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
of Premunice against Provisors and the abuses of Begging Fryars which so bridled and restrained the Popes Rampant Usurpations that he could but little prevail here in England during the Reign of King Edward the Third and King Richard the Second Towards making of which Laws Wickliffe's Doctrine struck a great stroak he maintaining very learnedly and stoutly the Kings jurisdiction Crown and Dignity against Papal and all kind of Encroachments by the Laws Civil Cannon and Common of which last especially he made great use and was well skill'd therein But for full satisfaction concerning this famous Man I shall here add the Testimonial of the University given in his behalf after his Death as follows viz. TO all singular the Children of our holy Mother the Church to whom these presents shall come the Vice-Chancellor of the Vniversity of Oxford with the whole Congregation of the Masters wish perpetual health in the Lord Forasmuch as it is not commonly seen â—hat the Acts and Monuments of Valiant men nor the praise and merits of good men should be pass'd over and hidden with perpetual silence but that true report and fame should continually spread abroad the same in strange and far distant places both in Testimony thereof and for the example of others Forasmuch also as the provident discretion of Mans nature hath devised this defence against slander that when ever Witnesses by Word of Mouth cannot be present the Pen by Writing may supply the same Therefore the special good will and care which we bare unto John Wickliff sometime Child of this our Vniversity and Professor of Divinity moving and exciting our minds as his manners and conditions required no less with one Mind Voice and Testimony we do witness all his conditions and doings throughout his whole life to have been most sincere and commendable whose honest manners good disposition profoundness of learning and most redolent fame we desire the more earnestly to be notified to and celebrated by all the faithful for that we understand the maturity and ripeness of his Conversation his diligent Labors and Travels tend much to the Praise of God the help and safeguard of others and the profit of truth Wherefore we signify unto you by these presents that his Conversation even from his youth upwards unto the time of his death was so praise-worthy and honest that never at any time was there any note or spot of suspicion noised of him but in his answering reading preaching and determining he behaved himself laudably and as a stout Champion of the Faith vanquishing by the force of the Scriptures all such who by their wilful Beggary Blasphemed and slandered Christ's Religion Neither was this said Doctor Convict of any Heresie or burned by our Prelates Note his Bones were not yet but long after ordered to be taken up and burnt by the Council of Constance after his Burial For God forbid thaâ— our Prelates should have condemned a man of such honesty 〈◊〉 an Heretick who amongst all the rest of the Vniversity had Written in Logick Philosophy Divinity Morality and the Speculative Art beyond comparison the knowledg of all which things we desire to testifie that the fame and renown of this said Doctor may be more evident and had in repute amongst those into whose hands these present Letters Testimonial shall come In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters Testimonial to be Sealed with our Common Seal dated at Oxford in our Congregation House the 15. of October in the Year of our Lord 1406. About the same time several of Wickliffs followers as Nicholas of Hartford John Aston John Purney and other Priests were much troubled for the same and the like Opinions among the rest our Author Henry de Knyghton tells us that on Palm Sunday he heard one at Leicester Preaching these horrible Heresies and Errors in his Opinion following viz. That to Blabber with the Lipps and multiply Words in Prayer signified nothing That to give Money for Celebrating of Masses would not avail any body unless he led a good Life That Christ never commanded any Body to Begg That no Man is bound to give Almes to any that has better Clâ—athes and outward accomodation than himself That none is truly a Prelate nor capable of a Bishoprick unless he be a Teacher and Preacher That Money got by Confessions is accursed and as well the giver as receiver Excommunicate That Preachers carrying about Baggs and Scripps are false Teachers since Christ in his Gospel Commands the contrary and the true Disciples of Christ never practised it That for those to Begg who are able to work is Condemned by the Law Civil and no where approved by the Law Evangelical That Christ Converted many of divers States and Conditions to the Faith but we do not find in the Holy Scripture that ever he converted a Priest These Opinions spreading so fast and the Bishops perceiving that yet they had not sufficient Authority by any Law or Statute of this Realm to proceed unto Death or Imprisonment against any for matters of Religion they therefore solicited the King for the power of the Temporal Sword who overcome with their importunity or perhaps incited by hopes of some Subsidy to be given him by the Clergy was content to give his Assent to an Ordinance bearing the name of an Act made in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno Quint. R. 2. Ca. 5. in these Words ITem forasmuch as it is openly known that there be divers evil Persons within the Realm going from Country to Country and from Town to Town in certain Habits under dissimulation of great Holiness and without the License of the Ordinaries of the places or other sufficient Authority Preaching daily not only in Churches and Church-yards but also in Markets Fairs and open Places where a great Congregation of People is divers Sermons