In a previous post, I wrote about Edward II's household, and mentioned the Household Ordinance, also known as the York Ordinance, of 6 December 1318. The text of the Ordinance is printed in full, in the original French, in T. F. Tout's Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History (2nd edn., 1936). The full text runs to 37 pages, and only small parts of it have ever been translated into English - which can be read on Kevin's blog. I've been reading the Ordinance recently - yes, reading nearly 40 pages of fourteenth-century French is the kind of thing I do for fun - and I've translated a few of the interesting bits. I've kept as close to the original word choice and word order as possible, to give a good flavour of how it reads.
Notes
- robes: members of the household were entitled to a new set of clothes, either once or twice a year depending on rank.
- messe de gros/gross: literally, 'a large portion' or 'a large dish', a serving of whatever meat was offered that day. Only extremely important people (like Edward II himself) were entitled to eat alone; everyone else had to share a messe with 2, 3 or 4 others. Anyone interested in this subject (which is far too complex to go into here) should take a look at Peter Hammond's Food and Feast in Medieval England, or C. M. Woolgar's The Great Household in Late Medieval England.
- messe of roast: only household members above the rank of valet were entitled to eat roast meat, while the rest had to make do with the boiled kind. Higher-ranking members received a messe of roast in addition to the messe de gros; in other words, they got more food than the lower ranks.
- pantry or pantlery: the office responsible for bread and 'dry' things.
- butler: officer responsible for drinks, i.e. wine and ale (not used in the modern sense).
- usher: a doorkeeper, responsible for admitting people to rooms and escorting them in.
- verge: the area subject to the jurisdiction of the steward of the royal household.
Money
12p = 1 shilling
20 shillings or 240p = £1
1 mark = two-thirds of a pound, or 160p
***
Item, the king will have 30 sergeants-at-arms, sufficiently armed and mounted, that is, a horse for each one, a hackney and a pack-horse; they will daily ride armed before the king's body when travelling around the country, if they have no other order from the king or the steward. And they will take for their wages every day, 12p per day. Of these 30 sergeants, 4, whom it will please the king to nominate, will daily be attending to the usher of the chamber, in aid of the usher; they will sleep outside the door, and as close to it as they can. And they will have for their bed 1 pitcher of wine, 2 candles, 1 torch. And the 26 sergeants will lie in the hall beside, to be nearby when the king needs them. And they will have for their bed 3 pitchers of wine, 6 candles, 1 torch. And all of the 30 sergeants will have 2 robes per year, or 46 shillings in money, 1 messe de gros from the kitchen, and 1 messe of roast.
[The names of some of Edward's sergeants-at-arms throughout his reign: Oto le Alemaund ('Otto the German'), Gaillard and Arnaud de Sancto Martino, John le Botiller, Roger atte Watre, Rodrigo de Medyne, William Beaukaire (a town in southern France), Bertrand de la Mare, Henry de Clare, Ivo de Welles, John de Enefeld, Raymond and Edmund Provost, Owen Gogh (also called Owen le Waleys, 'the Welshman'), John de Carleford, Guy Amany, Simon de Friskenade, Ralph Convers, William Fraunceys ('Frenchman'), Hugh de Cos, Giles de Miripoys, Poncius de Fossato (probably either Fossato di Vico in Perugia, or Fossato Serralta in Calabria).]
Item, 24 archers on foot, the king's bodyguard (garde corps le roi) who will go before the king when travelling about the country, of whom each one will take for wages 3p per day, 1 robe of 1 set (or suit: dune seute) or 1 mark in money, and for shoes 4 shillings and 8p.
Item, that the king will have 1 squire server and keeper of the foods for his mouth, and [who will be] food-taster at his table; and 1 squire carving before the king, and 1 squire to serve him from his cup; these 3 squires will each take for his chamber at night half a pitcher of wine, 2 candles, 1 torch, and bedding for the whole year, and wood for the season from the usher of the chamber. And he will take livery as a sergeant, that is, 1 penny worth of bread, half a pitcher of wine, half a gallon of ale, 1 messe de gros from the kitchen, 1 messe of roast; and each one will have for wages 7 and a half pence a day, 2 robes per year, or 40 shillings in money.
Item, 1 sergeant under usher (vn sergeant soutz vsshere) of the wardrobe, who will sleep inside the door of the wardrobe, to safely protect all the things which are within. And he will be held responsible, if peril occurs by his default. [Oh no, the peril!! :-)] He will take for his livery 1 penny worth of bread, half a pitcher of wine, half a gallon of ale, 1 messe de gros from the kitchen, and 1 messe of roast. And 4 and a half pence a day for wages per day, 2 robes per year or 40 shillings, and his bed will be carried on the cart of the wardrobe.
Item, a porter of the wardrobe, who will carry chests and other baggage of the wardrobe to the carts, and will load and unload them. And he will be on the cart during journeys. And he will keep watch at night when the cart is outside when travelling around the country [literally, 'out of house when itinerant through country']. And he will take from the rolls of the spicery every day for wages, 2p, and for his pains (or efforts or exertion) 2p from these same rolls of the spicery in addition to his wages, by reason of staying awake and his pains; and 1 robe of a serving-man per year, or 1 mark in money, and for shoes 4 shillings and 8p, at 2 seasons of the year, as due to a serving-man, at Christmas (Nowelle) and Pentecost, in equal amounts.
Item, there will be 2 trumpeters and 2 minstrels, at times more, at times less, who will make their minstrelsy before the king at all the times that it will please him. And they will eat in chamber or in the hall, as they are commanded. And they will take for their wages and their robes according to their estate, at the discretion of the steward and the treasurer.
Item, 1 sergeant porter, who will guard the door of there where the king sleeps, so that no-one will enter except those who have the right to do so; he will not allow anyone to take away from the household bread, wine, ale, food, bedding or wood, nor any other things, except those who are allowed to do so. And if anyone does it, he will have them arrested [or detained]. Item, 2 valets of office under him, who will aid him day and night, in doing all things pertaining to the office.
[Note: usually the word 'porter' meant someone who kept a gate, not a door - that was an usher]
Item, it is ordained and expressly commanded that the chief butler of our lord the king will make purveyance and purchases of wine from now on well and fittingly, for the sustenance of his [Edward's] household, that he and the good men who are close to him can be served honourably by this office, and that his household will be fittingly served by this same office, to maintain the honour of the lord king; so that no-one of the household will have reason to slander the said household to the dishonour of the lord king by the default of the said butler.
Item, 1 sergeant butler before the king, who will receive all the wine, and the ale, which he will dispense in the king's chamber, from the sergeant butler of the household; and he will be responsible daily for the records to the clerk of the buttery. And he will have in his keeping all the silver hanaps for service of the said chamber, and he will be answerable for them to the wardrobe.
Item, 1 serving-man of the 'cuphouse' [this word is in English in the original: cuphous] who will serve the chamber according to the orders of his master sergeant aforementioned; and he will take 1 robe per year, or 1 mark in money; and for shoes 4 shillings and 8p. And he will take 1 penny worth of bread, 1 gallon of ale, 1 messe de gros from the kitchen, and a bed for him and the valet of the pantry before the king, carried on the cart of the pantry.
Item, 2 serving-men of the bakehouse (pistrine), of whom one will be attending to the oven, and the other to the mill, for milling the wheat. And each of them will take for his wages 2p per day from the pantry roll; 1 robe per year, or 1 mark in money; and for shoes 4 shillings and 8p, and 1 bed for them both carried on the cart of the bakehouse.
Item, 2 valets of the 'pitcher house' [also in English: picherous], who will serve the hall with wine and ale according to the advice of their superiors. And they will have the tankards, hanapers and all manner of vessels which they have in their keeping, under the the butler of the household.
Item, 2 purchasers, who will make the purchases of meat and fish for household provisions. And they will daily bring the price and the goods to the clerk of the kitchen, so that the knight usher of the hall and the assessor of the king's table, and the said clerk, can see immediately whether the said goods are sufficient to dispense, and of good value in accordance with the price, for the king. And they will make their purchases in proper manner, to the great profit of the king and at minimal grievance to the people, and will make payment or tallies [i.e., notched tally-sticks for recording debts] to every man from whom they have purchased goods, to the king's advantage.
Item, 5 serving-men of the king's kitchen, under the 2 sergeant cooks aforementioned, of whom 1 will be usher and will fetch, by the orders of his masters, from the great larder, everything, the meat and fish which will be dispensed in the king's chamber, bread, wine and ale from the pantry and butlery, and spices from the spicery by the commands and ordinances of his masters. And another valet will be ewerer, who will receive the vessels of the said kitchen by (indenture?) with the official in charge of the scullery, and will guard them both when travelling and resting [i.e., when the household stayed in 1 place]. And he will cook 'the great meat' (la grosse chare) and prepare the first course, fish as well as meat. And another valet will be potager, who will make the potages for the king's chamber, and all the suets which will be for his table. And 2 other valets will make the roasts and the other courses for the said chamber according to the orders of their masters. The which 5 valets will have a boy to carry their bed and to help in the kitchen.
Item, it is ordained that the king will be served with 4 good courses and no more for himself and the other lords eating in the hall, and madame [Isabella] also; and that others of his household all good men shall be served with 3 courses, and the boys with 2.
Item, it is ordained by our lord the king and his council, for the easement of his people, that the retinue (or followers, mesne) of his household who cannot be lodged within the household in the town with the king, will be lodged by the 'lodgers' (herberiours) within the verge, according to his estate, that is, knight with 4 horses, clerk, sergeant, squire, each one according to the wages he takes from the king, that is, at 4 and a half pence and 1 horse, at 7 and a half pence with 2 horses, at 12p with 3 horses, and at 15p with 3 horses, at rest or at work, so that the country around the king will not be made more expensive by excessive numbers of people [i.e., the huge numbers of the household demanding food and goods pushed up prices in the area where they stayed]. And that the officers of the household will be lodged closest to the court so that they can be ready to undertake the business of their office; and all the others in the said retinue as close as the country can well endure...And because our lord the king must be served wherever he will go, as is fitting for his lordship*, it is ordained and commanded that no-one will be so insolent as to impede his officers making his purveyance and his purchases.
[* Meaning 'the state of being a lord', not referring to Edward as 'His Lordship'.]
***
And finally (for now - more on the Ordinance to come soon) the question of punishment! There were various things for which household members could be punished, for example:
- taking bread, wine or food out of the household without permission.
- valets having pages to serve them, except the valets in the kitchen, who were permitted 2.
- a household officer allowing someone to enter his office (for example, saucery, chandlery, napery, scullery, ewery) when they had no right to be there.
- someone of the rank of serving-man (vallet de mestier) or below riding a horse.
- ushers and marshals of the hall permitting someone to eat there who was not allowed to.
- members of the household eating outside the hall, unless they were ill or had the permission of the steward or treasurer.
