The Quest for Bannockburn documentary is now available online on Vimeo, in its entirety!
Part one is here
Part two is here (I'm briefly in it at about 21 minutes :)
It's also available on iPlayer in the UK for another six days.
Today, 7 July, is the 707th anniversary of the death of Edward I at Burgh-by-Sands and the accession of twenty-three-year-old Edward of Caernarfon as king of England and lord of Ireland, though Edward himself didn't hear the news until 11 July, being over 300 miles away in London at the time. Happy Accession Anniversary, Sire! Almost certainly, the very first act he took as king was to recall Piers Gaveston, who had been banished by Edward I some months previously, to England. To the surprise of absolutely no-one, no doubt.
16 comments:
I saw you on the telly last night:). Enjoyed your contribution sooooo much! No doubt Piers had his bag packed already to come 'home'.
Thanks, Anerje! :) And yes, I bet he did too...he would have known Edward would have him back the minute he could :)
Kathryn, thank you for this link! It was absolutely fantastic to be able to see you talking about Edward and Piers! At last! And yes, you've really nodded your head quite vigorously, as you said in one of your previous posts :-)
PS What does my fellow countryman do at Warwick Castle? Lucky guy!!! Great to see him contributing to the BBC production :-) The inscription on the Piers monument is really hideous. Makes me think in the first place why erect such a monument at all. Just to insult the long dead and buried? I don't understand.
Thanks, Kasia! At least I looked really enthusiastic, I suppose! :)
I don't know him, but judging from the accent, he's an English man of Polish origin ;) I loathe that monument too - 'minion of a hateful king', indeed.
You looked very enthusiastic and convincing. Wish we could see the boat scene. I would give everything to see you and Neil Oliver, the latter rowing the boat. Why, oh why, has it not been included? Do you remember what were you discussing then?
I did not know that Edward asked Robert to provide Piers with politicial asylum. Wow! He really went that far...
Yes, the man must have been born and raised in England, but the family name is exclusively Polish
It was certainly worth the second viewing, because there were a few points I missed the first time, when I watched it on I-Player on a laptop.
If its any consolation Kasia, I think the memorial would have been set up many years ago, possibly a few hundred. I think it might be a bit of an English "thing", celebrating executions like that. There used to be a plaque on the approach to Carlisle to say that the hill just north of the Petteril Bridge was the old execution site for the city. They have built the Swallow Hilltop hotel on it now. I often wonder if the hotel guests are ever woken up with the echoes of some last frantic prayer of a condemned Scottish riever echoing in their ears.
Coming back to the memorial for Piers, it appears to be in the middle of a mass of undergrowth, and is probably largely forgotten. I went looking for it on "Google Maps", but although I found a "Gaveston Wood" in roughly the place I expected it, north of Warwick and close to the by-pass, there was no photograph of it on Google, so I suspect it is largely forgotten. Someone from Warwick may well tell me otherwise. I wonder if that wood has been allowed to grow wild around it because the landowner is a bit ashamed of it?
It's a very Victorian kind of monument! Anerje has posts on her Piers Gaveston blog about visiting it.
I can barely remember anything I said that day, haha ;) I do remember talking about Braveheart, and in the boat I think it was just more general stuff about Edward, his characters, hobbies etc.
It was interesting to see you talking.)
Memorial of Gaveston impressed me. It is a very mysterious, atmospheric, and gloomy place.
It reminded me of the grot from Keats's poem "La Belle Dame ..."
"Hateful King" sounds unfair, and very strange, it sounds like he was that sort of rulers like Caligula or Heliogabalus.
...I must confess that i hate Battle of Bannockburn;)
Thanks, Edward! Me too - can't help being disgruntled that Edward lost ;)
Isn't it 707th anniversary?
Ouch! Yes, of course it is, silly me - somehow managed to subtract 1307 from 2014 and get 714! :) Thanks for pointing it, I'll correct it!
Hi Jerry! How very nice to hear from you! Thank you for the info. It explains a lot :-)Good point about the landowner being ashamed of such an "ugliness"... I'll bet you're right :-)
I read Anerje's post some time ago. I need to refresh my memory and take a look at it again.
The pros came to pretty much conclusions in their quest. One thing I was missing from the documentary: the personal, individual bravery of Edward at the battle. He really did fight in the thick of it and was removed from the field while protesting. http://edwardthesecond.blogspot.fi/2013/01/the-battle-of-bannockburn-and-why.html
Thank you so much for the links (I haven't been able to watch it yet, but will do so soon.)
Esther
Finally got to watch it ... very interesting. Any idea why Robert Bruce did not accept Edward's offer of recognition in exchange for shelter for Piers?
Esther
Glad you enjoyed it, Esther! According to the Vita Edwardi Secundi, Robert Bruce responded to Edward's message: "How shall the king of England keep faith with me, since he does not observe the sworn promises made to his liege men...? No trust can be put in suck a fickle man; his promises will not deceive me."
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