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bility, that Richard escaped from Pomfret early in the year 1400, simultaneously with the rising in his favour of the earls of Huntingdon, Kent, Salisbury, and others, and found a shelter in Scotland, where he was visited by some of his friends in 1402, and in 1405 by Creton, an emissary of his wife, Isabella of France; that he was found by Creton in a state of mental imbecility, occasioned by grief for the tragical fate of his friends, and that the story of his murder at Pomfret was subsequently devised to serve the political views of the duke of Burgundy (the actual ruler of France in consequence of the illness of Charles VI.).

That some one existed in Scotland who for many years was ordinarily taken for King Richard is evident from the accounts of the chamberlain of that kingdom, which speak of the expenses of the "custody of King Richard of England" as late as 1417; in the same year Henry V. alludes to the "mammet" (impostor) "of Scotland," in a manner which is conceived to shew that the term was dishonestly employed; and several Scottish chroniclers speak of Richard's death at Stirling in 1419: one saying he died "a beggar and out of his mind," and another giving his epitaph.

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his mother, Joan of Kent), the stump of a tree, and a white falcon; but this latter probably belongs to his queen Isabella.

He

The character of Richard was evidently weak rather than wicked. was doubtless luxurious and extravagant, and he listened too readily to the evil counsels of his half-brother, the earl of Huntingdon, and others, which cost the lives of his turbulent uncle Gloucester, and the earl of Arundel; but towards many who were equally his enemies he was far from acting with rigourh; and that his conduct in private life was amiable may be justly inferred from the devoted affection with which he was regarded by both his consorts, and his personal attendants'.

A.D. 1377.

He

Richard, grandson of Edward III., succeeds to the throne, June 22. is crowned at Westminster, July 16.

The French ravage the Isle of Wight, attack Southampton without success, and burn Hastings and Rye', July, August.

A parliament meets, October 13. The duke of Lancaster openly defies any who may accuse him of treasonable intentions; a council of nine persons is chosen to conduct the government"; funds to support the war against France are placed in the hands of John Philpot and William Walworth, citizens of London; and Alice Perrers (the favourite of the late king) is banished.

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deprived of his office, when the latter freed himself from restraint, and was afterwards involved in Gloucester's fall, being seized, tried, and beheaded, in Sept. 1397. His estates were shared among the royal favourites, (two of them were his sons-inlaw,) and his son fled to the continent, but returning with Henry of Lancaster, was restored in blood in the first parliament of Henry IV. The earl was buried in the church of the Augustin Friars in London, and being a popular favourite, reports were spread of miracles wrought at his tomb.

Henry of Lancaster, Archbishop Arundel, and the earl of Warwick may be named; it cannot be doubted that they were ready to take his life, yet he spared theirs.

Several of these latter adhered to him in every change of fortune, and cheerfully suffered death in

his cause.

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A.D. 1378.

Aliens forbidden to hold benefices

John Philpot captures Mercer, a [3 Rich. II. c. 3]. Scottish sea-rover.

John of Gaunt makes a fruitless attempt on St. Malo.

Cherbourg is ceded to the English by the king of Navarre (Charles the Bad).

A parliament held at Gloucester, in October. Urban VI. recognised as pope; persons adhering to his rival (Clement VII.) to lose the king's protection, and forfeit their goods [2 Rich. II. c. 7].

Roxburgh burnt, and Berwick captured by surprise by the Scots, in November. Berwick is soon retaken by Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland.

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A.D. 1381.

The duke of Britanny makes a treaty with France, Jan. 15, and dismisses his English allies.

The poll-tax which had been recently granted by the parliament, mainly for the expenses of this fruitless expedition, was most unjust in itself, as demanding a like sum from

those with small as from those with
more ample means; for the provision
that "the richer should aid the poorer
sort" was little regarded. The collec-
tion proceeded but slowly, and the sol-
diers who had returned from Britanny
being clamorous for their pay, the
ministers borrowed a large sum from
foreign merchants, assigning the tax
to them, and allowing them to appoint
their own collectors. The greediness
and insolence of these men was soon
to a head the discontent with which
found intolerable; and thus was brought
the mass of the people in the south
and east of England had long re-
garded their condition; for the rustics
were oppressed by the landlords, and
the poor townsmen by the guilds. The
collectors would seem to have been
first openly opposed in Essex, and
when Sir Robert Belknap, a judge,
was sent to punish the rioters, he was
obliged to flee for his life.
The news
spread from shire to shire, and a tax-
collector was killed at Dartford by
a workman, called Wat the tyler. Soon,
according to documents in the Public
Record Office, "a cry was raised that
no tenant should do service or custom
to the lords as they had aforetime
done "," and bands were formed, of

