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diff --git a/16679.txt b/16679.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d59f674 --- /dev/null +++ b/16679.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21496 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of England, by T.F. Tout + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The History of England + From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) + +Author: T.F. Tout + +Editor: William Hunt and Reginald L. Poole + +Release Date: September 10, 2005 [EBook #16679] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Lee Dawei, Anurag Garg, Turgut Dincer and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND + +FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY III. TO THE DEATH OF EDWARD III. +(1216-1377) + +BY +T.F. TOUT, M.A. +Professor of Mediaeval and Modern History +in the University of Manchester. + + + + +THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN TWELVE VOLUMES + +Seventy-six years have passed since Lingard completed his HISTORY OF +ENGLAND, which ends with the Revolution of 1688. During that period +historical study has made a great advance. Year after year the mass of +materials for a new History of England has increased; new lights have +been thrown on events and characters, and old errors have been +corrected. Many notable works have been written on various periods of +our history; some of them at such length as to appeal almost +exclusively to professed historical students. It is believed that the +time has come when the advance which has been made in the knowledge of +English history as a whole should be laid before the public in a single +work of fairly adequate size. Such a book should be founded on +independent thought and research, but should at the same time be +written with a full knowledge of the works of the best modern +historians and with a desire to take advantage of their teaching +wherever it appears sound. + +The vast number of authorities, printed and in manuscript, on which a +History of England should be based, if it is to represent the existing +state of knowledge, renders co-operation almost necessary and certainly +advisable. The History, of which this volume is an instalment, is an +attempt to set forth in a readable form the results at present attained +by research. It will consist of twelve volumes by twelve different +writers, each of them chosen as being specialty capable of dealing with +the period which he undertakes, and the editors, while leaving to each +author as free a hand as possible, hope to insure a general similarity +in method of treatment, so that the twelve volumes may in their +contents, as well as in their outward appearance, form one History. + +As its title imports, this History will primarily deal with politics, +with the History of England and, after the date of the union with +Scotland, Great Britain, as a state or body politic; but as the life of +a nation is complex, and its condition at any given time cannot be +understood without taking into account the various forces acting upon +it, notices of religious matters and of intellectual, social, and +economic progress will also find place in these volumes. The footnotes +will, so far as is possible, be confined to references to authorities, +and references will not be appended to statements which appear to be +matters of common knowledge and do not call for support. Each volume +will have an Appendix giving some account of the chief authorities, +original and secondary, which the author has used. This account will be +compiled with a view of helping students rather than of making long +lists of books without any notes as to their contents or value. That +the History will have faults both of its own and such as will always in +some measure attend co-operative work, must be expected, but no pains +have been spared to make it, so far as may be, not wholly unworthy of +the greatness of its subject. + +Each volume, while forming part of a complete History, will also in +itself be a separate and complete book, will be sold separately, and +will have its own index, and two or more maps. + +Vol. I. to 1066. By Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., Litt.D., Fellow of +University College, London; Fellow of the British Academy. + +Vol. II. 1066 to 1216. By George Burton Adams, M.A., Professor of +History in Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. + +Vol. III. 1216 to 1377. By T.F. Tout, M.A., Professor of Medieval and +Modern History in the Victoria University of Manchester; formerly +Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. + +Vol. IV. 1377 to 1485. By C. Oman, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, +and Deputy Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford. + +Vol. V. 1485 to 1547. By H.A.L. Fisher, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of New +College, Oxford. + +Vol. VI. 1547 to 1603. By A.F. Pollard, M.A., Professor of +Constitutional History in University College, London. + +Vol. VII. 1603 to 1660. By F.C. Montague, M.A., Professor of History in +University College, London; formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. + +Vol. VIII. 1660 to 1702. By Richard Lodge, M.A., Professor of History +in the University of Edinburgh; formerly Fellow of Brasenose College, +Oxford. + +Vol. IX. 1702 to 1760. By I.S. Leadam, M.A., formerly Fellow of +Brasenose College, Oxford. + +Vol. X. 1760 to 1801. By the Rev. William Hunt, M.A., D. Litt, Trinity +College, Oxford. + +Vol. XI. 1801 to 1837. By the Hon. George C. Brodrick, D.C.L., late +Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and J K. Fotheringham, M.A., Magdalen +College, Oxford, Lecturer in Classics at King's College, London. + +Vol. XII. 1837 to 1901. By Sidney J Low, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, +formerly Lecturer on History at King's College, London. + + + + +The Political History of England +IN TWELVE VOLUMES + +EDITED BY WILLIAM HUNT, D. LITT., AND +REGINALD L. POOLE, M.A. + +III. +THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND + +FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY III. TO THE +DEATH OF EDWARD III. +1216-1377 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE REGENCY OF WILLIAM MARSHAL. + + 19 Oct., 1216. Death of King John + Position of parties + The Church on the king's side + 28 Oct. Coronation of Henry III + 11 Nov. Great council at Bristol + 12 Nov. The first charter of Henry III + 1216-17. Progress of the war + 1217. Rising of Wilkin of the Weald + Louis' visit to France + 22 April. Return of Louis from France + Sieges of Dover, Farnham, and Mount Sorrel + 20 May. The fair of Lincoln + 23 Aug. The sea-fight off Sandwich + 11 Sept. Treaty of Lambeth + 6 Nov. Reissue of the great charter + Restoration of order by William Marshal + 14 May, 1219. Death of William Marshal + His character and career + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE RULE OF HUBERT DE BURGH. + + 1219. Pandulf the real successor of William Marshal + July, 1221. Langton procures Pandulf's recall + Ascendency of Hubert de Burgh +Jan.-Feb., 1221. The rebellion of Albemarle + July, 1222. The sedition of Constantine FitzAthulf + 1221-24. Marriage alliances + 1219-23. War in Wales + April, 1223. Henry III. declared by the pope competent to govern + June, 1224. Revolt of Falkes de Breaute + 20 June-14 Aug. Siege of Bedford + Fall of Falkes + Papal and royal taxation + April, 1227. End of the minority + Relations with France during the minority + The Lusignans and the Poitevin barons + 1224. Louis VIII.'s conquest of Poitou + 1225. Expedition of Richard of Cornwall and William + Longsword to Gascony + Nov., 1226. Accession of Louis IX. in France + 1229-30. Henry III.'s campaign in Brittany and Poitou +21-30 July, 1230. Siege of Mirambeau + 1228. The Kerry campaign + 2 May, 1230. Death of William of Braose + 1231. Henry III.'s second Welsh campaign + Aug. Death of Archbishop Richard le Grand + Gregory IX. and Henry III. + 1232. Riots of Robert Twenge + 29 July. Fall of Hubert de Burgh + 1231. Death of William Marshal the Younger + 1232. Death of Randolph of Blundeville, Earl of Chester + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ALIEN INVASION. + + 1232-34. Rule of Peter des Roches + Aug., 1233. Revolt of Richard Marshal + 23 Nov. Fight near Monmouth + 1234. Richard Marshal in Ireland + 1 April. Defeat and death of the Earl Marshal near Kildare + 2 April. Edmund Rich consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury + 9 April. Fall of Peter des Roches + Beginning of Henry III.'s personal government + Character of Henry III. + The alien invasions + 14 Jan., 1236. Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Provence + The Savoyards in England + Revival of Poitevin influence + 1239. Simon of Montfort Earl of Leicester + 1237. The legation of Cardinal Otto + 1239. Quarrel of Gregory IX. and Frederick II. + 1235. Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln + 16 Nov., 1240. Death of Edmund Rich in exile + Henry III. and Frederick II. + Attempted reconquest of Poitou +May-Sept., 1242. The campaign of Taillebourg + 1243. Truce with France + The Lusignans in England + The baronial opposition + Grosseteste's opposition to Henry III., and Innocent IV. + 1243. Relations with Scotland and Wales + 1240. Death of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth + 1246. Death of David ap Llewelyn + + +CHAPTER IV. + +POLITICAL RETROGRESSION and NATIONAL PROGRESS. + + 1248-58. Characteristics of the history of these ten years + Decay of Henry's power in Gascony + 1248-52. Simon de Montfort, seneschal of Gascony + Aug., 1253. Henry III. in Gascony + 1254. Marriage and establishment of Edward the king's son + Edward's position in Gascony + Edward's position in Cheshire + 1254. Llewelyn ap Griffith sole Prince of North Wales + Edward in the four cantreds and in West Wales + 1257. Welsh campaign of Henry and Edward + Revival of the baronial opposition + 1255. Candidature of Edmund, the king's son, for Sicily + 1257. Richard of Cornwall elected and crowned King of the Romans + Leicester as leader of the opposition + Progress in the age of Henry III + The cosmopolitan and the national ideals + French influence + The coming of the friars + 1221. Gilbert of Freynet and the first Dominicans in England + 1224. Arrival of Agnellus of Pisa and the first Franciscans + in England + Other mendicant orders in England + The influence of the friars + The universities + Prominent English schoolmen + Paris and Oxford + The mendicants at Oxford + Roger Bacon and Duns Scotus + Academic influence in public life + Beginnings of colleges + Intellectual characteristics of thirteenth century + Literature in Latin and French + Literature in English + Art + Gothic architecture + The towns and trade + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BARONS' WAR. + + 2 April, 1258. Parliament at London + 11 June. The Mad Parliament + The Provisions of Oxford + 22 June. Flight of the Lusignans + Appointment of the Fifteen + Working of the new Constitution + 4 Dec., 1259. Treaty of Paris + Its unpopularity in England and France + 1259. Dissensions among the baronial leaders + 1259. Provisions of Westminster + 1261. Henry III.'s repudiation of the Provisions + 1263. Reconstitution of parties + The changed policy of the marchers + Outbreak of civil war + The appeal to Louis IX + 23 Jan., 1264. Mise of Amiens + Renewal of the struggle + 4 April. Sack of Northampton + The campaign in Kent and Sussex + 14 May. Battle of Lewes + Personal triumph of Montfort + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RULE OF MONTFORT AND THE ROYALIST RESTORATION. + + 15 May. Mise of Lewes + 15 Dec. Provisions of Worcester +Jan.-Mar., 1265. The Parliament of 1265 + Split up of the baronial party + Quarrel of Leicester and Gloucester + 28 May. Edward's escape + 22 June. Treaty of Pipton + Small results of the alliance of Llewelyn and the barons + The campaign in the Severn valley + 4 Aug. Battle of Evesham + The royalist restoration + 1266. The revolt of the Disinherited + 15 May. Battle of Chesterfield + 31 Oct. The _Dictum de Kenilworth_ + Michaelmas. The Ely rebellion + April, 1267. Gloucester's support of the Disinherited + July. End of the rebellion + 25 Sept. Treaty of Shrewsbury + 1267. Statute of Marlborough + 1270-72. Edward's Crusade + 16 Nov., 1272. Death of Henry III + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE EARLY FOREIGN POLICY AND LEGISLATION OF EDWARD I. + + Character of Edward I. + 1272-74. Rule of the regency + Edward's doings in Italy and France + Edward's relations with Philip III. + 1273-74. Wars of Bearn and Limoges + Edward I. and Gregory X. + May-July, 1274. Council of Lyons + Relations of Edward I. and Rudolf of Hapsburg + 23 May, 1279. Treaty of Amiens + 1281. League of Macon + 1282. Sicilian vespers + 1285. Deaths of Philip III., Charles of Anjou, Peter of + Aragon, and Martin IV. + Bishop Burnell + 1275. Statute of Westminster, the first + 1278. Statute of Gloucester + Hundred Rolls and _placita de quo warranto_ + Archbishops Kilwardby and Peckham + 1279. Statute of Mortmain + 1285. _Circumspecte agatis_ + 1285. Statute of Westminster, the second (De _Donis_) + 1285. Statute of Winchester + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CONQUEST OF NORTH WALES. + + Execution of the Treaty of Shrewsbury + Llewelyn's refusal of homage + 1277. Edward's first Welsh campaign + 1277. Treaty of Aberconway + Edward's attempts to introduce English law into the + ceded districts + 1282. The Welsh revolt + 1282. Edward's second Welsh campaign + Llewelyn's escape to the Upper Wye + 11 Dec. Battle of Orewyn Bridge + 1283. Parliaments and financial expedients + Subjection of Gwynedd completed + 3 Oct. Parliament of Shrewsbury and execution of David + The Edwardian castles + Mid-Lent, 1284. Statute of Wales + Effect of the conquest upon the march + Peckham and the ecclesiastical settlement of _Wales_ + 1287. Revolt of Rhys ap Meredith + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE SICILIAN AND THE SCOTTISH ARBITRATIONS. + + Edward I. at the height of his fame +April, 1286-Aug 1289, Edward's long visit to France + 1289. The Sicilian arbitration + 1287. Treaty of Oloron + 1288. Treaty of Canfranc + 1291. Treaty of Tarascon + Maladministration during Edward's absence + Judicial and official scandals + 1289. Special commission for the trial of offenders + 1290. Statute of Westminster, the third (_Quia emptores_) + The feud between Gloucester and Hereford + 1291. The courts at Ystradvellte and Abergavenny + Humiliation of the marcher earls + 1290. Expulsion of the Jews + The rise of the Italian bankers + 1272-86. Early relations of Edward to Scotland + 1286. Death of Alexander III. of Scotland + 1286-89. Regency in the name of the Maid of Norway + 1289. Treaty of Salisbury + 1290. Treaty of Brigham + Death of the Maid of Norway + The claimants to the Scottish throne + May, 1291. Parliament of Norham. Edward recognised as overlord + of Scotland + 1291-92. The great suit for Scotland + 17 Nov., 1292. John Balliol declared King of Scots + Edward's conduct in relation to Scotland + 1290. Death of Eleanor of Castile + Transition to the later years of the reign + Edward's later ministers + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE FRENCH AND SCOTTISH WARS AND THE CONFIRMATION OF +THE CHARTERS. + + Commercial rivalry of English and French seamen + 15 May, 1293. Battle off Saint-Mahe + 1294. Edmund of Lancaster's failure to procure a settlement + with Philip IV. + The French occupation of Gascony + June, 1294. War with France + Preparations for a French campaign + 1294. Revolts of Madog, Maelgwn, and Morgan + Edward's danger at Aberconway + 22 Jan., 1293. Battle of Maes Madog + July. Welsh revolts suppressed + 1295. Failure of the Gascon campaign + Failure of attempted coalition against France + Organisation of the English navy + Treason of Sir Thomas Turberville + The naval attack on England + Rupture between Edward and the Scots + 5 July. Alliance between the French and Scots + Nov. The "Model Parliament" + 1296. Gascon expedition and death of Edmund of Lancaster + Edward's invasion of Scotland + 27 April. Battle of Dunbar + 10 July. Submission of John Balliol + Conquest and administration of Scotland + The Ragman Roll + Sept., 1294. Consecration of Archbishop Winchelsea + 29 Feb., 1296. Boniface VIII. issues _Clericis laicos_. + Conflict of Edward and Winchelsea + 24 Feb., 1297. Parliament at Salisbury + Conflict of Edward with the earls + July. Break up of the clerical opposition + Increasing moderation of baronial opposition + 24 Aug. Edward's departure for Flanders + May. Revolt of the Scots under William Wallace. + 11 Sept. Battle of Stirling Bridge. + 12 Oct. Confirmation of the charters with new clauses. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SCOTTISH FAILURE. + + 1297. Edward's unsuccessful campaign in Flanders + 31 Jan., 1298. Truce of Tournai, and end of the French war + July. Edward's invasion of Scotland + 22 July. Battle of Falkirk + Slowness of Edward's progress towards the conquest + of Scotland + 19 June, 1299. Treaty of Montreuil + 9 Sept. Marriage of Edward and Margaret of France + Mar., 1300. _Articuli super cartas_ + July-Aug. Carlaverock campaign +20 Jan.-14 Feb., 1301. Parliament of Lincoln + The barons' letter to the pope + Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales + 1302. Philip IV.'s troubles with the Flemings and Boniface VIII + 20 May, 1303. Peace of Paris between Edward and Philip + Increasing strength of Edward's position + The decay of the earldoms + Additions to the royal demesne + 1303. Conquest of Scotland seriously undertaken + 24 July, 1304. Capture of Stirling + Aug., 1305. Execution of Wallace and completion of the conquest + The settlement of the government of Scotland + 1305. Disgrace of Winchelsea and Bek + Edward I. and Clement V. + 1307. Statute of Carlisle + 1305. Ordinance of Trailbaston + 10 Jan., 1306. Murder of Comyn + Rising of Robert Bruce + 25 Mar. Bruce crowned King of Scots + Preparations for a fresh conquest of Scotland + 7 July, 1307. Death of Edward I. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GAVESTON, THE ORDAINERS, AND BANNOCKBURN. + + Character of Edward II. + 1307. Peter Gaveston Earl of Cornwall + 25 Jan., 1308. Marriage of Edward with Isabella of France + 25 Feb. Coronation of Edward II. + Power and unpopularity of Gaveston + 8 May. Gaveston exiled + July 1309. Return of Gaveston condoned by Parliament at Stamford + 1310. Renewal of the opposition of the barons to Gaveston + 16 Mar. Appointment of the lords ordainers + Sept. Abortive campaign against the Scots + Character and policy of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster + 1311. The ordinances +Nov., 1311, Jan., 1312. Gaveston's second exile and return + The earls at war against Edward and Gaveston + Gaveston's surrender at Scarborough + 19 June, 1312. Murder of Gaveston + Consequent break up of the baronial party + Oct., 1313. Edward and Lancaster reconciled + May. Death of Archbishop Winchelsea + 1312. Fall of the Templars + Walter Reynolds Archbishop of Canterbury + Complaints of papal abuses + Progress of Bruce's power in Scotland + 1314. The siege of Stirling + An army collected for its relief + 24 June, Battle of Bannockburn + The results of the battle + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LANCASTER, PEMBROKE, AND THE DESPENSERS. + + Failure of the rule of Thomas of Lancaster + 1315. Revolts of Llewelyn Bren + 1315. Rising of Adam Banaster. + 1316. The Bristol disturbances. + 1315. Edward Bruce's attack on the English in Ireland. + 1317. Roger Mortimer in Ireland. + 1318. Death of Edward Bruce at Dundalk. + Lancaster's failure and the break up of his party. + Pembroke and the middle party. + 9 Aug. Treaty of Leek and the supremacy of the middle party. + 1314-18. Progress of Robert Bruce. + 1319. Renewed attack on Scotland. + Battle of Myton. + Rise of the Despensers. + 1317. The partition of the Gloucester inheritance. + 1320. War between the husbands of the Gloucester heiresses + in South Wales. + June, 1321. Conferences at Pontefract and Sherburn. + July. The exile of the Despensers. + Break up of the opposition after their victory. +23-31 Oct., 1321. The siege of Leeds Castle. +Jan.-Feb., 1322. Edward's successful campaign in the march. + 11 Feb. Recall of the Despensers. + The king's march against the northern barons. + 16 Mar. Battle of Boroughbridge. + 22 Mar. Execution of Lancaster. + 2 May. Parliament at York and repeal of the ordinances. + The triumph of the Despensers. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE FALL OF EDWARD II. AND THE RULE OF ISABELLA AND MORTIMER. + + Aug. Renewed attack on the Scots. + Oct. Edward II.'s narrow escape at Byland. + Mar., 1323. Treason and execution of Andrew Harclay. + Incapacity of the Despensers as administrators. + Their quarrels with the old nobles. + 1324. Their breach with Queen Isabella. + Their chief helpers: Walter Stapledon and Ralph Baldock. + Reaction against the Despensers. + 1303-14. Relations of England and France. + 1314-22. Edward's dealings with Louis X. and Philip V. + 1322. Accession of Charles IV. + 1324. Affair of Saint-Sardos. + Renewal of war. Sequestration of Gascony. Charles + of Valois' conquest of the Agenais and La Reole. + Isabella's mission to Paris. + Edward of Aquitaine's homage to Charles IV. + 1325. Treachery of Charles IV. and second sequestration of + Gascony. + 1326. Relations of Mortimer and Isabella + The Hainault marriage + 23 Sept. Landing of Isabella and Mortimer + Riots in London: murder of Stapledon + 26 Oct. Execution of the elder Despenser + 16 Nov. Capture of Edward and the younger Despenser + Triumph of the revolution + 7 Jan., 1327. Parliament's recognition of Edward of Aquitaine as king + 20 Jan. Edward II.'s resignation of the crown + 24 Jan. Proclamation of Edward III. + 22 Sept., 1328. Murder of Edward II. + 1327-30. Rule of Isabella and Mortimer + 1327. Abortive Scottish campaign + April, 1328. Treaty of Northampton; "the shameful peace" + Character and ambition of Mortimer + Oct. Mortimer Earl of the March of Wales + Henry of Lancaster's opposition to him + Mar., 1330. Execution of the Earl of Kent + Oct. Parliament at Nottingham + 19 Oct. Arrest of Mortimer + 29 Nov. His execution + 1330-58. Later life of Isabella + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. + + Character and policy of Edward III. + 1330-40. The rule of the Stratfords + 1337. The new earldoms + Scotland during the minority of David Bruce + Edward Balliol and the Disinherited + 6 Aug., 1332. The Disinherited in Scotland + Battle of Dupplin Moor + 6 Aug.-16 Dec. Edward Balliol's brief reign and expulsion + Treaty of Roxburgh + 1333. Attempt to procure his restoration + Siege of Berwick + 19 July. Battle of Halidon Hill + Edward Balliol restored + 12 June, 1334. Treaty of Newcastle, ceding to Edward south-eastern + Scotland + Failure of Edward Balliol + 1334-36. Edward III.'s Scottish campaigns + 1341. Return of David Bruce from France + 1327-37. Relations of England and France + 31 Mar., 1327. Treaty of Paris + Edward's lands in Gascony after the treaty of Paris + 1328. Accession of Philip of Valois in France + Protests of the English regency + 1328. The legal and political aspects of the succession + question + Edward III.'s claim to France + 6 June, 1329. Edward's homage to Philip VI. + 8 May, 1330. Convention of the Wood of Vincennes + 9 Mar., 1331. Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye + April. Interview of Pont-Sainte-Maxence + Crusading projects of John XXII. + 1336. Abandonment of the crusade by Benedict XII + Strained relations between England and France + 1337. Mission of the Cardinals Peter and Bertrand + Edward and Robert of Artois + The _Vow_ of the Heron + Preparations for war + Breach with Flanders and stoppage of export of wool + Alliance with William I. and II. of Hainault + Edward's other Netherlandish allies + 1337. Breach between France and England + Nov. Sir Walter Manny at Cadzand + Fruitless negotiations and further hostilities + July, 1338. Edward III.'s departure for Flanders + 5 Sept. Interview of Edward and the Emperor Louis of + Bavaria at Coblenz + The Anglo-imperial alliance + Further fruitless negotiations + Renewal of Edward's claim to the French crown + The responsibility for the war + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE EARLY CAMPAIGNS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. + + 1339. Edward's invasion of France + Oct. Campaign of the Thierache + 23 Oct. The failure at Buironfosse + Alliance between Edward and the Flemish cities + James van Artevelde + Jan., 1340. Edward III. at Ghent + His proclamation as King of France + 20 Feb. His return to England + 22 June. His re-embarkation for Flanders + Parallel naval development of England and France + The Norman navy and the projected invasion of + England + 24 June. Battle of Sluys + Ineffective campaigns in Artois and the Tournaisis + 25 Sept. Truce of Esplechin + 30 Nov. Edward's return to London + The ministers displaced and a special commission + appointed to try them + 30 Nov. Controversy between Edward and Archbishop Stratford. + 23 April, 1341. Parliament at London supporting Stratford and forcing + Edward to choose ministers after consulting it. + 1 Oct. Edward's repudiation of his concessions. + April, 1343. Repeal of the statutes of 1341. + John of Montfort and Charles of Blois claim the + duchy of Brittany. + War of the Breton succession. + June, 1342. The siege of Hennebont raised. + 1343. Battle of Morlaix. + 19 Jan., 1343. Edward III. in Brittany. + Truce of Malestroit. + Edward's financial and political troubles. + End of the Flemish alliance. + June, 1345. Henry of Derby in Gascony. + 21 Oct. Battle of Auberoche. + 1346. Siege of Aiguillon and raid in Poitou. + Preparations for Edward III.'s campaign. + July-Aug. The march through Normandy. + 26 July. Capture of Caen. + Aug. The march up the Seine valley. + The retreat northwards. + The passage of the Somme at the _Blanche taque_. + 26 Aug. Battle of Crecy. + 17 Oct. Battle of Neville's Cross. + 4 Sept. Siege of Calais. + 3 Aug., 1347. Capture of Calais. + 20 June. Battle of La Roche Derien. + 28 Sept. Truce of Calais. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FROM THE BLACK DEATH TO THE TREATY OF CALAIS. + + 1347-48. Prosperity of England after the truce. + 1348-50. The Black Death and its results. + 1351. Statute of labourers. + Social and economic unrest. + Religious unrest. + The Flagellants. + The anti-clerical movement. + 1351. First statute of provisors. + 1353. First statute of _praemunire_. + Richard Fitzralph and the attack on the mendicants. + 1354. Ordinance Of the Staple. + 1352. Statute of treasons. + 1349. Foundation of the Order of the Garter. + Dagworth's administration of Brittany. + Hugh Calveley and Robert Knowles. + 27 Mar., 1351. Battle of the Thirty. + 1352. Battle of Mauron + Fighting round Calais + 1352. Capture of Guines + 29 Aug., 1350. Battle of the Spaniards-on-the-sea + 6 April, 1354. Preliminaries of peace signed at Guines + 1355. Failure of the negotiations and renewal of the war + Failure of John of Gaunt in Normandy + Sept.-Nov. Black Prince's raid in Languedoc + 1356. Operations of John of Gaunt in Normandy in alliance + with Charles of Navarre and Geoffrey of Harcourt + 9 Aug.-2 Oct. Black Prince's raid northwards to the Loire + 19 Sept. Battle of Poitiers. + 23 Mar., 1357. Truce of Bordeaux + Oct. Treaty of Berwick + 1357-71. The last years of David II. + 1371. Accession of Robert II. in Scotland + 1358. Preliminaries of peace signed between Edward III. + and John + State of France after Poitiers + 24 Mar., 1359. Treaty of London + The rejection of the treaty by the French +Nov., 1359-April, 1360. Edward III.'s invasion of Northern France + Champagne and Burgundy + 11 Jan., 1360. Treaty of Guillon + 7 April. Siege of Paris + 8 May. Treaty of Bretigni + 24 Oct. Treaty of Calais + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR FROM THE TREATY OF CALAIS TO THE TRUCE +OF BRUGES. + + Difficulties in carrying out the treaty of Calais + Guerilla warfare: exploits of Calveley, Pipe, and + Jowel + 16 May, 1364. Battle of Cocherel + 29 Sept. Battle of Auray + 1365. Treaty of Guerande + Exploits of the free companies: John Hawkwood + 1361. The charters of renunciation not exchanged + 1364. Death of King John: accession of Charles V. + 1366. Expulsion of Peter the Cruel from Castile by Du + Guesclin and the free companies + Feb., 1367. The Black Prince's expedition to Spain + 3 April. Battle of Najera + The Black Prince's rule in Aquitaine + His difficulties with the great nobles + Jan., 1368. The hearth tax imposed + Jan., 1369. Renewal of the war. + Changed military and political conditions. + Relations of England and Flanders. + 1371. Battle in Bourgneuf Bay. + Successes of the French. + Sept., 1370. Sack of the _cite_ of Limoges. + 1371. The Black Prince's return to England with shattered + health. + 1370. Futile expeditions of Lancaster and Knowles. + Treason of Sir John Minsterworth. + Battle of Pontvallain. + 1370-72. Exploits of Sir Owen of Wales. + 23 June, 1370. Defeat of Pembroke at La Rochelle. + Aug. Defeat of Thomas Percy at Soubise. + 1372. Edward III.'s last military expedition. + Expulsion of the English from Poitou and Brittany. +July-Dec., 1373. John of Gaunt's march from Calais to Bordeaux. + 1374. Ruin of the English power in France. + 27 June, 1375. Truce of Bruges. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ENGLAND DURING THE LATTER YEARS OF EDWARD III. + + Glories of the years succeeding the treaty of Calais. + 1361-69. John Froissart in England. + His picture of the life of court and people. + The national spirit in English literature. + Gower and Minot. + Geoffrey Chaucer. + The standard English language. + Lowland Scottish. + The national spirit in art. + "Flowing decorated" and "perpendicular" architecture. + Contrast between England and Scotland. + The national spirit in popular English literature. + William Langland. + His picture of the condition of the poor. + The national spirit and the universities. + Early career of John Wycliffe. + Spread of cultivation among the laity. + The national spirit in English law. + The national spirit in commerce. + Edward III.'s family settlement. + Marriage of the Black Prince and Joan of Kent. + Marriages of Lionel of Antwerp with Elizabeth de + Burgh and Violante Visconti. + Lionel in Ireland. + Statute of Kilkenny. + 1361-69. Philippa of Clarence's marriage with the Earl of + March. + John of Gaunt and the Duchy of Lancaster. + Continuation of ancient rivalries between houses now + represented by branches of the royal family. + The great prelates of the end of Edward III.'s reign. + Feb., 1371. Parliament: clerical ministers superseded by laymen. + Clerical and anti-clerical, constitutional and court + parties. + Edward III.'s dotage. + Alice Perrers. + Struggle of parties at court. + Increasing bitterness of the opposition to the courtiers. +April-July, 1376. The "Good Parliament". + Fall of the courtiers. + 8 June. Death of the Black Prince. + John of Gaunt restored to power. + Jan., 1377. Packed parliament, and the reaction against the Good + Parliament. + Persistence of the clerical opposition. + The attack on John Wycliffe. + 10 Feb. Wycliffe before Bishop Courtenay. + John of Gaunt's substantial triumph. + 21 June. Death of Edward III. + Characteristics of his age. + + +APPENDIX. + +ON AUTHORITIES. + +(1216-1377.) + +Comparative value of records and chronicles. +Record sources for the period. +Chancery Records:-- + Patent Rolls + Close Rolls + Rolls of Parliament + Charter Rolls + Inquests Post-Mortem + Fine Rolls + Gascon Rolls + Hundred Rolls +Exchequer Records +Plea Rolls and records of the common law courts +Records of local courts +Scotch and Irish records +Ecclesiastical records + Bishops' registers + Monastic Cartularies + Papal records +Chroniclers of the period. +St. Alban's Abbey as a school of history. +Matthew Paris. +Later St. Alban's chroniclers. +Other chroniclers of Henry III. +Other monastic annals. +Chroniclers of Edward I. +Civic chronicles. +Chroniclers of Edward II. +Chroniclers of Edward III. +Scottish and Welsh chronicles. +French chronicles illustrating English history. +The three redactions of Froissart. +Other French chroniclers of the Hundred Years' War. +Legal literature. +Literary aids to history. +Modern works on the period. +Maps. +Bibliographies. +Note on authorities for battle of Poitiers. + +INDEX. + +MAPS. +(At the End of the Volume) +1. Map of Wales and the March at the end of the XIIIth century. +2. Map of Southern Scotland and Northern England in the XIIIth and + XIVth centuries. +3. Map of France in the XIIIth and XIVth centuries. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE REGENCY OF WILLIAM MARSHAL. + + +When John died, on October 19, 1216, the issue of the war between him +and the barons was still doubtful. The arrival of Louis of France, +eldest son of King Philip Augustus, had enabled the barons to win back +much of the ground lost after John's early triumphs had forced them to +call in the foreigner. Beyond the Humber the sturdy north-country +barons, who had wrested the Great Charter from John, remained true to +their principles, and had also the support of Alexander II., King of +Scots. The magnates of the eastern counties were as staunch as the +northerners, and the rich and populous southern shires were for the +most part in agreement with them. In the west, the barons had the aid +of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, the great Prince of North Wales. While ten +earls fought for Louis, the royal cause was only upheld by six. The +towns were mainly with the rebels, notably London and the Cinque Ports, +and cities so distant as Winchester and Lincoln, Worcester and +Carlisle. Yet the baronial cause excited little general sympathy. The +mass of the population stood aloof, and was impartially maltreated by +the rival armies. + +John's son Henry had at his back the chief military resources of the +country; the two strongest of the earls, William Marshal, Earl of +Pembroke, and Randolph of Blundeville, Earl of Chester; the fierce +lords of the Welsh March, the Mortimers, the Cantilupes, the Cliffords, +the Braoses, and the Lacys; and the barons of the West Midlands, headed +by Henry of Neufbourg, Earl of Warwick, and William of Ferrars, Earl of +Derby. This powerful phalanx gave to the royalists a stronger hold in +the west than their opponents had in any one part of the much wider +territory within their sphere of influence. There was no baronial +counterpart to the successful raiding of the north and east, which John +had carried through in the last months of his life. A baronial centre, +like Worcester, could not hold its own long in the west. Moreover, John +had not entirely forfeited his hereditary advantages. The +administrative families, whose chief representative was the justiciar +Hubert de Burgh, held to their tradition of unswerving loyalty, and +joined with the followers of the old king, of whom William Marshal was +the chief survivor. All over England the royal castles were in safe +hands, and so long as they remained unsubdued, no part of Louis' +dominions was secure. The crown had used to the full its rights over +minors and vacant fiefs. The subjection of the south-west was assured +by the marriage of the mercenary leader, Falkes de Breaute, to the +mother of the infant Earl of Devon, and by the grant of Cornwall to the +bastard of the last of the Dunstanville earls. Though Isabella, +Countess of Gloucester, John's repudiated wife, was as zealous as her +new husband, the Earl of Essex, against John's son, Falkes kept a tight +hand over Glamorgan, on which the military power of the house of +Gloucester largely depended. Randolph of Chester was custodian of the +earldoms of Leicester and Richmond, of which the nominal earls, Simon +de Montfort and Peter Mauclerc, were far away, the one ruling Toulouse, +and the other Brittany. The band of foreign adventurers, the mainstay +of John's power, was still unbroken. Ruffians though these hirelings +were, they had experience, skill, and courage, and were the only +professional soldiers in the country. + +The vital fact of the situation was that the immense moral and +spiritual forces of the Church remained on the side of the king. +Innocent III. had died some months before John, but his successor, +Honorius III., continued to uphold his policy. The papal legate, the +Cardinal Gualo, was the soul of the royalist cause. Louis and his +adherents had been excommunicated, and not a single English bishop +dared to join openly the foes of Holy Church. The most that the +clerical partisans of the barons could do was to disregard the +interdict and continue their ministrations to the excommunicated host. +The strongest English prelate, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of +Canterbury, was at Rome in disgrace. Walter Grey, Archbishop of York, +and Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, were also abroad, while the +Bishop of London, William of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, was incapacitated by +illness. Several important sees, including Durham and Ely, were vacant. +The ablest resident bishop, Peter des Roches of Winchester, was an +accomplice in John's misgovernment. + +The chief obstacle in the way of the royalists had been the character +of John, and the little Henry of Winchester could have had no share in +the crimes of his father. But the dead king had lately shown such rare +energy that there was a danger lest the accession of a boy of nine +might not weaken the cause of monarchy. The barons were largely out of +hand. The war was assuming the character of the civil war of Stephen's +days, and John's mercenaries were aspiring to play the part of feudal +potentates. It was significant that so many of John's principal +supporters were possessors of extensive franchises, like the lords of +the Welsh March, who might well desire to extend these feudal +immunities to their English estates. The triumph of the crown through +such help might easily have resolved the united England of Henry II. +into a series of lordships under a nominal king. + +The situation was saved by the wisdom and moderation of the papal +legate, and the loyalty of William Marshal, who forgot his interests as +Earl of Pembroke in his devotion to the house of Anjou. From the moment +of John's death at Newark, the cardinal and the marshal took the lead. +They met at Worcester, where the tyrant was buried, and at once made +preparations for the coronation of Henry of Winchester. The ceremony +took place at St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, on October 28, from which +day the new reign was reckoned as beginning. The marshal, who had +forty-three years before dubbed the "young king" Henry a knight, then +for a second time admitted a young king Henry to the order of chivalry. +When the king had recited the coronation oath and performed homage to +the pope, Gualo anointed him and placed on his head the plain gold +circlet that perforce did duly for a crown.[1] Next day Henry's leading +supporters performed homage, and before November 1 the marshal was made +justiciar. + + [1] There is some conflict of evidence on this point, and Dr. + Stubbs, following Wendover, iv., 2, makes Peter of Winchester + crown Henry. But the official account in _Faedera, i._, 145, is + confirmed by _Ann. Tewkesbury_, p. 62; _Histoire de G. le + Marechal_, lines 15329-32; _Hist. des ducs de Normandie, et des + rois d'Angleterre_, p. 181, and _Ann. Winchester_, p. 83. + Wykes, p. 60, and _Ann. Dunstable_, p. 48, which confirm + Wendover, are suspect by reason of other errors. + +On November 2 a great council met at Bristol. Only four earls appeared, +and one of these, William of Fors, Earl of Albemarle, was a recent +convert. But the presence of eleven bishops showed that the Church had +espoused the cause of the little king, and a throng of western and +marcher magnates made a sufficient representation of the lay baronage. +The chief business was to provide for the government during the +minority. Gualo withstood the temptation to adopt the method by which +Innocent III. had ruled Sicily in the name of Frederick II. The king's +mother was too unpopular and incompetent to anticipate the part played +by Blanche of Castile during the minority of St. Louis. After the +precedents set by the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the barons took the +matter into their own hands. Their work of selection was not an easy +one. Randolph of Chester was by far the most powerful of the royalist +lords, but his turbulence and purely personal policy, not less than his +excessive possessions and inordinate palatine jurisdictions, made him +unsuitable for the regency. Yet had he raised any sort of claim, it +would have been hardly possible to resist his pretensions.[1] Luckily, +Randolph stood aside, and his withdrawal gave the aged earl marshal the +position for which his nomination as justiciar at Gloucester had +already marked him out. The title of regent was as yet unknown, either +in England or France, but the style, "ruler of king and kingdom," which +the barons gave to the marshal, meant something more than the ordinary +position of a justiciar. William's friends had some difficulty in +persuading him to accept the office. He was over seventy years of age, +and felt it would be too great a burden. Induced at last by the legate +to undertake the charge, from that moment he shrank from none of its +responsibilities. The personal care of the king was comprised within +the marshal's duties, but he delegated that branch of his work to Peter +des Roches.[2] These two, with Gualo, controlled the whole policy of the +new reign. Next to them came Hubert de Burgh, John's justiciar, whom +the marshal very soon restored to that office. But Hubert at once went +back to the defence of Dover, and for some time took little part in +general politics. + + [1] The fears and hopes of the marshal's friends are well + depicted in _Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal_, lines + 15500-15708. + + [2] The panegyrist of the marshal emphasises strongly the fact + that Peter's charge was a delegation, _ibid._, lines + 17993-18018. + +On November 12, the legate and the regent issued at Bristol a +confirmation of the Great Charter. Some of the most important articles +accepted by John in 1215 were omitted, including the "constitutional +clauses" requiring the consent of the council of barons for +extraordinary taxation. Other provisions, which tied the hands of the +government, were postponed for further consideration in more settled +times. But with all its mutilations the Bristol charter of 1216 marked a +more important moment than even the charter of Runnymede. The +condemnation of Innocent III. would in all probability have prevented +the temporary concession of John from becoming permanent. Love of +country and love of liberty were doubtless growing forces, but they were +still in their infancy, while the papal authority was something ultimate +against which few Christians dared appeal. Thus the adoption by the free +will of the papal legate, and the deliberate choice of the marshal of +the policy of the Great Charter, converted, as has well been said, "a +treaty won at the point of the sword into a manifesto of peace and sound +government".[1] This wise change of policy cut away the ground from under +the feet of the English supporters of Louis. The friends of the young +Henry could appeal to his innocence, to his sacred unction, and to his +recognition by Holy Church. They offered a programme of limited +monarchy, of the redress of grievances, of vested rights preserved, and +of adhesion to the good old traditions that all Englishmen respected. +From that moment the Charter became a new starting-point in our history. + + [1] Stubbs, _Const. Hist._, ii., 21. + +In strange contrast to this programme of reform, the aliens, who had +opposed the charter of Runnymede, were among the lords by whose counsel +and consent the charter of Bristol was issued. In its weakness the new +government sought to stimulate the zeal both of the foreign mercenaries +and of the loyal barons by grants and privileges which seriously +entrenched upon the royal authority. Falkes de Breaute was confirmed in +the custody of a compact group of six midland shires, besides the +earldom of Devon, and the "county of the Isle of Wight,"[1] which he +guarded in the interests of his wife and stepson. Savary de Mauleon, who +in despair of his old master's success had crossed over to Poitou before +John's death, was made warden of the castle of Bristol. Randolph of +Chester was consoled for the loss of the regency by the renewal of +John's recent grant of the Honour of Lancaster which was by this time +definitely recognised as a shire.[2] + + [1] _Histoire des ducs de Normandie_, etc., p. 181. + + [2] Tait, _Medieval Manchester and the Beginnings of + Lancashire_, p. 180. + +The war assumed the character of a crusade. The royalist troops wore +white crosses on their garments, and were assured by the clergy of +certain salvation. The cruel and purposeless ravaging of the enemy's +country, which had occupied John's last months of life, became rare, +though partisans, such as Falkes de Breaute, still outvied the French +in plundering monasteries and churches. The real struggle became a war +of castles. Louis endeavoured to complete his conquest of the +south-east by the capture of the royal strongholds, which still limited +his power to the open country. At first the French prince had some +successes. In November he increased his hold on the Home counties by +capturing the Tower of London, by forcing Hertford to surrender, and by +pressing the siege of Berkhampsted. As Christmas approached the +royalists proposed a truce. Louis agreed on the condition that +Berkhampsted should be surrendered, and early in 1217 both parties held +councils, the royalists at Oxford and the barons at Cambridge. There +was vague talk of peace, but the war was renewed, and Louis captured +Hedingham and Orford in Essex, and besieged the castles of Colchester +and Norwich. Then another truce until April 26 was concluded, on the +condition that the royalists should surrender these two strongholds. + +Both sides had need to pause. Louis, at the limit of his resources, was +anxious to obtain men and money from France. He was not getting on well +with his new subjects. The eastern counties grumbled at his taxes. +Dissensions arose between the English and French elements in his host. +The English lords resented the grants and appointments he gave to his +countrymen. The French nobles professed to despise the English as +traitors. When Hertford was taken, Robert FitzWalter demanded that its +custody should be restored to him. Louis roughly told him that +Englishmen, who had betrayed their natural lord, were not to be +entrusted with such charges. It was to little purpose that he promised +Robert that every man should have his rights when the war was over. The +prospects of ending the war grew more remote every day. The royalists +took advantage of the discouragement of their opponents. The regent was +lavish in promises. There should be no inquiry into bygones, and all +who submitted to the young king should be guaranteed all their existing +rights. The result was that a steady stream of converts began to flow +from the camp of Louis to the camp of the marshal. For the first time +signs of a national movement against Louis began to be manifest. It +became clear that his rule meant foreign conquest. + +Louis wished to return to France, but despite the truce he could only +win his way to the coast by fighting. The Cinque Ports were changing +their allegiance. A popular revolt had broken out in the Weald, where a +warlike squire, William of Cassingham,[1] soon became a terror to the +French under his nickname of Wilkin of the Weald. As Louis traversed the +disaffected districts, Wilkin fell upon him near Lewes, and took +prisoners two nephews of the Count of Nevers. On his further march to +Winchelsea, the men of the Weald broke down the bridges behind him, +while on his approach the men of Winchelsea destroyed their mills, and +took to their ships as avowed partisans of King Henry. The French prince +entered the empty town, and had great difficulty in keeping his army +alive. "Wheat found they there," says a chronicler; "in great plenty, +but they knew not how to grind it. Long time were they in such a plight +that they had to crush by hand the corn of which they made their bread. +They could catch no fish. Great store of nuts found they in the town; +these were their finest food."[2] Louis was in fact besieged by the +insurgents, and was only released by a force of knights riding down from +London to help him. These troops dared not travel by the direct road +through the Weald, and made their way to Romney through Canterbury. Rye +was strongly held against them and the ships of the Cinque Ports +dominated the sea, so that Louis was still cut off from his friends at +Romney. A relieving fleet was despatched from Boulogne, but stress of +weather kept it for a fortnight at Dover, while Louis was starving at +Winchelsea. At last the French ships appeared off Winchelsea. Thereupon +the English withdrew, and Louis finding the way open to France returned +home. + + [1] Mr. G.J. Turner has identified Cassingham with the modern + Kensham, between Rolvenden and Sandhurst, in Kent. + + [2] _Histoire des ducs de Normandie_, etc., p. 183. + +A crowd of waverers changed sides. At their head were William +Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the bastard great-uncle of the little +king, and William, the young marshal, the eldest son of the Earl of +Pembroke. The regent wandered from town to town in Sussex, receiving +the submission of the peasantry, and venturing to approach as near +London as Dorking. The victorious Wilkin was made Warden of the Seven +Hundreds of the Weald. The greatest of the magnates of Sussex and +Surrey, William, Earl Warenne, followed the example of his tenantry, +and made his peace with the king. The royalists fell upon the few +castles held by the barons. While one corps captured Odiham, Farnham, +Chichester, and other southern strongholds, Falkes de Breaute overran +the Isle of Ely, and Randolph of Chester besieged the Leicestershire +fortress of Mount Sorrel. Enguerrand de Coucy, whom Louis had left in +command, remained helpless in London. His boldest act was to send a +force to Lincoln, which occupied the town, but failed to take the +castle. This stronghold, under its hereditary warden, the valiant old +lady, Nichola de Camville,[1] had already twice withstood a siege. + + [1] On Nichola de Camville or de la Hay see M. Petit-Dutaillis + in _Melanges Julien Havet_, pp. 369-80. + +Louis found no great encouragement in France, for Philip Augustus, too +prudent to offend the Church, gave but grudging support to his +excommunicated son. When, on the eve of the expiration of the truce, +Louis returned to England, his reinforcements comprised only 120 +knights. Among them, however, were the Count of Brittany, Peter +Mauclerc, anxious to press in person his rights to the earldom of +Richmond, the Counts of Perche and Guines, and many lords of Picardy, +Artois and Ponthieu. Conscious that everything depended on the speedy +capture of the royal castles, Louis introduced for the first time into +England the _trebuchet_, a recently invented machine that cast great +missiles by means of heavy counterpoises. "Great was the talk about +this, for at that time few of them had been seen in France."[1] On April +22, Louis reached Dover, where the castle was still feebly beset by the +French. On his nearing the shore, Wilkin of the Weald and Oliver, a +bastard of King John's, burnt the huts of the French engaged in watching +the castle. Afraid to land in their presence, Louis disembarked at +Sandwich. Next day he went by land to Dover, but discouraged by tidings +of his losses, he gladly concluded a short truce with Hubert de Burgh. +He abandoned the siege of Dover, and hurried off towards Winchester, +where the two castles were being severely pressed by the royalists. But +his progress was impeded by his siege train, and Farnham castle blocked +his way. + + [1] _Histoire des ducs de Normandie, etc._, p. 188; cf. + _English Hist. Review_, xviii. (1903), 263-64. + +Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, joined Louis outside the walls of +Farnham. Saer's motive was to persuade Louis to hasten to the relief of +his castle of Mount Sorrel. The French prince was not in a position to +resist pressure from a powerful supporter. He divided his army, and +while the Earl of Winchester, along with the Count of Perche and Robert +FitzWalter, made their way to Leicestershire, he completed his journey +to Winchester, threw a fresh force into the castles, and, leaving the +Count of Nevers in charge, hurried to London. There he learnt that +Hubert de Burgh at Dover had broken the truce, and he at once set off +to renew the siege of the stronghold which had so continually baulked +his plans. But little good came of his efforts, and the much-talked-of +_trebuchet_ proving powerless to effect a breach, Louis had to resign +himself to a weary blockade. While he was besieging Dover, Saer de +Quincy had relieved Mount Sorrel, whence he marched to the help of +Gilbert of Ghent, the only English baron whom Louis ventured to raise +to comital rank as Earl of Lincoln. Gilbert was still striving to +capture Lincoln Castle, but Nichola de Camville had resisted him from +February to May. With the help of the army from Mount Sorrel, the +castle and its _chatelaine_ were soon reduced to great straits. + +The marshal saw that the time was come to take the offensive, and +resolved to raise the siege. Having no field army, he stripped his +castles of their garrisons, and gave rendezvous to his barons at +Newark. There the royalists rested three days, and received the +blessing of Gualo and the bishops. They then set out towards Lincoln, +commanded by the regent in person, the Earl of Chester, and the Bishop +of Winchester, whom the legate appointed as his representative. The +strong water defences of the rebel city on the south made it +unadvisable for them to take the direct route towards it. Their army +descended the Trent to Torksey, where it rested the night of May 19. +Early next day, the eve of Trinity Sunday, it marched in four "battles" +to relieve Lincoln Castle. + +There were more than 600 knights besieging the castle and holding the +town, and the relieving army only numbered 400 knights and 300 +cross-bowmen. But the barons dared not risk a combat that might have +involved them in the fate of Stephen in 1141. They retreated within the +city and allowed the marshal to open up communications with the castle. +The marshal's plan of battle was arranged by Peter des Roches, who was +more at home in the field than in the church. The cross-bowmen under +Falkes de Breaute were thrown into the castle, and joined with the +garrison in making a sally from its east gate into the streets of the +town. While the barons were thus distracted, the marshal burst through +the badly defended north gate. The barons taken in front and flank +fought desperately, but with no success. Falkes' cross-bowmen shot down +their horses, and the dismounted knights soon failed to hold their own +in the open ground about the cathedral. The Count of Perche was slain +by a sword-thrust through the eyehole of his helmet. The royalists +chased the barons down the steep lanes which connect the upper with the +lower town. When they reached level ground the baronial troops rallied, +and once more strove to reascend the hill. But the town was assailed on +every side, and its land defences yielded with little difficulty. The +Earl of Chester poured his vassals through one of the eastern gates, +and took the barons in flank. Once more they broke, and this time they +rallied not again, but fled through the Wigford suburb seeking any +means of escape. Some obstruction in the Bar-gate, the southern exit +from the city, retarded their flight, and many of the leaders were +captured. The remnant fled to London, thinking that "every bush was +full of marshals," and suffering severely from the hostility of the +peasantry. Only three persons were slain in the battle, but there was a +cruel massacre of the defenceless citizens after its close. So vast was +the booty won by the victors that in scorn they called the fight the +Fair of Lincoln![1] + + [1] For a discussion of the battle, see _English Hist. Review_, + xviii. (1903), 240-65. + +Louis' prospects were still not desperate. The victorious army +scattered, each man to his own house, so that the marshal was in no +position to press matters to extremities. But there was a great rush to +make terms with the victor, and Louis thought it prudent to abandon the +hopeless siege of Dover, and take refuge with his partisans, the +Londoners. Meanwhile the marshal hovered round London, hoping +eventually to shut up the enemy in the capital. On June 12, the +Archbishop of Tyre and three Cistercian abbots, who had come to England +to preach the Crusade, persuaded both parties to accept provisional +articles of peace. Louis stipulated for a complete amnesty to all his +partisans; but the legate declined to grant pardon to the rebellious +clerks who had refused to obey the interdict, conspicuous among whom +was the firebrand Simon Langton, brother of the archbishop. Finding no +compromise possible, Louis broke off the negotiations rather than +abandon his friends. Gualo urged a siege of London, but the marshal saw +that his resources were not adequate for such a step. Again many of his +followers went home, and the court abode first at Oxford and afterwards +at Gloucester. It seemed as if the war might go on for ever. + +Blanche of Castile, Louis' wife, redoubled her efforts on his behalf. In +response to her entreaties a hundred knights and several hundred +men-at-arms took ship for England. Among the knights was the famous +William des Barres, one of the heroes of Bouvines, and Theobald, Count +of Blois. Eustace the Monk, a renegade clerk turned pirate, and a hero +of later romance, took command of the fleet. On the eve of St. +Bartholomew, August 23, Eustace sailed from Calais towards the mouth of +the Thames. Kent had become royalist; the marshal and Hubert de Burgh +held Sandwich, so that the long voyage up the Thames was the only way of +taking succour to Louis. Next day the old earl remained on shore, but +sent out Hubert with the fleet. The English let the French pass by, +and then, manoeuvring for the weather gage, tacked and assailed them +from behind.[1] The fight raged round the great ship of Eustace, on +which the chief French knights were embarked. Laden with stores, horses, +and a ponderous _trebuchet_, it was too low in the water to manoeuvre or +escape. Hubert easily laid his own vessel alongside it. The English, who +were better used to fighting at sea than the French, threw powdered lime +into the faces of the enemy, swept the decks with their crossbow bolts +and then boarded the ship, which was taken after a fierce fight. The +crowd of cargo boats could offer little resistance as they beat up +against the wind in their retreat to Calais; the ships containing the +soldiers were more fortunate in escaping. Eustace was beheaded, and his +head paraded on a pole through the streets of Canterbury. + + [1] This successful attempt of the English fleet to manoeuvre + for the weather gage, that is to secure a position to the + windward of their opponents, is the first recorded instance of + what became the favourite tactics of British admirals. For the + legend of Eustace see _Witasse le Moine_, ed. Foerster (1891). + +The battle of St. Bartholomew's Day, like that of Lincoln a triumph of +skill over numbers, proved decisive for the fortunes of Louis. The +English won absolute control of the narrow seas, and cut off from Louis +all hope of fighting his way back to France. As soon as he heard of the +defeat of Eustace, he reopened negotiations with the marshal. On the +29th there was a meeting between Louis and the Earl at the gates of +London. The regent had to check the ardour of his own partisans, and it +was only after anxious days of deliberation that the party of +moderation prevailed. On September 5 a formal conference was held on an +island of the Thames near Kingston. On the 11th a definitive treaty was +signed at the archbishop's house at Lambeth. + +The Treaty of Lambeth repeated with little alteration the terms +rejected by Louis three months before. The French prince surrendered +his castles, released his partisans from their oaths to him, and +exhorted all his allies, including the King of Scots and the Prince of +Gwynedd, to lay down their arms. In return Henry promised that no +layman should lose his inheritance by reason of his adherence to Louis, +and that the baronial prisoners should be released without further +payment of ransom. London, despite its pertinacity in rebellion, was to +retain its ancient franchises. The marshal bound himself personally to +pay Louis 10,000 marks, nominally as expenses, really as a bribe to +accept these terms. A few days later Louis and his French barons +appeared before the legate, barefoot and in the white garb of +penitents, and were reconciled to the Church. They were then escorted +to Dover, whence they took ship for France. Only on the rebellious +clergy did Gualo's wrath fall. The canons of St. Paul's were turned out +in a body; ringleaders like Simon Langton were driven into exile, and +agents of the legate traversed the country punishing clerks who had +disregarded the interdict. But Honorius was more merciful than Gualo, +and within a year even Simon received his pardon. The laymen of both +camps forgot their differences, when Randolph of Chester and William of +Ferrars fought in the crusade of Damietta, side by side with Saer of +Winchester and Robert FitzWalter. The reconciliation of parties was +further shown in the marriage of Hubert de Burgh to John's divorced +wife, Isabella of Gloucester, a widow by the death of the Earl of +Essex, and still the foremost English heiress. On November 6 the +pacification was completed by the reissue of the Great Charter in what +was substantially its final form. The forest clauses of the earlier +issues were published in a much enlarged shape as a separate Forest +Charter, which laid down the great principle that no man was to lose +life or limb for hindering the king's hunting. + +It is tempting to regard the defeat of Louis as a triumph of English +patriotism. But it is an anachronism to read the ideals of later ages +into the doings of the men of the early thirteenth century. So far as +there was national feeling in England, it was arrayed against Henry. To +the last the most fervently English of the barons were steadfast on the +French prince's side, and the triumph of the little king had largely +been procured by John's foreigners. To contemporary eyes the rebels +were factious assertors of class privileges and feudal immunities. +Their revolt against their natural lord brought them into conflict with +the sentiment of feudal duty which was still so strong in faithful +minds. And against them was a stronger force than feudal loyally. From +this religious standpoint the Canon of Barnwell best sums up the +situation: "It was a miracle that the heir of France, who had won so +large a part of the kingdom, was constrained to abandon the realm +without hope of recovering it. It was because the hand of God was not +with him. He came to England in spite of the prohibition of the Holy +Roman Church, and he remained there regardless of its anathema." + +The young king never forgot that he owed his throne to the pope and his +legate. "When we were bereft of our father in tender years," he declared +long afterwards, "when our subjects were turned against us, it was our +mother, the Holy Roman Church, that brought back our realm under our +power, anointed us king, crowned us, and placed us on the throne."[1] +The papacy, which had secured a new hold over England by its alliance +with John, made its position permanent by its zeal for the rights of his +son. By identifying the monarchy with the charters, it skilfully +retraced the false step which it had taken. Under the aegis of the Roman +see the national spirit grew, and the next generation was to see the +temper fostered by Gualo in its turn grow impatient of the papal +supremacy. It was Gualo, then, who secured the confirmation of the +charters. Even Louis unconsciously worked in that direction, for, had he +not gained so strong a hold on the country, there would have been no +reason to adopt a policy of conciliation. We must not read the history +of this generation in the light of modern times, or even with the eyes +of Matthew Paris. + + [1] Grosseteste, _Epistolae_, p. 339. + +The marshal had before him a task essentially similar to that which +Henry II had undertaken after the anarchy of Stephen's reign. It was +with the utmost difficulty that the sum promised to Louis could be +extracted from the war-stricken and famished tillers of the soil. The +exchequer was so empty that the Christmas court of the young king was +celebrated at the expense of Falkes de Breaute. Those who had fought +for the king clamoured for grants and rewards, and it was necessary to +humour them. For example, Randolph of Blundeville, with the earldom of +Lincoln added to his Cheshire palatinate and his Lancashire Honour, had +acquired a position nearly as strong as that of the Randolph of the +reign of Stephen. "Adulterine castles" had grown up in such numbers +that the new issue of the Charter insisted upon their destruction. Even +the lawful castles were held by unauthorised custodians, who refused to +yield them up to the king's officers. Though Alexander, King of Scots, +purchased his reconciliation with Rome by abandoning Carlisle and +performing homage to Henry, the Welsh remained recalcitrant. One +chieftain, Morgan of Caerleon, waged war against the marshal in Gwent, +and was dislodged with difficulty. During the war Llewelyn ap Iorwerth +conquered Cardigan and Carmarthen from the marchers, and it was only +after receiving assurances that he might retain these districts so long +as the king's minority lasted that he condescended to do homage at +Worcester in March, 1218. + +In the following May Stephen Langton came back from exile and threw the +weight of his judgment on the regent's side. Gradually the worst +difficulties were surmounted. The administrative machinery once more +became effective. A new seal was cast for the king, whose documents had +hitherto been stamped with the seal of the regent. Order was so far +restored that Gualo returned to Italy. He was a man of high character +and noble aims, caring little for personal advancement, and curbing his +hot zeal against "schismatics" in his desire to restore peace to +England. His memory is still commemorated in his great church of St. +Andrew, at Vercelli, erected, it may be, with the proceeds of his +English benefices, and still preserving the manuscript of legends of +its patron saint, which its founder had sent thither from his exile. + +At Candlemas, 1219, the aged regent was smitten with a mortal illness. +His followers bore him up the Thames from London to his manor of +Caversham, where his last hours were disturbed by the intrigues of +Peter of Winchester for his succession, and the importunity of selfish +clerks, clamouring for grants to their churches. He died on May 14, +clad in the habit of the Knights of the Temple, in whose new church in +London his body was buried, and where his effigy may still be seen. The +landless younger son of a poor baron, he had supported himself in his +youth by the spoils of the knights he had vanquished in the +tournaments, where his successes gained him fame as the model of +chivalry. The favour of Henry, the "young king," gave him political +importance, and his marriage with Strongbow's daughter made him a +mighty man in England, Ireland, Wales, and Normandy. Strenuous and +upright, simple and dignified, the young soldier of fortune bore easily +the weight of office and honour which accrued to him before the death +of his first patron. Limited as was his outlook, he gave himself +entirely to his master-principle of loyally to the feudal lord whom he +had sworn to obey. This simple conception enabled him to subordinate +his interests as a marcher potentate to his duty to the English +monarchy. It guided him in his difficult work of serving with unbending +constancy a tyrant like John. It shone most clearly when in his old age +he saved John's son from the consequences of his father's misdeeds. A +happy accident has led to the discovery in our own days of the long +poem, drawn up in commemoration of his career[1] at the +instigation of his son. This important work has enabled us to enter +into the marshal's character and spirit in much the same way as +Joinville's _History of St. Louis_ has made us familiar with the +motives and attributes of the great French king. They are the two men +of the thirteenth century whom we know most intimately. It is well that +the two characters thus portrayed at length represent to us so much of +what is best in the chivalry, loyalty, statecraft, and piety of the +Middle Ages. + + [1] _Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal_, published by P. Meyer + for the Soc. de l'histoire de France. Petit-Dutaillis, _Etude + sur Louis VIII._ (1894), and G.J. Turner, _Minority of Henry + III._, part i, in _Transactions of the Royal Hist. Soc._, new + ser., viii. (1904), 245-95, are the best modern commentaries on + the history of the marshal's regency. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE RULE OF HUBERT DE BURGH. + + +William Marshal had recognized that the regency must end with him. +"There is no land," he declared, "where the people are so divided as +they are in England. Were I to hand over the king to one noble, the +others would be jealous. For this reason I have determined to entrust +him to God and the pope. No one can blame me for this, for, if the land +is not defended by the pope, I know no one who can protect it." The +fortunate absence of Randolph of Chester on crusade made it easy to +carry out this plan. Accordingly the king of twelve years was supposed +to be capable of acting for himself. But the ultimate authority resided +with the new legate Pandulf, who, without any formal designation, was +the real successor of the marshal. This arrangement naturally left +great power to Peter des Roches, who continued to have the custody of +the king's person, and to Hubert the justiciar, who henceforth acted as +Pandulf's deputy. Next to them came the Archbishop of Canterbury. +Langton's share in the struggle for the charters was so conspicuous, +that we do not always remember that it was as a scholar and a +theologian that he acquired his chief reputation among his +contemporaries. On his return from exile he found such engrossing +occupation in the business of his see, that he took little part in +politics for several years. His self-effacement strengthened the +position of the legate. + +Pandulf was no stranger to England. As subdeacon of the Roman Church he +received John's submission in 1213, and stood by his side during nearly +all his later troubles. He had been rewarded by his election to the +bishopric of Norwich, but was recalled to Rome before his consecration, +and only came back to England in the higher capacity of legate on +December 3, 1218, after the recall of Gualo. He had been the cause of +Langton's suspension, and there was probably no love lost between him +and the archbishop. It was in order to avoid troublesome questions of +jurisdiction that Pandulf, at the pope's suggestion, continued to +postpone his consecration as bishop, since that act would have +subordinated him to the Archbishop of Canterbury. But neither he nor +Langton was disposed to push matters to extremities. Just as Peter des +Roches balanced Hubert de Burgh, so the archbishop acted as a makeweight +to the legate. When power was thus nicely equipoised, there was a +natural tendency to avoid conflicting issues. In these circumstances the +truce between parties, which had marked the regency, continued for the +first years after Earl William's death. In all doubtful points the will +of the legate seems to have prevailed. Pandulf's correspondence shows +him interfering in every matter of state. He associated himself with the +justiciar in the appointment of royal officials; he invoked the papal +authority to put down "adulterine castles," and to prevent any baron +having more than one royal stronghold in his custody; he prolonged the +truce with France, and strove to pacify the Prince of North Wales; he +procured the resumption of the royal domain, and rebuked Bishop Peter +and the justiciar for remissness in dealing with Jewish usurers; he +filled up bishoprics at his own discretion. Nor did he neglect his own +interests; his kinsfolk found preferment in his English diocese, and he +appropriated certain livings for the payment of his debts, "so far as +could be done without offence". But in higher matters he pursued a wise +policy. In recognising that the great interest of the Church was peace, +he truly expressed the policy of the mild Honorius. For more than two +years he kept Englishmen from flying at each other's throats. If they +paid for peace by the continuance of foreign rule, it was better to be +governed by Pandulf than pillaged by Falkes. The principal events of +these years were due to papal initiative.[1] Honorius looked askance on +the maimed rites of the Gloucester coronation, and ordered a new +hallowing to take place at the accustomed place and with the accustomed +ceremonies. This supplementary rite was celebrated at Westminster on +Whitsunday, May 17, 1220. Though Pandulf was present, he discreetly +permitted the Archbishop of Canterbury to crown Henry with the diadem of +St. Edward. "This coronation," says the Canon of Barnwell, "was +celebrated with such good order and such splendour that the oldest +magnates who were present declared that they had seen none of the king's +predecessors crowned with so much goodwill and tranquillity." Nor was +this the only great ecclesiastical function of the year. On July 7 +Langton celebrated at Canterbury the translation of the relics of St. +Thomas to a magnificent shrine at the back of the high altar. Again the +legate gave precedence to the archbishop, and the presence of the young +king, of the Archbishop of Reims, and the Primate of Hungary, gave +distinction to the solemnity. It was a grand time for English saints. +When Damietta was taken from the Mohammedans, the crusaders dedicated +two of its churches to St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Edmund the King. +A new saint was added to the calendar, who, if not an Englishman, had +done good work for the country of his adoption. In 1220 Honorius III. +canonised Hugh of Avalon, the Carthusian Bishop of Lincoln, on the +report of a commission presided over by Langton himself. + + [1]: H.R. Luard, _On the Relations between England and Rome + during the Earlier Portion of the Reign of Henry III._ (1877), + illustrates papal influence at this period. + +No real unity of principle underlay the external tranquillity. As time +went on Peter des Roches bitterly resented the growing preponderance of +Hubert de Burgh. Not all the self-restraint of the legate could commend +him to Langton, whose obstinate insistence upon his metropolitical +authority forced Pandulf to procure bulls from Rome specifically +releasing him from the jurisdiction of the primate. In these +circumstances it was natural for Bishop Peter and the legate to join +together against the justiciar and the archbishop. Finding that the +legate was too strong for him, Langton betook himself to Rome, and +remained there nearly a year. Before he went home he persuaded Honorius +to promise not to confer the same benefice twice by papal provision, +and to send no further legate to England during his lifetime. Pandulf +was at once recalled, and left England in July, 1221, a month before +his rival's return. He was compensated for the slight put upon him by +receiving his long-deferred consecration to Norwich at the hands of the +pope. There is small reason for believing that he was exceptionally +greedy or unpopular. But his withdrawal removed an influence which had +done its work for good, and was becoming a national danger. Langton +henceforth could act as the real head of the English Church. In 1222, +he held an important provincial council at Oseney abbey, near Oxford, +where he issued constitutions, famous as the first provincial canons +still recognised as binding in our ecclesiastical courts. He began once +more to concern himself with affairs of state, and Hubert found him a +sure ally. Bishop Peter, disgusted with his declining influence, +welcomed his appointment as archbishop of the crusading Church at +Damietta. He took the cross, and left England with Falkes de Breaute as +his companion. Learning that the crescent had driven the cross out of +his new see, he contented himself with making the pilgrimage to +Compostella, and soon found his way back to England, where he sought +for opportunities to regain power. + +Relieved of the opposition of Bishop Peter, Hubert insisted on +depriving barons of doubtful loyalty of the custody of royal castles, +and found his chief opponent in William Earl of Albemarle. In dignity +and possessions, Albemarle was not ill-qualified to be a feudal leader. +The son of William de Fors, of Oleron, a Poitevin adventurer of the +type of Falkes de Breaute, he represented, through his mother, the line +of the counts of Aumale, who had since the Conquest ruled over +Holderness from their castle at Skipsea. The family acquired the status +of English earls under Stephen, retaining their foreign title, +expressed in English in the form of Albemarle, being the first house of +comital rank abroad to hold an earldom with a French name unassociated +with any English shire. During the civil war Albemarle's +tergiversations, which rivalled those of the Geoffrey de Mandeville of +Stephen's time, had been rewarded by large grants from the victorious +party. Since 1219 he suffered slight upon slight, and in 1220 was +stripped of the custody of Rockingham Castle. Late in that year Hubert +resolved to enforce an order, promulgated in 1217, which directed +Albemarle to restore to his former subtenant Bytham Castle, in South +Kesteven, of which he was overlord, and of which he had resumed +possession on account of the treason of his vassal. The earl hurried +away in indignation from the king's Christmas court, and in January, +1221, threw himself into Bytham, eager to hold it by force against the +king. For a brief space he ruled over the country-side after the +fashion of a baron of Stephen's time. He plundered the neighbouring +towns and churches, and filled the dungeons of Castle Bytham with +captives. On the pretext of attending a council at Westminster he +marched southwards, but his real motive was disclosed when he suddenly +attacked the castle of Fotheringhay. His men crossed the moat on the +ice, and, burning down the great gate, easily overpowered the scanty +garrison. "As if he were the only ruler of the kingdom," says the Canon +of Barnwell, "he sent letters signed with his seal to the mayors of the +cities of England, granting his peace to all merchants engaged in +plying their trades, and allowing them free licence of going and coming +through his castles." Nothing in the annals of the time puts more +clearly this revival of the old feudal custom that each baron should +lord it as king over his own estates. + +Albemarle's power did not last long. He incurred the wrath of the +Church, and both in Kesteven and in Northamptonshire set himself +against the interests of Randolph of Chester. Before January was over +Pandulf excommunicated him, and a great council granted a special +scutage, "the scutage of Bytham," to equip an army to crush the rebel. +Early in February a considerable force marched northwards against him. +The Earl of Chester took part in the campaign, and both the legate and +the king accompanied the army. Before the combined efforts of Church +and State, Albemarle dared not hold his ground, and fled to Fountains, +where he took sanctuary. His followers abandoned Fotheringhay, but +stood a siege at Bytham. After six days this castle was captured on +February 8. Even then secret sympathisers with Albemarle were able to +exercise influence on his behalf, and Pandulf himself was willing to +show mercy. The earl came out of sanctuary, and was pardoned on +condition of taking the crusader's vow. No effort was made to insist on +his going on crusade, and within a few months he was again in favour. +"Thus," says Roger of Wendover, "the king set the worst of examples, +and encouraged future rebellions." Randolph of Chester came out with +the spoils of victory. He secured as the price of his ostentatious +fidelity the custody of the Honour of Huntingdon, during the nonage of +the earl, his nephew, John the Scot. + +A tumult in the capital soon taught Hubert that he had other foes to +fight against besides the feudal party. At a wrestling match, held on +July 25, 1222, between the city and the suburbs, the citizens won an +easy victory. The tenants of the Abbot of Westminster challenged the +conquerors to a fresh contest on August 1 at Westminster. But the +abbot's men were more anxious for revenge than good sport, and seeing +that the Londoners were likely to win, they violently broke up the +match. Suspecting no evil, the citizens had come without arms, and were +very severely handled by their rivals. Driven back behind their walls, +the Londoners clamoured for vengeance. Serlo the mercer, their mayor, a +prudent and peace-loving man, urged them to seek compensation of the +abbot. But the citizens preferred the advice of Constantine FitzAthulf, +who insisted upon an immediate attack on the men of Westminster. Next +day the abbey precincts were invaded, and much mischief was done. The +alarm was the greater because Constantine was a man of high position, +who had recently been a sheriff of London, and had once been a +strenuous supporter of Louis of France. It was rumoured that his +followers had raised the cry, "Montjoie! Saint Denis!" The quarrels of +neighbouring cities were as dangerous to sound rule as the feuds of +rival barons, and Hubert took instant measures to put down the +sedition. With the aid of Falkes de Breaute's mercenaries, order was +restored, and Constantine was led before the justiciar. Early next day +Falkes assembled his forces, and crossed the river to Southwark. He +took with him Constantine and two of his supporters, and hanged all +three, without form of trial, before the city knew anything about it. +Then Falkes and his soldiers rushed through the streets, capturing, +mutilating, and frightening away the citizens. Constantine's houses and +property were seized by the king. The weak Serlo was deposed from the +mayoralty, and the city taken into the king's hands. It was the last +time that Hubert and Falkes worked together, and something of the +violence of the _condottiere_ captain sullied the justiciar's +reputation. As the murderer of Constantine, Hubert was henceforth +pursued with the undying hatred of the Londoners. + +During the next two years parties became clearly defined. Hubert more +and more controlled the royal policy, and strove to strengthen both his +master and himself by marriage alliances. Powerful husbands were sought +for the king's three sisters. On June 19, 1221, Joan, Henry's second +sister, was married to the young Alexander of Scotland, at York. At the +same time Hubert, a widower by Isabella of Gloucester's death, wedded +Alexander's elder sister, Margaret, a match which compensated the +justiciar for his loss of Isabella's lands. Four years later, Isabella, +the King of Scot's younger sister, was united with Roger Bigod, the +young Earl of Norfolk, a grandson of the great William Marshal, whose +eldest son and successor, William Marshal the younger, was in 1224 +married to the king's third sister, Eleanor. The policy of +intermarriage between the royal family and the baronage was defended by +the example of Philip Augustus in France, and on the ground of the +danger to the royal interests if so strong a magnate as the earl +marshal were enticed away from his allegiance by an alliance with a +house unfriendly to Henry.[1] + + [1] _Royal Letters_, i., 244-46. + +The futility of marriage alliances in modifying policy was already made +clear by the attitude of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, the husband of Henry's +bastard sister Joan. This resourceful prince had already raised himself +to a high position by a statecraft which lacked neither strength nor +duplicity. Though fully conscious of his position as the champion of a +proud nation, and, posing as the peer of the King of Scots, Llewelyn +saw that it was his interest to continue the friendship with the +baronial opposition which had profited him so greatly in the days of +the French invasion. The pacification arranged in 1218 sat rightly upon +him, and he plunged into a war with William Marshal the younger that +desolated South Wales for several years. In 1219 Llewelyn devastated +Pembrokeshire so cruelly that the marshal's losses were currently, +though absurdly, reported to have exceeded the amount of the ransom of +King Richard. There was much more fighting, but Llewelyn's progress was +impeded by difficulties with his own son Griffith, and with the princes +of South Wales, who bore impatiently the growing hold of the lord of +Gwynedd upon the affections of southern Welshmen. There was war also in +the middle march, where in 1220 a royal army was assembled against +Llewelyn; but Pandulf negotiated a truce, and the only permanent result +of this effort was the fortification of the castle and town at +Montgomery, which had become royal demesne on the extinction of the +ancient house of Bollers a few years earlier. But peace never lasted +long west of the Severn, and in 1222 William Marshal drove Llewelyn out +of Cardigan and Carmarthen. Again there were threats of war. Llewelyn +was excommunicated, and his lands put under interdict. The marshal +complained bitterly of the poor support which Henry gave him against +the Welsh, but Hubert restored cordiality between him and the king. In +these circumstances the policy of marrying Eleanor to the indignant +marcher was a wise one. Llewelyn however could still look to the active +friendship of Randolph of Chester. While the storm of war raged in +South Wales, the march between Cheshire and Gwynedd enjoyed unwonted +peace, and in 1223 a truce was patched up through Randolph's mediation. + +Earl Randolph needed the Welsh alliance the more because he definitely +threw in his lot with the enemies of Hubert de Burgh. In April, 1223, a +bull of Honorius III. declared Henry competent to govern in his own +name, a change which resulted in a further strengthening of Hubert's +power. Towards the end of the year Randolph joined with William of +Albemarle, the Bishop of Winchester and Falkes de Breaute, in an +attempt to overthrow the justiciar. The discontented barons took arms +and laid their grievances before the king. They wished, they said, no +ill to king or kingdom, but simply desired to remove the justiciar from +his counsels. Hot words passed between the indignant Hubert and Peter +des Roches, and the conference broke up in confusion. The barons still +remained mutinous, and, while the king held his Christmas court at +Northampton, they celebrated the feast at Leicester. At last Langton +persuaded both parties to come to an agreement on the basis of king's +friends and barons alike surrendering their castles and wardships. This +was a substantial victory for the party of order, and during the next +few months much was done to transfer the castles to loyal hands. +Randolph himself surrendered Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. + +Comparative peace having been restored, and the judicial bench purged +of feudal partisans, private persons ventured to complain of outrageous +acts of "novel disseisin", or unlawful appropriation of men's lands. In +the spring of 1224 the king's justices went throughout the country, +hearing and deciding pleas of this sort. Sixteen acts of novel +disseisin were proved against Falkes de Breaute. Despite all the +efforts of Langton and Hubert, that able adventurer, though stripped of +some of his castles, fully maintained the position which he first +acquired in the service of John. He was not the man to put up tamely +with the piecemeal destruction of his power by legal process, and, +backed up secretly by the feudal leaders, resolved to take the law into +his own hands. One of the most active of the judges in hearing +complaints against him was Henry of Braybrook. Falkes bade his brother, +William de Breaute fall upon the justice, who had been hearing suits at +Dunstable, and take him prisoner. William faithfully fulfilled his +brother's orders, and on June 17 the unlucky judge was safely shut up +in a dungeon of Bedford Castle, of which William had the custody, as +his brother's agent. So daring an outrage on the royal authority was +worse than the action of William of Albemarle four years before. Hubert +and the archbishop immediately took strong measures to enforce the +sanctity of the law. While Langton excommunicated Falkes and his +abettors, Hubert hastily turned against the traitor the forces which +were assembling at Northampton with the object of reconquering Poitou. +Braybrook was captured on Monday. On Thursday the royal troops besieged +Bedford. + +The siege lasted from June 20 to August 14. The "noble castle of +Bedford" was new, large, and fortified with an inner and outer baily, +and two strong towers. Falkes trusted that it would hold out for a year, +and had amply provided it with provisions and munitions of war. In +effect, though William de Breaute and his followers showed a gallant +spirit, it resisted the justiciar for barely two months. When called +upon to surrender the garrison answered that they would only yield at +their lord's orders, and that the more as they were not bound to the +king by homage or fealty. Nothing was left but a fight to the death. The +royalists made strenuous efforts. A new scutage, the "scutage of +Bedford," was imposed on the realm. Meanwhile Falkes fled to his +accomplice, the Earl of Chester, and afterwards took refuge with +Llewelyn. But the adventurer found such cold comfort from the great men +who had lured him to his ruin that he perforce made his way back to +England, along with a motley band of followers, English and French, +Scottish and Welsh.[1] A hue and cry was raised after him, and, like +William of Albemarle, he was forced to throw himself into sanctuary, +while Randolph of Chester openly joined the besiegers of Bedford. In his +refuge in a church at Coventry, Falkes was persuaded to surrender to the +bishop of the diocese, who handed him over to Langton. + + [1] The names of his _familia_ taken with him are in _Patent + Rolls of Henry III._, 1216-1227, pp. 461-62. + +During Falkes's wanderings his brother had been struggling valiantly +against overwhelming odds. _Petrariae_ and mangonels threw huge stones +into the castle, and effected breaches in keep and curtain. Miners +undermined the walls, while over-against the stronghold two lofty +structures of wood were raised, from which the crossbowmen, who manned +them, were able to command the whole of the interior. At last the +castle was captured in four successive assaults. In the first the +barbican was taken; in the next the outer baily was stormed; in the +third the interior baily was won; and in the last the keep was split +asunder. The garrison then allowed the women and captives, including +the wife of Falkes and the unlucky Braybrook, to make their way to the +enemies' lines. Next day the defenders themselves surrendered. The only +mercy shown to these gallant men was that they were allowed to make +their peace with the Church before their execution. Of the eighty +prisoners, three Templars alone were spared. + +Falkes threw himself upon the king's mercy, appealing to his former +services to Henry and his father. He surrendered to the King the large +sums of money which he had deposited with his bankers, the Templars of +London, and ordered his castellans in Plympton and the other +west-country castles of his wife to open their gates to the royal +officers. In return for these concessions he was released from +excommunication. His life was spared, but his property was confiscated, +and he was ordered to abjure the realm. Even his wife deserted him, +protesting that she had been forced to marry him against her will. On +October 26 he received letters of safe conduct to go beyond sea. As he +left England, he protested that he had been instigated by the English +magnates in all that he had done. On landing at Fecamp he was detained +by his old enemy Louis, then, by his father's death, King of France. +But Louis VIII. was the last man to bear old grudges against the Norman +adventurer, especially as Falkes's rising had enabled him to capture +the chief towns of Poitou. + +Even in his exile Falkes was still able to do mischief. He obtained his +release from Louis' prison about Easter, 1225, on the pretence of going +on crusade. He then made his way to Rome where he strove to excite the +sympathy of Honorius III., by presenting an artful memorial, which +throws a flood of light upon his character, motives, and hopes. +Honorius earnestly pleaded for his restitution, but Hubert and Langton +stood firm against him. They urged that the pope had been misinformed, +and declined to recall the exile. Honorius sent his chaplain Otto to +England, but the nuncio found it impossible to modify the policy of the +advisers of the king. Falkes went back from Italy to Troyes, where he +waited for a year in the hope that his sentence would be reversed. At +last Otto gave up his cause in despair, and devoted himself to the more +profitable work of exacting money from the English clergy. Falkes died +in 1226. With him disappears from our history the lawless spirit which +had troubled the land since the war between John and his barons. The +foreign adventurers, of whom he was the chief, either went back in +disgust to their native lands, or, like Peter de Mauley, became loyal +subjects and the progenitors of a harmless stock of English barons. The +ten years of storm and stress were over. The administration was once +more in English hands, and Hubert enjoyed a few years of well-earned +power. + +New difficulties at once arose. The defeat of the feudalists and their +Welsh allies involved heavy special taxation, and the king's honour +required that an effort should be made both to wrest Poitou from Louis +VIII., and to strengthen the English hold over Gascony. Besides +national obligations, clergy and laity alike were still called upon to +contribute towards the cost of crusading enterprises, and in 1226 the +papal nuncio, Otto, demanded that a large proportion of the revenues of +the English clergy should be contributed to the papal coffers. To the +Englishman of that age all extraordinary taxation was a grievance quite +irrespective of its necessity. The double incidence of the royal and +papal demands was met by protests which showed some tendency towards +the splitting up of the victorious side into parties. It was still easy +for all to unite against Otto, and the papal agent was forced to go +home empty handed, for councils both of clergy and barons agreed to +reject his demands. Whatever other nations might offer to the pope, +argued the magnates, the realms of England and Ireland at least had a +right to be freed from such impositions by reason of the tribute which +John had agreed to pay to Innocent III. The demand of the king's +ministers for a fifteenth to prosecute the war with France was +reluctantly conceded, but only on the condition of a fresh confirmation +of the charters in a form intended to bring home to the king his +personal obligation to observe them. Hubert de Burgh, however, was no +enthusiast for the charters. His standpoint was that of the officials +of the age of Henry II. To him the re-establishment of order meant the +restoration of the prerogative. There he parted company with the +archbishop, who was an eager upholder of the charters, for which he was +so largely responsible. The struggle against the foreigner was to be +succeeded by a struggle for the charters. + +In January, 1227, a council met at Oxford. The king, then nearly twenty +years old, declared that he would govern the country himself, and +renounced the tutelage of the Bishop of Winchester. Henry gave himself +over completely to the justiciar, whom he rewarded for his faithful +service by making him Earl of Kent. In deep disgust Bishop Peter left +the court to carry out his long-deferred crusading vows. For four years +he was absent in Palestine, where his military talents had ample scope +as one of the leaders of Frederick II.'s army, while his diplomatic +skill sought, with less result, to preserve some sort of relations +between the excommunicated emperor and the new pope, Gregory IX., who +in this same year succeeded Honorius. In April Gregory renewed the bull +of 1223 in which his predecessor recognised Henry's competence to +govern. + +Thus ended the first minority since the Conquest. The successful +restoration of law and order when the king was a child, showed that a +strong king was not absolutely necessary for good government. From the +exercise of royal authority by ministers without the personal +intervention of the monarch arose the ideas of limited monarchy, the +responsibility of the official, and the constitutional rights of the +baronial council to appoint ministers and control the administration. +We also discern, almost for the first time, the action of an inner +ministerial council which was ultimately to develop into the _consilium +ordinarium_ of a later age. + +No sudden changes attended the royal majority. Those who had persuaded +Henry to dismiss Bishop Peter had no policy beyond getting rid of a +hated rival. The new Earl of Kent continued to hold office as justiciar +for five years, and his ascendency is even more marked in the years +1227 to 1232 than it had been between 1224 and 1227. Hubert still found +the task of ruling England by no means easy. With the mitigation of +home troubles foreign affairs assumed greater importance, and England's +difficulties with France, the efforts to establish cordial relations +with the empire, the ever-increasing aggressions of Llewelyn of Wales, +and the chronic troubles of Ireland, involved the country in large +expenses with little compensating advantage. Not less uneasy were the +results of the growing encroachments of the papacy and the increasing +inability of the English clergy to face them. Papal taxation, added to +the burden of national taxation, induced discontent that found a ready +scapegoat in the justiciar. The old and the new baronial opposition +combined to denounce Hubert as the true cause of all evils. The +increasing personal influence of the young king complicated the +situation. In his efforts to deal with all these problems Hubert became +involved in the storm of obloquy which finally brought about his fall. + +At the accession of Henry III., the truce for five years concluded +between his father and Philip Augustus on September 18, 1214, had still +three years to run. The expedition of Louis to England might well seem +to have broken it, but the prudent disavowal by Philip II. of his son's +sacrilegious enterprise made it a point of policy for the French King +to regard it as still in force, and neither John nor the earl marshal +had a mind to face the enmity of the father as well as the invasion of +the son. Accordingly the truce ran out its full time, and in 1220 +Honorius III., ever zealous for peace between Christian sovereigns, +procured its prolongation for four years. Before this had expired, the +accession of Louis VIII. in 1223 raised the old enemy of King Henry to +the throne of France. Louis still coveted the English throne, and +desired to complete the conquest of Henry's French dominions in France. +His accession soon involved England in a new struggle, luckily delayed +until the worst of the disorders at home had been overcome. + +Peace was impossible because Louis, like Philip, regarded the +forfeiture of John as absolute, and as involving the right to deny to +Henry III. a legitimate title to any of his lands beyond sea. Henry, on +the other hand, was still styled Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou, +Count of Poitou, and Duke of Aquitaine. Claiming all that his father +had held, he refused homage to Philip or Louis for such French lands as +he actually possessed. For the first time since the Conquest, an +English king ruled over extensive French territories without any feudal +subjection to the King of France. However, Henry's French lands, though +still considerable, were but a shadow of those once ruled by his +father. Philip had conquered all Normandy, save the Channel Islands, +and also the whole of Anjou and Touraine. For a time he also gained +possession of Poitou, but before his death nearly the whole of that +region had slipped from his grasp. Poitiers, alone of its great towns, +remained in French hands. For the rest, both the barons and cities of +Poitou acknowledged the over-lordship of their English count. Too much +importance must not be ascribed to this revival of the English power. +Henry claimed very little domain in Poitou, which practically was +divided between the feudal nobles and the great communes. So long as +they maintained a virtual freedom, they were indifferent as to their +overlord. If they easily transferred their allegiance from Philip to +Henry, it was because the weakness of absentee counts was less to be +dreaded than the strength of a monarch near at hand. Meanwhile the +barons carried on their feuds one against the other, and all alike +joined in oppressing the townsmen. + +During Henry's minority the crown was not strong enough to deal with +the unruly Foitevins. Seneschals quickly succeeded each other; the +barons expected the office to be filled by one of their own order, and +the towns, jealous of hostile neighbours, demanded the appointment of +an Englishman. At last, in 1221, Savary de Mauleon, one of King John's +mercenaries, a poet, and a crusader against infidels and Albigenses, +was made seneschal. His English estates ensured some measure of +fidelity, and his energy and experience were guarantees of his +competence, though, as a younger member of the great house of Thouars, +he belonged by birth to the inner circle of the Poitevin nobility, +whose treachery, levity, and self-seeking were proverbial. The powerful +Viscounts of Thouars were constantly kept in check by their traditional +enemies the Counts of La Marche, whose representative, Hugh of +Lusignan, was by far the strongest of the local barons. His cousin, and +sometime betrothed, Isabella, Countess of Angouleme, the widow of King +John, had left England to resume the administration of her dominions. +Early in 1220 she married Hugh, justifying herself to her son on the +ground that it would be dangerous to his interests if the Count of La +Marche should contract an alliance with the French party. But this was +mere excuse. The union of La Marche and Angouleme largely increased +Count Hugh's power, and he showed perfect impartiality in pursuing his +own interests by holding a balance between his stepson and the King of +France. Against him neither Savary nor the Poitevin communes could +contend with success. The anarchy of Poitou was an irresistible +temptation to Louis VII. "Know you," he wrote to the men of Limoges, +"that John, king of England, was deprived by the unanimous judgment of +his peers of all the lands which he held of our father Philip. We have +now received in inheritance all our father's rights, and require you to +perform the service that you owe us." While the English government +weakly negotiated for the prolongation of the truce, and for the pope's +intervention, Louis concluded treaties with the Poitevin barons, and +made ready an army to conquer his inheritance. Foremost among his local +partisans appeared Henry's stepfather. + +The French army met at Tours on June 24, 1224, and marched through +Thouars to La Rochelle, the strongest of the Poitevin towns, and the +most devoted to England. On the way Louis forced Savary de Mauleon to +yield up Niort, and to promise to defend no other place than La +Rochelle, before which city he sat down on July 15. At first Savary +resisted vigorously. The siege of Bedford, however, prevented the +despatch of effective help from England, and Savary was perhaps already +secretly won over by Louis. Be this as it may, the town surrendered on +August 3, and with it went all Aquitaine north of the Dordogne. Savary +took service with the conqueror, and was made warden of La Rochelle and +of the adjacent coasts, while Lusignan received the reward of his +treachery in a grant of the Isle of Oleron. When Louis returned to the +north, the Count of La Marche undertook the conquest of Gascony. He +soon made himself master of St. Emilion, and of the whole of Perigord. +The surrender of La Reole opened up the passage of the Garonne, and the +capture of Bazas gave the French a foothold to the south of that river. +Only the people of Bordeaux showed any spirit in resisting Hugh. But +their resistance proved sufficient, and he withdrew baffled before +their walls. + +The easiness of Louis' conquests showed their instability. "I am sure," +wrote one of Henry's officers, "that you can easily recover all that you +have lost, if you send speedy succour to these regions." After the +capture of Bedford, Hubert undertook the recovery of Poitou and the +defence of Gascony. Henry's younger brother Richard, a youth of sixteen, +was appointed Earl of Cornwall and Count of Poitou, dubbed knight by his +brother, and put in nominal command of the expedition despatched to +Gascony in March, 1225. His experienced uncle, William Longsword, Earl +of Salisbury, and Philip of Aubigny, were sent with him as his chief +counsellors. Received with open arms by Bordeaux, he boasted on May 2 +that he had conquered all Gascony, save La Reole, and had received the +allegiance of every Gascon noble, except Elie Rudel, the lord of +Bergerac. The siege of La Reole, the only serious military operation of +the campaign, occupied Richard all the summer and autumn, and it was not +until November 13 that the burgesses opened their gates. As soon as the +French had retired, the lord of Bergerac, "after the fashion of the +Poitevins," renounced Louis and professed himself the liegeman of Earl +Richard. Then the worst trouble was that Savary de Mauleon's ships +commanded the Bay of Biscay, and rendered communication between Bordeaux +and England very difficult.[1] Once more the men of the Cinque Ports +came to the king's aid, and there was severe fighting at sea, involving +much plunder of merchant vessels and dislocation of trade. + + [1] The names of his _familia_ taken with him are in _Patent + Rolls of Henry III._, 1216-1227, pp. 461-62. + +The English sought to supplement their military successes by diplomacy. +Richard of Cornwall made an alliance with the counts of Auvergne, and +the home administration negotiated with all possible enemies of the +French King. A proposal to affiance Henry's sister, Isabella, to Henry, +King of the Romans, the infant son of Frederick II., led to no results, +for the Archbishop of Cologne, the chief upholder of the scheme in +Germany, was murdered, and the young king found a bride in Austria. Yet +the project counteracted the negotiations set on foot by Louis to +secure Frederick II. for his own side, and induced the Emperor to take +up a position of neutrality. An impostor appeared in Flanders who gave +out that he was the old Count Baldwin, sometime Latin Emperor of the +East, who had died in prison in Bulgaria twenty years before. Baldwin's +daughter, Joan, appealed to Louis for support against the false +Baldwin, whereupon Henry recognised his claims and sought his alliance. +Nothing but the capture and execution of the impostor prevented Henry +from effecting a powerful diversion in Flanders. Peter Mauclerc, Count +of Brittany, was won over by an offer of restitution to his earldom of +Richmond, and by a promise that Henry would marry his daughter Iolande. +Intrigues were entered into with the discontented Norman nobles, and +the pope was importuned to save Henry from French assaults at the same +moment that the king made a treaty of alliance with his first cousin, +the heretical Raymond VII. of Toulouse. Honorius gave his ward little +save sympathy and good advice. His special wish was to induce Louis to +lead a French expedition into Languedoc against the Albigensian +heretics. As soon as Louis resolved on this, the pope sought to prevent +Henry from entering into unholy alliance with Raymond. It was the +crusade of 1226, not the good-will of the Pope or the fine-drawn +English negotiations, which gave Gascony a short respite. Louis VIII. +died on November 8 in the course of his expedition, and the Capetian +monarchy became less dangerous during the troubles of a minority, in +which his widow, Blanche, strove as regent to uphold the throne of +their little son, Louis IX. + +The first months of Louis IX.'s reign showed how unstable was any +edifice built upon the support of the treacherous lords of Poitou. +Within six weeks of Louis VIII.'s death, Hugh of Lusignan, the viscount +of Thouars, Savary de Mauleon, and many other Poitevin barons, +concluded treaties with Richard of Cornwall, by which in return for +lavish concessions they went back to the English obedience. In the +spring of 1227, however, the appearance of a French army south of the +Loire caused these same lords to make fresh treaties with Blanche. +Peter of Brittany also became friendly with the French regent, and gave +up his daughter's English marriage. With allies so shifty, further +dealings seemed hopeless. Before Easter, Richard patched up a truce and +went home in disgust. The Capetians lost Poitou, but Henry failed to +take advantage of his rival's weakness, and the real masters of the +situation were the local barons. Fifteen more years were to elapse +before the definitive French conquest of Poitou. + +During the next three years the good understanding between the Bretons, +the Poitevins, and the regent Blanche came to an end, and the progress +of the feudal reaction against the rule of the young King of France +once more excited hopes of improving Henry's position in south-western +France. Henry III. was eager to win back his inheritance, though Hubert +de Burgh had little faith in Poitevin promises, and, conscious of his +king's weakness, managed to prolong the truce, until July 22, 1229. +Three months before that, Blanche succeeded in forcing the unfortunate +Raymond VII. to accept the humiliating treaty of Meaux, which assured +the succession to his dominions to her second son Alfonse, who was to +marry his daughter and heiress, Joan. The barons of the north and west +were not yet defeated, and once more appealed to Henry to come to their +aid. Accordingly, the English king summoned his vassals to Portsmouth +on October 15 for a French campaign. When Henry went down to Portsmouth +he found that there were not enough ships to convey his troops over +sea. Thereupon he passionately denounced the justiciar as an "old +traitor," and accused him of being bribed by the French queen. Nothing +but the intervention of Randolph of Chester, Hubert's persistent enemy, +put an end to the undignified scene. + +Count Peter of Brittany, who arrived at Portsmouth on the 9th, did +homage to Henry as King of France, and received the earldom of Richmond +and the title of Duke of Brittany which he had long coveted, but which +the French government refused to recognise. He persuaded Henry to +postpone the expedition until the following spring. When that time came +Henry appointed Ralph Neville, the chancellor, and Stephen Segrave, a +rising judge, as wardens of England, and on May 1, 1230, set sail from +Portsmouth. It was the first time since 1213 that an English king had +crossed the seas at the head of an army, and every effort was made to +equip a sufficient force. Hubert the justiciar, Randolph of Chester, +William the marshal, and most of the great barons personally shared in +the expedition, and the ports of the Channel, the North Sea, and the +Bay of Biscay were ransacked to provide adequate shipping. Many Norman +vessels served as transports, apparently of their owners' free-will. + +On May 3 Henry landed at St. Malo, and thence proceeded to Dinan, the +meeting-place assigned for his army, the greater part of which landed at +Port Blanc, a little north of Treguier. Peter Mauclerc joined him, and a +plan of operations was discussed. The moment was favourable, for a great +number of the French magnates were engaged in war against Theobald, the +poet-count of Champagne, and the French army, which was assembled at +Angers, represented but a fraction of the military strength of the land. +Fulk Paynel, a Norman baron who wished to revive the independence of the +duchy, urged Henry to invade Normandy. Hubert successfully withstood +this rash proposal, and also Fulk's fatal suggestion that Henry should +divide his army and send two hundred knights for the invasion of +Normandy. Before long the English marched through Brittany to Nantes, +where they wasted six weeks. At last, on the advice of Hubert, they +journeyed south into Poitou. The innate Poitevin instability had again +brought round the Lusignans, the house of Thouars, and their kind to the +French side, and Henry found that his own mother did her best to +obstruct his progress. He was too strong to make open resistance safe, +and his long progress from Nantes to Bordeaux was only once checked by +the need to fight his way. This opposition came from the little town and +castle of Mirambeau, situated in Upper Saintonge, rather more than +half-way between Saintes and Blaye.[1] From July 21 to 30 Mirambeau +stoutly held out, but Henry's army was reinforced by the chivalry of +Gascony, and by a siege-train borrowed from Bordeaux and the loyal lords +of the Garonne. Against such appliances of warfare Mirambeau could not +long resist. On its capitulation Henry pushed on to Bordeaux. + + [1] E. Berger, _Bibl. Ecole des Chartes_, 1893, _pp. 35-36_, + shows that Mirambeau, not Mirebeau, was besieged by Henry; see + also his _Blanche de Castille_ (1895). + +Useless as the march through Poitou had been, it was then repeated in +the reverse way. With scarcely a week's rest, Henry left the Gascon +capital on August 10, and on September 15 ended his inglorious campaign +at Nantes. Although he was unable to assert himself against the +faithless Poitevins, the barons of the province were equally impotent +to make head against him. On reaching Brittany, Hubert once more +stopped further military efforts. After a few days' rest at Nantes, +Henry made his way by slow stages through the heart of Brittany. It was +said that his army had no better occupation than teaching the local +nobles to drink deep after the English fashion. The King had wasted all +his treasure, and the poorer knights were compelled to sell or pawn +their horses and arms to support themselves. The farce ended when the +King sailed from St. Pol de Leon, and late in October landed at +Portsmouth. He left a portion of his followers in Brittany, under the +Earls of Chester and Pembroke. Randolph himself, as a former husband of +Constance of Brittany, had claims to certain dower lands which +appertained to Count Peter's mother-in-law. He was put in possession of +St. James de Beuvron, and thence he raided Normandy and Anjou. By this +time the coalition against the count of Champagne had broken down, and +Blanche was again triumphant. It was useless to continue a struggle so +expensive and disastrous, and on July 4, 1231, a truce for three years +was concluded between France, Brittany, and England. Peter des Roches, +then returning through France from his crusade, took an active part in +negotiating the treaty. Just as the king was disposed to make the +justiciar the scapegoat of his failure, Hubert's old enemy appeared +once more upon the scene. The responsibility for blundering must be +divided among the English magnates, and not ascribed solely to their +monarch. If Hubert saved Henry from reckless adventures, he certainly +deserves a large share of the blame for the Poitevin fiasco. + +The grave situation at home showed the folly of this untimely revival +of an active foreign policy. The same years that saw the collapse of +Henry's hopes in Normandy and Poitou, witnessed troubles both in +Ireland and in Wales. In both these regions the house of the Marshals +was a menace to the neighbouring chieftains, and Hugh de Lacy, Earl of +Ulster, and Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, made common cause against it and +vigorously attacked their rivals both in Leinster and in South Wales. +Nor was this the only disturbance. The summons of the Norman chieftains +of Ireland to Poitou gave the king of Connaught a chance of attacking +the justiciar of Ireland, Geoffrey Marsh, who ultimately drove the +Irish back with severe loss. Llewelyn was again as active and hostile +as ever. Irritated by the growing strength of the new royal castle of +Montgomery, he laid siege to it in 1228. Hubert de Burgh, then +castellan of Montgomery, could only save his castle by summoning the +levies of the kingdom. At their head Hubert went in person to hold the +field against Llewelyn, taking the king with him. The Welsh withdrew as +usual before a regular army, and Hubert and the king, late in +September, marched a few miles westwards of Montgomery to the vale of +Kerry, where they erected a castle. But Llewelyn soon made the English +position in Kerry untenable. Many of the English lords were secretly in +league with him, and the army suffered severely from lack of food. In +the fighting that ensued the Welsh got the better of the English, +taking prisoner William de Braose, the heir of Builth, and one of the +greatest of the marcher lords. At last king and justiciar were glad to +agree to demolish the new castle on receiving from Llewelyn the +expenses involved in the task. The dismantled ruin was called "Hubert's +folly". "And then," boasts the Welsh chronicler, "the king returned to +England with shame." + +In 1230 Llewelyn inflicted another slight upon his overlord. William de +Braose long remained the Welsh prince's captive, and only purchased his +liberty by agreeing to wed his daughter to Llewelyn's son, and +surrendering Builth as her marriage portion. The captive had employed +his leisure in winning the love of Llewelyn's wife, Joan, Henry's +half-sister. At Easter, Llewelyn took a drastic revenge on the +adulterer. He seized William in his own castle at Builth, and on May 2 +hanged him on a tree in open day in the presence of 900 witnesses. +Finding that neither the king nor the marchers moved a finger to avenge +the outrage done to sister and comrade, Llewelyn took the aggressive in +regions which had hitherto been comparatively exempt from his assaults. +In 1231 he laid his heavy hand on all South Wales, burning down +churches full of women, as the English believed, and signalling out for +special attack the marshal's lands in Gwent and Pembroke. Once more the +king penetrated with his barons into Mid Wales, while the pope and +archbishop excommunicated Llewelyn and put his lands under interdict. +Yet neither temporal nor spiritual arms were of avail against the +Welshman. Henry's only exploit in this, his second Welsh campaign, was +to rebuild Maud's Castle in stone. He withdrew, and in December agreed +to conclude a three years' truce, and procure Llewelyn's absolution. +Hubert once more bore the blame of his master's failure. + +On July 9, 1228, Stephen Langton died. Despite their differences as to +the execution of the charters, his removal lost the justiciar a +much-needed friend. Affairs were made worse by the unteachable folly of +the monks of Christ Church. Regardless of the severe warning which they +had received in the storms that preceded the establishment of Langton's +authority, the chapter forthwith proceeded to the election of their +brother monk, Walter of Eynsham. The archbishop-elect was an ignorant +old monk of weak health and doubtful antecedents, and Gregory IX. +wisely refused to confirm the election. On the recommendation of the +king and the bishops, Gregory himself appointed as archbishop Richard, +chancellor of Lincoln, an eloquent and learned secular priest of +handsome person, whose nickname of "le Grand" was due to his tall +stature. The first Archbishop of Canterbury since the Conquest directly +nominated by the pope--for even in Langton's case there was a form of +election--Richard le Grand at once began to quarrel with the justiciar, +demanding that he should surrender the custody of Tunbridge castle on +the ground of some ancient claim of the see of Canterbury. Failing to +obtain redress in England, Richard betook himself to Rome in the spring +of 1231. There he regaled the pope's ears with the offences of Hubert, +and of the worldly bishops who were his tools. In August, Richard's +death in Italy left the Church of Canterbury for three years without a +pastor. + +While Gregory IX. did more to help Henry against Louis than Honorius +III., the inflexible character and lofty hierarchical ideals of this +nephew of Innocent III. made his hand heavier on the English Church +than that of his predecessor. Above all, Gregory's expenses in pursuing +his quarrel with Frederick II. made the wealth of the English Church a +sore temptation to him. With his imposition of a tax of one-tenth on +all clerical property to defray the expenses of the crusade against the +emperor, papal taxation in England takes a newer and severer phase. The +rigour with which Master Stephen, the pope's collector, extorted the +tax was bitterly resented. Not less loud was the complaint against the +increasing numbers of foreign ecclesiastics forced into English +benefices by papal authority, and without regard for the rights of the +lawful patrons and electors. A league of aggrieved tax-payers and +patrons was formed against the Roman agents. At Eastertide, 1232, bands +of men, headed by a knight named Robert Twenge, who took the nickname +of William Wither, despoiled the Romans of their gains, and distributed +the proceeds to the poor. These doings were the more formidable from +their excellent organisation, and the strong sympathy everywhere +extended to them. Hubert, who hated foreign interference, did nothing +to stop Twenge and his followers. His inaction further precipitated his +ruin. Archbishop Richard had already poisoned the pope's mind against +him, and his suspected connivance with the anti-Roman movement +completed his disfavour. Bitter letters of complaint arrived in England +denouncing the outrages inflicted on the friends of the apostolic see. +It is hard to dissociate the pope's feeling in this matter from his +rejection of the nomination of the king's chancellor, Ralph Neville, +Bishop of Chichester, to the see of Canterbury, as an illiterate +politician. + +The dislike of the taxes made necessary by the Welsh and French wars, +such as the "scutage of Poitou" and the "scutage of Kerry," swelled the +outcry against the justiciar. So far back as 1227 advantage had been +taken of Henry's majority to exact large sums of money for the +confirmation of all charters sealed during his nonage. The barons made +it a grievance that his brother Richard was ill-provided for, and a +rising in 1227 extorted a further provision for him from what was +regarded as the niggardliness of the justiciar. Nor did Hubert, with +all his rugged honesty, neglect his own interests. He secured for +himself lucrative wardships, such as the custody for the second time of +the great Gloucester earldom, and of several castles, including the not +very profitable charge of Montgomery, and the important governorship of +Dover. On the very eve of his downfall he was made justice of Ireland. +His brother was bishop of Ely, and other kinsmen were promoted to high +posts. He was satisfied that he spent all that he got in the King's +service, in promoting the interests of the kingdom, but his enemies +regarded him as unduly tenacious of wealth and office. All classes +alike grew disgusted with the justiciar. The restoration of the malign +influence of Peter of Winchester completed his ruin. The king greedily +listened to the complaints of his old guardian against the minister who +overshadowed the royal power. At last, on July 29, 1232, Henry plucked +up courage to dismiss him. + +With Hubert's fall ends the second period of Henry's reign. William +Marshal expelled the armed foreigner. Hubert restored the +administration to English hands. Matthew Paris puts into the mouth of a +poor smith who refused to fasten fetters on the fallen minister words +which, though probably never spoken, describe with sufficient accuracy +Hubert's place in history: "Is he not that most faithful Hubert who so +often saved England from the devastation of the foreigners and restored +England to England?" Hubert was, as has been well said, perhaps the +first minister since the Conquest who made patriotism a principle of +policy, though it is easy in the light of later developments to read +into his doings more than he really intended. But whatever his motives, +the results of his action were clear. He drove away the mercenaries, +humbled the feudal lords, and set limits to the pope's interference. He +renewed respect for law and obedience to the law courts. Even in the +worst days of anarchy the administrative system did not break down, and +the records of royal orders and judicial judgments remain almost as +full in the midst of the civil war as in the more peaceful days of +Hubert's rule. But it was easy enough to issue proclamations and writs. +The difficulty was to get them obeyed, and the work of Hubert was to +ensure that the orders of king and ministers should really be respected +by his subjects. He made many mistakes. He must share the blame of the +failure of the Kerry campaign, and he was largely responsible for the +sorry collapse of the invasion of Poitou. He neither understood nor +sympathised with Stephen Langton's zeal for the charters. A +straightforward, limited, honourable man, he strove to carry out his +rather old-fashioned conception of duty in the teeth of a thousand +obstacles. He never had a free hand, and he never enjoyed the hearty +support of any one section of his countrymen. Hated by the barons whom +he kept away from power, he alienated the Londoners by his high-handed +violence, and the tax-payers by his heavy exactions. The pope disliked +him, the aliens plotted against him, and the king, for whom he +sacrificed so much, gave him but grudging support. But the reaction +which followed his retirement made many, who had rejoiced in his +humiliation, bitterly regret it. + +Three notable enemies of Hubert went off the stage of history within a +few months of his fall. The death of Richard le Grand has already been +recorded. William Marshal, the brother-in-law of the king, the gallant +and successful soldier, the worthy successor of his great father, came +home from Brittany early in 1231. His last act was to marry his sister, +Isabella, to Richard of Cornwall. Within ten days of the wedding his +body was laid beside his father in the Temple Church at London. In +October, 1232, died Randolph of Blundeville, the last representative of +the male stock of the old line of the Earls of Chester, and long the +foremost champion of the feudal aristocracy against Hubert. The contest +between them had been fought with such chivalry that the last public act +of the old earl was to protect the fallen justiciar from the violence of +his foes. For more than fifty years Randolph had ruled like a king over +his palatine earldom; had, like his master, his struggles with his own +vassals, and had perforce to grant to his own barons and boroughs +liberties which he strove to wrest from his overlord for himself and his +fellow nobles. He was not a great statesman, and hardly even a +successful warrior. Yet his popular personal qualities, his energy, his +long duration of power, and his enormous possessions, give him a place +in history. His memory, living on long in the minds of the people, +inspired a series of ballads which vied in popularity with the cycle of +Robin Hood,[1] though, unfortunately, they have not come down to us. His +estates were divided among his four sisters. His nephew, John the Scot, +Earl of Huntingdon, received a re-grant of the Chester earldom; his +Lancashire lands had already gone to his brother-in-law, William of +Ferrars, Earl of Derby; other portions of his territories went to his +sister, the Countess of Arundel, and the Lincoln earldom, passing +through another sister, Hawise of Quincy, to her son-in-law, John of +Lacy, constable of Chester, raised the chief vassal of the palatinate to +comital rank. None of these heirs of a divided inheritance were true +successors to Randolph. With him died the last of the great Norman +houses, tenacious beyond its fellows, and surpassing in its two +centuries of unbroken male descent the usual duration of the medieval +baronial family. Its collapse made easier the alien invasion which +threatened to undo Hubert's work. + + [1] "Ich can rymes of Robyn Hode, and of Randolf erl of + Chestre," _Vision of Piers Plowman_, i., 167; ii., 94. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ALIEN INVASION. + + +With the dismissal of Hubert on July 29, 1232, Peter des Roches resumed +his authority over Henry III. Mindful of past failures, the bishop's +aim was to rule through dependants, so that he could pull the wires +without making himself too prominent. His chief agents in pursuing this +policy were Peter of Rivaux, Stephen Segrave, and Robert Passelewe. Of +these, Peter of Rivaux was a Poitevin clerk, officially described as +the bishop's nephew, but generally supposed to have been his son. +Stephen Segrave, the son of a small Leicestershire landholder, was a +lawyer who had held many judicial and administrative posts, including +the regency during the king's absence abroad in 1230. He abandoned his +original clerical profession, received knighthood, married nobly, and +was the founder of a baronial house in the midlands. His only political +principle was obedience to the powers that were in the ascendant. +Passelewe, a clerk who had acted as the agent of Randolph of Chester +and Falkes of Breaute at the Roman court, was, like Segrave, a mere +tool. + +The Bishop of Winchester began to show his hand. Between June 26 and +July 11, nineteen of the thirty-five sheriffdoms were bestowed on Peter +of Rivaux for life. As Segrave was sheriff of five shires, and the +bishop himself had acquired the shrievalty of Hampshire, this involved +the transference of the administration of over two-thirds of the +counties to the bishop's dependants. On the downfall of Hubert, Segrave +became justiciar. He was not the equal of his predecessors either in +personal weight or in social position, and did not aspire to act as +chief minister. The appointment of a mere lawyer to the great Norman +office of state marks the first stage in the decline, which before long +degraded the justiciarship into a simple position of headship over the +judges, the chief justiceship of the next generation. Hubert's offices +and lands were divided among his supplanters. Peter of Rivaux became +keeper of wards and escheats, castellan of many castles on the Welsh +march, and the recipient of even more offices and wardships in Ireland +than in England. The custody of the Gloucester earldom went to the +Bishop of Winchester. The last steps of the ministerial revolution were +completed at the king's Christmas court at Worcester. There Rivaux, who +had yielded up before Michaelmas most of his shrievalties, was made +treasurer, with Passelewe as his deputy. Of the old ministers only the +chancellor, Ralph Neville, Bishop of Chichester, was suffered to remain +in office. Finally the king's new advisers imported a large company of +Poitevin and Breton mercenaries, hoping with their help to maintain +their newly won position. The worst days of John seemed renewed. + +The Poitevin gang called upon Hubert to render complete accounts for +the whole period of his justiciarship. When he pleaded that King John +had given him a charter of quittance, he was told that its force had +ended with the death of the grantor. He was further required to answer +for the wrongs which Twenge's bands had inflicted on the servants of +the pope. He was accused of poisoning William Earl of Salisbury, +William Marshal, Falkes de Breaute, and Archbishop Richard. He had +prevented the king from contracting a marriage with a daughter of the +Duke of Austria; he had dissuaded the king from attempting to recover +Normandy; he had first seduced and then married the daughter of the +King of Scots; he had stolen from the treasury a talisman which made +its possessor invincible in war and had traitorously given it to +Llewelyn of Wales; he had induced Llewelyn to slay William de Braose; +he had won the royal favour by magic and witchcraft, and finally he had +murdered Constantine FitzAthulf. + +Many of these accusations were so monstrous that they carried with them +their own refutation. It was too often the custom in the middle ages to +overwhelm an enemy with incredible charges for it to be fair to accuse +the enemies of Hubert of any excessive malignity. The substantial +innocence of Hubert is clear, for the only charges brought against him +were either errors of judgment and policy, or incredible crimes. +Nevertheless he was in such imminent danger that he took sanctuary with +the canons of Merton in Surrey. Thereupon the king called upon the +Londoners to march to Merton and bring their ancient foe, dead or +alive, to the city. Randolph of Chester interposed between his fallen +enemy and the royal vengeance. He persuaded Henry to countermand the +march to Merton and to suffer the fallen justiciar to leave his refuge +with some sort of safe conduct. But the king was irritated to hear that +Hubert had journeyed into Essex. Again he was pursued, and once more he +was forced to take sanctuary, this time in a chapel near Brentwood. +From this he was dragged by some of the king's household and brought to +London, where he was imprisoned in the Tower. The Bishop of London +complained to the king of this violation of the rights of the Church, +and Hubert was allowed to return to his chapel. However, the levies of +Essex surrounded the precincts, and he was soon forced by hunger to +surrender. He offered to submit himself to the king's will, and was for +a second time confined in the Tower. On November 10, he was brought +before a not unfriendly tribunal, in which the malice of the new +justiciar was tempered by the baronial instincts of the Earls of +Cornwall, Warenne, Pembroke, and Lincoln. He made no effort to defend +himself, and submitted absolutely to the judgment of the king. It was +finally agreed that he should be allowed to retain the lands which he +had inherited from his father, and that all his chattels and the lands +that he had acquired himself should be forfeited to the crown. Further, +he was to be kept in prison in the castle of Devizes under the charge +of the four earls who had tried him. + +Peter des Roches was soon in difficulties. The earls who had saved +Hubert began to oppose the whole administration. Their leader was +Richard, Earl of Pembroke, the second son of the great regent, and +since his brother's death head of the house of Marshal. Richard was +bitterly prejudiced against the king and his courtiers by an attempt to +refuse him his brother's earldom. A gallant warrior, handsome and +eloquent, pious, upright, and well educated, Richard, the best of the +marshal's sons, stood for the rest of his short life at the head of the +opposition. He incited his friends to refuse to attend a council +summoned to meet at Oxford, on June 24, 1233. The king would have +sought to compel their presence, had not a Dominican friar, Robert +Bacon, when preaching before the court, warned him that there would be +no peace in England until Bishop Peter and his son were removed from +his counsels. The friar's boldness convinced him that disaffection was +widespread, and he promised the magnates at a later council at London +that he would, with their advice, correct whatever he found there was +need to reform. Meanwhile the Poitevins brought into England fresh +swarms of hirelings from their own land, and Peter des Roches urged +Henry to crush rebellion in the bud. As a warning to greater offenders, +Gilbert Basset was deprived of a manor which he had held since the +reign of King John, and an attempt was made to lay violent hands upon +his brother-in-law, Richard Siward. The two barons resisted, whereupon +all their estates were transferred to Peter of Rivaux. Yet Richard +Marshal still continued to hope for peace, and, after the failure of +earlier councils, set off to attend another assembly fixed for August +1, at Westminster. On his way he learnt from his sister Isabella, the +wife of Richard of Cornwall, that Peter des Roches was laying a trap +for him. In high indignation he took horse for his Welsh estates, and +prepared for rebellion. + +The king summoned the military tenants to appear with horses and arms +at Gloucester on the 14th. There Richard Marshal was declared a traitor +and an invasion of his estates was ordered. But the king had not +sufficient resources to carry out his threats, and October saw the +barons once more wrangling with Henry at Westminster, and claiming that +the marshal should be tried by his peers. Peter of Winchester declared +that there were no peers in England as there were in France, and that +in consequence the king had power to condemn any disloyal subject +through his justices. This daringly unconstitutional doctrine provoked +a renewed outcry. The bishops joined the secular magnates, and +threatened their colleague with excommunication. A formidable civil war +broke out. Siward and Basset harried the lands of the Poitevins, while +the marshal made a close alliance with Llewelyn of Wales. The king +still had formidable forces on his side. Richard of Cornwall was +persuaded by Bishop Peter to take up arms for his brother, and the two +new earls, John the Scot of Chester, and John de Lacy of Lincoln, +joined the royal forces. Hubert de Burgh took advantage of the +increasing confusion to escape from Devizes castle to a church in the +town. Dragged back with violence to his prison, he was again, as at +Brentwood, restored to sanctuary through the exertions of the bishop of +the diocese. There he remained, closely watched by his foes, until +October 30, when Siward and Basset drove away the guard, and took him +off with them to the marshal's castle of Chepstow. + +The tide of war flowed to the southern march of Wales. Llewelyn and +Richard Marshal devastated Glamorgan, which, as a part of the +Gloucester inheritance, was under the custody of the Bishop of +Winchester. They took nearly all its castles, including that of +Cardiff. Thence they subdued Usk, Abergavenny, and other neighbouring +strongholds, while an independent army, including the marshal's +Pembrokeshire vassals and the men of the princes of South Wales, wasted +months in a vain attack on Carmarthen. The king's vassals were again +summoned to Gloucester, whence Henry led them early in November towards +Chepstow, the centre of the marshal's estates in Gwent. Earl Richard +devastated his lands so effectively that the king could not support his +army on them, and was compelled to move up the Wye valley towards the +castles of Monmouth, Skenfrith, Whitecastle, and Grosmont, the strong +quadrilateral of Upper Gwent which still remained in the hands of the +king's friends. Marching to the most remote of these, Grosmont, on the +upper Monnow, Henry spent several days in the castle, while his army +lay around under canvas. On the night of November 11, the sleeping +soldiers were suddenly set upon by the barons and their Welsh allies; +they fled unarmed to the castle, or scattered in confusion. The +assailants seized their horses, harness, arms and provisions, but +refrained from slaying or capturing them. The royal forces never +rallied. Many gladly went home, giving as their excuse that they were +unable to fight since they had lost their equipment. Henry and his +ministers withdrew to Gloucester. More convinced than ever of the +treachery of Englishmen, the king entrusted the defence of the border +castles to mercenaries from Poitou. + +The fighting centred round Monmouth, which Richard approached on the +25th with a small company. A sudden sortie almost overwhelmed the +little band. The marshal held his own heroically against twelve, until +at last Baldwin of Guines, the warden of the castle, took him prisoner. +Thereupon Baldwin fell to the ground, his armour pierced by a lucky +bolt from a crossbow. His followers, smitten with panic, abandoned the +marshal, and bore their leader home. By that time, however, the bulk of +the marshal's forces had come upon the scene. A general engagement +followed, in which the Anglo-Welsh army drove the enemy back into +Monmouth and took possession of the castle. This set the marshal free +to march northwards and join Llewelyn in a vigorous attack upon +Shrewsbury. In January, 1234, they burnt that town and retired to their +own lands loaded with booty. Meanwhile Siward devastated the estates of +the Poitevins and of Richard of Cornwall. Afraid to be cut off from his +retreat to England the king abandoned Gloucester, where he had kept his +melancholy Christmas court, and found a surer refuge in Bishop Peter's +cathedral city. Thereupon Gloucestershire suffered the fate of +Shropshire. "It was a wretched sight for travellers in that region to +see on the highways innumerable dead bodies lying naked and unburied, +to be devoured by birds of prey, and so polluting the air that they +infected healthy men with mortal sickness."[1] + + [1] Wendover, iv., 291. + +The king swore that he would never make peace with the marshal, unless +he threw himself on the royal mercy as a confessed traitor with a rope +round his neck. Having, however, exhausted all his military resources, +he cunningly strove to entice Richard from Wales to Ireland. The two +Peters wrote to Maurice Fitzgerald, then justiciar of Ireland, and to +the chief foes of the marshal, urging them to fall upon his Irish +estates and capture the traitor, dead or alive. Many of the most +powerful nobles of Ireland lent themselves to the conspiracy. The Lacys +of Meath, his old enemies, joined with Fitzgerald, Geoffrey Marsh, and +Richard de Burgh, the greatest of the Norman lords of Connaught, and +the nephew of Hubert, in carrying out the plot. The confederates fell +suddenly upon the marshal's estates and devastated them with fire and +sword. On hearing of this attack Richard immediately left Wales, and, +accompanied by only fifteen knights, took ship for Ireland. On his +arrival Geoffrey Marsh, the meanest of the conspirators, received him +with every profession of cordiality, and urged him to attack his +enemies without delay. Geoffrey was an old man; he had long held the +great post of justiciar of Ireland; and he was himself the liegeman of +the marshal. Richard therefore implicitly trusted him, and forthwith +took the field. + +The first warlike operations of Earl Richard were successful. After a +short siege he obtained possession of Limerick, and his enemies were +fain to demand a truce. Richard proposed a conference to be held on +April 1, 1234, on the Curragh of Kildare. The conference proved +abortive, for Geoffrey Marsh cunningly persuaded the marshal to refuse +any offer of terms which the magnates would accept, and Richard found +that he had been duped into taking up a position that he was not strong +enough to maintain. Marsh withdrew from his side, on the ground that he +could not fight against Lacy, whose sister he had married. The marshal +foresaw the worst. "I know," he declared, "that this day I am delivered +over to death, but it is better to die honourably for the cause of +justice than to flee from the field and become a reproach to +knighthood." + +The forsworn Irish knights slunk away to neighbouring places of +sanctuary or went over to the enemy. When the final struggle came, later +on the same April 1, Richard had few followers save the faithful fifteen +knights who had crossed over with him from Wales. The little band, +outnumbered by more than nine to one, struggled desperately to the end. +At last the marshal, unhorsed and severely wounded, fell into the hands +of his enemies. They bore him, more dead than alive, to his own castle +of Kilkenny, which had just been seized by the justiciar. After a few +days Richard's tough constitution began to get the better of his wounds. +Then his enemies, showing him the royal warranty for their acts, induced +him to admit them into his castles. An ignorant or treacherous surgeon, +called in by the justiciar, cauterised his wounds so severely that his +sufferings became intense. He died of fever on the 16th, and was buried, +as he himself had willed, in the Franciscan church at Kilkenny. No one +rejoiced at the death of the hero save the traitors who had lured him to +his doom and the Poitevins who had suborned them. Their victim, the weak +king, mourned for his friend as David had lamented Saul and Jonathan.