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THE 
 
 REIGN OF RICHARD II. 
 
 AND 
 
 COMMENTS 
 
 UPON 
 
 AN ALLITERATIVE POEM ON THE DEPOSITION OF THAT MONARCH 
 
 BY 
 
 C. ZIEPEL, 
 
 BERLIN 1874. 
 
 PRINTED BY J. DRiEGER (C. FEICHT). 
 
ERRATA: 
 
 p. 
 
 5, 1. 30 instead 
 
 of counsellers read 
 
 counsellors. 
 
 p. 
 
 6, last line 
 
 r> 
 
 to I „ 
 
 r. I, p. 422. 
 
 p. 
 
 18, 1. 43 
 
 V) 
 
 was „ 
 
 is. 
 
 p. 
 
 19, 1. 27 
 
 r, 
 
 whit „ 
 
 with. 
 
 p. 
 
 21, 1. 11 
 
 n 
 
 allundes „ 
 
 alludes. 
 
 p. 
 
 32, 1. 20 
 
 n 
 
 Koly „ 
 
 Holy. 
 
/J 
 
 r- 
 
 & 
 
 c- 
 
 The alliterative poem on the Deposition of Richard II, by an unknown author of 
 the XIV Century, is one of those treasures of Ancient English Literature which have been 
 raised out of the dust of libraries and brought to light by the indefatigable zeal of Th. 
 Wright, Esqu. The unique M. S. of this curious poem is a copy believed to be of the 
 
 beginning of the XV Century, and preserved in the public Library of the University of 
 
 Cambridge. There it had been reposing — almost forgotten — till Th. Wright, in 
 1838, had it printed for the Camden Society, adding a few, but interesting, notes and 
 »a slight glossary for the general reader®. It has been reprinted since, being received, 
 together with an excellent analysis, in Wright’s Collection of Political Songs (Vol I, p. 368, 
 London 1859), but no further comment has, as far as I know, been attempted. 
 
 The poem is worthy of our notice in more than one respect; for whilst it paints 
 the reign of Richard II, and sets forth the causes which ultimately led to- the king’s 
 
 deposition, it bears, as Wright remarks, internal evidence of having been written after 
 
 the time when the king fell into the hands of his enemies, and before the intention of 
 deposing him was publicly made known. Thus the poem introduces itself as the production 
 of a man who lived in the midst of the events he describes, and who, — from the dates 
 of those events 1 ) — must have been a contemporary of Laugland 2 ), Chaucer 3 ), and 
 Wickliffe 4 ). 
 
 Now, each of these facts would be sufficient to render the poem a valuable literary 
 document : the friend of linguistic studies will be glad to meet with a specimen — and 
 a very remarkable one — of the Early English Language, contemporaneous with the 
 »Father of English Literature®, and the Student of History will be charmed with it as 
 an historical monument; for the author is not a poet in the general acceptation of the 
 word: he describes facts, but does not imagine them, and though, in the stirring events 
 of his time, he may have been a strenuous supporter of Henry of Lancaster, he certainly 
 never allows his zeal to carry him beyond the limits of truth, but appears throughout a 
 soberminded, earnest, and truth loving man, worthy of belief in every respect. 
 
 Besides these recommendations, however, the poem possesses merits of its own, 
 and no friend of Literature will lay it aside without being captivated by the peculiarity 
 
 1) 1399. 
 
 2 ) W. Langland can not have completed his Piers Flowman before 1378, probably between 1380 — 1390. 
 
 3 ) Death of Chaucer 1400. 
 
 4) Death of Wickliffe 1384. 
 
 1 
 
2 
 
 of the author’s style, his energy of diction, his amusing and graphic descriptions, his quaint 
 humour, and his earnestness of purpose, and without feeling a sincere regret that the 
 copyist left his M. S. uncompleted, breaking off abruptly in the very midst of a sentence 
 of a very interesting passage. 
 
 The pleasure to be derived from the perusal of this little poem, is, however, 
 somewhat impaired by the difficulty of its interpretation, for, even with the help of Mr. 
 Wright’s notes and glossary, it is not always easy to ascertain the exact meaning of the 
 author, to explain all that is now obsolete in his language, to follow him through the 
 oddities of his construction, and to see, at once, the bearing of his allusions. 
 
 As to Wright’s glossary, it lays no claim to absolute perfection and completeness, 
 since it leaves out many difficult words, and contains others without even an attempt at 
 interpretation. Further philological and ethymological researches are, therefore, in- 
 dispensible, to develop the right meaning of those numerous words and phrases which, 
 here as in other alliterative poems, seem to have been chosen for their sound rather than 
 for their obvious meaning, and some of which are but rarely, if ever, met with in other 
 authors, for inst: blernyed, bosse, broud, eyere, seimtes, neft, hasselis, mouside. 
 
 In the interpretation of this poem a great and valuable assistance will be derived 
 from an accurate knowledge of the historical facts which form its foundation. »The 
 Deposition does not, pretend to be a consecutive narrative, it is not a picture which, 
 like Shakespeare’s Richard II, for inst., tells its own story clearly and fully; it is rather 
 the expectoration of a man who, stirred up by mighty events that pass before his eyes, 
 speaks, not to relate to his audience what he sees, but to reflect upon those events and 
 on the actors in the scene before him. He does not describe them, he hardly talks of 
 anyone by name — he will »nempne no name« — but he points at them with his finger, 
 and, to understand him, we must be at his side, must see what he sees, and must, if 
 possible, be moved by the same feelings that rouse his indignation or excite his wonder, 
 and, certainly, be acquainted with the sentiments which call forth his remarks. 
 
 Though separated from him by the lapse of almost five centuries, we are by no* 
 means left without guides to lead us back to the poet’s Time, the age of Richard II. 
 »Le bon Froissart« 5 ), who saw Richard baptized at Bordeaux, and went, afterwards, over 
 to England 6 ) to pay homage to the King by presenting him with a volume of his poems, 
 richly bound; John Hardinge 7 ) the rhyming Chronicler, who in his adventurous life got 
 acquainted with many of the leading men of those times; John Gower 8 ), who, at Richard’s 
 instigation, had written his Confessio amantis before, in his Chronica tripartita, he lamented 
 over Glocester’s Death, and finally joined Henry of Lancaster’s party; — then, those 
 Chroniclers of a later period: John Stowe 9 ), that indefatigable collector of facts, the father 
 of English History, who, to the disgrace of his time, would have starved, if King James II 
 had not graciously licensed him to beg his bread at the Churchdoor; Holinshed 10 ), 
 
 5 ) 1337 — 1410. Chroniques de Sire Jean Froissart. Paris 1835. 
 
 6 ) 1394 . 
 
 7 ) Born 1378. 
 
 8) Died 1408. 
 
 9 ) Stowe, Survey of London. 
 
 10 ) Holinshod’s Chronicles, London, 1807. 
 
3 
 
 Fabyan 11 ), Davis 12 ), Hall 13 ), Grafton 14 ), besides the Political Songs composed in Richard’s 
 days 15 ), and Historia brevis Thomae Walsingham 15 ) , all contain abundant facts for a 
 minute history of Richard’s time and reign, and afford a great deal of information available 
 for the purpose of interpreting the Deposition. Many a dark passage, many an obscure 
 word, becomes clear and legible when held up to the light of those Chronicles of Old. 
 
 I, therefore, gave myself the pleasure of collecting, and composing into a History of 
 Richard, such facts as will not only throw a light upon men, events, and institutions 
 alluded to, and rare words occurring, in the Deposition, but also serve to illustrate the 
 spirit of the times, reveal the circumstances and influences under which the author wrote, 
 and show the commencements of those disorders and political struggles which, after 
 Richard’s shortlived triumph, ended in his Deposition. The poem is altogether political, 
 and refers neither to the corruptions of the Church, nor to Wickliffe’s doctrines, nor to foreign 
 expeditions, nor to Wat Tyler’s rebellion; all this will, therefore, find no place in the following 
 
 History of Richard II. 
 
 Richard de Bordeaux, as Froissart calls him from the place of his birth, the son The Cbiid- 
 of the chivalrous Black Prince, had not completed his 11 th year when he ascended the Kin s- 
 throne of his grandfather, Eduard III. On the 16 th of July 1377, he was crowned at 
 Westminster, with great pomp and amidst universal rejoicings; for the love that people 
 bore to the memory of his noble and valorous father, the tender years of the young 
 King, and the delicate beauty of his person, had awakened the loyal sympathy of his 
 subjects, who fondly hoped that the virtues of the father would revive in the son. Nor 
 seemed those hopes without foundation, for, on various occassions, Richard showed qualities, 
 and revealed traits of character, which seemed to hold out a fair promise. 17 ) His firm 
 attachment to his friends, the implicit trust he placed in those he loved, his taste for 
 poetry and the encouragement he gave to poets, the fixedness of purpose with which, in 
 after years, he pursued his — unfortunately wicked — designs, the cool courage and 
 presence of mind he displayed when confronted with Wat Tyler’s rebellion, even the pride 
 and haughtiness of his temper, betray signs of a better nature and of nobler tendencies, 
 which, under more favorable circumstances, might have been developped; but it was his 
 misfortune to be placed in a moral atmosphere in which even the good within him must 
 needs be perverted into evil. 
 
 Notwithstanding his being under age, no formal regency had been appointed; cer- 
 tainly, a remarkable fact in the history of the English Constitution, and one fraught with 
 much evil, both with respect to the nation and its youthful chief. A mere boy was, thus, 
 supposed to hold the scepter of a great kingdom in his feeble hands! A helpless child, 
 
 n ) R. Fabyan, New Chronicles of England and Fiance. London 1811. 
 
 12) An English Chronicle by Rev. J. S. Davis. 
 
 13 ) Union of the two noble and illustrious Families of Lancaster and York. 
 
 14 ) Richard Grafton, A Chronicle at large etc. 1569. 
 
 15 ) Edited by Th. Wright, 1859. 
 
 16 ) Londini 1574, with „Ypodigma Neustriae“ annected. 
 
 17 ) He was seemelie of shape and favour and of nature good enough, if the wickedness and naughty 
 demeanour of such as were about him had not altered it (Ilolinshed Vol. II, 868). 
 
 1 * 
 
4 
 
 Education. 
 
 incapable of guiding his own steps 18 ), wielded sovereign power, was clothed with all the 
 splendour of Royalty, held his own court, named his servants, and bestowed rank and 
 favour, at will and pleasure. 
 
 The natural consequences followed. It could not but be expected that »flatterers 
 and false men 19 ) would gather round the inexperienced dispenser of wealth and honours, 
 that the Boy King would give a more willing ear to the praise of his virtues than to 
 the censure of his faults, and that lie would call to his Court and Council the young and 
 the light hearted rather, who tendered to his amusement, than »knyghtys« that were 
 »sad of her sawis« (Dep. 21, 1.20) (grave in speech) and steady in conduct 20 ). Thus, from 
 the beginning, Richard’s Court was crowded with worthless characters, and his ears beset 
 with flattery. 
 
 »Such adulation and prostation had not been seen before in England; and if the 
 » bishops and courtiers did not preach to the boy the divine right, they seem to have 
 »made a near approach to that doctrine, and they spoke gravely of the intuitive wisdom 
 »and of the heroism of a child not yet eleven years old. « (Piet. Hist, of Engl.) 
 
 To make matters worse, the Constitution of the young sovereign’s mind was such 
 as to make flattery exceedingly profitable, for, whilst praising and extolling him was the 
 easiest and surest way of winning his favour, he was, as Froissart declares, »of a temper 
 »that, when he took liking to anyone, he instantly raised him to high honour, and had, 
 »besides, such confidence in him that no one dared to say anything in his prejudice. At 
 »thc same time there had not been a man who so easily believed all that was told him.« 
 
 His natural guardians were his mother, the Princess of Wales, and his three uncles, 
 John of Gaunt, Thomas Woodstock, and Edmund Langely, created by Richard himself 
 Dukes, respectively of Lancaster, Glocester, and York. His uncles, absorbed in their own 
 ambitious designs, cared little for their nephew’s education 21 ), and his mother appears 
 to have been altogether unfitted for so difficult a task, and incapable of exercising a 
 beneficial authority over him. Her presence hardly checked the most riotous scenes at 
 Court, and after having lived to see, one day, the royal quarters at York disgraced by 
 a vile murder, committed by the Kings’s halfbrother, John Holland, she died of grief and 
 shame (1385), conscious, perhaps, of having done much herself towards lowering the 
 standard of honour at her son’s Court. For, jealous as she was of the Duke of Lan- 
 caster’s influence, she had (1384) taken great pains to surround her son with ministers 
 and servants of obscure birth and fortune 22 ), and had, thus, accustomed him to associate 
 with, and rely upon 23 ), a class of men whose social position was held in no esteem and 
 whose hopes of fortune and distinction rested solely on court favour. 
 
 18 ) Ye come to youre Kingdom, er ye youre self knewe (Dep. 5, 1. 16). 
 
 18) Flateris and fals men that no feith useth Dep. 21, 1 17. Cf, The King is not himself, but basely 
 led by flatterers. Shakesp. Rich. II, act. II, sc. 1. 
 
 20) For that ho was yong, he was most ruled by yong consayle, and regarded nothing the advertisement 
 of the sage and wise men. Grafton, p. 412. 
 
 21) They left him in the hands of young persons of dissolute characters who corrupted his mind with 
 flattery, and inspired him with the love of pomp and pleasure. Henry, History of Engl., Vol. IY. 
 
 22) Fict. Hist, of Engl., Vol. I, 7S9 squ. 
 
 23) The King had little trust in any of the nobility, except his brother, the Earl of Huntingdon , the 
 Earl of Rutland, sonne of the Duke of York, and in the Earl of Salisbury, and in certain Knights of his 
 privy Chamber. — Holinshed Vol. II, 868. 
 
5 
 
 Men of a different stamp had been the companions of Eduard III and of Richard’s Court-Life; 
 highminded father. The Court of those warlike princes was held up as a model of chivalry Aristocracy, 
 and considered to have nurtured all those vertues and qualities which made the knight 
 and gentleman of that period: love of adventure and warlike enterprise, the spirit of 
 gallant devotion to woman, a lively sense of honour and polished manners. At that Court 
 were seen, above all, knights and noblemen, the offsprings of those families which, since 
 the time of the Norman Conquest, had made themselves the Chieftains of the nation, and 
 formed an aristocracy, equally proud of their birth, their valour, and their knightly 
 education. This nobility, calling themselves gentle by birth, and maintaining that the 
 gentleman aud gentlewoman alone had a true sense of honour, and were capable of noble 
 deeds, looked down upon the great mass of the people as upon beings of almost inferior 
 nature. And, indeed, their extensive landed property, their prerogatives as feudal lords, 
 the aids of education they enjoyed, their habit of command, their influential place in the 
 King’s Council and in the representation of the nation, the advantages of their courtly 
 manners, more still than their Norman pride, tended to raise them high above the other 
 classes of the community, who were not only wont to recognize them as the leaders in 
 all public affairs and to acknowledge their superiority as to social position , but seem 
 to have bowed even before their pretensions to a superior organisation of body or mind. 
 
 Though men like Chaucer , even at that period , would boldly assert that only nobleness 
 of life made the gentleman; baseness of action, the churl 24 ): yet an obscure birth was 
 rather apt to be considered as a blemish in a man raised by the king’s favour. 
 
 »Thc king has only base knaves about him, without any regard to noblemen, said 
 »the king’s uncles and other nobles (Froiss. II, 606). It is well known that when a poor 
 »person is exalted and supported by his Lord, he corrupts the people and destroys the 
 »country, for what can a base born man feel about honor ? His sole wish is to enrich 
 » himself, like the otter, who, on entering a pond, devours all fish therein. « 
 
 And these were not only the opinions of noblemen; we find in the chronicles of 
 those times ample proof that they were generally held, certainly with regard to Richard’s 
 favourites. 
 
 The low birth of his counsellers is a standing subject of reproach to Richard, so Men of low 
 that we can have no doubt of its being alluded to in the lines of the Deposition, which birth about R. 
 treat of the King’s Council (Dep. 7, 1. 14): 
 
 Other hobbis ye hadden of Hurlewaynis Kynne *) 
 
 Refusynge the reule of realles kinde. 
 
 24 ) But understand in thine intent, 
 
 That this is not mine intendement 
 To clepen no wight in no age 
 Only gentle for his lineage, 
 
 But who so that is virtuous 
 And in his port nought outrageous, 
 
 Though he be not gentle born, 
 
 Thou may ’st well see this in soth, 
 
 That he is gentle because he doth 
 As longeth to a gentleman ; 
 
 A churl is deemed by his deed — — 
 
 *) Familia Harlequini = low fellows; hob (short for Robert), country clown. 
 
6 
 
 Sir Simon 
 Burley, his 
 Tutor. 
 
 These men, Michael de la Poole, a merchant’s son, and, at a later period, Bushy, Greene 
 and Bagot, together with a set of young dissipated and licentious noblemen, led Richard 
 from folly to folly, from extravagance to extravagance, fawned upon him, pandered to 
 his vices, and fed his vanity and love of pomp, in hopes of being, in their turn, loaded 
 with riches and raised in rank and honour. Under their guidance, Richard grew more 
 and more vain, pleasure-loving, prodigal, arrogant; and a reign of Vice and Folly without 
 example began, now, in that Court which, under Richard’s predecessor, had been the 
 seat of Honour and Chivalry. 
 
 A tutor had been provided for him in the person of Sir Simon or Symond Burley. 
 That this man may have possessed courtly manners and been endowed with many amiable 
 qualities, we may readily admit, for good Queen Ann, Richard’s first wife (1382), a lady 
 well spoken of by all, esteemed him highly, and Froissart (II, 613) found him to be »doux 
 chevalier et de grand sens« ; — that he won Richard’s heart and confidence, is certain; 
 but we may reasonably doubt whether his character qualified him for his eminent office, 
 and whether he used his influence over his royal pupil to any better purpose than other 
 courtiers did ; for all we know about him makes us believe that he was deeply concerned 
 in the Court intrigues and abuses of Richard’s reign. Froissart distinctly asserts 25 ) that 
 Sir Simon, the King’s tutor, had assisted his pupil in the government from his earliest 
 years. What kind of assistance he rendered, may be guessed from »the Deposition, in 
 which a »Symond« is mentioned as being most active in bribing the knights of the shire 
 to grant parliamentary supplies for the King’s dissipations 26 ). 
 
