maintain them in their errors by strong hand and by great routs It is ordained and assented in this present Parliament That the Kings Commissions be made and directed to the Sheriffs and other Ministers of our Sovereign Lord the King or other sufficient persons learned and according to the Certifications of the Prelates thereof to be made in the Chancery from time to time to arrest all such Preachers and also their Fauters Maintainers and Abetters and to hold them in Arrest and strong Prison till they will justifie to them according to the law and reason of Holy Church And the King willeth and commandeth that the Chancellor make such Commissions at all times that he by the Prelates or any of them shall be certified and thereof required as is aforesaid This was the first pretence of Statute against the true Professors of Religion and indeed was no Act of Parliament duly made but onely by the King and the Clergy for at Michaelm following in the sixth year of the King a Parliament being assembled complain'd thereof and having recited the same Add The which was never agreed nor granted by the Commons but whatsoever was moved therein was without their Assent and therefore prayen the Commons that the said Statute be disannulled for it is not in any wise their meaning that either themselves or such as shall succeed them shall be further justified or bound by the Prelates than were their Ancestors in former times Whereunto it is answered Il plaist au Roy The King is pleased Yet though the supposed Law of the Fifth were hereby so repealed and the fraud thereof discovered the Prelates ordered matters so that this Act of Repeal was never published nor since printed in the Statute Book with the rest of the Acts of that Parliament as Mr. Fox in his Acts and Monuments well observes The Year 1383 was famous for a Warlike Expedition undertaken by the English Clergie called a Croisado or going forth to fight the Lords Battels as they pretended under the Banner of the Cross. The occasion thus After the death of Pope Gregory the Eleventh which happened in the Year of our Lord 1378 one Bartholomew Bishop of Barri in Apulia by the undue acts hereafter mentioned got into the Chair by the name of Vrban the Sixth who as he entered by force so he proceeded with so much pride and insolence that most of the Cardinals forsook him and retiring to Avignion in France chose one Robert Bishop of Cibbo in his stead who took upon him the style of Pope Clement Now to destroy him and all that own'd and took part with him was the meritorious design And that the Reader may the better perceive the nature of the Quarrel and what mighty reason people had to venture their Lives and murder their Neighbours for this Vrbans Interest I shall insert a Copy of the Cardinals Letter to him as Walsingham recites it THe Bishops Presbyters and Deacons by Divine Merit Cardinals during the vacancy of the Apostolical See to Bartholomew late Archbishop of Barri wish the Spirit of founder counsel The sanctity and purity of the Catholick Faith and the wholsom devotion of Christian People the clear profession of the whole Ecclesiastick State and Salvation of all the faithful do require That those things which may occasion a scandal unto our faith the subversion of the Worshippers of Christ the weakning of the State of the Church and the evident danger of souls should be openly notified to all declared amongst the people and according to the Doctrine of the Gospel preached upon the house-tops lest by indiscreet silence those be left in error who might be reclaimed and they to whose office it belongs should lie under the reprehension of the Prophet saying Thy Prophets and Preachers shall prophesie unto thee things false and foolish and shall not lay open thine iniquity that they might provoke thee to penance Whereas therefore the Apostolick Seat being empty by the death of Pope Gregory XI of pious memory who in March last departed this life we for the Election of another Pope accâ—rding to Law and Custom had assembled our selves in the Conclave for that purpose assign'd in the Apostolical Palace the People of Rome gathered together by the sound of a Bell and in hostiâ—e manner surrounding the place almost filling the Palace both without and within did with vehement Terror threaten that unless without any delay we choose a Roman or Italian they would presently cut us into bits And so there being no due space afforded wherein we might deliberate of a fit Person they against our will and intention suddenly and abruptly by violence and bodily fear compelling us to choose an Italian We thereupon meerly to avoid the otherwise inevitable Peril of Death as at the same time we openly declared amongst our selves did think fit to nominate Thee for Pope not doubting but thou to whom as well as to all the Clergy and People that accursed violence was well known hadst had so much Conscience as in no sort to accept of the same But thou forgetful of thine own Salvation laying aside all pure Conscience and being otherwise ambitious wast so far inflamed