And the punishment was:
The offender "will be the first time warned in courteous manner by the steward and treasurer, that he amends himself; and if another time is found in the same error, and takes wages, will lose the wages for a month; and the third time will lose his wages; and will be immediately warned [again] in courteous manner; and the second time will lose his shoe allowance, and the third time will lose his robe allowance, and the fourth time will lose [i.e., leave] the king's household, without return."
16 August, 2008
13 August, 2008
The Birth of John of Eltham
This weeks marks the the 692nd anniversary of the birth of John of Eltham, Edward II's younger son, on 15 August 1316.
John was conceived at Clipstone in Nottinghamshire, sometime in November 1315 (presumably - or early December, if he was premature). Edward II and Queen Isabella were together at the royal hunting lodge there from 30 October to 11 December 1315, and from 22 December to 25 January 1316, when they left to attend parliament at Lincoln.
The first indication that Edward knew Isabella was expecting a child comes on 22 February 1316, when he asked the dean and chapter of the church of St Mary in Lincoln to "celebrate divine service daily for the good estate of the king and queen Isabella and Edward of Windsor their first-born son." (1) The reference to Edward of Windsor (King Edward III) as 'first-born son' of course indicates that Edward knew there would be a second-born child; previous references to young Edward call him "the king's son." (2) Sometime in 1316 - the Wardrobe entry is undated - Edward paid Vannus Ballardi, of the Lucca banking firm the Ballardi, nearly four pounds for pieces of silk and gold tissue, and flame-coloured silk, to make cushions for Isabella's carriage so that she could travel in greater comfort - probably during her pregnancy. (3)
Edward and Isabella left Lincoln on 24 February 1316 and spent most of the next few months at Clipstone, Kings Langley and Westminster. On 23 or 24 July, they arrived at Eltham Palace in Kent, and Edward stayed there with his eight-months-pregnant wife for three days before departing for the north of England, leaving Isabella behind. His reason for going north was to take part in yet another campaign against the Scots, which in fact was postponed from August till October, then till the following year, and ended up never taking place at all as Pope John XXII arranged a peace treaty between the two sides on 1 January 1317. (4) Edward arrived in York on 16 August 1316, and stayed at the convent of the Franciscans near the river Ouse. He was accompanied by his niece Margaret, Piers Gaveston's widow, and paid her chamber valet Walter Dymmok eight shillings and ten pence for "certain work done in the chamber of the said countess [of Cornwall]." (5) On his way from Kent to York, Edward touched and blessed 135 sick people. (6)
Meanwhile, Queen Isabella gave birth on 15 August to their second son John, called 'of Eltham' after his birthplace. (Edward was at Tadcaster, ten miles from York, that day.) Isabella sent her steward Eubolo de Montibus the 230 miles to York to inform Edward, and the delighted king rewarded him with a gift of £100. (7) The St Albans chronicler writes of Edward's joy at the birth of his son. (8) If nothing else, John's existence secured the succession to the throne in case anything happened to Edward of Windsor, in an age when the rate of child mortality was horrific. I would imagine that John was named in honour of the new pope, John XXII, who was elected by the cardinals at Avignon on 5 August. News of his election reached England about the time of little John's birth - Edward II gave a pound to Lawrence de Hibernia, the messenger who brought him the news, on 17 August 1316. (9)
Eubolo de Montibus had reached Edward with the news of his son's birth by 24 August, on which date Edward asked the Dominicans of York to pray for himself, "Queen Isabella our very dear consort, Edward of Windsor our eldest son, and John of Eltham our youngest son, especially on account of John." (10) Edward was thirty-two at the time of his son's birth, Isabella twenty or twenty-one.
Edward had a piece of Turkey cloth and a piece of cloth-of-gold delivered to Eltham, to cover the font in the chapel during John’s baptism, and ordered Isabella’s tailor Stephen de Falaise to make her a robe from five pieces of white velvet for her churching ceremony. (11) On 31 July, Isabella had sent her messenger Godyn Hautayn with letters to the bishop of Norwich and her uncle the earl of Lancaster, asking them to stand sponsor (godfathers) to her soon-to-be-born child. (12) However, there is no record of the earl of Lancaster attending the ceremony - a gross insult.
Lancaster's failure to attend can probably be explained by the increasing conflict between himself and his cousin the king. The two men met at York sometime in the second half of August and had a furious row, probably on account of Edward's on-going reluctance to accept the Ordinances of 1311, to which Lancaster was dedicated. The Flores Historiarum claims that Edward armed himself against his cousin, and that his fear of Lancaster was the reason for his postponement of the campaign in Scotland. (13) Whether that is true or not, Edward was concerned enough about Lancaster’s hostility to summon Queen Isabella to him with all speed, fearing for her safety. On 27 September, he paid Isabella’s messenger William Galayn a pound for informing him of Isabella’s imminent arrival in York. (14) Isabella travelled very fast: she was at Buntingford in Hertfordshire on 22 September, 175 miles from York, and was presumably reunited with Edward there shortly after the 27th. (15)
The king and queen spent most of October and November in and near York, spending two and a half weeks (22 October to 8 November) at Newburgh, an Augustinian priory a few miles north of the city, now a stately home. They spent a few days at Scrooby, east of Sheffield, were at Clipstone for most of December, and spent Christmas at Nottingham. (16) Meanwhile, little John of Eltham was looked after by his nurse Matilda Pyrie, in the household of his elder brother Edward of Windsor, at Wallingford Castle near Oxford. (17) It's significant that Edward sent his sons to live at a castle that had formerly belonged to Piers Gaveston. Presumably Edward and Isabella visited their sons there occasionally: Edward was at Wallingford on 29 January 1317, from 22 to 26 April 1318, and on 1 May 1318. It's very likely that the boys also visited court occasionally, though given the paucity of records mentioning children - even the king's children - we can't be totally sure. It's also hard to say for sure when Edward first saw his son John.
(1) Calendar of Patent Rolls 1313-1317, p. 398.
(2) For example: Patent Rolls 1313-1317, pp. 373, 387; Calendar of Close Rolls 1313-1318, pp. 3, 11, 30, 45.
(3) Thomas Stapleton, 'A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the tenth, eleventh and fourteenth years of Edward II', Archaeologia 1836, pp. 342-343.
(4) Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae et Cujuscunque Acta Publica, ed. Thomas Rymer, volume II, i, p. 308.
(5) Stapleton, p. 320.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Chronica Monasterii S. Albani Johannis de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde, Monachorum S. Albani, ed. Henry Thomas Riley, p. 95.
(9) Stapleton, p. 321.
(10) Close Rolls 1313-1318, p. 430; Foedera, p. 296.
(11) Stapleton, p. 336.
(12) Ibid.
(13) Flores Historiarum, ed. H. R. Luard, volume iii, pp. 176-177.
(14) Stapleton, p. 320.
(15) Patent Rolls 1313-1317, p. 621.
(16) Details of Edward's whereabouts are taken mostly from The Itinerary of Edward II and his Household 1307-1328, by Elizabeth Hallam; also from Foedera and the Close and Patent Rolls.
(17) http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14842
John was conceived at Clipstone in Nottinghamshire, sometime in November 1315 (presumably - or early December, if he was premature). Edward II and Queen Isabella were together at the royal hunting lodge there from 30 October to 11 December 1315, and from 22 December to 25 January 1316, when they left to attend parliament at Lincoln.
The first indication that Edward knew Isabella was expecting a child comes on 22 February 1316, when he asked the dean and chapter of the church of St Mary in Lincoln to "celebrate divine service daily for the good estate of the king and queen Isabella and Edward of Windsor their first-born son." (1) The reference to Edward of Windsor (King Edward III) as 'first-born son' of course indicates that Edward knew there would be a second-born child; previous references to young Edward call him "the king's son." (2) Sometime in 1316 - the Wardrobe entry is undated - Edward paid Vannus Ballardi, of the Lucca banking firm the Ballardi, nearly four pounds for pieces of silk and gold tissue, and flame-coloured silk, to make cushions for Isabella's carriage so that she could travel in greater comfort - probably during her pregnancy. (3)
Edward and Isabella left Lincoln on 24 February 1316 and spent most of the next few months at Clipstone, Kings Langley and Westminster. On 23 or 24 July, they arrived at Eltham Palace in Kent, and Edward stayed there with his eight-months-pregnant wife for three days before departing for the north of England, leaving Isabella behind. His reason for going north was to take part in yet another campaign against the Scots, which in fact was postponed from August till October, then till the following year, and ended up never taking place at all as Pope John XXII arranged a peace treaty between the two sides on 1 January 1317. (4) Edward arrived in York on 16 August 1316, and stayed at the convent of the Franciscans near the river Ouse. He was accompanied by his niece Margaret, Piers Gaveston's widow, and paid her chamber valet Walter Dymmok eight shillings and ten pence for "certain work done in the chamber of the said countess [of Cornwall]." (5) On his way from Kent to York, Edward touched and blessed 135 sick people. (6)
Meanwhile, Queen Isabella gave birth on 15 August to their second son John, called 'of Eltham' after his birthplace. (Edward was at Tadcaster, ten miles from York, that day.) Isabella sent her steward Eubolo de Montibus the 230 miles to York to inform Edward, and the delighted king rewarded him with a gift of £100. (7) The St Albans chronicler writes of Edward's joy at the birth of his son. (8) If nothing else, John's existence secured the succession to the throne in case anything happened to Edward of Windsor, in an age when the rate of child mortality was horrific. I would imagine that John was named in honour of the new pope, John XXII, who was elected by the cardinals at Avignon on 5 August. News of his election reached England about the time of little John's birth - Edward II gave a pound to Lawrence de Hibernia, the messenger who brought him the news, on 17 August 1316. (9)
Eubolo de Montibus had reached Edward with the news of his son's birth by 24 August, on which date Edward asked the Dominicans of York to pray for himself, "Queen Isabella our very dear consort, Edward of Windsor our eldest son, and John of Eltham our youngest son, especially on account of John." (10) Edward was thirty-two at the time of his son's birth, Isabella twenty or twenty-one.
Edward had a piece of Turkey cloth and a piece of cloth-of-gold delivered to Eltham, to cover the font in the chapel during John’s baptism, and ordered Isabella’s tailor Stephen de Falaise to make her a robe from five pieces of white velvet for her churching ceremony. (11) On 31 July, Isabella had sent her messenger Godyn Hautayn with letters to the bishop of Norwich and her uncle the earl of Lancaster, asking them to stand sponsor (godfathers) to her soon-to-be-born child. (12) However, there is no record of the earl of Lancaster attending the ceremony - a gross insult.
