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VOL. I.

A HISTORY

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A HISTORY

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A HISTORY

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of

FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES DOWN TO THE PRESENT CENTURY

BY

GERALD BRE.NAN

EDITED BY

W. A. LINDSAY, ESQ., K.C., M.A. (WINDSOR HERALD)

IN TWO VOLUMES

Folume £

LONDON

FREEMANTLE & CO.

217 PICCADILLY W

MCMII

OR

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DEDICATED

TO

HIS GRACE

Dufce of IWortbumberlanfc

K.G.. P.C.

CONTENTS

PACK

List of Illustrations ..... xi

List of Genealogies ..... xi

Introductory, Notice by the Editor . . xiii

Author's Preface .... xv

CHAPTER I

How the Percies won foothold in England — William de Percy, called " Als-gernons," first baron of that name — The obstinacy of William " Als-gernons," and his death as a Crusader — Of the three Barons who followed William "Als-gernons" ..... 1-12

CHAPTER II

How the Percies linked their name with Northumberland — Henry, second Lord Percy of Alnwick ; victor of Neville's Cross — Henry, third Lord Percy of Alnwick ; a small warrior with a great heart — Henry Percy, first Earl of Northumberland — How Percy stood for John Wickliff— Of Harry Percy, called " Hotspur " — The Quarrel with John of Gaunt — How " Hotspur" earned his war name — Sir Thomas Percy, states- man and soldier .......

CHAPTER III

The Douglas and the Percy — The bloody battle of Otterbourne — The Percy and the King — Sir Thomas Percy, Ambassador — The House of Lan- caster and the Percies — Some letters of Hotspur — Nesbitt Moor and Homildoun Hill — Hotspur's rebellion and death — How Hotspur marched to Shrewsbury — Shrewsbury : Hotspur's last battle — The re- sults of defeat — The end of the first Earl of Northumberland . 42-88

CHAPTER IV

The son of Hotspur, Henry, second Earl of Northumberland — Romantic legends concerning Percy — The home life of the second Earl — The restored Earl and his doings — Trial by combat — Fresh border wars —

viii CONTENTS

PAGE

Percy against Nevill— The battle of St. Albans— Henry, third Earl of Northumberland — The League of the Young Lords — The Queen and the young lords — Wakefield and St. Albans : Lancastrian revenge — Towton Field : a black day for the Percies — Sir Ralph Percy, last of the soldier brethren — The end of the " Gledd of Dunstanburgh " 89-120

CHAPTER V

Henry, fourth Earl of Northumberland — Border warfare and Richard III.V reign — Northumberland pleads for the people, and is by them slain — The Earl's children . . . . . .121-155

CHAPTER VI

Henry Algernon Percy, fifth Earl, styled the "Magnificent" — A Queen's- progress — The Earl fined for "abduction" — The Earl's domestic life — The Battle of the Spurs and Flodden Field — Cardinal Wolsey and the Earl — Matchmaking Shrewsbury — A change comes over the spirit of the fifth Earl — Northumberland again escorts Queen Margaret — Field of the Cloth of Gold and its results — Northumberland's unpopu- larity and embarrassments — Sir William Percy upholds the name — Last deeds and death of the " Magnificent" Earl — The long arm of Wolsey ........ 136-171

CHAPTER VII

Henry "the unlucky," sixth Earl of Northumberland — The King's rival makes reply — The end of the romance — Earl only in name — The Cardinal's spies — The Earl sets his back to the wall — A wight Border Warden — The saving of young Humphrey Lysle — Angus flies to Eng- land and Northumberland revisits Court — Husband against wife — The Cardinal's fall — Forbearance of the Earl .... 172-210

CHAPTER VIII

Debts : and the defence of the Border — Fire and sword — Josceline Percy and his line — Lawlessness at home — Anne Boleyn once again — The mockery of a trial — The last days of the Queen — The Pilgrimage of Grace — How Thomas Percy rebelled — The dying Earl remains loyal — The sixth Earl's death — the King and the Countess . . 211-25;

CHAPTER IX

Heirs of a barren heritage — Earl Percy once more — A wight Lord Warden — Death of Mary : Cecil's spies breed trouble — Northumberland resigns >n disgust — Trouble brewing in the North — Mary Queen of Scots and

CONTENTS ix

PAGE

the Earl— The affair of the copper mine— The supposed Catholic plot —Northumberland will not to Court— The Rising of the North— Pro- clamations and counter-measures— Progress of the Rising— A very solemn ceremony— The insurgents march southward— The end of the Rising ' 254-3°2

CHAPTER X

Flight of the Earls— The "Thieves of Liddesdale "—Betrayal of the Earl

A respite for Earl and Countess — England tries other methods —

Slaughter and spoliation— Some of the victims— Raid and counter- raid : Northumberland in Lochleven— Lady Northumberland goes oversea— A faithful wife- Spies among the exiles: Master John Lee — " Far above rubies "—A black bargain— The Earl sold to his doom —Outcry against the traitors— Avarice begets " clemency " : the Earl is respited— Examination of the prisoner— The Earl's doom is sealed —The Earl's last progress— The last hours of Thomas Percy— Inter- ment of the Earl, and his beatification by the Roman Church— The brave Countess . . • 3°3-363

INDEX TO VOL. I. . . . 36S

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Village of Perci ....... Frontispiefc

Hotspur's Seat, Tower of London, by Herbert Railton . . Facing page \ Seal of Henry, first Baron Percy . . . .,,,,18

Seal of Henry, second Baron Percy . . . . ,, ,, 22

Seal and Autograph of Henry, first Earl of Northumberland . ,, ,, 28 Cockermouth Castle, from Buck's " Antiquities " . . ,, ,, 36 First Earl of Northumberland, from Harleian MS. " Deposi- tion of King Richard " (Lithographed in Colour) . . ,, ,,64 Bamborough Castle, by Herbert Railton . . . ,, ,,84 Seal of Henry, second Earl of Northumberland . . . ,, ,,89 Hermitage, Warkworth, by Herbert Railton . . ,, „ 91 Plan of Alnwick Castle . . . . . . ,, ,, 98

Percy's Cross, by Herbert Railton . . . . ,, ,, I2O

Seal of Henry, sixth Earl of Northumberland . . . ,, ,,174

Autograph of Henry, sixth Earl of Northumberland . . ,, ,, 189

Prudhoe Castle, from Buck's " Antiquities " . . . ,, ,,192

Warkworth Castle, from Buck's " Antiquities " . . . ,, ,,216 Ingelgram's Cell, Tower of London (monogram one-third actual

size), by Herbert Railton . . . . . ,, ,, 249

Autographs of Thomas, seventh, and Henry, eighth Earl of

Northumberland . . . . . ,, ,, 280

Alnwick Castle, by Herbert Railton . . . . ,, ,, 306

Thomas, seventh Earl of Northumberland, from Adolphus'

" British Cabinet " . . . . . . ,, ,, 336

The Draw-well and Court-yard, Alnwick Castle, by Herbert

Railton . . . . . . . ,, ,, 350

LIST OF GENEALOGIES

Table I. From William de Percy, to Henry, ninth Baron Percy Facing page 6

Genealogy of William of Scotton . . . . ,, ,,126 Table 2. From Henry, tenth Baron Percy, to Henry, eighth

Earl of Northumberland . . . . ,, ,, 168

Genealogy of Ann Boleyn ..... Page 176

xiv INTRODUCTORY NOTICE

are here revealed, and the result is very unfavourable to the reputations of the mighty dead. Her relations as a girl with Northumberland add a pathos to the life of Anne Boleyn, and to her cruel death, which the author has well delineated ; and no one of his readers can fail to be impressed with the degradation to which her royal seducer and judicial murderer descended from a splendid pedestal. In respect, too, of the religious schism and re- sultant changes in the English Church, the Percy history indicates how far worse and inexcusable was the Catholic persecution by Protestants under Elizabeth and James than was that of Protestants by Queen Mary. The author is not personally known to me. I assume that his sympathies are Catholic. But after every effort to resist his influence the reader of these volumes cannot fail to be convinced, and, if he is candid, to conclude, that our popular school histories, written in the Protestant in- terest and to flatter the national vanity, .ire far — very far — from veracious.

And yet Protestantism as understood on the Continent seems never to have prevailed in England except in the reign of Charles. The nobles of England, and more particularly the ancient nobles, had an influence which at last overcame unscrupulous demagogues and arbitrary kings. And among these nobles the Percies stand pre- eminent. Catholic, but not Ultramontane ; monarchical, but steadfast opponents of tyrants ; they contributed more than their share to the development of the National Church and Constitution. Heroes in war, pioneers of learning, martyrs for religion, are all represented by Percies ; while from the earliest period of authentic re- cords there has been no grander title than that of King or Earl of Northumbria.

W. A. L.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

IN its original scope and character, as planned by the author and his publishers, this history of "The House of Percy " differed materially from the two volumes now issued. It was intended to produce a brief, popular account of the great race of Louvain-Percy, somewhat in the nature of a series of sketches dealing with the race's more remarkable scions and their adventures, warlike or romantic. Indeed, it was not until the book had been practically completed, and even partly printed in this form, that other counsels prevailed, and it was decided by the publishers that there was room for a more extended work. This fact must serve to excuse sundry discrepancies which the observant reader will no doubt discover, especially in the first volume. For instance, space being of the utmost value under the earlier scheme, the author was driven to curtail his references as much as possible, and to content himself in many cases with a general mention of the work drawn upon. Of course where really important points appeared to demand confirmation, he endeavoured to give volume and page of all authorities quoted. When his simple narrative was suddenly transformed into an elaborate historical production, the task of printing the first part had proceeded so far that the publishers deemed it expedient to interfere very slightly with the footnotes, references, &c., appended thereto, and a desire for uniformity in the second volume has rendered that portion of the " House of Percy " less precise in these matters than the severe historian might wish. Still all facts of vital importance, and all leading matters in dispute, to which reference is made by the author, will, VOL. I xv b

xvi AUTHOR'S PREFACE

it is anticipated, be found to have been annotated sufficiently, if not quite exhaustively.

The present Duke of Northumberland objected to further search among the documentary collections of Alnwick Castle and Syon House as unnecessary. The author had therefore to fall back upon the manuscripts preserved in the Record Office, and upon the published researches of Bishop Thomas Percy and the late Edward Harrington de Fonblanque (both authorised chroniclers of the third dynasty of Percy) for his main facts. In most cases where the "Alnwick" and "Syon MSS." are alluded to, he may be understood as referring to MSS. quoted either by Bishop Percy or De Fonblanque, if not by both. "The Household Book" of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, for instance, was first transcribed and published by the indefatigable Bishop of Dromore. The " Chronicle " of Friar Peeris, to which frequent reference is made, has also been published, as have the ninth, or "Wizard" Earl's curious "In- structions" and "Advice" to his son. To De Fonblanque's " Annals of the House of Percy," 1 a work prepared practically under the eye of the late Duke of Northumber- land, and largely from original sources, the author is under manifold obligations.

The author may, perhaps, be blamed for dwelling too extensively upon the claim of James Percy, the "Trunkmaker," to the Earldom of Northumberland; but he felt that the mystery which still surrounds that case, as well as the undoubted efforts made by those in author- ity to suppress both Percy and his evidence, justified him in setting forth the known facts in full. Researches in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire have, so far, failed to throw any further light on the question of James Percy's ancestry. It may be that the undeniable fear of the "Trunkmaker" evinced by Earl Josceline's female representatives and the stubborn manner in which they blocked his efforts, arose, not from any knowledge of

1 These Annals were privately printed and limited to a few copies.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE xvii

the justice of his claims, but rather from a desire to keep the actual male heir of the house of Percy in ignorance of his rights. For an actual male heir there almost certainly was — if not James Percy of Dublin, then probably Alan Percy of Beverley or one of that branch.

To the author's mind, one of the most interesting features of the Percy family history is the curious change, or series of changes, which came over the character of the race after growing luxury and love of court life had led its chiefs away from their native Borders. From being a line of rugged warriors, the Earls of Northumberland became, firstly, a line of courtiers, and subsequently (after they had experienced the perfidy of princes) one of broad-minded statesmen. Strength of arm gave place to subtlety of mind : but with the growth of their intellectual powers, the Percies began to fail in bodily stamina, and to become as physically weak as they were mentally vigorous. The bloody Wars of the Roses could not destroy this fruitful stock while still rooted in its congenial North ; but once transplanted to city soil, and trained in the new fashions of Elizabethan and early Stuart times, it withered lamentably, and well nigh perished altogether. What a difference exists between the picture of young Hotspur, that "infant Mars in swaddling clothes," leading the assault upon Berwick while not yet in his teens, and the sickly Earl Josceline, learned in many sciences, yet doomed to die in early man- hood, the last male of his line. But even had they desired to do so, the Percies could not have remained Border chieftains after the Reformation. The policy of the Cecils, and of the monarch whom they served, altogether forbade that ; and the seventh and eighth Earls lost their lives because, while owning the old, noble blood, and following the ancient faith, they had dreamed of reviving the Percy viceroyalty north of the Humber.

LONDON, April 1902.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY

THE FIRST LINE OF PERCY

WHEN William the Conqueror came with his warriors lo

crush the Saxon power, there dwelt in Lower Normandy,

hard by the burgh of St. L6, a certain noble

Perdes won family, known, from its chief domain, by the sur-

'11 name of De Perci.

Tradition bestows upon these lords of Perci a remote Scandinavian origin ; and monkish historians afterwards traced the house from those old Danish sea- rovers who harried every European shore from Shannon mouth to Tiber. In the words of Dugdale : — " This ancient and right noble family do derive their descent from Mainfred de Percy, which Mainfred came out of Denmark into Nor- mandy, before the adventure of the famous Rollo thither." l And a rhyming chronicler of the fifteenth century2 tells us that a son of this Mainfred the Viking was one of those who fought side by side with Rollo, first Duke of Normandy :—

" Rollo 's associate that was called Jeffrey Percie, A right valliant knight, gracious and fortunate, Whose father, named Mainfred, was fallen unto fate."

There exists, moreover, a specious pedigree professing to deduce the line of Perci from this Geoffrey Fitz-Mainfred,

1 Dugdale, Baronage of England, art. " Percy."

2 The Metrical Chronicle of the Percye Family: by William I'eeris, elk. lie was chaplain to the fifth Earl of Northumberland.

2 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

through four generations of Counts of Caux, down to the sturdy William de Perci styled " Als-gernons," who brought the blood to England.

But no trustworthy evidence can be set forth of Danish Mainfred's existence, or even of the source from which the race of Perci sprang. Sir Francis Palgrave points out that none of the Norman invaders thought of claiming descent from Scandinavian Jarls and Vikings until long after the Conquest. The very name of Duke Rollo's father was apparently unknown j1 for this progenitor of many kings is described in the chronicles as " senex quidam in partibus Daciae." Normandy, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, had probably a population as heterogeneous as that of ancient Italy, or as that of modern England.2 The race of Perci may well have been Celts or Franks, rather than Danes ; indeed the tradition that their forebears held the fief of Perci before the coming of Duke Rollo would seem to bear out such a supposition.

Nevertheless, for the benefit of those that choose to believe in tales, long later told, of Norman pedigrees — for those, in fact, that gloss over, or forget the animal careless- ness of the Neustrian vikings in regard to ancestry (as so well exemplified in the case of that great chief of the race, William the Conqueror), the often-quoted stem of the ancient Perci may here be set down. It is as follows : —

"MAINFRED; 'who came out of Denmark into Normandy, before

the advent of Duke Rollo ;' he begat : — GEOFFREY; associate of Hollo ; baptized at Artois, A.D. 912; lie

begat : — WILLIAM, Sieur de Perci, governor of South Normandy, and

Comte de Caux; slain by Hugh Capet; he begat : — GEOFFREY II., Comte de Caux, Sieur de Perci, &c. ; he begat : — WILLIAM II., Comte de Caux and de Poictiers, Sieur de Percy;

he begat : — GEOFFREY III., Comte de Caux and de Poictiers, Sieur de Perci,

&c. ; reputed father of William de Perci, who settled in the

North of England, and of Serlo de Perci, Abbot of Whitby."

1 Palgrave, History of England and Normandy, vol. i. p. 70.4. a Ibid., vol. iii. p. 480.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 3

From whatsoever people they drew their being, it is at least certain that, at the coming to England of Duke William in A.D. 1066, the Percies were firmly and broadly settled upon Norman soil. William de Perci, Count of Catix and Poictiers, then chief of his name, held the ch&teau of Perci near Villedieu, in what is now the arrondissement of St. L6, department of La Manche ; together with other great estates in both Lower and Upper Normandy. Accord- ing to the rhyming chronicler already quoted,1 and to the genealogists who have accepted his traditions, it was this Count William who first settled in England, and planted the name of Percy north of Humber. The weight of evidence seems wholly opposed to this theory. Had the puissant Count of Caux and Poictiers landed upon these shores, his name and titles would surely have appeared in the list of " les grands "— in the roll of the greater nobles who accompanied the Conqueror. But no such dignities may be found therein ; and, as the most accurate and pains- taking historian of the Percies 2 justly observes, it is far more likely that the William de Percy who came hither from Normandy was some cadet, some scantily portioned scion of the elder stock. There is another place named Perci in Normandy — Perci-en-Auge, situated in Calvados — from which he may have taken his territorial name. We know that a powerful family of Perci remained behind in Normandy, and sustained the dignity of Count down to the period immediately preceding the French Revolution. In 1757 this line was represented by Antoine-Guillaume de Perci, Comte de Monchamps, Baron de Monchauver &c., Chevalier of several orders, who had married on March 3, 1710, Frangoise du Pui d'Igni.3 The Comte de Monchamps was son of Guillaume, Sieur de Perci by Marie de Crennes, Dame de Monchamps, and grandson of Robert, Sieur de Perci by Huguette de Chiffrevast.

1 Friar Peeris.

2 De Fonblanque, Annals of the House of Percy, vol. i. p. II.

J Dictionna.ii-cG{ntalogique,HcraItiiqitc,&c,,\Qme.\\\. p. 21 (Paris: Duchesne '757). " Avec Approbation du Roi."

4 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

This family, however, although it asserts kinship with the English Percies, bears for arms — "sable a chief indented or." Male descendants of the line survive in Lower Canada and in Martinique — the name having been corrupted in the latter place to " Percin."

To revert to William de Percy " Als-gernons," in no con- temporary record is he described by the title of Count ; and it is difficult to understand what became of those large estates in Normandy, which he must have owned had he been the lord of Caux and Poictiers. There is good cause to doubt whether Percy crossed the channel with Duke William at all, or took any part in the battle of Hastings. In some of the various lists which purport to be copies of the lost Roll of Battle Abbey, his name is to be found. In others, names resembling "Percy" — (such as " Percehay " and " Pacy," given by Leland) — occur. But in Holinshed's list, and in several of the versions published by Duchesne,1 the Sire de Percy is not mentioned among the companions of the Conqueror. And, to quote from a document of his own time, the Register of Whitby Abbey positively asserts that " Hugo d'Avranches and William de Percy came into England in A.D. 1067," — i.e. the year after the Conquest.2

De Fonblanque3 advances the theory that Percy already possessed lands in England, being one of the Normans brought in by Edward the Confessor, and afterwards ex- pelled by Harold. The supposed new-comer was nick- named by his own countrymen "Als-gernons" (or, as we would say, " With-the- Whiskers"), which showed that he had adopted the Saxon fashion of permitting hair to grow upon the cheeks, " a habit wholly at variance with Norman customs." On more than one occasion he showed a strong sympathy with the defeated race, as when he interceded earnestly for Earl Gospatrick after the revolt of 1069, and he married a Saxon lady, called by the chronicles " Emma de Porte," probably because she inherited Semer, near

1 fJistoriae Norniannoriim Scriptoies Antiimi. '* Monast. Angl. (Harleian MSS.). 3 Annals of the House of Tercy.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 5

Scarborough, then a notable seaport. " Emma of the Porte .... was Ladye of the Semer beside Skarburgh afore the Conquest. . . . William Conqueror gave (her) to Syr William Percye."1 All of which facts show that Percy was unusually well disposed towards the Saxons and their ways, if indeed he had not been domiciled in England before the Norman invasion. From Domesday Book we learn that he held in capite eighty-six lordships in the North Riding of York, exclusive of Whitby (which be obtained in a manner to be told presently); thirty-two lordships in Lincoln ; and many broad acres in Essex and Hampshire. The recital of his landed estates in Domesday Book occu- pies nearly eleven closely printed columns.

A man of obstinate domineering character, not untinged

by superstition, yet enlightened and charitable beyond his

time, — such was William de Percy, nicknamed

William de i r i • if i_

Percy, called "Als-gemotis. He made for himself a home in "Ais-ger- wnat was then the Wilderness of Yorkshire, that

nons first

baron of that tract laid waste by the infamous Hugh Lupus, nephew of the Conqueror, and there strove with might and main to repair the desolation wrought by the wolfish Earl of Chester. Hugh Lupus, to quote from Palgrave, had turned the entire region between York and Durham " into a desolate desert, bounded by a wide circuit of ruins."2 The wretched inhabitants were slaughtered ruthlessly, or driven to hide with the beast in forest or moor. Their homes were levelled with the earth ; their crops wantonly destroyed ; their flocks and herds driven southward, across the Humber. The torch seared what the sword could not smite ; hunger and pestilence gleaned in the wake of that red harvest ; until there fell upon the land a solitude so profound that, we are told, "the very birds hushed their voices and were still."

Into the midst of this desolation rode William de Percy, to claim the blackened, blood-soaked lordships granted to him by grace of his liege the king. Little by little he drew

1 Register of Whitby, Harl. MSS., 692, 26. 2 Hist, of England and Normandy.

6 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

the starving, wild-eyed English out of their lurking-places, filled their mouths with food, and found work suited to their weakness. A soldier before everything, he first built and fortified the castles of Spofforth and Topcliffe, which long remained the chief strongholds of his line.1 But this pre- caution taken, he turned his broad blade into a plough- share ; and set his vassals, Norman as well as Saxon, to make the waste places fruitful, to bring back the stolen herds, and to rear new homes upon the ruins of the old. For full twenty-five years he laboured among his people, before the desert began to smile ; but, in the end, success was his. In the North Riding of York to-day there is not a field of grain or a field of grass that does not owe some of its sap to the generous obstinacy of William de Percy.

