ester
was saved from a trial by a sudden death in his prison at Calais. A new
Parliament at Shrewsbury in the opening of 1398 completed the king's work.
In three days it declared null the proceedings of the Parliament of 1388,
granted to the king a subsidy on wool and leather for his life, and
delegated its authority to a standing committee of eighteen members from
both Houses with power to continue their sittings even after the
dissolution of the Parliament and to "examine and determine all matters and
subjects which had been moved in the presence of the king with all the
dependencies thereof."

[Sidenote: Henry of Lancaster]

In a single year the whole colour of Richard's government had changed. He
had revenged himself on the men who had once held him down, and his revenge
was hardly taken before he disclosed a plan of absolute government. He had
used the Parliament to strike down the Primate as well as the greatest
nobles of the realm and to give him a revenue for life which enabled him to
get rid of Parliament itself, for the Permanent Committee which it named
were men devoted, as Richard held, to his cause. John of Gaunt was at its
head, and the rest of its lords were those who had backed the king in his
blow at Gloucester and the Arundels. Two however were excluded. In the
general distribution of rewards which followed Gloucester's overthrow the
Earl of Derby had been made Duke of Hereford, the Earl of Nottingham Duke
of Norfolk. But at the close of 1397 the two Dukes charged each other with
treasonable talk as they rode between Brentford and London, and the
Permanent Committee ordered the matter to be settled by a single combat. In
September 1398 the Dukes entered the lists; but Richard forbade the duel,
sentenced the Duke of Norfolk to banishment for life, and Henry of
Lancaster to exile for ten years. As Henry left London the streets were
crowded with people weeping for his fate; some followed him even to the
coast. But his withdrawal removed the last check on Richard's despotism. He
forced from every tenant of the Crown an oath to recognize the acts of his
Committee as valid, and to oppose any attempts to alter or revoke them.
Forced loans, the sale of charters of pardon to Gloucester's adherents, the
outlawry of seven counties at once on the plea that they had supported his
enemies and must purchase pardon, a reckless interference with the course
of justice, roused into new life the old discontent. Even thi