Simon of Sudbury Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of England Robert Hales Prior of the Hospital and Treasurer of England he the before-mentioned John Legg and and John a Minorite being a Crony of Lancaster's and 3 others all which 7 last they forthwith Beheaded carrying their Heads on Poles as in Triumph And now being heated with both Wine and Blood they march to the Savoy and burn the Duke of Lancaster's stately Palace the best House in England with all its rich Furniture to Ashes breaking in pieces all his Plate and Jewels of inestimable value and flinging them into the Thames and when one of their Fellows was spy'd to thrust a piece of Plate into his Bosom they presently flung it and him into the fire to be destroy'd together saying They came not like Thieves to enrich themselves But of Liquors they were not so scrupulous for two and thirty of them being got ito the Dukes Wine-Cellar Tippled so long till the Rafters of the House on fire fell down and stopt the passage that they could not get out but were heard to cry seven days after and so perished From the Savoy they came back to the Temple and burnt the Lawyers Lodgings Books Papers and all Records they could meet with The house of S. John's by Smithfield they set fire to so that it burnt seven days Nor had they any regard to Churches but forc'd out such as fled thither for Sanctuary and Beheaded them for they used no other manner of Execution to high or low That Night wearied with spoil and generally Drunk they lay sleeping like Swine in the open Streets and under the Walls and the next day being routed together again the King with a small Guard coming to Smithfield offered a Pardon to all such as yet after all these Outrages would cease from the like for the future and go quickly home Whereupon Wat Tyler declared That he was for Peace very willingly provided it were on such Terms as he should approve of Therefore to understand what he would have one Sir John Newton is sent to Invite and desire for so they were glad in that Juncture of Affairs to compliment his Sawciness Wat to come and Treat thereof with the King and when the Knight urged him to make haste he answered with some Indignation If thou art in such haste go back to thy Master the King I 'le come when I see mine own time However he soon followed him on Horse back but slowly for the greater State and being come near the King the same Knight was commanded to go to him and receive and bring back his Proposals Tyler offended because this Messenger came to him mounted told him it became him to alight from his Horse in his Presence and therewith drew out his Dagger to strike him But the King to pacifie him made him alight The Demands which Tyler made besides a general Enfranchisement of the Bond men which the King had already granted were That all Warrens Parks and Chases should be made common and free to all so that as well the Poor as the Rich should have liberty to Fish Fowl and Hunt in all places throughout the Kingdom with several other the like extravagant Demands In which Tyler behaved himself so insolently that the Kings Attendants could not but represent to his Majesty that it was insufferable and the before celebrated John Philpot according to his usual Courage told the King That if his Majesty would but command his Lieutenant viz. The Mayor to Arrest the Traytor he would lose his Life if it were not happily accomplisht Whereupon the King was prevailed with to give such a Command or rather leave to William Walworth then Mayor of London who waiting an Opportunity and observing Tyler to play with his Dagger tossing it from hand to hand as if he meant some mischief and that at last to what intent is not known whether out of rudeness or design he laid one of his hands upon the Kings Bridle fearing the Ruffian might attempt his Royal Person instantly executed his Arrest by giving him a Blow on his Head with a Dagger which was seconded with Philpot's Sword and anothers in his Body so that immediately he fell down dead on the ground When the Rabble saw this they began furiously to cry out O our Captain is slain our Captain is murdered Let 's revenge the Death of our Captain c. But the King with a Courage and Ingenuity beyond any thing could be expected from his Years for he was not yet above Fifteen Clapt Spurs to his Horse and rod to the Head of them crying aloud What mean you my Men Or what do you do Will you shoot your King You shall have no cause to grieve for the Death of that Traytor and Ribauld I that am the King will be your Captain and your Leader Follow me into the Field and you shall have whatever you will Upon which words amaz'd and not certainly resolv'd either of one anothers minds nor indeed each man of his own they followed awhile till Sir Richard Knolls with a Thousand armed men raised in the mean time by the Mayor came upon them out of the City at whose approach being now headless and all in confusion they were so terrifi'd that they forthwith flung down what Arms they had and begg'd for Mercy which the King granted and withal gave them a Charter of Freedom in form as before recited but proclaim'd that no Citizen should have any Correspondence with any of them nor suffer them to come within the Liberties And so this dreadful rout from the height of Insolence was in a moment scattered and reduced to the depth of misery and fear sneaking back by stealth into the Country many in their passage slain or perishing for want and multitudes of them soon after Executed For this good Service the King upon the place conferr'd the Honour of Knighthood upon the said John Walworth Mayor and John Philpot as likewise on Nichol. Brembre John Land and Nicholas Twyford Citizens of London And in memory of so Honourable an Exploit perform'd by the Mayor the Dagger hath 't is said ever since that time been added in the City-Arms which before bore only the Cross. But though things were thus appeas'd at London there was still no less Hurley-burley in several Counties At St. Albans they committed many Out-rages and Cancell'd the Ancient Charter of the Abbot and Monks In Suffolk there were swarm'd together Fifty thousand Villains under the Conduct of one John Straw a lewd Priest who beheaded Sir John Cavendish Lord Chief Justice of England and â—et his Head on the Pillory in S. Edmundsbury The like Commotions also there were at the same time in Norfolk Cambridge-shire and the Isle of Ely at the Instigation of one Littester a Dyer who called himself King of the Commons and forc'd several Lords and Persons of Quality to be sworn to them and ride along with them to countenance their Proceedings but these were for
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
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
might come and go with safety and if any were designed that they would admonish them of it A Caution that in the Event proved not unnecessary For on the day they should appear they had Intelligence that there was an Ambuscade laid for them about the Mews whereupon they delayed their coming and the King who had waited an hour or two for them beyond the time appointed enquiring the reason was told by the said Bishop of Ely that it was because he did not keep his word for there was secretly planted above a thousand Armed Men to cut them off in their passage The King seemed much offended at this Treachery and swore that he was not privy to it and therefore commanded the Sheriffs of London to search the Mews and if they found any persons assembled there for such a purpose to kill them But in truth the Contrivance was not there but in a place at Westminster where Sir Thomas Trivet and Sir Nicholas Bramber had to this intent got together great numbers of their Faction in Arms whom upon this discovery they dismist and retired into London And now the King promising again safe Conduct to the Lords they soon after arrived in his Royal presence whom they found in Westminster-Hall in his Robes of State and with his Crown on his Head and Scepter in his hand To whom they presented themselves on their Knees and the Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor on the Kings behalf made a Speech blaming them for their raising Forces and demanding the Cause withal recommending the Kings Goodness who chose thus graciously to Treat with them rather than to Chastise them by Arms which he told them his Majesty wanted not power easily to have done To this the Lords answered That they had Assembled together for the good of the King and Kingdom and to remove Traytors from the King Naming particularly Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland Alexander Nevil Archbishop of York Michael de Pole Earl of Suffolk Robert Tresylian the false Chief Justice and Nicholas Bramber the false Knight of London whom they averr'd to be Traitors and flinging down their Gloves that they were ready to prove them to be such by Battle a manner of Tryal not unusual in those times To which the King himself answered That it shall not be determined in that manner but in the next Parliament which We appoint to be the Morrow after the Purification of the blessed Virgin next where both Parties coming should have Justice done according to Law And in the mean time all of them to be in the Kings protection without injuring one another And so after some friendly Discourse and Drinking with the King they departed thence And two days after the King the more to appease the Lords and satisfie the people caused Proclamation to be made in London seeming in Excuse of the Duke of Gloucester and his Associates but indeed to amuse them and preserve his dear Favourites from threatned Violence the Tenour whereof was to this effect RIchard KING c. We hereby make known to all our Liege and faithful Subjects throughout our whole Kingdom of England That whereas Tho. Duke of Gloucester Rich. Earl of Arundel Tho. Earl of Warwick have been by certain persons who little understood the truth of Affairs Defamed as Traytors to Vs and Our Kingdom We therefore having as becomes us with the highest Deliberation and greatest Diligence weigh'd the cause of such Scandal and most diligently to our utmost Power searching to the bottom for the Truth with the assistance of our Council do not finde any thing done or acted by them worthy of the blot of Suspicion much less any scruple of Evidence of their being guilty Whereupon we have Decreed to declare the said Defamation to be false unjust wicked and wholy void of all Truth And we do testifie the said Duke and Earls to be worthy of good Fame and Innocent and not so much as suspected of any Crime and as much as in us lies and as we are able we will approve and maintain them so to be and do take them hence-forwards into our Special Protection Farthermore We are willing to make known to all Persons by these Presents who are their Defamers Viz. Alexander Archbishop of York Robert Duke of Ireland Michael Earl of Suffolk Robert Tresylyen Our Chief Justice and Nicholas Brembre of London Kt. whom also We take into Our Protection that they may Answer whatever shall be objected against them in Our next Parliament Commanding that none on any pretence whatsoever shall either to Them or the forenamed Lords openly or secretly offer any kind of disturbance grievance or obedience till such prefixt time of Our Parliament