1380s London was characterised by dissent and turmoil, with two warring factions vying for civic power and rule of the City. These fighting sides were led by two Mayors of London, John of Northampton and Nicholas Brembre, and it is the latter whose story and treasonous end will be the focus of this blog.
Northampton and Brembre had very different ideas about how London should be ruled. Northampton used his position as Mayor of London to alleviate the problems of less prosperous Londoners, including some of the City’s lesser guilds, whereas Brembre has traditionally been viewed as a ruthless ruler.
An evil counsellor?
Brembre was a man interested in being part of a powerful network of people that held the monopoly on the wool trade. More importantly, whilst Northampton certainly made use of the Crown’s favour to improve the lives of Londoners, Brembre was a close ally of Richard II, and it was this allyship and his reputation as an ‘evil’ counsellor to the king that contributed to his undoing.
Although his story can be followed in London’s medieval civic records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, there are key records of medieval government at The National Archives, which form a crucial part of Brembre’s story. These records allow us to understand how he came to his demise in February 1388 and how his accroachment of Richard II’s power – ie acting as if he himself held the authority and majesty of the king, when he did not – was considered as treasonous behaviour by his contemporaries.
The beginnings of Brembre’s downfall
15 petitions were submitted by London’s artisanal community to the Merciless Parliament of 1388. Except for the Tailors’ Petition (C 49/10/3), these petitions form part of The National Archives’ Ancient Petitions series (SC 8). They were produced following a meeting between members of London’s artisanal guilds and the Lords Appellant – Thomas Woodstock, duke of Gloucester; Henry Bolingbroke, earl of Derby; Richard FitzAlan, earl of Arundel; Thomas Beauchamp, earl of Warwick; and Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham – on 18 January 1388.
The Lords Appellant felt that by the end of 1387, the realm was being badly governed and the artisanal guilds, after feeling like they were the victims of Brembre’s corrupt practices and misrule of London, were more than happy to help bring about Brembre’s undoing. These petitions are therefore excellent examples that give an insight into the personal circumstances of those who experienced the turbulence of London, giving them a voice to show how and why they believed that Brembre committed treason against the king by abusing royal power to achieve his own selfish ends.
Nicholas Brembre, falseknight of London, by the said accroachment took certain persons from the prison of Newgate by night … and led them out of London to Kent, to a place called the ‘Foul Oak’, and there, accroaching to himself royal power as a traitor to the king, without warrant and process of law he caused them all to be beheadedCharges brought against Nicholas Brembre, 1388. Catalogue ref: C 65/47
The most heinous crime
The petitions highlight various grievances that London’s artisanal guilds had against Brembre and a prominent complaint that was repeated in all 15 petitions was that Brembre had accroached the king’s power. The petitions therefore mirrored the complaint that the Lords Appellant had made, for the accusation of accroaching royal power featured heavily in the Appeal for Treason. What this means is that the king’s royal power had been diminished.
In the medieval period, kings were seen as being at the top of society, ruling with God-given power, so it was unacceptable that anyone else try to take his power away and use it for themselves. In fact, the act of accroaching royal power was the most ‘hautes tresons’ during the proceedings of the Merciless Parliament, emphasising that it was a treason of the highest order and the most heinous crime against Richard II.
Adapting the allegation of accroaching royal power
The complaint that Brembre, as well as the four other Appellees – Alexand