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Epiphany Rising is in 1400-1414 Epiphany Rising and Rebellions Against Henry IV.
In Dec 1399 the Epiphany Rising was an attempt to restore King Richard II of England (age 32) to the throne replacing King Henry IV of England (age 32).
On 17 Dec 1399 the conspirators met at Abbey House Westminster Abbey [Map] including Thomas Blount (age 47), Thomas Despencer 1st Earl Gloucester (age 26), Thomas Holland 1st Duke Surrey (age 25), John Holland 1st Duke Exeter (age 47), Ralph Lumley 1st Baron Lumley (age 39), John Montagu 3rd Earl Salisbury (age 49), Edward 2nd Duke of York 1st Duke Albemarle (age 26), Bernard Brocas (age 45). They plotted to capture King Henry IV of England (age 32) at a Tournament in Windsor, Berkshire [Map] on the Feast of Epiphany hence the Epiphany Rising.
Before 07 Jan 1400 King Henry IV of England (age 32) was forewarned, probably by Edward 2nd Duke of York 1st Duke Albemarle (age 27), and began to raise an army in London.
On 07 Jan 1400 at Cirencester, Gloucestershire [Map] Ralph Lumley 1st Baron Lumley (age 40) was beheaded by the townspeople following an unsuccessful attempt to seize the town. Baron Lumley forfeit.
Thomas Holland 1st Duke Surrey (age 26) was beheaded. He had to forfeit the honours and estates he had gained after the arrests of Gloucester and Arundel: Duke Surrey extinct. He retained those he had received before: His brother Edmund Holland 4th Earl Kent (age 16) succeeded 4th Earl Kent, 3rd Baron Holand, 8th Baron Wake of Liddell.
John Montagu 3rd Earl Salisbury (age 50) was captured, tried and beheaded. Earl Salisbury, Baron Montagu, Baron Montagu forfeit.
Bernard Brocas (age 46) was captured.
After 07 Jan 1400. Henry IV's (age 32) Parliament. 2.30. Also, be it remembered that whereas Thomas Holland, formerly earl of Kent (deceased), John Holland, formerly earl of Huntingdon (age 48), John Montague, formerly earl of Salisbury (deceased), Thomas, formerly Lord Despenser (age 26), and Ralph Lumley (deceased), knight, recently rose up in various parts of England and rode in warlike manner, treacherously, against our lord the king, contrary to their allegiance, to destroy our said lord the king and other great men of the realm, and to populate the said realm with people of another tongue, they were seized and beheaded in their armed uprising by the loyal lieges of oursaid lord the king; and for that reason all the lords temporal present in parliament, by the assent of the king, declared and adjudged the said Thomas, John, John, Thomas, and Ralph to be traitors for their armed uprising against their aforesaid liege lord, and that they should forfeit as traitors all the lands and tenements that they held in fee simple on 5 January, the eve of the feast of the Epiphany of our lord Jesus Christ, in the first year of the reign of our aforesaid lord [1400], or after, as the law of the land requires, together with all their goods and chattels, notwithstanding the fact that they were killed during the said armed uprising without due process of law.
Accounts and Extracts. [12 Jan 1400] Sir Thomas Blount (age 48), and one Bennet Selly, his companion, were drawn from Oxford (above three miles) to the place of execution, where they were hanged; but the ropes were soon cut, and these gentlemen were made to talk, and sit on a bench before a great fire, and the executioner came with a razor in his hand, and knelt down before Sir Thomas Blount, whose hands were tied, begging him to pardon him his death, as he must do his office, Then Sir Thomas asked him, "Are you the person appointed to deliver me from this world?" The executioner answered, " Yes," saying, "Sir, I pray you pardon me;" and Sir Thomas kissed him, and forgave him his death, The executioner knelt down, and Sir Thomas Blount (Le Blonc) made himself ready; and then the executioner opened his belly, and cut out his bowels strait from below the stomach, and tied them with a string, that the wind of the heart should not escape, and threw the bowels into the fire. Then Sir Thomas le Blonc was sitting before the fire, his belly open, and saw his bowels burning before him. Sir Thomas D’Arpeghen (age 45), king Henry's chamberlain, insulting Blount, said to him with derision, "Go seek a master that can cure you," Blount only answered by putting his hands together, saying, Te Deum laudamus, and blessed be the hour that I was born, and blessed be this day, for I shall die in the service of my sovereign lord, the noble king Richard."
Arpeghen wished to compel him to reveal the accomplices of his treason. "The words traitor and treason," said he, "belong to thee and the infamous Rutland, by whom the flower of English chivalry is this day destroyed. I summon you both before the face of Jesus Christ, for your great treason against our sovereign lord the noble king Richard." The executioner then asked him, if he would drink? "No," said he, "you have taken from me the place into which I should put it. God be praised, my bowels are in the fire." He afterwards entreated the executioner to deliver him from this world, saying, "It hurts me much to see the traitors who are present." The executioner then knelt down before him, and kissed him in a very humble manner, and soon after his head was cut off, and he was quartered.
