*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 50790 ***

Transcriber's Note.

Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The use of hyphens
has been rationalised.

Notices of other books in the series have been moved to the end of the
text.

Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals, italics are
indicated by _underscores_, and bold font is indicated by +plus signs+.

Superscripts have been removed.




 BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS

 _General Editors_: S. E. WINBOLT, M.A., and KENNETH BELL, M.A.


 THE GROWTH OF PARLIAMENT
 AND THE WAR WITH SCOTLAND
 (1216-1307)


 BY
 W. D. ROBIESON, M.A.
 ASSISTANT TO THE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW


 [Illustration]


 LONDON
 G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
 1914




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.

The order of the extracts is strictly chronological, each being
numbered, titled, and dated, and its authority given. The text is
modernised, where necessary, to the extent of leaving no difficulties in
reading.

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

 S. E. WINBOLT.
 KENNETH BELL.


NOTE TO THIS VOLUME

I am indebted to Messrs. MacLehose and Co. for permission to reprint two
passages from Sir Herbert Maxwell's translation of the "Chronicle of
Lanercost," which appeared in the _Scottish Historical Review_.

 W. D. R.

 GLASGOW,
 _January, 1914_




TABLE OF CONTENTS


                                                                    PAGE

       INTRODUCTION                                                    v

 DATE

 1216. CORONATION OF HENRY III.           _Roger of Wendover_          1

 1217. THE FAIR OF LINCOLN                _Annals of Dunstable_        2

 1217. THE BATTLE OF SANDWICH             _Histoire des Ducs_          4

 1217. WHY LOUIS WAS UNSUCCESSFUL
         IN ENGLAND                       _Canon of Barnwell_          5

 1217. CHARTER OF THE FOREST              _Statutes of the Realm_      5

 1223. A WRESTLING-MATCH AND
         DISTURBANCES IN LONDON           _Annals of Dunstable_        9

 1224. THE COMING OF THE FRIARS           _Monumenta Franciscana_     10

 1224. THE RULE OF ST. FRANCIS            _Monumenta Franciscana_     13

 1226. PAPAL DEMANDS FOR PREBENDS         _Roger of Wendover_         16

 1227. HENRY ANNULS THE GRANTS MADE
         DURING HIS MINORITY              _Roger of Wendover_         18

 1232. ACCUSATIONS AGAINST
         HUBERT DE BURGH                  _State Trials_              19

 1233. THE POITEVIN INVASION              _Roger of Wendover_         21

 1238. THE PAPAL LEGATE AT OXFORD         _Matthew Paris_             23

 1240-44. PAPAL EXACTIONS                 _Matthew of Westminster_    25

 1242. THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE              _Matthew of Westminster_    27

 1248. THE KING VEXES HIS SUBJECTS        _Matthew Paris_             32

 1249. A CHANGE OF RULER IN SCOTLAND      _John of Fordun_            34

 1253. THE MISDEEDS OF THE SENESCHAL
         CHRONICON OF GASCONY             _Thomæ Wykes_               35

 1254. IRELAND GRANTED TO EDWARD          _Historical Documents
                                            (Ireland)_                37

 1254-57. THE SICILIAN CROWN              _Matthew Paris_             37

 1258. EXPULSION OF THE POITEVINS         _Annals of Waverley_        40

 1258. KING CONSENTS TO ELECTION
         OF TWENTY-FOUR                   _Rymer's Fœdera_            41

 1258. PROVISIONS OF OXFORD               _Annals of Burton_          42

 1261. HENRY REPUDIATES THE PROVISIONS    _Matthew of Westminster_    48

 1263. QUEEN INSULTED BY THE LONDONERS    _William Rishanger_         50

 1263. THE BATTLE OF LARGS                _Androw of Wyntoun_         50

 1264. THE MISE OF AMIENS                 _Rymer's Fœdera_            52

 1264. THE BATTLE OF LEWES                _Continuation of Paris_     53

 1264. VIEWS OF THE KING AND BARONS
         CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT
         OF ENGLAND                       _The Song of Lewes_         56

 1264. THE MISERIES OF CIVIL WAR          _Chronicon Thomæ Wykes_     59

 1264. DE MONTFORT'S SCHEME
         OF GOVERNMENT                    _Rymer's Fœdera_            60

 1265. THE EVESHAM CAMPAIGN               _Continuation of Paris_     62

 1265. CHARACTER OF DE MONTFORT           _Continuation of Paris_     64

 1266-67. THE DISINHERITED IN ELY         _Chronicon Thomæ Wykes_     65

 1270-72. EDWARD IN THE EAST              _Continuation of Paris and
                                            Matthew of Westminster_   68

