for they knew well that they had no force to resist them, and also they knew well the Londoners were sore displeased with them: therefore they spake fair, and said to the earl: sir, what is your pleasure the king is at mass; he hath sent us hither to speak with you. I say, quoth the earl, ye know well I ought to have possession of the Duchy of Lancaster; I am come in part for that cause, and also for other things that I would speak with the king of. Sir, quoth they, ye be welcome, the king would be glad to see you and to hear you, and hath commanded that ye come to him all only with twelve persons. The earl answered, it pleaseth me well:

so he entered into the castle with twelve persons, and then the gate closed again, and the rest of his company tarried without.

Now consider what danger the earl of Derby was in, for the king then might have slain him and such as were with him, as easily as a bird in a cage; but he feared not the matter, but boldly went to the king, who changed colours when he saw the earl. Then the earl spake aloud, without making of any great honour or reverence, and said: Sir, are ye fasting? The king answered and said, yea, why ask you It is time, quoth the earl, that ye had dined, for ye have a great journey to ride. Why, whither should I ride? quoth the king. Ye must ride to London, quoth the earl, wherefore I counsel you eat and drink, that ye may ride with the more mirth. Then the king, who was sore troubled in his mind, and in a manner afraid of those words, said: I am not hungry; I have no lust to eat. Then such as were by, who were as then glad to flatter the earl of Derby, for they saw well the matter was like to go diversely, said to the king: sir, believe your cousin of Lancaster, for he will nothing but good. Then the king said: well, I am content; cover the tables. Then the king washed and sat down and was served. Then the earl was demanded if he would sit down: he said no, for he was not fasting. In the mean season while the king sat at dinner, who did eat but little, his heart was so full that he had no lust to eat, all the country about the castle was full of men of war; they within the castle might see them out of the windows, and the king when he rose from the table might see them himself. Then he demanded of his cousin what men they were that appeared so many in the fields. The earl answered and said: the most part of them be Londoners. What would they have? quoth the king. They will have you, quoth the earl, and bring you to London, and put you into the Tower; there is none other remedy, ye can scape none otherwise. No, quoth the king, and he was sore afraid of those words, for he knew well the Londoners loved him not, and said; cousin, can ye not provide for my surety? I will not gladly put me into their hands, for I know well they hate me, and have done long, though I be their king. Then the earl said: Sir, I see no other remedy but to yield yourself as my prisoner; and when they know that ye be my prisoner they will do you no hurt; but ye must so ordain you and your company to ride to London with me, and to be as my prisoner in the Tower of London. The king, who saw himself in a hard case, all his spirits were sore abashed, as he that doubted greatly that the Londoners would slay him. Then he yielded himself prisoner to the early of Derby, and bound himself, and promised to do all that he would have him to do. In likewise all other knights, squires, and officers yielded to the earl, to eschew the danger and peril that they were in: and the earl then received them as his prisoners, and ordained incontinent horses to be saddled and brought forth into the court and the gates opened, then many men of arms and archers entered; then the earl of Derby caused a cry to be made; on pain of death no man to be so hardy to take away any thing within the castle, nor to lay any hands upon any person, for all were under the earl's safeguard and protection; which cry was kept, no man durst break it. The earl had the king down into the court talking together, and caused all the king's whole household and estate to go forward, as of custom

:

they had done before, without changing or minishing of any thing. While every thing was a preparing, the king and the earl communed together in the court, and were well regarded by the Londoners; and as it was informed me, king Richard had a greyhound called Mathe, who always waited upon the king, and would know no man else for whensoever the king did ride, he that kept the greyhound did let hin loose, and he would straight run to the king and fawn upon him, and leap with his fore-feet upon the king's shoulders; and as the king and the earl of Derby talked together in the court, the greyhound, who was wont to leap upon the king, left the king and came to the earl of Derby, duke of Lancaster, and made to him the same friendly countenance and cheer as he was wont to do to the king. The duke, who knew not the greyhound, demanded of the king what the greyhound would do. Cousin, quoth the king, it is a great good token to you, and an evil sign to me. Sir, how know you that? quoth the duke. I know it well, quoth the king: the greyhound maketh you cheer this day as king of England, as ye shall be, and I shall be deposed; the greyhound hath this knowledge naturally; therefore take him to you, he will follow you and forsake me. The duke understood well those words, and cherished the greyhound, who would never after follow king Richard, but followed the duke of Lancaster.

