DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31962#0335
purg on the coast of Yorkshire. Richard was deposed, and he was elevated to the
throne in his place, notwithstanding the superior claims of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of
Marche. Henry by no means, however, succeeded to an undisturbed sway. While Richard
was yet alive and in conhnement at Pontefract Castle, a mock Richard was found to
personate him by the Earls of Huntingdon, Kent, Salisbury, and Gloucester. This con-
spiracy defeated, the unfortunate royal captive was privately put to death as a matter of
state policy. The rebellion of the Percys which followed in 1403 was put an end to by
the victory of Shrewsbury, in which fell the gallant Henry Percy, " the Hotspur of the
North." His father, the Earl of Northumberland, in 1408, made a second attempt
at revolt, which cost him his life.
Henry enjoyed the crown, that
" polished perturbation ! golden care !"
the object of his chief ambition, but fourteen years. While the more tranquil state of
his affairs was giving him leisure to prepare for an expedition to the Holy Land, to reco-
ver, like the old Crusaders, the place of Christ's passion from the infidels, he was struck
with an apoplexy, under which he sunk on the 23d March 1413, in the 46th vear of
his age.
A marked characteristic of his ruling passion appeared in his desiring the crown so
indirectly obtained, to he placed on a pillow at his bed's head during his last illness. He
clung to the splendid bauble with the fondness of a child for a favourite toy. The motto
of his device, " Soverayne,'' seems to have been imagined under the same influence of
mind. His body was conveyed to Feversham by water, and thence by land to the cathe-
dral of Canterbury, where it was interred on the Trinity Sunday following his death,
with much state, his son Henry the Fifth and many nobles attending. There is an
improbable tale on record that they followed but an empty cofhn, which the opening of
the tomb could only entirely refute.*
Henry the Fourth was twice married, first to Mary de Bohun, younger daughter
and coheiress of Humphrey Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, High Con-
stable of England, by whom he had issue Henry Prince of Wales, Thomas Duke of Cla-
rence, John Duke of Bedford (Regent of France temp. Henry VI.), Humphrey Duke of
* Testimony of Clement Maydestone, that the body of Henry IV. was thrown into the Thames, and not
buried at Canterbury. From a Roll in the Library of Corpus Christi College, M. XIV. 98.
" About thirty days after the death of Henry IV. there came a certain man of his household to the House of
the Holy Trinity at Hounslow for refreshment. And while they were conversing at dinner about the righteous-
ness of that King's manners, the said man answered to a certain squire Thomas Maydstone, sitting at the same
table, that God knew if he were a good man. But this most truly (said he) I do know, that when his body
was conveyed from Westminster towards Canterbury in a small boat to be buried, I was one of those three per-
sons who threw it into the sea between Berkingham and Gravesend. And, he added with an oath, that so
great a tempest and sea burst upon us, that many noblemen following us in eight vessels, were so scattered
that they hardly escaped with life. But we who were with the body, driven to despair of our lives, with common
consent, threw it into the sea, and kept the matter very silent. But the chest, in which he lay, covered with a
golden pall, we carried with much ceremony to Canterbury and buried it. Therefore the monks of Canterbury
say, that the sepulchre (not the body) of Henry IV. is with us.Almighty God is witness and
judge, that I saw that man, and that I heard his asseveration to my father Thomas Mavdestone, that all the
aforesaid things were true.—CLEMENT MAYDESTON." From the Latin in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. 1.
throne in his place, notwithstanding the superior claims of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of
Marche. Henry by no means, however, succeeded to an undisturbed sway. While Richard
was yet alive and in conhnement at Pontefract Castle, a mock Richard was found to
personate him by the Earls of Huntingdon, Kent, Salisbury, and Gloucester. This con-
spiracy defeated, the unfortunate royal captive was privately put to death as a matter of
state policy. The rebellion of the Percys which followed in 1403 was put an end to by
the victory of Shrewsbury, in which fell the gallant Henry Percy, " the Hotspur of the
North." His father, the Earl of Northumberland, in 1408, made a second attempt
at revolt, which cost him his life.
Henry enjoyed the crown, that
" polished perturbation ! golden care !"
the object of his chief ambition, but fourteen years. While the more tranquil state of
his affairs was giving him leisure to prepare for an expedition to the Holy Land, to reco-
ver, like the old Crusaders, the place of Christ's passion from the infidels, he was struck
with an apoplexy, under which he sunk on the 23d March 1413, in the 46th vear of
his age.
A marked characteristic of his ruling passion appeared in his desiring the crown so
indirectly obtained, to he placed on a pillow at his bed's head during his last illness. He
clung to the splendid bauble with the fondness of a child for a favourite toy. The motto
of his device, " Soverayne,'' seems to have been imagined under the same influence of
mind. His body was conveyed to Feversham by water, and thence by land to the cathe-
dral of Canterbury, where it was interred on the Trinity Sunday following his death,
with much state, his son Henry the Fifth and many nobles attending. There is an
improbable tale on record that they followed but an empty cofhn, which the opening of
the tomb could only entirely refute.*
Henry the Fourth was twice married, first to Mary de Bohun, younger daughter
and coheiress of Humphrey Earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton, High Con-
stable of England, by whom he had issue Henry Prince of Wales, Thomas Duke of Cla-
rence, John Duke of Bedford (Regent of France temp. Henry VI.), Humphrey Duke of
* Testimony of Clement Maydestone, that the body of Henry IV. was thrown into the Thames, and not
buried at Canterbury. From a Roll in the Library of Corpus Christi College, M. XIV. 98.
" About thirty days after the death of Henry IV. there came a certain man of his household to the House of
the Holy Trinity at Hounslow for refreshment. And while they were conversing at dinner about the righteous-
ness of that King's manners, the said man answered to a certain squire Thomas Maydstone, sitting at the same
table, that God knew if he were a good man. But this most truly (said he) I do know, that when his body
was conveyed from Westminster towards Canterbury in a small boat to be buried, I was one of those three per-
sons who threw it into the sea between Berkingham and Gravesend. And, he added with an oath, that so
great a tempest and sea burst upon us, that many noblemen following us in eight vessels, were so scattered
that they hardly escaped with life. But we who were with the body, driven to despair of our lives, with common
consent, threw it into the sea, and kept the matter very silent. But the chest, in which he lay, covered with a
golden pall, we carried with much ceremony to Canterbury and buried it. Therefore the monks of Canterbury
say, that the sepulchre (not the body) of Henry IV. is with us.Almighty God is witness and
judge, that I saw that man, and that I heard his asseveration to my father Thomas Mavdestone, that all the
aforesaid things were true.—CLEMENT MAYDESTON." From the Latin in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. 1.