CHAP. XV. motions in the law. inns of court, and became a very diligent student of the common law. We do not exactly know when he began to practise at the bar, but as early as 1330 we find him employed as a Justice Itinerant. In 1344 he was appointed His proa King's Serjeant, and he was summoned with the judges to attend in the House of Lords. For ten years he continued at the head of the bar in Westminster Hall, taking precedence of the Attorney and Solicitor-General, and having the chief practice in all the courts. On the 27th of June, 30 Ed. III., he was raised to the office of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, which he held with the highest character for learning, industry, and integrity, till, to gratify the Commons who had petitioned that none but a layman should be Chancellor, and to soothe the growing discontents of the people, the Great Seal was delivered to him. of Chan cellor. His elevation was universally hailed with joy, and even Popularit William of Wickham, his predecessor, gracefully assisted not only at the ceremony of his being sworn in before the King, but at his public installation in Westminster Hall. † Thorpe, as Chancellor, fully equalled public expectation, and introduced some very useful reforms into the Court of Chancery; but, unfortunately, when he had held the office little more than a year, he fell into a mortal distemper, and His death. he died on the 29th of June, 1372. ing and ability. There is not preserved any report of his equitable de- His learncisions, and no parliament met during the short time he held the office of Chancellor; but from his addresses to the Lords and Commons, while Chief Justice during the Chancellorship of Bishop Thoresby, he seems to have been eloquent, and Lord Coke pronounces him "a man of singular judgment in the laws of this realm," and dwells with great complacency Rot. Cl. 4 Ed. 3. m. 32. + In Magna Aula Westmonasterii ubi Placea Cancellariæ habetur præsentibus præfato Episcopo Wyntoniensi Clericos Cancellariæ dictam bursam aperire," &c. Rot. Cl. 45 Ed. 3. m. 35. There is a curious entry on the 28th of March, intimating that on that day the late Chancellor, in the presence of Chancellor Thorpe, surrendered up to the King two other Great Seals and two Privy Seals lately in use, which the King had placed in the Bishop's custody, and which were then delivered to the Lord Treasurer. Ibid. CHAP. Sir JOHN Chancellor. July 5. 1372. His origin. on his elevation to the woolsack, evidently much sympathising with "the complaint of the Lords and Commons, that the realme had bin of long time governed by men of the Church in disherison of the Crown." It is to be deeply deplored that of a virtuous magistrate, like Thorpe, such slender memorials remain, as it is so much more agreeable to relate what is honourable than what is disgraceful to human nature-to praise rather than to condemn; but I find from my laborious researches, that while a Chancellor is going on in the equal and satisfactory discharge of his duty, little notice is taken of him, and that he is only made prominent by biographers and historians when he takes bribes, perverts the law, violates the constitution, oppresses the innocent, and brings ruin on his country: "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones." Thorpe, approaching his end, while he lay in the palace of the Bishop of Sarum, in Fleet Street, "languens in extremis, videns se circa ea quæ ad officium Cancellarii pertinent, ulterius laborare non posse prout moris est," says the Close Roll,-enclosed the Great Seal in a bag under his own private seal and that of Chief Justice Knyvet. There it was found when he expired, and the following day it was delivered by his servants to Sir William Latymer the Chamberlain, Sir Richard le Scrope the Treasurer, and Sir Nicholas de Carew Keeper of the Privy Purse, who carried it to the King at Westminster, and on the 5th of July following he sent it by his son, John of Gaunt, then styled "King of Castille and Leon, and Duke of Lancaster," to Chief Justice KNYVET, as Chancellor, with power to administer the oaths to him— a ceremony which was performed with great solemnity in the King's Chapel.† Sir John Knyvet seems to have been the first important member of his family. Camden, speaking of it in a subsequent generation, calls it "an ancient house ever since Sir John Knyvet was Lord Chancellor under Edward III.” • 4 Inst. "Chancery." Rot. Cl. 46 Ed. 3. m. 20. In 1357 he was called to the degree of Sergeant-at-law; he was soon after appointed a Justice of the Common Pleas, and he so continued till 1357, when he was advanced to the Chief Justiceship of the King's Bench, which he held with high credit. CHAP. XV. Lord Coke calls him "a man famous in his profession," An excellent judge. and during four years and a half he presided in the Court of Chancery to the general contentment of the people. Lord Coke, speaking of him and his predecessor, says with honest pride:-"In perusing the rolls of parliament in the times of these Lord Chancellors, we find no complaint at all of any proceeding before them. But soon after, when a Chancellor was no professor of the law, we find a grievous complaint by the whole body of the realm, and a petition that the most wise and able men within the realm might be chosen Chancellors, and that the King seek to redress the enormities of the Chancery. ment. In November, after Knyvet's appointment, a