io Constitutional History. [chap.
The acces-
sion recog-
nised as a
new era.
302. The forms observed at Henry’s accession show that the
greatness of the occasion was recognised by some at least of his
advisers. The scene in Westminster Hall, when he claimed the
throne, was no unpremeditated pageant ; it was the solemn and
purposed inauguration of a new dynasty. Archbishop Arundel,
the astute ecclesiastic and experienced politician, although his
zeal was quickened no doubt by the sense of the wrong done to
himself and his brother, saw, more clearly than Henry, the true
justification of his proceedings. Sir William Thirning the
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, had had to use argument
to prevent Henry from claiming the throne by conquest. The
commission of doctors and bishops which had drawn up the
articles against Bichard, had also sat to inquire what fair claim
Henry could make as the rightful heir of the kingdom. They
had set aside on the 21 st of September the claim based on the
descent from Edmund Crouchback, whom its inventors alleged
to have been the elder son of Henry III. The claims of the
duke of Aumale5 son of Edmund of Langley duke of York5 and
Kichard’s favourite cousin, were advanced formally that they
might be set aside2. No doubt the name of the young Morti-
mer was pronounced by some under their breath ; for it was
clear that the kingdom could fall to none but Henry. Popular
superstition too was worth courting : the prophecy of Merlin
was searched for an omen, and Henry was seen to be the
‘ boar of commerce ’3 who, after days of famine, pestilence, and
ɪ ‘ Proposuerat Henricus de Darby Vendicare regnum per Conquaestum5
sod Guillelmus Tliirning JustitiariusAngliae dissuasit;’ Leland, Coll.i. ɪ88;
Ann. Henr. p. 282.
2 Creton, an utterly untrustworthy writer, makes the archbishop ask the
parliament whether they will have the duke of York, the duke of Aumale
or his brother Richard; Archaeol. xx. 200. According to Hardyng the
debate in which Henry alleged the false pedigree took place on September
21. If there were any such debate, it must have been there that the
bishop of Carlisle protested against Richard’s deposition ; but it is more
probable that the only discussion on Henry’s hereditary title took place in
the meeting of the commission of doctors, one of whom was Adam of Usk
the chronicler, who reports it between the 21st and the 29th. (Chron, ed.
Thompson, p. 29.)
3 t Superveniet aper Conimercii5 qui dispersos greges ad amissa pascua
revocabit ; ’ Geoff, lion. vii. § 3. Several pretended prophecies of Merlin
were in vogue at the time on both sides, in one of which Henry is described
as the mole who should reign after the ass ; , post asinum vero talpa ore
χvι∏∙]
The new dynasty.
JesoIafion, ‘ should recall the dispersed herds to the lost pas-
tures ; whose breast should be food for the needy and his
tongue should quiet the thirsty, out of whose mouth should
proceed streams to moisten the dry jaws of men.' Turning to
more hallowed sources of authority, Henry was found to be a
new Judas Maccabeus to whom Northumberland was the Mat-
tathias ɪ. The sword which he had drawn on landing was to The Lancas-
be preserved as a part of the regalia, the sword of Lancaster
by the side of the sceptre of the Confessor. The glories of the
line of Lancaster were crowned by the discovery of the golden
eagle and cruse of oil which were to give to the new dynasty The sacred
that miraculous unction that the house of Clovis had received
from the holy dove ; the Blessed Virgin had confided it to
S. Thomas of Canterbury at Sens, and it had lain concealed at
Poictiers until under divine directions it had been delivered to
duke Henry of Lancaster, the grandfather of the new king2.
It may be feared that the same hand may be traced here that
drew up the claim of legitimate descent through Edmund
Crouchback, if such a claim were ever really and formally
made. Wiser men were satisfied with the threefold title Henry’s
established by Henry’s formal claim, the ready consent of the claim, Sept
estates, and the resignation of Richard in his favour3 : ‘ Henry, 3°, ɪ399'
Dei inaledicta, suρerba, misera et turbida/ &c. See Mr. Webb’s note on
the subject, Archaeologia, xx. 258 ; Hall, Chr. p. 26. Froissart says that
when he was at the court of Edward III, he heard an old knight who
mentioned a prophecy contained in a book called Erut, that the descen-
dants of the duke of Lancaster would be kings of England. He also heard
a prophecy to the same purport on the day of Richard’s birth. The stories,
if true, tend to prove that John of Gaunt was suspected as early as that
date of aspiring to the succession. (Froissart, iv. 121.) Adam of Usk
has otlιer prophecies, one by John of Bridlington, in which Henry is
represented as a dog ; and one taken from Merlin in which he is described
as an eaglet; Chron. p. 24.
ɪ So the earl calls himself in his letters to Henry ; Ordinances of the
Privy Council, i. 204, 205.
j The story of the ampulla is given in full in the Annales Henrici
Quarti, pp. 297-298 ; Eulog. iii. 380; Capgr. Chr. p. 273. ɪt is examined
by Mr. Webb in the notes on Creton, Archaeol. xx. 266.
3 Froissart, iv. c. 116, states the three reasons as conquest, inheritance
Richard’s resignation. Cf. Chronique de la Trahison, p. 220. Mr.
'∖ylie, Henry IV, add., quotes from Chaacer ' O Conquerour of Brute’s
Albyoun, which that by Iygne and free eleccioun ben verray kynge ; ’ Com-
Pleynte to his Purse, 22. Capgrave (Ill. Henr. p. 107) says ‘ primo ex pro-