JOHN OF GAUNT, DUKE OF LANCASTER.-Cotton MS. Nero D. VI. SHIELD, CAP, AND LANCE OF JOHN OF GAUNT.2-From Hollar.

fell in with a Spanish fleet, and suffered considerable loss. The two earls, however, succeeded in their main object, and took possession of the town and port of Cherbourg, on the coast of Normandy, which were ceded to England by the King of Navarre, who was again engaged in a war with the French king, and who was glad to purchase the assistance of England at any price. In the month of July the duke sailed with the great fleet for the coast of Brittany, where the conquests of the French had reduced another ally of England almost to despair. The Duke of Brittany, son of the heroic Countess of Montfort, ceded to the English the important town and harbour of Brest, which Lancaster secured with a good garrison. The duke then invested St. Malo, but the constable Duguesclin marched with a very su

expired before the death of Edward, and Charles refused to prolong it. In close union with Henry of Trastamara, who was provoked by the Duke of Lancaster continuing to assume the title of King of Castile, he got together a formidable fleet, and insulted and plundered the English coast before Richard had been a month on the throne. A parliament was assembled while the impression of these injuries was fresh; and in order to obtain supplies of money (the treasury being exhausted) it was stated that the realm was in greater danger than it had ever been. Supplies were voted, and, by borrowing greater sums of the merchants, government was enabled to put to sea a considerable fleet under the command of the Earl of Buckingham, one of the Duke of Lancaster's brothers. Buckingham met with little success, and his failure, however un-perior force to the relief of that place, and com

"This prince is here delineated in the habit of high-steward of England, examining the right, and granting the commissions of the offices claimed by the nobility at the coronation of Richard II. It is highly probable that the figure kneeling is Thomas of Woodstock, high-constable of England. This Thomas was the seventh and youngest son of Edward III., and brother to John of Gaunt. He (John of Gaunt) is dressed in dark blue and white; the figure kneeling is in dark blue and red; the seat a kind of pink, and the back-ground red."-Strutt's Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities.

2 These accoutrements were suspended over the tomb of John of Gaunt in Old St. Paul's, and are preserved by Hollar's

engraving. The shield is described in Bolton's Elements of Armories as follows:-"It is very convex towards the bearer, whether by warping through age or as made of purpose. It hath in dimension more than three quarters of a yard of length, and above half a yard in breadth. Next to the body is a canvas glued to a board; upon that board are broad thin axicles, slices or plates of horn nailed fast, and again over them twenty and six pieces of the like, all meeting or centring about a round plate of the same in the navel of the shield, and over all is a leather closed fast to them with glue, or other holding stuff, upon which his armories were painted; but now they, with the leather itself, have very lately and very lewdly been utterly spoiled."

Picardy, Champagne, and other inland provinces of France, plundering and devastating the open country. His progress was watched by far superior forces; but, firm to the system which the

not risk a battle, and the English, after a circuitous march, reached the frontiers of Brittany without meeting any resistance. But the Earl of Buckingham was scarcely there when the King of France died, and the Bretons, who knew that a boy was to ascend the throne, thinking that they should no longer stand in need of their assistance, began to entertain as much jealousy and

pelled the duke to return to his ships. The great | of the Earl of Buckingham. Buckingham landed fleet then came home. A striking circumstance at Calais, and from Calais he marched to Artois, which had occurred did not tend to brighten the duke's laurels. The Scots, receiving their impulse from France, renewed the war, surprised the castle of Berwick, made incursions into the northern counties, and equipped a num- | cautious Charles had adopted, the French would ber of ships to cruise against the English. Berwick was recovered soon after by the Earl of Northumberland; but one John Mercer, who had got together certain sail of Scots, French, and Spaniards, came to Scarborough, and made prize of every ship in that port. Upon learning the injuries done, and the still greater damage apprehended from these sea-rovers, John Philpot "that worshipful citizen of London"-la-hatred of the English as they had hitherto done of menting the negligence of government, equipped the French. De Montfort was unable to resist the a small fleet at his own expense, and, without wishes of his subjects; and as the uncles of the waiting for any commission, went in pursuit of young King Charles VI., who formed the regency, Mercer. After a fierce battle, the doughty al- were willing to treat and to recognize his restoraderman took the Scot prisoner, captured fifteen tion, he concluded a peace with France, and enSpanish ships, and recovered all the vessels which gaged wholly to abandon the interests of England. had been taken at Scarborough. On his return, Buckingham returned home in the following Philpot was received in triumph by his fellow-spring, glad to escape from the hostility of the citizens, but he was harshly handled by the council of government for the unlawfulness of acting as he had done without authority, he being but a private man.'

