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THE

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

CHAP. XVII.

RICHARD II.

Government during the minority-Insurrection of the common people-Discontents of the barons-Civil commotions-Expulsion or execution of the king's ministers-Cabals of the duke of Gloucester-Murder of the duke of Gloucester-Banishment of Henry duke of Hereford-Return of Henry-General insurrection-Deposition of the king-His murder-His characterMiscellaneous transactions during this reign.

Govern

THE parliament which was summoned soon ment dur- after the king's accession, was both elected and ing the minority. assembled in tranquillity; and the great change,

1377. from a sovereign of consummate wisdom and experience to a boy of eleven years of age, was not immediately felt by the people. The habits of order and obedience which the barons had been taught during the long reign of Edward, still influenced them; and the authority of the king's three uncles, the dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, sufficed to repress, for a time, the turbulent spirit to which that order, in a weak reign, was so often subject. The dangerous ambition too of these princes themselves was checked by the plain and undeniable title of Richard, by the declaration of it made in parliament, and by the affectionate regard which the people bore to the memory of his father, and which was naturally transferred to the young sovereign upon the throne. The different characters also of these three princes rendered them a counterpoise to each other; and

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it was natural to expect, that any dangerous designs which might be formed by one brother, would meet with opposition from the others. Lancaster, whose age and experience, and authority under the late king, gave him the ascendant among them, though his integrity seemed not proof against great temptation, was neither of an enterprising spirit, nor of a popular and engaging temper. York was indolent, inactive, and of slender capacity. Gloucester was turbulent, bold, and popular; but being the youngest of the family, was restrained by the power and authority of his elder brothers. There appeared, therefore, no circumstance in the domestic situation of England which might endanger the public peace, or give any immediate apprehensions to the lovers of their country.

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But as Edward, though he had fixed the succession to the crown, had taken no care to establish a plan of government during the minority of his grandson, it behoved the parliament to supply this defect; and the house of commons distinguished themselves by taking the lead on the occasion. This house, which had been rising to consideration during the whole course of the late reign, naturally received an accession of power during the minority; and as it was now becoming a scene of business, the members chose, for the first time, a speaker, who might preserve order in their debates, and maintain those forms which are requisite in all numerous assemblies. Peter de la Mare was the man pitched on; the same person that had been imprisoned, and detained in custody by the late king, for his freedom of speech in attacking the mistress and the ministers of that prince. But though this election discovered a spirit of liberty in the commons, and was followed by farther attacks both on these ministers and on Alice Pierce," they were still too sensible of their great inferiority, to assume at first any immediate share in the administration of government, or the Walshingham, p. 150.

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care of the king's person. They were content to apply by petition to the lords for that purpose, and desire them, both to appoint a council of nine, who might direct the public business, and to choose men of virtuous life and conversation, who might inspect the conduct and education of the young prince. The lords complied with the first part of this request, and elected the bishops of London, Carlisle, and Salisbury, the earls of Marche and Stafford, sír Richard de Stafford, sir Henry le Scrope, sir John Devereux, and sír Hugh Segrave, to whom they gave authority, for a year, to conduct the ordinary course of business. But as to the regulation of the king's household, they declined interposing in an office which, they said, both was invidious in itself, and might prove disagreeable to his majesty.

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The commons, as they acquired more courage, ventured to proceed a step farther in their applications. They presented a petition, in which they prayed the king to check the prevailing custom among the barons, of forming illegal confederacies, and supporting each other, as well as men of inferior rank, in the violations of law and justice. They received from the throne a general and an obliging answer to this petition: but another part of their application, that all the great officers should, during the king's minority, be appointed by parliament, which seemed to require the concurrence of the commons, as well as that of the upper house, in the nomination, was not complied with; the lords alone assumed the power of appointing these officers; the commons tacitly acquiesced in the choice; and though that, for the present, they themselves had proceeded a sufficient length, if they but advanced their pretensions, though rejected, of interposing in these more important matters of state.

