The Project Gutenberg eBook of War and Misrule, by S.E. Winbolt, M.A., and Kenneth Bell, M.A..

BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS
General Editors: S.E. Winbolt, M.A., and Kenneth Bell, M.A.

WAR AND MISRULE

INTRODUCTION

This series of English History Source Books is intended for use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable—nay, an indispensable—adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a History of England for Schools, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of the books in this series should bring them within the reach of every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson. Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to teacher and taught.

Our belief is that the books may profitably be used by all grades of historical students between the standards of fourth-form boys in secondary schools and undergraduates at Universities. What differentiates students at one extreme from those at the other is not so much the kind of subject-matter dealt with, as the amount they can read into or extract from it.

In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter. It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be lively in style—that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical, or even strongly partisan—and should not so much profess to give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters, biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.

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We shall be most grateful to teachers and students who may send us suggestions for improvement.

I have to thank Sir E. Maunde Thompson and the Council of the Royal Society of Literature for permission to quote from Sir E. Maunde Thompson's translation of Adam of Usk's Chronicle. The sources used in this book are for the most part contemporary.

BILL OF ARTICLES PRESENTED TO EDWARD II
BY THE BARONS IN THE PARLIAMENT OF 1310.

To our lord the King showing the great perils and damages which from day to day will appear, unless there is some hasty redress, both destruction of the freedom of holy Church and the disinheritance and dishonour of yourself and your royal power, and the disinheritance of your crown and the damage of all the people of your kingdom both rich and poor: from which perils neither you nor the good men of your kingdom may escape unless some immediate remedy be ordained by the advice of the prelates, earls and barons and the most wise of your realm:—

To begin with, while you are ruler of this land and sworn to maintain peace in your land, you are led by unworthy and bad council and are held in great slander in all lands; and so poor are you and so devoid of all manner of treasure that you have nothing wherewith either to defend your land or keep up your household, except by extortions, which your officers make from the goods of holy Church and your poor people, without paying anything, against the form of the great charter; which charter they pray may be held and maintained in all its force.

Further, Sire, whereas our lord the King your father, whom God assoil, left you all your lands entire, England, Ireland and all Scotland, in good peace, you have lost Scotland and grievously dismembered your crown in England and Ireland etc. without the assent of your baronage and without pretext.

Again, Sire, showing you that whereas the commonalty of your realm give you the 20th penny from their goods in aid of your Scotch war and the 24th penny, in order to be freed of prises and other grievances; the which pennies are all levied and foolishly spent and wasted by unworthy counsel, and your wars do not advance, nor are your poor people freed from prises and other grievances, but they are more oppressed from day to day, than before. For which cause, Sire, your said good people pray you humbly, for the salvation of yourself and of them and of the crown, which they are bound to maintain, by virtue of their allegiance, that you will consent to this, that these and other perils may be wiped out and redressed by ordinances of your baronage.

THE SUCCESSES OF KING ROBERT BRUCE (1311).

In the year 1311, after having routed and vanquished all his foes everywhere he went, and, for the most part, taken and levelled to the ground the castles and forts which offered him resistance, King Robert Bruce twice invaded and ravaged England, making great havoc with fire and sword, and bringing untold plunder back to Scotland. And thus, by the power of God, that faithless English nation, which had again and again unjustly tortured many a man, was now by God's righteous judgment made to undergo scourgings; and whereas it had once been victorious over other kingdoms, it now sank vanquished and groaning and became a gazing stock to others. The following year, in 1312, the then very strong walled town of Perth was taken, and all in it were put to the sword, some drawn, some beheaded, some slain in the fight, and the rest hanged on the gallows. But the King was moved to compassion for the guiltless rabble, and forgave them and received their submission. And thus:

And the same year Edward, called of Windsor, the eldest son of the King of England, was born at Windsor, of the daughter of Philip, King of France; and he was the source of many wars. Through this Edward, that most cruel and most heinous war with France broke out.

PETER GAVESTON AND THE FRIARS PREACHERS (1312).

This year, about the feast of St. John the Baptist [June 24], the King desired Peter Gaveston for his safety's sake to be brought to him by Adomar de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. When they were at Danyntone (Deddington), near Banbury, the said Earl left him in the night and went on to another place, for no apparent reason. And on the morrow at dawn came Guy, Earl of Warwick, with a small, noisy following, and surprised the said Peter, and carried him off with him to his Castle of Warwick. There, having held counsel with the chief men of the kingdom, especially with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, he finally dismissed him from prison to go where he would. And when he had gone out of the town of Warwick and had come to a place called, as though prophetically, Gaveressich (Gaversike), he found there many men raising hue and cry after him with voices and horns, as they would after one of the enemies of the King and kingdom lawfully outlawed or exiled; and finally they beheaded him, as though he were one of these, on the 19th day of June. And one of the Friars Preachers carried away Gaveston's head in his hood (and brought it to the King). Afterwards the friars of the same order found the body [1] and kept it at Oxford with solemn vigils for a year and more. But finally it was buried at Langley, where the King founded a religious house of Friars Preachers for the salvation of his own soul; and there establishing a large number of student friars, he provided for their sufficient sustenance from his treasury in London.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] According to the Annales Londonienses in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and Edward II. (Rolls Series), i. 207, the body was carried to Warwick by four shoemakers, but the Earl of Warwick sent it back to the place where the beheading had taken place, outside his fief, and "the Jacobin Friars carried the body to Oxford, and guarded it with much honour; wherefore they were held in great odium by the aforesaid earl."

AN UNWORTHY KING (1313).

Behold now our King Edward had reigned six whole years, nor had he accomplished anything praiseworthy or fit to be remembered; except that he married royally and raised for himself a fine heir to his kingdom.... Oh! would that our King Edward had borne himself well at the beginning of his reign, and had not followed the counsel of pernicious men, he should in truth have been more renowned than any of his ancestors. Then God had enriched him with the gifts of all virtues and had made him equal to, nay, more excellent than, other Kings. For if anyone had wished to describe those things which ennobled our King, they could not have found his peer in the land. His ancestral fathers handed him down his generosity; those fathers whose successions now extend themselves to the tenth degree. He had riches, the most in his kingdom; an opulent country, and the favour of the people.

He was kinsman to the King of France; near relative to the King of Spain. If he had adhered to the counsel of his barons he would have humiliated the Scots with no loss. Oh! if he had employed himself in the pursuit of arms, and excelled the valour of King Richard [I.]. Indeed, his make-up was fitted to this; he was tall of stature and a finely formed man of great strength, with a handsome face. But why delay to describe him? If he had given as much energy to the pursuit of arms as he spent in rustic pursuits, England would have prospered well; his name would have resounded throughout the land. O what things were hoped of him as Prince of Wales! All hope vanished when he became King of England. Peter of Gaveston ruled the King in an unseemly way, disturbed the land, consumed the treasure, submitted three times to exile, and, afterwards returning, lost his head. But still some of Peter's companions and his own family remain in the King's court, and they disturb the peace of the whole country, and urge on the King to seek vengeance. Give peace, O Lord, in our days, and make the King of one mind with his barons.

CORRUPTION IN THE PAPAL COURT (1313).

Money does everything in the [Papal] Court. If perchance you do not know this, turn to the custom and ways of the Roman Court. It loves causes, suits, quarrels, because they cannot be carried on without money; and a cause, which once enters the court, proves to be almost unending; ... Anyone ought to be satisfied with one Church, as is ordained in the Section De multa;[2] nevertheless, high persons are made exceptions, and receive dispensation indiscriminately so long as they give sufficient money. This marvellous vanity, and the detestable cupidity of the Court, has aroused scandal against it throughout the whole world....

This is the eighth year and more that Pope Clement V. has ruled the whole Church, but whatever he did to benefit mankind escaped the memory. At Vienna he gathered a council, and settled the Templars; conceded indulgences for the Holy Land, and collected an immense amount of money, but in no way benefited the Holy Land. He conceded tithes to Kings, and despoiled the churches of the poor. Far better were it for the rectors if there were no Pope, than to be daily subject to such exactions. But whether or no this is possible is not for me to discuss, because it is equivalent to sacrilege to question the power of that Prince. Among all other provinces of the world England feels most the oppressive Lord Pope; for out of the fulness of power he takes much on himself, and neither the Prince nor the people gainsay him; he reserves all rich rents to himself, and immediately excommunicates those who rebel; the legates come and despoil the land, others come bearing bulls and sell up the prebends. Every deanery is held by a foreigner, whereas the law orders natives to be preferred. Residence of deans is now abolished, and the number of canons is greatly decreased.... Lord Jesus, either take away the Pope from our midst, or lessen the power which he assumes over the people.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Decr. Greg. IX., lib. iii., p. 5, c. 28.

THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN (June 24, 1314).

In this vii year, for to oppress the malice of the Scots, the King assembled a great power, and by water entered the realm of Scotland and destroyed such villages and towns as lay or stood in his way. Whereof hearing, Robert le Bruce, with the power of Scotland, coasted towards the Englishmen, and upon the day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, met with King Edward and his host at a place called Estryvelyn, near unto a fresh river, that then was called Bannockburn, where between the English and the Scotch that day was fought a cruel battle; but in the end the Englishmen were constrained to forsake the field. Then the Scots chased so eagerly that many of them were drowned in the fore-named river, and many a nobleman of England that day was slain in that battle, as Sir Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, Sir Robert Clifford, Sir Edmund of Morley, the King's steward, with other lords and barons to the number as witnesseth Guy de Columpna of xlii, and of knights and baronets to the number of lxvii, over xxii men of name, which that day by the Scots were taken prisoners, and the King himself from that battle escaped with great danger, and so, with a few of his host that with him escaped, came unto Berwick, and there rested him a season. Then the Scots inflamed with pride, in derision of Englishmen, made this rhyme as followeth:

"Maidens of England, sore may you mourn
For your lemans you have lost at Bannockbourn,
With a heave and a ho!
What weeneth the King of England
So soon to have won Scotland,
With a rumbelow!"[3]

This song was after many days sung in dances, in carols of the maidens and minstrels of Scotland, to the reproof and disdain of Englishmen, with divers others which I pass over.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Christopher Marlowe introduced this ballad into his drama of Edward the Second (written about 1590), in Act II., Scene 2:

Lancaster. And thereof came it, that the fleering Scots,
To England's high disgrace, have made this jig:

Maids of England, etc.

VAGABOND FRIARS (1314).

Edward by the grace of God, King of England, etc., to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London greeting. Whereas from trustworthy relation we have heard that certain Friars of the Order of Preachers, who have made profession in that Order, despising such their profession and throwing away the religious garb, are wandering and running to and fro, arrayed in secular habit, in the city aforesaid; and that certain others, still wearing the garb aforesaid, but deserting their due obedience, are dwelling in the same city without the close of the same Friars, and do not fear to take part in various matters that are not beseeming to them to the peril of their souls, the scandal of the said Order, and the injury of ecclesiastical propriety—we, for the especial affection which for the same Order we do entertain, and have long entertained, wishing to restrain the malevolence of such insolent persons, and to provide for the repose and honour of the Friars of the said Order, so far as in good manner we may, do command you, that all vagabond Friars of the said Order found within the city aforesaid, so often as and when in future you shall be requested by the Prior of the same Order in the city aforesaid, or other the Friars by him thereunto deputed, you will cause to be arrested without delay, and to the house of the same Friars securely to be conducted, unto the brethren of the same house there to be delivered, by them, according to the discipline of their Order, to be chastised. And forasmuch as we have understood that the apostates aforesaid, contriving to the utmost of their power how to palliate the heinousness of their errors, and by false suggestions to vilify the Order aforesaid, have published defamatory writings, and have caused the same in public places within the city aforesaid to be read and recited, and have left copies of the same in those places fixed upon the walls, that so they might the more widely defame the same Order, and withhold the devotion of the faithful from the same; and still from day to day do not desist to do the like, and even worse, against the same Order; as, also, that many men are assisting the same apostates in the premises giving them aid and favour therein—we do command you, strongly enjoining, that on our behalf you will cause in the city aforesaid strict prohibition to be made that any person shall, on pain of heavy forfeiture to us, write any such manner of writings containing defamation of the said Order, or publish the same, or give aid to those writing or publishing the same, either secretly or openly; or shall presume to inflict loss, injury, or grievance upon the Friars of the said Order whom we have taken under our own especial protection and defence. And if you shall find any persons transgressors of such our prohibition, you are to cause them in such manner to be punished, that through their example others may be duly restrained from the commission of such offences. Witness myself at York this 18th day of September in the 8th year of our reign.

CHARGES AGAINST THE DESPENSERS (1319).

1. Amongst other things it was alleged; first that Hugh Spenser the son, being on a time angry and displeased with the King, sought to ally and confederate himself with the lord Gifford of Brimsfield, and the lord Richard Gray, to have constrained and forced the King by strong hand to have followed his will and pleasure.

2. Secondly, it was alleged, that the said Spensers as well the father as the son, had caused the King to ride into Gloucestershire, to oppress and destroy the good people of his land, contrary to the form of the great charter.

3. Thirdly, that where the Earl of Hereford and the lord Mortimer of Wigmore, had gone against one Llewelyn Bren, who had raised a rebellion against the King in Glamorganshire, while the lands of the Earl of Gloucester were in the King's hands, the same Llewelyn yielded himselfe to the said earl, and to the Lord Mortimer, who brought him to the King, upon promise that he should have the King's pardon, and so the King received him. But after that the said Earl and lord Mortimer were out of the land, the Spensers taking to them royal power, took the said Llewelyn and led him into Cardiff, where after that the said Hugh Spenser the son had his purparty [4] of the said Earl of Gloucester's lands, he caused the said Llewelyn to be drawn, headed and quartered, to the discredit of the King, and of the said Earl of Hereford and Lord Mortimer, yea and contrary to the laws and dignity of the imperial crown.

4. Fourthly, the said Spensers counselled the King to forejudge Sir Hugh Audley, son to the lord Hugh Audley, and to take into his hands his castles and possessions. They compassed also to have attainted the lord Roger D'Amorie, that thereby they might have enjoyed the whole earldom of Gloucester.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] = Share, part.

POPULAR FEELING ABOUT THE EARL OF LANCASTER'S DEATH (1322).

The Earl therefore having died for the sake of Justice, Church, and State, as it seemed to the people, crowds hurried from all parts with gifts of offerings in order to show honour and reverence to the body of the Earl according to his desert, and they ceased not until the King, aroused by the Despensers, sent armed men to prevent them from entering into the church, and ordered, under pain of imprisonment, that no one should go into the church to offer honour or reverence to the body. And when the people saw that they were prevented from entering the church by the royal power, they turned the seat of their devotion to the place where the Earl had died, and were rushing thither in greater numbers (for which cause the more intense severity of the King was directed against the pilgrims), until the soil of all the field was moved away, and a church was built there with chaplains serving God and by no means poorly endowed.... It is to be remarked that all those who consented to the death of the Earl afterwards finished by a shameful death. First of all the King himself; his two brothers, namely Thomas Earl Marshall and Edmund Earl of Kent, both of whom had been raised and promoted at the instance of the said Earl of Lancaster; the Earl Warrenne; the Earl of Arundell; Lord Hugh Despenser the father, and Lord Hugh the son; the Earl of Richmond; the Earl of Pembroke; Lord Aylmer de Valence; but among them there was not one who ended life honourably, neither them nor any of their adherents.

THE REVOCATION OF THE ORDINANCES (1322).

Since our lord the King Edward, son of King Edward, the 16th day of March in the third year of his reign, to the honour of God and for the good of himself and his realm granted to the prelates, earls and barons of his realm that they should choose certain persons from among the prelates, earls and barons and other loyal men whom it should seem meet to call to them, in order to ordain and establish the estate of the household of our lord the King and of his realm according to right and reason and in such manner that their ordinances should be made to the honour of God and to the honour and benefit of holy church and to the honour of the said King and his benefit and to the benefit of his people according to right and reason and the oath which our said lord the King made at his Coronation, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and the prelates, earls and barons chosen for that purpose made such ordinances which began: "Edward by the grace of God, etc." ... which ordinances our said lord the King caused to be rehearsed and examined at his Parliament at York, three weeks from Easter in the 15th year of his reign, by the prelates, earls and barons among whom were most of the said ordainers who were then alive, and by the commons of the realm summoned thither by his command. And because it was found by this examination in the said Parliament, that by those things which had been ordained, the true power of our said lord the King was restrained in many ways contrary to the due embellishment of his true lordship and injurious to the estate of the crown; and moreover that in times past by such ordinances and purveyances made by subjects over the true power of the ancestors of our lord the King, troubles and wars had arisen in the realm by which the land had been emperilled; it was agreed and established in the said Parliament by our lord the King and by the said prelates, earls and barons and all the commonalty of the realm, in this Parliament assembled, that everything ordained by the said ordainers and contained in the said Ordinances for future should cease and lose for ever all force, virtue and effect, the statutes and establishments duly made by our lord the King and his ancestors before the said ordinances obtaining in their force, and that henceforth, at all time, any manner of ordinances or purveyances made by the subjects of our lord the King or his heirs, by whatever power or commission this may be done, over the true power of our lord the King or his heirs or against the estate of our lord the King or of his heirs or contrary to the estate of the Crown, shall be null and of no manner of value or force. But the matters which are to be established for the estate of our lord the King and his heirs and for the estate of the realm and of the people shall be treated, accorded and established in Parliaments by our lord the King, and by the consent of the prelates, earls and barons and the commonalty of the realm, according as it hath been heretofore accustomed.

THE MURDER OF THE KING (1327).

King Edward. And there in mire and puddle, have I stood
This ten days' space; and lest that I should sleep,
One plays continually upon a drum;
They give me bread and water, being a King;
So that for want of sleep and sustenance
My mind's distempered and my body's numbed,
And whether I have limbs or no I know not.
O, would my blood dropp'd out from every vein,
As doth this water from my tattered robes!
Tell Isabel, the Queen, I look'd not thus,
When for her sake I ran at tilt in France,
And there unhors'd the Duke of Cleremont.

Lightborn. O, speak no more, my lord! this breaks my heart.
Lie on this bed, and rest yourself awhile.

K. Edw. These looks of thine can harbour nought but death;
I see my tragedy written in thy brows.
Yet stay a while; forbear thy bloody hand,
And let me see the stroke before it comes,
That even then when I shall lose my life
My mind may be more steadfast on my God.

Light. What means your highness to mistrust me thus?

K. Edw. What mean'st thou to dissemble with me thus?

Light. These hands were never stained with innocent blood,
Nor shall they now be tainted with a King's.

K. Edw. Forgive my thought for having such a thought.
One jewel have I left; receive thou this: (Giving jewel.)
Still fear I, and I know not what's the cause,
But every joint shakes as I give it thee.
O, if thou harbour'st murder in thy heart,
Let this gift change thy mind, and save thy soul!
Know that I am a King: O, at that name
I feel a hell of grief! Where is my crown?
Gone, gone! and do I remain alive?

Light. You're overwatch'd, my lord; lie down and rest.

K. Edw. But that grief keeps one waking, I should sleep;
For not ten days have these eye-lids clos'd.
Now, as I speak, they fall; and yet with fear
Open again. O wherefore sitt'st thou here?

Light. If thou mistrust me, I'll be gone, my lord.

K. Edw. No, no; for if thou mean'st to murder me,
Thou wilt return again; and therefore stay. (Sleeps.)

Light. He sleeps.

K. Edw. (waking) O!
Let me die; yet stay, O stay a while!

Light. How now, my lord?

K. Edw. Something still buzzeth in mine ears,
And tells me, if I sleep, I never wake;
This fear is that which makes me tremble thus;
And therefore tell me, wherefore art thou come?

Light. To rid thee of thy life.—Matrevis, come.

Enter Matrevis and Gurney.

K. Edw. I am too weak and feeble to resist.—
Assist me, sweet God, and receive my soul!

Light. Run for the table.

K. Edw. O, spare me, or despatch me in a trice.

(Matrevis brings in a table. King Edward is murdered by holding him down on the bed with the table.)

Light. So, lay the table down, and stamp on it,
But not too hard, lest that you bruise his body.

Mat. I fear that this cry will raise the town,
And therefore let us take horse and away.

Light. Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done?

Gur. Excellent well; take this for thy reward.

(Stabs Lightborn, who dies.)

Come, let us cast the body in the moat,
And bear the King's away to Mortimer, our lord:
Away. [Exeunt with bodies.

CHARACTER OF EDWARD II.

King Edward ... was indeed fine in body and distinguished among men, but, as it is commonly said, very different in his manners. For, caring little for the company of princes, he made friends with singers, actors, grooms, sailors, and with others of this kind, artists and mechanics, believing more in the counsel of others than in his own; prodigal in giving, bounteous and splendid in entertainments, quick to anger, unreliable as to his word, dilatory against foreign enemies, easily enraged against his servants, and ardently attached to some one familiar friend whom he would cherish, enrich, and promote, not enduring to be absent from his presence, and honouring him before all others; whence came hatred of the lover, and abuse and ruin of the one loved, injury to the people, and loss to the kingdom. Moreover he promoted unworthy and unfit men to be ecclesiastics; these afterwards in his time of trouble deserted him.

THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD III.

Edward, son of King Edward, after the conquest the third, of xv. years in age, was crowned into King in the feast of the Purification of our blessed Lady at Westminster, his father being in life and under keeping. In the beginning of whom the earth began to give much fruit, the air temperance, the sea tranquillity, the Church liberty. Edward sometime King was brought from Kenilworth to the castle of Berkeley, where he was slain.... Wherefore many people say that he died a martyr and did many miracles; nevertheless keeping in prison, vileness, and opprobrious death cause not a martyr, but if the holiness of life afore be correspondent; for it is well and if that [5] vile death do away sin in him and diminish his pains. But women loving to go in pilgrimage increase much the rumour of such veneration, until that a feeble edifying fall down.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] = If.

THE MANNER OF THE SCOTS (1327).

The Scots are bold, hardy, and much inured to war. When they make their invasions into England, they march from twenty to four-and-twenty leagues without halting, as well by night as day, for they are all on horseback, except the camp-followers, who are on foot. The knights and esquires are well mounted on large bay horses, the common people on little galloways. They bring no carriages with them, on account of the mountains they have to pass in Northumberland; neither do they carry with them any provisions of bread or wine, for their custom and sobriety is such, in time of war, that they will live for a long time on flesh half sodden without bread, and drink the river water without wine. They have therefore no occasion for pots or pans, for they dress the flesh of their cattle in the skins, after they have taken them off; and being sure to find plenty of them in the country which they invade, they carry none with them. Under the flaps of his saddle each man carries a broad plate of metal, behind the saddle a little bag of oatmeal; when they have eaten too much of this sodden flesh, and their stomach appears weak and empty, they place this plate over the fire, mix with water their oatmeal, and, when the plate is heated, they put a little of the paste upon it, and make a thin cake, like a cracknell or biscuit, which they eat to warm their stomachs; it is therefore no wonder that they perform a longer day's march than other soldiers.

THE RULE OF ISABELLA (1328).

Edward III., King of England, was only aged sixteen years; the administration of affairs was absolutely in the hands of his mother, Isabella of France, who was beginning to realise how hateful she was to the nation which she governed. A foreigner, and surrounded by foreigners, she was polluted in the eyes of the English by the blood of her husband, shed by her, and by her licentious conduct with Roger de Mortimer, her favourite. Fearing at any time a rebellion, she sought above all to diminish the number of her enemies, and to escape the possibility of a foreign war. With this end in view, she first made treaty [6] with Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, fully recognising the independence of his kingdom, surrendering to him all the titles and all the crown jewels, which Edward I. had taken from the Scots, and marrying her daughter Joan to David Bruce, son of Robert, and his heir-apparent, only seven years old.

