earl of Fife, son of the duke
of Albany, and nephew of the Scottish king, with the earls of Angus,
Murray, and Orkney, and many others of the gentry and nobility. [******]
| When Henry received intelligence of this victory, he sent the earl of
Northumberland orders not to ransom his prisoners, which that nobleman
regarded as his right by the laws of war received in that age. The king
intended to detain them, that he might be able by their means to make
an advantageous peace with Scotland; but by this policy he gave a fresh
disgust to the family of Piercy.

* Dugdale, vol. i. p. 150.

** Dugdale, vol. i. p. 151.

*** Rymer, vol. viii. p. 125, 126.

**** Rymer, Vol. viii. p.. 125.

***** Rymer, vol. viii. p. 155, 156, etc.

****** Walsing p. 336. Vita Ric. Sec p. 180. Chron.
Otterborne. p. 237.

{1403.} The obligations which Henry had owed to Northumberland, were
of a kind the most likely to produce ingratitude on the one side, and
discontent on the other. The sovereign naturally became jealous of that
power which had advanced him to the throne; and the subject was not
easily satisfied in the returns which he thought so great a favor had
merited. Though Henry, on his accession, had bestowed the office of
constable on Northumberland for life,[*] and conferred other gifts on
that family, these favors were regarded as their due; the refusal of any
other request was deemed an injury.

* Rymer, vol. viii. p. 89.

The impatient spirit of Harry Piercy, and the factious disposition of
the earl of Worcester, younger brother of Northumberland, inflamed the
discontents of that nobleman; and the precarious title of Henry tempted
him to seek revenge, by overturning that throne which he had at first
established. He entered into a correspondence with Glendour: he gave
liberty to the earl of Douglas, and made an alliance with that martial
chief: he roused up all his partisans to arms; and such unlimited
authority at that time belonged to the great families, that the same
men, whom, a few years before, he had conducted against Richard, now
followed his standard in opposition to Henry. When war was ready to
break out, Northumberland was seized with a sudden illness at Berwick:
and young Piercy, taking the command of the troops, marched towards
Shrewsbury, in order to join his forces with those of Glendour, The
king had happily a small army on foot, with which he had intended to act
again