But for all these fair words the Popular Lords knowing the Kings Mutability and as well the Influence those his ill Counsellors had over him as their malice and perfidiousness thought it the safest course not to separate themselves but with a vigilant Eye to observe the Motions of Affairs The Duke of Ireland and the rest accused did not appear with the King at this Meeting and 't was their wisest course to be absent for 't is believ'd the Kings Presence would scarce have been able to protect them Nor had they any mind to hazard themselves on the Justice of the next Parliament but rather resolv'd if they could to secure themselves by Arms. To which purpose the Duke of Ireland was all this while raising of Men in Cheshire and Wales either by the Kings Commission or Connivance and that it was more than the latter may justly be suspected because when he had made considerable Levies the King commanded Thomas Molineux a man of great Courage and Conduct Constable of the Castle of Chester to accompany and safe conduct the said Duke with all the Forces he could make to his Majesties Presence The Adverse Lords being Advertis'd of these Preparations and that they were upon their March beset the Ways by which the Duke should pass to London resolving to encounter him before he should have encreas'd his Power and countenanc'd his Actions with the Name and Presence of the King Accordingly Henry Earl of Derby Son of the Duke of Laneaster met them at a place called Babbelakâ— near Burfâ—rd in Oxfordshire whom the Duke no sooner saw but contrary to the Resolution of most of those that were with him he prepared for flight however Molineux prevailed with him to joyn Battel but scarce ten Ounces of Blood was lost on both sides before the Duke who had been so good at raising Quarrels shew'd himself as bad at stinting them and set Spurs to his Hâ—rse and forsook the Field whereby all his Men being disheartened and Sir Thomas Molineux slain the Earl of Derby obtain'd a cheap but intire Victory allay'd with nothing but the escape of Ireland who having mounted a fleet Nag and being to pass a River cast away both Gauntlet and Sword to be the lighter and so swam over and got first into Holland
again in England The Appeal or Charge exhibited against them in Parliament tho' long is yet remarkable and not being extant in English I shall so far presume on the Reader 's Patience as to insert it Translated from the Original as we find it in Knyghton de Eventibus Angliae Col. 2713. as follows viz. TO our Most Excellent and redoubted Lord the King and his Council in this present Parliament do shew Tho. Duke of Glocester Constable of England Henry Earl of Derby Richard Earl of Arundel and Surry Thomas Earl of Warwick and Tho. Earl Marshal That whereas they the said Duke and Earls as Loyal Subjects of our Lord the King for the profit of the King and Realm on the Fourteenth day of November last past at Waltham-Cross in the County of Hertford did before the most Reverend Fathers in God William Bishop of Winchâ—ster Thomas Bishop of Ely late Chancellour of England John Waltham then Lord Privy Seal John Lord Cobham the Lords Richard le Scrope and John Denross then Commissioners of our Lord the King Ordain'd and made in the last Parliament Appeal Accuse or Charge Alexander Archbishop of York Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland Michael de Pole Earl of Suffok Robert Tresylian the false Justice and Nicholas Brember the false Knight of London of several High Treasons by them committed against the King and his Realm and did offer to prosecute and maintain the same and sufficient Sureties to find praying the said Lords to certifie the same to their said Soveraign Lord which the same day the said Commissioners did accordingly certifie to the King at Westminster where most of the said persons so Appealed being present were fully informed and certified of such Appeal And whereas shortly after by the Assent of the King and his Council the said Thomas Duke of Glocester c. coming to Westminster in presence of the King and of his Council there for the profit of the King and his Realm did again Appeal the said Arch-bishop of York and other false Traytors his Companions appealed of High Treasons by them committed against the King and his Realm as Traytors and Enemies to the King and Realm in affirmance of their former Appeal offering to pursue and maintain it as aforesaid Which Appeal our Lord the King did accept and thereupon assigned a day to the said Parties at his first Parliament which should be holden on the Morrow after Candlemass next insuing then to have receive full Justice upon the said Appeal and in the mean time took into his safe and most special protection the said Parties with all their people Goods and Chattels and caused the same to be then proclaimed and published And whereas also on Monday next after the day of the Nativity of our Lord Christ next after the said Duke of Gloucester c. in the presence of the King in the Tower of London as Loyal Subjects of the King and his Realm did appeal the said Archbishop of York c. as false Traytors c. Whereupon the King assign'd them a day in the next Parliament to pursue and declare their Appeal and by the advice of his Council did cause Proclamation to be made in all the Counties of England by Writs under his great Seal That all the said persons so Appealed should be at the said Parliament to answer thereunto Which Appeal the said Duke of Gloucester c. the Appealors are now ready to pursue maintain and declare and do by these Presents as loyal Subjects of our Lord the King for the profit of the King and Realm Appeal the said Archbishop c. of High Treasons by them committed against our Lord the King and his Realm as Traytors and Enemies of both King and Kingdom which Treasons are declared and fully specified in certain Schedules hereunto annexed and they do pray that the said persons Appealed may be called and Right and Justice done in this present Parliament Imprimis Thomas Duke of Gloucester Constable of England Henry Earl of Derby c. do Appeal and say that Alexander Archbishop of York Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland and Michael de la Pole Earl of Suffolk false Traytors to the King and Realm seeing the tender Age of our said Lord the King and the Innocency of his Royal Person have by many false Contrivances by them without Loyalty or Good Faith imagined and suggested endeavoured wholly to Ingross his Majesties Affection and to make him intirely give Faith and Credence to what they should say though never so pernicious to himself and his Realm and to hate his Loyal Lords and People by whom he would more faithfully have been served Encroaching and assuming to themselves a power to the endefranchising our Lord the King of his Soveraignty and imparing his Royal Prerogative and Dignity making him so far obey them that he hath been sworn to be govern'd and counsel'd only by them by means of which Oath and the power they have so trayterously usurped great inconveniencies mischiefs and destructions have hapned as by the subsequent Articles will appear 2. Item Whereas the King is not bound to make any Oath to any of his Subjects but on the day of his Câ—ronation or for the common profit of him and his Realm the said Bishop Duke and Earl false Traytors to the King and Realm have made him swear and assent to them that he will maintain and defend them and live and die with them And so whereas the King ought to be of a free condition above any other in his Realm they have brought him more into Servitude and Bondage against his Honour Estate and Royalty contrary to their Allegiance and as Traytors unto him 3. Item The said Traytors by the Assent and Councel of Robert Tresylian the false Justice and Nicholas Brember the false Knight of London by their false Covin would not at all suffer the great Persons of the Realm nor the good Subjects of the King to speak to or approach the King to give him wholsome advice nor the King to speak to them unless in the presence and hearing of them the said Duke of Ireland c. or two of them at their will and pleasure or about such things as they thought fit to the great disgrace of the Nobles and good Counsellors of the King and to the preventing of their good will and service towards the King thereby encroaching to themselves the Royal power and a Lordship and Soveraignty over the person of the King to the great dishonour and peril of the King his Crown and Realm 4. Item The said Archbishop c. by such their false devices and pernicious Councels have diverted the King from shewing due countenance to his great Lords and Liege People so that they could not be answered in their Suits and Rights without the leave of them the said Archbishop c. Thereby putting the King besides his Devoir contrary to his Oath contriving to alienate the Heart of our Lord the King from
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
by the Mediation of the Queen the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Bishops the King by the consent of the Lords against whom they had offended pardon'd the Sentence of Death But they were Out-law'd and Banisht for ever into Ireland Two and two to be kept in a place limited within certain Bounds which if they should presume to go out of they were immediately to be Executed on their former Judgment And for their Maintenance were allowed out of the Kings Exchequer as follows viz. To Fulthorp 40 l. per annum to Burgh 40 Marks to Belknappe 30 l. to Holt 40 Marks and to Care and Locton 20 l. per annum apiece This being done a General Pardon is pass'd for all Treasons and Seditions whatsoever and an Oath saith Walsingham exacted not only of all the Inhabitants of the Land but of the King too to stand to the Regulation of the Lords meaning as I conceive those so Commissioned and Authorized for one years space by King and Parliament as aforesaid And then the Parliament broke up in the Month of July After Whitsontide the Earl of Arundel again puts to Sea and burns-sinks and takes Fourscore French Ships And likewise Seizes the Isles of Ree and Oleroon the latter famous for the Laws Marine there said to be Compos'd and agreed upon with the City of Rochel and divers other places About the same time the Scots entred England as far as Newcastle in which young Peircy Son of the Earl of Northumberland and for his Valour and Fury in Arms Surnamed Hot-spur being them Ingarrison'd he with a small Party fought with them and with his own hand slew W. Douglass their Commander in Chief but being at last over-powr'd by the coming in of the Earl of Dunbar was himself taken Prisoner though at the same time he set free his Countrey For he had first so weakned them by the destruction of their Men that they durst not stay longer but in hast and disorder retreated into Scotland After Harvest a Parliament was again held at Cambridge in which many wholsome Laws pass'd As against Beggars Riding Arm'd giving Liveries to excessive Retinues Touching Labourers and Apparel suitable to peoples Ranks And especially That none should go out of the Realm to the Pope to procure the Grant of any Benefices in England without the Kings leave on penalty of being put out of the Kings protection Also a Tax was granted to the King being a Tenth of the Clergy and a Fifteenth