Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2 | Page 5

and
the record expressly declares that the ordinance was made with the
consent and at the prayer of the commons.
[Footnote 8: Sir Edward Coke, in his 4th Inst. ch. i. declares that this
act was disavowed in the next parliament by the Commons, for that
they never assented. The Author has searched the Parliament Rolls in
vain for the authority on which that assertion was founded.]
But though neither the King nor his council gave any indication, in his
first parliament, of a desire to interfere with men's consciences in
matters of religion, the churchmen were by no means slumbering at
their post. Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, convened a council of
the bishops and clergy, who met by adjournment, in full numbers, at St.
Paul's, on the 26th of June 1413;[9] and adopted most rigorous
measures for the extirpation of heresy, levelled professedly with a more
especial aim against the ringleader of Lollardism, as he (p. 008) was
called, the valiant and unfortunate Lord Cobham. On these proceedings
we purpose to dwell separately in another part of this work; and, in
addition to what we shall there allege, little needs be observed here by
way of anticipation. In leaving the subject, however, as far as Henry
V.'s character is concerned, it may not be out of place to remark, that
historical facts, so far from stamping on him the mark of a religious
persecutor, prove that it required all the united efforts of the clergy and
laity to induce him to put the existing laws in force against those who
were bold enough to dissent from the Romish faith. So far from his
"having watched the Lollards as his greatest enemies," so far from
"having listened to every calumny which the zeal and hatred of the
hierarchy could invent or propagate against the unfortunate followers of
Wickliff," (the conduct and disposition ascribed to him by Milner,) we
have sufficient proof of the dissatisfaction of the church with him in
this respect; and their repeated attempts to excite him to more vigorous
measures against the rising and spreading sect. By a minute of council,
May 27, 1415, we find that, whilst preparing for his expedition to

France, he is reminded to instruct the archbishops and bishops to take
measures, each within his respective diocese, to resist the malice of the
Lollards. The King merely answered, that he had given the subject in
charge to his chancellor; and we are assured that Dr. Thomas (p. 009)
Walden,[10] one of the most learned and powerful divines of the day,
but very violent in his opposition to the new doctrines, openly
inveighed against Henry for his great negligence in regard to the duty
of punishing heretics.[11] To his religious sentiments we must again
refer in the sequel, and also as the course of events may successively
suggest any observations on that head.
[Footnote 9: The Monday after Corpus Christi day; which feast, being
the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, fell in the year 1413 on June 22.]
[Footnote 10: This Dr. Walden (so called from the place of his birth in
Essex) was so able a disputant that he was called the Netter. He seems
to have written many works, which are either totally lost, or are buried
in temporary oblivion.]
[Footnote 11: Goodwin. Appendix, p. 361.]
When Henry IV. ascended the throne, parliament prayed that the Prince
might not leave the realm, but remain in England as the anchor of the
people's hopes; and, soon after his own accession,[12] Henry V. is
advised by his council to remain near London, that he might receive
prompt intelligence of whatever might arise in any quarter, and be able
to take immediate steps for the safety of the commonweal. He seems to
have carried with him even from his earliest youth, wherever he went, a
peculiar talent of exciting confidence in every one. Whether in the field
of battle, or the chamber of council,--whether as the young Prince, just
initiated in affairs of war and government, or as the experienced captain
and statesman,--his contemporaries looked to him as a kind of guardian
spirit, to protect them from (p. 010) harm, and lead them onward to
good success. No despondency, nor even misgivings, show themselves
in the agents of any enterprise in which he was personally engaged. The
prodigious effects of these feelings in the English towards their prince
were displayed in their full strength, perhaps, at the battle of Agincourt;
but similar results are equally, though not so strikingly, visible in many

other passages of his life.
[Footnote 12: Minutes of Council, 29 June 1413.]
Among the various causes to which historians have been accustomed to
attribute the general anticipations of good from Henry's reign, which
pervaded all classes, is the appointment of Gascoyne to the high station