ACCESSION TO THE THRONE.
A.D. 1376
John of Gaunt.--His thoughts in respect to the kingdom.--Laws of
succession.--Prince Edward grows worse.--He dies.--Grand burial
of the prince at Canterbury.--Richard is declared heir to the
crown.--Grand entertainment at Christmas.--Bad character of the
king.--Alice Perrers.--Death of the king.--A council of government
appointed.--Chivalry.--Fear of the French.--Embargo.--Some account
of Wickliffe the reformer.--The Pope's bulls.--Meaning of the
term.--The golden bull.--Trial of Wickliffe in London.--The
assembly.--Violent disputes.--Rudeness of the Duke of
Lancaster.--Indignation of the people.--Priest murdered.--Alarm of
the mayor and aldermen.--Deputation sent to the young king.--The
Londoners summoned.--Richard holds a court.--The whole difficulty
amicably settled.
Young Richard lived in comparative retirement with his mother for
about six years after his return to England. His father's sickness
continued. Indeed, the prince was so feeble in body, and so dejected
and desponding in mind, that he was well-nigh incapable of taking any
part in public affairs. His brother, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
remained for some time in Aquitaine, and was engaged in continual wars
with France, but at length he too returned to England. He was a man of
great energy of character and of great ambition, and he began to
revolve the question in his mind whether, in case his brother, the
Prince of Wales, should die, the inheritance of the kingdom of England
should fall to him, or to Richard, the son of his brother.
"My brother Edward is older than I," he said to himself, "and if he
should live till after our father the king dies, then I grant that he
should succeed to the throne. But if he dies before the king, then it
is better that I should succeed to the throne, for his son Richard is
but a child, and is wholly unfit to reign. Besides, if the oldest son
of a king is dead, it is more reasonable that the next oldest should
succeed him, rather than that the crown should go down to the children
of the one who has died."
The laws of succession were not absolutely settled in those days, so
that, in doubtful cases, it was not uncommon for the king himself, or
the Parliament, or the king and Parliament together, to select from
among different claimants, during the life-time of the king, the one
whom they wished to succeed to the crown.
All were agreed, however, in this case--the king, the Parliament, and
the people of the country--that if Edward should survive his father,
he was the rightful heir. He was a universal favorite, and people had
been long anticipating a period of great prosperity and glory for the
kingdom of England when he should be king.
In the mean time, however, his health grew worse and worse, and at
length, in 1376, he died. His death produced a great sensation.
Provision was made for a very magnificent funeral. The prince died at
Westminster, which was then a mile or two west from London, though now
London has become so extended that Westminster forms the west end of
the town. It was determined to bury the prince in the Cathedral at
Canterbury. Canterbury is in the south-eastern part of England, and
was then, as now, the residence of the archbishop, and the religious
metropolis, so to speak, of the kingdom. When the day of the funeral
arrived, an immense cavalcade and procession was formed at
Westminster. All the nobles of the court and the members of Parliament
joined in the train as mourners, and followed the body through the
city. The body was placed on a magnificent hearse, which was drawn by
twelve horses. Immense throngs of people crowded the streets and the
windows to see the procession go by. After passing through the city,
the hearse, attended by the proper escort, took the road to
Canterbury, and there the body of the prince was interred. A monument
was erected over the tomb, upon which was placed an effigy of the
prince, dressed in the armor in which the illustrious wearer had
gained so many victories and acquired such lasting renown.
[Illustration: EDWARD, THE BLACK PRINCE.--This engraving represents the
effigy of the Black Prince, as now seen upon his monument on the north
side of the Cathedral at Canterbury.]
The King of France, although the prince had been one of his most
implacable enemies all his life, and had been engaged in incessant
wars against him, caused funeral solemnities to be celebrated in Paris
on the occasion of his death.
The ceremonies were performed with great magnificence in the chapel of
the royal palace, and all the barons, knights, and nobles of the court
attended in grand costume, and joined in rendering honor to the memory
of their departed foe.
