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and especially by Scrope, the Archbishop of York. The king, however, was prompt and determined, and soon collected a large army. Prince Henry, who, with all his frolics, could be brave and in earnest when needful, helped his father. The king had also another clever and courageous young son, named John, who afterwards became very distinguished. With them he marched against the rebels. They met at Shrewsbury where a great battle was fought, in which the rebels were defeated, and Henry Hotspur killed.

1403.

Battle of

Shrewsbury.

The rebellion was crushed for a time, but before long it broke out again. A lady contrived to steal the young Mortimer out of Windsor Castle, and to flee away with him, but they were soon overtaken, and the prince brought back. After a time the principal conspirators were taken prisoners and put to death; even the Archbishop of York was beheaded. Though more than one archbishop had 1405. been murdered in England before now, this was the first time that a great churchman had been executed by the law, and it caused great indignation in the country. Pious people began to make pilgrimages to his tomb, and it was soon reported that miracles were worked there.

By degrees, in one way or another, all the great dangers which had threatened Henry passed away. His principal enemy in France, the Duke of Orleans, was murdered, and the Duke of Burgundy, who succeeded to his power and influence, was inclined to be friendly to England. So that Owen Glendower and his Welshmen were left without the help of France, and could do no more harm. The Earl of Northumberland was defeated once more and killed. And Scotland had to be quiet, for Henry contrived to get into his power a most important person, no other than the king of Scotland himself.

The king

All Robert Bruce's descendants in the male line were extinct, and the family of one of his daughters had been called to the throne. This daughter had married of Scot- a great nobleman, the high steward of the kingland. dom. It was customary in those days to surname men after their trade or business. Though this was most generally done among the lower orders, it was also sometimes the case in higher ranks, and the lord steward's children and grandchildren came to be called Stewart as their family name. This was the beginning of the royal line of

the Stewarts, some of whom were afterwards kings of England.

Scotland was in a very miserable condition. The kings were not strong enough to rule, and there were constant tumults, fights, and murders. The king's eldest son had been murdered, and it was thought wise to send the next son, who was now heir to the kingdom, to be educated in France. But on his way thither some English vessels fell in with his ship, took possession of the young Prince James, and brought him to Henry. Though England and Scotland were now at peace, Henry would not release him. He said, in a sort of grim joke, that "if the prince was to learn French he could learn it quite as well in his court as in France, for that he himself knew French very well." Scotch prince very soon after became king, by right, through the death of his father, but even then Henry would not set him free.

The

He did not treat him ill, but gave him an excellent education, as he had promised, and the young king grew up clever, accomplished, and good. He was a poet of some merit. After the death of Chaucer there was a dearth of poetry until Spenser's time. While James was a prisoner in England he fell in love with an English lady, a relation of the king's, about whom he made some beautiful poetry. After a time he was allowed to marry this lady. The marriage proved a very happy one. He went back to Scotland at last, when he had been in England for over eighteen years, and was one of the best kings the Scotch ever had. good and just, indeed, was he that the turbulent nobles would not submit to him; they rebelled, and finally murdered him, his faithful English wife defending him to the last.

So

Henry IV. did not live long to enjoy the peace which followed. He fell into very bad health, and was liable to terrible fits. He had all through his reign been wishing to go to the Holy Land and fight a Crusade; for though the Crusades had long been at an end, the thought or the dream of winning back the Lord's sepulchre had not yet died away. It is probable that his conscience stung him sometimes for the way in which he had treated his cousin Richard, and that he thought to make amends in that way. There had been a prophecy too that he should die in Jerusalem.

At last one day he was praying in Westminster Abbey

1413.

before the shrine of Edward the Confessor, when he was seized with a fit. There was a chamber in the Death of abbey, as there is still, called the Jerusalem ChamHenry. ber. It chanced that the sick king was carried into

this room.

When he came to himself he asked where he was, and on being told that he was in the "Jerusalem Chamber," he exclaimed, "Laud be to the Father of heaven! for now I know that I shall die in this chamber, according to the prophecy made of me aforesaid, that I should die in Jerusalem." And there indeed he died.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE CONQUEST OF FRANCE.

Character of Henry V. Lord Cobham and the Lollards. The war with France. Harfleur. Battle of Agincourt. Rouen. Treaty of Troyes. The king's marriage. His death and burial.

1413

THOUGH the Prince of Wales, who now became king as Henry V., had been dissipated and headstrong, there had always been intimations of a high and noble nature, and people were now willing to overlook his youth- Henry V. ful follies, and to accept him with good hopes as their king. We shall see how completely he changed, as is not uncommon in a man of strong character, when, as he is passing from youth to manhood, a great crisis occurs in his life. All the vigor he had formerly given to his gayeties and follies he now turned to serious matters, so that England never, perhaps, had a more firm, brave, and religious king. In the first acts of his reign he showed a generous spirit towards those whom his father had regarded with dread and jealousy. The legal heir to the throne, the young Mortimer, had always been a thorn in the side of Henry IV., as Harry Hotspur very well knew.

"He said he would not ransom Mortimer;
Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
But I will find him when he ties asleep,

And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer;'

Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him

To keep his anger still in motion."

His gener

osity.

Henry IV. had kept Mortimer in honorable but real captivity. He was now a grown young man, and one of the new king's first acts was to set him at liberty, and show him friendship. Perhaps his long imprisonment and good education had made a philosopher of him, for, though released from captivity, he never seems to have wished to be king, but remained a faithful friend to Henry all his life. Never

theless, the descendants of the Mortimers came to the throne at last.

Henry was also generous to his old enemies the Percys, who had been so thoroughly defeated by himself and his father. Harry Hotspur's son was restored to his title and estates as Earl of Northumberland, and the Percys did not forget this generosity.

Henry even took some steps towards releasing the king of Scotland, whom his father had imprisoned, but they came to nothing. The Scotch perhaps hardly wanted him back, as they were in a most disorderly condition, and the young king, if he were already in love with the beautiful English lady, might not be very anxious to return. However that might be, it appears that he and Henry were very good friends, and we find him afterwards helping Henry in his wars, and following him to his grave as chief mourner.

The young king also released many other prisoners and published a general pardon. Having thus done all he could in justice and generosity to the living, he proceeded to do what was possible to honor the dead. He appears to have retained some affection for Richard II., and felt great remorse for his wretched death. Richard had been buried privately in the country. His body was now brought to London and honorably buried in Westminster Abbey, in a very stately tomb which he had made for himself while he was still living. There we may see his effigy now lying hand in hand with that of his wife, Anne of Bohemia, whom he so tenderly loved.

His religion.

Henry was also extremely religious, though unhappily he entirely threw himself into the cause of the Church, as against the followers of Wyclif. We saw how Henry IV. sullied his renown by the statute for burning heretics. His son carried out the same system, "verily believing that he was doing God service.” Persecution had not destroyed the Lollards; there were still a great many of them in the country. It was at this time that the Archbishop of Canterbury made some additions to his palace at Lambeth, and imprisoned so many of the poor followers of Wyclif in a part of the new buildings that it has ever since been called the Lollards' Tower.

At the head of these persecuted men was a nobleman who had formerly been a friend of the king's, Sir John Oldcastle, or, as he was afterwards called in right of his wife, Lord

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