and reason, and caused other great men to be put in prison and murdered to get their estates, as Roger Mortimer the nephew and uncle, Hugh Audeley father and son, and the earl of Hereford. Hugh, after this destruction of the nobility, you Hugh, your father, and Robert Baldock, usurping royal power over the king, led him and his people into Scotland against his enemies, where you flugh by your traiterous conduct caused him to lose 20,000 of his people, to his great dishonour, and damage of the realm, and to return without doing any thing.Hugh, this treason nor this tyranny would satisfie you, until by royal power gained over the king, you destroyed the franchises of Holy Church and the prelates, as the bishops of Hereford, Lincoln, and Norwich, taking their goods out of their churches: and whereas you knew God had done great things by my lord (the earl of Lancaster) you caused to be murdered, you placed armed guards, and shut the churchdoors, that none should enter to honour God and his Saints. Hugh, after these mischiefs, you advised the king to give unto the false traitor the earl of Winchester, Andrew Harkley, and self, lands properly belonging to the crown, in disherison thereof. Hugh, whereas the queen and her son passed beyond sea by the king's command to save the country of Guyen, in point to be lost by your traiterous counsel, you sent over a great sum of money to some of your wicked adherents, to destroy the queen and her son, (q'est droit heir del realm) who is right heir of the kingdom, and to hinder their coming over. Hugh, your father, Robert Baldock, and self, and other false traitors your adherents, taking upon you royal power, made great and small by force to swear to, and assure | you, to maintain you in your false quarrels or pretences (en vouz faux quereles) not having regard that such confederacies were false and traiterous, against legience and the state of the king and his crown. And forasmuch as you Hugh, and other traitors, knew that the queen and her son were arrived in the nation, by your evil counsel you caused the king to withdraw himself, and go from them, and carried him out of the kingdom, to the danger of his body, and dishonour to him and his people, feloniously taking with you the treasure of the realm, contrary to the Great Charter.-Hugh, you are found traitor, wherefore all the good people of the kingdom, great and small, rich and poor, by common assent, do award, That you are found as a thief, and therefore shall be hanged; and are found as a traitor, and therefore shall be drawn and quartered; and for that you have been outlawed by the king, and by common assent, and returned to the court without warrant, you shall be beheaded (vous serrez decollex) and for that you abetted and procured discord between the king and queen, and others of the realm, you shall be embowelled, and your bowels burnt. Withdraw, traitor, tyrant, and so go take your judgment, attainted wicked traitor." He was at this time earl of Gloucester; and no trial by common jury, or his peers appears; and the attaint was only this speech made against him, and most of what was objected to him had been pardoned by act of Parliament. On the 24th of Nov. he was drawn and hanged upon a gallows 50 feet high, and then quartered, and his head fixed upon London-bridge. Those who brought him to the queen had for their reward 2000l. as she had promised. The annullment of the Exile and Disherison of the Despensers, 15 Edw. 2. was made void in parliament, 1 Edw. 3. And afterwards in the parliament summoned 21 Rd. 2, Thomas le Despenser petitioned the king in full parlia ment, reciting the petitions of Hugh the father, and Hugh the son, to the king in full parlianient holden at York three weeks after Easter, in the 15th year of Edward 2.-In which parliament the Exile and Disherison of both were annulled for these Reasons: 1st, they were not appealed, or called to answer, nor due process made against them according to law. 2nd, Because the prelates who were peers of the realm did not consent to the exile and disherison. 3rd, Because it was against Magna Charta, that any man should be exiled or tried, or otherways destroyed, without judgment of his peers. This aduullation was afterwards made void, in 1 Edw. 3. He prayed that statute might be made void, and all the articles and things contained in it, for the reasons abovesaid.-And hereupon the king caused the prelates, dukes, barons and commons, summoned to his parliament, to be diligently examined, what they thought, whether the statute of Edward 3, was defeasable? Who upon good deliberation said it was, for the causes before expressed; also considering that the repeal made by king Edward 3 was at such time as his father Edward 2 was living, being very king, and in prison, that he could not resist the same.