to recover that Kingdom belonging to him in the Right of his Wife which was granted and Forty thousand Marks promised him for his aid therein and accordingly on Easter-Day he came to take his Leave of their Majesties The King commanding that he should be styled King of Spain presented him with a Crown of Gold as the Quen did anoâ—her to her Sister A great number of the Youthfull Nobility and Gentry attended the Duke in this Voyage who having Matcht one of his Daughters to the King of Portugal with joynt Forces Invaded Castile and took many strong Towns but at last on a Treaty it was agreed that the King of Spains Eldest Son should marry Katherine another of the Dukes Daughters and the Duke receive Two hundâ—red thousand Nobles in hand and the Sâ—m of Ten thousand Marks yearly during the Lives of him and his Dutchess and in consideration thereof all Claims should cease Walsingham tells us the Duke had such Favour from the Pope as to be Arm'd for the Recovery of this Kingdom with a Grant of Remission of Sins to all that should adventure with him or aid him with money towards the Voyage and had got as as large Indulgences as the Bishop of Norwich lately had as aforesaid but he well observes That the frequency of granting such Pardons and Relaxations had now rendered them vile and contemptible to the People so that there was scarce any body regarded them or would give Two pence to this last Croisadâ— though they were so extravagantly fond of the former whence is taught this Lesson That a Cheat though never so religious is not to be plaid over twice in one Age. The Year 1386 â—illed England with great Consternations and frequent Aâ—arms by means of an Invasion threatned by the French who had prepared above Twelve hundred Sail of Ships and a mighty Army on that Design which lay â—overing on the Coasts daily waiting an opportunity to pass the Channel and the better to secure their men at their first Landing in England they had framed a wonderful Wall of Wood three Miles in length of great thickness and twenty Foot high with which they would have inclosed their Camp But it happned that the Lord Beauchamp Captain of Calice took three of their Ships laden with part of the said Inclosure which King Richard caused to be set up about Whinchelsea for securing that Town and also he took another Ship full of Guns Gunpowder and other Instruments of War With which Losses and especialy by the adversness of the Winds which from the beginning of August to Alhallontide stood full in their Teeth so that their Ships could not come out and their Victuals and provisions by lying all that time being spent they were discouraged from prosecuting the Enterprize and nothing was effected And now King Richard every day more and more entring upon the Confines of his Destiny as if he had not done enough in making his Minion Marquess of Dublin Creates him Duke of Ireland and would says Walsingham had Fortune favor'd his Wishes have gone on to make him a King so strangely was he bewitch'd to him and so excessively he doted on him Non sina nota utfertur fami iaritatis obscoenae which I forbear to english out of Respect to Royal Majesty as being willing to think it a fulsom Imagination of that Monk that writes it rather than charge an English Prince with such a detestable suspicion But this undeserved Honour together with the Exorbitancies of Michael ae Pole and other Publick Miscarriages had made no small Impressions on the Minds of many of the Peers of the Land as well as the Commons On Monday the morrow after the Feast of S Jerom the King held a Parliament at Westminister which ended on the Feast of S. Andrew the Proceedings whereof Henry Knyghton who lived at that very time Relates as follows P. 2680. The King saith he for the most part staid lingering at Eltham whilest the Parliament sate the nobles therefore of the Realm and the Commons with joynt Assent sent this Message to the King That the Chancelor and Treasurer ought to be removed from their Offices because they were not for the good of the King and Kingdom and because also they had such matters to treat of with Michael de Pole as could not be treated of whilest he remain'd in the Office of Chancellor The King hereat incensed return'd his Command That they should mention no more those things but that they should proceed to the Business of Parliament aud hasten to a conclusion adding That he would not for them or at their instance remove the meanest Scullion boy in his Kitchin out of his place For the Chancelor in the Name of the King had desired of the Commons Four Fifteenths to be paid in one year and as many Tenths from the Clergy alledging that the King was so much in debt that he could not otherwise be freed from his Debts and other Burdens lying upon him as well upon the account of war as of his Houshold and other Charges But they by joynt Assent of Lords and Commons returned this Answer to the King That they neiher could nor by any means would proceed in any Business of Parliament nor dispatch somuch as the least Article till the King should come and shew himself in his own Person amongst them and remove the said Michael de Pole from his office Upon which the King sent back this Command to them That they should order Forty Knights of the most substantial and wisest of the Commons to come unto him and declare the Votes of all the rest But then were they more afraid every man for his own safety For a secret Rumor had privately come to their Ears That the death of these Forty was design'd by Treachery For it was said as appeared afterwards unto them That as these should be going to speak with the King a multitude of Armed Men should set upon and murther them Or that being invited to a Feast by the King some Armed Ruffians should rush in upon them and kill them or that they should be murther'd in an instant in their Lodgings in London But Nieolas de Exon Mayor of that City refusing and by no meanes consenting to so great a wickedness the Villany was deferr'd and the cursed Contrivance by degrees brought to light Making use therefore of wholsom Advice they by common consent of the whole Parliament sent the Lord Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester and Thomas de Arundel Bishop of Ely to the King at Eltham That they should on the behalf of the Lords and Commons of his Parliament Salute him and deliver their Votes or desires to him under such a Form or Sense of words Sir King The Prelates Lords and whole People of the Commons in Parliament with most humble submission recommend themselves to the most Excellent the word is wanting in our Author of your Royal Dignity wishing you a successful Course of Honour and