[1] +The treachery of his enemies brought them little profit. While Richard +Marshal lay on his deathbed, a new Archbishop of Canterbury drove the +Poitevins from office. + + [1] _Dunstable Ann._, p. 137. + +In the heyday of the Poitevins' power the Church sounded a feeble but +clear note of alarm. The pope expostulated with Henry for his treatment +of Hubert de Burgh, and Agnellus of Pisa, the first English provincial +of the newly arrived Franciscan order, strove to reconcile Richard +Marshal with his sovereign in the course of the South-Welsh campaign. +More drastic action was necessary if vague remonstrance was to be +translated into fruitful action. The three years' vacancy of the see of +Canterbury, after the death of Richard le Grand, paralysed the action +of the Church. After the pope's rejection of the first choice of the +convent of Christ Church, the chancellor, Ralph Neville, the monks +elected their own prior, and him also Gregory refused as too old and +incompetent. Their third election fell upon John Blunt, a theologian +high in the favour of Peter des Roches, who sent him to Rome, well +provided with ready money, to secure his confirmation. Simon Langton, +again restored to England, and archdeacon of Canterbury, persuaded the +pope to veto Blunt's appointment on the ground of his having held two +benefices without a dispensation. His rejection was the first check +received by the Poitevin faction. It was promptly followed by a more +crushing blow. Weary of the long delay, Gregory persuaded the Christ +Church monks then present at Rome to elect Edmund Rich, treasurer of +Salisbury. Edmund, a scholar who had taught theology and arts with +great distinction at Paris and Oxford, was still more famous for his +mystical devotion, for his asceticism and holiness of life. He was +however an old man, inexperienced in affairs, and, with all his +gracious gifts, somewhat wanting in the tenacity and vigour which +leadership involved. Yet in sending so eminent a saint to Canterbury, +Rome conferred on England a service second only to that which she had +rendered when she secured the archbishopric for Stephen Langton. + +Before his consecration as archbishop on April 2, 1234, Edmund had +already joined with his suffragans on February 2 in upholding the good +fame of the marshal and in warning the king of the disastrous results +of preferring the counsels of the Poitevins to those of his +natural-born subjects. A week after his consecration Edmund succeeded +in carrying out a radical change in the administration. On April 9 he +declared that unless Henry drove away the Poitevins, he would forthwith +pronounce him excommunicate. Yielding at once, Henry sent the Bishop of +Winchester back to his diocese, and deprived Peter of Rivaux of all his +offices. The followers of the two Peters shared their fate, and Henry, +despatching Edmund to Wales to make peace with Llewelyn and the +marshal, hurried to Gloucester in order to meet the archbishop on his +return. His good resolutions were further strengthened by the news of +Earl Richard's death. On arriving at Gloucester he held a council in +which the ruin of the Poitevins was completed. A truce, negotiated by +the archbishop with Llewelyn, was ratified. The partisans of the +marshal were pardoned, even Richard Siward being forgiven his long +career of plunder. Gilbert Marshal, the next brother of the childless +Earl Richard, was invested with his earldom and office, and Henry +himself dubbed him a knight. Hubert de Burgh was included in the +comprehensive pardon. Indignant that his name and seal should have been +used to cover his ex-ministers' treachery to Earl Richard, Henry +overwhelmed them with reproaches, and strove by his violence against +them to purge himself from complicity in their acts. The Poitevins +lurked in sanctuary, fearing for the worst. Segrave forgot his +knighthood, resumed the tonsure, and took refuge in a church in +Leicester. The king's worst indignation was reserved for Peter of +Rivaux. Peter protested that his orders entitled him to immunity from +arrest, but it was found that he wore a mail shirt under his clerical +garments, and, without a word of reproach from the archbishop, he was +immured in a lay prison on the pretext that no true clerk wore armour. +Of the old ministers Ralph Neville alone remained in office. + +With Bishop Peter's fall disappeared the last of the influences that +had prevailed during the minority. The king, who felt his dignity +impaired by the Poitevin domination, resolved that henceforward he +would submit to no master. He soon framed a plan of government that +thoroughly satisfied his jealous and exacting nature. Henceforth no +magnates, either of Church or State, should stand between him and his +subjects. He would be his own chief minister, holding in his own hands +all the strings of policy, and acting through subordinates whose sole +duly was to carry out their master's orders. Under such a system the +justiciarship practically ceased to exist. The treasurership was held +for short periods by royal clerks of no personal distinction. Even the +chancellorship became overshadowed. Henry quarrelled with Ralph Neville +in 1238, and withdrew from him the custody of the great seal, though he +allowed him to retain the name and emoluments of chancellor. On +Neville's death the office fell into abeyance for nearly twenty years, +during which time the great seal was entrusted to seven successive +keepers. Like his grandfather, Henry wished to rule in person with the +help of faithful but unobtrusive subordinates. This system, which was +essentially that of the French monarchy, presupposed for success the +constant personal supervision of an industrious and strong-willed king. +Henry III was never a strenuous worker, and his character failed in the +robustness and self-reliance necessary for personal rule. The magnates, +who regarded themselves as the king's natural-born counsellors, were +bitterly incensed, and hated the royal clerks as fiercely as they had +disliked the ministers of his minority. Opposed by the barons, +distrusted by the people, liable to be thrown over by their master at +each fresh change of his caprice, the royal subordinates showed more +eagerness in prosecuting their own private fortunes than in consulting +the interests of the State. Thus the nominal government of Henry proved +extremely ineffective. Huge taxes were raised, but little good came +from them. The magnates held sullenly aloof; the people grumbled; the +Church lamented the evil days. Yet for five and twenty years the +wretched system went on, not so much by reason of its own strength as +because there was no one vigorous enough to overthrow it. + +The author of all this mischief was a man of some noble and many +attractive qualities. Save when an occasional outburst of temper showed +him a true son of John, Henry was the kindest, mildest, most amiable of +men. He was the first king since William the Conqueror in whose private +life the austerest critics could find nothing blameworthy. His piety +stands high, even when estimated by the standards of the thirteenth +century. He was well educated and had a touch of the artist's +temperament, loving fair churches, beautiful sculpture, delicate +goldsmith's work, and richly illuminated books. He had a horror of +violence, and never wept more bitter tears than when he learned how +treacherously his name had been used to lure Richard Marshal to his +doom. But he was extraordinarily deficient in stability of purpose. For +the moment it was easy to influence him either for good or evil, but +even the ablest of his counsellors found it impossible to retain any +hold over him for long. One day he lavished all his affection on Hubert +de Burgh; the next he played into the hands of his enemies. In the same +way he got rid of Peter des Roches, the preceptor of his infancy, the +guide of his early manhood. Jealous, self-assertive, restless, and +timid, he failed in just those qualities that his subjects expected to +find in a king. Born and brought up in England, and never leaving it +save for short and infrequent visits to the continent, he was proud of +his English ancestors and devoted to English saints, more especially to +royal saints such as Edward the Confessor and Edmund of East Anglia. +Yet he showed less sympathy with English ways than many of his +foreign-born predecessors. Educated under alien influences, delighting +in the art, the refinement, the devotion, and the absolutist principles +of foreigners, he seldom trusted a man of English birth. Too weak to +act for himself, too suspicious to trust his natural counsellors, he +found the friendship and advice for which he yearned in foreign +favourites and kinsmen. Thus it was that the hopes excited by the fall +of the Poitevins were disappointed. The alien invasion, checked for a +few years, was renewed in a more dangerous shape. + +During the ten years after the collapse of Peter des Roches, swarms of +foreigners came to England, and spoiled the land with the king's entire +good-will. Henry's marriage brought many Provencals and Savoyards to +England. The renewed troubles between pope and emperor led to a renewal +of Roman interference in a more exacting form. The continued +intercourse with foreign states resulted in fresh opportunities of +alien influence. A new attempt on Poitou brought as its only result the +importation of the king's Poitevin kinsmen. The continued close +relationship between the English and the French baronage involved the +frequent claim of English estates and titles by men of alien birth. +Even such beneficial movements as the establishment of the mendicant +orders in England, and the cosmopolitan outlook of the increasingly +important academic class contributed to the spread of outlandish ideas. +As wave after wave of foreigners swept over England, Englishmen +involved them in a common condemnation. And all saw in the weakness of +the king the very source of their power. + +The first great influx of foreigners followed directly from Henry's +marriage. For several years active negotiations had been going on to +secure him a suitable bride. There had also at various times been talk +of his selecting a wife from Brittany, Austria, Bohemia, or Scotland, +and in the spring of 1235 a serious negotiation for his marriage with +Joan, daughter and heiress of the Count of Ponthieu, only broke down +through the opposition of the French court. Henry then sought the hand +of Eleanor, a girl twelve years old, and the second of the four +daughters of Raymond Berengar IV., Count of Provence, and his wife +Beatrice, sister of Amadeus III., Count of Savoy. The marriage contract +was signed in October. Before that time Eleanor had left Provence under +the escort of her mother's brother, William, bishop-elect of Valence. +On her way she spent a long period with her elder sister Margaret, who +had been married to Louis IX. of France in 1234. On January 14, 1236, +she was married to Henry at Canterbury by Archbishop Edmund, and +crowned at Westminster on the following Sunday. + +The new queen's kinsfolk quickly acquired an almost unbounded +ascendency over her weak husband. With the exception of the reigning +Count Amadeus of Savoy, her eight maternal uncles were somewhat +scantily provided for. The prudence of the French government prevented +them from obtaining any advantage for themselves at the court of their +niece the Queen of France, and they gladly welcomed the opportunity of +establishing themselves at the expense of their English nephew. +Self-seeking and not over-scrupulous, able, energetic, and with the +vigour and resource of high-born soldiers of fortune, several of them +play honourable parts in the history of their own land, and are by no +means deserving of the complete condemnation meted out to them by the +English annalists.[1] The bishop-elect of Valence was an able and +accomplished warrior. He stayed on in England after accomplishing his +mission, and with him remained his clerk, the younger son of a house of +Alpine barons, Peter of Aigueblanche, whose cunning and dexterity were +as attractive to Henry as the more martial qualities of his master. +Weary of standing alone, the king eagerly welcomed a trustworthy +adviser who was outside the entanglements of English parties, and made +Bishop William his chief counsellor. It was believed that he was +associated with eleven others in a secret inner circle of royal +advisers, whose advice Henry pledged himself by oath to follow. Honours +and estates soon began to fall thickly on William and his friends. He +made himself the mouthpiece of Henry's foreign policy. When he +temporarily left England, he led a force sent by the king to help +Frederick II. in his war against the cities of northern Italy. His +influence with Henry did much to secure for his brother, Thomas of +Savoy, the hand of the elderly countess Joan of Flanders. With Thomas +as the successor of Ferdinand of Portugal, the rich Flemish county, +bound to England by so many political and economic ties, seemed in safe +hands, and preserved from French influence. In 1238 Thomas visited +England, and received a warm welcome and rich presents from the king. + + [1] For Eleanor's countrymen see Mugnier, _Les Savoyards en + Angleterre au XIIIe siecle, et Pierre d'Aigueblanche, eveque + d'Hereford_ (1890). + +Despite the establishment of the Savoyards, the Poitevin influence began +to revive. Peter des Roches, who had occupied himself after his fall by +fighting for Gregory IX. against the revolted Romans, returned to +England in broken health in 1236, and was reconciled to the king. Peter +of Rivaux was restored to favour, and made keeper of the royal wardrobe. +Segrave and Passelewe again became justices and ministers. England was +now the hunting-ground of any well-born Frenchmen anxious for a wider +career than they could obtain at home.[1] Among the foreigners attracted +to England to prosecute legal claims or to seek the royal bounty came +Simon of Montfort, the second son of the famous conqueror of the +Albigenses. Amice, the mother of the elder Simon, was the sister and +heiress of Robert of Beaumont, the last of his line to hold the earldom +of Leicester. After Amice's death her son used the title and claimed the +estates of that earldom. But these pretensions were but nominal, and +since 1215 Randolph of Chester had administered the Leicester lands as +if his complete property. However, Amaury of Montfort, the Count of +Toulouse's eldest son, ceded to his portionless younger brother his +claims to the Beaumont inheritance, and in 1230 Simon went to England to +push his fortunes. Young, brilliant, ambitious and attractive, he not +only easily won the favour of the king, but commended himself so well to +Earl Randolph that in 1231 the aged earl was induced to relax his grasp +on the Leicester estates. In 1239 the last formalities of investiture +were accomplished. Amaury renounced his claims, and after that Simon +became Earl of Leicester and steward of England. A year before that he +had secured the great marriage that he had long been seeking. In +January, 1238, he was wedded to the king's own sister, Eleanor, the +childless widow of the younger William Marshal. Simon was for the moment +high in the affection of his brother-in-law. To the English he was +simply another of the foreign favourites who turned the king's heart +against his born subjects. + + [1] This is well illustrated by Philip de Beaumanoir's + well-known romance, _Jean de Dammartin et Blonde d'Oxford_ (ed. + by Suchier, Soc. des anciens Textes francais, and by Le Roux de + Lincy, Camden Soc.). + +In 1238 Peter des Roches died. With all his faults the Poitevin was an +excellent administrator at Winchester,[1] and left his estates in +such a prosperous condition that Henry coveted the succession for the +bishop-elect of Valence, though William already had the prospect of the +prince-bishopric of liege. But the monks of St. Swithun's refused to +obey the royal order, and Henry sought to obtain his object from the +pope. Gregory gave William both Liege and Winchester, but in 1239 death +ended his restless plans. William's death left more room for his +kinsfolk and followers. His clerk, Peter of Aigueblanche, returned to +the land of promise, and in 1240 secured his consecration as Bishop of +Hereford. William's brother, Peter of Savoy, lord of Romont and +Faucigny, was invited to England in the same year. In 1241 he was +invested with the earldom of Richmond, which a final breach with Peter +of Brittany had left in the king's hands. Peter, the ablest member of +his house, thus became its chief representative in England.[2] + + [1] See H. Hall, _Pipe Roll of the Bishop of Winchester_, + 1207-8. + + [2] For Peter see Wurstemberger, _Peter II., Graf von Savoyen_ + (1856). + +With the Provencals and Savoyards came a fresh swarm of Romans. In 1237 +the first papal legates _a latere_ since the recall of Pandulf landed +in England. The deputy of Gregory IX. was the cardinal-deacon Otto, who +in 1226 had already discharged the humbler office of nuncio in England. +It was believed that the legate was sent at the special request of +Henry III., and despite the remonstrances of the Archbishop of +Canterbury. Those most unfriendly to the legate were won over by his +irreproachable conduct. He rejected nearly all gifts. He was unwearied +in preaching peace; travelled to the north to settle outstanding +differences between Henry and the King of Scots, and thence hurried to +the west to prolong the truce with Llewelyn. His zeal for the +reformation of abuses made the canons of the national council, held +under his presidency at St. Paul's on November 18, 1237, an epoch in +the history of our ecclesiastical jurisprudence. + +Despite his efforts the legate remained unpopular. The pluralists and +nepotists, who feared his severity, joined with the foes of all +taxation and the enemies of all foreigners in denouncing the legate. To +avoid the danger of poison, he thought it prudent to make his own +brother his master cook. During the council of London it was necessary +to escort him from his lodgings and back again with a military force. +In the council itself the claim of high-born clerks to receive +benefices in plurality found a spokesman in so respectable a prelate as +Walter of Cantilupe, the son of a marcher baron, whom Otto had just +enthroned in his cathedral at Worcester, and the legate, "fearing for +his skin," was suspected of mitigating the severity of his principles +to win over the less greedy of the friends of vested interests. His +Roman followers knew and cared little about English susceptibilities, +and feeling was so strong against them that any mischance might excite +an explosion. Such an accident occurred on St. George's day, April 23, +1238, when the legate was staying with the Austin Canons of Oseney, +near Oxford, while the king was six miles off at Abingdon. Some of the +masters of the university went to Oseney to pay their respects to the +cardinal, and were rudely repulsed by the Italian porter. Irritated at +this discourtesy, they returned with a host of clerks, who forced their +way into the abbey. Amongst them was a poor Irish chaplain, who made +his way to the kitchen to beg for food. The chief cook, the legate's +brother, threw a pot of scalding broth into the Irishman's face. A +clerk from the march of Wales shot the cook dead with an arrow. A +fierce struggle followed, in the midst of which Otto, hastily donning +the garb of his hosts, took refuge in the tower of their church, where +he was besieged by the infuriated clerks, until the king sent soldiers +from Abingdon to release him. Otto thereupon laid Oxford under an +interdict, suspended all lectures, and put thirty masters into prison. +English opinion, voiced by the diocesan, Grosseteste, held that the +cardinal's servants had provoked the riot, and found little to blame in +the violence of the clerks. + +In 1239 Gregory IX. began his final conflict with Frederick II., and +demanded the support of all Europe. As before, from 1227 to 1230, the +pressure of the papal necessity was at once felt in England. The legate +had to raise supplies at all costs. Crusaders were allowed to renounce +their vows for ready money. Every visitation or conference became an +excuse for procurations and fees. Presents were no longer rejected, but +rather greedily solicited. On the pretence that it was necessary to +reform the Scottish Church, "which does not recognise the Roman Church +as its sole mother and metropolitan," Otto excited the indignation of +Alexander II. by attempts to extend his jurisdiction to Scotland, +hitherto unvisited by legates. In England his claims soon grew beyond +all bearing. At last he demanded a fifth of all clerical goods to +enable the pope to finance the anti-imperial crusade. Even this was +more endurable than the order received from Rome that 300 clerks of +Roman families should be "provided" to benefices in England in order +that Gregory might obtain the support of their relatives against +Frederick. Both as feudal suzerain and as spiritual despot, the pope +lorded it over England as fully as his uncle Innocent III. + +Weakness, piety, and self-interest combined to make Henry III. +acquiesce in the legate's exactions. "I neither wish nor dare," said +he, "to oppose the lord pope in anything." The union of king and legate +was irresistible. The lay opposition was slow and feeble. Gilbert +Marshal, though showing no lack of spirit, was not the man to play the +part which his brother Richard had filled so effectively. Richard, Earl +of Cornwall, who constituted himself the spokesman of the magnates, +made a special grievance of the marriage of Simon of Montfort with his +sister Eleanor. England, he said, was like a vineyard with a broken +hedge, so that all that went by could steal the grapes. He took arms, +and subscribed the first of the long series of plans of constitutional +reform that the reign was to witness, according to which the king was +to be guided by a chosen body of counsellors. But at the crisis of the +movement he held back, having accomplished nothing. + +There was more vigour in the ecclesiastical opposition. Robert +Grosseteste,[1] a Suffolk man of humble birth, had already won for +himself a position of unique distinction at Oxford and Paris. A teacher +of rare force, a scholar of unexampled range, a thinker of daring +originality, and a writer who had touched upon almost every known +subject, he was at the height of his fame when, in 1235, his appointment +as Bishop of Lincoln gave the fullest opportunities for the employment +of his great gifts in the public service. He was convinced that the +preoccupation of the clergy in worldly employment and the constant +aggressions of the civil upon the ecclesiastical courts lay at the root +of the evils of the time. His conviction brought him into conflict with +the king rather than the legate, though for the moment his absorption in +the cares of his diocese distracted his attention from general +questions. The bishops generally had become so hostile that Otto shrank +from meeting them in another council, and strove to get money by +negotiating individually with the leading churchmen. The old foe of +papal usurpations, Robert Twenge, renewed his agitation on behalf of the +rights of patrons, and the clergy of Berkshire drew up a remonstrance +against Otto's extortions. + + [1] For Grosseteste, see F.S. Stevenson, _Robert Grosseteste, + Bishop of Lincoln_ (1899). + +Archbishop Edmund saw the need of opposing both legate and king; but he +was hampered by his ecclesiastical and political principles, and still +more, perhaps, by the magnitude of the rude task thrown upon him. He +had set before himself the ideal of St. Thomas, not only in the +asceticism of his private life, but in his zeal for his see and the +Church. But few men were more unlike the strong-willed and bellicose +martyr of Canterbury than the gentle and yielding saint of Abingdon. A +plentiful crop of quarrels, however, soon showed that Edmund had, in +one respect, copied only too faithfully the example of his predecessor. +He was engaged in a controversy of some acerbity with the Archbishop of +York, and he was involved in a long wrangle with the monks of his +cathedral, which took him to Rome soon after the legate's arrival. He +got little satisfaction there, and found a whole sea of troubles to +overwhelm him on his return. At last came the demand of the fifth from +Otto. Edmund joined in the opposition of his brethren to this exaction, +but his attitude was complicated by his other difficulties. Leaning in +his weakness on the pope, he found that Gregory was a taskmaster rather +than a director. At last he paid his fifth, but, broken in health and +spirits, he was of no mind to withstand the demands of the Roman clerks +for benefices. If he could not be another St. Thomas defending the +liberties of the Church, he could at least withdraw like his prototype +from the strife, and find a refuge in a foreign house of religion. +Seeking out St. Thomas's old haunt at Pontigny, he threw himself with +ardour into the austere Cistercian life. On the advice of his +physicians, he soon sought a healthier abode with the canons of Soisy, +in Brie, at whose house he died on November 16, 1240. His body was +buried at Pontigny in the still abiding minster which had witnessed the +devotions of Becket and Langton, and miracles were soon wrought at his +tomb. Within eight years of his death he was declared a saint; and +Henry, who had thwarted him in life, and even opposed his canonisation, +was among the first of the pilgrims who worshipped at his shrine. It +needed a tougher spirit and a stronger character than Edmund's to +grapple with the thorny problems of his age. + +The retirement of the archbishop enabled Otto to carry through his +business, and withdraw from England on January 7, 1241. On August 21 +Gregory IX. died, with his arch-enemy at the gates of Rome and all his +plans for the time frustrated. High-minded, able and devout, he wagered +the whole fortunes of the papacy on the result of his secular struggle +with the emperor. In Italy as in England, the spiritual hegemony of the +Roman see and the spiritual influence of the western Church were +compromised by his exaltation of ecclesiastical politics over religion. + +The monks of Christ Church won court favour by electing as archbishop, +Boniface of Savoy, Bishop-elect of Belley, one of the queen's uncles. +There was no real resistance to the appointment, though a prolonged +vacancy in the papacy made it impossible for him to receive formal +confirmation until 1243, and it was not until 1244 that he condescended +to visit his new province. Meanwhile his kinsmen were carrying +everything before them. Richard of Cornwall lost his first wife, +Isabella, daughter of William Marshal, in 1240, an event which broke +almost the last link that bound him to the baronial opposition. He +withdrew himself from the troubles of English politics by going on +crusade, and with him went his former enemy, Simon of Leicester. +Richard was back in England early in 1242, and on November 23, 1243, +his marriage with Sanchia of Provence, the younger sister of the queens +of France and England, completed his conversion to the court party. + +Henry III.'s cosmopolitan instincts led him to take as much part in +foreign politics as his resources allowed. In 1235 he married his +sister Isabella to Frederick II., and henceforth manifested a strong +interest in the affairs of his imperial brother-in-law. His relations +with France were still uneasy, and he hoped to find in Frederick's +support a counterpoise to the steady pressure of French hostility. All +England watched with interest the progress of the emperor's arms. Peter +of Savoy led an English contingent to fight for Frederick against the +Milanese, and Matthew Paris, the greatest of the English chroniclers, +narrates the campaign of Corte Nuova with a detail exceeding that which +he allows to the military enterprises of his own king. Frederick +constantly corresponded with both the king and Richard of Cornwall, and +it was nothing but solicitude for the safely of the heir to the throne +that led the English magnates to reject the emperor's request that +Richard should receive a high command under him. Even Frederick's +breach with the pope in 1239 did not destroy his friendship with Henry. +The situation became extremely complicated, since Innocent IV. derived +large financial support for his crusade from the unwilling English +clergy, while Henry still professed to be Frederick's friend. The king +allowed Otto to proclaim Frederick's excommunication in England, and +then urged the legate to quit the country because the emperor strongly +protested against the presence of an avowed enemy at his +brother-in-law's court. Neither pope nor emperor could rely upon the +support of so half-hearted a prince. Renewed trouble with France +explains in some measure the anxiety of Henry to remain in good +relations with the emperor despite Frederick's quarrel with the pope. + +The position of the French monarchy was far stronger than it had been +when Henry first intervened in continental politics. Blanche of Castile +had broken the back of the feudal coalition, and even Peter Mauclerc had +made his peace with the monarchy at the price of his English earldom. +Louis IX. attained his majority in 1235, and his first care was to +strengthen his power in his newly won dominions. If Poitou were still in +the hands of the Count of La Marche and the Viscount of Thouars, the +royal seneschals of Beaucaire and Carcassonne after 1229 ruled over a +large part of the old dominions of Raymond of Toulouse. In 1237 the +treaty of Meaux was further carried out by the marriage of Raymond's +daughter and heiress, Joan, to Alfonse, the brother of the French king. +In 1241 Alfonse came of age, and Louis at once invested him with Poitou +and Auvergne. The lords of Poitou saw that the same process which had +destroyed the feudal liberties of Normandy now endangered their +disorderly independence. Hugh of Lusignan and his wife had been present +at Alfonse's investiture, and the widow of King John had gone away +highly indignant at the slights put upon her dignity.[1] She bitterly +reproached her husband with the ignominy involved in his submission. +Easily moved to new treasons, Hugh became the soul of a league of +Poitevin barons formed at Parthenay, which received the adhesion of +Henry's seneschal of Gascony, Rostand de Sollers, and even of Alfonse's +father-in-law, the depressed Raymond of Toulouse. At Christmas Hugh +openly showed his hand. He renounced his homage to Alfonse, declared his +adhesion to his step-son, Richard of Cornwall, the titular count of +Poitou, and ostentatiously withdrew from the court with his wife. The +rest of the winter was taken up with preparations for the forthcoming +struggle. + + [1] See the graphic letter of a citizen of La Rochelle to + Blanche, published by M. Delisle in _Bibliotheque de l'Ecole + des Chartes_, serie ii., iv., 513-55 (1856). + +Untaught by experience, Henry III. listened to the appeals of his +mother and her husband. Richard of Cornwall, who came back from his +crusade in January, 1242, was persuaded that he had another chance of +realising his vain title of Count of Poitou. But the king had neither +men nor money and the parliament of February 2 refused to grant him +sums adequate for his need, so that, despairing of dealing with his +barons in a body, Henry followed the legate's example of winning men +over individually. He made a strong protest against the King of +France's breach of the existing truce, and his step-father assured him +that Poitou and Gascony would provide him with sufficient soldiers if +he brought over enough money to pay them. Thereupon, leaving the +Archbishop of York as regent, Henry took ship on May 9 at Portsmouth +and landed on May 13 at Royan at the mouth of the Gironde. He was +accompanied by Richard of Cornwall, seven earls, and 300 knights. + +Meanwhile Louis IX. marshalled a vast host at Chinon, which from April +to July overran the patrimony of the house of Lusignan, and forced many +of the confederate barons to submit. Peter of Savoy and John Mansel, +Henry's favourite clerk, then made seneschal of Gascony, assembled the +Aquitanian levies, while Peter of Aigueblanche, the Savoyard Bishop of +Hereford, went to Provence to negotiate the union between Earl Richard +and Sanchia, and, if possible, to add Raymond Berengar to the coalition +against the husband of his eldest daughter. Henry hoped to win tactical +advantages by provoking Louis to break the truce, and mendaciously +protested his surprise at being forced into an unexpected conflict with +his brother-in-law. Towards the end of July, Louis, who had conquered +all Poitou, advanced to the Charente, and occupied Taillebourg. If the +Charente were once crossed, Saintonge would assuredly follow the +destinies of Poitou; and the Anglo-Gascon army advanced from Saintes to +dispute the passage of the river. On July 21 the two armies were in +presence of each other, separated only by the Charente. Besides the +stone bridge at Taillebourg, the French had erected a temporary wooden +structure higher up the stream, and had collected a large number of +boats to facilitate their passage. Seeing with dismay the oriflamme +waving over the sea of tents which, "like a great and populous city," +covered the right bank, the soldiers of Henry retreated precipitately +to Saintes. There was imminent danger of their retreat being cut off, +but Richard of Cornwall went to the French camp, and obtained an +armistice of a few hours, which gave his brother time to reach the +town. + +Next day Louis advanced at his ease to the capital of Saintonge. The +Anglo-Gascons went out to meet him, and, despite their inferior numbers, +fought bravely amidst the vineyards and hollow lanes to the west of the +city. But the English king was the first to flee, and victory soon +attended the arms of the French. Immediately after the battle, the lords +of Poitou abandoned Richard for Alfonse. Henry fled from Saintes to +Pons, from Pons to Barbezieux, and thence sought a more secure refuge at +Blaye, leaving his tent, the ornaments of his chapel, and the beer +provided for his English soldiers as booty for the enemy. The outbreak +of an epidemic in the French army alone prevented a siege of Bordeaux, +by necessitating the return of St. Louis to the healthier north. Henry +lingered at Bordeaux until September, when he returned to England.[1] +Meanwhile the French dictated peace to the remaining allies of Henry. On +the death of Raymond of Toulouse, in 1249, Alfonse quietly succeeded to +his dominions. The next twenty years saw the gradual extension of the +French administrative system to Poitou, Auvergne, and the Toulousain. +English Gascony was reduced to little more than the districts round +Bordeaux and Bayonne. Even a show of hostility was no longer useful, and +on April 7, 1243, a five years' truce between Henry and Louis was signed +at Bordeaux. The marriage of Beatrice of Provence, the youngest of the +daughters of Raymond Berengar, to Charles of Anjou, Louis' younger +brother, removed Provence from the sphere of English influence. On his +father-in-law's death in 1245, Charles of Anjou succeeded to his +dominions to the prejudice of his two English brothers-in-law, and +became the founder of a Capetian line of counts of Provence, which +brought the great fief of the empire under the same northern French +influences which Alfonse of Poitiers was diffusing over the lost +inheritances of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the house of Saint-Gilles. + + [1] The only good modern account of this expedition is that by + M. Charles Bemont, _La campagne de Poitou, 1242-3_, in _Annales + du Midi_, v., 389-314 (1893). For the Lusignans see Boissonade, + _Quomodo comites Engolismenses erga reges Angliae et Franciae + se gesserint_, 1152-1328 (1893). + +A minor result of Louis' triumph was the well-deserved ruin of Hugh of +Lusignan and Isabella of Angouleme. The proud spirit of Isabella did +not long tolerate her humiliation. She retired to Fontevraud and died +there in 1246. Hugh X. followed her to the tomb in 1248. Their eldest +son, Hugh XI., succeeded him, but the rest of their numerous family +turned for support to the inexhaustible charity of the King of England. +Thus in 1247 a Poitevin invasion of the king's half-brothers and +sisters recalled to his much-tried subjects the Savoyard invasion of +ten years earlier. In that single year three of the king's brothers and +one of his sisters accepted his invitation to make a home in England. +Of these, Guy, lord of Cognac, became proprietor of many estates. +William, called from the Cistercian abbey in which he was born William +of Valence, secured, with the hand of Joan of Munchensi, a claim to the +great inheritance that was soon to be scattered by the extinction of +the male line of the house of Marshal. Aymer of Valence, a very +unclerical churchman, obtained in 1250 his election as bishop of +Winchester, though his youth and the hostility of his chapter delayed +his consecration for ten years. Alice their sister found a husband of +high rank in the young John of Warenne, Earl of Warenne or Surrey, +while a daughter of Hugh XI. married Robert of Ferrars, Earl of Ferrars +or Derby. Others of their kindred flocked to the land of promise. Any +Poitevin was welcome, even if not a member of the house of Lusignan. +Thus the noble adventurer John du Plessis, came over to England, +married the heiress of the Neufbourg Earls of Warwick, and in 1247 was +created Earl of Warwick. The alien invasion took a newer and more +grievous shape. + +The expenses of the war were still to be paid; and in 1244 Henry +assembled a council, declaring that, as he had gone to Gascony on the +advice of his barons, they were bound to make him a liberal grant +towards freeing him from the debts which he had incurred beyond sea. +Prelates, earls, and barons each deliberated apart, and a joint +committee, composed of four members of each order, drew up an +uncompromising reply. The king had not observed the charters; previous +grants had been misapplied, and the abeyance of the great offices of +state made justice difficult and good administration impossible. The +committee insisted that a justiciar, a chancellor, and a treasurer +should forthwith be appointed. This was the last thing that the jealous +king desired. Helpless against a united council, he strove to break up +the solidarity between its lay and clerical elements by laying a papal +order before the prelates to furnish him an adequate subsidy. The leader +of the bishops was now Grosseteste, who from this time until his death +in 1253 was the pillar of the opposition. "We must not," he declared, +"be divided from the common counsel, for it is written that if we be +divided we shall all die forthwith." At last a committee of twelve +magnates was appointed to draw up a plan of reform. The unanimity of all +orders was shown by the co-operation on this body of prelates such as +Boniface of Savoy with patriots of the stamp of Grosseteste and Walter +of Cantilupe, while among the secular lords, Richard of Cornwall and +'Simon of Leicester worked together with baronial leaders like Norfolk +and Richard of Montfichet, a survivor of the twenty-five executors of +Magna Carta. The obstinacy of the king may well have driven the estates +into drawing up the remarkable paper constitution preserved for us by +Matthew Paris.[1] By it the execution of the charters and the +supervision of the administration were to be entrusted to four +councillors, chosen from among the magnates, and irremovable except with +their consent. It is unlikely that the scheme was ever carried out; but +its conception shows an advance in the claims of the opposition, and +anticipates the policy of restraining an incompetent ruler by a +committee responsible to the estates, which, for the next two centuries, +was the popular specific for royal maladministration. For the moment +neither side gained a decided victory. Though the barons persisted in +their refusal of an extraordinary grant, they agreed to pay an aid to +marry the king's eldest daughter to the son of Frederick II. + + [1] _Chron. Maj_., iv., 366-68. + +Further demands arose from the quarrel between Innocent IV.' and the +emperor. A new papal envoy, Master Martin, came to England to extort +from the clergy money to enable Innocent to carry on his war against +Frederick. The lords told Martin that if he did not quit the realm +forthwith he would be torn in pieces. In terror he prayed for a safe +conduct. "May the devil give you a safe conduct to hell," was the only +reply that the angry Henry vouchsafed. Even his complaisance was +exhausted by Master Martin. + +On July 26, 1245, a few weeks before Martin's expulsion, Innocent IV. +opened a general council at Lyons, in which Frederick was deposed from +the imperial dignity. Grosseteste, the chief English prelate to attend +the gathering, was drawn in conflicting directions by his zeal for pope +against emperor and by his dislike of curialist exactions. This +attitude of the bishop is reflected in the remonstrance, in the name of +the English people, laid before Innocent, declaring the faithfulness of +England to the Holy See and the wrongs with which her fidelity had been +requited. The increasing demands for money, the intrusion of aliens +into English cures, and Martin's exactions were set forth at length. +Innocent refused to entertain the petition, forced all the bishops at +Lyons to join in the deprivation of the emperor, and required every +English bishop to seal with his own seal the document by which John had +pledged the nation to a yearly tribute. No one could venture to stand +up against the successor of St. Peter, and so, despite futile +remonstrance, Innocent still had it all his own way. In 1250 +Grosseteste again met Innocent face to face at Lyons, and urged him to +"put to flight the evils and purge the abominations" which the Roman +see had done so much to foster. But this outspoken declaration was +equally without result. Bold as were Grosseteste's words, he fully +accepted the curialist theory which regarded the pope as the universal +bishop, the divinely appointed source of all ecclesiastical +jurisdiction. He could therefore do no more than protest. If the pope +chose to disregard him, there was nothing to be done but wait patiently +for better times. The plague of foreign ecclesiastics was still to +torment the English Church for many a year. + +The king's difficulties were increased by fresh troubles in Scotland +and Wales. The friendship between Henry and his brother-in-law, +Alexander II., was weakened by the death of the Queen of Scots and by +Alexander's marriage to a French lady in 1239. At last, in 1244, +relations were so threatening that the English levies were mustered for +a campaign at Newcastle. However, on the mediation of Richard of +Cornwall, Alexander bound himself not to make alliances with England's +enemies, and the trouble passed away. In Wales the difficulties were +more complicated. Llewelyn ap Iorwerth died in 1240, full of years and +honour. In the last years of his reign broken health and the revolts of +his eldest son Griffith made the old chieftain anxious for peace with +England, as the best way of securing the succession to all his +dominions of David, his son by Joan of Anjou. Henry III., anxious that +David as his nephew should inherit the principality, granted a +temporary cessation of hostilities. After Llewelyn's death David was +accepted as Prince of Snowdon, and made his way to Gloucester, where he +performed homage, and was dubbed knight by his uncle. Next year, +however, hostilities broke out, and Henry, disgusted with his nephew, +made a treaty with the wife of Griffith, Griffith himself being David's +prisoner. In 1241 Henry led an expedition from Chester into North +Wales, and forced David to submit. He surrendered Griffith to his +uncle's safe keeping and promised to yield his principality to Henry if +he died without a son. Three years later Griffith broke his neck in an +attempt to escape from the Tower. The death of his rival emboldened +David to take up a stronger line against his uncle. A fresh Welsh +expedition was necessary for the summer of 1245, in which the English +advanced to the Conway, but were speedily forced to retire. David held +his own until his death, without issue, in March, 1246, threw open the +question of the Welsh succession. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +POLITICAL RETROGRESSION AND NATIONAL PROGRESS. + + +The ten years from 1248 to 1258 saw the continuance of the +misgovernment, discontent, and futile opposition which have already +been sufficiently illustrated. The history of those years must be +sought not so much in the relations of the king and his English +subjects as in Gascony, in Wales, in the crusading revival, and in the +culmination of the struggle of papacy and empire. In each of these +fields the course of events reacted sharply upon the domestic affairs +of England, until at last the failures of Henry's foreign policy gave +unity and determination to the party of opposition whose first +organised success, in 1258, ushered in the Barons' War. + +The relations between England and France remained anomalous. Formal +peace was impossible, since France would yield nothing, and the English +king still claimed Normandy and Aquitaine. Yet neither Henry nor Louis +had any wish for war. They had married sisters: they were personally +friendly, and were both lovers of peace. In such circumstances it was +not hard to arrange truces from time to time, so that from 1243 to the +end of the reign there were no open hostilities. In 1248 the friendly +feeling of the two courts was particularly strong. Louis was on the eve +of departure for the crusade and many English nobles had taken the +cross. Henry, who was himself contemplating a crusade, was of no mind +to avail himself of his kinsman's absence to disturb his realm. + +The French could afford to pass over Henry's neglect to do homage, for +Gascony seemed likely to emancipate itself from the yoke of its English +dukes without any prompting from Paris. After the failure of 1243, a +limited amount of territory between the Dordogne and the Pyrenees alone +acknowledged Henry. This narrower Gascony was a thoroughly feudalised +land: the absentee dukes had little authority, domain, or revenue: and +the chief lordships were held by magnates, whose relations to their +overlord were almost formal, and by municipalities almost as free as +the cities of Flanders or the empire. The disastrous campaign of +Taiilebourg lessened the prestige of the duke, and Henry quitted +Gascony without so much as attempting to settle its affairs. In the +following years weak seneschals, with insufficient powers and quickly +succeeding each other, were unable to grapple with ever-increasing +troubles. The feudal lords dominated the countryside, pillaged traders, +waged internal war and defied the authority of the duke. In the +autonomous towns factions had arisen as fierce as those of the cities +of Italy. Bordeaux was torn asunder by the feuds of the Rosteins and +Colons. Bayonne was the scene of a struggle between a few privileged +families, which sought to monopolise municipal office, and a popular +opposition based upon the seafaring class. The neighbouring princes +cast greedy eyes on a land so rich, divided, and helpless. Theobald +IV., the poet, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre, coveted the +valley of the Adour. Gaston, Viscount of Bearn, the cousin of Queen +Eleanor, plundered and destroyed the town of Dax. Ferdinand the Saint +of Castile and James I. of Aragon severally claimed all Gascony. Behind +all these loomed the agents of the King of France. Either Gascony must +fall away altogether, or stronger measures must be taken to preserve +it. + +In this extremity Henry made Simon of Montfort seneschal or governor of +Gascony, with exceptionally full powers and an assured duration of +office for seven years. Simon had taken the crusader's vow, but was +persuaded by the king to abandon his intention of following Louis to +Egypt. He at once threw himself into his rude task with an energy that +showed him to be a true son of the Albigensian crusader. In the first +three months he traversed the duchy from end to end; rallied the royal +partisans; defeated rebels; kept external foes in check, and +administered the law without concern for the privileges of the great. +In 1249 he crushed the Rostein faction at Bordeaux. The same fate was +meted out to their partisans in the country districts. Order was +restored, but the seneschal utterly disregarded impartiality or +justice. He sought to rule Gascony by terrorism and by backing up one +faction against the other. It was the same with minor cities, like +Bazas and Bayonne, and with the tyrants of the countryside. The +Viscount of Fronsac saw his castle razed and his estates seized. Gaston +of Bearn, tricked by the seneschal out of the succession of Bigorre, +was captured, sent to England, and only allowed to return to his home, +humiliated and powerless to work further evil. The lesser barons had to +acknowledge Simon their master. On the death of Raymond of Toulouse in +1249, his son-in-law and successor, Alfonse of Poitiers, had all he +could do to secure his inheritance, and was too closely bound by the +pacific policy of his brother to give Simon much trouble. The truce +with France was easily renewed by reason of St. Louis' absence on a +crusade. The differences between Gascony and Theobald of Navarre were +mitigated in 1248 at a personal interview between Leicester and the +poet-king. + +Gascony for the moment was so quiet that the rebellious hordes called +the _Pastoureaux_, who had desolated the royal domain, withdrew from +Bordeaux in terror of Simon's threats. But the expense of maintaining +order pressed heavily on the seneschal's resources, and his master +showed little disposition to assist him. Moreover Gascony could not +long keep quiet. There were threats of fresh insurrections, and the +whole land was burning with indignation against its governor. +Complaints from the Gascon estates soon flowed with great abundance +into Westminster. For the moment Henry paid little attention to them. +His son Edward was ten years of age, and he was thinking of providing +him with an appanage, sufficient to support a separate household and so +placed as to train the young prince in the duties of statecraft. Before +November, 1249, he granted to Edward all Gascony, along with the +profits of the government of Ireland, which were set aside to put +Gascony in a good state of defence. Simon's strong hand was now more +than ever necessary to keep the boy's unruly subjects under control. +The King therefore continued Simon as seneschal of Gascony, though +henceforth the earl acted as Edward's minister. "Complete happily," +Henry wrote to the seneschal, "all our affairs in Gascony and you shall +receive from us and our heirs a recompense worthy of your services." +For the moment Leicester's triumph seemed complete, but the Gascons, +who had hoped that Edward's establishment meant the removal of their +masterful governor, were bitterly disappointed at the continuance of +his rule. Profiting by Simon's momentary absence in England, they once +more rose in revolt. Henry wavered for the moment. "Bravely," declared +he to his brother-in-law, "hast thou fought for me, and I will not deny +thee help. But complaints pour in against thee. They say that thou hast +thrown into prison, and condemned to death, folk who have been summoned +to thy court under pledge of thy good faith." In the end Simon was sent +back to Gascony, and by May, 1251, the rebels were subdued. + +Next year Gaston of Bearn stirred up another revolt, and, while Simon +was in England, deputies from the Aquitanian cities crossed the sea and +laid new complaints before Henry. A stormy scene ensued between the +king and his brother-in-law. Threatened with the loss of his office, +Simon insisted that he had been appointed for seven years, and that he +could not be removed without his own consent. Henry answered that he +would keep no compacts with traitors. "That word is a lie," cried +Simon; "were you not my king it would be an ill hour for you when you +dared to utter it." The sympathy of the magnates saved Leicester from +the king's wrath, and before long he returned to Gascony, still +seneschal, but with authority impaired by the want of his sovereign's +confidence. Though the king henceforth sided with the rebels, Simon +remained strong enough to make headway against the lord of Bearn. +Before long, however, Leicester unwillingly agreed to vacate his office +on receiving from Henry a sum of money. In September, 1252, he laid +down the seneschalship and retired into France. While shabbily treated +by the king, he had certainly shown an utter absence of tact or +scruple. But the tumults of Gascony raged with more violence than ever +now that his strong hand was withdrawn. Those who had professed to rise +against the seneschal remained in arms against the king. Once more the +neighbouring princes cast greedy eyes on the defenceless duchy. In +particular, Alfonso the Wise, King of Castile, who succeeded his father +Ferdinand in 1252, renewed his father's claims to Gascony. + +The only way to save the duchy was for Henry to go there in person. +Long delays ensued before the royal visit took place, and it was not +until August, 1253, that Bordeaux saw her hereditary duke sail up the +Gironde to her quays. The Gascon capital remained faithful, but within +a few miles of her walls the rebels were everywhere triumphant. It +required a long siege to reduce Benauge to submission, and months +elapsed before the towns and castles of the lower Garonne and Dordogne +opened their gates. Even then La Reole, whither all the worst enemies +of Montfort had fled, held out obstinately. Despairing of military +success, Henry fell back upon diplomacy. The strength of the Gascon +revolt did not lie in the power of the rebels themselves but in the +support of the neighbouring princes and the French crown. By renewing +the truce with the representatives of Louis, Henry protected himself +from the danger of French intervention, and at the same time he cut off +a more direct source of support to the rebels by negotiating treaties +with such magnates as the lord of Albret, the Counts of Comminges and +Armagnac, and the Viscount of Bearn. His master-stroke was the +conclusion, in April, 1254, of a peace with Alfonso of Castile, whereby +the Spanish king abandoned his Gascon allies and renounced his claims +on the duchy. In return it was agreed that the lord Edward should marry +Alfonso's half-sister, Eleanor, heiress of the county of Ponthieu +through her mother, Joan, whom Henry had once sought for his queen. As +Edward's appanage included Aquitaine, Alfonso, in renouncing his +personal claims, might seem to be but transferring them to his sister. + +In May, 1254, Queen Eleanor joined Henry at Bordeaux. With her went her +two sons, Edward and Edmund, her uncle, Archbishop Boniface, and a great +crowd of magnates. In August Edward went with his mother to Alfonso's +court at Burgos, where he was welcomed with all honour and dubbed to +knighthood by the King of Castile, and in October he and Eleanor were +married at the Cistercian monastery of Las Huelgas. His appanage +included all Ireland, the earldom of Chester, the king's lands in Wales, +the Channel Islands, the whole of Gascony, and whatsoever rights his +father still had over the lands taken from him and King John by the +Kings of France. Thus he became the ruler of all the outlying +dependencies of the English crown, and the representative of all the +claims on the Aquitanian inheritance of Eleanor and the Norman +inheritance of William the Conqueror. The caustic St. Alban's chronicler +declared that Henry left to himself such scanty possessions that he +became a "mutilated kinglet".[1] But Henry was too jealous of power +utterly to renounce so large a share of his dominions. His grants to his +son were for purposes of revenue and support, and the government of +these regions was still strictly under the royal control. Yet from this +moment writs ran in Edward's name, and under his father's direction the +young prince was free to buy his experience as he would. Soon after his +son's return with his bride, Henry III. quitted Gascony, making his way +home through France, where he visited his mother's tomb at Fontevraud +and made atonement at Pontigny before the shrine of Archbishop Edmund. +Of more importance was his visit to King Louis, recently returned from +his Egyptian captivity. The cordial relations established by personal +intercourse between the two kings prepared the way for peace two years +later. + + [1] Matthew Paris, _Chron. Maj._, v., 450. + +Edward remained in Gascony about a year after his father. He checked +with a stern hand the disorders of his duchy, strove to make peace +between the Rosteins and Colons, and failing to do so, took in 1261 the +decisive step of putting an end to the tumultuous municipal +independence of the Gascon capital by depriving the jurats of the right +of choosing their mayor.[1] Thenceforth Bordeaux was ruled by a +mayor nominated by the duke or his lieutenant. Edward's rule in Gascony +has its importance as the first experiment in government by the boy of +fifteen who was later to become so great a king. Returning to London in +November, 1255, he still forwarded the interests of his Gascon +subjects, and an attempt to protect the Bordeaux wine-merchants from +the exactions of the royal officers aroused the jealousy of Henry, who +declared that the days of Henry II. had come again, when the king's +sons rose in revolt against their father. Despite this characteristic +wail, Edward gained his point. Yet his efforts to secure the well-being +of Gascony had not produced much result. The hold of the English duke +on Aquitaine was as precarious under Edward as it had been in the days +of Henry's direct rule. + + [1] See Bemont, _Roles Gascons_, i., supplement, pp. + cxvi.-cxviii. + +The affairs of Wales and Cheshire involved Edward in responsibilities +even more pressing than those of Gascony. On the death of John the Scot +without heirs in 1237, the palatinate of Randolph of Blundeville became +a royal escheat. Its grant to Edward made him the natural head of the +marcher barons. The Cheshire earldom became the more important since +the Welsh power had been driven beyond the Conway. Since the death of +David ap Llewelyn in 1246, divisions in the reigning house of Gwynedd +had continued to weaken the Welsh. Llewelyn and Owen the Red, the two +elder sons of the Griffith ap Llewelyn who had perished in attempting +to escape from the Tower, took upon themselves the government of +Gwynedd, dividing the land, by the advice of the "good men," into two +equal halves. The English seneschal at Carmarthen took advantage of +their weakness to seize the outlying dependencies of Gwynedd south of +the Dovey. War ensued, for the brothers resisted this aggression. But +in April, 1247, they were forced to do homage at Woodstock for Gwynedd +and Snowdon. Henry retained not only Cardigan and Carmarthen, but the +debatable lands between the eastern boundary of Cheshire and the river +Clwyd, the four cantreds of the middle country or Perveddwlad, so long +the scene of the fiercest warfare between the Celt and the Saxon. Thus +the work of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth was completely undone, and his +grandsons were confined to Snowdon and Anglesey, the ancient cradles of +their house. + +It suited English policy that even, the barren lands of Snowdon should +be divided. As time went on, other sons of Griffith ap Llewelyn began +to clamour for a share of their grandfather's inheritance. Owen, the +weaker of the two princes, made common cause with them, and David, +another brother, succeeded in obtaining his portion of the common +stock. Llewelyn showed himself so much the most resourceful and +energetic of the brethren that, when open war broke out between them in +1254, he easily obtained the victory. Owen was taken prisoner, and +David was deprived of his lands. Llewelyn, thus sole ruler of Gwynedd, +at once aspired to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather. He +overran Merioneth, and frightened the native chieftains beyond the +Dovey into the English camp. His ambitions were, however, rudely +checked by the grant of Cheshire and the English lands in Wales to +Edward. + +Besides the border palatinate, Edward's Welsh lands included the four +cantreds of Perveddwlad, and the districts of Cardigan and Carmarthen. +Young as he was, he had competent advisers, and, while he was still in +Aquitaine, designs were formed of setting up the English shire system +in his Welsh lands, so as to supersede the traditional Celtic methods +of government by feudal and monarchical centralisation. Efforts were +made to subject the four cantreds to the shire courts at Chester; and +Geoffrey of Langley, Edward's agent in the south, set up shire-moots at +Cardigan and Carmarthen, from which originated the first beginnings of +those counties. The bitterest indignation animated Edward's Welsh +tenants, whether on the Clwyd or on the Teivi and Towy. They rose in +revolt against the alien innovators, and called upon Llewelyn to +champion their grievances. Llewelyn saw the chance of extending his +tribal power into a national principality over all Wales by posing as +the upholder of the Welsh people. He overran the four cantreds in a +week, finding no resistance save before the two castles of Deganwy and +Diserth. He conquered Cardigan with equal ease, and prudently granted +out his acquisition to the local chieftain Meredith ap Owen. Nor were +Edward's lands alone exposed to his assaults. In central Wales Roger +Mortimer was stripped of his marches on the upper Wye, and Griffith ap +Gwenwynwyn, the lord of upper Powys, driven from the regions of the +upper Severn. In the spring of 1257 the lord of Gwynedd appeared in +regions untraversed by the men of Snowdon since the days of his +grandfather. He devastated the lands of the marchers on the Bristol +Channel and slew Edward's deputy in battle. "In those days," says +Matthew Paris, "the Welsh saw that their lives were at stake, so that +those of the north joined together in indissoluble alliance with those +of the south. Such a union had never before been, since north and south +had always been opposed." The lord of Snowdon assumed the title of +Prince of Wales. + +Edward was forced to defend his inheritance. Henry III. paid little +heed to his misfortunes, and answered his appeal for help by saying: +"What have I to do with the matter? I have given you the land; you must +defend it with your own resources. I have plenty of other business to +do." Nevertheless, Henry accompanied his son on a Welsh campaign in +August, 1257. The English army got no further than Deganwy, and +therefore did not really invade Llewelyn's dominions at all. After +waiting idly on the banks of the Conway for some weeks, it retired +home, leaving the open country to be ruled by Llewelyn as he would, and +having done nothing but revictual the castles of the four cantreds. +Next year a truce was made, which left Llewelyn in possession of the +disputed districts. Troubles at home were calling off both father and +son from the Welsh war, and thus Llewelyn secured his virtual triumph. +Though fear of the progress of the lord of Gwynedd filled every marcher +with alarm, yet the dread of the power of Edward was even more nearly +present before them. The marcher lords deliberately stood aside, and +the result was inevitable disaster. Edward found that the territories +handed over to him by his father had to be conquered before they could +be administered, and Henry III.'s methods of government made it a +hopeless business to find either the men or the money for the task. + +England still resounded with complaints of misgovernment, and demands +for the execution of the charters. Before going to Bordeaux in 1253, +Henry obtained from the reluctant parliament a considerable subsidy, +and pledged himself as "a man, a Christian, a knight, and a crowned and +anointed king," to uphold the charters. During his absence a +parliament, summoned by the regents, Queen Eleanor and Richard of +Cornwall, for January, 1254, showed such unwillingness to grant a +supply that a fresh assembly was convened in April, to which knights of +the shire, for the first time since the reign of John, and +representatives of the diocesan clergy, for the first occasion on +record, were summoned, as well as the baronial and clerical grandees. +Nothing came of the meeting save fresh complaints. The Earl of +Leicester became the spokesman of the opposition. Hurrying back from +France he warned the parliament not to fall into the "mouse-traps" laid +for them by the king. In default of English money, enough to meet the +king's necessities was extorted from the Jews, recently handed over to +the custody of Richard of Cornwall. After his return from France at the +end of 1254, Henry's renewed requests for money gave coherence to the +opposition. Between 1254 and 1258 the king's exactions, and an +effective organisation for withstanding them, developed on parallel +lines. To the old sources of discontent were added grievances +proceeding from enterprises of so costly a nature that they at last +brought about a crisis. + +The foremost grievance against the king was still his co-operation with +the papacy in spoiling the Church of England. Though the death of the +excommunicated Frederick II. in 1250 was a great gain for Innocent IV., +the contest of the papacy against the Hohenstaufen raged as fiercely as +ever. Both in Germany and in Italy Innocent had to carry on his +struggle against Conrad, Frederick's son. After Conrad's death, in +1254, there was still Frederick's strenuous bastard, Manfred, to be +reckoned with in Naples and Sicily. Innocent IV. died in 1254, but his +successor, Alexander IV., continued his policy. A papalist King of +Naples was wanted to withstand Manfred, and also a papalist successor +to the pope's phantom King of the Romans, William of Holland, who died +in 1256. + +Candidates to both crowns were sought for in England. Since 1250 +Innocent IV. had been sounding Richard, Earl of Cornwall, as to his +willingness to accept Sicily. The honourable scruple against hostility +to his kinsman, which Richard shared with the king, prevented him from +setting up his claims against Conrad. But the deaths both of Conrad and +of Frederick II.'s son by Isabella of England weakened the ties between +the English royal house and the Hohenstaufen, and Henry was tempted by +Innocent's offer of the Sicilian throne for his younger son, Edmund, a +boy of nine, along with a proposal to release him from his vow of +crusade to Syria, if he would prosecute on his son's behalf a crusading +campaign against the enemies of the Church in Naples. Innocent died +before the negotiations were completed, but Alexander IV. renewed the +offer, and in April, 1255, Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, +accepted the preferred kingdom in Edmund's name. Sicily was to be held +by a tribute of money and service, as a fief of the holy see, and was +never to be united with the empire. Henry was to do homage to the pope +on his son's behalf, to go to Italy in person or send thither a +competent force, and to reimburse the pope for the large sums expended +by him in the prosecution of the war. In return the English and +Scottish proceeds of the crusading tenth, imposed on the clergy at +Lyons, were to be paid to Henry. On October 18, 1255, a cardinal +invested Edmund with a ring that symbolised his appointment. Henry +stood before the altar and swore by St. Edward that he would himself go +to Apulia, as soon as he could safely pass through France. + +The treaty remained a dead letter. Henry found it quite impossible to +raise either the men or the money promised, and abandoned any idea of +visiting Sicily in person. Meanwhile Naples and Sicily were united in +support of Manfred, and discomfited the feeble forces of the papal +legates who acted against him in Edmund's name. At last the Archbishop +of Messina came from the pope with an urgent request for payment of the +promised sums. It was in vain that Henry led forth his son, clothed in +Apulian dress, before the Lenten parliament of 1257, and begged the +magnates to enable him to redeem his bond. When they heard the king's +speech "the ears of all men tingled". Nothing could be got save from +the clergy, so that Henry was quite unable to meet his obligations. He +besought Alexander to give him time, to make terms with Manfred, to +release Edmund from his debts on condition of ceding a large part of +Apulia to the Church,--to do anything in short save insist upon the +original contract. The pope deferred the payment, but the respite did +Henry no good. Edmund's Sicilian monarchy vanished into nothing, when, +early in 1258, Manfred was crowned king at Palermo. Before the end of +the year, Alexander cancelled the grant of Sicily to Edmund. Yet his +demands for the discharge of Henry's obligations had contributed not a +little towards focussing the gathering discontent.[1] + + [1] For Edmund's Sicilian claims, see W.E. Rhodes' article on + _Edmund, Earl of Lancaster_, in the _English Historical + Review_, x. (1895), 20-27. + +While Henry was seeking the Sicilian crown for his son, his brother +Richard was elected to the German throne. Since William of Holland's +death in January, 1256, the German magnates, divided between the +Hohenstaufen and the papalist parties, had hesitated for nearly a year +as to the choice of his successor. As neither party was able to secure +the election of its own partisan, a compromise was mooted. At last the +name of Richard of Cornwall was brought definitely forward. He was of +high rank and unblemished reputation; a friend of the pope yet a kinsman +of the Hohenstaufen; he was moderate and conciliatory; he had enough +money to bribe the electors handsomely, and he was never likely to be so +deeply rooted in Germany as to stand in the way of the princes of the +empire. The Archbishop of Cologne became his paid partisan, and the +Count Palatine of the Rhine accepted his candidature on conditions. The +French party set up as his rival Alfonso X. of Castile, who, despite his +newly formed English alliance, was quite willing to stand against +Richard. At last, in January, 1257, the votes of three electors, +Cologne, Mainz, and the Palatine, were cast for Richard, who also +obtained the support of Ottocar, King of Bohemia. However, in April, +Trier, Saxony, and Brandenburg voted for Alfonso. The double election of +two foreigners perpetuated the Great Interregnum for some sixteen years. +Alfonso's title was only an empty show, but Richard took his appointment +seriously. He made his way to Germany, and was crowned King of the +Romans on May 17, 1257, at Aachen. He remained in the country nearly +eighteen months, and succeeded in establishing his authority in the +Rhineland, though beyond that region he never so much as showed his +face.[1] The elevation of his brother to the highest dignity in +Christendom was some consolation to Henry for the Sicilian failure. + + [1] See for Richard's career, Koch's _Richard von Cornwallis_, + 1209-1257, and the article on _Richard, King of the Romans_, in + the _Dictionary of National Biography_. + +The nation was disgusted to see maladministration grow worse and worse; +the nobles were indignant at the ever-increasing sway of the +foreigners; and several years of bad harvests, high prices, rain, +flood, and murrain sharpened the chronic misery of the poor. The +withdrawal of Earl Richard to his new kingdom deprived the king and +nation of an honourable if timid counsellor, though a more capable +leader was at last provided in the disgraced governor of Gascony. Simon +still deeply resented the king's ingratitude for his services, and had +become enough of an Englishman to sympathise with the national +feelings. Since his dismissal in 1253 he had held somewhat aloof from +politics. He knew so well that his interests centred in England that he +declined the offer of the French regency on the death of Blanche of +Castile. He prosecuted his rights over Bigorre with characteristic +pertinacity, and lawsuits about his wife's jointure from her first +husband exacerbated his relations with Henry. It cannot, however, be +said that the two were as yet fiercely hostile. Simon went to Henry's +help in Gascony in 1254, served on various missions and was nominated +on others from which he withdrew. His chosen occupations during these +years of self-effacement were religious rather than political; his +dearest comrades were clerks rather than barons. + +Among Montfort's closer intimates, Bishop Grosseteste was removed by +death in 1253. But others of like stamp still remained, such as Adam +Marsh, the Franciscan mystic, whose election to the see of Ely was +quashed by the malevolence of the court; Eudes Rigaud, the famous +Archbishop of Rouen, and Walter of Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, who +formed a connecting link between the aristocracy and the Church. +Despite the ineffectiveness of the clerical opposition to the papacy, +the spirit of independence expressed in Grosseteste's protests had not +yet deserted the churchmen. Clerks had felt the pinch of the papal +exactions, had been bled to the uttermost to support the Sicilian +candidature, and had seen aliens and non-residents usurping their +revenues and their functions. More timid and less cohesive than the +barons, they had quicker brains, more ideas, deeper grievances, and +better means of reaching the masses. If resentment of the Sicilian +candidature was the spark that fired the train, the clerical opposition +showed the barons the method of successful resistance. The rejection of +Henry's demands for money in the assemblies of 1257 started the +movement that spread to the baronage in the parliaments of 1258. In the +two memorable gatherings of that year the discontent, which had +smouldered for a generation, at last burst into flame. In the next +chapter we shall see in what fashion the fire kindled. + +The futility of the political history of the weary middle period of the +reign suggests, to those who make the history of the state the +criterion of every aspect of the national fortunes, a corresponding +barrenness and lack of interest in other aspects of national life. Yet +a remedy for Henry's misrule was only found because the age of +political retrogression was in all other fields of action an epoch of +unexampled progress. The years during which the strong centralised +government of the Angevin kings was breaking down under Henry's weak +rule were years which, to the historian of civilisation, are among the +most fruitful in our annals. In vivid contrast to the tale of misrule, +the historian can turn to the revival of religious and intellectual +life, the growing delight in ideas and knowledge, the consummation of +the best period of art, and the spread of a nobler civilisation which +make the middle portion of the thirteenth century the flowering time of +English medieval life. It is part of this strange contrast that Henry, +the obstacle to all political progress, was himself a chief supporter +of the religious and intellectual movements which were so deeply +influencing the age. + +Much has been said of the alien invasion, and of the strong national +opposition it excited. But insularity is not a good thing in itself, +and the natural English attitude to the foreigners tended to confound +good and bad alike in a general condemnation. Even the Savoyards were +by no means as evil as the English thought them, and Henry in welcoming +his kinsmen was not merely moved by selfish and unworthy motives; he +believed that he was showing his openness to ideas and his welcome to +all good things from whencesoever they came. There were, in fact, two +tendencies, antagonistic yet closely related, which were operative, not +only in England but all over western Europe, during this period. +Nations, becoming conscious and proud of their unity, dwelt, often +unreasonably, on the points wherein they differed from other peoples, +and strongly resented alien interference. At the same time the closer +relations between states, the result of improved government, better +communications, increased commercial and social intercourse, the +strengthening of common ideals, and the development of cosmopolitan +types of the knight, the scholar, and the priest, were deepening the +union of western Christendom on common lines. Neither the political nor +the military nor the ecclesiastical ideals of the early middle ages +were based upon nationality, but rather on that ecumenical community of +tradition which still made the rule of Rome, whether in Church or +State, a living reality. In the thirteenth century the papal tradition +was still at its height. The jurisdiction of the papal _curia_ implied +a universal Christian commonwealth. World-wide religious orders united +alien lands together by ties more spiritual than obedience to the papal +lawyers. The academic ideal was another and a fresh link that connected +the nations together. To the ancient reasons for union--symbolised by +the living Latin speech of all clerks, of all scholars, of all engaged +in serious affairs-were added the newer bonds of connexion involved in +the common knightly and social ideals, in the general spread of a +common art and a common vernacular language and literature. + +As Latin expressed the one series of ties, so did French represent the +other. The France of St. Louis meant two things. It meant, of course, +the French state and the French nationality, but it meant a great deal +more than that. The influence of the French tongue and French ideals +was wider than the political influence of the French monarchy. French +was the common language of knighthood, of policy, of the literature +that entertained lords and ladies, of the lighter and less technical +sides of the cosmopolitan culture which had its more serious +embodiments in Latin. To the Englishman of the thirteenth century the +French state was the enemy; but the English baron denounced France in +the French tongue, and leant a ready ear to those aspects of life +which, cosmopolitan in reality, found their fullest exposition in +France and among French-speaking peoples. In the age which saw +hostility to Frenchmen become a passion, a Frenchman like Montfort +could become the champion of English patriotism, English scholars could +readily quit their native land to study at Paris, the French vernacular +literature was the common property of the two peoples, and French words +began to force their way into the stubborn vocabulary of the English +language, which for two centuries had almost entirely rejected these +alien elements. In dwelling, however briefly, on the new features which +were transforming English civilisation during this memorable period, we +shall constantly see how England gained by her ever-increasing +intercourse with the continent, by necessarily sharing in the new +movements which had extended from the continent to the island, no +longer, as in the eleventh century, to be described as a world apart. +Neither the coming of the friars, nor the development of university +life and academic schools of philosophy, theology, and natural science, +nor the triumph of gothic art, nor the spread of vernacular literature, +not even the scholarly study of English law nor the course of English +political development-not one of these movements could have been what +it was without the close interconnexion of the various parts of the +European commonwealth, which was becoming more homogeneous at the same +time that its units were acquiring for themselves sped characteristics +of their own. + +In the early days of Henry III.'s reign, a modest alien invasion +anticipated the more noisy coming of the Poitevin or the Provencal. The +most remarkable development of the "religious" life that the later +middle age was to witness had just been worked out in Italy. St. +Francis of Assisi had taught the cult of absolute poverty, and his +example held up to his followers the ideal of the thorough and literal +imitation of Christ's life. Thus arose the early beginnings of the +Minorite or Franciscan rule. St. Dominic yielded to the fascination of +the Umbrian enthusiast, and inculcated on his Order of Preachers a +complete renunciation of worldly goods which made a society, originally +little more than a new type of canons regular, a mendicant order like +the Franciscans, bound to interpret the monastic vow of poverty with +such literalness as to include corporate as well as individual +renunciation of possessions, so that the order might not own lands or +goods, and no member of it could live otherwise than by labour or by +alms. In the second chapter of the Dominican order, at Whitsuntide, +1221, an organisation into provinces was carried out; and among the +eight provinces, each with its prior, then instituted, was the province +of England, where no preaching friar had hitherto set foot, and over it +Gilbert of Freynet was appointed prior. Then Dominic withdrew to +Bologna, where he died on August 6. Within a few days of the saint's +death, Friar Gilbert with thirteen companions made his way to England. +In the company of Peter des Roches the Dominican pioneers went to +Canterbury, where Archbishop Langton was then residing. At the +archbishop's request Gilbert preached in a Canterbury church, and +Langton was so much delighted by his teaching that henceforth he had a +special affection for the new order. From Canterbury the friars +journeyed to London and Oxford. Mindful of the work of their leaders at +Paris and Bologna, they built their first English chapel, house, and +schools in the university town. Soon these proved too small for them, +and they had to seek ampler quarters outside the walls. From these +beginnings the Dominicans spread over England. + +The Franciscans quickly followed the Dominicans. On September 10, 1224, +there landed at Dover a little band of four clerks and five laymen, +sent by St. Francis himself to extend the new teaching into England. At +their head was the Italian, Agnellus of Pisa, a deacon, formerly warden +of the Parisian convent, who was appointed provincial minister in +England. His three clerical companions were all Englishmen, though the +five laymen were Italians or Frenchmen. Like the Dominican pioneers, +the Franciscan missionaries first went to Canterbury, where the favour +of Simon Langton, the archdeacon, did for them what the goodwill of his +brother Stephen had done for their precursors. Leaving some of their +number at Canterbury, four of the Franciscans went on to London, and +thence a little later two of them set out for Oxford. Alike at London +and at Oxford, they found a cordial welcome from the Dominicans, eating +in their refectories, and sleeping in their dormitories, until they +were able to erect modest quarters in both places. The brethren of the +new order excited unbounded enthusiasm. Necessity and choice combined +to compel them to interpret their vow of poverty as St. Francis would +have wished. They laboured with their own hands at the construction of +their humble churches. The friars at Oxford knew the pangs of debt and +hunger, rejected pillows as a vain luxury, and limited the use of boots +and shoes to the sick and infirm. The faithful saw the brethren singing +songs as they picked their way over the frozen mud or hard snow, blood +marking the track of their naked feet, without their being conscious of +it. The joyous radiance of Francis himself illuminated the lives of his +followers. "The friars," writes their chronicler, "were so full of fun +among themselves that a deaf mute could hardly refrain from laughter at +seeing them." With the same glad spirit they laboured for the salvation +of souls, the cure of sickness, and the relief of distress. The +emotional feeling of the age quickly responded to their zeal. Within a +few years other houses had arisen at Gloucester, at Nottingham, at +Stamford, at Worcester, at Northampton, at Cambridge, at Lincoln, at +Shrewsbury. In a generation there was hardly a town of importance in +England that had not its Franciscan convent, and over against it a +rival Dominican house. + +The esteem felt for the followers of Francis and Dominic led to an +extraordinary extension of the mendicant type. New orders of friars +arose, preserving the essential attribute of absolute poverty, though +differing from each other and from the two prototypes in various +particulars. Some of these lesser orders found their way to England. In +the same year as Agnellus, there came to England the Trinitarian +friars, called also the Maturins, from the situation of their first +house in Paris, an order whose special function was the redemption of +captives. In 1240 returning crusaders brought back with them the first +Carmelite friars, for whom safer quarters had to be found than in their +original abodes in Syria. This society spread widely, and in 1287, to +the disgust of the older monks, it laid aside the party-coloured habit, +forced upon it in derision by the infidels, and adopted the white robe, +which gave them their popular name of White Friars. Hard upon these, in +1244, came also the Crutched Friars, so called from the red cross set +upon their backs or breasts; but these were never deeply rooted in +England. The multiplication of orders of friars became an abuse, so +that, at the Council of Lyons of 1245, Innocent IV abolished all save +four. Besides Dominicans and Franciscans the pope only continued the +Carmelites, and an order first seen in England a few years later, the +Austin friars or the hermits of the order of St. Augustine. These made +up the traditional four orders of friars of later history. Yet even the +decree of a council could not stay the growth of new mendicant types. +In 1257 the Friars of the Penance of Jesus Christ, popularly styled +Friars of the Sack, from their coarse sackcloth garb, settled down in +London, exempted by papal dispensation from the fate of suppression; +and even later than this King Richard's son, Edmund of Cornwall, +established a community of Bonhommes at Ashridge in Buckinghamshire. + +The friars were not recluses, like the older orders, but active +preachers and teachers of the people. The parish clergy seldom held a +strong position in medieval life. The estimation in which the monastic +ideal was held limited their influence. They were, as a rule, not much +raised above the people among whom they laboured. If the parish priest +were a man of rank or education, he was too often a non-resident and a +pluralist, bestowing little personal attention on his parishioners. Nor +were the numerous parishes served by monks in much better plight. The +monastery took the tithes and somehow provided for the services; but the +efforts of Grosseteste to secure the establishment of permanent +stipendiary vicarages in his diocese exemplify the reluctance of the +religious to give their appropriations the benefit of permanent pastors, +paid on an adequate scale. It was an exceptional thing for the parish +clergymen to do more than discharge perfunctorily the routine duties of +their office, and preaching was almost unknown among them. The friars +threw themselves into pastoral work with such devotion as to compel the +reluctant admiration of their natural rivals, the monks. "At first," +says Matthew Paris,[1] "the Preachers and the Minorites lived a life of +poverty and extreme sanctity. They busied themselves in preaching, +hearing confessions, the recital of divine service, in teaching and +study. They embraced voluntary poverty for God's sake, abandoning all +their worldly goods and not even reserving for themselves their food for +to-morrow." A special field of labour was in the crowded suburbs of the +larger towns, where so often they chose to erect their first convents. +The care of the sick and of lepers was their peculiar function. Their +sympathy and charity carried everything before them, and they remained +the chief teachers of the poor down to the Reformation. They ingratiated +themselves with the rich as much as with the poor. Henry III. and Edward +selected mendicants as their confessors. The strongest and holiest of +the bishops, Grosseteste, became their most active friend. Simon of +Montfort sought the advice and friendship of a friar like Adam Marsh. +The mere fact that Stephen Langton and Peter des Roches were their first +patrons in England shows how they appealed alike to the best and worst +clerical types of the time. + + [1] _Chron. Maj._, v., 194. + +Men and women of all ranks, while still living in the world and +fulfilling their ordinary occupations, associated themselves to the +mendicant brotherhoods. Besides these _tertiaries_, as they were +called, still wider circles sought the friars' direction in all +spiritual matters and showed eagerness to be buried within their +sanctuaries. Nor did the friars limit themselves to pastoral care. They +won a unique place in the intellectual history of the time. They made +themselves the spokesmen of all the movements of the age. They were +eager to make peace, and Agnellus himself mediated between Henry III. +and the earl marshal. They were the strenuous preachers of the +crusades, whether against the infidel or against Frederick II. The +Franciscans taught a new and more methodical devotion to the Virgin +Mother. The friars upheld the highest papal claims, were constantly +selected as papal agents and tax-gatherers, and yet even this did not +deprive them of their influence over Englishmen. Their zeal for truth +often made them defenders of unpopular causes, and it was much to their +honour that they did not hesitate to incur the displeasure of the +Londoners by their anxiety to save innocent Jews accused of the murder +of Christian children. The parish clergy hated and envied them as +successful rivals, and bitterly resented the privilege which they +received from Alexander IV of hearing confessions throughout the world. +Not less strong was the hostility of the monastic orders which is often +expressed in Matthew Paris's free-spoken abuse of them. They were +accused of terrorising dying men out of their possessions, of laxity in +the confessional, of absolving their friends too easily, of overweening +ambition and restless meddlesomeness. They were violent against +heretics and enemies of the Church. They answered hate with hate. They +despised the seculars as drones and the monks as lazy and corrupt. The +dissensions between the various orders of friars, and particularly +between the sober and intellectual Dominicans and the radical and +mystic Franciscans, were soon as bitter as those between monks and +friars, or monks and seculars. But when all allowances have been made, +the good that they wrought far outbalanced the evil, and in England at +least, the mendicant orders exhibited a nobler conception of religion, +and of men's duly to their fellowmen than had as yet been set before +the people. If the main result of their influence was to strengthen +that cosmopolitan conception of Christendom of which the papacy was the +head and the friars the agents, their zeal for righteousness often led +them beyond their own rigid platform, and Englishmen honoured the +wandering friar as the champion of the nation's cause. + +Like the religious orders, the universities were part of the world +system and only indirectly represented the struggling national life. +The ferment of the twelfth century revival crystallised groups of +masters or doctors into guilds called universities, with a strong class +tradition, rigid codes of rules, and intense corporate spirit. The +schools at Oxford, whose continuous history can be traced from the days +of Henry II., had acquired a considerable reputation by the time that +his grandson had ascended the throne. Oxford university, with an +autonomous constitution of its own since _1214_, was presided over by a +chancellor who, though in a sense the representative of the distant +diocesan at Lincoln, was even in the earliest times the head of the +scholars, and no mere delegate of the bishop. Five years earlier the +Oxford schools were sufficiently vigorous to provoke a secession, from +which the first faint beginnings of a university at Cambridge arose. A +generation later there were other secessions to Salisbury and +Northampton, but neither of these schools succeeded in maintaining +themselves. Cambridge itself had a somewhat languid existence +throughout the whole of the thirteenth century, and was scarcely +recognised as a _studium generale_ until the bull of John XXII. in 1318 +made its future position secure. In early days the university owed +nothing to endowments, buildings, social prestige, or tradition. The +two essentials was the living voice of the graduate teacher and the +concourse of students desirous to be taught. Hence migrations were +common and stability only gradually established. When, late in Henry +III.'s reign, the chancellor, Walter of Merton, desired to set up a +permanent institution for the encouragement of poor students, he +hesitated whether to establish it at Oxford, or Cambridge, or in his +own Surrey village. Oxford, though patriots coupled it with Paris and +Bologna, only gradually rose into repute. But before the end of Henry +III.'s reign it had won an assured place among the great universities +of western Europe, though lagging far behind that of the supreme +schools of Paris. + +The growing fame of the university of Oxford was a matter of national +importance. Down to the early years of the thirteenth century a young +English clerk who was anxious to study found his only career abroad, +and was too often cut off altogether from his mother country. Among the +last of this type were the Paris mathematician, John of Holywood or +Halifax, Robert Curzon, cardinal, legate, theologian, and crusader, and +Alexander of Hales. Stephen Langton, who did important work in revising +the text of the Vulgate, might well have been one of those lost to +England but for the wisdom of Innocent III who restored him, in the +fulness of his reputation and powers, to the service of the English +Church. Not many years younger than Langton was his successor Edmund of +Abingdon, but the difference was enough to make the younger primate a +student of the Oxford schools in early life. Though he left Oxford for +Paris, Edmund returned to an active career in England, when experience +convinced him of the vanity of scholastic success. Bishop Grosseteste, +another early Oxford teacher of eminence, probably studied at Paris, +for so late as 1240 he held up to the Oxford masters of theology the +example of their Paris brethren for their imitation. The double +allegiance of Edmund and Grosseteste was typical. A long catalogue of +eminent names adorned the annals of Oxford in the thirteenth century, +but the most distinguished of her earlier sons were drawn away from her +by the superior attractions of Paris. England furnished at least her +share of the great names of thirteenth century scholasticism, but of +very few of these could it be said that their main obligation was to +the English university. It was at Paris that the academic organisation +developed which Oxford adopted. At Paris the great intellectual +conflicts of the century were fought. There the ferment seethed round +that introduction of Aristotle's teaching from Moorish sources which +led to the outspoken pantheism of an Amaury of Bene. There also was the +reconciliation effected between the new teacher and the old faith which +made Aristotle the pillar of the new scholasticism that was to justify +by reason the ways of God to man. In Paris also was fought the contest +between the aggressive mendicant friars and the secular doctors whom +they wished to supplant in the divinity schools. + +There is little evidence of even a pale reflection of these struggles +in contemporary Oxford. English scholars bore their full share in the +fight. It was the Englishman Curzon who condemned the heresies of +Amaury of Bene. Another Englishman, Alexander of Hales, issued in his +_Summa Theologiae_ the first effective reconciliation of Aristotelian +metaphysic with Christian doctrine which his Paris pupils, Thomas +Aquinas, the Italian, and Albert the Great, the German, were to work +out in detail in the next generation. Hales was the first secular +doctor in Europe who in 1222, in the full pride of his powers, +abandoned his position in the university to embrace the voluntary +poverty of the Franciscans and resume his teaching, not in the regular +schools but in a Minorite convent. And at the same time another English +doctor at Paris, John of St. Giles, notable as a physician as well as a +theologian, dramatically marked his conversion to the Dominican order +by assuming its habit in the midst of a sermon on the virtues of +poverty. All these famous Englishmen worked and taught at Paris, and it +was only a generation later that their successors could establish on +the Thames the traditions so long upheld on the banks of the Seine. + +The establishment of the Dominicans and Franciscans at Oxford gave an +immense impetus to the activity of the university. The Franciscans +appointed as the first _lector_ of their Oxford convent the famous +secular teacher Grosseteste, who ever after held the Minorites in the +closest estimation. Grosseteste was the greatest scholar of his day, +knowing Greek and Hebrew as well as the accustomed studies of the +period. A clear and independent thinker, he was not, like so many of +his contemporaries, overborne by the weight of authority, but appealed +to observation and experience in terms which make him the precursor of +Roger Bacon. Grosseteste's successor as _lector_ was himself a +Minorite, Adam Marsh, whose reputation was so great that Grosseteste +was afraid to leave him when sick in a French town, lest the Paris +masters should persuade him to teach in their schools. Adam's loyalty +to his native university withstood any such temptation, and from that +time Oxford began to hold up its head against Paris. Even before this, +Grosseteste persuaded John of St. Giles to transfer his teaching from +Paris to Oxford, where he remained for the rest of his life. + +The intense intellectual activity of the thirteenth century flowed in +more than one channel, and Englishmen took their full share both in +building up and in destroying. Two Englishmen of the next generation +mark in different ways the reaction against the moderate +Aristotelianism and orthodox rationalism which their countryman Hales +first brought into vogue. These were the Franciscan friars, Roger Bacon +and Duns Scotus. Bacon, though he studied at Paris as well as at +Oxford, is much more closely identified with England than with the +Continent. His sceptical, practical intellect led him to heap scorn on +Hales and his followers and to plunge into audacities of speculation +which cost him long seclusions in his convent and enforced abstinence +from writing and study. In his war against the Aristotelians, the +intrepid friar upheld recourse to experiment and observation as +superior to deference to authority, in language which stands in strange +contrast to the traditions of the thirteenth century. Grosseteste, who +also had preferred the teachings of experience to the appeal to the +sages of the past, was the only academic leader that escaped Bacon's +scathing censure. When his order kept him silent, Roger was bidden to +resume his pen by Pope Clement IV. A generation still later, Duns +Scotus, probably a Lowland Scot, who taught at Paris and died at +Cologne in 1308, emphasised, sharply enough, but in less drastic +fashion, the reaction against the teaching of Hales and Aquinas, by +accepting a dualism between reason and authority that broke away from +the Thomist tradition of the thirteenth century and prepared the way +for the scholastic decadence of the fourteenth. After France, England +took a leading part in all these movements; and even in France English +scholars had a large share in making that land the special home of the +_Studium_, as Italy was of the _Sacerdotium_ and Germany of the +_Imperium_. + +This intellectual ferment had its results on practical life. Though the +university was cosmopolitan, the individual members of it were not the +less good citizens. A patriot like Grosseteste strove to his uttermost +to keep Englishmen for Oxford or to win them back from Paris. Oxford +clerks fought the battle of England against the legate Otto, and we +shall see them siding with Montfort. The eminently practical temper of +the academic class could not neglect the world of action for the +abstract pursuit of science. Eager as men were to know, to prove, and +to inquire, the age had little of the mystical temperament about it. +The studies which made for worldly success, such as civil and canon +law, attracted the thousands for whom philosophy or theology had little +attraction. Never before was there a career so fully opened to talent. +The academic teacher's fame took him from the lecture-room to the +court, from the university to the episcopal throne, and so it was that +the university influenced action almost as profoundly as it influenced +thought, and affected all classes of society alike. The struggles of +poor students like Edmund of Abingdon or Grosseteste must not make us +think that the universities of this period were exclusively frequented +by humble scholars. The academic career of a rich baron's son like +Thomas of Cantilupe, living in his own hired house at Paris with a +train of chaplains and tutors, receiving the visits of the French king, +and feeding poor scholars with the remnants from his table, is as +characteristic as the more common picture of the student begging his +way from one seat of learning to another, and suffering the severest +privations rather than desert his studies. Yet the function of the +_studium_ as promoting a healthy circulation between the various orders +of medieval society, must not be ignored. + +Partly to help on the poor, partly to encourage men to devote +themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, endowments began to arise which +soon enhanced the splendour of universities though they lessened their +mobility and their freedom. The mendicant convents at Paris and Oxford +prepared the way for secular foundations, at first small and +insignificant, like that which, in the days of Henry III., John Balliol +established at Oxford for the maintenance of poor scholars, but soon +increasing in magnitude and distinction. The great college set up by +St. Louis' confessor at Paris for the endowment of scholars, desirous +of studying the unlucrative but vital subject of theology, was soon +imitated by the chancellor of Henry III. Side by side with Robert of +Sorbon's college of 1257, arose Walter of Merton's foundation of 1263, +and twenty years later Bishop Balsham's college of Peterhouse extended +the "rule of Merton" to Cambridge. + +The academic movement was not all clear gain. The humanism, of the +twelfth century was crushed beneath the weight of the specialised +science and encyclopaedic learning of the thirteenth. We should seek in +vain among most theologians or the philosophers of our period for any +spark of literary art; and the tendency dominant in them affected for +evil all works written in Latin. Even the historians show a falling +away from the example of William of Malmesbury or of Roger of Hoveden. +The one English chronicler of the thirteenth century who is a +considerable man of letters, Matthew Paris, belongs to the early half +of it, before the academic tradition was fully established, and even +with him prolixity impairs the art without injuring the colour of his +work. The age of Edward I., the great time of triumphant scholasticism, +is recorded in chronicles so dreary that it is hard to make the dry +bones live. Walter of Hemingburgh, the most attractive historian of the +time, belongs to the next generation: and his excellencies are only +great in comparison with his fellows. Something of this decadence may +be attributed to the falling away of the elder monastic types, whose +higher life withered up from want of able recruits, for the secular and +mendicant careers offered opportunities so stimulating that few men of +purpose, or earnest spiritual character, cared to enter a Benedictine +or a Cistercian house of religion. Something more may be assigned to +the growing claims of the vulgar tongue on literary aspirants. But the +chief cause of the literary defects of thirteenth century writers must +be set down to the doctrine that the study of "arts"--of grammar, +rhetoric and the rest--was only worthy of schoolboys and novices, and +was only a preliminary to the specialised faculties which left little +room for artistic presentation. Science in short nearly killed +literature. + +It was the same with the vulgar tongues as with Latin. French remained +the common language of the higher classes of English society, and the +history of French literature belongs to the history of the western +world rather than to that of England. The share taken in it by +English-born writers is less important than in the great age of romance +when the contact of Celt and Norman on British soil added the Arthurian +legend to the world's stock of poetic material. The practical motive, +which destroyed the art of so many Latin writers, impaired the literary +value of much written in the vernacular. We have technical works in +French and even in English, such as Walter of Henley's treatise on +_Husbandry_, composed in French for the guidance of stewards of manors, +and translated, it is said by Grosseteste, into English for the benefit +of a wider public. Grosseteste is also said to have drawn up in French +a handbook of rules for the management of a great estate, and he +certainly wrote French poetry. The legal literature, written in Latin +or French, and illustrated by such names as Bracton, Britton, and +"Fleta," shows that there was growing up a school of earnest students +of English law who, though anxious, like Bracton, to bring their +conclusions under the rules of Roman jurisprudence, began to treat +their science with an independence which secured for English custom the +opportunity of independent development. Of more literary interest than +such technicalities were the rhyming chronicles, handed on from the +previous age, of which one of the best, the recently discovered history +of the great William Marshal, has already been noticed. The spontaneity +of this poem proves that its language was still the natural speech of +the writer, and impels its French editor to claim for it a French +origin. As the century grew older there was no difficulty in deciding +whether French works were written by Englishmen or Frenchmen. The +Yorkshire French of Peter Langtoft's _Chronicle_, and the jargon of the +_Year Books_, attest how the political separation of the two lands, and +the preponderance in northern France of the dialect of Paris, placed +the insular French speech in strong contrast to the language of polite +society beyond the Channel. Yet barbarous as Anglo-French became, it +retained the freshness of a living tongue, and gained some ground at +the expense of Latin, notably in the law courts and in official +documents. + +English was slowly making its way upwards. There was a public ready to +read vernacular books, and not at home with French. For their sake a +great literature of translations and adaptations was made, beginning +with Layamon's English version of Wace's _Brut_, which by the end of +the century made the cycle of French romance accessible to the English +reader. Many works of edification and devotion were written in English; +and Robert of Gloucester's rhyming history appealed to a larger public +than the Yorkshire French of Langtoft. It is significant of the trend +of events that the early fourteenth century saw Langtoft himself done +into English by Robert Mannyng, of Bourne. While as yet no continuous +works of high merit were written in English, there was no lack of +experiments, of novelties, and of adaptations. Much evidence of depth +of feeling, power of expression, and careful art lies hidden away in +half-forgotten anonymous lyrics, satires, and romances. The language in +which these works were written was steadily becoming more like our +modern English. The dialectical differences become less acute; the +inflections begin to drop away; the vocabulary gradually absorbs a +larger romance element, and the prosody drops from the forms of the +West Saxon period into measures and modes that reflect a living +connexion with the contemporary poetry of France. Thus, even in the +literature of a not too literary age, we find abundant tokens of that +strenuous national life which was manifesting itself in so many +different ways. + +Art rather than literature reflected the deeper currents of the +thirteenth century. Architecture, the great art of the middle age, was +in its perfection. The inchoate gothic which the Cistercians brought +from Burgundy to the Yorkshire dales, and William of Sens transplanted +from his birthplace to Canterbury, was superseded by the more developed +art of St. Hugh's choir at Lincoln. In the next generation the new +style, imported from northern France, struck out ways of its own, less +soaring, less rigidly logical, yet of unequalled grace and +picturesqueness, such as we see in Salisbury cathedral, which +altogether dates from the reign of Henry III. Here also, as in +literature, foreign models stood side by side with native products. +Henry III.'s favourite foundation at Westminster reproduced on English +soil the towering loftiness, the vaulted roofs, the short choir, and +the ring of apsidal chapels, of the great French minsters. This was +even more emphatically the case with the decorations, the goldsmith's +and metal work, the sculpture, painting, and glass, which the best +artists of France set up in honour of the English king's favourite +saint. In these crafts English work would not as yet bear a comparison +with foreign, and even the glories of the statuary of the facade of +Wells cannot approach the sculptured porches of Amiens or Paris. As the +century advanced some of the fashions of the French builders, notably +as regards window tracery, were taken up in the early "Decorated" of +the reign of Edward I.; and here the claims of English to essential +equality with French building can perhaps be better substantiated than +in the infancy of the art. But all these comparisons are misleading. +The impulse to gothic art came to England from France, like the impulse +to many other things. Its working out was conducted on English local +lines, ever becoming more divergent from those of the prototype, though +not seldom stimulated by the constant intercourse of the two lands. + +The new gothic art enriched the medieval town with a splendour of +buildings hitherto unknown, which symbolised the growth of material +prosperity as well as of a keener artistic appreciation. In the greater +towns the four orders of friars erected their large and plain churches, +designed as halls for preaching to great congregations. The development +of domestic architecture is even more significant than the growth of +ecclesiastical and military buildings. Stone houses were no longer the +rare luxuries of Jews or nobles. Never were the towns more prosperous +and more energetic. They were now winning for themselves both economic +and administrative independence. Magnates, such as Randolph of Chester, +followed the king's example by granting charters to the smaller towns. +Even the lesser boroughs became not merely the abodes of agriculturists +but the homes of organised trading communities. It was the time when +the merchant class first began to manifest itself in politics, and the +power of capital to make itself felt. Capital was almost monopolised by +Jews, Lombards, or Tuscans, and the fierce English hatred of the +foreigner found a fresh expression in the persecution of the Hebrew +money-lenders and in the increasing dislike felt for the alien bankers +and merchants who throve at Englishmen's expense. The fact that so much +of English trade with the continent was still in the hands of Germans, +Frenchmen, and Italians made this feeling the more intense. But there +were limits even to the ill-will towards aliens. The foreigner could +make himself at home in England, and the rapid naturalisation of a +Montfort in the higher walks of life is paralleled by the absorption +into the civic community of many a Gascon or German merchant, like that +Arnold Fitz Thedmar,[1] a Bremen trader's son, who became alderman +of London and probably chronicler of its history. Yet even the greatest +English towns did not become strong enough to cut themselves off from +the general life of the people. They were rather a new element in that +rich and purposeful nation that had so long been enduring the rule of +Henry of Winchester. The national energy spurned the feebleness of the +court, and the time was at hand when the nation, through its natural +leaders, was to overthrow the wretched system of misgovernment under +which it had suffered. Political retrogression was no longer to bar +national progress. + + [1] See for Arnold the _Chronica majorum et vicecomitum + Londoniarum_ in _Liber de antiquis legibus_, and Riley's + introduction to his translation of _Chronicles of the Mayors + and Sheriffs of London_ (1863). + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BARONS' WAR. + + +During the early months of 1258, the aliens ruled the king and realm, +added estate to estate, and defied all attempts to dislodge them. Papal +agents traversed the country, extorting money from prelates and +churches. The Welsh, in secret relations with the lords of the march, +threatened the borders, and made a confederacy with the Scots. The +French were hostile, and the barons disunited, without leaders, and +helpless. A wretched harvest made corn scarce and dear. A wild winter, +followed by a long late frost, cut off the lambs and destroyed the +farmers' hopes for the summer. A murrain of cattle followed, and the +poor were dying of hunger and pestilence. Henry III. was in almost as +bad a plight as his people. He had utterly failed to subdue Llewelyn. A +papal agent threatened him with excommunication and the resumption of +the grant of Sicily. He could not control his foreign kinsfolk, and the +rivalry of Savoyards and Poitevins added a new element of turmoil to +the distracted relations of the magnates. His son had been forced to +pawn his best estates to William of Valence, and the royal exchequer +was absolutely empty. Money must be had at all risks, and the only way +to get it was to assemble the magnates. + +On April 2 the chief men of Church and State gathered together at +London. For more than a month the stormy debates went on. The king's +demands were contemptuously waved aside. His exceptional misdeeds, it +was declared, were to be met by exceptional measures. Hot words were +spoken, and William of Valence called Leicester a traitor. "No, no, +William," the earl replied, "I am not a traitor, nor the son of a +traitor; your father and mine were men of a different stamp," An +opposition party formed itself under the Earls of Gloucester, +Leicester, Hereford, and Norfolk. Even the Savoyards partially fell +away from the court, and a convocation of clergy at Merton, presided +over by Archbishop Boniface, drew up canons in the spirit of +Grosseteste. In parliament all that Henry could get was a promise to +adjourn the question of supply until a commission had drafted a +programme of reform. On May 2 Henry and his son Edward announced their +acceptance of this proposal; parliament was forthwith prorogued, and +the barons set to work to mature their scheme. + +On June 11 the magnates once more assembled, this time at Oxford. A +summons to fight the Welsh gave them an excuse to appear attended with +their followers in arms. The royalist partisans nicknamed the gathering +the Mad Parliament, but its proceedings were singularly business-like. +A petition of twenty-nine articles was presented, in which the abuses +of the administration were laid bare in detail. A commission of +twenty-four was appointed who were to redress the grievances of the +nation, and to draw up a new scheme of government. According to the +compact Henry himself selected half this body. It was significant of +the falling away of the mass of the ruling families from the monarchy, +that six of Henry's twelve commissioners were churchmen, four were +aliens, three were his brothers, one his brother-in-law, one his +nephew, one his wife's uncle. The only earls that accepted his +nomination were the Poitevin adventurer, John du Plessis, Earl of +Warwick, and John of Warenne, who was pledged to a royalist policy by +his marriage to Henry's half-sister, Alice of Lusignan. The only +bishops were, the queen's uncle, Boniface of Canterbury, and Fulk +Basset of London, the richest and noblest born of English prelates, +who, though well meaning, was too weak in character for continued +opposition. Yet these two were the most independent names on Henry's +list. The rest included the three Lusignan brothers, Guy, William, and +Aymer, still eight years after his election only elect of Winchester; +Henry of Almaine, the young son of the King of the Romans; the +pluralist official John Mansel; the chancellor, Henry Wingham; the +Dominican friar John of Darlington, distinguished as a biblical critic, +the king's confessor and the pope's agent; and the Abbot of +Westminster, an old man pledged by long years of dependence to do the +will of the second founder of his house. In strong contrast to these +creatures of court favour were the twelve nominees of the barons. The +only ecclesiastic was Walter of Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester, and the +only alien was Earl Simon of Leicester. With him were three other +earls, Richard of Clare, Earl of Gloucester, Roger Bigod, earl marshal +and Earl of Norfolk, and Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford. Those of +baronial rank were Roger Mortimer, the strongest of the marchers, Hugh +Bigod, the brother of the earl marshal, John FitzGeoffrey, Richard +Grey, William Bardolf, Peter Montfort, and Hugh Despenser. + +The twenty-four drew up a plan of reform which left little to be +desired in thoroughness. The Provisions of Oxford, as the new +constitution was styled, were speedily laid before the barons and +adopted. By it a standing council of fifteen was established, with +whose advice and consent Henry was henceforth to exercise all his +authority. Even this council was not to be without supervision. Thrice +in the year another committee of twelve was to treat with the fifteen +on the common affairs of the realm. This rather narrow body was +created, we are told, to save the expense involved in too frequent +meetings of the magnates. A third aristocratic junto of twenty-four was +appointed to make grants of money to the crown. All aliens were to be +expelled from office and from the custody of royal castles. New +ministers, castellans, and escheators were appointed under stringent +conditions and under the safeguard of new oaths. The original +twenty-four were not yet discharged from office. They had still to draw +up schemes for the reform of the household of king and queen, and for +the amendment of the exchange of London. Moreover, "Be it remembered," +ran one of the articles, "that the estate of Holy Church be amended by +the twenty-four elected to reform the realm, when they shall find time +and place". + +For the first time in our history the king was forced to stand aside +from the discharge of his undoubted functions, and suffer them to be +exercised by a committee of magnates. The conception of limited +monarchy, which had been foreshadowed in the early struggles of Henry's +long reign, was triumphantly vindicated, and, after weary years of +waiting, the baronial victors demanded more than had ever been +suggested by the most free interpretation of the Great Charter. The +body that controlled the crown was, it is true, a narrow one. But +whatever was lost by its limitation, was more than gained by the +absolute freedom of the whole movement from any suspicion of the +separatist tendencies of the earlier feudalism. The barons tacitly +accepted the principle that England was a unity, and that it must be +ruled as a single whole. The triumph of the national movement of the +thirteenth century was assured when the most feudal class of the +community thus frankly abandoned the ancient baronial contention that +each baron should rule in isolation over his own estates, a tradition +which, when carried out for a brief period under Stephen, had set up +"as many kings or rather tyrants as lords of castles". The feudal +period was over: the national idea was triumphant. This victory becomes +specially significant when we remember how large a share the barons of +the Welsh march, the only purely feudal region in the country, took in +the movement against the King. + +The unity of the national government being recognised, it was another +sign of the times that its control should be transferred from the +monarch to a committee of barons. At this point the rigid conceptions +of the triumphant oligarchy stood in the way of a wide national policy. +Since the reign of John the custom had arisen of consulting the +representatives of the shire-courts on matters of politics and finance. +In 1258 there is not the least trace of a suggestion that parliament +could ever include a more popular element than the barons and prelates. +On the contrary, the Provisions diminished the need even for those +periodical assemblies of the magnates which had been in existence since +the earliest dawn of our history. For all practical purposes small +baronial committees were to perform the work of magnates and people as +well as of the crown. Yet it must be recognised that the barons showed +self-control, as well as practical wisdom, in handing over functions +discharged by the baronage as a whole to the various committees of +their selection. The danger of general control by the magnates was that +a large assembly, more skilled in opposition than in constructive work, +was almost sure to become infected by faction. By strictly limiting and +defining who the new rulers of England were to be, the barons +approached a combination of aristocratic control with the stability and +continuity resulting from limited numbers and defined functions. It is +likely, however, that in bestowing such extensive powers on their +nominees, they were influenced by the well-grounded belief that the new +constitution could only be established by main force, and that, even +when abandoned by the king, the aliens would make a good fight before +they gave up all that they had so long held in England. The success of +the new scheme largely depended upon the immediate execution of the +ordinance for the expulsion of the foreigners. + +The first step taken to carry out the Provisions was the appointment of +the new ministers. The barons insisted on the revival of the office of +justiciar, and a strenuous and capable chief minister was found in Hugh +Bigod. It was advisable to go cautiously, and some of the king's +ministers were allowed to continue in office. An appeal to force was +necessary before the new constitution could be set up in detail. The +Savoyards bought their safety by accepting it; but the Poitevins, +seeing that flight or resistance were the only alternatives before +them, were spirited enough to prefer the bolder course. They were +specially dangerous because Edward and his cousin, Henry of Almaine, +the son of the King of the Romans, were much under their influence. In +the Dominican convent at Oxford the baronial leaders formed a sworn +confederacy not to desist from their purpose until the foreigners had +been expelled. There were more hot words between Leicester and William, +the most capable of the Lusignans. The Poitevins soon found that they +could not maintain themselves in the face of the general hatred. On +June 22 they fled from Oxford in the company of their ally, Earl +Warenne. They rode straight for the coast, but failing to reach it, +occupied Winchester, where they sought to maintain themselves in +Aymer's castle of Wolvesey. The magnates of the parliament then turned +against them the arms they professed to have prepared against the +Welsh. Headed by the new justiciar, Hugh Bigod, they besieged Wolvesey. +Warenne abandoned the aliens, and they gladly accepted the terms +offered to them by their foes. They were allowed to retain their lands +and some of their ready money, on condition of withdrawing from the +realm and surrendering their castles. By the middle of July they had +crossed over to France. With them disappeared the whole of the +organised opposition to the new government. Edward, deprived of their +support, swore to observe the Provisions. + +Immediately on the flight of the Lusignans the council of Fifteen was +chosen after a fashion which seemed to give the king's friends an equal +voice with the champions of the aristocracy. Four electors appointed +it, and of these two were the nominees of the baronial section, and two +of the royalist section of the original twenty-four. The result of +their work showed that there was only one party left after the Wolvesey +fiasco. While only three of the king's twelve had places on the +permanent council, no less that nine of the fifteen were chosen from +the baronial twelve. It was useless for Archbishop Boniface, John +Mansel, and the Earl of Warwick to stand up against the Bishop of +Worcester, the Earls of Leicester, Norfolk, Hereford, and Gloucester, +against John FitzGeoffrey, Peter Montfort, Richard Grey, and Roger +Mortimer. Moreover, of the three, John Mansel alone could still be +regarded as a royalist partisan. There were three of the fifteen chosen +from outside the twenty-four. Of these, Peter of Savoy, Earl of +Richmond, might, like his brother Boniface, be regarded as an alien, +though hatred of the Poitevins had by this time made Englishmen of the +Savoyards. The other two, the marcher-lord James of Audley and William +of Fors, Earl of Albemarle, were of baronial sympathies. It was the +same with the other councils. + +Inquiry was made as to abuses. Gradually the royal officials were +replaced by men of popular leanings. The sheriffs were changed and were +strictly controlled, and four knights from each shire assembled in +October to present to the king the grievances of the people against the +out-going sheriffs. The custody of the castles was put into trusty and, +for the most part, into English hands. Finally the king was forced to +issue a proclamation, in which he commanded all true men "steadfastly +to hold and to defend the statutes that be made or are to be made by +our counsellors". This document was issued in English as well as in +French and Latin. A copy of the English version was sent to every +sheriff, with instructions to read it several times a year in the +county court, so that a knowledge of its contents might be attained by +every man. It is perhaps the first important proclamation issued in +English since the coming of the Normans. Early in 1259 Richard, King of +the Romans, set out to revisit England. He was met at Saint Omer by a +deputation of magnates, who told him that he could only be allowed to +land after taking an oath to observe the Provisions. Richard blustered, +but soon gave in his submission. His adhesion to the reforms marks the +last step in the revolution. + +The new constitution worked without interruption until the end of 1259. +Throughout that period domestic affairs were uneventful, and the +efforts of the ministry were chiefly concerned in securing peace +abroad. In 1258 Wales had been in revolt, Scotland unfriendly, and +France threatening. A truce, ill observed, was made with Llewelyn, who +found it worth while to be cautious, seeing that his natural enemies, +but sometime associates, the marchers, had a preponderant share in the +government. The Scots were easier to satisfy, for there was at the time +no real hostility between either kings or peoples. The chief event of +this period is the conclusion of the first peace with France since the +wars of John and Philip Augustus. The protracted negotiations which +preceded it took the king and his chief councillors abroad, and that +made it easier to carry on the new domestic system without friction. + +Since the friendly personal intercourse held between Henry and Louis +IX. in 1254, the relations between England and France had become less +cordial. The revival of the English power in Gascony, the +Anglo-Castilian alliance, and the election of Richard of Cornwall to +the German kingship irritated the French, to whom the persistent +English claim to Normandy and Anjou, and the repudiation of the +Aquitanian homage, were perpetual sources of annoyance. The French +championship of Alfonso against Richard achieved the double end of +checking English pretensions, and cooling the friendship between +England and Castile. St. Louis, however, was always ready to treat for +peace, while the revolution of 1258 made all parties in England anxious +to put a speedy end to the unsettled relations between the two realms. +Negotiations were begun as early as 1257, and made some progress; but +the decisive step was taken immediately after the prorogation of the +reforming parliament in the spring of 1258. During May a strangely +constituted embassy treated for peace at Paris, where Montfort and Hugh +Bigod worked side by side with two of the Lusignans and Peter of Savoy. +They concluded a provisional treaty in time for the negotiators to take +their part in the Mad Parliament. The unsettled state of affairs in +England, however, delayed the ratification of the treaty. Arrangements +had been made for its publication at Cambrai, but the fifteen dared not +allow Henry to escape from their tutelage, and Louis refused to treat +save with the king himself. There were difficulties as to the relation +of the pope and the King of the Romans to the treaty, while Earl +Simon's wife Eleanor and her children refused to waive their very +remote claims to a share in the Norman and Angevin inheritances, which +her brother was prepared to renounce. As ever, Montfort held to his +personal rights with the utmost tenacity, and the self-seeking +obstinacy of the chief negotiator of the treaty caused both bad blood +and delay. At last he was bought off by the promise of a money payment, +and the preliminary ratifications were exchanged in the summer of 1259. +On November 14 Henry left England for Paris for the formal conclusion +of the treaty. There were great festivities on the occasion of the +meeting of the two kings, but once more Montfort and his wife blocked +the way. Not until the very morning of the day fixed for the final +ceremony were they satisfied by Henry's promise to deposit on their +behalf a large sum in the hands of the French. Immediately afterwards +Henry did homage to Louis for Gascony. + +The chief condition of the treaty of Paris was Henry's definitive +renunciation of all his claims on Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine, and +Poitou, and his agreement to hold Gascony as a fief of the French +crown. In return for this, Louis not only recognised him as Duke of +Aquitaine, but added to his actual possessions there by ceding to him +all that he held, whether in fief or in demesne, in the three dioceses +of Limoges, Cahors, and Perigueux. Besides these immediate cessions, +the French king promised to hand over to Henry certain districts then +held by his brother, Alfonse of Poitiers, and his brother's wife Joan +of Toulouse, in the event of their dominions escheating to the crown by +their death without heirs. These regions included Agen and the Agenais, +Saintonge to the south of the Charente, and in addition the whole of +Quercy, if it could be proved by inquest that it had been given by +Richard I. to his sister Joan, grandmother of Joan of Poitiers, as her +marriage portion. Moreover the French king promised to pay to Henry the +sums necessary to maintain for two years five hundred knights to be +employed "for the service of God, or the Church, or the kingdom of +England."[1] + + [1] For the treaty and its execution see M. Gavrilovitch, + _Etude sur le traite de Paris de 1259_ (1899). + +The treaty was unpopular both in France and England. The French +strongly objected to the surrender of territory, and were but little +convinced of the advantage gained by making the English king once more +the vassal of France. English opinion was hostile to the abandonment of +large pretensions in return for so small an equivalent. On the French +side it is true that Louis sacrificed something to his sense of justice +and love of peace. But the territory he ceded was less in reality than +in appearance. The French king's demesnes in Quercy, Perigord, and +Limousin were not large, and the transference of the homage of the +chief vassals meant only a nominal change of overlordship, and was +further limited by a provision that certain "privileged fiefs" were +still to be retained under the direct suzerainty of the French crown. +As to the eventual cessions, Alfonse and his wife were still alive and +likely to live many years. Even the cession of Gascony was hampered by +a stipulation that the towns should take an "oath of security," by +which they pledged themselves to aid France against England in the +event of the English king breaking the provisions of the treaty. +Perhaps the most solid advantage Henry gained by the treaty was +financial, for he spent the sums granted to enable him to redeem his +crusading vow in preparing for war against his own subjects. It was, +however, an immense advantage for England to be able during the +critical years which followed to be free from French hostility. If, +therefore, the French complaints against the treaty were exaggerated, +the English dissatisfaction was unreasonable. The real difficulty for +the future lay in the fact that the possession of Gascony by the king +of a hostile nation was incompatible with the proper development of the +French monarchy. For fifty years, however, a chronic state of war had +not given Gascony to the French; and Louis IX. was, perhaps, politic as +well as scrupulous in abandoning the way of force and beginning a new +method of gradual absorption, that in the end gained the Gascon fief +for France more effectively than any conquest. The treaty of Paris was +not a final settlement. It left a score of questions still open, and +the problems of its gradual execution involved the two courts in +constant disputes down to the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. For +seventy years the whole history of the relations between the two +nations is but a commentary on the treaty of Paris. + +During his visit to Paris Henry arranged a marriage between his +daughter Beatrice and John of Brittany, the son of the reigning duke. +In no hurry to get back to the tutelage of the fifteen, he prolonged +his stay on the continent till the end of April, 1260. Yet, abroad as +at home, he could not be said to act as a free man. It was not the king +so much as Simon of Montfort who was the real author of the French +treaty. Indeed, it is from the conclusion of the Peace of Paris that +Simon's preponderance becomes evident. He was at all stages the chief +negotiator of the peace and, save when his personal interests stood in +the way, he controlled every step of the proceedings. If in 1258 he was +but one of several leaders of the baronial party in England, he came +back from France in 1260 assured of supremacy. During his absence +abroad, events had taken place in England which called for his +presence. + +After their triumph in 1258, the baronial leaders relaxed their efforts. +Contented with their position as arbiters of the national destinies, +they made little effort to carry out the reforms contemplated at Oxford. +The ranks of the victors were broken up by private dissensions. Before +leaving for France, Earl Simon violently quarrelled with Richard, Earl +of Gloucester. It was currently believed that Gloucester had grown +slack, and Simon rose in popular estimation as a thorough-going reformer +who had no mind to substitute the rule of a baronial oligarchy for the +tyranny of the king. His position was strengthened by his personal +qualities which made him the hero of the younger generation; and his +influence began to modify the policy of Edward the king's son, who, +since the flight of his Poitevin kinsmen, was gradually arriving at +broader views of national policy. Even before his father's journey to +France, Edward took up a line of his own. In the October parliament of +1259, he listened to a petition presented to the council by the younger +nobles[1] who complained that, though the king had performed all his +promises, the barons had not fulfilled any of theirs. Edward thereupon +stirred up the oligarchy to issue an instalment of the promised reforms +in the document known as the Provisions of Westminster. During Henry's +absence in France the situation became strained. The oligarchic party, +headed by Gloucester, was breaking away from Montfort; and Edward was +forming a liberal royalist party which was not far removed from +Montfort's principles. Profiting by these discords, the Lusignans +prepared to invade England. The papacy was about to declare against the +reformers. When the monks of Winchester elected an Englishman as their +bishop in the hope of getting rid of the queen's uncle, Alexander IV. +summoned Aymer to his court and consecrated him bishop with his own +hands. + + [1] "Communitas bacheleriae Angliae," _Burton Ann_., p. 471. + _See on_ this, _Engl. Hist. Review_, xvii. (1902), 89-94. + +Early in 1260, Montfort went back to England and made common cause with +Edward. Despite the king's order that no parliament should be held +during his absence abroad, Montfort insisted that the Easter parliament +should meet as usual at London. The discussions were hot. Montfort +demanded the expulsion of Peter of Savoy from the council, and Edward +and Gloucester almost came to blows. The Londoners closed their gates on +both parties, but the mediation of the King of the Romans prevented a +collision. Henry hurried home, convinced that Edward was conspiring +against him. The king threw himself into the city of London, and with +Gloucester's help collected an army. Meanwhile Montfort and Edward, with +their armed followers, were lodged at Clerkenwell, ready for war. Again +the situation became extremely critical, and again King Richard proved +the best peacemaker. Henry held out against his son for a fortnight, but +such estrangement was hard for him to endure. "Do not let my son appear +before me," he cried, "for if I see him, I shall not be able to refrain +from kissing him." A reconciliation was speedily effected, and nothing +remained of the short-lived alliance of Edward with Montfort save that +his feud with Gloucester continued until the earl's death. + +The dissensions among the barons encouraged Henry to shake off the +tutelage of the fifteen. As soon as he was reconciled with his son, he +charged Leicester with treason.[1] "But, thanks _be_ to God, the earl +answered to all these points with such force that the king could do +nothing against him." Unable to break down his enemy by direct attack, +Henry followed one of the worst precedents of his father's reign by +beseeching Alexander IV. to relieve him of his oath to observe the +Provisions. On April 13, 1261, a bull was issued annulling the whole of +the legislation of 1258 and 1259, and freeing the king from his sworn +promise. + + [1] Bemont, _Simon de Montfort_, Appendix xxxvii., pp. 343-53. + +William of Valence was already back in England, and restored to his old +dignities. His return was the easier because his brother, Aymer, the +most hated of the Poitevins, had died soon after his consecration to +Winchester. On June 14, 1261, the papal bull was read before the +assembled parliament at Winchester. There Henry removed the baronial +ministers and replaced them by his own friends. Chief among the +sufferers was Hugh Despenser, who had succeeded Hugh Bigod as +justiciar; and Bigod himself was expelled from the custody of Dover +Castle. In the summer Henry issued a proclamation, declaring that the +right of choosing his council and garrisoning his castles was among the +inalienable attributes of the crown. England was little inclined to +rebel, for the return of prosperity and good harvests made men more +contented. + +The repudiation of the Provisions restored unity to the baronage. The +defections had been serious, and it was said that only five of the +twenty-four still adhered to the opposition. But the crisis forced +Leicester and Gloucester to forget their recent feuds, and co-operate +once more against the king. They saw that their salvation from Henry's +growing strength lay in appealing to a wider public than that which +they had hitherto addressed. Still posing as the heads of the +government established by the Provisions, they summoned three knights +from each shire to attend an assembly at St. Alban's. This appeal to +the landed gentry alarmed the king so much that he issued counter-writs +to the sheriffs ordering them to send the knights, not to the baronial +camp at St. Alban's, but to his own court at Windsor. Neither party was +as yet prepared for battle. The death of Alexander IV, soon after the +publication of his bull tied the hands of the king. At the same time +the renewed dissensions of Leicester and Gloucester paralysed the +baronage. Before long Simon withdrew to the continent, leaving +everything in Gloucester's hands. At last, on December 7, a treaty of +pacification was patched up, and the king announced that he was ready +to pardon those who accepted its conditions. But there was no +permanence in the settlement, and the king, the chief gainer by it, was +soon pressing the new pope, Urban IV., to confirm the bull of +Alexander. On February 25, 1262, Urban renewed Henry's absolution from +his oath in a bull which was at once promulgated in England. Montfort +then came back from abroad and rallied the baronial party. In January, +1263, Henry once more confirmed the Provisions, and peace seemed +restored. The death of Richard of Gloucester during 1262 increased +Montfort's power. His son, the young Earl Gilbert, was Simon's devoted +disciple, but he was still a minor and the custody of his lands was +handed over to the Earl of Hereford. Montfort's personal charm +succeeded in like fashion in winning over Henry of Almaine. + +The events of 1263 are as bewildering and as indecisive as those of the +two previous years. Amidst the confusion of details and the violent +clashing of personal and territorial interests, a few main principles +can be discerned. First of all the royalist party was becoming +decidedly stronger, and fresh secessions of the barons constantly +strengthened its ranks. Conspicuous among these were the lords of the +march of Wales, who in 1258 had been almost as one man on the side of +the opposition, but who by the end of 1263 had with almost equal +unanimity rallied to the crown.