promised by John, but it is refused by the parliament. A controversy springs up on the subject, in which Wickliffe inveighs vehemently against the demand.

A.D. 1366. Lionel, duke of Clarence, holds a par liament at Kilkenny, in February, at which severe enactments are made against the Anglo-Irish d.

A.D. 1367. The Black Prince espouses the cause of Pedro the Cruel, of Castile; gains the battle of Najara, April 3, and thus re-establishes him on the throne, but is ungraciously treated, and having suffered much from illness, returns to Bordeaux.

A.D. 1368. He levies heavy taxes on the Gascons, when they appeal to the king of France.

A.D. 1369. The Black Prince is summoned to Paris, to answer the complaints of the Gascons', May 1. Instead he prepares for war, and the king, by advice of parliament, resumes the title of king of France.

The staple removed from Calais, in consequence of the war [43 Edw. III. c. 1].

The Third Great Pestilence, from July 2 to Sept. 29. A.D. 1370. The French enter Gascony in January.

C See p. 288.

d Their use of the Irish laws, and adoption of Irish surnames and customs, is prohibited, as is also the supplying the natives with arms, horses, or armour.

e Peter had, among other atrocities, murdered his queen, Blanche of Bourbon, and he had been dethroned by his natural brother, Henry of Trastamare, assisted by Du Guesclin and the Free Companies. On the withdrawal of the Black Prince, he was again assailed by Henry, defeated, and put to death. John of Gaunt married one of his daughters, and assumed the title of King of Castile and Leon.

The king of France acted unjustifiably in this, as all feudal claim on the ceded provinces had been expressly renounced by the treaty of Bretigny,

Limoges admits a French garrison; the Black Prince retakes it, and butchers the inhabitants in cold blood.

A.D. 1371. David II. of Scotland dies, Feb. 22; his nephew Robert succeeds, being the first king of the house of Stuarth.

The chancellor resigns the great seal, March 14, being charged with corruption by John of Gaunt'.

A.D. 1372. The earl of Pembroke j is defeated and captured at sea by the Spaniards, June 23.

Du Guesclin is successful against the English and their adherents in Britanny.

This renowned warrior retired shortly after to England, in broken health, and was succeeded in his command by his brother, John of Gaunt; it is to be regretted that this, his last exploit, was not more in accordance with the chivalrous character usually ascribed to him.

h David had endeavoured to secure the succession to an English prince, but the parliament of Scotland indignantly rejected the proposal.

This was the famous William of Wykeham, who was born at Wykeham, in Hampshire, in 1324. He long served the king in the quality of surveyor of works, and built for him many noble edifices, both civil and military, the castles of Windsor and Queenborough among the number; became warden of the forests south of Trent, keeper of the privy seal, president of the council, bishop of Winchester, and at length chancellor, in Sept. 1367. Charges of corruption (which were afterwards allowed to be unfounded) were urged against him by the duke of Lancaster, he was driven from court, and his temporalities seized. On the accession of Richard II. he was restored to favour, but took little further part in public affairs, (though his name appears in the commission of regency, and he again became chancellor for a short period,) devoting his energies instead to the administration of his diocese, and the founding and endowing of the noble establishments of New College, Oxford, and St. Mary, Winchester. He died Sept. 27, 1404, and was buried in his cathedral.

j John Hastings, earl of Pembroke, had married Margaret, the king's youngest daughter, but she died soon after. Though thus related to royalty, he was not ransomed until he had suffered a four years' imprisonment, and he then died at Paris, on his way to Calais, April 16, 1376,

The king embarks to invade France, but is driven back by bad weather.

A.D. 1373. De Montfort (John IV.) is expelled from Britanny.

John of Gaunt marches through France from Calais to Bordeaux; the march occupied from July to December; the French did not attempt to dispute his passage, but harassed his troops with continual skirmishes.

A.D. 1374. A truce concluded, Feb. 11, to last till May 1, 1375, is but ill observed, and Gascony is meanwhile almost entirely reduced by the French.