It was about midsummer when Richard's father died. Richard's uncle,
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was in London, and he had a large
party in his favor, though generally he was very unpopular in England.
He had not yet openly claimed the right to inherit the crown, nor did
any one know positively that he intended to do so. In order to
prevent, if possible, any dispute on this question, and to anticipate
any movements which John might otherwise make to secure the crown to
himself, the Parliament petitioned the king to bring the young Prince
Richard before them, that they might publicly receive him, and
recognize him formally as heir to the crown. This the king did.
Richard was dressed in royal robes, and conveyed in great state to the
hall where Parliament was convened. Of course, the spectacle of a boy
of ten years old brought in this manner before so august an assembly
excited universal attention. The young prince was received with great
honor. A solemn oath of allegiance was taken by all present,
including the members of the Parliament, the great officers of state,
and a number of nobles of high rank, including the Duke of Lancaster
himself. In this oath, the claims of Richard to succeed his
grandfather as King of England were recognized, and those taking the
oath bound themselves forever to maintain his rights against all who
should ever call them in question.
At Christmas of that year the king gave a great entertainment to all
the lords and nobles of his court. At this entertainment he gave
Prince Richard the highest place, next to himself, putting his uncle
John, and all his other uncles, below him. This was to signify that he
was now the second person in the kingdom, and that his uncles must
always henceforth yield precedence to him.
The king was now sixty-five years of age. His health was very infirm.
It was made so, in great measure, by his mode of life, which was
scandalous. He associated with corrupt men and women, who led him into
great excesses. As the spring of the year came on he grew worse, but
he would not abandon his evil habits. He lived at one of his palaces
on the Thames, a short distance above London, near Richmond. His
government fell into great disorder, but he did nothing to restrain
or correct the evils that occurred. In a word, he was fast relapsing
into utter imbecility.
There was a young woman, named Alice Perrers, who had for some time
been the favorite of the king, and had openly lived with him, greatly
to the displeasure of many of his people. She was now with him at his
palace. The nobles and courtiers who had been in attendance upon the
king, seeing that he was soon to die, began to withdraw from him, and
leave him to his fate. They saw that there was nothing more to be
obtained from him, and that, for their future prospects, they must
depend on the favor of Prince Richard or of his uncle John. It is true
that Richard's right to the succession had been acknowledged, but then
he was yet a child, and it was supposed that his uncle John, being the
next oldest son of the king, would probably be appointed regent until
he should come of age. So the courtiers left the dying monarch to his
fate, and went to court the favor of those who were soon to succeed to
his power. Some went to the palace of the Duke of Lancaster; others
proceeded to Kennington, where the prince and his mother were
residing. The poor king found himself forsaken of all the world, and
left to die neglected and alone. It is said that Alice Perrers was
the last to leave him, and that she only remained after the rest for
the sake of a valuable ring which he wore upon his finger, and which
she wished to get away from him as soon as the dying monarch was too
far gone to be conscious of the robbery.
The counselors and nobles, though they thus forsook the king, were not
wholly unmindful of the interests of the kingdom. They assembled
immediately after his death, and determined that during Richard's
minority the government should be administered by a council, and they
selected for this council twelve men from among the highest nobles of
the land. They determined upon this plan rather than upon a regency
because they knew that if a regent were appointed it would be
necessary that the Duke of Lancaster should be the man, and they were
unwilling to put the power into his hands, for fear that he would not
surrender it when Richard should come of age.
Besides, it would be in his power, in case he had been appointed
regent, to have caused Richard to be put to death in some secret way,
if he chose to do so, and then, of course, the crown would, without
dispute, pass next to him. It was not wholly unreasonable to fear
this, for such crimes had often been committed by rival against rival
in the English royal line. A man might be in those days a very brave
and gallant knight, a model in the eyes of all for the unsullied
purity of his chivalric honor, and yet be ready to poison or starve an
uncle, or a brother, or a nephew, without compunction or remorse, if
their rights or interests conflicted with his own. The honor of
chivalry was not moral principle or love of justice and right; it was
mere punctiliousness in respect to certain conventional forms.