perils and mischiefs aforesaid and that the King was departed from the Council of the Realm and wholly abandon'd himself to the Counsels of the said Malefactors and Traytors By means whereof the French King had Ships and a Royal Power on the Sea ready to have arrived in England and the said Realm and the very Language of England to destroy And yet no Provision was made or good Governance taken for the safety of the King nor of the Realm Finding no other Remedy did Remonstrate to the King very fully how he was Ill-advised and Affairs most perniciously manag'd by the aforesaid Traytors and Malefactors declaring to him their wicked Conditions and most humbly beseeching him for the safety of himself and of all his Realm avoiding the said impending dangers to forsake and turn these Traytors from his Presence and Company and no longer to conduct himself after their evil Counsel but to hearken to the sage loyal and discreet persons of his Realm Whereupon the said Archbishop and other Traytors to defeat this wholsom Advice of the Parliament by their false Counsel did then cause the King to command the Mayor of London suddenly to levy a great Power of the People of that City to attaque and put to death all the said Lords and Commons except such as were of their Cabal At the Execution of which Villany the said great Malefactors and Traytors should be present and Parties to the scandal and great disservice of the King and his Realm 15. Item When the said Archbishop and other Traytors perceived that the said Mayor and good People of London had openly refused in the presence of the King to accomplish such their Treachery and lewd purposes touching the Murder of the saids Lords and Commons They then by such their trayterous Encroachment falsly Advised the King and so far prevailed that our Lord the King did absent himself from his Parliament for many days and did certifie them That he would never Approach the said Parliament nor Commune with the said Lords and Commons touching the Affairs of the Realm for any danger loss or mischief that might happen to him or his Realm unless he were first assured by the said Lords and Commons that they would not say or act any thing in that Parliament against any of the said Malefactors save only in the Process which was began against Michael de la Pole All which was to the great disservice of the King and of his Realm and contrary to the Ancient Ordinance and Liberties of Parliament 16. Item The said Lords and Commons of the Realm after they found the Kings Will by the malignant Counsel and excitement of the said Arch-Bishop and other Traytors to be such that he would not suffer any thing to be commenced prosecuted or done against the said Malefactors and Traytors were pleased to acquiesce and not proceed therein any further against his pleasure And afterwards in the said Parliament taking the Advice and Counsel of all the Lords Judges and other sage Commons of the said Parliament how the Estate of the King and his Royalty might best be preserved from the Perils and Mischiefs aforesaid could not find any apter Expedient than to ordain that Twelve of the Loyal and sage Lords of the land should be of Council to the King for one year then next ensuing And that there should be made during that time a 〈◊〉 and Commission whereby they should hav◠〈◊〉 and sufficient Power to order Matters for 〈◊〉 Government of the King and of the Realm and what appertained to the King as well on this side as beyond the Seas And to repel repair and redress what ever should have been ill done against the Estate Honour and Profit of the King and Kingdom and to do divers other things necessary for the King and Realm as in the Commission thereupon issued and remaining of Record in Chancery is contained And that no person should presume to Counsel the King or any way move him against the said Ordinance and Statute on pain of forfeiting for the first Offence all their Goods and Chattels and pain of Death for the second such Expedient and Ordinance to be made if it would so please the King and not otherwise To which Ordinance or Statute all the Judges of the Land agreed and gave their consent unto and Advice for the same as well in presence of the King as of the Lords And also our Lord the King did fully give his Assent to the same and thereupon the said Ordinance Statute and Commission were made and accorded unto by the Assent of the King and of the said Lords and Judges and other Sages and Commons Assembled in that Parliament for the Safâ—â—y of the King his Royalty and Realm And yet after the end of the said Parliament the aforesaid Trâ—yâ—â—rs and Malefactor by such their evil 〈◊〉 falsly and trayterously did inform the King That 〈…〉 Statute and Commission were made in Derogation of his Royalty and that all those who procured or advised the making thereof or counselled the King to assent thereunto were worthy of Death as Traytors to the King 17. Item That after this the said Traytors the Archbishop c. caused the King to Assemble a Council of certain of the Lord-Justices and others without the Assent or Presence of the said Lords of the great Council to whom they made many Demands and very much suspicious touching divers Matters whereby the King the Lords and the Common-people have been involved in most grievous trouble the whole Realm disquieted and the Hearts of many withdrawn from the King saving their Allegiance 18. Item To accomplish their said High-Treasons the said Traytors the Archbishop c. caused the King to go with some of them throughout the midst of his Realm and to make the Lords Knights Esquires and other good people as well in Cities and Boroughs as in other Places to come before him and there to become bound by some Obligations others by their Oaths to our said Lord the King to be with him against all people and to accomplish the purpose of the King which at that time was to accomplish the will and purposes of the said Malefactors and Traytors drawn in thereunto by their false Contrivances Flatteries and Deceits Which Securities and Oaths were made against the good Laws and Vsages of the Land and contrary to the Oath of the King to the great dishonour of the King and Kingdom By means of which Oaths so inforced the whole Realm was Embroil'd in great Murmurs and trouble by the said Traytors and in danger to have suffered divers important Mischiefs 19. Item To inforce their purposes the said Traytors caused the King to absent himself in the furthest parts of this Realm to the intent that the Lords appointed by the said Ordination Statute and Commission might not Confer and Advise with Him touching the Affairs of the Realm to the interruption and hindrance of the purport and effect of the said
Statute and Commission and great prejudice of the King and Realm 20. Item The said Malefactors and Traytors after they had Estranged both the Person and good will of the King from the said Lords so Commissioned and that he esteem'd them Traytors and Enemies and that they had obtain'd the Opinions of the Judges suited to their wicked purposes did agree and design That several of the said Lords and also divers Loyal Commons should be first Arrested and then Indicted in London and in Middlesex and by false Inquests Attainted of certain Treasons falsly imagined against them and so put to shameful Death To which purpose they had procured an evil and false person of their Conspiracy called Thomas Vsk to be Vnder-Sheriff by whose means the said false Inquests were to be taken and the wicked Design accomplished by colour of Law And for the more compleat effecting thereof they caused the King to send his Letters of Credence by John Rypon a false Clerk and one of their Crâ—w directed to the Mayor of London That he should seize the said Duke of Gloucester and others therein named to be Indicted for certain Treasons in such manner as the said Nicholas Brember the false Knight and John Blake who were thereof fully informed should direct By vertue of which Letters of Credence Brember and Blake carried to the Mayor the said false Indictment commanding him on behalf of the King that to his power he should promote the same And also they ordered that a strong Watch should be set to seize my Lord Duke of Lancaster upon his first Arrival 21. Item The said Traytors having trayterously informed the King that he should believe that the said Ordination Statute and Commission were made in derogation of his Royalty and Prerogative did further perswade him that the same was made