Harry was deeply moved. He promised his father that he would endeavour to be all that he would wish him to be.
The King smiled and lay back.
This time there was no doubt that he was dead.
Harry had become King Henry the Fifth.
OLDCASTLE
The night was stormy. There were few people in the streets but those who were might have seen a cloaked figure hurrying along towards the Abbey. None would have guessed that it was the King of a few hours. Purposefully he strode, ducking his head against the wind until he came to the doors of the Abbey.
He entered and as he did so a monk came towards him.
"I would speak with you, brother. I would confess my sins and ask absolution," said Henry.
"My lord!" cried the monk, for there was no mistaking the authoritative tones of the new King. "At this hour ..."
"Enough of the hour. I have urgent work. Come. Take me to the confessional."
"Follow me," said the monk.
So Henry followed and there in the confessional he went down on his knees and burying his face in his hands he said: "I have lived a life of dissipation. I have been a diligent follower of idle practices. I swear by God and all his saints that from this day I shall alter my course."
"The Lord will hear your resolution, my son," said the holy man. "You are young. You have years ahead to make recompense for past follies."
"I must tell you of the heinous sins I have committed. I have been wicked, profligate, a frequenter of low taverns and an associate of robbers and prostitutes. I have been a slave to vice. I have turned my back on virtues. I have caused great anxiety to my father. I have been wanton in my ways.. "
"Repent," said the monk. "Truly repent. You are young yet. You have a lifetime before you."
"I have lived on this earth for twenty-six years, Father, and I have committed more sins than the average man commits in three score years."
"Take heart, my son. You have opportunities ahead of you. Devote your life to the service of your country. Eschew your fleshly desires. Put on the mantle of a King and a virtuous King and the barren willow will be converted into a fruitful olive."
"Give me your blessing and let me confess to you that you may know all."
There were a few seconds of silence and then the King began to talk of those nights he had spent in the lowest taverns of East Cheap, of the orgies in which he had played a major part. He wished to conceal nothing. The holy man must know how low he had sunk.
The monk listened and at the end of the King's recital, he said: "Go your way. Your sins will be washed away by the good deeds you will perform."
But the King was not yet satisfied.
"My father died in great remorse," he said. "And I who have inherited his crown must share that remorse. He believed at the end that he had no right to the crown, that he had taken it from Richard and that he would have to pay for this action. Richard's death ..."
"That is a heavy sin to lie on any conscience," interrupted the monk. "If the King your father murdered his predecessor ... he cannot hope to enter the kingdom of heaven."
"He did not murder Richard by his own hand. He did not mean him to die, mayhap. But Richard died at the hands of those who served my father. If he did not actually kill him, he believed he shared that guilt. It hung heavily on his conscience."
"And you, my lord, you knew nothing of this?"
"I was recently returned from Ireland. The crown passed into my father's hand while I was in that country. I knew nothing of Richard's death save that it had to be for the safety of my father."
" 'Twill not be laid at your door, my son. Ease your conscience by giving Richard a royal burial"
"I will have him laid in this Abbey. It is his rightful place"
"Go in peace, my son. Change your ways. Throw off the cloak of vice and tap yourself round with that of virtue. Serve your people well, for in that way you will best serve God." When the King came out into the night he felt uplifted.
Harry the dissolute Prince had been replaced by Henry the resolute King.
The Coronation was to be on Passion Sunday, the ninth of April in that year 1413.
The King was already beginning to astound all those about him by his serious demeanour.
Many said it would not last. They would soon have Harry filling the Court with his dissolute companions. This dedicated role was one which was new to him but they had to admit that he played it with skill.
He had not seen his drinking companions for days; and they had left Court on his suggestion. He was in close touch with his uncles the Beauforts, and gave Henry Beaufort back the Chancellorship from which he had resigned on being nominated to the Bishopric of Winchester. The Earl of Arundel had been a great favourite with his father but Henry did not share his father's devotion to the man, although he realized that the head of such a powerful family must not be offended. He was appointed Treasurer. Henry did public penance for his father's sins and everyone knew that what he really had in mind was the compassing of the crown for he had had Richard's body removed from Langley and buried in Westminster Abbey; and he announced that on coronation day he intended to grant a general pardon to all prisoners except those who had been imprisoned for murder or rape.
It was a good beginning but most people were cautious as yet. Harry the Prince had had too lurid a reputation to be able to cast it off with a few good deeds. He announced that he would found three religious houses at Richmond, one for Carthusian, one for Celestine monks, the other for Bregen-tine nuns; and in these prayers were to be offered by day and night for the repose of his father's soul.
The weather was unseasonably cold. It had been a harsh winter and persisted so through to the spring, but on coronation day people thronged the streets in spite of the bitter winds. After the traditional ceremony in the Abbey, Henry came out into the streets and by this time the snow was falling fast and the strong winds were making it into a blizzard.
A snow storm in April I Surely such a rare phenomenon that it must be a sign from Heaven.
As Henry battled his way back to the palace for the coronation banquet, it was said that this was God's way of telling England that the King had put off the ardours of his youth. He was being chastened by the bleak snow. A good omen. But there were also those who looked upon the storm as a warning of evil to come.
In any case there could be no doubt that Henry had become a new man.
Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, sought an audience with the King.
The last time the King had seen his Archbishop was at the coronation when Arundel had placed the crown on his head. Now Arundel had a serious matter to discuss and Henry guessed its nature.
Arundel had been an enemy of the movement which was sweeping across the country and known as the Lollards. The aim of this community was, in fact, the complete disendowment of the Church; an object which might have seemed worthy of nothing but derision at one time but had in recent years proved itself to be a menace.
These Lollards were the followers of John Wycliffe; they were reformers and their interests were not only confined to the reformation of the Church. It was believed that Lollardry was at the root of the Peasants' Revolt and they had brought disaster very close to the crown. Therefore it was a movement which must be closely watched and since he had come to the throne no one was more aware of this than Henry.
His father had never enjoyed security and he had yet to learn how firm his own hold was. When one had come there by what some might call a devious route and a debatable claim, one had to take care.
The King received the Archbishop with a show of friendship but a certain lack of warmth. He did not greatly care for the old man, but he must be approaching sixty, thought Henry, and could not last much longer.