s maintained by the Norman kings. In the time of Richard I. all men
were required to swear to keep the peace, to avoid crime, and to join
in the hue and cry in pursuit of criminals. In the time of Henry III.
persons called guardians of the peace were occasionally appointed to
see that order was kept, and at the accession of Edward III. these
officials were established for a time by Act of Parliament as
conservators of the peace. In =1360=, the year of the Treaty of
Bretigni, they were permanently continued, and the name of Justices of
the Peace was given to them. They were to keep the peace in each
county, and their number was to be made up of a lord, three or four
gentlemen, and a lawyer, who was in those days always a cleric.[26]
They were to seize and imprison, and even to try persons accused of
crime. The king named these justices, but he had to name all of them
except the lawyer from amongst the local landowners. In every way, in
the fourteenth century, the chief local landowners were becoming
prominent. The kings attempted to govern with their help, both in
Parliament and in the counties.

[Footnote 26: Many clerics took one of the minor orders so as to
secure the immunities of the clergy, without any intention of being
ordained a deacon or a priest.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

RICHARD II. AND THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION.

1382--1399.

LEADING DATES

Reign of Richard II., 1377--1399

The impeachment of Suffolk 1386
The Merciless Parliament 1388
Richard begins his constitutional government 1389
Richard's coup-d'etat 1397
Deposition of Richard 1399

1. =Progress of the War with France. 1382--1386.=--In =1382= Richard
at the early age of fifteen was married to Anne of Bohemia. Though he
was a young husband he was at all events old enough to be accused of
disasters which he could not avoid. Not only was the war with France
not prospering, but English influence was declining in Flanders. In
=1382= Philip van Arteveldt, who like his father Jacob (see p. 235)
headed the resistance of Ghent against the Count of Flanders, was
defeated and slain at Roosebeke by Charles VI., the young king of
France. In =1383= an English expedition led by Henry Spencer, Bishop
of Norwich, under the pretext of a crusade against the French