Henry IV (65 page)

¹
A decade earlier, Lucia had thought about marrying Henry. He now gave her away at the church door and gave her a wedding gift of a pair of gold dishes ‘engraved with sun rays inside and out’ (Mackman, ‘Hidden Gems’, 71); in Nov. 1408, Henry redeemed silver vessels worth £200 for her (
CPR 1408–13
, 147).

²
E 175/11/32 (
aliquo mandato nostro vobis in contrariam directo non obstante . . . per ipsum regem
); E 403/591, 1 June (
absque dilatio aut difficultate quacunque
).

³
Probably the latter, for on 2 June he was promised £2,000 for his retainers and given £1,236 of it: although received in his chamber, it was lay subsidy money (E 403/591, 1 June, 2 June; E 403/593, 3 Oct.;
Foedera,
viii.466).

⁴
Below, pp. 354–60;
Foedera,
viii.466, 478–9;
Signet Letters,
nos. 688–706.

⁵
PROME,
viii.417–18, 422, 425–9.

⁶
SAC II
, 530–5.

⁷
SAC II,
534–7. He was at Mortlake from 19 June to 12 July.

⁸
Usk
, 247;
CE,
405–8, 421 and
Giles,
47, both claimed that leprosy afflicted him immediately after Scrope's beheading, but he was riding and campaigning again within a week; cf. Mortimer,
Fears,
300–3; P. McNiven, ‘The Problem of Henry IV's Health’,
EHR
100 (1985), 747–72. The examination of Henry's face in 1832 (see pp. 523–5) showed his nasal cartilage still intact, most unlikely for a leper.

⁹
Among those in whose houses he stayed during 1408–9 were Hugh Waterton, Henry Beaufort, Henry Bowet and John Fordham, bishop of Ely: D. Biggs, ‘An Ill and Infirm King: Henry IV, Health, and the Gloucester Parliament of 1407’, in
The Reign of Henry IV: Rebellion and Survival,
ed. G. Dodd and D. Biggs (York, 2008), 180–209; Wylie and Waugh,
Reign of Henry IV,
iii.159, 246.

¹⁰
E 403/596, 4 Dec., although Thomas only arrived in March. On 30 Nov. the king was looking forward to the festive season, ordering 1,000 marks to be set aside ‘for the array of our person’ for Christmas (E 404/24, no. 252).

¹¹
J. Nichols,
A Collection of all the Wills of the Kings and Queens of England
(Society of Antiquaries, London, 1780), 203–7; E 403/596, 13 February (the general pardon was extended in May: E 403/599, 23 May);
Signet Letters
, no. 952. The grooms and other personal servants who he asked his executors to reward were Wilkin, John Warren, William Thorpe, Thomas de la Croix, Jacob Raysh and Halley. The
garciones vigilatores circa lectam domini in noctibus
named in the 1408–9 great wardrobe account were John Halley, John Warren, William Thorpe, John Burford and William Wardell (E 101/405/22, fo. 31).

¹²
SAC II,
564–5;
Signet Letters
, nos. 735–6. Henry often commented on his health in his letters; Prince Henry apparently liked to be reassured about his father's health (
ANLP,
286–7, 405, 465;
CDS,
v.917). Letters saying he was ‘in good health’ are thus not evidence that he had been ill, although in 1409 this was certainly the case. In October 1409 a royal sergeant, Henry Fowler, had permission to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land for ‘the convalescence and health of the king's person’ (
CPR 1408–13
, 113).

¹³
De Illustribus Henricis,
111.

¹⁴
CPR 1405–8
, 284. This was done by inserting the words
excepta dignitate regali
in the clause specifying the inheritances to which they were entitled; the duke of York and his brother, to say nothing of the two Mortimer boys, would certainly have been considered closer to the throne than the Beauforts (McNiven,
Heresy and Politics,
134).

¹⁵
Prince Henry's tutor in 1398–9 was Peter Melbourne, Thomas's was Winslow Dorstayner, and John's was Thomas Rothwell: Henry bought ‘seven books of grammar in one volume’, costing four shillings, for Henry, a Latin grammar for John, and ‘two books of ABC’ for his daughters; also swords, bucklers, hauberks, daggers and horses (DL 28/1/10, fo. 2v; 28/1/6, fo. 11r, 36v; 28/1/5, fo. 34r; 28/4/1, fos 13–14; 29/1/9, fos 2v, 3v, 14v, 22v;
ANLP,
404).

¹⁶
His plans for Humphrey, twenty-two at his father's death but less dashing than Thomas and less politic than John, are not clear: G. Harriss, ‘Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester’,
ODNB
. 28.787–93. Humphrey may have chafed at the lack of responsibility, but there is no evidence of disloyalty to his father, although he was involved in a property dispute with the duke of York in 1409, which the king decided in York's favour; Humphrey's ‘warden’ at this time was John Hartlepool (
CPR 1408–13
, 150; Biggs, ‘Witness Lists’, 414–15).

