1421.]

Birth of her son at Windsor-castle.

517 to suppose, that the king himself had examined the aspect of the planets according to the vain rules of art; for the expression always is, "that he prophesied1 the calamities of Henry VI." Now, if it was a marvel that Saul was among the prophets, it would be one still greater to find one of the most martial of the Plantagenet kings assuming the prophet's mantle ; unless, indeed, during his education at Oxford he had, among other trash, then considered learning, acquired the art of casting horoscopes. Be this as it may, Henry, for some mysterious reason, deemed that destiny loured darkly over the royal towers of Windsor during the month when he expected Katherine to bring forth her first-born. It is certain, however, that Katherine disobeyed her royal lord, either from want of belief in astrology, or because she chose that her child should first see the light in that stately fortress, where his great and fortunate ancestor, Edward III., was born. On the 6th of December, 1421, the son of Katherine came into a world, which proved most disastrous to him.

When the news was brought to Henry V. that Katherine had brought him an heir, he was prosecuting the siege of Meaux. He eagerly inquired "where the boy was born?" and having been answered "at Windsor," the king repeated with a sigh to his chamberlain, lord Fitzhugh, the following oracular stave, which certainly does little honour to his talents as an impromptu versifier :

"I, Henry, born at Monmouth,

Shall small time reign, and much get;

But Henry of Windsor shall long reign, and lose all of it,

But as God will, so be it." 2

3

Her

No regular English dower was at this time settled on Katherine; but it is evident that the revenues of the unfortunate queen-dowager were confiscated for her use, as her maids were paid from that source. damsels were Joanna Belknap, Joanna Troutbeck, and Joanna Coucy, besides Agnes, who has no surname. "These ladies," says Henry, "the demoiselles of our dear companion, are to receive ten 'livres' a-piece out of the funds of queen Johane, Guillemote, damsel of the bedchamber to his said dear companion, is to receive one hundred shillings from the moneys of the said queen." Not very honest of the valiant Henry, to pay his wife's servants with another person's money. These gifts are declared to be in consideration of the " costages and expenses the beloved demoiselles are incurring, by following the said dear queen and companion to meet me, king Henry, in France." Likewise an annuity of twenty livres per annum, "for that dear doctor of philosophy, maister Johan Boyers, because of his office of confessor to queen Katherine." The revenue of the unfortunate dowager was likewise taxed for

Speed. Stowe. Fabyan. Holinshed.

2 White Kennet. Trussell's Chronicle of Henry V.

3 Fœdera.
4 Ibid.

the maintenance of Katherine's guest, Jaqueline of Hainault, to the enormous amount of a hundred pounds per month. Jaqueline had eloped from a bridegroom whom she hated, and had taken refuge at the court of Katherine, with whom she lived on terms of great intimacy. Jaqueline was in hopes that the pope would dissolve her forced marriage, and consent to her union with Katherine's handsome brother-in-law, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. Henry directs the treasurer of his exchequer to pay to his dearly beloved cousin, dame Jake, duchess of Holland, from the profits of the dower of Joanna, late queen.

Before Katherine left England, her infant was baptized by the name of his father, the duchess Jaqueline standing godmother; the duke of Bedford and cardinal Beaufort were the other sponsors. Early in the same spring Katherine wrote her warlike lord a most loving letter, declaring that she earnestly longed to behold him once more. This epistle was answered by an invitation to join him in France.

CHAPTER II.

QUEEN Katherine crossed the sea, and landed at Harfleur on the 21st of May, 1422, escorted by the duke of Bedford and an army of twenty thousand men, destined to complete the conquest of her unhappy country. At the head of this mighty reinforcement she traversed France in royal state. Henry left Meaux, which he had just captured,1 as soon as he heard of the landing of his queen, and came to Paris to receive her. On their arrival at the castle of Vincennes, she was welcomed by her parents and subjects as if she had been somewhat more than mortal. She had left her little infant in England, under the care of the duke of

