Maidstone: MARTYRIUM RICARDI ARCHIEPISCOPI Clement Maidstone

Prima causa fuit, quod consulit regi ad poenitendum, et ad satisfaciendum pro perjurio quo juravit in villa de Chestre per sacramentum corporis Domini, quod non rebelleret nec deponi consentiret regem Ricardum; cujus contrarium fecit, cogendo regem Ricardum resignare coronam in parliamento in crastino Sancti Michaelis anno Domini millesimo CCCLXXXXIX., per attornatum, et eodem rege Ricardo in Turri London incluso medio tempore; et tamen fidelitatem ante eidem regi Ricardo juravit in praesentia domini Thomae Arundell archiepiscopi Cantuarensis, et multorum nobilium.

The first cause was that he counseled the king to do penance, and to make satisfaction for the perjury by which he had sworn in the manor of Chester by the sacrament of the Body of the Lord that he would not rebel nor consent to depose King Richard; of which he did the contrary, forcing King Richard to resign the crown in parliament on the morrow of Saint Michael in the year of Our Lord 1399, by attorney, and with the same King Richard shut up in the Tower of London at that time; and yet he had sworn fidelity before the same King Richard in the presence of Lord Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, and many nobles.

2. Item, optavit idem archiepiscopus, Ricardus Scrope, quod corona regni restitueretur rectae lineae, vel cursui, et ecclesia Anglicana haberet suas libertates, privilegia et consuetudines secundum justas leges regni Angliae ab antiquo usitatas.

2. Likewise, the same archbishop, Richard Scrope, desired that the crown of the kingdom be restored to the right line, or course, and that the English Church should have its own liberties, privileges and customs according to the just laws of the kingdom of England as used from ancient times.

3. Item, quod domini regni et magnates judicarentur per pares suos cum deliberatione justa aliorum dominorum illis aequalium.

3. Also, that the lords of the kingdom and magnates should be tried by their peers with the just deliberation of other lords equal to them.

4. Item, quod clerus et communitas regni non sint oppressi per exactiones et taxas decimarum, quintadecimarum, et subsidiorum, nec per alias impositiones iniquas, eo modo quo jam opprimuntur. Anno post coronationem suam idem rex habuit unam decimam, et aliquando duas in uno anno, licet in primo introitu juravit idem rex, quod in tempore vitae suae, in quantum impedire possit, quod nunquam solveret ecclesia Anglicana decimam, nec populus taxam: et istud juravit in castro de Knaresburgh juxta Eboracum

4. Item, that the clergy and the community of the realm be not oppressed by exactions and taxes of tithes, fifteenths, and subsidies, nor by other unjust impositions, in the manner in which they are now oppressed. In the year after his coronation the same king levied one tithe, and at times two in one year, although at his first entry the same king swore that in the time of his life, so far as he could prevent it, the Church of England should never pay a tithe, nor the people a tax: and he swore this at the castle of Knaresburgh near Eboracum.

5. Item, quod, corona restituta rectae lineae, certi sapientes, qui sciunt honores et haberent scientiam, assignarentur; alii cupidi et avari ac ambitiosi, qui volunt dicere et facere quae regi placent et non Deo, sed ut ipsimet ditarentur, amoverentur.

5. Also, that, the crown restored to the right line, certain wise men, who know honours and possess scientia, be assigned; others greedy and avaricious and ambitious, who desire to say and do those things which please the king and not God, but so that they themselves may be enriched, be removed.

6. Item, quod vicecomites in quolibet comitatu libere eligerentur absque coercione domini regis seu baronum.

6. Also, that sheriffs in every county be freely chosen without coercion by the lord king or by the barons.

7. Item, quod barones, nobiles, et communitas regni in suis causis haberent in parliamento liberam disponendi facultatem.

7. Item, that barons, nobles, and the community of the realm in their causes should have in Parliament a free faculty of disposition.

