Henry VII

Contents

EARLY LIFE OF HENRY VII. A 5 .

ENGLAND AT THE ACCESSION OF HENRY Vil. —SETTLEMENT IN THE KINGDOM, 1485-1487

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 1497-1503: MARRIAGE ALLIANCES . : : : : ;

Chapter I Early Life

Henry Tupor was born at Pembroke Castle on 28th January 1456-7. England was still torn by the last i years of the Wars of the Roses, and Margaret, widow of Edmund Tudor, was living at Pembroke Castle under the protection of her brotherin-law, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke. There, three months after her husband’s death, she gave birth to her son Henry, Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. A small room in the east end of a tower on the northern wall of the fortress, which in Leland’s time contained a “‘chymmeney new made with the arms and badges of King Henry VII.,”’ is still shown as Henry’s birthplace. The babe came of an illus-

1 The exact date of Henry’s birth is not beyond dispute owing to the contradictory statements made by Bernard André, Henry’s biographer. He states that he was born on “ Februarii kalend. decimo septimo”’ (16th January), on the feast of St. Agnes the Second (28th January): Memorials of Henry VII. (Rolls Ser.) ; André, Vita, p. 12. The latter date has been generally adopted, as André was probably more familiar with the saints’ days than with the Roman calendar. Many years after, Henry’s mother, writing ‘“‘on the day of Seynt Anne’s,” referred to it as the day of his birth, but this difficulty has been overcome by the suggestion that she wrote “Seynt Anne’s” inadvertently for “St. Agnes’.”” W. Busch, England under the Tudors (Eng. trans.), p. 220; Letters and Papers of Richard III. and Henry VII. (ed.

Gairdner) (Rolls Ser.), i. 422-3.

A trious race. His mother was of the House of Plantagenet, by descent from John of Gaunt through his union with Katherine Swynford, whose descendants the Beauforts had been declared legitimate by Act of Parliament in the reign of Richard Il. On the death of her father, the Duke of Somerset, in 1444, she had inherited a share in the vast lands of the Beauforts. She had married Edmund Tudor at a very early age, and at the time of her son’s birth ‘ was not quite fourteen years old. Edmund, Earl of Richmond, traced his descent, on his father’s side, back to Cadwallader and the ancient kings of Britain, and through his mother Katherine, widow of Henry V., was allied to the royal blood of France. The young Ear] of Richmond inherited, therefore, a threefold claim to royal descent.

Henry’s first years were spent at Pembroke Castle under his uncle’s care. Before he was four years old his mother had married, as her second husband, Henry, Lord Stafford, a younger son of the Duke of Buckingham. At the accession of Edward IV., Henry Tudor was attainted, the honour of Richmond being granted to the king’s brother George, Duke of Clarence. The Earl of Pembroke was attainted at the same time, but in spite of this the boy remained for a while in safety at Pembroke Castle, which stood for the House of Lancaster long after the rest of England had submitted to Edward IV., and, on its fall, was transferred to Harlech Castle. His education was begun by Andreas Scotus, and Hasely, Dean of Warwick. Owing to his delicacy he was taken about

* Henry’s shield bore the arms of France and England quarterly, within a border azure, charged alternately with fleurs-de-lys and martlets or, his father having abandoned the old oa Tudor.

from place to place for change of air, but Bernard André later declared, in his courtly way, that the boy showed himself remarkably quick and brilliant. This comparatively peaceful time was interrupted by the capture of Harlech Castle by William, Lord Herbert, in 1466. Henry fell into the hands of the victor, who was rewarded with the title of the Earl of Pembroke and given the wardship of the young Earl of Richmond. He intended to marry the latter to his daughter Maud, but a year later he was killed at Banbury. A brief gleam of Lancastrian success followed. Richmond was restored to the keeping of the Earl of Pembroke, who was one of the first to welcome Henry VI. at his restoration. He presented his young kinsman to the king, this being the occasion of the frequently repeated though probably apocryphal prophecy concerning the boy’s future, which appears in Henry VI. :—

“‘ His looks are full of peaceful majesty, His head by nature framed to wear a crown, His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself Likely in time to bless a regal throne.” ?

