ESTIMATES OF THE ENGLISH KINGS.
xiv.—IIENRY V. THE historical fate of Henry of Monmouth has been a strange one. He has long been the darling of popular fame, first as the actual hero of the battle of Agincourt, and next as the supposed hero of a number of juvenile escapades, which met with a portion of their deserts in the Justice and the lock-up ; and it is difficult to say in which capacity he is the more attractive to the popular mind. We always feel some hesitation in arriving at historical conclusions opposed to traditional judgments, but we are afraid that the reputation of Henry, if it is to be supported at all, must rest on other grounds than these :—that the glories of his French campaigns, when looked at with an impartial eye, will appear as little else than the ephemeral, though brilliant, success of a mistaken and disastrous policy, and that the youthful delin- quencies which, through the artistic genius of a great dramatist, have exercised such a charm over the fancy, if they have any foundation at all in fact, formed so insignificant a feature in the early life of Henry as to be thoroughly misleading, if taken as an index of his conduct before he became King of England. The only facts of his early career about which we can feel at all certain present a character so unlike the popular conception, that it seems very difficult to admit the possibility of there being any truth in those stories, familiar to us all, of the Prince and his companions ; and if the authority of contemporary chroni- clers induces us to give any ear to them at all, we are compelled to receive them in a very partial and modified sense. We cannot expect, however, that our readers will, in this case, give credence to our simple assertion, and a more detailed account of the facts is therefore as necessary on this account, as it is essential to au understanding of what Prince Henry really was.
To begin with, Harry of Monmouth—as he was called, from the place of his birth—was not born in the purple. When Richard II. was displaced by Bolingbroke, Henry was twelve years of age, and for these twelve years he was merely the heir of a collateral branch of the royal family, which did not stand in the immediate order of succession, even supposing the reigning King should die
childless, and whose pretensions to the succession were not likely to receive any favour at the hands of the King, nor could hope much from popular support as long as the Duke of Gloucester re- mained alive. He was therefore from the beginning placed in a position both secondary and unpromising. It became also a very invidious and difficult position, when his father landed in England
to subvert the existing government. Young Harry was then in Ireland, whither he had been carried by King Richard (along with
young Humphrey of Gloucester) as a measure of precaution, becoming thus a sort of hostage for the good behaviour of his father. Richard had always treated him with great kindness, his preference for the young probably animating his better feelings in this matter. Henry (who is said to have always retained a grateful feeling towards the King) was knighted by him in Ireland, and under his auspices first witnessed actual warfare. Even when the news of Bolingbroke's enterprise reached the King, Richard accepted with seeming faith the lad's protestations of his own innocence, and took no other measure against him than that of leaving him behind him in Ireland, under a gentle restraint. The position of Henry, under these Circumstances, must have called for the early exercise of considerable tact and self-restraint, if he possessed those qualities, as Richard's lenient course towards him seems to imply ; and at any rate, his mind must have been roused to the consideration of a grave moral difficulty as to the comparative claims of filial duty and personal gratitude, and so may have been schooled at an early age to habits of reflection and decision. Then came a great change, and he became all at once the heir-apparent to an established though still precarious Royalty. But along with the seduc- tive splendour and flatteries of this prominent position, which might have lulled his energies into slothful repose, he entered on cares and responsibilities of no ordinary kind. From a lad he was called on to co-operate by his presence first and then by his per- sonal exertions in the maintenance of the newly-acquired dignity, and he seems to have responded to this call with alacrity and unwearying industry. We can trace his career almost continu- ously from this point in State correspondence, in the records of the Privy Council, and in the Rolls of Parliament. A few extracts will suffice. henry Percy (Hotspur), from whom the Prince had been learning the art of war on the Welsh Borders, tells the Council how the Commons of the country of North Wales, that is, the counties of Carnarvon and Merioneth, who have been before him, have humbly offered their thanks to my Lord the Prince for the great exertions of his kindness and goodwill in procuring their pardon at the hands of the King. The pardon itself, dated March 10, 1401, when Henry of Monmouth was only fourteen, states that it was granted "of our especial grace, and at the prayer of our dearest first-born son, Henry, Prince of Wales." In March, 1403, the young Prince was appointed by his father, with the consent of the Privy Council, Lieutenant of Wales, with full powers of inquiring into offences, of pardoning offenders, of arraying