d. Taxation of Wool without consent of Parliament forbidden 1362,1371 e. Immigration of Flemish weavers f. growth of Eastern Counties iv. The Good Parliament a. Abuses: Alice Perrers, John of Gaunt, etc. b. Reforms of the peachment "Good Parliament " 1376. Introduction of Im c. Death of the Black Prince and return of Abuses v. John Wiclif vi. The Black Death 1347 1. Parlt. of 1341. a, Abp. Stratford's case. b. Tallages forbidden, c, Auditors of Public Accounts. d, Ministerial Responsibility. 11. Statute of a. Effects b. Statute of Labourers Edward III.'s personal bravery and military success gave him an artificial popularity at first. But later there came a great change. The war fell into disfavour as the expense and misery which it caused became apparent. The selfish and vicious traits in Edward's character rapidly developed. He neglected the work of government, and mismanagement became general in all parts of the administration. The early years of the war were accompanied by constitutional gains, caused by the need of Parliamentary support. The failure of the invasion of France in 1340 was attributed by Edward to the incomplete preparations made by Archbishop Stratford. He was therefore brought to trial. Stratford demanded to be tried by his peers, and Parliament supported him in his claim. Edward had to yield the point. The same Parliament completed Edward I.'s Confirmatio Cartarum (p. 58) by abolishing the royal right to levy Tallage without consent of Parliament. It also asserted the following great constitutional principles : a. Auditors of the national finances should be appointed by Parliament b. Ministers should be appointed by Parliament. c. Ministers should be answerable to Parliament. The Statute of Treason was passed in 1352, and for the first Treason time defined the crime. The following acts were decided to constitute treason: 1352. a. Compassing the death of the King or the heir to the throne. b. Levying war against the King c. Killing royal officials, judges, etc., while in the exercise of their duties. d. Counterfeiting or clipping the coin of the realm. The last provision shows that trade and commerce had III. Trade. become important. For many years the Merchants had been encouraged by the Kings (p- 56). In this reign we have seen portance. chants. bidden 1339. Taxation of Wool without consent of Parlt. forbidden how great a share the need of protecting our commercial a, Its political iminterests had in causing the war with France. Successes in France, the capture of Calais, the repression of piracy, all helped trade, and Edward directly encouraged it because it enabled supplies to be obtained more readily for his military expeditions. The taxes on wool became a great source of b, The Wool Merrevenue. Edward I. and Edward II. had often treated the wool merchants in an arbitrary way, and Edward III. followed their example. Maletolts, or excessive Customs duties, were c, Maletolts forforbidden in 1339, and in 1362 and again in 1371 all special taxation of wool without consent of Parliament was forbidden. d, The Political Economy of the age was not very advanced, and trade regulations were by no means constant. There were frequent changes of policy. These interfered with the regular supply of wool to the Flemish looms, and the French war acted in the same way. It was simpler for the looms to come to the wool, and thus a considerable number of Flemish e, Immigration of weavers settled in the Eastern towns and set up their manufactures there. As their trade grew they needed more workmen, and the Norfolk towns became some of the largest and the richest in the kingdom. Many are now villages, but their magnificent churches, so marked a feature of the Eastern Counties, are an abiding memorial of their former greatness. 1362, 1371. Flemish weavers. mere f, Growth of Eastern Counties. Parliament. a, Abuses of Alice Perrers, John of Gaunt, etc. In his later years Edward fell under the influence of worth- IV. The Good less favourites, among whom Alice Perrers was the chief. The absence of the Black Prince allowed the scheming and unscrupulous John of Gaunt to gain great power under such circumstances. Under pretence of clerical reform, and utilising for selfish purposes the Lollard agitation against the Clergy, the King was prevailed upon to dismiss William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, his Chancellor. Corruption had free play. Even the Judges could no longer be trusted. The Black Prince feared that John of Gaunt was aiming at the succession. He himself was not likely to live long, and his son, the legal heir, was only a boy. The Clergy were alarmed at the Lollards, whom Gaunt and his friends supported hoping thereby to be able to plunder the Church. Good Parliament " At length public opinion grew strong enough to express b, Reforms of "the itself in action. In 1376 an effort at reform was made in what was consequently called the 'Good Parliament," 1376. (Green 234.) Impeachment. helped by the Black Prince and William of Wykeham. Gaunt himself could not directly be touched, but Alice Perrers was brought to trial for interfering with the administration of justice, Lord Latimer was impeached, and others of their party were attacked in other ways. All were found guilty, and a Council was appointed to carry on the government. By the Introduction of introduction of Impeachment as a method of enforcing the responsibility of Ministers to Parliament an important proof was given of Parliament's increasing power, but as an effectual reform the effort failed. The Black Prince died shortly Prince and Return afterwards, and no sooner had the Good Parliament dispersed than John of Gaunt, Alice Perrers, and their whole set returned. The Council was dismissed. Wykeham was attacked. Only the precedent of Impeachment remained. Parliament had evidently little actual power beyond that of criticism and opposition. c, Death of Black of Abuses. V. John Wiciif. 1377. 