 That this Symond is Sir Simond Burley, is hardly to be doubted, since no other 
 Simon or Symond is mentioned anywhere as playing a prominent part at Richard’s Court. 
 This tutor soon incurred the hatred of the Lords opposed to the Court party. In the 
 X year of Richard’s reign he was charged with defalcations to the amount of 250000 Franks, 
 arrested at the Duke of Glocester’s orders, put on his trial, and beheaded 27 ). Whether 
 he had a fair trial, and whether or no he was too rigorously treated, we cannot undertake 
 to decide ; but it is difficult to believe that his integrity should have been less assailable, 
 and his morals of a higher standard, than those of the vile courtiers were, with whom 
 he had been associated for 9 years, and in whose fall he was implicated 28 ): 
 
 (Dep. 6, 1. 15.) »For all was ffellawis and ffellawshepe that ye with fferde.« 
 
 Such a tutor, such guardians, such companions — 
 
 Graceles gestis, gylours of hem self (Dep. 5, 1. 9) — 
 watched over, and surrounded Richard’s childhood and youth. Nothing was done for 
 the development of his intellect ; every thing for the vitiation of his mind and the debase- 
 ment of his character. He grew up amidst a profligate Court, a stranger and enemy to 
 
 25) Froiss. II, 610. M. Sim. Build fut trouvd en arrdrages, pourtant que de la jeneusse du roi il I'avoit 
 aidi a gouverner, k 250,000 Fr. 
 
 26) And some (knightes of the comunete) had y-souped with Symond overe even, 
 
 And schewed for the shire, and here schew lost. (Dep. p. 39, 1. 7.) 
 
 27) Froiss. II, 613. 
 
 28 ) Qualiter parliamentum gradatim processit, praecipue contra ipsos qui regis iniqui fautores fuerunt, 
 quorum Simon de Burlee, miles tunc regis camerarius, in judicio convictus mortis sententia decollatus est. 
 Wright. Polit. Song. Note to I. 
 
7 
 
 his noble relatives, intoxicated by flattery, led by greedy courtiers and fawning sycophants, 
 wallowing in voluptuousness, and indulging, without check or restraint, his wanton and 
 extravagant tastes. 
 
 His luxurious household, his costly dresses, the gaudy and sumptuous fashions at 
 his Court, which shocked the soberminded, are spoken of in all Chronicles. — »He 
 »kept the greatest port«, says Holinshed, »and maintained the most plentiful house that 
 »ever any king in England did either before him or since; for there sorted daily to his 
 »Court above ten thousand persons that had meat and drink allowed them; 300 servitors 
 »in the kitchen, 300 ladies and chamberers; and in gorgeous apparell they exceeded all 
 »measure, not one of them kept within the bounds of his degree. « 
 
 The old poet Harding says 29 ) : 
 
 Truely I heard Robert Ireleffe say, 
 
 Clerke of the grene cloth, that to the house hold 
 Came every day for the most part alway 
 Ten thousand folke, by his messes told, 
 
 That followed the house, ay as they would, 
 
 And in the kechin tlire hundreth servitours 
 And in eache office many occupiers. 
 
 And ladies faire with their gentel women, 
 
 Chamberers also and lavenders, 
 
 Three hundred of theim were occupied then; 
 
 There was greate pride among the officers, 
 
 And of all menne far passing their compeers 
 Of riche arraye and muche more costious, 
 
 Then was before or sith and more precious. 
 
 No wonder that no palace should have been large enough to hold this crowd of retainers, 
 and we understand what the author of the Deposition means when he mentions (Dep. 
 22, 1. 7): 
 
 That the hie (high) houusinge herborowe ne myghte 
 Half dell the houshoulde, but hales (tents) hem helped. 
 
 What sort of life this gay and frivolous Court led, may be easily imagined, for Richard 
 was, as Holinshed (Vol. II) and others declare, not only prodigal, but also »much given 
 
 »to the pleasure of the body« and his constitution was well fitted for riots and nightly 
 
 revels. He could keep awake longer than any one else 30 ) and would boast that he never 
 
 felt the want of sleep as long as he was carousing. So, the court would revel by night, 
 
 and sleep by day 31 ), to the great indignation of so sober and thrifty a man as the author 
 of the Deposition was, who wonders to see them (Dep. 24, 1. 1 squ.) 
 
 31 ) Qwan men rest takyn 
 
 Noctis somno recreati^ 
 
 Swoch felawys wakyu 
 
 Ad damna patrata parati. 
 
 Pol. Songs, on the Times 1381. 
 
 29 ) Harding, Chron. c. 193. 
 
 30 ) Vigilator erat maximus, ita ut aliquando mediam noctem , nonnunquam usque mane totam noctem 
 in potationibus et aliis non dicendis insompnem duceret (Description of Rich. II, as given by a Monk of 
 Erensham). 
 
 Extra- 
 
 vagance. 
 
 Revels. 
 
8 
 
 Fashions. 
 
 Rewle as rereroys (bats) and rest on the daies 32 ) (by day) 
 
 And spende of tbe spicerie more than it nedid, 
 
 Bothe wexe (wax) and wyn (wine), in wast all aboute. 
 and declares (Dep. 24, 1. 11): 
 
 That wisdom and over-wacche wonneth ffer asundre. 
 
 The ruinous extravagance in dress which is alluded to in the lines of Holinshed 
 and Harding quoted above, and the follies of fashion, form a subject to which the author 
 of the Deposition devotes one of the most entertaining parts of his poem, and which, 
 indeed, invites the satir, or calls forth complaints, of almost every writer of that time. 
 It would be wrong, however, to lay the blame for all absurdities of fashion on Richard 
 alone. A comparison with the preceding reign will show that, as to dress, the English 
 were prone to all sort of extravagancies, long before Richard. 
 
 A monk of Glastonbury, called Douglas, who lived in the times of Edward III, 
 informs us that »the Englishmen hawnted so moche unto the folye of strawngers, that 
 » every yere thei chaunged them in diverse schappes and disgisingges of clothengge, now 
 »longe, now large, now wide, now straite, and every daye clothengges newe and destitute 
 »and deserte from all honeste of old array and good usage. « — They seemed, he thinks, 
 »more like to tormentours in their clothing and also in their shoeing and other array 
 »than they seemed to be like men.« 
 
 In a poem »On the Evil Times of Edward II«, we already find the oddity of dress 
 satirized in a similar manner, the fashionables being compared to the men who perform 
 the parts of devils or tormentors in the miracle plays: 33 ) 
 
 The raye is turned overthwert that sholde stonde adoun ; 
 
 Hii (they) ben (are) degised as turmentours that comen from clerkis plei (play). 
 
 In Edward II’s time long robes were the fashion, with sleeves terminating at the elbow 
 in tippets which were whimsically cut out (encis6 par cointise 34 ), as was the French term, 
 which in English was rendered »dagged« or »slyttered for queintise« and reached in long 
 narrow stripes to the ground. These »cointises« (as the vestments themselves were 
 sometimes called) vanish in the beginning of Edward Ill’s reign, and the noblemen wore 
 closefitting garments, but the dress of an English beau of that time was still as ridiculous 
 as it was expensive: »Long pointed shoes, fastened to his knees by gold and silvern 
 
 »chains; hose of one colour on one leg and of an other colour on the other; short« 
 »breeches, which did not reach to the middle of the thighs, and disclosed the shape of« 
 »all the parts included in them; a coat one half white, and' the other half black or blue;# 
 »a long beard; a silk hood, buttoned under his chin, embroidered with grotesque figures« 
 »of animals, dancing men etc., and sometimes ornamented with gold, silver, and precious# 
 »stones.« 35 ) — This was the very top of fashion. As the luxury of apparel began to 
 
 3 *) daies = days, ef. Dep. 18, 1. 23, and not dais, as Wright suggests. 
 
 33) Dep, too, styles them „triflers in tormentors weed. p. IS, 1. 26. 
 
 a4 ) Cf. Romanz de la Rose by W. de Loris 1. 828: (robe) en rnainz leus encisee Et depecie par 
 
 cointise (cointesse). In Landais, Dictionaire general (Paris 1843), se ccintiser is rendered „se parer comme 
 une coquette", and cointesse, ,,gentilesse“ (Putz). And this is, no doubt, the sense of the word „quentise“ in 
 the Dep. for inst. p. 11, 1. 28: People should know by their (the courtiers’) (juentise , that the King loved them. 
 
 33) Henry’s Hist, of Great Britain Vol. IV, p. 591. 
 
9 
 
 affect not only the nobility and the rich citizens, but all classes, each of which competed 
 with that higher in rank, the legislature interfered, and in 1362 (36. of Edw. Ill) an act 
 of Parliament endeavoured to put a stop to all inordinate expenses in the way of living and 
 dressing, and to regulate the expenditure of each individual citizen with regard to his in- 
 come 36 ). — That such a law should be deemed necessary, proves how great, at that period, 
 the fondness of overdressing was, and how little inducement people required to fall into 
 excentric habits. Hence, when Richard succeeded his grandfather; when, instead of checking 
 foppishness, he himself set his subjects an example of it, and gave them every encourage- 
 ment possible; when they saw men valued at Court according to the richness and stylishness 
 of their dress, and » placed for their new nicety next to the Lords* (F)ep. 19): everyone of the 
 courtiers would strive to outdo the others, and the very stable boy would vie with his betters. 
 
 »The king«, relates Holinshed Vol. II, p. 858, »had one coat, which he caused to be 
 miade for him of gold and stone, valued 30,000 marks. All his household exceeded in 
 » gorgeous and costelye apparell farre above their degrees. Yomen and gromes were 
 »clothed in sylke and satin and demaske, bothe doblettes and gounes, with clothe of grayne 
 »and skarlette oversumptuous, and had their garments cutte, bothe in the courts and 
 »townes, farre otherwise than it had been before his dayes with brodery worke, ryche 
 »furres, and goldsmythes work, devysinge every day newe fashion, to the great ruin and 
 »decay of the welthe of England. « 
 
 Some of those fashions being alluded to in the Dep., it may be mentioned that the 
 
 close fitting garments of Edward Ill’s reign had given way to long, loose mantles. A kind 
 
 of surcoat, called »gown« had been introduced, it would seem, from Holland. The old 
 fashion of indenting and cutting the edges of garments into shapes of leaves and slips 
 (< dagges ) 37 ), which in Henry Ill’s reign had been proscribed even by legislature, was 
 taken up again, and carried into extreme. The »gown« reached sometimes to the loins, 
 but generally as far as the heels, or was even, as Chaucer’s Parson complains, trailing 
 »in the dung and in the mire*; it was close before and strutting out at the sides, so 
 that, at the back, it made »a man look like a woman«. The sleeves were so long and 
 wide that they trailed upon the ground, 38 ) 
 
 — if it were elbowis a-down to the helis, 
 
 Or passinge the knee, it was not accountid — (Dep. p. 20, 1. 2) 
 and were scarcely distinguished from the folds of the main part of the garment, which 
 were ample enough for a person to hide beneath them (Dep. 20, 1. 6). 
 
 The leesinge (looseness?) so likyde (pleased) ladies and other (others), 
 
 That they joied of the jette (fashion?), and gyside (dressed?) hem therunder. 
 The Deposition (p. 20) describes and ridicules another fashion, stranger still, that of 
 »kerving (carving, cutting) the cloth all to pieces« and sowing it together in irregular 
 patches, and stigmatizes the great luxury in jewelry, chains, girdles (seintis) , and horns. 
 
 36 ) Art. XX ordains for inst. : Omne ornamentum aureum sive argenteum erat damnatum, scilicet in 
 
 cultellis, cingulis, monilibus, annulis et caeteris corporum ornamentis, nisi in talibus qui possent per annum 
 expendere X libras, et ut nulli pannis preciosis aut pellura uterentur nisi qui possent expendere per annum 
 centum • libras. 
 
 37 ) Dryve out the dagges and all the Dutch cotis. Dep p. 21, 1. 12. So much dagging Chanc. Pars. Tale 
 
 38 ) Pictorial History of England. Vol. I, $68 squ. Dep. p. 19, 1. 30. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 The latter, as would appear from old drawings, formed part of the head dress, which 
 consisted of a tightfitting hood, fastened under the chin, with the horns sticking out at 
 the top; the whole hood, but especially the horns, were richly beset with gold, silver, 
 and precious stones. 
 
 In hopes of ingratiating themselves with their pleasure loving sovereign and of being 
 raised in rank and dignity (hied, Dep. 19), the courtiers spent exorbitant sums upon all 
 such fooleries, run into debt, and brought ruin on themselves and their deluded creditors. 
 (They) setteth all her silver in seimtis 39 ) and homes , 
 
 And ffor-doth the coyne, and many other craftis (craft’s), 
 
 And maketh the peple ffor pens- lac*) in pointe ffor to wepe. 
 
 Bitter are the remarks of the Author of the Deposition on those foppish courtiers. He 
 calls them ffreshe ffoodis (Gelbschnabel), dullisshe nollis (blockheads), guylers joyfull 
 ffor gery (changing) jaces (fringes), trifflours in tormentours wede, and wonders 
 That ony lord of a loud shoulde leve (love) swiche (such) thingis, 
 
 Or clepe (call) to his conceill swiche manere cotis (coats). 
 
 Government The faults of Richard’s character were, however, not laid bare from the first, nor 
 during was the baneful influence of his favourites on the management of public affairs felt at 
 minority. once; re j ng 0 f government being virtually held by the King’s three uncles; for though 
 no regent had been named — most likely, out of jealousy of John of Gaunt, who had 
 the best claim, but was highly unpopular — it was, by the assent of the King and Lords 
 to a petition of the Commons, ordained that, every year during the King’s minority, a 
 Council of 9 persons should be elected to assist the King in the administration of Go- 
 vernment. Among the members of this Council were all three uncles, but the chief sway 
 was held by the eldest and most renowned of them, John, Duke of Lancaster. As long 
 as he was presiding, there was peace between uncles and nephew, Parliament and Court; 
 but a serious conflict broke out, after he had, in 1385, set out on an expedition to Spain, 
 leaving the administration of the realm in the hands of the Duke of Glocester. 
 
 Duke of This nobleman was of a restless, passionate temper, very ambitious, fond of warlike 
 
 Giooester. enterprises, not much beloved by the nobility, but highly esteemed by the citizens, and 
 very popular with the common people, because he would stand up for them against the 
 oppression of the great 40 ). Looking with disgust at the growing influence of favouri- 
 tes, especially R. de Vere, 41 ) whom Richard had made Duke of Ireland, be began to stir 
 the animosity of the nobles, and to encourage the discontent of the commons. 
 
 First mur- The first unpopular public act of Richard’s had been, to take the great seal from 
 murings of Henry le Scroope, because that minister had, in 1382, refused to seal certain extravagant 
 the commons g ran |. s 0 f land , made to some retainers about court. His prodigality, the constant de- 
 Richaid and man ds for money, the arbitrary rule of his ministers and their rapacity, had, since then, 
 his favourites, excited the murmurs of the people more and more, especially as the rumour spread that 
 there were great sums in the treasury, and even the King’s uncles hinted that the people 
 
 39 ) Seimtis. I never met this word anywhere else ; perhaps , it is misspelled for seintis or seyntis = 
 girdles. Chaucer, Prologue to Knight’s Tale 329 : Gird with a seynt of silk. 
 
 *) Want of money. 
 
 40 ) Tyrrel, Hist, of Engl. Vol. Ill, part. IT, p. 962. 
 
 4J ) Le due d’lrlande fait en Angleterre et du roi ce qu’il veut. Froiss. H, 606. 
 
11 
 
 ought to insist on having an account of their expenditure from those who had the 
 management, such as the Archbishop of York, Robert de Vere, Michael de la Pole, Sir 
 R. Tresilian, Sir Simon Burley, and others. 
 
 The Londoners 42 ) went to the Duke of Glocester for advice: »If you wish to succeed «, 
 »he said, in having your grievances redressed, you should enter into a confederacy of the 
 »principal towns and with some of the nobles and prelates, and come before the king, 
 »where my brother and myself will cheerfully meet you, and say to the king: »Most« 
 
 »dear Lord, you have been crowned when very young, and have hitherto been very« 
 »badly advised, nor have you attended to the affairs of your kingdom from the mean« 
 »and weak counsellors you have chosen. « 
 
 The citizens followed this advice, but were haughtily reproved by the young king: 
 »Think not we are to be ruled by our people. That has never been, and we can perceive« 
 »nothing but what is right and just in our government and those who govern under us.« — 
 Not daunted by, and not crouching under, this royal rebuke, the sturdy men of London 
 instantly replied : »Jusice? Your justice is weak in the realm, and you know not what behoves 
 »you to know, for you neither make inquiry nor examine into what is passing — and 
 » those who are your advisers will never tell you for the great wealth they are amassing. 
 »It is not justice to cut off heads, wrists, or feet, or anyway so punish; but justice con- 
 »sists in maintaining the subject in his right, and taking care he live in peace.« 
 
 The Londoners , however , had not remonstrated in vain, for, finally, an inquiry was 
 instituted, and Parliament took the matter in hand. Instead of granting supplies as, more 
 or less willingly or grudgingly, its predecessors had done, the Parliament of 1387 began by 
 complaining of the king’s ministers and favourites, especially his Chancellor, Michael de 
 la Pole, a merchant’s son, who had been created Earl of Suffolk. 
 
