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Constitutional History.
[chap.
Possible run its course in the parliament could the king have there in-
proceeding, teπered to rescue him from the uncertain issue . He had there-
fore declined to be tried by his peers, and sacrificed himself to
save the king and the council, or that part of it which followed
the same policy. He had six weeks given him to prepare for
his departure. After settling his affairs and writing a beautiful
letter of farewell to his infant son, he sailed on the 30th of
mrad⅛ed Apcil2. On the 2nd of May he was beheaded by the crew
145T’ May °f a fllliP wlɪ'ɑɪ1 bad been waiting to intercept him off the coast
of Kent. There is no evidence to determine whether the act
was prompted by the vindictiveness of political rivalry or by
the desire of vengeance for the death of Gloucester, or was the
mere result of the hatred felt by the sailors of the fleet, which
had been fatal to bishop Moleyns, or was part of a concerted
attempt against the dynasty3. Anyhow it robbed Henry of
his most faithful and skilful adviser, and left him for a time
dependent on the counsel of the aged archbishop of York.
Parliament The parliament, which met again at Leicester on the 20th of
at Leicester. April and granted a graduated tax on incomes arising from
lands and offices, completed its work by making a special pro-
vision for the royal household ; the fee farms of the crown were
to be applied to this purpose to the amount of £gg22 os. 7d. ;
and the revenues of the duchy of Lancaster, so far as they were
not already appropriated, were devoted to the same object4.
Act of Re- ʌ general act of resumption was passed, by which all the grants
made since the king’s accession -were annulled ; a great number
however of exceptions and reservations were made, and the act
became a precedent which many subsequent parliaments thought
1 The proceedings at the councils preliminary to the Leicester parlia-
ment of 1426 may be compared with this : so Iongas the matter was before
council a compromise might be effected ; if parliament were appealed to,
such justice must be done as parliament willed. See above, ρ. ιo6 ; and
Ordinances, iii. 185, ɪɛð.
2 The letter is pi inted among the Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, i. 121,
122 ; and the account of the duke’s death is given in the same collection,
vol. ɪ. pp. 124, 126.
3 Æneas Sylvius (Opp. p. 442), representing perhaps foreign opinion,
regards the death of Sutiolk as connected with the attempt of the duke of
York to change the government : his account of Suffolk is hostile ; ‘ qui
leges pro suo arbitratu et populis et principibus dixit. Suppressit quos
odivit et iterum quos amavit erexit.’ i Pot. Pari. v. 172-176.
XVIII.]
Cade's TdeZeUion.
ɪʒɔ
it wise to follow1. The session closed on the ιl7th of May.
Immediately after the death of the duke of Suffolk the rebellion
of Cade and the Kentish men broke out.
346. This event, which more than anything else in Henry’s Heipiess-
■ . . . . , . ness of
reign proves hɪs utter incapacity for government, serves also to Henly after
show how helpless the removal of Suffolk had left him. Of the death?
two men who would most naturally have taken the lead in
council, the duke of Somerset was in France, the duke of York
was in Ireland. The lord Say and Sele, who was one of the
special objects of popular hatred, was the king’s treasurer.
Cardinal Kemp the chancellor was scarcely fitter than Henry
himself to deal witlι an armed mob. The condition of the
country would have tasked much stronger and more unscru-
pulous men2. The nation was exhausted by taxation, impatient
of lieace, thoroughly imbued with mistrust. Cade and the Rebellion
, . , under Jack
party which used him—for there were not wanting signs and Cade, May
and June
symptoms oɪ much more crafty guidance—based their com- 1450.
plaints and demands on the existence of grievances, political,
constitutional and local, which could not be gainsayed 3. They
united in one comprehensive manifesto the loss of Normandy,
the promotion of favourites, the exclusion of the lords of the
blood royal from council, the interferences with county elections,
1 Rot. Parl. v. 183-200. Whetliamstede remarks that the necessity for
these acts was caused by the king’s extravagant liberality ; the politicians
in parliament remembered ‘quo modo pauperiem regis subsequitur spo-
Iiatio ρlebis ; ’ i. 249. Hardyng says that taxes and dymes ceased in con-
sequence ot4he relief ; p. 401. ‘ The kyng hath sumwhat graanted to have
tɪie resumpsion agayne in sumɪne, but nat in allé ; ’ J. Crane to J. Paston,
May 6, 1450; Paston Letters, i4 127; Arnold’s Chronicle, pp. 179-186.
2 Some changes were made at this time ; lord Beaumont is said to have
been made chamberlain, and lord Rivers (Richard Wydville) constable ;
Paston Letters (May ɪʒ), i. 128. If this weɪe done, changes were made
soon after, for in July lord Beauchainp was treasurer (in Say’s place) and
lord Cromwell chamberlain ; W. Wore. p. 769.
3 t It was for the weal of him our sovereign lord and of all the realm and
for to destroy the traitors being about him, with other diverse points that
they would see that it were in short time amended;’ Gregory, p. 190.
‘ This attempt was both honourable to God and the king, and also profit-
able to the Coninionwealth ; promising them that if either by force or policy
they might once take the king, the queen, and other their counsellors into
their hands and governance, that they would honourably entreat the king
and so sharply handle his counsellors that neither fifteens should hereafter
be demanded, nor once any impositions or tax should be spoken of; ’ Hall,
p. 220.