Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2 | Page 7

Henry Percy, Hotspur, the former
antagonist of his house. This young nobleman had been carried by his
friends into Scotland, for safe keeping, on the breaking out of his
grandfather's (Northumberland's) rebellion; and was detained there, as
some say, in concealment, till Henry V. made known his determination
to restore him to his title and estates. The Scots, who were in
possession of his person, kept him as a prisoner and hostage; and
although Henry might have considered a foreign land the best home for
the son of the enemy of his family, yet so bent was he on effecting the
noble design of reinstating him in all which his father's and his
grandfather's treason had forfeited, that he consented to exchange for
him a noble Scot, who had been detained in England for thirteen years.
Mordak of Fife, son and heir of the Duke of Albany, had been taken
prisoner at the battle of Homildon Hill, in 1402, (it is curious to remark,)
by Hotspur, and his father Northumberland; and now (p. 014) Henry V.
exchanges this personage for Hotspur's son, the heir of Northumberland.
This youth was only an infant when his father fell at the battle of
Shrewsbury; his mother was Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edmund
Mortimer,[15] Earl of March: and thus a king, under the circumstances
of Henry, but with a less noble mind, might have regarded him with
jealousy on both sides of his parentage, and been glad (without
exposing himself to the charge of any positive act of harshness) to
allow him to remain in a foreign country deprived of his honours and
his estates. But Henry's spirit soared above these considerations; and, in
the orphan of a generous rival, he saw only a fit object on whom to
exercise his generosity and Christian charity. A negotiation was carried
on between Henry and some who represented young Percy; care being
taken to ascertain the identity of the person who should be offered in
exchange for Mordak. After certain prescribed oaths were taken, and
pledges given, and the payment of a stipulated sum, 10,000l., the young
man was invited to come to Henry's court with all speed.

[Footnote 15: Dugdale's Baronage.]
There seems to have intervened some considerable impediment to this
proposed exchange.[16] The commission to John Hull and William
Chancellor to convey Mordak to the north bears date 21st of (p. 015)
May; and yet instructions for a negotiation with his father, the Duke of
Albany, then Regent of Scotland, for the exchange, were issued to Sir
Ralph Evre and others, as late as the 10th of the following December.
At the parliament, however, held March 16, 1416, Henry Percy, in the
presence of the King himself, does homage for his lands and honours.
And, before Henry's death, the Pell Rolls record payments to this Earl
of Northumberland, appointed guardian of Berwick and the East March,
as regularly as, in the early part of Henry IV.'s reign, issues had been
made to his father Hotspur, and his grandfather, the aged Earl, for the
execution of the same duties. The lands of the Percies, on their
attainder, were confiscated, and given to the King's brother, the Duke
of Bedford; to whom, on restoring his lands and honours to the young
Earl, Henry made an annual compensation in part at least for the
loss.[17]
[Footnote 16: Minutes of Council, 21 May and 10 Dec. 1415. Addit.
MS. 4600. Art. 147.]
[Footnote 17: Pell Rolls, Mich. 4. Hen. V. Many documents also in
Rymer refer to this transaction.]
Another example of generous behaviour in the young King towards
those whom he had in his power, and of whom less noble minds would
have entertained suspicion and jealousy, is seen in his conduct towards
the Earl of March.[18] This young nobleman, by the law of (p. 016)
primogeniture, was rightful heir to the throne; being descended from
Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. And so much was he
a cause of apprehension and uneasiness to Henry IV. and his council,
that it was thought necessary to keep him in close custody, and also
near the person of the King, whenever the court removed towards the
borders of the kingdom. It was in the name of this young man that his
uncle Edmund Mortimer excited all his tenantry and dependents to join
Owyn Glyndowr in rebellion against Henry IV; and on all occasions

the malcontents of the whole country, supposing Richard to be dead,
held forth the Earl of March as their liege sovereign. Henry V. could
not have been charged with unwarrantable suspicions or severity, had
he continued the same system of watchfulness over this formidable
personage, which had been observed under the reign of his predecessor.
Provided only that he treated him with kindness, few would