It is this very sturdy obstinacy which gives us the key to the second part of Percy's history. In all broad Eng- The obsti land there was no more obstinate man than nacyofwu- William " Als-gernons." It was an age when ge™on*"and both Throne and Church claimed absolute his death as sway,— each in its own dominion ; yet it may

a Crusader. , . . . -1,1 -,, • , •

fairly be said that neither to priest nor to king did this first English Percy yield one inch of way. The man's headstrong nature may well be shown by a dispute which raged for years over the control of Whitby Abbey. William I. had given the site and lands of Saint Hilda's ancient convent to Hugh Lupus ; but Lupus had little use for a Whitby which he himself had laid waste, so that in due time the estate found its way into the possession of William de Percy.2 Straightway Percy reared a new Abbey upon the ruins of that founded by Saint Hilda ; and brought over from Normandy his old friend Reinfred to rule as abbot. With Reinfred came some two-score of friars and lay-brethren, gathered with unfortunate haste from the riff-raff of " frocked companions " who had followed the Normans to England. Among these was one

1 Camdcn. — Surtees' Durham. 2 Register of Whitby.

:Y

GERBERGA, dau. of Henry, >eror of Germany.

LAMBERT I., nt of Brabant and Louvain.

.A OK THURINGIA.

(ist iv.) I.TUS, = CLEMENCE, dau. of William, Duke of Burgundy.

Adelira, = WILLIAM DE Godfrey II.,

the " Fair Maid ALBINI, Count of Brabant

of Brabant," Earl of Arundel. and Louvain.

Queen of Eng- I land ; d. 1151.

" I I I

ANSTACE, JOAN, ALICE, AGNES,

m. Ralph m. Henry m. Ralph de /«. Eustace de

Fitz-Ralph, Ferlington. Haringwood. Baliol. Lord of

Middleham.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 7

sleek monk, who, working upon Abbot Reinfred's simple nature, shouldered himself into the position of prior. This man was soon at odds with William de Percy, upon the subject of the charter under which the abbey held its lands.1 Percy refused to make the charter absolute, reserv- ing for himself a certain jurisdiction over the territory of Whitby. Violent quarrels ensued, during which the Baron of Topcliffe was threatened with the wrath of Mother Church. A certain number of the brethren sided with their feudal lord, so that dissensions reigned even within the abbey walls. At length Percy, refusing to brook the prior's menaces longer, boldly

"... broke into the spence, And turned the cowls adrift."

The malcontent party, without exception, was driven forth from Whitby, only old Abbot Reinfred and those favourable to the founder being permitted to remain.2 The banished friars laid their woes before the king ; and a stern reprimand, accompanied by orders to reinstate all the complainants, came speeding North. But Percy roundly refused to obey the king's commands. " Only those monks personally agreeable to him," he declared, should occupy his Abbey of Whitby.3 He summoned his own brother, Serlo de Percy, from overseas, and had him chosen abbot in lieu of old Reinfred. But this Serlo possessed many of the family characteristics, and it was not long before the brothers, baron and cleric, were at war over the old question of the abbey charter. Serlo de Percy fled to the court of the new king, William Rufus ; and presently returned with that monarch's mandate to the effect that the monks were not to be interfered with by the feudal lord. The baron's sole reply was to march a troop to Whitby ; and, despite royal displeasure and threats of excommunication, to drive Abbot Serlo and those who upheld him away from the monastery.4 In the end the monks were glad enough to come to terms. The goodly

1 De Fonblanque. 2 Ktgistcr of Whitb}.

3 Ue Fonblanque. 4 Register of Whitby.

8 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

slice of land which Percy had shorn from Whitby, and given to his faithful squire Ralf de Eversley, was permitted to remain in that honest soldier's hands.1 Well pleased with the bestowal of this — apparently the chief bone of conten- tion—and satisfied with having outlasted the anger of two kings and as many abbots, Percy then permitted the banished brethren, headed by Serlo, to return to Whitby. Peace was finally concluded after a warfare of nearly twenty years, and a new charter granted to the community.2

In 1096 William de Percy donned the Red Cross, and joined Robert of Normandy's forces in the first attempt to conquer Palestine. But he was not fated to share in the crowning exploits of the Crusade ; for he died, " within sight of Jerusalem," in the autumn of the same year.3 His body was buried at Antioch ; but Ralf de Eversley carried his heart back to England, where it was laid by the reconciled Abbot Serlo, in the chapel of Whitby Abbey.

So lived and so died William de Percy, called " Als- gernons," first baron of his name in England. By his English wife, Emma de Porte, he left four sons,4 of whom the eldest, Alan, was his successor. There is little doubt but that William " Als-gernons" had been summoned in right of tenure to the councils of the Conqueror and of Rufus. His brother Serlo, reinstated as Abbot of Whitby, lived on until A.D. 1102 ; and, on his deathbed, secured the abbot's chair to his nephew, William " Fitz-Alsgernons."

History tells us little of the second baron by tenure of the House of Percy, save that he was called "Magnus Alanus," or " Great Alan " ; that he kept intact Boons' who the wide possessions of his father ; and that his followed wu- wife was Emma de Ghent, daughter of Gilbert gernons." c^e Ghent, Baron of Folkingham, and grand- daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders. This was a powerful and illustrious alliance, for Emma was also

1 Register of Whitby.— De Fonblanquc. : Register of Whitby.

3 Memorials of Fountains Abbey, Surtees Society.

4 See Percy Genealogy, Plate I.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 9

grand-niece of Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I. It is pro- bable that "Great Alan" fought under the latter sovereign in Normandy and France ; at any rate the ancient arms of Percy, — "azure five fusils in fesse, or" — lost none of their prestige while he bore them upon his shield. He died in A.D. 1 1 20, and was buried beside the heart of his father, in Whitby Abbey.1 Besides several children by his wife, Emma de Ghent,2 he left a natural son, Alan de Percy, of whom we shall hear later as a shrewd captain fighting against his native country in behalf of the Scots.

The eldest son, William, became third Baron de Percy ; but his one noteworthy deed was the founding of Handel Abbey.3 He died in A.D. 1133, and was succeeded by his only son, William de Percy, fourth baron. At the age of twenty-five, this William led a goodly band of Yorkshiremen to fight with King Stephen against the Scottish invaders ; and at the Battle of the Standard (A.D. 1138) he showed a prowess, which was all the more noteworthy from the fact that his uncle Alan de Percy, natural son of " Great Alan," was among the leaders of the enemy. Of this bastard Percy, we are told that he was one of the most skilful captains of his time. It was considered no shame that he should serve under King David of Scotland, and against his own kith and kin ; for the majority of the Anglo-Norman nobility had learned to hate Stephen, and, but for the massacres perpetrated by the Scots in their southward march, it is likely that Northumbria would have sided with the hosts from over Tweed. Alan de Percy strongly urged King David not to abandon the good position which he had taken up ; and, had his advice been taken, the fortunes of the day at Northallerton might have been far different. As it was, Malise, Earl of Strathearn, broke in upon Percy's good counselling, and angrily demanded why David hearkened to "that Frenchman."4 Ajax prevailed over Ulysses. Percy was overruled, and the Scottish host suffered a signal defeat. Some authorities hold that Alan " le Meschin "

1 Register of Whitby. - See Genealogy, Plate I.

3 De Fonblanque. 4 1'eeris" Rhymi>ig C/iron., Surtees, &c.

io THE HOUSE OF PERCY

(as he was called) perished at this Battle of the Standard ; others that he escaped, and founded a family in North Britain. But to his nephew, William, the chief of the house, were increased honours and estates ; especially when, on the death of Stephen, there came to the throne Henry Plantagenet, grandson of good Queen Matilda, and thus a blood relative of the Baron de Percy. Among other additions to his territorial power, this fourth baron acquired 10,000 acres in the neighbourhood of Petworth, in Sussex, to be held directly from the Crown.1 He founded the Abbey of Sawley or Salley in Craven, where many of his de- scendants were afterwards buried. By his first wife (Adeliza de Tunbrigg, daughter of Richard, third Earl of Clare) he had four sons, none of whom left issue,2 and two daughters, in whom all his baronies, manors, and other rights and titles became vested. Legend gives to him a fifth son, unrecognised by the genealogists, but who may possibly have been illegitimate. Allusion is made to Ralph de Percy Lord of Smeaton, hero of the penance referred to by Scott in the second canto of Marmion. The old Northumbrian story tells how Ralph de Percy, hunting through Whitby Forest, in company with a Herbert and a Bruce, started a fine boar, which sought sanctuary in the adjacent chapel of Saint Hilda, The priest of the chapel made haste to close its doors ; but Percy and his companions, enraged at being thus baulked of their quarry, broke sanctuary and slew both protecting friar and hunted beast upon the steps of the altar. For this crime they must have suffered death had it not been proved that, as he lay on the threshold of heaven, the poor priest had blessed them, prayed for them, and given them absolution. But, by way of penance, they were compelled each year on the anniversary of their fell deed to repair to the forest where it was committed, and to gather up and carry to Whitby Abbey a bundle of faggots for the brethren's use. Other pains and penalties were said to have been laid upon Percy ; and one of these is still commemorated by the local authorities of Whitby. Every

! De Fonblanque. 2 See Genealogy, Plate I.

THE HOUSE OP PERCY n

year, on a certain day,1 the representatives of the lord of the manor proceed solemnly to a fixed spot upon the shore, and exclaim three times " Out on ye ! Out on ye ! " by way of showing the detestation and horror with which they regard the sacrilege committed by Percy. This curious ceremony was last performed in May 1901 in the presence of a large concourse of people.

From this and other evidences, it seems highly probable that Sir Ralph de Percy of Smeaton really existed, and was concerned in the brutal murder of the forest priest. But it is far more likely that, in place of being a son of William, fourth baron of the name, he lived a generation later. A Sir Ralph de Perci, grandson of Baron William, is mentioned in all the pedigrees of the house ; and this Ralph, for some reason not stated, is described as having " returned to France, and settled in Provence, where he married a lady of the house of De Jennes, and founded a family long existent in those parts" If he had been one of the rude invaders of the forest sanctuary, Sir Ralph's departure from English soil might easily be explained. It is interest- ing to note that his last male representative, the Chevalier de Perci, fled to London during the bloody period of the French Revolution, and was hospitably entertained at Sion House by the second Duke of Northumberland.

When William, fourth baron, died A.D. 1168, he was succeeded by his daughters, Maud and Agnes de Percy. The former had married William de Newburgh, Earl of Warwick, who fell in the Crusades A.D. 1184, without issue ; when his widow paid to the Crown 700 marks for assignment of dower, and the right to marry again "according to her liking."2 At this time she must have been fifty-two years of age ; 3 and it does not appear that any suitors "to her liking" were tempted to come forward. At her various castles she maintained a rude state, verging on royalty. In a grant to the monks of Tadcaster, she speaks of acting "by the advice of the Lord Vavasour

1 Ascension Thursday. " De Fonblanque. 3 Born circa 1132.

12 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

and others of our faithful lieges, and of our whole Court." l She died in 1203, at the age of seventy-one, bequeathing the half of her father's estate which she had inherited to her youngest nephew, Richard de Percy. Now such a bequest she had absolutely no right to make. Dying childless, her estates should have passed to her sister Agnes, who thus became the sole heir. But the Countess Maud was apparently a person of strong will, and had moreover taken a fancy for the aforesaid nephew, Richard, in whom she perceived something of the old doughty spirit of William " Als-gernons." The eldest nephew, Henry,2 was already dead, and his son a child, so that Maud found less difficulty in persuading her sister Agnes to enter into a " family covenant " by which the great Percy estates should continue divided. This led later to serious complications, and gave Richard de Percy an excuse for usurping a title to which he had no right, — that of Baron de Percy. Having accomplished thus much in favour of her nephew Richard, Maud de Percy died A.D. 1203, and her sister and co-heir, Agnes, became sole inheritor of the line which, for five generations, had lorded it over the North Riding. But the Lady Agnes only survived her sister two years.3 Last of the original family planted in Yorkshire by William "Als-gernons," she passed on the great name and heritage to the sons whom she had borne to her husband, Josceline de Louvain. With her burial in Whitby Abbey began the story of the second and more splendid dynasty of Percy.

1 Monast. Angl., vol. v.

" Wrongly styled " Sixth Baron de Percy." He died in his mother's lifetime. See Genealogy, Table I. 3 She died A.D. 1205.

II

THE SECOND LINE OF PERCY ; ITS BEGINNINGS

WHILE the Lady Agnes de Percy, eventual heiress of the race, was in her sixteenth year, and as yet unwedded, it occurred to the shrewd Queen Adeliza of Brabant, second wife of Henry I., that no fitter match than this could be found for her own half-brother, Josceline de Louvain. Accordingly she hastily summoned young Josceline from Brabant,1 and established him at Court, where Agnes de Percy was a Maid of Honour.

Now the birth and ancestry of this Josceline de Louvain were as splendid as his estate was slender. The younger son by a second marriage of Godfrey " Barbatus" Count of Brabant and Louvain, he possessed little of land or gold ; but he descended in the direct line from Charlemagne, through Louis " Oultre-mer," King of France and Count of Brabant.2 His mother had been Ida, daughter of Albert, Count of Namur ; and his half-sister Adeliza had, as we have seen, married King Henry I. of England. Thus, if his eldest brother Godfrey II., Count of Brabant and Louvain, inherited all, or nearly all, of the paternal estate, Josceline had, at least, many royal and noble relatives to whom he might fairly look for advancement. Moreover, he appears to have been of handsome presence, and great skill in tourney ; with that equability of temper which is very desirable in the young man who aims to achieve a rich and happy alliance. Not long had

1 Register of Whitby. 2 See Genealogy, Table I.

14 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Josceline sojourned in England before the Dowager Queen Adeliza began to make overtures in his behalf to the father of Agnes de Percy. Old Baron William, albeit somewhat dazzled by the splendours of the house of Louvain, and its indubitable descent from Charlemagne, had no intention that the name of Percy should be forgotten in Northumbria. So, before he would consent to a marriage between the Lady Agnes and Josceline de Louvain, he put forward certain alternative conditions. " This Jocelyn," says the Whitby MSS., "... wedded this dame Agnes Percye upon condition that he shold be called Jocelyn Percy, or els that he shold bare the arms of the Ldrd Percy ; and he toke the counsell of his syster, and he chosx rather to be called Jocelyn Percy than to forsake his own armes (which be feld ore, a lion rampant azure) ; for so shold he have no right title to his fathers inheritance, and so of right the Lord Percy shold be Duke of Brabant, tho tJiey be not so indede'' : And in his Rhyming Chronicle the good Friar Peeris tells us that : —

" Therefore in co-elusion, he chose to holde hs owne arinys styll, And to take the name of Percy at the saide Lady Agnes' ivil."

The date of this marriage is not certain ; but it probably occurred about A.D. 1150, when Agnes de Percy was in her seventeenth year. Queen Adeliza conferred upon her brother, by way of a wedding gift, five and a half knight's fees in Yorkshire, and the honour of Petworth in Sussex. He lived for the remainder of his career in great splendour ; and is chiefly remembered for the many rich gifts which he made to abbeys and religious houses. His death occurred previous to the accession of Richard I. — A.D. 1189. The Lady Agnes survived her husband until 1205; in which year she was buried on the day of her patron saint, in Whitby Abbey. The inscription on her tomb eommemorates this event : — •

" Agnes, Agnetis festo tumulatur, et istis Idem sexus, idem nomen et una dies."

It was doubtless considered a happy omen for the eternal

1 Register of Whitby.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 15

life of Agnes de Percy, that she should have been laid to rest on St. Agnes' Day.

The eldest son of Josceline de Louvain and Agnes de Percy having died in his mother's lifetime,1 his only child, William, now became by right Baron de Percy. But this William was only fifteen years of age ; so that his uncle, Sir Richard de Percy, found no difficulty in usurp- ing not only the administration of the entire estates of the family, but even the baronial title as well. Indeed Richard is generally accepted by genealogists as the sixth (or as some wrongly have it, " seventh ") Baron de Percy. It has been told how his aunt, Maud de Percy, discern- ing in him some of the domineering spirit of William Als-gemons, had contrived, by an illegal arrangement, to settle upon this youngest of her nephews the half of her father's possessions to which she had succeeded. The character of Richard did not disappoint his aunt's ex- pectations. He proved a veritable reincarnation of the obstinate, acquisitive founder of the family. Not even when his nephew, William, came of age, would he resign either the estates or the title of baron ; and this too in the face of the royal command, and the fact that William de Briwere had been appointed the young baron's guardian.2 Such usurpations were common enough at that period when the strong hand was a law unto itself. A few years later Richard Cceur-de-Liori s kingdom was appropriated in his absence by John ; and the same John treated his nephew, Arthur of Bretagne, much as Richard de Percy attempted to treat the lad whose rights he had so coolly seized. But, in the case of the Percies, it must be owned that the uncle was by far the more admirable character. Young William, seventh Baron de Percy, was of a sluggard disposition, as may be judged from his tame submission to the usurpation of his relative. Not until he had reached middle-age did he make any effort to regain his ravished lordships, and, even then, his struggles against the Baron Richard were but faint-hearted. On the other hand,

1 See Genealogy, Table I. 3 De Fonblanque.

16 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Richard de Percy, sixth baron by dint of occupation, was a man of iron will and unfailing energy. When (as is asserted by some historians, and by others — including Mr. Andrew Lang, — seriously questioned) Richard I., with a view to raising money for the Crusade, wished to sell the county of Northumberland to the King of Scots for 15,000 marks, Baron Richard led the fierce opposition aroused by this project among the northern nobility.1 In spite of this, however, he managed to retain the favour and friendship of Cceur-de-Lion, who summoned him to his councils, and gave him many other signs of good-will. One of these latter is so curious, and withal so charac- teristic of the time, that it will bear repetition. The king, desirous of replenishing Percy's coffers without emptying his own, formally bestowed upon the baron a certain wealthy Jew, to be farmed out for profit. The Jew was given in lieu of lands or money ; and Percy, while entitled to take abundant toll upon all the financial transactions of this son of Jacob, was bound on the other hand to protect and defend him against the rapacity of others.2 Perhaps the arrangement was not such a bad one for the Jew as it may seem at first sight. After several years of successful "farming," we find Percy making over his Jew to Queen Alianore for a goodly sum in gold.3

If Percy cherished a friendship for " Cceur-de-Lion," for King John he had nought but hatred. Against this monarch he had many private grudges, one of which was the cruel starving to death of his kinsfolk, the Lady de Braose and her son, in the dungeons of Windsor Castle. Seventh on the list of barons who, at Runnymede, forced John to sign Magna Charta we find the name of Richard de Percy, and the same name occurs among the twenty- five elected guardians of the Charter. The sturdy patriot- ism of Percy had refused to sanction King Richard's sale of Northumberland ; yet, such was his hate of John, that he willingly surrendered to the Scots king, Alexander, the

1 De Fonblanque, &c. - Madox, Antiquities of the Exchequer. :i Madox.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 17

same territory, as the price of the latter's help against the English sovereign. Into the cause of the French prince, Louis, Percy threw himself vigorously, so that all his lands were declared forfeit. But no sooner was John dead than the northern baron returned to his loyalty, swore allegiance to Henry III., and had his possessions back again — if indeed his loss of them was anything more than nominal. It was not possible, however, to bribe him into forgetfulness of the provisions of Magna Charta. On the assembly of Parliament in 1237, Henry III. asked for a subsidy of one-thirteenth upon all movables. The demand having been duly recorded, the barons pre- pared to go "into a private place for deliberation," as their custom was. Gilbert de Bassett, a close friend of the king, said aloud to his master : " My lord the king, send some of your friends to go along with the barons to their delibera- tion."1 Whereupon, we are told, "Richard de Percy, not without reason angered at this speech, arose and answered him : 'What is it, Friend Gilbert, that you say ? Do you take us for foreigners, and not the king's friends ? ' And Gilbert stood reproved for his rude and rash words." 2

Meanwhile Richard de Percy's nephew, William, had been gradually induced to assert himself, probably through the influence of his wife's relatives, the family of Baliol. He had recourse, however, to the courts of law rather than to the only code recognised by his uncle — that of the strong hand. As a result, Baron Richard defied every effort to dislodge him until 1234; when the king him- self was appealed to, and a compromise was effected by which Richard was left in undisputed possession of the barony and estates until his death, after which William was to inherit both, to the exclusion of the usurper's sons.3 Thus until the very hour which ended his life, Richard maintained himself in the position of head of the house. In 1244 he died, and was buried in Whitby Abbey.

When William, seventh Baron de Percy, at length came to his own, he was in his fifty-second year ; nor did he live

1 Matthew Paris, Hist. Klaior, p. 435. " Matt, Paris. 3 De Fonblanque.

B

i8 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

long to enjoy the undisputed barony. In 1245, less than a year after his uncle's death, he too passed away. By his first wife,1 Eleanor de Baliol, he left seven sons, of whom the eldest, Henry, became eighth Baron de Percy. In 1249 this Henry had livery of his lands, and was accorded per- mission to marry as he pleased, on payment of £900 — a very large fine even for a baron. He inherited little of his father's faineant nature, fighting valiantly in Wales and Scotland, and in 1263 suffering confiscation and attainder because, with the other barons, he had protested in arms against the king's extravagance and the ever-increasing swarm of foreign favourites at Court. But the arrogance of Simon de Montfort seems to have disgusted him, for he eventually returned to the king's side and was taken prisoner while fighting under the royal standard at the battle of Lewes. In the following year he helped to negotiate the treaty between Henry and the royal barons. By his marriage with the Lady Eleanor Plantagenet, niece of the king,2 he knitted still closer the ties of relationship between the family of Percy and the reigning house. Dying in A.D. 1272, he made way for his son, another Henry ; who, inheriting as ninth Baron de Percy by right of tenure, was summoned to Parliament as Lord Percy in 1298-99. This nobleman became the first of the border Percies. An infant at the time of his father's death, Queen Eleanor of Castile was appointed his guardian ; and his early years were spent as a page at Court. After a bitter quarrel with the monks of Fountains Abbey over a question of game rights — it is interesting to note that the Percy was ever ready for a conflict with the ecclesiastical power — he was sent at the head of an army against the invading Scots, and succeeded in arresting their march. When barely twenty-two, the king picked him out of many other aspirants to head the English archers in Gascony ; and from this time onward young Percy's life was crowded with wars and forays. Wherever blows were sounding, there might be heard the cry of " Esperance ! Esperance ! " for the

1 See Cciicabgy, Plate I. a Ibid.

SEAL OK HKNRV, FIRST IIAKOX I'KRCV

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 19

Louvain Percies, while they retained their own arms, had gladly taken the fine motto of the former line, — " Esperance en Dieu ! " The ninth baron fought in France, in Normandy, and in Wales ; but it was along the Scottish borders that his deeds of greatest prowess were wrought. In 1296, his cousin Edward I. knighted him before the gates of Berwick ; and, for his share in the victory of Dunbar, he was made Governor of Ayr and Galloway, and a Custodian of the Borders. In 1300 he was at the siege of Caerlaverock ; his pennon being described in the curious heraldic poem written upon that occasion : —

"Jaime o un bleu lyon rampant Fit sa baner bien vuable," J

And in the next year, we find him once more at odds with Mother Church ; signing, with 103 other barons, the famous letter of remonstrance addressed to Boniface XII. against papal encroachments.