Lancaster's failure to attend can probably be explained by the increasing conflict between himself and his cousin the king. The two men met at York sometime in the second half of August and had a furious row, probably on account of Edward's on-going reluctance to accept the Ordinances of 1311, to which Lancaster was dedicated. The Flores Historiarum claims that Edward armed himself against his cousin, and that his fear of Lancaster was the reason for his postponement of the campaign in Scotland. (13) Whether that is true or not, Edward was concerned enough about Lancaster’s hostility to summon Queen Isabella to him with all speed, fearing for her safety. On 27 September, he paid Isabella’s messenger William Galayn a pound for informing him of Isabella’s imminent arrival in York. (14) Isabella travelled very fast: she was at Buntingford in Hertfordshire on 22 September, 175 miles from York, and was presumably reunited with Edward there shortly after the 27th. (15)
The king and queen spent most of October and November in and near York, spending two and a half weeks (22 October to 8 November) at Newburgh, an Augustinian priory a few miles north of the city, now a stately home. They spent a few days at Scrooby, east of Sheffield, were at Clipstone for most of December, and spent Christmas at Nottingham. (16) Meanwhile, little John of Eltham was looked after by his nurse Matilda Pyrie, in the household of his elder brother Edward of Windsor, at Wallingford Castle near Oxford. (17) It's significant that Edward sent his sons to live at a castle that had formerly belonged to Piers Gaveston. Presumably Edward and Isabella visited their sons there occasionally: Edward was at Wallingford on 29 January 1317, from 22 to 26 April 1318, and on 1 May 1318. It's very likely that the boys also visited court occasionally, though given the paucity of records mentioning children - even the king's children - we can't be totally sure. It's also hard to say for sure when Edward first saw his son John.
(1) Calendar of Patent Rolls 1313-1317, p. 398.
(2) For example: Patent Rolls 1313-1317, pp. 373, 387; Calendar of Close Rolls 1313-1318, pp. 3, 11, 30, 45.
(3) Thomas Stapleton, 'A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the tenth, eleventh and fourteenth years of Edward II', Archaeologia 1836, pp. 342-343.
(4) Foedera, Conventiones, Litterae et Cujuscunque Acta Publica, ed. Thomas Rymer, volume II, i, p. 308.
(5) Stapleton, p. 320.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Ibid.
(8) Chronica Monasterii S. Albani Johannis de Trokelowe et Henrici de Blaneforde, Monachorum S. Albani, ed. Henry Thomas Riley, p. 95.
(9) Stapleton, p. 321.
(10) Close Rolls 1313-1318, p. 430; Foedera, p. 296.
(11) Stapleton, p. 336.
(12) Ibid.
(13) Flores Historiarum, ed. H. R. Luard, volume iii, pp. 176-177.
(14) Stapleton, p. 320.
(15) Patent Rolls 1313-1317, p. 621.
(16) Details of Edward's whereabouts are taken mostly from The Itinerary of Edward II and his Household 1307-1328, by Elizabeth Hallam; also from Foedera and the Close and Patent Rolls.
(17) http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14842
10 August, 2008
Books
I've been tagged by Lady D for a post on A Writerly Life, but I've changed it slightly, to keep it on-topic (as everything I write on this blog has to be related to Edward II!)
Fiction about Edward II I like:
Brenda Honeyman's The King's Minions and The Queen and Mortimer: absolutely my two favourite Edward II novels. Beautifully written, touching and sympathetic to both Edward II and Isabella - something you rarely see - with great characterisations and lovely touches of humour.
Susan Higginbotham's The Traitor's Wife: a big, beautiful novel covering the period 1306 to 1337, seen through the eyes of Eleanor de Clare. Historically accurate, and a great perspective on Edward II by one of the people who knew him best.
Chris Hunt's Gaveston: Hunt has a great talent for description, and the love affair between Edward II and Piers Gaveston is vivid and fantastically well written. Moving, one of the most historically accurate novels I've ever read, and with lots of hot sex scenes. :-)
Juliet Dymoke's The Lion of Mortimer. Although the title is very misleading - the main characters are three generations of the Montacute family, not the Mortimers - a very nice, if short, dramatisation of Edward's reign, also with some lovely characterisations.
Paul Doherty's Cup of Ghosts, a murder mystery set in 1307 and 1308. A great, and very unusual, portrayal of Edward and Isabella's relationship - I don't want to describe it here, in case I ruin the plot for people who haven't read the novel - and a lovely Piers Gaveston too.
The She-Wolf by Pamela Bennetts: unusually, this one begins in 1325, and while this choice necessitates a lot of flashbacks and exposition to get the reader up to speed with the situation, it's a powerfully-written novel of hatred, jealousy, revenge, lust and madness.
Edward II Fiction I don't like (much):
Edith Felber's Queen of Shadows: Isabella, the proto-feminist, constantly moans about women being subject to men, and tells everyone "I am queen!" and refers to her husband as "Edward, the king" approximately every five pages, which gives the unfortunate impression that the other characters are suffering from amnesia and can't remember who Edward and Isabella are for more than about ten minutes. Also very inaccurate in places, though I do really like the depiction of Edward (except for the completely untrue statements that he committed atrocities in Wales and murdered Jewish people).
Notorious and Infamous by Virginia Henley, two romances set in Edward II's era. The most risible 'As you know, Bob' dialogue I've ever read, and deeply offensive portrayals of gay men. Bleugh. Just thinking about it makes me feel ill.
Harlot Queen by Hilda Lewis. I have mixed feelings about this one. It most unfairly accuses Edward II of cowardice at Bannockburn - that'd be the man who "fought like a lion" (Trokelowe) and who "struck out so vigorously behind him with his mace there was none whom he touched that he did not fell to the ground" (Scalacronica), then? Some weird characterisations too, for example the younger Despenser, who is all swishy and camp with girlish hips, yet also a brutal wife-beater. Still, the ending is terrific. Unlike most Edward II novels, he survives after 1327, and the last scene has Edward and Isabella finally achieving, umm, closure (to use a horrible modern word) on their relationship many years after his deposition - which is deeply moving.
Alice Walworth Graham's The Vows of the Peacock: narrated by the earl of Warwick's daughter Elisabeth (with an 's' for some reason) Beauchamp, one of Isabella's attendants, who manages to be the same age as the queen (i.e., born about 1295) even though her parents, historically, didn't marry until 1309. The novel gets bogged down in waaaaay too much description, and the odd choice of narrator means that we only read about most of the exciting events of the era second-hand.
Maurice Druon's The She-Wolf of France. Almost all the characters - at least the English ones -are ugly and contemptible, and also really boring. Poor Edward is shrieky, tantrumy and apparently deformed physically, while poor Isabella has 'little carnivore's teeth' (???). Too much telling and not nearly enough showing, relationships very weirdly portrayed by a man who seems to have no understanding of how human emotions work, and the dialogue is laughably bad. Yes, it's translated from the French, but I can't imagine that Edward's dying words "Oh you brutes, you brutes, you shan't kill me!" sound any better in the original. Crap dialogue is crap dialogue, whatever the language. I dislike this novel so much it's the only Edward II book I've ever given away.
Edward II non-fiction I like:
Caroline Bingham's The Life and Times of Edward II. Published in 1973 and a little dated now, and not always totally accurate, but a great overview of Edward's reign and sympathetic to him, while not glossing over his many faults and mistakes. It's also lavishly illustrated. A great book for the non-expert to learn about Edward II.
Harold F. Hutchison's Edward II: The Pliant King. For a book published in 1971, surprisingly advanced in its discussion of Edward's (presumed) sexuality. You get the feeling that Hutchison really likes Edward and is very sympathetic towards him, although he doesn't whitewash him.
J. R. S. Phillips' Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke 1307-1324: Baronial Politics in the Reign of Edward II. Very academic - it's based on the author's doctoral thesis - but extremely readable, with lots of great information. I come back to this one again and again. Ditto J. R. Maddicott's Thomas of Lancaster 1307-1322: A Study in the Reign of Edward II.
Michael Prestwich's Plantagenet England 1225-1360. A big, gorgeous book, extremely readable, covering political, social and economic history. The kind of book you can read cover to cover - all 600 pages of it - or dip in and out of.
Non-fiction I'm not so mad about:
Paul Doherty's Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II, a gripping account of Edward and Isabella's marriage and Edward's survival, but with numerous sloppy errors and an unconvincing depiction of Isabella as an evil bitch-queen who wanted Edward dead and never gave him a second thought after his deposition (which is demonstrably not true).
Natalie Fryde's Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321-1326. Very useful in many ways, but the author never passes up a chance to sneer at Edward - why anyone would write an entire book about someone they obviously don't like baffles me - and full of silly errors. Much of it is so dry and scholarly that even I, more obsessed with every aspect of Edward's reign than most people on the planet and with two degrees in medieval history to boot, can't read it without my eyes glazing over.
Fiction about Edward II I like:
Brenda Honeyman's The King's Minions and The Queen and Mortimer: absolutely my two favourite Edward II novels. Beautifully written, touching and sympathetic to both Edward II and Isabella - something you rarely see - with great characterisations and lovely touches of humour.
Susan Higginbotham's The Traitor's Wife: a big, beautiful novel covering the period 1306 to 1337, seen through the eyes of Eleanor de Clare. Historically accurate, and a great perspective on Edward II by one of the people who knew him best.
Chris Hunt's Gaveston: Hunt has a great talent for description, and the love affair between Edward II and Piers Gaveston is vivid and fantastically well written. Moving, one of the most historically accurate novels I've ever read, and with lots of hot sex scenes. :-)
Juliet Dymoke's The Lion of Mortimer. Although the title is very misleading - the main characters are three generations of the Montacute family, not the Mortimers - a very nice, if short, dramatisation of Edward's reign, also with some lovely characterisations.
Paul Doherty's Cup of Ghosts, a murder mystery set in 1307 and 1308. A great, and very unusual, portrayal of Edward and Isabella's relationship - I don't want to describe it here, in case I ruin the plot for people who haven't read the novel - and a lovely Piers Gaveston too.
The She-Wolf by Pamela Bennetts: unusually, this one begins in 1325, and while this choice necessitates a lot of flashbacks and exposition to get the reader up to speed with the situation, it's a powerfully-written novel of hatred, jealousy, revenge, lust and madness.
Edward II Fiction I don't like (much):
Edith Felber's Queen of Shadows: Isabella, the proto-feminist, constantly moans about women being subject to men, and tells everyone "I am queen!" and refers to her husband as "Edward, the king" approximately every five pages, which gives the unfortunate impression that the other characters are suffering from amnesia and can't remember who Edward and Isabella are for more than about ten minutes. Also very inaccurate in places, though I do really like the depiction of Edward (except for the completely untrue statements that he committed atrocities in Wales and murdered Jewish people).
Notorious and Infamous by Virginia Henley, two romances set in Edward II's era. The most risible 'As you know, Bob' dialogue I've ever read, and deeply offensive portrayals of gay men. Bleugh. Just thinking about it makes me feel ill.