This transaction, of the 1st of March, 1328, still more augmented the resentment of the English: they passionately desired to conquer Scotland, and they believed the moment to be very favourable since Robert Bruce was ill; in fact it was not long before he died, leaving his crown to a child. The agitation against the Queen increased; one of the adversaries whom she most feared was her brother-in-law, Edmund, Earl of Kent; all her skill was directed towards drawing him into a trap: she succeeded, in fact, in less than a month, in implicating him in a conspiracy, for which he suffered the extreme penalty.

But so long as Isabella felt herself to be so unsafe on the throne of England, she could hardly think to dispute that of France; she contented herself with protesting for the preservation of what she called the rights of her son. She wrote on the 28th of March in the name of Edward III. to the chief princes of Gascony, Navarre, and Languedoc, that the King intended to recover his heritage and his rights in every good way that he knew and could, that he prayed them then and charged them on their faith to work secretly to gain for him the heart of the nobles and the commons who were not under obedience to him that they might aid him when the time should come. On the 16th of May she gave power to the bishops of Winchester and Chester to demand and recover all the rights which belonged to him [Edward III.] as legitimate heir to the kingdom of France; on the 28th of June she caused letters of reprisals to be given to stop the goods and merchandise of all the French, as pledges for the reparation of certain hostilities which they had committed. The 28th of October, however, the effects thus seized were released under caution, and the violences committed between the two kingdoms were referred to tribunals.

Philip VI. was little concerned about these pretensions of his cousin, since she appeared to be too badly circumstanced to be able to take action; he judged with reason that, after he had been King for some time, the nation would feel itself bound in honour to defend his title. He appeared only to occupy himself with gaining the favour of certain princes, who were rather the friends than the feudatories of France. In the month of June he put forth an ordinance in favour of the Duke of Brittany, by which he recognised that the courts of this Duchy were in no way dependent upon the Parliament of Paris; he reconciled the Dauphin, Guigues VIII., with the Count of Savoy, and by this negotiation obtained the recognition of these two princes. Both were dependent on the Empire, but they spoke the French language, and they looked on the French Court as the most notable for fêtes and magnificence, where princes might acquire a reputation for chivalry, and where they might, at the same time, enjoy the greatest pleasures. This superior elegance, this attraction which Paris had for foreign princes, had a signal effect on politics during the whole of the century.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] The "Foul Peace" of Northampton.

WHY MORTIMER WAS CONDEMNED UNHEARD (1330).

And immediately the same earl [Roger Mortimer] was sent to the Tower until the meeting of Parliament, which was a little before the Feast of St. Andrew [November 30]. At this Parliament at Westminster, on the vigil of St. Andrew, the same earl was condemned to death by his peers. Nevertheless, he did not come before them, nor was he allowed to answer; nor was it to be wondered at, since, from the time of the death of the Earl of Lancaster until the death of this earl, all nobles had been handed over to death without being heard, and had perished without lawful conviction, as appears by precedents, as it is wisely written, anyone who places himself as judge of another stands to be judged by him, etc., and in the same measure that they meet out to others it shall be meeted to them. And that same vigil of St. Andrew was the said Earl of March hung at Elmis upon a common thieves' gallows, where he hung for two days, and afterwards was buried in London at the Friars Minors, but, a long time afterwards, was translated to Wigmore.

THE WAR OF THE DISINHERITED (1332).

Lord Edward Balliol, son and heir of the said Lord John Balliol, living in England in the year of our Lord, 1332, the 6th year of Edward, the Third after the Conquest, was, about the Feast of St. Lawrence, preparing to set out for Scotland, which belonged to him by hereditary right. Since the King of England was unwilling for him to enter the country from the realm of England, since David, son of the said Robert [Bruce], had married the sister of the King of England, coming by ship he entered Scotland without the consent of the King of England, taking with him the lords Henry de Beaumont and Ralph de Stafford, barons, and also Sir Walter Manny and other vigorous soldiers and armed men and archers to the number of 1,500, both footmen and horsemen together. And then, indeed, he was engaged in a fierce conflict, lasting from sunrise to the ninth hour of the day, against the Scots who came in great numbers to resist him at Kynghorn. But Christ, ever favouring justice, preserved the English unhurt, and threw to the ground before them more than 20,000 of the Scots. Indeed many of the Scots, because of their impetuosity and haste, falling over their own companions, rushed into battle, fell without a blow, and were crushed by their own companions rushing on over them, so that the mountainous heap of Scots there killed and crushed reached one stadium, [60 feet 9 inches, English], in length, and 6 cubits and more in height.

FOR THE SAFE-KEEPING OF THE CITY OF LONDON
(December 13, 1334).

Forasmuch as our Lord the King, whom may God save and preserve, is now engaged in his war against his enemies in Scotland, and every man ought to be most tender of keeping and maintaining his peace;——it is ordained and granted by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the City of London, for maintaining the peace between all manner of folks in the said city, that no person, denizen or stranger, other than officers of the City, and those who have to keep the peace, shall go armed, or shall carry arms, by night or by day, within the franchise of the said city on pain of imprisonment, and of losing the arms.

Also, it is agreed that whosoever shall draw sword, or knife, or other arm, in affray of the people, shall be forthwith attached and shall have imprisonment, without being left to find surety, according to the discretion of the Mayor and of the Aldermen of the City.

Also we do forbid, on behalf of our Lord the King, and on behalf of the Mayor, the Aldermen, and the Commonalty of the City of London, that for any offence that shall or may be committed in time to come, as between any and singular persons, the people of the trades to which such offenders belong, shall make alliance or understanding as among them, to support or embolden such offenders; or that any man of the said trades shall seek vengeance against another, under colour of such offence. But if they shall be able to make good accord between the parties, let them make it; and if not, let them bring the parties before the officers of the City; and before them let them have their recovery, according as law and right demand.

Also it is ordained and assented to, that no person shall be so daring, on pain of imprisonment, as to go wandering about the City, after the hour of curfew rung out at St. Martin's le Grand; unless it be some man of the City of good repute, or his servant; and that, for reasonable cause, and with light.

And whereas misdoers, going about by night, commonly have their resort more in taverns than elsewhere, and there seek refuge and watch their time for evil-doing; it is forbidden that any taverner or brewer shall keep the door of his tavern open after the hour of curfew aforesaid, on the pain as to the same ordained; that is to say, the first time, on pain of being amerced in 40 pence; the second time, half a mark; the third time, 10 shillings; the fourth time, 20 shillings; and the fifth time he is to forswear the trade.

Also we do forbid, on the same pain of imprisonment, that any man shall go about at this Feast of Christmas with companions disguised with false faces,[7] or in any other manner, to the houses of the good folks of the City, for playing at dice there; but let each one keep himself quiet and at his ease within his own house.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Visors, or masks.

FIRST INVASION OF FRANCE: THE CAMPAIGN OF 1339.

[Edward III.'s letter to his son and his Council giving an account of his campaign.]

Edward, etc., to our dear son and to the honourable fathers in God, John [Stratford] by the same grace Archbishop of Canterbury etc.... greeting. The cause of our long sojourn in Brabant we have ofttimes made known to you before now, and well known it is to each one of you; but, for that of late scarce any aid hath come to us out of our realm, and that the delay was to us so grievous, and our people in such great straight and our allies too slow in business, our messengers also, who had so long tarried over against the cardinals and the Council of France to treat for peace, did bring us never other offers save that we shall not have one handbreadth of land in the realm of France, and again our cousin Philip of Valois had ever sworn, as we do have report, that we should never make a sojourn for a single day with our host in France, but that he would give us battle.—We, ever trusting in God and our right, did make to come before us our allies, and did surely make shown to them that for nought would we longer wait, but would go forward in pursuit of our right, taking the grace that God should give us; and they, seeing the dishonour which should have come to them if they should have tarried behind us, agreed to follow us. A day was taken for all to be on the march within France on a certain day, at which day and place we were all ready and our allies came after, as well as they could. The Monday, on the eve of St. Matthew [September 20], we passed out of Valenciennes, and on the same day they did begin to burn in Cambresis, and they burnt there all the week following, so that that country is clean laid waste, as of corn and cattle and other goods. The Saturday following we came to Marcoing, which is between Cambray and France, and they began to burn within France the same day; and we did hear that the said lord Philip was drawing nigh towards us at Peronne on his march to Noyon. So we held ever our road forward, our people burning and destroying commonly to the breadth of twelve or fourteen leagues of country. The Saturday next before the Feast of St. Luke [October 18] we passed the water of Oise, and lodged and sojourned there the Sunday; on which day we had our allies before us, who showed unto us their victuals were near spent and that the winter was nigh at hand, that they could not tarry, but that they must needs withdraw on the march back, when their victuals should be spent. In truth, they were the more shortly victualled by reason that they thought that our said cousin should have given us speedy battle. On the Monday morning there came letters unto my lord Hugh of Geneva from the master of the crossbowmen of France, making mention that he wished to say to the King of England, as from the King of France, that he would give him battle within the Thursday next following. On the morrow, to do always what destruction we could, we marched on. On the Wednesday after came a messenger to the said Sir Hugh, and brought him letters of the King of Bohemia and of the Duke of Lorraine, with their seals hanging, making mention that whatever the said master of the crossbowmen had said, on the part of the King of France, touching the battle, he would keep covenant. We, regarding the said letters, immediately on the morrow withdrew towards Flamengerie, where we stayed the Friday, all the day. At vespers three spies were taken and were examined, each by himself, and they agreed in saying that the said Philip would give battle on Saturday, and that he was a league and a half from us. On the Saturday we stood in the field full a quarter before dawn, and took our ground in a fitting place for us, and for him, to fight. In early morning some of his scouts were taken, and they told us that his advance guard was in front of the field in battle array, and coming out toward us. The news coming to our host, although our allies before bore themselves sluggishly towards us, they were surely of such loyal intent that never were folk of such good will to fight. In the meantime was one of our scouts, a German knight, taken, who had seen all our array and showed it in his plight to our enemy; so that now he made withdraw his vanguard, and gave orders to encamp, and they made trenches around them, and cut down the large trees, in order to prevent the approach to them. We tarried all day in battle array, until, towards vespers, it seemed we had tarried enough; and, at vespers, we mounted our horses and went near unto Avesnes, a league and a half from our said cousin, and made him to know that we would await him there all the Sunday; and so we did. And other news of him we send not, save that on the Saturday when we mounted our horses at the departing from our ground, he thought that we should come towards them; and, such haste had he to take stronger ground, that a thousand horsemen all at once were foundered in the marsh at his passage, so came each one upon the other. On the Sunday was the lord of Fagnolle taken by our people. On the Monday morning had we news that the said Lord Philip and all his allies were scattered and withdrawn in great haste. And so would our allies no longer afterwards abide. And touching what is further to be done we shall take counsel with them at Antwerp on the morrow of St. Martin [November 11]. And from thence afterwards [we will send news] speedily of what may be meanwhile done.

BEFORE SLUYS (1340).

[Before the Battle of Sluys, Edward III., unheeding the news that Philip of France had collected a large navy, to bar his passage, prepared to cross into Flanders with a small force, early in June, 1340.]

But the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury advised the King that the lord Philip de Valois, his French adversary, cautiously forseeing his [the King of England's] crossing, had secretly sent over a large navy with a large fleet of armed ships to confront him in the port of Swyna [Sluys], and advised him to wait and provide himself with a larger force, lest he and his should perish in the crossing. To whom the King, having no faith in the warning, replied that he was going to cross anyhow. The Archbishop immediately placed himself outside the King's council, and, retiring, gave up the Chancellor's seal. But the King, calling to him Sir Robert de Morley, his Admiral, and a certain sailor called Crabbe, who were searching out the truth, asked them if there was danger in crossing; they answered him as the said Lord Archbishop of Canterbury had told him. To whom the King replied, "You and the Archbishop are confederating together to hinder my passage." And being offended he said to them: "Though you are unwilling, I will cross, and you who fear, where there is no fear, shall remain at home." Then the said Admiral and the sailor swore, under pain of death, that, if the King then crossed, he himself, and all who went with him, would inevitably be subject to peril. Nevertheless, they said, that, if he wished to sail then, they would precede him, even though it should mean death. Hearing this, the King sent immediately for the lord Archbishop of Canterbury, his Chancellor, and, speaking gracious words to him, restored the Chancellor's seal to him. And he hastily made demands on all ports, both north and south, and also on London, for a larger navy, so that within ten days from thence he had sufficient ships, and an unexpected number of armed men and bowmen, greater even than he had wished for, so that he sent many back, and, setting sail, he came to the said port of Sluys on the Feast of St. John the Baptist.

THE BATTLE OF SLUYS (June 24, 1340).

Sir Hugh Quiriel, Sir Peter Bahucet, and Barbenoir were at that time lying between Blanckenburg and Sluys, with upwards of one hundred and twenty large vessels, without counting others: these were manned with about forty thousand men, Genoese and Picards, including mariners. By the orders of the King of France, they were there at anchor, waiting the return of the King of England, to dispute his passage.

When the King's fleet was almost got to Sluys, they saw so many masts standing before it, that they looked like a wood. The King asked the commander of his ship what they could be, who answered that he imagined they must be that armament of Normans, which the King of France kept at sea, and which had so frequently done him much damage, had burnt his good town of Southampton, and taken his large ship the Christopher.

The King replied, "I have for a long time wished to meet with them, and now, please God and St. George, we will fight with them; for, in truth, they have done me so much mischief, that I will be revenged on them, if it be possible."

The King then drew up all his vessels, placing the strongest in front, and, on the wings, his archers. Between every two vessels with archers, there was one of men-at-arms. He stationed some detached vessels as a reserve, full of archers, to assist and help such as might be damaged.

There were in this fleet a great many ladies from England, countesses, baronesses, and knights' and gentlemen's wives, who were going to attend on the Queen at Ghent; these the King had guarded most carefully by three hundred men-at-arms and five hundred archers....

The Normans filled the Christopher, the large ship which they had taken the year before from the English, with trumpeters and other warlike instruments, and ordered her to fall upon the English.

The battle then began very fiercely: archers and crossbowmen shot with all their might at each other, and the men-at-arms engaged hand to hand: in order to be more successful they had large grapnels and iron hooks with chains, which they flung from ship to ship, to moor them to each other. There were many valiant deeds performed, many prisoners made, and many rescues.

The Christopher, which led the van, was recaptured by the English, and all in her taken or killed. There were then great shouts and cries, and the English manned her again with archers, and sent her to fight against the Genoese.

This battle was very murderous and horrible. Combats at sea are more destructive and obstinate than upon land, for it is not possible to retreat or flee—every one must abide his fortune, and exert his prowess and valour.

THE KING OF FRANCE IGNORES THE KING OF ENGLAND'S CHALLENGE (July 27, 1340).

[Edward III.'s personal challenge to Philip of Valois after the victory at Sluys and immediately before the Siege of Tournay, and the answer of the King of France.]

"Philip of Valois, for long have we made suit before you by embassies and all other ways which we knew to be reasonable, to the end that you should be willing to have restored unto us our right, our heritage of France, which you have long kept back and most wrongfully occupied. And, for that we see that you are minded to continue in your wrongful withholding, without doing us right in our demand, we have entered into the land of Flanders, as sovereign lord thereof, and have passed through the country. And we make known to you that, by the help of our Lord Jesus Christ and our right, together with the power of the said land and with our people and allies ... we are drawing near to you to make an end of our rightful challenge, if you will come near.... We greatly desire that despatch be made, and for the avoiding of the death of Christians, seeing that the quarrel is manifestly ours and yours, that the trial of our challenge be made between our two bodies; whereunto we offer ourself for the reason aforesaid, albeit that we consider well the great nobility of your person, your prudence also and discretion. And, in case you would not choose this way, then should our challenge be laid to make an end thereof by battle between yourself, with one hundred of the fittest men of your side, and ourself, with so many others of our liegemen. And, if you will neither the one nor the other way, that you assign unto us a certain day before the city of Tournay to fight, power against power, within ten days next after the date of this letter....

"Given under our Great Seal at Chin, in the fields near Tournay, the 27th day of the month of July, the year of our Lord 1340."

"Philip, by the grace of God, King of France, to Edward, King of England. We have seen your letters, which were brought unto our Court, sent from you to Philip of Valois, wherein are contained certain demands which you make of the said Philip of Valois. And, for that the said letters came not unto us, and that the demands were not made of us, as clearly appeareth by the tenour of your letters, we make unto you no answer.

"Nevertheless, inasmuch as we have heard, by means of the said letters, and otherwise, that you have entered into our realm of France, bringing great harm to us and to our realm and to our people, led on by wilfulness, and without reason, and without regard to the faith that a liege man oweth to his lord, for you did enter into our liege homage, recognising us, as is right, to be King of France, and did promise obedience, such as one is bound to promise to his liege lord, as more clearly appeareth by your letters patent, sealed with your great seal, the which we have in our hands, and which you ought equally to have with you. Therefore, our intent is, when unto us it shall seem good, to cast you forth from our realm, to the honour of us and of our realm and to the profit of our people; and to do this we have steadfast hope in Jesus Christ, from whom all power cometh unto us. For, by your undertaking, which is of wilfulness and not reasonable, hath been hindered the holy passage beyond sea, and great numbers of Christian people have been slain, the service of God minished, and holy Church had in less reverence.

"And as to what you have written that you think to have the help of the Flemings, we take it, for certain, that the good people and commons of the land will bear themselves in such manner towards our cousin the Count of Flanders, their immediate lord, and us, their sovereign lord, that they will keep their honour and their loyalty. And that they have hitherto erred hath been from evil counsel of people who regarded not the commonweal nor the honour of the country, but their own profit only. Given in the fields near the priory of St. Andrew, under our Privy Seal in default of our great seal, the 30th day of July, the year of grace, 1340."

ARCHBISHOP STRATFORD INCURS THE KING'S DISPLEASURE (January 1, 1340-1).

Certain of the King's secretaries envying the Reverend Father in the Lord John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury ... roused the King to anger against him, imputing to him crimes and defects.... And the said Lord Archbishop, fearing the anger of the King, and the jealousy of his rivals, fled to safety to the priory church of Canterbury, and there remained for some time. Meanwhile he wrote to the King:

"Most gentle lord, please you to know that the most sovereign thing, that holdeth kings and princes in due and fitting estate, is good and wise counsel.... Sire, in your own time, you had certain counsellors by whom you did near lose the hearts of your people; from whom God delivered you as it pleased Him. And then, even till now, by good avisement of the prelates, peers, the great men and wise of the Council of the land, your affairs have been brought into such a state that you entirely have the hearts of your people, who, as well clerks as others, have given you aid, even as you shall have henceforth, or more, as never had King of England; so that by means of your good Council, the help of your people, and the grace which God hath given you, you have had the victory in presence of your enemies of Scotland, and of France, and of all parts; so that this day, honour be to God, you are held the most noble prince of Christendom. And now, by evil counsel, abetted by certain people of this land, which are not so wise as were needful, and by counsel of others, which seek rather their own profit than your honour or the safety of the land, you begin to seize divers clerks, peers and other folk of the land and to make suit, nothing fitting, against the law of the land ... the which things are done at the great peril of your soul and the minishing of your honour.... And forasmuch as certain, who are near to you, do falsely charge us with treason and falsehood, therefore they are excommunicate ... and also they say of some others that they have evilly and falsely served you, whereby you have lost the toun of Tournay and many other honours that you might have had there; be willing, Sire, if it please you, to make come the prelates, great men, and peers of the land, in fitting place, where we and others may securely come, and cause, if it please you, to see and enquire in whose hands, since the beginning of your war, wools moneys, and other things whatsoever, which have been granted to you in aid of your war even to this day, have come and have been expended, and by whose default you thus departed from Tournay; and those which shall be found guilty in any whit before you, as a good lord, make them to be chastised well according to law. And in whatsoever concerneth us, we will stand in all points at the judgment of our peers, saving always the estate of holy Church, of us, and of our order....

"Written at Canterbury the first day of January, by your chaplain, the Archbishop of Canterbury."

THE "LIBELLUS FAMOSUS" (February 10, 1340-1).

[The following is a passage from the libellus famosus put forth by Edward III. against Archbishop Stratford, and directed to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's.]

... Because we believed John, then Bishop of Winchester, now Archbishop of Canterbury, to be preeminent before all others, because of his faithfulness and discreetness, we followed his counsel in things spiritual and things temporal, above those which were advantageous to us for the safety of our own soul and for the increase and preservation of our kingdom. In such friendship was he held by us ... that he was named our father and was venerated by all as next after the King. And when the kingdom of France had devolved on us by right of succession, and was, according to report, occupied by Philip of Valois, the same Archbishop violently and earnestly persuaded us to enter into alliance with the German Princes and others against the said Philip of Valois, and to expose us and ours to the losses of wars, promising and affirming that it would be possible to meet abundantly the expenses attaching to such, from the fruits of our land and from some special subsidies, adding, moreover, that we should only make demands from persons experienced and active in wars, as he himself would procure sufficient for our necessities and their expenses. Whence we, having crossed the sea, put our hand to the task and made a great outlay, as was fitting, in warlike preparations, and bound our allies to us by large sums, trusting in the promised help. But, alas! we placed our faith, as it were, in the staff of a reed, on which, as the prophecy is [Isaiah xxxvi. 6], whosoever leans it shall enter into his hand and pierce it, and, driven by necessity, since the hoped-for subsidy had been withdrawn (would it had not been fraudulently), we contracted, under heavy usury, an almost insupportable burden of debts, and thus, any further expedition being prevented, we were forced magnanimously to desist for the time from our incomplete attacks on the enemy and to return to England. There, having laid our many calamities and never-to-be-forgotten misfortunes before our aforesaid Archbishop, and, a Parliament having been called, the prelates, nobles, and other faithful of our kingdom granted us such a subsidy (the ninth part of the tithes of sheep and wool, besides the tenth conceded by the clergy), that if it had been faithfully collected and acquired at a fitting time it would have provided payment for the debts accrued in the said expedition, and would have been of no small assistance towards the confusion of the enemy, nay, even, according to some, it might have sufficed altogether. The same Archbishop meanwhile promised faithfully to mediate with his parts [of the country] for the collection of the said subsidy and the administration of our necessities. Wherefore, trusting in his promises, men having been again collected, and a fleet having been gathered, we sailed towards Flanders, and engaged in a hard naval battle with the enemy, who had sworn our destruction and that of all the English people. By the compassion and mercy of Him who rules the wind and the sea, not by our own merit, we obtained a victory and triumph over the whole multitude of so many enemies. This being accomplished we set out thence with a powerful army for the recovery of our rights, and marked out a fort near the strong city of Tournay, in the siege of which we were perpetually occupied for some time, and, wearied out by continual expenses and labours, awaiting in silence, we were hoping day by day for the promised help; to be relieved, by the service of our Archbishop, from so many and so great necessities. At length, the conceived hope being frustrated, although by many messengers and many letters we fully signified to the aforesaid Archbishop, and to others of our Council who adhered to him, not only our poverty and the many perils to which we were exposed on account of the failure of the said subsidy, but also the advantage and the honour which, by the help of the money, we saw we could easily secure. Nevertheless we could not obtain emolument from them, because, caring for their own affairs rather than ours, and procuring their own welfare, they excused their sluggishness, (not to say their fraud, or their malice), by frivolous excuses and ornate rhetoric, like those mockers who, as says Isaiah, delight in deriding, saying: "Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little." [Isaiah xxviii. 13.]

