ath; but the King
granted him a respite, in the hope that he might recant, and Oldcastle
managed to escape from prison (1414).

Immediately after, a conspiracy was detected among the Lollards for
seizing the government, destroying the chief monasteries in and about
London, and raising Oldcastle to power. Henry attacked the rebels
unawares, killed many, and took a large number of prisoners, who were
executed on a double charge of heresy and treason. Several years
afterwards Oldcastle was burned as a heretic.

287. Report that Richard II was alive.

A strange report now began to circulate. It was said that Richard II
(S257) had been seen in Scotland, and that he was preparing to claim
the throne which Henry's father had taken from him. To silence this
seditious rumor, the King, it is said, exhumed Richard's body from its
grave in the little village of Langley, Hertfordshire. At any rate, a
dead body, reputed to be Richard's, was brought to London and propped
up in a chair, so that all might see it.

In this manner the King and his court escorted the corpse in solemn
procession to Westminster Abbey, where it was reinterred among the
tombs of the English sovereigns. With it he buried once for all the
troublesome falsehood which had kept up insurrection, and had made the
deposed King more feared after death than he had ever been during
life.

288. War with France (1415).

To divert the attention of the nation from dangerous home questions
likely to cause new plots and fresh revolts (SS286, 287), Henry now
determined to act on his father's dying counsel and pick a foreign
quarrel. The old grudge against France, which began with the feuds of
Duke William of Normandy before he conquered England, made a war with
that country always popular. At this period the French were divided
into fierce parties that hated each other even more, if possible, than
they hated the English. This, of course, greatly increased the
chances of Henry's success, as he might form an alliance with one of
these factions.

The King believed it a good opportunity to get three things he
wanted,--a wife, a fortune, and the French crown. The King of France
and his most powerful rival, the Duke of Burgundy, had each a
daughter. To make sure of one of them, Henry secretly proposed to
both. After long and fruitless negotiations the French King declined
to grant the enormous dowry which the English King demanded. The
latter gladly interpreted