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Percy vengeance on them when he was forbidden to proceed by the king. He at once went to the council at London, was received with flattering words, and was bidden to wait and bring his complaint before the next marchers' court (ib. p. 270). In June 1381 he was appointed captain against the rebels in Yorkshire. On the outbreak of the villeins' insurrection the Duke of Lancaster made a truce with the Scots. This seems to have offended the earl, who probably thus lost the power of forcing them to make him amends; he thwarted the duke, and did him a serious disservice [see under ]. A violent quarrel ensued; it seems probable that the earl, seeing that the duke was unpopular and that his power in England was lessened, was not unwilling to break with him. Lancaster laid his complaints against him before the king, and the earl was summoned to appear before the council at Berkhampstead, which was attended by nearly all the earls in the kingdom. Lancaster kept his temper, and stated his charges quietly; but the earl behaved with the vehemence characteristic of his race (‘more gentis suæ’), answered him with abuse, and refused to be silent when the king bade him. His disobedience was punished by arrest, as though he had been guilty of treason; but he was bailed by the Earls of Warwick and Suffolk. He attended parliament in November, accompanied by armed followers, and was received with favour by the Londoners, with whom he was again popular. The duke was also attended by an armed force, and the peace of the kingdom was endangered. Vain efforts were made in parliament for some time to compose their quarrel, and at last the king interfered and compelled them to be reconciled (Chron. Angliæ, pp. 327–30).

Writs were again issued appointing the earl a warden of the marches towards Scotland, and in November 1383 he was made admiral of the north, and held that office for fourteen months. In that year he made a raid into Scotland in company with the Earl of Nottingham, and wasted the country as far as Edinburgh. The Scots revenged themselves later by ravaging his lands. In December 1384, while he was attending parliament, the Scots, through the treachery of his lieutenant, obtained possession of Berwick Castle, which was in the earl's custody. Lancaster is said to have gladly seized this opportunity of spiting his enemy, and to have procured that the lords should pronounce sentence of forfeiture against him for having thus lost one of the royal castles; but the king remitted him all penalty. He gathered an army and besieged the castle. The garrison soon surrendered on condition of receiving two thousand marks of English gold, and being allowed to march off with their goods. Again, in 1385, the Scots and their French allies invaded England, destroyed the villages round Alnwick, and did much mischief in Northumberland, but retreated on hearing that the earl and other English lords were marching to meet them (, ii. c. 235). The earl took part in the king's invasion of Scotland which followed. In 1387 the king, who was set upon overthrowing the party of reform then in power, sent Northumberland to arrest one of its leaders, the Earl of Arundel, at Reigate Castle. Northumberland, however, found the earl at the head of a strong force, and did not therefore carry out his commission. He was probably not anxious to do so, for when in November the king contemplated resisting Gloucester and the other lords by war, Northumberland told him plainly that they were loyal, and were acting for his good, but were aggrieved by his evil advisers, and urged him to behave wisely and to invite them to state their grievances (, col. 2698).

In March 1388 he was appointed to treat with the Scots. In the summer the Scots made a great raid across the border under the Earls of Douglas, Dunbar, and Moray, and ravaged the land to the gates of Durham, intending to return by way of Newcastle. The earl sent his sons, Sir Henry and Sir Ralph, to Newcastle, while he himself remained at Alnwick, thinking that he might thus take them on both sides. His sons met the Scots in battle at Otterburn, near Woolley [see under, (1364–1403)]. In 1389 he was appointed captain of Calais, and in 1390 was a commissioner to treat with Flanders. He was recalled from Calais in February 1391, and was again appointed to guard the east Scottish march (, ii. 203). The Scots made a raid across the east march in 1393, carried off much booty, and slew some men of note. The earl was much blamed for not keeping stricter ward, for he received seven thousand marks a year from the treasury for his expenses (Annales Ricardi II, p. 164). He was present at the interview between the kings of England and France at Guisnes in October 1396, and was one of the four great English lords that acted as the French king's escort. When Richard took vengeance on his enemies and assumed despotic power in 1397, he reckoned on the earl's support. In February 1398 he was appointed by the parliament of Shrewsbury as one of the committee empowered to execute the functions of parliament. He soon became indignant