Whence alas, it came about that even when the near hope of triumphing over our enemies gracefully smiled upon us, poverty prevailing, we were obliged, unwilling though we were, to make truce, to the shameful retarding of our expedition, and the no little exultation of our rivals.... Wherefore we, directing the force of our mind to the discipline and correction of such of our officials, caused certain of them whom we held suspect, for probable causes, of bad administration, of the subversion of justice, of the oppression of our subjects, of corruption by acceptance of gifts and other grave offences, to be removed from their offices as it seems well to us; while others of inferior rank were placed in custody.... We ordered him [the Archbishop], through our faithful servant Nicholas de Cantilupe, specially chosen for this purpose, to hasten and come to London early to our presence, since we desired to have a personal interview with him. But he, always haughty in prosperity and cowardly in adversity, fearing where no fear was, alleged untruly that the peril of death, threatened and directed against him by our partisans, hung over him if he should leave the Church of Canterbury, although this, by witness of God and a pure conscience, never had come into our mind, or, we believe, into that of any of our partisans, in spite of the fact that by his demerits he had made himself hated by the clergy and people of the kingdom. But we, desiring all to come to our presence, and that all summoned to us by our letters should enjoy full security, sent our faithful Ralph de Stafford, seneschal of our guest chamber, to him [the Archbishop] to offer and make him a safe conduct; and we gave him our letters patent, signed under our seal, to present, demanding, a second time, that he should come to us personally, and should, first of all, have a private interview with us concerning the affairs of the kingdom, over which he had so long laboured, as aforesaid. But he, treating the lenity of our prayers and our mandates with contempt, answered indignantly that he would in nowise confer with us, save in a full Parliament, which at this time, for reasonable causes, it would not be expedient to summon....

TRIAL BY PEERS.

Item. Whereas, before this time, the peers of the land have been arrested and imprisoned, and their temporalties, lands and tenements, goods and cattels asseised in the King's hands, and some put to death without judgment of their peers: It is accorded and assented, that no peer of the land, officer, nor other, because of his office, nor of things touching his office, nor by other cause shall be brought in judgment to lose his temporalties, lands, tenements, goods, and cattels, nor to be arrested, nor imprisoned, outlawed, exiled, nor forejudged, nor put to answer, nor to be judged but by award of the said peers in the Parliament, saving always to our Sovereign Lord the King and his heirs, the laws rightfully used, and by due process, and saving also the suit of the party....

THE BATTLE OF CRECY (August 26, 1346).

The English, who were drawn up in three divisions, and seated on the ground, on seeing their enemies advance, rose undauntedly up, and fell into their ranks. That of the Prince was the first to do so, whose archers were formed in the manner of a portcullis, or harrow, and the men-at-arms in the rear. The Earls of Northampton and Arundel, who commanded the second division, had posted themselves in good order on his wing, to assist and succour the Prince if necessary.

You must know that these kings, dukes, earls, barons, and lords of France, did not advance in any regular order, but one after the other, but any way most pleasing to themselves. As soon as the King of France came in sight of the English, his blood began to boil, and he cried out to his marshals, "Order the Genoese forward, and begin the battle, in the name of God and St. Denis."

There were about fifteen thousand Genoese cross-bowmen; but they were quite fatigued, having marched on foot that day six leagues, completely armed, and with their cross-bows. They told the Constable they were not in a fit condition to do any great things that day in battle. The Earl of Alençon, hearing this, said: "This is what one gets by employing such scoundrels, who fall off when there is any need for them."

During this time a heavy rain fell, accompanied by thunder, and a very terrible eclipse of the sun: and before this rain a great flight of crows hovered in the air over all these battalions, making a loud noise. Shortly afterwards it cleared up, and the sun shone very bright; but the Frenchmen had it in their faces, and the English in their backs.

When the Genoese were somewhat in order, and approached the English, they set up a loud shout, in order to frighten them; but they remained quite still, and did not seem to attend to it. They then set up a second shout, and advanced a little forward, but the English never moved. They hooted a third time, advancing with their cross-bows presented, and began to shoot. The English archers then advanced one step forward, and shot their arrows with such force and quickness that it seemed as if it snowed.

When the Genoese felt these arrows, which pierced their arms, heads, and through their armour, some of them cut the strings of their cross-bows, others flung them on the ground, and all turned about and retreated, quite discomfited. The French had a large body of men-at-arms on horseback, richly dressed, to support the Genoese.

The King of France, seeing them thus fall back, cried out, "Kill me those scoundrels, for they stop up our road, without any reason." You would then have seen the above-mentioned men-at-arms lay about them, killing all they could of these runaways.

The English continued shooting as vigorously and quickly as before: some of their arrows fell among the horsemen, who were sumptuously equipped, and, killing and wounding many, made them caper and fall among the Genoese, so that they were in such confusion they could never rally again. In the English army there were some Cornish and Welshmen on foot, who had armed themselves with large knives: these, advancing through the ranks of the men-at-arms and archers, who made way for them, came upon the French when they were in this danger, and, falling upon earls, barons, knights, and squires, slew many, at which the King of England was afterwards much exasperated....

Early in the day, some French, Germans, and Savoyards had broken through the archers of the [Black] Prince's battalion, and had engaged with the men-at-arms; upon which the second battalion came to his aid, and it was time, for otherwise he would have been hard pressed. The first division, seeing the danger they were in, sent a knight (Sir Thomas Norwich) in great haste to the King of England, who was posted upon an eminence, near a windmill. On the knight's arrival, he said: "Sir, the Earl of Warwick, the Lord Stafford, the Lord Reginald Cobham, and the others who are about your son, are vigorously attacked by the French; and they intreat that you would come to their assistance with your battalion, for, if their numbers should increase, they fear he will have too much to do."

The King replied: "Is my son dead, unhorsed, or so badly wounded that he cannot support himself?" "Nothing of the sort, thank God!" rejoined the knight; "but he is in so hot an engagement, that he has great need of your help." The King answered: "Now, Sir Thomas, return back to those that sent you, and tell them from me not to send again for me this day, or expect that I shall come, let what will happen, as long as my son has life; and say that I command them to let the boy win his spurs, for I am determined, if it please God, that all the glory and honour of this day shall be given to him and to those into whose care I have entrusted him."

DAVID BRUCE INVADES ENGLAND (October, 1346).

A thowsand and thre hundyr yhere
And sex and fourty to tha clere,
The Kyng off Frawns set hym to ras
And set a sege befor Calays,
And wrate in Scotland till oure Kyng
Specyally be thra [9] praying
To pas on were [10] in till Inglond;
... Oure Kyng Dawy
That wes yhowng, stowt, and rycht joly,
And yharnyd [11] for to see fychtyng,
Grawntyt the Kyng off Frawncys yharnyng
And gaddryd his folk haly bedene.[12]

Qwhat was thare mare? The Kyng Dawy
Gaddryd his ost in full gret hy;[13]
And with thame off the north cuntré
Till Saynt-Jhonystown than come he.

He passyd swne the Scottis Se,
And to the Marchis hym sped he,
Qwhare-in the Pele [14] wes off Lyddale,
His ost till hym assemblyd hale:
Thare-in wes Watter off Selby
On the Inglis mennys party.
That Pele assaylyd thei sa fast,
Qwhill it wes wonnyn at the last;
And all thai slwe, that thai fand then,
To sawff yhowng childyr and women.
Than consalyd Williame off Dowglas,
That off weris mast wys than was,
To turne agayne in thaire cuntré:

The Dowglas thare mycht noucht be herd.
Bot on thaire way all furth thai ferd;
And in the Abbay off Hexhame
All thare folk thai gert [15] aname,
And in till all thare ost thai fand
Off men armyd bot twa thowsande [16]
That wes to fewe a folk to fycht
Agayne off Ingland the mekill mycht.
Efftyr [17] swne thai passyd syne,
And held to Durame, or thai wald fyne;
And in a park well nere thare-by
Thai lugyd [18] thame, and tuk herbry.[19]
Thai had bene in till Ingland
Welle fourteyne dayis traveland,
That thei couth get na wyttyng
Off Inglis mennys gadryng:
The gwethir [20] thai assemblid were
In till a park besyd thame nere,
Fra Trent northwartis all the floure
Off folk, that owcht war off waloure.

Off archeris thare assemblíd wire
Twenty thousand, that rollyd [21] war,
But men off armys, that war thar,
Qwhare-off in abundance had they.
The Scottis men, that in the park than lay,
Wyst rycht nouht off that gadryng,
Made thame gret myrth and solasyng.

Jhon of Copeland there took the King
Of force, noucht yholdyne in that takyng;
The King twa teth owt off his hevyd,
Wyth a dynt off a knyff hym revyd.[23]

FOOTNOTES:

[8] To.

[9] Eager.

[10] War.

[11] Yearned.

[12] Quickly.

[13] Haste.

[14] Fortification.

[15] Made to be.

[16] The English writers compute the Scottish numbers at threescore thousand, and state that fifteen thousand were left slain (cf. Baker's Chronicle).

[17] After.

[18] Lodged.

[19] Their station.

[20] Nevertheless.

[21] Enrolled.

[22] pp. 475, 476.

[23] p. 476.

A FIGHTING PRIOR.

When he had a small breathing space from his domestic rivalries, a greater trouble came upon Prior Thomas [of Tynmouth]. For the King of Scots, "David le Brus" by name, taking courage during the absence of King Edward (who at that time was fighting Philip, King of France, at Creçy), and being encouraged also by letters from the said Philip, gathered an army and entered the country, slaying many, taking others prisoner, burning the country, destroying the crops, extorting money for the safety of goods, and doing incalculable damage. But Thomas, unmoved by these things, stood firm, and so fortified his place with men and arms, and provisions, and weapons of war, that it would have been impossible for the enemy to injure his priory without great difficulty and danger.

At that time, William Douglas, leader of the army, in whom the whole hope of the Scots was set, being an arrogant man and a mocker, sent, according to his manner, a messenger to Prior Thomas to tell him to prepare a meal for him, since after two days he proposed to breakfast with him; this order he sent hoping to shake his determination. Nevertheless, he did not break his word, but in truth prophesied, as once did Caiaphas. For, after two days, he was taken and sent to Tynmouth for safe custody. The Prior then hastened to meet him, laughingly saying he had come well to the breakfast he had prepared for him. And William said, "Indeed this coming is painful to me." "Not at all," answered the Prior, "you come most opportunely."

At that time, the Scots being overwhelmed, David, the King, was taken prisoner, by which event the Prior was so much comforted that he recovered from a heavy infirmity, which his eyes had lately contracted. In fact, whereas he had not been able to see the light, suddenly, on hearing the news, he removed the plasters, threw off the bandages, and was never afterwards troubled by this kind of infirmity.

THE SURRENDER OF CALAIS (August 3, 1347).

"Sir Walter [Manny], you will inform the Governor of Calais, that the only grace he must expect from me is that six of the principal citizens of Calais march out of the town, with bare heads and feet, with ropes round their necks and the keys of the town and castle in their hands. These six persons shall be at my absolute disposal, and the remainder of the inhabitants pardoned."

Sir Walter returned to the Lord de Vienne, who was waiting for him on the battlements, and told him all that he had been able to gain from the King. "I beg of you," replied the Governor, "that you would be so good as to remain here a little, whilst I go and relate all that has passed to the townsmen; for, as they have desired me to undertake this, it is but proper they should know the result of it."

He went to the market-place, and caused the bell to be rung, upon which all the inhabitants, men and women, assembled in the town-hall. He then related to them what he had said, and the answers he had received; and that he could not obtain any conditions more favourable, to which they must give a short and immediate answer. This information caused the greatest lamentations and despair, so that the hardest heart would have had compassion on them; even the Lord de Vienne wept bitterly.

After a short time the most wealthy citizen of the town, by name Eustace de St. Pierre, rose up and said: "Gentlemen, both high and low, it would be a very great pity to suffer so many people to die through famine if any means could be found to prevent it; and it would be highly meritorious in the eyes of our Saviour if such misery could be averted. I have such faith and trust in finding grace before God, if I die to save my townsmen, that I name myself as first of the six."

When Eustace had done speaking, they all rose up and almost worshipped him: many cast themselves at his feet, with tears and groans. Another citizen, very rich and respected, rose up and said he would be the second to his companion, Eustace: his name was John D'Aire. After him James Wisant, who was very rich in merchandise and lands, offered himself as companion to his two cousins, as did Peter Wisant, his brother. Two others then named themselves, which completed the number demanded by the King of England.

The Lord John de Vienne then mounted a small hackney, for it was with difficulty that he could walk, and conducted them to the gate. There was the greatest sorrow and lamentation all over the town; and in such manner were they attended to the gate, which the Governor ordered to be opened, and then shut upon him and the six citizens, whom he led to the barriers, and said to Sir Walter Manny, who was there waiting for him: "I deliver up to you, as Governor of Calais, with the consent of the inhabitants, these six citizens: and I swear to you that they were, and are at this day the most wealthy and respectable inhabitants of Calais. I beg of you, gentle sir, that you would have the goodness to beseech the King, that they may not be put to death." "I cannot answer for what the King will do with them," replied Sir Walter; "but you may depend that I will do all in my power to save them."

The barriers were opened, when these six citizens advanced towards the pavilion of the King, and the Lord de Vienne re-entered the town.

When Sir Walter Manny had presented these six citizens to the King, they fell upon their knees, and, with uplifted hands, said: "Most gallant King, see before you six citizens of Calais, who have been capital merchants, and who bring before you the keys of the castle and of the town. We surrender ourselves to your absolute will and pleasure, in order to save the remainder of the inhabitants of Calais, who have suffered much distress and misery. Condescend, therefore, out of your nobleness of mind, to have mercy and compassion upon us." All the barons, knights, and squires, that were assembled there in great numbers, wept at this sight.

The King eyed them with angry looks (for he hated much the people of Calais, for the great losses he had formerly suffered from them at sea), and ordered their heads to be stricken off. All present entreated the King that he would be more merciful to them, but he would not listen to them. Then Sir Walter Manny said: "Ah, gentle King, let me beseech you to restrain your anger; you have the reputation of great nobleness of soul, do not therefore tarnish it by such an act as this, nor allow anyone to speak in a disgraceful manner of you. In this instance, all the world will say you have acted cruelly if you put to death six such respectable persons, who, of their own free will, have surrendered themselves to your mercy, in order to save their fellow-citizens." Upon this, the King gave a wink, saying: "Be it so," and ordered the headsman to be sent for, for that the Calesians had done him so much damage, it was proper they should suffer for it.

The Queen of England fell on her knees, and, with tears said: "Ah, gentle sir, since I have crossed the sea with great danger to see you, I have never asked of you one favour: now, I most humbly ask as a gift, for the sake of the Son of the blessed Mary, and for your love to me, that you will be merciful to these six men." The King looked at her for some time in silence, and then said: "Ah, lady, I wish you had been anywhere else than here: you have entreated in such a manner that I cannot refuse you; I therefore give them to you to do as you please with them." The Queen conducted the six citizens to her apartments, and had the halters taken from round their necks, new clothed, and served them with a plentiful dinner: she then presented each with six nobles, and had them escorted out of the camp in safety.

PENITENTS AND JEWS (1349).

This year of our Lord 1349 there came from Germany persons who performed public penitencies by whipping themselves with scourges having iron hooks, so that their backs and shoulders were torn: they chaunted also, in a piteous manner, canticles of the nativity and sufferings of our Saviour, and could not, by their rules, remain in any town more than one night; they travelled in companies of more or less in number, and thus journeyed through the country, performing their penitence for thirty-three days, being the number of years Jesus Christ remained on earth, and then returned to their own homes. These penitencies were thus performed, to entreat the Lord to restrain his anger and withhold his vengeance; for, at this period, an epidemic malady ravaged the earth, and destroyed a third part of its inhabitants. They were chiefly done in those countries the most afflicted, whither scarcely any could travel, but were not long continued, as the Church set itself against them. None of these companies entered France, for the King had strictly forbidden them, by desire of the Pope, who disapproved of such measures, by sound and sensible reasons, but which I shall pass over. All clerks, or persons holding livings, that countenanced them were excommunicated, and several were forced to go to Rome to purge themselves.

About this time the Jews throughout the world were arrested and burnt, and their fortunes seized by those lords under whose jurisdiction they had lived, except at Avignon, and the territories of the Church dependent on the Pope. Each poor Jew, when he was able to hide himself, and arrived in that country, esteemed himself safe. It was prophesied, that for one hundred years, people were to come, with iron scourges, to destroy them; and this would now have been the case had not these penitents been checked in their mad career, as has been related.

A STATUTE OF LABOURERS (1350).

Whereas late against the malice of servants which were idle, and not willing to serve after the pestilence, without taking excessive wages, it was ordained by our Lord the King, and by assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and other of his council, (1) That such manner of servants, as well men as women, should be bound to serve, receiving salary and wages, accustomed in places where they ought to serve in the twentieth year of the reign of the King that now is, or five or six years before; and that the same servants refusing to serve in such manner should be punished by imprisonment of their bodies, as in the said statute is more plainly contained; (2) whereupon commissions were made to divers people in every county to enquire and punish all them which offend against the same. (3) And now, forasmuch as it is given the King to understand in this present parliament, by the petition of the commonalty, that the said servants having no regard to the said ordinance, but to their ease and singular covetise, do withdraw themselves to serve great men and other, unless they have livery and wages to the double or treble of that they were wont to take the said twentieth year, and before, to the great damage of the great men, and impoverishing of all the said commonalty, whereof the said commonalty prayeth remedy: (4) wherefore in the same parliament by the assent of the said prelates, earls, barons, and other great men of the said commonalty there assembled, to refrain the malice of the said servants, ordained and established the things underwritten:

First. That carters, ploughmen ... and all other servants shall take liveries and wages, accustomed the said twentieth year, or four years before, so that in the country, where wheat was wont to be given, they shall take for the bushel ten pence, or wheat at the will of the giver, till it be otherwise ordained. And that they be allowed to serve by a whole year, or by other usual terms, and not by the day. And that none pay in the time of farcling [24] or hay-making but a penny a day. And a mower of meadows for the acre five pence, or by the day five pence. And reapers of corn in the first week of August two pence, and the second three pence, and so till the end of August, and less in the country where less was wont to be given, without meat or drink or other courtesy to be demanded, given, or taken. And that all workmen bring openly in their hands to the merchant towns their instruments, and there shall be hired in a common place and not privy.

Cap. II.—How much shall be given for threshing all sorts of corn by the quarter. None shall depart from the town in summer where he dwelt in winter.

Item. That none take for the threshing of a quarter of wheat or rye over ii. d. ob. and the quarter of barley, beans, pease, and oats i. d. ob. if so much were wont to be given.... And that the same servants be sworn two times in the year before lords, stewards, bailiffs and constables of every town, to hold and do these ordinances. And that none of them go out of the town, where he dwelleth in the winter, to serve the summer, if he may serve in the same town, taking as before is said. [Certain exceptions follow] ... And that those who refuse to make such oath ... shall be put in the stocks by the said lords, stewards, etc.... by three days or more, or sent to the next gaol, there to remain, till they will justify themselves. And that stocks be made in every town by such occasion betwixt this and the Feast of Pentecost.

Item. Carpenters, masons, etc.... A master carpenter, iii. d. [a day], and an other, ii. d. A mason free mason iiii. d. and other masons iii. d. and their servants i. d. ob.; tylers iii. d. and their knaves i. d. ob.; plasterers and other workers of mud walls and their knaves, by the same manner without meat or drink.s. from Easter to S^t. Michael. And from that time less, according to the rate and discretion of the justices which should be thereto assigned....

Cap. IV.—Shoes &c. shall be sold as in the 20^th year of King Edward III. Artificers sworn to use their crafts as they did in the 20^th year of the King.

Item. [Offenders] to be attached by their body, to be before the justices to answer of such contempts, so that they make fine and ransom to the King, in case they be attainted.... And in case that any of them come against his oath and be thereof attainted, he shall have imprisonment for forty days. And if he be another time convict, he shall have imprisonment of a quarter of a year, so that every time he offendeth and is convict, he shall have double pain....

Cap. VI.—No sheriff, constable, bailiff, etc., shall exact anything of the same servants. Their forfeitures shall be employed to the aid of the dismes and quinzimes granted to the King by the Commons.

Cap. VII.—The justices shall hold their sessions four times a year, and at all times needful. Servants which flee from one county to another shall be committed to prison.

FOOTNOTES:

[24] Carrying.

PROSPERITY OF THE LANDLESS LABOURER.

Laboreres that han no londe . to liven on bot here hands [25]
Deyned noght to dyne a-day . night-old wortes.[26]
May no peny ale hem paye .[27] ne a pece of bacon,
Bote hit be freesh fleesch other fysh . fried other ybake;
And that chaud and pluschaud .[28] for chilling of here mawe.
Bote he be heylich yhyred .[29] elles wol he chide,
That he was a werkman ywroght . waryen the tyme.[30]

And thenne he corseth [31] the king . and alle the kynges Justices,
Suche lawes to lere .[32] laborers to greve.
Ac while Hunger was here mayster . wolde none chide,
Ne stryve agens the statute . he lokede so sturne.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] Have no land to live on, but (work with) their hands.

[26] "No longer deign to dine on the stale vegetables of yesterday."

[27] Penny-ale will not satisfy them.

[28] Hot-and-hotter.

[29] Highly paid.

[30] Bewail the time.

[31] Curseth.

[32] For making such laws.

FIRST STATUTE OF PROVISORS (1350).

Cap. III.— ... That the free election of archbishops, bishops and of all other dignitaries and benefices elective in England, shall hold from henceforth in the manner as they were granted by the King's progenitors, and the ancestors of other lords founders of the said dignities and other benefices.

That prelates and other people of holy Church which have advowsons of any benefices ... shall have their collations and presentments freely to the same in the manner as they were enfeoffed by their donors. And in case that reservation, collation or provision be made by the Court of Rome of any archbishopric, bishopric, dignity, or benefice, in disturbance of free elections, collations, or presentations aforenamed, that at the same time of voidance ... our Lord the King and his heirs shall have and enjoy for the same time the collations, etc., which be of his advowry, such as his progenitors had before that free election was granted.

Cap. IV.—And in case that the presentees of the King or the presentees of other patrons of holy Church ... be disturbed by such provisors, so that they may not have possession of their benefices by virtue of the presentments or collations to them made, or that they which be in possession of such benefices be impeached upon their said possessions by such provisors, their procurators, executors and notaries, shall be attached by their body, and brought in to answer. And if they be convict they shall abide in prison ... till they have made fine and ransom to the King ... and before that they be delivered they shall make full renunciation, and find sufficient surety that they shall not attempt such things in time to come....

Cap. V.—And that meanwhile the King shall have the profits of such benefices so occupied by such provisors, except abbeys, priories, etc., which have colleges or convents and in such houses the college or convent shall have the profits.

THE KING OF ENGLAND REFUSES THE FRENCH KING'S CHALLENGE (1355).

In this year '55, the King of England came to Calais at the end of the month of October and rode to Hesdin; and broke the park and burnt the houses which were in the park; but he did not enter the castle or the town. And the King of France, who had made the demand at Amiens, as soon as he heard of the coming of the said King of England when he was in the said town of Amiens, went thence with the people who were with him to go against the said English King. But he did not dare wait, but returned to Calais as soon as he had heard the news that the King of France was coming towards him, burning and pillaging the country through which he passed. The said King of France sent after him to St. Omer, and challenged him, by the Marshal d'Odenham and many other knights, to fight with him if he would, either in single combat or power against power. But the said King of England refused battle, and crossed back over the sea without doing anything more this time, and the King of France returned to Paris.