with an intention to degrade and finally to depose our Lord the King And perceiving that thereby he lookt upon his Loyal Lords as Traytors and Enemies They yet further advised Him that by all means possible as well by the power of his own Liege People as by the force of his Enemies the French and others he should destroy and put to death the said Lords and others that assented to the making of the said Ordinance and that the same might be done so privily that none should know of it till it was done 22. Item In order to these Treasons by their Counsels they caused the King to send Letters to his Enemy the French King some by Nicholas Southwell Groom of his Chamber and others by other persons of base condition as well Aliens as Denizons requiring and praying the said French King that he would with all his Power and Counsel Aid and assist our Lord the King to destroy and put to Death the said Lords and others whom they had so falsly represented as Traytors to the great Disturbance of the whole Realm 23. Item That usurping to themselves Royal Power they caused the King to promise the French King by his Letters Patents and Messages for such his Assistance to accomplish the said Treason and Murder to give and surrender to the said French King the Town and Castle of Calice and divers other Forts and Places as Brest Chirburgh and others c. to the great dishonour trouble and prejudice of the Realm 24. Item That after this trayterous Contrivance it was agreed between our Lord the King and the French King by the instigation and influence of these Traytors that a Parley or Interview should be had in the Marches of Calice and a Truce of five years between the Realms of England and France At which Interview by Treachery the said Lords and others whom the King took for Traytors attending him thither should there by Treachery be slain In order to which they procured several Letters of safe Conduct from the said French King for the said Duke of Ireland's going into France to accomplish this ill purpose and Treason which Letters are ready to be shewn 25. Item That the said Brember by the Assent and Counsel of the said other Traytors did come into London and without the Assent or knowledge of the King did cause all the Companies of the City to be sworn to hold and perform divers Matters as they are contained in the said Oath which is of Record in Chancery And amongst other things That they should hold with and maintain the Will and purpose of the King to their power against all that are or shall be Rebels or contrary to his Person or Royal pleasure And that they should be ready to destroy all those which do or shall purpose Treason against our said Lord the King in any manner and be ready with their Mayor to resist during life all such Traytors c. At which time the King by the Mis-information of the said Evil-doers and Traytors and by the false Answers of the Justices did firmly hold the said Lords and others who assented to the making of the said Ordinances Statute and Commission to be Rebels Traytors and Enemies unto him By all which the said Traytors endeavoured to stir up the said People of London to destroy the said Lords and other Loyal Subjects 26. Item The said Brember and other Traytors to the King and Realm usurping to themselves Royal Power Did of their own Authority without any Warrant from the King or his great Council cause Proclamation to be made through the City of London That none of the Liege Subjects of our Lord the King should Sustain Comfort or Aid Richard Earl of Arundel and Surrey one of the Lords of the Kings Great Council during the said Commission nor sell him any Armour Victuals or other Necessaries on pain of being preceeded against as Rebels carrying about and shewing a Patent of the Kings but of another Tenor the better to compass such their false Proclamation 27. Item They also caused it to be Cryed and Proclaimed in the said City of London That no person should be so hardy as to presume to speak any ill or utter any word or expression against them the said Malefactors and Traytors or any of them on pain of forfeiting all they had Which was an Encroachment on the Royal Power 8. Item The said Archbishop Chief Justice and other Traytors caused the King to command his Council to make certain persons throughout England Sheriffs who were named or recommended to him by them the said Traytors with an intent to get such persons as they should name returned for Knights of the Shire to serve in Parliament And to keep out from thence Gentlemen good and loyal against the good Laws and Customs of the Land 29. Item The said Traytors during the time that the King had so taken both Parties into His Protection as aforesaid did falsly counsel and prevail with the King to command by His Letters divers Knights and Squires Sheriffs and other Ministers of several Counties to Levy Men and assemble all their Power to joyn with the said Duke
of Ireland against the said three Lords now Appealing suddenly to make War upon and destroy them 30. Item During the time of the same Protection they caused the King by His Royal Letters to signifie to the said Duke of Ireland Not onely that he and others were Appelled of Treason as aforesaid but also that he should have sufficient Power to guard him and come with him to the King And afterwards caused Him to write again to the said Duke of Ireland That he should take the Field with all the Forces he could assemble And that the King would meet him with all his Troops and would expose and venture his Royal Person And that the King was in great peril for Himself and his Realm unless succor'd and aided by the said Duke And that the said Duke should shew and declare to all the people assembled with him That the King would bear and pay all Debts and Costs of the said Duke of Ireland and all that joyn'd with him By vertue of which Letters and the evil and trayterous Instigation as well of the said Duke as of his Adherents and other Traytors The said Duke of Ireland did actually Levy and Assemble great numbers of Men at Arms and Archers as well of the Counties of Lancaster Cheshire and Wales as of other places of the Realm in Warlike manner to destroy and put to death the said Lords who had consented to the making the said Ordinance Act of Parliament and Commission in Defence of the King and Realm 31. Item That having thus Trayterously Levied Forces the said Duke marched with them through the midst of England and usurping the Royal Power did cause the Kings Banner to be Displayed before him contrary to the Estate of the King and of his Crown In which March the said Duke and his Accomplices were by the Grace of God disturbed and prevented from their evil purposes 32. Item That the said Duke of Ireland by the Counsel and Abetment of the rest of the fore-named Traytors encroaching to himself the Royal Power without the usual Commission of the King or other sufficient Warrant Did make himself Justice of Chester by him and his Deputies to hold there all manner of Pleas of the Crown and thereupon to give Judgment and Award Execution And also caused divers Original and Judicial Writs to be Sealed with the Great Seal of the King in that behalf used And thereby compelled a great part of the people of those Counties to joyn with him or otherwise put some of them to grievous and tormenting Death Imprisoned others and Seized the Lands of others c. And all this to make War and destroy the said Lords and other Loyal Subjects of the King and against the Defence of the Realm 33. Item That the said Traytors have caused the King to grant great