Anno Domini MCCCCV., VIII. die mensis Junii, scilicet in die Sancti Willelmi Confessoris, quae tunc fuit feria secunda Pentecostes, magister Ricardus Scrope, baccalarius Oxoniae artium, doctor utriusque juris Cantabrigiae, advocatus pauperum nuper in curia Romana, et deinde Lichfeldiae episcopus, et postea archiepiscopus Eboracensis, decollatus est extra muros prope Eboracum. Henricus enim Quartus, rex Angliae, in camera manerii dicti archiepiscopi, quod vocatur Bishopsthorp juxta Eboracum, mandavit Willelmo Gascoyne armigero, adtunc justitiaro principali Angliae, ut sententiam mortis de praefato archiepiscopo proferret tanquam de proditore regis; qui hoc recusavit, et sic sibi respondit: "Nec vos, domine mi rex, nec aliquis nomine vestro vester ligeus, potestis licite secundum jura regni aliquem episcopum ad mortem judicare." Unde praefatum archiepiscopum judicare omnino renuit.

In the year of Our Lord 1405, on the 8th day of the month of June, namely on the day of Saint William the Confessor, which then was the Monday of Pentecost, Master Richard Scrope, Bachelor of Arts of Oxford, doctor of both laws of Cambridge, lately advocate of the poor in the Roman court, and then Bishop of Lichfield, and afterwards Archbishop of York, was beheaded outside the walls near York. For Henry IV, king of England, in the chamber of the manor of the said archbishop, which is called Bishopsthorp near York, commanded William Gascoyne, esquire, then Chief Justice of England, that he should pronounce the sentence of death on the aforesaid archbishop as if for a traitor to the king; who refused this, and answered him thus: "Neither you, my lord king, nor any of your liegemen in your name can lawfully, according to the laws of the realm, judge any bishop to death." Whence he altogether refused to try the aforesaid archbishop.

Quare idem rex ira vehementi exarsit versus eundum judicem, cujus memoria sit in benedictionem in saecula saeculi. Et statim mandavit domino Willelmo Fulthorp, militi et non judici, ut eodem die, scilicet feria secunda hebdomadis Pentecostes, qui fuit dies octavus mensis Junii, sententiam mortis in aula praefati manerii in archiepiscopum, quem vocavit proditorem, proferret. Et cum praedictus Willelmus Gascoyne, judex principalis Angliae, omnino renuit, praedictus dominus Willelmus Fulthorp in loco judicis sedit, et archiepiscopum adduci praeceperat.

Wherefore the same king, burning with vehement anger against the departing judge, whose memory may be for a blessing for ever and ever. And immediately he commanded Sir William Fulthorp, a knight and not a judge, that on that same day, namely the second weekday of Pentecost, which was the eighth day of the month of June, he should pronounce the sentence of death in the hall of the aforesaid manor upon the archbishop, whom he called a traitor. And when the aforesaid William Gascoyne, chief judge of England, altogether refused, the aforesaid Sir William Fulthorp sat in the place of judge, and had ordered the archbishop to be brought.

Quo archiepiscopo coram ipso nudo capite stante, hanc sententiam, ipso audiente et omnibus circumstantibus, protulit: "Te, Ricardum, proditorem regis, ad mortem judicamus, et ex praecepto regis decollari mandamus." Haec audiens archiepiscopus, hanc orationem publice dixit: "Deus justus et verus scit me nunquam intendisse malum contra personam regis nunc Henrici Quarti." (Quibus verbis archiepiscopi patet communem famam tunc fuisse ubique. Intentio tamen archiepiscopi fuit adire regem cum caeteris dominis, qui ad hoc congregarentur, ut peteret a rege reformationem malorum in regno tunc existentium; quia tunc erant dissensiones inter dominos et specialiter inter dominum Nevill et comitem Marescallum. Quare archiepiscopus dixit populo suo seipsum equitare cum multitudine.) Et post praedicta verba dixit saepius circumstantibus: "Oretis, ut Deus Omnipotens non vindicet mortem meam in rege nec in suis." Quae verba saepe repetiit, deprecando simul prothomartyri Stephano, qui pro lapidantibus deprecatus est.

