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 bindred 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 of 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 earl 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 be headed." 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

and declaring all the king's officers discharged from his service as though he were dead.Sir Thomas de la Moor tells us who the three bishops were; John Stratfort, bishop of Winchester, Adam de Torleton, bishop of Hereford, and Henry Burwash, bishop of Lincoln: three principal companions in transacting this affair. The bishops of Winchester and Lincoln came before the rest to the king, who with his keeper the earl of Lancaster, persuaded him to resign his crown to his son, and circumvented the king, promising him as much honour after his resignation as before; and on the other hand, threatened him if he would not, the people should yield up their homage and fealty, and repudiate his sons, and choose one not of royal blood. With these and other importune promises and threats, they obtained their desires. And then the bishop of Hereford brought in all the other commissioners, sent by the parliament, into the king's chamber, where the whole matter they came for was dispatched, not without great grief and reluctancy from the king, who Swooned away.

Walsingham reports, all the nobility met at London, on the morrow of, or day after Twelfthday, in parliament, and judged the king unfit to rule, and for several reasons to be deposed, and bis son prince Edward to be chosen king. Of which when the queen had notice, she was full of grief outwardly. But the prince affected with this outward passion of his mother, would not accept the title against his father's will and consent. The king, when he received this news by the commissioners, was much disturbed, and said since it could be no otherwise, he tbanked them for choosing his first born son, making his resignation, and delivering up the royal ensigns and tokens of sovereignty. The commissioners returning to the parliament at London, with the king's answer and the royal ensigns, made the rabble rejoice; and presently the whole community of the kingdom admitted Edward, a youth of fourteen years of age, to be their king, on the 20th day of January, which they would have to be the first day of his reign. And from that time he acted as king before his coronation, as may appear by the writ to all the sheriffs of England to proclaim his peace." The king to the sheriff of Yorkshire, greeting: Because Edward, late king of England, our father, by common council and assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and other great men, and also of the communities of the said kingdom, of his own free will removed himself from the government of the said kingdom, willing and granting, That we as his first-born and heir of the kingdom, should take upon us the rule and government:

| And we yielding to the good pleasure of our father, by the counsel and advisement of the prelates, earls, barons, great men, and communities aforesaid, have taken upon us the government of the said kingdom, and received the homages and fealties of the said prelates and great men according to custom. Therefore desiring our peace for the quiet and tranquillity of our people to be inviolably observed, we command, That presently after sight of these presents, you cause our peace publicly to be proclaimed through your whole bailiwic, forbidding all and singular, under the pain of disinheriting, and losing life and member, that they presume not to infringe or violate our peace, but that all men do prosecute their suits and actions without violence, according to the laws and customs of the land, &c. Witness the king at Westminster the 29th of January."-On the first of February, being Sunday, he was crowned.

The deposed king was for some time kept prisoner in Kenelworth castle, not knowing what was transacted. The nation observing what had been done, seeing the queen engaged, and the prince carried along with them, began to be sensible of the king's condition, and to consider the pretences of his enemies, and to think how they might be kind to him, and prevent further mischief. His keeper also, the earl of Lancaster, began to be every way obliging to him, much pitying and commiserating his deplorable case. Many lords and others began to think how they might deliver him out of captivity; the notice, or rather suspicion thereof, much startled Mortimer, the bishop of Hereford, the queen, and chief actors in this tragedy, reflecting upon what they had done, and fearing if the king should get his liberty they could not be safe, or at least their designs must come to nothing, and caused them to think of removing him from Kenelworth, and appointing him new keepers. They hurried him up and down the nation, that it might not be known where he was; and at last brought him to Berkley castle in Gloucestershire, where he was inhumanly treated by his keepers, attempting to destroy him by all ways of horrid indignities, brutish usages, and before uncontrived and unthought of affronts: but having been frustrated in their intentions, by his natural strength of body and fortitude of mind, on the 22nd of September, at night in his bed, they stifled and smothered him, with large and heavy bolsters and pillows, and put up a red-hot iron, through a ductil-pipe, into his guts at his fundament; and in this most cruel manner murdered him, that no wound or mark of a violent death might be found upon him.

VOL. 1.