CHAPTER IX.

[pg 212]CHAPTER IX.Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.Shortly after Edward had breathed his last, a deputation from the City waited upon the Prince of Wales at Kennington. John Philipot again acted as spokesman, and after alluding to the loss which the country had recently sustained, and recommending the City of London—the "king's chamber"—to the prince's favour, begged him to assist in effecting a reconciliation with Lancaster. This Richard promised to do, and a few days later the deputation again waited on the young king—this time at Shene, where preparations were being made for the late king's obsequies—and a reconciliation took place, the king kissing each member of the deputation, and promising to be their friend, and to look after the City's interests as if they were his own.617Formal announcement of the reconciliation was afterwards made at Westminster, and Peter de la Mare, long a prisoner in Nottingham Castle, was set free, to the great joy of the citizens.618The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.At the express wish of the citizens, Richard—the "Londoners' king," as the nobles were in the habit of cynically styling the new sovereign, for the[pg 213]reason that he had ascended the throne more by the assistance of thebourgeoisLondoner than of the nobility619—took up his quarters at the Tower, whence he proceeded in state to Westminster for his coronation. Great preparations were made in the city to tender his progress through the streets one of exceptional splendour. The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the chief butler at the banquet was discourteously refused by Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who bluntly told them that they might be of service in washing up the pots and pans. The citizens had their revenge, however. They set up an effigy of the man at a conspicuous arch or tower in Cheapside, in which he appeared to the whole of the procession as it passed on its way to Westminster, in the ignominious attitude of vomiting wine.620This was enough; the Londoners gained the day, and were allowed to perform their customary services at the banquet, and the mayor got his gold cup.621A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.Richard was only eleven years of age when raised to the throne. A council was therefore appointed to govern in his name. Neither the Duke of Lancaster nor any other of the king's uncles were elected councillors, and, for a time, John of Gaunt retired into comparative privacy. The task of the council was not easy. The French plundered the[pg 214]coast,622and the Scots plundered the borders. Money was sorely needed. The City consented to advance the sum of £5,000 upon the security of the customs of the Port of London and of certain plate and jewels,623and when parliament met (13 Oct., 1377) it made a liberal grant of two tenths and two fifteenths, which was to be collected without delay, on the understanding that two treasurers should be appointed to superintend the due application of the money.624The two treasurers appointed for this purpose were two citizens of note, namely, William Walworth and John Philipot, of whose financial capability mention has already been made.Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.Before parliament broke up it gave its assent to a new charter to the City.625Foreigners (i.e.non-freemen) were again forbidden to traffic in the city among themselves by retail, and the City's franchises were confirmed and enlarged. So much importance was attached to this charter that Brembre, the mayor, caused its main provisions to be published throughout the city.626The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.Lancaster soon became tired of playing a subordinate part in the government of the kingdom. As[pg 215]a preliminary step to higher aims, he contrived, after some little opposition, to obtain the removal of the subsidy granted by the last parliament, out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot into his own, although these men had given no cause for suspicion of dishonourable conduct in the execution of their public trust.627Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.The energetic John Philipot soon found other work to do. The English coast had recently become infested with a band of pirates, who, having already made a successful descent upon Scarborough, were now seeking fresh adventures. Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, and putting to sea succeeded in capturing the ringleader,628a feat which rendered him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow citizens showed their appreciation of his character by electing him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October (1378).629Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.The citizens were, however, split up into factions, one party, with Philipot and Brembre at his head, maintaining a stubborn opposition to Lancaster, whilst another, under the leadership of Walworth and John de Northampton, favoured the duke. These factions were continually plotting and counter-plotting one against the other. At Gloucester, to which the duke had brought the parliament in 1378, in the hope of[pg 216]escaping from the interference of the "ribald" Londoners,630Brembre was arraigned on a charge of having connived during his recent mayoralty at an attack made on the house of the duke's younger brother, Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, and although he succeeded in proving his innocence, the earl and his party continued to use threats, and Brembre, in order to smooth matters over, consented to be mulcted in 100 marks. When the matter was reported to the Common Council at home (25 Nov.), that body not only signified its approval of his conduct—"knowing for certain that it was for no demerits of his own, but for the preservation of the liberties of the city, and for the extreme love which he bore it, that he had undergone such labours and expenses,"—but recouped him what he had disbursed.631The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.In course of time the earl and his followers succeeded in persecuting Brembre to a disgraceful death. At present they contented themselves with damaging the trade of the city, so far as they could, by leaving the cityen masseand withdrawing their custom. The result was so disastrous to the citizens, more especially to the hostel keepers and victuallers, that the civic authorities resolved to win the nobles back to the city by wholesale bribery, and, as the city's "chamber" was empty, a subscription list was set on foot to raise a fund for the purpose. Philipot, the mayor, headed the list with £10, a sum just double that of any other subscriber. Six others, among them being Brembre (the[pg 217]earl's particular enemy) and Walworth, subscribed respectively £5; whilst the rest contributed sums varying from £4 down to five marks, the last mentioned sum being subscribed by Richard "Whytyngdon" of famous memory.632Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.The grants made to the king by the parliament at Gloucester were soon exhausted by the war, and recourse was had, as usual, to the City. In February, 1379, the mayor and aldermen were sent for to Westminster. They were told that the king's necessities demanded an immediate supply of money, and that the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the nobility had consented to contribute. What would the City do? After a brief consultation apart, the mayor and aldermen suggested that the usual course should be followed and that they should be allowed to consult the general body of the citizens in the Guildhall. Eventually the City consented to advance another sum of £5,000 on the same security as before, but any tax imposed by parliament at its next session was to be taken as a set off.633The poll-tax of 1379.At the session of parliament held in April and May (1379), the demand for further supply became so urgent that a poll-tax was imposed on a graduated scale according to a man's dignity, ranging from ten marks or £6 1s.4d.imposed on a duke, to a groat or four pence which the poorest peasant was called upon to pay. The mayor of London, assessed as an earl, was to pay £4; and the aldermen, assessed as barons, £2. The sum thus furnished by the city amounted to less than £700,634and the whole amount levied on[pg 218]the country did not exceed £22,000, a sum far short of what had been anticipated.Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.In the following year (1380) there was a recurrence to the old method of raising money, but this proving still insufficient a poll-tax was again resorted to. This time, the smallest sum exacted was not less than three groats, and was payable on everyman, woman and unmarried child, above the age of fifteen, throughout the country. The amount thus raised in the city and liberties was just over £1000.635The tax was especially irritating from its inquisitorial character, and led to serious consequences.The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.The country was already suffering under a general discontent, when a certain Wat Tyler in Kent struck down a collector of the poll-tax, who attempted in an indecent manner to discover his daughter's age. This was the signal for a revolt of the peasants from one end of England to the other, not only against payment of this particular tax, but against taxes and landlords generally. The men of Essex joined forces with those of Kent on Blackheath, and thence marched on London. With the aid of sympathisers within the City's gates, the effected an entrance on the night of the 12th of June, and made free with the wine cellars of the wealthier class. The next day, the rebels, more mad than drunk (non tam ebrii quam dementes), stirred up the populace to make a raid upon the Duke of Lancaster's palace of the Savoy. This they sacked and burnt to the ground. They next vented their wrath upon the Temple, and afterwards upon the house of the Knight's Hospitallers at[pg 219]Clerkenwell. In the meantime reinforcements were gathering in Essex under the leadership of one known as "Jack Straw," and were hurrying to London. At Mile End they were met (14 June) by the young king himself, who set out from the Tower for that purpose, accompanied by a retinue of knights and esquires on horseback, as well as by his mother in a drawn vehicle. The rebels demanded the surrender of all traitors to the king. To this Richard gave his assent, and having done so returned to the city to take up his quarters at the Wardrobe, near Castle Baynard, whilst the rebels, availing themselves of the king's word, hurried off to the Tower. There they found Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and he and others were beheaded on Tower Hill. The rest of the day and the whole of the next were given up to plunder and massacre, so that the narrow streets were choked with corpses. Among those who perished at the hands of the rebels was Richard Lyons, the deposed alderman. At length, on the evening of Saturday, the 15th, when the king had ridden to Smithfield accompanied by Walworth, the mayor, and a large retinue in order to discuss matters with Wat Tyler (the Essex men had for the most part returned home), an altercation happened to arise between Tyler and one of the royal suite. Words were about to lead to blows when the mayor himself interposed, and summarily executed the king's order to arrest Tyler by bringing him to the ground by a fatal blow of his dagger. Deprived of their leader the mob became furious, and demanded Walworth's head; the mayor, however, contrived to slip back into the City, whence he quickly returned with such a force that the[pg 220]rioters were surrounded and compelled to submit. The king intervened to prevent further bloodshed, and knighted on the field not only Walworth, but also Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot and Robert Launde.636The same day a royal commission was issued to enquire into the late riot and to bring the offenders to account.637Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.Orders were given on the 20th June to each alderman to provide men-at-arms and archers to guard in turns the city's gates, and to see that no armed person entered the city, except those who declared on oath that they were about to join the king's expedition against the rebels. In the meantime, the aldermen were to make returns of all who kept hostels in their several wards.638In a list, containing nearly 200 names of divers persons of bad character, who had left the city by reason of the insurrection,639there appear the names of two servants of Henry "Grenecobbe." The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.640Confession made by "Jack Straw.""Jack Straw," on being brought before the mayor, was induced by promises of masses for the good of his soul, to confess the nature of the intentions of the rioters, which were to use the king's person as a[pg 221]stalking horse for drawing people to their side, and eventually to kill him and all in authority throughout the kingdom. The mendicant friars, who were believed to be at the bottom of the insurrection,641were alone to be spared. Wat Tyler was to be made king of Kent, whilst others were to be placed in similar positions over the rest of the counties. The mayor sentenced him to be beheaded. This done, his head was set up on London Bridge, where Wat Tyler's already figured.642Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.The discontent which had given rise to the peasants' revolt, had been fanned by the attacks made by Wycliffe's "simple priests" upon the rich and idle clergy. The revolt occasioned a bitter feeling among the landlord class against Wycliffe and his followers, and after its suppression the Lollards were made the object of much animadversion. Their preaching was forbidden,643and Wycliffe was obliged to retire to his country parsonage, where he continued to labour with his pen for the cause he had so much at heart, until his death in 1384.Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. Under Northampton—a man whom even his enemies allowed to be of stern purpose, not truckling to those[pg 222]above him, nor bending to his inferiors,644—many reforms were carried out, ecclesiastical as well as civil.The ecclesiastical courts having grossly failed in their duty, the citizens themselves, fearful of God's vengeance if matters were allowed to continue as they were, undertook the work of reform within the city's walls. The fees of the city parsons were cut down. The fee for baptism was not to exceed forty pence, whilst that for marriage was not as a general rule to be more than half a mark. One farthing was all that could be demanded for a mass for the dead, and the priest was bound to give change for a half-penny when requested or forego his fee.645Steps were taken at the same time to improve the morality of the city by ridding the streets of lewd women and licentious men. On the occasion of a first offence, culprits of either sex were subjected to the ignominy of having their hair cropt for future identification, and then conducted with rough music through the public thoroughfares, the men to the pillory and the women to the "thewe." After a third conviction, they were made to abjure the City altogether.646It was during Northampton's first year of the mayoralty that the citizens succeeded in breaking down the monopoly of the free fish-mongers. A number of "dossers" or baskets for carrying fish were also seized because they were deficient in holding capacity, and on that account were calculated to defraud the purchaser.647But,[pg 223]although a mayor in those days exercised, no doubt, greater power in the municipal government than now, we must be careful to avoid the common mistake of attributing to the individuality of the mayor for the time being what was really the action of the citizens as a body corporate.Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.In October, 1382, Northampton was elected mayor for the second time, and Philipot, his rival, either resigned or was deprived of his aldermancy.648His re-election was at the king's express wish. On the 6th he wrote to the sheriffs, aldermen and commons of the city intimating that, whilst anxious to leave the citizens free choice in the matter of election of their mayor, he would be personally gratified if their choice fell upon the outgoing mayor. At first Northampton declined re-election, but he afterwards consented to serve another year on receiving a written request from the king.649His hesitation was probably due to the factious state of the city. Brembre and Philipot were not his only enemies. Another alderman, Nicholas Exton, of Queenhithe Ward, had recently been removed from his aldermancy for opprobrious words used to Northampton during his first mayoralty. A petition had been laid before the Court of Common Council in August, 1382, when Exton himself being present, and seeing the turn affairs were taking, endeavoured to anticipate the judgment of the[pg 224]court, by himself asking to be exonerated from his office, declaring at the same time that he had offered a large sum of money to be released at his election in the first instance. The court wishing for further time to consider the matter adjourned. At its next meeting a similar petition was again presented, but the court hesitated to pronounce judgment in the absence of Exton, who was summoned to appear at the next Common Council. When the court met again, it was found that Exton had ignored the summons. Judgment was, therefore, pronounced in his absence and he was deprived of his aldermancy.650Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.At the close of Northampton's second mayoralty (Oct., 1383), his place was taken by his rival, Nicholas Brembre,651and a general reversal of the order of things took place. The free-fishmongers recovered their ancient privileges,652and the judgment passed upon Exton as well as a similar judgment passed upon another alderman, Adam Carlile, were reversed.653Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.Soon after Brembre's election the king confirmed the City's liberties by charter,654which had the assent of parliament. Two years previously the citizens had[pg 225]besought the newly-married queen to use her interest with Richard to that end.655Her good offices, as well as the fact that the City had recently advanced to the king the sum of 4,000 marks, on the security of the royal crown and other things,656may have been instrumental in obtaining for the citizens this fresh confirmation of their rights.Proceedings against Northampton.In January (1384) Northampton was bound over to keep the peace in the sum of £5,000;657but in the following month he was put under arrest (together with his brother, known as Robert "Cumberton," and another), for raising a disturbance in the City, and sent to Corfe Castle.658For Northampton's arrest, as well as for the summary execution of a certain John Constantyn, a cordwainer, who had been convicted of taking a leading part in the disturbance, Brembre received a letter of indemnity from the king.659The riot had one good effect. It roused public opinion against monopolies and restriction of trade to such an extent, that Richard very soon afterwards caused the city to be opened freely to all foreigners(i.e., non-freemen) wishing to sell fish or other victuals.660Trial of Northampton at Reading.In August (1384) the opinion of each individual member of the Common Council was taken on oath, as to whether it would be to the advantage or disadvantage of the city if Northampton were allowed to return; and it was unanimously found that his return[pg 226]would breed dissension rather than peace and unity.661Armed with thisplébiscitethe mayor and a number of citizens, whom the king had summoned by name, attended a council at Reading for the purpose of determining the fate of Northampton. The accused contented himself with objecting to sentence being passed against him in the absence of his patron the Duke of Lancaster. This, however, availed him nothing, and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in Tintagel Castle.662Another authority663states that the mayor brought with him to the council a man named Thomas Husk or Usk (whose name, by the way, does not appear in the list which the king forwarded to the mayor), who made a number of charges against Northampton. The prisoner so far forgot himself in the royal presence as to call Usk a liar, and to challenge him to a duel. Matters were not improved by Northampton's appeal for delay in passing sentence upon him in the absence of the Duke of Lancaster. Richard flushed crimson with anger at the proposal, declaring that he was ready to sit in judgment upon the duke no less than on Northampton, and forthwith ordered the latter's execution, and the confiscation of his goods. The sentence would have been earned out but for the timely intercession of the queen, who flung herself at her husband's feet and begged for the prisoner's life. The queen's prayer was granted, and Northampton was condemned to perpetual imprisonment and remitted to Corfe Castle. Thence, at the beginning of September, he was removed[pg 227]to the Tower of London, where two of his partisans, John More, one of the sheriffs, and Richard Northbury, recently arrested, were lodged.Is committed to Tintagel Castle.The Chief Justice, Tressilian, hesitated to take any steps against the prisoners, one of whom had already been tried and sentenced, asserting that the matter lay within the jurisdiction of the mayor. His scruples, however, on this score were easily set aside, and on the 10th September, each of the prisoners was sentenced to be drawn and hanged. No sooner was sentence passed than the chancellor, Michael de la Pole, entered on the scene, and proclaimed that the king's grace had been extended to the prisoners, that there lives would be spared, but that they would be imprisoned until further favour should be shown them. They were accordingly sent off to various fortresses; Northampton to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Northbury to Corfe Castle, and More to Nottingham; and all this arose, says the Chronicler, from the rivalry of fishmongers.664Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.When Brembre sought re-election to the mayoralty in October, 1384, he found a formidable competitor in Nicholas Twyford, with whom he had not always been on the best of terms. It was in 1378, when Twyford was sheriff and Brembre was occupying the mayoralty chair for the first time, that they fell out, the occasion being one of those trade disputes so frequent in the City's annals. A number of goldsmiths and pepperers had come to loggerheads in St. Paul's Churchyard during sermon time, and the[pg 228]mayor had committed one of the ringleaders to the compter. The culprit, however, happened to be, like Twyford, a goldsmith, and was one of his suite. Twyford resented his man being sent to prison, and for his pains got arrested himself.665It was felt that the election would be hotly contested and might lead to disturbance. Besides the customary precept issued by the mayor forbidding any to appear who were not specially summoned,666the king took the precaution of sending John de Nevill, of Roby, to the Guildhall to see that the election was properly conducted. In spite of all precautions, however, a disturbance took place, and some of the rioters were afterwards bound over to keep the peace.667It is said that Brembre himself secreted a body of men in the neighbourhood of the Guildhall, and that when he found the election going against him, he signalled for them, and Twyford's supporters were compelled to flee for safety, and that thus the election was won.668Nothing of this appears in the City's Records, where Brembre's re-election is entered in the manner of the day.669Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.In 1385 Brembre was again elected mayor, and continued in office until October, 1386, when he was succeeded by his friend and ally, Nicholas Exton. This was the fourth and last time Brembre was mayor. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster and his party had renewed their efforts to effect the release of Northampton and of his fellow prisoners,[pg 229]More and Northbury, on the understanding that they were not to come near the City, and Brembre again took the opinion of the aldermen and commons severally as to the probable effect of the release of the prisoners. This occurred in March, 1386, when it was unanimously resolved that danger would result to the city if Northampton was allowed to come within 100 miles of it.670The resolution caused much annoyance to the duke, who characterised it as unreasonable and outrageous, and led to some heated correspondence.671It had, however, the desired effect of at least postponing the release of the prisoners.672A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of mayor, Exton, March, 1387.A few months after Exton had taken Brembre's place as mayor (Oct., 1386), the new mayor raised a commotion by ordering a book called "Jubilee," which Northampton is supposed to have compiled—or caused to be compiled for the better government of the City, to be publicly burnt in Guildhall yard.673The cordwainers of London, staunch supporters of Northampton (the leader of the riot which led to Northampton's arrest in 1384 was a cordwainer), complained to parliament of Exton. The book, said they, " comprised all the good articles pertaining to the good government of the City," which Exton and all the aldermen had sworn to maintain for ever, and now he and his accomplices had burnt it without consent of the commons, to the annihilation of many good liberties, franchises, and[pg 230]customs of the City.674The book had already been subjected to revision in June, 1384, when Brembre was mayor;675it was now utterly destroyed.Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.In 1387 efforts were again made to secure Northampton's release, and this time with success. On the 17th April Exton reported to the Common Council that Lord Zouche was actually engaged in canvassing the king for the release of Northampton and his allies. The Council thereupon unanimously resolved to send a letter to Lord Zouche, on behalf of the entire commonalty of the City, praying him to desist from his suit, and assuring him of their loyalty to the king even unto death.676It also resolved to send a deputation on horseback to the king, who was at "Esthamstede," to ask his favour for the City, and to beg of him not to annul the charters which he had already given to the citizens, more especially as touching the release of the prisoners in question.Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.On the 4th May the Recorder, William Cheyne, reported to the Common Council assembled in the upper chamber of the Guildhall the result of the interview with the king. The deputation had been received most graciously, and the mayor had been particularly successful in his speech, setting forth the dangers that would inevitably ensue, both to the king and to the city, if pardon were granted to Northampton and his friends. The king had replied that he would take good precautions for himself before he[pg 231]granted them their liberty;677and with this answer the citizens had to be content. The answer was an evasive one, if it be true, as one authority states, that on the 27th April—the day on which the mayor had informed the citizens of the intervention of Lord Zouche—Northampton had received his pardon and been restored to his property.678His friends remained still unsatisfied, and plagued the king for more favourable terms to such a degree that Richard ordered (7 Oct.) proclamation to be made in the city against any further entreaties being made to him on the subject.679Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.Two days before the order for this proclamation, the king was informed by letter of the nature of a fresh oath of allegiance680that had been taken by the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city. He was furthermore exhorted to give credence to what Nicholas Brembre might inform him as to the state and government of the city, since there was no one better informed than Brembre on the subject.The king's reply, 7 Oct.To this the king sent a gracious reply.681He had learnt with much pleasure from Nicholas Brembre of the allegiance of the citizens, which he trusted would[pg 232]continue, as he would soon have good reason for paying a visit to the city in person. He had heard that the new sheriffs were good and trusty men, and he expressed a hope that at the approaching election of a mayor they would choose one of whom he could approve, otherwise he would decline to receive the mayor-elect at his presentation. He not only forbade any further entreaties to be made to him touching Northampton, More and Northbury, but commissioned enquiry to be made as to their property in the city. He was especially gratified to learn that, in accordance with his request, they had appointed Thomas Usk (the chief witness against Northampton) to the office of under-sheriff, and promised that such appointment should not be drawn into precedent. The citizens were not slow to take the hint about the election of a new mayor, and Exton was continued in office.682The Parliament of 1386.Great discontent had arisen meanwhile in the country at the lavish expenditure of the king, without any apparent result in victories abroad, such as had been gained in the glorious days of his predecessor. A cry for reform and retrenchment was raised, and found a champion in the person of the Duke of Gloucester, the youngest of the king's uncles. At his instigation, the parliament which assembled on the 1st October, 1386, demanded the dismissal of the king's ministers, and read him a lesson on constitutional government which ended in a threat of deposition unless the king should mend his ways. Richard was at the time only twenty-one years of age. In the impetuosity of his youth he is recorded as having contemplated a dastardly attempt upon the life of his uncle,[pg 233]whom he had grown to hate as the cause of all his difficulties. A plan was laid, which is said to have received Brembre's approbation, for beguiling the duke into the city by an invitation to supper, and then and there making away with him, but the duke was forewarned. The chronicler who records Brembre's complicity in this nefarious design against Gloucester's life also relates that Exton, who was mayor, refused to have anything to do with it.683Appointment of a Commission of Regency.The Commission declared illegal.Richard applies to the City for assistance.Before the end of the session, parliament had appointed a commission, with Gloucester at its head, to regulate the government of the country and the king's household. This very naturally excited the wrath of the hot-headed king, who immediately set to work to form a party in opposition to the duke. In August of the next year (1387) he obtained a declaration from five of the justices to the effect that the commission was illegal. On the 28th October he sent the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk into the city to learn whether he could depend upon the support of the citizens. The answer could not have been regarded as unfavourable, for, on the 10th November, the king paid a personal visit to the city and was received with great ceremony.684On the following day (11 Nov.) orders were given to the aldermen of the City to assemble the men of their several wards, to see that they were suitably armed according to their rank and estate, and to make a return of the same in due course.685The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.On the 14th Gloucester formally charged the king's five counsellors—the Archbishop of York, the[pg 234]Duke of Ireland, the Earl of Suffolk, Chief Justice Tressilian and Nicholas Brembre, "the false London knight," with treason.686The king retaliated by causing proclamation to be made to the effect that he had taken these same individuals under his own protection, and that no one should harm them save at his own peril. This protection was extended also to the king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, the impeaching parties.The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.On the 28th the mayor and aldermen were summoned to proceed to Windsor forthwith, to consult upon certain matters very weighty (certeines treschargeauntes matirs).687The City's archives contain no record of what took place at the interview, but it appears that the object of the conference was to ascertain how many men-at-arms the city would be likely to furnish the king at a crisis. The answer given by the mayor was not encouraging; the citizens were merchants and craftsmen, and not soldiers, save for the defence of the city itself; and the mayor straightway asked the king's permission to resign his office.688Richard obliged to submit.Flight of the accused.Finding that he could not rely on any assistance from the Londoners—whom Walsingham describes as fickle as a reed, siding at one time with the lords and at another time with the king689—Richard was driven to temporise. He had already promised that in the next parliament his unfortunate advisers should be called to account, but long before parliament met[pg 235](3 Feb., 1388), four out of the five culprits had made good their escape—at least for a time. Brembre alone was taken.690He had anticipated the blow by making over all his property at home and abroad to certain parties by deed, dated the 15th October, 1387, no doubt, upon a secret trust.691The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.Notwithstanding the evident coolness of the citizens towards him, Richard determined to leave Windsor and spend Christmas at the Tower. He would be safer there, and less subject to the dominating influence of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel, Nottingham, Warwick and Derby, who objected to his shaking off the fetters of the commission. As soon as his intention was known, these five lords—who, from having been associated in appealing against Richard's counsellors, were styled "appellant"—hastened to London, and drawing up their forces outside the city's walls, demanded admittance. After some little hesitation, the mayor determined to admit them, defending his action to the king by declaring that they were his true liege men and friends of the realm.692The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.On the 18th January, 1388, the lords appeared at the Guildhall, accompanied by the Archbishop, the Bishops of Ely, Hereford, Exeter, and others. The Archbishop absolved the citizens of their oaths of allegiance, whilst the Bishop of Ely, the lord treasurer, deprecated any remarks made to the disparagement of the lords. The lords and the bishops had been indicted on an iniquitous charge, and there were some[pg 236]among the citizens who had been similarly indicted, but whether justly or unjustly he (the bishop) could not say. That would be decided by parliament. In the meantime they were ready to assist in settling the trade disputes in the city, for it was absurd for one body of the citizens to attempt to exterminate another. The citizens, however, showed no desire to accept the proffered mediation.693Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.When parliament met (3 Feb.), a formidable indictment of thirty-nine charges was laid against the king's late advisers, of whom Brembre alone appeared. On the 17th February, he was brought up by the constable of the Tower, and was called on to answer off-hand the several charges of treason alleged against him. He prayed for time to take counsel's advice. This being refused, he claimed to support his cause by wager of battle, and immediately the whole company of lords, knights, esquires, and commons, flung down their gages so thick, we are told, that they "seemed like snow on a winter's day."694But the lords declared that wager by battle did not lie in such a case. When the trial was resumed on the following day, so much opposition arose between the king, who spoke strongly in Brembre's favour, and the lords, that it was decided to leave the question of the prisoner's guilt or innocence to a commission of lords, who, to the surprise and annoyance of the majority of the nobles, brought in a verdict of not guilty. Brembre was not to be allowed thus to escape. The lords sent for two representatives of the various crafts of the city to depose as to Brembre's guilt; but even[pg 237]so, the lords failed to get any definite verdict. At last they sent for the mayor, recorder, and some of the aldermen (seniores) to learn what they had to say about the accused.Conviction and sentence of death.One would have thought that with Nicholas Exton, his old friend and ally, to speak up for him, Brembre's life would now at least be saved, even if he were not altogether acquitted. It was not so, however. The mayor and aldermen were asked as to theiropinion(not as to their knowledge), whether Brembre was cognisant of certain matters, and they gave it as theiropinionthat Brembre was more likely to have been cognisant of them than not. Turning then to the Recorder, the lords asked him how stood the law in such a case? To which he replied, that a man who knew such things as were laid to Brembre's charge, and knowing them failed to reveal them, deserved death. On such evidence as this, Brembre was convicted on the 20th February, and condemned to be executed.695He was drawn on a hurdle through the city to Tyburn, showing himself very penitent and earnestly desiring all persons to pray for him. At the last moment he confessed that his conduct towards Northampton had been vile and wicked. Whilst craving pardon of Northampton's son "he was suddenly turned off, and the executioner cutting his throat, he died."696Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.If we are to believe all that Walsingham records of Brembre, the character and conduct of the city alderman and ex-mayor was bad indeed. Besides conniving at the plot laid against Gloucester's life, which[pg 238]involved the grossest breach of hospitality, he is recorded as having lain in wait with an armed force at the Mews near Charing Cross, to intercept and massacre the lords on their way to Westminster, to effect an arrangement with the king, as well as having entertained the idea of cutting the throats of a number of his fellow-citizens, and placing himself at the head of the government of the city, the name of which he proposed changing to that of "Little Troy."697Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.Of Brembre's associates, Tressilian was captured during the trial, torn from the Sanctuary at Westminster, and hanged on the 19th. Another to share the same fate was Thomas Uske, who had been one of the chief witnesses against Northampton. He was sentenced to death by parliament on the 4th March, and died asseverating to the last that he had done Northampton no injury, but that every word he had deposed against him the year before was absolutely true.698The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.The lords appellant, who were now complete masters of the situation, insisted upon the proceedings of this "merciless" parliament, as its opponents called it, being ratified by oath administered to prelates, knights, and nobles of the realm, as well as to the mayor, aldermen, and chief burgesses of every town. On the 4th June—the day parliament rose—a writ was issued in Richard's name, enjoining the administration of this oath to those aldermen and citizens of London who had not been present in parliament when the oath was administered there.699[pg 239]Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.In the meantime the continued jealousy existing among the city guilds—the Mercers, Goldsmiths, Drapers, and others, objecting to Fishmongers and Vintners taking any part in the government of the city on the ground that they were victuallers, and as such forbidden by an ordinance passed when Northampton was mayor to hold any municipal office700—had led parliament (14 May) to proclaim free trade throughout the kingdom.701A party in the city tried to get parliament to remove Exton from the mayoralty on the ground of his having connived at the curtailment of the City's liberties and franchises. The attempt, however, failed, and he remained in office until succeeded by Nicholas Twyford (Oct., 1388).702Although Twyford belonged to the party of Northampton as distinguished from that of Brembre and Exton, his election raised little or no opposition, such as had been anticipated. When he went out of office in October, 1389, however, party strife in the city again showed itself. The majority of the citizens voted William Venour, a grocer, into the mayoralty, but the choice was strongly opposed by the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Drapers, who ran another candidate, one of their own body, Adam Bamme, a goldsmith.703The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.Some months before the close of Twyford's mayoralty, Richard had succeeded in gaining his independence (May, 1389), which he was induced by Lancaster, on his return after a prolonged absence abroad, to exercise at length in favour of Northampton, by permitting him once more to return to London,[pg 240]although only as a stranger.704This was in July. In December, letters patent granting him a free pardon were issued, containing no such restriction.705His re-appearance in the streets of the city revived the old party spirit, and Adam Bamme, who had succeeded Venour in the mayoralty, found it expedient to forbid all discussion of the rights and the wrongs of the several parties of Northampton and Brembre on pain of imprisonment.706Four more years elapsed before Northampton was re-instated in the freedom of the city.707Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.For some years Richard governed not unwisely. In 1392, however, he quarrelled with the city. Early in that year he called upon every inhabitant, whose property for the last three years was worth £40 in land or rent, to take upon himself the honour of knighthood. The sheriffs, Henry Vanner and John Shadworth, made a return that all tenements and rents in the city were held of the kingin capiteas fee burgage at a fee farm (ad feodi firmam); that by reason of the value of tenements varying from time to time, and many of them requiring repair from damage by fire and tempest, their true annual value could not be ascertained, and that, therefore, it was impossible to make a return of those who possessed £40 of land or rent as desired.708The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.This answer was anything but agreeable to the king. But he had other cause just now for being[pg 241]offended with the city. Being in want of money, he had offered a valuable jewel to the citizens as security for a loan, and the citizens had excused themselves on the plea that they were not so well off as they used to be, since foreigners had been allowed to enjoy the same privileges in the city as themselves. Having failed in this quarter, the king had resorted to a Lombard, who soon was able to accommodate him; but when the king learnt on enquiry that the money so obtained had been advanced to the Lombard merchant by the very citizens who had refused to lend it to the king himself, his anger knew no bounds,709and he summoned John Hende, the mayor, the sheriffs, the aldermen, and twenty-four of the chief citizens710of the City to attend him in June, at Nottingham. They accordingly set out on their journey on the 19th June, and arrived in Nottingham on the 23rd; the government of the city being left in the meanwhile in the hands of William Staundon. On the 25th they appeared before the lords of the council, when the chancellor rated them roundly for paying so little attention to the king's writ—the writ touching knighthood—and complained of the defective manner in which the city was governed.711The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.He thereupon dismissed the mayor from office, committing him to Windsor Castle. The sheriffs were likewise dismissed, one being sent to Odyham Castle,[pg 242]and the other to the Castle of Wallingford. The rest of the citizens were ordered to return home.712Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.At nine o'clock in the morning of the 1st July, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appeared in the Guildhall, and there, before an immense assembly of the commons, read the king's commissions appointing him warden of the city and the king's escheator. The deposed sheriffs were succeeded by Gilbert Maghfeld, or Maunfeld, and Thomas Newton, who remained in office, by the king's appointment,713until the end of the year, when they were re-elected, the one by the warden and the other by the citizens.714Dalyngrigge was soon afterwards succeeded in the office of warden by Sir Baldwin de Radyngton.715The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.By way of inflicting further punishment upon the citizens, Richard had already removed the King's Bench and Exchequer from London to York;716but the removal proved so much more prejudicial to the nation at large than to the City of London that the courts were soon brought back.717He would even have waged open war on them had he dared.718Instead of proceeding to this extremity, he summoned the aldermen and 400 commoners to Windsor719and fined the City £100,000. This was in July (1392).[pg 243]In August the king notified his intention of passing through the city on his way from Shene to Westminster. The citizens embraced the opportunity of giving him a magnificent reception, which the king acknowledged in the following month by restoring to them their liberties and setting free their late mayor and sheriffs.720The fine of £100,000 recently imposed, as well as other moneys which the king considered to be due to him from the city, were also remitted.721Municipal reforms, 1393.Once more restored to their liberties, the citizens in the following year (1393), with the assent of parliament, effected a reform in the internal government of the city which the increasing population had rendered necessary. The Ward of Farringdon Within and Without had increased so much in wealth and population that it was deemed advisable to divide it into two parts, each part having its own alderman. Accordingly, in the following March (1394), Drew Barantyn was elected Alderman of Farringdon Within, whilst John Fraunceys was elected for Farringdon Without. A more important reform effected at the same time was the appointment of aldermen for life instead of for a year only.722Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.In the following year (1394) the queen—Anne of Bohemia—died. She had always shown a friendly disposition towards the city, and it was mainly owing[pg 244]to her intercession that Richard had restored its liberties.723Her death removed one good influence about Richard, and marks a change of policy or of character.724His second marriage in 1396 did not improve matters. In that year the mayor, Adam Bamme, died in office, and instead of allowing the citizens freely to elect a successor, he thrust upon them Richard Whitington.725He arrested the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and otherwise behaved so outrageously as to raise doubts as to his sanity. He gave out that he was afraid to appear in public for fear of the Londoners; but this was only a ruse for the purpose of raising money.726Like Edward II, he borrowed money from anybody and everybody, and often resorted to unconstitutional measures to fill his purse. He made the nobles and his wealthier subjects sign blank cheques for him to fill up at his pleasure.727These cheques, or "charters" as they were called, were afterwards burnt by order of his successor on the throne.The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.A crisis was fast approaching. The Duke of Hereford, whom the king had banished, and who, on the death of his father "time honoured Lancaster," succeeded to the title early in 1399, was prevailed upon to return to England and strike a blow for the recovery of his inheritance which Richard had seized. Richard, as if infatuated, took this inopportune[pg 245]moment to sail to Ireland. Before setting out he made a last bid for the favour of the citizens by again granting them permission to rule the fish trade according to ancient custom.728It was too late; they had already resolved to throw in their lot with Henry of Lancaster.As soon as Henry had landed at Ravenspur (4th July) a special messenger was despatched to the city with the news. The mayor was in bed, but he hurriedly rose and took steps to proclaim Henry's arrival in England. "Let us apparel ourselves and go and receive the Duke of Lancaster, since we agreed to send for him," was the resolution of those to whom the mayor conveyed the first tidings; and accordingly Drew Barentyn, who had succeeded Whitington in October, 1398, and 500 other citizens, took horse to meet the duke, whom they escorted to the city. The day that Henry entered the city was kept as a holiday, "as though it had been the day for the celebration of Easter."Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.When Richard heard of Henry's landing he hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, fully armed and horsed.729Finding resistance hopeless, the king made submission, craving only that he might be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover[pg 246]of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, were executed at a fishmonger's stall in Cheapside. Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title of King Henry IV.

