Commons desire his Absence that they would rather want so much Treasure than have him here to Seduce and Infatuate the King As for Michael Pole he was committed to Windsor-castle Furthermore the Parliament observing that by the Covetousness of the King's Ministers the publick Revenue was vainly consumed the King insufferably defrauded and abused the Common People of the Realm by continual and grievous Burdens miserably impoverished the Rents and Profits of the Nobles and Great Men much impaired and their poor Tenants in many places forc'd to abandon their Husbandry and leave their Farms empty and desolate And yet still by all these things the Kings Officers only becoming unmeasurably Rich They therefore chose Fourteen Lords of the Realm and gave them leave and power to Inquire into Treat of and Determine all Affairs Causes and Complaints arising from the Death of King Edward the Third to that present time As also of the King's Expences and his Ministers and all other matters whatsoever happening within the time to them Assigned and caused the said Lords so chosen to be sworn on the Holy Evangelists well and truly to regulate all Burdens and other Affairs incumbent on the King and Kingdom and to do Justice to every one requiring the same according to the Grace and Understanding given them by God And also the King took an Oath to stand to their Ordination and to encourage them in their Actings and not to revoke any Article of their Power but to confirm and hold good and stable whatsoever the said Counsellors should do or order during such time of whom Six with the Three Officers of the King appointed by consent of Parliament viz. The Chancellor the Treasurer and the Lord Privy Seal should at any time make a Quorum And it was also Ordained by Act of Parliament That if any one should Advise the King to make any Revocation of their Power though the King should not Revoke it yet the Person probably Convicted only of such ill Counsel should for the same forfeit all his Lands and Goods and if he attempt it a second time be drawn and hang'd as a Traytor Whereupon the King issued forth his Commission under the Great Seal of England Confirming the said Lords in such power in the words following Translated from the Original French RIchard King c. To all those to whom these Letters shall come to be seen or heard Greeting We being duly Conscious of the grievous Complaints of the Lords and Commons of our Realm in this present Parliament Assembled That our Profits and Rents and the Revenues of our Realm by private and insufficient Council and the Ill-governance as well of certain our late Great Officers as of divers other persons being near Our Person are so much consumed wasted embeziled given away granted and aliened destroyed and evilly disposed of and expended That We are so much impoverished and stript of Treasure and Means and the Substance of Our Crown so diminished and destroyed that We are neither able to Sustain Honourably as We ought the State of Our Houshold nor maintain and manage those Wars wherewith Our Realm is Environ'd without great and outragious Oppressions and Charges on Our People greater than they can bear And also that the good Laws Statutes and Customs of Our said Realm to which we are bound by Oath and obliged to maintain are not nor have been duly observed nor executed nor full Justice or Right done to Our said People but many Disinherisons and other most great Mischiefs and and Damages have happened as well to Vs as to our People and whole Realm Now We for the Honour of God and for the good of Vs and our Realm and for the quiet and relief of Our People willing against the said Mischiefs to establish a good and meet Remedy as We have already of Our free Will at the Request of the Lords and Commons Ordained and Assigned such Persons for Our great Officers that is to say Our Chancellor Treasurer and Keeper of Our Privy Seal as We esteem good faithful and sufficient for the Honour and Profit of Vs and Our said Realm so also of Our real Authority certain knowledge good pleasure and free will and by the Advice and Assent of the Prelates Lords and Commons in full Parliament in Aid of the good Governance of Our Realm and the well and due execution of Our Laws for the Relief in time of that miserable Condition under which both We and Our Subjects have long labour'd having full confidence in the good Advice Sense and Discretion of the most Honourable Fathers in God William Archbishop of Canterbury Alexander Archibishop of York Our most dear Vncles Edmund Duke of York and Thomas Duke of Gloucester the Honourable Fathers in God William Bishop of Winchester Thomas Bishop of Exeter and Nicholas Abbot of Waltham Our beloved and faithful Richard Earl of Arundel John Lord Cobham Richard le Scroop and John Devereux Have Ordained Assigned and Deputed and do Ordain Assigne and Depute them to be of Our Great and Continual Council for One whole Year next after the Date hereof to Survey and Examine together with our said Great Officers as well the Estate Condition and Government of Our whole Realm and of all Our Officers and Ministers of whatever Estate Degree or Condition they be within Our Houshold or without and to Inquire and take Information by all such ways as they shall think meet of all Rents Revenues and Profits belonging to us or which are duâ— and ought to appertain to us either within the Realm or without And of all Gifts Grants Alienations and Confirmations by Vs made of any Lands Tenements Rents Annuities Profits Revenues Wards Marriages Escheats Forfeitures Franchises Liberties Voidances of Archbishopricks Bishopricks Abbeys Priories Farms of Houses Possessions of Aliens c. And also of all Revenues and Profits as well of Our said Realm as of Our Lands Lordships Cities Villages and other Possessions beyond the Sea and of the Benefices and Possessions and other Revenues of all that are in Rebellion against the Pope And of the carrying Moneys out of the Realm by the Collectors of the Pope or the Procurators of Cardinals Lumbards or other persons And likewise of the Profits of Our Customs and all Subsidies granted to Vs by the Clergy and Laity since the day of Our Coronation to that time And of all Fees Wages and Rewards of Our Officers and Ministers great and small and of Annuities and other Rewards granted and Gifts made to any persons in Fee or term of Life or in any other manner And of Lands Tenements Rents Revenues and Forfeitures bargained or sold to the prejudice and damage of Our Crown And also touching the Jewels and Goods which were Our Grandfathers at the time of his Death and of Charters and General Pardon and how General Payments have been levied and expended how Garrisons and Forts have been maintained And of all Defaults and Misprisions as well in Our Houshold
pretence of seeing him take Shipping but in truth that being there remote they might more securely consult how to circumvent and destroy the Duke of Gloucester the Earls of Arundel Warwick Derby Nottingham and other faithful Subjects of the Kingdom For there were with the King Michael de la Pole Tresylian the Chief Justice and many others that were conscious of their own Deserts and feared to be brought to Justice as well as the said Duke of Ireland and therefore readily conspired with him against the Lords Having thus laid their Plot and agreed the manner of putting it in execution back comes the King to Nottingham and as if Ireland's Voyage had been quite forgot brings him and the rest of the Cabal with him Thither they summon divers Citizens of London the Sheriffs of the several Counties and all the Judges of England The Londoners because several of them having lately confessed themselves guilty of Treason had been pardoned by the King were call'd that in return of that Favour they might accuse the Lords of such Crimes as the King with his Counsellors in Wales and contrived against them The Sheriffs were advised with what Forces they could raise for the Kings Service against the Barons and also commanded that they should not permit any to be returned as Knights of the Shire or Burgesses for the next Parliament but such as the King and his Council should direct or nominate To which the Sheriffs reply'd That the Commons generally favoured the said Lords so that it was not in their power to raise an Army in this Case and as for Parliament-men the People would hold their ancient Customs which require that they be freely chosen by the Commons Nor could the same be hindered These Answers were not very agreeable to the Court-designes But the Judges were more compliant for not onely Tresylian the Chief Justice had about the same time indicted two thousand persons at Coventry and he and John Blake an Apprentice of the Law perused and approved under their Seals the Indictment against the Lords but also the better to colour Proceedings with a Form of Law several Questions were propounded to them touching the late Act of Parliament giving the fourteen Lords power to inspect and punish miscarriages of the Kings Ministers as aforesaid To the end as modern Author observes That what the Duke of Ireland and the rest thought fit might pass for Law out of the Judges mouths the Questions being so fram'd and propos'd as it was easier to understand what the King would have to be Law than what in truth was so For it seems they proceeded against their Consciences in that several of them and particularly Belknapp Chief Justice of the Common Pleas did as Knyghton Col. 2694. assures us very earnestly refuse to signe the Resolutions till Ireland and de Pole forced him to it by threatning him to kill him if he refused Whereupon having put to his Seal he burst forth into these words before them Now want I nothing but a Ship or a nimble Horse or an Halter to bring me to that death I deserve If I had not done this I should have been kill'd by your hands and now I have gratified the Kings pleasure and yours in doing it I have well deserv'd to die for Treason against the Nobles of the Land Which last words were like to have prov'd fatally Prophetick for not long after in the next Parliament he was indeed condemned to die though not executed for the same Some Authors say That all the Judges of