[1] The causes of this change of +front are to be found partly in public and partly in personal reasons. +In 1258 Henry III., like Charles I. in 1640, had alienated every class +of his subjects, and was therefore entirely at the mercy of his +enemies. By 1263 his concessions had procured for him a following, so +that he now stood in the same position as Charles after his concessions +to the Long Parliament made it possible for him to begin the Civil War +in 1642. A new royalist party was growing up with a wider policy and +greater efficiency than the old coterie of courtiers and aliens. Of +this new party Edward was the soul. He had dissociated himself from +Earl Simon, but he carried into his father's camp something of Simon's +breadth of vision and force of will. He set to work to win over +individually the remnant that adhered to Leicester. What persuasion and +policy could not effect was accomplished by bribes and promises. Edward +won over the Earl of Hereford, whose importance was doubled by his +custody of the Gloucester lands, the ex-justiciar Roger Bigod, and +above all Roger Mortimer. + + [1] On this, and the whole marcher and Welsh aspect of the + period, 1258-1267, see my essay on Wales and _the March during + the Barons' Wars_ in _Owens College Historical Essays_, pp. + 76-136 (1902). + +The change of policy of the marchers was partly at least brought about +by their constant difficulties with the Prince of Wales. During the +period immediately succeeding the Provisions of Oxford, Llewelyn ceased +to devastate the marches. A series of truces was arranged which, if +seldom well kept, at least avoided war on a grand scale. Within Wales +Llewelyn fully availed himself of the respite from English war. +Triumphant over the minor chiefs, he could reckon upon the support of +every Welsh tenant of a marcher lord, and at last grew strong enough to +disregard the truces and wage open war against the marchers. It was in +vain that Edward, the greatest of the marcher lords, persuaded David, +the Welsh prince's brother, to rise in revolt against him. Llewelyn +devastated the four cantreds to the gates of Chester, and at last, +after long sieges, forced the war-worn defenders of Deganwy and Diserth +to surrender the two strong castles through which alone Edward had +retained some hold over his Welsh lands. It was the same in the middle +march, where Llewelyn turned his arms against the Mortimers, and robbed +them of their castles. Even in the south the lord of Gwynedd carried +everything before him. "If the Welsh are not stopped," wrote a southern +marcher, "they will destroy all the lands of the king as far as the +Severn and the Wye, and they ask for nothing less than the whole of +Gwent." Up to this point the war had been a war of Welsh against +English, but Montfort sought compensation for his losses in England by +establishing relations with the Welsh. The alliance between Montfort +and their enemy had a large share in bringing about the secession of +the marchers. Their alliance with Edward neutralised the action of +Montfort, and once more enabled Henry to repudiate the Provisions. + +In the summer of 1263, Edward and Montfort both raised armies. +Leicester made himself master of Hereford, Gloucester, and Bristol, and +when Edward threw himself into Windsor Castle, he occupied Isleworth, +hoping to cut his enemy off from London, where the king and queen had +taken refuge in the Tower. But the hostility of the Londoners made the +Tower an uneasy refuge for them. On one occasion, when the queen +attempted to make her way up the Thames in the hope of joining her son +at Windsor, the citizens assailed her barge so fiercely from London +Bridge that she was forced to return to the Tower. The foul insults +which the rabble poured upon his mother deeply incensed Edward and he +became a bitter foe of the city for the rest of his life. For the +moment the hostility of London was decisive against Henry. Once more +the king was forced to confirm the Provisions, agree to a fresh +banishment of the aliens, and restore Hugh Despenser to the +justiciarship. This was the last baronial triumph. In a few weeks +Edward again took up arms, and was joined by many of Montfort's +associates, including his cousin, Henry of Almaine. Even the Earl of +Gloucester was wavering. The barons feared the appeal to arms, and +entered into negotiations. Neither side was strong enough to obtain +mastery over the other, and a recourse to arbitration seemed the best +way out of an impossible situation. Accordingly, on December, 1263, the +two parties agreed to submit the question of the validity of the +Provisions to the judgment of Louis IX. + +The king and his son at once crossed the channel to Amiens, where the +French king was to hear both sides. A fall from his horse prevented +Leicester attending the arbitration, and the barons were represented by +Peter Montfort, lord of Beaudesert castle in Warwickshire, and +representative of an ancient Anglo-Norman house that was not akin to +the family of Earl Simon. Louis did not waste time, and on January 23, +1264, issued his decision in a document called the "Mise of Amiens," +which pronounced the Provisions invalid, largely on the ground of the +papal sentence. Henry was declared free to select his own wardens of +castles and ministers, and Louis expressly annulled "the statute that +the realm of England should henceforth be governed by native-born +Englishmen". "We ordain," he added, "that the king shall have full +power and free jurisdiction over his realm as in the days before the +Provisions." The only consolation to the barons was that Louis declared +that he did not intend to derogate from the ancient liberties of the +realm, as established by charter or custom, and that he urged a general +amnesty on both parties. In all essential points Louis decided in +favour of Henry. Though the justest of kings, he was after all a king, +and the limitation of the royal authority by a baronial committee +seemed to him to be against the fundamental idea of monarchy. The pious +son of the Church was biassed by the authority of two successive popes, +and he was not unmoved by the indignation of his wife, the sister of +Queen Eleanor. A few weeks later Urban IV. confirmed the award. + +The Mise of Amiens was too one-sided to be accepted. The decision to +refer matters to St. Louis had been made hastily, and many enemies of +the king had taken no part in it. They, at least, were free to +repudiate the judgment and they included the Londoners, the Cinque +Ports, and nearly the whole of the lesser folk of England. The +Londoners set the example of rebellion. They elected a constable and a +marshal, and joining forces with Hugh Despenser, the baronial +justiciar, who still held the Tower, marched out to Isleworth, where +they burnt the manor of the King of the Romans. "And this," wrote the +London Chronicler, "was the beginning of trouble and the origin of the +deadly war by which so many thousand men perished." The Londoners did +not act alone. Leicester refused to be bound by the award, though +definitely pledged to obey it. It was, he maintained, as much perjury +to abandon the Provisions as to be false to the promise to accept the +Mise of Amiens. After a last attempt at negotiation at a parliament at +Oxford, he withdrew with his followers and prepared for resistance. +"Though all men quit me," he cried, "I will remain with my four sons +and fight for the good cause which I have sworn to defend--the honour +of Holy Church and the good of the realm." This was no mere boast. The +more his associates fell away, the more the Montfort family took the +lead. While Leicester organised resistance in the south, he sent his +elder sons, Simon and Henry, to head the revolt in the midlands and the +west. + +There was already war in the march of Wales when Henry Montfort crossed +the Severn and strove to make common cause with Llewelyn. But the Welsh +prince held aloof from him, and Edward himself soon made his way to the +march. At first all went well for young Montfort. Edward, unable to +capture Gloucester and its bridge, was forced to beg for a truce. +Before long he found himself strong enough to repudiate the armistice +and take possession of Gloucester. Master of the chief passage over the +lower Severn, Edward abandoned the western campaign and went with his +marchers to join his father at Oxford, where he at once stirred up the +king to activity. The masters of the university, who were strong +partisans of Montfort, were chased away from the town. Then the royal +army marched against Northampton, the headquarters of the younger +Simon, who was resting there, and, on April 4, the king and his son +burst upon the place. Their first assault was unsuccessful, but next +day the walls were scaled, the town captured, and many leading barons, +including young Simon, taken prisoner. The victors thereupon marched +northwards, devastated Montfort's Leicestershire estates, and thence +proceeded to Nottingham, which opened its gates in a panic. + +Leicester himself had not been idle. While his sons were courting +disaster in the west and midlands, he threw himself into London, where +he was rapturously welcomed. The Londoners, however, became very +unruly, committed all sorts of excesses against the wealthy royalists, +and cruelly plundered and murdered the Jews. Montfort himself did not +disdain to share in the spoils of the Jewry, though he soon turned to +nobler work. He was anxious to open up communications with his allies +in the Cinque Ports. But Earl Warenne, in Rochester castle, blocked the +passage of the Dover road over the Medway. Accordingly Montfort marched +with a large following of Londoners to Rochester, captured the town, +and assaulted the castle with such energy that it was on the verge of +surrendering. The news of Warenne's peril reached Henry in the +midlands. In five days the royalists made their way from Nottingham to +Rochester, a distance of over 160 miles. On their approach Montfort +withdrew into London. + +Flushed with their successes at Northampton and Rochester, the +royalists marched through Kent and Sussex, plundering and devastating +the lands of their enemies. Though masters of the open country, they +had to encounter the resistance of the Clare castles, and the solid +opposition of the Cinque Ports. Their presence on the south coast was +specially necessary, for Queen Eleanor, who had gone abroad, was +waiting, with an army of foreign mercenaries, on the Flemish coast, for +an opportunity of sailing to her husband's succour. The royal army was +hampered by want of provisions, and was only master of the ground on +which it was camped. As a first fruit of the alliance with Llewelyn, +Welsh soldiers lurked behind every hedge and hill, cut off stragglers, +intercepted convoys, and necessitated perpetual watchfulness. At last +the weary and hungry troops found secure quarters in Lewes, the centre +of the estates of Earl Warenne. + +Montfort then marched southwards from the capital. Besides the baronial +retinues, a swarm of Londoners, eager for the fray, though unaccustomed +to military restraints, accompanied him. On May 13 he encamped at +Fletching, a village hidden among the dense oak woods of the Weald, +some nine miles north of Lewes. A last effort of diplomacy was +attempted by Bishop Cantilupe of Worcester who, despite papal censures, +still accompanied the baronial forces. But the royalists would not +listen to the mediation of so pronounced a partisan. Nothing therefore +was left but the appeal to the sword. + +The royal army was the more numerous, and included the greater names. +Of the heroes of the struggle of 1258 the majority was in the king's +camp, including most of the lords of the Welsh march, and the hardly +less fierce barons of the north, whose grandfathers had wrested the +Great Charter from John. The returned Poitevins with their followers +mustered strongly, and the confidence of the royalists was so great +that they neglected all military preparations. The poverty of +Montfort's host in historic families attested the complete +disintegration of the party since 1263. Its strength lay in the young +enthusiasts, who were still dominated by the strong personality and +generous ideals of Leicester, such as the Earl of Gloucester, or +Humphrey Bohun of Brecon, whose father, the Earl of Hereford, was +fighting upon the king's side. Early on the morning of May 14 Montfort +arrayed his troops and marched southward in the direction of Lewes. +Dawn had hardly broken when the troops were massed on the summit of the +South Downs, overlooking Lewes from the north-west. + +Lewes is situated on the right bank of a great curve of the river Ouse, +which almost encircles the town. To the south are the low-lying marshes +through which the river meanders towards the sea, while to the north, +east, and west are the bare slopes of the South Downs, through which +the river forces its way past the gap in which the town is situated. To +the north of the town lies the strong castle of the Warennes, wherein +Edward had taken up his quarters, while in the southern suburb the +Cluniac priory of St. Pancras, the chief foundation of the Warennes, +afforded lodgings for King Henry and the King of the Romans. When Simon +reached the summit of the downs, his movements were visible from the +walls. But the royal army was still sleeping and its sentinels kept +such bad watch that the earl was able to array his troops at his +leisure. + +From the summit of the hills two great spurs, separated by a waterless +valley, slope down towards the north and west sides of the town. The +more northerly led straight to the castle, and the more southerly to +the priory. Montfort's plan was to throw his main strength on the +attack on the priory, while deluding the enemy into the belief that his +chief object was to attack the castle. He was not yet fully recovered +from his fall from his horse, and it was known that he generally +travelled in a closed car or horse-litter. This vehicle he posted in a +conspicuous place on the northerly spur, and planted over it his +standard. In front of it were massed the London militia, mainly +infantry and the least effective element in his host. Meanwhile the +knights and men-at-arms were mustered on the southerly spur under the +personal direction of Montfort, who held himself in the rear with the +reserve, while the foremost files were commanded by the young Earl of +Gloucester, whom Simon solemnly dubbed to knighthood before the +assembled squadrons. Then the two divisions of the army advanced +towards Lewes, hoping to find their enemies still in their beds. + +At the last moment the alarm was given, and before the barons +approached the town, the royalists, pouring out of castle, town, and +priory, hastily took up their position face to face to the enemy. All +turned out as Montfort had foreseen. Edward, emerging from the castle +with his cousin Henry of Almaine, his Poitevin uncles, and the warriors +of the march, observed the standard of Montfort on the hill, and +supposing that the earl was with his banner, dashed impetuously against +the left wing of Leicester's troops. He soon found himself engaged with +the Londoners, who broke and fled in confusion before his impetuous +charge. Eager to revenge on the flying citizens the insults they had +directed against his parents, he pursued the beaten militia for many a +mile, inflicting terrible damage upon them. On his way he captured +Simon's standard and horse-litter, and slew its occupants, though they +were three royalist members of the city aristocracy detained there for +sure keeping. When the king's son drew rein he was many miles from +Lewes, whither he returned, triumphant but exhausted. + +The removal of Edward and the marchers from the field enabled Montfort +to profit by his sacrifice of the Londoners. The followers of the two +kings on the left of the royalist lines could not withstand the weight +of the squadrons of Leicester and Gloucester. The King of the Romans +was driven to take refuge in a mill, where he soon made an ignominious +surrender. Henry himself lost his horse under him and was forced to +yield himself prisoner to Gilbert of Gloucester. The mass of the army +was forced back on to the town and priory, which were occupied by the +victors. Scarcely was their victory assured when Edward and the +marchers came back from the pursuit of the Londoners. Thereupon the +battle was renewed in the streets of the town. It was, however, too +late for the weary followers of the king's son to reverse the fortunes +of the day. Some threw themselves into the castle, where the king's +standard still floated; Edward himself took sanctuary in the church of +the Franciscans; many strove to escape eastwards over the Ouse bridge +or by swimming over the river. The majority of the latter perished by +drowning or by the sword: but two compact bands of mail-clad horsemen +managed to cut their way through to safety. One of these, a force of +some two hundred, headed by Earl Warenne himself, and his +brothers-in-law, Guy of Lusignan and William of Valence, secured their +retreat to the spacious castle of Pevensey, of which Warenne was +constable, and from which the possibility of continuing their flight by +sea remained open. Of greater military consequence was the successful +escape of the lords of the Welsh march, whose followers were next day +the only section of the royalist army which was still a fighting force. +This was the only immediate limitation to the fulness of Montfort's +victory. After seven weary years, the judgment of battle secured the +triumph of the "good cause," which had so long been delayed by the +weakness of his confederates and the treachery of his enemies. Not the +barons of 1258, but Simon and his personal following _were_ the real +conquerors at Lewes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RULE OF MONTFORT AND THE ROYALIST RESTORATION. + + +On the day after the battle, Henry III. accepted the terms imposed upon +him by Montfort in a treaty called the "Mise of Lewes," by which he +promised to uphold the Great Charter, the Charter of the Forests, and +the Provisions of Oxford. A body of arbitrators was constituted, in +which the Bishop of London was the only Englishman, but which included +Montfort's friend, Archbishop Eudes Rigaud of Rouen; the new papal +legate, Guy Foulquois, cardinal-bishop of Sabina; and Peter the +chamberlain, Louis IX.'s most trusted counsellor, with the Duke of +Burgundy or Charles of Anjou, to act as umpire. These arbitrators were, +however, to be sworn to choose none save English councillors, and Henry +took oath to follow the advice of his native-born council in all +matters of state. An amnesty was secured to Leicester and Gloucester; +and Edward and Henry of Almaine surrendered as hostages for the good +behaviour of the marchers, who still remained under arms. By the +establishment of baronial partisans as governors of the castles, +ministers, sheriffs, and conservators of the peace, the administration +passed at once into the hands of the victorious party. Three weeks +later writs were issued for a parliament which included four knights +from every shire. In this assembly the final conditions of peace were +drawn up, and arrangements made for keeping Henry under control for the +rest of his life, and Edward after him, for a term of years to be +determined in due course. Leicester and Gloucester were associated with +Stephen Berkstead, the Bishop of Chichester, to form a body of three +electors. By these three a Council of Nine was appointed, three of whom +were to be in constant attendance at court; and without their advice +the king was to do nothing. Hugh Despenser was continued as justiciar, +while the chancery went to the Bishop of Worcester's nephew, Thomas of +Cantilupe, a Paris doctor of canon law, and chancellor of the +University of Oxford. + +Once more a baronial committee put the royal authority into commission, +and ruled England through ministers of its own choice. While agreeing +in this essential feature, the settlement of 1264 did not merely +reproduce the constitution of 1258. It was simpler than its forerunner, +since there was no longer any need of the cumbrous temporary machinery +for the revision of the whole system of government, nor for the +numerous committees and commissions to which previously so many +functions had been assigned. The main tasks before the new rulers were +not constitution-making but administration and defence. Moreover, the +later constitution shows some recognition of the place due to the +knights of the shire and their constituents. It is less closely +oligarchical than the previous scheme. This may partly be due to the +continued divisions of the greater barons, but it is probably also in +large measure owing to the preponderance of Simon of Montfort. The +young Earl of Gloucester and the simple and saintly Bishop of +Chichester were but puppets in his hands. He was the real elector who +nominated the council, and thus controlled the government. Every act of +the new administration reflects the boldness and largeness of his +spirit. + +The pacification after Lewes was more apparent than real, and there +were many restless spirits that scorned to accept the settlement which +Henry had so meekly adopted. The marchers were in arms in the west, and +were specially formidable because they detained in their custody the +numerous prisoners captured at the sack of Northampton. The fugitives +from Lewes were holding their own behind the walls of Pevensey, though +Earl Warenne and other leaders had made their escape to France, where +they joined the army which Queen Eleanor had collected on the north +coast for the purpose of invading England and restoring her husband to +power. The papacy and the whole official forces of the Church were in +bitter hostility to the new system. The collapse of Henry's rule had +ruined the papal plans in Sicily, where Manfred easily maintained his +ground against so strong a successor of the unlucky Edmund as Charles +of Anjou. The papal legate, Guy Foulquois, was waiting at Boulogne for +admission into England, and, far from being conciliated by his +appointment as an arbitrator, was dexterously striving to make the +arbitration ineffective, by summoning the bishops adhering to Montfort +to appear before him, and sending them back with orders to +excommunicate Earl Simon and all his supporters. The only gleam of hope +was to be found in the unwillingness of the King of France to interfere +actively in the domestic disputes of England. The death of Urban IV. +for the moment brought relief, but, after a long vacancy, the new pope +proved to be none other than the legate Guy, who in February, 1265, +mounted the papal throne as Clement IV. It was to no purpose that +Walter of Cantilupe assembled the patriotic bishops and appealed to a +general council, or that radical friars like the author of the _Song of +Lewes_ formulated the popular policy in spirited verse. The greatest +forces of the time were steadily opposed to the revolutionary +government, and rare strength and boldness were necessary to make head +against them. + +Before the end of 1264 the vigour of Earl Simon triumphed over some of +his immediate difficulties. In August he summoned the military forces +of the realm to meet the threatened invasion. Adverse storms, however, +dispersed Queen Eleanor's fleet, and her mercenaries, weary of the long +delays that had exhausted her resources, went home in disgust. This +left Simon free to betake himself to the west, and on December 15 he +forced the marcher lords to accept a pacification called the Provisions +of Worcester, by which they agreed to withdraw for a year and a day to +Ireland, leaving their families and estates in the hands of the ruling +faction. + +On the day after the signature of the treaty, Henry, who accompanied +Simon to the west, issued from Worcester the writs for a parliament +that sat in London from January to March in 1265. From the +circumstances of the case this famous assembly could only be a meeting +of the supporters of the existing government. So scanty was its +following among the magnates that writs of summons were only issued to +five earls and eighteen barons, though the strong muster of bishops, +abbots, and priors showed that the papal anathema had done little to +shake the fidelity of the clergy to Montfort's cause. The special +feature of the gathering, however, was the summoning of two knights +from every shire, side by side with the barons of the faithful Cinque +Ports and two representatives from every city and borough, convened by +writs sent, not to the sheriff, after later custom, but to the cities +and boroughs directly. It was the presence of this strong popular +element which long caused this parliament to be regarded as the first +really representative assembly in our history, and gained for Earl +Simon the fame of being the creator of the House of Commons. Modern +research has shown that neither of these views can be substantiated. It +was no novelty for the crown to strengthen the baronial parliaments by +the representatives of the shire-moots, and there were earlier +precedents for the holding meetings of the spokesmen of the cities and +boroughs. What was new was the combination of these two types of +representatives in a single assembly, which was convoked, not merely +for a particular administrative purpose, but for a great political +object. The real novelty and originality of Earl Simon's action lay in +his giving a fresh proof of his disposition to fall back upon the +support of the ordinary citizen against the hostility or indifference +of the magnates, to whom the men of 1258 wished to limit all political +deliberation. This is in itself a sufficient indication of policy to +give Leicester an almost unique position among the statesmen to whom +the development of our representative institutions are due. But just as +his parliament was not in any sense our first representative assembly, +so it did not include in any complete sense a House of Commons at all. +We must still wait for a generation before the rival and disciple of +Montfort, Edward, the king's son, established the popular element in +our parliament on a permanent basis. Yet in the links which connect the +early baronial councils with the assemblies of the three estates of the +fourteenth century, not one is more important than Montfort's +parliament of January, 1265. + +The chief business of parliament was to complete the settlement of the +country. Simon won a new triumph in making terms with the king's son. +Edward had witnessed the failure of his mother's attempts at invasion, +the futility of the legatine anathema, and the collapse of the marchers +at Worcester. He saw it was useless to hold out any longer, and +unwillingly bought his freedom at the high price that Simon exacted. He +transferred to his uncle the earldom of Chester, including all the +lands in Wales that might still be regarded as appertaining to it. This +measure put Simon in that strong position as regards Wales and the west +which Edward had enjoyed since the days of his marriage. It involved a +breach in the alliance between Edward and the marchers, and the +subjection of the most dangerous district of the kingdom to Simon's +personal authority. It was safe to set free the king's son, when his +territorial position and his political alliances were thus weakened. + +At the moment of his apparent triumph, Montfort's authority began to +decline. It was something to have the commons on his side: but the +magnates were still the greatest power in England, and in pressing his +own policy to the uttermost, Simon had fatally alienated the few great +lords who still adhered to him. There was a fierce quarrel in +parliament between Leicester and the shifty Robert Ferrars, Earl of +Derby. For the moment Leicester prevailed, and Derby was stripped of +his lands and was thrown into prison. But his fate was a warning to +others, and the settlement between Montfort and Edward aroused the +suspicions of the Earl of Gloucester. Gilbert of Clare was now old +enough to think for himself, and his close personal devotion to +Montfort could not blind him to the antagonism of interests between +himself and his friend. He was gallant, strenuous, and high-minded, but +quarrelsome, proud, and unruly, and his strong character was balanced +by very ordinary ability. His outlook was limited, and his ideals were +those of his class; such a man could neither understand nor sympathise +with the broader vision and wider designs of Leicester. Moreover, with +all Simon's greatness, there was in him a fierce masterfulness and an +inordinate ambition which made co-operation with him excessively +difficult for all such as were not disposed to stand to him in the +relation of disciple to master. And behind the earl were his +self-seeking and turbulent sons, set upon building up a family interest +that stood directly in the way of the magnates' claim to control the +state. Thus personal rivalries and political antagonisms combined to +lead Earl Gilbert on in the same course that his father, Earl Richard, +had traversed. The closest ally of Leicester became his bitterest +rival. The victorious party split up in 1265, as it had split up in +1263. And the dissolution of the dominant faction once more gave Edward +a better chance of regaining the upper hand than was to be hoped for +from foreign mercenaries and from papal support. + +Gloucester was the natural leader of the lords of the Welsh march. He +was not only the hereditary lord of Glamorgan, but had received the +custody of William of Valence's forfeited palatinate of Pembroke. He +had shown self-control in separating himself so long from the marcher +policy; and his growing suspicion of the Montforts threw him back into +his natural alliance with them. Even after the treaty of Worcester, the +marchers remained under arms. They had obtained from the weakness of +the government repeated prolongations of the period fixed for their +withdrawal into Ireland. It was soon rumoured that they were sure of a +refuge in Gloucester's Welsh estates, and Leicester, never afraid of +making enemies, bitterly reproached Earl Gilbert with receiving the +fugitives into his lands. Shortly after the breaking up of parliament, +Gloucester fled to the march, and a little later William of Valence and +Earl Warenne landed in Pembrokeshire with a small force of men-at-arms +and crossbowmen. There was no longer any hope of carrying out the +Provisions of Worcester, and once more Montfort was forced to proceed +to the west to put down rebellion. + +By the end of April Montfort was at Gloucester, accompanied by the king +and Edward, who, despite his submission, remained virtually a prisoner. +Earl Gilbert was master of all South Wales, and closely watched his +rival's movements from the neighbouring Forest of Dean. It was with +difficulty that Earl Simon and his royal captives advanced from +Gloucester to Hereford, but Earl Gilbert preferred to negotiate rather +than to push matters to extremities. He went in person to Hereford and +renewed his homage to the king. Arbitrators were appointed to settle +the disputes between the two earls, and a proclamation was issued +declaring that the rumour of dissension between them was "vain, lying, +and fraudulently invented". For the next few days harmony seemed +restored. + +Gloucester's submission lured Leicester into relaxing his precautions. +His enemies took advantage of his remissness to hatch an audacious plot +which soon enabled them to renew the struggle under more favourable +conditions. Since his nominal release, Edward had been allowed the +diversions of riding and hunting, and on May 28 he was suffered to go +out for a ride under negligent or corrupt guard. Once well away from +Hereford, the king's son fled from his lax custodians and joined Roger +Mortimer, who was waiting for him in a neighbouring wood. On the next +day he was safe behind the walls of Mortimer's castle of Wigmore, and, +the day after, met Earl Gilbert at Ludlow, where he promised to uphold +the charters and expel the foreigners. Valence and Warenne hurried from +Pembrokeshire and made common cause with Edward and Gilbert. Edward +then took the lead in the councils of the marchers, who, from that +moment, obtained a unity of purpose and policy that they had hitherto +lacked. He and his allies could claim to be the true champions of the +Charters and the Provisions of Oxford against the grasping foreigner +who strove to rule over king and barons alike. + +Montfort's small force was cut off from its base by the rapidity of the +marchers' movements. It was in vain that all the supporters of the +existing government were summoned to the assistance of the hard-pressed +army at Hereford. Before the end of June, Edward completed the conquest +of the Severn valley by the capture of the town and castle of +Gloucester. A broad river and a strong army stood between Montfort and +succour from England. Leicester then turned to Llewelyn of Wales, who +took up his quarters at Pipton, near Hay. There, on June 22, a treaty +was signed between the Welsh prince and the English king by which Henry +was forced to make huge concessions to Llewelyn in order to secure his +alliance. Llewelyn was recognised as prince of all Wales. The +overlordship over all the barons of Wales was granted to him, and the +numerous conquests, which he had made at the expense of the marchers, +were ceded to him in full possession. + +Thus Llewelyn, like his grandfather in the days of the Great Charter, +profited by the dissensions of the English to obtain the recognition of +his claims which had invariably been refused when England was united. +The Welsh prince gained a unique opportunity of making his weight felt +in general English politics, but with all his ability he hardly rose to +the occasion. Montfort had pressing need of his help. A few days after +the treaty of Pipton, Gloucester Castle opened its gates to Edward, and +the marchers advanced westwards to seek out Earl Simon at Hereford. +Leicester fled in alarm before their overwhelming forces. He was driven +from the Wye to the Usk, and, beaten in a sharp fight on Newport +bridge, found refuge only by retreating up the Usk valley, whence he +escaped northwards into the hilly region where Llewelyn ruled over the +lands once dominated by the Mortimers. Before long Montfort's English +followers grew weary of the hard conditions of mountain warfare. With +their heavy armour and barbed horses it was difficult for them to +emulate the tactics of the Welsh, and they revolted against the simple +diet of milk and meat that contented their Celtic allies. They could +not get on without bread, and, as bread was not to be found among the +hills, they forced their leader to return to the richer regions of the +east. Llewelyn did little to help them in their need, and did not +accompany them in their march back to the Severn valley, though a large +but disorderly force of Welsh infantry still remained with Simon as the +fruit of the alliance with their prince. + +By the end of July, Simon was once more in the Severn valley, seeking +for a passage over the river. On August 2 he found a ford over the +stream some miles south of Worcester. There he crossed with all his +forces and encamped for the night at Kempsey, one of Bishop Cantilupe's +manors on the left bank. His skill as a general had extricated him from +a position of the utmost peril. All might yet be regained if he could +join forces with an army of relief which his son Simon had slowly +levied in the south and midlands. But his quarrel with Gloucester and +his alliance with the Welsh had done much to undermine Montfort's +popularity, and the younger Simon had no appreciation of the necessity +for decisive action. Summoned from the long siege of Pevensey by his +father's danger, he wasted time in plundering the lands of the +royalists, and only left London on July 8, whence he led his men by +slow stages to Kenilworth. On July 31 young Simon's troops took up +their quarters for the night in the open country round Kenilworth +castle. They had no notion that the enemy was at hand and troubled +neither to defend themselves nor to keep watch. Edward, warned by spies +of their approach, abandoned his close guard of the Severn fords, and +in the early morning of August 1 fell suddenly upon the sleeping host +and scattered it with little difficulty. The younger Simon and a few of +his followers took refuge in the castle. As a fighting force the army +of relief ceased to exist. + +Leicester, knowing nothing of his son's disaster, made his way, on +August 3, from Kempsey to Evesham, where he rested for the night. Next +morning, after mass and breakfast, the army was about to continue its +march, when scouts descried troops advancing upon the town. At first it +was hoped that they were the followers of young Simon, but their near +approach revealed them to be the army of the marchers. With +extraordinary rapidity Edward led his troops back to Worcester as soon +as he had won the fight at Kenilworth. Learning there that Simon had +crossed the river in his absence, he at once turned back to meet him, +seeking to elude his vigilance by a long night march by circuitous +routes. The result was that for the second time he caught his enemy in +a trap. + +Evesham, like Lewes, stands on a peninsula. It is situated on the right +bank of a wide curve of the Avon, and approachable only by crossing +over the river, or by way of the sort of isthmus between the two bends +of the Avon a little to the north of the town. Edward occupied this +isthmus with his best troops, and thus cut off all prospect of escape +by land. The other means of exit from the town was over the bridge +which connects it with its south-eastern suburb of Bengeworth, on the +left bank of the river. Edward, however, took the precaution to detach +Gloucester with a strong force to hold Bengeworth, and thus prevent +Simon's escape over the bridge. The weary and war-worn host of +Montfort, then, was out-generalled in such fashion that effective +resistance to a superior force, flushed by recent victory, was +impossible. Simon himself saw that his last hour was come; yet he could +not but admire the skilful plan which had so easily discomfited him. +"By the arm of St. James," he declared, "they come on cunningly. Yet +they have not taught themselves that order of battle; they have learnt +it from me. God have mercy upon our souls, for our bodies are theirs." + +Edward and Gloucester both advanced simultaneously to the attack. A +storm broke at the moment of the encounter, and the battle was fought +in a darkness that obscured the brightness of an August day. +Leicester's Welsh infantry broke at once before the charge of the +mail-clad horsemen, and took refuge behind hedges and walls, where they +were hunted out and butchered after the main fight was over. But the +men-at-arms struggled valiantly against Edward's superior forces, +though they were soon borne down by sheer numbers. Simon fought like a +hero and met a soldier's death. With him were slain his son Henry, his +faithful comrade Peter Montfort, the baronial justiciar Hugh Despenser, +and many other men of mark. A large number of prisoners fell into the +victor's hands, and King Henry, who unwillingly followed Simon in all +his wanderings, was wounded in the shoulder by his son's followers, and +only escaped a worse fate by revealing his identity with the cry: "Slay +me not! I am Henry of Winchester, your King." The marchers gratified +their rage by massacring helpless fugitives, and by mutilating the +bodies of the slain. Earl Simon's head was sent as a present to the +wife of Roger Mortimer; and it was with difficulty that the mangled +corpse found its last rest in the church of Evesham Abbey. His memory +long lived in the hearts of his adopted countrymen, and especially +among monks and friars, who despite the ban of the Church, hailed him +as another St. Thomas, for he too had lain down his life for the cause +of justice and religion. Miracles were worked at his tomb; liturgies +composed in his honour, and an informal popular canonisation, which no +papal censures could prevent, kept his memory green. His faults were +forgotten in the pathos of his end. His work survived the field of +Evesham and the reaction which succeeded it. His victorious nephew +learnt well the lesson of his career, and the true successor of the +martyred earl was the future Edward I. + +No thoughts of policy disturbed the fierce passion of revenge which +possessed the victorious marchers. On August 7 Henry issued a +proclamation announcing that he had resumed the personal exercise of +the royal power. The baronial ministers and sheriffs were replaced by +royalist partisans. The acts of the revolutionary government were +denounced as invalid. The faithful city of London was cruelly +humiliated for its zeal for Earl Simon. The exiles, headed by Queen +Eleanor and Archbishop Boniface, returned from their long sojourn +beyond sea. With them came to England a new legate, the Cardinal +Ottobon, specially sent from the papal court to punish the bishops and +clergy that had persisted in their adherence to the popular cause. Four +prelates were excommunicated and suspended from their functions, +including Berkstead of Chichester and Cantilupe of Worcester. But the +aged Bishop of Worcester was delivered from persecution by death; +"snatched away," as a kindly foe says, "lest he should see evil days". +His nephew, Thomas of Cantilupe, the baronial chancellor, fled to +Paris, where he forsook politics for the study of theology. The widowed +Countess of Leicester was not saved by her near kindred to the king +from lifelong banishment. At last a general sentence of forfeiture was +pronounced against all who had fought against Edward, either at +Kenilworth or Evesham. There was a greedy scramble for the spoils of +victory. The greatest of these, Montfort's forfeited earldom of +Leicester, went to Edmund, the king's younger son. Edward took back the +earldom of Chester and all his old possessions. Roger Mortimer was +rewarded by grants of land and franchises which raised the house of +Wigmore to a position only surpassed by that of the strongest of the +earldoms. + +At first the Montfort party showed an inclination to accept the defeat +at Evesham as decisive. Even young Simon of Montfort, who still held +out at Kenilworth, considered it prudent to restore his prisoner, the +King of the Romans, to liberty. But the victors' resolve to deprive all +their beaten foes of their estates, drove the vanquished into fresh +risings. The first centre of the revolt of the disinherited was at +Kenilworth, but before long the younger Simon abandoned the castle to +join a numerous band which had found a more secure retreat in the isle +of Axholme, amidst the marshes of the lower Trent. There they held +their own until the winter, when they were persuaded by Edward to +accept terms. A little later, Simon again revolted and joined the +mariners of the Cinque Ports, whose towns still held out against the +king, save Dover, which Edward had captured after a siege. Under +Simon's leadership the Cinque Ports played the part of pirates on all +merchants going to and from England. At last in March, 1266, Edward +forced Winchelsea to open its gates to him. He next turned his arms +against a valiant freebooter, Adam Gordon, who lurked with his band of +outlaws in the dense beech woods of the Chilterns. With the capture of +Adam Gordon, after a hand-to-hand tussle with Edward in which the +king's son narrowly escaped with his life, the resistance in the south +was at an end. + +As one centre of rebellion was pacified other disturbances arose. In +the spring of 1266, Robert Ferrars, Earl of Derby, newly released from +the prison into which Earl Simon had thrown him, raised a revolt in his +own county. On May 15, 1266, Derby was defeated by Henry of Almaine at +Chesterfield. His earldom was transferred to Edmund, the king's son, +already Montfort's successor as Earl of Leicester, and in 1267 also +Earl of Lancaster, a new earldom, deriving its name from the youngest +of the shires.[1] Reduced to the Staffordshire estate of +Chartley, the house of Ferrars fell back into the minor baronage. +Kenilworth was still unconquered. Its walls were impregnable except to +famine, and before his flight to Axholme young Simon had procured +provisions adequate for a long resistance. The garrison harried the +neighbourhood with such energy that the whole levies of the realm were +assembled to subdue it. After a fruitless assault, the royalists +settled down to a blockade which lasted from midsummer to Christmas. +The legate, Ottobon, appearing in the besiegers' camp to excommunicate +the defenders, they in derision dressed up their surgeon in the red +robes of a cardinal, in which disguise he answered Ottobon's curses by +a travesty of the censures of the Church. + + [1] For Edmund's estates and whole career, see W.E. Rhodes' + _Edmund, Earl of Lancaster_, in _Engl. Hist. Review_, x. + (1895), 19-40 and 209-37. + +The blockade soon tried the patience of the barons. It was hard to keep +any medieval army long together, and the lords, anxious to go back to +their homes, complained of the harsh policy that compelled their long +attendance. The royalist host split up into two parties, led +respectively by Roger Mortimer and Earl Gilbert of Gloucester. The +cruel lord of Wigmore was the type of the extreme reaction. Intent only +on vengeance, booty, and ambition, Mortimer clamoured for violent +measures, and was eager to reject all compromises. Gloucester, on the +other hand, posed as the mediator, and urged the need of pacifying the +disinherited by mitigating the sentence of forfeiture which had driven +them into prolonged resistance. In the first flush of victory, Edward +had been altogether on Mortimer's side, but gradually statecraft and +humanity turned him from the reckless policy of the marcher. Edward's +adhesion to counsels of moderation changed the situation. While +Mortimer pressed the siege of Kenilworth, Edward and Gloucester met a +parliament at Northampton which agreed to uphold the policy of 1258 and +mitigate the hard lot of the disinherited. A document drawn up in the +camp at Kenilworth received the approval of parliament and was +published on October 31. The _Dictum de Kenilworth_, as it was called, +was largely taken up with assertions of the authority of the crown, and +denunciations of the memory of Earl Simon. More essential points were +the re-enactment of the Charters and the redress of some of the +grievances against which the Provisions of 1258 were directed. The +vital article, however, laid down that the stern sentence of forfeiture +against adherents of the fallen cause was to be remitted, and allowed +rebels to redeem their estates by paying a fine, which in most cases +was to be assessed at five years' value of their lands. Hard as were +these terms, they were milder than those which had previously been +offered to the insurgents. Yet the defenders of Kenilworth could not +bring themselves to accept them until December, when disease and famine +caused them to surrender. Despite their long-deferred submission, the +garrison was admitted to the terms of the _Dictum_. + +Even then resistance was not yet over. A forlorn hope of the +disinherited, headed by John d'Eyville, established themselves about +Michaelmas in the isle of Ely, where they made themselves the terror of +all East Anglia, plundering towns so far apart as Norwich and +Cambridge, maltreating the Jews, and holding the rich citizens to +ransom. Early in 1267 the north-country baron, John of Vescy, rose in +Northumberland, and violently resumed possession of his forfeited +castle of Alnwick. While Henry tarried at Cambridge, Edward went north +and soon won over Vescy by the clemency which made the lord of Alnwick +henceforth one of his most devoted servants. + +More formidable than the revolt of Eyville or Vescy was the ambiguous +attitude of Earl Gilbert of Gloucester. Roger Mortimer was once more +intriguing against him, and striving to upset the Kenilworth +compromise. After a violent scene between the two enemies in the +parliament at Bury, Gloucester withdrew to the march of Wales, where he +waged war against Mortimer. In April, 1267, he made his way with a +great following to London, professing that he wished to hold a +conference with the legate. It was a critical moment. Edward was still +in the north; Henry was wasting his time at Cambridge; the Londoners +welcomed Earl Gilbert as a champion of the good old cause; the legate +took refuge in the Tower, and the earl did not hesitate to lay siege to +the stronghold. Before long Gloucester was joined by Eyville and many +of the Ely fugitives. It seemed as if Gloucester was in as strong +position as Montfort had ever won, and that after two years of warfare +the verdict of Evesham was about to be reversed. + +Edward marched south and joined forces with his father, who had moved +from Cambridge to Stratford, near London. Everything seemed to suggest +that the eastern suburbs of London would witness a fight as stubborn as +Lewes or Evesham. But Gloucester was not the man to press things to +extremities, and Edward though firm was conciliatory. He delivered +Ottobon from the hands of the rebels,[1] and then arranged a peace upon +terms which secured Gloucester's chief object of procuring better +conditions for the disinherited. Not only Earl Gilbert but Eyville and +his associates were admitted to the royal favour. A few desperadoes +still held out until July in the isle of Ely, and Edward devoted himself +to tracking them to their lairs. He built causeways of wattles over the +fens, which protected the disinherited in their last refuge. When he had +clearly shown his superiority, he offered the garrison of Ely the terms +of the _Dictum de Kenilworth_. With their acceptance of these conditions +the English struggle ended, in July, 1267, nearly two years after the +battle of Evesham. + + [1] _Engl. Hist. Review_, xvii. (1902), 522. + +Llewelyn still remained under arms. He had profited by the two years of +strife to deal deadly blows against the marchers. He conquered the +Mid-Welsh lands which had been granted to Mortimer, and devastated +Edward's Cheshire earldom. When Gloucester grew discontented with the +course of events, the old friend of Montfort became the close ally of +the man who had ruined Montfort's cause. A Welsh chronicler treats +Gloucester's march to London as a movement which naturally followed the +alliance of Gloucester and Llewelyn. On Gloucester's submission, +Llewelyn was left to his own resources. Edward had it in his power to +avenge past injuries by turning all his forces against his old enemy. +But the country was weary of war, and Edward preferred to end the +struggle. The legate Ottobon urged both Edward and the Welsh prince to +make peace, and in September, 1267, Henry and his son went down to +Shrewsbury, accompanied by Ottobon, who received from the king full +powers to treat with Llewelyn, and a promise that Henry would accept any +terms that he thought fit to conclude. Llewelyn thereupon sent +ambassadors to Shrewsbury, and the negotiations went on so smoothly that +on September 25 a definite treaty of peace was signed. On Michaelmas day +Henry met Llewelyn at Montgomery, received his homage, and witnessed the +formal ratification of the treaty. + +By the treaty of Shrewsbury Llewelyn was recognised as Prince of Wales, +and as overlord of all the Welsh magnates, save the representative of +the old line of the princes of South Wales. The four cantreds, Edward's +old patrimony, were ceded to him; and though he promised to surrender +many of his conquests, he was allowed to remain in possession of great +tracts of land in Mid and South Wales, in the heart of the marcher +region.[1] Substantially the Welsh prince was recognised as holding the +position which he claimed from Montfort in the days of the treaty of +Pipton. Alone of Montfort's friends, Llewelyn came out of an +unsuccessful struggle upon terms such as are seldom obtained even by +victory in the field. The triumph of the Welsh prince is the more +remarkable because Edward and his ally, Mortimer, were the chief +sufferers by the treaty. But Edward had learnt wisdom during his +apprenticeship. He recognised that the exhaustion of the country +demanded peace at any price, and he dreaded the possibility of the +alliance of Llewelyn and Earl Gilbert. But whatever Edward's motives +may have been in concluding the treaty, it left Llewelyn in so strong a +position that he was encouraged to those fresh aggressions which in the +next reign proved the ruin of his power. The Welsh wars of Edward I. +are the best elucidation of the importance of the treaty of Shrewsbury. +The Welsh principality, which Edward as king was to destroy, was as +much the creation of the Barons' War as the outcome of the fierce +Celtic enthusiasm which found its bravest champion in the son of +Griffith. + + [1] For the growth of Llewelyn's power see the maps of Wales in + 1247 and 1267 in Owens College _Historical Essays_, pp. 76 and + 135. + +It was time to redeem the promises by which the moderate party had been +won over to the royalist cause. The statute of Marlborough of 1267 +re-enacted in a more formal fashion the chief of the Provisions of +Westminster of 1259, and thus prevented the undoing of all the progress +attained during the years of struggle. Ottobon in 1268 held a famous +council at London, in which important canons were enacted with a view +to the reformation of the Church. A little later the Londoners received +back their forfeited charters and the disinherited were restored to +their estates. After these last measures of reparation, England sank +into a profound repose that lasted for the rest of the reign of Henry +III. A happy beginning of the years of peace was the dedication of the +new abbey of Westminster, and the translation of the body of St. Edward +to the new shrine, whose completion had long been the dearest object of +the old king's life. + +At this time Louis IX. was meditating his second crusade, and in every +country in Europe the friars were preaching the duty of fighting the +infidel. Nowhere save in France did the Holy War win more powerful +recruits than in England. In 1268 Edward himself took the cross, [1] and +with him his brother Edmund of Lancaster, his cousin Henry of Almaine, +and many leading lords of both factions. Financial difficulties delayed +the departure of the crusaders, and it was not until 1270 that Edward +and Henry were able to start. On reaching Provence, they learnt that +Louis had turned his arms against Tunis, whither they followed him with +all speed. On Edward's arrival off Tunis, he found that Louis was dead +and that Philip III., the new French king, had concluded a truce with +the misbelievers. Profoundly mortified by this treason to Christendom, +Edward set forth with his little squadron to Acre, the chief town of +Palestine that still remained in Christian hands. Henry of Almaine +preferred to return home at once, but on his way through Italy was +murdered at Viterbo by the sons of Earl Simon of Montfort, a deed of +blood which revived the bitterest memories of the Barons' War. Edward +remained in Palestine until August, 1272, and threw all his wonted fire +and courage into the hopeless task of upholding the fast-decaying Latin +kingdom. At last alarming news of his father's health brought him back +to Europe. + + [1] For Edward's crusade see Riant's article in _Archives de + l'Orient Latin_, i., 617-32 (1881). + +On November 16, 1272, Henry III., then in his sixty-sixth year, died at +Westminster. His remains were laid at rest in the neighbouring abbey +church, hard by the shrine of St. Edward. With him died the last of his +generation. St. Louis' death in August, 1270, has already been recorded. +The death of Clement IV. in 1268 was followed by a three years' vacancy +in the papacy. This was scarcely over when Richard, King of the Romans, +prostrated by the tragedy of Viterbo, preceded his brother to the tomb. +Still earlier, Boniface of Canterbury had ended his tenure of the chair +of St. Augustine. The new reign begins with fresh actors and fresh +motives of action. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE EARLY FOREIGN POLICY AND LEGISLATION OF EDWARD I. + + +The Dominican chronicler, Nicholas Trivet, thus describes the +personality of Edward I.: "He was of elegant build and lofty stature, +exceeding the height of the ordinary man by a head and shoulders. His +abundant hair was yellow in childhood, black in manhood, and snowy white +in age. His brow was broad, and his features regular, save that his left +eyelid drooped somewhat, like that of his father, and hid part of the +pupil. He spoke with a stammer, which did not, however, detract from the +persuasiveness of his eloquence. His sinewy, muscular arms were those of +the consummate swordsman, and his long legs gave him a firm hold in the +saddle when riding the most spirited of steeds. His chief delight was in +war and tournaments, but he derived great pleasure from hawking and +hunting, and had a special joy in chasing down stags on a fleet horse +and slaying them with a sword instead of a hunting spear. His +disposition was magnanimous, but he was intolerant of injuries, and +reckless of dangers when seeking revenge, though easily won over by a +humble submission."[1] The defects of his youth are well brought out by +the radical friar who wrote the _Song of Lewes_. Even to the partisan of +Earl Simon, Edward was "a valiant lion, quick to attack the strongest, +and fearing the onslaught of none. But if a lion in pride and +fierceness, he was a panther in inconstancy and mutability, changing his +word and promise, cloaking himself by pleasant speech. When he is in a +strait he promises whatever you wish, but as soon as he has escaped he +forgets his promise. The treachery or falsehood, whereby he is advanced, +he calls prudence; the way whereby he arrives whither he will, crooked +though it be, he regards as straight; whatever he likes he says is +lawful, and he thinks he is released from the law, as though he were +greater than a king."[2] + + [1] _Annals_, pp. 181-82. + + [2] _Song_ of _Lewes_, pp. 14-15, ed. Kingsford. + +Hot and impulsive in disposition, easily persuaded that his own cause +was right, and with a full share in the pride of caste, Edward +committed many deeds of violence in his youth, and never got over his +deeply rooted habit of keeping the letter of his promise while +violating its spirit. Yet he learnt to curb his impetuous temper, and +few medieval kings had a higher idea of justice or a more strict regard +to his plighted word. "Keep troth" was inscribed upon his tomb, and his +reign signally falsified the prediction of evil which the Lewes +song-writer ventured to utter. A true sympathy bound him closely to his +nobles and people. His unstained family life, his piety and religious +zeal, his devotion to friends and kinsfolk, his keen interest in the +best movements of his time, showed him a true son of Henry III. But his +strength of will and seriousness of purpose stand in strong contrast to +his father's weakness and levity. A hard-working, clear-headed, +practical, and sober temperament made him the most capable king of all +his line. He may have been wanting in originality or deep insight, yet +it is impossible to dispute the verdict that has declared him to be the +greatest of all the Plantagenets. + +The broad lines of Edward's policy during the thirty-five years of his +kingship had already been laid down for him during his rude schooling. +The ineffectiveness of his father's government inspired him with a love +of strong rule, and this enabled him to grapple with the chronic +maladministration which made even a well-ordered medieval kingdom a +hot-bed of disorder. The age of Earl Simon had been fertile in new +ideals and principles of government. Edward held to the best of the +traditions of his youth, and his task was not one of creation so much +as of selection. His age was an age of definition. The series of great +laws, which he made during the earlier half of his reign, represented a +long effort to appropriate what was best in the age that had gone +before, and to combine it in orderly sequence. The same ideals mark the +constitutional policy of his later years. The materials for the future +constitution of England were already at his hand. It was a task well +within Edward's capacity to strengthen the authority of the crown by +associating the loyal nobles and clergy in the work of ruling the +state, and to build up a body politic in which every class of the +nation should have its part. Yet he never willingly surrendered the +most insignificant of his prerogatives, and if he took the people into +partnership with him, he did so with the firm belief that he would be a +more powerful king if his subjects loved and trusted him. Though +closely associated with his nobles by many ties of kinship and +affection, he was the uncompromising foe of feudal separatism, and +hotly resented even the constitutional control which the barons +regarded as their right. In the same way the unlimited franchises of +the lords of the Welsh march, the almost regal authority which the +treaty of Shrewsbury gave to the Prince of Wales, the rejection of his +claims as feudal overlord of Scotland, were abhorrent to his autocratic +disposition. True son of the Church though he was, he was the bitter +foe of ecclesiastical claims which, constantly encroaching beyond their +own sphere, denied kings the fulness of their authority. + +Edward's policy was thoroughly comprehensive. He is not only the +"English Justinian" and the creator of our later constitution; he has +rightly been praised for his clear conception of the ideal of a united +Britain which brought him into collision with Welsh and Scots. His +foreign policy lay as near to his heart as the conquest of Wales or +Scotland, or the subjection of priests and nobles. He was eager to make +Gascony obey him, anxious to keep in check the French king, and to +establish a sort of European balance of power, of which England, as in +Wolsey's later dreams, was to be the tongue of the balance. Yet, +despite his severe schooling in self-control, he undertook more than he +could accomplish, and his failure was the more signal because he found +the utmost difficulty in discovering trustworthy subordinates. +Moreover, the limited resources of a medieval state, and the even more +limited control which a medieval ruler had over these resources, were +fatal obstacles in the way of too ambitious a policy. Edward had +inherited his father's load of debt, and could only accomplish great +things by further pledging his credit to foreign financiers, against +whom his subjects raised unending complaints. Yet, if his methods of +attaining his objects were sometimes mean and often violent, there was +a rare nobility about his general purpose. + +Every precaution was taken to secure Edward's succession and the +establishment of the provisional administration which was to rule until +his return. Before leaving England in 1270, Edward had appointed as his +agents Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York, Roger Mortimer, and Robert +Burnell, his favourite clerk. The vacancy of the see of Canterbury +after Boniface's death placed Giffard in a position of peculiar +eminence. Appointed first lord of the council, he virtually became +regent; and he associated with himself in the administration of the +realm his two colleagues in the management of the new king's private +affairs. Early in 1273 a parliament of magnates and representatives of +shires and boroughs took oaths of allegiance to the king and continued +the authority of the three regents. By the double title of Edward's +personal delegation and the recognition of the estates, Giffard, +Mortimer, and Burnell ruled the country for the two years which were to +elapse before the sovereign's return. Their government was just, +economical, and peaceful. Even Gilbert of Gloucester remained quiet, +and, save for the refusal of the Prince of Wales to perform his feudal +obligations, the calm of the last years of the old reign continued. It +is evidence of constitutional progress that the administration was +carried on with so little friction in the absence of the monarch. Roger +Mortimer, the most formidable of the feudal baronage, was himself one +of the agents of this salutary change. The marcher chieftain put down +with promptitude an attempted revolt of north-country knights which +threatened public tranquillity. + +Edward first heard of his father's death in Sicily, but the tidings of +the maintenance of peace rendered it unnecessary for him to hasten his +return, and he made his way slowly through Italy. In Sicily he was +entertained by his uncle, Charles of Anjou. Thence he went to Orvieto, +where the new pope, Gregory X., who, as archdeacon of Liege, had been +the comrade of his crusade, was then residing. From king and pope alike +Edward earnestly sought vengeance for the murder of Henry of Almaine. +Proceeding northwards, he was received with great pomp by the cities of +Lombardy, and made personal acquaintance with Savoy and its count, +Philip, his aged great-uncle. Crossing the Mont Cenis, he was welcomed +by bands of English magnates who had gone forth to meet him. He was +soon at the head of a little army, and in the true spirit of a hero of +romance halted to receive the challenge of the boastful Count of +Chalon. The tournament between the best knights of England and Burgundy +was fought out with such desperation that it became a serious battle. +At last Edward unhorsed the count in a personal encounter, which added +greatly to his fame. This "Little Battle of Chalon" was the last +victory of his irresponsible youth. + +The serious business of kingcraft began when Edward met his cousin, +Philip III., at Paris. The news from England was still so good that +Edward resolved to remain in France with the twofold object of settling +his relations with the French monarchy and of receiving the homage and +regulating the affairs of Aquitaine. Despite the treaty of Paris of +1259, there were so many subjects of dispute between the English and +French kings that, beneath the warm protestations of affection between +the kinsmen, there was, as a French chronicler said, but a cat-and-dog +love between them.[1] The treaty had not been properly executed, and the +English had long complained that the French had not yielded up to +England their king's rights over the three bishoprics of Limoges, +Cahors, and Perigueux, which St. Louis had ceded. New complications +arose after the death of Alfonse of Poitiers in the course of the +Tunisian crusade. By the treaty of Paris the English king should then +have entered into possession of Saintonge south of the Charente, the +Agenais, and lower Quercy. But the ministers of Philip III. laid hands +upon the whole of Alfonse's inheritance and refused to surrender these +districts to the English. The welcome which Edward received from his +cousin at Paris could not blind him to the incompatibility of their +interests, nor to the impossibility of obtaining at the moment the +cession of the promised lands. He did not choose to tarry at Paris while +the diplomatists unravelled the tangled web of statecraft. Nor would he +tender an unconditional homage to the prince who withheld from him his +inheritance. Already a stickler for legal rights, even when used to his +own detriment, Edward was unable to deny his subjection to the overlord +of Aquitaine. He therefore performed homage, but he phrased his +submission in terms which left him free to urge his claims at a more +convenient season. "Lord king," he said to Philip, "I do you homage for +all the lands which I ought to hold of you." The vagueness of this +language suggested that, if Edward could not get Saintonge, he might +revive his claim to Normandy. The king appointed a commission to +continue the negotiations with the French court, and then betook himself +to Aquitaine.[2] + + [1] "Hic amor dici potest amor cati et canis," _Chron. Limov._, + in _Recueil des Hist. de la France_, xxi., 784. + + [2] C.V. Langlois' _Le Regne de Philippe le Hardi_ (1887), and + Gavrilovitch's _Le Traite de Paris_, give the best modern + accounts of Edward's early dealings with the French crown. + +It was nearly ten years since the presence of the monarch had +restrained the turbulence of the Gascon duchy. Edward had before him +the task of watching over its internal administration, and checking the +subtle policy whereby the agents of the French crown were gradually +undermining his authority. Two wars, the war of Bearn and the war of +Limoges, desolated Gascony from the Pyrenees to the Vienne. It was +Edward's first task to bring these troubles to an end. Age and +experience had not diminished the ardour which had so long made Gaston +of Bearn the focus of every trouble in the Pyrenean lands. He defied a +sentence of the ducal court of Saint Sever, and was already at war with +the seneschal, Luke of Tany, when Edward's appearance brought matters +to a crisis. During the autumn and winter of 1273-74, Edward hunted out +Gaston from his mountain strongholds, and at last the Bearnais, +despairing of open resistance, appealed to the French king. Philip +accepted the appeal, and ordered Edward to desist from molesting Gaston +during its hearing. The English king, anxious not to quarrel openly +with the French court, granted a truce. The suit of Gaston long +occupied the parliament of Paris, but the good-will of the French +lawyers could not palliate the wanton violence of the Viscount of +Bearn. The French, like the English, were sticklers for formal right, +and were unwilling to push matters to extremities. Edward had the +reward of his forbearance, for Philip advised Gaston to go to England +and make his submission. Gratified by his restoration to Bearn in 1279, +Gaston remained faithful for the next few years. Edward was less +successful in dealing with Limoges. There had been for many years a +struggle between the commune of the castle, or _bourg_, of Limoges and +Margaret the viscountess. It was to no purpose that the townsfolk had +invoked the treaty of Paris, whereby, as they maintained, the French +king transferred to the King of England his ancient jurisdiction over +them. They were answered by a decree of the parliament of Paris that +the homage of the commune of Limoges belonged not to the crown but to +the viscountess, and that therefore the treaty involved no change in +their allegiance. Edward threw himself with ardour on to the side of +the burgesses. Guy of Lusignan, still the agent of his brother abroad, +though prudently excluded from England, was sent to Limoges, where he +incited the commune to resist the viscountess. In May, 1274, Edward +himself took up his quarters in Limoges, and for a month ruled there as +sovereign. But the French court reiterated the decree which made the +commune the vassal of the viscountess. To persevere in upholding the +rebels meant an open breach with the French court in circumstances more +unfavourable than in the case of Gaston of Bearn. Once more Edward +refused to allow his ambition to prevail over his sense of legal +obligation. With rare self-restraint he renounced the fealty of +Limoges, and abandoned his would-be subjects to the wrath of the +viscountess. This was an act of loyalty to feudal duty worthy of St. +Louis. If Edward, on later occasions, pressed his own legal claims +against his vassals, he set in his own case a pattern of strict +obedience to his overlord. + +While Edward was still abroad, his friend Gregory X. held from May to +July, 1274, the second general council at Lyons, wherein there was much +talk of a new crusade, and an effort was made, which came very near +temporary success, towards healing the schism of the Eastern and +Western Churches. At Gregory's request Edward put off his coronation, +lest the celebration might call away English prelates from Lyons. When +the council was over, he at last turned towards his kingdom. At Paris +he was met by the mayor of London, Henry le Waleis, and other leading +citizens, who set before him the grievous results of the long disputes +with Flanders, which had broken off the commercial relations between +the two countries, and had inflicted serious losses on English trade. +Edward strove to bring the Flemings to their senses by prohibiting the +export of wool from England to the weaving towns of Flanders. The looms +of Ghent and Bruges were stopped by reason of the withholding of the +raw material, and the distress of his subjects made Count Guy of +Flanders anxious to end so costly a quarrel. On July 28 Edward met Guy +at Montreuil and signed a treaty which re-established the old +friendship between lands which stood in constant economic need of each +other. There was no longer any occasion for further delay, and on +August 2 Edward and his queen crossed over to Dover. Received with open +arms by his subjects, he was crowned at Westminster on August 19 by the +new Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Kilwardby, philosopher, +theologian, and Dominican friar, whom Gregory X. had placed over the +church of Canterbury, despite the vigorous efforts which Edward made to +secure the primacy for Robert Burnell. He had been absent from England +for four years. + +Edward's sojourn in France was fruitful of results which he was unable +to reap for the moment. Conscious of the inveterate hostility of the +French king, he strove to establish relations with foreign powers to +counterbalance the preponderance of his rival. When the death of +Richard of Cornwall reopened the question of the imperial succession, +Charles of Anjou had been anxious to obtain the prize for his nephew, +Philip III., on the specious pretext that the headship of Christendom +would enable the King of France to "collect chivalry from all the +world" and institute the crusade which both Gregory X. and Edward so +ardently desired. But the most zealous enthusiast for the holy war +could hardly be deceived by the false zeal with which the Angevin +cloaked his overweening ambition. It was a veritable triumph for +Edward, when Gregory X., though attracted for a moment by the prospect +of a strong emperor capable of landing a crusade, accepted the choice +of the German magnates who, in terror of France, elected as King of the +Romans the strenuous but not overmighty Swabian count, Rudolf of +Hapsburg. As Alfonso of Castile's pretensions were purely nominal, this +election ended the Great Interregnum by restoring the empire on a +narrower but more practical basis. Though Gregory strove to reconcile +the French to Rudolf's accession, common suspicion of France bound +Edward and the new King of the Romans in a common friendship. + +Family disputes soon destroyed the unity of policy of the Capetian +house. Philip III., well meaning but weak, was drifting into complete +dependence on Charles of Anjou, whom Edward distrusted, alike as the +protector of the murderers of Henry of Almaine and as the supplanter of +his mother in the Provencal heritage. Margaret of Provence, the widow +of St. Louis, had a common grievance with Edward and his mother against +Charles of Anjou. She hated him the more inasmuch as he was depriving +her of all influence over her son, King Philip. It was easy in such +circumstances for the two widowed queens of France and England to form +grandiose schemes for ousting Charles from Provence. Rudolf lent +himself to their plans by investing Margaret with the county. Edward's +filial piety and political interests made him a willing partner in +these designs. In 1278 he betrothed his daughter Joan of Acre to +Hartmann, the son of the King of the Romans. The plan of Edward and +Rudolf was to revive in some fashion the kingdom of Arles[1] in favour +of the young couple. Though Rudolf was unfaithful to this policy, and +abandoned the proposed English marriage in favour of a match between +his daughter and the son of the King of Sicily, the two queens +persisted in their plans, and new combinations against Charles and +Philip for some years threatened the peace of Europe. + + [1] Fournier's _Le Royaume d'Arles et de Vienne_ (1891) gives + the best modern account of Edward's relations to the Middle + Kingdom. + +It is unlikely that Edward hoped for serious results from schemes so +incoherent and backed with such slender resources. Besides his alliance +with the emperor, he strove to injure the French king by establishing +close relations with his brother-in-law, Alfonso of Castile, who since +1276 was at war with the French. Earlier than this, he made himself the +champion of Blanche of Artois, the widow of Henry III. of Navarre and +Champagne. He wished that Joan, their only child, should bring her +father's lands to one of his own sons, and, though disappointed in this +ambition, he managed to marry his younger brother, Edmund of Lancaster, +to Blanche. Though the French took possession of Navarre, whereby they +alike threatened Gascony and Castile, they suffered Blanche to rule in +Champagne in her daughter's name, and Edmund was associated with her in +the government of that county. The tenure of a great French fief by the +brother of the English king was a fresh security against the +aggressions of the kings of France and Sicily. It probably facilitated +the conclusion of the long negotiations as to the interpretation of the +treaty of Paris, and the partition of the inheritance of Alfonse of +Poitiers. Edward's position against France was further strengthened in +1279 by the death of his wife's mother, Joan of Castile, the widow of +Ferdinand the Saint and the stepmother of Alfonso the Wise, whereupon +he took possession of Ponthieu in Eleanor's name. Scarcely had he +established himself at Abbeville, the capital of the Picard county, +than the negotiations at Paris were so far ripened that Philip III. +went to Amiens, where Edward joined him. On May 23 both kings agreed to +accept the treaty of Amiens by which the more important of the +outstanding difficulties between the two nations were amicably +regulated. By it Philip recognised Eleanor as Countess of Ponthieu, and +handed over a portion of the inheritance of Alfonse of Poitiers to +Edward. Agen and the Agenais were ceded at once, and a commission was +appointed to investigate Edward's claims over lower Quercy. In return +for this Edward yielded up his illusory rights over the three +bishoprics of Limoges, Perigueux, and Cahors. It was a real triumph for +English diplomacy. + +No lasting peace could arise from acts which emphasised the essential +incompatibility of French and English interests by enlarging the +territory of the English kings in France. The undercurrent of hostility +still continued; and the proposal of Pope Nicholas III. that Edward +should act as mediator between Philip III. and Alfonso of Castile led +to difficulties that deeply incensed Edward, and embroiled him once +more both with France and Spain. Under Angevin influence, both Philip +and Alfonso rejected Edward's mediation in favour of that of the Prince +of Salerno, Charles of Anjou's eldest son. Disgust at this +unfriendliness made Edward again support the plans of Margaret of +Provence against the Angevins. In 1281 Margaret's intrigues formed a +combination of feudal magnates called the League of Macon, with the +object of prosecuting her claims over Provence by force of arms. Edward +and his mother, Eleanor, his Savoyard kinsfolk, and Edmund of Lancaster +all entered into the league. But it was hopeless for a disorderly crowd +of lesser chieftains, with the nominal support of a distant prince like +Edward, to conquer Provence in the teeth of the hostility of the +strongest and the ablest princes of the age. The League of Macon came +to nothing, like so many other ambitious combinations of a time in +which men's capacity to form plans transcended their capacity to +execute them. Margaret herself soon despaired of the way of arms and +was bought off by a money compensation. The league mainly served to +keep alive the troubles that still separated England and France. In +1284 Philip gained a new success in winning the hand of Joan of +Champagne, Count Edmund's step-daughter, for his son, the future Philip +the Fair. When Joan attained her majority, Edmund lost the custody of +Champagne, which went to the King of France as the natural protector of +his son and his son's bride. With his brother's withdrawal from Provins +to Lancaster, Edward lost one of his means of influencing the course of +French politics. + +A compensation for these failures was found in 1282 when the Sicilian +vespers rang the knell of the Angevin power in Sicily. When the +revolted islanders chose Peter, King of Aragon, as their sovereign, +Charles, seeking to divert him from Sicily by attacking him at home, +inspired his partisan, Pope Martin IV., to preach a crusade against +Aragon. It was in vain that Edward strove to mediate between the two +kings. + +The only response made to his efforts was a fantastic proposal that +they should fight out their differences in a tournament at Bordeaux +with him as umpire, but Edward refused to have anything to do with the +pseudo-chivalrous venture. At last, in 1285, Philip III. lent himself +to his uncle's purpose so far as to lead a papalist crusade over the +Pyrenees. The movement was a failure. Philip lost his army and his life +in Aragon, and his son and successor, Philip IV., at once withdrew from +the undertaking. In the year of the crusade of Aragon, Charles of +Anjou, Peter of Aragon, and Martin IV. died. With them the struggles, +which had begun with the attack on Frederick II, reached their +culminating point. Their successors continued the quarrel with +diminished forces and less frantic zeal, and so gave Edward his best +chance to pose as the arbiter of Europe. Though Edward's continental +policy lay so near his heart that it can hardly be passed over, it was +fuller of vain schemes than of great results. Yet it was not altogether +fruitless, since twelve years of resolute and moderate action raised +England, which under Henry III. was of no account in European affairs, +to a position only second to that of France, and that under conditions +more nearly approaching the modern conception of a political balance +and a European state system than feudalism, imperialism, and papalism +had hitherto rendered possible. + +In domestic policy, seven years of monotonous administration had in a +way prepared for vigorous reforms. Edward's return to England in 1274 +was quickly followed by the dismissal of Walter of Merton, the +chancellor of the years of quiescence. He was succeeded by Robert +Burnell, who, though foiled in his quest of Canterbury, obtained an +adequate standing by his preferment to the bishopric of Bath and Wells. +For the eighteen years of life which still remained to him, Bishop +Burnell held the chancery and possessed the chief place in Edward's +counsels. The whole of this period was marked by a constant legislative +activity which ceased so soon after Burnell's death that it is tempting +to assign at least as large a part of the law-making of the reign to +the minister as to the sovereign. A consummate lawyer and diplomatist, +Burnell served Edward faithfully. Nor was his fidelity impaired either +by the laxity which debarred him from higher ecclesiastical preferment +or by his ambitious endeavours to raise the house of Shropshire squires +from which he sprang into a great territorial family. Edward gave him +his absolute confidence and was blind even to his defects. + +The first general parliament of the reign to which the king summoned +the commons was held at Westminster in the spring of 1275. Its work was +the statute of Westminster the First, a comprehensive measure of many +articles which covered almost the whole field of legislation, and is +especially noteworthy for the care which its compilers took to uphold +sound administration and put down abuses. Not less important was the +provision of an adequate revenue for the debt-burdened king. The same +parliament made Edward a permanent grant of a custom on wool, +wool-fells, and leather, which remained henceforth a chief source of +the regular income of the crown. The later imposition of further duties +soon caused men to describe the customs of 1275 as the "Great and +Ancient Custom". It was significant of the economic condition of +England that the great custom was a tax on exports, not imports, and +that, with the exception of leather, it was a tax on raw materials. +Granted the more willingly since the main incidence of it was upon the +foreign merchants, who bought up English wool for the looms of Flanders +and Brabant, the custom proved a source of revenue which could easily +be manipulated, increased, and assigned in advance to the Italian +financiers, willing to lend money to a necessitous king. A new step in +our financial history was attained when this tax on trade steps into +the place so long held by the taxes on land, from which the Normans and +Angevins had derived their enormous revenue. + +The statute of Westminster the First had a long series of fellows. Next +year came the statute of Rageman, which supplemented an earlier inquest +into abuses by instituting a special inquiry in cases of trespass. In +1277 the first Welsh war interrupted the current of legislation. The +break was compensated for in 1278 by the passing of the important +statute of Gloucester, the consummation of a policy which Edward had +adopted as soon as he set foot on English soil. The troubles of Edward's +youth had made clear to him the obstacles thrown in the path of orderly +government by the great territorial franchises. He had been forced to +modify his policy to gratify the lord of Glamorgan, and win over the +house of Mortimer by the erection of a new franchise that was a +palatinate in all but name. But such great "regalities" were, after all, +exceptional. Much more irritating to an orderly mind were the +innumerable petty immunities which made half the hundreds in England the +appendages of baronial estates, and such common privileges as "return of +writs," which prevented the sheriff's officers from executing his +mandates on numerous manors where the lords claimed that the execution +of writs must be entrusted to their bailiffs.[1] These widespread powers +in private hands were the more annoying to the king since they were +commonly exercised with no better warrant than long custom, and without +direct grant from him. + + [1] See on "return of writs" and a host of similar immunities, + Pollock and Maitland's _History of English Law_, i., 558-82. + +Bracton had already laid down the doctrine that no prescription can +avail against the rights of the crown, and it was a commonplace with the +lawyers of the age that nothing less than a clear grant by royal charter +could justify such delegation of the sovereign's powers into private +hands. Within a few months of his landing, Edward sent out commissioners +to inquire into the baronial immunities. The returns of these inquests, +which were carried out hundred by hundred, are embodied in the precious +documents called the Hundred Rolls. The study of these reports inspired +the procedure of the statute of Gloucester, by which royal officers were +empowered to traverse the land demanding by what warrant the lords of +franchises exercised their powers. The demand of the crown for +documentary proof of royal delegation would have destroyed more than +half the existing liberties. But aristocratic opinion deserted Edward +when he strove to carry out so violent a revolution. The irritation of +the whole baronage is well expressed in the story of how Earl Warenne, +unsheathing a rusty sword, declared to the commissioners: "Here is my +warrant. My ancestors won their lands with the sword. With my sword I +will defend them against all usurpers." Nor was this mere boasting. The +return of the king's officers tells us that Warenne would not say of +whom, or by what services, he held his Yorkshire stronghold of +Conisborough, and that his bailiffs refused them entrance into his +liberties and would not suffer his tenants to answer or appear before +them.[1] Edward found it prudent not to press his claims. He disturbed +few men in their franchises, and was content to have collected the mass +of evidence embodied in the _placita de quo warranto_, and thus to have +stopped the possibility of any further growth of the franchises. A few +years later he accepted the compromise that continuous possession since +the coronation of Richard I. was a sufficient answer to a writ of _quo +warranto_. In this lies the whole essence of Edward's policy in relation +to feudalism, a policy very similar to that of St. Louis. Every man is +to have his own, and the king is not to inquire too curiously what a +man's own was. But no extension of any private right was to be +tolerated. Thus feudalism as a principle of political jurisdiction +gradually withered away, because it was no longer suffered to take fresh +root. The later land legislation of Edward's reign pushed the idea still +further. + + [1] _Kirkby's Quest for Yorkshire_, pp. 3, 227, 231, Surtees + Soc. + +In 1278 it had been the turn of the barons to suffer. Next came the +turn of the Church. Though Edward was a true son of the Church, he saw +as clearly as William the Conqueror and Henry II. the essential +incompatibility between the royal supremacy and the pretensions of the +extreme ecclesiastics. The limits of Church and State, the growth of +clerical wealth and immunities, and the relations of the world-power of +the pope to the local authority of the king, were problems which no +strong king could afford to neglect, and perhaps were incapable of +solution on medieval lines. Edward saw that the most practical way of +dealing with clerical claims was for him to stand in good personal +relations to the chief dispensers of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. With +a pope like Gregory X. it was easy for Edward to be on friendly terms; +but it was more difficult to feel any cordiality for the dogmatic +canonists or the furious Guelfic partisans who too often occupied the +chair of St. Peter. Yet Edward was shrewd enough to see that it was +worth while making sacrifices to keep on his side the power which, +alike under Innocent III. and Clement IV., had given valuable +assistance to his grandfather and father in their struggle against +domestic enemies. Moreover the enormous growth of the system of papal +provisions had given the papacy the preponderating authority in the +selection of the bishops of the English Church. It was only by yielding +to the popes, whenever it was possible, that Edward could secure the +nomination of his own candidates to the chief ecclesiastical posts in +his own realm. + +In the earlier years of his reign Edward was luckier in his relations +to the popes than to his own archbishops. But he found that his power +at Rome broke down just where he wanted to exercise it most. He was +disgusted to find how little influence he had in the selection of the +Archbishops of Canterbury. Gregory X. sent to Canterbury the Dominican +Robert Kilwardby, the first mendicant to hold high place in the English +Church. Kilwardby was translated in 1278 to the cardinal bishopric of +Porto, a post of greater dignity but less emolument and power than the +English archbishopric. A cardinal bishop was bound to reside at Rome, +and the real motive for this doubtful promotion was the desire to +remove Kilwardby from England and to send a more active man in his +place. Edward's indiscreet devotion to Bishop Burnell led him again to +press his friend's claims, but, though he persuaded the monks of Christ +Church to elect him, Nicholas III. quashed the appointment, and +selected the Franciscan friar, John Peckham, as archbishop. Peckham, a +famous theologian and physicist, had been a distinguished professor at +Paris, Oxford, and Rome. He was high-minded, honourable and zealous, a +saint as well as a scholar, an enthusiast for Church reform and a +vigorous upholder of the extremest hierarchical pretensions. Fussy, +energetic, tactless, he was the true type of the academic ecclesiastic, +and alike in his personal qualities and his wonderful grasp of detail, +he may be compared to Archbishop Laud. Though received by Edward with a +rare magnanimity, Friar John allowed no personal considerations of +gratitude to interpose between him and his duty. Reaching England in +June, 1279, he presided, within six weeks of his landing, at a +provincial council at Reading. In this gathering canons were passed +against pluralities which frightened every benefice hunter among the +clerks of the royal household. Orders were also issued for the +periodical denunciation of ecclesiastical penalties against all +violators of the Great Charter in a fashion that suggested that the +king was an habitual offender against the fundamental laws of his +realm. + +Edward wrathfully laid the usurpations of the new primate before +parliament, and forced Peckham to withdraw all the canons dealing with +secular matters, and particularly those which concerned the Great +Charter. The king set up the counter-claims of the State against the +pretensions of the Church, and the estates passed the statute of +Mortmain of 1279 as the layman's answer to the canons of Reading. Like +most of Edward's laws the statute of Mortmain was based on earlier +precedents. The wealth of the Church had long inspired statesmen with +alarm, and a true follower of St. Francis like Peckham was specially +convinced of the need of reducing the clergy to apostolic poverty. By +the new law all grants of land to ecclesiastical corporations were +expressly prohibited, under the penalty of the land being forfeited to +its supreme lord. The statute was not a mere political weapon of the +moment. It had a wider importance as a step in the development of +Edward's anti-feudal policy, and may be regarded as a counterpart of +the inquest into franchises, and as a means of protecting the State as +well as of disciplining the Church. A corporation never died, and never +paid reliefs or wardships. Its property never escheated for want of +heirs, and, as scutages were passing out of fashion, ecclesiastics were +less valuable to the king in times of war than lay lords. The recent +exigencies of the Welsh war had emphasised the need of strengthening +the military defences of the crown, and the new statute secured this by +preventing the further devolution of lands into the dead hand of the +Church. But all medieval laws were rather enunciations of an ideal than +measures which practical statesmen aimed at carrying out in detail. The +statute of Mortmain hardly stayed the creation of fresh monasteries and +colleges, or the further endowment of old ones. All that was necessary +for the pious founder was to obtain a royal dispensation from the +operation of the statute. There was little need to fear that the new +law would stand in the way of the power of the ecclesiastical estate. + +A more distinct challenge to the Church was provoked by a further +aggression of Peckham in 1281. In that year the primate summoned a +council at Lambeth, wherein he sought to withdraw from the cognisance of +the civil courts all suits concerning patronage and the disposition of +the personal effects of ecclesiastics. To extend the jurisdiction of the +_forum ecclesiasticum_ was the surest way of exciting the hostility of +the common lawyers and the king. Once more Edward annulled the +proceedings of a council, and once more the submission of Peckham saved +the land from a conflict which might have assumed the proportions of +Becket's struggle against Henry II. Four years later Edward pressed his +advantage still further by the royal ordinance of 1285, called +_Circumspecte agatis_, which, though accepting the supremacy of the +Church courts within their own sphere, narrowly defined the limits of +their power in matters involving a temporal element. Again Peckham was +fain to acquiesce. His policy had not only irritated the king, but +alienated his fellow bishops. He visited his province with pertinacity +and minuteness, and he was the less able to stand up against the king as +he was engaged in violent quarrels with all his own suffragans. The +leader of the bishops in resisting his claims was Thomas of Cantilupe. +Restored to England by the liberal policy of Edward, Montfort's +chancellor after Lewes had been raised to the see of Hereford, where his +sanctity and devotion won him the universal love of his flock. Involved +in costly lawsuits with the litigious primate, Thomas was forced to +leave his diocese to plead his cause before the papal _curia_. He died +in Italy in 1282, and his relics, carried back by his followers to his +own cathedral, won the reputation of working miracles. A demand arose +for his canonisation, and Edward before his death had secured the +appointment of the papal commission, which, a few years later, added St. +Thomas of Hereford to the list of saints.[1] Thus the chancellor of +Montfort obtained the honour of sanctity through the action of the +victor of Evesham. + + [1] The _processus canonisationis_ of Cantilupe, printed in the + Bollandist _Acta Sanctorum_, Oct. 1, 539-705, illustrates many + aspects of this period. + +The second Welsh war interrupted both the conflict between Edward and +the archbishop, and the course of domestic legislation. Yet even in the +midst of his campaigns Edward issued the statute of Acton Burnell of +1283, which provided a better way of recovering merchants' debts, and +the statute of Rhuddlan of 1284 for the regulation of the king's +exchequer. The king's full activity as a lawgiver was renewed after the +settlement of his conquest by the statute of Wales of 1284, and the +legislation of his early years culminated in the two great acts of +1285, the statute of Westminster the Second, and the statute of +Winchester. That year, which also witnessed the passing of the +_Circumspecte agatis_, stands out as the most fruitful in lawmaking in +the whole of Edward's reign. + +The second statute of Westminster, passed in the spring parliament, +partook of the comprehensive character of the first statute of that +name. There were clauses by which, as the Canon of Oseney puts it, +"Edward revived the ancient laws which had slumbered through the +disturbance of the realm: some corrupted by abuse he restored to their +proper form: some less evident and apparent he declared: some new ones, +useful and honourable, he added". Among the more conspicuous +innovations of the second statute of Westminster was the famous clause +De _donis conditionalibus_, which forms a landmark in the law of real +property. It facilitated the creation of entailed estates by providing +that the rights of an heir of an estate, granted upon conditions, were +not to be barred on account of the alienation of such an estate by its +previous tenant. Thus arose those estates for life, which in later ages +became a special feature of the English land system, and which, by +restricting the control of the actual possessor of a property over his +land, did much to perpetuate the worst features of medieval +land-holding. It is a modern error to regard the legitimation of +estates in tail as a triumph of reactionary feudalism over the will of +Edward. Apart from the fact that there is not a tittle of contemporary +evidence to justify such a view, it is manifest that the interest of +the king was in this case exactly the same as that of each individual +lord of a manor. The greater prospect of reversion to the donor, and +the other features of the system of entails, which commended them to +the petty baron, were still more attractive to the king, the greatest +proprietor as well as the ultimate landlord of all the realm. Other +articles of the Westminster statute were only less important than the +clause _De donis_, notable among them being the institution of justices +of _nisi prius_, appointed to travel through the shires three times a +year to hear civil causes. This was part of the simplification and +concentration of judicial machinery, whereby Edward made tolerable the +circuit system which under Henry III. had been a prolific source of +grievances. + +While in the statute of Westminster Edward prepared for the future, the +companion statute of Winchester, the work of the autumn parliament, +revived the jurisdiction of the local courts; reformed the ancient +system of watch and ward, and brought the ancient system of popular +courts into harmony with the jurisdiction emanating from the crown, +which had gone so far towards superseding it. This measure marks the +culmination of Edward's activity as a lawgiver. During the five next +years there were no more important statutes. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CONQUEST OF NORTH WALES. + + +The treaty of Shrewsbury of 1267 had not brought enduring peace to +Wales and the march. The pacification was in essentials a simple +recognition of accomplished facts, but, so far as it involved promises +of restitution and future good behaviour, its provisions were barely +carried out, even in the scanty measure in which any medieval treaty +was executed. Moreover, the treaty by no means covered the whole ground +of variance between the English and the Welsh. like the treaty of Paris +of 1259, it was as much the starting-point of new difficulties as the +solution of old ones. Many troublesome questions of detail had been +postponed for later settlement, and no serious effort was made to +grapple with them. Even during the life of the old king, there had been +war in the south between the Earl of Gloucester and Llewelyn. However, +the Welsh prince paid, with fair regularity, the instalments of the +indemnity to which he had been bound, and there was no disposition on +the part of the English authorities to question the basis of the +settlement. Even the marchers maintained an unwonted tranquillity. They +had lost so much during the recent war that they had no great desire to +take up arms again. Llewelyn himself was the chief obstacle to peace. +The brilliant success of his arms and diplomacy seems somewhat to have +turned his brain. Visions of a wider authority constantly floated +before him. His bards prophesied the expulsion of the Saxon, and he had +done such great deeds in the first twenty years of his reign, that a +man of more practical temperament might have been forgiven for +indulging in dreams of future success. Three obstacles stood in the way +of the development of his power. These were his vassalage to the +English crown, the hostility of the marcher barons, and the impatience +with which the minor Welsh chieftains submitted to his authority. For +five years he impatiently endured these restraints. He then took +advantage of the absence of the new king to rid himself of them. + +Five days after the accession of Edward I., the lieutenants of the king +received the last payment of the indemnity which Llewelyn condescended +to make. Their demand that the Welsh prince should take an oath of +fealty to his new sovereign was answered by evasive delays. Arrears of +the indemnity accumulated, and the state of the march became more +disturbed. The regents showed moderation, though one of them, Roger +Mortimer, had himself been the greatest sufferer from the treaty of +Shrewsbury. In the south, Humphrey Bohun, grandson of the old Earl of +Hereford and earl himself in 1275 by his grandfather's death, was +engaged in private war with Llewelyn. In direct defiance of the terms +of 1267, Humphrey strove to maintain himself in the march of Brecon, +which had been definitely ceded to Llewelyn. It was to the credit of +the regents that they refused to countenance this glaring violation of +the treaty. Meanwhile Llewelyn busied himself with erecting a new +stronghold on the upper Severn, which was a menace alike to the royal +castle of Montgomery and to his own vassal, Griffith ap Gwenwynwyn, the +tributary lord of Powys. Yet the regents were content to remonstrate, +and to urge on all parties the need of strict adherence to the terms of +the treaty. The Earl of Warwick was appointed in the spring of 1274 as +head of a commission, empowered to do justice on all transgressions of +the peace, and Llewelyn was ordered to meet him at Montgomery Ford. But +Llewelyn was busy at home, where his brother David had joined hands +with Griffith ap Gwenwynwyn in a plot against him. Llewelyn easily +crushed the conspiracy; David, after a feeble attempt to maintain +himself in his own patrimony, took flight to England, and Griffith of +Powys, driven from his dominions, was also obliged to seek the +protection of Edward. Henceforth Llewelyn ruled directly over Powys as +well as Gwynedd. His success encouraged him to persevere in defying his +overlord. + +Rash as he was, Llewelyn recognised that he was not strong enough to +stand up single-handed against England. Former experience, however, +suggested that it was an easy matter to make a party with the barons +against the crown. But times had changed since the Great Charter and +the Barons' War; and a policy, which could obtain concessions from John +or Henry III., was powerless against a king who commanded the +allegiance of all his subjects. Yet there was enough friction between +the new king and his feudatories to make the attempt seem feasible, and +Llewelyn revived the Montfort tradition, by claiming the hand of +Eleanor, Earl Simon's daughter, which had been promised to him since +1265. The alarm created by this shows that Edward perceived the danger +that it might involve. But his policy of conciliation had now restored +to their estates the last of the "disinherited," and, since the murder +of Henry of Almaine, the name of Montfort was no longer one to conjure +with. The exiled sons of Earl Simon welcomed Llewelyn's advances, and, +in 1275, Eleanor was despatched from France to Wales under the escort +of her clerical brother Amaury. On their way, Eleanor and Amaury were +captured by English sailors. Edward detained the lady at the queen's +court, and gave some scandal to the stricter clergy by shutting up +Amaury in Corfe castle. He had foiled the Welsh prince's game, but he +had given him a new grievance. + +During these transactions negotiations had been proceeding between the +English court and Llewelyn. In November, 1274, Edward went to +Shrewsbury in the hope of receiving the prince, but he was delayed by +illness, and Llewelyn made this an excuse for non-appearance. Next year +the king journeyed to Chester with the same object, but his mission was +equally fruitless. Summons after summons was despatched to the +recalcitrant vassal. Llewelyn heeded them no more than requests to pay +up the arrears which he owed the English crown. After two years of +hesitation Edward lost all patience. Irritated to the quick by +Llewelyn's offer to perform homage in a border town on conditions +altogether impossible of acceptance, the king summoned a council of +magnates for November 12, 1276, and laid the whole case before them. It +was agreed that the king should go against Llewelyn as a rebel and +disturber of the peace; and the feudal levies were summoned to meet at +Worcester on June 24, 1277. As a preliminary to the great effort, +Warwick was sent to Chester, Roger Mortimer to Montgomery, and Payne of +Chaworth to Carmarthen. All the available marcher forces and every +trooper of the royal household were despatched to enable them to +operate during the winter and spring. Their movements were brilliantly +successful. On the reappearance of its ancient lord, the middle march +threw off the yoke of Llewelyn and went back to its obedience to +Mortimer. Griffith ap Gwenwynwyn was restored to upper Powys; the sons +of Griffith of Bromfield cast off their allegiance to Llewelyn and were +received back as direct vassals of the king. A Tony was once more +ruling in Elvael, a Gifford in Llandovery, and a Bohun in Brecon. Rhys +ap Meredith yielded up Dynevor, and was content to be recognised as +lord of the humbler stronghold of Drysllwyn. Chaworth's bands conquered +all Cardiganshire. Thus the wider "principality" of Llewelyn was +shattered at the first assault, and when the decisive moment came, +Llewelyn was thrown back upon his hereditary clansmen of Gwynedd. Of +all the acquisitions of the treaty of Shrewsbury, the four cantreds +alone still held for their prince.[1] + + [1] On the whole subject of this chapter Mr. J.E. Morris's + _Welsh Wars of Edward I._ throws a flood of new light, + especially on the military history, the organisation of the + Edwardian army, and the political condition of the march. + +When the baronial levies mustered at Worcester, the work was already +half accomplished. Of the thousand lances that there assembled, small +forces were detached to help Mortimer in mid Wales and to reinforce the +marcher army in west Wales, which was now commanded by Edmund of +Lancaster, the king's brother. The mass of the troops followed Edward +to Chester, whence the main attack was to be made. Edward's plan of +operations was simplicity itself. He knew that the Welsh desired no +pitched battle, and he was indisposed to lose his soldiers in +unnecessary conflict. Swarms of workmen cleared a wide road through the +dense forests of the four cantreds. The route chosen was as near as +possible to the coast, where a strong fleet, mainly from the Cinque +Ports, kept up communications with the land forces. The advance was +cautious and slow, with long halts at Flint and at Rhuddlan, where +hastily erected forts secured the king's base and safe-guarded a +possible retreat. By the end of August the king was at Deganwy, and the +four cantreds were conquered. During all this time fresh forces were +hurried up. Some 15,000 infantry, largely drawn from southern and +central Wales, swelled the king's host. + +Llewelyn was closely shut up in the Snowdon country. His position was +safe enough from a direct assault, and his only fear was want of +provisions. He trusted, however, that supplies would come in from +Anglesea, whose rich cornfields were yellowing for the harvest. But the +fleet of the Cinque Ports cut off communications between Anglesea and +the mainland, and ferried over a strong detachment of Edward's troops, +which occupied the island. English harvest-men gathered for Edward the +crops of Welsh corn, and left Llewelyn to face the beginnings of a +mountain-winter without the means of feeding his followers. By +September the real fight was over. Edward withdrew to Rhuddlan and +dismissed the greater part of his followers. Enough were left to block +the approaches to Snowdon, and Llewelyn, seeing no gain in further +delay, made his submission on November 9. + +The treaty of Aberconway, which Edward dictated, reduced Llewelyn to +the position of a petty North Welsh chieftain, which he had held thirty +years before. He gave up the homage of the greater Welsh magnates, and +resigned all his former conquests. The four cantreds thus passed away +from his power, and even Anglesea was only allowed to him for life and +subject to a yearly tribute. He was compelled to do homage, and ordered +to pay a crushing indemnity, twice as much as the expenses of the war. +But Edward was in a generous mood. After Llewelyn's personal submission +at Rhuddlan, the king remitted the indemnity and the rent for Anglesea. +It was a boon to Llewelyn that the treacherous David received his +reward not' in Gwynedd itself but in Duffryn Clwyd and Rhuvoniog, two +of the four cantreds of the Perveddwlad. Llewelyn's humiliation was +completed by his enforced attendance at Edward's Christmas court at +Westminster. Next year, however, he received a further sign of royal +favour. He was allowed to marry Eleanor Montfort, and Edward himself +was present at their wedding. But on the morning of the ceremony, +Llewelyn was forced to make a promise not to entertain the king's +fugitives and outlaws. + +The treaty of Aberconway left Edward free to revive in the rest of Wales +the policy which, when originally begun in 1254,[1] had, like a rising +flood, floated Llewelyn into his wider principality. The lords marchers +resumed their ancient limits. Princes like Griffith of Powys and Rhys of +Drysllwyn sank into a position which is indistinguishable from that of +their Anglo-Norman neighbours. David, in the vale of Clwyd had no better +prospects. The heirs of lower Powys were put under the guardianship of +Roger Mortimer's younger son, another Roger, who, on the death of his +wards by drowning, received possession of their lands, and henceforth, +as Roger Mortimer of Chirk, became a new marcher baron. Meanwhile Edward +busied himself with schemes for establishing settled government in the +conquered territories. To a man of his training and temperament, this +meant the establishment of English law and administration. He could see +no merits in the archaic Welsh customs which regarded all crimes as +capable of atonement by a money payment, treated a wrecked ship as the +lawful perquisite of the local proprietor, and hardly distinguished +legitimate from illegitimate children in determining the descent of +property. He convinced himself that the land laws of Wales were already +those of Anglo-Norman feudalism. He subjected the cantreds of Rhos and +Englefield to the Cheshire county court, and breathed a new life into +the decayed shire organisation of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire. +Flint and Rhuddlan dominated the two former, Aberystwyth and Carmarthen +the latter. Round the king's castles grew up petty boroughs of English +traders, who would, it was believed, teach the Welsh to love commerce +and peaceful ways. + + [1] See page 76. + +For five years all seemed to go well, though underneath the apparent +calm a storm was gradually gathering. The Welsh of the ceded districts +bitterly resented the imposition of a strange yoke and complained that +the king had broken his promise to respect their laws. "Are the Welsh +worse than Jews?" was their cry, "and yet the king allows the Jews to +follow their own laws in England." But Edward coldly answered that, +though it would be a breach of his coronation oath to maintain customs +of Howel the Good, which were contrary to the Decalogue, he was willing +to listen to specific complaints. It was, however, a very difficult +matter to persuade Edward's bailiffs and agents to carry out his +commands, and many acts of oppression were wrought for which there was +no redress. Nobles like David and Rhys found their franchises +threatened by the encroachments of the neighbouring shire-courts. +Lesser Welshmen were liable to be robbed and insulted by the workmen +who were building Edward's castles, or by the soldiers who were +garrisoning them. At last even the Welsh who had helped Edward to put +down Llewelyn saw that they had been preparing their own ruin, and +turned to their former enemy for the redress refused them at +Westminster. David himself made common cause with his brother, and the +spirit of resistance spread among the half-hearted Cymry of the south. +Edward's oppression did more than Llewelyn's triumphs to weld together +the Welsh clans into a single people. A rising was planned in the +strictest secrecy; and on the eve of Palm Sunday, March 21, 1282, David +swooped down on Hawarden, a weak castle in private hands, and captured +it. Llewelyn promptly crossed the Conway and turned his arms against +the royal strongholds of Flint and Rhuddlan, which withstood him, +though he devastated the countryside in every direction. Meanwhile +David hurried south and found the local lords in Cardigan and the vale +of Towy already in arms. With their help he captured the castles of the +upper Towy, but lower down the river Rhys remained staunch to the king, +whereupon David hurried over the hills to Cardiganshire and took +Aberystwyth. North and south were in full revolt. + +Edward, taken unawares, prepared to reassert his authority. Certain +faithful barons were "affectionately requested" to serve the king for +pay, and a fairly large army was gathered together, though the +scattered character of the rebellion necessitated its acting in small +bands. Meanwhile the military tenants and the Cinque Ports were +summoned to join in an attack on Llewelyn on the lines of the campaign +of 1277. Edward's task was more difficult than on the previous +occasion. Though Rhuddlan, not Chester as in 1277, had become his +starting-point against Gwynedd, he dared not advance so long as David +threatened his left flank from Denbigh, and the rising in the south was +far more formidable than that of five years before. A considerable part +of the levies had to be despatched to the help of Earl Gilbert of +Gloucester, who was charged with the reconquest of the vale of Towy. On +June 17 as the earl's soldiers were returning, laden with plunder, to +their headquarters at Dynevor, they were suddenly attacked by the Welsh +at Llandilo, and were driven back on their base. Gloucester hastily +retreated to Carmarthen. He was superseded by William of Valence, whose +activity against the Welsh had been quickened by the loss of his son at +Llandilo. Llewelyn then came south, and pressed the English so hard +that for several weeks nothing of moment was accomplished. + +The advance against Gwynedd was delayed until the late summer. Edward +still tarried at Rhuddlan, with a host constantly varying in numbers, +for his soldiers had long overpassed the period of feudal service. +Every effort was made to bring fresh troops to the field, and Luke de +Tany, seneschal of Gascony, came upon the scene with a small levy of +the chivalry of Aquitaine. To Tany was assigned the task of conquering +Anglesey, but it was not until September that he was able to occupy the +island. In the same month a strenuous effort was made to dislodge the +hostile Welsh in the vale of Clwyd; the Earl of Lincoln at last took +Denbigh from David; Reginald Grey, justice of Chester, captured Ruthin, +higher up the valley, and Earl Warenne seized Bromfield and Yale. Each +noble fought for his own hand, and Edward was forced to reward their +services by immediately granting to them their conquests, and thus +created a new marcher interest which, later on, stood in the way of an +effective settlement. But things were getting desperate, and it was +well for Edward that the security of his left flank at last enabled him +to advance to the Conway. Thereupon Llewelyn returned to Snowdon, where +he was joined by the homeless David. Meanwhile Tany, then master of +Anglesey, opened up communications with the coast of Arvon by a bridge +of boats over the Menai Straits. Winter was already at hand when +Llewelyn and his brother were at last shut up amidst the fastnesses of +Snowdon. + +Late in October Archbishop Peckham appeared on the scene. He had +excommunicated Llewelyn at the beginning of the war, but was still +anxious to negotiate a peace. Edward did his best to put him off, but +Peckham's importunity extorted from him a short truce, during which the +primate visited Snowdon, taking with him an offer of an ample estate in +England if the prince would surrender his patrimony. Llewelyn furnished +Peckham with long catalogues of grievances. He was quite willing to +gain time by discussing his wrongs. + +Edward's army shared his irritation at Peckham's interference, and, +while the archbishop was still in Snowdon, a breach of the truce +destroyed any hopes of peace. On November 6 Tany led his troops over +the bridge of boats at low water and marched inland. But his operations +were ill-planned, and the Welsh came down from the hills and easily put +him to flight. Meanwhile the tide had risen and the flood cut off +access to the bridge over the Menai. In their panic the soldiers rushed +into the water rather than face the enemy. Many leading men were +drowned, including Tany himself, the author of the treachery. Flushed +with this success Llewelyn rejected Peckham's terms. In great disgust +the archbishop went back to England, bitterly denouncing the Welsh. But +defeat only strengthened the iron resolution of Edward. He issued fresh +summonses for men and money. Contrary to all precedent, he determined +to continue the campaign through the winter. + +Llewelyn was probably ignorant of the perilous plight into which the +king had fallen. With the approach of bad weather he became afraid that +he would be starved out in Snowdon. Any risk was better than being +caught like a rat in a trap, and, fearing lest a cordon should be drawn +round the mountains, he made his way southwards, leaving David in +command. His enemy, Roger Mortimer, was just dead, and Mortimer's +eldest son Edmund, a youth brought up for the clerical profession, was +not likely to hold the middle marches with the same strong grasp as his +father. Thither accordingly Llewelyn made his way, hoping that on his +approach the tribesmen of the upper Wye, over whom he had ruled so +long, would abandon their English lord for their Cymric chieftain. A +force gathered round him, and he occupied a strong position on a hill +overlooking the river Yrvon, which flows into the right bank of the +Wye, just above Builth. The right bank of the Yrvon was held by the +English of Builth. But the only way over the stream was by Orewyn +bridge, which was held by a detachment of the Welsh. Their position +seemed so secure that, on December 11, Llewelyn left his troops to +confer with some of the local chieftains. The English were, however, +shown a ford over the river; a band crossed in safety, and, taking the +defenders of Orewyn bridge in the rear, opened up the passage over it +to their comrades. The English ascended the hill, their mail-clad +squadrons interlaced with archers, in order that the Welsh infantry +might be assailed by missiles before they were exposed to the shock of +a cavalry charge. In the absence of their leader, the Welsh were a +helpless mass of sheep, and were easily put to flight. Meanwhile +Llewelyn, hearing the din of battle, hurried back to direct his +followers. On the way he was slain by Stephen of Frankton, a Shropshire +veteran of the Barons' War, who fought under the banner of Roger +l'Estrange. The discovery of important papers on the body first told +the conquerors the rank of their victim. + +Thus perished the able and strenuous chief, who had struggled so long +to win for himself in Wales a position similar to that occupied by the +King of Scots in the north. His death did not end, but it much +simplified, the struggle. The south and midland districts were entirely +subdued, and the interest of the war again shifted to the mountains of +Snowdon, where David strove to maintain himself as Prince of Wales. His +best chance lay in the exhaustion of his enemy, but Edward stuck grimly +to his task. His coffers were exhausted, and his army for the most part +went home. Yet Edward tarried at Rhuddlan for over six months, dividing +his energy between watching the Welsh and replenishing his treasure and +troops. His treasurer, John Kirkby, wandered from shire to shire +soliciting voluntary contributions. Then in January, 1283, an anomalous +parliament was summoned, consisting mainly of ecclesiastics, knights of +the shire, and burgesses, and meeting in two divisions, at York and at +Northampton, according as the members came from the northern or +southern ecclesiastical provinces. The grant of a thirtieth so little +satisfied the king that he laid violent hands on the crusading-tenth, +which was deposited in the Temple. Meanwhile the chivalry of Gascony +and Ponthieu were tempted by high wages to supply the void left by the +retirement of the English. + +Early in 1283 a gallant force from beyond sea, among which figured the +Counts of Armagnac and Bigorre, reached Rhuddlan. After their arrival +the king took the offensive, crossed the Conway and transferred his +headquarters to the Cistercian abbey of Aberconway. Fearful once more +of being enclosed in the mountains, David sought a new hiding-place +among the heights of Cader Idris. He shifted his quarters to the castle +of Bere, hidden away in a remote valley sloping down from the mountain +to the sea. The unwearied Edward once more issued summonses for a fresh +campaign. David was at the extremity of his resources. Before the new +arrivals enabled Edward to move, William of Valence marched up from the +south, and in April forced Bere to surrender. David fled before the +siege began; but he was a fugitive without an army, and the campaign +was reduced to a weary tracking out of the last little bands that still +scorned to surrender. In June David was betrayed by men of his own +tongue, and Edward summoned for Michaelmas at Shrewsbury a parliament +whose chief business was the trial of David. On October 3 the last +Cymric Prince of Wales suffered the ignominious doom of a traitor, a +murderer, and a blasphemer. The magnates then adjourned to the +chancellor's neighbouring seat of Acton Burnell, where the rejoicings +incident to the king's visit to his friend's new mansion were combined +with passing the statute of Merchants. + +Edward's love of thoroughness made him linger in Wales to settle the +government of the newly won lands. His first care was to hold Snowdon +with the ring of fortresses which, in their ruin, still bear abiding +witness to the solidity of the conqueror's work. Round each castle +arose a new town, created as artificially as were the _bastides_ of +Aquitaine, within whose walls English traders and settlers were tempted +by high privileges to take up their abodes, and whose strictly military +character was emphasised by the general provision that the constable of +the castle was to be _ex officio_ the mayor of the municipality. Chief +among these was Aberconway, whose strategic importance Edward +understood so fully that he forced the Cistercian monks to take up new +quarters at Maenan, higher up the valley, in order that there might be +room for the castle and town which were henceforth to guard the +entrance to Snowdon. Equally important was the future capital of +Gwynedd, Carnarvon, where on April 25, 1284, a son was born to Edward +and Eleanor, who seventeen years later was to become the first English +Prince of Wales. Elsewhere fortresses of Welsh origin were rebuilt and +enlarged to complete the stone circuit round the mountains. Such were +Criccieth, the key of Lleyn; Dolwyddelen, which dominated the upper +Conway; and Harlech and Bere, the two strongholds that curbed the +mountaineers of Merioneth. In the south the same policy was carried +out. Alike in Gwynedd and in the vale of Towy, both in his castle +building and in his town foundations, Edward was simply carrying on the +traditions of earlier ages, and applying to his new lands those +principles of government which, since the Norman Conquest, had become +the tradition of the marcher lords. Even in his architectural schemes +there was nothing novel in Edward's policy. Gilbert of Gloucester at +Caerphilly, and Payne of Chaworth at Kidwelly, had already worked out +the pattern of "concentric" defences that were to find their fullest +expression in the new castles of the principality. In each of these +strongholds an adequate garrison of highly trained and well-paid troops +kept the Welsh in check. + +The civil government of the Edwardian conquests was provided for by the +statute of Wales, issued on Mid-Lent Sunday, 1284, at Rhuddlan, +Edward's usual headquarters. It declared that the land of Wales, +heretofore subject to the crown in feudal right, was entirely +transferred to the king's dominion. To the whole of the annexed +districts the English system of shire government was extended, though +such local customs as appealed to Edward's sense of justice were +suffered to be continued. Gwynedd and its appurtenances were divided +into the three shires of Anglesey, Carnarvon, and Merioneth, and were +collectively put under the justice of Snowdon, whose seat was to be at +Carnarvon, where courts of chancery and exchequer for north Wales were +set up. The shires of Cardigan and Carmarthen were re-organised so as +to include the southern districts which had been subject to Llewelyn, +or to the Welsh lords who had fallen with him. These were put under the +justice of west Wales, whose chancery and exchequer were established at +Carmarthen. It is significant that Edward prepared the way for making +these districts into shires by persuading his brother Edmund, to whom +they had been granted, to abandon his claims over them in return for +ample compensation elsewhere. Without this step the new shires would +only have been palatinates of the Glamorgan or Pembroke type, and the +creation of such franchises was directly contrary to Edward's policy. +It was different in the vale of Clwyd, where it would have been natural +for Edward to have extended the shire system to the four cantreds. +Military exigences had, however, already erected most of these lands +into new marcher lordships, and Edward was perforce content with the +union of some fragments of Rhos to the shire of Carnarvon, and with +joining together Englefield and some adjoining districts in the new +county of Flint. This arrangement secured the strongholds of Flint and +Rhuddlan for the king. But the district was too small to make it worth +while to set up a separate organisation for it, and Flintshire was put +under the justice and courts of Chester, so that it became a dependency +of the neighbouring palatinate.[1] + + [1] For the shires of Walessee my paper on _The Welsh Shires_ + in _Y Cymmrodor_, ix. (1888), 201-26. + +The lordships of the march were not directly influenced by this +legislation. They continued to hold their position as franchises until +the reign of Henry VIII., and under Edward III. were declared by +statute to be no part of the principality but directly subject to the +English crown. Yet the removal of the pressure of a native principality +profoundly affected these districts. The policy of definition made its +mark even here. The liberties of each marcher were defined and +circumscribed, and, while scrupulously respected, were incapable of +further extension. The vague jurisdictions of the sheriffs of the +border shires were cleared up, and if this process involved some +limitation of the royal authority in districts like Clun and Oswestry, +which virtually ceased to be parts of Shropshire, there was a +compensating advantage in the increased clearness with which the border +line was drawn and the royal authority consolidated. Gradually the +marcher lordships passed by lapse into the royal hands, and even from +the beginning there were regions, such as Montgomery and Builth, which +knew no lord but the king. All this was, however, an indirect result of +the Edwardian conquest. Strictly speaking it was no conquest of all +Wales but merely of the principality, the ancient dominions of +Llewelyn, to which most of the crown lands in Wales were joined. + +Ecclesiastical settlement followed the political reorganisation. +Peckham was as zealous as Edward in compelling the conquered to follow +the law-abiding traditions of the king's ancient inheritance. He +laboured strenuously for the rebuilding of churches, the preservation +and extension of ecclesiastical property, the education of the clergy, +and the extirpation of clerical matrimony and simony. Despite his +unsympathetic attitude, he did good work for the Welsh Church by his +manful resistance to all attempts of Edward and his subordinates to +encroach upon her liberties. He quaintly thought it would promote the +civilisation of Wales if the people were forced to "learn civility" by +living in towns and sending their children to school in England. His +assiduous visitation of the Welsh dioceses in 1284 did something to +kindle zeal, and win the Welsh clergy from the idleness wherein, he +believed, lay the root of all their shortcomings. + +In the autumn of 1284 Edward went on an extended progress in Wales. He +passed through the four cantreds into Gwynedd, and thence worked his +way southwards through Cardigan and Carmarthen, ending his tour by +visits to the marcher lords of the south. He crossed over from +Glamorgan, where he had been entertained by Gilbert of Clare, to +Bristol, where he held his Christmas court. Wales was to see no more of +its new ruler for seven years. During that time the principality gave +Edward little trouble, though the marchers, as will be seen, were a +constant anxiety to him. In 1287, while Edward was in Gascony, the +regent, Edmund of Cornwall, was called upon to deal with a revolt of +Rhys, son of Meredith, the loyalist lord of the vale of Towy, who +resented the authority of the justice of Carmarthen over his patrimony. +His grievances were those of a marcher rather than those of a Welshman. +Yet his rising in 1287 was formidable enough to require the raising of +a great army for its suppression. The Welsh chieftain could not long +hold out against the odds brought against him, and the confiscation of +his lands swelled the district directly depending on the sheriff of +Carmarthen. The support of the countryside enabled Rhys to evade his +pursuers for nearly three years. At last he was captured, and with the +execution of the last of the lords of Dynevor, the triumph of Edward +became complete. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE SICILIAN AND THE SCOTTISH ARBITRATIONS. + + +Edward I. had now attained the height of his fame. He had conquered +Llewelyn; he had reformed the administration; he had put himself as a +lawmaker in the same rank as St. Louis or Frederick II.; and he had +restored England to a leading position in the councils of Europe. +Moreover, he had won a character for justice and fairness which did him +even greater service, since the several deaths of prominent sovereigns +during 1285 left him almost alone of his generation among princes of a +lesser stature. Of the chief rulers of Europe in the early years of +Edward's reign, Rudolf of Hapsburg alone survived; and the King of the +Romans had little weight outside Germany many. Edward had outlived his +brother-in-law Alfonso of Castile, his cousin Philip the Bold, his +uncle Charles of Anjou, and Peter of Aragon. But the conflicts, in +which these kings had been engaged, were continued by their successors. +Above all, the contest for Sicily still raged. The successors of Martin +IV., though deprived of the active support of France, would not abandon +the claims of the captive Charles of Salerno; and James of Aragon, +Peter's second son, maintained himself in Sicily, despite papal +censures and despite the virtual desertion of his cause by his elder +brother, Alfonso III., the new king of Aragon. Each side was at a +standstill, though each side struggled on. The personal hatreds, which +made it impossible to reconcile the older generation, were dying out, +and the chief obstacle in the way of a settlement was the stubbornness +of the papacy. If any one could reconcile the quarrel, it was the King +of England; and to him Charles' sons and the nobles of his dominions +appealed to procure his release. + +Edward was anxious to proffer his services as a peacemaker, dream of a +Europe, united for the liberation of the holy places, had not been +expelled from his mind by his schemes for the advancement of his +kingdom. If he could inspire his neighbour kings with something of his +spirit, the crusade might still be possible. Other matters also called +Edward's attention to the continent. He had to do homage to the new +French king; he had to press for the execution of the treaty of Amiens, +and his presence was again necessary in Gascony. His realm was in such +profound peace that he could safely leave it. Accordingly in May, 1286, +he took ship for France. With him went his wife Eleanor of Castile, his +chancellor Bishop Burnell, and a large number of his nobles. He +entrusted the regency to his cousin, Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, the son +and successor of Earl Richard; and England saw him no more until +August, 1289. Edward first made his way to Amiens, where he met the new +King of France, Philip the Fair. The two kings went together to Paris, +where Edward spent two months. There he performed homage for Gascony, +and made a new agreement as to the execution of the treaty of Amiens, +by which he renounced his claims over Quercy for a money payment, and +was put in possession of Saintonge, south of the Charente. The +settlement was the easier as for the moment neither king had his +supreme interest in Gascony. Edward's real business was to make peace +between Anjou and Aragon, and Philip IV. showed every desire to help +him. Before Edward left Paris, he had negotiated a truce between the +Kings of France and Aragon. Soon afterwards he went to Bordeaux. He +made Gascony his headquarters for three years, and strove with all his +might to convert the truce into a peace. + +Grave obstacles arose, chief among which was the determination of the +papacy to make no terms with the King of Aragon so long as his brother +still reigned over Sicily. Honorius IV., in approving Edward's +preliminary action, and exhorting him to obtain the liberation of the +Prince of Salerno, carefully guarded himself against recognising the +schismatic Aragonese. Edward himself was no partisan of either side. He +was heartily anxious for peace and desirous to free his kinsman from +the rigours of his long imprisonment. His wish for a close alliance +between England and Aragon was unacceptable to the partisanship both of +Honorius IV. and his successor Nicholas IV. Papal coldness, however, +did not turn Edward from his course. In the summer of 1287 he met +Alfonso at Oloron in Bearn, where a treaty was drawn up by which the +Aragonese king agreed to release Charles of Salerno on condition that +he would either, within three years, procure from the pope the +recognition of James in Sicily, or return to captivity and forfeit +Provence. Besides this, an alliance between England and Aragon was to +be cemented by the marriage of one of Edward's daughters to Alfonso. +Delighted with the success of his undertaking, Edward, on his return to +Bordeaux, again took the cross and prepared to embark on the crusade. + +Nicholas IV. interposed between Edward and his vows by denouncing the +treaty of Oloron.[1] Though well-meaning, he was not strong enough to +shake himself free from partisan traditions, and though honestly anxious +to bring about a crusade, he could not see that he made the holy war +impossible by interposing obstacles in the way of the one prince who +seriously intended to take the cross. While denouncing Edward's treaty, +Nicholas encouraged his crusading zeal by granting him a new +ecclesiastical tenth for six years, a tax made memorable by the fact +that it occasioned the stringent valuation of benefices, called the +taxation of Pope Nicholas, which was the standard clerical rate-book +until the reign of Henry VIII. Despite the pope, Edward still persevered +in his mediation, and in October, 1288, a new treaty for Charles' +liberation was signed at Canfranc, in Aragon, which only varied in +details from the agreement of 1287. Charles was released, but he +straightway made his way to Rome, where Nicholas absolved him from his +oath and crowned him King of Sicily. Edward was bitterly disappointed. +He tarried in the south until July, 1289, usefully employed in promoting +the prosperity of his duchy, crushing conspiracies, furthering the +commerce of Bordeaux, and founding new _bastides_. At last tidings of +disorder at home called him back to his kingdom before the purpose of +his continental sojourn had been accomplished. But he still pressed on +his thankless task, and in 1291 peace was made at Tarascon, between +Aragon and the Roman see, on the hard condition of Alfonso abandoning +his brother's cause. On Alfonso's death soon afterwards the war was +renewed, for James then united the Sicilian and Aragonese thrones and +would not yield up either. It was not until 1295 that Boniface VIII., a +stronger pope than Nicholas, ended the struggle on terms which left the +stubborn Aragonese masters of Sicily. + + [1] For his policy, see O. Schiff, _Studien zur Geschichte P. + Nikolaus IV._ (1897). + +Things had not gone well in England during Edward's absence. Edmund of +Cornwall had shown vigour in putting down the revolt of Rhys, but he +was not strong enough to control either the greater barons or the +officers of the crown. Grave troubles were already brewing in Scotland. +A fierce quarrel between the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford broke out +with regard to the boundaries of Glamorgan and Brecon, and the private +war between the two marchers proved more formidable to the peace of the +realm than the revolt of the Welsh prince. Even more disastrous to the +country was the scandalous conduct of the judges and royal officials, +who profited by the king's absence to pile up fortunes at the expense +of his subjects. The highest judges of the land forged charters, +condoned homicides, sold judgments, and practised extortion and +violence. A great cry arose for the king's return. In the Candlemas +parliament of 1289 Earl Gilbert of Gloucester met a request for a +general aid by urging that nothing should be granted until Englishmen +once more saw the king's face. Alarmed at this threat, Edward returned, +and landed at Dover on August 12, 1289. + +The whole situation was changed by the king's arrival. Edward met the +innumerable complaints against his subordinates by dismissing nearly all +the judges from office, and appointing a special commission to +investigate the charges brought against royal officials of every rank. +Thomas Weyland, chief justice of the common pleas, anticipated inquiry +by taking sanctuary with the Franciscan friars of Bury St. Edmunds. A +knight and a married man, he had taken subdeacon's orders in early life +and sought to little purpose to be protected by his clergy. His refuge +was watched by the local sheriffs; finally, he was starved into +surrender, and suffered to abjure the realm.[1] He fled to France, +whence he never returned. For some years the commission investigated the +offences of the ministers of the crown. Though much that was irregular +was proved against them, many charges broke down under inquiry, and, as +time went on, the official class saw that their interest lay in +condoning rather than in punishing scandals. Some of the worst +offenders, such as the greedy and corrupt Adam of Stratton, were never +restored to office;[2] but Hengham, the chief justice of the King's +Bench, was soon reinstated. There were not enough good lawyers in +England to make it prudent for Edward to dispense with the services of +such a man. A rigorous maintenance of a high standard of official +morality meant getting rid of nearly all the king's ministers, and any +successors would have been inferior in experience and not superior in +honesty. Edward had to work with such material as he had, and on the +whole he made the best of it. Scandalous as were the proceedings of his +agents, their iniquities are but trifles as compared with the offences +of the counsellors of Philip the Fair. + + [1] For the _abjuratio regni_ see A. Reville in the _Revue + Historique_, 1. (1892), 1-42. + + [2] For Adam of Stratton see Hall, _Red Book of the Exchequer_, + iii., cccxv.-cccxxxi. Extracts from the Assize rolls recording + the proceedings of the special commission will soon be + published by the Royal Historical Society. + +Fear of Edward drove nobles into obedience as well as ministers into +honesty. Gloucester desisted unwillingly from his attacks on Brecon, +and was constrained to divorce his wife and marry the king's daughter, +Joan of Acre. In becoming the king's son-in-law, he was forced to +surrender his estates to the crown, receiving them back entailed on the +heirs of the marriage or, in their default, on the heirs of Joan. Thus +the system of entails made possible by the statute _De donis_ was used +by Edward to strengthen his hold over the most powerful of his +feudatories and increase the prospect of his estates escheating to the +crown. Considered in this light, Gilbert's marriage with the king's +daughter seems less a reward of loyalty than a punishment for +lawlessness. In the same year as this marriage, Edward passed another +law directed against the baronage. This was the statute of Westminster +the Third, called from its opening words, _Quia emptores_. It enacted +that, when part of an estate was alienated by its lord, the grantee +should not be permitted to become the subtenant of the grantor, but +should stand to the ultimate lord of the fief in the same feudal +relation as the grantor himself. This prohibition of further +subinfeudation stopped the creation of new manors and prevented the +rivetting of new links in the feudal chain, which were the necessary +condition of its strength. Though passed at the request of the barons, +it was a measure much more helpful to the king than to his vassals. It +stood to the barons as the statute of Mortmain stood to the Church. + +Edward was bent on showing that he was master, and his new son-in-law +and the Earl of Hereford became the victims of his policy. He forced the +reluctant Gloucester to admit that the pretensions of the lord of +Glamorgan to be the overlord of the bishop of LLandaff and the guardian +of the temporalities of the see during a vacancy were usurpations. +Seeing that his marcher prerogatives were thus rapidly becoming +undermined, Gloucester put the most cherished marcher right to the test +by renewing the private war with the Earl of Hereford which had +disturbed the realm during Edward's absence. The king issued peremptory +orders for the immediate cessation of hostilities. These mandates +Hereford obeyed, but Gloucester did not. Resolved that law not force was +henceforth to settle disputes in the march, Edward summoned a novel +court at Ystradvellte, in Brecon, wherein a jury from the neighbouring +shires and liberties was to decide the case between the two earls in the +presence of the chief marchers. Gloucester refused to appear, and the +marchers declined to take part in the trial, pleading that it was +against their liberties. The case was adjourned to give the +recalcitrants every chance, and after a preliminary report by the +judges, Edward resolved to hear the suit in person. In October, 1291, he +presided at Abergavenny over the court before which the earls were +arraigned. They were condemned to imprisonment and forfeiture. Content +with humbling their pride and annihilating their privileges, Edward +suffered them to redeem themselves from captivity by the payment of +heavy fines, and before long gave them back their lands. The king's +victory was so complete that neither of the earls could forgive it. In +1295, Gloucester died, without opportunity of revenge; but Hereford +lived on, brooding over his wrongs, and in later years signally avenged +the trial at Abergavenny. Meanwhile the conqueror of the principality +had shown unmistakably that the liberties of the march were an +anachronism, since the marchers had no longer the work of defending +English interests against the Welsh nation.[1] + + [1] Mr. J.E. Morris in chap. vi. of his _Welsh Wars of Edward + I._ has admirably summarised this suit. See also G.T. Clark's + _Land of Morgan_. + +Another measure that followed Edward's home-coming was the expulsion of +the Jews. Despite constant odium and intermittent persecution, the +Jewish financiers who had settled in England after the Norman conquest +steadily improved their position down to the reign of Henry III. The +personal dependants of the crown, they were well able to afford to share +their gains from usury with their protectors. They lived in luxury, +built stone houses, set up an organisation of their own, and even +purchased lands. Henry III.'s financial embarrassments forced him to +rely upon them, and the alliance of the Jews and the crown stimulated +the religious bigotry of the popular party to ill-treat the Jews during +the Barons' War. Stories of Jews murdering Christian children were +eagerly believed; and the cult of St. Hugh of Lincoln and St. William of +Norwich,[1] two pretended victims of Hebrew cruelty, testified to the +hatred which Englishmen bore to the race. + + [1] See for this saint, Thomas of Monmouth, _Life and Miracles + of St. William of Norwich_, ed. Jessopp and James (1896). + +Under Edward I. the condition of the Jews became more precarious. The +king hated them alike on religious and economical grounds. He rigorously +insisted that they should wear a distinctive dress, and at last +altogether prohibited usury. Driven from their chief means of earning +their living, the Jews had recourse to clipping and sweating the coin. +Indiscriminate severities did little to abate these evils. Meanwhile +active missionary efforts were made to win over the Jews to the +Christian faith. They were compelled to listen to long sermons from +mendicant friars, and their obstinacy in adhering to their own creed was +denounced as a deliberate offence against the light. Peckham shut up +their synagogues, and Eleanor of Provence, who had entered a convent, +joined with the archbishop in urging her son to take severe measures +against them. There was a similar movement in France, and Edward, during +his long stay abroad, had expelled the Jews from Aquitaine. In 1290 he +applied the same policy to England, and their exile was so popular an +act that parliament made him a special grant as a thankoffering. But +though Edward thus drove the Jews to seek new homes beyond sea, he +allowed them to carry their property with them, and punished the +mariners who took advantage of the helplessness of their passengers to +rob and murder them. Though individual Jews were found from time to time +in England during the later middle ages, their official re-establishment +was only allowed in the seventeenth century.[1] + + [1] For the Jews see J. Jacobs, _Jews in Angevin England_; + Tovey, _Anglia Judaica_; J.M. Rigg, _Select Pleas of the Jewish + Exchequer_; and for their exile B.L. Abrahams, _Expulsion of + the Jews from England in 1290_. + +Two generations at least before their expulsion, the Jews had been +outrivalled in their financial operations by societies of Italian +bankers, whose admirable organisation and developed system of credit +enabled them to undertake banking operations of a magnitude quite beyond +the means of the Hebrews. First brought into England as papal agents for +remitting to Rome the spoils of the Church, they found means of evading +the canonical prohibitions of usury, and became the loanmongers of +prince and subject alike. To the crown the Italians were more useful +than the Jews had been. The value of the Jews to the monarch had been in +the special facilities enjoyed by him in taxing them. The utility of the +Italian societies was in their power of advancing sums of money that +enabled the king to embark on enterprises hitherto beyond the limited +resources of the medieval state. The Italians financed all Edward's +enterprises from the crusade of 1270 to his Welsh and Scottish +campaigns. From them Edward and his son borrowed at various times sums +amounting to almost half a million of the money of the time. In return +the Italians, chief among whom was the Florentine Society of the +Frescobaldi, obtained privileges which made them as deeply hated as ever +the Hebrews had been.[1] + + [1] See on this subject E.A. Bond's article in _Archaeologia_, + vol. xxviii., pp. 207-326; W.E. Rhodes, _Italian Bankers in + England under Edward I. and II._ in _Owens Coll. Historical + Essays_, pp. 137-68; and R.J. Whitwell, _Italian Bankers and + the English Crown_ in _Transactions of Royal Hist. Soc._, N.S., + xvii. (1903), pp. 175-234. + +Among the troubles which had called Edward back from Gascony was the +condition of Scotland, where a long period of prosperity had ended with +the death of Edward's brother-in-law, Alexander III., in 1286. Alexander +III. attended his brother-in-law's coronation in 1274, and the +irritation excited by his limiting his homage to his English lordships +of Tynedale and Penrith did not cause any great amount of friction. But +the homage question was only postponed, and at Michaelmas, 1278, +Alexander was constrained to perform unconditionally this unwelcome act. +"I, Alexander King of Scotland," were his words, "become the liege man +of the lord Edward, King of England, against all men." But by carefully +refraining from specifying for what he became Edward's vassal, Alexander +still suggested that it was for his English lordships. Edward with equal +caution declared that he received the homage, "saving his right and +claim to the homage of Scotland when he may wish to speak concerning +it". Both parties were content with mutual protestations. Edward was so +friendly to Alexander that he allowed him to appoint Robert Bruce, Earl +of Carrick, his proxy in professing fealty, so as to minimise the king's +feeling of humiliation. The King of Scots went home loaded with +presents, and for the rest of his life his relations with Edward +remained cordial. + +The closing years of Alexander's reign were overshadowed by domestic +misfortunes and the prospects of difficulties about the succession. His +wife, Margaret of England, had died in 1275, and was followed to the +tomb by their two sons, Alexander and David. A delicate girl, Margaret, +then alone represented the direct line of the descendants of William the +Lion. Margaret was married, when still young, to Eric, King of Norway, +and died in 1283 in giving birth to her only child, a daughter named +Margaret. No children were born of Alexander's second marriage; and in +March, 1286, the king broke his neck, when riding by night along the +cliffs of the coast of Fife. Before his death, however, he persuaded the +magnates of Scotland to recognise his granddaughter as his successor. +The Maid of Norway, as Margaret was called, was proclaimed queen, and +the administration was put into the hands of six guardians, who from +1286 to 1289 carried on the government with fair success. As time went +on, the baronage got out of hand and a feud between the rival +south-western houses of Balliol and Bruce foreshadowed worse troubles. + +William Eraser, Bishop of St. Andrews, the chief of the regents, visited +Edward in Gascony and urged the necessity of action. The best solution +of all problems was that the young Queen of Scots should be married to +Edward of Carnarvon, a boy a few months her junior. But both the Scots +nobles and the King of Norway were jealous and suspicious, and any +attempt to hurry forward such a proposal would have been fatal to its +accomplishment. However, negotiations were entered into between England, +Scotland, and Norway. In 1289 the guardians of Scotland agreed to +nominate representatives to treat on the matter. Edward took up his +quarters at Clarendon, while his agents, conspicuous among whom was +Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, negotiated with the envoys of Norway and +Scotland. On November 6 the three powers concluded the treaty of +Salisbury, by which they agreed that Margaret should be sent to England +or Scotland before All Saints' Day, 1290, "free and quit of all contract +of marriage or espousals". Edward promised that if Margaret came into +his custody he would, as soon as Scotland was tranquil, hand her over to +the Scots as "free and quit" as when she came to him; and the "good folk +of Scotland" engaged that, if they received their queen thus free, they +would not marry her "save with the ordinance, will, and counsel of +Edward and with the agreement of the King of Norway". In March, 1290, a +parliament of Scots magnates met at Brigham, near Kelso, and ratified +the treaty. Fresh negotiations were begun for the marriage of Edward of +Carnarvon and the Queen of Scots, resulting in the treaty of Brigham of +July 18, which Edward confirmed a month later at Northampton. By this +Edward agreed that, in the event of the marriage taking place, the laws +and customs of Scotland should be perpetually maintained. Should +Margaret die without issue, Scotland was to go to its natural heir, and +in any case was to remain "separate and divided from the realm of +England". + +The treaty of Brigham was as wise a scheme as could have been devised +for bringing about the unity of Britain. In the care taken to meet the +natural scruples of the smaller nation we are reminded of the treaty of +Union of 1707. But a nearer parallel is to be found in the conditions +under which the union between France and Brittany was gradually +accomplished after the marriage of Anne of Brittany. In both cases +alike, in France and in England, the stronger party was content with +securing the personal union of the two crowns, and strove to reconcile +the weaker party by providing safeguards against violent or over-rapid +amalgamation. It was left for the future to decide whether the habit of +co-operation, continued for generations, might not ultimately involve a +more organic union. Unluckily for this island, the policy which +ultimately made the stubborn Celts of Brittany content with union with +France, never had a chance of being carried out here. Edward made every +preparation for bringing over the Maid of Norway to her kingdom and her +husband, and neither the Scots nor the Norwegians grudged his leading +share in accomplishing their common wishes. But the child's health gave +way before the hardships of the journey. Before All Saints' day had come +round, she died in one of the Orkneys, where the ship which conveyed her +had put in. + +The death of the queen threatened Scotland with revolution. The regents' +commission became of doubtful legality, and a swarm of claimants for the +vacant throne arose, whose resources, if not their rights, were +sufficiently evenly balanced to make civil strife inevitable. Since +southern Scotland had become a wholly feudal, largely Norman, and partly +English state, there had been no grave difficulties with regard to the +succession. Now that they arose, there was doubt as to the principles on +which claims to the throne should be settled. There was no legitimate +representative left of the stock of William the Lion. The male line of +his brother David, Earl of Huntingdon, had died out with John the Scot, +the last independent Earl of Chester. The nearest claimants to the +succession were therefore to be found in the descendants of David's +three daughters. But there was no certainty that any rights could be +transmitted through the female line. Moreover there was a doubt whether, +allowing that a woman could transmit the right to rule, the succession +should proceed according to primogeniture or in accordance with the +nearness of the claimant to the source of his claim. If the former view +were held then John of Balliol, lord of Barnard castle in Durham and of +Galloway in Scotland, had the best right as the grandson of Earl David's +eldest daughter. Yet less than a century before, the passing over of +Arthur of Brittany in favour of his uncle John, had recalled to men's +mind the ancient doctrine that a younger son is nearer to the parent +stock than a grandson sprung from his elder brother; and if the view, +then expressed in the _History of William the Marshal_,[1] was still to +hold good, Robert Bruce, lord of Skelton in Yorkshire, and of Annandale +in the northern kingdom, was the nearest in blood to David of Huntingdon +as the son of his second daughter. Beyond this there was the further +question of the divisibility of the kingdom. So fully was southern +Scotland feudalised that it seemed arguable that the monarchy, or at +least its demesne lands, might be divided among all the representatives +of the coheiresses, after the fashion in which the Huntingdon estates +had been allotted to all the representatives of Earl David. In that case +John of Hastings, lord of Abergavenny, put in a claim as the grandson of +Earl David's youngest daughter. + + [1] _Hist. de Guillaume le Marechal_, ii., _64_, II. 11899-902. + + Oil, sire, quer c'est raison + Quer plus pres est sanz achaison + Le filz de la terre son pere + Que le nies: dreiz est qu'il i pere. + +When so much was uncertain, every noble who boasted any connexion with +the royal house safeguarded his interests, or advertised his pedigree, +by enrolling himself among the claimants. Five or six of the competitors +had no better ground of right than descent from bastards of the royal +house, especially from the numerous illegitimate offspring of William +the Lion. The others went back to more remote ancestors. A foreign +prince, Florence, Count of Holland, demanded the succession as a +descendant of a sister of Earl David, declaring that David had forfeited +his rights by rebellion. John Comyn, lord of Badenoch, brought forward +his descent from Donaldbane, brother of Malcolm Canmore. One claim reads +like a fairy tale, with stories of an unknown king dying, leaving a son +to be murdered by a wicked uncle, and a daughter to escape to obscurity +in Ireland, where she married and transmitted her rights to her +children. There was no authority in Scotland strong enough to decide +these claims. Once more Robert Bruce raised the standard of disorder, +and the appeal of Bishop Fraser to Edward to undertake the settlement of +the question showed that the English king's mediation was the readiest +way of restoring order. + +In 1291 Edward summoned the magnates of both realms, along with certain +popular representatives, to meet at Norham, Bishop Bek's border castle +on the Tweed. Trained civilians and canonists also attended, while +abbeys and churches contributed extracts from chronicles, carefully +compiled by royal order, with a view of illustrating the king's claims. +On May 10 Edward met the assembly in Norham parish church. Roger +Brabazon, the chief justice, declared in the French tongue that Edward +was prepared to do justice to the claimants as "superior and direct lord +of Scotland". Before, however, he could act, his master required that +his overlordship should be recognised by the Scots. It is likely that +this demand was not unexpected. Even in the treaty of Brigham Edward had +been careful not to withdraw his claim of superiority, and his action +with relation to Alexander III.'s homage was well known. But the +sensitiveness which their late king had shown in the face of Edward's +earlier claims was shared by the Scots lords, and shrinking from +recognising facts which they ought to have faced before they solicited +his intervention, they begged for delay and drew up remonstrances. +Edward granted them, a respite for three weeks, though he swore by St. +Edward that he would rather die than diminish the rights due to the +Confessor's crown. He had already summoned the northern levies, and was +prepared to enforce his claim by force. His uncompromising attitude put +the Scots in an awkward position. But they had gone to Norham to get his +help, and they were not prepared to run the risk of an English invasion +as well as civil war. Most of the claimants had as many interests in +England as in Scotland, and a breach with Edward would involve the +forfeiture of their southern lands as well as the loss of a possible +kingdom in the north. When the magnates reassembled, the competitors set +the example of acknowledging Edward as overlord. Fresh demands followed +their submission, and were at once conceded. Edward was to have seisin +of Scotland and its royal castles, though he pledged himself to return +both land and fortresses to him who should be chosen king. + +Edward then undertook the examination of the suit. He delegated the +hearing of the claims to a commission, of whom the great majority, +eighty, were Scotsmen, nominated in equal numbers by Bruce and Balliol, +the two senior competitors, while the remaining twenty-four consisted of +Englishmen, and included many of Edward's wisest counsellors. In +deference to Scottish feeling, Edward ordered the court to meet on +Scottish territory, at Berwick, and appointed August 2 for the opening +day. Meanwhile the full consequences of the Scottish submission were +carried out. On Edward's taking seisin of Scotland, the regency came to +an end. The nomination of the provisional government resting with +Edward, he reappointed the former regents, and allowed the Scots barons +to elect their chancellor. But with the regents Edward associated a +northern baron, Brian Fitzalan of Bedale, and the Scottish bishop, who +was appointed chancellor, had to act jointly with one of Edward's +clerks. Edward then made a short progress, reaching as far as Stirling +and St. Andrews. He was back at Berwick for the meeting of the +commissioners on August 2. + +The first session of the court was a brief one. The twelve competitors +put in their claims, and Bruce and Balliol supported theirs by argument. +However, on August 12, the trial was adjourned for nearly a year, until +June 2, 1292. On its resumption in Edward's presence, the more difficult +issues were carefully worked out. A new and fantastic claim, sent in by +Eric of Norway, as the nearest of kin to his daughter, did not delay +matters. The judges were instructed to settle in the first instance the +relative claims of Bruce and Balliol, and also to decide by what law +these should be determined. On October 14, they declared their first +judgment. They rejected Bruce's plea that the decision should follow the +"natural law by which kings rule," and accepted Balliol's contention +that they should follow the laws of England and Scotland. They further +laid down that the law of succession to the throne was that of other +earldoms and dignities. They pronounced in favour of primogeniture as +against proximity of blood. + +These decisions practically settled the case, but a further adjournment +was resolved upon, and upon the reassembling of the court on November 6 +the only question still open, that of whether the kingdom could be +divided, was taken up. John of Hastings came on the scene with the +contention that the monarchy should be divided among the representatives +of Earl David's daughters. Bruce had the effrontery to associate himself +with Hastings' demand. A short adjournment was arranged to settle this +issue, and on November 17 the final scene took place in the hall of +Berwick castle. Besides the commissioners, the king was there in full +parliament, and eleven claimants, who still persevered, were present or +represented by proxy. Nine of these were severally told that they would +obtain nothing by their petitions. Bruce was informed that his claim to +the whole was incompatible with his present claim for a third. It was +laid down that the kingdom of Scotland was indivisible, and that the +right of Balliol had been established. + +The seal of the regency was broken: Edward handed over the seisin of +Scotland to John Balliol, who three days later took the oath of fealty +as King of Scots, promising that he would perform all the service due to +Edward from his kingdom, Balliol hurried to his kingdom, and was crowned +at Scone on St. Andrew's day. He then returned to England, and kept +Christmas with his overlord at Newcastle, where, on December 26, he did +homage to Edward in the castle hall. But within a few days a difficulty +arose. John resented Edward's retaining the jurisdiction over a law-suit +in which a Berwick merchant, a Scotsman, was a party. He was reassured +by Edward that he only did so, because the case had arisen during the +vacancy, when Edward was admittedly ruling Scotland. But Edward +significantly added a reservation of his right of hearing appeals, even +in England; and when the King of Scots went back to his realm, early in +January, he must have already foreseen that there was trouble to come. + +Edward never lost sight of his own interests, and it is clear that he +took full advantage of the needs of the Scots to establish a close +supremacy over the northern kingdom. Making allowance for this sinister +element, his general policy in dealing with the great suit had been +singularly prudent and correct. He was anxious to ascertain the right +heir; he gave the Scots a preponderating voice in the tribunal; he +rejected the temptation which Bruce and Hastings dangled before him of +splitting up the realm into three parts, and he restored the land and +its castles as soon as the suit was settled. There is nothing to show +that up to this point his action had produced any resentment in +Scotland, and little evidence that there was any strong national feeling +involved. Scottish chroniclers, who wrote after the war of independence, +have given a colour to Edward's policy which contemporary evidence does +not justify. From the point of his generation, his action was just and +legal. He had, in fact, performed a signal service to Scotland in +vindicating its unity; and by maintaining the rigid doctrines of +Anglo-Norman jurisprudence, he rescued it from the vague philosophy +which Bruce called natural law, and the recrudescence of Celtic custom +that gave even bastards a hope of the succession. The real temptation +came when, after his triumph, Edward sought to extract from the +submission of the Scots consequences which had no warranty in custom, +and made Scottish resistance inevitable. + +The expulsion of the Jews, the reform of the administration, the statute +_Quia emptores_, the treaty of Tarascon, the humiliation of Gloucester, +and the successful issue of the Scottish arbitration, mark the +culminating point in the reign of Edward I. The king had ruled twenty +years with almost uniform success, and his only serious disappointment +had been the failure of the crusade. The last hope of the Latin East +faded when, in 1291, Acre, so long the bulwark of the crusaders against +the Turks, opened its gates to the infidel. With the fall of Acre went +the last chance of the holy war. Before long the peace of Europe, which +Edward thought that he had established, was once more rudely disturbed. +Difficulties soon arose with Scotland, with France, with the Church, and +with the barons. These troubles bore the more severely on the king +because this period saw also the removal of nearly all of those in whom +he had placed special trust. The gracious Eleanor of Castile died in +1290, at Harby, in Nottinghamshire, near Lincoln,[1] and the devotion of +the king to the partner of his youth found a striking expression in the +sculptured crosses, which marked the successive resting-places of her +corpse on its last journey from Harby to Westminster Abbey. A few months +later Edward's mother, Eleanor of Castile, ended her long life in the +convent of Amesbury, in Wiltshire. The ministers of Edward's early reign +were also removed by death. Bishop Kirkby, the treasurer, died in 1290, +and Burnell, the chancellor, in 1292, soon after he had performed his +last public act in the declaration of the king's judgment as to the +Scottish succession. Archbishop Peckham died in the same year. New +domestic ties were formed, and fresh ministers were found, but the +ageing king became more and more lonely, as he was compelled to rely +upon a younger and a less faithful generation. Of his old comrades the +chief remaining was Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, while the removal of +Burnell brought forward to the first rank prelates whose position had +hitherto been somewhat obscured by his predominance. Prominent among +these were the brothers Thomas Bek, Bishop of St. David's, and Anthony +Bek, Bishop of Durham, members of a conspicuous Lincolnshire baronial +family. Both of these for a time strikingly combined devotion to the +royal service with loyalty to those clerical and aristocratic traditions +which, strictly interpreted, were almost incompatible with faithful +service to a secular monarch. Even more important henceforth was the +king's treasurer, Walter Langton, Bishop of Lichfield, the most trusted +minister of Edward's later life, a faithful but not too scrupulous +prelate of the ministerial type, who stood to the second half of the +reign in almost the same close relation as that in which Burnell stood +to the years which we have now traversed. + + [1] See for this W.H. Stevenson, _Death of Eleanor of Castile_, + in _English Hist. Review_, iii. (1888), pp. 315-318. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE FRENCH AND SCOTTISH WARS AND THE CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS. + + +Troubles arose between France and England soon after Edward had settled +the Scottish succession. Neither Edward nor Philip the Fair sought a +conflict. Edward was satisfied with his diplomatic successes, and +Philip's designs upon Gascony were better pursued by chicane than by +warfare. But questions arose of a different kind from the disputes as to +feudal right, which had been hitherto the principal matters in debate +between the two crowns. + +There had long been keen commercial rivalry between the Cinque Ports and +the traders of Normandy. The sailors of Bayonne and other Gascon +harbours had associated themselves with the English against the Normans, +and both sides loudly complained to their respective rulers of the +piracies and homicides committed by their enemies. Edward and Philip did +what they could to smooth over matters, but were alike unable to prevent +their subjects flying at each other's throats. The story spread that a +Norman ship was to be seen in the Channel with' English sailors and dogs +hanging suspended from her yard-arms: "And so," says Hemingburgh, "they +sailed over the sea, making no difference between a dog and an +Englishman". Indignation at this outrage drove the English to act +together in large organised squadrons. The French adopted the same +tactics, and a collision soon ensued. On May 15, 1293, an Anglo-Gascon +merchant fleet encountered a Norman fleet off Saint Mahe in Brittany. A +pitched battle, probably prearranged, at once ensued. It ended in a +complete victory for the less numerous English squadron, which +immediately returned to Portsmouth, laden with booty. + +Even after this, Edward strove to keep the peace, and endeavoured to +exact compensation from his subjects. They answered with a highly +coloured narrative of the dispute which threw the whole blame upon the +Normans. Philip, changing his policy, took up his subjects' cause, and +summoned Edward to answer in January, 1294, before the Parliament of +Paris for the piracy exercised by his mariners, the misdeeds of his +Gascon subjects, and the violent measures taken by his officers against +any who appealed to the court of Paris. Edward sent his brother, Edmund, +to reply for him. As Count of Champagne and the step-father of Philip's +wife, Joan, Edmund seemed a peculiarly acceptable negotiator. After long +debates, the personal intervention of the French queen, and Philip's +step-mother, Mary of Brabant, resulted in an agreement being arranged. +The overlord's grievances could not be denied, and it was urged that the +formal surrender of part of Gascony might be made by way of recognising +them. French garrisons were therefore to be admitted into six Gascon +strongholds; twenty Gascon hostages were to be delivered over to Philip, +while the seisin of the duchy was also to be transferred to the French +king, who pledged himself not to change the officials nor to occupy the +land in force. The whole business was in fact to be as formal as the +delivery of the seisin of Scotland to Edward during the suit for the +succession. Meanwhile, Edward and Philip were to arrange a meeting at +Amiens to settle the conditions of a permanent peace, by which Edward +was to take Philip's sister, Margaret, as his second wife, and the +Gascon duchy was to be settled upon the offspring of the union. That +Edward or Edmund should ever have contemplated such terms is a strong +proof of their zeal for peace. It soon became clear that Edmund had been +outrageously duped, and that the whole negotiation was a trick to secure +for Philip the permanent possession of Gascony. The constable of France +appeared on the Aquitanian frontier. The English seneschal surrendered +the six castles and the seisin of the land. Gradually the French king +began to take actual possession of the government. Moreover, after three +months, the proceedings against Edward in the parliament of Paris were +resumed; Edward was declared contumacious on the ground of his +non-appearance, and sentence of forfeiture was passed. + +Philip's treachery was thus manifest? and in great disgust Edmund +withdrew from France. Edward was deeply indignant. In a parliament, held +in June, 1294, which was attended by the King of Scots, war was resolved +upon. The feudal tenants were summoned to assemble at Portsmouth on +September 1; and Edward appealed for help to his Gascon subjects, +beseeching their pardon for having negotiated the fatal treaty, and +promising a speedy effort to restore them to his obedience. He sent them +his nephew, John of Brittany, as his lieutenant and captain-general, +under whom John of St. John was to act as seneschal of Gascony. +Ambassadors were despatched to all neighbouring courts to build up a +coalition against the French. Strenuous efforts were made to get +together men and money, and the clergy were forced to make a grant of a +half of their spiritual income. Edward overbore their opposition amidst +a scene of excitement in which the Dean of St. Paul's fell dead at the +king's feet. The shires were mulcted of a tenth and the boroughs of a +sixth. And besides these constitutional exactions, the king laid violent +hands on all the coined money deposited in the treasuries of the +churches, and appropriated the wool of the merchants, which he only +restored on the payment of a heavy pecuniary redemption. Meanwhile, +about Michaelmas the lieutenant and the seneschal sailed with a fairly +strong force. Further levies were summoned to assemble at Portsmouth at +later dates. Besides the ordinary tenants of the crown, writs were sent +to the chief magnates of Ireland and Scotland; and Wales and its march +were called upon to furnish all the men that could be mustered. The +Earls of Cornwall and Lincoln were appointed to the command, and Edward +himself proposed to follow them to Gascony as soon as he could. + +At the moment of the departure of John of Brittany a sudden insurrection +in Wales frustrated Edward's plans. All Wales was ripe for revolt. In +the principality the Cymry resented English rule, and the sulky marchers +stood aloof in sullen discontent, while their native tenants, seeing in +the recent humiliation of Gloucester and Hereford the degradation of all +their lords, lost respect for such powerless masters. Both in the +principality and in the marches, Edward's demand for compulsory service +in Gascony was universally regarded as a new aggression. The intensity +of the resistance to his demand can be measured by the general nature of +the insurrection, and by the admirable way in which it was organised. As +by a common signal all Wales rose at Michaelmas, 1294. One Madog, +probably a bastard son of Llewelyn, son of Griffith, raised all Gwynedd, +took possession of Carnarvon castle, and closely besieged the other +royal strongholds. In west Wales a chieftain named Maelgwn was equally +successful in Carmarthen and Cardigan. The marches were in arms equally +with the principality. In the north, Lincoln's tenants in Rhos and +Rhuvoniog besieged Denbigh, and threatened the king's fortresses in +Flint. Maelgwn's sphere of operations included the earldom of Pembroke, +while Brecon rose against Hereford, and Glamorgan against Gilbert of +Gloucester. Morgan, the leader of the Glamorganshire rebels, loudly +declared that he did not rebel against the king but against the Earl of +Gloucester. With the beginning of winter the state of Wales was more +critical than in the worst times of the winter of 1282. + +Edward postponed his attack on Philip in order to throw all his energies +into the reduction of Wales. The levies assembled at Portsmouth for the +Gascon expedition were hurried beyond the Severn. The king held another +parliament and exacted a fresh supply. Criminals were offered pardon and +good wages, if they would serve, first in Wales and then in Gascony. +Before Christmas about a thousand men-at-arms were mustered at various +border centres under the royal standards, while every marcher lord was +busily engaged in putting down his own rebels. Before so great a force +the Welsh could do but little, and the spring saw the extinction of the +rebellion. But there was hard fighting both in the south and in the +north. Edward himself undertook the reconquest of Gwynedd. He was at +Conway before the end of the year, and in his haste he threw himself +into the town while the mass of his army remained on the right bank of +the river. High tides and winter floods made the crossing of the stream +impossible, and for a short time the king was actually besieged by the +rebels. Conway was unprepared for resistance and almost destitute of +supplies. The garrison thought it a terrible hardship that they had to +live on salt meat and bread, and to drink water mixed with honey. They +were encouraged by Edward refusing to taste better fare than his +troopers, and declining to partake of the one small measure of wine +reserved for his use. William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, conveyed his +troops across the estuary and raised the siege. Yet the insurgents were +still able to fight a pitched battle. About January 22, 1295, Warwick +found the Welsh established in a strong position in a plain between two +woods. They had fixed the butts of their lances into the ground, hoping +thus to resist the shock of a cavalry charge. Improving on the tactics +of Orewyn bridge, the earl stationed between his squadrons of knights, +archers and crossbowmen, whose missiles inflicted such loss on the Welsh +lines that the cavalry soon found it safe to charge. The Welsh were +utterly broken, and never in a single day did they suffer such enormous +losses. Even more important than its results in breaking the back of +Madog's insurrection, this battle of Maes Madog--or Madog's field, as +the Welsh called the place of their defeat--is of the highest importance +in the development of infantry tactics. The order of the victorious +force strikingly anticipates the great battles in Scotland and France of +a later generation. In obscure fights, like Orewyn bridge and Maes +Madog, the English learnt the famous battle array which was to overwhelm +the Scots in the later years of Edward's reign and prepare the way for +the triumphs of Crecy and Poitiers. + +Madog still held out, and with the advent of spring, 1295, Edward began +to hunt him from his lairs. Gwynedd was cleared of the enemy and +Anglesey was reconquered. Carnarvon castle arose from its ruins in the +stately form that we still know, while on the Anglesey side of the Menai +the new stronghold of Beaumaris arose, to ensure the subjection of the +granary of Gwynedd. In May Edward felt strong enough to undertake a +progress in South Wales. After receiving the submissions of the rebels +of Cardigan and Carmarthen, he won back for the lords of Brecon and +Glamorgan the lands which, without his help, they had been unable to +conquer. The Welsh chieftains were leniently treated. While Madog was +imprisoned in the Tower, Morgan was at once set at liberty. By July +Edward was able to leave Wales. Yet his triumph had taxed all his +resources, and left him, overwhelmed with debt, to face the irritation +of subjects unaccustomed to such demands upon their loyalty and +patriotism. But nothing broke his dauntless spirit, and once more he +busied himself in obtaining revenge on the false King of France. + +It was inevitable that the Welsh war should have reduced to slender +proportions the expedition of John of Brittany and John of St. John for +the recovery of Gascony. After a tedious voyage the English expedition +sailed up the Gironde late in October, 1294. Their forces, strong enough +to capture Bourg and Blaye, were not sufficient to attack Bordeaux. +Leaving the capital in the hands of its conquerors, the English sailed +past Bordeaux to Rioms, where they disembarked. The small towns of the +neighbourhood were taken and garrisoned, and the Gascon lords began to +flock to the camp of their duke. Before long the army was large enough +to be divided. John of Brittany remained at Rioms, while John of St. +John marched overland to Bayonne. The French garrison was unable to +overpower the enthusiasm of the Bayonnais for Edward, and the capture of +the second town of Gascony was the greatest success attained by the +invaders. With the spring of 1295, however, Charles of Valois, brother +of the King of France, was sent to operate against John of Brittany. The +English and Gascons found themselves unable to make head against him. +There was ill-feeling between the two nations that made up the army, and +also between the nobly-born knights and men-at-arms and the foot +soldiers. The infantry mutinied, and John of Brittany fled by night down +the river from Rioms, leaving many of his knights and all his horses and +armour in the town. Next day Rioms opened its gates to Charles of +Valois, who gained immense spoils and many distinguished prisoners. Save +for the capture of Bayonne, the expedition had been a disastrous +failure. + +Edward failed even more signally in his efforts to defeat Philip by +diplomacy. He had left no effort unspared to build up a great coalition +against the French king. He "sent a great quantity of sterling money +beyond the sea," and made alliances with all the princes and barons that +he could find.[1] At first it seemed that he had succeeded. Adolf of +Nassau, the poor and dull, but strenuous and hard-fighting King of the +Romans, concluded a treaty with England, and did not think it beneath +the dignity of the lord of the world to take the pay of the English +monarch. Many vassals of the empire, especially in the Netherlands, the +Rhineland, and Burgundy followed Adolf's example. Edward strengthened +his party further by marrying three of his daughters to the Duke of +Brabant, the son of the Count of Holland, and the Count of Bar as the +price of their adherence to the coalition. He made closer his ancient +friendship with Guy of Dampierre, the old Count of Flanders, by +betrothing Edward of Carnarvon to his daughter Philippine. At the same +time he sought the friendship of the lords of the Pyrenees, such as the +Count of Foix, and of the kings of the Spanish peninsula. But nothing +came of the hopes thus excited, save fair promises and useless +expenditure. Before long Philip of France was able to build up a French +party in appearance as formidable-in reality as useless as Edward's +attempted confederation. Edward's most important ally, Guy of Flanders, +was forced to renounce his daughter's marriage to the heir of England +and hand her over to Philip's custody. The time was not yet come for +effective European coalitions; the real fighting had to be done by the +parties directly interested in the quarrel. + + [1] See a contemporary notice printed by F. Funck-Brentano in + _Revue Historique_, xxxix. (1889), pp. 329-30. + +The command of the sea continued to be a vital question. The Norman +sailors were eager to avenge their former defeats, and Philip saw that +the best way to preserve his hold over Gascony was to be master of the +Channel and the Bay of Biscay. Edward prepared to meet attack by +establishing an organisation of the English navy which marks an epoch in +the history of our admiralty. He divided the vessels told off to guard +the sea into three classes, and set over each a separate admiral. John +of Botecourt was made admiral of the Yarmouth and eastern fleet; William +of Leyburn was set over the navy at Portsmouth; and the western and +Irish squadron was put under a valiant knight of Irish origin. Meanwhile +the French planned an invasion of England, and promised James of Aragon +that, when England was conquered, its king should be considered his +personal prize. Galleys were hired at Marseilles and Genoa for service +in the Channel, and Sir Thomas Turberville, a Glamorganshire knight +captured at Rioms, turned traitor and was restored to England in the +hope that he might obtain the custody of some seaport and betray it to +the enemy. Turberville strove in vain to induce Morgan to head another +revolt in Glamorgan, and urged upon Philip the need of an alliance with +the Scots. At last the invasion was attempted, and the French admiral, +Matthew of Montmorenci, sacked and burnt the town of Dover. Luckily, +however, Turberville's treason was discovered, and the Yarmouth fleet +soon avenged the attack on Dover by burning Cherbourg. In the face of +such resistance, Philip IV. abandoned his plan of invasion and tried to +establish a sort of "continental blockade" of English ports in which a +modern writer has seen an anticipation of the famous dream of +Napoleon.[1] Though nothing came of these grandiose schemes, yet the +efforts made to organise invasion had their permanent importance as +resulting in the beginnings of the French royal navy. As late as 1297 a +Genoese was appointed admiral of France in the Channel, and strongly +urged the invasion of England and its devastation by fire and flame. But +the immediate result of Philip's efforts to cut off England from the +continent was that his Flemish allies found in his policy a new reason +for abandoning his service. On January 7, 1297, a fresh treaty of +alliance between Edward and Guy, Count of Flanders, was concluded. + + [1] See for this Jourdain, _Memoire sur les Commencements de la + Marine francaise sous Philippe le Bel_ (1880), and C. de la + Ronciere, _Le Blocus continental de l'Angleterre sous Philippe + le Bel_ in _Revue des Questions historiques_, lx. (1896), + 401-41. + +More effective than Philip's efforts to combine the Continent against +the English were his endeavours to stir up opposition to Edward in +Britain. The Welsh rising of 1294 had taken place independently of him, +but it was not Philip's fault that Morgan did not once more excite +Glamorgan to rebellion. A better opening for intrigue was found in +Scotland. Ever since the accession of John Balliol, there had been +appeals from the Scottish courts to those of Edward. Certain suits begun +under the regency, which had acted in Edward's name from 1290 to 1292, +gave the overlord an opportunity of inserting the thin end of the wedge; +and it looked as if, after a few years, appeals from Edinburgh to London +would be as common as appeals from Bordeaux to Paris. But whatever were +the ancient relations of England and Scotland, it is clear that the +custom of appeals to the English king had never previously been +established. It was no wonder then that what seemed to Edward an +inevitable result of King John's submission, appeared to the Scots an +unwarrantable restriction of their independence. + +The weakness and simplicity of King John left matters to take their +course for a time, but the king, who was not strong enough to stand up +against Edward, was not the man to resist the pressure of his own +subjects. On his return from the London parliament of June, 1294, the +Scots barons virtually deposed him. A committee was set up by parliament +consisting of four bishops, four earls, and four barons which, though +established professedly on the model of the twelve peers of France, had +a nearer prototype in the fifteen appointed under the Provisions of +Oxford. To this body the whole power of the Scottish monarchy was +transferred, so that John became a mere puppet, unable to act without +the consent of his twelve masters. Under this new government the +relations of England and Scotland soon became critical. The Scots denied +all right of appeal to the English courts, and expelled from their +country the nobles whose possessions in England gave them a greater +interest in the southern than in the northern kingdom. Among the +dispossessed barons was Robert Bruce, son of the claimant, by marriage +already Earl of Carrick, and now by his father's recent death lord of +Annandale. In defiance of Edward's prohibition the Scots received French +ships, and subjected English traders at Berwick to many outrages. At +last, on July 5, 1295, an alliance was signed between Scotland and +France, by which Edward Balliol, the eldest son of King John, was +betrothed to Joan, the eldest daughter of Charles of Valois, the brother +of the French king. On this, Edward demanded the surrender of three +border castles, and on the refusal of the Scots, cited John to appear at +Berwick on March 1, 1296. Thus, by a process similar to that which had +embroiled Edward with his French overlord, the King of Scots also was +forced to face the alternative of certain war or humiliating surrender. + +To Edward a breach with Scotland was unwelcome. In 1294 the Welsh had +prevented him using all his power against France, and in 1295 the Scots +troubles further postponed his prospects of revenge. But no suggestion +of compromise or delay came from him. On his return to London early in +August, 1295, he busied himself with preparing to resist the enemies +that were gathering around him on every side. It was the moment of the +raid on Dover, and the French question was still the more pressing. In a +parliament of magnates at London, Edmund of Lancaster told the story of +his Paris embassy with such effect that two cardinal-legates, whom the +new pope, Boniface VIII., had sent in the hope of making peace, were put +off politely, on the ground that Edward could make no treaty without the +consent of his ally, the King of the Romans. Edmund was appointed +commander of a new expedition to Gascony, though his weak health delayed +his departure. Meanwhile Edward called upon every class of his subjects +to co-operate with him in his defence of the national honour. He was +statesman enough to see that he could only cope with the situation, if +England as a whole rallied round him. His best answer to the Scots and +the French was the convention of the "model parliament" of November, +1295. + +The deep political purpose with which this parliament was assembled is +reflected even in the formal language of the writs. "Inasmuch as a most +righteous law of the emperors," wrote Edward, "ordains that what touches +all should be approved by all, so it evidently appears that common +dangers should be met by remedies agreed upon in common. You know well +how the King of France has cheated me out of Gascony, and how he still +wickedly retains it. But now he has beset my realm with a great fleet +and a great multitude of warriors, and proposes, if his power equal his +unrighteous design, to blot out the English tongue from the face of the +earth." To avert this peril, Edward summoned not only a full and +representative gathering of magnates, but also two knights from every +shire and two burgesses from every borough. Moreover, the lower clergy +were also required to take part in the assembly, the archdeacons and +deans in person, the clergy of every cathedral church by one proctor, +the beneficed clerks of each diocese by two proctors. Thus the assembly +became so systematic a representation of the three estates' that after +ages have regarded it as the type upon which subsequent popular +parliaments were to be modelled. This gathering marks the end of the +parliamentary experiments of the earlier part of the reign. It met on +November 27, and each estate, deliberating separately, contributed its +quota to the national defence. The barons and knights offered an +eleventh, and the boroughs a seventh. It was a bitter disappointment to +Edward that the clergy could not be induced to make a larger grant than +a tenth. Enough, however, was obtained to equip the two armies which, in +the spring of 1296, were to operate against the French and the Scots. + +The Gascon expedition was the first to start. Early in March, 1296, +Edmund of Lancaster, accompanied by the Earl of Lincoln, landed at Bourg +and Blaye. John of St. John was still maintaining himself in that +district as well as at Bayonne. On the appearance of the reinforcements +the Gascon lords began to flock to the English camp, and a large force +was at once able to take the field. On March 28 an attempt was made to +capture Bordeaux by a sudden assault. On its failure Edmund, who did not +possess the equipment necessary for a formal siege, sailed up the river +to Saint-Macaire and occupied the town. But the castle held out +gallantly, and after a three weeks' siege Edmund retired to his original +position on the lower Gironde. Even there he found difficulty in holding +his own, and before long shifted his quarters to Bayonne. He had +exhausted his resources, and found that his army could not be kept +together without pay. "Thereupon," writes Hemingburgh, "his face fell +and he sickened about Whitsuntide. So with want of money came want of +breath too, and after a few days he went the way of all flesh." Lincoln, +his successor, managed still to stand his ground against Robert of +Artois. At last Artois made a successful night attack upon the English, +captured St. John, and destroyed all his war-train and baggage. The +darkness of the night and the shelter of the neighbouring woods alone +saved the English army from total destruction. "After this," boasted +William of Nangis, "no Englishman or Gascon dared to go out to battle +against the Count of Artois and the French." At Easter, 1297, a truce +was concluded which left nearly all Gascony in French hands. + +Soon after the departure of his brother for Gascony, Edward went to war +against the Scots, regarding the non-appearance of King John on March 1 +at Berwick as a declaration of hostility. The lord of Wark offered to +betray his castle to the Scots, and Edward's successful effort to save +it first brought him to the Tweed. Meanwhile the men of Annandale under +their new lord, the Earl of Buchan, engaged in a raid on Carlisle, but +failed to capture the city, and speedily returned home. On March 28, the +day on which his brother attacked Bordeaux, Edward crossed the Tweed at +Coldstream, and marched down its left bank towards Berwick. On March 30 +Berwick was captured. The townsmen fought badly, and the heroes of the +resistance were thirty Flemish merchants, who held their factory, called +the Red Hall, until the building was fired, and the defenders perished +in the flames. The garrison of the castle, commanded by Sir William +Douglas, laid down their arms at once. + +Edward spent a month in Berwick, strengthening the fortifications of the +town, and preparing for an invasion of Scotland. Early in April, King +John renounced his homage and, immediately afterwards, the Scots lords +who had attacked Carlisle devastated Tynedale and Redesdale, penetrating +as far as Hexham. Edward's command of the sea made it impossible for the +raiders to cut off his communications with his base, and they quickly +returned to their own land, where they threw themselves into Dunbar. +Though the lord of Dunbar, Patrick, Earl of March, was serving with the +English king, his countess, who was at Dunbar, invited them into the +fortress. Dunbar blocked the road into Scotland, and Edward sent forward +Earl Warenne with a portion of the army in the hope of recapturing the +position. Warenne laid siege to Dunbar, but on the third day, April 27, +the main Scots army came to its relief. Leaving some of the young nobles +to continue the siege, Warenne drew up his army in battle array. The +Scots thought that the English were preparing for flight, and rushed +upon them with loud cries and blowing of horns. Discovering too late +that the enemy was ready for battle, they fell back in confusion as far +as Selkirk Forest. Next day Edward came up from Berwick and received the +surrender of Dunbar. Henceforth his advance was but a military +promenade. + +Edward turned back from Dunbar to receive the submission of the Steward +of Scotland at Roxburgh, and to welcome a large force of Welsh infantry, +whose arrival enabled him to dismiss the English foot, fatigued with the +slight effort of a month's easy campaigning. Thence he made his way to +Edinburgh, which yielded after an eight days' siege. Stirling castle, +the next barrier to his progress, was abandoned by its garrison, and +there Edward was reinforced by some Irish contingents. He then advanced +to Perth, keeping St. John's feast on June 24 in St. John's own town. On +July 10 Balliol surrendered to the Bishop of Durham at Brechin, +acknowledging that he had forfeited his throne by his rebellion. Edward +continued his triumphal progress, preceded at every stage by Bishop Bek +at the head of the warriors of the palatinate of St. Cuthbert. He made +his way through Montrose up the east coast to Aberdeen, and thence up +the Don and over the hills to Banff and Elgin, the farthest limit of his +advance. He returned by a different route, bringing back with him from +Scone the stone on which the Scots kings had been wont to sit at their +coronation. This he presented as a trophy of victory to the monks of +Westminster, where it was set up as a chair for the priest celebrating +mass at the altar over against the shrine of St. Edward, though soon +used as the coronation seat of English kings. + +In less than five months Edward had conquered a kingdom. On August 22 he +was back at Berwick, whither he had summoned a parliament of the nobles +and prelates of both kingdoms, in order that the work of organising the +future government of Scotland might be completed. Meanwhile a crowd of +Scots of every class flocked to the victor's court and took oaths of +fealty to him. Their names, along with those of the persons who made +similar recognitions of his sovereignly during his Scottish progress, +were recorded with notarial precision in one of those formal documents +with which Edward delighted to mark the stages in the accomplishment of +his task. This record, popularly styled the Ragman Roll, containing the +names of about two thousand freeholders and men of substance in +Scotland, is of extreme value to the Scottish genealogist and +antiquary.[1] The last entries are dated August 28, the day on which +Edward met his parliament at Berwick. The administration of Scotland was +provided for. John, Earl Warenne, became the king's lieutenant, Hugh +Cressingham, treasurer, and William Ormesby, justiciar. When the land +was subdued Edward showed a strong desire to treat the people well. The +only precaution taken by him against the renewal of disturbances was an +order that the former King of Scots, John Comyn of Buchan, John Comyn of +Badenoch, and other magnates of the patriotic party were to dwell in +England, south of the Trent, until the conclusion of the war with +France. As soon as his business was accomplished at Berwick, Edward +turned his steps southwards. At last he seemed free to lead a great army +against Philip the Fair; and, in order to prepare for the French +expedition, he summoned another parliament to meet at Bury St. Edmunds +on the morrow of All Souls' day, November 3. At Bury the barons, +knights, and burgesses made liberal offerings for the war. But a new +difficulty arose in the absolute refusal of the clergy to vote any +supplies. Once more the cup of hope was dashed from Edward's lips, and +he found himself forced to enter into another weary conflict, this time +with his English liegemen. + + [1] It is printed by the Bannatyne Club, and summarised in + _Cal. Doc. Scot._, ii., 193-214. + +So long as Peckham had lived, there had always been a danger of a +conflict between Church and State. Friar John had ended his restless +career in 1292, and Edward showed natural anxiety to secure as his +successor a prelate more amenable to the secular authority and more +national in his sentiments. The papacy remained vacant after the death +of Nicholas IV. in 1292, so that there was no danger of Rome taking the +appointment into its own hands, and the happy accident, which had given +the monks of Christchurch a statesmanlike prior in Henry of Eastry, +minimised the chances of a futile conflict between the king and the +canonical electors. Eastry took care that the archbishop-elect should +be a person acceptable to the sovereign. Robert Winchelsea, the new +primate, was an Englishman and a secular clerk, who had taught with +distinction at Paris and Oxford, but had received no higher +ecclesiastical promotion than the archdeaconry of Essex and a canonry +of St. Paul's, and was mainly conspicuous for the sanctity of his life, +his ability as a preacher, and his zeal for making the cathedral of +London a centre of theological instruction. The vacancy in, the papacy +forced upon the archbishop-elect a wearisome delay of eighteen months +in Italy; but at last in September, 1294, he received consecration and +the _pallium_ from the newly elected hermit-pope, Celestine V. +Winchelsea on his return strove to show that a secular archbishop could +be as austere in life, and as zealous for the rights of Holy Church, as +his mendicant predecessors. His desire to walk in the steps of Peckham +soon brought him into conflict with the king, and in this conflict he +showed an appreciation of the political situation, and a power of +interpreting English opinion, which made him the most formidable of +Edward's domestic opponents. He gained his first victory in the +parliament of 1295 by preventing the clergy from making a larger grant +than a tenth. But this triumph sank into insignificance as compared +with the refusal of all aid by the parliament of Bury. + +A change in the papacy immensely strengthened Winchelsea's position +against Edward. In December, 1294, Celestine, overpowered with the +burden of an office too heavy for his strength, made his great +renunciation and sought to resume his hermit life. The Cardinal +Benedict Gaetano was at once elected his successor and took the style +of Boniface VIII. The son of a noble house of the neighbourhood of +Anagni, a canonist, a politician, and a zealot, the new pope had made +personal acquaintance with Edward and England from having attended +Cardinal Ottobon on his English legation, and was eager to appease +discord between Christian princes in order to forward the crusade. He +hated war the more because it was largely waged with the money drawn +from the clergy, and was indignant that the custom of taxing the +Church, which was begun under the guise of crusading tenths, had become +so frequent that both Philip and Edward applied it in order to raise +revenue from ecclesiastics for frankly secular warfare. Within a few +weeks of his accession he despatched two cardinals to mediate peace +between the Kings of France and England, and was disgusted at the long +delays with which both kings had sought to frustrate his intervention. +On February 29, 1296, Boniface issued his famous bull _Clericis +laicos_, in which he declared it unlawful for any lay authority to +exact supplies from the clergy without the express authority of the +apostolic see. Princes imposing, and clerics submitting to such +exactions were declared _ipso_ facto excommunicate. + +Boniface's contention had been urged by his predecessors, and it is +improbable that he sought to do more than assert the ancient law of the +Church and save the clergy all over the Latin world from exactions +which were fast becoming intolerable. His object was quite general, +though a pointed reference to the extortions of Edward in 1294 showed +that he had the case of England before his mind. He had no wish to +throw down the gauntlet to the princes of Christendom, or to quarrel +with Edward and Philip, between whom he was still conducting +negotiations. It was his misfortune that he was constantly forced to +face fresh conditions which rendered it almost possible to apply the +ancient doctrines. Strong national kings, like Edward and Philip, had +already shown impatience with such traditions of the Church as limited +their temporal authority. The pope's untimely restatement of the +theories of the twelfth century at once involved him in his first +fierce difference with Philip the Fair, and put him into a position in +which he could only win peace by explaining away the doctrine of +_Clericis laicos_. While on the continent the conflict of Church and +State took the form of a dispute between the French king and the +papacy, in England it assumed the shape of a struggle between Edward +and the Archbishop of Canterbury. + +In November, 1296, at Bury, Winchelsea admitted the justice of the +French war, but pleaded the pope's decretal as an absolute bar to any +grant from the clerical estate. No decision was arrived at, and the +problem was discussed again in the convocation of Canterbury in +January, 1297. "We have two lords over us," declared the archbishop to +his clergy, "the king and the pope; and, although we owe obedience to +both of these, we owe greater obedience to our spiritual than to our +temporal lord." All that they could do was to entreat the pope's +permission to allow them to pay Caesar that which Caesar by himself had +no right to demand. Edward burst into a fury on hearing of this new +pretext for delay. He declared that the clergy must pay a fifth, under +penalty of his withdrawing his protection from a body which strove to +stand outside the commonwealth. The clergy remained firm, and separated +without making any grant. Thereupon, on January 30, the chief justice, +John of Metingham, sitting in Westminster Hall, pronounced the clergy +to be outlays. "Henceforth," he declared, "there shall be no justice +meted out to a clerk in the court of the lord king, however atrocious +be the injury from which he may have suffered. But sentence against a +clerk shall be given at the instance of all who have a complaint +against him." Winchelsea retaliated by publishing the sentence of +excommunication against violators of the papal bull. Two days later the +king ordered the sheriffs to take possession of the lay fees held by +clerks in the province of Canterbury. A few ecclesiastics, who +privately made an offering of a fifth, were alone exempted from this +command. + +Edward's conflict with the Church was followed within a month by a +dispute of almost equal gravity with a section of the barons. He +summoned a baronial parliament to assemble on February 24 at Salisbury, +and went down in person to explain his plan of campaign. One force was +to help his new ally, Guy of Flanders, while another was to act in +Gascony. Edward himself was to accompany the army to Flanders. He +requested some of the earls, including Norfolk and Hereford, to fight +for him in Gascony. The deaths of Edmund of Lancaster, Gilbert of +Gloucester, and William of Pembroke had robbed the baronage of its +natural leaders. Earl Warenne was fully engaged in the north, and +Lincoln was devoted to the king's side. The removal of other possible +spokesmen made Norfolk and Hereford the champions of the party of +opposition. For years the friends of aristocratic authority had been +smarting under the growing influence of the crown. The time was ripe +for a revival of the baronial opposition which a generation earlier had +won the Provisions of Oxford. Moreover both the earls had personal +slights to avenge. Hereford bitterly resented the punishment meted out +to him for waging private war against Earl Gilbert in the march. +Norfolk was angry because, during the last Welsh campaign, Edward had +suspended him from the exercise of the marshalship. The form of +Edward's request at Salisbury gave them a technical advantage which +they were not slow to seize. Ignoring the broader issues which lay +between them and the king, they took their stand on their traditional +rights as constable and marshal to attend the king in person. "Freely," +declared the earl marshal, "will I go with thee, O king, and march +before thee in the first line of thy army, as my hereditary duty +requires." Edward answered: "Thou shalt go without me along with the +rest to Gascony". The marshal replied: "I am not bound to go save with +thee, nor will I go". Edward flew into a passion: "By God, sir earl, +thou shalt either go or hang". Norfolk replied with equal spirit: "By +that same oath, sir king, I will neither go nor hang". The parliament +broke up in disorder. Before long a force of 1,500 men-at-arms gathered +together under the leadership of the constable and marshal. + +During these stormy times Edward had been straining every nerve to +equip an adequate army for foreign service. Once more he laid violent +hands upon the wool and hides of the merchants, while a huge +male--tolt, varying from forty shillings a sack for raw wool to +sixty-six shillings and eightpence a sack for carded wool, was exacted +for such wool as the king's officers suffered to remain in the owner's +possession. Moreover, vast stores of wheat, barley, and oats, salt pork +and salt beef were requisitioned all over the land. Men said that the +king's tyranny could no longer be borne, and that the rights decreed to +all Englishmen by the Great Charter were in imminent danger. The +movement, which had begun as a defence of feudal right, became a +popular revolt in favour of national liberty. The commons joined the +barons and clergy in the general opposition to the headstrong king. + +Edward saw that he must divide his enemies if he wished to effect his +purpose. The clergy were the easiest to deal with. Boniface VIII. was +already yielding in his struggle against Philip the Fair. In the bull +_Romana mater_ of February 2, 1297, he had authorised voluntary +contributions of the French clergy in the case of pressing necessity, +without previous recourse to the permission of the apostolic see. The +same attitude had already been taken up by the royalist clergy in +England, who redeemed their outlawry by offering to the king the fifth +of their revenues. In March Edward made things easier for the +recalcitrants by suspending the edict confiscating the lay fees of the +Church. Even Winchelsea saw the wisdom of abandoning his too heroic +attitude. In a convocation, held on March 24, he practically applied +the doctrine of _Romana mater_ to the English situation. "Let each +man," he declared, "save his own soul and follow his own conscience. +But my conscience does not allow me to offer money for the king's +protection or on any other pretext." In the event nearly all the clergy +bought off the king's wrath by the voluntary payment of a fifth. +Winchelsea was obdurate. His estates remained for five months in the +king's hands, and he was forced, like another St. Francis, to depend on +the charity of the faithful. But even Winchelsea did not hold out +indefinitely. On July 14 he was publicly reconciled with the king +outside Westminster Hall, and a few days later his goods were restored. +On July 31 Boniface entirely receded from the doctrine of _Cleritis +laicos_ in the bull _Etsi de statu_. Before this could be known in +England, Winchelsea told his clergy that the king had agreed to confirm +the Great Charter, if they would but make a grant to carry on the +French war. A little later Edward of his own authority exacted a third +from all clerical revenues. This persistence in his highhanded policy +made any real reconciliation between Edward and Winchelsea impossible. +The king never forgave the archbishop, whose action demonstrated to all +England the divided allegiance of his clergy between their two masters. +Winchelsea still retained his profound distrust of the king, who had +set at naught the liberties of Church and realm. + +The baronial opposition was broken up by devices not dissimilar to +those which neutralised the antagonism of the clergy. By strenuous +efforts Edward obtained a fair sum of money for his expenses. He let it +be understood that, if he took his subjects' wool, the talleys given in +exchange would be redeemed when better times had arrived, and he +scrupulously paid for the corn and meat that his officers had +requisitioned. Meanwhile he summoned all possible fighting men from +England, Wales, and Ireland to meet at London on July 7. The prospect +of subjects of the crown being forced, whatsoever their feudal +obligations might be, to wage war beyond sea, threatened to provoke a +fresh crisis. But after many long altercations, Edward announced that +neither the feudal tenants nor the twenty-pound freeholders had any +legal obligation to go with him to Flanders, and offered pay to all who +were willing to hearken to his "affectionate request" for their +services. Under these conditions a considerable force of stipendiaries +was levied without much difficulty. + +Hereford and Norfolk abandoned active in favour of passive hostility. +They refused to serve as constable and marshal, and Edward appointed +barons of less dignity and greater loyalty to act in their place. While +all England was busy with the equipment of troops and the provision of +supplies, they sullenly held aloof. At last, when all was ready, Edward +issued an appeal to his subjects, protesting the purity of his motives, +and emphasising the inexorable necessity under which he was forced to +play the tyrant in the interests of the whole realm. By the beginning +of August such barons as were willing to go to Flanders began to +assemble in arms at London. The young Edward of Carnarvon was appointed +regent during his father's absence, and among the councillors who were +to act in his name was the Archbishop of Canterbury. At last the king +set off to embark at Winchelsea. While there, the earls presented to +him a belated list of grievances. He refused to deal with their demand +for the confirmation of the charters. "My full council," he declared to +the envoys of the earls, "is not with me, and without it I cannot reply +to your requests. Tell those who have sent you that, if they will come +with me to Flanders, they will please me greatly. If they will not +come, I trust they will do no harm to me, or at any rate to my +kingdom." On August 24 he took ship for Flanders, and a few days later +he and his troops safely landed at Sluys, whence they made their way to +Ghent. Nearly a thousand men-at-arms and a great force of infantry, +largely Welsh and Irish, swelled the expedition to considerable +proportions. After all his troubles, Edward found that the loyalty of +his subjects enabled him to carry out the ideal which he had formulated +two years before. King and nation were to meet common dangers by action +undertaken in common. + +Everything else was ruthlessly sacrificed in order that the king might +take an army to Flanders. The Gascon expedition was quietly dropped. +But the gravest difficulty arose not from Gascony but Scotland. +Edward's choice of agents to carry out his Scottish policy had been +singularly unhappy. Warenne, the governor, was a dull and lethargic +nobleman more than sixty-six years of age. He complained of the bad +climate of Scotland, and passed most of his time on his Yorkshire +estates. In his absence Cressingham, the treasurer, and Ormesby, the +justiciar, became the real representatives of the English power. +Cressingham was a pompous ecclesiastic, who appropriated to his own +uses the money set aside for the fortification of Berwick, and was +odious to the Scots for his rapacity and incompetence. Ormesby was a +pedantic lawyer, rigid in carrying out the king's orders but stiff and +unsympathetic in dealing with the Scots. Under such rulers Scotland was +neither subdued nor conciliated. No real effort was made to track to +their hiding-places in the hills the numerous outlaws, who had +abandoned their estates rather than take an oath of fealty to Edward. +When the English governors took action, they were cruel and +indiscriminating; and often too were lax and careless. Matters soon +became serious. William Wallace of Elderslie slew an English official +in Clydesdale, and threw in his lot with the outlaws. He was joined by +Sir William Douglas, the former defender of Berwick. By May, 1297, +Scotland was in full revolt. In the north, Andrew of Moray headed a +rising in Strathspey. In central Scotland the justiciar barely escaped +capture, while holding his court at Scone. The south-west, the home +both of Wallace and Douglas, proved the most dangerous district. There +the barons, imitating Bohun and Bigod, based their opposition to Edward +on his claim upon their compulsory service in the French wars. Before +long the son of the lord of Annandale, Robert Bruce, now called Earl of +Carrick, Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, and other magnates were in +arms, and in close association with Douglas and Wallace. + +Edward made light of this rebellion. Resolved to go to Flanders at all +costs, he contented himself with calling upon the levies of the shires +north of the Trent to protect his interests in Scotland. Early in July, +Henry Percy, Warenne's grandson, rode through south-western Scotland, +at the head of the Cumberland musters, and on July 7, the local +insurgent leaders, with the exception of Wallace, made their submission +to him at Irvine. Moreover, Edward released the two Comyns from their +veiled imprisonment, and sent them back to Scotland to help in +suppressing the insurrection. Henry Percy boasted that the Scots south +of the Forth had been reduced to subjection. But a few days later +Wallace was found to be strongly established in Ettrick forest and was +threatening Roxburgh. At last Edward stirred up Warenne to return to +his government. The king took the precaution of leaving some of his +best warriors in England in case their services were needed against the +recalcitrant barons or the Scots. Then, as has been said, on August 24 +he crossed over to Flanders. + +The constable and marshal were still in arms, and Winchelsea, who, in +spite of his reconciliation with Edward, was in close communication +with them, declined to take an active part on the council of regency. +Two days before Edward took ship, Hereford and Norfolk appeared in arms +at the exchequer at Westminster, and forbade the officials to continue +the collection of supplies, until the Great Charter and the Charter of +the Forest had been confirmed. They strove to win the support of the +Londoners, who had long had a grievance against Edward for depriving +them of their right to elect their own mayor, and for subjecting the +city to the arbitrary rule of a warden nominated by the crown. They +forbade their followers to commit acts of violence, but they made it +clear that there could be no peace until the charters were confirmed. + +In August, Warenne grappled with the Scottish rising, but his own +incompetence, and the half-heartedness of the Scottish magnates, on +whom he relied, made his task very difficult. Wallace retreated beyond +the Forth, and Warenne reached Stirling on September 10 in pursuit of +him. He learnt that Wallace was holding the wooded heights, immediately +to the north of Stirling bridge on the left bank of the Forth, not far +from the abbey of Cambuskenneth. The Steward of Scotland, who, after +the collapse of the revolt in the south-west, served under Warenne, +offered his mediation. But no good result came from his action, and the +English suspected treachery. Wallace took up a bold attitude, scorning +either compromise or retreat. He had only a small following of cavalry, +but his infantry was numerous and enthusiastic. The English resolved to +attack him on September 11. The Forth at Stirling was crossed by a long +wooden bridge, so narrow that only two horsemen could pass abreast. It +was madness to send an army over the river by such a means in the face +of a watchful enemy. But not only was the English plan of battle +foolish it was also carried out weakly. Warenne overslept himself, and +his subordinates wasted the early morning in useless discussions and +altercations. When at last he woke up, he rejected the advice of a +Scottish knight to send part of his cavalry over the river by a ford +which thirty horsemen could traverse abreast, and ordered all his +troops to cross by the bridge. + +Wallace, seeing that the enemy had delivered themselves into his hands, +remained in the woods until a fair proportion of the English +men-at-arms had made their way over the stream. He then suddenly +swooped down upon the bridge, cutting off the retreat of those who had +traversed it, and blocking all possibility of reinforcement. After a +short fight the English to the north of the Forth were cut down almost +to a man. The English on the Stirling side, seeing the fate of their +comrades, fled in terror, and their Scots allies went over to their +country men. Among the slain was the greedy Cressingham, whose skin the +Scots tanned into leather. Warenne did not draw rein until he reached +Berwick, and in one day all Scotland was lost. The castles of Roxburgh +and Berwick alone upheld the English flag. Wallace and Moray governed +all Scotland as "generals of the army of King John". Within a few weeks +of their victory, they raided the three northern counties of England. + +Wallace had freed Scotland, but his wonderful success taught the +contending factions in England the plain duty of union against the +common enemy. A new parliament of the three estates was summoned for +September 30. The opposition leaders came armed, and declared that there +could be no supply of men or money until their demand for the +confirmation of the charters was granted. No longer content with simple +confirmation, they drew up, in the form of a statute, a petition +requiring that no tallage or aid should henceforth be taken without the +assent of the estates. This was the so-called _statutum de tallagio non +concedendo_ which seventeenth-century parliaments and judges erroneously +accepted as a statute. The helpless regency substantially accepted their +demands, and, on October 12, issued a confirmation of the charters, to +which fresh clauses were added, providing, with less generality than in +the baronial request, that no male-tolts, or such manner of aids as had +recently been extorted, should be imposed in the future without the +common consent of all the realm, but making no reference to tallage.[1] +Liberal supplies were then voted by all the three estates, and +Winchelsea, who all through these proceedings acted as the brain of the +baronage, exerted himself to explain away the last of the clerical +difficulties raised by the _Clericis laicos_. + + [1] The Latin, _Articuli inserti in magna carta_, given by + Hemingburgh, ii., 152, is quoted as a statute in the Petition + of Right of 1628, under the title _De tallagio non concedendo_. + The view of its relation to the French _Confirmatio cartavum_ + is that taken by M. Bemont, _Chartes des libertes anglaises_, + especially pp. xliii., xliv. and 87. It is based on Bartholomew + Cotton's nearly contemporary statement (_Hist. Angl_., p. 337). + +On November 5 the king ratified, at Ghent, the action of his son's +advisers. Thus the constitutional struggle was ended by the complete +triumph of the baronial opposition. And the victory was the more +signal, because it was gained not over a weak king, careless of his +rights, but over the strongest of the Plantagenets, greedy to retain +every scrap of authority. It is with good reason that the Confirmation +of the Charters of 1297 is reckoned as one of the great turning points +in the history of our constitution. Its provisions sum up the whole +national advance which had been made since Gualo and William the +marshal first identified the English monarchy with the principles +wrested from John at Runnymede. In the years that immediately followed, +it might well seem that the act of 1297, like the submission of John, +was only a temporary expedient of a dexterous statecraft which +consented with the lips but not with the heart. But in later times, +when the details of the struggle were forgotten and the noise of the +battle over, the event stood out in its full significance. Edward had +been willing to take the people into partnership with him when he +thought that they would be passive partners, anxious to do his +pleasure. He was taught that the leaders of the people were henceforth +to have their share with the crown in determining national policy. +Common dangers were still to be met by measures deliberated in common, +but the initiative was no longer exclusively reserved to the monarch. +The sordid pedantry of the baronial leaders and the high-souled +determination of the king compel our sympathy for Edward rather than +his enemies. But all that made English history what it is, was involved +in the issue, and the future of English freedom was assured when the +obstinacy of the constable and marshal prevailed over the resolution of +the great king. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SCOTTISH FAILURE. + + +The expedition of Edward to Flanders lost its best chance of success +through the events which retarded its despatch. While the English king +was wrangling with his barons, the French king was active. On the news +of the alliance of Count Guy with the English, Robert of Artois was +summoned from Gascony to the north. While Philip besieged Lille, and +finally took it, Robert of Artois gained a brilliant victory over the +Flemings at Furnes on August 20. Meanwhile John of Avesnes, Count of +Hainault, was closely co-operating with the French, and kept Edward's +son-in-law and ally, John, Duke of Brabant, from sending effective help +to the Flemings. Moreover, the Flemish townsmen, in their dislike of +their count, were largely on the side of the French. Edward's little +army could do nothing to redress a balance that already inclined so +heavily on the other side. The Flemings were disappointed at the scanty +numbers of the English men-at-arms, and stared with wonder and contempt +at the bare-legged Welsh archers and lancemen, with their uncouth garb, +strange habits of eating and fighting, and propensity to pillage and +disorder, though they recognised their hardihood and the effectiveness +of their missiles.[1] The same disorderly spirit that had marred the +Rioms campaign still prevailed among the English engaged on foreign +service. No sooner were the troops landed at Sluys on August 28, than +the mariners of the Cinque Ports renewed their old feud with the men of +Yarmouth, and many ships were destroyed and lives lost in this untimely +conflict. Edward advanced to Bruges, where he was joined by the Count of +Flanders, but the disloyalty of the townsmen and the approach of King +Philip forced the king and the earl to take shelter behind the stronger +walls of Ghent. Immediately on their retreat, Philip occupied Bruges and +Damme, thus cutting off the English from the direct road to the sea. The +Anglo-Flemish army was afraid to attack the powerful force of the French +king. But the French had learnt by experience a wholesome fear of the +English and Welsh archers, and did not venture to approach Ghent too +closely. The ridiculous result followed that the Kings of France and +England avoided every opportunity of fighting out their quarrel, and +lay, wasting time and money, idly watching each other's movements. + + [1] See for Flemish criticisms of the Welsh, L. van Velthem, + _Spiegel Historiaal_, pp. 215-16, ed. Le Long, partly + translated by Funck Brentano in his edition of _Annales + Qandenses_, p. 7, a work giving full details of these + struggles. + +The only dignified way of putting an end to this impossible situation +lay in negotiation. Edward's faithful servant, William of Hotham, the +Dominican friar whom the pope had appointed Archbishop of Dublin, was +in the English camp. Hotham, who had enjoyed Philip's personal +friendship while teaching theology in the Paris schools, was an +acceptable mediator between the two kings. A short truce was signed at +Vyve-Saint-Bavon on the Lys on October 7. This allowed time for more +elaborate negotiations to be carried on at Courtrai and Tournai, and on +January 31, 1298, a truce, in which the allies of both kings were +included, was signed at Tournai, to last until January 6, 1300. It was +agreed to refer all questions in dispute to the arbitration of Boniface +VIII, "not as pope but as a private person, as Benedict Gaetano". Both +kings despatched their envoys to Rome, where with marvellous celerity +Boniface issued, on June 30, 1298, a preliminary award. It suggested +the possibility of a settlement on the basis of each belligerent +retaining the possessions which he had held at the beginning of the +struggle, and entering into an alliance strengthened by a double +marriage. Edward was to marry the French king's sister Margaret, while +Edward of Carnarvon was to be betrothed to Philip's infant daughter +Isabella. The latter match involved the repudiation of the betrothal of +Edward of Carnarvon with the daughter of the Count of Flanders. But all +through the award there was no mention of the allies of either party. +Boniface was too eager for peace to be over-scrupulous as to the +honourable obligations of the two kings who sought his mediation. + +The English regency, which grappled so courageously with the baronial +opposition, showed an equal energy in protecting the northern counties +from the Scots. About the time of the confirmation of the charters, +Wallace crossed the border and spread desolation and ruin from Carlisle +to Hexham. Warenne and Henry Percy, who had attended the October +parliament at London, were soon back in the north. By December the +largest army which was ever assembled during Edward I.'s reign[1] +was collected together on the borders, and preparations were made for a +winter campaign after the fashion which had proved so effective in +Wales. But all that Warenne was able to accomplish was the relief of +Roxburgh. The quality of the troops was not equal to their quantity, +and all his misfortunes had not taught him wisdom. Early in Lent Edward +stopped active campaigning by announcing that no great operations were +to be attempted until his return. Thereupon Warenne sent the bulk of +the troops home, and remained at Berwick, awaiting the king's arrival. + + [1] Morris, _Welsh Wars of Edward I._, pp. 284-86. + +Edward landed at Sandwich on March 14, 1298, and at once set about +preparing to avenge Stirling Bridge. He met his parliament on +Whitsunday, May 25, at York. The Scots barons were summoned to this +assembly, but as they neither attended nor sent proxies, their absence +was deemed to be proof of contumacy. A month later a large army was +concentrated at Roxburgh. The earls and barons with their retinues +mustered to the number of 1,100 horse, while 1,300 men-at-arms served +under the king's banners for pay. Though Gascony was still in Philip's +hands, the good relations that prevailed between England and France +allowed the presence in Edward's host of a magnificent troop of Gascon +lords, headed by the lord of Albret and the Captal de Buch, and +conspicuous for the splendour of their armour and the costliness and +beauty of their chargers. On this occasion Edward set little store on +infantry, and was content to accept the services of those who came of +their own free will. Yet even under these conditions some 12,000 foot +were assembled, more than 10,000 of whom came from Wales and its march. + +The leaders of the opposition were present in Edward's host. On the eve +of the invasion, the impatient king was kept back by the declaration of +Hereford and Norfolk that they would not cross the frontier, until +definite assurances were given that the king would carry out the +confirmation of the charters which he had informally ratified on +foreign soil. Etiquette or pride prevented Edward himself satisfying +their demand, but the Bishop of Durham and three loyal earls pledged +themselves that the king would fulfil all his promises on his return. +Then the two earls suffered the expedition to proceed; and on July 6 +the army left Roxburgh, proceeding by moderate marches to Kirkliston on +the Almond, where it encamped on the 15th. Here there was a few days' +delay, while Bishop Bek captured some of the East Lothian castles which +were threatening the English rear. Already there was a difficulty in +obtaining supplies from the devastated country-side, and northerly +winds prevented the provision ships from sailing from Berwick to the +Forth. The worst hardships fell upon the Welsh infantry, who began to +mutiny and talked of joining the Scots. Matters grew worse on the +arrival of a wine ship, for such ample rations of wine were distributed +to the Welsh that very many of them became drunk. So threatening was +the state of affairs that Edward thought of retreating to Edinburgh. On +July 21, however, the news was brought that Wallace and his followers +were assembled in great force at Falkirk, some seventeen miles to the +west. The prospect of battle at once restored the courage and +discipline of the army, and Edward ordered an advance. That night the +host bivouacked on the moors east of Linlithgow, "with shields for +pillows and armour for beds". During the night the king, who was +sleeping in the open field like the meanest trooper, received a kick +from his horse which broke two of his ribs. Yet the early morning of +July 22, the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, saw him riding at the head of +his troops through the streets of Linlithgow. At last the Scots lances +were descried on the slopes of a hill near Falkirk, and the English +rested while the bishop and king heard mass. Then the army, which had +eaten nothing since the preceding day, advanced to the battle. + +Wallace had a large following of infantry, but a mere handful of +mounted men-at-arms. He ordered the latter to occupy the rear, and +grouped his pikemen, the flower of his army, into four great circles, +or "schiltrons," which, with the front ranks kneeling or sitting and +the rear ranks standing, presented to the enemy four living castles, +each with a bristling hedge of pikes, dense enough, it was hoped, to +break the fierce shock of a cavalry charge. The spaces between the four +schiltrons were occupied by the archers, the best of whom came from +Ettrick Forest. The front was further protected by a morass, and +perhaps also by a row of stout posts sunk into the ground and fastened +together by ropes. + +Edward ordered the Welsh archers to prepare the way with their missiles +for the advance of the men-at-arms. But the Welsh refused to move, so +that Edward was forced to proceed by a direct cavalry charge. For this +purpose he divided his men-at-arms into four "battles". The first of +these was commanded by the Earl of Lincoln, with whom were the +constable and marshal, who at last had an opportunity of serving the +king in battle in the offices which belonged to them by hereditary +right. On approaching the morass this first line was thrown into some +confusion, and paused in its advance. Behind it the second battle, +under command of the Bishop of Durham, who, perhaps, knew the ground +better, wheeled to the east and took the Scots on their left flank. But +Bek's followers disobeyed his orders to wait until the rest of the army +came up, and they suffered heavy losses in attacking the left +schiltron. Before long, however, Lincoln found a way round the morass +westwards to the enemy's right, while the two rearmost battles, headed +by the king and Earl Warenne, also advanced to the front. The combat +thus became general. The Scots cavalry fled without striking a blow, +and some of the English thought that Wallace himself rode off the field +with them. The archers between the schiltrons were easily trampled +down, so that the only effective resistance came from the circles of +pikemen. The yeomanry of Scotland steadily held their own against the +fierce charges of the mail-clad knights, and it looked for a time as if +the day was theirs. But the despised infantry at last made their way to +the front and poured in showers of arrows that broke down the Scottish +ranks. Friend and foe were at such close quarters that the English who +had no bows threw stones against the Scottish circles. When the way was +thus prepared, the horsemen easily penetrated through the gaps made in +the circles, and before long the Scottish pikemen were a crowd of +panic-stricken fugitives. Edward's brilliant victory was won with +comparatively little loss. + +It was years before the Scots again ventured to meet the English in the +open field. Yet the king's victory was not followed by any real conquest +even of southern Scotland. Edward advanced to Stirling, where he rested +until he had recovered from his accident, while detachments of his +troops penetrated as far as Perth and St. Andrews. Meanwhile the +south-west rose in revolt, under Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, whose +father had fought at Falkirk. Late in August, Edward made his way to Ayr +and occupied it, while Bruce fled before him. Provisions were still +scarce, and the army was weary of fighting. The Durham contingent +deserted in a body,[1] and the earls were so lukewarm that Edward was +fain to return by way of Carlisle, capturing Lochmaben, Bruce's +Annandale stronghold, on the way. On September 8 the king reached +Carlisle, where the constable and marshal declared that they had lost so +many men and horses that they could no longer continue the campaign. +Edward tried to stem the tide of desertion by promises of Scottish lands +to those who would remain with his banners. But the distribution of +these rewards proved only a fresh source of discontent. At last Edward +was forced to dismiss the greater part of his forces. He lingered in the +north until the end of the year, but there was no more real fighting; +with the beginning of 1299 he returned to the south, convinced that the +disloyalty of his barons had neutralised his triumphs in the field. The +few castles which still upheld the English cause in Scotland were soon +closely besieged. + + [1] Lapsley, _County Palatine of Durham_, p. 128. + +During the whole of 1299 Edward was prevented by other work from +prosecuting the war against the Scots. Even the borderers were sick of +fighting, and Bishop Bek, who had hitherto afforded him an unswerving +support with all the forces of his palatinate, was forced to desist +from warlike operations by the refusal of his tenants to serve any +longer beyond the bounds of the lands of St. Cuthbert. While the men of +Durham abandoned the war, there was little reason to wonder at the +indifference of the south country as to the progress of the Scots. In +the Lenten parliament at London, the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk +pressed Edward once more to fulfil his promise to carry out the +confirmation of the charters. The king would not yield to their demand +yet dared not refuse it. In his perplexity he had recourse to evasions +which further embittered his relations with them. He promised that he +would give an answer the next day, but when the morrow came, he +secretly withdrew from the city. The angry barons followed him to his +retreat and reminded him of his broken promise. Edward coolly replied +that he left London because his health was suffering from the corrupt +air of the town, and bade the barons return, as his council had his +reply ready. The barons obeyed the king's orders, but their indignation +passed all bounds when they found that the king's promised confirmation +of the charters was vitiated by a new clause saving all the rights of +the crown, and that nothing was said as to the promised perambulation +of the forests. In bitter wrath the parliament broke up, and the +Londoners, who shared the anger of the barons, threatened a revolt. +After Easter these stormy scenes were repeated in a new parliament, and +Edward was at last forced to yield a grudging assent to all the demands +of the opposition, and even to appoint a commission for the +perambulation of the forests. By the time the summer was at hand, the +progress of the negotiations with France occupied Edward so fully that +he had abundant excuse for not precipitating a new rupture with his +barons, by insisting upon a fresh campaign against the Scots. + +A papal legate presided over a congress of English and French +ambassadors at Montreuil-sur-mer, which belonged to Edward by right of +the late queen, Eleanor as Countess of Ponthieu. The outcome of these +deliberations was the treaty of Montreuil, concluded on June 19, 1299. +It was not the final pacification which had been hoped for. Edward +indeed abandoned his Flemish allies, but Philip would not relax his +hold upon Gascony, and without that a definitive peace was impossible. +The treaty of Montreuil was simply a marriage treaty. Edward was +forthwith to marry Margaret, and his son was to be betrothed to +Isabella of France. Neither the prolongation of the truce nor the +affairs of the Flemings were mentioned in it, while all that Philip did +for the Scots was to provide for the liberation of the deposed King +John from his English prison. As soon as the ratifications were +exchanged the king, who was then sixty years of age, and his youthful +bride were married on September 9 at Canterbury by Archbishop +Winchelsea. + +Edward's willingness to marry the sister of the king who still kept him +out of Gascony can best be explained by his overmastering desire to +renew operations in Scotland. Shortly after his marriage, he again +busied himself with preparations for the long-delayed Scots campaign. +It was high time that he took action. The English garrisons were +surrendering one by one, and the Scottish magnates were deserting the +English cause. Their conversion to patriotic principles was made easier +by the decay of Wallace's power consequent on his defeat at Falkirk. +After stormy scenes with his aristocratic rivals, Wallace withdrew from +Scotland and went to the continent, where he implored the help of the +King of France. Philip proved true to his new brother-in-law, and put +Wallace in prison, only releasing him that he might go to Rome and +enlist the sympathy of Boniface VIII. Meanwhile the Scots chose a new +regency at the head of which was the younger John Comyn of Badenoch. +Under these changed conditions the Scottish earls rapidly rallied round +the national cause. Stirling, Edward's chief stronghold in central +Scotland, was so hardly pressed that the men-at-arms were forced to eat +their chargers. Yet when the English barons assembled about the +beginning of winter, in obedience to Edward's summons, they stubbornly +declared that they would not endure the hardships of a winter campaign +until the king had fulfilled his pledges as regards the charters. Thus +left to their own resources, the sorely tried garrison of Stirling +surrendered to the Scots. + +In March, 1300, Edward met his parliament at Westminster. Despite the +straits to which he was reduced, he was still unwilling to make a +complete surrender. He avoided a formal re-issue of the charters by +giving his sanction to a long series of articles, drawn up apparently by +the barons. These articles provided for the better publication of the +charters, and the appointment in every shire of a commission to punish +all offences against them which were not already provided for by the +common law; together with numerous technical clauses "for the relief of +the grievances that the people have had by reason of the wars that have +been, and for the amendment of their estate, and that they may be more +ready in the king's service and more willing to aid him when he has need +of them ". This document was known as _Articuli super cartas_.[1] At the +same time the forest perambulation, which had long been ordered, was +directed to be proceeded with at once. For this reason a chronicler +calls this assembly "the parliament of the perambulation".[2] The +reconciliation between the king and his subjects was attested by a grant +of a twentieth. + + [1] It is published in Bemont's _Chartes_, pp. 99-108, with + valuable comments; another draft analysed in _Hist. MSS. + Comm._, 6th Report, i., p. 344. + + [2] Langtoft, ii, 320. + +Edward's concessions once more enabled him to face the Scots, and the +summer saw a gallant army mustered at Carlisle, though some of the +earls, including Roger Bigod, still held aloof. A two months' campaign +was fought in south-western Scotland in July and August. But the +peasants drove their cattle to the hills, and rainy weather impeded the +king's movements. The chief exploit of the campaign was the capture of +Carlaverock castle, though even in the glowing verse of the herald, who +has commemorated the taking of this stronghold,[1] the military +insignificance of the achievement cannot be concealed. Edward returned +to the same district in October, but he effected so little that he was +glad to agree to a truce with the Scots, which Philip the Fair urged him +to accept. The armistice was to last until Whitsuntide, and Edward +immediately returned to England. He had not yet satisfied his subjects, +and was again forced to meet his estates. + + [1] _The Siege of Carlaverock_, ed. Nicolas (1828). + +A full parliament assembled on January 20, 1301, at Lincoln. The +special business was to receive the report of the forest perambulation; +and the first anticipation of the later custom of continuing the same +parliament from one session to another can be discerned in the +direction to the sheriffs that they should return the same +representatives of the shires and boroughs as had attended the Lenten +parliament of 1300, and only hold fresh elections in the case of such +members as had died or become incapacitated. During the ten days that +the commons were in session stormy scenes occurred. Edward would only +promise to agree to the disafforestments recommended by the +perambulators, if the estates would assure him that he could do so, +without violating his coronation oath or disinheriting his crown. The +estates refused to undertake this grave responsibility, and a long +catalogue of their grievances was presented to Edward by Henry of +Keighley, knight of the shire for Lancashire, and one of the first +members of the third estate of whose individual action history has +preserved any trace. The commons demanded a fresh confirmation of the +charters; the punishment of the royal ministers who had infringed them, +or the _Articuli super cartas_ of the previous session, and the +completion of the proposed disafforestments. In addition, the prelates +declared that they could not assent to any tax being imposed upon the +clergy contrary to the papal prohibition. Among the ministers specially +signalled out for attack was the treasurer, Bishop Walter Langton, and +in this Edward discerned the influence of Winchelsea, for he was +Langton's personal enemy. The king's disgust at the primate's action +was the more complete since Bishop Bek now arrayed himself on the side +of the opposition. Edward showed his ill-will by consigning Henry of +Keighley to prison. But the coalition was too formidable to be +withstood. The king agreed to all the secular demands of the estates, +accepted the hated disafforestments and directed the re-issue of a +further confirmation of the charters, but refused his assent to the +demand of the prelates. A grant of a fifteenth was then made, and +Edward dismissed the popular representatives on January 30, retaining +the prelates and nobles for further business. On February 14, the last +confirmation of the charters concluded the long chapter of history, +which had begun at Runnymede. + +Edward strove to separate his baronial and his clerical enemies, and +found an opportunity, which he was not slow to use, in the +uncompromising papalism of Winchelsea. Boniface VIII. had no sooner +settled the relations of England and France than he threw himself with +ardour into an attempt to establish peace between England and Scotland. +Scottish emissaries, including perhaps Wallace himself, gave Boniface +their version of the ancient relations of the two crowns. On June 27, +1299, the pope issued the letter _Scimus, fili_, in which he claimed +that Scotland specially belonged to the apostolic see, on the ground +that it was converted through the relics of St. Andrew. He denied all +feudal dependence of Scotland on Edward, and explained away the +submissions of 1291 as arising from such momentary fear as might fall +upon the most steadfast. If Edward persisted in his claims, he was to +submit them to the judgment of the Roman _curia_ within the next six +months. In 1300 Winchelsea, who fully accepted the new papal doctrine, +sought out Edward in the midst of the Carlaverock campaign and presented +him with Boniface's letter. Edward's hot temper fired up at the +archbishop's ill-timed intervention, and subsequent military failures +had not smoothed over the situation. His wrath reached its climax when +Winchelsea once more stirred up opposition in the Lincoln parliament, +and his refusal of a demand, which the primate had astutely added to the +commons' requests, showed that he was prepared for war to the knife. +Edward laid the papal letter before the earls and barons that still +tarried with him at Lincoln. His appeal to their patriotism was not +unsuccessful. A letter was drawn up, which was sealed, then and +subsequently, by more than a hundred secular magnates, in which Boniface +was roundly told that the King of England was in no wise bound to answer +in the pope's court as to his rights over the realm of Scotland or as to +any other temporal matter, and that the papal claim was unprecedented, +and prejudicial to Edward's sovereignly. A longer historical statement +was composed by the king's order in answer to Boniface. It is not +certain that the two documents ever reached the pope, but they had great +effect in influencing English opinion and in breaking down the alliance +between the baronage and the ecclesiastical party.[1] Winchelsea's +influence was fatally weakened, and the period of his overthrow was at +hand. + + [1] See, on the barons' letter, the _Ancestor_, for July and + October, 1903, and Jan., 1904. + +The triumph over Winchelsea made Edward's position stronger than it had +been during the first days of the Lincoln parliament. That assembly +ended amidst the festivities which attended the creation of Edward of +Carnarvon as Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, and Count of Ponthieu. +The new prince, already seventeen years of age, had made his first +campaign in the previous year. But all the pains that Edward took in +training his son in warfare and in politics bore little fruit, and +Edward of Carnarvon's introduction to active life was only to add +another trouble to the many that beset the king. + +When the truce with Scotland expired, in the summer of 1301, Edward +again led an army over the border, in which the Prince of Wales +appeared, at the head of a large Welsh contingent. Little of military +importance happened. Edward remained in Scotland over the cold season, +and kept his Christmas court at Linlithgow. Men and horses perished +amidst the rigours of the northern winter, and, before the end of +January, 1302, the king was glad to accept a truce, suggested by Philip +of France, to last until the end of November. Immediately afterwards he +was called to the south by the negotiations for a permanent peace with +France, which still hung fire despite his marriage to the French king's +sister. The earlier stages of the negotiation were transacted at Rome, +but it was soon clear to Edward that no good would come to him from the +intervention of the _curia_. The fundamental difficulty still lay in the +refusal of Philip to relax his grasp on Gascony. Not even the +exaltation, consequent on the success of the famous jubilee of 1300, +blinded Boniface to the patent fact that he dared not order the +restitution of Gascony. "We cannot give you an award," declared the pope +to the English envoys in 1300. "If we pronounced in your favour, the +French would not abide by it, and could not be compelled, for they would +make light of any penalty." "What the French once lay hold of," he said +again, "they never let go, and to have to do with the French is to have +to do with the devil."[1] A year later Boniface could do no more than +appeal to the crusading zeal of Edward not to allow his claim on a patch +of French soil to stand between him and his vow. With such commonplaces +the papal mediation died away. + + [1] See the remarkable report of the Bishop of Winchester to + Edward printed in _Engl. Hist. Review_, xvii. (1902), pp. + 518-27. + +Two events in 1302 indirectly contributed towards the establishment of +a permanent peace. These were the successful revolt of Flanders from +French domination, and the renewed quarrel between Philip and Boniface. +On May 18, the Flemings, in the "matins of Bruges," cruelly avenged +themselves for the oppressions which they had endured from Philip's +officials, and on July 11 the revolted townsfolk won the battle of +Courtrai, in which their heavy armed infantry defeated the feudal +cavalry of France, a victory of the same kind as that Wallace had +vainly hoped to gain at Falkirk. Even before the Flemish rising, the +reassertion of high sacerdotal doctrine in the bull _Ausculta, fili_ +had renewed the strife between Boniface and the French king. A few +months later the bull _Unam sanctam_ laid down with emphasis the +doctrine that those who denied that the temporal sword belongs to St. +Peter were heretics, unmindful of the teachings of Christ. Thus began +the famous difference that went on with ever-increasing fury until the +outrage at Anagni, on September 7, 1303, brought about the fall of +Boniface and the overthrow of the Hildebrandine papacy. Meanwhile +Philip was devoting his best energies to constant, and not altogether +vain, attempts to avenge the defeat of Courtrai, and re-establish his +hold on Flanders. With these two affairs on his hands, it was useless +for him to persevere in his attempt to hold Gascony. + +In the earlier stages of his quarrel with Philip, Boniface built great +hopes on Edward's support, and strongly urged him to fight for holy +Church against the impious French king. But Edward had suffered too +much from Boniface to fall into so obvious a trap. His hold over his +own clergy was so firm that Winchelsea himself had no chance of taking +up the papal call to battle. Thus it was that _Unam sanctam_ produced +no such clerical revolt in England as _Clericis laicos_ had done. It +was Edward's policy to make use of Philip's necessities to win back +Gascony, and cut off all hope of French support from the Scottish +patriots. Philip himself was the more disposed to agree with his +brother-in-law's wishes, because about Christmas, 1302, Bordeaux threw +off the French yoke and called in the English. The best way to save +French dignity was by timely concession. Accordingly, on May 20, 1303, +the definitive treaty of Paris was sealed, by which the two kings were +pledged to "perpetual peace and friendship". Gascony was restored, and +Edward agreed that he, or his son, should perform liege homage for it. +With the discharge of this duty by the younger Edward at Amiens, in +1304, the last stage of the pacification was accomplished. For the rest +of the reign, England and France remained on cordial terms. Neither +Edward nor Philip had resources adequate to the accomplishment of great +schemes of foreign conquest. Though Edward got back Gascony, he owed +it, not to his own power, but to the embarrassment of his rival. + +While completing his pacification with Philip the Fair, Edward was +busily engaged in establishing his power at home, at the expense of the +clerical and baronial opposition, which had stood for so many years in +the way of the conquest of Scotland. Since the parliament of Lincoln, +Winchelsea was no longer dangerous. He failed even to get Boniface on +his side in a scandalous attack which he instigated on Bishop Langton. +His constant efforts to enlarge his jurisdiction raised up enemies all +over his diocese and province, and the mob of his cathedral city broke +open his palace, while he was in residence there. His inability to +introduce into England even a pale reflection of the struggle of Philip +and the pope showed how clearly he had lost influence since the days of +_Clericis laicos_. A more recent convert to higher clerical pretensions +also failed. Bishop Bek of Durham lost all his power, and was deprived +of his temporalities by the king in 1302. Two years later the +insignificant Archbishop of York also incurred the royal displeasure, +and was punished in the same fashion. With Durham, Norhamshire, and +Hexhamshire all in the royal hands, the road into Scotland was +completely open. + +The heavy hand of Edward fell upon earls as well as upon bishops. Even +in the early days of his reign when none, save Gilbert of Gloucester, +dared uplift the standard of opposition, Edward had not spared the +greatest barons in his efforts to eliminate the idea of tenure from +English political life. A subtle extension of his earlier policy began +to emphasise the dependence of the landed dignitaries on his pleasure. +The extinction of several important baronial houses made this the +easier, and Edward took care to retain escheats in his own hands, or at +least to entrust them only to persons of approved confidence. The old +leaders of opposition were dead or powerless. Ralph of Monthermer, the +simple north-country knight who had won the hand of Joan of Acre, ruled +over the Gloutester-Glamorgan inheritance on behalf of his wife and +Edward's little grandson, Gilbert of Clare. The Earl of Hereford died +in 1299, and in 1302 his son and successor, another Humphrey Bohun, was +bribed by a marriage with the king's daughter, Elizabeth, the widowed +Countess of Holland, to surrender his lands to the crown and receive +them back, like the Earl of Gloucester in 1290, entailed on the issue +of himself and his consort. In the same year the childless earl +marshal, Roger Bigod, conscious of his inability to continue any longer +his struggle against royal assumptions and at variance with his brother +and heir, made a similar surrender of his estates, which was the more +humiliating since the estate in tail, with which he was reinvested, was +bound to terminate with his life. In 1306, on the marshal's death, the +Bigod inheritance lapsed to the crown. Much earlier than that, in 1293, +Edward had extorted on her deathbed from the great heiress, Isabella of +Fors, Countess of Albemarle and Devon, the bequest of the Isle of Wight +and the adjacent castle of Christchurch. In 1300, on the death of the +king's childless cousin, Earl Edmund, the wealthy earldom of Cornwall +escheated to the crown. To Edward's contemporaries the acquisition of +the earldoms of Norfolk and Cornwall seemed worthy to be put alongside +the conquests of Wales and Scotland.[1] + + [1] See John of London, _Commendatio lamentabilis_ in _Chron. + of Edw. I. and Edw. II._, ii., 8-9. See for the earldoms my + _Earldoms under Edward I._ in _Transactions of the Royal + Historical Society, new ser._, viii. (1894), 129-155. + +Even more important as adding to Edward's resources than these direct +additions to the royal domains, was the increasing dependence of the +remaining earls upon the crown. His sons-in-law of Gloucester and +Hereford were entirely under his sway. In 1304 the aged Earl Warenne +had died, and in 1306 his grandson and successor was bound closely to +the royal policy by his marriage with Joan of Bar, Edward's +grand-daughter. In the same way Edward's young nephew, Thomas of +Lancaster, ruled over the three earldoms of Lancaster, Derby, and +Leicester, and by his marriage to the daughter and heiress of Henry +Lacy, was destined to add to his immense estates the additional +earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury. Edward of Carnarvon was learning the +art of government in Wales, Cheshire, and Ponthieu. The policy of +concentrating the higher baronial dignities in the royal family was no +novelty, but Edward carried it out more systematically and successfully +than any of his predecessors. He reaped the immediate advantages of his +dexterity in the extinction of baronial opposition and in the zeal of +the baronial levies against the Scots during the concluding years of +his reign. Yet the later history of the Middle Ages bears witness to +the grievous dangers to the wielder of the royal power which lurked +beneath a system so attractive in appearance. + +The truce with the Scots ended in November, 1302, and Edward despatched +a strong force to the north under John Segrave. On February 24, 1303, +Segrave, attacked unexpectedly by the enemy at Roslin, near Edinburgh, +suffered a severe defeat. The conclusion of the treaty of Paris gave +Edward the opportunity for avenging the disaster. He summoned his +levies to assemble at Roxburgh for Whitsuntide and, a fortnight before +that time, appeared in person in Tweeddale. After seven weary years of +waiting and failure, he was at last in a position to wear down the +obstinate Scots by the same systematic and deliberate policy that had +won for him the principality of Wales. The invasion of Scotland was +henceforth to continue as long as the Scottish resistance. Adequate +resources were procured to enable the royal armies to hold the field, +and a politic negotiation with the foreign merchants resulted in a +_carta mercatoria_ by which additional customs were imposed upon +English exports. These imposts, known as the "new and small customs," +as opposed to the "old and great customs" established in 1275, were not +sanctioned by parliamentary grant: but for the moment they provoked no +opposition. Thus Edward was equipped both with men and money for his +undertaking. At last the true conquest of Scotland began. + +No attempt was made in the Lothians to stop Edward's advance, but the +Scots, under the regent, John Comyn of Badenoch, made a vigorous effort +to hold the line of the Forth against him. Their plan seemed to promise +well, for Stirling castle was still in Scottish hands. Edward crossed +the river by a ford, and all organised efforts to oppose him at once +ceased. Prudently leaving Stirling to itself for the present, he +hurried to Perth. After spending most of June and July at Perth, he led +his army northwards, nearly following the line of his advance in 1296, +through Perth, Brechin, and Aberdeen, to Banff and Elgin. The most +remote point reached was Kinloss, a few miles west of Elgin, in which +neighbourhood he spent much of September. Then he slowly retraced his +steps and took up his winter quarters at Dunfermline. In all this long +progress, the only energetic resistance which Edward encountered was at +Brechin. Flushed with his triumph, he ordered Stirling to be besieged, +and from April, 1304, directed the operations himself. The garrison +held out with the utmost gallantry, but at last a breach was effected +in the walls, and on July 24 the defenders laid down their arms. Long +before the Scots people despaired of withstanding the invader, the +nobles grew cold in the defence of their country. In February, 1304, +the regent and many of the earls made their submission. It was more +than suspected that this result was brought about by the threat of +Edward to divide their lands among his English followers. But on Comyn +and his friends showing a desire to yield, the king readily promised +them their lives and estates. Believing that his task was over, Edward +returned to England in August after an absence of nearly fifteen +months. He crossed the Humber early in December, kept his Christmas +court at Lincoln, and reached London late in February. As a sign of the +completion of the conquest, he ordered that the law courts, which since +1297 had been established at York, should resume their sessions in +London. + +A few heroes still upheld the independence of Scotland. Foremost among +them was Sir William Wallace, who, since his mission to France in 1298, +had disappeared from history. The submission of the barons to Edward +gave him another chance. He took a strenuous part in the struggle of +1303-4, and he was specially exempted from the easy pardons with which +Edward purchased the submission of the greater nobles. It was the +daring and skill of Wallace that prolonged the Scots' struggle until +the spring of 1305. But he was then once more an outlaw and a fugitive, +only formidable by his hold over the people, and by the possibility +that the smallest spark of resistance might at any time be blown into a +flame. At last he was captured through the zeal, or treachery, of a +Scot in Edward's service. In August, Wallace was despatched to London +to stand a public trial for treason, sedition, sacrilege, and murder. +He denied that he had ever become Edward's subject, but did not escape +conviction. With his execution, the last stage of Edward's triumph in +Scotland was accomplished. Though the full measure of Wallace's fame +belongs to a later age rather than his own, yet it was a sure instinct +that made the Scottish people celebrate him as the popular hero of +their struggle for independence. His courage, persistency, and daring +stands in marked contrast to the self-seeking opportunism of the great +nobles, who afterwards appropriated the results of his endeavours. Yet +we can hardly blame Edward for making an example of him, when he fell +into his power. Even if Wallace had successfully evaded the oath of +fealty to Edward, it is scarcely reasonable to expect that the king +would consider this technical plea as availing against his doctrine +that all Scots were necessarily his subjects since the submission of +1296. It was Wallace's glory that he fought his fight and paid the +penalty of it. + +A full parliament of the three estates sat with the king at Westminster +from February 28 to March 21, 1305. The proceedings of this assembly are +known with a fulness exceeding that of the record of any of the other +parliaments of the reign.[1] Among the matters enumerated in the writs +as specially demanding attention was the "establishment of our realm of +Scotland". Three Scottish magnates, Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, +Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and John Mowbray were particularly called +upon to give their advice as to how Scotland was to be represented in a +later parliament, in which the plans for its future government were to +be drawn up. They informed the king that two bishops, two abbots, two +barons, and two representatives of the commons, one from the south of +the Forth and the other from the north thereof, would be sufficient for +this purpose. This further "parliament" assembled on September 15, three +weeks after the execution of Wallace. It consisted simply of twenty +councillors of Edward, and the ten Scottish delegates. From the joint +deliberations of these thirty sprang the "ordinance made by the lord +king for the establishment of the land of Scotland". + + [1] See _Memoranda, de parliamento_ (1305), ed. F.W. Maitland + (Rolls Series). + +Following the general lines of the settlement of the principality of +Wales, the ordinance combined Edward's direct lordship over Scotland +with a legal and administrative system separate from that of England. +John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, the king's sister's son, was made +Edward's lieutenant and warden of Scotland, and under him were a +chancellor, a chamberlain, and a controller. Scotland was to be split +up for judicial purposes into districts corresponding to its racial and +political divisions. Four pairs of justices were appointed for each of +these regions, two for Lothian, two for Galloway and the south-west, +two for the lands "between Forth and the mountains," that is the +Lowland districts of the north-east, and two for the lands "beyond the +mountains," that is for the Highlands and islands. Sheriffs "natives +either of England or Scotland" were nominated for each of the shires, +and it was significant that the great majority of them were Scots and +that the hereditary sheriffdoms of the older system were still +continued. The "custom of the Scots and the Welsh," that is the Celtic +laws of the Highlanders and the Strathclyde Welsh, was "henceforth +prohibited and disused". John of Brittany was to "assemble the good +people of Scotland in a convenient place" where "the laws of King David +and the amendments by other kings" were to be rehearsed, and such of +these laws as are "plainly against God and reason" were to be reformed, +all doubtful matters being referred to the judgment of Edward. The +king's lieutenant was bidden to "remove such persons as might disturb +the peace" to the south of the Trent, but their deportation was to be +in "courteous fashion" and after taking the advice of the "good people +of Scotland". Care for the preservation of the peace, and for +administrative reform, is seen in the oath imposed upon officials and +in the pains taken to secure the custody of the castles. The Scots +parliament was to be retained, and recent precedents also suggested the +probability of Scottish representation in the parliament of England. If +Scotland were to be ruled by Edward at all, it would have been +difficult to devise a wiser scheme for its administration. Yet the +Scottish love of independence was not to be bartered away for better +government. Within six months the new constitution was overthrown, and +the chief part in its destruction was taken by the Scots by whose +advice Edward had drawn it up. + +Edward at last felt himself in a position to take his long deferred +revenge on Winchelsea. The primate still kept aloof from the councils of +the king, and his spirit was as irreconcilable as ever. He gained his +last victory in the Lenten parliament of 1305, when he prevented the +promulgation of a statute, passed on the petition of the laity, but +agreed to by all the estates, which forbade taxes on ecclesiastical +property involving the exportation of money out of the country.[1] At +this moment the long vacancy of the papacy, which followed the +pontificate of Benedict XI., Boniface VIII.'s short-lived successor, had +not yet come to an end. Soon, however, Winchelsea's zeal on behalf of +papal taxation was to be ill requited. On June 5, 1305, Bertrand de +Goth, a Gascon nobleman who since 1299 had been archbishop of Bordeaux, +was elected to the papacy as Clement V., through the management of +Philip the Fair. A dependant of the King of France and a subject of the +King of England, the new pope showed a complaisance towards kings which +stood in strong contrast to the ultramontane austerity of his +predecessors. He refused to visit Italy, received the papal crown at +Lyons, and spent the first years of his pontificate in Poitou and +Gascony. Ultimately establishing himself at Avignon, he began that +seventy years of Babylonish captivity of the apostolic see which greatly +degraded the papacy. Though Clement's main concern was to fulfil the +exacting conditions which, as it was believed, Philip had imposed upon +him, he was almost as subservient to Edward as to the King of France. +His deference to his natural lord enabled Edward to renounce the most +irksome of the obligations which he had incurred to his subjects, to +punish Winchelsea, and to restrain Roman authority by laws which +anticipate the legislation of the age of Edward III. + + [1] _Memoranda de parliamento_, preface, p. li. The statement + in the text is an inference suggested by Professor Maitland's + account of the statute _De asportis religiosorum_. For the last + struggle of Edward and Winchelsea, see Stubbs's preface to + _Chron. of Edw. I. and Edw. II._, i., xcix.-cxiii. + +At Clement V.'s coronation at Lyons, in November, England was +represented by Winchelsea's old enemy, Bishop Walter Langton, and by +the Earl of Lincoln. The first result of their work was the +promulgation, on December 29, of the bull _Regalis devotionis_, by +which the pope annulled the additions made to the charters in 1297 and +succeeding years, and dispensed Edward from the oath which he had taken +to observe them, on the ground that it was in conflict with his +coronation vows. Next year Edward took advantage of this bull to revoke +the disafforestments made by the parliament of Lincoln in 1301. It may +be a sign either of the moderation, or of the well-grounded fears of +the king, that he made no further use of the papal absolution. But, +like his father and grandfather, he used the papal authority to set +aside his plighted word, and his conduct in this respect suggests that +it was well for England that the renewal of the Scottish troubles +reduced for the rest of the reign the temptation, which the bull held +out to him, to play fast and loose with the liberties of his subjects. +The standards of contemporary morality were not, however, infringed by +Edward's action, dishonourable and undignified as it seems to us of +later times. + +Winchelsea's turn was at last come. On February 12, 1306, +Clement suspended him from his office, and summoned him to appear +before the _curia_. On March 25 the archbishop humbled himself before +Edward and begged for his protection. But the king overwhelmed him with +reproaches and refused to show him any mercy. Within two months, the +primate took ship for France and made his way to the papal court, which +was then established at Bordeaux. He remained in exile, though in the +English king's dominions, for the rest of Edward's life. A less harsh +punishment was meted out to the Bishop of Durham, who then came back +from the court of Clement with the magnificent title of Patriarch of +Jerusalem. For a second time Edward laid violent hands upon the rich +temporalities of the see, and Bek, like Winchelsea, remained under a +cloud for the remainder of the reign. + +Clement expected to be paid for yielding so much to the king. A papal +agent, William de Testa, was sent to England, and to him Edward gave +the administration of the temporalities of Canterbury. William's energy +in collecting first-fruits aroused a storm of opposition from the +clergy. The laity, disgusted to find that the king was negotiating for +the transference of a crusading tenth to himself, associated themselves +with their protest. Clement thereupon despatched the Cardinal Peter of +Spain to England, that he might attempt to arrange a general +pacification, and complete the marriage of the Prince of Wales to +Isabella of France, which had been agreed upon in 1303. Before the +cardinal's arrival, Edward's last parliament met in January, 1307, at +Carlisle. The renewed disturbances in Scotland necessitated a meeting +on the border, but the main transactions of the estates bore upon +matters ecclesiastical. The lords and commons joined in demanding from +the king a remedy against the oppressions of the apostolic see. A +spirited and strongly worded protest was addressed to the pope. Nor +were the estates contented with mere remonstrances. The statute of +Carlisle renewed the abortive measure of 1305 _De asportis +religiosorum_, by prohibiting tallages of religious houses being sent +out of the realm. Had the petition of the estates been drafted into a +statute, the parliament of Carlisle would have anticipated the statute +of _Praemunire_ and many other anti-papal enactments. But Peter of +Spain arrived, and Edward thought it injudicious to provoke a contest +with the papacy. Even the petition actually approved was left in +suspense to await further negotiations between the king and the +cardinal. Before any decision was come to, Edward died, and this +anti-Roman movement, like so many which had preceded it, resulted in +little more than brave words. When, two generations later, a more +resolute temper seized upon king and estates, they fell back upon the +petitions and proceedings of the parliament of Carlisle for precedents +for resisting the papal authority. With all its pitiful conclusion, +Edward's ecclesiastical policy at least marks a step in advance upon +the dependent attitude of Henry III. + +In the period of peace after the conquest of Scotland, Edward busied +himself with strengthening the administration of his own kingdom and +with enforcing the laws against violence and outrage. Under the +strongest of medieval kings, the state of society was very disorderly, +and even a ruler like Edward had often to be contented with holding up +in his legislation an ideal of conduct which he was powerless to +enforce in detail. Complaints had long been made that the greater +nobles encroached upon poor men's inheritances, that gangs of marauders +ranged over the country, wreaking every sort of violence and outrage, +and that the law courts would give no redress to the sufferers from +such outrageous deeds, since judges and juries were alike terrorised by +overmighty offenders and dared not administer equal justice. +Accordingly in the Lenten parliament of 1305 was drawn up the ordinance +of Trailbaston, by which the king was empowered to issue writs of +inquiry, addressed to special justices in the various shires, and +authorising them to take vigorous action against these _trailbastons_, +or men with clubs, whose outrages had become so grievous. It was not so +much a new law as an administrative act; but it formed a precedent for +later times, and the energy of the justices of trailbaston effected a +real, if temporary, improvement in the condition of the country. So +important was the measure that a chronicler calls the year in which +this was enacted the "year of trailbaston".[1] + + [1] _Liber de antiquis legibus_, p. 250. + +Never did Edward's prospects seem brighter than in the early days of +1306. Scotland was obedient; the French alliance was firmly cemented; +the pope was complacent; the Archbishop of Canterbury was in exile and +the Bishop of Durham in disgrace; the commons were grateful for the +better order secured by the commissions of trailbaston, and the king +had in the papal absolution a weapon in reserve, which he could always +use against a renewal of baronial opposition, though, for the moment, +neither nobles nor commons seemed likely to give trouble. Once more +there was some talk of Edward leading a crusade, and the French lawyer, +Peter Dubois, at this time dedicated to him the first draft of his +remarkable treatise on the recovery of the Holy Land.[1] Nor did the +project seem altogether impracticable. Though Edward was sixty-seven +years of age, he remained slim, vigorous and straight as a palm tree. +He could mount his horse and ride to the hunt or the field with the +activity of youth. His eyes were not dimmed with age and his teeth were +still firm in his jaws.[2] The worst trouble which immediately beset him, +was the undutiful conduct of the young Prince of Wales, who foolishly +quarrelled with Bishop Langton, and preferred to amuse himself with +unworthy favourites rather than submit himself to the severe training +in arms and affairs to which Edward had long striven to inure him. When +all thus seemed favourable, a sudden storm burst in Scotland which +plunged the old king into renewed troubles. + + [1] _De recuperatione terre sancte_, ed. C.V. Langlois (1891). + + [2] John of London, _Commendatio lamentabilis_, pp. 5-6. + +In 1304 Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, became by his father's death the +head of his house. Though he had long adhered to the regency which had +governed Scotland in Balliol's name, he had now made terms with Edward, +and had taken a conspicuous part in bringing about the pacification of +Scotland under its new constitution. But the double policy, which had +involved him in the shifts and tergiversations of his earlier career, +still dominated the mind of the ambitious earl. At the moment of his +submission to Edward, he entered into an intimate alliance with Bishop +Lamberton of St. Andrews, the old partisan of Wallace. Lamberton was +then, like Bruce, on Edward's side, and as John of Brittany had not yet +personally taken up his new charge, the blind confidence of Edward +entrusted him with the foremost place among the commissioners who acted +as wardens of Scotland during the king's lieutenant's absence. Bruce, +still remembering his grandfather's claim on the throne, welcomed the +definitive setting aside of Balliol. While Edward believed that +Scotland was quietening down under its new constitution, Bruce was +secretly conspiring with the Scottish magnates, with a view to making +himself king. His chief difficulty was with the late regent, John Comyn +the Red, lord of Badenoch. The Bruces and the Comyns had long been at +variance, and the Red Comyn, who was the nephew of the deposed King +John, regarded himself as the representative of the Balliol claim to +the throne, and was not unmindful how his father had withdrawn his +pretensions in 1291 rather than divide the Balliol interest. Meanwhile +the antagonism of the two houses was the best safeguard for the +continuance of Edward's rule. + +Bruce was violent as well as able and ambitious. He invited Comyn to a +conference for January 10, 1306, in the Franciscan friary at Dumfries. +On that day the king's justices were holding the assizes in the castle, +and Brace and Comyn, with a few followers, met in the cloister of the +convent. Hot words were exchanged, and Bruce drew his sword and wounded +Comyn. The lord of Badenoch took refuge in the church, and some of +Bruce's friends followed him and slew him on the steps of the high +altar. This cruel murder involved a violent breach between Bruce and +the king. The earl took to the hills, declared himself the champion of +national independence, and renewed his claim to the crown. He was +joined by a great multitude of the people and by a certain number of +the magnates. Conspicuous among the latter was Bishop Wishart of +Glasgow, who broke his sixth oath of fealty, using the timber given him +by Edward for building the steeple of his cathedral in constructing +military engines to besiege the castles which were still held for the +English king. Before long Bishop Lamberton, the chief of the Edwardian +government, also went over. The support of the two bishops enabled +Bruce to be crowned on March 25 at Scone. All Scotland was soon in +revolt, and only the garrisons and a few magnates remained faithful to +Edward. + +News of the death of Comyn and the revolt of Bruce reached Edward, +while engaged in hunting in Dorset and Wiltshire. He at once called +upon Church and State to unite against the sacreligious murderer and +traitor. Clement V. excommunicated the Earl of Carrick, and deprived +Lamberton and Wishart of their bishoprics. The warlike zeal of the +English barons was stimulated by liberal grants of the forfeited +estates of Bruce and his partisans. Feeling the infirmities of age +coming upon him, Edward saw that his best chance of success was to +inspire his son with something of his spirit. The Prince of Wales +accordingly received a grant of Gascony, and on Whitsunday, May 22, was +dubbed knight at Westminster along with over two hundred other +aspirants to arms. A magnificent feast in Westminster Hall succeeded +the ceremony. Two swans, adorned with golden chains, were brought in, +and the old king set to all the revellers the example of vowing on the +swans to revenge the murder of Comyn. Edward swore that when he had +expiated this wrong to Holy Church, he would never more bear arms +against Christian man, but would immediately turn his steps towards the +Holy Land to redeem the Holy Sepulchre. The Prince of Wales' vow was +never to rest two nights in the same spot until he had reached Scotland +to assist his father in his purpose. Then all the young knights were +despatched northwards to overthrow the Scottish pretender. + +A liberal grant from the estates facilitated the military preparations. +But since the beginning of the year, Edward's strength had rapidly +broken. He was no longer able to ride, and his movements were +consequently very tedious. His army gathered together with more than +the usual slowness, and Aymer of Valence, Earl of Pembroke, the king's +cousin, was sent forward as warden of Scotland to meet Bruce with such +forces as were ready. On June 26 Aymer fell upon Bruce at Methven, near +Perth, and inflicted a severe defeat upon him. The power of the +pretender died away as rapidly as it had arisen. The Bishops of St. +Andrews and Glasgow were made prisoners, and Bruce's brothers, wife, +and daughter fell into the enemy's hands. The brothers were promptly +beheaded, though one of them was an ecclesiastic, and the ladies were +confined in English nunneries. Bruce himself fled to Kintyre, and +thence to Rathlin island, off the coast of Antrim. + +Edward went north in July, and, after a long stay in Northumberland, +took up his quarters early in October with the Austin canons of +Lanercost, near Carlisle. There he remained for above five months. In +January, 1307, the parliament, whose anti-clerical policy has already +been recounted, assembled at Carlisle, and remained in session until +March. With the spring, Brace crossed over from Ireland, and +re-appeared in his own lands in the south-west. In May he revenged the +rout of Methven by inflicting a bloody check on Aymer of Valence near +Ayr, and within three days gained another victory over Edward's +son-in-law, Earl Ralph of Gloucester. These blows only spurred on +Edward to increased efforts. The levies were summoned to meet at +Carlisle and, regardless of his infirmities, the old king resolved to +lead his troops in person. On July 3 he once more mounted his horse and +started for the border. But his constitution could not respond to the +demands made on it by his unbroken spirit. After a journey of two miles +he was forced to rest for the night. Next day he could only traverse a +similar distance, and his exertions so fatigued him that he was +compelled to remain at his lodgings all the following day. This repose +enabled him to make his way, on July 6, to Burgh-on-Sands, less than +seven miles from Carlisle, where he spent the night. On July 7, as he +was being raised in his bed by his attendants to take his morning meal, +he fell back in their arms and expired. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GAVESTON, THE ORDAINERS, AND BANNOCKBURN. + + +Edward of Carnarvon was over twenty-three years of age when he became +king. Tall, graceful, and handsome, with magnificent health and +exceptional bodily strength, the young king was, so far as externals +went, almost as fine a man as his father. Yet no one could have been +more absolutely destitute of all those qualities which constitute +Edward I.'s claims to greatness. An utter want of serious purpose +blasted his whole career. It was in vain that his father subjected him +to a careful training in statecraft and in military science. Though not +lacking in intelligence, the young prince from the first to the last +concerned himself with nothing but his own amusements. A confirmed +gambler and a deep drinker, Edward showed a special bent for unkingly +and frivolous diversions. Save in his devotion for the chase, his +tastes had nothing in common with the high-born youths with whom he was +educated. He showed himself a coward on the battlefield, and shirked +even the mimic warfare of the tournament. He repaid the contempt and +dislike of his own class by withdrawing himself from the society of the +nobles, and associating himself with buffoons, singers, play-actors, +coachmen, ditchers, watermen, sailors, and smiths. Of the befitting +comrades of his youth, the only one of the higher aristocracy with whom +he had any true intimacy was his nephew, Gilbert of Clare, while the +only member of his household for whom he showed real affection was the +Gascon knight, Peter of Gaveston.[1] Attributing his son's levity to +Gaveston's corrupting influence, the old king had banished the foreign +favourite early in 1307. But no change in his surroundings could stir +up the prince's frivolous nature to fulfil the duties of his station. +Edward's most kingly qualities were love of fine clothes and of +ceremonies. Passionately fond of rowing, driving, horse-breeding, and +the rearing of dogs, his ordinary occupations were those of the athlete +or the artisan. He was skilful with his hands, and an excellent +mechanic, proficient at the anvil and the forge, and proud of his skill +in digging ditches and thatching roofs. Interested in music, and +devoted to play-acting, he was badly educated, taking the coronation +oath in the French form provided for a king ignorant of Latin. Vain, +irritable, and easily moved to outbursts of childish wrath, he was +half-conscious of the weakness of his will, and was never without a +favourite, whose affection compensated him for his subjects' contempt. +The household of so careless a master was disorderly beyond the +ordinary measure of the time. While Edward irritated the nobles by his +neglect of their counsel, he vexed the commons by the exactions of his +purveyors. + + [1] That is Gabaston, dep. Basses Pyrenees, cant. Morlaas. + +The task which lay before Edward might well have daunted a stronger +man. The old king had failed in the great purpose of his life. Scotland +was in full revolt and had found a man able to guide her destinies. The +crown was deeply in debt; the exchequer was bare of supplies, and the +revenues both of England and Gascony were farmed by greedy and +unpopular companies of Italian bankers, such as the Frescobaldi of +Florence, the king's chief creditors. The nobles, though restrained by +the will of the old king, still cherished the ideals of the age of the +Barons' War, and were convinced that the best way to rule England was +to entrust the machinery of the central government, which Edward I. had +elaborated with so much care, to the control of a narrow council of +earls and prelates. Winchelsea, though broken in health, looked forward +in his banishment to the renewal of the alliance of baronage and +clergy, and to the reassertion of hierarchical ideals. The papal +_curia_, already triumphant in the last days of the reign of the dead +king, was anticipating a return to the times of Henry III, when every +dignity of the English Church was at its mercy. The strenuous endeavour +which had marked the last reign gave place to the extreme of +negligence. + +Edward at once broke with the policy of his father. After receiving, at +Carlisle, the homage of the English magnates, he crossed the Solway to +Dumfries, where such Scottish barons as had not joined Robert Bruce +took oaths of fealty to him. He soon relinquished the personal conduct +of the war, and travelled slowly to Westminster on the pretext of +following his father's body to its last resting-place. He replaced his +father's ministers by dependants of his own. Bishop Walter Langton, the +chief minister of the last years of Edward I., was singled out for +special vengeance. He was stripped of his offices, robbed of his +treasure, and thrown into close confinement, without any regard to the +immunities of a churchman from secular jurisdiction. Langton's place as +treasurer was given to Walter Reynolds, an illiterate clerk, who had +won the chief place in Edward's household through his skill in +theatricals. Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London, was replaced in the +chancery by John Langton, Bishop of Chichester. The barons of the +exchequer, the justices of the high courts, and the other ministers of +the old king were removed in favour of more complacent successors. +Signal favour was shown to all who had fallen under Edward I.'s +displeasure. Bishop Bek, of Durham, was restored to his palatinate, and +the road to return opened to Winchelsea, though ill-health detained him +on the Continent for some time longer. Conspicuous among the returned +exiles was Peter of Gaveston, whom the king welcomed with the warmest +affection. He at once invested his "brother Peter" with the rich +earldom of Cornwall, which the old king, with the object of conferring +it on one of his sons by his second marriage, had kept in his hands +since Earl Edmund's death. A little later Edward married the favourite +to his niece, Margaret of Clare, the eldest sister of Earl Gilbert of +Gloucester. Of the tried comrades of Edward I. the only one who +remained in authority was Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. The abandonment +of the Scottish campaign soon followed. It was no wonder that the Scots +lords, who had performed homage to Edward at Dumfries, began to turn to +Bruce. Already king of the Scottish commons, Robert was in a fair way +to become accepted by the whole people. + +The readiness with which the barons acquiesced in Edward's reversal of +his father's policy shows that they had regarded the late king's action +with little favour. Lincoln, the wisest and most influential of the +earls, even found reasons for the grant of Cornwall to Gaveston, and +kept in check his son-in-law, Earl Thomas of Lancaster, who was the +most disposed to grumble at the elevation of the Gascon favourite. +Gilbert of Gloucester was but newly come to his earldom. He was +personally attached to the king, his old playmate and uncle, and was +not unfriendly to his Gascon brother-in-law. The recent concentration +of the great estates in the hands of a few individuals gave these three +earls a position of overwhelming importance both in the court and in +the country, and with their good-will Edward was safe. But the weakness +of the king and the rashness of the favourite soon caused murmurs to +arise. + +Early in 1308 Edward crossed over to France, leaving Gaveston as +regent, and was married on January 25, at Boulogne, to Philip the +Fair's daughter Isabella, a child of twelve, to whom he had been +plighted since 1298. The marriage was attended by the French king and a +great gathering of the magnates of both countries. Opportunity was +taken of the meeting for Edward to perform homage for Aquitaine. After +the arrival of the royal couple in England, their coronation took place +on February 25. Time had been when the reign began with the king's +crowning; but Edward had taken up every royal function immediately on +his father's death, and set a precedent to later sovereigns by dating +his own accession from the day succeeding the decease of his +predecessor. The coronation ceremony, minutely recorded, provided +precedents for later ages. It was some recognition of the work of the +last generation that the coronation oath was somewhat more rigid and +involved a more definite recognition of the rights of the community +than on earlier occasions. Winchelsea was still abroad, and the +hallowing was performed by Henry Woodlock, Bishop of Winchester. + +Discontent was already simmering. Not even Lincoln's weighty influence +could overcome the irritation of the earls at the elevation of the +Gascon knight into their circle. The very virtues of the vigorous +favourite turned to his discredit. At a tournament given by him, at his +own castle of Wallingford, to celebrate his marriage with the king's +niece, the new-made earl, with a party of valiant knights, challenged a +troop, which included the Earls of Hereford, Warenne, and Arundel, and +utterly discomfited his rivals.