The Wonderful Parliament

I just had to share this from te History of Parliament Online website - very relevant 630 years later - as some American's speculate upon whether Donald Trump may end up facing impeachment during his term of office, and the assertion of Royal Prerogative angers MPs and the courts -

The Wonderful Parliament of 1386 (‘Mirabile Parliamentum’, so-called by another writer of the period, Thomas Favent)4 witnessed the most important political crisis in the reign of Richard II thus far, which, in constitutional as well as political significance, even surpassed that of 1376. For, during the session, not only was the King insolently threatened with deposition if he persisted in absenting himself from Parliament, but also the chancellor (Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk) was forcibly removed from office, impeached by the Commons and condemned by the Lords.5 Moreover, a parliamentary commission was also established, which, as formally authorized by statute, assumed responsibility for the royal administration, and for the period of its appointment (finally limited to twelve months), effectively governed the kingdom. William Stubbs was right in saying that with this Parliament ‘the clearer and more dramatic action of the reign begins’.6 Indeed, its momentous constitutional as well as political consequences were soon revealed: witness Richard II’s hostile reactions in 1387 to what had been done in defiance of his royal prerogative, and the savage counter-reaction of his opponents among the Lords and Commons in 1388, who inflicted dire punishments upon his most prominent supporters at Court, following the appeals of high treason and impeachments of the Merciless Parliament (called the ‘Parliamentum sine misericordia’, by Henry Knighton).