CHAPTER X.

[pg 247]CHAPTER X.Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.The sentence passed on the late king proved his death warrant; his haughty spirit broke down, and he died at Pontefract the following year. According to Henry's account he died of wilful starvation. There were many, however, who believed him to have been put to death by Henry's orders; whilst others, on the contrary, refused to believe his death had actually taken place at all, notwithstanding the fact of the corpse having been purposely exposed to public view throughout its journey from Pontefract to London.730This belief that Richard was still alive was fostered by many, and, among others, by William Serle. He had been at one time the late king's chamberlain, and he kept up the delusion of Richard being still in the land of the living, by exhibiting the late king's signet, which had come into his possession. Serle was eventually arrested in the north of England and brought to London, to be executed at Tyburn.731The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.Sixteen years later (1416), a certain Thomas Warde, called "Trumpyngtone," personated the late king, and a scheme was laid for placing him on the throne with the aid of Sigismund, king of the Romans[pg 248]Sigismund, however, refused to have anything to do with the plot, which was hatched within the city's liberties by Benedict Wolman and Thomas Bekering. The conspiracy having been discovered, its authors were thrown into prison. One died before trial, the other paid the penalty for his rashness with his head.732In August, 1420, long after Trumpington was dead, two others, Thomas Cobold and William Bryan, endeavoured still to keep up the delusion in the city. The mayor, Whitington, himself ordered their arrest. Bryan had time to escape from the house of William Norton, a barber given to Lollardry, where he and his fellow conspirator were lodged. Cobold tried to hide himself, but was discovered cunningly concealed in the house, and taken before the mayor and aldermen. Being questioned as to the identity of Trumpington and the late king, he gave an evasive reply, adding, that the question of identity had become immaterial since Trumpington had been dead some time. Cobold was thought to be too dangerous a man to be allowed at large, so he was committed to prison.733Proceedings against the Lollards.In the meantime Wycliffe had died (1384), and Lollardry had become only another name for general discontentment. The clergy made strenuous efforts to suppress the Lollards. Pope Boniface had invoked the assistance of the late king (1395) to destroy these[pg 249]"tares" (lolium aridum) that had sprung up amidst the wheat which remained constant to church and king, and called upon the mayor and commonalty of the city to use their interest with Richard to the same end.734Besides seeking the support of the commonalty against the powerful nobles, the new king sought the support of the church, and he had not been long on the throne before he issued commissions for search to be made in the city for Lollards, and for the arrest of all preachers found sowing the pestilential seed of Lollardry (semen pestiferum lollardrie).735Early in 1401 a price was put upon the head of the captain and leader of the sect, Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise known as Lord Cobham. Public proclamation was made in the city, that any one giving information which should lead to his arrest should be rewarded with 500 marks; any one actually arresting or causing him to be arrested should receive double that amount, whilst the citizens and burgesses of any city or borough who should take and produce him before the king, should be for ever quit of all taxes, talliages, tenths, fifteenths and other assessments.736Not only were conventicles forbidden, but no one was allowed to visit the ordinary churches after nine o'clock at night or before five o'clock in the morning.737The statute of heresy, 1401.Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical courts could condemn men as heretics, but they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a statute was passed this year (1401), known as the[pg 250]statute of heresy (de hæretico comburendo), authorising the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of being publicly burnt before the people.738It was the first English law passed for the suppression of religious opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.739Henry's other troubles.Henry had other difficulties to face besides opposition from the nobles. France had refused to acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded the restoration of Richard's widow, a mere child of eleven. The Scots740and the Welsh were on the point of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a paltry loan of 4,000 marks.741Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.As time went on, Henry had to try new methods for raising money. The parliament which met at the opening of 1404, granted the king a 1s.in the pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides 20s.for every knight's fee. The money so raised was not, however, to be at the disposal of the king's own ministers, but was to be placed in the hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of war (Guerrarum Thesaurarii). The names of the[pg 251]treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.742Three of these were citizens of note. Hadley had already served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in 1409 and 1417.More city loans in 1409 & 1412.It was during Merlawe's first mayoralty that the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 marks,743to enable him to complete the reduction of Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced a further sum of 10,000 marks.744At the beginning of that year a commission was addressed by Henry to Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late mayor, instructing them to make a return of the amount of land and tenements held in the city and suburbs, with the view of levying 6s.8d.on every £20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the late parliament.745A return was made to the effect that it was very difficult to discover the true value of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, and the names of men, women and other persons (hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum) mentioned in the commission were forwarded by them in[pg 252]the following a, b, c (in sequenti a, b, c). What lands and tenements the "men, women and other persons" had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.746The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty's Public Record747Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and the sum paid into the exchequer at 6s.8d.for every £20, under the provisions of the act amounted to £70 6s.8d.The mayor and commonalty of the city are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents of an annual value of no more than £150 9s.11d., whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at £148 15s.3d.Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths appear as the owners of the largest property, their rental of city property amounting to £46 10s.1/2d., the Merchant Tailors following them closely with £44 3s.7d.The Mercers had but a rental of £13 18s.4d.whilst the Skinners had £18 12s.8d.Robert Chichele, the mayor, was already a rich man, with an annual rental of £42 19s.2d., derived from city property, or nearly double the amount (£25) with which Richard Whitington was credited.Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.Whitington had already three times occupied the mayoralty chair; once (in 1396) at the word of a king, and twice (in 1397 and 1406) at the will of his fellow citizens. On the occasion of his third election a solemn mass was for the first time introduced into the proceedings, the mayor, aldermen and a large[pg 253]body of commoners attending the service at the Guildhall Chapel, before proceeding to the election.748The custom which then sprang up continues in a modified form to this day, the election of a mayor being always preceded by divine service. Its origin may perhaps be ascribed in some measure to the spirit of Lollardry which, in its best sense, found much favour with the citizens.The enormous wealth which he succeeded in amassing was bestowed in promoting the cause of education, and in relieving the sufferings of the poor and afflicted. He built a handsome library in the house of the Grey Friars and also the Church of Saint Michael in the "Riole." He is credited by some writers with having purchased and presented to the corporation the advowson of the Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill. But this is probably a mistake arising from the fact of a license in mortmain having been granted by Henry IV to Richard Whitington, John Hende, and others, to convey the manor of Leadenhall, together with the advowsons of the several churches of Saint Peter upon Cornhill and Saint Margaret Patyns, held of the king in free burgage, to the mayor and commonalty of the City of London and their successors.749Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.On the accession of Henry V, Archbishop Arundel, whom Walsingham describes as the most eminent[pg 254]bulwark and indomitable supporter of the church,750renewed his attack on the Lollards, and endeavoured to serve Oldcastle with a citation. Failing to accomplish this he caused him to be arrested. The bold defence made by the so-called heretic, when before his judges, gained additional weight from the reputation he enjoyed for high moral character. Nevertheless he was adjudged guilty of the charges brought against him. A formal sentence of excommunication was passed, and he was remitted to the Tower for forty days in the hope that at the expiration of that time he might be found willing to retract. This, however, was not to be.Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.He contrived to make his escape from prison,751and shortly afterwards appeared at the head of a number of followers in St. Giles's Fields. Great disappointment was felt at not receiving the assistance that had been expected from city servants and apprentices. According to Walsingham, no less than 5,000 men, comprising masters as well as servants, from the city, were prepared to join the insurgents, had not the king taken precautions to secure the gates. As soon as it was discovered that the young king had made ample preparations to meet attack, the Lollards took to flight. Many, however, failed to make good their escape, and nearly forty paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives.752[pg 255]Walsingham was probably misinformed as to the number of the persons who were prepared to assist the Lollards. The fact is that, to the respectable City burgess, Lollardism was a matter of less moment than was the scandalous life led by the chantry priest and other ministers of religion, and this the civic authorities were determined to rectify as far as in them lay. Between the years 1400 and 1440, some sixty clerks in holy orders were taken in adultery and clapt into prison by ward beadles.753Nevertheless the clergy, and more especially the chantry priest, continued to live a life of luxury and sloth, oftentimes spending the day in dicing, card playing, cock fighting and frequenting taverns.The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.The recent abortive attempt of Oldcastle gave rise to another Statute against the Lollards,754by which the secular power, no longer content with merely carrying into execution the sentences pronounced by ecclesiastical courts, undertook, where necessary, the initiative against heretics. Archbishop Arundel, the determined enemy of the Lollards, had had no hand in framing this Statute—the last that was enacted against them.755He had died a few months before parliament met, and had been succeeded by Henry Chichele.The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.Early in the following year (1415) the king made an offer of pardon to Oldcastle, who was still at large, if he would come in and make submission before[pg 256]Easter.756Instead of accepting so generous an offer, Oldcastle busied himself in preparing for another rising to take place as soon as the king should have set sail on his meditated expedition to France. Lollard manifestoes again appeared on the doors of the London churches; whilst Oldcastle himself scoured the country for recruits, to serve under a banner on which the most sacred emblems of the church were depicted.757Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.In August (1415) another Lollard, John Cleydone by name, a currier by trade, was tried in St. Paul's Church before the new Archbishop and others, the civic authorities having taken the initiative according to the provisions of the recent Statute, and arrested him on suspicion of being a heretic. The mayor himself was a witness at the trial, and testified as to the nature of certain books found in Cleydon's possession; they were "the worst and the most perverse that ever he did read or see." Walsingham, who styles Cleydon "an inveterate Lollard" (quidam inveteratus Lollardus), adds, with his usual acerbity against the entire sect, that the accused had gone so far as to make his own son a priest, and have Mass celebrated by him in his own house on the occasion when his wife should have gone to church, after rising from childbed.758Having been convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical court, the prisoner was again delivered over to the secular authorities for punishment.759Both he and his books were burnt.760[pg 257]Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.Two years later Oldcastle himself was captured in Wales and brought to London. At his trial he publicly declared his belief that Richard II was still alive; he was even fanatic enough to believe that he himself would soon rise again from the dead.761He was sentenced to be hanged and burnt on the gallows, a sentence which was carried out in St. Giles's Fields.762Lollardry continued to exist, especially in London and the towns, for some years, but it ceased to have any historical or political significance.763Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.Henry V was resolved to maintain not only the old religion of the days of Edward III, but also the old foreign policy, and in 1414 he commenced making preparations for renewing the claim of his great-grandfather to the crown of France. In 1415 this claim was formally made, and