containing Heresies and notorious Errors to the great emblemishing of Christian Faith and Destruction of thr Laws and of the Estate of Holy Church to the great Peril of the Souls of the People and of all the Realm of England as more plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops and other Prelates Masters of Divinity and Doctors of the Canon and of Civil Law and a great part of the Clergy of the said Realm specially assembled for this great cause which Persons do also Preach divers matters of slaunder to ingender discord and dissention betwixt divers Estates of the said Realm as well Spiritual as Temporal in exciting of the People to the great Peril of all the Realm which Preachers cited or summoned before the Ordinaries of the places there to answer to that whereof they be impeached they will not obey their Summons and Commands nor care not for their Monitions nor Censures of the Holy Church but expresly despise them And moreover by their subtil and ingenious words do draw the People to hear their Sermons and do
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
pretence of seeing him take Shipping but in truth that being there remote they might more securely consult how to circumvent and destroy the Duke of Gloucester the Earls of Arundel Warwick Derby Nottingham and other faithful Subjects of the Kingdom For there were with the King Michael de la Pole Tresylian the Chief Justice and many others that were conscious of their own Deserts and feared to be brought to Justice as well as the said Duke of Ireland and therefore readily conspired with him against the Lords Having thus laid their Plot and agreed the manner of putting it in execution back comes the King to Nottingham and as if Ireland's Voyage had been quite forgot brings him and the rest of the Cabal with him Thither they summon divers Citizens of London the Sheriffs of the several Counties and all the Judges of England The Londoners because several of them having lately confessed themselves guilty of Treason had been pardoned by the King were call'd that in return of that Favour they might accuse the Lords of such Crimes as the King with his Counsellors in Wales and contrived against them The Sheriffs were advised with what Forces they could raise for the Kings Service against the Barons and also commanded that they should not permit any to be returned as Knights of the Shire or Burgesses for the next Parliament but such as the King and his Council should direct or nominate To which the Sheriffs reply'd That the Commons generally favoured the said Lords so that it was not in their power to raise an Army in this Case and as for Parliament-men the People would hold their ancient Customs which require that they be freely chosen by the Commons Nor could the same be hindered These Answers were not very agreeable to the Court-designes But the Judges were more compliant for not onely Tresylian the Chief Justice had about the same time indicted two thousand persons at Coventry and he and John Blake an Apprentice of the Law perused and approved under their Seals the Indictment against the Lords but also the better to colour Proceedings with a Form of Law several Questions were propounded to them touching the late Act of Parliament giving the fourteen Lords power to inspect and punish miscarriages of the Kings Ministers as aforesaid To the end as modern Author observes That what the Duke of Ireland and the rest thought fit might pass for Law out of the Judges mouths the Questions being so fram'd and propos'd as it was easier to understand what the King would have to be Law than what in truth was so For it seems they proceeded against their Consciences in that several of them and particularly Belknapp Chief Justice of the Common Pleas did as Knyghton Col. 2694. assures us very earnestly refuse to signe the Resolutions till Ireland and de Pole forced him to it by threatning him to kill him if he refused Whereupon having put to his Seal he burst forth into these words before them Now want I nothing but a Ship or a nimble Horse or an Halter to bring me to that death I deserve If I had not done this I should have been kill'd by your hands and now I have gratified the Kings pleasure and yours in doing it I have well deserv'd to die for Treason against the Nobles of the Land Which last words were like to have prov'd fatally Prophetick for not long after in the next Parliament he was indeed condemned to die though not executed for the same Some Authors say That all the Judges of England except William Skipwith absent by reason of sickness joyn'd in answering these Questions which seems probable because they were afterwards all question'd and punish'd for the same yet in the Record there are but five named possibly the others might consent though only these set their Seals to it The Questions so proposed to the Judges and their Answers were as follow BE it remembered That on the 25th day of August in the 11th year of the Reign of King Richard the Second at the Castle of Nottingham before our said Lord the King Robert Tresylian Chief Justice of England and Robert Belknappe Chief Justice of the Common Bench of our said Lord the King John Holt Roger Fulthorp and William de Burgh Knights Justices and Associates of the said Rob. Belknappe and John de Lokton the Kings Serjeant at Law in the presence of the Lords and other Witnesses under written were personally required by our said Lord the King on the Faith and Allegiance wherein to him the said King they are bound to answer faithfully unto certain Questions here-under specified and to them then and there truly recited and upon the same to declare the Law according to their discretion Viz. 1. Imprimis It was demanded of them Whether that new Statute and Ordination and Commission made and published in the last Parliament held at