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 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE outposts of Herefordshire, Clifford and Hay. He then advanced to Car- marthen, returning to Hereford on 3 October, and finally departing for Gloucester on the 6th.^^' Shropshire and Herefordshire had suffered so severely that in the grant made by Parliament in February, 1403-4, the ravaged lands in these counties were specially exempted from payment. ^^^ Next summer the invasions of the Welsh recommenced. On 10 June, 1404, the sheriff wrote to the king's council that the Welsh had invaded the district of Archenfield in great numbers, and that they were burning the houses, slaying and capturing the inhabitants, and wasting the country.*" Through spies he learned that the Welsh expected to be in the neighbour- hood of Hereford within eight days. Henry, however, was obliged to proceed to Pontefract to receive the submission of the north. The most serious feature of the situation was the danger of the castle of Abergavenny on the River Usk, which was hard pressed. On 9 June, when at Ponte- fract, Henry issued a commission to the sheriffs of Herefordshire, Worcester- shire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire to raise their counties and join Richard of Conisbrough, in order to raise the siege. '''^ On 16 June he authorized Richard Kyngeston to collect the subsidy, and in spite of the appointment by Parliament of war treasurers,^'^ to apply it directly for purposes of defence. ^^* On 25 June Prince Henry wrote to the king from Worcester that he was informed that the Welsh had descended on the county of Here- ford, burning and destroying, that they were in great force, and victualled for fifteen days,*'^ but that his arrival had caused them to retire, though they still remained in large numbers near the borders. But the presence of the Prince of Wales proved effective, for towards the close of August the sheriff and other gentlemen of Herefordshire requested the lords of the council to pray the king that he would be pleased to thank the Prince for the good protection of the county since the Nativity of St. John (24 June), and that the Prince might be assigned to guard the Marches of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire and to make inroads into the southern districts in Welsh hands.^''^ In conse- quence the Council recommended that the Prince should remain on the borders of the county until the last day of September, and have as many, or more, men at arms and archers as he had had since 29 June, and that on I October he should be ready to make an excursion into Wales, remaining there twenty-one days for the punishment of the rebels.''"^ From July onwards his head quarters were generally at Hereford or Leominster. During Novem- ber he was chiefly occupied with the relief of Coity Castle, in Glamorgan, now known as Oldcastle Bridgend. Towards the close of the year the earl of Arundel, Lord Charlton, and Lord Furnival were appointed to undertake the defence of Herefordshire and Shropshire. ^^' Considerable annoyance was caused by the smuggling of supplies to the Welsh over the borders, and on 2 October a commission, consisting of Sir John Oldcastle and others, was charged to stop the traffic on the borders of Herefordshire. On 27 January, 1404—5, Prince Henry wrote from Hereford for reinforcements to enable him "' Wylie, Eng/. under Hen. IV, i, 174-5. ™ Ann. Hen. IV (Rolls Ser.), 379. ^^ Proc. ofP.C. i, 224. "' Tyler, Hen. of Monmouth (1838), i, 190. '" Ramsey, Lancaster and York,, 74 ; Ann. Hen. IV, 3 79. "* Rot. Pat. 5 Hen. IV, ii, m. 15, quoted in Wylie, Engl. underHen. IV, i, 448. "^"^ Proc. of the P.C., 2^0-2. "Mbid. i, 235. "' Ibid, i, 236 »5 Wylie, Engl, under Hen. IV, i, 461-2, 481. 370