[1] The victory of the upstart over +magnates of such dignity was accounted for by treachery, and the +prohibition of a coronation tournament, probably a simple measure of +police, was ascribed to the unwillingness of Peter to give his opponents +a legitimate opportunity of vindicating their skill. There had been much +resentment at Gaveston's appointment as regent during the king's absence +in France. A further outburst of indignation followed when the Gascon, +magnificently arrayed and bedecked with jewels, bore the crown of St. +Edward in the coronation procession. The queen's uncles, who had +escorted her to her new home, left England disgusted that Edward's love +for Gaveston led him to neglect his bride, and the want of reserve shown +in the personal dealings of the king and his "idol" suggested the worst +interpretation of their relations, though this is against the weight of +evidence. Rumours spread that the favourite had laid hands on the vast +treasures which Bishop Walter Langton had deposited at the New Temple, +and had extorted from the king even larger sums, which he had sent to +his kinsfolk in Gascony by the agency of the Italian farmers of the +revenue. + + [1] _Ann. Paulini_, p. 258, and Monk of Malmesbury, p. 156, are + to be preferred to Trokelowe, p. 65. + +Gaveston was a typical Gascon, vain, loquacious, and ostentatious, +proud of his own ready wit and possessed of a fatal talent for sharp +and bitter sayings. He seems to have been a brave and generous soldier. +There is little proof that he was specially vicious or incompetent, +and, had he been allowed time to establish himself, he might well have +been the parent of a noble house, as patriotic and as narrowly English +as the Valence lords of Pembroke had become in the second generation. +But his sudden elevation rather turned his head, and the dull but +dignified English earls were soon mortally offended by his airs of +superiority, and by his intervention between them and the sovereign. +"If," wrote the annalist of St. Paul's, London, "one of the earls or +magnates sought any special favour of the king, the king forthwith sent +him to Peter, and whatever Peter said or ordered at once took place, +and the king ratified it. Hence the whole people grew indignant that +there should be two kings in one kingdom, one the king in name, the +other the king in reality." Gaveston's vanity was touched by the sullen +hostility of the earls. He returned their suspicion by an openly +expressed contempt. He amused himself and the king by devising +nicknames for them. Thomas of Lancaster was the old pig or the +play-actor, Aymer of Pembroke was Joseph the Jew, Gilbert of Gloucester +was the cuckoo, and Guy of Warwick was the black dog of Arden. Such +jests were bitterly resented. "If he call me dog," said Warwick on +hearing of the insult, "I will take care to bite him." The barons +formed an association, bound by oath to drive Gaveston into exile and +deprive him of his earldom. All over the country there were secret +meetings and eager preparations for war. The outlook became still more +alarming when the Earl of Lincoln at last changed his policy. Convinced +of the unworthiness of Gaveston, he turned against him, and the whole +baronage followed his lead. Only Hugh Despenser and a few lawyers +adhered to the favourite. Gloucester did not like to take an active +part against his brother-in-law, but his stepfather, Monthermer, was +conspicuous among the enemies of the Gascon. Winchelsea, too, came to +England and threw his powerful influence on the side of the opposition. + +In April, 1308, a parliament of nobles met and insisted upon the exile +of the favourite. The magnates took up a high line. "Homage and the +oath of allegiance," they declared, "are due to the crown rather than +to the person of the king. If the king behave unreasonably, his lieges +are bound to bring him back to the ways of righteousness." On May 18 +letters patent were issued promising that Gaveston should be banished +before June 25. Gaveston, bending before the storm, surrendered his +earldom and prepared for departure, while Winchelsea and the bishops +declared him excommunicate if he tarried in England beyond the +appointed day. The king did his best to lighten his friend's +misfortune. Fresh grants of land and castles compensated for the loss +of Cornwall and gave him means for armed resistance. The grant of +Gascon counties, jurisdictions, cities and castles to the value of +3,000 marks a year provided him with a dignified refuge. The pope and +cardinals were besought to relieve him from the sentence hung over his +head by the archbishop. It is significant of Edward's early intention +to violate his promise, that in his letters to the curia he still +describes Gaveston as Earl of Cornwall. Peter was soon appointed the +king's lieutenant in Ireland. This time he was called Earl of Cornwall +in a document meant for English use. As midsummer approached, Edward +accompanied him to Bristol and bade him a sorrowful farewell. Attended +by a numerous and splendid household, Gaveston crossed over to Ireland +and took up the government of that country, where his energy and +liberality won him considerable popularity. + +Edward was inconsolable at the loss of his friend. For the first time +in his reign he threw himself into politics with interest, and +intrigued with rare perseverance to bring about his recall. Meanwhile +the business of the state fell into deplorable confusion. No supplies +were raised; no laws were passed; no effort was made to stay the +progress of Robert Bruce. The magnates refused to help the king, and in +April, 1309, Edward was forced to meet a parliament of the three +estates at Westminster. There he received a much-needed supply, but the +barons and commons drew up a long schedule of grievances, in which they +complained of the abuses of purveyance, the weakness of the government, +the tyranny of the royal officials, and the delays in obtaining +justice. The estates refused point blank the king's request for the +recall of Gaveston and demanded an answer to their petitions in the +next parliament. + +Edward saw in submission to the estates the only way of bringing back +his brother Peter from his gilded exile. He persuaded the pope to annul +the ecclesiastical censures with which Winchelsea had sought to prevent +Gaveston's return, and then recalled his friend on his own authority. +Gaveston at once quitted Ireland and was met at Chester by Edward. +Together they attended a parliament of magnates held in July at +Stamford. There Edward announced that he accepted the petitions of the +estates and issued a statute limiting purveyance. But the real work of +this assembly was the ratification of the recall of the favourite, +which was assured since Edward had won over some of the chief earls to +agree to it. Gloucester was easily moved to champion his +brother-in-law's cause. Lincoln reverted to his former friendship for +the Gascon, and managed both to overbear the hostility of Lancaster and +to induce Earl Warenne, "who had never shown a cheerful face to Peter +since the Wallingford tournament," to become his friend. Warwick, alone +of the earls, was irreconcilable. But Edward had gained his point. It +was even agreed that the returned exile should regain his earldom of +Cornwall. + +The annalists moralise on the instability of the magnates; and the +sudden revolution may perhaps be set down as much to their incapacity +as to the dexterity of the king. But Peter's second period of power was +even shorter than his first. He had learnt nothing from his +misfortunes, save perhaps increased contempt for his enemies. He was +more insolent, greedy, and bitter in speech than ever. Early in 1310 +the barons were again preparing to renew their attacks. The second +storm burst in a parliament of magnates held at London in March, 1310. +The barons came to this parliament in military array, and Edward once +more found himself at their mercy. The conditions of 1258 exactly +repeated themselves. Once more an armed baronial parliament made itself +the mouthpiece of the national discontent against a weak king, an +incompetent administration, and foreign favourites. The magnates were +no longer contented with simply demanding the banishment of Gaveston. +They were ready with a constructive programme of reform, and they went +back to the policy of the Mad Parliament. As the king could not be +trusted, the royal power must once more be put into commission in the +hands of a committee of magnates. So stiff were the barons in their +adhesion to the precedents of 1258, that they made no pretence of +taking the commons into partnership with them. To them the work of +Edward I. had been done to no purpose. Baronial assemblies and full +parliaments of the estates were still equally competent to transact all +the business of the nation. It is vain to see in this ignoring of the +commons any aristocratic jealousy of the more popular element in the +constitution. There can be no doubt but that any full parliament would +have co-operated with the barons as heartily in 1310 as it had done in +1309. It was simply that popular co-operation was regarded as +unnecessary. As in 1258, the magnates claimed to speak for the whole +nation. + +The barons drew up a statement of the "great perils and dangers" to +which England was exposed through the king's dependence on bad +counsellors. The franchises of Holy Church were threatened; the king +was reduced to live by extortion; Scotland was lost; and the crown was +"grievously dismembered" in England and Ireland. "Wherefore, sire," the +petition concludes, "your good folk pray you humbly that, for the +salvation of yourself and them and of the crown, you will assent that +these perils shall be avoided and redressed by ordinance of your +baronage." Edward at once surrendered at discretion, perhaps in the +vain hope of saving Gaveston. On March 16 he issued a charter, which +empowered the barons to elect certain persons to draw up ordinances to +reform the realm and the royal household. The powers of the committee +were to last until Michaelmas, 1311. A barren promise that the king's +concession should not be counted a precedent made Edward's submission +seem a little less abject. Four days later the ordainers were +appointed, the method of their election being based upon the precedents +of 1258. + +Twenty-one lords ordainers represented in somewhat unequal proportions +the three great ranks of the magnates. At the head of the seven bishops +was Winchelsea, while both Bishop Baldock of London, the dismissed +chancellor, and his successor, John Langton of Chichester, were +included among the rest. All the eight earls attending the parliament +became ordainers. Side by side with moderate men, such as Gloucester, +Lincoln, and John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, were the extreme men +of the opposition, Lancaster, Pembroke, Warwick, Hereford, the king's +brother-in-law, and Edmund Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel. Warenne and the +insignificant Earl of Oxford do not seem to have been present in +parliament, and are therefore omitted. With these exceptions, and of +course that of the Earl of Cornwall, the whole of the earls were +arrayed against the king. The six barons, who completed the list of +nominees, were either colourless in their policy or dependent on the +earls and their episcopal allies. The ordainers set to work at once. +Two days after their appointment, they issued six preliminary +ordinances by which they resolved that the place of their sitting +should be London, that none of the ordainers should receive gifts from +the crown, that no royal grants should be valid without the consent of +the majority, that the customs should be paid directly into the +exchequer, that the foreign merchants who had lately farmed them should +be arrested, and that the Great Charter should be firmly kept. During +the next eighteen months they remained hard at work. + +Gaveston, conscious of his impending doom, betook himself to the north +as early as February. As soon as he could escape, Edward hurried +northwards to join him. An expedition against the Scots was then +summoned for September. It was high time that something should be done. +During the three years that Edward had reigned, Robert Bruce had made +alarming progress. One after the other the Scottish magnates had joined +his cause, and a few despairing partisans and some scattered +ill-garrisoned, ill-equipped strongholds alone upheld the English cause +north of the Tweed. But even then Edward did not wage war in earnest. +His real motive for affecting zeal for martial enterprise was his +desire to escape from his taskmasters, and to keep Gaveston out of +harm's way. The earls gave him no encouragement. On the pretext that +their services were required in London at the meetings of the +ordainers, the great majority of the higher baronage took no personal +part in the expedition. Gloucester was the only ordainer who was +present, and the only other earls in the host were Warenne and Gaveston +himself. The chief strength of Edwards army was a swarm of +ill-disciplined Welsh and English infantry, more intent on plunder than +on victory. In September Edward advanced to Roxburgh and made his way +as far as Linlithgow. No enemy was to be found, for Bruce was not +strong enough to risk a pitched battle, even against Edward's army. He +hid himself in the mountains and moors, and contented himself with +cutting off foraging parties, destroying stragglers, and breaking down +the enemy's communications. Within two months Edward discreetly retired +to Berwick, and there passed many months at the border town. +Technically he was in Scotland; practically he might as well have been +in London for all the harm he was doing to Bruce. However, Gaveston +showed more martial zeal than his master. He led an expedition which +penetrated as far as Perth, and reduced the country between the Forth +and the Grampians to Edward's obedience. Gloucester also pacified the +forest of Ettrick. To these two all the little honour of the campaign +belonged. + +The Earl of Lincoln governed England as regent during the king's +absence. In February, 1311, he died, and Gloucester abandoned the +campaign to take up the regency. The death of the last of Edward I.'s +lay ministers was followed in March by that of another survivor of the +old generation, Bishop Bek of Durham. The old landmarks were quickly +passing away, and the forces that still made for moderation were +sensibly diminished. Gilbert of Gloucester, alone of the younger +generation, still aspired to the position of a mediator. The most +important result of Lincoln's death was the unmuzzling of his +son-in-law, Thomas of Lancaster. In his own right the lord of the three +earldoms of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, Thomas then received in +addition his father-in-law's two earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury. The +enormous estates and innumerable jurisdictions attached to these five +offices gave him a territorial position greater by far than that of any +other English lord. "I do not believe," writes the monk of Malmesbury, +"that any duke or count of the Roman empire could do as much with the +revenues of his estates as the Earl of Lancaster." Nor were Earl +Thomas' personal connexions less magnificent than his feudal dignities. +As a grandson of Henry III., he was the first cousin of the king. +Through his mother, Blanche of Artois, Queen of Navarre and Countess of +Champagne, he was the grandson of the valiant Robert of Artois, who had +fallen at Mansura, and the great-grandson of Louis VIII. of France. His +half-sister, Joan of Champagne, was the wife of Philip the Fair, so +that the French king was his brother-in-law as well as his cousin, and +Isabella, Edward's consort, was his niece. Unluckily, the personality +of the great earl was not equal to his pedigree or his estates. Proud, +hard to work with, jealous, and irascible, he was essentially the +leader of opposition, the grumbler, and the _frondeur_. When the time +came for a constructive policy, Thomas broke down almost as signally as +Edward himself. His ability was limited, his power of application +small, and his passions violent and ungovernable. Greedy, selfish, +domineering, and narrow, he had few scruples and no foresight, little +patriotism, and no breadth of view. At this moment he had to play a +part which was within his powers. The simple continuance of the +traditions of policy, which he inherited with his pedigree and his +estates; was all that was necessary. As the greatest of the English +earls, the head of a younger branch of the royal house, and the +inheritor of the estates and titles of Montfort and Ferrars, he was +trebly bound to act as leader of the baronial opposition, the champion +of the charters, the enemy of kings, courtiers, favourites, and +foreigners. He was steadfast in his prejudices and hatreds, and the +ordainers found in him a leader who could at least save them from the +reproach of inconstancy and the lack of fixed purpose shown at the +parliament of Stamford. + +It was the first duty of Earl Thomas to perform homage and fealty for +his new earldoms of Lincoln and Salisbury. Attended by a hundred armed +knights, he rode towards the border. Edward was at Berwick, and Thomas +declined to proffer his homage outside the kingdom. On Edward refusing +to cross the Tweed, Thomas declared that he would take forcible +possession of his lands. Civil war was only avoided by Edward giving +way. The king met Thomas on English soil at Haggerston, four miles from +Berwick. There the earl performed homage, and exchanged the kiss of +peace with his king, but he would not even salute the upstart Earl of +Cornwall, who injudiciously accompanied Edward, and the king departed +deeply indignant at this want of courtesy. Returning to Berwick, Edward +lingered there until the completion of the work of the ordainers made +it necessary for him to face parliament. Leaving Gaveston protected by +the strong walls of Bamburgh, the king quitted the border at the end of +July, and met his parliament a month later in London. Though the +ordainers had been appointed by a baronial parliament, the three +estates were summoned to hear and ratify the results of their labours. +Thirty-five more ordinances, covering a very wide field, were then laid +before them. Disorderly and disproportioned, like most medieval +legislation, they ranged from trivial personal questions and the +details of administration to the broadest schemes for the future. Many +of them were simply efforts to get the recognised law enforced. There +were clauses forbidding alienation of domain, the abuses of purveyance, +the usurpations of the courts of the royal household, the enlargement +of the forests, and the employment of unlawful sources of revenue. +Under the last head, the new custom, which Edward I. had persuaded the +foreign merchants to pay, was specifically abolished. Provisions of +such a character show that the king had made no effort to observe +either the Great Charter or the laws of Edward I. Even the recent +statute of Stamford, and the six ordinances of the previous year, had +to be re-enacted. Similar restatements of sound principles were too +common in the fourteenth century to make the ordinances an epoch. The +vital clauses were those providing for the control of the king and for +penalties against his favourites. + +Under the first of these heads, the ordainers worked out to the +uttermost consequences their favourite distinction between the crown +and the king. The crown was to be strengthened, but the king was to be +deprived of every shred of power. The great offices of state in +England, Ireland, and Gascony were to be filled up with the counsel and +consent of the barons, a provision which, if literally interpreted, +meant that the barons intended to govern Gascony as well as England. +The king was not to go to war, raise an army, or leave the kingdom +without the permission of parliament. He was to "live of his own," +however scanty a living that might be. Special judges were to hear +complaints against royal ministers and bailiffs. Parliaments were to +meet once or twice a year. It was a complete programme of limited +monarchy. But there was no reference to the commons and clergy. We are +still in the atmosphere of the Provisions of Oxford, and there is no +Earl Simon to emphasise the fuller conception of national control. + +To Edward and to the barons, the penal clauses were the very essence of +the ordinances. The twentieth ordinance declared that Peter of +Gaveston, "as a public enemy of the king and kingdom, be forthwith +exiled, for all time and without hope of return," from all dominions +subject to the English king. He was to leave England before All Saints' +day, and the port of Dover was to be his place of embarkation. Other +ordinances dealt with lesser offenders. Exile was once more to be the +doom of the Frescobaldi, and the other alien merchants who had acted as +Edward's financial agents; Gaveston's kinsfolk, followers and abettors +incurred their master's fate. All Gascons were to be sent to their own +country, their allegiance to the crown in no wise saving them from the +hatred meted out to all aliens. Neither high nor low were spared: Henry +de Beaumont, the grandson of an Eastern emperor, and his sister, the +lady Vesey, were to leave the realm; John Charlton, the pushing +Shropshire squire who was worming his way by court favour into the +estates of the degenerate descendants of the house of Gwenwynwyn, was, +with the other English partisans of the favourite, to be driven from +the royal service. + +Edward made a last desperate attempt to save Gaveston. He would agree +to all the other ordinances, if he were still allowed to keep his +brother Peter in England and in possession of the earldom of Cornwall. +But the estates refused to yield the root of the whole matter. +Threatened with the prospect of a new battle of Lewes, if he remained +obdurate, Edward bowed to his destiny. The ordinances were published in +every shire, and new ministers, chosen with the approval of the +estates, deprived the king of the government of the country. + +Early in November, Gaveston sailed to Flanders, but within a few weeks +Edward insisted upon his return. Rumours spread that Gaveston was in +England, hiding himself away in his former castles of Wallingford and +Tintagel, or in the king's castle of Windsor. The thin veil of mystery +was soon withdrawn. Early in 1312, Peter openly accompanied the king to +York, where, on January 18, Edward issued a proclamation to the effect +that Gaveston had been unlawfully exiled, that he was back in England +by the king's command, and prepared to answer to all charges against +him. A few weeks later, Edward restored him to his earldom and estates. +King and favourite still tarried in the north, preparing for the +inevitable struggle. It was believed that they intrigued with Robert +Bruce for a refuge in Scotland. Bruce, according to the story, declined +to have anything to do with them. "If the King of England will not keep +faith with his own subjects," he is reported to have said, "how then +will he keep faith with me?" + +The ordainers looked upon Gaveston's return as a declaration of war. +Winchelsea pronounced him excommunicate, and five of the eight earls +who sat among the ordainers, bound themselves by oaths to maintain the +ordinances and pursue the favourite to the death. These were Thomas of +Lancaster, Aymer of Pembroke, Humphrey of Hereford, Edmund of Arundel, +and Guy of Warwick. Gilbert of Gloucester declined to take part in the +confederacy, but promised to accept whatever the five earls might +determine. Moreover, John, Earl Warenne, who had hitherto kept aloof +from the ordainers, at last threw in his lot with them, won over, it +was believed, by the eloquence of Archbishop Winchelsea. The ordainers +then divided England into large districts, appointing one of the +baronial leaders to the charge of each. Gloucester himself undertook +the government of the south-east, while Robert Clifford and Henry Percy +agreed to guard the march, to prevent Gaveston escaping to the Scots. +Pembroke and Warenne marched to the north to lay hands on the +favourite, and Lancaster himself followed them. + +While the ordainers were acting, Edward and Gaveston were aimlessly +wandering about in the north. They failed to raise an army or to win +the people to their side, and on the approach of Lancaster, they fled +before him from York to Newcastle. The earl followed quickly. On the +afternoon of Ascension day, May 4, Lancaster, Clifford, and Percy +suddenly swooped down on Newcastle. The king and his friend escaped +with the utmost difficulty to Tynemouth, leaving their luggage, jewels, +horses, and other possessions to the victor. Next day they fled by sea +to Scarborough. The queen, left behind at Tynemouth, fell into her +uncle Lancaster's power. + +The royal castle of Scarborough, whose Norman keep and spacious wards +occupy a rocky peninsula surrounded, except on the town side, by the +North Sea, had lately been transferred from the custody of Henry Percy, +one of the confederate barons, to that of Gaveston. There was no fitter +place wherein the favourite could stand at bay against his pursuers. +Accordingly Edward left Gaveston, after a tender parting, and betook +himself to York. Lancaster thereupon occupied a position midway between +Scarborough and Knaresborough, while Pembroke, Warenne, and Henry Percy +laid siege to Scarborough. Gaveston soon found that he was unable to +resist them. His troops, scarcely adequate to man the extensive walls, +were too many for the scanty store of provisions which the castle +contained. After less than a fortnight's siege, he persuaded the two +earls and Percy to allow him easy terms of surrender. The three +baronial leaders pledged themselves on the Gospels to protect Gaveston +from all manner of evil until August 1. During the interval parliament +was to decide as to what was to be his future fate. If the terms agreed +upon by parliament were unsatisfactory to him, he was to return to +Scarborough, which was still to be garrisoned by his followers, with +leave to purchase supplies. + +Pembroke undertook the personal custody of the prisoner, and escorted +him by slow stages from Scarborough to the south, where he was to be +retained in honourable custody at his own castle of Wallingford. Three +weeks after the surrender, the convoy reached Deddington, a small town +in Oxfordshire, a few miles south of Banbury. There Gaveston was lodged +in the house of the vicar of the parish, and told to take a few days' +rest after the fatigues of the journey. Pembroke himself did not remain +at Deddington, but went on to Bampton in the Bush, where his countess +then was. Thereupon on June 10, at sunrise, the Earl of Warwick, the +most rancorous of Peter's enemies, occupied Deddington with a strong +force. Bursting into the bedchamber of his victim, Earl Guy exclaimed +in a loud voice: "Arise, traitor, thou art taken". Peter was at once +led with every mark of indignity to Warwick castle. Thus the black dog +of Arden showed that he could bite. + +Warwick was not personally pledged to Gaveston's safety, though, as one +of the confederates, he was clearly bound by their acts. His seizure of +Peter was only warrantable by the, fear that Pembroke, with his +royalist leanings, was likely to play the extreme party false; but in +any case Warwick was as much obliged as Pembroke to observe the terms +of the capitulation. Neither Warwick nor his allies took this view of +the matter. They rejoiced at the good fortune which had remedied the +disastrous capitulation of Scarborough, and resolved to put an end to +the favourite without delay. Lancaster was then at Kenilworth; +Hereford, Arundel, and other magnates were also present, and all agreed +in praising Warwick's energy. On Monday morning, June 19, the three +earls rode the few miles from Kenilworth to Warwick, and Earl Guy +handed over Peter to them. They then escorted their captive to a place +called Blacklow hill, about two miles out of Warwick on the Kenilworth +road, but situated in Lancaster's lands. The crowd following the +cavalcade was moved to tears when Peter, kneeling to Lancaster, cried +in vain for mercy from the "gentle earl". On reaching Blacklow hill, +the three earls withdrew, though remaining near enough to see what was +going on. Then two Welshmen in Lancaster's service laid hands upon the +victim. One drove his sword through his body, the other cut off his +head. The corpse remained where it had fallen, but the head was brought +to the earls as a sign that the deed was done. After this the earls +rode back to Kenilworth. Guy of Warwick remained all the time in his +castle. He had already taken his share in the cruel act of treachery. +It was, however, important that Lancaster should take the +responsibility for the deed. Four cobblers of Warwick piously bore the +headless corpse within their town. But the grim earl sent it back, +because it was not found on his fee. At last some Oxford Dominicans +took charge of the body and deposited it temporarily in their convent, +not daring to inter it in holy ground, as Gaveston had died +excommunicate. + +The ostentatious violence of the confederate earls broke up their +party. Aymer of Pembroke, indignant at their breach of faith, regarded +the whole transaction as a stain on his honour. He besought +Gloucester's intervention, but was only told that he should be more +cautious in his future negotiations. He harangued the clerks and +burgesses of Oxford, but university and town agreed that the matter was +no business of theirs. Then in disgust he betook himself to the king, +whom he found still surrounded with the Beaumonts, Mauleys, and other +friends of Gaveston, against whom the ordinances had decreed +banishment. Warenne, whose honour was only less impeached than +Pembroke's, also deserted the ordainers for the court. Edward bitterly +deplored the death of his friend. He gladly welcomed the deserters, and +prepared to wreak vengeance on the ordainers. + +Edward plucked up courage to return to London, where in July he +addressed the citizens, and persuaded them to maintain the peace of the +city against the barons. He next visited Dover, and there he +strengthened the fortifications of the castle, took oaths of fealty +from the Cinque Ports, and negotiated with the King of France. Thence +he returned to London, hoping that the precautions he had taken would +secure his position in the parliament which he had summoned to meet at +Westminster. But the four earls still held the field, and answered the +summons to parliament by occupying Ware with a strong military force. A +thousand men-at-arms were drawn by Lancaster from his five earldoms, +while the Welsh from Brecon, who followed the Earl of Hereford, and the +vigorous foresters of Arden, who mustered under the banner of Warwick, +made a formidable show. Yet at the last moment neither side was eager +to begin hostilities. The four earls' violence damaged their cause, and +many who had no love of Gaveston, or desire to avenge him, inclined to +the king's party. Gilbert of Gloucester busied himself with mediating +between the two sides. At this juncture two papal envoys, sent to end +the interminable outstanding disputes with France, arrived in England, +along with Louis, Count of Evreux, the queen's uncle. Edward availed +himself of the presence of French jurists in the count's train to +obtain legal opinion that the ordinances were invalid, as against +natural equity and civil law. These technicalities did little service +to the king's cause, and better work was done when Louis and the papal +envoys joined with Gloucester in mediating between the opposing forces. +At length moderate counsels prevailed. Edward could only resist the +four earls through the support of his new allies, and Pembroke and +Warenne were as little anxious to fight as Gloucester himself. They +were quite willing to make terms which seemed to the king treason to +his friend's memory. + +The negotiations were still proceeding when, on November 13, 1312, the +birth of a son to Edward and Isabella revived the almost dormant +feeling of loyalty to the sovereign. The king ceased to brood over the +loss of his brother Peter, and became more willing to accept the +inevitable. He gave some pleasure to his subjects by refusing the +suggestion of the queen's uncle that the child should be called Louis, +and christened him Edward after his own father. At last, on December +22, terms of peace were agreed upon. The earls and barons concerned in +Gaveston's death were to appear before the king in Westminster Hall, +and humbly beg his pardon and good-will. In return for this the king +agreed to remit all rancour caused by the death of the favourite. +Lancaster and Warwick, who took no personal part in the negotiations, +sent in a long list of objections to the details of the treaty. Nearly +a year elapsed before the earls personally acknowledged their fault. +During that interval there was no improvement in the position of +affairs. Parliament granted no money; and Edward only met his daily +expenses by loans, contracted from every quarter, and by keeping tight +hands on the confiscated estates of the Templars. Both the king and the +leading earls made every excuse to escape attending the ineffective +parliaments of that miserable time. Two short visits to France gave +Edward a pretext for avoiding his subjects. There were some hasty +musterings of armed men on pretence of tournaments. But the king was +still formidable enough to make it desirable for the barons to carry +out the treaty. Finally, in October, 1313, Lancaster, Hereford, and +Warwick made their public submission in Westminster Hall. Pardons were +at once issued to them and to over four hundred minor offenders. Feasts +of reconciliation were held, and it seemed as if the old feuds were at +last ended. Gaveston's corpse was removed from Oxford to Langley, in +Hertfordshire, and buried in the church of a new convent of Dominicans +set up by Edward to pray for the favourite's soul. + +Just before the end of the disputes Archbishop Winchelsea died in May, +1313. He left behind him the reputation of a saint and a hero, and a +movement was undertaken for his canonisation. With all his faults, he +was the greatest churchman of his time, and the most steadfast and +unselfish of ecclesiastical statesmen. Despite his palsy, he had shown +wonderful activity since his return. The brain and soul of the +ordainers, he equally made it his business to uphold extreme +hierarchical privilege. Bitterly as he hated Walter Langton, he was +indignant that a bishop should be imprisoned and despoiled by the lay +power, and took up his cause with such energy that he effected his +liberation, only to find that Langton made peace with the king and +turned his back on the ordainers. The after-swell of the storms, +excited by the petition of Lincoln and the statute of Carlisle, still +continued troublous during Winchelsea's later years. The pope +complained of the violated privileges of the Church and of the +accumulated arrears of King John's tribute; and Winchelsea was anxious +to promote the papal cause. But the barons in Edward's early +parliaments still used the bold language of the magnates of 1301, and +the letter of 1309, drawn up by the parliament of Stamford, is no +unworthy pendant of the Lincoln letter. As time went on, the disorders +of the government and the weakness of the king surrendered everything +to the pope. It was soon as it had been in the days of Henry III., when +pope and king combined to despoil the English Church. + +The suppression of the order of the Temple shows how absolutely England +was forced to follow in the wake of the papacy and the King of France. +There was no spontaneous movement against the society as in France; +there was not even the fierce malice and insatiable greed which could +find their only satisfaction in the ruin of the brethren; and there is +not much evidence that the Templars were unpopular. The whole attack +was the result of commands given from without. It was at the repeated +request of Philip of France and Clement V. that Edward reluctantly +ordered the apprehension of all the Templars within England, Scotland, +and Ireland on January 8, 1308. Their property was taken into the +king's hands, and their persons were confined in the royal prisons +under the custody of the sheriffs. For their trial, Clement appointed a +mixed commission including Winchelsea, Archbishop Greenfield of York, +several English bishops, one French bishop, and certain papal +inquisitors specially assigned for the purpose, the chief of whom were +the Abbot of Lagny and Sicard de Lavaur, Canon of Narbonne, who came to +England in 1309. At last the victims were collected at London and York, +where the trials were to be conducted for the southern and northern +provinces. There was much hesitation among the English bishops. The +foes of the Templars lamented the prelates' lack of zeal and their +scruples in collecting evidence, and suggested that the torture, which +had so freely been used in France, would soon extract confessions. But +the northern bishops declared that torture was unknown in England, and +asked, if it were to be adopted, whether it was to be applied by clerks +or laymen, and whether torturers should be imported from beyond sea. In +the end, torture was used, but not to any great extent. + +A great mass of depositions, mostly vague and worthless, or derived +from the suspicious confessions of apostates and weaklings, was +gathered together, and in 1311 laid before provincial councils, but +neither province came to any fixed decision. "Inasmuch," says +Hemingburgh, "as the Templars were not found altogether guilty or +altogether innocent, they referred the dubious matter to the pope." +They sent the evidence they had collected to swell the mass of +testimony from all Christendom, which was laid before the council of +Vienne. When the pope suppressed the order in April, 1312, and +transferred its lands to the Knights of St. John, the papal decrees +were quietly carried out in England. One or two Templars died in +prison, but none were executed; and the majority were dismissed with +pensions or secluded in monasteries. Edward and his nobles took good +care to make a large profit out of the transaction. The resources of +the Temple alone kept the king from destitution during the period +between the death of Gaveston and his reconciliation with the earls. +Many barons laid violent hands on estates belonging to the order, and +long held on to them despite papal expostulation. The Hospitallers +found that the lands of their rivals came to them so slowly, and +encumbered with so many charges, that their new property became +burdensome rather than helpful to their society. Thus it was that they +never made any use of the New Temple in London, and, before long, let +it out to the common-lawyers. In the fall of the Templars, the pope and +the Church set the first great example of the suppression of a +religious order to kings, who before long bettered the precedent given +them. The sordid story is mainly important to our history as an example +of the completeness of the influence of the papal autocracy, and of the +submissiveness of clergy and laity to its behests. It was a lurid +commentary on the practical working of the ecclesiastical system that +the business of condemning an innocent order first brought into England +the papal inquisitor and the use of torture. Yet the whole process was +but so pale a reflection of the horrors wrought in France that the +conclusion arises that England owed more to the weakness of Edward II +than France to the strength of Philip IV. + +Winchelsea's death removed a real check on Edward, especially as the +king was on such good terms with the papacy that he had little +difficulty in obtaining a successor amenable to his will. Undeterred by +Clement's bull reserving to himself the appointment, the monks of +Christ Church at once proceeded to elect Thomas of Cobham, a theologian +and a canonist of distinction, a man of high birth, great sanctity, and +unblemished character, and in every way worthy of the primacy. But his +merits did not weigh for a moment with Clement against the wishes of +the king. He rejected Cobham and conferred the primacy on Edwards +favourite, Walter Reynolds, who had already obtained the bishopric of +Worcester through the king's influence. A good deal of money, it was +believed, found its way to the coffers of the _curia_; and the +indignation of the English Church found voice in the impassioned +protests of the chroniclers. "Lady Money rules everything in the pope's +court," lamented the monk of Malmesbury. "For eight years Pope Clement +has ruled the Universal Church: but what good he has done escapes +memory. England, alone of all countries, feels the burden of papal +domination. Out of the fulness of his power, the pope presumes to do +many things, and neither prince nor people dare contradict him. He +reserves all the fat benefices for himself, and excommunicates all who +resist him: his legates come and spoil the land: those armed with his +bulls come and demand prebends. He has given all the deaneries to +foreigners, and cut down the number of resident canons. Why does the +pope exercise greater power over the clergy than the emperor over the +laity? Lord Jesus! either take away the pope from our midst or lessen +the power which he presumes to have over the people." Such lamentations +bore no fruit, and the simoniacal nomination of Reynolds was but the +first of a series of appointments which robbed the episcopate of +dignity and moral worth. + +While Church and State in England were thus distressed, the cause of +Robert Bruce was making steady progress in Scotland. It is some measure +of the difficulties against which Bruce had to contend that, after six +years, he was still by no means master of all that land. But least of +all among the causes which retarded his advance can be placed the armed +forces of England. During six years Edward II.'s one personal +expedition had been a complete failure. A more formidable obstacle in +Bruce's way was the stubborn resistance offered to him by the valour +and skill of the small but highly trained garrisons which the wisdom of +Edward I. had established in the fortresses of southern and central +Scotland. Each castle took a long time to subdue, and demanded +engineering resources and a persistency of effort, which were difficult +to obtain from a popular army. The garrisons co-operated with the +Scottish nobles who still adhered to Edward through jealousy of the +upstart Bruces and love of feudal independence, rather than by reason +of any sympathy with the English cause. Additional obstacles to +Robert's progress were the hostility of the Church, to which he was +still the excommunicated murderer of Comyn; the captivity of so many +Scottish prelates and barons in England; the efforts of the pope and +the King of France to bring about suspensions of hostilities, and the +grievous famines which desolated Scotland no less than southern +Britain. But during these years the King of Scots gradually overcame +these difficulties. His hardest fighting in the field was with rival +Scots rather than with the English intruders. In 1308 he defeated the +Comyns of Buchan, and established himself on the ruins of that house in +the north-east. In the same year his brother, Edward Bruce, conquered +Galloway, where the Balliol tradition long prevented the domination of +the rival family. + +Secure from retaliation so long as domestic troubles lasted, the Scots +devastated the northern counties of England, whose inhabitants were +forced to purchase relief from further attacks by paying large sums of +money to the invaders. Formal truces were more than once made, but they +were ill observed, and each violation of an armistice involved some +loss to Edward and some gain to Robert. Meanwhile the garrisons were +carefully isolated, and one by one signalled out for attack. In 1312 +Berwick itself was only saved from surprise by the opportune barking of +a dog. In January, 1313, Perth was captured by assault. Next day Robert +slew the leading native burgesses who had adhered to the English, while +he permitted the English inhabitants to return freely to their own +country. The whole town was destroyed, since walled towns, like +castles, had given the English their chief hold upon the country. + +Such was the state of Scotland when the reconciliation between Edward +and the earls restored England to the appearance of unity. As if +conscious that no time was to be lost in strengthening his position, +Bruce redoubled his efforts to make himself master of the fortresses +which still remained in the enemy's hands. Regardless of the rigour of +the season, he set actively to work in the early weeks of 1314, and +remarkable success attended his efforts. In February, the border +stronghold of Roxburgh was taken by a night attack. "And all that fair +castle, like the other castles which he had acquired, they pulled down +to the ground, lest the English should afterwards by holding the castle +bear rule over the land."[1] In March, Edinburgh castle was secured by +some Scots who climbed up the precipitous northern face of the castle +rock, overpowered the garrison, and opened the gates to their comrades +outside. Flushed with this great success, Bruce began the siege of +Stirling, the only important English garrison then held by the English +in the heart of Scotland. He pressed the besieged so hard that they +agreed to surrender to the enemy, if they were not relieved before +Midsummer day, the feast of St. John the Baptist. While Robert was +watching Stirling, his brother Edward devastated the country round +Carlisle, lording it for three days at the bishop's castle of Rose, and +levying heavy blackmail on the men of Cumberland. + + [1] _Lanercost Chronicle_, p. 223. + +If Stirling were lost, all Scotland would be at Bruce's mercy. Even +Edward was stirred by the disgrace involved in the utter abandonment of +his father's conquest; and from March onwards he began to make spasmodic +efforts to collect men and ships to enable him to advance to the relief +of the beleaguered garrison. At first it seemed sufficient to raise the +feudal levies and a small infantry force from the northern shires, but +as time went on the necessity of meeting the Scottish pikemen by +corresponding levies of foot soldiers became evident, and over 20,000 +infantry were summoned from the northern counties and Wales.[1] But the +notice given was far too short, and June was well advanced before +anything was ready. + + [1] For the numbers at Bannockburn, see _Foedera_, ii., 248, + and Round, _Commune_ of London, pp. 289-301. + +Even the Scottish peril could not quicken the sluggish patriotism of +the ordainers. Four earls, Lancaster, Warenne, Warwick, and Arundel, +answered Edward's summons by reminding him that the ordinances +prescribed that war should only be undertaken with the approval of +parliament, and by declining to follow him to a campaign undertaken on +his own responsibility. They would send quotas, but begged to be +excused from personal attendance. Yet even without them, a gallant +array slowly gathered together at Berwick, and one at least of the +opposition earls, Humphrey of Hereford, was there, with Gilbert of +Gloucester and Aymer of Pembroke and 2,000 men-at-arms. An enormous +baggage train enabled the knights and barons to appear in the field in +great magnificence, though it destroyed the mobility of the force. "The +multitude of waggons," wrote the monk of Malmesbury, "if they had been +extended in a single line would have occupied the space of twenty +leagues." The splendour and number of the army inspired the king and +his friends with the utmost confidence. Though the host started from +Berwick less than a week before the appointed day, the king moved, says +the Malmesbury monk, not as if he were about to lead an army to battle, +but rather as if he were going on a pilgrimage to Compostella. "There +was but short delay for sleep, and a shorter delay for taking food. +Hence horses, horsemen, and infantry were worn out with fatigue and +hunger." There was no order or method in the proceedings of the host. +The presence of the king meant that there was no effective general, and +Hereford and Gloucester quarrelled for the second place. + +It was not until Sunday, June 23, that Edward at last took up his +quarters a few miles south of Stirling, with a worn-out and dispirited +army. Yet, if Stirling were to be saved, immediate action was +necessary. Gloucester and Hereford made a vigorous but unsuccessful +effort to penetrate at once into the castle, and Bruce came down just +in time to throw himself between them and the walls. Henry Bohun, who +had forced his way forward at the head of a force of Welsh infantry, +was slain, and his troops dispersed. Gloucester was unhorsed, and +thereupon the English retreated to their camp. Fearing an attack under +cover of darkness, they had little sleep that night, and many of the +watchers consoled themselves with revelry and drunkenness. When St. +John's day dawned, they were too weary to fight effectively. Bruce +advanced from the woods and stationed his troops on the low ridge +bounding the northern slope of the little brook, called the +Bannockburn, which runs about two miles south of Stirling on its course +towards the Forth. Of the three divisions, or battles, into which the +Scots were divided, two stood on the same front, side by side, while +King Robert commanded the rear battle, which was to serve as a reserve. +He marshalled his forces much in the same way that Wallace had adopted +at Falkirk. There was the same close array of infantry, protected by a +wall of shields and a thick hedge of pikes. Each man wore light but +adequate armour, and, besides the pike, bore an axe at his side for +work at close quarters. Pits were dug before the Scots lines, and +covered over with hurdles so light that they would not bear the weight +of a mail-clad warrior and his horse. Save for a small cavalry force +kept in reserve in the rear, the men-at-arms were ordered to dismount +and take their place in the dense array, lest, like their comrades at +Falkirk, they should ride off in alarm when they saw the preponderance +of the enemy's horse. The Scots were less numerous than the English, +but they were an army and not a mob; their commander was a man of rare +military insight, and their tactics were those which, twelve years +before, had defeated the chivalry of France at Courtrai. + +The English had feared that the Scots would not fight a pitched battle, +and were astonished to see them at daybreak prepared to receive an +attack. Their contempt for their enemy made them eager to accept the +challenge, but Gloucester, who, though only twenty-three, had more of +the soldier's eye than most of the magnates, urged Edward to postpone +the encounter for a day, that the army might recover from its fatigue, +and the clergy advised delay out of respect to St. John the Baptist. +Unmoved by prudence or piety, Edward denounced his nephew as a coward, +and ordered an immediate advance. + +The English, forgetting the lessons of the Welsh wars, sent on the +archers in front of the cavalry. Bruce, seeing that their missiles were +playing havoc on his dense ranks, directed his small cavalry force to +charge the archers on their left flank. The unsupported bowmen at once +fell back in confusion, leaving the cavalry to do its work. Meanwhile +the English men-at-arms were advancing in three "battles," the first of +which then came into action. Many of the English fell into the pits +prepared for them, and the Scottish shields and pikes broke the attack +of those who evaded these obstacles. Gloucester fought with rare +gallantry, but was badly seconded by his followers. At last his horse +was slain under him, and he was knocked down and killed. The troop +which he led fled panic-stricken from the field. The Scots then +advanced with such vigour that the English never recovered from the +disorder into which their first disaster had thrown them. While these +things were going on, the second and third English "battles" had been +making feeble efforts to take their part in the fight. But the first +line cut them off from direct access to the foe, and the archers of the +second battle did more harm to their friends than to their enemies by +shooting wildly, straight in front of them. There was no single +directing force, nor, after Gloucester's fall, even one conspicuous +leader who would set an example of blind valour. Hundreds of English +knights, who had not drawn their swords, were soon fleeing in terror +before the enemy. Edward, who had taken up his station in the rear +battle, rode off the field and never dismounted until he reached +Dunbar, whence he fled by sea to Berwick. + +Abandoned by their leaders, the English retreated as best they could. +Many of their best knights lay dead on the field, and more were drowned +in the Forth or Bannock, or swallowed up in the bogs, than were slain +in the fight. The Scots, whose losses were slight, showed a prudent +tendency to capture rather than slay the knights and barons, in order +that they might hold them up to ransom, and though many desisted from +the pursuit to plunder the baggage train, those who followed the +English fugitives reaped an abundant harvest of captives. Hereford was +chased into Bothwell castle, which was still held for the English. But +next day the Scottish official who commanded there for Edward opened +the gates to Bruce, and the earl became a prisoner. Pembroke escaped +with difficulty on foot, along with a contingent of Welsh infantry. The +mighty English army had ceased to exist; and with the surrender of +Stirling, next day, Bruce's career attained its culminating point. His +long years of trial were at last over, and the clever adventurer could +henceforth enjoy in security the crown which he had so gallantly won. + +The military results of Bannockburn were of extreme importance. The +ablest of contemporary annalists aptly compared Bruce's victory to the +battle of Courtrai. An even nearer analogy was the fight at Morgarten +where, within two years, the pikemen of the Forest Cantons were to +scatter the chivalry of the Hapsburgers as effectively as the Flemings +won the day at Courtrai or the Scots at Bannockburn. The English had +forgotten the military lessons of Edward I., as completely as they had +forgotten his political lessons, and their reliance on the obsolete and +unsupported cavalry charge was their undoing. Bruce, on the other hand, +had improved upon the teaching of Wallace and Edward I. His use of his +men-at-arms on foot anticipates the English tactics of the Hundred +Years' War. The presence of these heavily armed troopers in his ranks +gave him a strength in defence, and an impetuosity in attack, which +made it a simple matter to break up the undisciplined squadrons opposed +to him. Bannockburn rang the death-knell of the tactics which since +Hastings had been regarded as the perfection of military art. The +political lessons of the victory were of not less importance. It is +almost too much to say that Bannockburn won for Scotland its +independence, for Scottish independence had already been vindicated. +But the easy victory brought home to men's minds the full measure of +the Scottish triumph. It was already clear that so long as Edward +lived, England would never make the continued effort which, as Edward +I.'s wars both in Wales and Scotland had shown, could alone +systematically conquer a nation. Bruce's difficulties were not so much +with the English as with the Scots. It was no small task to unite the +English of the Lothians, the Welsh of the south-west, the Norsemen of +the extreme north, and the Celts of the hills into a single Scottish +nation. He had against him the separatist local feeling which Scottish +history and ethnology made inevitable, and it took time for him to +obtain that prestige, which should hedge a king, and raise him above +the crowd of feudal earls and clan chieftains, who thought themselves +as good as the sometime Earl of Carrick. Such dignity and distinction +Bannockburn supplied, and such measure of national unity and strong +monarchical authority as Scotland ever enjoyed, came from the triumph +of him who became, even more than Wallace, the hero of the new nation. +For the next few years the Scots took the aggressive. They induced the +French kings to renew the alliance which Philip IV. had made with them +in the early years of the contest. They obtained papal recognition for +their king and the withdrawal of the ban of the Church on Comyn's +murderer; they plundered northern England from end to end, and broke +down Anglo-Norman rule in Ireland; they plotted for the resurrection of +the Welsh principality; and, worse than all, they made common cause +with the baronial opposition. Hence it followed that the political +results of the victory were as important to England as they were to +Scotland itself. The troubled history of the next eight years reveals +in detail the effects of Bannockburn on England. Edward's defeat threw +him into the power of the ordainers. The ordainers, when called upon to +govern, showed themselves as incapable as ever Edward or his favourites +had been. The results were misrule, aristocratic faction, popular +distress, and mob violence. Ineffective as are the first seven years of +the reign of Edward of Carnarvon, the eight years which followed +Bruce's victory plunged England deeper into the pit of degradation, +from which neither the king nor the king's foes were strong, wise, or +honest enough to release her. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +LANCASTER, PEMBROKE, AND THE DESPENSERS. + + +Bannockburn was almost welcomed by the ordainers, for it afforded new +opportunities of humiliating the defeated king. While Edward tarried at +Berwick, Lancaster was in his castle of Pontefract with a force far +larger than his cousin's. Loudly declaring that the true cause of the +disaster was Edward's neglect to carry out the ordinances, he announced +his intention of immediately enforcing their observance. At a +parliament at York, in September, Edward delivered himself altogether +into Thomas's hands, ordering the immediate execution of the +ordinances, and replacing his ministers and sheriffs by nominees of the +ordainers. The only boon that he obtained was that the earls postponed +the removal from court of Hugh Despenser and Henry Beaumont, the two +faithful friends who had guarded him in his flight from Bannockburn. +Despenser, however, thought it prudent to avoid his enemies by going +into hiding. Edward's submission did not help him against the Scots. +The earls resolved that the question of an expedition was to be +postponed until the next parliament, on the ground that it was +imprudent to take action until Hereford and the other captives had been +released. It was a sorry excuse, for King Robert and his brother were +devastating the northern counties with fire and sword, and it gave new +ground to the suspicion of an understanding between the Scottish king +and the ordainers. But the victor of Bannockburn showed surprising +moderation. He suffered the bodies of Gloucester and the slain barons +to be buried among their ancestors, and released Gloucester's +father-in-law, Monthermer, without ransom, declaring that the thing in +the world which he most desired was to live in peace with the English. +He welcomed an exchange of prisoners, by which his wife, Elizabeth de +Burgh, his sister, his daughter, and the Bishop of Glasgow were +restored to Scotland. The release of Hereford soon added to the king's +troubles. + +In January, 1315, Edward's humiliation was completed at a London +parliament. Hugh Despenser and Walter Langton were removed from the +council. The "superfluous members" of the royal household, denounced as +"excessively burdensome to the king and the land," were dismissed, and +drastic ordinances were drawn up for the regulation of the diminished +following still allowed to the king. Edward was put on an allowance of +L10 a day, and the administration of his revenues taken out of his +hands. The grant made was accompanied by the condition that its +spending should be entirely in the hands of the barons, and the estates +arranged after their own fashion for the new Scottish campaign. When +summer came, Lancaster insisted on taking the command himself, and thus +gave a new grievance to Pembroke, who had already been appointed +general. Lancaster was henceforth the indispensable man. When +parliament met at Lincoln, in January, 1316, the few magnates who +attended would transact no business until his arrival. On his tardy +appearance in the last days of the session, it was resolved "that the +lord king should do nothing grave or arduous without the advice of the +council, and that the Earl of Lancaster should hold the chief place in +the council". It was only after some hesitation that the earl accepted +this position. Once more the king was forced to confirm the ordinances. +Liberal grants were made by the estates, and every rural township was +called upon to furnish and pay a foot soldier to fight the Scots. + +The commander of the army and the chief counsellor of the king, +Lancaster, was in a stronger position than any subject since the days of +Simon of Montfort. He could afford to despise aristocratic jealousy and +royal malignity. To the commons he was the good earl, who was standing +up for the rights of the people. He was the darling of the clergy, who +looked upon him as the pillar of orthodoxy, the disciple of Winchelsea, +and the upholder of the rights of Holy Church. The warlike and energetic +barons of the north were his sworn followers, and, apart from his hold +upon public opinion, he could always fall back on the resources of his +five earldoms. But events were soon to show that the successful leader +of opposition was absolutely incapable of carrying out a constructive +policy. He had no ideals, no principles, no feeling of the importance of +administrative efficiency, no sense of responsibility, no power of +controlling his followers. He never understood that his business was no +longer to oppose but to act. The clear-headed monk of Malmesbury paints +the disastrous results of his inaction: "Whatsoever pleased the king, +the earl's servants strove to overthrow; and whatever pleased the earl, +was declared by the king's servants to be treasonable; and so, at the +suggestion of the evil one, the households of earl and king put +themselves in the way and would not allow their masters, by whom the +land should have been defended, to be of one accord". Even the implied +understanding with the King of Scots was not abandoned by the man on +whom the responsibility rested of defeating him. When Bruce devastated +the north of England he still spared the lands of the king's "chief +counsellor," as of old he had spared the lands of the opposition leader. +When, in 1316, Lancaster mustered his forces at Newcastle against the +Scots, Edward repaid him for his inaction in 1314 by declining to +accompany him over the border. "Thereupon," wrote the border +annalist,[1] "the earl at once went back; for neither trusted the +other." Edward, who forgot and forgave nothing, secretly negotiated with +the pope for absolution from his oath to the ordinances. He gradually +built up a court party, and soon restored Hugh Despenser to his position +in the household. As might be expected in such circumstances no +effective resistance was made to the Scots. + + [1] _Lanercost Chronicle_, p. 233. + +It was a time of severe distress in England. In 1315 a rainy summer +ruined the harvest. Great floods swept away the hay from the fields, +and drowned the sheep and cattle. In 1316 famine raged, especially in +the north. For a hundred years, we are told, such scarcity of corn had +not been known. A bushel of wheat was sold at London for forty pence, +and the Northumbrians were driven to feed on dogs, horses, and other +unwonted food. Pestilence followed in the train of famine. It was in +vain that parliament passed laws, limiting the repasts of the barons' +households to two courses of meat, and fixing the price of the chief +sorts of victuals. The only result was that dealers refused to bring +their produce to market. Then the legislation, passed in a panic, was +repealed in a panic. "It is better," said a chronicler, "to buy things +at a high rate than not to be able to buy them at all." + +Private wars raged from end to end of south Britain. On the upper +Severn, Griffith of Welshpool, the younger son of Griffith ap +Gwenwynwyn, laid regular siege to Powys castle, the stronghold of John +Charlton, his niece's husband and his rival for the lordship of upper +Powys. As Charlton was a courtier, Griffith attached himself to the +ordainers. After Bannockburn, the captivity of Hereford, the lord of +Brecon, and the death without heirs of Gloucester, the lord of +Glamorgan, removed the strongest restraints on the men of south Wales. +The royal warden of Glamorgan, Payne of Turberville, displaced +Gloucester's old officers. One of the sufferers was Llewelyn Bren, "a +great and powerful Welshman in those parts," who had held high office +under Earl Gilbert. In 1315 Llewelyn, after seeking justice in vain at +the king's court, rose in revolt against Turberville. He gathered the +Welshmen on the hills, burst upon Caerphilly, while the constable was +holding a court outside the castle, took the outer ward by surprise and +burnt it to ashes. There was fear lest this revolt should be the +starting-point of a general Welsh rising. Llewelyn's hill strongholds +threatened Brecon on the north and the vale of Glamorgan on the south; +and Hereford, then released from his Scottish captivity, was entrusted +with the suppression of the revolt. Before long all the lords of the +march joined Hereford in stamping out the movement. Among them were the +two Roger Mortimers, the Montagues and the Giffords, and Henry of +Lancaster, Earl Thomas's brother, and lord in his own right of Monmouth +and Kidwelly. Overwhelmed by such mighty opponents, Llewelyn +surrendered to Hereford, hoping thus to save his followers. + +Lancaster himself suffered from the spirit of anarchy that was abroad. +His own Lancashire vassals rose against his authority, under Adam +Banaster, a former member of his household. Adam belonged to an +important Lancashire family, which had long stood in close relations to +Wales, and had committed a homicide for which he despaired of pardon. +He now posed as the champion of the king against the earl, believing +that anything that caused trouble to Thomas would give no small delight +at court. Lancaster showed more energy in upholding his own rights than +in maintaining the honour of England. He raised such an overwhelming +force that Banaster, unable to hold the field against him, shut himself +up in his house. His refuge was stormed and his head brought to Earl +Thomas as a trophy of victory. While Banaster was raiding Lancashire +and Llewelyn south Wales, the Scots were devastating the country as far +south as Furness, and Edward Bruce, King Robert's brother, was +conquering Ireland. There was little wonder that Edward Bruce hoped to +cross over to Wales when he had done his work in Ireland, or that the +Welsh, buoyed up, as in the last generation, by the prophesies of +Merlin, believed that the time was come when they would expel the +Saxons, and win back the empire of Britain. + +Of much longer duration than the wars of Llewelyn Bren and Adam +Banaster, were the formidable disturbances which raged for many years +at Bristol. Fourteen Bristol magnates had long a preponderating +influence in the government of the town. The commons bitterly resented +their superiority and declared that every burgess should enjoy equal +rights. A royal inquiry was ordered, but the judges, bribed, as was +believed, by the fourteen, gave a decision which was unacceptable to +the commons. Lord Badlesmere, warden of the castle, sided with the +oligarchs, and thus the whole authority of the state was brought to +bear against the popular party. But it was an easy matter to resist the +government of Edward II. The commons took arms and a riot broke out in +court. Twenty men were killed in the disturbances, and the judges fled +for their lives. Eighty burgesses were proved by inquest at Gloucester +to have been the ringleaders. As they refused to appear to answer the +charges, they were outlawed. Indignation at Bristol then rose to such a +height that the fourteen fled in their turn, and for more than two +years Bristol succeeded in holding out against the royal mandate. At +last, in 1316, the town was regularly besieged by the Earl of Pembroke. +The castle was not within the burgesses' power, and its _petrariae_, +breaking down the walls and houses of the borough, compelled the +townsmen to surrender. A few of the chief rebels were punished, but a +pardon was issued to the mass of the burgesses. + +More dangerous than any of these troubles was the attack made by Edward +Bruce on the English power in Ireland. That power had been on the wane +during the last two generations. Edward I. had formed schemes for the +better administration of the country, but little had come of them. The +English government in Dublin gradually lost such control as it had +possessed over the remoter parts of the island. The shire organisation, +set up in an earlier generation, became little more than nominal. The +constitutional movement of the thirteenth century extended to the +island, and the Irish parliament, then growing up out of the old +council, reflected in a blurred fashion the organisation of the English +parliament of the three estates. But royal lieutenants and councils, +shires and sheriffs, parliaments and justices had only the most +superficial influence on Irish life. Real authority was divided between +the Norman lords of the plain and the Celtic chieftains of the hills. +Each feudal lord hated his fellows, and bitter as were the feuds of +Fitzgeralds and Burghs, they were mild as compared with the rancorous +hereditary factions which divided the native septs from each other. +These divisions alone made it possible for the king's officers to keep +up some semblance of royal rule. If they were seldom obeyed, the +divisions in the enemies' camps prevented any chance of their being +overthrown. Thus the Irish went on living a rude, turbulent life of +perpetual purposeless war and bloodshed. Ireland was a wilder, larger, +more remote Welsh march, and the resemblance was heightened by the fact +that many of the Anglo-Norman principalities were in the hands of great +English or marcher families, and that the Irish foot-soldier played +only a less important part than the Welsh archer and pikeman among the +light-armed soldiers of the English crown. + +The easiest way to keep up a show of English government was to form an +alliance between the crown and some of the baronial houses. Richard de +Burgh, Earl of Ulster, the most powerful of the feudal lords of +Ireland, was the only one who at that period bore the title of earl. He +had long been interested in general English affairs, and his kinswomen +had intermarried into great British houses. One of his daughters +married Robert Bruce when he was Earl of Carrick, and another was more +recently wedded to Earl Gilbert of Gloucester. Despite the Bruce +connexion, the Earl of Ulster was still trusted by the English party, +and the king gave him the command of an Irish army which he had +intended to send against Scotland in 1314. Richard was too busy +fighting the Ulster clans of O'Donnell and O'Neil, and too jealous of +the Fitzgeralds, his feudal rivals, to throw his heart into the +hopeless task of gathering together the two nations and many clans of +Ireland into a single host. The death of Earl Gilbert at Bannockburn +broke his nearest tie with England, and the release of Elizabeth Bruce +in exchange for Hereford gave his daughter the actual enjoyment of the +throne of Scotland. His natural instincts as an Irishman and as a baron +were to restrain the power of his overlord. When the news of Bruce's +victory produced a great stir among the Irish clans, he stood aside and +let events take their course. + +Though the Gael of the Scottish Highlands played little part at +Bannockburn, the Irish rejoiced at the Scots' success as that of their +kinsmen. "The Kings of the Scots," said the Irish Celts, "derive their +origin from our land. They speak our tongue and have our laws and +customs." However little true this was in fact, it was a good excuse +for some of the Irish clans to offer the throne of Ireland to the King +of Scots. Robert rejected the proposal for himself, but was willing to +give his able and adventurous brother Edward the chance of winning +another crown for his house. Edward, "who thought that Scotland was too +little for his brother and himself," cheerfully fell in with the +scheme. On May 25, 1315, he landed near Carrickfergus and received a +rapturous welcome from the O'Neils, the greatest of the septs of the +north-east. Before long all Celtic Ulster flocked to his banners, and +Edmund Butler, then justice of Ireland, strove with little success to +make head against the Scottish invasion. The completeness of Bruce's +union with the native Irish gave him his best chance of attaining his +object. Up to this point the attitude of the Earl of Ulster had been +most undecided. He at last threw in his lot with the justiciar. When +parties began to shape themselves it was clear that "all the Irish of +Ireland" were in league with Bruce. The danger was that "a great part +of the great lords and lesser English folk" also joined the invader. +Conspicuous among these were the Lacys of Meath. + +Edward Bruce showed energy and vigour. He made his way southwards, and +in September won a victory over the forces of the Earl of Ulster and +the justiciar at Dundalk, then in the south of Ulster. After this he +pushed into Meath and Leinster and was joined by the O'Tooles and the +other clans of the Wicklow mountains, while the adhesion of Phelim +O'Connor, King of Connaught, brought the whole of the Celtic west into +his alliance. The barons, however, took the alarm. During the winter +Butler contracted friendship with many of the Norman colonists. From +that time the struggle assumed the character of a war between Celtic +Ireland and feudal Ireland, the native clansmen and the Anglo-Norman +settlers. Thus, though Bruce and his wild allies found it easy to make +themselves masters of the open country, all the castles and towns were +closed to them and could only be won by long-continued efforts. Before +long, Butler drove them to the hills. Ere the winter was over, Edward +found it prudent to retire to Ulster. + +During 1316 the struggle raged unceasingly. Bruce was crowned King of +Ireland, the O'Neil, it was said, having abdicated his rights in his +favour. But the summer saw the utter defeat of the O'Connors by the +justiciar at the bloody battle of Athenry, where King Phelim and the +noblest of his sept perished. A little later the King of Scots came to +the help of his brother. With his aid, Edward was able to reduce +Carrickfergus, which had hitherto defied his efforts. Then the brothers +led their forces from one end of Ireland to the other. Dublin prepared +for a siege by burning its suburbs and devastating the country around. +But though the two Bruces penetrated as far as Limerick, they did not +capture a single castle or a walled town. They lost so many men during +their winter campaign, that they were forced in the spring to retire to +Ulster. The hopeless disunion of both parties in Ireland seemed likely +to prolong the struggle indefinitely. The men of Dublin and the Earl of +Ulster were at feud with each other, and the citizens captured the earl +and shut him up in Dublin castle. However little the earl could be +trusted, this was a step likely to throw all Ulster into the arms of +the Bruces. But a stronger justice of Ireland then superseded Edmund +Butler. Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, the mightiest baron of the Welsh +march, and a man of real ability, rare energy, extreme ruthlessness, +and savage cruelty, crossed over from Haverfordwest early in 1317 at +the head of a large force of marcher knights and men-at-arms, versed +from their youth up in the traditions of Celtic warfare. Mortimer set +himself to work to break up the ill-assorted coalition that supported +Bruce. He released the Earl of Ulster from his Dublin prison; he +procured the banishment of the heads of the house of Lacy; he won over +some of the Irish septs to his side; he stimulated the civil war which +had devastated Connaught since the fall of the O'Connors. Edward Bruce +was once more confined to Ulster, where he still struggled on bravely. +In the autumn of 1318 he led a foray southwards, and met his fate in a +skirmish near Dundalk on October 14, when his force was scattered in +confusion by John of Bermingham, one of the neighbouring lords. The +four quarters of the luckless King of Ireland were exposed in the four +chief towns of the island as a trophy of victory, and Bermingham was +rewarded by the new earldom of Louth. + +Edward Bruce's enterprise ended with his death, and Ireland rapidly +settled down into its normal condition of impotent turbulence. Though +at first sight the invader utterly failed, yet he pricked the bubble of +the English power in Ireland. His gallant attempt at winning the throne +is the critical event in a long period of Irish history. From the days +of Henry III to the days of Edward Bruce, the lordship of the English +kings in Ireland was to some extent a reality. From 1315 to the reign +of Henry VIII, the English dominion was little more than a name as +regards the greater part of Ireland. + +No one attained success, in the years after Bannockburn,--neither +Banaster, nor Llewelyn Bren, nor the Bristol commons nor Edward Bruce +and his Irish allies. Before long, the incompetence of Lancaster became +as manifest as the incompetence of Edward II. Lancaster's failure led +to the dissolution of the baronial opposition into fiercely opposing +factions. Personal and territorial jealousies slowly undermined a unity +which had always been more apparent than real. The Earl of Pembroke had +never forgiven the treachery of Deddington. Though Warwick was dead, +Pembroke still pursued Lancaster with unrelenting hatred. No partisan +of prerogative, and an enemy of Edward's personal following, Earl Aymer +separated himself from his old associates and strove to form a middle +party between the faction of the king and the faction of Lancaster. +Warerine, coarse, turbulent, and vicious, at once violent and crafty, +still acted with him. The lord of Conisborough had long grudged the +master of Pontefract and Sandal his great position in Yorkshire. The +natural rivalries of neighbouring potentates were further emphasised by +personal animosity of the deadliest kind. Lancaster had long been at +variance with his wife, Alice Lacy. On May 9, 1317, the Countess of +Lancaster ran away from him, with the active help of Warenne and by the +secret contrivance of the king. Private war at once broke out between +the two earls. Lancaster was too strong for his enemy. Before winter +had begun, Conisborough and Warenne's other Yorkshire castles fell into +his hands. Lancaster's partisans even laid hold of the king's castle of +Knaresborough, while other Lancastrian bands occupied Alton castle in +Staffordshire. Intermittent hostilities continued until the summer of +1318. Twice Edward himself went to the north, and on one occasion +appeared in force outside Pontefract. But the more moderate of the +baronage managed to prevent open hostilities between the king and the +earl. Lancaster was, as ever, fighting for his own hand. His +self-seeking narrowness gave Pembroke the chance of winning for his +middle party a preponderating authority. + +Pembroke found more trustworthy allies than Warenne in Bartholomew, +Lord Badlesmere, the sometime instigator of the Bristol troubles, and a +bitter opponent of Lancaster, and in Roger of Amory, the husband of one +of the three co-heiresses who now divided the Gloucester inheritance. +Edward, who had profited by the divisions of his enemies to revive the +court party, formed a coalition between his friends and the followers +of Pembroke. All lovers of order, of moderation, and of the supremacy +of the law necessarily made common cause with them. Thus it followed +that the same machinery, which Lancaster a few years earlier had turned +against the king, was now turned against him. An additional motive to +bring peaceable Englishmen into line was found in the capture of +Berwick by Bruce in April, 1318. After this negotiations for peace +began. The king and Lancaster treated as two independent princes. +Lancaster was no longer supported by any prominent earl, and even his +clerical friends were falling from him. Ordainers as jealous as +Arundel, royalists as fierce as Mortimer, served along with trimmers +like Pembroke and Badlesmere, in acting as mediators. Lancaster could +no more resist than Edward could in 1312. On August 9 he accepted at +Leek, in Staffordshire, the conditions drawn up for him. + +The treaty of Leek marks the triumph of the middle party and the +removal of Lancaster from the first place in the royal council. A +pardon was granted to him and his followers, but Thomas gained little +else by the compact. Pembroke and his friends showed themselves as +jealous of Edward as ever the ordainers had been. The ordinances were +once more confirmed, and a new council of seventeen was nominated, +including eight bishops, four earls, four barons, and one banneret. The +earls were Pembroke, Arundel, Richmond, and Hereford. Of these the +Breton Earl of Richmond was the most friendly to the king, but it was +significant to find so truculent a politician as Hereford making common +cause with Pembroke. The most important of the four barons was Roger +Mortimer of Wigmore. Lancaster though not paramount was still powerful, +but his habit of absenting himself from parliaments made it useless to +offer him a place in the council, and he was represented by a single +banneret, nominated by him. Of these councillors two bishops, one earl, +one baron, and Lancaster's nominee were to be in constant attendance. +They were virtually to control Edward's policy, and to see that he +consulted parliament in all matters that required its assent. A few +days after the treaty Edward and Lancaster met at Hathern, near +Loughborough, and exchanged the kiss of peace. Roger of Amory and other +magnates of the middle party reconciled themselves to Lancaster, and he +condescendingly restored them to his favour. But he would not deign to +admit Hugh Despenser to his presence, and declared that he was still +free to carry on his quarrel against Warenne. In October, a parliament +at York confirmed the treaty of Leek, adding new members to the council +and appointing another commission to reform the king's household. From +that time until 1321, Pembroke and his friends controlled the English +state, though often checked both by the king and even more by +Lancaster, who still stood ostentatiously aloof from parliaments and +campaigns. These years, though neither glorious nor prosperous, were +the most peaceable and uneventful of the whole of Edward II.'s reign. +They are noteworthy for the only serious attempt made to check the +progress of the Scots after Bannockburn. From 1318 to 1320 king and +court were almost continually in the north. York became the regular +meeting-place of parliaments for even a longer period. + +Since 1314, the Scots had mercilessly devastated the whole north of +England. The population made little attempt at resistance, and sought +to buy them off by large payments of money. The Scots took the cash and +soon came again for more. They wandered at will over the open country, +and only the castles and walled towns afforded protection against them. +Their forays extended as far south as Lancashire and Yorkshire, and, so +early as 1315, Carlisle and Berwick were regularly besieged by them. It +was to no purpose that in 1317 the pope issued a bull insisting upon a +truce. The English welcomed an armistice on any terms, but the Scots' +interest was in the continuance of the war, and they paid no attention +to the papal proposal. The result was a renewal of Bruce's +excommunication, and the placing of all Scotland under interdict. Yet +no papal censures checked Robert's career or lessened his hold over +Scotland. Next year he showed greater activity than ever. In April, +1318, he captured the town of Berwick by treachery. Peter of Spalding, +one of the English burgesses who formed the town guard, was bribed to +allow a band of Scots to seize that section of the town wall of which +he was guardian. Then the intruders captured the gates and admitted +their comrades. Thus the last Scottish town to be held by the English +went back to its natural rulers. The English burgesses were expelled, +though Bruce showed wonderful moderation, and few of his enemies were +slain. Berwick castle held out for a time, until lack of victuals +caused its surrender. In May the Scots marched through Northumberland +and Durham into Yorkshire, burnt Northallerton and Boroughbridge, and +exacted a thousand marks from Ripon, as the price of respecting the +church of St. Wilfred. They then spent three days at Knaresborough, and +made their way home through Craven. + +Such successes show clearly enough that the treaty of Leek was not +signed a moment too soon. It was, however, too late for any great +effort against the Scots in 1318. A strenuous endeavour was made to +levy a formidable expedition for 1319. In strict accordance with the +ordinances, the parliament, which met at York in May of that year, +agreed that there should be a muster at Berwick for July 22, and +granted a liberal subsidy. An insolent offer of peace, coupled with a +promise of freedom of life and limb to Bruce, should he resign his +crown, provoked from the Scots king the reply that Scotland was his +kingdom both by hereditary right and the law of arms, and that he was +indifferent whether he had peace with the English king or not. On July +22, the feast of St. Mary Magdalen and the anniversary of Falkirk +fight, the barons assembled at Newcastle. Thomas of Lancaster was there +with his brother Henry. Warenne, newly reconciled with Lancaster by a +large surrender of lands, also attended, as did Pembroke, Arundel, +Hereford, and the husbands of the three Gloucester co-heiresses. There +was a braver show of earls than even in 1314. An offer of lands, when +Scotland was conquered, attracted a large number of volunteer infantry, +while the cupidity of the seamen was appealed to by a promise of ample +plunder. In August the host and fleet moved northwards, and closely +beset Berwick. + +The Scots were too astute to offer battle. While the English were +employed at Berwick, Sir James Douglas led their main force into the +heart of Yorkshire. Douglas hoped to capture Queen Isabella, who was +staying near York. A spy betrayed this design to the English, and +Isabella was hurried off by water to Nottingham, while Douglas pressed +on into the heart of Yorkshire. The Yorkshiremen had to defend their +own shire while their best soldiers were with the king at Berwick. A +hastily gathered assembly of improvised warriors flocked into York. +Archbishop Melton put himself at their head, and the clergy, both +secular and religious, formed a considerable element in the host. Then +they marched out against the Scots, and found them at Myton in +Swaledale. The Scots despised the disorderly mob of squires and +farmers, priests and canons, monks and friars. "These are not +warriors," they cried, "but huntsmen. They will do nought against us." +Concealing their movements by kindling great fires of hay, they bore +down upon the Yorkshiremen and put them to flight with much loss. The +fight was called "the white battle of Myton" on account of the large +number of white-robed monks who took part in it The archbishop escaped +with the utmost difficulty. Many fugitives were drowned in the Swale, +and not one would have escaped had not night stopped the Scots' +pursuit. The victors then pushed as far south as Pontefract. On the +news of the battle, the besiegers of Berwick were dismayed. There was +talk of dividing the army, and sending one part to drive Douglas out of +Yorkshire while the other continued the siege. But the magnates, in no +mood to run risks, insisted on an immediate return to England. Before +Edward had reached Yorkshire, Douglas had made his way home over +Stainmoor and Gilsland. Thereupon the king sent back his troops, each +man to his own house. The magnificent army had accomplished nothing at +all. So inglorious a termination of the campaign naturally gave rise to +suspicions of treason. A story was spread abroad that Lancaster had +received L4,000 from the King of Scots and had consequently done his +best to help his ally. The rumour was so seriously believed that the +earl offered to purge himself by ordeal of hot iron. In despair Edward +made a two years' truce with the Scots. It was the best way of avoiding +another Bannockburn. + +Troublous times soon began again. Since Edward surrendered himself to +the guidance of Pembroke and Badlesmere, he had enjoyed comparative +repose and dignity. It was only when a great enterprise, like the Scots +campaign, was attempted that the evil results of anarchy and the +still-abiding influence of Lancaster made themselves felt. But Edward +bore no love to Pembroke and his associates, and was quietly feeling +his way towards the re-establishment of the court party. His chief +helpers in this work were the two Despensers, father and son, both +named Hugh. The elder Despenser, then nearly sixty years of age, had +grown grey in the service of Edward I. A baron of competent estate, he +inherited from his father, the justiciar who fell at Evesham, an +hereditary bias towards the constitutional tradition, but he looked to +the monarch or to the popular estates, rather than to the baronage, as +the best embodiment of his ideals. Ambitious and not over-scrupulous, +he saw more advantage to himself in playing the game of the king than +in joining a swarm of quarrelsome opposition lords. From the beginning +of the reign he had identified himself with Gaveston and the courtiers, +and had incurred the special wrath of Lancaster and the ordainers. +Excluded from court, forced into hiding, excepted from several +pacifications as he had been, Despenser never long absented himself +from the court. His ambition was kindled by the circumstance that his +eldest son had become the most intimate personal friend of the king. +Brought up as a boy in the household of Edward when Prince of Wales, +the ties of old comradeship gradually drew the younger Hugh into +Gaveston's old position as the chief favourite. Neither a foreigner nor +an adventurer, Despenser had the good sense to avoid the worst errors +of his predecessor. As chamberlain, he was in constant attendance on +the king; and having married Edward's niece Eleanor, the eldest of the +Gloucester co-heiresses, he sought to establish himself among the +higher aristocracy. Royal grants and offices rained upon father and +son. The household officers were changed at their caprice. The only +safe way to the king's favour was by purchasing their good-will. Their +good fortune stirred up fierce animosities, and the barons showed that +they could hate a renegade as bitterly as a foreign adventurer. + +The Despensers' ambition to attain high rank was the more natural from +the havoc which death had played among the earls. "Time was," said the +monk of Malmesbury, "when fifteen earls and more followed the king to +war; but now only five or six gave him their assistance." The five +earldoms of Thomas of Lancaster meant the extinction of as many ancient +houses. The earldoms of Chester, Cornwall, and Norfolk had long been in +the king's hands. If the comital rank was not to be extinguished +altogether, it had to be recruited with fresh blood. And who were so +fit to fill up the vacant places as these well-born favourites? + +A little had been done under Edward II to remedy the desolation of the +earldoms. The revival of the earldom of Cornwall in favour of Gaveston +had not been a happy experiment. But the king's elder half-brother, +Thomas of Brotherton, invested with the estates and dignities of the +Bigods, was made earl marshal and Earl of Norfolk. In 1321 the earldom +of Kent, extinct since the fall of Hubert de Burgh, was revived in +favour of Edmund of Woodstock, the younger half-brother of the king. +The titular Scottish earldoms of some English barons, such as the +Umfraville earls of Angus, kept up the name, if not the state of earls, +and we have seen the reward of the victor of Dundalk in the creation of +a new earldom of Louth in Ireland. But there were certain hereditary +dignities whose suspension seemed unnatural. Conspicuous among these +was the Gloucester earldom which, from the days of the valiant son of +Henry I. to the death of the last male Clare at Bannockburn, had played +a unique part in English history. + +Both the Despensers desired to be earls, and the younger Hugh wished +that the Gloucester earldom should be revived in his favour. Assured of +the good-will of the king, both had to contend against the jealousy of +the baronage and the exclusiveness of the existing earls. The younger +Hugh had also to reckon with his two brothers-in-law, with whom he had +divided the Clare estates. These were Hugh of Audley, who had married +Margaret the widow of Gaveston, and Roger of Amory, the husband of +Elizabeth, the youngest of the Clare sisters. There had been difficulty +enough in effecting the partition of the Gloucester inheritance among +the three co-heiresses. In 1317 the division was made, and Despenser had +become lord of Glamorgan, which politically and strategically was most +important of all the Gloucester lands.[1] Yet even then, Despenser was +not satisfied with his position. His rival Audley had been allotted +Newport and Netherwent, while Amory had been assigned the castle of Usk +and estates higher up the Usk valley. Annoyed that he should be a lesser +personage in south Wales than Earl Gilbert had been, Despenser began to +intrigue against his wife's brothers-in-law. Each of the co-heirs had +already become deadly rivals. Their hostility was the more keen since +the three had already taken different sides in English politics. +Despenser was the soul of the court faction; Amory was the ally of +Pembroke and Badlesmere, the men of the middle party; and Audley was an +uncompromising adherent of Thomas of Lancaster. There was every chance +that each one of the three would have competent backing. To each the +triumph of his friends meant the prospect of his becoming Earl of +Gloucester. + + [1] See for this, W.H. Stevenson, _A Letter of the Younger + Despenser in 1321_ in _Engl. Hist. Rev._, xii. (1897), 755-61. + +Despenser, abler and more restless than the others, and confident in +the royal favour, was the first to take the aggressive. He wished to +base his future greatness upon a compact marcher principality in south +Wales, and to that end not only laid his hands upon the outlying +possessions of the Clares but coveted the lands of all his weaker +neighbours. He took advantage of a family arrangement for the +succession to Gower, to strike the first blow. The English-speaking +peninsula of Gower, with the castle of Swansea, was still held by a +junior branch of the decaying house of Braose, whose main marcher +lordships had been divided a century earlier between the Bohuns and the +Mortimers. Its spendthrift ruler, William of Braose, was the last male +of his race. He strove to make what profit he could for himself out of +his succession, and had for some time been treating with Humphrey of +Hereford. Gower was immediately to the south-west of Hereford's +lordship of Brecon. Its acquisition would extend the Bohun lands to the +sea, and make Earl Humphrey the greatest lord in south Wales. At the +last moment, however, Braose broke off with him and sought to sell +Gower to John of Mowbray, the husband of his daughter and heiress. When +Braose died in 1320, Mowbray took possession of Gower in accordance +with the "custom of the march". The royal assent had not been asked, +either for licence to alienate, or for permission to enter upon the +estate. Despenser coveted Gower for himself. He had already got +Newport, had he Swansea also he would rule the south coast from the +Lloughor to the Usk. Accordingly, he declared that the custom of the +march trenched upon the royal prerogative, and managed that Gower +should be seized by the king's officers, as a first step towards +getting it for himself. + +Despenser's action provoked extreme indignation among all the marcher +lords. They denounced the apostate from the cause of his class for +upsetting the balance of power in the march, and declared that in +treating a lordship beyond the Wye like a landed estate in England, +Hugh had, like Edward I., "despised the laws and customs of the march". +It was easy to form a coalition of all the marcher lords against him. +The leaders of it were Humphrey of Hereford, Roger Mortimer of Chirk, +justice of Wales, and his nephew, Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, the head +of the house, who had overthrown Edward Bruce's monarchy of Ireland. As +Braose co-heirs their position was unassailable. But every other baron +had his grievance. John of Mowbray resented the loss of Gower; Henry of +Lancaster feared for Monmouth and Kidwelly; Audley wished to win back +Newport, and Amory, Usk. Behind the confederates was Thomas of +Lancaster himself, eager to regain his lost position of leadership. The +league at once began to wage war against Despenser in south Wales, and +approached the court with a demand that he should be banished as a +traitor. + +Edward made his way to Gloucester in March, 1321, and strove to protect +Despenser and to calm the wild spirits of the marchers. But private war +had already broken out after the marcher fashion, and the king retired +without effecting his purpose. Left to themselves the marcher allies +easily overran the Despenser lands, inherited or usurped. Neither +Cardiff nor Caerphilly held out long against them: the Welsh +husbandmen, like the English knights and barons of Glamorgan, were +hostile to the Despensers. The king could do nothing to help his +friends. In May, Lancaster formed a league of northern barons in the +chapter-house of the priory at Pontefract. In June, another northern +gathering was held in the Norman nave of the parish church of +Sherburn-in-Elmet, a few miles to the north of Pontefract. This was +attended by the Archbishop of York and two of his suffragans, and a +great number of clergy, secular and regular, as well as by many barons +and knights. It was in fact an informal parliament of the Lancastrian +party. A long list of complaints were drawn up which, under fair words, +demanded the removal of bad ministers, and among them the chamberlain. +The clerical members of the conference met separately at the rectory, +where they showed more circumspection, but an equally partisan bias.[1] + + [1] Bp. Stubbs works all this out, _Chron. Ed. I. and II_., + ii., pref., lxxxvi.-xc. + +The conferences at Pontefract and Sherburn showed that Lancaster and +the northerners were in full sympathy with the men of the west. The +middle party again made common cause with the followers of Lancaster. +Amory's interests were sufficiently involved to make him an eager enemy +of Despenser, and Badlesmere was almost as keen. Though Pembroke still +professed to mediate, it was generally believed that he was delighted +to get rid of the Despensers. Even Warenne took sides against them, +though the discredited earl was fast becoming of no account. Such being +the drift of opinion, the fate of the favourites was settled when the +estates assembled in London in July. Edward had delayed a meeting of +parliament as long as he could, and was helpless in its hands. Great +pains were taken this time to prevent the repetition of the +informalities which had attended the attack on Gaveston. There was an +unprecedented gathering of magnates, who came to the parliament with a +large armed following, encamped like an army in all the villages to the +north of the city. The commons were fully represented, and the clerical +estate was expressly summoned. Articles were at once drawn up against +the Despensers. They had aspired to royal power; had turned the heart +of the king from his subjects; had excited civil war, and had taught +that obedience was due to the crown rather than to the king. This last +charge came strangely from those who had urged that doctrine as a +pretext for withdrawing support from Gaveston. It is a good +illustration of the tendency of the Despensers to cloak their personal +ambitions with loud-sounding constitutional phrases. + +The peers pronounced sentence of banishment and forfeiture against both +the elder and the younger Hugh. They were not to be recalled save by +consent of the peers in parliament assembled. The easy revolution was +completed by the issuing of pardons to nearly five hundred members of +the triumphant coalition. The elder Despenser at once withdrew to the +continent. The younger Hugh found friends among the mariners of the +Cinque Ports. These at first protected him in England, and then put at +his disposal a little fleet of vessels with which, when driven from the +land, he took to piracy in the narrow seas. + +The fall of the Despensers was brought about very much after the same +fashion as the first exile of Gaveston. Like Gaveston, they speedily +returned, and in circumstances which suggest an even closer parallel +with the events that led to the recall of the Gascon. The triumphant +coalition in each case fell to pieces as soon as it had done its +immediate work. Once more the loss of his friend and comrade stirred up +Edward to an energy and perseverance such as he never displayed on +other occasions. But the second triumph of the king assumed a more +complete character than his earlier snatched victory. Accident favoured +Edward's design of bringing back his favourites, and throwing off once +more the baronial thraldom. On October 13, 1321, Queen Isabella, on her +way to Canterbury, claimed hospitality at Leeds castle, situated +between Maidstone and the archiepiscopal city. The castle belonged to +Badlesmere, whose wife was then residing there, with his kinsman, +Bartholomew Burghersh, and a competent garrison. Lady Badlesmere +refused to admit the queen, declaring that, without her lord's orders, +she could not venture to entertain any one. Bitterly indignant at the +insult, the queen took up her quarters in the neighbouring priory and +attempted to force an entrance. The castle, however, was not to be +taken by the hasty attack of a small company. Six of Isabella's +followers were slain, and the attempt was abandoned. Isabella called +upon her husband to avenge her; and the king at once resolved to +capture Leeds castle at any cost, and prepared to undertake the +enterprise in person. He offered high wages to all crossbowmen, +archers, knights, and squires who would follow him to Leeds, and +summoned the levies of horse and foot from the towns and shires of the +south-east. His trust in the loyalty of his subjects met with an +unexpectedly favourable response. In a few days a large army gathered +round the king under the walls of Leeds. Among the many magnates who +appeared among the royal following were six earls: Pembroke, +Badlesmere's own associate; the king's two brothers, Norfolk and Kent; +Warenne, Richmond, and Arundel, who as Despenser's kinsman felt himself +bound to fight on his side. On October 23 the castle was closely +besieged by this overwhelming force, and on October 31 was forced to +surrender. Burghersh was shut up in the Tower and Lady Badlesmere in +Dover castle. Thirteen of the garrison, "stout men and valiant," were +hanged by the angry king. + +During the siege of Leeds, the magnates of the march, headed by +Hereford and Roger Mortimer, collected a force at Kingston-on-Thames, +where they were joined by Badlesmere. But they dared not advance +towards the relief of the Kentish castle, and, after a fortnight they +dispersed to their own homes. Lancaster hated Badlesmere so bitterly +that he made no move against the king, and sullenly bided his time in +the north. His inaction paralysed the barons as effectively as in +earlier days it had hindered the plans of the king. Flushed with his +victory, Edward gradually unfolded his designs. His tool, Archbishop +Reynolds, summoned a convocation of the southern province for December +1 at St. Paul's, and obtained from the assembled clergy the opinion +that the proceedings against the Despensers were invalid. On January 1, +1322, Reynolds solemnly declared this sentence in St. Paul's. Edward +did not wait for the archbishop. Attended by many of the warriors who +had fought at Leeds, he marched to the west, occupying on his journey +the lands and castles of his enemies. He kept his Christmas court at +Cirencester, and thence advanced towards the Severn. As the inaction of +Lancaster kept the northern barons quiet, Edward's sole task was to +wreak his revenge on the marcher lords. They were unprepared for +resistance, and waited in vain for Lancaster to come to their help. +Without a leader, they made feeble and ill-devised efforts to oppose +the king's advance. Their command of the few bridges over the Severn +prevented the king from crossing the river, and leading his troops +directly into the march. Foiled at Gloucester, Worcester, and +Bridgnorth, Edward made his way up the stream to Shrewsbury. The two +Mortimers, who held the town and the passage of the river, could have +stopped him if they had chosen. But they feared to undertake strong +measures while Lancaster's action remained uncertain. They suffered +Edward to cross the stream and surrendered to him. The collapse of the +fiercest of the marcher lords frightened the rest into surrender. +Edward wandered back through the middle and southern marches, occupying +without resistance the main strongholds of his enemies. At Hereford, he +sharply rebuked the bishop for upholding the barons against their +natural lord. At Berkeley, he received from Maurice of Berkeley the +keys of the stately fortress which was so soon to be the place of his +last humiliation. Early in February, he was back at Gloucester, where, +on February 11, he recalled the Despensers. + +Humphrey of Hereford, Roger of Amory, and a few other marchers managed +to escape the king's pursuit, and rode northwards to join Thomas of +Lancaster. Thomas had long been ready at Pontefract with his followers +in arms. But he let the time for effective action slip, and was only +goaded into doing anything when the fugitives from the march impressed +him with the critical state of affairs. The quarrel of king and barons +was not the only trouble besetting England. The two years' truce with +Scotland had expired, and Robert Bruce was once more devastating the +northern counties. But neither Edward nor Lancaster cared anything for +this. Andrew Harclay, the governor of Carlisle, strongly urged the king +to defend his subjects from the Scots rather than make war against +them. Edward answered that rebels must be put down before foreign +enemies could be encountered, and pressed northwards with his +victorious troops. + +Lancaster was then besieging Tickhill, a royal castle in southern +Yorkshire. After wasting three weeks before its walls, he led his force +south to Burton-on-Trent, which he occupied on March 10. Edward soon +approached the Trent on his northward march. The barons thereupon lost +courage, and, abandoning the defence of the passage over the river, fled +northwards to Pontefract, the centre of Lancaster's power in Yorkshire. +Edward advanced against them, taking on his road Lancaster's castle of +Tutbury, where Roger of Amory was captured, mortally wounded. The +Lancastrians were panic-stricken. They fled from Pontefract as they had +fled from Burton, retreating northwards, probably simply to avoid the +king, possibly to join hands with Robert Bruce. On March 16 the +fugitives reached Boroughbridge, on the south bank of the Ure, where a +long narrow bridge, hardly wide enough for horsemen in martial array, +crossed the stream. The north bank of the river, and the approaches to +the bridge, were held in force by the levies of Cumberland and +Westmoreland which Barclay had summoned at the king's request, in order +to prevent a junction between the Lancastrians and the Scots. Barclay +was a brave and capable commander and had well learnt the lessons of +Scottish warfare.[1] He dismounted all his knights and men-at-arms, and +arranged them on the northern side of the river, along with some of his +pikemen. The rest of the pikemen he ordered to form a "schiltron" after +the Scottish fashion, so that their close formation might resist the +cavalry of which the Lancastrian force consisted. He bade his archers +shoot swiftly and continually at the enemy. + + [1] For the tactics of Boroughbridge see _Engl. Hist. Review_, + xix. (1904), 711-13. + +Seeing this disposition of the hostile force, the Lancastrian army +divided. One band, under Hereford and Roger Clifford, dismounted and +made for the bridge, which was defended by the schiltron of pikemen. +The rest of the men-at-arms remained on horseback and followed +Lancaster, to a ford near the bridge, whence, by crossing the water, +they could take the schiltron in flank. Neither movement succeeded. +Hereford and Clifford advanced, each with one attendant, to the bridge. +No sooner had the earl entered upon the wooden structure than he was +slain by a Welsh spearman, who had hidden himself under it, and aimed a +blow at Humphrey through the planking. Clifford was severely wounded, +and escaped with difficulty. Discouraged by the loss of their leaders, +the rest of the troops made only a feeble effort to force the passage. +The same evil fortune attended the division that followed Lancaster. +The archers of Harclay obeyed his orders so well that the Lancastrian +cavalry scarcely dared enter the water. Lancaster lost his nerve, and +besought Harclay for a truce until the next morning. His request was +granted, but during the night all the followers of Hereford dispersed, +thinking that there was no need for them to remain after the death of +their lord. Lancaster's own troops were likewise thinned by desertions. +The sheriff of York came up early in the morning with an armed force +from the south, joined Harclay, and cut off the last hope of retreat. +Further resistance being useless, Lancaster, Audley, Clifford, Mowbray, +and the other leaders surrendered in a body. + +Edward was then at Pontefract in the chief castle of his deadliest +enemy. Thither the prisoners of Boroughbridge were sent for their +trial, and there they were hastily condemned by a body of seven earls +and numerous barons, presided over by the king himself. Lancaster, not +allowed to say a word in his defence, was at once sentenced to death as +a rebel and a traitor. In consideration of his exalted rank, the +grosser penalties of treason were commuted, as in the case of Gaveston, +to simple decapitation. On the morning of March 22 Thomas was led out +of his castle, clad in the garb of a penitent and mounted on a sorry +steed. He was conducted to a little hill outside the walls. The crowd +mocked at his sufferings and in scorn called him "King Arthur". In two +or three blows of the axe, his head was struck off from his body. Nor +was he the only victim. Audley, spared his life by reason of his +marriage to the king's niece, was, like the two Mortimers, consigned to +prison. Clifford and Mowbray were hanged at York, and Badlesmere at +Canterbury. In all, more than twenty knights and barons paid the +penalty of death. + +It is hard to waste much pity on Lancaster. He was the victim of his +own fierce passions and, still more, of his own utter incompetence. His +attitude all through the crisis had been inept in the extreme, and the +poor fight that he made for his life at Boroughbridge was a fitting +conclusion to a feeble career. But with all his faults he remained +popular to the end, especially with the clergy and commons. He was +hailed as a martyr to freedom and sound government. Pilgrimages were +made to the scene of his death, and miracles were wrought with his +relics. A chapel arose on the little hill dedicated to his worship, and +a loud cry arose for his canonisation. The abuse made by his enemies of +their victory only strengthened his reputation among the people. The +tragedy of his fall appealed to the rude sympathies of the +north-countrymen, and the merit of the cause atoned in their minds for +the weakness of the man. + +A parliament met at York on May 2, where the triumph of the king +received its consummation. The Despensers had more advanced +constitutional ideas than Lancaster, and pains were taken that this +parliament should completely represent the three estates. It was a +novel feature that twelve representatives of the commons of north Wales +and twelve of the commons of south Wales attended, on this occasion, to +speak on behalf of the region where the troubles had first begun. With +the full approval of the estates, the ordinances were solemnly revoked, +as infringing the rights of the crown. The important principle was laid +down that "matters which are to be established for the estate of the +king and for the estate of the realm shall be treated, accorded, and +established in parliament by the king and by the council of the +prelates, earls, and barons, and the commonalty of the realm". Thus, +while the repeal of the ordinances seemed based upon their infringement +of the royal prerogative, it was at least implied that they were also +invalid because they were the work of a council of barons only, and not +of a full parliament of the estates. This declaration of the necessity +of popular co-operation in valid legislation is the most important +constitutional advance of the reign of Edward II. It is a significant +comment on the limitations of the baronial opposition that the +ordinances should be the last great English law in the passing of which +the commons were not consulted, and that a royalist triumph should be +the occasion of the declaration of a vital principle. + +The king's friends then received their rewards. Harclay was made Earl +of Carlisle and the elder Despenser became Earl of Winchester. Fear of +the marcher lords, even in their prison, withheld from the younger Hugh +the title, though hardly the authority, of Earl of Gloucester. In other +ways also the Despensers were anxious to prevent their victory +suggesting too much of a reaction. Before parliament separated, it +adopted a new series of ordinances confirming the Great Charter and +re-enacting in more constitutional fashion some portions of the laws of +1312, which aimed at protecting the subject and strengthening the +administration. Grants of men and money were made to fight the Scots, +and once more the new customs were allowed to swell the royal revenue. +Thus the revolution was completed. Edward, Gaveston, Lancaster, and +Pembroke had each in their turn been tried and found wanting. Thanks to +the jealousies of the barons, his own spasmodic energy, and the +acuteness of the Despensers, Edward was still to have another chance, +under the guidance of his new friends. We shall see how the restored +rule of the Despensers was blighted by the same incompetence and +selfishness which had ruined their predecessors in power. The triumph +of the Despensers proved but the first act in the tragic fall of Edward +II. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE FALL OF EDWARD II. AND THE RULE OF ISABELLA AND MORTIMER. + + +During the deliberations of the parliament of York, the truce with +Bruce expired, and forthwith came the news that the Scots had once more +crossed the border. On this occasion Bruce raided the country from +Carlisle to Preston, burning every open town on his way, though sparing +most of the religious houses. At Cartmel, Lancaster, and Preston, +favoured monastic buildings alone stood entire amidst the desolation +wrought by the Scots. No effective opposition was offered to them, and +after a three weeks' foray, they recrossed the Solway. + +As in 1314 and 1318, the restoration of order was followed by an +attempt to put down Bruce. In August, 1322, Edward assembled his forces +at Newcastle and invaded Scotland. Berwick was unsuccessfully besieged +and the Lothians laid waste. The Scots still had the prudence to +withdraw beyond the Forth, and avoid battle in the open field. By the +beginning of September, pestilence and famine had done their work on +the invaders. Unable to find support in the desolate fields of Lothian, +the, English returned to their own land, having accomplished nothing. +The Scots followed on their tracks, but with such secrecy that they +penetrated into the heart of Yorkshire before Edward was aware of their +presence. In October they suddenly swooped down on the king, when he +was staying at Byland abbey. Some troops which accompanied him were +encamped on a hill between Byland and Rievaux. They were attacked by +the Scots and defeated; their leader, John of Brittany, was taken +prisoner, and Edward only avoided capture by a precipitate flight from +Byland to Bridlington. All Yorkshire was reduced to abject terror, and +Edward's hosts, the canons of Bridlington, removed with all their +valuables to Lincolnshire, and sent one of their number to Bruce at +Malton to purchase immunity for their estates. After a month the Scots +went home, leaving famine, pestilence, and misery in their train. The +Despensers thus proved themselves not less incompetent to defend +England than Thomas of Lancaster. + +As the state afforded no protection, each private person had to make +the best terms he could for himself. Even the king's favourite, Louis +of Beaumont, the illiterate Bishop of Durham, entered into negotiations +with the Scots, while the Archbishop of York issued formal permission +to religious houses of his diocese to treat with the excommunicated +followers of Bruce. Not only timid ecclesiastics, but well-tried +soldiers found in private dealings with the Scots the only remedy for +their troubles. After the Byland surprise, Harclay, the new Earl of +Carlisle, the victor of Boroughbridge, and the warden of the marches, +dismissed his troops, sought out Bruce at Lochmaben, and made an +arrangement with him, by which it was resolved that a committee of six +English and six Scottish magnates should be empowered to conclude peace +between the two countries on the basis of recognising him as King of +Scots. There was great alarm at court when Harclay's treason was known. +A Cumberland baron, Anthony Lucy, was instructed to apprehend the +culprit, and forcing his way into Carlisle castle by a stratagem, +captured the earl with little difficulty. In March, 1323, Harclay +suffered the terrible doom of treason. He justified his action to the +last, declaring that his only motive was a desire to procure peace, and +convincing many of the north-countrymen of the innocence of his +motives. To such a pass had England been reduced that those who +honestly desired that the farmers of 'Cumberland should once more till +their fields in peace, saw no other means of gaining their end than by +communication with the enemies of their country. + +The disgrace of Byland and the tragedy of Carlisle showed that it was +idle to pretend to fight the Scots any longer. Negotiations for peace +were entered upon; Pembroke and the younger Despenser being the chief +English commissioners. Peace was found impossible, as English pride +still refused to recognise the royal title of King Robert, but a +thirteen years' truce was arranged without any difficulty. This treaty +of 1323 practically concluded the Scottish war of independence. Bruce +then easily obtained papal recognition of his title, though English +ill-will long stood in the way of the remission of his sentence of +excommunication. His martial career, however, was past, and he could +devote his declining years to the consolidation of his kingdom and the +restoration of its material prosperity. He reorganised the national +army, built up a new nobility by distributing among his faithful +followers the estates of the obstinate friends of England, and first +called upon the royal burghs of Scotland to send representatives to the +Scottish parliament. He had made Scotland a nation, and nobly redeemed +the tergiversation and violence of his earlier career. + +Among Harclay's motives for treating with the Scots had been his +distrust of the Despensers. As generals against the Scots and as +administrators of England, they manifested an equal incapacity. Their +greed and insolence revived the old enmities, and they proved strangely +lacking in resolution to grapple with emergencies. Nevertheless they +ruled over England for nearly five years in comparative peace. This +period, unmarked by striking events, is, however, evidence of the +exhaustion of the country rather than of the capacity of the Earl of +Winchester and the lord of Glamorgan. The details of the history bear +witness to the relaxation of the reins of government, the prevalence of +riot and petty rebellion, the sordid personal struggles for place and +power, the weakness which could neither collect the taxes, enforce +obedience to the law, nor even save from humiliation the most trusted +agents of the government. + +The Despensers' continuance in power rested more on the absence of +rivals than on their own capacity. The strongest of the royalist earls, +Aymer of Pembroke, died in 1324. As he left no issue, his earldom +swelled the alarmingly long roll of lapsed dignities. None of the few +remaining earls could step into his place, nor give Edward the wise +counsel which the creator of the middle party had always provided. +Warenne was brutal, profligate, unstable, and distrusted; Arundel had +no great influence; Richmond was a foreigner, and of little personal +weight, and the successors of Humphrey of Hereford and Guy of Warwick +were minors, suspected by reason of their fathers' treasons. The only +new earl was Henry of Lancaster, who in 1324 obtained a partial +restitution of his brother's estates and the title of Earl of +Leicester. Prudent, moderate, and high-minded, Henry stood in strong +contrast to his more famous brother. But the tragedy of Pontefract and +his unsatisfied claim on the Lancaster earldom stood between Henry and +the government, and the imprudence of the Despensers soon utterly +estranged him from the king, though he was the last man to indulge in +indiscriminate opposition, and Edward dared not push his powerful +cousin to extremities. In these circumstances, the king had no wise or +strong advisers whose influence might counteract the Despensers. His +loneliness and isolation made him increasingly dependent upon the +favourites. + +The older nobles were already alienated, when the Despensers provoked a +quarrel with the queen. Isabella was a woman of strong character and +violent passions, with the lack of morals and scruples which might have +been expected from a girlhood passed amidst the domestic scandals of +her father's household. She resented her want of influence over her +husband, and hated the Despensers because of their superior power with +him. The favourites met her hostility by an open declaration of +warfare. In 1324 the king deprived her of her separate estate, drove +her favourite servants from court, and put her on an allowance of a +pound a day. The wife of the younger Hugh, her husband's niece, was +deputed to watch her, and she could not even write a letter without the +Lady Despenser's knowledge. Isabella bitterly chafed under her +humiliation. She was, she declared, treated like a maidservant and made +the hireling of the Despensers. Finding, however, that nothing was to +be gained by complaints, she prudently dissembled her wrath and waited +patiently for revenge. + +The Despensers' chief helpers were among the clergy. Conspicuous among +them were Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, the treasurer, and Robert +Baldock, the chancellor. The records of Stapledon's magnificence +survive in the nave of his cathedral church, and in Exeter College, +Oxford; but the great builder and pious founder was a worldly, greedy, +and corrupt public minister. So unpopular was he that, in 1325, it was +thought wise to remove him from office. Thereupon another building +prelate, William Melton, Archbishop of York, whose piety and charity +long intercourse with courtiers had not extinguished, abandoned his +northern flock for London and the treasury. But the best of officials +could do little to help the unthrifty king. Edward was so poorly +respected that he could not even obtain a bishopric for his chancellor. +On two occasions the envoys sent to Avignon, to urge Baldock's claims +on vacant sees, secured for themselves the mitre destined for the +minister. In this way John Stratford became Bishop of Winchester and +William Ayermine, Bishop of Norwich. Edward had not even the spirit to +show manifest disfavour to these self-seeking prelates, but his +inaction was so clearly the result of weakness that it involved no +gratitude, and the two bishops secretly hated the ruling clique, as +likely to do them an evil turn if it dared. Nor were the older prelates +better contented or more loyal. The primate Reynolds was deeply +irritated by Melton's appointment as treasurer. Burghersh, the Bishop +of Lincoln, was a nephew of Badlesmere, and anxious to avenge his +uncle. Adam Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, was a dependant of the +Mortimers, who took his surname from one of their Herefordshire manors. +Forgiven for his share in the revolt of 1322, he cleverly contrived in +1324 the escape of his patron, Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, from the +Tower. The marcher made his way to France, but his ally felt the full +force of the king's wrath. He was deprived of his temporalities, and, +when the Church spread her aegis over him, the court procured the +verdict of a Herefordshire jury against him. Thus the impolicy of the +crown combined the selfish worldling with the zealot for the Church in +a common opposition. Like Isabella, Orleton bided his time, and Edward +feared to complete his disgrace. + +In such ways the king and the Despensers proclaimed their incapacity to +the world. The Scottish truce, the wrongs of Henry of Lancaster, the +humiliation of the queen, the alienation of the old nobles, the fears +of greedy prelates,--each of these was remembered against them. +Gradually every order of the community became disgusted. The feeble +efforts of Edward to conciliate the Londoners met with little response. +Weak rule and the insecurity of life and property turned away the heart +of the commons from the king. It was no wonder that men went on +pilgrimage to the little hill outside Pontefract, where Earl Thomas had +met his doom, or that rumours spread that the king was a changeling and +no true son of the great Edward. But though the power of the king and +the Despensers was thoroughly undermined, the absence of leaders and +the general want of public spirit still delayed the day of reckoning. +At last, the threatening outlook beyond the Channel indirectly +precipitated the crisis. + +The relations of France and England remained uneasy, despite the +marriage of two English kings in succession to ladies of the Capetian +house. The union of Edward I. and Margaret of France had not done much +to help the settlement of the disputed points in the interpretation of +the treaty of Paris of 1303, and the match between Edward II and his +stepmother's niece had been equally ineffective. The restoration of +Gascony in 1303 had never been completed, and in the very year of the +treaty a decree of the parliament of Paris had withdrawn the homage of +the county of Bigorre from the English duke. Within the ceded +districts, the conflict of the jurisdictions of king and duke became +increasingly accentuated. Having failed to hold Gascony by force of +arms, Philip the Fair aspired to conquer it by the old process of +stealthily undermining the traditional authority of the duke. Appeals +to Paris became more and more numerous. The agents of the king wandered +at will through Edward's Gascon possessions, and punished all loyalty +to the lawful duke by dragging the culprits before their master's +courts. The ineptitude which characterised all Edward's subordinates +was particularly conspicuous among his Gascon seneschals and their +subordinates. While the English king's servants drifted on from day to +day, timid, without policy, and without direction, the agents of +France, well trained, energetic, and determined, knew their own minds +and gradually brought about the end which they had clearly set before +themselves. In vain did bitter complaints arise of the aggressions of +the officers of Philip. It was to no purpose that conferences were +held, protocols drawn up, and much time and ink wasted in discussing +trivialities. Neither Edward nor Philip wished to push matters to +extremities. To the former the policy of drift was always congenial. +The latter was content to wait until the pear was ripe. It seemed that +in a few more years Gascony would become as thoroughly subject to the +French crown as Champagne or Normandy. + +Philip the Fair died in 1314, and was followed in rapid succession by +his three sons. The first of these, Louis X., had, like Edward II., to +contend against an aristocratic reaction, and died in 1316, before he +could even receive the homage of his brother-in-law. A king of more +energy than Edward might have profited by the difficult situation which +followed Louis' death. For a time there was neither pope, nor emperor, +nor King of France. But Philip V. mounted the French throne when his +brother's widow had given birth to a daughter, and continued the policy +of his predecessors with regard to Gascony. Again the disputes between +Norman and Gascon sailors threatened, as in 1293, to bring about a +rupture. The ever-increasing aggressions of the suzerain culminated in +summoning Edward's own seneschal of Saintonge to appear before the +French king's court. Edward neglected to do homage, alleging his +preoccupation in the Scottish war and similar excuses. But the +threatened danger soon passed away, for again the interests and fears +of both parties postponed the conflict. In avoiding any alliance with +the Scots, the French king showed a self-restraint for which Edward +could not but be grateful. In 1320 Edward performed in person his +long-delayed homage at Amiens, though his grievances against his +brother-in-law still remained unredressed. In 1322 the death of Philip +V. renewed the troublesome homage question in a more acute form.[1] + + [1] For the relations of Edward II. and Philip V. see Lehugeur, + _Hist. de Philippe le Long_, pp. 240-66 (1897). + +The obligation of performing homage to a rival prince weighed with +increasing severity on the English kings at each rapid change of +occupants of the throne of France. The same pretexts were again brought +forward, as sufficient reasons for postponing or evading the unpleasant +duly. But before the question was settled a new source of trouble arose +in the affair of Saint-Sardos, which soon plunged the two countries into +open war. The lord of Montpezat, a vassal of the Duke of Gascony, built +a _bastide_ at Saint-Sardos upon a site which he declared was held by +himself of the duke, but which the French officials claimed as belonging +to Charles IV. The dispute was taken before the parliament of Paris, +which decided that the new town belonged to the King of France. +Thereupon a royal force promptly took possession of it. Irritated at +this high-handed action, the lord of Montpezat invoked the aid of +Edward's seneschal of Gascony, who attacked and destroyed the _bastide_ +and massacred the French garrison.[1] The answer of Charles the Fair to +this aggression was decisive. Gascony was pronounced sequestrated and +Charles of Valois, the veteran uncle of the king, was ordered to enforce +the sentence at the head of an imposing army. + + [1] See for this affair Brequigny, _Memoire sur les differends + entre la France et l'Angleterre sous Charles le Bel, in Mem. de + l'Acad. des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_, xli. (1780), pp. + 641-92. M. Deprez is about to publish a Chancery Roll of Edward + II. which includes all the official acts relating to it. + +Thus, in the summer of 1324 England and France were once more at war. +But while England remonstrated and negotiated, France acted. Norman +corsairs swept the Channel and pillaged the English coasts. Ponthieu +yielded without resistance. Early in August, Charles of Valois entered +the Agenais, and on the 15th Agen opened its gates. The victorious +French soon appeared before La Reole, where alone they encountered real +resistance. Edmund, Earl of Kent, who had made vain attempts to procure +peace at Paris, had been sent in July to act as lieutenant of +Aquitaine. He had not sufficient force at his command to venture to +meet the Count of Valois in the open field, and threw himself into La +Reole. The rocky height, crowned with a triple wall, and looking down +on the vineyards and cornfields of the Garonne, defied for weeks the +skill of the eminent Lorrainer engineers who directed Charles of +Valois' siege train. But when Charles announced to Edmund that he would +carry the town by assault, if not surrendered within four days, the +timid earl signed a truce from September to Easter, and was allowed to +withdraw to Bordeaux. A mere fringe of coast-land still remained +faithful to the English duke, when Charles of Valois went back to +Paris, having victoriously terminated his long and chequered career. +Before the end of 1325 he died.[1] + + [1] Petit, _Charles de Valois_, pp. 207-15 (1900), gives the + fullest modern account of these transactions. + +The truce involved a renewal of the negotiations. Bishop Stratford and +William Ayermine, the astute chancery clerk, were commissioned in +November, 1324, to treat with the French, but made little progress in +their delicate task. At this stage Isabella, inspired probably by Adam +Orleton, came forward with a proposal. She besought her husband to +allow her to visit her brother, the French king, and use her influence +with him to procure peace and the restitution of Gascony. With the +strange infatuation which marked all the acts of Edward and his +favourites, Isabella's proposal was adopted, and in March, 1325, the +queen crossed the Channel and made her way to her brother's court. The +summer was consumed in negotiating a treaty, by which Edward's French +fiefs were to be restored to him in their integrity, as soon as he had +performed homage to the new king. Meanwhile the English garrison of +Gascony was to withdraw to Bayonne, leaving the rest of the duchy in +the hands of a French seneschal. Edward agreed to these terms, and put +Gascony into Charles's hands. He was still unwilling to compromise his +dignity by performing homage, while the Despensers were mortally afraid +of his going to France, lest it should remove him from their influence. +Isabella then made a second suggestion. She persuaded her brother to +excuse the personal homage of her husband, if Edward would invest his +young son, Edward, with Gascony and Ponthieu, and send him in his stead +to tender his feudal duly. This also was agreed to by the English king, +and in September the young prince, then about thirteen years old, was +appointed Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Ponthieu, and despatched to +join his mother at Paris, where he performed homage to his uncle. + +It was expected that Gascony and Ponthieu would then be restored, and +that the queen and her son would return to England. But Charles IV. +perpetrated a clever piece of trickery which showed how far off a real +settlement still was. He "restored" to Edward those parts of Gascony +which had been peacefully surrendered to him in the summer, and +announced that he should keep the Agenais and La Reole, as belonging to +France by right of Charles of Valois' recent conquest. Bitterly +mortified at this treachery, Edward took upon himself the title of +"governor and administrator of his firstborn, Edward, Duke of +Aquitaine, and of his estates". By this technical subtlety, he thought +himself entitled to resume the control of the ceded districts and +resist the attack which was bound to follow hard upon the new breach. +Once more Charles IV. pronounced the sequestration of the duchy, and +despite Edward's efforts, his power crumbled away before the peaceful +advent of the French troops, charged with the execution of their +master's edict. + +Long before the last Gascon castles had opened their gates to Charles's +officers, new developments at Paris made the question of Aquitaine a +subordinate matter. Despite the breach of the negotiations, Isabella +and her son still tarried at the French court. In answer to Edward's +requests for their return, she sent back excuse after excuse, till his +patience was fairly exhausted. At last, on December 1, 1325, Edward +peremptorily ordered his wife to return home, and warned her not to +consort with certain English traitors in the French court. The Duke of +Aquitaine was similarly exhorted to return, with his mother if he +could, but if not, without her. The reference to English traitors shows +that Edward was aware that Isabella had already formed that close +relation with the exiled lord of Wigmore which soon ripened into an +adulterous connexion. Inspired by Roger Mortimer, Isabella declared +that she was in peril of her life from the malice of the Despensers, +and would never go back to her husband as long as the favourites +retained power. A band of the exiles of 1322 gathered round her and her +paramour, and sought to bring about their restoration as champions of +the loudly expressed grievances of the queen, and the rights of her +young son. The king's ambassadors at Paris, Stratford and Ayermine, +recently made Bishop of Norwich by a papal provision which ignored the +election of Robert Baldock the chancellor, united themselves with the +queen and the fugitive marcher. With them, too, was associated Edmund +of Kent, who was allowed by the treaty to return from Gascony through +France. Bishop Stapledon, who had accompanied the queen to France, was +so alarmed at the turn events were taking, that he fled in disguise to +reveal his suspicions to the king. Thus England, already exposed to a +danger of a French war, was threatened with the forcible overthrow of +the Despensers and the reinstatement of Isabella by armed invaders. + +By the spring of 1326 the scandalous relations of Isabella and Mortimer +were notorious all over England and France. Charles IV. grew disgusted +at his sister's doings, and gave no countenance to her schemes. +Isabella accordingly withdrew from Paris with her son and her paramour, +and made her way to the Netherlands. There she found refuge in the +county of Hainault, whose lord, William II, of Avesnes, was won over to +support her by a contract to marry the Duke of Aquitaine to his +daughter Philippa. A large advance from Philippa's marriage portion was +employed in hiring a troop of knights and squires of Hainault and +Holland. John of Hainault, brother of the count, took joint command of +this band with Roger Mortimer. The ports of Holland and Zealand, both +of which counties were united with Hainault under William II.'s rule, +offered ample facilities for their embarkation. + +On September 23, 1326, the queen and her followers took ship at +Dordrecht in Holland. Next day the fleet cast anchor in the port of +Orwell, and that same day the expedition was landed and marched to +Walton, where it spent the first night on English soil. The gentry of +Suffolk and Essex flocked to the standard of the queen, who declared +that she had come to avenge the wrongs of Earl Thomas of Lancaster and +to drive the Despensers from power. Thomas of Brotherton, the earl +marshal, made common cause with the invaders, and Henry, Earl of +Leicester, hastened to associate himself with the champions of his +martyred brother. A great force of native Englishmen swelled the +queen's host, and reduced to insignificance the little band of +Hainaulters and Hollanders. There was no resistance. Isabella marched +to Bury St. Edmunds, "as if on a pilgrimage," and thence to Cambridge, +where she tarried several days with the canons of Barnwell. From +Cambridge she moved on to Baldock, where she despoiled the chancellor's +manors and took his brother captive. At Dunstable, her next halt, she +was on a great highway, within thirty-three miles of London. + +On hearing of his wife's landing, Edward threw himself on the +compassion of the Londoners, but met with so cold a reception that +early in October he withdrew to Gloucester. Besides the chancellor and +the two Despensers, the only magnates of mark who remained faithful to +him were the brothers-in-law, Edmund, Earl of Arundel, and Earl +Warenne. On Edward's retreat from London, Bishop Stratford made his way +to the capital, where he joined with Archbishop Reynolds in a hollow +pretence of mediation. The Londoners gladly welcomed the queen's +messengers and soon rose in revolt in her favour. They plundered and +burnt the house of the Bishop of Exeter, who fled in alarm to St. +Paul's. Seized at the very door of the church, Stapledon was brutally +murdered by the mob in Cheapside, where his naked body lay exposed all +day. Immediately after this, Reynolds fled in terror to his Kentish +estates, where he waited to see which was the stronger side. The king's +younger son, John of Eltham, a boy of nine, who had been left behind by +his father in the Tower, was proclaimed warden of the capital. + +On hearing of Edward's flight to the west, Isabella went after him in +pursuit. On the day of Stapledon's murder, she had advanced as far as +Wallingford, where, posing as the continuer of the policy of the lords +ordainers, she issued a proclamation denouncing the Despensers. Thence +she made her way to Oxford, where Bishop Orleton, who had already +joined her, preached a seditious sermon before the university and the +leaders of the revolt. Taking as his text, "My head, my head," he +demonstrated that the sick head of the state could not be restored by +all the remedies of Hippocrates, and would therefore have to be cut +off. This was the first intimation that the insurgents would not be +content with the fall of the Despensers. From Oxford, Isabella and +Mortimer hurried to Gloucester, whence Edward had already fled to the +younger Despenser's palatinate of Glamorgan. From Gloucester, they +passed on through Berkeley to Bristol, where the elder Despenser, the +Earl of Winchester, was in command. The feeling of the burgesses of the +second town in England was so strongly adverse that the earl was unable +to defend either the borough or the castle. In despair he opened the +gates on October 26 to the queen, and was immediately consigned, +without trial or inquiry, to the death of a traitor. After proclaiming +the Duke of Aquitaine as warden of the realm during his father's +absence, the queen's army marched on Hereford, where Isabella remained, +while the Earl of Leicester, accompanied by a Welsh clerk, named Rhys +ap Howel, was sent, with part of the army to hunt out the king. + +After his flight from Gloucester, Edward had wandered through the Welsh +march to Chepstow, whence he took ship, hoping to make sail to Lundy, +which Despenser had latterly acquired, and perhaps ultimately to +Ireland. But contrary winds kept him in the narrows of the Bristol +Channel, and on October 27 he landed again at Cardiff. A few days later +he was at Caerphilly, but afraid to entrust himself to the protection +of the mightiest of marcher castles, he moved restlessly from place to +place in Glamorgan and Gower, imploring the help of the tenants of the +Despensers, and issuing vain summonses and commissions that no one +obeyed. Discovered by the local knowledge of Rhys ap Howel, or betrayed +by those whom the Welshman's gold had corrupted, Edward was captured on +November 16 in Neath abbey. With him Baldock and the younger Despenser +were also taken. On November 20 the favourite was put to death at +Hereford, while Baldock, saved from immediate execution by his clerkly +privilege, was consigned to the cruel custody of Orleton, only to +perish a few months later of ill-treatment. To Hereford also was +brought Edmund of Arundel, captured in Shropshire, and condemned to +suffer the fate of the Despensers. The king was entrusted to the +custody of Henry of Leicester, who conveyed him to his castle of +Kenilworth, where the unfortunate monarch passed the winter, "treated +not otherwise than a captive king ought to be treated". + +It only remained to complete the revolution by making provision for the +future government of England. With this object a parliament was +summoned, at first by the Duke of Aquitaine in his father's name, and +afterwards more regularly by writs issued under the great seal. It met +on January 7, 1327, at Westminster, and, after the York precedent of +1322, contained representatives of Wales as well as of the three +estates of England. Orleton, the spokesman of Mortimer, asked the +estates whether they would have Edward II. or his son as their ruler. +The London mob loudly declared for the Duke of Aquitaine, and none of +the members of parliament ventured to raise a voice in favour of the +unhappy king, save four prelates of whom the most important was the +steadfast Archbishop Melton. The southern primate, deserting his old +master, declared that the voice of the people was the voice of God. +Stratford drew up six articles, in which he set forth that Edward of +Carnarvon was incompetent to govern, led by evil counsellors, a +despiser of the wholesome advice of the "great and wise men of the +realm," neglectful of business, and addicted to unprofitable pleasures; +that by his lack of good government he had lost Scotland, Ireland, and +Gascony; that he had injured Holy Church, and had done to death or +driven into exile many great men; that he had broken his coronation +oath, and that it was hopeless to expect amendment from him. + +Even the agents of Mortimer shrunk from the odium of decreeing Edward's +deposition, and the more prudent course was preferred of inducing the +king to resign his power into his son's hands. An effort to persuade +the captive monarch to abdicate before his estates, was defeated by his +resolute refusal. Thereupon a committee of bishops, barons, and judges +was sent to Kenilworth to receive his renunciation in the name of +parliament. On January 20, Edward, clothed in black, admitted the +delegates to his presence. Utterly unmanned by misfortune, the king +fell in a deep swoon at the feet of his enemies. Leicester and +Stratford raised him from the ground, and, on his recovery, Orleton +exhorted him to resign his throne to his son, lest the estates, +irritated by his contumacy, should choose as their king some one who +was not of the royal line. Edward replied that he was sorry that his +people were tired of his rule, but that being so, he was prepared to +yield to their wishes, and make way for the Duke of Aquitaine. On this, +Sir William Trussell, as proctor of the three estates, formally +renounced their homage and fealty, and Sir Thomas Blount, steward of +the household, broke his staff of office, and announced that the royal +establishment was disbanded. Thus the calamitous reign of Edward of +Carnarvon came to a wretched end. His utter inefficiency as a king +makes it impossible to lament his fate. Yet few revolutions have ever +been conducted with more manifest self-seeking than that which hurled +Edward from power. The angry spite of the adulterous queen, the fierce +vengeance and greed of Roger Mortimer, the craft and cruelty of +Orleton, the time-serving cowardice of Reynolds, the stupidity of Kent +and Norfolk, the party spirit of Stratford and Ayermine, can inspire +nothing but disgust. Among the foes of Edward, Henry of Leicester alone +behaved as an honourable gentleman, anxious to vindicate a policy, but +careful to subordinate his private wrongs to public objects. Though his +name and wrongs were ostentatiously put forward by the dominant +faction, it is clear from the beginning that he was only a tool in its +hands, and that the reversal of the sentence of Earl Thomas was but the +pretext by which the schemers and traitors sought to capture the +government for their own selfish ends. + +The resignation of the king was promptly reported to parliament. On +January 24 the Duke of Aquitaine was proclaimed Edward III., and from +the next day his regnal years were reckoned as beginning. Henry of +Leicester dubbed him knight, and on January 20 he was crowned in +Westminster Abbey. A few days later the young king met his parliament. +A standing council was appointed to carry on the administration during +his nonage. Of this body the Earl of Leicester acted as chief, though +most of his colleagues were partisans of Mortimer and the queen. +Orleton, who was made treasurer, continued to pull the wires as the +confidential agent of Isabella and Mortimer. A show of devotion to the +good old cause was thought politic, and therefore the sentences of 1322 +were revoked, so that Earl Henry, restored to all his brother's +estates, was henceforth styled Earl of Lancaster. The commons went +beyond this in petitioning for the canonisation of Earl Thomas and +Archbishop Winchelsea. The revolution was consummated by a new +confirmation of the charters. + +Even in the first flush of victory, Isabella and Mortimer were too +insecure and too bitter to allow Edward of Carnarvon to remain quietly +in prison under the custody of the Earl of Lancaster. As long as he was +alive, he might always become the possible instrument of their +degradation. At Orleton's instigation the deposed king was transferred +in April from his cousin's care to that of two knights, Thomas Gurney +and John Maltravers. He was promptly removed from Kenilworth and +hurried by night from castle to castle until, after some sojourn at +Corfe, he was at last immured at Berkeley. Every indignity was put upon +him, and the systematic course of ill-treatment, to which he was +subjected, was clearly intended to bring about his speedy death. But +the robust constitution of the athlete rose superior to the +persecutions of his torturers, and to save further trouble he was +barbarously murdered in his bed on the night of September 21. Piercing +shrieks from the interior of the castle told the peasantry that some +dire deed was being perpetrated within its gloomy walls. Next day it +was announced that the lord Edward had died a natural death, and his +corpse was exposed to the public view that suspicion might be averted. +He was buried with the state that became a crowned king in the +Benedictine Abbey Church of St. Peter, Gloucester. A few years later +the piety or remorse of Edward III. erected over his father's remains +the magnificent tomb which still challenges our admiration by the +delicacy of its tabernacle work and the artistic beauty of the +sculptured effigy of the murdered monarch. + +The tragedy of Edward's end soon caused his misdeeds to be forgotten, +and ere long the countryside flocked on pilgrimage to his tomb, as to +the shrine of a saint. By a curious irony the burial place of Edward of +Carnarvon rivalled in popularity the chapel on the hill at Pontefract +where Thomas of Lancaster had perished by Edward's orders. Like his +cousin, Edward became a popular, though not a canonised, saint. From +the offerings made at his tomb the monks of Gloucester were in time +supplied with the funds that enabled them to recast their romanesque +choir in the newer "perpendicular" fashion of architecture, and +embellish their church with all the rich additions which contrast so +strangely with the grim impressiveness of the stately Norman nave. +There was only one impediment to the people's worship of the dead king. +The secrecy which enveloped his end led to rumours that he was still +alive, and the prevalence of these reports soon proved almost as great +a source of embarrassment to his supplanters, as his living presence +had been in the first months of their unhallowed power. + +It was not easy for Isabella and Mortimer to restore the waning +fortunes of England at home and abroad. We shall see that it was only +by an almost complete surrender that they procured peace with France +and a partial restoration of Gascony. In Scotland they were even less +fortunate. Robert Bruce, though broken in health and spirits, took up +an aggressive attitude, and it was found necessary to summon the feudal +levies to meet on the border in the summer of 1327 in order to repel +his attack. While the troops were mustering at York, a fierce fight +broke out in the streets, between the Hainault mercenaries, under John +of Hainault, and the citizens. So threatening was the outlook that it +was thought wise to send the Hainaulters back home. From this accident +it happened that the young king went forth to his first campaign, +attended only by his native-born subjects. The Scots began operations +by breaking the truce and overrunning the borders. The campaign +directed against them was as futile as any of the last reign, and the +English, though three times more numerous than the enemy, dared not +provoke battle. This inglorious failure may well have convinced +Mortimer that the best chance of maintaining his power was to make +peace at any price. Early in 1328, the negotiations for a treaty were +concluded at York. During their progress, Edward, who was at York to +meet his parliament, was married to Philippa of Hainault. + +The Scots treaty was confirmed in April by a parliament that met at +Northampton. All claim to feudal superiority over Scotland was +withdrawn; Robert Bruce was recognised as King of Scots, and his young +son David was married to Joan of the Tower, Edward III.'s infant +sister. This surrender provoked the liveliest indignation, and men +called the treaty of Northampton the "shameful peace," and ascribed it +to the treachery or timorousness of the queen and her paramour. But it +is hard to see what other solution of the Scottish problem was +practicable. For many years Bruce had been _de facto_ King of Scots, +and any longer hesitation to withhold the recognition which he coveted +would have been sure to involve the north of England in the same +desolation as that which he had inflicted before the truce of 1322. But +the founder of Scottish independence was drawing near to the end of his +career. His health had long been undermined by a terrible disease which +the chroniclers thought to be leprosy. He died in 1329, and on his +death-bed he bethought him of how he, who had shed so much Christian +blood, had never been able to fulfil his vow of crusade. Accordingly he +entreated James Douglas, his faithful companion-in-arms, to go on +crusade against the Moors of Granada, taking with him the heart of his +dead master. Douglas fulfilled the request, and perished in Spain, +whither he had carried the heart of the Scottish liberator. With the +accession of the little David Bruce, new troubles began for Scotland, +though danger from England was for the moment averted by the English +marriage and the treaty of Northampton. + +The ill-will produced by the "shameful peace" spread far and wide the +profound dislike for Mortimer which pity for the fate of Edward had +first aroused in the breasts of Englishmen. The greedy marcher was at +no pains to make himself popular. Holding no great office of state, he +strove to rule through his creatures Orleton, the treasurer, and the +hardly less subservient chancellor, Bishop Hotham of Ely, or through +lay partisans such as Sir Oliver Ingham and Sir Simon Bereford. But his +best chance of remaining in power was through the besotted infatuation +of the queen-mother, whose relations with him were not concealed from +the public eye by any elaborate parade of secrecy. He still posed as +the inheritor of the tradition of the lords ordainers, and never failed +to put as much of the responsibility of his rule as he could on Henry +of Lancaster and the old baronial leaders. But with all his force and +energy, he was too narrowly selfish and grasping to take much trouble +to frame an elaborate policy. As an administrator he was as incompetent +as either Thomas of Lancaster or the Despensers. + +Mortimer's chief care was to add office to office, and estate to +estate, in order that he might establish his house as supreme over all +Wales and its march. Besides his own enormous inheritance, he ruled +over Ludlow and Meath in the right of his wife, Joan of Joinville, the +heiress of the Lacys. He had inherited Chirk and the other lands of his +uncle, the sometime justice of Wales, who had died in Edward II.'s +prison; and he procured for himself a grant of his uncle's old office +for life, so that, while as justice of Wales he lorded it over the +principality, as head of the Mortimers he could dominate the whole +march. To complete his ascendency in the march became his great +ambition. He obtained the custody of Glamorgan, the stronghold of his +sometime rival, Hugh Despenser the younger. To this were added Oswestry +and Clun, the Fitzalan march in western Shropshire, forfeited to the +crown by the faithfulness with which Edmund Fitzalan, the late Earl of +Arundel, had laid down his life for Edward II. Minor grants of lands, +offices, wardships, and pensions were constantly lavished upon him by +the complacency of his mistress. In Ireland he received complete +palatine franchises over Trim, Meath, and Louth, along with the custody +of the estates of the infant Earl of Kildare, the chief of the Leinster +Geraldines. He extended his connexions by marrying his seven daughters +to the heads of great families, and where possible to men of marcher +houses. He soon numbered among his sons-in-law the representatives of +the Charltons of Powys, the Hastingses of Abergavenny, now the chief +heirs of Aymer of Pembroke, the Audleys of the Shropshire march, the +Beauchamps of Warwick, the Berkeleys, the Grandisons, and the Braoses. +Anxious to extend his dignity as well as his power, he procured his +nomination as Earl of the March of Wales, "a title," says a chronicler, +"hitherto unheard of in England". As earl of the march and justice of +the principality, he ruled the lands west of the Severn with little +less than regal sway. His banquets, his tournaments, his pious +foundations even, dazzled all men by their splendour. + +Mortimer was created Earl of March in the parliament held in October, +1328, at Salisbury, where John of Eltham was made Earl of Cornwall and +James, Butler of Ireland, Earl of Ormonde. His assumption of this new +title at last roused the sluggish indignation of Earl Henry of +Lancaster, who felt that his own marcher interests were compromised, +and bitterly resented the vain use made of his name, while he was +carefully kept without any control of policy. He refused to attend the +Salisbury parliament, though he and his partisans mustered in arms in +the neighbourhood of that city. Civil war seemed imminent, and +Mortimer's Welshmen devastated Lancaster's earldom of Leicester, but +Archbishop Meopham (who had lately succeeded Reynolds in the primacy) +managed to patch up peace. Not long afterwards Lancaster was smitten +with blindness, and was thenceforth unable to take an active part in +public affairs. Mortimer again triumphed for the moment, and, with +cruel malice, excepted Lancaster's confidential agents from the pardon +which he was forced to extend to the earl. His success over Lancaster +was materially facilitated by the weakness of Edmund, Earl of Kent, +who, after joining with Earl Henry in his refusal to attend the +Salisbury parliament, deserted him at the moment of the capture of +Leicester by the Earl of March. But his treachery did not save him from +Mortimer's revenge. In conjunction with the queen, Mortimer plotted to +lure on Earl Edmund to ruin. Their agents persuaded him that Edward II. +was still alive and imprisoned in Corfe castle, and urged him to +restore his brother to liberty. The earl rose to the bait, and agreed +to be party to an insurrection which was to restore Edward of Carnarvon +to freedom, if not to his throne. When Kent was involved in the meshes, +he was suddenly arrested in the Winchester parliament of March, 1330, +and accused of treason. Convicted by his own speeches and letters, he +was adjudged to death by the lords, and on March 19 beheaded outside +the walls of the city. + +The fall of Kent convinced Lancaster that his fate would not be long +delayed, and that his best chance of saving himself and his cause lay +in stirring up the king to energetic action against the Earl of March. +The death of his uncle irritated Edward, who at seventeen was old +enough to feel the degrading nature of his thraldom, and was eager to +govern the kingdom of which he was the nominal head. In June, 1330, the +birth of a son, the future Black Prince, to Edward and Philippa seems +to have impressed on the young monarch that he had come to man's +estate. Lancaster accordingly found him eager to shake off the yoke of +his mother's paramour. The opportunity came in October, 1330, when the +magnates assembled at Nottingham to hold a parliament there. Isabella +and Mortimer took up their abode in the castle, where Edward also +resided. Suspicions were abroad, and the castle was closely guarded by +Mortimer's Welsh followers. Sir William Montague, a close friend of +Edward's, was chosen to strike the blow, and lay outside with a band of +troops. Some rumour of the plot seems to have leaked out, and on +October 19 Mortimer angrily denounced Montague as a traitor, and +accused the king of complicity with his designs. But Montague was safe +outside the castle, and, when evening fell, all that Mortimer could do +was to lock the gates and watch the walls. William Eland, constable of +the castle, had been induced to join the conspiracy, and had revealed +to Montague a secret entrance into the stronghold. On that very night, +Montague and his men-at-arms effected an entrance through an +underground passage into the castle-yard, where Edward joined them. +They then made their way up to Mortimer's chamber, which as usual was +next to that of the queen. Two knights, who guarded the door, were +struck down, and the armed band burst into the room. After a desperate +scuffle, the Earl of March was secured. Hearing the noise, the queen +rushed into the room, and though Edward still waited without, cried, +with seeming consciousness of his share in the matter, "Fair son, have +pity on the gentle Mortimer". Her entreaties were unavailing, and the +fallen favourite was hurried, under strict custody, to London. + +Edward then issued a proclamation announcing that he had taken the +government of England into his own hands. Parliament, prorogued to +Westminster, met on November 26, and its chief business was the trial +of Mortimer before the lords. He was charged with accroaching to +himself the royal power, stirring up dissension between Edward II and +the queen, teaching Edward III. to regard the Earl of Lancaster as his +enemy, deluding Edmund of Kent into believing that his brother was +alive and with procuring his execution, accepting bribes from the Scots +for concluding the disgraceful peace, and with perpetrating grievous +cruelties in Ireland. The lords, imitating the evil precedents set +during Mortimer's time of power, condemned him without trial or chance +of answer to the accusations made against him. On November 29 the +fallen earl was paraded through London from his prison in the Tower to +Tyburn Elms, and was there hanged on the common gallows. His vast +estates were forfeited to the crown. His accomplice, Sir Simon +Bereford, suffered the same fate; but Sir Oliver Ingham, another of his +associates, was pardoned. Edward discreetly drew a veil over his +mother's shame. Mortimer's notorious relations with her were not +enumerated in the accusations brought against him, and Isabella, though +removed from power and stripped of some of her recent acquisitions, was +allowed to live in honourable retirement on her dower manors. +Scrupulously visited by her dutiful son, she wandered freely from house +to house, as she felt disposed. She died in 1358 at her castle of +Hertford, in the habit of the Poor Clares--a sister order of the +Franciscans. The later tradition that she was kept in confinement at +Castle Rising has only this slender foundation in fact that Castle +Rising was one of her favourite places of abode. With her withdrawal +from public life Edward III.'s real reign begins. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. + + +Edward III. had just entered upon his nineteenth year when he became +king in fact as well as in name. In person he was not unworthy of his +father and grandfather. Less strikingly tall than they, he was nobly +built and finely proportioned. In full manhood, long hair, a thick +moustache and a flowing beard adorned his regular and handsome +countenance. His graciousness and affability were universally praised. +His face shone, we are told, like the face of a god, so that to see him +or to dream of him was certain to conjure up joyous images.