Immediately on the death of the king, orders were sent to all the
ports in the southern part of England forbidding any ship or boat of
any kind from going to sea. The object of this was to keep the death
of the king a secret from the King of France, for fear that he might
seize the opportunity for an invasion of England. Indeed, it was known
that he was preparing an expedition for this purpose before the king
died, and it was considered very important that he should not hear of
the event until the government should be settled, lest he should take
advantage of it to hasten his invasion.
The making of these arrangements, and the funeral ceremonies connected
with the interment of the king, occupied some days. There was also a
difficulty between the Duke of Lancaster and the citizens of London
to be settled, which for a time threatened to be quite embarrassing.
The case was this.
In all accounts of the Reformation in England, among the earliest of
those who first called in question the supremacy of the Pope, the name
of Wickliffe is always mentioned. Indeed, he has been called the
morning star of the English Reformation, as he appeared before it,
and, by the light which beamed from his writings and his deeds,
announced and ushered its approach. He was a collegian of the great
University of Oxford, a very learned man, and a great student of
ecclesiastical and civil law. During the reign of Edward, Richard's
grandfather, who had now just died, there had been some disputes
between him and the Pope in relation to their respective rights and
powers within the realm of England. This is not the place to explain
the particulars of the dispute. It is enough here to say that there
were two parties formed in England, some taking sides with the Church,
and others with the king. The bishops and clergy, of course, belonged
to the former class, and many of the high nobility to the latter. At
length, after various angry discussions, the Pope issued a bull,
addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the Bishop of London,
two of the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm,
commanding them to cause Wickliffe to be apprehended and brought
before them for trial on the charge of heresy.
The decrees of popes were in those days, as now, generally called
bulls. The reason why they were called by this name was on account of
their being authenticated by the Pope's seal, which was impressed upon
a sort of button or boss of metal attached to the parchment by a cord
or ribbon. The Latin name for this boss was _bulla_. Such bosses were
sometimes made of lead, so as to be easily stamped by the seal.
Sometimes they were made of other metals. There was one famous decree
of the Pope in which the boss was of gold. This was called the golden
bull.
On the adjoining page we have an engraving, copied from a very ancient
book, representing an archbishop reading a bull to the people in a
church. You can see the boss of metal, with the seal stamped upon it,
hanging down from the parchment.
[Illustration: THE BULL.]
* * * * *
As soon as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London
received the bull commanding them to bring Wickliffe to trial, they
caused him to be seized and brought to London. On hearing of his
arrest, a number of his friends among the nobles came at once to London
too, in order that they might support him by their countenance and
encouragement, and restrain the prelates from carrying their hostility
against him too far. Among these were the Duke of Lancaster and a
certain Lord Percy, a nobleman of very high rank and station. The trial
took place in the Church of St. Paul's. Wickliffe was called upon to
answer to the charges made against him before a very imposing court of
ecclesiastics, all dressed magnificently in their sacerdotal robes. The
knights and barons who took Wickliffe's side were present too in their
military costume, and a great assembly besides, consisting chiefly of
the citizens of London.
The common people of London, being greatly under the influence of the
priests, were, of course, against Wickliffe, and they looked with evil
eyes upon the Duke of Lancaster and the other nobles who had come
there to befriend him. In the course of the trial, which it seems was
not conducted in a very regular manner, the prelates and the nobles
got into a dispute. The dispute at last became so violent that the
Duke of Lancaster had the rudeness to threaten the Bishop of London
that if he did not behave better he would drag him out of the church
by the hair of his head. This was certainly very rough language to
address to a bishop, especially at a time when he was sitting, under
authority from the Pope, as a judge in a high spiritual court, and
clothed in all the paraphernalia of his sacred office. The Londoners
were excessively angry. They went out and called their fellow-citizens
to arms. The excitement spread and increased during the night, and the
next morning a mob collected in the streets, threatening vengeance
against the duke and Lord Percy, and declaring that they would kill
them. The duke's arms, which were displayed in a public place in the
city, they reversed, as was customary in the case of traitors, and
then growing more and more excited as they went on, they directed
their steps toward the palace of the Savoy, where they expected to
find the duke himself. The duke was not there, but the men would have
set fire to the palace had it not been for the interposition of the
Bishop of London. He, hearing what was going on, repaired to the spot,
and with great difficulty succeeded in restraining the mob and saving
the palace. They, however, proceeded forthwith to the house of Lord
Percy, where they burst through the doors, and, ransacking all the
rooms, tore and broke every thing to pieces, and threw the fragments
out at the windows. They found a man dressed as a priest, whom they
took to be Lord Percy in disguise, and they killed him on the spot.