Those were the days of William Wallace in Scotland ; and, while Aymer de Valence was the nominal commander of the English forces against the knight of Ellerslie, Henry Percy unquestionably bore the brunt of the war. John Blair, the faithful chaplain of Wallace, while extolling his hero fervidly, is fair enough to admit that the latter's adversary, Percy, was

" True, and ay of great avail, Sober in peace, and cruel in battail."

In 1306, Percy took prisoners Alexander and Thomas Bruce ; and withstood a siege from the Scottish army, until relieved by the Lord Umfreville. When Edward I. lay dying at Burgh-on-Sands in 1307, he summoned three of his most trusted barons to his bedside, and administered to each in turn a solemn oath to secure the succession to the Prince of Wales. The names of the chosen three were Henry de Percy, Aymer de Valence, and Robert de Clifford. This trust was faithfully carried out ; and Percy's reward was

1 Siege of Caerlaverock, Col/on MSS.

20 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

the new king's permission to purchase a fortress upon the borders, with an important lordship which should make of his race a permanent bulwark against Scottish inroads. In this way the House of Percy was transplanted from the soil of Yorkshire to the district beyond Tyne ; for the castle and lordship which the ninth baron coveted most were those of Alnwick.

Alnwick, in Northumberland, had first been held by Gilbert de Tesson, the Conqueror's standard-bearer at Hastings. From the family of De Tesson, it Percies passed to that of De Vesci * ; and in 1092 the Scots namedwi'thr ki"8» Malcolm Canmore, met his death at its Northum- gates. In i2io it was a most important border stronghold, still belonging to the De Vescies. But in 1297 William de Vesci, dying without lawful heirs, was permitted by the king to enfeoff Anthony Beke, Bishop of Durham, in the castle, to hold it in trust for Vesci's natural son, William, then a minor. Beke, however, treacherously sold lordship and castle to Henry de Percy in 1309. The latter can scarcely be blamed for his part in the transac- tion ; for, upon learning that Beke had acted illegally, he offered to the heirs of Vesci the sum of 700 marks by way of compensation ; and in this manner secured a final release, and full possession of Alnwick. His first endeavour was to repair the castle ; which, since the death of the elder Vesci, had been allowed to fall into a dilapidated condition. He built the barbican, the gate-house of approach, the western garret, the Abbot's Tower, the Falconer's Tower, the Armourers' Tower, the sally-port, the Constable's Tower, the Ravine Tower, and many other portions of the castle as it stands to-day.2

In the meantime, the first mutterings of the storm had arisen about Edward II. and his favourite, Gaveston. During the second Parliament of this reign, Percy was elected one of the Twelve Ordainers, whose duty it was to "regulate" the royal household ; but whose scarcely concealed object

1 De Fonblanque. '- Surtees ; De f'onblanque.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 21

was the overthrow of Gaveston. The favourite being shut up in Scarborough Castle, Pembroke and Percy followed him thither, and induced him to surrender. There is nothing to show that Percy was guilty of bad faith in this transaction. It is known that he merely desired the banish- ment of Gaveston ; and with the latter's execution by order of Warwick he had nought to do. Yet Edward II. strove to visit his vengeance upon the new lord of Alnwick, and ordered his immediate imprisonment and the confiscation of all his lands. In this emergency the strong Baronial League stood stoutly by Percy, however ; and he was included, the king's wishes notwithstanding, in the General Pardon which followed. Repairing to Court, he soon made his peace with the vacillating Edward, and even obtained the Governorship of Scarborough and Bamborough Castles, with the Wardenship of "all forests on this side Trent," and free warren of his great estates in Yorkshire.1 In 1314 he marched with the king to Stirling ; and shared in the utter overthrow of the great English army at Bannockburn, on June 23 of that year. In attempting to cover Edward's headlong retreat, Percy fell a captive into the hands of his old enemy Bruce.2 He was speedily " ransomed for anayle " ; and returned to Alnwick to die, as some de- clare, of a broken heart by reason of England's defeat, in November I3I4.3

He who now succeeded as second Lord Percy of

Alnwick and tenth baron by tenure was but sixteen

years of age at his father's death, yet already

secS Lord renowned for his skill in tourney, and the

Percy of promise which he gave of becoming a stout and

Alnwick ; * ° . 3

victor of tearless captain. I his promise was, in the end, CrTss165 fully Justined- Of the fourth Henry Percy of the line it is written in the records of Alnwick,4 that he became "beyond all his forebears, the most famous and powerful." Long before his twenty-first year he had

1 De Fonblanque. 2 Hardyng's Chronicle.

3 Iitijiiisitionts Post Mortem. * Chronicle of Alnwick Abbey.

22 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

carried the Blue Lion many times successfully against the Scots, and had earned praise and popularity by the vigour with which he stamped out baronial brigandage and law- lessness north of Humber. In 1322 he was knighted, and accompanied the king on an expedition to the walls of Edinburgh. Against Edward's new favourites, the Spensers, Percy made a firm stand ; and he was of the party of that " she-wolf of France," Queen Isabel, until — after the murder of the king — her behaviour and that of her paramour, Mortimer, set all that was honest in England against them. Then the Lord of Alnwick drew sword for the young king, Edward III.; and his name is among the list of peers who passed sentence of death upon Mortimer. Edward rewarded him with a grant of Warkworth castle and lordship ; and he fought by the king's side at the siege of Berwick in July 1333, and at the battle of Halidon Hill. In January 1335, when the Scots came raiding into Redesdale, Percy met them with a picked force and drove them back across the borders. Between 1335 and 1342 he missed none of the battles and skirmishes between Scots and English, save for the brief period while he was in France, serving at the Battle of Sluys.

In 1345 we find the great rival houses of Douglas and Percy pitted against each other. Sir William Douglas had recovered the whole of Teviotdale and the castle of Hermitage from the English ; and he now strove to push his conquests beyond the border. Percy, how- ever, held him manfully in check ; and, after a series of desultory conflicts, Douglas retired into Scotland, for the time being. When, in July 1346, Edward III. sailed for France, he left Percy to keep the North against marauding Scots. In this wise was the baron deprived of a part in the crowning victory of Cre$y ; but it has been truly said that the service which he rendered to his country during the king's absence was fully as useful as both Cre^y and Poictiers together. For it was Percy who commanded the English in the battle of Neville's Cross —

SEAL OK HKNRV, SKCONI) liAKON PKKCY

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 23

that splendid fight which saved the North, crippled the Scottish power, and all but avenged Bannockburn. Taking advantage of Edward's absence, David Bruce in October 1346 invaded England with 50,000 men, marching un- opposed to the gates of Durham. The Constable of the North strove with might and main to muster a goodly army ; but even the name of Percy could not gather together more than 16,000. Nay, the great majority of his troops were "clergymen, priests, chaplains, fryers and the like . . ., yet good, tall trenchermen, such as were not afraid of a crack'd crown, though they had no hair to hide the wound." l Indeed, without the Northern clerics Percy could have offered but little resistance to Bruce and his 50,000. Each of the four divisions of his battle was commanded by a dignitary of the Church, the Arch- bishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of Durham and Carlisle, wielding sword and spear at the head of their men. With Percy too fought scions of all the brave old Northern stocks — Umfreville, Scrope, Mus- grave, Nevill of Raby, Rokeby, Mowbray, and the rest. Border ballads a-many ring with the story of that desperate fray ; in which the English, woefully outnumbered, fought with a valour well-nigh fanatical, yet could not have hoped for victory but for the far-sighted generalship of Lord Percy. In the end the great Scottish host wavered and fled, leaving many thousands dead upon the field, or prisoners in the hands of the enemy. The rout was complete ; Percy following the flying army of invasion as far as Berwick. King David himself, and the flower of the Scots nobility, were among the captives ; and tradi- tion has it that with the gold which he received in ransoms Percy was enabled to rebuild Bamborough Castle, and to add a new tower to Almvick.

Once more, in 1349, Percy harried Scotland, in com- pany with his kinsman Edward Baliol, little resistance being offered to their progress. This was his last ex- ploit. He died suddenly at Alnwick, on February 17, 1 Barnes, p. 378.

24 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

1352 ;a and was the first Percy buried within the walls of the old De Vesci fortress.

The stature of Henry Percy, who succeeded his father

as third Lord of Alnwick and eleventh baron by tenure,

. must have been brief beyond the ordinary ;

Lord Percy since the old English chroniclers, who seldom

indulged in any personal descriptions of their heroes, again and again refer to his small size. great heart. Thg Alnwick chronicle speaks of him as "hie parvus miles" and again as " vir parvce statura " ; 2 but is careful to add that this "man of few inches," this "little knight," was "loyal, brave, and kindly-hearted," and withal "of so generous a mind that he coveted not the lands of others, but remained satisfied with those he had inherited."3 The Lanercost Chronicle4 calls him a "small but skilful captain." When only fourteen he was contracted to the Lady Margaret Plantagenet, daughter of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, and great-granddaughter of Henry III., — the second marriage of a Percy with a member of the royal house in a period of little over half a century. From boy- hood upward he was his father's constant companion on field and foray, acting successively as page, squire, and lieutenant to that scourge of the Scots. More lucky than his father, however, he followed Edward III. to France, and led a Northumbrian levy at the battle of Crecy.5 But no sooner had Crecy been won than, sniffing border war- fare from afar, the "little knight" hastened back from Picardy ; and rode blithely down into the North to draw a sword in that stalwart army of " priests, chaplains, fryers and the like," which his sire had brought together for the defence of Durham. Thus it was his enviable lot to take part in the victory of Neville's Cross, with the hard dints of Crecy still fresh upon his armour. At one critical mo- ment, when the English showed signs of retreat before the Scottish onslaught, he is credited with a brave deed, which

1 Chronica MonasUrii ilt Alneuykc, 2 Alnwick Chronicle. 3 Ibiil.

4 Lanercost Chronicle, p. 350. 5 Rot. Franc., 20 Edw. III.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 25

helped materially to turn the tide of fight. Resolving to shame these tall borderers into holding their own, he rushed ahead of his men, hacking furiously to right and left with his great sword ; so that at sight of so much courage in so small a soldier, the Northumbrians took heart of grace, and followed shouting upon his heels.1 The Scots too, embarrassed by the little man's attack, gave way before his blows ; and a great press of Northern knights closing about Harry Percy, the first vantage of the day was won.

After his father's death, Percy was on many occasions Warden of the Scottish Marches ; and it is not improbable that it was during his career that the hunting fray of Chevy Chace (since wrongly confounded with the battle of Otter- bourne) took place.2 It is certain that many such bloody encounters happened between the forces of the English Warden and the musters of Douglas. It will be re- membered that in the older Ballad of Chevy Chace, the leader of the English is styled not " Earl Percy " (as in the version of the Reliques), but

" The Percie out of Northuinberlonde."

However, the period of Chevy Chace, and the identity of the Percy who took part therein, have long been questions upon which antiquaries cannot pronounce decisively. The character of the stout baron who vowed to take his pleasure in the Scottish woods " in spite of doughte Douglas" bears no little resemblance to that of the third Lord of Alnwick. Brave to the point of rashness, yet supremely generous to a fallen foe, the Percy of the ballad is our "parvus miles " to the life. The manner of the eleventh baron's death is not stated, but we know that it occurred on June 17, 1368.* He was buried beside his father in Alnwick. No mention has hitherto been made of his brothers,4 one of whom, Thomas Percy, was Bishop of Norwich, while another, Richard, Lord of Semar, was summoned to Parliament as

1 Alnwick Chronicle.

2 See later under the account of Otterbourne, page 46.

a De Fonblanque. 4 See Genealogy, Plate I.

26 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

a baron during the reign of Edward III. Of Percy's sisters, one married Robert de Umfreville, and another Ralph, second Lord Nevill of Raby, both of whom fought beside Percy at Neville's Cross.

The elder son of the eleventh baron was yet another Henry Percy. From his youth up the near relationship which he bore to the royal family brought him first Earfof7' into close association with the Court ; and his Northumber- cousin, John of Gaunt (who was his senior by barely two years), became the constant com- panion of Henry and the latter's brother, Sir Thomas Percy, in their early experiences of war and venerie. At the age of fourteen, Henry Percy served at Poictiers ; and three years later he was married to his cousin, the daughter of Lord Nevill of Raby. In 1360 he proved his skill as a leader of troops in France, earning knighthood at the hands of the Black Prince. With his brother, Thomas, he took part in the costly expedition to Castile in 1364 ; and 1366 witnessed his investiture with the Order of the Garter. In 1367 he was made Warden of the Eastern Scottish Marches, to which, a twelvemonth later, was added the care of the Western Marches as well, so that the peace of the entire border was in his keeping.

Meanwhile his brother, Sir Thomas Percy, had also been winning fame as a stout and adventurous knight ; and in the pages of Froissart many stories of his prowess may be met with. He succeeded stalwart John Chandos as Seneschal of Poitou, and in that capacity took Moncontour and St. Severe. At the latter battle his cousin, Sir William Percy — there were several of the name then warring at home and abroad,— fell in the escalade, bearing the English standard. When Thomas Percy was at length wounded and taken prisoner by that strange mercenary, the Welsh soldier-monk Owen, outside Soubise, the Black Prince gladly yielded up the fortress of Levroux as the price of his kinsman's freedom.1

1 DC Fonblanque.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 27

While Thomas shouted " Esperance " so lustily in France, be sure that upon the Scottish Marches Harry was not idle. A brawl at Roxburgh Fair in 1370 between Northumbrian yeomen and Scots brought swords flashing and arrows flying ; so that many vassals of Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, met their death, and the English bowmen had much the best of the fairing. But vengeful Earl Patrick had no thought to suffer such an affront in his own bailiwick ; so, mustering his moss-troopers, he broke across the western border, and swept Cumberland like a whirlwind, carrying off a great booty of prisoners, horses, and kine. Naturally this foray brought about immediate reprisals on the part of the English. Skirmish followed hot upon skirmish, raid upon raid ; until at length Percy raised a large army, and invaded Scottish territory. If the successes of the House of Percy be herein faithfully set down, its failures and defeats must not be forgotten ; and this luckless expedition proved a defeat and a failure verging on the laughable. Scots rhymers, as quick to seize upon the satirical side of the English repulse as their descendants were long afterwards to hold the rout of "Johnny Cope" up to death- less ridicule, have left us a metrical account of the invasion and its results. It may be that they have somewhat exaggerated the humorous features of this inglorious campaign, but their verse is well worth perusal. Speaking of Percy, we are informed that

" With sevin thousand of no/nil men and wycht, He came till Duns ; and thair he baid all nycht." l

During the night, however, some Scotch shepherds had occasion to blow upon the rude horns which they used for the purpose of frightening away deer and wild cattle from their flocks. Startled by the hideous uproar, the horses of the Northumbrian army stampeded ; and a wild panic followed among the troops themselves. Cries were heard on all sides that the Scots were coining ; and, heedless of

1 Bulk of Chroniclis of Scotland.

28 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

their leader's threats or entreaties, the frightened English fled helter-skelter back to Northumberland —

" Sone by theflouries in the dew didfleit: And kit the Percie pas hame on his feit." l

Soon after this untoward retreat, serious disputes arose between Percy and the first Earl of Douglas, in conse- quence of hunting expeditions which the Lord of Alnwick had been accustomed to make along the southern fringe of Jedburgh Forest. Several bloody skirmishes resulted, any of which might have supplied the germ of " Chevy Chase." At length Douglas, finding that he could not put an end to Percy's Scottish hunting by force of arms, laid com- plaint before the English Court ; and the king appointed Commissioners to settle the matter. It does not appear that these peacemakers were very successful in their efforts ; for, after a while, the feud broke out with more vigour than ever, matters being complicated by the fact that Douglas took to hunting in Northumberland in his turn. But a brief lull there was, while the Commissioners nosed over musty charters, and questioned woodmen ; so that in 1373 Lord Percy found time to cross channel, and draw his good sword in France. He took with him a picked company consisting of twelve knights, forty-seven squires, and 160 mounted men.2 With him too went his son Harry, a boy of eight, — afterwards to hew his way to fame as " Harry Hotspur." The French campaign how- ever proved unsuccessful. The great captain, Du Guesclin, roundly defeated the English on land ; while the fleet was almost annihilated by a French armament off Rochelle. As commander of one of the vessels in this engagement, \ve find Percy's brother, Thomas, whose restless energy had led him to exchange land-fighting for the perils of the sea. Just in time to save England from utter disgrace, a truce was patched up ; and Lord Percy — who appears, at this portion of his life, to have been a particularly unlucky commander — returned dejectedly to Alnwick.

1 Buik of Chroniclis. '* De I'onblanquc.

A-

SKA I. AND Al'TOKKAlMI OF HKNKV, KIKST KARI. OF NORTHUMHKRLAND

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 29

But the news which met him as he crossed the Humber was of a kind calculated to shake off dejection, and awaken the lust of vengeance. The good advice of the king's Commissioners notwithstanding, hunting quarrels had again kindled the torch of war upon the borders. It was Sir John Gordon who, on this occasion, had a grievance against the Northumbrians ; but when blows were to be struck against Percy and Percy's men, there was no holding back the Earls of Douglas and of March. Gordon, Douglas, and March raided the countryside from Berwick to Newcastle, retiring into Scotland with bloody spears and a great prey of cattle. Swift on their heels came Percy, his soul still hot with recent French defeat ; and Teviotdale paid dearly for the harrying of Nor- thumberland. Fight succeeded fight, raid followed raid, all through the years 1375-76. A savage fury seemed to possess both Scots and English. In the words of the old rhymer —

" They spairit neither titan nor wyfe, Voting or old of mankind that bare lyfe ; Like wilde wolfis in furiositie Baith brint and stove with greate crueltie," J

The feud seems to have spent itself, for the time being, at the close of 1376.

When John of Gaunt embraced the cause of Wickliff in 1377, Lord Percy was not slow to join his old friend. In

his usual sturdy manner, he took up the cucl- stoixi roT^ gels for the Yorkshire priest ; and, during Wick- johnWick- jiffs march through London to appear before

the bishops at St. Paul's, Percy acted as his protector, walking armed in front to shield the sup- posed heretic from the fury of the crowd. Even in the cathedral he persisted in keeping guard over Wickliff in defiance of the protests of Courtenay, Bishop of London. The mob (set on, it is said, by Lord Fitz- Walter) broke into

1 Metrical Chronicles.

3o THE HOUSE OF PERCY

his house,1 and into the Duke of Lancaster's palace (the Savoy) with the intention of killing them ; but wily John of Gaunt had spirited Percy away before these forerunners of the Gordon Rioters arrived. The fanatical 'prentices (such they were in 1377, as in 1780) satisfied themselves by work- ing havoc in the Savoy and Percy house ; while the two chief sympathisers with Wickliff escaped by water to Kensington, where they were sheltered by the Princess of Wales.2

Immediately after the accession of Richard II., and before the coronation of that ill-starred monarch — i.e. on July 1 6, 1377— Percy was elevated to the dignity of Earl of Northumberland, chiefly through the powerful influence of John of Gaunt and the new queen. Since the Conquest, this proud title had been held by twelve earls — six of Saxon, three of Scots, and three of Norman blood. Henceforward, save for certain brief intervals, it was destined to be identi- fied with the name and race of Percy.

At the same time the newly created earl became Earl Marshal of England despite the vigorous opposition offered by the Lady Margaret, daughter of Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, and rightful inheritor of that office. This dame, from whom the present Earl Marshal (the Duke of Norfolk, K.G.) descends, failed in her efforts to supplant Northumberland. It would appear that the earl's hereditary obstinacy prevented him from yielding before he had ful- filled the duties of his newly acquired office at the king's coronation. Having done this, he was satisfied. The ceremony over, he at once resigned the Earl Marshalship, with all its privileges and dignities, in favour of the Lady Margaret. History does not tell us if the fair Plantagenet showed any gratitude for this tardy gallantry.

Perhaps Northumberland might have clung to his Marshal's staff a little longer, had not rumours of border

1 Percy House then stood on the west side of Aldersgate Street, on the site of the Bull and Mouth Inn, say the old topographers. His son Hotspur owned a house in Wood Street, near Goldsmiths' Hall.

1 Fonblanque.— Life of Wickli/, &c.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 31

warfare and Scottish inroads summoned him to the North. Roxburgh was pillaged and partially dismantled by the Earl of Dunbar ; and several minor raids took place along the Eastern and Western Marches. But Northumberland, shaking off the soft trammels of Court, was hard upon the heels of the retiring Scots. Gathering his lieges and supporters as he hastened towards the border, he made a great hosting into Dunbar's territory — sweeping away cattle and gear, burning castles, and bearing down all that barred his way. The Scots were ready with a counter-movement ; and, as he rode homeward, Northumberland learned that they had surprised and captured Berwick. The earl fell upon that place, and, after a fierce struggle, succeeded in once more planting King Richard's banner on the walls. In this exploit he was ably seconded by one whose name is destined to live for ever in the annals of English chivalry — Harry Percy the younger, better known as " Hotspur."

Harry " Hotspur," eldest son of the first Earl of Northumberland, was born in Alnwick Castle on May or Harry 2O» 13&6.1 Even in those rough days it was not Percy, called customary for lads of gentle birth to leave the rule of their tutors and ride forth to war until they had passed the fourteenth year. At the age of eight, while his fellows were yet learning

" To daiince and singe and speake of gentlenesse"

Hotspur had already tasted the stern delights of war. In 1378 he accompanied his father on the campaign against Du Guesclin, serving as a page,2 and wearing in his cap the badge of Percy — the Crescent and Manacles. Next year, when only nine, he witnessed (if indeed he did not share in) the bloody fights between Scots and English ; and, at the coronation of Richard II., this child of eleven became Sir Harry Percy, knighted by the king's hand.