¹⁷
PROME,
viii. 427, 482. In fact he did begin to provide for them, perhaps in response to parliament: Humphrey received 5,000 marks to purchase the reversion of the lands of Sir Matthew Gournay in November 1407, and John was given the remaining lands of Northumberland and Hotspur in the king's hands in July 1410: E 403/593, 16 Nov., 4 Dec. (Humphrey's treasurer, ‘Arkesworth’, was given 2,000 of the 5,000 marks straight away);
CPR 1408–13
, 212.

¹⁸
In January 1410, it was suggested that John might marry a daughter of the duke of Albany (
POPC,
i.326.)

¹⁹
De Illustribus Henricis,
109. Thomas's men twice became involved in affrays with the Londoners in 1410–11, once in association with John's men (
Chronicle of London 1089–1453
, 93).

²⁰
After November 1406, the prince witnessed 57 per cent of royal charters (Biggs, ‘Witness Lists’), 415.

²¹
Carus-Wilson and Coleman,
England's Export Trade,
122–3.

²²
M. Aston,
Thomas Arundel
(Oxford, 1967), 351–2, 377.

²³
Most of the lay subsidy, due for collection on 14 February, was received from 22 February to 4 March: E 403/589 and 657 (issue rolls, showing no payments from 13 December to 4 March); E 401/639, 22 Feb., 1 March, 4 March; E 401/641, 4, 13, 15, 22 and 23 April (receipt rolls).

²⁴
Steel,
Receipt,
94–5.

²⁵
The system of reservation had worked reasonably well since 1390, but in 1406 the pressure on the exchequer was too great: Grummitt, ‘Financial Administration of Calais’, 277–99; £30,000 was Thorley's debt in June 1407, but he ceased to be treasurer in March; see the letter from the garrison to the king in January 1407 (
RHL,
ii.145–8).

²⁶
Foedera,
viii.466; the French took Oye castle round this time; the English responded, taking Pouille (
SAC II
, 516).

²⁷
E 403/589, 11 Dec.; E 403/591, 9 and 24 May, 12 and 23 June; Tiptoft went to Calais to supervise the payments.

²⁸
Wright, ‘Recovery of Royal Finance’, 72–81.

²⁹
£1,000 was allocated to Scotland, but nothing for Ireland or the sea: Wright, ‘Recovery of Royal Finance’, 78; Griffiths, ‘Prince Henry, Wales and the English Exchequer’, 214; Grummitt, ‘Financial Administration of Calais’, 298.

³⁰
E 403/591, 2 May; Wright, ‘Recovery of Royal Finance’, 76–7.

³¹
RHKA
, 130; cf.
CPR 1405–8
, 297.

³²
G. Harriss, ‘Budgeting at the Medieval Exchequer’, in
War, Government and Aristocracy in the British Isles c.1150–1500: Essays in Honour of Michael Prestwich,
ed. C. Given-Wilson, A. Kettle and L. Scales (Woodbridge, 2008), 179–96, at p. 189. Hence Henry's writ to the exchequer in April 1407 (above p. 302). The commons alleged tactfully in 1401 that people took advantage of Henry's ‘kindness and generosity’ (
PROME,
viii.150).

³³
RHKA,
76–94, 271–2. The cost of the household thus fell to £30,300 a year, despite increased exchequer issues to the chamber, up from £4,300 in 1399–1406 to £8,000 in 1407–13: Wright, ‘Recovery of Royal Finance’, 76–7.

³⁴
RHKA,
135–7.

³⁵
For the ‘altercation’ with the commons, see above, p. 303.

³⁶
PROME,
viii.427–9.

³⁷
Steel,
Receipt,
97–8 (£50,710 was received in cash during this year, £51,353 assigned).

³⁸
However, in the first few months of 1408, before the new subsidies began to come in, there was a crop of fictitious loans totalling over £7,000, which had to be reassigned later in the year (Steel,
Receipt,
96–8, 457).

³⁹
E 403/595 and 596. On 16 Feb. 1409 the council ordered the payment of all arrears of annuities ‘to the best of your ability, according to the discretion of you, the treasurer’ (E 404/24, no. 292, and see nos. 39, 103, 189, for examples of individual writs for payment of arrears).

⁴⁰
E 403/594, 13 Dec. 1407 (summons of great council); the lay subsidy was yielding large sums from 3 Feb. 1408 (E 401/643, 3, 11, 14 Feb.).

⁴¹
The Calais staplers also lobbied the council to maintain their share of the wool subsidy and their monopoly over exports, as well as to preserve the truce with Flanders (
POPC,
i.305–9).

⁴²
Kent went to sea but was killed in a raid off the Breton coast in August (below, p. 329).

⁴³
BL Cotton Titus B. xi (
CPR 1405–8
, 431–2).

⁴⁴
Harriss, ‘Budgeting at the Medieval Exchequer’, 190;
Foedera,
viii.510;
CPR 1405–8
, 408. Harriss,
Cardinal Beaufort,
44–6, gives slightly different figures based on warrants (E 404) rather than issue rolls (E 403).

