Over and above which, all lands he could conquer from the Irish which had never belonged to the crown or English lords were to be held by himself and his heirs free of rent or service. The right to use his own great and privy seal seems to have been implied in the grant of 1 Dec., and he was subsequently (3 Jan. 1386) allowed to quarter with his own arms the three golden crowns on a field azure, usually attributed to St. Edmund the king (one of Richard's patron saints), but in this case intended to serve as the arms of Ireland (Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey, ii. p. xx; Doyle; Gent. Mag. 1845, i. 603; Trans. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xix.). His banners displayed these arms in place of those of England. All writs ran in his name. The ‘time of the Marquis of Dublin’ was afterwards carefully distinguished from ‘the time of the king’ (Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey, i. 13).
The prospect of a separation between Richard and his favourite no doubt did something to mitigate the jealousy excited by Oxford's exaltation. But though ships were ordered on 28 March for his passage to Ireland, he eventually contented himself with sending Sir John Stanley as his deputy (Fœdera, vii. 506; Gilbert, p. 254). This must have helped to precipitate the crisis of October, when Richard was called upon by parliament to dismiss his chancellor, Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk [q. v.] He was at first determined not to yield, and emphasised his obduracy by cancelling Oxford's patent as Marquis of Dublin and creating him (13 Oct.) Duke of Ireland, with even fuller powers in that country and the adjacent islands, reserving only his liege homage (Beltz, p. 300). The estates of James, lord Audley (d. 1 April 1386), in Somerset, Devonshire, and Cornwall, the reversion of which had been purchased by Edward III as part of the endowment of his new Cistercian abbey of St. Mary de Graces near the Tower, were granted to him to hold until he had completely subdued Ireland (Dugdale, i. 194; Rot. Parl. iii. 180; Gilbert, p. 255). Murmurs were heard that the next step would be to make him its king, and it was darkly whispered that Richard's infatuation had a disgraceful origin (Walsingham, ii. 148). But his enemies still rested their hopes on his going to Ireland, and are said to have obtained a promise that he should start before Easter (ib. ii. 150). But Easter passed, and he still lingered. In the summer Richard accompanied him into Wales, ostensibly to see him off, but really to concert measures for undoing the work of the last parliament, which had virtually taken the government out of his hands. Oxford is said to have been made justice of Chester and got a grant of Flint Castle (Malverne, p. 94). The duke returned with the king to Nottingham, where, in August, their plan of action was finally settled (cf. Rot. Parl. iii. 232–6). Richard now assigned him the royal castle at Berkhampstead as a residence (Dugdale, i. 194). Such was his influence with the king that ‘if he had said black was white, Richard would not have contradicted him’ (Froissart, xii. 239). Meanwhile Oxford had given new offence to Gloucester by repudiating his niece for one of the queen's women, whose name is variously given as La Lancegrove ((Froissart, xii. 261) and Launcecrona (Walsingham, ii. 160). Froissart speaks of her as ‘une damoiselle assez belle et plaisante,’ while most of the English writers say she was ugly and low-born, the daughter of a Bohemian saddler. M. Kervyn (note to (Froissart, xxii. 40) connects her with the noble family of Landskron and a certain Peter de Landskron, who is said to have come into England with Michael de la Pole in 1377; but this conflicts with the general consensus of the chroniclers that she was a Bohemian (Höfler, p. 101). The identification (Chronique de la Traison, p. 165 n.) with the ‘Landgravine of Lucembergh,’ who is known to have come in the queen's train, must be rejected. The ‘Landgravine of Lucembergh’ was the wife of Landgraf Johann of Leuchtenberg, and left England in 1382 (Fœdera, vii. 342). Oxford obtained a divorce from Philippa at Rome, by means, it was alleged, of false witnesses, and married the Bohemian (Malverne, p. 95). The queen is said to have vainly protested, and his own mother took up the cause of the injured wife (ib.; but cf. (Froissart, xii. 239, 262).
The coup de main, planned by the king's entourage during the summer progress of 1387, was forestalled. Oxford and he returned to London on 10 Nov. to find Gloucester and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick on their guard and arming. Richard was forced to grant them an audience, in which they laid a formal charge of treason against Oxford and his other advisers. He promised that they should be tried in the forthcoming parliament, but immediately after smuggled Oxford away to Chester disguised as an archer (Knighton, ii. 241, 250). With the help of Thomas Molyneux, the constable of Chester, the duke raised some four or five thousand men in Cheshire, Lancashire, and North Wales, and marched southwards towards London. The lords appellant advancing to Northampton closed