 1272. PARLIAMENT ARRANGES FOR
         THE INTERREGNUM                  _Annals of Winchester_      71

 1272. CHARACTER OF EDWARD I.             _Nicholas Trivet's Annals_  72

 1277. ACQUISITION OF WALES               _Matthew of Westminster_    73

 1278. DISTRAINT OF KNIGHTHOOD            _Parliamentary Writs_       74

 1278. EARL OF WARRENNE'S TITLE
         TO HIS LANDS                     _Walter of Hemingburgh_     75

 1279. STATUTE OF MORTMAIN                _Statutes of the Realm_     75

 1281-82. REBELLION IN WALES              _Annals of Dunstable
                                            and Oseney_               77

 1285. STATUTE OF WINCHESTER              _Statutes of the Realm_     80

 1286. GOOD GOVERNMENT OF ALEXANDER III.  _Book of Pluscarden_        84

 1286. POPULAR SONG ON THE DEATH
         OF ALEXANDER III.                _Androw of Wyntoun_         86

 1290. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS              _Walter of Hemingburgh_     86

 1292. BALLIOL DOES HOMAGE TO EDWARD      _Nicholas Trivet's Annals_  88

 1293. OUTBREAK OF WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND
         AND FRANCE                       _Walter of Hemingburgh_     89

 1295. WRITS OF SUMMONS TO PARLIAMENT     _Report on Dignity
                                            of a Peer_                92

 1295. EVIL PRIESTS CAUSE
         THE PEOPLE'S RUIN                _Chronicle of Lanercost_    94

 1296. THE VOYAGE OF KYNGE EDWARDE        _Archæologia_               95

 1296. THE SIEGE OF BERWICK               _Chronicle of Lanercost_    99

 1296. OPPRESSION OF SCOTLAND BY
         THE ENGLISH                      _Barbour's Bruce_          100

 1296-97. POPE FORBIDS THE TAXATION
          OF THE CLERGY                   _Walter of Hemingburgh_    101

 1297. NOBLES REFUSE TO GO TO GASCONY
         WITHOUT THE KING                 _Walter of Hemingburgh_    105

 1297. WILLIAM WALLACE                    _Book of Pluscarden_       107

 1297. CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS       _Walter of Hemingburgh_    110

 1298. BATTLE OF FALKIRK                  _Walter of Hemingburgh_    113

 1299-1303. SCOTLAND AFTER FALKIRK        _Book of Pluscarden_       116

 1306. BRUCE CROWNED KING OF SCOTLAND     _Nicholas Trivet's
                                            Annals_                  119

 1307. DEATH OF EDWARD I.                 _Walter of Hemingburgh_    119

 1307. EPITAPH OF EDWARD I.                                          120




 THE GROWTH OF PARLIAMENT
 AND THE
 WAR WITH SCOTLAND
 (1216-1307)




THE CORONATION OF KING HENRY III. (1216).

+Source.+--_Roger of Wendover_, vol. ii., pp. 379-380. (Bohn's
Libraries.)


After the death of King John, on the eve of the day of the Apostles
Simon and Jude, an assembly was convened at Gloucester in the presence
of Gualo, the legate of the Apostolic See, at which there were present
Peter, Bishop of Winchester, Silvester, Bishop of Worcester, Ralph, Earl
of Chester, William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, William, Earl of Ferrers,
John Marshal, and Philip d'Albiney, with abbots, priors, and a great
number of others, to arrange for the coronation of Henry, the eldest son
of King John. On the day following, all preparations for the coronation
having been made, the legate, in company with the Bishops and nobles
aforesaid, conducted the King in solemn procession to the conventual
church to be crowned; and there, standing before the great altar, in the
presence of the clergy and people, he swore on the Holy Gospels and
other reliques of the saints that he would observe honour, peace, and
reverence towards God and Holy Church and its ordained ministers all the
days of his life; he also swore that he would show strict justice to the
people entrusted to his care, and would abolish all bad laws and
customs, if there were any in the kingdom, and would observe those that
were good, and cause them to be observed by all. He then did homage to
the Holy Church of Rome and to Pope Innocent for the kingdoms of England
and Ireland, and swore that, as long as he held these kingdoms, he would
faithfully pay the thousand marks which his father had given to the
Roman Church. After this, Peter, Bishop of Winchester, placed the crown
on his head, and anointed him King with the usual ceremonies of prayer
and chanting observed at coronations. After mass had been performed, the
Bishops and knights above-mentioned clothed the King in royal robes, and
conducted him to table, where they all took their seats according to
their rank, and feasted amidst mirth and rejoicing. On the following
day, the King received the homage and fealty of all the Bishops, Earls,
and others present, and they all promised faithful allegiance to him.
Henry was crowned in the tenth year of his age, on the day of the
Apostles Simon and Jude, which was the 28th day of the month of October.




THE FAIR OF LINCOLN (1217).

+Source.+--_Annals of Dunstable_, pp. 49-50. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
iii.--Rolls Series.)