⁴⁵
For the
certum
of 1404, see above, p. 284;.
RHKA,
94, 272;
CPR 1408–13
, 35; E 403/606, 20 Nov.; E 404/24, no. 272. The great wardrobe received £1,750 from the exchequer in 1407–8 and £1,593 in 1408–9, and lesser sums from other sources. This did not cover its expenditure: William Loveney left office in May 1408 with debts totalling £4,733 and his successor, Richard Clifford, incurred nearly £2,000 of debts during his first fifteen months (E 101/405/13 and 22). Some of the chamber's money came from the duchy of Lancaster: Rogers, ‘Royal Household’, 172, 670.

⁴⁶
E 403/596, 13 Feb., 1 March. The absence or loss of council records from mid-1408 to mid-1409 makes this process obscure. Prince Henry received £5,204 for Wales between Sept. 1408 and Sept. 1409 (Griffiths, ‘Prince Henry, Wales and the English Exchequer’, 215).

⁴⁷
Steel,
Receipt,
98–9.

⁴⁸
Signet Letters,
no. 736;
CPR 1408–13
, 85–7;
PROME,
viii.348, 477–8; DL 28/27/1 and 9. For moving her household from Havering (Essex) to Gloucester in the autumn of 1407, Joan was allocated 100 marks; for moving on from Gloucester to Malmesbury (Wiltshire), 10 marks (E 403/593, 16 Nov.). There is no record of Joan making contributions to the income of the royal household, as queens were expected to do; Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III, had paid £3,650 a year to the wardrobe when her household merged with the king's; Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II, paid £1,200 a year in the 1390s (
RHKA,
93–4).

⁴⁹
L. Clark, ‘John Tiptoft’,
ODNB
, 54.832–3.

⁵⁰
E 404/24, no. 505 (21 May 1409).

⁵¹
In Sept. 1408 he also became
prévôt
of Entre-deux-Mers (
CGR 1407–9
, nos. 53, 78).

⁵²
CGR 1407–9
, Introduction (by Guilhem Pepin) and nos. 24, 28, 30, 43, 44. The appointment in Sept. 1408 of Adam de Urswick as receiver of revenues at Fronsac was doubtless part of the same programme (no. 45). The 1406 parliament had already passed an ordinance forbidding the granting of any crown revenues in the duchy until the end of the 1407 parliament (no. 9).

⁵³
CGR 1407–9
, 65, 66, 119, 121, 125, 126 (Mitford's unorthodox transactions), 140;
Foedera,
viii.595–6.

⁵⁴
CIRCLE CR 1406–7
, no. 3 (25 Jan. 1407);
PR 1408–9
, no. 96;
PR 1409–10
, no. 58.

⁵⁵
Harriss,
Cardinal Beaufort,
48–9; cf.
CPR 1408–13
, 151. For the issue of £8,618 to Thomas Brounfleet, keeper of the wardrobe, he was given tallies for £5,951 and borrowed £2,666 from London (E 403/602, 22 Nov.).

⁵⁶
These have not survived, but must have ordered the collectors either to bring their takings to the household or to assign them to recipients whom the king specified
(CCR 1409–13
, 25–6, 51; McFarlane,
Lancastrian Kings,
107–8).

⁵⁷
CPR 1408–13
, 229–35. Over fifty writs were sealed during this time, none of them controversial, several relating to Guyenne and the restitution of goods seized from foreign merchants.

⁵⁸
CCR 1409–13
, 73, 115. Wakering did not relish this role: when asked to keep the great seal again in June 1411 during the twelve-day absence of Thomas Beaufort, he was very reluctant (
CCR 1409–13
, 224–5).

Chapter 21

BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE (1405–1410)

The gradual recovery of royal finance was one of the factors that revived the crown's military fortunes during the middle years of the reign, nowhere more so than in Wales. Despite his setbacks in 1405, Glyn Dŵr's ambition still soared. Such at least is the inference to be drawn from the remarkable manifesto known as the Tripartite Indenture, in which he, Northumberland and Edmund Mortimer bound themselves to stand together against their common enemies (principally, of course, Henry) and, should it transpire that they were ‘those persons of whom the prophet speaks’, to strive to their utmost to partition ‘Greater Britain’ between them: Owain would take a much-expanded Welsh principality including several of the border counties, Northumberland everything between the Midlands and Scotland, and Mortimer the rest of England. It is a problematic text, preserved only by one chronicler who dated it to 28 February 1405, but it is hard to see how Northumberland could have been in Wales then, whereas in late February 1406 he and Bardolf had just fled there from Scotland after being warned that they were about to be handed over to the English in return for Scottish hostages.
¹
The indenture is probably to be associated with Owain's wider plans for his principality, as reflected in his decision proclaimed at Pennal in March 1406 to sever connections with the Roman papacy, but it was also the last throw of increasingly desperate men. There is nothing to indicate that it circulated widely, and by the autumn, by which time Northumberland and Bardolf had fled to the continent after suffering defeat at the hands of Edward Lord Charlton, it was a dead letter.
²