On 12 Jan 1400 Thomas Blount (age 48) was hanged at Oxford, Oxfordshire [Map]. Thomas Erpingham (age 45) was present to witness the execution. See Accounts and Extracts.
Chronicle of the Betrayal of Richard II. [13 Jan 1400]. When the court of justice was over at Oxford, and Sir Thomas Blount was put to death, King Henry sent the Earl of Rutland and Sir Thomas Erpingham to seize the Lord Despencer (age 26) who was [formerly] Earl of Gloucester,1 who took him and beheaded him; and the Earl of Rutland sent his head also to London.
Note 1. Thomas Despencer, son of Edward Lord Despencer, although he excused himself for the part he had taken on the plea of compulsion (Rot. Pari. iii. 451), was yet degraded from his title of Earl of Gloucester by Henry in his first Parliament. He escaped over the roofs of some houses at Cirencester, and fled to his castle of Cardilf. Hearing that King Henry had despatched a party to bring him to London, willing or unwilling, he disposed his affairs in the best manner he could, and, taking with him his jewels, entered a boat in the Severn ; but, when they had reached the middle of the river, the captain refused to carry him anywhere but to Bristol. An altercation then commenced ; twenty armed men, concealed in the hold, rushed upon deck ; he defended himself manfully, and wounded some of the sailors, but was overpowered, and carried to the mayor of Bristol. Henry wished to hâve had an interview with him before he was put to death ; but the second day after his capture the people cried out, 'Bring forth the traitors!' and, the mayor having failed to appease them, he was beheaded before the market-cross. His body was buried in the choir at Tewkesbury. (Monk of Evesham,Cotton. MS.TiberiusC. ix.) Henry gave to William Flaxman the cloak of motley velvet and furred damask which Lord Despencer wore when he was captured. (Rot. Pat. 1 Hen. IV. p. 5. m. 8.)
On 13 Jan 1400 Thomas Despencer 1st Earl Gloucester (age 26) was beheaded at Bristol, Gloucestershire [Map].
Chronicle of the Betrayal of Richard II. [15 Jan 1400]. The Duke of Exeter Earl of Huntingdon (age 48), King Richard's brother, and Sir Thomas Shelley,1 a worthy knight, who had been his steward of the household, fled into Essex, into a small town where dwelt the Countess of Hereford, the sister of the late Earl of Arundel, who had been beheaded in the great Parliament; and they went to lodge in the house where they had been accustomed to stop when they went that way;2 and the Countess, having received information that the Earl of Hantingdon had arrived, ordered the constable of the town to collect secretly ail the townsmen to seize him and all his people, for she wished to take vengeance upon him for the cause of her brother. The constable accordingly did as he was commanded, and captured the Earl of Huntingdon, as well as bis knight and bis butler, of the name of Hugb Cade. The greater part of the knights and esquires of the Earl's army were taken here and there in different parts of the country, for they did not know which way to turn nor where to go.
Note 1. The Earl of Huntingdon made several attempts to escape with his followcrs by sea to France, But was always driven back by stress of woathcr. (Sir J. Hayward, Life of Henry IV.) Richard had given to Sir Thomas Shelley the goods and chattels of Roger Nele of Toppesham, forfeited to him. (Rot. Pat. 20 Rie. II. p. 1. 23rd Oct.) After his execution, Henry gave the mayor of London two of Sir Thomas Shelley's mantles, with doublets of red velvet, &c. (Rot. Claus. 1 Hen. IV. 14th April.)
Note 2. The Earl was captured at the house of John Pritelwell or Pritewell, at Pritelwell, Essex, on the Thames, and was thence taken by the people of the country to the Countess of Hereford at Pleshey. (See Appendix A.) Walsingham says, he was taken on the festival of St. Maur (Jan. 15th) towards evening. It does not appear whether the Countess had Henry's order for the exécution of the Earl. Sir Harris Nicolas quotes William of Malmesbury to prove that the ancient Earls had a power of legislation within their counties (Life of Chaucer, i. 157); and as late as the reign of Henry the Sixth we find the great Earls beheadiug prisoners taken in battle. But an order of council was issued by Henry to stop such irregular proceediugs,and to bring the parties offending to justice. The following is the reason stated: "Considering that the commons of the country, on account of the destruction of the Earls of Kent, of Salisbury, and of Huntingdon, and of the Lord le Despencer, and other traitors to the King, have become so proud, that they fear not to put to death of their own will many of the King's lieges without process of law." (Minutes of Council, Feb. 1400.) Henry gave the goods and chattels of the Earl to Richard Spicer of Plymoulh, and others. (Rot. Claus. 30th INLir. 1 Hen. IV.) No less than eleven commissioners were appointed to take into the King's lands the property of the Earls of Kent and Salisbury, Sir Ralph Lunley, and Sir Thomas Blount. (Pell of Issue Rolls, Jan, 1400.)
Chronicle of the Betrayal of Richard II. [After 15 Jan 1400]. The Countess (age 53)1 sent a letter to King Henry to acquaint him that she had seized the Earl of Huntingdon (age 48), and to beg him to send his cousin of Arundel to take vengeance upon him for the death of his father, for she was determined to hâve him drawn and hung. Then the King sent the Earl of Arundel thither, and said, "Cousin, go to your aunt, and fetch the prisoners dead or alive." When the Earl of Arundel arrived at the town where the Earl of Huntingdon was taken, he found there his aunt, and eight thousand or more of the villeins of the country, before whom his aunt had led forth the Earl of Huntingdon to put him to death; and there was not one of the villeins present who did not take compassion on him.
