Shakespeare's Kings (45 page)

But
again
he
was
doomed
to
disappointment.
In
early
April
1405
he had
issued
a
summons
to
all
knights,
squires
and
others
who
could
be called
upon
to
march
against
his
enemies;
and
immediately
after
Easter he
headed
west
with
an
army,
reaching
Hereford
on
14
May.
It
was there
that
he
received
a
long
letter
from
his
council.
It
began
favourably enough.
A
loan
had
been
raised
for
his
son
Thomas,
who
was
in command
of
the
fleet
at
Sandwich,
and
another
for
the
defence
of Calais;
a
third,
for
Guyenne,
was
being
negotiated
and
should
be
in place
within
a
few
days.
Other
monies
would
be
available
for
the forthcoming
Welsh
expedition.
Then
came
the
bad
news.
Thomas, Lord
Bardolph,
who
had
been
ordered
to
Wales,
had
quietly
slipped away
to
join
his
long-time
friend
and
ally
the
Earl
of
Northumberland, and
there
were
disquieting
rumours
of
a
new
rising
along
the
borders. So
great
was
the
council's
concern
that
it
had
ordered
the
Chief
Justice, Sir
William
Gascoigne,
and
Lord
Roos
post-haste
to
the
north
to
see what
was
afoot.

The
King
took
this
report
very
seriously
indeed.
If
it
were
true,
there could
be
no
possibility
of
a
campaign
in
Wales.
A
few
days
later
it
was followed
by
another,
from
an
unknown
source,
which
seems
to
have confirmed
his
worst
suspicions;
indeed,
he
now
saw
the
situation
to
be even
more
serious
than
the
council
had
led
him
to
believe.
Northumberland,
heedless
of
the
oath
he
had
sworn
little
more
than
a
year
before, had
once
again
risen
against
him
-
together
with
not
only
Lord
Bardolph but
Thomas
Mowbray
the
Earl
Marshal
¹
and,
worst
of
all,
the
Archbishop of
York,
Richard
Scrope.
In
the
seven
years
that
he
had
been
in
office, Scrope
had
shown
no
previous
signs
of
ill
will
towards
the
King;
now, however,
violently
hostile
manifestos
were
appearing
on
the
doors
of the
York
churches
and
were
believed
by
many
to
be
the
work
of
the Archbishop
himself.

They
contained
all
the
usual
accusations:
Henry
had
broken
his
oath and
deposed
the
rightful
sovereign;
he
had
put
to
death
Harry
Percy and
others
without
trial;
by
imposing
unjust
levies
he
had
extorted money
from
his
subjects
and
brought
them
to
misery.
They
called
first for
the
removal
of
the
King;
then
for
the
enthronement
of
Richard's rightful
heir
(whom
they
were
careful
not
to
name);
next
for
the restoration
of
peace
with
the
Welsh;
and
finally
for
the
abolition
of
all unfair
and
unwarranted
taxation.
In
support
of
these
demands
the Archbishop
had
gathered
a
small
army,
consisting
for
the
most
part
of members
of
his
own
flock
but
commanded
by
the
Earl
Marshal
and three
local
knights,
with
which
he
proposed
to
join
up
with
Bardolph and
Northumberland.
Temporarily
abandoning
the
Welsh
expedition, Henry
left
Hereford
on
23
May
and
himself
set
off
for
the
north
to fight,
for
the
second
time
in
less
than
two
years,
for
his
throne.

The
fact
that
he
was
not
finally
obliged
to
do
so
was
entirely
due
to the
prompt
action
of
Ralph
Nevill,
Earl
of
Westmorland.
With
Henry's third
son,
John
of
Lancaster,
he
too
hastened
to
York,
catching
up
with the
Archbishop
six
miles
from
the
city
at
Shipton
Moor.
At
the
ensuing parley
on
29
May
the
rebels
were
promised
immediate
redress
of
all their
grievances
—
excepting,
presumably,
those
relating
to
the
King himself
—
in
return
for
disbanding
their
forces.
They
agreed;
whereupon,

the
moment
their
men
had
returned
to
their
homes,
both
the
Archbishop and
the
Earl
Marshal
were
arrested
as
traitors.
On
3
June
at
Pontefract they
were
brought
before
the
King,
who
took
them
to
York
to
await his
judgement;
and
there,
at
the
Archbishop's
palace
of
Bishopthorpe just
to
the
south
of
the
city,
and
despite
the
urgent
intercession
of Thomas
Arundel
—
who
had
ridden
throughout
the
day
and
night
of Whit
Sunday
to
plead
for
his
fellow
archbishop
-
Scrope,
Mowbray and
one
of
the
knights,
Sir
William
Plumpton,
were
condemned
to death.
All
three
were
beheaded
on
the
spot.