mm }S@i^'- (i[otmU Mniocraita iCibrarg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library DA 231.G28D64 Piers Gaveston 3 1924 027 923 873 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027923873 PIERS GAVESTON PIERS GAVESTON A CHAPTER OF EARLY CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY WALTER PHELPS DODGE Of the Middle Temple, Barrhter-at-Lww ILLUSTRATED London T. FISHER VNWIN 1899 [/I// tifilih li'strvfit.} MY FATHER, D. STUART DODGE. AUTHOR'S NOTE THREE years ago, in looking up a reference to Piers Gaveston, the author was surprised to find so little available material relating to one who had been practically Dictator of England. Researches since made have encouraged him to think that some study of the career of this remark- able man may be of interest, and may perhaps even form what Stevenson called a " Footnote to History." The contemporary writers on the Reign of Edward II. make few references to Gaveston. Their genealogical records are scanty. All possible authorities have been consulted ; among others, John de Trokelowe, the Canon of Bridlington, the Monk of Malmesbury, Adam Muri- muth, the Annales Paulini, Fabyan's Chronicles, the Annales Londonienses, Rymer's Foedera, Scala Chronica, Walsingham, Walter of Hemingburgh, Thomas de la More, Dugdale's Baronage, the viii AUTHOR'S NOTE Patent Rolls, Exchequer Accounts, Calendar of State Documents, the Irish Close Rolls, Sharon Turner, Stubbs' Constitutional History, and the Dictionary of National Biography. The author is aware that his task might have been in the more capable hands of a professed historian. He can only hope that a strict regard for accuracy, and an unfailing desire to keep his own personality in the background, may take the place of a wider experience. Acknowledgment for their courtesy is due to the Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford (Mr. F. York Powell), the Recorder of Poole (Mr. Pitt- Lewis, Q.C.), the Curator of the University of Bonn (Dr. von Rottenburg) ; and also to the Archiviste of the Department of the Basses Pyrd- ndes, Miss Ethel Stokes of the British Museum, and Mr. C. E. Johnstone, of Keble. Davos Platz, 1898. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. STATE OF ENGLAND ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD I. I II. THE GAVESTONS .... 8 III. GAVESTON'S early DAYS WITH EDWARD OF CAR- NARVON . . . . . .22 IV. BANISHMENT OF GAVESTON BY EDWARD I. . 32 V. ACCESSION OF EDWARD II. RECALL OF GAVESTON 45 VI. GAVESTON'S MARRIAGE. THE CORONATION . 57 VII. GAVESTON'S BANISHMENT TO IRELAND . . 66 VIII. GAVESTON IN IRELAND . . . -74 IX. THE KING AND HIS BARONS DURING GAVESTON'S ABSENCE IN IRELAND ... 85 X. GAVESTON'S RETURN FROM IRELAND . . 94 XI. THE LORDS ORDAINERS . . . 1 03 XII. THE ORDINANCES . . . • . I16 XIII. EDWARD II. AND GAVESTON IN SCOTLAND . 1 29 X CONTENTS CllrtI', PAGE XIV. THE LAST EXILK AND THE LAST RETURN . . I38 XV. REVOLT OF THE BARONS. SIEGE OF SCARBOROUGH CASTLE . . . . 149 XVI. CAPTURE AND DEATH OF GAVESTON . . 165 XVII. THE EFFECT OF GAVESTON'S DEATH . . 181 XVIII. THE LESSON OF GAVESTON's CAREER . .189 APPENDIX . '95 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PORTRAIT OF EDWARD II. . . . Frontispiece SUPPOSED EFFIGY OF ARNALD DE GAVESTON . To face page 9 / TOMB OF ARNALD DE GAVESTON . . „ ,, I9 MONUMENT TO PIERS GAVESTON., . ,, „ 1 80 PIERS GAVESTON A CHAPTER OF EARLY CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY CHAPTER I. STATE OF ENGLAND ON THE DEATH OF EDWARD I. IN order to understand the conditions giving rise to the meteoric career of Piers Gaveston, it is necessary to review briefly the changes, social and poHtical, made by the first Edward in the body poHtic of England. At the beginning of the reign of Edward I. the power of the priests was predominant. The whole country was under the harsh sway of several ecclesiastical orders, and the Pope was practically supreme. Edward in time changed all this and raised a barrier against Church aggrandisement which the Roman power was unable to overthrow. The authority wrested from the Church fell into the hands of the King and the greater Barons. Edward had a clear idea of government ; but while credit is due to his statesmanlike initiative, the 2 ' 2 PIERS GAVESTON success of his scheme of reform was largely owing to the active co-operation of his people. Dr. Stubbs, in his " History of England," ques- tions whether Edward I.'s concessions to the popular spirit were wholly voluntary, and suggests that they may have been forced upon him by circumstances. It appears, however, that if the King had chosen to hold to the reactionary tradi- tions of his predecessors, whose theory of rule was embodied in the motto Suprema lex regis voluntas, few would have dared to say him nay. Edward called the first national Assembly (the famous "Model Parliament") together in 1295. There exists some evidence which tends to show that he did not take this momentous and far- reaching step without much hesitation and doubt ; although when he had made up his mind to entrust the representatives of the people with a voice in the afifairs of the nation, he devoted his energies for a period of some twenty years to the development of his plan. A careful distinction should, as Dr. Stubbs points out, be drawn between this Parliament of Edward's and the States General called by Philip the Fair. The latter acted under the pressure of immediate want, and never regarded the Assembly as more than a temporary inconvenience ; but the English King treated his three estates with the pardonable PIERS GAVESTON 3 complacency of a man who rejoiced in the fruition of a long-cherished and carefully-matured design, which formed a permanent addition to the Consti- tution of the country. In thus creating a new division of the govern- ment, it is probable that Edward's main purpose was to strengthen the royal power. This design was legitimate ; for while the Crown ruled wisely there was no chance of a collision with Parliament. The King's chief wish was to appear before the eyes of the world as sovereign of a united country possessed of an organisation which gave no class an advantage, and which invested the monarch with supreme power. To Edward's mind a national Parliament appeared the best means of showing the unity of his people, therefore he established it. Under the feudal system the powers of governing were vested in the Crown. In England the greater Barons had imperceptibly filched the authority belonging of right to the Sovereign. Under King John and his successors they betrayed a tendency to call their tenants and the burgesses living in the towns to their aid in the protracted struggle with the Crown. Edward I. enlisted the aid of the small freeholders, who regarded the Barons with jealous fear. Before 1295 Edward had been working steadily to impose a check on the growing power of the 4 I'lERS GAVESTON Baronage, which, judging from the history of his house, he had good reason to fear. Such a check he found in the system of calling the Barons to his Upper House by Writ of Summons. This system was bitterly resented at first by his turbulent nobles, but the popular reception of Edward's reforms by the nation as a whole — mindful of the lessons of his father's reign and keenly sensible of its own condition — prevented the smouldering fire of discontent from bursting into a blaze. The progress of the country during the reign of Henry HI., and for the first twenty years of Edward's rule, had been rapid, while by this time the capacity of the lower classes for a modified form of self-government was undoubted. Edward I. was successful in his reforms because he had studied his people, and knew their ways ; he understood their aspirations, and sympathised with their natural longings for some form of representation. Much of Edward's work was doubtless due to the influence of the ministers he employed, but there is no question that he was the greatest statesman of his reign. His constant intelligent supervision of the reforms instituted by himself explains their success. He saw that the real strength of Engfland lay within his own seas, and he did not hesitate to devote his arms and treasure to the conquest of PIERS GAVESTON 5 Wales and Scotland rather than to the acquisition and retention of foreign provinces. The King's chief fault seems to have been a lack of sympathy with the imaginative tendency which leads mankind to cling to an idea. He lost Scotland through his failure to understand the reluctance of a free people to abandon every shred of inde- pendence ; and on account of his inability to think the Union of England and Scotland perfect until the writs for both countries ran in the same name. He believed that a feudal oath exacted more than a sentimental patriotism and, as he respected his own motto, " Keep thy covenant," so he expected other men to be true to their promise. A characteristic of any policy pursued by the King was its uniformity. That he was well ac- quainted with the needs of his subjects, and that his knowledge of law was extensive is shown in the Constitution he himself drew up for Wales. It has been contended that Edward called the Commons to Parliament on account of financial and political troubles ; but this is open to question. It is indeed probable that he was influenced as to the time of their summons by ulterior motives, but the fact that he never tried to retrace the step when once taken shows that he considered it an essential part of his design, and that he regarded it as a 6 PIERS GAVESTON matter of honour to keep unbroken his compact with the people. The chief characteristic of the three reigns of the fourteenth century is the growth of the House of Commons. To this end Edward I. contributed largely. The Barons had outlined the plan by which Parliament was to limit the King's power, Edward called the Commons to check the aggres- sions of the nobles. Under Edward III. and Richard II. the Lower House rose to the front rank. The death of Edward I. sounded the knell of chivalry. Smaller men with smaller minds appeared on the scene. Knightly honour gave place to fraud and deceit, while an unhealthy luxury sapped the strength of England. Strange vices flourished, there was corruption in high places, and no man trusted his fellow. Constitutional progress ended for the time when Edward died, and the petty struggles and wars under the feeble rule of his successor had concern merely with faction and family. Life under the second Edward differed largely from what it had been under his father. The famous ministers of the late reign had unworthy successors ; there were no more great lords of England. Gaveston and le Despenser excited the jealousy of the populace on account of their sudden PIERS GAVESTON 7 rise and ill-acquired wealth rather than from the terror which their predecessors had inspired. The institutions created by the father were too strong to fall under the assaults of the son. The first Edward will be remembered by reason of his fifty years' work — perhaps the most fruitful fifty years in the history of the country. It is after such a period that the student of English history becomes conscious of the sordid tragedy of Piers Gaveston's brief public life. It was well for England that Edward's work was done, well for his successors that Barons, clergy, and people were willing and ready to unite against King and favourite in defence of their liberties. There is no doubt that if Gaveston's career had not been summarily checked, his ambition — at first personal and merely exerted in the pursuit of pleasure — would have extended to the enlargement of the royal prerogative at the expense of popular rights. Gaveston's remarkable life must be studied in detail to understand its splendid possibilities, its maimed talents, and its terrible end. CHAPTER II THE GAVESTONS. MANY of the principal events connected with that portion of the development of the English Constitution which occurred in the reign of Edward II. group themselves around the personality of the subject of this memoir. " Piers Gaveston," as he is generally called, must have been born during the last quarter of the thirteenth century — probably near its end. The records which exist as to his parentage, and the exact time or place of his birth, will be commented upon later. He certainly was a scion of an ancient and noble foreign house. No mention of the Gaveston family can be traced either in the Nobiliaire de GuicHne ct de Gascoignc, or in any other known source of information earlier than the year 1040 or thereabouts. The surname of the family is popularly that of a family of Guienne. but the name itself has undergone almost as many vicis- situdes of spelling as that of Shakespeare. It was M:|'I'(isI-.|i 1-IIIi,\ III \KN\Mi IM- ..WI^IilX, w I M II Isl I- K ( \ I II I I 'i; \1 . it-\l. IJIi,' ^ 1) PIERS GAVESTON 9 originally written either Gabaston or Gaboston, and was derived from the River Gabas in Bdarn, where a village of Gabaston still exists, a few miles to the North-East of Pau. Spanish influence and the proximity of the frontier no doubt accounted for the presence of the letter " b," which the euphony of the French language naturally altered into " v ". With the "v" further changed into " u ", and with the three vowels " a " " e " and " o " used indifferendy, it is evident that the number of possible varieties of spelling is large ; and while the name appears in some cases shortened into Gauston, it is found in some of the later manuscripts lengthened into Gaverstone. It is also occasionally found, in old documents, written with two "v's". In a manu- script Chronicle preserved in the library of Reigate Church, the name is written Gaverston in the text, and Gauston in the margin. This record probably dates from the end of the fourteenth century. The history of his family and of its possession both before and after the birth and death of Piers, is shortly as follows : — It has already been stated that the earliest men- tion of the family whence "Piers Gaveston" had sprung, occurs about the year a.d. 1040. The His- toire de B^arn records that a certain Garsiarnaud de Gauaston, with his son Arnaud, and other nobles of Beam, handed over to Vicomte Cantulle III. about lo PIERS GAVESTON the year 1040 the churches of St. Domnin d'Aresa, St. Julian de Lanelongue, and St. Andrd de Beyrie as a benefaction to the Chapter and Canons of Lascar. After this there is another gap of more than a century, until in the year 1154a Raymond Garsie de Gavaston is mentioned among the Prelates and Nobles of B^arn, who assembled at Camp-Franc in Aragon to do homage to Raymond, Count of Barce- lona, electing him as their lord and governor, with reservation of their fealty due to the children of Pierre, Vicomte de B^arn. Forty-two years later a man of the same name was present at the consecration of the church of St Pe de Gdndrez ; and his name is also found as one of those witnessing a charter, the date of which is not given. No member of the Gaveston family appears among the lists of French crusaders in La Noblesse de France aux Croisades ; nor does the name occur in the Dictionnaire des Anoblis, 12 70- 1896. By the conditions of their feudal tenure, the Lords of Beam were bound to surrender their castles into the hands of the Vicomte three times a year. On one occasion when Raymond Garsie de Navailles refused to comply with this rule, an agreement was drawn up between the recalcitrant knight and the Vicomte, to which the " Sclj^ncur dc Gavaston" was PIERS GAVESTON ii one of the sureties. In the Archives des Basses Pyrdn^es scattered allusions are found to an Arnaud Guilhem de Gabaston as one of the inhabitants of Gascony and Guienne, who had taken part against the King of France, in consequence of which, a declaration of their banishment was made at Agen between the years 1310 and 131 2. Twelve years later mention is made of a Raymond de Gabaston, who took an oath of allegiance on the occasion of the marriage of Gaston X., Viscount of B^arn, to Eleanor de Comminges. (Archives des Basses Pyrdndes, E. 22. E. 297.) A son of this marriage was Gaston Phoebus, and between 1343 and 1388 the Lady Eleanor received homage, as his mother and guardian, from Sans and Marie, two members of the Gabaston family, and also from Marie de Marsan, dame de Bdlis. (Archives des Basses Pyrdndes, E. 300.) A Seigneur de Gabaston, with three archers, appears in 1345 on the list of Bdarn nobles whose duty it was to serve the Vicomte in war ; and in 1376 the name of Peyrot de Gabaston, who a few years earlier is recorded to have paid homage to Gaston Phoebus, occurs in the Montre Militaire de B^arn. (Archives des Basses Pyrdndes, E. 303.) About the same time Bernard, Seigneur de Gabaston, gave an acknowledgment of a debt of 1,500 florins to Gaston Phoebus for the ransom of 12 PIERS GAVESTON Guilhem de Janlin. (Archives des Basses Pyrdndes, E. 302.) Between 1391 and 1398 Bernard de Gabaston and Johanet, Abbe de Gabaston, are found paying homage to Matthieu and Archambaud, Vicomtes of B^arnand Counts of Foix; and about the year 1404, Bernard, Lord of Gavaston, received the grant of the baihwick and custody of Pymbo. (Archives des Basses Fyr6n6es, E. 314.) No mention of any member of the family bearing the name of Piers or Peter is found earHer than the time of Edward II. The only trace of this name in the family is found in an undated allusion in the Archives of the Basses Pyrdn^es (E. 314) to a Pierre de Gabaston, who did homage to Gaston Phoebus. In 1428 a Bernard de Gabaston did homage to Jean, Vicomte of Beam ; and thirteen or fourteen years later a Bertrand de Gabaston received a grant of tribute on all merchandise passing through the demesne of Roquefort. ' ' The principal Barony of the twelve Provinces of Beam was that of Navailles, which was originally owned by the family from which it took its name. This Barony was situated in the Depart- ment of the Basses Pyrenees, Arrondissement de Pau, Canton de Th^zc, and was of considerable size and importance. I'rom the hands of the Navailles it passed successively into those of the Counts of Foix (whose family name was Moncade) and the C.r.iillys. It then became llie property of "the ancient family of PIERS GAVESTON 13 Lastly, Jean de Mesples, Baron de Gabaston, seems to have done homage to the King of France during the first half of the seventeenth century. An order made by Gaston XII. is still extant, fixing the precedence of the twelve great Barons of Bdarn, in which the eighth place is allotted to the Barons de Gabaston. Such being the scanty and inadequate informa- tion, which is all that is forthcoming concerning isolated members of the Gaveston family, it is scarcely surprising to find that the question of the birth and parentage of Piers himself is obscured by many serious difficulties. Chief among these is the fact that the only docu- ment which gives the full name of his father — the Polistorie MS. del Eglise de Christ de Caimterbyre (see Appendix) — makes the names of father and son identical. But Dugdale's Baronage of England states that Piers was " by birth the son of a private gentleman in Gascoine, who had merited well for his faithful services in the wars in those parts, and was, for this cause, in his very childhood, received Gavaston," from whom it was transferred, in 1571, to the house of Montault, when Thabita de Gavaston, Lady de Navailles, and daughter of Bertrand de Gavaston, married Bernard, Baron de Montault et de Bdnac, s^n^chal and governor of Bigorre. Their son, Philippe de Montault, was created Due de Navailles and Peer of France in the year 1650. 14 PIERS GAVESTON into the Court of King Edward I., there to wait upon Prince Edward, his eldest son." This statement concerning his father is confirmed by other contemporary accounts of Piers Gaveston, all of which assume that he was the son of a Gascon knight, a friend and faithful follower of Edward I. The man to whom these contemporary accounts clearly seem to point is Arnald de Gaveston. Edward I. made the acquaintance of this knight on his return from Palestine to take possession of the Kingdom of England. On that occasion the King passed through France from south to north, and did homage to Philip for his dominions in that country. After this, hearing that all was quiet in England, he returned to Gascony to establish his claims there before proceeding home. It is at this time that the name of Arnald de Gaveston first appears in connection with the English. Of his life a certain amount is known — enough, however, to show that he was a man of some importance, and that he was held in high honour by the English King. On the other hand, the allusion to a Piers Gaveston the Elder, mentioned above, stands alone, without other record to confirm the idea that such a man ever existed. Under these circumstances it is e\ident that the choice lies between accepting the positi\e testi- mony of the single manuscript quoted above, or PIERS GAVESTON 15 rejecting this as a simple mistake, in favour of the common view of tradition, which decidedly inclines towards the comparatively well - known Arnald rather than the absolutely unknown Piers. Upon the assumption that Arnald de Gaveston was the father of Piers, the following facts have been collected with regard to his life, and are of considerable interest and importance. The name of Arnald first appears in 1268 among the number of those who did homage on the occa- sion of the marriage of Henry, son of Richard, King of the Romans, to Constance, daughter of Gaston VIII., Vicomte of Beam. (Archives des Basses Pyr^ndes, E. 290.) Five years later Arnald de Gaveston was one of the sureties for Gaston de Beam, and pledged him- self not to leave the Court of Edward I. without permission. His name also figures among those Gascons who had lost their lands for the King, and received as compensation ;^20,ooo. In February, 1287, the King took into his hands the lands of Arnald's wife, Claremunda de Maissiano, until he should be satisfied out of their issues for certain advances made by him, as shown by a petition which Arnald delivered ten years later. In 1288 Arnald was one of the hostages given by Edward I. to the King of Aragon, as a surety for the payment of a sum of 70,000 merks. i6 PIERS GAVESTON In the following year a grant was made to him by the King in these terms : — " The King to the Constable of Bordeaux . . . etc., Greeting. Know that we — bearing in mind the good services rendered to us by our beloved Arnald de Gaveston, Knight, and the kindness and sincere affection shewn to us by Claremunda, called Lady Marcia while she lived, who was formerly his wife — give and grant to the said Arnald, for the marriage of his daughter ^600 of Arnaldois money, strictly enjoining you our said Constable and Re- ceiver, and each of you, to levy in our name and as though for our use, making no mention of this gift, from the rents and tenements of Bernard de Renni- hano. Esquire, the said ;!f 600, for payment of which he is bound to us by reason of damages adjudged to us for certain grave offences committed by him : and to pay the said ;^6oo, when levied, into the hands of the said Arnald by your own hands, as soon as may be, as of our gift for the marriage of his daughter as has been said, making no delay herein, and when this sum is paid, and the receipt for the same in your possession, it is our will that it shall be allowed to you in your accounts. Gi\en at Gard, in Ponthieu, the 2nd of August, 1 289." In the early part of the Gascon war, when he PIERS GAVESTON 17 provisioned the Castle of Xanton, Saintonge, Arnald had a quantity of salt, valued at ;^3,ooo, placed in a certain part of the tower. This was secretly removed from the castle under cover of night by the senechal, who was afterwards charged with this offence, as recited on the Vascon Roll of Edward II. From a subsequent petition it appears that Arnald de Gaveston was given by Edward "into the hands and prison of the French." No record of this event can be found in any of the French or English Chronicles or official documents. It is, however, noted in the Chronicle of Melsa that the prisoners taken by Charles, brother of the French King, were carried off to be incarcerated in Paris. A Commission appointed to inquire into the value of the lands lost by Gascons on behalf of Edward I., or in his service, states in 1 298-9 that Arnald, knight, had lost lands for ^200, the said lands being in all cases returned at- half their actual value. About two years before this Arnald made his escape from the French King's prison, after having been detained there for a period of nearly three years. In the year 1300 Arnald was in Scotland with the King, and during that time, and in the follow- ing year, frequent entries are found of payments made to him by the hands of several of his esquires, in the form of wages, fees, and allowances for 3 i8 PIERS GAVESTON clothes, and there is also a curious record of his bay " baucan " charger, value ;^20, which was sent to the infirmary at Linlithgow, presumably for veterinary treatment. Of Claremunda, Arnald's wife, very little is known beyond the allusion to her in the Vascon Roll (17 Ed. I.) quoted above (which shows that she must have died before the year 1289), and the fact that the four castles of Lembeye, Mont Gaillard, St. Lobedius, and Foyet Man are men- tioned in Arnald's petitions as having belonged to her. This is further confirmed by the famous Wolfenblittel MS., which represents Arnold de Gauaston as holding the castles of Roquefort, Lobinth, Mont Gaillard, and Haxet Man— the word Haxet being also spelt with a " g " or " y " instead of "x," and paying homage for them, both on his own behalf and on behalf of Claremunda, his wife. In May, 1302, Arnald de Gaveston died, and was buried at Winchester, as is shown by the compotus, or account, which relates that a messenger named John Swanland was sent by the Kings command to that city, to convey a sum of money and two pieces of cloth of gold for the funeral of Arnald de Gaveston, deceased, which was to take place there. This fact has given rise to some very interesting inquiries which have recently been made with •«»ir-^''^ ':Cf"-' J ',, / lt^,j PIERS GAVESTON 19 reference to a tomb or effigy in Winchester Cathedral, commonly supposed to be that of a knight named William de Foix. The results of these investigations, which are given at length in the Appendix, may be briefly summarised as follows : — Some years ago it was noted that one of the armorial shields displayed on what had been origi- nally the front of the tomb, bore the coat of Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall. Not long afterwards some rubbings taken from the front edge of the slab revealed the fact that a name had twice been cut upon it, which proved to be " Petrus Gauston." A further scrutiny seemed to show that this inscription must have existed previous to the erection and fixing of the monu- ment. Now, it is known that the body of Piers Gaveston himself was removed to a church in King's Langley, and his two brothers, who are probably the William Arnald and Bourd de Gaveston mentioned in the Close Roll of Edward II., were also interred in the same church. It is unlikely that the tombs of any of these three brothers would have been removed to Winchester without some record of such a fact, and the only conclusion which remains is, that it is the tomb of some one closely connected with Piers Gaveston. 20 PIERS GAVESTON This, in conjunction with the undoubted fact that Arnald de Gaveston was buried at Winchester, gives fairly strong reason for the presumption that this supposed tomb of William de Foix is really that of Arnald de Gaveston. This view is further supported by the six eaglets displayed or on the knight's shield, which are the arms, not of the de Foix, but of the Gaveston family. " The arms of Gaveston were, vert six eaglets or, three, two and one, which stand painted in the fourth window on the South Side of the Body of the Cathedral Church at York. And although his seal, exhibited by Edward Byshe, Esquire, in his Notes upon Upton, presents you only with three eaglets, 'twas because there wanted room for three more. The like example I find in a seal of Hum- phrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford ; who, wanting place therein for his six Lions, did bear his bend and cotises between two lions, supplying a greater by a less number " (A Genealogical History of the Kings and Queens of England, by Samuel Steb- bing, Somerset Herald, London, 1707, fol. p. 141). According to a book called The Annals of Eng- land (Oxford and London), Arnald de Gaveston was put to death by the French, and his wife burned as a witch ; but no autiiority is given for such an amazing statement. This, bare and brief as it appears, is all the PIERS GAVESTON 21 information at present known to exist concerning Piers Gaveston's family. Yet, meagre as it is, it must be admitted to be full and satisfactory com- pared with that absolute blank which must stand for the life of Piers Gaveston's father, if the state- ment already quoted in the Polistorie MS. is to be accepted. It seems incredible that no record whatever should have been left of the father of a man holding so prominent a position as the Earl of Cornwall. Arnald de Gaveston at least answers the description of being a Gascon knight, and a faithful follower of Edward I. He also appears to have been a soldier of some repute and entirely devoid of those talents and vices which first raised his putative son to a position little inferior to that of the Sovereign, and at last caused him to lose his head. CHAPTER III. GAVESTON's early days with EDWARD OF CARNARVON. TO understand the tragic history of Edward II. and Gaveston, it is necessary to realise the way in which their youth was spent, and to under- stand the surroundings amid which they grew up. Edward of Carnarvon, the first Prince of Wales, was born on St. Mark's Day, April 25, 1284, being at the time the second living son of Edward I. In the following August the death of his elder brother, Alphonso, made him heir to the throne. He was the only surviving son of the King's first marriage. Edward's hopes of perpetuating his system of government, to the establishment of which he had devoted all the energies of an active life, made him very desirous of training his son to be an adequate successor. The King wished his heir to become a man fitted for the place desioned for the Sovereign alike by the views of the King himself and by the political devclupnienis i)f the time. Indirect PIERS GAVESTON 23 evidence of the first Edward's plans for his son's training appears in the exact manner in which copies of the Prince's letters were kept and in the accounts of his household. Both were modelled on the approved methods of enrolling the Royal letters and accounts. The plans of the Royal father were doubtless somewhat interrupted by his absences in Scotland and elsewhere, and by his continual pre- occupation in matters of more pressing importance. Although many letters from the Prince are enrolled, no letter from Edward to Gaveston appears in the Roll of Letters of Edward, Prince of Wales (Exchr. Misc. Roll, 5. 2). The young Prince was given a separate household very early, for though in 1290 the Prince's expenses were still charged to the Royal Wardrobe, in 1294 he had already a separate establishment. The good townsfolk of Dunstaple, indeed, complained of the rapacity and violence of his attendants (Ann. Dunst., p. 392). It is uncertain at what date Gaveston was placed with the Prince, or of what age he was at the time. In the documents examined no mention of Gaveston as the Prince's companion is found until the year 1298. Arnald de Gaveston had come to England in 1296-7, and it is very probable that about this date Piers became the Prince's friend. In 1298 Arnald de Gaveston was engaged in the Scottish wars. 24 PIERS GAVESTON No allowance is entered for Gaveston in very early days, but there are notes of provision for another boy in the same position. The first mention made of the Prince's engagement in public business is in 1296. From August 22, 1297, to mid-Lent, 1298, the Prince was nominally Regent during the King's absence in Flanders. On May 20, 1303, Edward of Carnarvon was betrothed to Isabella of France, and on February 7, 1301, he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester at the famous Lincoln Parliament (Ann. Wig., p. 548). This was popular in Wales (Ann. Ed. I. in Rishanger, p. 464), and marked the Prince's entrance into more active life. In 1302 he was called to Parliament. After this he accompanied the King on his campaigns against Scotland. In the summer of 1301 he led the western wing of the invading army from Carlisle (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 200), but soon joined his father, and spent the winter with him at Linlithgow, though he was back early enough to hold, in March, 1302, a Council for his father at London (Ann. Lon., p. 127). In 1303 and 1304 the Prince of Wales was again in Scotland, and though on one occasion the old King commended his plan of campaign, and always kept him well employed, the entries on his expense rolls for these years suggest that he had already acquired habits of e.Ktravagancc. He often lost PIERS GAVESTON 25 large sums at dice, and sometimes had to borrow from his servants to pay his debts. He was attended on his travels by a lion and by Genoese fiddlers. He once, too, had to compensate a fool for the rough practical jokes he had played on him. There is an interesting account of the Prince's household in 1 300-1. Thus, among the "boys in custody," Gaveston seems to be the only one who had no "master" (Exchr. Q. R. Accounts 360. 17). The name is here spelt Gaverston. This mis- fortune of his early days may be the key to his wasted life, and may have contributed to accentuate his natural faults in after days. In his youth Piers was looked down upon by companions, full of insular pride, both as a foreigner and as the son of a man less wealthy than their own parents. He had, however, a private servant allotted to him. Gaveston is mentioned as in the Prince's household 1 302-1 303. In July, 1304, he received the first of what was to be a long series of grants from the Crown. The sons of the Scottish nobles and others whom Edward I. required as hostages, or desired to educate in English views, were frequently made members of the Prince's household, so that he must have had a sort of Court of boys. In 1297, Edward, son of John de Balliol, Alexander, son 26 PIERS GAVESTON of the Earl of Mar, and Robert of Stratherne were among the number. Dugdale, in his Baronage of England, gives a quaint account of Gaveston's youth with Prince Edward, "upon whose affections in tract of time he so much gained by humouring him in such sensual delights, whereunto youth is naturally inclined, that he guided and governed him according to his own vile humour." Some curious particulars as to the life in the Prince's household, during the Scottish campaigns, appear in the Household Roll from November 20, 1302, to November 20, 1303. The Prince, it appears, used to make oblations in the chapels at the celebration of Mass on Saints' days ; indeed, the offerings varied in amount from i8d. to 4s. 8d., and he seems to have made a daily offering of a penny throughout the year. On the other hand, the expenses of the lion, when travelling in a cart, were lod. a day, the lion's food cost 4d. a day, and the wages of the keeper, Adam de Lichfield, were 2d. a day. Nine pounds twelve shillings was paid to the Prince's physician for electuaries, syrups, powders, ointments, and medicines ordered by the Prince's Council, for the cure of the household in the war. The Prince's cart-horses were covered in under a canvas tent. Three and a half ells of blanket were bought, to PIERS GAVESTON 27 make a corset for the Prince (Cal. Doc. Scot., ii. 1413)- The Prince's armour and appointments appear to have been magnificent ; there are accounts of gilt spurs, embroiders of silk and gold thread with the Prince's arms, and crests of gilt copper painted with the Prince's arms. He had forty- two banners of "sindon" with his own arms, twelve with St. Edward's arms, twelve with St. George's arms, and four pennoncells of beaten gold, fringed and painted with his own arms. At dice the Prince spent over ^37. A book was bought for him, in French, the Life of the Blessed Edward, with divers pictures ; dogs and horses, on the other hand, were bought by his own orders. All the carts and servants seem to have borne pennoncells with the Prince's arms ; sixty-three were made between August i6th and November 19th, both for the household carriages and for the sumpters and grooms. The chargers and hackneys bought for the Prince and his household cost a large sum. The highest priced, a sorrel, with white hind foot and white muzzle, cost no merks. The household was entertained by exhibitions of wrestling and minstrelsy. Piers Gaveston had three silver forks pur mangier poires, and John of Brittany (1306) a silver one for sops ; the specified uses proving clearly their rarity (Sussex Archseological Collec- 28 PIERS GAVESTON tions, vii. 204. Note). Mixed cloth of Ghent was bought for the Prince, the Earls, and Bannerets ; " rayed " cloth for the Prince's Esquires ; Persian bluet for the Prince, Earls, and Bannerets, against Easter ; clear green for the Prince and his suite ; clear bluet for his clerks, and striped cloth for his Esquires, at the Feast of Pentecost. For the Feast of Michaelmas, russet cloths of Douai were provided by the Keeper of the Wardrobe for the Prince and his suite. For the Feast of the Assump- tion, cloth of bluet and of rayed {i.e., striped) scarlet was bought for the robes of the Prince and Sir John de Bretagne. In the following year, on a Roll kept by the Comptroller of the Prince's Household, among the provisions consumed at different feasts, there are enumerated beef, lamb, swans, cranes, cheese, pease, vinegar, honey, mutton, bacon, herrings, cod, beans, venison, stockfish, and sturgeon. It must be remembered that this was in Scotland. Piers Gaveston's first introduction to Court and to the scenes of his future triumphs apparently took place as early as 1298. Whenever he was placed with the Prince, his position at that time seems to have been purely unofficial. The ordinary civil costume for men at this time was a lono gown, which came down to the feet, clasped round the waist with ;i girdle. They wore PIERS GAVESTON 29 leggings, or stockings richly worked with gold, sometimes a tunic coming to the knee. The splendour of apparel in the reign of Edward 11. extended to the army, for Holinshed (quoting Caxton under date 1327) says: "At the same time, because the English souldiers of this armie were cloathed all in cotes and hoods, embrodered with flours and branches very seemelie, and used to nourish their beards, the Scots in derision thereof, made a rime, which they fastened upon the church doores of Saint Peter toward Stangate, containing this that followeth : Longbeards, hartless ; Painted hoods, witlesse : Gaie cotes, gracelesse ; Make England thriftlesse." Baker of Swynebroke describes Gaveston as graceful and active in person, clever, nice in his manners, and skilled in arms. Of the character of Piers Gaveston's patron and friend, much has been written. In person the Prince was almost as striking as Edward I. He was tall, handsome, and of exceptional bodily strength (Scala Chronica, p. 136). But though well fitted to excel in martial exercises, he never showed any real inclination for a warlike life, or even for the tourney. As soon as he was his own master he avoided fighting as much as he could, and when compelled to take the field he left it as :,o PIERS GAVESTON soon as possible. Lack of steady purpose ruined his whole character. lie had been brought up as a soldier, but never became one. He had been drilled in the business of State, but only derived from it an absolute incapacity to devote himself to any serious work. His object in life was to gratify the whim of the moment, forgetful of all results. Much of his folly and levity, however, may be laid to the charge of his friends. Prince Edward's favourite pastimes were of a curious nature. He forsook the society of his equals among the youthful nobles, and his favourite companions, with the e.xception of Gaveston, were men of low birth. With them Edward would exercise his remarkable dexterity in manual arts. He was fond of smiths' work, and was proud of his skill at thatching houses. He was also a great athlete, fond of racing and driving, and given to the society of watermen and grooms. He was passionately devoted to horses and hounds and their breeding. He was also a musician, and fond of the stage. Lord Walter Reynolds hrst won his favour, it is said, by his skill " /;/ /udis Huatralibtts" (Monk of Malmesbury, p. 197). The Prince was not well educated. His clothes were gorgeous, and in spite of his liking for low societ)- he w as fond ol pomp and slate at times. He had the easy temper of a thoroughly weak man. " Devoid of confidence PIERS GAVESTON 31 in himself, and conscious probably of the contempt of his subjects, he was never without some favourite of stronger will than his own, for whom he would show a weak and nauseous affection " (Tout). The affection might be nauseous, but it can hardly be called weak, as it was maintained in each case in the face of all odds, until his friends were removed by death, and even then Edward was faithful to their memory. Under the influence of a strong man, armed with noble purpose, Edward of Carnarvon might have been lifted from the slough where he wallowed — from laziness rather than choice. Gaveston, who was handsome, athletic, brilliant, graceful, strong- willed, and unscrupulous, became the favourite of the Prince, and proved the worst one Edward could have found. There is a curious resemblance between the Prince's friendship for Piers Gaveston and that of Charles I., when Prince of Wales, for Buckingham. Both favourites were at length fatal to their friends, as well as to themselves. Both were dangerous to England. CHAPTER IV. BANISHMENT OF GAVESTON BY EDWARD I. THE amusements and pursuits in which the Prince of Wales spent his time, assisted by Gaveston and others equally unscrupulous but less successful in winning favour, have been shown in the preceding chapter. It was but natural that the King should make his son's life the subject of examination and reform as soon as his wars against the Scots gave him time to attend to domestic matters ; or when the Prince's license, unrestrained, went to lengths that could no longer be overlooked. Accordingly, the King spent in England the year 1305 — that in which Prince Edward was twenty-one— and seems to have turned his atten- tion to his son's character and conduct and their probable influence on the kingdom he would one day inherit. Little documentary evidence exists as to the exact nature of the changes effected by the 3' PIERS GAVESTON 33 King, but these certainly extended to matters personal to the Prince, as well as to the fiscal arrangements of his household. In the eyes of the law-providing and law-abiding King, the extravagance of his heir could only preface domestic disaster to the English people. It was in direct antagonism to the King's own life-work of providing for the government of England with the aid of his subjects. There is no trace of the reforms effected in the Prince's expenditure, for although the books of the Prince were kept as precisely and carefully as those of the Royal Household itself, the records have come down in less complete form. Fortunately, however, more exact information exists as to matters personal to the Prince. A roll is still preserved, containing copies of letters written by the Prince of Wales. Among the letters of the Prince appears one ad- dressed to Queen Margaret, his very dear lady and mother, from Edward, her devoted son, with all reverence and honour, which says : — " Whereas the King has granted us almost all the valets of our chamber to be with us as they were formerly accustomed, and we know very well that this is at your request, for which we thank you with all our heart ; we beg you, dear lady mother, once more to be so good as to work in our behalf, 4 34 PIERS GAVESTON and to pray our dear lord and father graciously to grant us two valets in addition to those we have, to wit, Gilbert de Clare and Perot de Gaveston. For of a truth, madam, if we have these two with the others, we shall be greatly comforted, and cheered out of the anguish we have suffered, and yet do suffer, under the ordinance of our said lord and father. Madam, graciously consent, if you please, to bear this matter in mind, and to carry it out in the most conciliatory manner you are able, as you love us. Madam, the Lord have you in His keep- ing. Given under our privy seal at the Park, the 6th day of August, 1305." During the time this and similar appeals were being made to his stepmother and to his sister, Elizabeth, Countess of Holland, the Prince was not only deprived of his favourite attendants, but was forbidden to approach the Court. The King was, at this time, at Newenden, fishing and hunting. To this place Prince Edward seems to have come as near as he might, with a view of ensuring the speedy delivery of his letters and of obtaining the only favour he apparently cared about. He re- mained for some days at Tenterden and from there wrote several letters to his famil\ , in which he showed ;uixiety to obtain the Kini^'s forgiveness. Disgrace probably vexed ihc Prince little, or even PIERS GAVESTON 35 being told that he was unfit to be King ; disgrace, however, combined with the absence of Gaveston, plunged him in anguish of soul. There is no record of Gaveston's whereabouts at this time, nor is there any account of his restoration, or the exact terms of his reconciliation with the King. When Edward and Gaveston were restored to one another's company, they probably resolved 60 pay a little more respect to the King's tiresome predilection for an active and clean life, with a view of avoiding further annoyance in the future. Neither of them were cowards, and Gaveston was a fine soldier when he chose. At the close of the year 1305, the King was engaged in preparations for a fresh campaign in Scotland, to chastise Bruce and the rebel nobles, in which his son and all the young knights were re- quired to accompany him. At Whitsuntide, 1306, there was a grand ceremony at the knighting of the Prince of Wales. Three hundred gentlemen and nobles received knighthood at the same time, the King furnishing their equipment from his own stores. In all probability Piers Gaveston was among this number, for before this date there is no reference to him as Sir Piers, nor is there any known occasion previous to this when he could have received knighthood for service. On October 28th an order was made to 36 PIERS GAVESTON deprive Gaveston of his lands in Surrey, Sussex, Essex, Hertford, Oxon, Berks, Kent, Hunts, Nor- folk, and Suffolk (Fine Roll, 34 Ed. I. m. 2), for leaving the army in Scotland without license. The order was afterwards rescinded on the 23rd of January, 1307, at the request of Queen Margaret (Close Roll, 35 Ed. I. mem. 15). A great portion of the year 1306, the Prince and Gaveston seem to have spent in the south, and they only journeyed north in mid -winter. On December i, 1306, they were at Windsor. They were there on the favourite's birthday, the exact date of which is unknown, for on that occasion the Prince gave him two gold rings, one set with an emerald, the other with a ruby. On the 19th the two friends were in London together, and sent letters to Hugh le Despenser, who apparently was then on his way to join the army on the Border. Edward and Gaveston were busy preparing them- selves for the tournament at Wark — an opportunity of display much more to the taste of both than the arduous and inelegant work entailed by a Border campaign. On the 29th of January, 1307, the tournament was postponed until Easter. This was probably on account of some outbreak of the two. No assigned reason appears, but divers accusations were made against them, which finall)- resulted in Gaveston's banishment. PIERS GAVESTON 37 A later legend runs that the final cause of this exile was the breaking of the Bishop of Chester's park by the Prince and Gaveston, and that Edward was imprisoned for his share of the work. This may or may not be true. There is no contempo- rary account, and it is impossible to trace any other cause for the banishment, in the records of the time. One chronicler, however, the author of the An- nates Paulini, assigns Gaveston's banishment to the King's fear that from the Prince's inordinate attachment to the Gascon knight many incon- veniences would arise in the kingdom after his own death. He also states that Gaveston was banished by the advice of the Barons. This, too, is the reason for the exile given by an old chronicle kept at Christ Church, Canterbury, continued down to the seventh year of Edward II., in an account written apparently shortly after Gaveston's death. The Barons were with the King at Carlisle, and they had already seen their sons despised and set aside for the son of a poor Gascon knight, who, though a personal friend of the King, had held only an unattached position in the Royal Household, and had been seised of no fief in England. Whatever may have been the exact ultimate cause of Gaveston's expulsion, there appears on the Close Roll the following memorandum of the 3S PIERS GAVESTON oaths and ordinances made at Lanercost, on Sun- day, the 26th of February, 1307 : — " Our Lord the King ordained and commanded for diverse reasons, that now, in three weeks, after the coming tournament, which is to be held at the Quinzaine of Easter now coming. Monsieur Piers de Gaveston shall be ready to cross the sea, at Dover, on his way to Gascony, and shall dwell there without returning from those parts unless re- called by our said Lord the King, and with his leave. And the said Monsieur Piers made oath there and then to observe the said ordinance, and to keep it in every particular, swearing on the body of God, on the Black Cross, and on the other relics of our Lord the King. " And, moreover. Monsieur Edward, Prince of Wales, son of our Lord the King, made oath on the body of God, and on the other relics, that he would neither receive, nor keep with him nor about him, the said Monsieur Piers, against the above said ordinance, without the recall or permission of our Lord the King, as it said above. " And by the command of our said Lord the King, it was ordained that the said Monsieur Piers should have each year, towards his expenses, so long as he should remain in those parts beyond, at the will and subject to recall by our Lord the King, as is afore- PIERS GAVESTON 39 said, one hundred marks sterling, or the value of the ' chipoties ' arising out of the land in Gascony. " And the first year shall commence the day after he has crossed the sea, from Dover to Whitsand, on his way to Gascony, to dwell there according to the said ordinance. " And he is to take the said sum at the will of the King, and when the King shall have made inquiry as to what the said Monsieur Piers has above and beyond this, and what profits he has received since he has been in England, and the matter shall be fully known, and the King be well informed on the subject, he may then give orders to increase or lessen the estate of the said Monsieur Piers, as may please the King and as he shall see fit." According to Walter of Hemingburgh, it was in consequence of the Prince of Wales sending Walter de Langton to ask the King for the county of Ponthieu for Gaveston, that the latter was banished by Edward I. There are no Letters Patent on the subject of Gaveston's banishment. The banishment was a public act, and Edward I. charged his Barons to see it carried out even if he himself should be removed by death. He took an oath from Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, the Prince's relative, that he would support the act of exile. On 40 PIERS GAVESTON his deathbed at Burgh, in committing the care of his son to the Earls of Lincoln, Warwick, and Pem- broke, and Sir Robert Clifford, the King charged them especially not to suffer Piers Gaveston to come again into England, to set his son on riot. There is no trace of the result of the inquiries to be made by the King ; probably they were barely commenced by the ist of July, the date of his death. The amount provided for Gaveston by order of the King was the merest pittance, after the sum allowed him as a member of the Prince's house- hold ; it appears, however, that while in exile he continued to receive large sums, under the title of wages, and that he also maintained his own house- hold during that period on a princely scale. There are records of sums paid out of the Prince's Ward- robe to various members of Gaveston's household in London, on the 30th of March, 5th of May, and 25th of June, amounting altogether to ;!fi40. After the tournament at Easter the two friends seem to have come south, either together or within a short time of one another. The Prince during this time devoted himself to makingr arraneements to ensure the comfort of his favourite while in exile. When the cloud of royal displeasure broke at Easter, the Prince had gi\'en Gaveston a silver cup curiously worked. This Gaveston >;ave the same day to Lord Rodcric of Spain, on his own PIERS GAVESTON 41 departure from the north — the act rather of an out- raged and unappreciated Prince, than the treatment due to a disgraced minion and hanger-on of the Court. Gaveston was sent abroad, not merely with the 100 merks allowed him by the King, to commence the day after he crossed the Whitsand, but with funds provided out of the Prince's own revenues, furnished in accordance with instructions sent to his treasurer. Gaveston not only took with him his own servants, but was accompanied by some of those belonging to the Prince, and by Lord Walter Reynolds, the Prince's treasurer. All who went received either gowns, or horses, or presents in money from the Prince. The preparations for Gaveston's departure went on from March until early in May, Prince Edward being most of the time either at his chambers in Clerkenwell, or at Lambeth. The way in which the Prince contrived, as it were, to drive a coach and horses through the ordinance which he had sworn to observe, was to arrange to send Piers to the manor of Cressy, which was Edward's own pro- perty. There the favourite was to stay until such time as he could return or the Prince could join him. True to his character, Gaveston, before leaving England, replenished his wardrobe most amply at 42 PIERS GAVESTON his master's expense. Prince Edward was no niggard either of friendship or money where Gaveston was concerned. It is evident that he did not wish his friend to pass his days in exile in that anguish to which his more clinging nature would doubtless have been a prey. The Prince himself chose clothes for his friend. Purchases of green cloth, of cloth figures with divers arms, of green cloth with red rosettes, and yellow cloth, were sent home to the Prince in Clerkenwell, and immediately afterwards given by him to " Lord Peter " and certain others who were taking ship with Gaveston at Dover for Ponthieu. Before the exile left England, the friends had already devised a method for meeting again. This was to be effected by hurrying on the Prince's marriage with the child-princess of France, to whom he had been betrothed on May 20, 1303. This wedding would have to take place in France. Between the 28th of March and the 28th of April, plans were matured in England, and on the latter date several of the Prince's household went over to Ponthieu to make certain arrangements against the coming of the Prince to those parts, by laying in provisions. These preparations were carried on up to the time of the King's death, and the officers so employed did mu return before the middle of August. The marriage furnished an PIERS GAVESTON 43 excuse for augmenting the suite of Gaveston upon a business which would receive the sanction of the King and the approval of the Barons. Gaveston long out-stayed his appointed time in England, and did not sail before the second week in May. It was, too, by no means a sad procession that left London for Dover, early in that month. Two of the Prince's minstrels accompanied the exile to the port, and apparently several of his knights performed the crossing with him, to bring back news of his safety to the Prince at Lambeth. Gaveston spent the months of May, June, and part of July at the Prince's manor of Cressy. There, the housekeeping expenses were defrayed entirely out of the Prince's purse, the accounts for every- thing being submitted by the bailiff to Gaveston, as though he were master. The Prince wrote to him frequently, sending letters over to Ponthieu to greet him (apparently on his arrival) on the 8th of May from Lambeth. During the six or seven weeks Gaveston spent in exile, he certainly was not dull, nor forgotten at home. There were two tournaments proclaimed in France in June, 1307, which Gaveston attended in costly garments furnished and chosen for him by the Prince in England. He also received saddles with a new shield, and, early in June, a present of jewellery. 44 PIERS GAVESTON The state of affairs which had arisen was this : while the Prince remained in England, constant to his friend but unmindful of his oath and forgetful of his responsibilities as future governor ; Gaveston in France enjoyed himself, philosophically making the most of a bad job, getting all the pleasure he could from life, and only waiting an opportunity to return. The death of the King on the 7th of July, 1307, soon released the friends from the only check by which their oaths had previously been kept. The manner of Gaveston's return, forming as it does a fresh act in the drama of his life, must be reserved for the next chapter. CHAPTER V. ACCESSION OF EDWARD II. RECALL OF GAVESTON. THE King died at Burgh-upon-Sands. Three days before his death, namely, on July 4, 1307, he took leave of his son Prince Edward, and adjured him to prosecute the Scottish war, to cherish his stepmother. Queen Margaret, and his young brothers, and to engage in a crusade ; and forbade him to recall Gaveston from exile under pain of his curse, unless with the consent of the people. {" Jussit etiam ut interminatione maledictionis suae ne Petrum de Gavestone communi decreto exiliatUm, sine communi favore praesumeret revocare." — Wal- singham.) No sooner had Edward I. breathed his last than messengers were at once sent to acquaint the Prince of Wales with the sad tidings. The new King reached Burgh twelve days later. On the 20th he was proclaimed with great rejoicing, having first received the homage of almost all the nobles of England. Edward H., as he had now become, 46 PIERS GAVESTON accompanied his father's body a few days' journey on the way south, leaving it in charge of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury at Richmond.. The new King seemed little affected by his father's death, as on July 30th, he appears to have received money from the Wardrobe for play at Carlisle. In the " Lamentation " of John de London on the death of Edward I. (printed by Dr. Stubbs) there is no special lament provided for his son — a significant omission. The first act of Edward after his accession was to disgrace and imprison Bishop Walter de Langton, Treasurer of the Kingdom, and chief of the late King's executors. This was done to satisfy an old grudge against the Bishop, who had frequently remonstrated against his excesses and had en- deavoured to control his expenses in his father's lifetime. According to the Wardrobe Accounts, the King took possession of the Bishop's revenues. From Carlisle the young King marched north with his army and occupied Lord March's castle near Cumnock until August 25th. On that date he retreated into England. This withdrawal is often referred to as weak and cowardly. It must, however, be borne in mind that public affairs were in great confusion, that the pay of the army was in arrears, and that the Exchequer was practically empty. PIERS GAVESTON 47 Edward's character, indeed, shows to the best advantage at this time, for he made persevering efforts to pay off his father's creditors. No less a sum than ;^ 118,000 was forthwith given to the late King's Wardrobe Keeper to settle the debts of his office, and all arrears owing to servants of the Crown were paid off within six years. It is even probable that Edward's unpopularity was partly due to the severe retrenchments inaugurated by him and to his exactness in collecting taxes. Meanwhile, the new sovereign showed no delay in summoning the impatient Gaveston back to his side. He must have communicated with his servants in London as soon as he received news of his father's death ; for on the i6th and 17th of July letters were forwarded from the capital to Cressy on the King's business. These messengers passed a courier from Gaveston to the King. The expenses of these couriers were afterwards defrayed from the public purse. On July i6th five shillings were given to one Dragon, a servant of Gaveston, who was ill in London, as a gift from the King. On the 19th, Edward despatched letters to London to welcome the favourite on. his arrival, and to await him at the house of Lord Walter Reynolds, the Treasurer of the Wardrobe. Gaveston must have arrived in London about the 13th of August, for in the Exchequer Accounts 48 PIERS GAVESTON there is recorded a payment of i6s. to Robert de Rufford on August 13, 1307, to maintain him during his recovery from some hurt he had incurred while coming from Ponthieu with his master, Peter de Gaveston. From the payments to one Briggs, a carter, it appears that the King left Carlisle on July 31st to prosecute the Scottish war, and returned on September ist. The favourite at once went north to join the King, who returned to Carlisle on September ist. The Court remained only a few days at the border town ; on the 6th it was at Bowes, from the loth to the 1 2th at Knaresborough, and on the 13th at York, where letters were issued appointing John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond, to be the King's Lieutenant in Scotland. The King then came gradually south, passing through Nottingham and Northampton, and reached Westminster on October 8th. John de Trokelowe says: "The King recalled Peter de Gaverston, whom from his earliest days he had loved immoderately." The King welcomed the return of his friend by at once making a grant to him of the Earldom of Cornwall, with numerous other honours, manors, lands, and rents, including the castle of W^allingford. This was done at Dumfries on Auo ust 6, 1 307. Much discussion naturally followed such a mark of the PIERS GAVESTON 49 Sovereign's favour, as the Earldom had hitherto been an appendage of the royal house, and Gaveston was a foreigner as well as an exile. " Peter Gaverston thus became noble, liberal and gentil in summe fascions, but after ful of pride and disdayne, of the which the nobilles of England tooke great dispite " (Scala Chronica). Edward with some trouble succeeded in obtaining the consent of his nobles to this grant, and it was witnessed, however unwillingly, by the Earls of Lincoln, Lancaster, Surrey, Hereford, Arundel, Richmond, and Pembroke (Foedera, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 2). The King's success in obtaining the assent of the nobles to the grant of the titles and honours to Gaveston was probably due to the fact that he had not yet broached the plan of retiring from Scotland, for the proud English Barons would scarcely have been in so yielding a mood had they known of the proposed retreat. According to Walsingham (Rolls Ed. vol. i. p. 120), the Isle of Man was also bestowed upon the favourite in addition to the other grants made him. The England to which the exiled Gaveston thus returned in triumph was full of the materials for the tragedy which was soon to take place. Neither the King nor Gaveston wels wise enough to foresee the tendency of public opinion or to take any steps to conciliate either nobles or people. They only saw so PIERS GAVESTON that the death of the old King had apparently left the son free to indulge his every whim. To the careless minds of both, England was not a kingdom to be governed, but merely a place where their intimacy could run its course unchecked. They were soon to be undeceived. It is incredible that they should have been so utterly oblivious to all signs of the times, and that they should have imagined themselves able to trample ruthlessly underfoot the prejudices of every class and order. Their conduct slowly but surely so alienated from the King alike the loyalty of all at home and the respect of foreign nations, that, when the final crisis came, Edward and Gaveston were forced to stand alone before the infuriated Barons. Gaveston may be excused for fancying that his troubles were over when he returned from his short exile in Ponthieu. His bitter enemy was dead, his devoted friend was King, the Barons he could only remember under the strong hand of the late Sovereign ; although if he had recalled their action under Henry HI. he might have feared that they would look upon that as a historical precedent, which would excuse their conduct in the tragedy now to be traced. If the favourite had for a moment realised the true state of affairs and had calculated the amount of power that could be brought into play against him, he would probably PIERS GAVESTON 51 have mended his ways and retained, perhaps his power, and certainly his head. When sent to govern Ireland later on he proved capable of self- control, and showed himself possessed of much executive ability. He there filled a post, usually despised and disliked, in a way that commanded respect and popularity. In England, however, he was wilfully blind. The Barons were filled with an excusable jealousy of the foreigner, who had displaced their sons and made mock of themselves ; they had been warned by a King they loved and respected to keep his son and successor from the evil influence of the Gascon adventurer. From the time of Gaveston's return, their class instincts, as well as their patriotism, forced them into an attitude of opposition to the daily encroachments of the heedless couple. The dislike of the Barons for Gaveston was not lessened by the apt nicknames he bestowed upon them. Thomas of Lancaster had become known as the " Buffoon " {histrionem) ; Aymer of Valence as "Joseph the Jew," and the Earl of Warwick [qua fuscus erat) as " de Ardenina nigrum canem." The King on his part soon became so absorbed in the pleasure of Gaveston's company that he left the control of the Scottish wars in the hands of the Barons. In the course of one year six different 52 PIERS GAVESTON Governors of Scotland were appointed, while the King and the Earl of Cornwall lingered in the south. Not only did Gaveston and the King neglect to propitiate the Barons in any way, but the favourite was imprudent enough to seek revenge on his old enemies. He actually allowed the King to give him the confiscated treasures of the Bishop of Coventry, and openly gloried in the ruin of his former opponent. The sum of ;!^50,ooo belonging to the Bishop was seized at the New Temple and given to Gaveston. Both the King and the favourite were present when the chests containing the treasure were broken open (Walter of Hemingford, Ed. Hearne). A writ, however, for the restoration of the temporalities of the Bishop was issued on the 3rd of October, 1308. Much of Gaveston 's influence over his master was due to the gross flattery he employed. He extolled as oracular the slightest utterance of the King, and persuaded him that he possessed more than the gathered wisdom of his ancestors. Edward's submission to Gaveston's influence was almost childish. Walter de Whythesee, a monk of Peterborough, gives an interesting example of the favourite's domination. When the King and Gaveston visited that place, the Abbot sent Edward a cup of great value. The King at once inquired PIERS GAVESTON 53 whether the Earl of Cornwall had received a gift, and finding that none had been sent, refused to accept the present. The Abbot then sent a cup to Gaveston, who received it with courteous air. The messenger informed the favourite that the King had refused his cup, and implored him to use his influence with Edward to persuade him to accept it. Gaveston thereupon called his Chamberlain and gave him these orders : " Go to Lord Edward and tell him that I am willing he should receive the Abbot's present." The officer carried the rejected cup to the King with this message, when Edward eagerly accepted it, and thanked the Abbot for his generosity. Gaveston's influence with Edward soon became known to the nation. Applications for places were made to him, and petitions humbly begged the favour of his support. His candidates were always sure of success, and he had many opportunities to lay by money, of which he took full advantage. Among the Muniments of Westminster Abbey (Misc. A. No. 8) in the year 1307, there is an enrolment of letters, apparently from various members of the Monastery of Westminster, with reference to the then vacant Abbacy, to which (in the opinion of most of the writers) a person is elected, of whose "infamia et insufficiencia " the important personages intended to be influenced are 54 PIERS GAVESTON said to be ignorant. The " Elect " is said to be supported by Peter de Gaveston. On November 2 1, 1307, Gaveston received the grant of the custody of the lands of Thomas de Audele, son and heir of Nicholas of that Ilk, deceased. The royal favourite lived in the royal houses in a style of great magnificence, and did not hesitate to squander the royal revenue. He even stooped to require the sum of ;^46 14s. iid. at the hands of Margaret, Countess of Cornwall, this being the amount by which the income of certain manors granted to her by the late King exceeded her appointed dower of ;^ioo, out of the manors of the Earldom of Cornwall. Gaveston's servants were released from all liability to be impressed into the royal service by an order of April i, 1308, dated at Windsor — a measure which did not commend itself to the Barons. He surrounded himself with men of his own race, possibly from affection, but more probably because he could depend upon their fidelity. He not only filled his own house with Gascons, but displaced the King's English ser- vants and crowded the Court with foreiorners. All the good offices about the King were filled by Gaveston's nominees, for whom Edward showed a marked preference. The maintenance of these strangers at the public expense, and the reckless grants made them by the King w ithout the advice PIERS GAVESTON 55 of the nobles, alienated the Barons still more from Edward, and increased their deep dislike for the Earl of Cornwall. At this time Gaveston would seem to have antici- pated trouble, for he sent large sums of money in secret, by the hands of Gascon merchants, to his own country, although he had left it as a child. His object, apparently, was to provide a refuge against the wrath of the English nobles. While thus laying up against an evil day, Gaveston con- tinued his reckless abuse of the patronage of the Court. Upon his return Edward had given him, in addition to the late King's jewels, the sum of ;i^3 2,000 which his father had intended for the succour of the Holy Land. The charge that Gaveston sent much treasure out of the country is well authenticated. Not only is it made by chroniclers known to be adverse, but it appears by records of grants made to these merchants on account of their services to Gaveston. Thus, the King granted a barony in Lyndsay to Gaveston's principal merchant on account of his merits. The old Chronicle of Peter College says that the Earl of Cornwall conveyed the table and trestles of gold from the treasury of Westminster and delivered them to one Armery de Frisconbaude, to be carried into Gascony. The value of the treasure sent out of the country by Gaveston is 56 PIERS GAVESTON estimated by Hemingford at ;if^ 100,000, exclusive of gold and jewels. The insolences of Gaveston incurred the remon- strances of a justly incensed kingdom. The ancient nobility, who had hesitated to receive the Gascon knight as an equal, still more strongly objected to him as a superior. His appointment as Lord Chamberlain was regarded as a fresh ground for complaint by the incensed nobles. Gaveston knew of the general discontent, but lightly ignored it, as also did the King, who turned a deaf ear to the counsels of Lincoln, Warwick, and Pembroke. The exactions of the favourite grew with his opportunities, and the pressure of popular clamour soon became so irresistible that Edward and Gaveston were compelled to bow to the storm. CHAPTER VI. gaveston's marriage, the coronation. EDWARD II. apparently buried all public cares in his father's grave. The stately funeral in Westminster Abbey took place on October 27, 1307. No sooner was he buried than Edward at once gave himself up to prepara- tions for the marriage of his friend to the King's niece, Margaret de Clare : " Virginem elegantem " (Ann. Paul.). She was the sister of the popular young Earl of Gloucester, and daughter to the King's elder sister, Johanna of Acre. If expenditure is any test of occupation of mind, Edward's thoughts were certainly more intent on the wedding than on the funeral. For the intended bridal no less a sum than £2,^ 17s. 7d. (at that time a considerable one) was spent by the King himself on silk cloth worked with gold from Paris, for ladies' head-dresses, German couvre-chefs, tunics worked with gold plate and white pearls, silk of varied colours (bought by the pound), velvet, &c. ; 57 58 PIERS GAVESTON all of which he gave to the ladies and chamber- women of the Countess of Cornwall. The marriage took place on November i, 1307, at Berkhampstead, and was a magnificent spectacle. The bride, the future Countess of Cornwall, had a court of ladies and waiting-women, and assumed all the dignity of a Princess of the Blood. The King threw showers of coins over the heads of the bride and bridegroom at the door of the church, having received the sum of £'] los. 6d. for this purpose from his treasurer. The bride appeared fond of her handsome husband, and never lost her affection for him. If Gaveston and Margaret de Clare followed the example of Edward I. and Margaret of France, they must have been married at the door and only went into the church for the ceremonies that followed at its altar. History does not state whether Gaveston's enemies were constrained to be present. If they were at the wedding they must have showed a somewhat altered demeanour to the King's nephew. After the wedding the sum of ;^20 was paid to certain minstrels by the King's order. This shows the lavish scale of expenditure at such festivities. Grants were made to Gaveston from the King, of the cistles of Gaure, Thalamon, and Mauleon in Gascoinc, with the Provostship of Camparian, called Com})l;il, ;iiul the Cily of P;iii>n, also of the PIERS GAVESTON 59 manors of Hertfunere, Biorn, Comtad, Saline, Dagines, and Isle of Oleron, with the territories of Marempne, and Laucras in Xantaigne, for " terme of life." Shortly after, a charter was granted to Gave- ston and " Margaret his wife for a market every week, upon the Thursday, at his Mannor of Topell, in Com North, as also for a Fair yearly, on the Eve, Day, and Morrow of St. Giles. Likewise another Grant in tail, to himself, and the said Margaret, and to the issue of their two Bodies lawfully begotten of the Mannor of Wroxhale, in the Isle of Wight, late part of the possessions of Isabell, Countess of Albemarle. Again, having the Earldome of Cornwall, thus granted to him, and Margaret his wife, and to the heires of their two bodies lawfully begotten ; he obtain'd several Precepts to sundry persons to make Livery unto him of divers Lordships and Lands, which were parcel thereof; viz., to Adam de Carleton, for Livery of the Mannors of Tremeton, and Moresk, in that County. To Thomas de la Hyde, Sheriff of that Shire, of all the Lands then in his custody, therein, the like to John de Sture of Lands in Devonshire. Also to John de Clinton, for Livery of the Castle of Walingford, the Honor of St. Walerie, and Town of Cicestre" (Dugdale). The design of his favourite's marriage was a 6o PIERS GAVESTON clever stroke on the part of the King. An alliance with the Royal House of Plantagenet would neces- sarily add much greater weight to Gaveston's newly acquired position in the Baronage than any which he could obtain by other means. It would also help to overcome a certain insular prejudice against his foreign birth. His family, though old, was un- known in England. Haughtiness the Gascon had in plenty ; but this marriage would add dignity, and help to bridge over, in the minds of men, the wide gulf between the past and present Earls of Cornwall. On the other hand, all occasion of " insulting" the English nobles by proposing an alliance between one of their daughters and the foreigner was obviated by admitting him to the royal family. Walsingham places the marriage of the Earl of Cornwall after the banishment to Ireland (in which, as usual, he follows John de Trokelowe), but the Exchequer and royal accounts fix the date finally as November i, 1307. In order to celebrate his marriage, Gaveston pro- claimed a tournament at his castle of Wallingford, where sixty knights were to encounter a like num- ber. In the tourney, Gaveston appears to have come forward with two hundred knights, and very naturally succeeded in dispersing his opponents. His conduct on this occasion seems to have put the finishini^ stroke to ilic irritation felt against him PIERS GAVESTON 6i by the Barons. Whatever their private opinions might be, and however divergent their views on Gaveston's administration of the kingdom, they one and all resented this compulsory contact with one whom they regarded as nothing better than a successful adventurer. For a time quiet still reigned. The King spent Christmas at Wy with his friend. Apparently after his marriage, as before, Edward continued to defray the greater part of his new nephew's housekeeping expenses, for the item continued to bulk large in the royal accounts. It now became necessary that Edward should carry out his own long projected marriage with Isabella of France. In view of this, on the 26th of December, 1307, Gaveston was made Guardian of the Realm, while the King should be absent in parts beyond the seas. Lincoln and Lancaster, whose claims to the honour were incomparably greater than the Earl of Cornwall's, were passed over; policy and good judgment being also sacrificed in order to place Gaveston alone above the whole of England. The views of the Barons may be imagined. After long and costly preparations, which entailed frequent journeys to and fro across the Channel, the King sailed from Dover on January 20, 1308 (Cal. Pat. Roll, i Ed. II. p. ), having previously, on January i8th at Dover, 62 PIERS GAVESTON issued another patent, to confirm and extend the powers already granted to Gaveston as Guardian of the Realm. This latter patent gave authority to issue licenses to elect, grant royal assents, make restitution of temporalities, collate and present to prebends, and deal with wardship and marriages. The King and his party were, on their arrival, housed at Boulogne in canvas tents put up at his own expense. The King's marriage took place on January 25, 1308. Thirty-two foreign dukes and earls were present, not including the English nobles with the King. The wedding festivities were prolonged for some days, and Edward did homage to the French King for his lands in France. Edward and his bride met with a splendid reception on their return to London. But the King's meeting with Gaveston, as described by John de Trokelowe, must have been nauseating in the extreme to the Barons, who were quietly biding the time for their revenge. The coronation of the King and Queen took place at Westminster on February 25, 1309, the festival of St. Matthias. On the day fixed the prelates and nobles met very early in the morning, and conferred gravely together as to the confirma- tion by the King of the laws and customs of the country. It was probably at this juncture that a Council was held in the presence of the Queen's PIERS GAVESTON 63 uncles, Charles and Louis ; John, Duke of Brabant ; Margaret, his Duchess ; the Count of Savoy, and others ; at which the King was petitioned to remove Peter de Gaveston from the realm. The King refused at once, whereupon the nobles proposed to prevent his coronation. Edward, hearing this, promised he would faithfully do whatever they asked in the next Parliament, if they would allow his coronation to go on. Having gained his point, the King appointed the Earl of Cornwall to carry the crown, the chief of the insignia, in the public procession. Four earls were in the palace on the coronation day, it being their duty to support the King to the monastery. A carpet was laid down from the palace to the throne in the monastery, and was afterwards cut up, the sacristan getting the portion within the church, and the remainder being dis- tributed among the poor. The nobles bearing the different insignia were clad in silk. The Barons of the Cinque Ports carried a square canopy of purple silk supported on four spears covered with silver, with four little turrets of silver gilt. This was carried over the head of the King wherever he went. A similar canopy was carried over the Queen. The silk was the perquisite of the Barons, but the spears became the property of the Church of Westminster. 