A.D. 1327. acquainted through his marriage with the daughter of the Count of Hainault, persuaded many of the Flemish weavers to come over and settle in England, offering them every encouragement.

Commer

ment.

Commerce indeed became so important, that, folcial parlia lowing the example of his father, Edward felt the necessity of summoning a commercial parliament, apparently more numerous than the national Parlia ment itself, to discuss questions of trade. Merchants became so rich, and were held in such high esteem, that in the year 1363, one Picard, Mayor of London, entertained Edward the Third, the Black Prince, and the Kings of France, Scotland, and Cyprus, with many of the nobility, in London at his house in the Vintry, where the foreign winemerchants carried on their business. On the departure of his illustrious guests, he presented them with handsome gifts. The principle of summoning class Parliaments, as they may be called, was often acted on in Edward's reign, and is a great proof of the growing importance of trade. Men from seaport towns, as will be seen in the course of this history, were constantly summoned to meet and report as to

1 Dec. 16, 1315. Oct. 20, 1318. M'Pherson's History of Commerce, vol. i. pp. 481, 486.

2 Ibid. p. 519, referring to the following passage in Willis' History of Buckingham (London, a.d. 1755), p. 41: "Those precepts were to send to the King's councils in matters relating to trade, and not to his Parliaments. The first of these directed, Anno II., Ballivis Villae de Bokyngham, being very strictly enjoined, they were obliged to comply with. And as it required them to send three or four de probioribus et discretioribus Ho. minibus dictae Villae, they accordingly returned these three men, whose names are entered on the dorse of the writ, viz. Hugh Kynebell, Roger le Draper, and Henry de Selveton."

Stow's Survey of London, folio, London, 1754, vol. i. p. 309.

CHAP. I.

CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS REIGN.

5

the state of the shipping. These special Parliaments, A.D. 1327. were in fact more entirely the advisers of the King than the national Parliaments. The business of the latter -at the beginning of the reign-consisted chiefly in granting or withholding supplies, and in presenting petitions for the redress of grievances; while the former, like Royal Commissions in the present day, must have been summoned, to investigate and state facts, and express opinions as a foundation for legislation.

the Refor

The resistance to the Pope's encroachments, which Dawn of was demanded by Parliament and insisted on even mation. by the clergy, and the opposition, first begun by Wyclif, to doctrines now peculiar to the Church of Rome, signalise the reign as the epoch, during which the Reformation-that noble assertion of the right of man to use his reason even in spiritual matters, which can never be given up without the simultaneous loss of political freedom,-took its rise. There is, too, another special feature of the reign, which marks a stage in social progress, and at the present time possesses a peculiar interest. It is, the struggle, con- Struggle sequent on the scarcity of labour, which took place our and between labour and capital, between employers and capital. employed, the attempt on the one hand to lower wages by the force of law, and on the other to allow of their natural rise. This was the result of the frightful depopulation of the country, by the terrible plague known as the Black Death.

between

To this short summary, of those events of this reign which have an especial interest at the present day, must be added the statement, that the rela- Relations tions between England and Ireland, and the legis- Ireland. lation in reference to that country, were of no small significance.

with

A.D. 1327.

Wars with
France.

To the observer of social progress, all these circumstances are facts of paramount interest, but to those to whom gallant bravery and stirring events are more attractive, the constant warfare with France will appear to be the most memorable characteristic of the reign. The battles of Crécy and Poitiers, and the gallant exploits of the King's son, Edward the Black Prince, impress themselves on some minds more vividly than the progress of trade and commerce; and the peculiarities of the feudal system, and usages of chivalry, which at this time were carried to the highest point, but which thenceforward began to decline, impart to the incidents of the battles and manners of the age, a picturesque interest, which is apt to blind one to the defects, inseparably mingled, with that splendid, but imperfect, condition of society. Edward's Edward the Third ascended the throne when still. accession, a mere boy, and while his father, dethroned and im24th,1327; prisoned for his misgovernment and vices, was yet

January

and coronation.