Westminster be not derogatory to the Royalty and Prerogative of our said Lord the King To which they unanimously answered That the same are derogatory thereunto especially because they were against his will 2. Quaery of them How those are to be punished who procured that Statute and Commission To which they unanimously answered That they were to be punished with Death except the King would pardon them 3. Quaery of them How those are to be punished who moved the King to consent to the making of the said Statute Whereunto they answered with one accord That they ought to lose their Lives unless his Majesty would pardon them 4. It was askt them What punishment they deserved who compell'd streightned or necessitated the King to consent to the making of the said Statute and Commission To which they all answered That they ought to suffer as Traytors 5. Quaery of them How those are to be punished who hindered the King from exercising those things which appertain to his Royalty and Prerogative To which Question they unanimously answered That they are to be punished as Traytors 6. Quaery of them Whether after in a Parliament assembled the Affairs of the Kingdom and the cause of calling that Parliament are by the Kings Command declared and certain Articles limited by the King upon which the Lords and Commons in that Parliament ought to proceed if yet the said Lords and Commons will proceed altogether upon other Articles and Affairs and not at all upon those limited and proposed to them by the King until the King shall have first answered them upon the Articles and Matters so by them started and express'd although the Kings Command be to the contrary whether in such case the King ought not to have the Governance of the Parliament and effectually over-rule them so as that they ought to proceed first on the Matters proposed by the King or whether on the contrary the Lords and Commons ought first to have the Kings Answer upon their Proposals before they proceeded further To which Question they answered unanimously that the King in that behalf his
his People that they might engross amongst themselves only the Government of the Realm whereby they have caused our Lord the King without the Assent of the Realm or any desert in them to have given away by their Abetment many Lordships Castles Towns and Mannors as well annexed to his Crown as others As particularly the Land of Ireland and Okam with the Forest and Lands which did belong to the Lord Dandelegh and great quantities of other Lands to the said Duke of Ireland and divers others whereby they unworthily are vastly inriched but the King rendred poor and unable to sustain and defray the Charges of the Government unless by Impositions heavy Taxes and Tributes laid upon his People to the disinherison of his Crown and the destruction of the Realm 5. Item By such Encroachment of the said Archbishop c. and by the Counsel of that false Justicer Tresylian and Brember the false Knight of London they have caused our Lord the King to have given away divers Mannors Lands Tenements Offices and Bailywicks to divers other persons their Creatures and such as they could confide in and to others of whom they have taken great Gifts by way of Brokage for that purpose and to stand by them in their false Suits and ill purposes to the great prejudice of the King and Realm such as Sir Robert Mansel Clerk John Blake Thomas Vsk and divers others 6. Item The said Duke c. Encroaching to themselves the Royal Power have caused the King to give very great Gifts of Gold and Silver as well of his proper Goods and Jewels as of the Goods and Treasure of the Realm as Tenths Fifteens and other Taxes granted by divers Parliaments to be expended for the defence and safeguard of the Kingdom which yet to the value of One hundred thousand Marks have been lavisht away upon the said Duke of Ireland and others And though many good Ordinances and Laws have been made in Parliament as well for maintaining and carrying on of Wars as for the defence of the Realm yet they have been by them disturbed and defeated to the great dishonour and damage of the King and Realm 7. Item By such Encroachment and the great Gifts and Brokages taken by the said Duke of Ireland c. it came to pass that divers unfit and insufficient persons were preferred to and intrusted with the keeping and government of divers Garrisons Castles and Countries involved in War as in Guyen and elsewhere both beyond and on this side the Sea whereby the said Strong-holds have been lost the Countries wasted and the People faithful Subjects to the King destroyed and great Seigniories newly rendred into the hands and possessions of Enemies without the Assent of the Realm as the Marches of Scotland c. to the disinherison of the Kings Crown and the great loss of the Kingdom as in Harpeden and Craddock and divers others 8. By the same means the said Archbishop and his Fellow-Traytors have caused divers people to be disturbed and deprived of Right and the Common Law of England and put to intolerable delays losses and costs and the Statutes and Judgments which rightfully for necessary Causes have been made and given in Parliament have been reversed and annull'd by the procurement of the said Malefactors and Traytors and all this because of the great Gifts and Brokages by them received of Parties to the grand mischief of the King and Realm 9. Item The said Archbishop and other Traytors have caused and counselled our Lord the King to grant Charters of Pardon of horrible Felonies and Treasons as well against the State of the King as of the Person injured and prosecuting which thing is against the King and the Oath of the King 10. Item Whereas the said Seignories of the Land of Ireland are and time out of mind have been parcel of the Crown of England and the People of Ireland Liege Subjects to our