Wycliff suddenly ale appeared, hard to stand church. a ganset out favorer that whereof they be impeached, will not obey to their summons and commandments, nor care not for their monitions, nor censures of the holy Church, but expressly despise them, and moreover by their subtil words do draw and beguile the people to hear their sermons, and to maintain them in their errors by strong hand and by great routs: it is ordained in this present parliament, that the king's commissions be directed to the sheriffs and other ministers of our sovereign lord the king, or other sufficient persons after and according to the certifications of the prelates thereof to be made in the chancery from time to time, to arrest all such preachers, and also their fautors, maintainers, and abettors, and to hold them in arrest and strong prison, till they will justify them according to the law and reason of holy Church: And the king will and commandeth, that the chancellor make such commission at all times, that he by the prelates or any of them shall be certified and thereof required, as is aforesaid. 91. An Act to reform the Administration (June, 1385. Latin text and translation, 2 S. R. 36. 2 Stubbs, 640.) To the honor of God, and at the request of the commonalty of the realm of England made to our lord the king in his parliament holden at Westminster in the morrow of Saint Martin, the eighth year of his reign; the same our lord the king of the assent of the prelates, great men, and commons aforesaid, hath caused to be made in the same parliament, a certain statute for the common profit of the said realm, and especially for the good and just governance, and due execution of the common law, in the form following. I. First, it is accorded and statuted, that holy Church have all her liberties; and that the Great Charter, and the Charter of the Forest, the Statutes of purveyors and laborers, and all other statutes and ordinances heretofore made and not repealed, shall be holden and observed, and put in due execution according to the form and effect of the same. 2. Item, it is accorded and statuted, that no man of law shall be from henceforth justice of assizes, or of the common deliverance of jails in his own country; and that the chief justice of the common bench be assigned amongst others to take such assizes, and deliver jails; but as to the chief justice of the king's bench, it shall be as for the most part of an hundred years last past was wont to be done. 3. Item, whereas late in the time of the noble king Edward, grandfather of our sovereign lord the king that now is, it was ordained, that justices, as long as they should be in the office of justices, should not take fee nor robe of any except of the king, and that they should not take gift nor reward by them nor yet by other, privily nor openly, of any man which should have anything to do afore them in any wise, except meat and drink, of small value; and that they should not give counsel to any great or small in things or affairs, where the king is party, or which in any wise touch the king, upon a certain pain contained in the said ordinance: and in the same manner it is ordained of the barons of the exchequer, as in the said ordinance is more plainly contained; and the said ordinance being rehearsed in the parliament, it is accorded and statuted, that no justice of the king's bench nor of the common bench, nor none of the barons of the exchequer, as long as they shall be in the office of justice or barons, shall take from henceforth by himself or other, privily or openly, robe, fee, pension, gift, nor reward, of any but of the king, nor entertainment of any, except entertainment of meat and drink, which shall be of no great value. And that from henceforth they shall give no counsel to any, great or small, in things or affairs, wherein the king is party, or which in any wise touch the king, and that they be not of any man's counsel in any cause, plea, or quarrel, hanging the plea before them or in other of the king's great courts or places, upon pain of loss of their office, and making to the king fine and ransom. 5. ; it is accorded and statuted, that all pleas and suits touching the common law, and which ought to be examined and discussed at the common law, shall not be hereafter drawn or holden by any means before the said constable and marshal, but that the court of the same constable and marshal shall have that which belongeth to the same court, 92. An Act regarding Fugitive Villeins (December, 1385. French text and translation, 2 S. R. 38.) 2. ITEM, whereas divers villeins and neifs, as well of great lords as of other people, as well spiritual as temporal, do flee into cities, towns, and places enfranchised, as the city of London, and other like, and feign divers suits against their lords, to the intent to make them free by the answer of their lords: it is accorded and assented, that the lords nor other, shall not be forbarred of their villeins, because of their answer in the law. V 93. Articles of Impeachment against Suffolk (1386. French original. 