England except William Skipwith absent by reason of sickness joyn'd in answering these Questions which seems probable because they were afterwards all question'd and punish'd for the same yet in the Record there are but five named possibly the others might consent though only these set their Seals to it The Questions so proposed to the Judges and their Answers were as follow BE it remembered That on the 25th day of August in the 11th year of the Reign of King Richard the Second at the Castle of Nottingham before our said Lord the King Robert Tresylian Chief Justice of England and Robert Belknappe Chief Justice of the Common Bench of our said Lord the King John Holt Roger Fulthorp and William de Burgh Knights Justices and Associates of the said Rob. Belknappe and John de Lokton the Kings Serjeant at Law in the presence of the Lords and other Witnesses under written were personally required by our said Lord the King on the Faith and Allegiance wherein to him the said King they are bound to answer faithfully unto certain Questions here-under specified and to them then and there truly recited and upon the same to declare the Law according to their discretion Viz. 1. Imprimis It was demanded of them Whether that new Statute and Ordination and Commission made and published in the last Parliament held at Westminster be not derogatory to the Royalty and Prerogative of our said Lord the King To which they unanimously answered That the same are derogatory thereunto especially because they were against his will 2. Quaery of them How those are to be punished who procured that Statute and Commission To which they unanimously answered That they were to be punished with Death except the King would pardon them 3. Quaery of them How those are to be punished who moved the King to consent to the making of the said Statute Whereunto they answered with one accord That they ought to lose their Lives unless his Majesty would pardon them 4. It was askt them What punishment they deserved who compell'd streightned or necessitated the King to consent to the making of the said Statute and Commission To which they all answered That they ought to suffer as Traytors 5. Quaery of them How those are to be punished who hindered the King from exercising those things which appertain to his Royalty and Prerogative To which Question they unanimously answered That they are to be punished as Traytors 6. Quaery of them Whether after in a Parliament assembled the Affairs of the Kingdom and the cause of calling that Parliament are by the Kings Command declared and certain Articles limited by the King upon which the Lords and Commons in that Parliament ought to proceed if yet the said Lords and Commons will proceed altogether upon other Articles and Affairs and not at all upon those limited and proposed to them by the King until the King shall have first answered them upon the Articles and Matters so by them started and express'd although the Kings Command be to the contrary whether in such case the King ought not to have the Governance of the Parliament and effectually over-rule them so as that they ought to proceed first on the Matters proposed by the King or whether on the contrary the Lords and Commons ought first to have the Kings Answer upon their Proposals before they proceeded further To which Question they answered unanimously that the King in that behalf his
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
perils and mischiefs aforesaid and that the King was departed from the Council of the Realm and wholly abandon'd himself to the Counsels of the said Malefactors and Traytors By means whereof the French King had Ships and a Royal Power on the Sea ready to have arrived in England and the said Realm and the very Language of England to destroy And yet no Provision was made or good Governance taken for the safety of the King nor of the Realm Finding no other Remedy did Remonstrate to the King very fully how he was Ill-advised and Affairs most perniciously manag'd by the aforesaid Traytors and Malefactors declaring to him their wicked Conditions and most humbly beseeching him for the safety of himself and of all his Realm avoiding the said impending dangers to forsake and turn these Traytors from his Presence and Company and no longer to conduct himself after their evil Counsel but to hearken to the sage loyal and discreet persons of his Realm Whereupon the said Archbishop and other Traytors to defeat this wholsom Advice of the Parliament by their false Counsel did then cause the King to command the Mayor of London suddenly to levy a great Power of the People of that City to attaque and put to death all the said Lords and Commons except such as were of their Cabal At the Execution of which Villany the said great Malefactors and Traytors should be present and Parties to the scandal and great disservice of the King and his Realm 15. Item When the said Archbishop and other Traytors perceived that the said Mayor and good People of London had openly refused in the presence of the King to accomplish such their Treachery and lewd purposes touching the Murder of the saids Lords and Commons They then by such their trayterous Encroachment falsly Advised the King and so far prevailed that our Lord the King did absent himself from his Parliament for many days and did certifie them That he would never Approach the said Parliament nor Commune with the said Lords and Commons touching the Affairs of the Realm for any danger loss or mischief that might happen to him or his Realm unless he were first assured by the said Lords and Commons that they would not say or act any thing in that Parliament against any of the said Malefactors save only in the Process which was began against Michael de la Pole All which was to the great disservice of the King and of his Realm and contrary to the Ancient Ordinance and Liberties of Parliament 16. Item The said Lords and Commons of the Realm after they found the Kings Will by the malignant Counsel and excitement of the said Arch-Bishop and other Traytors to be such that he would not suffer any thing to be commenced prosecuted or done against the said Malefactors and Traytors were pleased to acquiesce and not proceed therein any further against his pleasure And afterwards in the said Parliament taking the Advice and Counsel of all the Lords Judges and other sage Commons of the said Parliament how the Estate of the King and his Royalty might best be preserved from the Perils and Mischiefs aforesaid could not find any apter Expedient than to ordain that Twelve of the Loyal and sage Lords of the land should be of Council to the King for one year then next ensuing And that there should be made during that time a 〈◊〉 and Commission whereby they should hav◠〈◊〉 and sufficient Power to order Matters for 〈◊〉 Government of the King and of the Realm and what appertained to the King as well on this side as beyond the Seas And to repel repair and redress what ever should have been ill done against the Estate Honour and Profit of the King and Kingdom and to do divers other things necessary for the King and Realm as in the Commission thereupon issued and remaining of Record in Chancery is contained And that no person should presume to Counsel the King or any way move him against the said Ordinance and Statute on pain of forfeiting for the first Offence all their Goods and Chattels and pain of Death for the second such Expedient and Ordinance to be made if it would so please the King and not otherwise To which Ordinance or Statute all the Judges of the Land agreed and gave their consent unto and Advice for the same as well in presence of the King as of the Lords And also our Lord the King did fully give his Assent to the same and thereupon the said Ordinance Statute and Commission were made and accorded unto by the Assent of the King and of the said Lords and Judges and other Sages and Commons Assembled in that Parliament for the Safâ—â—y of the King his Royalty and Realm And yet after the end of the said Parliament the aforesaid Trâ—yâ—â—rs and Malefactor by such their evil 〈◊〉 falsly and trayterously did inform the King That 〈…〉 Statute and Commission were made in Derogation of his Royalty and that all those who procured or advised the making thereof or counselled the King to assent thereunto were worthy of Death as Traytors to the King 17. Item That after this the said Traytors the Archbishop c. caused the King to Assemble a Council of certain of the Lord-Justices and others without the Assent or Presence of the said Lords of the great Council to whom they made many Demands and very much suspicious touching divers Matters whereby the King the Lords and the Common-people have been involved in most grievous trouble the whole Realm disquieted and the Hearts of many withdrawn from the King saving their Allegiance 18. Item To accomplish their said High-Treasons the said Traytors the Archbishop c. caused the King to go with some of them throughout the midst of his Realm and to make the Lords Knights Esquires and other good people as well in Cities and Boroughs as in other Places to come before him and there to become bound by some Obligations others by their Oaths to our said Lord the King to be with him against all people and to accomplish the purpose of the King which at that time was to accomplish the will and purposes of the said Malefactors and Traytors drawn in thereunto by their false Contrivances Flatteries and Deceits Which Securities and Oaths were made against the good Laws and Vsages of the Land and contrary to the Oath of the King to the great dishonour of the King and Kingdom By means of which Oaths so inforced the whole Realm was Embroil'd in great Murmurs and trouble by the said Traytors and in danger to have suffered divers important Mischiefs 19. Item To inforce their purposes the said Traytors caused the King to absent himself in the furthest parts of this Realm to the intent that the Lords appointed by the said Ordination Statute and Commission might not Confer and Advise with Him touching the Affairs of the Realm to the interruption and hindrance of the purport and effect of the said
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