The scale of duties for this tax is curious, and if fairly apportioned shews the high station of judges, magistrates, and lawyers of that period. Dukes paid £6 135. 4d., chief justices, £5; earls, and the mayor of London, 4; barons, wealthy knights, aldermen of London, mayors of great towns, serjeants and great apprentices of the law, £2; mayors of lesser towns, great merchants, and knights of St. John of Jerusalem, £1. "Sufficient" merchants paid 13s. 4d.; farmers or lessees, the same, or more, according to the value of their holdings; burgesses, husbandmen and others, from 135. 4d. downward to Is.; labourers, 4d. for a man and his wife, and the like sum for each unmarried person above the age of sixteen.

This new tax fell three times as heavily on the lower orders as the capitation-tax of the former

year. The principle of the latter is the same as that of the income-tax of the present day.

P Even before this time efforts had been made, but in a less violent manner, to shake off the yoke of the nobles; confederacies of villeins for the purpose of withstanding their lords are spoken of, and prohibited, by statute in 1377 [1 Rich. II. c. 6], but there was no objection to their bargaining for their freedom, which many of them did; and if a villein fled to a town, and remained there unclaimed by his lord for a year and a day, he became free; though, such was the exclusive spirit of the guilds of craftsmen, that he could not hope to rise above the condition of a mere labourer. Sir Simon Burley, a knight of the court, claimed a villein who had taken refuge at Gravesend, and lodged him in Rochester castle, shortly before the

town workmen in some cases, and of rustics in others, who under leaders bearing the assumed names of Wat Tyler or Jack Straw, committed great ravages. In Kent, for instance, they broke open the gaols, seized the sheriff (William de Septvanz) and obliged him to give up his taxation rolls, which were forthwith burnt, and took summary vengeance on various obnoxious individuals; some were murdered, whilst others had their houses plundered, or were driven from their Îands, or were put to ransom. Similar, or greater outrages were perpetrated in many other places, and the determination was taken to proceed to London, and demand from the king, not merely the abolition of the unjust tax, but charters that should free the rural population from the more grievous oppressions of their lords. From pardons subsequently granted, we see that these commotions extended from Cornwall all along the south and east of England into Yorkshire, and we see also that they had a far more adequate cause, as well as a much longer duration, than is usually ascribed to them.

In Suffolk and Norfolk the insurgents were led by one John Litster (or the Dyer), and committed great excesses, murdering, among others, Sir John Cavendish, the chief justice, and John of Cambridge, the prior of Bury; but they were put down by Henry Spenser, who is known in history by the unseemly title of "the warlike bishop of Norwich."

The Essex men reached the neighbourhood of London, had the desired charters granted to them, and apparently returned home satisfied, without doing any great amount of mischief.

outbreak at Dartford. The Kentish insurgents set the man free, and also released from prison John Ball, one of the friars preachers, who was confined at Maidstone on a charge of sedition, and who is said to have devised a couplet asserting the original equality of man,

"When Adam delved and Evé span, Where was then the gentleman?" which they understood as an incitement to the murder of all the higher orders.

He was the grandson of the favourite of Edward II. He held the see of Norwich from 1370 till his death, Aug. 23, 1406.

Bertram de Wilmyngtone, "armiger," is mentioned as the leader of a party that remained in arms at least up to July 1. In indictments subsequently found against them, we find the chaplain

Not so those of Kent, in whose ranks were many beside mere rustic labourers'. They rendezvoused on Blackheath, June 12, entered London on the following day, burnt the palace of the duke of Lancaster, and other edifices, and butchered many foreigners. The next day they seized the Tower, murdered the archbishop of Canterbury (Simon of Sudbury) and the king's treasurer (Sir Robert Hales'), and prepared for further excesses. On the 15th they had a conference with the king in Smithfield, when their leader Wat was killed by William Walworth, then mayor of London. The young king, however, had the address to lead them out of the city, on a promise of granting them full charters of freedom, as he had done the day before at Mile-end to the people of Essex, but whilst they were engaged in this matter they were suddenly confronted by a body of wellarmed men, raised hastily among the citizens, under Sir Robert Knollys, a renowned commander, when they dispersed with precipitation.