[1] He +delighted in the pomp of his office, wore magnificent garments, and +played his kingly part with the same majesty and dignity as his +grandfather. Despite the troubles of his youth, he was well educated. +Richard of Bury is said to have been his tutor, and the early lessons of +the author or instigator of the _Philobiblon_ were never entirely lost +by the prince who took Chaucer and Froissart into his service. More +conspicuous was his love of art, his taste for sumptuous buildings and +their magnificent embellishment, which left memorials in the stately +castle of Windsor and its rich chapel of St. George, in St. Stephen's +chapel at Westminster, and the Eastminster for Cistercian nuns hard by +Tower hill. A fluent and eloquent speaker in French and English, Edward +was also conversant with Latin, and perhaps Low-Dutch. Yet no king was +less given to study or seclusion. Possessed, perhaps, of no exceptional +measure of intellectual capacity, and not even endowed to any large +extent with firmness of character, he won a great place in history by +the extraordinary activity of his temperament and the vigour and energy +with which he threw himself into whatever work he set his hand to do. He +was a consummate master of knightly exercises, delighting in +tournaments, and especially in those which were marked by some touch of +quaintness or fancy. He had the hereditary passion of his house for the +chase. In his youthful campaigns in Scotland and in his maturer +expeditions in France, he was accompanied by a little army of falconers +and huntsmen, by packs of hounds, and many hawks trained with the utmost +care. He honoured with his special friendship an Abbot of Leicester, +famed throughout England as the most dexterous of hare-coursers.[2] + + [1] _Continuation of Murimuth_ (Engl. Hist. Soc.), pp. 225-27, + which gives the best contemporary description of Edward's + character. + + [2] Knighton, ii., 127. + +Edward's abounding energy was even more gladly devoted to war than to +the chase. He was an admirable exponent of those chivalric ideals which +are glorified in the courtly pages of Froissart. Not content with the +easy victories which fall in the tiltyard to the crowned king, Edward +was anxious to show that his triumphs belonged to the knight and not to +the monarch, and more than once jousted victoriously in disguise. The +same spirit led him to challenge Philip of France to decide their +quarrel by single combat, and to win a personal triumph when masking as +a knight attached to the service of Sir Walter Manny. He was liberal to +the verge of prodigality, good-tempered, easy of access, and, save when +moved by deep gusts of fierce anger, kindly and compassionate. His easy +good nature endeared him both to foreigners and to every class of his +own subjects. Not only did he enter fully into the free-masonry which +regarded the knights of all Christian nations as equal members of a +sworn brotherhood of arms, but he extended his favours to the London +vintner's son who earned his bread in his service, and entertained the +wives of the leading London citizens, side by side with the noble +ladies in whose honour he gave the most quaint and magnificent of his +banquets. Pious after a somewhat formal fashion, he was unwearied in +going on pilgrimage and lavish in his religious foundations. Though no +prince was more careful to protect the state from the encroachments of +churchmen, his orthodoxy and devoutness kept him in good repute with +the austerest champions of the Church. He could choose fit agents to +carry out his policy, and his campaigns were a marvellous training +ground for gallant and capable warriors. + +Edward seldom lost sight of the material and economic interests of his +subjects. He was the friend of merchants, the father of English +commerce, the patron of the infant woollen manufactures, and a zealous +champion of the maritime greatness of his island realm, which boasted +that he was "king of the sea". Though his financial exigencies often +led him to sell excessive privileges to alien traders, this policy did +little harm to his subjects, for few of them were ready as yet to +embark in foreign commerce. A true patriot, who declared that his land +of England was "nearer to his heart, more delightful, noble, and +profitable than all other lands," he succeeded in making Englishmen +conscious of their national life as they had never been before; and he +won for his fatherland a foremost place among the kingdoms of the +world. His network of diplomatic alliances was dexterously fashioned, +and enabled him to supplement the resources of his own subjects. + +The breadth of Edward's ambitions hindered their complete +accomplishment. Like Edward I., he undertook more than he could carry +through, and, though his panegyrists praise his patience in adversity no +less than his moderation in prosperity, his merely animal courage and +vigour broke down under the weight of misfortune. Thus the glorious +king, who in his youth vied with his grandfather, seemed in his old age +to have nearly approached the fate of his wretched father. In early life +he won the love of his subjects. It was only in the first years of his +reign that the violence and greed of his disorderly household, which +inherited the evil traditions of the previous generation, bore so +heavily upon the people that Englishmen fled at his approach in dread of +the purveyors, who confiscated every man's goods for the royal use.[1] +The somewhat shallow opportunism which abandoned, with little attempt at +resistance, every royal right that stood in the way of his receiving the +full support of his parliament, at least had the merit of keeping Edward +in general touch with his estates. The wanton breaches of good faith, by +which he sometimes strove to win back what he had lightly conceded, were +regarded as efforts to save the sovereign's dignity, rather than as +insidious attempts to restore the prerogative. Unjust as was the very +basis of his French pretensions, they were backed up by a show of legal +claim that satisfied the conscience of king and subject, and to +contemporaries Edward seemed a king regardful of his honour and mindful +of his plighted word. If his generosity verged on extravagance, and his +affectation of popular manners and graciousness on unreality, Englishmen +of the fourteenth century were no severe critics of a crowned king. It +was only when in his later years Edward laid aside the soldier's life, +and abandoned himself to the frivolous distractions and degrading +amours[2] which provoked the censure even of his admirers, that the +self-indulgent traits inherited from his unhappy father stood revealed. + + [1] The _Speculum regis Edwardi_ (ed. Moisant) was written + before 1333, and the attribution of its composition to + Archbishop Islip and the inferences drawn in Stubbs' _Const. + Hist._, ii., 394, are therefore unwarranted; see Professor + Tait's note in _Engl. Hist. Review_, xvi. (1901), 110-15. + + [2] _Chron. Anglia_, 1328-1388, p. 401. + +Edward was before all things a soldier. He was not only the consummate +knight, the mirror of chivalry, but a capable tactician with a +general's eye that took in the essential points of the situation at a +glance. His restless energy ensured the rapidity of movement and +alertness of action which won him many a triumph over less mobile and +less highly trained antagonists; while they inspired his followers with +faith in their cause and with the courage which succeeds against +desperate odds. Yet the victor of Crecy cannot be numbered among the +consummate generals of history. His campaigns were ill-planned; and he +lacked the self-restraint and sense of proportion which would have +prevented him from aiming at objects beyond his reach. The same want of +relation between ends and means, the same want of definite policy and +clear ideals, marred his statecraft. Yet contemporaries, conscious of +his faults, magnified Edward as the brilliant and successful king who +had won for himself an assured place among the greatest monarchs of +history, "Never," says Froissart, "had there been such a king since the +days of Arthur King of Great Britain."[1] Even to his own age his +senile degradation pointed the moral of the triumphs of his manhood. +The modern historian, who sees, beneath the superficial splendour of +the days of Edward III., the misery and degradation that underlay the +wreck of the dying Middle Ages, is in no danger of appraising too +highly the merits of this showy and ambitious monarch. Perhaps in our +own days the reaction has gone too far, and we have been taught to +undervalue the splendid energy and robustness of temperament which +commanded the admiration of all Europe, and personified the strenuous +ideals of the young English nation. + + [1] Froissart (ed. Luce), viii., 231; _cf_. Canon of + Bridlington, p. 95. + +The internal history of the first few years of Edward's reign was +uneventful. John Stratford became chancellor after Mortimer's fall, and +remained for ten years the guiding spirit of the administration. +Translated on Meopham's death in 1333 to Canterbury, he continued, as +primate, to take a leading part in politics. His chief helper was his +brother Robert, rewarded in 1337 by the see of Chichester. The brothers +were capable but not brilliant politicians. The worst disorders of the +times of anarchy were put down, and parliaments readily granted +sufficient money to meet the king's necessities. After a few years, the +strife of parties was so far hushed that Burghersh was suffered to +return to office, and it looks as if the balance between the +Lancastrian party, upheld by the Stratfords, and the old middle party +of Pembroke and Badlesmere, with which Burghersh had hereditary +connexions, was maintained, as it had been during the least unhappy +period of the preceding reign. The country was growing rich and +prosperous. The annalists tell us of little save tournaments and +mummings, and the setting up of seven new earldoms to remedy the gaps +which death and forfeiture had made in the higher circle of the +baronage. The earldom of Devon was revived for the house of Courtenay; +that of Salisbury in favour of the trusty William Montague, and an +Audley, son of Despenser's rival, was raised to the earldom of +Gloucester. William Bohun, a younger son of the Humphrey slain at +Boroughbridge, became Earl of Northampton, an Ufford, Earl of Suffolk, +a Clinton Earl of Huntingdon, a Hastings Earl of Pembroke, and Henry of +Grosmont, the Earl of Lancaster's first born, Earl of Derby. A new rank +was added to the English peerage when the king's little son, Earl of +Chester in 1333, was made Duke of Cornwall in 1337. The old feuds +seemed dead and with them the old disorder. But Edward was ambitious of +military glory, and it was natural that he should seek to reverse the +degrading part which he had been forced to play in relation to Scotland +and France. His hands being tied by treaties, it was not easy for him +to make the first move. Before long, however, circumstances arose which +gave him a chance of taking up a line of his own with regard to +Scotland. From that time Scottish affairs mainly absorbed his attention +until the outbreak of troubles with France. + +The establishment of Robert Bruce on the Scottish throne had been +attended by a considerable disturbance of the territorial balance in +the northern kingdom. Many Scottish magnates, deprived of their lands +and driven into exile, had abodes in England, and all might well look +for the favour of the king in whose service they had been ruined. The +treaty of Northampton made no provision for their restoration, and +Edward showed himself disposed to uphold it. Their estates were in the +hands of their supplanters, the nobles who had gathered round the +throne of the Bruces. Thus it was that the exiles were cut off from all +hope of return, and saw their only possibility of restitution in the +break-up of the friendship of Edward and David. In like case were the +English magnates who still entertained hopes of making effective the +grants of Scottish estates which they had received from Edward I. and +Edward II. For both classes alike every fresh year of peace between the +realms decreased their chances of obtaining their desires. They failed +to persuade Edward to go to war with his brother-in-law and repudiate +formally the obligations imposed upon him by his mother and her +paramour. But the minority of King David had unloosed the spirits of +disorder in Scotland. Though the vigorous and capable regent, Sir +Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, showed himself competent to stem the +tide of aristocratic reaction which swelled round the throne of his +infant cousin, he was one of the old generation of heroes that had +aided King Robert to gain his throne. Were he to die, or become +incapable of acting, there was no one who could supply his place. The +Disinherited--thus they styled themselves--were encouraged both by the +apathy of Edward III. and the weakness of Scotland to make a bold +stroke on their own behalf. + +At the head of the disinherited was Edward Balliol, the son of the +deposed King John. Brought up in England, first under the care of his +cousin, Earl Warenne, and afterwards in the household of the +half-brothers of Edward II., Edward Balliol, who succeeded in 1315 to +the French estates on which his father spent his latter years, divided +his time between England and France. The forfeiture of his father still +kept him out of Barnard Castle and the other Balliol lands in England. +Young and warlike, poor and ambitious, with few lands and great +pretensions, he never formally abandoned either the lordship of +Galloway or the throne of Scotland. In 1330 he received permission to +take up his quarters in England during pleasure. He soon associated +himself with his fellow-exiles in a bold attempt to win back their +patrimony. Chief among his followers were three titular Scottish earls, +closely related by intermarriage, each of whom was also a baron of high +rank in England. Of these the French-born Henry of Beaumont, kinsman of +Eleanor of Castile, and brother of Bishop Louis of Durham, was the +oldest and most experienced. As the husband of a sister of the last of +the Comyn Earls of Buchan, he posed as the heir of the greatest of the +Scottish houses which had paid the penalty of its opposition to King +Robert, and was summoned to the English parliament as Earl of Buchan. +Beaumont's great-nephew, the young Gilbert of Umfraville, lord of +Redesdale, was a grandson of another Comyn heiress, and his ancestors +had inherited in the middle of the thirteenth century the ancient +Scottish earldom of Angus, though they also had incurred forfeiture for +their adhesion to the English policy. David of Strathbolgie, Earl of +Athol, had a better right to be called a Scot than Umfraville or +Beaumont. But his father abandoned Bruce, and was driven into England, +where he held the Kentish barony of Chilham, and sat in the English +parliament under his Scottish title. The younger Athol was son-in-law +to the titular Earl of Moray, and all three kinsmen were bound by +common interests to embrace the policy of Edward Balliol. Many lesser +men associated themselves with the three earls and the claimant to a +throne. Nearly every nobleman of the Scottish border made himself a +party to a scheme of adventure which had its best parallels in the +Norman invasions of Wales and Ireland. + +The object of the disinherited was to raise an army and prosecute their +Scottish claims by force. Edward III. gave them no open countenance, +and took up an ostentatiously correct attitude. He solemnly forbade all +breach of the peace, and prevented the adventurers from adopting the +easy course of marching from England to an open attack on Scotland. No +obstacles, however, were imposed to hinder their raising a small but +efficient army of 500 men-at-arms and 1,000 archers. Mercenaries, both +English and foreign, were hired to supplement their scanty numbers, and +among those who took service with them was a young gentleman of +Hainault, Walter Manny, whose father had a few years before perished in +the service of Edward II. in Gascony, and who had first come to England +in the service of his countrywoman, Queen Philippa. Ships were +collected in the Humber, and on the last day of July, 1332, the +disinherited and their followers sailed from Ravenspur on a destination +which was officially supposed to be unknown. A week later, on August 6, +they landed at Kinghorn in Fife. + +Scotland was singularly unready to meet invasion. The regent Moray had +died a few weeks earlier, and his successor, Donald, Earl of Mar, +incompetent to carry on his vigorous policy, had perhaps already been +intriguing with the adventurers. The only resistance to Balliol's +landing, made by the Earl of Fife, was altogether unsuccessful. The +little army established itself easily in the enemies' territory, and, +after two days' rest at Dunfermline, advanced over the Ochils towards +Perth. The regent had by that time gathered together an imposing army. +As the invaders approached Strathearn on their way northwards, they +found Mar encamped on Dupplin Moor, on the left bank of the Earn, and +holding in force the only bridge available for crossing the river. +There was some parleying between the two hosts. "We are sons of +magnates of this land," declared the disinherited to Mar. "We are come +hither with the lord Edward of Balliol, the right heir of the realm, to +demand the lands which belong to us by hereditary right." Mar returned +a warlike answer to their words, and both armies made preparation for +battle. + +The disinherited, though few in number, were well trained in warfare, +and from the beginning showed capacity to out-general the unwieldy host +and feeble leader opposed to them. At sunset, some of their forces +crossed the Earn by a ford which the Scots had neglected to guard, and +falling upon an outlying portion of the enemies' camp, where the +infantry were quartered, slaughtered the surprised Scots at their +leisure. Luckily for Mar, the whole of his knights and men-at-arms were +far away, uselessly watching the bridge, over which they had expected +the disinherited to force a passage. Thus saved from the night +ambuscade, the kernel of the Scottish army prepared next morning, +August 12, to attack the disinherited. Puffed up by the memory of +Bannockburn and the consciousness of superior numbers, they marched to +battle as if certain of victory. All fought on foot, and the +men-at-arms were drawn up in a dense central mass, supported at each +side by wings. The disinherited were sufficiently schooled in northern +warfare to adopt the same tactics. Save for a few score of horsemen in +reserve, their heavily armed troops, leaving their horses in the rear, +formed a compact column after the Scottish fashion. But archers were +distributed in open order on the right and left flanks, with both +extremities pushed forward, so that they formed the horns of a +half-moon. Then the Scots advanced to the charge, and both sides joined +in battle. The irresistible weight of the Scottish main phalanx forced +back the little column of the disinherited, and for a moment it looked +as if the battle were won. Meanwhile the archers on the flanks poured a +galling shower on the collateral Scottish columns. The unvisored +helmets of the Scots made them an easy prey to the storm of missiles, +and they were driven back on to the main body. By this time the +disinherited had rallied from the first shock; and still the deadly +hail of arrows descended from right and left, until the whole of the +Scottish army was thrown into panic-stricken disorder. Escape was +impossible for the foremost ranks by reason of the closeness of their +formation. At last, the rear files sought safely in flight, and were +closely pursued by the victors, mounted on their fresh horses. A huge +mass of slain, piled up upon each other, marked the place of combat. As +at Bannockburn, the small disciplined host prevailed, but discipline +was now with the English and numbers only with the Scots.[1] + + [1] The significance of the battle of Dupplin was first pointed + out by Mr. J.E. Morris in _Engl. Hist. Review_, xii. (1897), + 430-31. + +The victory of Dupplin Moor was for the moment decisive. Balliol +occupied Perth, and received the submission of many of the Scottish +magnates, among them being that Earl of Fife who first opposed his +landing. A few weeks later, on September 24, Balliol was crowned King +of Scots at Scone by the Bishop of Dunkeld. It was a soldier's +coronation, and the magnates sat at the coronation feast in full +armour, save their helmets. The disinherited then received the lands +for which they had striven; and thereupon quitted the new king, either +to secure their estates or to revisit their property in England. But +the Scots, of no mind to receive a king from the foreigner, chose a new +regent in Sir Andrew Moray, son of the companion of Wallace; and +prepared to maintain King David. On December 16, Balliol was surprised +at Annan by a hostile force under the young Earl of Moray, son of the +late regent, and by Sir Archibald Douglas. His followers were cut off, +his brother was slain, and he himself had the utmost difficulty in +effecting his escape to England. He had only reigned four months. + +During Balliol's brief triumph, Edward III. had declared himself in his +favour. Debarred by the treaty of Northampton from questioning the +independence of King David, he was able to make what terms he liked +with David's supplanter. In November a treaty was drawn up at Roxburgh, +by which Balliol recognised the overlordship of Edward, and promised +him the town, castle, and shire of Berwick. In return for these +concessions, Edward III. acknowledged his namesake as lawful King of +Scots. When, a few weeks later, his new vassal appeared as a fugitive +on English soil, Edward had no longer any scruples in openly supporting +him in an attempt to win back his throne. In the spring of 1333, +Balliol and the disinherited once more crossed the frontier in +sufficient force to undertake the siege of Berwick. The border +stronghold held out manfully, but the Scots failed in an attempt to +divert the attention of the English by an invasion of Cumberland. After +Easter, Edward III. went in person to Berwick, and devoted the whole +resources of England to ensuring its reduction. The siege lasted on +until July, when the garrison, at the last gasp, offered to surrender, +unless the town were relieved within fifteen days. The Scots made a +great effort to save Berwick from capture, and the English king was +forced to fight a pitched battle, before he could secure its +possession. + +On July 19 Edward, leaving a sufficient portion of his army to maintain +the blockade of Berwick, took up a position with the remainder on +Halidon Hill, a short distance to the west of the town. The lessons of +Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, and Dupplin were not forgotten, and the +English host was arranged much after the fashion which had procured the +first victory of the disinherited. Knights and men-at-arms sent their +horses to the rear and, from the king downwards, all, save a small +reserve of horse, prepared to fight on foot. Edward divided his forces +into three lines or "battles," each of which consisted of a central +column of dismounted heavily armed troops, flanked by a right and a +left wing of archers in open order, John of Eltham and the titular Earl +of Buchan commanded the right battle, the king the centre, and Edward +Balliol the left. The Scots still employed the traditional tactics +which had failed so signally at Dupplin. Sir Archibald Douglas led his +followers up the slopes of the hill in three dense columns. But a +pitiless rain of arrows spread havoc among their ranks, and there were +no answering volleys to disturb their foes. The battle was won for the +English almost before the two lines had joined in close combat. It was +only on Edward's right that the Scots were strong enough to push home +their attack. On the centre and left, the English easily drove the +enemy in panic flight down the slopes which they had ascended so +confidently. The pursuit was long and bloody; few were taken prisoners, +but many were slain or driven into the sea. Seven Scottish earls were +believed by the English to have fallen, while the victors lost one +knight, one squire, and a few infantry soldiers. Thus, for a second +time the tactics, which had served the Scots so well in the defensive +fight of Bannockburn, failed in offence to secure victory for them. The +experience of this day completed the evolution of the new English +battle array of men-at-arms fighting on foot and supported by wings of +archers, which was soon to excite the wonder of Europe, when its +possibilities were demonstrated on continental fields. + +Next day Berwick opened its gates, and was handed over to the English, +according to the treaty of Roxburgh, to be for the rest of its history +an English frontier town. Edward Balliol again conquered Scotland as +easily as he had done on the former occasion, and far more effectually. +It was no longer possible for the few remaining champions of the house +of Bruce to safeguard the person of the little king and queen. David +and Joan were accordingly sent off to France, where they were to grow +up as good friends of King Philip. But Balliol had so clearly regained +his throne through English help that he was no longer an independent +agent. No sooner was his conquest assured than he was forced not only +to confirm the surrender of Berwick, but to yield up the whole of +south-eastern Scotland as the price of the English assistance. The +depth of his humiliation was sounded when, in the treaty of Newcastle, +June 12, 1334, Edward, King of Scots, granted Edward, King of England, +lands worth two thousand pounds a year in the marches of Scotland, and +in part payment thereof yielded up to him, besides Berwick and its +shire, the castle, town, and county of Roxburgh, the forests of +Jedburgh Selkirk, and Ettrick, the town and county of Selkirk, and the +towns, castles, and counties of Peebles, Dumfries, and Edinburgh. Of +these Dumfries then included the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, while the +shire of Edinburgh took in the constabularies, the modern shires, of +Haddington and Linlithgow. Thus the whole of Lothian, the whole of the +central upland region, and Balliol's own inheritance of Galloway east +of the Cree were directly transferred to the English crown, and were +divided into sheriffdoms, and officered after the English fashion. On +June 18 Balliol personally performed homage for so much of Scotland as +Edward chose to leave him. The wrongs of the disinherited had been the +means of re-opening the whole Scottish question, and Edward III. seemed +assured of a position as supreme as that which had once been held by +Edward I. + +It was always easier in the Middle Ages to conquer a country than to +keep it. And the experience of forty years might well have convinced +Englishmen that no land was more difficult to hold than the stubborn +and impenetrable northern kingdom, with its strenuous population, ever +willing to cry a truce between local feuds when there was an +opportunity of uniting against the southerners. Edward overshot his +mark in grasping too eagerly the fairest portions of Balliol's realm. +He needed for his policy a Scottish king, strong enough to maintain +himself against his subjects, and loyal enough to remain true to the +English connexion. Any faint chance of Balliol occupying such a +position was completely destroyed by his studied humiliation. +Henceforward the King of Scots, who had fought so well at Dupplin and +Halidon, was but a pawn in Edward's game. Hated by the Scots as the +betrayer of his country, distrusted by the English who henceforth spied +his actions and commanded his armies in his name, the gallant victor of +Dupplin lost faith in himself and in his cause. After all, he was his +father's son, and in no wise capable of bearing adversity and indignity +with equanimity. His helplessness soon proved the worst obstacle in the +way of the success of Edward's plans. Even with the aid of a large +Scottish party, Edward I. had failed to bring about the subjection of +Scotland. It was clearly impossible for his grandson to succeed in the +same task when all Scotland was united against him, and braced to +action by a series of glorious memories. + +Difficulties arose almost from the first. Not only had Balliol to +contend against the implacable hostility of the Scottish patriots; the +disinherited split up into rival factions after their triumph, and +their divisions played the game of the partisans of the Bruces. The +Earls of Athol and Buchan quarrelled with Balliol. Buchan, besieged by +the partisans of David Bruce in a remote castle, was forced to +surrender and quit Scotland for good. Athol was distinguished by the +violence and suddenness of his tergiversations. After deserting Balliol +for the patriots, he once more declared for the two Edwards, and +persuaded many of the Scottish magnates to submit themselves to them. +So long as the English king remained in Scotland, Athol was safe. On +Edward's retirement to his kingdom in November, 1335, the nationalist +leaders took the earl prisoner and put him to death. The war dragged on +from year to year, with startling vicissitudes of fortune, but at no +time was Balliol really established on the Scottish throne, and at no +time did Edward III. really govern all the ceded districts. + +Scottish business detained the English king and court mainly in the +north. Edward was in Scotland for most of the winter of 1334-5, keeping +his Christmas court at Roxburgh. In the summer of 1335 he led an army +into Scotland and penetrated as far as Perth. Again in 1336, he marched +from Perth along the east coast, as far as Elgin and Inverness. The +Scots refused to give him battle, and their tactics of evasion and +guerilla warfare soon exhausted his resources and demoralised his +armies. This was Edward's last personal intervention in the business. +He had long been irritated by the persistent interference of the French +king in Scottish affairs, and his anger was not lessened by his hard +plight forcing him, on more than one occasion, to grant short truces to +the Scottish insurgents at Philip's intervention. His relations with +France were becoming so strained that he preferred to spend 1337 in the +south and entrust Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, with the conduct +of the fruitless campaign of that year. Early in 1338, Edward made his +way once more to Berwick, but his intention of invading Scotland was +suddenly abandoned on the news of a threatened French expedition to +England recalling him to the south. This was the decisive moment of the +long struggle. Henceforth the English king could only devote a small +share of his resources to an undertaking which he had not been able to +compass when his whole energies were absorbed in it. The patriots, who +had always dominated the open country, now attacked the castles and +fortified towns, which were the bulwarks of the Edwardian power. Within +three years all the more important of these fell into their hands. In +1339 Edward Balliol's capital of Perth was beset by Robert, the Steward +of Scotland, who had recently undertaken the regency for his uncle +David. On the approach of danger, Balliol was ordered to England, and +Sir Thomas Ughtred, an English knight and one of the disinherited of +1332, was entrusted with the command. By August he had been forced to +surrender, and Stirling soon afterwards opened its gates to the gallant +and energetic steward. In 1341 Edinburgh castle was captured by a +clever stratagem, and a few weeks later David and Joan returned from +France. The king, then seventeen years old, henceforth undertook the +personal administration of his kingdom. Once more there was a King of +Scots whom the Scottish people themselves desired. The first military +enterprise of Edward's reign ended in complete failure. + +During the years of Edward Balliol's attempt on Scotland, it was the +obvious interest of the English king to maintain such relations with +France as to prevent the tightening of the traditional bond between the +French and the Scottish courts. There were plenty of outstanding points +of difference between England and France, but neither country was +anxious for war, and the result of this mutual forbearance enabled +Edward III. to deal with the Scots at his leisure. A survey of the +relations of the two realms during the first ten years of Edward III.'s +reign will show how, despite the reluctance of either party to force +matters to a crisis, the Kings of France and England gradually drifted +into the hostility which, from 1337 onwards, paralysed the progress of +the English cause in Scotland. + +At the moment of the fall of Edward II., England and France were still +nominally engaged in the war which had followed the second seizure of +Guienne by Charles IV. The difficulties experienced by Isabella and +Mortimer in establishing their power made them as willing to give way +to the French as to the Scots. Accordingly, on March 31, 1327, a treaty +of peace was signed at Paris. By this treaty Edward only gained the +restoration of certain of his Gascon vassals to the estates of which +they had been deprived through their loyalty to the English connexion. +He pledged himself to pay a large war indemnity, and accepted a partial +restitution of his Gascon lands. Like so many of the treaties since +1259, it was a truce rather than a peace. Many details still remained +for settlement, and it was pretty clear that the French, having the +whip hand, would drive Gascony towards the goal of gradual absorption +which had been so clearly marked out by Philip the Fair. + +Charles IV. restored to Edward such parts of Gascony as he chose to +surrender. He retained in his hands Agen and the Agenais, and Bazas and +the Bazadais, on the ground that Charles of Valois had won them by +right of conquest in 1324. This policy reduced Edward's duchy to two +portions of territory, very unequal in size and separated from each +other by the lands conquered by the French king's uncle. The larger +section of the English king's lands extended along the coast from the +mouth of the Charente to the mouth of the Bidassoa. It included Saintes +with Saintonge south of the Charente, Bordeaux and the Bordelais, Dax +and the diocese of Dax, and Bayonne and its territory. But in no place +did the boundaries go very far inland. Along the Dordogne, Libourne and +Saint-Emilion were the easternmost English towns. Up the Garonne, the +French were in possession of Langon, while, in the valley of the Adour, +Saint-Sever, perched on its upland rock, was the landward outpost of +the diminished Gascon duchy. In the east of the Agenais the two +_chatellenies_ of Penne and Puymirol formed a little _enclave_ of ducal +territory which extended from the Lot to the Garonne. But this second +fragment of the ancient duchy was of no military and little commercial +value, being commanded on all sides by the possessions of the French +king. Moreover, the fiefs dependent on the Gascon duchy had fallen away +with the attenuation of the duke's domain. In particular the viscounty +of Bearn, now held by the Count of Foix, repudiated all allegiance to +its English overlord. Even a thoroughly Gascon seigneur, such as the +lord of Albret, was wavering in his fidelity to his duke. It was no +longer safe for Gascons to risk the hostility of the king of the +French. + +Within a year of the treaty of Paris, the death of Charles IV. further +complicated Anglo-French relations. Like his brothers, Louis X. and +Philip V., Charles the Fair left no male issue; but the pregnancy of +his queen prevented the settlement of the succession being completed +immediately after his decease. The barons of France, however, had no +serious doubts as to their policy. The inadmissibility of a female +ruler had already been determined at the accession of both Philip V. +and Charles IV., and it was clear that the nearest male heir was +Philip, Count of Valois, who had recently succeeded to the great +appanage left vacant by the death in 1325 of his father, Charles of +Valois, the inveterate enemy of the English. As the next representative +of the male line, the French at once recognised Philip of Valois as +regent. When his cousin's widow gave birth to a daughter, the regent +was proclaimed as King Philip VI. without either delay or hesitation. +Thus the house of Valois occupied the throne of France in the place of +the direct Capetian line in which son had succeeded father since the +days of Hugh Capet. + +Even Isabella and Mortimer protested against the succession of Philip +of Valois. Admitted that the exclusion of women from the monarchy was +already established by two precedents, could it not be plausibly argued +that a woman, incapable herself of reigning, might form "the bridge and +plank"[1] (as a contemporary put it) by which her sons might step into +the rights of their ancestors? Strange as such a conception seems to +our ideas, it was not unfamiliar to the jurists of that day. It was in +this fashion that the Capetian house claimed its boasted descent and +continuity from the race of Charlemagne. Such a principle was actually +the law in some parts of France, and it was a matter of every-day +occurrence in the Parisis to transmit male fiefs to the sons of +heiresses, themselves incapable of succession. Edward, as the son of +Charles IV.'s sister, was nearer of kin to his uncle than Philip, the +son of Charles's uncle. Surely a man's nephew had a better right to his +succession than his first cousin could ever claim? From the purely +juridical point of view, the claim put forward by Isabella on her son's +behalf was not only plausible but strong. + + [1] Viollet, _Hist. des Institutions politiques et + administratives de la France_, ii., 74, from a MS. source. See + also Viollet, _Comment les Femmes ont ete exclues en France de + la Succession a la Couronne_, in _Mem. de l'Acad. des + Inscriptions_, xxxiv., pt. ii. (1893). + +Happily for France, the magnates of the realm dealt with the succession +question as statesmen and not as lawyers. A later age imagined that the +French barons brought forward a text of the law of the Salian Pranks, as +a complete answer to Edward's claim from the juridical point of view. +But the famous Salic law was a figment, forged by the next generation of +lawyers who were eager to give a complete refutation of the elaborate +legal pleadings of the partisans of the English claim. No authentic +Salic law dealt with the question of the succession to the throne,[1] +and the bold step of transferring a doctrine of private inheritance to +the domain of public law was one of the characteristic feats of the +medieval jurist, anxious to heap up at any risk a mass of arguments that +might overwhelm his antagonists' case. The barons of 1328 rose superior +to legal subtleties. To them the question at issue was the preservation +of the national identity of their country. The vital thing for them was +to secure the throne of France, both at the moment and at future times, +for a Frenchman. Any admission, however guarded, of the right of women +to transmit claims to their sons opened out a vista of the foreign +offspring of French princesses, married abroad, ruling France as +strangers, and it might be as enemies. They chose Philip of Valois +because he was a Frenchman born and bred, and because he had no +interests or possessions outside the French realm. They could not endure +the idea of being ruled by the English king. He was not only a stranger, +but the hereditary enemy. The Capetian monarchy must at all costs be +kept French. + + [1] Viollet, _op. cit._, pp. 55-57; _cf_. Desprez, _Les + Preliminaires de la Giurre de Cent Am_, p. 32. + +Isabella did what she could on her son's behalf. She excited the +_noblesse_ of Aquitaine to support Edward's claim; but the lords of the +south paid no heed to her exhortations. She was more successful with the +Flemings, then in revolt against their Count, Louis of Nevers. Twelve +notables of Bruges, headed by the burgomaster, William de Deken, visited +England and offered to recognise Edward as King of France if he would +support the Flemish democracy against their feudal lord.[1] But Philip +VI.'s first act was to unite with the Count of Flanders, and the fatal +day of Cassel laid low the fortunes of Bruges and restored the fugitive +Louis to power. Isabella was forced to resign herself to simple +protests. + + [1] See Pirenne, _La premiere Tentative pour reconnaitre + Edouard I. comme Roi de France in Ann. de la Soc. d'Hist. de + Gand_, 1902. + +The inevitable demand from Philip VI. for Edward's homage for Guienne +and Ponthieu soon brought the English government face to face with +realities. The request for his vassal's submission, conveyed to England +by Peter Roger, Abbot of Fecamp, the future Clement VI., was even more +unwelcome than such demands commonly were. At first Isabella used brave +words: "My son, who is the son of a king, will never do homage to the +son of a count".[1] But a threat of a third seizure of Gascony soon +brought the queen to her senses. Further insistence on the part of +Philip was met with polite apologies for delay. At last, in May, 1329, +the young king crossed the Channel, and on June 6 performed homage to +Philip in the choir of the cathedral of Amiens. But even at the last +moment there were explanations and reservations on both sides. Philip +made it clear that he acknowledged no claim of his vassal to any +territories, beyond those which he actually possessed. Edward's +advisers protested that they abandoned no pretension to the whole by +performing homage for a part. Moreover, the act of homage was couched +in such ambiguous phrases that it remained doubtful whether Edward had +performed "liege homage," as the King of France demanded, or only +"simple homage," such as seemed to him less offensive to the dignity of +a crowned king. Thus, though the cousins parted amicably and discussed +proposals of a marriage treaty between the English and French houses, +the homage at Amiens settled nothing. + + [1] _Grandes Chroniques de France_, v., 323 (ed. P. Paris). + +The diplomatists still had plenty of work before them. The French +statesmen insisted on the necessity of the ceremony at Amiens being +interpreted as liege homage, involving the obligation of defending the +overlord "against all those who can live or die". The English +politicians complained of the "injustice and unreason of the King of +France, who seeks the disinheritance of their master in Aquitaine". It +was only by limiting the demands of both parties to points of detail, +that a compromise was arrived at in the convention of the Wood of +Vincennes on May 8, 1330. Further negotiations were still necessary; +and at the moment when everything was trembling in the balance, the +sudden occupation of Saintes by the Count of Alencon, brother of Philip +VI., brought matters within a measurable distance of war. But Edward, +then at the beginning of his real reign, had no mind for fighting. A +more satisfactory convention, drawn up on March 9, 1331, at +Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was ratified by Edward at Eltham on March 30, +when he recognised that he owed liege homage, and not merely simple +homage, to the King of France. Next month, he crossed over to France so +secretly that his subjects believed that he went disguised as a +merchant or a pilgrim. At Pont-Sainte-Maxence, a little town on the +Oise, a few miles below Compiegne, Edward held an interview with Philip +VI., who came thither with equal privacy. The French king does not seem +to have insisted upon a renewal of homage, being content with the +assurance already given as to the character of the previous ceremony. +The informal interview, which the modern historian can only ascertain +by painful scrutiny of the royal itineraries, proved more fertile in +friendship than all the pomp of Amiens. Before Edward went home, Philip +gave him complete satisfaction for the outrage at Saintes, and arrived +at a financial settlement. Thus Edward and Philip at last became +friends "so far as outside appearances went," as a chronicler of the +time phrased it. The fundamental difference of interests and standpoint +could be glossed over by no facile compromise, and the calm of the next +six years was only the prelude to a storm destined to end the policy +that had regulated the relations of the two courts from the days of the +peace of 1259 to those of the meeting at Pont-Sainte-Maxence. + +At first there was talk of further cementing the newly established +friendship. There were suggestions of a marriage of Edward's infant son +with Philip's daughter, a fresh interview between the monarchs, a +treaty of perpetual alliance and a common crusade against the Turks. +The last, and the most fantastic, of these projects was the one which +was most seriously discussed. The chivalrous spirit of Philip of Valois +rose eagerly to the idea of a great European expedition against the +infidel, of which he was to be the chief commander. Inspired by John +XXII., he took the cross, made preparations for an early start, and +invoked Edward's co-operation. Edward cleverly utilised his kinsman's +zeal as another lever for enforcing the settlement of outstanding +differences. "Tell your master," he said to the French ambassador, +Peter Roger, now Archbishop of Rouen, "that when he has fulfilled his +promises, I will be more eager to go on the holy voyage than he is +himself." But the chronic troubles, arising from the unceasing +extension of the suzerain's claims in Aquitaine, and from the shelter +given by Philip to David Bruce, had continued all through the years of +professed friendship, and in 1334 an embassy to Paris, presided over by +Archbishop Stratford, failed to establish a _modus vivendi_. In the +same year John XXII. died without having either procured the crusade or +crushed Louis of Bavaria. His successor, James Founder of Foix, who +took the name of Benedict XII., pursued his general policy, though in a +more diplomatic and self-seeking spirit. Benedict's great wish was to, +unite France and England against his enemy, the Emperor Louis of +Bavaria, and he dexterously played upon Philip's eagerness for the +crusade to persuade him to abandon to the papacy the position, which he +had assumed, of arbiter of the differences between Edward and the +Scots. It was a signal, though transitory, triumph of this policy that +a truce between England and Scotland was brought about by the mediation +of the pope and not of the French king. But Benedict found that a +crusade was impossible so long as the chief powers of the west were +hopelessly estranged from each other. In 1336, he vetoed the crusading +scheme until happier times had dawned. Philip, bitterly disappointed, +sought out Benedict at Avignon, but utterly failed to change his +purpose. He was in his own despite released from the crusader's vow, +though exhorted still to continue his preparations. The galleys, +purchased from the crusading tenths of the Church, were transferred +from the Mediterranean to the Channel. The French king might well find +consolation for the abandonment of the holy war in a sudden descent on +England. + +From that moment the horizon darkened. Philip VI., once more took up +the cause of the Scots, and once more the Aquitanian troubles became +acute. His irritation at Benedict led him to open up negotiations with +Louis of Bavaria, whereat Benedict was greatly offended. Edward III. +then sought to find friends who would help him against Philip. He was +as much disgusted with the pope as was his French rival. The crusading +fleet, equipped with the money of the Roman Church, threatened the +English coast, and the _curia_ was even more French in its sympathies +than the temporising pontiff. It is no wonder then that both kings +looked coldly on Benedict's offer of mediation between them. Yet, +notwithstanding the indifference manifested by both courts, two +cardinals, Peter Gomez, a Spaniard, and Bertrand of Montfavence, a +Frenchman, were sent in the summer of 1337 as papal legates to France +and England to settle the points in dispute. For the next three years +these prelates pursued their mission with energy and persistence, +though with little result. + +A fresh dispute further embittered the personal relations of Philip and +Edward. In 1336, Edward offered a refuge in England to Robert of Artois, +Philip's brother-in-law and mortal enemy. The grandson of the Count +Robert of Artois who was slain in 1302 at Courtrai, Robert of Artois was +indignant that the rich county of Artois should, according to local +custom, have devolved upon his aunt Maud, the wife of Otto, Count of +Burgundy, or Franche Comte, and the mother-in-law of the last two kings +of the direct Capetian line. Though he had failed in several suits to +obtain it, Robert renewed his claim after his brother-in-law became King +of France. It was soon proved that the charters upon which he relied to +prove his title had been forged. The sudden death of the Countess of +Artois, followed quickly by that of her daughter and heiress, added the +suspicion of poisoning to the certainly of forgery. Robert was deprived +of all his possessions and was exiled from France. Driven from his first +refuge in Brabant by Philip's indignant hostility, he found shelter in +England, where he was received with a favour which Philip bitterly +resented. Condemned in his absence as a traitor, and devoured by a +ferocious hatred of Philip and his Burgundian wife, Robert did all that +he could to inflame the mind of Edward against the French king. French +romance of the next generation, in the poem of the _Vow of the +Heron_,[1] tells how Robert, returning to Edward's court from the chase, +brought as his only victim a heron, which he offered to the king as the +most timid of birds to the most cowardly of kings; "for, sire," he +declared, "you have not dared to claim the realm of France which belongs +to you by hereditary right". Stirred up by this challenge, Edward swore +to God and the heron that within a year he would place the crown of +France on Queen Philippa's brow. This famous legend is, however, a +fiction. It was not until later that Edward seriously renewed the claim +which he had advanced in 1328. But when once war became certain, the +challenge of the French throne was bound to be made, and the dissolution +of the friendly personal relations of the two kings, which had so long +prevented either from proceeding to extremities, was certainly in large +part the work of Robert of Artois. For the moment, Edward probably +thought that his welcome of Robert was only a fair return for Philip's +reception of David Bruce. + + [1] _Les voeus du heron_ in Wright, _Political Poems and + Songs_, i., 1-25 (Rolls Ser.) + +War being imminent, Edward looked beyond sea for foreign allies. +Commercial and traditional ties closely bound England to the county of +Flanders, but our friendship had latterly been with its people rather +than with its princes. Louis of Nevers, the Count of Flanders, had been +expelled in 1328 by a rising of the maritime districts of the county, +and had been restored by force of arms through the agency of Philip of +Valois. Gratitude and interest accordingly combined to make Count Louis +a strong partisan of Philip of Valois. Though far from absolute, he was +still possessed of sufficient authority over his unruly townsmen to +make it impossible for Edward to negotiate successfully with them. In +1336 the count answered Edward's advances by prohibiting all commercial +relations between his subjects and England. Bitterly disgusted at the +hostility of Flanders, Edward in 1337 passed a law through parliament +which prohibited the export of wool to the Flemish weaving centres. +This measure provoked an economic crisis at Ghent and Ypres; but for +the moment such a catastrophe could only accentuate the differences +between England and the count. It was otherwise, however, with the +neighbouring princes of the imperial obedience. Count William I. of +Hainault, Holland, and Zealand was Edward III.'s father-in-law, and, +during the last months of his strenuous career, he welcomed Bishop +Burghersh, Edward's chief diplomatist, to his favourite residence of +Valenciennes, where from April, 1337, the English ambassadors kept +great state, "sparing as little as if the king were present there in +his own person," and striving with all their might to build up an +alliance with the princes of the Low Countries. When the count died, +his son and successor, William II., persisted, though with less energy, +in his father's policy, and the Hainault connexion became the nucleus +of a general Low German alliance. Burghersh was lavish in promises, and +soon a large number of imperial vassals took Edward's pay and promised +to fight his battles. Among these were Count Reginald of Gelderland, +who since 1332 had been the husband of Edward III.'s sister Eleanor, +and with him came the Counts of Berg, Juelich, Cleves, and Mark, the +Count Palatine of the Rhine, and a swarm of minor potentates. + +Hardest to win over of the Netherlandish princes was Duke John III. of +Brabant, a crafty statesman and a successful warrior, who had recently +conquered limburg, and won a signal victory over a formidable coalition +of his neighbours. Among his former foes had been the house of Avesnes, +but he had reconciled himself with Hainault, by reason of his greater +hatred for Louis of Flanders. The Flemish cities were the rivals in +trade of his own land, and their count's friendship for his French +suzerain ensured the establishment of Philip of Valois as temporary +lord of Mechlin, the possession of which had long been indirectly +disputed between Brabant and Flanders. The hesitating duke was at last +won over by a favourable commercial treaty, which made Antwerp the +staple of English wools, and ensured for the looms of Louvain and +Brussels the advantages denied by Edward's hostility to the +clothworkers of Ghent and Ypres. Convinced that war with Philip was the +surest way of adding Mechlin to his dominions, he then joined the +circle of Edward's stipendiaries. The excommunicated and schismatic +emperor, Louis of Bavaria, welcomed the advances of Burghersh. More +than one tie already bound the Bavarian to England. The English +Franciscan, William of Ockham, proved himself the most active and +daring of the literary champions of the imperial claims against John +XXII. Moreover, the emperor and Edward had married sisters, and their +brother-in-law, the new Count of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand, was +childless, so that they had common interests in keeping on good terms +with him. Louis' bitter enemy, Benedict XII., forbade all hope of +French support, and blocked the way to all prospect of reconciliation +with the Church. It was natural that Louis should take his revenge by +an alliance with the prince who ignored the advice of the pontiff, and +hated the Valois king. As the result of all this, an offensive and +defensive alliance between Edward on the one hand and Louis and his Low +German vassals on the other was signed at Valenciennes in the summer of +1337. + +The die seemed cast. Philip VI. pronounced the forfeiture of Gascony +and Ponthieu. The French at once invaded Edward's duchy and county, +while the French sailors in the Channel plundered the Anglo-Norman +islands and the towns on the Sussex and Hampshire coasts. Edward +redoubled his preparations for war, and issued a long manifesto to his +subjects in which he set forth in violent language his grievances +against Philip. It was at this unlucky moment that the two cardinal +legates came upon the scene, reaching Paris in August, intent on +arranging a pacification. The irritation, which Benedict showed against +Edward for concluding an alliance with the schismatic emperor, did not +make him more disposed to the work of conciliation. But the pope saw in +the outbreak of a great war the destruction of his last hopes of +humiliating the Bavarian, and once more played upon the weakness and +impolicy of Philip. Though France was more ready than England, and +Philip had everything to lose by delay, the French king allowed himself +to be persuaded by the two legates to enter once more upon the paths of +conciliation. As a preliminary measure, he revoked the order for the +confiscation of Gascony, and accepted a temporary armistice. As before +in the Scottish business, Philip again played the game of the papacy. +Unlike his adversary, Edward continued steadily in the line which he +had determined upon, while welcoming any delay that gave him +opportunity to get ready. He employed the interval in making peace more +impossible than ever. On October 7, he renewed his claim to the French +crown, repudiated the homage into which he had been tricked during his +infancy, and sent Bishop Burghersh straight from Valenciennes to Paris +as bearer of his defiance. Thus the autumn of 1337 saw a virtual +declaration of war. In November the first serious hostilities took +place. Sir Walter Manny devastated the Flemish island of Cadzand, +taking away with him as prisoner the bastard brother of the Count of +Flanders. + +Papal diplomacy had not yet exhausted its resources. Benedict XII. was +deeply concerned at the conclusion of the Anglo-imperial alliance. He +was convinced that the only possible way of avoiding its perils was to +persuade Edward and Philip to bury their differences and unite with him +against the emperor. He succeeded in obtaining short prolongations of +the existing armistice and, in December, 1337, the two cardinal legates +landed in England, and were gladly received by Edward, who was +delighted to gain time by negotiations. For the next six months they +tarried in England, hoping against hope that something definite would +result from their efforts. Meanwhile the English hurried on their +preparations for war, and Edward made ready to cross over to the +continent. As months slipped away, the tension became more severe, and +in May Edward denounced the truces, though he still kept up the +pretence of negotiations, and so late as June appointed ambassadors to +treat with Philip of Valois. The real interest centred in the hard +fighting which at once broke out at sea between the rival seamen of +England and Normandy. At first the advantage was with the Normans. Not +only were many English ships captured, but repeated destructive forays +were made on the coasts of the south-eastern counties. Portsmouth was +burnt; the Channel Islands were ravaged; and so alarming were the +French corsairs that, in July, 1338, the dwellers on the south coast +were ordered to take refuge in fortresses, or withdraw their goods to a +distance of four leagues from the sea. + +At last the army and fleet were ready. On July 12, 1338, Edward +appointed his son, the eight-year-old Duke of Cornwall, warden of +England, and a few days later sailed from Orwell on a great ship named +the _Christopher_. A favourable wind quickly bore the royal fleet to +the mouth of the Scheldt. Thence the king and his army sailed up the +river to Antwerp, the chief port of Brabant, where they landed on July +16. There, on July 22, Edward revoked all commissions addressed to the +King of France, and withheld from his agents all power to prejudice his +own pretensions to the throne of the Valois. He passed more than a +month at Antwerp, holding frequent conferences with his imperial +allies, and thence proceeded through Brabant and Juelich to Cologne. +From that city he went up the Rhine to Coblenz, where on September 5 he +held an interview with his queen's imperial brother-in-law. Their +meeting was celebrated with all the pomp and stateliness of the heyday +of chivalry. Edward was accompanied by the highest nobles of his land, +the emperor by all the electors, save King John of Bohemia, who, as a +Luxemburger, was a convinced partisan of the French. Louis received his +ally clothed in a purple dalmatic, with crown on head and with sceptre +and orb in hand, surrounded by the electors and the higher dignitaries +of the empire, and seated on a lofty throne erected in the Castorplatz, +hard by the Romanesque basilica that watches over the junction of the +Moselle with the Rhine. Another throne, somewhat lower in height, was +occupied by the King of England, clothed in a robe of scarlet +embroidered with gold, and surrounded by three hundred knights. Then, +before the assembled crowd, Louis declared that Philip of France had +forfeited the fiefs which he held of the empire. He put into Edward's +hands a rod of gold and a charter of investiture, by which symbols he +appointed him as "Vicar-general of the Empire in all the Germanies and +in all the Almaines". Next day the allies heard a mass celebrated by +the Archbishop of Cologne in the church of St. Castor. After the +service the emperor swore to aid Edward against the King of France for +seven years, while the barons of the empire took oaths to obey the +imperial vicar and to march against his enemies. Thereupon the English +king took farewell of the emperor, and returned to Brabant. + +All was ready for war. The interview at Coblenz was the deathblow to +the papal diplomacy, and the sluggish Philip awaited in the Vermandois +the expected attack of the Anglo-imperial armies. Yet the best part of +a year was still to elapse before lances were crossed in earnest. The +lords of the empire had no real care for the cause of Edward. They were +delighted to take his presents, to pledge themselves to support him, +and to insist upon the regular payment of the subsidies he had +promised. But John of Brabant was more intent on winning Mechlin than +on invading France, and even William of Avesnes was embarrassed by the +ties which bound him to Philip, his uncle, even more than to Edward, +his brother-in-law. They contented themselves with taking Edward's +money and giving him little save promises in return. It became evident +that an imperial vicar would be obeyed even less than an emperor. Every +week of delay was dangerous to Edward, who had exhausted his resources +in the pompous pageantry of his Rhenish journey, and in magnificent +housekeeping in Brabant. It was then Edward's interest, as it had +previously been Philip's, to bring matters to a crisis. That he failed +to do this must be ascribed to the lukewarmness of his allies, the +poverty of his exchequer, and, above all, to the still active diplomacy +of Benedict XII. + +The cardinal legates appeared in Brabant, but their tone was different +from that which they had taken in the previous spring in England. +Profoundly irritated by the alliance of Edward and Louis, Benedict +lectured the English king on the iniquity of his courses. The empire +was vacant; the Coblenz grant was therefore of no effect; if Edward +persisted in acting as vicar of the schismatic, he would be +excommunicated. Benedict stood revealed as the partisan of France. It +was in vain that Edward offered peace if France gave up the Scots and +made full restitution of Gascony. Benedict ordered his legates to +refuse to discuss the latter proposal, and, as the Gascon question lay +at the root of the whole matter, an amicable settlement became more +impossible than ever. Edward hotly defended his right to make what +alliances he chose with his wife's kinsmen, and bitterly denounced the +employment of the wealth of the Church in equipping the armies of his +enemies. Though the cardinals, Peter and Bertrand, remained in Edward's +camp, they might, for all practical purposes, as well have been at +Avignon. The papal diplomacy had failed. + +Edward employed the leisure forced upon him by these events in +elaborating his claim to the French throne. His lawyers ransacked both +Roman jurisprudence and feudal custom that they might lay before the +pope and Christendom plausible reasons for their master's pretensions. +They advanced pleas of an even bolder character. Was not the right of +Edward to the French throne the same as that of Jesus Christ to the +succession of David? The Virgin Mary, incapable of the succession on her +own behalf, was yet able to transmit her rights to her Son. These +contentions, sacred and profane, did not touch the vital issue. It was +not the dynastic question that brought about the war, though, war being +inevitable, Edward might well, as he himself said, use his claim as a +buckler to protect himself from his enemies. The fundamental difference +between the two nations lay in the impossible position of Edward in +Gascony. He could not abandon his ancient patrimony, and Philip could +not give up that policy of gradually absorbing the great fiefs which the +French kings had carried on since the days of St. Louis. The support +given to the Scots, the Anglo-imperial alliance, the growing national +animosity of the two peoples, the rivalry of English and French +merchants and sailors, all these and many similar causes were but +secondary.[1] At this stage the claim to the French throne, though +immensely complicating the situation, and interposing formidable +technical obstacles to the conduct of negotiations, loomed larger in +talk than in acts. It was only in 1340, when Edward saw in his +pretensions the best way of commanding the allegiance of Philip's sworn +vassals, that the question of the French title became a serious matter. + + [1] Deprez, _Les Preliminaires de la Guerre de Cent Am_, pp. + 400-406, admirably elucidates the situation. + +On which side did the responsibility for the war rest? National +prejudices have complicated the question. English historians have seen +in the aggression of Philip in Gascony, his intervention in Scottish +affairs, and the buccaneering exploits of the Norman mariners, reasons +adequate to provoke the patience even of a peace-loving monarch. French +writers, unable to deny these facts, have insisted upon the slowness of +Philip to requite provocation, his servile deference to papal +authority, his willingness to negotiate, and his dislike to take +offence even at the denial of his right to the crown which he wore. +Either king seems hesitating and reluctant when looked at from one +point of view, and pertinaciously aggressive when regarded from the +opposite standpoint. It is safer to conclude that the war was +inevitable than to endeavour to apportion the blame which is so equally +to be divided between the two monarchs. The modern eye singles out +Edward's baseless claim and makes him the aggressor, but there was +little, as the best French historians admit, in Edward's pretension +that shocked the idea of justice in those days. Moreover this view, +held too absolutely, is confuted by the secondary position taken by the +claim during the negotiations which preceded hostilities. If in the +conduct of the preliminaries we may assign to Edward the credit of +superior insight, more resolute policy, and a more clearly perceived +goal, the intellectual superiority, which he possessed over his rival, +was hardly balanced by any special moral obliquity on his part; though +to Philip, with all his weakness, must always be given the sympathy +provoked by the defence of his land against the foreign invader. It is +useless to refine the issue further. The situation had become +impossible, and fighting was the only way out of the difficulty. When +in the late summer of 1339 the curtain was rung down on the +long-drawn-out diplomatic comedy, Edward had not yet finally assumed +that title of King of France, which made an inevitable strife +irreconcilable, and so prolonged hostilities that the struggle became +the Hundred Years' War. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE EARLY CAMPAIGNS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. + + +In the late summer of 1339 Edward III. was at last able to take the +offensive against France. During the negotiations England strained +every effort to provide her absent sovereign with men and money, but +neither the troops nor the supplies were adequate. The army which +assembled in September in the neighbourhood of Brussels consisted +largely of imperial vassals, hired by the English King, and clamorous +for the regular payment of their wages. Already Edward told his +ministers that, had not "a good friend in Flanders" advanced him a +large sum, he would have been obliged to return with shame to England. +As it was, enough was raised to set the unwieldy host in motion, and on +September 20 he marched from Valenciennes, and thence advanced into the +bishopric of Cambrai, whose lord, though an imperial vassal, had +declared for France and the papacy. + +The rolling uplands of the Cambresis were devastated with fire and +sword. One night an English baron took the Cardinal Bertrand, who with +his comrade Peter still accompanied Edward's host, to the summit of a +high tower, whence they could witness the flaming homesteads and +villages of the fertile and populous district. In that woeful spectacle +the churchman saw the futility of his last two years of constant +labour, and fell in a swoon to the ground. But the confederates could +do little more than devastate the open country. Cambrai itself was +besieged to no purpose, and Edward pressed on to the invasion of +France. On October g he spent his first night on French soil at the +abbey of Mont Saint-Martin. He learnt how slender was the tie which +bound his foreign allies to him, for his brother-in-law, William of +Hainault, refused to serve, except on imperial soil, against his uncle +Philip VI. Consoled for this defection by the arrival of the sluggish +Duke of Brabant and of the Elector of Brandenburg, the eldest son of +the emperor, Edward marched through the Vermandois, the Soissonais, and +the Laonnais, burning and devastating, without meeting any serious +resistance. Philip of Valois timidly held aloof in the neighbourhood of +Peronne. + +By the middle of October, when Edward was near St. Quentin on the Oise, +the Duke of Brabant suggested the expediency of seeking out winter +quarters. The slow-moving host was almost in mutiny, when the master +crossbowman of the King of France brought a challenge from his lord. +"Let the King of England," ran the message, "seek out a field +favourable for a pitched battle, where there is neither wood, nor +marsh, nor river." Edward cheerfully accepted a day for the combat, and +chose his ground higher up the Oise valley, among the green meadowlands +and hedgerows of the Thierache. The appointed day passed by, and the +French came not. At last, when Edward almost despaired of a meeting, he +was told that the French were arrayed at Buironfosse, on the plateau +between the Oise and the upper Sambre, and that Philip was ready to +fight the next day, Saturday, October 23. Edward once more chose a +suitable field of action in a plain between La Flamangrie and +Buironfosse, a league and a half from the French. "On the Saturday," +wrote Edward to his son in England, "we were in the field, a full +quarter of an hour before dawn, and took up our position in a fitting +place to fight. In the early morning some of the enemy's scouts were +taken, and they told us that his advanced guard was in battle array and +coming out towards us. The news having come to our host, our allies, +though they had hitherto borne themselves somewhat sluggishly, were in +truth of such loyal intent that never were folk of such goodwill to +fight. In the meantime one of our scouts, a knight of Germany, was +taken, and he showed all our array to the enemy. Thereupon the foe +withdrew his van, gave orders to encamp, made trenches around him, and +cut down large trees in order to prevent us from approaching him. We +tarried all day on foot in order of battle, until towards evening it +seemed to our allies that we had waited long enough. And at vespers we +mounted our horses and went near to Avesnes, and made him to know that +we would await him there all the Sunday. On the Monday morning we had +news that the lord Philip had withdrawn. And so would our allies no +longer afterwards abide." + +Thus ended the inglorious campaign of the Thierache. Edward returned to +Brussels "like a fox to his hole," and each side denounced the other +for failing to keep the appointed tryst. The chivalry of the fourteenth +century saw something ignoble in the sluggishness of Philip; but no +modern soldier would blame him for his inactivity. Without striking a +blow, he obtained the object of his campaign, for the enemy abandoned +French territory. Had Edward been fully confident of victory, he could +easily have forced a battle by advancing on Buironfosse; but he +preferred to run the risk of a fiasco rather than abandon the defensive +tactics on which he relied. Thus, even from the chivalrous point of +view, he was by no means blameless. From the material standpoint, his +first French campaign was a failure. It left its only mark on the +devastated countryside, the beggared peasantry, the desolated churches +and monasteries, the farmsteads and villages burnt to ashes. + +Edward seemed ruined both in reputation and purse. He had exhausted his +resources in meeting the extravagant demands of his allies, and their +help had profited him nothing at all. Yet his inexhaustible energy +opened up a surer means of foreign assistance than had been supplied by +the unruly vassals of Louis of Bavaria. At the moment when the imperial +alliance was tried and found wanting, the way was opened up for close +friendship between Edward and the Flemish cities. In earlier years the +chivalrous devotion of Louis of Nevers to his overlord had secured the +political dependence of Flanders upon the King of France. If the action +of their count made the Flemings the tools of French policy, their +commercial necessities bound them to England by chains forged by nature +itself. Alone of the lands of northern and western Europe, Flanders was +not a self-sufficing economic community.[1] Its great ports and weaving +towns depended for their customers on foreign markets, and the raw +material of their staple manufacture was mainly derived from England. +When in 1337 Edward prohibited the export of wool to Flanders, his +action at once brought about the same result that the cessation of the +supplies of American cotton would cause in the manufacturing districts +of Lancashire. A wool famine, like the Lancashire cotton famine of +1862-65, plunged Ghent, Ypres, and Bruges into grievous distress. The +starving weavers wandered through the farms begging their bread, and, +when charity at home proved inadequate, they exposed their rags and +their misery in the chief cities of northern France. Even wealthy +merchants felt the pinch of the crisis which ruined the small craftsmen. + + [1] See for this Pirenne, _Histoire de Belgique_, vols. i. and + ii., and Lamprecht, _Deutsche Geschichte_, iii., 304-324, and + iv., 134-142. + +A common desire to avoid calamity bound together the warring classes +and rival districts of Flanders, as they had never been united before. +Bruges and Ypres had borne the brunt of earlier struggles, and had not +even yet recovered from the exhaustion of the wars of the early years +of the century. Their exhaustion left the way open to Ghent, where the +old patricians and the rich merchants, the weavers and the fullers, +forgot their ancient rivalries and worked together to remedy the +crisis. A wealthy landholder and merchant-prince of Ghent, James van +Artevelde, made himself the spokesman of all classes of that great +manufacturing city. He was no demagogue nor artisan, though his +eloquence and force had wonderful power over the impressionable +craftsmen of the trading guilds. He was no Netherlandish patriot, as +some moderns have imagined, though he was anxious to unite Flanders +with her neighbour states, on the broad basis of their identity of +economic and political interests. A man of Ghent, above all things, his +policy was to save the imperilled industries of his native town, and to +make it the centre of a new movement for the vindication of commercial +liberty against feudal domination. By the winter of 1337 this rich +capitalist allied himself with the turbulent democracy of the weavers' +guilds, and put himself at the head of affairs. Early in 1338 he began +to negotiate with Edward III., and his loans to the distressed monarch +had the result of removing the embargo on English wool. The famished +craftsmen hailed the enemy of their class as a god who had come down +from heaven for their salvation. + +Louis of Nevers and Philip of Valois took the alarm. Seeing in the +ascendency of Artevelde the certainty that Flanders would join the +English alliance, they left no stone unturned to avoid so dire a +calamity. Artevelde, conscious of the narrow basis of his own +authority, was prudent enough to be moderate. Instead of pressing the +English alliance to a conclusion, he accepted the suggestion of Philip +VI., that Flanders should remain neutral. Louis of Nevers hated the +notion; but in June, 1338, Edward and Philip agreed to recognise +Flemish neutrality, and he was forced to acquiesce in it. Both monarchs +promised to avoid Flemish territory, and offered free commercial +relations between Flanders and their respective dominions. + +Artevelde and the men of Ghent were the real masters of Flanders. They +kept their count in scarcely veiled captivity, forcing him to wear the +Flemish colours and to profess acceptance of the policy that he +disliked. In such circumstances the neutrality of Flanders could not +last long. Both Edward and Artevelde regarded it simply as a step +towards a declared alliance. Before long Philip became uneasy, and +lavished concession on concession to keep the dominant party true to +its promises. He gave up the degrading conditions which since the +treaty of Athis had secured the subjection of Flanders. But Edward +could offer more than his rival. He proposed to the count and the "good +towns" of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres that, in return for their alliance, +he would aid them to win back the towns of Lille, Douai, Bethune, and +Tournai, which the French king had usurped from the Flemings, as well +as the county of Artois, which had been separated from Flanders since +the days of Philip Augustus. He also offered ample commercial +privileges, the establishment of the staple of wool at Bruges as well +as at Antwerp, free trade for Flemish cloth with the English markets, +and a good and fixed money which was to be legal tender in Flanders, +Brabant, France, and England. The Flemings demanded in return that +Edward, by formally assuming the title of King of France, should stand +to them as their liege lord, and thus free themselves and their count +from the ecclesiastical penalties and dishonour involved in their +waging war against a king of France. Late in 1339, these terms were +mutually accepted, and Count Louis avoided further humiliations by +flight into France. + +In January, 1340, Edward entered Flemish territory and was +magnificently entertained in the abbey of Saint Bavon at Ghent. "The +three towns of Flanders," declared Artevelde to his guest, "are ready +to recognise you as their sovereign lord, provided that you engage +yourself to defend them." The deputies of the three towns took oaths to +Edward as their suzerain, and thereupon Edward was proclaimed King of +France with much ceremony in the Friday market of Ghent. A new great +seal was fashioned and new royal arms assumed, in which the lilies of +France were quartered with the leopards of England. The new regnal year +of Edward, which began on January 25, was styled the fourteenth of his +reign in England, and the first of his reign in France. Urgent affairs +called Edward back to his kingdom, but his debts to the Flemings were +already so heavy that they only consented to his departure on his +pledging himself to return before Michaelmas day, and on his leaving as +hostages his queen, his two sons, and two earls. At last, on February +20, he crossed over from Sluys to Orwell. He had been absent from home +for nearly a year and a half. + +From February 21 to June 22, 1340, Edward remained in England. During +that period, formal treaties with the Flemings confirmed the hasty +negotiations of Ghent. Benedict XII, still pursued Edward with +remonstrances. He warned the English king to have no trust in allies +like the Flemings, who had shamefully driven away their natural lords +and whose faithlessness and inconstancy were by-words. He told him that +his strength was not enough to conquer France, and reproached him with +calling himself king of a land of which he possessed nothing. Somewhat +inconsistently, he offered his mediation between Edward and Philip. But +Philip was only less weary than Edward of the self-seeking pontiff. +Benedict was forced to drink the cup of humiliation, for after the +rejection of his mediation, he was confronted with a proposal that the +schismatic Bavarian should arbitrate between the two crowns. Meanwhile, +after many delays, Edward embarked a gallant army on a fleet of 200 +ships, and on June 22 a favourable west wind bore them from the Orwell +towards Flanders. On arriving next day off Blankenberghe, he learned +that a formidable French squadron was anchored in the mouth of the +Zwyn, and that he could only land in Flanders as the reward of victory. + +From the outbreak of hostilities in 1337, there had been a good deal of +fighting by sea, and in the first stages of warfare the advantage lay +with the French. Since the days of Edward I., and Philip the Fair, the +maritime energies of the two countries had developed at an almost equal +rate, and the parallel growth had been marked by bitter rivalry between +the seamen of the two nations. The Normans had taken the leading share +in this expansion of the French navy.[1] They welcomed the outbreak of +war with enthusiasm, as giving them a chance of measuring their forces +with their hated foes. Alone among the provinces of France, Normandy +seems already to have experienced that intense national bitterness +against the English which was soon to spread to all the rest of the +country. Not content with the vigorous war of corsairs which had +inflicted so much mischief on our southern coast and on English +shipping, the Normans formed bold designs of a new Norman Conquest of +England, and in return for the permanent establishment of the local +estates of Normandy, agreed with Philip and his son John, who bore the +title of Duke of Normandy, to equip a large fleet and army, with which +England was to be invaded in the summer of 1339. Normandy, which +monopolised the glory, was to monopolise the spoil. If England were +conquered, Duke John, like Duke William before him, was to be King of +England as well as Duke of Normandy. Thus the aggressions of Edward in +France were to be answered by Norman aggressions in England.[2] + + [1] _C_. de la Ronciere, _Hist, de_ la _Marine Francaise_; of. + Nicolas, _Hist, of the Royal Navy_. + + [2] See on this subject A. Coville, _Les Etats_ de _Normandie_, + pp. 41-52 (1894). + +Nothing came of this grandiose project, though the burning ruins of +Southampton, the capture of the great _Christopher_, which had borne +Edward in 1338 to Antwerp, and the occupation of the Channel +Islands--the last remnants of the old duchy still under English +rule--showed that the Normans were in earnest. The chief result of their +energy was the equipment of the strongest French fleet that had ever +been seen in the Channel. Though a few Genoese galleys under Barbavera +and a few great Spanish ships swelled the number of the armada, 160 of +the 200 ships that formed the fleet were Norman.[1] Of the two Frenchmen +in command, one, Hugh Quieret, was a Picard knight, but the other, the +more popular, was Nicholas Behuchet, a Norman of humble birth, then a +knight and the chief confidant of Philip VI. Quieret and Behuchet had +long challenged the command of the narrow seas. But for their error of +dividing their forces and preferring a piratical war of reprisals, they +might have cut off communications between England and the Netherlands. +They had learnt wisdom by experience, and their ships were massed in +Zwyn harbour to prevent the passage of Edward to his new allies. + + [1] _S_. Luce, _La Marine normande a l'Ecluse_, in _La France + pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans_, 3-31. + +The coast-line between Blankenberghe and the mouth of the Scheldt was +strangely different in the fourteenth century from what it is at +present.[1] The sandy flats, through which the Zwyn now trickles to the +sea, formed a large open harbour, accessible to the biggest ships then +known. It was protected on the north by the island of Cadzand, the scene +of Manny's exploit in 1337, while at its head stood the town of Sluys, +so called from the locks, or sluices, that regulated the waters of the +ship canal, which bore to the great mart of Bruges the merchantmen of +every land. It was in this harbour that Edward, on arriving off +Blankenberghe, first spied the fleet of Quieret and Behuchet. He +anchored at sea for the night, and on the afternoon of June 24, the +anniversary of Bannockburn, he bore down on the French, having the sun, +the tide, and the wind in his favour. On his approach Barbavera urged +that the French should take to the open sea; but Quieret and Behuchet +preferred to fight in the harbour. As an unsatisfactory compromise, +however, the French moved a mile or so towards the enemy. Then they +lashed their ships together and awaited attack. + + [1] For this see Professor Tait's inset map of the district in + _Oxford Historical Atlas_, plate lvi. + +The English, unable to break the serried mass of their enemies, feigned +a retreat, whereupon the Normans unlashed their ships and hurried in +pursuit into the open water. At once the English turned and met them. +The battle began when the English admiral, Robert Morley, lay alongside +the _Christopher_, which, after its capture, had been taken into the +enemy's service. Soon the ships of both fleets were closely grappled +together in a fierce hand-to-hand fight which lasted until after +nightfall. The desperate eagerness of the combatants strangely +contrasted with the slackness of the campaign in the Thierache. "This +battle," says Froissart, "was right fierce and horrible, for battles by +sea are more dangerous and fiercer than battles by land, for at sea +there is no retreat nor fleeing; there is no remedy but to fight and +abide fortune, and every man to show his prowess." In the end the +English won an overwhelming victory, which was completed next morning +after more hard fighting. During the night Barbavera and his Genoese put +to sea and escaped, but the magnificent Norman fleet was in the hands of +the victor. The English loss was small, though it included Thomas of +Monthermer, a son of Joan of Acre, and Edward himself was wounded in the +thigh. The Norman force was almost annihilated. Quieret fell mortally +wounded into Edward's hands; Behuchet was captured unhurt. A later +Norman legend tells how Behuchet, when brought before the English king, +answered some taunt by boxing the king's ears, whereupon the angry +monarch hanged him forthwith from the mast of his ship.[1] But the +tradition is unsupported by English authorities, and, with all his +faults, Edward was not the man to deal thus with a captive knight who +had fought his best. Master at last of the sea, Edward landed at Sluys +amidst the rejoicings of the Flemings, and made his way to Ghent, where +he greeted his wife, and first saw his infant son John, born during his +absence, to whom Artevelde stood as godfather. + + [1] Luce, _Le Soufflet de l'Ecluse_, in _La Frame pendant la + Guerre de Cent Ans_, 2nd serie, pp. 3-15. + +Edward's military fame was established over all Europe, and, says the +Flemish writer, John van Klerk, "all who spoke the German tongue +rejoiced at the defeat of the French". Yet the victory at Sluys was the +prelude to a land campaign as ineffective as the raid into the +Thierache. Eager to restore their lost lands to the Flemings, Edward +made the mistake of dividing his army. He sent Robert of Artois to +effect the reconquest of Artois, while he himself besieged Tournai, +which was then in French hands. Robert's attempt to win back the lands +of his ancestors was a sorry failure. Defeated outside Saint Omer, he +was unable even to invest that town. Almost equally unsuccessful was +Edward's siege of Tournai, which resisted with such energy that he was +soon at the end of his resources. At last, in despair, Edward +challenged Philip VI. to decide their claim to France by single combat. +The Valois answered that he would gladly do so if, in the event of his +winning, he might obtain Edward's kingdom. In the same spirit of +caution, Philip tarried half-way between Saint Omer and Tournai, +watching both armies and afraid to strike at either. The armies wore +themselves out in this game of waiting until the widowed Countess of +Hainault, then abbess of the Cistercian nuns of Fontenelles, was moved +by the desolation of the country to intervene between the two kings. +The mother of the Queen of England and the sister of the King of +France, she succeeded not only by reason of her prayers, but through +the refusal of the Duke of Brabant, the Count of Hainault, and the +other imperial vassals to remain longer at the war. On September 25, +1340, a truce was signed at the solitary chapel of Esplechin, situated +in the open country a little south of Tournai. By it hostilities +between both kings and their respective allies were suspended, until +midsummer day, 1341. Each king was to enjoy the lands actually in his +possession, and commerce was to be carried on as if peace had been +made. The most significant clause of the truce was that by which both +kings pledged themselves that they "procure not that any innovation be +done by the Church of Rome, or by others of Holy Church on either of +the said kings. And if our most holy father the pope will do that, the +two kings shall prevent it, so far as in them lies." + +The truce of Esplechin, renewed until 1345, put an end to the first, or +Netherlandish, period of the Hundred Years' War. The imperial alliance, +which had failed Edward, was soon to be solemnly dissolved. Early in +1341, Louis of Bavaria revoked Edward's vicariate, and announced his +intention of becoming henceforth the friend of his uncle, the King of +France. This alliance between Philip and Louis completed the +discomfiture of Benedict XII. In 1342 he died, and his successor was +Peter Roger, the sometime Archbishop of Rouen, who assumed the title of +Clement VI. By persuading Brabant and Hainault to be neutral between +France and England, the new pontiff broke up the last remnant of the +Anglo-imperial alliance. Even Flanders and England became estranged. +Artevelde, who found it a hard matter to govern Flanders after the +truce, would willingly have supported Edward. But Edward had henceforth +less need of Artevelde than Artevelde had of him. In 1345 Edward again +appeared at Sluys and had an interview with him, and then returned to +his own country without setting foot on Flemish soil. Artevelde soon +afterwards met his death in a popular tumult. His family fled to +England, _where_ they lived on a pension from Edward. This was the end +of the Anglo-Flemish alliance. + +After the treaty of Esplechin, Edward returned to Ghent. The conclusion +of military operations was a signal to all his creditors to clamour for +immediate settlement of their debts. Neither subsidies nor wool came +from England, though the king wrote in piteous terms to his council. +Edward was convinced that the real cause of his failure was the +remissness of the home government, and resolved to wreak his vengeance +on his ministers. He was encouraged to this effect by Bishop Burghersh, +who still remembered his old feuds with Archbishop Stratford, and may +well have believed that the archbishop, who had a financier's dread of +war, had wilfully ruined his rival's diplomacy. But Edward dared not +openly return to England, for his Flemish creditors regarded his +personal presence as the best security for his debts. He was therefore +reduced to the pitiful expedient of running away from them. One day he +rode out of Ghent on the pretext of taking exercise, and hurried +secretly and without escort to Sluys. Thence he took ship for England, +and, after a tempestuous voyage of three days and nights, sailed up the +Thames, and landed at the Tower on November 30, 1340, after nightfall. +At cockcrow next morning, he summoned his ministers before him, +denounced them as false traitors and drove them all from office. The +judges were thrown into prison, and with them some of the leading +merchants, including William de la Pole of Hull. A special commission, +like that of 1289, scrutinised the acts of the royal officials +throughout the kingdom, and exacted heavy fines from the many who were +found wanting. Nothing but fear of provoking the wrath of the Church +prevented Edward from consigning to prison the dismissed chancellor, +Robert Stratford, Bishop of Chichester, and the late treasurer, Roger +Northburgh, Bishop of Coventry. Their successors were lay knights, the +new chancellor, Sir Robert Bourchier, being the first keeper of the +great seal who was not a clerk. + +Earlier in the year the king had quarrelled with Archbishop Stratford, +who resigned the chancellorship. But before Edward sailed from Orwell +in June there had been a partial reconciliation, and the king left +Stratford president of the council during his absence. When his brother +and colleagues were dismissed, the archbishop was at Charing. Conscious +that he was the chief object of Edward's vengeance, he at once took +sanctuary with the monks of his cathedral. Every effort was made to +drag him from his refuge. Some Louvain merchants, to whom he had bound +himself for the king's debts, demanded that he should be surrendered to +their custody until the money was paid. He was summoned to court and +afterwards to parliament. But he prudently remained safe within the +walls of Christ Church, and preached a course of sermons to the monks, +in which he compared himself to St. Thomas of Canterbury, and hinted at +the danger of his incurring his prototype's fate. Edward replied to +this challenge by a lengthy pamphlet, called the _libellus famosus_. +The violence and unmeasured terms of the tractate suggest the hand of +Bishop Orleton, Stratford's lifelong foe, who had by Burghersh's recent +death become the most prominent of the courtly prelates. The archbishop +was declared to be the sole cause of the king's failures. He had left +Edward without funds, and in trusting to him the king had leant on a +broken reed. Stratford justified himself in another sermon in which he +invited inquiry and demanded trial by his peers. + +Edward so far relented as to issue letters of safe-conduct enabling the +archbishop to attend the parliament summoned for April 23, 1341. But +when Stratford took his place, the king refused to meet him, and +ordered him to answer in the exchequer the complaints brought against +him. The lords upheld the primate's cause, and declared that in no +circumstances could a peer of parliament be brought to trial elsewhere +than in full parliament. Edward's fury abated when he saw that he would +get no grant unless he gave way. He restored Stratford to his favour, +and acceded to his request that he should answer in parliament and not +in the exchequer. The childish controversy ended with the personal +victory of the primate and the formal re-assertion of the important +principle of trial by peers. But not even then was Edward able to get a +subsidy. He was further forced to embody in the statute of the year the +doctrines that auditors of the accounts of the royal officers should be +elected in parliament, and that all ministers should be chosen by the +king, after consultation with his estates, and should resign their +offices at each meeting of parliament and be prepared to answer all +complaints before it. + +Thus the fallen minister brought the estates the greatest triumph over +the prerogative won during Edward's reign. Before long Edward was +magnanimous enough to resume friendly relations with him, but he was +never suffered to take a prominent part in politics. He died in 1348, +after spending his later years in the business of his see. It was a +strange irony of fate that this worldly and politic ecclesiastic should +have perforce become the champion of the rights of the Church and the +liberties of the nation. His victory established a remarkable +solidarity between the high ecclesiastical party and the popular +opposition, which was to last nearly as long as the century. Disgust at +this alliance moved Edward to take up the anti-clerical attitude which +henceforth marks the policy of the crown until the accession of the +house of Lancaster. + +The victory of the estates of 1341 was too complete to last. For a +medieval king to hand over the business of government to a nominated +ministry was in substance a return to the state of things in 1258 or +1312. Edward was not the sort of man to endure the thraldom that his +father and great-grandfather had both found intolerable. Even at the +moment of sealing the statute, he and his ministers protested that they +were not bound to observe laws contrary to the constitution of the +realm. Five months later, on October 1, 1341, the king issued letters, +revoking the laws of the previous session. "We have never," he +impudently declared, "really given our consent to the aforesaid +pretended statute. But inasmuch as our rejecting it would have +dissolved parliament in confusion, without any business having been +transacted, and so all our affairs would have been ruined, we +dissembled, as was our duty, and allowed the pretended statute to be +sealed." For more than two years he did not venture to face a +parliament, but the next gathering of the estates in April, 1343, +repealed the offensive acts of 1341. Parliament was so reluctant to +ratify the king's high-handed action, that he did not venture to ask it +for any extraordinary grant of money. The only other important act of +this parliament was a petition from lords and commons, urging the king +to check the claims of a French pope, friendly to the "tyrant of +France," to exercise ever-increasing rights of patronage over English +benefices. The anti-clerical tide was still flowing. + +Before parliament met in 1343, the French war had been renewed on +another pretext. A new source of trouble arose in a disputed succession +to the duchy of Brittany. The duke John III., the grandson of John II. +and Edward I.'s sister Beatrice, died in April, 1341. He left no +legitimate children, and his succession was claimed by his half-brother, +John of Montfort, and his niece Joan of Penthievre. Montfort, the son of +Duke Arthur II. by his second wife, had inherited from his mother the +Norman county of Montfort l'Amaury, which became her possession as the +representative on the spindle side of the line of Simon de Montfort the +Albigensian crusader. Joan was the daughter of Guy, John III.'s brother +of the full blood, in whose favour the great county of +Penthievre-Treguier, including the whole of the north coast of the duchy +from the river of Morlaix to within a few miles of the Rance, had been +dissociated from the demesne and reconstituted as an appanage.[1] The +heiress of Penthievre thus ruled directly over nearly a sixth of +Brittany, and her power was further strengthened by her marriage with +Charles of Blois, who, though a younger son, enjoyed great influence as +the sister's son of Philip VI., and also by reason of his simple, +saintly, honourable, and martial character. The house of Penthievre not +only stood to Brittany as the house of Lancaster stood to England, as +the natural head of the higher nobility; it also enjoyed the favour and +protection of the French king, who was ever anxious to find friends +among the chief sub-tenants of his great vassals. Against so formidable +an opponent John of Montfort could only secure his rights by +promptitude. Accordingly he made his way to Nantes and, receiving a warm +welcome from his burgesses, proclaimed himself duke. Very few of the +great feudatories threw in their lot with him. His strength was in the +petty _noblesse_, the townsmen, and the enthusiasm of the Celtic +population of _La Bretagne bretonnante_, which made Leon, Cornouailles, +and Vannes the strongholds of his cause. Yet the Penthievre influence +took with it the Breton-speaking inhabitants of the diocese of Treguier, +and the piety of Charles made the clergy, and especially the friars, +devoted to him. + + [1] On the importance of Penthievre, see A. de la Borderie, _La + Geographie feodale de la Bretagne_ (1889), pp. 60-65. + +The fight was not waged in Brittany only. Montfort had to contend +against the general sentiment of the French nobility and the strong +interest and affection which bound Philip VI. to uphold the claims of +Charles of Blois. After a few months the parliament of Paris decided in +favour of the king's nephew against Montfort. Charles's wife was the +nearest heir of the deceased duke, and had therefore a prior claim over +her uncle. Montfort urged in vain that the superior rights of the male, +which had made the Count of Valois King of France, equally gave the +Count of Montfort the duchy of Brittany. He had to fight for his duchy. +John, Duke of Normandy, the heir of France, marched to Brittany with a +strong force, to secure the establishment of his cousin in accordance +with the decree of parliament. The union of the royal troops, with the +levies of Penthievre and the great feudatories of Brittany, was too +powerful a combination to withstand. Montfort was shut up in Nantes, +was forced to capitulate, and sent prisoner to Paris. His place was +taken by his wife, Joan of Flanders, a daughter of Louis of Nevers. +This lady shewed "the heart of a man and of a lion," as Froissart says. +Her efforts, however, did not prevail against her formidable enemies. +Bit by bit she was driven from one stronghold to another, until at last +she was closely besieged in Hennebont by Charles of Blois. Before that, +she had recognised Edward as King of France, and offered him the homage +of her husband and son. Edward III. readily took up the cause of +Montfort. He recked little of the inconsistency involved in the prince, +who claimed France through his mother, supporting in Brittany a duke, +whose pretensions were based upon grounds similar to the claim advanced +by Philip of Valois on the French throne. As in Flanders, he found two +rival nations contending in the bosom of a single French fief. He at +once supported the Celtic party in Brittany as he had supported the +Flemish party in Flanders. Both his allies had the same enemies in +feudalism, the French monarchy, and the pretensions of high +clericalism. Afraid to renew the attack in France without allies, +Edward welcomed the support of the Montfort party, as giving him a +chance of renewing his assaults on his adversary of Valois. He invested +Montfort with the earldom of Richmond, of which John III had died +possessed. He sent Sir Walter Manny with a force sufficient to raise +the siege of Hennebont. The heroic Joan of Flanders was almost at the +end of her resources, when on an early June morning, in 1342, she +espied the white sails of Manny's fleet working its way from the sea up +the estuary of the Blavet, which bathes the walls of Hennebont. After +the arrival of the English, Charles of Blois abandoned the siege in +despair. For the rest of the year the war was waged on a more equal +footing. In August Edward sent to Brest an additional force under +William Bohun, Earl of Northampton, who attempted, though with little +success, to invade the domains of the house of Penthievre. A hard-won +victory against great odds near Morlaix was made memorable by +Northampton's first applying the tactics of Halidon Hill to a pitched +battle on the continent.[1] But the earl's troops were so few that +they were forced to withdraw after their success into more friendly +regions. Leon and Cornouailles then resumed allegiance to the house of +Montfort. In the midst of the struggle Robert of Artois received a +wound which soon ended his tempestuous career. + + [1] Baker, p.76, gives the place, Knighton, ii., 25, the + details. See also my note in _Engl. Hist. Review, xix._ (1904), + 713-15. + +Edward was eager to enter the field in person. Since his return to +England in 1340, his only military experience had been a luckless +winter campaign in the Lothians against King David. In October, 1342, +he left the Duke of Cornwall as warden of England during his absence, +and took ship at Sandwich for Brittany. He remained in the country +until the early months of 1343, raiding the land from end to end, +receiving many of the greater barons into his obedience, and striving +in particular to conquer the regions included in the modern department +of the Morbihan. There he besieged Vannes, the strongest and largest +city of Brittany, says Froissart, after Nantes. The triumphs of his +rival at last brought Philip VI. into Brittany. While Edward +laboriously pursued the siege of Vannes, amidst the hardships of a wet +and stormy winter, Philip watched his enemy from Ploermel, a few miles +to the north. For a third time the situation of Buironfosse and Tournai +was renewed. The rivals were within striking distance, but once more +both Edward and Philip were afraid to strike. History still further +repeated itself; for the cardinal-bishops of Palestrina and Frascati, +sent by Clement VI. to end the struggle, travelled from camp to camp +with talk of peace. The sufferings of both armies gave the kings a +powerful reason for listening to their advances. At last, on January +19, 1343, a truce for nearly four years was signed at Malestroit, +midway between Ploermel and Vannes, "in reverence of mother church, for +the honour of the cardinals, and that the parties shall be able to +declare their reasons before the pope, not for the purpose of rendering +a judicial decision, but in order to make a better peace and treaty". +Scotland and the Netherlands were included in the truce, and it was +agreed that each belligerent should continue in the enjoyment of the +territories which he held at the moment. Vannes, the immediate apple of +discord, was put into the hands of the pope. + +The spring of 1343 saw Edward back in England. The scene of interest +shifted to the papal court at Avignon, where ambassadors from Edward +and Philip appeared to declare their masters' rights. The protracted +negotiations were lacking in reality. The English, distrusting Clement +as a French partisan, did their best to complicate the situation by +complaints against papal provisions in favour of aliens "not having +knowledge of the tongue nor condition of those whose governance and +care should belong to them". English indignation rose higher when, +despite the terms of the truce and the promise of the cardinals, +Montfort remained immured in his French prison, while Breton nobles of +his faction were kidnapped and put to death by Philip. Clement declared +himself against Edward's claims to the French throne, and, long before +the negotiations had reached a formal conclusion, it was clear that +nothing would come of them. At last in 1345 the English King denounced +the truce and prepared to renew the war. His first concern was, +necessarily finance, and he had already exhausted all his resources as +a borrower. The financial difficulties, which had stayed his career in +the Netherlands five years before, had reached their culmination. +Stratford was avenged for the outrages of 1340, for Edward was in worse +embarrassments than on that winter night when the glare of torches +illuminated the sovereign's sudden return to the Tower. The king's +Netherlandish, Rhenish, and Italian creditors would trust him no longer +and vainly clamoured for the repayment of their advances. "We grieve," +he was forced to reply to the Cologne magistrates, "nay, we blush, that +we are unable to meet our obligations at the due time." Edward's +anxiety to prepare for fresh campaigns made him careless as to his +former obligations. His wholesale neglect to repay his debts drove the +great banking houses of the Bardi and the Peruzzi into bankruptcy, and +the failure of the English king's creditors plunged all Florence into +deep distress. One good result came from the king's dishonour. The +foreign sources of supply having dried up, Edward was forced to lean +more exclusively upon his English subjects. A wealthy family of Hull +merchants, recently transferred to London, became very flourishing. Its +head, William de la Pole, who had financed every government scheme +since the days of Mortimer, became a knight, a judge, a territorial +magnate, and the first English merchant to found a baronial house. And +as the credit of the English merchants was limited, Edward was forced +more and more to rely upon parliamentary grants. The memory of the +king's want of faith to the estates of 1341 had died away, and a +parliament, which met in 1344, once more made Edward liberal +contributions. Secure of his subjects' support, the frivolous king +largely employed his resources in the chivalrous pageantry which +stirred up the martial ardour of his barons and made the war popular. +It was then that he resolved to set up a "round table" at Windsor after +the fabled fashion of King Arthur. From this came the foundation of the +Round Tower which Edward was to erect in his favourite abode, and the +organised chivalry that was soon to culminate in the Order of the +Garter. In the summer of 1345 Edward made that journey to Sluys, which +has already been noted, and he held on ship-board his last interview +with James van Artevelde. His immediate return to England showed that +he had no mind to renew his Flemish alliances. In the same year the +death of the queen's brother, William of Avesnes, established the rule +of Louis of Bavaria in the three counties of Holland, Zealand, and +Hainault in the right of his wife, Philippa's elder sister. Edward put +in a claim on behalf of his queen, which further embittered his already +uneasy relations with Louis, and led him to seek his field of combat +anywhere rather than in the Netherlands. In Brittany the murder of the +nobles of Montfort's faction had given an excuse for the renewal of +partisan warfare as early as 1343, but Montfort was still under +surveillance in France, even after his release from Philip's prison, +and Joan of Flanders, the heroic defender of Hennebont, was hopelessly +insane in England. At last in 1345 Montfort ventured to flee from +France to England, where he did homage to Edward as King of France for +the duchy which he claimed. He then went to Brittany, and there shortly +afterwards died. The new Duke of Brittany, also named John, was a mere +boy when he was thus robbed of both his parents' care, and his cause +languished for want of a head. Edward took upon himself the whole +direction of Brittany as tutor of the little duke. Northampton was once +more sent thither, but for a time the war degenerated into sieges of +castles and petty conflicts. + +While action was thus impracticable in the Netherlands, and ineffective +in Brittany, Gascony became, for the first time during the struggle, the +scene of military operations of the first rank. The storm of warfare had +hitherto almost spared the patrimony of the English king in southern +France. No great effort was made either by the French to capture the +last bulwarks of the Aquitanian inheritance, or by Edward to extend his +duchy to its ancient limits. Cut off from other fields of expansion, +Edward threw his chief energies into the enlargement of his power in +southern France. He won over many of those Gascon nobles, including the +powerful lord of Albret, who had been alienated by his former +indifference. All was ready for action, and in June, 1345, Henry of +Grosmont, Earl of Derby, the eldest son of Henry of Lancaster, landed at +Bayonne with a sufficient English force to encourage the lords of +Gascony to rally round the ducal banner. Soon after his landing, the +death of his blind father made Derby Earl of Lancaster. During the next +eighteen months, the earl successfully led three raids into the heart of +the enemies' territory.[1] The first, begun very soon after his landing, +occupied the summer of 1345. Advancing from Libourne, the limit of the +Anglo-Gascon power, Henry made his way up the Dordogne, a fleet of boats +co-operating with his land forces. He took the important town of +Bergerac, and thence, mounting the stream as far as Lalinde, he crossed +the hills separating the Dordogne from the Isle, and unsuccessfully +assaulted Perigueux. Thence he advanced still further, and captured the +stronghold of Auberoche, dominating the rocky valley of the Auvezere. +Leaving a garrison at Auberoche, Henry returned to his base, but upon +his withdrawal the French closely besieged his conquest, and the earl +made a sudden move to its relief. On October 21 he won a brisk battle +outside the walls of Auberoche before the more sluggish part of his army +had time to reach the scene of action. This famous exploit again +established the Gascon duke in Perigord. + + [1] For these campaigns, see Ribadieu, _Les Campagnes du Comte + de Derby en Guyenne, Saintonge et Poitou_ (1865). + +Early in 1346 the victor of Auberoche led his forces up the Garonne +valley. La Reole, lost since 1325, was taken in January, and thence +Earl Henry marched to the capture of many a town and fortress on the +Garonne and the lower Lot. His most important acquisition was +Aiguillon, commanding the junction of the Lot and the Garonne, for its +possession opened up the way for the reconquest of the Agenais, the +rich fruit of the last campaign of Charles of Valois. Duke John of +Normandy then appeared upon the scene, and Henry of Lancaster withdrew +before him to the line of the Dordogne. Aiguillon stood a siege from +April to August, when the Duke of Normandy, then at the end of his +resources, solicited a truce. News having come to Lancaster at Bergerac +that Edward had begun his memorable invasion of Normandy, he +contemptuously rejected the proposal. Before long, Duke John raised the +siege and hurried to his father's assistance. Thereupon Lancaster +returned to the Garonne and revictualled Aiguillon. Immediately after +he started on his third raid. This time he bent his steps northwards, +and late in September was at Chateauneuf on the Charente, whence he +threatened Angouleme, and finally obtained its surrender. Crossing the +Charente, he entered French Saintonge, where the important town of +Saint-Jean-d'Angely opened its gates and took oaths to Edward _as_ duke +and king. Then he boldly dashed into the heart of Poitou, marching by +Lusignan to Poitiers. "We rode before the city," wrote Lancaster, "and +summoned it, but they would do nothing. Thereupon on the Wednesday +after Michaelmas we stormed the city, and all those within were taken +or slain. And the lords that were within fled away on the other side, +and we tarried full eight days. Thus we have made a fair raid, God be +thanked, and are come again to Saint-Jean, whence we propose to return +to Bordeaux." This exploit ended Lancaster's Gascon career. In January, +1347, he was back in England, having restored the reputation of his +king in Gascony, and set an example of heroism soon to be emulated by +his cousin, the Black Prince. + +Edward resolved to take the field in person in the summer of 1346. +Special efforts were made to equip the army, and lovers of ancient +precedent were dismayed when the king called upon all men of property to +equip archers, hobblers, or men-at-arms, according to their substance, +that they might serve abroad at the king's wages. But the nation +responded to the king's call, and a host of some 2,400 cavalry and +10,000 archers and other infantry collected at Portsmouth between Easter +and the early summer.[1] There were the usual delays of a medieval +muster, and it was not until July was well begun that Edward, having +constituted his second son Lionel of Antwerp, a boy of six, as regent, +took ship at Portsmouth with his eldest son, then sixteen years of age, +and, since 1343, Prince of Wales as well as Duke of Cornwall. The +destination of the army was a secret, but Edward's original idea seems +to have been to join Henry of Lancaster in Gascony, though we may well +believe that the resources of medieval transport were hardly adequate to +convey so large a force for so great a distance. Moreover, a persistent +series of south-westerly winds prohibited all attempts to round the +Breton peninsula, while Godfrey of Harcourt, a Norman lord who had +incurred the wrath of Philip VI. and had been driven into exile, +persistently urged on Edward the superior attractions of his native +coast. When the fleet set sail from Portsmouth, it was directed to +follow in the admiral's track; and as soon as the open sea was gained, +the ships were instructed to make their way to the Cotentin. On July 12 +the English army reached Saint-Vaast de la Hougue, and spent five days +in disembarking and ravaging the neighbourhood.[2] Immediately on +landing, Edward dubbed the Prince of Wales a knight, along with other +young nobles, one of whom was Roger Mortimer, the grandson and heir of +the traitor Earl of March. At last, on July 18, the English army began +to move by slow stages to the south. It met with little resistance, and +plundered and burnt the rich countryside at its discretion. The English +marvelled at the fertility of the country and the size and wealth of its +towns. Barfleur was as big as Sandwich, Carentan reminded them of +Leicester, Saint-Lo was the size of Lincoln, and Caen was more populous +than any English city save London. + + [1] On the details of this force, see Wrottesley, _Crecy and + Calais,_ in _Collections for a History of Staffordshire,_ vol. + xviii. (1897); _cf._ J.E. Morris in _Engl. Hist. Review, xiv.,_ + 766-69. + + [2] Besides the sources for this campaign mentioned in Sir E.M. + Thompson, _Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker,_ pp. 252-57, the + disregarded _Acta bellicosa Edwardi, etc.,_ published in + Moisant, _Le Prince Noir en Aquitaine, pp._ 157-74, from a + Corpus Christi Coll. Cambridge MS., should be mentioned. It has + first been utilised in H. Pientout's valuable paper, _La prise + de Caen par Edouard III. en 1346, in Memoires de l'Academie de + Caen_ (1904). + +It was only at Caen that any real resistance was encountered. On July +26 Edward's soldiers entered the northern quarter of the town without +opposition, to find the fortified enclosures of the two great abbeys of +William the Conqueror and his queen undefended and desolate, the _grand +bourg_, the populous quarter round the church of St. Peter open to +them, and only the castle in the extreme north garrisoned. Caen was not +a walled town, and the defenders preferred to limit themselves to +holding the southern quarter, the _Ile Saint-Jean_, which lay between +the district of St. Peter's and the river Orne, but was cut off from +the rest by a branch of the Orne that ran just south of St. Peter's +church. There was sharp fighting at the bridge which commanded access +to the island; but the English archers prepared the way, and then the +men-at-arms completed the work. After a determined conflict, the Island +of St. John was captured, and its chief defenders, the Count of Eu, +Constable of France, and the lord of Tancarville, the chamberlain, were +taken prisoners. Meanwhile the English fleet, which had devastated the +whole coast from Cherbourg to Ouistreham, arrived off the mouth of the +Orne, laden with plunder and eager to get back home with its spoils. +Edward thought it prudent to avoid a threatened mutiny by ordering the +ships to recross the Channel, and take with them the captives and the +loot which he had amassed at Caen. During a halt of five days at Caen, +Edward discovered a copy of the agreement made between the Normans and +King Philip for the invasion of England eight years before. This also +he despatched to England, where it was read before the Londoners by the +Archbishop of Canterbury in order to show that the aggression was not +all on one side. + +On July 31, Edward resumed his eastward march. At Lisieux, the next +important stage, came the inevitable two cardinals with their +inevitable proposals of mediation, which Edward put aside with scant +civility. The army was soon once more on the move, and on August 7 +struck the Seine at Elbeuf, a few miles higher up the river than Rouen. +Here Edward was at last in touch with his enemy. During the English +march through lower Normandy, Philip VI. had assembled a considerable +army, with which he occupied the Norman capital. Nothing but the Seine +and a few miles of country separated the two forces. But as at +Buironfosse, at Tournai, and at Vannes, the French declined to attack, +and Edward would not depart from his tradition of acting on the +defensive. The English slowly made their way up the left bank of the +Seine, avoiding the stronger castles and walled towns, and devastating +the open country. The French followed them on the right bank, carefully +watching their movements, and breaking all the bridges. So things went +until, on August 13, Edward reached Poissy, a town within fifteen miles +of the capital. + +The English advanced troops plundered up to the walls of Paris, whose +citizens, watching in terror the flames that made lurid the western +sky, implored their king to come to their help. From Saint-Denis Philip +issued a challenge to Edward to meet him in the open field on a fixed +day, Edward, however, was not to be tempted by such appeals to his +chivalry. The day after Philip's message was sent, he repaired the +bridge at Poissy, crossed the Seine, sent a stinging reply to Philip's +letter, and moved rapidly northwards. Avoiding Pontoise, Beauvais, and +other towns, he was soon within a few miles of the Somme. Long marching +had fatigued his army, and he resolved to retreat to the Flemish +frontier. The French soon followed him by a route some miles further +towards the east. They reached the Somme earlier than the English, and +were pouring into Amiens and Abbeville, while Edward's scouts were +vainly seeking for an unguarded passage over the river. If the Somme +could not be crossed, there was every chance of Edward's war-worn army +being driven into a corner at Saint-Valery, between the broad and sandy +estuary of the Somme and the open sea. When affairs had become thus +critical, local guides revealed to the English a way across the +estuary, where a white band of chalk, called the _Blanche taque_, +cropping out of the sandy river bed, forms a hard, practicable ford +from one bank of the river to the other. "Then," writes an official +reporter, "the King of England and his host took that water of the +Somme, where never man passed before without loss, and fought their +enemies, and chased them right up to the gate of Abbeville." That night +Edward and his troops slept on the outskirts of the forest of Crecy. +After traversing this, they took up a strong position on the northern +side of the wood on Saturday, August 26. There, in the heart of his +grandmother's inheritance of Ponthieu, Edward elected to make a stand, +and, for the first time in all their campaigning, Philip felt +sufficient confidence to engage in an offensive battle against his +rival. + +Ponthieu is a land of low chalk downs, open fields, and dense woods, +broken by valleys, through which the small streams that water it +trickle down to the sea, and by the waterless depressions +characteristic of a chalk country. The village of Crecy-en-Ponthieu is +situated on the north bank of the little river Maye. Immediately to the +east of the village, a lateral depression, running north and south, +called the _Vallee aux Clercs,_ falls down into the Maye valley, and is +flanked with rolling downs, perhaps 150 to 200 feet in height. On the +summit of the western slopes of this valley, Edward stationed his army. +Its right was held by the first of the three traditional "battles," +under the personal command of the young Prince of Wales. Its front and +right flank were protected by the hill, while still further to the +right lay Crecy village embowered in its trees, beyond which the dense +forest formed an excellent protection from attack. The second of the +English battles, under the Earls' of Northampton and Arundel, held the +less formidable slopes of the upper portion of the _Vallee aux Clercs,_ +their left resting on the enclosures and woods of the village of +Wadicourt. The third battle, commanded by the king himself, and +stationed in the rear as a reserve, held the rolling upland plain, on +the highest point of which was a windmill, commanding the whole field, +in which Edward took up his quarters. The English men-at-arms left +their horses in the rear. The archers of each of the two forward +battles were thrown out at an angle on the flanks, so that the enemy, +on approaching the serried mass of men-at-arms, had to encounter a +severe discharge of arrows both from the right and the left. It was the +tactics of Halidon hill, perfected by experience and for the first time +applied on a large scale against a continental enemy. The credit of it +may well be assigned to Northampton, fresh from the fight at Morlaix, +where similar tactics had already won the day. + +The English were in position early in the morning of Saturday, August +26, and employed their leisure in further strengthening their lines by +digging shallow holes, like the pits at Bannockburn, in the hope of +ensnaring the French cavalry, if they came to close quarters with the +dismounted men-at-arms. The summer day had almost ended its course +before the French army appeared. Philip and his men had passed the +previous night at Abbeville, and had not only performed the long march +from the capital of Ponthieu, but many of them, misled by bad +information as to Edward's position, had made a weary detour to the +north-west. It was not until the hour of vespers that the mass of the +French host was marshalled in front of the village of Estrees on the +eastward plateau beyond the _Vallee aux Clercs_. John of Hainault, who +had become a thorough-going French partisan, advised Philip to delay +battle until the following day. The French were tired; all the army had +not yet come up; night would soon put an end to the combat; the evening +sun, shining brightly after a violent summer storm, was blazing +directly in the faces of the assailants. But the French nobles demanded +an immediate advance. Confident in their numbers and prowess, they had +already assured themselves of victory, and were quarrelling about the +division of the captives they would make. Philip, too sympathetic with +the feudal point of view to oppose his friends, ordered the advance. + +The battle began by the French sending forward a strong force of +Genoese crossbowmen, to prepare the way for the cavalry charge. But the +long bows of the English outshot the obsolete and cumbrous weapons of +the Genoese, whose strings had been wetted by the recent storm. The +Italians descended into the valley, but were soon demoralised by seeing +their comrades fall all round them, while their own bolts failed to +reach the enemy. They were already in full retreat back up the slope, +when the impatience of the French horsemen burst all bounds. The +reckless cavalry charge swept right through the disordered ranks of the +crossbowmen, whose groans and cries as they were trampled underfoot by +the mail-clad steeds, inspired the rear ranks of the French with the +vain belief that the English were hard pressed, and made them eager to +join the fray. The charge, as disorderly and as badly directed as the +fatal attack of Bannockburn, never reached the English ranks. Shot down +right and left by archers, terrified by the fearful booming of three +small cannon that the English had dragged about during their +wanderings, the French line soon became a confused mob of furious +horsemen on panic-stricken horses. With gallantry even more conspicuous +than their want of discipline, the French made no less than fifteen +attempts to penetrate the enemies' lines. At one point only did they +get near their goal, and that was on the right battle where the Prince +of Wales himself was in command. A timely reinforcement sent by King +Edward relieved the pressure, and the French were soon in full retreat, +protected, as the English boasted, from further attack by the rampart +of dead that they left behind them. The darkness, which ended the +struggle, forbade all pursuit. Next day the fight was renewed by fresh +French forces, but a fog hampered their movements, and they fell easy +victims to the English. Then the defeated force retreated to Abbeville. +The English loss was insignificant, but the field was covered with the +bravest and noblest of the French. Among those who perished on the side +of Philip were Louis of Nevers, the chivalrous Count of Flanders, who +had sacrificed everything save his honour on the altar of feudal duty, +and the blind King John of Bohemia, whose end was as romantic and +futile as his life. Both these princes left as their successors sons of +very different stamp in Louis de Male, and Charles of Moravia. Charles, +who had recently been set up as King of the Romans by the clerical +party against Louis of Bavaria, was present at Crecy, but a prudent +retreat saved him from his father's fate. + +In the midst of the Norman campaign, Philip urgently besought David, +King of Scots, to make a diversion in his favour. Since 1341 David, +then a youth of seventeen, had been back in Scotland. Prolonged truces +gave him little opportunity of trying his skill as a soldier, and his +domestic rule was not particularly successful. The full effects of the +Franco-Scottish alliance were revealed when, early in October, the +Scottish king invaded the north of England, confident that, as all the +fighting-men were in France, he would meet no more formidable opponents +than monks, peasants, and shepherds. The five days' resistance of Lord +Wake's border peel of Castleton in Liddesdale showed the baselessness +of this imagination. At its capture on October 10, David put to death +its gallant captain, a knight named Walter Selby. Then the Scots +streamed over the hills into Upper Tynedale, and soon devastated +Durham. Such of the border lords as were not with the king in France +had now prepared for resistance. Beside the Nevilles, Percys, and other +great houses of the north, the Archbishop of York, William de la Zouch, +took a vigorous part in organising the local levies, and in a very +short space of time a sufficient army assembled to make head against +the invaders. From their muster at Richmond, the northern barons +marched into the land of St. Cuthbert, many priests following their +archbishop as of old their predecessors had followed Melton or +Thurstan. On October 17 the forces joined battle at Neville's Cross, a +wayside landmark on the Red hills, a rough and broken region sloping +down to the Wear, immediately to the west of the city of Durham. +Neither host was large in size, and each stood facing the other, with +the archers at either wing, after the fashion that had become Scottish +as well as English. For a time neither army was willing to begin. At +last the English archers, irritated at the delay, advanced upon the +Scots with showers of missiles. Then the struggle grew general and +after a fierce hand-to-hand fight the English prevailed. David was +taken prisoner and was lodged in the Tower, and many of the noblest of +the Scots lay dead on the field. The diversion was a failure; the local +levies had proved amply sufficient to cope with the enemy. In thus +playing the game of the French king, David began a policy which, from +Neville's Cross to Flodden, brought embarrassment to England and +desolation to Scotland. It was the inevitable penalty of two +independent and hostile states existing in one little island. + +So war-worn were the victors of Crecy that all the profit they could +win from the battle was the power to continue their march undisturbed +to the sea coast. On September 4, Edward reached the walls of Calais, +the last French town on the frontiers of Flanders, and the port whose +corsairs had inflicted exceptional damage on English shipping during +the whole of the war. With a keen eye to the military importance of the +place, the King abandoned the easy course of returning with his troops +to England, and at once sat down before Calais. It was an arduous and +prolonged siege. Calais was girt by double walls and ditches of +exceptional strength and was bravely defended by John de Vienne and a +numerous garrison. Moreover the yielding soil of the sands and marshes +around the town made it impossible for Edward to erect against the +fortifications the cumbrous machines by which engineers then sought to +batter down the walls of towns. The only method of taking the place was +by starvation. At first Edward was not able to block every avenue of +access to the beleaguered fortress. Winter came on; the troops demanded +permission to go home; the sailors threatened mutiny, and the French +were actively on the watch. + +Amidst these troubles, Edward III showed a persistence worthy of his +grandfather. He remained at the seat of war, transacting much of the +business of government in the town of wooden huts which, growing up +round the besiegers' lines, made the winter siege endurable. In the +worst period of the year sufficient forces to man the trenches could +only be secured by wholesale charters of pardon to felonious and +offending soldiers, on condition that they did not withdraw from service +without the king's licence, so long as Edward himself remained beyond +the seas.[1] A parliament of magnates met in March, 1347, and granted an +aid. Instead of summoning the commons, Edward preferred to raise his +chief supplies by another loan of 20,000 sacks of wool from the +merchants, by additional customs dues voted by a merchant assembly, and +by considerable loans from ecclesiastics and religious houses. In April +and May all England was alive with martial preparation, and gradually a +force far transcending the Crecy army was gathered round the walls of +Calais, while a great fleet held the sea and prohibited the access of +French ships to the doomed garrison. Northampton, ever fertile in +expedients, discovered that, even after the high seas were blocked, +boats still crept into Calais port by hugging the shallow shore. He ran +long jetties of piles from the coast line into deep water, and thus cut +off the last means of communication and of supplies. By June the town +was suffering severely from famine. + + [1] See for this, _Rotulus Normannice_ in _Cal. Patent Rolls,_ + 1345-48, especially PP. 473-526. For the vast force gathered + later, see Wrottesley and Morris, U.S. + +The French made a great effort, both by sea and land, to relieve +Calais. On June 25 Northampton went out with his ships as far as the +mouth of the Somme, where off Le Crotoy he won a naval victory which +made the English command of the sea absolutely secure. A month later +Philip, at the head of the land army, looked down upon the lines of +Calais from the heights of Guines. The two cardinals made their usual +efforts for a truce, but the English would not allow their prey to be +snatched from them at the eleventh hour. Then Philip challenged the +enemy to a pitched battle, and four knights on each side were appointed +to select the place of combat. The French, however, were of no mind to +risk another Crecy, and on the morning of July 31 the smoke of their +burning camp told the English that once more Philip had shrunk from a +meeting. Then at last the garrison opened its gates on August 3, 1347. +The defenders were treated chivalrously by the victor, who admired +their courage and endurance. But the mass of the population were +removed from their homes, and numerous grants of houses and property +made to Englishmen. Edward resolved to make his conquest an English +town, and, from that time onwards, it became the fortress through which +an English army might at any time be poured into France, and the +warehouse from which the spinners and weavers of Flanders were to draw +their supplies of raw wool. For more than two hundred years, English +Calais retained all its military and most of its commercial importance. +Later conquests enabled a ring of forts to be erected round it which +strengthened its natural advantages. + +Crecy, Neville's Cross, Aiguillon, and Calais did not exhaust the +glories of this strenuous time. The war of the Breton succession, which +Northampton had waged since 1345, was continued in 1346 by Thomas +Dagworth, a knight appointed as his lieutenant on his withdrawal to +join the army of Crecy and Calais. The Montfort star was still in the +ascendant, and even the hereditary dominions of Joan of Penthievre were +assailed. An English garrison was established at La Roche Derien, +situated some four miles higher up the river Jaudy than the little open +episcopal city of Treguier, and communicating by the river with the sea +and with England. So troublesome did Montfort's garrison at La Roche +become to the vassals of Penthievre, that in the summer of 1347 Charles +of Blois collected an army, wherein nearly all the greatest feudal +houses of Brittany were strongly represented, and sat down before La +Roche. Dagworth, one of the ablest of English soldiers, was at Carhaix, +in the heart of the central uplands, when he heard of the danger of the +single English post within the lands of Penthievre. He at once hurried +northwards, and on the night of June 19 rested at the abbey of Begard, +about ten miles to the south of La Roche. From Begard two roads led to +La Roche, one on each bank of the Jaudy. Thinking that Dagworth would +pursue the shorter road on the left bank, Charles of Blois stationed a +portion of his army at some distance from La Roche on that side of the +Jaudy, while the rest remained with himself on the right bank before +the walls of the town. Dagworth, however, chose the longer route, and +before daybreak, on the morning of June 20, fell suddenly upon Charles. +A fierce fight in the dark was ended after dawn in favour of Montfort +by a timely sally of the beleaguered garrison. In the confusion Charles +forgot to recall the division uselessly stationed beyond the Jaudy, and +this error completed his ruin. Charles fought like a hero, and, after +receiving seventeen wounds, yielded up his sword to a Breton lord +rather than to the English commander. When his wounds were healed, +Charles was sent to London, where he joined David of Scotland, the +Count of Eu, and the Lord of Tancarville. It looked as if Montfort's +triumph was secured. + +In the midst of his successes Edward made a truce, yielding to the +earnest request of the cardinals, "through his reverence to the +apostolic see". The truce of Calais was signed on September 28, and +included Scotland and Brittany as well as France within its scope. On +October 12 Edward returned to his kingdom. Financial exhaustion, the +need of repose, the unwillingness of his subjects to continue the +combat, and the failure of the Flemish and Netherlandish alliances +sufficiently explain this halt in the midst of victory. Yet from the +military standpoint Edward's action, harmful everywhere to his +partisans, was particularly fatal in Brittany, where most of Penthievre +and nearly all upper Brittany were still obedient to Charles of +Blois.[1] But Edward had embarked upon a course infinitely beyond his +material resources. When a special effort could only give him the one +town of Calais, how could he ever conquer all France? + + [1] See on this A. de la Borderie, _Hist. de Bretagne_, iii., + 507, _et seq_. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FROM THE BLACK DEATH TO THE TREATY OF CALAIS. + + +At the conclusion of the truce of Calais in 1347, Edward III and +England were at the height of their military reputation. Perhaps the +nation was in even a stronger position than the monarch. Edward had +dissipated his resources in winning his successes, but the danger which +faced the ruler had but slightly impaired the fortunes of his subjects. +The country was in a sufficiently prosperous condition to bear its +burdens without much real suffering. The widespread dislike of +extraordinary taxation, which so often assumed the form of the familiar +cry that the king must live of his own, had taken the shape of +unwillingness to accept responsibility for the king's policy and a +growing indisposition to meet his demands. But since the rule of Edward +began, England enjoyed a prosperity so unbroken that far heavier +burdens would hardly have brought about a diminution of the well-being +which stood in glaring contrast to the desolation long inflicted by +Edward's wars on France. A war waged exclusively on foreign soil did +little harm to England, and offered careers whereby many an English +adventurer was gaining a place among the landed classes. The simple +archers and men-at-arms, who received high wages and good hopes of +plunder in the king's foreign service, found in it a congenial and +lucrative, if demoralising profession. In England, though wages were +low, provisions were cheap and employment constant. The growth of the +wool trade, then further stimulated by refugees from the "three towns +of Flanders," against which Louis de Male was waging relentless war, +was bringing comfort to many, and riches to a few. The maritime +greatness of England that found its first results in the battle of +Sluys was the fruit of a commercial activity on the sea which enabled +English shipmen to deprive the Italians, Netherlanders, and Germans of +the overwhelming share they had hitherto enjoyed of our foreign trade. +The dark shadows of medieval life were indeed never absent from the +picture; but medieval England seldom enjoyed greater wellbeing and +tranquillity than during the first eighteen years of the personal rule +of Edward III. One sign of the increasing attention paid to suppressing +disorder was an act of 1344, which empowered the local conservators of +the peace, already an element in the administrative machinery, to hear +and determine felonies. A later act made this a part of their regular +functions, and gave them the title of justices of the peace, thus +setting up a means of maintaining local order so effective that the old +machinery of the local courts gradually gave way to it. + +A rude ending to this period of prosperity was brought about by the +devastations of the pestilence known to modern readers as the Black +Death, which since 1347 had decimated the Levant. This was the bubonic +plague, almost as familiar in the east of to-day as in the +mid-fourteenth century. It was brought along the chief commercial +highways which bound the western world to the markets of the east. First +introduced into the west at the great ports of the Mediterranean, +Venice, Genoa, Marseilles, it spread over France and Italy by the early +months of 1348. Avignon was a chief centre of the infection, and, amidst +the desolation around him, Clement VI. strove with rare energy to give +peace to a distracted world. The regions of western and northern France, +which had felt the full force of the war, were among the worst +sufferers. Aquitaine, too, was cruelly desolated, and among the victims +was Edward III.'s daughter, Joan, who perished at Bordeaux on her way to +Castile, as the bride of the prince afterwards infamous as Peter the +Cruel. Early in August, 1348, the scourge crossed the channel, making +its first appearance in England at Weymouth. Thence it spread northwards +and westwards. Bristol was the first great English town to feel its +ravages. Though the Gloucestershire men prohibited all intercourse +between the infected port and their own villages, the plague was in no +wise stayed by their precautions. The disease extended, by way of +Gloucester and Oxford, to London, reaching the capital early in +November, and continuing its ravages until the following Whitsuntide. +When it had almost died out in London, it began, in the spring of 1349, +to rage severely in East Anglia,[1] while in Lancashire the worst time +seems to have been from the autumn of 1349 to the beginning of 1350.[2] +Scotland was so long exempt that the Scots, proud of their immunity, +were wont to swear "by the foul death of England". In 1350 they gathered +together an army in Ettrick forest with the object of invading the +plague-stricken border shires. But the pestilence fell upon the host +assembled for the foray, and all war was stopped while Scotland was +devastated from end to end. Ireland began to suffer in August, 1349, the +disease being at first confined to the Englishry of the towns, though, +after a time, it made its way also to the pure Irish.[3] + + [1] A. Jessopp, _The Black Death in East Anglia_, in _The + Coming of the Friars and Other Essays_(1889). For general + details see F. Seebohm, _The Black Death_, in _Fortnightly + Review (1865 and 1866)_; J.E.T. Rogers, _England before and + after the Black Death_, in _Fortnightly Review (1866)_; F.A. + Gasquet's _Great Pestilence_ (1893); and C. Creighton, _History + of Epidemics in Britain_, i., 114-207(1891). + + [2] A.G. Little, _The Black Death in Lancashire_, in _Engl. + Hist. Review_, v. (1890), 524-30 + + [3] See for Ireland, however, the vivid details in J. Clyn of + Kilkenny, _Annales Hibevnia: ad annum 1349_, ed. R. Butler, + _Irish Archaological Soc._ (1849). + +The wild exaggerations of the chroniclers reflect the horror and +desolation wrought by the epidemic. There died so many, we are told, +that the survivors scarcely sufficed to bury the victims, and not one +man in ten remained alive. The more moderate estimate of Froissart sets +down the proportion dead of the plague as one in three throughout all +Christendom, and some modern inquirers have rashly reckoned the +mortality in England as amounting to a half or a third of the +population. In truth, complete statistics are necessarily wanting, and +if the records of the admissions of the clergy attest that, in certain +dioceses, half the livings changed hands during the years of +pestilence, it is not permissible to infer from that circumstance that +there was a similar rate of mortality from the plague over the whole of +the population. The sudden and overwhelming character of the disorder +increased the universal terror. One day a man was healthy: within a few +hours of the appearance of the fatal swelling, or of the dark livid +marks which gave the plague its popular name, he was a corpse. The +pestilence seemed to single out the young and robust as its prey, and +to spare the aged and sick. The churchyards were soon overflowing, and +special plague pits had to be dug where the dead were heaped up by the +hundred. Comparatively few magnates died, but the poor, the religious, +and the clergy were chief sufferers. The law courts ceased to hold +regular sessions. When the people had partially recovered from the +first visitations of the plague, others befel them which were scarcely +less severe. The years 1362 and 1369 almost rivalled the horrors of +1348 and 1349. + +The immediate effects of the calamity were overwhelming. At first the +horror of the foul death effaced all other considerations from men's +minds. There were not enough priests to absolve the dying, and special +indulgences, with full liberty to choose confessors at discretion, were +promulgated from Avignon and from many diocesan chanceries. The price +of commodities fell for the moment, since there were few, we are told, +who cared for riches amidst the general fear of death. The pestilence +played such havoc with the labouring population that the beasts +wandered untended in the pastures, and rich crops of corn stood rotting +in the fields from lack of harvesters to gather them. There was the +same lack of clergy as of labourers, and the priest, like the peasant, +demanded a higher wage for his services by reason of the scarcity of +labour. A mower was not to be had for less than a shilling a day with +his food, and a chaplain, formerly glad to receive two marks and his +board, demanded ten pounds, or ten marks at the least. Non-residence, +neglect of cures, and other evils followed. As Langland wrote:-- + + Persones and parisch prestes - playneth to heore bisschops, + That heore parisch hath ben pore - seththe the pestilence tyme, + And asketh leue and lycence - at Londun to dwelle, + To singe ther for simonye - for seluer is swete.