-And accordingly the same was made void. 5. Proceedings against ADAM DE ORLETON, Bishop of Hereford, for Treason, 16 Edw. II. a. d. 1323. [1 Cobb. Parl. Hist. 77. 2 Brady's Hist. 147. Claus. 1 Edw. III. p. 1. M. 13.] 6 IN the parliament summoned to meet at ferred against him to the grand jury of HerefordLondon the beginning of Lent 1523, Adamshire, which being found, the king immediately de Orleton, or Torleton, bishop of Hereford, seized on all his temporal possessions. was arrested of high treason, and was examined before the king and lords, on divers Articles. It was laid to his charge, That he had entertained certain of the king's enemies, had appeared in the field with them, had furnished them with arms, and had given them his assistance, favour, and advice. The bishop being a shrewd and learned man, said little at first to this accusation, but being further urged, he answered, My lord the king, saving all due reverence to your majesty, I being an humble minister of God's church, and a consecrated bishop, though unworthy, ought not to answer such high matters without the licence and authority of my lord the archbishop of Canterbury, who next to the pope is my proper judge; as also with the consent of the rest of my fellow-bishops. The archbishop of Canterbury with his suffragans, rising up, implored the king's mercy for him; and he was delivered to the custody of the archbishop till the king should resolve when to summon him again, to answer to what might be farther laid to his charge. Soon after the king summoned him again to answer in his court of justice, which the archbishops, &c. hearing of, they came in great form, with their crosses, and took him away from the bar, threatening to excommunicate all that withstood them. Upon which Edward caused a bill of indictment to be pre The record by which he was restored to his temporalities in the 1st of Edward 3, reciting the record of his trial in the country, gives a more particular account of his crimes, and informs us, That by inquisition taken at Hereford before the justices of the King's-Bench, it was presented, "That Adam bishop of Hereford was of the confederacy of Roger de Mortimer of Wigmore, who was then reputed an enemy and rebel to the king his father, and that he sent certain men at arms to his assistance; and then being accused for these things before the justices, and his father, he alleged, that without offending God, and holy church, and without leave of the pope, he could not, or ought to answer, nor ought the justices to proceed to take the inquisition; and though the bishop submitted not to the inquisition, yet the justices went on, and for that it was found by that inquisition that the bishop was of the con federacy of the said Roger, and sent to his assistance men at arms: it was adjudged by the justices, he should as convict remain in the custody of the archbishop of Canterbury, and that his lands and tenements, goods, and chattels, should be seized into the king's hands, and remained so seized, until the date of this record, by which they were restored. Witness the king at Westminster, the 16th of February, in the 1st of his reign.' 6. Proceedings against THOMAS Earl of LANCASTER, for Treason, 15 Edw. II. a. n. 1322, 1 Edw. III. A. D. 1327. [Parl. II. E. 3. p. 1. M. 17. Stat. 1. Edw. III.] THOMAS earl of Lancaster, first cousin of king Edward 2, had been one of the chief opposers of that king's misgovernment, and his favourites Gaveston and the Despencers. He repeatedly took up arins against the king, and finally, in 1322, was taken at Boroughbridge, and being impeached of Treason, &c. before the king at Pontefract, was sentenced to be drawn, hanged and beheaded, but by the favour of the king was only beheaded. By the same Judgment, and for the same crimes, suffered these barons, Warin Lisle, William Toket, Thomas Manduit, Henry de Bradborn, William Fitz-William, William Cheyny, Roger Clifford, John de Mowbray, Gocelin D'Enynvill, Henry Teyes, and Bartholomew de Badlesemer who was beheaded at Canterbury, only Roger de Damory died of his natural death. In the first parliament of Edward 3, the Judgment against the earl of Lancaster was reversed, as appears by the following Record: "The king, to all to whom, &c. Greeting. We have inspected the records and proceedings had in our last parliament called at Westminster, in these words: Henry of Lancaster, brother and heir of Thomas, formerly earl of Lancaster, came to this parliament, and exhibited before the lord the king himself, the nobles, and great men of the kingdom, and the