Harlot Queen by Hilda Lewis. I have mixed feelings about this one. It most unfairly accuses Edward II of cowardice at Bannockburn - that'd be the man who "fought like a lion" (Trokelowe) and who "struck out so vigorously behind him with his mace there was none whom he touched that he did not fell to the ground" (Scalacronica), then? Some weird characterisations too, for example the younger Despenser, who is all swishy and camp with girlish hips, yet also a brutal wife-beater. Still, the ending is terrific. Unlike most Edward II novels, he survives after 1327, and the last scene has Edward and Isabella finally achieving, umm, closure (to use a horrible modern word) on their relationship many years after his deposition - which is deeply moving.
Alice Walworth Graham's The Vows of the Peacock: narrated by the earl of Warwick's daughter Elisabeth (with an 's' for some reason) Beauchamp, one of Isabella's attendants, who manages to be the same age as the queen (i.e., born about 1295) even though her parents, historically, didn't marry until 1309. The novel gets bogged down in waaaaay too much description, and the odd choice of narrator means that we only read about most of the exciting events of the era second-hand.
Maurice Druon's The She-Wolf of France. Almost all the characters - at least the English ones -are ugly and contemptible, and also really boring. Poor Edward is shrieky, tantrumy and apparently deformed physically, while poor Isabella has 'little carnivore's teeth' (???). Too much telling and not nearly enough showing, relationships very weirdly portrayed by a man who seems to have no understanding of how human emotions work, and the dialogue is laughably bad. Yes, it's translated from the French, but I can't imagine that Edward's dying words "Oh you brutes, you brutes, you shan't kill me!" sound any better in the original. Crap dialogue is crap dialogue, whatever the language. I dislike this novel so much it's the only Edward II book I've ever given away.
Edward II non-fiction I like:
Caroline Bingham's The Life and Times of Edward II. Published in 1973 and a little dated now, and not always totally accurate, but a great overview of Edward's reign and sympathetic to him, while not glossing over his many faults and mistakes. It's also lavishly illustrated. A great book for the non-expert to learn about Edward II.
Harold F. Hutchison's Edward II: The Pliant King. For a book published in 1971, surprisingly advanced in its discussion of Edward's (presumed) sexuality. You get the feeling that Hutchison really likes Edward and is very sympathetic towards him, although he doesn't whitewash him.
J. R. S. Phillips' Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke 1307-1324: Baronial Politics in the Reign of Edward II. Very academic - it's based on the author's doctoral thesis - but extremely readable, with lots of great information. I come back to this one again and again. Ditto J. R. Maddicott's Thomas of Lancaster 1307-1322: A Study in the Reign of Edward II.
Michael Prestwich's Plantagenet England 1225-1360. A big, gorgeous book, extremely readable, covering political, social and economic history. The kind of book you can read cover to cover - all 600 pages of it - or dip in and out of.
Non-fiction I'm not so mad about:
Paul Doherty's Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II, a gripping account of Edward and Isabella's marriage and Edward's survival, but with numerous sloppy errors and an unconvincing depiction of Isabella as an evil bitch-queen who wanted Edward dead and never gave him a second thought after his deposition (which is demonstrably not true).
Natalie Fryde's Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321-1326. Very useful in many ways, but the author never passes up a chance to sneer at Edward - why anyone would write an entire book about someone they obviously don't like baffles me - and full of silly errors. Much of it is so dry and scholarly that even I, more obsessed with every aspect of Edward's reign than most people on the planet and with two degrees in medieval history to boot, can't read it without my eyes glazing over.
06 August, 2008
The King's Generosity
The fourteenth-century chronicler Ranulph Higden called Edward II "prodigal in giving," and here are a few random examples of his generosity. Bear in mind that most people in England at the time earned between about 1 and 3p a day, 12p made 1 shilling, and 20 shillings made 1 pound (so there were 240p in a pound).
- £500 to Theophania de Saint Pierre, Queen Isabella's former nurse, in 1316 (a staggering amount!)
- £50 to Peter the Surgeon for curing a boy bitten by one of Edward's great horses
- 2 and a half pounds to Edward's painter Jack of St Albans for dancing on the table, which "made him laugh very greatly" (lui fist tres grantement rire)
- A year's salary to his servant Morris for amusingly falling off his horse, twice (though as Ian Mortimer points out in The Time-Traveller's Guide To Medieval England, Morris was ill, not trying to be funny, which makes Edward's laughing at him pretty cruel!)
- £50 to Piers Gaveston's messenger for bringing him "good news" of Piers in March 1312
- £1 to a woman "he drank with" on the way to Newcastle in 1310
- gifts worth a staggering £1600, plus more gifts worth £300 paid for by Edward but sent in Isabella's name, to Pope John XXII after his election in 1316. They included a cope "embroidered and studded with large white pearls," thirteen golden salt-cellars, numerous golden dishes and bowls, a golden basin and a golden chalice. The gifts sent on Isabella's behalf included a "gold buckle set with diverse pearls and other precious stones."
- 2 and a half pounds each to Edward's squires John Haclut and Thomas de la Haye (later of the Dunheved gang) for going to Newport on his behalf in 1321
- 2 rings, worth 30 shillings each, to his squire Oliver de Bordeaux and Oliver's wife when they married in 1317
- A pound (20 shillings) to John Spayn, page of Edward's chamber, when he married Amice Maure in 1319 (Amice was a bribour of Edward's household, mentioned in the same list as his washerwomen - I'm not sure what the word means)
- 30 shillings to William Wytherwood, purveyor of the royal household, for bringing him delicious crabs and prawns (Edward said "he had not had anything so much to his taste for a long time").
- £100 to his niece Eleanor de Clare (Despenser) when she was ill after childbirth in 1323
- A pound to 10 fishermen (i.e., 2 shillings or 24p each) of Thorne near Doncaster in November 1322, who caught "big pikes, big eels and a great number of other fish," and "who fished in the king's presence" (qe pescherent en la presence le Roi)
- £2 to William Lalblaster, messenger of the count of Poitiers (Queen Isabella's brother, soon to become King Philip V) for bringing Edward bunches of new grapes in October 1316
- 2 and a half pounds to Philip V's messenger William de Opere in September 1317, for bringing Edward a box of rose-coloured sugar
- £5 to Robert Daverouns, violist of the prince of Tarentum, for "performing his minstrelsy in the king's presence" in November 1316. (Tarentum is modern-day Taranto in Puglia, southern Italy; its prince in 1316 was Philip I, who was Edward's second cousin)
- 1 mark (13 shillings and 4p) to Tanin, messenger of Antonio di Pessagno (an Italian banker) for bringing Edward 2 camels, in November 1317
- 10 shillings to Dulcia Withstaff, mother of Edward's fool Rob Withstaff, when she visited the king sometime in 1317.
Sources:
- Calendar of Close Rolls/Foedera (Theophania)
- Ian Mortimer, The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England (Morris)
- Michael Prestwich, 'The Court of Edward II' in The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives, ed. Gwilym Dodd and Anthony Musson (Jack of St Albans, John Spayn, Peter the Surgeon, prawns)
- James Conway Davies, 'The First Journal of Edward II's Chamber', English Historical Review, 1915 (fishermen)
- Thomas Stapleton, 'A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the 10th, 11th, and 14th years of Edward II', Archaeologia, 1836 (rose sugar, camels, grapes, Tarentum, gifts to pope, Newport, Dulcia)
- J. S. Hamilton, Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall 1307-1312 (Piers' messenger)
- Michael Prestwich, The Three Edwards (woman in Newcastle)
- James Conway Davies, The Baronial Opposition to Edward II (Eleanor Despenser)
- T. F. Tout, The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History (Amice Maure)
- £500 to Theophania de Saint Pierre, Queen Isabella's former nurse, in 1316 (a staggering amount!)
- £50 to Peter the Surgeon for curing a boy bitten by one of Edward's great horses
- 2 and a half pounds to Edward's painter Jack of St Albans for dancing on the table, which "made him laugh very greatly" (lui fist tres grantement rire)
- A year's salary to his servant Morris for amusingly falling off his horse, twice (though as Ian Mortimer points out in The Time-Traveller's Guide To Medieval England, Morris was ill, not trying to be funny, which makes Edward's laughing at him pretty cruel!)
- £50 to Piers Gaveston's messenger for bringing him "good news" of Piers in March 1312
- £1 to a woman "he drank with" on the way to Newcastle in 1310
- gifts worth a staggering £1600, plus more gifts worth £300 paid for by Edward but sent in Isabella's name, to Pope John XXII after his election in 1316. They included a cope "embroidered and studded with large white pearls," thirteen golden salt-cellars, numerous golden dishes and bowls, a golden basin and a golden chalice. The gifts sent on Isabella's behalf included a "gold buckle set with diverse pearls and other precious stones."
- 2 and a half pounds each to Edward's squires John Haclut and Thomas de la Haye (later of the Dunheved gang) for going to Newport on his behalf in 1321
- 2 rings, worth 30 shillings each, to his squire Oliver de Bordeaux and Oliver's wife when they married in 1317
- A pound (20 shillings) to John Spayn, page of Edward's chamber, when he married Amice Maure in 1319 (Amice was a bribour of Edward's household, mentioned in the same list as his washerwomen - I'm not sure what the word means)
- 30 shillings to William Wytherwood, purveyor of the royal household, for bringing him delicious crabs and prawns (Edward said "he had not had anything so much to his taste for a long time").
- £100 to his niece Eleanor de Clare (Despenser) when she was ill after childbirth in 1323
- A pound to 10 fishermen (i.e., 2 shillings or 24p each) of Thorne near Doncaster in November 1322, who caught "big pikes, big eels and a great number of other fish," and "who fished in the king's presence" (qe pescherent en la presence le Roi)
- £2 to William Lalblaster, messenger of the count of Poitiers (Queen Isabella's brother, soon to become King Philip V) for bringing Edward bunches of new grapes in October 1316
- 2 and a half pounds to Philip V's messenger William de Opere in September 1317, for bringing Edward a box of rose-coloured sugar
- £5 to Robert Daverouns, violist of the prince of Tarentum, for "performing his minstrelsy in the king's presence" in November 1316. (Tarentum is modern-day Taranto in Puglia, southern Italy; its prince in 1316 was Philip I, who was Edward's second cousin)
- 1 mark (13 shillings and 4p) to Tanin, messenger of Antonio di Pessagno (an Italian banker) for bringing Edward 2 camels, in November 1317
- 10 shillings to Dulcia Withstaff, mother of Edward's fool Rob Withstaff, when she visited the king sometime in 1317.