the King's lieges, and of doing all other things which he should find necessary. From a letter to the Privy Council from the Prince himself about this time, pointing out the necessity of supplies of money, we learn that he had been compelled to pawn his own plate and jewels to raise money for the expenses of the war. On July 10, in the same year, the King tells the Council that he had received letters from his son, and information from his messengers, acquainting him with the gallant and good bearing of his very dear and well-beloved son, which gave him very great pleasure. He then commissions them to pay £1,000 to the Prince for the purpose of enabling him to keep his soldiors together. Close on this date came the insurrection of the Percies. His son joined the King from Wales, and was present at the battle of Shrewsbury on the 21st of July, 1403, where he was wounded in the face by an arrow.* Henry returned after the battle to his Welsh lieutenancy, and we meet with a series of letters from him n to the King and Privy Council, entering fully on the matters attending the cam- paigns against Owen Glendower, and on the 7th of June, 1406, we find an entry in the Rolls of Parliament which may be taken as a specimen of the estimation in which the Prince was held by the House of Commons. The Speaker, in his opening address, made "a commendation of the many excellences and virtues which habitually dwelt in the honourable person of the Prince ; and especially, first, of the humility and obedience which he bears toward our sovereign lord the King, his father ; so that there can be no person of any degree whatever who entertains or shows more honour and reverence of humbleness and obedience to his
" According to a contemporary chronicler, he refused to quit the field, saying, "It the Prince flies, who will stay to and the battle r
father than he shows in his honourable person ; secondly, how God bath granted to him and endowed him with good heart and courage, as much as ever was needed in any such prince in the world. And, thirdly, [he spoke] of the great virtue which God hath granted him in an especial manner, that howsoever much he had set his mind upon any important undertaking to the best of his own judgment, yet for the great confidence which he placed in his council, and in their loyalty, judgment, and discretion, he would kindly and graciously be influenced and conform himself to his council and their ordinance, according to what seemed best to them, setting aside entirely his own will and pleasure ; from which it is probable that, by the grace of God, very great comfort and honour and advantage will flow hereafter. For this, the said Commons humbly thank our Lord Jesus Christ, and they pray for its good continuance." This is the first of four successive Parliaments in which Prince Henry was cordially thanked for his services, and recommended to the King's favour. He was now gradually assuming a name and more important position in the State. On the 8th of December, 1406, we find him present at a Council at Westminster, which had met to deliberate on the governance of the King's household, the extra- vagance and mismanagement of which had been alluded to in a gentle manner by the Commons on the day when they had used such warm expressions of praise respecting the Prince. So that while we are looking for traces of the Prince's extravagance, we come instead on complaints of that of the King ! It appears from an official entry, that on the 4th of May, 1407, the Prince was re- tained by the consent of the Council to remain in attendance on the person of the King, and at his bidding,—an additional proof of the growing disability of the King and rising influence of young Henry. A generous proceeding on his part, on the 2nd of December, 1407, must not be omitted. On that day, after re- ceiving a vote of thanks and confidence from the Commons, "the said Lord the Prince, most humbly kneeling, declared to our said Lord the King, and to all the Estates of Parliament, in respect of the Duke of York, how that he had understood that divers obloquies and detractions had been put forth by certain evil-disposed persons, to the slander and derogation of the honourable estate and name of the said Duke. Wherein the Lord the Prince made declaration fos the said Duke, that if it had not been for his skill and good advice, himself the said Prince and those that were with him, would have been in very great perils and desolation. And he further added, in behalf of the said Duke, that if he had been one of the poorest gentlemen of the realm, wishing to earn a good name and honour by service, the said Duke did so in his own person labour and use his endeavours to give comfort and courage to all others who were of the said company ; and that in all his actions he is a true and valiant knight." Edward, Duke of York, whom Henry thus generously vindicated, was the " Aumerle " (or Albemarle) of Shakespeare, an old favourite of Richard's, and had been engaged rather discreditably in plots against Henry IV. in the early part of the reign. Prince Henry, however, con- tinued to have confidence in him after his own accession to the Crown ; for in the second year of his reign he made a declaration in Parliament in his favour, in order to remove the attainder which had been passed against him by Henry IV., and trusted him even after the treason of the Duke's brother Richard, Earl of Cambridge. The Duke fell fighting by his side in the battle of Agincourt.