Issue he had before Marriage begot on Katherine Swynford to be Legitimated and at the same time was granted to the King half a Tenth by the Clergy Sâ—â—n after which King Richard contrary to the Oath he had foâ—merly taken recall'd the Judges from Ireland whom by his consent the Nobles in the other Parliament had for their Demâ—â—its baâ—isht And certain idle Reports being spread That he was or was like to be chosen Emperour The King thereupon began to take upon him a greater Port and Magnificence than ever before To maintain which he fleec'd the Common people and borrowed almost of every body great Sums of Money So that there was no Prelate City or Citizen of Estate in the whole Kingdom but furnisht the King out of their Stock And now the Duke of Glocester being retired to his House at Plashey in Essex the King with the Earl of Nottingham Lord Marshal and the Earl of Huntington one day on a sudden rode thitherwards but left the Earl Marshal with a selected Troop in Ambuscade in the Forest whilst the King and his Retinue rode directly to the Dukes House who with all dutiful respect and heartily welcome receives and entertains them Which Treat being over the King desires the Duke to accompany him towards London who with a very small Company waited on him accordingly but being come into the Forest on a sudden the King clapt Spurs to his Horse and the Duke was stopt by the Earl Marshal and by violence hurried to the Thames there blindfolded and against his will shipt and carried to Calice then an English Garrison where he was kept close Prisoner till afterwards privately put to death The next day the King invites the Earl of Warwick to Dinner and shew'd him very good Countenance but upon his Return caused him â—o be Arrested and sent to prison At the same time the Ear of Arundel was apprehended and the Lord Cobham and Sir John Châ—ney sent to the Tower These strange Proceedings Alarm'd the whole Nation therefore to quiet the people a Proclamation is issued setting forth that these Noblemen were seized not for any of their old Offences but for nâ—w Crimes which should be discovered and fairly proceeded against in the next Parliament Accordingly soon after He caused them to be Indicted suborning saith Walsingham Appealers to accuse them in Parliament at Nottingham viz. The Earl of Rutland the Earl Marshal the Earl of Kent c. In the mean time the King draws out a great power of Armed-men Multos Malefactores our Author calls them from Cheshire and Wales whom he kept about him as a Guard for his Person About the Octaves of the Feast of the Virgin Maries Nativity a Parliament began at London whereof one Sir John Bushy was Speaker and Sir William Bagot and Sir Henry Green chief Sticklers Persons of whom the Historians give this Character That they were Proud Ignorant Covetous and withal Ambitious To which might be added that they were most notable Flatterers too if it be true that Bushy in all his Speeches did not attribute to the King Titles of Honour due and accustomed but such as were fitter for the Majesty of Almighty God than for any earthly Prince By the Importunity of these men and others all the Charters of Pardon formerly granted by the King were called into question the King protesting they were drawn from him against his Consent The Clergy first gave their Opinion but somewhat sparingly That they thought then they might be revocable and the Temporal Lords shewed themselves of the same opinion but the Judges and Lawyers opposed it How it was carried according to the King's Inclination and all the said Pardons vacated and annull'd Having thus remov'd all Obstacles they next fall roundly to work only the Prelates pretending a Scrupulosity that they might not be present at Judgments of Blood chose Sir Henry Peircy their Procurator and departed the House First Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury was accused for executing the Commission against Michael de Pole for which his Temporalities were seiz'd his Lands and Goods forfeited and he himself adjudged to perpetual Banishment and to depart the Realm within six Weeks In whose place the King caused to be preferred his Treasurer Roger de Walden who because saith our Author he presum'd to ascend to the Bed of his living Father that is to take the Archbishoprick whilst the said Thomas surviv'd was two years afterwards turn'd ouâ— by the Authority of the Pope Sir R. Bakâ—r tells us That when this Archbishop was first accused of Treason he offered to make his Defence but Sir John Bushy besought the King That he might not be admitted to Answer lest by his great Wit and Cunning he might lead men away to believe him If all their Proceedings were like this we may easily guess at the Justice of the rest In the next place They proceeded to Judgment against the Earl of Arundel who in vain pleaded the Benefit of his Pardon for he was notwitstanding sentenc'd to be Drawn Hang'd and Quartered which was mitigated by the King into to the favour of Beheading The Earl when called to Answer Condemn'd and at his Death betrayed not the least symptoms either of Guilt or Fear But observing the Earls of Nottingham and Kent of whom the first was his Son-in-Law the second his Nephew to be bery busie at his Execution He calmly said to them Truly it might have beseemed you at least rather to have been absent but the time will come ere-long that as many shall marvel at your Misfortune as they do now at mine This Earl was wonderfully belov'd by the Comons and Walsingam affirms That the King was afterwards haunted with an Imagination of his Ghost not being able to close his Eyes but strait he fancied Arundel stood before him And the more to disturb him a Miracle was reported That his Head of it self was grown to his Body Which was asserted with so much Confidence that the King caused his Tomb to be opened to disprove the Fiction and understanding that still the People went on Pilgrimage thither as to the Shrine of a Saint or Martyr caused the Augustin Fryars in London amongst whom he was buried to take down his Scutcheons and abscond his Grave by laying a new Pavement over it The Lord Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick upon his Arraignment did not carry himself with so much Courage and Gallantry but confess'd with Tears he had been a Traytor in joyning with the Duke of Glocester and other Lords formerly acting against the Kings pleasure Therfore thogh condemned to Die the King remitted that Punishment and only ordered him to perpetual Imprisonment in the Isle of Man The Lord Cobham was also banisht though there was no new Matter against him But only that he had been appointed by Parliament to be one of the Commissioners of Inspection before mentioned in the tenth year of his Reign As for the Duke of Glocester having so great an Interest in the
Affections of the People it was not thought safe to bring him to a publick Tryal but concluded with more Policy than Justice to put him to death secretly without either Conviction or Examination And therefore being a close Prisoner as aforesaid at Callice he was by certain Ruffians ordered thereunto by Nottingam Earl Marshal suddenly one Night strangled or stifled to death between two Feather Beds Thus fell this Great and for ought we find in Writers of those times Good Prince the Son of One and Vncle of another King and so beloved of the People that with him saith Walsingham the general Hope and Comfort of the Commonalty of the Land expired And now the King caused the Parliament to be Ajourn'd till after Christmas and then to sit again at Shrewsbury Where in the beginning of the Year 1398 they met accordingly and the King by the Interest he had made amongst them caused not only all the Proceedings of the Parliament in the Tenth Year of his Reign to be Condemned and Annulled But also obtained a Concession from them That after the present Parliament should break up It s whole Power should yet be Conferred upon and remain in certain Persons by them particularly named or any Seven or Eight of them Who by vertue of such Power granted did afterwards proceed to Act and determine many things concerning the Publick State of the Nation and properly the Work of a Parliament to the great prejudice of the Realm And to six himself more firm with Friends or Illustrate his Triumphs over those he thought his Enemies The King about this time was most liberal in Conferring of Honours Creating no less than Five new Dukes of whom one was the Earl of Derby made Duke of Hereford and an other the Earl of Nottingham probably for his good Service in dispatching the Duke of Glocester raised to the Title of Duke of Norfolk One Dutchess One Marquess and Four Earls Amongst whom he made a Distribution of a great part of the Lands of the Duke of Glocester and of the Earls of Arundel and Warwick imagining by this double Bounty of Honour and Estate to support it to have tyed them with a double Obligation of Duty and Affection Not considering that hired Friends for the most part are seldom either satisfied or sure but rather like some Ravens that Naturalists tell of in Arabia which being full-gorg'd have very sweet tuneable Notes but empty scriech most horribly Furthermore to gratifie the Cheshire-men who had chieflly assisted him and his late Favorites he qualified that County with the Name and Dignity of a Principality and added to the rest of his own Titles that of Prince of Chester A General Pardon was also granted for all Offences to all the Kings Subjects but clogg'd with a strange Clause of Exception exempting Fifty Persons in number from the Benefit thereof whose Names were not expressed but left to the Kings own knowledge and pleasure to the end that if any of the Nobility should happen any way to displease he might nominate him or them to be of the Number excepted and so still keep them within his danger By which Reservation the General Pardon became no Pardon at all since no man in England could assure himself that he was included in it Lastly To Corroborate and add the greater esteem to the Acts and Proceedings of this Parliament King Richard purchased the Popes Bulls containing grievous Censures and Curses on all that should presume to break or oppose them Which were solemly published