Merry Christmas!

This will be the last post until 10 January or thereabouts, as I'm off on holiday tomorrow.

Firstly, I'd like to thank author Michael Jecks for giving me such a great mention in his latest newsletter (I'm a wonderful lady! *Blushes*) Michael writes a very popular series of murder mysteries set in Edward II's reign, and if you haven't read them yet, you should. (He does a marvellous Hugh Despenser, for one thing.) And thanks to Ian Mortimer for recommending my site to Michael.

Here's some fairly random Edward II-related Christmas stuff...

The festive custom of electing a boy-bishop was widespread in the Middle Ages, especially in England. In 1316, Edward II gave six shillings and eight pence to John, son of Alan of Scrooby (a town in Nottinghamshire) for officiating as 'boy-bishop' in his chapel at Clipstone on 6 December, St Nicholas's Day, and ten shillings to the unnamed boy who played the role of boy-bishop in his chapel at Nottingham on 28 December, the Feast of the Holy Innocents. These were very generous amounts for young boys of low rank.

Another pleasant medieval custom was the 'King of the Bean', when the person lucky enough to find the bean the cooks had added to the food had the right to preside over the festivities. At Edward's court over the festive period of 1316/1317, a knight called William de la Beche became King of the Bean, and Edward gave him "a silver-gilt chased basin, with ewer to match," worth seven pounds, thirteen shillings and ten pence, on the Feast of the Circumcision, 1 January 1317. (Websites usually say the King of the Bean ceremony took place on 6 January, Twelfth Night, but Edward's Wardrobe account clearly states that it was 1 January, this year at least.) The following year, a squire of Edward's household named Thomas de Weston was the lucky man, and received "a silver-gilt basin with stand and cover, and a silver-gilt pitcher to match," price not given, from Edward.

Edward's court spent Christmas 1317 at Wesminster, and New Year at Windsor. Queen Isabella's gift from her husband was an enamelled silver-gilt bowl, with foot and cover, worth seventeen pounds. That might not sound like much, but it was several times most people's annual income. Edward also gave a gold ring with six emeralds, worth twenty marks, to his sister Mary the nun, rings of unstated value to his nieces Margaret Audley and Elizabeth Damory - their sister Eleanor Despenser isn't mentioned - and a gold ring with two emeralds and three pearls worth thirty-two shillings to his great-niece Joan Gaveston, Piers' five-year-old daughter. He also gave rings to his sons Edward and John, aged five years and sixteen months respectively. I find the idea of giving a ring to a sixteen-month-old rather amusing.

Twenty-five knights, including Robert Umfraville, earl of Angus, Richard Damory, brother of Edward's favourite Roger Damory, and Ingelram Berenger, John Haudlo and Walter Beauchamp, the latter three associated with Edward's friend Hugh Despenser the Elder, received silver-gilt goblets worth seven pounds from the king that year.

In December 1317, Edward paid one pound, thirteen shillings and six pence for a "great wooden table" to be placed in the great hall of Westminster Palace during the seasonal festivities, and also paid thirty pounds to Thomas de Hebenhith, mercer of London, for "a great hanging of wool, woven with figures of the king and earls on it, for the king’s service in his hall, on solemn festivals." It was Edward's custom to gamble on Christmas night, usually spending five pounds. (Whether his household let him win, and how he reacted if they didn't, is not clear.)

Annoyingly, the gifts Edward II and Queen Isabella gave each other at New Year were often not specified - in 1312, for example, Isabella gave Edward "certain precious objects," and in 1320, he gave her "many precious gifts." Honestly, it's like the men who kept records of such things didn't care at all about the needs of a certain Edward-obsessed historian many centuries later, who really wants to know these things. Soooo inconsiderate.

I wrote on the blog last year that Edward spent Christmas 1307, the first of his reign and his last as a single man, at Wye in Kent with Piers Gaveston - according to a statement in Annales Paulini. I've since discovered that the annalist was wrong, and Edward was actually at Westminster, presumably with Piers, as he (scandalously!) appointed him keeper of the realm on 26 December for the period in January when Edward went to France to marry Isabella. Edward didn't arrive at Wye until 3 January 1308. He spent Christmas 1325, his last one as a free man, at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. In December 1326 he was in captivity at Kenilworth Castle, and by December 1327 he was supposedly dead - hmmmm - and his funeral took place on 20 December, 681 years ago today.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

More Cool Names

Because it's nearly Christmas and I can't be bothered to write a post that requires me to actually do some thinking, here are some more cheap laughs at the expense of fourteenth-century people. :-)

Adam Halfnaked: keeper of the lands of the bishop of Hereford, 1324. (Sometimes spelt as the notably less interesting 'Halnaked' or 'Helnak').

Thomas Sexi: accused of 'diverse trespasses against the king's peace' in Berkshire in March 1308.

William le Glot: pardoned for outlawry in Hampshire in April 1325.

Godemender de Hexe, Corges Episcopi, Ywer de Waddesbussh, Huspaker de Logbussh and Iwer de Skerfhungre: Norwegian merchants in England, October 1312. (Accused of stealing the goods of one Tydemann de Lippa, said to be a 'merchant of this realm', i.e. England.)

Walter le Clophoffether: accused of stealing the deer of William Latimer in Surrey in March 1324.

Ralph Suckyng and John Cok: accused of 'breaking the gates of several woods' in Northamptonshire in October 1318. Imagine the clerk of the court reading their names out - 'All right, Suckyng, Cok, you're up next...'

Icok de Oldyngton: a malefactor in Cheshire in the summer of 1327.

Galfridus le Butor: released from prison in Devon in March 1308, having been indicted for 'diverse trespasses against the king's peace'. Others with him: John, William and Ralph Inthepitte, Richard le Reve uppehill (with a small 'u'), Elyas Bysuthbeare, Esger de Putesmere and Johel Thenykersman.

Hugh 'le Haliwaterclerk of Seint Petrekyrk atte Skynmarket': accused of assaulting John Cawod in Lincoln in August 1316. Hope the clerk wrote extra small to fit that mouthful in the space available.

Guy atte Shippewasshe: held land in Hampshire in May 1325.

Laderana de Byker, Amflesia de Willeford, Desiderata de Toryngtone, Wymarca Meel, Amflusa de Donestaple, Orangia de Chercheyerd: what extraordinary first names some of the women of Edward II's era had!

Isarn de Lanneplaa: alternative spelling of 'Isard de Lana Plana' from my last post.

William la Tart: receiver of Ponthieu in 1313.

Lovekin de London: master of a ship called le Leonard in October 1312.

Fynny Soutere or Fynnus le Suur: Scottish prisoner released from Bamburgh Castle by Edward II in November 1307.

John Go inthe Wynd and Pentecoste Russel: soldiers sent by the city of London to Edward II's Scottish campaign of 1308 (which was cancelled). I've seen a few refs to men called 'Pentecost' - seems to have been a surprisingly popular name.

Lambekyn Sotekyn de Heis: described as a 'malefactor of Flanders' in May 1310 after stealing a ship of the dowager countess of Norfolk.

Elizabeth Olyfart: A Scottish woman whose brother William was captured by Edward I at Stirling. In June 1309, Edward II ordered the abbess of Barking "to deliver Elizabeth...to Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, the king having granted her to the said Henry." Was she a person or an object??

Jakemes de Messmes: accused of stealing gold florins from merchants of Beverley in January 1310.

Breto Grymewart: a 'malefactor of Genoa' in August 1310, who 'took by armed force' a ship bound from Flanders to Bayonne, one of Edward II's cities. It's not really an Italian-sounding name, is it?

Gilemin de Lyghtebirkes: mentioned as the father of Ranulph, January 1309.

Baldwin de Arsebrek: knight of the count of Flanders, March 1312.

Boukin Brounlysk: fishmonger of London, who in 1329 stole 'certain writs of the king [Edward III] and letters of Queen Isabel' and threw them into the mud.

Benedict le Bastard: murdered Henry Behetlan in Cornwall sometime before February 1310.

Trippetus de Abyndon: associated with Piers Gaveston's half-brother Guillaume-Arnaud de Gaveston in March 1312. Abingdon is in Oxfordshire. Trippetus is not, however, your typical Oxfordshire name.

William Whirlepipyn: his son Gilbert was imprisoned in Lincoln in July 1312 for murdering Robert Bobelyn.

Bourd de Gavaston: staying at Wallingford Castle in July 1312. Presumably a relative of Piers Gaveston, killed the month before and the owner of Wallingford, but I don't know how.

Nicholas Watkyn neve Got de Lincoln: owed 40 shillings to Richard de Boryngham in June 1319.

Reynus or Reyner Piggeflesshe, Robert Freshfish and Peter Piebakere: merchants of London, around 1320.

Finally...

On 12 May 1321, Edward II wrote to a dozen or so of his officials in Gascony, authorising the sale of a house there called the Earl's Hall (aula comitis), which, Edward said, had become a "brothel of worthless women." The brothel was in the town of Condom.