1377. (Green v, 3. G. & M. 94. Wakeman 150. Poole Wiclif.) Unable to attack Gaunt directly the party of reform attacked him through his ally Wiclif, who was prosecuted. The nominal charge was heresy: the real cause was his support of John of Gaunt. Gaunt tried to overawe the Bishop of London, Courtenay, in his court, but the citizens of London protected him. Next day they sacked the Savoy Palace, Gaunt's London house. A few months afterwards Edward III. died. John Wiclif (1324—84) had been prominent at Oxford, and had figured as one of the English Commissioners who were appointed in 1374-5 to negociate with the Pope about papal dues. At Oxford he attacked the degenerate Friars and taught the doctrine of "Dominion of Grace." By this he meant that merit and personal worth alone entitled a priest to respect and alone gave value to his spiritual ministrations. He also propounded some loose doctrinal teaching. John of Gaunt perceived that Wiclif's theory would help his own scheme for robbing the Clergy, by giving it the moral support it otherwise lacked. He accordingly patronised and protected him, and seemed to sympathise with his schemes for clerical reform. We have seen how Gaunt's opponents attacked Wiclif as a means of attacking Gaunt, and how thoroughly public opinion realised the true nature of the whole incident. Wiclif proceeded to put his theories into practice. He organised a kind of religious order called the "Poor Preachers" whom he sent out to preach his doctrines, and he flooded the country with tracts. His most valuable work was a translation of the Bible into English. His doctrine of clerical worth may have had its value as a theory, but it is impossible of application. If applied in practice it could only result in encouraging hypocrisy. As was inevitable and natural he met with opposition from the clergy, and this led him to deviate from the accepted doctrines which the clergy taught. He was not however interfered with and died in the performance of his clerical duties at his parish at Lutterworth. His followers (called Lollards), as often happens, exaggerated his doctrine, and by applying it universally, became preachers of revolution. They taught that worth and merit alone should confer position, privilege, and office. Nobles and Barons, landlords, all who possessed this world's goods, should be tried by this test. John of Gaunt and his comrades, who had been ready enough to apply the principle to the clergy, suddenly found they had been playing with edged tools. The Insurrection of 1381 brought the fact home to them and to the nation in an unmistakeable way (p. 83) and from that time Lollardry was discredited. Public opinion turned against it when it became political rather than religious; but it was more easily open to attack on the latter than on the former ground. Hence arose the Persecution of the Lollards -nominally religious but really political. The Black 1347, 1361, 1368. (Gasquet's Black Death; Jessop's Friars; Stubbs ii, 416; Green 246-250,) The Black Death was a terrible pestilence which swept vi. across Europe, and reached England in 1347. At least one half of the population was destroyed by it, the mortality being largest, of course, among the poorer classes. The immediate effect was the stoppage for a time of the French War (p. 74). Another effect was also immediately seen. As only half the labourers remained to do the work there came a rapid rise in a, Effects. wages, and of course the effort to stop this, in the Statute of b, Statute of Labourers, ordering that wages should remain at their former level, failed. Labourers. Villanage The landowners then tried to go back to the old custom of c, revival of villanage, by which the labourers had held their cottages and land on condition of fixed services. Such a method had been highly inconvenient, and had gradually given place to the modern system of wages and rents. But the old laws of villanage remained, and the old title deeds specified services and not rents and wages. The attempt to enforce the old laws and title deeds caused d Discontent. much discontent, as of course the services had doubled in value. The crudely socialistic teaching of the Lollards fell in with the practical grievances of the labourers, and as years went by revolutionary ideas spread. They found practical expression early in the next reign (p. 83). F RICHARD II. 1377-1399. i. Early years: Regency a. Peasants' Revolt 1381 I. Causes 2. Wat Tyler 3. Demands of Rebels 4. Richard's energy and promises 5. Repudiation by Parliament 6. Forcible Repression 7. Effects i. Disappearance of villanage fi. Withdrawal of Gaunt iii. Lollardry discredited iv. Coalition of Baronage and Clergy v. Lowering of political aims vi. Increase of Parliamentary power b. Rise of the King's Party: de Vere and de la Pole ii. Period of Revolutions 1386-1389 1. Council of Regency appointed 1386 2. Declared illegal by Judges 1387 3. Appellant Lords in "Merciless (or "Wonderful ") Parliament 1388-(compared with Ordainers) 4. Richard's coup d'etat 1389 iii. Richard's personal Rule 1389-99 a. Constitutional and popular at first b. Attack on Appellants 1397 c. Parliament of Shrewsbury makes Richard absolute 1398 d. Bolingbroke's banishment iv. Richard's Deposition 1399 a. Seizure of Gaunt's lands 1399 b. Bolingbroke's return c. General disaffection towards Richard d. Bolingbroke advocates Reform e. Deposition of Richard II. f. Election of Bolingbroke as Henry IV. v. Constitutional Importance of Richard II.'s Deposition vii. Comparison and contrast with Edward II.'s Reign 1. Early Years: Regency. (Smith. Troublous Times R. ii.) 1381. Richard II., the son of the Black Prince and grandson of Edward III., was only eleven years old when he became King. Consequently the government had to rest with a Council. a, Peasants' Revolt John of Gaunt was carefully excluded from the Council, but he exercised great influence. His marriage to Blanche of Lancaster had given him the title and vast domains of the Duchy of Lancaster, and he adopted and handed on to his descendants the traditional Lancaster policy of opposition to the King [cf. above, p. 65]. (1.) Causes. (Green 248-252.) A very great danger soon arose. The discontent of the peasantry, caused by the attempts to revive villanage and |