Before him, the archbishop, standing with his head uncovered, delivered this sentence, himself hearing and all those standing around: "You, Richard, a traitor to the king, we judge to death, and by the king’s command we order you to be beheaded." Hearing these things the archbishop publicly said this speech: "God just and true knows that I never intended evil against the person of the king, now Henry IV." (By these words of the archbishop it is clear that a common fame then was everywhere. The archbishop’s intention, however, was to go to the king with the other lords who would be gathered for this, to ask the king for a reformation of the evils then existing in the realm; for at that time there were dissensions among the lords and especially between Lord Neville and the Earl Marshal. Therefore the archbishop told his people that he himself would ride forth with a multitude.) And after the aforesaid words he said often to those standing about: "Pray that Almighty God may not avenge my death upon the king nor upon his." These words he repeated often, at the same time imploring the proto-martyr Stephen, who prayed for those who stoned him.

Et postea eadem die, circa meridiem, ductus est super equum valoris xl. d., sine sella; et gratias agens, dixit quod "Nunquam placuit mihi melius equus quam iste placet." Et Psalmum, Exaudi secundum, decantavit, sic equitando cum capistro et in blodia chimera et manicis chimerae ejusdem coloris existentibus. Vestem tamen lineam, qua utuntur episcopi, non sinebant archiepiscopum uti. Et sic, cum capicio humeros suos pendente, ductus est, sicut ovis ad victimam, qui vero non aperuit os suum, nec ad vindictam, nec ad excommunicationis sententiam.

And afterwards
the same day, about noon, he was led
upon a horse worth 40 denarii, without a saddle; and giving thanks, he said that "Never has any horse pleased me better than this one pleases." And he chanted the Psalm, Exaudi secundum, thus riding with a bridle and in a blodia chimera and sleeves of the chimera of the same colour. They nevertheless would not allow the archbishop to use the linen vestment which bishops employ. And so, with his hood hanging over his shoulders, he was led like a sheep to the victim, who indeed opened not his mouth, neither to vindication nor to the sentence of excommunication.

Qui cum ad locum decollationis pervenisset, dixit: "Omnipotens Deus, tibi offero meipsum et causas pro quibus patior, et veniam a Te peto pro omnibus peccatis et indulgentiam a me commissis sive omissis." Et tunc capuciam et tunicam ad terram deposuit: et suo decollatori, Thomae Alman nuncupato, dixit: "Fili, mortem meam Deus tibi remittat!" et "Ego tibi remitto; tamen deprecor, ut [des] mihi cum gladio tuo quinque vulnera in collo meo, quae sustinere cupio pro amore Domini mei Jhesu Christi, Qui pro nobis, obediens Patri usque ad mortem, quinque vulnera principalia sustinuit." Et tribus vicibus osculatus est eum; et positis genibus orabat dicens: "In manus tuas, dulcissime Jhesu, commendo spiritum meum," junctis manibus, et elevatis oculis in caelum; et mox extendit collum, genuflectendo, et cancellatis manibus super pectus suum, decollator cum gladjo eum quinquies in collo percussit una et eadem carnis divisione. Et in quinta percussione caput ad terram cadit, corpus super dexterum latus.

When he had come to the place of decapitation, he said: "Almighty God, to you I offer myself and the causes for which I suffer, and I ask pardon from You for all sins and indulgence for things done or omitted." Then he laid his hood and tunic upon the ground; and to his decapitator, called Thomas Alman, he said: "Son, may God forgive you my death!" and "I forgive you; yet I pray that you grant me with your sword five wounds in my neck, which I desire to endure for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ, Who for us, obedient to the Father even unto death, endured five principal wounds." He kissed him three times; and, kneeling, he prayed, saying: "Into your hands, sweetest Jesus, I commend my spirit," with hands joined and eyes raised to heaven; and then he stretched out his neck, kneeling, and with his hands crossed over his breast. The executioner with his sword struck him five times on the neck, the same single division of the flesh. At the fifth blow the head fell to the ground, the body upon the right side.