From this period Henry was either occupied with Welsh affairs (military and civil) or present at Councils in London, and we see him a prominent member of the Privy Council, of which we find him acting as President in July, 1408. On February 1, 1409, the custody of the Earl of March and his brother was given to him ; early in the same year he was appointed Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover for life, with a salary of 1300 a year, and on the 18th of March, 1410, Captain of Calais. In the Parliament of the year 1410 we find a petition of the Commons reciting that a statute of that year, to prevent malicious prose- cutions and secret indictments, was made by the King's grace, "par in bone mediation de leer redoute Seigneur le Prince." During the June and July of this year we find the Prince con- stantly acting as President of the Privy Council, and as such actively engaged in all the leading affairs of the State ; and this is the more remarkable, as it is to June the 23rd that is assigned by Stowe a riot in Eastcheap (mentioned also in the "Chronicle of London "), in which, however, not the Prince, but the Lords Thomas and John, his brothers, are said to have been con- cerned, and which was put down by the Mayor and Sheriffs. The King is stated by Stowe to have been very angry at the conduct of the citizens, but to have been appeased on their ex- planations to "William Gaspoigne, Chief Justice." The only
thing to connect Prince Henry with this transaction is the fact that the King had made him on March the 18th preceding a grant of the mansion of Coldharbour, near Eastcheap ; while to make the matter more contradictory still, it is stated by the writers who attribute excesses to Prince Henry, that in con- -sequence of these he was displaced in his seat at the Coun- cil by his brother Thomas, one of the rioters on this occasion ! In November, 1411, another Parliament assembled, and it appears from an entry in the Rolls, that the King had taken in ill-part some of the proceedings of the Commons, but on their prayer declared them to be his loyal and faithful subjects. It is clear that the jealousy of the King at the transference of the powers of Government from his own hands to those of the Prince and Council was rapidly increasing. Prince Henry's house appears to have become the resort of a large part of the nobility and great men, despatches from foreign governments were addressed to him, and his name was associated with that of the King in public acts. An application had been made to the Prince (in his capacity of Wier ego to the King) that very year by the Duke of Burgundy for aid against the Orleanist party in France, and a force was dispatched under the command of the Earl of Arundel, Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham in right of his wife), and other friends of the Prince. There had been a treaty of marriage for the Prince with the house of Burgundy, and Henry appears to have always had a strong appreciation of the importance to England of the Burgundian alliance. The expedition culminated in the victory of St. Cloud (in November), after which Arundel and Cobham showed their humanity by drawing themselves up in 'battle array to protect their prisoners from the vengeance of the Duke of Burgundy. Between this time and the spring of the 'following year, a change seems to have taken place in the counsels of the English King. In May, 1412, a treaty was contracted with the Orleanist party, and on the 25th of August the Lord Thomas, who had been created Duke of Clarence on the 9th of July, was 'cent to France with a force to co-operate against Burgundy. As far as we can ascertain, a party hostile to the Prince, ac- cording to one account, aided by his step-mother, had persuaded the King, who was terribly weakened in mind and body by epi- leptic fits, that his eldest son was seeking to dethrone him, and had induced him to assert his authority by changing sides in the French civil wars. Prince Henry appears to have been .accused during this year of appropriating to his own use money given him for the payment of the garrison of Calais. In the minutes of the Privy Council between July and September (1412) this slander is referred to, and stated to be disproved by two rolls -of paper which the Prince had sent to the Council ; and letters were ordered to be written under the Privy Seal vindicating the Prince's conduct. The real fact was that at this time there was due to the Prince for Calais a very large sum of money. Whatever may have been the exact occasion of the quarrel between father and son, it appears from the Records that on the 18th