During the final struggle with Douglas there is again no reference to burgesses, but in August 1452, when the king had defeated the great house, we find burgesses represented in Parliament, and there is again no mention of the Articles. In August 1455 the dress of burgess members is regulated by statute, and their attendance is regarded as normal. During the personal rule of James II, which continued till his death in 1460, burgesses are constantly represented, and the only committees of which we read are for justice alone, to which burgess members were elected. During the first few years of the minority of James III the policy of the late king was continued under the strong hand of Bishop Kennedy, and it is not till after his death, in 1465, that the Lords of the Articles reappear. In 1467, Lords of the Articles were appointed, and thenceforth their power and importance greatly increased. In 1469, they were empowered to report, not to the whole Parliament, but to a committee constituted on the analogy of the Lords of the Articles themselves, "with power committed by the whol Estates ... to advise, commune, and conclude." Two years later the membership of this plenipotentiary committee became almost identical with that of the Lords of the Articles, who thus, practically, received power to report to themselves and to ratify their own conclusions "upon all matters concerning the welfare of our Sovereign lord ... and the common good of the realm." "Our Sovereign lord" was, at the time, a captive in the hands, at first of the Boyds, and afterwards of the Hamiltons, and the rapid development of the powers of the Lords of the Articles is explained by the desire to exclude any adherents of the opposite faction from voice or vote in Parliament, and, as such, it continued to be employed.[58]