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Henry IV
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Henry IV

the Tower walls. He took a leading share in the proceedings of the Merciless parliament. On 3 Feb. 1388 he followed Gloucester in renewing the charge of treason against the favourites (Rot. Parl. iii. 229). But alone amidst the appellants he showed some moderation, and quarrelled fiercely with Gloucester for not sparing Sir Simon Burley [q. v.] (Walsingham, ii. 174).

Derby was present in the Hilarytide parliament of 1389 (Rot. Parl. iii. 264). On 3 May 1389 Richard threw off the tutelage of the appellants; but on 13 Sept. Derby and the earl-marshal were already restored to the council (Nicolas, Ord. Privy Council, i. 11). Lancaster, now back in England, doubtless urged moderate courses upon his son. For the next few years Derby held aloof from political intrigue. He gradually won back Richard's favour, and sought fame in tournaments and crusades. He attended the great jousts at Saint-Inglevert, between Calais and Boulogne, in March and April 1390. The French agreed that he was the best of the English knights, and his liberality increased his popularity (Livre des faicts du Mareschal de Boucicault in Michaud et Poujoulat, Collect. de Mémoires, ii. 231; Religieux de Saint-Denys, i. 678, Doc. inédits; Les Joûtes de Saint-Inglebert, Poème Contemporain, Paris, 1864; Chronique de Berne in Kervyn's Froissart, xiv. 419–20). He returned to England early in May.

Devotion to the church had always been hereditary in the Lancastrian house, and Henry prepared to join the crusade of Bourbon, Boucicault, and the Genoese to Barbary, though at the last moment he allowed his brother John Beaufort to go alone. The statement of the Saint-Denys chronicler that Derby actually went on this crusade (Chroniques, i. 650) has misled most later writers. (The whole question is discussed by J. Delaville Le Roulx, La France en Orient, Expéditions du Maréchal de Boucicault, i. 176 sq. in Bibliothèque de l'École Française d'Athènes, fascicule 44, Paris, 1886.) Henry's own treasurer, Richard Kyngeston, speaks in his accounts of the ‘viagium ordinatum versus partes Barbarie’ (Deputy-Keeper's Thirtieth Report, p. 35). Instead of this, however, Henry determined to join the Teutonic knights on an expedition into Lithuania, which still counted as a crusade, although the Lithuanians had just become Christian. John of Gaunt gave him 3,500l. for his expenses. Ships from Danzig were hired to transport him and his three hundred followers. On 20 July 1390 the expedition set sail from Boston, and three weeks later landed at Rosenhain in Further Pomerania. The accounts of Henry's treasurer, Kyngeston, give a full itinerary of ‘le reys’ (Compotus R. Kyngeston Thesaurarii Dom. Hen. Com. de Derby pro viagio suo versus partes Pruc. in Records of the Duchy of Lancaster, No. xxviii., first bundle, No. 6, R. O.; see Deputy-Keeper's Thirtieth Report, p. 35; and summary by Dr. Pauli in pp. 406–17 of the Monatsberichte der königliche Preuss. Acad. der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1857, reprinted in Beilage ix. of vol. ii. of Hirsch, Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum, Leipzig, 1861–74). Derby reached Danzig on 10 and Königsberg on 16 Aug. The ordens-marschall, Engelhard Rabe, started upon his arrival in alliance with Vitovt, the exiled claimant to the duchy, and in co-operation with the master of the knights of the Sword of Livonia. The crusaders gained a complete victory on 28 Aug., and the Prussian historians acknowledge the good service of ‘der herczoge von langkastel’ and his archers (Johann von Posilge in Script. Rer. Pruss. iii. 164–5; Lindenblatt, Jahrbücher, ed. Voigt, 1823; cf. Voigt, Geschichte Preussens, v. 541; Walsingham, ii. 197–8, gives the best English account of the whole journey). They besieged Vilna, the Lithuanian capital, in September. The English archers won great glory; but sickness caused the siege to be abandoned. On 20 Oct. Derby was back at Königsberg, where he remained till 9 Feb. 1391, keeping up a great feast between Christmas and Twelfth Night ‘in the English way.’ He returned to Danzig, remained there till after Easter 1391, receiving presents from the new hochmeister, Konrad von Wallenrod, and treating with Poland for the delivery of two captive English knights. The severity of the winter prevented another ‘reys.’ Henry became involved in acrimonious disputes with the Teutonic knights (Ann. Thorun. p. 168, in Script. Rer. Pruss.), and his uncle Gloucester was prevented from joining him by bad weather. By redeeming captives and pious offerings he obtained from Boniface IX absolution from his crusading vow, and at the end of March he sailed for England, landing at Hull before 30 April (Capgrave, De Ill. Henr. p. 99). On 3 Nov. he was in London attending parliament, and acting as a trier of petitions (Rot. Parl. iii. 284).

In July 1392 Henry again embarked at Lynn for a second crusade in Prussia. Landing at Leba in Pomerania, he entered Danzig on 10 Aug. His followers killed a German (J. von Posilge in Script. Rer. Pruss. iii. 182), and were so disorderly that the Teutonic knights were glad to get rid of him. He then went to Königsberg, but early in September was back in Danzig, having given up his plan of a new ‘reys’ altogether. He sent most of