Records: the Long Parliament

## **Desperate Measures**

Parliament had not met since November 1373, 2½ years previously, because Edward III and his councilors recognized the danger of calling parliament during a period of dissatisfaction. However, the need for funds was so pressing that in February, the call went out for a parliament to convene.

### **April:** A Call to Order

It was strongly suggested that it was actually the Brothers that inspired calling parliament on the basis of discovery – and evidence – of corrupt Royal Council. While they were effectively conducting Crown business at the Royal Court, the power to remove certain appointments from office was still beyond their legal means. This led to finding alternative means to cleaning out the muck.

* This would've been what history knew as the "Good Parliament" – but by now, was substantially different in tone and timbre. The threat of France was still present, with continued threats from Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Edward III was essentially in hospice... and Prince Edward was close behind. Unlike the original timeline, though,Edward of Angoulême was close to minimum legal age – and already proved he could *hold court*.

Similar to the original timeline, Peter de la Mare, a knight of the shire representing Herefordshire, was been elected as Speaker by the House of Commons. On the first day, he delivered an address criticizing England's recent military failures, condemning the corruption at court, and calling for close scrutiny of the royal accounts (and his words sounded a great deal like the brothers'...).

* The military failures rested squarely on John of Gaunt's shoulders. The "Great Chevauchée" (three years in the making and two years in execution) had been a miserable failure: John simply didn't have the ability to evolve the process beyond what had worked for Edward III and the Crown Prince a decade and a half earlier.
	+ To say Gaunt was self-conscious about the misadventure would understate and oversimplify it, but he did appreciate the rally the Glow Stones gave English morale. It is also "possible" that his mindset was soothed and smoothed with SNS-help from Richard.
	+ The shining personal failure in France was enough to back Gaunt off from Royal affairs in England. Now, he looked to focus his future efforts on Castile. In the other timeline, he was defensive enough that he'd undone the work of the "Good Parliament" in spite, following it with the "Bad Parliament."
* As for the court corruption, both Richard Lyons and Lord Latimer were called before parliament, confronted with evidence, and then imprisoned. Latimer's impeachment is the earliest recorded in Parliament.
* Unlike the original Good Parliament, the king's mistress, Alice Perrers, was not brought before parliament.
* The boys, staples of the Royal Court, became staples of Parliament as well...

### **Peace with France?**

John of Gaunt raised the question of the Salic law, which was the basis for the French case against Edward III's claim to the Crown of France . He suggested that the English follow the French custom, but was unable to sway the assembly to his point of view.

Most of the Lords, at this point, diapproved not because of national pride (though that was a minor factor), but rather because war was an opportunity.

Crown Prince Edward, advised of his brother's motion, wasn't any more willing to let it go. Why? A long memory: back during the First Barons' War, a century and a half prior, rebel English barons responded against King John – a Plantagenet Royal – by inviting the French prince Louis to lead them. Louis had a claim to the English throne by virtue of his marriage to Blanche of Castile, a granddaughter of Henry II. At the time, King Philip didn't endorse it, but he didn't forbid (and was said to have provided support).

### **May:** Crown Prince Edward of Woodstock was tired of dying

Certain this was the end, Prince Edward invited key people to his hospice, including his father Edward III, his younger brother John of Gaunt, and several nobles that were in town for Parliament.

It was only after he was scolded for not allowing his younger son to visit that he actually consented to Richard's therapy. By May, when Edward was in guarded hospice from dysentery that had become violent, Richard entered to see his father at his worst.

Just as the miracle had passed with his brother, so did a miracle pass with his father.

### **June:**sweeping changes to thePrivy Council

* After Lyons and Latimer, Parliament imposed a new councillor on King Edward III, but it wasn't the same group as the original *Good Parliament*. Instead, it was his own, newly recovered son: Crown Prince Edward of Woodstock. Quickly regaining strength and presence, the Prince had some strong ideas about Privy Council staffing and national guidance.
	+ In fact, it was widely suspected that Prince Edward had his own advisors: **Edward***of***Angoulême** and**Richard***of***Bordeaux**.
	+ In the immediate wake of the parliamentary empowerment, the Crown Prince executed a plan that was clearly laid out well in advance. The boys' influence remained clandestine, if circumstantially obvious, but with the creation of the *Councils*, signaled that how the Plantagenets treated the concept of a Royal House was changing.
* **Created:***the Council on Monetary Affairs*
	+ This was headlined by Prince Edward, with Princess Joan contributing, as well as advisors from Cambridge, Oxford and several of the growing merchant houses of London.
* **Created:***the Council on Military Affairs*
	+ Given the upheaval and uncertainty already afflicting England, Prince Edward used the moment as a mandate to sweep away every vestige of failure so far. This included reforming the Sergeants-at-Arms.

### **July:** *the* **Audit** *and* **Rectification** *of* **England**

By July 10, energized and informed by the findings of the Councils – he engaged England with the fury of a protector whose charges have been brutalized. In this case, he was defending his father – and England – against the mismanagement that cost far more than gold, it cost blood.

Crown Prince Edward took a seat in parliament and led what would come to be known as ***the Audit and Rectification***. With information gleaned in the Councils, this brought family before parliament and England. It brought a dozen earls and barons, too, but it demonstrated that nobody was safe.

With the survival, improvement and apparent hellfire of Prince Edward, there was massive relief about the stability of the future crown. Having righted the course, at least as much as could be done at the time, parliament was dissolved. At that time, it was the longest Parliament to have sat in England.