Compare 1577 edition: 1 2 On friday next after All soules day,A parlement at London. the parlement began at London, in which the knights would in no wise agrée, that the statute made against spirituall men, for the prouiding themselues of benefices in the court of Rome should be repealed: but yet they a|gréed thus much, that it should be tollerated, so as with the kings licence such spirituall men might purchase to themselues such benefices till the next parlement. ¶ In this parlement aforsaid,

Abr. Fl. out of Henrie Knigh|ton canon of Leicester ab|beie.

The duke of Lancaster ambassador for the king, right honora|blie receiued into France.

12.1. The tenor of the said dukes letter to king Richard.

The tenor of the said dukes letter to king Richard.

_MAgnifice princeps, innata vobis probi|tas, & prudentum consilia (vt opina|mur) simul agerent in officium, quòd singula haereditaria iura, quae ex nata|litio vestram magnificant regiam maiestatem, tem|poribus vestrae discretionis altissima prouidentia munirentur illaesa; etsi quaeuis oppugnaret violen|tia, clypeo militari studeat regalis industria fortiter defendere sua iura. Et quòd vestram regiam per|sonam cõtingamus in affinitate, ni vetet Deus ipse, quin semper parati erimus vobis in vestris iuribus defendendis assistere cum duobus milibus lancearũ, EEBO page image 476 quando & quotiens disponemini ad bellica conuo|lare. Nec perire debeant iura propter verba aut pr [...]missa, quomodolibet ad hoc laborat versutia Gallicorum. Sanè serenissime princeps in orbem volat fama, nec ambigitur quòd propter lanam & innumerabilia vestra singularia commoda, sine quibus non viuit oriens neque auster, regna singu|la in pecunijs vos salutant. In comparatione igitur ad alios reges vobis confert Deus ipse diuitias cen|tuplatas. Probitas etiam militaris, & arcuum aspe|ritas, sine pari, taliter huc vsque extulere gentem magnanimam occidentis, quòd timor non paruus vestros inuadit aduersarios; & ad hunc diem im|pariter victoriosè dimicauit cum Gallicis Angliae gens austera. In pusillanimitate igitur (poten [...]issi|me princeps) contra naturam non obdormiat cor leonis; sed & quales vobis contulit vires natura, ipsas applicare dignemini actibus bellicosis, in de|fensionem reipublicae, iuris haereditarij sustenta|tionem, augmentúmque meriti, & incomparabi|liter chronicabilem probitatem cordis magnanimi tanti regis.

12.1. The same letter in plaine phrase verbatim Englished by A. F.

The same letter in plaine phrase verbatim Englished by A. F.

_MOst mightie prince, your roiall prowesse and the counsels of the sage, should altogither (as we thinke) moue you in dutie, by the most profound & deepe foresight of your discretion in time to mainteine and de|fend all and singular your rights & inheritance vnharmed, which by birth doo magnifie and make great your roiall maiestie, and if anie vio|lence whatsoeuer gainstand & assault the same, your kinglie diligence should indeuor with the shield of a warrior valiantlie to defend your title and right. And bicause we are neere you, & doo as it were touch your roiall person in aliance, vnlesse God himselfe doo forbid and hinder vs, we will alwaies be readie in all your rights to as|sist and aid you with two thousand pikes, when and how often soeuer you shall be disposed to rush out to battell. Your right ought not to be lost for words and promises, howsoeuer the craftinesse of the French labor to this purpose. Trulie most excellent prince, your renowme doth flie into the world, neither is it doubted but for your wooll sake, and other your singu|lar commodities being innumerable (without the which the east and the south can not liue) all realmes with their coines doo greet you. In comparison therefore of other kings God him|selfe hath bestowed vpon you riches a hundred fold. Your warlike prowesse also, & the rough|nesse of your bowes, being peerelesse, haue hi|therto so extolled the couragious nation of the west, that no small feare dooth inuade your ad|uersaries; and to this day the sterne people of England haue (none like them) victoriouslie incountered with the French. Therefore ô most puissant prince, let not the hart of a lion sleepe in cowardlinesse against nature: but what force and valiantnesse nature hath giuen you, the same vouchsafe to put in practise with feats of armes in defense of your common wealth, the maintenance of your right by inhe|ritance, the increase of your desert, and the peerelesse prowesse of so great a kings coura|gious hart right worthie to be chronicled.

