Chapter XXXI: EDWARD III. (concluded) (3)

But for all these things the king was called to account on each fresh application to Parliament for supplies. By this means the Parliament during his reign acquired a great amount of influence, as it had done under Edward I. from the same cause, and began to feel its power; so that, as we have seen, the king was obliged to renew the Great Charter fifteen times during his reign. So also we see, in the last years of his reign, the Parliament impeached his ministers, and drove Lord Neville and Lord Latimer from his service. The power of the barons was thus considerably depressed; and, at the same time, that of the Crown was restrained, and by nothing more than by a statute passed in the twenty-fifth year of Edward's reign, limiting the charge of high treason--before very loose and expandable, at the royal pleasure--to four principal heads: namely, conspiring the death of the king, queen, or his eldest son; levying war against him in his kingdom, or adhering to his enemies; counterfeiting the Great Seal, or bringing false money into the land; slaying the royal officers while in discharge of their duty; and even on these grounds no penalty was to be inflicted without the sanction of Parliament.

Trade in this reign was at a low ebb, the natural result of war: yet Edward made efforts to introduce woollen manufactures, having observed their value amongst the Flemings, at the same time that he injured commerce by seizing so many of its ships to convey his troops and stores. Altogether, it was a reign, during which, owing to the necessities of the king and the nobles, the people were slowly advancing, and in which they were considerably relieved from the encroachments and exactions of the Church by the firm conduct of the king. He passed a statute of provisors, making it penal for bishops or clergy to receive bulls from Rome, and menacing with outlawry any who appealed to Rome against judgments passed in England. Parliament, encouraged by this, went further, declaring that the Pope levied five times more taxes in England than the king; adding that they would no longer endure it, and even plainly talking of throwing off all papal authority. In fact, in this reign really began the Reformation. Altogether, therefore, the reign of Edward III. is as remarkable for the growth of popular power as for that of military fame.

Edward had a large family by his queen Philippa--namely, five sons and four daughters, who grew up. Besides the Black Prince and John of Gaunt, so well known to history, there was Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the third son, who left one daughter, married to Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, the son of the notorious Mortimer of the last reign. He married, as second wife, a daughter of the Duke of Milan, and died in Italy. He is said to have greatly resembled his father and the Black Prince in his character. The fifth son was Edmund, Earl of Cambridge, afterwards created Duke of York by Richard II.; and the sixth was Thomas, Earl of Buckingham, also created by Richard II. Duke of Gloucester. In this reign the title of Duke was first adopted from France, and that of Marquis was introduced into England about the same time.

The daughters of Edward were Isabella, Joan, Mary, and Margaret; of whom Joan died unmarried, though affianced to Pedro the Cruel; Mary was married to John de Montfort, Duke of Brittany; and Margaret to John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, so conspicuous in the wars of France.

INTERVIEW OF RICHARD II. WITH HIS UNCLE THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, AT THE CASTLE OF PLESHY, ESSEX.

THIS PICTURE FORMS ONE OF THE CURIOUS AND BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED ILLUMINATIONS THAT EMBELLISH THE FROISSART MS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. A PORTION OF THE WALL, IT WILL BE OBSERVED, IS CUT OUT SO AS TO PRESENT, BESIDES A VIEW OF THE CASTLE YARD, WHERE GROOMS AND ATTENDANTS ARE WAITING AN INTERIOR VIEW OF THE MEETING BETWEEN THE KING AND HIS UNCLE. THE KING'S UNEXPECTED VISIT IS DESCRIBED ON P. 472 OF THE PRESENT VOLUME.]