Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
HENRY OF MONMOUTH:
MEMOIRS
HENRY THE FIFTH,
TO HER MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
PREFACE.
TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS, IN THEIR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
1387-1398.
1398-1399.
1398-1399.
1399-1400.
1400-1401.
1403.
1402-1403.
1403.
1403-1404.
1405-1406.
1407-1409.
1409-1412.
1412-1413.
MEMOIRS OF HENRY OF MONMOUTH.
CHAPTER I.
henry of monmouth's parents. — time and place of his birth. — john of gaunt and blanche of lancaster. — henry bolinbroke. — monmouth castle. — henry's infancy and childhood. — his education. — residence in oxford. — bolinbroke's banishment. 1387-1398.
CHAPTER II.
henry taken into the care of richard. — death of john of gaunt. — henry knighted by richard in ireland. — his person and manners. — news of bolinbroke's landing and hostile measures reaches ireland.—indecision and delay of richard. — he shuts up henry and the young duke of gloucester in trym castle. — reflections on the fate of these two cousins — of bolinbroke — richard — and the widowed duchess of gloucester. 1398-1399.
CHAPTER III.
proceedings of bolinbroke from his interview with archbishop arundel, in paris, to his making king richard his prisoner. — conduct of richard from the news of bolinbroke's landing. — treachery of northumberland. — richard taken by bolinbroke to london. 1398-1399.
CHAPTER IV.
richard resigns the crown. — bolinbroke elected king. — henry of monmouth created prince of wales. — plot to murder the king. — death of richard. — friendship between him and henry. — proposals for a marriage between henry and isabella, richard's widow. — henry applies for an establishment. — hostile movement of the scots. — tradition, that young henry marched against them, doubted. 1399-1400.
CHAPTER V.
the welsh rebellion. — owyn glyndowr. — his former life. — dispute with lord grey of ruthyn. — that lord's letter to prince henry. — hotspur. — his testimony to henry's presence in wales, — to his mercy and his prowess. — henry's despatch to the privy council. 1400-1401.
CHAPTER VI.
glyndowr joined by welsh students of oxford. — takes lord grey prisoner. — hotspur's further despatches. — he quits wales. — reflections on the eventful life and premature death of isabella, richard's widow. — glyndowr disposed to come to terms. — the king's expeditions towards wales abortive. — marriage proposed between henry and katharine of norway. — the king marries joan of navarre. 1401.
CHAPTER VII.
glyndowr's vigorous measures. — slaughter of herefordshire men. — mortimer taken prisoner. — he joins glyndowr. — henry implores succours, — pawns his plate to support his men. — the king's testimony to his son's conduct. — the king, at burton-on-trent, hears of the rebellion of the percies. 1402-1403.
CHAPTER VIII.
the rebellion of the percies, — its origin. — letters of hotspur, and the earl of northumberland. — tripartite indenture between the percies, owyn, and mortimer. — doubts as to its authenticity. — hotspur hastens from the north. — the king's decisive conduct. — he forms a junction with the prince. — "sorry battle of shrewsbury." — great inaccuracy of david hume. — hardyng's duplicity. — manifesto of the percies probably a forgery. — glyndowr's absence from the battle involves neither breach of faith nor neglect of duty. — circumstances preceding the battle. — of the battle itself. — its immediate consequences. 1403.
CHAPTER IX.
the prince commissioned to receive the rebels into allegiance. — the king summons northumberland. — hotspur's corpse disinterred. — the reason. — glyndowr's french auxiliaries. — he styles himself "prince of wales." — devastation of the border counties. — henry's letters to the king, and to the council. — testimony of him by the county of hereford. — his famous letter from hereford. — battle of grossmont. 1403-1404.
CHAPTER X.
rebellion of northumberland and bardolf. — execution of the archbishop of york. — wonderful activity and resolution of the king. — deplorable state of the revenue. — testimony borne by parliament to the prince's character. — the prince present at the council-board. — he is only occasionally in wales, and remains for the most part in london. 1405-1406.
CHAPTER XI.
prince henry's expedition to scotland, and success. — thanks presented to him by parliament. — his generous testimony to the duke of york. — is first named as president of the council. — returns to wales. — is appointed warden of the cinque ports and constable of dover. — welsh rebellion dwindles and dies. — owyn glyndowr's character and circumstances; his reverses and trials. — his bright points undervalued. — the unfavourable side of his conduct unjustly darkened by historians. — reflections on his last days. — facsimile of his seals as prince of wales. 1407-1409.
CHAPTER XII.
reputed differences between henry and his father examined. — he is made captain of calais. — his residence at coldharbour. — presides at the council-board. — cordiality still visible between him and his father. — affray in east-cheap. — no mention of henry's presence. — projected marriage between henry and a daughter of burgundy. — charge against henry for acting in opposition to his father in the quarrel of the dukes of burgundy and orleans unfounded. 1409-1412.
CHAPTER XIII.
unfounded charge against henry of peculation. — still more serious accusation of a cruel attempt to dethrone his diseased father. — the question fully examined. — probably a serious though temporary misunderstanding at this time between the king and his son. — henry's conduct filial, open, and merciful. — the "chamber" or the "crown scene." — death of henry the fourth. 1412-1413.
CHAPTER XIV.
henry of monmouth's character. — unfairness of modern writers. — walsingham examined. — testimony of his father — of hotspur — of the parliament — of the english and welsh counties — of contemporary chroniclers. — no one single act of immorality alleged against him. — no intimation of his extravagance, or injustice, or riot, or licentiousness, in wales, london, or calais. — direct testimony to the opposite virtues. — lydgate. — occleve.
CHAPTER XV.
shakspeare. — the author's reluctance to test the scenes of the poet's dramas by matters of fact. — necessity of so doing. — hotspur in shakspeare the first to bear evidence to henry's reckless profligacy. — the hotspur of history the first who testifies to his character for valour, and mercy, and faithfulness in his duties. — anachronisms of shakspeare. — hotspur's age. — the capture of mortimer. — battle of homildon. — field of shrewsbury. — archbishop scrope's death.
CHAPTER XVI.
story of prince henry and the chief justice. — first found in the work of sir thomas elyot, published nearly a century and a half subsequently to the supposed transaction. — sir john hawkins hall — hume. — no allusion to the circumstance in the early chroniclers. — dispute as to the judge. — various claimants of the distinction. — gascoyne — hankford — hody — markham. — some interesting particulars with regard to gascoyne, lately discovered and verified. — improbability of the entire story.
APPENDIX, No. I.
OWYN GLYNDOWR's ABSENCE FROM THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY.
APPENDIX, No. II.
LYDGATE.
TESTIMONY OF OCCLEVE.
END OF VOLUME I.
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →