When the lords presented themselves before the king, the Bishop of Ely, the new Lord Chancellor, asked them why they were assembled in warlike array at Haringey Park, to whom they replied, "For the good of the king and the kingdom, and to weed out the traitors by whom he is surrounded." On being asked to name the traitors, they answered, "Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland; Alex. Nevill, Archbishop of York; Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk; Sir Robert Tresilian, that false Justicier; and Sir Nicholas Brember, that false knight of London;" and then threw down the gage of challenge. The king, having sent his favourites out of immediate harm's way, rated the lords soundly for presuming to take up arms against his supreme will and authority. "You," said he, "whom I could kill like cattle, and whom I esteem no more than the basest scullion in my kitchen!" yet he eventually promised that the matter should be taken into consideration by the Parliament, which would assemble at Westminster on the morrow after Candlemas. A proclamation was soon after issued by Richard, forbidding any one, under pain of death, to supply arms, ammunition, or provisions to the rebel army, and he sent word to De Vere to hasten his muster of men, and march towards London to put down the rebellion. Simultaneously with the proclamation, the confederates sent a letter to the Corporation of London, soliciting their sympathy and aid, which was immediately responded to with assurances of both. The Duke of Ireland, with his Welsh army, marched eastward and came to Oxford, when he heard that the Dukes of Gloucester and York and Lord Mayor Exton were coming to meet him, and were not far distant, having crossed the Thames by Reading Bridge—those of Staines and Windsor having been broken down by direction of de Vere. He had been appointed Lieut.-General of the king's forces, with Suffolk and Brember in command under him; but on hearing this intelligence he became terribly alarmed. He called a council of war, and it was decided that they must give battle to the enemy; but it was also arranged that they—De Vere, De la Pole, and Brember—should station themselves on fleet horses in the wings of the army, so that if the day went against them, they might save themselves by flight.