Lord the King and his Royal Progenitors Kings of England who in all their Charters Writs Letters Patents and in their Seals have for the Augmentation of their Renown and Royalty been intituled Lords of Ireland yet the said Archbishop c. as false Traytors by their said Encroachment have caused and counselled our Lord the King as much as in him lies to have granted and fully assented and accorded that the said Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland should be made King of Ireland And to compleat such their ill purpose have advised and excited our said Lord the King to send his Letters to our Holy Father the Pope to grant ratifie and confirm this their trayterous Designe without the privity or assent of His Realm of England and of the said Land of Ireland to the dividing the Liegance of the King between his Realm of England and the said Land of Ireland in diminution of his Majesties honourable Stile and open disinherison of the Crown of England and full destruction of the lawful Liege Subjects of our Lord the King and of the said Land of Ireland 11. Item Whereas by the Great Charter and other good Laws and Vsages of the Realm of England No man is to be taken nor any Prisoner put to death without the due process of Law The said Nicholas Brember the false Knight of London did take by night certain Prisoners to the number of 22 out of the Gaol of Newgate some of them being Indicted and Appealed of Felony and some Approvers in cases of Felony and some on suspition of Felony and carried them out of London into Kent to a place called Foulhoke and there encroaching on the Royal Power and in Defiance of the said Laws as a Traytor to the King did without any Process of Law cause them all to be Beheaded except one who was Appealed of Felony by an Approver whom he set at large the same time 12. Item The aforesaid Archbishop and other Traytors have in small Causes taken great Gifts in the Name of the King of divers Parties to maintain and abet them in their Suits and Quarrels and sometimes have play'd the Ambo-dexters and taken Money of both sides 13. Item Whereas divers of the great Lords Loyal Subjects to the King in divers Parliaments seeing the dangers and apprehending the destruction threatning the King and Realm by means of the Mischiefs of these Malefactors have moved to have good Governance under the King to avoid the said Perils The forenamed Archbishop and other Traytors by their Encroachment and fatal Influences have so ordered Matters that the King has not onely been deaf to all such Perswasions but also has Commanded some of those that moved it to depart from his Council and to speak no more of such Matters Nor touching the good Governance of the King and Kingdom on pain of Death to the great prejudice of the King and Kingdom 14. Item Whereas in the last Parliament all the Lords and other Sages there assembled seeing the loss and destruction of the King and Realm and the
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
Item At the same time that the King in his Parliament caused the Duke of Glocester and Earls of Arundel and Warwick to be adjudged that he might more freely exercise his Cruelty upon them and accomplish his injurious will in other matters he gathered to himself a great multitude of Malefactors of the County of Chester of whom some passing with the King through the Kingdom as well within the Kings Pallace as without did cruelly kill the Liege Subjects of the Kingdom and some they beat and wounded and did plunder the Goods of the People and refuse to pay for their Victuals and did Ravish and Violate their Wives and other Women and though their were grievous Complaints of such their excesses brought to the hearing of the said King Yet the said King did not regard to cause Justice to be done or any Remedy thereuponâ— but did favour the said Troops in such their evil doings trusting in them and their Guard against all others of his Kingdom for which cause the faithful People of his Kingdom had great matter of Commotion and Indignation VI. Item Although the said King by his writs caused Proclamation to be made throughout the whole Kingdom that he had caused his Uncle the Duke of Glocester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick to be taken and Arrested not for any Assemblings or Troopings by them formerly made within the Kingdom of England but for very many Extortions Oppressions and other things by them afterwards done and perpetrated against his Royalty and Kingly Majesty And that it was not his Intention that any of the Family of the said Duke and Earls or of their followers at the time of such Assembling and Trooping should for that occasion be molested or aggrieved Yet the said King at last in his Parliament did not Impeach the said Lords for Extortions Oppressions or any such matters but for the Assemblings and Troopings aforesaid did adjudge them to Death and very many of the Family of the said Lords and others who were following them at the time of such their Assembling and Trooping he did for fear of Death force to make Fine and Ransom as Traytors or Rebels to the great destruction of a great Number of his People And so he did subtily fraudulently and maliciously deceive the said Lords and their familiars and the People of his Kingdom VII Item After very many of those Persons so making Fine and Ransom had obtained of the King his Letters Patent of full Pardon in the Premises they could not reap any Commodity by such Letters of Pardon till they had made new Fine and Ransoms for saving of their Life whereby very many were Impoverished which was a great Derogation and dishonour to the Name and State of a King VIII Item In the Last Parliament held at Shrewsbury the said King purposing to oppress his People subtily procured and caused it to be granted that the power of the Parliament