64 PIERS GAVESTON The hand of the late King may be traced in the coronation oath taken by Edward II., which differed from that previously used. The promises made in the oath were definite. The King swore to grant, keep, and confirm to the people of England the laws and customs granted them by the ancient kings ; and to grant, hold, and keep the laws and righteous customs which the community of the realm shall have chosen. It is important to observe that Edward II. did not take the oath in Latin, of which language he was ignorant, but in the French form provided for the occasion. The resentment of the Barons against the un- ceasing demands of Gaveston had been constantly rising. It had not been diminished by his marriage, the tournament at Wallingford, or by Gaveston 's appointment as Guardian of the Realm. His selection as crown-bearer in the coronation pro- cession, and to thus take precedence of such great lords as William, Earl Marshal, the Earl of Hereford, Henry of Lancaster, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Arundel, and Lord Thomas de Vere, did not tend to lessen it. The wrath of the Baronage was further inflamed by the fact that, as Sir Thomas de la More states, Gaveston at the coronation easily outshone all others present, includini; Charles of Valois, the PIERS GAVESTON 65 French King's brother, and Henry, Count of Luxembourg, afterwards Emperor. He had a taste for Oriental splendour, due perhaps to some strain of Eastern blood. The coronation ceremonies furnished a new ground for criticism to the already indignant nobles. For on this great occasion, while the King's right boot and spur were in the charge of the brother of the King of France, and the left boot with Pembroke, the left spur (in addition to the crown of St. Edward the Confessor) was carried by the Earl of Cornwall, who thus shut out some other aspiring member of the Baronage. According to Walsingham, not only were the nobles irate at Gaveston's preferment, but even the common people and the clergy. The crowd did not spare the King who was being crowned, nor the officiating Bishops (the Archbishop of Canterbury, being unable to reach London in time, had commissioned the Bishops of Winchester, Salisbury, and Chichester to act for him), so the ceremony was conducted over- hastily, with an apparent lack of reverence. From the first the Queen took a violent dislike to Gaveston. If her character had been otherwise than it was, and her influence with the King stronger, after events might have been of a very different nature. CHAPTER VII. GAVESTON's banishment to IRELAND. THE Barons and the country in general had, even before he was crowned, begun to appre- ciate the character and to fear the purposes of Edward II. A great Council of magnates was summoned to meet on the 3rd of March, 1308, to consult on the state of the Church, and to consider the welfare of the Crown, as well as the peace of the land. After the coronation, Edward, on the day appointed, or perhaps before, intimated to the Council, through his cousin Lancaster and Hugh le Despenser, his willingness to proceed to business. The message was received as an omen of better things, and Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, one of the late King's most trusted friends, after thanking God for the happy commencement of the new reign, suggested that the King should confirm by writ his promise to r.itify whatever the nation should decide. PIERS GAVESTON 67 It is a curious fact that the only nobles who refused to join in these somewhat hollow and premature congratulations were the King's envoys, who prob- ably knew their master thoroughly. Their hesitation was justified. Edward soon saw that trouble was brewing, and postponed the Council for five weeks. He had had a taste of the quality of his Barons in the meeting which had been held on his coronation morning, and was anxious to put off the day of reckoning. At the meeting on March 3rd (dated February 27th by the Chronicler of St. Paul's), there had been some division of opinion among the nobles themselves. This enabled the King to adjourn the Council more easily. Edward had promised to affix his seal to whatever this Council should decide for the honour of God and the Church and the profit of himself and the kingdom. The Barons could not agree among themselves as to the precise mode of proceeding, and were consequently not unwilling to postpone the meeting. The Council formally met again on April 28th. The Barons, fearing treachery, came to London fully armed. Even in these early days they realised the unreliability of Edward's character, and while they knew he dared not openly break his promises, they were well alive to the possibility of his adopting other means to relieve himself of their interference. 68 PIERS GAVESTON The Annales Paulini state with special stress the fact that the Barons were armed for self-defence, not for aggression. The London Chronicler records the arguments of the Barons touching the nature and degree of their duty and allegiance to the Crown in full detail. (See Appendix.) The follow- ing translation of these arguments, taken from the Statute Book I. 182, is transcribed here because the same clause embodying them, which is recorded by the London Chronicler to have been used on this occasion, was afterwards, with the addition of four words, inserted in the Act against the Despensers. " Homage and the oath of allegiance is more by reason of the Crown than by reason of the person of the King, and it bindeth itself more unto the Crown than unto the person ; and this appears in that before the estate of the Crown hath descended, no allegiance is belonging to the person ; wherefore, if the King, by chance be not guided by reason, in right of the Crown, his liege subjects are bound by the oath made to the Crown, to guide the King and the Estate of the Crown back again by reason, and otherwise the oath would not be kept. Now, were it to be asked how ought they to guide the King, whether by Course of Law or by Violence ? By Course of Law a man will not be able to get redress, for he will liavc no Judges but such as PIERS GAVESTON 69 are the King's, in which case if the will of the King be not according to reason, he certainly will have only Error maintained and confirmed ; wherefore it behooveth, in order to save the oath, that when the King will not redress the matter and remove that which is hurtful to the People at large, and prejudicial to the Crown, it is determined that the King be removed by Violence, for he is bound by his oath to govern the People, and his liege subjects are bound to govern with him and in aid of him, and in his default." The London Chronicler omits the last four words. Such was the quaint but strictly logical salve which his Barons twice in the reign of Edward II. applied to their uneasy consciences. The removal of Gaveston was, of course, the chief subject in the minds of the magnates com- posing the Council which met in April, 1308. On the other hand, this was the one thing which Edward II. was determined not to concede. For a time there was a complete deadlock. The King at length saw he could purchase victory by no other concession, and gave way with a bad grace. Charges were formulated against the Earl of Cornwall in Parliament. The Barons wished to subject him to a legal trial, but here the King was firm. Thereupon the nobles brought in a charge of 70 PIERS GAVESTON treason. This terrified Edward, who promised to exile Gaveston if the Barons spared his life and person. They compelled the King to give a written promise on May i8th not to hinder the banishment as decreed. Upon receipt of this document the Archbishop of Canterbury pro- nounced a solemn sentence of excommunication upon Gaveston, if he should ever return to England, and upon any one who should in any way give him aid, comfort, or protection in such return. It afterwards appeared that the King had a plan in mind through which Gaveston's banish- ment was turned into a triumphal departure. The Barons demanded that the Earldom of Cornwall should be taken from Gaveston. At last, fearing a rising of the whole people, who were wild for Gaveston's removal, for every one detested him, the King revoked his charter of enfeoffment, and gave it up to the Barons, who burnt it on the spot. The sentence of banishment on Gaveston, under pain of death and excommunication, was published throughout the kingdom, with the approval of every one excepting the King and Queen [Annaks Paulini, vol. i. p. 263). The King, and presumably Gaveston, remained at Westminster until May 24th, both somewhat subdued. The Barons were greatly pleased with PIERS GAVESTON 71 the success of their efforts to remove the pestilent foreigner. Their joy was short-lived, for on June 1 6th Letters Patent were issued from Reading, whither the King had moved his Court, appointing Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. This purpose of the King's had been kept absolutely secret, and the accomplishment of his design came like a thunder-clap upon the astonished Barons. This appointment was particu- larly galling to the nobles after their fierce struggles to rid themselves of the hated Gascon. They could only console themselves by reflecting that Gaveston would at any rate be away from the King. If his Barons had needed any further proof of Edward's shifty methods, this appointment and a hurried and gorgeous journey of King and Court to Bristol, which was avowedly taken to bid the new Lord Lieutenant godspeed, must have convinced them. From the i8th to the 21st of June the Court was at Marlborough, on the 22nd at Stanley, on the 23rd at Bristol. None of the greater Barons apparently accompanied Edward, except the Earl of Richmond (who witnessed Acts on the 7th and i6th of June at Langley), Gloucester, Hugh le Des- penser, and Henry de Percy. On the 7th of June, the King had made Gaveston and his wife a fresh grant, comprising the manor of Skipton in Craven, 73 PIERS GAVESTON Carisbrook Castle, and lands in Aquitaine, bringing in 3,000 merks a year. The royal party remained at Bristol five days. Gaveston sailed for Ireland on June 28th. The King's treasure speedily began to follow him. He must have had a large retinue, as several ships were requi- sitioned for his train. Gaveston himself appears to have crossed the Irish Channel in the King's barge. The date given by the Canon of Bridlington for Gaveston's departure (July 7th) is probably erro- neous, for on July 9th the King was again at Windsor, according to the Patent Rolls. On August 2nd a temporary reconciliation took place between the King and his nobles. Edward devoted the early days of Gaveston's absence to the task of conciliating the Barons, no easy one. He testified to his incapacity by his utter inability to recognise the inevitable sequence of cause and effect. Edward went to vast expense to provide sport for the discontented nobles. The chronicler of St. Paul's quaintly says : " And to the director of this solace- ment the name was given of the King of the Green Grove, but the Green Grove was made a Barren Grove, for the Earls and Barons wisely neglected to attend." On the 4th of August Parliament met at North- ampton, and, at the request of the Barons, Edward PIERS GAVESTON 73 swore to remove from his Council and company certain knights, and made oath that he would stand at the bidding of the Earls and Barons at the next Parliament at Westminster in the autumn. This period was a most important one for the King and his favourite. Gaveston, removed from his enemies in England, had a chance to conciliate them by prudent conduct and a full acceptance of his sepa- ration from his master ; while Edward might easily have reconciled his irritable nobles by a judicious course of attention to his kingly duties. How both failed and in what a lamentable manner will soon appear. A lack of tact appears to have been one of Gaveston's chief faults. He was unable to realise the envy and malice of the younger nobles, and failed to make allowance for their hatred. Himself with no touch of revenge or vindictiveness, he credited others with a similar absence of such traits — and suffered accordingly. CHAPTER VIII. GAVESTON IN IRELAND. "|\ yrODERN historians infer that Gaveston's -*^^^ appointment as Governor of Ireland was kept secret until his actual landing in that country in 1308. There is, however, no direct evidence that any such secrecy was observed. Such a view was probably incorrect. Gaveston's commission gave him supreme power as far as English rule extended in Ireland, the extent of such dominion apparently varying with the energy and ability of successive Governors. This power included authority to remove and appoint bailiffs and justices, to present to churches, and to receive the revenues. The head of the Executive in Ireland was from time to time variously called Gustos or Keeper, Warden, Justiciary, Procurator, Seneschal, Constable, Lord Lieutenant, and Lord Deputy. For nearly a century Ireland had been ruled by English PIERS GAVESTON 75 Governors called Lords Justices ; during that period only four exceptions to the rule occurred in the appointment of Lord Deputies. The nature and functions of the respective offices of Lord Deputies and Lord Justices appear to have been identical in form, though the names differ. The predecessor of the Earl of Cornwall was Sir John Wogan, who had acted, except for a short interval, from October, 1295. Wogan received a salary of ^500 per annum, and administered all the revenues of the country. In the appointment of Gaveston no mention is made of any salary. He appears to have acted as the personal Lieutenant, or local representative of the King. There appears in the Irish Close Rolls a record of the bestowal of the Great Seal of Ireland on Walter de Thornbury by Gaveston on the Sunday after the Purification, 1308. Wogan still apparently acted as Justiciary, for letters were addressed to him as such on August 2 and 16, 1309, without his receiving any new appointment to office. Gaveston was accompanied by his wife and, according to the Irish accounts, by the Countess of Gloucester, daughter of the Earl of Ulster. English writers, however, record the Earl of Gloucester's marriage as taking place at Waltham, the following Michaelmas. This latter statement is probably correct. The Irish doubtless first saw the Countess 76 PIERS GAVESTON at Gaveston's Court in Dublin, and she probably- returned there after her marriage. This supposition easily explains the apparent discrepancy between English and Irish chroniclers. Details of Gaveston's days in Ireland are few. The Annals of the Four Masters ignore his coming. They notice at this time only a damage by lightning to Roscommon Monastery, beyond mention of the internal broils which made up the principal part of Irish history at this period. In the early years of the fourteenth century the portions of Ireland nominally under the sway of the English Crown were divided into "Liberties" and ten Counties. The " Liberties," the lords of which assumed the state of princes, were (i) those of Con- naught, under de Burgh ; (2) Meath, under de Mortimer and de Verdon ; (3) Wexford, (4) Carlow, and (5) Kilkenny, each under the jurisdiction of the respective representatives of the husbands of the Marechal heiresses ; (6) North Munster, partly claimed by de Clare, and (7) West Munster, under a branch of the Fitzgeralds. These "absolute Pala- tines," wrote Sir John Davies, "made Barons and Knights, did exercise high justice at all points within their territories, made their own Judges, Seneschals, Sheriffs, Coroners, and Estreators, so as the King's writ did not run in those counties, but only in the Church lands lying within the same, which were PIERS GAVESTON 77 called the ' Cross.' " These provincial princes were not bound to any one form of government, but used their own discretion freely. There was no feudal tenure or service assigned to the Crown, everything centred in the person of the Palatine. In many of these Palatines native plantations still remained, either tributary to, or in alliance with, the Anglo- Norman lords. Between the feudal exactions of the Anglo-Norman nobles and the harassing persecu- tions of the savage natives, the English colonists had no easy time of it. The Irish were governed by the Gaelic Code, administered by their own brehons or judges, according to ancient precedent. It was to this Ireland, convulsed with internal struggles and a prey to the unscrupulous ambition of half-independent chiefs, that Gaveston came, with his own ambition ungratified and another English purse to fill. The circumstances into which he entered were not unlike those he had left in England. Here again were powerful nobles ready to be jealous, and a suspicious people unwilling to be preyed upon. The great territorial lords in Ireland could, however, afford to look on him with more indulgence than their English brethren, since the Irish nobles were petty sovereigns in their own domains, responsible to no one but them- selves, and only liable for hostages detained in Dublin Castle. Gaveston had not trod so closely 78 PIKRS GAVESTON on their heels in reaching his high position as he had done with the EngHsh Barons ; neither had the Irish nobles been trained, under the strong hand of the first Edward, to expect a firm and just govern- ment, the nature and scope of which were strictly defined. The mere fact of his banishment by the English nobility was actually a reason for Gaveston's favourable reception in Ireland, while the splendour of his Court and the charm of his manner readily won the hearts of the impulsive islanders. Adam Murimuth says of him, " Ubi regaliter vixit, et fuit bene delectus, erat enim dapsilis et largus in muneribus dandis, et honoribus et terris sibi adhaerentibus procurandis." The Annals of Loch Ce' speak of him as " Piers Gaveston, a very noble knight and prime favourite of the King of the Saxons, who came to Erin in 1308, and O'Diumasaigh was slain by him in the same year." In the supplement to the History of Ireland prefixed to Lascelles' Report on the Public Records of Ireland (\%2d^ a favourable view of Gaveston is taken. Though all parties in Ireland uniformly agreed in taking advantage of any moment of weakness in England, they were as uniformly at variance with popular opinion in England on the merits of any of its public characters. Ga\eston was detested in England. The Irish found him. PIERS GAVESTON 79 it seems, "amiable in his temper ; handsome in his person, and in his manners graceful and engaging. Full of gallantry and courage among the fair and the bold, he appeared to his inferiors gracious and full of condescension. His princely port and magnificent retinue served to captivate the general eye, not used to such spectacles" (Lascelles). The Irish most admired him for the vigour and energy of his character. Instead of waiting, like some former Deputies, to be insulted in the very seat of govern- ment, he at once marched out against the insurgent septs, drove them from their retreats, and pursued them with such success that they were completely broken and dispersed. His soldiers, pleased with his valour and gained over by his largesse, followed his standard with eager loyalty. O'Dempsy, an Irish chieftain of note, was slain on the field of battle, and his forces totally routed. Having conquered the rebels, Gaveston pro- ceeded vigorously to repair the havoc made by former insurrections, to build castles, and to open roads throughout the English territory. Unfor- tunately, his very success against his enemies, as well as his pride and haughtiness towards his co- adjutors and equals, excited the envy of the Irish lords. They had been used to look down with contempt upon the King's vicegerent; and when- ever they could not induce that officer to become 8o PIERS GAVESTON the instrument of their passions, they had been used to prosecute their schemes of private revenge or aggrandisement in an utter disregard of his authority. In particular, the Earl of Ulster, with equal pride and state, affected by his train to eclipse the Governor. He had many followers, a formidable body ; with these he held his court at Trim, and feasted his attendants with all the splendour of a sovereign, conferring the honour of knighthood, among others, upon two persons of the family of De Lacy. He is said, indeed, to have threatened Gaveston with hostilities. But before this challenge could come to an issue, which in all probability would have proved disastrous to the Irish Earl. Gaveston was suddenly recalled, when Ireland was abandoned to its weak government and petulant nobility, as before. Looking back over the long line of English Governors in Ireland, Piers Gaveston stands out as successful, and, stranger still, as beloved by his Irish subjects. The most powerful of the Anglo-Norman nobles on Gaveston's arrival was Richard de Burgh, the red Earl of Ulster referred to above. He took the first place in the councils of the colony, and was even named before the Viccnns in official docu- ments. In the autumn following his arrival, the nOw Lord Lieutenant bccanu' doubly connected with dc Burgh h)' marriage, the Earl of Gloucester PIERS GAVESTON 8i marrying his daughter, and the red Earl's son, John, marrying at the same time the Earl of Gloucester's sister. De Burgh had little cause to love Gaveston, for on June 15th, the day before the latter's appointment, de Burgh had received Letters Patent appointing him the King's representative in Ireland. The grant made to Gaveston on the following day cancelled all former ones. In re- voking his appointment, Edward rather unwisely charged the Earl of Ulster to be "aiding and assisting to Gaveston, so that the King could deservedly commend his loyalty therein." De Burgh had been summoned to Parliament in the previous April, and was probably in England at this time. He had certainly seen service in all parts of the kingdom, and is said to have led the Irish against the Scots when the latter invaded Ireland in 1273; but this story is probably apocryphal, since de Burgh was only fourteen at the time. In 1294 3^iid 1297 ^^ was with Edward I. in Gascony, where he probably made the acquaintance of Gaveston's father. All through the later years of the last reign and until 1322, de Burgh received summons regularly to the Scottish wars. During the Balliol campaign of 1296 he had also led more than 1,600 men from Ireland, and during the war of 1304 it was he who received the submission of the Scots Governor, John Comyn. In these 7 82 PIERS GAVESTON expeditions he had spent his money so lavishly in the King's behalf that in 1308 more than ^2,000 was still owing him by the Crown. It is during Gaveston's stay in Ireland as its governor that he appears to the greatest advantage. While not, indeed, possessing the honesty and single- ness of heart necessary to a great ruler, he was most energetic and full of courage. Though parsimonious in the extreme with his own funds, he knew how to spend the public money with good effect. He was, moreover, well supplied with funds from England, thanks to Edward's constant thoughtfulness. According to the Book of Howth (p. 12), " Peter de Gaviston subdued the O'Brenes, being Irishmen, and did re-edify the new castle of Makynnegan, and the castle of Kenni, and made a clean and a ready passage or way betwixt the castle of Kenny and Glandaloghe, being the Irishmen's high and trade way. He also obtained the church of Kenny, and a St. John's even the same year he went into England." In Ireland, as in England, Gaveston found it easy to collect a crowd of devoted dependents. His influence with the King enabled him to procure places, pardons, and pensions for any one he took the trouble to recommend. In Ireland, he had, if possible, still greater power at his command. This PIERS GAVESTON 83 he seems to have used in the usual way, for almost all the scanty references to him in Irish chronicles speak of the number of his dependents or the pomp of his Court. His manner and address pleased his subordinates, and appear to have specially charmed the Irish. He would have been wiser had he employed his power of conciliation on those alone who had the power to injure him. The service in which the Governor of Ireland was most frequently engaged was that of aiding the people of the districts south-east of Dublin in their contest with the septs of the Mi Tuathail or O'Toole, and the Mi Brainin or O'Byrne. These clans had their principal strongholds in the mountainous districts to the south of Dublin. The Viceroy Wogan marched against these septs in 1308, but was put to flight with the loss of several knights. Gaveston, with the army and the help of the colonists, defeated the hostile septs and made a thanksgiving offering for his success in the church of St. Kevin. Whatever his vices, the Earl of Cornwall was a good fighter. According to the Archives of Dublin Castle of the year 1309, " Pearce de Gaveston, Lieutenant of Ireland, built New Castle in the O'Birne's country, and repaired Castle Kevin. He went into Thomond, and performed good services there, 84 PIERS GAVESTON with virtue and valour" (Cal. of Carew MSS. Misc. P- 455)- If Gaveston had remained longer in Ireland, he would have consolidated his position and could have defied his English enemies. His native reckless- ness, however, seemed to be enhanced by his successes over the wild Irish, and wisdom was still far from him. CHAPTER IX. THE KING AND HIS BARONS DURING GAVESTON's ABSENCE IN IRELAND. WITHOUT his friend, Edward II. showed himself remarkably incapable of ruling. After his sorrowful parting with Gaveston, he returned from Bristol direct to Windsor ; at the end of July he was at Langley. Early in August the King was compelled to meet the Barons at Northampton, where a temporary reconciliation was effected, for which he paid the further price of yielding up to the Barons more of his servants and councillors who were obnoxious to them. Among these were le Despenser, de Segrave, de Bereforde, de Inge, and others. Hugh le Despenser the elder did not share the views of his son. This is all the less strange since the father was the son of that Hugh le Despenser who had played a prominent part on the Barons' side in the time of Henry III. On the outbreak ss 86 PIERS GAVESTON of hostilities in that reign this Hugh le Despenser (the favourite's grandfather) made a sortie from the Tower, at the head of a mob of citizens, and burnt and sacked the residence of the King of the Romans at Isleworth (Lib. de Ant. Leg. p. 6i). On the arrival of the Barons, he was one of their sixteen leaders who signed a convention with the Mayor of London before the advance on Lewes. At the battle (May 13, 1264) he fought in the foremost ranks, capturing Marmaduke Thwenge. He was then made Governor by the victorious party over six castles, including Oxford and Not- tingham (Pat. 48 Hen. HI. m. 7; 49 Hen. IIL m. 20). He was also one of the arbitrators agreed on by the King and Barons for arranging terms of peace (Royal Letters, ii. 275). He acted as Justiciary under Simon de Montfort, and it is recorded that " Hugo le Despenser, Justitiarius Angliae " fell at Evesham (Aug. 4, 1265), after being entreated in vain by his friends to seek safety in flight. He was the last of the Justiciaries of England. His spirit seems, however, to have been entirely absent from his son, who allowed himself to be dispossessed of his position at Court. But a like spirit to that of his grandfather in Henry HI.'s time appears to have animated the c.'irly political life of his grandson, the favourite of Edward II. This Hugh had served in the Welsh PIERS GAVESTON 87 war, and in the campaigns in Gascony and Flanders, under Edward I. ; he also fought at the battle of Dunbar, and was employed on several occasions on embassies of importance, but though both a diplomat and a soldier, he seems to have shown no talent for statesmanship. He was one of the courtiers in the royal barge when the King and his bride landed at Dover (Pari. Writs), and had gone with the King and Gaveston to Langley after the decree of banishment had been issued against the latter. Nicolas de Segrave, who was disgraced at the same time as Hugh le Despenser, had been pro- moted to the post of Marshal of England on the preceding 1 2th of March, after it had been decided by an alleged search in the records of the Exchequer that no woman had held, or could hold, that office, and that therefore the widow of Roger Bigod was incapable of doing" so. This pretended search could hardly have been a real or a sincere one, since the Marshalship had passed to the Bigod family in the preceding generation through a woman, the heiress of the Marshals. William de Bereford was author of those degraded by the Barons at Northampton. He was a Justice of Common Pleas. William de Inge, who was also amongst those then degraded, was another Justice ; he had been one of those 88 PIERS GAVESTON appointed to hear complaints against Walter de Langton, Bishop of Chester, in the preceding February, and he had also been present at the Court at Langley in June. None of the men removed from the King's favour by the Barons at Northampton seem to have been long in disgrace, for they all received summonses to a Parliament to be held at Westminster in the following October. In the autumn the King welcomed the Queen's uncle, Louis, brother of the French King, who came as an ambassador with the Bishop of Soissons, from the King of France, to obtain a truce for the Scots, which was granted November 19, 1308 (Rymer). Although in August a reconciliation between them was said to have been effected, the relations between the King and the Barons seem to have been strained in the extreme. It at all events led to very little indeed. All that followed it was that the Bishop of Coventry's affair was decided, and that justices were sent to inquire into the abuse of forestalling in the City of London (Ann. Lon. 156). No general Parliament had been held since October, 1307. The influence of Gaveston even after the apparent reconciliation in August, 1301, remained a stumbling-block in the path of all progress. The favourite apparent!)- absorbed the energies of the King 10 the exclusion of all national PIERS GAVESTON 89 considerations. This intimacy also raised a barrier of cordial dislike between the Crown and the Commons. ,. Edward, meanwhile, was even in his absence mindful of his favourite's interests. An order to the Constable of Bordeaux, dated Westminster, December i, 1308, directs him to pay all revenues from estates in Gascony, granted to Gaveston by the King, to the favourite himself or to his agent, John de Marsano. In the following February a Council was called, at which it was decided to summon a general Parliament to meet at Westminster, April 27, 1309. However, before facing Parliament, Edward wrote to the Cardinal of Sancta Maria Nova on Gaveston's behalf. Already Edward had, on December i, 1308, in a letter to the King of France, very humbly thanked Philip for sending his ambassadors, and for having the affairs of England so much at heart, "as it behoves a good father to consider his son's affairs," adding "that, as regards what the said ambassadors have said and advised, he has carefully heard and listened, and agrees therewith, as they will more fully inform their master" (Rymer II. (i.) 64). It is evident that the King of France's message must have contained, inter alia, some advice with reference to Gaveston, with which Edward agreed temporarily. 90 PIERS GAVESTON during the visit of the ambassadors. That such was the case was shown by the King of England's writing on April 1 3th to the Cardinal, his very dear friend, gratefully thanking him for the diligence and constant watchfulness and solicitude with which he had " endeavoured to abate the rancour which the King's dearly loved and illustrious father, the King of France, had conceived against his well- beloved and faithful Peter de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall," the Cardinal's efforts having been re- ported to the King by the former's servant, Gaillardus de Gassaco, by word of mouth. Edward goes on to beg the Cardinal, as a friend, to kindly persevere in the services which his benevolence has already commenced of his own accord, in such manners and ways as shall seem most expedient. (Foedera II. (i.) 71). On the 1 8th of April, 1307, a tournament at Newmarket was prohibited. On the 27th the session of Parliament opened at Westminster. The King found the Barons determined on reform. They presented the following petition for redress of grievances : — "The good people of the Kingdom, who are come hither to Parliament, pray our Lord the King, that he will, if it please him, ha\'c regard to his poor subjects, who ;irc much aggrieved by reason PIERS GAVESTON 91 that they are not governed as they should be, especially as to the articles of the Great Charter : and for this, if it please him, they pray remedy. Besides which they pray their Lord the King to hear what has long aggrieved his people, and still does so from day to day, on the part of those who call themselves his officers, and to amend it, if he pleases" (Roll of Pari., i. pp. 443-5). The principal grievances were stated in an accompanying list to be : — 1. The abuse of purveyance, the prices of corn, malt, poultry, and fish, taken by the King's servants. 2. The imposts on wine and merchandise. 3. The fluctuating value of the coinage, which vendors depreciated one-half, in spite of the rule that it should pass at its face value. 4. The usurped jurisdiction of the Royal stewards. 5. The want of ease in calling attention to petitions addressed to King or Parliament. 6. The exactions at fairs. 7. The delay of justice caused by the granting of writs of protection. 8. The sale of pardons to criminals. 