council of the said lord the king there then being, a certain Petition in these words: lord the king and his council prayeth Henry of Lancaster, brother and heir of Thomas heretofore earl of Lancaster, That whereas the said Thomas was formerly, before the lord Edward heretofore king of England, father of our lord the king, that now is, and his council, at Pon To our tefract, in the 15th year of his reign, unrea- and enemy to the king and kingdom, set fire to sonably adjudged to death by an erroneous the town of Burton aforesaid, and feloniously proceeding against him at that time had, by burned part of the houses and goods of the reason of which judgment he was put to death, same town; and after that the said earl with and, in consequence of the same judgment, his the other traitors aforesaid, went out of the heirs were disinherited, the record and proceed- said town to the plain thereto adjoining, with ings whereof are in Chancery, it would please banners displayed, and hostilely disposed his our lord the king to command the Chancellor military forces to fight against the said lord the that he should cause the record and proceedings king, against his homage, fealty, and allegiance, of the aforesaid judgment to be brought hither by which he was bound to the said lord the into parliament, and that they be recited and ex- king, awaiting on the same plain the approach amined, to the end, that if any error be therein, of the lord the king, and thereupon when the the same may be duly redressed, and right in said earl Thomas observed that the said lord the premises done to the said Henry, as brother was coming and drew near to him with a great and heir of the said earl, and his inheritance power, the said earl Thomas, together with all delivered to him.' In consideration of which the other traitors aforesaid, in confusion bePetition, it was commanded to the Chancellor took himself to flight and fled, and in such by the said lord the king, that having examined flight, while the lord the king pursued them the Rolls of the year aforesaid of the lord king with a great force, committed divers depredaEdward, father of the lord the now king, in his tions and robberies, until the said earl Thomas Chancery, he should cause the record and pro- together with the traitors aforesaid, with arms ceedings aforesaid to be brought hither into and horses and banners displayed, came to parliament, &c. which said chancellor after- Boroughbridge, where in support of the lord wards brought hither the record and proceed- the king were certain faithful subjects of ings aforesaid in these words: " Pleas of the the lord the king, having full authority from Crown of the lord king Edward, son of the lord the lord the king to resist in all ways and by king Edward, held in the presence of the said all means in their power, the enemies and lord the king, at Pontefract, on Monday next traitors to the lord the king, and the aforesaid after the feast of the Annunciation of the earl Thomas, together with the other traitors blessed Virgin Mary, in the 15th year of his with horses and arins, and banners displayed, reign. Whereas Thomas earl of Lancaster hostilely made an attack upon the aforesaid was taken, and for treasons, homicides, burn- faithful subjects of the lord the king there beings, depredations and divers other felonies ing, and feloniously slew some of them and brought before the said lord the king, in the fought against them, until the said earl Thomas, presence of Edmund earl of Kent, John earl together with the other traitors aforesaid, was of Richmond, Adomer of Valence earl of Pem- routed and taken, and some of those traitors broke, John de Warren earl of Surrey, Edmund were taken, and some were slain, and some earl of Arundel, David earl of Athol, Robert took to flight; and so there remained as to the earl Danegos, the Barons, and other great men said earl Thomas, no doubt but that he together of the kingdom: The lord the king causes it with his other traitors, wished to get the better to be recorded, that the said Thomas, being a of and to conquer the same lord the king. All liegeman of the said lord the king, came to which treasons, homicides, burnings, depredaBurton-upon-Trent, together with Humphrey tions, and hostile fightings, with horses and de Bohun, late ear' of Hereford, a traitor to the arms and banners displayed, are manifest and king and kingdom, found in war against the lord notorious, and known to the earls, barons, and the king, with banners displayed, at Borough- other great men, and to the people of the bridge, and there slain; and Roger Damory, kingdom; and therefore it was adjudged that a convicted traitor, and other traitors and