The
American Historical Review
THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF THE TIME OF RICHARD II.
IN the history of the king's privy council the reign of Richard II. has generally been noted as a time of transition and change. By one writer it is asserted that the council was at that time first recognized as a separate institution.[1] by another that it then underwent a complete reorganization.[2] While these statements are overdrawn and must be modified, it is true that the council to a great degree then emerged from its former obscurity and came into a position of unusual prominence. There are two reasons why the period may be regarded as especially fruitful for a study of the council: the first, that beginning in the reign of Richard II. we have the Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, a noted publication.[3] This collection, while it is not to be understood as including the earliest of council records,[4] is yet of the highest value for the information it contains. The second reason is that with the minority of the reigning king the council became a virtual board of regency and of necessity played a political part. It is by the controversies which therefore were waged in Parliament, when the organization, powers, and actions of the council were brought into question, that our knowledge of this body is made most complete.[5]
It is well known that at various times previously, most recently in the fiftieth year of Edward III., attempts had been made on the
- ↑ Dicey, Privy Council, p. 25.
- ↑ "The privy council, from the reign of Richard II. onwards, although it inherited and amplified the functions of the permanent council of Edward I., differed widely in its organisation." Stubbs, Constitutional History, II. 274.
- ↑ Edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, London, 1834-1837.
- ↑ This phase of the council's history was the subject of a former article, "Early Records of the King's Council", American Historical Review, October, 1905 (X. 1-15).
- ↑ The rolls of Parliament, which have heretofore contained little, now furnish an abundance of material concerning the council.
