professed to believe, would give the victory to the just side in the
quarrel. These single combats were arranged with great ceremony and
parade, and were performed in a very public and solemn manner; being,
in fact, a recognized and established part of the system of public law
as administered in those days. In the next chapter, when speaking more
particularly of the manners and customs of the times, I shall give an
account in full of one of these duels. I have only to say here that
Richard, on hearing of the quarrel between his cousin Henry and
Norfolk, decreed that they should settle it by single combat, and
preparations were accordingly made for the trial, and the parties
appeared, armed and equipped for the fight, in the presence of an
immense concourse of people assembled to witness the spectacle. The
king himself was to preside on the occasion.

[Sidenote: Henry is sent into banishment.]

But just before the signal was to be given for the combat to begin,
the king interrupted the proceedings, and declared that he would
decide the question himself. He pronounced both the combatants guilty,
and issued a decree of banishment against both. Henry submitted, and
both prepared to leave the country. These transactions, of course,
attracted great attention throughout England, and they operated to
bring Henry forward in a very conspicuous manner before the people of
the realm. He was in the direct line of succession to the crown, and
he was, moreover, a prince of great wealth, and of immense personal
influence, and so, just in proportion as Richard himself was disliked,
Henry would naturally become an object of popular sympathy and regard.
When he set out on his journey toward the southern coast, in order to
leave the country in pursuance of his sentence, the people flocked
along the waysides, and assembled in the towns where he passed, as if
he were a conqueror returning from his victories instead of a
condemned criminal going into banishment.

[Sidenote: 1400.]

[Sidenote: His estates confiscated.]

Soon after this, the Duke of Lancaster, Henry's father, died, and then
Richard, instead of allowing his cousin to succeed to the immense
estates which his father left, confiscated all the property, under the
pretext that Henry had forfeited it, and so converted it to his own
use. This last outrage aroused Henry to such a pitch of indignation
that he resolved to invade England, depose Richard, and claim the
crown for him