Mothers Handsomness being celebrated for the goodliest Personage and most amiable Countenance of any King that had been before him since the Conquest His Father after he had filled both France and Spain with terrible Trophies of his Valour having taken the King of the former Prisoner and in the latter generously by his Arms restored Peter King of Castile and Leon when injuriously driven out of those Realms by the Arragonians and French was in the Forty sixth year of his Age snatcht away by death some say hastened by Poyson during the Life of his Father King Edward who having then three other Sons still surviving viz. John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Edmund of Langley afterwards Earl of Cambridge and Duke of York and Thomas of Woodstock afterwards Duke of Gloucester For preventing any Quarrels after his own decease and all Pretensions which any of them might make to the Crown to the prejudice of his Grandchild this our Prince Richard to whom as Son of the eldest Brother it was adjudged to belong He resolves to see his Right declared and settled in Parliament Creating likewise the said Richard first Earl of Chester and Cornwall and then Prince of Wales and taking an Oath of all the Lords of the Realm to accept him for their King as his lawful Heir when ever himself should expire Being thus put into the immediate Prospect of a Crown the over-burdensom Glory came too fast upon his tender head for King Edward having over-liv'd his Fortune and the better part of himself his Conquests abroad being daily ravisht back and Alice Price his Concubine shamefully ruling both Him and most Affairs at home oppressed with Grief and Age though some say much more debilitated by the Caresses of that petulant Strumpet resign'd his last Breath at Richmond the One and twentieth of June Anno Dom. 1377 in the Sixty fourth Year of his Age having Reigned Fifty Years four Months and odd Days Upon the first notice of his Death the City of London sent Deputies to Prince Richard who with the Princess his Mother lay then at Kingstone to acknowledge him their lawfull Sovereign and request that he would please to honour them with his Presence and nearer Residence Which Message was kindly received and the young King soon after came to his Palace at Westminster and on the Sixteenth day of July was solemnly Crowned the Citizens sparing no Cost to express their Loyalty and zealous Affection to his Person both in his Passage through the Town and at his Coronation As by several Triumphant Arches Conduits running with Wine and all other Demonstrations of a transporting Joy Insomuch that by some of the Nobility he was Ironically caled The Londoner's King His tender Age being at his Grandfathers Death but eleven years old required some Protector or chief Managers of Publick Affairs but to whom to commit so weighty a Trust is the Difficulty If to One Ambition joyned with Power may tempt to Vsurpation Nor wanted they a Precedent at home whilst they remembred how King John justled out his Nephew Prince Arthur If to several then it might be feared that different private Interests Factions and By-ends from which scarce any of the Grandees were free might intangle or retard their Proceedings so as to obstruct their acting unanimously and chearfully for the Publick Weal At last hoping to please all Pretenders and considering that from a multitude of Councellors most safety might be expected They intrusted first the Kings Three Vncles but Lancaster whether discontented to have any Partners or that he cared not much to intermeddle because he had contracted both the Enmity of the Clergy and the dissatisfaction of the Londoners Or whether having a pretence to the Crown of Castile by the Marriage of Constance Daughter of the before-mentioned King Peter that he might better pursue his Claim thereunto warily withdrawing himself from that Charge several other Lords both Spiritual and Temporal were added till at last being found too many the same was Conferr'd wholly upon the Earl of Warwick who discharged the Office with good satisfaction The Scotch and French promising themselves Advantages from the Kings Minority began to make Attempts upon his Territories almost before he was in possession of the Crown The first surprized the Castle of Berwick the second the Isle of Wight and burnt and pillag'd several Towns and Villages on the Coasts but were both quickly repuls'd and beaten out again About two Months after the Coronation a Parliament is called which sate from Michaelmas to S. Andrew's Day and Banished Alice Price King Edward's Mistress for that whereas formerly being complained of as a Grievance in Parliament she had sworn never to come again into the Kings Court or Presence which the King had likewise confirmed with his Oath yet after the death of the Black Prince she had returned and misgovern'd the King presuming to fit in judicial Courts and by her Presence and Influence to wrest Justice and in his sickness flattered him with hopes of Life so that he neglected making Provision for his Soul till he was quite speechless whilst she in the mean time purloyned away the choicest things in the Palace and stole even the very Rings off his Fingers and then like a Right Harlot left him gasping for Life and unable to speak one word in the Company only of one poor Priest My Author says when she came now to be questioned she had with Money corrupted many of the Lords and all the Lawyers of England who did not only secretly but publickly plead and use all their Interest in her behalf yet she was so vigorously prosecuted by the Knights in Parliament that being by her own Mouth Convicted she was Banisht the Land and all her Estate moveable and immoveable forfeited to the Exchequer from whence by the late Kings Favour or rather Dotage it had unduly been obtain'd There was also by this Parliament given to the King Two Tenths of the Clergy and Two Fifteenths of the Temporalty to be paid the same year but on this Condition viz. That the King for the future should not burden them with more Requests of that kind to draw away his Subjects Money but would live on his Demeasns and continue his War for that as it was there answer'd His proper Royal Revenues were sufficient both to maintain his Court and carry on his Wars if the same were but manag'd by fit and trusty Ministers And therefore it was agreed that this Money so given should as it was raised be deposited in the hands of two Citizens of London William Waller and John Philpot who were to see it bestow'd for the Defence of the Realm 1378. This John Philpot was an Alderman of London a Person of no less Courage than Prudence as appears by the following Exploit Sometime after the Parliament broke up and the Money collected the Duke of Lancaster to whom nothing almost could be denied was very Importunate to have the same delivered to his Dispose promising therewith
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