The murdered man was not Lord Percy, however, but a priest in his own
proper dress. Lord Percy and the duke were just preparing to sit down
to dinner quietly together in another place, when a messenger came
breathless and informed them what was going on. They immediately fled.
They ran to the water-side, got into a boat, and rowed themselves over
to Kennington, a place on the southern side of the river, nearly
opposite to Westminster, where the young Prince Richard and his mother
were then residing; for all this took place just before King Richard's
grandfather died.
The lord-mayor and aldermen of London were greatly alarmed when they
heard of this riot, and of the excesses which the citizens of London
had committed. They were afraid that the Duke of Lancaster, whose
influence and power they knew was already very great, and which would
probably become vastly greater on the death of the king, would hold
them responsible for it. So they went in a body to Richmond, where the
king was lying sick, and made very humble apologies for the
indignities which had been offered to the duke, and they promised to
do all in their power to punish the transgressors. The king was,
however, too far gone to pay much attention to this embassy. The mayor
and aldermen then sent a deputation to Prince Richard at Kennington,
to declare their good-will to him, and their readiness to accept him
as their sovereign upon the death of his grandfather, and to promise
faithful allegiance to him on their own part individually, and on the
part of the city of London. They hoped by this means to conciliate the
good opinion of Richard and of his mother, as well as of the other
friends around him, and prepare them to judge leniently of their case
when it should come before them.
All this, as has already been remarked, took place just before King
Edward's death. Immediately after his death Richard and his mother
went to Richmond, and took up their residence in the palace where
Edward died. On the next day a deputation was sent to the mayor and
aldermen of London in Richard's name, calling upon them to appear at
Richmond before the king, together with the Duke of Lancaster and his
friends, in order that both sides might be heard in respect to the
subject-matter of the dispute, and that the question might be
properly decided. The Duke of Lancaster, they were informed, had
agreed to this course, and was ready to appear. They were accordingly
summoned to appear also.
The Londoners were at first rather afraid to obey this injunction.
They did not think that a boy of eleven years of age was really
competent to hear and decide such a case. Then they were afraid, too,
that the Duke of Lancaster, being his uncle, would have such an
influence over him as to lead him to decide just as he, the duke,
should desire, and that thus, if they submitted to such a hearing of
the case, they would place themselves wholly in the duke's power.
After some hesitation, however, they finally concluded to go,
stipulating only that, whatever disposal might be made of the case,
there should, in no event, any personal harm befall the mayor or the
aldermen.
This condition was agreed to, and the parties appeared on the
appointed day before the little king to have the case tried. Richard
was, of course, surrounded by his officers and counselors, and the
business was really transacted by them, though it was done in the
young king's name. There was no difficulty in settling the dispute
amicably, for all parties were disposed to have it settled, and in
such cases it is always easy to find a way. In this instance, the
advisers of Richard managed so well that the duke and his friends were
quite reconciled to the Londoners, and they all went out from the
presence of the king at last, when the case was concluded, as good
friends apparently as they had ever been.
The settling of this dispute was the first act of King Richard's
reign. Considering how violent the dispute had been, and how powerful
the parties to it were, and also considering that Richard was yet
nothing but a small though very pretty boy, we must admit that it was
a very good beginning.