with the Ardor of Worldly Honour upon the presentation of that Election though extorted also by Fear and against the Canonical Sanctions from those who carried it from us into the â—ity that thou to the greatest Scandal of the Christian Clergy and People and to the pernicious Example of others in such cases didst consent to the said Election though the same in Law were absolutely null and void and also out of fear as we well hope didst suffer thy self to be inthron'd in the City and Crown'd de facto and so hast taken upon thee the name of Pope who by the holy and wise Fathers and by Right and Law are rather and deservedly to be called An accursed Apostate Antichrist and the Invader and Destroyer of all Christianity Since therefore such thy wicked Intrusion into the Papacy is now divulged throughout the World grown notorious and cannot any longer be hid as being done just before Easter when from all parts of Christendom there were multitudes of People at Rome and whereas many Errors have already began to creep abroad and the Consciences of the Faithful to be intangled and that thou being long expected charitably admonished in secret regardest not to amend thy folly but rather dost desire to draw the whole Clergy and People into a Precipice and preferring the empty transitory Glory of the World before the Salvation of thine own and other Christians Souls obstinately endeavourest to hold the Popedom by Tyranny into which thou didst not enter by the Door We therefore not being able with safe Consciences any longer to dissemble the Premisses laying forth the same and giving notice thereof to thee and all faithful Christians though the same be already notorious to thy self and almost all the Clergy and People do publish and denounce thee accursed
Affections of the People it was not thought safe to bring him to a publick Tryal but concluded with more Policy than Justice to put him to death secretly without either Conviction or Examination And therefore being a close Prisoner as aforesaid at Callice he was by certain Ruffians ordered thereunto by Nottingam Earl Marshal suddenly one Night strangled or stifled to death between two Feather Beds Thus fell this Great and for ought we find in Writers of those times Good Prince the Son of One and Vncle of another King and so beloved of the People that with him saith Walsingham the general Hope and Comfort of the Commonalty of the Land expired And now the King caused the Parliament to be Ajourn'd till after Christmas and then to sit again at Shrewsbury Where in the beginning of the Year 1398 they met accordingly and the King by the Interest he had made amongst them caused not only all the Proceedings of the Parliament in the Tenth Year of his Reign to be Condemned and Annulled But also obtained a Concession from them That after the present Parliament should break up It s whole Power should yet be Conferred upon and remain in certain Persons by them particularly named or any Seven or Eight of them Who by vertue of such Power granted did afterwards proceed to Act and determine many things concerning the Publick State of the Nation and properly the Work of a Parliament to the great prejudice of the Realm And to six himself more firm with Friends or Illustrate his Triumphs over those he thought his Enemies The King about this time was most liberal in Conferring of Honours Creating no less than Five new Dukes of whom one was the Earl of Derby made Duke of Hereford and an other the Earl of Nottingham probably for his good Service in dispatching the Duke of Glocester raised to the Title of Duke of Norfolk One Dutchess One Marquess and Four Earls Amongst whom he made a Distribution of a great part of the Lands of the Duke of Glocester and of the Earls of Arundel and Warwick imagining by this double Bounty of Honour and Estate to support it to have tyed them with a double Obligation of Duty and Affection Not considering that hired Friends for the most part are seldom either satisfied or sure but rather like some Ravens that Naturalists tell of in Arabia which being full-gorg'd have very sweet tuneable Notes but empty scriech most horribly Furthermore to gratifie the Cheshire-men who had chieflly assisted him and his late Favorites he qualified that County with the Name and Dignity of a Principality and added to the rest of his own Titles that of Prince of Chester A General Pardon was also granted for all Offences to all the Kings Subjects but clogg'd with a strange Clause of Exception exempting Fifty Persons in number from the Benefit thereof whose Names were not expressed but left to the Kings own knowledge and pleasure to the end that if any of the Nobility should happen any way to displease he might nominate him or them to be of the Number excepted and so still keep them within his danger By which Reservation the General Pardon became no Pardon at all since no man in England could assure himself that he was included in it Lastly To Corroborate and add the greater esteem to the Acts and Proceedings of this Parliament King Richard purchased the Popes