(M298)
It was one of the conditions of the Flemish alliance, mentioned at the
close of the last chapter, that the campaign of 1340 should open with the
siege of Tournay, and it was with this object specially in view that
Edward had set out from England. After his brilliant victory over the
French fleet which opposed his passage Edward marched upon Tournay. Its
siege, however, proved fruitless, and, disappointed and money-less, he
slipt back again to England and made his appearance unexpectedly one
morning at the Tower(528) (30 Nov.).
(M299) (M300)
The king attributed the failure of the war to the remissness of his
ministers in sending money and supplies. Scarcely had he landed before he
sent for the chancellor, the treasurer, and other ministers who were in
London, and not only dismissed them from office, but ordered them each
into separate confinement. John de Pulteney was one of those made to feel
the king's anger, and he was relegated to the castle of Somerton, but as
soon as Edward's irritability had passed off he and others obtained their
freedom.(529) A searching enquiry was instituted in the spring of the
following year (1341) as to the way in which the king's revenues had been
collected in the city. Objection was raised to the judges holding their
session within the city and they sat at the Tower. Great tumult prevailed,
and the citizens refused to answer any questions until the judges had
formally acknowledged the City's liberties. A special fund was raised for
the purpose of defending the City's rights.(530) From the 5th March to the
17th March the justices sat, and then an adjournment was made until the
16th April. On resumption of the session another adjournment immediately
took place owing to parliament sitting at Westminster, and when the judges
should have again sat, the Iter was suddenly determined by order of the
king.(531) The king showed much annoyance at the attitude taken up by the
citizens, or at least by a certain portion of them, with respect to this
enquiry, and endeavoured to procure the names of the ringleaders.(532)
Failing in this, and not wishing to make an enemy of the city on which he
largely depended for resources to carry out his military measures, he
bestowed a general pardon on the citizens, and promised that no Iter
should be held at the Tower for a period of seven years.(533)
(M301)
As a further mark of favour he granted to the City, soon after the abrupt
termination of the Iter, a charter confirming previous charters; allowing
the citizens in express terms to vary customs that might in course of time
have become incapable of being put into practice, and declaring the city's
liberties not subject to forfeiture through non-user.(534)
(M302)
In August (1341) the citizens met to consider the question of levying a
sum of L2,000, of which 2,000 marks was due to certain citizens in part
payment of the L5,000 lent to the king, and 1,000 marks was required for
the discharge of the city's own debts. A certain number of aldermen and
commoners were at the same time appointed to confer with the king's
council touching the sending of ships of war beyond the seas. The result
of the interview was made known to the citizens at a meeting held later on
in the same month. A further grievous burden (_vehemens onus_) was to be
laid upon them; they were called upon to provide no less than twenty-six
ships, fully equipped and victualled at their own cost.(535)
(M303)
The ships were probably wanted for conveying forces over to Brittany under
the command of Sir Walter de Maunay, in the following year. The king
himself made an expedition to that country in October, 1342, having
previously succeeded in borrowing the sum of L1,000 from the citizens. He
had asked for L2,000, but was fain to be content with the lesser sum,
security for repayment of which was demanded and granted.(536)
(M304)
In March, 1343, Edward returned to England, having made a truce with
France for three years.(537) He was beginning to learn the value of the
English longbow and the cloth-yard shaft in the field of battle. Hitherto
he, like others before him, had placed too much reliance on charges by
knights on horseback. What the longbow could effect, under proper
management, had been experienced at Falkirk in 1298. It had proved a
failure at Bannockburn in 1314 through bad strategy, but at Halidon Hill
twenty years later (1333) it was again effective. It was destined soon to
work a complete reform in English warfare; and the yeoman and archer were
to supersede the noble and knight. The London burgess and apprentice were
especially apt with the weapon from constant practice in Finsbury fields.