THE BALLIOLS RESIGN TO THE KING OF ENGLAND THEIR PRETENDED RIGHT (1355-56)

In the year 1355, on the 1st of February, Edward of Windsor, chafing at the capture of Berwick, assembled an army and prepared to besiege the said town. But, when the garrison of the town saw this, they feared they could not defend the town for many reasons:—first, because there were few able-bodied men supplied with arms; secondly, because they had no provisions; thirdly, because they feared the said king's ungovernable ferocity; fourthly, because they had no hope of any succour reaching them from their own chiefs. They therefore took the wisest course, and treated for an agreement for the surrender of the town, their lives and property being spared and with a free pass to return to their own country; and they surrendered the town to the King of England, and went home again, enriched with the wealth of the English. After this Edward Balliol broke out in the following words before the King of England, then at Roxburgh, and said: "Most excellent prince, and most mighty above all mortals of the present day, I do here before all your chivalry, entirely, fully, altogether and absolutely resign, yield, give and relinquish to you all my right which I have, claim, or may hereafter have to the throne of Scotland, to the end that you may avenge me of mine enemies, those infamous Scots, who ruthlessly cast me off that I should not reign over them. In proof whereof I will here with my own hand, in token of the said resignation and gift, hand over to you, in the presence of all, the royal crown, the sceptre together with some earth and a stone of the said land of Scotland, in token of possession and investiture, that you may acquire in perpetuity the kingdom formerly my due." Upon this it should be remarked first, that he had no right to it originally, as was seen above; and, if he had any right, he there publicly renounced and resigned that right, which, even though he had been the true king, he could by no means renounce or resign without the consent of the three estates, and that into the hands of him who should have the power of instituting another, which the King of England could not have, as he had formerly entirely, purely, and simply resigned and quitclaimed all his right, pretended or true, as was seen above; nor, even if he had been the true king, could he have resigned without the superior's consent. Also several Kings of England had resigned into the hands of the King of Scotland following upon discussion and a bond, all their pretended right, as aforesaid.

THE BATTLE OF POITIERS (1356).

"Sir, we have observed accurately the English: they may amount, according to our estimate, to about two thousand men-at-arms, four thousand archers, and fifteen hundred footmen. They are in a very strong position; but we do not imagine they can make more than one battalion: nevertheless, they have posted themselves with great judgment, have fortified all the roads along the hedge-side, and lined the hedges with part of their archers; for, as that is the only road for an attack, one must pass through the midst of them. This lane has no other entry; and it is so narrow, that scarcely can four men ride through it abreast. At the end of this lane, amidst vines and thorns, where it is impossible to ride or march in any regular order, are posted the men-at-arms on foot; and they have drawn up before them their archers, in the manner of an harrow, so that it will be no easy matter to defeat them."

The King asked in what manner they would advise him to attack them: "Sir," replied Sir Eustace, "on foot; except three hundred of the most expert and boldest of your army, who must be well armed and excellently mounted, in order to break, if possible, this body of archers; and then your battalions must advance quickly on foot, attack [the] men-at-arms hand to hand, and combat them valiantly. This is the best advice that I can give you; and if anyone know a better, let him say it."

It often happens, that fortune in war and love turns out more favourable and wonderful than could have been hoped for or expected. To say the truth, this battle which was fought near Poitiers, in the plains of Beauvoir and Maupertius, was very bloody and perilous; many gallant deeds of arms were performed that were never known, and the combatants on each side suffered much. King John himself did wonders; he was armed with a battle-axe, with which he fought and defended himself....

There was much pressing at this time, through eagerness of taking the King [of France]; and those that were nearest to him, and knew him, cried out, "Surrender yourself, surrender yourself, or you are a dead man!" In that part of the field was a young knight from St. Omer, who was engaged by a salary in the service of the King of England—his name was Denys de Morbeque—who for five years had attached himself to the English, on account of having been banished, in his younger days, from France for a murder committed in an affray at St. Omer. It fortunately happened for this knight that he was at the time near to the King of France, when he was so much pulled about; he, by dint of force, for he was very strong and robust, pushed through the crowd, and said to the King in good French, "Sire, sire, surrender yourself." The King, who found himself very disagreeably situated, turning to him, asked, "To whom shall I surrender myself; to whom? Where is my cousin, the Prince of Wales? If I could see him, I would speak to him." "Sire," replied Sir Denys, "he is not here; but surrender yourself to me, and I will lead you to him." "Who are you?" said the King. "Sire, I am Denys de Morbeque, a knight from Artois; but I serve the King of England, because I cannot belong to France, having forfeited all I possessed there." The King then gave him his right-hand glove, and said: "I surrender myself to you." There was much crowding and pushing about, for everyone was eager to cry out, "I have taken him!" Neither the King nor his youngest son Philip were able to get forward, and free themselves from the throng.

The Prince of Wales, who was as courageous as a lion, took great delight that day to combat his enemies. Sir John Chandos, who was near his person, and had never quitted it during the whole of the day, nor stopped to make prisoners, said to him towards the end of the battle: "Sir, it will be proper for you to halt here, and plant your banner on the top of this bush, which will serve to rally your forces, that seem very much scattered; for I do not see any banners or pennons of the French, nor any considerable bodies able to rally against us; and you must refresh yourself a little, as I perceive you are much heated."

Upon this, the banner of the Prince was placed on a high bush; the minstrels began to play, and trumpets and clarions to do their duty.

THE TREATY OF LONDON (1359).

The truce [of Bordeaux] having expired the first day of May, 1359, from that period the English and Navarre garrisons made war for him [King Edward] as King of France, and continued so to do daily....

At that time also, the King of England and the Prince of Wales came to Westminster, to meet the King of France and Lord James de Bourbon; when these four assembled together in counsel, and agreed on a peace, without any arbitrator between them, upon certain conditions which were written down, and also a letter was indited to be sent to France to the Duke of Normandy....

It appeared to the King of Navarre, the Duke of Normandy and his brothers, as well as to the Council of State, that the conditions of peace were too hard;[33] and they gave a unanimous answer to the two lords who had brought them, that "they would much rather endure the great distress they were in at present, than suffer the Kingdom of France to be diminished, and that King John must remain longer in England." ...

The King of England, on receiving their answer, said that since it was so, before the winter was over, he would enter France with a most powerful army, and remain there until there was an end of the war by an honourable and satisfactory peace.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] King John, for whom a ransom of 4,000,000 golden crowns was to be paid, promised to yield the sovereignty of the empire of Henry II. in France to Edward, who promised to help King John against Charles of Navarre, then England's ally. This treaty was not only received with the liveliest indignation in France, but it resulted in peace between the Regent of France (Charles of Normandy) and the King of Navarre, since Edward had abandoned the latter.

THE SIEGE OF PARIS AND THE TREATY OF CALAIS (1360).

In the year of grace, 1360, all laymen, of whatever condition, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, were arrayed. And the best armed bowmen of these were sent to the admirals at the sea for the defence of the kingdom.

One admiral was John Wesnam, Prior of the Hospital, and others appointed by the King. It was said that a very strong navy of the enemy was at sea.

The archbishops and bishops conceded great indulgences, throughout their sees, to all those going over the sea against the enemy in defence of the kingdom, and that each one should be able to choose for himself a confessor, according to pleasure. The bishops also, abbots and priors, rectors, vicars, and chaplains, and all ecclesiastical men were prepared, just as the abbots had been; some to be armed men, some to be bowmen, and they were chosen by the mandate of the bishops. And the beneficed who were not able to give personal service, were ready to furnish through their goods a complement of other persons, if the French should enter the land, and the occasion should be opened to them.

Then the admiral, with 160 ships from London, reached the sea by the Thames. And first he ploughed the high sea as far as Boulogne, thence to Honfleur, to crush the insolence of the enemy, who had proposed to attack the land of England. And thus our people did much harm to the French in this peregrination. When, therefore, the King had lain at Rheims for seven weeks, he crossed to Chalons, and thence went into Burgundy. And the Duke of Burgundy came and treated with the King,[34] and the King conceded to him a truce for three years, for him and his, for 200,000 motons [35] paid to the King. In the following Lent King Edward entered into a treaty with the French, and one cardinal and one legate were present, but nothing came of it. Thus the King moved his army towards Paris, burning, killing, and devastating everywhere. And there, near the feast of Easter, he pitched his tents two leagues from the city.

And on Monday after Easter Day, the King placed his army in three lines of battle before the city, trumpets and clarionets blaring, and other musical instruments sounding. The King was in the second line with his men, the Duke of Lancaster, and the Earls of Northampton and Salisbury with theirs in the first line. In the third line, the Prince and the barons with the rest of the people awaiting attack from those who were in the city of Paris, as before they had promised them. However, no one came out of the city to meet them. Thereat King Edward, much displeased, ordered a great part of the suburbs to be set on fire that they might provoke them to battle. Nevertheless none came out to resist them. At length thirty soldiers in good order with their lances advanced straight forward to the gate of the Parisians, seeking from them military operations according to the law of arms. And sixty came out of the city with spears, and much brave fighting took place on both sides; but by the grace of God, which was ever present with the English in all their undertakings, the English conquered the French, and caused them to flee back into the city, leaving some dead, some mortally wounded; but our men, thanks be to God, escaped without any serious injury. Then the King removed to other parts, and handed over the custody of the castles which are in the vicinity of Orleans and Catenesia to the Earl of Lancaster. At that time the Count de Armenak fought in Gascony with the Count de Foy, an ally of the King of England. And on the side of the said count were killed 15,000 men and on our part no one of note, thanks be to God. In this campaign many English nobles died in France; among them the Earl of March, marshall of the army, Guy of Warwick, firstborn of the earl, a most famous soldier, and many other renowned soldiers, knights, and squires. For in their return from the city of Paris towards the district of Orleans in Beauce, suddenly a terrible storm arose with severe thunder and lightning, and killed men without number and more than 6,000 horses, so that the transport of the army almost failed altogether, and made it necessary to retire at once towards England, but God turned the misery of necessity to the honour of the King's majesty. For the Pope sent solemn messengers with letters to the King of England, to treat concerning peace and concord. And they deliberated at Morancez near Chartres, and the discussion was continued to the 5th day of May.... About the Translation of St. Thomas [July 3] John de Valois, King of France, and other prisoners crossed to Calais and deliberated with the French princes concerning the final peace between the kingdoms of England and France.[36]

FOOTNOTES:

[34] The Treaty of Guillon.

[35] Gold coin, so called from having a figure of a sheep impressed on it.

[36] This was the Treaty of Calais, more commonly known as the Treaty of Brétigny. As a matter of fact, only the preliminaries were signed at Brétigny in May, 1360; the definitive treaty was made at Calais in the following October.

THE FATEFUL FOOTPRINTS OF THE ENGLISH (c. 1361).

In short there is an hour in which we see the stability of all things become unstable: faith fails; restfulness becomes unrest. Nor do I bid you turn your eyes afar, but look at your own country and your own time. In my youth, the Britons, whom we called Angles or English, were held to be the most cowardly of all barbarians: now they are a most warlike people and have laid low the French, who long flourished in military glory, by a series of victories so numerous and so unforeseen that those who even lately were inferior to the wretched Scots have not only brought about the pitiful and ignominious downfall of a high King, whom I am not able to call to memory without a sigh, but have so crushed the whole kingdom by fire and sword that I was hardly able to persuade myself on a recent journey that it was the same kingdom that I had before seen. Everywhere a woeful solitude, and lamentation and desolation: everywhere rough uncultivated fields; and ruined and deserted houses, except some which had escaped destruction, being surrounded by the walls of fortifications or cities; indeed in every place were seen the fateful footprints of the English and the fresh and hateful scars wrought by their swords.

NO SUBSIDY ON WOOL WITHOUT ASSENT OF PARLIAMENT (1362).

Item. The King by the assent aforesaid, having regard to the grant that the Commons have granted now in this Parliament of wools, leather and woolfells to be taken for three years: will and grant that after the said term passed, nothing be taken nor demanded of the said Commons, but only the ancient custom of half a mark, nor that this grant now made, or which hath been made in times past shall not be had in example nor charge of the said Commons in time to come. And that the merchants denizens may pass with their wools as well as the foreigns without being restrained. And that no subsidy, nor other charge, be set nor granted upon the wools by the merchants nor by none other from henceforth, without the assent of the Parliament.

REGULATION OF WEARING APPAREL BY STATUTE (1363).

Item. For the outrageous and excessive apparel of divers people, against their estate and degree to the great destruction and impoverishment of the land: it is ordained, that grooms, as well servants of lords, as they of mysteries and artificers, shall be served to eat and drink once a day of flesh or of fish, and the remnant of other victuals, as of milk, butter, and cheese, and other such victuals, according to their estate. And that they have cloths for their vesture, or hosing, whereof the whole cloth shall not exceed two marks, and that they wear no cloth of higher price, of their buying, nor otherwise, nor nothing of gold nor of silver embroidered, aimeled,[37] nor of silk, nor nothing pertaining to the said things. And their wives, daughters and children of the same condition in their clothing and apparel, and they shall wear no veils passing xii^d a veil.

Cap. IX.: The apparel of handicraftsmen and yeomen, and of their wives and children.

Item. That people of handicraft and yeomen shall take nor wear cloth of an higher price for their vesture or hosing than within forty shillings the whole cloth, by way of buying, nor otherwise, nor stone, nor cloth of silk, nor of silver, nor girdle, knife, button, ring, garter, nor owche, ribband, chains, nor no such other things of gold, nor of silver, nor no manner of apparel embroidered, aimeled, nor of silk by no way. And that their wives, daughters, and children, be of the same condition in their vesture and apparel. And that they wear no veil of silk, but only of yarn made within the realm, nor no manner of furr, nor of budge,[38] but only lamb, cony, cat, and fox.

Cap. X.: What apparel gentlemen under the estate of knights, and what esquires of two hundred mark-land &c. may wear, and what their wives and children.

Item. That esquires and all manner of gentlemen under the estate of a knight, which have no land nor rent to the value of an hundred pounds by year, shall not take nor wear cloth for their clothing or hosing of an higher price than within the price of four marks and an half the whole cloth by way of buying, nor otherwise, and that they wear no cloth of gold, nor silk, nor silver, nor no manner of clothing imbroidered, ring, buttons, nor owche of gold nor of silver, nor nothing of stone, nor no manner of furr, and that their wives, daughters, and children be of the same condition, as to vesture and apparel, without any turning up or purfle.[39] And that they wear no manner of apparel of gold, or silver, nor of stone, but that esquires, which have lands or rent to the value of ii. C. marks by year and above, may take and wear cloths of the price of v marks the whole cloth, and cloth of silk and of silver, ribband, girdle and other apparel reasonably garnished of silver. And that their wives, daughters, and children may wear furr turned up of miniver, without ermines or letuse, or any manner of stone, but for their heads.

Item. That merchants citizens and burgesses artificers, people of handy-craft as well within the city of London, as elsewhere which have clearly goods and chattels to the value of v. C. pounds and their wives and children may take and wear in the manner as the esquires and great men, which have land or rent to the value of C. li. by year. And those who have goods etc. to value of M. li.... may take and wear in the manner as esquires and gentlemen which have land and rent to the value of ii. C. li. by year, and no groom, yeoman, or servant of merchant artificer or people of handicraft shall wear otherwise in apparel than is above ordained of yeomen of lords.

Item. That knights which have land or rent within the value of ii. C. li. shall take and wear cloth of vi. marks the whole cloth, for their vesture, and of none higher price. And they that wear not cloth of gold, nor cloths, mantle nor gold furred with miniver nor of ermins, nor no apparel broidered of stone, nor otherwise: and that their wives daughters and children be of the same condition. And that they wear no turning up of ermine nor of letuses, nor no manner of apparel of stone, but only for their heads.

But all knights and ladies which have land or rent over the value of iv. C. mark by year, to the sum of M. li. shall wear at their pleasure, except ermins and letuses and apparel of pearl and stone, but only for their heads.

Item. That clerks, which have degree in any church, cathedral, collegial or schools or clerk of the King, that hath such estate that requireth furr, shall do and use according to the constitution of the same. And all other clerks which have ii. C. marks of land by year shall wear and do as knights of the same rent. And other clerks within the same rent, shall wear as the esquires of C. li. of rent. And after all those, as well knights as clerks, which by this ordinance may wear furr in the winter, in the same manner shall wear linure in the summer.

Cap. XIV.: The apparel of ploughmen, and others of mean estate; and the forfeitures of offenders against this ordinance.

Item. That carters, ploughmen, drivers of the plough, oxherds, cowherds, etc. and all other people that have not forty shillings of goods, nor of chattels, shall not take nor wear any manner of cloth, but blanket, and russett wool of twelve pence, and shall wear the girdles of linen according to their estate, and that they come to eat and drink in the manner as pertaineth to them and not excessively. And it is ordained that if any wear or do contrary to any of the points aforesaid that he shall forfeit against the King all the apparel that he hath so worn against the form of this ordinance.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] Enamelled.

[38] Lambskin, with the wool dressed outwards, often worn on the edges of capes as hoods of Bachelors of Arts are still made.

[39] Trimming or edgings.

THE HAUGHTINESS OF THE ENGLISH (1367).

I, the author of this history, was at Bordeaux when the Prince of Wales marched to Spain, and witnessed the great haughtiness of the English, who are affable to no other nation than their own; nor could any of the gentlemen of Gascony or Aquitaine, though they had ruined themselves by their wars, obtain office or appointment in their own country; for the English said they were neither on a level with them nor worthy of their society, which made the Gascons very indignant, as they showed the first opportunity that presented itself. It was on account of the harshness of the Prince's manners that the Count d'Armagnac and the Lord d'Albreth, with other knights and squires, turned to the French interest. King Philip of France, and the good John his son, had lost Gascony by their overbearing pride; and in like manner did the Prince. But King Charles, of happy memory, regained them by good humour, liberality, and humility. In this manner the Gascons love to be governed....

Such are the Gascons; they are very unsteady, but they love the English in preference to the French, for the war against France is the most profitable; and this is the cause of their preference.

"TIME-HONOURED LANCASTER" (May-June, 1376).

... There arose this question amongst them [the Commons] which of the knights should be their speaker, for they had fully resolved to deny the King's request until certain abuses were corrected.... Careful they were, as is said, about their speaker for they doubted certain of the King's secretarys who they thought would have disclosed their drifts, for they were captious and in great and especial favour with the King. In this space God moved the spirit of a knight of their company called Peter de la Mare, pouring into him wisdom, and boldness to the conceit of his mind, and with all such constancy that he neither feared the threats of his enemies nor the subtleties of such as envied his preferment, &c. Peter, trusting in God, and standing together with his fellows before the nobles (whereof the chief was John Duke of Lancaster whose doings were ever contrary, for, as it is thought, he wanted the grace of God, &c.), he began thus:

"Lords and nobles, by whose faith and diligence the realm is governed, it is well known to your wisdoms, how with like vexations the Commons have been often oppressed, now paying fifteenths, otherwhiles ninths and tenths, to the King's use, which they would take in good part, if the King or his realm took any commodity, thereby, nor would they grieve at it if it had been bestowed in the King's wars, although scarcely prosperous; but it is evident neither the King nor the realm do have any profit thereby. And because it cannot be known how such great expences should arise, the commonalty require an account of such as received the same to the King's use, neither is it credible that the King should want such an infinity of treasure if they were faithful that served him."

When he had thus said, they having not wherewith to answer, the judges held their peace.

The night following the Duke [of Lancaster] consulted with his private men how he might put off that that redounded to his infamy and manifest dishonour. After divers men's opinions diversely told, he, liking of none of their ways, is reported to have said: "What," saith he, "do these base and ignoble knights attempt? Do they think they be kings or princes of this land? Or else whence is this haughtiness and pride? I think they know not what power I am of. I will therefore early in the morning appear unto them so glorious and will show such power among them and with such vigour I will terrify them, that neither they nor their like shall dare henceforth to provoke me to wrath." Boasting in this sort and vainly assuring himself, one of his gentlemen is said to have given him this answer: "My lord," saith he, "it is not unknown to your honour what helps these knights, not of the common sort, as you affirm, but mighty in arms and valiant, have to undershore them; for they have the favour and love of the lords, and especially of the Lord Prince Edward, your brother, who giveth them his council and aid effectually. The Londoners also, all and everyone, and common people be so well affected towards them that they will not suffer them to be overlaid with reproachful language, or to be molested with the least injury in the world. Yea, and the knights themselves abused in any reproachful manner, shall be enforced to attempt all extremities against your person and your friends, which, haply, otherwise they would never do." With this admonition the duke's guilty conscience was very much troubled. He was afraid indeed that it would so come to pass, as the gentleman had said unto him, and that so his honour should ever more distained.[41] Whereas he knew that if mention were openly made of his wicked acts he could not satisfy the people by any purgation, nor for trouble of mind and guiltiness of conscience durst, though he were willing thereto, wage battle against his enviers....

O unfortunate duke and miserable, O that destroyest with thy treason and lack of sense and reason, whom thou guidest to battle, and whom in peace thou shouldst guide through examples of good works, thou leadest them through bye ways and bringest them to destruction, for thou whereas either God, or, that I may so say, Nature, the mother of all things hath given thee a soul and discretion, than the which nothing is more excellent, so dost abject and abase thyself, that a man may think you to differ nothing from a brute beast. Behold, O most miserable man, thinkest thyself to flourish, which accountest thyself happy, in what sort thy own miseries do overbear thee, thy lusts do torment thee; to whom that which thou hast is not sufficient, and yet fearest lest it will not long continue thine.

The sting of conscience for thy lewd acts prick and vex thee but would God and the fear of laws and judgment terrify thee as it doth others, truly then thou wouldst even against thy will, amend that is amiss.

The Duke therefore, as afore is touched, punished with the most sharp pricks of his conscience and terrified with the answers of his councillors, laid aside all vigour and stoutness of stomach, and the next day came into the assembly of the knights, and, contrary to all expectations, showed himself so favourable and so mild that he drew them all into admiration. They knew how proud Moab was ii or iii days before, although they regarded not his arrogancy; and they said, is not this the change of the right hand of the highest? The Duke, counterfeiting modesty, deceitfully seemed to comfort them, saying he knew well the desire of the knights to be zealous, and to tender the state of the realm and therefore, whatsoever they thought good to be corrected they should speak, and he would put thereto the wished remedy.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] The first leaf of this English translation of part of the Harleian MS. 3634, which is the Chronicon Angliæ, 1308-1388, written by a contemporary monk of St. Albans, possibly Walsingham, has at some time been separated from the main part of the manuscript, and is now in Harleian MS. 247, while the rest is in Harleian MS. 6217, fol. 3, of which begins: "The night following, the Duke consulted," etc.

[41] Soiled, stained.

LAMENT FOR THE BLACK PRINCE.

Who being dead, the whole hope of the English perished; for while he lived they feared no inroad of any enemy, even as when he was present, they feared no warlike encounter. For never when he was present were any foul deeds done, nor did any soldiers turn renegade; and, as it was said of the great Alexander, he attacked no people that he did not conquer, he besieged no city that he did not take. Let these witness to what I say: the battle of Creçy, the siege of Calais, the battle of Poitiers where the King of France was taken; the war in Spain [1367] where Henry the Bastard, the invader of that kingdom, was put to flight, and the courageous Peter, the lawful King, was restored to his dominion; and, finally, that greatest siege of the city of Limoges (September 19, 1370), and the ruin of that city, where, although he was weighed down by so great infirmity of body that he could scarcely sit on his horse at the time, he nevertheless so inspired his men that they believed it impossible for any city to be able to resist their strength. His body was borne to Canterbury, there, as he, while living, had commanded, to be buried, bewailed by the whole realm of England. O thou untimely, too-eager Death, who bearest away that one of the English who seemed to be of help! Oh, what sorrow dost thou give to the old King, his father, taking from him not only his own desire, but that of the whole people, namely that his first born should sit after him upon his throne and should judge the people in equity! Oh, what lamentations dost thou give to the country which believes itself shorn of a protector now he is no longer present! What tears dost thou give to the citizens deprived of so great a prince; what exultations to the enemy, the fear of so great a defender being removed! In truth, unless God, who protected him in battle, and now took him out of the world (perchance we English should place a greater hope in the Lord God, lest the poor English-born be set at variance among themselves) shall raise his hand, our enemies, who surround us on every side, will surely rage upon us even to our destruction, and will destroy our place and people. Rise up, O God, help us and protect us for Thy name's sake.