9. The illegal jurisdiction of the Constables of the Royal Castles, and — 92 PIERS GAVESTON lo. The tyranny of the King's escheators, who, under pretence of inquest of office, displaced the small farmers from lands held by good title. This list was not presented in a humble or respectful manner, and the King's proposal that he should be allowed to recall Gaveston was at once rejected. On this, Edward dismissed Parlia- ment at the time ; refusing to grant their requests (Ann. Lon., p. 157). Edward must meanwhile have been working steadily to obtain the recall of the Earl of Cornwall, but it appears that he had failed to induce the Barons and Commons to consent to revoke their sentence. There is no trace of any further efforts made by the King in that direction beyond the mere suggestion of his wish. As a last resort, Edward sent an ambassador to the Pope to procure Gaveston's absolution for breaking his oath. This latter was a most serious step. Several efforts to lessen the influence of the clergy in England had been made by the late King, who had not been at any time on particularly good terms with the Vicar of Christ. In this policy the nation had gladly acquiesced, consequently the new King's appeal to Rome made him very unpopular. At the same time it must be admitted that Edward .showed a certain amount of shrewdness in sending; PIERS GAVESTON 93 to the Pontiff. There was a strong reactionary party in England, the members of which had dis- approved of the partial severance of their country from the Holy Father. Edward could count on their support, although their dislike for the fasci- nating Gaveston might be deep and bitter. At this time, too, Edward began to realise something of the true character of the miserable woman he had married. Heartless, sensual, greedy, vain in the extreme, and heartily hating her husband, Isabella of France adds another blot to the darkened reign of Edward of Carnarvon. CHAPTER X. GAVESTON's return from IRELAND. THE only allusion found in contemporary writers to efforts made by the King to induce the Barons to consent voluntarily to Gaveston's return, is made by the Monk of Malmesbury, who, in his Life of Edward H., states that the King suc- ceeded in winning over several of the nobles to his side. On the i6th of June, 1308, Edward had written to Philip of France and the Pope, from Windsor, stating that, with the consent of his Barons, he had conferred the earldom of Cornwall on Gaveston during his absence from England, and without his knowledge, but now the Barons have changed their minds, and risen against him, and the King begs them to send suitable men to England to inquire into the matter and tranquilise the kingdom (Printed in Rymer, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 49, 50). Two letters nl the same date to the Pope and »4 PIERS GAVESTON 95 Cardinals respectively, beg them to annul the sen- tence of excommunication pronounced against him in case of his return (Ibid. p. 50). These letters were read to the King in the presence of John, Earl of Richmond, Henry de Percy, Hugo le Despenser, and others (Ibid. p. 50). Gaveston was evidently kept well informed of the state of affairs in England, and must have known that his absolution from the Pope was daily expected. He accordingly left Ireland on June 23, 1309, shortly before Edward's ambassador returned from the Vatican. The King's messenger had been the Bishop of Norwich, afterwards one of the Ordainers, who brought back the Pope's absolution to Gaveston for his return to England. The favour seems to have been somewhat difficult to obtain, for it appears, from Edward's subsequent letter to the Pope, that it had been granted provisionally. The Bull was given at Avignon, on April 26, 1309. Amongst the MSS. of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury is : — " Bulla de absolucione Petri de Gavaston ad cau- telam. Avignon, 26 Apr. 1309. " The Archbp. and clergy of England have, as the Pope asserts, excommunicated and exiled Piers Gaveston in haste, and without giving him an oppor- tunity of defending himself; he therefore requires 96 PIERS GAVESTON them to withdraw their sentence until his nuntius, Hugh Gerald, precentor of Perigord, shall have inquired into the affair" (Hist. MSS. Commrs. Report VIII. App. pt. i. p. 352). The King avoided pledging himself in any way to the Pope as the price of obtaining this Bull. Betrand Calculi, who appears to have accompanied the Bishop, as a personal delegate from Gaveston him- self, undertook and swore that the Earl of Cornwall would obey the commands of the Church, and would answer the complaints brought forward against him by any one, in those matters upon which he had undergone sentence of excommunication at the hands of an English prelate. The King himself wrote to the Pope in Sep- tember, 1 309 : — " We beg your Holiness with earnest prayers, if it please you, to grant the said Earl and his proxy aforesaid, absolution from the said promise or obli- gation, for the love and honour of ourselves, and to acquit them for ever ; and, as you took the matter in hand for love of us, and carried it through of your grace, we beg you to deign to provide fitting remedy for the indemnity of the said Count in this affair." In Lent, 1309, the Bishops of Worcester and Norwich, the Earl of Pembroke, and Sir Robert PIERS GAVESTON 97 Fitzpayn, went on a journey to the Court of Rome, on difficult business connected with the kingdom of England (Ann. Paul., p. 207). Gaveston's return from Ireland was, in all probability to Bristol. On June 24 and 25, 1309, Edward was at Windsor (Patent Roll). He seems to have there received, on the latter day, news of his friend's arrival, and to have started at once to meet him. The facts that go to show this are that little business is entered on the Patent Roll as transacted between June 25th and July 2nd, that on the last- named day the King had returned to Westminster, and that in the interval letters on the Close Roll are dated from Daventry (co. Northampton) on June 25th. On June 28th the Court was at Chester, where the King and exile met, Gaveston having travelled thither through Wales. The latter had come secretly. Though none of the Barons seem to have been prepared to oppose his coming, probably by reason of its unexpected- ness ; he must have been perfectly informed of the state of feeling against him. The Monk of Malmes- bury speaks of the " most honourable reception extended to Gaveston by the King." A suggestion that Gaveston did not forget his friends is afforded by the fact that after the favourite's return from Ireland the King made a grant to John Wogan, dated at Chester June 28, 98 PIERS GAVESTON 1309, on the return of Peter de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall (Pat. Rolls, 2 Ed. II. p. i). Perhaps his experience in Ireland had taught Gaveston more self-control and wisdom in the management of men. He seems to have at first won over some of the Barons. The earldom of Cornwall was restored to him by their consent, before the formal opening of the so-called Parliament, which was, in fact, not a Parliament, but a Council of Magnates. This con- firmation by the Barons appears, however, to have been hurried through before all the members of the Council had assembled. This was apparently the cause of fresh displeasure against Gaveston among his worst enemies. The Canon of Bridlington states that all his old honours were confirmed to him by the Barons in the hope that his future conduct would be unexceptionable. The Earl of Lincoln, who had formerly been Gaveston's bitterest enemy, now became a peacemaker, and reconciled him with de Warrenne, who had never smiled on Gaveston since Wallingford. The lesson of experience, if it had been really ever learnt, was unfortunately soon forgotten. Gaveston soon became again as overbearing to the Barons as before his banishment. He took so much from the King that the Queen complained to her father that she had not the regard due to her state. The chief business befi^rc Parliament was the con- PIERS GAVESTON 99 dition of Scotland and the social state of England, complaints of which had been previously delivered, and redress of which had been then refused. It was decided by the Assembly that an expedition into Scotland should be undertaken. Writs were issued from Stamford to those owing military service (among others to the Earl of Cornwall) — command- ing them to attend a muster at Newcastle, on Michaelmas Day. The Lords granted the King a twenty-fifth for the Scottish war. In return the Statute of Stamford was passed, redressing the grievances which had been complained of without avail by the Commons in the Parliament held in the spring. All seems to have gone smoothly for a short while. On the 4th and 5th of August Gaveston and his wife rendered to the King the lands granted to them when they were deprived of the earldom of Cornwall the preceding year, and in return received an official regrant of the earldom. On the 6th of August the Council addressed the Pope on abuses connected with ecclesiastical tribute. Gaveston's name appears on this address, together with that of others, such names being placed in the following order : the Earls of Gloucester, Lancaster, Lincoln, Cornwall, Ulster, Warenne, Hereford, Richmond, Pembroke, Warwick, &c. During this month fresh grants and confirmations TOO PIERS GAVESTON of old gifts to Gaveston are recorded. His avarice is noted as being as great as before his exile. The favourite's hollow truce with the nobles was, however, soon over. Before October, Gaveston, by his impudence and arrogance, had turned Lancaster against him. The Earl refused to attend a Council called by the King on the i8th of October at York, and the Earls of Lincoln, Warwick, Oxford, and Arundel, joined in the refusal. In December the King had to forbid the publication of false rumours and unauthorised gatherings of armed men (Rymer's Foedera II. loi, 102). By Gaveston's cupidity the King was despoiled of his revenues. The royal household found no money with which to meet expenses, and extorted provisions mercilessly from the people. The favourite seems to have remained with the Court during the whole of the autumn. The winter of 1 309 set in with great severity, increasing the hardships under which the people suffered. Through all the Christmas holidays the Thames could be crossed in several places between London and Southwark, and a fire was lighted on the ice in the middle of the river, rqund which the people danced and played games (Ann. Paul., p. 268). Discontent and abuses had soon reached such a PIERS GAVESTON loi height that on December loth an order was issued at the instance of the Earls of Gloucester, Lincoln, and Cornwall (who were probably at this time the only advisers left to the King) to discontinue the collection of the twenty-fifth, the Earl of Gloucester having reported that the articles of Stamford, granted for the benefit of the people, were not being observed. The collection of the customs was not renewed until after the election of the Ordainers, April i, 1310 (Pari. Writs II., I. 42). On the 2nd of August, 13 10, the collection of the customs was renewed, on the ground that their abolition had not reduced prices. Edward and Gaveston spent Christmas at Langley, near St. Albans. A gloomy Christmas it must have been for all ; none could look forward very hopefully to the morrow, and yet, perhaps, those who were to fall victims to the coming tempest, being blind, were happiest. All through his reign, Edward II. seems to have been wilfully ignorant of the fast-gathering storm of discontent. Gaveston was more far-seeing but equally reckless. Both King and favourite made the fatal error of underrating the power of the Barons, while ignoring the lower orders. Under ordinary circumstances Gaveston could have stood well with the Commons, on account of his quarrels with the nobles, but the popular prejudice against 102 PIERS GAVESTON a foreigner, together with a hearty dislike of Gaveston's Gascon followers, neutralised this feeling. There is little mention made of Gaveston's wife, but the general impression at the time appears to have been that she was merely regarded by that all-powerful minister as more or less of a plaything. CHAPTER XI. THE LORDS ORDAINERS. THE abortive attempts at conciliation in July and August, 1309, had led to some hope of a peaceful settlement of affairs. Parliament had on the one hand accepted the recall of Gaveston, and the King on the other had granted the Statute of Stamford. But all such hopes of a good under- standing were frustrated by the blind stupidity of the King and Gaveston. Had the latter been in any way prudent, he would have used his influence with Edward to persuade him to carry out, at any rate, the conditions of his own recall, and would, too, have done all he could to placate the Barons, since they alone could be his effective enemies. In his incredible selfishness and stupidity, Gaveston not only neglected to improve his position with the Barons, but made no attempt to obliterate the dividing line. He actually succeeded in strengthen- ing their party spirit and cohesion by the abuses he 103 I04 I'IKRS GAVESTON fostered in every department of the royal house- hold, and in no long space of time he alienated the few who had agreed to tolerate his presence, by scornful epithets and contemptuous conduct. He added to the nicknames he had formerly bestowed upon the magnates of the Court ; Lincoln became " Burst Belly " (boele crev'ee), Lancaster the "Fiddler" (vielers), and Gloucester was " Whoreson " [Filz a puteyne) ; Warwick, whom he had long ago called " the Black Dog," said quietly one day, " Let him call me hound ; when I see my opportunity, I will bite him " (Chron. Lanercost, 216). Gaveston's avarice, together with his venality and lack of honesty, disgusted the Barons, while the fact that a foreigner occupied an unprecedented place in the Court and kingdom aroused their jealousy. By December, 1 309, the kingdom was in a very unquiet state. The Barons came to London (after Christmas, 1309) in accordance with the Writs. As, however, they did not appear at the usual place of meeting, the King sent to ask the reason for their delay. Their reply was trenchant. They declared that they wished to do their dut)-, but as their chief enemy, the disturber of the peace of the realm, was in the King's favour and stood well at Court, they could not see their way to assemble unless in arms. Edward at last sent Gaveston PIERS GAVESTON 105 away temporarily, in order that the excuse of the nobles might no longer avail. The Barons then came together and held many secret debates. At length they suggested the appointment of twelve discreet men to reform the various evils which had arisen since the late King's death. In January, 13 10, a tournament at Thetford or Newmarket was again prohibited by Writ dated from Shene. At last Edward was compelled to face the Barons, who came together with no spirit of toleration and little disposed to make allowance for the King. Edward was in much the same position as his grandfather, Henry III., had been when the Parliament of 1258 met. The Barons now took as a model for their plan of reforms the changes demanded by the nobles in that year. Only the Bishops, Earls, and Barons were sum- moned to this Parliament, not the Commons. This fact seems to add a little more breadth of patriotism to the motives of the Barons, than Dr. Stubbs, in his Constitutional History, seems inclined to allow them. The Barons presented the following petition to Edward : — " Shewing to our Lord the King, the great dangers and risks, which from day to day become more io6 TIERS GAVESTON apparent, if they be not speedily provided against, and destruction of the liberties of the Holy Church, disinheritance and dishonour of your person and royal power, and disinheritance of your crown, and damage to all the inhabitants of your Kingdom, rich and poor ; and from these dangers and risks neither you nor the good people of your country can escape, unless measures be adopted right speedily by the advice of the prelates, earls, barons and the wisest men of your kingdom : "In the first place, whereas you are governor of the country, and, as such, have sworn to maintain peace in the land, you are led by unworthy and bad counsels, so that you have fallen into great disrepute in all countries ; and are so poor and so deprived of all sorts of means, that you have nothing wherewith to provide for the defence of your land, or the maintenance of your household, except by the extortions committed by your servants on the goods of the Church and of your poor subjects, paying nothing therefor, contrary to the tenor of the Great Charter ; which they pray may be upheld and maintained in full force. "And again, sire, whereas our Lord the King, your father, whom God assoil, left you your dominions in unbroken peace, — England, Ireland, and, above all, Scotland- -you have entirely lost your land of Scotland, and grievously dismembered PIERS GAVESTON 107 your crown in England and Ireland, without the assent of your baronage. " Again sire, we point out, that whereas the commons of your kingdom granted you the twentieth penny of their goods in aid of your Scotch war, and the 25th penny to be free from prises and other grievances ; which subsidies have been all levied, and foolishly spent and wasted by unworthy counsels, and neither your war advanced, nor your poor subjects relieved of the prises and other grievances, but they grow on the contrary more heavy from day to day than ever before. Where- fore, sire, your said loyal subjects humbly beg you : — for the salvation of yourself, of them and of the crown, which they are bound to uphold by their allegiance, — to grant their petition and these and other dangers may be removed and provided against by the ordinance of your baronage." On the 1 6th of March the King issued Letters Patent authorising the election of a Commission to frame Ordinances for the better regulation in effect of himself and the kingdom. It will be well, before discussing the Ordinances themselves, to glance at the men forming the Commission. Seven members of the clergy appear : the Arch- bishop of Canterbury ; Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London ; Simon of Ghent, Bishop of Salisbury ; io8 PIERS GAVESTON John Salmon, Bishop of Norwich ; John Langton, Bishop of Chichester ; David Martin, Bishop of St. David's ; and John of Monmouth, Bishop of Llandaff The Commission also contains the names of eight Earls : Gloucester, Lancaster, Lincoln, Pembroke, Hereford, Warwick, Richmond, and Arundel ; and also six Barons : Hugh de Vere, Hugh de Courtney, Robert de Clifford, William Marshall, William Martyn, and John Gray de Wilton. Robert of Winchelsey, the Archbishop, could remember the troubles of Henry HL, in his boy- hood and youth. Though not a man of much original talent, he had a tolerably wide culture, having been both Rector of the University of Paris and Chancellor of Oxford. The history of his opposition to Edward I. is too well known to need recounting here. It appears more important to consider such part of his character and history as would influence him as one of the Ordainers. Hook says : "Of all the Primates of England none was ever so unpopular as Archbishop Robert." He was self-willed and haughty, and placed himself in opposition to the Constitution of his country, just as that country was rising to national import- ance. Winchelsey was at heart thoroughly un- English, although conscientious. He had opposed the King's (I'.dward II.) appointments of unprin- PIERS GAVESTON 109 cipled men to be his chaplains, and his conduct as a poHtician, after his return to England, on the accession of Edward II., was praiseworthy. The Archbishop, from his foreign education and strong devotion to the Papacy rather than to the Con- stitution, was less likely to be prejudiced against Gaveston by his foreign birth than any other of the Ordainers. The clergy, however, as representatives of the Church, certainly had too many ecclesiastical grievances weighing on their souls to give them- selves up to personal rancour. In common with the laymen, they had doubtless been insulted by the Gascon, and they certainly could not have been prejudiced in his favour by any liberality on his part to the Church. It is a striking fact that, although he enjoyed enormous revenues in England for five years, there is not the slightest reference to any gifts made by Gaveston to any charitable or public purpose, except his thanksgiving offering to the church of St. Kevin in Ireland. The only other of the clergy of any importance was John Langton, who had been Archdeacon of Canterbury. He was elected Bishop of Chichester in 1305 (Ann. Lon., 134), and was made Chancellor in 1307. On the accession of Edward II. he had been one of those who, before the election of the Ordainers, had made a formal acknowledgment to no PIERS GAVESTON the King that his concession should not be con- strued as a precedent. It is almost impossible to form any very clear idea of the characters of the other Bishops. They never came much into public life, except in con- nection with their several dioceses, and there is but meagre notice of their election and ordination. As regards the nobles, however, there is no lack of evidence as to their individual character and experience. Foremost among the Earls was Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, the Chancellor from whose family " Lincoln's Inn," formerly the Old Temple, derives its name. He was father-in-law of the Earl of Lancaster, and had been the chief Minister of Edward I., whom he had attended on his deathbed. He had been one of the most urgent in advising Gaveston's banishment in 1308 (Chron. Lon., p. 241), and had gladly witnessed the original memo- randum of his exile in 1307 (Cont. Trivet, p. 2). On the favourite's return in 1 309 he took his part. Lincoln had been not only a member of the Baronage under the King's great father, but the latter was his personal friend ; he had received the dying King's charge to protect his son and kingdom from Gaveston. He would therefore feel anxious to redeem what might have seemed a failure on his part to fulfil this trust ; but, trained under PIERS GAVESTON in Edward I., the country would doubtless be his first care. The popular young Earl of Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare, Gaveston's brother-in-law, was only nine- teen years old at the time. In the Chronicle of Lanercost (p. 216) it is stated that he had been forward in urging Gaveston's banishment in 1308. Another authority (Malmesbury) says he remained neutral. Except from his position as a relation of the King and a connection of Gaveston, he could have, been of little importance on the Com- mission, and he very shortly resigned (Bridlington " Gesta," p. 39). Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, was the eldest son of Edmund, second son of Henry III., and there- fore cousin to Edward II. He had served in the Scottish wars under Edward I. At one time he was the most powerful man in England. He never forgot the insults the favourite had lavished upon him. Coarse in his ideals and violent in his manner, he never showed evidence of statesman- ship or of any patriotic feeling. Constantly aiming at power, he was unable to use it when in his grasp, although by birth, wealth, and inclination, he was fitted to be a leader of men. Always grumbling, he allowed himself to become the centre of constant and universal discontent. Not satisfied by the banishment of the Earl of Cornwall, he 112 PIERS GAVESTON longed for his death, while he did not scruple to show his dislike and disapproval of Gaveston even in the King's presence. One of the reasons assigned for this dislike is a petty one, that, by Gaveston's influence one of Lancaster's friends was turned out of office after Gaveston's return from Ireland (Malmesbury Life, p. 162). The "Fiddler," as Gaveston had nicknamed Lancaster, was, at any rate, no coward, and ready to take the full measure of responsibility for his actions. His conduct in the execution of Gaveston and after- wards sufficiently shows this. Lancaster naturally became leader of the Barons, being a powerful man. He was at once cousin to the King and uncle to the Queen, son of the Queen of Navarre, and brother of the Queen of France. He also was lord of five earldoms in England, and bore the title of Earl of Lincoln, having on the death of his father-in-law succeeded to that dignity. Through- out his career he was a man of action — often, indeed, very precipitate and unwise action — rather than a man of counsel, and had but little of the legislative spirit of Edward L Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, was one of the Barons (Lancaster, Hereford, Pembroke, and Warwick) who had been specially commanded not to attend this Parliament in arms. He had been trained both in war and diplomacy under PIERS GAVESTON 113 Edward I., having served in Flanders and Scotland, and having been twice sent as Ambassador to the King of France. He had, too, at the end of the late reign, been Warden of the Marches of Scotland, and the King's Lietitenant in that kingdom, with general command of the forces. He also was one of those whom, on his deathbed, Edward I. had desired to be good to his son, and not to suffer Gaveston to come into England again. Gaveston hated him, and called him " Joseph the Jew," on account of his long, pale face. He seems to have been a man of moderate and — for that age — steady views. Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, was brother-in-law to Edward II. He appears to have taken part in public life when very young, having seemingly been only fifteen at the time of joining in the Barons' protest to the Pope. In the first year of Edward's reign he entered into an agree- ment with the Earls of Lincoln, Pembroke, and Surrey, Robert de Clifford, and others, to defend the King's person and the rights of his crown, and to redress what was amiss. There is not much recorded of him in the chronicles which throws any light on his character. Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, had also taken part in the measures for the reform of abuses under Edward I., and had joined in the letter to 9 114 PIERS GAVESTON the Pope in 1301 (Ann. Lon., p. 122). He had always maintained an unbroken front against Gaveston, by whom he was nicknamed " the Black Dog," and the bitterness of his enmity was noto- rious. He and Lancaster appear to have been greatly influenced by their personal feelings, and doubtless threw the weight of their animosity into the Ordinances. John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond, was by training and experience a soldier rather than a legislator. He had been the King's Deputy in Edward I.'s wars in Gascony, and had been Lieu- tenant in Scotland in 1305, 1307, and 1308. Edmund Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, had foreign blood in his own veins, his mother having been an Italian. At this time he was only twenty-five years old. He had been knighted by Edward I. in 1306, at the knighting of the Prince of Wales. He had subsequently served a short time in Scodand. The tournament at Wallingford and its results had made him the bitter enemy of Gaveston (Malmesbury Life, p. 156). These are, in brief, the histories and characters of the chief men into whose hands the King, as the price of retaining his favourite, temporarily resigned his authority. Surely neither the King nor Gaveston could have been so blind as to suppose that the day of reckoning was more than PIERS GAVESTON iij postponed, had they taken the pains to examine the history of the past four years in the light of their own consciences. Bad as Gaveston undoubtedly was, it may be assumed that he was not much worse than many of his judges, who, with his opportunities, might have made an even worse record. CHAPTER XII. THE ORDINANCES. ON February 27, 13 10, according to the Annales Paulini, the Earls of Lancaster and Hereford, with other nobles and attended by many followers, came to London and were enter- tained outside the City. They remained throughout Lent discussing affairs of state, " as though all the waves of the sea had risen up and fallen over towards the King." Soon afterwards, on the 20th of March, the Lords Ordainers took their oaths in the Painted Chamber. In February, according to Stubbs, the King had already sent Gaveston to a place of safety. Dr. Stubbs does not give his authority for this date, but in any case his statement would be probable, as the first six Ordinances were drawn up and published by the Ordainers on the 19th of March, only three days after the grant of the Letters Patent, authorisint" the Commission, and PIERS GAVESTON 117 actually before the Lords Ordainers had taken their oaths of office. These six Ordinances are indeed only provisional, and purport to be made for the regulation of the Ordainers themselves, as well as for the kingdom. They are in terms which show that all the matters to be dealt with had been amply discussed for some length of time, so that no dissension or delay could have arisen before their final adoption. Such Ordinances are as follows : — " For the honour of God, it is ordained, " I. That the Holy Church have all her Fran- chises, in such sort as she ought to have. " 2. Moreover, it is ordained, that the peace of the King be firmly kept throughout the Realm, so that every one may safely go, come, and tarry, according to the law and usage of the realm; and that the people who are elected and assigned by the King and the commonalty of the Kingdom to make ordinances for the household of the King and the state of the Kingdom, shall tarry in the City of London to make and treat of the said ordinances, because for divers reasons they can tarry there more conveniently than elsewhere, having more readily at hand there the advice of the justices and other experienced men, and also because they can find the remembrances of the Chancery and ii8 PIERS GAVESTON Exchequer and other records more readily there than elsewhere ; and therefore commands must be given by the King to the Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs of the said city to guard it so safely that no hurt nor disturbance may come to the said Ordainers, nor to theirs, during the time of making of the ordinances. " 3. Moreover, it is ordained, for the acquit the debts of the King and retrieve his state, and the more honourably to maintain him, that no gift of land, nor of rent, nor of franchise, nor of Escheat, nor of Wardship, nor Marriage, nor Bailwick, be made to any of the said ordainers, during their power under the said ordinance, nor to any other, without the consent and assent of the said Ordainers, or of the greater part of them, or six of them at the least ; but all things whereof profit can arise shall be used to the profit of the King, until his state be becomingly retrieved, and somewhat else be there- upon ordained to the honour and profit of the King. " 4. Moreover, it is ordained, that the Customs of the realm be kept and received by people of the realm, and not by aliens, and that the issues and profits of the same customs, together with all other issues and profits of the realm arising from any matters whatsoever, shall come entirely to the King's Exchequer, and by the Treasurer, and the Chamberlains shall be delivered to maintain PIERS GAVESTON 119 the Household of the King, and otherwise to his profit, so that the King may live of his own, with- out taking prises, other than those anciently due and accustomed, and all others shall cease. " 5. Moreover, it is ordained, that all merchants aliens who have received the profits of the Customs of the Realm, or of other things appurtenant to the King, since the death of King Edward, the father of our Lord the King that now is, shall be arrested with all their goods, wheresoever they shall be found within the power of the King of England, until they have rendered reasonable account of how much they have received of the issues of the realm within the time aforesaid, before the Treasurer and before the Barons of the Exchequer, and others joined to them by the said Ordainers. " 6. Moreover, it is ordained that the great Charter be kept in all its points in such manner, that if there be in the said charter any point obscure or doubtful, it shall be declared by the said Ordainers and others whom they will for that purpose call to them, when they shall see occasion and season during their power." The above Ordinances, with the exception of that part of the second one dealing with the Ordainers themselves, form, word for word, the first six of the Ordinances afterwards finally I20 PIERS GAVESTON published in October, 1311. The King issued the required writ to the Mayor of London. The King confirmed these first Ordinances, and sent them to the Court of Rome, as he was doubt- less anxious to show the Pope that reforms were on foot (Ann. Paul., 268). The absence of any reference to Gaveston in these first Ordinances is significant, and raises the character of the delibera- tions of the Ordainers above the aspect of being merely constituted for personal ends. Edward remained during the whole of February and March at Westminster ; on the 3rd of April he was at Kennington, and on the 8th at Windsor (Close and Patent Rolls), where he remained for some time. About the middle of June he returned to Westminster, beginning his journey to Scotland in the fourth week in July. At the end of June, 131 1, the Lords Ordainers met in London, and invited the Barons to hear their resolutions. They, however, excused themselves from attendance on the King, who issued writs on the 2nd of August, 131 1, from Northampton, order- ing the sheriffs of the several counties to publish the Ordinances. Edward had returned to London from Scotland by August 20, 131 1. Towards the end of September forty-one Ordinances were ready for the King's assent, and prepared for publication. The Ordinances were prt)claimed in Si. Paul's PIERS GAVESTON 121 Churchyard on the 27th of September, 131 1, by Simon, Bishop of Salisbury (Hist. MSS. Commrs. Report v.). The Ordinances, as ultimately approved, show clearly the abuses through which Edward had in- curred the enmity of the nobles and of subjects generally. From the first six of these it appears that the Crown lands had been alienated and the revenues used for improper purposes, while the King was apparently living on money raised by prises and purveyances. This improper use of the taxing power is clearly due to the influence of Gaveston. By the seventh Article, the grants made since the issue of the Commission were revoked. Four Articles (20-23) were devoted to the permanent exile and forfeiture of Gaveston, whom they accuse of having misled the King, " turned away his heart from his people, and committed every sort of fraud and oppression " ; they also direct the expulsion of the Friscobaldi, the King's foreign agents ; and the dismissal of Henry de Beaumont son of Lewis of Brienne, Vicomte of Beaumont in Maine, and grandson of John de Brienne, King of Jerusalem, and Emperor of Constantinople. To this John's brother Lewis, Edward had given the Isle of Man ; he afterwards became Bishop of Durham (Anselm, Hist. Genealogique, VL 137). The 122 PIERS GAVESTON removal from Court of the Lady de Vesey was also decreed in these Articles. These clauses show the lasting nature of the concessions which had been made by Edward I. By further Articles all the revenue was required to be paid into the Exchequer ; the abolition of new prises, new customs, and new forest usurpations was decreed ; infractions of the statute of merchants were directed to be punished ; charters were confirmed ; the restriction of the Court of Ex- chequer to its proper business was ordered ; writs delaying justice were prohibited ; outlawry was forbidden in counties where the accused had no lands ; and interference with the Church Courts was stopped. All this goes to prove that the legislation of the late reign had been badly enforced, and that the grievances of 1309 had not been remedied by the King's reluctant promises. There is a strange resemblance between the Ordinances and the Bill of Rights of a much later reign. History has a curious way of repeat- ing itself at times. All the great offices of State in England, Ireland, and Gascony were by the Articles required to be filled by the King, only with the advice and consent of the Barons, and the office-holders were compelled to take suitable oaths in Parliament. The King was to "live of his own," and was not allowed to PIERS GAVESTON 123 go to war, to summon forces, or to quit the realm without the consent of the nobles in Parliament. It was also demanded that Parliaments should be held several times every year, and that in these pleas should be heard, and eminent persons should be named to hear complaints against the King's officers. The jurisdictions of the marshal and the coroner within the precincts of the court were restricted, and the King was forbidden to alter the coinage without consulting Parliament. The Ordi- nances, in short, sum up old grievances, some just, others puerile. A noteworthy fact in connection with these Ordinances is the way in which the Commons are ignored, and the marked appearance of the Baron- age as protector of the liberties of the country. Some idea of the state of the royal household, and the drastic measures which, according to the views of the Lords Ordainers, were necessary to purge it, may be gathered from the Ordinances made for its regulation by the same Ordainers, after the publication of the more important and national Ordinances. By these latter Ordinances the King was to keep the Articles as regards gifts, with the exception of four gifts which had been given by agreement to Robert de Clifford, Monsieur Guyfre, Monsieur Edmon de Maulee, and Monsieur Wil- laume de Sullee ; receipts were to be entered in 124 PIERS GAVESTON the Exchequer, according to the Ordinance ; the aHen merchants who had not yet accounted to the Exchequer were to have their lands seized, and the Bishop of Norwich and Monsieur Huwe de Cour- tenay were to be auditors of their accounts, as compared with those of the Exchequer. It was also required that no prises should be made con- trary to the Ordinance : that the " lineage of Piers Gaveston " should be utterly removed from the King ; they ordained, too, that the Bourgeois de Tille and his son, who was Marshal of the King's Exchequer, also the Bascles, should go to their own country; and that Bertrand Kaillon and his brother, and the Gascons who were of their company in Cornwall, should leave the land and return to their own country, because they had carried off the property of the King and fortified castles which threaten the peace. All the porters were to be removed from the Court, except such as were allowed in the time of the King's father. It was also ordered that Roberd le Ewer, with his archers and such ribald persons in his castles and elsewhere, should be removed from taking the King's wages, and should not be employed, " except the King be at war," and that if their wages were not in arrear, they should be arrested, until they had made satis- faction to people agiiinst whom they had trespassed in the place where they had tarried. ("5/ nuk PIERS GAVESTON 125 gages leurs soient dues soient arestuz, tant qe il eyent fait gre a ceux il ount trespassez la ou il ount demorre si null voille de eux plaindre.") The Articles proceeded to say : — " Whereas the King retains servants, who were with the said Piers de Gavestone, both in his own household and the queen's, all these are to be removed, except such as appear suitable in the discretion of the marshal and warden of the wardrobe." Several officers of the household, mentioned by name, were to be removed. The Articles went on to say to the King : — " Sire, your prelates, earls, and barons, pray you to do justice to the Bishop of Chester and his lands, muniments, and other property, in accordance with the Great Charter, and the Ordinances. Item Monsieur Robard Darcy, Monsieur Edmon Bar- coun, and the others, who leave the palace to run after Sir Huwe le Despenser the son, are to be removed from the King's household and family, and shall hold no office under the lord {de soutz le seigneux)." Other servants were, by the Ordinances, required to be removed for taking prises contrary to the Ordinances, and for other offences. In pursuance of the Ordinances, de Frisconbaude was also to be 126 PIERS GAVESTON banished, and his lands taken into the hands of the King; Hue Hugelyn was to be sent safely across the seas from Gascony to England, to give an account at Westminster for the period when he had acted as lieutenant of the Constable of Bour- deaux, together with everything touching the accounts of Gascony, since the said Emery had been Constable of Bourdeaux. The ministers both this side of Trent and beyond, not having made any account, were therefore commanded to come and do so before the Barons of the Exchequer. The lands of Sir Henry de Beaumont in England and elsewhere were to be seized in accordance with the Ordinance, and the Isle of Man committed to the care of some good Englishman ; the castle at Bamborough was also to be taken into the King's hands, the marshal and seneschal were to be restrained and limited in their jurisdiction in accordance with the Ordinance. All the King's servants who had not yet sworn to observe the Ordinances were forthwith to do so ; the lands of the Templars, granted to private persons, instead of being taken into the King's hands as ordained, were to be resumed. With regard to Gaveston it is said : — " Whereas the lands belonging to Pierres de Gaveston, taken back into the King's hands, have PIERS GAVESTON 127 been committed again into the care of the very- people who were formerly servants to the said Pieres ; these servants are to be removed, and others put in their places : and proper ministers and public officers are to be appointed by the King in Gascony, Ireland, and Scotland, as required by the Ordinances" (Ann. Lon., pp. 198-201, Liber. Custumarum, p. 602). These Ordinances, thus made at a later date, serve to show both the manner in which those of September, 131 1, were being observed on the part of the King, and at the same time the constant watchfulness of the Lords Ordainers, who seem to have had an almost feminine capacity for detail. It appears also, by negative evidence, that Gaveston had sought to make little constitutional change, and had aimed at no large aggrandisement of the Crown, at the expense of constitutional privileges of any class. His aims and views indeed, as has more than once been hinted, were purely personal and narrow. While in no way bounded by considera- tions of prudence or the slightest shadow of altruism, his efforts appear to have been almost entirely confined to the acquirement of wealth and personal comfort. Hence the legislation required by the Ordinances bears but little relation to the policy of Edward I. 128 PIERS GAVESTON Some interesting comments by two French lawyers on the Ordinances, not extant elsewhere, appear in the Ann. Lon. (vol. i. pp. 210-29). The Ordinances asserted the rights of the country only where they had been invaded, and they had been invaded only by the necessities of an ill-managed and unscrupulous Court. The liberties of England were in truth never for more than a moment endangered by Gaveston's short career. What he might have done if he had lived and had retained his power is another matter. The Ordinances left Edward merely the shadow of a crown. All authority practically rested in the hands of the unscrupulous Barons. Their eager- ness for power and place was thinly veiled by an impudent assumption of patriotism, and a loudly voiced desire to (as they said) save the country from Gaveston. He, however, had never placed it in such peril as these same hypocritical nobles. CHAPTER XIII. EDWARD II. AND GAVESTON IN SCOTLAND. EDWARD II. had withdrawn from Scotland in 1307, and did not return until 13 10. During the English King's three years' absence Bruce had made the most of his opportunities to regain lost territory, expel the English, and consolidate Scotland into a kingdom. He had entirely driven the English from Galloway by a severe defeat on the Dee, on the 29th of June, 1308. Writs were issued on the 30th of July, 1309, from Stamford, which summoned the English knights to join an expedition against the Scots. On the same day, moroever, Edward wrote to Philip of France, who had been attempting to arrange a truce on behalf of Scotland, that affairs in that country would prevent his meeting the French King (Rymer, ii. 79). There is no actual statement of any reason why 10 '^9 I30 I'lERS GAVESTON the English army did not march northwards until the late summer in 1310. Perhaps funds were low, and the King had to await the collection of the twenty-fifth granted by the Parliament at Stamford (Ann. Lon., p. 157). It is at least probable that for some strong reason he was unable to leave the south, since it is unlikely that he would have stayed in London to meet his Barons in the mood in which they were. The Chronicle of Lanercost {sub anno 1 308) says that Edward endeavoured to make peace with Bruce, and to obtain his assistance against the Barons. The truce with Bruce arranged by the King of France was to last from February, 1309, to November i, 1309. About the ist of November John de Segrave was sent to Berwick and others to Carlisle. They made a further truce with the Scots, which was to continue until the 8th of March, 13 10 (the reason for this being that the English did not like to enter Scotland before the summer, principally because they did not till then find food there for their horses). The Parliament held in London between Feb- ruary 27 and April 12, 1310, met with a view of calling the King to serious account (Ann. Lon., 168, and Ann. Paul., 268). Gaveston, anticipating mis- fortune, had left the Court in l'\'briiary with some show of haste. PIERS GAVESTON 131 It is recorded that while the Lords Ordainers were sitting, Edward made the Earl of Lincoln Guardian of the country and set out for Scotland with Gaveston, " qui vacatur Petrus " (Malmes- bury). This expedition probably gave Edward a good excuse for not rendering homage to the French King for his lands across the Channel. Thus it became possible for Gaveston (as he did) to rejoin Edward at Berwick. In July Edward sent picked troops forward and summoned a Council of War at Northampton. The Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, Pembroke, and Arundel excused themselves, but sent the King their war dues (Ann. Paul., p. 269). Only three Earls actually marched north with him in 13 10, namely, Gloucester, Warenne, and Cornwall. It appears that the route pursued by Edward when in Scotland would have been very hazardous if there had been any enemies to oppose him. He marched from Roxburgh on September 21st by Traquair, Kirkurd, Biggar, and Lanark to Cam- busnethan, where he was on October 8th (Exchr. Q. R.). On one occasion on the route, three hundred English and Welsh were cut off and killed by the Scots. The King was at Renfrew on the 1 5th of October ; he reached Linlithgow on the 23rd, remained there at least five days, and re- turned to Berwick, where he wintered. 