Retinues to divers people and give them Badges and Ensigns otherwise than ever was used in the time of any of his Progenitors and this with design to gain greater power to accomplish their Treasons 34. Item Fully to compleat all such their before-mentioned and other Treasons and to make the King wholly confide in and relie upon them and their Councels they caused the King to call before him divers Justices and People of the Law that is to say Robert Tresylian Robert Belknap John Care John Holt Reger Fulthorp William Burgh six Justices John Lockton Serjeant at Law and John Blake Of whom he did by the contrivance of the said Traytors demand Whether the before-mentioned Act of Parliament and Commission were made in derogation of his Royalty and Prerogative or not and several other Questions to which they Answered in manner and form before set forth c. These were the Articles Exhibited but the prime Delinquents as the Duke of Ireland the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk were fled and the rest absconded The Chief Justice Tresylian having disguis'd himself lay hid at an Apothecaries House near the Gate going into the Old-Palace at Westminster But on Wednesday the 11th Calends of March being discovered by his Servant he was taken and brought by the Duke of Glocester to the Parliament who immediately Awarded Execution against him so that he was the same day drawn from the Tower through the midst of the City of London to Tyburn and there hang'd That Judgment having formerly been pass'd upon him when ever he could be found in the same Parliament The very next day they met with Sir Nicholas Brember whom the King had often before preferred to be Mayor of London against the will of the Citizens and who had been the occasion of many Oppressions and Seditions in that City It was reported of him that whilst he was in power he had caused a common Hatchet to be made wherewith to cut off the Heads of all that opposed his Exorbitant doings and caused a List to be made of a vast number of the Citizens Names whom he designed for destruction of whom he had procured Eight thousand five hundred and upwards to be already Indicted But was now before he could bring to pass such his malicious bloody purpose Himself Beheaded with the very same Instrument the King interceding for him with the Parliament that he might not be Hang'd This Gentleman if he had lived was to have been made Duke of Troy meaning thereby London which anciently was said to have sometimes been called by that Name Shortly after Vske the under Sheriff of London and the before-mentioned John Blake the Lawyer were likewise drawn from the Tower to Tyburn and there Hang'd and Beheaded and the Head of the said Vske placed upon Newgate In the beginning of May Sir Simon de Burlee was Condemned for High-Treason but the King dispensing with his Drawing and Hanging he was Beheaded on Tower-hill This person by his ill Practises had in few years increas'd his small Patrimony of 20 Marks to an Estate of above Three thousand Marks per annum and was grown to that excess of pride that at a Christmass he would give Liveries to a great number of Knights and Squires of the Court and others bestowing therein sometimes an hundred and forty or an hundred and sixty nay sometimes two hundred and twenty Broad Cloaths and these of great price as being Embroidered with Gold and some of Scarlet About the same time Sir John Beauehamp was Condemned to be Drawn Hang'd and Quarter'd but by the Kings Mercy he had only his Head sever'd from his Body on Tower-hill The same punishment was inflicted on Sir John Berneys a Knight belonging to the Court Condemned for Treason and Sedition but Sir John Salisbury was drawn from the Tower and Hang'd at Tyburn And now the Judges are brought to Judgment which in the beginning of the Parliament were taken into Custody viz. Sir Robert Belknappe Sir John Care Sir John Holte Sir Roger de Fulthorp Sir William de Burgh and John Locton Serjeant at Law who were all condemn'd to be Drawn Hanged and Quartered But
the West that Terror and Dread cannot but Invade your Adversaries for evermore to this day as oft as the Gallant English have fought the French so oft have they carried Victory with them from the Field Let not therefore most Potent Prince the Heart of the Lion slumber longer against Nature in Pusillanimity But vouchsafe to apply that matchless Strength which Nature has conferr'd upon you to warlike Actions in defence of your Commonwealth the maintenance of your Hereditary Rights the encrease of your Merit and perpetuating the Renown of so incomparable great and Magnanimous a King Walsingham says That this Prince came also in person into England to perswade the King against making Peace either with the French or Scots and that he was very honourably entertain'd But it seems his motion was not much regarded for the time was spun out in further Truces and nothing done And now the Citizens of London fall into the Kings grievous displeasure the Causes whereof are said to be Two The first Their not only denying to lend the King a thousand pounds which he desired themselves but also affronting a certain Lombard who was willing to accommodate him and abusing him some Authors say they beat and half kill'd him for his forwardness The other an Accident which hapning just in the neck of this seem'd or perhaps was made a far greater Offence than otherwise it need have been reputed viz. A Baker carrying his Bread along the Street one of the Bishop of Salisbury's Servants took a loaf out of his Basket which the Baker demanded to be restored but the Bishop's man instead thereof broke his head for which Injury the people would have seized him but he fled into his Masters house Thither the Constable came and peaceably desired he might be surrendred up to Justice But the Bishop's Servants shut the Gates and made resistance This more exasperated the people who though sometimes they may be deceived bâ— Fiâ—â—sses and Craft are yet generally shrewd Guessers at Right and Wrong in Matters of Fact and 〈◊〉 of common life insomuch that many threatned to fire their way and began to use violence Of which the Mayor and chief Officers having notice they immediately repaired thither and by their Presence and Authority suppressed the Multitude and preserved the Kings Peace so that hitherto the harm was but small and all this Combustion might easily have been quenched and forgot had not the Bishop whose ill-govern'd Servant was the Beginner and Cause of all the Broil kindled the Fuel afresh And 't is said he the rather stirr'd in it out of an old grudge which he had against the Citizens because they were generally lookt upon to be Favourers of Wickliffs Doctrine But whatever the Motive was a loud Complaint was made by him and other Prelates to the King affirming That if upon every paultry pretence the Citizens should be suffered thus to Affront the Bishops without Chastisement they would endanger not only the Dignity but the Liberty of the whole Church The King was so incens'd hereat being prepared by former Provocations that he was once resolv'd to have raised an Army and utterly destroyed the City and made spoil thereof But being perswaded by more moderate Councils he only sent for the Mayor and two Sheriffs and Four and twenty Aldermen and Four and twenty others of the ablest Citizens to his Court then held at Nottingham where the said Tumult and divers other Offences were laid to their Charge As that they had forfeited their Obligations formerly given to the King c. They at first resolv'd to justifie their Innocency