 The king won’t listen to such complaints. He disdainfully replies that »he would 
 »not, at their demand, remove the meanest scullion in hiskitchen«, and goes away in high 
 wrath, threatening dissolution. Soon, however, his pride gives way, and he returns, half 
 persuaded, half compelled, for Lords and Commons assume a menacing attitude, having 
 caused the acts of the Deposition of Edward II (whose chief crime, too, had been his 
 weakness for favourites) to be laid before them. Having no army at his command and 
 his praetorian band of Cheshire men not ready yet, the king yields, sacrifices his favourite, 
 and suffers Parliament to proceed against him. 
 
 In 1376 the Commons had, for the first time, exercised the constitutional weapon 
 of impeachment against the ministers of Edward III, and, now again, they made use of 
 these new acquired powers, by accusing, before the Lords, Michael de la Pole of »many and 
 »great enorme crymes, fraudes, falsities, and treasons by him done, and committed to the 
 » great prejudice of the King and his realme«. He was tried 43 ), convicted, and dismissed 
 his office as Chancellor »to his great shame and rebuke«, but they would not »adjudge 
 »him to death, but deemed him to pay a fyne of 20,000 marks for such advantages as he« 
 »had gotten, beyng Chauncellor, in putting the King’s subjects from expedition of their« 
 »causes until suche time as they had rewarded him: all which fines were adjudged ton 
 »the King in relieving of the Commons. « 
 
 London citi- 
 zens before 
 Eicbard. 
 
 The King’s 
 Ministers and 
 Parliament. 
 
 Michael 
 de la Pole 
 impeached. 
 
 42 ) Proiss. II, 608. 609. Anno 1386. 
 
 43 ) Grafton’s Chronicle Vol. I, p. 433. 
 
 2 * 
 
12 
 
 Commission 
 of XII Lords. 
 
 Council at 
 Nottingham. 
 
 Duke of Ire- 
 land levies 
 an army. 
 
 Radcote- 
 
 bridge. 
 
 »This done®, continues Grafton, »the Lords and wise men of the realme, considering* 
 "that, by the covetousness of the officers afore said, the King’s treasure and goodes were* 
 »purloyned, and from the King’s profite clerely consumed, the King and realme sore* 
 »deceaued (decayed) and impoverished, tillage also layd downe in many quarters, and« 
 »the King’s officers, this notwithstanding, marvellously enriched, wherefore they did choose* 
 "twelve Lords which should have the oversight under the Kinge of the whole realme.* 
 
 These twelve Lords, among whose numbers, of course, were the Dukes of Glocester 
 and York, were entrusted with the great offices of State, of which, by right of his prero- 
 gative, the King alone ought to have been permitted to dispose. The Bishop of Ely was 
 made Chancellor; the Bishop of Herford, Treasurer; Nicholas, an Abbot, keeper of the Seal. 
 
 This encroachment on the royal prerogative afforded the King a colourable excuse 
 for opposing the decisions of Parliament. He not only let Michael de la Pole go un- 
 molested, but, at the instigation of his confidential advisers, Alexander, Archbishop of 
 York, Robert deVere, the Chief Justice Robert Tresilian, and others, Richard convened 
 a Council at Nottingham 44 ), and summoning the Justices of the realm, made them declare, 
 »that the King might revoke all the ordinances and commissions of the late Parliament,* 
 "because they were hurtful to the Royal Prerogative, and because they were against the* 
 "King’s will; that all those who had compelled the King to the making of the said ordi-« 
 "nances and commissions were to be punished as Traytours«, and "that, likewise, he« 
 »who had moved in Parliament that the Statute, whereby Edward II had been endited, 
 "might be sent for, as well as he that bad brought the said statute into the Parliament* 
 "House, were cryminous and Tray tours to be punished. « 
 
 Armed with these judicial declarations the King returned to London, but being met 
 by the Opposition Lords, the Duke of Glocester, the Earls of Arundel, Warwick, and 
 others, with 4000 armed men to support them, and finding himself unsupported by the 
 Mayor and Citizens of London, he listened to friendly advice, and, yielding a second 
 time, caused a proclamation to be made to the effect that the Archbishop Alexander, 
 Robert de Vere, Michael de la Poole, Judge Tresilian, and others, should answer the 
 charge of having defamed the Duke of Glocester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick. 
 
 Yet, before Parliament met, the King and his favourites made one more effort to 
 regain their lost position; they repaired to Bristol, a town and neighbourhood in which 
 Richard was more popular and surer of finding support than in London. The Welsh 
 and Cheshiremen, especially, were most loyally attached to him. »He is our Lord and 
 "Sovereign* — the Welshmen said — » we are bounden to obey his commands, and 
 owe faith and homage to no one else.« So, when the Duke of Ireland, in the King’s 
 name, »with his letters patentis and baner displaid « went into Wales and Chestershire, 
 armed men flocked to him from all sides, and he soon was at the head of 15,000 men, 
 with whom he marched upon London. 
 
 At Radcotebridge, near Oxford, however, his march was stopped by the Dukes of 
 York and Glocester, who, together with the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, Thomas Mow- 
 bray, Henry Bolinbroke, and the rest of their party, had taken the field against him. 
 Fear, now, came over the Duke of Ireland and Michael de la Pole; not trusting to their 
 host, they fled, in disguise, the night before the encounter, leaving the King’s array 
 
 *4) Grafton 1. c. 
 
13 
 
 without a leader and in great disorder. On seeing the array of the Lords the next 
 morning, Richard’s men were panic struck, quitted their ranks, and run away without 
 offering the least resistance (20 Dec. 1387). Michael de la Pole, his head shaved, dis- 
 guised as a poulterer, and having fowl for sale, arrived at Calais; Robert de Vere escaped 
 to the Low Countries, where he died, a year after 45 ). 
 
 When the next Parliament, in which the influence of the Glocester party was para- 
 mount, and which, afterwards, was termed the »famous« parliament, met on the 3 d - of 
 Febr. 1388, five Lord-Appellants, the Duke of Glocester, the Earls of Arundel and War- 
 wick, Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshal of England, and Henry Bolinbroke (afterwards 
 King Henry IV) presented forthwith articles of impeachment against King Richard’s five 
 obnoxious ministers. The trial having taken place before the Lords, Alexander Meville, 
 Archbishop of York, Robert de Vere, and Michael de la Pole were sentenced to perpetual 
 banishment; Sir N. Brembre and R. Tresillian, however, condemned to die. Their fates 
 were shared by a number of other Courtiers and public officers, found guilty of defraud- 
 ing the public revenue. Sir J. Salisbury, Sir J. Beauchamp, Sir R. Belknap, and Sir 
 Symonde Burley , the King's Tutor* *), died by the executioner’s hands; others were 
 banished the country 46 ). — When Richard, who, in the meantime, was amusing himself 
 in Wales, heard of the death of Sir Simon — says Froissart — he was very wrath, 
 and swore it should not remain unrevenged 47 ). 
 
 This was by no means a vain threat; but years passed before Richard found an 
 opportunity for wreaking his revengeful malice on each of the five Lord-Appellants, years, 
 during which he, apparently, lived on friendly terms with them, but must have had 
 hatred rankling in his breast, for later proceedings show that he never forgot nor for- 
 gave what he had suffered in the X and XI year of his reign. When he met his uncles 
 the first time after the affair at Radcotebridge, he hardly stopped to receive their greeting, 
 »and did not cast his eyes towards them« 48 ). 
 
 The next years subsequent to this eventful epoch were comparatively peaceful. 
 Glocester had seized the reins of government, but he could not hold them. His parlia- 
 mentary influence soon declined, and, within the space of twelve months, a reaction took 
 place in favour of the King, who seems to have acted most judiciously in winning back 
 the hearts alienated from him by the excesses of his former Counsellors. When Parliament 
 met in 1389, the adherents of the King could hold up their heads. They appeared in 
 great numbers 49 ) at a »marcial justis« and tournament, at Smithfield, proudly wearing 
 the King’s badge. »They had white hertis (harts) with crounes about their neckes, and« 
 »cheynes of gold hangyng therupon, and the croune hangyng lowe befor the hertis bodye,« 
 * the which hert was the Kingis liver ey, that he gaf to knyghtis and squirts 50 ) or other, a 
 
 45 ) The Duke was slain at Louvain „in hunting of a wilde boare. But the King when he heard of his 
 „death took it „marveylous“ heavily and to show the great affection that he bore unto him, he commanded 
 „that his dead carkase should be brought from Lovoyn into England. “ Grafton. 
 
 *j According to Froiss., the trial of this gentleman took place before the affair at Radcotebridge. 
 
 46 ) Fabyan p. 534. 
 
 47 ) Froiss. II, til 4. 
 
 48 ) Froiss. II, 626. 
 
 49 ) Fab. p. 534. — Davies’ Chr. p. 6. 
 
 Condemna- 
 tion and 
 execution of 
 Richard’s 
 servants and 
 friends. 
 
 Reaction in 
 favour of 
 Richard. 
 
 The white 
 hart. 
 
14 
 
 Richard of 
 age. 
 
 Domestic 
 
 peace. 
 
 From this time to the end of his reign the » white hart« remained the cognizance 
 of Richard’s party. It was proudly worn by the 24 gentle ladies who, in rich array, 
 leading with chains of gold the horses of 24 knights of the garter, rode, in Nov. 1389, 
 through the streets of London to open the tournament at Smithfield; it was haughtily 
 worn by the ruthless Chestermen, to whom, at a later period, Richard entrusted the 
 care of protecting his throne against the growing discontents of his subjects; it was — 
 perhaps for the last time — worn by the hapless messenger, the Duke of Exeter, whom, 
 in 1399, Richard »the redeles« sent from Flint Castle, to treat with victorious Bolinbroke, 
 but who was not even listened to before he had replaced the white Hart by the white 
 Rose. 
 
 In Richard’s reign, these marks of royal favour were most liberally distributed, and 
 as gladly accepted, both by noblemen and humble retainers, as they were willingly given 
 by the King, who saw in the increase of the number of harts an increase of his power. 
 The author of the Deposition, however, denounces that policy as most unwise and damaging 
 the King’s own interests, for the » white harts«, proud of their distinction, presumed to 
 speak and act in the King’s name 51 ), treated the King’s subjects with insolence, and 
 committed so many acts of oppression that even the most loyal hearts were estranged. 
 With a pun upon the word »hert« (hart and heart) the Deposition declares, p. 9, 1. 23: 
 
 So trouthe to telle, as toune men said, 
 
 F'for on (one) that ye merkyd (marked), ye'myssed ten schore 
 
 Of homeliche herds , that the harme hente (took). 
 
 Thane was it ffoly, in ffeith as me thynketh, 
 
 To sette silver in signes that of nought served. 
 
 The folly, however, was not seen at once; on the contrary, the cheerfulness with which 
 the king’s favour was accepted and worn by nobles and knights, emboldened Richard, in 
 1389, to resume the scepter, wrenched from his hand but the year before. There was 
 something of the bold and fearless spirit of his father in him, when, one day. he suddenly 
 rose in Council to ask his uncle Glocester: Uncle, how old am I? On being answered: 
 »21 years, « he declared that, then, he was old enough to reign himself, and, applauded 
 by those around him, he resumed the supreme authority. 
 
 His first steps betrayed as much determination as sagacity. Having discharged the 
 Duke of Glocester, the Earl of Warwick, and other »honorable and worthy« men (says 
 Holinshed) from his Council, he issued a proclamation to inform his subjects that he had 
 taken the government into his own hands, and quieted the nation by granting a general 
 pardon and remitting half of the taxes — a fifteenth and a tenth — which had been 
 accorded to him by Parliament, so that the party thrown out of power did not deem it 
 prudent to raise any disturbance. 
 
 Eight years of domestic peace followed. It must be this New Era that the Author 
 of the Dep. alludes to, when he says, p. 2, 1. 11: 
 
 All myn hoole herte was his, while he in helthe regnid, 
 
 50 ) Hertis or hyndis on hassellis brestis .... he shoulde have met more than enough. Dep. 9, 1. 7. 
 In this line I conjecture hassellis to stand for „liathelis, athels“ (Edelleute). 
 
 51) They carped to the comoune with the King’s mouth, Dep. 9, p. 11. 
 
15 
 
 though our notions of good government will hardly allow us to designate any period of 
 Richard’s reign as a time of health. I have read many detailed descriptions of his reign, 
 but I don’t recollect a single action of his which might lead us to suppose that he really 
 cared for the establishment of law and justice, or for the prosperity and the honour of 
 the nation; at all times, he was extravagant in his habits, prodigal, regardless of any 
 other rights but his own, ignorant of the wants of the nation, indifferent to the interests 
 of the middle and lower classes, and devoid of all sense of justice. All we can say is, 
 that the course of events run smoothly for a time, and that Richard refrained from giving 
 altogether way to his despotical whims or his feelings of hatred and revenge. The presence 
 of the Duke of Lancaster, who, in the mean time, had returned from his Spanish expe- 
 dition, may have acted as a check upon many of Richard’s extravagances; the Duke 
 is even said to have brought about a reconciliation between the King and Glocester, 
 but though their differences may have been smoothed over, there was never a good 
 unterstanding between them, for Glocester continued to give frequent offence by speaking 
 contemptuously of, or reproachfully to, his nephew. 
 
 A serious and final quarrel between them arose, when, in 1396, two years after his first 
 Queen’s decease, Richard married the French Princess Isabella, a child of seven years. Glo- 
 cester was violently incensed at this marriage, because the restless man, with his warlike pro- 
 pensities, and his hatred of the French, wished rather for war than peace with their country. 
 He left the Court, and went away in a grudge, to reside in his Castle of Plessy in Essex. 
 
 According to Froissart, he now employed every means to stir up troubles in Eng- 
 land and excite the Londoners against the King and in favour of a French war. Froissart 
 even asserts that Glocester went so far as to enter into a plot with the Earl of Arundel, 
 to seize the King’s person, but that John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, the King’s half- 
 brother, got acquainted with these intrigues, and gave the King information. 
 
 Against this account of the French Chronicler, the English writers maintain that 
 the story of Glocester’s pretended plot was but a fabrication of the intriguer Huntingdon. 
 Tyrrel says 52 ): »Froissart, who is a foreigner, alone mentions a conspiracy of the Duke« 
 »of Glocester; but Froissart, I believe, is so far in the right, that nothing more accelerated « 
 »the ruin of Glocester than the constant whispers oj John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon,® 
 Dthe Kin’gs half brother, who either by reason of personal enmity, or out of real love« 
 »and concern for the King’s person, often told him that the Duke was hatching a con-« 
 »spiracy to depose him, to which may be added that certain young counsellors about« 
 »the King, fearing to be called to an account and lose their heads , as Sir Simon Burley« 
 »aud others had, remonstrated to him that his uncle had spread abroad certain rumours® 
 »that the King was not fit any longer to wear the crown. « 
 
 For us the question of Glocester’s guilt or innocence is of little importance, but of 
 interest is the view the English people took of the matter. This view is laid down in the 
 Deposition in a few passages which throw out but obscure hints, but will become perfectly 
 clear, when compared with the facts stated, and the opinions held, by the English Historian : 
 The ffrist (first) that you fformed (formed you) to that fals dede , 
 
 He shulde have hadde hongynge on hie on the fforckis (gallows), 
 
 Though youre brother y-born had be (been) the same. 
 
 New quarrel 
 with 
 
 Glocester. 
 
 Gl.’s con- 
 spiracy. 
 
 52) Tyrrel Vol. Ill, part. II, p. 962. 
 
16 
 
 And again Dep. 7, 1. 16: 
 
 And whane youre counceill I knewe, ye come so at ones, 
 
 Ffor to leve (believe) on her lore and be led by hem (them), 
 
 Ffor drede that they had of demynge ther after. 
 
 At that time Richard’s Council was composed of men of the lowest reputation, men, whom 
 the Commons, says Grafton Vol. I, 469, » judged to be the woorst creatures of all other. « 
 They were the King’s two halfbrothers John and Thomas Holland; his cousin Edward, 
 Richard’s Earl of Rutland ; the Marshal Th. Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham (whom Richard had 
 Council, pardoned »the riding he rood at Radcotebridge«) , W. Scroope, Earl of Wiltshire, Sir 
 Green, Ba- j 3^^ gj r Th. Green, and Sir W. Bagot. The three last named, special objects of 
 g0t, Bushy Pe ' th e public hatred, are satirized in popular songs as the bush, the green (grass), and 
 the bag. 
 
 Ther is a busch that is forgrowe, 
 
 Crop it welle, and hold hit lowe, 
 
 Or elles hit wolde be wilde. — 
 
 The long gras that is so grene, 
 
 Hit most be mowe, and raked clene, 
 Forgrowen hit hath the fellde. 
 
 The grete hagge that is so mykille, 
 
 Hit schall be kettord (diminished) and maked litelly; 
 
 The bothom is ny ought. 
 
 Hit is so roton on ych a side, 
 
 Ther nul (will not) no stych with odur (other) abyde 
 To set tlieron a clout. 53 ) 
 
 The same puns upon their names occur in the Deposition, where bushing down, the 
 bushes, the briers, point to Bushy; the green, the false colour, to Green; the bag, to 
 Bagot; and the terms of contempt »schroff and scroupe«, to Scroope. These men, together 
 with the Earl of Huntingdon, were considered as the chief intriguers against the Duke of 
 Glocester, the Earl of Arundel, and the Earl of Warwick, who soon were to fall their victims. 
 
 Thorw the busch swan 54 ) was sclayn .... 
 
 The grene gras that was so long, 
 
 Hit hath sclayn a stede 54 ) strong 
 That worthy was and wyth. 
 
 Thorwe the bag the bereward 54 ) is taken ; 
 All his beres han hym forsaken; 
 
 Thus is the bereward schent. 53 ) 
 
 53 ) Wright, Polit. Song on King Richard II. 
 
 s4 ) Here aa well as in the Deposition, the three Lords are designated by names taken from the cognizances 
 of their families. Tho swan is Glocester ; the steed or horse, Arundel ; and the Bearward or Bear, Warwick. 
 
