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A.D. 1398. The parliament meets at Shrewsbury, Jan. 27. All the acts of the parliament in 1388 ¶ are reversed, many of the surviving actors in it are condemned to imprisonment and forfeiture'; and liberal supplies are granted to the king.

By desire of the parliament, a bull is procured from the pope (Boniface IX.) confirming its acts, and declaring them not subject to reversal by any future assembly.

The duke of Hereford accuses the duke of Norfolk of slandering the king; the charge is denied, and a single combat ordered between the parties at Coventry, Sept. 16.

The two dukes appear at the appointed time and place, when the king forbids the combat, and banishes the duke of Hereford for ten years and the duke of Norfolk for life.

A.D. 1399. The duke of Lancaster dies, Feb. 3; the king seizes his estates, March 188.

The king sails from Milford Haven for Ireland, in Mayt.

See p. 411.

For the less prominent parties a general pardon was proclaimed, with the ordinary condition that a special pardon should be sued out by each individual before June 24; vast sums were raised by the king's favourites, from some who had exceeded the term of grace, but others refused the offer, and prepared for another struggle.

Letters patent had been granted to both the dukes prior to their departure, empowering them to constitute attorneys to receive any estates that might fall to them during their exile, but these were now, as far as regarded the duke of Hereford, declared null and void.

The occasion of his going was to redress the disorders which followed on the death of the lord lieutenant, Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who had fallen in a skirmish with the natives shortly before.

The young duke of Lancaster, invited by his friends, sails from Britanny, near the end of June, and lands at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, July 4, ostensibly to claim his estates; he is joined by the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, and other barons, and marches towards the west of England.

The duke of York, the regent of the kingdom, holds a conference with Lancaster at Berkeley, July 27, and joins his party.

Archbishop Arundel recalled, and again made chancellor ".

The duke of Lancaster captures Bristol, and puts to death the earl of Wiltshire.

The king lands in Wales, but finding himself deserted by his troops, retires to Conway; he there agrees to a conference with the duke of Lancaster, at Flint, but is made prisoner on the road, Aug. 20, and brought by the duke to London, where he arrives Sept. 2.

The duke of Lancaster avows his design of seizing the crown; the duke of York seconds him, and a parliament is summoned by them in the king's name, to meet at Westminster, Sept. 30.

The king is obliged to subscribe a deed of renunciation of the crown, Sept. 29.

The precise date is unknown, but it is proved by existing records that it was between July 15 and Aug. 23; early in September he was succeeded by John Scarle, the master of the rolls.

He is usually said to have landed at Pembroke, August 13, but acotemporary asserts that he landed near Beaumaris, about July 25, and that his troops, except a small guard of Cheshire men, were induced to leave him by the treacherous proceeding of Sir Thomas Percy, his seneschal (afterwards earl of Worcester.) When they were gone, the king wandered about with his few attendants, from castle to castle, lodging but a single night in each.

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The parliament assembles, Sept. 30, when thirty-five articles of accusation are exhibited against the king; he is declared deposed, Thomas Merks, bishop of Carlisle, alone venturing to speak in his favour'.

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The duke of Lancaster claims the crown by right line of the blood"," and is declared king, being placed in the throne by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, (Thomas Arundel and Richard Scrope,) Sept. 30.

Merks was one of Richard's chief friends, and was made prisoner with him at Flint, but soon released. He was now committed to the Tower, and deprived of his see, of which William Strickland obtained possession Nov. 15, 1399. In the June following Merks was placed in the custody of the abbot of Westminster, where he had formerly been a monk, and on Nov. 28 he received the king's pardon and was set at liberty. In consequence of his "notable poverty,' he was allowed to receive from the pope, who had conferred on him the title of bishop of Samothrace, ecclesiastical benefices to the value of 200 marks, which the king increased to 300. The abbot of Westminster bestowed on him the rectory of Todenham, in Gloucestershire, in 1404, and he probably died there about the end of the year 1409.

His claim appears thus on the Rolls of Parliament: "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I Henry of Lancaster challenge the realm of England, and the crown, with all the members and appurtenances, as that I am descended by right line of the blood from good King Henry the Third, and through that right that God of His grace hath sent me, with help of kin and of my friends, to recover it; the which realm was in point to be undone by default of governance, and undoing of the good laws."

A Table of the Kings and Queens of England

since the Norman Invasion,

With the exact date of the Commencement of each Reign.

The legal maxim, that "the king never dies," in virtue of which the accession of each monarch is ascribed to the same day as the demise of his predecessor, was unknown in the earlier periods of our history. From William I. to Henry III. inclusive, the reign of each king was considered only to commence at his coronation, the doctrine of hereditary right not being fully accepted, and the interregnum thus occasioned extended from three days in the case of Henry I., to nearly two months in those of Henry II. and Richard I. From Edward II. to Henry VIII. the accession is ascribed to the day following the death or deposition of the preceding king, (Edward I., Edward III., Edward V., and Richard III., are exceptional cases); but from Edward VI. to the present day the above-cited maxim has prevailed.

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EDWARD I.

Eldest son of John, crowned Oct. 28.

Proclaimed Nov. 20, 1272, crowned Aug. 2, 1274. 1272

Died July 7.

. 1307

35

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HENRY V.

Eld. son of Henry IV., began to reign March 21. 1413
Died Aug. 31.

1422

10

1422

HENRY VI.

39

EDWARD IV.

EDWARD V.

Only son of Henry V., began to reign Sept. 1..
Deposed March 4, 1461; restored Oct. 9, 1470;
deposed April, 1471.

THE HOUSE OF YORK.

His grandfather, Richard, was son of Edmund,
fifth son of Edw. III.; and his grandmother,
Anne, was great-granddaughter of Lionel, third
son of Edw. III. Began to reign March 4.
. 1461
Died April 9.
. 1483
Eldest son of Edw. IV., began to reign April 9. 1483
Date of death unknown.

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Younger br. of Edw. IV., beg. to reign June 26. 1483

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RICHARD III. {Died August 22.

HENRY VII.

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Only surviving son of Henry VII.

HENRY VIII. Began to reign April 22.

Died Jan. 28.

Son of Henry VIII: by Jane Seymour.
Began to reign Jan. 28.

. 1485

. 1509

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EDWARD VI.

1547

Died July 6.

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[LADY JANE GREY

MARY

ELIZABETH

Documents are in existence bearing her scal
as Queen, dated as early as July 9, and as late
as July 18.

.1553]

Daughter of Henry VIII. by Catherine of
Arragon.

Reign reckoned from July 6, (death of Edw. VI.) 1553
Died Nov. 17.

Daughter of Henry VIII. by Anne Boleyn
Began to reign Nov. 17.

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