132 PIERS GAVESTON Bruce pursued the policy of delay usually adopted both by Wallace and himself. On October 6, 1310, there is a letter from two servants of the Earl of Richmond to their lord, telling him that the King, the three Earls, and the rest of his company were "en bene poynd" and that they were at Biggar on their way to Glasgow. Their spies told them " Sir Robert de Brus with his forces was on a moor near Stirling" (Printed in Cal. of Scot. Doc, iii.. No. 168). On November 11, 1310, Sir Roger de Moubray was sent with twenty of his own men to reinforce the English garrison at Perth, and to aid them in keeping the town and the country beyond the Forth. Pay was issued to garrisons at Berwick, Rox- burgh, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Stirling, Bothwell, Mochard, Dundee, and Perth, between October i, 1310 and July 7, 131 1 (Cal. of Scot. Doc, iii., No. 221). In November the King had a garrison of thirt)' horse and thirty foot in Bothwell Castle ; and sixty- eight men in Kirkintilloch Castle. During the winter the Earl of Cornwall held Roxburgh. In January and February, 131 1, he was in Dundee. It is interesting to record the items of expense for which Piers received an allowance, as showing the diet of the luxurious Gaveston household while PIERS GAVESTON 133 their master was engaged on military duty. From January 21st to February i6th Gaveston had a prest for twelve casks of flour at £^ 6s. 8d., thirty of wine at io6s. 8d., twelve lasts of red herrings, 12,000 stockfish, and 1,000 cod, viz: " lobbe " and " leng " ; malt, beans, and oats, the whole amounting to ;^464 (Exchr. Q. R.). There is an anonymous letter relating to Edward's Scottish campaign, dated November 25, 13 10. The writer says that the King and Queen and company are well, and will remain this winter at Berwick ; the Earl of Gloucester at Norham ; the Earl of Cornwall at Roxburgh, and the Earl of Warenne at Wark. The prelates and earls " ordenours " who were at London are much dis- turbed and enraged at the King having ordered all the " places " to be removed to York by the close of Easter, and each has gone to his own district, having privily arranged to return together ; so many fear evil. The Earl of Lincoln has told the King this is a bad time to give such orders, and he will no longer act as his lieutenant or keep the peace. But the writer thinks the Earl and King understand each other (Cal. of Scot. Doc, ii. P- 33)- The King was to have met Bruce in February, 1 3 1 1 . Throughout the campaign there is no report of any battle. Gaveston seems to have r34 I'IKRS GAVKSTON been as active as circumstances would permit in tai'cini;- command of the garrison on the borders of the Highlands. He certainly was not wanting in energy or courage as a soldier, as his government of Ireland proves. He was away from the King from the beginning of winter (from November, 1 310), with the exception of a brief and secret visit to Berwick, until, at any rate, April, 131 1. After the Feast of the Purification (February 2, 131 1) the King sent the Earl of Cornwall and two hundred armed men to St. John's (Perth) to prevent the advance of Bruce, but Edward himself continued to remain at Berwick. Gaveston re- ceived all people into the King's peace beyond the Scottish sea as far as the mountains, while the Earls of Gloucester and Warenne, after the begin- ning of Lent (February 24, 131 1), rode all through the great forest of Selkirk and received the foresters and others dwelling there into the King's peace. Bruce was doubtless informed of the many facdons in the English counsels, and knew that if he could cripple Edward's forces for the time, by cutting off their supplies, the King and the favourite would be forced to abandon Scotland to face the uncom- promising Barons in London. There is a record made of tlu' forebodings enter- tained by the Court parly. At this time the Earl of Gloucester ap{)e;u-s to have been acting in concert PIERS GAVESTON 135 with Gaveston, and his attitude was apparently that of a champion for his brother-in-law. Thomas de la More regrets Gaveston's recall from Scotland as a waste of good soldiership. The few particulars preserved of Edward's cam- paign in Scotland suggest a resemblance to the progress in later centuries of the Thirty Years' War. The work accomplished in the Scottish campaign consisted chiefly in the occupying of untenable fortresses, which Bruce himself seems to have been in the habit of destroying when he took them, as being obsolete and useless. These would, of course, be promptly retaken by Bruce, who only awaited Edward's withdrawal to come into the open. Another letter, dated Alnwick, April 4, 1 3 1 1 , says that " the Earl of Cornwall had gone to Perth before he arrived at Berwick, where he found the King and Queen well. He left on the eve of Palm Sunday for London, but having much to do as he goes through Lyndseye, he cannot reach London so soon as he hoped. A secret illness also troubles him much, compelling him to take short journeys, but he expects to reach London by the 2d. or 3d. day after the octaves of Easter. The King is in no mood yet for a Parliament, but when the Earl of Gloucester and the Council meet in London, he will have to do what they order. The King pays no attention to the writer's representations that he i;,r. PIERS GAVESTON cannot fulfil his constant orders for supplies, but believes he will always have enough. It was said that Robert de Brus meant to fight with the Earl of Cornwall, but he did not believe he was able to meet the King's forces in a plain field. The Earl remains at Perth till three weeks after Easter, when Sir Henry de Percy and the Earl of Angus are to take his place with two hundred English men at arms, besides other great Scottish lords. ..." (Cal. of Scot. Doc, vol. ii. p. 40). It is probable that Gaveston had rejoined Edward at Berwick by May 28, 131 1, for an order was issued on that date under the Privy Seal, granting him the manor of Wark in Tyndale with remainder to his wife and their heirs (Cal. of Scot. Doc, iii., No. 214). The Malmesbury biographer of Edward II. says he remained in Scotland till June 24, 131 1, but his account would perhaps convey a greater idea of activity on Edward's part than was actually the case, for it appears from Letters Patent that between Novembers, 1310, and July 26, 1311, he was continuously at Berwick. This being so, Gaveston in this instance, at any rate, shines in comparison with the King. The King and Gaveston began to come south on July 26th. They travelled through Bamborough, Durh;un, Pontefract, Nottingham, Northampton, and -Sl. Albans, and were in London on August 13th. PIERS GAVESTON 137 The Earl of Lincoln, who had been left Guardian of the kingdom, died early in 1 3 1 1 , and was replaced by Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. The campaign with the Barons that lay before Gaveston when he reached London was to prove tougher work than the war in Scotland. Both Edward and Piers had descried a foreshadowing of the attitude of the Barons towards Gaveston on Lancaster's visit to the north. It was most unfortunate for the favourite that no opportunity had been given him to strike a telling blow in Scotland. CHAPTER XIV. THE LAST EXILE AND THE LAST RETURN. I ^HE Ordainers finished their deliberations in J- June, 131 1, having spent at least fifteen months in drawing up the Ordinances. They then sent messengers to so inform the King, and mean- while dispersed, awaiting his coming. The King probably left Berwick-on-Tweed on July 26th or 28th ; between August 6th and 9th he was at Nottingham ; on the nth at St. Albans, and on the 1 3th at Westminster (Patent and Close Rolls). At the latter place he lodged with the Friars Preachers. The itinerary, as shown by the dates of Letters Patent, does not confirm a statement that he next went to Canterbury, for by the itinerary he appears to have come from Westminster to London on or about August 1 6th and to ha\e remained there all through that month. Earh' in September he went to Hadleigh, and thence to Eltham, returning to London on or before the 26th. The Ordinances were read on September :a). 131 1. PIERS GAVESTON 139 When these Ordinances were first laid before the King he had protested that some of them were inconvenient to himself, and that some of them had had been dictated by malice. He argued that he was not bound to give them his assent, because in the Commission granted, the King's Majesty had been expressly excepted. The Barons, however, knew that the King's excuses were frivolous, and purposely invented with a view of obtaining delay. The one among the Ordinances which most of all upset the King was that directed against Gaveston, ordering his banish- ment. Edward would on no account allow himself to be persuaded or induced to consent to this. But, to satisfy the Barons, he made the following offer : " Whatsoever things have been ordained and resolved upon," he said, "in so far as they are inconvenient only to myself, shall, at your petition, stand and be confirmed for ever. But refrain from persecuting my brother Peter, and allow him to have the Earldom of Cornwall " (Malmesbury). This the King sought to carry again and again, now trying to win over the nobles with flattery, now hurling threats at them. The Barons, however, stood out, obstinately declaring that they were only acting as faithful counsellors to the King. At last, with one voice and one accord, they added at the end of a speech, delivered on their behalf, that 140 PIERS GAVESTON either Gaveston must go into exile, in accordance with the decree of the Ordainers, or each one of them would take measures for keeping his own head safe. On this the King's advisers, seeing that if he did not accede to the decrees and petitions of the Ordainers, the kingdom would be disturbed and peace banished from the land, and knowing from the bitter experience of his grandfather's reign that no end can be foretold to a civil war, when it has once broken out, were afraid that a rupture between the King and the Barons would be at least serious and critical. Such a rupture might on the one hand involve the ruin of the whole country, while on the other, in the uncertainties of war, the King could scarcely avoid being taken. The Malmesbury monk compares him to Rehoboam, "who, rejecting the counsel of the elders, had abided by the advice of the young men, and might perhaps be deprived unawares of kingdom and country" (Malmesbury, p. 170). After much discussion and counsel the King's friends advised Edward to be more attentive to the claims of the kingdom and the people. They urged the King to accept their advice, and told him plainly of the inevitable danger he ran of bringing lasting opprobrium upon him and his unless he assented to the resolutions of the Barons and granted their Ordinances without reserve. Edward II., at last persuaded by the warnings and prayers PIERS GAVESTON 141 of his friends, much against his will, consented to ratify the Ordinances. Gaveston, of course, opposed any yielding on the part of the King, but Edward, on this occasion, did not follow his advice. The most universally popular of the Ordinances was that providing for Gaveston's banishment. All who consulted the Ordinances always turned first to that one, although it was not foremost amongst them. It is probable that Gaveston was left at Bam- borough during these discussions, as the King was fearful for the safety of his friend. The actual publication of the Ordinances in London took place either inside St. Paul's or at the stone cross outside, probably in both places. Edward remained in London, at any rate, till after October nth (Patent Roll). On the publication of the Ordinances the favourite took refuge with the King. In obedience to the Ordinances, Gaveston pro- posed to quit England by way of Dover, on or before All Saints' Day, as they directed. On October 8th, a safe-conduct was issued for Gaveston on his way to the King. In it he was still styled Earl of Cornwall. On his journey he was attended by a train of followers. On October 9th the King (presumably before Gaveston rejoined him) wrote on his behalf to the Duke of Brabant (John II., 14^ PIERS GAVESTON "the Peaceful," a brother-in-law of Edward II., having married his elder sister Margaret) in the following terms : — " We are confident and of opinion that such things as we very strongly desire, your brotherly affection will fulfil, as though they were your own concerns. Since, therefore, that noble man, Lord Peter de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, whom we have always up till now held in a certain peculiar and privileged affection, proposes shortly to leave our Kingdom for foreign shores, we make our affectionate prayer to you, begging and calling for your tender friendship, that you will kindly admit the aforesaid Earl into your land and authority, and give orders that he shall be treated by your sub- jects, during his sojourn there, with suitable honour and kindly attention, in accordance with our request, as we hold him dear ; in return for which, we will see that the greater favour and kindness is shown to your said subjects within our territories. And we beg you to send us back an answer in writing, if you please, with all the speed our anxiety craves, telling us what you propose to do in the above at our request, by the hands of our faithful and beloved William de Cre)'c, the bearer of these presents, (iiven at London, the 9th October, I ;i I." PIERS GAVESTON 143 On October 22nd Gaveston was with the King at Langley. The time before his departure seems to have been largely occupied in making arrange- ments for the Earl of Cornwall's reception and comfort abroad. Embassies were sent to the Pope and the King of France. The King was at this time keeping Court at Westminster, and Gaveston was afraid to leave him. He disobeyed the in- junctions of the Ordinances in sailing from London instead of from Dover, and in sailing three days later than had been decreed. Before leaving Eng- land, by the advice of certain men who adhered to him, Gaveston asked and obtained from the King certificates of good behaviour and testimonials of faithfulness, sealed with the King's seal, and also by many of the Barons, among whom was the young Earl of Gloucester, won over by the prayers of the King. But afterwards, being better advised, and making his nonage an excuse, Gloucester had his seal removed from these letters (Malmesbury). Accounts vary as to Gaveston's destination, some saying that it was Aquitaine, some that it was France and thence to Flanders, others that it was Flanders. It is probable that he went first to France. Gascony was forbidden him, being English territory — a hardship, since he had laid up much treasure there. He was at last driven to take refuge in Bruges on account of measures taken by 144 PIERS GAVESTON the F'rench King, who, when he heard that Gaveston had come to that country on beinc^ banished from England, commanded his subjects to take him if they possibly could, and to keep him securely, lest he should return to England and harass the Barons and his daughter, as he had done before. Warned of this, Gaveston took refuge in Flanders, where he sought peace, but found none (Walsingham's Ypodigma Neustrics, p. 243). On November 30, 131 1, a curious writ was issued, which seems to show that the Barons did not really know Gaveston was still with the King at that date. " The King to his well-beloved and faithful Hugh de Courteny and William Martyn, greeting. Whereas, by reason of a certain suspicion arising from sundry rumours abroad, that Peter de Gaveston (N.B. he is not here styled Earl of Cornwall as in the letter to the Duke of Brabant), who ought, in accordance with certain Ordinances, lately made by certain prelates, earls, and barons, concerning our kingdom, to have left our said kingdom and domain, a certain day and port having been appointed for him under a specified penalty, is still in hiding, roaming about and wandering from place to place, from castle to castle, friMii Ibrtress to fortress, in our couiUic:s of Cornwall, Hex-on, Somerset, and PIERS GAVESTON 145 Dorset, contrary to the tenor of the Ordinances aforesaid : "A petition was made to us, by the earls and barons aforesaid, to cause a search to be made for the said Peter, so that, if he can be found, he might be punished, in accordance with the tenor of the Ordinances aforesaid ; "We have appointed you to make a search in all the castles and fortresses in the said counties, and in all other places, where you may think you can find the said Peter ; and to do with the said Peter, if you chance to find him, what is prescribed to be done by the provisions of the Ordinances aforesaid, taking with you for this purpose, if necessary, a sufficient ' posse ' of the counties. 'And we command you to do all the things afore- said, and to execute them in the manner aforesaid. "For we have commanded all our sheriffs of the counties aforesaid, and also the constables and wardens of the said castles and fortresses, to assist you in doing and fulfilling each and all of the things aforesaid, whenever they shall be required so to do by you in our name on this behalf. "Witness the King at Westminster, 30 Nov. 1311." After Gaveston's departure from England the Barons continued their reforms, putting the Ordi- II 146 PIKRS GAVESTON nances into effect by removing all Gaveston's friends and accomplices from the King's household (Malmes- bury, p. 1 74). The same authority says that it was being thus deprived of all his familiar attendants, and insulted by being subjected in all his domestic affairs to the decision of outsiders, that so enraged the King, that he recalled Gaveston, in despite of the Barons. Walsingham says the hardships which Gaveston endured induced him to return of his own motion, relying on the friendship of the King and Gloucester. A curious account is recorded by the Book of Howth. At this distance of time it is almost impossible to decide with any nicety whether Gaveston returned spontaneously or was recalled. It is, however, certain that he returned to Eng- land before Christmas, and less than a month after he had been banished from England and all lands under English rule. One chronicler, indeed, says he returned after Christmas. But as the same writer makes the mistake (cp. Pat. Roll) of saying that Edward spent Christmas at York, the corresponding accounts of the London chronicler and the Canon of Bridlington seem more reliable. ^\s Ga\eston must have returned to the King at W'estminster, with his train of followers, he was o\' necessity a difficult guest to conceal. Dugtlale states that on his return Gaveston was PIERS GAVESTON 147 soon made " Justice of all the Forests South of Trent; and obtained a Grant in tail (to himself and Margaret his Wife, and the heires of their two Bodies lawfully begotten, with remainder to the King and his heires) of the Mannor of Werke in Tindale, with divers ample Liberties Franchises and Privileges, within his Mannor and Honor of Knaresburgh, as also in Burrough-Brigg, Clynte, Aldeburgh, and Routhclyff " ; the particulars of which, for brevity, are omitted. " Likewise, for Free- Warren, in all his Demesn, lands, within his Lordsh of Tyntagel, Clymeslond, Helleston in Kerye, Moresk, Rillaton Helleston in Trigg, Lyskeret juxta Tybeste, Penkeneke, Talskidye, Tywarnaill, Trenston, Restornell, Lestivithiell, Valistock, Trewynton, and Penlyn in Com Cornub, Lydfoard in Com Devon, Casham in Com Wiltes, Newport in Com Essex, Wallingford, Watlyngton, and Bensington in Com Berks, Knaresburgh, Routhclyff, and Aldburgh in Com Ebor. As also was made Governor of Nottingham Castle ; And likewise of the Castles of Carlisle and Scarborough " (Dugdale). A proclamation of Gaveston's restoration was made in the Guildhall, January 29, 1312. Never- theless, this return was a fatal error. Abroad, with Edward's influence and with the help of the treasure which he had long ago sent into Gascony, Gaveston 148 PIERS GAVESTON might have hved a life of ease. It says something for his courage that he was willing to take the desperate step of returning to England, where he was practically an outlaw ; and where Edward — a very broken reed on which to rely — was his only friend. CHAPTER XV. REVOLT OF THE BARONS. SIEGE OF SCARBOROUGH CASTLE. GAVESTON'S return at the end of 131 1 caused a fierce outbreak of feeling. Par- liament had been prorogued until the 12 th of November, but had not met, and had been again called for February 12, 1312. On the latter date, however, nothing was done. The Knights were in attendance from November 12th to December i8th (Pari. Writs, ii. i, 67). All the Estates had been summoned on the 19th of December, but had been warned so early as January loth not to attend. After his return Gaveston seems to have gone about the country secretly. He seems to have spent some time at York and at Tyntagel (Malmesbury). Immediately after Christmas, a rumour being 149 ISO PIERS GAVESTON current that Gaveston had returned, the whole country was aroused, great and small devoting themselves to considering how he could be removed from the society of Edward. They were afraid of raisins' a civil war, and were anxious not to disturb the King publicly. After weighing the dangers on either side, the Barons had come to the conclusion that while the favourite was alive there would be no peace in the country, nor would the King have sufficient funds, nor the Queen enjoy the love of the King as she ought. They resolved, therefore, to try all extremes rather than be abused as they had been up to that time, by a foreigner. They elected Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, their leader for the time. The Earl of Gloucester, being connected with both sides, took the part of peacemaker and mediator. The Earl of Warenne, who had wavered for a long time, and had favoured the King's party, at last joined his peers, on the persuasion of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Edward assumed to regard himself as absolved from any necessity to observe the Ordinances on account of the compulsion under which he had acted. In January, 131 2, he returned to the north. As soon as he reached \'ork, he set aside the Ordinance relating to Gaveston, and formally recalled him to his side, restoring at the same time all the fav(.)urite's forfeited estates. The King's PIERS GAVESTON 151 faithfulness to his friend in the face of such terrible opposition almost merits a word of praise. A lull in public business, as recorded by enrol- ments on the Patent and Close Rolls, occurred between December 28th, when the Court was at Westminster, and January i8th, when it had reached York. By January 9th, the Court was at Knaresborough, from which place a writ to the Mayor of London was issued. This journey to Knaresborough and York was in the nature of a retreat before the Barons. In the south the rebels could have surrounded and taken the King and the hated Gaveston. Edward, it was reported, had some idea of seeking assist- ance from Scotland. Even if this were not the case — and the King never in truth contemplated any such desperate step on behalf of his favourite — the mere suggestion shows that the public fully realised the critical juncture of affairs, and had by this time gained a fairly true insight into Edward's character, and into the lengths to which he would go as a friend in sacrificing his duties as a king. Lancaster sent an embassy to the King at York, begging him either to give up Gaveston to the Barons or to at least command him to leave the kingdom. The King paid no heed to this. There- fore, on the 1 8th of January, 1312, the following writ, drawn up in French (the King was ignorant 152 PIERS GAVESTON of Latin), was addressed to all the sheriffs through- out England : — " Whereas Monsieur Pieres de Gevaston, Earl of Cornwall, was lately exiled out of our kingdom, contrary to the laws and usages of the said king- dom, to preserve and maintain which we swore at our coronation, in the which exile he was named other than good and loyal ; and whereas the said Earl has returned again to us in our said kingdom, by command of us ; he is ready to answer before us to all such as would challenge him, in accord- ance with the laws and customs aforesaid ; where- fore we hold him good and loyal to our faith and our peace, considering him to be the contrary in no particular ; and by our royal power we command you to hold him for the same, and to publish this thing throughout your bailiwick. Given at York," etc., etc. This writ was published in the Guildhall, London, on January 29th. The King's letter to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London (also in French) is preserved in Ann. Lon., p. 202, and is as follows : — " We send you by the bearer hereof letters under our Great .Seal, and eommand you that, on sight of PIERS GAVESTON IS3 these presents, you cause the people — les melz unes gents — of your bailiwicks to assemble, and in their presence order our said letters to be opened, and cause the tenor thereof to be published throughout your said bailiwick with all speed you may, as well outside your county as within, within the franchise as well as without, and omit this by no means on the allegiance you owe us. Given under our privy seal, the 21st of January, 5th year." On January 20th writs were, moreover, issued to the sheriffs to restore to Gaveston all his posses- sions (Rymer and Close Roll, 5 Edward II. 15). On February 24th, further writs were issued to the wardens of several manors to deliver them to the favourite. An order prohibiting the entrance of armed men into London and the other towns and ports was utterly disregarded in the capital at least. A storm rose in the city of London. Filled with fury, the Barons came thither to take counsel in St. Paul's as to what was to be done. The London chronicler says that shortly before the coming of the Barons the King sent a message to the Mayor and Sheriffs, granting liberty to the said Barons to come and go in and out of the city, safe and unharmed, provided the Mayor and Sheriffs held the said city unharmed to his use. 1 54 PIERS GAVESTON On January i8, 131 2, the King issued an order to the sheriff of York to pubHsh the fact that Peter de Gavaston, Earl of Cornwall, who was lately exiled contrary to law and custom, in which exile he was named as other than good and loyal, has returned to the kingdom by the King's order, and is ready to justify himself before the King, where- fore the King holds him good and loyal (Close Roll). The Prelates, Earls, and Barons, acted in concert and arranged that the Earl of Gloucester should take charge of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and the south of England ; the Earl of Hereford of Essex and the eastern counties ; the Earl of Lancaster of the south, to prevent any rising of the people; Sir Robert de Clifford and Henry de Percy were to guard the borders between England and Scot- land, to prevent any communication between the King and Gaveston and Robert Bruce. The Earls of Pembroke and Warenne were to go to the King "to take the traitor Peter," and to state their views {informare) to the King. Gaveston, however, would appear to ha\e gained at least one adherent, for it is recorded that Walter, Bishop of Coventry, was excommunicated by the Archbi.shop of Canterbui)' for forswcarino- himself with regard to the Ordinances, and abandoning the Barons" cause to sitlc with the Kin>', and for PIERS GAVESTON 155 effecting Gaveston's " reconcilement " with the King, after Piers's return from Flanders (Wal- singham, Rolls Edition, vol. i. p. 127). At York Gaveston's daughter was born. This child was by Countess Margaret, and was a daughter called Joan, whom the favourite intended to marry to Thomas (the son of John Wake). The latter, however, took another to wife without the license of King Edward, and was thereupon fined and ordered to pay 1,000 merks to Thomas de Moulton of Eyremond. This Thomas, by Inden- ture, bearing date May 25th, 10 Edward II. (see Close Roll, 10 Edward II., Mem. 8), between him and the said King, had then engaged to marry Gaveston's daughter Joan to his son John, as soon as they should come of age. This new-born Joan, however, died young and was buried at Malmes- bury (see also Pat. Roll, 5 Edward II., pt. ii. Mem. 19). The Court remained continuously at York till April 5th (Pat. Roll) and during this period many grants were made through the influence of Gaveston. While the Barons were preparing to attack them, the King and Gaveston were doing their best to ensure a good defence. The King had the walls of York strengthened, and occupied the Castle (Pat. Roll, 5 Edward II., pt. i. Mem. 3). As r56 PIERS GAVESTON early as January 22, 13 12, there is an Order on the Close Roll (Mem. 16) to provide carriage to take one hundred oaks felled in Galtres forest to York Castle. Orders were also issued for repairs and new constructions at Nottingham Castle, Bristol, Somerton, and other places. On January 28th orders were issued to the constables of the royal castles all over the country to victual and cause them to be safely guarded. In some cases the then wardens of castles were on the side of the Barons, and whenever such was the case the King at once removed them, or, at any rate, issued commands to others to take over the custody of their castles, e.g., Chester, Dhuddlan, and Flint Castles (Close Roll, 5 Edward II.). Henry de Percy had been appointed by the Ordainers, Justice of the Forests beyond Trent, and Warden of Scarborough Castle, which was one of the strongest fortresses in the north, and accordingly one which E4ward was particularly anxious to get into his own hands. De Percy refused to give up the custody to William de Latimer, to whom the King had granted the care of the fortress ; but absconded from the castle, leaving his retainers in possession. They refused U) allow the Marshal of the Household to enter, ;uid afterwards continued to hold the castle even ag;iinst the King in person. De Percy was PIERS GAVESTON iS7 summoned to repair to the King at York on the 6th of March, and having been arraigned before the Council, submitted to the King's grace. He was committed to prison and released upon manu- scription, and afterwards pardoned on the 13th, 14th, and 30th of March, 131 2 (Pari. Writs). Scarborough Castle had for some time been the home of de Percy, so he knew it probably better than any of those who afterwards defended and attacked it. On the Close Roll, i Edward II., is an Order dated March 17, 1308, directed to the Constable and requiring him to permit Henry de Percy and his consort and household to dwell in the houses in the said castle, provided the castle be safely guarded. On the and of April, 131 2, orders were given to carry provisions ordered for the Court at York to Scarborough Castle (Close Roll, Mem. 7). On the 6th of the same month Gaveston was appointed Constable of Scarborough Castle (Dugdale). When Lancaster advanced at the head of the Barons' army the King withdrew, with Gaveston, to Newcastle (Pat. Roll), paying no heed to the embassy which had been sent him by the Barons. Lancaster followed the King to Newcastle. On this, Edward, taking with him Gaveston, Henry de Beaumont and others, who had been removed by the Ordainers, retired to Tynemouth. He thence 158 PIERS GAVESTON took ship for Scarborough, which he reached on the loth of May. The Queen was left behind at Tynemouth, though she begged the King not to leave her. On the following 13th of November a son was born to the royal pair. The town of Newcastle received Lancaster, who had captured Gaveston's horses and the royal stores, with acclamations. The Earl entered the town and castle, and there took possession of the King's treasure, together with all the arms and ninety-seven chargers He attached the King's servants for three days continuously. When Edward heard of this he was furious, and at once took ship by night with Gaveston for Scarborough. The royal party, as soon as they reached it, hastily provisioned Scarborough Castle. Edward then left Gaveston there, as the safest place he could find for him, and himself went to the castle of Bromholm, and then returned to York. In the Patent Rolls (5 Ed. II., pt. ii. Mem. 9) appears a Mandate, dated April 4, 1312. at York, to Peter de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, to whom the King had committed during pleasure, the custody of the castle of Scarborough, to dcli\cr the castle to no other person than the King. "... And if it shall happen that the King is brought there a prisoner, he is not to deliver the castle under such circumstances to the King, or PIERS GAVESTON 159 to any other persons whatsoever. In case of the King's death he is to keep the castle for his heirs." It is probable that Edward hoped to divide the Barons' forces, as it seems improbable that the royal party were aware that there were two bodies in the field against them. Such, however, was the case, and on learning Edward's action Lancaster threw his forces in between the King and Scar- borough, while the second army remained under Pembroke, Warenne, and Percy. When' the Earl of Lancaster perceived, however, that there was no reason why the Barons could not take Scarborough Castle, he withdrew his forces, in order to diminish the consumption of food. It was not long before Pembroke, Warenne, and Percy came up. They besieged Scarborough Castle vigorously for three weeks and more : but Gaveston spoke to them with flattering words, and having by these persuaded them to do as he wished, an agreement was made between the parties (Ann. Lon.). This came about as follows, according to the monk of Malmesbury. When Gaveston realised the situation (and that the castle was not pro- visioned nor adequately manned), he sent to Pembroke and offered to surrender conditionally. The terms of the agreement were: that the Earl was to keep Gaveston unhurt till the beginning of i6o PIERS GAVESTON August, the Earls to disperse, if Pembroke chose, in the meantime; "sin autem, restitueretur in pris- tinuiii station, scilicet ad castrum unde exierat et ad sororem quam prius reliquerat." Pembroke, being delighted at the capture of the castle, without consulting the other Barons, promised to keep these terms, and pledged his lands to the King for his observance of them. Edward had himself sug- gested this course, in the hope that before the date mentioned in the agreement he could effec- tually come to Gaveston's aid. He thought that he should be able to obtain the influence of the Pope and the King of France in the meanwhile, as he proposed to cede Gascony to them in fee. A few days later Pembroke set out southward with Gaveston in chains ; and having gone about five days' journey, he left Piers to rest after his march, at a village in Northamptonshire, while he himself went to attend to some other business (Malmes- bury, vol. ii. p. 176). Walsingham gives a slightly different account of the capture of Scarborough Castle. He says that when the Barons pitched their tents before the castle, and found there was nothing to prevent their taking it by storm, Lancaster wididrew his forces, lest they shoukl be unable to find provisions there, and sent the Earls of Pembroke and Warenne oil to take the castle. The latter made an assault. PIERS GAVESTON i6i and the garrison were soon so wearied that they could not resist or defend the place. Upon this Gaveston, it is said, seeing there was no possibility of flight, surrendered, on the sole condition that the Baron's decision should be obeyed by him ; and he asked nothing but that he should be allowed oppor- tunity of speech, at any rate with the King. When the King heard that Gaveston was taken he also asked for an interview and an assurance for the safety of the favourite's life, promising that he would then fulfil the Barons' conditions. Pembroke appears to have persuaded the Barons to agree to this ; and it was then that Gaveston was committed to his custody. Walsingham, who substantially follows the common account of the capture by Warwick, differs from it in that he makes Warwick himself the chief agent in Gaveston's subsequent sentence and death. From Walsingham's account it would seem that he supposed a council was held at Warwick Castle, under the Earl's presidency. He does not put forward Lancaster's responsibility at all. In the Appendix to the Literae Cantuariensis, edited by I. B. Sheppard, and published among the Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain, vol. iii. pp. 388-92, is a copy and translation of the agree- ment by which the Earls of Pembroke and Warenne and Lord Henry Percy warrant the safety of Piers 12 i62 PIERS GAVESTON Gaveston after his surrender at Scarborough, promising to take him to the King, and, if final terms of agreement be not arranged, to replace him in Scarborough Castle, in statu quo. The accounts vary considerably, but the sug- gestion in the Malmesbury Life that the agreement was partly forced by Gaveston's knowledge of the unprepared state of Scarborough Castle ; partly the result of a previous understanding with the King, in order to gain time, probably tells the true state of the case. The King was very angry when he heard of the arrangement. His anger, however, probably arose when he discovered, as he soon did, that the Earls had no intention whatever of fulfilling their part of the agreement, which was greatly in Gaveston's favour. Indeed, it is actually referred to by a probably contemporary chronicler as " submissio magnatum Petro de Gavestone." The King had had communications, at any rate with the besiegers, while he had probably also contrived to find means of corresponding with Gaveston in Scarborough. On the 17th of May, two days before the agree- ment, he had sent to the Barons, commanding them to desist from the sici;c\ he being, he said, satisfied of the loyalty of those who held it for him. Edward's childishness was probabh' never more ap|);u( lit than on this occasion. PIERS GAVESTON 163 It is not very clear whether Pembroke intended to act with good faith to the King or in favour of his colleagues. He had personally pledged his lands to the King for Gaveston's safety ; he had also undertaken to take Gaveston to York, to meet the King in Lancaster's presence, or the presence of his proxy. Whether the course he afterwards pursued of carrying Gaveston into the heart of England, away from all his friends, thus breaking both promises, was adopted with a view of serving the cause of the King or the Barons it is not easy to say. This course was probably taken by him with a view of helping the latter party. Sir E. M. Thompson, in his article on Piers Gaveston in the Dictionary of National Biography, says that Gaveston set out with Pembroke for Wal- lingford, there to await the meeting of Parliament in August. This statement is derived from Wal- singham. Walsingham also says, as has been seen, that when the King heard that Gaveston was taken he requested to be allowed to speak with him ; and begged that his life might be saved, promising, on this condition, to satisfy all the demands of the Barons, and he also states that the Earl of Pem- broke, lending ear to this promise, persuaded the Barons to grant the King's petition, promising, under penalty of the loss of his lands, to keep the i04 I'lERS GAVESTON said Peter safe until he should have had speech of the King. The same writer afterwards admits that the Earl subsequently <^ave Gaveston up to the Barons, who again remitted