page_title: John Burley
section_title: Overthrow of Richard II
hierarchical_section_title: John Burley / Early career 1380–99 / Overthrow of Richard II
context_page_description: John Burley was an English lawyer and a knight of the shire for Shropshire six times from 1399. He was a justice of the peace for Shropshire and sheriff of the county from 10 December 1408 – 4 November 1409. A key member of the Arundel affinity, he helped muster forces to combat the Glyndŵr Rising and died a short time after accompanying Thomas Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel on Henry V's first expedition to France.
context_section_description: Earl Richard was one of the Lords Appellant, the leaders of the baronial opposition to Richard II, and was executed in 1397. Burley's activities during these momentous events seems to have been entirely routine. In July 1397, immediately after Arundel's arrest, Burley was involved in some sort of deal with John Eyton that required a reciprocal agreement to pay each other a substantial £200 the next Michaelmas. Later in the year he is recorded taking recognizances as usual, including an undertaking from William Glover of Ludlow for £60. Business continued, with other smaller clients employing him, along with his usual colleagues. On 7 March 1398 he and Thomas Young were among the feoffees appointed by Isabel de Eylesford to deal with her manors of Brimfield, Herefordshire, and Buildwas, Shropshire: a licence to complete the business by reciprocally enfeoffing Isabel was not issued until April 1402, long after the looming power struggle had reached conclusion, and problems at Brimfield delayed completion until February 1403, by which time Isabel was remarried. Such legal complexities unfolded to an entirely different rhythm from politics. An almost adjacent entry in the Patent rolls for 4 February shows how delicately the king, evidently worried by spreading disaffection, was handling Shropshire people affected by Arundel's attainder. In this case, in an issue that might have been initiated by Burley, the king ensured that an Oswestry brewer would not be out of pocket, as he had invested heavily in premises granted by Arundel. Burley's own position with the régime seems to have been little affected and he was reappointed as a justice of the peace on 16 September 1398, after a lapse of little more than a year: more or less the same interval as previously.
  When the king's enemies struck, the defection of Shropshire was a critical juncture in the rapid collapse that followed. Burley quickly rallied to Thomas FitzAlan, the dispossessed claimant to the earldom, when he returned with Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. Adam of Usk's account of the rebels' march through Shropshire makes clear that they met with a welcome in the county and hints at how this shaped the future power structure of the county, with Thomas Arundel, now Archbishop of Canterbury giving ecclesiastical sanction to the new arrangements.
  Demum idem dux cum exercitu suo aput Herffordiam, secundo die Augustii, in palacio episcopi se hospitavit; et in crastino se versus Cestream movit, et in prioratu de Lempster pernoctavit. Et postea nocte proxima aput Lodelaw in castro regis, vino ibidem inhorriato non-parcens, pernoctavit. Ubi presencium compilator ab eo et a domino Cantuariensi fratrem Thomam Prestburi, magistrum in theologia, ipsius contemporarium Oxonie, monachum de Salopia, tunc carceribus per regem Ricardum detentum, eo quod contra excessus suos quedam merito predicasset, ab huiusmodi carceribus liberari, et in abbatem monasterii sui erigi, optinuit. Demum per Salopiam transitus ibi per duos dies mansit; ubi fecit proclamari quod excercitus suus se ad Cestriam dirigeret, tamen populo et patrie parceret, eo quod per internuncios se sibi submiserant.
  At length the duke came to Hereford with his host, on the second day of August, and lodged in the bishop's palace; and on the morrow he moved towards Chester, and passed the night in the priory of Leominster. The next night he spent at Ludlow, in the king's castle, not sparing the wine which was therein stored. At this place, I, who am now writing, obtained from the duke and from my lord of Canterbury the release of brother Thomas Prestbury, master in theology, a man of my day at Oxford and a monk of Shrewsbury, who was kept in prison by king Richard, for that he had righteously preached certain things against his follies; and I also got him promotion to the abbacy of his house. Then, passing through Shrewsbury, the duke tarried there two days; where he made proclamation that the host should march on Chester, but should spare the people and the country, because by mediation they had submitted themselves to him.
  Followi
caption: Richard II, whose elevated view of royal power was strongly opposed by Arundel.
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