
The Southampton Plot was a
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
to depose King
Henry V of England
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against ...
, revealed in 1415 just as the king was about to sail on campaign to France as part of the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
. The plan was to replace him with
Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March.
Overview
Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, was the great-grandson of
Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, second surviving son of King
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
, and his claim to the throne was thus superior, should one allow female intermediaries (he was the grandson of
Philippa of Clarence, daughter of Lionel), to that of
Henry V and his father,
Henry IV, who derived their claim from Henry IV's father,
John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399), was an English royal prince, military leader and statesman. He was the fourth son (third surviving) of King Edward III of England, and the father of King Henry IV. Because ...
, third surviving son of Edward III. Moreover, Edmund Mortimer's father,
Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, had been widely considered
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...
to King
Richard II, who had no issue, and Edmund Mortimer himself had been heir presumptive to Richard II while a young child.
The three ringleaders of the plot were Edmund Mortimer's brother-in-law,
Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge
Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (20 July 1385 – 5 August 1415) was the second son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and Isabella of Castile, Duchess of York. He was beheaded for his part in the Southampton Plot, a conspi ...
(also grandson of Edward III through his fourth surviving son,
Edmund of Langley, and thus also Mortimer's first cousin twice removed);
Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham
Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham KG, also known in older sources as Lord Scrope (c. 1373 – 5 August 1415) was a favourite of Henry V, who performed many diplomatic missions. He was beheaded for his involvement in the notional Sout ...
(whose uncle
Richard le Scrope had been executed for his part in a
1405 revolt); and
Sir Thomas Grey, whose son, Thomas, had been betrothed in 1412 to Cambridge's only daughter,
Isabel
Isabel is a female name of Iberian origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of ''Elizabeth (given name), Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheba''). Arising in the 12th c ...
.
The nominal principal, the Earl of March, informed King Henry of the plot on 31 July, stating that he had only just become aware of it. Richard, Scrope, and Grey were promptly arrested. The trial took place in Southampton; traditionally it is claimed that trial took place on the site now occupied by the
Red Lion Inn, but there are no contemporary records of this. Grey was beheaded on 2 August and the two peers on 5 August, both in front of the
Bargate.
Satisfied, Henry sailed for France on 11 August.
Scrope's involvement in the conspiracy surprised contemporaries, and continues to puzzle historians, as he was a royal favourite.
Ian Mortimer claims Scrope had merely insinuated himself into the confidence of Cambridge and Grey to betray the conspiracy, just as
Edward, Duke of York had done with the
Epiphany Rising in 1400, but was forestalled by Mortimer's revelation of the conspiracy to the King on 31 July. Pugh, however, finds Scrope's exculpatory statements at trial unconvincing, and states that Scrope never pretended that he had intended to inform the King of the conspiracy. Pugh also contends that "there was no plot in 1415 to assassinate Henry V and his three brothers and that heinous charge, by far the most sensational in the indictment, was fabricated to ensure that Cambridge, Grey and Scrope did not escape the death penalty as a well-deserved punishment for the various other offences that they undoubtedly had committed".
[.]
Aftermath
With the death of
the Duke of York, the Earl of Cambridge's elder brother, at the
Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt ( ; ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected victory of the vastly outnumbered English troops agains ...
later that year, Cambridge's son
Richard Plantagenet became heir to the title, which would eventually be returned to him after Henry V's death. Through
his mother, he also inherited the Mortimer claim to the throne on the Earl of March's death; later in life Richard would use this claim to
try to dethrone King Henry VI
Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of eight months, upon ...
.
Dramatisation
The Southampton Plot is dramatised in
Shakespeare's ''Henry V'', in which it is portrayed as a French-financed betrayal of the king to stop Henry's invasion plans. It is also portrayed in the anonymous play,
''The History of Sir John Oldcastle'' (c.1600) and in
William Kenrick's ''
Falstaff's Wedding'' (1760).
The Southampton Plot is shown in ''
The King (2019 film).''
Footnotes
References
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*: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 39
Further reading
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{{Authority control
1415 in England
15th-century rebellions
History of Southampton
Rebellions in medieval England
Conspiracies
Henry V of England