RENEWAL OF THE WAR (1376-77).

After the feast of Michaelmas, when the funeral of the [Black] Prince had been performed, in a manner suitable to his birth and merit, the King of England caused the young Prince Richard to be acknowledged as his successor to the Crown after his decease, by all his children, the Duke of Lancaster, the Earl of Cambridge, the Lord Thomas, his youngest son, as well as by all the barons, earls, prelates, and knights of England. He made them solemnly swear to observe this, and on Christmas Day he had him seated next to himself, above all his children, in Royal state, that it might be seen and declared he was to be King of England after his death.

The Lord John Cobham, the Bishop of Hereford, and the Dean of London, were at this time sent to Bruges on the part of the English. The French had sent thither the Count de Saltzbourg, the Lord de Châtillon, and Master Philibert l'Espiote. The prelates, ambassadors from the Pope, had still remained there, and continued the negotiations for peace.

They treated of a marriage between the young son of the Prince and the Lady Mary, daughter of the King of France: after which the negotiators of each party separated, and reported what they had done to the respective Kings.

About Shrovetide a secret treaty was formed between the two Kings for their ambassadors to meet at Montreuil-sur-Mer, and the King of England sent to Calais Sir Guiscard d'Angle, Sir Richard Sturey, and Sir Geoffry Chaucer. On the part of the French were the Lords de Coucy and De la Rivieres, Sir Nicholas Bragues, and Nicholas Bracier. They for a long time discussed the subject of the above marriage; and the French, as I was informed, made some offers, but the others demanded different terms, or refused treating. These Lords returned, therefore, with their treaties to their sovereigns; and the truces were prolonged to the first of May.

The Earl of Salisbury, the Bishop of St. David's, Chancellor of England, and the Bishop of Hereford, returned to Calais, and with them, by orders of the King of France, the Lord De Coucy, and Sir William De Dormans, Chancellor of France.

Notwithstanding all that the prelates could say or argue, they never could be brought to fix upon any place to discuss these treaties between Montreuil and Calais, nor between Montreuil and Boulogne, nor on any part of the frontiers; these treaties, therefore, remained in an unfinished state. When the war recommenced, Sir Hugh Calverley was sent Governor of Calais.

JOHN OF GAUNT ATTACKS WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM (1377).

The Duke [of Lancaster] spewed out the venom of serpents which was in him and directed the sting of his malice against the Bishop of Winchester, Lord William Wykeham, seeking a knot in a bulrush and an occasion for condemning him in every way and manner that he could. At length, among the many things which, as it is said, he falsely deposed against him, he declared that he had been false to the lord King at the time when he was discharging the office of Chancellor. And although the said Bishop would have been prepared to bring forward sufficient honest witnesses and accounts to prove his innocence,[42] nevertheless, William Skipworth unjustly sitting as justiciar, he [the duke] caused him to be condemned without answer, and the temporalities of his bishopric to be taken from him by royal authority. And, in order that he might gain popular favour, he demanded, in the power of the King, that the same goods should be given to the aid of the son of the [Black] Prince, Richard de Bordeaux, Earl of Chester, who had lately received by gift of the King the principality and name of his father. Moreover, he prohibited the same bishop, in place of the King, from taking it on himself to come within twenty miles of the royal presence. Thus was he avenged against the said bishop.

Now the cause of all this malice was, as it is said, that the same Bishop had said that he [John of Gaunt] was not the son of the King or Queen; but in the time when the Queen was delivered at Gaunt, she had given birth not to a boy, but to a girl, whom she had overlaid; and, fearing the royal indignation, she had ordered the son of a certain Flemish woman, born at the same time, to be put in its place; thus she had fostered one to whom she had not given birth, namely, this man, the notorious Duke of Lancaster. These things the Queen, in her last hours, had related to the bishop under seal of confession; and had prayed him steadfastly that, if at any time it should happen that he [John of Gaunt] should either have designs on the kingdom, or if the said kingdom should in any way whatever devolve on him, he, the said bishop, should make known his birth, lest he, a false heir, should inherit the kingdom of England.

FOOTNOTES:

[42] In Harleian MS. 247, fol. 170b, we read of the Council of July, 1377, wherein the lords did "greatly debate upon the suppressing of the Duke of Lancaster and the Lord Latimer by Sir William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, of sundry trespasses and misprisons by him committed, and charged him with sundry grievous articles and forfeits, which the King himself had certainly understood and by divers evidences were known, as also by the common voice of the people; for he had sundry charges and offices under the King from the xxxv. year of his reign and had by his writings made sundry defaults to the prejudice, hurt and reproach of the King and of his realm, and to the oppression of his people."

MASTER JOHN WICLIF (1377).

Master John Wiclif, doctor of divinity in the University of Oxford, began to sustain openly in the said University erroneous conclusions contrary to the state of the universal Church and conclusions of heresy, and especially against canons, monks, and religious men possessionate, which drew to him in this time divers fellows of the same sect dwelling in Oxford, going barefoot with long gowns of russet, that they might publish and fortify their errors against men contrarious to them, preaching openly the said errors. Among whom they said that the sacrament in the altar after the sacrament or consecration is not the very body of Christ. Also he said that temporal lords and men might take away meritoriously the goods [of] men of the Church sinning or trespassing. Nevertheless, the Pope with his council damned xxiii conclusions as vain, erroneous and full of heresy, and sent bulls direct to the Metropolitan of England and to the Bishop of London that they should cause the said Master John to be arrested and to examine him of the said conclusions. That inquisition done, and a declaration made, the Archbishop of Canterbury commanded and prohibited the said Master John and his co-disciples to use the said conclusions, and so they were still for a season. But soon after, by supportation of lords and other noble men, they took to them more wicked opinions, and had great continuation in their malice.

A TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION (1377).

At the same time the commons of London made great sport and solemnity to the young prince. For upon the Monday next before the Purification of our Lady at night and in the night, were 130 men disguisedly apparelled and well mounted on horseback to go on mumming to the said prince, riding from Newgate through Cheap[side], where many people see them, with great noise of minstrelsy trumpets,——,[43] cornets and shaumes and great plenty of wax and torches lighted. And in the beginning they rid 48, after the manner of esquires, two and two together, clothed in coats and cloaks of red say or sendall and their faces covered with vizards well and handsomely made; after these esquires came 48 like knights well arrayed after the same manner; after the knights came one excellently arrayed and well mounted as he had been an Emperor; after him some 100 paces came one nobly arrayed as a pope; and after him came 24 arrayed like cardinals; and after the cardinals came 8 or 10 arrayed and with black vizards like devils nothing amiable, seeming like legates; riding through London and over London bridge towards Kenyton (Kennington) where the young prince made his abode with his mother. And the duke of Lancaster, and the earls of Cambridge, Hertford, Warwick and Suffolk and many other lords were there with him to behold the solemnity. And when they were come before the manor, they alighted on foot and entered into the hall; and soon after the prince with his mother and the other lords came out of the chambers into the hall and the said mummers saluted them, showing a pair of dice upon a table to play with the prince, which dice were subtly made, so that when the prince should cast he should win. And the said players and mummers set before the prince three jewels each after other, the first a ball of gold, then a cup of gold, then a gold ring, the which the said prince won at three casts, as before it was appointed; and after that they set before the prince's mother, the duke of Lancaster and the other earls every one a gold ring and the mother and the lords won them; and then the prince caused to bring the wine and they drank with great joy, commanding the minstrels to play; and the trumpets began to sound and other instruments to pipe etc. and the prince and the lords danced on the one side and the mummers on the other a great while. And then they drank and took their leave and so departed towards London.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] A blank in the manuscript.

THE KING OF FRANCE EQUIPS A FLEET (1377).

During the negotiations for peace, the King of France had been very active in providing ships and galleys; the King of Spain had sent him his admiral, Sir Fernando Sausse, who, with Sir John de Vienne, Admiral of France, had sailed for the Port of Rye, which they burnt, five days after the decease of King Edward, the vigil of St. Peter, in June, and put to death the inhabitants, without sparing man or woman.

Upon news of this coming to London, the Earls of Cambridge and Buckingham were ordered to Dover with a large body of men-at-arms. The Earl of Salisbury and Sir John Montague, on the other hand, were sent to the country near Southampton.

After this exploit the French landed in the Isle of Wight. They afterwards burnt the following towns: Portsmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, and several others. When they had pillaged and burnt all in the Isle of Wight, they embarked and put to sea, coasting the shores until they came to a port called Poq (? Pool). The Earl of Salisbury and Sir John Montague defended the passage, but they burnt a part of the town of Poq. They again embarked and coasted towards Southampton, attempting every day to land; but the Earl of Salisbury and his forces, who followed them along the shore, prevented them from so doing.

The fleet then came before Southampton; but Sir John Arundel, with a large body of men-at-arms and archers, guarded well the town, otherwise it would have been taken. The French made sail from thence towards Dover, and landed near to the Abbey of Lewes, where there were great numbers of the people of the country assembled. They appointed the Abbot of Lewes, Sir Thomas Cheney, and Sir John Fuselée their leaders, who drew up in good array to dispute their landing, and to defend the country. The French had not the advantage, but lost several of their men, as well might happen. However, the better to maintain the fight, they made the land, when a great skirmish ensued, and the English, being forced to retreat, were finally put to flight. Two hundred at least were slain, and the two knights with the Abbot of Lewes made prisoners.

The French re-embarked and remained at anchor before the abbey all that night. They then heard for the first time, from their prisoners, the death of King Edward [June 20] and the coronation of King Richard, and also a part of the regulation of the kingdom, and that great numbers of men-at-arms were under orders to march to the coast.

CHARACTER OF EDWARD III.

This noble and mighty King Edward, among all other men of nobility in the world, was a man of great goodness called gracious, excelling all his predecessors by virtue and grace given to him of God, a bold man in heart, dreading not sinister fortune in battles, having great fortune in them both by sea and land. Also he was meek, benign, and familiar to all manner of people, devout to God, honouring the church of God, and having his ministers in great reverence. Also he was moderate in cures temporal, provide in council, affable and eloquent, meek in behaviour, having compassion on men in tribulation. Also he was elegant and beauteous of body, having a comfortable and pleasant countenance, like to the sight of an angel, for God had endued him with such excellence of grace that a man would have thought as for a surety that he should have sped well in the day following after that he had dreamed of the said King. This noble King governed his reign gloriously unto his later days, large in gifts, excessive in expenses, endued with all honesty of manners. Whereof his fame was so increased among people of Barbary, insomuch that they said there was no land in the world that had so noble a prince, and that England should never have so noble again after his death. But the inordinate lust of the flesh used in his old age helped him much unto death. Also it is to be attended, as the acts afore express, that like as in his beginning all things enjoyed to him, and in the midst of his age glorious and fortunate, so the said King drawing to age and towards death, all things were as unfortunate to him, for his sins and many incommodities began to spring, having after him long continuation, which thing was to be sorrowed.

THE PEASANTS' REVOLT (1381).

During this King Richard's reign great things were looked for. But he, being of tender years, others, who had the care of him and his kingdom, did not cease to inflict on the land acts of wantonness, extortions, and unbearable wrongs. Whence sprang that unnatural deed, when the commons of the land and especially those of Kent and Essex, under their wretched leader Jack Straw, declaring that they could no longer bear such wrongs, and above all wrongs of taxes and subsidies, rose in overwhelming numbers against the lords and the King's officers, and, marching to London on the eve of Corpus Christi [June 12], in the year of our Lord 1381, struck off the heads of Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, then the King's Chancellor, Sir Robert Hales the treasurer, and many others, hard by the Tower of London. And on the places where these lords were beheaded there are set up to this day two marble crosses, a lasting memorial of so monstrous a deed.

In this rising of the commons were many great men of the land in many places beheaded. The Savoy, the palace of the Duke of Lancaster and the fairest in the kingdom, standing near London, on the bank of Thames, was, from the commons' hatred of the duke, utterly destroyed by them with fire; and the duke himself, for fear of them, fled into Scotland. To appease them and to quiet their fury, the King granted that the state of villeinage, as well in their persons as in their labour, should be henceforth done away, freedom fully given, and all prisoners set at large. And this he commanded and made to be openly proclaimed throughout the counties of the kingdom. And then what a throe of grief passed through the desolated land! For they boasted that they would slay all those of higher birth, would raise up King and lords from among themselves, would stablish new laws, and, in a word, would make new, or rather disfigure, the face and estate of the whole island. Then every man struck off the head of his enemy, and despoiled his richer neighbour. But, by the mercy of God, when their leader, being in Smithfield near London, doffed not his hood before the King nor in anything did reverence to the King's Majesty, his head was deftly struck off, in the very midst of his flock of kites, by Sir William Walworth, knight and citizen of London: and straightway, being raised on the point of a sword, it was shown before them. Then the commons, in sore dread, sought flight by stealth, and there and then casting away their rebellious weapons, as though unguilty of such riot and wickedness, like foxes into their holes, they pitifully crept home. But the King and the lords pursued them, and some they made to be dragged behind horses, some they slew with the sword, some they hanged on the gallows, some they quartered; and they destroyed thousands.

WONDROUS AND UNHEARD-OF PRODIGIES (1381).

Among the most wondrous and hitherto unheard-of prodigies that have ever happened in the City of London, that which took place there on the Feast of Corpus Christi, the 18th day of June, in the 4th year of the reign of King Richard the Second, seems deserving to be committed to writing, that it may be not unknown to those to come.

For on that day, while the King was holding his Council in the Tower of London, countless companies of the commoners and persons of the lowest grade from Kent and Essex suddenly approached the said City, the one body coming to the town of Southwark, and the other to the place called "Mileende," without Algate. By the aid also of perfidious commoners within the City, of their own condition, who rose in countless numbers there, they suddenly entered the City together, and, passing straight through it, went to the mansion of Sir John, Duke of Lancaster, called "Le Savoye," and completely levelled the same with the ground and burned it. From thence they turned to the Church of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, without Smithfield, and burnt and levelled nearly all the houses there, the church excepted.

On the next morning, all the men from Kent and Essex met at the said place called "Mileende," together with some of the perfidious persons of the City aforesaid; whose numbers in all were past reckoning. And there the King came to them from the Tower, accompanied by many knights and esquires, and citizens on horseback, the lady his mother following him also in a chariot. Where, at the prayer of the infuriated rout, our Lord the King granted that they might take those who were traitors against him, and slay them, wheresoever they might be found. And from thence the King rode to his wardrobe, which is situated near to Castle Baynard; while the whole of the infuriated rout took its way towards the Tower of London; entering which by force, they dragged forth from it Sir Simon, Archbishop of Canterbury, Chancellor of our Lord the King, and Brother Robert Hales, Prior of the said Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, the King's Treasurer; and together with them, Brother William Appeltone, of the Order of Friars Minor, and John Leg, Serjeant-at-Arms to the King, and also, one Richard Somenour, of the Parish of Stebenhuthe; all of whom they beheaded in the place called "Tourhille," without the said Tower; and then carrying their heads through the City upon lances, they set them up on London Bridge, fixing them there on stakes.

Upon the same day there was also no little slaughter within the City, as well of natives as of aliens. Richard Lions, citizen and vintner of the said City, and many others, were beheaded in Chepe. In the Vintry also, there was a very great massacre of Flemings, and in one heap there were lying about forty headless bodies of persons who had been dragged forth from the churches and their houses; and hardly was there a street in the City in which there were not bodies lying of those who had been slain. Some of the houses also in the said City were pulled down, and others in the suburbs destroyed, and some, too, burnt.

Such tribulation as this, greater and more horrible than could be believed by those who had not seen it, lasted down to the hour of Vespers on the following day, which was Saturday, the 15th of June; on which day God sent remedy for the same, and His own gracious aid, by the hand of the most renowned man Sir William Walworthe, the then Mayor; who in Smithfield, in presence of our Lord the King and those standing by him, lords, knights, esquires, and citizens on horseback, on the one side, and the whole of this infuriated rout on the other, most manfully, by himself, rushed upon the captain of the said multitude, "Walter Tylere" by name, and, as he was altercating with the King and the nobles, first wounded him in the neck with his sword, and then hurled him from his horse, mortally pierced in the breast; and further, by favour of the divine grace, so defended himself from those who had come with him, both on foot and horseback, that he departed from thence unhurt, and rode with our Lord the King and his people towards a field near to the spring that is called "Whittewell-beche"; in which place, while the whole of the infuriated multitude in warlike manner was making ready against our Lord the King and his people, refusing to treat of peace except on condition that they should first have the head of the said Mayor, the Mayor himself, who had gone into the City at the instance of our Lord the King, in the space of half an hour, sent and led forth therefrom so great a force of citizen warriors in aid of his Lord the King, that the whole multitude of madmen was surrounded and hemmed in, and not one of them would have escaped if our Lord the King had not commanded them to be gone.

Therefore our Lord the King returned into the City of London with the greatest of glory and honour, and the whole of this profane multitude in confusion fled forthwith for concealment in their affright.

HERETICAL AND ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS OF WICLIF (Condemned at London, 1382).

I. That the material substance of bread and wine remains after consecration in the sacrament of the altar.

III. That Christ is not in the sacrament of the altar inherently, truly, and really, in His own corporal presence.

IV. That if a bishop or priest be in mortal sin he may neither ordain, consecrate, nor baptize.

V. That if a man be duly penitent all outward confession is superfluous or useless to him.

VI. To tenaciously affirm that it is not stated in the Gospels that Christ ordained the Mass.

VIII. That if the Pope be a worthless and evil man and so a member of the Devil, he has no power over the faithful of Christ granted to him by any, except perchance by Cæsar.

IX. That after Urban VI. no one is to be received as Pope, but it is necessary for us to live, like the Greeks, under our own laws.

X. To assert that it is contrary to Scripture that ecclesiastical men should have temporal possessions.

XI. That no prelate should excommunicate anyone unless he first knows he is excommunicated by God.

XIII. That a prelate excommunicating a clerk who has appealed to the King and the Council of the realm is thereby a traitor to God, King, and realm.

XIV. That those who abstain from preaching or hearing the Word of God or the Gospel, preached, on account of the excommunication of men, are themselves excommunicate, and in the day of judgment shall be held to be traitors to God.

XV. To assert that it is lawful to anyone, either deacon or priest, to preach the Word of God without the authority of the Apostolic See, or a Catholic bishop, or some other sufficiently authorized.

XVI. To assert that no one is a civil lord, bishop, or prelate while he is in mortal sin.

XVII. That temporal lords can at their will take away temporal goods from ecclesiastics habitually sinful, or that the public may at their will correct sinful lords.

XVIII. That tithes are pure alms, and that the parishioners may detain them on account of the sins of their curates and confer them at pleasure on others.

XIX. That special prayers restricted to one person by prelates or religious do no more avail the same person, other things being equal, than general prayers.

XX. That the fact of anyone entering into any private religion makes him more unfit and unable to perform God's commandment.

XXI. That holy men who endow private religions either of possessioners or mendicants had sinned in so endowing.

XXII. That the religious living in private religions are not of the Christian religion.

XXIII. That friars are bound to get their living by the labour of their hands and not by begging.

XXIV. That anyone conferring alms on friars or preaching friars is excommunicate; as is the one who receives.

THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS MASTER JOHN (1382).

According to the saying of Solomon, "Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child," in the time of the youth of the same Richard many misfortunes, both caused thereby and happening therefrom, ceased not to harass the kingdom of England ... even to the great disorder of the State, and to the last undoing of King Richard himself and of those who too fondly clung to him. Amongst all other misfortunes, nay, amongst the most wicked of all wicked things, even errors and heresies in the catholic faith, England, and above all, London and Bristol, stood corrupted, being infected by the seeds which one master John Wycliffe sowed, polluting, as it were, the faith with the tares of his baleful teaching. And the followers of this master John, like Mahomet, by preaching things pleasing to the powerful and rich, namely, that the withholding of tithes and even of offerings and the reaving [44] of temporal goods from the clergy were praiseworthy, and, to the young, that self-indulgence was a virtue, most wickedly did sow the seed of murder, snares, strife, variance, and discords, which last unto this day, and which, I fear, will last even to the undoing of the kingdom.... The people of England, wrangling about the old faith and the new, are every day, as it were, on the very point of bringing down upon their own heads rebellion and ruin. And I fear that in the end it will happen as once it did, when many citizens of London, true to the faith, rose against the Duke of Lancaster to slay him, because he favoured the said Master John, so that hurrying from his table into a boat hastily provided, he fled across the Thames, and hardly escaped with his life.

FOOTNOTES:

[44] Plundering.

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1384 (April, 1384).

[This Parliament has been well called the turning-point of Richard's reign. It marked his first deliberate attempt to enforce his own policy in Parliament.]

Moreover, on the 29th day of April the King of England held a Parliament at Salisbury, and it lasted until the 27th day of the month of May. At the beginning of which several extraordinary things happened. Firstly, because both the lords spiritual and temporal, quarrelling among themselves, almost frustrated the object of Parliament. But the Duke of Lancaster intervening pacified them, mingling threats with much eloquence of words. Secondly, because of the words of the Earl of Arundell; for, in the hearing of all, in full Parliament, when the King was present, he said these words, or to this effect:

"My Lords, you know that the whole kingdom stands in peril of destruction through lack of prudent government, and the thing is now apparent, because, as you know, this kingdom has long begun to languish, and is now almost decaying. And unless it is quickly succoured by fitting remedies, and immediately snatched out of the tempestuous whirlpool in which it is involved, one indeed fears lest it may shortly suffer even greater misfortunes and heavy damages, and may be lacking in everything, all power of relief being withdrawn in the future, which God forbid."

At these words the King leapt up, and turning himself in fury, and looking angrily at the earl, said to him:

"If you charge it on me and say it is my fault that the kingdom is badly governed, I say to your face, you lie, go to the devil!"

Hearing these words all kept silence, nor was there one who stood by who dared to speak. Then the Duke of Lancaster, breaking the silence, interpreted the speech of the earl in his own words; thus was the fury of the King mitigated.

Thirdly, because a certain Carmelite friar, influenced by a foolish zeal, came to the King's Court with the intention of accusing the Duke of Lancaster of craftily and treacherously plotting the King's death. Therefore, after the said friar on a certain day had celebrated Mass before the King in the chamber of the Earl of Oxford, and had obtained to speak with the King ... he immediately accused the Duke of Lancaster, and so bitterly that the King without trial ordered the duke to be put to death. But the other nobles present with the King utterly opposed this, declaring that it was unlawful for anyone to be condemned without judgment. Hearing this, the King wisely promised he would do as they said. Then, as Sir J. Clanvowe has said, immediately he had dissembled his fury burst out, and flinging his cape and boots out of window, behaved like a madman....[45]

The Duke of Lancaster hearing that he was to be gravely accused before the King, hastened to him, and so completely cleared himself that the King afterwards held him excused....

In the meanwhile, those elected to Parliament by the commonalty for the common weal of the kingdom earnestly complained concerning [the frustration of justice by] those who were in power in certain parts of the country ... whence they prayed for a general statute coercing them so that in future their fraud and cunning might not prevail to the detriment of the kingdom.