of the Laity In the Year 1389 a grievous Discord happen'd at Oxford between the Welsh and the Northern Scholars wherein several were slain and further mischief threatned but by the Mediation of the Duke of Glocester the Broil was composed and divers of the Welshmen dismiss'd the Vniversity In May the King held a Great Council at Westminster and on Holy-Road-day being led by the Advice of certain Whisperers entred suddenly into the Council-Chamber and taking his Seat Demanded How old they took him to be Being answered Somewhat upwards of One and twenty years Then replyed He I am of full Age and capable to manage my Inheritance my self for sure 't is unjust that I should be in a worse condition than any other in my Kingdom for every Heir after the death of his Ancestor comes to his Estate and takes it into his own hand at one and twenty years of age This the Lords perhaps might be unwilling to Grant but more unable and afraid to deny And therefore the King went on with his Speech 'T is well known that for many years I have lived under your Tutelage and Governance and for the pains therein We thank you but now having attained to Our Legal Age We are resolved to be no longer in Ward but to take into Our hands the Government of Our Realm and to appoint such Officers and Ministers as We think fit and remove others at Our pleasure Accordingly he forthwith commanded the Bishop of York then Lord Chancellour to Resign the Seal which being done the King put it up in his Bosom and went away but soon after returned and gave it to William of Wickham Bishop of Winchester making him Lord Chancellor He likewise turn'd out the Bishop of Hereford from the Office of Treasurer and put in another in his room and chang'd several other chief Ministers of State partly to shew his Authority partly to satisfie his Displeasure As particularly he suspended his Vncle the Duke of Glocester and the Earl of Warwick and others from his Privy Council and admitted others in their stead that Humour'd him more but Honour'd him less The Earl of Arundel likewise was removed from the Admiralty of the Sea wherewith he had been entrusted by the Parliament and the same given to the Earl of Huntington Soon after this certain Detractors circumventing the King had so far prevail'd as to make him believe That the Duke of Glocester was contriving some Designs against him But upon the Dukes Examination the falshood and Malice of those Reports did appear And the King blusht to consider his own Credulity against so near and eminent a Relation yet though some of the Spreaders thereof were there present when the Duke would have questioned them for the same the King charged him as he lov'd him not to stir farther in the matter This Summer the King being at his Mannor of Sheen in July on a sudden there appeared such innumerable Swarms of Gnats that all the Air was darkned with them who skirmisht and fought one with another till the Slain fell down in heaps and being swept together with Brooms amounted to the quantity of many Bushels-full and the rest who seem'd to come off and were reckoned about a third part of the whole flew away which was by many esteem'd as an ill-boding Prodigy About the same time the Disciples of Wickliff in those days called Lollards being very numerous their Presbyters took upon them after the manner of Bishops to confer Holy Orders Asserting that every Priest had as much power of Binding and Loosing and Administring other Ecclesiastical Functims as the Pope himself either had or could bestow And though the Prelates had notice hereof yet out of negligence or rather fear they did not much concern themselves to suppress them save only the stout Bishop of Norwich who swore That if any of that Sect should presume to Preach in his Diocess he would either Burn or Behead them In November the Duke of Lanâ—aster after three years absence return'd into England from Spain having matcht his Daughter to the King of Castile's Son And the King of England having summon'd a Council at Reading the said Duke understanding that his Majesty had conceived Displeasure against divers great Lords to prevent the Mischiefs that might thereby arise immediately after his Arrival posted thither by whose good Offices the King's Resentments were diverted and Matters for the present pacified In the Year 1390 being the 13 year of King Richard's Reign on Munday after
the Feast of St. Hillary a Parliament was called at London wherein amongst other things it was Enacted That the King should not extend his Pardon to any persons convicted of Murder and a Penalty Awarded against any that should importune the King thereunto viz. That if it were a Duke or Archbishop he should forfeit to the King 100 l. If an Earl or Bishop 100 Marks c. There was also granted to the King 40s of every Sack of Wool of which 10s to go to the Kings present occasions and the other 30s to be reserv'd in the hands of Commissioners appointed by Parliament Not to be expended unless necessity of War required About St. Jamesâ—yde Henry Earl of Derby eldest Son to the Duke of Lancaster with a choice Company of a thousand Knights and Squires and their Servants went into Prussia where they signalized themselves by several brave and valorous Actions and return'd again with Honour in April following In the Year 1391 the French Courted King Richard very earnestly to a Treaty of Peace and in order thereunto desired that there might be an Amicable Interview of the two Kings neer Calice To which King Richard seem'd inclinable and that he might appear more splendid on such an occasion sent to most of the Abbeys to furnish him with the best Horses they had Amongst whom the Abbot of S. Albans sent him One which Walsingham tells us was worth Four and twenty Marks no small price in those days and yet not content he demanded 50 Marks besides in Money Likewise from most of the Cities and Burroughs of England he got divers considerable Sums to Equip him for this Voyage But about the same time by order of the King and Council there was a Proclamation set forth Requiring all those that had any Benefices in England and were then beyond the Seas as in the Roman Court it being a thing not infrequent in those days for the Pope to gratifie his Favourites and Followers with the best Preferments though perhaps never in England in their lives immediately to repair into England to live upon such their Benefices and not suck away the Treasure of the Realm by expending their Revenues in other Nations on pain of forfeiting all their said Benefices This together with the late Statute of Provisors and Praemunire and the Overture of a Peace like to advance with the French King who at that time joyned with the Antipape Benedict the 13th much troubled Pope Boniface the 9th For now and for neer the space of forty years together there were two Popes in being at once each Cursing the other and part of Christendom acknowledging One and part his Adversary Therefore the said Boniface whom the English own'd for their Ghostly Father forthwith sent a Nuncio to King Richard with great Complements to commend his Devotion and that of his Predecessors towards Holy Church but withal to complain of these Invasions as he was pleased to call them of the Ecclesiastical Liberties and to urge him as well to Repeal the said Laws as by no means to make Peace with the French King unless he would disown and no longer assist the Anti-Pope c. The King received the Nuncio kindly and heard his Tale but for Answer put him off to the Meeting of the Parliament which was in November and then the Business was bandied about and though the King and Duke of Lancaster seem'd willing to gratifie the Pope the Commons would by no means consent that people should go to Rome to acquire any Benefices in England only that they might not seem too much to slight his Holiness they yielded that it might be suffered but not without the Kings License and no longer than till the next Parliament But though they held their Pope to hard Meat they were not wanting in expressing their kindness to their King giving him a Half-tenth and an Half-fifteenth which they offered to make whole Ones on condition the King would next Summer make an Expedition against the Scots Anno 1392. The Duke of Lancaster is sent over into France and most magnificently entertain'd by the French King But instead of a Peace brought back only a Truce for a year to the intent saith Walsingham That during that time the collected wisdom of England might consider whether it were more expedient to conclude a final Peace or prosecute the War About this time a certain Matron in London having one onely Daughter had instructed her to Celeâ—rate the Mass and built an Altar with all its Furniture in a private Room and there for many days caused her to Accouter herself in Priestly Habit and Officiate onely when she came to the words of the Sacrament she Prostrated herself and durst not Consecrate but rising again would go on with the rest of the Mass to the end her Mother helping her and encouraging her Devotion But at last a Neighbouring Gossip whom she had call'd to this private Mass discovering her Practice the Bishop of London heard of it and being much grieved as he had reason to see his Trade usurp'd by the other Sex call'd her before him and made her shew her Crown shaven exactly like a Priest before all the people and caused both her and her Mother to do Penance The Duke of Guelderland a most active Prince and related to King Richard sent him a Letter full of great Complements but in one expression too profane stirring him up to War and Military Actions becoming his Royal Dignity and particularly dehorting him from the designed dishonourable Amity with France The Tenor whereof was as followeth MAgnificent Prince Both your Innate Generosity and the prudent Counsels of your Ministers will we conceive effectually provide that all your Hereditary Rights which by your Birth render your Royal Majesty Great and Glorious may by the foresight of your deep Wisdom be preserved Inviolable And that if any unjust Force does Invade or offer to Diminish them your Kingly Industry will valiantly defend the same with the Shield of Military Prowess And since we have the Honour to be Related to your Royal Person by Affinity God himself cannot hinder but that we will ever be ready to assist you in defending such your Rights with Two thousand Launces when and as oft-soever as you shall be disposed to engage in a War Nor ought you to decline the same to your prejudice for any Words or Promises that may be made you from the restless subtilty of the French 'T is certain most Serene Prince your Fame is spread throughout the World Nor is it doubted but for your great plenty of Wool and innumerable other Commodities without which neither the East or South can subsist all Kingdoms daily salute you with their Treasures so that God himself has conferr'd upon you Wealth an hundred fold more in comparison than on other Kings Besides the tried Valour of your people and the sharpness of their Victorious Bowes have so far advanced the Fame of your Magnanimous Nation above any of
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