121. THE DEPOSITION OF RICHARD.

FROISSART.

When the duke of Lancaster had set his cousin king Richard in the Tower of London, and certain of his councillors, and had set sure keeping on them, the first thing then that the duke did, he sent for the earl of Warwick, who was banished, and commanded to be in the Isle of Wight, and discharged him clean thereof; and secondly, the duke of Lançaster sent to the earl of Northumberland, and to the lord Percy his son, that they should come to him, and so they did: after he enquired and sought out to have the four companions that had strangled his uncle the duke of Gloucester in the castle of Calais; they were so well sought out, that they were all taken they were set in prison apart in London. Then the duke of Lancaster and his council took advice what should be done with king Richard, being in the Tower of London; where as king John of France was kept, while king Edward went into the realm of France: then it was thought that king Richard should be put from all his royalty and joy that he had lived in, for they said, the news of his taking should spread abroad into all realms christened; he had been king twenty-two year, and as then they determined to keep him in prison: then they regarded what case the realm stood in, and did put all his deeds in articles to the number of twenty-eight. Then the duke of Lancaster and his council went to the Tower of London, and entered into the chamber where king Richard was, and without any reverence making to him, there was openly read all the said articles, to the which the king made none answer, for he saw well all was true that was laid to his charge, saving he said, all that I have done passed by my council. Then he was demanded what they were that had given counsel, and by whom he was most ruled; he named them, in trust thereby to have been delivered himself in accusing of them, as he had done beforetime, trusting thereby to scape, and to bring them in the danger and pain, but that was not the mind of them that loved him not. So as at that time they spake no more but departed, and the duke of Lancaster went to his lodging, and suffered the mayor and the men of law to proceed; they went to the Guildhall, where as all the matters of the city were determined, and then much people assembled there. When they saw the governors

of the city go thither, they thought some justice should be done, as there was indeed. I shall shew you how: First, the articles that were made against the king, the which had been read before him in the Tower, were read again there openly; and it was shewed by him that read them, how the king himself denied none of them, but confessed that he did them by the counsel of four knights of his chamber, and how by their counsel he had put to death the duke of Gloucester, and the earl of Arundel, Sir Thomas Corbet, and other, and how they had long encited the king to do those deeds: which deeds, they said, were not to be forgiven, but demanded punition; for by them and their counsel the justice of right was closed up through all the courts of England, Westminster, and other, whereby many evil deeds followed, and companies and rowts of thieves and murderers rose and assembled together in divers parts of the realm, and robbed merchants by the ways, and poor men in their houses, by which means the realm was in great peril to have been lost without recovery; and it is to be imagined that finally they would have rendered Calais, or Guisnes, or both, into the Frenchmen's hands. These words thus shewed to the people made many to be abashed, and many began to murmur and said: these causes demand punition, that all other may take ensample thereby, and Richard of Bourdeaux to be deposed; for he is not worthy to bear a crown, but ought to be deprived from all honour, and to be kept all his life in prison with bread and water. Though some of the villains murmured, other said on high: Sir Mayor of London, and ye other that have justice in your hands to minister, execute justice: for we will ye spare no man, for ye see well the case that ye have shewed as demandeth justice incontinent, for they are judges upon their own deeds. Then the mayor and other of the governors of the law went together into the chamber of judginent; then these four knights were judged to die, and were judged to be had to the foot of the Tower, where as king Richard was, that he might see them drawn along by the dyke with horses each after other, through the city into Cheapside, and then their heads stricken off there, and set upon London bridge, and their bodies drawn to the gibbet, and there hanged.