by the consent of the States of his Kingdom shall remain in certain Persons to determine after the dissolution of the Parliament certain Petitions in the said Parliament exhibited but then not dispatched By Colour of which grant the Persons so deputed proceeded to other things generally touching that Parliament And this with the will of the King in Derogation of the state of Parliament the great dammage of the whole Kingdom and pernitious Example And that they might seem to have some Colour and Authority for such their doings the King called the Parliament Rolls to be altered and blotted at his pleasure against the Effect of the said Grant IX Item Notwithstanding the said King in his Coronation had sworn that in all his Judgments he would cause to be done equal and right Justice and discretion in mercy and truth according to his power Yet the said King rigorously without all mercy did amongst other things Ordain under grievous penalties that none should sue for any favour or intercede with the said King for Henry Duke of Lancaster being Banished whereby the said King did act against the Bond of Charity rashly violating his Oath aforesaid X. Item Although the Crown of the Kingdom of England and the Rights of the said Crown and that Kingdom it self have in all time past been so free that our Lord the Pope nor any other without the Kingdom ought to concern himself about the same Yet the aforesaid King for the Corroboration of such his erroneous statutes did make supplication to our Lord the Pope that he would confirm the statutes ordained his last Parliament whereupon our Lord the King obtained the Apostolick Letters in which grievous Censures are denounced against any that should presume in any thing to act contrary to the said statutes all which are well known to tend against the Crown and Royal dignity and against the Statutes and Liberties of the said Kingdom XI Item Although the Lord Henry now Duke of Lancaster by the Kings Command had preferred his Bill touching the State and Honour of the King against the Duke of Norfolk and the same had duely prosecuted so that according to the Kings Order he had exhibited himself in all Points prepared for the Combate And the said King had declared that the said Duke of Lancaster had honourably performed his Devoir as much as in him lay and this by a Decree publickly Proclaimed before all the people Assembled at the said Combate Yet the said King without any Legal Reason whatsoever did cause and command the said Duke to be Banisht for ten Years against all Justice and Laws and Customs of his Kingdom and the Law of War in that behalf thereby damnably incurring Perjury XII Item After the said King had graciously granted by his Letters Patents to the Lord Henry now Duke of Lancaster that in his absence whilst he was banisht his General Attorneys might prosecute for Livery to him to be made of all manner of Inheritances or Successions belonging unto him and that his Homage should be respited paying a certain reasonable Fine he injuriously did revoke the said Letters Patent against the Laws of the Land thereby incurring the Crime of Perjury XIII Item Notwithstanding that it was Enacted that every Year the Officers of the King with his Justices and others of the Kings Council should choose Sheriffs for all the Counties of England and name them to our Lord the King according as to their Discretion and Conscience should seem expedient for the good and utility of the Kingdom the said King hath caused persons to be made Sheriffs not so nominated or elected but other according to the Capricio's of his pleasure sometimes his Favourites or Creatures and sometimes such as he knew would not oppose his humour for his own and others private advantage to the great grievance of his People and against the Laws of his Kingdom thereby notoriously incurring Perjury XIV Item At such time as the aforesaid King requested and had of very many Lords and others of his Kingdom divers Sums
or in lieu thereof great Sums of Money in the said Letters expressed By which manner of Writing he forced many of such Religious out of fear to fulfil his Will and Command whereby they were heavily impoverisht and opprest in manifest derogation of Ecclesiastical Liberty by which Pretext the said King Richard did incur Perjury XXIII Item In most of the great Royal Councils when the Lords of the Realm the Judges and others being charg'd that they would faithfully Council the King in Matters relating to his State and that of his Kingdom The said Lords Justices and others very often in giving Counsel according to their best Discretion have been by the King suddenly and so fiercely chidden and reproved that they have not dared to speak the Truth in giving their Advice for the State of the King and Kingdom XXIV Item The Treasures Crowns Reliques and other Jewels viz. The Goods of the Kingdom which time out of mind have been Reposited in the Treasury of the Kingdom for the Honour of the King and preservation of his Kingdom against any sudden Event or Exigency the said King Going out of his Kingdom into Ireland did take away and caused the same to be carried with him without the consent of the States of the Kingdom Whereby this Kingdom had been vastly impoverisht if God by the retaking of the said Goods against the said Kings Will had not otherwise provided And furthermore the said King did cause the Rolls of Records touching the State and Government of his Kingdom uo be destroyed and rased to the great prejudice of his People and disinheriting the Crown of the said Kingdom And all this as 't is probably believed in favour and support of his evil Governance XXV Item The said King was wont as it were perpetually to be so variable and dissembling in his Words and Writings and so contrary to himself and especially in writing to the Pope and