ene- the said earl Thomas for the treason aforesaid mies to the king and kingdom, with banners should be drawn, and for the homicides, depredisplayed, so that in war he hostilely, for three dations, burnings, and robberies aforesaid, successive days, resisted the lord the king, should be hanged, and for the [offences comhis people and attendants, and prevented them mitted in the] flight aforesaid, on this behalf passing the bridge of the said town of Burton, should be beheaded. And more than this, alas they should have done, and then feloniously though the aforesaid earl Thomas in time past, slew some of the men of the said lord the king, wickedly and maliciously against his homage, by reason whereof the said lord the king, in fealty, and allegiance, often conducted and beorder to repress the aforesaid malice and re- haved himself ill towards the lord the king, to sistance of the said carl and others, and for the wit, Whereas the lord the king had at Newcastle maintenance of the peace and tranquillity of upon Tyne, victuals, horses, and armour, jewels, his kingdom and people, and of the rights of and divers other goods to a great quantity and his royal crown, and for the repelling and re-value, which goods the said earl Thomas, with moving of the aforesaid force so seditiously horses and arms, and a great multitude of armcollected, sought elsewhere a passage over the ed men, took, stole, and carried away, whose river Trent, and from thence powerfully rode said stealing and trespass the lord the king, of against the said earl and others, and the afore-his special grace, remitted and pardoned to the said earl Thomas taking notice of this, together said earl Thomas, and the other offenders in with the other traitors aforesaid, as a traitor the said stealing, in the hope of bringing the said earl Thomas to a better way of thinking. And moreover the aforesaid earl Thomas, having collected to himself divers men with an armed force, came to different parliaments of the lord the king, and oftentimes hindred the same lord the king from holding parliaments, as it pertained to him and to his crown to hold them, and oftentimes took no heed to attend such parliaments according to the commands of the lord the king, but contemptuously disobeyed the same, and also often held different, larger and smaller, illegal meetings against the lord the king in different places, and against the prohibition of the lord the king. Also, whereas many offenders and disturbers of the peace of the lord the king, whom the said earl Thomas had drawn to him and got together, had committed homicides, thefts, and divers other felonies, by means whereof they deserved to receive judgment of death; and the said earl Thomas in like manner, according to the law and custom of the realm, deserved to receive judgment of death for supporting and harbouring the said offenders: Also, whereas earl Thomas afterwards coming, with a great multitude of armed men, to the parliament of the lord the king, held at York, prevailed on the lord the king to remit the prosecution on account ef the breach of his peace, against the said earl Thomas and the offenders aforesaid, to the number of about a thousand persons, notwithstanding the said earl Thomas had before that time sworn to the observance of certain ordinances that the lord the king should not remit a prosecution for breach of his peace in cases of this sort, arising out of the death of a man: Also, whereas the said lord the king, in order to bring the said earl Thomas to a good course, as is before said, had voluntarily, at various times, given to him, who, with all his might was acting in opposition to the lord the king, divers large gifts of the lands and franchises of his demesne, and by his charters had granted to the said earl Thomas certain gifts, different favours and pardons; nevertheless the same Earl, always persisting in his evil doings, with all his might stood forward rebellious and disobedient to the lord the king: Also, the said earl Thomas sent to the city of York certain knights of his family in order to draw the commonalty of that city, and the custody thereof into the hands of the said Earl; and also the said earl Thomas, in different manners, usurped to himself, and strove to usurp kingly power to the disinherison, so far as in him lay, of the lord the king in this respect: Also, whereas the lord the king, being lately at York, had commanded divers great men, and others of the kingdom, with whom he was desirous to consult, that they should come to York, to treat concerning the journey of the said lord the king into parts of Scotland, the said earl Tho. then being in his castle at Pontefract with a great