The Good Parliament of 1376

Plantagenet kings had a specific use for Parliament, to vote appropriations for war and royal upkeep, and to ruber stamp any laws the King and his council had already decided on.  Most Parliaments met, conducted business, and were disbanded with little ceremony.  Kings tried to rule without Parliament whenever possible, sometimes going for years without convening Parliament.  Over time, though, Parliaments realized that they could use the power of the purse to flex some muscle.  By banding together, the Commons, who were composed of untitled landed gentry and knights, could make some demands and they did.

In April, 1376, Edward III was forced to call Parliament to fund the ongoing war with France.  He'd survived without a Parliament since 1373, and was reluctant about calling another one.  By 1376, he had no choice.  Parliament met, and elected Peter de la Mare, a knight of the shire, as their Speaker.  And they had a lot to say.  On the first day and in the presence of the King and other members of the royal family, including John of Gaunt, de la Mare laid it on the line about corruption in the Royal Council and at court, English losses in France, irregularities in the royal accounts, and he wasn't through yet.  Two royal officials, the Warden of the Mint and Lord Latimer, who were believed to be defrauding the Treasury, were called before Parliament and imprisoned to answer for their activities.  This was the first instance of a royal official being impeached before Parliament.  Edward's own mistress, Alice Perrers was called to account for her wayward life and ordered to live in seclusion on pain of further punishment. 

Edward had no choice but to agree to Parliament's demands to get the money he needed.  Edward III was old.  His son and heir, Edward the Black Prince, was dying of dysentery picked up on his many military campaigns.  The heir to the Plantagenet throne was a ten-year-old, the future Richard II.  Before he died, the Black Prince called his father and his most powerful brother, John of Gaunt, to his bedside and made them swear to name Richard as the next King of England.  This Parliament, which came to be called the Good Parliament, was disbanded in July, 1376 and its members might have believed they made some headway.  But they had reckoned without John of Gaunt.  Plantagenets got mad and they got even.  John of Gaunt convened another Parliament later that autumn, and undid most of the reforms of the Good Parliament, throwing de la Mare into prison at Nottingham and restoring Alice to King Edward's company.  It would take years before Parliament could assert itself again over royal prerogative but this was a small start in that direction.