magnified riot, which a few regiments of
soldiers could soon have suppressed. The rebels professed complete
loyalty to Henry's person; they suggested no rival candidate for the
throne; they merely demanded a change of policy, which they could not
enforce without a change of government. They had no means of effecting
that change without deposing Henry, which they never proposed to do,
and which, had they done it, could only have resulted in anarchy. The
rebellion was formidable mainly because Henry had no standing army; he
had to rely almost entirely on the goodwill or at least acquiescence
of his people. Outside Yorkshire the gentry were willing enough;
possibly they had their eyes on monastic rewards; and they sent to
Cambridge double[990] or treble the forces Henry demanded, which (p. 355)
they could hardly have done had their tenants shown any great sympathy
with the rebellion. But transport in those days was more difficult
even than now; and before the musters could reach the Trent, Darcy,
after a show of reluctance, yielded Pomfret Castle to the rebels and
swore to maintain their cause. Henry was forced, much against his
will, to temporise. To pardon or parley with rebels he thought would
distain his honour.[991] If Norfolk was driven to offer a pardon, he
must on no account involve the King in his promise.

[Footnote 990: Surrey to Norfolk, 15th Oct., xi.,
727, 738.]

[Footnote 991: _L. and P._, xi., 864.]

Norfolk apparently had no option. An armistice was accordingly
arranged on the 27th of October, and a deputation came up to lay the
rebels' grievances before the King. It was received graciously, and
Henry's reply was a masterly piece of statecraft.[992] He drew it up
"with his own hand, and made no creature privy thereto until it was
finished". Their complaints about the Faith were, he said, "so general
that hard they be to be answered," but he intended always to live and
to die in the faith of Christ. They must specify what they meant by
the liberties of the Church, whether they were lawful or unlawful
liberties; but he had done nothing inconsistent with the laws of God
and man. With regard to the Commonwealth, what King had kept his
subjects so long in wealth and peace, ministering indifferent justice,
and defending them from outward enemies? There were more low-born
councillors when he came to the throne than now; then there were "but
two worth