ed the island than the Irish
in turn refused to carry out their promise of quitting Leinster, and
engaged in a fresh contest with the Earl of March, whom the king had
proclaimed as his heir and left behind him as his lieutenant in Ireland. In
the summer of 1398 March was beaten and slain in battle: and Richard
resolved to avenge his cousin's death and complete the work he had begun by
a fresh invasion. He felt no apprehension of danger. At home his triumph
seemed complete. The death of Norfolk, the exile of Henry of Lancaster,
left the baronage without heads for any rising. He ensured, as he believed,
the loyalty of the great houses by the hostages of their blood whom he
carried with him, at whose head was Henry of Lancaster's son, the future
Henry the Fifth. The refusal of the Percies, the Earl of Northumberland and
his son Henry Percy or Hotspur, to obey his summons might have warned him
that danger was brewing in the north. Richard however took little heed. He
banished the Percies, who withdrew into Scotland; and sailed for Ireland at
the end of May, leaving his uncle the Duke of York regent in his stead.

[Sidenote: Landing of Henry]

The opening of his campaign was indecisive, and it was not till fresh
reinforcements arrived at Dublin that the king could prepare for a march
into the heart of the island. But while he planned the conquest of Ireland
the news came that England was lost. Little more than a month had passed
after his departure when Henry of Lancaster entered the Humber and landed
at Ravenspur. He came, he said, to claim his heritage; and three of his
Yorkshire castles at once threw open their gates. The two great houses of
the north joined him at once. Ralph Neville, the Earl of Westmoreland, had
married his half-sister; the Percies came from their exile over the
Scottish border. As he pushed quickly to the south all resistance broke
down. The army which the Regent gathered refused to do hurt to the Duke;
London called him to her gates; and the royal Council could only march
hastily on Bristol in the hope of securing that port for the King's return.
But the town at once yielded to Henry's summons, the Regent submitted to
him, and with an army which grew at every step the Duke marched upon
Cheshire, where Richard's adherents were gathering in arms to meet the
king. Contrary winds had for a while kept Richard ignorant of his cousin's
progress, and even when the news reached him he was in a web of treache