The term Wonderful Parliament refers to an English Parliamentary session of November 1386 which pressed for reforms of Richard II

Richard II of England

Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...

's administration.

Auditing the King

Largely in response to King Richard's extravagant patronage of such favourites as Robert de Vere, and despite fierce opposition from the King himself, the Parliament resulted in the appointment of fourteen Commissioners to oversee Royal expenditure, and the removal of Michael de la Pole

Michael de la Pole

Michael de la Pole may refer to:* Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk * Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk * Michael de la Pole, 3rd Earl of Suffolk...

, Richard's Chancellor

Chancellor

Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...

.

First stage in a power struggle

The Parliament is highly important in the context of later events: it marks the first stage in an ongoing power struggle between the King and a set of magnates who became known as the Lords Appellant

Lords Appellant

The Lords Appellant were a group of nobles in the reign of King Richard II who sought to impeach some five of the King's favourites in order to restrain what was seen as tyrannical and capricious rule. The word appellant simply means '[one who is] appealing [in a legal sense]'...

.

Conflict

Richard's defiant response to the Parliament, and attempts to convict its promoters of treason, ultimately led to the Battle of Radcot Bridge and the Merciless Parliament

Merciless Parliament

The Merciless Parliament, a term coined by Augustinian chronicler Henry Knighton, refers to the English parliamentary session of February through June 1388, at which many members of Richard II's Court were convicted of treason. The session was preceded by a period in which Richard's power was...

 of 1388.

Later ramifications

Even the deposition of Richard by Henry Bolingbroke in 1399 can be seen as a direct repercussion of this event.