According to Bernard André, the king advised that the boy should be sent abroad to escape the malice of hisenemies. The defeat of the Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, followed by the deaths of the Prince of Wales and of Henry VL, made the Lancastrian cause seem hopeless. Even Wales was nolonger safe. Earl Jasper, at the request of the boy’s mother, embarked with his nephew on a vessel bound for France. The ship was driven out

1 André said he had heard this directly from Scotus. Vata, p. 13. 2 Henry Vis Part III., Act iv., Sc. 6; Vita, p. 14.

A HENRY VII [1471-83 of its course by storms, and the fugitives were landed on the coast of Brittany, which was then ruled by Duke Francis. He received them hospitably, policy suggesting that he had in his hands a possible means of buying the alliance of England against his threatening neighbour France. Bernard André, however, puts into the duke’s mouth a speech which suggests that he was induced to help by the boy’s appearance and ‘“‘ evident good qualities.”” _The duke certainly made good his promises of protection, and Henry remained in safety in Brittany in spite of the untiring efforts of Edward IV. to obtain his surrender. At one time he was in very great danger. + An embassy from Edward IV. persuaded Duke Francis that the king intended to marry the young earl to one of his own daughters. He surrendered Henry to the envoys, who had reached St. Malo, en route for England, when they were detained there by a force sent by the duke, which conveyed Henry into sanctuary and refused to give him up. He remained in Brittany more closely guarded until the death of Edward IV His mother remained in England, and in 1482, on the death of Henry Stafford, had married, as her third husband, Thomas, Lord Stanley, a prominent Yorkist and the steward of King Edward’s household. He gained the favour of Richard III., and his wife enjoyed a position of security and was even prominent at Court.' é, Meanwhile many Lancastrian exiles, driven from England by the tyranny of Richard III., began to gather round Richmond, who was released from restraint on the death of Edward IV. Even in

1 She actually held the queen’s train at the coronation of Richard ITI. ?

England a party was being formed in his favour. The Duke of Buckingham, though mainly instrumental in gaining the throne for Richard III., had retired in dissatisfaction from the Court. The cause of his defection is uncertain, but it may well have been disgust at the king’s violence, working upon thwarted ambition. Some very curious stories are told of the way in which he was induced to give up his design of winning the throne for himself for a plan which involved the elevation of the exiled earl. According to the chroniclers, Hall and Grafton,! the duke discussed his plans fully with the Lancastrian John Morton, Bishop of Ely, then a prisoner in the duke’s custody, who cleverly inflamed his discontent. The story goes that the duke had quite forgotten the superior claims of the Countess of Richmond and her son, until, riding between Worcester and Bridgnorth, he met the former, and it flashed into his mind that “ she and her son, the Earl of Richmond, be bothe bulwarcke and portecolice betwene me and the gate to entre into the majestie royall and gettynge of the crowne.” The Countess of Richmond sounded Buckingham with regard to her son’s claims, and mentioned the fact that a marriage between the latter and one of the daughters of Edward IV. had been proposed. Though the duke returned an evasive answer at the time, he subsequently told Morton that if Ri ond bound himself to such a marriage, he would be prepared to help him to the crown of England as heir of the House of Lancaster. This was a great triumph. By the advice of Morton, whose influence seems to have settled many of the

1 Their accounts are founded on the Life of Richard III. by Sir Thomas More, pp. 88-91. é details of the conspiracy, Richard Bray (steward of the household to the Countess of Richmond) was summoned to Wales, and despatched thence with orders to advise his mistress to gain the consent of Elizabeth, the queen-dowager, widow of Edward IV., to the proposed alliance, and then to communicate the plan to Richmond in Brittany. |

Bray started on his mission but found that part of the scheme was already accomplished, the Countess of Richmond having approached Elizabeth in the matter.1 The queen-dowager was then in sanctuary at Westminster with her daughter, surrounded by the king’s guards. The disappearance of her two sons was still a mystery and their tragic fate unknown, but her position seemed hopeless. Elizabeth was a fickle, wayward woman, ever ready to dabble in conspiracy, and the countess’s emissary Lewis easily won her over to a plan which offered a hope of Richard’s overthrow. They were about to send news of the scheme to Brittany when Bray arrived with proofs that the Duke of Buckingham was considering a similar plan. Two messengers, Hugh Conway and Thomas Ramme, were sent to Henry by different routes, with orders to acquaint him with the conspiracy, supply him with funds, and advise him to return as soon as possible and land in Wales, “‘ where he shoulde not doubte to fynde both aide and comforte and frendes.”’