Edward realised the necessity of fostering the martial spirit of the
Londoners, and on one occasion (January, 1344) invited the wives of the
burgesses to witness a tournament at Windsor, where they were entertained
right royally.(538)
(M305)
Before the expiration of the truce Edward was busy with preparations for a
renewal of the war. Four hundred London archers were to be got ready by
Midsummer of 1344, as the king was soon to cross the sea; and 100
men-at-arms and 200 horsemen were to be despatched to Portsmouth.(539) In
1345, a royal commission was issued for the seizure for the king's use of
all vessels lying in the river.(540) A further contingent of 160 archers
was ordered to Sandwich by Whitsuntide, and in August the city received
another order for yet more archers.(541) In September, the king informed
the mayor by letter that, owing to the defective state of his fleet and
the prevalence of contrary winds, he had postponed setting sail for a
short time; the civic authorities were to keep their men-at-arms and
archers ready to set out the morrow after the receipt of orders to
march.(542) Six months elapsed, during which the citizens were kept under
arms waiting for orders, when, on the 18th March, 1346, another letter was
sent by the king to the effect that he had now fully made up his mind to
set sail from Portsmouth a fortnight after Easter. The men-at-arms, the
horsemen, and the archers, were to be ready by a certain day on pain of
losing life, limb, and property. On the 28th March, the archers mustered
in "Totehull" or Tothill Fields, near Westminster.(543)
(M306)
The expedition did not actually sail from Portsmouth until the 10th July,
the fleet numbering 1,000 vessels more or less.(544) Previous to his
departure, Edward caused proclamation to be made in the city and
elsewhere, to the effect that the assessments that had been made
throughout the country for the purpose of equipping the expedition, should
not be drawn into precedent.(545)
(M307)
On the 3rd August the regent forwarded to the city a copy of a letter he
had received from the king, giving an account of his passage to Normandy
and of the capture of various towns, and among them of Caen. There he had
discovered a document of no little importance. This was none other than
an agreement made in 1338, whereby Normandy had bound itself to assist the
king of France in his proposed invasion and conquest of England.(546) This
document the king transmitted to England by the hands of the Earl of
Huntingdon, who was returning invalided, and it was publicly read in St.
Paul's Churchyard, with the view of stirring the citizens to fresh
exertions in prosecuting the war. The king's own letter was also publicly
read in the Husting by the regent's order.(547) The City was exhorted to
have in readiness a force to succour the king, if need be. Every effort
was made to raise money, and the regent did not hesitate to resort to
depreciation of the coinage of the realm in order to help his father. The
City made a free gift to the king of 1,000 marks and lent him 2,000
more.(548)
(M308)
On the 26th August the battle of Crecy was won against a force far
outnumbering the English army. The victory was due in large measure to the
superiority of the English longbow over the crossbow used by the Genoese
mercenaries; but it was also a victory of foot soldiers over horsemen. The
field of Bannockburn had shown how easy a thing it was for a body of
horsemen to crush a body of archers, if allowed to take them in the flank,
whilst that of Halidon Hill had more recently taught the king, from
personal experience, that archers could turn the tide of battle against
any direct attack, however violent. Edward profited by the experience of
that day. He not only protected the flank of his archers, but interspersed
among them dismounted horsemen with levelled spears, the result being that
the French were driven off the field with terrible slaughter.
(M309)
Flushed with victory Edward proceeded to lay siege to Calais. His forces,
which had been already greatly reduced on the field of Crecy, suffered a
further diminution by desertion. The mayor and sheriffs of London were
ordered to seize all deserters, whether knights, esquires, or men of lower
order, found in the city, and to take steps for furnishing the king with
fresh recruits and store of victuals.(549) By Easter of the following
year, the City was called upon to furnish two vessels towards a fleet of
120 large ships, which the council had decided to fit out. All ships found
in the port of London were pressed into the king's service.(550)
In July (1347) the king was in need of more recruits and provisions.(551)
Calais still held out, although both besiegers and besieged were reduced
to sore straits. At last it surrendered (4 Aug.). Edward spared the lives
of its principal burgesses at the intercession of his queen, but he
cleared the town of French inhabitants, and invited Londoners and others
to take up their abode there, offering them houses at low rents and other
inducements.(552) A truce with Philip was agreed on, and Edward returned
home. For a time England was resplendent with the spoils of the French
war--"A new sun seemed to shine," wrote Walsingham.(553) Every woman of
position went gaily decked with some portion of the plunder of the town of
Caen or Calais; cupboards shone with silver plate, and wardrobes were
filled with foreign furs and rich drapery of continental workmanship. The
golden era was of short duration.
