Good Parliament royal accounts. Richard Lyons (Warden of the Mint) and Lord Latimer, who were believed to be robbing the treasury, were called before parliament and then imprisoned. Latimer's impeachment is the earliest recorded in Parliament. The king's mistress, Alice Perrers, was called and condemned to seclusion. John of Gaunt raised the question of the Salic law, which was the basis for the French case against Edward III's claim to the Crown of France, suggesting that the English follow the French custom, but was unable to sway the assembly to his point of view. Meanwhile, the eldest prince of the realm, Edward
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