Bretons."

These proceedings had cost large sums of money, and the nation was sorely harassed by taxation, or by the way in which the taxes were In the month of October the parliament met | levied. In an evil hour parliament passed a at Gloucester, and in a very bad humour; the capitation tax: this was a repetition of the tax government wanted money-the commons a re-imposed in the last year of the preceding reign, form of abuses. The disputes ended in a compromise, the commons being allowed to inspect the accounts of the treasurers, which was granted as a matter of favour, but not of right, nor were they to consider it as a precedent: they also obtained copies of the papers, showing how the moneys they had voted had been raised; but this | also was granted as if proceeding from the king's good pleasure. In the end they granted a new aid by laying additional duties on wool, woolfells, hides, leather, and other merchandise. John de Montfort, the Duke of Brittany, had been driven to seek refuge in England, and the French king annexed his dominions to the crown of France. This premature measure reconciled all the factions in the country; and John was recalled by the unanimous voice of the Bretons. Leaving his wife, an aunt of King Richard, in England, he embarked with 100 knights and men-at-arms, and 200 archers. Charles instantly prepared to send a French army into Brittany, and then the duke implored the assistance of a force from England. A considerable army was raised and sent to his relief, under the command

but slightly modified, so as to make it fall less heavily on the poor. Every male and female of fifteen years of age was to pay three groats; but in cities and towns the aggregate amount was to be divided among the inhabitants according to their abilities, or in such a way that no individual should pay less than one groat, or more than sixty groats for himself and his wife. Where there was little or no registration, the fixing of the age was sure to lead to disputes: the collectors might easily take a boy or girl of fourteen to be fifteen, and poverty would induce many of the poor knowingly to make a mis-statement of the opposite kind. But the levying of this awkward tax might have passed over with nothing more serious than a few riots between the people and the tax-gatherers, had it not been for other circumstances involved in the mighty change which had gradually been taking place in the whole body of European society. The peasantry had been gradually emerging from slavery to freedom, and began to feel an ambition to become men, and to be treated as such by their superiors in the accidental circumstances of rank and wealth. In this transition state there were 'Trussell, Contin. of Daniel's Hist.; Southey, Naval Hist.; mistakes and atrocious crimes committed by Walsing.

* De Montfort married Mary, the fourth daughter of Edward

III. and Queen Philippa.

Froissart; Archives de Nantes, quoted by Daru.