him the custody of the favourite, fixing a day on which he was to be given up to them without fraud. There are two views of Pembroke's conduct. If he betrayed Gaveston, it is clear that his ideas of honour were as elementary as those of most of the other nobles. Gaveston had placed himself in his hands in all trustfulness ; and no words can be found to denounce the hypocritical conduct of the wily Earl, who was evidently waiting to see which way the wind blew. If, on the other hand, Pem- broke was himself deceived by the Barons, one can only feel contempt for his abilities. Accounts vary, but the probabilities are in favour of the contention of Pembroke's enemies. The Earl was probably a time-server, for even in those days Opportunists were not unknown. CHAPTER XVI. CAPTURE AND DEATH OF GAVESTON. DURING the final act of the tragedy Edward was at York, leaving only on June loth, for a journey to Howden, at the head of the Humber. Pembroke was suffered to take Gaveston south- wards in his train, probably towards Wallingford. The unfortunate Earl of Cornwall was in chains. The party must have ridden quickly, for it is stated that they reached a village in Northants (which must be intended for Deddington in Oxfordshire) in about five days, though it was at least i8o miles from Scarborough. Here Pembroke, for reasons difficult to determine, left his charge in the house of the rector, a place obviously incapable of any defence in case of attack. The Canon of Bridlington notes the existence of a rumour to the effect that Pem- broke connived at the capture by the Earl of Warwick. More, in his Life of Edward II. (p. 298), calls Deddington Rectory ''locum neque tutum, nee 166 PIERS GAVESTON iintniiuv!, nee secrcfum, quo eum tueri posset adversus c omit cm ll'arwici." Warwick had meanwhile started on an expedition to seize the fallen favourite. His action seems to have impressed itself vividly on the imagination of the period, perhaps from the sympathy and rejoicing with which it was viewed. What followed can best be told in the words of several very graphic pictures of Gaveston's capture. One in Ann. Lon., i. p. 206, is translated as follows : — Gaveston remained in the custody of the Earl of Pembroke, who brought him with him as far as Dadyngthone (to the house of the rector of that town), in the county of Oxford, where he left him to remain a few days with his servants, while he him- self went on to Bramthone, one of his manors, where his countess was staying. When the Earl of Warwick heard of this he got together forty armed men, with a hundred foot soldiers, and set out to search by day and night for Gaveston, as a traitor to England. He came near (p. 306) to Deddington or Dadyngthone on Sunday, the loth of June, at sunrise, and surrounded the house where Gaveston was sleeping. " When Peter saw what had happened, ;uid looked out, but could descry no help approaching, he surrendered, with only his tunic on, his feci and head bare." The Earl carried PIERS GAVESTON i6; him off to Warwick, and set four guards to watch him. The Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel, and many others praised the Earl of Warwick afterwards for his fidelity to the cause, and took counsel together as to what they should do with him. Other accounts differ slightly. When Warwick heard what was going on with regard to Gaveston, he gathered together all his forces, and arrived at the town where Gave- ston was, early one Sunday morning. He entered '' portam curice" and surrounded the chamber, summoning Gaveston to come forth as a traitor. Warwick was superior in numbers, and Gave- ston's guard made no resistance, so he dressed and came down from his chamber. He was treated as a thief, not as an Earl, and forced to go on foot. But after they had gone a short distance from the town Warwick ordered Gaveston to be put on a horse, for the sake of greater speed. And the populace followed, blowing horns and uttering fearful shouts. " Peter was forced to take off his sword-belt, and on arriving at Warwick was cast into a dungeon. Thus the ' dog of Warwick ' trampled on Peter in chains." Gaveston relied on the intercession of Pembroke with the Barons. This Earl went to the Earl of Gloucester, bemoaning what had happened, and demanding that Gaveston i68 PIERS GAVESTON should be restored to him, or he should lose his pledijcd lands. Gloucester is said to have replied that no one could think Warwick had done him any harm : " What he did, was done with our help and advice, and if you, as you say, pledged your lands, you must lose them and learn to be more cautious in future." Pembroke then laid the matter before the University of Oxford, causing a copy of his bond to be read aloud to them and to the burghers ; and laid the matter before them, hoping either to obtain their help in recovering Gaveston, or else to prove his own good faith ; for he was suspected by some (if foul play in choosini;- this as a surer way of sccurinj^- and killini; Gaveston, than trusting to the cliances of a sicL^e. Both clergy and burghers refused to interfere. The distance between Warwick and Deddincrton as the crow flies, is twenty-five miles. Thomas de la More (p. 298) says the Earl of Pembroke left Deddington the night following their arrival there, while the Earl of Warwick arrived early the fol- lowing; morning. The Malmesbury Life of Edward II. makes Pembroke summon Gaveston to him, and say to him, " You are weary witii the journey, and stand in need of rest ; now, there is a small town ( liisc by here, a |)l(as.uit place, willi ample accommo- dation. I liavc to be ahseiu for .1 while on certain PIERS GAVESTON 169 business ; remain there till I return." " And Peter gratefully accepted the Earl's proposition ; and he sent him to the said town with a guard ; but the Earl saw Peter no more in England." The journey to Warwick must have been an ignominious one, and all accounts notice the hue and cry that was raised after the procession, and the great shouting of the people. Walsingham (p. 132) says the Earl of Warwick came to Deddington with a great uproar and a multitude of armed men, and carried Gaveston off that same night. Gaveston was committed to a dungeon in Warwick Castle (Bridlington Life, p. 43). At Warwick Castle a council was held by the Earls, as there was some doubt as to what should be done with Gaveston. It was hotly debated whether it would be better to give him up to death at once, or give him over to be treated as the King should wish. A certain astute man of great wisdom (unnamed by Walsingham) replied to the question as follows : — "For a long while," he said, "we have been following after our prey, and now at last we have taken him, not without trouble. It would be need- less to make another search for him abroad, if we could now in some way or other retain him in our power ; it behoves us to think of the crimes {scelerd) of the man, and the ills brought by him on our I70 PIERS GAVESTON country, following always on his ridiculous speeches and haughty replies. It is incumbent upon us to bear in mind the public and private toil, the number- less expenses, the diverse annoyances, whose effects it will be impossible to put an end to, all which have been borne before our prey was taken. It is my opinion, therefore, that it is better for this man only to die, before war shall spread further commo- tion throughout the country." With this truly English speech, "all the men present agreed." The Earls appear to have been very deliberate in their counsels, having regard to the hatred they one and all bore to Gaveston and the determination at which they had arrived with regard to his death, before setting out for the north. This appearance of delay, however, was more or less hypocritical. The Barons who were not present at Scar- borough showed great respect for the promises made by their representatives there. Had this been the first occasion upon which Gaveston had disturbed the kingdom after being banished in perpetuity, they would hardly have taken matters into their own hands as they did. His high connec- tions were taken into consideration in determining the manner of his death. If he had married any one other than a relative of the King, he would h;ive been tortured in the most agonising way. PIERS GAVESTON 171 The Bridlington Life gives the following curious note of a trial of Gaveston said to have taken place before Justices for jail delivery, of which no sug- gestion occurs anywhere else : — " Now, as we showed above how the King accepted the Ordinances aforesaid, giving orders for their publication throughout the kingdom, and commanding that all their provisions should be kept, and afterwards, by the advice of certain persons, revoked the said Ordinances ; this same revocation was not made known to all those to whom their publication had been announced ; it now remains for us to tell how the punishment of the transgressor was proceeded with in accordance with those same Ordinances. About this time William Inge and Henry Springonelle, justices appointed by writ to deliver the jail at Warwick, were fulfilling the duties of the office conferred upon them according to the custom of the land ; finally the aforementioned Peter was brought before them; and by the authority of the said Ordinances, the revocation whereof had not been made known in that county, he was sentenced, for his offences set forth in the above said Ordinances, which were read aloud in his presence, to be beheaded as a traitor to the King and kingdom." If such a trial took place, it is impossible now to find any record of it. But, if there be no foundation i;2 PIERS GAVESTON at all for the story, it is exceedingly curious that a monk of a priory so remote from the scene of action as Bridlington should record the names of the Justices for jail delivery at Warwick. In all probability these were actually the names of the then Judges. Both men were Justices of old standing. On March 26, 13 10, William de Inge was one of the Justices appointed to deliver the jail of Bury St. Edmunds (Close Roll, 3 Edward II., Mem. 8). He had been one of the Justices appointed to hear complaints against the Bishop of Coventry, 1308, and had attended the King and Gaveston to Langley, on their way to Bristol in June, 1308. Henry Spigurnel, the other alleged Justice of jail delivery for Warwick in 1312, had also been notably associated with the King. On June 25, 1 3 10, he was commanded by writ to be ready to go to Gascony on the King's service. On August II, 1 3 10, he had been one of the three Justices appointed to deliver jails in the counties of Salop, Stafford, Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester (Close Roll, 4 Edward II., Mem. 19 d). In 1311 (June ist) he had been appointed the King's Nuncio or Ambassador to the General Council, and com- manded to appear at London on July 15th before the luirl of (Gloucester, " Cusios " of the Kingdom, and the Council. On the 8th of March, he had PIERS GAVESTON 173 been empowered by a writ, dated from York, to treat with certain Prelates, Earls, and Barons, about to assemble at London, concerning the revision of the Ordinances. On the ist of April he had been commanded to repair to York, to hold pleas there (Pari. Writs). The fact that both the Judges referred to had been personally employed by the Crown seems to make it less likely that their names would have been chosen by rumour as Gaveston's asserted judges unless such had actually been the case. Everything seems to have been done as delibe- rately as possible under the circumstances. Of the three Earls who had sworn to preserve Gaveston safe at Scarborough, Pembroke was certainly absent, Warenne and Percy probably so. A bond has been preserved to the following effect : — " To all those who shall hear or see this letter, Guy de Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, greeting in our Lord. Know that we are bound to defend and ensure Monsieur Hemfrai de Buin, Earl of Herefore and Essex from all the damage that may fall upon him by reason of the quarrel concerning Monsieur Pieres de Gauestone, both before the King and before all others, to the utmost of our power. And we will and agree that it shall be done with the said Monsieur Pieres as with the enemy of the King i'/4 PIERS GAVESTON and Kingdom and of his People. And we promise tlie s;iid Earl faithfully to live and die in aid and defence of him in the above-said quarrel. And this we have confirmed to him by our oath. In witness whereof we have made him these our present letters, sealed with our seal. Written at Warwick, the Sunday next before the Feast of St. John the Baptist, in the fifth year of the reign of King Edward, the son of King Edward." Pembroke seems to have been at best a vacillating character. For, when he heard what was going forward, instead of marching at once to Warwick to secure Gaveston again, or at least to protest in the only effectual quarter, he went whining to the Earl of Gloucester ; but finding no help with him, he, as has been seen, laid the matter before the University of Oxford. The Earl of Warwick sent a sharp message to Gaveston, bidding him think of his soul, for that would be the last day he would see on earth. The messenger hurried on his errand, and said to him, " Take thought of your state, sir, for to-day )ou are to die by death." And when Peter heard the name of death, he groaned a little and sighed, saying, " Oh ! where are my gifts, wherewith I had won so many familiar friends, and by means of which I thought I had sufficient power.'' Where are my PIERS GAVESTON 175 friends, in whom was my trust, with whom lay the safe-keeping of my body and the whole of my safety ? for their youth was strong, their honesty unfailing, and their valour always keen in struggle, who promised, moreover, to stand for me in war, to go to prison and not even to avoid death, on my behalf Of a truth, my pride, my hopes built only on their promises, the King's favour and the King's Court, have brought me to this misery. I have no help, remedy there is none ; let the Earl's will be done " (Malmesbury). Gaveston was taken from the castle to a place between Blakelowe and Gaversyk on the 19th of June, 13 1 2, and there beheaded by a Welshman of savage demeanour, amid the execrations of the Barons, in spite of his appeals for mercy (Bridlington). The supposed place of execution has for many years been marked by a cross with a curious inscription. The London chronicler gives a full account of the execution. On Monday, the 19th of June, the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel came to Warwick and demanded Gaveston's body from the Earl of Warwick ; which he gave up to them un- hurt ; and they had the body of Gaveston taken out of Warwick and out of the fee of the Earl of Warwick, to Gaverisseweche, between Warwick and Kenilworth, in the fee of the Earl of Lancaster, 176 PIERS GAVESTON ;ind there he was beheaded about noon, by the hands of a certain Briton, in the presence of all the people collected there. And they all returned to their own places, leaving the body of Peter in the sand where he had been beheaded. Then four cobblers of Warwick placed the body on a ladder and brought it back to Warwick, to be buried ; but the Earl, who had remained in his castle during all the time of the execution, ordered the body to be taken back to the place where the execution had occurred, outside the limits of his fee ; and the Jacobin friars took it to Oxford and gave it honour- able treatment ; wherefore they incurred the hatred of the Earls (Ann. Lon., i. p. 207). The Malmesbury Life states : — About the third hour Gaveston was brought out of his dungeon, and Warwick delivered (p. 179) him in irons to Lancaster, whom he implored to have mercy upon him. The other Earls followed at a distance to see the end, but Warwick remained in his castle. When they arrived at Blakelowe, a place belonging to the Earl of Lancaster, a messenger was sent on, commanding Gaveston to halt there ; by the Earl's order he was given over to two Welshmen, who stabbed him in the body and cut off his head. Lancaster required to see the head before he would believe tiie deed was done. Then the Earls retraced their footsteps. The PIERS GAVESTON 177 Jacobin brothers took the body and head to Oxford, but did not dare to bury it in the church, because it was in irons. Adam Murimuth says : — When the Barons brought Gaveston from War- wick Castle, they came to Gaveressich, where they found a number of men raising a great clamour against him, with their voices and with horns, as an enemy of the King, and lawfully exiled or outlawed from the kingdom : and finally they beheaded him as such on the 19th of June. The Malmesbury Life, always fond of recording or composing conversations, says that when Gave- ston saw Lancaster, falling down on the earth he besought him saying, "Oh! noble Earl, spare me." And the Earl replied, " Take him, take him, and may he be received by God." (Per Deunt perducetur.^ And those who witnessed this scene could not restrain their tears. The body was taken from Blakelowe to Oxford (Ann. Lon., 207). The Jacobins guarded his body with every mark of respect, whereby they incurred the displeasure of the Earls. There are on record " Particulars of the Account of Thomas de London of Expenses about the body of Piers Gaveston at Oxford, in the house of the Friars Preachers, December, 13 14." The expenses, entered day by day, are for bread, 13 i;8 PIERS GAVESTON wine, and milk. Each day occurred an offering of 2d. In the margin against the first entry, i.e., December ist, appears the statement : "Came Thomas de London with two horses and one servant, and Masters Arnold de Cand and Peter de Edynd with four horses and four men. Each day two or three of the friars pray by the body. The Canons of St. Frideswide also hold a service, and drink there." Several entries of friars coming to drink are found ; also servants of the Bishop of Worcester, friars from the King's household and from the town of Oxford. The sum total of the expenses for the month is ^19.0.3 (Exchr. Q. R. Accounts 375/16). Among the MSS. of the Rev. Fras. Hopkinson, LL.D., Malvern Wells, is a list of "Jewels, &c., given by Edward II. on the 4th of January, 1315, to various persons." The last gift is of two cloths of Turkey to Richard de Lusterall, "as an offering in Trinity church at Canterbury for the soul of Sir Peter de Gaveston, deed." (Hist. MSS. Commrs. Report III. App. p. 262). Gaveston's body was quietly remo\ed from Oxford to the Convent built for the Friars Preachers by Edward II. at Langley. These friars had been established there before, and their body held received benefits from the King's father and others (Dugdalc's Moiias/lioit). Edward ap- PIERS GAVESTON 179 pears to have built them a new house in the park of his own palace, and when this building was ready the favourite's body was removed thither in January, 1315- On the Octave of St. John the Evangelist, Gaveston's body was embalmed and buried in the church of the Friars Preachers at Langley, by the Archbishop of Canterbury and four other bishops, together with innumerable abbots and other eccle- siastics. But very few of the magnates of the land attended the King during this ceremony {Annales Johannes de Trokelowe, Ed. H. T. Riley, p. 88). The following particulars of the expense of the carriage of three pavilions to Langley, for the funeral of the Earl of Cornwall, on January 8, 131 5, are given (in Exchr. Q. R. Accounts 375/15). The expense was altogether £/^ 12s. id., including cartage ; cost of a hackney for the master who erected the pavilions ; wages of the master and six men for twelve days ; cartage of the pavilions back to London on two carts under charge of three men ; and pay to two men for drying the pavilions which had become damp. Somerset Herald (Mr. Bellasis) states that although he finds notes of Piers Gaveston, his wife, and child, there is no record of his pedigree at the College of Arms. It is also unfortunate that no portrait of the favourite can be traced. i8o PIERS GAVESTON So died Piers Gaveston, faithful to his King, but faithful to naught else. Forgetful of his station and its duties, execrated by many, he remains, in spite of grievous faults, a fascinating personality. There are few instances in history of such wasted opportunities and talents so misused. ilONUMF.MT TO I'IF.RS ( ^AVIvSTOX. Iji Ihi: hollow oi this Koch II 'as Ihhcackfl, On l/u- IJlh day of July, 1312, By Barons lawh'ss as hiiiiSiif, Piers Gavestox, Earl of Comifall, The Minio)i of a hateful A'iuo; In Life and Death A memorable Instanee of Misrule. lJ-;i,iia; p, ISO. CHAPTER XVII. THE EFFECT OF GAVESTON's DEATH. THE scene on the quiet Warwickshire hill on that fatal 19th of June was an object-lesson to future favourites. Buckingham and Wolsey, as well as Laud and Strafford might have profited by the warning. Edward II., whatever his faults, in his treatment of his friend compares well with Henry VIII. and with the Martyr-King. He himself followed Piers Gaveston to the grave as speedily as in later years Charles I. followed Strafford. Gaveston left behind no son to inherit his name, and to embitter the relations between the King and the Barons after his death. All Gave- ston's property was taken into the hands of the Crown. The King considered the Countess of Cornwall under his protection, and provided for her until she married for the second time, Hugh de Audley, the younger (Dugdale). i82 PIERS GAVESTON Edward's grief at his nephew's death is described as the mourning of a father for a son, but through- out the country there were few to sympathise with the King, while the Queen openly rejoiced. Edward was too weak to punish the murderers. The Earls themselves were perhaps shocked at their own boldness. They had not yet conceived the idea of deposing the King, who was left under the influence of Hugh le Despenser and the Earl of Pembroke, who never forgave the injury done him by the Earls in seizing the prisoner, who had trusted in vain to his honour. Edward, on hearing of Gaveston's death, is reported to have said : " Per animam Dei, ut fatuus egit. Nam de consilio meo ad manus comitum nunquain pervenit. Hoc est quod semper inhibui. Nam, el qucB nunc facta sunt prius quam fierent excogitavi. Quid sibi fuit de comitc de Jf^arezvyk, quern constat Petrum nunquam dilexesse ? Scicbam certe quod, si eum apprehenderet, de manibus ejus nunquam evaderet " (Malmesbury, vol. ii. p. 182). On June 22nd the Earls held a meeting at Worcester, to take counsel how to defend them- selves against the measures they expected from the King. Pembroke, it is said, was filled with fury and sorrow (Ann. Lon., p. 208), and taking with him Earl de Warenne, they repaired to the PIERS GAVESTON 183 King, who gladly received them into his favour, for he had no other supporters. The King then gathered his men together from all parts, left the north, and came to London about the Feast of St. Margaret the Virgin, inspiring fear and terror in all hearts. He summoned the Mayor and citizens to a Council held at the House of the Friars Preachers, and addressed them, asking whether in the present strange conjunction of affairs, when the great lords were behaving towards the King otherwise than as their duty required, he could rely on them to keep and preserve the city to his use and will ; so that no great lord or any other should enter against his will, under pain of forfeiting their lives and goods ; and if they could not undertake to do this, whether the King could arrange to establish such a guard by their aid and counsel, that he could fully depend thereon. The Mayor and citizens made formal reply : — " Sire, we have spoken with the good people, both landholders, tenants, and other members of the community, and have informed them of the will of our lord the King, communicated to us, as we had previously heard it. And they replied to us as follows : ' He is our liege lord, who has gra- ciously come amongst us in his own person, and has informed us specially of his will by word of mouth, i84 PIERS GAVESTON which we understand and ought to take to heart particularly in our great love to him, and especially what he has himself told us with regard to his desire to keep the peace of the land, and that he is anxious to uphold and govern us as our lord in all our rights ; ' therefore they say they will keep and preserve his city to the use of him and his heirs, as their inheritance, to the utmost of their power, so that none shall enter by force or arms against his peace nor do anything against him and his royal power, and this they say with one accord, and pray his Lordship to understand the same." The original address in French, and the reply appear in Ann. Lon., pp. 208, 209. The King accepted the reply and dismissed the Mayor. The Parliament had been summoned before Gaveston's execution to meet at Lincoln on July 23rd. Afterwards, having made arrangements with the citizens of London, the King postponed the meeting until August 20th at Westminster (Pari. Writs). The King meanwhile went to Dover, fortified the castle, received the fealty of the Cinque Ports (Ann. Lon., p. 209), and sent Pembroke to the King of France to ask for help. He then returned to London at the head of a large force. PIERS GAVESTON 185 The Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, Warwick, and Arundel, with a turbulent band, hastened on to meet the King, staying at Ware for fifteen days. The King sent to forbid them to come to his Parliament as though they were coming to war. A battle would have ensued but for the mediation of the Earl of Gloucester. Philip also sent over his brother Louis, and the Pope sent the Cardinal Arnald and the Archbishop of Poitou to assist in arranging matters. An interesting account is given in full in Riley's Memorials of London, pp. 102-4, of the measures taken by the city to fulfil its promise to the King, for establishing a good and safe custody of the gate of the city during the coming time of Parliament. It was arranged that all the city gates should be closed every night at the hour of curfew, when the bell was rung from St. Martin's le Grand, and that a sergeant should keep ward at each gate — " over above the gate, upon the leads thereof, to look out afar, so as to be better informed when any men-at-arms approach the gate." When the Barons were at Ware, the King enjoined a still stricter watch. The ambassadors from King and Pope set to work to effect peace ; their first plan is printed in Ann. Lon., pp. 210-11. There also appears in this chronicle a most interesting list of objections 1 86 PIERS GAVESTON to the Ordinances both in general and in particular, drawn up by two advocates of the French King. To these technical objections the Earls replied that "the land is governed not by written law, but by ancient laws and custorns, approved and accustomed in the times of the predecessors of the Kings of England, and if the aforesaid laws and customs were inadequate in any case, it was the duty of the King and his prelates, of the Earls and Barons, to amend them on the complaint of the people, and to establish and settle the matter by common consent." Finally, after long and protracted negotiations, the commissioners on the King's side being the Earl of Pembroke, Hugh le Despenser, and Nicolas de Segrave, peace was proclaimed in the chamber occupied by the Cardinal in London, on December 20, 13 1 2. The commissioners for the Earls' party were the Earl of Hereford, Robert de Clifford, and John Botetourts. The Earls were to kneel before the King, acknowledging that they had acted in despite of him, and were to pray his forgiveness. They were to give up all jewels, horses, and other property, formerly belonging to Gaveston, and taken by them at Newcastle and elsewhere ; ilie surrender was to be made at St. Albans the next Hilary. A Parliament was to be held the third Sunday in PIERS GAVESTON 187 Lent, at Westminster, when the King was to grant a formal pardon (the form of which is set forth in the deed) to the Barons, and all concerned, for the taking, detention, and death of Piers de Gaveston. The commissioners for the Earls, who thought the terms of the pardon ample enough, were to communicate the same to the Earls of Lancaster and Warwick, and write immediately to the other parties to the indenture, concerning the views of the nobles. If the earls did not wish to attend Parliament in person, they could signify their assent by proxy : it being understood likewise that the aiders and receivers of Gaveston were to be acknowledged safe for the assis- tance they had rendered him, contrary to the Ordinances. No one thenceforth was to attend Parliament in arms. All which being accomplished in the coming Parliament, the commissioners promised to do their utmost to get an aid granted to the King. The goods of Henry de Percy, which had been seized, were to be restored to him provisionally, until the matter should be decided by justices. The Earls of Lancaster, Hereford, and Warwick did not attend the Parliament, but sent a long message (Ann. Lon., pp. 225-9), practically accept- ing the terms offered ; but it was not till October 16, 13 1 3, that a general amnesty for all offences committed since the King's marriage was declared. i88 PIERS GAVESTON The domestic life of Gaveston is not touched upon by the contemporary chroniclers. It may be assumed, therefore, by negative evidence, that the Earl of Cornwall was not a bad husband. The two following descriptions tell as much as is to be discovered of the appearance of the power- ful minister : — " Un ioen hom nee de Gascoyne. Tresnoblis, largis & gentil de maner, mais orguillous & sour- quidrous en party" (Scala Chronica, p. 139). " Erat iste Petrus . . . corpore elegans & agilis, ingenio acer, moribus curiosis in re militari satis exercitatus " (Galfridus le Baker, p. 50). At the present time there is no trace of the Church of Friars Preachers or of Gaveston 's tomb at Kings Langley. All Saints' Church, a very old one, is the only ancient ecclesiastical edifice now in the village. Sir John Evans, in his book Edmund of Langley and his Tomb, states that the altar-tomb of the second Sir Ralph Verney. who died on the 6th of July, 1528, and who was buried in the church at Kings Langley, was in former times popularly believed to be Gaveston's monument. It is curious that the identification of Arnald de Gaveston's tomb presents fewer difficulties than the discovery of the last resting- place of his more famous son. CHAPTER XVIII. THE LESSON OF GAVESTON's CAREER. GAVESTON'S career may be summed up in the two words " Misunderstanding " and " Misunderstood." The favourite never grasped the important fact that some concession must be made to the spirit of progress ; the people as a whole did not understand the attitude of Gaveston, which they mistook for that of a man aiming at despotic power rather than that of one who lived for the pleasures of life alone. A Gascon youth brought up in England amid English surroundings must have lost to a large extent his foreign sympathies, if indeed they could be called foreign, for Gascony was at that time an English province. For this reason it would seem that too much stress has been laid by Stubbs and other writers upon Gaveston's foreign birth. The envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitable- ness cherished against the unfortunate and short- 189 190 PIERS GAVESTON sighted Earl of Cornwall by the arrogant Barons was due more to an eager desire for the loaves and fishes of office than to a burning patriotism. The growing desire among the masses for some measure of domestic reform was a potent factor in the oppo- sition to Gaveston. They realised that Edward I. had accomplished a great work. He was the first English monarch who was far-seeing enough to admit the people to a voice in his Councils ; and to him is largely due the steady growth of Constitutionalism in Britain. The zeal of the King for law-making caused him to be known as the English Justinian. Towards the close of his reign Edward I., in 1292, had issued an ordinance by which he required the Justices of the Common Bench to select a certain number, de ntelioribus et dignioribus et libertiis addiscentibtis, to attend the King's Court. It was probably during the reign of Henry HI. that laymen first began to take the place of clerics in the Inns of Court ; but under his son the disappearance of the clergy as advocates was complete [History of the Temple, Pitt- Lewis). Little, if any, of Edward I.'s constitutional work was undone by his son. The second Edward had small ambition to become an absolute sovereign, and cared nothing for the ultimate destiny of the Stale. Both Edward II. and Charles I. lost their PIERS GAVESTON 191 thrones through a misplaced affection for favourites, whose influence was alike fatal to their masters and to themselves, although the personal loyalty of Gaveston and Strafford was unquestioned. Gaveston's career — a career that had opened with every promise of brilliant success — failed because he opposed himself, unconsciously perhaps, to the Constitutional spirit which was inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race, and which came to fruition under Edward I. Of this spirit the Barons, in their jealous hatred of the powerful Gascon, were the unconscious instruments. A wiser man would have put himself at the head of the movement, and if the Earl of Cornwall had used his opportunities, the name of Gaveston might now stand with the great ones of England. It would be a mistake, however, to place Piers Gaveston among the villains of English history. His epitaph might well be written in the words — " Wasted Opportunities." Throughout his career Gaveston had little realisation of his influence on the larger fate of the nation. This was perhaps partly owing to his indifference, and not, as Dr. Stubbs states, to the fact of his being a stranger to England and English institutions (for he had been brought up in England) ; and partly because of the narrow 192 PIERS GAVESTON scope of his ambitions, which were limited to personal luxury and display. At all periods of the world's history men have lived whose influence was fatal to their friends, not through any malicious wish of their own, but simply owing to the force of circumstances. Had Edward of Carnarvon and Piers Gaveston never met, the good qualities of both might have had fuller play. Gaveston, who was eager for money and power, an example of extravagance to the Court, and an insolent rival of the great nobles of the land, had few friends but the King. With all his wealth he gained no favour among the poor and endowed no religious house which might have preserved his fame. Most of his riches were wasted on jewels and on gifts to his parasites. Considering the very short period, little less than a year, viz., from July, 1307, to May, 1308, during which he was really in power, he must have had a wonder- ful capacity for making enemies. According to the chroniclers quoted no harshness or cruelty or oppression is laid to his charge ; he engrossed the King's gifts and favours, but he is not said to have usurped the rights of other men. When he died his name perished ; no heir inherited popular odium. Compared with the rude and boorish English Barons, Gavestun's inllucncc over the King is PIERS GAVESTON 193 easily explained. The Gascon was educated, re- fined, and clever. His knowledge of languages was great, he was a fine musician, dressed magni- ficently, and was an adept at all knightly arts. His lack of wider ambition is curious ; it was probably due to his love of ease and hatred of all exertion. The King's sturdy regard for Gaveston is the one saving feature of his erratic and affectionate nature. He had been attached to the Gascon as a friend from boyhood, and had always regarded him as endowed with gifts, which he did not himself possess, as well as having a stronger mind and a will that was firmer than his own. After Gaveston's death, as a last proof of his regard, Edward endowed a house of friars to pray for the soul of Piers and to watch by his tomb (Chron. Ed. n., Stubbs). Of many men who have held high place and incurred bitter enmity in England, Piers Gaveston, who was clever and reckless, brave and foolish, generous and venal — yet touched with the divine fire of genius^ — -tried least of all to influence the development of Government or the growth of the Constitution. If ambition, or a desire for posthu- mous fame had swayed Gaveston's mind, it would have been well for him and perhaps infinitely worse for England. H APPENDIX CHAPTER I. England on the Death of Edward I. The Return of Gaveston. [Edw. I.] Cujus bonitatis magnitudinem, sequitatis et justitiae rigorem quidem eleganti dictamine ad metres breviter sic comprehendit : — Dum viguit rex, et valuit tua magna potestas, Fraus latuit, pax magna fuit, regnavit honestas. Ceteris interdum diversorum regnorum gentibus dolorem leviter mitigantibus, sola gens Angiicana luctus langore depressa, considerans malorum futurorum tempora, pro pallio laudis induit spiritum moeroris et confusionis. Nam Robertus de Bruys, qui subdole nuper semetipsum in regem erexerat, divulgata morte nobilissimi regis prjedicti factus securior, perjurorum caterva scarrarum vallatus, de latibulis egrediens, villas et oppida caeteraque omnia, quse strenuitas egregii regis [infra] regnum Scotise dudum acquisierat, fraudulenter occupans, villa quidem de Berewyk cum quibusdam castellis dumtaxat exceptis, insistens prsedis et rapinis in partibus Northumbriae, parvi- pendendo consilium aut fortitudinem Anglorum, cum inter ipsos non fuit defensor, invidia flagrante, qui proprise dignitatis honorem tueri videbatur, seu proditione Gwemlor iis praecedente. igS I9f) APPENDIX C'irra idem lumpus in obliquium volvcnte rota versatuis fortunre, revocatur in regnum rcgia potestale quidem Vasconitus genere, Hetrus de Gaustone, alti sanguinis linea carens, quem culpis clarescentibus uxcellenlissimus principum dominus Edwardus jampridem defunctus provide consilio nuper exulaverat ; qui apiid Karlcohiin veniens, ubi rcx cum quibusdam comitibus ct baronibus contra perjurorum irruptionem Scotorum aliquara diu morani fecerat, et ab ipso rege laetitia geniinata receptus est, prout subsequentium rerum evidentia manifesta plenius demonstrabit. [Flares Hisloiiaruin, Rolls Edition, iii. p. 138.) CHAPTER II. A' The Barony of Gavaston. All the BaronsofBL'arn were witnesses to a confirmation of tithes to the ('anons of Lascar in iioi, the names of all are not given by the copyist of the deed into the Chartulary of Lascar, but the following appear, viz. : — Raimond Garsia de Gauaston. Arsui de Nauailles. Caillard de Lod. Raimond de Domij. Guillaumc Garsie de Milcents. Si Iccrivain dc Oct acte n'eusl voulu espargner sa peine, nous eussions este pleinement instruits du nom de tous ccux qu'il pretendoit comprcndrc sous le titre de Barons de Beam, Icsquels il assure auoir este tous prescns a cc jugcmcnt. II est neantmoins certain qu'une partie de ccux qu'il dcnonmic ticnnent aujourd'hui Ic rang des liarons, mais non pas tous, conimc Caillard de Lot, qu'il dcnombrc foniK'llcnicnl parnii Ics Barons. . . . .Vussi faut- il rcconnoistrc, c|ii'il y a dc la difTcicncc ontrc Us Karons de ce siecic, & ccux dc nostre icmps, d'autiuit que ccux la sont les APPENDIX 197 gentils-homme & vassaux du Seigneur de Beam obliges d'assister a sa Cour, lors qu'il I'assemble, sans limitation de nombre; au lieu que ceux de nostre temps sont restraints a certain nombre, ainsi que j'expliqueray en I'annee 1230 (sic), lors que le reglement en fut fait. Note. In 1220 (the correct date, not 1230, as above) a body of twelve hereditary "Jurats" were chosen to balance the power of the Vicomte, and these were the " Seigneurs de Nauailles, d'Andonhs, de Lescun, de Couarase, de Gerderest, de Gayrosse, de Gabaston, de Rode, de Muicents, de Domij, de Miramont"; and the Bishops of Lascar and Oleron. (P. Marca, Histoire de Beam, Paris, 1640, fol., p. 382.) Article under the Heading " Gabaston," in the " dictionnaire de la noblesse." Gabaston. C'est une des douze premieres Baronnies du Beam. Ce titre fut transporte sur la terre de Susmiou, en faveur de N. . . . de Mesplez. Le nom de Susmiou fut change dans la suite en celui de Gabas, petite riviere dont cette Terre est arrosee. . . . (This is merely a reprint of the same article in the Diet. Geneologuique, Heraldique, Chron. & Historique.) A3 Arms of Gaveston. In an Inventory of Records in the Treasury of the Exchequer, viz.. Bishop