CHAPTER XI.
Rivalry between Bedford and Gloucester, 1422.
At the death of Henry V the administration of affairs fell into the hands of his two brothers, John, Duke of Bedford, and Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. On the 29th September a writ was issued from Windsor, in the name of the infant on whom the crown of England had devolved, summoning four citizens of London to attend a parliament to be held at Westminster at Martinmas,[801] and two days afterwards another was addressed to the sheriffs of London, enjoining them to make proclamation for the keeping the king's peace, and authorising them to arrest and imprison rioters until the king and his council should determine upon their punishment.[802] The precise wishes of the late king as to the respective parts which Bedford and Gloucester were to undertake in the government of the realm are not clearly known, but it is generally thought that he intended the former to govern France, whilst the latter was to act as his vicegerent in England. An attempt to carry out the arrangement was doomed to failure.
As soon as parliament met (9 Nov.) it took into consideration the respective claims of the two dukes. Bedford had already (26 Oct.) despatched a letter from Rouen, addressed to the civic authorities,[pg 269] setting forth his right to the government of the realm, as elder brother of the deceased sovereign and as the party most interested in the succession to the crown. Without mentioning Gloucester by name, he warned the citizens against executing orders derogatory to himself. He professed to do this, not from any ambitious designs of his own, but from a wish to preserve intact the laws, usage and customs of the realm.[803] After some hesitation, parliament resolved to appoint Bedford protector as soon as he should return from France, but that during his absence Gloucester should act for him.[804]
An expedition to start for France, 1 March, 1423.
On the 8th February of the new year (1423), the sheriffs of London received orders to make proclamation for all soldiers who were in the king's pay to assemble at Winchelsea by the 1st day of March, as an expedition was to set sail from that port for the purpose of defending the town and castle of Crotoye. The business was pressing and necessitated a repetition of the order to the sheriffs a fortnight later (22 Feb.).[805]
Sir John Mortimer.
On the 23rd February William Crowmere, the mayor, William Sevenoke, William Waldene, and John Fray were appointed commissioners to enquire into cases of treason and felony within the city; and two days later they found Sir John Mortimer, who was charged with a treasonable design in favour of the Earl of March, guilty of having broken prison.[806] He was subsequently convicted of treason both by lords and commons, and sentenced to death.
The debts of Henry IV.
On the 5th June (1423) the hearts of the citizens were gladdened with the news that they were likely to be repaid some of the money they had advanced to the king's grandfather. Orders were given for all persons to whom Henry IV was indebted at the time of his decease, and who had not yet received from his executors a moiety of the sums due, to send in their bills and tallies to Sir John Pelham and John Leventhorp, two of the king's executors, sitting at the Priory of Saint Mary, Southwark, by the Monday next after Midsummer-day.[807] We can believe that few orders ever met with readier response from the inhabitants of the city.