There were some lingerings of rebellion yet: Owen Glendower being
retired to Wales, and a preposterous story being spread among the
ignorant people that King Richard was still alive. How they could have
believed such nonsense it is difficult to imagine; but they certainly
did suppose that the Court fool of the late King, who was something
like him, was he, himself; so that it seemed as if, after giving so
much trouble to the country in his life, he was still to trouble it
after his death. This was not the worst. The young Earl of March and
his brother were stolen out of Windsor Castle. Being retaken, and being
found to have been spirited away by one Lady Spencer, she accused her
own brother, that Earl of Rutland who was in the former conspiracy and
was now Duke of York, of being in the plot. For this he was ruined in
fortune, though not put to death; and then another plot arose among the
old Earl of Northumberland, some other lords, and that same Scroop,
Archbishop of York, who was with the rebels before. These conspirators
caused a writing to be posted on the church doors, accusing the King of
a variety of crimes; but, the King being eager and vigilant to oppose
them, they were all taken, and the Archbishop was executed. This was
the first time that a great churchman had been slain by the law in
England; but the King was resolved that it should be done, and done it
was.
The next most remarkable event of this time was the seizure, by Henry,
of the heir to the Scottish throne—James, a boy of nine years old. He
had been put aboard-ship by his father, the Scottish King Robert, to
save him from the designs of his uncle, when, on his way to France, he
was accidentally taken by some English cruisers. He remained a prisoner
in England for nineteen years, and became in his prison a student and a
famous poet.
With the exception of occasional troubles with the Welsh and with the
French, the rest of King Henry’s reign was quiet enough. But, the King
was far from happy, and probably was troubled in his conscience by
knowing that he had usurped the crown, and had occasioned the death of
his miserable cousin. The Prince of Wales, though brave and generous,
is said to have been wild and dissipated, and even to have drawn his
sword on Gascoigne, the Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, because he
was firm in dealing impartially with one of his dissolute companions.
Upon this the Chief Justice is said to have ordered him immediately to
prison; the Prince of Wales is said to have submitted with a good
grace; and the King is said to have exclaimed, ‘Happy is the monarch
who has so just a judge, and a son so willing to obey the laws.’ This
is all very doubtful, and so is another story (of which Shakespeare has
made beautiful use), that the Prince once took the crown out of his
father’s chamber as he was sleeping, and tried it on his own head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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