A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

Richard assumes sole authority. 1389.

Richard appears to have been able to dissemble profoundly; he had been most submissive to his conquerors, who believed their power safe, when, at a council in the spring of 1389, he quietly asked Gloucester how old he was. Gloucester replied that he was twenty-two. “Then,” said the King, “I am certainly old enough to manage my own affairs. I thank you, my lords, for your past services; I want them no longer.” He then proceeded to change the ministry, removed Arundel from the chancellorship,[66] and took the government into his own hands. Although the ministry was changed, there was no great reversal of policy, no punishment of the Lords Appellant. On the contrary, the King, under the advice, it is probable, of William of Wykeham, seemed determined to ignore party, and to attempt a moderate government. He declared that he would be bound by the decisions of the late Parliament, employed among his most intimate counsellors, Derby, who had been one of the appellants, and the Duke of York, who had been on the commission of 1386; and it would appear that he did not even remove Gloucester from his councils. In pursuance of this national and healing policy, in the following year, the chief officers temporarily resigned their offices, that their administration might be examined. The Commons found not the slightest cause of complaint, and they were reinstated at once. This peaceable state of affairs continued till 1397. During the whole of that time, we must believe that Richard was only waiting his opportunity. There were indeed some signs of his secret thoughts. Some of his banished friends were relieved or obtained places in Ireland. On the death of Robert de Vere he succeeded in obtaining the Earldom of Oxford for his uncle, Aubrey de Vere; and a year or two afterwards he brought his friend’s body, which had been embalmed, from abroad, and before it was reburied, had the coffin opened, and gazed with much emotion upon the dead man’s face. But outwardly such unity reigned, that national matters could be considered, and the period is marked by the completion of the quarrel with the Papacy with regard to Provisors, and by an expedition to Ireland.

Final Statute of Provisors.

England, it has been said, embraced the cause of Urban VI. In his gratitude he had given the King the nomination to the two next vacant prebends in all collegiate churches. But the appointment by the Pope of an Abbot of St. Edmunds, in 1380, produced a repetition of the Statute of Provisors of Edward III.’s reign.[67] Still the laws were repeatedly evaded, the Pope always presenting to benefices which fell vacant at Rome. As the cardinals generally died at Rome, this was a large exception. In 1390, the 29th of January of that year was settled as a term. All Provisors before that year were legal; all after, together with the introduction of any Papal letter of recommendation, absolutely illegal. In 1391, the new Pope, Boniface IX., declared all these enactments void, and proceeded to grant Provisors. Consequently, in 1393,[68] was drawn up the final Statute of Provisors, or Præmunire. By this any man procuring instruments of any kind from Rome, or publishing such instruments, was outlawed, his property forfeited, and his person apprehended.

Expedition to Ireland. 1394.

The following year the King made an expedition to Ireland. The condition of that country had long demanded attention. Since the invasion of the Bruces, the native tribes had made considerable advances on all sides, but their domestic dissensions prevented any permanent success. A far greater evil was the condition of the Irish of old English race. The want of strong central authority had allowed the individual chieftains to establish something like royal power in their own dominions; they were gradually falling back into barbarism, and in a way very unusual among conquering races, had been gradually adopting the manners and laws of the conquered race around them. Among them, as among the natives, perpetual discord and fighting existed. So disorderly were they, that Edward III. had ordered that no official places should be occupied except by men born in England; and Lionel of Clarence, who had been appointed to bring the country into order, had, in 1364, procured, at the Parliament of Kilkenny, statutes, directed not against the Irish, but against the English settlers, making the adoption of Irish habits, and of the Brehon or Irish law, high treason. Earlier in the reign, Richard had appointed his favourite De Vere to restore order. His success had been prevented by the attack upon him by the Lords Appellant in 1387. The King now, in the year 1394, determined to go in person. His measures were just and moderate, and he succeeded in inducing all the native princes to swear fealty.

Marriage with Isabella of France. 1397.

He was called home by the excesses of the Lollards, as the followers of Wicliffe were called. They had prepared a petition, containing a forcible exposition of their own tenets, and a vigorous attack on the priests. The Church demanded the presence and protection of the King, who, on his arrival in England, expelled the Lollards from Oxford. At the same time he contracted a marriage, consonant with his known French views, with Isabella, the daughter of Charles VI. of France, a Princess of ten years of age. In 1397, the marriage ceremony having been performed, the young Queen was crowned. It seems possible that it was in reliance upon this new friendship with France that the King now determined to execute his long dissembled vengeance. The seven years of peaceful government had allayed suspicion, and won him popularity. Lancaster, who had returned from Spain, had ceased to take a very prominent part in the government, and had, moreover, been gratified by the legitimization of his children by his mistress Catherine Swinford. His son, the Earl of Derby, had deserted his former associates, and was one of the King’s advisers. Mowbray of Nottingham, another of the Lords Appellant, had also been won over. The Duke of York had throughout been friendly disposed to the King. On the other hand, Gloucester had been continually acting in a spirit of covert hostility. He had made political capital by opposing the French match, and by publicly speaking against the extravagances of the royal household, which appear to have been very great. Froissart, indeed, mentions a story, which however needs confirmation, that he had combined with Warwick and the Arundels in a plot to seize the King.

Richard’s vengeance after seven years’ peace.

Richard carried out his plans of vengeance with his usual secrecy and skill. Suddenly, Warwick, Arundel and Gloucester were apprehended, and sent to different and distant castles. He then proceeded against them as they had themselves proceeded against his friends. They were appealed of treason by a number of Earls in the royal interest. Rickhill, one of the justices, was sent to Calais to obtain Gloucester’s confession, and a Parliament was assembled at Westminster, in which the good will of the Commons had been already secured. As a preliminary measure, all pardons to Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick were revoked. An impeachment was then brought against the Archbishop Arundel, and the appeal against the Duke and the two Earls was heard. Arundel refused to plead anything but his pardon. This having already been revoked, he was at once condemned and executed. The Earl Marshall, to whom Gloucester had been intrusted, was ordered to produce him, but replied that the Duke was dead. It seems almost certain that he had been murdered by Richard’s orders at Calais. The Archbishop was condemned to banishment for life; and Warwick, who pleaded guilty, was exiled to the Isle of Man. Lord Mortimer, who was also involved in the accusation, fled to Ireland, and was outlawed. A shower of new titles was lavished on the obsequious Lords. Derby and Rutland were made Dukes of Hereford and Albemarle; Nottingham, Duke of Norfolk; De Spencer, Neville, Percy and Scrope, respectively, Earls of Gloucester, Westmoreland, Worcester and Wiltshire. A statute was passed making it treason to levy war against the King, and declaring the penalty of treason against any one who should attempt to overthrow the enactments of this Parliament. The next Parliament at Gloucester, in 1398, acted in the same obsequious manner. The Acts of the Wonderful Parliament were repealed. To the grant of a subsidy was added the tax on wool and hides for life; and a permanent committee of twelve peers and six commoners was appointed to represent Parliament for the future.