at Pauls Cross and other places throughout England All things succeeding thus suitable to the Kings pleasure the Heads of the Party that opposed his Will having lost their Heads the Nobles afraid and the Commons unable to express their Resentments any otherwise than in Sighs or whisper'd Murmurs and Complaints His Officers of State His Laws nay His very Parliament all modell'd to His Designs He could not but sing Requiems to His Soul and look upon himself in a Condition altogether happy and secure When yet to shew that there is still an over-ruling Providence that can blast all Projects though never so subtlely laid if not sounded on Equity and carried on with Justice A Monarch Paramount who confoundeth the Councils of Princes and is terrible to the Kings of the Earth when once they become disobedient unto and forgetful of him Behold on a sudden all his Affairs by unexpected Means and unlikely Instruments are embroil'd more than ever and this great Prince left so destitute of Power or Friends as to be forced without striking one stroke to surrender his Crown and which was yet more greivous to a generous Mind acknowledge himself both unworthy and unfit to wear it any longer This Wonderful Catastrophe has since been thought to have been fore-shewn by some prodigious Tokens that happened about this time As that in this Year 1398 when almost throughout all England all the Bay-trees withered and afterwards beyond all expectation grew green again And another perhaps more remarkable on New-Years Day following When a very deep River running between the Villages of Suelleston and Haâ—â—wod near Bedford on a sudden stopt its Course and divided it self so as that for three Miles space the Channel remain'd dry But waving such uncertain Presages if we consider the several Steps that led to this grand Mutation The first both in order of time and Influence may be reckon'd that of the Banishment of the Duke of Hereford Son of the Duke of Lancaster This was occasioned by means of a Quarrel between Him and Moubray Duke of Norfolk but what the grounds were of that Quarrel is somewhat differently reported by Authors for though all agree 't was about certain words spoken to the Kings dishonour yet of what nature those words were is not so certainly related But the best that is most probable account thereof that I can meet with is as follows The Duke of Hereford either disdaining the undesâ—rved Favours and Advancement of some Persons about the King or disliking that his Sovereign should be abused and his Countrey opprest by such ill Instruments or perhaps to shew his owm skill and sufficiency in the Art of Government happened one day in familiar Conference with the Duke of Norfolk to complain that the King too much undervalued the Princes of the Blood and much discouraged the rest of the Ancient Nobility from intermedling in Publick Affairs That instead of using their able Advice and Service He was engrossed by a few Vpstart Favourites of base Birth and baser Qualities having no sufficiency either for Council in Peace or Courage in War And whose dishonest Conditions had deservedly contracted an Odium and Contempt of the whole Realm whereby the Honour of the Kings Person was much obscured the safety of his Estate endanger'd and the Dignity of the English Nation not a little impaired And that it was high time that the King should provide some Redress herein And all this â—e protested he mention'd
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
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
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 Premunice against Provisors and the abuses of Begging Fryars which so bridled and restrained the Popes Rampant Usurpations that he could but little prevail here in England during the Reign of King Edward the Third and King Richard the Second Towards making of which Laws Wickliffe's Doctrine struck a great stroak he maintaining very learnedly and stoutly the Kings jurisdiction Crown and Dignity against Papal and all kind of Encroachments by the Laws Civil Cannon and Common of which last especially he made great use and was well skill'd therein But for full satisfaction concerning this famous Man I shall here add the Testimonial of the University given in his behalf after his Death as follows viz. TO all singular the Children of our holy Mother the Church to whom these presents shall come the Vice-Chancellor of the Vniversity of Oxford with the whole Congregation of the Masters wish perpetual health in the Lord Forasmuch as it is not commonly seen â—hat the Acts and Monuments of Valiant men nor the praise and merits of good men should be pass'd over and hidden with perpetual silence but that true report and fame should continually spread abroad the same in strange and far distant places both in Testimony thereof and for the example of others Forasmuch also as the provident discretion of Mans nature hath devised this defence against slander that when ever Witnesses by Word of Mouth cannot be present the Pen by Writing may supply the same Therefore the special good will and care which we bare unto John Wickliff sometime Child of this our Vniversity and Professor of Divinity moving and exciting our minds as his manners and conditions required no less with one Mind Voice and Testimony we do witness all his conditions and doings throughout his whole life to have been most sincere and commendable whose honest manners good disposition profoundness of learning and most redolent fame we desire the more earnestly to be notified to and celebrated by all the faithful for that we understand the maturity and ripeness of his Conversation his diligent Labors and Travels tend much to the Praise of God the help and safeguard of others and the profit of truth Wherefore we signify unto you by these presents that his Conversation even from his youth upwards unto the time of his death was so praise-worthy and honest that never at any time was there any note or spot of suspicion noised of him but in his answering reading preaching and determining he behaved himself laudably and as a stout Champion of the Faith vanquishing by the force of the Scriptures all such who by their wilful Beggary Blasphemed and slandered Christ's Religion Neither was this said Doctor Convict of any Heresie or burned by our Prelates Note his Bones were not yet but long after ordered to be taken up and burnt by the Council of Constance after his Burial For God forbid thaâ— our Prelates should have condemned a man of such honesty 〈◊〉 an Heretick who amongst all the rest of the Vniversity had Written in Logick Philosophy Divinity Morality and the Speculative Art beyond comparison the knowledg of all which things we desire to testifie that the fame and renown of this said Doctor may be more evident and had in repute amongst those into whose hands these present Letters Testimonial shall come In Witness whereof we have caused these our Letters Testimonial to be Sealed with our Common Seal dated at Oxford in our Congregation House the 15. of October in the Year of our Lord 1406. About the same time several of Wickliffs followers as Nicholas of Hartford John Aston John Purney and other Priests were much troubled for the same and the like Opinions among the rest our Author Henry de Knyghton tells us that on Palm Sunday he heard one at Leicester Preaching these horrible Heresies and Errors in his Opinion following viz. That to Blabber with the Lipps and multiply Words in Prayer signified nothing That to give Money for Celebrating of Masses would not avail any body unless he led a good Life That Christ never commanded any Body to Begg That no Man is bound to give Almes to any that has better Clâ—athes and outward accomodation than himself That none is truly a Prelate nor capable of a Bishoprick unless he be a Teacher and Preacher That Money got by Confessions is accursed and as well the giver as receiver Excommunicate That Preachers carrying about Baggs and Scripps are false Teachers since Christ in his Gospel Commands the contrary and the true Disciples of Christ never practised it That for those to Begg who are able to work is Condemned by the Law Civil and no where approved by the Law Evangelical That Christ Converted many of divers States and Conditions to the Faith but we do not find in the Holy Scripture that ever he converted a Priest These Opinions spreading so fast and the Bishops perceiving that yet they had not sufficient Authority by any Law or Statute of this Realm to proceed unto Death or Imprisonment against any for matters of Religion they therefore solicited the King for the power of the Temporal Sword who overcome with their importunity or perhaps incited by hopes of some Subsidy to be given him by the Clergy was content to give his Assent to an Ordinance bearing the name of an Act made in the Parliament holden at Westminster Anno Quint. R. 2. Ca. 5. in these Words ITem forasmuch as it is openly known that there be divers evil Persons within the Realm going from Country to Country and from Town to Town in certain Habits under dissimulation of great Holiness and without the License of the Ordinaries of the places or other sufficient Authority Preaching daily not only in Churches and Church-yards but also in Markets Fairs and open Places where a great Congregation of People is divers Sermons containing Heresies and notorious Errors to the great emblemishing of Christian Faith and Destruction of thr Laws and of the Estate of Holy Church to the great Peril of the Souls of the People and of all the Realm of England as more plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the Reverend Father in God the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops and other Prelates Masters of Divinity and Doctors of the Canon and of Civil Law and a great part of the Clergy of the said Realm specially assembled for this great cause which Persons do also Preach divers matters of slaunder to ingender discord and dissention betwixt divers Estates of the said Realm as well Spiritual as Temporal in exciting of the People to the great Peril of all the Realm which Preachers cited or summoned before the Ordinaries of the places there to answer to that whereof they be impeached they will not obey their Summons and Commands nor care not for their Monitions nor Censures of the Holy Church but expresly despise them And moreover by their subtil and ingenious words do draw the People to hear their Sermons and do