Henry gathered his forces together at Southampton. On the 10th March he informed the civic authorities of his intention of crossing over to France to enforce his claim and of his need of money. On the 14th a brilliant assembly, comprising the king's two brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Edward, Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, and others, met at the Guildhall to consider the matter.A question of precedence in the city.A question arose as to order of precedence, and it was arranged that the mayor, as the king's representative in the City, should occupy the centre seat, having the Primate and the Bishop of Winchester on his[pg 258]right, and the Duke of York and the king's brothers on his left.764This question having been settled, the meeting, we presume, got to business; but what took place is not recorded in the City's archives. We know, however, that in June the king pledged his jewels to the City for a loan of 10,000 marks,765and that on the 1st August—just as he was preparing to set sail—he raised a further loan of 10,000 marks on the security of the customs.766The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.On the 15th June the king, who was then on his way to the coast, took solemn leave of the civic authorities, who had accompanied him to Blackheath. He bade them go home and keep well his "chamber" during his absence abroad, giving them his blessing and saying "Cryste save London."767Arriving at Southampton, he there discovered a conspiracy to place the young Earl of March, the legitimate heir of Edward III, on the throne, as soon as he himself should have set sail. The traitors were seized and executed, and the City lost no time in sending the king a letter congratulating him upon his discovery of the plot.768The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.A few days later (12th August) he sailed for France and landed near Harfleur, to which town he[pg 259]laid siege. It offered, however, a stubborn defence, and it was not until the 18th September that the town surrendered. On the 22nd Henry sent a long account of the siege and capture to the mayor and citizens of London, bidding them render humble thanks to Almighty God for this mercy, and expressing a hope of further success in the near future.769Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.Early in October the king caused proclamation to be made in the City, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets who were willing to go with him to Normandy, should present themselves to his uncle Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Treasurer of England, who would pay them their wages. By the same proclamation merchants, victuallers and handicraft-men were invited to take up their residence in the recently captured town of Harfleur, where houses would be assigned to them, and where they should enjoy the same privileges and franchises to which they had always been accustomed.770Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th October, and news of the joyous victory arrived in England on or before the 28th, on which day—the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude—Nicholas Wotton, the recently elected mayor, was sworn into office at the Guildhall according to custom. On the following day, therefore, the mayor, aldermen and a large number of the commonalty made a solemn pilgrimage on foot to Westminster, where they first made devout thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and then proceeded to present the new mayor before the Barons of the Exchequer. Care is taken in the City[pg 260]records to explain that the procession went on this occasion on foot, simply and solely for the purpose of marking their humble thanks to the Almighty and his Saints, and more especially to Edward the Confessor, who lay interred at Westminster, for the joyful news which so unexpectedly had arrived. The journey on foot was not to be drawn into precedent when others succeeded to the mayoralty, nor supplant the riding in state which had been customary on such occasions.771The reception given to the king by the Londoners on his return from France, was of so brilliant and varied a character, that one chronicler declares that a description of it would require a special treatise.772On the 16th November he landed at Dover and proceeded towards London. On Saturday, the 23rd, the mayor and aldermen and all the companies rode forth in their liveries to meet the king and conduct him and his train of French prisoners through the City to Westminster. On Sunday morning a deputation from the City waited upon Henry and presented him with the sum of £1,000 and two basons of gold worth half that sum.773Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.During the next eighteen months succeeding the battle of Agincourt, Henry devoted himself to making preparations at home for renewing active military operations. He had intended at midsummer, 1416, to lead an expedition in person to the relief of Harfleur, but the command was subsequently[pg 261]delegated to his brother, the Duke of Bedford. Proclamation was publicly made in the city by order of the king, dated the 28th May, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets holding any fief or annuity from the king should proceed to Southampton by the 20th June, armed each according to his estate, for the purpose of joining the expedition.774In 1417 France was rendered weak by factions, and Henry seized the opportunity for another attack. On the 1st February he issued his writ to the sheriffs of London for a return to be made of the number of men-at-arms and archers the City knights could furnish.775In March the mayor, Henry Barton, was made a commissioner for victualling the navy which was to rendezvous at Southampton.776City loans, 1417.In the same month the City advanced the king the sum of 5,000 marks,777and in the following June a further sum was advanced by private subscription among the wealthier citizens on the security of a Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged with the subscribers on the understanding that they would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.778Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in[pg 262]Normandy and of his success in making himself master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.779To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the 28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September an order went forth from the Common Council of the City that each alderman should immediately instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds and warn all soldiers they might come across, to vacate the City and set out on the king's service before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.780Success continued to attend Henry's arms. On the 5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by letter,781of the capture of Caen, excepting only the citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless relief should have previously arrived for the besieged from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, notifying the extraordinary success which had followed the king. So many towns and fortresses had been taken that the only fear was that there were not sufficient men to keep guard over them.782Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.In order to keep the English force in Normandy better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, who had been left behind as the king's lieutenant, caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for[pg 263]Henry's use, might do so without paying custom dues on their giving security that the victuals should be sent to Caen and not elsewhere.783Bedford, who was learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, had he been allowed to practice in after years, might have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction784—presided in the parliament, which met in November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. No time was lost in taking measures for collecting these supplies, the king's writ appointing commissioners for the City of London being issued the day following.785Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.In Paris matters were going on from bad to worse. Whilst the capital of France was at the mercy of a mob, Henry proceeded to lay close siege to Rouen. Frequent proclamation was made in London for reinforcements to join the king, either at Rouen or elsewhere in Normandy.786This was in April, 1418, or thereabouts. On the 5th July, the Duke of Clarence informed Richard Merlawe, the mayor, by letter, of the fall of Louviers, and of the expected surrender of Pont de l'Arche,787from which latter place the duke wrote. On the 10th August Henry himself wrote to the citizens informing them of his having sat down before Rouen and of the[pg 264]straits his forces were in for lack of victuals and more especially of "drink." He begged them to send as many small vessels as they could, laden with provisions, to Harfleur, whence they could make their way up the Seine to Rouen.788In less than a month a reply was sent (8 Sept.) from Gravesend under the seal of the mayoralty, informing Henry that the citizens had been busy brewing ale and beer and purveying wine and other "vitaille," and that they had despatched thirty butts of sweet wine—comprising ten of "Tyre," ten of "Romesey," and ten of "Malvesy"—and 1,000 pipes of ale and beer. With these they had also sent 25,000 cups for the king's "host" to drink out of.789In the meantime, the besieged received no such relief from the pains of hunger and thirst, and on the 19th January, 1419, they were compelled to surrender their ancient town.790The war continued throughout the year (1419), all attempts at a reconciliation proving abortive. Pointoise fell into Henry's hands; and both Henry and the Duke of Clarence sent word of its capture to London. The duke took the opportunity of asking that the freedom of the City might be conferred on his servant, Roger Tillyngton, a skinner; but the citizens in acknowledging the duke's letter make no reference to his request.791The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.On the 17th August the king wrote again to the mayor, aldermen and commons of the City, thanking[pg 265]them for their "kynde and notable prone of an ayde," which they had granted of their own free will, therein setting a good example to others, and prayed them to follow such directions as the Duke of Bedford should give them respecting their proffered assistance. The bearer of this letter having been taken prisoner at Crotoye, a duplicate copy of it was afterwards forwarded from Trie le Chastel on the 12th September.792The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy, by a partisan of the Dauphin, which took place about this time, induced Duke Philip to come to terms with England in the hope of avenging his father's death;793and the French king, finding further resistance hopeless, was content to make peace. By the treaty of Troyes (20 May, 1420), the Dauphin was disinherited in favour of Henry, who was formally recognised as the heir to the French crown, and who agreed to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.794The marriage took place on the 3rd June, and on the 14th a solemn procession was made in London and a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in honour of the event.795The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.On the 12th July Henry addressed a letter from Mant to the corporation of London informing them of his welfare. He had left Paris for Mant in order to relieve the town of Chartres, which was being threatened by the Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy had joined him and had proved himself "a trusty, lovvng and faithful brother." The king's expedition proved unnecessary, for the Dauphin had raised the siege before his arrival and had gone into Touraine.[pg 266]To this letter a reply was sent under the mayoralty seal on the 2nd August, congratulating Henry upon his success, and assuring him that there was no city on earth more peaceful or better governed than his City of London.796The queen's coronation.On the 26th January, 1421, the Duke of Gloucester, the Guardian of England in the king's absence, ordered the Sheriffs of London to announce that the queen's coronation would take place at Westminster on the third Sunday in Lent.797The king and queen landed at Dover with a small retinue on the 1st February, and after a few days' rest at Canterbury, entered the city of London amid tokens of welcome and respect from the laity and clergy. They took up their abode at the Tower, whence they were conducted on the day appointed for the coronation to Westminster by the citizens on foot and on horseback.798Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.Henry had not been at home six months before he again left England, never to return.799The hopes that he entertained of reforming and governing his possessions in France, and his ambition to have headed, sooner or later, a crusade which should have stayed the progress of the Ottoman and have recovered the sepulchre of Christ, were not destined to be realised. He died at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, leaving a child[pg 267]nine months old—the unhappy Henry of Windsor who succeeded to the throne as Henry VI. When the body of the late king was brought over from France to be buried at Westminster, the citizens showed it every token of respect in its passage through London. The streets of the city, as well as of the borough of Southwark, were cleaned for the occasion. The mayor, sheriffs, recorder and aldermen, accompanied by the chief burgesses, and clad in white gowns and hoods, went forth to meet the remains of the king they loved so well, as far as St. George's bar in Southwark, and reverently conducted them to St. Paul's Church, where the funeral obsequies were performed. The next day they accompanied the corpse to Westminster, where further ceremonies took place. Representatives of the various wards were told off to line the streets, the solemnity of the occasion being marked by the burning of torches, whilst chaplains stood in the porches of the various churches, clad in their richest copes, with thuribles in their hands, and chanted theveniteand incensed the royal remains as they passed. The livery companies provided amongst them 211 torches, and to each torch-bearer the city chamberlain gave a gown and hood of white material or "blanket" (de blanqueto), at the "cost of the commonalty."800