(M310)
In August, 1348, the pestilential scourge, known as the Black Death,(554)
appeared in England, and reached London in the following November. The
number of victims it carried off in the city has been variously
computed,(555) but all conjectures of the kind must be received with
caution. All that is known for certain is that the mortality caused a
marked increase in the number of beggars, and, at the same time, raised
the price of labour and provisions within the city's walls to such a
degree that measures had to be taken to remedy both evils.(556) Besides
the losses by death, the population of the city and the country generally
was sensibly diminished by the flight of numbers of inhabitants to the
continent, with the hope of escaping the ravages of the plague. The king's
treasury threatened soon to become empty, and the country left
defenceless, if this were allowed to go on unchecked; he therefore ordered
the sheriffs of London to see that no men-at-arms, strangers or otherwise,
left the kingdom, with the exception of well-known merchants or
ambassadors, without the king's special order.(557) Pilgrimages to Rome or
elsewhere were made an excuse for leaving England, at a time when the
king's subjects could ill be spared. The king endeavoured to limit this
drain upon the population of the kingdom by allowing none to cross the sea
without his special licence. The city authorities having negligently
executed his orders in this respect, received a rebuke in October, 1350,
and were told to be more strict in their observance for the future.(558)
(M311)
On the night which ushered in New Year's day, 1350, an abortive attempt
had been made by the French to recapture Calais. This ill success rendered
Philip the more willing to agree to a further prolongation of the truce
with England. Notification of this cessation of hostilities was duly sent
to the sheriffs of London.(559) Before the truce had come to an end Philip
of Valois had ceased to live, and had been succeeded on the throne of
France by John II.
(M312)
The city had scarcely recovered from the ravages of the late pestilence,
before it was called upon (24 July, 1350) to furnish two ships to assist
the king in putting down piracy. These were accordingly fitted out; the
ship of Andrew Turk being furnished with 40 men-at-arms and 60 archers,
whilst that of Goscelin de Cleve had on board 30 men-at-arms and 40
archers.(560) With their aid, Edward succeeded in utterly defeating a
Spanish fleet which had recently inflicted much damage on the Bordeaux
wine fleet, and capturing 24 large ships laden with rich merchandise.(561)
The citizens had further to submit to a tax on wool and wine, in order to
maintain the king's vessels engaged in putting down piracy.(562)
(M313)
In 1354 an exception was made by special charter of the king in favour of
the City of London, and its sergeants were permitted to carry maces of
gold or silver, or plated with silver, and bearing the royal arms. Ten
years before the commons of England had petitioned the king (_inter alia_)
not to allow any one to carry maces tipped with silver in city or borough,
except the king's own officers. All others were to carry maces tipped with
copper only (_virolez de cuevere_), with staves of wood as formerly. The
petition was granted saving that the sergeants of the City of London might
carry their mace within the liberties of the city and before the mayor in
the king's presence.(563) This same year (1354), moreover, the king with
the assent of parliament had again forbidden the carrying of gold or
silver maces. Thenceforth, maces were to be of iron, brass or tin, or
staves tipped with latten, and not to bear representations of the royal
arms, but the arms or signs of the city using them. Again exception was
made in the case of London; two sergeants of the City as well as of the
City of York being permitted to carry gold or silver maces, but they were
not to be surmounted with the royal arms. This led to a humble
remonstrance from the whole body of the citizens of London, presented to
the chancellor and the council by their mayor, Adam Fraunceys, and within
a month the charter above mentioned was granted. That the charter
originated or authorized the title of "Lord" Mayor, as some have supposed,
is extremely improbable.