Bulls containing grievous Censures and Curses on all that should presume to break or oppose them Which were solemly published at Pauls Cross and other places throughout England All things succeeding thus suitable to the Kings pleasure the Heads of the Party that opposed his Will having lost their Heads the Nobles afraid and the Commons unable to express their Resentments any otherwise than in Sighs or whisper'd Murmurs and Complaints His Officers of State His Laws nay His very Parliament all modell'd to His Designs He could not but sing Requiems to His Soul and look upon himself in a Condition altogether happy and secure When yet to shew that there is still an over-ruling Providence that can blast all Projects though never so subtlely laid if not sounded on Equity and carried on with Justice A Monarch Paramount who confoundeth the Councils of Princes and is terrible to the Kings of the Earth when once they become disobedient unto and forgetful of him Behold on a sudden all his Affairs by unexpected Means and unlikely Instruments are embroil'd more than ever and this great Prince left so destitute of Power or Friends as to be forced without striking one stroke to surrender his Crown and which was yet more greivous to a generous Mind acknowledge himself both unworthy and unfit to wear it any longer This Wonderful Catastrophe has since been thought to have been fore-shewn by some prodigious Tokens that happened about this time As that in this Year 1398 when almost throughout all England all the Bay-trees withered and afterwards beyond all expectation grew green again And another perhaps more remarkable on New-Years Day following When a very deep River running between the Villages of Suelleston and Haâ—â—wod near Bedford on a sudden stopt its Course and divided it self so as that for three Miles space the Channel remain'd dry But waving such uncertain Presages if we consider the several Steps that led to this grand Mutation The first both in order of time and Influence may be reckon'd that of the Banishment of the Duke of Hereford Son of the Duke of Lancaster This was occasioned by means of a Quarrel between Him and Moubray Duke of Norfolk but what the grounds were of that Quarrel is somewhat differently reported by Authors for though all agree 't was about certain words spoken to the Kings dishonour yet of what nature those words were is not so certainly related But the best that is most probable account thereof that I can meet with is as follows The Duke of Hereford either disdaining the undesâ—rved Favours and Advancement of some Persons about the King or disliking that his Sovereign should be abused and his Countrey opprest by such ill Instruments or perhaps to shew his owm skill and sufficiency in the Art of Government happened one day in familiar Conference with the Duke of Norfolk to complain that the King too much undervalued the Princes of the Blood and much discouraged the rest of the Ancient Nobility from intermedling in Publick Affairs That instead of using their able Advice and Service He was engrossed by a few Vpstart Favourites of base Birth and baser Qualities having no sufficiency either for Council in Peace or Courage in War And whose dishonest Conditions had deservedly contracted an Odium and Contempt of the whole Realm whereby the Honour of the Kings Person was much obscured the safety of his Estate endanger'd and the Dignity of the English Nation not a little impaired And that it was high time that the King should provide some Redress herein And all this â—e protested he mention'd
may be ready to hang your selves that that of the Prophet may be verified of you Let their habitation be desolate and let none be left to dwell in their tents As also it is written further of each of you Let his days be few and his Bishoprick let another take Furthermore you do but blacken the clear fâ—â—me of the Count of Fundi a Town in Italy whose â—arl harbour'd the Cardinals when you so load him with your Commendations throughout Christendom since as the Poet saith Idem est laudari à turpibus ob turpia To be prais'd by bad men is all one as to be prais'd for bad things Consider therefore O Count that whereas heretofore thou wast unknown in divers Christian Countries which thou thoughtest an unhappiness now thou hast gain'd not a Name but Shame throughout the World for inviting to thy self the Enemies of Christ the Breakers of the Churches Unity and the Disturbers of the peace and tranquillity of all Christendom and cherishing their detestable perfidiousness so that thou seemest to have built an Asylum against Christ and all Catholick people Arise therefore O Count throw these Mice out of thy Budget chase these Serpents from thy Tabernacle and shake these coals of Brimstone out of thy Bosom lest they bring thee to everlasting burnings so shalt thou obtain the grace of God the blessings of all Christians and the commendation of all the World and shalt merit to escape the Divine Vengeance Dated at Rome c. Both Parties being thus hot and Christendom divided between two Popes at once