The messengers arrived in Brittany on the same

1 On this point Polydor Vergil and Hall disagree. The account in the text is derived from the former, who, as a contemporary, is the best authority for the reign. Dr. Busch has made it clear that the whole scheme originated with Margaret. Pol. Verg.,

Anglice Historie Libri (1555 edition), lib. xxvi., p. 550; Hall, Chronicle (ed. 1548), p. 390 ; Busch, p. 321.

1483] EARLY LIFE a day, and the news they brought was the turning point in the young earl’s career. His ambition had not yet turned in the direction of the English crown, and it is quite possible that he was unaware of the strength of his hereditary title. He was in great favour with the Duke of Brittany, and there were rumours of negotiations for his marriage with the duke’s daughter and heiress Anne. Though the duke was reluctant to defy Richard III. openly, he constantly evaded his requests for the earl’s surrender. Richard’s ambassador Hutton reached Brittany in the summer of 1483, and in August the duke sent a diplomatic answer, in which he mentioned that Louis XI. of France was also trying to get hold of Richmond.

The project for Henry’s marriage with Anne of Brittany, however, was abandoned when Henry heard of the brilliant prospect open to him if he married Elizabeth of York. On the 24th of September, Buckingham wrote to Richmond announcing that the 18th of October was the date fixed upon for a joint movement. Richmond’s landing in Wales was to coincide with risings in all the southern counties from Kent to Devon. Henry matured his plans, and succeeded in obtaining help from Duke Francis, who seems to have had great faith in the success of the conspiracy. Unfortunately in England things were moving too fast. Popular excitement, which may have been due to the murder of the princes in the Tower becoming known about this date,? led to a premature

1 He was apparently in ignorance of a fact, well known to Buckingham, that the words in the Act of Henry IV. barring the claim of the Beauforts to the throne were an interpolation not found in the original Act of Richard II. L. and P. Hen. VII., ii., Intro, xxx.

2 Buckingham was probably aware of it long before.

rising in Kent early in October, the news of which had reached Richard by the 11th of the month. Richard does not seem to have suspected Buckingham and was taken completely by surprise, but his measures were prompt and effective. On 15th October a proclamation was issued against Buckingham, and troops were immediately raised. Three days later, according to the plan, Richmond’s adherents in the southern counties rose, and on the same day Buckingham raised his standard at Brecknock. But the disaffection of some of the Welsh leaders, a violent storm which, by making the Severn impassable, prevented a junction with Henry’s Devonshire supporters, and the prompt action of the king sealed the fate of therising. Many of the Welshmen deserted ; Buckingham fled from his troops, but was betrayed to King Richard ! and beheaded at Salisbury on November 2nd. With him perished the hopes of the rising.

Meanwhile Richmond, by the help of Duke Francis, had collected a fleet of fifteen ships and 5000 mercenaries? and embarked on 12th October. Dispersed by a storm, most of the ships were driven back upon the coast of Brittany. Only Richmond’s ship and one other crossed the Channel. Finding the coast at Poole well guarded, he sailed westward to Plymouth. But Devon and Cornwall were in arms against him ; he had to give up hope of landing, and set sail for Normandy. In spite of the failure of his enterprise, he obtained the passport he asked for

1 Hall in his Chronicle (p. 395) tells a quaint story of the horrible fate that punished the traitor and all his children with madness, leprosy, deformity, and violent death.

2 Hall gives the number as forty ships (Chron., p. 395), but

Polydor Vergil, the earlier authority, states that there were fifteen only. (Hist. Ang., p. 553.)

