the Abbot's place and lodged him in a chamber, and there upon a pallet laid him before the fire, where he lay in great agony a certain of time. At length when he was come to himself, not knowing where he was, he enquired, of such as there were about him, what place that was; the which showed to him that it belonged to the Abbot of Westminster, and for he felt himself so sick, he commanded to ask if that chamber had any special name, whereunto it was answered that it was named Jerusalem. Then said the King: "Loving be to the Father of Heaven, for now I know that I shall die in this chamber, according to the prophecy of me before said, that I should die at Jerusalem"; and so after he made himself ready and died shortly after.

ELECTORS AND ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT TO BE RESIDENT (1413).

=Source.=--_Statutes of the Realm_, 1 Henry V., c. 1.

... That the Knights and Esquires and others which shall be choosers of those knights of the shires be also resident within the same shires in manner and form as is aforesaid. And moreover it is ordained and established, That the citizens and burgesses of the cities and boroughs be chosen men, citizens and burgesses resident, dwelling and free in the same cities and boroughs, and no other in any wise.

THE DAUPHIN'S REPLY TO HENRY (1414).

=Source.=--"Chronicle of King Henry V.," printed in Nicolas's _Battle of Agincourt_, pp. viii-ix. (London: 1827.)

And his lords gave him [Henry V.] counsel, to send ambassadors unto the King of France and his council, and that he should give up to him his right heritage, that is to say Normandy, Gascony, and Guienne, the which his predecessors had held before him, or else he would it win with dint of sword, in short time, with the help of Almighty God. And then the Dauphin of France answered our ambassadors, and said in this manner, that the King was over young and too tender of age to make war against him, and was not like yet to be no good warrior to do and to make such a conquest there upon him; and somewhat in scorn and despite he sent to him a tonne full of tennis balls because he would have somewhat for to play withal for him and for his lords, and that became him better than to maintain any war; and then anon our lords that was ambassadors took their leave and came to England again, and told the King and his Council of the ungoodly answer that they had of the Dauphin, and of the present the which he had sent unto the King; and when the King had heard their words and the answer of the Dauphin, he was wondrous sore aggrieved ... and thought to avenge him upon them as soon as God would send him grace and might, and anon made tennis balls for the Dauphin, in all haste; and they were great gun-stones for the Dauphin to play withal.

THE COMMONS AND LEGISLATION (1414).

=Source.=--_Rotuli Parliamentorum_ (Record Commission), vol. iv., p. 22.

Item be it remembered, that the Commons presented to our sovereign lord the King in this present Parliament a petition, the tenor of which follows word for word.

Our sovereign Lord, your humble and true lieges that have come for the Commune of your land beseech your right righteousness, That so it hath ever been their liberty and freedom that there should no statute nor law be made unless they give thereto their assent: Considering that the Commune of your land, the which that is, and ever hath been, a member of your Parliament, be as well assenters as petitioners, that from this time forward, by complaint of the Commune of any mischief asking remedy by the mouth of their Speaker or else by petition written, that there never be no law made thereupon and engrossed as statute and law, neither by addition, neither by diminutions, by no manner of term or terms the which that should change the sentence and the intent asked by the Speaker's mouth, or the petitions beforesaid given up in writing by the manner aforesaid, without assent of the aforesaid Commune. Considering our sovereign Lord, that it is not in no wise the intent of your Communes, that it be so that they ask you, by speaking or by writing, two things or three or as many as them lust: But that ever it stand in the freedom of your high regality to grant which of those that you lust, and to refuse the remnant.

The King of his grace especially granteth that from henceforth no thing be enacted to the petitions of his Commune that be contrary to their asking, whereby they should be bound without their assent. Saving always to our liege Lord his real prerogative to grant and deny what him lust of their petitions and askings aforesaid.

THE CONSPIRACY OF CAMBRIDGE (1415).

=Source.=--Nicolas's _Battle of Agincourt_, p. lxxvii. (London: 1827.)

And then fell there a great disease and a foul mischief, for there were three lords which the King trusted much on and through false covetousness they had purposed and imagined the King's death and thought to have slain him and all his brethren or that he had taken the sea, which were named thus--Sir Richard, earl of Cambridge brother to the duke of York, the second was the lord Scrope Treasurer of England, the third was Sir Thomas Gray knight of the north country, and these lords aforesaid, for lucre of money, had made promise to the Frenchmen for to have slain King Henry and all his worthy brethren by a false train suddenly or they had beware. But Almighty God of his great grace held his holy hand over them and saved them from this perilous mien. And for to have done this they received of the Frenchmen a million of gold and that there was proved openly. And for their false treason they were all judged unto the death. And this was the judgement, that they should be led through Hampton and without Northgate there to be beheaded, and thus they ended their life for their false covetousness and treason.

THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT (+October 25, 1415+).

=Source.=--Elmham's _Vita et gesta Henrici Quinti_, pp. 59 _et seq._ (Oxford: 1727.)

A.--_The Disposition and Order of the English Army._

The night being spent but Titan not yet risen above the horizon, scarce had Friday dawned (on which the day the martyrdom of the blessed Crispin and Crispinian is celebrated) than the King neglected not to lead out his troops into the field, having first said matins and heard mass, and thinking that his enemies would be more engaged in fighting than in plundering, he ordered the horses of his men and whatever other things his army had brought with them except their arms, to be left in the village in which they had been quartered in the night, and assigned to the care of a few soldiers.... But in order that his army, which was very small in comparison to the French, might be able to fight without a wide separation, he arrayed it for battle in this wise: to the middle battalion, which he himself led, and in which under the mercy of God he proposed to fight, he assigned and chose a likely place about the middle of the field, so that it might meet the middle battalion of the enemy. On his right, at scarcely any distance, he placed the vanguard of his army and joined it to the wing at his right hand. But on the King's left was the rearward of the army, to which the left wing was likewise joined. These being so placed the providence of the divine grace was manifestly displayed, which provided for so small an army so apt a field enclosed within hedges and bushes ... to protect them from being surrounded by the ambuscades of the enemy. Now the King was clad in strong and very glittering armour; on his head he bore a helmet with a large resplendent crest and a crown of gold glistening with precious stones; his body begirt with a surcoat with the arms of England and France, from which heavenly splendour there sprang forth, on the one side, three golden flowers in a field of azure, on the other side three golden leopards sporting in a ruby field.... [He], seated on a noble horse of snowy whiteness, having also horses following bedecked in kingly fashion with the richest trappings, wondrously incited his army to deeds of valour. The nobles also, by the King's side, were arrayed with coats of arms as became those about to engage in conflict. And when the King heard someone wishing that whatever nobles of the realm of England, who were well-disposed thereto, were present at this affair, with kingly steadfastness he thus replied, "Truly I would not that by one single person the number of this army should be increased. For if in the number of fighting men, we were equal to, or perhaps, stronger than, our enemies, and they were delivered into our hands by the hazards of war, our indiscreet judgement would attribute the victory to the greatness of our strength, and so due praise would by no means be accorded. But if, after God's own manifold chastisement for our sins, the divine judgement should determine to deliver us into the hands of the enemy,... certainly then our army would be too great to be exposed (which God forbid!) to so great a calamity. But if the divine mercy should deign to deliver so many adversaries to so trifling a force of fighting men, we should deem so great a victory certainly bestowed by God upon us and return thanks to Him and not to our own numbers. Lo! he who is splendidly and safely defended and armed in body is fortified in mind much more gloriously by stern hope and unbroken fortitude."

B.--_The Disposition and Order of the French Army._

The enemy, despising the idleness and inaction of the King's army, endeavoured to prepare their numerous formations in proper order for battle.... They drew up their army after their own fashion, as the King had drawn up his; nevertheless the breadth of the field was not sufficient to draw up so numerous a host into proper battle array. For whereas the English army, throughout all its lines, was scarcely strengthened with files of four men, one behind another crosswise, all the French lines throughout their length were strengthened with files of twenty or more fighting men, one behind the other. Also, in the outermost flank of their army were placed a thousand soldiers, to break through the English lines with cavalry charges; also certain _saxi-voma_,[5] which might scatter the English when about to engage in battle, or at least throw them into disorder, were drawn up along the flanks of the army. But the number of standards and other warlike ensigns, which were displayed by the French army, fastened on the points of lances and rustling in the wind, seemed to exceed the multitude of lances in the English army....

[5] Engines for hurling stones.