of February, 1412 (while the negotiations with the Orleanist party were going on), Prince Henry had ceased to be of the Privy Council,—between 1600 and 1700 being then paid to him for his labours and costs while he was a councillor. Probably the dis- pleasure of the King with his Parliament in the preceding Decem- ber marks the beginning of this family estrangement. The -" Chronicle of London" tells us that "on the last day of June the Prince came to London with much people and gentles, and re- mained in the Bishop of Durham's house till July 11; and the 3Iing, who was then at St. John's House, removed to the Bishop of London's palace, and thence to his house at Rotherhithe." And, again, under the 23rd of September, it records that " Prince Henry .came to the Council with a huge people." Everything seems to in- dicate that there had been a great political crisis, in which the King lad resumed the reins of government, and the Prince had been sup- ported against him by the people, high and low.
On the 20th of March following Henry IV. died, and the Prince, who had so long governed in his name, became actual King of England. Of the general tone of his life and character as Prince the records we have quoted seem to leave no doubt. It only remains to say that some of the statements imputing to him a wild and reckless life during that period are found in the writings of contemporaries, composed very soon after the alleged events. The only way of escaping from the difficulty, is by supposing that these statements represent the slanders spread abroad by the party which, in the last year of the King's reign, succeeded in removing him from the Privy Council. They may have been founded on some unguarded actions of Prince Henry,—they certainly can only be received as distortions, more or less, of the real facts. It is possible that the whole originated in the fact of Prince Henry's early friendship with Sir John Oldcastle, who became hateful to the clergy (the chroniclers of the day) on account of his Lollardism, and whose character has suffered from calumny still more grossly in connection with those very excesses imputed to the Prince. If the gallant, religious, Oldcastle—the Havelock of his day—could be transformed into the prototype of Falstaff, we need wonder at no perversions of historical facts.
The character of Henry, as it presents itself to us in the fore- going records, is that of a man of resolute nature, self-reliant, and prompt of decision, but not presumptuous or precipitate ; marked by strong good sense, and yet a generous and compas- sionate spirit, and also tinged far more than is usual at such an early age with a strong feeling of religious duty and moral responsibility. The reference in his letters of all his achievements and trials to the superintending will of God is too habitual, and made in too earnest and natural a manner, for us to regard it as mere decent verbiage. His character seems to have already pos- sessed sufficient force to make a deep impression on the leading men of the day, and on the constituted authorities of the realm, and to have inspired the one with respect, the other with implicit confidence. .Nor does his conduct after his accession to the throne alter this estimate in any material point. In one case, indeed, his kindly feeling and attachment to his associates in war and peace gave way before the stronger influence of religious fanaticism. Although he had been so much the companion of the Lollard Old- castle, Henry appears to have always entertained a strong dislike to the Lollards. The tone of his mind in this respect harmonized with that of his father, and his love of administration and his military sense of order and authority were both probably out- raged by the opinions attributed to these semi-religious, semi- social reformers. He had joined the Peers in a petition against them as early as December, 1406, and when he became King, he seems to have allowed himself, under the influence of the higher clergy, to believe anything almost against them as heretics and rebels. He tried his personal influence with Oldcastle, and his powers of argument, before abandoning him to his enemies, but after this we cannot find that he displayed any deep sympathy in his fate. There was a hardness of character induced on occasions by his religious zeal, which was also engendered on other occasions by his military esprit de corps. Ile certainly pushed the severities then licensed in warfare to it very questionable extent. Yet in the face of the strong testimony borne by French writers to his just and im- partial government of France, and the protection