Edward, Prince of Wales, 1330-1376; Great Britain -- History -- Edward III, 1327-1377
Lyons could not save himself. He was ordered to be imprisoned at the
King's pleasure, to lose the freedom of the city, and have all his goods
seized.
Next followed the impeachment of Lord Latimer, another creature of the
Duke's, who was Chamberlain and Privy Councillor, and governor of a
castle in Britany, where he had appropriated large sums of money, and
had taken bribes to surrender places to the French. He was also
sentenced to be fined and imprisoned. Other accusations followed, all
founded on much the same charge--appropriation of the public money. One
man, William Ellis, an accomplice of Lyons, had extorted money at
Yarmouth from ships driven by stress of weather into the port. Another,
John Peachy, had obtained from Lyons a patent giving him the exclusive
right of selling sweet wines in London. Sir John Neville was sentenced
to be fined and imprisoned, because he had allowed some soldiers whom
he was conducting to France to ravage the country all the way to
Southampton. The Commons declared in plain terms that the people of
England would no longer consent to have their interests trampled upon,
and their trade interfered with, for the sake of enriching a greedy
baronage and its creatures. In all this they were firmly supported and
encouraged by the Prince of Wales and the good Bishop William of
Wykeham, who was quite restored to the favour of the people. In fact,
the Black Prince had seen that the best policy would be to attempt to
unite against the baronage the Commons and the national clergy. The
Commons were quite ready to welcome the clergy back to office; for they
now saw only too well the selfish policy which had made John of Gaunt
wish to drive them out.
But the Commons did not stop short with attacking the evil counsellors
of John of Gaunt; they went on to impeach Alice Perrers, the woman who
had gained such an unworthy influence over the King in his old age. They
passed an ordinance against "certain women of the court, and especially
Alice Perrers, who interfered with the course of justice in the kingdom,
sitting side by side on the bench with the judges." Alice Perrers was
examined before the nobles, and banished from the court. She was obliged
to swear that she would keep away from the King.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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