66 Navarrete. But the thankless Pedro broke his promise of repaying Edward's expenses, and the Prince returned to Bordeaux with his health ruined, his temper spoiled, and his treasury drained. Against all advice he levied a hearthtax; and as the English were already disliked because they were so proud that they set nothing by any nation but by their own," the Aquitanian nobles turned to the French King Charles V., and war broke out again. The Prince rallied his ebbing strength, but his last exploit-a general massacre of the townsfolk of Limoges, which he had retaken—has left a stain on his name. After this cruel deed, he returned to England. By 1374 hardly anything was left to the English in Aquitaine, excepting Bordeaux and Bayonne; and, wearied with disasters, King Edward obtained a truce. 7. The Good Parliament.-The King's third son, John Duke of Lancaster, called from his birthplace John of Ghent or Gaunt, now took the lead at home; for the younger Edward was slowly dying, and the elder one had become old and feeble. Good Queen Philippa was dead, and one Alice Perrers made use of the King's favour to interfere with the course of justice. The government was wasteful, and the men whom the Duke appointed unworthy of trust. Amid these evils, there met, in 1376, a parliament, gratefully remembered by the title of "the Good," which, supported by the Black Prince, boldly set itself to the work of reform. The Commons impeached, or accused before the Lords, several of the Duke's favourites, charging them with making illegal profits, and Alice Perrers was forbidden, under pain of banishment, to meddle in the law-courts. This is the more noteworthy as being the first instance of the Commons using this power of impeachment, or trying to interfere with the ministers of the Crown. On the 8th June, the Prince died; and great was the mourning of the nation for him who had won them fame abroad, and striven with his last strength to save them from misrule at home. He was buried in Canterbury Cathedral, where his helmet, shield, gauntlets, and surcoat embroidered with the arms of England and France, still hang above his tomb. John of Gaunt now had everything his own way; the former favourites were recalled, and a new parliament was summoned, which undid all the good work of its predecessor. 8. Death of Edward.-In his last moments at Shene, Edward was forsaken by all his servants and even by Alice Perrers, after she had robbed him of the rings on his fingers. One priest alone came to the King's bedside, and Edward, in tears, receiving a crucifix from him, kissed it and died, June 21st, 1377. His sons were, Edward Prince of Wales, who married his cousin Joan, “the Fair Maid of Kent;" Lionel Duke of Clarence, whose only daughter married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March; John Duke of Lancaster; Edmund of Langley, Duke of York; and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. In this reign, St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, was finished. The King founded the order of Knights of the Garter, and rebuilt the greater part of Windsor Castle. His chief architect was William of Wykeham, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor. Wykeham, in the next reign, founded New College, Oxford, and also the College of Winchester, in which city he himself had been educated. 9. Legislation. In 1352 was passed the Statute of Treasons, which clearly stated what offences amounted to high treason. Much was done to restrain the power which the Popes exercised over the English Church and clergy, and the demand made in 1366 by Pope Urban V. for thirtythree years' arrears of John's tribute was absolutely refused. 10. Commerce.—In 1331 Edward took advantage of discontents among the Flemish weavers to invite them over here, where they settled chiefly in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, and brought in the finer manufactures of woollen cloths. The people were so jealous of these newcomers that Edward had no small trouble to protect them. The wool of England was at that time the finest in Europe, and was the chief article of export and source of revenue. 11. John Wycliffe.—In this and the next reign lived John Wycliffe, born near Richmond in Yorkshire, a doctor of Oxford, who put forth opinions differing on many points, particularly on the Eucharist, from the received doctrines, assailed alike the wealthy clergy and the Begging Friars, and spread his views abroad by his writings. His great work was a translation of the Bible, made by himself and his followers. Although he was at last forbidden to teach at Oxford, he remained in his rectory of Lutterworth, where he died peaceably in 1384; many years afterwards his bones were taken up and burned as those of a heretic. His disciples were nicknamed Lollards. CHAPTER XX. RICHARD II. Richard of Bordeaux; the peasant insurrection (1)—government of Richard; fall of the Duke of Gloucester (2)—Henry of Lancaster; his banishment and return in arms (3)—capture, abdication, and deposition of Richard; Henry raised to the throne (4)—Statute of Præmunire (5)—language (6)—literature (7). 1. Richard II. of Bordeaux, 1377-1399. The Peasant Insurrection of 1381.-Richard of Bordeaux, son of the Black Prince, became King at the age of eleven. His reign was troublous and unfortunate. Four years after he ascended the throne, an insurrection broke out among the peasants. The yoke of villainage, which bore more hardly upon them than of old, and the growing ideas of liberty, fostered, as it was thought, by the teaching of the Lollards, tended to cause discontent, but it was the pressure of a polltax of three groats upon every person above fifteen years old, which brought about the actual outbreak. The details of the insurrection are variously given; but it began among the peasants of Essex, and thence spread to Kent, where the revolt, according to a well-known tradition, was partly brought about by the tax-gatherer's insulting behaviour to a young girl of Dartford. Her father, a tyler by trade, killed the offender on the spot with a stroke of his hammer. The insurgents are said to have numbered 100,000 men by the time they reached Blackheath, where they were harangued upon the equality of mankind by a priest named John Ball, who took as his text the rime "When Adam delved, and Eve span, This rude army entered London, pulled down Newgate, letting the prisoners there loose, burnt John of Gaunt's palace of the Savoy, and the Temple, together with its books and records, and butchered all the Flemish artisans they could find; but in their havoc, they allowed of no plunder for private profit. A large body of them, mostly Essex and Hertfordshire men, withdrew the next day, young Richard having granted their demands, chief of which was the abolition of villainage. But meanwhile another division had entered the Tower, and there seized and beheaded the Archbishop and Chancellor Simon Sudbury, and six other men. This force, which seems to have consisted of Kentishmen, remained in arms, and its leader, Walter or Wat" Tyler, had an interview with the King in Smithfield. Wat is described as behaving insolently, and one account says that he laid his hand on Richard's rein; at all events, the conference ended in his being stabbed by the Mayor, Walworth and others. The insurgents, according to the story usually told, bent their bows, but Richard boldly rode up to them, exclaiming that he himself would be their leader. They followed him to the fields at Islington, where a considerable force of citizens and others hastened to protect the King; and the rioters, seeing themselves surrounded, submitted and dispersed. In the Eastern counties, the insurrection was put down by Henry Spenser, "the fighting Bishop of Norwich." About a fortnight later, Richard, who indeed could not legally abolish villainage without consent of the Lords and Commons, revoked the charters he had granted; and throughout the country great numbers of the rioters were tried and executed. 2. Government of Richard.-Richard was noted for his beauty; but otherwise there was not much to be said in his favour. His abilities, indeed, were good, and he had the power of acting on occasion with quickness and daring; but he was wasteful, dissipated, frivolously fond of shows and pageants, and proud and violent in temper. He allowed himself to be led by favourites who were hated as upstarts, while he mistrusted his uncles who had kept him in tutelage as long as they could. In 1387 the party against the King, which was headed by his youngest uncle Thomas Duke of Gloucester, got the upper hand; when exile or death became the lot of Richard's friends. The King never forgave those who took part in these doings. Gloucester however was soon turned out of office, and for nine years Richard governed well. His first wife," the Good Queen Anne" of Bohemia, who seems to have been inclined towards the doctrines of Wycliffe, and who was beloved both by her husband and by the nation, died in 1394. Two years later he married a child of eight years old, Isabel, daughter of Charles VI. of France. This step was unpopular, as the English had no wish to be friends with France; but Richard desired to secure a long truce from the war with that country |