17 
 
 The above named three noblemen having been represented to Richard as conspirators 
 against his Life and Crown, and their fate having been decided upon in the King’s Council, 
 
 Richard acted with vigour and determination, without pity or remorse, freely following 
 the dictates of his old resentment against those who had passed judgment upon the Duke 
 of Ireland and Sir Simon Burley. He himself went in person to Plessy (12 July 1397) 
 to seize the most hated and feared of all, Glocester. Having effected his arrest, he sent, 
 without loss of time, the prisoner under the conduct of the Earl of Nottingham to Calais. 
 
 The Earls of Arundel and Warwick, deceived by bland promises, were next taken, and 
 conveyed to London to be tried by the Lords assembled in Parliament at Westminster, 
 
 Sept. 17. 1397. 
 
 This assembly, the most compliant of all compliant Parliaments Richard ever had, The Great 
 was called the Great Parliament, and, as Grafton says, »maad onli for to sle the Earl Parliament. 
 
 » of Arundel and other as thaym liked. « The regulations as regards Parliamentary returns 
 being very lax at that time, the Sherifs (whose office it was, to have two knights elected Sherifs. 
 for each shire, two citizens for each city, and two burgesses for each borough) had a 
 great power in influencing elections. They were nominated by the Crown; and as they 
 presided at the County-courts (where the knights were to be elected), and had to make 
 the returns, they were frequently induced, either by Government or great noblemen, to 
 use their influence over the electors, or even to falsify the returns 55 ). Richard had often 
 before availed himself of these instruments of packing a house of Commons, and he did 
 so, on this occasion, most effectually. The Commons were submissive, and the Lords 
 who had to sit in judgment on Arundel and Warwick were either hostile to the Glocester 
 party, or Creatures of Richard, who had not failed to make ample use of his sovereign 
 right, established since Edward I, of creating Peers by letters patent. 
 
 Besides, to be prepared for any emergency, and to stifle opposition and suppress 
 any attempt at rebellion, the King had surrounded himself with a faithful body-guard. 
 
 His archers »in number 4000 Cheshiremen«, says Stowe, » encompassed the house, (a tern- Cheshiremen. 
 »porary building, in which Parliament met, whilst the great hall was being repaired) 
 
 »with their bows bent and arrows notched in their hands, always ready to shoot. « 
 
 The great popularity of the accused Lords made a rising in their favour by no 
 means an unlikely event. At the news of their arrest there was, indeed, »grief and« 
 »consternation in all hearts; all over the country, prayers and processions were instituted « 
 
 »for their liberation, till the King, hearing this, forbade that such processions should« 
 
 »be no more used.« (Grafton p. 462.) 
 
 The scene of the Trial before the Lords was the more disgraceful because one of 
 the Lords Appealers against Arundel was his own son in law, Thomas Mowbray, aud an The Steed’s 
 other, his grandson, Thomas Holland, Duke of Kent. Arundel behaved with great dignity, death, 
 but in spite of his noble defence, he was pronounced guilty, and condemned to die as a 
 traitor. Forthwith he was had away, and, under j te leading of the infamous Earl Marshal, 
 
 Thomas Mowbray, conducted through the streets of London to Tower Hill, where he was 
 beheaded, in presence of the King himself 56 ) and six noblemen. He underwent his fate 
 
 55) Creasy, English Const, p. 254. — The Dep. draws a most amusing description of the conduct of 
 members in a packed Parliament in Richard’s time. 
 
 56) Et fut le dit roi present a celle justice faire; et fut faite par le comte Mardchal, qui avait k femme 
 la fille au comte d’Arundel, et il meme lui banda les yeux. Proiss. Ill, 310. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 with calm serenity. Flexo poplite, says Walsingham (Ypodygma Neustriae 152), vnltu 
 constantissimo decapitari sustinuit, nec plus expalluit quam si fuisset ad epulas invitatus. 
 
 The Bear The Earl of Warwick, who, at the advice of his friends, pleaded guilty of the treason 
 
 boulld laid to his charge, was, like Arundel, condemned to death, but pardoned by Richard to 
 
 be kept in perpetual prison in the Isle of Man. There he was held in confinement as 
 
 long as Richard was in power. 
 
 Several other Lords were made to feel the King’s resentful spirit, among them 
 Lord Cobham — vir grandaevus, simplex, et rectus (Walsingham) — (who was condemned 
 for no other reason but because he had been one of the twelve Lords Commissioners in 
 the XI year of Richard’s reign) and the Archbishop of Canterbuiy, whose chief offence 
 was his relationship to the Earl of Arundel. Both were banished from England. 
 
 The Swan’s As to the Duke of Glocester, the King, shrinking from the public execution of so 
 death, popular a Lord, a prince of blood royal, 57 ) pretended that the Duke had fallen ill at 
 
 Calais, and could not appear in person. His fate was, however, sealed ; and soon tidings 
 
 came from Calais: »The Duke had suddenly died, had been found dead, one morning, in 
 his bed.« When his body was surrendered to his weeping widow, she could perceive no 
 trace of violence; but that the Duke had met foul play, nobody doubted. And suspicion, 
 always awake when a defenceless prisoner dies in the hands of his enemies — as Ed- 
 ward II. had died at Berkley Castle, and Richard himself was to die at Pomfrey — fixed 
 the murder unhesitatingly on the King himself and his tool, Thomas Mowbray. 
 
 Richard’s uncles even did not doubt of his guilt. »Quand la connaissance fut venue 
 au due de Lancastre et au due de York que le due de Glocester, leur frere, etait mort 
 a Calais, tantot ils imagineent que le roi, leur neveu, l’avait fait mourir.« 58 ) And this is the 
 unanimous opinion of all historians, nor will it be possible for anyone to arrive at a 
 more charitable conclusion , when he weighs all the circumstances under which Glocester 
 died, and considers the character of the King. Richard had no moral scruples; he believed 
 in the supreme right of Kings over the lives of their subjects ; he entertained a deep rooted 
 dislike to his uncle, and had once sworn to take revenge upon him ; he was in present 
 fear of him who, already once before, had grasped at the helm of the State; he had shown 
 of what paramount importance Glocester’s capture was to him, by arresting him in person; 
 he entrusted him to the care of the most confidential and unscrupulous of his advisers; 
 he caused Arundel, Glocester’s pretended accomplice, to be done away with, a man less 
 hated and less to be feared than Glocester; and, after his uncle’s decease, he never in- 
 stituted an inquiry into the causes of his death, but illtreated his family, had Glocester’s 
 son carried away to Ireland 59 ) and imprisoned, and, finally, seized the Glocester estates. 
 
 Putting all this together, and drawing conclusions, can we doubt that the Earl 
 of Nottingham, when he set out for Calais with his prisoner — had the King’s authori- 
 sation for what he did? — The manner in which he performed his task, was revealed 
 by one of his accomplices, a servant of his, John Hall, who, tried before the first Parlia- 
 ment in Henry IV’s reign, confessed that, while he had to keep watch outside the door, 
 
 57) Et quia non videbatur tutura regi ut dux Gloverniae responsis astaret, (Walsingham p. 393). 
 
 58) Froiss. III. 311. 
 
 59) The swan was dead, his make is woo, 
 
 Her eldest bryd is taken her fro 
 
 Unto an uncod (unknown) place. Pol. Song. Vol. I, p. 364. 
 
19 
 
 other servants of Mowbray, of the King, and of the Duke of Aumerle, went into Glocester’s 
 room, cast featherbeds upon him, and so smothered him. 60 ) After the deed Mowbray 
 went in to see that life was extinct. 
 
 Thus died Glocester, a man of many faults — for he was 61 ) » fierce of nature, 
 
 »hastye, wylfull, and given more to warre than to peace, and in this greatly to be dis- 
 commended that he was ever repining against the King in all things, whatsoever he 
 »wished to have forwarded« — but, notwithstanding these faults, he was highly beloved 
 by the commons, because he was a great assertor of the people’s liberties. 62 ) For the 
 same reason Arundel was popular, and, therefore, »when these two noblemen were so cruelly 
 »taken away, the people’s spirit failed« ; — says Tyrrel — »they supposed the common hope 
 »and support of the nation against tyranny expired. « 
 
 These fears were but too well founded. To pacify his surviving uncles, who declared 63 ) Richard tries 
 »que ce ne faisait pas a souffrir que d’avoir mort et meurtri leur frere« the King promised tomakehim- 
 that, henceforth, he would not do anything without their advice. But he never kept this self absoIute - 
 promise; he strove, on the contrary, to render himself independent of any control. The 
 »great Parliaments, docile in the hands of Bagot, the Speaker, Bushy, and Green 64 ), 
 offered itself as a willing tool for this purpose. It was shameless enough to vote away 
 the Liberties and the Rights of the nation into the King’s hands by appointing a 
 standing commission of twelve peers and six Commoners — all of them Richard’s Crea- 
 tures, such as Aumerle, Huntingdon, Nottingham, Green, Bushy, Bagot — who were to 
 exercise all the powers of the Legislative, and by granting the King a subsidy on wool 
 for life. » It , farthermore, repealed the Commissions and Statutes made in the XI year 
 »against the King’s will, royalty, crown, and dignity «, annulled the pardons granted for 
 the offences of that time, 65 ) and confiscated the goods and estates, not only of the condemned 
 Lords, but also of their servants and followers. Thus ended this infamous Parliament 
 (Fabyan p. 543) »to many menuis dyspleasurcs and dysherytynge of many trewe heyres«, 
 but leaving the King whit almost absolute power. 
 
 A new era of Richard’s reign commences. »I1 commenQa«, says Froissart III 312, 
 
 »£i r6gner plus fierement que devant.« He and his allpowerful favourites now set aside 
 all shame; but their private vices and their public wrongs began soon to exhaust the 
 most enduring patience, and extinguished, at last, whatever of loyal attachment had survived 
 the former misrule. And thus Glocester’s death and Arundel’s execution — hinted at in 
 the Dep. as the false deed , the sinful deed — proved to be the turning-points of Richard’s 
 fortune. So well affectioned a man as John Gower even turned in bitterness from the 
 Swan’s murderer, and the loyal heart of our honest author rose in indignation at the sight 
 of so much wickedness and injustice. It is to this indignation that we owe the vivid 
 
 60 ) Qui (comes Mareschallus) fecit eum suffocari superjectis culcitis et lectis refertis. (Wals. p. 393). 
 
 61 ) Antiquarian Repertory by Fr. Grose p. 51. 
 
 63 ) Sicque mortuus est ille vir optimus, rogis filius, rogis patruus, in quo posita fuerunt spes et sola- 
 tium totius regni communitatis. (Wals. p. 393). 
 
 63 ) Froiss. p. 311. 
 
 64 ) Fuerunt autem praecipui prolocutores hujus Parliamenti milites valde cupidi et ambitiosi et tumidi, 
 J. Bushy, W. Bagot et H. Grene. (Walsingham p. 392). 
 
 65 ) domini temporales , videntes assensum cleri, censuerunt et ipsi chartas pardonationum annullandas, 
 magis timore regis ducti quam mentium ratione. (Wals. 392). 
 
 3 * 
 
20 
 
 picture drawn of Richard’s reign in the Deposition, which, chiefly, has the time after 
 Glocester’s death in view. 
 
 Richard’s The putting down of his enemies and the servile votes of Parliament raised the 
 
 vanity. p r id e 0 f the vain, infatuated King. — » After this (relates Davies’ Chronicle, Year XXI) 
 »the King in sollenne daies and grete festis in the which he wered his croune and 
 nvent in his rial aray, he leet ordayne and make in his chamber a throne, wherynne 
 »he was wont to sitte fro after mete unto evensong tyme, spekynge to no man, but 
 »overlooking alle menn, and yf he looked on eny mann, what astat or degre that ever he 
 »were of, he moste knele.« 
 
 New dignities. And how willingly they may have knelt, those fawning courtiers, to a Monarch so 
 powerful now, so prodigal, and so ready to enrich all those who would flatter his vanity! 
 To reward his partisans, Richard immediately created new dignities — a Marquis of 
 Dorset, a count of Glocester, and three Dukes: his cousin Edward was made Duke of 
 Aumerle; Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk; and John Holland, Duke of Exeter; — 
 Part of the confiscated lands he distributed among these new grandees. 66 ) 
 
 Thus, Richard (Dep. 12. 1. 26). 
 
 ffostrid and ffodid a fewe of the best (beasts), 
 and leyde on them lordshipe, aleyne (lain) uppon other (others), 
 and bereved the raskall (the poor) that ritli wolde thei hadde, 
 and knewe not the caris ne cursis that walkyd. 
 
 Means of rais- Cares and curses, indeed, soon followed, and not only of those who had been bereaved 
 ing money, of their rightful inheritance, but of the people in general. Life at Court growing gayer 
 and gayer, the revelling more and more extravagant, and the rapacity and greediness of 
 the men in power increasing, the King’s means of gratifying his luxurious habits and 
 satisfying the wants of his friends, began to fail, and his Government had to resort to 
 arbitrary taxation: — » Great taxe, ay, the King took through all the lond, For whiche 
 commons hym hated bothe free and bond 67 ). And having exhausted the ordinary expedients 
 for filling his exchequer Richard, fell upon devices which were as scandalous as they were 
 ruinous in the end, for they were downright robberies, hardly to be distinguished from 
 the exploits of a footpad. 
 
 Loans. Thus , for inst , the King would send to some rich Lord or Prelate, and ask for a 
 
 loan, which, of course, could not be refused, but which never was paid back, nor meant 
 Fines, to be. 68 ) An other kind of robbery was committed under the hardly more euphonistic name 
 of » fines «, for which the disturbances of the XI year of Richard’s reign offered an 
 everlasting pretext. The pardons formerly granted having been rescinded by the » Great 
 Parliament*, all gentlemen implicated in the affairs at Radcotebridge were at the mercy 
 of the Crown. The pardons had to be renewed under the King’s great seal, and whoever 
 did not renew, or missed the term fixed, was arbitrarily fined. In other cases goods 
 and estates were considered to be forfeited without even the show of a legal pretext: 
 
 66 ) Eo tempore rex contulit novis creatis suis ducibus et comitibus magnam partem terrarum Ducis 
 Gloverniae, comitis Arundeliae et comitis de Warwico. (Walsingham, Ypodigm. Neustr.). 
 
 67 ) Harding cap. 195. 
 
 68 ) Under the colour of borowyng, the King hadde of thaym (Bishops and abbots, gentilmen and roar- 
 chauntis) an huge summe of money never to be paid again. An English chronicle of the reign of R. H. by 
 Rev. S. Davies p. S. 
 
21 
 
 »The king«, says Holinshed, » would order nobility and gentry to appear at his Court;« Confiscation. 
 
 » Those that came not, were spoiled of all they had, so as they were never able to« 
 
 » recover themselves again, for their goods, then taken away, were never restored, and« 
 
 »thus, what for love and what for fear of losses, they came flocking unto them from« 
 
 » every part.« 
 
 The King’s example was, of course, not lost upon his humble retainers, and so, Plundering 
 while he was robbing mansions and palaces, they went about ransacking huts and farmyards. the P easaDt 
 The author of the Deposition seems to have witnessed himself their outrages, and felt great 
 commiseration with the sufferers. Indeed, as if he had only reverence for, but no fellow- 
 feeling with the Great, and reserved all his warmhearted sympathy for the Low, he 
 never allundes to the above mentioned acts of injustice, committed against the rich and 
 men of position, but depicts, in vivid colours, what the » tillers of the grounds had to 
 suffer under the ruthless hands of Richard’s partisans. With the poor peasant, it would 
 seem, no ceremony whatever was used; with them, there was no need of courtly manners, 
 no need of talking about loans or fines: they were openly plundered, and beaten into 
 the bargain when they dared to complain, or when their poverty disappointed the de- 
 spoiler in his expectation : 
 
 (They) reden (rode) with realte (royalty) youre rewme thoru-oute, 
 
 And as tyrauntis of tiliers token (took) what hem liste (they liked), 
 
 And paide hem on her pannes (heads), whan her penyes lacked. 
 
 Ffor non of youre peple durste pleyne of here wrongis, 
 
 Ffor drede of youre dukys 69 ), and of her double harmes. 
 
 Who those » tyrants of tillers « were, does not appear from the Deposition, except that Cheshiremen. 
 they wore the King’s livery, the white hart ; but from other sources we know that it was 
 chiefly the King’s body-guard, his Cheshiremen, who by their outrageous conduct roused 
 the indignation of the people. 
 
 Before Richard had entered upon his mad career, before he ventured to lay 
 violent hands upon the most powerful and popular lords, to overthrow the constitutional 
 rights of the nation, and to commence his system of spoliation, he had taken care to sur- 
 round himself with an armed force, which he had chiefly drawn from Cheshire, a county 
 so loyal and so dear to him, that he styled himself Prince of Chester. 70 ) The more des- Prince of 
 potic he grew, and the more he knew himself hated by the nation, the more he relied Chester, 
 upon those Cheshiremen, 
 
 To watche hym aye wlier so ever he laye; 
 
 He dred hym aye so of insurreccion 
 Of the commons and of the people aye; 
 
 He trusted none of all his region 
 But Cheshiremenne for his proteccion. 
 
 Wherever he rode, with arowes and bowes bent 
 They were with hym aye redy at his entent. 
 
 Harding Chap. CXCII. 
 
 69 ) Alluding to the recently created Dukes. 
 
 70 ) He took upon him the name of the Prince of Chester, for love that he bore to the Cheshiremen. 
 (Qrafton Vol I, p. 46S). 
 
22 
 
 However, the more these praetorians were pampered by the King, the more insolent they 
 grew; and proud of the King’s favour, sure of his patronage, they obeyed but the dictates 
 of their lust and cupidity. Wherever the white harts came, there was violence and oppres- 
 sion, and curses followed their steps. 
 