Brief Biographies (3)

Brother John of Newminster and John of Towcester

First off, let me admit that I know next to nothing about the first subject of today's post, Brother John of Newminster. I don't know where he came from or when he was born or when he died or anything else, except that he was one of the men who in 1327 joined the Dunheved brothers, Stephen and Thomas, in their attempts to break Edward of Caernarfon, the former King Edward II, out of prison at Berkeley Castle.

Brother John was a monk of Newminster Abbey, a Cistercian house near Morpeth in Northumberland, which was founded in 1138 and dissolved 399 years later. Edward II occasionally stayed at Newminster during his reign, the last time in August 1322. [1] After Edward's deposition in January 1327, a group of men who were fanatically devoted to him started making plans to free him. They made an unsuccessful attempt on Kenilworth Castle in March 1327, and carried on plotting after his removal to Berkeley on 3 April.

Somehow Brother John, tucked away in his abbey up in Northumberland, heard that the Dunheveds and their allies were plotting to free Edward. He left his abbey and travelled down to Gloucestershire. That's a full 300 miles away. Did he leave with the permission of his abbot, or not? How did he make contact with the Dunheveds? There are far more questions than answers, and I really doubt I'll ever know. All I can say is, Edward II must have made a powerful impression on John for him to leave his convent and travel 300 miles to fight for Edward, nearly five years after the last time he had - presumably - seen him.

Thomas, Lord Berkeley, Edward of Caernarfon's joint custodian, sent a letter on 27 July 1327 to the chancellor of England, informing him that some men had attacked Berkeley Castle and seized Edward out of his custody. The letter names seventeen men, with four other men named previously in letters patent, which cannot be the entire gang - surely they couldn't have successfully attacked and plundered the castle with only twenty-one men - and probably only means the leaders. [2] The letter begins "Sire, please it you to remember that I recently certified you by my letter of the names of some people indicted before me in the county of Gloucestershire, for coming towards the castle of Berkeley with an armed force, for having seized the father of our lord the king out of our keeping and feloniously robbing the said castle against the peace."

Berkeley asked for special authority to arrest the Dunheveds, saying that the commission granted to him twelve days earlier did not give him authority to 'take' them (he wrote that lawyers, or literally 'people of law', had advised him of this). The previous commission had been granted by letters patent on 15 July 1327 and named men said to have ‘withdrawn themselves’ after being indicted before Berkeley for various felonies. [3] By 27 July, Berkeley had evidently learned the names of other men who took part in the attack, including Brother John. Another commission was granted to him on 1 August 1327, naming the four men mentioned on 15 July and the seventeen men in Berkeley's letter, and granting him full powers to arrest them. References to their abduction of Edward were, of course, judiciously omitted. To mention the event in a private letter to the chancellor was one thing; to do so in a public commission was quite another.

The leader of the gang who - temporarily, at least - seized Edward was Thomas Dunheved, Dominican friar, whose attempts to free Edward did not go unnoticed by some contemporary chroniclers (including Annales Paulini, Anonimalle, Brut and Lanercost). He is the only member of the gang mentioned by name in any of these chronicles. Berkeley's letter, however, puts Brother John of Newminster's (frere Johan de Neumoster) name first on the list of plotters, even before Thomas and his brother Stephen Dunheved. Although I don't suppose that Berkeley wrote (or recited to his clerk) the list of names in order of their importance, I wonder if this is significant. I also wonder what skills Brother John brought to the attack on Berkeley Castle. He was a monk, but had he once been a soldier? What was his role in all this that made him important enough to order sheriffs and keepers of the peace over a large tract of England to pursue and arrest him?

Another question that strikes me is, how did Lord Berkeley or anyone else at Berkeley Castle know who John was? Berkeley's first letter about the attack, which does not survive but resulted in the commission of 15 July, names only four men. By 27 July, however, Berkeley had learned the names of seventeen others who had taken part in the attack or who were its leaders. Who told him? How would anyone in Gloucestershire have known the identity of a monk from 300 miles away in Northumberland? Does this perhaps imply that some of the gang had already been captured and were forced to reveal the names of their co-conspirators?

Can I ask any more unanswerable questions in this post? :-)

I have no idea what happened to Brother John of Newminster after 27 July 1327. Either he was captured, and killed or thrown into prison, or he went into hiding somewhere in England, or he fled abroad - there is evidence that some of the Dunheved gang, or *Team Dunheved!!* as Lady D and I call them, did escape overseas. I'd like to think that John lived to a ripe old age, but somehow I doubt it.

***

John of Towcester in Northamptonshire, or Johan de Toucestre as his name was spelt in the fourteenth century, was a middle-ranking member of Edward II's household for most of the king's reign, and was appointed keeper of several manors, Queenhithe in London and the gate of Norwich Castle. [4] In November 1325 he retired, and Edward II sent him to Reading Abbey to 'receive sustenance for life'. [5]

Evidently, however, John came out of retirement to fight for Edward after Isabella and Mortimer's invasion, as on 10 October 1326, Edward ordered him to bring men-at-arms to him. One of his fellow appointees was Thomas de la Haye, who joined John of Newminster and the Dunheved brothers and was one of the men who attacked Berkeley Castle. [6] At a time when most of Edward's household began leaving him - in the manner of rats deserting a sinking ship - John left the safety of his abbey to go and fight for him.

Thomas Berkeley's letter of 27 July 1327 stated that 'a great number of people' in Buckinghamshire and neighbouring counties were also plotting to free Edward, and though I can't prove it, I strongly suspect that John of Towcester was one of them. As a suspiciously large number of commissions of oyer and terminer were issued against members of the Dunheved gang in 1327, so John was accused of several crimes in Buckinghamshire at the same time, in the company of a few other former members of Edward II's household. One of them was John le Keu, appointed with John of Towcester and Thomas de la Haye to bring men-at-arms to Edward II on 10 October 1326. [7]

After 1327, John of Towcester disappears from the records for a while, presumably because he'd gone back to Reading Abbey and because the announcement of Edward II's death in late September 1327 rendered further plotting to free him somewhat pointless. John crops up again on 31 March 1330 when an order for his arrest was issued, with dozens of other men, for adhering to Edward's half-brother the earl of Kent, who believed that Edward was alive and in prison at Corfe Castle and was plotting to restore him to the throne. [8] John must have been pretty elderly by then; I've seen a reference to him being appointed the attorney of one Thomas de Croylaunde all the way back in 1293. Even in 1330, his loyalty to Edward inspired him to fight and plot again for his former king, two and a half years after Edward's supposed death.

Of course it's beyond question that most of Edward's kingdom rejected him in the autumn of 1326, and even *I* have to admit with very good reason. But he was capable of inspiring such devotion in some people that even in 1327, after his disastrous downfall, there were plenty of men willing to fight and to die for him. One of them was a monk who left the safety of his convent and travelled the length of England for him, nearly five years after the last time he'd seen Edward - and who, most probably, died for him. Another was a man willing to leave retirement to fight for Edward, not once but twice.

And that's not a bad epitaph for anyone.

Sources

1) Elizabeth M. Hallam, The Itinerary of Edward II and his Household 1307-1328 (List and Index Society, 1984), p. 229.
2) F. J. Tanqueray, ‘The Conspiracy of Thomas Dunheved, 1327’, English Historical Review, xxxi (1916), pp. 119-24.
3) Calendar of Patent Rolls 1327-1330, pp. 154, 156-157.
4) CPR 1307-1313, p. 513; CPR 1313-1317, pp. 77, 214; Calendar of Fine Rolls 1307-1319, p. 195; CFR 1319-1327, pp. 95, 269, 314.
5) Calendar of Close Rolls 1323-1327, p. 517.
6) CPR 1324-1327, p. 326.
7) CPR 1327-1330, p. 81.
8) CFR 1327-1337, p. 169.

Cool Names Of The Early Fourteenth Century

Here are some names I really like, spotted while trawling through the Patent and Close Rolls of the early fourteenth century...

Isard de Lana Plana: one of Edward II's sergeants-at-arms in 1323. Where the heck is Lana Plana?

Sewal atte Ponde: accused of 'trampling crops with carts and horses' and other crimes in Essex in August 1327.

Richard But and Simon 'Richardesprestbut': Richard's priest's butt? Co-accused with Mr atte Ponde.

John 'Thelavediescartere Engayne': Ditto.

Meliora de Glenkarny: late the wife of Gilbert de Glenkarny, October 1327. 'Meliora' always sounds to me like the kind of silly pseudo-medieval name that sometimes appears in historical romances, but there you go, apparently it was a real name. I still object to 'Brianna', though.

Adam le Fuckere and Jordan le Cok: Oh dear. Accused of assault in Somerset in August 1315.

Cokkus atte Wose: Accused in July 1323 of stealing goods from a ship belonging to merchants of Flanders at Newcastle.