To this the Duke of Lancaster replied that the charge was too general; saying moreover ... that any lord was powerful enough and had authority enough to correct and punish such excesses in his parts. For in things temporal, after the King, he said, he himself was above all other lords of the kingdom. And he himself, if any of those in his parts were found guilty, and it should come to his notice, he would subject them to such punishment that it would inculcate fear in others against doing likewise.... Truly those elected by the commonalty of the kingdom hearing these things, since no remedy would be given, remained silent.

The King and his Council were then eagerly seeking to extort money from both clergy and people. And after much consultation and discussion of pros and cons, the clergy conceded to him the said moiety of a tenth which had been before conceded to him, under conditions, in another Parliament. The laity also granted a fifteenth. But the King, not content with these concessions, declared he would employ that most severe inquisition against usurpers of the Crown called Trailbastoun,[46] unless they made him a more ample grant. Having heard this and consulted together, the clergy conceded to him another moiety of one-tenth, and the laity likewise another moiety of a fifteenth; according to that [saying], as is his darkness so is his light. For behold in these days almost all the lights of the Church of God are about to be extinguished; which thing is grievous since great darkness is obscuring her surface everywhere, nor is there anyone now who will rise up and defend the Church of God. The prelates are as dumb dogs that are not strong enough to bark. Wherefore it is to be feared, which God forbid, lest there shall come upon ecclesiastics in high place, a sudden calamity, an immeasurable sorrow, an intolerable distress and lamentable misfortune.

FOOTNOTES:

[45] Here follows an account of the torture of the friar by the Lancastrian party. Evidence seems to prove that he was a tool of the King, who showed sorrow at the cruel treatment he received, but was powerless to save him.

[46] The office of the justices of Trail-Baston, so styled for "trailing or drawing the staff of justice," was to make inquisition through the kingdom concerning extortion, bribery, etc., of intruders into other men's lands, robbers, etc. Some offenders were punished with death, some with ransom; the land was quieted and the King gained riches for his wars. Edward I. appointed them during his absence in the Scotch and French wars; Edward III. also granted a commission at least once.

THE PLOT AGAINST LANCASTER (February, 1385).

A conspiracy, said to be approved by the King, was set on foot by certain lords, to put the Duke of Lancaster to death, but he himself, being warned of this thing, fled secretly with a few of his companions. Now the cause why they wished to kill him was this, as some claim. A little while before, the government of the kingdom and the rule of the King, and what it would be most expedient for the King to do for the safety of the realm in the coming autumn, was discussed in Council. Then the Duke of Lancaster declared it seemed to him most necessary for the good of the kingdom that the King should cross to France with an army, and should fight his enemies boldly with armed fist, rather than give them the opportunity of coming into this land, since they would continually infest us, not without grave danger and loss. Upon this certain of the Council, thinking differently, proceeded to reject, and violently attack the advice of the duke, asserting it would be madness for the King to cross the sea and enter France for many causes; but rather he should remain safely in his own land to defend it from the attacks of enemies, and not cross unadvisedly to foreign provinces, adding nothing to the glory of his fame. This pleased all the Council except the Duke of Lancaster and his brothers, who, indignant at this, stalked out of the Council. Further, the Duke of Lancaster declared neither he nor his vassals would aid the King again unless he should determine to cross to France. Which saying much displeased both the King and his Council. Wherefore, on account of this, they declared he was neither faithful to the King nor to the kingdom. Nevertheless, these temporal lords were always fearful of the Duke of Lancaster on account of his great power, his remarkable prudence, and his wonderful ability....

On the 23rd day of February the Duke of Lancaster, having gathered a company of armed men, came by night to the King at Sheen, and, having first of all disposed the main body of men on this side the Thames, he crossed the river, leaving there some of his men to guard the skiff until his return. Then he hastened to the gate, and left certain of his men to await there until his return, and deny anyone entrance or exit. At length, in full armour, he entered with a few of his men into the King's presence, where, having made due reverence, he at first addressed him harshly, and sternly, upbraiding him for retaining such evil councillors with him, and finally counselling him to remove such men from him, and henceforward to adhere to the wiser men in his Council. For unworthy is it for a King in his kingdom, when he may be lord of all, to avenge himself by private homicide when he himself may be above the law, and is able to concede life and limbs, and what is more, if he wishes, may deprive men of them at his pleasure. Therefore is it the more necessary that he should have good and faithful councillors around him, by whose good advice he should ever withdraw from illegal actions, and should not fear any jealousy to perform those things which are right.

The King replied graciously, in suave and gentle words, saying undoubtedly he would give his attention to reforming those things which before time had been unjustly done. Then the Duke of Lancaster, having sought license, excused himself from coming to him in future, as was hitherto accustomed, since he saw certain men still adhering to the King who would gladly see him (Lancaster) deprived of life. And immediately he left the King, and came by night with his men to the village of Tottenham, where he rested a little while, and then hastened to his Castle of Hertford, where he decided to abide in safety with his men.

The King's mother, having news of this, was much disturbed, and hastened to the King, persuading him to avoid discords with any of his nobles, more especially with the Duke of Lancaster and his brothers. Therefore, at her persuasion, he came with a large following of knights to Westminster on the 6th of March. His mother then hastened to the Duke of Lancaster, and so persuaded him that she led him to the King, and by her mediation they were straightway reconciled.... Afterwards, council having been taken at Westminster, the Archbishop of Canterbury and other lords, spiritual and temporal, complained sorely of these councillors abiding round the King, since they had induced the King to assent to a plot to kill the Duke of Lancaster, both because the thing was of bad example, and because it followed from this that whenever the King's heart or mind was raised in hatred against anyone, whether of small or great estate, he would perchance order him to be killed in a like manner, which God forbid! That in this way the approved laws and constitutions will be exposed to serious breach, and perchance, which God forbid, quarrels, strife, disputes, contentions, discussions, and other such things will be born in the kingdom. Therefore, such crimes must be avoided in the future, lest a lawless deterioration of this kind shall befall the kingdom. These words, or words to this effect, the Archbishop of Canterbury repeated to the King, on behalf of the lords then assembled there. Hearing which, the King was incensed against the archbishop, and, rising up, there and then began to threaten him. That same day the King was dining with the Mayor of London: at the end of the meal he went on the Thames, and met the archbishop between his palace and Lambeth. For the aforesaid archbishop had come to the King under safe conduct of the Duke of Buckingham. Then, indeed, when the archbishop repeated what he had said before, the King drew his sword on the spur of the moment, and would have transfixed the archbishop had not the Duke of Buckingham, Sir John Devereux, and Sir Thomas Trivet strongly resisted him. With whom the King was so enraged that in fear they sprang out of the royal barge into the archbishop's skiff, and thus retired.

THE FRENCH IN SCOTLAND.

Arrival of the French into Scotland in Aid of the Scots against the English (1385).

In the year 1385 the King of France, beyond measure rejoiced at the success of the Scots, sent a certain knight of Burgundian origin, named John de Vienne, Count of Valentinois and Admiral of France, with a considerable train of men-at-arms, belted chivalry, eighty knights with their followers, admirably equipped as was meet and ready to battle. They landed at Dunbar and Leith, and presented the King, who was at Edinburgh with his magnates, with fifty complete suits of armour from the King of France, with as many lances and targes;[47] and they also handed over to the King of Scotland from the King of France as a free gift from him fifty thousand francs in gold in ready money as well as the said Frenchmen, with their pay fully and entirely paid up for six months to come and the sailors; and there were royal letters addressed to the King, telling him to send them on service in his war against the English. These Frenchmen, together with Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, and with a very large force of men-at-arms, seeing that he was guardian of Wester-March, raided into England two or three times and wrought much mischief. On their return they first proposed to besiege the Castle of Carlisle; but assembling a larger army they laid siege to Roxburgh. Here the general and commander was Robert Stewart, the King's son, Earl of Fife, and afterwards Duke of Albany; and he had with him the Earls of Douglas and March, Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, and a great knightly rout of nobles. But there arose a dispute among them whether, if the castle happened to be taken, it should remain for ever with the King of France, or be converted to the uses of the King of Scotland. Some indeed said the French offered that they themselves should recover the castle entirely, assigning to them either the honour or the profit. And thus, because they could not agree, they returned without doing anything; and not many days after this the Frenchmen embarked about the Feast of All Saints, and returned safely to France. The following year Richard, King of England, the second of this name, being nineteen years of age, entered Scotland about the Feast of Saint Lawrence, and attacked, overthrew and ravaged everything in his pride, sparing nothing, saving nothing, sparing neither age, nor order, nor religious community. He pillaged and burnt down many churches and monasteries and other sacred places, such as Melrose, Dryburgh, Newbottle; he also destroyed the noble town of Edinburgh, with the church thereof, erected in honour of St. Giles, and the whole of Lothian; and he returned home to his own kingdom without loss, having, however, before his departure in like manner pillaged and burnt the monastery of Holyrood. Wherefore, and by the vengeance of God alone, this King Richard wandered about the Scottish isles as a poor beggar, and was found living most wretchedly for a while in a certain lord's kitchen; and, being afterwards recognized by someone, he was brought to the King of Scotland, and there ended his days in idiocy. And thus, as is presumed, by the hidden judgment of God and in revenge for the foregoing, his uncle, who had been most shamefully exiled and cast out from the kingdom by the wickedness and power of the peasants, put an end to his life in great wretchedness among his enemies, according to the word of the prophet, saying: "The Lord delivered them into the hand of the enemy, and they who hated them had dominion over them."

FOOTNOTES:

[47] Small shields.

THE DEATH OF WICLIF (1385).

In the 9th year of this King, John Wiclif, the organ of the devil, the enemy of the Church, the mirror of hypocrisy, the nourisher of schism, by the rightful doom [48] of God, was smitten with a horrible palsy throughout his body. And this vengeance fell upon him on St. Thomas' Day in Christmas, but he died not till St. Silvester's Day. And worthily was he smitten on St. Thomas' Day, against whom he had greatly offended, letting [49] men of that pilgrimage; and conveniently died he in Silvester's feast, against whom he had venomously barked for dotation [50] of the Church.

FOOTNOTES:

[48] Judgment.

[49] Hindering.

[50] Endowment.

CHARLES VI.'S FRUSTRATED INVASION OF ENGLAND (August, 1386).

The young King of France had ever shown great desire to invade England with a powerful army and navy. In this he was joined by all the chivalry of the realm, but especially by the Duke of Burgundy, the Constable of France, and the Count de St. Pol, although he had married King Richard's sister, and the Lord de Coucy.

These lords said: "Why should not we, for once, make a visit to England to see the country and its inhabitants, and learn the way thither, as the English have done in France? This year, therefore, of 1386, we will go thither, as well to break up the expedition of the Duke of Lancaster, and force him to return home, as to give the alarm to the English, and see how they will behave." Greater armaments were made in France than had hitherto been done. Heavier taxes were imposed on all the towns and country than for one hundred years, and such sums had never been raised, nor were ever greater preparations made by sea and land. The whole summer, until September, was employed in grinding flour and making biscuit in Arras, Bethune, Lille, Douay, Amiens, St. Omer, and in all the towns near to Sluys; for it was the plan of the King to embark at Sluys, sail for England, and destroy the whole country....

All that was going forward in France, Flanders, Bruges, Damme, and Sluys was known in England, and with many additions to the real truth. The people in several places were exceedingly alarmed, and generally the priests made processions in many towns three times a week; where, with much devotion, they offered up their prayers to God, to avert this peril from them. There were upwards of one hundred thousand who were desirous the French should come to England, saying, to comfort the weak-hearted: "Let them come; by God! not a soul shall return back to tell their story." Such as were in debt, and had not any intentions nor wherewithal to pay, were delighted, and said to their creditors: "Hold your tongues! they are coining florins in France, and we will pay you with them"; and thus they lived extravagantly, and expended largely, for credit was not refused them. Whenever they were asked to pay, they replied: "How can you ask for money? Is it not better that we spend it than Frenchmen should find it and carry it away?" Thus were many thousand pounds sterling foolishly spent in England.

... Every port and harbour from the Humber to Cornwall was well provided with men-at-arms and archers, and watchmen were posted on all the hills near the sea-coasts opposite to France and Flanders. The manner of posting these watchers was as follows: they had large Gascony casks filled with sand, which they placed one on the other, rising like columns; on these were planks, where the watchmen remained day and night on the look-out. They were ordered, the moment they should observe the fleet of France steering towards land, to light torches and make great fires on the hills to alarm the country, and the forces within sight of these fires were to hasten thither. It had been resolved to allow the King of France to land, and even to remain unmolested for three or four days; they were first to attack the fleet and destroy it and all their stores, and then to advance on the King of France, not to combat him immediately, but to harass his army, so that they might be disabled and afraid to forage, for the corn countries were all to be burnt, and England, at best, is a difficult foraging country; by which plan they would be starved and easily destroyed.

Such was the plan laid down by the Council of England. Colchester Bridge was ordered to be broken down, for a deep river runs under it, which flows through Essex, and falls into the Thames opposite the island of Sheppey. The Londoners would pull this bridge down for the greater security of their town.

If the taxes were burdensome on towns and persons in France, I must say they were not much lighter in England, and the country suffered from them a long time afterwards; but they were paid cheerfully, that they might be more effectually guarded. There were at this time ten thousand men-at-arms and one hundred thousand archers in England.

... From Senlis the King of France came to Compiègne, Noyon, Peronne, Bapaume, and Arras; and there were such numbers of men-at-arms pouring into those countries from all quarters, that everything was destroyed or devoured without a farthing being paid for anything. The poor farmers, who had filled their barns with grain, had only the straw, and if they complained, were beaten or killed. The fish-ponds were drained of fish, and the houses pulled down for firing, so that if the English had been there, they could not have committed greater waste than this French army did. They said: "We have not at present any money, but shall have enough on our return, when we will pay for all." The farmers, not daring to speak out, cursed them inwardly, on seeing them seize what was intended for their families; and said: "Go to England, and may never a soul of you come back!"

... Sir Simon Burley was Governor of Dover Castle, and, from his situation, received frequent intelligence from France by the fishermen of the town, who related to him what they heard from the French fishermen, as they were often obliged to adventure as far as Wissan or Boulogne to obtain good fish. When the fishermen from France met them at sea, they told them enough, and more than they knew; for, though there were wars between France and England, they were never interrupted in their pursuits, nor attacked each other, but, on the contrary, gave mutual assistance, and bought or sold, according as either had more fish than they were in want of; for, if they were to meddle in the national quarrels, there would be no fishing, and none would attempt it, unless supported by men-at-arms. Sir Simon learnt from the fishermen, that the King of France was absolutely determined on the invasion; that he intended to land one division at or near Dover and another at Sandwich, and that his forces were immense. He, as well as the rest of England, believed all this was true; and one day he set out for Canterbury to visit the abbey, which is very large and handsome; near it is Christ-church, which is also rich and powerful.

The Abbot inquired, "What news?" and Sir Simon told him all he knew, adding: "That the shrine of St. Thomas, so respectable and rich, was not safe in Canterbury, for the town was not strong; and if the French should come, some of the pillagers, through avarice, would make for Canterbury, which they would plunder, as well as your abbey, and make particular inquiries after the shrine, and will take it away, to your great loss. I would therefore advise that you have it carried to Dover Castle, where it will be perfectly safe, though all England were lost." The abbot, and all the convent, were so much angered at this speech, though meant well, they replied: "How, Sir Simon, would you wish to despoil this church of its jewel? If you are afraid yourself, gain courage, and shut yourself up in your castle of Dover, for the French will not be bold enough, nor in sufficient force, to adventure themselves so far." This was the only answer he had; but Sir Simon persisted so long in his proposition, the common people grew discontented, and held him for an ill-inclined person, which, as I shall relate, they afterwards showed more plainly. Sir Simon made but a short stay, and returned to Dover.

... [Meanwhile mismanagement and bad weather were breaking up the French armada at Sluys.] ...

Some of the young princes of the blood-royal, with a desire to display their courage, had indeed made a few cruises near the harbour, saying that they would be the first to land in England, should none others venture thither. In this number were Sir Robert and Sir Philip d'Artois, Sir Henry de Bar, Sir Peter de Navarre, Sir Peter d'Albreth, Sir Bernard d'Armagnac, with many more. These young lords, having once begun, were so impatient to sail in earnest, that a council was held, in the presence of the King, to determine how they should proceed. The Duke of Berry broke up the whole; and gave such well-grounded reasons, that the greater part of those who were the most forward to embark were discouraged; and said it would be folly and madness to advise the King, who was then but a child, to put to sea in such weather, and to make war on a people and country whose roads no one was acquainted with, and which was likewise disadvantageous for warlike exploits. "Now, suppose," said the Duke of Berry, "we were all landed in England, we cannot fight the English unless they like it, and we dare not leave our purveyances behind, for whoever would do so would lose the whole. But if anyone wished to make this voyage, though of no great length, he would do it in the middle of summer, and not in the heart of winter. Summon all the sailors who are here, and they will tell you that what I say is true; and that, notwithstanding the very numerous fleet we have collected, should we put to sea, of the fifteen hundred sail, there would never be three hundred together, or within fight. Now, consider what risks we may run; but I do not say this out of any desire to be excused from being of the party myself, but solely as I believe it sound sense, and that the council, and the majority of France, are of my way of thinking. I am willing, brothers of Burgundy, that you and I undertake this expedition, but I will never advise the King to do so; for, should any accident happen to him, the whole blame would be laid on us for having consented to it." "In God's name," replied the King of France, "I am resolved to go, should no one follow me." The lords laughed, and said the King had a strong inclination to embark.

THE STATE OF ENGLAND (1386).

England was, at this period, in greater danger than when the peasants, under Jack Straw, rose in rebellion, and marched to London; and I will tell you the cause. The nobles and gentlemen were unanimous, at that time, in their support of the King, but now there were many serious differences between them. The King quarrelled with his uncles of York and Gloucester, and they were equally displeased with him, caused, as it was said, by the intrigues of the Duke of Ireland [Robert de Vere], the sole confident of the King. The commonalty, in many towns and cities, had noticed these quarrels, and the wisest dreaded the consequences that might ensue; but the giddy laughed at them, and said they were owing to the jealousy of the King's uncles, and because the crown was not on their heads. But others said: "The King is young, and puts his confidence in youngsters: it would be to his advantage if he consulted his uncles more, who can only wish the prosperity of the country, than that puppy, the Duke of Ireland, who is ignorant of all things, and who never saw a battle." Thus were the English divided; and great disasters seemed to be at hand, which was perfectly known all over France, and caused them to hasten their preparations for invading the country, and adding to its miseries....

Parliament was harangued on the subject of the finances, and assured that there was not in the royal treasury more than sufficient to support, even with economy, the usual expenses of the King. The council said there was no other means than laying a general tax on all the country, if they were desirous of paying the great sums the defence of the kingdom had cost.

Those from the Archbishopric of Canterbury, the Bishoprics of Norwich and Warwick, the counties of Devonshire, Hampshire, and Wiltshire, readily assented, because they knew better what had been done, and were more alarmed than those at a greater distance, in Wales, Bristol, and Cornwall, who were rebellious, and said: "We have never seen any enemies come into this country, why therefore should we be thus heavily taxed and nothing done?" "Yes, yes," replied others, "let them call on the King's Council, the Archbishop of York, and the Duke of Ireland, who received sixty thousand francs, for the ransom of John of Brittany, from the Constable of France, which ought to have gone to the general profit of the Kingdom. Let them call on Sir Simon Burley, Sir William Elmham, Sir Thomas Brand, Sir Robert Tresilian, and Sir John Beauchamp, who have governed the King. If they gave a true account of the sums raised in England, or were forced so to do, there would be more than money enough to pay all expenses, and poor people remain in quiet."

The King's uncles were much pleased when these speeches were told them, for those they had named were unfriendly to their interests, and opposed their obtaining any favours from the Court. They encouraged such discourses, and, to gain popularity, said: "The good people who hold such language are well advised in wishing to have an account of the management of the finances, and to refuse to pay their taxes, for, in good truth, there is cash enough in the purses of the King or of those who govern him."

By degrees, this discontent was much increased among the people, who declared against any tax being laid on, and who grew bolder in their language when they saw that the King's uncles, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earls of Salisbury and Northumberland, with many other great barons, supported them. The ministers, therefore, withdrew the tax, and said nothing should be done in the matter until Michaelmas, when the Parliament would again meet.

THE WONDERFUL PARLIAMENT (October-November, 1386).

Owing to the many ill-starred crises of King Richard's reign which were caused by his youth, a solemn Parliament was holden at Westminster, wherein twelve [51] of the chief men of the land were advanced by full provision of Parliament to the government of the King and the kingdom, in order to bridle the wantonness and extravagance of his servants and flatterers, and, in short, to reform the business of the realm; but, alas! only to lead to the weary deeds which are hereinafter written.

The King, bearing it ill that by this appointment the due freedom of His Majesty should be bridled by his own lieges, and urged by his servants, who were thus set in authority, till the end came in the destruction of the King himself, his abettors, and many of these same rulers.

FOOTNOTES:

[51] The actual number appointed was eleven—namely, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Dukes of York and Gloucester, the Bishops of Winchester and Exeter, the Abbot of Waltham, the Earl of Arundel, John de Cobham, Richard le Scrope, and John Devereux.

RICHARD APPEALS TO THE JUDGES (August, 1387).

At the same time the King came to Shrewsbury, where, by the Royal command, certain of the justices of the kingdom had gathered. Then the aforesaid seducers of the King, Alexander, Archbishop of York, Robert Vere, Duke of Ireland, Michael de la Pole, Robert Tresilian, and others, asked them [the justices] whether it would be lawful for the King to oppose and resist the ordinances made in the last Parliament concerning the King and kingdom by the princes and commons of the realm with the consent of the King, which consent, they said, had been obtained by force. They answered that the King was able to annul and alter such ordinances at pleasure for the bettering of affairs since he was above law.

DEFEAT OF THE KING'S FRIENDS (November-December, 1387).

Then the King passed with his mother [52] to Westminster Hall, and there, seated on his throne of state, by her mediation, made his peace with his twelve guardians;[53] yet he did it falsely and with deceit.

Soon afterwards the Earl of Oxford [54] went with royal letters into the county of Chester, and led back with him a great armed power of the men of those parts for the destruction of the twelve. But the Duke of Gloucester and the Earls of Derby, Arundel, Nottingham, and Warwick were forewarned thereof, and arrayed in a glorious host before the men of Chester could reach the King, they routed the earl's army on the eve of St. Thomas the Apostle [December 20] at Radcot Bridge in Oxfordshire. And the earl himself they drove in flight beyond hope of return; for he died beyond seas....

At that time, I, the writer of this chronicle, was at Oxford an "extraordinary" in canon law, and I saw the host of the five lords march through the city on their way to London from the battlefield; whereof the Earls of Warwick and Derby led the van, the Duke of Gloucester the main body, and the Earls of Arundel and Nottingham the rear.

The Mayor of London, hearing of their coming, sent forth to them the keys of the city, and thereafter those same five lords did, on the feast of St. John the Evangelist [December 27], blockade the Tower of London till it yielded: then straightway they placed the King, who was therein, under new governance, and delivered his fawning councillors into divers prisons until the next following Parliament.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] She died in 1385: hence the chronicler must be in error.

[53] Namely, the eleven.

[54] Robert de Vere.

THE MERCILESS PARLIAMENT (February, 1388).