Compare 1577 edition: 1 The price of corne that had continued at an high rate, almost for the space of two yeares,The flix g [...]ten by exces|siue feeding on fruits. began to fall immediatlie after haruest was got in, to the great reliefe of the poore, which before through immoderate eating of nuts and apples, fell into the disease cal|led the flix, whereof manie died, and suerlie (as was thought) the death and dearth had beene greater, if the commendable diligence of the lord maior of London had not béene,The lord [...]|ior of Lond [...] commended for his care|full prouision of corne from beyond the seas in the time of dearth. in relieuing the commons by such prouision as he made for corne to be brought to London, from the parties of beyond the seas, where otherwise neither had the countrie béene able in anie thing to haue sufficed the citie, nor the citie the coun|trie. H. Knighton referreth this scarsitie to the yeare 1390, and maketh a large discourse both of the mise|ries which it brought with it, as also of the cause whereby it was procured, and of the notable meanes whereby the same in most places was remedied.

In this yeare (saith he) was a great dearth in all parts of England, Abr. Fl. out of Henrie Knigh|ton canon of Leceister ab|beie. and this dearth or scarsitie of corne began vnder the sickle, and lasted till the feast of saint Peter ad vincula, to wit, till the time of new corne. This scarsitie did greatlie oppresse the people, and chieflie the commoners of the poorer sort. For a man might sée infants and children in stréets and houses, through hunger, howling, crieng, and cra|uing bread: whose mothers had it not (God wot) to breake vnto them. But yet there was such plentie and abundance of manie yeares before, that it was thought and spoken of manie housekéepers and hus|bandmen, that if the séed were not sowen in the ground, which was hoord [...]d vp and stored in barnes, lofts, and garners, there would be inough to find and susteine all the people by the space of fiue yeares fol|lowing. But the cause of this penurie,The cause of the scarsitie was not want of breader corne. was thought to be the want of monie in a great manie. For mo|nie in these daies was verie scant, and the principall cause hereof was, for that the wooll of the land lay a sléepe and hoong heauie in some mens hands by the space of two yeares; and in others thrée yeares, with|out a chapman. For it was enacted in a certeine parlement, that the merchants of England should not passe out of the land with wooll and other mer|chandize, but should bring the same vnto twelue pla|ces within the realme appointed for the same pur|pose, that the merchants strangers might haue re|course thither with their commodities and so by ex|change should transport our merchandize for theirs. By meanes whereof the merchants of England did forbeare to buy wooll and other wares vntill the next parlement insuing, wherein it was granted them to traffike whither they would with their commodities. In these daies wooll was dogcheape:Wooll sold dogcheape [...] the stone. for one stone of good wooll of the chosen and piked sort, was sold for thrée shillings, and in Leicester and Kent at some times for two shillings or two and twentie pence. This scarsitie of victuals was of greatest force in Leicester shire, & in the middle parts of the realme. And although it was a great want, yet was not the price of corne out of reason. For a quarter of wheat, when it was at the highest, was sold at Leiceister for 16 shillings 8 pence at one time, and at other times for a marke or fourteene shillings: at London and o|ther places of the land a quarter of wheat was sold for ten shillings, or for litle more or lesse. For there arriued eleuen ships laden with great plentie of vic|tuals at diuerse places of the land, for the reliefe of the people. Besides this,Prouision a|gainst scar [...]|tie to relie [...] the poore. the citizens of London laid out two thousand marks to buy food out of the com|mon chest of orphans: and the foure and twentie al|dermen, euerie of them put in his twentie pound a EEBO page image 477 peece for necessarie prouision, for feare of famine, likelie to fall vpon the citie. And they laid vp their store in sundrie of the fittest and most conuenient places they could choose, that the néedie, and such as were wroong with want, might come & buy at a cer|teine price so much as might suffice them and their familie: and they which had not readie monie to paie downe presentlie in hand, their word and credit was taken for a yeares space next following,O charitie of London! and their turne serued. Thus was prouision made that people should be relieued, and that none might perish for hunger.