Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/12

2 part of Parliament in one way or another to control the king's council, but never before had the efforts been made with so great persistency and effect. Not only under Richard II. but also to some extent during the succeeding reigns of Henry IV. and of Henry VI. was the same policy asserted. So that those years extending from the attempt of the Good Parliament to reform the council of Edward III. in 1376 until 1437, the close of the later king's minority, may be marked as a special period in the history of the council, a period when it was most under Parliamentary pressure. The powers of Parliament were exercised mainly in three ways: (1) by appointments and removals, (2) by regulative legislation, and (3) by judicial prosecutions. It will be seen that its actions taken together reveal a fairly consistent plan or policy as to what the council should be. What this policy was and to what extent it was effective may now be explained.

I. In the first place the councils of these years were frequently said to have been "named", "elected ", or "ordained" in Parliament. How was the choice and sanction of Parliament actually made? Usually there was a petition of the commons that a suitable council be chosen and that they should be informed of the names of its members. While the commons might state some of the qualifications of councillors, the actual choice was made by the prelates and lords, or by the king himself. Thus in the fiftieth year of Edward III. the commons petitioned that a new council of lords, prelates, and others be appointed, and the duke of Lancaster afterward read the names before them. The first council of Richard, named July 17, 1377, was chosen by the king and magnates, with the special connivance, we are told, of John of Gaunt, who succeeded in placing therein Lord Latimer and others of his friends. When Parliament met in October, this council was required to be reconstituted at the instance of the commons, who petitioned that the councillors be elected by the lords in Parliament, and for the special purpose of excluding Lord Latimer passed a resolution that none who had been removed from the council in the time of Edward III. be restored. A proposal that the new councillors and officers receive their charges in the presence of the commons was not acted upon, for they were sworn in the presence of the lords. Again, in the second year at the Parliament of Gloucester the commons