Sources:
- Calendar of Close Rolls/Foedera (Theophania)
- Ian Mortimer, The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England (Morris)
- Michael Prestwich, 'The Court of Edward II' in The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives, ed. Gwilym Dodd and Anthony Musson (Jack of St Albans, John Spayn, Peter the Surgeon, prawns)
- James Conway Davies, 'The First Journal of Edward II's Chamber', English Historical Review, 1915 (fishermen)
- Thomas Stapleton, 'A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the 10th, 11th, and 14th years of Edward II', Archaeologia, 1836 (rose sugar, camels, grapes, Tarentum, gifts to pope, Newport, Dulcia)
- J. S. Hamilton, Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall 1307-1312 (Piers' messenger)
- Michael Prestwich, The Three Edwards (woman in Newcastle)
- James Conway Davies, The Baronial Opposition to Edward II (Eleanor Despenser)
- T. F. Tout, The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History (Amice Maure)
30 July, 2008
Lots Of Dead Earls
The turbulent reign of Edward II and its immediate aftermath - the first few years of his son's reign, before he took over the governance of his kingdom himself - saw no fewer than six earls executed in eighteen years. This is especially astonishing given that the last English earl executed before Edward II's time was Waltheof, way back in 1076 - although the Scottish earl of Atholl, John de Strathbogie, was executed in London in November 1306, near the end of Edward I's reign.
The six earls were:
- Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall at the time of his death on 19 June 1312 (at least, Edward II thought he was). Run through with a sword then beheaded on Blacklow Hill after his third return from exile. He was about twenty-nine or thirty.
- Thomas of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster, Leicester, Derby, Lincoln and Salisbury, executed on 22 March 1322, officially for treason - or for killing Piers Gaveston ten years earlier, depending on your point of view. He was taken out of his castle of Pontefract on a horse described as a "lean white jade without bridle" to a hill nearby - apparently because Edward II was deliberately arranging his execution as a parody of Gaveston's - and pelted with snowballs by a jeering crowd. He was made to kneel facing Scotland, as he'd been accused of treacherously conspiring with the Scots, and beheaded, Edward having respited the punishments of hanging, drawing and quartering in consideration of his royal blood. He was about forty-three or forty-four.
- Andrew Harclay, earl of Carlisle, hanged, drawn and quartered at Carlisle on 3 March 1323, for overstepping his authority by agreeing peace terms with Robert Bruce. Previously, he had been stripped of his earldom by having his sword ungirded and his spurs cut from his heels. His head was sent to Edward II at Knaresborough for inspection, then placed on London Bridge, while the quarters of his body were displayed in Carlisle, Newcastle, Bristol and Shrewsbury. In 1328, his sister finally received permission to bury his remains. The earldom of Carlisle, which Harclay had been granted slightly less than a year before his death, lay dormant until 1622. He was probably in his early fifties.
- Hugh Despenser the Elder, earl of Winchester, hanged, drawn and quartered at Bristol on 26 October 1326 at the orders of Roger Mortimer, Queen Isabella, Henry of Lancaster, and others. One of his crimes was complicity in the earl of Lancaster's execution; the fact that the earl of Kent, one of his judges, had also condemned Lancaster to death doesn't seem to have bothered anybody. His head was sent to Winchester, "where you were earl against law and reason," and his body thrown to dogs. He was sixty-five.
- Edmund Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, beheaded in Hereford on 17 November 1326 on the orders of Roger Mortimer, evidently without a trial. According to the Llandaff chronicle, a "worthless wretch" wielded the axe, and took twenty-two strokes to sever his head. Arundel's body was later moved to Haughmond Abbey near Shrewsbury, to lie with his ancestors, and his son restored to the inheritance by Edward III in late 1330. He was forty-one.
- Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, beheaded on 19 March 1330 at Winchester for attempting to rescue his half-brother Edward II from prison. He was kept around waiting all day, as the executioner fled, and nobody willing to perform the sentence on a king's son whose execution was nothing more than judicial murder could be found. Finally, a latrine cleaner under sentence of death himself beheaded him in exchange for his own freedom. Kent was twenty-eight.
- Roger Mortimer, earl of March, dragged from the Tower to Tyburn and hanged naked on 29 November 1330, having been accused of numerous crimes by Edward III. He was forty-three.
In addition to these six earls, two others died in battle: Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who fell at Bannockburn on 24 June 1314, and Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, who died a terrible death at Boroughbridge on 16 March 1322.
The earls of Edward II's reign who died a natural death, at least as far as we know - Lincoln in 1311, Warwick in 1315, Pembroke in 1324, Norfolk in 1338, Henry, earl of Lancaster and Leicester in 1345, Surrey in 1347 - could count their blessings!
The six earls were:
- Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall at the time of his death on 19 June 1312 (at least, Edward II thought he was). Run through with a sword then beheaded on Blacklow Hill after his third return from exile. He was about twenty-nine or thirty.
- Thomas of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster, Leicester, Derby, Lincoln and Salisbury, executed on 22 March 1322, officially for treason - or for killing Piers Gaveston ten years earlier, depending on your point of view. He was taken out of his castle of Pontefract on a horse described as a "lean white jade without bridle" to a hill nearby - apparently because Edward II was deliberately arranging his execution as a parody of Gaveston's - and pelted with snowballs by a jeering crowd. He was made to kneel facing Scotland, as he'd been accused of treacherously conspiring with the Scots, and beheaded, Edward having respited the punishments of hanging, drawing and quartering in consideration of his royal blood. He was about forty-three or forty-four.
- Andrew Harclay, earl of Carlisle, hanged, drawn and quartered at Carlisle on 3 March 1323, for overstepping his authority by agreeing peace terms with Robert Bruce. Previously, he had been stripped of his earldom by having his sword ungirded and his spurs cut from his heels. His head was sent to Edward II at Knaresborough for inspection, then placed on London Bridge, while the quarters of his body were displayed in Carlisle, Newcastle, Bristol and Shrewsbury. In 1328, his sister finally received permission to bury his remains. The earldom of Carlisle, which Harclay had been granted slightly less than a year before his death, lay dormant until 1622. He was probably in his early fifties.
- Hugh Despenser the Elder, earl of Winchester, hanged, drawn and quartered at Bristol on 26 October 1326 at the orders of Roger Mortimer, Queen Isabella, Henry of Lancaster, and others. One of his crimes was complicity in the earl of Lancaster's execution; the fact that the earl of Kent, one of his judges, had also condemned Lancaster to death doesn't seem to have bothered anybody. His head was sent to Winchester, "where you were earl against law and reason," and his body thrown to dogs. He was sixty-five.
- Edmund Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, beheaded in Hereford on 17 November 1326 on the orders of Roger Mortimer, evidently without a trial. According to the Llandaff chronicle, a "worthless wretch" wielded the axe, and took twenty-two strokes to sever his head. Arundel's body was later moved to Haughmond Abbey near Shrewsbury, to lie with his ancestors, and his son restored to the inheritance by Edward III in late 1330. He was forty-one.
- Edmund of Woodstock, earl of Kent, beheaded on 19 March 1330 at Winchester for attempting to rescue his half-brother Edward II from prison. He was kept around waiting all day, as the executioner fled, and nobody willing to perform the sentence on a king's son whose execution was nothing more than judicial murder could be found. Finally, a latrine cleaner under sentence of death himself beheaded him in exchange for his own freedom. Kent was twenty-eight.
- Roger Mortimer, earl of March, dragged from the Tower to Tyburn and hanged naked on 29 November 1330, having been accused of numerous crimes by Edward III. He was forty-three.
In addition to these six earls, two others died in battle: Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, who fell at Bannockburn on 24 June 1314, and Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, who died a terrible death at Boroughbridge on 16 March 1322.
The earls of Edward II's reign who died a natural death, at least as far as we know - Lincoln in 1311, Warwick in 1315, Pembroke in 1324, Norfolk in 1338, Henry, earl of Lancaster and Leicester in 1345, Surrey in 1347 - could count their blessings!
24 July, 2008
Edward II's Possessions, 1326
Following the post on Edward II's treasure of 1312, here's one on the possessions he took to Wales with him in 1326.
In autumn that year, Edward fled to South Wales after Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer's invasion forces landed in Suffolk. He and Hugh Despenser spent some time at Despenser's castle of Caerphilly. After they left (and were captured) the castle held out under siege until March 1327, when the garrison finally surrendered on being promised pardons.
An inventory was made of Edward II and Hugh Despenser's possessions found within the castle, which is printed in full (translated into English) in William Rees's Caerphilly Castle and its Place in the Annals of Glamorgan. Here are some of the many thousands of things listed:
- 26 barrels, each containing £500, and another barrel containing £1000, which was Despenser's
- a counterpane of red sendal, lined with green sendal (a fine silk) for Edward's bed
- a coverlet lined with minver (expensive fur)
- a canopy and curtains of red sendal, for the bed
- 4 cushions of purple velvet and 4 of red samite (another kind of silk, heavier than sendal)
- 2 caps of white beaver, 1 lined with black velvet and powdered with gold trefoils, the other lined with green velvet
- a black cap lined with red velvet, powdered with butterflies and "diverse beasts" in white pearls
- Edward's red retiring-robe, decorated with threads of saffron, and bears (cuuuuute!)
- a silver-gilt goblet, enamelled, engraved with baboons
- the 4 gospels, painted (?), for use in Edward's chamber
- 3 pairs of Gascon spurs, gilt, with silk cords
- an ornamented chain for greyhounds
- a sword garnished with silver-gilt, with the arms of Castile, and a girdle and scabbard with the same pattern
- a fine sword with a girdle and scabbard of gold, embroidered with silver eaglets
- 7 sacks for clothes, of which 4 were worn and 2 of those 4 had no straps
- 2 rolls and 9 ells of worsted, in green, red and saffron
- 18 towels, of which 12 were very worn
- vast amounts of food, including: 64 new carcases of oxen and 14 old carcases, 14 score carcases of mutton, 20 new and 52 old hams, 1956 stockfish (they counted every one!), 71 and a half quarters of new beans and 41 quarters of old beans, 4 score and 11 salted ox-hides, 3 tuns of vinegar and 3 of honey
- 6 tuns of red wine and 1 of white, of which 10 inches were lacking, and 1 tun of raspay, of which 7 inches were lacking (wine from Raspay, not far from Alicante, on the south-eastern coast of Spain).
- a silver boat, with 4 silver wheels and 2 dragons' heads, at each end
- 44 silver goblets, 272 silver dishes and 279 silver saucers marked with a leopard
- 1 chest of hide (leather) for 2 urinals
- Many thousands of items of military clothing and equipment, including: 40 aketons, 1 of which was of green camaca covered with red kid; 35 hauberks; 1 pair of 'frettes' with 50 pewter eyelets; 2 pieces of white stag's hide for 1 sword girdle; 1130 bolts with hedgehog quills; 1 pair of large gauntlets of doeskin, lined with coney; and about 5 zillion other things that mean absolutely nothing to me. (Gisarmes? Ventails? Gasingales? Jazerants? Pisans? Bidowes? '4 sutturres, twisted, of red silk' and '9 Gascon sutturres'?)
Again, it's great that this detailed inventory has survived to give us an insight into fourteenth-century possessions! (Even though I'm admittedly clueless about lots of it.)