Thomas Roberdesknave Elisisone: Accused of carrying away fish and cattle in Oxfordshire in February 1309.

Walran Wolf: Accused nine men of breaking into his house and assaulting his pregnant wife (oy!) in Lincolnshire in August 1319.

Pentecost de Kershalton: Accused with five other men, including the mayor of Northampton, of assaulting and imprisoning the servants of John Cromwell, and killing others, in November 1308.

Godeskak Pentecost of Almain: German merchant trading in England, February 1320.

Ralph Bonebote, Walter le Lunge and Benedict le Segrestaynesman: Accused of assault in Northamptonshire in February 1310.

Chivellus de Pistor: Another of Edward II's sergeants, April 1312.

Thomas 'Of the Bedde': Accused several men of assaulting him in Lincolnshire in April 1312.

Scolastica de Melsa: Late the wife of Godfrey, November 1316.

La Weliwonne: Name of one of Edward II's ships in 1312.

Augustine Bastard: Held lands worth forty shillings annually in Devon, August 1326.

Drua de la Putte: Late the wife of Miles, December 1326.

Grimbald Pauncefot: Either the constable of St Briavels Castle early in Edward II's reign, or a character in one of J. K. Rowling's novels. His brother was Emericus or Emery Pauncefot.

Elnardus de Salso Marisco: Owed £10 to Peter Deyvill in September 1314.

Walter Crapinel: Granted part of the manor of Wratting Taleworth, wherever that is, in May 1316.

Talifer de Tilliolo: Joint keeper of the town of Scarborough in 1315.

Robert de Buttustorne, Ralph Dieuxboneye and Richard Pilerche of Dogmaresfeld: three of the forty-odd men accused of stealing Roger Mortimer's deer from his park at Stratfield Mortimer in May 1316.

Femisia atte Mershe: Granted land to the abbot of Stratford in December 1315.

Hamo atte Hole: Accused of assault in Kent in March 1318.

German Canterbury: Accused of burning one of the dwelling-places of the abbot of Canterbury in January 1317.

Nicholas Wynceconte: Co-accused with Mr Canterbury, as was Michael Canterbury, presumably his brother.

Gippus atte Soler: Accused of stealing deer and assaulting the king's parker in Surrey in April 1324.

Lovekyn Bruyn: Accused of breaking and entering in Oxfordshire in May 1322, and 'carrying away doves' (seriously).

Ranulph Prat and Joceus del Dike: Accused of breaking and entering and assault in Lincolnshire in December 1312.

Jordan Fatbon, Thomas le Gay, Hamelin Pappe and Gellinus Bynortheweye: Accused of assault in Devon in May 1316.

OK, that's enough laughing at people's names for one day. :-)

EDIT: Thanks to Satima Flavell for linking to this post on her blog.

Edward II's Reign For Dummies

Courtesy of this site, via Susan Higginbotham and Gabriele Campbell, Edward II's reign for dummies...

Brief Biographies (2): Robert Lewer

Today, a post on one of the baddest of all fourteenth-century bad boys, Robert Lewer (or le Ewer), who murdered his mistress's husband, threatened to kill and dismember Edward II's sergeants-at-arms in front of the king, and was condemned to be crushed to death with a great weight of iron.

The Vita Edwardi Secundi has quite a lot of info on Robert. According to the author, he grew up at court and was was the king's 'water-bearer', responsible for drying the king's clothes and preparing his bath (hence the name 'le Ewer'). [1] To say the author strongly disapproved of Robert would be a major understatement, and he says "relying on his influence at court, and accustomed to lax morals from youth, he was always ready for plunder and killing." As Robert was already an adult by the time of Edward II's accession in 1307, it was at Edward I's court that he acquired his 'lax morals', not Edward II's.

Robert was also, however, "shrewd and active in military matters," though he wasn't a knight. Edward II showed him great favour, and in 1311, Robert was one of the men whom the Ordainers ordered away from Edward, at the same time that they sent Piers Gaveston into exile: "Item, Robert Lewer, archers and such manner of ribaldry shall be removed from the king’s wages, and not stay in his service, except in war." [2] Edward had appointed him constable of Odiham Castle in Hampshire, which belonged to Queen Marguerite, a few weeks earlier. [3] At some unknown date, says the Vita, he "killed a certain good man, and made off with his wife, with whom he had previously committed adultery." Edward II's reaction to this murder is not recorded. In the summer of 1313, Robert accompanied Edward on his trip to France, with Queen Isabella, to see her three brothers knighted. [4]

In April 1309, Edward granted Robert the reversion of the manor of Warblington, nowadays a suburb of Havant near Portsmouth, and in December 1318, gave him a water-mill and adjacent meadow in Basingstoke, also in Hampshire. [5] Robert made efforts to deprive Isabella, widow of Hugh Bardolf, of her free tenements in Emsworth, and disseize her of Warblington. [6] He failed to appear before King's Bench to answer Isabella's plea, and on 6 July 1312, Edward sent three separate writs to the justices of the King's Bench, ordering them to acquit Robert of his forfeiture because of his non-appearance, "as the said Robert was with the king in his service at that time and is still with him." [7]

In February 1320, Edward II replaced Robert as constable of Odiham with his friend Hugh Despenser the younger. [8]. Some months later, the king ordered Robert's arrest on the grounds of his "trespasses, contempts and disobediences." Precisely what these were is not clear, but most likely, Robert was angry about his replacement as constable by Despenser and went on some kind of rampage. His later actions demonstrate that he detested the Despensers and their influence. Robert resisted "by armed force" the attempts of Edward's sergeants-at-arms to arrest him, "threatening some of the king’s subjects with loss of life and limb, asserting he would slay them and cut them up limb by limb wherever he should find them, either in the presence or absence of the king." Edward, who had previously shown Robert such favour, was by now severely out of patience with him, calling him "so vile a person," and ordered all the sheriffs of England to arrest and imprison him and his adherents with their "receivers, abettors and maintainers." Robert evaded capture, and was still being sought in January 1321. [9]

In May 1321, the Marcher lords went on a trail of destruction through the Welsh lands of Hugh Despenser the younger, and it evidently occurred to Edward that Robert, an excellent soldier, would be more useful to him out of prison than inside. On 20 May, Edward granted a safe-conduct for Robert "and others with him coming to the king and departing," and on 9 June, pardoned Robert for threatening to 'slay and dismember' his sergeants, released Robert’s wife Margery and his 'friends' from prison, restored his lands and goods, and re-appointed him constable of Odiham Castle. [10]

On 19 October 1321, Edward commissioned Robert "in conjunction with the keepers of the peace and the sheriffs of the counties of Surrey, Sussex, Southampton, Wilts, Oxford, Berks, Somerset and Dorset, to enquire touching malefactors making confederacies there, and to arrest and attach the guilty and to send them to the nearest gaols until further order." [11] On 6 and 7 December that year, the king sent Robert, with Oliver Ingham, to arrest his former favourites Roger Damory and Hugh Audley, his former steward Bartholomew Badlesmere, and several others - unsuccessfully, as it turned out, as they weren't captured until the following March. [12]

Robert was one of the men, with the earl of Surrey and unnamed others, who took Roger Mortimer and his uncle Roger Mortimer of Chirk, after they "deserted their allies and threw themselves on the king's mercy" at Shrewsbury, to imprisonment in the Tower of London - just after dinner on 14 February 1322, according to the Croniques de London. The Vita says Robert commanded Edward's household infantry at the battle of Boroughbridge on 16 March 1322. [13] Later that year, however, things once more turned sour between the king and his thuggish, murderous commander. Robert accompanied Edward on the Scottish campaign of autumn 1322, but arrived late, and left early, to Edward's annoyance. On 16 September, Edward commanded Robert to come to him to explain his "withdrawal from the king's presence," and four days later, when Robert hadn't appeared, ordered the sheriff of Hampshire to arrest him and "cause him to be guarded safely until further orders, as he withdrew himself secretly from the king's presence...and as he has not come to the king or sent lawful excuse." [14]

On the same day Edward ordered the sheriff of Hampshire to arrest Robert for leaving him, he ordered all the sheriffs of England "to pursue with hue and cry until they be taken dead or alive" Robert Lewer, John Wyard, John du Chastel, and Richard and Robert de Harle, "the king being given to understand that the said Robert and the others have risen against him." [15] Wyard was an associate of Roger Mortimer. Robert had gone to some of the manors belonging to Hugh Despenser the elder, now earl of Winchester, and "carried off victuals and other necessaries."