On this footing then the government stood. The administration was conducted entirely in the king's name; Rymer, vol. 7. p. 161.

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no regency was expressly appointed; the nine counsellors and the great officers, named by the peers, did their duty, each in his respective department; and the whole system was for some years kept together by the secret authority of the king's uncles, especially of the duke of Lancaster, who was in reality the regent.

The parliament was dissolved, after the commons had represented the necessity of their being reassembled once every year, as appointed by law; and after having elected two citizens as their treasurers, to receive and disburse the produce of two fifteenths and tenths, which they had voted to the crown. In the other parliaments called during the minority, the commons still discover a strong spirit of freedom, and a strong sense of their own authority, which, without breeding any disturbance, tended to secure their independence, and that of the people.

Edward had left his grandson involved in many dangerous wars. The pretensions of the duke of Lancaster to the crown of Castile made that kingdom still persevere in hostilities against England. Scotland, whose throne was now filled by Robert Stuart, nephew to David Bruce, and the first prince of that family, maintained such close connexions with France, that war with one crown almost inevitably produced hostilities with the other. French monarch, whose prudent conduct had acquired him the surname of wise, as he had already baffled all the

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c In the fifth year of the king the commons complained of the government about the king's person, his court, the excessive number of his servants, of the abuses in the Chancery, King's Bench, Common Pleas, Exchequer, and of grievous oppressions in the country, by the great multitudes of maintainers of quarrels (men linked in confederacies together), who behaved themselves like kings in the country, so as there was very little law or right, and of the other things which they said were the cause of the late commotions under Wat Tyler. Parl. Hist. vol. 1. p. 365. This irregular government, which no king and no house of commons had been able to remedy, was the source of the licentiousness of the great, and turbulency of the people, as well as tyranny of the princes. If subjects would enjoy liberty, and kings security, the laws must be executed.

In the ninth of this reign the commons also discovered an accuracy and a jealousy of liberty which we should little expect in those rude times. It was agreed by parliament, (says Cotton, p. 309.) that the subsidy of wools, wool-fells, and skins, granted to the king until the time of Midsummer then ensuing, should cease from the same time unto the feast of St. Peter ad vincula; for that thereby the king should be interrupted for claiming such grant as due." See also Cotton, p. 198.

experience and valour of the two Edwards, was likely to prove a dangerous enemy to a minor king; but his genius, which was not naturally enterprising, led him not at present, to give any disturbance to his neighbours; and he laboured, besides, under many difficulties at home, which it was necessary for him to surmount before he could think of making conquests in a foreign country. England was master of Calais, Bourdeaux, and Bayonne ; had lately acquired possession of Cherbourg from the cession of the king of Navarre, and of Brest from that of the duke of Britanny; and having thus an easy entrance into France from every quarter, was able, even in its sent situation, to give disturbance to his government. Before Charles could remove the English from these important posts, he died in the flower of his age, and left his kingdom to a minor son, who bore the name of Charles VI.

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Meanwhile the war with France was carried on in a manner somewhat languid, and produced no enterprise of great lustre or renown. Sir Hugh Calverly, governor of Calais, making an inroad into Picardy with a detachment of the garrison, set fire to Boulogne. The duke of Lancaster conducted an army into Britanny, but returned without being able to perform any thing memorable. In a subsequent year, the duke of Gloucester marched out of Calais with a body of two thousand cavalry, and eight thousand infantry; and scrupled not, with his small army, to enter into the heart of France, and to continue his ravages through Picardy, Champaigne, the Brie, the Beausse, the Gatinois, the Orleanois, till he reached his allies in the province of Britanny. The duke of Burgundy, at the head of a more considerable army, came within sight of him; but the French were so overawed by the former successes of the English, that no superiority of numbers could tempt them to venture a pitched

d Rymer, vol. 7. p. 190.
e Walsing. p. 209.
Froissard, liv. 2. chap. 50, 51. Walsing. p. 239.

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