themselves appear more like those Savages which they were to represent had got on strait Garments close to their Bodies cover'd over with Tâ—we which was fixt on with Rosin and Pitch to make it stick the faster Now when they were busie in the midst of their Dance by Torch-light a Villain suborn'd by the Duke clapt a Flambeau amongst them as if done by Accident whereby in an instant the Tow and other Combustibles took fire but a Lady seeing the danger snatcht away the King before the flames seiz'd him whilst Four of the other Maskers notwithstanding all the help imaginable was used were immediately burnt to Death In England the Lord Tho. Pierey is made the King's Steward and Sir William Scroop Chamberlain a Person saith our Author than whom in all Mankind there could not be found one more wicked or cruel The year following 1394 was chiefly remarkable for Funerals First the Dutchess of Lancaster Daughter to the King of Castile was snatcht away then the Countess of Derby her Daughter-in-Law next Queen Anne her self whose Obsequies were magnificently and at vast Expences Celebrated by the King and soon after died Isabella Dutchess of York Nor was Death onely content to Triumph over the Ladies but also mowed down the Noble Sir John Hawkwood a Knight whose Valour had rendred him Famous in many foreign Nations and no less dear to his own About August issâ—ed a Proclamation throughout England That all the Irish should forthwith return home and wait the Kings coming thither at Lady-day next following on pain of death And indeed it was but time to send them packing for such multitudes were come over in hopes of gain that they had left the English Pale in Ireland almost quite desolate So that the natural wilde Irish not yet Conquer'd taking thereby an advantage destroy'd or pillaged the few Subjects the King of England had remaining there at their pleasure And whereas King Edward the Third when he settled his Courts of Justice c. in that Country received from thence to his Exchequer Thirty thousand pounds per annum the same by reason of the want of Inhabitants was not only lost but on the contrary the King forc'd to be out of Pocket Thirty thousand Marks every year in the necessary defence of his Territories there Effectually to redress which the King in Person about Michaelmas sail'd into Ireland attended with the Duke of Glocester the Earls of March Nottingham Rutland c. The Irish unable to Cope with so great a Force endeavoured onely to weary him with Alarms Ambuscades and Skirmishes but at last divers of their petty Princes were glad to submit to King Richard of whom some he kept as Hostages for security others he dismist upon Parole And for the better settlement of Affairs Assembled a Parliament for Ireland at Dublin and continued in that Kingdom till after Easter In the mean time Anno 1395 the Duke of York Guardian of England during the Kings absence called a Parliament at London eight days after Twelfth-tide unto which was sent from Ireland the Duke of Gloucester who so zealously represented the Kings Necessities by reason of the vast Expence he had been at in this necessary and no less advantageous than honourable Expedition into Ireland that the Clergy were content to present his Majesty with a Tenth and the Commonalty with a Fifteenth But not without a Protestation first made That they were not bound to grant the same De stricto jure but did it purely out of their Affection to their King The Lollards so call'd as Tritemius says from Walter Lollard a German who flourisht about the year 1315. Or as others think from Lolium signifying Darnel or Tares for being Followers and Disciples of Wickeliff the Clergy and especially the Monks and Fryars were not wanting to brand them with ill Names and reputed them as the Tares sown by the evil One in the Field of Gods Church did about this time publickly affix on the Doors of S. Paul's Church Accusations of the Clergy charging them with sundry Abominations and also divers Conclusions touching Ecclesiastical Persons and the Sacraments of the Church At which the Bishops were much disturb'd and according to their usual Method instead of clearing themselves and confuting their Adversaries by Scripture or Reason endeavoured to silence them by Club-law dispatching away the Archbishop of York and Bishop of London into Ireland to the King intreating him to hasten his return to succour Faith and Holy Church that were both like to be undone by the Hereticks who were contriving how to take away the Possessions of the whole Church and overthrow all the Canonical Sanctions Upon this News back comes the King from Ireland and takes several of the Chief Favourites of the Lollards to task threatning most terribly if they shew'd them any Countenance for the future But the Hereticks were not the onely Afflicters of the Clergy at this time but Birds of their own Nests began to pluck their feathers too for William Archbishop of Canterbury got a Bull from the Pope Impowering him to levy throughout all the Diocesses of his Province Four pence in the pound of all Ecclesiastical Goods and Revenues as well of those Exempt as not Exempt and this without so much as pretending any true or lawful Cause for the same However the Execution of this Bull being committed unto the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London though many of the inferiour Clergy grumbled not a little and complained thereof as unreasonable yet they were generally forced to submit unto it Anno Domini 1396 the Duke of Lancaster to whom the King had given the Dutchy of Aquitain and who had been at inestimable Charges in those Parts to Conciliate to himself the Affections of the Inhabitants no sooner had obtained the same but he was suddenly recall'd from thence by the Kings Command To which though it seemed no less hard than unexpected the Duke paid a punctual Obedience and was received if not with love yet at least with a shew of honour by the King from whom having obtain'd License to depart the Court he hastened to Lincoln and there to the admiration of all the World by reason of the disparity of their Qualities was married to Katherine Swinford who for divers years before had been his Mistress This year also the Pope wrote to the King intreating him to assist the Prelates of the Church in the Cause of God and of him the said King and his Kingdom against the Lollards whom he declared to be Traytors not onely to the Church but likewise to the King and therefore did most earnestly press him That whomsoever the Bishops should declare to be Hereticks he would forthwith Condemn by his Royal Authority But it seems the King was too busie otherwise to attend his Holiness's Commands and to do his Prelates drudgery in butchering of Hereticks for he was making mighty Preparations for a Voyage not of War but of Galiantry into France where
by agreement the two Kings were to have a Personal Conference In order to which King Richard passes over to Calice and the French King came down to Arde between which two Towns was the place appointed for their Interview and Mâ—gnificent Tents erected for their Entertainment But first they interchangeably took an Oath truly and religiously to observe the Sacred Laws of Amity at this Congress and that neither by themselves or any of their Subjects Friends Allies or any other to their privity or with their Allowance there should be contrived or practised any Hostility Surprize Damage or Disturbance by the one Party to the other And for further security the Space between the two Royal Tents was Guarded on either side with Knights Armed and drawn Swords in their hands Four hundred English on the one hand and Four hundred French on the other The Twenty seventh of October the two Kings met Four French Dukes waiting on the King of England and Five English Noblemen viz. the Dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester and the Earls of Derby Rutland and Northumberland attending the French King After an Enterchange of Complements between their Majesties it was first by mutual consent order'd That a Chappel at both their equal Charge should in the place of their Interview be Erected which should be called The Chappel of our Lady of Peace And on Saturday the Feast of S. Simon and Jude on further Treaty it was accorded That there should be a Cessation of Arms between the Two Crowns for the term of Thirty years and that King Richard should Espouse Isabel the French Kings Daughter then not above Eight years old On Sunday the two Kings dined together in King Richard's Tent and on the Munday the French King brought thither the young Lady who was entrusted to the Tuition of the Dutchesses of Lancaster and Gloucester and other English Ladies who conveyed her with a Glorious Retinue to Calice And soon after the two Kings in a most amicable manner took their Leaves of each other Walsingham tells us That besides the Presents made by King Richard to the French King and his Nobles amounting to the value of Ten thousand Marks and upwards he spent in this Amorous Voyage above Three hundred thousand Marks And Trussel relates That the Duke of Gloucester was not a little offended both with the Match and the Truce alledging That it was more meet to be in Arms than Amity with the French who being inferiour to the English in Courage did ever over-reach them in Craft and being too weak for War did oft-times prevail and get Advantages by Treaties of Peace That the French Lady being but a Child was a very unfit Match for King Richard as well by reason of the Disparity of their Years as for that he had no Issue by his first Wife and was not like to have any by this unless perhaps in his old Age. But these Arguments not prevailing the Londoners however took the Confidence to petition the King That seeing there was Peace with France he would Release them of the Subsidy granted in the last Parliament towards maintaining the Wars against that Crown This Suit being by them so importunately followed as much perplexed the King untill at length the Duke of Lancaster assured them That the procuring this Peace had spent and lost the King Three hundred thousand pounds wherewith they were pacified though 't is probable not very well pleased The King being returned safe into England with his Baby-Bride though not without the loss of his Tents and a great part of his riâ—h Furniture cast away by a Tempest in crossing the Channel The Earl of S. Paul was soon after sent by the French King to Complement the young Queen who having understood how earnestly Glocester had inveigh'd against this French Alliance was 't is said an eminent Instrument in contriving and occasioning the destruction of that Duke advising the King that he was too dangerous a Subject to be suffered and that it concern'd His Majesty both in Honour to revenge the Disgrâ—ces which he had by him formerly received and in Policy to prevent the Dangers which he had cause to fear Hereupon the King grows jealous of the Duke and as that passion is restless and apt to be fed with the slightest Imaginations so he began to pry more narrowly into his Deportment watch his Words and interpret both Them and his Actions to the worst framing to himself many vain Apprehensions and needless Disquiets To which another Accident not a little contributed viz. the King having been paid the Money lent the Duke of Britain upon Brest Redelivered the Town and thereupon the English Souldiers that were there in Garrison were sent home who at a Feast