 » These Oheshiremen« — says Grafton p. 464 — were rude and beastly people, and 
 » fell into such great prcyde of the Kinges favour that they accompted the King to he 
 »as their felowe 71 ) and they set the lordes at naught ; yet fewe or none of them were 
 »gentlemen, but taken from the plough and cart and other craftes; — and after these 
 »rusticall people had a while courted, they entered into so great a boldeness, that they 
 »would not let, neyther within the court nor without, to heate and stay the Kinges good 
 »subjectes, and to take from them their victuals, and to pay for them little or nothing, at 
 »their pleasure, and to ravish their wives and daughters. And if any man fortuned to 
 »complaine unto the King, he was soone ryd out of the way, no man knewe howe nor 
 »by whome, so that in effect they dyd what them lusted.* 
 
 The number of those Cheshiremen amounted to 10,000, and as a great body of 
 them always went with the King, (Dep. 9, 1. 5) it happened that » where the Prynce 
 dwellyd (Dep. 9, 1. 6)« there the insecurity of Life and Property was greatest, order 
 least maintained, and Justice least to be had. 72 ) But the evil did not even stop here. The 
 lawless conduct of those nearest the King and highest in power, had infected all the 
 branches of Legislature and Government, and by no means least of all the administration 
 of Justice. — Whilst hitherto foreigners often would envy England the security her 
 people enjoyed, it was, now, all but impossible to obtain Justice in any court of law. 
 JudgeB bribed.The judges were either open to bribery, (Dep. 25, 1. 6. »They prien (pry) after presentis 
 or (ere) pleyntis ben yclepid, and abateth all the billis of tho (those) that nought bringitha) 
 or overawed by the Great Lords and their retainers, or exposed to brutal violence. 
 
 It was a usual thing for Lords, Gentlemen, and even small proprietors, to form a 
 great retinue of people to whom they gave a sign or » livery « to wear, and who, thus 
 Maintenance. placed under the protection of their Lord, banded together for the avowed purpose of 
 supporting their Lord and each other in all quarrels, disputes, and lawsuits, no matter 
 whether right or wrong, reasonable or unreasonable. This nuisance, which in course of 
 time had grown almost into a system, was called » Maintenance « 73 ), and was — to quote 
 from Piet. Hist of England Vol. I, p. 884 — » really nothing else than the confederating 
 »to do wrong, not by the defiance, but by the aid, and under the direct authority, of the 
 »law.« 
 
 Maintenance did not date from Richard’s times, but ever since Edward I. com- 
 plaints had been raised, and statute after statute made, against it. Thus, in an ordinance 
 
 71) Cf. Dep. 6, 1. 20. 
 
 Tber (where) gromos (servants) and goodmen (masters) beth (are) all alike grette, 
 
 Woll wo beth the wones (houses) and all that woneth therin. 
 
 72) Art. V. (in the Act of impeachment against Richard), after enumerating the crimes of his Cheshire 
 malefactors, concludes: Licet super eorum hujusmodi excessibus graves querimoniae deferebantur ad audien- 
 tiain dicti Regis, idem tamen Rex super hiis justitiam sen remedium facere non curabat, sed favebat iisdem 
 gentibus in maleficiis eorum. Strype, Stowe’s Survey. 
 
 73) Maintenance is defined to be when a man maintains a suit of quarrell to the disturbance of hin- 
 drance of right. (Comyn’s Digest ^Maintenance 14 ). 
 
23 
 
 passed 1346, 20 Edw. III. c. 2, it is said: »We be informed that many bearers and 
 
 »maintainers of quarrels and parties in the country be maintained and borne by lords, 
 
 » whereby they be more encouraged to offend, and by procurements, covenant, and main- 
 »tenance of such bearers in the country many people be disinherited, decayed, and dis- 
 turbed of their rights, and some not guilty convict, and condemned, or otherwise oppres- 
 »sed.« The offences, however, increased, in number and violence, in Richard’s reign; and 
 it is remarkable that, in 1390, the very year after Richard had, in the Tournament at 
 Smithfield , adopted the White Hart as party cognizance, an act was passed, at the 
 petition of the commons, ordaining that »the Lords and great men of the realm should 
 »not give their men badges to wear as their cognizances. « That this law should have 
 been very effectual, it could hardly be expected, since the Sovereign himself continued to 
 set it at nought by distributing his own badge among his followers. So, we find the 
 author of the Deposition still complaining of the evils of »Maintenance«, and grieved at 
 the Law being lonyd thoru myghty lordis willys, 
 
 »That meyneteyne myssdoers more than other peple.« 
 
 »For mayntenaunce many day« — he asserts p. 25, 1. 10 — 
 
 »Hath y-had mo (more) men at mete and at melis (meals) 
 
 »Than ony cristen kynge that ye knewe evere.« 
 
 He strongly urges to take measures (Dep. 10, 1. 30). 
 
 »That no manere meyntenour shulde merkis bere, 
 
 »Ne have lordes levere the la we to apeire« (impair). 
 
 An other grievance was the revival or rather the abuse of the Courts of Chivalry. Since Courts of 
 Magna Charta (John’s Charter c. 30, Henry III. Charter c. 29) had enjoined that none Chivalry, 
 should be condemned, or injured in property »but by latoful judgment of Ins Peers or 
 by the Law of the Land «, and since Henry II. had established itinerant justices to decide 
 civil and criminal pleas in each county, no freeman could, whether in a civil or criminal 
 case, be legally compelled to take the law in a Court of Chivalry, where, according to 
 knightly custom, the point at issue was decided by single combat. Notwithstanding, in R’s 
 reign — we are informed by Holinshed Vol. II, p. 73 — many »of the King’s liege people 
 »were, through spite, enuie, and malice, accused, apprehended, and put in prison, and 
 »after brought before the constable and Marshal of England in the Court of Chivalry.« 
 
 The wrong and shame of these proceedings, and the public indignation were all the 
 greater because, for the most part, the accusers were young, str ong men, and the accused 
 old, weak, or infirm 74 ). 
 
 It is to this barbarous way of provoking and settling disputes, I think, that the 
 Deposition alludes p. 25, 1. 27. 
 
 »They constrewed quarellis to quenche the peple, 
 
 »And pletid (pleaded) with pollaxis and poyntis of swerdis, 
 
 »And at the dome givynge drowe out the bladis, 
 
 »And lente men levere of her longe battis. 
 
 7i ) Unde contigit quod quamplures ligeorum suorum malitiose accusati, capti fuerunt et imprisonati, non 
 excusandi aliter nisi commissa monomachia personali se justificarent, non obstanti quod aecusatorcs eoium 
 essent juvenes fortes et sani, et illi sic accusati senes impotentes, mutilati, vel infermi. Wals. Ypod. N. p. 154. 
 
24 
 
 To remedy so many evils in the administration of the Law, the author, in his humble 
 manner, veutures to propose, besides putting a stop to Maintenance, to appoint as judges 
 only upright and conscientious men, learned in the law 
 
 (Who so had Kunnynge and conscience bothe 
 To stonde unstombled and stronge in his wittes) 
 and give them »a sign* and somewhat be (by) yere 
 Routs of Ffor to kepe his contre in quiete and in reste. 
 
 Ruffianb. But, I dare say, the most unexceptionable of judges would not have prevailed in a 
 
 time when the supreme authority suffered the ends of justice perpetually to be defeated, 
 aud was uncapable of protecting judicial dignity. Under Richard, the judges were 
 threatened in the very seat of judgment, and Courts of Justice actually invaded by bands 
 of ruffians. As early as the second year of Richard, an ordinance was directed against 
 armed bands, which »confederated by oath, and refusing and setting apart all process of 
 »the law, rode in great routs through England — setting themselves in possession of 
 » manors and lands, and sometimes coming before the judges in their sessions in such a 
 »guise (armed) in great force, whereby the justices be afraid and not hardy to do the law.« 
 Though Richard was too young, then, to be held responsible for those excesses, the 
 statements of all the Chronicles tend to show that, under him, things never improved, but 
 grew worse and worse. 
 
 Law less state Froissart (III. 338) describes the state of things in England in these terms: Et 
 
 ofthe Country. 4t 0 it j us ti ce c i ose p ar toutes les cours d’Angleterre, dont les vaillans hommes, les prelats, 
 
 General dis- et les paisibles se commencereut grandement a 6bahir, Et n’osaient les marchands 
 
 content, chevaucher ni aller en leurs marchandises pour doute d’etre d6rob6s ; et ne s’en savoient 
 a qui plaindre, qui leur en fit droit, raison ni justice. Lesquelles choses 6toient moult 
 pr6judiciables et d6plaisans a toutes gens en Angleterre, et hors de leur coutume et usage, 
 car au rogaume d' Angleterre toutes gens , marchands et lahoureurs , ont appris de vivre 
 en paix et amener leurs marchandises paisiblement, et les laboureurs de leurs terres 
 vivre aussi ais6ment, selon ce que la saison ordonne et donne, et on leur faisoit tout le 
 contraire. Premierement quand les hommes alloient de ville en autre faire leurs marchan- 
 dises, si ils portoient or ou argent, on leur otoit en leurs bourses. Aux laboureurs on 
 prenoit en leurs maisons bl6s, avoines, boeufs, vaches, pores, brebis, et rCen osoient les 
 bonnes gens parler , et se commencerent ces mesfaits grandement a multiplier. Et tant 
 que les regrets et lamentations en furent par toute Angleterre. Et disoient les bonnes 
 gens: »Le temps nous est bien mu6 de bien en mal — times are sadly changed for the 
 y>worse — depuis la mort du bon roi Edouard de bonne m6moire. Justice etoit tenue et 
 »gard6e grandement. II n’^toit homme, tant fut hardi, qui osat prendre en Angleterre une 
 »poule ni un mouton sans payer. Et pour le present on nous ote le notre, et n’en osons 
 » parler. « Ainsi se multiplioient lamentations et paroles en plusieurs contr^es d’Angleterre; 
 et venoient les riches hommes d6meurer a Londres pour etre mieux assures. 
 
 Richard and his Council, however, were deaf to the complaints and murmurings, 
 which grew louder and louder every day. The whole nation, nobles and peasants, rich 
 o^Mo wbra ^ an( * P 00r ’ were e( l ua ^y disaffected ; but Richard did not see nor care, and went on reign- 
 and Henry Tf »ficrement«, and acknowledging no law but what proceeded from his own will. Led 
 
 Lancaster, either by a feeling of distrust, or by a desire of revenging ancient wrongs, he, finally, 
 
25 
 
 sent into banishment the two last Lords Appealers of the year 1387, his cousin Henry 
 Bolinbroke and his late confident, » Butcher « Mowbray, and when, soon after, the Duke of Seizure of 
 Lancaster died, he seized upon the whole of the Lancaster estates, alleging that Henry, the Lancaster 
 as a banished man, had no legal claim to his father’s inheritance. estates. 
 
 This act, however, proved to be as impolitic as it was unjust. — The country, Henry, 
 ripe for insurrection, wanted but a leader, and now this leader was found. When the 
 glaring injustice of the seizure of Henry’s property had directed all eyes towards that 
 prince, every body felt that from him, and from him alone, deliverance might be expected. 
 
 His power and influence in the country was great, for he stood well with the Lords, 
 temporal and spiritual, and his affable manners had endeared him to the common people; 
 his position near the throne, and the claim he himself could, eventually, profer to it, im- 
 posed upon him the duty of defending both the national rights and the dignity of the 
 Crown from being dragged into the dust by the unworthy occupant of the throne; and, 
 now, his private wrongs formed the strongest motive possible for making the people’s 
 cause his own. Henry, urged by so many considerations; pressed by his friends, (especially 
 Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury,) himself ambitious of power, most eagerly 
 watched his season. And he had not to watch long. 
 
 Neither Richard nor anyone of his Council perceived the signs of the approaching Expedition to 
 storm, for, at this perilous conjuncture, when everywhere the deeply seated discontents of Iielaild - 
 the nation were ready for explosion, the foolish and thoughtless monarch planned an 
 expedition to Ireland, in revenge of the death of the Earl of March, slain in ambush by 
 the »wilde Irishe«. The funds necessary for this expedition were partly taken out of Blank 
 
 the Lancaster spoils, partly raised by a method too characteristic of Richard’s way of charters> 
 governing, to be omitted. »This year* (1399), says Holinshed (Vol. II), »he caused 17 
 » shires, by waie of putting them to their fines, to paie no small summes of monie for 
 » redeeming their offenses, that they had aided the Duke of Glocester and the Earls of 
 » Arundel and Warwick, when they rose in arms. The fines which the nobles and other 
 » meaner estates of those shires had to paie, were not small, but exceedingly great. « And 
 to keep these counties in subjection during his absence, he compelled Towns, well-to- 
 do landowners, and Lords spiritual to sign blank charters 75 ), to be filled up at pleasure, 
 and written documents in which they declared: 
 
 »Because that ere before this tyme we have grievously offended Your Majesty, we 
 »give unto you us and all our godis at your wille«. 
 
 Leaving this new cause of discontent behind, and entrusting the care of government 
 at home to his uncle York, and to Bagot, Bushy, Green, and Scroope, he, with his best troops, 
 set out for Ireland, on the 29 th of May, and disembarked at Waterford, on the 31 th . But 
 While he werrid be west on the wilde Yrishe, 
 
 Henry was entrid on the Est half (Dep. 1, 1. 10). 
 
 Henry Bolinbroke, accompanied by 15 lances 76 ) only, landed at Ravenspur in York-Henry’s return, 
 
 joy of the 
 
 75 ) And then the Kynge made full fell arraye, people. 
 
 In every shire blank charters to bee sealed, 
 
 For cause his actis should not bee respected. (Harding I. 194). 
 
 Shaksp. Kich. II. Act. I sc. 4. Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters etc. 
 
 76 ) Non amplius quam 15 lanceas habuerat: tantum fidebat dux de sua justitia populique favore. (Wal- 
 singhara Ypod. p. 255). 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 shire on the 4 th of July, and though he, then, solemnly declared that he had come for no 
 other purpose but to claim his inheritance, people flocked from all sides so eagerly round 
 him, and encouraged him so much to take the reins of government into his own hands, 
 that he soon yielded to their desires. On his march upon London, every day added to 
 his power. »No snowball«, says Tyrrel (Hist, of Engl. Vol. III. p. II, 996) »could increase 
 » faster by rolling than the Duke of Lancaster’s forces were augmented by his march. « 
 In London the joy at the news of his approach was immense. The day of his entry into 
 the city was one of general jubilee. All citizens made a holiday, and went to meet him: 
 »Issirent«, says Froissart, » homines, femmes, eufants, clerge, cliacun qui mieux mieux a 
 M’encontre de lui — Taut avoient graud ddssir de le voir, et quand ils le virent., ils 
 »crierent a haute voix: a joie, a bien, et a prosp6rit6 nous vienne le desir6 Monsieur 
 » Darby et de Lancastre.« 
 
 Amidst the acclamations of the jubilant multitude, the Duke, accompanied by the 
 Henry at Mayor of London, made his entry into the city, and there a solemn treaty was concluded 
 London, between him and the Londoners »that he should be their Lord and King and take upon 
 »him the burden of government for ever, he and his heirs. « Et ainsi, says Froissart, 
 les Londriens lui jurerent, escripserent et scellerent. 
 
 And, thus, the voice of the people had invested Henry with royal power, even be- 
 fore the votes of Lords and Commons had solemnly acknowledged him as King. 
 
 Warwick set The first use he made of his power, was to release from prison the Earl of War- 
 
 free. w ick and such as w'ere suffering with him in the same cause : 
 
 »He bly tiled the Beere and his broud *) (bond) braste.« Dep. 18, 1. 2. Then he set 
 out to destroy what forces Richard’s party might lead against him, and to punish the 
 accomplices and abettors of Tyranny. He nowhere met any resistance; everywhere he 
 was received with joy, and no sword drawn in Richard’s cause. The white harts 
 (Dep. 8, 1. 17) 
 
 stode astonyed (astonished), and stared for drede, 
 
 ffor eye (awe) of the Egle (Henry) that our helpe brouute. 
 
 So ryffe (frequent) as they roune 77 ) youre rewme thoru-oute, 
 
 That non at your nede youre name wolde nempne 
 
 In ffersnesse (fierceness) ne in ffoltheed (folly), but fast file away-ward. 
 
 All efforts of Richard’s commissioners to stem the flood of insurrection proved in vain. »The 
 
 »Duke of York wolde have gone against Henry, but no man wolde followe 1dm, and Sir 
 
 »W. Scroope, treasurer of England, offrid men wonder large wages, but he coude no man 
 »have for no money. (Holinshed). 
 
 Duke of York Then the Duke of York resigned his Commission, but Bagot, Bushy, Greene, and 
 resigns. Scroope, having no mercy to hope for, retired to Bristol, the stronghold of Richard’s 
 
 *) Broud (left unexplained by Wright, and, to my knowledge, occurring in Dep. only) is, no doubt, 
 connected with „braid“ (Flechte), here: rope, bond. — Chaucer, Knight’s tale 191, has the verb to browd: 
 „her hair was browded in a tress. “ 
 
 77 ) lioune is explained as „whisper“ by Wright — but as Richard’s riotous bands did anything but 
 whisper, and as, besides, the phrase requires not a present, but a past tense, I believe „roune“ is miswritten 
 for „ronne“. (Imperf. run). 
 
27 
 
 power, where, after a short siege of the town, all four of them where taken prisoners 
 by Henry. 
 
 It is not unlikely that the author of the Dep. was in Bristol at that time, and Bristol events, 
 witnessed all that took place there, for he himself informs the reader (Dep. 1, 1. 2) 
 that the first tidings of Henry’s landing reached him in that town, and events followed 
 so quickly, that, even if Bristol was not the author’s place of residence, he may have been 
 still in the town, when Henry, in pursuit of the fugitives, arrived. At any rate, he seems 
 to have been well informed as to the fate of the four prisoners. Bushy, Greene, and Bushy, Green, 
 Scroope were, forthwith, beheaded, but Bagot succeeded in escaping. All Chronicles agree Scr0 °P e > 
 that he made his escape into Ireland, and Tyrrel asserts that it was Bagot who brought Bagot 
 the first tidings of Henry’s arrival to Richard. But Bagot’s name being never mentioned 
 among those who were with Richard on the return of that unfortunate monarch to Eng- 
 land, it seems doubtful whether he ever joined him. He was, however, recaptured, — from 
 a line in the Deposition I should conclude, in Lancaster, — placed in the Tower, and 
 afterwards examined before Parliament as a witness against Glocester’s murderers. 
 