each damning the other for a Schismatick and Villain France Flanders Scotland and several other Countries joyn'd with Pope Clement insomuch that the French King proclaim'd throughout all his Realm that none should own or obey Vrban on pain of being Beheaded and all his Goods forfeited to the Kings use But by means of Vrban's Complemental Letters to King Richard and the Parliament and his honouring our Bishop of London with a Cardinals Cap England was altogether at his devotion for in the second year of King Richard an Act was made declaring him to be lawful Pope and that the Livings of all Cardinals and others that were Rebels to him should be seized into the Kings hands and the King to be answered of the profits thereof and that whosoever within this Realm should procure or obtain any Provision or other Instrument from any other Pope than the same Vrban should be out of the Kings Protection And this year 1382 the said Vrban sent over his Bull to Henry Spencer Bishop of Norwich a young bold Prelate to raise a Croisado that is to levy Forces who should be all mark'd with the Cross as engag'd in an Holy War to fight with and subdue his Enemy the said Clement the Anti-Pope and all his Followers and Favourers whom thereby he did excommunicate and depose from all Honours and forbid any Conversation with them living and burial of their bodies when dead c. In which Bull were amongst other things granted the Powers and Privileges following 1. That the said Bishop of Norwich may use the Sword against the Anti-Pope and all his Adherents Favourers and Counsellors and with violence put them to death 2. That he hath full power to inquire of all and singular such Schismaticks and put them in prison and to confiscate all their Goods moveable and immoveable 3. That he hath Power and Authority to deprive all Laymen that are such Schismaticks of all manner of Secular Offices whatsoever and to give their Offices to other fit and convenient Persons 4. To deprive all such Schismatick Clerks and bestow their Benefices either with or without Cure their Dignities Parsonages or Offices to other Persons more meet for the same having power over Lay-persons that are exempt Clerks both Secular and Regular yea though they be Fryars Mendicants 5. That he may dispense with any Dignified or Beneficed Clerks so that they may be absent from their Cures or Benefices under the â—tandard of the Cross without leave of any of their Prelates and yet take and receive the entire Profits as though personally resident 6. There is granted to all that pass the Seas in this Cause either at their own Expences or at the Expences of any others Full Remission of all their Sins and besides as large Priviledges as to any that pay their Money or go to Fight for the Holy Land 7. That all such as shall with their proper Goods and Substance give sufficient Stipend to able Souldiers at the discretion of the aforesaid Bishop mustred or by any other his Deputy although themselves be not personally engaged yet shall they have the like Remission and Indulgence as they which in person go to the Expedition 8. That all they shall be Partakers of this Remission who shall give any part of their Goods to the said Bishop to Fight against the said Schismaticks 9. That if any shall chance to die in the Journey or be kill'd that are Souldiers under the said Standard of the Cross they shall fully and wholly receive the said Grace and shall be Partakers of the aforesaid Forgiveness and Indulgence 10. The said Bishop hath Power to Excommunicate Suspend and Interdict all persons whatsoever that shall be Rebellious or Disturbers of him in the Execution of the Powers and Authority hereby committed unto him of whatsoever Dignity or Condition they be whether Kings Queens Emperors or of any other Quality Ecclesiastical or Temporal Lastly That he may compel and inforce any Religious Persons whatsoever to go in this Expedition and send them over Sea if he think good so to do and this although they be Professors of the Fryars Mendicants Being thus furnisht the Bishop to spread his Authority and the more effectually carry on the Work publisht the Ordinances following 1. IT is Ordained for the Honour the Establishment of Holy Church and the Salvation of the Realm that sufficient Preachers be sent into all the Country to Declare and Publish the Croisado and the Right Estate of Holy Church and of our most Holy Father Pope Urban whom God of his benign Grace pity and redress according to his good pleasure 2. That to every such Preacher or Confessor throughout England there shall be joyned a Clerk who shall receive and register the Names of all such as shall offer their persons to this Holy War and also all money that shall be given over whom the said Confessors shall be Controllers 3. That no Woman shall presume to go this voyage without special Licence from the Bishop of Norwich under his Seal 4. That no man by the way shall rob or by any kind of Extortion take the goods of any till they come upon the Enemies where they may do it by right of War on pain of losing all share in the said Pardon 5. That the said Preachers shall press the people to say Prayers and make Processions for the safety of the Church and the prosperity of
