Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/443

Percy the skirmish before Vilhalpando. After the outbreak of pestilence which cost the life of his nephew, Thomas de Percy the younger, he returned with John Holland to England. On 15 May 1388 he sailed from Southampton in the expedition of Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, to Brittany and La Rochelle, and afterwards rejoined John of Gaunt at Bayonne, in time to take the chief part in the negotiations with Don John of Castile, and in the spring of 1389 was sent to Burgos as the principal ambassador of John of Gaunt (Chron. Angliæ, 1328–88, p. 369;, Crónicas de los Reyes de Castilla, ii. 284, Madrid, 1780).

On his return to England Percy was appointed vice-chamberlain to the king, and on 14 May 1390 made chief justice of South Wales. On 4 June he gave evidence in the Scrope and Grosvenor case, and on 28 Nov. was one of the judges of the appeal in that suit (Fœdera, vii. 677, 686, orig. edit.) Percy was the chief of the embassy that was sent to treat for peace with France on 22 Feb. 1392, and was handsomely entertained by Charles VI for six days at Paris (, xii. 315–21, ed. Buchon; cf., pp. 224–5). He took part in the subsequent negotiations at Amiens and Leulingham in this and the following year. On 20 Jan. 1394 he was appointed seneschal or steward of the royal household (, p. 125). In July he was again justice of South Wales, and was with the king when hunting in the Principality (, ix. 201). Later in the year he went with Richard to Ireland, and on their return, in July 1395, was with the king at Canterbury and Leeds Castle in Kent, where, through his instrumentality, Froissart, who had come to England for this purpose, was introduced to Richard, and presented the king with his ‘Livre d'Amours’ (ib. xii. 207–12, 234). Percy was with Richard at Eltham in 1397, when the Londoners made their complaint against Thomas, duke of Gloucester. Froissart alleges that he resigned his office and withdrew from the court, in disapproval of the intended action against Gloucester (ib. xii. 17, 24–5). But this seems to be a misapprehension; for Percy was present in the parliament of September 1397, when by the king's wish he was chosen proctor for the clergy, in which capacity he assented to the banishment of Archbishop Arundel and the condemnation of the Earl of Arundel. On 29 Sept. he was rewarded with the title of Earl of Worcester. He was one of the committee appointed to wind up the business of the parliament in January 1398 (Rolls of Parliament, iii. 384 b, 351 b, 355 b, 377 b, 368 b). On 19 Oct. 1397 Percy had been made constable of Jedburgh Castle; in January 1398 he was captain of Calais; on 5 Feb. was one of the commissioners to treat with Scotland; and on 16 March signed the truce at Hawdenstank (Fœdera, viii. 32, 35, orig. edit.) In October 1398 Worcester was one of the attorneys for his cousin, Henry of Lancaster, during his banishment (ib. viii. 49; he had held a similar position eight years before, ib. vii. 691). On 16 Jan. 1399 Worcester was named admiral of the fleet for Ireland, whither he accompanied the king in May. In the meantime there had been a quarrel between Richard and the Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry (Hotspur). Worcester had gone to his brother and nephew, and perhaps advised their withdrawal to Scotland (, xiv. 167–8, ed. Buchon). On 4 July Henry of Lancaster landed at Ravenspur, and in August Richard, accompanied by Worcester, crossed over from Ireland to Milford Haven. Creton alleges that Worcester treacherously abandoned Richard at Milford, and was plundered by the Welsh on his way to join Henry (Archæologia, xx. 105, 157–8). Similarly, in the ‘Traïson et Mort du Roy Richard,’ it is stated that Worcester fled from Milford after bidding his followers disperse (p. 46). But other chroniclers give a circumstantial account of how Worcester, at Richard's bidding, dismissed the royal household, and broke his rod of office as steward in the hall of Conway Castle (, Hist. Angl. ii. 233;, pp. 206–7; Annales Ricardi II, pp. 248–9). Both statements may be correct, on the assumption that the dismissal of Richard's household did not take place till after his surrender to Henry. But the author of the ‘Annales Ricardi II’ represents Worcester as acting with regret, and not with treachery. On the other hand, it is stated in the ‘Traïson et Mort’ (p. 58) that Worcester was sent by Henry to treat with Richard at Flint. In any case the influence of Northumberland would have secured Worcester a favourable reception from Henry.

Worcester is alleged to have opposed the assumption of the crown by Henry (, p. 351). He was, however, present in the parliament which approved the deposition of Richard (Rolls of Parliament, iii. 427 a), and at the coronation of the new king, on 13 Oct., acted as vice-seneschal for Thomas of Lancaster. On 7 Nov. all his previous grants and emoluments were confirmed to him, and on 15 Nov. he was appointed admiral. He had conducted the examination of Sir William Bagot [q. v.] on 16 Oct., but,