When Richard heard of Henry’s landing he hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, fully armed and horsed.(729) Finding resistance hopeless, the king made submission, craving only that he might be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, were executed at a fishmonger’s stall in Cheapside. Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title of King Henry IV. CHAPTER X. (M389) 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.(730) This 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) (M390)