1 His own evidence in the Scrope-Grosvenor trial, 1386. • De Fonlilanque.

32 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

How he came by his famous war-name of Hotspur, \\e have yet to tell.

Scarcely had Berwick been retaken, than the Scots again made themselves masters of this most debatable of fortresses. During the autumn of 1378 a band of border raiders, to the number of forty-four, led by John Hogg and Alexander Ramsay, assailed the town on a dark night, and overcame a garrison said to have been superior in numbers. The greater part of the defenders, together with the acting governor, Sir Robert Boynton, fell before the unexpected onslaught of Hogg and Ramsay, who assumed control of Berwick on behalf of the Scottish king. Northumberland heard the news while riding the Western Marches ; and, furious at the death of Boynton, as well as at the slight which had been cast upon his reputation for watchfulness, took the shortest road for the fallen stronghold. A stubborn resistance was offered by the raiders, who entertained hopes of succour from beyond Tweed. The siege lasted nine days in all ; the final victo- rious assault being led in person by young Harry Percy, to whom his father granted this dangerous honour.1 In spite of sober history's assurances, one must marvel at the story of this urchin of twelve leaping foremost through the breach, and falling, sword in hand, upon the desperate Scots. But doubtless there were stalwart Northumbrians at his side to see that Sir Harry came to no serious harm, and to shout "Esperance!" as they hacked out a pathway for the hope of Alnwick. The slaughter was relentless. Quarter was neither asked nor offered. Hogg and Ramsay fell fighting ; nor of all the stark moss- troopers did one survive.2 So were avenged Sir Robert Boynton and his garrison. But in those days vengeance called for vengeance. A body of Scots broke across Tweed, between Coldstream and Carham, and ravaged the country for leagues. Northumberland summoned a great levy, with the intention of carrying the war into the enemy's country ; and the northern host was actually on

1 Walsingham, Hist. Ansl. a Walsingham.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 33

its way towards Scotland, when couriers came spurring from the king, commanding a truce until next " March- Day." l In vain the Percy and his followers stormed and expostulated. Their sovereign's order could not be overridden ; and so the army broke up, and Scropes, Musgraves, Redmaynes, Rokebies, Swinburnes, and the rest, returned to their homes without striking a blow. In a little while it came to light that this interference with the Lord Warden's border rights had been brought about by none other than his old friend John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The wily Lancaster gave out that it was his intention to lead a large southern force to co-operate with Northumberland in an invasion of Scotland, the like of which had not been seen since the brave days of Edward Longshanks. But Northumberland was suspicious of his ancient associate, chiefly because of the efforts made by the duke to have his own son recognised as next heir to the English crown ; and — as it proved — his suspicions were not ill-founded. John of Gaunt led an army north- ward indeed ; but he held his men inactive in the neigh- bourhood of York, while, by way of Hull and other ports, he kept up negotiations with the King of Scots, — Robert II., first of the royal house of Stuart. All doubts of a secret alliance, between Lancaster and King Robert, were removed when the former's troops, instead of march- ing across the border, began to ravage Northumbria itself ; and when John of Gaunt signed a treaty with his pre- tended enemy, in which terms the most humiliating to England were willingly accepted.2 Rage and consterna- tion spread from Berwick to Carlisle ; and had not Lancaster withdrawn the bulk of his army beyond the Humber, a civil war would almost certainly have followed. As it was, when the duke returned from affixing his seals to the treaty of peace, and demanded admission to the town of Berwick, Sir Matthew Redmayne (who had

1 Walsingham. " March-Day " was the great annual border meeting, at which complaints were heard, and grievances adjusted.

2 Ridpath ; Border History.

C

34 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

succeeded Boynton as acting governor of that place) re- fused to open the gates. Lancaster vainly protested that he came on the king's service ; the sturdy Redmayne roundly answered that no armed body should enter Berwick un- opposed without the direct orders of the Warden of the Marches, the representative of the king.1 And with this reply John of Gaunt had to be content for the time being. As he rode southward no Percy came out to meet him. The man who had stood by his side through war and persecution was now his enemy ; the friendship of thirty years had been broken.

Northumberland was summoned to the royal banquet held at Berkhampstead on the Assumption Day following. The uarrei After the feasting, Lancaster suddenly broke with John of forth into a storm of reproaches levelled against Northumbrians in general, and against their leader in particular. In plain words he accused Percy of high treason, in that he had caused the gates of Berwick to be closed against the royal envoy. The attack had probably been planned beforehand, for the king sat idly by while his uncle hurled denunciations at Northumberland. At length Lancaster plucked off his glove and flung it on the floor of the banquet hall. "/» the presence of the kynge, liere present, I cast doun my gage; rayse it an ye dare;" — these were his words, as re- ported by Walsingham. Perhaps John of Gaunt believed that his royal blood gave him the right to challenge with impunity. If so, he knew nought of the Percy spirit. Northumberland sprang from his seat, and picked up the glove. Then he answered his challenger, as Wal- singham tells us, "after the manner of his race, with furious words" Instantly the hall was in a tumult. The king bade both disputants hold their peace. Lancaster had cunning enough to obey. Percy continued to storm, and was ordered under arrest. Knights and men-at-arms closed in around the earl, and he was borne struggling

1 Walsingham.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 35

out of the hall to a secure prison in one of the castle towers. When the passions aroused by this episode had time to cool, the Earls of Warwick and Suffolk interceded for their peer with King Richard, and succeeded in obtaining his release from durance vile. The two dis- putants were then confronted, and Richard made a praise- worthy attempt to patch up a peace between them. Peace, however, was impossible between John of Gaunt and Henry Percy. Nominally the quarrel ended when they saluted each other and exchanged fair words in the royal presence ; but each man rode away from Berkhampstead yearning for revenge. Lancaster's chance came first. Early in 1383 the conciliatory Richard made Northumberland Admiral of the Northern Coast ; and the earl came to London in order to hold consultation with the Lord Mayor respecting the tax to be levied on commerce for the uses of the Northern navy. The Earl of Devon, then Admiral of the West, also took part in this early meeting of an English admiralty board. Parliament assembling about this time, Northumberland betook himself to Westminster, attended by a large armed retinue ; and there encountered the Duke of Lancaster guarded in like manner. Both lords were in full armour ; and the daily encounters between themselves and their followers greatly terrified the peaceful Londoners.1 At last the king interfered, sternly rebuking Percy ; and the Admiral of the North was compelled to retire to his domains, leaving the field in possession of his enemy.

Meanwhile Lancaster's peace with the Scots had proved sadly abortive. Howsoever King Richard and King Robert might desire harmony between their subjects, it lay not in their powers to effect a lasting truce upon the border under the conditions which then prevailed. The great lords on either side of the frontier had long maintained armed retinues ; and these men, bound to their chiefs by ties of heredity and feudal service, might not be dis- banded and set adrift by the mere signing of a parchment.

1 Stow's Annals.

36 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Northumberland alone could boast of four bannerets, sixty- seven knights, and over a thousand esquires and archers, besides foot-soldiers in large numbers, upon his personal establishment. Among the names of his knights we find those of D'Arcy, De Roos, Le Dispenser, Boynton, Fauconer, Fitz-Hugh, Umfraville, Swinburne, Monbochier, Colvylle, Constable, Delavall, Washington, Conyers, Fenwick, Red- mayne, Luttrell, Mauleverer, and Mitford.1 On the thither side of Tweed, Douglas and Dunbar kept similar armed forces at their beck and call. Scarcely a warrior of them all but had some old wound to avenge, some feud to fight out with his ancestral foes. The seals of all the English and Scottish b.ironage could not have held these bandogs in leash. So it soon fell out that John of Gaunt's peace was rudely broken.

The temptation of finding Percy absent in the West proved too much for some of the Scots barons. Swooping down unexpectedly upon Berwick, they took that luckless town, it is said, through the treachery of Sir Matthew Redmayne's deputy. " 111 news travels fast," and Lancaster heard of the disaster as soon as did Northumberland. The duke was quick to seize this opportunity of compassing his revenge. Parliament was still sitting; and, through Lancaster's influence, the Warden of the Marches was impeached for having twice permitted an important fortress to fall into the enemy's hands. The retaliation was all the sweeter to John of Gaunt, for the reason that this same Berwick had once closed its gates against him. Short shrift was allowed to Percy's cause. His friends were absent or outnumbered at Westminster, and sentences of attainder and death were passed against the earl.- Already Lancaster saw himself dividing the estates and dignities of Northum- berland. He had yet to learn that it was one thing to condemn a Percy to the scaffold, and another to carry out the condemnation. Utterly regardless of the proceedings against him, Northumberland marched against Berwick, and besieged the place so rigorously that " a bird could

1 Cottontail Charters, xiii. 3. - De Fonblanque.

•fMf '• -•*• OJ> PKRCY

•***.>* f,i f"ur bannerets, sixty- , t.»-quires and archers, •••v*»>t;r--., upon his personal r»t«t>'jsh«r • ••-.t. .>>r, "• knights we find those

liovnton, Fanconer, >!-'>nbochier, Colvylle,

Om-^aiti Jit?*-..*'; »-• -liiycrs, Fenwick, Red-

,4l3. ?.r ; ^rd.1 On the thither

• -ar kept similar armed

f.'itir ;>C>-P. .«i. ' ' -; ititrly a warrior of them

~u\;:c njfT w--i •'. • "ge, some f«ntd to fight

•,'jt I .--.iiecMrui i 'e-. 'iiit >eals of all the English

i. id '• ^••:',.^ii h'.trni.tge i- -iui ::nt have held these bandogs

ic* ',v-:*-h. . .*)C.n toil .jnt that John of (Quint's peace

wii- !"'.!<ii.',v hrokt.n.

'I'iu' :i"iipla!i-:% '.'i.'.\:.' iVrcv absent 1:1 the West

i \it, ; ' :*ie Scots baron-;. Swooping

d-nvii i: .1 !'.k, they toc.k that luckless

t:)\»n, -t .,.•-•.: -.':-ichery of Sir Matthew

K shr.av.,'/- !;i news tiavels fast," and Lancaster

ih^d,-i<f .is -*oo;i as did Northumberland. The -Jiil-'e ".a. .j'.:-vl; i -i •!/(. ihis opportunity ui compassing hi.-, rt vi.-ngf, i!,i; -h.imi at v,as still sitting; and, through l,aneaite;'\: i.uj-.iL'nc.-. tin.- Warden <>f the Marches was i;;tpea',-hi'd tor having t \vice pci'mittecl an important fortress '.) fail :nti. thr- -.'iienr, 's hands. The retaliation was all the >\vee'l>'r to TO!H; o* f}annt, for the reason that this same •> closed its gates against him. Short shrift ;i i'>\veii to I'ercy's caii'-e. Mis friends were absent or :i!iUK'ied at Westmsiistei , and sentences ot attainder and death were passed against the car!.- Already Lancaster saw himselt dividing the estate.-, and dignities oi Northum- berland. He had yet to l-ani that it was one thing *o coiidi-'iin a f'er<-v to the scati'old, and another >•> canv cult the condemnation. l't:erly regardless ot the proceedings again^' him, No- thnmberland marched against Berwick, and besieged the pl.-ice so rigorously that "a bird could

1 L n.' ,'.'///;.•/: C 'hart ••' .. \iii. 1 - 1 •- ';• • "'.L;.;'in^.

Jlllll

mi

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 37

not have escaped." Learning, however, of the approach of a large Scots army, and knowing full well that he need look for no aid from the South, he made overtures to the gar- rison, and eventually bought them off with a thousand marks,1 raised from his private resources. Parliament then revoked the sentence passed upon the earl ; and he was pardoned by the king, in spite of Lancaster's strenuous objections.

In 1386 Northumberland, long time a widower, married again. His first consort had been a Nevill of Raby ; his second was the Lady Maud de Lucy, sister and heiress of Anthony, fourth baron of that name, and widow of Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus.2 This dame brought with her a great inheritance, including Cockermouth Castle, in Cumberland, with nine manors, estates in Northumberland, Cumberland, and Lincoln, eight thousand acres of meadow and forest land in Annandale.8 Unkindly antiquaries have hinted that, at the period of her espousals, the Lady Maud was of something more than mature age. However this may be, it is certain that she entertained a deep love for her warrior husband ; since, having no children by him, she settled all her estates upon his heirs male by his former wife.* The only condition imposed was to the effect that the house of Percy should for ever bear, quartered with their own, the arms of the family of De Lucy — gules three luces argent. The wish of the childless countess was honourably carried out by the Percies ; and a glance at the complete achievement of the present Duke of Northumberland will show that the arms of De Lucy still figure in their proper place upon the shield.

About this time all England began to ring with me fame of young Harry Percy. His youth, good looks, and HOW "Hot- absolute fearlessness had caught the popular spur "earned fancy ; and gentle and simple swore that never me' since the days of the Black Prince and Du Guesclin, had the world seen such a knight. But as yet,

1 De Fonblanfjtie. ~ See Genealogy, Table II.

' Suttees; De Fonblanque. * Rot. Fin., 8 Rich. II.

38 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

he was not known as " Hotspur " ; and the bestowal of that famous name came about in this wise. Threats of French invasion were in the air ; and Harry Percy, with his third brother, Sir Ralph,1 were sent by their father to Yarmouth, there to await an attack from overseas. The brothers brought with them from the North a force of three hundred men-at-arms and six hundred lances, all proper fellows and tall, from the banks of Coquet, Till, and Tyne. At first the time passed pleasantly enough at Yarmouth, the Percies and their little force being buoyed up by the hope of a battle with the French. But weeks went by, and no invaders made their appearance. Watching for a foe that came not grew irksome to these gallant borderers — to none of them more so than to Harry Percy. In the North Countrie bows might be twanging, and swords reddening ; while here by the dreary Suffolk coast, nine hundred stout soldiers, the flower of the Eastern Marches, lay pent up and inactive. Percy's impatience grew with every hour. At last he swore by Saint Hilda that if the French came not to seek him, he would go forth to seek the French. Seizing upon every available craft in Yarmouth harbour (for the most part fishing-boats and the like) he hurried his men aboard ; and, dropping down the Channel with a fair wind, landed on the French coast, to the utter amazement of the enemy. Thereafter, and for many weeks, he " made such ridings into the quarters about Calles, that they never wish a worse neighbour." 2 Having thus revenged himself and his merry men against unkind fortune, he sailed back to Yarmouth with a booty worthy of the exploit. His quickness of action on this occasion made him more of a hero than ever; and "Hotspur" was his name thence- forward, first among his own soldiery, and afterwards throughout the length and breadth of England. When he came to London the populace acclaimed him louder than it did the king. To such a pitch did public admiration run, that his very personal defects were copied by the young knights of the Court. A certain hesitation of speech from

1 Sec Genealogy, Chart II. 2 Speed.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 39

which he suffered was eagerly imitated ; 1 and lads of birth and spirit sought eagerly for the high honour of sporting the Percy badge, and serving him as page or squire.

Such a man could not but have enemies. The older courtiers seeing Hotspur already famous at twenty, were consumed with fear and envy. Slanderous tongues whispered of this dare-devil springald in the king's ear, and prophesied evil to the realm if his unprecedented rise were not checked in time. An attempt was even made to kill him2 by sending him across the Channel in a leaky boat ; but he returned successfully, to the confusion of the plotters. In 1386 he was called on as a witness in the suit brought by Lord Scrope, to restrain the Cheshire family of Grosvenor from using the Scrope arms, — azure a bend or. Geoffrey Chaucer was another witness in the same celebrated trial ; which should have possessed a special significance to a Percy, since the Grosvenor family claimed descent from that very Hugh "Lupus" Earl of Chester, whose ruffianly excesses in Yorkshire old William " Als- gernons" had toiled so zealously to repair.3 Northumber- land presided over the trial, which lasted from 1386 to 1389 ; and the adherents of Sir Robert Grosvenor were not slow to accuse the earl of undue partiality towards Scrope,4 who, besides being of the North Country, was also a kinsman of the Percies. The weight of evidence, however, seems to have been upon the side of Scrope. Careful archaeologists have come to look askance upon the tale that the family of Grosvenor sprang from a certain Norman " Gros- Veneur " — a name which, it is pretended, meant "Great Hunter" in the sense of power, rather than in that of corpulence. The suggestion that they merely represented a respectable yeoman stock, long settled at the hamlet of Gravenor, on the Welsh Marches,5 carries with it a far greater sense of likelihood. In any case little credit can be attached to the insinuation (repeated in our own times by

1 De Fonblanque. 2 Holinshed. 3 See Chapter I.

4 Sir II. Nicholas, Histo ry of the Scrope- Grosvenor Trial.

5 The Herald and Genealogist, vols. iv. and v., art. "Grosvenor."

4o THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Sir J. Bernard Burke and other apologists for the House of Grosvenor1), that Northumberland showed partiality as presiding judge, or that the chivalrous Hotspur's evidence might have been influenced by the po\ver and kinship of Scrope.

While his brother and nephews were thus prominently

in the public eye, Sir Thomas Percy advanced rapidly in

fame and influence. During the feud between

Percy,°tates- John of Gaunt and Northumberland, Thomas

manand had taken no active part. Neither had he been

soldier. r

openly identified with the Lollardist movement. Of a politic temper, — the only Percy who had as yet shown any aptitude for the nice affairs of court, — his disposition suited well with that of Lancaster ; and he re- tained that prince's favour long after the rupture with his brother, the earl. But he was no mere courtier, or sleek diplomatist, as his prowess both on land and sea abun- dantly testifies. In 1377, while convoying a fleet of merchant vessels down the Channel, he fell in with fifty Spanish and Flemish ships of war. As Spain was then at peace with England, Percy requested the Flemish to leave their allies and fight with him on equal terms. This was refused, whereupon the English admiral fell upon the united fleets and utterly routed them. In 1379 he was made Admiral of the North, and attempted to carry an army to the aid of the Duke of Brittany. Pre- vented from landing his men by an overwhelming fleet of galleys, he "turned ageyn to Calais, and riden by lande thorw France . . . brent and killed without any resistance" 2 A few months later he joined his ships to. those of Sir Henry Calverley, and defeated the enemy in several engagements,3 taking many prizes. During the great gale of 1379, the British fleet was suddenly dispersed by stress of storm ; and Percy found himself in a single battered and leaking ship, the rudder of which had been carried away, drifting

1 Represented by ihe Duke of Westminster.

'* Cupgrave, Chronicle. 3 Le Neve.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 41

helplessly towards the French coast. Through an entire night the admiral and his men toiled unceasingly to keep afloat. Daybreak came at last, only to reveal a new terror. A Spanish man-of-war, unharmed by the elements, made its appearance, and bore down upon the crippled vessel. But Percy and his sea-dogs, sleepless and weary as they were, had no thoughts of surrender. Awaiting the Spaniard's near approach, Sir Thomas gave the order to grapple and board. At the head of his crew he leaped upon the enemy's deck, and engaged her commander with the sword. The battle which followed lasted for three hours ; but all the foreigners' efforts failed to repel the attack. In the end, the Spanish colours were struck ; and Percy took the captured craft into port, where he pledged her for the sum of ;£ioo. This money was distributed among the survivors of his crew, by way of reward for their bravery.

Not satisfied with this success, the admiral speedily rallied his scattered fleet, and swooped down upon the French armament anchored at St. Malo. Bertrand du Guesclin commanded the enemy ; and, in the crushing defeat which he inflicted upon this great captain, Percy wiped out his own reverse of 1378.

John of Gaunt's pretensions to the throne of Castile resulted in a Spanish expedition, Sir Thomas Percy being chosen to command the fleet of two hundred ships. In the campaign which followed, Percy showed that he could battle as well on land as he had done on sea. Outside the gates of Noya he fought and won a hand-to-hand fight with the Spanish champion, Barrois de Barres. Gallicia he swept with fire and sword, after the manner of border harryings ; and a valorous assault upon Ribadivia with less than eight hundred men, made that strong fortress his. When Lan- caster, according to his custom, concluded matters by a profitable if none too honourable peace, he sent Percy as his chief agent to conduct negotiations with the court of Castile.

Ill

WHILE these things were being done in Spain, the Earl of Northumberland had set his name to a treaty of his own. TheDou las The document still survives, whereby, in the and the year 1386, the head of the house of Percy entered into a solemn covenant with the Scots Earl of Douglas,1 for the peace and protection of the border. The language used by the monkish scribes who drew up the treaty is high-sounding in the extreme, and frequently difficult of comprehension. Douglas and Percy set their seals thereto " at the Water of Eske beside Solozve the xv day of March" 2 But, as we have already observed, parchment compacts were of little avail in curbing the feuds of the East and West Marches. Within a month after the meeting at Eske water, some restless Musgrave or Armstrong led a private foray across the frontier ; and, in spite of themselves, the Wardens were forced to take part in the quarrels and skirmishes that were the natural out- come of this hasty action. For over a year these " cross- road fights " were of almost weekly occurrence ; so that men went armed to mass and merry-making, and coats of mail were donned instead of Lincoln green, when

" To hunt the deer, with horn and hound, Earl Percy took his way."

He it well-defended peel, or rush-thatched shepherd's hut, no borderer's home was secure from attack and plunder. The steers that had been safe in byre overnight, might be driven leagues beyond Carter's Fell ere morning.

1 James, 2nd Earl of Douglas, son of William, ist Earl by Margaret, Countess of Mar ; and grandson of Sir Archibald Douglas, Regent of Scotland, who fell at Hahdon Hill. 2 Fadera, vii. 468.

42

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 43

The snooded maiden, who yesterday danced the morris with her village friends, might be to-day the pale and trembling prisoner, whom my lord was to honour with a " broomstick wedding." The goodly knight or sturdy yeoman, riding out so fearlessly to the chase, was fated, all too often, to find a bloody deathbed among the mosses of the Waterbreak,1 or in the shaws of the Debateable Ground.2 It was soon realised by the great barons of the Marches that actual war — and war upon a large scale — could alone put an end to the reign of rapine and slaughter which prevailed in their dominions. The Scots were the first to strike the desperate blow by which they hoped to bring peace, however short-lived, to the border. In the month of July 1388 they invaded England with 50,000 men, in two columns. The right and larger wing, under the Earl of Fife, advanced, through Eskdale, upon Carlisle. The left, commanded by Douglas, under whom were the Earls of Dunbar and Moray, and Lord Montgomerie, broke impetuously across Tweed and Tyne, laid waste the country as far as Durham, and closely invested Newcastle.