Erant enim ibi quinque seliones cum ordeo ubi fuit archipraesul decollatus, qui erant pedibus conculcantium in die decollationis suae penitus destructi, sed tamen in autumno, absque aliquo opere, Deus ex Sua gratia tale incrementum dedit supra communem usum, ut aliqui calami quinque, aliqui quatuor spicas ordei produxerunt, et qui pauciores, minus tamen quam duas spicas non produxerunt.

For there were five selions with barley where the archprelate was beheaded, which were utterly destroyed by the feet of those trampling on the day of his decollation; yet in the autumn, without any work, God, by His grace, gave such an increase above common use, that some culms produced five, some four ears of barley, and those producing fewer yet did not bring forth less than two ears.

Eo tempore quo fuit decollatus, idem rex horribili lepra percussus est equitando versus Ripon; et videbatur quod quidam percussit eum sensibiliter; et hac de causa pernoctabat in villa de Hamerton per septem miliaria ab Eboraco distante; et nocte eadem sequente horribiliter idem rex vexabatur, in tantum quod clamore magno camerarios suos excitavit, qui surgentes omnia luminaria in camera et aula sine lumine et sine igne invenerunt, et regi theriacum in vino vocato vernage dederunt; et in crastino ad Ripon equitavit valde inf irmus, ubi permansit per septem dies. Et quando Georgius Plumpton, qui regem octavo die decollationis praedictae vidit, (sic) quod in facie et in manibus praedicti regis magnae pustulae leprosae crescebant, et praeminebant quasi capita mamillarum. Et qui ista vidit et audivit, testimonium perhibuit, Stephanus Cotinham alias Pa1mer; qui haec magistro Thomae Gascoyne, sacrae Theologiae professori, retulit.

At the time when he was beheaded, the same king was struck with a horrible leprosy while riding toward Ripon; and it appeared that someone had smitten him sensibly; and for this reason he spent the night in the vill of Hamerton, seven miles distant from York; and on that same following night the same king was horribly tormented, so much so that with a great cry he roused his chamberlains, who, rising, found all the lights in the chamber and hall without flame and without fire, and gave the king a theriac in wine called vernage; and on the morrow he rode to Ripon very infirm, where he remained for seven days. And when Georgius Plumpton, who saw the king on the eighth day after the aforesaid decollation, saw that great leprous pustules were growing on the face and on the hands of the aforesaid king, and were projecting like the heads of nipples. And he who saw and heard these things bore witness, Stephanus Cotinham otherwise Palmer; who related these things to Master Thomas Gascoyne, professor of Sacred Theology.

In nocte vero tertia post praedictam decollationem apparuit idem archiepiscopus Johanni Sibson in domo sua apud Roclyfe, praecipiens eidem ut peccatum suum de cogitatione homicidii poenitentiario Eboracensi confiteretur; "Quia," inquit, "triginta annis elapsis de dicto proposito indies insidias parasti ad occidendum talem hominem. Sed quia in opere non complevisti, peccatum non esse putasti, nec confessus es. Ideo poenitere, et confitere, ne forte damneris." Hoc idem Johannes Sybson narravit in audentia plurimorum; et praecepit ei, ut offerret candelam ceream super sepulchrum ejus; et quod asportaret truncos, quos homines super sepulchrum ejus posuerunt ne homines ibidem adorarent vel offerrent. Quae idem Johannes, solus et senex dierum, asportavit et removit, licet et aliqua ipsorum vix tres fortes homines levare potuerunt, et coram altari Beatae Virginis Mariae ibidem in ecclesia deposuit; ac per xiiij.