Gloucester.2

Great rejoicings were made at Paris for the arrival of the queen of England, and the birth of the heir of Henry. The royal party left Vincennes, and entered Paris in great magnificence on Whitsuneve, May 30th. Queen Katherine, with her train, were lodged at the Louvre, while her mother and king Charles took up their abode at the hôtel de St. Pol. "And on Whit-Sunday queen Katherine sat at table at the Louvre, gloriously apparelled, having her crown on her head. The English princes and nobles were partakers with the great lords of France at this feast, each seated according to his rank, while the tables were covered with the richest viands and wines. Queen Katherine next day held a great court, and all the Parisians went to see their princess and her lord sitting enthroned, crowned with their most precious diadems; but," continues Monstrelet, as no meat or drink was offered to the

1 Stowe's Annals..

66

1422.]

Henry V. dies at Vincennes.

519 populace, they went away much discontented. For when, of old, the kings of France kept open court, much good cheer was freely given to all comers. King Charles VI. had once been as courteous and liberal as any of his predecessors; but now he was seated at a table with his queen quite forsaken by his nobles, who all flocked to pay their court to his daughter and her husband, at which the common people grieved much." Katherine likewise gave great offence by having the "ermines" carried before her coach, as if she had been sovereign of France.1

The last year's harassing warfare had greatly injured the constitution of Henry V. He was ill when his queen arrived, yet he scarcely allowed himself a day's repose. But conquest, empire, and all worldly things were fast fleeting from the grasp of the warlike lord of Katherine the Fair. At Senlis he was seized with a mortal distemper. He struggled fiercely against its encroachments, for he daily expected to hear of a battle between his friend the duke of Burgundy and the dauphin, and hoped to assist his ally in person. He had even assumed his armour, and marched as far as Melun; but the strong hand of disease was too powerful even for the energies of his mighty mind. Sorely smitten with illness, he was obliged to give up his march; and the malady increasing every minute, he was forced to be carried back to Senlis in a litter. He had left his queen at Senlis, but for greater security she had retired to her father's castle in the wood of Vincennes; thither the "mighty victor, mighty lord," was borne to her, helpless, on that litter which was almost a funeral couch to him.

In the castle of Vincennes, near Paris, which has so often been the theatre of the destinies of France, Katherine and her mother attended the last hours of Henry V.2 He made a very penitential end, but was so little conscious of his blood-guiltiness, that when his confessor was reading the seven Psalms in the service for the dying, he stopped him when he came to the verse, "Build thou the walls of Jerusalem,” with an earnest protestation "that when he had completed his conquests in Europe, he always intended to undertake a crusade." When he had arranged his affairs, he asked his physicians "How long he had to live ?" One of them replied, on his knees, "That, without a miracle, he could not survive two hours at the most."-" Comfort my dear wife," he said to the duke of Bedford, "the most afflicted creature living." In a will he made on his death-bed, he leaves Katherine a gold sceptre. He expired on the 31st of August, 1422. At the time of Henry's death, his fair widow had not attained her twenty-first year. Her affection was, as the dying hero observed to his brother, most violent, but it certainly proved in the end rather evanescent.

In person Henry V. was tall and agile, and so swift of foot, that he Speed.

1 Goodwin.

could, with the aid of two of his lords, capture deer in the royal enclosures without the assistance of dogs. His portraits possess that distinctive character which proves personal resemblance: his features are regular, though very strongly marked; the perceptive brow denotes the great general; the eyes are majestic and overpowering; the nose well cut, but stern in the expression of the nostril; the mouth wide, the haughty upper lip curls with no very benevolent expression. There is a great developement of frontal brain in his portraits: they are all profiles, excepting that over the chantry at Westminster-abbey, which has a wen on the right side of the neck. Henry was a learned prince; but he had the bad habit of borrowing books and never returning them. Lady Westmoreland, his relative, prays for her 'Chronicles of Jerusalem," and the Expedition of Godfrey of Boulogne,' borrowed of her by the late king after his death, a petition was sent to the regency that they might be returned. The prior of Christchurch, likewise, sent in a most pitiful complaint, that he had lent the works of St. Gregory to his dear lord, king Henry, who had never restored them to him, their rightful

owner.