3 R. P. 216. Translation by Editors. In this parliament, all the commons with one accord, assembled unanimously and came before the king, prelates and lords, in the chambers of parliament, complaining grievously of Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, late chancellor of England, then present and accused him by word of mouth in the following manner, to wit: 6. First, that the said earl, being chancellor and sworn to promote the king's welfare, purchased from our lord the king lands, tenements, and rents, of great value as appears by record in the rolls of the chancery, contrary to his oath, whereas he had not deserved so much considering the great need of the king and of the realm and besides this, because the said earl was chancellor at the time of the said purchase, the said lands and tenements were appraised at a less value than they were worth per year by a great sum, in deceit of the king. Item, whereas nine lords were appointed at the last parliament to inspect and examine the estate of the king and the realm, and to give their advice as to how it could be best improved and brought under a better government and order; and on this inspection made and the report made to the king both by word of mouth and in writing, the said late chancellor had said in full parlia ment, that the said advice and ordinance ought to be put into due execution; and this was not done, and it was the fault of himself as he was then chief officer. Item, whereas the tax was granted by the commons at the last parliament to be expended in a certain manner demanded by the commons and assented to by the king and lords, and not at all otherwise, the moneys arising therefrom were expended in another manner, so that the sea was not guarded in the manner which had been ordained; because of which many mischances had befallen the realm and very probably would in the future, and this because of the neglect of the said late chancellor. Item, whereas a certain Tideman of Limburgh, who had for himself and heirs as the gift of the grandfather of the king fifty pounds yearly on the customs duties of Kingston on Hull which Tideman forfeited to the king, and also the payment of the said annual fifty pounds had been discontinued for twenty or thirty years, the said late chancellor knowing this, purchased from him and from the heirs of the said Tideman the said annual fifty pounds and brought it about that the king confirmed the said purchase, whereas the king should have had the profit. Item, whereas the chief master of St. Antony is a schismatic, and for this reason the king should have the profit which belongs to him in the kingdom of England, the said late chancellor, who should have promoted and secured the profit of the king, leased the said profit of the king for twenty marks per year and took thereof for his own especial use very nearly one thousand marks, and at the time when the master of St. Antony who is now in England should have had possession and delivery of the said profit, he was not able to have it until he and two persons with him had bound themselves by an acknowledgement in the chancery and by bonds in the sum of £3,000 to pay annually to the said late chancellor and to John his son one hundred pounds per year, for the term of both their lives. Item, that in the time of the said late chancellor were granted and made divers charters and patents of murders, treasons, felonies, erasures of the rolls, sale of the laws, and in particular, since the beginning of this parliament, was made and sealed a charter of certain franchises granted to the castle of Dover, in disherison of the crown and the subversion of all the offices and courts of the king and of his laws. Item, whereas ordinance was made at the last parliament for the town of Ghent providing that ten thousand marks should be paid as ransom and for this ransom three thousand marks should be expended; because of the default and neglect of the said late chancellor the said town was lost; notwithstanding that the ten thousand marks had been paid and the said three thousand marks expended for the ransom, as has been said. On all these articles the said commons demand the judgment of parliament. 94. Threat to depose Richard II (1386. Latin original. Knighton's chronicle, Rolls Series, II. 219. Translation by Editors. 2 Stubbs, 497.) YET ET one other thing remains of our message for us to announce to you on the part of your people. For they have it from an old statute, and in fact not very long ago put into force, which is to be regretted, that if the king from any malignant design or foolish contumacy or contempt or wanton wilfulness or in any irregular way should alienate himself from his people, and should not be willing to be governed and regulated by the laws, statutes and laudable ordinances of the realm with the wholesome advice of the lords and peers of the realm, but should headily and wantonly by his own mad designs work out his own private purpose, then it should be lawful for them with the common assent and consent of the people of the realm to depose the king himself from the royal throne and to elevate to the royal throne in his place some near kinsman of the royal line. 95. The Second Statute of Provisors (May, 1390. French text and translation, 2 S. R. 68. 2 Stubbs, 430, 508, 612, 3 Stubbs, 309, 324, 338.) 2. ITEM, whereas the noble king Edward, grandfather to our lord the king that now is, at his parliament holden at Westminster, at the utas of the purification of our Lady, the five and twentieth year of his reign, caused to be rehearsed the statute made at Carlisle in the time of his grandfather king Edward, son of king Henry, touching the estate of the holy Church of England; the said grandfather of the king that now is, by the assent of the great men of his realm, being in the same parliament, |