In autumn that year, Edward fled to South Wales after Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer's invasion forces landed in Suffolk. He and Hugh Despenser spent some time at Despenser's castle of Caerphilly. After they left (and were captured) the castle held out under siege until March 1327, when the garrison finally surrendered on being promised pardons.
An inventory was made of Edward II and Hugh Despenser's possessions found within the castle, which is printed in full (translated into English) in William Rees's Caerphilly Castle and its Place in the Annals of Glamorgan. Here are some of the many thousands of things listed:
- 26 barrels, each containing £500, and another barrel containing £1000, which was Despenser's
- a counterpane of red sendal, lined with green sendal (a fine silk) for Edward's bed
- a coverlet lined with minver (expensive fur)
- a canopy and curtains of red sendal, for the bed
- 4 cushions of purple velvet and 4 of red samite (another kind of silk, heavier than sendal)
- 2 caps of white beaver, 1 lined with black velvet and powdered with gold trefoils, the other lined with green velvet
- a black cap lined with red velvet, powdered with butterflies and "diverse beasts" in white pearls
- Edward's red retiring-robe, decorated with threads of saffron, and bears (cuuuuute!)
- a silver-gilt goblet, enamelled, engraved with baboons
- the 4 gospels, painted (?), for use in Edward's chamber
- 3 pairs of Gascon spurs, gilt, with silk cords
- an ornamented chain for greyhounds
- a sword garnished with silver-gilt, with the arms of Castile, and a girdle and scabbard with the same pattern
- a fine sword with a girdle and scabbard of gold, embroidered with silver eaglets
- 7 sacks for clothes, of which 4 were worn and 2 of those 4 had no straps
- 2 rolls and 9 ells of worsted, in green, red and saffron
- 18 towels, of which 12 were very worn
- vast amounts of food, including: 64 new carcases of oxen and 14 old carcases, 14 score carcases of mutton, 20 new and 52 old hams, 1956 stockfish (they counted every one!), 71 and a half quarters of new beans and 41 quarters of old beans, 4 score and 11 salted ox-hides, 3 tuns of vinegar and 3 of honey
- 6 tuns of red wine and 1 of white, of which 10 inches were lacking, and 1 tun of raspay, of which 7 inches were lacking (wine from Raspay, not far from Alicante, on the south-eastern coast of Spain).
- a silver boat, with 4 silver wheels and 2 dragons' heads, at each end
- 44 silver goblets, 272 silver dishes and 279 silver saucers marked with a leopard
- 1 chest of hide (leather) for 2 urinals
- Many thousands of items of military clothing and equipment, including: 40 aketons, 1 of which was of green camaca covered with red kid; 35 hauberks; 1 pair of 'frettes' with 50 pewter eyelets; 2 pieces of white stag's hide for 1 sword girdle; 1130 bolts with hedgehog quills; 1 pair of large gauntlets of doeskin, lined with coney; and about 5 zillion other things that mean absolutely nothing to me. (Gisarmes? Ventails? Gasingales? Jazerants? Pisans? Bidowes? '4 sutturres, twisted, of red silk' and '9 Gascon sutturres'?)
Again, it's great that this detailed inventory has survived to give us an insight into fourteenth-century possessions! (Even though I'm admittedly clueless about lots of it.)
18 July, 2008
Time Travelling, and Terrible Kings
My favourite historian, Ian Mortimer, has a new book coming out in October, called The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England. It's a brilliantly original concept - a travel guide to fourteenth-century England as though it were a place you could visit, with tons of information on what to wear, what to eat and where to stay, how to greet people in the street, what you'll see when you enter a town or travel through the countryside, and loads more. It's available for pre-order on Amazon, and you should definitely buy it, because it's absolutely fantastic. There's more info on the author's website.
I've just finished reading Marc Morris's new biography of Edward II's dad, A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain, which I enjoyed a lot. Definitely recommended, it provides a thorough chronological overview of Edward's long and extremely eventful life, with his campaigns in Wales and Scotland, his survival of an assassination attempt in the Holy Land, his struggles against Simon de Montfort in the 1260s, and all the rest.
Finally, an article appeared in the British newspaper the Daily Mail a couple of days ago - the ten worst monarchs in British history. With his great-grandson Richard II, Edward II is only the joint fourth worst king ever! Yay! Disappointingly, but by no means unexpectedly, the article repeats the red-hot poker myth as fact, and describes Edward as "the utterly pathetic bisexual Edward II." It describes the red-hot poker method as "A nasty way to go, but if anyone deserved it, it was he." That's pretty horrible. How could anyone deserve to die in such a hideous manner? (It also gets Hugh Despenser's date of death wrong, she said pedantically.)
Hope the weather's better where you are. It's a whopping 16 degrees here, barely even 60F. In the middle of July!
I've just finished reading Marc Morris's new biography of Edward II's dad, A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain, which I enjoyed a lot. Definitely recommended, it provides a thorough chronological overview of Edward's long and extremely eventful life, with his campaigns in Wales and Scotland, his survival of an assassination attempt in the Holy Land, his struggles against Simon de Montfort in the 1260s, and all the rest.
Finally, an article appeared in the British newspaper the Daily Mail a couple of days ago - the ten worst monarchs in British history. With his great-grandson Richard II, Edward II is only the joint fourth worst king ever! Yay! Disappointingly, but by no means unexpectedly, the article repeats the red-hot poker myth as fact, and describes Edward as "the utterly pathetic bisexual Edward II." It describes the red-hot poker method as "A nasty way to go, but if anyone deserved it, it was he." That's pretty horrible. How could anyone deserve to die in such a hideous manner? (It also gets Hugh Despenser's date of death wrong, she said pedantically.)
Hope the weather's better where you are. It's a whopping 16 degrees here, barely even 60F. In the middle of July!
13 July, 2008
Edward II and Piers Gaveston's Treasure, 1312
In early May 1312, Edward II and Piers Gaveston fled from Tynemouth to Scarborough - a distance of about ninety miles - in order to escape Edward's cousin, Thomas, earl of Lancaster, who was slowly making his way north in order to capture Piers after his return to England from his third exile. The Vita Edwardi Secundi says, poetically, about Lancaster's journey, "Thus Thomas flies by night and hides by day/And to check rumour slowly wends his way." (In the original Latin: Sic Thomas de nocte uolat, sub luce moratur/ Ut lateat, modicum cursum ne fama loquatur).
Lancaster's arrival took Edward and Piers completely by surprise, and they escaped him by only a few hours. In doing so, they were forced to leave behind their enormous baggage train, which Lancaster duly took possession of. Edward fumed over the loss of his many valuable belongings, and pointed out a few months later that "if any lesser man had done it, he could be found guilty of theft and rightly condemned by a verdict of robbery with violence." Lancaster made an inventory of the possessions and claimed that he fully intended to return them to the king, though Edward had to wait until the end of February 1313 before he received them.
The full list of Edward and Piers' possessions - most of them were Edward's - is given in Foedera, and is also printed (in the French original) in Pierre Chaplais' Piers Gaveston: Edward II's Adoptive Brother, and in English in J. S. Hamilton's Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall 1307-1312. Edward's possessions were finally returned to him on 23 February 1313, and four days later, he also received an inventory of everything Lancaster had taken.
The inventory includes many hundreds of splendid and costly items, including:
- sixty-three horses: forty-one destriers and coursers, one palfrey, nine pack horses and twelve cart horses.
- a gold cup, enamelled with jewels, bequeathed to Edward "with her blessing" by Eleanor of Castile, the mother he had barely known, which must have held great sentimental value for him.
- several items that Edward's sisters had given him: two "stones with enamelled sides" and a gold clasp from Margaret, duchess of Brabant; another gold clasp from Elizabeth, countess of Hereford; an enamelled silver mirror and relic from Eleanor, countess of Bar, who died in 1298 when Edward was fourteen.
- a buckle of gold with two emeralds, two rubies, two sapphires and eleven pearls, with a cameo in the middle, a present to Edward from the queen of Germany (I presume this means either Elisabeth of Görz-Tirol, wife of Albrecht I, or Margaret of Brabant, wife of Heinrich VII; Elisabeth attended Edward's wedding, and Margaret was the sister of Edward's brother-in-law Duke Jan II of Brabant).
- a gold ring containing a great ruby called 'the Cherry' (la cerise), belonging to Edward. The name gives a good indication of how big it must have been.
- another great ruby set in gold, worth a staggering £1000, which was found on Piers' body after his execution, I mean murder, and was probably a gift to him from Edward. Also found on Piers' body were "three large rubies in rings, an emerald, a diamond of great value, in a silver box," and "two vessels, a large and a small, and in the small a hanging key, a sterling cord and a chalcedony." (Whatever a 'sterling cord' is.)
- a belt "decorated with ivory, notched with a purse hanging down from it, with a Saracen face," a belt made of lion skin, decorated in gold with a cameo, one of silver with enamelled silver escutcheons, one with bands of silver and gold, and two of silk, covered with pearls.
- a gold crown encrusted with jewels, worth 100 marks.
- a gold ring with a sapphire, which St Dunstan (archbishop of Canterbury, died 988) supposedly "forged with his own hands."
- a gold eagle with rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls, containing relics of St Richard of Chichester (died 1253), and a gold dragon with enamelled wings.
- numerous silver salt cellars, spoons, cups, goblets, saucers and pots, numerous gold-plated silver pots and cups, and a pair of gold-plated silver basins, belonging to Piers, with his coat of arms on them.
-a silver ship with four gold oars, enamelled on the sides.
- three silver forks, for eating pears (trois furchestes dargent pur mangier poires; these belonged to Piers, and he was famous for them, a good 300 years before forks caught on in England!)
- 100 silver shields, marked with an eagle, a suit of armour belonging to Piers, and two pairs of iron leg-armour (jambers).
- various garments embroidered with Piers' arms, the shoulders decorated and embroidered with pearls, and twenty-five pieces of cloth from diverse garments, of diverse colours.
- a fur-backed altar frontal of green cloth, powdered (poudre) with gold birds and fishes.
And many hundreds of other luxurious and expensive items. The sheer number of rings and jewels is truly astonishing. Edward II must have walked around positively dripping with wildly expensive jewellery. However, the inventory also lists a handful of rather less desirable objects:
- a helmet, brown with neglect (un bacenet burny od surcils).
- a remnant of green silk.
- an old banner embroidered with Piers' arms (six eaglets).
- a plate of scrap silver.
- an old enamelled vessel, and three chaplets "of little value."
For all Edward II's annoyance with his cousin Lancaster for seizing his belongings, I can only say, thank goodness he did, or otherwise we wouldn't have this fascinating insight into the kinds of things very rich people of the fourteenth century owned and prized.