to Kings and other Lords out of the Kingdom and within it and also to others his Subjects that no man living that knew his Conditions could or would confide in him nay he was reputed so unfaithful and unconstant that it became scandalous not only to his own person but also to the whole Kingdom and especially amongst Foreigners of all the World that came to know the same XXVI Item Although The Land and Tenements the Goods and Chattels of every Freeman by the Laws of the Realm used from all time heretofore ought not to be taken from him unless they be forfeited Yet the said King purposing and longing to weaken such Laws in the pretence of very many Lords and others of the commonalty of the Kingdom hath frequently said and affirmed That the Life of every one of his Svbjects and his Lands Tenements Goods and Chattels are his the said Kings at his will and pleasure without any forfeiture Which is utterly against the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom aforesaid XXVII Item Although it was Fnacted and Ordained and is hitherto Confirmed That no Freeman shall be taken c. nor any way destroyed and that the King shall not pass nor send any to pass upon him but by the Lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land Yet by the Will Command and Order of the said King very many of his Liege People being maliciously accused for having publickly or secretly said something that might tend to the disyraise scandal or disgrace of the person of the said King have been taken and Imprisoned and brought before the Constable and Marshal of England in the Court Military in which Court the said Liege People being accused would not be admitted to make any other Answer than that they were no way guilty and would justifie the same and defend themselves by their Bodies and not otherwise notwithstanding their Appellors were young men stout and lusty and those so accused antient and impotent maim'd or infirm Whereby not only destruction of the Lords and grandees of the Kingdom but also of all and singular persons of the Commonalty of the same may probably ensue Since therefore the said King hath wilfully acted contrary to such a Statute of his Kingdom 't is not to be doubted but he hath thereby incurred the Crime of Perjury XXVIII Item Although the People of the Realm of England by vertue of their Leigeance are fully enough bound to their King and the said King by the Laws and Customs of his Kingdom is enabled to Correct and punish his People if in any kind they Transgress yet the said King desiring to trample on and too much oppress his People that he might the more freely execute and follow the Humour of his foolish and unlawful Will by his Letters to all the Counties of his Kingdom did Injoyn and Command That all his Subjects as well Spiritual as Tempâ—ral should make certain Oaths in general which were too grievous to them and which might probably cause the final destruction of his People and that they should confirm such their Oaths under their Letters and Seals To which Royal Command the People of his Kingdom did submit and pay Obedience that they might not incur his Indignation or Displeasure and also for fear of Death XXIX Item When Parties contending in the Ecclesiastical Court in Causes meerly Ecclesiastical and Spiritual had endeavoured to obtain from the Chancellor of England Prohibitions to hinder the lawful Process in the said Courts and the said Chancellor had justly refused to grant the same yet the said King by Letters under his Signet has frequently prohibited the Ecclesiastical judges to proceed in such Causes thereby evilly infringing the Liberties of the Câ—urch in the Grand Charter approved to the Conservation whereof he was sworn and damnably incurring Perjury and the Sentence of Excommunication against such Violators thereof by the Holy Fathers pronouâ—ced XXX Item The said King without any reasonable or lawful cause whatsoever or any other process of Law did in his Parliament encompass'd in warlike manner by armed men adjudge Thomas of Arundel Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England his Spiritual Father absenting himself by the Treacherous Counsell of the said King to Banishment against the Laws of his Kingdom so by him sworn to as aforesaid XXXI Item By inspection of the Testament of the said King Sealed with the Great and Privy Seal and also with his Signet among other things there is contained this clause or Article Item we will that the residue of our Gold the true debts of our House-hold Chamber and Wardrobe being paid for payment whereof we bequeath Twenty Thousand Marks reserving to our Executors Five or Six Thousand Marks which wee will by them to be expended towards the more plentiful maintainance of the Lepers and Chaplains to celebrate before them by us founded at Westminster and Bâ—rmondeseye shall remain to our Successor provided alwaies that he approve ratify and confirm and hold and cause to be holden and firmly observed all and singular