The funeral of Henry V. was arranged and conducted by queen Katherine with all the pomp of woe.1 "His body was laid on a chariot drawn by four great horses. Just above the dead corpse they placed a figure made of boiled leather, representing his person as nigh as might be devised, painted curiously to the semblance of a living creature, on whose head was put an imperial diadem of gold and precious stones; on the body, a purple robe furred with ermine; in the right hand, a sceptre royal; in the left, an orb of gold, with a cross fixed thereon. And thus adorned, was this figure laid in a bed on the same chariot, with the visage uncovered towards the heavens; the coverture of the bed was of red, beaten with gold; and, when the body should pass through any good town, a canopy of marvellous value was borne over it, by men of great worship. In this manner he was accompanied by the king of Scots, as chief mourner, and by all the princes, lords, and knights of his house, in vestures of deep mourning. At a distance from the corpse of about two English miles followed the widow, queen Katherine, right honourably accompanied. The body rested at the church of St. Welfran, in Abbeville, where masses were sung by the queen's orders, for the repose of Henry's soul, from the dawn of morning till night. The procession moved through Abbeville with increased pomp. The duke of Exeter, the earl of March, Sir Louis Robsart, the queen's knight, and many nobles, bore the banners of the saints. The hatchments were carried by twelve renowned captains; and around the bier-car rode four hundred men-at-arms in black armour, their horses barbed black, their lances held with the points downwards. A

1423.]

Follows her consort's funeral from France.

521

great company clothed in white, bearing wax-torches, lighted, encompassed the procession. The queen, with a mighty retinue, followed." Thus she passed, keeping her husband's corpse in view, through Hesdin, Montrieul, and Boulogne, till they came to Calais, where, on the 12th of October, the privy council had ordered vessels to meet the queen, with ladies to attend her. She landed at Dover with the royal corpse. When she approached London, she was met by fifteen bishops in their pontifical habits, and by many abbots in their mitres and vestments, with a vast crowd of priests and people. The priests chanted, all the way from Blackheath and through the streets of the city, oraisons for their dead king. A general and picturesque illumination was effected, by each householder standing at his door with a torch in his hand. The princes of the royal family rode in mournful postures next the funeral car. The grief of the young queen greatly edified the people, and they were still more impressed with the barbarian magnificence of the tomb she erected to the memory of their royal hero, on which a Latin inscription expressed "that it was raised by his queen, Katherine." The famous silverplated statue, with the head of solid silver gilt, was placed on the tomb of Henry V. at her expense.2

3

After the obsequies of her husband, Katherine proceeded to Windsor-castle, to embrace her babe, and pass the first weeks of her widowhood. Her boy was eight months old on the day of his warlike father's death. When the parliament met, she removed to London, and passed through the city on a moving throne, drawn by white horses, and surrounded by all the princes and nobles of England. The infant king was seated on her lap, "and those pretty hands," says one of our quaint chroniclers, "which could not yet feed himself, were made capable of wielding a sceptre; and he, who was beholden to nurses for milk, did distribute sustenance to the law and justice of his nation. The queen, with her infant on her knee, was enthroned among the lords, whom, by the chancellor, the little king saluted, and spoke to them at large his mind by means of another's tongue." The king conducted himself with extraordinary quietness and gravity, considering he had not yet attained the age of twelve months.

the

Henry did not always behave so orderly.* "The year of 1423, upon Saturday, the 13th of November, the king removed from Windsor to hold a parliament in London. At night the king and his mother, queen, lodged at Staines, and upon the morrow, which was Sunday, the king being borne towards his mother's car, he skreeked, he cried, he sprang, and would be carried no further; wherefore they bore him again to the inn, and there he abode the Sunday all day." All this violence, and skreeking, and springing, was because the royal babe, by a

1 Minutes of Privy Council.

2 Goodwin. Stowe. Speed. Weever.

3 Speed.

4 London Chronicle, p. 111.