Note 1. Joan, widow of Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford, Lord Constable of England, mother of Mary de Bohun, the first wife of Henry IV, who died in 1394. This extraordinary woman, sister to the Earl of Arundel executed by Richard (age 33), and to the Archbishop of Canterbury (age 47) whom he had banished, and mother to Aleanora Duchess of Gloucester, was completely identified by ail the ties of relationship with Henry and his party. Imbued with the feelings of chivalry, she, like our Queen Philippa, the Countess of Salisbury, and some others, was equal, in case of emergency, to daring exploits at the heads of armies. (See Froissart, i. 77, 81, 134,137, 139.) Humanity, in its nobler meauing, was, however, without the circle of the sympathies of chivalry. She appears to have acted a mother's part to Henry's children after they had lost their natural protector. Henry V. bequeathed to Thomas Bishop of Durham 'the missal and portophoriuin which we had of the gift of our dear grandmother the Countess of Hereford.' He also bequeathed her 'a gold cyphus.' But she did not survive him. She died on the 7th of April 1416. [Note. Most sources give her death in 1419.]
On 16 Jan 1400 John Holland 1st Duke Exeter (age 48) was executed at Pleshey Castle [Map]. Duke Exeter forfeit. Joan Fitzalan Countess Essex, Hereford and Northampton (age 53) arranged for the children of her dead brother Richard Fitzalan 9th Earl of Surrey 4th or 11th Earl of Arundel, who had been executed on the orders of John Holland 1st Duke Exeter three years before, to witness the execution.
Accounts and Extracts. 16 Jan 1400. The earl of Huntingdon (age 48), the king’s [half] brother, fled into the county of Essex; but passing through a small village belonging to the countess of Hereford (age 53), sister to the late earl of Arundel, he was known and arrested. The countess sent news of it to king Henry, desiring him to send her the young earl of Arundel (age 18), her nephew, that he might enjoy the vengeance she was going to take on the man to whose counsels she principally attributed the death of her brother; which, it appears, she should rather 'have imputed to the treachery of the earl of Nottingham. The young Arundel hastened thither, and loaded Huntingdon with reproaches. The countess had assembled her vassals, to the number of eight thousand, and delivered to them the earl of Huntingdon in chains, ordering them to cut him in pieces. The unfortunate man entreated for mercy, alledging, that he had never done them any injury; and all took great pity on him except the countess (of Hereford) and the earl of Arundel. The countess flew into a passion, exclaiming, "Curse on you all, villains! you have not the courage to put a man to death."
An esquire offering himself for this purpose, advanced with his hatchet in his hand; but he was so touched with the tender complaints of Huntingdon, that be trembled for fear, and returned to the countess with tears, ssaying, "Madam, I would not put the duke to death for all the gold in the world." — "Then," said she, "do what thou hast promised, or thy own head shall be cut off." When he heard this, he was so afraid, that he knew not what to do, and faid, "Sir, I entreat your pardon; forgive me your death." He then lifted his hatchet, and struck him so hard on the shoulder, that he made him fall with his face to the ground: The noble duke (Huntingdon had been created duke of Exeter by Richard) leaped on his feet, saying, "Alas, man! why do you treat me thus? "For God's fake, kill me more easily." He then gave him eight blows on the shoulder, for he could neither hit his neck or his head; the ninth stroke was in the neck: and the worthy duke, brother to the noble king Richard, spoke yet, saying, "Alas, dear friend! have pity on me, and free me from my pain." The executioner then cut his throat with a knife, to separate his head from his body; and in this manner was the noble duke put to death.’
On 04 Feb 1400 Bernard Brocas (age 46) was tried, and condemned to death, by Thomas Fitzalan 10th Earl of Surrey 5th or 12th Earl of Arundel (age 18) at Tower of London [Map] for his role in the Epiphany Rising having been captured in Cirencester, Gloucestershire [Map].
On 05 Feb 1400 Bernard Brocas was beheaded at Tyburn [Map]. He was buried at Greyfriars Church Farringdon Within [Map].
On 14 Feb 1400 (exact date not known) King Richard II (age 33) died at Pontefract Castle [Map] where he had been imprisoned three months before; possibly murdered, possibly starved to death. His death was a consequence of the Epiphany Rising; he was still considered a threat. His first cousin Philippa Plantagenet Countess March 5th Countess Ulster de jure Heir to the Throne of England since she was the daughter of Lionel Plantagenet 1st Duke of Clarence. She at this time had four children with her husband Edmund Mortimer 3rd Earl March, Earl Ulster. The new King Henry IV (age 32) ignored her claim.
On 17 Feb 1400 Richard's corpse was displayed at St Paul's Cathedral [Map].
On 06 Mar 1400 Richard's remains were buried at King's Langley Priory, Hertfordshire [Map].