The Earl of Douglas, we are told, was at this time "a noble young knight, a parallel in the honor of arms of Hotspur." 3 But, whatever may be said of his personal prowess, he showed on this occasion a decided lack of generalship. In pushing so recklessly southward his object may have been to measure arms with young Harry Percy, who defended Newcastle. But he had omitted to take cognisance of the elder Percy's movements. This experienced leader, rinding himself at the time unable to stem the tide of invasion, quietly withdrew to Alnwick, and permitted Douglas to pass on his way. But no sooner had the Scottish host sat down before Newcastle, than the Lord Warden emerged

1 "The Waterbreak" was the name applied to the wild and mountainous country stretching from Wark Common towards the Solway Firth, and in which most of the English or Scottish border streams took their rise. For a considerable distance the Waterbreak formed the natural frontier.

2 "The Uebatcable Ground" was the district south of the Scots' Dyke, bounded on the cast by the Esk, and on the west by the Sark. It was claimed by both kingdoms. 3 Speed.

44 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

from his stronghold, and set about raising an army to cut off the enemy's retreat. Douglas had allowed himself to be drawn into a trap.1

The belief that the Scots leader's rapid advance upon Newcastle was largely prompted by chivalrous rivalry of Hotspur, is borne out by the fact that he lost no time in sending a cartel of defiance to the latter. Needless to say, the challenge to single combat was no sooner received than accepted. A course was arranged before the gates of Newcastle, and the two champions advanced unattended to the encounter. Douglas had the advantage alike in strength and age2 (Hotspur had barely attained his majority); but in other respects the combatants were fairly matched. They met "mounted on two greete coursers, with sharpe grounde speares at the utterance"3 Fortune favoured not the Percy. Hotspur was struck in the side, and borne bodily out of his saddle. Fearing lest he might fall into the hands of the Scots, " the Englishmen that stode without the gate made for the rescue, recovered him on foot, and brought him forthwith back into the town."* It is probable that Percy had been stunned by his fall, else he would have made some effort to continue the light dismounted.

This untoward event was galling to the Northumbrians in proportion as it filled the hearts of the Scots with fresh vigour. The victorious Douglas at once ordered a general assault upon Newcastle. Huge heaps of faggots were thrown into the ditches ; and, across these, the invaders attempted to make their way. Again and again they were beaten back ; Harry Percy and his brother Ralph fighting in the forefront of the garrison. So resolute was the de- fence that Douglas determined to raise the siege, and retire towards the border. Perhaps rumours had reached him of the preparations which Northumberland was making to bar his homeward way ; Hotspur was certainly in

1 De Fonblanque.

2 He was born, according to most accounts, in 1358; and was thus eight years Hotspur's senior.

8 Holinshed. * Froissart.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 45

possession of cheering news from Alnwick. Before retir- ing Douglas could not resist flinging a farewell taunt at the unhorsed champion. This was perhaps somewhat un- generous ; but it must be remembered that the action of the garrison in sallying forth to rescue their fallen leader had been contrary to the accepted rules of single combat. Riding within earshot of the walls, followed by a squire carrying Percy's captured lance and pennon, the Scots earl demanded a parley. "Syr" he said, " / shall bear this token of your prowess into Scotland, and shall set it high in my castle of Dalkeith, that it may be seen far off." " Syr," quoth Hotspur in reply, "ye may be sure ye shall not passe the bounds of the countrye tyllye be mett withal in such ivyse that ye shall make none avaunt thereof" " Well, syr" answered the earl, " come you this night to my lodgyngs, and seek for your pennon. I shall set it before my lodgynge, and see if you will come and take it awaye."1 So ended, for the time being, the dispute between these valiant knights. The left wing of the Scots army struck camp ; and the siege of Newcastle was raised.

Several accounts are given regarding the fate of Hot- spur's lost pennon ; but that quoted by Thomas Percy, Bishop of Dromore (who cannot in this instance be accused of partiality) may well be accepted. Quoting from a manuscript (still preserved) at Syon House, Bishop Percy states that the pennon was given by Douglas to his squire, Douglas of Cavers ; and that it continued in the family of that gentleman, who were hereditary Sheriffs of Teviotdale. During a visit to Roxburghshire in September 1774, the bishop was shown the ancient relic.2 He does not describe its appearance after a captivity of well-nigh live hundred years. Tradition tells us that Douglas of Cavers, while bearing the pennon from the field of Otterbourne, was pursued by Harry Percy ; and that this pursuit was the cause of Hotspur's being cut off from his followers." 3

1 Froissart.

3 Natural son of James, 2nd Earl of Douglas. The family of Cavers is now represented by Archibald Palmer-Douglas, Esq., of Cavers, HawicU, N.B. 3 Correspondence of Bishop I'ercy.

46 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Leaving Newcastle, Douglas retired by slow marches,

plundering as he went. Ponteland Castle surrendered to

the Scots : but at the peel of Otterbourne they

The bloody * 1 1 •

battle of met with an unexpected rebuff, the small garn-

Otterbourne.

lies beside the River Rede, in the hilly parish of Elsdon. Half a day's march would have sufficed to carry the Scots safely across the border with their booty ; but Douglas, rejecting the advice of Moray and Dunbar, stopped short before Otterbourne peel, and awaited the approach of Percy.1

The exact date of the battle of Otterbourne is doubtful, but most modern authorities state that the engagement began during the evening of August 19, 1388 — a Wednesday, according to the Julian Calendar. Hotspur had availed himself of the time spent by the enemy before New- castle to assemble a force of horse and foot ; and he looked with confidence for aid from his father, as well as from the Bishop of Durham. It was not in the Percy nature, however, to delay an attack because of temporary disparity in numbers. Without waiting for reinforcements from Alnwick, Hotspur, pursuing, " broke the battle upon the Scottish host." The sun had already set, when he made his onslaught. " Then," says Froissart, " they cryed 'Percy!' the other party cryed 'Douglas!' . . . their two banners melt, and their menne ; there was a sore fight." But the Scots had been clearly surprised, and their hastily- formed line of battle was shattered by the Northumbrians' onset. Darkness closed in, however, before the panic became a rout. The mighty voice of Douglas was heard through the gloaming, calling upon his men to rally, or never to think upon Scotland again. Moray, Dunbar, and the other lieutenants ranged through the press of flight, bidding their followers stand fast, and face the enemy. The Scottish archers halted and wheeled about ; the scattered

1 The spot chosen for the fight was at the junction of two main roads, the one leading north-east towards Alnwick and Berwick, the other along RedesUale, past Hungry Law, to Jedburgh.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 47

pikemen formed again ; and when the moon rose Percy found that the grimmest of his work was yet to do. Now it was the turn of Douglas to attack, and he swept down upon the English at the head of his knights. To make matters worse, the Bishop of Durham, coming late, mistook the position of the forces, and attacked the English in the rear ; so that Hotspur's defeat seemed imminent, when the arrival of Northumberland — thirsting for battle — at the head of his Newcastle garrison, turned for the time the tide of war. The Scots were driven back, only to attack again and again. Hour after hour, and far into the night, the bloody struggle raged around the peel of Otterbourne. In the words of old Froissart : " Of all the bataylles and en- countrynges that I have made mention of heretofore in all this my story, great or small, this bat ay lie that I treet of now was one of the sorest and best foughten, without cowardes or faynte hartes ; for there was nother knyghte nor squyer but that did his devoyre, and foughte hande to hande."

Twice or thrice Douglas and Hotspur met face to face ; and Hardyng expressly states that the latter wiped out the disgrace of his overthrow at Newcastle, by slaying the Scottish chieftain.1 This too is the traditional version of the earl's death ; but Froissart's account is quite different. Douglas, he declares, " took his axe in both his handes, and entered into the presse . . . but at last he was encountered with three speares all at once . . . so that he was borne perforce to the earth." Mortally wounded, however, he continued to cheer his men to the attack ; and his last words to his cousin St. Clair were words of cheer.2 The assertion of Hardyng, however, that Harry Percy was the actual slayer of Douglas, carries weight, when it is remembered that Hardyng entered Hotspur's service as a page, fought in this battle by his side, and remained his intimate friend until the fatal day of Shrewsbury.3

Doubt and contradiction surround even the issue of Otterbourne fight. Scot and Northumbrian alike claim the

1 Ilardyng's Chronicle. * Fraser, The Douglas Book.

3 Froissart's description, on the contrary, was derived wholly from Scots ivhom he met oversea!.

48 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

victory to this day. It is certain that both Hotspur and Ralph Percy were taken prisoners; but the English account runs that they fell into the hands of the enemy, owing to their rashness in pursuing too far.1 Certain also it is that the remnant of the Scots host immediately re- crossed the Cheviots ; a fact which scarcely tallies with the claim that Douglas, though dead, was still a conqueror. The losses on either side must have been great indeed, judging by the impression which this terrible moonlight fray — fought out in the watches of the night — produced throughout the two kingdoms. Flodden itself could not efface the memories of Otterbourne along the borderland.

Ralph Percy yielded his sword to Sir John Maxwell, a knight of the Earl of Moray ; while the honour of taking Hotspur prisoner "when deserted by most of his followers " is generally ascribed to Sir Hew Montgomerie. This lucky knight benefited notably by the capture ; for the heir of Northumberland was ransomed, after a brief sojourn across the border, for the sum of ^3000, towards which (so great was the esteem in which Hotspur was held) Parliament willingly voted -£iooo.2 It is said that Sir Hew Montgomerie built the castle of Polnoon, in Renfrewshire, with this money.3

Thus runs the old ballad of The Battle of Otterbourne, as quoted by Bishop Percy from a MS. in the Cotton Library : * —

" Yt felle abotvght the Lamasse tydef Whan husbands uynn ther haye, The dmvghtye Dowglasse bowynd him to ryde, In Yng/and to take a praye :

The Yerlle of Fyffe, withowghten stryffe,

He l/oicynd him over Sulway : The greie wolde ever together ryde ;

That race they may rue for aye.

'• Hardyng. = Issue Rolls, 12 Richard II.

* De Fonblanque. The ballad of Otterbourne, however, has it that Mont- gomerie, himself a prisoner, was exchanged for Hotspur.

4 Cotton MSS., Cleopatra, c. iv. « Lammas Day, August I.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 49

Over Ottercap l hyll they came in,

And so dowyn by Rodelyffe cragge, Vpon Grene Ley ton they lyghted doion

Styrande many a stagge ;

And boldely brent Northomberlonde,

And haryed many a towyn : They dyd oivr Ynglyssh men grete wrange,

To battell that were not bmoyn.

Than spake a berne upon the bent,

Of comforte that was not colde, And sayd, ' We have brent Northomberlond,

We have all welth in holde.

' Noiv we have haryed all Bamboroweshyre,

All tlie welth in the ivorlde have wee ; I rede we ryde to Newe Castell,

So styll and stalwurthlye.'

Uppon the moroive, when it was daye,

The standards schonefulle bryght ; To the Neivc Caste lie they take the ivaye,

And thither they camfullc ryght.

Sir Henry Percy laye at the Newe Castelle,

I telle yow withowtten drede ; He had byn a march-man all hys dayes,

And kepte Banvyke upon Twede.

To the Newe Castell when they fain,

The Skottes they cryde on hyght, ' Syr Harye Percy, and thmv byste within,

Com to thefylde andfyght:

For we have brente Northomberlonde,

Thy eritage good and ryght ; And syne my iogeyng I have take?

With my brande dubby ed many a Knyght.'

1 Ottercap hill is in Kirk-Whelpington parish in Tynedale Ward ; RodeclifTe or Rodeley Crag is in Hartburn parish, Morpeth Ward ; and Green Leyton is a village also in Hartburn. — (Percy, Reliquei.)

2 Douglas here takes up the tale.

D

50 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Sir Harry Percy cam to the walks,

The Skottyssh oste for to se ; 1 And thow hast brent Northomberlond,

Full sore it rnvyth me.

' Yfthou hast haryed all Bambarmveshyre, Thow hast done me grete envye ;

For the trespasse thow hast me done, The tone of us schall dye.'

' Where schall I byde the ? ' sayd the Dcnvglas, ' Or where ivylte thmv come to me 1 '

' At Otterborne in the hygh way, Ther maist t/ww well logeed be.

' The r oo full rekeles there sche rinnes,

To make the game and glee : The fawkon and the fesaunt loth,

Among the holies on hee.

' Ther maist thow have thy welth at wyll,

Well looged iher maist be. Yt schall not be long, or I com the tyl/,'

Sayd Syr Harry Percye.

' Ther schall I byde the,' sayd the Dmvglas,

' By the fay th of my bodye.' ' The/her schall I com,' sayd Syr Harry Percy ;

' My trmvth I plyght to the:

A pype of wyne he gave them over the walks,

Far soth, as I yow saye : Ther he mayd the Douglas drynke,

And all hys oste that daye.

The Dowglas turnyd him homnvarde agayne,

For soth withowghten naye, He tooke his logeyng at Otterborne

Vppon a Wedyns-day :

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 51

And t/ter he pyght Ays standerd dowyn,

Hys gettynge more and lesse, And syne he warned hys men to goo

To chose ther geldyngs gressc.

A Skottysshe knyght hoved upon the Bent,

A ivache I dare well saye ; So was he ware on the noble Percy

Jn the dawnynge of the daye.

He pry eked to his pavyleon dare,

As faste as he myght ronne, ' Awaken, Dowglas,' cryed the knyght,

' For hys love that syttes yn throne.'

' Awaken, Dmvglas,' cryed the knyght, ' For thow maiste waken wyth wynne :

Vender have I spyed the prmvde Percy, And seven standardes wyth hym.'

' Nay, by my trowth,' the Douglas sayed,

' It is but a fay tied taylle ; He durst not lake on my bred banner,

For all Ynglande so haylle.

' Was I not yesterdaye at the Newe Caste//

That stands so fay re on Tyne 1 For all the men the Percy hade,

He cowde not garre me ones to dyne.'

He stepped owt at hys pavelyon dore

To lake and it were lesse : ' Arayeyow, lordyngs, one and all,

For here begynnes no peysse.

' The Yerle of Mentaye? thow arte my erne

The forwarde I gyve to the : The Yerlle of Hunt fay, cawte and kene,

He schall wyth the be.

The Earl of Menteith, who was " erne " or kinsman of the Scots leader.

52 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

' The lorde of Bmvghan? in armure bryght On the other hand he schatt be ;

Lorde Jhonstone and lorde Maxwell They schall be with me.

' Swynton fayre fylde upon ymir pryde, To batell make yow bmven :

Syr Davy Scotte? Syr Walter Steivarde, Syrjhon of Agurstone.'

A FVTTK

The Perssy came byfore hys oste, Wych was ever a gentyll knyghi,

Vpon the Dowglas lowde can he crye, ' I ivy II holde that I have hyght :

' For thow haste brente Northumberlonde,

And done me grete envye ; For thys trespasse thou hast me done,

The tone of us schall dye.'

Tlie Dowglas answerde hyin agayne

With grele wurds up on hee, And sayd, ' I have twenty agaynst thy one,

Byholde and thow maiste see.'

Wyth that the Percye was grevyd sore,

2 or soothe as I yow saye : He lyghted down upon his fate,

And schoote his horsse dene away?

1 Buchan.

1 Ancestor of the Dukes of Buccleugh, and of Sir Walter Scott. " Agurstone " was the lord of Haggerston. It were idle to speak at length upon the names in this brief catalogue. They stood for the flower of the Eastern Scottish Border.

3 A like act of defiant daring is ascribed to the "King-Maker" Earl of Warwick, who slew his war-horse and fought afoot in order to hearten Ms men. In this case Percy merely "schoote" or drove away his steed.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 53

Every man sawe that he dyd soo,

That rya.ll was ever in rowght ; Every man schoote hys horse himfroo,

And lyght hym rowynde abowght.

Thus Syr Hary Percy e take the fylde,

for soth as I yow saye : Jesu Cryste in hevyn on hyght

Dyd helpe him well that daye.

But nyne thoivzand ther was no moo ;

The cronykle will not layne ; Forty thowsande Skottes andfoivre

That day fought them agayne.

But when the batell beganne to joy tie,

In hast ther came a knyght, Then letters fayre furth hath he tayne,

And thus he say d full ryght :

' My lorde, your father he gretes yow well,

Wyth many a noble knyght ; And he desyres yow to byde

That he may see thysfyght.

1 The Baron of Grastoke ys com owt of the west,

Wyth hym a noble companye ; All they loge at your fathers thys nyght,

And the Battelfayne wold they see.'

' For Jesu 's love,1 sayd Syr Harye Percy,

' That dyed for ymo and me, Wende to my lorde my Father agayne,

And saye thaw saw me not with yee :

' My trowth is f lyght to yonne Skottysh knyght,

It needes me not to layne, That I schulde byde hym upon thys bent,

And I have hys frowth agayne :

54 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

' And if that I wende off thys grownde,

For soth unfoughten awaye, He wolde call me but a kowarde knyght,

In hys londe another daye.

1 Yet had I lever to be rynde and rente,

By Mary that mykel maye ; Then ever my manhod schulde be reprovyd

Wyth a Skotte another daye.

' Wherefore schote, archars, for my sake,

And let scharpe ar owes flee : Mynstrells, playe up for your wary son,

And well quyt it schall be.

' Every man thynke on Itys trove lave, And marke hym to the Trenitc :

For to God I make myne avmve Thys day wyll 1 notfle.'

The blodye Harte in the Di'wglas armes,

Hys standerde stode on hye ; That every man myght full well knowe :

By syde stodf Star res three : *

The whyte Lynn on the Yi/glish parte,

For soth as I ymv sayne ; The Lucetts and the Cressawnts both :

The Skotts fought them a gay tie.

Vppon Sent Andrewe lowde cane they crye, And thrysse they schowte on hyght,

And syne marked them one owr Ynglysshe men, As I have tolde yow ryght.

Sent George the bryght owr ladyes knyght, To name they were full fayne,

Owr Ynglysshe men they cryde on hyght, And thrysse the schmi'tte agayne.

1 The ancient arms of Douglas were: "Argent, a man's heart gules; on a chief azure three stars of the first."

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 55

Wyth that scharpe arowes bygan to flee,

I tell yaw in sertayne ; Men of armes byganne to joyne ;

Many a dowghty man was ther slayne.

The Percy and the Dowglas mette,

That ether of other was fay ne ; They schapped together, wyhll that the swede,

With swordes offyne Collayne ; l

Tyll the bloodefrom ther bassonetts ranne,

As the roke doth in the rayne. ' Yelde the to me,' sayd the Dowglas,

' Or ells t/iow schalt be slayne :

1 For I see by thy bryght bassonet,

Thow arte sum man of myght ; And so I do by thy burnysshed brande,

Thow art an yerle or ells a knyght.'

' By my good faythe,' sayd the noble Percy,

' Now haste thou rede full ryght, Yet wyll I never yelde me to the,

Why II I maye stonde andfygkt.'

They swapped together, whyll that they sivette,

Wyth swordes scharpe and long ; Ych on other so faste they beetle,

Tyll ther fulmes cam in peyses dowyn.

The Percy was a man of strength,

I tell yow in thys stounde, He smote the Doivglas at the swordes length,

That he fell to the growynde.

The sworde was scharpe and sore can bvte,

I tell yow in sertayne ; To the harte, he cowde him smyte,

Thus was the Dowglas slayne.

1 Steel of Cologne.

56 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

The standerds stode styll on eke syde,

With many a grevous grone ; Ther they fought the day and all the nyght,

And many a dowghty man was slone.

Ther was nofreke, that ther woldeflye, But styffly in siowre can stand,

Ych one hewyng on other whyll they myght drye Wyth many a baleful bronde.

Ther was slayne upon the Skottes syde,

For soth and sertenly, Syr James a Dowglas ther was slayne,

That daye that he cowde dye.

The Yerlle Mentaye of he was slayne, Grysely groned upon the groivynd ;

Syr Davy Scotte, Syr Walter Steward? Syr John of Augurstone.

Syr Charlies Morrey in that place,

That never afote woldflye ; Sir Hughe Maxwell, a lorde he ivas,

With the Dcnvglas dijd he dye.

Ther was slayne upon the Skottes syde,

for soth as I yow saye, Offowre and forty thoivsande Scotts

Went but eyghtene awaye.

Ther was slayne upon the Ynglysshe syde

For soth and sertenlye, A gentell knyght, Sir John Fitz-Hughe,

It was the mor petye.

Syr James Harebotell ther was slayne, For hym ther hartes were sore ;

The gentyll Lovelle ther was slayne, That the Percye's standerd bore.

Stewart of Dalswinton.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 57

Ther was slayne uppon the Yngfyssh perte,

for soth as I yow saye ; Of nyne thowsand Yngfyssh men,

fyve hondert cam awaye :

The other were slayne in thefylde,

Cryste kepe their smvles from wo, Seyng ther was so f ewe fry tides

Agaynst so many afoo.

Then one the morne tJuy mayde them beeres

Of byrch, and haysell graye ; Many a wydouie with wepyng teyres,

Ther makes they fette awaye.

Thysfraye bygan at Otterborne

Bytivene the nyghte and tlie day ; Ther the Dowglas lost his lyfe,

And the Percy was lede aivaye.

Then was ther a Scottyshe prisoner tayne, Syr JJug/tf Mongomery was hys name,

For soth as I yow saye,

He borrowed the Percy home agayiie.

Now let us all for the Percy praye,

To Jesu most of myght, To bryng hys soivle to the blysse of heven,

for he was a gentyll knyght."

Such is the English metrical version of the fight of Otterbourne. Many of the events narrated, and not a few of the gallant names mentioned above, are used again by the unknown maker of that " fine old heroic song of Chevy Chase" But as has already been pointed out, the real or imaginary encounter of Chevy Chase cannot be identified with any particular epoch ; and the ballad so beloved of Sidney and Addison, so familiar to every admirer of British battle-lyrics, is probably but the strung-together memories of many .such border frays.