[pg 212]CHAPTER IX.Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.Shortly after Edward had breathed his last, a deputation from the City waited upon the Prince of Wales at Kennington. John Philipot again acted as spokesman, and after alluding to the loss which the country had recently sustained, and recommending the City of London—the "king's chamber"—to the prince's favour, begged him to assist in effecting a reconciliation with Lancaster. This Richard promised to do, and a few days later the deputation again waited on the young king—this time at Shene, where preparations were being made for the late king's obsequies—and a reconciliation took place, the king kissing each member of the deputation, and promising to be their friend, and to look after the City's interests as if they were his own.617Formal announcement of the reconciliation was afterwards made at Westminster, and Peter de la Mare, long a prisoner in Nottingham Castle, was set free, to the great joy of the citizens.618The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.At the express wish of the citizens, Richard—the "Londoners' king," as the nobles were in the habit of cynically styling the new sovereign, for the[pg 213]reason that he had ascended the throne more by the assistance of thebourgeoisLondoner than of the nobility619—took up his quarters at the Tower, whence he proceeded in state to Westminster for his coronation. Great preparations were made in the city to tender his progress through the streets one of exceptional splendour. The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the chief butler at the banquet was discourteously refused by Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who bluntly told them that they might be of service in washing up the pots and pans. The citizens had their revenge, however. They set up an effigy of the man at a conspicuous arch or tower in Cheapside, in which he appeared to the whole of the procession as it passed on its way to Westminster, in the ignominious attitude of vomiting wine.620This was enough; the Londoners gained the day, and were allowed to perform their customary services at the banquet, and the mayor got his gold cup.621A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.Richard was only eleven years of age when raised to the throne. A council was therefore appointed to govern in his name. Neither the Duke of Lancaster nor any other of the king's uncles were elected councillors, and, for a time, John of Gaunt retired into comparative privacy. The task of the council was not easy. The French plundered the[pg 214]coast,622and the Scots plundered the borders. Money was sorely needed. The City consented to advance the sum of £5,000 upon the security of the customs of the Port of London and of certain plate and jewels,623and when parliament met (13 Oct., 1377) it made a liberal grant of two tenths and two fifteenths, which was to be collected without delay, on the understanding that two treasurers should be appointed to superintend the due application of the money.624The two treasurers appointed for this purpose were two citizens of note, namely, William Walworth and John Philipot, of whose financial capability mention has already been made.Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.Before parliament broke up it gave its assent to a new charter to the City.625Foreigners (i.e.non-freemen) were again forbidden to traffic in the city among themselves by retail, and the City's franchises were confirmed and enlarged. So much importance was attached to this charter that Brembre, the mayor, caused its main provisions to be published throughout the city.626The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.Lancaster soon became tired of playing a subordinate part in the government of the kingdom. As[pg 215]a preliminary step to higher aims, he contrived, after some little opposition, to obtain the removal of the subsidy granted by the last parliament, out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot into his own, although these men had given no cause for suspicion of dishonourable conduct in the execution of their public trust.627Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.The energetic John Philipot soon found other work to do. The English coast had recently become infested with a band of pirates, who, having already made a successful descent upon Scarborough, were now seeking fresh adventures. Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, and putting to sea succeeded in capturing the ringleader,628a feat which rendered him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow citizens showed their appreciation of his character by electing him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October (1378).629Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.The citizens were, however, split up into factions, one party, with Philipot and Brembre at his head, maintaining a stubborn opposition to Lancaster, whilst another, under the leadership of Walworth and John de Northampton, favoured the duke. These factions were continually plotting and counter-plotting one against the other. At Gloucester, to which the duke had brought the parliament in 1378, in the hope of[pg 216]escaping from the interference of the "ribald" Londoners,630Brembre was arraigned on a charge of having connived during his recent mayoralty at an attack made on the house of the duke's younger brother, Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, and although he succeeded in proving his innocence, the earl and his party continued to use threats, and Brembre, in order to smooth matters over, consented to be mulcted in 100 marks. When the matter was reported to the Common Council at home (25 Nov.), that body not only signified its approval of his conduct—"knowing for certain that it was for no demerits of his own, but for the preservation of the liberties of the city, and for the extreme love which he bore it, that he had undergone such labours and expenses,"—but recouped him what he had disbursed.631The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.In course of time the earl and his followers succeeded in persecuting Brembre to a disgraceful death. At present they contented themselves with damaging the trade of the city, so far as they could, by leaving the cityen masseand withdrawing their custom. The result was so disastrous to the citizens, more especially to the hostel keepers and victuallers, that the civic authorities resolved to win the nobles back to the city by wholesale bribery, and, as the city's "chamber" was empty, a subscription list was set on foot to raise a fund for the purpose. Philipot, the mayor, headed the list with £10, a sum just double that of any other subscriber. Six others, among them being Brembre (the[pg 217]earl's particular enemy) and Walworth, subscribed respectively £5; whilst the rest contributed sums varying from £4 down to five marks, the last mentioned sum being subscribed by Richard "Whytyngdon" of famous memory.632Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.The grants made to the king by the parliament at Gloucester were soon exhausted by the war, and recourse was had, as usual, to the City. In February, 1379, the mayor and aldermen were sent for to Westminster. They were told that the king's necessities demanded an immediate supply of money, and that the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the nobility had consented to contribute. What would the City do? After a brief consultation apart, the mayor and aldermen suggested that the usual course should be followed and that they should be allowed to consult the general body of the citizens in the Guildhall. Eventually the City consented to advance another sum of £5,000 on the same security as before, but any tax imposed by parliament at its next session was to be taken as a set off.633The poll-tax of 1379.At the session of parliament held in April and May (1379), the demand for further supply became so urgent that a poll-tax was imposed on a graduated scale according to a man's dignity, ranging from ten marks or £6 1s.4d.imposed on a duke, to a groat or four pence which the poorest peasant was called upon to pay. The mayor of London, assessed as an earl, was to pay £4; and the aldermen, assessed as barons, £2. The sum thus furnished by the city amounted to less than £700,634and the whole amount levied on[pg 218]the country did not exceed £22,000, a sum far short of what had been anticipated.Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.In the following year (1380) there was a recurrence to the old method of raising money, but this proving still insufficient a poll-tax was again resorted to. This time, the smallest sum exacted was not less than three groats, and was payable on everyman, woman and unmarried child, above the age of fifteen, throughout the country. The amount thus raised in the city and liberties was just over £1000.635The tax was especially irritating from its inquisitorial character, and led to serious consequences.The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.The country was already suffering under a general discontent, when a certain Wat Tyler in Kent struck down a collector of the poll-tax, who attempted in an indecent manner to discover his daughter's age. This was the signal for a revolt of the peasants from one end of England to the other, not only against payment of this particular tax, but against taxes and landlords generally. The men of Essex joined forces with those of Kent on Blackheath, and thence marched on London. With the aid of sympathisers within the City's gates, the effected an entrance on the night of the 12th of June, and made free with the wine cellars of the wealthier class. The next day, the rebels, more mad than drunk (non tam ebrii quam dementes), stirred up the populace to make a raid upon the Duke of Lancaster's palace of the Savoy. This they sacked and burnt to the ground. They next vented their wrath upon the Temple, and afterwards upon the house of the Knight's Hospitallers at[pg 219]Clerkenwell. In the meantime reinforcements were gathering in Essex under the leadership of one known as "Jack Straw," and were hurrying to London. At Mile End they were met (14 June) by the young king himself, who set out from the Tower for that purpose, accompanied by a retinue of knights and esquires on horseback, as well as by his mother in a drawn vehicle. The rebels demanded the surrender of all traitors to the king. To this Richard gave his assent, and having done so returned to the city to take up his quarters at the Wardrobe, near Castle Baynard, whilst the rebels, availing themselves of the king's word, hurried off to the Tower. There they found Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and he and others were beheaded on Tower Hill. The rest of the day and the whole of the next were given up to plunder and massacre, so that the narrow streets were choked with corpses. Among those who perished at the hands of the rebels was Richard Lyons, the deposed alderman. At length, on the evening of Saturday, the 15th, when the king had ridden to Smithfield accompanied by Walworth, the mayor, and a large retinue in order to discuss matters with Wat Tyler (the Essex men had for the most part returned home), an altercation happened to arise between Tyler and one of the royal suite. Words were about to lead to blows when the mayor himself interposed, and summarily executed the king's order to arrest Tyler by bringing him to the ground by a fatal blow of his dagger. Deprived of their leader the mob became furious, and demanded Walworth's head; the mayor, however, contrived to slip back into the City, whence he quickly returned with such a force that the[pg 220]rioters were surrounded and compelled to submit. The king intervened to prevent further bloodshed, and knighted on the field not only Walworth, but also Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot and Robert Launde.636The same day a royal commission was issued to enquire into the late riot and to bring the offenders to account.637Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.Orders were given on the 20th June to each alderman to provide men-at-arms and archers to guard in turns the city's gates, and to see that no armed person entered the city, except those who declared on oath that they were about to join the king's expedition against the rebels. In the meantime, the aldermen were to make returns of all who kept hostels in their several wards.638In a list, containing nearly 200 names of divers persons of bad character, who had left the city by reason of the insurrection,639there appear the names of two servants of Henry "Grenecobbe." The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.640Confession made by "Jack Straw.""Jack Straw," on being brought before the mayor, was induced by promises of masses for the good of his soul, to confess the nature of the intentions of the rioters, which were to use the king's person as a[pg 221]stalking horse for drawing people to their side, and eventually to kill him and all in authority throughout the kingdom. The mendicant friars, who were believed to be at the bottom of the insurrection,641were alone to be spared. Wat Tyler was to be made king of Kent, whilst others were to be placed in similar positions over the rest of the counties. The mayor sentenced him to be beheaded. This done, his head was set up on London Bridge, where Wat Tyler's already figured.642Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.The discontent which had given rise to the peasants' revolt, had been fanned by the attacks made by Wycliffe's "simple priests" upon the rich and idle clergy. The revolt occasioned a bitter feeling among the landlord class against Wycliffe and his followers, and after its suppression the Lollards were made the object of much animadversion. Their preaching was forbidden,643and Wycliffe was obliged to retire to his country parsonage, where he continued to labour with his pen for the cause he had so much at heart, until his death in 1384.Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. Under Northampton—a man whom even his enemies allowed to be of stern purpose, not truckling to those[pg 222]above him, nor bending to his inferiors,644—many reforms were carried out, ecclesiastical as well as civil.The ecclesiastical courts having grossly failed in their duty, the citizens themselves, fearful of God's vengeance if matters were allowed to continue as they were, undertook the work of reform within the city's walls. The fees of the city parsons were cut down. The fee for baptism was not to exceed forty pence, whilst that for marriage was not as a general rule to be more than half a mark. One farthing was all that could be demanded for a mass for the dead, and the priest was bound to give change for a half-penny when requested or forego his fee.645Steps were taken at the same time to improve the morality of the city by ridding the streets of lewd women and licentious men. On the occasion of a first offence, culprits of either sex were subjected to the ignominy of having their hair cropt for future identification, and then conducted with rough music through the public thoroughfares, the men to the pillory and the women to the "thewe." After a third conviction, they were made to abjure the City altogether.646It was during Northampton's first year of the mayoralty that the citizens succeeded in breaking down the monopoly of the free fish-mongers. A number of "dossers" or baskets for carrying fish were also seized because they were deficient in holding capacity, and on that account were calculated to defraud the purchaser.647But,[pg 223]although a mayor in those days exercised, no doubt, greater power in the municipal government than now, we must be careful to avoid the common mistake of attributing to the individuality of the mayor for the time being what was really the action of the citizens as a body corporate.Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.In October, 1382, Northampton was elected mayor for the second time, and Philipot, his rival, either resigned or was deprived of his aldermancy.648His re-election was at the king's express wish. On the 6th he wrote to the sheriffs, aldermen and commons of the city intimating that, whilst anxious to leave the citizens free choice in the matter of election of their mayor, he would be personally gratified if their choice fell upon the outgoing mayor. At first Northampton declined re-election, but he afterwards consented to serve another year on receiving a written request from the king.649His hesitation was probably due to the factious state of the city. Brembre and Philipot were not his only enemies. Another alderman, Nicholas Exton, of Queenhithe Ward, had recently been removed from his aldermancy for opprobrious words used to Northampton during his first mayoralty. A petition had been laid before the Court of Common Council in August, 1382, when Exton himself being present, and seeing the turn affairs were taking, endeavoured to anticipate the judgment of the[pg 224]court, by himself asking to be exonerated from his office, declaring at the same time that he had offered a large sum of money to be released at his election in the first instance. The court wishing for further time to consider the matter adjourned. At its next meeting a similar petition was again presented, but the court hesitated to pronounce judgment in the absence of Exton, who was summoned to appear at the next Common Council. When the court met again, it was found that Exton had ignored the summons. Judgment was, therefore, pronounced in his absence and he was deprived of his aldermancy.650Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.At the close of Northampton's second mayoralty (Oct., 1383), his place was taken by his rival, Nicholas Brembre,651and a general reversal of the order of things took place. The free-fishmongers recovered their ancient privileges,652and the judgment passed upon Exton as well as a similar judgment passed upon another alderman, Adam Carlile, were reversed.653Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.Soon after Brembre's election the king confirmed the City's liberties by charter,654which had the assent of parliament. Two years previously the citizens had[pg 225]besought the newly-married queen to use her interest with Richard to that end.655Her good offices, as well as the fact that the City had recently advanced to the king the sum of 4,000 marks, on the security of the royal crown and other things,656may have been instrumental in obtaining for the citizens this fresh confirmation of their rights.Proceedings against Northampton.In January (1384) Northampton was bound over to keep the peace in the sum of £5,000;657but in the following month he was put under arrest (together with his brother, known as Robert "Cumberton," and another), for raising a disturbance in the City, and sent to Corfe Castle.658For Northampton's arrest, as well as for the summary execution of a certain John Constantyn, a cordwainer, who had been convicted of taking a leading part in the disturbance, Brembre received a letter of indemnity from the king.659The riot had one good effect. It roused public opinion against monopolies and restriction of trade to such an extent, that Richard very soon afterwards caused the city to be opened freely to all foreigners(i.e., non-freemen) wishing to sell fish or other victuals.660Trial of Northampton at Reading.In August (1384) the opinion of each individual member of the Common Council was taken on oath, as to whether it would be to the advantage or disadvantage of the city if Northampton were allowed to return; and it was unanimously found that his return[pg 226]would breed dissension rather than peace and unity.661Armed with thisplébiscitethe mayor and a number of citizens, whom the king had summoned by name, attended a council at Reading for the purpose of determining the fate of Northampton. The accused contented himself with objecting to sentence being passed against him in the absence of his patron the Duke of Lancaster. This, however, availed him nothing, and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in Tintagel Castle.662Another authority663states that the mayor brought with him to the council a man named Thomas Husk or Usk (whose name, by the way, does not appear in the list which the king forwarded to the mayor), who made a number of charges against Northampton. The prisoner so far forgot himself in the royal presence as to call Usk a liar, and to challenge him to a duel. Matters were not improved by Northampton's appeal for delay in passing sentence upon him in the absence of the Duke of Lancaster. Richard flushed crimson with anger at the proposal, declaring that he was ready to sit in judgment upon the duke no less than on Northampton, and forthwith ordered the latter's execution, and the confiscation of his goods. The sentence would have been earned out but for the timely intercession of the queen, who flung herself at her husband's feet and begged for the prisoner's life. The queen's prayer was granted, and Northampton was condemned to perpetual imprisonment and remitted to Corfe Castle. Thence, at the beginning of September, he was removed[pg 227]to the Tower of London, where two of his partisans, John More, one of the sheriffs, and Richard Northbury, recently arrested, were lodged.Is committed to Tintagel Castle.The Chief Justice, Tressilian, hesitated to take any steps against the prisoners, one of whom had already been tried and sentenced, asserting that the matter lay within the jurisdiction of the mayor. His scruples, however, on this score were easily set aside, and on the 10th September, each of the prisoners was sentenced to be drawn and hanged. No sooner was sentence passed than the chancellor, Michael de la Pole, entered on the scene, and proclaimed that the king's grace had been extended to the prisoners, that there lives would be spared, but that they would be imprisoned until further favour should be shown them. They were accordingly sent off to various fortresses; Northampton to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Northbury to Corfe Castle, and More to Nottingham; and all this arose, says the Chronicler, from the rivalry of fishmongers.664Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.When Brembre sought re-election to the mayoralty in October, 1384, he found a formidable competitor in Nicholas Twyford, with whom he had not always been on the best of terms. It was in 1378, when Twyford was sheriff and Brembre was occupying the mayoralty chair for the first time, that they fell out, the occasion being one of those trade disputes so frequent in the City's annals. A number of goldsmiths and pepperers had come to loggerheads in St. Paul's Churchyard during sermon time, and the[pg 228]mayor had committed one of the ringleaders to the compter. The culprit, however, happened to be, like Twyford, a goldsmith, and was one of his suite. Twyford resented his man being sent to prison, and for his pains got arrested himself.665It was felt that the election would be hotly contested and might lead to disturbance. Besides the customary precept issued by the mayor forbidding any to appear who were not specially summoned,666the king took the precaution of sending John de Nevill, of Roby, to the Guildhall to see that the election was properly conducted. In spite of all precautions, however, a disturbance took place, and some of the rioters were afterwards bound over to keep the peace.667It is said that Brembre himself secreted a body of men in the neighbourhood of the Guildhall, and that when he found the election going against him, he signalled for them, and Twyford's supporters were compelled to flee for safety, and that thus the election was won.668Nothing of this appears in the City's Records, where Brembre's re-election is entered in the manner of the day.669Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.In 1385 Brembre was again elected mayor, and continued in office until October, 1386, when he was succeeded by his friend and ally, Nicholas Exton. This was the fourth and last time Brembre was mayor. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster and his party had renewed their efforts to effect the release of Northampton and of his fellow prisoners,[pg 229]More and Northbury, on the understanding that they were not to come near the City, and Brembre again took the opinion of the aldermen and commons severally as to the probable effect of the release of the prisoners. This occurred in March, 1386, when it was unanimously resolved that danger would result to the city if Northampton was allowed to come within 100 miles of it.670The resolution caused much annoyance to the duke, who characterised it as unreasonable and outrageous, and led to some heated correspondence.671It had, however, the desired effect of at least postponing the release of the prisoners.672A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of mayor, Exton, March, 1387.A few months after Exton had taken Brembre's place as mayor (Oct., 1386), the new mayor raised a commotion by ordering a book called "Jubilee," which Northampton is supposed to have compiled—or caused to be compiled for the better government of the City, to be publicly burnt in Guildhall yard.673The cordwainers of London, staunch supporters of Northampton (the leader of the riot which led to Northampton's arrest in 1384 was a cordwainer), complained to parliament of Exton. The book, said they, " comprised all the good articles pertaining to the good government of the City," which Exton and all the aldermen had sworn to maintain for ever, and now he and his accomplices had burnt it without consent of the commons, to the annihilation of many good liberties, franchises, and[pg 230]customs of the City.674The book had already been subjected to revision in June, 1384, when Brembre was mayor;675it was now utterly destroyed.Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.In 1387 efforts were again made to secure Northampton's release, and this time with success. On the 17th April Exton reported to the Common Council that Lord Zouche was actually engaged in canvassing the king for the release of Northampton and his allies. The Council thereupon unanimously resolved to send a letter to Lord Zouche, on behalf of the entire commonalty of the City, praying him to desist from his suit, and assuring him of their loyalty to the king even unto death.676It also resolved to send a deputation on horseback to the king, who was at "Esthamstede," to ask his favour for the City, and to beg of him not to annul the charters which he had already given to the citizens, more especially as touching the release of the prisoners in question.Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.On the 4th May the Recorder, William Cheyne, reported to the Common Council assembled in the upper chamber of the Guildhall the result of the interview with the king. The deputation had been received most graciously, and the mayor had been particularly successful in his speech, setting forth the dangers that would inevitably ensue, both to the king and to the city, if pardon were granted to Northampton and his friends. The king had replied that he would take good precautions for himself before he[pg 231]granted them their liberty;677and with this answer the citizens had to be content. The answer was an evasive one, if it be true, as one authority states, that on the 27th April—the day on which the mayor had informed the citizens of the intervention of Lord Zouche—Northampton had received his pardon and been restored to his property.678His friends remained still unsatisfied, and plagued the king for more favourable terms to such a degree that Richard ordered (7 Oct.) proclamation to be made in the city against any further entreaties being made to him on the subject.679Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.Two days before the order for this proclamation, the king was informed by letter of the nature of a fresh oath of allegiance680that had been taken by the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city. He was furthermore exhorted to give credence to what Nicholas Brembre might inform him as to the state and government of the city, since there was no one better informed than Brembre on the subject.The king's reply, 7 Oct.To this the king sent a gracious reply.681He had learnt with much pleasure from Nicholas Brembre of the allegiance of the citizens, which he trusted would[pg 232]continue, as he would soon have good reason for paying a visit to the city in person. He had heard that the new sheriffs were good and trusty men, and he expressed a hope that at the approaching election of a mayor they would choose one of whom he could approve, otherwise he would decline to receive the mayor-elect at his presentation. He not only forbade any further entreaties to be made to him touching Northampton, More and Northbury, but commissioned enquiry to be made as to their property in the city. He was especially gratified to learn that, in accordance with his request, they had appointed Thomas Usk (the chief witness against Northampton) to the office of under-sheriff, and promised that such appointment should not be drawn into precedent. The citizens were not slow to take the hint about the election of a new mayor, and Exton was continued in office.682The Parliament of 1386.Great discontent had arisen meanwhile in the country at the lavish expenditure of the king, without any apparent result in victories abroad, such as had been gained in the glorious days of his predecessor. A cry for reform and retrenchment was raised, and found a champion in the person of the Duke of Gloucester, the youngest of the king's uncles. At his instigation, the parliament which assembled on the 1st October, 1386, demanded the dismissal of the king's ministers, and read him a lesson on constitutional government which ended in a threat of deposition unless the king should mend his ways. Richard was at the time only twenty-one years of age. In the impetuosity of his youth he is recorded as having contemplated a dastardly attempt upon the life of his uncle,[pg 233]whom he had grown to hate as the cause of all his difficulties. A plan was laid, which is said to have received Brembre's approbation, for beguiling the duke into the city by an invitation to supper, and then and there making away with him, but the duke was forewarned. The chronicler who records Brembre's complicity in this nefarious design against Gloucester's life also relates that Exton, who was mayor, refused to have anything to do with it.683Appointment of a Commission of Regency.The Commission declared illegal.Richard applies to the City for assistance.Before the end of the session, parliament had appointed a commission, with Gloucester at its head, to regulate the government of the country and the king's household. This very naturally excited the wrath of the hot-headed king, who immediately set to work to form a party in opposition to the duke. In August of the next year (1387) he obtained a declaration from five of the justices to the effect that the commission was illegal. On the 28th October he sent the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk into the city to learn whether he could depend upon the support of the citizens. The answer could not have been regarded as unfavourable, for, on the 10th November, the king paid a personal visit to the city and was received with great ceremony.684On the following day (11 Nov.) orders were given to the aldermen of the City to assemble the men of their several wards, to see that they were suitably armed according to their rank and estate, and to make a return of the same in due course.685The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.On the 14th Gloucester formally charged the king's five counsellors—the Archbishop of York, the[pg 234]Duke of Ireland, the Earl of Suffolk, Chief Justice Tressilian and Nicholas Brembre, "the false London knight," with treason.686The king retaliated by causing proclamation to be made to the effect that he had taken these same individuals under his own protection, and that no one should harm them save at his own peril. This protection was extended also to the king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, the impeaching parties.The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.On the 28th the mayor and aldermen were summoned to proceed to Windsor forthwith, to consult upon certain matters very weighty (certeines treschargeauntes matirs).687The City's archives contain no record of what took place at the interview, but it appears that the object of the conference was to ascertain how many men-at-arms the city would be likely to furnish the king at a crisis. The answer given by the mayor was not encouraging; the citizens were merchants and craftsmen, and not soldiers, save for the defence of the city itself; and the mayor straightway asked the king's permission to resign his office.688Richard obliged to submit.Flight of the accused.Finding that he could not rely on any assistance from the Londoners—whom Walsingham describes as fickle as a reed, siding at one time with the lords and at another time with the king689—Richard was driven to temporise. He had already promised that in the next parliament his unfortunate advisers should be called to account, but long before parliament met[pg 235](3 Feb., 1388), four out of the five culprits had made good their escape—at least for a time. Brembre alone was taken.690He had anticipated the blow by making over all his property at home and abroad to certain parties by deed, dated the 15th October, 1387, no doubt, upon a secret trust.691The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.Notwithstanding the evident coolness of the citizens towards him, Richard determined to leave Windsor and spend Christmas at the Tower. He would be safer there, and less subject to the dominating influence of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel, Nottingham, Warwick and Derby, who objected to his shaking off the fetters of the commission. As soon as his intention was known, these five lords—who, from having been associated in appealing against Richard's counsellors, were styled "appellant"—hastened to London, and drawing up their forces outside the city's walls, demanded admittance. After some little hesitation, the mayor determined to admit them, defending his action to the king by declaring that they were his true liege men and friends of the realm.692The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.On the 18th January, 1388, the lords appeared at the Guildhall, accompanied by the Archbishop, the Bishops of Ely, Hereford, Exeter, and others. The Archbishop absolved the citizens of their oaths of allegiance, whilst the Bishop of Ely, the lord treasurer, deprecated any remarks made to the disparagement of the lords. The lords and the bishops had been indicted on an iniquitous charge, and there were some[pg 236]among the citizens who had been similarly indicted, but whether justly or unjustly he (the bishop) could not say. That would be decided by parliament. In the meantime they were ready to assist in settling the trade disputes in the city, for it was absurd for one body of the citizens to attempt to exterminate another. The citizens, however, showed no desire to accept the proffered mediation.693Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.When parliament met (3 Feb.), a formidable indictment of thirty-nine charges was laid against the king's late advisers, of whom Brembre alone appeared. On the 17th February, he was brought up by the constable of the Tower, and was called on to answer off-hand the several charges of treason alleged against him. He prayed for time to take counsel's advice. This being refused, he claimed to support his cause by wager of battle, and immediately the whole company of lords, knights, esquires, and commons, flung down their gages so thick, we are told, that they "seemed like snow on a winter's day."694But the lords declared that wager by battle did not lie in such a case. When the trial was resumed on the following day, so much opposition arose between the king, who spoke strongly in Brembre's favour, and the lords, that it was decided to leave the question of the prisoner's guilt or innocence to a commission of lords, who, to the surprise and annoyance of the majority of the nobles, brought in a verdict of not guilty. Brembre was not to be allowed thus to escape. The lords sent for two representatives of the various crafts of the city to depose as to Brembre's guilt; but even[pg 237]so, the lords failed to get any definite verdict. At last they sent for the mayor, recorder, and some of the aldermen (seniores) to learn what they had to say about the accused.Conviction and sentence of death.One would have thought that with Nicholas Exton, his old friend and ally, to speak up for him, Brembre's life would now at least be saved, even if he were not altogether acquitted. It was not so, however. The mayor and aldermen were asked as to theiropinion(not as to their knowledge), whether Brembre was cognisant of certain matters, and they gave it as theiropinionthat Brembre was more likely to have been cognisant of them than not. Turning then to the Recorder, the lords asked him how stood the law in such a case? To which he replied, that a man who knew such things as were laid to Brembre's charge, and knowing them failed to reveal them, deserved death. On such evidence as this, Brembre was convicted on the 20th February, and condemned to be executed.695He was drawn on a hurdle through the city to Tyburn, showing himself very penitent and earnestly desiring all persons to pray for him. At the last moment he confessed that his conduct towards Northampton had been vile and wicked. Whilst craving pardon of Northampton's son "he was suddenly turned off, and the executioner cutting his throat, he died."696Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.If we are to believe all that Walsingham records of Brembre, the character and conduct of the city alderman and ex-mayor was bad indeed. Besides conniving at the plot laid against Gloucester's life, which[pg 238]involved the grossest breach of hospitality, he is recorded as having lain in wait with an armed force at the Mews near Charing Cross, to intercept and massacre the lords on their way to Westminster, to effect an arrangement with the king, as well as having entertained the idea of cutting the throats of a number of his fellow-citizens, and placing himself at the head of the government of the city, the name of which he proposed changing to that of "Little Troy."697Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.Of Brembre's associates, Tressilian was captured during the trial, torn from the Sanctuary at Westminster, and hanged on the 19th. Another to share the same fate was Thomas Uske, who had been one of the chief witnesses against Northampton. He was sentenced to death by parliament on the 4th March, and died asseverating to the last that he had done Northampton no injury, but that every word he had deposed against him the year before was absolutely true.698The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.The lords appellant, who were now complete masters of the situation, insisted upon the proceedings of this "merciless" parliament, as its opponents called it, being ratified by oath administered to prelates, knights, and nobles of the realm, as well as to the mayor, aldermen, and chief burgesses of every town. On the 4th June—the day parliament rose—a writ was issued in Richard's name, enjoining the administration of this oath to those aldermen and citizens of London who had not been present in parliament when the oath was administered there.699[pg 239]Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.In the meantime the continued jealousy existing among the city guilds—the Mercers, Goldsmiths, Drapers, and others, objecting to Fishmongers and Vintners taking any part in the government of the city on the ground that they were victuallers, and as such forbidden by an ordinance passed when Northampton was mayor to hold any municipal office700—had led parliament (14 May) to proclaim free trade throughout the kingdom.701A party in the city tried to get parliament to remove Exton from the mayoralty on the ground of his having connived at the curtailment of the City's liberties and franchises. The attempt, however, failed, and he remained in office until succeeded by Nicholas Twyford (Oct., 1388).702Although Twyford belonged to the party of Northampton as distinguished from that of Brembre and Exton, his election raised little or no opposition, such as had been anticipated. When he went out of office in October, 1389, however, party strife in the city again showed itself. The majority of the citizens voted William Venour, a grocer, into the mayoralty, but the choice was strongly opposed by the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Drapers, who ran another candidate, one of their own body, Adam Bamme, a goldsmith.703The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.Some months before the close of Twyford's mayoralty, Richard had succeeded in gaining his independence (May, 1389), which he was induced by Lancaster, on his return after a prolonged absence abroad, to exercise at length in favour of Northampton, by permitting him once more to return to London,[pg 240]although only as a stranger.704This was in July. In December, letters patent granting him a free pardon were issued, containing no such restriction.705His re-appearance in the streets of the city revived the old party spirit, and Adam Bamme, who had succeeded Venour in the mayoralty, found it expedient to forbid all discussion of the rights and the wrongs of the several parties of Northampton and Brembre on pain of imprisonment.706Four more years elapsed before Northampton was re-instated in the freedom of the city.707Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.For some years Richard governed not unwisely. In 1392, however, he quarrelled with the city. Early in that year he called upon every inhabitant, whose property for the last three years was worth £40 in land or rent, to take upon himself the honour of knighthood. The sheriffs, Henry Vanner and John Shadworth, made a return that all tenements and rents in the city were held of the kingin capiteas fee burgage at a fee farm (ad feodi firmam); that by reason of the value of tenements varying from time to time, and many of them requiring repair from damage by fire and tempest, their true annual value could not be ascertained, and that, therefore, it was impossible to make a return of those who possessed £40 of land or rent as desired.708The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.This answer was anything but agreeable to the king. But he had other cause just now for being[pg 241]offended with the city. Being in want of money, he had offered a valuable jewel to the citizens as security for a loan, and the citizens had excused themselves on the plea that they were not so well off as they used to be, since foreigners had been allowed to enjoy the same privileges in the city as themselves. Having failed in this quarter, the king had resorted to a Lombard, who soon was able to accommodate him; but when the king learnt on enquiry that the money so obtained had been advanced to the Lombard merchant by the very citizens who had refused to lend it to the king himself, his anger knew no bounds,709and he summoned John Hende, the mayor, the sheriffs, the aldermen, and twenty-four of the chief citizens710of the City to attend him in June, at Nottingham. They accordingly set out on their journey on the 19th June, and arrived in Nottingham on the 23rd; the government of the city being left in the meanwhile in the hands of William Staundon. On the 25th they appeared before the lords of the council, when the chancellor rated them roundly for paying so little attention to the king's writ—the writ touching knighthood—and complained of the defective manner in which the city was governed.711The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.He thereupon dismissed the mayor from office, committing him to Windsor Castle. The sheriffs were likewise dismissed, one being sent to Odyham Castle,[pg 242]and the other to the Castle of Wallingford. The rest of the citizens were ordered to return home.712Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.At nine o'clock in the morning of the 1st July, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appeared in the Guildhall, and there, before an immense assembly of the commons, read the king's commissions appointing him warden of the city and the king's escheator. The deposed sheriffs were succeeded by Gilbert Maghfeld, or Maunfeld, and Thomas Newton, who remained in office, by the king's appointment,713until the end of the year, when they were re-elected, the one by the warden and the other by the citizens.714Dalyngrigge was soon afterwards succeeded in the office of warden by Sir Baldwin de Radyngton.715The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.By way of inflicting further punishment upon the citizens, Richard had already removed the King's Bench and Exchequer from London to York;716but the removal proved so much more prejudicial to the nation at large than to the City of London that the courts were soon brought back.717He would even have waged open war on them had he dared.718Instead of proceeding to this extremity, he summoned the aldermen and 400 commoners to Windsor719and fined the City £100,000. This was in July (1392).[pg 243]In August the king notified his intention of passing through the city on his way from Shene to Westminster. The citizens embraced the opportunity of giving him a magnificent reception, which the king acknowledged in the following month by restoring to them their liberties and setting free their late mayor and sheriffs.720The fine of £100,000 recently imposed, as well as other moneys which the king considered to be due to him from the city, were also remitted.721Municipal reforms, 1393.Once more restored to their liberties, the citizens in the following year (1393), with the assent of parliament, effected a reform in the internal government of the city which the increasing population had rendered necessary. The Ward of Farringdon Within and Without had increased so much in wealth and population that it was deemed advisable to divide it into two parts, each part having its own alderman. Accordingly, in the following March (1394), Drew Barantyn was elected Alderman of Farringdon Within, whilst John Fraunceys was elected for Farringdon Without. A more important reform effected at the same time was the appointment of aldermen for life instead of for a year only.722Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.In the following year (1394) the queen—Anne of Bohemia—died. She had always shown a friendly disposition towards the city, and it was mainly owing[pg 244]to her intercession that Richard had restored its liberties.723Her death removed one good influence about Richard, and marks a change of policy or of character.724His second marriage in 1396 did not improve matters. In that year the mayor, Adam Bamme, died in office, and instead of allowing the citizens freely to elect a successor, he thrust upon them Richard Whitington.725He arrested the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and otherwise behaved so outrageously as to raise doubts as to his sanity. He gave out that he was afraid to appear in public for fear of the Londoners; but this was only a ruse for the purpose of raising money.726Like Edward II, he borrowed money from anybody and everybody, and often resorted to unconstitutional measures to fill his purse. He made the nobles and his wealthier subjects sign blank cheques for him to fill up at his pleasure.727These cheques, or "charters" as they were called, were afterwards burnt by order of his successor on the throne.The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.A crisis was fast approaching. The Duke of Hereford, whom the king had banished, and who, on the death of his father "time honoured Lancaster," succeeded to the title early in 1399, was prevailed upon to return to England and strike a blow for the recovery of his inheritance which Richard had seized. Richard, as if infatuated, took this inopportune[pg 245]moment to sail to Ireland. Before setting out he made a last bid for the favour of the citizens by again granting them permission to rule the fish trade according to ancient custom.728It was too late; they had already resolved to throw in their lot with Henry of Lancaster.As soon as Henry had landed at Ravenspur (4th July) a special messenger was despatched to the city with the news. The mayor was in bed, but he hurriedly rose and took steps to proclaim Henry's arrival in England. "Let us apparel ourselves and go and receive the Duke of Lancaster, since we agreed to send for him," was the resolution of those to whom the mayor conveyed the first tidings; and accordingly Drew Barentyn, who had succeeded Whitington in October, 1398, and 500 other citizens, took horse to meet the duke, whom they escorted to the city. The day that Henry entered the city was kept as a holiday, "as though it had been the day for the celebration of Easter."Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.When Richard heard of Henry's landing he hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, fully armed and horsed.729Finding resistance hopeless, the king made submission, craving only that he might be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover[pg 246]of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, were executed at a fishmonger's stall in Cheapside. Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title of King Henry IV.