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
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
the Governance and may appoint what shall be first handled and so gradually what next in all Matters to be treated of in Parliament even to the end of the Parliament And if any act contrary to the Kings pleasure made known therein they are to be punisht as Traytors 7. Quaery of them whether the King when ever he pleases can Dissolve the Parliament and command the Lords and Commons to depart from thence or not To which they unanimously answered That he can and if any one shall then proceed in Parliament against the Kings will he is to be punisht as a Traytor 8. Quaery of them Since the King can when ever he pleases remove any of his Judges and Officers and justifie or punish them for their Offences Whether the Lords and Cemmons can without the will of the King Impeach in Parliament any of the said Judges or Officers for any of their Offences To which they unanimously answered That they cannot and if any one should do so he is to be punisht as a Traytor 9. Quaery of them How he is to be punisht who moved in Parliament that the Statute should be sent for whereby Edward the Second the Kings great Grandfather was proceeded against and deposed in Parliament by means of sending for and imposing which Statute the said late Statute Ordination and Commission were devised and brought forth in Parliament To which they answered That as well he that so moved as he who by pretence of that Motion carried the said Statute to the Parliament are Traytors and Criminals to be punished with Death 10. It was demanded of them Whether the Judgment given in the last Parliament held at Westminster against Michael de Pole Earl of Suffolk was Erroneous and Revocable or not To which Question they unanimously answered That if that Judgment were now to be given they would not give it because it seems to them that the said Judgment is Revocable as being Erroneous in every part of it In Testimony of all which the Judges and Serjeant aforesaid to these Presents have put their Scals in the presence of the Reverend Lords Alexander Archbishop of York Robert Archbishop of Dublin John Bishop of Durham Thomas Bishop of Chichester and John Bishop of Bangor Robert Duke of Ireland Michael Earl of Suffolk John Rypon Clerk and John Blake Esquire Given the Place Day Month and Year aforesaid But though they had thus resolv'd the Law to their Minds there was a greater Difficulty how to arm themselves with Power enough for Execution In order to which they privately sent abroad to Levy Men but found them come in very slowly because the Lords were generally beloved and these Favourites of the King equally hated Nor could they manage their Designs with such secrecy but the Lords had notice whereupon to take off all ill Impressions made against them in the Kings Mind his Uncle the Duke of Gloucester chief of the Lords against whom the Courtiers had combin'd voluntarily before the Bishop of London and many Nobles of the Realm did make Oath That he had never imagined any thing to the prejudice of the King but had studied and performed to his power what tended to the Kings Honour and Advantage and what also was well pleasing to him except only that he could not kindly regard the Duke of Ireland whom the King immoderately lov'd and who had dishonoured one that was not only a near Relation of him the said Duke of Gloucester but also of the King 's which it was fit should be reveng'd c. With the Contents of which Oath the Bishop acquainted the King who seem'd inclinable to credit the same till Michael de Pole began to exasperate him against the Duke To whom the Bishop smartly reply'd Be silent Sir it becomes not you to talk who stand condemned in Parliament and are now alive only by the Kings Grace and Favour Which so offended the King that he commanded the Bishop out of his presence bidding him be gon home to his Church who at his return inform'd the Duke what had pass'd and how much the King was sway'd by those wicked Councellors So that it was high time for him to provide for his own safety and obviate that destruction which was prepared for him Hereupon the Duke of Gloucester with the Earls of Arundel Warwick and Derby who were all designed to the same Condemnation if not prevented advising together resolve to stand upon their Guard and Treat with the King concerning the premisses and that favour which he afforded to them who were Traytors both to him and the publick and the imminent hazard of the Kingdom thence arising The King endeavoured to have surprized them singly before they had united their Retinues but failed therein so that with a very considerable force they assembled together at Haryngey-Park The King was just then preparing as it was said for a Journey to Canterbury to pay as was pretended his Devotions at the Shrine of S. Thomas Becket but indeed from thence to have pass'd into France and delivered up to the French King Calice and several other important Places which by the fatal Counsel of his pernicious Flatterers he had sold unto that King But this News of the Lords being in Arms diverted that Voyage and put King Richard into great Confusion not knowing what measures to take Some of those about him were for reconciling the Lords with fair promises others were for raising the Londoners and what other Forces could be procured and fighting them of which opinion especially was the Bishop of York But this the more prudent disapproved alledging the Dishonour and Damage would accrue to the King if worsted Whilst these wise men could not agree what course to take there was a Fool stumbled on an Expression which if duly considered might have done the King more Service than all their Debates This was a certain Knight called Hugh de Lynne who had been bred in the Wars but by an accident lost his Understanding and now as a Natural was maintained by the Charity of several of the Nobles and Retainers to the Court The King meeting him during these Consultations and being willing to divert himself by hearing his foolish discourse askt him jocularly What he should do with the Lords that were Assembled together in the before-mentioned Park To which the said Hugh very melancholy answered March forth Sir and let us fall upon them and kill every Mothers Son of them which being done by God's Eye you will gallantly have destroyed all the faithful Subjects you have in your Kingdom In the mean time Mediators for Peace posting to and fro between the King and the Lords it was at last by their Intercession concluded that the Lords should come before the King at Westminster and receive the Kings Answer to their Grievances The Bishop of Ely and divers other persons of Honour and Credit giving their Oaths on the Kings behalf That no Treachery or ill practice should be used but that they
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