XXXIII. 1371. on the continent; and, so far from there CHAP. being an absolute breach between him and Wykeham, he made a point, in leaving the kingdom in 1373 and 1375, to appoint the bishop of Winchester one of the trustees and attorneys for him in his absence". There is yet another point of view in which the parliamentary representation here spoken of may be considered, and in which it is still more worthy of our remark and attention. One of the many causes of the ascendancy of the clergy in the dark ages was, that the learning of the times being engrossed by them, they were ordinarily the only persons found qualified to fill even the civil offices of the state. They were our historians, our fine writers, and our poets; and they alone possessed the degree of general knowledge and of practice in business, which was necessary in public affairs. Now that the time was come when other candidates Sentiments at this time prespecting valent re the ecclesiastical order. Rymer, Tom. VII, 47 Edv. 3, Mai. 12; and 49 Edv. 3, Mar. 1. XXXIII. 1371. CHAP might perhaps with equal advantage have entered the lists with them, habit, as usually happens in matters of this sort, prevailed, and churchman succeeded churchman, unquestioned, and as if by an essential law of diplomatical succession. It became a part, as it were, of the religion of our ancestors to see high office combined with the clerical character; and it appeared a sort of sacrilege in their eyes, to behold a chancellor of the realm, or a treasurer of the public revenues, otherwise habited than in the vestments and rochet of a dignified clergyman. The ecclesiastical order, we may be certain, were sufficiently willing to encourage prejudices arising from this source and reluctant to part with one of the fairest appendages of their vocation so that it came to be thought that they, and only they, had integrity enough for the discharge of so important a trust, and that to withhold it from them was to rob them of their right, and to draw down upon the daring innovator who should attempt it the signal vengeance of their invisible and almighty master. XXXIII. Origin of these seti timents, We may well be surprised then to see the CHAP. parliament of 1371 abruptly and at once en- 1371. tering a rule of general proscription against them; and, consulting the series of public events, we may reasonably class this as one symptom of the progress of the opinions and dogmas of Wicliffe. Wicliffe indeed was as yet new to the great world; and it is perhaps impossible to trace any of those positions which were original and exclusively his own, so far back as to this period. But the mighty germ of innovation of which he was the author, was no doubt before this fermenting in his mind; and the history of this admirable hero of intellect has never yet been investigated with sufficient patience and perspicacy, to furnish us with the exact series of the events of his life. When he began his preaching, we know that the progress of his tenets was little less than miraculous; and it is under the date of 1382, only eleven years after this transaction, that Knighton the monkish historian assures us, that every second man throughout England was a Lollard. The vote of 1371 is strongly impressed with XXXIII. 1371. CHAP the stamp of Wicliffe's intrepidity and decision; and we may justly conclude that it was not passed without his participation, and that at the period which was found ripe for such a measure he had already formed a very considerable party. CHAP. XXXIV. DISASTROUS CAMPAIGN OF 1372. XXXIV. 1371. IN the close of the year 1371, the new- CHAP. titled king of Castille, with his brother the earl of Cambridge, and their brides, came over to England; the alleged motive being to consult with his father and the government respecting the plan of the ensuing campaign. He left the command of Aquitaine during his absence in the hands of the captal of Buche, the ablest and most renowned of the soldiers now living who had served under Edward III. The fate of sir John Chandos has already been mentioned; and sir Walter Manny died at an advanced age in this year. Froissart, Chap. ccci., Buche Captal of takes the in Aqui command taine. Death of sir Walter Manny. |