(M314)
In 1355, all efforts to convert the truce into a final peace having
failed, war with France was renewed. Edward was soon called home by fresh
troubles in Scotland. Having recovered Berwick, which had been taken by
surprise, and formally received the crown of Scotland from Edward Baliol,
he prepared to rejoin his son, the Black Prince, in France, and in March,
1356, ordered the city to furnish him with two vessels of war.(564)
(M315)
News of the battle of Poitiers (19 September, 1356), and of the defeat and
capture of the French king, was received in the city by letter from the
Prince of Wales, dated 22nd October.(565) Again the English longbow,
combined with superior tactics, gained the day. The prince, on his return,
made a triumphal entry into the city, passing over London Bridge on his
way to Westminster, with the captive king and the king's son in his
train.(566) The streets were almost impassable for the multitude that
thronged them; and for the moment the citizens forgot at what cost to
themselves the victory had been gained. A truce--a welcome truce--for two
years followed.(567)
(M316)
Only a few weeks before the prince's return the citizens had laid before
the king a list of their grievances and prayed for redress.(568) They had
complained of being charged taxes and talliages in excess of any other of
the commons. They had lent the king at Dordrecht no less a sum than
L60,000, and had incurred further loss by the discrepancy between the
weight for weighing wool at Dordrecht and that of England. They had lent
the king further sums of L5,000 and L2,000 on two separate occasions,
which had not been repaid. The sum of L40,000 had been advanced to the
king's merchants at Calais and elsewhere, and this, together with other
sums lent (amounting to over L30,000), was still outstanding to the
grievous hurt of many citizens. They had, moreover, been called upon to
undergo more charges than others with respect to the king's expeditions to
Scotland, Flanders and France, and in providing men-at-arms, archers and
ships, in aid of his wars. Nor did their complaints stop here. The king's
purveyors had been accustomed to seize the carriages, victuals and
merchandise of citizens without offering payment for the same, in direct
contravention of the king's first charter to the city. Owing, moreover, to
deaths by the plague, so much property had come into mortmain that the
city had become impoverished, and one-third part of it rendered void of
inhabitants. These points they had desired the king to consider, inasmuch
as the city had always been loyal and peaceful, setting an example to the
whole country. The petition wound up with the usual complaint against the
privileges allowed foreign merchants, and a request that the king would
grant them letters patent under the great seal, such as they might show to
the purveyors whenever they attempted to take anything without
payment.(569)
(M317)
After the expiration of the truce Edward again set out for France. That
country, however, had suffered so much during the last two years at the
hands of freebooters, that Edward experienced the greatest difficulty in
finding sufficient provisions for his army. Whilst he was traversing
France in search of a force with which to try conclusions in the field, a
Norman fleet swept down upon the south coast and sacked Winchelsea. The
news of this disaster so incensed the king that he determined to march
direct on Paris. The Londoners, in the meantime, assisted in fitting out a
fleet of eighty vessels, manned with 14,000 men, including archers, in
order to wipe out this disgrace, but the enemy contrived to make good
their escape.(570)
(M318)
At length Edward was induced to accede to the terms offered by France, and
the peace of Bretigny was concluded (8th May, 1360). The terms were very
favourable to England, although Edward consented to abandon all claim to
the French crown. King John was to be ransomed, but the price set on his
release was so high that some years elapsed before the money could be
raised, and then only with the assistance of a few of the livery companies
of the city, which showed their sympathy with the captured king by
contributing to the fund being raised for the purpose of restoring him to
liberty.(571) It was John's high sense of honour that kept him in
captivity in England until his death in 1364. He had in fact been
liberated and allowed to return to France soon after the conclusion of
peace, on payment of part of his ransom, hostages being accepted for
payment of the remainder. In 1363 one of the hostages broke his pledge and
fled, and John, shocked at such perfidy, returned Regulus-like to England.
Hence it was that he appears as one of the four kings whom Picard, the
mayor, entertained that same year at a banquet, followed by play at dice
and hazard.(572)
(M319)
The citizens now enjoyed a period of leisure which they were not slow to
turn to account. The years which followed the peace of Bretigny, until war
broke out afresh in 1369, witnessed the re-organisation of many of the
trade and craft guilds. Some of these, like the Goldsmiths, the Tailors or
Linen-Armourers, and the Skinners, had already obtained charters from
Edward soon after his accession, so had also the Fishmongers, although the
earliest extant charter of the company is dated 1363. The Vintners date
their chartered rights from the same year; the Drapers from 1364; whilst
the more ancient company of Weavers obtained a confirmation of their
privileges in 1365. Minor guilds, like the Founders, the Plumbers, the
Fullers and others, had to content themselves with the recognition of
their ordinances by the civic authorities alone between 1364 and 1369.