to recover that Kingdom belonging to him in the Right of his Wife which was granted and Forty thousand Marks promised him for his aid therein and accordingly on Easter-Day he came to take his Leave of their Majesties The King commanding that he should be styled King of Spain presented him with a Crown of Gold as the Quen did anoâ—her to her Sister A great number of the Youthfull Nobility and Gentry attended the Duke in this Voyage who having Matcht one of his Daughters to the King of Portugal with joynt Forces Invaded Castile and took many strong Towns but at last on a Treaty it was agreed that the King of Spains Eldest Son should marry Katherine another of the Dukes Daughters and the Duke receive Two hundâ—red thousand Nobles in hand and the Sâ—m of Ten thousand Marks yearly during the Lives of him and his Dutchess and in consideration thereof all Claims should cease Walsingham tells us the Duke had such Favour from the Pope as to be Arm'd for the Recovery of this Kingdom with a Grant of Remission of Sins to all that should adventure with him or aid him with money towards the Voyage and had got as as large Indulgences as the Bishop of Norwich lately had as aforesaid but he well observes That the frequency of granting such Pardons and Relaxations had now rendered them vile and contemptible to the People so that there was scarce any body regarded them or would give Two pence to this last Croisadâ— though they were so extravagantly fond of the former whence is taught this Lesson That a Cheat though never so religious is not to be plaid over twice in one Age. The Year 1386 â—illed England with great Consternations and frequent Aâ—arms by means of an Invasion threatned by the French who had prepared above Twelve hundred Sail of Ships and a mighty Army on that Design which lay â—overing on the Coasts daily waiting an opportunity to pass the Channel and the better to secure their men at their first Landing in England they had framed a wonderful Wall of Wood three Miles in length of great thickness and twenty Foot high with which they would have inclosed their Camp But it happned that the Lord Beauchamp Captain of Calice took three of their Ships laden with part of the said Inclosure which King Richard caused to be set up about Whinchelsea for securing that Town and also he took another Ship full of Guns Gunpowder and other Instruments of War With which Losses and especialy by the adversness of the Winds which from the beginning of August to Alhallontide stood full in their Teeth so that their Ships could not come out and their Victuals and provisions by lying all that time being spent they were discouraged from prosecuting the Enterprize and nothing was effected And now King Richard every day more and more entring upon the Confines of his Destiny as if he had not done enough in making his Minion Marquess of Dublin Creates him Duke of Ireland and would says Walsingham had Fortune favor'd his Wishes have gone on to make him a King so strangely was he bewitch'd to him and so excessively he doted on him Non sina nota utfertur fami iaritatis obscoenae which I forbear to english out of Respect to Royal Majesty as being willing to think it a fulsom Imagination of that Monk that writes it rather than charge an English Prince with such a detestable suspicion But this undeserved Honour together with the Exorbitancies of Michael ae Pole and other Publick Miscarriages had made no small Impressions on the Minds of many of the Peers of the Land as well as the Commons On Monday the morrow after the Feast of S Jerom the King held a Parliament at Westminister which ended on the Feast of S. Andrew the Proceedings whereof Henry Knyghton who lived at that very time Relates as follows P. 2680. The King saith he for the most part staid lingering at Eltham whilest the Parliament sate the nobles therefore of the Realm and the Commons with joynt Assent sent this Message to the King That the Chancelor and Treasurer ought to be removed from their Offices because they were not for the good of the King and Kingdom and because also they had such matters to treat of with Michael de Pole as could not be treated of whilest he remain'd in the Office of Chancellor The King hereat incensed return'd his Command That they should mention no more those things but that they should proceed to the Business of Parliament aud hasten to a conclusion adding That he would not for them or at their instance remove the meanest Scullion boy in his Kitchin out of his place For the Chancelor in the Name of the King had desired of the Commons Four Fifteenths to be paid in one year and as many Tenths from the Clergy alledging that the King was so much in debt that he could not otherwise be freed from his Debts and other Burdens lying upon him as well upon the account of war as of his Houshold and other Charges But they by joynt Assent of Lords and Commons returned this Answer to the King That they neiher could nor by any means would proceed in any Business of Parliament nor dispatch somuch as the least Article till the King should come and shew himself in his own Person amongst them and remove the said Michael de Pole from his office Upon which the King sent back this Command to them That they should order Forty Knights of the most substantial and wisest of the Commons to come unto him and declare the Votes of all the rest But then were they more afraid every man for his own safety For a secret Rumor had privately come to their Ears That the death of these Forty was design'd by Treachery For it was said as appeared afterwards unto them That as these should be going to speak with the King a multitude of Armed Men should set upon and murther them Or that being invited to a Feast by the King some Armed Ruffians should rush in upon them and kill them or that they should be murther'd in an instant in their Lodgings in London But Nieolas de Exon Mayor of that City refusing and by no meanes consenting to so great a wickedness the Villany was deferr'd and the cursed Contrivance by degrees brought to light Making use therefore of wholsom Advice they by common consent of the whole Parliament sent the Lord Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester and Thomas de Arundel Bishop of Ely to the King at Eltham That they should on the behalf of the Lords and Commons of his Parliament Salute him and deliver their Votes or desires to him under such a Form or Sense of words Sir King The Prelates Lords and whole People of the Commons in Parliament with most humble submission recommend themselves to the most Excellent the word is wanting in our Author of your Royal Dignity wishing you a successful Course of Honour and
invincible against the power of your Enemies and the most firm Band of Peace and hearty Love towards your Subjects as well for the increase of your owu good and advantage in respect of God and the Salvation of your Soul as for the unspeakable comfort of all the People which you govern On whose behalf we intimate these things anto you That we have it Settled Granted or Confirmed by ancient Constitution by a Custom laudable and approved and which none can gain-say or contradict That the King can Assemble the Lords Nobles and Commons of the Kingdom once a year unto his Parliament as the highest Court of the Realm in which all Equity ought to shine bright without any scrupâ—e or spot clear as the Sun when ascending to the Meridian where as well Poor as Rich may find a never failing Shelter for their Refreshment by restoring Tranquility and Peace and removing all Kind of injuries where publick Grievances or Errors are to be redress'd where with the most prudent Councill the state and Goverment of the Kingdom is to be treated of That the King and Nations Foes within and their Enemies abroad may be discovered and repulsed by such means as most conveniently and honourably it may be done and also with wholsom deliberation therein to fore see and order how the necessary Burdens of the King and Kingdom may with most ease the publick Want â—onsidered be supplied And they conceive also that since they are to support publick Charges incumbent they should have the Supervisal too how and by whom their Goods and Fortunes are expended They say moreover that this is their Priviledge by ancient Constitusion that if the King wilfully estrange himself fram his Parliament no Infirmisy or necessary Cause disabling him but obstinately by his ungovernable Will shall withdrow himself and be absent from them the time of Forty days as not regarding the vexation of his People 〈◊〉 nor their grievous Expences That then from that time it shall be or is lawfull for all and every of them without any damage from the King to go home and every one return into his own Country And Now You for a longer time have absented Your Self and for what Cause they know not have refus'd to come amonst them To this the King Now do We plainly discover that our People and the Commons intend to resist and are endeavouring to make Insurrections against us and in such case nothing seems better to us than to call in our Kinsman the King of France and from him to ask Advice and Aid nay even to submit Our Self to him rather than to Truckle to our own Subjects To which they answered thus THis Council is not sase for You but rather tends to inevitable destruction For the King of France is your Capital Enemy and the much greatest Adversary to your Kingdom and if be should once get footing on your Land would sooner endeavour to dispoil you of it to invade your Kingdom and to drive you from your Throne than in the lest to lend you his assisting hand if at any time which God forbid you should stand in need thereof Rather therefore recall to your Memory how your Grandfather King Edward the Third and in like manner your Father a Prince of the same Name and Renown with Sweat and Hazards during their whole Lives through innumerable Labors indefatigably contended for the conquest of the Kingdom of France which by