which the King kept at Westminster coming in great numbers into the Hall As soon as the King had Dined the Duke of Glocester askt him If he observed those men that stood in such Troops in the Hall Yes marry said the King Who were they They were said the Duke those Souldiers who by your Surrendring up of Brest are sent home and must now either steal or starve And so went on to tax the King of an unadvised Deed with words much mere unadvised Insomuch that the King in great anger replyed Why Vncle Do you think me either a Merchant or a Foâ—l to sell my Lands By S. John Baptist No but could I refuse to render the Town when I was tendred the Money lent upon it And certainly it shews either great weakness in the Duke if Brest were but a Mortgage and he did not know it or much Injustice if knowing it he would yet have had the King to detain it against manifest Equity Upon thâ—s and the before-mentioned Provocations there was â—â—dled in the King such a Displeasure against the 〈◊〉 as could never afterwards be quench'd but by â—his Blood And first he would often complain to the Dukes of Lancaster and York of the Duke of Glocesters perverseness in Actions and crosness in Speech who endeavoured to excuse him and pacifie His Majesty alledging That their Brother indeed was more vehement than they could commend but they durst assure His Majesty That his Heart was dutiful and faithful and that such his vehemency proceeded from a zealous regard lest His Majesty and his Kingdom should suffer either in Honour or Revenue and therefore His Majesty had no cause either to fear or be offended with him The King herewith seem'd to be satisfied but however the said two Dukes not knowing how far they might be involv'd in that Displeasure which they still perceived he retain'd against their Brother thought fit for avoiding the worst to retire from Court thereby giving the Duke of Glocester's Enemies the greater opportunities to incense the King against him Nor was it long before this black swelling Cloud of Royal Indignaâ—â— bâ—rst forth into actual Thunder But first In the Year 1397 a Parliament being summon'd at London the Duke of Lancaster caused the
should submit to the disproportionate force of the Invader But these Triumphs cost King Richard dear in the sequel for whilst he is thus engaged and absent from his discontented Kingdom of England the Duke of Lancaster thinks it the only proper time to put in execution what he and others his Confederates had been consulting of Wherefore dispatching some of his trusty Emissaries over to acquaint his Friends and provide Arms and all necessaries for his Arrival He addresses himself to the French King with a Complement That he intended to pay a Visit to his Kinsman John Duke of Britain and therefore desired his Majesties Royal Letters of safe Conduct which being granted he there very privately levied a few Souldiers with whom hiring three Ships of the Duke of Britain he put to Sea for England accompanied with the forementioned Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury Tho. Heir to Richard late Earl of Arundel the Lord Cobham Sir Thomas Erpington and Sir Thomas Ramstone Knights John Norbury Robert Waterton and Francis Coynt Esquires having not in all above twenty Lances and his whole Retinue besides consisting not of above sixty persons so that 't is hard to judge which was the greatest wonder that he durst attempt or that he did succeed in the Conquest of a Kingdom with so inconsiderable a Company But his Confidence was not so much in the People he brought with him as in the strength he should find here relying altogether on the favour and assistance of the people of the Realm whom he knew to be generally male-contented and eager to change their present Governours for any that would but promise them a Melioration of their Condition for the future Yet being wary not to push things on beyound Possibility of a Retreat As he did not presently Land but lay cruising up and down sometimes appearing on one Coast and sometimes on another that he might the better discover how the Inclinations of the people stood and what Forces were ready either to receive or resist him till at last being satisfied therein he put on shore without any opposition about the biginning of June at Ravenspurre in Yorkshire So did he not then make any pretensions to the Crown but gave out very solemnly that he came only to regain possession of the Dutchy of Lancaster and the rest of his lawful Inheritance which all the Nation knew was wrongfully detained from him and so were the more ready to pity and favour him in a Cause notoriously just and against which there was no objection His Arrival was no sooner known but there repaired to him the Lords Willoughby Ross Darcy and Beaumout and shorly after at Doncaster the Earl of Northumberland and his Son Sir Henry Piercy with the Earl of Westmorland and great numbers of the Gentry and common people Intelligence hereof being soon conveied to the Duke of York the Kings eldest Uncle and with whom during his absence he had intrusted the Governance of the Realm He calls together the Bishop of Chichester Lord Chancellor Scroop Earl of Wiltshire Lord Treasurer Sir John Bushy Sir Henry Green Sir William Bagot and Sir John Russel chief Favourites of the Kings Privy Council to consult what was to be done in this Exigency of Affairs Amongst whom whether designedly by some or ignorantly by others I cannot say but I am sure by all perniciously for King Richards Interest It was concluded to abandon London and appoint the Rendezvous for levying Forces against the Duke at S. Albans But when the people out of sundry Counties were drawn thither to be mustered they declared They would not act any thing to the prejudice of the said Duke who they affirmed was unjustly expelled his Country and unlawfully kept from his Inheritance This Refusal of the Commons to serve being looked upon as a very ill Omen to the Kings Cause The Earl of Wiltshire Sir John Bushy Sir William Bagot and Sir Henry Green forsook the Duke of York and fled to Bristol intending to pass the Seas into Ireland to the King And time it was especially for them to take their Heels for these Four were those that were said to have taken of the King his Kingdom to Farm and on that account and other Greivances and Oppressions which they had occasioned were become so odious to the People that their very presence turned away many of the Subjects hearts from their Soveraign it being the displeasure against them rather than any disatisfaction to the Kings Person that caused this general Revolt The Duke of York seeing their flight and the Humour of the Generality favouring Lancaster and loath to run the adventure of an improbable Resistance gave over the Cause and thereupou the rest of the Counsellors either openly declared for the said Duke or secretly held Correspondence with hm resolving to swim with the general Torrent in hopes of greater safety thereby than by stemming that impetuous Tide which bore down all before it For never did Snow-ball encrease so fast by rolling as the Duke of Lancaster's Forces were augmented by his March so that they were quickly grown sixty thousand strong and he resolving to â—ollow the Channel whilst the Current was fierce hastned with his Troops to London that possessing himself thereof being the chief place within the Kingdom for Strength and Store he might best there make the Seat of War and be easiest accommodated both with Provision and Ammunition In his whole March no Opposition was seen no Hostility shewn but all along Gentlemen of the best quality out of Affection or Fear or hope of Reward resorted to his Tents and where ever he stayed rich Presents were mad him and his Army supplyed with necessaries even to superfluity and particularly at London he was received with Triumphant Pageants and Shews solemn Processions of the Clergy and loud Acclamations of the People But he was more regardful of his Affairs than to stay long there and therefore having fix'd the Citizens firm to his Interest and knowing all the danger that could threaten him must be from King Richard's return out of Ireland To obviate that and overtake the fugitive Favourites who were fled to Bristol he with speedy Marches pursued them thither where finding the Castle fortified against him he assaults it so briskly that in Four daies time he forc'd it to a surrender and taking therein the Earl of Wiltshire Lord Treasurer Sir John Bushy and Sir Henry Green he the very next day Sacrificed them to the importunate rage of the incensed People causing them all Three to be beheaded But as for Sir William Bagot he was got to Chester and from thence shifting over into Ireland alone escaped the present vengeance This Execution if it had not been just must yet be accounted Politick for partly because it was so grateful to the People and partly because it excluded all hope of the Kings Pardon It became a great ingagement to all the Dukes followers to adhere more firmly to him for the future The Duke had
and had some private discourse with the Archbishop After a small space the Duke of Lancaster himself all Arm'd approached the Castle and being within the first Gate he there reposed himself till the King attended with the Bishop of Carlile the Earl of Salisbury and Sir Stephen Scroop who bore the Sword before him came forth and sate down in a place prepared for him As soon as the Duke saw his Majesty he came toward him bowing his Knee and advancing forward did so a second and a third time and then the King took him by the hand and lift him up saying Dear Cousin thou art welcome the Duke humbly thanking him answered My Soveraign Lord and King the Cause of my coming at this present is your Honour saved to have Restitution of my Person my Land and Inheritance To which the King replyed Dear Cousin I am ready to accomplish your will so that you may enjoy all that is yours without exception After this coming forth of the Castle the King called for Wine and having drank they mounted and rod to Chester and so by several Stages he was carried directly and with great Expedition to London and lodged on pretence of State but in truth for better security in the Tower having not in all that Journey changed his Apparel but wore only one Sute and that but an ordinary one whereas he was wont to be extraordinary profuse in his Cloaths having one Coat valued at Thirty thousand Marks The King yielded himself the Thirtieth day of August being but the Seven and fortieth day after the Dukes Arrival in England so that he might well assume Caesars Motto Veni Vidi Vici For considering his Marches from Holderness in the North up to London and from thence to Bristol and so into Wales and back again to Chester a man can scarce travel over so much ground in the space that he Conquered it Nay so indulgent was Fortune to him that all the Kings Jewels and Treasure amounting as a late Author asserts to Seven hundred thousand pounds with his Horses and Baggage fell into his hands The King being thus safely lodg'd in the Tower the Duke of Lancaster but in King Richards Name caused Writs to be issued forth for summoning and choosing a Parliament to be held at Westminster on the last day of September following And in the mean time consults with his nearest Kindred and Friends how to steer his