Owing to the many ill-starred crises of King Richard's reign which were caused by his youth, a solemn Parliament was holden at Westminster, wherein twelve[51] of the chief men of the land were advanced by full provision of Parliament to the government of the King and the kingdom, in order to bridle the wantonness and extravagance of his servants and flatterers, and, in short, to reform the business of the realm; but, alas! only to lead to the weary deeds which are hereinafter written.
The King, bearing it ill that by this appointment the due freedom of His Majesty should be bridled by his own lieges, and urged by his servants, who were thus set in authority, till the end came in the destruction of the King himself, his abettors, and many of these same rulers.
FOOTNOTES:
[51] The actual number appointed was eleven—namely, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, the Bishops of Winchester and Exeter, the Abbot of Waltham, the Earl of Arundel, John de Cobham, Richard le Scrope, and John Devereux.
RICHARD APPEALS TO THE JUDGES (August, 1387).
Source.—Henry Knighton's Chronicle (Rolls Series), ii. 236.
At the same time the King came to Shrewsbury, where, by the Royal command, certain of the justices of the kingdom had gathered. Then the aforesaid seducers of the King, Alexander, Archbishop of York, Robert Vere, Duke of Ireland, Michael de la Pole, Robert Tresilian, and others, asked them [the justices] whether it would be lawful for the King to oppose and resist the ordinances made in the last Parliament concerning the King and kingdom by the princes and commons of the realm with the consent of the King, which consent, they said, had been obtained by force. They answered that the King was able to annul and alter such ordinances at pleasure for the bettering of affairs since he was above law.
DEFEAT OF THE KING'S FRIENDS (November-December, 1387).
Source.—Chronicle of Adam of Usk (translated and edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson, 1904), 143-145.
Then the King passed with his mother[52] to Westminster Hall, and there, seated on his throne of state, by her mediation, made his peace with his twelve guardians;[53] yet he did it falsely and with deceit.