Constitutional History.
[chap.
Grant of
revenue
for life.
Legislation
of this par-
liament.
236
earls of Richmond and Pembroke, the marquess of Dorset,
and an immense number of knights and gentlemen, who were
condemned to the penalties of treason ɪ. Another act for the
punishment of the three bishops declared them worthy of the
same sentence, but from respect to their holy office contented
itself with confiscating their temporalities 2. The lady Margaret
of Richmond3 was attainted in a separate act, the grants made
to the duke and duchess of Exeter were resumed, and the king
was empowered to make grants from the property of the at-
tainted4. On the 20th of February, the last day of the session,
the king obtained a grant of tunnage, poundage, and the subsidy
on wool for his life5.
The statutes of this parliament, fifteen in number, and
many of them enacted on petitions of the commons, are of
great significance, and have been understood to indicate, more
certainly than any other part of Richard’s policy, the line
which he would have taken if he had ever found himself
secure on the throne. With one exception, however, they
are of small constitutional importance, and, unless more were
known about the influence under which they were passed, it
would be rash to suppose that Richard had any definite scheme
of policy in assenting to them. Six of them concern trade
and commercial relations: by one the grants made to queen
Elizabeth are annulledδ ; another exempts the collectors of the
clerical tenths from vexatious proceedings in secular courts7 ;
four are intended to remedy or Regulate legal proceedings in
the matters of bail, juries, fines8, and the action of the court
of pie-powder ; by another legal chapter the king is divested of
the property in lands of which he is enfeoffed or seized to uses,
and the estate is vested in the co-feoffees or in the cestui que
use9—a piece of legislation which anticipates the general action
of the statutes of uses ; by another, secret feoffments, a natural
ɪ Rot. ParI. vi. 244-248. 2 lb. vi. 250. 3 ɪb. 4 lb. vi. 242, 249.
s lb. vi. 238-240. 6 I Rio. Ill, c. 15 ; Statutes, ii. 498.
7 I Ric. Ill, c. 14 ; Statutes, ii. 497.
8 I Ric. Ill, c. 7. On Richard’s Statute of Fines see Hallam, Const.
Hist. ɪ. 11-13.
9 I Ric. Ill, c. 5 ; Statutes, ii. 480.
Policy of PicJiard.
XVIII.]
237
and necessary outgrowth of the civil wars, are forbidden ɪ. The Abolition
, . 1 Ji benβvo-
great act 01 the session is the second chapter of the statute2, iences.
which abolishes the unconstitutional practice of exacting bene-
volences, stigmatising them as new and unlawful inventions,
and dilating on the hardships to which many worshipful men
had been subjected by them. One or two private acts were
passed, and, after a solemn oath taken to insure the succession
of the prince of Wales, the parliament was dissolved. On the
23rd of February the king by charter confirmed the privileges
secured by Edward IV to the clergy in 1462. The gratitude Manage-
of convocation was shown by liberal votes of n⅛ney3. convocation.
The rest of Richard’s reign was employed in attempts, made Richard’s
by way of diplomfty, police, and warlike preparations, to detect, fgainS?10”3
anticipate and thwart the machinations which his enemies at
home and abroad were planning against him. To this end he
negotiated in September a truce for three years with Scotland,
throwing over the duke of Albany, and promising one of his
nieces as wife to the king4. With the duke of Brittany, whose Foreign
court afforded a refuge for the remnant of the Lancastrian of¾iehard.
party, he concluded an armistice to last until April 1485; he
even undertook to send over a force to defend the duke against
his neighbours, and finally prolonged the truce to Michaelmas,
1492 5. To secure the papal recognition he empowered the
bishops of Durham and S. David’s to perform that ‘ filial and
catholic obedience which was of old due and accustomed to be
paid by the kings of England to the Roman pontiffs δ.' These
measures had a certain success ; Henry of Richmond quitted
Brittany, and sought for refuge in other parts of France less
amenable to Richard’s influence. The king devoted much
1 I Ric. Ill, c. I ; Statutes, ii. 477.
2 I Ric. Ill, c. 2 ; Statutes, ii. 478 ; Cent. Croyl. p. 571.
3 Wilkins, Cone. iii. 616 ; 4th Rep. Dep. Keeper, App. ii. p. 45. The
convocation sat from Feb. 3 to Feb. 24, 1484, and from February ɪo to
March ɪɪ, 1485. A tenth was granted in 1484, and two tenths in 1485.
4 Rymer, ɪiɪ. 230, 232, 235-247; Gairdner, Letters of Richard III,
i. 51 sq., 55. Some fragments of the deliberations of the council on
Scottish aftairs are preserved ; ib. pp. 63-67.
5 Rymer, xii. 226, 229, 255, 261, 262 ; Letters of Richard III, i. 37 sq.
° Rymer, xii. 253, 254 : a similar act of Henry VI in 1459 is in Rymer,
xi. 422.