[pg 247]CHAPTER X.Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.The sentence passed on the late king proved his death warrant; his haughty spirit broke down, and he died at Pontefract the following year. According to Henry's account he died of wilful starvation. There were many, however, who believed him to have been put to death by Henry's orders; whilst others, on the contrary, refused to believe his death had actually taken place at all, notwithstanding the fact of the corpse having been purposely exposed to public view throughout its journey from Pontefract to London.730This belief that Richard was still alive was fostered by many, and, among others, by William Serle. He had been at one time the late king's chamberlain, and he kept up the delusion of Richard being still in the land of the living, by exhibiting the late king's signet, which had come into his possession. Serle was eventually arrested in the north of England and brought to London, to be executed at Tyburn.731The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.Sixteen years later (1416), a certain Thomas Warde, called "Trumpyngtone," personated the late king, and a scheme was laid for placing him on the throne with the aid of Sigismund, king of the Romans[pg 248]Sigismund, however, refused to have anything to do with the plot, which was hatched within the city's liberties by Benedict Wolman and Thomas Bekering. The conspiracy having been discovered, its authors were thrown into prison. One died before trial, the other paid the penalty for his rashness with his head.732In August, 1420, long after Trumpington was dead, two others, Thomas Cobold and William Bryan, endeavoured still to keep up the delusion in the city. The mayor, Whitington, himself ordered their arrest. Bryan had time to escape from the house of William Norton, a barber given to Lollardry, where he and his fellow conspirator were lodged. Cobold tried to hide himself, but was discovered cunningly concealed in the house, and taken before the mayor and aldermen. Being questioned as to the identity of Trumpington and the late king, he gave an evasive reply, adding, that the question of identity had become immaterial since Trumpington had been dead some time. Cobold was thought to be too dangerous a man to be allowed at large, so he was committed to prison.733Proceedings against the Lollards.In the meantime Wycliffe had died (1384), and Lollardry had become only another name for general discontentment. The clergy made strenuous efforts to suppress the Lollards. Pope Boniface had invoked the assistance of the late king (1395) to destroy these[pg 249]"tares" (lolium aridum) that had sprung up amidst the wheat which remained constant to church and king, and called upon the mayor and commonalty of the city to use their interest with Richard to the same end.734Besides seeking the support of the commonalty against the powerful nobles, the new king sought the support of the church, and he had not been long on the throne before he issued commissions for search to be made in the city for Lollards, and for the arrest of all preachers found sowing the pestilential seed of Lollardry (semen pestiferum lollardrie).735Early in 1401 a price was put upon the head of the captain and leader of the sect, Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise known as Lord Cobham. Public proclamation was made in the city, that any one giving information which should lead to his arrest should be rewarded with 500 marks; any one actually arresting or causing him to be arrested should receive double that amount, whilst the citizens and burgesses of any city or borough who should take and produce him before the king, should be for ever quit of all taxes, talliages, tenths, fifteenths and other assessments.736Not only were conventicles forbidden, but no one was allowed to visit the ordinary churches after nine o'clock at night or before five o'clock in the morning.737The statute of heresy, 1401.Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical courts could condemn men as heretics, but they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a statute was passed this year (1401), known as the[pg 250]statute of heresy (de hæretico comburendo), authorising the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of being publicly burnt before the people.738It was the first English law passed for the suppression of religious opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.739Henry's other troubles.Henry had other difficulties to face besides opposition from the nobles. France had refused to acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded the restoration of Richard's widow, a mere child of eleven. The Scots740and the Welsh were on the point of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a paltry loan of 4,000 marks.741Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.As time went on, Henry had to try new methods for raising money. The parliament which met at the opening of 1404, granted the king a 1s.in the pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides 20s.for every knight's fee. The money so raised was not, however, to be at the disposal of the king's own ministers, but was to be placed in the hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of war (Guerrarum Thesaurarii). The names of the[pg 251]treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.742Three of these were citizens of note. Hadley had already served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in 1409 and 1417.More city loans in 1409 & 1412.It was during Merlawe's first mayoralty that the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 marks,743to enable him to complete the reduction of Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced a further sum of 10,000 marks.744At the beginning of that year a commission was addressed by Henry to Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late mayor, instructing them to make a return of the amount of land and tenements held in the city and suburbs, with the view of levying 6s.8d.on every £20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the late parliament.745A return was made to the effect that it was very difficult to discover the true value of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, and the names of men, women and other persons (hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum) mentioned in the commission were forwarded by them in[pg 252]the following a, b, c (in sequenti a, b, c). What lands and tenements the "men, women and other persons" had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.746The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty's Public Record747Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and the sum paid into the exchequer at 6s.8d.for every £20, under the provisions of the act amounted to £70 6s.8d.The mayor and commonalty of the city are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents of an annual value of no more than £150 9s.11d., whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at £148 15s.3d.Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths appear as the owners of the largest property, their rental of city property amounting to £46 10s.1/2d., the Merchant Tailors following them closely with £44 3s.7d.The Mercers had but a rental of £13 18s.4d.whilst the Skinners had £18 12s.8d.Robert Chichele, the mayor, was already a rich man, with an annual rental of £42 19s.2d., derived from city property, or nearly double the amount (£25) with which Richard Whitington was credited.Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.Whitington had already three times occupied the mayoralty chair; once (in 1396) at the word of a king, and twice (in 1397 and 1406) at the will of his fellow citizens. On the occasion of his third election a solemn mass was for the first time introduced into the proceedings, the mayor, aldermen and a large[pg 253]body of commoners attending the service at the Guildhall Chapel, before proceeding to the election.748The custom which then sprang up continues in a modified form to this day, the election of a mayor being always preceded by divine service. Its origin may perhaps be ascribed in some measure to the spirit of Lollardry which, in its best sense, found much favour with the citizens.The enormous wealth which he succeeded in amassing was bestowed in promoting the cause of education, and in relieving the sufferings of the poor and afflicted. He built a handsome library in the house of the Grey Friars and also the Church of Saint Michael in the "Riole." He is credited by some writers with having purchased and presented to the corporation the advowson of the Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill. But this is probably a mistake arising from the fact of a license in mortmain having been granted by Henry IV to Richard Whitington, John Hende, and others, to convey the manor of Leadenhall, together with the advowsons of the several churches of Saint Peter upon Cornhill and Saint Margaret Patyns, held of the king in free burgage, to the mayor and commonalty of the City of London and their successors.749Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.On the accession of Henry V, Archbishop Arundel, whom Walsingham describes as the most eminent[pg 254]bulwark and indomitable supporter of the church,750renewed his attack on the Lollards, and endeavoured to serve Oldcastle with a citation. Failing to accomplish this he caused him to be arrested. The bold defence made by the so-called heretic, when before his judges, gained additional weight from the reputation he enjoyed for high moral character. Nevertheless he was adjudged guilty of the charges brought against him. A formal sentence of excommunication was passed, and he was remitted to the Tower for forty days in the hope that at the expiration of that time he might be found willing to retract. This, however, was not to be.Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.He contrived to make his escape from prison,751and shortly afterwards appeared at the head of a number of followers in St. Giles's Fields. Great disappointment was felt at not receiving the assistance that had been expected from city servants and apprentices. According to Walsingham, no less than 5,000 men, comprising masters as well as servants, from the city, were prepared to join the insurgents, had not the king taken precautions to secure the gates. As soon as it was discovered that the young king had made ample preparations to meet attack, the Lollards took to flight. Many, however, failed to make good their escape, and nearly forty paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives.752[pg 255]Walsingham was probably misinformed as to the number of the persons who were prepared to assist the Lollards. The fact is that, to the respectable City burgess, Lollardism was a matter of less moment than was the scandalous life led by the chantry priest and other ministers of religion, and this the civic authorities were determined to rectify as far as in them lay. Between the years 1400 and 1440, some sixty clerks in holy orders were taken in adultery and clapt into prison by ward beadles.753Nevertheless the clergy, and more especially the chantry priest, continued to live a life of luxury and sloth, oftentimes spending the day in dicing, card playing, cock fighting and frequenting taverns.The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.The recent abortive attempt of Oldcastle gave rise to another Statute against the Lollards,754by which the secular power, no longer content with merely carrying into execution the sentences pronounced by ecclesiastical courts, undertook, where necessary, the initiative against heretics. Archbishop Arundel, the determined enemy of the Lollards, had had no hand in framing this Statute—the last that was enacted against them.755He had died a few months before parliament met, and had been succeeded by Henry Chichele.The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.Early in the following year (1415) the king made an offer of pardon to Oldcastle, who was still at large, if he would come in and make submission before[pg 256]Easter.756Instead of accepting so generous an offer, Oldcastle busied himself in preparing for another rising to take place as soon as the king should have set sail on his meditated expedition to France. Lollard manifestoes again appeared on the doors of the London churches; whilst Oldcastle himself scoured the country for recruits, to serve under a banner on which the most sacred emblems of the church were depicted.757Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.In August (1415) another Lollard, John Cleydone by name, a currier by trade, was tried in St. Paul's Church before the new Archbishop and others, the civic authorities having taken the initiative according to the provisions of the recent Statute, and arrested him on suspicion of being a heretic. The mayor himself was a witness at the trial, and testified as to the nature of certain books found in Cleydon's possession; they were "the worst and the most perverse that ever he did read or see." Walsingham, who styles Cleydon "an inveterate Lollard" (quidam inveteratus Lollardus), adds, with his usual acerbity against the entire sect, that the accused had gone so far as to make his own son a priest, and have Mass celebrated by him in his own house on the occasion when his wife should have gone to church, after rising from childbed.758Having been convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical court, the prisoner was again delivered over to the secular authorities for punishment.759Both he and his books were burnt.760[pg 257]Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.Two years later Oldcastle himself was captured in Wales and brought to London. At his trial he publicly declared his belief that Richard II was still alive; he was even fanatic enough to believe that he himself would soon rise again from the dead.761He was sentenced to be hanged and burnt on the gallows, a sentence which was carried out in St. Giles's Fields.762Lollardry continued to exist, especially in London and the towns, for some years, but it ceased to have any historical or political significance.763Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.Henry V was resolved to maintain not only the old religion of the days of Edward III, but also the old foreign policy, and in 1414 he commenced making preparations for renewing the claim of his great-grandfather to the crown of France. In 1415 this claim was formally made, and Henry gathered his forces together at Southampton. On the 10th March he informed the civic authorities of his intention of crossing over to France to enforce his claim and of his need of money. On the 14th a brilliant assembly, comprising the king's two brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Edward, Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, and others, met at the Guildhall to consider the matter.A question of precedence in the city.A question arose as to order of precedence, and it was arranged that the mayor, as the king's representative in the City, should occupy the centre seat, having the Primate and the Bishop of Winchester on his[pg 258]right, and the Duke of York and the king's brothers on his left.764This question having been settled, the meeting, we presume, got to business; but what took place is not recorded in the City's archives. We know, however, that in June the king pledged his jewels to the City for a loan of 10,000 marks,765and that on the 1st August—just as he was preparing to set sail—he raised a further loan of 10,000 marks on the security of the customs.766The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.On the 15th June the king, who was then on his way to the coast, took solemn leave of the civic authorities, who had accompanied him to Blackheath. He bade them go home and keep well his "chamber" during his absence abroad, giving them his blessing and saying "Cryste save London."767Arriving at Southampton, he there discovered a conspiracy to place the young Earl of March, the legitimate heir of Edward III, on the throne, as soon as he himself should have set sail. The traitors were seized and executed, and the City lost no time in sending the king a letter congratulating him upon his discovery of the plot.768The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.A few days later (12th August) he sailed for France and landed near Harfleur, to which town he[pg 259]laid siege. It offered, however, a stubborn defence, and it was not until the 18th September that the town surrendered. On the 22nd Henry sent a long account of the siege and capture to the mayor and citizens of London, bidding them render humble thanks to Almighty God for this mercy, and expressing a hope of further success in the near future.769Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.Early in October the king caused proclamation to be made in the City, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets who were willing to go with him to Normandy, should present themselves to his uncle Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Treasurer of England, who would pay them their wages. By the same proclamation merchants, victuallers and handicraft-men were invited to take up their residence in the recently captured town of Harfleur, where houses would be assigned to them, and where they should enjoy the same privileges and franchises to which they had always been accustomed.770Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th October, and news of the joyous victory arrived in England on or before the 28th, on which day—the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude—Nicholas Wotton, the recently elected mayor, was sworn into office at the Guildhall according to custom. On the following day, therefore, the mayor, aldermen and a large number of the commonalty made a solemn pilgrimage on foot to Westminster, where they first made devout thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and then proceeded to present the new mayor before the Barons of the Exchequer. Care is taken in the City[pg 260]records to explain that the procession went on this occasion on foot, simply and solely for the purpose of marking their humble thanks to the Almighty and his Saints, and more especially to Edward the Confessor, who lay interred at Westminster, for the joyful news which so unexpectedly had arrived. The journey on foot was not to be drawn into precedent when others succeeded to the mayoralty, nor supplant the riding in state which had been customary on such occasions.771The reception given to the king by the Londoners on his return from France, was of so brilliant and varied a character, that one chronicler declares that a description of it would require a special treatise.772On the 16th November he landed at Dover and proceeded towards London. On Saturday, the 23rd, the mayor and aldermen and all the companies rode forth in their liveries to meet the king and conduct him and his train of French prisoners through the City to Westminster. On Sunday morning a deputation from the City waited upon Henry and presented him with the sum of £1,000 and two basons of gold worth half that sum.773Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.During the next eighteen months succeeding the battle of Agincourt, Henry devoted himself to making preparations at home for renewing active military operations. He had intended at midsummer, 1416, to lead an expedition in person to the relief of Harfleur, but the command was subsequently[pg 261]delegated to his brother, the Duke of Bedford. Proclamation was publicly made in the city by order of the king, dated the 28th May, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets holding any fief or annuity from the king should proceed to Southampton by the 20th June, armed each according to his estate, for the purpose of joining the expedition.774In 1417 France was rendered weak by factions, and Henry seized the opportunity for another attack. On the 1st February he issued his writ to the sheriffs of London for a return to be made of the number of men-at-arms and archers the City knights could furnish.775In March the mayor, Henry Barton, was made a commissioner for victualling the navy which was to rendezvous at Southampton.776City loans, 1417.In the same month the City advanced the king the sum of 5,000 marks,777and in the following June a further sum was advanced by private subscription among the wealthier citizens on the security of a Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged with the subscribers on the understanding that they would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.778Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in[pg 262]Normandy and of his success in making himself master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.779To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the 28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September an order went forth from the Common Council of the City that each alderman should immediately instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds and warn all soldiers they might come across, to vacate the City and set out on the king's service before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.780Success continued to attend Henry's arms. On the 5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by letter,781of the capture of Caen, excepting only the citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless relief should have previously arrived for the besieged from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, notifying the extraordinary success which had followed the king. So many towns and fortresses had been taken that the only fear was that there were not sufficient men to keep guard over them.782Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.In order to keep the English force in Normandy better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, who had been left behind as the king's lieutenant, caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for[pg 263]Henry's use, might do so without paying custom dues on their giving security that the victuals should be sent to Caen and not elsewhere.783Bedford, who was learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, had he been allowed to practice in after years, might have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction784—presided in the parliament, which met in November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. No time was lost in taking measures for collecting these supplies, the king's writ appointing commissioners for the City of London being issued the day following.785Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.In Paris matters were going on from bad to worse. Whilst the capital of France was at the mercy of a mob, Henry proceeded to lay close siege to Rouen. Frequent proclamation was made in London for reinforcements to join the king, either at Rouen or elsewhere in Normandy.786This was in April, 1418, or thereabouts. On the 5th July, the Duke of Clarence informed Richard Merlawe, the mayor, by letter, of the fall of Louviers, and of the expected surrender of Pont de l'Arche,787from which latter place the duke wrote. On the 10th August Henry himself wrote to the citizens informing them of his having sat down before Rouen and of the[pg 264]straits his forces were in for lack of victuals and more especially of "drink." He begged them to send as many small vessels as they could, laden with provisions, to Harfleur, whence they could make their way up the Seine to Rouen.788In less than a month a reply was sent (8 Sept.) from Gravesend under the seal of the mayoralty, informing Henry that the citizens had been busy brewing ale and beer and purveying wine and other "vitaille," and that they had despatched thirty butts of sweet wine—comprising ten of "Tyre," ten of "Romesey," and ten of "Malvesy"—and 1,000 pipes of ale and beer. With these they had also sent 25,000 cups for the king's "host" to drink out of.789In the meantime, the besieged received no such relief from the pains of hunger and thirst, and on the 19th January, 1419, they were compelled to surrender their ancient town.790The war continued throughout the year (1419), all attempts at a reconciliation proving abortive. Pointoise fell into Henry's hands; and both Henry and the Duke of Clarence sent word of its capture to London. The duke took the opportunity of asking that the freedom of the City might be conferred on his servant, Roger Tillyngton, a skinner; but the citizens in acknowledging the duke's letter make no reference to his request.791The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.On the 17th August the king wrote again to the mayor, aldermen and commons of the City, thanking[pg 265]them for their "kynde and notable prone of an ayde," which they had granted of their own free will, therein setting a good example to others, and prayed them to follow such directions as the Duke of Bedford should give them respecting their proffered assistance. The bearer of this letter having been taken prisoner at Crotoye, a duplicate copy of it was afterwards forwarded from Trie le Chastel on the 12th September.792The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy, by a partisan of the Dauphin, which took place about this time, induced Duke Philip to come to terms with England in the hope of avenging his father's death;793and the French king, finding further resistance hopeless, was content to make peace. By the treaty of Troyes (20 May, 1420), the Dauphin was disinherited in favour of Henry, who was formally recognised as the heir to the French crown, and who agreed to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.794The marriage took place on the 3rd June, and on the 14th a solemn procession was made in London and a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in honour of the event.795The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.On the 12th July Henry addressed a letter from Mant to the corporation of London informing them of his welfare. He had left Paris for Mant in order to relieve the town of Chartres, which was being threatened by the Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy had joined him and had proved himself "a trusty, lovvng and faithful brother." The king's expedition proved unnecessary, for the Dauphin had raised the siege before his arrival and had gone into Touraine.[pg 266]To this letter a reply was sent under the mayoralty seal on the 2nd August, congratulating Henry upon his success, and assuring him that there was no city on earth more peaceful or better governed than his City of London.796The queen's coronation.On the 26th January, 1421, the Duke of Gloucester, the Guardian of England in the king's absence, ordered the Sheriffs of London to announce that the queen's coronation would take place at Westminster on the third Sunday in Lent.797The king and queen landed at Dover with a small retinue on the 1st February, and after a few days' rest at Canterbury, entered the city of London amid tokens of welcome and respect from the laity and clergy. They took up their abode at the Tower, whence they were conducted on the day appointed for the coronation to Westminster by the citizens on foot and on horseback.798Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.Henry had not been at home six months before he again left England, never to return.799The hopes that he entertained of reforming and governing his possessions in France, and his ambition to have headed, sooner or later, a crusade which should have stayed the progress of the Ottoman and have recovered the sepulchre of Christ, were not destined to be realised. He died at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, leaving a child[pg 267]nine months old—the unhappy Henry of Windsor who succeeded to the throne as Henry VI. When the body of the late king was brought over from France to be buried at Westminster, the citizens showed it every token of respect in its passage through London. The streets of the city, as well as of the borough of Southwark, were cleaned for the occasion. The mayor, sheriffs, recorder and aldermen, accompanied by the chief burgesses, and clad in white gowns and hoods, went forth to meet the remains of the king they loved so well, as far as St. George's bar in Southwark, and reverently conducted them to St. Paul's Church, where the funeral obsequies were performed. The next day they accompanied the corpse to Westminster, where further ceremonies took place. Representatives of the various wards were told off to line the streets, the solemnity of the occasion being marked by the burning of torches, whilst chaplains stood in the porches of the various churches, clad in their richest copes, with thuribles in their hands, and chanted theveniteand incensed the royal remains as they passed. The livery companies provided amongst them 211 torches, and to each torch-bearer the city chamberlain gave a gown and hood of white material or "blanket" (de blanqueto), at the "cost of the commonalty."800