58 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

The death of Douglas, and the cruel slaughter of Otter- bourne, awed the border into a peace more lasting than it The Percy had known for many a long year. This cessa- and the King. tjon of hostilities gave Northumberland leisure to turn his eyes towards the affairs of the Court, which had for some time worn a grave and threatening aspect. Little by little Richard II. had allowed himself to fall into the ways of his unhappy ancestor, Edward of Car- narvon. Favourites, chief among whom was Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, created " Duke of Ireland," dominated the feeble mind of the king, and tempted him (as Gaveston the Despensers had tempted Edward II.) into luxury and wastefulness. Opposed to the party of the Court was a strong, and growing, body of malcontents ; whose opinions were voiced in Parliament by the Duke of Gloucester (the king's uncle) and by the Earl of Arundel. For a time Northumberland held aloof from both sides, and even sought to act as peacemaker between Richard and Gloucester. But the royal folly was too flagrant to escape frank censure from one who never numbered sycophancy among his faults. During a council held at Clarendon, Northumberland addressed his sovereign in the following words, which Richard would have done well to ponder : " Sir, there is no doubt but these lordes who now be in the fielde 1 alwaies have been your sure and faythful subjects, and yet are not intendying to attempt ajiy tiling agaynst your state, wealth and honor ; nevertheless they feel themselves sore molested and disquieted by the warlike devices of certain persons about your maiestye, that seeke to oppose them ; and verily, without fayle, all your realme is sore grieved therewith, both great and small, as well lordes as commons, and I see not the contrarye, but they mind to adventure tJieir lives with the lordes that are in armes, especiallie in this case which they reckon to be yours, and your realme' s. And, sir, now ye be in the cheefe place of your realme, and in the place of your corona- tion, order yourself therefore wiselye, and like a king ! Send

1 The Duke of Gloucester and the Earl of Arundel were in a state of armed pro- test against the Court, and had come to Clarendon escorted by a great multitude.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 59

to tliem to come before your presence in some public place, where they can declare unto you the extent and purpose of their coming accompanied by so greete a nombre of people unto these partes, and I beleeve it verily e they will show such reasons that you will hold them excused." x

This honest and manly speech was warmly supported in council by the Archbishop of Canterbury and others ; so that the king's better feelings were touched, and he con- sented to receive Gloucester, Arundel, and others of the protesting party. He met them at Westminster, where a reconciliation was effected. De Vere and the pack of favourites fled ; and a new council, in which Northumber- land was prominent, took advantage of the royal repentance to introduce numerous reforms chiefly dealing with the raising of revenues. Richard's fickle favour shone also upon Hotspur ; who, having recovered from the wounds of Otterbourne, was made Governor of Carlisle, Warden of the West Marches, and a Knight of the Garter. The latter proud distinction was already enjoyed by both Northumber- land and Sir Thomas Percy ; 2 perhaps the only instance in history of three closely related members of a family not royal holding the Garter at one and the same time.

From Calais, whither he had been sent as Governor, Northumberland was, in 1391, hurriedly recalled to aid in repelling fresh invasions from beyond the Scottish border.3 As Warden of the Eastern Marches he received over 7000 marks a year by way of expenses ; but, whether the Scots were too elusive, or the earl too careless, it is certain that, in 1393, the former succeeded in laying waste Northumbria, so that the latter incurred the severe reproaches of King and Parliament.4 In October 1396 he was one of the four great lords who assisted at the meeting between Richard and the French king at Guisnes ; and during the same year Sir Thomas Percy, with Hotspur among his knights, went in full state to conduct the child-queen, Isabel of France, to English territory.

1 ilolinshcd. 5 Anstis, Hist, of the Garter.

J WaUingham. 4 Anuales Ricardi II.

.So THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Thomas Percy had on several previous occasions acted sir Thomas as the envoY of his sovereign to foreign courts. Percy, Am- Indeed the renown which this brother of the earl ssador. ^^ long since won as England's foremost sea- captain, was now eclipsed by his success as man of affairs. He "had been long soveraygn squyer of the kynge' s house, for all the state of the kynge passed through his handes " ; l and in the capacity of Lord Steward he introduced Froissart to Richard in 1395. This chronicler gives the following interesting account of Percy's doings, when sent during the same year on a mission to France : — These knyghtes of Englande, Syr Thomas Percy and other, alighted in Paris in the streete called the Crosse at the sign of the Castle . . . and the nexte day about nyne of the clocke they lefte on their horses ryght honorably, and rode to the Castle of the Louvre ; to the kynge, where he with his brother and his uncles were redye to receyve the Englissche Embassadours. . . Then they approached and were commended to declare their credence. . . The kynge answered and sayde ; ' Syr Thomas Percy, you and all your company are ryght heartilye welcome. . . Ye shall tarry here in Paris a Season, and we will speake with our counsayle, and make you such convcnable ansiver ere you depart that it shall suffyce you.' With this answer the Englysshmen were well content. Then it was neer dytier tyme, and the Englysshmen were desyred to tarry and dyne ; and so the Lord of Coucy brought them into a chambre, and the Lord de la Riviere ; there they dyned at their leyser, and after dyntr they returned into the kynge 's chambre, and there they had wyne and spyces, and then took their leave of the kynge, and went to their lodgynge. . . The daye before that they sliulde depart out of Paris, the kynge . . . made a dyner to the Englisslie knyghtes, and caused Syr Thomas Percy to sit at his horde, and called hym cousyn by reason of the Northumberland blade" -

The adherence of Thomas Percy to Richard II. prob- ably served to keep that unwise monarch upon the throne

J Froissart.

" Besides the descent of the house of Louvain-Percy from Charlemagne, it must be remembered that Sir Thomas (through his mother, Mary Flantagenet) was a direct descendant of Louis VIII. of France.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 61

for a period considerably longer than would have been possible without such powerful support. The king, who had grown weary of well-doing, and permitted his banished favourites to creep back to their old places at Court, was once more at war with the party of reform. Most of the great barons, and the commons generally, regarded the return of Richard's evil counsellors with anger and disgust. Only the aid of the ecclesias- tical power was needed to precipitate a revolution. But, through years of cautious championship of the Church, Sir Thomas Percy had made himself the political adviser and spokesman of the clergy ; and now his influence in this direction saved the day for the king. Civil war was stayed ; and at the Parliament held in Nottingham, Richard asserted himself to such purpose that all the statutes limiting royal authority which had been enacted since 1388, were formally revoked. The Earl of Arundel was seized, and beheaded on Tower Hill ; while Gloucester, the other great leader of popular opinion, was secretly done to death at Calais. Sir Thomas Percy took no part in these excesses ; and Northumberland risked his own head by speaking against them, and interceding warmly for his kinsman, the doomed Arundel.1 But the younger brother's influence among the bishops had shown the Court Party that he was a man to conciliate ; and, on September 29, 1398, Sir Thomas Percy was raised to the dignity of Earl of Worcester. Richard II. and his short-sighted advisers were, however, almost at the end of their tether. The time drew near when even the faith- ful Thomas Percy could no longer uphold such a master.

All his life long, " old John of Gaunt " had been a

menace to the peace and prosperity of England; but the

evils which he had wrought when living were as

Lancaster'0 nothing to those which he bequeathed to the

and the Per- natiOn upon his deathbed; for the passing away

of the unscrupulous duke on February 4, 1399,

was but the beginning of that terrible four-score years of

1 G rafton's Chronicle.

62 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

rapine and bloodshed which we call the "Wars of the Roses."

Lancaster's intrigues to place his own son, Henry of Bolingbroke, in the position of next heir to the throne, had (as will be remembered) largely caused the fierce quarrel between Northumberland and his old ally. The same ambitious schemes had not unnaturally drawn upon Boling- broke the dislike and suspicion of the king, and eventually resulted in the former's banishment. News of John of Gaunt's death reached Richard as he was making prepara- tions for an invasion of Ireland, to avenge his heir-apparent, the Earl of March.1 Without consulting his council, the king (moved no doubt by Bolingbroke's growing popularity) revoked the letters-patent granted to the heir of Lancaster, and confiscated all his estates. Great was the outcry against this arbitrary proceeding. Northumberland, Hotspur, and other great lords protested so vehemently against Boling- broke's despoilments that the king ordered their arrest. The Earl of Worcester warned his brother and nephew in time, and they escaped the Tower by a swift journey northward. Richard sent several emissaries commanding them to return to Court ; but this they wisely refused to do, pleading in excuse the unsettled condition of the border. Sentences of banishment and confiscation were therefore pronounced against them ; 2 but although offered an asylum at the Scottish Court, they remained under arms in their own territory.

Postponing the execution of his sentences until after the Irish expedition, Richard sailed from Milford Haven in a fleet commanded by Worcester. Hardly had he reached Waterford when the Percies opened communications with their cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, and invited him to attempt the recovery of his inheritance by force of arms. The inheritance in question was simply that left by John of

1 Roger Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, grandson of Lionel, Duke of Clarence the third son of Edward III.), was, according to the English law of succession, next heir to the throne.

2 Froissart.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 63

Gaunt. As yet, at least, the Percies had no desire to put forward the banished Plantagenet as a candidate for the Crown.1 Their position is perfectly intelligible. Boling- broke, their near relative and close friend, had been un- justly treated by the king. Their own heads were in jeopardy should Richard return from Ireland and find them unprepared. For these reasons they invited Henry to England ; and he landed at Ravenspur on July 4th of the same year. There " mette with hym the Erie of Northumber- land, with a grete power to helpe and succor the said duke" 2 From Ravenspur the united forces proceeded to Don- caster ; where, it was claimed by the Percies and their friends, young Lancaster was compelled to take a solemn oath not to lay claim to the throne, but to rest content with the goodly estates whereof Richard had despoiled him. To quote the metrical version of Chaplain William Peeris :

" The said Henry of darby after he was entered to ilds land, At Dancaster in the Whiet-frears was sworn on the sacrament, To the said seventh Henry, \st Earl of Northumberland, And to the lord Percy his eldest son, being there present, With his uncle the Earl of Worcester, that he ivold be content His owne inheritance onely to clainc,

Which was the dukedom of Inncastcr which of right he sliuld obteine; And not to usurpe the cr ovine upon his prince King Richard; And after he was perjured, and of his oat he had no regarded

Even the adherents of Henry admit that, for some time after his landing, he merely claimed the estates of Lancaster. But, finding the kingdom favourably disposed towards a regency, it was not long before he put forward that idea. It was enthusiastically received, by none so more than by Northumberland, who saw in such an arrangement the extinction of the power of those who had so long swayed the feeble mind of Richard. When the king returned in haste from Ireland, he found the might of the nation arrayed against him. Seeing that his power had vanished, he commanded the Earl of Worcester to break his staff of

1 De Fonblanque, &c. 2 Englissht Chronicle, Camden Society.

64 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

office and dismiss the royal household.1 His next step was to despatch the Duke of Exeter to Chester (where Lancaster lay with a great army), asking that Northumber- land might be allowed to visit him.2 From this point onward the accounts of Northumberland's behaviour to- wards the unfortunate king vary widely. The earl himself and his son, Hotspur, maintained that they had no part in extorting Richard's abdication of the throne, or in selecting Henry as his successor. Their objects were, they declared, a regency during the remainder of Richard's life, and (should he die without issue) the eventual succession of the young Earl of March. These statements are repeated by the contemporary historian Hardyng (who was, how- ever, a strong partisan), by Friar Peeris in his Metrical History, and by most subsequent chroniclers of the House of Percy. De Fonblanque3 boldly asserts that, so far from there being any proof of Northumberland's tricking Richard into abdication, the evidence is strongly to the contrary effect. Peeris accuses Henry of double-dealing not only towards Richard, but towards the Percies as well ; and, having stated that Northumberland and Hotspur with- drew from Court after the Lancastrian assumption of the crown, goes on to tell how the new king was punished by Providence

" For his wrongfull dealling, and perjury, As Polychronicon in his life dothe plainly cxprcs, God punished him right son and greuously ; For, after he had taken upon him the Croitne -wrongfully, Immediatly sirickene he was with contagious seknes Of Lepre, which is a disease remediies."

On the other hand, we are told by the Annales Ricardi II., an authority accepted by many later historians, that North- umberland induced Richard to leave Conway for Flint Castle ; there handed him over to the Duke of Lancaster ; and, on September 29, recited before the Council a promise of abdication which he had received from the king, then

1 A nnales Ricardi If. * Ibid. * De Fonblanque.

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imprisoned in the Tower. It is also claimed that the earl officiated at Henry's coronation.

Whether it be true that the Percies wittingly helped Henry to climb the throne ; or whether they were duped by John of Gaunt's right worthy offspring, and kept in ignorance until too late ; it is certain that, for a short time after his accession, Henry IV. saw fit to seek the goodwill of these north-country kinsmen by loading them with new honours. His first signature as a king was attached to a charter making Northumberland Lord High Constable, and he shortly afterwards granted him the Isle of Man and its dependencies.1 Worcester was associated with the youthful Prince John, Henry's second son, as Lord High Steward ; and received in addition the posts of Governor to the Prince of Wales, Admiral of the Fleet, Treasurer of England, Keeper of the Privy Seal, Lieutenant of South Wales, and Governor of Aquitaine.2 To Hotspur fell the Wardenship of the Eastern Marches, and the Justiciaryship of North Wales ; whMe he was also named Governor or Constable of Berwick, Roxburgh, Bamborough, Chester, Carnarvon and Flint.

The arrival at Alnwick of a Scots refugee and outlaw in the person of George Dunbar, Earl of March, drew the Percies' attention towards the North. Dunbar was their hereditary enemy ; yet now that he came to their gates a fugitive they made him welcome, treated him with every honour, and positively refused to hearken to the Scots king's demands for his surrender. Indeed their attitude led to war with Scotland ; and in August 1400 the king led an army across the border, but was obliged to retire by news of Owen Glendower's insurrection in Wales. Nor- thumberland and Hotspur, however, took up the cause of George Dunbar with such good will that in 1401 the Earl of Douglas3 laid formal complaint before Henry of North- umberland's aggressions, stating that the English Warden had repeatedly broken truce, and urging that joint com- missioners should be appointed to investigate the troubles

1 Dagclale's Baronage. 2 IbiJ. 3 Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas.

E

66 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

of the border. The king, in his reply, exonerated North- umberland from all blame, but agreed to appoint com- missioners on behalf of England.1 So continuous and so fierce had been the recent fighting along the frontier, that the Duke of Rothesay proposed to hold the investiga- tion at Melrose Abbey, giving as his reason the deplorable condition of the Marches themselves. Raid after raid had devastated the country to such a pitch that there was no food to be had for either man or beast — " nul vivre pour gents ou chivalx d' assembler en maner accustumez." 2 The joint commission sat from March until May,3 but arrived at no definite decision. In October Northumberland and Douglas tried their hands at peace-making, and met in conference at Yetholm ; 4 but, owing to the obstinate temper of the knights and barons on both sides of the border, and the impossibility of settling the countless feuds and cross-feuds between them, this praiseworthy effort also came to nought. Before another spring had gone by, Northumbrian and Scot were at each other's throats again.

While these bootless negotiations were pending, there had appeared the first open signs of ill-will between the new- made king and the house of Percy. Northum- of°Houp"rerS berland urged the strengthening of Carlisle and Berwick as protection against probable invasion, but the king took no notice of the appeal. On Good Friday 1401 Con way Castle was betrayed to the Welsh; but Hotspur succeeded in recovering the stronghold after one month's siege. When he wrote for funds wherewith to pay the expenses of this enterprise, all that he could induce the king to send fell short by over one-half of the sum actually necessary. To add to this the troops on the Western Marches had been left unpaid for months.5 Whether such niggardliness was natural to Henry IV. (as in later times to Henry VII.), or whether the king's ad- mitted duplicity led him to take this means of quarrelling

1 Cotton MSS. 2 State papers> iler) Iv 3 \Vylie.

4 Letters of Hen. IV. » Adam of Usk. Orel. Privy Council, Hen. IV.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 67

with and discrediting the Percies, whom he feared, it is difficult to say. Again and again Hotspur wrote, pleading for the money fairly due to his troops ; but king and council turned a deaf ear. Addressing the letter from Carnarvon on May 2, I4OI,1 he prays them to "remember how I have repeatedly applied for payment of the king's soldiers, . . . who are in such distress as they can no longer endure, owing to the lack of money. . . . I therefore implore you to order that they may be paid. . . . If better means cannot be found, ... 7 shall have to go to you in person to claim pay- ment, to the neglect of other duties."

This, of course, is a translation of Hotspur's letter from the language in which it was written. For the benefit of the curious, a copy is subjoined of one of his original epistles to the council, written at this time, and preserved with others from his hand in the Cotton MSS., British Museum : —

"SWYNESHEDE, 3 July 1401 ;

SIR HENRY PERCY TO THE COUNCIL :

' Tresreverentz piers en Dieux et mes treshonurez Srs. ; Jeo me recomanc a vous. Et vous please remembrer content Jay pursues vers le Rot moun soverain Sr. et vous diverse foitz pur la payment qe mest duez pur la Marche Descoce, dont Je suy gardein, Sibien pur ceo questoit aderere a le darrien Parlement, come davoir payement en avaunt sur Hull et Bostone, solonc le patent cut grauntez par le Roi moun soverayn Sr. susdit a moun tresredoute Sr. et pier et may, par avis de vous, mes Srs. de soun graunt Conseille, dont Jespoire q" vous avez bone conisance. Et touchant le debt a may duez a moun darrien partier de Londrez le Roi nostre soverayn Sr. susdit chargea soun Tresorer q' lors estoit pur la dite matere, et le dit Tresorer may disoit q* sil fuist greable a vous autres, mez Srs., du graunt Conseille, qil ordener [oit] qe Jeo serroie paiez de if ml. marcz en monoy entour cest Pentecost darrien, et q" Jeo serroie servis par assignement de le remenaunt q1 may fuist duez a pluis tost cf faire purroit ; pur quelle argent 1 Issue Rolls, 3 I Ion. IV.

68 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

et assignment avoir Jay fait mes servauntz pursuer, sibien a Londrez come a Hull et Bostone susdit, desire paies selonc leffect de la dite graunt et patent sanz ascun denier resceyver unques depuis moun partier- dillesques, uiez a may graunt costage, et travaille a mez servauntz, sanz nulle esploit. Et come Jey entenduz a le darrien Parlement, quant la necessitee de roialme fuist moustrez par vous, mez Srs. de graunt con- seille, as Barons et Comons de roialme, il estoit demandez, par toutz les marches— Caleys, Guyenne et Escoce, la meer, et Irlande, come pur guerre et la Marche Descoce estoit limitez a xxxvij Ml. livres, on pluis : et la ou le payment de temp de trievez a moun dit Sr. et pier et may dues namonte qe a V ml. livres par au, ne poet estre paiez, en bone foy Jeo may graunt mervaille, et may semble q* vouz mettez les ditz marches trap a nounchaloir, queux serront troves les pluis forts enemys q* vouz avez, on autrement q° vouz nagrees point de nostre service en lez ditz marches ; et si vous cherchez bien, Jespoir q1 le greindre defaute qf vous troverez en lez ditz marches est dcfaute de payment, sanz quelle vous ne troverez nulle qi vous poetfaire tiel service. Sur qoy, tresreverentz, piers en Dieux, et mez treslionurez Srs., Jay escript a Rot mon sovcrain Sr. susdit, en suppliant qe (si) ascun male aveigne a sez ville, chastelles, on marche, qe Jay en governance, pur defaute de payment, q* Dieux defende, q' Je nay poynt de blame, mez ceux q* ne may voillent paier, solonc soun honorable mandement et voluntee. Tres- reverentz piers en Dieux ct mes treshonurez Srs., ne vous dis- please q1 J esc rive nounsachantment en ma royde ct feble manere de ceste mater e, qar necessitee le may fait fair e, noun pas seule- ment de moy, mez auxi de mez souldeours, qi sont en tresgraunt mischief sanz remedy du quelle Je ne puisse ne ose aler vers les ditz marches, fur quelle vous supplie et requerre dordenir solonc q1 vous semble biisoignable. Jy pric a Dieux q* vous est en sa seintisme garde. Escrit a Swynesliede le iiij Jour de Juyleet' " The language and style of this letter may indeed be "royde," but the writer was wrong to call them "feble." It is a plain, honest statement of the ill-treatment accorded by King and Parliament to the defenders of the borders.

1 Cotton MSS., Cleopatra, F. III., fol. ?x and 32.

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Hotspur, it appears, had written to the king as well, warn- ing him that serious trouble might result upon the Marches if the soldiers were left unpaid. But once more Henry de- clined to afford any relief, although his exchequer was well filled. At last Hotspur resigned his ungrateful post as Justiciary of North Wales; and, on September i, 1401, went northward to assist his father in the endeavour to preserve peace with the Scots. That endeavour, as we have seen, was destined to be fruitless.

On May 7, 1402, a considerable body of Scots raiders, led by Hepburn, crossed the border ; and, careless of NesbittMoor well-meant commissions of peace, proceeded to and Homii- plunder and slay, until encountered at Nesbitt dounHiii. Moor by a force of equal strength under the

Earl of Northumberland and Hotspur. The marauders were taken somewhat by surprise ; and the advantage thus gained by the Percies resulted, after a long and unflinching struggle, in complete victory for the English. Thousands of Scots were slain ; and their chief, Hepburn, fell into Hotspur's hands, together with many other prisoners of distinction.