This judgment given they were delivered to execution, for the Mayor of London. and such as were deputed to the matter went from the Guildhall to the Tower, and took out the four knights of the king, whose names were called Sir Bernard Brokas, Sir Marclays, Master John Derby, Receiver of Lincoin, and Master Stell, the king's Steward; each of them were tied to two horses, in the presence of them that were in the Tower, and the king might well see it out of the windows, wherewith he was sore discomforted, for all other that were there with the king looked to be in the same case, they knew them of London so cruel. Thus these four knights were drawn one after another along through the city till they came into Chepe, and there on a fisher's stall their heads were stricken off and set upon London bridge, and their bodies drawn by the shoulders to the gibbet, and there hanged up. This justice thus done, every man went to their lodgings. King Richard knowing himself taken, and in the danger of the Londoners, was in great sorrow in his heart, and reckoned his puissance nothing: for he saw how every man was against him, and if there were any that ought him any favour, it lay not in their power to do him any aid, nor they durst not shew it. Such as were with the king said: Sir, we have but small trust in our lives as it may well appear; for when your cousin of Lancaster came to the castle of Flint, and with your own good will ye yielded you to him, and he promised that you and twelve of yours should be his prisoners and have no hurt, and now of those twelve, four be executed shamefully, we are like to pass the same way; the cause is these Londoners, who hath caused the duke of Lancaster your cousin to do this deed, had him so sore bound to them that they must do as they will have him; God doth much for us, if he suffer that

we might die here our natural death, and not a shameful death; it is great pity to think on this. With those words king Richard began tenderly to weep and wring his hands, and cursed the hour that ever he was born, rather than to have such an end. Such as were about him had great pity, and recomforted him as well as they might. One of his knights said: Sir, it behoveth you to take comfort; we see well, and so do you, that this world is nothing, the fortunes thereof are marvellous, and sometime turn as well upon kings and princes, as upon poor men; the French king, whose daughter ye have married, can not now aid you, he is so far off; if ye might scape this mischief by dissimulation, and save your life and ours, it were a good enterprise: peradventure within a year or two there would be had some recovery. Why, quoth the king, what would ye that I should do? There is nothing but I would be glad to do it, to save us thereby. Sir, quoth the knight, we see for truth that these Londoners will crown your cousin of Lancaster as king, and for that entent they sent for him, and so have aided him and do; it is not possible for you to live, without ye consent that he be crowned king: wherefore sir, we will counsel you, (to the entent to save your life and ours), that when your cousin of Lancaster cometh to you to demand any thing, then with sweet and treatable words say to him, how that ye will resign to him the crown of England, and all the right that ye have in the realm, clearly and purely into his hands, and how that ye will that he be king; thereby ye shall greatly appease him and the Londoners also; and desire him effectuously to suffer you to live and us also with you, or else every man apart, as it shal please him, or else to banish us out of the realm for ever, for he that loseth his life, loseth all. King Richard heard those words well, and fixed them surely in his heart, and said he would do as they counselled him, as he that saw himself in great danger: and then he said to them that kept him, how he would gladly speak with his cousin of Lancaster.

It was shewed the Duke of Lancaster how Richard of Bourdeaux desired to speak with him. The duke in an evening took a barge and went to the Tower by water, and went to the king, who received him courteously, and humbled himself greatly, as he that saw himself in great danger, and said: Cousin of Lancaster, I regard and consider mine estate, which is as now but small, I thank God thereof; as any more to reign or to govern people, or to bear a crown, I think it not, and as God help me I would I were dead by a natural death, and that the French King had again his daughter; we have had as yet no great joy together, nor sith I brought her into England, I could never have the love of my pcople as I had before. Cousin, all things considered, I know well I have greatly trespassed against you, and against other noble men of my blood; by divers things, I perceive I shall never have pardon nor come to peace, wherefore with mine own free and liberal will, I will resign to you the heritage of the Crown of England, and I require you take the gift thereof with the resignation. When the Duke heard that, he said: Sir, it is convenient that part of the three estates of the realm be called to these words, and I have sent already for some noble men, prelates, and councillors of the good towns of England, and I trust they will be here within these three days, sufficient of them, for you to make a due resignation before them, and by this means ye shall greatly appease many men within the realm; for to withstand such enormities and evils as have been used in the realm for fault of justice, who had no place to reign, I was sent for from beyond the sea: and the people would crown me, for the renome runneth throughout England, that I have more right to the crown than ye have ; for when our grandfather King Edward the Third did choose and make you king, the same was as then shewed him, but he loved so his son the prince, that none could break his purpose nor opinion, but that ye should be king; and if ye would have followed the steps of your father the prince, and have