and faithfully engaged to stand by one another But it seems there was falshood in Fellowship and as it often happens in such Cases some timorous persons hoping to curry favour Impeach'd the rest who again recriminated upon them and so all were liable to be undone and therefore left themselves wholly to the Kings Mercy who committed the Mayor to Windsor Castle and the rest to several other places of Confinement seizes the Liberties of the City into his own hands and Annuls all their Priviledges commands there should be no more any Major be chosen but that he would himself appoint one who should be called Keeper of the City and accordingly did qualifie one Sir Edward Dalyngrygge other Authors call him Balerygge with that Title who being thought too favourable to the Citizens was quickly removed and Sir Baldwin Radington a person of a rougher temper put in his place And also the Terms and Courts of Justice were removed to York In the mean time the Duke of Glocester and others were not wanting to Intercede with the King on behalf of the Londoners of whom the Principal on Sunday next after the Assumption of S. Mary waited on him at Windsor and submitted to him Themselves and their Fortunes With which he seemed somewhat well pacified and on the Wednesday following came towards London being met from the City with four hundred Men on Horse-back clad all in one Livery an innumerable multitude on foot a solemn Procession of the Clergy and Five hundred Boys in Surplices The Fronts of the Houses adorned with Tapestry and Pictures the Conduits freely running Wine c. Besides they presented the King with a Crown of Gold of great value and another of the same Metal to the Queen together with a Picture of the Trinity worth 800 l. and several other great Gifts And so they obtained their Priviledges restored and confirmed to them the Election of a Mayor and all things as before And having been at all this Charge doubted not but to be quiet and free from further Fine or Penalty But herein they were deceived for notwithstanding all their Presents the King yet upon such submission before made demanded and forced them to pay after all this Ten thousand pounds or else they must have ventured the Effects of his new Displeasure The Duke of Glocester having been furnisht with Money to raise an Army for an Expedition into Ireland of which the King had lately created him Duke when his Troops were now just ready to march and all things prepared was on a sudden without any cause Recall'd and the Voyage Countermanded to the great Detriment as well of England as Ireland For upon the Report of his Coming almost all the petty Irish Kings had advised one with another and resolved to submit themselves to the English The Year 1393 a Parliament at Winchester gave the King half a Tenth for the Clergy and half a Fifteenth for the Laiety towards the Expences of the Dukes of Lancaster and Glocester who were going into France to Treat of a Peace between the two Crowns The French King sometime before had lost his Senses but was now pretty well recovered yet at this time narrowly escaped with his life from the Treachery of the Duke his Brother who over-greedily Aspired to the Crown For the King and several other Persons of Quality dancing a Rural Mask to make
Issue he had before Marriage begot on Katherine Swynford to be Legitimated and at the same time was granted to the King half a Tenth by the Clergy Sâ—â—n after which King Richard contrary to the Oath he had foâ—merly taken recall'd the Judges from Ireland whom by his consent the Nobles in the other Parliament had for their Demâ—â—its baâ—isht And certain idle Reports being spread That he was or was like to be chosen Emperour The King thereupon began to take upon him a greater Port and Magnificence than ever before To maintain which he fleec'd the Common people and borrowed almost of every body great Sums of Money So that there was no Prelate City or Citizen of Estate in the whole Kingdom but furnisht the King out of their Stock And now the Duke of Glocester being retired to his House at Plashey in Essex the King with the Earl of Nottingham Lord Marshal and the Earl of Huntington one day on a sudden rode thitherwards but left the Earl Marshal with a selected Troop in Ambuscade in the Forest whilst the King and his Retinue rode directly to the Dukes House who with all dutiful respect and heartily welcome receives and entertains them Which Treat being over the King desires the Duke to accompany him towards London who with a very small Company waited on him accordingly but being come into the Forest on a sudden the King clapt Spurs to his Horse and the Duke was stopt by the Earl Marshal and by violence hurried to the Thames there blindfolded and against his will shipt and carried to Calice then an English Garrison where he was kept close Prisoner till afterwards privately put to death The next day the King invites the Earl of Warwick to Dinner and shew'd him very good Countenance but upon his Return caused him â—o be Arrested and sent to prison At the same time the Ear of Arundel was apprehended and the Lord Cobham and Sir John Châ—ney sent to the Tower These strange Proceedings Alarm'd the whole Nation therefore to quiet the people a Proclamation is issued setting forth that these Noblemen were seized not for any of their old Offences but for nâ—w Crimes which should be discovered and fairly proceeded against in the next Parliament Accordingly soon after He caused them to be Indicted suborning saith Walsingham Appealers to accuse them in Parliament at Nottingham viz. The Earl of Rutland the Earl Marshal the Earl of Kent c. In the mean time the King draws out a great power of Armed-men Multos Malefactores our Author calls them from Cheshire and Wales whom he kept about him as a Guard for his Person About the Octaves of the Feast of the Virgin Maries Nativity a Parliament began at London whereof one Sir John Bushy was Speaker and Sir William Bagot and Sir Henry Green chief Sticklers Persons of whom the Historians give this Character That they were Proud Ignorant Covetous and withal Ambitious To which might be added that they were most notable Flatterers too if it be true that Bushy in all his Speeches did not attribute to the King Titles of Honour due and accustomed but such as were fitter for the Majesty of Almighty God than for any earthly Prince By the Importunity of these men and others all the Charters of Pardon formerly granted by the King were called into question the King protesting they were drawn from him against his Consent The Clergy first gave their Opinion but somewhat sparingly That they thought then they might be revocable and the Temporal Lords shewed themselves of the same opinion but the Judges and Lawyers opposed it How it was carried according to the King's Inclination and all the said Pardons vacated and annull'd Having thus remov'd all Obstacles they next fall roundly to work only the Prelates pretending a Scrupulosity that they might not be present at Judgments of Blood chose Sir Henry Peircy their Procurator and departed the House First Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury was accused for executing the Commission against Michael de Pole for which his Temporalities were seiz'd his Lands and Goods forfeited and he himself adjudged to perpetual Banishment and to depart the Realm within six Weeks In whose place the King caused to be preferred his Treasurer Roger de Walden who because saith our Author he presum'd to ascend to the Bed of his living Father that is to take the Archbishoprick whilst the said