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THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
to establish a strong regency during Richard's life, and preserve the throne
for the infant son of Roger, Earl of March, the grandson of the Duke of
Clarence, whom Richard had declared to be his heir-apparent. He had
welcomed Henry when he had landed at Ravenspur as a means to that
end, and concurred in Richard's deposition. According to Fabyan, he was
present in the Tower when he solemnly made his formal renunciation of
his claims to be King, and on the following day read the same to the
Parliament assembled in AVestminster hall,
dressed in cloth of gold. Perhaps he felt it
expedient
standing by the empty throne,
to dissemble his
opposition when Henry, Earl of Hereford, rose up and, crossing himself,
boldly claimed the throne, and the whole assembly unanimously acceded
thereto.
But time went on. Richard had died at Pontefract ; how, no one
knew, or ever will know. The secrets of that dark prison-house were
seldom revealed ;
and it is still
only a matter of conjecture under what
dark cloud that bright, careless life was extinguished. The great expectations
formed on Henry's accession were, as usual, not universally fulfilled.
Dissatisfaction and discontent arose, culminating in the open
rebellion of
the great Earl of Northumberland, the Constable of England. His son,
Hotspur, had had an altercation with the King about allowing his brotherin-law,
Edmund Mortimer, to ransom himself from captivity. Henry struck
him in the face and called him "traitor," and drew his sword. "Not here,"
said Hotspur, " but in the field " ;
and he kept his word.
A formal defiance was immediately issued, charging Henry, inter alia,
"That he had sworn to them at Doncaster in 1398 that he would not
" claim the kingdom, but only his inheritance and land, but that Richard
" should still
reign under the control of a council of prelates and barons.
"Yet he had imprisoned him, taken his crown, starved him to death in
" Pontefract, after fifteen days and nights of hunger, thirst, and cold. He
" had refused to allow Edmund Mortimer to ransom himself from captivity,
" and had kept the young Earl of March from his rightful succession to
" the throne."
The battle of Shrewsbury followed, where Percy fell, and his head
was fixed on the gate of York. There, on St. Lawrence day, Henry himself
received the abject submission of the Earl, and the poor old man was
quite broken down when his eyes saw the ghastly head of his favourite
son upon the gate.*
By the end of the year the rebellion seemed, for the time, suppressed.
Elizabeth, widow of " Harry Hotspur," and sister of Edmund Mortimer, was
released from arrest, and her husband's head taken down from the walls
of York and given to her, November 3rd. The Earl of Northumberland
* Wylie's History of Henry IJ r .