To avenge the defeat at Nesbitt Moor, a second expedi- tion invaded England during the following August, com- manded by the Earl of Douglas and by Murdoch Stewart, Earl of Fife.1 Thirty French knights of great distinction accompanied the army, which numbered over 12,000 picked men. They ravaged Northumberland and Durham, penetrating as far as the Wear.2 Returning homeward with a rich prey, they found themselves intercepted, on the morning of September 14, at a point about six miles north of Wooler, by Northumberland and his son. With the two Wardens fought the Scotsman George Dunbar, Earl of March, whom we have seen driven from his own country. The English occupied at Millfield-on-Till a strong position, commanding the main line of the enemy's retreat. The Scots halted at Homildoun, or Humbledown,

1 Son of the Regent Albany. 2 Kortlun, Scotichroilietn, xv. 14.

7o THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Hill, a bowshot off. Hotspur was all for charging at the head of his horse ; but the cautious George Dunbar suc- ceeded in restraining his eagerness.1 At the advice of Dunbar the battle was left to the English archers, who had been drawn up in the van, and who sent such showers of arrows into the exposed ranks of the invaders, that the fight was over within an hour.2 The Northumbrian men-at-arms were never even called into action ; and the victory, which was complete, belonged entirely to the archers. Sir David Swinton attempted to cut his way through, only to fall back in utter rout. Five hundred fugitives were drowned in the Tweed, miles away;3 while five earls — Douglas, Fife, Angus, Moray, and Orkney — were taken prisoners on the field of battle.4 Henry IV. gave an annuity of £40 to the courier — one Nicholas Sherbury, an esquire of Hotspur — who brought him the first tidings of success.5

Sir Walter Scott, in his dramatic poem of Halidon Hill, boldly uses some of the leading incidents of Homil- doun to describe the former battle. The deadly rain of arrows upon the chivalry of Scotland is introduced ; and the Lord Percy is represented as saying to Edward III. —

" Horses and riders going down together/ 'Tis almost pity to see nobles fall, And by a peasant's arrow ! "

Rejoiced as was the king by the victory, one of his first acts after the arrival of Percy's welcome courier was to issue an edict strictly forbidding that any of the prisoners taken should be ransomed or exchanged.6 His excuse for such a course — wholly at variance with established custom, and certain to breed lively discontent — was that, by keeping the Scottish border-lords in durance, peace might be insured between the two kingdoms. Captives and captors were alike enraged ; — the latter by the loss

1 Scotichronicon. a Ibid. 3 Walsingham. Hardyng.

4 Ann. Henr. IV. Wyntoun.

6 Records of the Tower. This annuity was subsequently renewed by Henry V. 6 Feeders.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 71

of their liberty, the former by what they held to be a breach of chivalry, and a deliberate insult from the throne. Henry followed up his first order by a second, desiring that all the prisoners should be conveyed to London without delay. Hotspur, who had himself taken the Earl of Douglas, posi- tively refused to comply ; and when the Scots and French lords arrived in the capital, Douglas was not among them. This disobedience brought about a stormy interview be- tween the King and Northumberland, during which the earl reiterated his son's protests against the lack of pay for the border troops. " The erle having urged payment for the custody of the Marches, said ; — ' My son and I have spent our all in your service.' Tlie king replied ; — ' I have no money, and money you shall not have.' The erle said ; — ' When you entered the kingdom you promised to rule according to our counsel. You have since, year by year, received great sums from the country ; and yet you have nought, and pay nought. . . God grant you better counsel"^-

The king then sent couriers to Alnwick demanding Hotspur's instant attendance at Court, together with that of his prisoner Douglas. The second portion of the message was ignored ; but Harry Percy himself set out for London. On his way to the capital news reached him that the young Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, and the latter's uncle, Sir Edmund Mortimer, had been captured on the Welsh frontier by Owen Glendower. Only a few months before Hotspur had married Elizabeth Mortimer, sister of Sir Edmund, and aunt of the earl ; so that he had now family reasons for being interested in the fate of this unfortunate house. But, apart from the ties of kindred, he must have been moved by the fact that the legitimate heirs to the English throne lay at the mercy of the wild Glendower. For, it will be remembered, young Roger of March stood next after Richard II. in the strict line of succession to the throne. Hastening on to London, Hotspur lost no time in seeking audience with the king. " Then came in like manner . . . Henry Percy, ivJw was married

1 Eiilogiitin Historiarum, vol. iii. 396.

72 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

to the sister of the captive Edmund Mortimer in Wales, and he prayed tliat the king would allow the said Edmund to be ransomed at his cost. The king replied that the public money should not be expended in strengthening his enemies against himself. Henry ansivered ; — 'How is this? You would have us expose ourselves when you or your crown is in danger, and yet you will not help us?' ' Thou art a traitor!' said the king wrathfully. 'And wouldst thou have us help our enemies, and those of the State ? ' ' Traitor am I none' Henry replied, ' but a true man ; and as a true man I speak.' The king drew his dagger upon him.1 ' Not here,' cried Henry, 'but in the field;' and so departed"* Hall adds that, Hotspur made further application for leave to ransom the young Earl of March, only to be again refused. Where- upon, in leaving the king's presence, he exclaimed so that all might hear ; — "Behold the lieyre of the realme is robbed of his right ; and tlie robber, with his owne will not redeem him." The king made no effort to have Henry Percy im- peached. His partisans maintained that this forbearance was due to generosity and the recollection of past friend- ship. But the impartial chronicler is more likely to ascribe the sovereign's conduct to crafty motives. Realising the instability of his throne, and the widespread popularity of Hotspur, he desired, under cover of fair words and a pretence of magnanimity, to provoke the Percies into war, and so rid himself of their opposition, while, at the same time, retaining popular sympathy. Had he openly attacked Northumberland and his son, it is probable that throughout the country (and especially in London, where the name of Percy was intensely popular) feeling of a hostile and dangerous nature would have been created. But by placing Hotspur in the light of a rebel, and by driving him into alliance with the dreaded Glendower, Henry foresaw that he should have Parliament and the majority of the people at his back. One of the first steps which he took had the effect of removing the Percies from London

1 In the original text, " Kex traxit contra aim pttgione m." 8 Eitiogiunt Hislorianun, vol. iii. 396.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 73

and sending them to the North. On March 2, 1403, he granted to Northumberland "all the lands of the Earl of Douglas ; " — that is to say, almost all the country between the Tweed and the border, and the greater part of Galloway.1 Of course, although this great estate had been nominally annexed to England, English sway did not extend over one-tenth of the area which Henry pretended to bestow. Consequently, before the Percies could enjoy their new possessions, they had first to conquer them. As we have seen, the king refused to pay the supplies necessary for the proper carrying on of such a border war. Cheaply indeed, therefore, did Henry earn popular praise for his "generous" treatment of the truculent lords of Almvick.

Northumberland made a determined effort to take the regions in question. At first he made some progress against the Scots, but two fortresses held out strongly against the invaders. To these places — Cocklaw peel, near Yetholm, and Ormiston, by Hawick — Hotspur laid siege. So prolonged was the defence, that the earl's resources became exhausted. He had no money to pay his soldiers, and provisions became scarce. In this grave emergency he resolved to write once more to the king, — to make one more effort to loosen the royal purse-strings. His letter, a straightforward and dignified appeal, points out that over 20,000 marks were fairly owing to himself and his son by the royal exchequer ; and that without this sum disaster must certainly fall upon the defenders of the border.2 The earl signed himself, "your Matthias" such being the old name given to him by the king in happier days, when Henry Bolingbroke chose to compare Northumberland to the heroes of the Maccabean house. Instead of sending the sorely-needed money, or even deigning to answer the letter, the king mustered an army, and marched northward. This sudden movement, regarded as hostile by the Percies, preci- pitated the civil war which had been threatening ever since Henry's refusal to ransom the Mortimers.

1 Pat. &> Close Rolls. - Proceedings of the rrizy Council, \. 203-4.

74 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

A son had been born to Harry Hotspur while he was

laying siege to Ormiston and Cocklaw. This son, the sole

offspring of the union with Elizabeth Mortimer,

Hotspur 5 .

rebellion and strengthened the alliance already existing between death" his father and the legitimate heirs to the throne.

At the same time his birth greatly increased the king's fear and hatred of the house of Percy. " The king began to think that now Hotspurs son had a nearer right to the crown than his own offspring' ; it was not to be borne with" l Hotspur on hearing of the king's armed march from London sent his wife and her babe to a secure retreat,2 most likely to some peel across the border. Then leaving his father to gather an army in Northmnbria, he took a force of one hundred and sixty picked horsemen across the Yorkshire moors, through Lancashire and into Cheshire. With him rode his ancient foe, but present ally, the Earl of Douglas, together with some others of the Scots prisoners taken at Homildoun. Arrived in Chester (a town always inimical to Henry IV.) on Monday July gth, Hotspur and Douglas took up their quarters at the house of one Petronilla Clark,3 and thence sent couriers across the Welsh border to Owen Glendower. This last-named chief- tain had released Edmund Mortimer and the Earl of March from captivity during the previous November, and had since established a blood alliance with Sir Edmund by giving him his daughter's hand in marriage. No positive evidence to that effect exists, but it is more than likely that secret communications were opened between the Earl of Northumberland on the one hand, and Glendower and Mortimer on the other, almost immediately after the news of King Henry's northern march reached the Welsh and Scottish borders. It is certain that, by the time Hotspur, Douglas, and their hard -riding knights reached Dame Clark's house in Chester, the Welsh were already preparing for war.

The combination against Henry IV. was beyond all question formidable ; and it is when we see that monarch

1 Holinshcd. 2 Hardyng. 3 VVylie.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 75

rising promptly and vigorously to the occasion that we forget for the time his unscrupulous craft, his niggardliness, and his other ill qualities ; for none but a born leader, a man of iron nerve and extraordinary decision of character, could have faced as he did the odds arrayed against him.

In Wales was Glendower, with the legitimate heirs to the throne by his side, calling his fiery Celts together in the name of liberty, and even urging them to war by means of that other potent influence upon their racial character, the supernatural. For one of the old prophecies of Merlin — long secretly whispered among the mountains — was now chanted triumphantly by the bards, and (trans- lated into the English tongue) repeated through the shires across the border. "And now," ran the words of the Arthurian seer, "after these there shall come out of the North a Dragon and a Wolf, the which shall be the help of the Lyon, and bring the realme great rest, with peace and glory. . , . These three shall rise agaynst the Moldeivarpe?- which is accurst of God. Also they shall thrust him forth from the realme ; and the Maldewarpe shall flee, and take a ship to save himself"

There can be no doubt of the importance attached to this prophecy in a superstitious age. The application seemed clear. The Lyon was Glendower ; Percy and Douglas were respectively the Dragon and the Wolf "out of the North." King Henry was the Moldewarpe, loathly beast ; and, as to his being under the ban of Heaven, we have quoted the words of Peeris to show that many held him to have been stricken with leprosy for his crimes of perjury and usurpation. Many of the great lords of the Welsh Marches joined Hotspur or Glendower ; the rest remained, like Nevill of Furnival, outwardly neutral, while secretly sympathising with the insurgents. The impression created by the prophecy among the border shires did much to earn for Glendower that reputation

1 " In this, as Gh-ndour persuaded them, they thought they should accomplish a prophecy, as though A'ing Henry were the Moiihhuarp cursed of God's own Mouth" (Baker's Chronicles, p. 161.) The "Moldwarp" or "Mouldwarp" was the mole.

76 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

as a worker of magic which survived until the time of Shakspeare.1

In the North the Earl of Northumberland was not relying upon prophecies. Making his headquarters at Berwick, he drew to his standard a great host, both of Scots and English. Letters were sent broadcast over all the countries north of H umber, and by sea to Kent, Sussex, and the South. Hardyng asserts that, when he was Con- stable of Warkworth Castle under the Umfrevilles, after, the attainder of the Percies, he found there letters from nearly all the great barons of England, written under their seals, and promising aid to Northumberland and allegiance to the Earl of March. The Earl of Worcester, casting aside the king's favour, and jeopardising all his high Court offices, threw in his lot with his brother and nephew. Northumberland and he drew up a manifesto, declaring that the king had obtained his crown by fraud and per- jury, and demanding that the money raised by means of taxation should be used, not for Henry's privy purse, but for the use and defence of the nation.2 With this document Worcester proceeded to Chester, where he joined Hotspur; while the head of the house made his linal preparations for a march southward. Had that march ever been carried out the rising would probably have succeeded. But, worn out and weakened by his exertions, the earl was attacked by fever near Berwick ; 3 and when he was able to leave his bed and move to the relief of Hotspur it was, as we shall see, too late.

Meantime in Chester were brave doings, and the little force which came out of the North with Hotspur and Douglas HOW Hot- ^ad swelled to goodly proportions. Armourers spur marched were busy, and grindstones a-whirr from morn-

to Shrew- ing tU1 nighti TQ the houge of Dame petroni][a

Clark (where the blue lion hung side by side with the arms of Douglas) knights and gentlemen came and

1 See Henry 7K, Part I. = Ann. Hen. IV.

Surtees, Descendants ofjoscelinc dc Lovain.

3

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 77

went unceasingly. The galleried courtyard was thronged with envoys and couriers from every corner of the land. Broad Scots, Norman-French, homespun English, eager Cymbric, and the burr of Tyne and Tees, — you might well have heard them all had you dwelt in Chester town when the "Dragon" and the "Wolf" were making ready to fight against the " Moldewarpe."

Cheshire, loyal to the memory of Richard II., sent its knights and squires to battle with Hotspur for Richard's heir. All the old Cheshire names may be found upon the insurgent muster-roll, — Vernon, Venables, Leigh, and the rest ; while reinforcements poured in from Lancashire, Derbyshire, and the Marches. About July i7th, Worcester arrived at Chester with the manifesto ; and uncle and nephew issued a proclamation to the effect that the Earl of March was rightful King of England, that Henry of Bolingbroke was deposed, and that they themselves had assumed the "style and title of Joint Protectors of the Commonwealth." 1 Also they sent out letters of defiance, accusing Henry of breaking the oath made to them at Doncaster in 1399 relative to his intention not to claim the crown ; and further stating that he had caused Richard II. to be starved to death.2

Learning that Glendower was on the march, Hotspur set his force in motion, and, on the morning of Saturday July 2 ist, he appeared by the Oswestry road before the Castle Foregate of Shrewsbury, near which town he ex- pected to make a juncture with the Welsh. But dire disappointment. awaited him. On the walls of Shrewsbury floated the banner of Henry IV. !

By one splendid stroke the king had resolved to win or lose all. Hearing of the rebellion on July i6th, he saw that, with enemies on every side, but a single hope re- mained, that of pushing into the very heart of the war and cutting off the central body of insurgents before they could unite with Glendower or with Northumberland. Some historians3 state that this plan of action was suggested to

1 Hanlyng. 2 IbiJ. '•' Ramsay, Lancaster and York, &c.

78 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

him by that skilful strategist, the banished Dunbar, Earl of March. This theory is by no means unlikely ; for Dunbar was with Henry's army at the time, and he had already given signal evidence of his generalship at Homildoun when fighting with, instead of against, Hotspur. Whoever may have been the author of the movement, it is certain that Henry effected it with a rapidity and success which utterly surprised Hotspur, himself no sluggard on the march.

At sight of the royal standard over Shrewsbury, Hot- spur drew back along the Whitchurch road for about three and a half miles, and chose a position of considerable strength on the slope of the Hayteley field, to the left of the road, in the parish of Albright Hussey.1 His front was protected by a tangled crop of peas, and — according to Ramsay2 — by three small ponds. The king, advancing from Shrewsbury, took up perforce a situation at the foot of the slope. Hence he despatched messengers, among them the Abbot of Shrewsbury, to Hotspur, asking him to come into the royal lines, together with Worcester, for the purpose of averting bloodshed. The real object of this course is disputed. Perhaps Henry was sincere in his desire of a peaceful settlement ; but his proved duplicity rather leads us to believe that he had some ulterior motive in desiring the presence of the two insurgent leaders. The theory that he wished to gain time can scarcely be maintained, for delay might have proved fatal to his cause. The scouts of Glenclower were already in sight ; while Northumberland, recovered from his illness, was again on his way with a strong force.

Hotspur refused to go in person to the king, probably fearing some such treatment as had been meted out to Richard II.; but he allowed his uncle to attempt negotia- tions. Capgrave and other historians assert that Worcester proved an untrustworthy envoy, false both to the king and to Hotspur. This view of the old soldier-statesman's char- acter has been perpetuated by Shakspeare in Henry IV.,

1 Wylie, Hist, of Henry IV. = Lancaster and York.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 79

Part I., where Worcester is represented as concealing the king's fair offers of peace from Hotspur, lest the latter should decide to accept them. It is difficult to believe the earl guilty of such wanton treachery. Froissart declares that continental sovereigns and statesmen were ever ready to accept the bare word of Thomas Percy as sufficient ratification of all treaties or conventions. It is, however, quite probable that (like his nephew) he dis- trusted the king's fine promises, and so advised Hotspur not to hearken to them. After some hours of parleying, it became apparent that a battle could not be avoided. Hotspur's final answer to the king was, " I put no trust in thy mercy." To which Henry replied, by the mouth of Worcester, " I pray the Lord that thou and not I may be held responsible for the blood spilt this day." l

Before the ranks had begun to move, an omen happened which blanched for a little space the cheeks of Hotspur and his friends. Turning to an esquire, Percy called for his favourite sword, the staunch weapon with which he had won so many fights. "Alack, my lord," replied the esquire, "it was left behind at the place where you encamped overnight, the village of Berwick." Hotspur groaned. "Then," cried he, "has my plough reached its last furrow ! " A soothsayer had long beside prophesied that Harry Percy should die before Berwick ; but naturally the north-country hero had thought his own border Berwick the place referred to. At this southern Berwick he had passed the night, without even knowing its name ; and to have left there his good sword seemed to him a warning of death.2 For, although Shakspeare makes Percy mock at the tales which credited Glendower with magic power, the real Hotspur, like so many brave captains, seems to have been of a superstitious nature. His fears soon vanished, however, and he made ready for attack, taking a leaf out of crafty George Dunbar's book by placing the archers of Cheshire in the foremost line of fight.

1 Etilos'nun Historianim. 2 Ibid.

8o THE HOUSE OF PERCY

Not long after noon King Henry gave the word to charge — "En Avant Baner!"^ "Esperance! Esperance, shrewsbu Percy ! " cried the insurgents ; to which the Hotspur's y ' royal troops replied with a lusty " St. George ! " last battle. The Cheshire archers shot not so well as their northern brothers at Homildoun, for although their arrows broke a portion of the royal line, they were themselves driven back by a second and more determined attack, said to have been headed by the boy Prince of Wales.2 Thence- forward the combat raged hand to hand. Hotspur and Douglas with thirty chosen knights cut their way through the advancing host straight to the royal standard. The standard-bearer fell beneath the sword of Percy. The banner, beaten to earth, would have been captured had not the Earl of Stafford seized it and borne it out of the press. Swift followed Hotspur, and Stafford in his turn bit the dust. Striding over the fallen standard, Percy saw approaching a knight arrayed in the royal armour. "The king ! " he cried, and thrust him furiously through the throat, so that he fell a corpse beneath the feet of the royalists. " The king ! " echoed those who followed Hotspur — "the king is slain!" Henry's host wavered and would have broken, had not a second knight rushed to the front, bearing likewise the royal arms and crest. This man went down, his skull cloven by the battle-axe of Douglas. Again was the cry raised that the king had fallen. Not so ! Henry the cautious, knowing full well that a direct attack would be made upon his person, had but sent two gentlemen forth disguised in his royal harness, whilst he himself directed the battle from the rear in company with George Dunbar.3 Such cunning tricks of

1 Walsingham, Hist. Angl., ii. 396.

2 Shakspeare has it (in Henry IV., Part I.) that Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales were of the same age, and makes the king speak of the former as—

u This Hotspur Mars in ytvaddling clathcs. This in/ant luarrior ! "

Yet the king himself was born in the same year as the man he styles an infant, while the Prince of Wales was barely seventeen.

3 Eulogiitm I/istoriarunt, £c.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 81

warfare commended themselves not to that soul of chivalry, Harry Percy. He neither sheltered himself among the men-at-arms, nor sent his devoted esquires to die behind a lying 'scutcheon. Hotspur had he been all his life ; and here on Shrewsbury field he was Hotspur yet. Even where his knights fought back to back above the trampled standard of skulking Bolingbroke, even where the bloody axe of Douglas cut its terrible path, Harry Percy could not tarry long. Lifting his visor so that all might know him, he burst through the enemy's van, shouting " Esper- ance ! " and calling on those that loved the right to follow. Perhaps he had seen the hosts of Glendower drawn up across the neighbouring river,1 and hoped to cut his way thither through the royal army. Perhaps he expected the Welsh to fall upon the royal rear, as, to their disgrace, they did not fall ! Whatever were his thoughts, he was not long to think. As Harold died at Senlac, so died Hotspur at Shrewsbury. A chance arrow, falling from aloft, pierced him through the brain. His followers, in doubt, still shouted " Percy ! Esperance ! " and pressed onward. But the king, emerging from safe shelter, lifted up his voice and cried, "Harry Percy is slain !"2 The royal troops took heart of grace, and bore the insurgents back. Glendower and his legions, on the opposite bank of the river, made no attempt to turn the tide. The knights of Northumbria and Scotland, scorning to fly, fell before the onrush. The gallant Cheshire bowmen fired their last shafts, drew their skians, and perished on the battle side of the slope. Few indeed of the insurgent army left the field alive. The sunset of that day was the sunset of the cause of Mortimer.

In the twilight, Henry Bolingbroke searched the field for Hotspur's body. The road thither was plainly marked by a broad line of royalist dead. There, too, lay the thirty knights who had followed their lord into the fight, resting side by side, with the fallen ensign of the king for their right worthy couch. There lay the Douglas, his great axe

1 Wylie. Knmsny. 2 Ann. Hen. IV.

F

82 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

clutched in the grip of death. And there, beyond them all, with his face to the early stars and his forehead pierced by the arrow of doom, lay the bravest, rashest, staunchest knight in England, Harry Percy of Northumberland, whom men called Hotspur.

" The earth that bore him dead, Bore not alive so stout a gentleman}' '

It is said that the king wept over Hotspur's body. Perhaps in the first shock of thus beholding this near kinsman, this friend of his boyhood, Henry may have been moved to tears. It is known, at least, that he permitted one of the neutral barons, Thomas Nevill, Lord Furnival, to re- move the body from Shrewsbury, and to inter it during the night in a family chapel at Whitchurch, sixteen miles from the field. But the royal generosity was short-lived. A day or two later he had the remains torn from their grave and carried back to the scene of battle. There they were rubbed in salt, and placed upright between two mill- stones, by the side of the pillory, in Shrewsbury market- place.2 So they stood, while gaping crowds came to view, for the greater part of a week. Then the head was hewn off, and sent to be fixed upon that gate of York which looked towards Northumberland. The four quarters were distributed between London, Bristol, Chester, and Newcastle. Long afterwards Hotspur's sorrowing widow- obtained leave to gather together these ghastly remnants of him she had loved. Doubt exists as to the ultimate resting-place of the dismembered body ; but Friar Peeris expressly states in his Rhyming Chronicle that Harry Hotspur was buried by his faithful widow in the Northum- berland tomb at York Minster. The Earl of Worcester, sorely wounded, had been beheaded on the field of battle, and it was probably his body which was subsequently brought to light in St. Mary's Church of Shrewsbury.

During the night succeeding the struggle Owen Glen-

J Hen. IV., Act v. sc. 4.

