summer time people went to amuse themselves," was ultimately arranged. When the king rode out of the Tower, the most daring ruffians in the mob entered the building with a rush, ran from room to room, and slew four unfortunate persons whom they found there-the Archbishop of Canterbury (Ball's bitter foe), the Prior of St. John's, a Franciscan friar who was physician to Lancaster, and a sergeant-at-arms who collected the tax.

The well-meaning part of the crowd met Richard at Mile End with a cry of "No slaves!" and dispersed quietly on receiving royal letters of pardon and redress, drawn up in haste. They made four principal demands:-1. That villenage should be abolished for ever. 2. That good land should be reduced to fourpence an acre. 3. That they should have the full liberty of buying and selling, like other men, in all fairs and markets. 4. That all past offences should be pardoned. A promise of redress had stilled their clamours and sent them home; but Tyler rejected these mild reforms with disdain. Three times, amended charters came from the long-suffering king; and three times the cry was for more.

Smithfield, where every Friday the horse-market was held, saw the closing scene in this mingled tragedy and farce. About twenty thousand gathered there. Richard, riding by with sixty horse, stopped at the Abbey of St. Bartholomew, and Tyler galloped insolently up till his horse's head almost touched the king. Some words passed, and Tyler began to finger his dagger in a threatening manner; whereupon Sir William Walworth, the Mayor of London, struck him on the head with a scimitar, and felled him to the ground. It was a perilous crisis. Every bow bent in the yelling ranks of the rebels, drawing thousands of arrows to the head against the little band of horse. The gallantry of the royal boy, then aged fifteen, saved his kingdom and his life. Dashing up to them alone, he cried, "Gentlemen, I your king will be your leader." Bow

strings slackened and brows unknit. The rebellion was at an end. Most of the rebels fled. Betrayed by their own men, Jack Straw and John Ball were found hidden in an old ruin; and in no long time their severed heads were blackening on the spikes of London Bridge. A bloody assize followed under Justice Tresilian, who traversed the country in spite of the letters of pardon granted at Mile End, inflicting the severest penalties upon all who were accused of having taken part in the movement.

The spirit which flashed in this instance from the youthful Richard seems in great part to have deserted him in maturer years. He sank into a leader of fashion, a splendid spendthrift, delighting in such things as gowns of scarlet trimmed with the rarest furs. In these tastes Richard was encouraged by his favourites, of whom the chief were De Vere, Earl of Oxford, and De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. A strong party of opposition was headed by the king's uncle, the Duke of Gloucester. The object of the movement was declared to be the reform of the administration. In 1386, Suffolk was dismissed from the chancellorship. A council of regency, consisting of eleven lords and bishops, was appointed, with Gloucester at its head, and the king was deprived of all power. Two years later, the "Wonderful Parliament" condemned the king's favourites as traitors, and such of them as did not escape by flight were put to death. Richard submitted quietly for a few years. Then he suddenly and secretly turned on his enemies and rent them. In 1397 Gloucester and his leading associates were arrested. Some were banished; some were put to death. Gloucester died mysteriously at Calais-no doubt by foul means. In 1398 all the acts of the "Wonderful Parliament" were reversed, and Richard received such supplies and such powers that he was practically an absolute monarch. Parliament was virtually extinguished, as its functions were transferred to a commission of twelve, nominated by the king.

1388

1399

He did not long enjoy his power. His cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, the son of Lancaster, dethroned him in 1399. Returning from exile while Richard was fighting in Ireland, he landed at Ravenspur in Yorkshire, reached London with sixty thousand men, and in a few weeks met the monarch at the castle of Flint. On the 30th of the following September, Richard's deposition was solemnly pronounced in full Parliament at Westminster Hall. At Pontefract Castle, on St. Valentine's Day in the following year, he died, most probably by foul means.

One law of this reign deserves special notice that called the statute of Præmunire,* which decreed that "any person purchasing in the court of Rome or elsewhere any provisions, excommunications, bulls, or other instru- 1393 ments whatsoever, and any persons bringing such instruments within the realm, or receiving them, or making notification of them, should be put out of the king's protection; that their lands and goods should be forfeited; and that they themselves, if they could be found, should be attacked and brought before the king and council, there to answer for their offence."

* This statute derived its name from "Præmunire (or præmoneri) facias A. B.”—Cause A. B. to be forewarned-words used in the writ issued for the execution of this and similar preceding laws.

CHAPTER XV.

WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM.

Justice for Wykeham-Rise in the Church-Architectural genius— Political fame-A dark cloud-Later life.

THE

HE name of Wykeham, who was Bishop of Winchester from 1366 to 1404, and who was mixed up with all the leading public transactions of his time, has not received the prominence due to his genius and his tact. Whether we regard him as the architect of Windsor Castle and other noble piles of building, as the munificent and enlightened founder of the great school at Winchester and of New College at Oxford, or as a politician who won and kept the respect even of his most violent opponents, we are justified in claiming for him a place in history close to such men as Chaucer, Wyclif, and Edward the Black Prince.

The village of Wykeham or Wickham in Hampshire was the place of his birth. He went to school at Winchester, but studied, it seems, at no university. Never in any sense did he claim to be a learned man. His mind was of that sturdy kind that may be bent by a college training, but that can grow strongly up from its native roots without much external aid, and can do a noble sort of practical work in the world without a deep knowledge of Aristotle or of Plato. Having entered the Church, William received from King Edward in 1356 a presentation to the rectory of Pulham in Norfolk; and in ten

years he climbed by many steps of preferment to the see of Winchester, being then forty-two years of age.

He probably owed his first introduction to the king's favour to that architectural genius which enabled him to design and direct the new buildings at Windsor. The fourteenth century was rich in exquisite works of architecture, in the gorgeous style called the Decorated English; and the clergy took no inconsiderable share in this outgrowth and evidence of the national taste. The nave of York Minster, the south aisle of Gloucester with its splendid foliage, the magnificent choir of Lincoln, the lantern of Ely, and the spire of Salisbury graceful as a lily-stalk, all belonged to his opening boyhood; and some of them may have had a powerful influence in developing his youthful genius.

Grants and pensions aided him to uphold his rising state. In every character he filled-architect, clergyman, politicianProsperity marked him as one of her favourites. When he received the mitre of Winchester in 1366, he had already been for some time royal Secretary and Keeper of the Privy Seal. In the following year, the distinguished position of Lord High Chancellor of England awaited his acceptance. That great office he held for four years (1367–1371), during which he made many friends and but few enemies. A petition from Parliament, begging that the Great Seal should not be in the hands of a churchman, caused him to resign. He carried with him the favour of the king and the good-will of Lancaster, to whose influence was chiefly owing the state of things that brought about his resignation.

From Lancaster, whose ambitious path he crossed in 1376, arose the greatest, indeed almost the only cloud in Wykeham's life. Accused of embezzlement, oppression, and other abuses of his exalted station as keeper and chancellor, the bishop was brought to trial, convicted on a trifling point, and banished from the court. At the same time the revenues of his see were