[1] + +The lack of clergy was in some measure compensated by the rush of +candidates for orders. Some of these new clerks were men who had lost +their wives by the plague; many of them were illiterate, or if they +knew how to read their mass-book, could not understand it. The close +social life of the monasteries proved particularly favourable to the +spread of the disease; the number of monks and nuns declined +considerably, and, since there was no great desire to embrace the +religious profession, many houses remained half empty for generations. + + [1] _Vision of Piers Plowman_, i., p. g, ed. Skeat. + +No one in the Middle Ages believed in letting economic laws work out +their natural results. If anything were amiss, it was the duty of kings +and princes to set things right. Accordingly Edward and his council at +once strove to remedy the lack of labourers by ordinances that +harvesters and other workmen should not demand more wages than they had +been in the habit of receiving, while the bishops, following the royal +example, ordered chaplains and vicars to be content with their +accustomed salaries. As soon as parliament ventured to assemble, the +royal orders were embodied in the famous statute of labourers of 1351. +This measure has been condemned as an attempt of a capitalist +parliament to force poor men to work for their masters at wages far +below the market rates. But it was no new thing to fix wages by +authority, and the medieval conception was that a just and living wage +should be settled by law, rather than left to accident. The statute +provided that prices, like wages, should remain as they had been before +the pestilence, so that, far from only regarding the interests of the +employer, it attempted to maintain the old ratio between the rate of +wages and the price of commodities. Moreover it sought to provide for +the cultivation of the soil by enacting that the sturdy beggar, who, +though able, refused to work, should be forced to put his hand to the +plough. Futile as the statute of labourers was, it was not much more +ineffective than most laws of the time. Though real efforts were made +to carry it out, the chronic weakness of a medieval executive soon +recoiled before the hopeless task of enforcing impossible laws on an +unwilling population. Class prejudices only showed themselves in the +stipulation that, while the employer was forbidden to pay the new rate +of wages under pain of heavy fines, the labourers who refused, to work +on the old terms were imprisoned and only released upon taking oath to +accept their ancient wages. In effect, however, the king's arm was not +long enough to reach either class. The labourers, says a chronicler, +were so puffed up and quarrelsome that they would not observe the new +enactment, and the master's alternative was either to see his crops +perish unharvested, or to gratify the greedy desires of the workmen by +violating the statute. While labourers could escape punishment through +their numbers, the employer was more accessible to the royal officers. + +Thus the labourers enjoyed the benefits of the scarcity of labour, +while the employers suffered the full inconveniences of the change. +Producers were to some extent recompensed by a great rise in prices, +more especially in the case of those commodities into whose cost of +production labour largely entered. For example the rise in the price of +corn and meat was inconsiderable, while clothing, manufactured goods, +and luxuries became extraordinarily dear. Of eatables fish rose most in +value, because the fishermen had been swept away by the plague. Rents +fell heavily. Landlords found that they could only retain their tenants +by wholesale remissions. When farmers perished of the plague, it was +often impossible to find others to take up their farms. It was even +harder for lords, who farmed their own demesne, to provide themselves +with the necessary labour. Hired labour could not be obtained except at +ruinous rates. It was injudicious to press for the strict performance +of villein services, lest the villein should turn recalcitrant and +leave his holding. The lord preferred to commute his villein's service +into a small payment. On the whole the best solution of the difficulty +was for him to abandon the ancient custom of farming his demesne +through his bailiffs, and to let out his lands on such rents as he +could get to tenant farmers. Thus the feudal method of land tenure, +which, since the previous century, had ceased to have much political +significance, became economically ineffective, and began to give way to +a system more like that which still obtains among us. + +Struck by these undoubted results of the pestilence, some modern +writers have persuaded themselves that the Black Death is the one great +turning-point in the social and economic history of England, and that +nearly all which makes modern England what it is, is due to the effects +of this pestilence. A wider survey suggests the extreme improbability +of a single visitation having such far-reaching consequences. Moreover +the Black Death was not an English but a European calamity, and it is +strange to imagine that the effects of the plague in England should +have been so much deeper than in France or Germany, and so different. +In the fourteenth century there was little that was distinctly insular +in the conditions of England, as compared with those of the continent. +A trouble common to both regions alike could hardly have been the +starting-point of such differentiation between them as later ages +undoubtedly witnessed. There was a French counterpart to the statute of +labourers. + +In truth the Black Death was no isolated phenomenon. There were already +in the air the seeds of the decay of the ancient order, and those seeds +fructified more rapidly in England by reason of the plague.[1] It is +only because of the impetus which it gave to changes already in progress +that the pestilence had in a fashion more lasting results in England +than elsewhere. The last thirty years of the reign of Edward were an +epoch of social upheaval and unrest contrasting strongly with the +uneventful times that had preceded the Black Death. It is not right to +regard the period as one of misery or severe distress. The war of +classes, which was beginning, sprang not so much from material +discomfort of the poor, as from what unsympathetic annalists called +their greediness, their pride, and their wantonness. The wage-earner was +master of the situation and did not hesitate to make his power felt. +While the spread of manufactures, the rise of prices, and the opening +out of wider markets still secured the prosperity of the shopkeeper, the +merchant, or the artisan of the towns, the whole brunt of the social +change fell upon the landed classes, and most heavily upon the +ecclesiastics and especially upon the monks. Broken down by the heavy +demands of the state, unable to share with the layman in the new avenues +to wealth opened up by the expanding resources of the country, the monks +saw the chief sources of their prosperity drying up. Their rents were +shrinking and it became increasingly difficult to cultivate their lands. +They never recovered their ancient welfare, and were already getting out +of touch with the national life. + + [1] See for this W. Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and + Commerce,_ vol. i., p. 330 ff. (ed. 4); T.W. Page, _The End of + Villainage in England_ (American Economic Association, 1900); + and, above all, P. Vinogradoff in _Engl. Hist. Review, xv._ + (1900), 774-781. + +One immediate result of the plague was a renewed activity in founding +religious houses. Upon the two plague pits west and east of the city of +London, Sir Walter Manny set up his Charterhouse in Smithfield, and +Edward III. his foundation for Cistercian nuns between Tower Hill and +Aldgate. More characteristic of the times was the foundation of secular +colleges, which were established either with mainly ecclesiastical +objects or to encourage study at the universities. Both at Oxford and +Cambridge there were more colleges set up in the first than in the +second half of the fourteenth century; and it is noteworthy that +several Cambridge colleges incorporated after the plague were founded +with the avowed motive of filling up the gaps in the secular clergy +occasioned by it. The riots between the Oxford townsmen and the clerks +of the university on St. Scholastica's day, 1354, resulted in the +victory of the former because of the recent diminution in the number of +the scholars. Yet even as regards the monasteries, it is easy to +exaggerate the effects of the plague. Five years after the Black Death, +the Cistercians of the Lancashire abbey of Whalley boasted that they +had added twenty monks to their convent, and were busy in enlarging +their church.[1] + + [1] Cal. _Papal Registers, Petitions_, i., 264. Professor Tait, + however, informs me that the monks took a sanguine view of + their numbers. After the plague of 1362, we know that they were + not much more numerous than in the previous century. + +Change was in the air in religion as well as in society. Along with +democratic ideas filtering in with the exiles from the great Flemish +cities, came a breath of that restless and unquiet spirit which soon +awakened the concern of the inquisition in the Netherlands. There +brotherhoods, some mystical and quietistic, others enthusiastic and +fanatical, were growing in numbers and importance. Some of these bodies, +Beguines, Beghards, and what not, were harmless enough, but the whole +history of the Middle Ages bears testimony to the readiness with which +religious excitement unchastened by discipline or direction, grew into +dangerous heresy. The strangest of the new communities, the Flagellants, +made its appearance in England immediately after the pestilence. In the +autumn of 1349, some six score men crossed over from Holland and marched +in procession through the open spaces of London, chanting doleful +litanies in their own tongue. They wore nothing save a linen cloth that +covered the lower part of their body, and on their heads hats marked +with a red cross behind and before. Each of them bore in his right hand +a scourge, with which he belaboured the naked back and shoulders of his +comrade in the fore rank. Twice a day they repeated this mournful +exercise, and even at other times were never seen in public but with cap +on head and discipline in hand. Few Englishmen joined the Flagellants, +but their appearance is not unworthy of notice as the first concrete +evidence of the religious unrest which soon became more widespread. +Before long the Yorkshireman, John Wycliffe, was studying arts at the +little north-country foundation of the Balliols at Oxford, and John +Ball, the Essex priest, was preaching his revolutionary socialism to the +villeins. "We are all come," said he, "from one father and one mother, +Adam and Eve. How can the gentry show that they are greater lords than +we?"[1] In 1355 there were heretics in the diocese of York who +maintained that it is impossible to merit eternal life by good works, +and that original sin does not deserve damnation.[2] + + [1] The sentiment, or its equivalent in Ball's famous distich, + was not new; it was employed for mystical purposes in Richard + Rolle's + + "When Adam delf and Eue span, spir, if thou wil spede, + Whare was then the pride of man, that now merres his mede?" + + _Library of Early English Writers. Richard Rolle of Hampole and + his followers_, ed. Horstman, i., 73 (1895). + + [2] Cal. _Papal Registers, Letters_, iii., 565. + +The Flagellants were denounced as heretics by Clement VI.; the +Archbishop of York proceeded against the northern heretics, and in 1366 +the Archbishop of Canterbury forbade John Ball's preaching. But there +were more insidious, because more measured, enemies of the Church than +a handful of fanatics. The English were long convinced that the Avignon +popes were playing the game of the French adversary, and Clement VI.'s +efforts for peace never had a fair hearing. Since the beginning of the +war, the king laid his hand on the alien priories, and, though in his +scrupulous regard for clerical rights he had allowed the monks to +remain in possession, he diverted the stream of tribute from the French +mother houses to his own treasury. Bolder measures against papal +provisions were taken in the years which immediately followed the +pestilence. Finding remonstrances futile, the parliament of 1351, which +passed the statute of labourers, enacted also the first statute of +provisors. It recited that the anti-papal statute of Carlisle of 1307 +was still law, and that the king had sworn to observe it. It claimed +for all electing bodies and patrons the right to elect or to present +freely to the benefices in their gift. It declared invalid all +appointments brought about by way of papal provision. Provisors who had +accepted appointments from Avignon were to be arrested. If convicted, +they were to be detained in prison, until they had made their peace +with the king, and found surely not to accept provisions in the future, +and also not to seek their reinstatement by any process in the Roman +_curia_. Two years later this measure was supplemented by the first +statute of _praemunire_, which enacted that those who brought matters +cognisable in the king's courts before foreign courts should be liable +to forfeiture and outlawry. Though the papal court is not specially +mentioned, it is clear that this measure _was_ aimed against it. + +General measures proving insufficient, more specific legislation soon +followed. In 1365 a fresh statute of _praemunire_ was drawn up on the +initiative of the crown, enacting that all who obtained citations, +offices, or benefices from the Roman court should incur the penalties +prescribed by the act of 1353. The prelates dissociated themselves from +so stringent a law, but did not actively oppose it. When in 1366, +Edward requested the guidance of the estates as to how he was to deal +with the demand of Urban V. for the arrears of King John's tribute, +withheld altogether for more than thirty years, the prelates joined the +lay estates in answering that neither John nor any one else could put +the realm into subjection without their consent. Even the ancient +offering of Peter's pence ceased to be paid for the rest of Edward's +reign. If these laws had been strictly carried out, the papal authority +in England would have been gravely circumscribed. But medieval laws +were too often the mere enunciations of an ideal. The statutes of +provisors and _praemunire_ were as little executed as were the statutes +of labourers, or as some elaborate sumptuary legislation passed by the +parliament of 1363. The catalogue of acts of papal interference in +English ecclesiastical and temporal affairs is as long after the +passing of these laws as before. Litigants still carried their suits to +Avignon: provisions were still issued nominating to English benefices, +and Edward himself set the example of disregarding his own laws by +asking for the appointment of his ministers to bishoprics by way of +papal provision. Papal ascendency was too firmly rooted in the +fourteenth century to be eradicated by any enactment. To the average +clergyman or theologian of the day the pope was still the "universal +ordinary," the one divinely appointed source of ecclesiastical +authority, the shepherd to whom the Lord had given the commission to +feed His sheep. This theory could only be overcome by revolution; and +the parliaments and ministers of Edward III. were in no wise of a +revolutionary temper. + +The anti-papal laws of the fourteenth century were the acts of the +secular not of the ecclesiastical power. They were not simply +anti-papal, they were also anti-clerical in their tendency, since to the +men of the age an attack on the pope was an attack on the Church. No +doubt the English bishop at Edward's court sympathised with his master's +dislike of foreign ecclesiastical interference, and the English priest +was glad to be relieved from payments to the curia. But the clergyman, +whose soul grew indignant against the curialists, still believed that +the pope was the divinely appointed autocrat of the Church universal. +Being a man, a pope might be a bad pope; but the faithful Christian, +though he might lament and protest, could not but obey in the last +resort. The papacy was so essentially interwoven with the whole Church +of the Middle Ages, that few figments have less historical basis than +the notion that there was an anti-papal Anglican Church in the days of +the Edwards. However, before another generation had passed away, +ecclesiastical protests began. + +Monasticism no less than the papacy was of the very essence of the +Church of the Middle Ages. Yet the monastic ideal had no longer the +force that it had in previous generations, and even the latest +embodiments of the religious life had declined from their original +popularity. Pope John XXII. himself, in his warfare against William of +Ockham and the Spiritual Franciscans who had supported Louis of Bavaria, +denied in good round terms the Franciscan doctrine of "evangelical +poverty". Ockham was now dead, and with him perished the last of the +great cosmopolitan schoolmen, of whose birth indeed England might boast, +but who early forsook Oxford for Paris. Conspicuous among the younger +academical generation was Richard Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, whose +bitter attacks on the fundamental principles underlying the mendicant +theory of the regular life are indicative of the changing temper of the +age. A distinguished Oxford scholar, a learned and pungent writer, a +popular preacher, a reputed saint, and a good friend of the pope, +Fitzralph made himself, about 1357, the champion of the secular clergy +against the friars by writing a treatise to prove that absolute poverty +was neither practised nor commended by the apostles.[1] The indignant +mendicants procured the archbishop's citation to Avignon, and it was a +striking proof of the ineffectiveness of recent legislation that Edward +III. allowed him to plead his cause before the _curia_. By 1358 the +friars gained the day, but their efforts to get Fitzralph's opinions +condemned were frustrated by his death in 1360. Fitzralph had the +sympathy not only of the seculars, but of the "possessioners," or +property-holding monks. + + [1] See his _De Pauperie Salvatoris_, lib. i.-iv., printed by + R.L. Poole, as appendix to Wycliffe, _De Dominio Divino_. + +The period of experiments in economic and anti-clerical legislation was +also marked by other important new laws, such as the ordinance of the +staple of 1354, providing that wool, leather, and other commodities +were only to be sold at certain _staple_ towns, a measure soon to be +modified by the law of 1362, which settled the staple at Calais; the +ordinance of 1357 for the government of Ireland, to which later +reference will be made; the statute making English the language of the +law courts in 1362, and a drastic act against purveyance in 1365. The +statute of treasons of 1352, which laid down seven several offences as +alone henceforth to be regarded as treason, also demands attention. Its +classification is rude and unsystematic. While the slaying of the +king's ministers or judges, and the counterfeiting of the great seal or +the king's coin, are joined with the compassing the death of the king +or his wife or heir, adherence to the king's enemies, the violation of +the queen or the king's eldest daughter, as definite acts of treason, +its omission to brand other notable indications of disloyally as +traitorous, inspired the judges of later generations to elaborate the +doctrine of constructive treason in order to extend in practice the +scope of the act. It was, however, an advance for nobles and commons to +have set any limitations whatever to the wide power claimed by the +courts of defining treason. + +Partial respite from war did not diminish the martial ardour of the +king and his nobles. The period of the Black Death was precisely the +time when Edward completed a plan which he had begun by the erection of +his Round Table at Windsor in 1344. By 1348 he instituted a chapel at +Windsor, dedicated to St. George, served by a secular chapter, and +closely connected with a foundation for the support of poor knights. +Within a year this foundation also included the famous Order of the +Garter, the type and model of all later orders of chivalry. On St. +George's day the king celebrated the new institution by special +solemnities. The most famous of his companions-at-arms were associated +with him as founders and first knights. Clad in russet coats sprinkled +with blue garters, a blue garter on the right leg, and a mantle of blue +ornamented with little shields bearing the arms of St. George, the +Knights of the Garter heard mass sung by the Archbishop of Canterbury +in St. George's chapel, and then feasted solemnly in their common hall. +Ten years later the glorification of the king's birthplace was +completed by the erection of new quarters for the king, more sumptuous +and splendid than were elsewhere to be seen. The fame of the Knights of +the Garter excited the emulation of King John of France, who set up a +Round Table which grew in 1351 into the knightly Order of the Star. + +The rival brethren of the Garter and the Star found plenty of +opportunities of demonstrating their prowess. Though between 1347 and +1355 there was, so far as forms went, an almost continuous armistice +for the space of eight years, its effect was not so much to stop +fighting as to limit its scale. In reality the years of nominal truce +were a period of harassing warfare in Brittany, the Calais march, +Gascony, and the narrow seas, which even the ravages of the Black Death +did not stop. + +In Brittany affairs were in a wretched condition. The nominal duke, +John, was a child brought up in England under the guardianship of +Edward III. Edward was not in a position to spend either men or money +upon Brittany. As an easy way of discharging his obligations to his +ward, he handed over the duchy to Sir Thomas Dagworth, the governor, +who maintained the war from local resources and had a free hand as +regards his choice of agents and measures. In return for power to +appropriate to his own purposes the revenues of the duchy, Dagworth +undertook the custody of the fortresses, the payment of the troops, the +expenses of the administration, and the conduct of the war. In short, +Brittany was leased out to him as a speculation, like a farm left +derelict of husbandmen after the Black Death. Dagworth sublet to the +highest bidders the lordships, fortresses, and towns of Brittany. He +established at various centres of his influence a military adventurer, +whose chief business was to make war support war and, moreover, bring +in a good profit. The consequences were disastrous. Dagworth's captains +were for the most part Englishmen, men of character, energy, and +resources, but utterly without scruples and with no other ambition than +to raise a good revenue and maintain themselves in authority. The most +famous of them were members of gentle but obscure houses, whose poverty +debarred them from the ordinary avenues to fame and fortune, and whose +vigour and ability made good use of their exceptional positions. Two +Cheshire kinsmen, Hugh Calveley and Robert Knowles, thus won, each for +himself, a place in history. Some of the adventurers were of obscurer +origin, some were foreigners, German, French, or Netherlandish, and +some few Breton gentlemen of Montfort's faction. Of these Crockart, the +German, and Raoul de Caours, the Breton, were the most famous. + +The results of the system bore heavily on the Breton peasantry. Each +lord of a castle levied systematic blackmail on the neighbouring +parishes. These payments, called ransoms, were exacted as a condition +of protection. The governor, though severely maltreating those who +neglected to pay their ransom, did little to save his dependants from +the ravages of the partisans of Charles of Blois. Despite such +misdeeds, the war of partisans was brightened by many feats of heroism. +The friends of Charles of Blois disregarded the truce and waged war as +well as they could. Among them was already conspicuous the son of a +nobleman of the neighbourhood of Dinan, the ugly, able, restless +Bertrand du Guesclin, whose enterprise and valour won for him a great +local reputation. In 1350 Dagworth was slain. The history of the +following years is not to be found in the acts of his successor, Sir +Walter Bentley, but in the private deeds of daring of the heroes of +both sides. Conspicuous among these is the famous Battle of the Thirty, +well known from the detailed narrative of Froissart, and the stirring +verses of a contemporary French poem. This fight was fought on March +27, 1351, between thirty Breton gentlemen of the Blois faction, drawn +from the garrison of Josselin, and a less noble but even more strenuous +band of thirty English and other adventurers of the Montfort party, +from the garrison of Ploermel, seven miles to the east. Beaumanoir, the +commandant at Josselin, had been moved to indignation at the cruel +treatment of peasants who had refused to pay ransom by Robert Bembro, +the commander of Ploermel. He challenged the tyrant to combat, and +thirty heroes of each party fought out their quarrel at a spot marked +by the half-way oak, equidistant from the two garrisons. After a long +struggle, in which Bembro was slain, victory fell to the men from +Josselin. Among the vanquished were Knowles, Calveley, and Crockart. +This fight had absolutely no influence on the fortune of the war. + +In 1352 the French strove to carry on the Breton war on a grander scale, +and a large army, commanded by Guy of Nesle, marshal of France, was sent +to reinforce the partisans of Charles of Blois. They met Bentley at +Mauron, a few miles north of Ploermel, where one of the most interesting +battles of the war was fought Taught by the lesson of Crecy, Nesle had +already, in obscure fights in Poitou, ordered the French knights and +men-at-arms to fight on foot.[1] He here adopted the same plan for the +first time in a battle of importance, but, after a severe struggle, +Bentley won the day. In 1353 Edward III. made a treaty with his captive, +Charles of Blois. In return for a huge ransom Charles was to obtain his +liberty, be recognised as Duke of Brittany, marry one of Edward's +daughters, and promise to remain neutral in the Anglo-French struggle. +The treaty involved too great a dislocation of policy to be carried out. +Charles, after visiting Brittany, renounced the compact and returned to +his London prison. Thus the weary war of partisans still went on, and +thenceforth the fortunes of Charles depended less upon negotiations than +on the growing successes of Bertrand du Guesclin. + + [1] See my paper on _Some Neglected Fights between Crecy and + Poitiers_ in _Engl. Hist. Review_, vol. xxi., Oct., 1905. + +During these years Calais was the centre of much fighting. Eager to win +back the town, the French bribed an Italian mercenary, then in Edward's +service, to admit them into the castle. The plot was discovered, and +Edward and the Prince of Wales crossed over in disguise to help in +frustrating the French assault. The French were enticed into Calais and +taken as in a trap. Edward then sallied out of the town, and rashly +engaged in personal encounter with a more numerous enemy. He was +unexpectedly successful, and made wonderful display of his prowess as a +knight. In revenge, the English devastated the neighbouring country by +raids like that led by the Duke of Lancaster in 1351, which spread +desolation from Therouanne to Etaples. Of more enduring importance were +the gradual extensions of the English pale by the piecemeal conquest of +the fortresses of the neighbourhood. The chief step in this direction +was the capture of Guines in 1352. An archer named John Dancaster, who +escaped from French custody in Guines, led his comrades to the assault +of the town by a way which he learnt during his imprisonment. The +attack succeeded, and Dancaster, to avoid involving his master in a +formal breach of the truce, professed to hold the town on his own +account and to be willing to sell it to the highest bidder. Of course +the highest bidder was Edward III. himself, and thus Guines became the +southern outpost of the Calais march. + +In Aquitaine and Languedoc there was no thought of repose. In 1349 +Lancaster led a foray to the gates of Toulouse, which wrought immense +damage but led to no permanent results. There was incessant border +warfare. The Anglo-Gascon forces spread beyond the limits of Edward's +duchy and captured outposts in Poitou, Perigord, Quercy, and the +Agenais. In retaliation, the Count of Armagnac, a strong upholder of +the French cause, did what mischief he could in those parts of Gascony +adjacent to his own territories. On the whole the result of these +struggles was a considerable extension of the English power. + +The most famous episode of these years was a naval battle fought off +Winchelsea on August 29, 1350, against a strong fleet of Spanish +privateers commanded by Charles of La Cerda. The Spaniards having +plundered English wine ships, Edward summoned a fleet to meet them, and +himself went on board, along with the Prince of Wales, Lancaster, and +many of his chief nobles. The fight that ensued was remarkable not more +for the reckless valour of the king and his nobles than for the +dexterity of the English tactics. The great busses of Spain towered +above the little English vessels, like castles over cottages. Yet the +English did not hesitate to grapple their adversaries' craft and swarm +up their sides on to the decks. Edward captured one of the chief of the +Spanish ships, though his own vessel, the Cog _Thomas_, was so severely +damaged that it had to be hastily abandoned for its prize. The glory of +the victory of the "Spaniards on the sea" kept up the fame first won at +Sluys. + +In these years of truce first appeared the worst scourge of the war, +bands of mercenary soldiers, fighting on their own account and +recklessly devastating the regions which they chose to visit. The cry +for peace rose higher than ever. Innocent VI., who succeeded Clement VI. +in 1352, took up with great energy the papal policy of mediation. Thanks +to his legates' good offices, preliminary articles of peace were +actually agreed upon on April 6, 1354, at Guines. By them Edward agreed +to renounce his claim to the French throne if he were granted full +sovereignly over Guienne, Ponthieu, Artois, and Guines. When the +chamberlain, Burghersh, laid before parliament, which was then sitting, +the prospect of peace, "the commons with one accord replied that, +whatever course the king and the magnates should take as regards the +said treaty, was agreeable to them. On this reply the chamberlain said +to the commons: 'Then you wish to agree to a perpetual treaty of peace, +if one can be had?' And the said commons answered unanimously, 'Yea, +yea'."[1] Vexatious delays, however, supervened, and at last the +negotiations broke down hopelessly. The French refused to surrender +their over-lordship over the ceded provinces, and the Easter parliament +of 1355 agreed with the king that war must be renewed. Two years of war +were to follow more fierce than even the struggles which had culminated +in Crecy, La Roche, and Calais. + + [1] _Rot. Pad.,_ ii., 262. + +Two expeditions were organised to invade France in the summer of 1355, +one for Aquitaine under the Prince of Wales,[1] and the other for +Normandy under Lancaster. Westerly winds long prevented their despatch. +It was not until September that the Prince of Wales reached Bordeaux. +The change of wind, which bore the prince to Gascony, enabled the host, +collected by the King and Lancaster on the Thames, to make its way to +Normandy. But the special reason which brought the English thither was +already gone. The expedition was planned to co-operate with the King of +Navarre. Charles, surnamed the Bad, traced on his father's side his +descent to that son of Philip the Bold who obtained the county of Evreux +in upper Normandy for his appanage. From his mother, the daughter of +Louis X., he derived his kingdom of Navarre and a claim on the French +monarchy of the same type as that of Edward III. Cunning, plausible, +unscrupulous, and violent, Charles had quarrelled fiercely with King +John, whose daughter he had married. His vast estates in Normandy made +him a valuable ally to Edward, and he had suggested joint action in that +duchy against the French. Unluckily, while the west winds kept the +English fleet beyond the Straits of Dover, John made terms with his +son-in-law. Lancaster was compensated for his disappointment by the +governorship of Brittany. The army equipped for the Norman expedition +was diverted to Calais, whence in November, Edward and Lancaster led a +purposeless foray in the direction of Hesdin, which hastily ended on the +arrival of the news that the Scots had surprised the town of Berwick, +and were threatening its castle. Thereupon Edward hastened back home. He +had to keep the Scots quiet, before he could attack the French. + + [1] For the Black Prince's career in Aquitaine, see Moisant, + _Le Prince Noir en Aquitaine_ (1894) + +When the Black Prince reached Bordeaux, he received a warm welcome from +the Gascons, and at once set out at the head of an army, partly English +and partly Gascon, on a foray into the enemy's territory. He made his +way from Bazas to the upper Adour through the county of Armagnac, whose +lord had incurred his wrath by his devotion to the house of Valois and +his invasions of the Gascon duchy. Thence he worked eastwards, avoiding +the greater towns, and plundering and devastating wherever he could. +The Count of Armagnac, the French commander in the south, watched his +progress from Toulouse, and prudently avoided any open encounter. The +prince approached within a few miles of the capital of Languedoc, but +found an easier prey in the rich towns and fertile plains in the valley +of the Aude. He captured the "town" of Carcassonne, though he failed to +reduce the fortress-crowned height of the "city". At Narbonne also he +took the "town" and left the "city". His progress spread terror +throughout the south, and the clerks of the university of Montpellier +and the papal _curia_ at Avignon trembled lest he should continue his +raid in their direction. But November came, and Edward found it prudent +to retire, choosing on his westward journey a route parallel to that +which he had previously adopted. He had achieved his real purpose in +desolating the region from which the French had derived the chief +resources for their attacks on Gascony. The raiders boasted that +Carcassonne was larger than York, Limoux not less great than +Carcassonne, and Narbonne nearly as populous as London. Over this fair +region, where wine and oil were more abundant than water, the black +band of desolation, which had already marked so many of the fairest +provinces of France, was cruelly extended. + +The prince kept his Christmas at Bordeaux. Even during the winter his +troops remained active. Most of the Agenais was conquered by January, +1356, while in February the capture of Perigueux opened up the way of +invasion northwards. Meanwhile the prince mustered his forces for a +vigorous summer campaign. While the towns on the Isle and the Lot were +yielding to his son, Edward III. was avenging the capture of Berwick by +a winter campaign in the Lothians. Before the end of January, 1356, +Berwick was once more in his hands. Thence he passed to Roxburgh, where +Edward Balliol surrendered to him all his rights over the Scottish +throne. Thenceforth styling himself no longer overlord but King of +Scotland, Edward mercilessly harried his new subjects. But storms +dispersed the English victualling ships, and Edward's men could not +live in winter on the country that they had made a wilderness. In a few +weeks they were back over the border, though their raid was long +remembered in Scottish tradition as the Burnt Candlemas. + +Another breach between Charles of Navarre and his father-in-law again +opened to the English the way to Normandy. John lost patience at +Charles's renewed intrigues, and in April arrested him and his friends +at Rouen. Thereupon his brother, Philip of Navarre, rose in revolt. +With him were many of the Norman lords, including Geoffrey of Harcourt, +lord of Saint-Sauveur. The English were once more invited to Normandy, +and on June 18 Lancaster landed at La Hougue with the double mission of +aiding the Norman rebels and establishing John of Montfort, then +arrived at man's estate, in his Breton duchy. It was the first English +invasion of northern France during the war, in which they had, as in +Brittany, the co-operation of a strong party in the land. The Navarre +and Harcourt influence at once secured them the Cotentin. Meanwhile, +however, the French were besieging the fortresses of the county of +Evreux. With the object of relieving this pressure, Lancaster, +immediately after his landing, marched into the heart of Normandy, and +soon reached Verneuil. It looked for the moment as if he were destined +to emulate the exploits of Edward II. in 1346. But he abruptly turned +back, leaving the county of Evreux to fall into French hands. The +permanent result of his intervention was to reduce Normandy to a state +of anarchy nearly as complete as that of Brittany. In the autumn +Lancaster at last made his way to the land of which he had had nominal +charge since the previous year. He left Philip of Navarre as commander +in Normandy, and the war was supported from local resources. The +Cotentin being in friendly hands, Lancaster attacked the strongholds of +the Blois party, which had hitherto been exempt from the war. In +October he laid siege to Rennes and was detained before its walls until +July, 1357, when he agreed to desist from the attack in return for a +huge ransom. Lancaster then established young Montfort as duke. At the +same time Charles of Blois, released from his long imprisonment, once +more reappeared in his wife's inheritance, though, as his ransom was +still but partly paid, his scrupulous honour compelled him to abstain +from personal intervention in the war. Thus Brittany got back both her +dukes. + +The northern operations in 1356 sink into insignificance when compared +with the exploits of the Black Prince in the south. After the capture +of Perigueux, there had been some idea of the prince making a northward +movement and joining hands with Lancaster on the Loire. When Lancaster +retired from Verneuil, however, the Black Prince was still in the +valley of the Dordogne. Even when all was ready, attacks on the Gascon +duchy compelled him to divert a large portion of his army for the +defence of his own frontiers. Not until August 9 was he able to advance +from Perigueux to Brantome into hostile territory. It was a month too +late to co-operate with Lancaster, and the 7,000 men, who followed his +banners, were in equipment rather prepared for a raid than for a +systematic conquest. + +Edward's outward march was in a generally northerly direction. Leaving +Limoges on his right, he crossed the Vienne lower down the stream, and +thence he led his troops over the Creuse at Argenton and over the Indre +at Chateauroux. When he traversed the Cher at Vierzon, his followers +rejoiced that they had at last got out of the limits of the ancient +duchy of Guienne and were invading the actual kingdom of France. On +penetrating beyond the Cher into the melancholy flats of the Sologne, +the prince encountered the first serious resistance. He then turned +abruptly to the west, and chased the enemy into the strong castle of +Romorantin, which he captured on September 3. There he heard that John +of France, who had gathered together a huge force, was holding the +passages over the Loire. Edward marched to meet the enemy, and on +September 7 reached the neighbourhood of Tours, where he tarried in his +camp for three days. But the few bridges were destroyed or strongly +guarded, and the men-at-arms found it quite impossible to make their +way over the broad and swift Loire. Moreover the news came that John +had crossed the river near Blois, and was hurrying southwards. +Thereupon the Black Prince turned in the same direction, seeing in this +southward march his best chance of getting to close quarters. The +French host was enormously the superior in numbers, but after Morlaix, +Mauron, and Crecy, mere numerical disparity weighed but lightly on an +English commander. + +For some days the armies marched in the same direction in parallel +lines, neither knowing very clearly the exact position of the other. On +September 14 Edward reached Chatelherault on the Vienne. His troops +were weary and war-worn, and his transport inordinately swollen by +spoils. He rested two days at Chatelherault, but was again on the move +on hearing that the enemy was at Chauvigny, situated some twenty miles +higher up the Vienne. Edward at once started in pursuit, only to find +that the French had retired before him to Poitiers, eighteen miles due +west of Chauvigny. Careless of his convoy, he hurried across country in +the hope of catching the elusive enemy, but was only in time to fight a +rear-guard skirmish at a manor named La Chaboterie, on the road from +Chauvigny to Poitiers, on September, 17. That night the English lay in +a wood hard by the scene of action, suffering terribly from want of +water. Next day, Sunday, September 18, Edward pursued the French as +near as he could to Poitiers, halting in battle array within a league +of the town. A further check on his impatience now ensued. Innocent +VI.'s legate, the Cardinal Talleyrand, brother of the Count of +Perigord, who was with the French army, crossed to the rival host with +an offer of mediation. Edward received the cardinal courteously and +spent most of the day in negotiations. But the French showed no +eagerness to bring matters to a conclusion, and as every hour +reinforcements poured into the enemy's camp the scanty patience of the +English was exhausted. They declared that the legate's talk about +saving the effusion of Christian blood was only a blind to gain time, +so that the French might overwhelm them. Edward broke off the +negotiations, and, retiring to a position more remote from the enemy, +passed the night quietly. Early next morning the cardinal again sought +to treat, but this time his offers were rejected. On his withdrawal, +the French attack began. + +The topographical details of the battle of Poitiers of September 19, +1356, cannot be determined with certainty. We only know that the place +of the encounter was called Maupertuis, which is generally identified +with a farm now called La Cardinerie, some six miles south-east of +Poitiers, and a little distance to the north of the Benedictine abbey +of Nouaille. The abbey formed the southern limit of the field. On the +west the place of combat was skirted by the little river Miausson, +which winds its way through marshes in a deep-cut valley, girt by +wooded hills. The French left their horses at Poitiers, having +resolved, perhaps on the advice of a Scottish knight, Sir William +Douglas, to fight on foot, after the English and Scottish fashion, and +as they had already fought at Mauron and elsewhere. As at Mauron, a +small band of cavalry was retained, both for the preliminary +skirmishing which then usually heralded a battle, and in the hope of +riding down some of the archers. But the French did not fully +understand the English tactics, and took no care to combine men-at-arms +with archers or crossbowmen, though these were less important against +an army weak in archers and largely consisting of Gascons. Of the four +"battles" the first, under the Marshals Audrehem and Clermont, included +the little cavalry contingent; the second was under Charles, Duke of +Normandy, a youth of nineteen; the third under the Duke of Orleans, the +king's brother; and the rear was commanded by the king. + +The English army spent the night before the battle beyond the Miausson, +but in the morning the prince, fearing an ambuscade behind the hill of +Nouaille on the east bank, abandoned his original position and crossed +the stream in order to occupy it. He divided his forces into three +"battles," led respectively by himself, Warwick, and William Montague, +since 1343 by his father's death Earl of Salisbury. Though he found no +enemy there, he remained with his "battle" on the hill, because it +commanded the slopes to the north over on which the French were now +advancing. His remote position threw the brunt of the fighting upon the +divisions of Warwick and Salisbury. They were stationed side by side in +advance of him on ground lower than that held by him, but higher than +that of the enemy, and beset with bushes and vineyards which sloped +down on the left towards the marshes of the Miausson. Some distance in +front of their position, a long hedge and ditch divided the upland, on +which the "battles" of Warwick and Salisbury were stationed, from the +fields in which the French were arrayed. At its upper end, remote from +the Miausson, where Salisbury's command lay, the hedge was broken by a +gap through which a farmer's track connected the fields on each side of +it. The first fighting began when the English sent a small force of +horsemen through the gap to engage with the French cavalry beyond. +While Audrehem, on the French right, suspended his attack to watch the +result, Clermont made his way straight for the gap, hoping to take +Salisbury's division, on the upper or right-hand station, in flank. +Before he reached the gap, however, he found the hedge and the +approaches to the cart-road held in force by the English archers. +Meanwhile the mail-clad men and horses of Audrehem's cavalry had +approached dangerously near the left of the English line, where Warwick +was stationed. Their complete armour made riders and steeds alike +impervious to the English arrows, until the prince, seeing from his +hill how things were proceeding, ordered some archers to station +themselves on the marshy ground near the Miausson, in advance of the +left flank of the English army. From this position they shot at the +unprotected parts of the French horses, and drove the little band of +cavalry from the field. By that time Clermon's attack on the gap had +been defeated, and so both sections of the first French division +retired. + +Then came the stronger "battle" of the eldest son of the French king. +The fight grew more fierce, and for a long time the issue remained +doubtful. The English archers exhausted their arrows to little purpose, +and the dismounted French men-at-arms, offering a less sure mark than +the horsemen, forced their way to the English ranks and fought a +desperate hand-to-hand conflict with them. At last the Duke of +Normandy's followers were driven back. Thereupon a panic seized the +division commanded by the Duke of Orleans, which fled from the field +without measuring swords with the enemy. The victors themselves were in +a desperate plight. Many were wounded, and all were weary, especially +the men-at-arms encased in heavy plate mail. The flight of Orleans gave +them a short respite: but they soon had to face the assault of the rear +battle of the enemy, gallantly led by the king. "No battle," we are +told, "ever lasted so long. In former fights men knew, by the time that +the fourth or the sixth arrow had been discharged, on which side victory +was to be. But here a single archer shot with coolness a hundred arrows, +and still neither side gave way."[1] At last the bowmen had only the +arrows they snatched from the bodies of the dead and dying, and when +these were exhausted, they were reduced to throwing stones at their +foes, or to struggle in the _melee_, with sword and buckler, side by +side with the men-at-arms. But the Black Prince from his hill had +watched the course of the encounter, and at the right moment, when his +friends were almost worn out, marched down, and made the fight more +even. Before joining himself in the engagement, Edward had ordered the +Captal de Buch, the best of his Gascons, to lead a little band, under +cover of the hill, round the French position and attack the enemy in the +rear. At first the Anglo-Gascon army was discouraged, thinking that the +captal had fled, but they still fought on. Suddenly the captal and his +men assaulted the French rear. This settled the hard fought day. +Surrounded on every side, the French perished in their ranks or +surrendered in despair. King John was taken prisoner, fighting +desperately to the last, and with him was captured his youngest son +Philip, the future Duke of Burgundy, a boy of twelve, whose epithet of +"the Bold" was earned by his precocious valour in the struggle. Before +nightfall the English host had sole possession of the field, and the +best fought, best directed, and most important of the battles of the war +ended in the complete triumph of the invaders. + + [1] _Eulogium Hist._, iii., 225. + +As after Crecy, the victors were too weak to continue the campaign. +Next day they began their slow march back to their base. On October 2 +Edward reached Libourne, and a few days later conducted the captive +king into the Gascon capital. They were soon followed by the Cardinal +Talleyrand on whose insistence the prince agreed to resume +negotiations. On March 23, 1357, a truce to last until 1359 was +arranged at Bordeaux. On May 24 the prince led the vanquished king +through the streets of London. + +The English, weary of the burden of war, strove to use their advantages +to procure a stable peace. Though Charles of Blois was released, he was +muzzled for the future, and when John joined his ally David Bruce in +the Tower, it was the obvious game of Edward to exact terms from his +prisoners. David's spirit was broken, and he was glad to accept a +treaty sealed in October, 1357, at Berwick, by which he was released +for a ransom of 100,000 marks, to be paid by ten yearly instalments. +The task was harder for a poor country like Scotland than the +redemption of Richard I. had been for England. On hostages being given, +David was released, and Edward, without relinquishing his own +pretensions to be King of Scots, took no steps to enforce his claim. +The event showed that Edward knew his man. The instalments of ransom +could not be regularly paid, and David never became free from his +obligations. Nothing save the tenacity of the Scottish nobles prevented +him from accepting Edward's proposals to write off the arrears of his +ransom in return for his accepting either the English king himself or +his son, Lionel of Antwerp, as heir of Scotland. This attitude brought +David into conflict with his natural heir, Robert, the Steward of +Scotland, the son of his sister Margaret. The tension between uncle and +nephew forced the Scots king to remain on friendly terms with Edward. +For the rest of the reign, Scottish history was occupied by +aristocratic feuds, by financial expedients for raising the king's +ransom, by the gradual development of the practice of entrusting the +powers of parliament to those committees of the estates subsequently +famous as the lords of the articles, by David's matrimonial troubles +after Joan's death, and by his unpopular visits to the court of his +neighbour. Warfare between the realms there was none, save for the +chronic border feuds. When David died in 1371, the Steward of Scotland +land mounted the throne as Robert II. This first of the Stewart kings +went back to the policy of the French alliance, but was too weak to +inflict serious mischief on England. + +In January, 1358, preliminaries of peace were also arranged with the +captive King of France, and sent to Paris and Avignon for ratification. +Innocent VI. was overjoyed at his success, and Frenchmen were willing +to make any sacrifices to bring back their monarch, for immediately +after Poitiers a storm of disorder burst over France. The states +general met a few weeks after the battle, and the regent, Charles of +Normandy, was helpless in their hands. This was the time of the power +of Stephen Marcel, provost of the merchants of Paris, and of Robert +Lecoq, Bishop of Laon. But the movement in Paris was neither in the +direction of parliamentary government nor of democracy, and few men +have less right to be regarded as popular heroes than Marcel and Lecoq. +The estates were manipulated in the interests of aristocratic intrigue, +and, behind the ostensible leaders, was the sinister influence of +Charles of Navarre, who availed himself of the desolation of France to +play his own game. For a time he was the darling of the Paris mob. +Innocent VI. was deceived by his protestations of zeal for peace. As +grandson of Louis X. he aspired to the French throne, and was anxious +to prevent John's return. Edward had no good-will for a possible rival, +but it was his interest to keep up the anarchy, and he had no scruple +in backing up Charles. There was talk of Edward becoming King of France +and holding the maritime provinces, while Charles as his vassal should +be lord of Paris and the interior districts. English mercenaries, who +had lost their occupation with the truce, enlisted themselves in the +service of Navarre. Robert Knowles, James Pipe, and other ancient +captains of Edward fought for their own hand in Normandy, and built up +colossal fortunes out of the spoils of the country. Some of these +hirelings appeared in Paris, where the citizens welcomed allies of the +Navarrese, even when they were foreign adventurers. However, Charles +went so far that a strong reaction deprived him of all power. He was +able to prevent the ratification of the preliminaries of 1358. But in +that year the death of Marcel was followed by the return of the regent +to Paris, the expulsion of the foreign mercenaries, the collapse of the +estates, and the restoration of the capital to the national cause. The +short-lived horrors wreaked by the revolted peasantry were followed by +the more enduring atrocities of the nobles who suppressed them. +Military adventurers pillaged France from end to end, but the worst +troubles ended when Charles of Navarre lost his pre-eminence.[1] + + [1] An admirable account of the state of France between 1356 + and 1358 is in Denifie, _La Desolation des Eglises en_ France + _pendant _la _Guerre de Cent Ans, ii.,_ 134-316 (1899). + +When the truce of Bordeaux was on the verge of expiration, the French +king negotiated a second treaty by which he bought off the threatened +renewal of war. This was the treaty of London, March 24, 1359, by which +John yielded up to Edward in full sovereignty the ancient empire of +Henry II. Normandy, the suzerainty of Brittany, Anjou, and Maine, +Aquitaine within its ancient limits, Calais and Ponthieu with the +surrounding districts, were the territorial concessions in return for +which Edward renounced his claim to the French throne. The vast ransom +of 4,000,000 golden crowns was to be paid for John's redemption; the +chief princes of the blood were to be hostages for him, and in case of +failure to observe the terms of the treaty he was to return to his +captivity. The only provision in any sense favourable to France was +that by which Edward promised to aid John against the King of Navarre. + +The treaty of London excited the liveliest anger in France. "We had +rather," declared the assembled estates, "endure the great mischief that +has afflicted us so long, than suffer the noble realm of France thus to +be diminished and defrauded."[1] Spurred up by these patriotic +manifestations, the regent rejected the treaty, and prepared as best he +could for the storm of Edward's wrath which soon burst upon his country. +Anxious to unite forces against the national enemy, he made peace with +Charles of Navarre, who, abandoned by Edward, was delighted to be +restored to his estates. + + [1] Froissart, v., 180, ed. Luce. + +Edward concentrated all his efforts on a new invasion of France. In +November, 1359, he marched out of Calais with all his forces. His four +sons attended him, and there was a great muster of earls and +experienced warriors. Among the less known members of the host was the +young Londoner, Geoffrey Chaucer, a page in Lionel of Antwerp's +household. In three columns, each following a separate route, the +English made their way from Calais towards the south-east. The French +avoided a pitched battle, but hung on the skirts of the army and slew, +or captured, stragglers and foragers. Chaucer was among those thus +taken prisoner. Edward's ambition was to take Reims, and have himself +crowned there as King of France. On December 4 he arrived at the gates +of the city, and besieged it for six weeks. Then on January 11, 1360, +the King despaired of success, abandoned the siege, and marched +southwards through Champagne towards Burgundy. Despite the check at +Reims, he was still so formidable that in March Duke Philip of Burgundy +concluded with him the shameful treaty of Guillon, by which he +purchased exemption from invasion by an enormous ransom and a promise +of neutrality. + +Edward next turned towards Paris. The news that the French had effected +a successful descent on Winchelsea and behaved with extreme brutality to +the inhabitants, infuriated the English troopers, who perpetrated a +hundredfold worse deeds in the suburbs of the French capital. It seemed +as if the war was about to end with the siege and capture of Paris. The +regent, unable to meet the English in the field, fell back in despair on +negotiation. Innocent VI. again offered his good services. John sent +from his English prison full powers to his son to make what terms he +would, and on April 3, which was Good Friday, ambassadors from each +power met under papal intervention at Longjumeau; but Edward still +insisted on the terms of the treaty of London, for which the French were +not yet prepared. On April 7 Edward began the siege of Paris by an +attack on the southern suburbs, but was so little successful that he +withdrew five days later. A terrible tempest destroyed his provision +train and devastated his army. These disasters made Edward anxious for +peace, and the negotiations, after two interruptions, were successfully +renewed at Chartres, and facilitated by the signature of a truce for a +year. The work of a definitive treaty was pushed forward, and on May 8, +preliminaries of peace were signed between the prince of Wales and +Charles of France at the neighbouring hamlet of Bretigni, whither the +peacemakers had transferred their sittings. There were still formalities +to accomplish which took up many months. King John was escorted in July +by the Prince of Wales to Calais, and in October he was joined by Edward +III., who had returned to England about the time that the negotiations +at Bretigni were over. The peace took its final form at Calais in +October 24, 1360. Next day John was released, and ratified the +convention as a free man on French soil. This permanent treaty is more +properly styled the treaty of Calais than the treaty of Bretigni; but +the alterations between the two were only significant in one particular +respect. At Calais the English agreed to omit a clause inserted at +Bretigni by which Edward renounced his claims to the French throne, and +John his claims over the allegiance of the inhabitants of the ceded +districts. As the Calais treaty of October alone had the force of law, +it was a real triumph of French diplomacy to have suppressed so vital a +feature in the definitive document.[1] Even with this alleviation the +terms were sufficiently humiliating to France. Edward and his heirs were +to receive in perpetuity, "and in the manner in which the kings of +France had held them," an ample territory both in southern and northern +France. All Aquitaine was henceforth to be English, including Poitou, +Saintonge, Perigord, Angoumois, Limousin, Quercy, Rouergue, Agenais, and +Bigorre. The greatest feudatories of these districts, the friendly Count +of Foix as well as the hostile Count of Armagnac, and the Breton +pretender to the viscounty of Limoges, were to do homage to Edward for +all their lands within these bounds. Nor was this all. The county of +Ponthieu, including Montreuil-sur-mer, was restored to its English +lords, and added to the pale of Calais, which was to include the whole +county of Guines, made up two considerable northern dominions for +Edward. With these cessions were included all adjacent islands, and all +islands held by the English king at that time, so that the Channel +islands were by implication recognised as English. + + [1] On the importance of this, see the paper of MM. + Petit-Dutaillis and P. Collier, _La Diplomatie francaise et le + Traite de Bretigny_ in _Le Moyen Age_, 2e serie, tome i. + (1897), pp. 1-35. + +The ransom of John was fixed at 3,000,000 gold crowns, that is ~500,000 +sterling. The vastness of this sum can be realised by remembering that +the ordinary revenue of the English crown in time of peace did not much +exceed L60,000, while the addition to that of a sum of L150,000 +involved an effort which only a popular war could dispose Englishmen to +make. Of this ransom 600,000 crowns were to be paid at once, and the +rest in annual instalments of 400,000 crowns until the whole payment +was effected. During this period the prisoners from Poitiers, several +of the king's near relatives, a long list of the noblest names in +France, and citizens of some of its wealthiest cities, were to remain +as hostages in Edward's hands. As to the Breton succession, Edward and +John engaged to do their best to effect a peaceful settlement. If they +failed in attaining this, the rival claimants were to fight it out +among themselves, England and France remaining neutral. Whichever of +the two became duke was to do homage to the King of France, and John of +Montfort was, in any case, to be restored to his county of Montfort. A +similar care for Edward's friends was shown in the article which +preserved for Philip of Navarre his hereditary domains in Normandy. +Forfeitures and outlawries were to be pardoned, and the rights of +private persons to be respected. Nevertheless Calais was to remain at +Edward's entire disposal, and the burgesses, dispossessed by him, were +not to be reinstated. The French renounced their alliance with the +Scots, and the English theirs with the Flemings. Time was allowed to +carry out these complicated stipulations, and, by way of compensating +Edward for the significant omission which has been mentioned, elaborate +provisions were made for the mutual execution at a later date of +charters of renunciation, by which Edward abandoned his claim to the +French throne and John the over-lordship of the districts yielded to +Edward. These were to be exchanged at Bruges about a year later. + +England rejoiced at the conclusion of so brilliant a peace, and laid no +stress on the subtle change in the conditions which made the treaty far +less definitive in reality than in appearance. In France the faithful +flocked to the churches to give thanks for deliverance from the long +anarchy. The perfect courtesy and good feeling which the two kings had +shown to each other gilded the concluding ceremonies with a ray of +chivalry. John was released almost at once, and allowed to retain with +him in France some of the hostages, including his valiant son Philip, +the companion of his captivity. John made Edward's peace with Louis of +Flanders, and Edward persuaded John to pardon Charles and Philip of +Navarre. At last the two weary nations looked forward to a long period +of repose. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR FROM THE TREATY OF CALAIS TO THE TRUCE OF +BRUGES. + + +It was an easier matter to conclude the treaty of Calais than to carry +it out. Troubles followed the release of the French king and the +expiration of the year during which the two parties were to yield up +the ceded territory and effect the renunciations of their respective +claims. John did his best to keep faith in both these matters. He +ordered his vassals to submit themselves to their new lord, and +appointed commissioners to hand over the lost provinces to the agents +of the English king. In July, 1361, Sir John Chandos, Edward's +lieutenant in France, received the special mission of taking possession +of the new acquisitions in the name of his master. Chandos' reputation +as a soldier made him acceptable to the French, and being recognised by +the treaty as lord of Saint-Sauveur in the Cotentin, he was interested +in maintaining good relations between the two realms. He began his work +by taking possession of Poitiers and Poitou, but found that many of the +descendants of the greedy lords, who, more than a hundred years before, +had played off Henry III against St. Louis, abandoned the rule of John +with undisguised reluctance. It was worse with the towns, where +national sentiment was stronger. La Rochelle held out for months, and, +when its notables at last submitted, they declared: "We will accept the +English with our lips but never with our hearts". Much patriotic +feeling was manifested in Quercy. The consuls of Cahors made their +submission, weeping and groaning. "Alas!" they declared, "how odious it +is to lose our natural lord, and to pass over to a master we know not. +But it is not we who abandon the King of France. It is he who, against +our wishes, hands us over, like orphans, to the hands of the stranger." +It was not until two years after the signing of the treaty that Edward +entered into possession of the bulk of the lands granted to him. Even +then there were districts in Poitou, notably Belleville, which never +became English at all. One of the last districts to yield was Rouergue, +whose count, John of Armagnac, only made his submission under the +compulsion of irresistible necessity. + +It was even more difficult to get the English out of the lands which +the treaty had assigned to the French. These districts were largely +held by companies of mercenaries, little under Edward's control and +indisposed to yield up the conquests won by their own hands because +their nominal lord had thought fit to make a treaty with the French +king. Despite the orders of Edward, the English garrisons in the north +and centre of France flatly refused to surrender their strongholds. In +Maine, Hugh Calveley took Bertrand du Guesclin prisoner when he sought +to receive the submission of his castles, and only released him on +payment of a heavy ransom. In Normandy, Du Guesclin had to buy off +James Pipe, who dominated all the central district from the fortified +abbey of Cormeilles, and to crush John Jowel in a pitched battle near +Lisieux. Even when the castles were surrendered, the garrisons joined +with each other to establish societies of warriors that now inflicted +terrible woes on France. The exploits of these free companies hardly +belong to English history, though many of their leaders and a large +proportion of the rank and file were Englishmen. Cruel, fierce, and +uncouth, they still preserved in all military dealings the strict +discipline which had taught the English armies the way to victory. The +combination of the order of a settled host with the rapacity of a gang +of freebooters made them as irresistible as they were destructive. +Though Edward formally repudiated them, it was more than suspected that +they were secretly playing his game. + +Before long, this guerilla warfare became consolidated into military +operations on a large scale. Charles of Navarre once more profited by +the disorder of France to bring himself to the front. In 1361 John had +availed himself of the death of Philip of Rouvres to treat the duchy of +Burgundy as a lapsed fief, and conferred it on his youngest son, Philip +the Bold. Charles then claimed to be the heir of Burgundy, and while he +personally directed the forces of disorder in the south, his agents +united with the English _condottieri_ in Normandy. John Jowel still +held tight to his Norman conquests, and was, by Edward's direction, +fighting openly for Charles of Navarre. The Captal de Buch, the hero of +Poitiers, hurried from Gascony to protect the Navarrese lands from the +invasion of Bertrand du Guesclin. On May 16, 1364, the little armies of +the Captal and the Breton partisan met at Cocherel on the Eure, where +Du Guesclin cleverly won the first important victory gained by the +French in the open field during the whole course of the war. The Captal +was taken prisoner, and the establishment of Du Guesclin in some of +Charles of Navarre's Norman fiefs deprived the intriguer of his +opportunities to do mischief in the north. Charles of Navarre's career +was not yet over; but henceforth his chief field was his southern +kingdom. + +The victorious Du Guesclin turned his attention to his native Brittany, +where the war of Blois and Montfort still went on, for Joan of +Penthievre insisted so strongly upon her rights that the efforts of +Edward and John to end the contest had been without result. In 1362 +John de Montfort was at last entrusted with the government of Brittany, +and Du Guesclin quitted the service of France for that of Charles of +Blois, that the treaty of 1360 might remain unbroken. But as in the +early wars, the army of Blois was mainly French, and the host of +Montfort was commanded by the Englishman, John Chandos, and largely +consisted of English men-at-arms and archers. Calveley, Knowles, and +the Breton Oliver de Clisson were among the captains of Duke John's +forces. + +The decisive engagement took place on September 29, 1364, on the +plateau, north of Auray, which is still marked by the church of St. +Michael, erected as a thank-offering by the victor. It was another +Poitiers on a small scale. The Anglo-Breton army held a good defensive +position, facing northwards, with its back on the town of Auray. The +troops of Charles of Blois and Du Guesclin advanced to attack them with +more ardour than discipline or skill. Both sides fought on foot. The +French knights had at last learnt to meet the storm of English arrows +by strengthening their armour and by protecting themselves by large +shields. Thus, as at Poitiers, they had little difficulty in making +their way up to the enemy's ranks. But their order was confused, and +they thought of nothing but the fierce delights of the _melee_. The +Montfort party showed more intelligence, and Chandos, like the captal +at Poitiers, fell suddenly upon the flank of one of the enemy's +divisions. This settled the fight; Charles of Blois was slain, Du +Guesclin taken prisoner, and their army utterly scattered. Auray ended +the war of the Breton succession. Even Joan of Penthievre was at last +willing to treat. In 1365 the treaty of Guerande was signed, by which. +Montfort was recognised as John IV. of Brittany, and did homage to the +French crown. Joan was consoled by remaining in possession of the +county of Penthievre and the viscounty of Limoges. Practically her +defeat was an English victory, and Montfort remained in his duchy so +long only as English influence prevailed. A second step towards the +pacification of the north was made when the troubles in Brittany were +ended within a few months of the destruction of the power of Charles +the Bad in Normandy. + +The free companies lost their chief hunting-grounds; and a further +relief came when some of them, like the White Company, found a better +market for their swords in Italy. With all their faults, the companies +opened out a career to talent such as had seldom been found before. John +Hawkwood, the leader of the White Company, was an Essex man of the +smaller landed class. He had played but a subordinate figure beside +Knowles, Calveley, Pipe, and Jowel; but in Italy he won for himself the +name of the greatest strategist of his age. Thus, though at the cost of +murder and pillage, the English made themselves talked about all over +the western world. "In my youth," wrote Petrarch, "the Britons, whom we +call Angles or English, had the reputation of being the most timid of +the barbarians. Now they are the most warlike of peoples. They have +overturned the ancient military glory of the French by a series of +victories so numerous and unexpected that those, who were not long since +inferior to the wretched Scots, have so crushed by fire and sword the +whole realm that, on a recent journey, I could hardly persuade myself +that it was the France that I had seen in former years."[1] + + [1] _Epistolae Familiares_, iii., Ep. 14, p. 162, ed. + Fracassetti. + +It was to little purpose that King John laboured to redeem his plighted +word and make France what it had been before the war. Though in +November, 1361, neither he nor Edward sent commissioners to Bruges, +where, according to the treaty of Calais, the charters of renunciation +were to be exchanged, John offered in 1362 to carry out his promise. +Edward, however, for reasons of his own, made no response to his +advances. The result was that the renunciations were never made, and so +the essential condition of the original settlement remained +unfulfilled. The matter passed almost unnoticed at the time as a mere +formality, but in later years Edward's lack of faith brought its own +punishment in giving the French king a plausible excuse for still +claiming suzerainty over the ceded provinces. Perhaps Edward still +cherished the ambition of resuscitating his pretensions to the French +crown. He found it as hard to give up a claim as ever his grandfather +had done. + +John's good faith was conspicuously evinced by the efforts he made to +raise the instalments of his ransom. His payments were in arrears: some +of the hostages left in free custody by Edward's generosity broke their +parole and escaped; and among them was his own son, Louis, Duke of +Anjou. The father felt it his duty to step into the place thus left +vacant. In 1363 he returned to his English prison, where he died in +1364, surrounded with every courtesy and attention that Edward could +lavish upon him. During the last months of his life, England received +visits from two other kings, David of Scotland and the Lusignan lord of +Cyprus, who still called himself King of Jerusalem, and was wandering +through the courts of Europe to stir up interest in the projected +crusade. + +Charles of Normandy then became Charles V. He was no knight-errant like +his father, and his diplomatic gifts, tact, and patience made him much +better fitted than John for outwitting his English enemies and for +restoring order to France. Slowly but surely he grappled with the +companies, and at last an opening was found for their skill in the +civil war which broke out in Castile. Peter the Cruel, since 1350 King +of Castile, had made himself odious to many of his subjects. At last +his bastard brother, Henry of Trastamara, rose in revolt against him. +Peter, however, was capable and energetic, and not without support from +certain sections of the Castilians. Moreover, he was friendly with +Charles of Navarre, and allied with Edward III. On the other hand Henry +found powerful backing from the King of Aragon, and made an appeal to +the King of France. This gave Charles V. the chance he wanted. He hated +Peter, who was reputed to have murdered his own wife, Blanche of +Bourbon sister of the Queen of France, and in 1365 he agreed to give +Henry assistance. Du Guesclin welded the scattered companies into an +army and led them against the Spanish king. The pope fell in with the +scheme as an indirect way of realising his crusading ambition. When +Henry had become King of Castile, the companies would go on to attack +the Moors of Granada. English and French mercenaries flocked gladly +together under Du Guesclin's banner. Edward in vain ordered his +subjects not to take part in an invasion of the lands of his friend and +cousin, Peter of Castile. Though Chandos declined at the last moment to +follow Du Guesclin into the peninsula, Sir Hugh Calveley would not +desist from the quest of fresh adventure, even at the orders of his +lord. Professional and knightly feeling bound Calveley to Du Guesclin +more closely than their difference of nationality separated them, so +that Calveley took his part in the Castilian campaign with perfect +loyally to his ancient enemy. In December, 1365, Du Guesclin and his +followers made their way through Roussillon and Aragon into Castile. +The spring of 1366 saw Peter a fugitive in Aquitaine, and Henry of +Trastamara crowned Henry II. of Castile. Most of the companies then +went home, though Du Guesclin and Calveley remained to support the new +king's throne. + +The deposed tyrant went to Bordeaux, where since 1363 the Black Prince +had been resident as Prince of Aquitaine; for in 1362 Edward had erected +his new possessions into a principality and conferred it on his eldest +son, in the hope of conciliating the Gascons by some pretence of +restoring their independence. At Bordeaux Peter persuaded the prince to +restore him to his throne by force. Edward also agreed to support Peter, +and sent his third son, John of Gaunt, to march through Brittany and +Poitou with a powerful English reinforcement to his brother's resources, +while the lord of Aquitaine assembled the whole, strength of his new +principality for the expedition. At the bidding of his lord, Calveley +cheerfully abandoned Du Guesclin, and thenceforth fought as courageously +on the one side as he had previously done on the other. Charles of +Navarre professed great desire to help forward the invaders, and his +offers of friendship opened up to the prince the easiest way into Spain +by way of the pass of Roncesvalles from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to +Pamplona, the capital of Navarre. In February, 1367, the prince's army +made its way in frost and snow through the valleys famous in romance. +From Pamplona two roads diverged to Burgos, the ancient Castilian +capital. The easier way ran south-westwards through Navarrese territory +to the Ebro at Logrono, where beyond the river lay the Castilian +frontier. The more difficult route went westwards through rugged +mountains and high valleys by way of Salvatierra and Vitoria to a +passage over the upper Ebro at Miranda. The Black Prince chose the +latter route, and reached Vitoria in safely. Beyond the town King +Henry's army held a position so strong that Edward found it impossible +to dislodge him. + +The winter weather still held the upland valleys in its grip when March +was far advanced. Men and horses suffered terribly from cold and +hunger, and the prince, seeing that he could not long maintain his +position, boldly resolved to transfer himself to the southern route. A +flank march over snow-clad sierras brought him to the vale of the Ebro, +and, crossing the stream at Logrono, he took up his position a few +miles south-west of that town, near the Castilian village of Navarrete. +On the prince's change of front King Henry also moved southward, +crossing the Ebro a few miles above Logrono, and then advanced to +Najera, a village about six miles west of Navarrete, where he once more +blocked the English path. The prince, however, had the advantage of +position and could afford to wait until the Castilians attacked. On +April 3 Henry advanced over the little river Najarilla against the +enemy. The Spanish host fought after a different fashion from that +practised by both sides in the French wars. Only Du Guesclin and the +small remnant of the companies which still abode in Spain dismounted. +The mass of the Castilians remained on their horses. Their cavalry was +of two sorts: besides a large number of men-at-arms bestriding armoured +steeds, there were swarms of light horsemen, unencumbered by heavy +armour and called _genitours_, from being mounted on the fleet Spanish +steeds called jennets. The desperate valour of Du Guesclin and his +followers could not prevent utter disaster. Henry fled in panic from +the scene; Du Guesclin was again a prisoner, and the Najarilla was +reddened by the blood of the thousands of fugitive Spaniards, for, +caught as in a trap at the narrow bridge which offered the _sole_ means +of retreat, they were massacred without difficulty by the prince's +troops. The victors marched on to Burgos, and, Don Henry having fled to +France, Peter was restored with little further trouble to the Castilian +throne. + +The Black Prince remained in Castile all through the summer, waiting +for the rewards which Don Peter had promised him. His army melted away +through fever and dysentery, and the prince himself contracted the +beginnings of a mortal disorder. Thus the crowning victory of his +career was the last of his triumphs. Like many other leaders of +chivalry, he had not understood the limitations of his resources, and +had dissipated on this bootless Spanish campaign means scarcely +sufficient to grapple with the spirit of disaffection already +undermining his power in Aquitaine. With shattered health and the mere +skeleton of his gallant army, he made his way back over the Pyrenees. +Henceforth misfortune dogged every step of his career. + +Since 1363 the constant residence of the Black Prince and his wife, Joan +of Kent, in Gascony, had been broken only by his Castilian expedition. +It was a wise policy to send the prince to hold a permanent court in +Aquitaine, such as the land had never seen since Richard Coeur de Lion. +All that affability, magnificence, and chivalry could do to make his +domination attractive might be confidently anticipated from so brilliant +and high-minded a knight as the prince of Aquitaine. The court of +Bordeaux was as brilliant as the court of Windsor. "Never," boasted the +Chandos Herald,[1] "was such good entertainment as his; for every day at +his table he had more than four-score knights and four times as many +squires. There was found all nobleness, merriment, freedom, and honour. +His subjects loved him, for he did them much good." The sulky magnates +of the south-west, such as John of Armagnac and Gaston Phoebus of Foix, +found their bitterness tempered by the prince's courtesy, while the +boastful knights of Gascony looked forward to a career of honourable +service under the descendant of their ancient dukes. Feastings and +tournaments were not enough to win all his subjects' hearts; and the +Black Prince strove with some energy to show that he was a ruler of men +as well as the centre of a court. It is to his credit that he cleared +his inheritance from the free companies, so that Poitou and Limousin +enjoyed far more prosperity and tranquillity than in the days of French +ascendency. Such new taxation as Gascon custom allowed was only levied +after grants from the three estates. Great pains were taken to improve +the administration, the judicial system, and the coinage. Edward saw +that his best policy was to rely upon the people of Gascony, and to look +with suspicion on the great lords. But he did not understand how limited +was the authority which tradition gave to the dukes of Aquitaine, and he +was too stiff, too pedantic, too insular, to get on really cordial terms +with his subjects. He never, like Gaston Phoebus or Richard Coeur de +Lion, threw himself into the local life, language, and traditions of the +country. + + [1] _Le Prince Noir, poeme du heraut d'Armes Chandos_, pp. + 107-108, ed. F. Michel. + +The Black Prince's greatest successes were with the towns, and +especially with those which had been continuously subject to English +rule. The citizens of Bordeaux, who had feared lest Edward's claim to +the French crown should involve them in more complete subjection, were +appeased by promises that they should in any case remain subject to the +English monarchy. Their liberties were increased and their wine trade +was fostered, even to the loss of English merchants. The other towns +were equally contented. Edward relied upon them as a counterpoise to +the feudal lords, and their liberties exempted them from the +extraordinary taxes by which he strove to restore the equilibrium of +his finances. The half-independent magnates were soon convinced that +their chivalrous lord was no friend of aristocratic privilege. Edward, +even when using their services in war, carefully excluded them from the +administration. They saw with disgust the chief offices monopolised by +Englishmen. An English bishop, John Harewell of Bath, was Edward's +chancellor and confidential adviser. An English knight, Thomas Felton, +was seneschal of Aquitaine and head of the administration. The +constableship was assigned to Chandos. The seneschalships of the +several provinces were mainly in English hands. With English notions of +the rights of the supreme power, the prince paid little attention to +the franchises of either lord or prelate. He mortally offended John of +Armagnac by requiring a direct oath of fealty from the Bishop of Rodez, +who held all his lands of Armagnac as Count of Rouergue. Clerks of +lesser degree were outraged by the prince's attempts to hinder students +from attending the university of Toulouse. + +The Spanish expedition immensely increased the Black Prince's +difficulties. He exhausted his finances to equip his army, and both on +their coming and going his soldiers cruelly pillaged the country. +Edward now dismissed most of his troops and urged them to betake +themselves to France. In January, 1368, he obtained from the estates of +Aquitaine a new hearth tax of ten _sous_ a hearth for five years. The +tax was freely voted and collected from the great majority of the +payers without trouble. The towns were mainly exempt from it by reason +of their liberties; and the lesser lords were as yet not averse from +English rule. But the greater feudatories saw in the new hearth-tax a +pretext for revolt. They had no special zeal for the French monarchy, +but the house of Valois was weak and far removed from their +territories. Their great concern was the preservation of their +independence, which seemed more threatened by a resident prince than by +a distant overlord at Paris. Even before the imposition of the +hearth-tax, the Count of Armagnac entered into a secret treaty with +Charles V., who promised to increase his territories and respect his +franchises, if he would return to the French allegiance. The lord of +Albret married a sister of the French queen and followed Armagnac's +lead. A little later the Counts of Perigord and Comminges and other +lords associated themselves with this policy. Thus the rule of the +Black Prince in Aquitaine, acquiesced in by the mass of the people, was +threatened by a feudal revolt. Armagnac appealed to the parliament of +Paris against the hearth-tax. Charles V. accepted the appeal on the +ground of the non-exchange of the renunciations which should have +followed the treaty of Calais. Cited before the parliament in January, +1369, the Black Prince replied that he would go to Paris with helmet on +head and with sixty thousand men at his back. His father once more +assumed the title of King of France, and war broke out again. + +The relative positions of France and England were different from what +they had been nine years before. Edward III. was sinking into an +unhonoured old age, and the Prince of Aquitaine suffered from dropsy, +and was incapable of taking the field. Of their former comrades some, +like Walter Manny, were dead, and others too old for much more +fighting. On the other side was Charles V., who had tamed Navarre and +the feudal lords, had cleared the realm of the companies, had put down +faction and disorder, and had made himself the head of a strong +national party, resolved to effect the expulsion of the foreigner. His +chief military counsellors were Du Guesclin, and Du Guesclin's old +adversary in the Breton wars, Oliver de Clisson, now the zealous +servant of the king. A wonderful outburst of French patriotism +facilitated the reconquest of the lands that had passed to English rule +nine years before. Even the tradition of military superiority availed +little against commanders who were learning by their defeats how to +meet their once invincible enemies. + +There was a like modification in the foreign alliances of the two +kingdoms. Dynastic changes in the Netherlands had robbed Edward of +supporters who, though costly and ineffective, had been imposing in +outward appearance. Even after the dissolution of the alliances of the +early years of the war, the temporising policy of Louis de Male at +least neutralised the influence of Flanders. During the peace both +Edward and Charles did their best to win the goodwill of the Flemish +count. Louis' relation to the two rivals was the more important since +his only child was a daughter named Margaret. In 1356, this lady, to +Edward's great disgust, was promised in marriage to Philip de Rouvre, +Duke and Count of Burgundy, and Count of Artois. The death of Philip in +1361 saved Edward from the danger of a great state with one arm in the +Burgundies and the other in Flanders and Artois; and the irritation of +Louis de Male at Charles V.'s grant of the Burgundian duchy to his +youngest son, Philip the Bold, gave the English king a new chance of +winning his favour. At last, in 1364, Edward concluded a treaty with +Flanders according to his dearest wishes. Edmund of Langley, Earl of +Cambridge, his youngest son, was betrothed to the widowed Margaret, +with Ponthieu, Guines, and Calais as their appanage. Great as were +Edward's sacrifices, they were worth making if a permanent union could +be established between England and Flanders, equally threatening to +France and to the lords of the Netherlands. Charles persuaded Urban V. +to refuse the necessary dispensations for the marriage. Edward and +Louis, irritated at the success of this countermove, waited patiently +and renewed their alliance. + +No sooner was his understanding with Armagnac completed than Charles +strove to secure the support of northern as well as of southern +feudalism against Edward. He offered his brother, Philip of Burgundy, +to Margaret, along with the restoration of the districts of French +Flanders, which he still held. In June, 1369, the marriage took place. +Edmund of Cambridge lost his last chance of the great heiress, and +Charles V. bought off the enmity of the Count of Flanders at the price +of that union of Burgundy and Flanders which, in the next century, was +to make the descendants of Philip and Margaret the most formidable +opponents of the French monarchy. For the moment, however, Charles +gained little. Flemish ships, indeed, fought against the English at +sea, notably in Bourgneuf Bay in 1371, but next year Louis made peace +with them. Despite his daughter's marriage, the Count of Flanders still +showed that his sympathies were with England. The other princes of the +Netherlands were much more decidedly on the French side than the Count +of Flanders. Margaret of Hainault, Queen Philippa's sister, had, after +the death of her husband the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, in 1347 fought +with her son William for the possession of her three counties of +Hainault, Holland, and Zealand, to which Philippa also had pretensions, +naturally upheld by her husband. William obtained such advantages over +his mother that Margaret was obliged to invoke the assistance of her +brother-in-law. Eager to regain his influence in the Netherlands, +Edward willingly agreed to be arbiter between Margaret and her son, and +at his suggestion the disputed lands were divided between them. William +was married to Maud of Lancaster, Duke Henry's elder daughter, and thus +secured to the English alliance. On Margaret's death William inherited +all the three counties: but Maud died, and William became insane, +whereupon his brother and heir invoked the support of the Emperor +Charles IV., and was duly established in his fiefs. The claims of +Philippa were ignored, and the Lancaster marriage with the lord of +Holland, like the projected union of Edmund with the heiress of +Flanders, failed to fulfil Edward's hopes. + +Meanwhile Edward had to face the constant hostility of the emperor. +Wenceslaus of Luxemburg, brother of Charles IV., had married the +daughter and heiress of John III of Brabant, with the result of solidly +establishing the house of Luxemburg in the strongest of the duchies of +the Low Countries. With the Luxemburger as with the Bavarian, Edward's +relations were unfriendly. Two only of the Low German lords, the dukes +of Gelderland and Juelich, were willing to take his pay. Early in the +war they were assailed by the Luxemburgers, and the contest occupied +all their energies. Thus Edward re-entered the struggle against France +with no help save that of his own subjects. Urban V. died at Avignon in +1370, and his successor, Gregory XI., was as little friendly to English +claims in France as his predecessors had been. Pope, emperor, and the +Netherlandish princes, were all either French or neutral. And in 1369 +Peter of Castile lost his throne, and soon afterwards perished at his +brother's hands. Henry of Trastamara, henceforth King of Castile, +became the firm ally of the French, who had already the support of +Aragon. Even Charles the Bad thought it prudent to declare for France. + +At each stage of the war the French took the initiative. The appeal of +the southern nobles was the beginning of a national movement which, +before March, 1369, was supported by more than 900 towns, castles, and +fortified places in Edward's allegiance. In April the French invaded +Ponthieu and were welcomed as deliverers at Abbeville and the other +towns of the county. John of Gaunt led an army during the summer from +Calais southwards. He marched through Ponthieu, crossed the Somme at +Blanchetaque, and ravaged the country up to the Seine. Then he retired +exhausted, having gained no real advantage by this mere foray. Charles +announced that, as Edward had supported the free companies, he fell +under the excommunication threatened by the pope against the abettors +of these pests of society, and that the vassals of the English crown +were therefore relieved from allegiance to him. Soon afterwards he +declared that Edward had forfeited all his possessions in France. + +Quercy and Rouergue, which had submitted last, were the first districts +of Aquitaine to revolt. Cahors declared for France as soon as the Black +Prince was cited to Paris. By the end of 1369 all Quercy had +acknowledged Charles V., and John of Armagnac ruled Rouergue as his +vassal. It was the same in the Garonne valley, where towns which had no +quarrel with English rule, were swept away by the strong tide of +national feeling that surged round their walls. A systematic attack was +made upon the English power in Aquitaine. Charles V. fitted out new +armies in which the townsmen and the country-folk fought side by side +with the nobility. Two of his brothers, John, Duke of Berri, and Louis, +Duke of Anjou, prepared to assail the intruders, Berri in the central +uplands, Anjou in the Garonne valley. It was not enough to recover what +was lost. Aggression must be met by aggression, and the Duke of +Burgundy, Charles' third brother, equipped a fleet in Norman ports, +either to invade England or at least to cut off the Black Prince from +his base. Portsmouth was burnt, before England had made any effort to +defend her shores. + +The English were strangely inactive. The Black Prince lay sick at +Cognac, and of his subordinates Chandos, now seneschal of Poitou, alone +showed vigour. Chandos, finding the lords of Poitou much more loyal to +the English connexion than those of the south, was able to take the +aggressive by invading Anjou. He was, however, soon recalled to protect +Poitou, and on January 1, 1370, was mortally wounded at the bridge of +Lussac. James Audley had already died of disease in another Poitevin +town. While England was losing her best soldiers, Du Guesclin began a +fresh series of raids in the Garonne valley. Soon the banner of the +lilies waved within a few leagues of Bordeaux, and ancient towns of the +English obedience, like Bazas and Bergerac, fell into the enemy's +hands. With the capture of Perigueux, the Limousin was isolated from +Gascon succour. In August the Duke of Berri appeared before the walls +of the _cite,_ or episcopal quarter, of Limoges, and the bishop +promptly handed it over to him. + +Disasters at last stirred up the English to action. In 1370 John of +Gaunt was sent with one army to Gascony and Sir Robert Knowles with +another to Calais. The Black Prince, though unable to ride, was eager +to command. It was arranged that while Lancaster led one force from +Bordeaux to Limoges, Edward should accompany another that marched from +Cognac towards the same destination. To resist this combination Du +Guesclin strove to combine the separate armies of the Dukes of Anjou +and Berri. However, he failed to prevent the junction of Lancaster and +Edward, and their advance to Limoges. On September 19, the anniversary +of Poitiers, the city of Limoges opened its gates after a five days' +siege. The English took a terrible revenge. Not a house in the _cite_ +was spared, and the cathedral rose over a mass of ruins. The whole +population was put to the sword, the Black Prince in his litter +watching grimly the execution of his orders. A few gentlemen alone were +saved for the sake of their ransoms. Among them was the brother of Pope +Gregory XI., who not unnaturally became a warm friend of the patriotic +party. The sack of Limoges was the last exploit of the Black Prince. +Early in 1371, he returned to England, partly because of his state of +health, and partly because he had no money to pay his soldiers. It is +not unlikely that he was already on bad terms with John of Gaunt, who +had necessarily taken the chief share in the campaign and was nominated +his successor. Too late, efforts were made to conciliate the Gascons; +in 1370 a supreme court was set up at Saintes to save the necessity of +appeals to London which had become as onerous as the ancient frequency +of resort to the parliament of Paris; and the hearth-tax, the +ostensible cause of the rising, was formally renounced. + +Sir Robert Knowles's expedition of 1370 was as futile as that of +Lancaster. He advanced from Calais into the heart of northern France. +Taught by long experience the danger of joining battle, the French +allowed him to wander where he would, plundering and ravaging the +country. Roughly following the line of march of Edward III. in 1360, +the English advanced through Artois and Vermandois to Laon and Reims, +and thence southwards through Champagne. Then striking northwards from +the Burgundian border, they appeared, at the end of September, before +the southern suburbs of Paris. To dissipate the alarm felt at the +presence of the English, Du Guesclin was summoned from the south and +made constable of France. Before his arrival Knowles had moved on +westwards 'towards the Beauce, intending to reach his own estates in +Brittany for winter quarters. But his young captains got out of +control. Led by a Gloucestershire knight, Sir John Minsterworth, "ready +in hand but deceitful and perverse in mind," a considerable section of +the troops refused to follow the old "tomb-robber" to Brittany, and +determined to spend the winter where they were, under Minsterworth's +leadership. Knowles would not give place to his subordinate, and made +his way to Brittany with the part of his army which was still faithful +to him. No sooner was he well started than Du Guesclin, after a march +of ninety miles in three days, fell upon his rearguard at Pontvallain +in southern Maine and overwhelmed it on December 4, 1370. Knowles +managed to reach Brittany with the bulk of his forces, and +Minsterworth, the real cause of the disaster, ventured to go to England +and denounce his leader as a traitor. He was forced to flee to France, +where he openly joined the enemy. Seven years later he was captured and +executed. + +Minsterworth was not the only traitor. In the earlier part of the war, +there had fought on the English side a grand-nephew of the last +independent Prince of Wales, Sir Owen ap Thomas ap Rhodri,[1] whose +grandfather, Rhodri or Roderick, the youngest brother of the princes +Llewelyn and David, had after the ruin of his house lived obscurely as +a small Cheshire and Gloucestershire landlord. In 1365 Owen was in +France, engaged, no doubt, in one of the free companies, and on his +father's death he returned to defend his inheritance from the claims of +the Charltons of Powys. Having succeeded in this, he returned to +France, and nothing more is heard of him until after the renewal of the +war. In 1370 he appeared as a strenuous partisan of the French. Mindful +of his ancestry he posed as the lawful Prince of Wales, and established +communications with his countrymen, both in France and in Wales. +Anxious to stir up discord in Edward's realm, the French king gladly +upheld his claims. A gallant knight and an impulsive, energetic +partisan, Sir Owen of Wales soon won a place of his own in the history +of his time. In Gwynedd he was celebrated as Owain _Lawgoch,_ Owen of +the Red Hand. Conspiracies in his favour were ruthlessly stamped out, +and a halo of legend and poetry soon encircled his name. In France +Charles entrusted him and another Welshman, named John Wynn, with the +equipment of a fleet at Rouen with which the champion was to descend on +the principality and excite arising. Bad weather caused the complete +destruction of the expedition of the Welsh pretender. Two years later, +however, another fleet was fitted out on his behalf, and in June, 1372, +Owen took possession of Guernsey. + + [1] The place of Owen of Wales in history was for the first + time clearly shown by Mr. Edward Owen in _Y Cymmrodor,_ + 1899-1900, pp. 1-105. + +At that time the fortune of war was strongly in favour of France, +though the initial successes of Charles V. were damped by the doubtful +results of the petty struggles which filled the year 1371. During that +year Du Guesclin, the soul of the French attack, ejected the English +from many places in Normandy and Poitou. On the other hand, the English +won the hard fought battle over a Flemish fleet in Bourgneuf Bay, which +has already been mentioned. They also showed some power of recovery in +Aquitaine, where their recapture of Figeac in upper Quercy gave them a +base for renewing their attacks on Rouergue. On the whole then, the +year left matters much as they had been. + +The occupation of Guernsey by Owen of Wales was the beginning of a new +series of French victories. Up to that time the northern coastlands of +Aquitaine, lower Poitou, Saintonge, and Angoumois had remained almost +entirely under their English lords. In the hope of resisting attack, +the English projected the invasion of France both from Calais and from +Guienne. To carry out the latter plan John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, +was despatched with a fleet and army from England, with a commission to +succeed John of Gaunt as the king's lieutenant in Aquitaine. The +Franco-Spanish alliance then began to bear its fruits. Henry of +Trastamara equipped a strong Spanish fleet to meet the invaders in the +Bay of Biscay. On June 23, 1372, the two fleets fought an action off La +Rochelle. The light Spanish galleys out-manoeuvred the heavy English +ships, laden deep in the water with stores and filled with troops and +horses. The Spaniards set on fire some of the English transports, which +became unmanageable owing to the fright of the horses embarked upon +them. The English fought valiantly, and night fell before the battle +was decided. Next day, the Spaniards attacked again, and won a complete +victory. The English fleet was destroyed, and Pembroke was taken a +prisoner to Santander. + +The news of Pembroke's defeat encouraged the French to attempt the +conquest of Poitou. Du Guesclin invaded the county from the north in +co-operation with the Spaniards at sea, Owen of Wales abandoned the +siege of Cornet castle, in Guernsey, which still held out against him, +and hurried to join the Spaniards. At Santander he met the captive +Pembroke, and bitterly reproached the marcher earl with the part his +house had taken in driving the Welsh from their lands. In August Owen +and the Spaniards were lying off La Rochelle. Sir Thomas Percy, +seneschal of Poitou, and the Captal de Buch were with a considerable +force at Soubise, near the mouth of the Charente. Owen ascended the +river and fell unexpectedly on the English at night. The English were +utterly defeated and both leaders were taken prisoners, Thomas Percy, +the future ally of Owen Glendower, being captured by one of Sir Owen's +Welsh followers. Meanwhile, Du Guesclin, after receiving the surrender +of Poitiers on August 7, pressed forward to the coast and was soon in +touch with Owen and the Spaniards. On the same September day Angouleme +and La Rochelle opened their gates to the French. In the course of the +same month all the other towns of the district declared for the winning +side. The nobles of Poitou were still to some extent English in +sympathy, and a considerable band of them and their followers took +refuge in Thouars. On December 1 this last stronghold of Poitevin +feudalism surrendered. The tidings of disaster roused the old English +king to his final martial effort. A fleet was raised and sailed from +Sandwich, having on board the king, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of +Lancaster, and many other magnates. Contrary winds kept the vessels +near the English coast, and the vast sums lavished on the equipment of +the expedition were wasted. In despair the Black Prince surrendered to +his father his principality of Aquitaine. When the king begged the +commons for a further war subsidy, he was told that the navy had been +ruined by his harsh impressment of seamen, and his refusal to give them +pay when detained in port waiting for orders. When the command of the +sea passed to the French and their Spanish allies, all hope of +retaining Aquitaine was lost. + +The final stages in the ruin of the English power in France need not +detain us long. Despite his successes, Du Guesclin persevered in his +policy of wearing down the English by delays and by avoiding pitched +battles. He turned his attention to Brittany, where Duke John, in +difficulties with his subjects, had invoked the aid of an English army. +Thereupon the Breton barons called the French king to take possession +of the duchy, whose lord was betraying it to the foreigner. The old +party struggle was at an end: Celtic Brittany joined hands with French +Brittany. Before the end of 1373, Duke John was a fugitive, and only a +few castles with English garrisons upheld his cause. Of these Brest was +the most important, and despite the Spaniards and Owen of Wales, the +English were still strong enough at sea to retain possession of the +place. + +In July, 1373, John of Gaunt marched out of Calais with one of the +strongest armies with which an English invader had ever entered France. +Pursuing a general south-easterly direction, the English pitilessly +devastated Artois, Picardy, and Champagne. Du Guesclin hastened back +from Brittany to command the army engaged in watching Lancaster. He +still continued his defensive tactics, but gave the enemy little rest. +Lancaster was no match for so able a general as the Breton constable. +At the end of September he moved from Troyes to Sens, and thence pushed +into Burgundy. Then he turned westwards through the Nivernais and the +Bourbonnais, and led his army through the uplands of Auvergne. By the +end of the year he had traversed the Limousin, and made his way to +Bordeaux. Half his army had perished of hunger, cold, and in petty +warfare. The horses had suffered worse than the men, and the baggage +train was almost destroyed. Without fighting a battle Du Guesclin had +put the enemy out of action. Experience now showed how useless were the +prolonged plundering raids which ten years before had filled all France +with terror. + +Even in Gascony Lancaster could not hold his own. After declining +battle with the Duke of Anjou, he returned to England, leaving Sir +Thomas Felton as seneschal. The enemy had penetrated to the very heart +of the old English district. La Reole opened its gates to them; +Saint-Sever, the seat of the Gascon high court, followed its example, +By 1374 the English duchy was reduced to the coast lands around Bayonne +and Bordeaux. That year the French laid siege to Chandos's castle of +Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. The siege was as long and as elaborately +organised as the great siege of Calais. A ring of _bastilles_ was +erected round the doomed town, and cannon discharged huge balls of +stone against its ramparts. After nearly a year's siege the garrison +agreed to surrender on condition of a heavy payment. With the fall of +the old home of the Harcourts the English power in Normandy perished. +There was still, it is true, the influence of Charles of Navarre; but +that desperate intriguer had compromised himself so much with both +parties that no confidence could be placed in him. + +The misfortunes of the English inclined them to listen to proposals of +peace. Though the papacy was more frankly on the French side than ever, +it had not lost its ancient solicitude to put an end to the war. With +that object Gregory XI, though eager to return to Rome, tarried in the +Rhone valley. Two of his legates appeared in Champagne at the time of +John of Gaunt's abortive expedition. From that moment offers of peace +were constantly pressed on both sides. Lancaster was at Calais, and +Anjou was not far off at Saint-Omer, when definite proposals were +exchanged. Before long it was found more convenient that the envoys +should meet face to face, and for this reason the two dukes accepted +the hospitality of Louis de Male, and held personal interviews at +Bruges. More than once the negotiations broke down altogether. At no +time was there much hope of a permanent peace. The English insisted on +the terms of 1360, and the French demanded the cession of Calais and +the release of the unpaid ransom of King John. However, on June 27, +1375, a truce for a year was signed at Bruges, which was further +extended until June, 1377, just long enough to allow the old king to +end his days in peace. France had once more to wrestle with the +companies set free by the truce, so that England could still enjoy +possession of Calais, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Brest, and the other scanty +remnants of the cessions of the treaty of Calais. Satisfied at putting +an end to the war, Gregory XI betook himself to Rome. Thus the truce +outlasted the Babylonish captivity of the papacy as well as the life of +Edward III. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +ENGLAND DURING THE LATTER YEARS OF EDWARD III. + + +Never was Edward's glory so high as in the years immediately succeeding +the treaty of Calais. The unspeakable misery of France heightened his +magnificence by the strength of the contrast. At eight-and-forty he +retained the vigour and energy of his younger days, though surrounded +by a band of grown-up sons. In 1362 the king celebrated his jubilee, or +his fiftieth birthday, amidst feasts of unexampled splendour. Not less +magnificent were the festivities that attended the visits of the three +kings, of France, Cyprus, and Scotland, in 1364. + +Of the glories of these years we have detailed accounts from an +eye-witness a writer competent, above all other men of his time, to set +down in courtly and happy phrase the wonders that delighted his eyes. +In 1361, John Froissart, an adventurous young clerk from Valenciennes, +sought out a career for himself in the household of his countrywoman, +Queen Philippa, bearing with him as his credentials a draft of a verse +chronicle which was his first attempt at historical composition. He +came to England at the right moment. The older generation of historians +had laid down their pens towards the conclusion of the great war, and +had left no worthy successors. The new-comer was soon to surpass them, +not in precision and sobriety, but in wealth of detail, in literary +charm, and in genial appreciation of the externals of his age. He +recorded with an eye-witness's precision of colour, though with utter +indifference to exactness, the tournaments and fetes, the banquets and +the _largesses_ of the noble lords and ladies of the most brilliant +court in Christendom. He celebrated the courtesy of the knightly class, +their devotion to their word of honour, the liberality with which +captive foreigners was allowed to share in their sports and pleasures, +and the implicit loyalty with which nearly all the many captive knights +repaid the trust placed on their word. To him Edward was the most +glorious of kings, and Philippa, his patroness, the most beautiful, +liberal, pious, and charitable of queens. For nine years he enjoyed the +queen's bounty, and described with loyal partiality the exploits of +English knights. With the death of his patroness and the beginning of +England's misfortunes, the light-minded adventurer sought another +master in the French-loving Wenceslaus of Brabant. The first edition of +his chronicle, compiled when under the spell of the English court, +contrasts strongly with the second version written at Brussels at the +instigation of the Luxemburg duke of Brabant. + +Even Froissart saw that all was not well in England. The common people +seemed to him proud, cruel, disloyal, and suspicious. Their delight was +in battle and slaughter, and they hated the foreigner with a fierce +hatred which had no counterpart in the cosmopolitan knightly class. +They were the terror of their lords and delighted in keeping their +kings under restraint. The Londoners were the most mighty of the +English and could do more than all the rest of England. Other writers +tell the same tale. The same fierce patriotism that Froissart notes +glows through the rude battle songs in which Lawrence Minot sang the +early victories of Edward from Halidon Hill to the taking of Guines, +and inspired Geoffrey le Baker to repeat with absolute confidence every +malicious story which gossip told to the discredit of the French king +and his people. It was under the influence of this spirit that the +steps were taken, which we have already recorded, to extend the use of +English, notably in the law courts. Yet the old bilingual habit clave +long to the English. Despite the statute of 1362, the lawyers continued +to employ the French tongue, until it crystallised into the jargon of +the later _Year Books_ or of Littleton's _Tenures_. Under Edward III, +however, French remained the living speech of many Englishmen. John +Gower wrote in French the earliest of his long poems. But he is a +thorough Englishman for all that. He writes in French, but, as he says, +he writes for England.[1] + + [1] "O gentile Engleterre, a toi j'escrits," _Mirour de + l'Omme,_ in John Gower's _Works,_ i., 378, ed. G.C. MaCaulay, + to whom belongs the credit of recovering this long lost work. + +It was characteristic of the patriotic movement of the reign of Edward +III, that a new courtly literature in the English language rivalled the +French vernacular literature which as yet had by no means ceased to +produce fruit. The new type begins with the anonymous poems, "Sir +Gawain and the Green Knight," and the "Pearl". While Froissart was the +chief literary figure at the English court during the ten years after +the treaty of Calais, his place was occupied in the concluding decade +of the reign by Geoffrey Chaucer, the first great poet of the English +literary revival. The son of a substantial London vintner, Chaucer +spent his youth as a page in the household of Lionel of Antwerp, from +which he was transferred to the service of Edward himself. He took part +in more than one of Edward's French campaigns, and served in diplomatic +missions to Italy, Flanders, and elsewhere. His early poems reflect the +modes and metres of the current French tradition in an English dress, +and only reach sustained importance in his lament on the death of the +Duchess Blanche of Lancaster, written about 1370. It is significant +that the favourite poet of the king's declining years was no clerk but +a layman, and that the Tuscan mission of 1373, which perhaps first +introduced him to the treasures of Italian poetry, was undertaken in +the king's service. Thorough Englishman as Chaucer was, he had his eyes +open to every movement of European culture. His higher and later style +begins with his study of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Though he +wrote for Englishmen in their own tongue, his fame was celebrated by +the French poet, Eustace Deschamps, as the "great translator" who had +sown the flowers of French poesy in the realm of Aeneas and Brut the +Trojan. His broad geniality stood in strong contrast to the savage +patriotism of Minot. In becoming national, English vernacular art did +not become insular. Chaucer wrote in the tongue of the southern +midlands, the region wherein were situated his native London, the two +universities, the habitual residences of the court, the chief seats of +parliaments and councils, and the most frequented marts of commerce. +For the first time a standard English language came into being, largely +displacing for literary purposes the local dialects which had hitherto +been the natural vehicles of writing in their respective districts. The +Yorkshireman, Wycliffe, the westcountryman, Langland, adopted before +the end of the reign the tongue of the capital for their literary +language in preference to the speech of their native shires. The +language of the extreme south, the descendant of the tongue of the West +Saxon court, became the dialect of peasants and artisans. That a +continuous life was reserved for the idiom of the north country, was +due to its becoming the speech of a free Scotland, the language in +which Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, commemorated for the court of +the first Stewart king the exploits of Robert Bruce and the Scottish +war of independence. The unity of England thus found another notable +expression in the oneness of the popular speech. And the evolution of +the northern dialect into the "Scottish" of a separate kingdom showed +that, if England were united, English-speaking Britain remained +divided. + +Other arts indicate the same tendency. Even in the thirteenth century +English Gothic architecture differentiated itself pretty completely from +its models in the Isle de France. The early fourteenth century, the age +of the so-called "decorated style," suggests in some ways a falling back +to the French types, though the prosperity of England and the desolation +of France make the English examples of fourteenth century building the +more numerous and splendid. The occasional tendency of the later +"flowing" decorated towards "flamboyant" forms, to be seen in some of +the churches of Northamptonshire, marks the culminating point of this +fresh approximation of French and English architecture. But the division +between the two countries brought about by war was illustrated before +the end of the reign in the growth of the most local of our medieval +architectural types, that "perpendicular" style which is so strikingly +different from the "flamboyant" art of the neighbouring kingdom. This +specially English style begins early in the reign of Edward III, when +the cult of the murdered Edward of Carnarvon gave to the monks of St. +Peter's, Gloucester, the means to recast the massive columns and gloomy +arcades of the eastern portions of their romanesque abbey church after +the lighter and brighter patterns in which Gloucester set the fashion to +all southern Britain. In the buildings of the later years of Edward's +reign the old "flowing decorated" and the newer and stiffer +"perpendicular" grew up side by side. If the two seem almost combined in +the church of Edington, in Wiltshire, the foundation dedicated in 1361 +for his native village by Edward's chancellor, Bishop Edington of +Winchester, the triumph of the perpendicular is assured in the new choir +which Archbishop Thoresby began for York Minster, and in the +reconstruction of the Norman cathedral of Winchester begun by Bishop +Edington, and completed when his greater successor, William of Wykeham, +carried out in a more drastic way the device already adopted at +Gloucester of recasing the ancient structure so as to suit modern +tastes. The full triumph of the new style is apparent in Wykeham's twin +foundations at Winchester and Oxford. The separation of feeling between +England and Scotland is now seen in architecture as well as in language. +When the perpendicular fashion was carrying all before it in the +southern realm, the Scottish builders erected their churches after the +flamboyant type of their French allies. Thus while the twelfth and +thirteenth century structures of the northern and southern kingdoms are +practically indistinguishable, the differences between the two nations, +which had arisen from the Edwardian policy of conquest, expressed +themselves ultimately in the striking contrast between the flamboyant of +Melrose or St. Giles' and the perpendicular of Winchester or Windsor. + +English patriotism, which had asserted itself in the literature and art +of the people long before it dominated courtly circles, continued to +express itself in more popular forms than even those of the poems of +Chaucer. The older fashions of instructing the people were still in +vogue in the early part of Edward's reign. Richard Rolle, the hermit of +Hampole, whose _Prick_ of _Conscience_ and vernacular paraphrases of +the Bible illustrate the older didactic literature, was carried off in +his Yorkshire cell in the year of the Black Death. The cycles of +miracle plays, which edified and amused the townsfolk of Chester and +York, crystallised into a permanent shape early in this reign, and were +set forth with ever-increasing elaborateness by an age bent on +pageantry and amusement. The vernacular sermons and popular manuals of +devotion increased in numbers and copiousness. In this the time of the +Black Death is, as in other aspects of our story, a deep dividing line. + +The note of increasing strain and stress is fully expressed in the +earlier forms of _The Vision of Piers Plowman,_ which were composed +before the death of Edward III. Its author, William Langland, a clerk in +minor orders, debarred by marriage from a clerical career, came from the +Mortimer estates in the march of Wales: but his life was mainly spent in +London, and he wrote in the tongue of the city of his adoption. The +first form of the poem is dated 1362, the year of the second visitation +of the Black Death, while the troubles of the end of the reign perhaps +inspired the fuller edition which saw the light in 1377. It is a +commonplace to contrast the gloomy pictures drawn by Langland with the +highly coloured pictures of contemporary society for which Chaucer was +gathering his materials. Yet this contrast may be pressed too far. +Though Langland had a keen eye to those miseries of the poor which are +always with us, the impression of the time gathered from his writings is +not so much one of material suffering, as of social unrest and +discontent. The poor ploughman, who cannot get meat, still has his +cheese, curds, and cream, his loaf of beans and bran, his leeks and +cabbage, his cow, calf, and cart mare.[1] The very beggar demanded +"bread of clean wheat" and "beer of the best and brownest," while the +landless labourer despised "night-old cabbage," "penny-ale," and bacon, +and asked for fresh meat and fish freshly fried.[2] There is plenty of +rough comfort and coarse enjoyment in the England through which "Long +Will" stalked moodily, idle, hopeless, and in himself exemplifying many +of the evils which he condemned. The England of Langland is bitter, +discontented, and sullen. It is the popular answer to the class +prejudice and reckless greed of the lords and gentry. Langland's own +attitude towards the more comfortable classes is much that of the +self-assertive and mutinous Londoner whom Froissart looked upon with +such bitter prejudice. He boasts that he was loath to do reverence to +lords and ladies, or to those clad in furs with pendants of silver, and +refuses to greet "sergeants" with a "God save you". Every class of +society is flagellated in his scathing criticisms. He is no +revolutionist with a new gospel of reform, but, though content to accept +the old traditions, he is the ruthless denouncer of abuses, and is +thoroughly filled with the spirit which, four years after the second +recension of his book, found expression in the Peasants Revolt of 1381. +With all the archaism of his diction and metre, Langland, even more than +Chaucer, reflects the modernity of his age. + + [1] _Vision of Piers Plowman,_ i.,220, ed. Skeat. + + [2] _Ibid.,_ i., 222. + +Even the universities were growing more national, for the war prevented +Oxford students from seeking, after their English graduation, a wider +career at Paris. William of Ockham, the last of the great English +schoolmen that won fame in the European rather than in the English +world, died about 1349 in the service of the Bavarian emperor. In the +same year the plague swept away Thomas Bradwardine, the "profound +doctor," at the moment of his elevation to the throne of Canterbury. +Bradwardine, though a scholar of universal reputation, won his fame at +Oxford without the supplementary course at Paris, and lived all his +career in his native land. As an English university career became more +self-sufficient, Oxford became the school of the politician and the man +of affairs as much as of the pure student. The new tendency is +illustrated by the careers of the brothers Stratford, both Oxford +scholars, yet famous not for their writings but for lives devoted to the +service of the State, though rewarded by the highest offices of the +Church. His conspicuous position as a teacher of scholastic philosophy +first brought John Wycliffe into academic prominence. But he soon won a +wider fame as a preacher in London, an adviser of the court, an opponent +of the "possessioner" monks, and of the forsworn friars, who, deserting +apostolic poverty, vied with the monks in covetousness. His attacks on +practical abuses in the Church marked him out as a politician as well as +a philosopher. His earlier career ended in 1374, the year in which he +first became the king's ambassador, not long after proceeding to the +degree of doctor of divinity.[1] His later struggles must be considered +in the light of the political history of the concluding episodes of +Edward's reign. In a few years we shall find the Oxford champion +abandoning the Latin language of universal culture, and appealing to the +people in homely English. With Wycliffe's entry upon his wider career, +it is hardly too much to say that Oxford ceased to be merely a part of +the cosmopolitan training ground of the schoolmen, and became in some +fashion a national institution. Cambridge, too young and obscure in +earlier ages to have rivalled Oxford, first began to enjoy an increasing +reputation. + + [1] This was before Dec. 26, 1373. See Twemlow in _Engl. Hist. + Review_, xv, (1900), 529-530. + +Hitherto culture had been not only cosmopolitan but clerical. Every +university student and nearly every professional man was a clerk. But +education was becoming possible for laymen, and there were already lay +professions outside the clerical caste. The wide cultivation and the +vigorous literary output of laymen of letters like Chaucer and Cower +are sufficient evidence of this. But the best proof is the complete +differentiation of the common lawyers from the clergy. The inns of +court of London became virtually a legal university, where highly +trained men studied a juristic system, which was not the less purely +English in spirit because its practitioners used the French tongue as +their technical instrument. There were no longer lawyers in England +who, like Bracton, strove to base the law of the land on the forms and +methods of Roman jurisprudence. There were no longer kings, like Edward +I., with Italian trained civilians at their court ready to translate +the law of England into imperialist forms. The canonist still studied +at Oxford or Cambridge, but his career was increasingly clerical, and +the Church, unlike the State, was unable to nationalise itself, though +the whole career of Wycliffe and the strenuous efforts of the kings and +statesmen who passed the statutes of Provisors and Praemunire, showed +that some of the English clergy, and many of the English laity, were +willing to make the effort. English law, in divorcing itself from the +universities and the clergy, became national as well as lay. There were +no longer any Weylands who concealed their clerical beginnings, and hid +away the subdeacon under the married knight and justice, the founder of +a landowning family. The lawyers of Edward's reign were frankly laymen, +marrying and giving in marriage, establishing new families that became +as noble as any of the decaying baronial houses, and yet cherishing a +corporate ideal and common spirit as lively and real as those of any +monastery or clerical association. + +In enumerating the many convergent tendencies which worked together in +strengthening the national life, we must not forget the growing +importance of commerce. Merchant princes like the Poles could rival the +financial operations of Lombard or Tuscan, and climb into the baronial +class. The proud and mutinous temper of the Londoners was largely due +to their ever-increasing wealth. We are on the threshold of the careers +of commercial magnates, like the Philpots and the Whittingtons. Even +when Edward III. was still on the throne, a London mayor of no special +note, John Pyel, could set up in his native Northamptonshire village of +Irthlingborough a college and church of remarkable stateliness and +dignity. The growth of the wool trade, and its gradual transfer to +English hands, the development of the staple system, the rise of an +English seaman class that knew all the havens of Europe, the beginnings +of the English cloth manufacture, all indicate that English commerce +was not only becoming more extensive, but was gradually emancipating +itself from dependence on the foreigner. Thus before the end of +Edward's reign England was an intensely national state, proudly +conscious of itself, and haughtily contemptuous of the foreigner, with +its own language, literature, style in art, law, universities, and even +the beginnings of a movement towards the nationalisation of the Church. +The cosmopolitanism of the earlier Middle Ages was everywhere on the +wane. A modern nation had arisen out of the old world-state and +world-spirit. In the England of Edward III., Chaucer, and Wycliffe, we +have reached the consummation of the movement whose first beginnings we +have traced in the early storms of the reign of Henry III. It is in the +development of this tendency that the period from 1216 to 1377 +possesses such unity as it has. + +During the years of peace after the treaty of Calais, Edward III. +completed the scheme for the establishment of his family begun with the +grant of Aquitaine to the Black Prince. The state of the king's +finances made it impossible for him to provide for numerous sons and +daughters from the royal exchequer, and the system of appanages had +seldom been popular or successful in England. Edward found an easier +way of endowing his offspring by politic marriages that transferred to +his sons the endowments and dignities of the great houses, which, in +spite of lavish creations of new earldoms, were steadily dying out in +the male line. Some of his daughters in the same way were married into +baronial families whose attachment to the throne would, it was +believed, be strengthened by intermarriage with the king's kin; while +others, wedded to foreign princes, helped to widen the circle of +continental alliances on which he never ceased to build large hopes. +Collateral branches of the royal family were pressed into the same +system, which was so systematically ordered that it has passed for a +new departure in English history. This is, however, hardly the case. +Many previous kings, notably Edward I., carried out a policy based upon +similar lines, and only less conspicuous by reason of the smaller +number of children that they had to provide for. The descendants of +Henry III. and Edward I. in no wise kept true to the monarchical +tradition, but rather gave distinction to the baronial opposition by +ennobling it with royal alliances. But the martial and vigorous policy +of Edward III. had at least the effect of reducing to inactivity the +tradition of constitutional opposition which had been the common +characteristic of successive generations of the royal house of +Lancaster, the chief collateral branch of the royal family. Subsequent +history will show that the Edwardian family settlement was as +unsuccessful as that of his grandfather. The alliances which Edward +built up brought neither solidarity to the royal house, nor strength to +the crown, nor union to the baronage. But the working out of this, as +of so many of the new developments of the later part of Edward's reign, +can only be seen after his death. + +Edward's eldest son became, as we have seen, Duke of Cornwall, Prince +of Wales, and Earl of Chester even before he received Aquitaine. He was +the first of the continuous line of English princes of Wales, for +Edward III. never bore that title. The Black Prince's marriage with his +cousin, Joan of Kent, was a love-match, and the estates of his bride +were scarcely an important consideration to the lord of Wales and +Cheshire. Yet the only child of the unlucky Edmund of Woodstock was no +mean heiress, bringing with her the estates of her father's earldom of +Kent, besides the inheritance of her mother's family, the Wakes of +Liddell and Lincolnshire. The estates and earldom afterwards passed to +Joan's son by a former husband, and the Holland earls of Kent formed a +minor family connexion which closely supported the throne of Richard of +Bordeaux. Though their paternal inheritance was that of Lancashire +squires, the Hollands won a leading place in the history of the next +generation. + +Edward III.'s second son, William of Hatfield, died in infancy. For his +third son, Lionel of Antwerp, when still in his childhood, Edward found +the greatest heiress of her time, Elizabeth, the only daughter of +William de Burgh, the sixth lord of Connaught and third Earl of Ulster, +the representative of one of the chief Anglo-Norman houses in Ireland. +Even before his marriage, Lionel was made Earl of Ulster, a title sunk +after 1362 in the novel dignity of the duchy of Clarence. This title was +chosen because Elizabeth de Burgh was a grand-daughter of Elizabeth of +Clare, the sister of the last Clare Earl of Gloucester, and a share of +the Gloucester inheritance passed through her to the young duke. His +marriage gave Lionel a special relation to Ireland, where, however, his +two lordships of Ulster and Connaught were largely in the hands of the +native septs, and where the royal authority had never won back the +ground lost during the vigorous onslaught of Edward Bruce on the English +power. In 1342 the estates of Ireland forwarded to Edward a long +statement of the shortcomings of the English administration of the +island.[1] No effective steps were taken to remedy those evils until, in +1361, Edward III. sent Lionel as governor to Ireland, declaring "that +our Irish dominions have been reduced to such utter devastation and ruin +that they may be totally lost, if our subjects there are not immediately +succoured". Lionel's most famous achievement was the statute of +Kilkenny. This law prohibited the intermixture of the Anglo-Normans in +Ireland with the native Irish, which was rapidly undermining the basis +of English rule and confounding Celts and Normans in a nation, ever +divided indeed against itself, but united against the English. Lionel +wearied of a task beyond his strength. His wife's early death lessened +the ties which bound him to her land, and he went back to England +declaring that he would never return to Ireland if he could help it. His +succession as governor by a Fitzgerald showed that the plan of ruling +Ireland through England was abandoned by Edward III. in favour of the +cheaper but fatal policy of concealing the weakness of the English power +by combining it with the strength of the strongest of the Anglo-Norman +houses. Under this faulty system, the statute of Kilkenny became +inoperative almost from its enactment. + + [1] Cal. of Close, Rolls, 1341-43, pp. 508-16. + +The widowed Duke of Clarence made a second great marriage. The +Visconti, tyrants of Milan, were willing to pay heavily for the +privilege of intermarriage with the great reigning families of Europe, +and neither Edward III. nor the French king could resist the temptation +of alliance with a family that was able to endow its daughters so +richly. Accordingly, the Duke of Clarence became in 1368 the husband of +Violante Visconti, the daughter of Galeazzo, lord of Pavia, and the +niece of Bernabo, signor of Milan, the bitter foe of the Avignon +papacy. Five months later, Lionel was carried away by a sudden +sickness, and thus the Visconti marriage brought little fruit to +England. Lionel's only child, Philippa, the offspring of his first +marriage, was married, just before her father's death, to Edmund +Mortimer, Earl of March, great-grandson of the traitor earl beheaded in +1330. Lionel's death added to the vast inheritance of the Mortimers and +Joinvilles the lands and claims of Ulster and Clarence, and so Edward +III.'s magnanimity in reviving the earldom of March after the disgrace +of 1330 was rewarded by the devolution of its estates to his +grand-daughter's child. The Earl of March was invested with a new +political importance, for his wife was the nearest representative of +Edward III, save for the dying Black Prince and his sickly son. The +fierce blood and broad estates of the great marcher family continued to +give importance to Philippa's descendants; and finally the house of +Mortimer mounted the throne in the person of Edward IV. + +The estates of Lancaster were annexed to the reigning branch of the +royal house by the marriage in 1359 of John of Gaunt, Edward's third +surviving son, with Blanche of Lancaster, the heiress of Duke Henry, +who became, after her sister Maud's death, the sole inheritor of the +duchy of Lancaster. In 1362 John, who had hitherto been Earl of +Richmond, yielded up this dignity to the younger John of Montfort, its +rightful heir, and was created Duke of Lancaster at the same time that +Lionel was made Duke of Clarence. Ten years after her marriage Blanche +died, leaving John a son, Henry of Derby, the future Henry IV., whose +wedding, after his grandfather's death, to one of the Bohun +co-heiresses brought part of the estates of another great house within +the grasp of Edward III.'s descendants. Moreover, the other Bohun +co-heiress became in 1376 the wife of Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest +of Edward's sons, the Gloucester of the next reign. The three Bohun +earldoms of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton were thus absorbed by the +old king's children and grandchildren. John of Gaunt, like Lionel, lost +his wife early and sought a second bride abroad. In 1372 he married +Constance of Castile, a natural daughter of the deceased Peter the +Cruel. Henceforth he was summoned to parliament as King of Castile and +Leon as well as Duke of Lancaster, though it was not until the next +reign that he took any actual steps to assert his claim. + +John's next younger brother, Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge in +136% [1368?] married Isabella, Constance of Castile's younger sister. +He was the future Duke of York, and as the only one of Edward III.'s +sons who did not marry an English heiress, was the most scantily +endowed of them all. The union of his descendants with those of Lionel +of Clarence gave the house of York a territorial importance which was, +as we have seen, mainly derived from the Mortimer inheritance. Thus the +two lines of descendants of Edward III. which had most future +significance were those which represented through heiresses the rival +houses of Lancaster and March. The history of the next century shows +that the rivalry was only made more formidable by the connexion of both +these lines with the royal family. In this, the most striking triumph +of the Edwardian policy, is also the most signal indication of its +failure. From it arose the factions of York and Lancaster. + +The legislation of the years of peace, from 1360 to 1369, is largely +anti-papal and economic, and is so intimately connected with the laws +of the preceding period that it has been dealt with in an earlier +chapter. But however anti-papal, and therefore anti-clerical, some of +Edward's laws were, his government was still mainly controlled by great +ecclesiastical statesmen. Simon Langham, though a Benedictine monk, had +as chancellor demanded in 1366 the opinion of the estates as to the +unlawfulness of the Roman tribute, and the clerical estate, if it did +not help forward the anti-Roman legislation, was content to stand +aside, and let it take effect without protest. Shortly after taking +part in the movement against papal tribute, Langham was removed from +the see of Ely to that of Canterbury in succession to Islip. His +conversion into a purely monastic college of his predecessor's mixed +foundation for seculars and regulars in Canterbury Hall, Oxford, showed +a bias which might have been expected in a former abbot of Westminster, +while his willingness to follow in the footsteps of Kilwardby, and +exchange his archbishopric for the dignity of a cardinal and residence +at Avignon showed that he was a papalist as well as an English patriot. +His successor as primate, appointed in 1369 by papal provision, was +William Whittlesea, a nephew of Archbishop Islip, whose weak health and +colourless character made of little account his five years' tenure of +the metropolitical dignity. With Canterbury in such feeble hands, the +leadership in the Church and primacy in the councils of the crown +passed to stronger men: such as John Thoresby, Archbishop of York till +1373; Thomas Brantingham, treasurer from 1369 to 1371, and Bishop of +Exeter from 1370 to 1394; and above all to Edward's old servant, +William of Wykeham, chancellor from 1367 to 1371, and Bishop of +Winchester, in succession to Edington, from 1367 until 1404. Wykeham +was a strenuous and hard-working servant of the crown, a vigorous and +careful ruler of his diocese, a mighty pluralist, a magnificent +builder, and the most bountiful and original of all the pious founders +of his age. "Everything," says Froissart, "was done through him and +without him nothing was done."[1] + + [1] Froissart, _Chroniques_, ed. Luce, viii., 101. + +The year of the breach of the treaty of Calais was also marked by the +third great visitation of the Black Death, and the death of Queen +Philippa. Parliament cordially welcomed the resumption by Edward of the +title of King of France, and made liberal subsidies for the prosecution +of the campaign. Disappointment was all the more bitter when each +campaign ended in disaster, and in the parliament of February, 1371, the +storm burst. The circumstances of the ministerial crisis of 1341 were +almost exactly renewed. As on the previous occasion, the state was in +the hands of great ecclesiastics, whose conservative methods were +thought inadequate for circumstances so perilous. John Hastings, second +Earl of Pembroke of his house, a gallant young warrior and the intended +son-in-law of the king, made himself the spokesman of the anti-clerical +courtiers, probably with the good-will of the king. At Pembroke's +instigation the earls, barons, and commons drew up a petition that, +"inasmuch as the government of the realm has long been in the hands of +the men of Holy Church, who in no case can be brought to account for +their acts, whereby great mischief has happened in times past and may +happen in times to come, may it therefore please the king that laymen of +his own realm be elected to replace them, and that none but laymen +henceforth be chancellor, treasurer, barons of the exchequer, clerk of +privy seal, or other great officers of the realm ".[1] Edward fell in +with this request. Wykeham quitted the chancery, and Brantingham the +treasury. Of their lay successors the new chancellor, Sir Robert Thorpe, +chief-justice of the court of common pleas, was a close friend of the +Earl of Pembroke, while the new treasurer, Sir Richard le Scrope of +Bolton, a Yorkshire warrior, represented the interests of John of Gaunt, +whose long absences abroad did not prevent his ultimately becoming a +strong supporter of the lay policy. A subsidy of L50,000 and a statute +that no new tax should be laid on wool without parliamentary assent +concluded the work of this parliament. + + [1] _Rot. Pad._, ii., 304. + +The lay ministers did not prove as efficient as their clerical +predecessors. Want of acquaintance with administrative routine led them +to assess the parliamentary grant so badly that an irregular +reassembling of part of the estates was necessary, when it was found +that the ministers had ludicrously over-estimated the number of +parishes in England among which the grant of L50,000 had been equally +divided. Meanwhile the French war was proceeding worse than before. +Thorpe died in 1372, and another lay chief-justice, Sir John Knyvett, +succeeded him in the chancery. Pembroke, as we have seen, was taken +prisoner to Santander within a few weeks of Thorpe's death. Fresh +taxation was made necessary by every fresh defeat, and the clergy, who +looked upon the misfortunes of the anti-clerical earl as God's +punishment for his enmity to Holy Church, had their revenge against +their lawyer supplanters, for the parliament of 1372 petitioned that +lawyers, who used their position in parliament to advance their +clients' affairs, should not be eligible for election as knights of the +shire. Next year, the discontent of the estates came to a head after +the failure of John of Gaunt's march from Calais to Bordeaux. The +commons, by that time definitely organised as an independent house, +answered the demand for fresh supplies by requesting the lords to +appoint a committee of their number to confer with them on the state of +the realm. The composition of the committee was not one that favoured +the existing administration, and, guided by men like William of +Wykeham, it made only a limited and conditional grant, which was +strictly appropriated to the payment of the expenses of the war. The +anti-clerical party was still strong enough to send up denunciations of +papal assumptions, and the anxiety to adjust the relations between the +papacy and the crown led to some abortive negotiations with the legates +of Gregory XI at Bruges in 1374, which were mainly memorable for the +appearance of John Wycliffe as one of the royal commissioners. Disgust +at the attitude of the commons may well have postponed the next +parliament for nearly three years. But the truce of Bruges made +frequent parliaments less necessary. + +The truce brought John of Gaunt back to England, and the rivalry +between him and his elder brother, which had begun during their last +joint campaigns in France, crystallised into definite parties the +discordant tendencies that had been well marked since the crisis of +1371. The old king was a mere pawn in the game. His health had been +broken by the debauchery and frivolity to which he had abandoned +himself after the death of Queen Philippa. He was now entirely under +the influence of Alice Perrers, a Hertfordshire squire's daughter, +whose venality, greed, and shamelessness made her the fit tool for the +self-seeking ring of courtiers. John of Gaunt sought her support as the +best means of withdrawing the old king from the influence of the Prince +of Wales, and the lay ministers were glad to maintain themselves in +their tottering power by means of such powerful allies. Prominent among +their party were courtier nobles--such as the chamberlain, Lord +Latimer, and the steward of the household, Lord Neville of Raby,--and +rich London financiers, chief among whom was Richard Lyons, men who +made exorbitant profits out of the necessities of the administration. +Faction sought to appear more respectable by professions of zeal for +reform. The cry against papal encroachments was extended to a +denunciation of the wealth and power of the clergy. John Wycliffe was +called from his Oxford classrooms to expound the close connexion +between dominion and grace, and to teach from London pulpits that the +ungodly bishop or priest has no right to the temporal possessions given +him on trust for the discharge of his high mission.[1] + + [1] Until recently all historians have dated the beginning of + Wycliffe's political career from 1366, but J. Loserth has + proved that 1374, the date of the last demand for the Roman + tribute, to be the right year. See his _Studien zur + Kirchen-politik Englands im 14ten Jahrhundert_, in + _Sitzungsberichte der Academie der Wissenschaften in Wien_, + philos. histor. classe, cxxxvi., 1897, and, more briefly, in + _Engl. Hist. Review, xi._ (1896), 319-328. + +A vigorous opposition to the dominant faction was formed. At its head +was the Black Prince. Hardly less important and much more active than +the dying hero of Poitiers was Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, the +husband of Philippa of Clarence, and the father of the little Roger +Mortimer whom nothing but the uncertain lives of the Prince of Wales +and the sickly Richard of Bordeaux separated from the English throne. +Hereditary antagonism accentuated incompatibility of personal +interests. The ancient feuds of the houses of Mortimer and Lancaster +still lived on in the hostility of their representatives. The +understanding between the Prince of Wales and the Earl of March seems +to have been complete. They had as their most powerful supporters the +outraged dignitaries of the Church, who saw themselves kept out of +office and threatened in their temporalities by the dominant faction. +William of Wykeham, who had been the guardian of the Earl of March +during his long minority, was the most experienced and wary of the +clerical opposition to the lawyers and courtiers of the Lancaster +faction. He had an eager and enthusiastic backer in the young and +high-born Bishop of London, William Courtenay, the son of the Earl of +Devon, and through his mother, Margaret Bohun, a great-grandson of +Edward I. Office and descent combined to make Bishop Courtenay the +custodian of the constitutional tradition, which was equally strong +among the great baronial houses of ancient descent and such highly +placed ecclesiastics as were zealous for the nation as well as for +their order. His support was the more necessary since Simon of Sudbury, +who in 1375 succeeded Whittlesea on the throne of St. Augustine, was a +weak and time-serving politician. + +The storm, which had long been brewing, burst at last in the parliament +of April, 1376. Of the acts of this memorable assembly, famous as the +Good Parliament, and of the other concluding troubles of the reign we +are fortunate in possessing not only copious official records, but a +minute and highly dramatic account from the pen of a St. Alban's monk, +who, alone of the monastic chroniclers of his age, represented the +spirit which, in the days of Matthew Paris, made the great +Hertfordshire abbey so famous a school of historiography.