Only in the power of the Commons lay any adequate means of peaceful redress.

The old reluctance of the Lower House to meddle with matters of State was roughly swept away therefore by the pressure of the time.

The Black Prince, anxious to secure his child's succession by the removal of John of Gaunt, the prelates with William of Wykeham at their head, resolute again to take their place in the royal councils and to check the projects of ecclesiastical spoliation put forward by their opponents, alike found in it a body to oppose to the Duke's administration.

Backed by powers such as these, the action of the Commons showed none of their old timidity or self-distrust.

The presentation of a hundred and forty petitions of grievances preluded a bold attack on the royal Council.
"Trusting in God, and standing with his followers before the nobles, whereof the chief was John Duke of Lancaster, whose doings were ever contrary," their speaker, Sir Peter de la Mare, denounced the mis-management of the war, the oppressive taxation, and demanded an account of the expenditure.