Stapleton's Calendar, 17 Edw. II., the various docu- ments are frequently referred to as being in cases, hampers, &c., with a certain " sign " or rude drawing, which had generally some reference to the subject-matter of the documents. Thus the sign of instruments relating to Arragon is a lancer on a jennet ; . , igS APPENDIX Scotland, a Lochaber axe ; Yarmouth, three united herrings. . . , (Pulgrave, Anc. Kalcndars and Inventories, vol. i. p. xxvii.) Three releases by Peter de Gavaston, in 3 Edw. III., are in a case with a sign of a spread eagle. (Ibid. p. 51.) A* Arms of Gaveston. Gaveston Compte de Cornualle en Angleterre, portoit d'azur, a trois aiglettes d'or. Petrus de Gavaston, Comes Cornubiae, apud Ekluardum secundum gratiosissemus, sex aqullas virides, in aureo scuti laterculo gestabat (si fides FcEcialibus nostris) tres \uro tantum cum gestasse ejus sigillum, quod hie delineandum duxi, abunde demonstrat : eas prasinas fuisse melius dubito. Si cuiquam aliter videbitur, non repugno. A fine engraving is given of the seal of Gaveston ; a knight in armour on a caparisoned horse, on the border is the name S' Petri Gavaston. (There is no reference to where the original is to be found.) (Edward Byshe's Notes to N. Upton's De Studio Mililuri, Lon., 1654, fol., pp. 44-S-) As There are no documents throwing light on the history of the Gavaston family in — D'Achery's Spicilcijiinii, vol. iii. Labbc, BibliolhcKi MSS., vol. ii. . . Rerum Aquitani- carum. . . . APPENDIX 199 Baluzius, Misc., vols. iii. and iv. Societd Archeologique de Bordeaux. Revue de Gascogne. Revue d'Aquitaine. Dom Morin, Histoire du Gasttnois. Joseph Noulen's Maisons Historique de Gascogne, &c. The Rolls Gascons (including 4,312 deeds during the years 1242-43-53-54). Constitution of B£arn, &c. {From the " Inventaire-sommaire des Archives departementales aes Basses-Pyrenees," vol. iii. p. 58 et seq) Les trois ordres : — Clerge, Noblesse, Tiers Etat, existait en Beam; mais le petit nombre des membre du Clerge (il n'etaient que cinq), fit que les deux premiers ordres prirent le nom de Grand-Corps, apres avoir porte celui de premier et de second Etat. . . . L'eveque de Lescar presidait de droit le Grand-Corps et toute I'Assemblee ; a son defaut, c'etait a l'eveque d'Oloron que revenait cet honneur, et ainsi de suite jus qu' a I'epuisement de la liste du clerge. En I'absence du premier ordre, notamment pendant que le protestantisme fut la religion d'Etat en Beam, la presidence fut devolue aux barons dans I'ordre de preseance, savoir : Navailles, Andoins, Lescun, Coarraze, Gerderest, Miossens, Arros, Gabaston, Doumy & Gayrosse Si le clerge etait peu nombreux aux Etats, il n'en etait pas de meme de la Noblesse qui s'y trouvait largement representee, d'abord par les grands barons que nous venons de nommer, puis par les titulaires des petites baronnies, les seigneurs de paroisse, les possesseurs d'une terre ou d'un immeuble quelconque noble, connus en Beam sous le nom de Domengers; enfin par les abbes, laiques proprietaires de dimes ou patronats de cure. L'achat d'une baronnie, seigneurie, domengeadure ou d'une abbaye lai'que, constituait pour I'acquereur 200 APPENDIX Ic droit de sieger. Le mari cntrait aux Etats au nom de sa femme proprictairc d'un fief; un perc possesseur de plusieurs scigneurics pouvait les partagcr entre ses enfants et donner a chacun une entree. . . . In a list, following the above, of the fiefs of Learn — Gabaston, (commune du canton de Morlaas, arrondissement de Pau) grande baronnie (p. 72). En Beam, tous les fiefs, grands ou petits, relevaient directement de souverain, vicomte de Beam. (Not until the 17th century were lordships added one to another to form other baronies, earldoms, or marquisates.) (p. 90). Codex GuELFERnvTANUs, 31 Aug. Fol. Lib. 12. No. 52. Dominus Amaldus de CiLiuastou juratus dixit, quod tenet de domino Rege castrum de Rupe forti, de Jobinh, de Monte (lalardi, de Haxet-Man, ct illud, quod habet apud sanctum Rabuyr cum eorum pertinentiis universis et aliis, que habet et tenet rationc uxoris Elarmonde in marcis Theursano vel Silvestri vel Solossa, et debet pro hiis fidelitatem et homagium, ius et legem in curia sancti Severi et exercitum inter portus et Garonam setercio ' de militibus. Et si plura denaria inveniventur, paratus est cafacere et conficere. Reus de allodio nichil. Requisitus de alienatis dixit, quod dominus de Pontant tenent ' de dicto feudo census domorum de Hayet-Man et de Lobinh et molendinum de Ijobintr gue fuerunt data in elemosinam et pro anniversario per dominos de marcis, et episcopus (de) ■' marcis tenet, ut dicitur, titulo pigTioris pro uno egno affarium sancti Siniphoriani et alia, que ncscil. (Wolhv.biilUl MS.) ■ So in MS ' So ill MS. 1 .Missing in MS. APPENDIX 20I POLISTORIE MS. DEL EglISE DE ChRIST DE CaUNTERBYRE CONTENANT L'HiSTOIRE DE LA BrETAGNE . . . JUSQUES A l'an VII. Du Regne du Roi Edw. 2. {Harl. MS. 636.) Le an de grace m. ccc. xii. en la xiiii. kl. de Jul. descolle fust syre Peres de Gauastone en le lyu blakelowe est appelle. cest ausi cum en mi wye par entre Warewyk et Kenilleworthe. E cest asauoyr cesti peres de naciun estoit gascoyn mes fiz de simple chiualer peres ausi cu le fiz appellee. The Supposed Tomb of Arnald de Gaveston. (Proceedings of the British Archceological Association.) Mr. J. R. Planche, hon. sec, made the following communi- cation: "... In the Journal for Oct., 1845 ('^ol- i- PP- 216-223), I described the tomb and effigy of a knight commonly called William de Foix, in the cathedral at Winchester, and offered some observations on the singular shield of arms it presented to us. . . . I pointed out the improbability of the assertion made by Gale, and adopted by Dr. Milner, that the effigy was that of an earl of the island Vana, alias Wineall; and suggested that the other armorial shields, displayed on what had originally formed the front of the tomb, one of which bore the coat of Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, would naturally give rise to some very in- teresting speculations. You will therefore judge of my surprise, when a few days since, Mr. Francis Joseph Baigent, whose atten- tion had been called by me to this curious monument, for another purpose, kindly enclosed to me two rubbings he had taken from the front edge of the slab, of a name which had been twice incised upon it, and which proved to be ' Petrus Gauston ' or 'Gavston.' ... 202 APPENDIX " Mr. liaifj;(Mil is confident the writing is not later than the fiftienth century. . . . "In a second letter from Mr. Baigent received yesterday, he adds to the interest of this discovery by saying, ' I have again examined the monument, and am induced to believe the marks of chiselling visible round the edge of the slab (a portion of which has cut away part of the first name, as may be seen by the rubbing I sent you) to have been made by the masons for the reception of cement. In that case, the inscription discovered must have existed anterior to the erection or fixing of the monu- ment. This is borne out by the side slab being of Purbeck marble, whereas that beneath the figure is of Caen stone, and, I should say, it originally must have had a rim of Purbeck marble, properly moulded, and bearing the inscription.' ... I merely call your attention to the fact, that if we take for granted that the incised name is a genuine relic of the fourteenth century — ^and I really see no reason for doubting it — wc must at the same time admit that the incisor, whoever he might be, had some authority for his guidance. The body of Piers Gaveston was removed . . . to King's Langley, in Herts. . . . Two of Gaveston's brothers were likewise interred in the same church. His tomb is not likely to have been removed to Winchester, without some record of such a circumstance existing ; but that he, or some of his family, must be connected in some way with the subject of our inquiry, will, I think, no longer admit of a doubt. Of tliat family wc know nothing, except that it was of Gascony. " The names scratched on the tomb may be read either as con- tractions of Gaveston, or as Gaston spelt with a ' u ' (tlauston). In short, it is a very pretty puzzle ; but presenting;, at the same time, a clue which I think some dextrous antiquary may follow to a very satisfactory result. The cows, collared and belled, of lieain; the cross of Savoy; the eagles either of Savoy or of daveston; the undoubtetl shields of I'ngland, France, Castile and Leon, and now the name of ' I'eler Gaustou ' form altogethiT ' Sulisc'iui'iil <\:imin:ilions ami nic:>sunMiu'nls nl' ilie tomb and slab have fully ciiir()liiii:ili.'i.l lliis impDit^uil hui. APPENDIX 203 a chain of evidence which must surely lead, in a very short time, to identification. Could we ascertain the parentage of Piers Gaveston, I suspect the riddle would be immediately read." {journal of the British Archceological Association, 1856, xii. P- 94-) Remarks on an Effigy of a Knight in Winchester Cathedral. By Weston S. Walford,. F.S.A. ... It is the only military effigy of its period existing in that cathedral, or, indeed, in the City of Winchester. Removed many years ago from its original place, which was probably against a wall and under a recess, it now lies, detached from the remains of the tomb to which it belongs, behind the choir, between the monuments of Cardinal Beaufort and Bishop Waynflete. The knight was represented in a hauberk, chaperon, and chausses of mail of the time of Edward I., with a surcote reaching a little below the knee. There is no mixture of plate ; but there are fragments of ailettes, and these will require us to ascribe the effigy to the latter part of that reign, if not to the beginning of the next. The legs from the knees downwards are very nearly gone ; but sufficient evidence exists to show that they were crossed, and the feet rested on a lion. The head is slightly inclined, and reposes on two cushions, formerly supported by two angels, the bodies of which remain. The right hand grasps the hilt of the sword, and on the left arm is a shield charged with the following arms, viz., a cross between, in the first and fourth quarters two cows passant, collared, and belled, and in the second and third quarters three garbs. What was one side, or rather the front of the tomb on which, there is good reason to believe, this effigy originally lay, is now built into the eastern wall of the Guardian Angels' chapel. There are carved on it, under five decorated arches, as many escutcheons suspended by guiges, and bearing respectively 204 APPENDIX the following arms, viz. : i. The same that are on the knight's shield; 2. Six eaglets displayed; 3. England; 4. France semd; and 5. Castile and Leon quarterly. About forty years ago the effigy, which had been lying on the floor for some years, was repaired and partially restored. Happily, there was no attempt made to complete the figure, though the time-worn shield under- went that process. More fortunately still, there exists in Britton's History of this Cathedral, an engraving from a drawing of this effigy by the truthful pencil of Mr. Blore, which was made before the repair and restoration. This shows that the arms now on the shield agree in all essentials with what were there previously. There is also in the same work an engraving from a drawing by the same hand of the front of the tomb, from which we learn that the arms then upon it remain unaltered in any material respect With so much heraldry, and such indications of royal connection or patronage, it might have been expected that there would not have been any great mystery about this effigy. The earliest notice of it which I have met with is in Gale's History and Antiquities of this Cathedral, published in 17 15, p. 32, where it is thus spoken of: "Behind the Quire on the North side lieth a warlike person, whose figure is much defaced, with this inscription :— " ' Ilic jacet Willielmus Comes de Insula Vana alias Wineall.'" Of this singular inscription, which does not on a first perusal impress one with a favourable opinion of its authenticit)-, I shall presently have more to say. . . . Dr. Milner, who passed for an authority in his day, and not without sonic reason, though he is not to be trusted where heraldry is in question, describes the effigy, in his History of W'inclusior (vol. ii. p. 75, ist edition), as " the mutilated figure of an ancienl crusader, armed ctif^'i-pic in a hauberk, with his sword and shield, the latter of which bears quarterly two bulls pass.mt, gorged with collars and bells, and three gariis for the princely taniily of He l\ii\, of which was ('aplal de la liuch, Kniglil of the Ciarter of the first Creation of APPENDIX 205 Edw. III. On an adjoining slab are the arms of the royal families to which he appears to have been related, namely England, France, Castile, Leon, &c." He then goes on to quote from Gale the inscription before mentioned as one " which is said formerly to have existed here." In his edition of 1809 he has altered these words, and speaks of the inscription as having formerly been "on the monument," but adduces no new authority. It will be observed that he notices only royal arms on the front of the tomb ; but there can be no doubt of the others having been there at that time. The omission may, perhaps, be attributed to his not having intended to speak of any but royal alliances. Britton, in his description of the effigy (Winchester Cathedral, p. 102), states that it is " finely executed, and is said to represent William de Foix, of the princely family of that name, who resided on an estate called Vana, or Wineall, near Winchester." As he quotes no authority for this, I presume it is a bold interpretation of the inscription that we owe to Gale, by the light of information too hastily borrowed from Milner. No trace of the inscription remains, nor is it known where it was placed. It does not read like an original one, but like one of later date embodying an erroneous tradition, or a tradition misunderstood. No such title as " Comes de Insula Vana " or " Earl of Wineall " is known to have existed in this country or elsewhere. For a while I thought it might have been a foreign title translated into Latin, and rendered into vernacular English ; but I can discover none by which it can be explained. Had there been a count or earl allied to the royal families of England, France, and Castile and Leon, he would surely appear in some of the genealogies or histories, and would have been brought to light before now. The Captal de la Buch, temp. Edw. III., was not a De Foix ; nor are the arms of the family of De Foix on the monument ; they were or, three pallets gu. It is true that at a later date they were quartered with or, two cows passant gu, collared and belled az ; but that was the coat of Beam, and it misled, no doubt, Dr. Milner. Wineall, formerly Winhale, or 2o6 APPENDIX Wynhalc, and now Winnall, is a small parish very near Winchester, Lxkiiding some distance up the chalk hills. There is no evidence or probability of its having ever bcun insulated, though near the 1 ivcr ; nor of its having been a lordship vested in any family in which there was an earldom at all resembling that mentioned in the inscription. I am sure the knight was a foreigner ; for those arms are very unlike English heraldry of that or any other period, and more easily reconcilable with some foreign examples ; and I am strongly inclined to the opinion that the arms with the six eaglets dis- played were those of Gaveston. Still, I might have remained in the same state of uncertainty as Mr. Planche, had it not come to my knowledge through Mr. Blaauw, who first brought the fact forward in modern times, that a Sir Arnald de Gavaston was buried at Winchester in 1302. When I received this information I had not leisure to take up the inquiry anew ; but anticipated that this fact would prove the desired clue to the right appropria- tion of the monument. That Sir Arnald de Gaveston was buried at Winchester in May, 1302, we learn from the compolus or account in 30 Ekiw. I. of John Swanland, a messenger who had been sent in the month of Ma> in that year, from Guildford, by the King's command, to Winchester, to carry some money and two pieces of doth of gold for the funeral of Sir Arnald de Gaveston, deceased, which was to take place there. Eidem (Johanni de Swan- land) niisso mense Maij de Guldeford per preceptum R^is usque Wyntone, ad deferendum ibidem tarn denarios quam duos pannos ad aurum pro exequiis domini Arnaldi de Gavastone mortui ibidem faciendis, pro vadis suis sic eundo ibidem niorando pro negociis dictas exequias taiigentibus, et ad curiam redeundo, per vij dies, xvij die Maij, pro primo lomiiotu patet, per diem xviij', quia ad sumptus domini Johannis dc 1 >rokencsford in quibusdani necessariis ; xs.vjd. [The old CarUon Ride ref. is here given.] -(Wardrobe .Accounls. l'.\ehr. . . .) If such were the fact, or indeed if he were an> near relation of Peter, then, with the exeeplion of one eoal, all the arms on the APPENDIX 207 monument may be easily accounted for ; since, whether executed before the accession of Edw. II., or, as seems more probable, after that event, when Peter was Earl of Cornwall and in high favour with the King, and married to his niece, his own coat and that of England might be expected to be found there ; and the addition of those of France and Castile and Leon — the realms from which the royal patron of Arnald had married his two queens, one of whom was the mother of Peter's patron, and the other the aunt of his betrothed or actual queen — would be quite in accord- ance with the usage of the time. The King of France, I may add, was the lord paramount of Sir Arnald's fief in Beam. The other coat — that which is on the knight's shield and also on the front of the monument, and has occasioned so much difficulty — is not so easily explained. It is not properly two coats quartered with a cross over all; for then the cross would have partially overlaid the other charges ; but it is, as I have before blazoned it a cross between, in the first and fourth quarters, two cows passant collared and belled, and in the second and third quarters, three garbs. The only known quartered coats, I believe, at the time this monument was executed, were Castile and Leon, and probably Hainault, which was composed of Flanders and Holland, and was assumed soon after 1300. The Roll of Arms, temp. Edw. II., attributes a quartered coat at that time to an English subject, namely. Sir Symon de Montagu ; but if then used by him, it does not appear to have been continued. Or two cows passant gu, collared and belled az, were the arms of Gaston, Viscount of Beam, of whom, we have seen. Sir Arnald was probably a vassal. This Gaston was also " Dominus Montis Catani et Castelli veteris " ; but the cross and garbs did not belong to those lordships, for the arms of the former were six besants, and those of the latter a castle, as may be seen in the engraving of his seal in Bysshe's Notes to Upton, p. 56. Garbs were not a common bearing in France; three were borne by families named Brosse and Aust, and also by Briois and Aveniferes, with what may have been a difference; but none of these families have been found to be in any way connected with Beam, nor 2o8 APPENDIX indeed does the family of the Viscounts of Beam appear to have liecn allied to any family bearing garbs. Slill, I cannot doubt thai the cows iiavc reference to Beam, and, as we have seen reason to think that Sir Arnald was a vassal of Gaston de Beam, 1 would suggest that the garbs (trois ^arbas) may be a canting allusion to the first two syllables of Gabaston, in accordance with the practice of the time. Though not one of the happiest of such allusive bearings, many might be quoted that were little, if at all, better. I'he cross may have been adopted merely as a mode of separating the other charges, in the same manner as it may be seen to have been employed in the signuin, as it is called, of Alphonso IV. of Castile and Leon, to the release by him of his pretensions to Gascony in 1254, which was before those arms were quartered on his seal. A similar mode of separating the quarterings was used by the Kings of Castile and Leon, both in the siginiin and on their seal, as late as 1307, as appears by a charter of Ferdinand lY. now in the British Museum. Thus considered, these arms would be in the nature of a feudal coat, or a coat having a feudal origin, composed in part of the arms of the lord of the fief. This would make it more easy to comprehend why Peter de Gavaston did not use the same arms as his father ; for, even if he succeeded to the fief of his father in Beam, he had far more important fiefs here, and, being raised to so high a position, he may have thought the garbs not a happy allusion to his patronymic, and preferred assuming a new and more pretentious bearing. I cannot dis- cover any good reason for his bearing eagles ; but it is remarkable that Ralph Monthermer, another foreigner (I believe) of inferior condition, who had at that time married an English princess, the mother of Gav;\ston's wife, bore an eagle displayed with the same tinctures as Ctavaston, viz., s'irrt and or, but reversed, his being or, an eai^le displayed veil. Neither he nor Gavaston appears to have been in any w^ay connei led witli the lMn])ire. (youriiiil British A nil. .■!.<>■. 1S5S, xv. p. 125.) APPENDIX 209 CHAPTER III A Gaveston's Father — His Childhood — His Cupidity. [Gaveston] Eratsiquidem filius cujusdam militis generosi, qui n obsequio Regis patris fidele servitium fecerat militare. Cujus obsequii Rex pater non immemor, praefatum Petrum, adhuc in setate tenera constitutum, benigne suscepit Curiae filii sui, prse- cipiens eum adjungi cum filio nutriendum. Qui cum aliquanto tempore coram Regis filio ministrasset, tantam gratiam in oculis suis invenit, quod, spretis magnatum terra liberis, sibi soli in tantum adhaesit, quod nee patris sui praeceptum, aut suasio magnatum, eos ab invicem usque ad morten animo saltem potuit separare. Thesaurum insuper et jocalia regni, quae filii fiierant, penes se coUegit, et mercatoribus transmarinis ad custodiendum tradebat. {Annates Johannis de Trokelowe, Riley's Ed. p. 64.) Grant to Gaveston from Edward I., 1304. Rex omnibus ad quos, &c., salutem. Sciatis quod ad requisi- tionem Edwardi principis Wallise et comitis Cestriae filii nostri Karissimi, concessimus Petro de Gauaston custodiam terrarum et tenementorum que fuerunt Edmundi de mortuo mari defiincti qui de nobis tenuit in capite in manu nostra ratione minoris etatis heredis ipsius Edmundi existentum. Habendam cum omnibums ad custodiam illam spectantibus vsque ad legittimam etaetem eiusdem heredis. In cuius, &c. T. R. apud Strynelyn, xxix. die Julii per breve de privato sigillo. (Pat. Roll. 32 Edw. I., mem. 10.) IS -IO APPENDIX Character of Edward II., by the Monk of Malmeseury Ditaverat enim Deus ipsum omnium virtutum dotibus, parem immo excellentiorem fecerat aliis regibus. Nam si quis ea quae regem nostrum nobilitant vellet describere, parem in terra non poterit invenire. Generositatem ejus aviti patres ostendunt, quorum successiones se jam ad decem gradus extendunt. Divi- tias habuit in principio regni sui, terram locupletem at favorem populi. Gener factus est regi Francise, proximus cognatus regis Hispanise. Si adhaesisset baronum consilio Scotos humiliasset pro nichilo. O si armorum usibus se exercitaret, regis Ricardi probitatem praecederet. Hoc enim deposcit materia habilis, cum statura longus sit, et fortis viribus, formosus homo decora fadt. Sed quid moror ipsum describere ? Si tantam dedisset armis operam quantam impependit circa rem rusticam, multum excellens fuisset Anglia ; nomem ejus sonuisset in terra. O qualis spera- batur adhuc Princeps Walliae. Tota spes evanuit dum factus est rex Angliae. Petrus de Gavestone regem duxit in devium, terram turbavit, consumpsit thesaurum, tribus vicibus exilium subiit, et postea rediens caput perdidit. Sed adhuc remanent (6 Edw. II.?) in regis curia de familiaribus Petri et ejus familia, qui perturbant pacem totius patriae et regem inducunt vindictara quasrere. (Malmesbury Life of Edw. II. Chronicles of Edw. I. and Edw. II., vol iL pp. 191-2.) Character of Edward II., nv the Canon of Bridlinctox. Rex Edwardus . . . fuit corpore quidem elegans, viribus prse- stans, sed moribus, ut vulgo dicitur, multum discrepans. Nam, parvipcnso proccruni contubernio, adhnasit cantoribus, tragcedis, aurigis, nairgiis, ct aliis huiuscomodi artificiis mechanicis, magis aliono quam proprio consilio cridens ; in dando prodigus, in convivando dapsili.s cl splcndidus, ore proniptus, sermone varius, APPENDIX 211 contra hostes infortunatus, in domesticos efferatus, ad unum aliquem familiarem ardenter adiectus, quem summe coleret, ditaret, prgeferret, a cuius prsesentia abesse non sustineret, ac prae ceteris honoraret; unde provenit amanti opprobrium, amato obloquium et interitum, populo prsecipitium, et regno detri- mentum ; indignos quoque et ineptos ad gradus ecclesiasticos promovit, qui postea sibi in angustiis non affuerunt. (Life of Edw. II., by the Canon of Bridlington. Chronicles of Edw. I. and II., vol. ii. p. 91.) CHAPTER IV. Household, &c., of Edward, Prince of Wales, at Langley, &c., 1294. 1294. Eodem anno forum de Dunstaple, et alia mercata, et patria circumquaque, enormiter laedebatur per longam moram quam Edwardus, filius regis, apud Sanctum Albanum et apud Langelee faciebat ; quia ducenta fercula per diem suffi coquinae sufficere non valebant ; et quisquid expenderat in se vel suis, non dato pretio, capiebat. Ministri ejus omnia victualia ad forum venientia, et etiam caseum et ova, et quicquid venale fuit, vel in domibus burgensium latuit non venale, auferebant, et vix cuiquam talliam reliquerunt. A pistoribus etiam et braciatricibus panem et cervisiam ceperunt ; et non habentes, panem et cervisiam sibi facere compulerunt. {Annates de Dunstaplia; Annates Monastici, Luard, vol. iii. PP- 392-3-) Roll Letter of Edward, Prince of Wales, to the Queen. A sa treschere dame e mere, de par Edward son devout fiuz, tote reverence e honur. Treschere dame e mere pur ceo que 212 APPENDIX nostre seignur le Roy nostre piere nous ad graunte tout le plus des valletz de nostre chaumbre a demorer pres de nous si come ils soloient, e bien savoms que ceo est a vostre requeste, de quoi nous vous mercioms si chercment come nous savoms ; vous prioms ma treschere dame e mere que uncore voillez sil vous plest trauailler pour nous e prier nostre cher seignur e piere quU nous voille graunter deux valletz a ceux que nous avoms cest asauoir Gilbert de Clare et Perot de Gavaston. Car verrayment ma dame si nous eussoms ceux deux a les autres, nous serrioms molt conforte, et allege del anguisse que nous avoms endure, et soeffroms uncore, par lordinaunce nostre dit seignur e piere, ma dame voillez sil vous plest avoir ceste busoigne au quoer, e la esploiter en la plus graciouse manere que vous poerez, si chercment come vous nous amez, ma dame nostre seignur vous gard. Donne souz, &c., au Park, &c., le vj. iour Daugst. [33 Edw. I., '3°5]- {Exchr. Misc. Roll 5.) Rom. Letter of Edward, Prince of Wales, to the Countess of Holland. Edward &c. a sa treschere soer ma dame Elizabeth Comitesse de Hollande de Hereford e de Essex, saluz e cheres amitez. Du bon estat nostre seignur le Roy nostre piere, e de ma dame la Royne, e du vostre, le quel nous avoms entendu par vos lettres, sumes molt leez. E endroit du nostre vous feisoms asauoir que nous estoioms en bone saunte la dieu merci, quaunt ces lettres furent faites. Et pour ces que nostre seignur le Roy nous ad graunte deux valletz qi nous avoms, 't avioms ame a demorer pres de nous, cest a savoir Johan de Banstedo, e Tohan de Weston, vous prioms e requeroms espcciaunicnt que vous voillez prier ma dame la Royne nostre chore mere, quo olio voille prier au Roy quil nous vciille graunter vncorc autros deux valletz, a (liinorer pros do nous, ccsl asavoii (Gilbert de Clare, ot Perot de Ciavasliiii, \\:\r si nous, eussums eeu\ dou\, oue les autres que nous avoms, nous sen ioms molt allogge/, del anguisse que nous APPENDIX 213 avoms endure, e suffroms uncore de iour en autre, par lordinaunce e la volente nostre dit seignur le Roy. Treschere soer nostre seignur vous gard. Donne souz nostre priue seal au Park de Wyndesore le iiij iour Daugst. [33 Edw. I., 1305]. (Exchr. Misc. Roll |.) De Juramentis, et ordinatis apud Lanrecost factis SUPER ExiLio Petri de Gavaston. Fet a remembrer, que le dimeine, le xxvi jour de Feverer a Lanrecost, nostre seignur le Roi ordena e comanda, par acunes resons, que maintenant apres les treis simeines, apres le prochein torneiment, que serra ore a la quinzeme de Pasqe prochein avenir. Monsieur Piers de Gavaston seit prest a passer la mer, a Dovre, vers Gascoigne, e demoerge y sanz revenir par decea, tant que au repel nostre seignur le Roi avantdit, et par son conge. E, a cele ordinance tenir, sanz venir encontre en nul point, le dit monsieur Piers fit serement au jour, e au leu desusditz, sur le Cors Dieu, sur la Croix Neit, et sur les autres reliques nostre seignur le Roi. E, outre ces, monsieur Edward prince de Gales, fiz nostre seignur le Roi, fit le serment sur le Cors Dieu, e sur les autres reliques, qil ne receitreit ne retendroit pres de li, ne ovesque li le dit monsire Pieres, centre I'ordenance avantdite, sanz repel, ou sanz conge de nostre seignur le Roi, sicom est avantdit. El, par comandement du dit nostre seignur le Roi, feust ordenez, que le dit monsieur Piers eit par an, en aide de ses d'espens, tant comme il demorra es parties de dela, a la volente et au repel nostre seignur le Roi, sicom est avantdit, cent mars d'esterlings, ou la value des chipoteis, a resceivre des issues de la terre de Gascoigne. El doit le primer au comencer le jour apres ceo q'il serra passe la mer, a Dovre, jusques a Whitsand, pur aler en Gascoigne, a demorer y solone la dite ordenance. 214 APPENDIX Et deit prendre la dite summe a la volente le Roi, e tant que le Roi eit fci enqucre ceo que le dit monsire Piers ad par decea e par dela, e des profltz qu'il ad eu puis qil vint en Engleterre. Issint que, quant la chose serra ben enquise, e qe le Roi en soit pleinement avise, qu'il puisse ordeiner d'arcrester, ou d'amenuser I'estat du dit monsire Piers, selonc ces que plerra au Roi, e qil verra qe bon soit. (Rymer's Foedera vol. i. pt. i. Close Roll, 35 Ed., I. mem. lT,d. p. lOIO.] CHAPTER V. A The Recall of Gaveston on the Accession of Edward II. Petrus de Gaviston dummodo exulaverat vigilavit super mare ct in Flandria, semper expectans mortem boni Edwardi r^is. Et contra voluntatem communitatis regni fecit eum Comitem Cornubiae. Et plus solito specialiorem eum habuit, et procura\it malum quod potuit adversus omnes magnates et alios qui moram ejus in Anglia malipendebant. Et suggessit regi in quantum potuit procurando quod Wallcnnii Jt' LaUj^toH episcopum Cestrise carceri mancipavit. Nam idem \\'alterus saepius incref)averat predictum Petrum pro eo quod male tractaverat regem, et ad multas scurrilitates et malitias, atque stultitias et ineptias, ac inertias frioolas eum produxerat contra stabulum suum et r^i honorem. Et idem Petrus habuit in dcspoctum et derisum majores regni ; de quo proverbialiter dictum est : <}uc altre lionl en despite liicn sauyj ilo ceo quil dk, Car fortune fnil alicsscr (^^iic ja ni' qiiiik- a ceo venir. {Cliioiii(oii [Ic'iiiiii I\iii_!^liloii, Rolls I'aI. 1., p. 405.) APPENDIX 215 26 Feb., 1309, Westminster. Commission of oyer and terminer ... on complaint of Peter de Gavaston, that divers persons broke his free chace at Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight, and his free warren there, and at Thornle, Westrugge, and Bordwode, in the same island, felled trees in his woods and caught and carried away games, hares, and rabbits. (Pat. Roll, 2 Edw. II., pt. i. mem. 13.) Letter from the Abbot of Ramsay, dated March 3, 1331 (in answer to one from the King, enjoining the admittance of John de Pyrie to a corrody) : — . . . Excellentise vestrse significamus, quod idem pater vester nobis ssepius scripsit pro diversis clericis et laicis, videlicet : — pro domino Arnaldo de Lyle, clerico, qui percepit pensionem decern marcarum, quousque fuisset sibi provisum per nos de beneficio ecclesiastico; pro domino Johanne de Ferybi, percipiente pensionem sex marcarum; pro magistro Henrico de Cantuaria, percipiente annuitatem sex marcarum ; pro magistro Johanne de Brampton, percipiente annuitatem centum solidorum, quos Arnaldus Brocaz prius percepit, ad procurationem domini Petri de Gavestone, et eidem magistro Johanni in vita sua resignavit, qui etiam dominus Patrus multa de oneribus supradictis per multas minas extorsit. . . . (Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey, Rolls Edition, vol. iii. p. 102.) CHAPTER VI. A Appointment of Gaveston as Guardian of the Realm, 1307. Rex archiepiscopis &c. &c. Sciatis quod cum nos, pro quibusdam negotiis, nos et statum ?.i6 APPENDIX regni nostri langentibus, sumus ad partes transmarinas, favente Domino, in proximo profecturi ; Nos de circumspectione, industria et fidelitate dilecti et fidelis nostri Petri de Gavastonc, comitis Cornubiae, specialiter con- fidentes, ipsum comitem custodem nostrum dicti regni, ad locum nostrum in eodem regno tenentem, pro pace et tranquilitate populi dicti regni melius conservanda, constituimus per praesentes, quamdui in dictis partibus transmarinis moram fecerimus, vel aluid inde duxerimus ordinandum. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod eidem comiti, tanquam custodi nostro dicti regni, & locum nostrum tenenti in eodem, in hiis quae ad dictam custodiam pertinent, intendentes sitis et respondentes. In cujus &c. quamdui nobis placuerit duraturas. Teste Rege apud Westminster, xxvi die Decembris. (Rymer's Foedera, ii. (i.) p. 24.) B The King's Partiality for Gaveston. ^Vhen the King went over in 1 308 to France for his marriage, ..." totum rcj^num Angliae Petri custodiae committebat. Unde magnates Anglire, videntes se despectos, non minimum mur- murabant. Nuptiis igitur solemniter celebratis, ad regnum Angliae redeuntes, cum omni honoris et reverentiae studio ab omnibus proceribus admittuntur. Inter quos Petrum occurrentem, datis osculis et ingeminatis amplexibus, familiaritate venerabatur singulari. Qute familiaritas specialis, a magnatibus pneconcepta, invidiae fomitem ministravit." {Annates Johannis dc Trokclon'c, Riley's Ed., p. 65.) Account of tilk Coronation of I'-hward II. The Banqukt. Interim (after the Earls had wiihdniwn to robe themselves) rex inisit illo die post ret;alc S;incti Edwardi extra ecclesiam APPENDIX 217 monachorum. Erant enim ex proceribus qui vendicabant illud deferre de palatio ante, regem, ex antique servitio per quod tenebant aliqui certas terras. Porro non deberent tangere illud, quia reliquiae sunt ; sed regale propruim regis coronandi, in quo post missam est in palatium reversurus et ad prandium est sessurus, hoc de jure portare debebunt ; tantum calicem Sancti Edwardi cum patena, cancellarius atque thesaurarius regni, si presbiteri fuerint, ante regem processive poterunt bajulare. Periculosum tamen dinoscitur propter turbam comprimentem, quia quod vidimus hoc testamur. Tradidit itaque rex voluntarie portiunculas regalis Sancti Edwardi diversis comitibus et baronibus, ut puta crucem, sceptrum, virgam, calcaria et gladios ; sed coronam Sancti Edwardi tradidit Petro ad portandum manibus inquinatis. Ex quo non immerito indignati sunt populus atque clerus. Rex per posticium palatii, fixis tentoriis, ecclesiam est ingressus, ut evaderet populi compressionem. Nichillominus amplius premebatur maxima ibi pressura seu compressio gentium, adeo quod quidam murus, etsi luteus fortis, secus magnum altare et pulpitium regium solotenus corruit, et quidam miles Johannes de Bakwelle, adversarius illius ecclesise existens, sine viatico inibi expiravit. Sed aut regi coronando aut episcopis ipsum coronaturis violentia populi non parcebat. Et ideo cum festinatione nimia, et quasi irreverenter, fuit ilia solempnizatio consummata. Et quid dicemus de ministerio convivii ? Scimus apparatum ciborum multis milibus superhabundasse, sed minis- trationem neminem approbasse. Defecerat enim ibi specularis dispositio convivii regibus assueta ; ubi legitur, " Nee erat qui cogeret non volentes." lUo die missa in ecclesiadiu postnonam, et prandium in palatio de nocte, displicibilius sunt finita. Omnes comites et barones satagebant regem condigna honorificentia magnificare. Petrus vero, non regis sed gloriam propriam qeaerens, et quasi Anglos contempnens, ubi ceteri in deauratis vestibus incedebant, ipse in purpura, margaritis intexta preciosis, inter convivas, quasi rege pretiosior equitabat. Quapropter indignatus comes unus voluit interimere eum palam. Cui alius sanior respondebat : " Non in die festo, ne forte fiat tumultus in 2i8 APPENDIX populo et dedecus in convivio. Sed expectare vincere nobis erit." Karolus et Lodoivicus patrui reginae, cernentes quod rex plus exerccret Petri triclinium quam reginae, cum indignatione ad Franciam remigarunt. In omnem igitur terram exiit rumor ipse, quod rex plus amaret hominem magum et maleficum quam sponsam suam elegantissimam dominam et pulcherrimam mulierem. (Annales Paulini, vol. i. p. 260.) D The Tournament at Wallingford, Dec. 2, 1307. "... Ad majorem Petri famam augendam et nomen cele- brandum, auxiliante et consulente domino rege, nomine domini Petri proclamatum est celebriter quoddam torneamentum in villa videlicet WalyngfordiEe, quae est de dominico comitis Cornubiae. Dies etiam prasfigituro, dies scilicet Sabbati proxima post festum Sancti Andrae. Hoc itaque torneamentum comites et barones in odium Petri magis excitabat. Adveniente igitur die prsefixo ex una parte conjuncti sunt comites tres vel quatuor cum manu valida, comes videlicet Warrenia;, comes Herfordias, comes de Arundel, et barones non pauci ; ex parte domini Petri comes nuUus erat nominatus expressus, sed omnes fere milites juniores et robustiores regni, qui prece vel pretio poterant conduci, partem domini Petri juvabant. Unde et in illo torneamento pars ejus superiorem manum habebat, ac optata reportebat, quannis campus alteri parti remaneret. Nam ipsius ludi lex esse dinoscitur, quod qui plus perdit et qui sfepius ab equo deicitur, probior et fortior judicatur. (Malmesbury Life of Edw. II. Chronicles of Edw. I. and Edw. II., vol. ii. pp. 156-7.) APPENDIX 219 CHAPTER VII. A The Charges made against Gaveston by the Parliament OF April, 1308. Item quantum ad personam domini Petri de Gavastone, in eadem parliamento fuit ostensum et pronuntiatum, quod dominus Petrus coronam exheredavit, et suo incitamento regem a concilis procerum regni sui amovit, et sibi ligiantiam quorundam tanquam regi per sacramentum attraxit, et alia multa in coronse debilitamentum, et ligii domini sui et regni seditionem, multipliciter perpetravit ; propositum fuit insuper per commune consilium quod, quia dominus rex praedictum Petrum contra omnes in omnibus arti- culis manutenere vult, non habendo respectum ad cujuscunque rationem, cujus contrarium convenit bene regi, nee ille indictari seu convinci per sectam in lege liberatam poterit, comites prsefatum Petrum, tanquam ligii domini sui et regni seductorem, convictum et dampnatum pronuntiarent, domino nostro regi supplicando, desicut ipse leges observare, populum regere, per sacramentum coronationis suae astringitur . . . Tandem comites et proceres dominum regem judicium vitse et membrorum cum praefato domino Petro mitigare juxta libitum suum et reverentiam comitis Gloucestriae, cujus filiam duxerat, permiserunt ; et dominus rex consensit et scripto roboravit, quod dictus Petrus in crastino Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptists tunc proxime future, ab Anglia corporaliter recederet, nunquam ad eandem ex quavis causa, sub poena quEe competit, reversurus ; et dominus Robertus de Wynchelse, archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, ex consensu vel saltern permissione domini regis, cleri et magnatum terrae, senten- tiam excommunicationis in omnes et singulos qui dictum Petrum post predictum diem in Anglia receptarent . . . milla persona excepta, publice fulminavit, rege, regina, eorumque liberis semper salvis. (Life of Edw. II., by the Canon of Bridlington. Chronicles of Edw. I. and Edw. II., vol. ii. pp. 34-5.) 