[1] + + [1] _Chron. Angliae_, 1328-88, ed. E.M. Thompson (Rolls Ser.). + Compare Mr. S. Armitage-Smith's _John of Gaunt_ for an + unfavourable estimate of its value. + +The Good Parliament showed from the beginning a strong animosity +against the courtiers. The time was not yet come when the commons could +take the initiative, or supply leaders from its own ranks, and even +among the commons capacity was unequally divided. Authority and +influence were exclusively with the knights of the shire, and the +citizens and burgesses were content to allow the country gentry to +speak and act in their name. The knights of the shire demanded that, in +accordance with the precedent of 1373, a committee of magnates should +be associated with them in determining the policy to be adopted. The +lords spiritual and temporal were as eager as the knights to attack the +government, and a committee, of which the leading spirits included the +Earl of March and the Bishop of London, supplied the element of +direction and initiation in which the commons were lacking. The +resolution which prevailed was shown by the estates agreeing to make no +grant until grievances had been redressed, and by the choice of Sir +Peter de la Mare as spokesman of the commons before the king. Sir Peter +was elected, we are told, because he possessed abundant wisdom and +eloquence, and enough boldness to say what was in his mind, regardless +of the good-will of the great. Perhaps a further and more weighty +reason was that he was steward of the Earl of March. He was the first +person to hold an office indistinguishable in all essentials from that +of the later Speaker. Under his guidance the commons worked out an +elaborate policy of revenge and reform. The contempt with which John of +Gaunt and the courtiers had at first regarded their action, gave place +to fear. The duke found it prudent to stand aside, while a clean sweep +of the administration was made. + +Charges were brought against the leading ministers of state, after a +fashion in which the constitutional historian sees the beginnings of +the process of the removal of great offenders by impeachment. Lord +Latimer was the first victim. He had appropriated the king's money to +his own uses; he had shown remissness and treachery during the last +campaign in Brittany; he had taken bribes; he was, in a word, "useless +to king and kingdom". His fate was promptly shared by Lyons, the London +merchant, the accomplice of his frauds, who had availed himself of his +court influence to make a "corner" in nearly all imported articles, to +the impoverishment of the common people and the disorganisation of +trade. Lord Neville, whose eager partisanship of Latimer had led him to +insult Sir Peter de la Mare, was threatened with similar proceedings. +Even Alice Perrers was attacked, though, says the chronicler, the +natural affection of Englishmen for their king was so great that they +were slow to molest the lady whom the king loved. However, Alice's +unblushing interference with the course of justice, her appearance in +the courts at Westminster, sitting on the judges' bench, clamouring for +the condemnation of her enemies and the acquittal of her friends, +roused the knights of the shire to action. An ordinance against women +being allowed to practise in the law courts was made the pretext for +her removal from court, and Alice, fearful that worse might happen, +took oath that she would have no further dealings with the king. +Meantime Latimer and Lyons were condemned to forfeiture and +imprisonment. + +In the midst of these proceedings the knights lost their strongest +support by the death of the Black Prince on June 8. John of Gaunt at +once went down to the house of commons, and boldly suggested that the +English should follow the example of the French and allow no woman to +become heiress of the kingdom. This was a direct assertion of his own +claims to stand next to the throne after Richard of Bordeaux, and +before Roger Mortimer. Alarmed at the blow thus levelled against their +chief remaining champion, the knights courageously held to their +position. "The king," said they, "though old is still healthy, and may +outlive us all. Moreover he has an heir in the ten-year-old prince +Richard. While these are alive there is no need to discuss the question +of the succession." They completed the drawing up of the long list of +petitions, whose grudging and partial acceptance by the crown made the +roll of the parliament of 1376 memorable as asserting principles, if +not as vindicating practical ends. They forced Lancaster to agree to a +council of twelve peers nominated in parliament to act as a standing +committee of advisers, without which the king might do nothing of any +importance. After this revival of the methods of the Mad Parliament and +the lords ordainers, the Good Parliament separated on July 6. It had +sat longer than any previous parliament of which there is record. It +had persevered to the end in the teeth of discouragements of all kinds, +and, even after his brother's death, Duke John dared not lift up his +hand against it so long as the session continued. + +When the estates separated Lancaster threw off the mask. The king, sunk +in extreme dotage, was entirely in the hands of his unscrupulous son. +The old man was kept quiet by the return of Alice Perrers to court. She +had sworn on the rood never to see the king again, but the prelates +were "like dumb dogs unable to bark" against her; and no effort was +made to prosecute her for perjury. Latimer and Lyons returned from +their luxurious imprisonment in the Tower to their places at court. The +duke roundly declared that the late parliament was no parliament at +all. No statute was based upon its petitions, the council of twelve was +rudely dissolved, and Sir Peter de la Mare was imprisoned in Nottingham +castle. William of Wykeham was deprived of his temporalities, and the +rumour spread that his disgrace was due to his possession of a state +secret, revealed to him by the dying queen Philippa, that John of Gaunt +was no true son of the royal pair but a changeling. So timid was the +disgraced bishop that he vied with the weak primate in his subserviency +to Alice. The Earl of March, who was marshal of England, was ordered to +inspect the fortresses beyond sea, whereupon, fearing a plot to +assassinate him, he resigned his office, "preferring," says a friend, +"to lose his marshal's staff rather than his life". The powerful +north-country lord, Henry Percy, who had hitherto acted with the +opposition, was bribed by the office of marshal to join the Lancastrian +party. + +Grave difficulties still beset the government, and in January, 1377, +John of Gaunt had to face another parliament. Every precaution was taken +to pack the commons with his partisans. Of the knights of the shire of +the Good Parliament only eight were members of its successor,[1] while +in the place of the imprisoned De la Mare, Sir Thomas Hungerford, +steward of the Duke of Lancaster, was chosen Speaker, on this occasion +by that very name. A packed committee of lords was assigned to advise +the commons. In these circumstances it was not difficult to procure the +reversal of the acts against Alice Perrers and Latimer, and the grant of +a poll tax of a groat a head. The only measure of conciliation was a +general pardon, a pretext for which was found in the jubilee of the +king's accession. From this William of Wykeham was expressly excepted. + + [1] _Return of Members of Parliament_, pt. i., 193-97; _Chron. + Angliae_, p. 112, understates the case. + +The convocation of Canterbury proved less accommodating than the +parliament. Under the able leadership of Bishop Courtenay, it took up +the cause of the Bishop of Winchester, refused to join in a grant of +money until he had taken his place in convocation, and, triumphing at +last over the time-serving of Sudbury and the hesitation of Wykeham +himself, persuaded the bishop to join their deliberations. Lancaster met +the opposition of convocation by calling to his aid the Oxford doctor +whom the clergy had already begun to look upon as the enemy of the +privileges of their order. Wycliffe was not as yet under suspicion of +direct dogmatic heresy. He had not yet clothed himself in the armour of +his Balliol predecessor, Fitzralph, to wage war against the mendicant +orders. But he had already formulated his theory that dominion was +founded on grace, had declared that the pope had no right to +excommunicate any one, or if he had that any simple priest could absolve +the culprit from his sentence, and he had shown a hatred so bitter of +clerical worldliness and clerical property that he was looked upon as +the special enemy of the great land-holding prelates and of the +"possessioner" monks, whose lands, he maintained, could be resumed by +the representatives of the donors at their will. The strenuous advocate +for reducing the clergy to apostolic poverty was not likely to find +favour among the prelates. Wycliffe's only clerical supporters at this +stage were the mendicant friars, from whose characteristic opinions as +regards "evangelical poverty" he never at any time swerved.[1] He was, +however, eloquent and zealous, and he had a following. Fear either of +Wycliffe or of his mendicant allies forced the bishops to take decisive +action. Even Sudbury awoke, "as from deep sleep".[2] The duke's +dangerous supporter was summoned to answer before the bishops at St. +Paul's. + + [1] Shirley (preface to _Fasciculi Zizaniorum,_ Rolls Ser., p. + xxvi.) thought that Wycliffe was "the sworn foe of the + mendicants" in 1377, and E.M. Thompson's emphatic words + repudiating the contrary statement of the St. Alban's writer, + _Chron. Anglice,_ p. liii., illustrate the view prevalent in + England in 1874. Lechler's _Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der + Reformation,_ published in 1873 proves that it was not until + Wycliffe denied the doctrine of transubstantiation in 1379 or + 1380 that the friars deserted him. + + [2] _Chron. Anglice_, p. 117. + +On February 19, Wycliffe appeared in Courtenay's cathedral. Four +mendicant doctors of divinity, chosen by Lancaster, came with him to +defend him against the "possessioners," while the Duke of Lancaster +himself, and Henry Percy, the new marshal, also accompanied him to +overawe the bishops by their authority. The court was to be held in the +lady chapel at the east end of the cathedral, and Wycliffe and his +friends found some difficulty in making their way through the dense +crowd that filled the spacious nave and aisles. Percy, irritated at the +pressure of the throng, began to force it back in virtue of his office. +Courtenay ordered that the marshal should exercise no authority in his +cathedral. Thereupon Percy in a rage declared that he would act as +marshal in the church, whether the bishop liked it or not. When the +lady chapel was reached, there was further disputing as to whether +Wycliffe should sit or stand, and Lancaster taunted Courtenay for +trusting overmuch to the greatness of his family. When the bishop +replied with equal spirit, John muttered: "I would liefer drag him out +of his church by the hair of his head than put up with such insolence". +The words were overheard, and the Londoners, who hated the duke, broke +into open riot at this insult to their bishop. It was rumoured that the +duke had come to St. Paul's, hot from an attack on the liberties of the +city that very morning in parliament. The court broke up in wild +confusion, and the riot spread from church to city. Next day Percy's +house was pillaged, and John's palace of the Savoy attacked. The duke +and the marshal were forced to seek the protection of their opponent, +the Princess of Wales, at Kennington. The followers of Lancaster could +only escape rough treatment by hiding away their lord's badges. The +citizens cried that the Bishop of Winchester and Peter de la Mare +should have a fair trial. At last the personal authority of Bishop +Courtenay restored his unruly flock to order. The old king performed +his last public act by soothing the spokesmen of the citizens with the +pleasant words and easy grace of which he still was master. The +Princess of Wales used her influence for peace, and matters were +smoothed over. + +At some risk of personal humiliation, Lancaster secured a substantial +triumph. Convocation followed the lead of parliament and gave an ample +subsidy. William of Wykeham purchased the restoration of his +temporalities by an unworthy deference to Alice Perrers. Wycliffe +remained powerful, flattered, and consulted, though his enemies had +already drawn up secret articles against him, which they had forwarded +to the papal _curia_. Perhaps in the rapidly declining health of the +king all parties saw that their real interest lay in the postponement +of a crisis. + +In June Edward lay on his deathbed at Sheen. To the last his talk was +all of hawking and hunting, and his mistress carefully kept from him +all knowledge of his desperate condition. When he sank into his last +lethargy, his courtiers deserted him, and Alice Perrers took to flight +after robbing him of the very rings on his fingers. A simple priest, +brought to the bedside by pity, performed for the half-conscious king +the last offices of religion. Edward was just able to kiss the cross +and murmur "Jesus have mercy". On June 21, 1377, he breathed his last. + +With Edward's death we break off a narrative whose course is but half +run. John of Gaunt's rule was not over; Wycliffe was advancing from +discontent to revolt; Chaucer was yet to rise for a higher flight; +Langland had not yet put his complaint into its permanent form; the +French war was renewed almost on the day of Edward's death; popular +irritation against bad government, and social and economic repression +were still preparing for the revolt of 1381. With all its defects the +age of Edward is preeminently a strong age. Greedy, self-seeking, +rough, and violent it may be; its passions and rivalries combined to +make futile the exercise of its strength; it sounded the revolutionary +note of all abrupt ages of transition, and it ends in disaster and +demoralisation at home and abroad. But government is not everything, +and least of all in the Middle Ages when what was then thought vigorous +government appears miserably weak to modern notions. The strong rule +decayed with the failure of the king's personal vigour. The ministers +of Edward's dotage could not hold France nor even keep England quiet. +England had grown impatient of the rule of a despot, though she was not +yet able to govern herself after a constitutional fashion. It is in the +incompatibility of the political ideals of royal authority and +constitutional control, not less than in the want of purpose of her +ruler and in the factions of her nobles that the explanation of the +period must be sought. The age of Edward III. has been alternatively +decried and exalted. Both verdicts are true, but neither contains the +whole truth. The explanation of both is to be found in the annals of a +later age. + + + + +APPENDIX. + +ON AUTHORITIES. + +(1216-1377.) + +Our two main sources of knowledge for medieval history are records and +chronicles. Chronicles are more accessible, easier to study, more +continuous, readable, and coloured than records can generally be. Yet +the record far excels the chronicle in scope, authority, and +objectivity, and a prime characteristic of modern research is the +increasing reliance on the record rather than the chronicle as the +sounder basis of historical investigation. The medieval archives of +England, now mainly collected in the Public Record Office, are +unrivalled by those of any other country. From the accession of Henry +III. several of the more important classes of records have become +copious and continuous, while in the course of the reign nearly all the +chief groups of documents have made a beginning. The whole of the +period 1216 to 1377 can therefore be well studied in them. + +A large proportion of our archives is taken up with common forms, +technicalities, and petty detail. It will never be either possible or +desirable to print the mass of them _in extenso_, and most of the +efforts made to render them accessible have taken the form of +calendars, catalogues, and inventories. Such attempts began with the +costly and unsatisfactory labours of the Record Commission (dissolved +in 1836); and in recent years the work has again been taken up and +pursued on better lines. The folio volumes of the Record Commission +only remain so far of value as they have not been superseded by the +more scholarly octavo calendars which are now being issued under the +direction of the deputy-keeper of the records. These latter are all +accompanied by copious indices which, though not always to be trusted +implicitly, immensely facilitate the use of them. The records were +preserved by the various royal courts. Of special importance for the +political historian are the records of the Chancery and Exchequer. + +Prominent among the Chancery records are the PATENT ROLLS, strips of +parchment sewn together continuously for each regnal year, whereon are +inscribed copies of the letters patent of the sovereign, so called +because they were sent out open, with the great seal pendent. Beginning +in 1200, they present a continuous series throughout all our period, +except for 23 and 24 Henry III. The publication of the complete Latin +text of the _Patent Rolls of Henry III._ is now in progress, and two +volumes have been issued, including respectively the years 1216-1225 +and 1225-1232. From the accession of Edward I. onwards the bulk of the +rolls renders the method of a calendar in English more desirable. The +_Calendars of the Patent Rolls_ are now complete from 1272 to 1324 and +from 1327 to 1348 (Edward I., 4 vols.; Edward II., 4 vols.; Edward +III., 7 vols.). For the years not thus yet dealt with the +unsatisfactory _Calendarium Rotulorum Patentium_ (1802, fol.) may still +sometimes be of service. + +The letters close, or sealed letters addressed to individuals, usually +of inferior public interest to the letters patent are preserved in the +CLOSE ROLLS, compiled in the same fashion as the Patent Rolls. The +whole extant rolls from 1204 to 1227 are printed in _Rotuli Literarum +Clausarum_ (2 vols. fol., 1833 and 1844, Rec. corn.), and it is +proposed to continue the integral publication of the text for the rest +of Henry III.'s reign on the same plan as that of the Patent Rolls. One +volume of this continuation, 1227-1231 (8vo, 1902), has been issued. +For the subsequent periods a calendar in English is being prepared +similar in type to the _Calendar of Patent Rolls_. The periods at +present covered by the _Calendar of Close Rolls_ (1892-1905) are, +Edward I., 1272-1296 (3 vols.): Edward II., the whole of the reign (4 +vols.), and Edward III., 1327-1349 (8 vols.). + +A third series of records preserved by the Chancery officials is the +ROLLS OF PARLIAMENT, including the petitions, pleas, and other +parliamentary proceedings. None of these are extant before 1278, and +the series for the succeeding century is often interrupted. Many of +them are printed in the first two folios (vol. i., Edward I. and II.; +vol. ii., Edward III.) of _Rotuli Parliamentorum_ (1767-1777). A +copious index volume was issued in 1832. A specimen of what may still +be looked for is to be found in Professor Maitland's edition of one of +the earliest rolls of parliament in _Memoranda de Parliamento_ (1305) +(Rolls series, 1893) with an admirable introduction. For the reigns of +Edward I. and II. the deficiencies of the published rolls are +supplemented by SIR F. PALGRAVE'S _Parliamentary Writs and Writs of +Military Service_ (vol. i., 1827, Edward I.; vol. ii., 1834, Edward +II., fol., Rec. Corn.) with alphabetical digests and indices. + +Formal grants under the great seal called _Charters_, characterised by +a "salutation" clause, the names of attesting witnesses, and, under +Henry III. after 1227, by the final formula _data per manum nostram +apud_, etc., and implying normally the presence of the king, are +contained in the CHARTER ROLLS, extant from the reign of John onwards. +They are roughly analysed in the _Calendarium Rotulorum Chartarum_ +(1803, Rec. Com.); and the _Rotuli Chartarum_ (fol., 1837, Rec. Corn.) +contains the rolls _in extenso_ up to 1216, Vol. i., 1226-1257, of an +English _Calendar of Charter Rolls_, printing some of the documents in +full, was published in 1903. + +The documents formerly known as ESCHEAT ROLLS, or INQUISITIONES POST +MORTEM, are concerned with the inquiries made by the Crown on the death +of every landholder as to the extent and character of his holding. Some +of the information contained in these inquests was made accessible in +the _Calendarium Inquisitionum sive Eschaetarum_ (vol. i., Henry III., +Edward I. and II., 1806; vol. ii., Edward III., 1808, fol., Rec. +Corn.). The errors and omissions of these volumes were partially +remedied for the reigns of Henry III. and Edward I. by C. ROBERTS'S +_Calendarium Genealogicum_ (2 vols. 8vo, 1865). A scholarly guide to +all this class of documents has been begun in the new _Calendar of +Inquisitions Post Mortem and other Analogous Documents_, of which vol. +i. (Henry III.) was issued in 1904. The first volume of a separate list +of the analogous inquisitions _Ad pod damnum_ is also announced. + +Of the FINE ROLLS containing the records of fines[1] made with the Crown +for licence to alienate, exemption from service, wardships, pardons, +etc., those of Henry III. have been made accessible in C. ROBERTS'S +_Excerpta e Rotulis Finium_, 1216-1272 (1835-36, 8vo). Other rolls such +as the LIBERATE ROLLS have not yet been published for the reigns here +treated. + + [1] A _fine_ in this technical sense is an agreement arrived at + by a money transaction. + +Of special or local rolls, preserved in the Chancery, the most +important for our period are the GASCON ROLLS. The earlier documents +called by this name are not exclusively concerned with the affairs of +Gascony; they are miscellaneous documents enrolled for convenience in +common parchments by reason of the presence of the king in his +Aquitanian dominions. Of these are F. MICHEL'S _Roles Gascons_, vol. +i., published in the French government series of _Documents Inedits sur +l'Histoire de France_ (1885), including a "fragmentum rotuli +Vasconiae," 1242-1243, and "patentes littere facte in Wasconia," +1253-1254, years in which Henry III. was actually in Gascony. This +publication was resumed in 1896 by M. CHARLES BEMONT'S _Supplement_ to +Michel's imperfect volume, containing innumerable corrections, an +index, introduction, and some additional rolls of 1254 and 1259-1260. +The later of these, the roll of Edward's delegated administration, is +the first exclusively devoted to the concerns of Gascony. "Gascon +Rolls" in this later sense begin with Edward I.'s accession, and M. +Bemont has undertaken their publication for the whole of Edward's reign +from photographs of the records supplied by the English to the French +government. In 1900 vol. ii. of the _Roles Gascons,_ containing the +years 1273-1290, was issued. Other classes of Chancery Rolls accessible +in print are _Rotuli Scotiae,_ 1291-1516 (2 vols., 1814-1819, Rec. +Corn.), and _Rotuli Walliae_, 5-9 Edward I., privately printed by Sir +Thomas Phillipps (1865). Among isolated Chancery records the _Rotuli +Hundredorum_ (Rec. Corn., 2 vols. fol., 1812-1818), containing the very +important inquests made by Edward I.'s commissioners into the +franchises of the barons, may specially be noticed here. + +Of not less importance than the Chancery records are those handed down +from the Court of Exchequer. The most famous of these, the PIPE ROLLS, +which, unlike the Chancery Enrolments, were "filed" or sewn skin by +skin, are decreasingly important from the thirteenth century onwards as +compared with their value for the twelfth. For this reason the Pipe +Roll Society, founded in 1883, only undertook their publication up to +1200. Fragments of Pipe Rolls for our period can be seen in print in +various local histories and transactions, as e.g., "Pipe Rolls of +Northumberland" up to 1272 in HODGSON-HINDE'S History of +Northumberland, pt. iii., vol. iii., and 1273-1284, ed. Dickson +(Newcastle, 1854-60), and of Notts and Derby (translated extracts) in +YEATMAN's _History of Derby_ (1886). The only gap in our series is for +Henry III. Of other Exchequer records we may mention: (i) the +ORIGINALIA ROLLS, containing the estreats or documents from the +Chancery informing the Exchequer of moneys due to it, beginning in 20 +Henry III., a summary of which is published in _Rotulorum Originalium_ +in Curia _Scaccarii Abbreviatio,_ 20 Henry III,-51 Edward III (2 vols. +fol., Rec. Corn., 1805-1810); (2) the MEMORANDA ROLLS, containing +records of charges upon the Exchequer, etc., are complete for this +period. They were kept by the king's and the treasurer's remembrancer, +and are illustrated in print by extracts from the Memoranda Rolls, +1297, in _Transactions of the Royal Hist. Soc.,_ new series, iii., +281-291(1886), and by the roll of 3 Henry III. in COOPER'S _Proceedings +of the Record Commissioners_ (1833); (3) MINISTERS ACCOUNTS, i.e., +accounts of royal bailiffs, etc., for royal manors, etc., not included +in the sheriffs' accounts, beginning with Edward I., of which a list is +given in the _P.R.O. Lists and Indexes_, Nos. v. and viii.; (4) of the +PELL RECORDS, recording issues and payments, samples given in DEVON'S +_Issues of the Exchequer_ (Rec. Corn., 8vo, 1837), DEVON'S _Issue Roll +of Thomas of Brantingham in_ 1370 (Rec. Corn., 8vo, 1835). The pells of +receipt were entered on the (5) RECEIPT ROLLS, specimens of which, +along with the corresponding issues, are to be found in SIR JAMES +RAMSAY'S abstracts of issue and receipt rolls for certain years of +Edward III. in the _Antiquary_(1880-1888); (6) SUBSIDY ROLLS of various +types, illustrated by _Nonarum Inquisitiones tempore Edwardi ZZZ._ +(Rec. Corn., 1807), the record of a subsidy of a ninth collected by +Edward III. in 1340-1341; (7) WARDROBE and HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS +containing for the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries information on +national as well as private royal finance; specimens in print include +the important _Liber Quotidianus Contra-rotulatoris Garderobae_, 28 +_Ed. I._(1299-1300), (1787, Soc. Antiq.). + +From the Exchequer records come also the following: (1) _Testa de +Neville sive Liber Feodorum temp. Hen. ZZZ. et Edw. I._ (Rec. Corn., +fol., 1807), a miscellaneous and ill-digested but valuable collection of +thirteenth century inquisitions; (2) _Nomina Villarum, g_ Ed. II., +published in PALGRAVE'S _Parl. Writs_, ii., iii., 301-416; (3) +_Kirkby's Quest, a_ survey made by Bishop Kirkby, the treasurer, in +1284-85, of which the Yorkshire portion has been printed by the Surtees +Soc., ea. Skaife (1867), and other portions elsewhere; (4) _Taxatio +Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae_, 1291 (Rec. Corn., 1802), the +taxation of benefices by Nicholas IV. by which assessments of papal and +ecclesiastical taxes were long made. A very useful compilation, +recently undertaken under the direction of the deputy-keeper, is +_Inquisitions and Assessments relating to Feudal Aids_, 1284-1431, of +which three volumes, dealing in alphabetical order with the shires from +Bedford to Norfolk, are published Cheshire and Durham are entirely +omitted and Lancashire very scantily dealt with as exceptional +jurisdictions. The work is based upon the various lay records +enumerated above and other analogous inquests. Ancient compilations of +miscellaneous documents by officials of the Exchequer are exemplified +in _Liber Niger Scaccarii_ (ed. Hearne, 2 vols., 1774), and in the _Red +Book of the Exchequer_ (ed. H. Hall, 3 vols., Rolls ser., 1896). + +The records of the common law courts, the King's Bench and the Court of +Common Pleas, are of less direct historical value than those of the +Chancery and the Exchequer. Extraordinarily bulky, they require a good +deal of sifting to sort the wheat from the chaff. As yet a very small +proportion of them has been printed, and few have even been calendared. +A brief index of them has been compiled in the useful _List of Plea +Rolls_ (1894, _P.R.O. Lists and Indexes_, No. iv.). Of the various +types of these records the FEET OF FINES have been largely used by the +topographer and genealogist, and the feet of fines for many counties +during this period have been calendared, summarised, excerpted, and +printed, wholly or in part, by local archaeological societies, as for +example, W. FARRER'S _Lancashire Final Concords till 1307_ (Rec. Soc. +for Lancashire and Cheshire, 1899), and many others. The PLEA ROLLS are +of wider importance. For the days of Henry III. _Placita Coram Rege_ +(_i.e._, of the King's Bench) and the _Placita de Banco_ (_i.e._, of +the Common Pleas in later phrase) are classified as _Rotuli Curiae +Regis_, while the rolls of the local eyres for the same period are +called _Assize Rolls_. Separate series for each court begin with Edward +I. Specimens of most of these types have been printed. _Placitorum +Abbreviatio Ric. I.--Edw. II._ (Rec. Com., fol., 1811) is a careless +seventeenth century abstract. _Placita de Quo Warranto_, Edward I. to +Edward III. (Rec. Com., fol., 1818), is a record of local eyres of +particular importance for the reign of Edward I. as the corollary of +the Hundred Rolls and the attack on the local franchises. HUNTER'S +_Rotuli Selecti_ (Rec. Com., 1834) contains pleas of the reign of Henry +III. A typical year's pleadings of the King's Bench for 1297 is given +in full in PHILLIMORE's _Placita coram rege_, 25 Edward I. (1898, +British Rec. Soc.). Selections from the proceedings of the commission +appointed by Edward I. in 1289 to hear complaints against judges and +officials will shortly be published by Miss Hilda Johnstone and myself +for the Royal Historical Society. Of special importance are the plea +rolls issued by the Selden Society, which include for our period F.W. +MAITLAND'S _Select Pleas of the Crown_, 1200-1225; BAILDON'S _Select +Chancery Pleas_, 1364-1471; J.M. RIGG'S _Select Pleas of the Jewish +Exchequer_; and G.J. TURNER'S _Select Pleas of the Forest_; all have +translations and introductions, of which those of Professor Maitland +are of exceptional value. + +To these types must be added the records of the local courts, now +largely also in the Public Record Office, though vast numbers of court +rolls and manorial documents are still in private hands, and among the +archives of ecclesiastical and secular corporations. The Selden Society +has done excellent work in publishing such muniments; as in particular, +MAITLAND'S _Select Pleas in Manorial Courts_, vol. i., Henry III. and +Edward I., illustrating the social and legal life of a medieval +village; MAITLAND and BAILDON'S _Court Baron_; HUNTER' s _Leet +Jurisdiction of Norwich_; C. GROSS's _Select Cases from the Coroners' +Rolls_, 1265-1413. The records of the Bishopric of Durham, the County +Palatine of Chester, the Principality of Wales, and the Duchy of +Lancaster are deposited in the Public Record Office, and calendars and +lists scattered over the _Deputy-Keeper of the Records' Reports_ throw +some light on their contents. Unluckily these records of franchise are +incompletely preserved and often in bad condition. The best preserved +for our period are the Durham records, described in LAPSLEY'S County +_Palatine of Durham_, pp. 327-337 (Harvard Historical Studies); some of +the most important are printed in _Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense_, ed. +Hardy (Rolls Series, 4 vols.), which is also an Episcopal register. +Welsh records may be illustrated by the _Record of Carnarvon_ (Rec. +Corn., fol., 1838). Academic records are illustrated by the Oxford +_Munimenta Academica_ (ed. Anstey), Rolls Series. Municipal records are +very numerous and important; full particulars as to them can be found +in C. Gross's _Bibliography of British Municipal History_ (Harvard +Hist. Studies). Admirably edited examples of our wealth of municipal +records for this period are to be found in _Records of the Borough of +Nottingham_ (ed. W.H. Stevenson), vol. i. (1882); _Records of the +Borough of Leicester_ (ed. Mary Bateson), vols. i. and ii. (1899 and +1901); and _Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis_ (ed. H.T. Riley), Rolls +Series. The _Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission_ afford +much information as to every type of document in private or local +custody. Ireland and Scotland have archives of their own; but there are +no systematic records in the Register House at Edinburgh before the War +of Independence. Among the enterprises now abandoned of the Public +Record Office were _Calendars of Documents relating to Scotland and +Ireland_. The Scottish series covers all this period (vols. i.-iv.), +the Irish was stopped at 1307. They are derived, by a rather arbitrary +selection, from various classes of English records, but contain much +valuable material. JOSEPH STEVENSON'S _Documents illustrating the +History of Scotland_ (1286-1306) (Scot. Rec. Publications, 1870), and +PALGRAVE'S Documents _and Records illustrating the History of Scotland_ +(Rec. Corn., 1837), are useful for the reign of Edward I. as are for +limited periods of it the _Wallace Papers_ (Maitland Club, 1841) and +_Scotland in 1298_ (ed. Gough, 1888). + +A new class of records begins in the thirteenth century with BISHOPS' +REGISTERS. These, so far as they survive, are preserved in the diocesan +registries. Of printed registers for this period the most important is +MARTIN'S _Registrum Epistolarum J. Peckham_ (3 vols., Rolls Series, +1882-1886), the earliest surviving Canterbury register. Other registers +printed or calendared are HINGESTON-RANDOLPH'S _Exeter Registers_, +1257-1291, 1307-1326, and 1327-1369 (5 vols., 1889, etc.); excerpts, +particularly from the York registers, in RAINE'S _Letters from the +Northern Registers,_ Rolls Series; the two oldest York _Registers_ of +ARCHBISHOPS WALTER GREY (1215-1255) and WALTER GIFFARD (1266-1279), +both in Surtees Society; the Wells _Registers_ of BPS. DROKENSFORD, +1309-1329, and RALPH OF SHREWSBURY, 1329-1363 (Somerset Record +Society); the Worcester _Register_ of BP. GIFFARD, 1268-1302 (Worcester +Historical Society); the Winchester _Registers_ of BISHOPS SANDALE and +RIGAUD, 1316-1323, and WYKEHAM, 1366-1404 (Hampshire Record Society). A +society called the Canterbury and York Society has recently been +started to set forth episcopal registers systematically in print. It +has begun to publish the earliest Lincoln _Register_ extant, that of +Hugh of Wells, bishop of Lincoln, 1209-1235, whose _Liber Antiquus de +Ordinatione Vicariorum_ was printed in 1888. Analogous documents are +LUARD'S _Rob. Grosseteste Epistola_ (Roll Series, 1861), and the like. + +Monastic CARTULARIES are less important for general history in this +than in previous periods; large masses of monastic records of this age +have survived, not a tithe of which is to be found in DUGDALE'S +_Monasticon_. Some monastic records illustrate the domestic economy or +religious life of the house as KIRK'S _Accounts of the Obedientiaries +of Abingdon,_ 1322-1479 (Camden Soc.); J.W. CLARK's _Observances in use +at Barnwell Priory,_ 1295-1296(1897), and the like. + +For this period by far the most important series of foreign records is +the magnificent collections of the papacy. A summary of many of these +is to be found in BLISS, JOHNSON, and TWEMLOW's _Calendars of Papal +Registers illustrating the History of Great Britain and Ireland; Papal +Letters_ (vols. i.-iv., 1198-1404), and _Petitions to the Pope_ (vol. +i., 1342-1419), of special importance for the fourteenth century. These +useful calendars, however, do not always dispense us from consulting +the grand series of papal records published or analysed under the care +of the French School of Rome, which has not yet sufficiently been +studied in this country. This enterprise is divided into two sections. +In the first the _Registers from Gregory IX. to Benedict XI._ are in +course of publication; in the second the letters of the Avignon popes +relating to France are printed or analysed. Portions of the letters of +John XXII, Benedict XII, and Clement VI, are already issued. PRESSUTI +has published one volume of the _Registers of Honorius III_ (1888). +From the Vatican archives also comes THEINER'S _Vetera Monumenta Hib. +et Scot. Historiam illustrantia_ (1864), beginning in 1216. + +Extracts from various archives are found in such collections as RYMER's +_Foedera_ of which the Record Commission's edition in folio reaches +just beyond the end of this period; WILKINS'S _Concilia_ (1737), +containing many extracts from episcopal registers and canons of +councils; HADDAN and STUBBS'S _Councils_, vol. i. (for the thirteenth +century Welsh Church); CHAMPOLLION-FIGEAC'S _Lettres des Rois et des +Reines d'Angleterre_ (2 vols., 1847, _Doc. Inedits_); STUBBS'S _Select +Charters_ (Henry III. and Edward I.), and BEMONT'S excellent _Chartes +des Libertes anglaises_ in the _Collection de Textes pour l'Etude et +l'Enseignement de l'Histoire_. Equally useful is COSNEAU'S _Grands +Traites de la Guerre de Cent Ans_ also in the same _Collection de +Textes_. The _Statutes of the Realm_ (vol. i., fol., 1810) contains the +text of the laws and of the great charters of this period. + +Chronicles, with all their deficiencies, must ever be largely used as +sources of continuous historical narrative. For the thirteenth century +our chief reliance must still be placed upon the annals drawn up in +various monasteries, some based upon little more than gossip or +hearsay, others showing real efforts to acquire authentic information. +The greatest centre of historical composition in thirteenth-century +England was the Abbey of St. Alban's, whose chronicles form so +important a series that they may appropriately be considered as a +whole, before the other chroniclers are dealt with in approximately +chronological order. The fame of St. Alban's as a school of history had +its origin in the order of Abbot Simon (d. 1183) that the house should +always appoint a special historiographer. The first of these whose work +is now extant is ROGER OF WENDOVER (d. 1236), whose _Flores +Historiarum_ (ed. H.O. Coxe, Engl. Hist. Soc., 1842, or ed. Hewlett, +Rolls Series, 1886-89--this latter edition is unscholarly) becomes +original in 1216 and remains a chief source, copious and interesting, +if not always precise, until 1235. On Wendover's death, MATTHEW PARIS, +who took the monastic habit in 1217, became the official St. Alban's +chronicler. His great work, the _Chronica Majora_, is, up to 1235, +little more than an expansion and embellishment of Wendover. He +re-edited Wendover's work with a patriotic and anti-curialist bias +quite alien to the spirit of the earlier writer, whose version should +preferably be followed. Paris's book is a first-hand source from 1235 +to 1259. The narrative of the years 1254-1259 is considerably later in +composition to the history of the period 1235-1253, since on reaching +1253 Paris devoted himself to an abridgment of what he had already +written, called the _Historia Minor_. On completing this he resumed his +earlier book, and carried it on to the eve of his death in 1259, though +he did not live to complete its final revision; that was the work of +another monk who added a picture of his death-bed. The _Chronica +Majora_ has been excellently edited by Dr. H.R. Luard in seven volumes +for the Rolls Series, with elaborate introductions tracing the literary +history of the work and a magnificent index. The _Historia Minor_ has +been published in three volumes by Sir F. Madden in the Rolls Series. +Paris also wrote the lives of the abbots of his house up to 1255, a +work not now extant, and the basis of the later _Gesta Abbatum S. +Albani_, compiled by Thomas Walsingham (d. 1422?) and likewise issued +in the Rolls Series. The thirteenth century biographies have some +original value. Paris's _Life_ of _Stephen Langton_ is printed in +LIEBERMANN'S _Ungedruckte Anglo-Normannische Geschichtsquellen_ (1870). + +Paris, perhaps the greatest historian of the Middle Ages, has literary +skill, a vivid though prolix style, a keen eye for the picturesque, +bold and independent judgment, wonderful breadth and range, and an +insatiable curiosity. He was a man of the world, a courtier and a +scholar; he took immense pains to collect his facts from documents and +eye-witnesses, and had great advantages in this respect through the +intimate relations between his house and the court. Henry III himself +contributed many items of information to him. His details are +extraordinarily full, and he tells us almost as much about continental +affairs as about those of his own country. He wrote with too flowing a +pen to be careful about precision, and had too much love of the +picturesque to resist the temptation of embellishing a good story. His +narrative of continental transactions is in particular extremely +inexact. But the chief cause of his offending also gives special value +to his work; he was a man of strong views and his sympathies and +prejudices colour every line he wrote. His standpoint is that of a +patriotic Englishman, indignant at the alien invasions, at the +misgovernment of the king, the greed of the curialists and the +Poitevins, and with a professional bias against the mendicants. His +writings make his age live. + +The falling off in the St. Alban's work of the next generation is +characteristic of the decay of colour and detail which makes the +chroniclers of the age of Edward I. inferior to those of his father's +reign. The years after 1259 were briefly chronicled by uninspired +continuators of Matthew Paris, and the reputation of St. Alban's as a +school of history led to the frequent transference of their annals to +other religious houses, where they were written up by local pens. This +led to the dissemination of the series of jejune compilations which in +the ages of Edward I. and II. were widely spread under the name of +_Flores Historiarum_. Dr. Luard has published a critical edition of +these _Flores_ in three volumes of the Rolls Series, which range from +the creation to 1326, with an introduction determining their +complicated relations to each other. They are of no real value before +1259, and for the next sixty-seven years are only important by reason +of the defects of our other sources. No unity or colour can be expected +in books handed from house to house and kept up to date by jottings by +different hands. The ascription of these _Flores_ to a conjectural +Matthew of Westminster by earlier editors is groundless. Dr. C. +Horstmann, _Nova Legenda Anglie_, i., pp. xlix. _seq._(1901), maintains +that John of Tynemouth's _Historia Aurea_, still in manuscript, is the +official St. Alban's history from 1327 to 1377. + +In the reign of Edward I. the credit of the school of St. Alban's was +revived to some extent by WILLIAM RISHANGER, who made his profession in +1271 and died early in the reign of Edward II. To him is assigned a +chronicle ranging from 1259 to 1306 published by H.T. Riley in the +volume _Willelmi Rishanger et Anonymorum Chronica et Annales_ (Rolls +Series). Rishanger's authorship of the portion 1259-1272 is more +probable than that of the section 1272-1306, which, not compiled before +1327, is almost certainly by another hand, and the attribution of even +the earlier section to Rishanger is doubted by so competent an +authority as M. Bemont. The compilation is frigid and unequal. Of the +miscellaneous contents of Mr. Riley's volume, the short _Gesta Edwardi +I._ (pp. 411-423), of no great value, is clearly Rishanger's work. We +may also ascribe to Rishanger the _Narratio de Bellis apud Lewes et +Evesham_ (ed. Halliwell, Camden Soc., 1840), which tells the story of +the Barons' Wars with vigour, detail, and insight. Written by a true +inheritor of the prejudices of Matthew Paris, this chronicle is a +eulogy of Montfort. It was put together not before 1312. + +Another volume of _Chroniclers of St. Alban's_ was edited by Mr. Riley +for the Rolls Series in 1860. Three of its chronicles concern our +period. These are: (1) _Opus Chronicorum_, 1259-1296, a source of +"Rishanger's" chronicle; (2) J. DE TROKELOWE'S _Annales_, 1307-1322; +(3) H. DE BLANEFORDE'S _Chronica_ (1323). These last two are important +for Edward II.'s reign. After these works, historical writing further +declined at St. Alban's. At the end of our period, however, another +true disciple of Matthew Paris was found in the St. Alban's monk who +added to a jejune compilation for the years 1328 to 1370 a vivid and +personal narrative of the years 1376-1388, our chief source for the +history of the last year of Edward III.'s reign. In his bitter +prejudice against John of Gaunt and his clerical allies, such as +Wychffe and the mendicants, the monk is so outspoken that his book was +suppressed, and most manuscripts leave out the more offensive passages. +It has been edited by Sir E. Maunde Thompson as _Chronicon Angliae_, +1328-1388 (Rolls Series). Before that its contents, like that of other +St. Alban's annals, were partially known through the fifteenth century +compilation under the name of a St. Alban's monk, THOMAS OF WALSINGHAM, +whose _Historia Anglicana_ (2 vols., Rolls Series, ed. Riley) is not an +authority for our period. + +For the early years of Henry III. we have besides Wendover's _Flores_: +(i) The CANON OF BARNWELL'S continuation of Howden published in +STUBBS'S _Memoriale Fratris Walteri de Coventria_ (Rolls Series), +written in 1227 and copious for the years 1216-1225. (2) RALPH OF +COGGESHALL's _Chronicon Anglicanum_ (ed. Stevenson, Rolls Series), +ending at 1227 and important for its last twelve years. (3) The +_Histoire des Ducs de Normandie et des Rois d'Angleterre_, which, +published by F. Michel in 1840 (Soc. de l'histoire de France), was +first appreciated at its full value by M. Petit-Dutaillis in the _Revue +Historique_. tome 2 (1892). (4) The _Chronique de l'Anonyme de Bethune_ +printed in 1904 in vol. xxiv. of the _Recueil des Historiens de la +France_. (5) A French rhyming chronicle, the _Histoire de Guillaume le +Marechal_, discovered and edited by P. Meyer for the Soc. de l'histoire +de France. Written by a minstrel of the younger Marshal from materials +supplied by the regent's favourite squire, it is, though poetry and +panegyric, an important source for Marshal's regency. + +St. Alban's was not the only religious house that concerned itself with +the production of chronicles. Other _Annales Monastici_ have been +edited in five volumes (Rolls Series, vol. v. is the index) by Dr. +Luard. They are of special importance for the reign of Henry III. In +vol. i. the meagre annals of the Glamorganshire abbey of Margam only +extend to 1232. The _Annals of Tewkesbury_ are useful from 1200 to +1263, and specially for the history of the Clares, the patrons of that +house. The Annals of Burton-upon-Trent illustrate the years 1211 to +1261 with somewhat intermittent light, and are of unique value for the +period of the Provisions of Oxford, containing many official documents. +Vol. ii. includes the _Annals_ of _Winchester_ and _Waverley_. The +former, extending to 1277, though mainly concerned with local affairs +are useful for certain parts of the reign of Henry III., and +particularly for the years 1267-1277. The annals of the Cistercian +house of Waverley, near Farnham, go down to 1291. From 1259 to 1266 the +narrative is contemporary and valuable; from 1266 to 1275, and partly +from 1275 to 1277 it is borrowed from the Winchester Annals; from 1277 +to its abrupt end it is again of importance. The _Annals of Bermondsey_ +in vol. iii. are a fifteenth century compilation. The _Annals_ of the +Austin canons of _Dunstable_ are of great value, especially from the +year 1201, when they become original, down to 1242. This section is +written by RICHARD DE MORINS, prior of Dunstable from 1202 to 1242. +After his death the annals become more local, though they give a clear +narrative of the puzzling period 1258-1267. They stop in 1297. The +chief contents of vol. iv, are the parallel _Annals of Oseney_ and the +_Chronicle_ of THOMAS WYKES, a canon of that house, who took the +religious habit in 1282. To 1258 the two histories are very similar, +that of Wykes being slightly fuller. They then remain distinct until +1278, and again from 1280 to 1284 and 1285-1289. In the latter year +Wykes stops, while Oseney goes on with independent value until 1293, +and as a useless compilation till 1346. Wykes is of unique interest for +the Barons' Wars, as he is the only competent chronicler who takes the +royalist side. The Oseney writer, much less full and interesting, +represents the ordinary baronial standpoint. Wykes is occasionally +useful for the first years of Edward I.; after 1288 his importance +becomes small. The _Annals of Worcester_ are largely a compilation from +the Winchester Annals and the _Flores_; the local insertions have some +value for the period 1216-1258, and more for the latter part of the +reign of Edward I., at whose death they end. + +Other monastic chronicles of the thirteenth century, of small +importance, enumerated by Dr. Luard (_Ann. Mon._, iv., liii.) are not +yet printed in full. Extracts from many are given in PERTZ'S _Monumenta +Germaniae Hist. Scriptores_, vols. xxvii. and xxviii. The _Annales +Cestrienses_ (to 1297) have been edited by R.C. Christie (Record Soc. +of Lancashire and Cheshire); EDMUND OF HADENHAM'S _Chronicle_ (down to +1307) is given in part in WHARTON'S _Anglia Sacra_, and M. Bemont +publishes in an appendix to his _Simon de Montfort_ (pp. 373-380) a +valuable fragment of a _Chronicle_ of _Battle Abbey_ on the Barons' +Wars, 1258-1265. For the latter part of that period we have some useful +notices in HENRY OF SILEGRAVE's brief _Chronicle_ (ed. Hook, Caxton +Soc., 1849), whose close relationship to the _Battle Chronicle_ M. +Bemont has first indicated. To these may be added the _Annals of +Stanley Abbey_ (1202-1271) in vol. ii. of _Chronicles of Stephen, Henry +II. and Richard I._ (ed. Hewlett, Rolls Series, 1885), and the +_Chronicle_ of the Bury monk, JOHN OF TAXSTER or TAYSTER, which becomes +copious from the middle of the thirteenth century and ends in 1265; it +was partly printed in 1849 by Benjamin Thorpe as a continuation of +Florence of Worcester (English Historical Society), and the years +1258-1262 are best read in Luard's edition of Bartholomew Cotton (Rolls +Series). Taxster's work became the basis of several later compilations +of the eastern counties, including: (i) JOHN OF EVERSDEN, another Bury +monk, independent from 1265 to 1301, also printed without his name by +Thorpe, up to 1295, as a further continuation of Florence. (2) JOHN OF +OXNEAD, a monk of St. Benet's, Hulme, a reputed continuator of Taxster +and Eversden up to 1280, who adds a good deal of his own for the years +1280-1293, edited somewhat carelessly by Sir Henry Ellis as _Chronica +J. de Oxenedes_ (Rolls Series). (3) BARTHOLOMEW COTTON, a monk of +Norwich, whose _Historia Anglicana_, original from 1291 to 1298, and +specially important from 1285 to 1291, is edited by Luard (Rolls +Series). Some thirteenth and early fourteenth century Bury chronicles +are also in _Memorials_ of _St. Edmund's Abbey_, ed. T. Arnold (vols. +ii. and iii., Rolls Series). The _Chronicon de Mailros_ (Bannatyne +Club), from the Cistercian abbey of Melrose, goes to 1270; though +utterly untrustworthy, it may be noticed as almost the only Scottish +chronicle before the war of independence, and as containing a curious +record of the miracles of Simon de Montfort. + +Among the historians of Edward I.'s reign is WALTER OF HEMINGBURGH, +Canon of Guisborough in Cleveland (ed. H.C. Hamilton, 2 vols., Engl. +Hist. Soc.). His account of Henry III.'s reign is worthless, but from +1272 to 1312 his work is of great value, though never precise and full +of gaps. It contains many documents and is remarkable for its stirring +battle pictures. Hemingburgh probably laid down his pen when the +narrative ceases early in the reign of Edward II. Another writer, +identified by Horstmann with John of Tynemouth, carries the story from +1326 to 1346. + +In striking contrast to the flowing periods of Hemingburgh is the +well-written and chronologically digested _Annals_ of the Dominican +friar NICHOLAS TREVET or TRIVET, the son of a judge of Henry III.'s +reign (ed. Hog, Engl. Hist. Soc.). Beginning in 1138, his work assumes +independent value for the latter years of Henry III. and is of +first-rate importance for the reign of Edward I., at whose death it +concludes, though Trevet was certainly alive in 1324. It was largely +used by the later St. Alban's chroniclers. + +Franciscan historiography begins earlier than Dominican with the +remarkable tract of THOMAS OF ECCLESTON, written about 1260, _De +Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Anglia_, published with other Minorite +documents (including Adam Marsh's letters) in BREWER'S _Monumenta +Franciscana_ (Rolls Series, continued in a second volume by R. +Hewlett). The first important Franciscan chronicle, called the +_Chronicon de Lanercost_ (ed. J. Stevenson, Bannatyne Club, 2 vols.), +really comes from the Minorite convent of Carlisle. It covers the years +1201 to 1346. The early part is derived from the valueless chronicle of +Melrose, and its incoherent cult of the memory of Montfort does not +save it from the grossest errors in dealing with his history. It +becomes important for northern affairs from Edward I. onwards, giving +full details with a strong anti-Scottish bias. Another north-country +chronicle is Sir T. GREY'S _Scalacronica_ (ed. Stevenson, Maitland +Club, 1836), useful for the Scottish wars and for Edward III.'s reign +up to 1362. + +A sign of the times is the beginning of civic chronicles. The London +series alone is important for English history. It begins with the +_Liber de Antiquis Legibus_, or _Chronica Majorum et Vicecomitum +Londoniarum_ (1188-1274, ed. T. Stapleton, Camden Soc.). The work of +ARNOLD FITZTHEDMAR, alderman of the German merchants in London, it is +copious for the years 1236 to 1274, and is, with Wykes, the only +chronicle of the Barons' Wars written with a royalist bias. Fourteenth +century civic chronicles, based upon _Flores Historiarum_, and +continued independently, form the main contents of the two volumes of +_Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and II._ (ed. by Dr. Stubbs for +the Rolls Series). These are: (1) _Annales Londonienses_, perhaps +written by ANDREW HORN, chamberlain of London, and compiler of the +_Liber Horn_; they have much general value for the period 1301 to 1316, +and deal more narrowly with London history from 1316 to 1330, when they +conclude. (2) _Annales Paulini_, 1307-1341, compiled by one of the +clergy of St. Paul's, but not by Adam Murimuth. These take up Dr. +Stubbs's first volume. The second contains: (1) JOHN OF LONDON'S +_Commendatio Lamentabilis in Transitu magni Regis Edwardi quarti_, a +funeral eulogy containing the most elaborate contemporary analysis of +Edward's character. (2) The CANON OF BRIDLINGTON'S _Gesta Edwardi de +Carnarvon_, with a continuation down to the death of Edward III., of +little value after 1339. It has frequent reference to the vaticinations +of the local prophet, John of Bridlington, and was not put in its +present shape before 1377. Its first part is based on earlier sources, +and it is, for lack of better, a prime authority for north-country +history and Anglo-Scottish relations; the continuation contains the +best account of Edward Balliol's attempts on the Scottish throne. (3) +_Vita Edwardi II._, from 1307 to 1325, attributed by Hearne on slight +grounds to a MONK OF MALMESBURY, with many notices of the history of +Gloucestershire and Bristol, of which the famous rising is described at +length. The writer is the most human of the annalists of the reign, +prolix, self-conscious, moralising, and somewhat incoherent. He is the +most outspoken of all the fourteenth century critics of the Roman +curia, and has more insight than most of his contemporaries. + +The following are of primary importance for the early years of Edward +III.; it is significant that they are nearly all secular, not monastic, +in origin. (1) _Continuatio Chronicorum_, 1303-1347, by ADAM MURIMUTH, +a canon of St. Paul's much employed by Edward III. (ed. E.M. Thompson +in Rolls Series), a mere continuation of the _Flores_ until 1325, +thence enlarged from personal sources, but still meagre until 1337, +when it becomes a first-rate authority to 1346. Murimuth's adoption of +Michaelmas day as the beginning of the year has often confused those +who have imitated him. Chief among these is (2) GEOFFREY LE BAKER of +Swinbrooke, an Oxfordshire man, and like Murimuth, a secular clerk, +whose _Chronicon_ (ed. E.M. Thompson), beginning in 1303 on the basis +of Murimuth, has independent value after 1324, and is noteworthy for +its touching details of Edward II.'s fall and death. It ends in 1356 +with an excellent account of the battle of Poitiers. The early part of +Baker's chronicle, widely circulated as _Vita et Mors Edwardi II._, was +previously assigned to Sir Thomas de la Moor, and was so edited by +Stubbs, but Sir E.M. Thompson showed clearly that this Oxfordshire +knight was Baker's patron and not the writer of a chronicle. With many +defects, Baker can tell a story picturesquely. (3) ROBERT OF AVESBURY, +a canon lawyer, wrote _De mirabilibus Gestis Edwardi III._, of special +importance for the war from 1339 to 1356, and containing many state +documents. It is edited by E.M. Thompson in the same volume as +Murimuth. (4) HENRY KNIGHTON, Canon of Leicester, wrote a _Chronicle_ +about 1366 which is valuable for the period 1336-1366 and includes the +best contemporary account of the Black Death. The latest edition by +Lumby in the Rolls Series is not a scholarly work. (5) _Eulogium +Historiarum_ (ed. Haydon, Rolls Series) is contemporary and valuable +for 1356-1366 only. There is a great dearth of English chronicles for +the latter years of Edward III. The signal exception is the important +St. Alban's _Chronicon Angliae_ already mentioned. + +In the age of Edward III. the _Flores Historiarum_ were superseded by +the _Polychronicon_ (often called the "Brute" after WACE'S _Brut +d'Angleterre_), the voluminous compilation (to 1352) of RANDOLPH +HIGDEN, a monk of Chester (edited by Babington and Lumby, Rolls +Series). ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, PETER LANGTOFT, and ROBERT MANNYNG have +been referred to elsewhere. The first is of some original value for the +Barons' Wars and Edward I., while Langtoft, a Yorkshire canon specially +interested in the Scottish wars, is a contemporary for all Edward I.'s +reign. Among rhyming chronicles, French in tongue but English in +origin, may be mentioned _Le Siege de Carlaverock_, 1300 (ed. Nicolas, +1828), of value for heraldry, and CHANDOS HERALD'S _Prince Noir_ (ed. +H.O. Coxe, whose edition was pillaged by F. Michel for his more +accessible version of 1883). _L'Histoire de Foulques Fitz Warin_ (d. +1260?), a picturesque marcher hero, a prose romance of the end of the +thirteenth century, can be read in Stevenson's edition of COGGESHALL +(Rolls Series), or Englished by A. Kemp-Welch (1904). + +No contemporary Scottish chronicles of importance deal with the War of +Independence, though fairly full Scottish versions of it exist in later +books. The earliest of these is the _Bruce_ of JOHN BARBOUR, Archdeacon +of Aberdeen. Written in 1375 at the instigation of Robert II., +Barbour's spirited verses are inspired by patriotic rather than +historic motives. His details are minute, but impossible to control by +other sources, and he is more valuable as the epic poet of Scottish +liberty than as an historical authority. He is edited by Skeat (Early +English Text Soc.), Jamieson, and Innes. The earliest prose Scottish +chronicle, that of JOHN FORDUN, who died about 1384 (ed. Skene, in +_Historians of Scotland_), is of value for the fourteenth century. +ANDREW WYNTONN'S _Originale_, a metrical history written in the +fifteenth century, has next to no authority until the end of this +period (ed. Laing, in _Historians of Scotland_), BLIND HARRY'S +_Wallace_, written in 1488, is romance not history. + +Wales is more fortunate than Scotland in preserving contemporary +thirteenth century annals, of which a Latin chronicle, _Annales +Cambriae_, extending to 1288, and a Welsh one, _Brut y Tywysogion_ +(i.e., _Chronicle of the Princes_), down to 1278, are edited by J. +Williams in the Rolls Series, the latter with an English translation. A +more critical version of the Welsh text of the _Brut_ is that of J. +RHYS and J.G. EVANS' _Red Book of Hergest_, vol. ii. (1890). + +The close relations between England and France for the whole of this +period render the French chronicles by far the most important of +foreign sources for English history. They are enumerated in detail by +Auguste Molinier in vols. iii. (up to 1328) and iv. (after 1328) of the +first part of _Les Sources de l'Histoire de France (Manuels de +Bibliographie historique_). The chief French chronicles of the period +1226-1328 are collected in vols. xx.-xxiv. of the _Recueil des +Historiens de la France_ begun by Dom Bouquet. Some of them are of +special importance for English history. For Anglo-Netherlandish +relations under Edward I. see _Annales Gandenses_ (1296-1310), "la +chronique la plus remarquable de la fin du xiiie siecle," the French +_Chronique Artesienne_ (1295-1304), and the _Chronique Tournaisienne_ +(1296-1314), all edited by F. Funck-Brentano in the already mentioned +_Collection de Textes_. For the Hundred Years' War the French +chroniclers are indispensable, especially for military history. The +most famous of these writers, JEAN FROISSART, has been characterised in +my text (p. 419). He can best be studied in Luce and Raynouart's +excellent edition for the Soc. de l'Histoire de France (tomes i.-viii., +1869-1888) which completes the story up to Edward III.'s death. Luce's +careful "sommaire et commentaire critique" often affords means of +checking Froissart by other sources. The magnificent volumes of indexes +of Kervyn de Lettenhove's complete edition (vols. XX.-XXV.) are still +of immense use, though his text and comments are inferior to those of +Luce, Froissart's spirit may well be caught in Lord Berners's racy +English translation (Tudor Translations), or in G.C. Macaulay's useful +abridgment. The three redactions of Froissart's first book (from 1327 +to 1373-1377), which is all that concerns our period, have been clearly +distinguished by Luce. (1) The first edition, written about 1373, at +the request of Count Robert of Namur, is inspired by an English bias. +Up to 1360 it is largely derived from the chronicle of JEAN LE BEL, +Canon of St. Lambert of Liege; after that date it is original. (2) The +second edition, only represented by two MSS., of which one is +incomplete, is a modification of the first with a French bias. The +earlier part is more independent of Jean le Bel. (3) The third edition, +preserved in a single MS., ends with the death of Philip VI in 1350, +and, written after 1400, is even more hostile to England than the +second. The best edition of Jean le Bel is by Polain for the Academie +royale de Belgique. + +A few of the more important French chronicles after 1328 may be +mentioned shortly. (1) _Grands Chroniques de France_ (ed. Paulin +Paris). Original from 1350 to 1377, a work of first-rate importance, +where, if truth is altered, it is altered deliberately from political +motives. (2) JEAN DE VENETTE, 1340-1368, written with a popular bias, +and partly favourable to Charles of Navarre (edited as a supplement to +Geraud's edition of Guillaume de Nangis, ii., 178-378, Soc. de l'Hist. +de France). (3) _Chronique Normande du xiv'e siecle_, 1337-1372 (ed. +Molinier, Soc. de l'Hist. de France, 1882), exact and very important +for the wars 1337 to 1372. (4) _Chronique des quatre premiers Valois_ +(Soc. de l'Hist. de France). (5) CUVELIER'S poetical _Vie de Bertrand +du Guesclin_ (2 vols., _Doc. inedits_). Further details can be found in +Molinier's bibliography. Netherlandish sources for the Hundred Years' +War are summarised in PIRENNE'S _Bibliographie de l'Histoire de +Belgique_ (1895). Of special importance is JAN VAN KLERK'S _Van den +Derden Edewaert Rym Kronyk_. (1840), useful for 1337-1341, and written +with an English bias. + +The unofficial legal literature of the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries is of exceptional variety and value. Many lawyers' treatises +throw light on matters far beyond legal technicalities. HENRY OF +BRACTON or BRATTON'S _De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae_ +illustrates the union of English and Roman juridical ideas +characteristic of the age of Henry III. It has been edited badly by Sir +T. Twiss in six volumes (Rolls Series), and some portions well by +Professor Maitland in his _Select passages from Bracton and Azo_ +(Selden Soc.). Maitland's _Bracton's Note Book_ includes extracts from +plea rolls seemingly made by Bracton. Bracton's book on the laws was +translated, condensed, and rearranged by a writer of the next +generation called Britton. It may be studied in a modern edition in +NICHOLLS'S _Britton on the laws of England_, while _Fleta_, an almost +contemporary Latin law book, must be read in Selden's seventeenth +century edition. Another thirteenth century law-book, _Le Mirroir des +Justices_, has been edited by Maitland and W.J. Whittaker for the +Selden Society. From Edward I.'s time onwards unofficial reports of +trials called YEAR BOOKS, written in French, become valuable for their +vividness and detail, and for the light which they throw on the more +technical records of the plea rolls. Many of them are printed in +unsatisfactory seventeenth century editions, but the Year Books of five +of Edward I.'s regnal years, between 1292 to 1307, together with the +Year Book of 11-12 Edward III., are accessible in A.J. Horwood's +editions in the Rolls Series. L.O. Pike has also edited in the Rolls +Series the _Year books of Edward III._ from 1338 to 1345, and +Maitland's _Year books of Edward II._ for the Selden Society are the +first two instalments of a scheme for publishing the Year Books of the +reign. Besides their legal value, the Year Books are an almost unworked +mine for social and economic, and often even political and +ecclesiastical, history. + +Of literary aids to history T. WRIGHT'S _Political Songs_ (Camden Soc.) +illustrate this period to the reign of Edward II. One of Wright's +pieces has been more elaborately edited in C.L. KINGSFORD'S Song of +_Lewes_ (1890), and C. Hardwick published a _Poem on the Times OF +Edward II._ for the Percy Soc. (1849). With Edward III. such literature +becomes copious. Of special importance are T. Wright's _Political POEMS +and SONGS FROM the accession of Edward III._, vol. i. (Rolls Series, +1859), J. Hall's _Poems of_ LAURENCE MINOT, Skeat's editions of CHAUCER +and LANGLAND, and G.C. Macaulay's edition of GOWER. The Latin works of +Wycliffe, published by the Wycliffe Society, mainly belong to the +succeeding period, but _De Dominio Divino_ and _De Civili Dominio_, as +well as some tracts printed in the appendix to LEWIS'S _Life of Wiclif_ +and in Shirley's edition of _Fasciculi Zizanioram_ (Rolls Series), were +written before 1377. + +Of modern works treating of this period, many monographs, dealing with +particular points, have been mentioned in notes in the course of the +narrative. Of general guides to the period the best by far are Stubbs +and Pauli. STUBBS'S _Constitutional History_ (vol. ii.) is as valuable +for the chapters summarising the political history as for the more +strictly constitutional matter. R. PAULI'S _Geschichte von England_, +iii., 489-896, and iv., 1-505, 716-741, remains, after half a century, +the fullest and most satisfactory working up in detail of these reigns, +though the great additions to our material make parts of it a somewhat +unsafe guide. It can be supplemented for particular aspects of history +by the following: For legal history, POLLOCK and MAITLAND'S _History of +English Law before the time of Edward I._, especially vol. i., book i. +(chapters iv.-vi.), and book ii.; and most of vol. ii.; to which should +be added the prefaces by Prof. Maitland and others to the volumes of +the Selden Society. MAITLAND'S _Roman Canon Law in the Church of +England_ (1898) is also of great importance. For economic history, W.J. +ASHLEY'S _Economic History_, parts i. and ii.; W. CUNNINGHAM's _Growth +of English Industry and Commerce, Early and Middle Ages_; VINOGRADOFF'S +_Villainage in England_, S. DOWELL'S _History of Taxation_ (2nd +edition), H. HALL'S _Customs Revenue of England_, and, as a collection +of materials, J.E. THOROLD ROGERS' _History of Agriculture and Prices_, +vols. i. and ii. For ecclesiastical history, W.R.W. STEPHENS'S _History +of the English Church, 1066-1272_; W.W. CAPES'S _History of the English +Church in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries_, and F. MAKOWER'S +_The Constitutional History and Constitution of the Church of England_ +(translated from the German). For academic history, DENIFLE'S +_Entstehung der Universitaeten des Mittelalters bis 1400_, especially +pp. 1-40, 237-251 (Oxford) and pp. 367-376 (Cambridge), HAUREAU'S +_Histoire de la Philosophie scholastique_ and RASHDALL'S _Universities +of the Middle Ages_, i., 1-74, and ii., part ii. (Oxford and +Cambridge). For military history, KOeHLER'S _Entwickelung des +Kriegswesens in der Ritterzeit_, OMAN'S _History of the Art of War in +the Middle Ages_, CLARK'S _Mediaeval Military Architecture_, and (above +all) J.E. MORRIS'S _Welsh Wars of Edward I_. For naval history, +NICOLAS'S _History of the Royal Navy_, and C. DE LA RONCIERE'S +_Histoire de la Marine Francaise_. For particular reigns the following +may be found useful: For Henry III., PETIT-DUTAILLIS'S _Etude sur Louis +VIII._, GASQUET'S _Henry III. and the Church_ (1905), BEMONT'S _Simon +de Montfort_, PROTHERO'S _Simon de Montfort_, and BLAAUW'S _Barons' +Wars_ (2nd ed., 1871). For the reign of Edward I., SEELEY's _Life and +Reign of Edward I._ (1872), my _Edward I._; GOUGH'S _Itinerary of +Edward I._, MAXWELL'S _Robert the Bruce_ (Heroes of the Nations), and +MORRIS'S above-mentioned _Welsh Wars of Edward I._ For some aspects of +Edward II.'s reign, STUBBS'S prefaces to _Chronicles of Edward I. and +Edward II._ are of special value. For Edward III.'s reign, BARNES's +_History of Edward III._ (1688) is not quite superseded by LONGMAN'S +_Life and Times of Edward III._ (2 vols., 1869), and MACKINNON'S +_History of Edward III._ (1900). For the Hundred Years' War, E. +DEPREZ'S _Preliminaires de la Guerre de Cent Ans_ (1328-1342) (Bibl. de +l'Ecole francaise de Rome, 1902) for diplomatic history, and DENIFLE's +_Desolation des Eglises et Monasteres de la France pendant la Guerre de +Cent Ans_ (ii., part i., 1899) for the best general survey of the war +to 1380. See also LUCE'S _La Jeunesse de Bertrand de Guesclin and La +France pendant la Guerre de Cent Ans_, and (for Brittany) A. DE LA +BORDERIE'S _Histoire de Bretagne_ (1899). The end of Edward III.'s +reign is illustrated by S. ARMITAGE SMITH'S _John of Gaunt_ (1904), J. +LECHLER'S _Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation_ (2 vols., +1873), also translated, not very adequately, _Wycliffe and His English +Precursors_ (1878 and 1881), F.D. MATTHEW'S introduction to _Wyclif's +English Works_ (Early English Text Society), and R.L. POOLE'S +_Illustrations of the History of Mediaeval Thought_ (1884), and +_Wycliffe_ (1889). G.M. TREVELYAN's _England in the Age of Wycliffe_ +(1899) is interesting but not always very scholarly. + +Some account of the general foreign history of the period can be found +in LAVISSE and RAMBAUD'S _Histoire generale_ (tomes ii. and iii.), +LOSERTH'S _Geschichte des spaeteren Mittelalters_ (good bibliographies), +and, briefly, in my _Papacy and Empire_ (up to 1273), and LODGE'S +_Close of the Middle Ages_ (after 1273). For French history of the +period LAVISSE'S _Histoire de France_ (iii., pt. i., 1137-1226, by A. +LUCHAIRE; iii., pt. ii., 1226-1328, by C.V. LANGLOIS, and iv., pt. i., +1328-1422, by A. COVILLE) cover the whole of the period. More detailed +works are, PETIT-DUTAILLIS'S _Louis VIII._, E. BERGER'S _Blanche de +Castile_, WALLON'S _Louis IX._, BOUTARIC'S _Saint Louis et Alfonse de +Poitiers_, C.V. LANGLOIS'S _Philippe le Hardi_, BOUTARIC'S _France sous +Philippe le Bel_, LEHUGEUR'S _Philippe le Long_, PETIT'S _Charles de +Valois_, FOURNIER'S _Royaume d'Arles et de Vienne_, L. DELISLE'S _Hist. +de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte_, and (for the south) the new edition of DE +VIC and VAISSETE's _Hist. generale de Languedoc_. Much recent work has +been done by French scholars towards the reconstruction of the external +history of England during the whole of our period. For the Low +Countries, PIRENNE'S _Hist. de Belgique_, ii., ASHLEY'S _James and +Philip van Artevelde_, and VANDER KINDERE'S _Le Siecle des Arteveldt_. +PAULI is good for the relations of England and Germany. + +Maps illustrating the period are to be found in POOLE'S _Oxford +Historical Atlas_, LONGNON'S _Atlas historique de la France_, and +SPRUNER-MENKE'S _Historischer Hand-Atlas_; special maps of Edward I.'s +Scottish expeditions in GOUGH'S _Itinerary of Edward I._, of Edward +III.'s and the Black Prince's campaigns in THOMPSON'S _Chronicon +Galfridi le Baker_, and KERVYN'S _Froissart_, of John of Gaunt's in +ARMITAGE-SMITH's _John of Gaunt_, and of Wales in the thirteenth +century in _Owens College Historical Essays_. VIDAL DE LA BLACHE'S +_Tableau de la Geographie de la France_ (LAVISSE, _Hist. de France_, +i., pt. i.) is instructive for the physical features of the campaigns +of the Hundred Years' War. + +Further details as to English authorities, ancient and modern, can be +found in GROSS'S excellent Sources _and Literature of English History_ +(1900). The _Monumenta Germaniae Historica_, _Scriptores_, vols. +xxvii., xxviii., consist of excerpts from English writers of the +twelfth and thirteenth centuries; the introductions (in Latin) by Pauli +and Liebermann contain noteworthy estimates of the works from which the +extracts are taken. + +NOTE TO PAGES 390-92. + +My reasons for my account of the battle of Poitiers demand longer +explanation than can be given in a footnote. Like most modern writers, +I have based my narrative on the _Chronicle_ of Geoffrey le Baker as +expounded by Sir E.M. Thompson, though I agree with Professor Oman in +holding that Baker's "ampla profundaque vallis et mariscus, torrente +quodam irriguus," must be the valley of the Miausson. I also, however, +agree with Father Denifle in not setting great store on Chandos Herald, +though I would not reject him altogether, as all prudent writers must +reject Froissart. My conjectural account of the movements of the armies +is an attempt to combine Baker with what may be true in the Herald. I +hope elsewhere to be able to justify my narrative at length. + + + + +INDEX. + +Aachen. +Abbeville. +Aberconway Abbey. +Aberdeen. +Aberdeen, John Barbout, Archdeacon of. See Barbour, John. +Abergavenny, town, castle and lordship. +Abergavenny, Lords of. See Hastings. +Aberystwyth. +Abingdon. +Abingdon, Edmund of. See Rich, Edmund. +Acre. +Acre, Joan of. See Joan. +Acton Burnell. +Adolf of Nassau, King of the Romans. +Adour, the river. +Agen. +Agenais, the. +Agnelius of Pisa. +Aigueblanche, Peter of, Bishop of Hereford. +Aiguillon. +Albemarle, William of Fors, Earl of. +Albemarle and Devon, Isabella of Fors, Countess of. +Albigenses, the. +Albert the Great. +Albret, Lord of. +Aldgate. +Alencon, Count of. +Alexander II., King-of Scots. +Alexander III., King of Scots. +Alexander, son of Alexander III of Scotland. +Alexander IV., Pope. +Alexander of Hales. See Hales. +Alfonso X., King of Castile. +Alfonse of France, Count of Poitiers. +Alice, Countess of Lancaster. +Alice of Lusignan. +Aliens. +Almaine, Henry of. See Henry of Almaine. +"Almaines, The." +Almond, the river. +Alnwick Castle. +Alton Castle. +Amadeus III., Count of Savoy. +Amesbury. +Amice, mother of the elder Simon de Montfort. +Amiens, + cathedral; + mise of; + treaty of. +Amory, Roger of. +Anagni. +Andrew, St. +Anne of Brittany. +Angers. +Anglesey. +Anglia, East. +Angouleme. +Angouleme, Isabella, Countess of. See Isabella, Queen of England. +Angoumois. +Anjou. +Anjou, Charles of. See Charles. +Anjou, Louis, Duke of. See Louis. +Annandale. +Antrim. +Antwerp. +Apulia. +Aquinas, St. Thomas. +Aquitaine, See also Gascony. +Aquitaine, Dukes of. See under the Kings of England. +Aquitaine, Edward, Prince of. See Edward the Black Prince. +Aquitaine, Eleanor of. +Aragon. +Aragon, James, King of. See James. +Aragon, Peter, King of. See Peter. +Archers, + English; + Welsh; + Scottish. +Architecture, + gothic; + ecclesiastical; + domestic; + military; + "decorated" style, "flamboyant"; + "perpendicular"; + Norman; + French. +Arden, forest of. +Argenton. +Aristotle. +Armagh, Archbishop of. See Fitzralph, Richard. +Armagnac, Counts of. +Armagnac, John, Count of. +Arnold, T., his edition of _Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey_. +Art. _See_ also Architecture. +Artevelde, James van. +Arthur I., Count of Brittany. +Arthur II., Duke of Brittany. +Arthur, King. +Arthurian Legend, the _Articuli super cartas_. +Artois. +Artois, Blanche of. See Blanche. +Artois, Maud, Countess of. See Maud. +Artois, Robert of. See Robert. +Arundel, the Countess of. +Arundel, Edmund Fitzalan, Earl of. +Arundel, Richard Fitzalan, Earl of. +Arvon. +Ashley, W.J., + his _Economic History_; + his _James and Philip van Artevelde_. +Assisi. +Athenry, battle of. +Athis, treaty of. +Athol, David of Strathbolgie, Earl of. +Auberoche, battle of. +Aubigny, Philip of. +Aude, the river. +Audley, Hugh of. +Audley, Earl of Gloucester. See Gloucester. +Audley, James (1258). +Audley, James (d. 1369). +Audleys of Shropshire. +Audrehem, Marshal. +Aumale, Counts of, See also Albemarle. +Auray; + battle of; + Church of St. Michael. +_Ausculta, Fili_, bull. +Austin Canons of Lanercost. +Austin Friars. +Austria. +Austria, Duke of. +Auvergne. +Auvergne, Counts of. +Auvezere, the river. +Avalon, Hugh of. See Hugh, St. +Avesbury, Robert of, chronicler. +Avesnes; + house of. +Avesnes, William of. See William, +Count of Hainault. +Avignon, + the papal court at; + records of Popes of. +Avon, the river. +Axholme. +Ayermine, William, Bishop of Norwich. +Aymer of Valence, Bishop of Winchester. +Aymer of Valence, Earl of Pembroke. See Pembroke. +Ayr. + +"Babylonish Captivity, the." +Bacon, Roger. +Bacon, Robert. +Badenoch, John Comyn, lord of, See Comyn. +Badlesmere, Bartholomew, Lord. +Badlesmere, Lady. +Baker, Geoffrey le, _Chronicle_ of. +"Balance of Power," the. +Baldock (town). +Baldock, Ralph, chancellor and bishop of London. +Baldock, Robert, chancellor. +Baldwin, Count of Flanders, Latin Emperor of the East. +Ball, John, +Balliol, Edward, eldest son of King John of Scotland. +Balliol, John (d. 1269). +Balliol, John, lord of Barnard Castle, and of Galloway, son of the above, + See also John, King of Scots. +Balsham, Hugh, Bishop of Ely. +Barnburgh Castle. +Bampton in the Bush. +Banaster, Adam. +Banbury. +Banff. +Bankers, + foreign; + Jewish; + Italian. +Bannatyne club, publications of the. +Bannock, the river. +Bannockburn, battle of. +Bar, Joan of. See Joan. +Bar, Count of. +Barbavera. +Barbezieux. +Barbour, John, _Bruce_. +Bardi, the. +Bardolf, William. +Barfleur. +Bar-gate, the, Lincoln. +Barnard Castle. +Barnes's _History of Edward III_. +Barnwell. +Barnwell, Canon of. +Barons' war, the. +Barres, William des. +Basset, Gilbert. +_Bastides_. +_Bastilles_. +Bath. +Bath and Wells, Bishop of. See Burnell, Robert; Drokensford; + Shrewsbury, Ralph of, and Harewell, John. +Battle Abbey, chronicle of. +Battles of ---- + Athenry. + Auberoche. + Auray. + Ayr. + Bannockburn. + Boroughbridge. + Bourgneuf Bay. + Cassel. + Chalon. + Chesterfield. + Cocherel. + Corte Nuova. + Courtrai. + Crecy. + Dupplin Moor. + Dunbar. + Dundalk. + Evesham. + Falkirk. + Halidon Hill. + La Rochelle. + Lewes. + Lincoln. + Lisieux. + Madog's Field. + Maes Madog. + Mauron. + Methven. + Morgarten. + Morlaix. + Myton. + Najera. + Neville's Cross. + Orewyn Bridge. + Poitiers. + Pontvallain. + Sandwich. + Sluys. + Stirling Bridge. + The Thirty. + Winchelsea. +Bayonne. +Bazas. +Bearn. +Bearn, Gaston, Viscount of. See Gaston. +Beatrice, daughter of Henry III. and wife of John II. of Brittany. +Beatrice, sister of Amadeus III., Count of Savoy, wife of Raymond + Berengar IV., Count of Provence. +Beaucaire. +Beauce, the. +Beauchamp, Thomas. See Warwick, Earl of. +Beauchamp, William. See Warwick, Earl of. +Beauchamps of Warwick, the. +Beaumanoir, commandant at Josselin. +Beaumaris Castle. +Beaumont, Henry de. +Beaumont, Louis de, Bishop of Durham. +Beaumont, Robert of, Earl of Leicester. See Leicester. +Beaumonts, the. +Beauvais. +Becket, Archbishop, St. Thomas. +Bedale, 182. +Bedford, Castle of; + scutage of. +Bedfordshire. +Begard, Abbey of. +Beghards, the. +Beguines, the. +Behuchet, Nicholas. +Bek, Anthony, Bishop of Durham. +Bek, Thomas, Bishop of St. David's. +Belleville. +Bembro, Robert. +Bemont, Charles; + his _Roles Gascons_; + his _Chartes des libertes anglaises_; + his Simon _de Montfort_. +Benauge. +Bene, Amaury of. +Benedict XI. +Benedict XII. +Bengeworth, near Evesham. +Bentley, Sir Walter. +Bere Castle. +Bereford, Sir Simon. +Berg, Count of. +Berger's _Blanche de Castile_. +Bergerac. +Berkeley Castle. +Berkeleys, the. +Berkhampstead, siege of. +Berkshire. +Berkstead, Stephen, Bishop of Chichester. +Bermingham, John of. See Louth, Earl of. +Bernabo, Visconti, Lord of Milan. +Berners, Lord, translator of Froissart. +Berri, John, Duke of. +Bertrand, Cardinal. See Montfavence. +Berwick. +Bethune, + _Chronique de l'Anonyme de_. +Bibliographies, historical +Bidassoa, the. +Bigod, the house of. +Bigod, Hugh, justiciar. +Bigod, Roger, earl marshal and Earl of Norfolk. See Norfolk, Earl of. +Bigorre, county of. +Biscay, Bay of. +Blaauw's _Barons' Wars_. +Black Prince, the. See Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. +Black death, the. +Blacklow Hill. +Blanche of Artois, Queen of Navarre. +Blanche of Bourbon, wife of Peter the Great of Castile. +Blanche of Castile, Queen of Louis VIII. and regent of France. +Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster. +Blanche taque, the, in estuary of Somme. +Blaneforde's _Chronicle_ +Blankenberghe. +Blavet, the river. +Blaye. +Bliss' _Calendars of Papal Registers_. +Blois. +Blois, Charles of. See Charles. +Blois, Theobald, Count of. +Blount, Sir Thos., +Blundeville, Randolph of, Earl of Chester. See Chester, Randolph, Earl of. +Boccaccio. +Bohemia. +Bohemia, Ottocar, King of. +Bohun, Humphrey, Earl of Hereford. See Hereford. +Bohun, Humphrey of Brecon, son of the Earl of Hereford. +Bohun, Margaret. +Bohun, William, Earl of Northampton. See Northampton. +Bohuns, the. +Bollers, house of. +Bologna. +Bolton. +Bonhommes, order of. +Boniface VIII., Pope. +Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Bordeaux; + truce of. +Bordeaux, Bertrand de Goth, Archbishop of. See Clement V. +Bordelais, the. +Borderie's _Histoire de Bretagne_. +Boroughbridge; battle of. +Boroughs; growth of; representation of. +Bothwell Castle. +Boulogne. +Bouquet, Dom, his _Recueil des Historiens de la France_. +Bourbon, Blanche of. See Blanche. +Bourbonnais. +Bourchier, Sir Robert. +_Bourg_, of Limoges, the. +Bourg. +Bourgneuf, Bay of. +Bourne. +Boutaric's _St. Louis et Alfonse de Poitiers_; + his _France sous Philippe le Bel_ +Bouvines, battle of. +Brabant. +Brabant, Dukes of. See John II., John III., and Wenceslaus. +Brabant, Mary of. See Mary, Queen of France. +Brabazon, Roger de, chief justice after 1295. +Bracton, Henry of, + his book _De Legibus_; + his Note Book. +Bradwardine, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Brandenburg. +Brandenburg, Elector of. +Brantingham, Thomas, treasurer, Bishop of Exeter. +Brantome. +Braose, house of. +Braose, William de, + his daughter. +Bratton, Henry. See Bracton. +Braybrook, Henry de. +Breaute, Falkes de. +Brechin. +Brecon. +Bren, Llewelyn. See Llewelyn. +Brentwood. +Bremen. +Brest. +_Bretagne bretonnante, La_. +Bretigni, treaty of, See also Calais, treaty of. +Bretons. See Brittany. +Brewer's _Monumenta Franciscana_. +Bridgnorth. +Bridlington. +Bridlington, Canon of, his _Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon_. +Bridlington, John of. +Brie. +Brigham, treaty of. +Bristol, + council meets at; + confirmation of the Great Charter at; + castle of; + channel; + disturbances at. +Brittany, + Celtic; + French. +Brittany, Counts, afterwards Dukes, of. See Arthur I., Arthur II., + John II., John III., John IV., John V., Peter Mauclerc. +Brittany, Constance of, wife of Randolph of Chester. + See Constance of Brittany. +Brittany, John of, Earl of Richmond. See John of Brittany, Earl of + Richmond. +Britton, lawyer, + his treatise _On the Laws of England_. +Bromfield. +Brotherton, Thomas of, Earl of Norfolk. See Thomas of Brotherton. +Bruce, David. See David II., King of Scots. +Bruce, Edward, "King of Ireland." +Bruce, Elizabeth, Queen of Scots. See Elizabeth. +Bruce, Joan, Queen of Scots. See Joan. +Bruce, Robert, Lord of Annandale, + claimant to the Scots throne (d.1295). +Bruce, Robert, Earl of Carrick, son of the above (d. 1304). +Bruce, Robert, Earl of Carrick, son of the above. + See also Robert, King of Scots. +_Bruce_, John Barbour's. +Bruges, + the Matins of. + truce of (1375). +Brussels. +Brut, the Trojan. +_Brut d'Angleterre_, Wace's. +_Brut y Tywysogion_. +Buch, Captal de. +Buchan, Comyn, John, Earl of. +Buchan, Henry de Beaumont, Earl of, + See also Beaumont, Henry de. +Builth, town and castle. +Buironfosse. +Bulgaria. +Burgh, the family of. +Burgh, Elizabeth de, wife of Robert, King of Scots. + See Elizabeth, Queen of Scots. +Burgh, Elizabeth de, wife of Lionel of Clarence. +Burgh, Hubert de, Earl of Kent. +Burgh, Richard de, Earl of Ulster. See Ulster. +Burgh, Richard de, Lord of Connaught. +Burgh, William de, Lord of Connaught and Earl of Ulster, + See Ulster. +Burgh-on-Sands. +Burghersh, Bartholomew, Bishop of Lincoln. +Burgos. +Burgundy. +Burgundy, Duke of. See Philip the Bold and Philip de Rouvres. +Burnell, Robert, Chancellor, and Bishop of Bath and Wells. +Burton-on-Trent. +Bury, Richard of, Bishop of Durham. +Bury St. Edmunds. +Busses, Spanish. +Butler, Edmund. +Butler of Ireland, James, the. +Byland Abbey. +Bytham Castle. + +Cader Idris. +Cadzand, island of. +Caen; + abbeys of; + church of St. Peter at. +Caerlaverock. See Carlaverock. +Caerleon, Morgan of. +Caerphilly Castle. +Cahors; + bishopric of, + See Quercy. +Calais; + treaty of, + See also Bretigni. +_Calendar of Close Rolls_. +_Calendar of Charter Rolls_. +Calendars of _Documents relating to Scotland and Ireland_. +_Calendar of Inquisitions Post-mortem and other analogous +documents_. +_Calendars of Papal Registers_. +_Calendar of the Patent Rolls_. +_Calendarium Genealogicum_, C. Roberts'. +_Calendarium Inquisitionum sive Eschaetarum_. +_Calendarium Rotulorum Cartarum_. +Calveley, Sir Hugh. +Cambrai. +Cambresis, the. +Cambridge; + university of. +Cambridge, Edmund of Langley, Earl of. See Edmund. +Camville, Nichola de. +"Candlemas, The Burnt,". +Canfranc, treaty of. +Canons, Austin, annals by. +Canterbury; + cathedral; + hall, Oxford; + register. +Canterbury, Archbishops of. + See Langton, Stephen; + Grand, Richard le; + Neville, Ralph, and Blunt, John (archbishops elect); + Rich, Edmund; + Boniface of Savoy; + Kilwardby, Robert; + Peckham, John; + Winchelsea, Robert; + Cobham, Thomas (archbishop elect); + Reynolds, Walter; + Meopham, Simon; + Stratford, John; + Bradwardine, Thomas; + Islip, Simon; + Langham, Simon; + Whittlesea, William, and Sudbury, Simon. +Cantilupe, St. Thomas of, chancellor and Bishop of Hereford. +Cantilupe, Walter of, Bishop of Worcester. +Cantilupes, the. +Cantreds, the four. See also Perveddwlad. +Caours, Raoul de. +Capes's, W.W., _History of the English Church_. +Capetians, the. +Captal de Buch, the. See Buch. +Captivity, the Babylonish, of the Papacy. +Carcassonne. +Cardiff Castle. +Cardigan and Cardiganshire. +Cardinerie, La. +Carlaverock, castle; + chronicle of the siege of. +Carentan. +Carhaix. +Carlisle, town and castle; + parliament of 1307 at; + Statute of. +Carlisle, Andrew Harclay, Earl of. +Carmarthen, town and castle, and Carmarthenshire; + justice of. +Carmelites, the. +Carnarvon, town and castle. +Carnarvon, Edward of. See Edward. +Carnarvonshire. +Carrick, Earl of. See Bruce, Robert. +Carrickfergus. +_Carta menatoria_. +Cartmel. +Cartularies. +Cassel, battle of. +Cassingham (Kensham), William of. +Castile. +Castile, Alfonso, King of. See Alfonso. +Castile, Blanche of. See Blanche. +Castile, Constance of. See Constance. +Castile, Eleanor of. See Eleanor. +Castile, Ferdinand the Saint, King of. See Ferdinand. +Castile, Henry of Trastamara, King of. See Henry. +Castile, Isabella of. See Isabella. +Castile, Peter the Cruel, King Of. See Peter. +Castile, John, King of Leon and Duke Lancaster. See John of Gaunt. +Castle of + Aberconway or Conway. + Abergavenny. + Aberyswyth. + Alnwick. + Alton. + Bamburgh. + Barnard. + Beaumaris. + Bedford. + Bere. + Berkeley. + Berwick. + Bothwell. + Bristol. + Builth. + Bytham. + Caen. + Caerphilly. + Cardiff. + Carlaverocc. + Carmarthen. + Carnarvon. + Castleton, Liddesdale. + Chepstow. + Christchurch. + Clare. + Colchester. + Conway. See Aberconway. + Conisborough. + Corfe. + Cornet. + Criccieth. + Deganwy. + Devises. + Diserth. + Dolwyddelen. + Dover. + Drysllwyn. + Dublin. + Dumfries. + Dunbar. + Dynevor. + Edinburgh. + Flint. + Fotheringhay. + Gloucester. + Grosmont. + Harlech. + Hawarden. + Hedingham. + Josselin. + Kenilworth. + Kilkenny. + Kidwelly. + Knaresborough. + Leeds (Kent). + Limoges. + Lincoln. + London. See Tower of London, the. + Maud's. + Monmouth. + Montgomery. + Mount Sorrel. + Newcastle-upon-Tyne. + Norham. + Norwich. + Nottingham. + Orford. + Peebles. + Pevensey. + Pontefract. + Powys. + Rhuddlan. + Rising. + Rochester. + Rockingham. + Romorantin. + Rose. + Roxburgh. + Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. + Scarborough. + Skelton. + Skenfrith. + Stirling. + Swansea. + Tickhill. + Tintagel. + Tunbridge. + Tutbury. + Usk. + Wallingford. + Wark, + Warwick. + Whitecastle. + Wigmore. + Windsor. + Wolvesey (Winchester). +Castles; + royal; + adulterine; + Welsh; + of South Wales; + Edward I.'s; + concentric; + Scottish. +Castleton Castle, Liddesdale. +Castor, Church of St., Coblenz. +Castorplatz, the, Coblenz. +Caversham. +Celestine V., Pope. +Celts, Irish. +Celts of Scotland, the. +Chaboterie, la. +Chalon, little battle of. +Champagne, Blanche of Artois, Queen of Navarre and Countess of. See +Blanche. +Champagne, Edmund, Count of. See also Edmund of Lancaster. +Champagne, Henry, Count of. See Henry. +Champagne, Joan of. See Joan. +Champagne, Theobald IV., Count of. See Theobald. +Champagne. +Champollion-Figeac's _Lettres des rots d'Angleterre_. +Chancellor, office of. +Chancery courts, for Wales; + records. +Chandos, Sir John. +Chandos Herald. +Channel, the Bristol; + the English. +Channel Islands, the. +Charente, the river. +Charing. +Charles IV., the Emperor. +Charles IV., the Fair, King of France. +Charles V., King of France. +Charles of Anjou, younger brother of Louis IX., Count of Provence and +Charles I., King of Sicily. +Charles the Bad, Count of Evreux and King of Navarre. +Charles of Blois, claimant to Duchy of Brittany. +Charles of La Cerda. +Charles of Moravia, King of the Romans. + See Charles IV., the Emperor. +Charles, Duke of Normandy. + See also Charles V., King of France. +Charles of Salerno, afterwards Charles II. of Sicily. +Charles, Count of Valois. +Charlemagne. +Charlton, Tohn, lord of Powys. +Charltons of Powys, the. +Charter, the Great; + the forest; + Rolls, the, See Rolls. +Charterhouse, the London. +Charters, confirmations of the; + of London; + _Carta Mercatoria_; + as sources for history. +Chartley. +Chartres. +Chateauneuf. +Chateauroux. +Chatelherault. +Chaucer, Geoffrey. +Chauvigny. +Chaworth, Payne of. +Cheapside. +Chepstow. +Cher, the river. +Cherbourg. +Cheshire; + palatine earldom of; + palatine courts of; + records of county palatine of. +Chester. +Chester, Edward, Earl of. See Edward I., Edward II. and Edward III. +Chester, John de Lacy, Constable of. See Lacy. +Chester, John the Scot, Earl of. See also Huntingdon. +Chester, Simon de Montfort, Earl of. See Leicester. +Chester, Randolph Blundeville, Earl of. +Chesterfield, battle of. +Chichester. +Chichester, Bishops of. See Berkstead, Stephen; Neville, Ralth, and +Stratford, Robert. +Chilham, barony of, Kent. +Chilterns, the. +Chinon. +Chirk. +Chirk, Roger Mortimer of. See Mortimer, Roger, of Chirk. +Christchurch Castle. +_Christopher, The_. +Chroniclers, the. +Chronicles as sources of history. +Cinque Ports, the. +Cirencester. +Cistercian, nuns of Eastminster; + monks of Whalley. +Cistercians, the. +Clare Castle; + the house of. +Clare, Eleanor de. See Despenser, Eleanor de. +Clare, Elizabeth of. +Clare, Gilbert of, Earl of Gloucester. See Gloucester. +Clare, Margaret of. +Clare, Richard of, Earl of Gloucester. See Gloucester. +Clarence, Duchy of. See Lionel of Antwerp. +Clarendon. +Clares, the poor. +Clark's, G.T., _Mediaeval Military Architecture_. +Clark's, J.W., _Observances in use at Barnwell Priory_. +Clement IV., Pope. +Clement V., Pope. +Clement VI., Pope. +Clergy, taxation of the. +_Clericis laicos_, the bull. +Clerkenwell. +Clermont, Marshal. +Cleves, Count of. +Clifford, Robert. +Clifford, Roger. +Cliffords, the. +Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon. See Huntingdon. +Clisson, Oliver de. +Cloth, manufacture of English. +Clydesdale. +Clwyd, the river. +Clun. +Cobham, Thomas of, Archbishop elect of Canterbury. +Coblenz. +Cocherel, battle of. +Cog Thomas, the. +Coggeshall's _Chronicle_. +Cognac. +Coinage. +Colchester, Castle of. +Coldstream. +Colleges, growth of. +Cologne. +Cologne, Archbishop of. +Colons, faction of the. +Commerce under Edward III. +Comminges, Counts of. +Commons, house of. +Companies, the free. +Company, the White. +Compiegne. +Compostella. +Comyn, John, the elder, lord of Badenoch. +Comyn, John, of Badenoch, the younger, or the Red, regent of Scotland. +Comyn, John, of Buchan. See Buchan, Earl of. +Confirmation of the charters. See Charters. +Conisborough Castle. +Connaught. +Connaught, Phelim O'Connor, King of, +Connaught, King of. +Conrad, son of Frederick II. +Conservators of the Peace. +_Consilium ordinarium_, the. +Constable, office of. +Constance of Brittany. +Constance of Castile, daughter of Peter the Cruel, wife of John, Duke +of Lancaster. +Convocation. +Conway, the river. +Corfe Castle. +Cormeilles, Abbey of. +Cornet Castle, +Cornouailles. +Cornwall; + earldom of. +Cornwall, Dunstanville, Earls of. See Dunstanville. +Cornwall, Edmund, Earl of. See Edmund. +Cornwall, Edward, Duke of. See Edward, the Black Prince. +Cornwall, John of Eltham, Earl of. See John. +Cornwall, Peter Gaveston, Earl of. See Gaveston. +Cornwall, Richard, Earl of. See Richard. +Corte Nuova, battle of. +Cosneau's _Grands Traites de la Guerre de Cent Ans_. +Cotentin, the. +Cotton, Bartholomew's _Historia Anglicana_. +Coucy, Enguerrand de. +Councils, General, at Lyons. +Court of King's Bench, records of. +Court of Common Pleas, records of. +Court of the County. +Courts of Chancery and Exchequer in Wales. +Courtenay, House of, Earls of Devon. +Courtenay, William, Bishop of London. +Courtrai; + battle of. +Coventry, Roger Northburgh, Bishops of. See Northburgh, Roger. +Coville's _Histoire de France_. +Craven. +Crecy, battle of. +Crecy-en-Ponthieu. +Cree, the river. +Cressingham, Hugh. +Creuse, the river. +Criccieth Castle. +Crockart. +Crossbowmen, Genoese. +Crotoy, Le. +Crusades, the. +Crutched friars, the. +Cumberland. +Cunningham's, W., _Growth of English Industry_. +Curzon, Robert. +Customs. +"Custom, the Great and Ancient,"; "the New and Small,". +Cuvelier's _Vie de Bertrand de Guesclin_. +Cymry, the. See also Wales. +Cyprus. +Cyprus, Lusignan kings of. + +Dagworth, Sir Thomas. +Damietta, Crusade of. +Damietta, Archbishop of. See Roches, Peter des. +Damme. +Dampierre, Guy, Count of Flanders. See Guy. +Dancaster, John. +Dante. +Darlington, John of, Archbishop of Dublin. +David I., King of Scots. +David II., son of Robert Bruce, King of Scots. +David I., an Llewelyn, Prince of Wales. +David II., ap Griffith, Prince of Wales. +David, Earl of Huntingdon. See Huntingdon. +David of Strathbolgie, Earl of Athol. See Athol. +Dax. +Dean, Forest of. +"Decorated" style of architecture. +Deddington. +Deganwy, Castle of. +Delisle's _Histoire de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte_. +Denbigh, town, lordship and castle of. +Denifle's _Desolation des Eglises de France_, etc.; + his _Entstehung der Universitaeten_. +Deprez's _Preliminaires de la Guerre de Cent Ans_. +Derby, Henry of Grosmont, Earl of. See also Lancaster. +Derby, Robert Ferrars, Earl of. +Derby, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and. See Lancaster. +Derby, William of Ferrars, Earl of. +Deschamps, Eustace. +Despenser, Eleanor de, wife of Hugh le Despenser, the younger. +Despenser, Hugh, justiciar. +Despenser, Hugh, the elder, Earl of Winchester, son of the justiciar. +Despenser, Hugh, the younger, Lord of Glamorgan, son of the foregoing. +Devizes, Castle of. +Devon, earldom of, Falkes de Breaute as warden of. +Devon, Courtenays, earls of. +_Dictum de Kenilworth_, the. +Dinan. +Disafforestments. +Diserth, Castle of. +Disinherited, the (after Evesham); + the, Scotch. +_Disseisin_, novel. +Dolwyddelen Castle. +Dominic, St. +Dominicans. +Don, the river. +Donaldbane, brother of Malcolm Canmore. +Dordogne, the river. +Dordrecht. +Dorking. +Dorsetshire. +Douai. +Douglas, Sir Archibald. +Douglas, Sir James. +Douglas, Sir William. +Douglas, Sir William (at Poitiers). +Dover, town and castle; + straits of. +Dovey the river. +Dowell's, S., _History of Taxation_. +Downs, the north; + the south. +Drokensford, Bishop of Bath and Wells. +Dublin, Castle of. +Dublin, Archbishop of. See Hotham, William of, Archbishop of. +Dubois, Peter. +Dugdale's _Monasticon_. +Dumfries. +Dunbar, battle of. +Dunfermline. +Dunkeld, Bishop of. +Duns Scotus. +Dunstable. +Dunstanville, house of. +Dupplin Moor, battle of. +Durham; + bishopric of; + records of. +Durham, Bishops of. + See Bek, Anthony; + Beaumont, Louis de; + and Bury, Richard of. +Dynevor Castle. + +Earn, the river. +Eastminster, the, London. +Eastry, Henry of, prior of Christ Church, Canterbury. +Ebro, the river. +Eccleston, William of, his _De adventu fratrum minorun_. +Edinburgh, town and castle. +Edington, church of. +Edington, William of, Bishop of Winchester. +Edmund of Almaine, Earl of Cornwall, son of Richard of Cornwall. +Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, Leicester and Derby, some time titular King +of Sicily, son of Henry III. +Edmund of Langley, son of Edward III., Earl of Cambridge, afterward +Duke of York. +Edmund of Woodstock, son of Edward I., Earl of Kent. +Edmund (Rich). St. See Rich, Edmund. +Edmund, St., of East Anglia. +Edward the Confessor, saint and king; translation of. +Edward I.; + authorities for reign of. +Edward II.; + sources for the reign of. +Edward III.; + sources for the reign of. +Edward, son of Henry III. See also Edward I. +Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales. See also Edward II. +Edward of Windsor, Duke of Aquitaine. +Edward, Prince of Wales and of Aquitaine, called the Black Prince. +Education; + of clergy. +Elbeuf. +Egypt. +Elderslie. +Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of Henry II. +Eleanor of Castile, Queen of Edward I. +Eleanor, second daughter of Raymond Berenger IV., Count of Provence, +Queen of Henry III. +Eleanor, younger sister of Henry III., married (1) William Marshal, +(2) Simon de Montfort. +Elgin. +Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I., Countess of Holland, afterwards of +Hereford. +Elizabeth de Burgh, queen of Robert (Bruce), King of Scots. +Ellis, Sir Henry, ed. of _Chronica I. De Oxenedes_. +Eland, William. +Ely, bishopric of, isle of. +Ely, Bishops of. + See Marsh, Adam; + Balsham, Hugh; + Langham, Simon; + Hotham, John. +Eltham. +Eltham, John of. See John. +Englefield. +English language; + in law courts. +Eric, King of Norway. +Escheats. +Esplechin, treaty of. +Essex; earldom of. +Essex, Countess of. See Isabella of Gloucester. +Estates, the three. +_Etsi de statu_, bull. +Etaples. +Ettrick forest. +Eu, Count of, constable of France. +Eure, the river. +_Eulogium Historiarum_. +Eustace the Monk. +Evans, J.G., his edition of the _Red Book of Hergest_. +Eversden, John of. +Evesham, battle of; + Abbey. +Evreux. +Evreux, Counts of. + See Charles the Bad, King of Navarre; + Philip the Bold. +Evreux, Louis, Count of. See Louis. +Exchequer courts for Wales. +Exchequer records. +Exeter, Bishops of. + See Brantingham, Thomas; + Stapledon, Walter. +Exeter College, Oxford. +Exports. +Eynsham, Walter of. +Eyville, John d'. + +Fair of Lincoln, the. See Lincoln, battle of. +Falkirk; + battle of. +Famine, of 1316, the; + of wool, in Flanders. +Farnham. +Farrer's, W., _Lancashire Final Concords_. +Faucigny. +Fecamp. +Fecamp, Peter Roger, Abbot of. See Clement VI. +_Feet of Fines_. +Felton, Sir Thomas, Seneschal of Aquitaine. +Ferdinand of Portugal, Count of Flanders. +Ferdinand III. the Saint, King of Cast& [Castile]. +Ferrars, house of. +Ferrars, Robert of, Earl of Derby. See Derby. +Ferrars, William of, Earl of Derby. See Derby. +Fife. +Fife, Earl of. +Fifteen, the Council of. +Figeac. +Firstfruits. +Fitzalan, Edmund, and Richard, Earls of Arundel. See Arundel. +Fitzalan of Bedale, Brian. +Fitzalans, the. +FitzAthulf, Constantine, sheriff of London. +FitzGeoffrey, John. +Fitzgerald, governor of Ireland. +Fitzgerald, Maurice, justiciar of Ireland. +Fitzgeralds, the. +Fitzralph, Richard, Archbishop of Armagh. +Fitzthedmar, Arnold. +FitzWalter, Robert. +Flemings, the. See Flanders. +_Fleta_, law-book. +Fletching. +Flint, county of; + town and castle of. +Flodden, battle of. +Florence. +Florence, count of Holland. +Florence of Worcester, Continuators of the _Chronicle_ of. +_Flores Historiarum_, Roger of Wendover's. +_Flores Historiarum_ (fourteenth century). +Flagellants, the. +Flamangrie, La. +Flanders, county of. +Flanders, counts of. + See Ferdinand of Portugal, + Guy of Dampierre, + Louis of Male, + Louis of Nevers, + Robert of Bethune + and Thomas of Savoy. +Flanders, Joan, Countess of. See Joan. +Flanders, Margaret of. See Margaret. +_Foedera_, Rymer's. +Foix. +Foix, Count of. +Foix, Gaston Phoebus, Count of. +Fontenelles, Cistercian Abbey of. +Fontevraud. +Fordun, John, his _Chronicle_. +Forests, charter of the; + perambulation of the; + enlargement of the. +Fors, William of, Earl of Albemarle. See Albemarle. +Fors, Isabella of. See Albemarle, Countess of. +Forth, the. +Fotheringhay, Castle of. +Foulquois, Guy, Cardinal-bishop of Sabina. See Clement IV. +Fountains Abbey. +Fournier, James. See Benedict XII. +Fournier's _Royaume d'Arles_. +France; + records of; + chronicles of. +France, King of, Edward III. takes title of. +France, Kings of. + See Philip Augustus, + Louis VIII., + Louis IX., + Philip III., + Philip IV., + Louis X., + Philip V., + Charles IV., + Philip VI., + John and + Charles V. +Francis, St., of Assisi. +Franciscans, the; + the spiritual. +Franks, the Salian. +Frankton, Stephen of. +Frascati. +Fraser, William, Bishop of St. Andrews. +Frederick II., the emperor. +French language, the. +Frescobaldi, the. +Freynet, Gilbert of. See Gilbert. +Friars, the; + the four orders of; + See Austin or hermits of order of St. Augustine; + Bonhommes; + Carmelite or White; + Crutched; + Dominicans; + Francisans; + ---- of the Penance of Jesus Christ or + ---- of the Sack; + Trinitarians or Maturins. +Froissart, John. +Froissart, _Chroniques_, ed. Luce; + ed. Kervyn. +Fronsac, Viscount of. +Funck-Brentano's, F., editions of the _Chronique Artesienne_ and +_Annales Gandenses_. +Furness. + +Gabaston. +Gaetano, Benedict. See Boniface VIII. +Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Pavia. +Galloway. +Garonne, the river. +Garter, Order of the. +Gascony, See also Aquitaine. +Gaston, Viscount of Bearn. +Gaveston, Peter, Earl of Cornwall. +Gelderland, Duke of. +_Genitours_. +Genoa. +Genoese, the; + crossbowmen. +Geraldines of Leinster, the. +Germany. +Ghent. +Ghent, Gilbert of. See Lincoln, Earls of. +Giffard, Walter, Archbishop of York; + his register. +Giffords, the. +Gilbert of Freynet. +Gilsland. +Gironde, the river. +Glamorgan, lordship of. +Glamorgan, Lords of. See Gloucester, Earls of. +Glasgow, Robert Wishart, Bishop of. See Wishart. +Glendower, Owen. +Gloucester; + St. Peter's Church; + statute of; + earldom of. +Gloucester, Richard of Clare, Earl of. +Gloucester, Earl of, Gilbert of Clare, son of the above. +Gloucester, Earl of, Gilbert of Clare, son of the above. +Gloucester, Ralph of Monthermer, Earl of. +Gloucester, Audley, Earl of. +Gloucester, Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of. See Thomas. +Gloucester, Isabella, Countess of. See Isabella, Queen of King John. +Gloucester, Robert of. +Gloucestershire. +Gomez, Peter, Cardinal. +Gordon, Adam. +Gothic architecture. See Architecture. +Gough's _Itinerary of Edward I_. +Gower, +Gower, John; + his works. +Grampians, the. +Granada. +Grand, Richard le, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Grandisons, the. +Greek, study of. +Greenfield, William, Archbishop of York. +Gregory IX., Pope. +Gregory X., Pope. +Gregory XI, Pope. +Grey, Reginald. +Grey, Richard of. +Grey's Sir T., _Scalachronica_. +Grey, Walter, Archbishop of York; + his register. +Griffith ap Gwenwynwyn. +Griffith ap Llewelyn. +Griffith of Welshpool. +Grosmont, castle of. +Grosmont, Henry of, Earl of Derby. See Derby and Lancaster. +Gross's, C., _Select Cases from the Coroners' Rolls_; + his _Bibliography of British Municipal History_; + his _Sources of English History_. +Grosseteste, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln. + his _Epistoae_. +Gualo the legate. +Guerande, treaty of. +Guernsey. See also Channel Islands. +Guesclin, Bertrand du. +Guienne. See also Aquitaine and Gascony. +Guillon, treaty of. +Guines. +Guines, Baldwin of. +Guines, Count of. +Gurney, Thomas. +Guy of Brittany, Count of Penthievre. +Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders. +Guy of Lusignan, Lord of Cognac. +Gwent. +Gwenwynwyn, house of. +Gwynedd. See also Wales, North. +Gwynedd, house of. + +Haddan and Stubbs' _Councils_. +Haddington. +Hadenham's, Edmund of, _Chronicle_. +Haggerston. +Hainault. +Hainault, Counts of. See John and William. +Hainault, Countess of, Abbess of Fontenelles. +Hainault, Philippa of. See Philippa Queen. +Hales, Alexander of. +Halidon Hill, battle of. +Halifax, John of. +Hall's, H., _Customs Revenue_. +Hall's, J, ed. of Minot's _Poems_. +Hamilton, H.C., ed. of Walter of Hemingburgh. +Hampole. +Hampshire. +Hapsburg, house of. +Hapsburg, Rudolf of. See Rudolf. +Harby. +Harclay, Andrew, governor of Carlisle. See Carlisle, Earl of. +Harcourt, Geoffrey of. +Harcourts, the. +Hardy, _Registrum Palatinum Dunelmense_. +Harewell, John, Bishop of Bath. +Harlech Castle. +Harry's, Blind, _Wallace_. +Hastings, battle of. +Hastings, John, first Earl of Pembroke. See Pembroke. +Hastings, John, second Earl of Pembroke. See Pembroke. +Hastingses of Abergavenny, the. +Hathern. +Haureau's _Histoire de la philosophie scholastique_. +Haverfordwest. +Hawarden. +Hawkwood, John. +Hay. +Haydon's ed. of _Eulogium Historiarum_. +Hearne. +Hebrew, study of. +Hebrews. See also Jews. +Hedingham Castle. +Hengham, Justice. +Henley, Walter of. +Hemingburgh, Walter of. +Hennebont. +Henry I., King of England. +Henry II.. +Henry III.; + chroniclers for the reign of. +Henry VIII. +Henry, King of the Romans, son of Frederick II. +Henry II. of Navarre. +Henry II. of Trastarnara, King of Castile. +Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards King Henry IV. +Henry of Lancaster, younger son of Earl Edmund; + Earl of Leicester; + Earl of Lancaster. +Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, then Earl afterwards Duke of +Lancaster. +Hereford; + earldom of. +Hereford, Bishops of. + See Aigueblanche, Peter of; + Cantilupe, St. Thomas of; + Orleton, Adam. +Hereford, Humphrey Bohun, Earl of. +Hereford, Humphrey Bohun, grandson of above, Earl of. +Hereford, Humphrey Bohun, son of above, Earl of. +Herefordshire. +Heretics, Albigensian. +Hertford. +Hesdin. +Hewlett's editions of _Chronicles_. +Hexham. +Hexhamshire. +Higden's, Randolph, _Polychronicon_. +Highlands, the. +Hingeston-Randelph's _Exeter Registers_. +History, study of. +Hohenstaufen, the. +Holderness, ruled by Counts of Aumale. +Holland. +Holland, Florence, Count of. +Hollands, Earls of Kent. +Holy Land, the. See Palestine and Crusades. +Holywood, John of. See also Halifax. +Honorius III, Pope. +Honorius IV., Pope. +Hood, Robin. +Horn, Andrew. +Horstmann, Dr., his _Legenda Anglie_. +Horwood's, A.L., editions of _Year Books_. +Hospitallers, the. +Hotham, John, Bishop of Ely. +Hotham, William of, Archbishop of Dublin. +Hougue, La. +Hoveden, or Howden, Roger of; + his continuator. +Howlett's ed. of _Monumenta Franciscana_. +Howel the Good. +Huelgas, las, monastery of. +Hugh, Choir of St., at Lincoln. +Hugh of Avalon, Bishop of Lincoln, St., Little St. Hugh of Lincoln. +Hugh X., of Lusignan. See also Lusignan. +Hugh XI. of Lusignan. See also Lusignan. +Hull. +Hulme, St. Benet's. +Humanism. +Humber, the. +_Hundred Rolls_, the. +Hungary, Primate of, visits Canterbury. +Hungerford, Sir Thomas. +Hunter's _Leet Jurisdiction of Norwich_; + _Rotuli Selecti_. +Huntingdon, David, Earl of. +Huntingdon, Honour of. +Huntingdon, Earl of, John the Scot. +Huntingdon, Clinton, Earl of. +Husbandry, Walter of Henley's treatise on. + +_Imperium_, the. +Immunities, baronial. +Indre, the river. +Ingham, Sir Oliver. +Infantry, English; + French; + Irish; + Scotch; + Welsh. +Innocent III., Pope. +Innocent IV., Pope. +Innocent VI., Pope. +Inquisition, the, in England; + in the Netherlands. +Interregnum, the Great. +Inverness. +Iolande, daughter of Peter Mauclerc, Count of Brittany. +Ireland. +Ireland, the Butler of, made Earl of Ormonde. See Ormonde. +Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire. +Irvine. +Isabella of Castile, daughter of Peter the Cruel, wife of Edmund, Earl +of Cambridge. +Isabella Marshal, wife of Richard of Cornwall. See Marshal. +Isabella of Angouleme, Queen of John, and wife of Hugh of Lusignan. +Isabella of France, Queen of Edward II.. +Isabella of Gloucester, divorced wife of John, wife of Hubert de +Burgh. +Isabella, sister of Henry III., queen of Frederick II. +Isabella, younger sister of Alexander II., wife of Roger Bigod, Earl +of Norfolk. +Islands, the Channel. See Channel Islands, the. +Isleworth. +Isle, the river. +Isle de France, the. +Isle Saint-Jean, Caen. +Islip, Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Italy. + +James, King of Sicily, son of Peter of Aragon; afterwards James II. of +Aragon. +Jaudy, the river. +Jedburgh. +Jerusalem, Latin kingdom of. +Jerusalem, Patriarch of. See Bek, Antony. +Jews, in England, the; + expulsion of the. +Joan of Champagne, Queen of Philip the Fair. +Joan of Ponthieu, Queen of Ferdinand the Saint. +Joan of the Tower, sister of Edward III., Queen of David Bruce. +Joan, sister of Henry III., Queen of Alexander II. of Scotland. +Joan, Countess of Flanders, wife of Thomas of Savoy. +Joan, Countess of Kent, Princess of Wales, wife of Edward the Black +Prince. +Joan, daughter of Edward III. +Joan, eldest daughter of Charles of Valois. +Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I. and Countess of Gloucester. +Joan of Bar, grand-daughter of Edward I. +Joan of Flanders, Countess of Penthievre, wife of Charles of Blois. +Joan of Toulouse, daughter of Raymond of Toulouse, wife of Alfonso of +Poitiers. +Joan, Princess of North Wales, wife of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth. +Joan, sister of Richard I., grandmother of Joan of Poitiers. +John, King. +John, King of Bohemia. +John, King of France. +John (Balliol), King of Scots. +John XXII., Pope. +John, Duke of Berri. +John II., Duke of Brabant. +John III., Duke of Brabant. +John II., Duke of Brittany. +John III., Duke of Brittany. +John IV., Duke of Brittany (Montfort). +John V., Duke of Brittany (Montfort). +John, Duke of Normandy. + See also John, King of France. +John of Avesnes, Count of Hainault. +John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, son of John II., Duke of Brittany, +and nephew of Edward I. +John of Eltham, son of Edward II., Earl of Cornwall. +John of Gaunt, son of Edward III., Duke of Lancaster. +John of Hainault, brother of William II. of Hainault. +John of Montfort, Earl of Richmond. + See John V., Duke of Brittany. +John of Montfort, half-brother of John III. of Brittany. + See John IV., Duke of Brittany. +John the Scot, Earl of Chester. See Chester. +Joinville, Joan of. +Joinvilles, the. +Joinville's _History of St. Louis_. +Josselin Castle. +Jowel, John. +Judges, the. +Juelich, Dukes of. +Jurisprudence, Anglo-Norman; + Roman. +Justiciar, office of. +Justiciars. + See Burgh, Hubert de; + Marshal, William; + Roches, Peter des; + Segrave, Stephen. +Justiciars of Ireland. + See Marsh, Geoffrey, + and Fitzgerald, Maurice. +Justiciars of Scotland. + See Ormesby, William. + +Keighley, Henry of, knight of the shire for Lancashire. +Kelso. +_Kenilworth, Dictum de_. +Kenilworth Castle. +Kennington. +Kensham. +Kent; + earldom of. +Kent, Earl of, Hubert de Burgh. See Burgh. +Kent, Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of. See Edmund. +Kerry (Wales); + Vale of; + scutage of. +Kervyn de Lettenhove's edition of _Froissart_. +Kesteven, South. +Kidwelly, castle and lordship. +Kildare, Curragh of. +Kildare, Earl of. +Kilkenny, Castle; + statute of. +Kilwardby, Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Kinghorn. +Kingsford's, C.L., Song of _Lewes_. +Kingston-on-Thames. +Kinloss. +Kintyre. +Kirk's _Accounts of the Obedientiaries of Abingdon_. +Kirkby, John, treasurer of Edward I and Bishop of Ely. +Kirkby's _Quest_. +Kirkcudbright, stewartry of. +Kirkliston, 213. +Klerk, Jan van, his _Chronicle_. +Knaresborough, castle and town. +Knighton's, Henry, _Chronicle_. +Knights, of the Shire; + Templars; + of St. John; + of the Garter; + of the Star. +Knowles, Sir Robert. +Knyvett, Sir John. +Koehler's _Entwickelung des Kriegswesens in der Ritterzeit_. + +Labourers, Statute of. +Lacy, Alice, Countess of Lancaster. +Lacy, Henry, Earl of Lincoln. See Lincoln. +Lacy, Hugh de, Earl of Ulster. See Ulster. +Lacy, John de, Constable of Chester. + See also Lincoln, Earls of. +Lacy, the house of; + the house of, in Meath. +Lagny, Abbot of. +Lalinde. +Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews. +Lambeth, treaty of. +Lancashire. +Lancaster, Alice, Countess of. See Alice. +Lancaster, Blanche, Duchess of. See Blanche. +Lancaster, Edmund, Earl of. See Edmund. +Lancaster, Henry, Earl of. See Henry. +Lancaster, Henry of Grosmont, Earl and Duke of. See Henry. +Lancaster, honour of; + town; + house of; + records of Duchy of. +Lancaster, John of Gaunt, Duke of. See John. +Lanercost; + chronicle of. +Langham, Simon, Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury. +Langland, William. +Langley. +Langley, Geoffrey of. +Langlois, Charles V., his _Philippe le Hardi_; + his _Histoire de France_. +Langon. +Langtoft's, Peter, _Chronicle_. +Langton, John, Bishop of Chichester. +Langton, Simon, Archdeacon of Canterbury. +Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Langton, Walter, Bishop of Lichfield. +Language, English; + French; + German; + Latin; + Scottish. +Languedoc. +Laon. +Laon, Robert Lecoq, Bishop of. +Laonnais, the. +Lapsley's County _Palatine of Durham_. +Latimer, Lord, Chamberlain. +Latin-language. +Lavisse and Rambaud's _Histoire Generale_. +Lavisse's _Histoire de France_. +Law, study of English; + literature of; + the Salic; + English. +Laws, Celtic, of Highlanders and Strathclyde Welsh. +Lawyers, Italian; + English. +Layamon's English version of Wace's _Brut_. +Lechler's _Wycliffe_. +Lecoq, Robert, Bishop of Laon. +Leeds Castle (Kent). +Leek, treaty of. +Lehugeur's _Philippe le Long_. +Leicester; + earldom of. +Leicester, Abbot of. +Leicester, Countess of. See Eleanor. +Leicester, Henry, Earl of. See Henry, Earl of Lancaster. +Leicester, Robert Beaumont, Earl of. +Leicester, Simon de Montfort, Earl of. +Leicester, Simon de Montfort, the elder, Count of Toulouse and titular +Earl of. +Leicester, Thomas, Earl of. See Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. +Leicestershire. +Leinster. +Leon. +Leon. +L'Estrange, Roger. +Levant, the. +Lewes; + battle of; + mise of. +Lewis' _Life of Wiclif_. +_Libellus Famosus_, Edward III.'s. +Libourne. +Lichfield, Bishops of. + See Langton, Walter; + Northburgh, Roger. +Liddesdale. See also Liddell. +Liddell. +Liebermann, Dr., works by. +Liege, William, Bishop of. See William. +Liege. +Lille. +Limburg. +Limerick. +Limoges; + sack of. +Limousin. +Lincoln; + Castle; + battle of; + Cathedral; + parliament of (1301); + parliament at (1316). +Lincoln, Bishops of. + See Wells, Hugh of; + Hugh, St., of Avalon; + Grosse-teste, Robert; + Burghersh, Henry. +Lincoln, Richard le Grand, Chancellor of. See Canterbury. +Lincoln, Gilbert of Ghent, Earl of. +Lincoln, Henry Lacy, Earl of. +Lincoln, John de Lacy, Earl of, 45, 47. +Lincoln, Randolph de Blundeville, Earl of. See also Chester. +Lincoln, Thomas of Lancaster, Earl of. See Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. +Lincolnshire. +Linlithgow. +Lionel of Antwerp, son of Edward III., Duke of Clarence and Earl of +Ulster. +Lisieux; + battle near. +Literature in the thirteenth century; + French; + English. +Literature in the fourteenth century; + English; + French. +Littleton's _Tenures_. +Llandaff, Bishop of. +Llandilo. +Llewelyn ap Griffith, Prince of Wales. +Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North Wales. +Llewelyn Bren. +Lleyn. +Lloughor. +Lochmaben Castle. +Lodge's _Close of the Middle Ages_. +Logrono. +Loire, the river. +Lombards. +Lombardy, + cities of. +London. +London, Bishops of. + See Sainte-Mere-Eglise, William of; + Basset, Fulk; + Baldock, Ralph; + Courtenay, William. +London, Mayors of. + See Serlo; + Waleys, Henry le, + and Pyel, John. +London, Sheriffs of. + See FitzAthulf, Constantine. +London, treaty of. +Longjumeau. +Longman's _Life and Times of Edward III._. +Longnon's _Atlas historique de la France_. +Longsword, William, Earl of Salisbury. See Salisbury. +Lorraine. +Loserth's _Geschichte des spaeteren Mittelalters_. +Lot, the river. +Lothians, the. +Loughborough. +Louis, Count of Evreux. +Louis, Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles V. of France. +Louis of Bavaria, the Emperor. +Louis of France, afterwards Louis VIII. +Louis IX. (St. Louis), King of France. +Louis X., King of France. +Louis of Male, Count of Flanders. +Louis of Nevers, Count of Flanders. +Louth; + Earldom of. +Louth, John of Bermingham, Earl of. +Louvain. +Luard, Dr. H.R., his _Roberti Grosse-teste Epistolae_; + his editions of _Annales Monastici_; + B. Cotton, and _Flores Historiarum_, + and Matthew Paris' _Chronica Majora_. +Luce's _Jeunesse de Betrand du Guesclin_; + _La France pendant la Guerre de Cent An_. +Luce and Raynouart's edition of Froissart's _Chronicle_. +_Lucy_, Anthony. +Ludlow. +Lundy Island. +Lusignan, Alice of. +Lusignan, Aymer of. See Valence, Aymer de. +Lusignan, Guy of. +Lusignan, House of. +Lusignan, Hugh X. of. +Lusignan, Hugh XI. of. +Lusignan (town). +Lusignan, William of. See Valence, William of. +Lussac, bridge of. +Luxemburg, house of. +Lyons, Richard. +Lyons. +Lyons, Council at (1245). +Lyons, Council at (1274). +Lyrics, English. +Lys, the river. + +Macaulay's, G.C., edition of Gower's _Works_. +Mackinnon's _History of Edward III._ +Macon, league of. +Madden's, Sir F., edition of Matthew Paris' _Historia Minor_. +Madog ap Llewelyn. +Maelgwn. +Maenan. +Maes Madog, battle of. +Maidstone. +Maine. +Mains. Elector of. +Maitland's, F.W., _Memoranda de Parliamento_; + _Select Pleas of the Crown_; + _Bracton's Note Book_; + _Le Mirroir des Justices_; + _Select Passages from Bracton,_ etc.; + _Year Books of Edward II._ + and _Canon Law_. +Maitland, F.W., and Pollock, Sir F., _History of English Law_. + +Makower's, F., _Constitutional History of the Church of England_. +Malestroit, truce of. +Malmesbury, the Monk of. +Malmesbury, William of. +Malton. +Maltravers, John. +Mandeville, Geoffrey de. +Manfred, King of Sicily. +Mangonels. +Manny, Sir Walter. +Mannyng, Robert. +Mansel, John. +Mansura. +Maps for period. +Mar, Donald, Earl of. +Marcel, Stephen. +March of Calais. +March (of Scotland), Patrick, Earl of. +March of Wales, the. +March of Wales, Earl of the. + See also Mortimer, Edmund, and Mortimer, Roger. +March, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of (d. 1381). +March, Roger Mortimer, first Earl of (d. 1330). + See also Mortimer, Roger, of Wigmore (d. 1330). +Marche, Counts of La. +Marche, La. +Mare, Sir Peter de la. +Margam, annals of abbey of. +Margaret of England, Queen of Alexander III. of Scotland. +Margaret of Flanders. +Margaret of France, sister of Philip the Fair, and second Queen of +Edward I. +Margaret of Hainault, sister of Queen Philippa, Empress of Louis of +Bavaria. +Margaret of Provence, Queen of Louis IX. of France. +Margaret, Queen of Eric, King of Norway, and mother of Margaret, Queen +of Scots. +Margaret, Queen of Scots, the Maid of Norway, daughter of Margaret and +Eric of Norway. +Margaret, sister of Alexander II. of Scotland, wife of Hubert de Burgh. +Margaret, sister of David of Scotland. +Margaret, Viscountess of Limoges. +Margaret, wife of Philip of Burgundy. +Mark, Count of. +Marlborough, statute of. +Marseilles. +Marsh, Adam; + _Letters of_. +Marsh, Geoffrey, justiciar of Ireland. +Marshal, office of. +Marshal, house of. +Marshal, the Earls. + See Pembroke, Earl of; + Thomas of Brotherton, Earl; + March, Mortimer, Edmund, Earl of March; + and Percy, Henry. +Marshal, Gilbert. See Pembroke, Gilbert Marshal, Earl of. +Marshal, Isabella, wife of Richard of Cornwall. +Marshal, Richard. See Pembroke, Richard Marshal, Earl of. +Marshal, William. See Pembroke, William Marshal, the elder, Earl of, +regent of England. +Marshal, William, the younger. See Pembroke, William Marshal, the +younger, Earl of. +Martin IV., Pope. +Martin, papal envoy. +Martin's, C. Trice, _Registrum Epistolarum J. Peckham_. +Mary of Brabant, Queen of France. +Maturins, the. +Mauclerc, Peter, Count of Brittany. See Peter. +Maud, daughter of Henry, Duke of Lancaster. +Maud of Artois, wife of Otto, Count of Burgundy. +Maud's Castle. +Mauleon, Savary de. +Mauley, Peter de. +Mauleys, the family of. +Maupertuis. +Mauron, battle of. +Maxwell's _Robert the Bruce_. +Maye, the river. +Meath. +Meaux, treaty of. +Mechlin. +Mediterranean, the. +Melton, William, Archbishop of York. +Melrose Abbey. +Melrose, chronicle of. +Menai Straits, the. +Mendicants, the See also Friars. +Meopham, Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Mercenaries. +Merchants, + statute of; + foreign; + English. +Meredith ap Owen. +Merioneth. +Merionethshire. +Merlin. +Merton. +"Merton, Rule of,". +Merton, Walter of. +Messina, Archbishop of. +Methven, battle of. +Metingham, John of. +Meyer, Paul, his edition of the _Histoire de Guillaume le +Marechal_. +Miausson, the river. +Michel, Francisque. +Milan. +_Ministers' Accounts_. +Minorites, the, + See also Franciscans. +Minot, Lawrence. +Minsterworth, Sir John. +Miracle plays. +Mirambeau. +Miranda. +_Mirroir des Justices, Le_. +Mise of Amiens, the. +Mise of Lewes, the. +Model Parliament, the. + See Parliament. +Mohammedans, the. +Molinier, Auguste, Sources _de l'histoire de France_. +Monasteries. +_Monasticon_, Dugdale's. +Monmouth, castle and town of. +Monnow, the river. +Mont Cenis, the. +Montague, Sir William. + See also Salisbury, Earls of. +Montague; + the house of. +Montfavence, Bertrand of, Cardinal. +Montfichet, Richard of. +Montfort l'Amaury. +Montfort, county of. +Montfort, Amaury of. +Montfort, the house of (Dukes of Brittany). + See also John IV. and John V., Dukes of Brittany. +Montfort, the house of (Earls of Leicester). +Montfort, Henry of. +Montfort, John of, the elder. See Brittany, John, Duke of. +Montfort, John of, the younger. See Brittany, John, Duke of. +Montfort, Peter of. +Montfort, Simon of, Count of Toulouse. + See also Leicester. +Montfort Simon of, Earl of Leicester. See Lester. +Montfort, Simon of, the younger, son of Simon, Earl of Leicester. +Montgomery, castle and town of. +Monthermer, Ralph of. +Monthermer, Thomas of, _Montjoie_. +Montmorenci, Matthew of. +Montpellier, University of. +Montpezat, lord of. +Montreuil-sur-mer. + treaty of. +Montrose. +Mont-Saint-Martin, Monastery of. +_Monumenta Franciscana_, Brewer's. +_Monumenta Hist. Germanicae, Scriptores_, Pertz'. +Moors of Granada. +Moor, Sir Thomas de la. +Moray. +Moray, Randolph, Earl of. +Moray, Sir Andrew. +Morbihan. +Morgan of Caerleon. +Morgan, leader of Glamorganshire rebels. +Morgarten, battle of. +Morlaix. + battle of. +Morley, Robert. +Mortimer, Edmund (d. 1303). +Mortimer, Edmund (d. 1381). See March, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of. +Mortimer, Roger, of Chirk. +Mortimer, Roger, of Wigmore (d. 1282). +Mortimer, Roger, of Wigmore (d. 1330). + See also March, Roger Mortimer, first Earl of. +Mortimer, Roger, grandson of Roger Mortimer, first Earl of March. +Mortimer, Roger, son of Edmund, Earl of March. +Mortimer, the house of. +_Mortmain_, Statute of. +Moselle, the river. +Mountchensi, Joan of. +Mount Sorrel. +Mowbray, John of (of Scotland). +Mowbray, John of. +Murimuth, Adam. +Myton, battle of. + +Najarilla, the river. +Najera, battle of. +Nantes. +Naples. +Narbonne. +Nassau, Adolf of. King of the Romans. See Adolf, King of the Romans. +Navarre, Blanche of Artois, Queen of. See Blanche. +Navarre, Henry III., King of. See Henry. +Navarre, King of, Charles the Bad. See Charles. +Navarre, Philip of. See Philip. +Navarre, Theobald IV., King of. See Theobald. +Navarre. +Navarete, +Navy, the English; + the French; + the Norman. +Neath Abbey. +Netherlands, the. +Neufbourg, house of. +Neufbourg, Henry of, Earl of Warwick. See Warwick. +Nevers, Louis of. See Louis of Nevers, Count of Flanders. +Nevers, the Count of. +Neville of Raby, Lord. +Neville, Ralph, Bishop of Chichester and Chancellor. +Nevilles, the. +Neville's Cross, battle of. +Newark. +Newcastle-on-Tyne. +Newport-on-Usk. +Nicholas IV., Pope. +Nicolas's _History of the Royal Navy_. +Nine, Council of. +Niort. +Nivernais, the. +Norfolk; + earldom of. +Norfolk, Roger Bigod, Earl of. +Norfolk, Roger Bigod, Earl of, nephew of above. +Norfolk, Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of See Thomas. +Norham Castle. +Norman architecture. +Normandy. +Normandy, Charles, Duke of. See Charles. +Normandy, John, Duke of. See John, King of France. +Normans, the; + in Ireland, the. +Norsemen in Scotland, the. +Northallerton. +Northampton; + parliaments at; + treaty of Brigham confirmed at; + treaty of; + earldom of. +Northampton, William Bohun, Earl of. +Northamptonshire. +Northburgh, Roger, Bishop of Lichfield or Coventry and treasurer. +Northumberland. +Norway, Eric, King of. See Eric. +Norway, Margaret, the Maid of, Queen of Scotland. See Margaret. +Norwich. +Norwich, Bishops of. See Ayermine, William, and Pandulf. +Nottingham. +Nouaille. + +Ochils, the. +Ockham, William of. +O'Connor, Phelim, King of Connaught. See Connaught. +Odiham. +O'Donnells, the. +Oleron, Isle of. +Oliver, illegitimate son of King John. +Oloron, treaty of. +Oman's _History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages_. +O'Neils, the. +Oise, the river. +Ordainers, the Lords. +Order of the Garter, the. +Order of the Star, the. +Orders, the Religious. +Orders of Friars. +Orewyn Bridge, battle of. +_Originalia_ Rolls, the. +Orkneys, the. +Orleans, Duke of. +Orleton, Adam, Bishop of Hereford. +Ormonde, the Butler of Ireland, made Earl of. +Ormesby, William, justiciar. +Orne, the river. +Orvieto. +Orwell, port and river. +Oseney Abbey; + _Annals_ of. +Oswestry. +O'Tooles, the. +Otto, nuncio to England; + legate. +Otto, Count of Burgundy. +Ottobon, Cardinal, legate. +Ottocar, King of Bohemia. +Ouistreham. +Ouse, the river. +Owain _Lawgoch. See_ Owen of Wales. +Owen of Wales, Sir Owen ap Thomas ap Rhodri. +Owen the Red, son of Griffith ap Llewelyn. +Owens College _Historical Essays_. +Oxford, + University of, + Balliol College, + Merton College, + the Provisions of, + parliament at, + Exeter College. +Oxfordshire. +Oxnead, John of. + +Painting in Westminster Abbey. +Palatine, the Elector. +Palermo. +Palestine. +Palestrina, Cardinal-bishop of. +Palgrave's, Sir F.T., _Parliamentary Writs and Writs of Military +Service_. + his _Documents illustrating the History of Scotland_. +Pamplona. +Pandulf, Papal Legate and Bishop of Norwich. +Pantheism. +Papacy, the, + See also under Popes. +Paris, + University of, + College of the Sorbonne in, + Cathedral of, + parliament of, + treaty of (1259), + treaty of (1303), + treaty of (1327). +Paris, Matthew. +Parliament, of, + the mad (1258), + of Oxford, + growth Of, + at Oxford (1264), + at Northampton (1267), + at Bury (1267), + of 1273, + at Westminster (1275), + of 1283, + at Shrewsbury (1284), + at Acton Burnell (1284), + of 1289, + at London (1294), + the model(1295), + of the perambulation (1300), + at Lincoln (1301), + at Westminster (1305), + of Carlisle (1307), + of 1308, + at Westminster (1309), + at Stamford (1309), + of London (1310), + at London (1315), + at Lincoln (1316), + the Irish, + at York (1318), + at York (1319), + in London (July, 1320), + at York (May, 1322), + at Westminster (January, 1327), + at Salisbury (October, 1328), + at Northampton (1329), + at Winchester (March, 1330), + prorogued to Westminster (November, 1330), + of April 23, 1341, + of April, 1343, + of 1347, + of 1371, + of 1372, + the Good (April, 1376), + of 1377, + of Paris, see Paris, parliament of. +Parthenai. +Passelewe, Robert. +_Pastaureaux_, the. +Patrick, Earl of March, + See also March (Scotland), Earl of. +Pauli's, R., _Geschichte von England_. +Pavia, Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of. +Paynel, Fulk. +_Pearl_, the, poem of. +Peasants' revolt, the. +Peasants, revolts of French. +Peckham, John, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Peebles. +_Pell Records_, the. +Pembroke, earldom of. +Pembroke, Gilbert Marshal, Earl of. +Pembroke, Richard Marshal. Earl of. +Pembroke, William Marshal, the elder, Regent and Earl of, + _History of_. +Pembroke, William Marshal, the younger, Earl of. +Pembroke, Aymer of Valence, Earl of. +Pembroke. John Hastings, second Earl of that house. +Pembroke. William of. See William of Valence. +Pembrokeshire, palatine county of. +Penance of Jesus Christ, Friars of the. +Penne. +Penrith. +Penthievre, county of. +Penthievre-Treguier, county of. +Perche, Count of. +Percy, Henry, grandson of Earl Warenne. +Percy, Henry, marshal of England. +Percy, Sir Thomas, seneschal of Poitou. +Percy, the family of. +Perigord. +Perigord, Count of. +Perigueux, + bishopric of. +Peronne. +Perpendicular style in architecture. +Perrers, Alice. +Perth. +Pertz's _Monumenta_. +Peruzzi, the. +Perveddwlad. +Peter, Cardinal. See Gomez, Peter. +Peter III., King of Aragon. +Peter Mauclerc, Count of Brittany. +Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, + See Aigueblanche. +Peter of Gaveston. See Gaveston. +Peter of Savoy, Earl of Richmond. +Peter of Spain, Cardinal. +Peter Roger, Archbishop of Rouen. See Roger, Peter, and Clement VI. +Peter the Chamberlain. +Peter the Cruel, King of Castile. +Peterhouse, Cambridge. +Peter's Pence. +Petit's _Charles de Valois_. +Petit-Dutaillis, M., + his _Etude sur Louis VIII._ +Petrarch, Francis. +_Petrariae_. +Pevensey Castle. +Philip II., Augustus, King of France. +Philip III., the Bold, King of France. +Philip IV., the Fair, King of France. +Philip V., the Long, King of France. +Philip VI. of Valois, King of France. +Philip, Count of Savoy. +Philip, Count of Valois, See also Philip VI., King of France. +Philip of Navarre. +Philip of Rouvres, Duke of Burgundy. +Philip the Bold, Count of Evreux. +Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, son of John, King of France. +Philippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Countess of March. +Philippa of Hainault, Queen of Edward III. +Philippine, daughter of Guy of Dampierre, Count of Flanders. +Philpots, the. +_Philobiblon,_ the, of Richard of Bury. +Philosophy. +Picardy. +Pike, L.O., his editions of the _Year Books_. +Pipe, James. +Pipe Rolls. +Pipton, treaty o. +Pirenne's _Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique_. + _Histoire de Belgique_. +Pisa, Agnellus of. See Agnellus. +Plague, the. See Black Death. +Plays, miracle. +Plessis, John du, Earl of Warwick. + See Warwick. +Ploermel. +Plympton. +Poissy. +Poitevins. +Poitiers, + battle of, + sources for. +Poitiers, Alfonse of. See Alfonse. +Poitou, + scutage of. +Poitou, Count of, Richard, son of King John, Count of. See Richard. +Polain's edition of _Jean le Bel,_ +Pole, the house of +Pole, William de la. +Pollock, Sir P., and Maitland's _History of English Law,_ +_Polychronicon,_ Higden's. +Pons. +Pont-Sainte-Maxence. +Pontefract, + Castle. +Ponthieu. +Pontigny. +Pontoise. +Pontvallain, battle of. +Poole's, R.L., _Mediaeval Thought,_ + his _Wycliffe_, + his _Oxford Historical Atlas_. +Popes. + See under Innocent III., + Honorius III., + Gregory IX., + Innocent IV., + Alexander IV., + Urban IV., + Clement IV., + Gregory X., + Nicholas III., + Martin IV., + Honorius IV., + Nicholas IV., + Celestine V., + Boniface VIII., + Benedict XL, + Clement V., + John XXII., + Benedict XII., + Clement VI., + Urban V., + Gregory XL. +Port Blanc. +Ports, the Cinque. +Portsmouth. +Portugal, Ferdinand of. +Powys; + Castle. +Powys, Charltons of. See Charltons. +_Praemunire_ statute of. +Preachers, Order of. See Dominicans. +Pressuti's Registers of _Honorius III._ +Preston. +Prices, rise in, after the Black Death. +Principality of Wales, the. +Priories, the alien. +Proclamation in English, French and Latin. +Prothero's _Simon de Montfort_. +Provencals. +Provence. +Provence, Raymond Berengar IV., Count of, + See Raymond Berengar. +Proving. +Provisions, papal; + of Oxford, the; + of Westminster, the; + of Worcester. +Provisors, statute of. +Public Record Office, the. +Purveyance. +Puymirol. +Pyel, John, mayor of London. +Pyrenees, the. + +Quercy +_Quia Emptores_ statute. +Quieret, Hugh. +Quincy, Saer de, Earl of Winchester. See Winchester. + +Rageman, statute of. +Ragman. Roll, the. +Ranee, the river. +Randolph, Sir Thomas, Earl of Moray. +Rashdall's _Universities of the Middle Ages_. +Rathlin Island. +Rationalism. +Ravenspur. +Raymond Berengar IV., Count of Provence. +Raymond VII., Count of Toulouse. +Record of Carnarvon, the. +Record Commission, the. +Records, as sources for history; + of Court of Chancery; + of Court of Exchequer; + of Common Law Courts; + of King's Bench and Court of Common Pleas; + of Scotland; + Welsh; + Papal. +_Recueil des historiens de la France_, begun by Dom Bouquet. +Red Hills, the. +Redesdale. +Redesdale, Gilbert of Umfraville, Lord of. See Umfraville. +Regalis Devotionis, Bull. +Reginald, Count of Gelderland. +Registers, Bishops; + Papal Calendars of. +Reims. +Reims, Archbishop of. +Renaissance of the twelfth century, the. +Rennes. +Reole, La. +_Reports of Deputy-keeper of the Records_; + _of Historical Manuscripts Commission_. +Revolt, the peasants'. +Reynolds, Walter, Treasurer of England and Archbishop of Canterbury. +Rhine, the. +Rhine, Count Palatine of the. +Rhineland, the. +Rhos, Cantred of. +Rhone Valley, the. +Rhuddlan Castle. +Rhunoviog, Cantred of. +Rhys ap Howel. +Rhys ap Meredith. +Rhys, J., and J.G. Evans' _Red Book of Hergest_. +Rich, St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Richard I. +Richard of Bordeaux, son of the Black Prince. +Richard, son of King John, titular Count of Poitou, Earl of Cornwall +and King of the Romans. +Richmond, John, Earl of. See John of Gaunt. +Richmond, John of Brittany, Earl of. See John of Brittany. +Richmond, Peter Mauclerc, Earl of. + See Peter, Count or Duke of Brittany. +Richmond, Peter of Savoy, Earl of. See Peter of Savoy. +Richmond (place). +Richmond, Simon de Montfort, made Earl of. See Leicester, Earl of +Rievaux. +Rigaud, Bishop of Winchester +Rigaud, Eudes, Archbishop of Rouen. +Rigg's, J.M., _Select Pleas of the Jewish Exchequer_. +Riley's, H.T., his edition of _Rishanger_, etc. +Rioms. +Ripon. +Rishanger, William. +Rivaux, Peter of, treasurer. +Robert I, Bruce, King of Scots. See also Bruce, Robert. +Robert II, Steward of Scotland, afterwards King Robert II. +Robert, Steward of Scotland. +Robert, Count of Artois. +Robert of Artois, enemy of Philip VI. +Robert, Count of Namur. +Roberts' _Calendarium Genealogicum_. +Roche Derien, La, battle of. +Rochelle, La. +Rochelle, battle of La. +Roches, Peter des, Bishop of Winchester. +Rochester, Castle and city. +Rockingham Castle. +Rodez, Bishop of. +Roger, Peter. See also Clement VI Pope. +Rogers, J.E. Thorold, _History of Agriculture and Prices_. +Roles Gascons. See Rolls +Roll, the Ragman. +Rolle, Richard +Rolls; + the hundred; + patent; + the close; + of parliament; + series, the; + of Court of Chancery; + Charter; + _Escheat_ or _Inquisitiones post mortem_; + fine; + _Excerpt a e Rotulis Finium_ (C. Roberts'); + exchequer; + Assize; + Coroners; +_Romana Mater_, bull. +Romances. +Romanesque architecture. +Romans, Adolf of Nassau, King of the, see Adolf of Nassau; + Charles of Moravia, King of the, see Charles IV; + Henry, King of the, see Henry; + Rudolf of Hapsburg, King of the, see Rudolf; + William of Holland, King of the, see William of Holland. +Rome. +Romney. +Romont. +Romorantin Castle. +Roncesvalles, Pass of. +Ronciere, de la, _Histoire de la Marine Francaise_. +Rose Castle. +Roslin. +Rostein, the family of. +Rotuli. See Rolls. +Round Table at Windsor. +Rouen, + Archbishops of. See Rigaud, Eudes, Roger, Peter. +Rouergue, + Counts of. See Armagnac, Count of. +Roussillon. +Roxburgh, town and castle; + treaty of. +Royan. +Rudel, Elie, lord of Bergerac. +Rudolf of Hapsburg, King of the Romans. +Runnymede. +Ruthin. +Rye. +Rymer's _Foedera_. + +Sabina, Guy Foulquois, Cardinal-bishop of, papal legate. + See Clement IV. +Sacerdotium, the. +Sack, Friars of the. +Sailors, English. +Saints, English, honour paid to. +St. Albans; + abbey; + chroniclers of abbey of; +St Albans, Abbot Simon of. +St Andrews; + Bishops of. See Fraser and Lamberton. +Saint-Bavon, abbey of. +St. Davids, Bishop of. See Bek, Thomas. +Saint-Denis. +Saint-Emilion. +Saint-Germain-en-Laye. +St. Giles, John of. +Saint-James-de-Beuvron. +Saint-Jean-d'Angely. +Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. +St. John, John of. +Saint-Lo. +Saint-Macaire. +Saint-Mahe. +Saint-Malo. +Saint-Omer. +Saint-Pol-de-Leon. +St. Paul's, London; + canons of; + dean of; + annalist of; + See also London. +Saint-Quentin. +Saint-Sardos. +Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. +Saint-Sever. +Saint-Vaast-de-la-Hougue. +Saint-Valery. +Sainte-Mere-Eglise, William of, Bishop of London. +Saints, English. +Saintes. +Saintonge. +Salerno, Charles, Prince of. +Salic Law, the. +Salisbury; + cathedral; + treaty of; + parliaments at. +Salisbury, Henry, of Lacy, Earl of. See Lincoln. +Salisbury, Thomas of Lancaster, Earl of. See Thomas. +Salisbury, William Longsword, Earl of. +Salisbury, William Montague, Earl of. + See also Montague, William. +Salisbury, William Montague, Earl of (son of the above). +Salvatierra. +Sambre, the river. +Sanchia of Provence, second wife of Richard of Cornwall. +Sandal Castle. +Sandale, Bishop of Winchester. +Sandwich. +Santander. +Satires, English. +Savoy; + palace of the. +Savoy, Amadeus III., Count of Savoy. See Amadeus. +Savoy, Boniface of. See Boniface. +Savoy, Peter of. See Peter. +Savoy, Philip of. See Philip. +Savoy, Thomas of. See Thomas. +Savoyards, the. +Saxony. +_Scalachronica_, Sir T. Grey's. +Scarborough Castle. +Scheldt, the river. +Schiltron of pikemen. +Schism between eastern and western Churches. +Scholasticism. +Science. +_Scimus Fili_, papal letter. +Scone. +Scotland. +Scrope, Sir Richard le, treasurer. +Sculpture. +Scutage of Bedford, the; + of Kerry; + of Poitou. +Seeley's _Life and Reign of Edward I._ +Segrave, John. +Segrave, Stephen. +Seine, the river. +Selby, William. +Selden Society, the. +Selkirk; + forest of; + See Ettrick. +Sens. +Sens, William of. +Septs, the Irish. +Serlo, Mayor of London. +Severn, the river. +Sheen. +Sherburn-in-Elmet. +Sheriffs; + for Scotland. +Shire, system in Wales; + courts; + knights of the. +Shrewsbury; + Castle of; + treaty of; + parliament at. +Shrewsbury, Ralph of, Bishop of Bath and Wells. +Shropshire. +Sicilian Vespers, the. +Sicily. +Silegrave's Henry of, _Chronicle_. +Simony. +Siward, Richard. +Skeat's editions of Chaucer and Langland. +Skelton Castle. +Skenfrith, Castle of. +Skicsea Castle. +Sluys. +Smith's, S. Armitage, _John of Gaunt_. +Smithfield. +Snowdon. +Soissonais, the. +Soisy. +Sellers, Rostand de, seneschal of Gascony. +Sologne, the. +Solway, the. +Somme, the river. +Sorbon, Robert of. +Soubise. +Southampton. +Southwark. +Spalding, Peter of. +Spain. See also Aragon and Castile. +Spain, Peter of, Cardinal. See Peter. +Speaker, office of. +Spruner-Menke's _Historischer Hand-Atlas_. +Staffordshire. +Stammoor. +Stamford; + parliaments at; + statute of. +Stanley Abbey, Chronicle of. +Staple, ordinance of the; + system the. +Stapledon, Walter, Bishop of Exeter. +Statute of ---- + Acton Burnell. + Carlisle (1307). + _De Donis_. + Gloucester. + Kilkenny. + Marlborough. + Merchants. + Mortmain. + _Praemunire_. + Provisors. + _Quia Emptores_. + Rageman. + Stamford. + Treasons (1352). + Wales. + Westminster, the first; + the second; + the third. + 1341 as to election of auditors of royal officers. +_Statutum de Tallagio won concedendo_ +Stephen, papal collector. +Stephen, King. +Stephens, W. R W., his _History of the English Church_. +Stevenson's, J., _Documents of Scotland_; + _Chronicon de Lanenost_; + edition of _Coggeshall's Chronicon Anglicanum_. +Stevenson's, W.H., _Records of Nottingham_. +Steward, of England, Simon de Montfort; + of Scotland, the. +Stewart Kings of Scotland. +Stirling Bridge, battle of. +Stirling, castle and town. +Stone, use of, in building houses. +Stratford. +Stratford, John, chancellor, Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of +Canterbury. +Stratford, Robert, Bishop of Chichester, chancellor. +Strathearn. +Strathspey. +Stratton, Adam of. +Strongbow. +Stubbs' _Select Charters_; + Councils; + edition of Walter of Coventry; + _Chronicles of Edward I and Edward II._; + _Constitutional History_. +_Studium_, the. +_Studium Generale_. See University. +Subinfeudation. +_Subsidy Rolls_. +Sudbury, Simon of, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Suffolk. +Suffolk, Ufford, Earl of. +Surrey. +Sussex. +Swale, the river. +Swaledale. +Swansea, castle and town. +Swinbrooke. +Syria. + +Taillebourg, battle of. +_Tallagio non concedendo, Statutum de_. +Talleyrand, the Cardinal. +Tancarville, Lord of, Chamberlain of France. +Tany, Luke de, seneschal of Gascony. +Tarascon, Treaty of. +_Taxatio Ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae_. +Taxation; + papal; + of clergy. +Taxes, on exports; + on land. +Taxster, John de, Chronicle of. +Tayster. See Taxster. +Teivi, the river. +Templars, Order of the; + suppression of the. +Temple, Church of the; + the New. +Temple, Knights of the. See Templars. +Tertiaries. +_Testa de Neville_, the. +Thames, the. +Theiner's _Vetera Monumenta Hib. et Scot. Historiam Illustrantia_. +Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and King of Navarre. +Theology. +Therouanne. +Thierache, the. +Thirty, battle of the. +Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, Leicester and Derby. +Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I. +Thomas of Savoy, uncle of Eleanor of Provence. +Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Gloucester. +Thomas, St. Aquinas See Aquinas, St. Thomas. +Thomas, St., of Canterbury; + translation of relics of. See also Becket. +Thomas, St., of Cantilupe. See Cantilupe. +Thomist teaching. See Aquinas, St. Thomas. +Thompson's, Sir E. Maunde, _Chronicon Angliae_; + _Chronicon Galfridi le Baker_. +Thoresby, John, Archbishop of York. +Thorpe, Benjamin, his _Florence of Worcester_. +Thorpe, Sir Robert, Chancellor and Chief Justice. +Thouars, + house of. +Thouars, the Viscount of. +Tintagel Castle. +Tickhill Castle. +Torksey. +Torture. +Toulouse. +Toulouse, Joan, Countess of. See Joan. +Toulouse, Raymond VII., Count of. See Raymond VII. +Touraine. +Tournai. +Tournaments. +Tours. +Tout's _Edward I._; + _Papacy and Empire_. +Tower, of London, the; + the Round, Windsor. +Tower Hill. +Towns, growth of; + Gascon; + Welsh; + "Staple". +Towy, the river. +Trade. +Trailbaston, Ordinance of. +Translations into English. +Treasons, Statute of. +Treasurer, office of. +Treaty of ---- + Aberconway. + Amiens. + Athis. + Berwick. + Bordeaux. + Bretigni. + Brigham. + Bruges. + Calais (1347); + (1360). + Canfranc. + Coblenz. + Esplechin. + Guerande. + Guillond. + Lambeth. + Leek. + London. + Malestroit. + Meaux. + Montreuil. + Newcastle. + Northampton. + Oloron. + Paris (1259); + (1303); + (1327). + Pipton. + Roxburgh. + Saint-Germain. + Salisbury. + Shrewsbury. + Tarascon. + Valenciennes. + Vincennes. +_Trebuchet_, the. +Treguier; + County of Penthievre-Treguier. +Trent, the river. +Trevelyan's, G.M., _England in the Age of Wycliffe_. +Trevet. See Trivet. +Trier. +Trim. +Trinitarian Friars, the. +Trivet, Nicholas, Dominican chronicler. +Trokelowe, J. de, _Annales_. +Troyes. +Trussell, Sir William. +Tunbridge. +Tunis. +Turner's, G.J., _Pleas of the Forest_; + _Select Pleas of the Forest_; + _Minority of Henry III., 1_. +Turberville, Payne of. +Turberville, Sir Thomas. +Turks, the. +Tuscans. +Tuscany. +Tutbury Castle. +Tweed, the river. +Tweeddale. +Twemlow's _Calendars of Papal Registers_. +Twenge, Sir Robert. +"Twenty-Four," the. +Twiss, Sir T.'s edition of Bracton. +Tyburn Elms. +Tynedale. +Tynemouth. +Tyre, Archbishop of. + +Ufford, Earl of Suffolk. See Suffolk. +Ughtred, Sir Thomas. +Ulster. +Ulster, Hugh de Lacy, Earl of. +Ulster, Lionel of Clarence, Earl of. See also Lionel. +Ulster, Richard de Burgh, Earl of. +Umfravilles, the. +Umfraville, Gilbert of, Lord of Redesdale. +_Unam Sanctam_ Bull. +Union, treaty of, between England and Scotland. +Universities, the. See also Cambridge, Montpellier, Oxford, Paris. +Urban IV, Pope. +Urban V, Pope. +Ure, the river. +Usk Castle and town. +Usk, River; + Valley, the. +Usury. + +Vaissete's _Histoire de Languedoc_. +Vallee aux Clercs, near Crecy. +Valois, house of. +Valois, Charles of. See Charles. +Valence, Aymer of. See Pembroke, Aymer, Earl of, and Aymer, Bishop of +Winchester. +Valence, William of, Lord of Pembroke. +Valence, William of Savoy, Bishop-elect of. +Valenciennes. +Vander Kindere's _Siecle des Artevelde_. +Vannes. +Venice. +Vercelli, Church of St. Andrew at. +Vermandois, the. +Verneuil. +Vescy, John de, 131 +Vescy, Lady, 248 +Vespers, the Sicilian, 146 +Vic, De, his _Histoire de Languedoc_, 462. +Vidal de la Blache's _Tableau de la Geographie de la France_. +Vienne, the river; + Council of. +Vierzon. +Villeins, the. +Vincennes, Convention of the Wood of. +Vinogradoff's _Villainage in England_. +Visconti, Bernabo. +Visconti, Galeazzo. +Visconti of Milan, the. +Visconti, Violante, daughter of Galeazzo, of Pavia. +_Vision of Piers Plowman_, Langland's. +Viterbo. +Vitoria, +Vyve-Saint-Bavon, truce of. + +Wadicourt. +Wace's _Brut_. +Wages affected by Black Death. +Wake, Lord. +Wakes, the, of Liddell and Lincolnshire. +Waleis, Henry le, Mayor of London. +Wales; + statute of; + records of; + annals of. +Wallace, Sir William, of Eldershe. +Wallon's _Louis IX._ +Wallingford Castle and town. +Walsingham, Thomas, _Gesta. Abbatum S. Albani_; + _Historia Anglicana of_. +Walton. +Wardrobe accounts. +Ware. +Warenne, William, Earl (d 1240). +Warenne, John, Earl (d 1304), son of above. +Warenne, John, Earl (d 1347), grandson of above. +Wark, the Lord of. +Warwick Castle. +Warwick, Beauchamps of. See Beauchamps; + Neufbourg, Earls of. +Warwick, Guy of Beauchamp, Earl of. +Warwick, Henry of Neufbourg, Earl of. +Warwick, John du Plessis, Earl of. +Warwick, Thomas of Beauchamp, Earl of. +Warwick, William Beauchamp, Earl of. +Waverley, Annals of Abbey of. +Weald, the. +Wear, the river. +Wells, Hugh of, Bishop of Lincoln. +Wells, Bishops of Bath and, + See Burnell; + Robert; + Drokensford; + Sandale. +Wenceslaus of Luxemburg, Duke of Brabant, brother of the Emperor, +Charles IV. +Wendover, Roger of; + his _Flores Historiarum_. +Westminster; + Abbey; + the Provisions of; + the first statute of; + second statute of; + third statute of; + Hall; + St. Stephen's Chapel. +Westminster, Abbot of. See also Lansham, Simon. +Westminster, Matthew of, imaginary chronicler. +Westmoreland. +Weyland, Sir Thomas, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. +Weymouth. +Whalley Abbey. +Wharton's _Anglia Sacra_. +Whitecastle. +White Friars, the. +Whittaker, W.J., his edition of _Le Mirroir des Justices_. +Whittingtons, the. +Whittlesea, William, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Wicklow. +Wigford. +Wight, Isle of. +Wigmore, Castle; + house of. +Wigmore, Roger Mortimer of. See Mortimer, Roger. +Wilkin of the Weald. +Wilkins' _Concilia_. +William I. of Avesnes, Count of Hainault, Holland and Zealand. +William II. of Avesnes, Count of Hainault, Holland and Zealand. Son of +the above. +William of Bavaria, Count of Hainault, Holland and Zealand. +William of Hatfield, son of Edward III. +William of Holland, King of the Romans. +William of Norwich, St. +William of Savoy, Bishop-elect of Valence and Winchester. +William of Valence, Lord of Pembroke. +William I. the Conqueror. +William the Lion, King of Scots. +Wiltshire. +Winchelsea; + naval battle off. +Winchelsea, Robert, Archbishop of Canterbury. +Winchester; + bishopric of; + Cathedral of; + parliament of March 1330, at; + Annals of. +Winchester, Bishops of. + See Edington, William; + Roches, Peter des; + Stratford, John; + Aymer of Valence; + Woodlock, Henry; + William of Savoy; + Wykeham, William of. +Winchester, Hugh Despenser, the elder, Earl of. See Despenser. +Winchester, Saer de Quincy, Earl of. +Windsor, town and castle; + Round Table at; + Chapel, St. George's at. +Wingham, Henry. +Wishart, Robert, Bishop of Glasgow. +Wither, William. +Wolvesey Castle, Winchester. +Women in the law courts; + French law of succession of. +Woodlock, Henry, Bishop of Winchester. +Woodstock. +Wool trade. +Worcester; + Bishops of, see Cantilupe, Walter; Reynolds, Walter. +Worcester, Provisions of; + _Annals of_. +Wright's, T., _Political Songs_; + _Political Songs and Poems_. +_Writs, Parliamentary_, edited by Sir F. Palgrave. +Wycliffe, John; + his writings. +Wye, the river. +Wykeham, William of, Bishop of Winchester; + his _Register_. +Wykes, Thomas, _Chronicle of_. +Wynn, John. +Wyntoun, Andrew, _Originale_ by. + +Yale. +Yarmouth. +_Year Books_, the. +York; + parliaments at; + house of. +York, Archbishops of. + See Giffard, Walter; + Greenfield, William; + Grey, Walter; + Melton, William; + Thoresby, John; + Zouch, William de la. +York, Edmund of Langley, Earl of Cambridge, Duke of. See Edmund. +Yorkshire. +Ypres. +Yrvon, the river. +Ystradvellte. + +Zealand, county of. +Zouch, William de la, Archbishop of York. +Zwyn, the river; + harbour. + + +CORRIGENDA + +Chapter II, Paragraph 5, for Roger Bigod read Hugh Bigod. + +Chapter X, Paragraph 4, for Earl of Cornwall read Earl of Lancaster. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of England, by T.F. 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