The King, setting out, saw Northumberland's men in ambush in the valley, and, when Northumberland came back to meet him, questioned him as follows: "What people are those who are below in the valley?" The earl replied: "My lord, I do not know: I have seen none." "Look before you then," said the Earl of Salisbury; "there they are." "By St. John!" said the Bishop of Carlisle, "I believe they are your men, for I distinguish your banner." "Northumberland," said the King, "if I thought you wished to betray me, I would return to Conway!" "By St. George! my lord," replied the earl, "you shall not return for this month to come; for I shall conduct you to my lord, the Duke of Lancaster, as I have promised him." As he spoke Erpingham came up with all the people of the earl, his trumpets sounding aloud. The King and his companions then saw well enough that they had been betrayed; and said the King to the earl: "The God upon whom you have sworn reward you and all your accomplices at the day of judgment!" Then turning to his companions who were weeping, he said with a sigh: "Ah! my good and faithful friends, we are all betrayed and given without cause into the hands of our enemies; for God's sake have patience, and call to mind our Saviour, who was undeservedly sold and given into the hands of his enemies." "Dear sire," said the good Earl of Salisbury, "we will patiently submit to our lot with you since it is the will of God." So discoursing, with tears and lamentations, they came to Flint, where they lodged the King and his companions in the castle; and the earl and Erpingham set a strong guard over them: which done, the earl immediately took five horsemen, and rode to Chester to relate to the Duke of Lancaster how he had captured the King and conducted him to Flint.
FOOTNOTES:
[101] A notorious traitor, torn to pieces at Aix-la-Chapelle by order of Charlemagne.
ABDICATION AND DEATH (1399).
Source.—Froissart's Chronicle (Hafod Press, 1803), iv., pp. 668, 675, 688.
King Richard was released from his prison, and entered the hall that had been prepared for the occasion, royally dressed, the sceptre in his hand and the crown on his head, but without supporters on either side. He addressed the company as follows: "I have reigned King of England, Duke of Aquitaine, and Lord of Ireland, about twenty-two years, which royalty, lordship, sceptre and crown, I now freely and willingly resign to my cousin, Henry of Lancaster, and entreat of him, in the presence of you all, to accept this sceptre."
He then tendered the sceptre to the Duke of Lancaster, who took it and gave it to the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Richard next raised the crown with his two hands from his head, and, placing it before him, said: "Henry, fair cousin, and Duke of Lancaster, I present and give to you this crown, with which I was crowned King of England, and all the rights dependent on it...."
The inhabitants of Bourdeaux, Dax and Bayonne, were lost in astonishment when they heard that their lord, King Richard, had been arrested and was confined in the Tower of London, his principal counsellors executed, and Duke Henry of Lancaster crowned King, and would not at first believe that such melancholy events had happened in England; but as the reports were confirmed daily by fresh intelligence they were constrained to think them true. The gates of the three cities were closed, and no person whatever suffered to go out, from the sorrow they were in, more particularly those of Bourdeaux, for King Richard had been educated among them. They were sincerely attached to him, and he always received them kindly when they waited on him, inclining naturally to comply with every request they made him. On first hearing of his misfortune, they said: "Ah, Richard, gentle king! by God, you are the most honourable man in your realm. This mischief has been brewed for you by the Londoners, who never loved you, and their dislike was still increased by your alliance with France. This misfortune is too great for us to bear. Ah, King Richard! they have acknowledged you their Sovereign two and twenty years, and now they imprison you, and will put you to death; for, since they have crowned the Duke of Lancaster King, that consequence must follow...."
It was not long after this that a true report was current in London of the death of Richard of Bourdeaux. I could not learn the particulars of it, nor how it happened, the day I wrote these chronicles. Richard of Bourdeaux, when dead, was placed on a litter covered with black, and a canopy of the same. Four black horses were harnessed to it, and two varlets in mourning conducted the litter, followed by four knights dressed also in mourning. Thus they left the Tower of London, where he had died, and paraded the streets at a foot's pace until they came to Cheapside, which is the greatest thoroughfare in the city, and there they halted for upwards of two hours. More than twenty thousand persons, of both sexes, came to see the King, who lay in the litter, his head on a black cushion, and his face uncovered.
Some pitied him when they saw him in this state, but others not, saying he had for a long time deserved death. Now consider, ye kings, lords, dukes, prelates and earls, how very changeable the fortunes of this world are. This King Richard reigned twenty-two years in great prosperity, and with much splendour; for there never was a King of England who expended such sums, by more than one hundred thousand florins, as King Richard did in keeping up his state and his household establishments. I, John Froissart, canon and treasurer of Chimay, know it well, for I witnessed and examined it, during my residence with him, for a quarter of a year.