He was scarcely gone, leaving the Duke of York Regent in his absence,
when his cousin, Henry of Hereford, came over from France to claim the
rights of which he had been so monstrously deprived. He was immediately
joined by the two great Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland; and
his uncle, the Regent, finding the King’s cause unpopular, and the
disinclination of the army to act against Henry, very strong, withdrew
with the Royal forces towards Bristol. Henry, at the head of an army,
came from Yorkshire (where he had landed) to London and followed him.
They joined their forces—how they brought that about, is not distinctly
understood—and proceeded to Bristol Castle, whither three noblemen had
taken the young Queen. The castle surrendering, they presently put
those three noblemen to death. The Regent then remained there, and
Henry went on to Chester.
All this time, the boisterous weather had prevented the King from
receiving intelligence of what had occurred. At length it was conveyed
to him in Ireland, and he sent over the Earl of Salisbury, who, landing
at Conway, rallied the Welshmen, and waited for the King a whole
fortnight; at the end of that time the Welshmen, who were perhaps not
very warm for him in the beginning, quite cooled down and went home.
When the King did land on the coast at last, he came with a pretty good
power, but his men cared nothing for him, and quickly deserted.
Supposing the Welshmen to be still at Conway, he disguised himself as a
priest, and made for that place in company with his two brothers and
some few of their adherents. But, there were no Welshmen left—only
Salisbury and a hundred soldiers. In this distress, the King’s two
brothers, Exeter and Surrey, offered to go to Henry to learn what his
intentions were. Surrey, who was true to Richard, was put into prison.
Exeter, who was false, took the royal badge, which was a hart, off his
shield, and assumed the rose, the badge of Henry. After this, it was
pretty plain to the King what Henry’s intentions were, without sending
any more messengers to ask.
The fallen King, thus deserted—hemmed in on all sides, and pressed with
hunger—rode here and rode there, and went to this castle, and went to
that castle, endeavouring to obtain some provisions, but could find
none. He rode wretchedly back to Conway, and there surrendered himself
to the Earl of Northumberland, who came from Henry, in reality to take
him prisoner, but in appearance to offer terms; and whose men were
hidden not far off. By this earl he was conducted to the castle of
Flint, where his cousin Henry met him, and dropped on his knee as if he
were still respectful to his sovereign.
‘Fair cousin of Lancaster,’ said the King, ‘you are very welcome’ (very
welcome, no doubt; but he would have been more so, in chains or without
a head).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account