chbishop had compelled the lay power by most
terrible menacings of cursings and interdictions to assist him against
that seditious apostate, schismatic, and heretic, and troubler of the
public peace, that enemy of the realm and great adversary of holy
church, (for all these hateful names did he give him,") yet the King's
writ for his execution was not forthcoming, and, as far as we have any
means of knowing, never was it issued. In the case of Sautre, the
sentence of his degradation and delivery to the secular power was
passed, and the King's writ for execution is tested on the very same
day, February 26th, 1401.[283] In the case of Badby, the sentence, the
King's writ, and the execution of the persecuted victim, followed in
one and the same day hard upon each other.[284] But though Lord Cobham
was sentenced on Monday, September 25, 1413, yet he remained in the
Tower some time,--Fox says, "a certain space;" Milner says, "some
weeks,"--and no warrant of execution was forthcoming. Indeed, as far
as the record speaks, no such writ was ever issued by the King. The
Tower was no ordinary prison, and yet Lord Cobham escaped[285] by (p. 373)
night, no one knew how. Whether by connivance or not, and, if by
connivance, whether from any intimation of the King's wishes or not,
was never stated.[286] Many conjectures and surmises were afloat, but
no satisfactory account of his escape was ever made known to the
public. Certain it is that, had the King been a "cruel persecutor,"
had he been as ready to meet the desires of the hierarchy as his
father was in the case of Sautre or Badby, a few hours only after the
ecclesiastical sentence was passed would have borne Lord Cobham from
the power of his persecutors to the place where the wicked cease from
troubling, and where the weary are at rest. Walsingham says that both
Henry and the Archbishop were desirous of saving Oldcastle's life, and
that the Archbishop requested the King to give him a respite of forty
days.[287] But, adds Walsingham, he escaped, and spent the time in
preparing soldiers for revenge.

[Footnote 281: Minutes of Council, 27th May 1415.
Item, touching Commission "to the Archbishops and
Bishops to take measures each in his own diocese to
resist the malice of the Lollards." "The King has
given it in charge to his Chancellor."]

[Footnote 282: It is impossibl