28 April, to confer with the commons (Rot. Parl, ii. 322; Chron. Angliæ, 1328-88, p. 70; Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 428-9). The commons showed their confidence in him by electing as their speaker Sir Peter De la Mare, his steward, who, as knight of the shire for Herefordshire, Svas probably returned to parliament through his lord's influence [see De la Mare, Sir Peter]. A vigorous attack on the courtiers was now conducted by the commons under their speaker; but the death of the Black Prince on 8 June weakened the effect of their action. John of Gaunt now sought to obtain from parliament a settlement of the succession in the case of the death of the Black Prince's only son, Richard. He even urged that, as in France, the succession should descend through males only, thus openly setting up his own claims against those of the Countess of March (Chron. Angl. 1328-88, pp. 92-3). The commons prudently declined to discuss the subject. Yet even with the support of the knights, the Earl of March and the constitutional bishops were not strong enough of themselves to resist Gaunt and the courtiers. But they continued their work until the end of the session, on 6 July, their last care being to enforce the appointment of a permanent council, some members of which were always to be in attendance on the king. The Earl of March was among the nine additional persons appointed to this council (ib. pp. lxviii, 100). But as soon as the parliament was dissolved, Lancaster, in the king's name, repudiated all its acts. The new councillors were dismissed, and March was ordered to discharge his office as marshal by surveying the defences of Calais and other of the more remote royal castles (ib. p. 107), while his steward, De la Mare, was thrown into prison. But March, 'preferring to lose his staff rather than his life,' and believing that he would be waylaid and murdered on the narrow seas, resigned the office of marshal (ib. p. 108).
After the accession of Richard II (21 June 1377), power remained with Lancaster, though he now chose to be more conciliatory. March's position was moreover immensely improved. The king was a young child. The next heir by blood was March's own son. On 16 July 1377 March bore the second sword and the spurs at the coronation of the little king. He was not, however, in a position to claim any great share in the administration, and contented himself with a place on the new council of government, into whose hands power now fell (Fœdera, iv. 10; Stubbs, Const. Hist. 11. 442). But he was as strong as ever in parliament. He was among the lords whose
advice, as in 1376, was requested by the parliament of October 1377, and had the satisfaction of seeing his steward again elected as the speaker of this assembly. It was a further triumph when the young king was forced by the commons to remodel his council, and when March was one of the nine members of the new and extremely limited body thus selected (ib. ii. 444; cf. Chron. Angl. p. 164). On 1 Jan. 1378 he was appointed chief member of a commission to redress infractions of the truce with Scotland (Fœdera, iv. 26; cf. Chron. Angl. p. 203), and on 20 Jan. was put first on a commission appointed to inspect and strengthen the fortifications of the border strongholds of Berwick, Carlisle, Roxburgh, and Bamburgh (Doyle, Official Baronage, ii. 468). On 14 Feb. 1379 he was sent with other magnates on a special embassy to Scotland.
On 22 Oct. 1379 March was appointed lieutenant of Ireland (Fœdera, iv. 72). It was convenient for the party of Lancaster to get him out of the way, and his great interests in Ireland gave him a special claim to the thankless office. Those parts of the island, Ulster, Conuaught, and Meath, over which he bore nominal sway, had long been the most disorderly districts; and so far back as 1373 the English in Ireland had sent a special commission to Edward III representing that the only way of abating the evils that were rampant in those regions was for the king to force the Earl of March to dwell upon his Irish estates and adequately defend them. Partly then to enter upon the effectual possession of his own estates ('ad recuperandum comitatum suum de Holuestre,' Monk or Evesham, p. 19), and partly to set the king's rule on a better footing, March now accepted the government of Ireland for three years. He stipulated for good terms. He was to have twenty thousand marks paid over to him, from which he was to provide troops, but he was not to be held accountable to the crown for his expenditure of the money. He was also to have the disposal of the king's ordinary revenue in Ireland. Before he left his Welsh estates he made his will, dated 1 May 1380, at Denbigh, the contents of which are summarised in Dugdale's 'Baronage,' i. 149, and printed in Nichols's 'Royal Wills,' pp. 104-16. On 15 May 1380 March arrived in Ireland (Cart., &c., of St. Mary's, Dublin, ii. 284), having among his other attendants a herald of his own, called March herald. His first work was to establish himself in his wife's Ulster estates. In Eastern Ulster his arms were successful, the more so as some of the native chieftains threw themselves on his side, though these before long