He then went to manors which had formerly belonged to Warin Lisle and his brother-in-law Henry Tyes, whom Edward had had executed that spring, which now belonged to Winchester. "And there Sir [sic] Robert made a great distribution to the poor in the name of alms for the souls of the said barons. From this he profited little, because God has regard to the intention rather than the deed. That cannot be called alms which comes from theft or rapine. For, as is said elsewhere, it is a kind of theft to distribute largesse from the goods of another without consent of the lord." [16]

Throughout late 1322, Edward made strenuous attempts to arrest Robert. On 1 November, he sent out writs to sheriffs and keepers of the peace in places as far apart as Bristol, Cheshire, Lancashire, Wales and the Marches and Oxfordshire. Eleven days later he sent his half-brother the earl of Kent to "the parts of Wales" with men-at-arms and footmen to pursue Robert. By 28 November, Edward had heard that Robert had tried to seize Odiham Castle and had entered the king's manor of 'Ichehull', where he stole "the king's goods and beasts," and by 3 December, believed him to be in the forest of Malvern, in Worcestershire. [17] All this suggests that Robert had, or at least was believed to have, supporters and adherents all over the country. Possibly, though, this was just Edward's paranoia, and the Vita says that "Robert's plan failed, and his men deserted day by day." His plan, such as it was, was to capture the earl of Winchester, who "took refuge in Windsor Castle and set a watch night and day" - meaning that Robert rebelled against the Despensers, rather than Edward II.

Robert had been captured by 19 December 1322, on which date Edward rewarded Janekyn, the messenger who brought him the news, with forty shillings (£2) - a pretty small amount by his standards, which perhaps suggests that by then he had lost interest in Robert or no longer considered him a threat. [18] The Vita says that Robert went to Southampton with his wife - who had presumably forgiven him for taking a mistress and killing her husband - to try to cross over to France, but was recognised there and imprisoned. If that is true, it was pretty foolish of Robert, who was very well-known in Hampshire, to go to the one English port where he was bound to be recognised. The Vita's account is in fact likely to be correct, as it was Robert Kendale, appointed to search for Robert in Hampshire, who sent his messenger Janekyn to inform Edward II of his capture. (This implies that Edward had sent his brother Kent off on a wild goose chase to Wales.)

Robert refused to speak in court and to answer the charges against him, and was sentenced to the usual punishment for people who refused "to submit to the law of the realm": peine forte et dure, 'strong and hard punishment'. The prisoner sat on the bare floor wearing thin clothes, and a huge weight of iron - several hundred pounds - was placed on top of him (or her). Death normally took several days. Prisoners were allowed a small amount of mouldy bread and cloudy water; on the days they received bread, they were allowed no water, and vice versa. [19] This grotesque punishment wasn't abolished in Britain until 1772.

Robert Lewer survived several days of this horror, and was dead by 8 January 1323. [20] The author of the Vita, at least, approved of the manner of his death: "Robert at length died, receiving at last a punishment fitting for his crimes and healthy for his soul, provided he bore it with resignation." Robert's widow Margery was released from prison on 30 July 1324, and pardoned on 9 September "for having been lately in rebellion against the king." [21] Probably that same year, she petitioned Edward II, denying any complicity in the murder of one Peter Luscombe. [22] Presumably, Luscombe was the husband of Margery's husband's mistress, unless Robert also murdered another man - which, given his brutal character, is hardly improbable.

RIP Robert Lewer, one of the thugs of the fourteenth century!

Sources

1: Vita Edwardi Secundi, ed. N. Denholm-Young (1957), pp. 117-118, 127-129.
2: Annales Londonienses 1195-1330, in W. Stubbs, ed., Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, volume 1, Rolls Series, 76 (1882), p. 199.
3: Calendar of Fine Rolls 1307-1319, p. 103; Calendar of Patent Rolls 1307-1313, pp. 400, 405, 481; Calendar of Close Rolls 1307-1313, pp. 375, 378.
4: CPR 1307-1313, pp. 580, 584.
5: CPR 1307-1313, pp. 160, 304-305, 319 and CCR 1307-1313, p. 387, for Warblington; CPR 1317-1321, p. 253 and The National Archives SC 8/92/4562B, for the mill and meadow.
6: TNA SC 8/4/190; CPR 1313-1317, pp. 139-40; CCR 1323-1327, p. 436.
7: CCR 1307-1313, pp. 399, 429, 430.
8: CFR 1319-1327, pp. 15, 18.
9: CCR 1318-1323, pp. 260, 285-286, 326.
10: CPR 1317-1321, pp. 586, 596, and CCR 1318-1323, pp. 312, 394, for the safe-conduct, pardon of Robert, his wife and friends, and restoration to his lands and goods; CFR 1319-1327, p. 64, and CPR 1317-1321, p. 595, for Odiham.
11: CPR 1321-1324, p. 28.
12: CPR 1321-1324, p. 40.
13: Croniques de London depuis l'an 44 Hen III jusqu'à l'an 17 Edw III, ed. G.J. Aungier (1844), p. 43; Vita, p. 118 (infantry and Mortimer quote).
14: CCR 1318-1323, p. 597; CPR 1321-1324, p. 206.
15: CCR 1318-1323, p. 685.
16: Vita, p. 127.
17: J. C. Davies, ‘The First Journal of Edward II’s Chamber’, English Historical Review, 30 (1915), p. 680; CPR 1321-1324, pp. 215, 221, 222, 254.
18: Davies, 'First Journal', p. 678.
19: CPR 1324-1327, p. 142, for the quote; Vita, 128.
20: CPR 1321-1324, p. 232.
21: CCR 1323-1327, p. 203; CPR 1324-1327, p. 21.
22: TNA SC 8/122/6098.

My Favourite Edward II Quotes

A collection of quotes about or by or otherwise related to Edward II and his era, from fourteenth-century letters and chronicles, or in secondary sources, that I like!

1) "Edward II sat down to the game of kingship with a remarkably poor hand, and he played it very badly." [Noel Denholm-Young, from the introduction to his translation of the Vita Edwardi Secundi, 1957, p. ix]

2) "He set off with all speed, he and his silly company of swimmers, to the parliament which he had ridiculously caused to be summoned to Lincoln." [Flores Historiarum, vol. iii, ed. H. R. Luard, 1890, p. 173]

The contemporary Westminster chronicler gets in a dig at Edward for his autumn 1315 swimming and rowing holiday in the Fens - and is so busy sneering at the king that he gets the dates wrong: the Lincoln parliament began in late January 1316, but Edward had left the Fens in mid-October 1315, and spent most of the intervening period at Clipstone in Nottinghamshire with Isabella.

And a king summoning parliament? Yeah, that's ridiculous.

3) "...which answer the king deems altogether insufficient and derisory." [CCR 1318-1323, p. 408, dated 28 November 1321]

Edward II responds to his former favourite Roger Damory, who was busy making excuses as to why he couldn't hand over Glamorgan into the king's hands after the August 1321 exile of Hugh Despenser, lord of Glamorgan. I'm longing to use this phrase in conversation.

Waiter: Are you enjoying your meal, madam?
Me: No. I deem it altogether insufficient and derisory.

4) 20 November 1313: "Notification for the security of Mariota de Karliolo, and to relieve her from sinister suspicion touching the loss of her ear, that she whilst in the army of king Edward I in Scotland, passing between the carts of that army, stumbled and fell, and that a carter accidentally cut off her right ear with his cart which he was leading. By testimony of Hugh le Despenser." [CPR 1313-1317, p. 40]

5) 30 March 1324: "Notification, lest sinister suspicion should arise hereafter, that the defect which William Sampson suffers in his right ear arose from the stroke of a tun of wine as he was walking amongst the tuns on board a ship to see that no harm came to them, as the king is informed on sufficient evidence." [CPR 1321-1324, p. 403]

What was it with people getting their ears attacked by inanimate objects?

6) "The earl of Hereford is even more dejected and thoughtful than usual." Hugh Despenser the younger describes Edward II's brother-in-law in a letter to the sheriff of Glamorgan, 21 March 1321. [English Historical Review, 1897, p. 761]

7) "Meanwhile it was publicly rumoured in England that the queen of England was coming to England."

The Lanercost chronicler, describing the events of 1326, attempts the world record for how many times he can write 'England' in a short sentence. [ The Chronicle of Lanercost 1272-1346, ed. Herbert Maxwell, facsimile edition, 2001, p. 250]

8) "...threatening some of the king's subjects with loss of life and limb, asserting that he would slay and dismember them wherever he should find them, either in the presence or absence of the king." [CCR 1318-1323, pp. 285-6; CPR 1317-1321, p. 596]

The thuggish Robert Lewer, constable of Odiham Castle and a member of Edward II's household, threatens the men Edward has sent to arrest him, late 1320.

9) "Seldom did a son contrast so strangely with his father as did Edward of Carnarvon with Edward the Hammer of the Scots. The mighty warrior and statesman begot a shiftless, thriftless craven." [Charles William Chadwick Oman, A History of England, 1895, p. 171]

I'm thinking of changing the name of the blog from 'Edward II' (dull!) to 'Edward II, the shiftless, thriftless craven'. Try saying that fast.