Proceedings so as to bring his Affairs by prudence to a lucky end which had hitherto even beyond his hopes been favoured by Fortune In order to which the Duke of York who but a little before had been Governour of the Realm for the King but now his the said Lancasters great Director must be his best Oracle who after divers Debates proposed it as very expedient that King Richard should both voluntarily Resign and also be solemnly Deposed by the Estates of the Realm For otherwise Resignation would be imputed only to his Fear and Deprivation only to their Force whereof the one is always apt to move Pity and the other stir up Envy But if both concur and his desire be combined with his deserts being willing to forsake that which he is adjudged worthy to forfeit then it will appear that he is neither expelled his Kingdom by meer Constraint nor leave it without just Cause This Advice was generally approved and accordingly pursued a Solemn Renunciation being tendred unto the King and by him Signed on Michaelmas Day then next following being the day before the Parliament was to meet The Words Order and Ceremony whereof and of the Articles exhibited against Him and his Deposition thereupon following in Parliament appear in the Records thereof remaining in the Tower Authentick and Attested Copies wherefore are Printed in the Book Intituled Historiae Anglicanae scriptores decem beginning Col. 2743. From whence the same are word for word Translated as follow The Roll of Parliament Summoned and Holden at Westminster in the Feast of S. Fide the Virgin in the first year of the Reign of King Henry the Fourth after the Conquest Membrane the 20th The Record and Process of the Renunciation of King Richard the Second after the Conquest and likewise the Acceptance of the same Renunciation with the Deposition of the same King Richard afterwards ensuing BE it remembred that on Munday the Feast of S. Michael the Archangel in the Three and twentieth year of the Reign of King Richard the Second the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Persons of note that is to say the Lord Richard le Scroop Archbishop of York John bishop of Hereford Henry Earl of Northumberland and Ralph Earl of Westmor land the Lord Hugh le Burnel Thomas Lord de Berkley Prior of Canterbury and Abbot of Westminster William Thyrning Knight and John Markham Justices Thomas Stow and John Burbache Doctors of Laws Thomas de Erpingham and Thomas Gray Knights William de Feryby and Dionisius Lapham Publick Notaries first deputed to the Act under written by the Assent and Advice of several of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and of the Judges and others skilful as well in the Civil and Canon Law as in the Law of the Realm Assembled at Westminster in the usual place of Council did about Nine of the Clock come to the Presence of the said King being within the Tower of London And it being Recited before the said King by the said Earl of Northumberland in the behalf of all the rest before named so as aforesaid joyned with him How the said King heretofore at Coneway in North-VVales being at Liberty did promise unto the Lord Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Northumberland that he would yield up and renounce the Crown of England and France and his Regal Majesty for Causes of his Inability and Insufficiency there by the said King himself confessed and that in the best manner and form as the same could be done as Councel learned should best order The said King before the said Lords and others above named hereunto benignly answering That he would with Effect accomplish what before in that behalf he had promised But desired to have some discourse with his Cousins Henry Duke of Lancaster and the said Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury before he fulfilled such his promise Afterwards the same day after Dinner the said King much affecting the coming of the said Duke of Lancaster and having long waited for him at last the said Duke of Lancaster the Lords and others above named and also the said Archbishop of Canterbury did come to the Presence of The said King in the Tower aforesaid The Lords de Roos de Willougby and de Abergeny and very many others being then there present and after the said King had had discourse with the said Duke of Lancaster and Archbishop exhibiting a merry Countenance here and there amongst them to part thereof as appeared to those that stood round about at last the said King calling to him all that were
same was very expedient did each man singly by himself and in Common with the People unanimously Admit the said Cession and Renunciation After which Admission it was then and there publickly declared that besides such Cession and Renunciation so as aforesaid admitted It would be very expedient and profitable to the Kingdom for the removing of all Scruples and taking away sinister suspitions That very many Crimes and Defects by the said King about the ill Governance of his Kingdom very often committed reduced into writing by way of Articles by reason of which as himself affirmed in the Cession by him made he was deservedly to be deposed should be publickly read and declared to the People And so the greatest part of the said Articles were then and there read through The Tenour of all which Articles is such But yet in the Roll before the Articles there are first these words Here followeth the form of the Oath used and accustomed to be taken by the Kings of England at their Coronation which the Archbishop of Canterbury hath used to require and receive from the said Kings as in the Book of the Pontifical Archbishops and Bishops more fully is contained Which Oath Richard the Second after the Conquest of England did take at his Coronation and the same was administred by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the very same Oath the King afterwards repeated as in the Rolls of the Chancery may more fully be found of Record Thou shall keep to the Church of God and People Intire Peace and Concord in God according to thy power The King shall answer I will keep them Thou shalt in all thy Judgements cause to be done equal and right Justice and discretion in mercy and in Truth according to thy power He shall answer I will do so Thou dost grant the just Laws and Customes as shall be held and dost promise the same shall by thee be protected and for the Honour of God Corroborated quas vulgus elegerit which the People shall chuse to the utmost of thy power He shall answer I do so grant and promise To the aforesaid Questions such others are added as shall be just and all things being so pronounced the King by his own Oath on the Altar before all the Assembly Confirms and Promises that he will 〈◊〉 and observe the same Then follow THE OBJECTIONS or ARTICLES Against the King touching his Deposition IMprimis It is objected against King Richard that whereas by reason of his ill Government viz. His giving away the Goods and Possessions belonging to his Crown and that to Persons unworthy and his indiscreet squandering the same away otherwise adn to that end imposing without cause Collections and other grievous burthens on his People more than they were able to bear and also innumerable other Evils by his assent and Command perpetrated there were by the whole Parliament certain Prelates and others Temporal Lords Elected and Assigned who might with all their power and at their own Charges faithfully labour about the just Government of the Realm Yet the King causing a Conventicle to be held by him with his accomplices the said Lords as well Spiritual as Temporal so occupied about the safety and profit of the Kingdom did propose to impeach of High Treason and did violently draw the Judges of the Kingdom for fear of Death and Corporal Tortures to such his wicked purpose most vigorously striving to destroy the said Lords II. Item The said King lately at Shrâ—wsbury caused several and the greater part of the Judges to come before him and his Favourites privatly in a Chamber and by Menaces and Various Terrors as such affrightments as might fall even upon men of constant Resolutions did induce cause and compel them severally to answer certain Questions there propounded on the behalf of the King concerning the Laws of his Kingdom besides and against their will and otherwise than they would have answered had they been at Liberty and unforced By colour of which answers the said King purposed to have proceeded afterwards to the destruction of Thomas Duke of Glocester and the Earls of Arundel and VVarwick and other Lords against whose deeds and behaviour the said King was much incensed chiefly because they desired the said King to be under good Guidance But Providence withstanding it by the resistance and power of the said Lords the King was not able to bring such his design to effect III. Item When the Lords Temporal defending themselves had withstood his malice and fraud and the said King had prefix'd a day for holding his Parliament to do them and other Inhabitants of the Realm Justice in that behalf and the said Temporal Lords were quietly and peaceably gone home and at Rest in their houses in hope and confidence of the said Parliament the King secretly sent the Duke of Ireland with his Letters and Standard towards Chester and there gathered multitudes in Arms and caused them to rise against the said Lords the Nobles of the Kingdom and Servants of the State publickly erecting his Standard against the Peace which he had Sworn to keep From whence slaughters of men Captivities Dissentions and other infinite mischiefs did ensue throughout the whole Kingdom By which Act he became Guilty of Perjury IV. Item Although the said King had in full Parliament and by the assent thereof Pardoned the said Duke of Glocester and Earls of Arundel and Warwick and all their Assistants and others all offences and had for many years shown Signs of Peace and Love to the said Duke and Earls and to the rest appeared with a pleasant and benign Countenance Yet the said King always and continually bearing Gall in his Heart did at last taking an Opportunity cause the said Duke of Glocester the Uncle of him the said King and also the Son of Edward late King of England of happy memory and Constable of England then humbly going to meet the said King in solemn Procession and the said Earls of Arundel and Wâ—â—â—ick to be taken and Arrested and him the said Duke out of the Kingdom of England to the Town of Callice did cause to be led and there imprisoned and under the Custody of the Earl of Nottingham and of the Appellors of the said Duke detained and without answer or any lawful process whatsoever did inhumanely and cruelly cause to be suffocated strangled and murdered And the Earl of Arundel though he pleaded as well the General Pardon as a Pardon afterwards to him specially granted and desired justice to be done him yet in his Parliament encompassed with armed men and innumerable Archers of the People by him gathered to that purpose by Pressing did damnably cause to be Beheaded And the Earl of Warwick and Lord Cobham did commit to perpetual Imprisonment wickedly and against Justice and the Laws of his Kingdom and his express Oath confiscating their Lands and Tenements as well Fee-simple as Fee-tail from them and their Heirs and giving the same to their Appellors V.