In the eleventh year of his reign was the arising of certain lords in England in destruction of rebels, etc., that is to say Sir Thomas Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, Sir Richard, Earl of Arundell, Sir Richard, Earl of Warwick, Sir Harry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, and Sir Thomas Mowbray, Earl Marshall. These five lords understood the mischief and government of the King's Council, wherefore they, that were that time of the King's Council, fled out of the land, that is to say, Master Alexander Nevill, Archbishop of York, Sir Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk and Chancellor of England, and the Marquis of Dublin, Sir Robert de Vere. These three lords came never again into England, for they died beyond the sea. These five lords abovesaid made a Parliament at Westminster and there they took Sir Robert Tresilian, justice, Sir Nicholas Brember, knight and citizen of London, Sir John Salisbury, knight, and Uske Serjeant, with other more which were judged to death and were drawn to Tyburn and there hanged. Also in the same Parliament, Sir Simon Burley, Knight of the Garter, Sir John Beauchamp, knight, steward of the King's house, and Sir John Berneis were beheaded at Tower Hill. Also Richard Belknap, John Holt, John Cary, William Burgh, Robert Frilthorp, and John Lockton, justices, were exiled into Ireland, there for to dwell all their lifetime.

ON THE TRUCE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE (1394).

Antre [55] Beauraym et le parc de Hedin,
On moys [56] d'Aoust, qu'on soye les fromens,[57]
M'en aloye jouer [58] par un matin;
Si vi bergiers et bergieres [59] aux champs,
Qui tenoient là leurs parliers moult grans,[60]
Tant que Bochiers dist à Margot la broingne,[61]
Que l'en aloit [62] au traitté à Bouloigne,
Et que François et Anglois feront paix.
Elle respont: "Foy que doy Magueloigne,
Paix n'avez jà s'ilz ne rendent Calays."[63]

Lors vint avant Berthelot du Jardin,
Qui respondit: "La paix suis desirans;
Car je n'ose descouchier [64] le matin.
Pour les Anglois que nous sont destruisans;
Mais dire oy, il a passé dix ans.[65]
Qu'à leur dessoulz quierent tondis aloingne [66]
Pour mettre sus [67] leur fait et leur besoigne,
Et puis courent [68] le regne à grans eslays;[69]
Maint l'out veu,[70] et pour ce je tesmoigne,
Paix n'avez jà s'ilz ne rendent Calays."

Après parla, par grant courroux,[71] Robin
A Berthelot, et lui dist: "Tu te mens,
Car les François et les Anglois enfin
Veulent la paix, il en est dès or temps;[72]
Trop a duré la guerre et li contens,[73]
Ne je ne voy nul qui ne la ressoingne.[74]
Certes, tout ce ne vault une escaloigne."[75]
Ce lui respont Henris li contrefais:[76]
"Encor faulra chascun (prengne) sa broingne;[77]
Paix n'avez jà s'ilz ne rendent Calays.

Car l'autre jour oy maistre Martin,[78]
Qui racontoit le roy est mendre d'ans,[79]
Et qu'il estoit une loy [80] en Latin
Qui deffendoit [81] rien vendre des enfans.[82]
En Guyenne sont deux mille et cinq cens
Villes, chasteauls,[83] qu'Angleis veulent qu'on doingne.[84]
Et grant tas [85] d'or, et que le roy esloigne [86]
De roy en duc l'ommaige [87] qui est fais."
"Qui fera ce?" respon sote Caroingne;[88]
"Paix n'avez jà s'ilz ne rendent Calays."

Guichars si bruns, qui fu nez à Seclin,[89]
Dist que cilz faiz est doubreux et pesans:[90]
Voire, et qu'Englès y pensent mal engin [91]
De retenir ce port, qui est constans.
"Se ce ne fust bien se fussent rendans:[92]
Mais ils pensent barat,[93] guerre, et alloingne [94]
Faire au derrain.[95] Ne le duc de Bourgoingne
Et de Berry ne feroient jamais
Tel paix à eux. Qui voulra si me perdoingne,[96]
Paix n'avez jà s'ilz ne rendent Calays."

Princes, là fu Bertrisons, et Hersans,
Et Alizons, qui moult orent de sens;[97]
Et jugierent, quand li parlers fu fait,
Que telle paix seroit orde et meschans;[98]
Et concluirent aux bergiers eulx disans:[99]
"Paix n'avez jà s'ilz ne rendent Calays."

FOOTNOTES:

[55] Between.

[56] Month.

[57] When they reap the wheat.

[58] I went to enjoy myself.

[59] I saw shepherds and shepherdesses.

[60] Very great talk.

[61] Stout.

[62] People were going.

[63] By the faith I owe the Magdalene, you will never have peace unless they restore Calais.

[64] For I do not dare rise from bed.

[65] But I have heard say this ten years gone.

[66] That underneath they seek always delay.

[67] In order to cover.

[68] Overrun.

[69] Rapidity.

[70] Many have seen it.

[71] In great rage.

[72] It is high time for it.

[73] Contention.

[74] Who does not fear it.

[75] Is not worth an onion.

[76] Deformed.

[77] Everyone will still have to take his cuirass.

[78] I heard Master Martin.

[79] A minor.

[80] Law.

[81] Prohibited.

[82] Children's property.

[83] Castles.

[84] Will give.

[85] Heap.

[86] Alienate.

[87] Homage.

[88] Caroingue the fool.

[89] Guichard the brown, who was born at Seclin.

[90] Grave.

[91] It is true that the English have an ill design in their thoughts.

[92] They would restore it.

[93] Strife.

[94] Delay.

[95] To make it last.

[96] Who will, let him pardon me.

[97] Who had much sense.

[98] Disgraceful and injurious.

[99] Saying to them.

SUPPOSED PLOTS (1397).

[This story, given by Froissart and the Monk of St. Denis, both admirers of Richard, seems to be absolutely unfounded.]

The Duke of Gloucester would gladly have seen this nephew, called John, Earl of March, on the throne of England, and King Richard deposed from it, saying he was neither worthy nor capable to hold the government of England; and this opinion he made no secret of to those who were in his confidence.

He invited this Earl of March to come and see him; and, when at Pleshy, he unbosomed himself to him of all the secrets of his heart, telling him that he had been selected for King of England; that King Richard and his Queen were to be confined, but with ample provision for their maintenance, as long as they lived; and he earnestly besought his nephew to believe all he said, for he should make it a point to put his plans into execution, and that he was already joined by the Earl of Arundel, Sir John Arundel, the Earl of Warwick, and many prelates and barons of England.... The King of England had received positive information that the Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Arundel had plotted to seize his person, and that of the Queen, and carry them to a strong castle, where they should be confined under proper guards, but allowed sufficiently for their table and other necessary expenses. That four regents should be appointed over the kingdom, of whom the Dukes of Lancaster and York were to be the chief, and have under them the government of all the northern parts, from the Thames to the Tyne, and as far as the Tweed, that runs by Berwick, and comprehend all Northumberland, and the borders of Scotland. The Duke of Gloucester was to have for his government London, Essex, and that part of the country to the mouth of the Humber, and likewise all the coast from the Thames to the water of Southampton, and westward comprehending Cornwall. The Earl of Arundel was to have Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, and all the country from the Thames to Bristol, and the river Severn that divides England from Wales, where there are very extensive lordships, with power of punishing by death all offenders. But their chief design was to find out some means of re-kindling the war with France; and, if the King of France wished to have his daughter again, it might be done, for she was still very young, not more than eight years and a half old, and, perchance, when she was marriageable, she might repent of this connection, for she was innocently, and without her being able to judge for herself, married, and, beside, it was unjust to break off her match with the heir of Brittany; but should she wish to abide by her marriage, she would in justice remain Queen of England, and enjoy her dower, but she should never be the companion of the King of England. Should the King die before she was of a proper age, she was to be sent back to France.

These were the plans that had been concerted by many of the English, particularly the Londoners, for they hated the King, and several now repented they had checked the mobs that attacked London from the different counties of England; for they had determined, according to their confessions when put to death, to murder the King, the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Oxford, and the whole of the King's Council.

Had this been done the kingdom would soon have found another head; and the citizens, with the consent of the country, and the aid of the Duke of Gloucester (who took great pains to excite trouble and confusion), have selected a fit person to wear the crown, and place the government and kingdom in a different state to what it then was.

RICHARD'S REVENGE (July, 1397).

The King under pretence of deer-hunting, went to a palace he had at Havering-at-the-bower, in Essex: it is about twenty miles from London, and as many from Pleshy, where the Duke of Gloucester generally resided. The King set out, one afternoon, from Havering, without many attendants, for he had left them behind with the Queen at Eltham, and arrived at Pleshy at about five o'clock; the weather was very hot: and he came so suddenly to the castle, no one knew of it, until the porter cried out, "Here is the King!" The Duke of Gloucester had already supped, for he was very temperate in his diet, and never sat long at dinner or supper. He immediately went out to meet the King in the court of the castle, and paid him all the respect due to his sovereign, as did the duchess and her children.

The King entered the hall and the apartment, where the table was again laid out for the King, who ate some little; but he had before told the duke, "Fair uncle, have your horses saddled, not all, but five or six, for you must accompany me to London, as I am to have a meeting to-morrow with the citizens; and we shall surely meet my uncles of Lancaster and York, but I shall advise with you what answer to make to the Londoners' demands. Tell your house-steward to follow us with your servants to London, where they will find you." The duke, suspecting nothing evil intended against him, too easily consented; and the King, having soon supped, rose from table. Everything being ready, the King took leave of the duchess and her children, mounted his horse, and the duke did the same, attended only by three squires and four varlets. They took their way to Bondelay, to avoid the high road to London, and Brentwood, with the other towns through which it passes. They rode hard, for the King pretended impatience to get to London, and conversed all the way with the Duke of Gloucester. On their arrival at Stratford, near the Thames, where an ambuscade had been laid, the King galloped forwards, leaving his uncle behind, on which the earl-marshal advanced to the rear of the duke, with a large body of men, and said: "I arrest you in the King's name." The duke was panic-struck, for he saw he had been betrayed, and cried aloud after the King. I know not if the King heard him, but he did not turn back, galloping on faster than before, and followed by his attendants.... The King of England left the Tower of London at a very early hour, and rode to Eltham, where he remained. This same day, towards evening, the Earls of Arundel and Warwick were brought to the Tower by the King's officers, and there confined, to the great surprise of the citizens. Their imprisonment caused many to murmur, but they were afraid to act, or do anything against the King's pleasure, lest they might suffer for it. It was the common conversation of the knights, squires, and citizens of London and in other towns: "It is useless or us to say more on this matter, for the Dukes of Lancaster and of York, brothers to the Duke of Gloucester, can provide a remedy for all this whenever they please: they assuredly would have prevented it from happening, if they had suspected the King had so much courage, or that he would have arrested their brother; but they will repent of their indolence; and, if they are not instantly active, it will end badly."

THE "APPEAL" OF THE APPELLANTS (1397).

[This Parliament was packed by the sheriffs in the King's interest; his constitutional rule for the past nine years had been a determined preparation for this moment of revenge.]

A Parliament was holden in London, at Westminster, on St. Lambert's Day [September 17], a Monday, in the year of our Lord 1397; in which Parliament I, the writer of this chronicle, was present every day.

In the first place, a speech in the form of a sermon was made by Edmund Stafford, Bishop of Exeter, then Chancellor, wherein he kept his discourse to the one point: that the power of the King lay singly and wholly in the King, and that they who usurped or plotted against it were worthy of the penalties of the law. Wherefore to the end was it ordained in Parliament: first, to enquire after those who molest the power of the King and his royalty; secondly, what penalties such molesters should receive; thirdly, that things be so ordered that henceforth such molesting do not ensue....

On the Tuesday [September 18] Sir John Bushy [100] was presented by the Commons to the King their speaker.... Then straightway spake he thus before the King: "In that, my lord the King, we are bound by your dread command to make known to your Royal Highness who they be who transgressed against your royalty, we say that Thomas Duke of Gloucester, and Richard Earl of Arundel, did in the tenth year of your reign traitorously force you, by means of him who is now Archbishop of Canterbury, and who was then Chancellor, thereby doing you grievous wrongs, to grant to them a commission to govern your kingdom and to order its estate, to the prejudice of your majesty and royalty."

And the same day that same commission was made of none effect, with all and every the acts thereon depending or caused thereby.

Also a general pardon, granted after the great Parliament by their means, and a special pardon granted to the Earl of Arundel, were recalled. It was also prayed by the Commons, still by the mouth of their speaker, that whereas that special pardon had been gotten for a traitor by Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, then Chancellor of England, he, the procurer of the same, who should rather by virtue of his office have been against it, should be declared a traitor. And the Archbishop rose up, wishing to make answer; but the King said: "To-morrow." But thenceforth he appeared not there again. The King also said, as to this petition, that he would take counsel.

Also it was decreed that any man henceforth convicted of acting against the Government of our lord the King should be declared a false traitor, and the fitting punishment of treason be awarded to him. Also it was decreed, with assent of the prelates, that criminal charges henceforth be determined without their agreement, in every Parliament. And then, having leave, they withdrew.

Then there was, as is wont to be, some bustle. And thereupon the King's archers, who, to the number of four thousand, surrounded the Parliament-house, which was set up to this end in the middle of the palace-yard, thought that some quarrel or strife had arisen in the house; and, bending their bows, they drew their arrows to the ear, to the great consternation of all who were there: but the King quieted them.

On Friday [September 21], which fell on St. Matthew's Day, the Earls of Rutland, Kent, Huntingdon, Nottingham, Somerset, Salisbury, the Lord Despenser and Sir William Scrope, in a suit of red robes of silk banded with white silk and powdered with letters of gold, set forth the appeal which they had already proclaimed before the King at Nottingham; wherein they accused Thomas Duke of Gloucester, Richard Earl of Arundel, Thomas Earl of Warwick, and Sir Thomas Mortimer, knight of the aforesaid treasons, and also of armed revolt at Haringhay-park traitorously raised against the King.

FOOTNOTES:

[100] Walshingham, in his account of this Parliament, adds: "A knight of the county of Lincoln, a man of great discretion and very eloquent."

THE STATE OF IRELAND (1399).

Item. As regards other matters touching the state of the said land, be it known that the Irish enemies are strong and arrogant and of great power, and there is neither rule nor power to resist them, for the English archers are not able, nor are they willing, to ride against them, without stronger paramount power.

Item. The English families in all parts of the land which are rebels, as the Butyllers, Powers, Gerardynes, Bermynghames, Daltons, Barrettes, Dillons, and the others, who will not obey the law nor submit to justice, but destroy the poor, liege people of the land, and take their living from them and rob them, will needs be called gentlemen of blood and idlemen, whereas they are sturdy robbers and are not amenable to the law, and will make prisoners of the English and put them to greater duress than do the Irish enemies, and this from default of the execution of justice.

Item. In addition to this the said English rebels are accomplices of the Irish enemies and will not displease them, and thus between the one and the other the loyal English are destroyed and injured.

Item. By the rebellion and falseness of the English rebels on the one side, and by the war of the Irish enemies on the other, the King has no profit of the revenues of the land, because the law cannot be executed, nor any officer dare put it, nor go to put it, in execution.

THE BETRAYAL OF THE KING (August, 1399).

Item. The same day that the Earl of Huntingdon, Duke of Exeter, went to seek the Duke [Henry of Lancaster], he found him lodging in his own city of Chester, with his army. And that same day, which was Sunday, the twentieth day of August, the year aforesaid, the duke sent to King Richard the Earl of Northumberland, who was aged, that the King might the rather believe his words and not be so overbearing with him as with a younger person; and the said earl had with him a company of one hundred lancers and two hundred archers. And know that, as soon as the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Huntingdon had spoken together, the Earl of Huntingdon sent one of his people, by the command of the duke, to the Earl of Northumberland, and gave him two letters, one of which he was to take to the King from his brother, requesting him to believe the message he should deliver to him, and the other to the Earl of Northumberland.

It is a truth that the Earl of Northumberland went to King Richard with (only) seven attendants, for he had left his people in ambush between two mountains, and had commanded them that they should not stir till they had tidings from him, or of the King, whom they much longed to hold. And when the said earl went towards the King, he found him in an exceedingly strong castle, surrounded on all sides by the sea, which is called Conway; and thither he went, with all submission, he and his seven attendants and saluted the King very humbly, as did his attendants. The King had with him not more than five or six notable persons....

When the King perceived the said earl, he caused him to rise, and asked him, "What news?" Then said the earl, "My dear sire, I am sent to you by your cousin Henry of Lancaster." The King asked him if he had not met his brother, whom he had sent there. "Yes, dear sire; and here is a letter he gave me [for you]." The King took the letter and looked at the seal, and saw that it was the seal of his brother; then he opened the letter and read it. All that it contained was this: "My very dear lord; I commend me to you. I hope you will believe the earl in everything that he shall say to you. For I found the Duke of Lancaster at my city of Chester, who has a great desire to have a good peace and agreement with you; and has kept me to attend upon him till he shall know your pleasure." When the King had read the letter, he said to the Earl of Northumberland: "Now then, Northumberland, what is your message?" "My dear sire," said the earl, "my lord of Lancaster has sent me to you to tell you what he most wishes for in this world is to have peace and a good understanding with you, and greatly repents, with all his heart, of the displeasure he hath caused you now and at other times, and asks nothing of you in this living world, save that you would consider him as your cousin and friend, and that you would please only to let him have his land, and that he may be Seneschal of England as his father and his predecessors have been, and that all other things of bygone time may be put in oblivion between you two: for which purpose he hath chosen umpires for yourself and for him; that is to say, your brother, the Bishop of Carlisle, the Earl of Salisbury, Maudelyn, and the Earl of Westmorland; and charges these five with [the arrangement of] the differences that are between you and him. Give me, if you please, an answer."

Then the King, with the Bishop of Carlisle, the Earl of Salisbury, Sir Stephen Scrop, Fereiby, and the Gascon squire, withdrew into the chapel of the castle; and the King said to them: "My lords, you have heard what the earl says; what think you of it?" To which they replied: "My lord, do you speak first." The King answered: "It seems to me that a good peace would be made between us two, if it be as the earl says; but, in truth, whatever agreement or peace he may make with me, if I can ever get him into my power, I will cause him to be foully put to death, just as he hath deserved." The Bishop of Carlisle said: "My lord, peace is desirable; but it appears to me that it will be well that you should make the Earl of Northumberland swear upon the Holy Gospels, and on the body of our Lord, that what he has said is true." The Earl of Salisbury and others said: "It is well spoken." The King then said: "Tell Northumberland to come in." Upon which came in the said earl, who can only be likened to Judas or to Guenelon,[101] for he falsely perjured himself on the body of our Lord in everything which he said. When he was in the presence, the King said to him as follows: "Northumberland, if you will assure us by your loyal oath, and swear upon the sacred body of our Lord, that what you have told us from our cousin of Lancaster is true, we will believe you, and will go and lodge at Flint; and there our good cousin of Lancaster can come and speak to us." Then said the earl, who was old and venerable: "Dear sire, I am quite ready to make what oath you wish." Upon which the King commanded that they should chant the mass, for it was still early; which he heard with much devotion as well as all his companions, for he was a true Catholic. When mass had been chanted, he caused the Earl of Northumberland to come forward, who placed his hand upon the body of our Lord which was upon the altar in the presence of the King and of the lords, and swore that all that he had said to the King from Henry of Lancaster was true; in which he perjured himself wickedly and falsely. After the oath had been taken, the King and those present went to dinner, and the King ordered that everyone should get ready to set out to go to Flint after dinner. When dinner was over, the King said to the earl: "Northumberland, for God's sake, be sure you consider well what you have sworn, for it will be to your damnation if it be untrue." The earl replied: "Dear sire, if you find it untrue, treat me as you ought to do a traitor." "Well, then," said the King, "we will go to Flint trusting in God and in our opinion of your honesty." "Dear sire," said the earl, "I will go forward to order your supper, and will tell to my lord the duke what I have done." The King replied: "Go": and the false earl said, on setting out: "Dear sire, make haste, for it is already two o'clock or thereabouts." The earl then left, with his seven attendants, as he had arrived, and rode to the mountain where he had left his men in ambush, who all made very merry, for he said to them: "We shall very soon have what we are looking for...."

The King, setting out, saw Northumberland's men in ambush in the valley, and, when Northumberland came back to meet him, questioned him as follows: "What people are those who are below in the valley?" The earl replied: "My lord, I do not know: I have seen none." "Look before you then," said the Earl of Salisbury; "there they are." "By St. John!" said the Bishop of Carlisle, "I believe they are your men, for I distinguish your banner." "Northumberland," said the King, "if I thought you wished to betray me, I would return to Conway!" "By St. George! my lord," replied the earl, "you shall not return for this month to come; for I shall conduct you to my lord, the Duke of Lancaster, as I have promised him." As he spoke Erpingham came up with all the people of the earl, his trumpets sounding aloud. The King and his companions then saw well enough that they had been betrayed; and said the King to the earl: "The God upon whom you have sworn reward you and all your accomplices at the day of judgment!" Then turning to his companions who were weeping, he said with a sigh: "Ah! my good and faithful friends, we are all betrayed and given without cause into the hands of our enemies; for God's sake have patience, and call to mind our Saviour, who was undeservedly sold and given into the hands of his enemies." "Dear sire," said the good Earl of Salisbury, "we will patiently submit to our lot with you since it is the will of God." So discoursing, with tears and lamentations, they came to Flint, where they lodged the King and his companions in the castle; and the earl and Erpingham set a strong guard over them: which done, the earl immediately took five horsemen, and rode to Chester to relate to the Duke of Lancaster how he had captured the King and conducted him to Flint.

FOOTNOTES:

[101] A notorious traitor, torn to pieces at Aix-la-Chapelle by order of Charlemagne.

ABDICATION AND DEATH (1399).

King Richard was released from his prison, and entered the hall that had been prepared for the occasion, royally dressed, the sceptre in his hand and the crown on his head, but without supporters on either side. He addressed the company as follows: "I have reigned King of England, Duke of Aquitaine, and Lord of Ireland, about twenty-two years, which royalty, lordship, sceptre and crown, I now freely and willingly resign to my cousin, Henry of Lancaster, and entreat of him, in the presence of you all, to accept this sceptre."

He then tendered the sceptre to the Duke of Lancaster, who took it and gave it to the Archbishop of Canterbury. King Richard next raised the crown with his two hands from his head, and, placing it before him, said: "Henry, fair cousin, and Duke of Lancaster, I present and give to you this crown, with which I was crowned King of England, and all the rights dependent on it...."

The inhabitants of Bourdeaux, Dax and Bayonne, were lost in astonishment when they heard that their lord, King Richard, had been arrested and was confined in the Tower of London, his principal counsellors executed, and Duke Henry of Lancaster crowned King, and would not at first believe that such melancholy events had happened in England; but as the reports were confirmed daily by fresh intelligence they were constrained to think them true. The gates of the three cities were closed, and no person whatever suffered to go out, from the sorrow they were in, more particularly those of Bourdeaux, for King Richard had been educated among them. They were sincerely attached to him, and he always received them kindly when they waited on him, inclining naturally to comply with every request they made him. On first hearing of his misfortune, they said: "Ah, Richard, gentle king! by God, you are the most honourable man in your realm. This mischief has been brewed for you by the Londoners, who never loved you, and their dislike was still increased by your alliance with France. This misfortune is too great for us to bear. Ah, King Richard! they have acknowledged you their Sovereign two and twenty years, and now they imprison you, and will put you to death; for, since they have crowned the Duke of Lancaster King, that consequence must follow...."

It was not long after this that a true report was current in London of the death of Richard of Bourdeaux. I could not learn the particulars of it, nor how it happened, the day I wrote these chronicles. Richard of Bourdeaux, when dead, was placed on a litter covered with black, and a canopy of the same. Four black horses were harnessed to it, and two varlets in mourning conducted the litter, followed by four knights dressed also in mourning. Thus they left the Tower of London, where he had died, and paraded the streets at a foot's pace until they came to Cheapside, which is the greatest thoroughfare in the city, and there they halted for upwards of two hours. More than twenty thousand persons, of both sexes, came to see the King, who lay in the litter, his head on a black cushion, and his face uncovered.