believed his counsel, as a good son ought to have done, ye might have been still king, and have continued your estate; but ye have always done the contrary, so that the common renome runneth through England, and in other places, that ye were never son to the Prince of Wales, but rather son to a priest or to a canon; for I have heard of certain knights that were in the prince's house, mine uncle, how that he knew well that his wife had not truly kept her marriage, your mother was cousin-german to King Edward, and the king began to hate her, because she could have no generation; also she was the king's gossip of two children at the font and she that could well keep the prince in her bandon by craft and subtlety, she made the prince to be her husband, and because she could have no child, she doubted that the prince should be divorced from her: she did so much that she was with child with you, and with another before you; as of the first I cannot tell what to judge, but as for you because your conditions have been seen contrary from all nobleness and prowess of the Prince, therefore it is said that ye be rather son to a priest or to a canon, for when ye were gotten and born at Bordeaux, there were many young priests in the prince's house. This is the bruit in this country, and your works have well followed the same, for ye be always enclined to the pleasure of the Frenchmen, and to take with them peace to the confusion and dishonour of the realm of England. And because mine uncle of Gloucester, and the Earl of Arundel, did counsel you truly and faithfully to keep the honour of the realm, and to follow the steps of your ancestors, ye have traitorously caused them to die; as for me I have taken on me to defend your life as long as I may for pity, and I shall pray the Londoners and the heritors of them that ye have slain and banished, to do the same. Cousin, I thank you, quoth the king, I trust more in you than in any other. It is but right that ye so should do, for if I had not been, ye had been taken by the people and deposed with great confusion, and slain, by reason of your evil works. King Richard heard well all the duke's words, and wist not what to say against it, for he saw well that force nor arguments could not avail him, but rather meekness and humility: wherefore he humbled him, and prayed the duke to save his life.

When the Duke of Lancaster had been at the Tower two hours with King Richard, and had shewed him part of his faults, then he returned. And the next day he sent forth more commandents into all parts of the realm, to cause noble men and other to come to London : his uncle the Duke of York came to London, and the Earl of Rutland his son, the Earl of Northumberland, and the Lord Thomas Percy his brother; the Duke of Lancaster made them good cheer: thither came also great number of prelates and abbots. And on a day the Duke of Lancaster accompanied with lords, dukes, prelates, earls, barons, and knights, and of the notablest men of London, and of other good towns, rode to the Tower, and there alighted. Then King Richard was brought into the hall, apparelled like a king in his robes of state, his sceptre in his hand, and his crown on his head: then he stood up alone, not holden nor stayed by no man, and said aloud: I have been King of England, Duke of Acquitaine, and Lord of Ireland, about twenty-two years, which signiory, royalty, sceptre, crown, and heritage, I clearly resign here to my cousin, Henry of Lancaster: and I desire him here in this open presence, in entering of the same possession, to take this sceptre: and so delivered it to the duke, who took it. Then King Richard took the crown from his head with both his hands, and set it before him, and said: Fair cousin, Henry Duke of Lancaster, I give and deliver you this crown, wherewith I was crowned King of England, and therewith all the right thereto depending. The Duke of Lancaster took it, and the Archbishop of Canterbury took it out of the duke's hands. This resignation thus done. the Duke of Lancaster called a notary, and demanded to have letters