The king's favour was purchased in 1363 by a gift of nearly L500, to which
the livery companies largely contributed.(573) The amount of each
subscription varied from half-a-mark to L40, the latter sum being
contributed by the Mercers, the Fishmongers, the Drapers, and the Skinners
respectively. The Tailors subscribed half that amount, being outdone by
the Vintners, who contributed L33 6_s._ 8_d._
(M320)
With the renewal of the war, a change comes over the pages of the City's
annals. The London bachelor and apprentice is drawn off from his football
and hockey, with which he had beguiled his leisure hours, and bidden to
devote himself to the more useful pursuits of shooting with arrow or bolt
on high days and holidays.(574) Once more we meet with schedules of
men-at-arms and archers provided by the City for service abroad, and of
assessments made on the City's wards to pay for them.(575) Every
inducement in the shape of plunder was held out to volunteers for
enlistment, and public proclamation was made to the effect that the spoils
of France should belong to the captors themselves.(576)
(M321)
It was an easier matter for the City to provide the king with money than
men. In 1370 it advanced a sum of L5,000,(577) and in the following year a
further sum of L4,000, and more was subscribed by the wealthier citizens,
among whom were William Walworth, who contributed over L200, Adam
Fraunceys, Simon de Mordon, and others.(578)
(M322)
Still the expenses of the war exceeded the supply of money, and resort was
had to a new form of taxation, by which it was hoped that a sum of L50,000
might be realised. By order of parliament, made in March, 1371, the sum of
22_s._ 3_d._ was to be levied on every parish in the kingdom, the number
of parishes being reckoned as amounting to 40,000. It soon became apparent
that the number of existing parishes throughout the country had been
grossly miscalculated. There were not more than 9,000, and the amount of
assessment had to be proportionately raised. It was necessary to summon a
council at Westminster in June, to remedy the miscalculation that had been
made in March. Half of the representatives of the late parliament were
summoned to meet the king, and among them two of the city's members,
Bartholomew Frestlyng and John Philipot--"the first Englishman who has left
behind him the reputation of a financier."(579) The mistake was rectified,
the charge of 22_s._ 3_d._ was raised to 116_s._ and the city was called
upon to raise over L600.(580)
In the meantime the civic authorities had, in answer to the king's
writ,(581) prepared a return of the number of parish churches, chapels and
prebends within the city.(582) It was found that within the city and
suburbs there were 106 parish churches(583) and thirty prebends, but only
two of the latter were within the liberties. There was also the free
chapel of St. Martin's-le-Grand, which embraced eleven prebends, all
within the liberty of the city, and there were, moreover, two other
chapels within the liberty. Besides these (the return stated) there were
none other.
(M323)
The bare fact that there existed over 100 parishes, each with its parish
church, within so small an area as that covered by the city and its
suburbs, is of itself sufficient to remind us that, besides having a
municipal and commercial history, the city also possesses an
ecclesiastical. The church of St. Paul, the largest foundation in the
city, with its resident canons exercising magnificent hospitality, was a
centre to which London looked as a mother, although it was not strictly
speaking the metropolitan cathedral. That title properly applies to the
Minster at Canterbury; but the church of Canterbury being in the hands of
a monastic chapter left St. Paul's at the head of the secular clergy of
southern England.(584) Besides the hundred and more churches there were
monastic establishments and colleges which covered a good fourth part of
the whole city. The collegiate church of St. Martin's-le-Grand almost
rivalled its neighbour the cathedral church itself in the area of its
precinct. The houses of the Black Friars and Grey Friars in the west were
only equalled by those belonging to the Augustine and Crossed Friars
towards the east; while the Priory of St. Bartholomew found a counterpart
in the Priory of Holy Trinity. The church was everywhere and ruled
everything, and its influence manifests itself nowhere more strongly than
in the number of ecclesiastical topics which fill the pages of early
chronicles in connection with London.(585)
(M324)
The war brought little credit or advantage in return for outlay. In
January, 1371, the Black Prince had returned to England with the glory of
former achievements sullied by his massacre at Limoges, and the City of
London had made him a present of valuable plate.(586) The conduct of the
war was transferred to his eldest surviving brother, John of Gaunt, Duke
of Lancaster. In 1372 the king himself set out with the flower of the
English nobility, and accompanied by a band of London archers and crossbow
men.(587) The expedition, which had for its object the relief of Rochelle,
and which is said to have cost no less than L900,000, proved disastrous,
and Edward returned after a brief absence.(588) In 1373 the city furnished
him with a transport barge called "The Paul of London." The barge when it
left London for Southampton was fully supplied with rigging and tackle;
nevertheless, on its arrival at the latter port, it was found to be so
deficient in equipment that it could not proceed to sea. The only
explanation that the master of the barge could give of the matter was that
a certain number of anchors and cables had been lost on the voyage. The
City paid twenty marks to make up the defects.(589) The year was marked by
a campaign under Lancaster which ended in the utmost disaster. The French
avoided a general action; the English soldiers deserted, and as the winter
came on the troops perished from cold, hunger and disease. By 1374 the
French had recovered nearly all of their former possessions. England was
tired of the war and of the ceaseless expenditure it involved. It was with
no little joy that the Londoners heard, in July, 1375,(590) that peace had
been concluded.