Lancaster's arrival took Edward and Piers completely by surprise, and they escaped him by only a few hours. In doing so, they were forced to leave behind their enormous baggage train, which Lancaster duly took possession of. Edward fumed over the loss of his many valuable belongings, and pointed out a few months later that "if any lesser man had done it, he could be found guilty of theft and rightly condemned by a verdict of robbery with violence." Lancaster made an inventory of the possessions and claimed that he fully intended to return them to the king, though Edward had to wait until the end of February 1313 before he received them.
The full list of Edward and Piers' possessions - most of them were Edward's - is given in Foedera, and is also printed (in the French original) in Pierre Chaplais' Piers Gaveston: Edward II's Adoptive Brother, and in English in J. S. Hamilton's Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall 1307-1312. Edward's possessions were finally returned to him on 23 February 1313, and four days later, he also received an inventory of everything Lancaster had taken.
The inventory includes many hundreds of splendid and costly items, including:
- sixty-three horses: forty-one destriers and coursers, one palfrey, nine pack horses and twelve cart horses.
- a gold cup, enamelled with jewels, bequeathed to Edward "with her blessing" by Eleanor of Castile, the mother he had barely known, which must have held great sentimental value for him.
- several items that Edward's sisters had given him: two "stones with enamelled sides" and a gold clasp from Margaret, duchess of Brabant; another gold clasp from Elizabeth, countess of Hereford; an enamelled silver mirror and relic from Eleanor, countess of Bar, who died in 1298 when Edward was fourteen.
- a buckle of gold with two emeralds, two rubies, two sapphires and eleven pearls, with a cameo in the middle, a present to Edward from the queen of Germany (I presume this means either Elisabeth of Görz-Tirol, wife of Albrecht I, or Margaret of Brabant, wife of Heinrich VII; Elisabeth attended Edward's wedding, and Margaret was the sister of Edward's brother-in-law Duke Jan II of Brabant).
- a gold ring containing a great ruby called 'the Cherry' (la cerise), belonging to Edward. The name gives a good indication of how big it must have been.
- another great ruby set in gold, worth a staggering £1000, which was found on Piers' body after his execution, I mean murder, and was probably a gift to him from Edward. Also found on Piers' body were "three large rubies in rings, an emerald, a diamond of great value, in a silver box," and "two vessels, a large and a small, and in the small a hanging key, a sterling cord and a chalcedony." (Whatever a 'sterling cord' is.)
- a belt "decorated with ivory, notched with a purse hanging down from it, with a Saracen face," a belt made of lion skin, decorated in gold with a cameo, one of silver with enamelled silver escutcheons, one with bands of silver and gold, and two of silk, covered with pearls.
- a gold crown encrusted with jewels, worth 100 marks.
- a gold ring with a sapphire, which St Dunstan (archbishop of Canterbury, died 988) supposedly "forged with his own hands."
- a gold eagle with rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls, containing relics of St Richard of Chichester (died 1253), and a gold dragon with enamelled wings.
- numerous silver salt cellars, spoons, cups, goblets, saucers and pots, numerous gold-plated silver pots and cups, and a pair of gold-plated silver basins, belonging to Piers, with his coat of arms on them.
-a silver ship with four gold oars, enamelled on the sides.
- three silver forks, for eating pears (trois furchestes dargent pur mangier poires; these belonged to Piers, and he was famous for them, a good 300 years before forks caught on in England!)
- 100 silver shields, marked with an eagle, a suit of armour belonging to Piers, and two pairs of iron leg-armour (jambers).
- various garments embroidered with Piers' arms, the shoulders decorated and embroidered with pearls, and twenty-five pieces of cloth from diverse garments, of diverse colours.
- a fur-backed altar frontal of green cloth, powdered (poudre) with gold birds and fishes.
And many hundreds of other luxurious and expensive items. The sheer number of rings and jewels is truly astonishing. Edward II must have walked around positively dripping with wildly expensive jewellery. However, the inventory also lists a handful of rather less desirable objects:
- a helmet, brown with neglect (un bacenet burny od surcils).
- a remnant of green silk.
- an old banner embroidered with Piers' arms (six eaglets).
- a plate of scrap silver.
- an old enamelled vessel, and three chaplets "of little value."
For all Edward II's annoyance with his cousin Lancaster for seizing his belongings, I can only say, thank goodness he did, or otherwise we wouldn't have this fascinating insight into the kinds of things very rich people of the fourteenth century owned and prized.
05 July, 2008
The Saint's Two Bodies
In which Edward II puzzles over the fact that St Alban appears to be buried in two places
In late March and early April 1314, Edward II spent a few days at St Albans Abbey, which was only eight miles from his childhood residence of (Kings) Langley and must have been a place he knew well. Edward made an offering to the abbey of a gold cross decorated with precious stones, supposedly containing relics of St Alban himself (he was the first British Christian martyr, and probably died in the early fourth century). While there, Edward learned that his father had intended to rebuild the choir, and gave the monks a hundred marks and quantities of timber for the purpose, ordering that no expense should be spared in honouring God and St Alban.
Edward then moved on the seventy miles to Ely near Cambridge, where he celebrated Easter Sunday, 7 April, at the cathedral. St Albans Abbey possessed the body of St Alban, but Ely Cathedral owned a reliquary which they described as ‘St Alban’s.’ According to the St Albans monks/chroniclers Trokelowe and Walsingham, a curious Edward ordered the monks to open the reliquary, telling John Ketton, bishop of Ely, "You know that my brothers of St Albans believe that they possess the body of the martyr. In this place the monks say that they have the body of the same saint. By God’s soul, I want to see in which place I ought chiefly to pay reverence to the remains of that holy body."
The monks went pale, assuming that either they would be accused of deceit, or forced to give up the relics, which brought in large revenues from pilgrims, to St Albans Abbey. Edward raised the lid of the reliquary himself, and discovered that it was full of rough cloth, spattered with blood that appeared fresh, as if spilt only the day before, and declared that it was the clothes worn by the saint at the time of his maryrdom, a millennium earlier. All the spectators fell to their knees at this miracle, including Edward, presumably - though he was the only one who had the nerve to close the lid.
Edward spent the remainder of his stay at Ely in high spirits, talking much of St Alban and praising the divine providence that had allowed two locations to possess relics of the famous martyr. On his departure, he gave the monks of Ely many gifts and told them, "Rejoice in the gift of God, rejoice in the sanctity and merits of so great a martyr; for if, as you say, God does many miracles here by reason of his garment, you may believe that at St Albans he does more, by reason of the most holy body that rests there."
For all the contemporary criticism of him - that he lost Bannockburn because he didn't spend enough time hearing Mass, and the odd comment by the Lanercost chronicler in 1314 that he "did and said things to the prejudice and injury of the saints" - there's no doubt that Edward II was sincerely and genuinely pious. He and Queen Isabella especially venerated St Thomas Becket, and often went on pilgrimage to Canterbury. In May 1300, when he'd just turned sixteen, Edward and his father stayed at Bury St Edmunds Abbey in Suffolk. Edward I soon left, but Edward stayed on a week longer, enjoying the peace and solitude. According to the St Edmundsbury Chronicle, "He became our brother in chapter. The magnificence of the place and the frequent recreations of the brethren pleased him greatly. Every day, moreover, he asked to be served with a monk's portion such as the brothers take in refectory."
The statement "The magnificence of the place and the frequent recreations of the brethren pleased him greatly" sums up the contradictory Edward nicely - a man who loved costly and luxurious clothes, jewels and surroundings and was described by the chronicler Ranulph Higden as "bountiful and splendid in living," yet who also loved rustic pursuits like digging and thatching, and who built himself a hut to live in at Westminster.
In December 1308, when he was twenty-four, Edward founded the Dominican priory at Langley where he later buried Piers Gaveston, and endowed it generously. Apparently, the foundation was "in fulfilment of a vow made by the king in peril" (Patent Rolls), whenever that might have been. In 1326, he founded a college of Carmelite friars at Oxford, supposedly in gratitude for escaping from the field of Bannockburn (according to the fourteenth-century chronicler Geoffrey le Baker), which became Oriel College.
Edward strongly favoured the Dominicans (the Friars Preacher or Blackfriars), who reciprocated his support in full measure, and often stayed at one of their houses when attending parliament, for example at Stamford in the summer of 1309 and in London in the autumn of 1311. It was of course the Dominicans of Oxford who took care of Piers Gaveston's body between June 1312 and his burial in January 1315. This is not a coincidence.
Edward often asked the Dominicans to pray for himself, "our very dear consort" the queen, and their children, for example on 30 August 1316, fifteen days after the birth of their second son John of Eltham: "To the prior-provincial of the order of the friars preacher of England...Request for their prayers on behalf of the king, his very dear consort queen Isabella, Edward de Wyndesore [Windsor], the king's eldest son, and John de Eltham, his youngest son, especially on account of John." (Close Rolls/Foedera; I find that last bit really sweet!)
In April 1317, Edward even asked the Dominicans of Pamplona, for some reason, to pray for the royal family: "To the master and diffinitores of the chapter-general of the Friars Preacher about to assemble in Pampeluna in Arragon. Request for their prayers for the good estate of the king, his very dear consort queen Isabella, Edward de Wyndesore his eldest son, and John de Eltham his youngest son, and that they will cause them to be commended in like wise by the other friars of their order."
Edward II also enjoyed excellent relations with the papacy throughout his reign, and several of his bishops, William Melton, archbishop of York, Stephen Gravesend of London, John Ros of Carlisle, and Hamo Hethe of Rochester, had a genuine and long-lasting affection for him - not to mention all the clerics of various orders who gladly joined the Dunheved gang in 1327 and Kent's conspiracy in 1330 to fight (and die) for him. I do wonder sometimes how Edward reconciled his deep and sincere religious beliefs with the fact that he loved men, which the Church of course considered sinful and evil. Maybe it caused him a great deal of emotional pain and torment. Given how many churchmen served Edward faithfully, I can only suppose that they were willing to overlook his 'sin' - and it's worth pointing out that one of the men most dedicated to helping Edward in 1327 was Thomas Dunheved, his former confessor.
In late March and early April 1314, Edward II spent a few days at St Albans Abbey, which was only eight miles from his childhood residence of (Kings) Langley and must have been a place he knew well. Edward made an offering to the abbey of a gold cross decorated with precious stones, supposedly containing relics of St Alban himself (he was the first British Christian martyr, and probably died in the early fourth century). While there, Edward learned that his father had intended to rebuild the choir, and gave the monks a hundred marks and quantities of timber for the purpose, ordering that no expense should be spared in honouring God and St Alban.
Edward then moved on the seventy miles to Ely near Cambridge, where he celebrated Easter Sunday, 7 April, at the cathedral. St Albans Abbey possessed the body of St Alban, but Ely Cathedral owned a reliquary which they described as ‘St Alban’s.’ According to the St Albans monks/chroniclers Trokelowe and Walsingham, a curious Edward ordered the monks to open the reliquary, telling John Ketton, bishop of Ely, "You know that my brothers of St Albans believe that they possess the body of the martyr. In this place the monks say that they have the body of the same saint. By God’s soul, I want to see in which place I ought chiefly to pay reverence to the remains of that holy body."