10) Victorian writer Emily Sarah Holt moralises Victorianly about Alice de Lacy (died 1348), countess of Lincoln and wife of Thomas, earl of Lancaster: "I doubt there can be found, through the whole of the fourteenth century, another woman so literally steeped in vice and crime as this young and beautiful heiress." We learn that not only did poor Alice poison her second husband Eubolo Lestrange, she attempted to poison her first husband Lancaster and left him for the "lame and hump-backed" Richard St Martin, whereupon Lancaster remonstrated with his "wicked Countess." "With her reply I will not disgrace these pages; suffice it to say, that she boldly defended her shameless proceedings, in such a style as to proclaim her utterly lost to all sense of womanly honour." [Emily Sarah Holt, Memoirs of Royal Ladies, vol. 1, 1861, pp. 45-62]

I wonder how you can be 'literally' steeped in vice and crime?

11) "Oh! The insane stupidity of the king of the English, condemned by God and men, who should not love his infamy and illicit bed, full of sin, and should never have removed from his side his noble consort and her gentle wifely embraces, in contempt of her noble birth." [Flores, p. 224]

The Westminster chronicler, who by no stretch of the imagination could be considered Edward II's greatest fan, puts the boot in again.

12) "In his insane fury he hated all the magnates with such wicked hatred that he plotted to overthrow, once and for all and without distinction, the great men of the realm together with the whole English aristocracy." [Yup, Flores again, p. 200]

Edward II was planning a cull of the entire English nobility and knightly class in 1322. Who knew?

13) "The king rejoices greatly that providence has illuminated abundantly the boldness of Alfonsus's youth by gifts of virtues and natural and gracious good things, as widely diffused fame has made known and is as now spread to the ends of the world." [CCR 1323-1327, p. 344]

Edward II waxes lyrical about the wonderfulness of his thirteen-year-old cousin Alfonso XI of Castile, early 1325.

14) "We have nothing but good news in front of us." Letter of Edward II to William Aune, 4 May 1321, the very day thousands of men began attacking the Welsh lands of his favourite Hugh Despenser. Oops. [J. R. Maddicott, Thomas of Lancaster 1307-1322: A Study in the Reign of Edward II, 1970, p. 266, my translation]

15) "From his youth he devoted himself in private to the art of rowing and driving carts, of digging ditches and thatching houses, as was commonly said, and also with his companions at night to various works of ingenuity and skill, and to other pointless trivial occupations unsuitable for the son of a king." [Lanercost, p. 222]

Wonder what the night-time occupations of ingenuity and skill were?

16) "May help come from you, our lord, if it please you, for in you, Sire, is all our hope and trust." [G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, second edition, 1976, p.249]

The earl of Ross, whose lands were being invaded and attacked by Robert Bruce, appeals to Edward II in the spring of 1308. Oh dear, placing all your hope and trust in Edward regarding military matters was a really bad idea. (Ross submitted to Bruce shortly afterwards.)

17) "It was decided that the said Piers [Gaveston] should leave the realm [in 1308], and he left it, and that he did not return by common consent, but only by the consent of some, who consented to this on condition that after his return he should be of good behaviour, and now it is found of a certainty that he has behaved badly." [Vita, p. 20, quoting the twentieth Ordinance]

The lamest part of the Ordainers' justification for exiling Piers again, autumn 1311.

Brief Biographies (1): Giles Argentein

Starting a feature where I turn the spotlight on some of the more obscure men and women of Edward II's era. Today, Sir Giles Argentein, who is not well-known today, but in his day was considered one of the greatest knights in Europe.

John Barbour, a Scottish poet of the later fourteenth century, called Giles Argentein the third greatest knight and crusader of his era, behind the Holy Roman Emperor Henry of Luxembourg and Robert Bruce. [1] Giles' parentage is rather obscure; he might have been the younger brother of Sir John Argentein (died 1318), who married Agnes, daughter of William Bereford, chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. If not his brother, then Giles was presumably John's cousin. Giles' date of birth is unknown, but I'd guess around 1280 (John Argentein was born about 1278). I also have no idea if he was married or not, but he left no children. If he was John's younger brother, this would make him a son of Reynald Argentein, himself the son and heir of Giles Argentein, who died shortly before 24 November 1282. Reynald Argentein was born in about 1242 and died shortly before 3 March 1308, when his lands passed to his eldest son. [2]

In July 1302, Giles was accused with twenty named men and "a multitude of armed men" of breaking into the houses of Master Peter de Dene at 'Lilleseye' (Lawshall?) in Suffolk, where they "consumed and appropriated his goods, and beat his servants." [3] In November 1302, he and several other young men deserted from the Scottish campaign, to fight at a jousting tournament at Byfleet in Surrey. [4] Edward I issued an order on 8 March 1303 for Giles' lands in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk to be seized, and sent the sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire "to arrest the body of Giles de Argenteim for certain trespasses and contempts, and have him before the king fifteen days from Easter next to answer touching the same." [5] He was released from prison to fight at the siege of Stirling Castle in April 1304, and earned himself a pardon on 28 June that year "in consideration of the service in Scotland of Giles de Argenteym, and especially of the harm he sustained" at Stirling. [6]

In October 1306, Giles again deserted from a Scots campaign, this time to go jousting on the continent, with twenty-one other young knights including Piers Gaveston, Roger Mortimer and the Gilbert de Clare, lord of Thomond mentioned in my last post. A furious Edward I seized their lands for "deserting the king and his son in those parts in contempt of the king and to the retarding of the king's business" and ordered various sheriffs to "take the body of [Giles, etc] and keep him safely, until further order." [7] Sixteen of the men were pardoned on 23 January 1307 thanks to the intercession of the Lord Edward, prince of Wales, and Queen Marguerite; Giles Argentein, perhaps not surprisingly, was not one of them. [8]

Possibly, Giles was rather relieved when Edward I died in July 1307 and Edward II succeeded to the throne! On 12 March 1308, Edward II appointed Giles constable of Cambridge Castle, which belonged to the dowager queen Marguerite, and sometime before 12 March 1310 granted him the wardship of William, son and heir of William Criketot, tenant-in-chief. [9] Giles took part in the great jousting tournament at Dunstable in or about March 1309 with John Argentein, his brother or cousin. On 28 May 1309, he held the field against all comers at the tournament of Stepney, and was crowned 'King of the Greenwood' (given as the half-Latin, half-French rex de Vertbois by the London annalist, and as rex de viridi bosco by the Pauline annalist). [10] Four weeks later, rather less chivalrously, Giles was accused with three named men and unnamed others of assaulting a Richard Aylward in Colchester, Essex. [11]

Giles Argentein accompanied Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall, on the Scottish campaign in the autumn of 1310. [12] Piers was also a champion jouster, and I wonder if the two men ever rode against each other? (Piers was in Ireland in the spring of 1309, so couldn't attend the tournaments at Dunstable and Stepney.) Now that would have been worth watching. On 15 February 1311, Giles was making plans to go to the Holy Land, and appointed Alan Houel as his attorney for a year. [13] A Stephen Houel, probably a relative, was one of the men co-accused with Giles in 1302 of breaking into Peter de Dene's houses.

Unfortunately for Giles, he was captured on the way to Rhodes by people whom Edward II later described as "the men of that island, who are commonly called 'maleveisine'" ('bad neighbours'), and was held in prison at Thessalonika. By the summer of 1313, Edward II knew that he would have to take an army to Stirling the following summer and probably have to face Robert Bruce in battle. His thoughts turned to the greatest of all English knights, and on 7 August 1313, he sent a "request to aid in procuring the release of Giles de Argenteyn, knight" to the master and preceptor of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, saying "the king is informed that the master of the hospital can aid the delivery of the said knight more than any one else." Edward sent a letter in the same vein to the podestà and community of Genoa, "as the king learns that the merchants of that city are conversant with the abovesaid men [the 'bad neighbours'], and are more able to aid and procure his release than any others." [14]

On 12 October 1313, Edward also wrote to ten highly influential people to ask their aid in releasing Giles Argentein, or 'Egidius de Argenteym' as it appeared in the Latin original: "his dearest friend" the Byzantine emperor Andronikos Palaeologus; "the most serene lady, and his dearest lady in Christ" the Empress Eirene; Andronikos's son and co-emperor Michael; his other son the marquess of Montferrat; the king of Sicily; Francesco Fieschi, count of Lavagna; Carlo Fieschi; Opicino Spinola; Conrad and Bernabo Doria. [15] (In 1315 and 1317, Edward appointed Francesco and Carlo Fieschi, nephews of Cardinal Luca Fieschi and his distant cousins, "to be of the king's household forever and to wear his livery.") [16]

This major, and extremely well-informed, diplomatic effort on Edward's part soon produced the desired results, and Giles Argentein was back in England by 12 March 1314. [17] At the battle of Bannockburn on 23 and 24 June that year, he was appointed with the earl of Pembroke to hold the king's reins, or in other words, to be Edward's bodyguard. When the battle was lost, the earl of Pembroke dragged Edward off the field, with hundreds of his knights, to prevent his capture. As soon as Giles knew that Edward would be safe, according to Sir Thomas Gray in the Scalacronica, he declared "Sire, your rein was entrusted to me; there is your castle [Stirling] where your body will be safe. I am not accustomed to flee, and I have no intention of doing so now. I commend you to God." (Sire, vostre reyne me fust baillez, ore estez a sauuete, veiz cy vostre chastel ou vostre corps purra estre saue. Jeo nay pas este acoustome a fuyre, ne plus auaunt ne voil ieo faire, a Dieux vous commaunde.)