 This examination is of interest to the reader of the Deposition, because it is the 
 latest event distinctly alluded to in the Poem. It took place Friday and Saturday after 
 Henry’s Coronation (Fabyan Vol. I, 23), viz. 17 th and 18 th Oct. 1399. 
 
 When Richard heard all that had happened, »he came in haste out of Ireland into Richard in 
 »Wales, and abode in the Castle of Flynt to take council what was best to do, but no Wales. 
 »council cam to him; and all his host landed in diverse parties, and would not follow 
 »him.« At last Richard sent two messengers to Henry to treat with him, or rather hear 
 his terms; but the Duke of Surrey was, at once, thrown into prison, and the Duke of Exeter 
 was received only after he had laid aside Richard’s badge, the white hart, and assumed 
 the white rose. On the 19 th of August Henry himself and Thomas Arundel went to 
 Richard, and » after a few wordis told him shortle he sholde no longer regn.« 
 
 »Thou hast not reuled thi reume and thi peple« — spoke Arundel — »but hast spoiled 
 » thaym be fals raysyngis of taxes and tallages, not to the profit of the reme, but for to 
 »fullfille and satisfie thi cursid couitise and pride. Thou hast alwey be rewlid be fals 
 »flaterers, folowyng thair counsel, thaym avauncyng before alle other trew men, refusyng the 
 » counsel of thi trew lordis; and because thay wolde have withstonde thi cursid malice, as 
 »reson wolde, thou hast thaym slain unrightfullie, and disherited thair heiris for ever- 
 »more. Thou hast also livid incontinentli and lecherousli, and with thi foulle and cursed 
 »ensample thou hast enfected thi court and thi reme.« 
 
 Then the captive King was led in triumph to London, and lodged in the Tower Richard taken. 
 (Sept. 1). Parliament, summoned by writs which Richard had been made to sign, assem- 
 bled on the 13 th of Sept. — Most of its members had been in the Great Parliament, 
 but their feelings may, in the mean time, have undergone a complete revolution, 
 
 (in sothe, whan they sembled, some dede repente. Dep. 2, 1. 4) 
 and now that the tide of events was running high against Richard, the subservient tools 
 of old were quite ready to turn into his stern judges. 
 
 The King having been, de facto, deprived of his regal power, the only question was, 
 how his deposition and the accession of the new King could be clothed in legal forms, 
 
 Tor Henry and his Parliament were equally anxious to legalize the proceedings, and plant 
 he new dynasty upon a constitutional basis. For this purpose, an Act of Accusation 
 
 4 * 
 
28 
 
 was drawn up, stating in 38 Articles the public grievances and Richard’s crimes, such 
 as the deaths of Glocester and Arundel, Henry Bolinbroke’s banishment, the arming of a 
 body-guard, the misdeeds of the Cheshiremen , the arbitrary raising of taxes, the undue 
 removing of sherifs from their offices and instituting others in their stead, Richard’s declar- 
 . ing that the lives of his subjects were all in his, the King’s, hands, the substituting of 
 the Courts of Chivalry for the ordinary Law Courts, etc. — The act having been read to 
 Richard, on the 29 th of Sept., in presence of several Bischops, Earls, and Barons, he 
 resigned his crown, in favour of his Cousin Bolinbroke. 
 
 Deposition. After the act of resignation had been read before, and accepted by, Parliament, the 
 next day, Henry rose to claim the now vacant throne with these words: 
 
 »In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I, Henry of Lancaster, challenge this 
 » realm of England, as I am descended by right line of blood from the good Lord, King 
 » Henry III. « 
 
 Parliament assented, and thus Henry, the first of the Lancaster line, was King of 
 
 England; he was crowned a fortnight after, on the 13 th of Oct. 1399. 
 
 The first care of the new King and Parliament was to annul, and declare void, all 
 
 the statutes and Commissions made by the Great Parliament, and to restore to their 
 
 rightful possessions all those that had been deprived of their estates or inheritances. 
 
 Dukes un- To the deposed King’s followers Henry and his Council showed themselves merciful ; 
 duked.- none 0 f them was put to death, though the people loudly murmured »contra regem et 
 »Archiepiscum Cant: quod vitas salvassent hominum, quos vulgus sceleratissimos et morte 
 »dignissimos reputabat.« (Wals. Hist. p. 402). — But they were stripped of their illgotten 
 wealth and honors. 
 
 (Dep. 8, 1. 19). In sothe the seson was paste 
 
 Ffor hertis y-heedid so hy (high) and so noble 
 
 To make any myrthe (mirth), ffor mowting (moulting) nyghed. 
 
 »They lost« — as the Dep. says at an other place, p. 13 — 
 
 »They lost lemes (gleam, Glauz) the leveste (liebste) they had.® 
 
 For in the same Parliament it was decreed that Aumerle, Surrey, and Exeter, who had been 
 appealers against Arundel, should lose the titles of Dukes, and that, likewise, the Marquis 
 of Dorset and the Count of Glocester, advanced to their dignities at the time of the 
 Great Parliament, should be deprived of them, and restore all they had received with 
 their titles. (Wals. Hist. p. 401). Bagot, after having undergone his examination on the 17 th 
 and 18 th of Oct., was pardoned, and set free by Henry, »the hende Eagle, « whose clemency, 
 though blamed by the common people, is highly praised by all writers and chroniclers. 
 John Gower, in his Chronica tripartita [p. 421] refers to the events just related, in 
 these words: 
 
 Ejus (Ric.) fautores, qui sunt de sorte priores, 
 
 Tunc accusati sunt ad responsa vocati. 
 
 Hi responsales submittunt se speciales 
 
 Judicio Regis (Henry), per quem silet ultio legis; 
 
 Regia nam pietas sic temporat undique metus, 
 
 Quod nil mortale datur illis judiciale ; 
 
 Est tamen ablatum quod eis fuit ante beatum, 
 
29 
 
 Vocibus Anglorum venerabile nomen eorum. 
 
 Corpora stant tuta, cecidit sed fama minuta; 
 
 Dux redit in comitem, quatit et sic curia litem, 
 
 Labitur exosus Bagot, quem rex pietosus 
 
 Erigit, et mite prolongat tempora vitae. Bagot. 
 
 The King and his lieges. 
 
 These, then, are the events which form the ground work of the Deposition, and in 
 the midst of which that remarkable poem has been written. As the Author, though 
 alluding to the Parliament (of 1399) being assembled, is yet uncertain »how so wondir- 
 full werkis wolde have an ende« (Dep. 2, 1. 3), and whether Richard is to be his »gioure« 
 
 (governor) again, he must have commenced writing about the time of Richard’s arrest 
 (Sept. 1), and as no event is mentioned posterior to Bagot’s examination (Oct. 18), we 
 may infer that the poem, such as we have got it, was composed in the months of 
 September and October 1399, exactly the time when public excitement and expectation 
 were at their highest , and when the impression of those events, so deeply interesting to 
 him, was fresh upon the author’s mind. This consideration does not only give a peculiar 
 zest to the perusal of the poem, but allows us to take the composition as expressive of 
 the spirit and sentiments of the times rather than as setting forth the opinions of an 
 individual, and makes us feel sure that what the author expresses, was thought and felt 
 by thousands around him. 
 
 From this point of view I have, at least, tried to explain to myself one trait in the 
 poem, that struck me, at the first reading, as rather singular. It is this : There is some 
 incompability between the reverential and cautious manner in which, at first, the author 
 proceeds to offer counsel and warning to his sovereign, and the rude boldness with which 
 he, afterwards, assails and upbraids him. To explain this apparent contradiction by treat- 
 ing the words of respect as mere terms of courtesy without meaning, or by assuming that 
 the author grew bold as Richard’s chances diminished, would be doing wrong to the 
 honest man, for in Passus II, (Dep. 10, 1. 19), when, after exposing Richard’s folly of 
 » marking his lieges «, he is about to profer his advice, he evinces the same timidity and 
 fear of » displeasing his demer « by volunteering his »rede«. The true explanation, I 
 should think, may be found in the views and sentiments which the author’s station in 
 Life, the spirit of his Time and his Nation, and the vigorous cast of his mind forced 
 upon him touching Royalty. To all appearance, he belonged to the Middle Classes, sharing 
 with them the unbounded reverence and awe in which the mass of the people stood of 
 Royalty, but animated, at the same time, by that sturdy and enterprising spirit for 
 which Buckle says the inhabitants of the British Island have long been remarkable, which 
 spoke through the citizens of London in their interview with King Richard in 1386, and 
 which prompts any truehearted man fearlessly to say what he thinks right to say, even 
 at the risk of offending the Great. 
 
 As regards the reverence of the people for Royalty, we must bear in mind that, Loyalty of 
 for centuries now , the inhabitants of Great Britain had been under the sway of their the English. 
 Norman Kings, that Monarchy was the very cornerstone of the British Constitution and 
 that, in spite of her rebellion against her King, England was more monarchical, perhaps, 
 
30 
 
 in Richard’s time, than she is even now. At that period, republican ideas had not sprung 
 into life yet, and no class of the community, no political party had thought it desirable, or 
 even conceived it possible, that a great nation should govern itself without a monarch. The 
 proud Norman baron, the sturdy Saxon yeoman, the thriving merchant, the poor craftsman 
 and the wretched labourer, all felt alike in this, that they considered a monarchical head 
 politically indispensable. Lords and Commons, in their struggle against the Crown, never 
 thought of contesting its supremacy; and the poor peasant, the wretched bondsman, 
 was only too glad to have a power to which he might look up for protection against his 
 feudal oppressors. In Wat Tyler’s rebellion, when labourers, peasants, and villeins rose 
 to demand their rights as men; when, excited by John Ball the priest’s preachings on 
 the equality of men, exasperated by an unjust tax, and infuriated by the brutality of the 
 King’s taxgatherer, those poor, illtreated creatures went about, slaying a Bishop, killing 
 judges, and burning gentlemen’s houses; when they made the very streets of London ring with 
 seditious cries, they never thought of upsetting the throne or hurting the King 78 ) ; on the 
 contrary, they placed their chief hope in him, a boy of sixteen, and began ruefully to 
 disperse 79 ) when that boy, quietly walking among them, said: » Good people, you have 
 no leader but me; I am your King. Keep your peace. « 
 
 Ever since the Norman Conquest, the King of England had, legally, been all that 
 the Conqueror had desired he should be: the centre of authority, the Lord paramount 
 of all the land, to whom every freeholder had sworn allegiance, the headspring of honour, 
 the fountain of justice, the administrator of the public revenue, and the chief whose banner 
 all liege men were bound to follow. As his power, his authority, and his high descent 
 threw into the shade even the great barons and feudal lords, who, owing to the Con- 
 queror’s wise arrangements, never acquired the insubordinate power the continental 
 nobles enjoyed, was it not natural that the mass of the people, who only gradually were 
 emerging from a state of oppression and subjection, and who were neither expected nor 
 entitled, like the Barons, ever to attend the King’s Court and Council, should stand in awe of 
 their sovereign, whom they had once hated and feared as their oppressor, and whom they 
 now longed to revere 80 ) as the guardian of their domestic peace and national honour? 
 In the wasteful reigns of Edward III and Richard II, the Commons — as a political body — 
 had grown into importance; but, still, they were aware of their humble position with 
 respect to the throne, afraid of incurring the King’s displeasure, and shy of incroaching 
 upon his prerogatives. 81 ) 
 
 This humble, loyal timidity of a Commoner, this fear lest the Sovereign should 
 
 78 ) Wat Tyler said: Kill every one of them, except the King, whom you must not harm; he is young, 
 and we can make him do whatever we like. Froiss. II 161. 
 
 79 ) Tantot que Tyler fut atterrd, le roi se par tit de ses gens tout seul, et dit: Detneurez ici, nul ne 
 me suive. Lors vint il au devant de ces folles gens , qui s’ordonaient pour venir venger leur capitaine , et 
 leur dit: „Seigneurs, que vous faut? Yous n’avez nul autre capitaine que moi; je suis votre roi. Tenoz vous en 
 paix “ Dont il advint que le plus de ces gens, sitdt qu’ils virent et ouirent parler le roi, ils furent tout 
 honteux, et se commencbrent a ddfuir. Froiss. II 162. 
 
 80 ) Cf. the beautiful passage in Dep. (p. 5, 1. 17 s.): Ye were Crowned with a crown, that king under 
 heaven Might not a better have bought etc. 
 
 81 ) Thomas Haxey, a clergyman, proposed (22. Januar 1399) a law for reducing the expenses of the 
 King’s Household etc. The King was incensed ; whereupon the commons delivered up the obnoxious bill, 
 and expressed their deepest concern that they had offended the King. (Henry, Hist. IV. 405 s.) 
 
31 
 
 take offence, combined with a sincere pity for the fallen Monarch, manifests itself in 
 the lines in which the author of the Depos. approaches Richard to offer him counsel and 
 warning. Encouraged, however, by a sense of duty to his liege lord, he speaks ; and when 
 he speaks to state the grievances of the country, he does so with all the sturdy frankness 
 of a true Briton, the uncourtly manner of his station, and the rudeness of his time. 
 
 That he should assail the King himself, that he should hold him personally respon- 
 sible, is also characteristic, and altogether in harmony with the spirit of the movement 
 which led to Richard’s deposition. 
 
 In those times, the absurd doctrine as to the Right Divine of Kings, unconditional 
 obedience, etc. had not yet been propounded, nor had the constitutional principle of our 
 own time, that the King could do no wrong, been established, though, from the impeach- 
 ments of Edward Ill’s and Richard’s ministers, it may be concluded that the principle 
 had begun to be patronized. As yet Monarchy stood upon that basis on which the Con- Sub lege rex. 
 queror had placed it by introducing the Norman feudal system. When he caused all 
 holders of land to take the oath of fealty to him 82 ), he made the King the Chief of the 
 nation and Lord Supreme of all land, but prevented, at the same time, that Chief from 
 ever attaining the unlimited rights of an Eastern Despot over his subjects or even the 
 irresponsible power of an absolute Monarch; for the essence of Feudalism is a reciprocity 
 of duties; and whilst the King, as Liegelord, was entitled to claim the services, aids, and 
 tallages of his Liegemen, they, in their turn, would expect to have their lives and pro- 
 perty defended, and the law of the land protected, by their Lord and King. In England, 
 therefore, each freeman, including the King, had a public duty to fullfill, and the author 
 of the Dep. justly declares (p. 23, 1. 23) that »rewlers of rewmes« were not allowed 
 To leve al at likynge and lust of the world, 
 
 But laboure on the lawe, as lewde (ignorant) men on plowes. 
 
 Hence, when instead of fullfilling those duties, instead of upholding the laws, and 
 protecting his subjects from wrong, a sovereign would rob them, and suffer them to be 
 robbed, by unjust taxations, confiscations, and lawless routs; would cause, or suffer, them 
 to be deprived of their lives by brutal murder and arbitrary executions ; and would even 
 dare to set himself above all law: — he might well be considered as being out of the 
 pale of the Constitution, and having forfeited the right of wearing the Crown. 83 ) 
 
 Notions like these were abroad at the time of the insurrection against Richard, 
 they were entertained by the leaders of the movement, and are, I think, traceable in 
 the poem, whose author is evidently anxious to justify the Act of Deposition, and represent 
 
 82 ) At Salisbury, 1086, where each landowner had to kneel down and swear: I become your man, 
 from this day forth, of life, of limb, and of earthly worship, and unto you will be true and faithful, and 
 hear you faith for the land I hold of you, so help me God. Creasy. Const. Engl. 88. 
 
 83 ) The principle of the King’s responsibility was, to a certain degree, recognized in Art. 61 of John’s 
 Charter, which ordains, that, if any of the King’s officers should break any of the articles (agreed upon 
 between King and barons) — and if it should not be redressed by the King: — the Commission of 25 barons 
 should distrain and distress the King in all possible ways, by seizing his castles, lands, possessions, and in 
 any manner they could, till the grievance be redressed according to their pleasure, saving harmless the 
 King’s person, and the persons of his Queen and Children. (Magna Charta) Creasy, p. 161 squ. 
 
 In Henry VHl’s reign, Sir Thomas More, on examination by the Solicitor General, declared as his 
 opinion that parliament had power to depose Kings if it so pleased. Froude, Hist, of Engl. p. 67. 
 
32 
 
 Henry as the rightful heir to the Crown, by designating Richard as the »wrong leader «, 
 who himself had allegiance destroyed , and Henry as the » free father «, whom, after he 
 had returned » to his own«, all people cheerfully followed y>as good feith wolde.a 
 
 The Author. 
 
 W. Skeat (in his Edition of the Vision of Piers Plowman) maintains that no one 
 but W. Langland, the author of P. PL, can have written the Deposition. In favour of this 
 view much may be said. Langland, who was still writing his P. PI. in 1380, may have 
 lived to witness Richard’s fall ; and it cannot be denied that the form of the Deposition, 
 the spirit the poem breathes, many peculiarities of language, grammar and dialect, and 
 several passages and phrases, do stroDgly remind us of Piers Plowman. And if the author 
 of the latter poem is not identical with him that wrote the Dep. , both must have been 
 kindred souls: earnestness, truthfulness, honesty, love of justice, sympathy with the 
 oppressed, loyalty are the characteristics of either. 
 
 And yet, after a careful perusal of the two poems, doubts will arise, whether really 
 both can have been written by the same man. As to the differences in language, I will 
 only remark that the word »worth«, as future tense of »to be« (Germ, wird), is of fre- 
 quent use in P. PL, but never employed in the Dep. As regards the person of the author, 
 Langland belongs to the clerical order; he is a scholar, a »clerk«, well acquainted with 
 Latin, and constantly quoting from Latin Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church; he 
 has great reverence for Koly Church, and frequently invokes Saints and Apostles; he is 
 a moral teacher, always ready to point out eternal punishment as the awful consequence 
 of sin. Skeat believes him to have been a poor man, who earned a precarious living by 
 singing psalms and dirges, and writing out legal documents. 
 