Thomas surviv'd was two years afterwards turn'd ouâ— by the Authority of the Pope Sir R. Bakâ—r tells us That when this Archbishop was first accused of Treason he offered to make his Defence but Sir John Bushy besought the King That he might not be admitted to Answer lest by his great Wit and Cunning he might lead men away to believe him If all their Proceedings were like this we may easily guess at the Justice of the rest In the next place They proceeded to Judgment against the Earl of Arundel who in vain pleaded the Benefit of his Pardon for he was notwitstanding sentenc'd to be Drawn Hang'd and Quartered which was mitigated by the King into to the favour of Beheading The Earl when called to Answer Condemn'd and at his Death betrayed not the least symptoms either of Guilt or Fear But observing the Earls of Nottingham and Kent of whom the first was his Son-in-Law the second his Nephew to be bery busie at his Execution He calmly said to them Truly it might have beseemed you at least rather to have been absent but the time will come ere-long that as many shall marvel at your Misfortune as they do now at mine This Earl was wonderfully belov'd by the Comons and Walsingam affirms That the King was afterwards haunted with an Imagination of his Ghost not being able to close his Eyes but strait he fancied Arundel stood before him And the more to disturb him a Miracle was reported That his Head of it self was grown to his Body Which was asserted with so much Confidence that the King caused his Tomb to be opened to disprove the Fiction and understanding that still the People went on Pilgrimage thither as to the Shrine of a Saint or Martyr caused the Augustin Fryars in London amongst whom he was buried to take down his Scutcheons and abscond his Grave by laying a new Pavement over it The Lord Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick upon his Arraignment did not carry himself with so much Courage and Gallantry but confess'd with Tears he had been a Traytor in joyning with the Duke of Glocester and other Lords formerly acting against the Kings pleasure Therfore thogh condemned to Die the King remitted that Punishment and only ordered him to perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man The Lord Cobham was also banisht though there was no new Matter against him But only that he had been appointed by Parliament to be one of the Commissioners of Inspection before mentioned in the tenth year of his Reign As for the Duke of Glocester having so great an Interest in the
THE Life and Reign OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND By a Person of Quality LONDON Printed for M. L. and L. C. and Sold by Langly Curtis on Ludgate-hill 1681. TO THE READERS Gentlemen YOU are here presented with the Life and Reign of a Prince whose Misfortunes render his Story perhaps as Remarkable as any in our English Annals Concerning which I shall only assure you that the Compiler for he as little affects as deserves the Title of an Author has made it his Business truly to set down naked Matters of Fact as he finds them Related by the best Authors without obtruding his own Fancies or Dreams under the Notion of History Which that it may more evidently appear he thinks fit to give you an Account of Two of the Authors whom he hath principally followed Because One of them living in that very time and the other either then or not long after they may rationally be supposed to have the most certain knowledge of those Transactions The first is Henricus Knighton whose Work De Eventibus Angliae in Latin is Printed amongst divers other ancient Histories in that large and accurate Collection Intituled Historiae Anglicanae Scriptores Decem First brought into Publick Light from Authentick Manuscripts by those two learned Antiquaries Sir Roger Twysden Knight and Baronet and the Famous John Selden Esquire who both prefixt their Epistles thereunto Nor was that Miraculous Treasury of all solid Learning the most Reverend Usher Primate of Armaugh wanting in Advising and Promoting that Edition The Great Selden in his Preface Fol. 46. tells us That this Knighton was a Canon of the Abbey of Leicester and that he flourisht in the time of this King Richard the Second the most part of whose Reign he wrote deducing his History from William the Conquerour until within Four years before the Deposition of the said King Richard viz. To the year 1395. At which time we may suppose that Author was himself snatcht away by Death or disabled by some Disease for else he would not so abruptly have discontinued his Book Which Conjecture is confirmed by what Sir Roger Twysden in his Epistle tells us That in the Manuscript in the Renowned Cotton's Library which he conceives to be the very Autographon or Original Hand-writing of the Author and from which the same was exactly Printed there is in the first Page an Inscription Intituled Lamentum Compilatoris The Compilers Complaint beginning thus Sum Caecus factus subitâ Caligine tactus Blind I am grown with sudden darkness struck And thus concluding Me Deus allisit cum vult sanare valebit In Domino semper stat quod relevabitur Aeger Smitten I am by God who when he please Can help me and alone cure each Disease And so much for Knighton The other is Thomas Walsingham a Benedictine Monk belonging to the Abbey of S. Albans who for ought appears might likewise live in King Richard's days for he is said to have flourisht that is to be grown famous by his Labours about the year 1440. And Leland gives this Character of him In Historiis Colligendis studiosus atque diligens â—hat he was a Person very studious and diligent in Collecting or Compiling of Histories His History herein made use of begins An. Dom. 1273 and ends Anno 1432. To these cheifly is the present work Indebted and in most material passages they are Cited and their very words strictly Translated yet still not omitting to consult other the most credible Historians that have wrote of those times And as for the Process touching the Deposition of King Richard the Articles against him c. The same are punctually Translated from the words of the Record as the same Examined and attested are Printed in the said Volum called Hist. Anglicanae Scriptores decem from Col. 2743. to Col. 2762. Some of the Principal Contents KIng Richard so entertain'd by the City at his coming to the Crown that he was call'd the Londoners King Pag. 3 Alice Price her Insolence and Banishment 5 A Parliament tell the King his Demeasns were sufficient to maintain his Court and carry on his Wars 5 Philpots brave Exploits at Sea 6 A rare Example of Fidelity in a Spaniard 8 An odd Scotch Charm against the Plague 12 A very severe Poll-Bill granted 14 The Relation of Wat Tylers Rebellion which thereupon ensued 15 The Kings Charter of Freedom to the Bondmen and Pardon 18 His Revocation thereof 27 Scroop Lord Chancellor turn'd out for refusing to Seal an unlawful Grant 32 Articles against Wicliff and a brief account of his Life 34 The Vniversity of Oxfords Testimonial of his Piety and Learning 44 We do not find Christ ever Converted a Priest 47 The first pretended Act against the true Professors of Religion Complain'd of as Surreptitious and Repeal'd 47 Notable Railing Letters between the Cardinals 51 The Bishop of Norwich's Croisado against Schismaticks the Indulgences and Cheats thereof and his ill success at last 59. Sharp Messages between King Richard and his Parliament A Copy of the Impeachment of Michael Pole 81 Fourteen Lords appointed by Parliament to inspect past management of affairs and redress grievances 87 The King