with several other Letters and Bulls to the same effect So that at last Wickliff was again Conven'd before them but on the Day assign'd for his Examination Sir Lewis Clifford came into their Court and in the Name of the Princess Joan the Kings Mother peremptorily Commanded them to proceed no further in that Affair with which being terrified they desisted their prosecution and once more he got out of their Clutches But now by reason of the before-mentioned Articles offered to the King and Parliament the Bishops soon after summoned him again before them but whether he appeared or not is uncertain However they proceeded against the Opinions and Conclusions following as His which as they are related by the Historians of those Times I shall recite some of them being Branded as Heresies others only as Errors Viz. Heresie I. That the Substance of Bread or Wine remains after Consecration in the Sacrament of the Altar Heresie II. That Accidents do not remain without a Subject after Consecration in the same Sacrament Heresie III. That Christ is not in the Sacrament of the Altar Identically truly and really in his proper Corporal Person Heresie IV. That if a Bishop or Priest whilest he is in mortal sin should Ordain Consecrate or Baptise it would be nothing available Note this is falsly charged Wickliffe's words whence this is wrested are in his book De Veritate Scriptuâ—arum p. 138. Nisi â—hristianu c. Unâ—ess the Christian Priest be united unto Christ by Grace Christ cannot be his Saviour neither can he speak the Sacramental words without lying Licet proâ—â—â—t câ—pacibu though yet they are profitable to fit Receivers Which last Clause they spightfully omit Heresie V. That if a Man be duly Contrite all outward Confession is superfluous and to him unprofitable Heresie VI. That he hath Obstinately asserted that it is not founded in the Gospel that Christ ordained the Mass. Heresie VII That God ought to obey the Devil This Position the Devil himself would scarce dare to utter much less this godly man who on the quite contrary in his Comment on the Psalms p. 112 saith the Devil is clepid God's Angel for he may do nothing but at Gods suffering and serveth God in tormenting sinful men 't is true in his Book against the Fryars Cap. 28 he complains of their Blasphemy in accusing the Holy Scriptures of Falshood which says he is to put falsness upon God himself who is the Author thereof and yet they would have in believe what they themselves say is true Alas saith he who may suffer this Blasphemy that Christ in whom is all Treasure of Wit Wisdom and Truth could not or would not say true words and sentence but yet sinful fools have true manner of speaking contrary to the speech of our Lord Jesu Christ for if this be sinful fools yea Divels of Hell been wiser tâ—uer than Jesu Christ. From these words or some such Argument ab Abâ—urdo against them that which he proves to be their wicked consequence they make his Dâ—ctrin just as if one should charge David with asserting there is no God leaving out The Fool hath said in his Heart Heresie VIII That if the Pope be a wicked Man and consequently a member of the Devil then he has no power given him over faithful Christians by any unless perhaps by Caesar. Heresie IX That after Vrban the Sixth Pope at that time none ought to be chosen Pope but we ought to live after the manner of the Greeks under our own Laws Errors 1. That no Prelate ought to Excommunicate any unless first he know such person to be Excommunicated of God 2. That if any shall otherwise Excommunicate he thereby becomes an Heretick or Excommunicated person himself 3. That a Prelate Excommunicating a Clerk that has appeal'd to the King and Council of the Kingdom is thereby a Traytor to God the King and Kingdom 4. That those who forbear to Preach or hear the Word of God or the Gospel for the Excommunication of men are Excommunicated and at the day of Judgment shall be accounted Traytors to God 5. That 't is contrary to the Scriptures that persons Ecclesiastical should have Temporal possessions 6. That 't is lawful to any Deacon or Presbyter to Preach the Word of God without Authority from the Pope or any Catholick Bishop 7. That none whilst in mortal sin is to be accounted a Bishop or Prelate 8. That Temporal Lords may at their pleasure take away Temporal Goods from the Church habitually offending 9. That Tythes are pure Alms and Parishioners may for the sins of their Curates detain the same and confer them at their pleasure upon others 10. That special prayers applyed by Prelates or Religious persons to one particular person do not more profit him than general prayers all things else being equal 11. That any one entring into any Private Religion is thereby rendred more unapt and incapable of observing the Commandments of God 12. That Holy Men that instituted Private Orders of Religion whether of Mendicants or such as are indowed with possessions did sin in so doing 13. That those called Religious living in private Orders of Religion are not of the Christian Religion 14. That Fryars Mendicant are bound to live by the Labor of their Hands and not to get their living by Begging 15. That Fryars Begging after their Sermons do thereby incurr the Crime of Simony and all that bestow Alms on them are Excommunicate as well the giver as receiver About these Positions the Bishops first met at Oxford where they had taken such impression that Riggs the Vice-Chancellor and many others had imbraced them and after that at the Gray-Fryars London on the Seventeenth of May 1382. on which day after Dinner about Two a Clock just as they were going to proceed in this Business happened a Wonderful and Terrible Earthquake throughout all England whereupon divers of the Suffragans being affrighted would have desisted but the Arch-bishop otherwise interpreting the Omen they went on and at last solemnly Condemned all the said Propositions there being present Eight Bishops Nineteen Monks and Fryars Fourteen Doctors of Law and Six Batchellors of Divinity However Mr. Wickliff himself whether because they could not find him or that they were afraid to meddle with him or rather because they were much distracted by reason of the Feuds between two Popes then in being at once escaped their malice and in the Year 1385. dyed peaceably in his Bed having been Doctor of Divinity above Thirty Years and of such industry and learning that he Translated the whole Bible into Engglish one Copy whereof written with his own Hand lately was and I suppose still is extant in Saint John's Colledge in Oxford He lived in a time when the Fryars Orders by their manifold disorders were become exceeding odious and the Popes jurisdiction by provisions Reservations and Collations very intollerable which made way for those excellent statute Laws about this time enacted