multitude of armed men, sent his people to obstruct their passage in the neighbourhood of Pontefract, as well along the roads as over the bridges, whereby the counsellors of the lord the king could not, in obedience to his command, come to York to be near the said lord the king: And whereas the lord the king had removed from the neighbourhood of York towards the south, and had proceeded with his followers near to Pontefract, the said earl Thomas and his people came out of the aforesaid castle, and to insult the lord the king, most basely and contemptuously shouted against the lord the king with a great tumult, to the great contempt of the said lord the king, as if the lord the king had been their enemy, and not their king and lord: Also, whereas the said earl Thomas, together with the aforesaid earl of Hereford, and the other traitors conspiring with him, endeavoured to obtain and effect a confederacy and alliance with Robert de Brus, Thomas Randolf, James Douglas, and other Scotsmen, enemies of the lord the king and of the kingdom, concerning the manner and form of which confederacy and alliance certain indenture was found upon the said earl of Hereford when he was slain as aforesaid, in these words: The credential which John de Denum is to communicate to Robert, king of Scotland, and to Monsieur Thomas Randolf, earl of Murryf, steward of Scotland, and to monsieur James Douglas, or to which ever of them shall be first met with by the earl of Lancaster, and earl of Hereford, and their allies; that is to say, that the said king of Scotland, and the said earl of Murryf, the steward, and monsieur James with their forces, shall come to the said earls of Lancaster and of Hereford, and their allies, as soon as they shall be fortified in any place, where the whole may be able to assemble together, and will to the utmost of their power harm all those whom the earls of Lancaster and Hereford, and their allies, wish to be harmed, and save from harm all those whom they wish to have saved; and also will come to the said earls of Lancaster and of Hereford in all places where they may wish that they should come in England, in Wales, and in Ireland, and with them live and die in maintenance of their quarrel, saving any claim, conquest, or lordship in the said lands of England, of Wales, and Ireland. And the said king of Scotland, and the said earl of Murryf, the ste ward, and monsieur James, for themselves and their forces, will engage to do this thing, or if the said king of Scotland should be himself afflicted by sickness, or by other great impediment, whereby he should not be able to come in his own person, then in case the aforesaid earl of Murryf, the steward, and monsieur James, with their power aforesaid, make good and perform what is above said, the said earls of Lancaster and of Hereford, and their allies, would engage that they would never in aid of the king of England, invade them; and whenever the earls of Lancaster and of Hereford, and their allies, have finished their contest, they will sincerely exert themselves that a good peace may be made between the two countries of England and Scotland, to the utmost of their power, to the end that they shall hold their land of Scotland as peaceably as they their's in England.'—And finally, whereas the aforesaid traitors, adhering to the same earl Thomas, had lately, with his army with force and arms, entered the lord the king's castle and town of Gloster, and against the will of the lord the king, occupied the same castle and town; and there and at Bridgenorth had committed depredations, burnings, and homicides, and other crimes; and the same traitors, fearing the near approach of the lord the king to them, quitted the said castle and town of Gloster, and from thence betaking themselves to flight, hastened to the said earl Thomas as their principal refuge and chief maintenance, which said earl Thomas notoriously manifesting his treason and maintenance in that respect, received those his fellow-traitors, and joined himself to them for the purpose of carrying on hostilities against the lord the king, and exciting war in the kingdom as is aforesaid, and sent his own people, together with his fellow-traitors aforesaid, to besiege the lord the king's castle of Tykhill; and also sent in engines for throwing large stones upon the aforesaid castle and upon the men therein being on the part of the lord the king; which traitors moreover besieged the said castle for three weeks, continually making assaults, and carrying on hostilities against the same, and there slew some of the lord the king's men; and afterwards the aforesaid earl Thomas, having perpetrated the aforesaid iniquities, crimes, and