The contemporary image below is of the Red Lion Inn, the site of Henry's adjudication of the 1415 Southampton Plot.
The date, Wednesday, 31 July 1415; the location, Portchester Castle, Henry V, immersed in preparations for his assault on the port city of Harfleur on the coast of Normandy, received word that his cousin, Edmund Mortimer (1391-1425), 5th Earl of March, wanted to speak to him on an important matter. Henry, fully engaged in the detail of the proposed endeavor, reluctantly agreed to see the twenty-four-year-old he had known all his life.
Because of the boy's potential claim to the Throne, Mortimer and his brother, Roger, had been kept under watchful care at Windsor Castle since Richard II's abdication in 1399. Henry IV, ever cautious, did what was necessary to protect his interests as King of the realm. A 1405 faction consisting of the lads' uncle, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Henry Percy, and Owain Glyndwr, had spirited the boys away from their confinement. Henry IV's men captured the boys four years later in 1409. Henry of Monmouth, the Prince of Wales, assumed responsibility for the boys’ supervision. He treated them well, and only five years older than young Edmund, Henry developed an elder cousin friendship with the lad.
When the Prince of Wales assumed the English Crown as Henry V, he gave Edmund his freedom, returned the March estates to Edmund, and restored his title as the Earl of March. (Brother, Roger Mortimer had died in the interim.)
On that day in 1415, young Mortimer revealed to the King that there was a plot afoot to kill Henry and place young Mortimer on the Throne as the rightful heir to the Crown.
Edmund identified Richard Conigsburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, as the ring leader. Conigsburgh, a grandson of Edward III, was Edmund's great-uncle and stood to gain by placing his nephew on the Throne. Years earlier, Conigsburgh had received an annuity courtesy of Richard II. Upon his ascension to the Throne, Henry IV had been less interested in maintaining the annuity. Conigsburgh, as the Earl of Cambridge, had no estates; the grant was his only source of income.
Edmund designated the second alleged conspirator as Henry, 3rd Baron of Scrope of Masham. Scrope was problematic as a co-conspirator. He was a royal favorite and had a trustworthy relationship with Henry V. He was a Knight of the Garter and had served Henry V on diplomatic missions to Normandy. Initially, he was involved in preparing for the assault on Harfleur. The twenty-first-century mind has difficulty envisioning Scrope's motives for entering into a treacherous coup d’état.
Mortimer claimed that Sir Thomas Grey was the third conspirator. Grey was a shirttail relation to the royal Lancaster line, perhaps not the brightest mind in the realm. At his trial, he acknowledged that he was in it for fame and fortune.
Henry V acted swiftly and decisively, a hallmark of his reign. It was a quality much respected by the people and nobility alike. The next day, Henry had the accused taken to Southampton, a port city on the English Channel that bustled with people and activities related to the impending assault on Harfleur. Southampton’s Red Lion Inn was the site of the trials.
Sir Thomas Grey was not a peer. He was tried on 2 August 1415. He met his end at Bargate in Southampton. Grey was hanged, drawn, and quartered; his head was sent to Newcastle and displayed there.
Peers, Richard Conigsburgh, Earl of Cambridge, and Henry, Lord Scrope, faced their accusers on 5 August 1415. Bargate was busy on that day again. Lord Scrope was hanged by the neck and then beheaded. Conigsburgh was beheaded. Of the three, Conigsburgh was the only one buried with his head, albeit severed from his body.
The conspiracy is dubbed the Southampton Plot. To this day, the Red Lion Inn and Bargate are tourist attractions.
Some historians speculate that Edmund Mortimer exhibited loyalty to his King by revealing the plot at the expense of his possible ascendancy to the Throne. Think about it; Mortimer had a legitimate claim to the seat of power over all of England. He eschewed the mantle of authority out of loyalty to the son of the man who usurped the Throne? Perhaps not; self-preservation is a better explanation of Mortimer's actions. He knew two things. Mortimer had experienced enough of life in the medieval royal house to understand a such a coup's risks. He was familiar with the plotters and their scheme. In all likelihood, Edmund Mortimer did the right thing; he chose to survive.
The threat, or the perceived threat, to his regime dispatched to the satisfaction of all concerned (except, possibly, for the families of the co-conspirators), Henry’s preparations for the siege of Harfleur continued uninterrupted.
Siege of Harfleur
Henry V, as did his father before him, pursued England's interests in France. Edward, the Black Prince and Duke of Aquitaine, gave up England's claim to Aquitaine in 1371. In poor health, Edward and his family returned to England, where he secured the English Throne for his son before he died. Henry V wanted the land, the wealth, and the title returned to the English Crown.
In the spring of 1414, Henry called a council of lords to discuss going to war to reclaim Aquitaine and more. At the advice of his Lords, Henry began negotiations with Charles IV of France. Negotiations broke down. Henry then received the sanctioning and funding for his French campaign. Henry’s first target was the vibrant port city of Harfleur.
On Thursday, 13 August 1415, the unfortunate residents of Harfleur saw a fleet of English ships appear along the northern coast of Normandy, a harbinger of what was to come. Harfleur, the medieval city of approximately five thousand, was prepared. A garrison of two hundred to two hundred and fifty fighting men patrolled the massive fourteen-foot thick walls. French reinforcements were on their way.
About two thousand men-at-arms and six thousand archers disembarked from the English ships in the late afternoon the following day. The siege began on Monday, 19 August 1415. It was an ugly affair that lasted until 22 September, when French reinforcements did not relieve the beleaguered townsfolk.
After the siege, Henry stationed twelve hundred men to secure English control of the city. The original French inhabitants who were willing to swear an oath of loyalty to Henry were allowed to stay. Henry evicted those who refused.
Henry V achieved his first goal, but success came at a high price. On the English side, casualties inflicted in combat were minimal; as few as thirty-seven men died in battle. However, unsanitary conditions during the siege gave rise to dysentery known then as the bloody flux. The fighting men experienced diarrhea mixed with blood, high fever, and stabbing stomach pain. Those who did not die from the disease were in no shape to mount a defense in battle. The condition forced Henry to send over thirteen hundred men back to England.
Henry saw his army of approximately eight thousand strong reduced to something north of five thousand; yet, he proceeded to his next destination, Calais, with a much-weakened fighting force. He hoped to avoid the much larger French army eager to rid the land of the invaders.
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