Spain. The mercantile party, on the other hand, was content with command of the Straits of Dover, and disliked the idea of fighting for Aquitaine. Both parties were, however, fully alive to the necessity of restoring England's naval power. The nobles derisively called Richard the Londoners' King; and the boy-king probably owed his undisputed succession to the merchants of London.

XII

STRIFE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS

1377-1413

DURING the later years of Edward's reign the illness of the King and his eldest son threw the government into Lancaster's hands. The statutes which gave foreigners complete freedom of trade in England and forbade the export of wool by English merchants caused much discontent. By favouring Wycliffe, Lancaster tried to find a vent for this discontent in an attack on the Church; but a year before Edward's death the Good Parliament gave expression to English feeling. Certain officials, acting for Lancaster, had abused their right of selling royal licences to enable English merchants to export wool contrary to the statutes. These men were impeached, dismissed from office, and fined. A long list of grievances was drawn up and a standing council was appointed to advise the King. A charter was issued to London restoring protection of inland trade to English merchants. Lancaster was unable to offer effective resistance; but in the following year he assembled a Parliament packed with his own adherents and thus undid much of the work of the Good Parliament. This Parliament levied a poll-tax

graduated according to the wealth of the taxpayers. The minimum tax was fourpence.

The result of the mercantile policy of Edward III. was the abandonment by English merchants of their claim to pay no more than the Ancient Custom on the export of wool. The violent measure of 1333, which gave aliens a monopoly of England's foreign trade and made the export of English wool by native merchants a crime, was evaded by royal licences; but English merchants found that it was better to pay heavier duties than to buy licences. When the English merchants agreed to pay subsidies in excess of the Ancient Custom, they were again allowed to export wool and leather. The subsidies varied, but on an average they increased the Ancient Custom ten to twentyfold for natives and the Hanse merchants of the Steelyard, while other aliens were more heavily taxed. A substantial protection was thus given to English weaving, since the looms of Flanders had come to depend on English wool for the making of fine cloth. Spanish and Scotch wool could only be used when mixed with the wool of England. In dressing, dyeing, and finishing cloth England lagged behind Flanders; but early in the fifteenth century unfinished English cloth could be placed on the Flemish market at a price which meant ruin to Flemish weavers. In 1434 the Flemish admitted defeat by prohibiting the importation of English cloth.

When English merchants were debarred from foreign trade English shipping declined, and as the navy in those days depended on merchant ships, England lost command of the sea. In the French

war which began again in 1369 England was forced to defend herself instead of attacking France. In 1372 command of the sea passed to the allied navies of Castile and France, and money had to be raised for the defence of the English coast. When the Isle of Wight had to be ransomed from the French, and Hastings was burned, England's danger forced Richard's early Parliaments to undertake the creation of a navy. In Richard's first Parliament, held at Westminster in 1377, the baronial and mercantile parties appear to have made a temporary truce while measures were taken for the defence of England. Money was voted for the navy, and two merchants were appointed treasurers of the grants. On the other hand, Lancaster was given command of the fleet; but the internal peace of England had but a short life.

While Edward III. was dying, Wycliffe was summoned to St. Paul's to answer a charge of heresy. Lancaster intervened on behalf of Wycliffe, and offered violence to the Bishop of London. Although Lollardism was very prevalent in London, the citizens could not miss an opportunity of showing their hatred to Lancaster, who was only saved from a riotous mob by the intervention of the bishop. The dying King succeeded in making peace; but after Richard's first Parliament a reason for a new quarrel was found. Lancaster's fleet failed to accomplish all that was expected of it, while a private fleet, equipped at the cost of Philipot, one of the treasurers, captured fifteen French and Spanish ships. In 1378 Parliament sat at Gloucester that it might be free from London's influence. Philipot was accused of using public money for his

fleet; but he had little difficulty in proving that it had been paid for out of his own resources. The restrictions on foreign merchants were then partially removed by statute, although the preamble describes the dislike felt by English merchants to foreign competition.

A contemporary monk, Thomas of Walsingham, who was in favour of foreign competition, has left a record of one result of this statute. At that time, he wrote, all Eastern goods carried by the Genoese were brought to England and sold to English merchants who resold them to the Flemish, Normans, and Bretons. A rich Genoese merchant tried to take advantage of the statute. He promised many gifts to the King if Richard would allow him to settle at Southampton, where a castle had recently been built. He pledged himself to make Southampton the finest port in the West, and would probably have succeeded in annexing the profits hitherto made by English merchants had he not been murdered before the door of the house in London at which he was lodging. John Kyrkeby, the instigator of the murder, for a time escaped punishment; and the chronicler expressed his fear that other foreign merchants would be deterred from imitating the Genoese.

In 1380 Parliament met at Northampton that Kyrkeby might be tried away from London. He was tried by Parliament, probably because it was thought that no jury would convict. Kyrkeby was hanged, and Parliament turned its attention to raising money. The parliament of Gloucester had voted a poll-tax, whose minimum was fourpence a head. This tax had proved insufficient. The Parliament of Northampton