both parties; but ignorance may be particularly | recusants were handled very sorely and uncour pleaded in exculpation of the people, while that teously, "almost not to be spoken,” in various very ignorance, and the brutalized state in which places in Kent and Essex, "which some of the they had been kept, were crimes or mistakes on people taking in evil part, secretly took counsel the part of the upper classes, who had now to together, gathered assistance, and resisted the pay a horrible penalty. The enfranchisement of exactors, rising against them, of whom some they the peasantry, which was the real motive of the slew, some they wounded, and the rest fled." movement for the rest was an after-thought, Alarmed at these proceedings, government sent begotten in the madness of success, and the frenzy certain commissioners into the disturbed districts. inspired in unenlightened minds by the first con- One of these commissioners, Thomas de Bampton, sciousness of power-was so sacred an object that sat at Brentwood, in Essex. The people of Fobnothing could disgrace or eventually defeat it. bing, on being summoned before him, said that In Flanders, notwithstanding that there the more they would not pay one penny more than they respectable burghers took a share in the insur- had done, "whereupon the said Thomas did rection, many frightful excesses had been com- grievously threaten them, having with him two mitted upon the aristocracy, and in France the serjeants-at-arms of the king." These threats recent Jacquerie had been little else than a series made matters worse; and when Bampton ordered of horrors. The attempt of the French peasantry his serjeants to arrest them, the peasants drove offered a discouraging example to their neigh him and his men-at-arms away to London. Upon bours in England; but the democratic party had this Sir Robert Belknape, chief-justice of the had a long triumph in Flanders; and at this very common pleas, was sent into Essex to try the moment the son of Van Artaveldt, the brewer of offenders; but the peasants forced him to flee, Ghent, with Peter du Bois, was waging a suc- and chopped off the heads of the jurors and clerks cessful war against their court, their nobles, and of the commission. They stuck these heads upon the whole aristocracy of France. From the close poles and carried them through all the neighintercourse between the two countries, many of bouring townships and villages, calling upon all the English must have been perfectly acquainted the poor to rise and join them. "The commons with all that was passing in Flanders, and from of England" (for so the peasants called themit have derived encouragement. A new revolt selves, and were called by others) wanted nothing had also commenced in France, headed by the but a leader, and this they soon found in a “rioburghers and inhabitants of the towns; it be- tous priest," who took the name of Jack Straw. gan at Rouen, where the collectors of taxes and In a few days, not only the whole agricultural duties on provisions were massacred. Many of population of Essex were up in arms, but their our historians have attributed part of the storm neighbours in Kent, Suffolk, and Norfolk were which was now gathering in England to the following the example. In Kent, an act of brupreaching of Wycliffe's disciples; but their ori- tality on the part of a tax-gatherer, and an act ginal authorities seem to have been prejudiced of great imprudence (considering the prevailing witnesses against the church reformer. The con- excitement) on the part of a knight, fanned the vulsion is sufficiently accounted for by the actual flames of revolt. One of the collectors of the condition of the people of England at this period. poll-money went to the house of one Walter the That condition, though far superior to the state Tyler, in the town of Dartford, and demanded of the French people, was still wretched and the tax for a young maiden, the daughter of galling. A considerable portion of the peasantry Walter. The mother maintained that she was were serfs or "villains," bound to the soil, and but a child, and not of the womanly age set down sold, or transmitted with the estates of the nobles by the act of parliament: the collector said he and other landed proprietors. The present dis- would ascertain this fact, and he offered an incontents and sufferings of the classes immediately tolerable insult to the girl. The maiden and her above these serfs-the poor town's-people on the mother cried out, and the father, who was tiling coast, more particularly, who had been plundered a house in the town, ran to the spot and knocked by the foreign fleets-no doubt contributed to out the tax-gatherer's brains. The neighbours hurry on the sanguinary crisis; but it was the applauded the deed, and every one prepared to poll-tax that was the proximate cause of the mis- support the Tyler. About the same time, Sir chief. At first the tax was levied with mildness; Simon Burley went to Gravesend with an armed but being farmed out to some courtiers who raised force, claimed an industrious man living in that money upon it from Flemish and Lombard mertown as his escaped bondsman, and carried him chants, it was exacted by their collectors with off a prisoner to Rochester Castle. The commons great severity. But the obstinacy of the people of Kent now rose unanimously, and being joined kept pace with the harshness of the collectors; by a strong body of the men of Essex, who crossed many of the rural districts refused payment. The the Thames, they fell upon Rochester Castle, and

compelled the garrison to deliver up Sir Simon's of the council were of opinion that Richard should serf with other prisoners. In the town of Maid-go and speak with the insurgents, but the archstone, the insurgents appointed Wat the Tyler bishop and the treasurer strongly objected to this their captain, and then took out of prison, and measure, and said that nothing but force should had for their chaplain or preacher, "a wicked be used "to abate the pride of such vile rascals.” priest called John Ball," at that time confined on On the 12th of June, however, Richard got into a charge of heresy. his barge, and descended the river as far as Rotherhithe, where he found a vast multitude drawn up along shore. "When they perceived the king's barge," says Froissart, "they set up shouts and cries as if all the devils from hell had come into their company." Startled and terrified, the persons with the king put about the boat, and, taking advantage of the rising tide, rowed back with all speed to the Tower. The commons, who had always professed the greatest attachment to