from the young king Charles VIII., who also provided him with money. He stayed for a short time in Normandy, passing thence to Brittany, which he reached by 30th October. There he heard of the failure of the rising and of Buckingham’s fate, and was joined by a crowd of refugees implicated in the rising, among whom were the Marquis of Dorset, the Bishops of Salisbury and Exeter, John, Lord Wells, Sir Edward Courtenay, Sir Giles Daubeney, Sir John Bourchier, Sir Richard Edgecombe, Sir Edward Poynings, and many others, who later obtained the reward of their devotion. Morton, who had escaped from Buckingham’s keeping to Flanders just before the rising, was working with the aid of Christopher Urswick in Henry’s interests, ‘‘ sending preuie letters and cloked messengers” to stir up hostility to King Richard. Sir Edward Woodvile, with his naval experience, had been a member of Henry’s growing court since July 1483. The Duke of Brittany still remained his friend and protector, and upon his return lent him 10,000 golden crowns. The scattered fleet had escaped Richard’s warships and returned again to Brittany. Henry seems to have resolved upon a further attempt without delay, and summoned a council of the refugees to meet at Rennes. The conspiracy this time was inaugurated with some pomp and ceremony in Rennes Cathedral on Christmas Day, 1484. Henry was now the only leader of the opposition to Richard. He took a solemn oath in the cathedral that he would marry Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV., as soon as he obtained the crown of England, while the assembled company swore fealty to him and did homage “ as though he had bene that tyme the crowned kynge and anoynted prince.” The scheme was communicated to the duke, who lent a large sum of money for arming and fitting out ships, on the security of Henry’s word as a prince to repay it as soon as his scheme succeeded.*

In England the failure of the rising had brought punishment. The Earl of Richmond and many of his adherents were outlawed by the Parliament of January 1484, but in consideration of the support Lord Stanley had given to the king against his stepson’s adherents, Henry’s mother was committed te her husband’s custody. Worst of all, King Richard had won over the queen-dowager. She lacked the courage to continue faithful to a design which had received such a severe check, and was prevailed upon by Richard, in spite of the grave reasons she had for doubting him, to leave sanctuary, and trust herself and her daughters to him, upon his taking an oath before Parliament to protect them. Richard, with Richmond’s destined bride in his power, “ thought the erle’s chiefe combe had ben clerely cut,’ and troops were levied and arrangements made for the defence of the coast against the threatened invasion from Brittany. At the same time Richard was ill at ease. As Vergil put it he was “ continually pricked and tortured by perpetual dread of the earl’s return,” and. he redoubled his efforts to obtain his surrender. An embassy was despatched to the Duke of Brittany, promising him all the revenues of the honour of

1 Tt is possible that this refers to the 10,000 crowns of gold which had already been paid to Henry (Add. MSS., Brit. Mus., 19,398, No. 16, f. 33), in which case Hall’s narrative is in error in the order of the events (Chron., pp. 396-7). The duke’s warrant for the delivery of the money is dated 22nd November, L. and P. Hen. VII., i. 54. Bernard André’s account of this period (pp. 24, 25) confuses Henry’s first and second attempts on England.

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Richmond, and of the estates of Richmond’s adherents, in return for the earl’s surrender. Owing to the illness of the duke, who was already showing signs of mental infirmity, the envoys were received by Pierre Landois, an upstart favourite. He resolved to give way to Richard’s demands, not (as Polydor Vergil is careful to point out) through any enmity to Henry, but in the hope of gaining powerful support against the bitterly hostile nobles of Brittany. Richmond, however, was warned in time. Nothing escaped Morton in his exile in Flanders, and he sent Christopher Urswick to warn Henry and persuade him to escape into France. The messenger found Richmond at Vannes, and was at once sent on into France to ask for passports for the earl and his followers. The long-standing jealousy between France and Brittany again served Henry’s turn. As soon as the duke’s policy of favouring the exile had been abandoned by Landois, who, with less faith in Henry’s star, preferred the substantial bribe offered by the king de facto to the problematical gratitude of an exiled pretender, it was adopted by the French court. In September 1484, Henry received a favourable answer. It only remained, then, to choose the time and means of escape. A number of Henry’s followers, under the leadership of the faithful Earl of Pembroke, rode towards the borders of Brittany, announcing that they were going to visit the invalid duke, and the earl, acting on Henry’s secret instructions, led them over the border into France. Henry remained in Vannes for a couple of days, and then started for Anjou with five servants, suspicion being averted by the fact that 500 Englishmen, who knew nothing of his purpose, remained in Vannes. Five miles from the town Henry turned into a wood, “ and clothinge himselfe in the symple cote of his poor servaunte,”’ followed one of his men in the garb of a page, and rode without drawing rein towards the frontier. He crossed it only just in time. The horsemen sent in pursuit by Landois were barely an hour behind him,* and the destinies of the Tudor. dynasty hung by a slender thread. Henry made his way to the French king’s court and received a promise of help. A payment of 3000 livres was made to him in November.