(M325)
In April, 1376, a parliament met, known as the Good Parliament,(591) and
before granting supply it demanded an account of former receipts and
expenditure. No less than three city aldermen were charged with
malversation. Richard Lyons, of Broad Street ward, was convicted with Lord
Latimer of embezzling the king's revenue, and sentenced to imprisonment
and forfeiture of goods.(592) Adam de Bury, of Langbourn ward, who had
twice served the office of mayor, was charged with appropriating money
subscribed for the ransom of the French king and fled to Flanders to avoid
trial;(593) whilst John Pecche of Walbrook ward was convicted of an
extortionate exercise of a monopoly of sweet wines and his patent
annulled. All three aldermen were deposed from their aldermanries by order
of an assembly of citizens composed of representatives from the various
guilds and not from the wards.(594)
(M326)
The guilds, indeed, were now claiming a more direct participation in the
government of the city than they had hitherto enjoyed, and their claim had
given rise to so much commotion that the king himself threatened to
interpose.(595) The threat was not liked, and the citizens hastened to
assure him that no disturbance had occurred in the city beyond what
proceeded from reasonable debate on an open question, and that to prevent
the noise and tumult arising from large assemblies, they had unanimously
decided that in future the Common Council should be chosen from the guilds
and not otherwise.(596) This reply was sent to the king by the hands of
two aldermen--William Walworth and Nicholas Brembre--and six commoners, and
the following day (2 August) the king sent another letter accepting the
explanation that had been offered, and expressing a hope that the city
would be so governed as not to require his personal intervention.(597)
Not only was the common council to be selected in future by the guilds,
but the guilds were also to elect the mayor and the sheriffs. The
aldermen and the commons were to meet together at least once a
quarter,(598) and no member of the common council was to serve on
inquests, nor be appointed collector or assessor of a talliage. This last
provision may have been due to the recent discoveries of malversation,
but, however that may be, it was found to work so well that it was more
than once re-enacted.(599) These changes in the internal administration of
the city were avowedly made by virtue of Edward's charter, which
specifically gave the citizens a right to remedy hard or defective
customs.(600)
(M327)
The power of the guilds in the matter of elections to the common council
was not of long duration. Before ten years had elapsed representation was
made that the new system had been forced on the citizens, and in 1384 it
was resolved to revert to the old system of election by and from the
wards.(601)
(M328)
Encouraged by the success which had so far attended their efforts of
reform, the good parliament next attacked Alice Perers, the king's
mistress. Of humble origin, and not even possessing the quality of good
looks, this lady, for whom the mediaeval chroniclers have scarcely a good
word to say,(602) nevertheless gained so complete a mastery over the king
as to favour the popular belief that she indulged in magic. At length her
barefaced interference in public affairs led to an award against her of
banishment and forfeiture. Upon the dissolution of the good parliament (6
July, 1376), and the meeting of a new parliament, elected under the direct
influence of the Earl of Lancaster, who once more gained the upper hand
now that the Black Prince was dead, Alice Perers was allowed to
return.(603) She was again in disgrace soon after Richard's accession,
when her property, much of which consisted of real estate in the
City,(604) became escheated, and the citizens of London were promised
redress for any harm she might have done them.(605) She was afterwards
married to Sir William de Windsor, who, in 1376, had got himself into
trouble over a disturbance in Whitefriars(606)--a quarter of the city
which, under the name of Alsatia, became afterwards notorious for riots,
and as the resort of bad characters. Towards the close of 1379 her
sentence of banishment, never strictly enforced, was revoked and pardon
extended to her and her husband.(607)
(M329)
In December, 1376, the citizens obtained a charter from the king, with the
assent of parliament, granting that no strangers (_i.e._ non-freemen)
should thenceforth be allowed to sell by retail within the city and
suburbs. This had always been considered a grievance, ever since free
trade had been granted to merchant strangers by the parliament held at
York in 1335.