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
first or more strangely quash'd at last oâ— prov'd more fatal to the undertakers or to the said late deposed King Richard we must refer to the Reader 's censure For in short so it was Tâ—at the Duke of Aameric riding towards Oxford 〈◊〉 joyn the rest of his Associates at their pretendâ—◠〈◊〉 calling by the way on his Father the Duâ—◠〈◊〉 York and having in his bosom an Indenture containing the Heads of the Conspiracy mutually Sign'd and Seal'd by the principal Agents therein the old Duke happening to spy it as they sat at Dinner ask'd what it was And the Son in some disorder answering that it no way concerned him the Father swore by St. George that he would see it and pluck'd it from him by which perceiving their Plot he upbraided his Son and told him he would presently acquaint King Henry But Aumerle got out of the House and rode with such speed that he got to Windsor where the Court then was before his Father and begging the King's Pardon first of all discover'd the whole Intrigue himself The King provides for his own safety retires to London and the Conspirators perceiving the business had taken Air prompted on by despair betook themselves to Arms and having with them one Maudlin a Priest that very much resembled King Richard they attired him in Royal Robes and gave out that he was King Richard escaped out of Prison By which Fiction they drew together a considerable Army and such as might have shockt King Henry's scarce-well-setled Crown had not Fortune always his Friend scattered them in a moment by the most unexpected accident in the World For their Troops being encamped near Cicester and the Duke of Surrey and the Earl of Salisbury taking their Quarters within the Town at one end and the Duke of Exeter and the Earl of Glocester in another The Bayliff of the Town I am sorry his Name is not recorded for a stout brave fellow no doubt he was that durst attack such mighty Peers that had so numerous an Army within a Mile or two of the Town understanding that they were in Rebellion against the King gathering a Company of Townsmen in the night assaulted the Inn where Surrey and Salisbury lay who after a long defence being in danger of being taken a Priest of their Party set divers Houses in the Town on Fire hoping thereby to divert the Assailants from prosecuting the Lords to save their Houses But this enflam'd them the more so hotly they pursued the Skirmish that they slew the said two Noblemen and cut off their Heads In the mean time from the other Inn Exeter fled to his Camp intending to bring the whole Army to rescue his Friends But the Soldiers having heard a Clamour and seeing the Town on Fire imagined King Henry had been come with all his Forces and so in a pannick fear fled and dispersed themselves and the said Duke of Exeter having skulk'd up and down for some time was taken and Beheaded at Plashey in Essex The very place where by his Council and Contrivance the Duke of Glocester had been apprehended and sent away to Calâ—ce to be murdered Though King Richard being all this while a Prisoner cannot be supposed to have much hand in this Insurrection yet being undertaken for his sake it might possibly hasten his End He was now remov'd from Leeds to Pomâ—ract Castle and as we know not the certain time of his Death so likewise is the manner of it variously reported Some write That he was every day serv'd in with abundance of costly Dishes but not suffered to touch or tast one of them and so perished with Famine but such barbarous unnatural Cruelty seems wholly fabulous Others relate That King Henry having at Table been oveâ—heard to say with a sigh Have I never a Friend that will rid me of him whose Life will brâ—ed destruction to me and disquiet to the Realm One Sir â—ierce Exton taking this for a Warrant goes down to â—ontefract and first commanded his 〈…〉 to take the Essay of his Meat as formerly 〈◊〉 at which Richard being offended and being told 〈◊〉 was by K. Henry's Order said to his Squire The Devil take Henry of Lancaster thee together upon which Sir Pierce entered the Chamber with eight Armed Men which King Richard perceiving wrung the Bill out of the hands of the for most and slew four of them but was at last himself knock'd down by Sir Pierce with a Pole-Axe Which Relation likewise seems a little Romantick Walsingham tells us that after the Defeat of his Friends the Duke of Exeter c. finding all hopes of his Restoration destroyed he fell into such a sullen Melanchâ—ly that he would tast no Food and so voluntarily starved himself But which way soever he came by his End King Henry it seems was willing to let all the World know he was dead for his Body Embalm'd and covered with Lead all save the 〈◊〉 was brâ—ught to London where for three days together it was exposed at Paul's to publick view and then buried in the Church of Predicant Friars at Langley in Buckinghamshire But afterwards by King Henry the Fifth removed to Westminster and there honourably Eâ—tombed Yet some Scottish Historians affirm That he escaped out of Prison and led a 〈◊〉 and virtuous life in that Kingdom for divers years and lies buried as they say in the Black Friers at Sterling So different iâ— the 〈◊〉 of Fame touching this unhappy Prince's exit out of the World who lived therein about 3â— years and Reiâ—nâ—d 22 years and 3 months FINIS * See Doctor James of Oxford his Apology for Wickliff shewing his Conformity with the new Church of England Printed An. 1608. * That is only for offences against Gods Law * This is wrested to a worse sense than Wickliff intended * This is the same Calumny with the Fourth Heresie * Sir W. Ch. p. 247. Knyghton Col. 2701. Knyghton Col. 2698.