Gray continues "Then, setting spurs to his horse, he returned to the melee, where he was killed." [18] Giles galloped towards the schiltrom of Robert Bruce's brother Edward and was cut down either by their pikes or battle-axes, or as Aryeh Nusbacher puts it in his book Bannockburn 1314, "It was just as his horse was preparing to jump the men twelve feet away that Giles de Argentine realised that death wasn't something that only happened to other people." [19] The Vita, on the other hand, which describes Giles as "very expert in the art of war," says that he watched the young earl of Gloucester hit one of the Scottish schiltroms full on and die, and "hurried up in eager anxiety to help him, but could not. Yet he did what he could, and fell together with the earl, thinking it more honourable to perish with so great a man than to escape death by flight; for those who fall in battle for their country are known to live in everlasting glory." [20]

Giles left no children, and his heir was his nephew Sir William Argentein; Edward II gave William the 288 pounds on 18 July 1314 which he had owed to Giles, for William to "defray his uncle's debts and discharge his soul." [21]

Although I'm sure that Giles' contemporaries greatly admired and yearned to emulate his suicidally reckless courage - the authors of the Vita and the Scalacronica certainly admired him enormously - from my 21st-century, armchair perspective I can't help wishing that he hadn't been quite as foolhardy, and had lived to serve Edward II longer and more usefully, not thrown away his life in a battle that was already lost.

Sources

1) Cited in G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland (2nd edn., 1976), p. 296.
2) Calendar of Fine Rolls 1272-1307, pp. 174, 176, Fine Rolls 1307-1319, p. 16.
3) Calendar of Patent Rolls 1301-1307, p. 86.
4) Calendar of Close Rolls 1302-1307, p. 66.
5) Calendar of Fine Rolls 1272-1307, p. 471; CPR 1301-1307, p. 121.
6) CPR 1301-1307, p. 242.
7) CFR 1272-1307, pp. 543-544.
8) CCR 1302-1307, pp. 481-482.
9) CPR 1307-1313, p. 52, for Cambridge; CCR 1307-1313, p. 251, and CFR 1307-1319, p. 181, for the wardship.
10) Annales Londoniensis, p. 157, and Annales Paulini, p. 267, in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II, ed. W. Stubbs, vol. 1 (1882).
11) CPR 1307-1313, p. 174.
12) J. S. Hamilton, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall 1307-1312: Politics and Patronage in the Reign of Edward II (1988), p. 82.
13) CPR 1307-1313, p. 324.
14) CCR 1313-1318, p. 71.
15) CCR 1313-1318, p. 76; Foedera, p. 229.
16) CPR 1313-1317, p. 340; CPR 1317-1321, p. 10.
17) CCR 1313-1318, p. 42.
18) Scalacronica: by Sir Thomas Gray of Heton, knight, ed. Joseph Stevenson (1836), pp. 142-143.
19) Aryeh Nusbacher, Bannockburn 1314 (Tempus Publishing, 2005), p. 209.
20) Vita Edwardi Secundi, ed. N. Denholm-Young (1957), pp. 53-54.
21) Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland 1307-1357, p. 71.

Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford

A post on Edward II's eldest nephew Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford.

Gilbert was born on or about 10 May 1291 at Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, eldest child of Gilbert 'the Red' de Clare, who was forty-seven going on forty-eight, and Joan of Acre, who was nineteen and the second surviving daughter of Edward I. The couple had married a little over a year earlier. Gilbert was christened by Robert Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells and chancellor of England, and Edward I gave the whopping sum of £100 to the messenger who brought him news of the birth (by way of comparison, he gave the messenger who brought him news of the birth of Gilbert's half-sister Mary de Monthermer five marks, or three and a third pounds).

Gilbert was the eldest grandchild of Edward I, who was fifty-one in early May 1291. His grandmother Eleanor of Castile had died on 28 November 1290 the previous year, so didn't live long enough to see her grandson - though she may have known that Joan was pregnant. He had two much older half-sisters from his father's first marriage, Isabel and Joan, born 1262 and c. 1264, three full sisters Eleanor, Margaret and Elizabeth, and four half-siblings from his mother's second marriage. His father died when Gilbert was four, in December 1295.

Gilbert is often said to have been a member of his uncle Edward II's household before he became king. This is incorrect: the Gilbert de Clare who lived in Edward's household was Gilbert's first cousin of the same name, the eldest son of Gilbert the Red's brother Thomas de Clare (died 1287). [1] This Gilbert was lord of Thomond, born in 1281 and died in 1307. Probably in 1306, he married Hugh Despenser the Elder's daughter Isabel, in a joint de Clare-Despenser alliance; Eleanor de Clare, eldest daughter of Gilbert the Red and Joan of Acre, married Hugh Despenser the Younger in May 1306. Joan of Acre had been granted the marriage of Gilbert de Clare, lord of Thomond, in July 1294. [2] Gilbert (the one this post is about, not his cousin of Thomond; why were they so unimaginative with names?) was seven years younger than Edward II, not much of an age gap between uncle and nephew, but too big for him to have been much of a companion to Edward in adolescence and early adulthood.

In fact, Gilbert, from the age of ten, grew up in the household of his step-grandmother Queen Marguerite, who was only about ten or twelve years his senior: on 27 September 1301, his grandfather Edward I issued a "mandate to Joan, countess of Gloucester and Hertford, the king's daughter, to deliver to Margaret, queen consort, on her demand Gilbert, son and heir of Gilbert de Clare, sometime earl of Gloucester and Hertford, tenant in chief, and of the said Joan, as it is the king's will that he shall stay in the queen consort's custody until further order." [3] Although some writers have chosen to see this order as Edward I's punishing Joan for marrying Ralph de Monthermer without his permission, or proof that Joan was an unfit mother, it was of course an entirely normal thing to do.

Joan of Acre died on 23 April 1307, shortly before Gilbert's sixteenth birthday. Two and a half months later, his grandfather Edward I died, and his twenty-three-year-old uncle acceded as Edward II. On 18 August, Edward II granted Gilbert "all lands of his inheritance in Wales, which by reason of his minority are in the king's hands, together with all the appurtenances of that inheritance in England, Ireland and Wales, subject to a yearly payment to the Exchequer of 1000 marks for the lands in Wales," and on 26 November, permitted Gilbert "to hold all his father's lands, which are in the king's hands by reason of his minority, the king, out of his affection for him, having restored them to him in order that he may receive knighthood and serve the king." [4] This was five years before Gilbert could normally have expected to inherit; he would have come of age on 10 May 1312. Presumably Edward knighted Gilbert soon afterwards.

Edward's motives for granting Gilbert his inheritance so early are uncertain - desire for an ally, affection for his nephew, a sop so that Gilbert would accept his sister Margaret's marrriage to Piers Gaveston - but of course Gilbert-the-wealthy-earl was far more politically useful to Edward than Gilbert-the-underage-ward. At the age of sixteen, Gilbert now had an annual income of £6000, and was the richest man in the country after his uncle the king and his cousin the earl of Lancaster. On 12 March 1308, Edward also granted Gilbert the right "to marry whomsoever he will," and he chose Matilda (or Maud), one of the daughters of Richard de Burgh, earl of Ulster. They married at Waltham Abbey on 30 September 1308, in Edward II's presence. Gilbert was seventeen. [5] Many of the magnates had planned to hold a Round Table jousting tournament at the wedding, "but some of them were afraid of being beset, and dreaded treachery, so that the plans came to nought." [6]

The behaviour of Edward II and Piers Gaveston in 1308 put Gilbert in a rather awkward position, as he was Edward's nephew and Piers' brother-in-law. His actions are rather obscure, but he seems not to have actively supported the pair, nor to have actively opposed them. After Piers' exile in June 1308, however, Gilbert soon came back to his uncle's side, and witnessed Piers' restoration to the earldom of Cornwall on 5 August 1309. [7] A few weeks later, Edward issued a "notification that the hospitality shown, at the king's request, by the archbishop of York, at his dwelling house at Thorpe near York, to Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, is not to be a precedent for imposing a like charge upon him and the church of St. Peter, York, on any future occasion." [8]

After his return from exile, Piers Gaveston is said to have nicknamed Gilbert filz a puteyne, 'whoreson', supposedly a malicious reference to his mother Joan of Acre’s secret marriage to the squire Ralph de Monthermer in 1297. However, it’s possible that this referred to Ralph himself, Edward II’s brother-in-law, as he was apparently illegitimate. It seems unlikely that Piers would insult Edward II’s sister in such a public fashion. Also, Gilbert seems to have been on perfectly amicable terms with his brother-in-law in 1309 and 1310, which surely argues against the notion that Piers had called Gilbert's mother a whore. Still, Gilbert's support of his uncle and brother-in-law wavered on occasion: he refused to attend the parliament Edward summoned to York in October 1309 and again in February 1310, though he did attend the Westminster parliament in March 1310. He was one of the four earls, the others being Lincoln, Richmond and Surrey, whom Edward appointed to ensure that no-one came to parliament armed, with power "to settle all quarrels and punish offenders." [9] In fact, the earls of Pembroke, Arundel, Lancaster, Warwick and Hereford did come armed.

