Question 1
Using these four sources in their historical context, assess how far they support the view that the
main cause of divisions in the country in 1386 was money.
Source A: A monk writes about the Parliament of September 1386.
The reason for calling the parliament was explained on behalf of the King, namely that measures should be organised against the French king and other external enemies. The Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick, and their supporters, answered that something should be done about the internal enemies, namely Michael de la Pole, the chancellor, and many others. The King, on Michael’s advice, dissolved parliament and ordered everyone to disperse.
Continuation of the Eulogium Historiarum, written c.1405
Source B: A French chronicler, who had contacts in the courts of Richard II and his predecessor Edward III, outlines the situation in 1386.
The King quarrelled with his uncles of York and Gloucester, and they were equally displeased with him, caused, as it was said, by the intrigues of the Duke of Ireland [Sir Robert de Vere], the King’s close friend and advisor. The common people in many towns and cities had noticed these quarrels, and the wisest dreaded the consequences that might ensue. The more foolish laughed at them and said that these disputes were caused by the jealousy of the King’s uncles and because the crown was not on their heads.
Jean Froissart, Chronicles of England, France, Spain and the Adjoining Countries, written before 1400
Source C: Parliament sets up a Commission to deal with problems facing the realm.
Our sovereign lord perceives, by the serious complaint of the lords and commons of his realm assembled in the present parliament, that his profits, rents and revenues of his realm are so greatly wasted, removed, given away, granted and badly spent, that he is greatly impoverished. This is the result of wilful and insufficient counsel and evil governance, both by some of his recent great officers and by various other people around him. The wealth of the crown is so much diminished that his status, and that of his household, cannot be maintained as it ought. Nor can the wars which daily abound and beset his kingdom be provided for without great and unbearable cost to his people.
Statutes of the Realm, 1386
Source D: A chronicler, and supporter of the Lords Appellant, outlines the views of the opposition in the Wonderful Parliament in 1386.
The King’s closest advisers were men of vicious character who deceived the King, not having an eye to the business of the king or the kingdom. They grasped to themselves great wealth and fortunes by many evil deeds. The impoverished King suffered because of their sins and so the realm was afflicted by the levying of a great plague of tenths and subsidies. Because of this, misfortunes without number struck the kingdom.
Thomas Favent, History of the Wonderful Parliament, written before 1400
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Answer