[pg 247]CHAPTER X.Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.The sentence passed on the late king proved his death warrant; his haughty spirit broke down, and he died at Pontefract the following year. According to Henry's account he died of wilful starvation. There were many, however, who believed him to have been put to death by Henry's orders; whilst others, on the contrary, refused to believe his death had actually taken place at all, notwithstanding the fact of the corpse having been purposely exposed to public view throughout its journey from Pontefract to London.730This belief that Richard was still alive was fostered by many, and, among others, by William Serle. He had been at one time the late king's chamberlain, and he kept up the delusion of Richard being still in the land of the living, by exhibiting the late king's signet, which had come into his possession. Serle was eventually arrested in the north of England and brought to London, to be executed at Tyburn.731The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.Sixteen years later (1416), a certain Thomas Warde, called "Trumpyngtone," personated the late king, and a scheme was laid for placing him on the throne with the aid of Sigismund, king of the Romans[pg 248]Sigismund, however, refused to have anything to do with the plot, which was hatched within the city's liberties by Benedict Wolman and Thomas Bekering. The conspiracy having been discovered, its authors were thrown into prison. One died before trial, the other paid the penalty for his rashness with his head.732In August, 1420, long after Trumpington was dead, two others, Thomas Cobold and William Bryan, endeavoured still to keep up the delusion in the city. The mayor, Whitington, himself ordered their arrest. Bryan had time to escape from the house of William Norton, a barber given to Lollardry, where he and his fellow conspirator were lodged. Cobold tried to hide himself, but was discovered cunningly concealed in the house, and taken before the mayor and aldermen. Being questioned as to the identity of Trumpington and the late king, he gave an evasive reply, adding, that the question of identity had become immaterial since Trumpington had been dead some time. Cobold was thought to be too dangerous a man to be allowed at large, so he was committed to prison.733Proceedings against the Lollards.In the meantime Wycliffe had died (1384), and Lollardry had become only another name for general discontentment. The clergy made strenuous efforts to suppress the Lollards. Pope Boniface had invoked the assistance of the late king (1395) to destroy these[pg 249]"tares" (lolium aridum) that had sprung up amidst the wheat which remained constant to church and king, and called upon the mayor and commonalty of the city to use their interest with Richard to the same end.734Besides seeking the support of the commonalty against the powerful nobles, the new king sought the support of the church, and he had not been long on the throne before he issued commissions for search to be made in the city for Lollards, and for the arrest of all preachers found sowing the pestilential seed of Lollardry (semen pestiferum lollardrie).735Early in 1401 a price was put upon the head of the captain and leader of the sect, Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise known as Lord Cobham. Public proclamation was made in the city, that any one giving information which should lead to his arrest should be rewarded with 500 marks; any one actually arresting or causing him to be arrested should receive double that amount, whilst the citizens and burgesses of any city or borough who should take and produce him before the king, should be for ever quit of all taxes, talliages, tenths, fifteenths and other assessments.736Not only were conventicles forbidden, but no one was allowed to visit the ordinary churches after nine o'clock at night or before five o'clock in the morning.737The statute of heresy, 1401.Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical courts could condemn men as heretics, but they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a statute was passed this year (1401), known as the[pg 250]statute of heresy (de hæretico comburendo), authorising the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of being publicly burnt before the people.738It was the first English law passed for the suppression of religious opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.739Henry's other troubles.Henry had other difficulties to face besides opposition from the nobles. France had refused to acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded the restoration of Richard's widow, a mere child of eleven. The Scots740and the Welsh were on the point of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a paltry loan of 4,000 marks.741Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.As time went on, Henry had to try new methods for raising money. The parliament which met at the opening of 1404, granted the king a 1s.in the pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides 20s.for every knight's fee. The money so raised was not, however, to be at the disposal of the king's own ministers, but was to be placed in the hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of war (Guerrarum Thesaurarii). The names of the[pg 251]treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.742Three of these were citizens of note. Hadley had already served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in 1409 and 1417.More city loans in 1409 & 1412.It was during Merlawe's first mayoralty that the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 marks,743to enable him to complete the reduction of Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced a further sum of 10,000 marks.744At the beginning of that year a commission was addressed by Henry to Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late mayor, instructing them to make a return of the amount of land and tenements held in the city and suburbs, with the view of levying 6s.8d.on every £20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the late parliament.745A return was made to the effect that it was very difficult to discover the true value of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, and the names of men, women and other persons (hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum) mentioned in the commission were forwarded by them in[pg 252]the following a, b, c (in sequenti a, b, c). What lands and tenements the "men, women and other persons" had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.746The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty's Public Record747Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and the sum paid into the exchequer at 6s.8d.for every £20, under the provisions of the act amounted to £70 6s.8d.The mayor and commonalty of the city are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents of an annual value of no more than £150 9s.11d., whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at £148 15s.3d.Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths appear as the owners of the largest property, their rental of city property amounting to £46 10s.1/2d., the Merchant Tailors following them closely with £44 3s.7d.The Mercers had but a rental of £13 18s.4d.whilst the Skinners had £18 12s.8d.Robert Chichele, the mayor, was already a rich man, with an annual rental of £42 19s.2d., derived from city property, or nearly double the amount (£25) with which Richard Whitington was credited.Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.Whitington had already three times occupied the mayoralty chair; once (in 1396) at the word of a king, and twice (in 1397 and 1406) at the will of his fellow citizens. On the occasion of his third election a solemn mass was for the first time introduced into the proceedings, the mayor, aldermen and a large[pg 253]body of commoners attending the service at the Guildhall Chapel, before proceeding to the election.748The custom which then sprang up continues in a modified form to this day, the election of a mayor being always preceded by divine service. Its origin may perhaps be ascribed in some measure to the spirit of Lollardry which, in its best sense, found much favour with the citizens.The enormous wealth which he succeeded in amassing was bestowed in promoting the cause of education, and in relieving the sufferings of the poor and afflicted. He built a handsome library in the house of the Grey Friars and also the Church of Saint Michael in the "Riole." He is credited by some writers with having purchased and presented to the corporation the advowson of the Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill. But this is probably a mistake arising from the fact of a license in mortmain having been granted by Henry IV to Richard Whitington, John Hende, and others, to convey the manor of Leadenhall, together with the advowsons of the several churches of Saint Peter upon Cornhill and Saint Margaret Patyns, held of the king in free burgage, to the mayor and commonalty of the City of London and their successors.749Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.On the accession of Henry V, Archbishop Arundel, whom Walsingham describes as the most eminent[pg 254]bulwark and indomitable supporter of the church,750renewed his attack on the Lollards, and endeavoured to serve Oldcastle with a citation. Failing to accomplish this he caused him to be arrested. The bold defence made by the so-called heretic, when before his judges, gained additional weight from the reputation he enjoyed for high moral character. Nevertheless he was adjudged guilty of the charges brought against him. A formal sentence of excommunication was passed, and he was remitted to the Tower for forty days in the hope that at the expiration of that time he might be found willing to retract. This, however, was not to be.Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.He contrived to make his escape from prison,751and shortly afterwards appeared at the head of a number of followers in St. Giles's Fields. Great disappointment was felt at not receiving the assistance that had been expected from city servants and apprentices. According to Walsingham, no less than 5,000 men, comprising masters as well as servants, from the city, were prepared to join the insurgents, had not the king taken precautions to secure the gates. As soon as it was discovered that the young king had made ample preparations to meet attack, the Lollards took to flight. Many, however, failed to make good their escape, and nearly forty paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives.752[pg 255]Walsingham was probably misinformed as to the number of the persons who were prepared to assist the Lollards. The fact is that, to the respectable City burgess, Lollardism was a matter of less moment than was the scandalous life led by the chantry priest and other ministers of religion, and this the civic authorities were determined to rectify as far as in them lay. Between the years 1400 and 1440, some sixty clerks in holy orders were taken in adultery and clapt into prison by ward beadles.753Nevertheless the clergy, and more especially the chantry priest, continued to live a life of luxury and sloth, oftentimes spending the day in dicing, card playing, cock fighting and frequenting taverns.The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.The recent abortive attempt of Oldcastle gave rise to another Statute against the Lollards,754by which the secular power, no longer content with merely carrying into execution the sentences pronounced by ecclesiastical courts, undertook, where necessary, the initiative against heretics. Archbishop Arundel, the determined enemy of the Lollards, had had no hand in framing this Statute—the last that was enacted against them.755He had died a few months before parliament met, and had been succeeded by Henry Chichele.The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.Early in the following year (1415) the king made an offer of pardon to Oldcastle, who was still at large, if he would come in and make submission before[pg 256]Easter.756Instead of accepting so generous an offer, Oldcastle busied himself in preparing for another rising to take place as soon as the king should have set sail on his meditated expedition to France. Lollard manifestoes again appeared on the doors of the London churches; whilst Oldcastle himself scoured the country for recruits, to serve under a banner on which the most sacred emblems of the church were depicted.757Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.In August (1415) another Lollard, John Cleydone by name, a currier by trade, was tried in St. Paul's Church before the new Archbishop and others, the civic authorities having taken the initiative according to the provisions of the recent Statute, and arrested him on suspicion of being a heretic. The mayor himself was a witness at the trial, and testified as to the nature of certain books found in Cleydon's possession; they were "the worst and the most perverse that ever he did read or see." Walsingham, who styles Cleydon "an inveterate Lollard" (quidam inveteratus Lollardus), adds, with his usual acerbity against the entire sect, that the accused had gone so far as to make his own son a priest, and have Mass celebrated by him in his own house on the occasion when his wife should have gone to church, after rising from childbed.758Having been convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical court, the prisoner was again delivered over to the secular authorities for punishment.759Both he and his books were burnt.760[pg 257]Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.Two years later Oldcastle himself was captured in Wales and brought to London. At his trial he publicly declared his belief that Richard II was still alive; he was even fanatic enough to believe that he himself would soon rise again from the dead.761He was sentenced to be hanged and burnt on the gallows, a sentence which was carried out in St. Giles's Fields.762Lollardry continued to exist, especially in London and the towns, for some years, but it ceased to have any historical or political significance.763Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.Henry V was resolved to maintain not only the old religion of the days of Edward III, but also the old foreign policy, and in 1414 he commenced making preparations for renewing the claim of his great-grandfather to the crown of France. In 1415 this claim was formally made, and Henry