offences, fled, forcing his way towards the said Scottish enemies of the lord the king and the kingdom, until he came to Boroughbridge aforesaid, where he was taken as aforesaid; Wherefore the lord the king, having regard to the so great crimes and iniquities of the said earl Thomas, and his most gross ingratitude, hath no reason to shew any favour in the premises to the said ear! Thomas, by pardoning any of the aforesaid punishments adjudged against him; nevertheless, because the said earl Thomas is descended of an excellent and most noble parentage, the lord the king, from respect to the said parentage, of his special favour remits to the aforesaid earl Thomas the execution of two of the punishments adjudged as is aforesaid; to wit, that the said earl Thomas be not drawn nor hanged; but that, upon the said earl Thomas, execution alone be done, that he be beheaded." And upon this the aforesaid record and proceeding having been recited and read in the presence of the lord the king, and of the nobles and great men of the kingdom, here in parliament, &c. being, it was demanded of the aforesaid Henry, for what reason he caused the aforesaid record and proceeding to come hither, who says, That he is brother and heir of the aforesaid Earl, and he caused the record and proceeding aforesaid to come hither, on account of errors occurring in the same record and proceeding, which he prays may be corrected, &c. and he is told to shew the errors, &c. who says, that there is error in this, that every liege man of the lord the king, taken up in time of peace for seditions, homicides, robberies, burnings, and other felonies, into whatever court of the king he shall be brought, concerning such seditions and other felonies laid to his charge, ought, by the law and custom of the realm, to be arraigned and put to answer, and thereof by law to be convicted before he should be adjudged to die; although the aforesaid earl Thomas, a liegeman of the aforesaid lord the king's father, &c. was taken up in time of peace, and brought before the same lord the king, the said lord the king's father, &c. caused it to be recorded, that the same Thomas was guilty of the seditions and felonies in the said record and proceeding contained, without this, that he thereof arraigned him, or put him to answer, as is the custom according to law, &c. and so, without arraignment and answer, the said Thomas erroneously and against the law of the land, in time of peace, was sentenced to death; by reason whereof, because it is notorious and manifest that the whole time in which it was charged against the said Earl, that he committed the aforesaid offences and crimes in the aforesaid record and proceeding contained, and also the time when he was taken, and when the said lord the king's father, &c. caused it to be recorded that he was guilty, and when he was sentenced to death, was time of peace; in particular because, throughout the whole time aforesaid, the chancery and other places of the courts of the lord the king were open, and in them law was done to every one as it used to be done, nor did the same lord the king ever in that time ride forth with banners displayed; the aforesaid lord the king's father, &c. ought not, in such time of peace, to have caused such record to be made against the said Earl, nor to have sentenced him to death, without arraignment and answer: Also, he says, that there is error in this, that whereas the aforesaid earl Thomas was one of the peers and great men of this kingdom, and in the Great Charter of the Liberties of England it is contained, that no free-man shall be taken, imprisoned, or disseised of his freehold or franchises, or his free customs, or outlawed, or banished, or in any manner destroyed, nor shall the lord the king, by himself or others, proceed against him, but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land, the aforesaid earl Thomas was by the record of the lord the king as aforesaid, in time of peace, erroneously sentenced to death without arraignment or answer, or the lawful judgment of his peers, against the law, &c. and against the tenor of the aforesaid Great Charter; Wherefore that the errors aforesaid may be corrected, and the aforesaid Judgment annulled, as erroneous, &c. and that he, as brother and heir of the said Thomas, may be admitted to his inheritance, &c.; and because, upon inspecting and more fully understanding the record and proceeding aforesaid, it is, on account of the aforesaid errors, and others found in the same record and proceeding, adjudged by the same lord the king, the nobles, great men, and all the commonalty of the kingdom in the same parliament, that the aforesaid Judgment given |