 Now, the style of writing in the Deposition, and the few hints the author drops 
 about himself, seem to indicate quite a different sort of man. Our author was apparently 
 neither a clergyman nor a scholar. Though he must have been versed in booklore, (for 
 he blames him »that nevere reeds good rewle ne resons bookis«), he nowhere betrays the 
 slightest knowledge of classics, never quotes a Latin phrase, and speaks of clerks as if 
 he did not count himself among their number (»a clerk were that wuste!« Dep. 6, 1. 2 
 and »as clerkis me tolde « p. 15, 1. 27). Besides, the whole drift of his reasonings is 
 worldly, he never speaks of Church nor Saints: (though of the »Lord of the seven sterris« 
 and »Christ that me boughte«), and instead of dwelling upon the sinfulness of Vice, he 
 merely exposes the practical consequences of a vicious policy. He may have been none 
 of the wealthy, for he says »though I lite hade«; but the little he prossessed, seems to 
 have consisted in beasts and chattels for which he owed allegiance to the King. All 
 this makes me inclined to think that he was a small freeholder; an opinion which decidedly 
 is supported by his evident knowledge of, and interest in, the sufferings of tHe rural 
 population. I suppose he lived in the neighbourhood of Bristol, a town which he knew 
 well, in which he first heard of Henry’s return, and where he had ample opportunity of 
 getting acquainted with Richard’s Courtlife, since Richard frequently resided there. 
 However, I hardly venture to pronounce a decided opinion about this question, and leave it 
 till better wittis han waitid it over. 
 
33 
 
 Form and Language. 
 
 The metre is alliterative, a form employed in Early Anglo-Saxon poetry, received 
 again into favour in the middle of the XIV Century, and adopted in Piers Plowman. The 
 alliteration is not combined with final rhyme— except in one or two cases where the rhyme 
 may be accidental — nor with syllabic metre, though, owing to the frequent occurrence 
 of lines with four (seldom five or more) accentuated syllables separated by two (or three) 
 unaccented ones, a kind of dactylic rhythm is frequently produced; for inst: 
 
 Dep. 5, 1. 19. So dull was it ffilled | with virtuous stones, 
 
 With p6rles of prise | to punnisshe the wrongis. 
 
 Most of the lines end in a trochaeus preceded by a dactylus, so that the second half of 
 each line generally has the rhythmical form : ^ ^ ^ 
 
 The chief characteristic, however, is the correspondence of the first letter of a certain 
 number of the most important words, or rather syllables, in each line, the lines being, 
 by a sort of Caesure, divided each into two half-lines, of which the first contains two, the 
 latter one emphatic word whose chief syllables begin with the same letter, either con- 
 sonant or vowel. The third letter is called the chief -letter , the two rhyming letters of 
 the first half-line are the sub-letters. 
 
 Thus the second of the above lines has p for its rhyming letter; the sub-letters begin 
 pcrlis and prise , the chief-letter begins punnyshe. 
 
 There are occasional irregularities, as the omission of one or even of both the sub-letters: 
 ffor eZrede that they had | of demynge here after; 
 
 And no thing y-lafte | but the bare baggis; 
 or the chief-letter does not begin the most emphatic word of the second half-line, as : 
 Thilke lewde ladde | oughte evy^ to thrive; 
 
 but lines without any alliteration are quite exceptional. More frequent are the cases 
 in which the alliteration is supported by more than three letters, as: 
 
 To paye the pore peple | that his purveyors toke. 
 
 As regards Orthography (which is rather whimsical), a peculiarity must be noticed, viz. 
 the use of ff instead of f at the beginning of syllables. Wright says, he carefully retain- 
 ed this peculiarity of the M. S., »because it might mark some local pronunciation. « If 
 such be the case, we have reason to suppose that the pronunciation of f did not differ 
 much from that of v, — for ff occurs very frequently as a chief-letter in lines which have 
 v as sub-letters, and vice versa, for inst: 
 
 Dep. 21. So vertue wolde jflowe, | where vices were ebbed. 
 
 — 16. And they /olwid the voice | at the j^irst note; 
 
 — 18. At each mevinge ffo ote j venyaunce they asked; 
 
 — 27. Devourers of vitaille | that ^‘oughte, er they paide; and line 19, p. 5 
 
 quoted above. 
 
 Now, it is the Southern dialects of England that — cf. Morris Hist. Outlines of Engl. 
 Accidence p. 44 — are fond of using v, where the other dialects have f; hence, the 
 peculiar use of the ff in the Depos. seems to point to a Southern origin of the poem.*) 
 
 *) R. of Gloceater, who wrote in a Southern dialect, most frequently uses v for f. V is several times 
 
 made alliterative with f in Piers PI., but never in the Plowman’s Crede, W. of Palerne, The Deluge, and 
 
 other alliterative Poems of the XIV. Cent, written in the Midland dialects. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 The dialect is, however, by no means pure, for the Southern »th«, as the inflection 
 for the plural form of the indicative, is mixed , just as it is in Piers PL, with the Mid- 
 land »en« for the same form: they woneth, they hopen. 
 
 For the rest, the grammatical forms betray the general characteristics of the Southern 
 dialects of the XIV century. 
 
 Nouns form their Plural in es, is (ys), s, sometimes in us, (feldus, wullus), rarely in n 
 (eyren = eggs) ; Genitive ends in es, is (the Kingis will), or s (felouns castis); 
 but also: the shire knyghtis. — The plural and definite form of the 
 Adj. generally ends in e ; The Comparative is sometimes doubled : more better. The ter- 
 mination of Adverbs is »e, ly, and liche.« 
 
 The relative Pronoun is that , but whom also occurs, in reference to persons; that 
 may refer to a preceding pron. poss. (his passion that prince was of Wales). The follow- 
 ing Pronouns differ from the modern forms : thu (thou), ye (you, Norn.), (you is Accus.), 
 hem (them), you self (yourself and yourselves), hemself (themselves), youre (your), oure 
 (our), her and here (their), thi (thy), tho (those), ho so (whoever), what so (whatever), 
 swyche and thilke (such, the like). 
 
 Infinitive of Verbs ends in e and n (to ryhgtyn, to covere); Participle pres., in ynge 
 or inge; Part, past has generally the prefix y, and ends, in weak verbs, in id, ed, or in ide 
 (y-poudride); Imper. sing, in e, plur. in th (displese thu, harkeneth); Indie, pres. 2 d - pers. 
 in est, ist, ste, 3 d - pers. th; Plural, generally in th, but also in n, or without particular 
 termination (they recchith, they usyn, they boru). — Imperf. of weak verbs based, id, ede, 
 ide, ud (pluckud), or de; Imperf. of strong verbs has sometimes n in Plural, sometimes 
 drops it, (they flowen, they gaf); Subjunctive mood has e. Remarkable forms of Auxiliary 
 verbs are : beth and ben (are) ; weren, whore, where (were) ; be (been) ; to ben (to be) ; 
 they han (have); hadde and y-had (had); mowe (may); they mowen (may); maiste (mayst); 
 woll (will); thu well (thou wilt); wolde, wulde (would) ; shuldist (shouldst); shullde, shuld, 
 sholde, (should); coullde, coulde, coughte, couthe (could); oute (ought). 
 
 Anomolous forms: write (written), y-makide (made), do or y-do (done), wiste or 
 wuste (knew), fle (fled), growe (grown), wesshe (washed). 
 
 Negative forms : nas (was not), nys (is not), nadde (had not), nolde (would not), not 
 (know not), nyste (knew not). 
 
 Contents of the Poem. 
 
 The Deposition is considered to be a continuation of Piers Plowman, at the conclusion 
 of which poem Conscience is left taking his pilgrim’s staff and wandering over the world, 
 in search of Piers PI. — The Deposition, whose author soon drops the Allegory to speak 
 in his own name, commences: 
 
 And as I y»assid in my ^reiere ther | (where) prestis were at messe, 
 
 In a ilessid borough | that .Bristow 1 ) is named, 
 
 J) Bristol; — the ancient Celtic name was Caer Oder (city of the Gap), of which Bric-stow (break, 
 stow), the oldest English form, was but a translation. — Froissart writes Bristo; Robert Manning of Brunue, 
 a Lincolnshire man, Bristolle. 
 
35 
 
 In a temple of the teinite, | the teune even amyddis, 
 
 That Cristis Chirche is cleped 2 ) | amonge the comune peple, 
 
 Sodeynly ther sourdid 3 ) | selcouthe 4 ) thingis, 
 
 A grett wondir to wyse men, | as it well myght, 
 
 And tZowtes 5 ) ffor to cZeme, | ffor cZrede comynge after. 
 
 So sore were the sawis | of bothe two sidis, 
 
 Of iZichard that regned | so riche and so noble, 
 
 That ?«yle he werrid be west | on the vmlde Yrrisshe, 
 
 Henri was entrid | on the est half, 
 
 Whom all the Zonde Zoved | in Zengthe and in brede, 
 
 And rosse with him rapely 6 ) | to rightyn his wronge, 
 
 Ffor he shullde hem serve | of the same 7 ) after. 
 
 As these tales prove to be true, the author is greatly troubled, 
 
 How so wondirffull werkis | wolde have an ende. 
 
 I had pete of his passion, 8 ) — he says, — | that prince was of Walis, 
 
 And eke 9 ) oure crouned ATynge, | till Crist woll 10 ) no lenger; 
 
 And as a Zord to his Ziage 11 * ), | though I Zite hade, 
 
 All myn hoole herte was his, | while he in helthe regnid. 
 
 And ffor (because) I wost (knew) not witterly (for certain) | what shulde fall, 
 Whedir God wolde peve him | prace sone to amende, 
 
 To be oure pioure 13 ) apeyn, ] or praunte it another, 13 ) 
 
 This made me to muse | many tyme and ofte, 
 
 Ffor to written him a iwritte, [ to wissen 14 ) him better, 
 
 And to meuve him of mysserewle, | his mynde to reffresshe, 
 
 Ffor to preise the prynce | that paradise 15 ) made, 
 
 To fullfill him whith ffeith | and fortune above, 
 
 And not to grucchen a grott 16 ) | ageine Godis sonde, 17 ) 
 
 But mekely to suffre | what so him sent were. 
 
 The author would be »gladde that his (Richard’s) gost myghte glade be (by) his wordis, 
 and grame if it greved him.« He is sure to offer the soundest advice that can be given 
 to any »Cristen King«, and he offers it, because, 
 
 As his body and his beste (beast) oute to be his liegis, 
 
 So rithfully be reson his rede 18 ) shuld also. 
 
 He has, therefore, »traveiled on this tretis with all his five wittis,« » to teclie men 
 therafter to be war 19 ) of wylffulness, 20 ) lest wondris arise ,« and wishes that the King 
 may see and read it, and have it corrected by his council — »lete youre Conceill corrette 
 
 2 ) called. 3 ) Fr. sourdre = sortir de la terre, arise. 4 ) seldom known = strange. 5 ) fear; Folc 
 
 stod in gret wonder and doute (R. of Glocester). 6 ) rapidly, speedily, — cf. Dutch rap, G. raffen, Lat. rapio. 
 
 7 ) de meme 8 ) sufferings. 9 ) (auch) also. 10 ) will; the pres, tense proving that this part was written 
 
 previous to Richard’s deposition. H) Dep. has the term „suget a but once; in all other instances, the author 
 
 designates the King’s subjects as his n lieges“ or his „men u . 12) governor; (from guider. Fr.). 13 ) viz. grant 
 
 the country another ruler. 74 ) teach, G. weisen. I 5 ) In relative clauses, the object is placed before the verb. 
 
 16 ) Groat; not a groat and not a peer (pear) stand, like not a bit, not a straw, for the simple „not“. 77 ) what 
 
 was sent. 1®) advice = G. Rath. 19 ) be aware = bewahren vor. 20 ) w jU — lust; therefore, wylffulness, = 
 
 lechery, debauchery. 
 
 5 * 
 
36 
 
 it and clerkis together « — if lie should find anything wrong in it. — It is »witterly« 
 the author’s will that it should be approved of (»liked«) by every body, especially by the 
 young; but also 
 
 though elde opyn it, other (or) while amonge, 
 
 And poure on it prevyly, and preve it well after, 
 
 And constrewe ich (each) clause with the culorum, 21 ) 
 
 It shulde not apeire 22 ) hem a peere, 23 ) a prynce though he were, 
 
 Ne harme nother (nor) hurte the hyghest of the rewme, 24 ) 
 
 But to holde him in hele, 25 ) and helpe all his ffrendis. 
 
 And if ony word write be, that wrothe make myghte 
 My sovereyne, that suget I shulde to be, 
 
 I put me in his power, and preie him, of grace, 
 
 To take the entente 26 ) of my trouthe that thoughte non ylle. 
 
 The story is of non estate that stryven with her lustus, (lusts) 27 ) 
 
 But tho that ffolwyn her ffiesshe and here ffraille thoughtis. 
 
 If, therefore, any reader should feel offended, he must 
 
 blame not the berne 28 ) that the book made, 
 
 But the wickyd will, and the werkis after. 
 
 After these introductory remarks, the author begins to rate the King most soundly: 
 
 Now, Richard the redeles, reweth on you self, 
 
 That laweless leddyn youre lyf and youre peple bothe; 
 
 Ffor thoru the wyles 29 ) and wronge and wast in youre tyme, 
 
 Ye were lyghtlich y-lyste 30 ) ffrom what you leef (lieb, G.) thoughte, 
 
 Aud ffrom youre willfull werkis, your will was chaungid, 
 
 And rafte 31 ) was youre riott, and rest, ffor youre daies 
 
 Weren wikkid thoru youre cursid counceill, youre karis weren newed, 32 ) 
 
 And coveteise hath crasid youre croune ffor evere. 
 
 A lesson may now be learned of allegiance, whether it can be established by dread, 
 and »domes untrewe«, by »creaunce of coyne for castes of gile«, by pillaging the people, 
 by unconstitutional tallages 33 ) of towns, by praising pitiless polaxis, and by debts for 
 » thy dees« 34 ); or by heading of law with love well y-temprid.« 
 
 This being, as the author thinks, »derklich endited for a dull nolle«, he, »mad« as 
 he is, and though he »litill kunne«, will describe it in a few words: 
 
 Ffor legiance without love litill thingis availith, 
 
 But graceles gestis, 35 ) gylours of hem self, 
 
 21 ) end, conclusion; culorum is a corrupted abbreviation of the word: saeculorum, which forms 
 the conclusion of the last phrase in the Paternoster, viz. „et in saecula saeculorum. “ — The word occurs 
 twice in the Dep. and twice in Piers PI., but nowhere else; cf. Phil. Soc. 1864. p. 15 squ. — 22 ) empirer, 
 impair. 23 ) pear. 2i ) realm. 23 ) health; G. Heil. 26 ) intention. 27 ) The story does not concern such 
 a< struggle against their passions. 28 ) Otherwise: burn — man; A. S. beorn, warrior. 29 ) = guile. 30 ) ge- 
 lost G. 31 ) from refen = bereave, take away. 32 ) renewed. 33 ) Contributions of money levied on the bur- 
 gesses, as aids were levied of the tenants in land, for the King's or feudal lord’s behalf. The right of 
 levying tallages was frequently exercised by the King in case of war, without grant of Parliament. 34 ) dice. 
 35 ) gestis is explained by Wright as deeds-, but I think, it is the Dative case dependent on availith, and 
 means „guests.“ — 
 
37 
 
 That nevere had harnesse, ne hayle shouris, 36 ) 
 
 But walwed in her willis, fforweyned in here youthe. 
 
 They could r>no mysse amende whan mysscheff icas up«, 
 
 But sorwed ffor her lustus (losses) of lordshipe they hade. 
 
 Richard, who had »come to his kingdom ere he knew himself *, was crowned with a crown f) 
 »that Kyng under hevene might not a better have bought. « This crown was beset with 
 »vertuous« stones, with priceless pearls to punish wrongs, with red rubies of justice, with 
 gems and jewels of peace among the- people, with diamonds »ydountid« by all wrong- 
 doers, and with sweet saphirs of loyalty and love of his peers, to persecute wrong; but, 
 at the same time, it was »y-poudride with Mercy ther it be oughte,« 
 
 And trayled with trouthe and trefte 37 ) al aboute. 
 
 This crown being »crasid«, the author will declare, as well as he can, how it hap- 
 pened, yet 
 
 nempne no name but tho that neft 38 ) were. 
 
 Ffull prevyly — he says — they pluckud thy power awaye, 
 
 And reden 39 ) with realte 40 ) youre rewme thoru-oute, 
 
 And as tyrauntis of tilliers token what hem liste, 
 
 And paide hem on her pannes, whan her penyes 41 ) lacked. 
 
 People did not dare to resist, 
 
 ffor drede of youre dukys and of here (their) duble harmes; 
 nor did they know to whom to complain, 
 
 ffor all was ffelawis and ffelawship that ye with fferde, 42 ) 
 
 And no soule persone to punnyshe the wronges. 
 
 This » madded the men«; but Richard, kept in ignorance of all that was going on in the 
 country, (for 
 
 they ladde you with love, that youre lawe dradde, 
 
 To deeme youre dukys myssededis, so derne thei were); 
 thought with his council that all was »wisliche y-wroughte, and no ffauutis y-ffounde, 
 tille ffor tune aperid«. 22 ) 
 
 Thus — the author declares — was youre croune crasid, till he was cast newe, 
 Thoru partinge of youre powere to your paragals. 44 ) 
 
 But hadde youre croune be kepte, that commons it wiste, 45 ) 
 
 Ther nadde morder ne mysscheff be amonge the grette. 
 
