XVI. offence. As to his deserts he would be silent, but hoped that CHAP. what he had suffered for the King would not be forgotten. Here Scrope was allowed to interpose. "The individual now accused of misconduct as Chancellor," he remarked, "had served in war thirty years as a knight banneret without disgrace or reproof, had thrice been a captive in the hands of the enemy, and had been Governor of Calais, Admiral of the fleet, and oftentimes Ambassador from the King to foreign states, in all which capacities he had conducted himself with the purest honour as well as with the highest ability.” The managers for the Commons were heard in reply, and chiefly dwelt upon the charge, that, being Chancellor, and obliged by his oath to consult the King's profit, he had purchased lands from the King below their true value. He proved that he had made no purchase from the Crown while he was Chancellor, and that all the bargains referred to had been concluded before he was raised to that office. Nevertheless he was found guilty of having defrauded the Crown, and adjudged to forfeit several large sums of money, and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure. He was accordingly committed to the custody of the Lord High Constable, and sent close prisoner to Windsor Castle, where he remained till this parliament was dissolved, when he was taken into favour, and was able again to make head against his enemies. This prosecution is memorable as it confirmed to the Commons their new claim of impeaching the ministers of the Crown, and showed how the power might be abused to the purposes of faction. the Earl of Suffolk. De la Pole, the Ex-chancellor, was actively engaged in the Death of struggle which soon arose from the attempt to subject Richard, like Henry III. and Edward II., to a council of Barons, armed with the powers of royalty. Upon the defeat of the party who resisted these proceedings he was obliged to go into exile. He was kindly received by the King of France, but died soon after of a broken heart, said to have been pro- A. D. 1388. duced less by his private misfortunes than by the calamities he saw impending over his country. That he was fit for the office of Chancellor which had been held by Parnyng and racter. Knyvet it is impossible to assert; but he seems to have filled His cha CHAP. it with unspotted integrity, and he certainly displayed high qualities as a statesman as well as a soldier. His descendants were nearly allied to the throne, and several of them are among the most distinguished characters in English history. The new Chancellor, THOMAS ARUNDEL, was of illusChancellor, trious descent, being the son of Robert Earl of Arundel and His family. Warren. He very early displayed great talents, and he had Education. a respectable share of the learning of the times. Taking THOMAS Miscon duct of orders, he was made Archdeacon of Taunton when scarce twenty-two years of age, and it was not long before he entered parliament as a Prelate, where we have seen he was the antagonist of De la Pole, the Chancellor, with whom he had a long-continued rivalry. Supported by Gloucester, the King's uncle, he was now completely in the ascendant; for the two houses were willingly ruled by him, and the King could make no resistance. He used his power with no moderation; for, not contented with crushing his predecessor, he attempted permanently to make himself master of the King and the kingdom. An Act was passed, to which the royal assent was nominally given, appointing a council of fourteen persons, to whom the sovereign power was transferred for a twelvemonth, and the King was in reality dethroned. The Chancellor was the first named in this commission. But although Richard had taken an oath never to infringe Richard II. it, at the end of the session he publicly entered a protest that the prerogatives of the Crown, notwithstanding his late concession, should still be deemed entire and unimpaired. The Commissioners, without regarding this declaration, took possession of the government, but they were not long allowed to exercise their authority without disturbance. Richard was sensible of the contempt into which he had fallen, and, instigated by the Earl of Suffolk, whom he restored to liberty, he made a bold effort to recover his authority. He assembled Tressilian, the Chief Justice of England, and the other Judges, at Nottingham, and obtained an opinion from them that those who procured the late commission, or advised the King to consent to it, were punishable with death, and that those who should persevere in maintaining it were guilty of treason; and that the House of Commons cannot, without the King's CHAP. consent, impeach any of his Ministers or Judges. XVI. Gloucester and the Chancellor flew to arms as soon as they Civil war. heard of this consultation, and met Richard near Highgate with a force which he and his adherents could not resist. They accused the Earl of Suffolk, the Duke of Ireland, Sir Robert Tressilian and others who impugned the commission, as public and dangerous enemies to the state. ment. A new parliament was called in February, 1388*, which A parliawas opened by a speech from the Bishop of Ely, the Chancellor, inveighing against the opposite faction. An appeal of treason, consisting of many articles, was preferred against the discomfited leaders of it, and as