Item. The English families in all parts of the land which are rebels, as the Butyllers, Powers, Gerardynes, Bermynghames, Daltons, Barrettes, Dillons, and the others, who will not obey the law nor submit to justice, but destroy the poor, liege people of the land, and take their living from them and rob them, will needs be called gentlemen of blood and idlemen, whereas they are sturdy robbers and are not amenable to the law, and will make prisoners of the English and put them to greater duress than do the Irish enemies, and this from default of the execution of justice.
Item. In addition to this the said English rebels are accomplices of the Irish enemies and will not displease them, and thus between the one and the other the loyal English are destroyed and injured.
Item. By the rebellion and falseness of the English rebels on the one side, and by the war of the Irish enemies on the other, the King has no profit of the revenues of the land, because the law cannot be executed, nor any officer dare put it, nor go to put it, in execution.
THE BETRAYAL OF THE KING (August, 1399).
Source.—Traison et Mort du Roy Richart (English Historical Society), 195 et seq.
[Translated from manuscript (Bibliothèque du Roi) No. 904, Fonds St. Victor.]
Item. The same day that the Earl of Huntingdon, Duke of Exeter, went to seek the Duke [Henry of Lancaster], he found him lodging in his own city of Chester, with his army. And that same day, which was Sunday, the twentieth day of August, the year aforesaid, the duke sent to King Richard the Earl of Northumberland, who was aged, that the King might the rather believe his words and not be so overbearing with him as with a younger person; and the said earl had with him a company of one hundred lancers and two hundred archers. And know that, as soon as the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Huntingdon had spoken together, the Earl of Huntingdon sent one of his people, by the command of the duke, to the Earl of Northumberland, and gave him two letters, one of which he was to take to the King from his brother, requesting him to believe the message he should deliver to him, and the other to the Earl of Northumberland.
It is a truth that the Earl of Northumberland went to King Richard with (only) seven attendants, for he had left his people in ambush between two mountains, and had commanded them that they should not stir till they had tidings from him, or of the King, whom they much longed to hold. And when the said earl went towards the King, he found him in an exceedingly strong castle, surrounded on all sides by the sea, which is called Conway; and thither he went, with all submission, he and his seven attendants and saluted the King very humbly, as did his attendants. The King had with him not more than five or six notable persons....
When the King perceived the said earl, he caused him to rise, and asked him, "What news?" Then said the earl, "My dear sire, I am sent to you by your cousin Henry of Lancaster." The King asked him if he had not met his brother, whom he had sent there. "Yes, dear sire; and here is a letter he gave me [for you]." The King took the letter and looked at the seal, and saw that it was the seal of his brother; then he opened the letter and read it. All that it contained was this: "My very dear lord; I commend me to you. I hope you will believe the earl in everything that he shall say to you. For I found the Duke of Lancaster at my city of Chester, who has a great desire to have a good peace and agreement with you; and has kept me to attend upon him till he shall know your pleasure." When the King had read the letter, he said to the Earl of Northumberland: "Now then, Northumberland, what is your message?" "My dear sire," said the earl, "my lord of Lancaster has sent me to you to tell you what he most wishes for in this world is to have peace and a good understanding with you, and greatly repents, with all his heart, of the displeasure he hath caused you now and at other times, and asks nothing of you in this living world, save that you would consider him as your cousin and friend, and that you would please only to let him have his land, and that he may be Seneschal of England as his father and his predecessors have been, and that all other things of bygone time may be put in oblivion between you two: for which purpose he hath chosen umpires for yourself and for him; that is to say, your brother, the Bishop of Carlisle, the Earl of Salisbury, Maudelyn, and the Earl of Westmorland; and charges these five with [the arrangement of] the differences that are between you and him. Give me, if you please, an answer."
Then the King, with the Bishop of Carlisle, the Earl of Salisbury, Sir Stephen Scrop, Fereiby, and the Gascon squire, withdrew into the chapel of the castle; and the King said to them: "My lords, you have heard what the earl says; what think you of it?" To which they replied: "My lord, do you speak first." The King answered: "It seems to me that a good peace would be made between us two, if it be as the earl says; but, in truth, whatever agreement or peace he may make with me, if I can ever get him into my power, I will cause him to be foully put to death, just as he hath deserved." The Bishop of Carlisle said: "My lord, peace is desirable; but it appears to me that it will be well that you should make the Earl of Northumberland swear upon the Holy Gospels, and on the body of our Lord, that what he has said is true." The Earl of Salisbury and others said: "It is well spoken." The King then said: "Tell Northumberland to come in." Upon which came in the said earl, who can only be likened to Judas or to Guenelon,[101] for he falsely perjured himself on the body of our Lord in everything which he said. When he was in the presence, the King said to him as follows: "Northumberland, if you will assure us by your loyal oath, and swear upon the sacred body of our Lord, that what you have told us from our cousin of Lancaster is true, we will believe you, and will go and lodge at Flint; and there our good cousin of Lancaster can come and speak to us." Then said the earl, who was old and venerable: "Dear sire, I am quite ready to make what oath you wish." Upon which the King commanded that they should chant the mass, for it was still early; which he heard with much devotion as well as all his companions, for he was a true Catholic. When mass had been chanted, he caused the Earl of Northumberland to come forward, who placed his hand upon the body of our Lord which was upon the altar in the presence of the King and of the lords, and swore that all that he had said to the King from Henry of Lancaster was true; in which he perjured himself wickedly and falsely. After the oath had been taken, the King and those present went to dinner, and the King ordered that everyone should get ready to set out to go to Flint after dinner. When dinner was over, the King said to the earl: "Northumberland, for God's sake, be sure you consider well what you have sworn, for it will be to your damnation if it be untrue." The earl replied: "Dear sire, if you find it untrue, treat me as you ought to do a traitor." "Well, then," said the King, "we will go to Flint trusting in God and in our opinion of your honesty." "Dear sire," said the earl, "I will go forward to order your supper, and will tell to my lord the duke what I have done." The King replied: "Go": and the false earl said, on setting out: "Dear sire, make haste, for it is already two o'clock or thereabouts." The earl then left, with his seven attendants, as he had arrived, and rode to the mountain where he had left his men in ambush, who all made very merry, for he said to them: "We shall very soon have what we are looking for...."