The immediate danger thus removed, the royal councillors at once set about recalling the concessions that had been made and punishing the insurgents. The military tenants of the crown were ordered to assemble on Blackheath on June 30; and on that day the king issued a proclamation from Havering-atte-Bower, ordering that all tenants, whether free or bond, should render all accustomed services as heretofore; and on July 2 he formally annulled the charters of freedom". Commissions for the trial of offenders were next issued (July 10), and under them Tresilian and other judges, supported by a strong force, made circuits, in

of one church, the sacristan of another, and the clerk of a third charged with heading mobs that sacked stewards' houses and burnt court-rolls; carpenters, sawyers, masons and tylers; tailors and weavers; a baker, a buckler-player, a cobbler, a cook, a glover, a piper, and several serving-men, were in their ranks; also some small farmers, who had been forced to join them by threats, and were in consequence acquitted.

The duke was absent in Scotland, where he negociated a truce till Candlemas-day (Feb. 2), 1384; his son, afterwards Henry IV., was saved from the mob by one John Ferrour,

He was also the prior of the Knights of St. John.

This revocation was sanctioned by the parliament, which met in November [5 Rich. II. c. 6).

Unlicensed preachers (Lollards) or dered to be arrested and held in strong prison, "until they will justify themselves according to the law and reason of Holy Church," [5 Rich. II. st. 2, c. 5.]

ders.

A.D. 1382.

Pardon granted to the late insurgents, with certain exceptions [6 Rich. II. c. 13].

A great earthquake in England, May 21.

A.D. 1383.

which it would appear that as many as 1,500 persons were executed. All idea of resistance, however, was not immediately abandoned. From proceedings in the courts at London in the years 1381 to 1383 it appears that an attempt was made in July, 1381, to raise à force to hold Canterbury against the approaching royal troops; The war continued with France; and this failing, one Stephen Hardyng the French are successful in Flanand others rose in arms at Linton, in Kent, in the following September, for the purpose of forcing the king to confirm anew the revoked charters of freedom. They were betrayed by a confederate, apprehended, and executed. One remarkable document connected with these trials is, the confession of one John Cote, who, when questioned in the Tower, "acknowledged that certain strangers from the north country had come to Canterbury, who related that the duke of Lancaster had set all his 'natives' [slaves by birth of the lord of the manor] free in the different counties of England; on which Hardyng and the rest wished to send messengers to the duke to ascertain if this were true, and if it were so, to make him king of England. Their apprehension seems to have prevented their taking any steps to further this design, but the pardon granted to the accuser, when his life was forfeited by the law, looks suspiciously like a desire to bury the matter in oblivion *."

Among them was John Ball, the friar; he was hanged at St. Alban's, July 15.

See "Archæologia Cantiana," vols. iii. and iv., where the documents are printed.

It was at first only to last till the following Michaelmas, but was afterwards extended to May 1, 1385.

He was half-brother to the king, and was created earl of Huntingdon. He had a principal share in the death of the duke of Gloucester, after which he was made duke of Exeter. He attempted to restore Richard, and was in consequence beheaded early in the reign of Henry IV.

He had lately held the office of mayor of London, the citizens of which in general were violently hostile to the king, partly from his exactions, but more from the prevalence among them of certain opinions of the Lollards, which were incompatible with due respect for the kingly office. The duke of Lancaster and his son affected, from political motives, to favour their views, while Richard led a gay extravagant life, surrounded by idle courtiers and greedy favourites, who considered all sober-minded people as disaffected; hence the mutual dislike and distrust of the parties was as great as it was in later days between the Cavaliers and the Puritans.

A distinguished member of what would now be called the Liberal party was Geoffrey Chaucer,

The bishop of Norwich (Henry Spenser) makes an expedition into Flanders, May to October. He is unsuccessful, and on his return is censured in parliament.

A.D. 1384.

A truce concluded with France, Jan. 26'; also with Scotland shortly after.

A parliament meets at Salisbury, April 25, when John Latimer, an Irish friar, accuses the duke of Lancaster of treasonable designs. A day is appointed for a public hearing, and the friar is meanwhile given into the charge of Sir John Holland, but he is shortly after found dead in his chamber.

John of Northampton ", a vehement

Arms of John of Northampton.

justly styled the father of English poetry. He was born, probably in London, in 1328, was first a page in the court of Edward III. and afterwards employed in embassies abroad, where he made himself familiar with the literature of France and Italy. He became connected by marriage with John of Gaunt, inflamed by his writings the ill feeling of his party against the court and clergy,

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