Treasurer The Lord Michael de Pole Earl of Suffolk was with much disgrace turn'd out of the Office of Chancelor and Thomas de Arundel Bishop of Ely by Consent of Parliament put in his stead And sometime afterward the said Michael de Pole was Impeached of several High Crimes and Misdemeâ—â—ors by the Commons as follows The Impeachment or Articles made by the Commons in full Parliament against Michael de Pole Earl of Suffolk late Chancellor of England in the Term of S. Michael in the Tenth Year of the King and the Judgment upon them following from Point to Point IMprimis That the said Earl being Chancellor and Sworn to Act for the just Profit of the King hath Purchased of Our Lord the King Lands Tenements and Rents to a great Value as appears by the Record-Rolls of the Chancery And against his Oath not regarding the great Necessity of the King and Realm being Chancellor at the time of such Purchase made did cause the said Lands and Tenements to be Extended at a much smaller value than really they were worth by the year and thereby deceiv'd the King And for that he purchased the said Lands when he was Chancellor against his Oath the King shall have the said Lands again intirely and the said Earl shall make Fine and Ransom to the King with all Profits received since the Purchase 2. Item Whereas Nine Lords were Assigned by the last Parliament to View and Examine the Estate of the King and Realm and to deliver their Advice how the same might be Improved Amended and put into better Order Governance and thereupon such Examination to be delivered to the King as well by Word of Mouth as in Writing The said late Chancellor did say in full Parliament That the said Advice and Ordinance should be put in due Execution which yet was not done and that by the default of him who was the principal Officer To this Article and the Third and the Seventh the said Earl shall answer if he have any thing to say against the same in special 3. Item Whereas a Tax was granted by the Commons in the last Parliament to be laid out in a certain Form demanded by the Commons and assented to by the King and Lords and not otherwise yet the Moneys thence arising were expended in another manner so that the Sea was not Guarded as it was ordered to have been whence many Mischiefs already have happen'd and more are like to ensue to the Realm and all this by the default of the said late Chancellor 4. Item Whereas the Tydeman of Limbergh having to him and his Heirs of the Gift of the King's Grandfather Fifty pounds per annum out of the Customs of Kingstone upon Hull which the said Tydeman forfeited to the King and also the payment of the said Fifty pounds per annum was discontinued for Five and thirty years and upwards The said Chancellor knowing the Premisses purchased to him and his Heirs of the said Tydeman the said Fifty pounds per annum and prevailed with the King to confirm the said Purchase whereas the King ought to have had the whole Profit For this Purchase the said Earl was adjudged to Fine and Ranson and the said Fifty pounds to go to the King and his Heirs with the Mannor of Flaxâ—â—ete and Ten Marks of Rent which were exchang'd c. with the Issues c. 5. Whereas the high Master of S. Antony is a Schismatick and for that Cause the King ought to have the Profits which appertain to him in England the said late Chancellor who ought to advance and procure the Profit of the King took to Farm the said Profits of the King at Twenty Marks per annum and so got to his own use above a Thousand Marks And afterwards when the said Master in England which now is ought to have had the Possession and Livery of the said Profits he could not obtain the same till he and two persons with him became bound by Recognizance in Chancery of Three thousand pounds to pay yearly to the said Chancellor and his Son John One hundred pounds for the term of their two Lives For which it is adjudged That the King shall have all the Profits belonging to the said S. Anthony's at the time of the Purchase and that for the Recognizance so made the said Earl shall be Awarded to Prison and Fined and Ransom'd at the pleasure of the King 6. Item That in the time of the latâ— Chancellor there were granted and madâ— divers Charters and Patents of Pardoâ— for Murders Treasons Felonies c. against the Laws and before the Commencement of this present Parliament there was made and sealed a Charter of certain Franchises granted to the Castle of Dover in Disinherison of the Crown and to the subversion of the Pleas and Courts of the King and of his Laws The King Awards that those Charters be Repealed 7. Whereas by an Ordinance made in the last Parliament that Ten thousand Marks should be raised for the Relief of the City of Gaunt by the default of the said late Chancellor the said City of Gaunt was lost and also a Thousand Marks of the said Money Vpon all which Articles the Commons demand the Judgment