At 02:05 11/01/01 -0600, you wrote:
> [1]Tomorrow:
> January 14
>
> In 1400: Richard II murdered, King of England murdered at Pontefract
> Castle, Yorkshire. Source: The Oxford Companion to British History
> 1997 Oxford also published in New York ISBN 0-19-866176-
It was Richard II who gave his consent to Prince Henry Sinclair's visit
to London in 1392 for the purpose of buying ships in the Pool of London.
Richard had at first fulminated against idea because, as he put it in a
letter to Queen Margetta of Norway, "Henry Sinclair's intolerable invasion
of my Kingdom". This was a reference to the time when Henry Sinclair
led a retaliatory force into England which reached as far as York. This
was in retaliation against Richard's own invasion of Scotland in 1385
when he burned Edinburgh.
However, Queen Margretta eventually won the day (as she invariably did)
and Henry was given permission to travel to London with 34 men -
presumably to crew the ships which, we believe, were eventually
sailed to Bergen to replace the Norwegian ships which had been
destroyed by the Hanseatic League - a league of German Merchants
who wished to control the growing trade in the North Sea which they
referred to as Oceanus Germanicus.
The reason for Richard's murder was never established but, in my
opinion, it was because he changed his stance. Previously, he had
allowed the Hansa to have bases along the Eastern seaboard of England.
Queen Margretta won him over - hence the three ships from England
to Norway (probably the first instance of "Lend/Lease" as was practised
by Roosevelt to assist Britain before America's own involvement in
World War II).
Richard was replaced by his cousin, Henry IV, John of Gaunt' son.
It was during the reign of this King that Prince James (afterwards
King James I) was captured with Henry Sinclair II whilst he, Henry,
was taking the Crown Prince to France for safe-keeping. James
was detained in England for 18 years during which time he received
an excellent education and military experience because he took
part in some of Henry V's French campaigns. Obviously, his
'imprisonment' wasn't of the kind which we normally associate
with the Tower of London. Eventually James returned to Scotland
to be crowned in 1424.
Henry was also imprisoned but, on condition that one of his brothers
or one of the Douglases reported to Durham Castle as 'hostages',
Henry was allowed frequent visits to Scotland. Eventually he was
released and acted as one of three of Scotland's Counsellors until
James's own return to Scotland.
Those were the days of chivalry.
Niven Sinclair
>References
>
> 1. http://www.mids.org/sinclair/timeline.html
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