The position of the English exiles who remained in Vannes was very critical, but fortunately the duke recovered his health to some extent, and showed his friendship for Henry by giving Sir Edward Woodvile and Sir Edward Poynings permission and funds to convey them to rejoin their leader, who remained at the French court, accompanying the king and the regency to Paris.

There Richmond was joined by other English refugees who had fled from Richard’s tyranny,” among them being Richard Fox, afterwards one of Henry’s most trusted ministers. In addition the Earl of Oxford, the most powerful of all the Lancastrian nobles, who had been ten years a prisoner in the castle of Hammes near Calais, won over its captain, James Blount, to Henry’s cause, and prevailed on him to set him at liberty and accompany him to join Richmond

1 In the story of the flight, Hall’s narrative is practically only a translation of Vergil’s. Unfortunately no date is given, but it appears from the records of the deliberations of the Regency that the flight took place in September 1484. Proces-Verbaux de séances du conseil de régence de roi Charles VIII. (A. Bernier. ) ,

* Hall gives a vivid account of the excesses to which Richard was driven by ‘‘the wilde worme of vengaunce waverynge in his hed.” Chron., p. 398.

in Paris. Oxford’s adherence was specially welcome to Henry, the earl being reliable as a strong Lancastrian, not a discontented Yorkist driven to him by hatred of Richard. Hall, following Vergil, writes of Henry’s joy at the earl’s arrival, “he was ravyshed with an incredibile gladnes, . . . and beganne to have a good hope of happy successe.” ! About this time the queen-dowager prevailed on her son, the Marquis of Dorset, to abandon Richmond’s cause, partly through despair of the earl’s success, and “ partely onerate and vanquesshed with the faire glosynge promises of Kyng Richard.” Fortunately for Henry, the deserter, who had stolen out of Paris by night, was stopped and brought back. Negotiations as to the amount of support to be given by France to Richmond’s enterprise were still going on, but were complicated and delayed by the disputes in the French council between the Regent Anne and the opposition party led by the Duke of Orleans. Henry saw that further delay would dishearten his followers, and determined to make another attempt on England. It was at this time, probably, that he wrote the letters to his supporters in England that have been preserved, asking for their support of his ‘rightful claim, due and lineal inheritance of the Crown of England.” He alludes to Richard as “ that homicide and unnatural tyrant,” and speaks of himself as their “ poor, exiled friend.”” The letters were all signed H. R.2 He borrowed a small sum of money from King Charles and from private friends, leaving the treacherous Dorset and Sir Charles Bourchier at Paris as hostages for its repayment, and left for Rouen, where he began to collect a fleet to sail from Harfleur. 1 Pol. Verg., 556; Hall, 405. 2 Halliwell, Letters, i, 161.

But Henry had not come to the end of his difficulties. While at Harfleur he heard of news which threatened the basis of his enterprise. In March 1485, King Richard had been left a widower, his wife Anne having died “either of grief or by poison,” and a rumour spread rapidly that the king intended to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York.t This news reaching Henry, it was ‘no maruell,” as the chronicler quaintly puts it, “though it nypped hym at the verie stomacke.” Further disheartening delay seemed inevitable. There was little chance of obtaining Yorkist support in England if there was no hope of Richmond marrying the daughter of Edward IV. It seemed madness to go further without trying to enlist support in some other quarter. According to Vergil, who has been followed by Hall, Henry entertained a plan for marrying the sister of Sir Walter Herbert and so gaining his alliance and influence in Wales, and actually sent messengers to the Earl of Northumberland, who had married another of Herbert’s sisters.2 The messengers, however, were intercepted by Richard’s spies.

1 Hlizabeth’s attitude to this proposal, which is of some interest in view of the fact that she afterwards became Henry’s wife, has been much discussed. According to Polydor Vergil (pp. 557-8) and the chroniclers (Hall, p. 407), she was violently opposed to the proposal, and this seems to be the soundest view. Sir George Buck, however, took the view that she was by no means reluctant (Hist. of Rich. III.), founding his assertion on a letter written by her to the Duke of Norfolk, which he saw, he expressly states, in her own handwriting among the Arundel papers. The letter was never seen, apparently, by any one else. Stow, Speed, Holinshed, and Camden, Buck’s contemporaries, are silent about it. For a full discussion of the question, see Gairdner, Richard III., pp. 202-4.