hereditary Right appertained to them and after them to you by Succession Remember how many of the Nobles what innumerable Troops of the Commons of England as well as those of France lost their Lives and underwent the peril of Death in that Quarrel Remember the inestimable Treasures the People of England freely parted with for the maintanance of that War And yet what is more to be lamented they have in your time sustained so many Taxes for the support of your Wars as that now they are reduced to such incredible Poverty that they can neither pay their Rents for their Livings nor assist their King nor afford themselves even the Necessaries of Life Thus The Royal Power is impoverished and an unhappy condition brought upon all Great Men and Nobles of the Kingdom as well as the Commons weakned and undone For a King cannot be poor that has a rich People nor that King be rich whose Subjects are Poor Nor do these Ills redound alone to the King but to all the Nobility and Great Men every one in his Rank and degree And all this is brought to pass by the evil Ministers of the King who have ill-Governed both King and Kingdom to this day and unless we do quickly set our helping hands to the Work and raise the healing Prop the Kingdom of England will in less time then we think of be miserably subverted But there is yet one part more of our Message remaining on the behalf of your People to be imparted to you That we have an ancient Constitution and it was not many Ages since experimented it grieves us that we must mention it That if the King through any evil Council whatever or through a weak Obstinacy or Contempt of his People a perverse froward Will or irregular Course shall alienate himself from his People and refuse to Govern by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm by the laudable Ordinances and and faithful Advice If he shall throw himself headlong into wild Designs and stubbornly exercise his own singular Arbitrary Will That from that time it shall be lawful for his People by their full and free Assent and Consent to Depose that King from his Throne and to establish some other of the Royal Stock upon the same in his stead Which grievous and unhappy Dissention That it may never spring up amongst your People That your People by no such lamentable Divisions pleasing only to your Enemies may ever through your evil Counsellors be subvered That this Kingdom so honourable and above all the Nations in the World from your Fathers days hitherto most famious in War may not now in your time through the Distractions of ill Goverment he miserably laid waste That the Title and Inscription of these Miseries may never be placed as a scandalous Mark upon your Reign and this unhappy Age. Recal we beseech you your Royal Mind from such foolish and pernicious Councils and whatsoever they are that suggest such matters to you do not only not hearken to them but totaly remove them from you for in a time of danger it will be found that they can no ways effectual serve you c. By these and such kind of Speeches the King laying aside his Anger was reduced to a better Temper and being pacified promised That after Three days he would come to the Parliament and with Mature Advice willingly Acquiesce to their Petitions The King then came as he had promised and John de Fortham Bishop of Durham was removed from the Office of Treasurer and the Bishop of Hereford made
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
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
where finding but cold Entertainment he went to Vtrecht and after two or three years rambling up and down as a Fugitive died at Lovâ—â—n in Brabant Though his War-horse and Armour being found on the Brink of the River raised a general Report that he was Drown'd which probably might facilitate his escape Amongst his Baggage was taken a very considerable sum of Gold and what was of greater value the Kings Letters ordering his present Repair to London and promising to live and die with him against all Opposers But this Disaster Thunder-struck the whole Cabal The Earl of Suffolk in disguise flies to Calice where his own Brother being Governour of the Castle refused to harbour him without the consent of the Lord William Beauchamp Governour of the Town who return'd him back as a Prisoner into England to the King But the King not onely let him go at large but sent for over and for some time Committed the said Beauchamp for such his honest diligence The rather 't is supposed because he had formerly for the Kings Interest thwarted his pleasure for on the late Bargains and private Intrigues with France King Richard having as aforesaid sold Calice to the French King sent a Knight with Letters under his Privy-Signet commanding Beauchamp to deliver up the Town to him and one Sir John Golofre with other Letters to the French King but he knowing the vast Importance of the place and believing the King imposed upon by wicked Councel resolutely answered That the Custody and Government of the Town was committed to him in the Presence and by the Authority of the King and the Nobles of the Realm openly and publickly and he would not surrender it in Hugger-mugger nor part with his Command but in their presence And also he took Golofre's Letters to the French King from him and privately transmitted them to the Duke of Gloucester For which Affronts fronts the King waited an opportunity to be reveng'd and had proceeded 't is thought more severely but that the said Beauchamp was a person extreamly beloved and the King was not at present in a condition to use rigours and so by the Mediation of Friends he was quickly discharg'd The rest of the hated Faction as the Archbishop of York Justice Tresylian and others ran every man like Coneys to their Covert and were not to be heard of Nay the King betook himself to the Tower of London and there made Provision for his Winter-Quarters all his Designes being frustrated first by Rashness in taking Arms and afterwards by Cowardise in using them And to adde to his Confusion about the same time an Envoy from the French King was taken with Letters whereby the French King Licens'd King Richard the Duke of Ireland and some others with Attendants to such a number to come into Boloign where he would be ready to receive them with great Pomp and from them receive the Possession of Calice and other strong Holds for which he had says Walsingham fol. 332. already paid King Richard The Lords therefore perceiving such considerable Territories ready to be lost abroad as well as Extravagancies practised at home hasten'd their March first to S. Albans and next to London where with an Army of Forty thousand men they Arrived on S. Stephen's day the Citizens furnishing them with Victuals and whether more out of Fear or Love I cannot say offered to let them into the City but they chose rather to quarter in the Suburbs proâ—â—sting not to depart without personal Conference with the King which at last he granted permitting them first to search the Tower to prevent any Surprize The Duke and Earls then waited upon him and after a few cold Complements laid before him the Confederacy against their Lives at Nottingham his Letters to the Duke of Ireland contrary to his Royal Word together with his dishonourable Treaty to deliver up Calice to the French King c. The King heard them at first with silence and patience and afterwards with a dejected Countenance and not without some Tears seemed to acknowledge that he could neither deny or justifie what they complain'd of and certainly the Stomachs of the Lords must needs more Relent to those luke-warm drops than they would to his greatest violence So agreed it was that he would meet them next day at Westminster there to treat of these and other necessary Affairs of the Realm But no sooner were they gone but some Abusers of the Royal Ear suggested that his going thither would be neither Honourable nor safe but bring both his Person into present danger and contempt and occasion a future Abridgment of his Authority Whereupon the Kings Mind turned and began to Retract his promise This heated the Lords so much that being flusht with opportunity and power they sent him peremptory word That if he did thus faulter with them and would not appear to Consult the good of the Realm they would take other measures Intimating no less than the Election of another This so work'd upon the King that he was pleased to meet them and to consent though not without some Reluctancy that several of his Minions should be banisht the Court as Nevil Archbishop of York the Bishop of Durham Friar Rushok the Kings Confessor and Bishop of Chichester but both he and York had already shewed them a fair pair of Heels The Lords Souch Harmyworth Burnel and Beamont and several Knights as Sir Alberick Vere Sir Balwyne Bereford Sir John Worth Sir Thomas Clifford Sir John Lovel c. Together with certain Ladies Quae non tantum inutiles sed infames Who were saith Walsingham not only unnecessary useless and unprofitable at Court but likewise scandalous and infamous And these were the Lady Mowen the Lady de Molyng and the Lady Ponyngs Wife to the said Sir John Worth who all were obliged to appear next Parliament There were likewise actually taken into Custody Sir Simon Burley Sir Thomas Trivet Sir Nicholas Brember and divers other Knights Clifford Lincoln and Motford Clerks John Beauchamp de Holt the Kings Steward or Privy-Purse Nicholas Lake Dean of the Chappel and John Blake Barrister at Law who were all disposed in several Castles After Candlemas 1388 the Parliament began at London though the King used many means to dash or defer the same The Lords came attended with sufficient Strength to suppress any Rebelliâ—n or Tumult that might happen and continâ—â—d their Sitting till Whitsuntide to the great Fear of some Hope of others and Expectation of all Part of their first Work was for several days to Summon the Duke of Ireland the Archbishop of York Michael de Pole Earl of Suffolk Tresylian the Chief-Justice and Sir Nicholas Brember Citizen of London to answer to the Treasons wherewith they stood charged but none of them appearing they were all Out-law'd and their Lands and Goods forfeited and seized into the Kings hands with a provision by common consent in Parliament that they should never be pardon'd or permitted to appear