(M330)
The last year of Edward's reign was one of serious opposition between the
City and the selfish and unprincipled Lancaster. In so far as the duke,
with the assistance of Wycliffe, meditated a reform among the higher
clergy, he might, if he would, have had the city with him. The citizens,
like the great reformer himself, were opposed to the practice of the
clergy heaping up riches and intermeddling with political matters. The
duke, however, went out of his way to hurt the feelings of the citizens,
by proposing to abolish the mayoralty and otherwise encroach upon their
liberties.(608) Not content with this he took the occasion when Wycliffe
was summoned to appear at St. Paul's (19 Feb., 1377), to offer violence to
Courtenay, their bishop. This so incensed the citizens that the meeting
broke up in confusion. The next day the mob, now thoroughly roused,
hastened to the Savoy where the duke resided. He happened, however, to be
dining in the city at the time, with a certain John de Ypre. The company
had scarcely sat down to their oysters before a soldier knocked at the
door and warned them of the danger. They forthwith jumped up from the
table, the duke barking his shins (we are told) in so doing, and, making
their way to the riverside, took boat for Kennington, where the duke
sought protection in the house of the Princess of Wales. Thanks to the
intervention of the bishop, who appeared on the scene, the mob did but
little serious harm, beyond ill-using a priest and some of the duke's
retainers whom they happened to come across.(609)
(M331)
The civic authorities were naturally anxious as to what the king might say
and do in consequence of the outbreak, and desired an interview in order
to explain matters. Lancaster was opposed to any such interview taking
place. The London mob had seized upon an escutcheon of the duke, displayed
in some public thoroughfare, and had reversed it by way of signifying that
it was the escutcheon of a traitor.(610) This had particularly raised his
anger. Nevertheless, in spite of his efforts to prevent it, an interview
was accorded to a deputation from the city, of which John Philipot acted
as spokesman. After drawing the king's attention to the threatened attack
on the privileges of the city, and the proposed substitution of a
"captain" for a mayor, Philipot offered an apology for the late riot. It
had taken place, he said, without the cognisance of the civic authorities.
Among a large population there were sure to be some bad characters whom it
was difficult to restrain, even by the authority of the mayor, when once
excited. A mob acted after the manner of a tornado, flying hither and
thither, bent on committing havoc at anybody's expense, even its own, but,
thank God! the duke had suffered no harm nor had any of his retinue been
hurt. The king having listened to the deputation, assured them in reply,
that so far from wishing to lessen the privileges of the city, he had a
mind to enlarge them. They were not to alarm themselves, but to go home
and endeavour to preserve peace. On leaving the presence the deputation
met the duke, with whom they interchanged courtesies.(611) In the
meanwhile lampoons on the duke were posted in the city. The duke became
furious and demanded the excommunication of the authors. The bishops
hesitated through fear of the mob, but at last the Bishop of Bangor was
induced by representations made to him by leading citizens, who wished it
to be known that they did not approve of such libels, to execute the
duke's wishes.(612)
(M332)
The duke was determined to have his revenge, and again the citizens were
summoned to appear before the king, who was lying at Shene. This time they
did not get off so easily. The mayor, Adam Stable, was removed, and
Nicholas Brembre appointed in his place. A fresh election of aldermen took
place,(613) and the City did penance for the recent insult to the duke's
escutcheon by offering, at the king's confidential suggestion, a wax taper
bearing the duke's arms in St. Paul's. Even that did not satisfy him; nay,
it was adding insult to injury (he said), for such an act was an honour
usually paid to one who was dead! The citizens were in despair, and
doubted if anything would satisfy him, short of proclaiming him king.(614)
(M333)
One of the last acts of Edward was to restore the Bishop of Winchester to
the temporalities of which he had been deprived by the duke, and this
restitution was made at the instance and by the influence of Alice
Perers,(615) who within a few weeks robbed her dying paramour of his
finger rings and fled.(616)