Commissioners of regency satisfied the desire of
Englishmen. In =1387= they sent the Earl of Arundel to sea, and
Arundel won a splendid victory over a combined fleet of French,
Flemings, and Spaniards. Richard, on the other hand, fearing that they
would prolong their power when their year of office was ended,
consulted upon the legality of the commission with the judges in the
presence of Suffolk and others of his principal supporters, amongst
whom was the Duke of Ireland. With one voice the judges declared that
Parliament might not put the king in tutelage. Richard then made
preparations to prevent by force the renewal of the commission, and to
punish as traitors those who had originated it. His intention got
abroad, and five lords, the Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Arundel,
Nottingham, Warwick, and Derby, the latter being the son of the absent
Lancaster, appeared at the head of an overwhelming force against him.
The five lords appellant, as they were called, appealed, or accused of
treason five of Richard's councillors before a Parliament which met at
Westminster in =1388=, by flinging down their gloves as a token that
they were ready to prove the truth of their charge in single combat.
The Duke of Ireland, attempting resistance, was defeated by Derby at
Radcot Bridge, and finally escaped to Ireland. The Parliament, called
by its admirers the Wonderful, and by its opponents the Merciless
Parliament, was entirely subservient to the lords appellant, who,
instead of meeting their antagonists in single combat, accused them
before the House of Lords. The Duke of Ireland, Suffolk, Chief Justice
Tresilian, and Brember, who had been Mayor of London, were condemned
to be hanged. The two first-named had escaped to the Continent, but
the others were put to death. The fifth councillor, the Archbishop of
York, escaped with virtual deprivation by the Pope. Four other
knights, amongst them Sir Simon Burley, a veteran soldier and trusted
companion of the Black Prince, were also put to death. Richard was
allowed nominally to retain the crown, but in reality he was subjected
to a council in which Gloucester and his adherents were supreme.

5. =Richard's Restoration to Power. 1389.=--Richard's entire
submission turned the scale in his favour. England had been
dissatisfied with him, but it had never loved the rule of the great
feudal lords. Gloucester's council was no more popular than had been
the Committees named in the Provisions o