gathered his forces together at Southampton. On the 10th March he informed the civic authorities of his intention of crossing over to France to enforce his claim and of his need of money. On the 14th a brilliant assembly, comprising the king's two brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Edward, Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, and others, met at the Guildhall to consider the matter.A question of precedence in the city.A question arose as to order of precedence, and it was arranged that the mayor, as the king's representative in the City, should occupy the centre seat, having the Primate and the Bishop of Winchester on his[pg 258]right, and the Duke of York and the king's brothers on his left.764This question having been settled, the meeting, we presume, got to business; but what took place is not recorded in the City's archives. We know, however, that in June the king pledged his jewels to the City for a loan of 10,000 marks,765and that on the 1st August—just as he was preparing to set sail—he raised a further loan of 10,000 marks on the security of the customs.766The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.On the 15th June the king, who was then on his way to the coast, took solemn leave of the civic authorities, who had accompanied him to Blackheath. He bade them go home and keep well his "chamber" during his absence abroad, giving them his blessing and saying "Cryste save London."767Arriving at Southampton, he there discovered a conspiracy to place the young Earl of March, the legitimate heir of Edward III, on the throne, as soon as he himself should have set sail. The traitors were seized and executed, and the City lost no time in sending the king a letter congratulating him upon his discovery of the plot.768The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.A few days later (12th August) he sailed for France and landed near Harfleur, to which town he[pg 259]laid siege. It offered, however, a stubborn defence, and it was not until the 18th September that the town surrendered. On the 22nd Henry sent a long account of the siege and capture to the mayor and citizens of London, bidding them render humble thanks to Almighty God for this mercy, and expressing a hope of further success in the near future.769Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.Early in October the king caused proclamation to be made in the City, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets who were willing to go with him to Normandy, should present themselves to his uncle Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Treasurer of England, who would pay them their wages. By the same proclamation merchants, victuallers and handicraft-men were invited to take up their residence in the recently captured town of Harfleur, where houses would be assigned to them, and where they should enjoy the same privileges and franchises to which they had always been accustomed.770Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th October, and news of the joyous victory arrived in England on or before the 28th, on which day—the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude—Nicholas Wotton, the recently elected mayor, was sworn into office at the Guildhall according to custom. On the following day, therefore, the mayor, aldermen and a large number of the commonalty made a solemn pilgrimage on foot to Westminster, where they first made devout thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and then proceeded to present the new mayor before the Barons of the Exchequer. Care is taken in the City[pg 260]records to explain that the procession went on this occasion on foot, simply and solely for the purpose of marking their humble thanks to the Almighty and his Saints, and more especially to Edward the Confessor, who lay interred at Westminster, for the joyful news which so unexpectedly had arrived. The journey on foot was not to be drawn into precedent when others succeeded to the mayoralty, nor supplant the riding in state which had been customary on such occasions.771The reception given to the king by the Londoners on his return from France, was of so brilliant and varied a character, that one chronicler declares that a description of it would require a special treatise.772On the 16th November he landed at Dover and proceeded towards London. On Saturday, the 23rd, the mayor and aldermen and all the companies rode forth in their liveries to meet the king and conduct him and his train of French prisoners through the City to Westminster. On Sunday morning a deputation from the City waited upon Henry and presented him with the sum of £1,000 and two basons of gold worth half that sum.773Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.During the next eighteen months succeeding the battle of Agincourt, Henry devoted himself to making preparations at home for renewing active military operations. He had intended at midsummer, 1416, to lead an expedition in person to the relief of Harfleur, but the command was subsequently[pg 261]delegated to his brother, the Duke of Bedford. Proclamation was publicly made in the city by order of the king, dated the 28th May, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets holding any fief or annuity from the king should proceed to Southampton by the 20th June, armed each according to his estate, for the purpose of joining the expedition.774In 1417 France was rendered weak by factions, and Henry seized the opportunity for another attack. On the 1st February he issued his writ to the sheriffs of London for a return to be made of the number of men-at-arms and archers the City knights could furnish.775In March the mayor, Henry Barton, was made a commissioner for victualling the navy which was to rendezvous at Southampton.776City loans, 1417.In the same month the City advanced the king the sum of 5,000 marks,777and in the following June a further sum was advanced by private subscription among the wealthier citizens on the security of a Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged with the subscribers on the understanding that they would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.778Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in[pg 262]Normandy and of his success in making himself master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.779To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the 28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September an order went forth from the Common Council of the City that each alderman should immediately instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds and warn all soldiers they might come across, to vacate the City and set out on the king's service before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.780Success continued to attend Henry's arms. On the 5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by letter,781of the capture of Caen, excepting only the citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless relief should have previously arrived for the besieged from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, notifying the extraordinary success which had followed the king. So many towns and fortresses had been taken that the only fear was that there were not sufficient men to keep guard over them.782Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.In order to keep the English force in Normandy better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, who had been left behind as the king's lieutenant, caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for[pg 263]Henry's use, might do so without paying custom dues on their giving security that the victuals should be sent to Caen and not elsewhere.783Bedford, who was learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, had he been allowed to practice in after years, might have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction784—presided in the parliament, which met in November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. No time was lost in taking measures for collecting these supplies, the king's writ appointing commissioners for the City of London being issued the day following.785Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.In Paris matters were going on from bad to worse. Whilst the capital of France was at the mercy of a mob, Henry proceeded to lay close siege to Rouen. Frequent proclamation was made in London for reinforcements to join the king, either at Rouen or elsewhere in Normandy.786This was in April, 1418, or thereabouts. On the 5th July, the Duke of Clarence informed Richard Merlawe, the mayor, by letter, of the fall of Louviers, and of the expected surrender of Pont de l'Arche,787from which latter place the duke wrote. On the 10th August Henry himself wrote to the citizens informing them of his having sat down before Rouen and of the[pg 264]straits his forces were in for lack of victuals and more especially of "drink." He begged them to send as many small vessels as they could, laden with provisions, to Harfleur, whence they could make their way up the Seine to Rouen.788In less than a month a reply was sent (8 Sept.) from Gravesend under the seal of the mayoralty, informing Henry that the citizens had been busy brewing ale and beer and purveying wine and other "vitaille," and that they had despatched thirty butts of sweet wine—comprising ten of "Tyre," ten of "Romesey," and ten of "Malvesy"—and 1,000 pipes of ale and beer. With these they had also sent 25,000 cups for the king's "host" to drink out of.789In the meantime, the besieged received no such relief from the pains of hunger and thirst, and on the 19th January, 1419, they were compelled to surrender their ancient town.790The war continued throughout the year (1419), all attempts at a reconciliation proving abortive. Pointoise fell into Henry's hands; and both Henry and the Duke of Clarence sent word of its capture to London. The duke took the opportunity of asking that the freedom of the City might be conferred on his servant, Roger Tillyngton, a skinner; but the citizens in acknowledging the duke's letter make no reference to his request.791The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.On the 17th August the king wrote again to the mayor, aldermen and commons of the City, thanking[pg 265]them for their "kynde and notable prone of an ayde," which they had granted of their own free will, therein setting a good example to others, and prayed them to follow such directions as the Duke of Bedford should give them respecting their proffered assistance. The bearer of this letter having been taken prisoner at Crotoye, a duplicate copy of it was afterwards forwarded from Trie le Chastel on the 12th September.792The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy, by a partisan of the Dauphin, which took place about this time, induced Duke Philip to come to terms with England in the hope of avenging his father's death;793and the French king, finding further resistance hopeless, was content to make peace. By the treaty of Troyes (20 May, 1420), the Dauphin was disinherited in favour of Henry, who was formally recognised as the heir to the French crown, and who agreed to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.794The marriage took place on the 3rd June, and on the 14th a solemn procession was made in London and a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in honour of the event.795The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.On the 12th July Henry addressed a letter from Mant to the corporation of London informing them of his welfare. He had left Paris for Mant in order to relieve the town of Chartres, which was being threatened by the Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy had joined him and had proved himself "a trusty, lovvng and faithful brother." The king's expedition proved unnecessary, for the Dauphin had raised the siege before his arrival and had gone into Touraine.[pg 266]To this letter a reply was sent under the mayoralty seal on the 2nd August, congratulating Henry upon his success, and assuring him that there was no city on earth more peaceful or better governed than his City of London.796The queen's coronation.On the 26th January, 1421, the Duke of Gloucester, the Guardian of England in the king's absence, ordered the Sheriffs of London to announce that the queen's coronation would take place at Westminster on the third Sunday in Lent.797The king and queen landed at Dover with a small retinue on the 1st February, and after a few days' rest at Canterbury, entered the city of London amid tokens of welcome and respect from the laity and clergy. They took up their abode at the Tower, whence they were conducted on the day appointed for the coronation to Westminster by the citizens on foot and on horseback.798Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.Henry had not been at home six months before he again left England, never to return.799The hopes that he entertained of reforming and governing his possessions in France, and his ambition to have headed, sooner or later, a crusade which should have stayed the progress of the Ottoman and have recovered the sepulchre of Christ, were not destined to be realised. He died at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, leaving a child[pg 267]nine months old—the unhappy Henry of Windsor who succeeded to the throne as Henry VI. When the body of the late king was brought over from France to be buried at Westminster, the citizens showed it every token of respect in its passage through London. The streets of the city, as well as of the borough of Southwark, were cleaned for the occasion. The mayor, sheriffs, recorder and aldermen, accompanied by the chief burgesses, and clad in white gowns and hoods, went forth to meet the remains of the king they loved so well, as far as St. George's bar in Southwark, and reverently conducted them to St. Paul's Church, where the funeral obsequies were performed. The next day they accompanied the corpse to Westminster, where further ceremonies took place. Representatives of the various wards were told off to line the streets, the solemnity of the occasion being marked by the burning of torches, whilst chaplains stood in the porches of the various churches, clad in their richest copes, with thuribles in their hands, and chanted theveniteand incensed the royal remains as they passed. The livery companies provided amongst them 211 torches, and to each torch-bearer the city chamberlain gave a gown and hood of white material or "blanket" (de blanqueto), at the "cost of the commonalty."800

Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.The sentence passed on the late king proved his death warrant; his haughty spirit broke down, and he died at Pontefract the following year. According to Henry's account he died of wilful starvation. There were many, however, who believed him to have been put to death by Henry's orders; whilst others, on the contrary, refused to believe his death had actually taken place at all, notwithstanding the fact of the corpse having been purposely exposed to public view throughout its journey from Pontefract to London.730This belief that Richard was still alive was fostered by many, and, among others, by William Serle. He had been at one time the late king's chamberlain, and he kept up the delusion of Richard being still in the land of the living, by exhibiting the late king's signet, which had come into his possession. Serle was eventually arrested in the north of England and brought to London, to be executed at Tyburn.731The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.Sixteen years later (1416), a certain Thomas Warde, called "Trumpyngtone," personated the late king, and a scheme was laid for placing him on the throne with the aid of Sigismund, king of the Romans[pg 248]Sigismund, however, refused to have anything to do with the plot, which was hatched within the city's liberties by Benedict Wolman and Thomas Bekering. The conspiracy having been discovered, its authors were thrown into prison. One died before trial, the other paid the penalty for his rashness with his head.732In August, 1420, long after Trumpington was dead, two others, Thomas Cobold and William Bryan, endeavoured still to keep up the delusion in the city. The mayor, Whitington, himself ordered their arrest. Bryan had time to escape from the house of William Norton, a barber given to Lollardry, where he and his fellow conspirator were lodged. Cobold tried to hide himself, but was discovered cunningly concealed in the house, and taken before the mayor and aldermen. Being questioned as to the identity of Trumpington and the late king, he gave an evasive reply, adding, that the question of identity had become immaterial since Trumpington had been dead some time. Cobold was thought to be too dangerous a man to be allowed at large, so he was committed to prison.733Proceedings against the Lollards.In the meantime Wycliffe had died (1384), and Lollardry had become only another name for general discontentment. The clergy made strenuous efforts to suppress the Lollards. Pope Boniface had invoked the assistance of the late king (1395) to destroy these[pg 249]"tares" (lolium aridum) that had sprung up amidst the wheat which remained constant to church and king, and called upon the mayor and commonalty of the city to use their interest with Richard to the same end.734Besides seeking the support of the commonalty against the powerful nobles, the new king sought the support of the church, and he had not been long on the throne before he issued commissions for search to be made in the city for Lollards, and for the arrest of all preachers found sowing the pestilential seed of Lollardry (semen pestiferum lollardrie).735Early in 1401 a price was put upon the head of the captain and leader of the sect, Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise known as Lord Cobham. Public proclamation was made in the city, that any one giving information which should lead to his arrest should be rewarded with 500 marks; any one actually arresting or causing him to be arrested should receive double that amount, whilst the citizens and burgesses of any city or borough who should take and produce him before the king, should be for ever quit of all taxes, talliages, tenths, fifteenths and other assessments.736Not only were conventicles forbidden, but no one was allowed to visit the ordinary churches after nine o'clock at night or before five o'clock in the morning.737The statute of heresy, 1401.Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical courts could condemn men as heretics, but they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a statute was passed this year (1401), known as the[pg 250]statute of heresy (de hæretico comburendo), authorising the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of being publicly burnt before the people.738It was the first English law passed for the suppression of religious opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.739Henry's other troubles.Henry had other difficulties to face besides opposition from the nobles. France had refused to acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded the restoration of Richard's widow, a mere child of eleven. The Scots740and the Welsh were on the point of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a paltry loan of 4,000 marks.741Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.As time went on, Henry had to try new methods for raising money. The parliament which met at the opening of 1404, granted the king a 1s.in the pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides 20s.for every knight's fee. The money so raised was not, however, to be at the disposal of the king's own ministers, but was to be placed in the hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of war (Guerrarum Thesaurarii). The names of the[pg 251]treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.742Three of these were citizens of note. Hadley had already served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in 1409 and 1417.More city loans in 1409 & 1412.It was during Merlawe's first mayoralty that the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 marks,743to enable him to complete the reduction of Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced a further sum of 10,000 marks.744At the beginning of that year a commission was addressed by Henry to Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late mayor, instructing them to make a return of the amount of land and tenements held in the city and suburbs, with the view of levying 6s.8d.on every £20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the late parliament.745A return was made to the effect that it was very difficult to discover the true value of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, and the names of men, women and other persons (hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum) mentioned in the commission were forwarded by them in[pg 252]the following a, b, c (in sequenti a, b, c). What lands and tenements the "men, women and other persons" had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.746The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty's Public Record747Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and the sum paid into the exchequer at 6s.8d.for every £20, under the provisions of the act amounted to £70 6s.8d.The mayor and commonalty of the city are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents of an annual value of no more than £150 9s.11d., whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at £148 15s.3d.Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths appear as the owners of the largest property, their rental of city property amounting to £46 10s.1/2d., the Merchant Tailors following them closely with £44 3s.7d.The Mercers had but a rental of £13 18s.4d.whilst the Skinners had £18 12s.8d.Robert Chichele, the mayor, was already a rich man, with an annual rental of £42 19s.2d., derived from city property, or nearly double the amount (£25) with which Richard Whitington was credited.Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.Whitington had already three times occupied the mayoralty chair; once (in 1396) at the word of a king, and twice (in 1397 and 1406) at the will of his fellow citizens. On the occasion of his third election a solemn mass was for the first time introduced into the proceedings, the mayor, aldermen and a large[pg 253]body of commoners attending the service at the Guildhall Chapel, before proceeding to the election.748The custom which then sprang up continues in a modified form to this day, the election of a mayor being always preceded by divine service. Its origin may perhaps be ascribed in some measure to the spirit of Lollardry which, in its best sense, found much favour with the citizens.The enormous wealth which he succeeded in amassing was bestowed in promoting the cause of education, and in relieving the sufferings of the poor and afflicted. He built a handsome library in the house of the Grey Friars and also the Church of Saint Michael in the "Riole." He is credited by some writers with having purchased and presented to the corporation the advowson of the Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill. But this is probably a mistake arising from the fact of a license in mortmain having been granted by Henry IV to Richard Whitington, John Hende, and others, to convey the manor of Leadenhall, together with the advowsons of the several churches of Saint Peter upon Cornhill and Saint Margaret Patyns, held of the king in free burgage, to the mayor and commonalty of the City of London and their successors.749Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.On the accession of Henry V, Archbishop Arundel, whom Walsingham describes as the most eminent[pg 254]bulwark and indomitable supporter of the church,750renewed his attack on the Lollards, and endeavoured to serve Oldcastle with a citation. Failing to accomplish this he caused him to be arrested. The bold defence made by the so-called heretic, when before his judges, gained additional weight from the reputation he enjoyed for high moral character. Nevertheless he was adjudged guilty of the charges brought against him. A formal sentence of excommunication was passed, and he was remitted to the Tower for forty days in the hope that at the expiration of that time he might be found willing to retract. This, however, was not to be.Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.He contrived to make his escape from prison,751and shortly afterwards appeared at the head of a number of followers in St. Giles's Fields. Great disappointment was felt at not receiving the assistance that had been expected from city servants and apprentices. According to Walsingham, no less than 5,000 men, comprising masters as well as servants, from the city, were prepared to join the insurgents, had not the king taken precautions to secure the gates. As soon as it was discovered that the young king had made ample preparations to meet attack, the Lollards took to flight. Many, however, failed to make good their escape, and nearly forty paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives.752[pg 255]Walsingham was probably misinformed as to the number of the persons who were prepared to assist the Lollards. The fact is that, to the respectable City burgess, Lollardism was a matter of less moment than was the scandalous life led by the chantry priest and other ministers of religion, and this the civic authorities were determined to rectify as far as in them lay. Between the years 1400 and 1440, some sixty clerks in holy orders were taken in adultery and clapt into prison by ward beadles.753Nevertheless the clergy, and more especially the chantry priest, continued to live a life of luxury and sloth, oftentimes spending the day in dicing, card playing, cock fighting and frequenting taverns.The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.The recent abortive attempt of Oldcastle gave rise to another Statute against the Lollards,754by which the secular power, no longer content with merely carrying into execution the sentences pronounced by ecclesiastical courts, undertook, where necessary, the initiative against heretics. Archbishop Arundel, the determined enemy of the Lollards, had had no hand in framing this Statute—the last that was enacted against them.755He had died a few months before parliament met, and had been succeeded by Henry Chichele.The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.Early in the following year (1415) the king made an offer of pardon to Oldcastle, who was still at large, if he would come in and make submission before[pg 256]Easter.756Instead of accepting so generous an offer, Oldcastle busied himself in preparing for another rising to take place as soon as the king should have set sail on his meditated expedition to France. Lollard manifestoes again appeared on the doors of the London churches; whilst Oldcastle himself scoured the country for recruits, to serve under a banner on which the most sacred emblems of the church were depicted.757Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.In August (1415) another Lollard, John Cleydone by name, a currier by trade, was tried in St. Paul's Church before the new Archbishop and others, the civic authorities having taken the initiative according to the provisions of the recent Statute, and arrested him on suspicion of being a heretic. The mayor himself was a witness at the trial, and testified as to the nature of certain books found in Cleydon's possession; they were "the worst and the most perverse that ever he did read or see." Walsingham, who styles Cleydon "an inveterate Lollard" (quidam inveteratus Lollardus), adds, with his usual acerbity against the entire sect, that the accused had gone so far as to make his own son a priest, and have Mass celebrated by him in his own house on the occasion when his wife should have gone to church, after rising from childbed.758Having been convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical court, the prisoner was again delivered over to the secular authorities for punishment.759Both he and his books were burnt.760[pg 257]Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.Two years later Oldcastle himself was captured in Wales and brought to London. At his trial he publicly declared his belief that Richard II was still alive; he was even fanatic enough to believe that he himself would soon rise again from the dead.761He was sentenced to be hanged and burnt on the gallows, a sentence which was carried out in St. Giles's Fields.762Lollardry continued to exist, especially in London and the towns, for some years, but it ceased to have any historical or political significance.763Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.Henry V was resolved to maintain not only the old religion of the days of Edward III, but also the old foreign policy, and in 1414 he commenced making preparations for renewing the claim of his great-grandfather to the crown of France. In 1415 this claim was formally made, and Henry gathered his forces together at Southampton. On the 10th March he informed the civic authorities of his intention of crossing over to France to enforce his claim and of his need of money. On the 14th a brilliant assembly, comprising the king's two brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Edward, Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, and others, met at the Guildhall to consider the matter.A question of precedence in the city.A question arose as to order of precedence, and it was arranged that the mayor, as the king's representative in the City, should occupy the centre seat, having the Primate and the Bishop of Winchester on his[pg 258]right, and the Duke of York and the king's brothers on his left.764This question having been settled, the meeting, we presume, got to business; but what took place is not recorded in the City's archives. We know, however, that in June the king pledged his jewels to the City for a loan of 10,000 marks,765and that on the 1st August—just as he was preparing to set sail—he raised a further loan of 10,000 marks on the security of the customs.766The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.On the 15th June the king, who was then on his way to the coast, took solemn leave of the civic authorities, who had accompanied him to Blackheath. He bade them go home and keep well his "chamber" during his absence abroad, giving them his blessing and saying "Cryste save London."767Arriving at Southampton, he there discovered a conspiracy to place the young Earl of March, the legitimate heir of Edward III, on the throne, as soon as he himself should have set sail. The traitors were seized and executed, and the City lost no time in sending the king a letter congratulating him upon his discovery of the plot.768The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.A few days later (12th August) he sailed for France and landed near Harfleur, to which town he[pg 259]laid siege. It offered, however, a stubborn defence, and it was not until the 18th September that the town surrendered. On the 22nd Henry sent a long account of the siege and capture to the mayor and citizens of London, bidding them render humble thanks to Almighty God for this mercy, and expressing a hope of further success in the near future.769Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.Early in October the king caused proclamation to be made in the City, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets who were willing to go with him to Normandy, should present themselves to his uncle Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Treasurer of England, who would pay them their wages. By the same proclamation merchants, victuallers and handicraft-men were invited to take up their residence in the recently captured town of Harfleur, where houses would be assigned to them, and where they should enjoy the same privileges and franchises to which they had always been accustomed.770Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th October, and news of the joyous victory arrived in England on or before the 28th, on which day—the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude—Nicholas Wotton, the recently elected mayor, was sworn into office at the Guildhall according to custom. On the following day, therefore, the mayor, aldermen and a large number of the commonalty made a solemn pilgrimage on foot to Westminster, where they first made devout thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and then proceeded to present the new mayor before the Barons of the Exchequer. Care is taken in the City[pg 260]records to explain that the procession went on this occasion on foot, simply and solely for the purpose of marking their humble thanks to the Almighty and his Saints, and more especially to Edward the Confessor, who lay interred at Westminster, for the joyful news which so unexpectedly had arrived. The journey on foot was not to be drawn into precedent when others succeeded to the mayoralty, nor supplant the riding in state which had been customary on such occasions.771The reception given to the king by the Londoners on his return from France, was of so brilliant and varied a character, that one chronicler declares that a description of it would require a special treatise.772On the 16th November he landed at Dover and proceeded towards London. On Saturday, the 23rd, the mayor and aldermen and all the companies rode forth in their liveries to meet the king and conduct him and his train of French prisoners through the City to Westminster. On Sunday morning a deputation from the City waited upon Henry and presented him with the sum of £1,000 and two basons of gold worth half that sum.773Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.During the next eighteen months succeeding the battle of Agincourt, Henry devoted himself to making preparations at home for renewing active military operations. He had intended at midsummer, 1416, to lead an expedition in person to the relief of Harfleur, but the command was subsequently[pg 261]delegated to his brother, the Duke of Bedford. Proclamation was publicly made in the city by order of the king, dated the 28th May, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets holding any fief or annuity from the king should proceed to Southampton by the 20th June, armed each according to his estate, for the purpose of joining the expedition.774In 1417 France was rendered weak by factions, and Henry seized the opportunity for another attack. On the 1st February he issued his writ to the sheriffs of London for a return to be made of the number of men-at-arms and archers the City knights could furnish.775In March the mayor, Henry Barton, was made a commissioner for victualling the navy which was to rendezvous at Southampton.776City loans, 1417.In the same month the City advanced the king the sum of 5,000 marks,777and in the following June a further sum was advanced by private subscription among the wealthier citizens on the security of a Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged with the subscribers on the understanding that they would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.778Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in[pg 262]Normandy and of his success in making himself master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.779To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the 28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September an order went forth from the Common Council of the City that each alderman should immediately instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds and warn all soldiers they might come across, to vacate the City and set out on the king's service before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.780Success continued to attend Henry's arms. On the 5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by letter,781of the capture of Caen, excepting only the citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless relief should have previously arrived for the besieged from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, notifying the extraordinary success which had followed the king. So many towns and fortresses had been taken that the only fear was that there were not sufficient men to keep guard over them.782Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.In order to keep the English force in Normandy better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, who had been left behind as the king's lieutenant, caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for[pg 263]Henry's use, might do so without paying custom dues on their giving security that the victuals should be sent to Caen and not elsewhere.783Bedford, who was learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, had he been allowed to practice in after years, might have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction784—presided in the parliament, which met in November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. No time was lost in taking measures for collecting these supplies, the king's writ appointing commissioners for the City of London being issued the day following.785Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.In Paris matters were going on from bad to worse. Whilst the capital of France was at the mercy of a mob, Henry proceeded to lay close siege to Rouen. Frequent proclamation was made in London for reinforcements to join the king, either at Rouen or elsewhere in Normandy.786This was in April, 1418, or thereabouts. On the 5th July, the Duke of Clarence informed Richard Merlawe, the mayor, by letter, of the fall of Louviers, and of the expected surrender of Pont de l'Arche,787from which latter place the duke wrote. On the 10th August Henry himself wrote to the citizens informing them of his having sat down before Rouen and of the[pg 264]straits his forces were in for lack of victuals and more especially of "drink." He begged them to send as many small vessels as they could, laden with provisions, to Harfleur, whence they could make their way up the Seine to Rouen.788In less than a month a reply was sent (8 Sept.) from Gravesend under the seal of the mayoralty, informing Henry that the citizens had been busy brewing ale and beer and purveying wine and other "vitaille," and that they had despatched thirty butts of sweet wine—comprising ten of "Tyre," ten of "Romesey," and ten of "Malvesy"—and 1,000 pipes of ale and beer. With these they had also sent 25,000 cups for the king's "host" to drink out of.789In the meantime, the besieged received no such relief from the pains of hunger and thirst, and on the 19th January, 1419, they were compelled to surrender their ancient town.790The war continued throughout the year (1419), all attempts at a reconciliation proving abortive. Pointoise fell into Henry's hands; and both Henry and the Duke of Clarence sent word of its capture to London. The duke took the opportunity of asking that the freedom of the City might be conferred on his servant, Roger Tillyngton, a skinner; but the citizens in acknowledging the duke's letter make no reference to his request.791The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.On the 17th August the king wrote again to the mayor, aldermen and commons of the City, thanking[pg 265]them for their "kynde and notable prone of an ayde," which they had granted of their own free will, therein setting a good example to others, and prayed them to follow such directions as the Duke of Bedford should give them respecting their proffered assistance. The bearer of this letter having been taken prisoner at Crotoye, a duplicate copy of it was afterwards forwarded from Trie le Chastel on the 12th September.792The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy, by a partisan of the Dauphin, which took place about this time, induced Duke Philip to come to terms with England in the hope of avenging his father's death;793and the French king, finding further resistance hopeless, was content to make peace. By the treaty of Troyes (20 May, 1420), the Dauphin was disinherited in favour of Henry, who was formally recognised as the heir to the French crown, and who agreed to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.794The marriage took place on the 3rd June, and on the 14th a solemn procession was made in London and a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in honour of the event.795The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.On the 12th July Henry addressed a letter from Mant to the corporation of London informing them of his welfare. He had left Paris for Mant in order to relieve the town of Chartres, which was being threatened by the Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy had joined him and had proved himself "a trusty, lovvng and faithful brother." The king's expedition proved unnecessary, for the Dauphin had raised the siege before his arrival and had gone into Touraine.[pg 266]To this letter a reply was sent under the mayoralty seal on the 2nd August, congratulating Henry upon his success, and assuring him that there was no city on earth more peaceful or better governed than his City of London.796The queen's coronation.On the 26th January, 1421, the Duke of Gloucester, the Guardian of England in the king's absence, ordered the Sheriffs of London to announce that the queen's coronation would take place at Westminster on the third Sunday in Lent.797The king and queen landed at Dover with a small retinue on the 1st February, and after a few days' rest at Canterbury, entered the city of London amid tokens of welcome and respect from the laity and clergy. They took up their abode at the Tower, whence they were conducted on the day appointed for the coronation to Westminster by the citizens on foot and on horseback.798Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.Henry had not been at home six months before he again left England, never to return.799The hopes that he entertained of reforming and governing his possessions in France, and his ambition to have headed, sooner or later, a crusade which should have stayed the progress of the Ottoman and have recovered the sepulchre of Christ, were not destined to be realised. He died at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, leaving a child[pg 267]nine months old—the unhappy Henry of Windsor who succeeded to the throne as Henry VI. When the body of the late king was brought over from France to be buried at Westminster, the citizens showed it every token of respect in its passage through London. The streets of the city, as well as of the borough of Southwark, were cleaned for the occasion. The mayor, sheriffs, recorder and aldermen, accompanied by the chief burgesses, and clad in white gowns and hoods, went forth to meet the remains of the king they loved so well, as far as St. George's bar in Southwark, and reverently conducted them to St. Paul's Church, where the funeral obsequies were performed. The next day they accompanied the corpse to Westminster, where further ceremonies took place. Representatives of the various wards were told off to line the streets, the solemnity of the occasion being marked by the burning of torches, whilst chaplains stood in the porches of the various churches, clad in their richest copes, with thuribles in their hands, and chanted theveniteand incensed the royal remains as they passed. The livery companies provided amongst them 211 torches, and to each torch-bearer the city chamberlain gave a gown and hood of white material or "blanket" (de blanqueto), at the "cost of the commonalty."800

Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.

Doubtful reports as to the late king's death.

The sentence passed on the late king proved his death warrant; his haughty spirit broke down, and he died at Pontefract the following year. According to Henry's account he died of wilful starvation. There were many, however, who believed him to have been put to death by Henry's orders; whilst others, on the contrary, refused to believe his death had actually taken place at all, notwithstanding the fact of the corpse having been purposely exposed to public view throughout its journey from Pontefract to London.730This belief that Richard was still alive was fostered by many, and, among others, by William Serle. He had been at one time the late king's chamberlain, and he kept up the delusion of Richard being still in the land of the living, by exhibiting the late king's signet, which had come into his possession. Serle was eventually arrested in the north of England and brought to London, to be executed at Tyburn.731

The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.

The "Trumpington" Conspiracy, 1416-1420.

Sixteen years later (1416), a certain Thomas Warde, called "Trumpyngtone," personated the late king, and a scheme was laid for placing him on the throne with the aid of Sigismund, king of the Romans[pg 248]Sigismund, however, refused to have anything to do with the plot, which was hatched within the city's liberties by Benedict Wolman and Thomas Bekering. The conspiracy having been discovered, its authors were thrown into prison. One died before trial, the other paid the penalty for his rashness with his head.732In August, 1420, long after Trumpington was dead, two others, Thomas Cobold and William Bryan, endeavoured still to keep up the delusion in the city. The mayor, Whitington, himself ordered their arrest. Bryan had time to escape from the house of William Norton, a barber given to Lollardry, where he and his fellow conspirator were lodged. Cobold tried to hide himself, but was discovered cunningly concealed in the house, and taken before the mayor and aldermen. Being questioned as to the identity of Trumpington and the late king, he gave an evasive reply, adding, that the question of identity had become immaterial since Trumpington had been dead some time. Cobold was thought to be too dangerous a man to be allowed at large, so he was committed to prison.733

Proceedings against the Lollards.

Proceedings against the Lollards.

In the meantime Wycliffe had died (1384), and Lollardry had become only another name for general discontentment. The clergy made strenuous efforts to suppress the Lollards. Pope Boniface had invoked the assistance of the late king (1395) to destroy these[pg 249]"tares" (lolium aridum) that had sprung up amidst the wheat which remained constant to church and king, and called upon the mayor and commonalty of the city to use their interest with Richard to the same end.734Besides seeking the support of the commonalty against the powerful nobles, the new king sought the support of the church, and he had not been long on the throne before he issued commissions for search to be made in the city for Lollards, and for the arrest of all preachers found sowing the pestilential seed of Lollardry (semen pestiferum lollardrie).735Early in 1401 a price was put upon the head of the captain and leader of the sect, Sir John Oldcastle, otherwise known as Lord Cobham. Public proclamation was made in the city, that any one giving information which should lead to his arrest should be rewarded with 500 marks; any one actually arresting or causing him to be arrested should receive double that amount, whilst the citizens and burgesses of any city or borough who should take and produce him before the king, should be for ever quit of all taxes, talliages, tenths, fifteenths and other assessments.736Not only were conventicles forbidden, but no one was allowed to visit the ordinary churches after nine o'clock at night or before five o'clock in the morning.737

The statute of heresy, 1401.

The statute of heresy, 1401.

Still the clergy were not satisfied. The ecclesiastical courts could condemn men as heretics, but they had no power to burn them. Accordingly, a statute was passed this year (1401), known as the[pg 250]statute of heresy (de hæretico comburendo), authorising the ecclesiastical courts to hand over to the civil powers any heretic refusing to recant, or relapsing after recantation, so that he might pay the penalty of being publicly burnt before the people.738It was the first English law passed for the suppression of religious opinion, and its first victim is said to have been one William Sautre, formerly a parish priest of Norfolk.739

Henry's other troubles.

Henry's other troubles.

Henry had other difficulties to face besides opposition from the nobles. France had refused to acknowledge his title to the crown, and demanded the restoration of Richard's widow, a mere child of eleven. The Scots740and the Welsh were on the point of engaging in open insurrection. Invasion was imminent; the exchequer was empty, and the Londoners appealed to could offer no more than a paltry loan of 4,000 marks.741

Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.

Supplies granted by parliament in 1404.

As time went on, Henry had to try new methods for raising money. The parliament which met at the opening of 1404, granted the king a 1s.in the pound on all lands, tenements and rents, besides 20s.for every knight's fee. The money so raised was not, however, to be at the disposal of the king's own ministers, but was to be placed in the hands of four officials to be known as treasurers of war (Guerrarum Thesaurarii). The names of the[pg 251]treasurers elected for the purpose are given as John Owdeby, clerk, John Hadley, Thomas Knolles, and Richard Merlawe, citizens of London.742Three of these were citizens of note. Hadley had already served as mayor in 1393, Knolles had filled the same office in 1399, and was re-elected in 1410, whilst Merlawe was destined to attain that honour both in 1409 and 1417.

More city loans in 1409 & 1412.

More city loans in 1409 & 1412.

It was during Merlawe's first mayoralty that the citizens advanced to the king the sum of 7,000 marks,743to enable him to complete the reduction of Wales, which his son, the Prince of Wales, had already nearly accomplished. In 1412 they advanced a further sum of 10,000 marks.744At the beginning of that year a commission was addressed by Henry to Robert Chichele, the mayor, brother of the archbishop of the same name, to the sheriffs of the city, to Richard Whitington and Thomas Knolles, the late mayor, instructing them to make a return of the amount of land and tenements held in the city and suburbs, with the view of levying 6s.8d.on every £20 annual rent by virtue of an act passed by the late parliament.745A return was made to the effect that it was very difficult to discover the true value of lands and tenements in the city and suburbs, owing to absence of tenants and dilapidations by fire and water, but that they had caused enquiry to be made, and the names of men, women and other persons (hominum, feminarum et aliarum personarum) mentioned in the commission were forwarded by them in[pg 252]the following a, b, c (in sequenti a, b, c). What lands and tenements the "men, women and other persons" had elsewhere they had no means of discovering.746The schedule, or "a, b, c," is not entered in the City Letter Book, but is to be found among the Exchequer Rolls, preserved at Her Majesty's Public Record747Office. The gross rental was returned at £4,220, and the sum paid into the exchequer at 6s.8d.for every £20, under the provisions of the act amounted to £70 6s.8d.The mayor and commonalty of the city are credited as possessing lands, tenements and rents of an annual value of no more than £150 9s.11d., whilst the Bridge House Estate was returned at £148 15s.3d.Of the livery companies, the Goldsmiths appear as the owners of the largest property, their rental of city property amounting to £46 10s.1/2d., the Merchant Tailors following them closely with £44 3s.7d.The Mercers had but a rental of £13 18s.4d.whilst the Skinners had £18 12s.8d.Robert Chichele, the mayor, was already a rich man, with an annual rental of £42 19s.2d., derived from city property, or nearly double the amount (£25) with which Richard Whitington was credited.

Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.

Whitington mayor for the third time, 1406.

Whitington had already three times occupied the mayoralty chair; once (in 1396) at the word of a king, and twice (in 1397 and 1406) at the will of his fellow citizens. On the occasion of his third election a solemn mass was for the first time introduced into the proceedings, the mayor, aldermen and a large[pg 253]body of commoners attending the service at the Guildhall Chapel, before proceeding to the election.748The custom which then sprang up continues in a modified form to this day, the election of a mayor being always preceded by divine service. Its origin may perhaps be ascribed in some measure to the spirit of Lollardry which, in its best sense, found much favour with the citizens.

The enormous wealth which he succeeded in amassing was bestowed in promoting the cause of education, and in relieving the sufferings of the poor and afflicted. He built a handsome library in the house of the Grey Friars and also the Church of Saint Michael in the "Riole." He is credited by some writers with having purchased and presented to the corporation the advowson of the Church of St. Peter upon Cornhill. But this is probably a mistake arising from the fact of a license in mortmain having been granted by Henry IV to Richard Whitington, John Hende, and others, to convey the manor of Leadenhall, together with the advowsons of the several churches of Saint Peter upon Cornhill and Saint Margaret Patyns, held of the king in free burgage, to the mayor and commonalty of the City of London and their successors.749

Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.

Further proceedings against Oldcastle and the Lollards, 1413.

On the accession of Henry V, Archbishop Arundel, whom Walsingham describes as the most eminent[pg 254]bulwark and indomitable supporter of the church,750renewed his attack on the Lollards, and endeavoured to serve Oldcastle with a citation. Failing to accomplish this he caused him to be arrested. The bold defence made by the so-called heretic, when before his judges, gained additional weight from the reputation he enjoyed for high moral character. Nevertheless he was adjudged guilty of the charges brought against him. A formal sentence of excommunication was passed, and he was remitted to the Tower for forty days in the hope that at the expiration of that time he might be found willing to retract. This, however, was not to be.

Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.

Meeting of Lollards in St. Giles' Fields, 12 Jan., 1414.

He contrived to make his escape from prison,751and shortly afterwards appeared at the head of a number of followers in St. Giles's Fields. Great disappointment was felt at not receiving the assistance that had been expected from city servants and apprentices. According to Walsingham, no less than 5,000 men, comprising masters as well as servants, from the city, were prepared to join the insurgents, had not the king taken precautions to secure the gates. As soon as it was discovered that the young king had made ample preparations to meet attack, the Lollards took to flight. Many, however, failed to make good their escape, and nearly forty paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives.752[pg 255]Walsingham was probably misinformed as to the number of the persons who were prepared to assist the Lollards. The fact is that, to the respectable City burgess, Lollardism was a matter of less moment than was the scandalous life led by the chantry priest and other ministers of religion, and this the civic authorities were determined to rectify as far as in them lay. Between the years 1400 and 1440, some sixty clerks in holy orders were taken in adultery and clapt into prison by ward beadles.753Nevertheless the clergy, and more especially the chantry priest, continued to live a life of luxury and sloth, oftentimes spending the day in dicing, card playing, cock fighting and frequenting taverns.

The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.

The last Statute against the Lollards, 1414.

The recent abortive attempt of Oldcastle gave rise to another Statute against the Lollards,754by which the secular power, no longer content with merely carrying into execution the sentences pronounced by ecclesiastical courts, undertook, where necessary, the initiative against heretics. Archbishop Arundel, the determined enemy of the Lollards, had had no hand in framing this Statute—the last that was enacted against them.755He had died a few months before parliament met, and had been succeeded by Henry Chichele.

The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.

The king's offer of pardon refused by Oldcastle, 1415.

Early in the following year (1415) the king made an offer of pardon to Oldcastle, who was still at large, if he would come in and make submission before[pg 256]Easter.756Instead of accepting so generous an offer, Oldcastle busied himself in preparing for another rising to take place as soon as the king should have set sail on his meditated expedition to France. Lollard manifestoes again appeared on the doors of the London churches; whilst Oldcastle himself scoured the country for recruits, to serve under a banner on which the most sacred emblems of the church were depicted.757

Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.

Trial and execution of Cleydon, a Lollard, 1415.

In August (1415) another Lollard, John Cleydone by name, a currier by trade, was tried in St. Paul's Church before the new Archbishop and others, the civic authorities having taken the initiative according to the provisions of the recent Statute, and arrested him on suspicion of being a heretic. The mayor himself was a witness at the trial, and testified as to the nature of certain books found in Cleydon's possession; they were "the worst and the most perverse that ever he did read or see." Walsingham, who styles Cleydon "an inveterate Lollard" (quidam inveteratus Lollardus), adds, with his usual acerbity against the entire sect, that the accused had gone so far as to make his own son a priest, and have Mass celebrated by him in his own house on the occasion when his wife should have gone to church, after rising from childbed.758Having been convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical court, the prisoner was again delivered over to the secular authorities for punishment.759Both he and his books were burnt.760

Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.

