archbishopric for the dignity of a cardinal and residence
at Avignon showed that he was a papalist as well as an English patriot.
His successor as primate, appointed in 1369 by papal provision, was
William Whittlesea, a nephew of Archbishop Islip, whose weak health and
colourless character made of little account his five years' tenure of
the metropolitical dignity. With Canterbury in such feeble hands, the
leadership in the Church and primacy in the councils of the crown
passed to stronger men: such as John Thoresby, Archbishop of York till
1373; Thomas Brantingham, treasurer from 1369 to 1371, and Bishop of
Exeter from 1370 to 1394; and above all to Edward's old servant,
William of Wykeham, chancellor from 1367 to 1371, and Bishop of
Winchester, in succession to Edington, from 1367 until 1404. Wykeham
was a strenuous and hard-working servant of the crown, a vigorous and
careful ruler of his diocese, a mighty pluralist, a magnificent
builder, and the most bountiful and original of all the pious founders
of his age. "Everything," says Froissart, "was done through him and
without him nothing was done."[1]

[1] Froissart, _Chroniques_, ed. Luce, viii., 101.

The year of the breach of the treaty of Calais was also marked by the
third great visitation of the Black Death, and the death of Queen
Philippa. Parliament cordially welcomed the resumption by Edward of the
title of King of France, and made liberal subsidies for the prosecution
of the campaign. Disappointment was all the more bitter when each
campaign ended in disaster, and in the parliament of February, 1371, the
storm burst. The circumstances of the ministerial crisis of 1341 were
almost exactly renewed. As on the previous occasion, the state was in
the hands of great ecclesiastics, whose conservative methods were
thought inadequate for circumstances so perilous. John Hastings, second
Earl of Pembroke of his house, a gallant young warrior and the intended
son-in-law of the king, made himself the spokesman of the anti-clerical
courtiers, probably with the good-will of the king. At Pembroke's
instigation the earls, barons, and commons drew up a petition that,
"inasmuch as the government of the realm has long been in the hands of
the men of Holy Church, who in no case can be brought to account for
their acts, whereby great mischief has happened in times past and may
happen in times to come, may it therefore please the king that laymen of
his own realm be elected t