parliament A parliawas held at Westminster, but for some reason not explained to us the Chancellor did not preside at the opening of it, and by the King's command the causes of the summons were declared by Sir Henry Bryan, one of the King's council. † No business of importance was transacted except the grant of a supply, and this being done, the Lords and Commons. met the King in the White Chamber, when the Chancellor declared to the King,-"how kind the parliament had been to him in granting him such a supply," and "the King very humbly thanked them for their great aid." The petitions of the Commons were then read and answered according to custom. A proceeding then occurred, which shows that the House of Commons had not yet with any certainty taken its place in the constitution with defined powers and privileges. The Knights of shires had leave to depart, and writs for their wages and expenses were made out for them by the Chancellor's order; but he commanded the citizens and burgesses to stay, and they, being again assembled before the Prince, Prelates and Lords, granted for the safe conveying of their CHAP XV. Chancellor's speech. The" Good ment." ships and goods, 2s. on every tun of wine imported or exported out of the kingdom, and 6d. in the pound on all their goods and merchandise for one year. Another parliament was summoned to meet at Westminster in November, 1373. It is amusing to observe the required qualifications of the members to be returned to the House of Commons by the new-fangled writs which the Chancellor framed. The sheriff of every county was ordered "to cause to be chosen two dubbed knights, or the most honest, worthy, and discreet esquires of that county, the most expert in feats of arms, and no others, and of every city two citizens, and of every borough two burgesses, discreet and sufficient, and such as had the greatest skill in shipping and merchandising." There was no express exclusion of lawyers any more than of non-combatant country gentlemen, but no individual of either class could well be brought within either category in the writ. The Lords and Commons being assembled in the Painted Chamber, Lord Chancellor Knyvet, in the presence of the King, declared the causes of the summons. Being a layman, he did not take a text of Scripture as the theme of his discourse, but he spoke with great eloquence of the negotiations with France, - of the military exploits of the King's son, John of Gaunt, whom he calls "King of Castile and Leon," and of the duty of refreshing and comforting with force and aid the lords and others who had ventured their lives and fortunes to defend the nation from their enemies. "Wherefore the King charged and besought them, considering the dangers that might happen to the kingdom for these causes, that they would speedily consult on the matter, and give the King such advice as might be for the safety of him, the nation, and themselves."+ The required supply was granted, a favourable answer was returned to the petitions of the Commons, and all separated in good humour. But a very different scene was presented at the next parlia ment, which met in April, 1376, and was long known among the people by the name of "the Good Parliament." CHAP. XV. Pierce The King's fair fortune had begun to fail, and, no longer surrounded by the splendour of victory, those who had formerly cheerfully yielded to his wishes and liberally supplied his wants, now sharply criticised the measures of his government, blamed his ministers, and for every grant of money wrung from him some new concession. Great scandal had Alice likewise been excited by the ascendency of Alice Pierce, the King's mistress, who, though said to be of great wit as well as beauty, had been so indiscreet as openly to interfere in the disposal of all offices civil and ecclesiastical, and even to appear and sit in the courts of justice, and publicly to favour those suitors who had bribed her for her support. On one occasion, at a tournament in Cheapside, to the great consternation of the citizens of London, she came among them on a white palfrey, in splendid attire, as "lady of the sun, and sovereign of the day.” to the par liament. The Chancellor escaping personally any suspicion of being Chancelinfluenced by her, was well aware of the deep discontent which lor's speech now universally prevailed. Nevertheless, he opened the session in a speech framed as if nothing were to be expected but submission and gratitude. In declaring the causes of the summons, he said, "the first and principal was to advise about the good government and peace of the realm; -- for the defence and safety of the King, as well by sea as land; — to take order for the maintenance of the war with France and elsewhere; and how and in what manner it might be done for the best profit, quickest despatch, and greatest honour of the King and kingdom." He then expressly told them, that what the King had hitherto done was always with their advice and assistance, for which his Majesty entirely thanked them, and desired that they would diligently consult about these matters, the Prelates and Lords by themselves, and the Commons by themselves, and give in their answers as soon as they conveniently could. - "want of The Commons, in answer to the Chancellor's harangue, Vote of after they had voted a supply, not contented, in the modern courtly style, to praise all the ministerial measures of the dence.' confi |