 Thus youre cautell to the comoune hath combred you all, 
 
 36 ) hail showers. 37 ) (}. Treue (?) — cf. tristi and trewe Dep. 11, 1. 24. zuverlassig and treu. — +) 
 cf. Piers Plowman II. 10. Y-crounede with a corone the King has non better etc. 38 ) Neft (left unex- 
 plained by Wright) I take to be the participle of to neven (name), instead of „nevened“: The author will 
 
 mention no names, but those that are „ named" i. e sufficiently known, such as the Bag, Bush, Green, 
 Scroope. 39 ) rode; Imperf. of ryde. 40 ) royalty. 44 ) A good pun! 42 ) with whom you associated. 43 ) secret. 
 44 ) equals ; cf. Note 71. of Historical remarks. 45 ) It was the Lords, and not the Commons, that sat in judgment 
 upon Warwick and Arundel. If, in the above line, the author means to express his regret that the Com- 
 mons should have no share in the judicial functions of Parliament, he must have been disappointed by the 
 Pari, of 1399 (I st of Henry), which, at the request of the Commons, settled that they were petitioners only, 
 and that all judgment belonged to King and Lords. (Creasy 252). 
 
That, but (except) if God helpe, youre hervest is ynne. 
 Wytteth*) it not youre counceill, but wytetb it more yourself, 
 The ffortune that ffallyn is to ffeithles peple. 
 
 And wayte well my wordis, and wrappe hem togedir, 
 
 And constrwe clergie 46 ) the clause in thin herte, 
 
 Of matirs that I thenke to meve ffor the best, 
 
 Ffor Kyngis and Kayseceris comynge here after. 
 
 The chevy teyns cheef that ye chesse 47 ) evere, 
 
 Weren all to yonge of yeris to yeme 48 ) swyche a rewme; 
 
 Other hobbis ye hadden of Hurlewaynis 49 ) Kynne, 
 
 Reffusynge the reule of realles Kynde. 
 
 The counsellors, to whom the King too readily believed, cared for their own profit 
 (as Richard is told now) 
 
 More than ffor wurshepe that they to you owed; 
 
 They made you to leve 50 ) that regne ye ne myste, 
 
 Withoute busshinge 51 ) adoune of all youre best ffrendis, 52 ) 
 
 Be a ffals colour 53 ) her caris to wayve, 
 
 And to holde hem in liele, if it liappe myghte. 
 
 Ffor trostith right treuly, and in no tale better, 
 
 All that they moved or mynged*) in the mater, 54 ) 
 
 Was to be sure of hem self, and siris to ben y-callid; 
 
 Ffor that was all her werchinge in worde and in dede. 
 
 He that first »formed« Richard to that false deed, 54 ) should, at once, have been hanged, 
 »though he had been the King’s own brother;# **) then other »boynards« would have been 
 »abashyd« 
 
 To have meved you to ony mals 55 ) that mysscheff had ben ynne; 
 
 But ffor (because) ye cleved to knavis, in this cas I avowe, 
 
 That boldid 58 ) thi burnes to belde (bring help) uppon sorowe, 
 
 And stirid (stirred) you stouttely till ye stombled all. 
 
 Passus II 
 
 comments upon Richard’s impolicy of giving out a party cognizance, the white hart, and 
 depicts, in vivid colors, the cowardly conduct of the White Harts at the approach of 
 danger; their former haughtiness, insolence, and cruelty, as well as Richard’s pitilessness 
 to the sufferings of the poor; and the universal joy with which Henry — the blessid bridd 
 
 *) blame for. 46) Clergye (clerk) has reference rather to scholarly attainments than to holy orders — 
 it has here an adverbial sense, „ in a scholarly, careful manner." 47) from „ to chese" (choose). Imperf. 
 48) take core of, guard; (to yem his sawel fra Satan. Sunday Horn. 250, Clarendon Press, Spec of Early Engl. 
 Part II, p. 97.) 49) cf. Hist. Note 24*). 50 ) believe. 51) pushing (Allusion to Bushy). 52) The King’s uncles. 
 53) Green. 54) Glocester and Arundel’s trial. 55) evil. *) „ Mynged “ is explained by Wright as meddled, 
 mixed-, I think, it means minded; cf. mengen, to bear in mind; P. PI. VI. 97: „mengen in his memory." — 
 
 **) Allusion to Earl of Huntingdon. 56) emboldened. 
 
39 
 
 — was received, when he returned as the avenger of the national wrongs. This passus 
 is, for the most part, written in a figurative language, and contains some passages of 
 much poetic force, which, before our imagination, unfold woodland scenes where troups of 
 noble stags are sporting about, feeding upon rich pastures from which they have driven 
 the common herd — the rascaile deer — , that now »roar with ribbis so lene, 
 
 ffor faughte (fault) of her fode (food), that flateris (flatterers) stelen.« 
 
 Of the allegoric descriptions, I subjoin a few specimens: 
 
 And hertis y-heedid and hornyd of kynde 57 ) 
 
 So ryff 58 ) as they roune 59 ) youre rewme thoru-oute, 
 
 That none at your nede youre name wolde nempne 
 In ffersnesse ne in ffoltheed, 60 ) but ffaste file*) away-ward; 
 
 And some stode astonyed**), and stared ffor drede, 
 
 Ffor eye (awe) of the Egle that oure helpe brouute; 61 ) 
 
 And also, in sothe, the seson was paste, 
 
 ffor hertis y-heedid so hy (high) and so noble 
 
 To make ony myrthe, ffor mowtynge that nyghed. 62 ) 
 
 That bawtid 63 ) youre bestis of here bolde chere; 
 
 They severid and sondrid ffor somere hem ffaylid, 
 
 And fflowen in to fforest and ffeldis aboughte, 
 
 All the hoole herde that helcle so togedir ; 
 
 And yet they had homes half a yere after. 64 ) 
 
 The following lines depict the misery of the poor: 
 
 Thus ye derid (hurt) hem unduly with droppis of anger 
 
 And stonyed (stunned) hem with stormes that stynted 65 ) nevere, 
 
 But plucked and pulled hem anon to the skynnes, 
 
 That the ffresinge ffrost ffreted 66 ) to here hertis. 
 
 So whanne youre hauntelere 67 ) dere whore all y takyn, 
 
 Was non of the rasskayle a redy ffull growe, 
 
 To bere ony bremme 68 ) heed, as a best (beast) aughte; 
 
 So wyntris wedir hem wesshe with the snowis, 
 
 With many derke mystis that maddid her eyne (eyes). 
 
 Ffor well mowe ye wyttyn, and so mowe we all, 
 
 That harde is the somer ther sonne shyneth nevere. 
 
 Ye ffostrid and ffodid 68 ) a ffewe of the best (beasts), 
 
 And leyde on hem lordschipe, a-leyne uppon other 69 ) (others), 
 
 57 ) nature. 58 ) ryff or ryfe - abundant, frequent. (Gold with him had not be so ryfe. (Th. Oceleve, De 
 regimine princ. 611) 59 ) (?) ronne, ef. Hist. Note 77. 60 ) ffoltheed means, I suppose, „madness“, from foie 
 
 (foolish), folted (crazy); cf. R. de Brunne 5839: And holds him fulled or wode (crazy or mad). ®l) brought. 
 ® 2 ) the time of moulting drew near, viz. the time for Richard’s Dukes to lose their dignities. 63 ) abate (?). 
 64 ) Aumerle and other favourites of Richard’s soon regained a position at Court. 65 ) stopped. 66 ) G. fressen. 
 67 ) antlered. ® 8 ) fierce, proud. Having lost the friends he had patronized So much, Richard found no one to 
 take their places *) Iroperf. of to flee; — more common forms, at that period, were: flew, fleu, fley; pi. flowen. 
 **) astonished, astounded, stunned. 68 ) fed; (W. ofPalerne 57: he foded (supplied) it with flowers). 69 ) cf. 
 Hist. Note 6G. 
 
40 
 
 And be-reved the raskall that rith wolde 70 ) thei hadde, 
 
 And knewe not the caris ne cursis that vvalkyd; 
 
 But mesure is a meri mene, 71 *) though men much yerne. 71 ) 
 
 Thus the »raskall® were suffering, till the blessid bredd — the hende Egle — spread 
 his wings to shield them from cold, as the »house hen does her chickens. « This »bred« 
 (bird) (Henry) then baterid on busshes 73 ) abought,® 
 
 And gaderid gomes on grene 73 ) ther as they walkyd, 
 
 That all the schrolf and schroup 72 ) sondrid ffrom other. 
 
 He mellid 73 ) so the matall with the hand molde, 
 
 That lost lemes 74 ) the levest 75 ) that they had. 
 
 Thus ffoulyd this ffaukyn on ffyldis aboughte, 
 
 And caughte of the kuyttis a cartfull at ones; 
 
 That rentis and rob is with rabeyn evere laucjhte 76 ) (took). 
 
 Yit was not the ffawcon ffull ffed at his likynge, 
 
 Ffor it cam him not of kynde kytes to love; 
 
 Than bated he boldeliche, as a brid wolde, 
 
 To plewme on his pray the pol ffro the nekk; 77 ) 
 
 But the blernyed 78 ) boynard 79 ) that his bagg stall, 
 
 (Where purraille 80 ) is, pulter 81 ) was pynnyd 82 ) ffull ofte), 
 
 Made the ffawcon to ffloter and fflusshe ffor anger, 
 
 That the boy hadd be bounde that the bagge kepte. 83 ) 
 
 Thus »the Bag« had got away, but was soon recaptured in the »Lordshepe that to the 
 brid longid« (belonged). He was brought back, and had »his blames rehersid at the Par- 
 lement.« The bird himself went on »hawking about« after other prey, till all the kytes 
 and krowes that kareyne 84 ) hautid, unable to find hidingplaces, were taken. »Mad of her 
 (their) mind, they fell with her fetheris flat upon the erthe®, and »besoughte mercy.« The 
 passus concludes: 
 
 And evere hoved the Egle on hie on the skyes, 
 
 And kennede 85 ) clerliche, as his kynde (nature) axith, 
 
 Alle the prevy poyntis that the pies 86 ) wrought. 
 
 Passus III. 
 
 Leaving the »beu (beautiful) brid « for a while, the author starts a rather enig- 
 matical question : » whi the hie hertis her hele so mysside, that pasture axid rith (right) to 
 
 70 ) power, command; cf. welde, wield, Gewalt. 71 ) Piers PI. I, 35 has the same line: mesure is medcyne, 
 though thou moche yerne. *) household; (0. Pr. mesnee, Low Latin: maisnada, a family; cf. menials) 72 ) Puns 
 upon the names of Richard’s ministers, executioned at Bristol. Schroff and schroup = scrub, scruff, scrape 
 denote offal, rubbish. 73 ) (meler) mixed. 74 ) gleam, Glanz ; alluding to the titles bestowed upon his favourites 
 by Richard, but taken from them by Pari. 73 ) liebste (G.) 76 ) A difficult passage. Wright renders „rentis“ 
 by „takes“ , and leaves rabeyn unexplained; as to rentis, I think he is wrong, for „th“, and not „is“, is a 
 person- ending of the verb. — Rentis is the plural form of rent, as robis is of robe (dress). But what is 
 the meaning of rabeyn? Is it identical with „iapine?“ 77 ) The Bristol Tragedy. 78 ) blear-eyed (?). 79 ) A 
 „low person" (Halliwell); denoting here one of Richard’s party, with whose assistance Bagot escaped. 
 80 ) Poor people; hero hinting at Richard’s adherents about Bristol. 81 ) poulterer, the officer who has the 
 charge of the King’s poultry; he is often 82 ) „put to pains" by the poor people around, who will rob his 
 poultry yard; similarly, Henry is annoyed by the „puraille“ that stole his „Bag.“ 83 ) The jailer with whose 
 connivance Bagot made bis escape (?). 84 ) carrion; (caroigne, Piers PI.) 85 ) saw (Halliwell). 86 ) peace. 
 
41 
 
 here pure (poor) wombis.« It is not very clear what he means; but since, »to clere his 
 wittis, what it mene (mean) wolde®, he lays down 
 
 That the moste myscheff uppon molde (earthe) on 
 Is deemed the dede y-do ageins kynde (unnatural deed); 
 then tells a fable according to which a stag, when enfeebled with old age, may renew 
 his strength by devouring a venomous adder; and, finally, declares »harassing a Horse, 
 stryving with Swan, and bayting on a Bere« to be »ageins kynde«: we can hardly have 
 a doubt that the passage refers to Richard as having worked his ruin (» missed his 
 hele«) by turning against his own kindred, instead of destroying the vipers about him. 
 »Faring« (returning) then to the »fowle (Germ. Vogel) that he before tolde« (Henry), the 
 author relates a second fable, of a partridge, which, having seized upon an other par- 
 tridge’s nest but badly fed the young birds she had hatched, is left by her stepchildren 
 as soon as they hear their true mother’s voice. 
 
 To a »hevy-heed«, who should find this »derklich endited for a dull panne« (head), 
 the application of the fable is expounded: When the »hende Egle in the Est entrid 
 his owene«, and »cleped (called) after his own birds, that were norished full ille and 
 well ny y-worewid« (almost worried) by a wrong leader, the »needy nestlings« busked 
 (hastened) from the bushes 87 ) and briers that annoyed them, and followed readily their 
 free father to be fed and fostered and brought out of bondage. Horse and Swan were 
 sorely missed; theBeere »was blythed® by having his »broud 88 ) braste,® and all theberlingis 
 (young bears) burst out at once. 
 
 As ffayne (glad) was the ffoule that fflieth on the skyes 
 That bosse 89 ) was unbounde and brouute to his owene. 
 
 »Gathering together to helpe the heeris (heirs?) that had many wrongs®, 
 they mouside 89 ) the Marchall 90 ) fl'or his misdede, 
 
 That evell coulde his craft, whan he eloped 91 ) the stede, 92 ) 
 and asked vengeance 
 
 On all that assentid to that synfull dede. 
 
 Next, the poet turns »a-rere« to Richard, and vents his contempt and indignation at the 
 foppish, empty-headed young men who formed Richard’s Court and Council. Wisdom, in 
 his homely garb, tries to enter the King’s Palace, but is hooted at and chased away. 
 In his wrath, he » forbids them burnesse (nobleness), the best on this erthe, 
 
 That is governance 92 ) of gettinge, 93 ) and grace that him fifolwith. « 
 
 87 ) Alluding to Bushy. 88 ) bond; cf. p. 26, Note"). 89 ) Bosse, hasselis, and mouside, are three words which 
 seem to defy all attempts at interpretation; but substituting „th“ for ss (reap, s), the words, and the clauses in 
 which they occur, become at once intelligible : 1) bosse = both. Besides the „Bear“ and his people, many of the 
 lower orders (the fowls) were set free by Henry, and they were now glad „both to be out of prison and to return to 
 their homes. “ 2) mouthide = spoke of (Halliwell) ; here : blamed. 3) hasselis = hathelis = noblemen. 90 ) The Earl 
 Marshal, Th. Mowbray, who led „the Steed", the Earl of Arundel, his father in-law, to execution 91 ) Wright 
 suggests: „clipped;“ but a „clope“ being in 0. Engl. „a blow" (Germ klopfen), „clopping“ in the Cornwall 
 dialect = lame, I rather think eloped is to be rendered: struck or lamed, a very appropriate meaning in 
 regard of the preceding words. — ") Are „stede and dede® only chance rhymes, I wonder. ") Management, 
 control, virtuous selfcontrol. „Grace growith after governance® is an old proverb. Cf. Morris, Glossary to Chaucer’s 
 Knight’s Tale. ") Get = fashion. — The newe get. Chaucer, Prologue to Knight’s Tale 682. 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 »So it fell « that all Grace was gone from the Court, and that, in consequence, the Country 
 was misgoverned. — Follow advice for rulers, and description of the lawless state of 
 the Country. — Maintenance overrules the law, till »the Sire in his see above the seven 
 sterris« takes pity, and sends a Duke »doughty (tiichtig) in arms«, who rides in »reall 
 (royal) array« upon 
 
 Degon and Dobyn 94 ), that rnennys (men’s) doris (doors) brastyn. 
 
 They being »y-dubbid*) for her while domes, « and »a-wakyd flfor wecchis 95 ) and wast that 
 they usid«, and having got »buffetis« (blows) for their breme 96 ) blastis 97 ), it begins, at 
 last, to »calm and to clear all about.® 
 
 Passus IV. 
 
 The King’s prodigal household soon exhausting his regular revenues, his Council 
 would »feign some folie« to fill their purses, and, by means of writs sent to the »shrevys« 
 (sherifs), assemble a parlement »for money more than for aught else.® The description 
 of such a packed Parliament is very amusing. A few of the members, for appearance 
 sake (to make men blynde), argued »rith«, and spoke of their duty to their shire; others 
 sat as »siphrc 98 ) does in awgrym;«") some had supped with Symond over even; some 
 tried to win the King’s favour by informing against good friends; some maffled with the 
 mouth, and nyst (kuew not) what they meant; some had »hire;« some were so »sad of 
 her wittis« that they »the conclusion constrewe ne couthe;« some were fierce at the be- 
 ginning, and »bent on a bonet and bare a topte sail « , but, warned by the lords, soon 
 abated their bonet, ere the blast came ; some knew before-hand, how all would end ; some 
 always held with the mo (majority) ; some, to whom the King owed money, voted in hopes 
 of getting back their coin out of the subsidies granted, for they had been »behote hansell® 
 (promised a gift, an earnest); and »some dradde dukis, and Dowell fforsoke.« And with 
 this allusion to Piers Plowman, the M. S. comes to an abrupt termination. 
 
 9,t ) I should feel obliged to any one who can suggest an explanation of these words; I myself have 
 none to offer. A few lines before, the wrong- doers are called Dogonys. 95 ) An unknown word, meaning, 
 perhaps, wakes = revels. 96 ) proud, fierce, swaggering. 97 ) puffing (?) == braggardism. 98 ) zero. ") Algebra, 
 arithmetic. 10 °) M. S. has bouet; Wright suggests „bonet,“ a small sail attached to the foot of fore or aft 
 sails to catch as much wind as possible. The expression „bend a bonnet" is still used. *) Ironical term, 
 meaning „beaten“ and „knigbted“. 
 

 
 
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