John of Gaunt III's rule was becoming unpopular due to high taxation and his affair with Alice Perrers, political opinion closely associated the Duke of Lancaster with the failing government of the 1370s. Furthermore, while King Edward and the Prince of Wales were popular heroes due to their successes on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had not won equivalent military renown that could have bolstered his reputation. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera (1367), for example, his later military projects proved unsuccessful. When Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded as Richard II of England, John's influence strengthened.
John Kirkby (bishop of Ely) John Kirkby (bishop of Ely) John Kirkby (died 26 March 1290) was an English ecclesiastic and statesman. Kirkby first appears in the historical record in the chancery during the reign of King Henry III of England. When Henry's son Edward I came to the throne, Kirkby was given the title vice-chancellor, because he often had custody of the Great Seal when the Chancellor, Robert Burnell, was absent from England. Often considered Burnell's protégé, Edward used Kirkby in 1282 as a collector of moneys for the king's Welsh campaigns. Edward rewarded him with a number of benefices, although Kirkby had not