a matter of course they were found guilty. Tressilian, the Chief Justice, being discovered in an apothecary's shop in Palace Yard, where he had some time lain concealed, was hanged at Tyburn, and his fate seems to have excited little compassion, for he had shown himself ready to mete out like injustice to others, and he had extra-judicially pronounced opinions which, if acted upon, would have been for ever fatal to public liberty. It seemed as if those now in power never could be deprived of it. Thomas of Arundel, the Chancellor, had been made Archbishop of York, and he no doubt expected to hold the Great Seal without interruption for many years. But in the Arundel beginning of May, 1389, Richard unexpectedly and peaceably dismissed. recovered his authority, and all those who had been concerned in the late plots against him were dismissed from their employments. This change seems to have been brought about merely by a reaction in public opinion, and a dislike in the English nation to power remaining long in the same hands. Richard, on this occasion, conducted himself with great moderation, and he confirmed by proclamation the general pardon which the parliament had passed for all offences. * 1 Parl. Hist. 196. 1 St. Tr. 89. CHAP. May 4. 1389. William of Chancellor. His history cellorships. CHAPTER XVII. CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE WILLIAM OF WICKHAM, Bishop of Winchester, after a * After his resignation of the Great Seal in 1371, he had Wickham employed himself in repairing the twelve castles, or manorial again residences, belonging to him as Bishop, on which he spent 20,000 marks;-in rebuilding the cathedral at Winchester;between his and in reforming abuses in the monasteries and religious two Chan- houses within his diocese, particularly the ancient hospital of St. Cross, founded by the famous Bishop Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen. Having been appointed by "the Good Parliament," which met in 1376, one of the council established to superintend the conduct of public affairs, he had the misfortune to incur the displeasure of the Duke of Lancaster, who then wished to engross all power into his own hands. By his contrivance, eight informations were filed against the Bishop in the beginning of the next Michaelmas term, charging him with various acts of pecuniary defalcation, oppression, and perversion of the law while he was Keeper of the Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor. The cause was tried before a partial commission of Bishops, Peers, and Privy Councillors, and although convicted only on one charge, which amounted at most to an irregularity, he was heavily fined, an order was issued for sequestering the revenues of his bishopric, and he was forbidden to come within twenty miles of the Court. When, on the petition of the Commons, the general pardon was issued by the King in consideration of its being the year of his jubilee, the Bishop of Winchester alone was exempted from its benefit. His enemies contrived Under a regulation then made, every traveller who visits the hospital is now presented with a cup of ale and a small loaf. XVII. to throw an imputation upon him that he was patronised by CHAP. Alice Pierce, and that he instigated her to withstand the parliament. In spite of this scandal, his brethren of the clergy now assembled in convocation, manfully took up his cause, and his temporalities were restored to him on condition of his fitting out three ships of war for the defence of the kingdom. The mulct was remitted on the accession of Richard II.; but the prosecution subjected him to a loss of 10,000 marks. During the minority of Richard the Ex-chancellor had not interfered with politics, except that after the suppression of Wat Tyler's rebellion he was one of the seventeen persons appointed by the Commons to confer with them on the condition of the kingdom, and that in 1386 he was one of the fourteen appointed by the parliament, at the instigation of the King's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, to be a council to the King for one year, and to exercise all the powers of government. In this capacity he conducted himself with so much mildness and moderation, that when Richard recovered his authority he still wished to have him near his person. His restoration to the office of Chancellor under the sent circumstances was generally approved of; for if his judicial qualifications for it were slender, the people were pleased to see it once more filled by a man of moderate opinions and unsullied integrity. In January 1390 a parliament met, which he opened with a A parliaspeech, "declaring the King to be of full age, and that he ment. intended to govern his people in peace and quiet, and to do justice and right to all men."* The Chancellor then, to gain popularity, went through a The Chancellor lays ceremony prescribed by a repealed statute of Edward III.;-down his he surrendered the Great Seal to the King before both Houses office in parliament of parliament; the Bishop of St. David's, the Lord Treasurer, and is reat the same time delivered up the keys of the Exchequer; appointed. and they prayed that they might be discharged,—"complaining of the great labour and costs to which they were continually put in their said offices, and praying that other good and suf * 1 Parl. Hist. 216. |