In the year 1407 there occurred a pestilence in the City which carried off, Stow says, thirty thousand in London alone. Nothing, however, is said about it in Holinshed, or in the Chronicle.
In 1409 there was a great and noble tournament held between the Hainaulters and the English.
In order to gratify the richer part of the commonalty by keeping out the country, those who flocked into the towns and wanted to learn trades and be apprenticed, Henry passed a law forbidding any to be apprenticed who had not land to the extent of 20s. a year. The act was repealed, however, in the next reign.
Everything points to a condition of great prosperity in the City before the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses. After every restoration of order the prosperity of London goes up by leaps and bounds. Many important buildings were erected: the Guildhall was removed to its present site from its former site in Aldermanbury “and of an olde and lytel cottage, made unto a fayre and goodly house”: Leadenhall Market was built: the walls of the City were repaired and strengthened: the City Ditch was drained out and cleaned: a new gate was built: the streets were lit at night, or ordered to be lit, which is not quite the same thing: and, as we have seen, the rich merchants gave large and costly gifts to the City.
The consideration and respect in which the City was held at this time is illustrated by the fact that when Parliament granted the King a shilling in the pound on all lands they placed the money in the hands of four Treasurers, three of whom were citizens of London.
In the year 1412 the Sheriffs were called upon to prepare a return of the amount of lands and Tenements held in the City—for purposes of taxation. The gross rental of the whole City was returned at £4220, or, in our money, about £60,000, which would not now represent Cheapside alone. But comparisons based on the assumed modern value of money at any period are at best unsatisfactory. How, for instance, can we reconcile the fact that Richard Whittington’s estate was worth no more than £25 a year with the great sums which he possessed and spent?
The death of King Henry is a thrice-told tale. Let Fabyan tell the story:—it belongs to the Annals of Westminster.
“In this yere, and xx days of the moneth of November, was a great counsayll holden at the Whyte Freres of London, by the whiche it was amonge other thynges concluded, that for the kynges great journaye that he entendyd to take, in vysytynge of the holy sepulcre of our Lord, certayne galeys of warre shuld be made & other pursueaunce concernynge the same journay. Whereupon all hasty and possyble spede was made: but after the feest of Christenmasse, whyle he was makynge his prayers at Seynt Edwardes shryne, to take there his leve, and so to spede hym upon his journaye, he became so syke, that such as were about him feryd that he wolde have dyed right there: wherefore they, for his comforte, bare hym into the abbottes place, & lodgyd him in a chamber, & there upon a paylet, layde him before the fyre, where he laye in great agony a certayne of tyme. At length, whan he was comyn to himselfe nat knowynge where he was, freyned of suche as then were aboute hym, what place that was: the which shewyd to him that it belongyd unto the abbot of Westmynster: and, for he felte himselfe so syke, he commaunded to aske if that chamber had any specyall name: whereunto it was answeryd, that it was named Jerusalem. Than sayd the kynge, louvynge be to the Fader of Heven, for noew I knowe I shall dye in this chamber, accordyng to the prophecye of me beforesayd, that I shulde dye in Jerusalem: and so after he made himself redy, and dyed shortly after.”
Other details given by Monstrelet bear the stamp of truth.
“The king,” he says, “in great pain and weakness lay before the fire, his crown on a cushion beside him. They thought him dead. Then the Prince took up the crown. But the king recovered, it was a fainting fit before the end. ‘Fair son,’ he asked, ‘why hast thou taken my crown?’ ‘Monseigneur,’ replied the Prince,‘here present are those who assured me that you were dead, and because I am your eldest son and to me will belong the crown when you have passed from life, I have taken it.’ Then said the king, with a sigh, ‘Fair son, how should you have my right to the crown when I have never had any, and that you know well?’ ‘Monseigneur,’ replied the Prince,‘just as you have held it and defended it by the sword, so will I defend it all my life.’ Then said the king,‘Do with it as it seemeth good to thee.’”