Robert Skerne judicial career continued, being appointed commissioner of oyer and terminer in July 1421. Skerne was MP for Surrey again in 1422 in the first Parliament of Henry VI. In April 1431 he was commissioner to assess a royal loan and, in December that year, he retired as JP. Skerne is noted for having married Joan, youngest daughter of Alice Perrers, mistress of Edward III, which implies that Skerne had connections at court. Joan profited little from her mother's estate following Perrers' death in 1400/1401 but acquired the manor of Compton Murdak in Warwickshire. Joan fought a series of sometimes protracted
John of Gaunt the closing of Parliament on 10 July left John with all the reins of power. He immediately had the ailing king grant pardons to all the officials impeached by the Parliament; Alice Perrers too was reinstated at the heart of the king's household. John impeached William of Wykeham and other leaders of the reform movement, and secured their conviction on old or trumped-up charges. The parliament of 1377 was John's counter-coup: crucially, the Lords no longer supported the Commons and John was able to have most of the acts of 1376 annulled. He also succeeded in forcing the Commons to