2 Dr. Busch does not think this plan was ever seriously contemplated, but regards it as a ruse to win the Welsh alliance. There seems to be no evidence on which to form a decision. Vergil’s

Meanwhile, the king’s plan of marrying Elizabeth had raised such an outcry in England that he publicly disowned it. In June he issued a proclamation in which Richmond and his adherents were described as “open murderers, advoutrers, and extortioners,” their “captain, . . . Henry Tydder,” being described as of bastard blood on both sides. Richmond was still looking between hope and fear at the English coasts when better news came over. A Welsh lawyer, John Morgan,' reported that Rhys ap Thomas and Sir John Savage were ready to take up his cause, and that money had been collected by Reginald Bray. Rhys ap Thomas was by birth, ability, and education the leading spirit in South Wales.? Wales, it appeared, would be on the side of the Tudor prince, and in Wales he was urged to land.

Any risk seemed preferable to further delay, and on August Ist Richmond sailed from Harfleur, having with him about 2000 men, including a French contingent supplied by King Charles, and commanded by Philibert de Shaunde, afterwards Earl of Bath.® words are a little indefinite, but it may be that Henry would have married any woman for a crown. Busch, op. cit.,p. 19; Pol. Verg., p. 559 ; Hall, p. 410.

1 Hall gives this name as Morgan Kidwelly, from which it has been inferred that Richard’s Attorney-General betrayed him. Vergil, however, gives the name as John Morgan, and a Welsh biographer of considerable authority calls him John Morgan of Kidwelly, who later became a member of Henry’s council. Obviously the latter was referred to. Hall, p. 410; Pol. Verg., p. 559; Cambrian Register (1795), p. 96.

2 ** All the kingdom is the king’s,

Save where Rhys doth spread his wings.” —Welsh Ballad.

3 A long speech, said to have been delivered by Henry at the embarkation, is reported by André (pp. 25-28). Itis full of Biblical allusions ; Richmond compares himself to Moses and so forth. The authorship is obvious.

The little fleet was favoured by a following wind and smooth seas, and after seven days’ voyage reached Milford Haven without opposition. The powerful fleet got together by Richard lay inactive off Southampton. It had been prophesied that Richmond would land at Milford, and the royal fleet guarded a village of that name near Christchurch. Richmond and his followers landed near the village of Dale. The earl, we are told, knelt and kissed the ground, and after beginning the psalm Judica me Deus et decerne causam meam, he ordered his followers to advance in the name of God and of St. George.t Just after landing, Henry knighted certain of his followers, exercising the attributes of the sovereignty he claimed.2. At sunrise he broke up his camp at Dale and advanced to Haverfordwest, ten miles away, where he was received with shouts of “ King Henry, King Henry ! Down with the bragging white boar!’’ There the bad, and as it subsequently appeared untrue, news was brought him that John Savage and other prominent Welshmen had made up their minds to support King Richard; but the hopes of the adventurer’s followers were revived by a message of welcome from the town of Pembroke, Henry’s birthplace, which was prepared to support its “natural and immediate lord.” From Haverfordwest Richmond marched to Cardigan, where he was joined by Richard Griffith and John Morgan with their men, and then rapidly forward, taking the

1 Rutland Papers,i. 7; Fabyan, Chron., p. 672. Rhys ap Thomas, who had sworn to King Richard that any pretender would have “to make entrance over his bellie,”’ is said to have kept the letter of his oath by throwing himself on the ground and allowing Richmond to step over him.

places garrisoned against him without difficulty. He sent messengers to his mother, to her husband, Lord Stanley, and to the latter’s brother, Sir Gilbert Talbot, announcing his intention of marching on London, and asking them to meet him with all the force they could muster. It was about this time, probably, that Henry wrote to his kinsman, John ap Meredith, the letter that has been preserved. The letter is headed ““ By the King,” and is written throughout in terms of sovereignty. The earl speaks of his “ loving and true subjects” and of his realm of England, denouncing the king de facto as “the odious tyrant Richard, late Duke of Gloucester, usurper of our said right,” and commands Meredith to join him with all the force at his disposal, “‘ as ye will avoid our grievous displeasure and answer it at your peril.” Bold language this for a proscribed exile who had only just landed, and who had but a handful of followers to match with the forces of a kingdom, but its boldness was justified by success.