It was at the Westminster parliament that Edward was forced to consent to the formation of the Lords Ordainer, who appointed themselves to "ordain and establish the state of our household and our realm, according to right and reason…for the good of ourselves and of our realm." [10] Gilbert was elected as one of the Ordainers; of the eleven earls, only three were not: Cornwall (Piers Gaveston), Oxford (the totally insignificant Robert de Vere, who played no role in Edward II's reign) and Edward's nephew-in-law Surrey, John de Warenne.

Despite his role as an Ordainer, however, Gilbert chose to accompany his uncle on his what-not-at-all-surprisingly-turned-out-to-be-unsuccessful-and-pointless year-long Scottish campaign that autumn, with only two other earls - Cornwall and Surrey - and they set off for the north in August 1310. Gilbert spent the next few months at Norham Castle, presumably accompanied by his wife Matilda - Queen Isabella and the countesses of Cornwall and Surrey were certainly in the north with their husbands. Although nothing is known about Gilbert and Matilda's relationship, they are thought to have had a son named John born in April 1312, who presumably died soon afterwards as Gilbert was childless at the time of his death in 1314. [Can't remember the source for John, I'm afraid, and I'm too lazy to go and look.]

In early February 1311, the earl of Lincoln, whom Edward had left as regent of England in his absence, died in his late fifties. On 4 March, Edward appointed Gilbert as keeper of the realm instead, a great responsibility for the young man, not yet twenty. [11] Gilbert returned south to take up his duties and to help the Ordainers with their reforms of Edward's household. Unfortunately, Gilbert became embroiled in a feud with his cantankerous cousin the earl of Lancaster; relations between the two men were so bad that an anonymous letter-writer said that he feared a riot when the two men arrived in London. [12]

Parliament opened at Westminster in August 1311, and Gilbert was one of the Ordainers who tried to persuade Edward to send Piers into exile again. After they finally got him to agree - it took nearly two months - Edward ordered letters testifying to Piers' good character and loyalty to be written, and at his uncle's request, Gilbert added his seal. He then changed his mind and tore it off, "excusing himself on the grounds of his minority." [13]

Piers Gaveston returned to England yet again in early 1312. Gilbert met the other Ordainers at St Pauls early that February, and five of them bound themselves by oath to capture Piers. Gilbert was not one of them, but did promise to ratify whatever the others did. [14] After the earl of Warwick captured Piers in June 1312, the earl of Pembroke begged Gilbert to help him rescue the Gascon. Gilbert evidently was by then sick of his brother-in-law and refused to help, telling Pembroke that Warwick had acted with his aid and counsel. Pembroke had pledged all his lands to ensure Piers' safety, and Gilbert added "It only remains to advise you to learn another time to negotiate more cautiously." [15] The reaction of the fortyish Pembroke to this condescending pronouncement by a twenty-one-year-old is sadly not recorded. After Piers' death, however, Gilbert worked tirelessly to reconcile Edward and the earls of Lancaster, Warwick and Hereford.

The next important event in Gilbert's life was in May 1313, when Edward II once more left his nephew as keeper of the realm when he travelled to France with Isabella (it was during this trip that Edward watched 54 naked dancers). And thirteen months later, Gilbert was one of only three English earls, the others being Hereford and Pembroke, who fought for Edward II at Bannockburn. The first day of the battle, Saturday 23 June, saw a series of skirmishes which went the way of the Scots. Gilbert, rather humiliatingly, was unhorsed. He and his uncle by marriage the earl of Hereford had a row about who should lead the vanguard of the English army, Gilbert being constable of the army, Hereford being constable of England.

That night, Gilbert tentatively suggested to Edward that they should take a day's rest and allow the army to recuperate, not least because the following day was not only a Sunday but a holy day, the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. This was a perfectly reasonable suggestion, but Edward, unjustly, accused his nephew of cowardice and deceit. Gilbert's reaction is not recorded, but I can't help seeing him as going purple in the face then dashing outside to kick the nearest object while muttering heartfelt oaths at the supremely annoying uncle who had just maligned him in public.

The following day, Gilbert, desperate both to lead the vanguard and to prove Edward's accusations false, cried out "Today, it will be clear that I am neither a traitor nor a liar" and set off at a gallop towards the Scottish schiltroms, his men following closely behind. In his haste, he made the horrible mistake of forgetting to put on the surcoat which identified him as the earl of Gloucester, came off his horse and "was pierced by many wounds and shamefully killed." [16] Had the Scots known who he was, they would have taken him alive in order to claim an enormous ransom. Gilbert was then twenty-three.

Robert Bruce treated Gilbert's body with great honour and respect. He personally kept an overnight vigil over the body, and sent it back to England with full military honours, at his own expense. Although the two men had almost certainly never met, they were second cousins - Bruce's paternal grandmother Isabel de Clare was the sister of Gilbert's grandfather Richard de Clare - and married to sisters, Matilda and Elizabeth de Burgh.

Gilbert was buried at Tewkesbury Abbey with his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and other members of the de Clare family, and presumably his remains are still there. Edward II's Wardrobe account for 8 August 1317 says that five shillings and sixpence were given "in oblations distributed at diverse masses celebrated in the presence of our lord the king, in the conventual church of Sheleford for the soul of the Lord Gilbert de Clare, late earl of Gloucester, deceased, whose heart lies there inhumed." [17]. Edward II's itinerary shows that he was indeed at Shelford, just outside Nottingham, on that day, though this is the only reference I know of to Gilbert's separate heart burial.

The death of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford, had a profound effect on Edward II's reign. Not only was the king deprived of his nephew, loyal to him and generally a moderate and calming influence but also respected by the barons as the scion of an ancient noble family and grandson of the old king, but Gilbert's childless death meant that his vast lands and wealth would ultimately pass to the ambitious and unscrupulous men who were his brothers-in-law; precisely what Edward II’s England needed least. There's a great 'what if?' of Edward's reign: what if the earl of Gloucester had remembered to wear his surcoat at Bannockburn?

Sources

1) Hilda Johnstone, Edward of Carnarvon 1284-1307 (1946), p. 75.
2) Calendar of Patent Rolls 1292-1301, p. 81.
3) CPR 1292-1301, p. 606.
4) Calendar of Close Rolls 1307-1313, p. 10; CPR 1307-1313, p. 1.
5) CPR 1307-1313, p. 50.
6) Vita Edwardi Secundi, ed. N. Denholm-Young (1957), p. 6.
7) CCR 1307-1313, pp. 225-226.
8) CPR 1307-1313, p. 195.
9) CPR 1307-1313, pp. 206-207; Foedera, p. 103.
10) Foedera, p. 105.
11) CPR 1307-1313, p. 333; Foedera, p. 129.
12) J. R. Maddicott, Thomas of Lancaster 1307-1322: A Study in the Reign of Edward II (1970), p. 115.
13) Vita, pp. 20-21.
14) Vita, pp. 22-23.
15) Vita, p. 26.
16) Vita, pp. 52-53.
17) Thomas Stapleton, ‘A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the tenth, eleventh, and fourteenth years of King Edward the Second’, Archaeologia 26 (1836), p. 341.

Edward II's Daughters Eleanor and Joan

Edward II and Queen Isabella's elder daughter was born at Woodstock near Oxford on 18 June 1318, having been conceived the previous autumn when Edward and Isabella were together at York, and named after her paternal grandmother Eleanor of Castile. Edward had been on pilgrimage in Canterbury, but managed to arrive at Woodstock on the day of his daughter's birth, and paid 500 marks to "the Lady Isabella, queen of England, of the king’s gift, for the feast of her purification after the birth of the Lady Alienora her daughter." [1] Notice that Eleanor was called 'Lady', not 'Princess'.