[pg 212]CHAPTER IX.Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.Shortly after Edward had breathed his last, a deputation from the City waited upon the Prince of Wales at Kennington. John Philipot again acted as spokesman, and after alluding to the loss which the country had recently sustained, and recommending the City of London—the "king's chamber"—to the prince's favour, begged him to assist in effecting a reconciliation with Lancaster. This Richard promised to do, and a few days later the deputation again waited on the young king—this time at Shene, where preparations were being made for the late king's obsequies—and a reconciliation took place, the king kissing each member of the deputation, and promising to be their friend, and to look after the City's interests as if they were his own.617Formal announcement of the reconciliation was afterwards made at Westminster, and Peter de la Mare, long a prisoner in Nottingham Castle, was set free, to the great joy of the citizens.618The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.At the express wish of the citizens, Richard—the "Londoners' king," as the nobles were in the habit of cynically styling the new sovereign, for the[pg 213]reason that he had ascended the throne more by the assistance of thebourgeoisLondoner than of the nobility619—took up his quarters at the Tower, whence he proceeded in state to Westminster for his coronation. Great preparations were made in the city to tender his progress through the streets one of exceptional splendour. The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the chief butler at the banquet was discourteously refused by Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who bluntly told them that they might be of service in washing up the pots and pans. The citizens had their revenge, however. They set up an effigy of the man at a conspicuous arch or tower in Cheapside, in which he appeared to the whole of the procession as it passed on its way to Westminster, in the ignominious attitude of vomiting wine.620This was enough; the Londoners gained the day, and were allowed to perform their customary services at the banquet, and the mayor got his gold cup.621A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.Richard was only eleven years of age when raised to the throne. A council was therefore appointed to govern in his name. Neither the Duke of Lancaster nor any other of the king's uncles were elected councillors, and, for a time, John of Gaunt retired into comparative privacy. The task of the council was not easy. The French plundered the[pg 214]coast,622and the Scots plundered the borders. Money was sorely needed. The City consented to advance the sum of £5,000 upon the security of the customs of the Port of London and of certain plate and jewels,623and when parliament met (13 Oct., 1377) it made a liberal grant of two tenths and two fifteenths, which was to be collected without delay, on the understanding that two treasurers should be appointed to superintend the due application of the money.624The two treasurers appointed for this purpose were two citizens of note, namely, William Walworth and John Philipot, of whose financial capability mention has already been made.Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.Before parliament broke up it gave its assent to a new charter to the City.625Foreigners (i.e.non-freemen) were again forbidden to traffic in the city among themselves by retail, and the City's franchises were confirmed and enlarged. So much importance was attached to this charter that Brembre, the mayor, caused its main provisions to be published throughout the city.626The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.Lancaster soon became tired of playing a subordinate part in the government of the kingdom. As[pg 215]a preliminary step to higher aims, he contrived, after some little opposition, to obtain the removal of the subsidy granted by the last parliament, out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot into his own, although these men had given no cause for suspicion of dishonourable conduct in the execution of their public trust.627Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.The energetic John Philipot soon found other work to do. The English coast had recently become infested with a band of pirates, who, having already made a successful descent upon Scarborough, were now seeking fresh adventures. Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, and putting to sea succeeded in capturing the ringleader,628a feat which rendered him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow citizens showed their appreciation of his character by electing him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October (1378).629Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.The citizens were, however, split up into factions, one party, with Philipot and Brembre at his head, maintaining a stubborn opposition to Lancaster, whilst another, under the leadership of Walworth and John de Northampton, favoured the duke. These factions were continually plotting and counter-plotting one against the other. At Gloucester, to which the duke had brought the parliament in 1378, in the hope of[pg 216]escaping from the interference of the "ribald" Londoners,630Brembre was arraigned on a charge of having connived during his recent mayoralty at an attack made on the house of the duke's younger brother, Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, and although he succeeded in proving his innocence, the earl and his party continued to use threats, and Brembre, in order to smooth matters over, consented to be mulcted in 100 marks. When the matter was reported to the Common Council at home (25 Nov.), that body not only signified its approval of his conduct—"knowing for certain that it was for no demerits of his own, but for the preservation of the liberties of the city, and for the extreme love which he bore it, that he had undergone such labours and expenses,"—but recouped him what he had disbursed.631The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.In course of time the earl and his followers succeeded in persecuting Brembre to a disgraceful death. At present they contented themselves with damaging the trade of the city, so far as they could, by leaving the cityen masseand withdrawing their custom. The result was so disastrous to the citizens, more especially to the hostel keepers and victuallers, that the civic authorities resolved to win the nobles back to the city by wholesale bribery, and, as the city's "chamber" was empty, a subscription list was set on foot to raise a fund for the purpose. Philipot, the mayor, headed the list with £10, a sum just double that of any other subscriber. Six others, among them being Brembre (the[pg 217]earl's particular enemy) and Walworth, subscribed respectively £5; whilst the rest contributed sums varying from £4 down to five marks, the last mentioned sum being subscribed by Richard "Whytyngdon" of famous memory.632Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.The grants made to the king by the parliament at Gloucester were soon exhausted by the war, and recourse was had, as usual, to the City. In February, 1379, the mayor and aldermen were sent for to Westminster. They were told that the king's necessities demanded an immediate supply of money, and that the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the nobility had consented to contribute. What would the City do? After a brief consultation apart, the mayor and aldermen suggested that the usual course should be followed and that they should be allowed to consult the general body of the citizens in the Guildhall. Eventually the City consented to advance another sum of £5,000 on the same security as before, but any tax imposed by parliament at its next session was to be taken as a set off.633The poll-tax of 1379.At the session of parliament held in April and May (1379), the demand for further supply became so urgent that a poll-tax was imposed on a graduated scale according to a man's dignity, ranging from ten marks or £6 1s.4d.imposed on a duke, to a groat or four pence which the poorest peasant was called upon to pay. The mayor of London, assessed as an earl, was to pay £4; and the aldermen, assessed as barons, £2. The sum thus furnished by the city amounted to less than £700,634and the whole amount levied on[pg 218]the country did not exceed £22,000, a sum far short of what had been anticipated.Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.In the following year (1380) there was a recurrence to the old method of raising money, but this proving still insufficient a poll-tax was again resorted to. This time, the smallest sum exacted was not less than three groats, and was payable on everyman, woman and unmarried child, above the age of fifteen, throughout the country. The amount thus raised in the city and liberties was just over £1000.635The tax was especially irritating from its inquisitorial character, and led to serious consequences.The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.The country was already suffering under a general discontent, when a certain Wat Tyler in Kent struck down a collector of the poll-tax, who attempted in an indecent manner to discover his daughter's age. This was the signal for a revolt of the peasants from one end of England to the other, not only against payment of this particular tax, but against taxes and landlords generally. The men of Essex joined forces with those of Kent on Blackheath, and thence marched on London. With the aid of sympathisers within the City's gates, the effected an entrance on the night of the 12th of June, and made free with the wine cellars of the wealthier class. The next day, the rebels, more mad than drunk (non tam ebrii quam dementes), stirred up the populace to make a raid upon the Duke of Lancaster's palace of the Savoy. This they sacked and burnt to the ground. They next vented their wrath upon the Temple, and afterwards upon the house of the Knight's Hospitallers at[pg 219]Clerkenwell. In the meantime reinforcements were gathering in Essex under the leadership of one known as "Jack Straw," and were hurrying to London. At Mile End they were met (14 June) by the young king himself, who set out from the Tower for that purpose, accompanied by a retinue of knights and esquires on horseback, as well as by his mother in a drawn vehicle. The rebels demanded the surrender of all traitors to the king. To this Richard gave his assent, and having done so returned to the city to take up his quarters at the Wardrobe, near Castle Baynard, whilst the rebels, availing themselves of the king's word, hurried off to the Tower. There they found Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and he and others were beheaded on Tower Hill. The rest of the day and the whole of the next were given up to plunder and massacre, so that the narrow streets were choked with corpses. Among those who perished at the hands of the rebels was Richard Lyons, the deposed alderman. At length, on the evening of Saturday, the 15th, when the king had ridden to Smithfield accompanied by Walworth, the mayor, and a large retinue in order to discuss matters with Wat Tyler (the Essex men had for the most part returned home), an altercation happened to arise between Tyler and one of the royal suite. Words were about to lead to blows when the mayor himself interposed, and summarily executed the king's order to arrest Tyler by bringing him to the ground by a fatal blow of his dagger. Deprived of their leader the mob became furious, and demanded Walworth's head; the mayor, however, contrived to slip back into the City, whence he quickly returned with such a force that the[pg 220]rioters were surrounded and compelled to submit. The king intervened to prevent further bloodshed, and knighted on the field not only Walworth, but also Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot and Robert Launde.636The same day a royal commission was issued to enquire into the late riot and to bring the offenders to account.637Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.Orders were given on the 20th June to each alderman to provide men-at-arms and archers to guard in turns the city's gates, and to see that no armed person entered the city, except those who declared on oath that they were about to join the king's expedition against the rebels. In the meantime, the aldermen were to make returns of all who kept hostels in their several wards.638In a list, containing nearly 200 names of divers persons of bad character, who had left the city by reason of the insurrection,639there appear the names of two servants of Henry "Grenecobbe." The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.640Confession made by "Jack Straw.""Jack Straw," on being brought before the mayor, was induced by promises of masses for the good of his soul, to confess the nature of the intentions of the rioters, which were to use the king's person as a[pg 221]stalking horse for drawing people to their side, and eventually to kill him and all in authority throughout the kingdom. The mendicant friars, who were believed to be at the bottom of the insurrection,641were alone to be spared. Wat Tyler was to be made king of Kent, whilst others were to be placed in similar positions over the rest of the counties. The mayor sentenced him to be beheaded. This done, his head was set up on London Bridge, where Wat Tyler's already figured.642Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.The discontent which had given rise to the peasants' revolt, had been fanned by the attacks made by Wycliffe's "simple priests" upon the rich and idle clergy. The revolt occasioned a bitter feeling among the landlord class against Wycliffe and his followers, and after its suppression the Lollards were made the object of much animadversion. Their preaching was forbidden,643and Wycliffe was obliged to retire to his country parsonage, where he continued to labour with his pen for the cause he had so much at heart, until his death in 1384.Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. Under Northampton—a man whom even his enemies allowed to be of stern purpose, not truckling to those[pg 222]above him, nor bending to his inferiors,644—many reforms were carried out, ecclesiastical as well as civil.The ecclesiastical courts having grossly failed in their duty, the citizens themselves, fearful of God's vengeance if matters were allowed to continue as they were, undertook the work of reform within the city's walls. The fees of the city parsons were cut down. The fee for baptism was not to exceed forty pence, whilst that for marriage was not as a general rule to be more than half a mark. One farthing was all that could be demanded for a mass for the dead, and the priest was bound to give change for a half-penny when requested or forego his fee.645Steps were taken at the same time to improve the morality of the city by ridding the streets of lewd women and licentious men. On the occasion of a first offence, culprits of either sex were subjected to the ignominy of having their hair cropt for future identification, and then conducted with rough music through the public thoroughfares, the men to the pillory and the women to the "thewe." After a third conviction, they were made to abjure the City altogether.646It was during Northampton's first year of the mayoralty that the citizens succeeded in breaking down the monopoly of the free fish-mongers. A number of "dossers" or baskets for carrying fish were also seized because they were deficient in holding capacity, and on that account were calculated to defraud the purchaser.647But,[pg 223]although a mayor in those days exercised, no doubt, greater power in the municipal government than now, we must be careful to avoid the common mistake of attributing to the individuality of the mayor for the time being what was really the action of the citizens as a body corporate.Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.In October, 1382, Northampton was elected mayor for the second time, and Philipot, his rival, either resigned or was deprived of his aldermancy.648His re-election was at the king's express wish. On the 6th he wrote to the sheriffs, aldermen and commons of the city intimating that, whilst anxious to leave the citizens free choice in the matter of election of their mayor, he would be personally gratified if their choice fell upon the outgoing mayor. At first Northampton declined re-election, but he afterwards consented to serve another year on receiving a written request from the king.649His hesitation was probably due to the factious state of the city. Brembre and Philipot were not his only enemies. Another alderman, Nicholas Exton, of Queenhithe Ward, had recently been removed from his aldermancy for opprobrious words used to Northampton during his first mayoralty. A petition had been laid before the Court of Common Council in August, 1382, when Exton himself being present, and seeing the turn affairs were taking, endeavoured to anticipate the judgment of the[pg 224]court, by himself asking to be exonerated from his office, declaring at the same time that he had offered a large sum of money to be released at his election in the first instance. The court wishing for further time to consider the matter adjourned. At its next meeting a similar petition was again presented, but the court hesitated to pronounce judgment in the absence of Exton, who was summoned to appear at the next Common Council. When the court met again, it was found that Exton had ignored the summons. Judgment was, therefore, pronounced in his absence and he was deprived of his aldermancy.650Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.At the close of Northampton's second mayoralty (Oct., 1383), his place was taken by his rival, Nicholas Brembre,651and a general reversal of the order of things took place. The free-fishmongers recovered their ancient privileges,652and the judgment passed upon Exton as well as a similar judgment passed upon another alderman, Adam Carlile, were reversed.653Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.Soon after Brembre's election the king confirmed the City's liberties by charter,654which had the assent of parliament. Two years previously the citizens had[pg 225]besought the newly-married queen to use her interest with Richard to that end.655Her good offices, as well as the fact that the City had recently advanced to the king the sum of 4,000 marks, on the security of the royal crown and other things,656may have been instrumental in obtaining for the citizens this fresh confirmation of their rights.Proceedings against Northampton.In January (1384) Northampton was bound over to keep the peace in the sum of £5,000;657but in the following month he was put under arrest (together with his brother, known as Robert "Cumberton," and another), for raising a disturbance in the City, and sent to Corfe Castle.658For Northampton's arrest, as well as for the summary execution of a certain John Constantyn, a cordwainer, who had been convicted of taking a leading part in the disturbance, Brembre received a letter of indemnity from the king.659The riot had one good effect. It roused public opinion against monopolies and restriction of trade to such an extent, that Richard very soon afterwards caused the city to be opened freely to all foreigners(i.e., non-freemen) wishing to sell fish or other victuals.660Trial of Northampton at Reading.In August (1384) the opinion of each individual member of the Common Council was taken on oath, as to whether it would be to the advantage or disadvantage of the city if Northampton were allowed to return; and it was unanimously found that his return[pg 226]would breed dissension rather than peace and unity.661Armed with thisplébiscitethe mayor and a number of citizens, whom the king had summoned by name, attended a council at Reading for the purpose of determining the fate of Northampton. The accused contented himself with objecting to sentence being passed against him in the absence of his patron the Duke of Lancaster. This, however, availed him nothing, and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in Tintagel Castle.662Another authority663states that the mayor brought with him to the council a man named Thomas Husk or Usk (whose name, by the way, does not appear in the list which the king forwarded to the mayor), who made a number of charges against Northampton. The prisoner so far forgot himself in the royal presence as to call Usk a liar, and to challenge him to a duel. Matters were not improved by Northampton's appeal for delay in passing sentence upon him in the absence of the Duke of Lancaster. Richard flushed crimson with anger at the proposal, declaring that he was ready to sit in judgment upon the duke no less than on Northampton, and forthwith ordered the latter's execution, and the confiscation of his goods. The sentence would have been earned out but for the timely intercession of the queen, who flung herself at her husband's feet and begged for the prisoner's life. The queen's prayer was granted, and Northampton was condemned to perpetual imprisonment and remitted to Corfe Castle. Thence, at the beginning of September, he was removed[pg 227]to the Tower of London, where two of his partisans, John More, one of the sheriffs, and Richard Northbury, recently arrested, were lodged.Is committed to Tintagel Castle.The Chief Justice, Tressilian, hesitated to take any steps against the prisoners, one of whom had already been tried and sentenced, asserting that the matter lay within the jurisdiction of the mayor. His scruples, however, on this score were easily set aside, and on the 10th September, each of the prisoners was sentenced to be drawn and hanged. No sooner was sentence passed than the chancellor, Michael de la Pole, entered on the scene, and proclaimed that the king's grace had been extended to the prisoners, that there lives would be spared, but that they would be imprisoned until further favour should be shown them. They were accordingly sent off to various fortresses; Northampton to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Northbury to Corfe Castle, and More to Nottingham; and all this arose, says the Chronicler, from the rivalry of fishmongers.664Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.When Brembre sought re-election to the mayoralty in October, 1384, he found a formidable competitor in Nicholas Twyford, with whom he had not always been on the best of terms. It was in 1378, when Twyford was sheriff and Brembre was occupying the mayoralty chair for the first time, that they fell out, the occasion being one of those trade disputes so frequent in the City's annals. A number of goldsmiths and pepperers had come to loggerheads in St. Paul's Churchyard during sermon time, and the[pg 228]mayor had committed one of the ringleaders to the compter. The culprit, however, happened to be, like Twyford, a goldsmith, and was one of his suite. Twyford resented his man being sent to prison, and for his pains got arrested himself.665It was felt that the election would be hotly contested and might lead to disturbance. Besides the customary precept issued by the mayor forbidding any to appear who were not specially summoned,666the king took the precaution of sending John de Nevill, of Roby, to the Guildhall to see that the election was properly conducted. In spite of all precautions, however, a disturbance took place, and some of the rioters were afterwards bound over to keep the peace.667It is said that Brembre himself secreted a body of men in the neighbourhood of the Guildhall, and that when he found the election going against him, he signalled for them, and Twyford's supporters were compelled to flee for safety, and that thus the election was won.668Nothing of this appears in the City's Records, where Brembre's re-election is entered in the manner of the day.669Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.In 1385 Brembre was again elected mayor, and continued in office until October, 1386, when he was succeeded by his friend and ally, Nicholas Exton. This was the fourth and last time Brembre was mayor. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster and his party had renewed their efforts to effect the release of Northampton and of his fellow prisoners,[pg 229]More and Northbury, on the understanding that they were not to come near the City, and Brembre again took the opinion of the aldermen and commons severally as to the probable effect of the release of the prisoners. This occurred in March, 1386, when it was unanimously resolved that danger would result to the city if Northampton was allowed to come within 100 miles of it.670The resolution caused much annoyance to the duke, who characterised it as unreasonable and outrageous, and led to some heated correspondence.671It had, however, the desired effect of at least postponing the release of the prisoners.672A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of mayor, Exton, March, 1387.A few months after Exton had taken Brembre's place as mayor (Oct., 1386), the new mayor raised a commotion by ordering a book called "Jubilee," which Northampton is supposed to have compiled—or caused to be compiled for the better government of the City, to be publicly burnt in Guildhall yard.673The cordwainers of London, staunch supporters of Northampton (the leader of the riot which led to Northampton's arrest in 1384 was a cordwainer), complained to parliament of Exton. The book, said they, " comprised all the good articles pertaining to the good government of the City," which Exton and all the aldermen had sworn to maintain for ever, and now he and his accomplices had burnt it without consent of the commons, to the annihilation of many good liberties, franchises, and[pg 230]customs of the City.674The book had already been subjected to revision in June, 1384, when Brembre was mayor;675it was now utterly destroyed.Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.In 1387 efforts were again made to secure Northampton's release, and this time with success. On the 17th April Exton reported to the Common Council that Lord Zouche was actually engaged in canvassing the king for the release of Northampton and his allies. The Council thereupon unanimously resolved to send a letter to Lord Zouche, on behalf of the entire commonalty of the City, praying him to desist from his suit, and assuring him of their loyalty to the king even unto death.676It also resolved to send a deputation on horseback to the king, who was at "Esthamstede," to ask his favour for the City, and to beg of him not to annul the charters which he had already given to the citizens, more especially as touching the release of the prisoners in question.Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.On the 4th May the Recorder, William Cheyne, reported to the Common Council assembled in the upper chamber of the Guildhall the result of the interview with the king. The deputation had been received most graciously, and the mayor had been particularly successful in his speech, setting forth the dangers that would inevitably ensue, both to the king and to the city, if pardon were granted to Northampton and his friends. The king had replied that he would take good precautions for himself before he[pg 231]granted them their liberty;677and with this answer the citizens had to be content. The answer was an evasive one, if it be true, as one authority states, that on the 27th April—the day on which the mayor had informed the citizens of the intervention of Lord Zouche—Northampton had received his pardon and been restored to his property.678His friends remained still unsatisfied, and plagued the king for more favourable terms to such a degree that Richard ordered (7 Oct.) proclamation to be made in the city against any further entreaties being made to him on the subject.679Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.Two days before the order for this proclamation, the king was informed by letter of the nature of a fresh oath of allegiance680that had been taken by the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city. He was furthermore exhorted to give credence to what Nicholas Brembre might inform him as to the state and government of the city, since there was no one better informed than Brembre on the subject.The king's reply, 7 Oct.To this the king sent a gracious reply.681He had learnt with much pleasure from Nicholas Brembre of the allegiance of the citizens, which he trusted would[pg 232]continue, as he would soon have good reason for paying a visit to the city in person. He had heard that the new sheriffs were good and trusty men, and he expressed a hope that at the approaching election of a mayor they would choose one of whom he could approve, otherwise he would decline to receive the mayor-elect at his presentation. He not only forbade any further entreaties to be made to him touching Northampton, More and Northbury, but commissioned enquiry to be made as to their property in the city. He was especially gratified to learn that, in accordance with his request, they had appointed Thomas Usk (the chief witness against Northampton) to the office of under-sheriff, and promised that such appointment should not be drawn into precedent. The citizens were not slow to take the hint about the election of a new mayor, and Exton was continued in office.682The Parliament of 1386.Great discontent had arisen meanwhile in the country at the lavish expenditure of the king, without any apparent result in victories abroad, such as had been gained in the glorious days of his predecessor. A cry for reform and retrenchment was raised, and found a champion in the person of the Duke of Gloucester, the youngest of the king's uncles. At his instigation, the parliament which assembled on the 1st October, 1386, demanded the dismissal of the king's ministers, and read him a lesson on constitutional government which ended in a threat of deposition unless the king should mend his ways. Richard was at the time only twenty-one years of age. In the impetuosity of his youth he is recorded as having contemplated a dastardly attempt upon the life of his uncle,[pg 233]whom he had grown to hate as the cause of all his difficulties. A plan was laid, which is said to have received Brembre's approbation, for beguiling the duke into the city by an invitation to supper, and then and there making away with him, but the duke was forewarned. The chronicler who records Brembre's complicity in this nefarious design against Gloucester's life also relates that Exton, who was mayor, refused to have anything to do with it.683Appointment of a Commission of Regency.The Commission declared illegal.Richard applies to the City for assistance.Before the end of the session, parliament had appointed a commission, with Gloucester at its head, to regulate the government of the country and the king's household. This very naturally excited the wrath of the hot-headed king, who immediately set to work to form a party in opposition to the duke. In August of the next year (1387) he obtained a declaration from five of the justices to the effect that the commission was illegal. On the 28th October he sent the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk into the city to learn whether he could depend upon the support of the citizens. The answer could not have been regarded as unfavourable, for, on the 10th November, the king paid a personal visit to the city and was received with great ceremony.684On the following day (11 Nov.) orders were given to the aldermen of the City to assemble the men of their several wards, to see that they were suitably armed according to their rank and estate, and to make a return of the same in due course.685The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.On the 14th Gloucester formally charged the king's five counsellors—the Archbishop of York, the[pg 234]Duke of Ireland, the Earl of Suffolk, Chief Justice Tressilian and Nicholas Brembre, "the false London knight," with treason.686The king retaliated by causing proclamation to be made to the effect that he had taken these same individuals under his own protection, and that no one should harm them save at his own peril. This protection was extended also to the king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, the impeaching parties.The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.On the 28th the mayor and aldermen were summoned to proceed to Windsor forthwith, to consult upon certain matters very weighty (certeines treschargeauntes matirs).687The City's archives contain no record of what took place at the interview, but it appears that the object of the conference was to ascertain how many men-at-arms the city would be likely to furnish the king at a crisis. The answer given by the mayor was not encouraging; the citizens were merchants and craftsmen, and not soldiers, save for the defence of the city itself; and the mayor straightway asked the king's permission to resign his office.688Richard obliged to submit.Flight of the accused.Finding that he could not rely on any assistance from the Londoners—whom Walsingham describes as fickle as a reed, siding at one time with the lords and at another time with the king689—Richard was driven to temporise. He had already promised that in the next parliament his unfortunate advisers should be called to account, but long before parliament met[pg 235](3 Feb., 1388), four out of the five culprits had made good their escape—at least for a time. Brembre alone was taken.690He had anticipated the blow by making over all his property at home and abroad to certain parties by deed, dated the 15th October, 1387, no doubt, upon a secret trust.691The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.Notwithstanding the evident coolness of the citizens towards him, Richard determined to leave Windsor and spend Christmas at the Tower. He would be safer there, and less subject to the dominating influence of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel, Nottingham, Warwick and Derby, who objected to his shaking off the fetters of the commission. As soon as his intention was known, these five lords—who, from having been associated in appealing against Richard's counsellors, were styled "appellant"—hastened to London, and drawing up their forces outside the city's walls, demanded admittance. After some little hesitation, the mayor determined to admit them, defending his action to the king by declaring that they were his true liege men and friends of the realm.692The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.On the 18th January, 1388, the lords appeared at the Guildhall, accompanied by the Archbishop, the Bishops of Ely, Hereford, Exeter, and others. The Archbishop absolved the citizens of their oaths of allegiance, whilst the Bishop of Ely, the lord treasurer, deprecated any remarks made to the disparagement of the lords. The lords and the bishops had been indicted on an iniquitous charge, and there were some[pg 236]among the citizens who had been similarly indicted, but whether justly or unjustly he (the bishop) could not say. That would be decided by parliament. In the meantime they were ready to assist in settling the trade disputes in the city, for it was absurd for one body of the citizens to attempt to exterminate another. The citizens, however, showed no desire to accept the proffered mediation.693Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.When parliament met (3 Feb.), a formidable indictment of thirty-nine charges was laid against the king's late advisers, of whom Brembre alone appeared. On the 17th February, he was brought up by the constable of the Tower, and was called on to answer off-hand the several charges of treason alleged against him. He prayed for time to take counsel's advice. This being refused, he claimed to support his cause by wager of battle, and immediately the whole company of lords, knights, esquires, and commons, flung down their gages so thick, we are told, that they "seemed like snow on a winter's day."694But the lords declared that wager by battle did not lie in such a case. When the trial was resumed on the following day, so much opposition arose between the king, who spoke strongly in Brembre's favour, and the lords, that it was decided to leave the question of the prisoner's guilt or innocence to a commission of lords, who, to the surprise and annoyance of the majority of the nobles, brought in a verdict of not guilty. Brembre was not to be allowed thus to escape. The lords sent for two representatives of the various crafts of the city to depose as to Brembre's guilt; but even[pg 237]so, the lords failed to get any definite verdict. At last they sent for the mayor, recorder, and some of the aldermen (seniores) to learn what they had to say about the accused.Conviction and sentence of death.One would have thought that with Nicholas Exton, his old friend and ally, to speak up for him, Brembre's life would now at least be saved, even if he were not altogether acquitted. It was not so, however. The mayor and aldermen were asked as to theiropinion(not as to their knowledge), whether Brembre was cognisant of certain matters, and they gave it as theiropinionthat Brembre was more likely to have been cognisant of them than not. Turning then to the Recorder, the lords asked him how stood the law in such a case? To which he replied, that a man who knew such things as were laid to Brembre's charge, and knowing them failed to reveal them, deserved death. On such evidence as this, Brembre was convicted on the 20th February, and condemned to be executed.695He was drawn on a hurdle through the city to Tyburn, showing himself very penitent and earnestly desiring all persons to pray for him. At the last moment he confessed that his conduct towards Northampton had been vile and wicked. Whilst craving pardon of Northampton's son "he was suddenly turned off, and the executioner cutting his throat, he died."696Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.If we are to believe all that Walsingham records of Brembre, the character and conduct of the city alderman and ex-mayor was bad indeed. Besides conniving at the plot laid against Gloucester's life, which[pg 238]involved the grossest breach of hospitality, he is recorded as having lain in wait with an armed force at the Mews near Charing Cross, to intercept and massacre the lords on their way to Westminster, to effect an arrangement with the king, as well as having entertained the idea of cutting the throats of a number of his fellow-citizens, and placing himself at the head of the government of the city, the name of which he proposed changing to that of "Little Troy."697Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.Of Brembre's associates, Tressilian was captured during the trial, torn from the Sanctuary at Westminster, and hanged on the 19th. Another to share the same fate was Thomas Uske, who had been one of the chief witnesses against Northampton. He was sentenced to death by parliament on the 4th March, and died asseverating to the last that he had done Northampton no injury, but that every word he had deposed against him the year before was absolutely true.698The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.The lords appellant, who were now complete masters of the situation, insisted upon the proceedings of this "merciless" parliament, as its opponents called it, being ratified by oath administered to prelates, knights, and nobles of the realm, as well as to the mayor, aldermen, and chief burgesses of every town. On the 4th June—the day parliament rose—a writ was issued in Richard's name, enjoining the administration of this oath to those aldermen and citizens of London who had not been present in parliament when the oath was administered there.699[pg 239]Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.In the meantime the continued jealousy existing among the city guilds—the Mercers, Goldsmiths, Drapers, and others, objecting to Fishmongers and Vintners taking any part in the government of the city on the ground that they were victuallers, and as such forbidden by an ordinance passed when Northampton was mayor to hold any municipal office700—had led parliament (14 May) to proclaim free trade throughout the kingdom.701A party in the city tried to get parliament to remove Exton from the mayoralty on the ground of his having connived at the curtailment of the City's liberties and franchises. The attempt, however, failed, and he remained in office until succeeded by Nicholas Twyford (Oct., 1388).702Although Twyford belonged to the party of Northampton as distinguished from that of Brembre and Exton, his election raised little or no opposition, such as had been anticipated. When he went out of office in October, 1389, however, party strife in the city again showed itself. The majority of the citizens voted William Venour, a grocer, into the mayoralty, but the choice was strongly opposed by the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Drapers, who ran another candidate, one of their own body, Adam Bamme, a goldsmith.703The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.Some months before the close of Twyford's mayoralty, Richard had succeeded in gaining his independence (May, 1389), which he was induced by Lancaster, on his return after a prolonged absence abroad, to exercise at length in favour of Northampton, by permitting him once more to return to London,[pg 240]although only as a stranger.704This was in July. In December, letters patent granting him a free pardon were issued, containing no such restriction.705His re-appearance in the streets of the city revived the old party spirit, and Adam Bamme, who had succeeded Venour in the mayoralty, found it expedient to forbid all discussion of the rights and the wrongs of the several parties of Northampton and Brembre on pain of imprisonment.706Four more years elapsed before Northampton was re-instated in the freedom of the city.707Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.For some years Richard governed not unwisely. In 1392, however, he quarrelled with the city. Early in that year he called upon every inhabitant, whose property for the last three years was worth £40 in land or rent, to take upon himself the honour of knighthood. The sheriffs, Henry Vanner and John Shadworth, made a return that all tenements and rents in the city were held of the kingin capiteas fee burgage at a fee farm (ad feodi firmam); that by reason of the value of tenements varying from time to time, and many of them requiring repair from damage by fire and tempest, their true annual value could not be ascertained, and that, therefore, it was impossible to make a return of those who possessed £40 of land or rent as desired.708The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.This answer was anything but agreeable to the king. But he had other cause just now for being[pg 241]offended with the city. Being in want of money, he had offered a valuable jewel to the citizens as security for a loan, and the citizens had excused themselves on the plea that they were not so well off as they used to be, since foreigners had been allowed to enjoy the same privileges in the city as themselves. Having failed in this quarter, the king had resorted to a Lombard, who soon was able to accommodate him; but when the king learnt on enquiry that the money so obtained had been advanced to the Lombard merchant by the very citizens who had refused to lend it to the king himself, his anger knew no bounds,709and he summoned John Hende, the mayor, the sheriffs, the aldermen, and twenty-four of the chief citizens710of the City to attend him in June, at Nottingham. They accordingly set out on their journey on the 19th June, and arrived in Nottingham on the 23rd; the government of the city being left in the meanwhile in the hands of William Staundon. On the 25th they appeared before the lords of the council, when the chancellor rated them roundly for paying so little attention to the king's writ—the writ touching knighthood—and complained of the defective manner in which the city was governed.711The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.He thereupon dismissed the mayor from office, committing him to Windsor Castle. The sheriffs were likewise dismissed, one being sent to Odyham Castle,[pg 242]and the other to the Castle of Wallingford. The rest of the citizens were ordered to return home.712Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.At nine o'clock in the morning of the 1st July, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appeared in the Guildhall, and there, before an immense assembly of the commons, read the king's commissions appointing him warden of the city and the king's escheator. The deposed sheriffs were succeeded by Gilbert Maghfeld, or Maunfeld, and Thomas Newton, who remained in office, by the king's appointment,713until the end of the year, when they were re-elected, the one by the warden and the other by the citizens.714Dalyngrigge was soon afterwards succeeded in the office of warden by Sir Baldwin de Radyngton.715The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.By way of inflicting further punishment upon the citizens, Richard had already removed the King's Bench and Exchequer from London to York;716but the removal proved so much more prejudicial to the nation at large than to the City of London that the courts were soon brought back.717He would even have waged open war on them had he dared.718Instead of proceeding to this extremity, he summoned the aldermen and 400 commoners to Windsor719and fined the City £100,000. This was in July (1392).[pg 243]In August the king notified his intention of passing through the city on his way from Shene to Westminster. The citizens embraced the opportunity of giving him a magnificent reception, which the king acknowledged in the following month by restoring to them their liberties and setting free their late mayor and sheriffs.720The fine of £100,000 recently imposed, as well as other moneys which the king considered to be due to him from the city, were also remitted.721Municipal reforms, 1393.Once more restored to their liberties, the citizens in the following year (1393), with the assent of parliament, effected a reform in the internal government of the city which the increasing population had rendered necessary. The Ward of Farringdon Within and Without had increased so much in wealth and population that it was deemed advisable to divide it into two parts, each part having its own alderman. Accordingly, in the following March (1394), Drew Barantyn was elected Alderman of Farringdon Within, whilst John Fraunceys was elected for Farringdon Without. A more important reform effected at the same time was the appointment of aldermen for life instead of for a year only.722Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.In the following year (1394) the queen—Anne of Bohemia—died. She had always shown a friendly disposition towards the city, and it was mainly owing[pg 244]to her intercession that Richard had restored its liberties.723Her death removed one good influence about Richard, and marks a change of policy or of character.724His second marriage in 1396 did not improve matters. In that year the mayor, Adam Bamme, died in office, and instead of allowing the citizens freely to elect a successor, he thrust upon them Richard Whitington.725He arrested the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and otherwise behaved so outrageously as to raise doubts as to his sanity. He gave out that he was afraid to appear in public for fear of the Londoners; but this was only a ruse for the purpose of raising money.726Like Edward II, he borrowed money from anybody and everybody, and often resorted to unconstitutional measures to fill his purse. He made the nobles and his wealthier subjects sign blank cheques for him to fill up at his pleasure.727These cheques, or "charters" as they were called, were afterwards burnt by order of his successor on the throne.The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.A crisis was fast approaching. The Duke of Hereford, whom the king had banished, and who, on the death of his father "time honoured Lancaster," succeeded to the title early in 1399, was prevailed upon to return to England and strike a blow for the recovery of his inheritance which Richard had seized. Richard, as if infatuated, took this inopportune[pg 245]moment to sail to Ireland. Before setting out he made a last bid for the favour of the citizens by again granting them permission to rule the fish trade according to ancient custom.728It was too late; they had already resolved to throw in their lot with Henry of Lancaster.As soon as Henry had landed at Ravenspur (4th July) a special messenger was despatched to the city with the news. The mayor was in bed, but he hurriedly rose and took steps to proclaim Henry's arrival in England. "Let us apparel ourselves and go and receive the Duke of Lancaster, since we agreed to send for him," was the resolution of those to whom the mayor conveyed the first tidings; and accordingly Drew Barentyn, who had succeeded Whitington in October, 1398, and 500 other citizens, took horse to meet the duke, whom they escorted to the city. The day that Henry entered the city was kept as a holiday, "as though it had been the day for the celebration of Easter."Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.When Richard heard of Henry's landing he hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, fully armed and horsed.729Finding resistance hopeless, the king made submission, craving only that he might be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover[pg 246]of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, were executed at a fishmonger's stall in Cheapside. Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title of King Henry IV.

Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.Shortly after Edward had breathed his last, a deputation from the City waited upon the Prince of Wales at Kennington. John Philipot again acted as spokesman, and after alluding to the loss which the country had recently sustained, and recommending the City of London—the "king's chamber"—to the prince's favour, begged him to assist in effecting a reconciliation with Lancaster. This Richard promised to do, and a few days later the deputation again waited on the young king—this time at Shene, where preparations were being made for the late king's obsequies—and a reconciliation took place, the king kissing each member of the deputation, and promising to be their friend, and to look after the City's interests as if they were his own.617Formal announcement of the reconciliation was afterwards made at Westminster, and Peter de la Mare, long a prisoner in Nottingham Castle, was set free, to the great joy of the citizens.618The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.At the express wish of the citizens, Richard—the "Londoners' king," as the nobles were in the habit of cynically styling the new sovereign, for the[pg 213]reason that he had ascended the throne more by the assistance of thebourgeoisLondoner than of the nobility619—took up his quarters at the Tower, whence he proceeded in state to Westminster for his coronation. Great preparations were made in the city to tender his progress through the streets one of exceptional splendour. The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the chief butler at the banquet was discourteously refused by Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who bluntly told them that they might be of service in washing up the pots and pans. The citizens had their revenge, however. They set up an effigy of the man at a conspicuous arch or tower in Cheapside, in which he appeared to the whole of the procession as it passed on its way to Westminster, in the ignominious attitude of vomiting wine.620This was enough; the Londoners gained the day, and were allowed to perform their customary services at the banquet, and the mayor got his gold cup.621A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.Richard was only eleven years of age when raised to the throne. A council was therefore appointed to govern in his name. Neither the Duke of Lancaster nor any other of the king's uncles were elected councillors, and, for a time, John of Gaunt retired into comparative privacy. The task of the council was not easy. The French plundered the[pg 214]coast,622and the Scots plundered the borders. Money was sorely needed. The City consented to advance the sum of £5,000 upon the security of the customs of the Port of London and of certain plate and jewels,623and when parliament met (13 Oct., 1377) it made a liberal grant of two tenths and two fifteenths, which was to be collected without delay, on the understanding that two treasurers should be appointed to superintend the due application of the money.624The two treasurers appointed for this purpose were two citizens of note, namely, William Walworth and John Philipot, of whose financial capability mention has already been made.Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.Before parliament broke up it gave its assent to a new charter to the City.625Foreigners (i.e.non-freemen) were again forbidden to traffic in the city among themselves by retail, and the City's franchises were confirmed and enlarged. So much importance was attached to this charter that Brembre, the mayor, caused its main provisions to be published throughout the city.626The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.Lancaster soon became tired of playing a subordinate part in the government of the kingdom. As[pg 215]a preliminary step to higher aims, he contrived, after some little opposition, to obtain the removal of the subsidy granted by the last parliament, out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot into his own, although these men had given no cause for suspicion of dishonourable conduct in the execution of their public trust.627Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.The energetic John Philipot soon found other work to do. The English coast had recently become infested with a band of pirates, who, having already made a successful descent upon Scarborough, were now seeking fresh adventures. Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, and putting to sea succeeded in capturing the ringleader,628a feat which rendered him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow citizens showed their appreciation of his character by electing him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October (1378).629Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.The citizens were, however, split up into factions, one party, with Philipot and Brembre at his head, maintaining a stubborn opposition to Lancaster, whilst another, under the leadership of Walworth and John de Northampton, favoured the duke. These factions were continually plotting and counter-plotting one against the other. At Gloucester, to which the duke had brought the parliament in 1378, in the hope of[pg 216]escaping from the interference of the "ribald" Londoners,630Brembre was arraigned on a charge of having connived during his recent mayoralty at an attack made on the house of the duke's younger brother, Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, and although he succeeded in proving his innocence, the earl and his party continued to use threats, and Brembre, in order to smooth matters over, consented to be mulcted in 100 marks. When the matter was reported to the Common Council at home (25 Nov.), that body not only signified its approval of his conduct—"knowing for certain that it was for no demerits of his own, but for the preservation of the liberties of the city, and for the extreme love which he bore it, that he had undergone such labours and expenses,"—but recouped him what he had disbursed.631The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.In course of time the earl and his followers succeeded in persecuting Brembre to a disgraceful death. At present they contented themselves with damaging the trade of the city, so far as they could, by leaving the cityen masseand withdrawing their custom. The result was so disastrous to the citizens, more especially to the hostel keepers and victuallers, that the civic authorities resolved to win the nobles back to the city by wholesale bribery, and, as the city's "chamber" was empty, a subscription list was set on foot to raise a fund for the purpose. Philipot, the mayor, headed the list with £10, a sum just double that of any other subscriber. Six others, among them being Brembre (the[pg 217]earl's particular enemy) and Walworth, subscribed respectively £5; whilst the rest contributed sums varying from £4 down to five marks, the last mentioned sum being subscribed by Richard "Whytyngdon" of famous memory.632Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.The grants made to the king by the parliament at Gloucester were soon exhausted by the war, and recourse was had, as usual, to the City. In February, 1379, the mayor and aldermen were sent for to Westminster. They were told that the king's necessities demanded an immediate supply of money, and that the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the nobility had consented to contribute. What would the City do? After a brief consultation apart, the mayor and aldermen suggested that the usual course should be followed and that they should be allowed to consult the general body of the citizens in the Guildhall. Eventually the City consented to advance another sum of £5,000 on the same security as before, but any tax imposed by parliament at its next session was to be taken as a set off.633The poll-tax of 1379.At the session of parliament held in April and May (1379), the demand for further supply became so urgent that a poll-tax was imposed on a graduated scale according to a man's dignity, ranging from ten marks or £6 1s.4d.imposed on a duke, to a groat or four pence which the poorest peasant was called upon to pay. The mayor of London, assessed as an earl, was to pay £4; and the aldermen, assessed as barons, £2. The sum thus furnished by the city amounted to less than £700,634and the whole amount levied on[pg 218]the country did not exceed £22,000, a sum far short of what had been anticipated.Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.In the following year (1380) there was a recurrence to the old method of raising money, but this proving still insufficient a poll-tax was again resorted to. This time, the smallest sum exacted was not less than three groats, and was payable on everyman, woman and unmarried child, above the age of fifteen, throughout the country. The amount thus raised in the city and liberties was just over £1000.635The tax was especially irritating from its inquisitorial character, and led to serious consequences.The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.The country was already suffering under a general discontent, when a certain Wat Tyler in Kent struck down a collector of the poll-tax, who attempted in an indecent manner to discover his daughter's age. This was the signal for a revolt of the peasants from one end of England to the other, not only against payment of this particular tax, but against taxes and landlords generally. The men of Essex joined forces with those of Kent on Blackheath, and thence marched on London. With the aid of sympathisers within the City's gates, the effected an entrance on the night of the 12th of June, and made free with the wine cellars of the wealthier class. The next day, the rebels, more mad than drunk (non tam ebrii quam dementes), stirred up the populace to make a raid upon the Duke of Lancaster's palace of the Savoy. This they sacked and burnt to the ground. They next vented their wrath upon the Temple, and afterwards upon the house of the Knight's Hospitallers at[pg 219]Clerkenwell. In the meantime reinforcements were gathering in Essex under the leadership of one known as "Jack Straw," and were hurrying to London. At Mile End they were met (14 June) by the young king himself, who set out from the Tower for that purpose, accompanied by a retinue of knights and esquires on horseback, as well as by his mother in a drawn vehicle. The rebels demanded the surrender of all traitors to the king. To this Richard gave his assent, and having done so returned to the city to take up his quarters at the Wardrobe, near Castle Baynard, whilst the rebels, availing themselves of the king's word, hurried off to the Tower. There they found Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and he and others were beheaded on Tower Hill. The rest of the day and the whole of the next were given up to plunder and massacre, so that the narrow streets were choked with corpses. Among those who perished at the hands of the rebels was Richard Lyons, the deposed alderman. At length, on the evening of Saturday, the 15th, when the king had ridden to Smithfield accompanied by Walworth, the mayor, and a large retinue in order to discuss matters with Wat Tyler (the Essex men had for the most part returned home), an altercation happened to arise between Tyler and one of the royal suite. Words were about to lead to blows when the mayor himself interposed, and summarily executed the king's order to arrest Tyler by bringing him to the ground by a fatal blow of his dagger. Deprived of their leader the mob became furious, and demanded Walworth's head; the mayor, however, contrived to slip back into the City, whence he quickly returned with such a force that the[pg 220]rioters were surrounded and compelled to submit. The king intervened to prevent further bloodshed, and knighted on the field not only Walworth, but also Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot and Robert Launde.636The same day a royal commission was issued to enquire into the late riot and to bring the offenders to account.637Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.Orders were given on the 20th June to each alderman to provide men-at-arms and archers to guard in turns the city's gates, and to see that no armed person entered the city, except those who declared on oath that they were about to join the king's expedition against the rebels. In the meantime, the aldermen were to make returns of all who kept hostels in their several wards.638In a list, containing nearly 200 names of divers persons of bad character, who had left the city by reason of the insurrection,639there appear the names of two servants of Henry "Grenecobbe." The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.640Confession made by "Jack Straw.""Jack Straw," on being brought before the mayor, was induced by promises of masses for the good of his soul, to confess the nature of the intentions of the rioters, which were to use the king's person as a[pg 221]stalking horse for drawing people to their side, and eventually to kill him and all in authority throughout the kingdom. The mendicant friars, who were believed to be at the bottom of the insurrection,641were alone to be spared. Wat Tyler was to be made king of Kent, whilst others were to be placed in similar positions over the rest of the counties. The mayor sentenced him to be beheaded. This done, his head was set up on London Bridge, where Wat Tyler's already figured.642Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.The discontent which had given rise to the peasants' revolt, had been fanned by the attacks made by Wycliffe's "simple priests" upon the rich and idle clergy. The revolt occasioned a bitter feeling among the landlord class against Wycliffe and his followers, and after its suppression the Lollards were made the object of much animadversion. Their preaching was forbidden,643and Wycliffe was obliged to retire to his country parsonage, where he continued to labour with his pen for the cause he had so much at heart, until his death in 1384.Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. Under Northampton—a man whom even his enemies allowed to be of stern purpose, not truckling to those[pg 222]above him, nor bending to his inferiors,644—many reforms were carried out, ecclesiastical as well as civil.The ecclesiastical courts having grossly failed in their duty, the citizens themselves, fearful of God's vengeance if matters were allowed to continue as they were, undertook the work of reform within the city's walls. The fees of the city parsons were cut down. The fee for baptism was not to exceed forty pence, whilst that for marriage was not as a general rule to be more than half a mark. One farthing was all that could be demanded for a mass for the dead, and the priest was bound to give change for a half-penny when requested or forego his fee.645Steps were taken at the same time to improve the morality of the city by ridding the streets of lewd women and licentious men. On the occasion of a first offence, culprits of either sex were subjected to the ignominy of having their hair cropt for future identification, and then conducted with rough music through the public thoroughfares, the men to the pillory and the women to the "thewe." After a third conviction, they were made to abjure the City altogether.646It was during Northampton's first year of the mayoralty that the citizens succeeded in breaking down the monopoly of the free fish-mongers. A number of "dossers" or baskets for carrying fish were also seized because they were deficient in holding capacity, and on that account were calculated to defraud the purchaser.647But,[pg 223]although a mayor in those days exercised, no doubt, greater power in the municipal government than now, we must be careful to avoid the common mistake of attributing to the individuality of the mayor for the time being what was really the action of the citizens as a body corporate.Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.In October, 1382, Northampton was elected mayor for the second time, and Philipot, his rival, either resigned or was deprived of his aldermancy.648His re-election was at the king's express wish. On the 6th he wrote to the sheriffs, aldermen and commons of the city intimating that, whilst anxious to leave the citizens free choice in the matter of election of their mayor, he would be personally gratified if their choice fell upon the outgoing mayor. At first Northampton declined re-election, but he afterwards consented to serve another year on receiving a written request from the king.649His hesitation was probably due to the factious state of the city. Brembre and Philipot were not his only enemies. Another alderman, Nicholas Exton, of Queenhithe Ward, had recently been removed from his aldermancy for opprobrious words used to Northampton during his first mayoralty. A petition had been laid before the Court of Common Council in August, 1382, when Exton himself being present, and seeing the turn affairs were taking, endeavoured to anticipate the judgment of the[pg 224]court, by himself asking to be exonerated from his office, declaring at the same time that he had offered a large sum of money to be released at his election in the first instance. The court wishing for further time to consider the matter adjourned. At its next meeting a similar petition was again presented, but the court hesitated to pronounce judgment in the absence of Exton, who was summoned to appear at the next Common Council. When the court met again, it was found that Exton had ignored the summons. Judgment was, therefore, pronounced in his absence and he was deprived of his aldermancy.650Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.At the close of Northampton's second mayoralty (Oct., 1383), his place was taken by his rival, Nicholas Brembre,651and a general reversal of the order of things took place. The free-fishmongers recovered their ancient privileges,652and the judgment passed upon Exton as well as a similar judgment passed upon another alderman, Adam Carlile, were reversed.653Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.Soon after Brembre's election the king confirmed the City's liberties by charter,654which had the assent of parliament. Two years previously the citizens had[pg 225]besought the newly-married queen to use her interest with Richard to that end.655Her good offices, as well as the fact that the City had recently advanced to the king the sum of 4,000 marks, on the security of the royal crown and other things,656may have been instrumental in obtaining for the citizens this fresh confirmation of their rights.Proceedings against Northampton.In January (1384) Northampton was bound over to keep the peace in the sum of £5,000;657but in the following month he was put under arrest (together with his brother, known as Robert "Cumberton," and another), for raising a disturbance in the City, and sent to Corfe Castle.658For Northampton's arrest, as well as for the summary execution of a certain John Constantyn, a cordwainer, who had been convicted of taking a leading part in the disturbance, Brembre received a letter of indemnity from the king.659The riot had one good effect. It roused public opinion against monopolies and restriction of trade to such an extent, that Richard very soon afterwards caused the city to be opened freely to all foreigners(i.e., non-freemen) wishing to sell fish or other victuals.660Trial of Northampton at Reading.In August (1384) the opinion of each individual member of the Common Council was taken on oath, as to whether it would be to the advantage or disadvantage of the city if Northampton were allowed to return; and it was unanimously found that his return[pg 226]would breed dissension rather than peace and unity.661Armed with thisplébiscitethe mayor and a number of citizens, whom the king had summoned by name, attended a council at Reading for the purpose of determining the fate of Northampton. The accused contented himself with objecting to sentence being passed against him in the absence of his patron the Duke of Lancaster. This, however, availed him nothing, and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in Tintagel Castle.662Another authority663states that the mayor brought with him to the council a man named Thomas Husk or Usk (whose name, by the way, does not appear in the list which the king forwarded to the mayor), who made a number of charges against Northampton. The prisoner so far forgot himself in the royal presence as to call Usk a liar, and to challenge him to a duel. Matters were not improved by Northampton's appeal for delay in passing sentence upon him in the absence of the Duke of Lancaster. Richard flushed crimson with anger at the proposal, declaring that he was ready to sit in judgment upon the duke no less than on Northampton, and forthwith ordered the latter's execution, and the confiscation of his goods. The sentence would have been earned out but for the timely intercession of the queen, who flung herself at her husband's feet and begged for the prisoner's life. The queen's prayer was granted, and Northampton was condemned to perpetual imprisonment and remitted to Corfe Castle. Thence, at the beginning of September, he was removed[pg 227]to the Tower of London, where two of his partisans, John More, one of the sheriffs, and Richard Northbury, recently arrested, were lodged.Is committed to Tintagel Castle.The Chief Justice, Tressilian, hesitated to take any steps against the prisoners, one of whom had already been tried and sentenced, asserting that the matter lay within the jurisdiction of the mayor. His scruples, however, on this score were easily set aside, and on the 10th September, each of the prisoners was sentenced to be drawn and hanged. No sooner was sentence passed than the chancellor, Michael de la Pole, entered on the scene, and proclaimed that the king's grace had been extended to the prisoners, that there lives would be spared, but that they would be imprisoned until further favour should be shown them. They were accordingly sent off to various fortresses; Northampton to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Northbury to Corfe Castle, and More to Nottingham; and all this arose, says the Chronicler, from the rivalry of fishmongers.664Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.When Brembre sought re-election to the mayoralty in October, 1384, he found a formidable competitor in Nicholas Twyford, with whom he had not always been on the best of terms. It was in 1378, when Twyford was sheriff and Brembre was occupying the mayoralty chair for the first time, that they fell out, the occasion being one of those trade disputes so frequent in the City's annals. A number of goldsmiths and pepperers had come to loggerheads in St. Paul's Churchyard during sermon time, and the[pg 228]mayor had committed one of the ringleaders to the compter. The culprit, however, happened to be, like Twyford, a goldsmith, and was one of his suite. Twyford resented his man being sent to prison, and for his pains got arrested himself.665It was felt that the election would be hotly contested and might lead to disturbance. Besides the customary precept issued by the mayor forbidding any to appear who were not specially summoned,666the king took the precaution of sending John de Nevill, of Roby, to the Guildhall to see that the election was properly conducted. In spite of all precautions, however, a disturbance took place, and some of the rioters were afterwards bound over to keep the peace.667It is said that Brembre himself secreted a body of men in the neighbourhood of the Guildhall, and that when he found the election going against him, he signalled for them, and Twyford's supporters were compelled to flee for safety, and that thus the election was won.668Nothing of this appears in the City's Records, where Brembre's re-election is entered in the manner of the day.669Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.In 1385 Brembre was again elected mayor, and continued in office until October, 1386, when he was succeeded by his friend and ally, Nicholas Exton. This was the fourth and last time Brembre was mayor. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster and his party had renewed their efforts to effect the release of Northampton and of his fellow prisoners,[pg 229]More and Northbury, on the understanding that they were not to come near the City, and Brembre again took the opinion of the aldermen and commons severally as to the probable effect of the release of the prisoners. This occurred in March, 1386, when it was unanimously resolved that danger would result to the city if Northampton was allowed to come within 100 miles of it.670The resolution caused much annoyance to the duke, who characterised it as unreasonable and outrageous, and led to some heated correspondence.671It had, however, the desired effect of at least postponing the release of the prisoners.672A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of mayor, Exton, March, 1387.A few months after Exton had taken Brembre's place as mayor (Oct., 1386), the new mayor raised a commotion by ordering a book called "Jubilee," which Northampton is supposed to have compiled—or caused to be compiled for the better government of the City, to be publicly burnt in Guildhall yard.673The cordwainers of London, staunch supporters of Northampton (the leader of the riot which led to Northampton's arrest in 1384 was a cordwainer), complained to parliament of Exton. The book, said they, " comprised all the good articles pertaining to the good government of the City," which Exton and all the aldermen had sworn to maintain for ever, and now he and his accomplices had burnt it without consent of the commons, to the annihilation of many good liberties, franchises, and[pg 230]customs of the City.674The book had already been subjected to revision in June, 1384, when Brembre was mayor;675it was now utterly destroyed.Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.In 1387 efforts were again made to secure Northampton's release, and this time with success. On the 17th April Exton reported to the Common Council that Lord Zouche was actually engaged in canvassing the king for the release of Northampton and his allies. The Council thereupon unanimously resolved to send a letter to Lord Zouche, on behalf of the entire commonalty of the City, praying him to desist from his suit, and assuring him of their loyalty to the king even unto death.676It also resolved to send a deputation on horseback to the king, who was at "Esthamstede," to ask his favour for the City, and to beg of him not to annul the charters which he had already given to the citizens, more especially as touching the release of the prisoners in question.Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.On the 4th May the Recorder, William Cheyne, reported to the Common Council assembled in the upper chamber of the Guildhall the result of the interview with the king. The deputation had been received most graciously, and the mayor had been particularly successful in his speech, setting forth the dangers that would inevitably ensue, both to the king and to the city, if pardon were granted to Northampton and his friends. The king had replied that he would take good precautions for himself before he[pg 231]granted them their liberty;677and with this answer the citizens had to be content. The answer was an evasive one, if it be true, as one authority states, that on the 27th April—the day on which the mayor had informed the citizens of the intervention of Lord Zouche—Northampton had received his pardon and been restored to his property.678His friends remained still unsatisfied, and plagued the king for more favourable terms to such a degree that Richard ordered (7 Oct.) proclamation to be made in the city against any further entreaties being made to him on the subject.679Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.Two days before the order for this proclamation, the king was informed by letter of the nature of a fresh oath of allegiance680that had been taken by the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city. He was furthermore exhorted to give credence to what Nicholas Brembre might inform him as to the state and government of the city, since there was no one better informed than Brembre on the subject.The king's reply, 7 Oct.To this the king sent a gracious reply.681He had learnt with much pleasure from Nicholas Brembre of the allegiance of the citizens, which he trusted would[pg 232]continue, as he would soon have good reason for paying a visit to the city in person. He had heard that the new sheriffs were good and trusty men, and he expressed a hope that at the approaching election of a mayor they would choose one of whom he could approve, otherwise he would decline to receive the mayor-elect at his presentation. He not only forbade any further entreaties to be made to him touching Northampton, More and Northbury, but commissioned enquiry to be made as to their property in the city. He was especially gratified to learn that, in accordance with his request, they had appointed Thomas Usk (the chief witness against Northampton) to the office of under-sheriff, and promised that such appointment should not be drawn into precedent. The citizens were not slow to take the hint about the election of a new mayor, and Exton was continued in office.682The Parliament of 1386.Great discontent had arisen meanwhile in the country at the lavish expenditure of the king, without any apparent result in victories abroad, such as had been gained in the glorious days of his predecessor. A cry for reform and retrenchment was raised, and found a champion in the person of the Duke of Gloucester, the youngest of the king's uncles. At his instigation, the parliament which assembled on the 1st October, 1386, demanded the dismissal of the king's ministers, and read him a lesson on constitutional government which ended in a threat of deposition unless the king should mend his ways. Richard was at the time only twenty-one years of age. In the impetuosity of his youth he is recorded as having contemplated a dastardly attempt upon the life of his uncle,[pg 233]whom he had grown to hate as the cause of all his difficulties. A plan was laid, which is said to have received Brembre's approbation, for beguiling the duke into the city by an invitation to supper, and then and there making away with him, but the duke was forewarned. The chronicler who records Brembre's complicity in this nefarious design against Gloucester's life also relates that Exton, who was mayor, refused to have anything to do with it.683Appointment of a Commission of Regency.The Commission declared illegal.Richard applies to the City for assistance.Before the end of the session, parliament had appointed a commission, with Gloucester at its head, to regulate the government of the country and the king's household. This very naturally excited the wrath of the hot-headed king, who immediately set to work to form a party in opposition to the duke. In August of the next year (1387) he obtained a declaration from five of the justices to the effect that the commission was illegal. On the 28th October he sent the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk into the city to learn whether he could depend upon the support of the citizens. The answer could not have been regarded as unfavourable, for, on the 10th November, the king paid a personal visit to the city and was received with great ceremony.684On the following day (11 Nov.) orders were given to the aldermen of the City to assemble the men of their several wards, to see that they were suitably armed according to their rank and estate, and to make a return of the same in due course.685The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.On the 14th Gloucester formally charged the king's five counsellors—the Archbishop of York, the[pg 234]Duke of Ireland, the Earl of Suffolk, Chief Justice Tressilian and Nicholas Brembre, "the false London knight," with treason.686The king retaliated by causing proclamation to be made to the effect that he had taken these same individuals under his own protection, and that no one should harm them save at his own peril. This protection was extended also to the king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, the impeaching parties.The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.On the 28th the mayor and aldermen were summoned to proceed to Windsor forthwith, to consult upon certain matters very weighty (certeines treschargeauntes matirs).687The City's archives contain no record of what took place at the interview, but it appears that the object of the conference was to ascertain how many men-at-arms the city would be likely to furnish the king at a crisis. The answer given by the mayor was not encouraging; the citizens were merchants and craftsmen, and not soldiers, save for the defence of the city itself; and the mayor straightway asked the king's permission to resign his office.688Richard obliged to submit.Flight of the accused.Finding that he could not rely on any assistance from the Londoners—whom Walsingham describes as fickle as a reed, siding at one time with the lords and at another time with the king689—Richard was driven to temporise. He had already promised that in the next parliament his unfortunate advisers should be called to account, but long before parliament met[pg 235](3 Feb., 1388), four out of the five culprits had made good their escape—at least for a time. Brembre alone was taken.690He had anticipated the blow by making over all his property at home and abroad to certain parties by deed, dated the 15th October, 1387, no doubt, upon a secret trust.691The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.Notwithstanding the evident coolness of the citizens towards him, Richard determined to leave Windsor and spend Christmas at the Tower. He would be safer there, and less subject to the dominating influence of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel, Nottingham, Warwick and Derby, who objected to his shaking off the fetters of the commission. As soon as his intention was known, these five lords—who, from having been associated in appealing against Richard's counsellors, were styled "appellant"—hastened to London, and drawing up their forces outside the city's walls, demanded admittance. After some little hesitation, the mayor determined to admit them, defending his action to the king by declaring that they were his true liege men and friends of the realm.692The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.On the 18th January, 1388, the lords appeared at the Guildhall, accompanied by the Archbishop, the Bishops of Ely, Hereford, Exeter, and others. The Archbishop absolved the citizens of their oaths of allegiance, whilst the Bishop of Ely, the lord treasurer, deprecated any remarks made to the disparagement of the lords. The lords and the bishops had been indicted on an iniquitous charge, and there were some[pg 236]among the citizens who had been similarly indicted, but whether justly or unjustly he (the bishop) could not say. That would be decided by parliament. In the meantime they were ready to assist in settling the trade disputes in the city, for it was absurd for one body of the citizens to attempt to exterminate another. The citizens, however, showed no desire to accept the proffered mediation.693Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.When parliament met (3 Feb.), a formidable indictment of thirty-nine charges was laid against the king's late advisers, of whom Brembre alone appeared. On the 17th February, he was brought up by the constable of the Tower, and was called on to answer off-hand the several charges of treason alleged against him. He prayed for time to take counsel's advice. This being refused, he claimed to support his cause by wager of battle, and immediately the whole company of lords, knights, esquires, and commons, flung down their gages so thick, we are told, that they "seemed like snow on a winter's day."694But the lords declared that wager by battle did not lie in such a case. When the trial was resumed on the following day, so much opposition arose between the king, who spoke strongly in Brembre's favour, and the lords, that it was decided to leave the question of the prisoner's guilt or innocence to a commission of lords, who, to the surprise and annoyance of the majority of the nobles, brought in a verdict of not guilty. Brembre was not to be allowed thus to escape. The lords sent for two representatives of the various crafts of the city to depose as to Brembre's guilt; but even[pg 237]so, the lords failed to get any definite verdict. At last they sent for the mayor, recorder, and some of the aldermen (seniores) to learn what they had to say about the accused.Conviction and sentence of death.One would have thought that with Nicholas Exton, his old friend and ally, to speak up for him, Brembre's life would now at least be saved, even if he were not altogether acquitted. It was not so, however. The mayor and aldermen were asked as to theiropinion(not as to their knowledge), whether Brembre was cognisant of certain matters, and they gave it as theiropinionthat Brembre was more likely to have been cognisant of them than not. Turning then to the Recorder, the lords asked him how stood the law in such a case? To which he replied, that a man who knew such things as were laid to Brembre's charge, and knowing them failed to reveal them, deserved death. On such evidence as this, Brembre was convicted on the 20th February, and condemned to be executed.695He was drawn on a hurdle through the city to Tyburn, showing himself very penitent and earnestly desiring all persons to pray for him. At the last moment he confessed that his conduct towards Northampton had been vile and wicked. Whilst craving pardon of Northampton's son "he was suddenly turned off, and the executioner cutting his throat, he died."696Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.If we are to believe all that Walsingham records of Brembre, the character and conduct of the city alderman and ex-mayor was bad indeed. Besides conniving at the plot laid against Gloucester's life, which[pg 238]involved the grossest breach of hospitality, he is recorded as having lain in wait with an armed force at the Mews near Charing Cross, to intercept and massacre the lords on their way to Westminster, to effect an arrangement with the king, as well as having entertained the idea of cutting the throats of a number of his fellow-citizens, and placing himself at the head of the government of the city, the name of which he proposed changing to that of "Little Troy."697Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.Of Brembre's associates, Tressilian was captured during the trial, torn from the Sanctuary at Westminster, and hanged on the 19th. Another to share the same fate was Thomas Uske, who had been one of the chief witnesses against Northampton. He was sentenced to death by parliament on the 4th March, and died asseverating to the last that he had done Northampton no injury, but that every word he had deposed against him the year before was absolutely true.698The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.The lords appellant, who were now complete masters of the situation, insisted upon the proceedings of this "merciless" parliament, as its opponents called it, being ratified by oath administered to prelates, knights, and nobles of the realm, as well as to the mayor, aldermen, and chief burgesses of every town. On the 4th June—the day parliament rose—a writ was issued in Richard's name, enjoining the administration of this oath to those aldermen and citizens of London who had not been present in parliament when the oath was administered there.699[pg 239]Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.In the meantime the continued jealousy existing among the city guilds—the Mercers, Goldsmiths, Drapers, and others, objecting to Fishmongers and Vintners taking any part in the government of the city on the ground that they were victuallers, and as such forbidden by an ordinance passed when Northampton was mayor to hold any municipal office700—had led parliament (14 May) to proclaim free trade throughout the kingdom.701A party in the city tried to get parliament to remove Exton from the mayoralty on the ground of his having connived at the curtailment of the City's liberties and franchises. The attempt, however, failed, and he remained in office until succeeded by Nicholas Twyford (Oct., 1388).702Although Twyford belonged to the party of Northampton as distinguished from that of Brembre and Exton, his election raised little or no opposition, such as had been anticipated. When he went out of office in October, 1389, however, party strife in the city again showed itself. The majority of the citizens voted William Venour, a grocer, into the mayoralty, but the choice was strongly opposed by the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Drapers, who ran another candidate, one of their own body, Adam Bamme, a goldsmith.703The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.Some months before the close of Twyford's mayoralty, Richard had succeeded in gaining his independence (May, 1389), which he was induced by Lancaster, on his return after a prolonged absence abroad, to exercise at length in favour of Northampton, by permitting him once more to return to London,[pg 240]although only as a stranger.704This was in July. In December, letters patent granting him a free pardon were issued, containing no such restriction.705His re-appearance in the streets of the city revived the old party spirit, and Adam Bamme, who had succeeded Venour in the mayoralty, found it expedient to forbid all discussion of the rights and the wrongs of the several parties of Northampton and Brembre on pain of imprisonment.706Four more years elapsed before Northampton was re-instated in the freedom of the city.707Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.For some years Richard governed not unwisely. In 1392, however, he quarrelled with the city. Early in that year he called upon every inhabitant, whose property for the last three years was worth £40 in land or rent, to take upon himself the honour of knighthood. The sheriffs, Henry Vanner and John Shadworth, made a return that all tenements and rents in the city were held of the kingin capiteas fee burgage at a fee farm (ad feodi firmam); that by reason of the value of tenements varying from time to time, and many of them requiring repair from damage by fire and tempest, their true annual value could not be ascertained, and that, therefore, it was impossible to make a return of those who possessed £40 of land or rent as desired.708The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.This answer was anything but agreeable to the king. But he had other cause just now for being[pg 241]offended with the city. Being in want of money, he had offered a valuable jewel to the citizens as security for a loan, and the citizens had excused themselves on the plea that they were not so well off as they used to be, since foreigners had been allowed to enjoy the same privileges in the city as themselves. Having failed in this quarter, the king had resorted to a Lombard, who soon was able to accommodate him; but when the king learnt on enquiry that the money so obtained had been advanced to the Lombard merchant by the very citizens who had refused to lend it to the king himself, his anger knew no bounds,709and he summoned John Hende, the mayor, the sheriffs, the aldermen, and twenty-four of the chief citizens710of the City to attend him in June, at Nottingham. They accordingly set out on their journey on the 19th June, and arrived in Nottingham on the 23rd; the government of the city being left in the meanwhile in the hands of William Staundon. On the 25th they appeared before the lords of the council, when the chancellor rated them roundly for paying so little attention to the king's writ—the writ touching knighthood—and complained of the defective manner in which the city was governed.711The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.He thereupon dismissed the mayor from office, committing him to Windsor Castle. The sheriffs were likewise dismissed, one being sent to Odyham Castle,[pg 242]and the other to the Castle of Wallingford. The rest of the citizens were ordered to return home.712Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.At nine o'clock in the morning of the 1st July, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appeared in the Guildhall, and there, before an immense assembly of the commons, read the king's commissions appointing him warden of the city and the king's escheator. The deposed sheriffs were succeeded by Gilbert Maghfeld, or Maunfeld, and Thomas Newton, who remained in office, by the king's appointment,713until the end of the year, when they were re-elected, the one by the warden and the other by the citizens.714Dalyngrigge was soon afterwards succeeded in the office of warden by Sir Baldwin de Radyngton.715The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.By way of inflicting further punishment upon the citizens, Richard had already removed the King's Bench and Exchequer from London to York;716but the removal proved so much more prejudicial to the nation at large than to the City of London that the courts were soon brought back.717He would even have waged open war on them had he dared.718Instead of proceeding to this extremity, he summoned the aldermen and 400 commoners to Windsor719and fined the City £100,000. This was in July (1392).[pg 243]In August the king notified his intention of passing through the city on his way from Shene to Westminster. The citizens embraced the opportunity of giving him a magnificent reception, which the king acknowledged in the following month by restoring to them their liberties and setting free their late mayor and sheriffs.720The fine of £100,000 recently imposed, as well as other moneys which the king considered to be due to him from the city, were also remitted.721Municipal reforms, 1393.Once more restored to their liberties, the citizens in the following year (1393), with the assent of parliament, effected a reform in the internal government of the city which the increasing population had rendered necessary. The Ward of Farringdon Within and Without had increased so much in wealth and population that it was deemed advisable to divide it into two parts, each part having its own alderman. Accordingly, in the following March (1394), Drew Barantyn was elected Alderman of Farringdon Within, whilst John Fraunceys was elected for Farringdon Without. A more important reform effected at the same time was the appointment of aldermen for life instead of for a year only.722Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.In the following year (1394) the queen—Anne of Bohemia—died. She had always shown a friendly disposition towards the city, and it was mainly owing[pg 244]to her intercession that Richard had restored its liberties.723Her death removed one good influence about Richard, and marks a change of policy or of character.724His second marriage in 1396 did not improve matters. In that year the mayor, Adam Bamme, died in office, and instead of allowing the citizens freely to elect a successor, he thrust upon them Richard Whitington.725He arrested the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and otherwise behaved so outrageously as to raise doubts as to his sanity. He gave out that he was afraid to appear in public for fear of the Londoners; but this was only a ruse for the purpose of raising money.726Like Edward II, he borrowed money from anybody and everybody, and often resorted to unconstitutional measures to fill his purse. He made the nobles and his wealthier subjects sign blank cheques for him to fill up at his pleasure.727These cheques, or "charters" as they were called, were afterwards burnt by order of his successor on the throne.The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.A crisis was fast approaching. The Duke of Hereford, whom the king had banished, and who, on the death of his father "time honoured Lancaster," succeeded to the title early in 1399, was prevailed upon to return to England and strike a blow for the recovery of his inheritance which Richard had seized. Richard, as if infatuated, took this inopportune[pg 245]moment to sail to Ireland. Before setting out he made a last bid for the favour of the citizens by again granting them permission to rule the fish trade according to ancient custom.728It was too late; they had already resolved to throw in their lot with Henry of Lancaster.As soon as Henry had landed at Ravenspur (4th July) a special messenger was despatched to the city with the news. The mayor was in bed, but he hurriedly rose and took steps to proclaim Henry's arrival in England. "Let us apparel ourselves and go and receive the Duke of Lancaster, since we agreed to send for him," was the resolution of those to whom the mayor conveyed the first tidings; and accordingly Drew Barentyn, who had succeeded Whitington in October, 1398, and 500 other citizens, took horse to meet the duke, whom they escorted to the city. The day that Henry entered the city was kept as a holiday, "as though it had been the day for the celebration of Easter."Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.When Richard heard of Henry's landing he hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, fully armed and horsed.729Finding resistance hopeless, the king made submission, craving only that he might be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover[pg 246]of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, were executed at a fishmonger's stall in Cheapside. Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title of King Henry IV.

Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.

Reconciliation between Lancaster and the City, 1377.

Shortly after Edward had breathed his last, a deputation from the City waited upon the Prince of Wales at Kennington. John Philipot again acted as spokesman, and after alluding to the loss which the country had recently sustained, and recommending the City of London—the "king's chamber"—to the prince's favour, begged him to assist in effecting a reconciliation with Lancaster. This Richard promised to do, and a few days later the deputation again waited on the young king—this time at Shene, where preparations were being made for the late king's obsequies—and a reconciliation took place, the king kissing each member of the deputation, and promising to be their friend, and to look after the City's interests as if they were his own.617Formal announcement of the reconciliation was afterwards made at Westminster, and Peter de la Mare, long a prisoner in Nottingham Castle, was set free, to the great joy of the citizens.618

The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.

The coronation of Richard II, 16 July, 1377.

At the express wish of the citizens, Richard—the "Londoners' king," as the nobles were in the habit of cynically styling the new sovereign, for the[pg 213]reason that he had ascended the throne more by the assistance of thebourgeoisLondoner than of the nobility619—took up his quarters at the Tower, whence he proceeded in state to Westminster for his coronation. Great preparations were made in the city to tender his progress through the streets one of exceptional splendour. The claim of the mayor and citizens to assist the chief butler at the banquet was discourteously refused by Robert Belknap, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who bluntly told them that they might be of service in washing up the pots and pans. The citizens had their revenge, however. They set up an effigy of the man at a conspicuous arch or tower in Cheapside, in which he appeared to the whole of the procession as it passed on its way to Westminster, in the ignominious attitude of vomiting wine.620This was enough; the Londoners gained the day, and were allowed to perform their customary services at the banquet, and the mayor got his gold cup.621

A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.

A city loan and parliamentary supplies, 1377.

Richard was only eleven years of age when raised to the throne. A council was therefore appointed to govern in his name. Neither the Duke of Lancaster nor any other of the king's uncles were elected councillors, and, for a time, John of Gaunt retired into comparative privacy. The task of the council was not easy. The French plundered the[pg 214]coast,622and the Scots plundered the borders. Money was sorely needed. The City consented to advance the sum of £5,000 upon the security of the customs of the Port of London and of certain plate and jewels,623and when parliament met (13 Oct., 1377) it made a liberal grant of two tenths and two fifteenths, which was to be collected without delay, on the understanding that two treasurers should be appointed to superintend the due application of the money.624The two treasurers appointed for this purpose were two citizens of note, namely, William Walworth and John Philipot, of whose financial capability mention has already been made.

Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.

Charter granted to the city with the assent of parliament, 4 Dec., 1377.

Before parliament broke up it gave its assent to a new charter to the City.625Foreigners (i.e.non-freemen) were again forbidden to traffic in the city among themselves by retail, and the City's franchises were confirmed and enlarged. So much importance was attached to this charter that Brembre, the mayor, caused its main provisions to be published throughout the city.626

The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.

The subsidy taken out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot, 1378.

Lancaster soon became tired of playing a subordinate part in the government of the kingdom. As[pg 215]a preliminary step to higher aims, he contrived, after some little opposition, to obtain the removal of the subsidy granted by the last parliament, out of the hands of Walworth and Philipot into his own, although these men had given no cause for suspicion of dishonourable conduct in the execution of their public trust.627

Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.

Patriotic conduct of John Philipot.

The energetic John Philipot soon found other work to do. The English coast had recently become infested with a band of pirates, who, having already made a successful descent upon Scarborough, were now seeking fresh adventures. Philipot fitted out a fleet at his own expense, and putting to sea succeeded in capturing the ringleader,628a feat which rendered him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow citizens showed their appreciation of his character by electing him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October (1378).629

Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.

Factions in the City for and against the Duke of Lancaster, 1378.

The citizens were, however, split up into factions, one party, with Philipot and Brembre at his head, maintaining a stubborn opposition to Lancaster, whilst another, under the leadership of Walworth and John de Northampton, favoured the duke. These factions were continually plotting and counter-plotting one against the other. At Gloucester, to which the duke had brought the parliament in 1378, in the hope of[pg 216]escaping from the interference of the "ribald" Londoners,630Brembre was arraigned on a charge of having connived during his recent mayoralty at an attack made on the house of the duke's younger brother, Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, and although he succeeded in proving his innocence, the earl and his party continued to use threats, and Brembre, in order to smooth matters over, consented to be mulcted in 100 marks. When the matter was reported to the Common Council at home (25 Nov.), that body not only signified its approval of his conduct—"knowing for certain that it was for no demerits of his own, but for the preservation of the liberties of the city, and for the extreme love which he bore it, that he had undergone such labours and expenses,"—but recouped him what he had disbursed.631

The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.

The Earl of Buckingham and his partizans withdraw themselves and their custom from the City, 1378.

In course of time the earl and his followers succeeded in persecuting Brembre to a disgraceful death. At present they contented themselves with damaging the trade of the city, so far as they could, by leaving the cityen masseand withdrawing their custom. The result was so disastrous to the citizens, more especially to the hostel keepers and victuallers, that the civic authorities resolved to win the nobles back to the city by wholesale bribery, and, as the city's "chamber" was empty, a subscription list was set on foot to raise a fund for the purpose. Philipot, the mayor, headed the list with £10, a sum just double that of any other subscriber. Six others, among them being Brembre (the[pg 217]earl's particular enemy) and Walworth, subscribed respectively £5; whilst the rest contributed sums varying from £4 down to five marks, the last mentioned sum being subscribed by Richard "Whytyngdon" of famous memory.632

Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.

Another City loan of £5,000, Feb., 1379.

The grants made to the king by the parliament at Gloucester were soon exhausted by the war, and recourse was had, as usual, to the City. In February, 1379, the mayor and aldermen were sent for to Westminster. They were told that the king's necessities demanded an immediate supply of money, and that the Duke of Lancaster and the rest of the nobility had consented to contribute. What would the City do? After a brief consultation apart, the mayor and aldermen suggested that the usual course should be followed and that they should be allowed to consult the general body of the citizens in the Guildhall. Eventually the City consented to advance another sum of £5,000 on the same security as before, but any tax imposed by parliament at its next session was to be taken as a set off.633

The poll-tax of 1379.

The poll-tax of 1379.

At the session of parliament held in April and May (1379), the demand for further supply became so urgent that a poll-tax was imposed on a graduated scale according to a man's dignity, ranging from ten marks or £6 1s.4d.imposed on a duke, to a groat or four pence which the poorest peasant was called upon to pay. The mayor of London, assessed as an earl, was to pay £4; and the aldermen, assessed as barons, £2. The sum thus furnished by the city amounted to less than £700,634and the whole amount levied on[pg 218]the country did not exceed £22,000, a sum far short of what had been anticipated.

Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.

Renewal of the poll-tax, 1380.

In the following year (1380) there was a recurrence to the old method of raising money, but this proving still insufficient a poll-tax was again resorted to. This time, the smallest sum exacted was not less than three groats, and was payable on everyman, woman and unmarried child, above the age of fifteen, throughout the country. The amount thus raised in the city and liberties was just over £1000.635The tax was especially irritating from its inquisitorial character, and led to serious consequences.

The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.

The peasants' revolt under Wat Tyler, 1381.

The country was already suffering under a general discontent, when a certain Wat Tyler in Kent struck down a collector of the poll-tax, who attempted in an indecent manner to discover his daughter's age. This was the signal for a revolt of the peasants from one end of England to the other, not only against payment of this particular tax, but against taxes and landlords generally. The men of Essex joined forces with those of Kent on Blackheath, and thence marched on London. With the aid of sympathisers within the City's gates, the effected an entrance on the night of the 12th of June, and made free with the wine cellars of the wealthier class. The next day, the rebels, more mad than drunk (non tam ebrii quam dementes), stirred up the populace to make a raid upon the Duke of Lancaster's palace of the Savoy. This they sacked and burnt to the ground. They next vented their wrath upon the Temple, and afterwards upon the house of the Knight's Hospitallers at[pg 219]Clerkenwell. In the meantime reinforcements were gathering in Essex under the leadership of one known as "Jack Straw," and were hurrying to London. At Mile End they were met (14 June) by the young king himself, who set out from the Tower for that purpose, accompanied by a retinue of knights and esquires on horseback, as well as by his mother in a drawn vehicle. The rebels demanded the surrender of all traitors to the king. To this Richard gave his assent, and having done so returned to the city to take up his quarters at the Wardrobe, near Castle Baynard, whilst the rebels, availing themselves of the king's word, hurried off to the Tower. There they found Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, and he and others were beheaded on Tower Hill. The rest of the day and the whole of the next were given up to plunder and massacre, so that the narrow streets were choked with corpses. Among those who perished at the hands of the rebels was Richard Lyons, the deposed alderman. At length, on the evening of Saturday, the 15th, when the king had ridden to Smithfield accompanied by Walworth, the mayor, and a large retinue in order to discuss matters with Wat Tyler (the Essex men had for the most part returned home), an altercation happened to arise between Tyler and one of the royal suite. Words were about to lead to blows when the mayor himself interposed, and summarily executed the king's order to arrest Tyler by bringing him to the ground by a fatal blow of his dagger. Deprived of their leader the mob became furious, and demanded Walworth's head; the mayor, however, contrived to slip back into the City, whence he quickly returned with such a force that the[pg 220]rioters were surrounded and compelled to submit. The king intervened to prevent further bloodshed, and knighted on the field not only Walworth, but also Nicholas Brembre, John Philipot and Robert Launde.636The same day a royal commission was issued to enquire into the late riot and to bring the offenders to account.637

Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.

Orders given for safeguarding the city, 20 June.

Orders were given on the 20th June to each alderman to provide men-at-arms and archers to guard in turns the city's gates, and to see that no armed person entered the city, except those who declared on oath that they were about to join the king's expedition against the rebels. In the meantime, the aldermen were to make returns of all who kept hostels in their several wards.638In a list, containing nearly 200 names of divers persons of bad character, who had left the city by reason of the insurrection,639there appear the names of two servants of Henry "Grenecobbe." The name is far from common, and we shall not perhaps be far wrong in conjecturing that the owner of it was a relation of William "Gryndecobbe," who led the insurgents against the abbey of St. Albans and compelled the abbot to surrender its charter.640

Confession made by "Jack Straw."

Confession made by "Jack Straw."

"Jack Straw," on being brought before the mayor, was induced by promises of masses for the good of his soul, to confess the nature of the intentions of the rioters, which were to use the king's person as a[pg 221]stalking horse for drawing people to their side, and eventually to kill him and all in authority throughout the kingdom. The mendicant friars, who were believed to be at the bottom of the insurrection,641were alone to be spared. Wat Tyler was to be made king of Kent, whilst others were to be placed in similar positions over the rest of the counties. The mayor sentenced him to be beheaded. This done, his head was set up on London Bridge, where Wat Tyler's already figured.642

Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.

Revulsion of feeling against the Lollards after the suppression of the peasants' revolt, 1382.

The discontent which had given rise to the peasants' revolt, had been fanned by the attacks made by Wycliffe's "simple priests" upon the rich and idle clergy. The revolt occasioned a bitter feeling among the landlord class against Wycliffe and his followers, and after its suppression the Lollards were made the object of much animadversion. Their preaching was forbidden,643and Wycliffe was obliged to retire to his country parsonage, where he continued to labour with his pen for the cause he had so much at heart, until his death in 1384.

Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.

Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382.

The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. Under Northampton—a man whom even his enemies allowed to be of stern purpose, not truckling to those[pg 222]above him, nor bending to his inferiors,644—many reforms were carried out, ecclesiastical as well as civil.

The ecclesiastical courts having grossly failed in their duty, the citizens themselves, fearful of God's vengeance if matters were allowed to continue as they were, undertook the work of reform within the city's walls. The fees of the city parsons were cut down. The fee for baptism was not to exceed forty pence, whilst that for marriage was not as a general rule to be more than half a mark. One farthing was all that could be demanded for a mass for the dead, and the priest was bound to give change for a half-penny when requested or forego his fee.645Steps were taken at the same time to improve the morality of the city by ridding the streets of lewd women and licentious men. On the occasion of a first offence, culprits of either sex were subjected to the ignominy of having their hair cropt for future identification, and then conducted with rough music through the public thoroughfares, the men to the pillory and the women to the "thewe." After a third conviction, they were made to abjure the City altogether.646It was during Northampton's first year of the mayoralty that the citizens succeeded in breaking down the monopoly of the free fish-mongers. A number of "dossers" or baskets for carrying fish were also seized because they were deficient in holding capacity, and on that account were calculated to defraud the purchaser.647But,[pg 223]although a mayor in those days exercised, no doubt, greater power in the municipal government than now, we must be careful to avoid the common mistake of attributing to the individuality of the mayor for the time being what was really the action of the citizens as a body corporate.

Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.

Northampton re-elected mayor at the king's request, Oct., 1382.

In October, 1382, Northampton was elected mayor for the second time, and Philipot, his rival, either resigned or was deprived of his aldermancy.648His re-election was at the king's express wish. On the 6th he wrote to the sheriffs, aldermen and commons of the city intimating that, whilst anxious to leave the citizens free choice in the matter of election of their mayor, he would be personally gratified if their choice fell upon the outgoing mayor. At first Northampton declined re-election, but he afterwards consented to serve another year on receiving a written request from the king.649His hesitation was probably due to the factious state of the city. Brembre and Philipot were not his only enemies. Another alderman, Nicholas Exton, of Queenhithe Ward, had recently been removed from his aldermancy for opprobrious words used to Northampton during his first mayoralty. A petition had been laid before the Court of Common Council in August, 1382, when Exton himself being present, and seeing the turn affairs were taking, endeavoured to anticipate the judgment of the[pg 224]court, by himself asking to be exonerated from his office, declaring at the same time that he had offered a large sum of money to be released at his election in the first instance. The court wishing for further time to consider the matter adjourned. At its next meeting a similar petition was again presented, but the court hesitated to pronounce judgment in the absence of Exton, who was summoned to appear at the next Common Council. When the court met again, it was found that Exton had ignored the summons. Judgment was, therefore, pronounced in his absence and he was deprived of his aldermancy.650

Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.

Brembre succeeds Northampton in the mayoralty, Oct., 1383.

At the close of Northampton's second mayoralty (Oct., 1383), his place was taken by his rival, Nicholas Brembre,651and a general reversal of the order of things took place. The free-fishmongers recovered their ancient privileges,652and the judgment passed upon Exton as well as a similar judgment passed upon another alderman, Adam Carlile, were reversed.653

Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.

Richard's second charter to the City, 26 Nov., 1383.

Soon after Brembre's election the king confirmed the City's liberties by charter,654which had the assent of parliament. Two years previously the citizens had[pg 225]besought the newly-married queen to use her interest with Richard to that end.655Her good offices, as well as the fact that the City had recently advanced to the king the sum of 4,000 marks, on the security of the royal crown and other things,656may have been instrumental in obtaining for the citizens this fresh confirmation of their rights.

Proceedings against Northampton.

Proceedings against Northampton.

In January (1384) Northampton was bound over to keep the peace in the sum of £5,000;657but in the following month he was put under arrest (together with his brother, known as Robert "Cumberton," and another), for raising a disturbance in the City, and sent to Corfe Castle.658For Northampton's arrest, as well as for the summary execution of a certain John Constantyn, a cordwainer, who had been convicted of taking a leading part in the disturbance, Brembre received a letter of indemnity from the king.659The riot had one good effect. It roused public opinion against monopolies and restriction of trade to such an extent, that Richard very soon afterwards caused the city to be opened freely to all foreigners(i.e., non-freemen) wishing to sell fish or other victuals.660

Trial of Northampton at Reading.

Trial of Northampton at Reading.

In August (1384) the opinion of each individual member of the Common Council was taken on oath, as to whether it would be to the advantage or disadvantage of the city if Northampton were allowed to return; and it was unanimously found that his return[pg 226]would breed dissension rather than peace and unity.661Armed with thisplébiscitethe mayor and a number of citizens, whom the king had summoned by name, attended a council at Reading for the purpose of determining the fate of Northampton. The accused contented himself with objecting to sentence being passed against him in the absence of his patron the Duke of Lancaster. This, however, availed him nothing, and he was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in Tintagel Castle.662Another authority663states that the mayor brought with him to the council a man named Thomas Husk or Usk (whose name, by the way, does not appear in the list which the king forwarded to the mayor), who made a number of charges against Northampton. The prisoner so far forgot himself in the royal presence as to call Usk a liar, and to challenge him to a duel. Matters were not improved by Northampton's appeal for delay in passing sentence upon him in the absence of the Duke of Lancaster. Richard flushed crimson with anger at the proposal, declaring that he was ready to sit in judgment upon the duke no less than on Northampton, and forthwith ordered the latter's execution, and the confiscation of his goods. The sentence would have been earned out but for the timely intercession of the queen, who flung herself at her husband's feet and begged for the prisoner's life. The queen's prayer was granted, and Northampton was condemned to perpetual imprisonment and remitted to Corfe Castle. Thence, at the beginning of September, he was removed[pg 227]to the Tower of London, where two of his partisans, John More, one of the sheriffs, and Richard Northbury, recently arrested, were lodged.