of Parliament WAlsingham tells us That all these Articles were so fully proved that de Pole could not deny them insomuch that when he stood upon his Answer and had nothing to say for himself the King Blushing for him shook his Head and said Alas alas Michael see what thou hast done And when the King desired a Supply the Commons answered That he did not need the Tallage of his Subjects who might so easily furnish himself of so great a sum of Money from him who was his just Debtor But at last upon his Majesties yielding to have him turn'd out of the Chancellorship and admitting the Articles which he was very unwilling to suffer they freely gave him half a Tenth and half a Fifteenth only providing that it might be necessarily Expended To which purpose it was to be deposited in the hands of the Earl of Arundel who was then going to Sea with a Fleet to secure the Coasts They likewise gave the King on every Pipe of Wine Imported or Exported Three shillings and on every Twenty shillings worth of all sorts of Merchandize Foreign or Domestick brought in or carried out one shilling Wool Hides and Pelts onely excepted And also at the King's Instance granted that the Heirs of Charles de Bloys should for Thirty thousand Marks be permitted to sell Bretaigne in France to the French and that Robert de Vere the new Duke of Ireland the Kings most dangerous Favourite should have the said Thirty thousand Marks a prodigious sum of Money in those days wholly to his own use provided he would be gone before next Easter into Ireland and there make use of it to recover the Dominions that the King hath given him in that Kingdom so passionately did both Lords and
Commons desire his Absence that they would rather want so much Treasure than have him here to Seduce and Infatuate the King As for Michael Pole he was committed to Windsor-castle Furthermore the Parliament observing that by the Covetousness of the King's Ministers the publick Revenue was vainly consumed the King insufferably defrauded and abused the Common People of the Realm by continual and grievous Burdens miserably impoverished the Rents and Profits of the Nobles and Great Men much impaired and their poor Tenants in many places forc'd to abandon their Husbandry and leave their Farms empty and desolate And yet still by all these things the Kings Officers only becoming unmeasurably Rich They therefore chose Fourteen Lords of the Realm and gave them leave and power to Inquire into Treat of and Determine all Affairs Causes and Complaints arising from the Death of King Edward the Third to that present time As also of the King's Expences and his Ministers and all other matters whatsoever happening within the time to them Assigned and caused the said Lords so chosen to be sworn on the Holy Evangelists well and truly to regulate all Burdens and other Affairs incumbent on the King and Kingdom and to do Justice to every one requiring the same according to the Grace and Understanding given them by God And also the King took an Oath to stand to their Ordination and to encourage them in their Actings and not to revoke any Article of their Power but to confirm and hold good and stable whatsoever the said Counsellors should do or order during such time of whom Six with the Three Officers of the King appointed by consent of Parliament viz. The Chancellor the Treasurer and the Lord Privy Seal should at any time make a Quorum And it was also Ordained by Act of Parliament That if any one should Advise the King to make any Revocation of their Power though the King should not Revoke it yet the Person probably Convicted only of such ill Counsel should for the same forfeit all his Lands and Goods and if he attempt it a second time be drawn and hang'd as a Traytor Whereupon the King issued forth his Commission under the Great Seal of England Confirming the said Lords in such power in the words following Translated from the Original French RIchard King c. To all those to whom these Letters shall come to be seen or heard Greeting We being duly Conscious of the grievous Complaints of the Lords and Commons of our Realm in this present Parliament Assembled That our Profits and Rents and the Revenues of our Realm by private and insufficient Council and the Ill-governance as well of certain our late Great Officers as of divers other persons being near Our Person are so much consumed wasted embeziled given away granted and aliened destroyed and evilly disposed of and expended That We are so much impoverished and stript of Treasure and Means and the Substance of Our Crown so diminished and destroyed that We are neither able to Sustain Honourably as We ought the State of Our Houshold nor maintain and manage those Wars wherewith Our Realm is Environ'd without great and outragious Oppressions and Charges on Our People greater than they can bear And also that the good Laws Statutes and Customs of Our said Realm to which we are bound by Oath and obliged to maintain are not nor have been duly observed nor executed nor full Justice or Right done to Our said People but many Disinherisons