220 APPENDIX Banishment of Gaveston, May i8, 1308. Le Roi a touz ceaus, qi cestes lettres verront ou orront, salutz. Nous vous feisoms savoir que, cntre ci, et lejour que monsire Pieres da Gavaston doit vueder nostre roiaume, cast assauoir lendamaine de la feste da la Nativite Saint Johan la Baptistre precheinement avenir ; Nous ne faroms nule maniare de chose, ne na souffroms estre fait, tant come en nous est, par quel la vuedance de meisme cell Pieres soit desturbee, ou delaee en nul point, q'elle ne soit parfaite selonc ce, que par pralatz, contes et barons da nostre dit roiauma, nous est conseillez, & par nous acordetz. En tesmoignanca da queu chose, nous avoms fait faire cestes nos lettres overtes. (Rymer's Foedem, vol. ii. pt i. p. 44.) Gaveston in Ireland, a.d. 1308. Item, in Anglia cito post tentum est magnum Parliamentum London, in quo oriebatur dissensio et fere mortalis conflictus inter Ragem et Barones, occasiona Domini Petri de Gaveston, qui proscriptus est a regno Anglie in crastino Natalis Beati Johannis Baptiste, et transfratavit in Hiberniam circa festa Sanctorum Quirite et Julite, cum uxore et sorore, Coraitissa Glovernie, ad Dublin, cum pompa vehenienti et ibidem traxit moram. {Annals of Ireland: a Fniilnimt, pr. in Rolls Edition of Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, vol. ii. pp. 33H-7.) APPENDIX 221 CHAPTER IX. A Edward II. 's Letter to the Pope, asking Absolution for Gaveston from his Oath. Sanctissimo in Christo patri, domino C. divina providentia, &c. Edwardus ejusdem gratia, &c. devota pedum oscula beatorum. De magnificentise vestrje gratia, nobis in personam nobilis et Rarissimi nostri comitis Cornubias facta, super absolutione ejusdem, vestrse beatitudini ad gratiarum multiplices assurgimus actiones. Sane, cum in littera absolutionis prasdictas contineatur, quod Bertrandus Calculi, tanquam procurator dicta comitis, obligavit se, et per juramentum promisit, quod idem comes parebit mandatis ecclesiae, et stabit juri cuilibet, de se conqueri volenti, super eo, pro quo per praelatos regni nostri Anglis excommunica- tionis sententia lata fuerat contra comitem memoratum ; Sanctitati vestrse affectuosis precibus supplicamus, quatinus praefatum comitem & dictum procuratorem suum de predicta promissione seu obligatione, amore et honore nostri absolvere et perpetuo quietare velitis, si placet. Et, sicut dictum negotium amore nostri assumpsistis, & vestre gratia perfecistis, pro indempnitate dicti comitis super hoc de remedio oportuno dignemini providere. Conservet, &c. Dat sub privato sigillo apud Langele, iv. die Septembris [1309]. (Rymer's Foedera, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 88.) B Grants to Gaveston. Aug. 28, 1809. Westminster. Grant, in fee, to Peter de Gavaston, Earl of Cornwall, and Margaret his wife, in enlarge- ment of a previous grant of the whole county of Cornwall, with its castle, manor, &c., and of all other castles, manors, and lands 2-2 APPENDIX of Edmund, late Earl of Cornwall, which are subject to the service of three knights' fees, of the reversion of lands in Halghton, held from the King by Bartholomew de Kancia, as tenant for life, by grant of the late Earl. Mandate to the mayor and commonalty of the City of London, to render to Peter de Gavaston, Earl of Cornwall, and Margaret his wife, the yearly rent of iocs., which Philip de Kancia, dec", had received under a grant for life to him by Edmund, late Earl of Cornwall, out of the rent of ;^so issuing out of Queenhithe (Ripa Regine), London, and which, upon the death of the grantee, reverted to the King. (Patent Roll, 3 Edw. IL, mem. 36.) CHAPTER XL Articles addressed bv the Barons to Edw. IL, in the Parliament of 13 10, which led to the Appointment OF the Lords Ordainers. A nostra seignour le roi moustrent les grantz perils et damages, qe de jour en jour appierrent, sil ne soient hastivement redresse, et destruccions de fraunchises de sainte eglise, et desheritaunce et deshonour de vous et de vostre roial poer, et desheritaunce de vostre corone et damage de tous ceux de vostre roiaume, riches et poures : des queux perils et damages vous ne les bons gentz de vostre terre ne pount eschapir, si pluis hastive remedie par avisement des prelatz, contes et barons et des pluis sages de vostre roiaume ne soit ordene : — A comencemcnt, la ou vous estes governor de la terre et a ceo juree a meintcnir pees en vostre terre, vous estes par noun convenable consail ol malveis issint nienee, qe vous estes mys et cheyn en graunt esclaundre en tote/ terres ; et si povere estes ct voide de tote maiiere de tresour qe vous ne aveiz dont APPENDIX 223 vous poetz vostre terre defendre ne vostre houstiel tenir, mes par extorcions qe vos ministres fount des biens de seinte eglise et de vostre povere poeple, saunz rien paier, contra la forme de la graunde chartre ; la quele il priount qe soit tenue et meintigne en sa force. Ensement, sire, la ou nostre seigneour le roi vostre piere, qe Dieus assoille, vous lessa totes vos terres entierement, Dengle- terre, Dirlaunde et de tut le pluis Descoce, en bone pes, si aveitz vostre terre Descoce cum perdue et vostre coroune grevement desmembre en Engleterre, en Irlaunde, saunz assent de vostre barnage, et saunz encheson. Ensement, sire, vous moustrent par la ou la comunaute de vostre roiaume vous donerent le xx'""' dener de lur biens en aide de vostre guerre Descoce, et le xxv™° dener pur estred esporte des prises et des autres grevaunces ; les queux deners sont touz le pluis leves, et par noun covenable consail folement despenduz et degastiez, et vostre guerre nient avauncez, ne vostre poure poeple nient alleggetz des prises ne des autres grevaunces, mes pluis greves de jour en autre qe devant. Par quei, sire, vos ditz bons gentz vous priont homblement, pur sauvacion de vous et de eux et de la coroune, la quel il sont tenuz a meintenir pur lur ligeaunce, qe vous voilleez assentir a eux, qe ces perils et autres peussent estre houstietz et redressetz par ordinance de vostre baronage. (Annates Londonienses, vol. i. p. 168. Liber Custnmanim Riley's Ed., p. 198.) Bad Management of the King's Household : Foreigners FILL the Court, March, 13 10. Considerantes itaque regni proceres dominum suum regem Anglise alienigenas et quosdam Anglicos indiscrete sibi facere familiares, quos etiam prseposuit in officiis hospitii sui prsecipuis qui, se super hoc extollentes, victualia, res, etalia bona diversa ceperunt per patrias, valorem vel pretium non solventes ; . . . they resolve to ordain some remedy in response to the appeals 224 APPENDIX of the oppressed. (Then follows the appointment of the Lords Ordainers.) (Life of Edw. IL, by the Canon of Bridlington. Chronicles of Edw. L and Edw. IL, vol. ii. pp. 35-6.) Causes of the Barons' Indignation against Gaveston, 1309. Anno 1309 . . . perpendentes regni magnates et proceres, aliique terrse fideles, Regem in Patrum deperire praefatum, in tantum ut nuUius consilium, nullius consortium, nulliusoe sola- tium, curare videbatur, nisi Petri solius, et quod tola regni dispositio fiebat illius arbitrio, nee in regali Curia cujusquam negotia vel promoveri poterant vel expediri sine Petri conniventia, indignati sunt pro eo maxime, quod idem Petrus plus dilexit pecuniam quam requitatem, plus respexit munera quam causarum qualitates et ipsam pecuniam quam nequiter adquisivit, commisit custodiendam, vel ad usos suos ampliandam, transmarinis merca- toribus, sicut prius. Et super hsec omnia, justa satis illis accrevitira, quod viderent se contemni, et alienigena, quem nee virtus nee sapientia commendabant, super se supra merita sub- limari, et eis in locis omnibus anteferri. . . . (Thomas Walsingham, Rolls Edition, vol. i. pp. 122-123.) CHAPTER XII. A The Banishment of Piers Gaveston, Sept., 1311. Forasmuch as it is a Matter known, and proved by the examination of the Prelates, Earls, and Rarons, Knights, and other good people of the Realm, that Piers de (^avaston hath evil led and evil counselled our Lord the King, and hath enticed him to do evil in (livers and deceitful manners, in gathering to himself all the Treasure of the King, antl sending the same out APPENDIX 225 of the Realm ; in accroaching to himself Royal Power and Royal Dignity, as in making alliances of People by Oaths to live and die with him against all Men, and that by the Treasure which he acquired from day to day ; in lording it over the State of the King and of the Crown, in destruction of the King and his People, and especially estranging the King's heart from his Liege People ; in despising their counsels ; not suffering good Ministers to execute the Law of the Land ; in removing good Ministers, putting in those of his covin, as well Aliens as others, and who at his will and at his command offended against Right and the Law of the Land; in taking the King's Lands, Tenements, and Baili- wicks to him and his Heirs ; and hath caused the King to give the Lands and Tenements of his Crown to divers People, to the great Damage and Decrease of the State of the King and of his Crown; and that as well since the Ordinance which the King granted to the Ordainours, to act for the profit of him and of his people, as before, against the Ordinance of the Ordainours ; and maintaining Robbers, Homicides, and causing them to obtain the King's Charter of his Peace, in encouraging evil doers to act worse ; and in carrying the King into hostile Land without the Assent of his Baronage, to the peril of his Person and the destruction of his Realm; and in causing to be sealed Blank Charters under the Great Seal of the King, in deceit and dis- heritance of the King and his Crown, and against his homage ; and feloniously, falsely, and traiterously {sic) hath done the things aforesaid, to the great dishonour and damage of the King, and disherison of his Crown, and disherison of the People in many ways : And Moreover We, having regard to the Deeds of the most noble King, the Father of the King that now is, by whose award the aforesaid Piers abjured the Realm of England, and who willed that our Lord the King his Son should abjure for ever his Company; and that since by the common Assent of all the Realm, and of the King, and of the same Prelates, Earls, and Barons, it was heretofore awarded that he should void the said Realm, and he did void the same; and that his Return was never by common Assent, but only by the Assent of some Persons, i6 226 APPENDIX who, under condition if he should well demean himself after his return, assented thereto : And now for certain is found his evil demeanour ; for which demeanour, and for the great evils afore- said, and for the many others which may happen to our Lord the King and his People, and for nourishing good concord between the King and his People, and to eschew many manners of dis- cords and perils ; We do ordain, by virtue of the Commission of our Lord the King to us granted, that Piers de Gavaston, as the open Enemy of the King and of his People, be for ever exiled, as well out of the Realm of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, as from all the Dominion of our Lord the King, as well beyond the Sea as on this Side, for ever, never to return : and that he do void the Realm of England and all the Lands afore- said, and entirely all the Dominion of our Lord the King, between this and the Feast of All Saints next to come ; and We do give him Port at Dover, in the form aforesaid, and no where else, from whence to pass and go out. And if the said Piers do abide in the realm of England, or in any other place within the Dominion of our Lord the King, beyond the said Day which is given to him to go out and pass as is aforesaid, then it shall be done of him as of the Enemy of the King and of the Realm, and of his People. And that all those who henceforth shall contravene this Ordinance in respect of the said Exile, or the penalty thereupon ensuing, it shall be done of them according to that which thereunto pertaineth, if thereof they be attainted. (The Ordinances, 5 Ed. IL c. 20, from " Statutes of the Realme.") CHAPTER XIIL A Gaveston in Scotl.\nd. Erat hie Petrus 1 talus' natione, corpore elegans, ingenio acer, moribus curiosus, in re militari satis cxercitatus. Cujus argu- ' Inteiiwlnted Iij' copyist. APPENDIX 227 mentum [Note. — Probably should be " magnanimitas "], cum is in Scotia militise prsesideret, Scotos valde terruit et a prsediis et aliis vesaniis repressit. Quo per invidiam eorum, qui felices ejus progressus baud libenter, viderunt, revocato, invaluit iterum Scotorum versutia. ( Vita et Mors Edwardi Secundi ... by Thomas de la More. Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and Edward II., ii. p. 297.) , CHAPTER XIV. A Letters to the Duke of Brabant, on Behalf of Gaves- TON, WHO Proposes shortly to go Abroad. Rex nobili viro, domino I. duci Lotric ; Brabant, & Limburgh, fratri suo karissimo, salutem et sincere dilectionis continua incre- menta. Habet nostra fiducia, opinioque nostra tenet, quod ea, quae in nostris gerimus desideriis, velut vestra fraterualis affectio propriis affectibus adimplere. Cum itaque nobilem virum, dominum Petrum de Gavaston, comitem Cornubiae, quem in quadam peculiari prserogativa dilectionis hucusque concepimus, a regno nostro ad partes exteras se in brevi divertere jam proponat. Vestram amicitiam karissimam affectuosis precibus requiremus et rogamus, quatinus prsefatum comitem in terram et potestatem vestram velitis benigne admittere, et praecipere ipsum, dum ibidem moram traxerit, per subditos vestros honoribus condignis et favoribus propitiis, nostris precibus, prout cordi gerimus, pertractari : pro quibus, infra districtus nostros, ipsis subditis vestris majorem fieri volum_us gratiam. & favorem. Et de eo, quod super praemissis, ad nostri rogatum, duxeritis faciendum. 228 APPENDIX nobis per dilectum ct fidelem \N'illielmum de Creye, latorem prffisentium, cum celeritate desiderata, si placeat, rescribatis. Dat. London, ix. die Octobris [131 1]. (Rymer's Focdeni, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 144. Close Rolls Ed. iL mem. 231/.) Protection for Ga\'eston, on coming to the King. Rex omnibus ballivis, &c. ad quos, &c. salutem. Sciatis quod suscepimus in protectionem et defensionem nostram specialem, nee non in salvum et securum conductum nostrum, dilectum et fidelum nostrum, Petrum de Gavaston comitem Cornubise, in veniendo ad nos de mandate nostro. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod eidem Petro, aut hominibus in comitiva sua existentibus, in veniendo versus nos, non inferatis, seu, quantum in vobis est, ab aliis inferri permittatis injuriam, molestiam, dampnum, impedimentum aliquod, seu gravamen ; Set eidem Petro potius salvum et securum conductum habere facialis, cum ab ipso ex parte nostra super hoc fueritis requisitL In cujus, &c., usque ad Festum Omnium Sanctorum proxiino futurum duraturas. Teste Rege apud London, viii die Octobris [131 1]. (Rymer's Focdera, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 143. Pat. Roll, 5 Ed. IL, pt. i. m. 15.) C Gaveston's Return to England, December, 1311. . . . [Petrus de Gavastone] ante Nativitatem Domini in Angliam est reversus, domino regi sicut prius adhaesit, ipsi- usque secretarius est effectus ; nee multuni post Epiphaniam Domini in comitiva regis venit Eboracum, ubi comitissa conjux sua filiam peperit ; ob quam causam ibidem per tempos aliquot morabatur. (Life of Edward 11. by the Canon of Bridlington. Chronicles of I'-dw. I. and Edw. II., vol. ii. p. 42.) APPENDIX 229 Proclamation Reinstating Gaveston, January 18, 13 12 Edward par la grace de Dieu, &c., as viscontes de Londres : — Come monsieur Pieres de Gavastone conte de Cornwaille nadguers fuist exile hors de nostre roiaume contra les leys et les usages de meisme le roiaume, as queux garder et maintenir nous sumes tenuz par le serement qe nous feimes a notre corone- ment ; en le quel exil il fuist nome autre qe bon et loial. E meisme cesti conte par notre maundement soit ja revenu a nous en notre dit roiaume, prest est d'ester devaunt nous a touz qe de rien luy vodront chalenger solom les leyes et les usages avantditz ; par quey nous luy tenoms bon et loial a notre foi et a notre pees, et unqes pur autre ne luy tenoms, nous de notre roial poair vous comaundoms qe pur tiel lui tenez, e cesta chose facez par tut votre baillie puplier. Donez a Everwyke, le xviii jour de Januer, Ian de notre regne quint. (Annates Londonienses. Chronicles of Edw. I. and Edw. II., vol. i. p. 203.) CHAPTER XV. Search to be made for Piers de Gavaston, wandering FROM Castle to Castle in Cornwall, Devonshire, Somerset, and Dorset. Rex, dilectis et fidelibus suis, Hugoni de Curteny, & Willielmo Martyn, salutem. Cum, pro quadam suspicione, ex quibusdam volantibus rumori- bus suborta ; Quod Petrus de Gavaston, qui, secundum formam quarundam ordinationum, per quosdam prselatos, comites et barones de regno nostro nuper factarum, dictum regnum et dominium nostrum, statu tis sibi certis die et .portu, certa poena 230 APPENDIX adjecta, exissc debuit ; adhuc latitat, discurrit, & vagatur de loco in locum, de castro in castrum, de fortiletio in forti- letium, infra comitatus Cornubise, Duvoniae, Sumerset et Dorset, contra formam ordinationum praedictarum. Nobis, per comites et barones praedictos, fuerit supplicatum, quod dictum Petrum scrutari faceremus, juxta formam dictarum ordinationum, si inveniri possit, puniendum ; Assignavimus vos ad scrutandum omnia castra & fortiletia infra dictos comitatus, & omnia alia loca, ubi dictum Petrum invenire putaveritis ; et ad faciendum de ipso Petro, si ipsum inveniri contigerit, quod secundum formam dictarum ordinationum fuerit faciendum ; assumpto ad hoc vobiscum, si necesse fuerit, sufficienti posse comitatuum prasdictorum. Et ideo vobis mandamus quod omnia praedicta facialis, et expleatis in forma praedicta ; Mandavimus enim omnibus vicecomitibus nostris comitatuum praedictorum, et etiam constabulariis, & custodibus castrorum & fortiletiorum prjedictorum, quod, ad omnia praemissa & singula facienda & complenda, vobis sint intendentes, quotiens a vobis super hoc ex parte nostra, fuerint requisiti. In cujus, &c. Teste Rege apud Westminster, tricesimo die Novembris [S Ed. II.]. (Rymer's Foedcra, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 151. Pat. Roll, 5 Ed. II., pt. ii. mem.) B The Agreement between the Barons and Gaveston at Scarborough, May 19, 13 12. {The spelling is erratic.) A touz ceux qui cestes lettres orront ou verront monsieur Aymer de Valence conte de Penbrok, seigneour de W'eseford et de Montenak, monsieur Johan conte do W'arenne et de Surreie, monsieur Henri de Perci, salutz en Dieu. Nous vous fasoms asavoir, qe le A'endredi, le dyse neofyme jour de Maii, a covient il a Seardeburghe entre nous et totes les autres bons gentz qv illoqes estoient, pur la communalte du APPENDIX 231 roiaume Dengleterre de une part, a la requeste monsieur Piere de Gavastone de autre part ; cest assavoir, qe nous dites contes et barons at les bons gentz avantnomez avoms empris par nos feis, donez et jurez sur le corps notre seigneour, qe nous amene- roms et garderoms de tote maneres des damages de nous et de nos, et . marcas videlicet pro centum fratribus cuilibet v. marcas. {Aniialcs l\uilini, Chronicles of Edw. I. iv: II., vol. i. p. 273) APPENDIX 235 F Inscription relating to Gaveston, Cut on a rock, situated in a field, on the left hand of the road leading from Warwick to Kenilworth Castle, about a mile and a half from Warwick : — 13 11 (sic). . . . Richard Ip Gaveston Earl of Cornwall Beheaded here. (Add. MS. 6230 : — Hypomnemata. Bequeathed by J. Ward, fol. 16.) GENERAL APPENDIX Dr. Stubbs on the Authority of Sir Thomas de la More's Life of Edward II. "... Has been one of the chief authorities for certain por- tions of Edward's history, but its exact position as to date and authorship is somewhat indeterminate. ... I have indeed printed the tract rather in the idea of making it an appendix to the other and more valuable works which it accompanies, than with the thought of defending its authenticity or originality. ... I will content myself with saying that ... I believe it to be in the main trustworthy. . . ." (Chronicles of the Reigns of Edw. I. and Edw. II. edited by Dr. Stubbs, vol. ii. p. Ivii.) Dr. Stubbs on the Value of the Annales Londonienses. "From the year 1301 to the year 13 16, whether they be the work of one writer or two, the annals contain a relation, which is simply invaluable, of the closing events of the one reign and of the early troubles of the next. The selection of documents is most judicious, the local notices are interesting, and the illustra- tions of constitutional history are most importiuit." (Chronicles and Memorials of Edw. I. and Edw. II., vol. i. p. xix.) 336 GENERAL APPENDIX 23; Dr. Stubbs on the Date, Authority, &c., of the Monk of Malmesbury's Life of Edward II. " I am inclined to think that, on the whole, the writer may have begun to write towards the end of the reign of Edw. II." {Circa, 1325.) " He is very hostile to the Court and to courtiers, and that not as an ignorant outsider." (Chronicles of Edw. I. and II., vol. ii. pp. xliv. and xlvi.) Dr. Stubbs on the Authority of the " Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvan, Auctore Canonico Bridlingtoniensi." "It will be seen, I think, that this enumeration presents material amply sufiScient to justify us in ranking the Bridlington Annals high among the second-rate authorities for a period which is singularly deficient in first rate authorities." (Chronicles of Edw. I. and Edw. II., vol. ii. p. xxxi.) Gavaston. (Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii. p. 911.) Gavaston, Peter De — Eari of Cornwall (vol. i. p. 629), (Petrus Pieres de Gavaston, Comes Cornub', P. Comes Cornub). A.D. , 1308. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub' . . . summoned to Parliament at Westminster, on the first Sunday in Lent, 3 March.— Writ tested at Dover, 19 Jan. i Ed. II. J38 GENERAL APPENDIX A.D. 1308. Gavaston', Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub, Gustos regni Angl'. . . . Writs issued under his " teste " at the " Domus Dei " after the King's departure. — Dover Monday next following the feast of St. Vincent the Martyr. — ^Jan.- Feb. I Ed. II. 1308. Cornub', Petrus . . . Comes . . . present when the great seal was delivered to the Bishop of Chichester, Chancellor, &c., Dover Castle, 9 Feb. i Ed. II. 1308. Gavaston', Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub' . . . walks in the Coronation procession, bearing the Crown. — Westminster Sunday next after the Feast of St. Peter in Cathedra. 25 Feb. I Ed. II. 1308. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub' . . . summoned to Parliament at Westminster, in Fifteen Days of Easter, 28 April. Writ tested at Westminster, 10 Mar. I Ed. II. 1308. Gavaston, D.'n's Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub . . . temporary seal used by him for sealing writs whilst the King was out of England, delivered up in the Exchequer, to Walterus de Norwyco, 15 March. i Ed. II. 1308. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . appears before the King in his chamber at Langley, on Wednesday in \^^hitsun Week, 5 June, and surrenders the Castle of Knaresboro and other domains. i Ed. II. 1308. Gavaston', Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub' . . . appointed the King's Lieutenant in Ireland, with special powers of presentation to ecclesiastical benefices, &c. . . . E^l of Ulster requested to assist him. Letters patent and writs tested at Reading, 16 June. i Ed. II. 1309. Cornub', Petrus Comes . . . summoned to perform Mili- tary Service in person against the Scots. Muster at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on Michaelmas Day, 29 Sept. Writ tested at Stamford, 30 July. 3 Ed. II. 1309. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub . . . summoned to Parliament at York, on Sunday next ;Uter the Purifica- tion, 8 Feb. 1310. — Writ tested at York, a6 Oct. 3 Ed. II. GENERAL APPENDIX 239 A.D. 1309. Gavaston', Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub' . . . The col- lection of the Twenty-fifth suspended at his representation throughout England, from the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, 21 Dec, until the Quinzaine of the Purification, 16 Feb., by writs tested at Westminster, 10 Dec. 3 Ed. II. 1309. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub' resummoned to Parliament, the place of meeting being altered from York to Westminster, on Sunday next after the Purification, 8 Feb., 1310. — Writ tested at Westminster, 12 Dec. 3 Ed. II. 1310. Cornub' P. Comes . . . present at the delivery of the great seal by the Bishop of Chichester (the Chancellor) to the King. — Woodstock, Monday next after the Feast of St. John Port Latin, 1 1 May. 3 Ed. II. 1 3 10. Gavaston, Petrus de Comes Cornub . . . summoned to perform Military Service in person against the Scots. — Muster at Berwick-on-Tweed on the Nativity of the Virgin, 8 Sept. 4 Ed. II. Writ tested at Westminster, 18 June. 3 Ed. II. 1310. Gavaston', Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub', earnestly re- quested to attend the muster at Berwick-upon-Tweed, on the Nativity of the Virgin, 8 Sept., according to the pre- , ceding summons. — Writ tested at Northampton, 2 Aug. f 4 Ed. II. ^310. Gavaston, D'n.s. Petrus de . . . Comes Cornubise (Earldom of Cornwall) . . . proffers the service of the Knights fees for all his lands in England, performed by three Knights with six barded horses. Muster at Tweed- mouth, 18 Sept. 4 Ed. II. 1 3 10. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . Comes Cornub . . . appointed "Custos" of the Forests "citra Trentam." Joh'es de Segrave the late "Custos" commanded to deliver up to him or his attorney all rolls, memoranda, &c., concerning the said office. Letters patent and writ tested at Biggar I Oct. 4 Ed. II. 240 GENERAL APPENDIX A.n. 131 1. Cornub' Comes . . . Justic' foreste citra Trent Com- missioners of array in the said forests and also in the forest of Galtres. — Writ tested at Berwick-upon-Tweed, 18 June. 4 Ed. II. 1 31 2. Gavaston, Petrus de . . . Com' Cornub' . . . several of the King's clerks and others enjoined to repair to him, and to assist him in transacting his affairs, &c. — Writs tested at York, 26 March. 5 Ed. II. 13 1 3. Gavaston', Pieres de . . . The Earls of Lancaster, Here- ford, Warwick, and all their adherents, retainers, and confederates obtain general pardons for their participation in his death, and the acts connected therewith. Letters patent at Westminster, 16 Oct. 7 Ed. II. 1316. Cornub Com' . . . certified, pursuant to writ tested at Clipston, 5 March, as one of the (late) Lords of the Township of Great and Little Weldon in the County of Northampton. 9 Ed. II. 13 16. Cornub Comes . . . The King certified, pursuant to similar writ as Lord of the Township of Rodbume, in the County of Wilts, in consequence of his death. 9 Ed. II. The Nature of Gaveston's Relations with Edward II. Some obscure chroniclers of the sixteentli century have endeavoured to characterise the relations existing between Edward and his favourite as being like those attributed to Socrates and Alcibiades. There is, however, little authority for such a scandalous supposition. This view is supported by Hume, who alludes to the connection between Gaveston and the King as " innocent though frivolous." (Hume's Hisloiy oj England , Ed. 1789, vol. ii. p. 32S.) GENERAL APPENDIX 241 Old Ballads, Historical and Narrative. London : T. Evans, 1777. XLVII. On the Lamentable and Cruel Murther of King Edward the Second. The King's curst keepers aiming at reward, Hoping for favour of the furious Queen, On wretched Edward had they no regard. For from their hearts was mercy moved clean. Wherefore they mingled poison with his meat. Which made the man most fearful for to eat. For by the taste, he oftentimes suspected The venom couched in a dainty dish. That his fair body was full sore infected. So ill they spiced both his flesh and fish. But his strong nature all their craft beguiles. The poison breaking forth in blains and biles. An ugly scab ore-spreads his lilly skin. Foul blotches break upon his manly face ; Thus sore without, and sorrowful within. The despis'd man doth live in woful case. Like to a lazar did he then abide. That shews his sores along the high-way side. But when this prov'd not to their mind, And that they saw he liv'd in their despight. Another damn'd device then did they find By stinking favours for to choak him quite. In an odd corner did they lock him fast. Hard by the which the carrion they did cast 17 242 GENERAL APPENDIX The stench thereof might be compared nigh To that foul lake where cursbd Sodom stood, That poison birds that over it did flye, Even by the favours of that filthy mud. Then so the stink of that corrupted den Was able for to choak ten thousand men. But all in vain, it would not do (God wot), His good complexion still drove out the same, Like to the boiling of a seething pot That casts the scum into the fiery flame. Thus still he liv'd, and living thus they sought His death, whose downfall was already wrought. Loathing his life, at length his keepers came Into his chamber in the dead of night, And without noise they entered soon the same, With weapons drawn and torches burning bright. Where the poor prisoner fast asleep in bed Lay on his belly, nothing under's head. The which advantage when the murderers saw, A heavy table ore him they did throw, Wherewith awak'd, his breath he scarce could draw. With weight whereof they kept him under so. Then holding up the clothes above his hips. To hold his legs a couple quickly skips. Then came the murtherers who a home had got, Which far into his fundament they thrust ; Another with a spit red burning hot, Quite through the home then he strongly pusht Among his intrails in most cruel wise. Forcing thereby most lamentable crys. GENERAL APPENDIX 243 And while within his body they did keep The burning spit, still rouling up and down, Most mournfully the murthered man did weep. Whose doleful noise wak'd many in the town. Who guessing by his cries his death drew near, Took great compassion on this noble peer. And at each bitter shriek which he did make. They pray'd to God for to receive his soul ; His ghastly groans inforced their hearts to ake. Yet none durst go to cause the bell to toal. "Ah me," " Woe man ! " " Alack, alack !" he cry'd, And long it was before the time he dy'd. Strong was his heart, and long it was, God knows. Ere he could stoop into the stroke of death ; First was it crowded with a thousand woes Before he did resign his vital breath. And being murthered thus as you did hear. No outward hurt upon him did appear. This cruel murther being brought to pass, The lord Matrevors to the Court did hie. To show the Queen her will performed was. Great recompence he thought to get thereby. But when the Queen the sequel understands, Dissemblingly she weeps and wrings her hands. " Accursed traitor, hast thou slain " (quoth she) •' My noble wedded lord in such a sort. Shame and confusion ever light on thee ; Oh ! how I grieve to hear this vile report ! Peace, cursed villain — from my sight ! " she said, " Thou hast of me a woful widow made." 244 GENERAL APPENDIX Then all abashed Matrevors goes his way, The saddest man that ever life did bear, And to Sir Thomas Gurney did bemoan What bitter speech the Queen did give him there. Then did the Queen outlaw them both together. And banisht them fair England's bonds for ever. Thus the dissembling Queen did seek to hide The heinous act by her own means effected ; The knowledge of the deed she still deny'd. That she of murther might not be suspected. But yet for all the subtlety she wrought. The truth unto the world was after brought UNUIN UUOTIIKRS, TIIL IIKKSIIAM TRUSS, WOKINO AND LONDON INDEX Arms of Gaveston family, 20 Arundel, Earl of (Edmund Fitz- alan), historical sketch of, 114 Audele, Thomas de, 54 Audley, Hugh de, Countess of Cornwall married to, 181 B Barons : — Banishment of Gaveston twice brought about by, 66-70, 139- 143 Dislike and jealousy of Gave- ston, 49, 51, 56, 60, 64 Early conflict between Edward II. and, 65-71 ; temporary re- conciliation, 72, 85 Final struggle with Edward II. and Gaveston : — Lancaster elected leader, 150, 157 ; meeting for delibera- tion, 153 ; plan of action arranged, 154 ; advance, 157 ; division of forces into two armies, 159 ; siege and capture of Scarborough Castle, 159 ; GAVESTON, surrender to Pembroke, 159 ; capture by Warwick, 166 ; council held to determine fate of, 169 ; execution of, 175 Barons {continued) : — Meeting at Worcester to con- sider measures of defence, 182 Peace proclaimed between Ed- ward II. and, 186 Petitions for redress of griev- ances presented to Edward II., 90, 105 Power of, in reign of Edward I., 1.3 Bereford, William de, 85, 87 Brabant, Duke of, Edward II.'s letter to, on behalf of Gaveston, 141 Burgh, Richard de (Earl of Ulster), 80 Calculi, Betrand, 96 Clare, Margaret de : — General impression concerning, 102 Marriage with Gaveston, 57 ; date of, 60 ; second marriage with Hugh de Audley, 181 Claremunda de Maissiano (Lady Marcia), wife of Arnald de Gaveston, 15 Clifford, Sir Robert de, 154 Cornwall, Earldom of : — Gaveston presented with, 48 ; deprived of, through influence of Barons, 70 ; restored to, 98 245 246 INDEX Council of Magnates (1308), 67 Coventry, Bishop of, Barons' cause abandoned by, 154 D Despenser, Hugh le : — History and character of, 85 References to, 36, 182, 186 E Edward I. : — Death of, 6, 45 ; burial in West- minster Abbey, 57 " Model Parliament " of, 2 Prince of Wales, hopes and plans concerning, 22, 32 Social and political reforms of, i Edward II. : — Accession to throne, 45 Birth of son, 158 Character and personal appear- ance of, 29, 193 ConHict with Barons (see under Barons) Coronation of, 62 ; coronation oath, 64 Dress worn in reign of, 28 First acts of, as King, 46 Gaveston's influence over, 26, 52, 192 Letter to Queen Margaret, 33 Marriage with Isabella of France, 62 ; betrothal, 24 Mayor and citizens of London, address to, after Gaveston's execution; reply, 183 Mourning for Gaveston, 182 Ordinances, framing of, author- ised by, 107 ; confirmed by, 120 ; ratified by, 141 Parliament disini>se(l by, q2 ; postponed by, after Ciavcston's execution, 184 Pope, appeal to, on Gavoslon's beliiiH, 1)2, ()4 Edward II. {continued) :— Prince of Wales, early life as, 22 ; household of, 25 ; Scottish campaign of, 129 Writs issued by, concerning Gaveston, 144, 152 Foix, William de, supposed tomb of, at Winchester, 19 France : — Ambassador sent by King of, after Gaveston's execution, 185 Gaveston's banishment to, 38 Isabella of — Character of, 93 Gaveston, dislike of, 65 ; re- joicing at execution of, 182 ; Marriage with Edward II., 62 ; betrothal 24 ; prepara- tions for marriage, 42 Truce for Scots obtained by King of, 88 Gaveston, Arnald de, 14, 23 Gaveston, Piers : — Banishment of — First time, 36 ; preparations for departure, 41 ; life in exile, 43 : recall, 47 Second time, 69 : petition for, presentL'd by Council to Edward II., 63 ; return, 97 Third time, 143 ; writ issued by Edward II. concerning departure of, 144 ; return, 146 Birth and parent:ij;c of, 8, 13 Burial at Oxford, 176 ; body ri'uioycd to Langlcy, 19, 178 C.iroor of, comments on. 189 Character and personal appear- .inco of, 2i.t. 31. 73, 82, 103, 180, 188, 193 INDEX 247 Gaveston, Piers (continued) : — Cornwall, Earldom of, con- ferred on, 48 Crown-bearer in coronation pro- cession, 63 Daughter, birth of, 155 Early life in household of Prince of Wales, 23, 25 Execution of, various accounts, 175 ; alleged trial of, 171 Guardian of the Realm, ap- pointed, 61 Influence over Edward II., 26, 52. 192 Ireland, Lord-Lieutenant of, ap- pointed, 71 ; government of, 79 ; return from, 97 Lord Chamberlain, appointed, 56 Marriage with Margaret de Clare, 57 ; date of, 60 Ordinances, permanent exile and forfeiture of, directed by, 121 Royal patronage, abuse of, 53 Scottish campaign, activity in, 134 Surrender to Barons, 159 Tournament at Wallingford given by, 60 Treasure sent out of country by, 55 Various honours and riches con- ferred on, 48, 58, 147 Warli in Tyndale, manor of, granted to, 136 Warwick's capture of, 166 Gaveston, Piers, the Elder, 14 Gaveston family : — Arms of, 20 History of, 9 Surname, history of, 8 Gloucester, Countess of, 75 Gloucester, Earl of : — Gaveston, relations with, in Scottish campaign, 134 Lincoln, Earl of, succession to title, 137 Gloucester, Earl of (continued) : — Ordinances, appointed member of Commission, forframing, 1 1 1 Part allotted to, in struggle be- tween Edward II. and Barons, 154 Peacemaker between Edward II. and Barons, 150, 185 Guardian of the Realm, Gaveston appointed, 61 H Hereford, Earl of (Humphrey de Bohun) : — Historical sketch of, 113 Part allotted to, in struggle be- tween Edward II. and Barons, 154 House of Commons, growth of, in fourteenth century, 6 I Inge, William de : — Alleged Justice for jail delivery at Warwick, 172 Degradation of, by Baron, 85, 87 Ireland : — English rule in, 74 Gaveston appointed Lord-Lieu- tenant, 71 ; government of, 79 ; popularity in, 78, 80 ; de- parture, 97 Government of, in fourteenth century, 76 Isle of Man bestowed on Gave- ston, 49 K Kings Langley : — Gaveston buried at, 19, 178 ; tomb of, undiscovered, 188 Lancaster, Earl of : — History and character of, iii 248 INDEX Lancaster, K;iil of (continued) : — Leader of Barons in final struggle with Edward IL and Gaveston, 150, 157 References to, 154, 159, 187 Langley (see Kings Langley) Langton, John, historical sketch of, 109 Langton, Bishop Walter de, im- prisonment of, by Edward IL, 46 Lincoln, Earl of (Henry dc Lacy) : — Death of, 137 Historical sketch of, no References to, 66, 98 Lord Chamberlain, Gaveston ap- pointed, 56 M from Margaret, Queen, letter Prince of Wales to, 33 More, Thomas de la, testimony to Gaveston's military capacity, 135 N Norwich, Bishop of, 95, 96 O Ordinances : — Abuses revealed by, 121 Bill of Rights, resemblance to, 122 Commission appointed to frame, 107 First six Ordinances published, n6 ; substance of, 117 Forty-one Ordinances pro- claimed in St. Paul's Church- yard, 120 Ordainers, termination of de- liberations of, 138 Presentation to Edward IL, 139: ratification, 141 Ordinances (continued) : — Royal household, directions con- cerning, 123 P Parliament ; — House of Commons, growth of, in fourteenth century, 6 Meeting (1310) to call Edward II. to account, 130 " Model Parliament " of Edward L, 2 Ordinances, directions concern- ing meetings of, 123 Postponement of , by Edward II. after Gaveston's execution, 184 Session, opening of (1307), 89 ; dismissed by Edward IL, 92 Pembroke, Earl of (Aymer de Valence) : — Edward II.'s cause espoused by, after Gaveston's execution, 182 History and character of, 112 Part allotted to, in struggle of Barons with Edward IL, 154 Second army of Barons under command of, 159 Surrender of Gaveston to, 159 ; lands of, pledged to EMward II. for Gaveston's safety, 160, 163 ; hypocritical conduct of, 164, 167 Percy, Henry de : — Part allotted to, in struggle of Barons with Edward IL, 154, 156 SL'cond army of Barons under command of, 159 Pope : — Ambassadors sent by, after Ci;ivoston's execution, 18 Edward II.'s appeal to, on Gave- ston's hcluUf, 92, 94 ; absolu- tion granted by, 95 Ordinances sent by Edward II. to, IJO INDEX 249 R Richmond, Earl of (John de Bretagne), comments on, 114 Salisbury, Bishop of. Ordinances proclaimed by, in St. Paul's Churchyard, 120 Scarborough Castle : — Gaveston appointed Constable of. 157 Percy, Henry de, appointed Warden of, 156 Siege and capture of, by Barons, 159 Scotland : — Advance against, by Edward II., 46 Bruce's defeat of English on the Dee, 129 Edward II.'s campaign in, 129 ; part taken by Gaveston, 134 ; termination, 136 Truce granted to, 88, 130 Segrave, Nicolas de, comments on, 85, 87 Spigurnel, Henry, 172 Statute of Stamford, 99 Thornbury, Walter de. Great Seal of Ireland bestowed by Gave- ston on, 75 Treasure sent out of England by Gaveston, 55 W Wallingford : — Castle of, bestowed on Gaveston, 48 Tournament given by Gaveston at, 60 Warenne, Earl of : — Baron's cause espoused by, 150 Edward II.'s cause espoused by, after execution of Gaveston, 182 Part allotted to, in struggle of Barons with Edward II., 154 Reconciliation with Gaveston, 98 Second army of Barons under command of, 159 Wark in Tyndale, manor of, granted to Gaveston, 136 Warwick, Earl of (Guy Beau- champ) : — Gaveston captured by, 166 ; final message sent to Gaveston by, 174 History and character of, 113 Warwick Castle, Gaveston im- prisoned in, 167, 169 Winchelsey, Robert of (Arch- bishop of Canterbury), charac- ter and history of, 108 Winchester, Arnald de Gaveston buried at, 18 Wogan, Sir John, 75, 97