Is committed to Tintagel Castle.

Is committed to Tintagel Castle.

The Chief Justice, Tressilian, hesitated to take any steps against the prisoners, one of whom had already been tried and sentenced, asserting that the matter lay within the jurisdiction of the mayor. His scruples, however, on this score were easily set aside, and on the 10th September, each of the prisoners was sentenced to be drawn and hanged. No sooner was sentence passed than the chancellor, Michael de la Pole, entered on the scene, and proclaimed that the king's grace had been extended to the prisoners, that there lives would be spared, but that they would be imprisoned until further favour should be shown them. They were accordingly sent off to various fortresses; Northampton to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, Northbury to Corfe Castle, and More to Nottingham; and all this arose, says the Chronicler, from the rivalry of fishmongers.664

Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.

Brembre's re-election to the mayoralty, Oct., 1384.

When Brembre sought re-election to the mayoralty in October, 1384, he found a formidable competitor in Nicholas Twyford, with whom he had not always been on the best of terms. It was in 1378, when Twyford was sheriff and Brembre was occupying the mayoralty chair for the first time, that they fell out, the occasion being one of those trade disputes so frequent in the City's annals. A number of goldsmiths and pepperers had come to loggerheads in St. Paul's Churchyard during sermon time, and the[pg 228]mayor had committed one of the ringleaders to the compter. The culprit, however, happened to be, like Twyford, a goldsmith, and was one of his suite. Twyford resented his man being sent to prison, and for his pains got arrested himself.665It was felt that the election would be hotly contested and might lead to disturbance. Besides the customary precept issued by the mayor forbidding any to appear who were not specially summoned,666the king took the precaution of sending John de Nevill, of Roby, to the Guildhall to see that the election was properly conducted. In spite of all precautions, however, a disturbance took place, and some of the rioters were afterwards bound over to keep the peace.667It is said that Brembre himself secreted a body of men in the neighbourhood of the Guildhall, and that when he found the election going against him, he signalled for them, and Twyford's supporters were compelled to flee for safety, and that thus the election was won.668Nothing of this appears in the City's Records, where Brembre's re-election is entered in the manner of the day.669

Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.

Renewed efforts to obtain Northampton's release, March, 1386.

In 1385 Brembre was again elected mayor, and continued in office until October, 1386, when he was succeeded by his friend and ally, Nicholas Exton. This was the fourth and last time Brembre was mayor. In the meantime, the Duke of Lancaster and his party had renewed their efforts to effect the release of Northampton and of his fellow prisoners,[pg 229]More and Northbury, on the understanding that they were not to come near the City, and Brembre again took the opinion of the aldermen and commons severally as to the probable effect of the release of the prisoners. This occurred in March, 1386, when it was unanimously resolved that danger would result to the city if Northampton was allowed to come within 100 miles of it.670The resolution caused much annoyance to the duke, who characterised it as unreasonable and outrageous, and led to some heated correspondence.671It had, however, the desired effect of at least postponing the release of the prisoners.672

A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of mayor, Exton, March, 1387.

A book of ordinances, known as "Jubilee," burnt by order of mayor, Exton, March, 1387.

A few months after Exton had taken Brembre's place as mayor (Oct., 1386), the new mayor raised a commotion by ordering a book called "Jubilee," which Northampton is supposed to have compiled—or caused to be compiled for the better government of the City, to be publicly burnt in Guildhall yard.673The cordwainers of London, staunch supporters of Northampton (the leader of the riot which led to Northampton's arrest in 1384 was a cordwainer), complained to parliament of Exton. The book, said they, " comprised all the good articles pertaining to the good government of the City," which Exton and all the aldermen had sworn to maintain for ever, and now he and his accomplices had burnt it without consent of the commons, to the annihilation of many good liberties, franchises, and[pg 230]customs of the City.674The book had already been subjected to revision in June, 1384, when Brembre was mayor;675it was now utterly destroyed.

Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.

Further efforts to secure Northampton's release, 1387.

In 1387 efforts were again made to secure Northampton's release, and this time with success. On the 17th April Exton reported to the Common Council that Lord Zouche was actually engaged in canvassing the king for the release of Northampton and his allies. The Council thereupon unanimously resolved to send a letter to Lord Zouche, on behalf of the entire commonalty of the City, praying him to desist from his suit, and assuring him of their loyalty to the king even unto death.676It also resolved to send a deputation on horseback to the king, who was at "Esthamstede," to ask his favour for the City, and to beg of him not to annul the charters which he had already given to the citizens, more especially as touching the release of the prisoners in question.

Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.

Northampton set free, 27 April, 1387.

On the 4th May the Recorder, William Cheyne, reported to the Common Council assembled in the upper chamber of the Guildhall the result of the interview with the king. The deputation had been received most graciously, and the mayor had been particularly successful in his speech, setting forth the dangers that would inevitably ensue, both to the king and to the city, if pardon were granted to Northampton and his friends. The king had replied that he would take good precautions for himself before he[pg 231]granted them their liberty;677and with this answer the citizens had to be content. The answer was an evasive one, if it be true, as one authority states, that on the 27th April—the day on which the mayor had informed the citizens of the intervention of Lord Zouche—Northampton had received his pardon and been restored to his property.678His friends remained still unsatisfied, and plagued the king for more favourable terms to such a degree that Richard ordered (7 Oct.) proclamation to be made in the city against any further entreaties being made to him on the subject.679

Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.

Letter from the mayor to the king, 5 Oct.

Two days before the order for this proclamation, the king was informed by letter of the nature of a fresh oath of allegiance680that had been taken by the mayor, aldermen, and commonalty of the city. He was furthermore exhorted to give credence to what Nicholas Brembre might inform him as to the state and government of the city, since there was no one better informed than Brembre on the subject.

The king's reply, 7 Oct.

The king's reply, 7 Oct.

To this the king sent a gracious reply.681He had learnt with much pleasure from Nicholas Brembre of the allegiance of the citizens, which he trusted would[pg 232]continue, as he would soon have good reason for paying a visit to the city in person. He had heard that the new sheriffs were good and trusty men, and he expressed a hope that at the approaching election of a mayor they would choose one of whom he could approve, otherwise he would decline to receive the mayor-elect at his presentation. He not only forbade any further entreaties to be made to him touching Northampton, More and Northbury, but commissioned enquiry to be made as to their property in the city. He was especially gratified to learn that, in accordance with his request, they had appointed Thomas Usk (the chief witness against Northampton) to the office of under-sheriff, and promised that such appointment should not be drawn into precedent. The citizens were not slow to take the hint about the election of a new mayor, and Exton was continued in office.682

The Parliament of 1386.

The Parliament of 1386.

Great discontent had arisen meanwhile in the country at the lavish expenditure of the king, without any apparent result in victories abroad, such as had been gained in the glorious days of his predecessor. A cry for reform and retrenchment was raised, and found a champion in the person of the Duke of Gloucester, the youngest of the king's uncles. At his instigation, the parliament which assembled on the 1st October, 1386, demanded the dismissal of the king's ministers, and read him a lesson on constitutional government which ended in a threat of deposition unless the king should mend his ways. Richard was at the time only twenty-one years of age. In the impetuosity of his youth he is recorded as having contemplated a dastardly attempt upon the life of his uncle,[pg 233]whom he had grown to hate as the cause of all his difficulties. A plan was laid, which is said to have received Brembre's approbation, for beguiling the duke into the city by an invitation to supper, and then and there making away with him, but the duke was forewarned. The chronicler who records Brembre's complicity in this nefarious design against Gloucester's life also relates that Exton, who was mayor, refused to have anything to do with it.683

Appointment of a Commission of Regency.

Appointment of a Commission of Regency.

The Commission declared illegal.

The Commission declared illegal.

Richard applies to the City for assistance.

Richard applies to the City for assistance.

Before the end of the session, parliament had appointed a commission, with Gloucester at its head, to regulate the government of the country and the king's household. This very naturally excited the wrath of the hot-headed king, who immediately set to work to form a party in opposition to the duke. In August of the next year (1387) he obtained a declaration from five of the justices to the effect that the commission was illegal. On the 28th October he sent the Archbishop of York and the Earl of Suffolk into the city to learn whether he could depend upon the support of the citizens. The answer could not have been regarded as unfavourable, for, on the 10th November, the king paid a personal visit to the city and was received with great ceremony.684On the following day (11 Nov.) orders were given to the aldermen of the City to assemble the men of their several wards, to see that they were suitably armed according to their rank and estate, and to make a return of the same in due course.685

The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.

The king's advisers charged with treason, 14 Nov.

On the 14th Gloucester formally charged the king's five counsellors—the Archbishop of York, the[pg 234]Duke of Ireland, the Earl of Suffolk, Chief Justice Tressilian and Nicholas Brembre, "the false London knight," with treason.686The king retaliated by causing proclamation to be made to the effect that he had taken these same individuals under his own protection, and that no one should harm them save at his own peril. This protection was extended also to the king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, the impeaching parties.

The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.

The mayor and aldermen summoned to Windsor, 28 Nov.

On the 28th the mayor and aldermen were summoned to proceed to Windsor forthwith, to consult upon certain matters very weighty (certeines treschargeauntes matirs).687The City's archives contain no record of what took place at the interview, but it appears that the object of the conference was to ascertain how many men-at-arms the city would be likely to furnish the king at a crisis. The answer given by the mayor was not encouraging; the citizens were merchants and craftsmen, and not soldiers, save for the defence of the city itself; and the mayor straightway asked the king's permission to resign his office.688

Richard obliged to submit.

Richard obliged to submit.

Flight of the accused.

Flight of the accused.

Finding that he could not rely on any assistance from the Londoners—whom Walsingham describes as fickle as a reed, siding at one time with the lords and at another time with the king689—Richard was driven to temporise. He had already promised that in the next parliament his unfortunate advisers should be called to account, but long before parliament met[pg 235](3 Feb., 1388), four out of the five culprits had made good their escape—at least for a time. Brembre alone was taken.690He had anticipated the blow by making over all his property at home and abroad to certain parties by deed, dated the 15th October, 1387, no doubt, upon a secret trust.691

The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.

The lords appellant admitted into the city, Dec., 1387.

Notwithstanding the evident coolness of the citizens towards him, Richard determined to leave Windsor and spend Christmas at the Tower. He would be safer there, and less subject to the dominating influence of the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel, Nottingham, Warwick and Derby, who objected to his shaking off the fetters of the commission. As soon as his intention was known, these five lords—who, from having been associated in appealing against Richard's counsellors, were styled "appellant"—hastened to London, and drawing up their forces outside the city's walls, demanded admittance. After some little hesitation, the mayor determined to admit them, defending his action to the king by declaring that they were his true liege men and friends of the realm.692

The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.

The lords at the Guildhall, 18 Jan., 1388.

On the 18th January, 1388, the lords appeared at the Guildhall, accompanied by the Archbishop, the Bishops of Ely, Hereford, Exeter, and others. The Archbishop absolved the citizens of their oaths of allegiance, whilst the Bishop of Ely, the lord treasurer, deprecated any remarks made to the disparagement of the lords. The lords and the bishops had been indicted on an iniquitous charge, and there were some[pg 236]among the citizens who had been similarly indicted, but whether justly or unjustly he (the bishop) could not say. That would be decided by parliament. In the meantime they were ready to assist in settling the trade disputes in the city, for it was absurd for one body of the citizens to attempt to exterminate another. The citizens, however, showed no desire to accept the proffered mediation.693

Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.

Trial of Brembre before parliament, Feb., 1388.

When parliament met (3 Feb.), a formidable indictment of thirty-nine charges was laid against the king's late advisers, of whom Brembre alone appeared. On the 17th February, he was brought up by the constable of the Tower, and was called on to answer off-hand the several charges of treason alleged against him. He prayed for time to take counsel's advice. This being refused, he claimed to support his cause by wager of battle, and immediately the whole company of lords, knights, esquires, and commons, flung down their gages so thick, we are told, that they "seemed like snow on a winter's day."694But the lords declared that wager by battle did not lie in such a case. When the trial was resumed on the following day, so much opposition arose between the king, who spoke strongly in Brembre's favour, and the lords, that it was decided to leave the question of the prisoner's guilt or innocence to a commission of lords, who, to the surprise and annoyance of the majority of the nobles, brought in a verdict of not guilty. Brembre was not to be allowed thus to escape. The lords sent for two representatives of the various crafts of the city to depose as to Brembre's guilt; but even[pg 237]so, the lords failed to get any definite verdict. At last they sent for the mayor, recorder, and some of the aldermen (seniores) to learn what they had to say about the accused.

Conviction and sentence of death.

Conviction and sentence of death.

One would have thought that with Nicholas Exton, his old friend and ally, to speak up for him, Brembre's life would now at least be saved, even if he were not altogether acquitted. It was not so, however. The mayor and aldermen were asked as to theiropinion(not as to their knowledge), whether Brembre was cognisant of certain matters, and they gave it as theiropinionthat Brembre was more likely to have been cognisant of them than not. Turning then to the Recorder, the lords asked him how stood the law in such a case? To which he replied, that a man who knew such things as were laid to Brembre's charge, and knowing them failed to reveal them, deserved death. On such evidence as this, Brembre was convicted on the 20th February, and condemned to be executed.695He was drawn on a hurdle through the city to Tyburn, showing himself very penitent and earnestly desiring all persons to pray for him. At the last moment he confessed that his conduct towards Northampton had been vile and wicked. Whilst craving pardon of Northampton's son "he was suddenly turned off, and the executioner cutting his throat, he died."696

Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.

Character of Brembre as depicted by Walsingham.

If we are to believe all that Walsingham records of Brembre, the character and conduct of the city alderman and ex-mayor was bad indeed. Besides conniving at the plot laid against Gloucester's life, which[pg 238]involved the grossest breach of hospitality, he is recorded as having lain in wait with an armed force at the Mews near Charing Cross, to intercept and massacre the lords on their way to Westminster, to effect an arrangement with the king, as well as having entertained the idea of cutting the throats of a number of his fellow-citizens, and placing himself at the head of the government of the city, the name of which he proposed changing to that of "Little Troy."697

Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.

Deaths of Tressilian and Uske.

Of Brembre's associates, Tressilian was captured during the trial, torn from the Sanctuary at Westminster, and hanged on the 19th. Another to share the same fate was Thomas Uske, who had been one of the chief witnesses against Northampton. He was sentenced to death by parliament on the 4th March, and died asseverating to the last that he had done Northampton no injury, but that every word he had deposed against him the year before was absolutely true.698

The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.

The proceedings of the "merciless" parliament confirmed by oath.

The lords appellant, who were now complete masters of the situation, insisted upon the proceedings of this "merciless" parliament, as its opponents called it, being ratified by oath administered to prelates, knights, and nobles of the realm, as well as to the mayor, aldermen, and chief burgesses of every town. On the 4th June—the day parliament rose—a writ was issued in Richard's name, enjoining the administration of this oath to those aldermen and citizens of London who had not been present in parliament when the oath was administered there.699

Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.

Party spirit in the city, 1388-1389.

In the meantime the continued jealousy existing among the city guilds—the Mercers, Goldsmiths, Drapers, and others, objecting to Fishmongers and Vintners taking any part in the government of the city on the ground that they were victuallers, and as such forbidden by an ordinance passed when Northampton was mayor to hold any municipal office700—had led parliament (14 May) to proclaim free trade throughout the kingdom.701A party in the city tried to get parliament to remove Exton from the mayoralty on the ground of his having connived at the curtailment of the City's liberties and franchises. The attempt, however, failed, and he remained in office until succeeded by Nicholas Twyford (Oct., 1388).702Although Twyford belonged to the party of Northampton as distinguished from that of Brembre and Exton, his election raised little or no opposition, such as had been anticipated. When he went out of office in October, 1389, however, party strife in the city again showed itself. The majority of the citizens voted William Venour, a grocer, into the mayoralty, but the choice was strongly opposed by the Goldsmiths, the Mercers, and the Drapers, who ran another candidate, one of their own body, Adam Bamme, a goldsmith.703

The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.

The return of Northampton to the city, 1390.

Some months before the close of Twyford's mayoralty, Richard had succeeded in gaining his independence (May, 1389), which he was induced by Lancaster, on his return after a prolonged absence abroad, to exercise at length in favour of Northampton, by permitting him once more to return to London,[pg 240]although only as a stranger.704This was in July. In December, letters patent granting him a free pardon were issued, containing no such restriction.705His re-appearance in the streets of the city revived the old party spirit, and Adam Bamme, who had succeeded Venour in the mayoralty, found it expedient to forbid all discussion of the rights and the wrongs of the several parties of Northampton and Brembre on pain of imprisonment.706Four more years elapsed before Northampton was re-instated in the freedom of the city.707

Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.

Proclamation enforcing knighthood, Feb., 1392.

For some years Richard governed not unwisely. In 1392, however, he quarrelled with the city. Early in that year he called upon every inhabitant, whose property for the last three years was worth £40 in land or rent, to take upon himself the honour of knighthood. The sheriffs, Henry Vanner and John Shadworth, made a return that all tenements and rents in the city were held of the kingin capiteas fee burgage at a fee farm (ad feodi firmam); that by reason of the value of tenements varying from time to time, and many of them requiring repair from damage by fire and tempest, their true annual value could not be ascertained, and that, therefore, it was impossible to make a return of those who possessed £40 of land or rent as desired.708

The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.

The mayor summoned to Nottingham, June, 1392.

This answer was anything but agreeable to the king. But he had other cause just now for being[pg 241]offended with the city. Being in want of money, he had offered a valuable jewel to the citizens as security for a loan, and the citizens had excused themselves on the plea that they were not so well off as they used to be, since foreigners had been allowed to enjoy the same privileges in the city as themselves. Having failed in this quarter, the king had resorted to a Lombard, who soon was able to accommodate him; but when the king learnt on enquiry that the money so obtained had been advanced to the Lombard merchant by the very citizens who had refused to lend it to the king himself, his anger knew no bounds,709and he summoned John Hende, the mayor, the sheriffs, the aldermen, and twenty-four of the chief citizens710of the City to attend him in June, at Nottingham. They accordingly set out on their journey on the 19th June, and arrived in Nottingham on the 23rd; the government of the city being left in the meanwhile in the hands of William Staundon. On the 25th they appeared before the lords of the council, when the chancellor rated them roundly for paying so little attention to the king's writ—the writ touching knighthood—and complained of the defective manner in which the city was governed.711

The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.

The mayor and sheriffs committed to prison, June, 1392.

He thereupon dismissed the mayor from office, committing him to Windsor Castle. The sheriffs were likewise dismissed, one being sent to Odyham Castle,[pg 242]and the other to the Castle of Wallingford. The rest of the citizens were ordered to return home.712

Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.

Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appointed warden of the city, July, 1392.

At nine o'clock in the morning of the 1st July, Sir Edward Dalyngrigge appeared in the Guildhall, and there, before an immense assembly of the commons, read the king's commissions appointing him warden of the city and the king's escheator. The deposed sheriffs were succeeded by Gilbert Maghfeld, or Maunfeld, and Thomas Newton, who remained in office, by the king's appointment,713until the end of the year, when they were re-elected, the one by the warden and the other by the citizens.714Dalyngrigge was soon afterwards succeeded in the office of warden by Sir Baldwin de Radyngton.715

The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.

The City fined £100,000, July, 1392.

By way of inflicting further punishment upon the citizens, Richard had already removed the King's Bench and Exchequer from London to York;716but the removal proved so much more prejudicial to the nation at large than to the City of London that the courts were soon brought back.717He would even have waged open war on them had he dared.718Instead of proceeding to this extremity, he summoned the aldermen and 400 commoners to Windsor719and fined the City £100,000. This was in July (1392).[pg 243]In August the king notified his intention of passing through the city on his way from Shene to Westminster. The citizens embraced the opportunity of giving him a magnificent reception, which the king acknowledged in the following month by restoring to them their liberties and setting free their late mayor and sheriffs.720The fine of £100,000 recently imposed, as well as other moneys which the king considered to be due to him from the city, were also remitted.721

Municipal reforms, 1393.

Municipal reforms, 1393.

Once more restored to their liberties, the citizens in the following year (1393), with the assent of parliament, effected a reform in the internal government of the city which the increasing population had rendered necessary. The Ward of Farringdon Within and Without had increased so much in wealth and population that it was deemed advisable to divide it into two parts, each part having its own alderman. Accordingly, in the following March (1394), Drew Barantyn was elected Alderman of Farringdon Within, whilst John Fraunceys was elected for Farringdon Without. A more important reform effected at the same time was the appointment of aldermen for life instead of for a year only.722

Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.

Change of conduct on the part of Richard, 1394-1398.

In the following year (1394) the queen—Anne of Bohemia—died. She had always shown a friendly disposition towards the city, and it was mainly owing[pg 244]to her intercession that Richard had restored its liberties.723Her death removed one good influence about Richard, and marks a change of policy or of character.724His second marriage in 1396 did not improve matters. In that year the mayor, Adam Bamme, died in office, and instead of allowing the citizens freely to elect a successor, he thrust upon them Richard Whitington.725He arrested the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Warwick and Arundel, and otherwise behaved so outrageously as to raise doubts as to his sanity. He gave out that he was afraid to appear in public for fear of the Londoners; but this was only a ruse for the purpose of raising money.726Like Edward II, he borrowed money from anybody and everybody, and often resorted to unconstitutional measures to fill his purse. He made the nobles and his wealthier subjects sign blank cheques for him to fill up at his pleasure.727These cheques, or "charters" as they were called, were afterwards burnt by order of his successor on the throne.

The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.

The landing of Henry of Lancaster, July, 1399.

A crisis was fast approaching. The Duke of Hereford, whom the king had banished, and who, on the death of his father "time honoured Lancaster," succeeded to the title early in 1399, was prevailed upon to return to England and strike a blow for the recovery of his inheritance which Richard had seized. Richard, as if infatuated, took this inopportune[pg 245]moment to sail to Ireland. Before setting out he made a last bid for the favour of the citizens by again granting them permission to rule the fish trade according to ancient custom.728It was too late; they had already resolved to throw in their lot with Henry of Lancaster.

As soon as Henry had landed at Ravenspur (4th July) a special messenger was despatched to the city with the news. The mayor was in bed, but he hurriedly rose and took steps to proclaim Henry's arrival in England. "Let us apparel ourselves and go and receive the Duke of Lancaster, since we agreed to send for him," was the resolution of those to whom the mayor conveyed the first tidings; and accordingly Drew Barentyn, who had succeeded Whitington in October, 1398, and 500 other citizens, took horse to meet the duke, whom they escorted to the city. The day that Henry entered the city was kept as a holiday, "as though it had been the day for the celebration of Easter."

Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.

Richard's surrender and deposition from the crown.

When Richard heard of Henry's landing he hurried back from Ireland. He was met by the duke with a large force, which comprised 1,200 Londoners, fully armed and horsed.729Finding resistance hopeless, the king made submission, craving only that he might be protected from the Londoners, who, he was convinced, bore him no good will. He was, in consequence, secretly conveyed to the Tower under cover[pg 246]of night. Articles were drawn up accusing him of misgovernment, and publicly read in the Guildhall. Four of his advisers and supporters, whose names he gave up, hoping to gain favour for himself thereby, were executed at a fishmonger's stall in Cheapside. Sentence of deposition was passed against him, and Lancaster proclaimed king in his stead under the title of King Henry IV.

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