and other most great Mischiefs and and Damages have happened as well to Vs as to our People and whole Realm Now We for the Honour of God and for the good of Vs and our Realm and for the quiet and relief of Our People willing against the said Mischiefs to establish a good and meet Remedy as We have already of Our free Will at the Request of the Lords and Commons Ordained and Assigned such Persons for Our great Officers that is to say Our Chancellor Treasurer and Keeper of Our Privy Seal as We esteem good faithful and sufficient for the Honour and Profit of Vs and Our said Realm so also of Our real Authority certain knowledge good pleasure and free will and by the Advice and Assent of the Prelates Lords and Commons in full Parliament in Aid of the good Governance of Our Realm and the well and due execution of Our Laws for the Relief in time of that miserable Condition under which both We and Our Subjects have long labour'd having full confidence in the good Advice Sense and Discretion of the most Honourable Fathers in God William Archbishop of Canterbury Alexander Archibishop of York Our most dear Vncles Edmund Duke of York and Thomas Duke of Gloucester the Honourable Fathers in God William Bishop of Winchester Thomas Bishop of Exeter and Nicholas Abbot of Waltham Our beloved and faithful Richard Earl of Arundel John Lord Cobham Richard le Scroop and John Devereux Have Ordained Assigned and Deputed and do Ordain Assigne and Depute them to be of Our Great and Continual Council for One whole Year next after the Date hereof to Survey and Examine together with our said Great Officers as well the Estate Condition and Government of Our whole Realm and of all Our Officers and Ministers of whatever Estate Degree or Condition they be within Our Houshold or without and to Inquire and take Information by all such ways as they shall think meet of all Rents Revenues and Profits belonging to us or which are duâ— and ought to appertain to us either within the Realm or without And of all Gifts Grants Alienations and Confirmations by Vs made of any Lands Tenements Rents Annuities Profits Revenues Wards Marriages Escheats Forfeitures Franchises Liberties Voidances of Archbishopricks Bishopricks Abbeys Priories Farms of Houses Possessions of Aliens c. And also of all Revenues and Profits as well of Our said Realm as of Our Lands Lordships Cities Villages and other Possessions beyond the Sea and of the Benefices and Possessions and other Revenues of all that are in Rebellion against the Pope And of the carrying Moneys out of the Realm by the Collectors of the Pope or the Procurators of Cardinals Lumbards or other persons And likewise of the Profits of Our Customs and all Subsidies granted to Vs by the Clergy and Laity since the day of Our Coronation to that time And of all Fees Wages and Rewards of Our Officers and Ministers great and small and of Annuities and other Rewards granted and Gifts made to any persons in Fee or term of Life or in any other manner And of Lands Tenements Rents Revenues and Forfeitures bargained or sold to the prejudice and damage of Our Crown And also touching the Jewels and Goods which were Our Grandfathers at the time of his Death and of Charters and General Pardon and how General Payments have been levied and expended how Garrisons and Forts have been maintained And of all Defaults and Misprisions as well in Our Houshold
the Governance and may appoint what shall be first handled and so gradually what next in all Matters to be treated of in Parliament even to the end of the Parliament And if any act contrary to the Kings pleasure made known therein they are to be punisht as Traytors 7. Quaery of them whether the King when ever he pleases can Dissolve the Parliament and command the Lords and Commons to depart from thence or not To which they unanimously answered That he can and if any one shall then proceed in Parliament against the Kings will he is to be punisht as a Traytor 8. Quaery of them Since the King can when ever he pleases remove any of his Judges and Officers and justifie or punish them for their Offences Whether the Lords and Cemmons can without the will of the King Impeach in Parliament any of the said Judges or Officers for any of their Offences To which they unanimously answered That they cannot and if any one should do so he is to be punisht as a Traytor 9. Quaery of them How he is to be punisht who moved in Parliament that the Statute should be sent for whereby Edward the Second the Kings great Grandfather was proceeded against and deposed in Parliament by means of sending for and imposing which Statute the said late Statute Ordination and Commission were devised and brought forth in Parliament To which they answered That as well he that so moved as he who by pretence of that Motion carried the said Statute to the Parliament are Traytors and Criminals to be punished with Death 10. It was demanded of them Whether the Judgment given in the last Parliament held at Westminster against Michael de Pole Earl of Suffolk was Erroneous and Revocable or not