this banishment he returned
with Henry of Lancaster, and was restored to all his possessions which
had been forfeited. Through the whole reign of Henry IV. we find him
in the King's service in Wales and on the Continent. In a summons for
a general council of prelates, lords, and knights, dated July 21,
1401, occurs the name of John Lord Cobham.[269] In the Minutes of
Council about the end of August 1404, John Oldcastle is appointed to
keep the castles and towns of the Hay and Brecknock; and when English
auxiliaries were sent to aid the Duke of Burgundy, Oldcastle was among
the officers selected for that successful enterprise. Between the
Prince of Wales and this gallant brother in arms an intimacy was
formed, which existed till the melancholy tissue of events interrupted
their friendship, and ultimately separated them for ever.

[Footnote 266: Monk of St. Alban's.]

[Footnote 267: Monk of Evesham.]

[Footnote 268: The Pell Rolls (22d May 1398)
contain an item of 20_l._ paid to Thomas Duke of
Surrey on account of Lord Cobham, then his
prisoner.]

[Footnote 269: Records of Privy Council.]

We have already seen that Lord Cobham had given proof of a pious as
well as a liberal mind; and his piety showed itself in acts which the
Roman church sanctioned and fostered. He built and endowed a (p. 352)
chantry for the maintenance of three chaplains. But he had imbibed a
portion of that spirit which Wickliffe's doctrines had diffused far
and wide through the land; and he not only boldly professed his
principles, but actively engaged in disseminating them. It is very
difficult to ascertain the exact truth as to the tenour and extent of
the religious opinions of the rising sect, and the degree in which
they were political dissenters, aiming at the overthrow of the
existing order of things in the state as well as in the church. Their
enemies, doubtless, have exaggerated their intentions, and have
endeavoured to rob them of all claim to the character of sincere
religious reformers; probably misrepresenting their objects, and
confounding their designs with the plots of those turbulent
spirits[270] who then agitated several countries in Europe; whilst
their friends have denied, perhaps injudiciously, any participation on
their part in seditious and treasonable practices. By the one they
have be