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
on Braibrook Bishop of London To this last mentioned Parliament John Wickliff exhibited a certain Complaint or Articles chiefly against the Abuses of Monks Fryars c. An Abstract of the substance whereof is as follows 1. Article That all Persons of what Kind Order Sect or singular Religion soever made or instituted by men may freely without any let or punishment leave the same at their pleasure and are only bound stably to hold the Rule of Jesus Christ taken and given by him and his Apostles and far more profitable than such new Religions founded by sinful men 2. Art That those things which men have unreasonably and wrongfully condemned As That the King cannot take away the Goods of Prelates Monks c. misbehaving themselves or the like may be vindicated and asserted and the contrary Errour condemning them Exposed For that nothing ought to be condemned unless it savour of Errour or unrighteousness against Gods Law 3. Art That both Tythes and Offerings be given paid and received with and to the same intent only as by Gods Law they ought that is that what is more than sufficient to serve the Priests c. with Necessaries be given to the Poor And that if they be abused to luxury or covetousness then they may lawfully be taken away 4. Art That Christs Doctrine and the Belief touching the Sacrament plainly delivered by him and his Apostles be openly taught in Churches and the contrary Teaching and false Belief brought up by cursed Hypocrites and worldy Priests exploded Wickliff's preferring these Articles which he at large Confirmed both by Authorities and Reason stirred up fresh hatred against him in the Ecclesiasticks and procured him much trouble Wherefore because all Papists so furiously condemn him to this day as a wicked Heretick and we justly own him as one of the first and most eminent Authors of the Reformation in Doctrine by his painful Writing and Preaching his Tenets being generally the same with those professed at this day by the Protestant Churches bating some few Errours intermixt which are as less material so likewise more excusable considering the Ignorance and Blindness of the Age he lived in And since his Story is one of the Remarkables of this King Richard's Reign it will not be impertinent briefly to relate the same Wickliff is said to be descended of an ancient Family in the North but the exact year of his Birth we do not find Recorded he was Educated in Merton Colledge in Oxford became first Divinity Reader in that Famous University and afterwards Rector of Lutterworth in Leicester shire Touching his Parts his Contemporary Henry de Knyghton Cannon of Leicester and by consequence none of his Friends does yet give this Honorable Character That he was the most eminent Doctor of Divinity of those times second to none in Philosophy incomparable for School learning and transcending most both in subtilty of Science and profoundness of Wit These great Abilities enabled him quickly to discover the Falsity of the Doctrines and the Cheat of the Practices then in vogue in the Church For in his Studies he had run through the whole Course of the School-men and amongst them was a professed Follower of Occham by reading whose Works and others that lived about the same time or not long before such as Bradwardine Marsilius Gulielmus de Sancto Amore Abelardus Armachanus and the Learned Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln God gave him Grace to see the Truth of his Gospel and by seeing it to loath Superstition and Popery By Occham and Marsilius he was informed of the Popes Intrusions and Usurpations upon Kings their Crowns and Dignities Of Gul. de S. Amore and Armachanus he learned the sundry Abuses of the Monks and Fryars in upholding this Usurped Power By Abelard and others he got a Prospect of the Right Faith touching the Sacrament of the Lords Supper By Bradwardine he was instructed in the nature of a true Sole Justifying Faith against Merit-mongers and Pardoners Pelagians c. Finally by perusing Grosthead's Works in which he seemed to be most conversant he descryed the Pope to be Antichrist by hindring the Preaching of the Gospel and placing unfit men in the Church only to support his own Tyranny And being thus enlightned his Zeal to Truth would not suffer him to Conceal his Candle under a Bushel And therefore those that assign'd his being depriv'd of a Benefice in Oxford to be the occasion of first spreading his Opinions and would attribute all to Resentment and Revenge speak either rashly or maliciously no such provocation being so much as mentioned by Authors of best Credit to occasion his preaching against the Corruptious of the Times nor is it likely that he would have so inveighed against Clergy-covetousness and Pride if they could have retorted on him any such cause of his Discontent or how can we but imagine that if he had affected any such small Business as the Headship of Canterbury Colledge the Duke of Lancaster who was his Great Patron could have helpt him to it For indeed the Fame of his Learning his unwearied diligence in Preaching and Writing together with his pious exemplary Life procured him many Disciples amongst the People and several Favorers of the first Rank The rather for that he justly opposed the Ambition and Avarice of the Clergy a Theme no less grateful than necessary for the Temporal States-men already found it to be an insufferable Grievance though they wanted Skill or Courage to abate it King Edward the Third though a great Doter on Ecclesiasticks is supposed not to have been his Enemy and 't is certain the pious Duke of Lancaster so our Author Knyghton always calls him and several of the Nobles were much his Friends and Protectors against the Rage of the Prelates for Wickliff being in King Edward's days Cited to Answer before the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London and others in Pauls the said Duke and Sir Henry Piercy Lord Marshal were pleased to attend him thither and would needs have him sit in presence of the Court alleaging he had much to answer and therefore needed convenient ease which favor the Bishop of London refusing to grant hard words arose between the Temporal and Spiritual Lords insomuch that the Duke threatned he would pull down the pride of all the Bishops of England And by reason of their Contest Wickliff for the present got off and little was done against him But in the beginning of King Richards Reign the Pope sent a Bull to the University of Oxford upbraiding them with suffering and countenancing Wickliff and his Doctrine and charging them on pain of being deprived of all their Priviledges and Indulgences that they should no longer tolerate the same But the Heads of the University were so well satisfied with Wickliffe's Integrity that they were at a stand whether they should receive the said Bull or reject it with Contempt However the Pope plyed both the King and the Arch-bishop and Bishop of London
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
all former burdens this present Year 1399. He charged 17 whole Counties with taking part against him heretofore with the Duke of Glocester and the rest of the Lords and threatned with Armed force to spoil and destroy them as publick Enemies And having thus affrighted them sent certain Commissioners Bishops and Lords Temporal to all the said several Shires to let them know his heavy displeasue And that without due acknowledgment of the Offence and Submission to his mercy he could not receive them into his Grace and Favour whereby they were prevailed upon to own themselves Traytors under their Hands and Seals Which was no sooner obtained but they were compell'd to pay insupportable Sums of Money for the Redemption of their Lives and Estates and procuring their Peace whereby they were all so impoverisht that few were able to subsist none at present to resist And yet further to make Conscience it self accessary to slavery New Oaths were imposed not warranted by any Law and the People constrained to Seal Blank Charters and Obligations and deliver them to the Kings use wherein whatsoever he pleased might afterwads be inserted The King bearing so heavy an hand over his People 't is no wonder if they bear an hard Heart towards him who being shallow in Judgment and not able to cover his Vices but with a Cloak of seeming terrible and powerful became first hated and afterwards contemptible and drove many of his Subjects to an Inclination to Revolt as resolved rather to run the hazzard of a speedy ruine by Rebellion than to perish by such a lingring Death of slavery In order hereunto there had been some overtures very privately made by Letters to the Duke of Hereford importuning his speedy return into England remonstrating that as well for the publick good of the Realm as for their own particular safeties they should be forced to use force for their deliverance from these intollerable oppressions and therefore solliciting him to be pleased but to make the Head and they would furnish the Body with an able Army and not only help him in bare wishes and advice but would joyn Hearts and Hands to adventure their Lives and Fortunes in his Quarrel which was also their own so that the danger should be common to all the Glory only his The Duke entertained these Adresses with great wariness and such moderation that he seem'd rather worthy of a Kingdom than desirous of it But to Whet him to an Edge and settle his Resolutions for the Enterprize there wanted not an apt and politick Instrument This was Thomas Arundel late Archbishop of Canterbury who being with the other Bishops in the Parliament when his Brother the Earl of Arundel together with the Earl of Warwick c. were called into question because Clergy-men by the Canons are commanded not to be present at any Judgment of Blood He and the rest of that Order departed the House Upon which occasion being absent not only his Brother was condemned for high Treason and Executed as you have heard but he himself Banish't the Realm his goods seized as forfeit and his Archbishoprick conferr'd on another This Prelate after this Disaster did with divers of his Confederates by several ways and in strange disguises come to Paris and in the House of one Clomigey where the Duke had taken Lodgings had frequent Conferences with his Grace touching the Affairs of England Their debates you may Imagine were managed with the strictest secrecy And I have alwaies been of Opinion that it better becomes a Romance than a serious History for the Author to forge set Speeches on such occasions wherin though he may please he does but deceive the Reader for how suitable soever he may contrive them yet 't is forty to one but the parties themselves might make use of very different Topicks Without guessing therefore at their word let it suffice to say their Consultations terminated in a Result that the Duke should adventure himself over into England and try his Fortune upon the first convenient opportunity Which soon presented it self the most invitingly that could be imagined The Earl of March appointed by the King to be his Lieutenant in Ireland exposing his person too adventurously was slain by the Wild Irish which so exasperated King Richard that he resolved in person to revenge his Death In order to which he raised a great Army but not without grievous Charge to his Subjects and about Whitsontide set forwards accompanied with the Dukes of Albemarle and Exeter divers of the Nobles and many Mitred Prelates amongst whom was the Abbot of Westminster a chief Favourite and taking with him not only the Sons of the Duke of Glocester and Hereford whom he pretended to instruct by that expedition in the Rudiments of War but indeed secured them as Hostages to prevent any attempts that might be made in his Absence by their Relations of whom he was most apprehensive But also all his Treasure Jewels Plate and Royal Robes as if he had design'd as in the event it effectually prov'd to have taken a final leave of his Kingdom and Dignity here in Enland Besides these general discontents of the People occasioned by the former ill-conduct and oppressions of Corrupt Ministers of state he just upon his departure stumbled upon another Error in Politicks for being at Bristol it was suggested to him That Henry Piercy Earl of Northumberland with others his Partisans intended some disloyal attempt and therefore did not tender their service in this Expedition whereupon by a pursevant he commanded the said Earl with all the Forces he could raise forthwith to repair to him whereunto the Earl by a Letter returned an excuse instead of Compliance intreating his Majesty to consider how little necessary it would be for the Irish Service and indeed dangerous to the whole Realm to draw men from such remote places in regard those Rebels were neither so many nor so mighty but that the King had already sufficient Forces to reduce them to Obedience and to disfurnish the Northern parts of their strength would but give an opportunity to the Scots to Invade us And therefore begg'd his Majesty that he would be pleased in such a juncture to Excuse him from attending This Answer the King interprets as an Affront to his Authority and in an unadvised Heat proclaims the Earl and all that should take his part Traytors and orders all their Lands and Goods to be seiz'd to his Use. The Earl resenting this disgrace and forced as it were by necessity does then in earnest make good the Original Information by standing upon his Guard or rather in a posture of open Hostility In the mean time the King pursues his voyage for Ireland whose Arrival Fortune courted with some treacherous smiles for the petty Irish Kings terrified with the Fame of his Power and not daring to trust each other in a joynt Defence endeavoured rather singly to make each one the best Bargain for himself by being the first that