2 Wylie, i. 364. Chronique tie la Traison lie Richard Deux.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 83

dower, who had remained inactive across the river, retreated with Mortimer into South Wales. Henry Boling- broke's bold stroke had amply succeeded. One of his foes utterly crushed, the other a fugitive, he had now only to reckon with old Northumberland.1

Tardily marching (tardily through no fault of his) to relieve his son and brother, Northumberland was arrested

by the dire news of this catastrophe. Moreover, ofhdeefeat!ts he found his southward pathway blocked by

Nevill, Earl of Westmoreland, who had been de- tached from the main body of the royalist force for this purpose. Stricken with grief by the death of Hotspur, the old earl made no attempt to attack Westmoreland, but retreated to Newcastle. Misfortune is ever a sore severer of old ties, and the Percy found the gates of New- castle closed against his army. In vain he pleaded the memory of the past : the burgesses whom Hotspur had commanded, whom the house of Percy had so often de- fended, hardened their hearts against the baffled earl, and refused his troops a refuge. All that could be obtained from them, after long negotiation, was permission for Northumberland and his personal train to enter the city.2 The soldiers were compelled to pass the night outside the walls. Next day the earl retired still farther north, marching to his own castle of Warkworth. Here, of course, he was made welcome ; and here he received a summons from the king to present himself forthwith at York. The royal message intimated that no harm should come to its recipient, provided that he made his defence in due form before Parliament. Northumberland set out at once, scantily attended, and appeared before the king at York on nth August. He was received with extreme cold- ness ; and treated, to all intents and purposes, as a State

1 Authorities on the battle of Shrewsbury and the death of Hotspur : Ann. lien. IV., Cliron. de la Trdison de Kichard Deux, Harclyng, Holinshed, Wylie's Hist, of Hen. IV., Ramsay's Lancaster and York, Surtees' Descts. of Jos. tie Lovain, De Fonblanque, &c. a Ann. Hen. IV.

84 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

prisoner.1 A few days later the Court moved to Pontefract, where the earl, despite the king's assurances, was coerced into formally yielding up all his northern castles to be governed by royal nominees.

No sooner had he signed a treaty to this effect than all disguise was thrown off, and he was conveyed to Baginton, near Coventry, and there kept in close captivity until February 1404. In that month Parliament met, and the earl was carried to Westminster to offer what defence he could against the charge of high-treason. After grave deliberation the Lords decided that his acts had not amounted to treason, but merely to a trespass against the sovereign authority. A fine they held sufficient to atone for the delinquency. Thereupon Northumberland, at his own request we are told, took an oath of fealty on the cross of St. Thomas ; and the king pardoned him at the request of both Lords and Commons. The Commons, with whom he was especially popular, sent to Henry on gth February a memorial of thanks for this clemency. For some time a feud had existed between the earl and his cousin of Westmoreland. The growing power of the latter in the north had been a thorn in the side of the Percies ; and bitter ill-will prevailed between the adherents of Nevill and of Percy upon the border. But now "at the request of the Commons \the king] commanded the Earl of Northumberland and the Earl of Westmoreland, in token of perfect amity, to kiss each other in open Parliament"* This ceremony was duly carried out ; and the two noblemen became ostensibly reconciled,3 — although, as will be seen, the feud still secretly continued.

Northumberland was then restored to all his honours and dignities, save the High Constableship ; and to all his possessions except the Isle of Man. However, he agreed to make over his castles to be governed by nominees of the Crown.

It was one thing for the king to receive Northumber-

1 Ettbgium Historiarum, iii. 398. - Bryclges' Collins* Peerage.

3 Kot. Purl., iii. 524.

'

84 THE HOUSK OF PERCY

prisoner.1 A few days hi^ • *«tt moved to Pontefract,

where the earl, drspite Uif ku»;'* .«**ur.inces, was coerced into formally yielding t'C Vi! H«s northern castles to be governed by roy-d nomincw

Xo sooner had lie signed a treaty to this effect than all disguise was thrown off, and he was conveyed to Baginton, near Coventry, and there kept in close captivity until February 1404. In that month Parliament met, and the carl was carried to Westminster to offer what defence he could against the charge of high-treason. After grave deliberation the F-ords decided that his acts had not amounted to treason, but merely lo a trespr against the sovereign authority, A line they held sufficient to atone ii.ii tht- delinquency. Thereupon Northumberland, at his ,,.-,vu request wr are told, took an oath of fealty on the I'.iixs of S'. Thoma> ; and the king pardoned him at the : > quo! of both Lords and Commons. The Commons, wit1! whom he \\.i.- especially popular, sent to Henry on >.th February .1 ,nemorial of thanks for this r'emencv. For some time > ie:id had existed between the <-.irl and his (.."•u-i.i. i if \YeM,;!< o Sand. The growing powe of the ;_i"- , KM i!i ! .ul tijvn n thorn i:i the ?idt of the

:-.! biu.'i iii- -oi.U prevailed between Iht: adherents ant! oi l!e:cy upon the border. Hi:: IIMW "at Hit. rfriticst of //if Cotwnon? '.the king] cotmnanifaf tkc tiarl

ortliuiubcriiind and the. l-.ai'l of Westmoreland, in token

of perfect •i-n:iy, fa ifiss eari: <•('>.••>• in open Parliament.'"1 This

ceremony was duly earned • ut ; and the two noblemen

(K-ten^ibiy reconciled.3 —although, as will be seen,

tend still secretly continued.

.humlvjrland WH> then restored to all his honours

• !;gn;tii.-s, save Sl.c High Constableship ; and to all his

osioiv- cxceri Hi' i.-,lc of Man. However, he agreed io HI >k • o< ur his ca^i;.'-> to lie governed by nominees oi the

th'ng for thej<ing to receive Northumber-

r.' ;fc> !:!<•!", HI. 398. - Hrydges' CV:/V/it' Pterasr.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 85

land's submission, and another to enforce that submission upon some of the turbulent borderers who governed Berwick, Bamborough, Warkworth, and other northern strongholds for their feudal lord. Several of these captains positively refused to believe that the Percy had agreed to surrender his fortresses, and the officers of the king were in more than one instance denied admittance by Northumberland's loyal lieutenants. The earl was natu- rally suspected of secretly sanctioning this opposition, and repeated summonses were sent him to attend Court and set himself right with the Council. At last, about mid- summer, he repaired to Pontefract, where Henry then lay, bringing with him as hostages his grandsons — the only son of Hotspur, and the two sons of Sir Thomas Percy of Athol.1 After some vacillation on the king's part the sur- render of Berwick and Jedburgh Castles was cancelled, and Northumberland was allowed to retain the governorship of those places.2 He returned to the border apparently well satisfied, but in reality irritated by the manner in which he had been treated, and ripe for further mischief. Called to attend the Council in January 1405, he excused himself from this irksome duty in a letter to Henry, pleading old age and infirmity, and signed "your humble Matathyas" Probably he feared to share the fate of the Earl Marshal, the Archbishop of York, and others who had trusted them- selves in the hands of Westmoreland and the king.

While in this frame of mind he was approached by the agents of Mortimer and Glendower, and there seems little reason to doubt that he entered into a treaty with them, by which a new insurrection was planned. England and Wales were to be portioned out between the three conspirators, it is said, the earl receiving twelve northern and eastern counties for his share.3 Before the scheme could come to maturity, proof of its existence was brought to Henry by Westmoreland. The king lost no time in marching an army to the north ; but before he could reach Alnwick, Northumberland had fled across the border

1 See Genealogy, Table II. - Ann. Hen. IV. '•> CAiwt., ed. Giles.

86 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

in company with his close friend and ally, the Lord Bardolf — a nobleman renowned for his great size and strength, rather than for any qualities of his mind. .Together they sought an asylum at the Scottish Court ; while the king ravaged Northumbria, capturing one castle after another until all were reduced. In June 1406 the earl and Bardolf were cited to appear before Parliament within fourteen days, to answer an accusation of high-treason preferred against them. In default of their presence they were duly adjudged outlaws and traitors — a sentence in- volving the forfeiture of all their estates and titles, and the penalty of death at the king's pleasure.1 Hardly had the decree of confiscation been signed, than Henry set about the congenial task of distributing the Percy possessions. The southern manors were given to the Duke of Bedford, the king's brother ; while all the remainder, including Northumberland House in Aldersgate Street, London, fell to the queen's share.2 In addition, Commissioners were despatched to Scotland for the purpose of obtaining, by threats or persuasion, the surrender of the outlawed lords. It is likely that the Scots Court would have delivered up the fugitives had not Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld (who cherished a friendship for the gigantic Bardolf) given them timely warning of danger. Not a day too soon Percy and his companion fled by sea, probably from Glasgow, and succeeded in reaching the coast of South Wales, where they joined Glendower and Mortimer.

For two years thereafter the life of the attainted earl was one succession of hasty flights and narrow escapes from capture. Lord Bardolf shared with him every trial and misfortune. Now we find them in Brittany, now in Wales. They ventured even to return to the Scottish border ; and in 1408 the strange spectacle was presented of Northumberland raiding his own estates at the head of a body of Scots, and carrying off a prey of sheep and cattle. A proclamation was issued, in consequence of this

1 Rolls of Parlt., 7 lien. IV.

" This mansion afterwards became known as the " Queen's Wardrobe."

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 87

exploit, setting a price upon the earl's head ; l and all loyal subjects were urged to capture or slay "Henry Percy, late Earl of Northumberland"

This state of affairs could not last long. King Henry

had sworn never again to make peace with Percy ; nor

was the Scottish Court inclined to offer him pro-

the'fi'st Eari tection. Upon the border and in Wales, Bardolf

of Northum- ancj he founci hazardous shelter for short spaces

berland.

of time ; but the English agents were too watch- ful and energetic to give them any lasting rest. The perils and privations which he had suffered since his outlawry had added greatly to the earl's infirmities ; but harassed as he was, he seems to have retained his indomitable spirit to the last.

While lurking in one of the border peels in the Douglas country, messages were brought to him promising the aid of " a strong party " in case he invaded England.2 It is generally admitted that these cozening communications had been prompted, if not actually sent, by Thomas Rokeby, Sheriff of York. Rokeby was a friend of Northumberland, and had served under him in France and England ; so that the earl would naturally have been well disposed to trust to his promises.

Whether the sheriff really had a hand in the treachery or not, Northumberland took the bait all too eagerly. Arousing his friends upon the Scots border by promises of a raid even more successful than that upon which he had previously led them, the valiant old soldier succeeded in mustering an army of no mean proportions. Likely it ia that knights not a few from the English side of the frontier came to join their quondam lord, or swelled his forces as he marched across the Tweed and Tyne. The Scotichronicon. asserts that Thomas Rokeby had promised to join him near Tadcaster, in Yorkshire, and that Northumberland pushed on without opposition to that place. With him rode the faithful Bardolf. At Bramham Moor Rokeby appeared with

1 Scotichronicon. 3 Ibid,, p. 1167.

88 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

a superior army ; but alliance with Percy and the Scots was far from being his intention. By means of ambuscades he succeeded in surrounding the invading troops on every side. Then, " with a standard of St. George's spread" he " set fiercely upon the earl ; who, under a standard of his own, encountered his adversary with great manhood"^- Rokeby was a man in the prime of life ; Northumberland had reached his sixty-third year. After a sturdy fight the latter was unhorsed, but continued, although wounded, to do battle on foot. The huge Bardolf, battle-axe in hand, rushed to his friend's assistance, and for some time kept back the grim press of Rokeby's knights. Tradition avers that, seeing further resistance hopeless, the kindly giant would have carried off Northumberland in his arms. But a lance-thrust pierced Bardolf's throat, and he was slain. Northumber- land, bleeding from many wounds, fought valorously on, until life forsook him, and he fell beside the corpse of his fellow-outlaw. Then " his head, crowned and bearded with hoary hair, was set high upon a pike, and borne in all men's sight to London, to be fixed upon the bridge of that city" 2

In such wise died Henry Percy, first Earl of Northum- berland. While neither a great captain, nor possessed of any extraordinary intellectual gifts, he had all the dauntless courage and rugged honesty of his race. The racial obsti- nacy and quickness of temper also distinguished him ; and the upright independence of his nature can be judged from his vigorous support of Wickliff, as well as for the stout efforts which he made in favour of court and parliamentary reform throughout the reign of Richard II. When his char- acter and attainments are compared with those of his con- temporaries among the English or Scots nobility, the first Earl of Northumberland must be accorded a very high •place, Seldom surely in the history of the Island have three such near relatives occupied, at one and the same time, a position so prominent, or encountered harsher fates, than did Northumberland, Harry Hotspur, and Thomas, Earl of Worcester.

1 Holinshed. 2 Walsingham.

SKAI. 01 HKNRV. SKCON1) KAKI. OF NORTHUMBERLAND

IV

WHEN the old earl fell at Bramham Moor, the heir of his

name and race — Henry Percy, only son of Hotspur— was

a sojourner across the border. Young Percy

The son of J. , . ...

Hotspur, was in his fifteenth year, having been born on "condEari 3r<^ February 1394. His grandfather had sent ofNorthum- him into Scotland in 1405, when the clouds were once more beginning to lower upon the house of Percy ; and mainly to protect the lad from Henry IV.'s treachery and hatred, the Scots held him as a prisoner of war, refusing to yield him up to the English sovereign, on the plea that the latter had similarly detained Douglas and other Scottish prisoners after Homildoun.1 At the northern court, however, the attainted heir of Northumberland was treated with great kindness, and allowed every privilege consistent with his own safety. It is interesting to note that his signature appears to a charter dated January 18, 1404, by which Robert, Duke of Albany, conferred lands in Clackmannan on his son - in - law Duncan Campbell of Lochaw.2 It is "afar cry to Lochaw" indeed; but one may remember that a direct descendant of this Duncan of Lochaw (afterwards first Lord Campbell) is Edith, present Duchess of Northumberland.3 King Robert selected Lord Percy as a fit companion and fellow-student for his son and heir, the future James I. ; and together they trod the road of letters at the now venerable, but then newly-established, University of St. Andrews. Bishop Wardlaw (who was

1 Scotichronicon, p. 1 1 66.

2 This document — connecting for the first time the names of Percy and Campbell — is preserved in the MSS. of the Duke of Argyll.

3 See Genealogy, Table IV.

89

9o THE HOUSE OF PERCY

governor to the young prince), becoming fearful of the evil intentions of the Regent Albany towards his charge, eventually prevailed upon the king to send James, in company with young Percy, into France. This voyage, however, ended in ill-luck. Off Flamborough Head the prince caused his captain to cast anchor, and himself went ashore " to refresh himself after his sea vomit and nausea- tion." l In this way he fell into the hands of the English ; and, in defiance of all treaties, was carried a prisoner to London, where, as we know, Henry IV. detained him in cap- tivity for eighteen years. Another account2 has it that the ship ran ashore off Flamborough Head ; but this would appear to be untrue, for the reason that the heir of the Percies was not imprisoned at the same time as his friend, but actually returned to Scotland and re-entered the halls of St. Andrews. It is by no means likely that Henry IV. would have permitted so valuable a hostage as Percy to slip through his grasping fingers ; and a natural supposition is that the account of Buchanan is correct, and that our sub- ject, being a better sailor than the prince, remained on board, while the latter went on shore to recover from the pangs of sea-sickness. No mention is made of the fate of the vessel and its officers ; hence it is probable that, hearing of their master's capture, and being attacked by a superior force, they put off to sea again, and made their way back to Scotland.

Henry Percy, during the intervals of study at St. Andrews, did not neglect to attain for himself that know- ledge of arms which had become an attribute

Romantic ° .

legends con- 01 his line. Not only in tourneys, but in the

Perey? more serious civil frays of the day, he took an

honourable part ; and Northumbria treasures

ballads and legends not a few, telling of his secret journeys

across the border to visit his own country and his lost

lands. No absolute evidence exists of these dangerous

voyages ; but some of the old traditions respecting them

1 Buchanan. » David Scot, Hist, of Scotland, p. 222.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY

were in the year 1818 made into a drama, entitled " Masque," and even acted upon the stage. According to this romantic, though very doubtful, authority, Percy served for a time as a page, and under an assumed name. in the household of hi* father's enemy the Earl of Westmore- land. Here he tell in love with the earl's daughter, the Lady Alianore \uvill, who afterwards became hss wife. The rest of the masque is wholly impossible. Bishop Percy, in his charming ballad, the '• Hermit of Wark- wortJi,'1 teiK how Pcrcv, o>mmg clandestinely into England, \v<>r. thr hc.irt <>f L.uK Aii-in-MX', and n^- married to her ,if Use.- \Varkv,oit!i H- rmit.ig',. He thi-r; n.-ti.fi;et! to Scot- l.in.'i , but thr Ci iniU'ss <>t \\osl';i'>n-;,iT.{i, ii-aniing lier daughter'-' secret, ht-^'an at once t-'; imriiiuc l'i/r I!H: ic- ;-».. ••.,!)!••. .«t Percy tv> lus paternal est Ui11 Thi- k-^eiu! -: \-f.d by the keijister of \Vhitby;' his? cantiot hi- v.i>-4autiated by any contemporary evidence. Stii' therf seems little reason to <louht that Hotspur's <;>n '^>i! ;>!i moro than out- occ-isioy eludr ilu. viijilancc "f J»' Henry.- Wanicns, and pay living visits across the fi-.Tt'ct which separated htin 'roin lus liome and the h<mu- vs !::s fathers. The quaint hermitage of VVarkworth, u-hcrr tiic wandering heir -and the lovely Alianore NCM!! u-ere s.-.id to have met and married, s'ill stai-i-' rir^^t'^lv bv ti;c waterside, hard by VVv •:';! Cast'n , :in<! .1 pic.isasii..-; more invitintr sp. r ,•' l<^vf• '•> i'l.itr in spiir ,.•!"

. <.>u:v i;'j<- must wander t ij

'.••,;ciiJ.'<'"> iiiarnj.i^u to Pt" . •.

ha<; iut;' C.du:.-' • •- tit \Vesti:-oieUn:: -

sudden f.i'. . •' . -the' .; -tint.nces ove: i"uu.' tf; •

enmity whicli lfi -'.i-r:*- {iikc h-t-r husband) ha.i ,'""i:

bor::e towards ;h~ Pi- .:•'-.-, ;1 ;,s »->.-rt .iin that, i, • .-.•!:><ioi did Henry V. re.tcfi !!>* i.nroi)f. th.ni tlie mothf-r i..f i-.i-ly Alianurc Nevill interceded vii»i»ro;:-,iv \vi!li that monarch for the banished and I'iudless youth. The intercession had all the more effect, since Joan of Westmoreland w:ts the king's

1 E* Kt-»iil. .Ua/iatt. de Whi(bytt Han. MS.S. 6</2. 26, !<•!. 255

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 91

were in the year 1818 made into a drama, entitled " Percy's Masque," and even acted upon the stage. According to this romantic, though very doubtful, authority, Percy served for a time as a page, and under an assumed name, in the household of his father's enemy the Earl of Westmore- land. Here he fell in love with the earl's daughter, the Lady Alianore Nevill, who afterwards became his wife. The rest of the masque is wholly impossible. Bishop Percy, in his charming ballad, the " Hermit of Wark- worth," tells how Percy, coming clandestinely into England, won the heart of Lady Alianore, and was married to her at the Warkworth Hermitage. He then returned to Scot- land ; but the Countess of Westmoreland, learning her daughter's secret, began at once to intrigue for the re- storation of Percy to his paternal estates. The legend is preserved by the Register of Whitby ; l but cannot be substantiated by any contemporary evidence. Still there seems little reason to doubt that Hotspur's son did on more than one occasion elude the vigilance of King Henry's wardens, and pay flying visits across the frontier which separated him from his home and the home of his fathers. The quaint hermitage of Warkworth, where the wandering heir and the lovely Alianore Nevill were said to have met and married, still stands ruggedly by the waterside, hard by Warkworth Castle ; and a pleasanter or more inviting spot for young love to mate in spite of family feud and royal displeasure, one must wander far to find.

Whether her daughter's legendary marriage to Percy had aught to do with the Countess of Westmoreland's sudden favour, or whether other influences overcame the enmity which this noble dame (like her husband) had long borne towards the Percies, it is certain that, no sooner did Henry V. reach the throne, than the mother of Lady Alianore Nevill interceded vigorously with that monarch for the banished and landless youth. The intercession had all the more effect, since Joan of Westmoreland was the king's

1 Ex Resist. Monait. dc Whitbye, Harl. MSS. 692, 26, fol. 235.

92 THE HOUSE OF PERCY

aunt,1 and exercised great influence at Court. Henry was prevailed upon at length to restore Percy in blood ; and on November n, 1414, the nominal prisoner of Scotland was permitted to present a petition to Parliament praying for the restoration of his estates and titles.2 Upon this petition Parliament reported favourably, adding that " le dit suppliant est deinz age et detenu en Escose encontre son ban gre~et voluntte" 3 — showing that the Scottish Court, partly doubting English good faith towards Percy, and partly desirous of obtaining in exchange some of the prisoners taken at Homildoun, still kept up the fiction of the young man's forcible de- tention. The latter theory is supported by the fact that the Regent Albany offered to exchange Percy for his son Murdoch, Earl of Fife ; and negotiations to this effect were pending when the discovery of the Earl of Cambridge's conspiracy caused them to be temporarily abandoned. Cambridge attempted to implicate Percy in his schemes ;4 but this charge was quickly disproved, and the exile's ex- change was duly arranged for on July i, 1415, the English Commissioners being the Lords Grey and Nevill. Fife was delivered up to Scotland ; while Henry Percy, upon enter- ing into a recognisance with the king for the sum of .£10,000, became once more free of English soil.5 So poor at the time were both of these long-exiled nobles, that grants of ^200 and 100 marks were needed before they could appear becomingly at their respective courts.6 The hereditary possessions of Percy were duly restored ; and on March 16, 1416, he did homage in Parliament for his earldom and other titles, receiving a new patent of creation.7 Some little while later he was made Governor of Berwick and General Warden of the East Marches, "with same powers as Lord Grey formerly had." 8 Thus the Percies were once more restored to the lofty position which they had forfeited when the first earl was outlawed and attainted.

1 She was the daughter of John of Gaunt, and consequently sister of Henry IV. '* Kolls ofParlt., iv. 36-7. 3 Kot. Part., 3 Hen. V., m. 21.

4 Fosdera, ix. 300. 6 Proceedings of Privy Council.

6 Issue Kolls, 8th February 1416. 7 Hot. Par!., iv. 21-2.

8 A'et. Scot., 4 Hen. V., Feb. 23, 1417.

THE HOUSE OF PERCY 93

It is satisfactory to note that one of the new earl's first acts was to obtain the royal leave to remove from London the head of his unhappy grandsire, and to bear that grisly relic dutifully to York Minster, where it was interred with the mortal remains of Harry Hotspur.1