On the Monday after Trinity Sunday, 1381, Wat Tyler entered Canterbury, and after terrifying the monks and the clergy of the cathedral, he forced the mayor, aldermen, and commons of the town to swear to be true to King Richard and the lawful commons of England: then beheading three rich men of Canterbury, Wat marched away towards London. On his march recruits came to him from all quarters of Kent and Sussex; and by the time he reached Black-Richard's person, now called aloud for the heads heath (11th June) there were, it is said, 100,000 desperate men obeying the orders of Wat Tyler, While at this spot the widow of the Black Prince, the young king's mother, fell into their hands; but, in the midst of their fury they respected her, and after granting a few kisses to some dirtyfaced and rough-bearded men, she was allowed, with her retinue and maids of honour, to proceed quietly to London. While this host was bivouacked about Blackheath and Greenwich, John Ball, the priest of Kent, kept them to their purpose by long orations or sermons, in which he insisted that all men were equal before God, and ought to be so before the laws-and so far he was right; but it appears he went on to recommend an equality of property, which is impracticable, and a destruction of all the upper classes, which was monstrous. His eloquence had such an effect on the multitude, that forgetting his own doctrines of equality, they vowed they would make him primate and chancellor of England. They occupied all the roads, killed such judges and lawyers as fell into their hands,' and made all the rest of the passengers swear to be true to King Richard and the commons, to accept no king whose name was "John," and to pay no tax except the fifteenths which had been paid by their forefathers. The young king, with his mother, with his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke, with Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury and chancellor, Sir Robert Hales, treasurer, and some other members of the government, threw himself into the Tower of London. The Duke of Lancaster was in Scotland negotiating a peace. Some

In a note to his life of Lord Charles Sudbury, Lord Campbell says:-"Walsingham, in his interesting relation of Wat Tyler's rebellion, says: Voluit,' &c., which may be translated: For he wished to have obtained for himself and his followers a commission for other things; for the behealing of all lawyers and all, without exception, who were either learned in the law, or had any official connection with it. For he had taken it into his head that on all those learned in the laws being killed, every thing for the rest would be regulated according to the decree of

of all the ministers; and marching along the right bank of the river to Southwark, and then to Lambeth, destroyed the Marshalsea and King's Bench, and burned the furniture and all the records and books in the palace of the primate. At the same time the men of Essex advanced along the left bank of the river, and threatened the north-eastern part of London. Walworth, the mayor, caused the moveable part of London bridge to be drawn up, to prevent the men of Kent from crossing the river; but on the following day a passage was yielded to them through fear, and the insurgents entered the city, where they were presently joined by all the rabble. At first their demeanour was most moderate; they did no hurt, they took nothing from any man, but bought all things they wanted at a just price." But the madness of drunkenness was soon added to political fury. The rich citizens, hoping to conciliate the mob, had set open their wine cellars for them; and thus excited, they went to the Savoy, the house of the Duke of Lancaster, broke into this palace, and set fire to it. To show that plunder was not their object, the leaders published a proclamation ordering that none, on pain of death, should secrete or convert to his own use anything that might be found there, but that plate, gold, and jewels should all be destroyed. It would have been well had the prohibition extended to the duke's wines, but they drank there immoderately, and thirty-two of the rioters, engaged in the cellars of the Savoy, were too drunk to remove in time, and were buried under the ruins of the house.

the commonalty, and that for the future there would be no law at all, or that if there were any, it would be framed according to their mere will."— Walsingham, p. 361.

? From the ill-omened career of the tyrant who had worn it, John was an unhappy name in English history; and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the king's uncle, was held guilty of all the oppressions the people had recently suffered. The notion, moreover, of his having designs on the crown was as prevalent

as ever.

the part of the garrison,' they got into the Tower, where they cut off the heads of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the chancellor; Sir Robert Hales, the treasurer; William Apuldore, the king's confessor; Legge, one of the farmers of the tax, and three of his associates. The widow of the Black Prince, who was in the Tower, was completely at their mercy; but the ci-devant "Fair Maid of Kent" was again quit for a few unsavoury kisses. The horror of the scene, however, overpowered her; and she was carried by her ladies in a senseless state to a covered boat. As soon as he could, the king joined his mother, who had been finally conveyed to a house called the Royal Wardrobe.