Oldcastle taken and executed, 1417.

Two years later Oldcastle himself was captured in Wales and brought to London. At his trial he publicly declared his belief that Richard II was still alive; he was even fanatic enough to believe that he himself would soon rise again from the dead.761He was sentenced to be hanged and burnt on the gallows, a sentence which was carried out in St. Giles's Fields.762Lollardry continued to exist, especially in London and the towns, for some years, but it ceased to have any historical or political significance.763

Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.

Preparations for the invasion of France, 1414-1415.

Henry V was resolved to maintain not only the old religion of the days of Edward III, but also the old foreign policy, and in 1414 he commenced making preparations for renewing the claim of his great-grandfather to the crown of France. In 1415 this claim was formally made, and Henry gathered his forces together at Southampton. On the 10th March he informed the civic authorities of his intention of crossing over to France to enforce his claim and of his need of money. On the 14th a brilliant assembly, comprising the king's two brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Edward, Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, and others, met at the Guildhall to consider the matter.

A question of precedence in the city.

A question of precedence in the city.

A question arose as to order of precedence, and it was arranged that the mayor, as the king's representative in the City, should occupy the centre seat, having the Primate and the Bishop of Winchester on his[pg 258]right, and the Duke of York and the king's brothers on his left.764This question having been settled, the meeting, we presume, got to business; but what took place is not recorded in the City's archives. We know, however, that in June the king pledged his jewels to the City for a loan of 10,000 marks,765and that on the 1st August—just as he was preparing to set sail—he raised a further loan of 10,000 marks on the security of the customs.766

The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.

The king takes leave of the citizens on Blackheath, June, 1415.

On the 15th June the king, who was then on his way to the coast, took solemn leave of the civic authorities, who had accompanied him to Blackheath. He bade them go home and keep well his "chamber" during his absence abroad, giving them his blessing and saying "Cryste save London."767Arriving at Southampton, he there discovered a conspiracy to place the young Earl of March, the legitimate heir of Edward III, on the throne, as soon as he himself should have set sail. The traitors were seized and executed, and the City lost no time in sending the king a letter congratulating him upon his discovery of the plot.768

The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.

The capture of Harfleur, 18 Sept., 1415.

A few days later (12th August) he sailed for France and landed near Harfleur, to which town he[pg 259]laid siege. It offered, however, a stubborn defence, and it was not until the 18th September that the town surrendered. On the 22nd Henry sent a long account of the siege and capture to the mayor and citizens of London, bidding them render humble thanks to Almighty God for this mercy, and expressing a hope of further success in the near future.769

Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.

Volunteers for service in France required, Oct., 1415.

Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.

Citizens invited to reside in Harfleur.

Early in October the king caused proclamation to be made in the City, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets who were willing to go with him to Normandy, should present themselves to his uncle Henry, Bishop of Winchester and Treasurer of England, who would pay them their wages. By the same proclamation merchants, victuallers and handicraft-men were invited to take up their residence in the recently captured town of Harfleur, where houses would be assigned to them, and where they should enjoy the same privileges and franchises to which they had always been accustomed.770

Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.

Joy in the city at the news of the battle of Agincourt, Oct., 1415.

The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.

The citizens welcome the king on his return from France.

The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 25th October, and news of the joyous victory arrived in England on or before the 28th, on which day—the Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude—Nicholas Wotton, the recently elected mayor, was sworn into office at the Guildhall according to custom. On the following day, therefore, the mayor, aldermen and a large number of the commonalty made a solemn pilgrimage on foot to Westminster, where they first made devout thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and then proceeded to present the new mayor before the Barons of the Exchequer. Care is taken in the City[pg 260]records to explain that the procession went on this occasion on foot, simply and solely for the purpose of marking their humble thanks to the Almighty and his Saints, and more especially to Edward the Confessor, who lay interred at Westminster, for the joyful news which so unexpectedly had arrived. The journey on foot was not to be drawn into precedent when others succeeded to the mayoralty, nor supplant the riding in state which had been customary on such occasions.771The reception given to the king by the Londoners on his return from France, was of so brilliant and varied a character, that one chronicler declares that a description of it would require a special treatise.772On the 16th November he landed at Dover and proceeded towards London. On Saturday, the 23rd, the mayor and aldermen and all the companies rode forth in their liveries to meet the king and conduct him and his train of French prisoners through the City to Westminster. On Sunday morning a deputation from the City waited upon Henry and presented him with the sum of £1,000 and two basons of gold worth half that sum.773

Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.

Preparations for another expedition, 1416-1417.

During the next eighteen months succeeding the battle of Agincourt, Henry devoted himself to making preparations at home for renewing active military operations. He had intended at midsummer, 1416, to lead an expedition in person to the relief of Harfleur, but the command was subsequently[pg 261]delegated to his brother, the Duke of Bedford. Proclamation was publicly made in the city by order of the king, dated the 28th May, that all and singular knights, esquires and valets holding any fief or annuity from the king should proceed to Southampton by the 20th June, armed each according to his estate, for the purpose of joining the expedition.774In 1417 France was rendered weak by factions, and Henry seized the opportunity for another attack. On the 1st February he issued his writ to the sheriffs of London for a return to be made of the number of men-at-arms and archers the City knights could furnish.775In March the mayor, Henry Barton, was made a commissioner for victualling the navy which was to rendezvous at Southampton.776

City loans, 1417.

City loans, 1417.

In the same month the City advanced the king the sum of 5,000 marks,777and in the following June a further sum was advanced by private subscription among the wealthier citizens on the security of a Spanish sword, set in gold and precious stones, of the estimated value of £2,000. The sword was pledged with the subscribers on the understanding that they would not dispose of it before Michaelmas twelve-month.778

Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.

Letter from the king to the City announcing his success, 9 Aug., 1417.

Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.

Another letter informing them of the capture of Caen, 5 Sept.

On the 9th August the king addressed a letter to the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and good folk of the City of London, informing them of his safe arrival in[pg 262]Normandy and of his success in making himself master of the castle of "Touque" without bloodshed.779To this the citizens sent a dutiful reply on the 28th day of the same month, assuring the king of the peaceful condition of the city. On the 2nd September an order went forth from the Common Council of the City that each alderman should immediately instruct the constables of his ward to go their rounds and warn all soldiers they might come across, to vacate the City and set out on the king's service before the end of the week on pain of imprisonment.780Success continued to attend Henry's arms. On the 5th September he was able to inform the citizens, by letter,781of the capture of Caen, excepting only the citadel, and this was to be rendered to him by the 19th day of the same month at the latest, unless relief should have previously arrived for the besieged from the King of France, his son the Dauphin, or the Count of Armagnac, Constable of France. The Duke of Clarence wrote a few days later to the citizens, notifying the extraordinary success which had followed the king. So many towns and fortresses had been taken that the only fear was that there were not sufficient men to keep guard over them.782

Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.

Proclamation by the Duke of Bedford, 18 Oct.

Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.

Supplies granted by parliament, Dec, 1417.

In order to keep the English force in Normandy better provided with victuals, the Duke of Bedford, who had been left behind as the king's lieutenant, caused the Sheriffs of London to proclaim that all persons willing and able to ship victuals to France for[pg 263]Henry's use, might do so without paying custom dues on their giving security that the victuals should be sent to Caen and not elsewhere.783Bedford, who was learning how to rule a free people—a lesson which, had he been allowed to practice in after years, might have saved the house of Lancaster from utter destruction784—presided in the parliament, which met in November, 1417. On the 17th December this parliament granted the king two fifteenths and two tenths. No time was lost in taking measures for collecting these supplies, the king's writ appointing commissioners for the City of London being issued the day following.785

Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.

Henry's conquest of Normandy, 1417-1419.

In Paris matters were going on from bad to worse. Whilst the capital of France was at the mercy of a mob, Henry proceeded to lay close siege to Rouen. Frequent proclamation was made in London for reinforcements to join the king, either at Rouen or elsewhere in Normandy.786This was in April, 1418, or thereabouts. On the 5th July, the Duke of Clarence informed Richard Merlawe, the mayor, by letter, of the fall of Louviers, and of the expected surrender of Pont de l'Arche,787from which latter place the duke wrote. On the 10th August Henry himself wrote to the citizens informing them of his having sat down before Rouen and of the[pg 264]straits his forces were in for lack of victuals and more especially of "drink." He begged them to send as many small vessels as they could, laden with provisions, to Harfleur, whence they could make their way up the Seine to Rouen.788In less than a month a reply was sent (8 Sept.) from Gravesend under the seal of the mayoralty, informing Henry that the citizens had been busy brewing ale and beer and purveying wine and other "vitaille," and that they had despatched thirty butts of sweet wine—comprising ten of "Tyre," ten of "Romesey," and ten of "Malvesy"—and 1,000 pipes of ale and beer. With these they had also sent 25,000 cups for the king's "host" to drink out of.789In the meantime, the besieged received no such relief from the pains of hunger and thirst, and on the 19th January, 1419, they were compelled to surrender their ancient town.790The war continued throughout the year (1419), all attempts at a reconciliation proving abortive. Pointoise fell into Henry's hands; and both Henry and the Duke of Clarence sent word of its capture to London. The duke took the opportunity of asking that the freedom of the City might be conferred on his servant, Roger Tillyngton, a skinner; but the citizens in acknowledging the duke's letter make no reference to his request.791

The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.

The king's letter to the City, 17 Aug., 1419.

On the 17th August the king wrote again to the mayor, aldermen and commons of the City, thanking[pg 265]them for their "kynde and notable prone of an ayde," which they had granted of their own free will, therein setting a good example to others, and prayed them to follow such directions as the Duke of Bedford should give them respecting their proffered assistance. The bearer of this letter having been taken prisoner at Crotoye, a duplicate copy of it was afterwards forwarded from Trie le Chastel on the 12th September.792

The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.

The treaty of Troyes, 20 May. 1420.

The murder of John, Duke of Burgundy, by a partisan of the Dauphin, which took place about this time, induced Duke Philip to come to terms with England in the hope of avenging his father's death;793and the French king, finding further resistance hopeless, was content to make peace. By the treaty of Troyes (20 May, 1420), the Dauphin was disinherited in favour of Henry, who was formally recognised as the heir to the French crown, and who agreed to marry Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.794The marriage took place on the 3rd June, and on the 14th a solemn procession was made in London and a sermon preached at Paul's Cross in honour of the event.795

The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.

The king's letter to the City, 12 July, 1420.

The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.

The mayor's reply, 2 Aug.

On the 12th July Henry addressed a letter from Mant to the corporation of London informing them of his welfare. He had left Paris for Mant in order to relieve the town of Chartres, which was being threatened by the Dauphin. The Duke of Burgundy had joined him and had proved himself "a trusty, lovvng and faithful brother." The king's expedition proved unnecessary, for the Dauphin had raised the siege before his arrival and had gone into Touraine.[pg 266]To this letter a reply was sent under the mayoralty seal on the 2nd August, congratulating Henry upon his success, and assuring him that there was no city on earth more peaceful or better governed than his City of London.796

The queen's coronation.

The queen's coronation.

On the 26th January, 1421, the Duke of Gloucester, the Guardian of England in the king's absence, ordered the Sheriffs of London to announce that the queen's coronation would take place at Westminster on the third Sunday in Lent.797The king and queen landed at Dover with a small retinue on the 1st February, and after a few days' rest at Canterbury, entered the city of London amid tokens of welcome and respect from the laity and clergy. They took up their abode at the Tower, whence they were conducted on the day appointed for the coronation to Westminster by the citizens on foot and on horseback.798

Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.

Henry's last expedition, and death, Aug., 1422.

Henry had not been at home six months before he again left England, never to return.799The hopes that he entertained of reforming and governing his possessions in France, and his ambition to have headed, sooner or later, a crusade which should have stayed the progress of the Ottoman and have recovered the sepulchre of Christ, were not destined to be realised. He died at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on the last day of August, 1422, leaving a child[pg 267]nine months old—the unhappy Henry of Windsor who succeeded to the throne as Henry VI. When the body of the late king was brought over from France to be buried at Westminster, the citizens showed it every token of respect in its passage through London. The streets of the city, as well as of the borough of Southwark, were cleaned for the occasion. The mayor, sheriffs, recorder and aldermen, accompanied by the chief burgesses, and clad in white gowns and hoods, went forth to meet the remains of the king they loved so well, as far as St. George's bar in Southwark, and reverently conducted them to St. Paul's Church, where the funeral obsequies were performed. The next day they accompanied the corpse to Westminster, where further ceremonies took place. Representatives of the various wards were told off to line the streets, the solemnity of the occasion being marked by the burning of torches, whilst chaplains stood in the porches of the various churches, clad in their richest copes, with thuribles in their hands, and chanted theveniteand incensed the royal remains as they passed. The livery companies provided amongst them 211 torches, and to each torch-bearer the city chamberlain gave a gown and hood of white material or "blanket" (de blanqueto), at the "cost of the commonalty."800

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