Fovent’s description of the formal opening of the Merciless Parliament is very far from where he will take us as the trials proceed, to the gallows at Tyburn. I think he must relish the contrast, for even the most macabre moments of the parliamentary trials seem as delicious to him as the more stately ones. This chapter largely will consider Fovent’s account of the Merciless Parliament, giving particular attention to the way the city of London imprinted itself on his pamphlet. But first I would like to say something about the Appellants in their golden robes, their goodness resonating across the land. They have been set up to fail. These parliamentary trials will not turn out the way they intended. This is because when parliament first convened on 3 February, only one of those five Ricardians named in the appeal, Nicholas Brembre, was in custody. He was joined on 19 February by Robert Tresilian, who according to Fovent was found hiding in a house near Westminster. Tresilian was summarily arrested, forced to stand trial and executed, as was Brembre, but the other three appellees, de Vere, de la Pole and Neville, all made their escape. And, without question, de Vere was the one whom the Appellants really wanted. This was not simply because de Vere had helped Richard raise a retinue in Cheshire and north Wales, nor because of the crimes perpetrated by de Vere as justice of Chester, nor because de Vere had stood with an army against the Appellants in November of 1387. It was because de Vere had consistently received preferential treatment from Richard – in December of 1385 he was created marquis of Dublin and in October 1386 he was made duke of Ireland, receiving numerous grants of lands, castles and lordships during these years.