On the third night after the aforesaid beheading the same archbishop appeared to John Sibson in his house at Roclyfe, commanding him that he confess his sin of the thought of homicide to the penitentiary of York; "For," he said, "for thirty years having passed from the said purpose you daily prepared ambushes to kill such a man. But because in deed you did not complete it, you thought the sin not to be, nor did you confess. Therefore repent, and confess, lest haply you be condemned." This same John Sybson related in the hearing of very many; and he ordered him to offer a wax candle upon his tomb; and that he remove the trunks which men had placed upon his tomb so that men there might not worship or offer. Which same John, alone and old of days, carried away and removed, although some of them scarcely three strong men could have lifted, and deposited them before the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary there in the church; and for 14.

vices eidem Johanni idem sanctus archipraesul apparuit. Et virgo moriebatur idem archiepiscopus, ut per confessionem ejusdem cognitum est.

and for 14 times the same holy archprelate appeared to that same John. And the same archbishop died a virgin, as was made known by his own confession.

Anno Dominicae Incarnationis MCCCCV. decollatus est felicis recordationis dominus Ricardus Scrope, legum doctor, ex praecepto et consensu Henrici regis Angliae, post cujus felicem mortem multimoda miraculorum gloria declaratam, idem rex, saniori consilio quorundam sibi assistentium ad se reversus, poenitudinem quandam assumpsisse videatur; misitque ad sedem Apostolicam nuntios solennes pro absolutione obtinenda, scilicet tam pro injuria Christi ecciesiae lata, quam pro reatu quem contraxit praecipiendo mortem praedicti sanctissimi praesulis, necnon contra omnia jura sibi nequiter procurata. Cum vero Romanus pontifex nuntiorum verba audisset, ingemuit, et plurimas effundens lacrymas cum maximo moerore dixit: "Heu!

In the Year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1405 was beheaded the blessedly remembered lord Richard Scrope, doctor of the laws, by the command and consent of Henry, king of England, after whose happy death, by many signs declared in the glory of miracles, the same king, on the sounder counsel of certain attendants who returned to him, seems to have taken upon himself a certain penitence; and he sent solemn envoys to the Apostolic See to obtain absolution, namely both for the injury done to Christ’s ecclesia and for the guilt he contracted in ordering the death of the aforesaid most holy prelate, and also for all other wrongs wickedly procured against him. But when the Roman pontiff heard the words of the envoys, he sighed, and, shedding very many tears, with the greatest sorrow said: "Heu!

heu! Quod in diebus meis tanto scelere Christi sponsa sit impiorum manibus tam turplter obscurata!" Et his dictis recessit. Cumque dicti nuntii regis nudis pedibus capitibus discoopertis, et vestibus tantummodo lineis induti, veniam, indulgentiamque et absolutionem postulassent, et nullatenus profecissent; tandem preces precibus immergentes, et pretiosa munera cardinalibus et cubiculariis distribuentes, sub hac tantummodo conditione plenarium indulgentiam eidem rege obtinuerunt, ut idem rex, tactis sacrosanctis reliquiis Sanctorum, juraret tria nova monasteria construere acrioris observantiae Christianitatis in honore trium Festorum principalium; et quod dotaret ipsa monasteria absque ulla oneris impositione, ut religiosi in eisdem degentes cum omnium pace et animorum quiete Deo gratuitis obsequiis deservirent.

"Heu! That in my days the bride of Christ should be so dishonored in the hands of the wicked, so foully made obscure!" And with these words he withdrew. And when the said envoys of the king, with naked feet, their heads uncovered, and clothed only in linen garments, had begged pardon, indulgence, and absolution, and had in no wise prevailed; at length, immersing prayer in prayer, and distributing precious gifts to the cardinals and chamberlains, they obtained for that same king a plenary indulgence on this sole condition, that the same king, having touched the most holy relics of the Saints, should swear to build three new monasteries of stricter observance of Christianity in honor of the three principal Feasts; and that he would endow those very monasteries without any imposition of burden, so that the religious dwelling in them, with the peace of all and the quiet of minds, might serve God by gratuitous offices.