Commands Sheriffs to return such as he should Name to serve in Parliament the Sheriffs Answer The People would hold their Antient Customs of free choice 97 Questions to the Judges and their Answers 99 The shrewd Repartee of Sir Huge de Lyn a Natural to King Richard 105 The Lords in Arms treat with the King are promised redress in Parliament 107 The Duke of Ireland routed 110 The Answer of the Governour of Calice when Commanded by the King to deliver it up to the French to whom he had sold it 111 The Articles against the Duke of Ireland the Lord Chief Justice c. 115 The Lord Chief Justice Tresilian Hang'd at Tyburn the other Judges Banisht 135 The King not to Pardon Murder 141 The Kings severities to the Londoners 146 An interview between K. R. and the French K. 154 The Duke of Gloucester surpriz'd and basely Murder'd 159 The Earl of Arundel beheaded 161 All Bay-trees wither and the Current of a River dry'd up 166 A Combate appointed between the Duke of Hereford and Norfolk and they both Banisht 167 The Duke of Lancaster Lands in England 182 King Richard surrenders his Person 190 The Record of his Resignation and Deposition 192 The Articles against him 201 Touching the manner of his Death 239 THE Life and Reign OF KING RICHARD The Second KIng Richard the Second was born at Burdeaux in France in the Year 1366. His Father was that Renowned Hero Edward commonly called The Black Prince eldest Son of the Great and Victorious King Edward the Third His Mother Joan Daughter of the Earl of Kent for her exquisite Beauty styled The fair Maid of Kent And if he were so unhappy as not altogether to Inherit his Grandfathers Prudence and his Fathers Spirit and Conduct yet it cannot be denied but he retained something of his
the most part subdu'd and dispers'd by the active valour of Hugh Spenser Bishop of Norwich who gathering an Army together set upon the Rebels with incredible fury pursuing them from place to place and giving no Quarter to any of them It is to be noted That these Rebels in several Shires held correspondence and their Leaders sent abroad their Epistles of Advice and encouragement some of which as they were afterwards taken and own'd I shall insert for the Readers diversion that he may admire the style of these popular Orators and observe what strength of perswasion there was in Non-sense A LETTER of John Ball to the COMNONS in Essex IOhn Sheep sometime S. Mary Priest of York and now of Colchester Greeteth well John Nameless and John the Miller and John Charter and biddeth them beware of Guil in Borough and stand together in Gods Name and biddeth Piers Plowman go to his werk and Chastise well Hob the Robber and take with you John Trewman and all his Fellows and no mo John the Miller hath yground small small small The Kings Son of heven shall pay for all Beware or ye be wo know your Frende fro your Foe have ynough and say No and do well and better and flee sinne and seek peace and hold you therein And so biddeth John Trewman and all his Fellows Another IOhn Ball gretyth you wele All and doth you to understand he hath rungen the Bell Now ryght andâ—myght wyll and skyll God spede every yee dele Now is time Lady help to Ihesu the Sone and thid Sone to his Fadur to make a gode end in the name of the Trinity of that is begun Amen Amen pur Charite Amen Another IOhn Bell S. Mary Prist gretes wele all manner men and byddes them in the Name of the Trinity Fadur and Son and Holy Ghost stond manlyche togedyr in trewthe and helps trewthe and trewthe shall helpe yowe Now regneth Pride in prise and Covetous is hold wise and Lechery without en shame and Glotony without en blame Envie regneth with treason and slouthe is take in grete sesone God do bote for now is the time Amen in Esex Southfolc aud Northfolc Jack the Millers Epistle JAKK Mylner asket help to turn his Mylne aright He hath Grounden small small The Kings Son of Heven he shall pay for all Look thy Mylne do a right with the four Sailes and the Post stand in stedfastnesse With right and with might with skill and with will lat might help right and skill go before will and right before might than goeth our Mylne aright And if might go before right and will before skill than is our Mylne mysadyght Jack the Carter's JAKK Carter pryes yow all that yee make a gode end of that yee have begunnen and doth wele and ay bettur and bettur for at the even men heryth the day for if the end be wele than is all we le Lat Peres the Plowman my Brother duele at home and dyght us Corn and I will so with yow and help that yee may so dyght your mete and your drynk that yee none fayle Lokke that Hobb Robbyoure be wele chastised for lesing of your Grace for yee have grete nede to take God with yow in all yowr dedes for now is time to beware Jack Trewman's Scroll JAkk Trewman doth yow to understand that falseness and gile havith regned to long and trewth hath been sett under a Lokke and falsneth and gile regneth in everylk Flokke No man may come trewth to both syng Si dedero Speke spend and speed quoth John of Bathon and therefore sinn fareth as wilde flode trew love is a way that was so gode and Clerks for welth worth hem wo. God do bote for nowze is time The Storm being thus happily over-blown the Rebels suddenly master'd and a competent Force raised to secure the Peace of the Kingdom it was quickly thought fit to revenge such an Affront and bring the Delinquents to justice In order to which the King as soon as he could do it with safety to Himself and the Publick revokes his former Charters of Manumission and Pardon by a Proclamation under His Great Seal in these Terms RICHARD by the Grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland To all to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Although in the late detestable Disturbance horribly made by divers of Our Liege People and Subjects rising up against Our Peace certain Letters Patent of Ours were made at the importunate Instance of the Rebels containing That We have freed all Our Leige People Common Subjects and others of the several Counties of Our Realm of England and them and every of them discharged and acquitted from all Bondage and Service And also That we have pardoned them all manner of Insurrections by them against Us made and all manner of Treasons Felonies Transgressions and Extortions by them or any of them committed As also all Outlawries Publisht against them or any of them on those Occasions Or that we have granted to them and every of them Our firm Peace And that Our Will was That Our said Liege People and Subjects should be free to buy and Sell in all Cities Burroughs Towns Markets and other Places within the Kingdom of England and that no Acre of Land which holds in Bondage or Villenage should be accounted higher than at Four Pence And if any were before held for less that it should not be raised for the future Yet for that such Our Letters did Issue without Mature Deliberation and unduly We well weighing that the Grant of the said Letters doth manifestly tend to the very great prejudice of Us and Our Crown and to the Disinherison as well of us and the Prelates and Nobility of Our said Realms as of the Holy Anglicane Church and also the the Damage and Incommodity of the Commonwealth Therefore by the Advice of Our Council We have Revoked made void and do utterly annul the said Letters and whatever hath been done or follow'd thereupon willing that none of what state or condition soever he be shall any way have or reap or enjoy any liberty or benefit whatsoever of or by the said Letters For We will and 't is our intention by the Advice of Our sound Council for the future to impart such Grace and Favour to all and singular although they have grievously forfeited their Allegiance as shall be well-pleasing and profitable to Our Realm and with which Our faithful Subjects may reasonably hold themselves contented And this we do notifie to all persons concern'd by these Presents Commanding the same to be Proclaimed in all Cities and Towns Villages c. And further We strictly require and command That all and singular as well Free as Bond-men shall without any contradiction murmuring resistance or difficulty do and perform the Works Customs and Services which to us or any other their Lords they ought to do and which before the said Disturbance were used to be done