Newgate was then demolished; and the prisoners | cites a suspicion of treachery or disaffection on who had been confined there and in the Fleet, joined in the work of havoc. The Temple was burned, with all the books and ancient and valuable records it contained; and about the same time a detachment set fire to the priory of St. | John of Jerusalem, in Clerkenwell. They now also proceeded to the shedding of blood. They probably felt that antipathy to foreigners common to uneducated people; but against the Flemings, who, it was popularly said, fattened on their miseries, they bore the most deadly rancour. The sanctuary of the church was disregarded, and thirty Flemings were dragged from the altar into the streets, and beheaded; thirty-two more were seized in the Vintry, and underwent the same fate. Some of the rich citizens were massacred in attempting to escape; those who remained did nothing for the defence of the city, and all that night London was involved in fire, murder, and debauchery.

On the morning of the 14th it was resolved to try the effect of concession and of promises. A proclamation was issued to a multitude that crowded Tower-hill, clamouring for the heads of the chancellor and treasurer; and they were told that, if they would retire quietly to Mile End, the king would meet them there, and grant all their requests. The gates were opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and Richard rode forth with a few attendants without arms. The commonalty from the country followed the king; "but all did not go, nor had they the same objects in view." On arriving at Mile End, Richard was surrounded by upwards of 60,000 peasants; but their demeanour was mild and respectful, and they presented no more than four demands, all of which, except the second, were wise and moderate. These four demands of the peasants were-1. The total abolition of slavery for themselves and their children for ever. 2. The reduction of the rent of good land to fourpence the acre. 3. The full liberty of buying and selling, like other men, in all fairs and markets. 4. A general pardon for all past offences. The king, with a gracious countenance, assured them that all these demands were granted; and, returning to town, he employed upwards of thirty clerks to make copies of the charter containing the four clauses. In the morning these copies were sealed and delivered, and then an immense body of the insurgents, consisting chiefly of the men of Essex and Hertfordshire, quietly withdrew from the capital: but more dangerous men remained behind. The people of Kent, who had been joined by all kinds of miscreants, had committed some atrocious deeds on the preceding day, while the king was marching to Mile End. Almost as soon as his back was turned, with a facility which ex

him.

Wat Tyler and the leaders with him, rejected the charter which the men of Essex had so gladly accepted. Another charter was drawn up, but it equally failed to please, and even a third, with still larger concessions, was rejected with contempt. The next morning the king left the Wardrobe and went to Westminster, where he heard mass. After this he mounted his horse, and, with a retinue of barons and knights, rode along the "causeway" towards London. On coming into West Smithfield he met Wat Tyler. The mayor and some other city magistrates had joined the king, but his whole company, it is said, did not exceed sixty persons. In the front of the abbey of St. Bartholomew, Richard drew rein, and said that he would not go thence until he had appeased the rioters. Wat Tyler said to his men, "Here is the king! I will go speak with Move not hand or foot unless I give you a signal." Wat, who had procured arms and a horse, rode boldly up to Richard, and went so near that his horse's head touched the flank of Richard's steed. "King!" said he, "dost thou see all those men there?" "I see them," replied the king, "why dost thou ask?" "Because they are all at my will, and have sworn by their faith and loyalty to do whatsoever I bid them." During this parley the Tyler played with his dagger, and, it is said by some, laid hold of Richard's bridle. It is probable that this uneducated man, intoxicated by his brief authority, was coarse and insolent enough; but to suppose that he intended to kill the king is absurd. Some say that Richard ordered his arrest; others that John Walworth, the lord-mayor, thinking that he intended to stab the king, rode up and plunged a short sword into his throat without any orders. All accounts agree in stating that, whether with sword, dagger, or mace, it was the mayor that

1 There were 600 men-at-arms, and as many archers, in the Tower. The rebels or insurgents were miserably armed and equipped.