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
Statute and Commission and great prejudice of the King and Realm 20. Item The said Malefactors and Traytors after they had Estranged both the Person and good will of the King from the said Lords so Commissioned and that he esteem'd them Traytors and Enemies and that they had obtain'd the Opinions of the Judges suited to their wicked purposes did agree and design That several of the said Lords and also divers Loyal Commons should be first Arrested and then Indicted in London and in Middlesex and by false Inquests Attainted of certain Treasons falsly imagined against them and so put to shameful Death To which purpose they had procured an evil and false person of their Conspiracy called Thomas Vsk to be Vnder-Sheriff by whose means the said false Inquests were to be taken and the wicked Design accomplished by colour of Law And for the more compleat effecting thereof they caused the King to send his Letters of Credence by John Rypon a false Clerk and one of their Crâ—w directed to the Mayor of London That he should seize the said Duke of Gloucester and others therein named to be Indicted for certain Treasons in such manner as the said Nicholas Brember the false Knight and John Blake who were thereof fully informed should direct By vertue of which Letters of Credence Brember and Blake carried to the Mayor the said false Indictment commanding him on behalf of the King that to his power he should promote the same And also they ordered that a strong Watch should be set to seize my Lord Duke of Lancaster upon his first Arrival 21. Item The said Traytors having trayterously informed the King that he should believe that the said Ordination Statute and Commission were made in derogation of his Royalty and Prerogative did further perswade him that the same was made with an intention to degrade and finally to depose our Lord the King And perceiving that thereby he lookt upon his Loyal Lords as Traytors and Enemies They yet further advised Him that by all means possible as well by the power of his own Liege People as by the force of his Enemies the French and others he should destroy and put to death the said Lords and others that assented to the making of the said Ordinance and that the same might be done so privily that none should know of it till it was done 22. Item In order to these Treasons by their Counsels they caused the King to send Letters to his Enemy the French King some by Nicholas Southwell Groom of his Chamber and others by other persons of base condition as well Aliens as Denizons requiring and praying the said French King that he would with all his Power and Counsel Aid and assist our Lord the King to destroy and put to Death the said Lords and others whom they had so falsly represented as Traytors to the great Disturbance of the whole Realm 23. Item That usurping to themselves Royal Power they caused the King to promise the French King by his Letters Patents and Messages for such his Assistance to accomplish the said Treason and Murder to give and surrender to the said French King the Town and Castle of Calice and divers other Forts and Places as Brest Chirburgh and others c. to the great dishonour trouble and prejudice of the Realm 24. Item That after this trayterous Contrivance it was agreed between our Lord the King and the French King by the instigation and influence of these Traytors that a Parley or Interview should be had in the Marches of Calice and a Truce of five years between the Realms of England and France At which Interview by Treachery the said Lords and others whom the King took for Traytors attending him thither should there by Treachery be slain In order to which they procured several Letters of safe Conduct from the said French King for the said Duke of Ireland's going into France to accomplish this ill purpose and Treason which Letters are ready to be shewn 25. Item That the said Brember by the Assent and Counsel of the said other Traytors did come into London and without the Assent or knowledge of the King did cause all the Companies of the City to be sworn to hold and perform divers Matters as they are contained in the said Oath which is of Record in Chancery And amongst other things That they should hold with and maintain the Will and purpose of the King to their power against all that are or shall be Rebels or contrary to his Person or Royal pleasure And that they should be ready to destroy all those which do or shall purpose Treason against our said Lord the King in any manner and be ready with their Mayor to resist during life all such Traytors c. At which time the King by the Mis-information of the said Evil-doers and Traytors and by the false Answers of the Justices did firmly hold the said Lords and others who assented to the making of the said Ordinances Statute and Commission to be Rebels Traytors and Enemies unto him By all which the said Traytors endeavoured to stir up the said People of London to destroy the said Lords and other Loyal Subjects 26. Item The said Brember and other Traytors to the King and Realm usurping to themselves Royal Power Did of their own Authority without any Warrant from the King or his great Council cause Proclamation to be made through the City of London That none of the Liege Subjects of our Lord the King should Sustain Comfort or Aid Richard Earl of Arundel and Surrey one of the Lords of the Kings Great Council during the said Commission nor sell him any Armour Victuals or other Necessaries on pain of being preceeded against as Rebels carrying about and shewing a Patent of the Kings but of another Tenor the better to compass such their false Proclamation 27. Item They also caused it to be Cryed and Proclaimed in the said City of London That no person should be so hardy as to presume to speak any ill or utter any word or expression against them the said Malefactors and Traytors or any of them on pain of forfeiting all they had Which was an Encroachment on the Royal Power 8. Item The said Archbishop Chief Justice and other Traytors caused the King to command his Council to make certain persons throughout England Sheriffs who were named or recommended to him by them the said Traytors with an intent to get such persons as they should name returned for Knights of the Shire to serve in Parliament And to keep out from thence Gentlemen good and loyal against the good Laws and Customs of the Land 29. Item The said Traytors during the time that the King had so taken both Parties into His Protection as aforesaid did falsly counsel and prevail with the King to command by His Letters divers Knights and Squires Sheriffs and other Ministers of several Counties to Levy Men and assemble all their Power to joyn with the said Duke
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
there present did publickly say before them that he was ready to make the Renunciation and to renounce and recede according to the Promise by him made as aforesaid And so forthwith although as was said unto him he might have made some Deputy to have served as the Organ of his Voice for avoiding so tedious a labour as the reading of the said Cession and Renunciation reduced by others into a Schedule of Parchment Yet the said King very willingly as appeared and with a pleasant Countenance holding the said Schedule in his hand said that he himself would read it and distinctly read the same through And also did absolve all his Leige People and renounce and recede and swear and other things did say and pronounce in Reading and did Subscribe it with his own hand as is more fully contained in the said Schedule the Tenor whereof is such THE RESIGNATION OF RICHARD II. IN the Name of God Amen I Richard by the Grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland do Absolve the Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates of Churches Secular or Regular of whatsoever Dignity Degree State or Condition they be The Dukes Marquesses Earls Barons Vassals and Valvasors and all and every my Leige People whatsoever Ecclesiasticks or Seculars of all the said Kingdoms and Dominions by what Name soever they are known from the Oath of Fealty and Homage and other Oaths whatsoever to be made and from all Bond or Tie of Legiance Royalty and Dominion whereby they have been or are obliged or otherwise in any manner bound unto me And I do Free Release and Acquit them and their Heirs and Successors for ever from the said Oaths and other Obligations whatsoever And I do dismiss them free unloosen quit and in full Immunity as far as relates to my Person to every effect of Law which may follow from the Prâ—mises or any of them And I do purely of my own Accord simply and absolutely in and by the best manner way and form that may be in these Writings Renounce and totally Resign all Kingly Dignity and Majesty and the Crown and Dominion and Power of the said Kingdoms and Dominions and all other my Dominions and Possessions or any way belonging or appertaining unto me by what Name soever they may be reckon'd up within the aforesaid Kingdoms or elsewhere And all Right and Colour of Right and Title Possession and Dominion which at any time I have had now have or by any means shall have in or to the same or any of them with their universal Rights and Appurtenances or any Dependences however on them or any of them And also the Rule and Government of the said Kingdoms and Dominions and their Administration and all manner of meer and Mixt Empire and Jurisdiction to me in the said Kingdoms belonging or that may be belonging and to the Name of King and the Honour Regality and Celsitude Royal purely voluntarily simply and absolutely by the best manner way and form that the same can be done in these Writings I do Renounce and them do totally Resign and in Deed and in Word dismiss and quit the same and from them do recede for ever Saving to my Successors Kings of England the Rights to them or any of them belonging or that shall any way belong in the said Kingdoms and Dominions and all other the Premises for ever And I do confess acknowledge repute and truely and out of certain