Reversi nuntii, omnia referunt, regique praecepta Apostolica, et salutis aeternae januam sibi apertam. Quae omnia libentissime suscepit, et ipse juravit fideliter completurum. Sed quid proficit infirmo sua detegere vulnera, nisi sanitatis remedia voluerit adhibere?

The envoys having returned reported everything, and the Apostolic precepts to the king, and that the gate of eternal salvation was opened to him. He gratefully received all these things, and swore himself that he would faithfully fulfil them. But what avails it to disclose a sick man’s wounds, unless he is willing to apply remedies of health?

Nam usque ad extremam vitae suae horam idem rex Henricus Quartus et propriae animae remedium, et publicum juramentum, et Apostolicum neglexit mandatum, et mortuus est.

For even to the last hour of his life the same King Henry IV neglected both the remedy of his own soul, the public oath, and the Apostolic mandate, and he died.

Post mortem ejusdem regis accidit quoddam mirabile ad praedicti Ricardi archipraesulis gloriam declarandam, et aeternae memoriae commemdandam. Nam infra triginta dies post mortem dicti regis Henrici Quarti venit quidam vir de familia ejusdem ad domum Sanctae Trinitatis de Howndeslowe vescendi causa, et cum in prandio sermocinarentur circumstantes de probitate morum ipsius regis, respondit praedictus vir cuidam armigero vocato Thomae Maydestone in eadem mensa tunc sedenti: "Si fueerit vir bonus, novit Deus; sed hoc verissime scio, quod cum a Westmonasterio corpus ejus versus Cantuarium in parva navicula portaretur, ibidem sepeliendum, ego fui unus de tribus personis qui projecerunt corpus ipsius in mare inter Berkingum et Gravesende." Et addidit cum juramento: "Tanta tempestas ventorum et fluctuum irruit super nos, quod multi nobiles sequentes nos in naviculis octo in numero dispersi sunt, ut vix mortis periculum evaserunt. Nos vero qui eramus cum corpore, in desperatione vitae nostrae positi, cum assensu projecimus illud in mare; et facta est tranquillitas magna.

After the death of the same king there occurred a certain marvel to the glory of the aforesaid Richard the archbishop, and to be commended to eternal memory. For within thirty days after the death of the said King Henry IV a certain man of his household came to the house of the Holy Trinity of Howndeslowe to eat, and while those around the table were conversing at dinner about the probity of the morals of that king, the aforesaid man answered a certain esquire called Thomas Maydestone then sitting at the same table: "If he was a good man, God knows; but this I truly know, that when his corpse was being carried from Westminster toward Canterbury in a small vessel there to be buried, I was one of three persons who cast his body into the sea between Barking and Gravesend." And he added, with an oath: "Such a tempest of winds and waves fell upon us, that many nobles following us in eight small boats were scattered, and scarcely escaped the peril of death. We, however, who were with the body, placed in despair of our lives, with consent cast it into the sea; and great calm ensued.

Cistam vero, in qua jacebat, panno deaurato coopertam cum maximo honore Cantuariam deportavimus, et sepelivimus eam." Dicant ergo monachi Cantuariae, quod sepulchrum regis Henrici Quarti est apud nos, non corpus; sicut dixit Petrus de Sancto David Act. 2o. Deus Omnipotens est testis et judex quod ego, Clemens Maydestone, vidi virum illum, et audivi ipsum jurantem patri meo, Thomae Maydestone, omnia praedicta fore vera.

But the chest in which he lay, covered with a cloth gilded, we bore with the greatest honour to Canterbury, and buried it. "Let the monks of Canterbury therefore say that the sepulchre of King Henry IV is with us, not the body; as Peter of St. David said, Acts 2. God Almighty is witness and judge that I, Clemens Maydestone, saw that man, and heard him swear to my father, Thomas Maydestone, that all the aforesaid things would be true."

From the pages of Stephen K. Wright on The Martyrdom of Archbishop Richard Scrope, which contain (in addition to the Latin text) an English translation and commentary.