A.D. 1375. De Montfort lands in Britanny, and recovers much of the duchy; the truce is extended to April 1, 1377, and he is obliged to abandon his conquests.

A.D. 1376. The Black Prince dies, June 8; Richard, his son, is created Prince of Wales, Jan. 26, 1377.

A.D. 1377. A poll-tax of fourpence on each person over fourteen years of age is granted1.

A general pardon granted, on occasion of the king's jubilee [50 Edw. III. c. 3m].

The king dies, at Shene, (now Richmond,) June 21, and is buried at Westminster.

He took refuge in England, where, except for a short period in 1375, he remained until 1379, in which year he was invited back by his subjects. In 1380 a large force was sent to his assistance, under the command of the earl of Buckingham, but he soon after made his peace with the king of France, on condition of renouncing the alliance he had so long maintained with the English. He died in 1399. 1 A similar grant in the following reign gave occasion for the great rising of the common people under Wat the tyler.

In some copies of this statute a clause is found excluding William of Wykeham, the late chancellor, from its benefit.

RICHARD, the son of Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Kent, was born at Bordeaux, in February, 1366. On the death of his father, he was created Prince of Wales, and he very shortly after succeeded to the throne, when only in his twelfth year. The first ten years of his reign were passed in tutelage, while the state was disturbed by the contentions of his ambitious uncles, (the dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester); and though on occasion of the insurrection of the commons, which occurred in the sixteenth year of his age, he gave proof of courage and ability, he soon fell into the fatal error of abandoning the management of affairs to unprincipled favourites, Michael de la Polea and Robert

a Michael de la Pole was descended from a wealthy merchant of Hull, who was the first mayor of that town. He served with distinction in France under the Black Prince, and also accompanied John of Gaunt to Spain. Under Richard II. he attached himself to the court, soon became a favourite, and at length was appointed chancellor, (March 13, 1383). He obtained many lavish grants from the king, and in 1386 was created earl of Suffolk. In the same year he was impeached by the Commons, and being afterwards appealed of treason by the duke of Gloucester and others, he fled in disguise to Calais, and thence to Paris, where he died, Sept. 5, 1388; his vast possessions were forfeited, and his magnificent house in London

Vereb, whom he loaded with wealth and honours. At length John of Gaunt engaged in an expedition into Spain, when the duke of Gloucester became supreme, and the favourites were impeached and banished, or put to death. The lords appellants, as Gloucester and his associates were called, declared that by these proceedings no dishonour was meant to the king, whose youth and inexperience had been imposed upon, but they left him only the shadow of power. He bore this for a while, but in the year 1389 he came suddenly into the parliament, and formally inquiring his age, on the reply that he was in his 23rd year, declared he would no longer bear the government of tutors, and at once deprived of office and drove from the court the duke and his party.

A few years of peace and apparent contentment folgiven to Sir John Holland, the king's half-brother. His son, also named Michael, was restored in blood by Henry IV., and his greatgrandson was William, duke of Suffolk, the favourite minister of Margaret of Anjou.

b Robert de Vere, son of Thomas, earl of Oxford, was born in 1362; he was of a light and profligate disposition, and acquiring thus the favour of Richard II., was loaded with extraordinary honours by him. First he received in mar

riage the lady Philippa, the king's kinswoman, and the grant of her lands; then he was created marquis of Dublin, and at length duke of Ireland (Oct. 13, 1386,) by a patent which rendered him, as far as the king's wishes were allowed to take effect, a sovereign prince. He, however, abandoned his wife, and married a waiting woman of the queen; this was speedily followed by his being imprisoned on a charge of treason, but he escaped in disguise, and raising some troops, endeavoured to overthrow the rule of the duke of Gloucester. He was defeated, outlawed, and obliged to flee to the continent, where he was killed while hunting in Louvaine, in 1392. The king retained an affection for him which he manifested by having the corpse brought to England and bestowing a pompous funeral on it, in the year 1395.

Arms of De Vere,
Earl of Oxford.