knowledge do judge my self to have been and to be utterly insufficient and unuseful for the Rule and Government of the said Kingdoms and Dominions with all their Appurtenances And that for my notorious demerits I deserve to be Deposed And I do swear upon these Holy Gospels of God by me corporally touched That I will never Act contrary to the said Resignation Renunciation Dismission and Cession nor any way oppose the same in Deed or in Word by my Self or any other or others Nor will as much as in melies permit the same publickly or privately to be contraried or opposed But the said Renunciation Resignation Dismission and Cession will for ever esteem ratified and well-pleasing and firmly hold and observe the same in the whole and in every part So God me help and these Holy Gospels of God I the before named King Richard do here subscribe my self with my own Hand And presently to the said Renunciation and Cession the said King added by word of mouth That if it lay in his power the said Duke of Lancaster should succeed him in his Kingdom But Because as he said this did not depend on his pleasure he did request the said Archbishop of York and Bishop of Hereford whom he for that time had constituted his Procurators to declare and imitate such his Cession and Renunciation to the States of the Kingdom That they would be pleased to signify to the People his will and intention in that behalf And in token of such his will and intention did then and there openly pluck off the Golden Ring of his signet from his own finger and put it upon the finger of the said Duke of Lancaster desiring as he affirmed that the same might be made known to all the States of the Kingdom Which being done taking their leaves on both sides they all went out of the said Tower to return to their Lodgings But on the Morrow viz. Tuesday the Feast of S. Jereme in the great Hall at Westminster in the place honourably prepared for holding the Parliament the said Arch-bishops of Canterbury and York and the Duke of Lancaster and other Dukes and Lords as well Spiritual as Temporal whose names are under written and the Commons of the said Kingdom Assembled in a great multitude in Parliament being present and the said Duke of Lancaster being seated in a place due to his Quality and the Chair of State or Royal Throne being solemnly adorn'd with Cloth of Gold but then empty without any body presiding therein the above named Archbishop of York in the name of himself and of the said Bishop of Hereford according to the order of the said King did publickly declare the Cession and Renunciation to have been so made by him as aforesaid with the subscription of his Royal Hand and delivery of his Signet And the said Cession and Renunciation did there cause to be ready by another first in Latin and then in English Immediately after which it was demanded of the Estates and People their present to wit first of the Archbishop of Canterbury to whom by reason of the dignity and prerogative of his metropolitan Church of Canterbury it belongs in this behalf to have the first voice amongst the rest of the Prelates and Nobles of the Realm whether for their interest and the utility of the Kingdom they would be pleased to admit such Renunciation and Cession And the said States and People judging from the Causes by the said king himself in his Renunciation and Cession aforesaid signified that the
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.
of Money by way of Loan to be paid again at a certain term notwithstanding the said King faithfully promised by his several Letters Patent to the several persons of whom he borrowed the said Moneys that at the term limited as aforesaid he would repay the same yet he did not fulfill such his Promise nor are they yet satisfied the said Moneys whereby such Creditors are much agrieved and not only they but many others of the Kingdom repute the King unfaithfull XV. Item Whereas the King of England by the Revenue of his Kingdom and the Patrimony belonging to his Crown is able to live honestly without the oppression of his People as long as the Kingdom is not burthen'd with the Charge of Wars yet the said King in a manner for his whole time during the Truces between the Kingdom of England and its Adversaries hath not only given away a great yea indeed the greatest part of his said Patrimony and this to unworthy Persons But also hath further imposed on his Subjects so many Burdens of Monies granted as it were every year of his Reign that thereby he hath extreamly and too excessively oppressed his People to the Impoverishment of his Kingdom Not converting the Goods so levied to the Commodity and profit of the Kingdom of England but prodigally squandering it away for the Ostentation of his Name and in Pomp and Vain-glory Whilst great Sums of Money are owing in his Kingdom for the Victuals of his Houshould and other things bought though he hath abounded with Riches and Treasures more than any of his Progenitors XVI Item The said King not willing to keep or Protect the just Laws and Customs of his Kingdom but according to his Arbitrary Will to do whatsoever should occur to his Desires sometimes and very often when the Laws of his Kingdom have been expounded and declared to him by the Judges and others of his Council and that they have desired that he would do Justice according to those Laws hath expresly and with an angry and haughty Countenance said That his Laws were in his Mouth and sometimes That they were in his Breast And that he himself alone could make and change the Laws of his Kingdom And being seduced with that Opinion did not suffer Justice to be done to very many of his Leige People but by Threats and Terrors hath forced very many to cease from the prosecution of Common Justice XVII Item That after certain Statutes had been made in Parliament which always bind till they are specially revok'd by the Authority of another Parliament The said King desiring to enjoy such Liberty that no such Statutes should so bind him but that he might do and execute his pleasure subtily procured a Petition to be preferred in his Parliament on the behalf of the Commonalty of his Kingdom and to be granted to him in general That he might be as free as any of his Progenitors were before him By colour of which Petition and Concession the said King hath very often commanded very many things to be done against such Statutes unrepealed acting therein expresly and knowingly against his Oath taken in his Coronation as aforesaid XVIII Item Although it was Enacted and Ordained that no Sheriff should hold his Office above one year together but that three years should pass before he should be again admitted to that Office The said King Richard sometimes for his own single Commodity and sometimes at the instance of others for their advantage hath permitted and caused certain Sheriffs to stand and remain continually in their Offices sometimes two sometimes three Years against the Tenor and effect of the Statute aforesaid thereby incurring Perjury and this is notorious publick and generally ill spoken of XIX Item Although by the Statuteâ— and Custom of his Realm in the calling together of every Parliament his People in several Countries of the Kingdom ought to be free in choosing and deputing two Knights to be present in such Parliament for each respective County and to declare their Grievances and to prosecute such Remedies thereupon as to them shall seem expedient Yet the aforesaid King that in his Parliaments he might be able more freely to accomplish the effects of his head-strong will did very often direct his Command to his Sheriffs that they should cause to come to his Parliaments as Knights of the Shire certain Persons by the said King named which Knights being his Favourites he might lead as often as he has done sometimes by various Menaces and Terrors and sometimes by Gifts to consent to those things as were prejudicial to the Kingdom and exceeding burthensom to the People And especially to grant to the said King a Subsidy on Wooll for the term of his Life and another Subsidy for certain Years thereby too grievously oppressed his People XX. Item the said King that he might more freely fulfil and follow in every thing his own Arbitrary Will did unlawfully cause and command That the Sheriffs throughout his whole Realm besides their ancient accustomed Oath should swear that they would obey his commands as often as they should be directed to them under his Great and Privy Seal and also his Letters under his Signet And that in case the said Sheriffs could come to know that any within their Bailiwicks of whatsoever condition they were had publickly or secretly said or spoken any ill that might tend to the disgrace or scandal of his Royal Person they should Arrest and imprison them there safely to be kept till they should receive Command from the King to the contrary as may be found in the Record which Fact may probably tend to the destruction of many of the Liege People to the said Kingdom XXI Item The said King striving to trample under foot his People and subtily to acquire their Goods to himself that he might abound in superfluous Riches did cause the People of Seventeen Counties of the Realm to submit themselves to the King as Traitors by Letters under their Seals By colour whereof he got mighty Sums of Money to be granted him by the Clergy and People of those Counties for obtaining his Royal good Will and Favour And though to please the People the King had caused those Obligatory Letters to be restored yet the Procurators of the People having full Power granted them to oblige themselves and their Heirs to the said King he the said King caused them under their Seals to be bound to him in the Name of the said People and so deceived his people and Subtily extorted from them their Goods XXII Item Although the said King in his Corâ—nation had sworn to keep the Liberties granted to the Arglicane Church yet the said King by reason of his Voyage into Ireland did by his Letters command very many Religious Persons viz. Abbots and Priors of his Kingdom strictly requiring that some of them should send to him certain Horses and some of them not only Horses but also Waggons and Carriages for his said Voyage