The monks went pale, assuming that either they would be accused of deceit, or forced to give up the relics, which brought in large revenues from pilgrims, to St Albans Abbey. Edward raised the lid of the reliquary himself, and discovered that it was full of rough cloth, spattered with blood that appeared fresh, as if spilt only the day before, and declared that it was the clothes worn by the saint at the time of his maryrdom, a millennium earlier. All the spectators fell to their knees at this miracle, including Edward, presumably - though he was the only one who had the nerve to close the lid.
Edward spent the remainder of his stay at Ely in high spirits, talking much of St Alban and praising the divine providence that had allowed two locations to possess relics of the famous martyr. On his departure, he gave the monks of Ely many gifts and told them, "Rejoice in the gift of God, rejoice in the sanctity and merits of so great a martyr; for if, as you say, God does many miracles here by reason of his garment, you may believe that at St Albans he does more, by reason of the most holy body that rests there."
For all the contemporary criticism of him - that he lost Bannockburn because he didn't spend enough time hearing Mass, and the odd comment by the Lanercost chronicler in 1314 that he "did and said things to the prejudice and injury of the saints" - there's no doubt that Edward II was sincerely and genuinely pious. He and Queen Isabella especially venerated St Thomas Becket, and often went on pilgrimage to Canterbury. In May 1300, when he'd just turned sixteen, Edward and his father stayed at Bury St Edmunds Abbey in Suffolk. Edward I soon left, but Edward stayed on a week longer, enjoying the peace and solitude. According to the St Edmundsbury Chronicle, "He became our brother in chapter. The magnificence of the place and the frequent recreations of the brethren pleased him greatly. Every day, moreover, he asked to be served with a monk's portion such as the brothers take in refectory."
The statement "The magnificence of the place and the frequent recreations of the brethren pleased him greatly" sums up the contradictory Edward nicely - a man who loved costly and luxurious clothes, jewels and surroundings and was described by the chronicler Ranulph Higden as "bountiful and splendid in living," yet who also loved rustic pursuits like digging and thatching, and who built himself a hut to live in at Westminster.
In December 1308, when he was twenty-four, Edward founded the Dominican priory at Langley where he later buried Piers Gaveston, and endowed it generously. Apparently, the foundation was "in fulfilment of a vow made by the king in peril" (Patent Rolls), whenever that might have been. In 1326, he founded a college of Carmelite friars at Oxford, supposedly in gratitude for escaping from the field of Bannockburn (according to the fourteenth-century chronicler Geoffrey le Baker), which became Oriel College.
Edward strongly favoured the Dominicans (the Friars Preacher or Blackfriars), who reciprocated his support in full measure, and often stayed at one of their houses when attending parliament, for example at Stamford in the summer of 1309 and in London in the autumn of 1311. It was of course the Dominicans of Oxford who took care of Piers Gaveston's body between June 1312 and his burial in January 1315. This is not a coincidence.
Edward often asked the Dominicans to pray for himself, "our very dear consort" the queen, and their children, for example on 30 August 1316, fifteen days after the birth of their second son John of Eltham: "To the prior-provincial of the order of the friars preacher of England...Request for their prayers on behalf of the king, his very dear consort queen Isabella, Edward de Wyndesore [Windsor], the king's eldest son, and John de Eltham, his youngest son, especially on account of John." (Close Rolls/Foedera; I find that last bit really sweet!)
In April 1317, Edward even asked the Dominicans of Pamplona, for some reason, to pray for the royal family: "To the master and diffinitores of the chapter-general of the Friars Preacher about to assemble in Pampeluna in Arragon. Request for their prayers for the good estate of the king, his very dear consort queen Isabella, Edward de Wyndesore his eldest son, and John de Eltham his youngest son, and that they will cause them to be commended in like wise by the other friars of their order."
Edward II also enjoyed excellent relations with the papacy throughout his reign, and several of his bishops, William Melton, archbishop of York, Stephen Gravesend of London, John Ros of Carlisle, and Hamo Hethe of Rochester, had a genuine and long-lasting affection for him - not to mention all the clerics of various orders who gladly joined the Dunheved gang in 1327 and Kent's conspiracy in 1330 to fight (and die) for him. I do wonder sometimes how Edward reconciled his deep and sincere religious beliefs with the fact that he loved men, which the Church of course considered sinful and evil. Maybe it caused him a great deal of emotional pain and torment. Given how many churchmen served Edward faithfully, I can only suppose that they were willing to overlook his 'sin' - and it's worth pointing out that one of the men most dedicated to helping Edward in 1327 was Thomas Dunheved, his former confessor.
01 July, 2008
Books
Some great news - a new novel on Edward II and Piers Gaveston, The Ruling Passion by David Pownall, is coming out very soon. The blurb says "England, 1303: When Edward, prince of Wales, met Piers Gaveston, it was the start of a passionate and defiant relationship that was to bring England to the brink of civil war." Yay! There can never be enough books on Edward and Piers, in my opinion. I'm dying to read this one.
A book I strongly recommend is Leslie Carroll's Royal Affairs, which was published a few weeks ago. It's a look at English royal adultery down the centuries, beginning with the Angevins and ending with Prince Charles and Camilla - the kind of book you can either read cover to cover, or dip in and out of. Royal Affairs is one of those rare history books that manages to be both impeccably researched and historically accurate, and wildly entertaining. I loved it.
Another good book I've read recently is D. J. Birmingham's The Queen's Tale, published by Xlibris, which tells the story of John de Bermingham, earl of Louth, in Edward II's reign. A very well-written and interesting novel, which helpfully includes genealogical tables, and portrays Edward II rather sympathetically. I don't want to give the story away, but let's just say that the author doesn't follow the traditional narrative of Edward's death...Definitely recommended.
I read another novel recently, which shall remain nameless, wherein Edward II is not the biological father of Edward III. This, unfortunately, led to a book-wall interface. That's at least six novels/films now that claim Edward was not his son's father, and I AM SICK TO DEATH OF IT. In this one, Isabella conceives her son while she and Edward are apart for months on end. Are we supposed to believe that people in the fourteenth century were so ignorant they wouldn't have noticed? And if anyone else is thinking of including this incredibly unlikely scenario in a novel, can they please read this post first?
Candidates for for the father of Edward III, born 13 November 1312:
- William Wallace, in that Hollywood film, you know the one I mean, executed 23 August 1305.
- Edward I, died 7 July 1307, from this page, where it's stated "most historians DO believe it was Edward Longshanks that fathered the child, and not Edward II." Yes, because they had the technology to freeze sperm 700 years ago.
- Roger Mortimer, in a 1982 novel, and the self-published novel mentioned above: this would be pretty miraculous, as he was in Ireland when Edward III was conceived. And also in the page linked above, "At the time of Edward III's birth, she [Isabella] was pretty much exclusive with Roger Mortimer." Funny, I didn't know Isabella and Mortimer were American teenagers. The problem is, this kind of uninformed and ignorant crap stays online forever, and goodness knows how many people read it and believe it.
- an unnamed Scotsman, in a 2006 novel, when Isabella was abandoned in Scotland by her husband: Isabella was nowhere near Scotland when she became pregnant.
And finally, on a lighter note, here are some recent blog searches:
causes of elibeth 1s reighn
knights templar arrested 1307 o'clock Philip IV checked his watch and said "Right lads, it's just after 1pm. Time to go get 'em."
last bishop strangled entrails tyrant
queen isabella and her gay.. Gay what?
Did queen isabella have an affair will william wallece Again!!!
letter from a wife to husband blaming him to be impartial to his own relatives a
king john's penis entrails Eeeewwww!!
Meet your 27th cousin, once removed, - Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, current and 18th Duke of Norfolk.
after a few minutes he died suffocating to death
facts on edwand from life with derek
Which Princess was sent by her father to live in the castle of the Marcher Lords?
A book I strongly recommend is Leslie Carroll's Royal Affairs, which was published a few weeks ago. It's a look at English royal adultery down the centuries, beginning with the Angevins and ending with Prince Charles and Camilla - the kind of book you can either read cover to cover, or dip in and out of. Royal Affairs is one of those rare history books that manages to be both impeccably researched and historically accurate, and wildly entertaining. I loved it.
Another good book I've read recently is D. J. Birmingham's The Queen's Tale, published by Xlibris, which tells the story of John de Bermingham, earl of Louth, in Edward II's reign. A very well-written and interesting novel, which helpfully includes genealogical tables, and portrays Edward II rather sympathetically. I don't want to give the story away, but let's just say that the author doesn't follow the traditional narrative of Edward's death...Definitely recommended.
I read another novel recently, which shall remain nameless, wherein Edward II is not the biological father of Edward III. This, unfortunately, led to a book-wall interface. That's at least six novels/films now that claim Edward was not his son's father, and I AM SICK TO DEATH OF IT. In this one, Isabella conceives her son while she and Edward are apart for months on end. Are we supposed to believe that people in the fourteenth century were so ignorant they wouldn't have noticed? And if anyone else is thinking of including this incredibly unlikely scenario in a novel, can they please read this post first?
Candidates for for the father of Edward III, born 13 November 1312:
- William Wallace, in that Hollywood film, you know the one I mean, executed 23 August 1305.
- Edward I, died 7 July 1307, from this page, where it's stated "most historians DO believe it was Edward Longshanks that fathered the child, and not Edward II." Yes, because they had the technology to freeze sperm 700 years ago.
- Roger Mortimer, in a 1982 novel, and the self-published novel mentioned above: this would be pretty miraculous, as he was in Ireland when Edward III was conceived. And also in the page linked above, "At the time of Edward III's birth, she [Isabella] was pretty much exclusive with Roger Mortimer." Funny, I didn't know Isabella and Mortimer were American teenagers. The problem is, this kind of uninformed and ignorant crap stays online forever, and goodness knows how many people read it and believe it.
- an unnamed Scotsman, in a 2006 novel, when Isabella was abandoned in Scotland by her husband: Isabella was nowhere near Scotland when she became pregnant.
And finally, on a lighter note, here are some recent blog searches:
causes of elibeth 1s reighn
knights templar arrested 1307 o'clock Philip IV checked his watch and said "Right lads, it's just after 1pm. Time to go get 'em."
last bishop strangled entrails tyrant
queen isabella and her gay.. Gay what?
Did queen isabella have an affair will william wallece Again!!!
letter from a wife to husband blaming him to be impartial to his own relatives a
king john's penis entrails Eeeewwww!!
Meet your 27th cousin, once removed, - Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, current and 18th Duke of Norfolk.
after a few minutes he died suffocating to death
facts on edwand from life with derek
Which Princess was sent by her father to live in the castle of the Marcher Lords?
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