living. He was born on November 13th, 1312; on January 24th, 1327, he was proclaimed King of England, by order and consent of Parliament; and on the 29th of that month, writs were addressed, in his name, to the Sheriffs of the various counties, ordering them to proclaim him in their several jurisdictions. On the 1st of February he received the order of knighthood from his cousin, Henry, Earl of Lancaster, brother of Thomas of Lancaster who was beheaded in the reign of Edward the Second, and grandfather of Blanche, the wife of John of Gaunt, from whom Henry the Fourth pretended to derive a right to the throne. On the same day he was crowned at Westminster, by Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury. The dowry of the Queen Mother, was,

CHAP. I.

DEPOSITION OF EDWARD II.

7

immediately afterwards, fixed at so excessive an A.D. 1327. amount, that hardly one-third of the revenues of the kingdom was left for the young King.1

Edward had been appointed Guardian of the King. dom on October 26th, 1326; but, the nation was dissatisfied, that his imprisoned father, who was then treated with universal contempt not unmingled with disgust, should any longer remain even their nominal King. Accordingly, at the meeting of Parliament

2

of Edward

on January 7th, 1327, the strong measure was taken Deposition of deposing him. There was none to utter a word II. in his favour; all agreed that he was unworthy to reign; and, by the common consent of Parliament, it was determined, that his eldest son should be King in his stead. The decision was communicated to a crowd which filled the great hall of Westminster, and shouted its assent; and the Archbishop of Canterbury then preached a sermon, taking for his theme the saying, "Vox populi Vox Dei." The hypocritical Queen pretended to weep when she was informed of what Parliament had done respecting her husband; and the young Prince declared he would never wear the crown against the will of his father. The wretched King was at Kenilworth, under custody of the Earl of Lancaster. A deputation, among whom was John Stratford, Bishop of Winchester, who had been chosen as Edward's adviser, and who subsequently be came Archbishop of Canterbury, was therefore sent thither to obtain his resignation. In this there was,

1 Walsingham, pp. 186-188-"Eodem tempore assignata fuit dos Reginæ talis et tanta, quod Regi filio regni pars tertia vix remansit;" and Rymer, vol. ii. p. 683.

2 With reference to the Parliamentary power of deposition, see Freeman's Norman Conquest, vol. i. pp. 115-117.

A.D. 1327. of course, no difficulty; and indeed, the depth of his humiliation, as evinced in his words of consent, is sadly touching. He wept, and said, "It grieved him much that he had deserved so little of his people, and he begged pardon of all who were present; but, since it could not be otherwise, he thanked them for electing his eldest son." When the deputation returned to London, with the insignia and the poor King's consent, "the people rejoiced." 1

Reversal

ings for

treason in

previous reign.

After the Coronation of the young King, Parliaof procced- ment proceeded to the consideration of the petition. of Henry of Lancaster, for the reversal of the proceedings against his brother Thomas, which had entailed on him the forfeiture of his dignity as Earl. His conviction was clearly illegal, inasmuch as the Earl had not been lawfully arraigned; being one of the Peers of the Realm, he should have been judged by his Peers, which was not done. The proceedings were, consequently, pronounced by the whole Parliament to be null and void.2 It was necessary, also, for the safety of all those, who had taken part with the Queen and Mortimer against the King and the Despencers, and who had been, in the words of the petition, "Of the Quarrel of the Earl of Lancaster," that they should be indemnified from the consequences of their treasonable proceedings. Treasonable they undoubtedly were, though circumstances may have

1 Walsingham, pp. 186, 187.

2 Rot. Parl. vol. ii. pp. 3-5. In 1341, a Statute (15 Ed. 3. c. 2) was passed providing that no Peer should be judged except by his Peers. "The confinement of the Privileges of Peerage. . . may have prevailed and probably did prevail before in some degree, but by this Statute it was clearly and distinctly recognised."Parry's Parliaments and Councils, p. 113 note (°), and see Report on the Dignity of a Peer, vol. i. p. 313.