now been Six Weeks in England and the whole Land in effect had submitted to him during all which time there was no news of King Richard whether it were that by reason of contrary Winds he had no Intelligence as some write or that on the first advice he slighted it according to the Humour of some weak Spirits who contemn dangers remote but are astonished at them when they approach too nigh However at last upon certain news in what an hazardous condition his affairs stood he caused the Sons of the Dukes of Glocester and Lancaster to be imprisoned in Trim Castle and determined forthwith for England but the Duke of Aumerle his Principal Counsellor perswaded him to stay till all his preparations were ready Which fatal Council it was King Richard's ill Destiny to follow yet presently sent over the Earl of Salisbury to raise him an Army in Wales and Cheshire against his own coming which he solemnly promised should be withing six days at furthest The Earl imployed his pains so well that he had soon gotten together Forty thousand men but the six days and more being elaps'd and the King not appearing made them murmur and suspect he was dead or come to some disaster but the Earl perswaded them to have patience some few days longer which being likwise expired and no tidings of him they then in discontent broke up and retired to their respective homes At length eighteen days after he had sent away the Earl the King took Shipping attended with Aumerl Exeter Surry the Bishop of London Exeter and Carlile and others of the Nobility and landed in Wales having about him a Competent number of Cheshire men But when he understood that the other Forces he expected to joyn with him were baulk'd and disbanded that most of his Fortresses from Scotland to Bristol had surrendred to Lancaster that the Londoners espoused his Interest that the greatest number of the Nobility and Commons almost in general took part with him and especially that his principal Councellors had lost their Heads at Bristol he was so far from retaining the Magnanimity of a King that he almost left off to be a Man and totally abandoned himself to despair Perplext in uncertainties either where to stay or whither to stir destitute both of Knowledge and Resolution in himself for such amazing Difficulties and obnoxious to weak wavering and unfaithful Counsels from others some advised him to march further into the Land before those Forces he had fell from him alledging that Fortune seconds Valour That in all places he should find some who out of duty or affection or for hire would follow his Standard which was illustrated with Majesty and guarded with Right Others perswaded him to go back into Ireland or over to his Father-in-law of France and thence to return when the Paroxism was a little over and himself better strengthned But the King unacquainted with Marshal Affairs rejected both Counsels and taking a middle course which always in Extreams of that kind is the worst resolved to stay in Wales to attend to what Head this Humour would rise His Souldiers Endeavourd to encourage him to venture a Battel vowing they would live and die with him but this could not at all raise his drooping Spirits but in the Night he stole away from his Army and with the Dukes of Exeter and Surry The Bishop of Carlile Sir Stephen Scroop and half a score more retired to the Castle of Conway where the Earl of Worcester Steward of His Majesties Houshold seeing his Masters Affairs in that desperate state or to revenge the Proclaiming of his Brother the Earl of Northumberland Traytor as before was mentioned at the Kings going for Ireland did openly in the Hall before all the Kings Servants break his white Staff of Office and forthwith repaired to the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the Royal Retinue by his Example scattered and shifted every one for himself Such Court-flies and treacherous Attendants being but like Crows to a dead Carcass who flock to it not to defend it but to devour it for no sooner have they pickt off the flesh to the bones and find no more sustenance but they are upon the wing to be gone The Duke of Lancaster upon Advice of King Richards Arrival out of Ireland left the Duke of York who was now joyned with him at Bristol and marched in the Head of his Troops to Glocester then to Ross afterwards to Hereford where repaired to him the Bishop of that See and Sir Edmund Mortimer on the Sunday following he went to Leymster and there the Lord Carleton came to him from thence he went to Ludlow and the next day to Shrewsbury and thither came to him Sir Robert and Sir John Leigh and other persons of quality being sent from Chester to offer him their Service as also the Lord Scales and the Lord Bardolph out of Ireland From Shrewsbury he repaired to Chester where he dispatcht an Express into Ireland to fetch over his Son and Heir and likewise the Duke of Glocester's Son and Heir both whom King Richard had left in Custody there but it seems their Keepers durst no longer detain them after Lancaster commanded them thence for his Son soon after arrived here but the other young Gentleman was unfortunately cast away at Sea About this time the King seeing himself so beset and straitned that he could neither Resist nor Escape desired a Conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Earl of Northumberland from whose Negotiation he could certainly hope for little good since the one he had formerly banisht and proclaimed the other a Traytor however they upon safe Conduct coming to him declared That if it might please his Majesty to promise that a Parliament should be Assembled and in the same Justice done and the Duke of Lancaster and his followers receive a General Pardon since what they had done was for the publick Weal of the Realm the Duke would be ready to cast himself at his feet and as an humble Subject obey him in all dutiful Services But the King whether perceiving that all this was but Complement and thinking more to oblige them by an early Voluntary offer of what he saw he must be forc'd to part with or whether confounded in himself he grew weary of wearing a Crown that he was not able to support required only that himself and eight more whom he would name might have an honourable Allowance with Assurance of a private quiet Life and then he would Resign the Crown which was readily condescended unto and the King also desiring to speak with the Duke was removed to Flint Castle Soon after the Duke arriving there with his Army the Archbishop of Canterbury the Duke of Aumerle and the Earl of Worcester were sent before to the King who spying them from the Walls where he stood went down to meet them and observing that they did their accustomed Reverence to him upon their knees courteously took them up
that pretence committing horrible Oppressions Exactions and Insolencies in divers parts especially in Kent Norfolk and the adjacent Counties Hence immediately after viz. In the Spring of the Year 1381 arose one of the most formidable and mischievous Insurrections that had been heard of almost in any Age the old Bellum servile of the Romans was acted in England but with greater Impudence and mischief the Slaves are in Arms and the very Dregs of the people will be Lords and Masters The true Causes or Occasions of this unexpected Confusion are very differently related some Monkish Historians followed blindfold by some later Authors out of hatred to Wickliffe and his Tenets which now began to be much disseminated and of which we shall by and by give a further account attributed it chiefly to his Doctrine for 't is an ordinary thing to proclaim all Evils concurring with any Attempts of Reformation in Religion to be proper fruits thereof as the Heathens of old imputed all their Calamities to the then new and rising Sect of the Christians But as we find nothing in that good mans real Positions for several of his Works are yet extant to foment such a lewd Rebellion so neither do the more impartial Authors of that Age lay it at his Door though 't is agreed one Ball a factious Clergyâ—man was an Incendiary of that Combustion which seems in its Original ascribable to the natural desire of Liberty and pride of Humane Nature impatient of Superiority since the Villains or Bondmen were chief in the Tumult and partly to the heavy Taxes and Insolencies of the Collectors and especially of these New Farmers of the Subsidy or Commissioners which exasperated the common people into a Mutiny But whatever were the Provocations dismal were the Effects and might have prov'd fatal to the utter ruine of the Kingdom had not the Providence of God wonderfully prevented it Nor is it less disputable where the Uproar began some say in Essex some in Kent for the Flame wâ—s so suddenly spread into divers places that they could scarce tell where the Fire broke forth and who first headed them is also uncertain some speak of one Thomas a Baker of Fobhyngges others of Walter Tyler at Deptford in Kent to be the Ringleader but the most received Tradition is thus That one of the said Collectors of Poll-money coming to the house of the said Tyler so called from his Trade and requiring of his Wife to pay for a Daughter of hers whom she affirmed was not of age to pay the rude Fellow told her he would presently see whether she were so or not and forceably turn'd up her Coats whereupon the Mother made such an Out-cry that her Husband being at work hard by heard her and came running with his Lathing Staff in his hand wherewith he beat out the Collectors Brains and knowing that for the same he must be hang'd endeavoured to secure himself by greater Crimes drawing together the Rabble and incensing them who of themselves were but too ready unto a Rebellion Thus Multitudes flockt together broke open the Goal at Maidstone where the before-mentioned Ball the Priest was then a Prisoner who having gain'd his Liberty marched along with them and they growing still more numerous some write an Hundred thousand strong came to Blackheath where he made a seditious Preachment to them taking for his Text or Theme the old Proverb When Adam Delv'd and Eve Span Who was then a Gentleman From thence telling them That by Descent from Adam all men were of one Condition That the Laws of the Realm were injurious to Christian Liberty and unjust by making such difference of mens Estates preferring some to be Peers and Potentates with great Authority and large Possessions whereby they took advantage of the humble plyable Condition of others to keep them in slavery hardly affording them Sustenance whereas there ought to be an equal sharing of all things and that in common c. This Doctrine was extreamly pleasing to these Raggamuffins who animated thus with Multitudes and holding Correspondence with others as mad as themselves in other Counties they Arrested all Strangers that they met with making them swear to be true to King Richard and to the Commons and never to own any King that should be called John which they did out of spight to the Duke of Lancaster against whom they had an implacable Malice They likewise beheaded all Lawyers they could catch saying Till they were rooted out the Land would never enjoy free liberty At Black-heath they sent for the King to hear their Grievances but the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Treasurer disswaded him from venturing his Royal Person amongst them which being understood by the Commons they were thereupon more enraged against those two calling them Traytors and to be revenged immediately march towards London in Southwark they discharge all Prisoners and when the Mayor of London would have pull'd up the Draw-bridge and shut the Gates against them the Rabble of the City would not suffer him so that all that Night they came in and out at their pleasure being the more favoured because hitherto they spoiled no man but honestly paid for all they had saying They came not as Robbers but to bring Malefactors to justice The King to prevent Mischief sent them word to meet Him at Mile-end where he would hear their Complaints and part of them accordingly went thither where the King gave them a Câ—arter under the Great Seal of England That thenceforth all the Men of England should be free and discharged from the Tenour of Villenage and all Bondage of that kind The Tenour of which Charter of Manumission as it was given to them and within few days sent into several Counties was as follows RICHARD By the Grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland to all his Bailiffs and faithfull Subjects to whom these Presents shall come Greeting Know yee that of our special Grace we have Manumiss'd or set free all and singular our Liege Subjects and other of the County of E. and them and every of them from all Bondage do Release and Acquit by these Presents And also we pardon to our said Liege-men and Subjects all manner of Felonies Treasons Transgressions and Extortions by them or any of them in any manner whatsoever done or committed And also all and every Outlawry or Outlawries if any be or shall be Published against them or any of them for or by occasion of the Premisses and do thereof to them and every of them grant Our highest Peace In witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made Patent Witness Our self at London the Fifteenth of June in the Fourth Year of Our Reign Upon this Concession most of the Essex-men that met at Mile-end went home but while this was doing others that staid behind in London enter'd the Tower and dragg'd out thence Hen. Earl of Derby the Duke of Lancaster's Son and but a youth