he accorded to the middle and lower classes in that country against their feudal oppressors, we cannot call him harsh or cruel in his general dis- position. At home he was almost worshipped by the people, and while the nobles were fascinated by his knightly qualities, and the clergy by his piety and devotion to the interests of the Church, the Commons in Parliament seemed willing to incur any expense and grant any supplies that he declared to be necessary for the support of the honour of the country. He had little time for home administration after his accession to the throne, and the great mistake of his life—his French wars —never operated so dis- astrously as in this respect. His government would probably have been just, on the whole, but firm and unbending to the verge, if not beyond it, of severity. He was capable, indeed, of great generosity, and of considerable acts of leniency. He released hia rival, Mortimer, from his restraint ; he restored the son of Henry Percy to his ancestral honours. There was little suspicion or jealousy in his nature. He was frank and fearless, because he felt so self-reliant and so capable. He was self-reliant also, because he had a strong religious faith, and believed himself only an instrument in the hands of Providence. From the same source came his defects. He was severe, and a persecutor from a strong sense of duty, which overcame all other considerations. He had strong sympathies, but he was more than their master—he was sometimes their unconscious tyrant. That he believed it his duty, as inheriting the throne of Edward HI., to engage in the French war, is evident from the manner in which the clergy, for their own purposes, played on his mind in this direction. His love of enterprise, engendered by a life spent in almost incessant cam- paigns, was no doubt greatly inflamed by his abhorrence of the anarchy into which France seemed falling, and which appeared to summon him to her rescue, and there is evidence that he con- sidered himself called on by God to punish the sins of the French people.
The picture of his personal appearance, drawn by a contem- porary who was probably attached to the royal household in the capacity of chaplain, and who, at any rate, seems to have hadO great opportunities of close personal observation of Henry, appears to accord with this character. The form of his head is said to have been spherical, his forehead remarkably full, the symbol, as the writer observes, of a powerful mind. His hair was brown, thick, and smooth, and his nose straight ; his face oblong ; his com- plexion was florid ; his eyes were bright, large, and of a reddish tinge, dove-like when unmoved, but fierce as those of a lion when he was angered. His teeth were even and white as snow, his ears graceful and small, his chin cleft, his neck fair and of a becoming thickness throughout ; his cheeks of a rosy hue in part, and in part of a delicate whitness; his lips of a vermilion tint, his limbs well formed, and the bones and sinews of his frame firmly knit together. His schoolmaster had been his uncle, the celebrated Cardinal Beaufort, one of the most learned and astute men of the age, and we have evidence that he imbibed from him a taste for learning and literature and a pleasure in the society of literary and learned men. While Prince of Wales, he requested the poet Lydgate to translate the "Destruction of Troy," because he wished the story to be known generally to high and low. Lydgate tells us that the Prince, to avoid the vice of sloth and idleness, employed himself in exercising his body in martial plays, accord- ing to the instructions of Vegetius. As Prince also, he became a patron of the poet Occleve, who addresses to him two of his poems. His great love of music and his proficiency in archery complete the record of his special tastes and accomplishments. The chaplain already quoted attributes to him a quiet and dignified sense of humour and a versatility of mood, which rather lend countenance to a modified reception of the stories of Prince Hal. His temper seems to have been generally bright and cheerful, but to have been subject to occasional fits of moodiness, the soldier and man of the world, perhaps, alternating in his mind with the brooding religious devotee.
Such was Henry of Monmouth, the hero-king of the English people, and the noblest representative of the House of Lancaster, —a Bayard, a Statesman, and a Fanatic,—the Roman Catholic Coligny, we might almost call him, of the fifteenth century,—yet above all, in everything that he said or did, a King and an Englishman.
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