To which Question they unanimously answered That if that Judgment were now to be given they would not give it because it seems to them that the said Judgment is Revocable as being Erroneous in every part of it In Testimony of all which the Judges and Serjeant aforesaid to these Presents have put their Scals in the presence of the Reverend Lords Alexander Archbishop of York Robert Archbishop of Dublin John Bishop of Durham Thomas Bishop of Chichester and John Bishop of Bangor Robert Duke of Ireland Michael Earl of Suffolk John Rypon Clerk and John Blake Esquire Given the Place Day Month and Year aforesaid But though they had thus resolv'd the Law to their Minds there was a greater Difficulty how to arm themselves with Power enough for Execution In order to which they privately sent abroad to Levy Men but found them come in very slowly because the Lords were generally beloved and these Favourites of the King equally hated Nor could they manage their Designs with such secrecy but the Lords had notice whereupon to take off all ill Impressions made against them in the Kings Mind his Uncle the Duke of Gloucester chief of the Lords against whom the Courtiers had combin'd voluntarily before the Bishop of London and many Nobles of the Realm did make Oath That he had never imagined any thing to the prejudice of the King but had studied and performed to his power what tended to the Kings Honour and Advantage and what also was well pleasing to him except only that he could not kindly regard the Duke of Ireland whom the King immoderately lov'd and who had dishonoured one that was not only a near Relation of him the said Duke of Gloucester but also of the King 's which it was fit should be reveng'd c. With the Contents of which Oath the Bishop acquainted the King who seem'd inclinable to credit the same till Michael de Pole began to exasperate him against the Duke To whom the Bishop smartly reply'd Be silent Sir it becomes not you to talk who stand condemned in Parliament and are now alive only by the Kings Grace and Favour Which so offended the King that he commanded the Bishop out of his presence bidding him be gon home to his Church who at his return inform'd the Duke what had pass'd and how much the King was sway'd by those wicked Councellors So that it was high time for him to provide for his own safety and obviate that destruction which was prepared for him Hereupon the Duke of Gloucester with the Earls of Arundel Warwick and Derby who were all designed to the same Condemnation if not prevented advising together resolve to stand upon their Guard and Treat with the King concerning the premisses and that favour which he afforded to them who were Traytors both to him and the publick and the imminent hazard of the Kingdom thence arising The King endeavoured to have surprized them singly before they had united their Retinues but failed therein so that with a very considerable force they assembled together at Haryngey-Park The King was just then preparing as it was said for a Journey to Canterbury to pay as was pretended his Devotions at the Shrine of S. Thomas Becket but indeed from thence to have pass'd into France and delivered up to the French King Calice and several other important Places which by the fatal Counsel of his pernicious Flatterers he had sold unto that King But this News of the Lords being in Arms diverted that Voyage and put King Richard into great Confusion not knowing what measures to take Some of those about him were for reconciling the Lords with fair promises others were for raising the Londoners and what other Forces could be procured and fighting them of which opinion especially was the Bishop of York But this the more prudent disapproved alledging the Dishonour and Damage would accrue to the King if worsted Whilst these wise men could not agree what course to take there was a Fool stumbled on an Expression which if duly considered might have done the King more Service than all their Debates This was a certain Knight called Hugh de Lynne who had been bred in the Wars but by an accident lost his Understanding and now as a Natural was maintained by the Charity of several of the Nobles and Retainers to the Court The King meeting him during these Consultations and being willing to divert himself by hearing his foolish discourse askt him jocularly What he should do with the Lords that were Assembled together in the before-mentioned Park To which the said Hugh very melancholy answered March forth Sir and let us fall upon them and kill every Mothers Son of them which being done by God's Eye you will gallantly have destroyed all the faithful Subjects you have in your Kingdom In the mean time Mediators for Peace posting to and fro between the King and the Lords it was at last by their Intercession concluded that the Lords should come before the King at Westminster and receive the Kings Answer to their Grievances The Bishop of Ely and divers other persons of Honour and Credit giving their Oaths on the Kings behalf That no Treachery or ill practice should be used but that they