Some pitied him when they saw him in this state, but others not, saying he had for a long time deserved death. Now consider, ye kings, lords, dukes, prelates and earls, how very changeable the fortunes of this world are. This King Richard reigned twenty-two years in great prosperity, and with much splendour; for there never was a King of England who expended such sums, by more than one hundred thousand florins, as King Richard did in keeping up his state and his household establishments. I, John Froissart, canon and treasurer of Chimay, know it well, for I witnessed and examined it, during my residence with him, for a quarter of a year.

THE CHARACTER OF RICHARD II., AS DESCRIBED BY A MONK OF EVESHAM.

King Richard was of common stature. His hair was yellow, his face white, round, and effeminate, sometimes flushed; he was abrupt and stammering in his speech, capricious in his ways, since spurning the counsels of the elder nobles, he adhered rather to that of the young. In his gifts he was prodigal, in his banquets and dress splendid beyond measure, timid and unsuccessful in war against foreign enemies, ill-tempered with his domestics, arrogant, rapacious, and too much given over to luxury. He was a great lover of late hours, so that sometimes till midnight, sometimes till morning, he would remain drinking and committing other unspeakable excesses. Grievously extorting tithes and taxes, and other subsidies, from his people, throughout his reign, scarcely a year passed in which he did not have a tenth, or a fifteenth, or their halves, from Parliament. And while these grants came into his treasury, under pretext of repelling national enemies, everything was foolishly wasted upon his extravagances.

However, there were two praiseworthy features to be found in him: the one, that he loved and promoted the Church of God and the persons of the clergy, especially the Black Monks; the other, that he endowed the Church of Westminster with rents to the value of 500 marks to pray for the salvation of his soul on his anniversary, although he is not buried there. May God have mercy on his soul. Amen.

RICHARD THE REDELESS (1399).

And as I passid in my preire [102] . ther prestis [103] were at messe,
In a blessid borugh [104] . that Bristow [105] is named,
In a temple of the trinite . the toune even amyddis,[106]
That Cristis chirche is cleped [107] . amonge the comune peple,
Sodeynly ther sourdid [108] . selcouthe [109] thingis,
A grett wondir to wyse men . as it well mygth,[110]
And dowtes [111] ffor to deme [112] . ffor drede comynge after.
So sore were the sawis [113] . of bothe two sidis,
Of Richard that regned . so riche and so noble,
That whyle he werrid [114] be west . on the wilde Yrisshe,
Henrri was entrid [115] . on the est half,
Whom all the londe loued . in lengthe and in brede,
And ros with him rapely [116] . to rightyn his wronge,
Ffor he shulde hem serue . of the same after.
Thus tales me troblid . ffor they trewe were,
And amarride [117] my minde rith moche [118] . and my wittis eke:[119]
Ffor it passid [120] my parceit [121] . and my preifis [122] also,
How so wondirffull werkis . wolde haue an ende.
But in sothe whan they sembled . some dede repente,
As knowyn is in cumpas . of Cristen londis,
That rewthe [123] was, if reson . ne had reffourmed
The myssecheff and the mysserule . that men tho in endurid.[124]
I had pete [125] of his passion . that prince was of Walis,
And eke our crouned kynge . till Crist woll no lenger;
And as a lord to his liage . though I lite [126] hade,
All myn hoole herte [127] was his . while he in helthe regnid.
And ffor I wuste not witterly [128] . what shulde ffall,
Whedir God wolde geue [129] him grace . sone to amende,
To be oure gioure [130] ageyn . or graunte it another,
This made me to muse . many tyme and ofte,
For to written him a writte [131] . to wissen [132] him better,
And to meuve him of mysserewle . his mynde to reffresshe,
Ffor to preise [133] the prynce . that paradise made,
To fullfill him with ffeith . and ffortune aboue,
And not to grucchen a grott [134] . ageine godis sonde [135]
But mekely to suffre . what so him sente were.

Now, Richard the redeless [136] . reweth [137] on you-self
That lawelesse leddyn youre lyf . and youre peple bothe;[138]
Ffor thoru the wyles and wronge . and wast in your tyme,
Ye were lyghtlich y-lyfte . ffrom that you leef thoughte,[139]
And ffrom youre willffull werkis: youre will was channgid,
And rafte was youre riott . and rest,[140] ffor youre daiez
Weren wikkid thoru youre cursid counceill . youre karis [141] weren newed,
And coueitise hath crasid [142] . youre croune ffor euere!

Of alegeaunce now lerneth . a lesson other tweyne,
Wher-by it standith . and stablithe moste—
By drede, or by dyntis [144] . or domes untrewe,[145]
Or by creaunce of coyne . ffor castes of gile,[146]
By pillynge [147] of youre peple . youre prynces to plese;
Or that youre wylle were wroughte . though wisdom it nolde;
Or be tallage of youre townes . without ony werre,
By rewthles routus [148] . that ryffled euere,
By preysinge of polaxis [149] . that no pete hadde,
Or be dette ffor thi dees . deme as thou ffyndist;
Or be ledinge of lawe . with loue well ytemprid,[150]

Ffor legiaunce without loue . litill thinge availith.
But graceles gostis [151] . gylours [152] of hem-self,
That neuere had harnesse . ne hayle-schouris,[153]
But walwed in her willis [154] . ffor-weyned [155] in here youthe,
They sawe no manere sizth . saff solas and ese,[156]
And cowde no mysse amende . whan mysscheff was vp,
But sorwed ffor her lustus . of lordschipe they hadde,[157]
And neuere ffor her trespas [158] . oo tere wolde they lete![159]

But moche now me merueilith [161] . and well may I in sothe,
Of youre large leuerey [162] . to leodis [163] aboute,
That ye so goodliche gaf [164] . but if gile letted,[165]
As hertis y-heedyd [166] . and hornyd of kynde,[167]
So ryff [168] as they ronne . youre rewme [169] thoru-oute
That non at youre nede [170] . youre name wolde nempne,[171]
In ffersnesse ne in ffoltheed,[172] . but ffaste ffle away-ward,
And some stode astonyed [173] . and stared ffor drede,
Ffor eye of the egle [174] . that oure helpe broughte.

Now liste [175] me to lerne . ho [176] me lere [177] coude,
What kynnes conceyll [178] . that the kyng had,
Or meued him most . to merke his liegis,[179]
Or serue hem with signes [180] . that swarmed so thikke,
Thoru-oute his lond . in lengthe and in brede,
That ho so had hobblid . thoru holtes and tounes,
Or y-passid the patthis . ther the prynce dwellyd,
Of hertis or hyndis . on hassellis brestis,
Or some lordis leveré . that the lawe stried,
He should have ymette . mo than ynowe,[181]
Ffor they accombrede [182] the contré . and many curse seruid,[183]
And carped [184] to the Comounes . with the kyngys mouthe,
Or with the lordis . ther they belefte [185] were
That no renke [186] shulde rise . reson to schewe;
They plucked the plomayle [187] . ffrom the pore skynnes,
And schewed her signes [188] . ffor men shulde drede,
To axe ony mendis . ffor her mys-dedis.[189]

So trouthe to telle . as toune-men said,
Ffor on that ye merkyd [190] . ye myssed ten schore
Of homeliche hertis [191] . that the harme hente.
Thane was it ffoly . in ffeith, as me thynketh
To sette siluer in signes . that of nought serued
I not what you eylid [192] . but if it ese [193] were;
Ffor frist at youre anoyntynge . alle were youre owene,
Both hertis and hyndis . and helde of non other;
No lede [194] of youre lond . but as a liege aughte,[195]
Tyl ye, of youre dulnesse . deseuerance made,
Thoru youre side [196] signes . that shente all the browet,
And cast adoun the crokk . the colys amyd.[197]

FOOTNOTES:

[102] Prayer.

[103] Priests.

[104] Borough.

[105] Bristol.

[106] In the middle of.

[107] Named.

[108] Arose (Lat. surgere).

[109] Wonderful.

[110] Might.

[111] Doubts.

[112] Think.

[113] Sayings.

[114] Made war in.

[115] Entered.

[116] Rapidly.

[117] Disturbed.

[118] Very much.

[119] Also.

[120] Surpassed.

[121] Power of perception.

[122] Experience.

[123] Pity.

[124] Continued in.

[125] Pity.

[126] Little.

[127] My whole heart.

[128] Because I did not know for certain.

[129] Give.

[130] Guide.

[131] A writing.

[132] To show.

[133] More probably "preie" = pray.

[134] Not to grumble a groat—namely, not to grumble at all.

[135] God's visitation.

[136] Devoid of counsel (cf. Ethelred the Unready).

[137] Have pity.

[138] That lawless led your life and ruled your people.

[139] You were lightly lifted from that you thought dear.

[140] Your indulgence and rest were taken away.

[141] Cares.

[142] Covetousness has cracked.

[143] Cupidity is the root of all evils.

[144] Blows.

[145] Unjust judgments.

[146] By borrowing of coin for fraudulent contrivances.

[147] Pillaging.

[148] Ruthless gangs.

[149] Appraising by means of the King's officers. Polaxis (= pole-axes) here denote the men who used them—i.e., the King's officers.

[150] The writer asks the King how is allegiance best promoted among subjects—by dread, blows, unjust judgments, bad coinage, pillage of the people, self-will of the King, taxes imposed in time of peace and exacted by pitiless plunderers, and "by debts thou contractest in dice-playing, judge as thou findest," or by guidance of the law, well tempered with love?

[151] Spirits. An allusion to the King's favourites—De Vere, De la Pole, etc.

[152] Deceivers.

[153] That never wore harness, nor felt showers of hail.

[154] Wallowed in their wills.

[155] Pampered.

[156] They saw no kind of sight, save amusement and ease.

[157] But sorrowed for their pleasures of lordship once enjoyed.

[158] Their trespasses.

[159] One tear would they let fall.

[160] The author is here inveighing against the King's servants, particularly against their wearing badges.

[161] I marvel.

[162] Livery.

[163] Men.

[164] Liberally gave.

[165] Unless fraud hindered.

[166] Antlered harts. The white hart was the favourite badge of Richard II.

[167] Horned by nature.

[168] Rife.

[169] Realm.

[170] In the time of your need.

[171] Name. Whoever wore a lord's livery was bound in honour to espouse the cause of the donor in any quarrel.

[172] Neither in fierceness nor in folly.

[173] Astonished.

[174] For awe of the eagle. The eagle represents Henry, Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV.

[175] It would please.

[176] Whoever.

[177] Teach.

[178] What sort of advice.

[179] To mark his servants.

[180] Or serve them with signs—e.g., badges.

[181] Whoso had travelled through woods and towns, or passed the roads where the Prince dwelt, would see more than enough of hearts and hinds on retainers' breasts, or else the livery of some lord who destroyed the law.

[182] Cumbered.

[183] Deserved.

[184] Talked.

[185] Left.

[186] Man.

[187] Plumage.

[188] Their badges.

[189] In order that men should be afraid to ask any amendment against their misdeeds.

[190] I.e., gave a badge to.

[191] Homely hearts. There is a play on the words "heart" and "hart": "For one that you marked with a hart's badge you lost ten score of homely hearts."

[192] Ailed.

[193] Luxuriousness.

[194] Man.

[195] Ought.

[196] Wide.

[197] That spilt all the broth and upset the pot among the coals.

ISABELLA OF FRANCE RETURNS TO HER OWN COUNTRY (1399).

The English were disposed to fulfil her restoration to her country, together with all the jewels which she had, when, after her marriage, she quitted France. She then passed through France to Paris, where her coming caused many a tear and smile.[198] Let us now beseech God, who humbly suffered his naked body to be suspended upon the Cross, for the redemption and restoration of sinners from the false foes of hell, that he will speedily avenge the great evils and ingratitude, the outrage and injustice, which the wicked English have committed against their King and Queen. For I protest to you of a truth, that I greatly desire to behold this, on account of the wickedness which I have seen among them. And if every one knew their disposition and how they hate the French I firmly believe that before three months were passed we should see many a vessel filled with men and stores to make war upon them. For anyone may plainly see that they are a very wicked people and negligent to do well. And if I have spoken too freely of them in any way which may displease, I humbly and heartily beg pardon. For I solemnly declare that, according to my ability, I have uttered no evil or slander of them whereof they have not been guilty. Because I beheld their actions for seven whole months, and rode with them in many countries, and parts of Ireland and England. The good Earl of Salisbury also, when he was taken with King Richard, was pleased most earnestly to request, and humbly entreat me, that I would publish the whole of their bad behaviour and disloyal treason. And, certes, I promised it him with free will and loyal heart. For which cause, I have taken the trouble to fulfil the promise that I made him, in the great sorrow and peril in the which I left him. Besides, I am sure that the truth of the taking of the King, and how he was falsely drawn out of his strong and fair castles in Wales, by treaty and parley with the Earl of Northumberland, could have been little known. So I sincerely beseech all those, who shall read to the end of this treatise, which I have made concerning the English and their affairs, that if I have committed any fault in rhyme or in prose, or in elegance of rhyme, they would have me excused because I am not skilled therein. Amen.

FOOTNOTES:

[198] In Monstrellet's Chronicle it is stated that though Isabella was "most honourably sent over," yet there was "no rent nor revenue assigned for her dowry; whereat many of the princes of France were not well content with the said King of England; and greatly desired that the King of France would prepare war upon him."

APPENDIX

A NORMAL SCHOOLBOY.

[From Dan John Lydgate's Testament. Lydgate was born in 1389, and probably sent at an early age to a monastic school.]

Duryng the tyme of this sesoun ver
I meene the seson / of my yeerys greene
Gynning fro childhood / streechithe up so fer
to the yeerys / accountyd ful Fifteene
bexperience / as it was wel seene
The gerisshe seson / straunge of condicions
Dispoosyd to many / unbridlyd passiouns

Voyd of reson / yove to wilfulnesse
Froward to vertu / of thrift gaf litil heede
loth to lerne / lovid no besynesse
Sauf pley or merthe / straunge to spelle or reede
Folwyng al appetites / longng to childheede
lihtly tournyng wylde / and seelde sad
Weepyng for nouht / and anoon afftir glad

For litil wroth / to stryve with my felawe
As my passiouns / did my bridil leede
Of the yeerde somtyme / I stood in awe
to be scooryd / that was al my dreede
loth toward scole / lost my tyme in deede
lik a yong colt / that ran with-owte brydil
Made my freendys / ther good to spend in ydll

I hadde in custom / to come to scole late
Nat for to lerne / but for a contenaunce
With my felawys / reedy to debate
to jangle and jape / was set al my plesaunce
wherof rebukyd / this was my chevisaunce
to forge a lesyng / and thereupon to muse
Whan I trespasyd / my silven to excuse

To my bettre / did no reverence
Of my sovereyns / gaf no fors at al
Wex obstynat / by inobedience.
Ran in to gardyns / applys ther I stal
To gadre frutys / sparyd hegg nor wal
to plukke grapys / in othir mennys vynes
Was moor reedy / than for to seyn matynes

My lust was al / to scorne folk and jape
Shrewde tornys / evir among to use
to skoffe and mowe / lyk a wantoun Ape
Whan I did evil / othre I did accuse.
My wittys five / in wast I did abuse
Rediere chirstoonys / for to telle
Than gon to chirche / or heere the sacry belle.

Loth to ryse / lother to bedde at eve
With unwassh handys / reedy to dyneer
My pater noster /, my Crede, or my beleeve
Cast at the Cok /, loo this was my maneer
Wavid with eche wynd / as doth a reed speer
Snybbed of my frendys / such techchys for ta mende
Made deff ere / lyst nat / to them attende.

During the years of my boyhood, up to fifteen, I was void of reason, prone to wilfulness, and loved no work but play and mirth. I loved to fight, but stood in awe of being scored by the rod. Loth towards school, I lost my time like a young colt without bridle. I came to school late, and was always ready to talk, and lied to get off blame. I mocked my masters, and was always disobedient. I stole apples and grapes. My delight was to mock and play tricks on people. I liked counting cherry stones better than church. I disliked getting up and going to bed: came to dinner with unwashed hands, and threw my Pater noster, etc., at the cook. I was deaf to the snubbings of my friends.

BEGGAR'S BRATS ARE BOOK-LEARNED.

Now mot ich soutere hys sone . seten to schole,
And ich a beggares brol . on the book lerne,
And worth to a writere . and with a lorde dwelle
Other falsly to a frere . the fend for to serven;
So of that beggares brol . a bychop shal worthen,
Among the peres of the lond . prese to sytten,
And lordes sones lowly . to the losels alowte,
Knyghtes crouketh hem to . and cruccheth ful lowe;
And his syre a soutere . y-suled in grees
His teeth with toylyng of lether . tatered as a sawe
Alaas! that lordes of the londe . leveth swiche wrecchen,
And leveth swych lorels . for her lowe wordes.
They shulden maken bichopes her owen bretheren childre
Other to som gentil blod. And so yt best semed,
And fostre none faytoures . ne swich false freres
To maken fat and fulle . and her flesh combren.
For her kynde were more . to y-clense diches
Than ben to sopers y-set first . and served with sylver
A grete bolle-ful of benen . were better in hys wombe
And with the bandes of bakun . his baly for to fillen
Than pertryches or plovers . or pecockes y-rosted.

Now every cobbler's son and beggar's brat becomes book-learned and a writer and dwells with a lord. The beggar's brat becomes a bishop, and lords' sons crouch before him, and his father a cobbler, soiled with grease, and his teeth jagged as a saw with working on leather! Alas! that the lords of the land love such as these; they should make gentlemen bishops, not these, who are more fit to clean dishes than sit in places of honour at supper, and be served with silver; and ought to eat beans and bacon rind, not partridges, or plovers, or roast peacocks.

CAUSES OF THE IMPAIRING OF OUR LANGUAGE.

"One is because children that go to school learn to speak first English, and then are compelled to construe their lessons in French, and that has been the custom since the Normans came to England. Also gentlemen's children are learned and taught from their youth to speak French, and uplandish men will counterfeit and liken themselves to gentlemen, and are busy to speak French, for to be more set by; wherefore it is said by the common proverb: 'Jack would be a gentleman if he could speak French.'"

[Trevisa, the translator, adds: "This manner was much used before the great death (1349 or 1361), but since it is some deal changed; for Sir John Cornwall, a master of grammar, changed the teaching in grammar schools and construction of French; and other schoolmasters use the same way now in the year of our Lord 1365, the 9th year of King Richard the Second, and leave all French in schools and use all construction in English; wherein they have advantage one way, that is, they learn the sooner their grammar; and in another, disadvantage, for now they learn no French, nor con none, which is hurt for them that shall pass the sea; and also gentlemen have much left [199] to teach these children to speak French."]

WAR AND MISRULE

INTRODUCTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BILL OF ARTICLES PRESENTED TO EDWARD II BY THE BARONS IN THE PARLIAMENT OF 1310.

THE SUCCESSES OF KING ROBERT BRUCE (1311).

PETER GAVESTON AND THE FRIARS PREACHERS (1312).

AN UNWORTHY KING (1313).

CORRUPTION IN THE PAPAL COURT (1313).

THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN (June 24, 1314).

VAGABOND FRIARS (1314).

CHARGES AGAINST THE DESPENSERS (1319).

POPULAR FEELING ABOUT THE EARL OF LANCASTER'S DEATH (1322).

THE REVOCATION OF THE ORDINANCES (1322).

THE MURDER OF THE KING (1327).

CHARACTER OF EDWARD II.

THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD III.

THE MANNER OF THE SCOTS (1327).

THE RULE OF ISABELLA (1328).

WHY MORTIMER WAS CONDEMNED UNHEARD (1330).

THE WAR OF THE DISINHERITED (1332).

FOR THE SAFE-KEEPING OF THE CITY OF LONDON (December 13, 1334).

FIRST INVASION OF FRANCE: THE CAMPAIGN OF 1339.

BEFORE SLUYS (1340).

THE BATTLE OF SLUYS (June 24, 1340).

THE KING OF FRANCE IGNORES THE KING OF ENGLAND'S CHALLENGE (July 27, 1340).

ARCHBISHOP STRATFORD INCURS THE KING'S DISPLEASURE (January 1, 1340-1).

THE "LIBELLUS FAMOSUS" (February 10, 1340-1).

TRIAL BY PEERS.

THE BATTLE OF CRECY (August 26, 1346).

DAVID BRUCE INVADES ENGLAND (October, 1346).

A FIGHTING PRIOR.

THE SURRENDER OF CALAIS (August 3, 1347).

PENITENTS AND JEWS (1349).

A STATUTE OF LABOURERS (1350).

PROSPERITY OF THE LANDLESS LABOURER.

FIRST STATUTE OF PROVISORS (1350).

THE KING OF ENGLAND REFUSES THE FRENCH KING'S CHALLENGE (1355).

THE BALLIOLS RESIGN TO THE KING OF ENGLAND THEIR PRETENDED RIGHT (1355-56)

THE BATTLE OF POITIERS (1356).

THE TREATY OF LONDON (1359).

THE SIEGE OF PARIS AND THE TREATY OF CALAIS (1360).

THE FATEFUL FOOTPRINTS OF THE ENGLISH (c. 1361).

NO SUBSIDY ON WOOL WITHOUT ASSENT OF PARLIAMENT (1362).

REGULATION OF WEARING APPAREL BY STATUTE (1363).

THE HAUGHTINESS OF THE ENGLISH (1367).

"TIME-HONOURED LANCASTER" (May-June, 1376).

LAMENT FOR THE BLACK PRINCE.

RENEWAL OF THE WAR (1376-77).

JOHN OF GAUNT ATTACKS WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM (1377).

MASTER JOHN WICLIF (1377).

A TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION (1377).

THE KING OF FRANCE EQUIPS A FLEET (1377).

CHARACTER OF EDWARD III.

THE PEASANTS' REVOLT (1381).

WONDROUS AND UNHEARD-OF PRODIGIES (1381).

HERETICAL AND ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS OF WICLIF (Condemned at London, 1382).

THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS MASTER JOHN (1382).

THE PARLIAMENT OF 1384 (April, 1384).

THE PLOT AGAINST LANCASTER (February, 1385).

THE FRENCH IN SCOTLAND.

THE DEATH OF WICLIF (1385).

CHARLES VI.'S FRUSTRATED INVASION OF ENGLAND (August, 1386).

THE STATE OF ENGLAND (1386).

THE WONDERFUL PARLIAMENT (October-November, 1386).

RICHARD APPEALS TO THE JUDGES (August, 1387).

DEFEAT OF THE KING'S FRIENDS (November-December, 1387).

THE MERCILESS PARLIAMENT (February, 1388).

ON THE TRUCE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE (1394).

SUPPOSED PLOTS (1397).

RICHARD'S REVENGE (July, 1397).

THE "APPEAL" OF THE APPELLANTS (1397).

THE STATE OF IRELAND (1399).

THE BETRAYAL OF THE KING (August, 1399).

ABDICATION AND DEATH (1399).

THE CHARACTER OF RICHARD II., AS DESCRIBED BY A MONK OF EVESHAM.

RICHARD THE REDELESS (1399).

ISABELLA OF FRANCE RETURNS TO HER OWN COUNTRY (1399).

APPENDIX

A NORMAL SCHOOLBOY.

BEGGAR'S BRATS ARE BOOK-LEARNED.

BILL OF ARTICLES PRESENTED TO EDWARD II
BY THE BARONS IN THE PARLIAMENT OF 1310.

FOR THE SAFE-KEEPING OF THE CITY OF LONDON
(December 13, 1334).