[RICHARD II.]
1377–1399.

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Born 1397 = 1. Anne of Bohemia, 1382. = 2. Isabella of France, 1396. CONTEMPORARY PRINCES. _Scotland._ | _France._ | _Germany._ | _Spain._ | | | Robert II., | Charles V., | Charles IV., | Henry II., 1368. 1370. | 1364. | 1347. | John I., 1379. Robert III., | Charles VI., | Wenceslaus, | Henry III., 1390. 1390. | 1380. | 1378. | POPES.--Gregory XI., 1370. Urban VI., 1378. Boniface IX., 1389. [Also Clement VII., 1378. Benedict XII., 1394.] _Archbishops._ Simon Sudbury, 1375. William Courtenay, 1381. Thomas Arundel, 1397. _Chancellors._ Sir Richard le Scrope, 1378. Michael de la Pole, 1383. Simon Sudbury, 1379. Thomas Arundel, 1386. William Courtenay, 1381. William of Wykeham, 1389. Lord Scrope, 1381. Thomas Arundel, 1391. Robert de Braybroke, 1382. Edmund Stafford, 1396.

Difficulties of the new reign.
Regency.
Patriotic government.

The young King was but a child, and there was a prospect of a long minority, affording an ample field for the intrigues of party. The position of the kingdom too was such as to promise a time of considerable difficulty. The war with France had been put off by a succession of truces, but was still threatening, and England was in no condition to meet it. An invasion actually took place. French troops landed in the Isle of Wight, and laid waste the country. Moreover, the last reign had closed amidst domestic difficulties. The Lords therefore thought it right to take the settlement of the kingdom into their own hands. At a great council it was determined to form a Council of Regency, drawn from all orders represented in Parliament, to assist the great officers of the crown. The dangers which beset the country induced all parties for a time to rally honestly round the throne. The royal princes, who might become party leaders, were on that account excluded from the Council. The national party again gained the majority in the Commons, and again elected De la Mare as their Speaker. But the Commons had no wish to drive matters to extremity, or to change the existing balance of power. They fell back into their old position, which they had temporarily felt themselves obliged to desert, declined to have anything to do with matters of state; and when told to consider the best means for the defence of the kingdom, they pleaded their inability to answer, named a council of peers whom they thought qualified for the purpose, and made overtures of friendship by placing Lancaster’s name at the head of the list. Lancaster, who desired power and had no fixed principles, accepted the position, first making a solemn denial of all the calumnious reports which were afloat about him, and thus again became practically Prime Minister. But the Commons showed that they intended to keep their own great object, economical management of the finances, steadfastly in view, by insisting that the subsidy, which was granted at once upon this reconciliation, should be paid into the hands of two treasurers named by themselves. They also demanded, as a further guarantee of good government, that the great officers of state and the judges should be chosen by the Lords, and publicly named to the Commons. The King was left unrestrained in the choice of those who should be about his person. At the next Parliament, held at Gloucester in 1378, they still pursued the same policy, and refused to grant a new subsidy till the accounts of that last granted had been exhibited to them. It was plain that the constant repetition of subsidies was much disliked.

Money wanted for war in Brittany. 1380.

Poll-tax.