[chap.

the House of Commons that the widest divergence of opinion
would be looked for ; a year and a half before the commons had
chosen a suspected Lollard as their speaker. But the fall of
Salisbury, and the desertion of Sir Lewis Clifford’, who form-
ally renounced Lollardy in 1402, must have weakened them.
Sir John Cheyne no longer represented Gloucestershire, and Sir
John Oldcastle had not yet been elected for Herefordshire. It
must not however be supposed that the revival of doctrinal zeal
affected the relations of the national church to Rome in other
points. The same parliament that passed the statute of Lollardy
urged the exact execution of the statute of provisors², and
showed no reluctance to confiscate the property of the alien
priories which Henry had restored in the previous year^s ; it
was no time for sparing either the property or the labour of
the clergy, as the king had shown by directing them to arm to
ιepel a French invasion. The policy which Arundel dictated
seemed still to combine the maintenance of orthodoxy with
great zeal for national welfare. Possibly to some of the ques-
tions thus raised was owing the change of ministry which
occurred at the close of the session. Scarle on the 9tl1 of March
resigned the great seal, which was given to bishop Stafford ⁴,
the very prelate who had been chancellor during the last years
of Richard; and on the 31 st of May Northbury was removed
from the treasury, and Lawrence Allerthorp succeeded him.
Allerthorp was an old baron of the Exchequer, who after
holding office as treasurer for a year was sent to Ireland with
Thomas of Lancaster, the king’s son. It seems more probable
that both ministers were chosen for their practical qualifications,
than that any political change had taken place. It was no
doubt acceptable to the clergy that a bishop should again pre-

¹ Ann. Henr. p. 347.

² Kot. Parl. iiɪ. 459, 465, 470. The king had been empowered in the
last parliament to dispense with this statute in particular cases ; the
commons now pray that it may not be dispensed in favour of cardinals
or other aliens ; another petition alleged that the enactment of the last
parliament had been wrongly enrolled, but this on examination was proved
untrue; ibid. p. 466. Cf. Statutes, ii. 121, 122.

³ Kymer, ∖ili. ɪoɪ ; Kot. Parl. iii. 456.

ⁱ Kymer, viii. ι8ι.

XVIIT.]

side in tlɪe chancery, and the restoration of Stafford may have
been part of the plan of reconciliation which four years later
placed the deposed archbishop Walden in the see of London.

307. The year thus begun was not less busily employed than Henry’s
that which preceded it. It was a year of increasing labours increase,
and increasing difficulties. The king himself spent a month in
Wales in the summer, trying in vain to bring Owen Glendower
to a decisive engagement. After returning to Westminster for The Welsh

.   .                             .       °          _                   war in 1401

a great council in August¹, he again mustered, his forces at
Worcester in October to renew his efforts. But the season
was by that time too far advanced, and he returned to London
without having entered Wales. The younger Percy, Hotspur
as he was called, who had been acting as commander on the
Welsh march, was, in repeated letters to the council, complain-
ing of the expenses of the war. On the 17th of May he wrote
to say that he could not retain his command beyond the end of
the month, and on the 4th of June he repeated the warning².
The apprehensions of attack from France were again becoming
formidable. At a council, held probably in June, a division of Discussion
opinion manifested itself : should war be declared at all, should council on
it be declared without the consent of parliament, or should FrAncein
parliament be immediately summoned ? The lords saw that the ’ ⁴°¹'
financial difficulty would be great ; Rutland especially depre-
cated a new war whilst money was so scarce, and the earls of
Northumberland, Westmoreland, and Suffolk thought with him.
The lord Grey of Ruthyn thought it well to wait until the
negotiations which were still pending had broken down, and
then to refer the whole matter to parliament³. The momentary
alarm passed over, and the little queen was in July restored
to her parents. But money did not become more plentiful.
Another great council was held in August⁴, and attended by a

¹ Henry was at Evesham June 3, at Worcester June 8, and spent four
weeks on the border ⁱ paruɪn proficiens ;^, Mon. Evesh. p. ɪ 74. On the
2ɪst he was back at Wallingford ; and on the 25th at London. Cf. Or-
dinances, &c. ii. 56.

² See the letters in the Ordinances and Proceedings of the Privy Council,
ɪ. 150, 151, 152.                 ³ Ordinances, &c. i. 143-145 ; cf. p. 165.

⁴ Aug. ι6 ; Ordinances, &c. i. 155. Adam of Usk mentions this council
and the determination to go to war, p. 67.

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