C.--_The Battle._

Thus drawn up across the fields on both sides and three bow shots, or thereabouts, distant from each other, each army awaited the movements of the other, but neither advanced against the other for some time. Yet the French cavalry, advancing a little into the field, were by the King's command forced to retreat hastily, through certain of the royal archers, on to their army. Also certain French barons, by their own wishes, came into the King's presence, and without being able to find out anything the King proposed to do, were soon ordered to return to their own army. Now King Henry, when he considered that a great part of the short day was already passed, and readily believing that the French were not disposed to move from their position, consulted the nobles and experts as to what they should do, viz., whether he should advance with his army, in the order in which it stood, against the enemy who refused to move against him. They, having fully considered the circumstances of so important a matter, decided that the King should advance with his army towards the enemy, and mightily charge them in the name of God.... Without delay both men-at-arms, unheeding their heavy arms, and the archers, leaving behind in the field their sharp stakes which they had previously prepared to meet the French cavalry, all having bowed the knee and taken lumps of earth in their mouths,[6] with a warlike shout piercing the heavens and with wonderful dash, flew fiercely along the plain, and their outward bearing shewed how much courage fired their hearts. And when they had approached within twenty paces of the ranks of the enemy, not far from Agincourt, and the sounds of the trumpets rending the air had stirred the spirits of the warriors to battle, the enemy, now for the first time moving, advanced to meet the English. Immediately the battle commenced with such fury that at the first attack of such brave warriors, by the dire shock of lances and the violent blows of swords the joints of their strong armour were broken, and the first rank on both sides dealt deadly wounds. But, on the other side, the warlike band of archers, with their strong and numerous volleys, darkened the air, shedding, like a cloud laden with rain, an unbearable multitude of piercing arrows, and, inflicting wounds on the horses, either threw to the ground the French cavalry who were drawn up to charge them, or forced them to retreat.... In this deadly conflict be it remembered among other things that that bright shining Titan of Kings so much exposed the precious treasure of his person to every chance of war that he thundered upon his enemies swift terrors and intolerable attacks.... After a while all the King's battalions, foremost and hindmost, were victorious, each wing having overthrown the enemy.... And, by divine mercy, having gained so glorious a triumph, the magnanimous King ... was gratefully minded to return thanks most devoutly for so great a victory. And, because so great a victory was vouchsafed to him on the feast of St. Crispin and Crispinian, every day throughout his life he heard mention of them in one of his masses.

[6] As a sign of their desire and an acknowledgment of their
unworthiness to receive the Sacrament.

BOROUGH CUSTOMS (_circa_ 1416).

=Source.=--"Customs of Hereford," in the _Journal of the British Archæological Association_, vol. xxvii., pp. 460 _et seq._ (London: 1871.)

[The customs of Hereford were placed on record in the reign of Henry V., and rewritten in 1486. Many of the customs were of much older date; even in 1486 some were of a duration from "time immemorial."]

_Election of Bailiff._--First of all we use at the Feast of St. Michael to choose unto us a bailiff of our fellow-citizens, by the whole consent of the city, who is powerful to labour and discreet to judge, holding some tenements or hereditaments in the fee of our Lord the King; and he to be our head next under the King, whom we ought, in all things touching our King or the state of our city, to obey chiefly in three things,--first, when we are sent for, by day or by night, to consult of those things which appertain to the King or the state of the city; secondly, to answer if we offend in any point contrary to our oath, or to our fellow-citizens; thirdly, to perform the affairs of our city at our own charges, if so be they may be finished sooner or better than by any other of our citizens.... And this shall be the oath of the bailiff when he is chosen. He shall not have respect to anyone's person who hath been heretofore elected.

_The Mayor's Oath._--First, that he shall be true to our Lord the King in all things; secondly, that as much as in him lies, as well by day as by night, he shall faithfully defend and keep the city of Hereford, the city of our Lord the King; thirdly, he shall defend and maintain the laws and customs of the city during his time;... fourthly, that he shall administer justice and judgement to every one, not having respect to any one's person; fifthly, that he shall not hold or keep the office of his mayoralty but for one year after his election; sixthly, if so be that he be a layman, he shall do all things belonging to his office by the counsel of his faithful citizens....

_Concerning our courts_, we use to keep them on a Tuesday, from the fifteenth day until fifteen days; unto which courts all citizens of our Lord the King ought to come, and chiefly all those which hold any tenement of our Lord the King; and especially to the two first courts holden after the feasts of Michaelmas and Easter, at which two courts the assize of bread and beer shall be ordained, and keepers to keep the same assize; and unto the said courts and other courts [shall come] all others who complain of any trespasses committed, or any other thing touching the state of the city or themselves, and they ought to speak the truth upon their own peril, not bringing with them any stranger ... because we do not use that strangers shall come and implead amongst us, and know the secrets of the courts, for divers dangers that thereby may ensue....