of his Pillow was nothing so fierce next Morning but resolv'd to lay aside the thoughts of going himself and to send some body else To which purpose the Duke of Lancaster was nominated but so tedious in making Preparations that the Bishop in the mean time was glad to leave Graveling having first dismantled and destroyed it and so return'd home to England after a vast Treasure dissipated and many thousand Lives lost and more Souls cheated with as little Glory as he set forth with mighty Expectation the Success of his Armes being suitable to the ridiculous occasion of them And what was yet worse for the haughty Prelate soon after his coming home in a Parliament held at London about Alhallontide all his Temporalities were seized into the Kings hands for his Contempt in disobeying the Kings Writ when His Majesty sent to him to come back just as he was putting to Sea on this piece of Ecclesiastical Knight-Errantry and he refused to come as aforesaid In this Parliament also was granted to the King half a Fifteenth by the Laity and half a Tenth by the Clergy In the Year 1384 a Truce was made with France and the Duke of Lancaster and his Brother Thomas of Woodstock entred Scotland with a mighty Army but the Scots wholly declining to fight and many of the English being destroyed with Want and cold Weather they return'd making very small Advantages by that expensive Expedition Soon after which an Irish Carmelite Fryer made a discovery in Writing to the King of a Design the Duke of Lancaster had to destroy His Majesty and usurp the Crown but the King advising about the same only with certain young Favourites the Duke obtained notice of the Charge and cleared or seemed to clear himself so much to the Kings satisfaction that the poor Fryer was committed to Custody and 't is said on the Evening before the Hearing should have been was most cruely murdered Whose Information if real shews what aâ— Opportunity the King slipt of preventing his after misfortune and that some times it proves even more dangerous to discover Treasons than to act them which yet should discourage no good Subject from the discharge of his Duty But possibly this whole Accusation or the Relation of such a thing might be a Contrivance of the Duke's Enemies to render him suspected to the King and odious to the People for it 't is certain they entred not many Months after into a formal-Design against his Life the occasion whereof I do not find mentioned by Authors but only that the King by the Instigation of his young Cabal-Council had conceiv'd displeasure against him and that they had conspired to take away the said Duke's Life In order whereunto certain Crimes were suggested Appellors prepared and t was agreed that he should be suddenly Arrested and brought before the Lord Chief Justice Trysilian who had boldly untertaken to pronounce Sentence upon him according to the quality of the matters to be objected though by Law he could not be tryed but by his Peers and so Execution should immediately have followed But the Duke being fore warn'd of these Contrivances hastned to his Castle of Pomfret and there stood upon his Guard And the King's Mother considering the Dangers that would ensue such a Rupture took great pains by riding notwithstanding her Age and corpulency to and fro between the King and him to pacifie each side and at last brought them to such a Reconcilement that all appearance of Displeasure on the one part and Distrust on the other was for that time removed About the Feast of S. Martin was held a Parliament at London wherein the Earl of Nothumberland was Condemn'd for the loss of the Castle of Barwick Surprised by the Scots through the Treachery of one that he had put in there as his Deputy But the King after Judgment was pleased to Pardon him who went forthwith down and retook the said Castle In the Year 1385 the French made great Preparations for the Invading of England and to facilitate the Attempt by a Diversion â—end the Admiral of France with a considerable Force into Scotland the Common Back-door at which they were wont to Infest us Of which King Richard having notice raises a mighty Army and by speedy Marches pierces into the Heart of Scotland and reduc'd their chief City Edenburgh into Ashes as a Bonfire to give the whole Kingdom notice of his Arrival and Challenge them to Battel But they declined it and Victuals growing very scarce the King thought fit to return homewards the rather for that the Scots in the mean time had entred Nothumberland and besieg'd Carlile but hearing of the Kings approach fled back into Scotland During this Expedition the Lord John Holland the Kings Brother by the Mother side near York Killed the eldest Son of the Earl of Stafford for which he fled and the King was so highly incensed that he caused all his goods to be Confiscated the King's Mother interceded for him but could not be heard and resented the denial so heavily that soon after she died At a Parliament the latter end of this Year the Laity granted the King one Fifteenth and an half upon condition that the Clergy would give a Tenth and an half who took this Articulating of the Commons in grievous dudgeon protesting that the Laity should not Charge them and the Archbishop of Canterbury was so hot as to declare he would rather venture his Head in this Cause than that the Holy Church of England should thus Truckle whereupon the Commons and many of the Temporal Lords began to bid Battel to the Clergies Temporalities saying they were grown to that excess of Pride that it would be a Work of Piety and Charity to clip their Wings and reduce them to an Humility suitable to their Profession The Clergy at this were not a little Alarm'd and to prevent the worst make a voluntary offer of a Tenth to the King and so the Dispute is rock'd to sleep Also during this Parliament the King Conferred several Honours Creating his Uncle Thomas of Woodstock who before was Earl of Buckingham Duke of Gloucester and his other Uncle Edmund of Langley before the Earl of Cambridge Duke of York With whom too he prefer'd his pernicious Favorites as Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford to be Marquess of Dublin in Ireland the first man within the Realm that was Enobled with that Title and Sir Michael de la Pole the Son of a Merchant in London was made Earl of Suffolk and Lord Chancelor of England But these last grew in Hatred faster then they did in Honour the Ancient Nobility disdainfully resenting their undeserved as they deemed Advancement Nor were the People better satisfied but grumbled heavily for they durst not speak out against these Court Ear-wigs as Seducers of the King and occasion of all misadministrations of Affairs In this Parliament likewise the Duke of Lancaster desired Leave of the King Lords and Commons to go into Spain
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