Shortly after her birth, little Eleanor of Woodstock went to live at Wallingford Castle with her elder brothers Edward of Windsor (five years seven months her senior) and John of Eltham (one year ten months her senior), under the care of a nurse named Joan du Bois. John and Eleanor remained "in the company" of their brother Edward of Windsor, "at his expenses." [2] On 31 October 1318, Edward granted the castle and honour of High Peak in Derbyshire, the manors of Macclesfield and Overton in Cheshire, the manors of 'Rosfeyr, Dolpenmayn and Pennaghan' in Wales, and others to "John his son and Eleanor, sister of the said John...to hold for their sustenance at the king's will." [3] On 1 June 1320, Edward granted High Peak to Queen Isabella, "to hold in aid of the expenses of John, the king’s son, and Eleanor his sister, the king’s daughter," which may suggest that the household of the younger royal children was attached to the queen's. [4] This 1320 grant of High Peak to Isabella is the sole evidence that her younger children were living with her in the autumn of 1324, when Edward established separate households for them and thus - oh, the cruelty!!! - 'removed' Isabella's children from her. As though a medieval queen or noblewoman was expected to raise her own children anyway. Edward II was the legal guardian of his children, not Isabella, and harsh though it may seem from a modern perspective, medieval royal and noble women had few if any rights over their children. Some writers, in their rush to present Isabella as a victim, conveniently ignore the essential differences between medieval and modern motherhood.

Edward and Isabella's second daughter Joan was born at the Tower of London on 5 July 1321, when Edward was thirty-seven and Isabella twenty-five or twenty-six, and named after her maternal grandmother Joan (Jeanne) of Navarre. A man named Robert de Staunton was granted a respite of £80 on a debt of £180 he owed the Exchequer for the simple expedient of travelling a couple of miles across London to inform Edward II. [5] Edward arrived at the Tower three days later, and stayed there with his wife and baby daughter for the next six days. The Tower was in a somewhat dilapidated state, and rain came in on Isabella's bed when she was in labour. A furious Edward dismissed the constable of the Tower, John Cromwell, from his post.

Joan of the Tower had a nurse named Matilda Pyrie or Perie, formerly the nurse of her brother John of Eltham, and presumably lived in the same household as her elder siblings, or some of them. [3] Presumably, again, Edward visited his children occasionally, and sent them gifts, and presumably yet again, they visited court sometimes too, but I haven't been able to find any details. The lives of medieval children are really obscure, even the king's children. It's almost impossible to find any personal details about Edward's daughters.

In September 1324, Edward II established separate households for his three younger children, and Eleanor (de Clare) Despenser became the guardian of John of Eltham, aged eight. Eleanor was Edward's niece and thus John's first cousin, and as the eldest granddaughter of Edward I was an entirely appropriate person to take responsibility for the king of England's son. Ralph de Monthermer and Isabel Hastings became the guardians of Eleanor of Woodstock and Joan of the Tower, now six and three, who lived with the couple at Marlborough. [6] Ralph was Edward's former brother-in-law, having married Edward's sister Joan of Acre in early 1297, which means that Edward had known Ralph, who joined the king's family circle when Edward was only twelve, for nearly thirty years. Ralph's wife Isabel Hastings was the sister of Edward's favourite Hugh Despenser, which might have been a factor in Edward's decision, but evidently she was a trustworthy, maternal type: when Edward's niece Elizabeth (de Clare) de Burgh attended his funeral in December 1327, she left her two young daughters in Isabel's care, despite her hatred of Isabel's late brother. [7] After Ralph's death in early 1325, Isabel remained in charge of the royal sisters' household. [8]

In January 1325, Edward II turned his attention to the important question of his daughters' marriages, and opened negotiations with Castile for Eleanor of Woodstock to marry Alfonso XI. [9] Alfonso was born on 13 August 1311, seven years Eleanor's senior, and succeeded his father Fernando IV on 7 September 1312, at less than a year old. At the same time, Edward arranged the future marriage of his eldest son and heir Edward of Windsor to Alfonso XI's sister Leonor, "to make a treaty of friendship with the said king and his guardians and the rest of the magnates of Spain [i.e. Castile] and other realms, commonalties and universities."

Alfonso - or rather his advisors, given that he was only thirteen - declared that he "desires that his royal house shall be joined to the king's by a treaty of love by way of relationship." [10] Edward II, carried away with enthusiasm for his first cousin twice removed (Alfonso was the great-great-grandson of Edward's grandfather Fernando III), responded "The king rejoices greatly that providence has illuminated abundantly the boldness of Alfonsus's youth by gifts of virtues and natural and gracious good things, as widely diffused fame has made known and is as now spread to the ends of the world." [11] (Bear in mind that this renowned paragon of virtue was a thirteen-year-old boy.)

A few weeks later, Edward wrote to his cousin the lady of Biscay about the marriages, including the great quote I've already cited here a while back about his "rejoicing at the clinging together of such progeny sprung from his and her common stock, whilst they applaud each other with mutual honours and cherish each other with mutual counsel and aid." Edward also wrote to another cousin, don Juan, that "The king has received his letters with joy...[Juan] not only shows himself ready and prepared for the king's [Edward's] will and pleasure, but also asserts that nothing more pleasing or desirable could be offered to him than to perfect and execute those things that are to the king's advantage and honour, according to the king's desire." [12] On another occasion, he wrote to another of his Castilian cousins named Juan, declaring that he "recognised the abundance of Sir John's grace" and thanking him for his promise to raise 1000 knights and 10,000 footmen and squires to aid Edward in his war against France. [13]

At the same time, Edward went ahead with plans to marry Joan of the Tower to the grandson of the reigning king of Aragon, Jaime II, and sent envoys to discuss the "espousals...of the king's daughter Joan with the first-born of Alfonso the eldest son of James king of Aragon, and the future heir of Aragon." [14] The said grandson was born in September 1319, so was less than two years older than Joan, and succeeded his father as King Pedro IV of Aragon in 1336. Pedro lived until 1387 and is known as El del Punyalet, 'he of the little dagger'. He was also king of Sardinia, Corsica and Valencia and count of Barcelona, and, many years later, duke of Athens. Pedro and Joan were third cousins, both great-great-grandchildren of King Jaime I of Aragon, via Queen Isabella (and also third cousins once removed via Edward II).

"And because it was said that James is old and decrepit and it is not certain that he is not dead" - in fact, Jaime lived until November 1327 - Edward instructed his proctors to treat with Alfonso, Jaime's eldest son and Alfonso IV of Aragon from 1327 to 1336. No doubt Edward was pleased at the thought of an Aragonese marriage for his younger daughter, but, apart from his statement that "the king is eager that a confederation or alliance of love shall be made in some suitable way between himself and James," there's absolutely none of the 'rejoicing' and enthusiasm in the letters between himself and Castile. [15] Given that Edward II was half-Castilian himself, this is hardly suprising. Of course the Spanish alliances were political first and foremost - England and France were at war over Gascony in 1324/25, and both Aragon and Castile would be useful allies. But the tone of Edward II's long, well-informed and highly enthusiastic letters to Castile strongly suggest that he was genuinely delighted, on a personal level, at the thought of two of his children marrying into Castile.

Because of Edward's deposition less than two years later, none of these Spanish alliances came to pass. Alfonso XI of Castile married Maria of Portugal, had three or four children, and died of plague in 1350. Pedro IV of Aragon married four times: Marie of Navarre (granddaughter of Queen Isabella's brother Louis X), Leonor of Portugal (sister of Maria who married Alfonso XI), Eleanor of Sicily and Sibila of Fortià. His two successors, Juan I and Martí I, were the sons of his third wife Eleanor.

Eleanor of Woodstock made a not terribly brilliant marriage to Reynald II, count and later duke of Gelderland, in May 1332, the month before her fourteenth birthday, had two sons, and died aged thirty-seven in 1355. Joan of the Tower married Robert Bruce's son the future David II of Scotland in 1329, as part of her mother and Mortimer's detested peace treaty with Bruce. She died childless in 1362. Neither woman's marriage could be said to be particularly successful, and it's interesting to speculate what might have happened if the planned Spanish marriages had gone ahead instead.

Sources

1: Thomas Stapleton, ‘A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the tenth, eleventh, and fourteenth years of King Edward the Second’, Archaeologia, 26 (1836), p. 337.
2: Calendar of Fine Rolls 1307-1319, p. 389 and CFR 1319-1327, p. 6, that John and Eleanor lived with Edward; Calendar of Patent Rolls 1327-1330, p. 163, for Joan du Bois and Matilda Perie.
3: CPR 1317-1321, pp. 222-223.
4: CPR 1317-1321, p. 453.
5: CPR 1321-1324, p. 23.
6: CPR 1324-1327, p. 88.
7: Frances A. Underhill, For Her Good Estate: The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh (1999), pp. 40-41.
8: CPR 1324-1327, pp. 157, 243.
9: Calendar of Close Rolls 1323-1327, pp. 344, 350-351; CPR 1324-1327, pp. 103-4; The National Archives C 47/27/13/15 and C 47/27/13/16.
10: CCR 1323-1327, p. 344.
11: Ibid.
12: CCR 1323-1327, p. 350.
13: CCR 1323-1327, p. 344.
14: CPR 1324-1327, pp. 103-104.
15: CCR 1323-1327, p. 359.