Prince Henry of Monmouth—His Letters and Despatches During the War in Wales. 1402–1405

Abstract

‘The Story of Prince Henry of Monmouth and Chief Justice Gascoign,’ read at a meeting of the Royal Historical Society in November 1885, contained a brief, but only a brief sketch of the military career of that illustrious prince during the war in Wales. But though for the purpose which the writer had in view it was necessary to trace the prince's movements and his actions as described in contemporaneous official documents, want of space precluded the possibility of a transcript of any part of the correspondence, memoranda, or records therein referred to. It is proposed now to partially supply that omission by means of a translation of all the few letters and despatches of the prince himself during the war which are extant. They are all in the French language. It may be reasonably expected that the letters and despatches of anyone giving an account of great deeds in which he himself was a partaker would be found full of deep interest, and a sense of disappointment cannot fail to be felt on learning that those of Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales, are only six in number. It is only to the marvellous industry and research of Sir Robert Cotton, two hundred years after they were written, that we owe the discovery and preservation of any of them, and to the labours of the Record Commission perfected by Sir Harris Nicolas that we owe a print of these, and a vast number of other most valuable documents during the period commencing 10 Richard II., A.D. 1386, and ending with few exceptions 38 Henry VI., A.D. 14.61, published in 1834, and which will be quoted for the sake of brevity by the title of ‘Acts of Council.’