Meanwhile the Earl of Chester laid siege to the Castle of Mount Sorel
with the King's army; but the Barons, who had been delaying in London,
set out with the Count of Perche, the Marshal of France, and a thousand
men, granted to them by Louis, and proceeded innocently enough as far as
Dunstable, but thereafter devastated everything, sparing not even widows
and churches. They forced the Earl to raise the siege of the
above-mentioned castle, and then, after changing its garrison, and
renewing its stock of provisions, they continued on their way to
Lincoln, where, joining Gilbert de Gaunt and other Barons there present,
they besieged the Castle of Lincoln, which was gallantly defended by a
noble lady, Nicola by name. But some days afterwards, the legate, with
William Marshal and the Bishops, Earls, and other partisans of the King,
wearing white crosses on the breasts of their tunics reached Newark in
pursuit; the legate advanced no further, but delegated to the Bishop of
Winchester his duties of absolving the loyal subjects of the King from
their sins, and of encouraging them to make a bold stand. When the
King's party approached Lincoln from the west, the Barons who were
within drew up their line of battle and placed their scaling-ladders
outside the city on the west side; but when they perceived the Royalists
coming on with a powerful force, they adopted some coward's base
counsel, and began to retreat within the city, being pursued by the
royal army up to the gate and walls which give on the north. A brave
knight, Fawkes de Breauté, who had been admitted by a guard into the
castle through the postern gate, assaulted the Barons in the rear;
whereupon they, seeing themselves attacked from both sides, left the
walls, and descending towards Wigford, turned their weapons against
Fawkes. But Simon de Peschi, with Henry Braybrook and eighty thousand
Frenchmen, fled, and proceeded to London by way of Lynn and St. Edmunds.

Meanwhile the royal troops entered the city from every side, and, coming
up with the Count of Perche defending himself gallantly in a churchyard,
killed him, having first put his horse to death. Then the citizens,
seized with panic, took to flight and perished in great numbers in the
rivers. All the Barons were taken prisoners, one after another, and the
city was given over to plunder, the victors even despoiling the
churches, heedless of the divine favours bestowed on them. Many foot
soldiers, also--Frenchmen especially--were seized here and there as they
fled towards London and put to death by the peasants. Those who were
taken became the prisoners of their captors; of these, all, except a few
who delayed paying any penalty until peace was signed, ransomed
themselves. Louis, when he heard what had happened to his men at
Lincoln, burned his huts and gave up the siege (of Dover); then he came
to London, and sent to France for reinforcements.




THE BATTLE OF SANDWICH (1217).

+Source.+--_Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d'Angleterre_,
pp. 200-202. (Société de l'Histoire de France.)


On S. Bartholomew's Day there set out from Calais my Lady Blanche's
folk; and they went sailing towards the mouth of the Thames. Twenty-four
ships had she begged, both great and small; of the ten great ones, all
of which were fully manned, four were filled with knights, and six with
sergeants; in the other smaller ships were the armour and the stores.
Into Eustace the Monk's vessel entered Robert de Courtenay, and Eustace
the Monk with him, and Raoul de la Tournelle, the good knight, who
afterwards was killed in the service of God before the city of Toulouse,
and William des Barres, the young son of William des Barres, the good
knight and the well-disposed, and Neville de Canle, the son of the
Bailiff of Arras, and other knights, so that their number was thirty-six
in all. In the second of the ships filled with knights was Michus de
Harnes, and in the third the Castellan of St. Omer; the fourth was that
of the Mayor of Brittany, and into it many knights entered. The six
ships for the sergeants were well manned and fit for battle. When they
came nigh unto the Isle of Thanet, the Royalists who were assembled at
Sandwich saw them, and entering straightway into eighteen great ships
which they had ready, and several boats, came against them. Hubert de
Burgh himself put out to sea, and Richard, the King's son, and several
other knights; but the Earl of Warrenne did not embark; nevertheless, he
kept watch over one ship of knights and men-at-arms, in which was his
standard. The English so sailed as to attack the French rear. The ship
wherein were the men of the Earl Marshal attacked firstly Eustace the
Monk's ship, where was Robert de Courtenay, and very stoutly they
fought. So fierce was the contest that four other ships came to aid the
Earl's men; then was Eustace the Monk's vessel surrounded on all sides.
Boldly the English assailed them, casting stones and lime, so that they
blinded them all. So severely they attacked that they took them by
force. Then there was captured Robert de Courtenay, who was uncle of the
Queen.... William des Barres was taken with him, and Raoul de la
Tournelle, and Neville d'Arras, and all the knights who were in that
vessel. Eustace the Monk had his head cut off by one of the sailors
called Stephen Trabe, who had long held him in great hate. None of the
other great ships were taken, for they saved themselves by flight; but
many of the smaller vessels were destroyed and great slaughter made of
them who were captured. What more need I say? Great discomfiture the
French had; long were they chased by the English, who then retired to
Sandwich with their booty, which was very great. The knights were thrown
into deep prisons, and Eustace the Monk's head was fixed on a lance, and
carried in procession to Canterbury and through the countryside. This
battle took place on Thursday, S. Bartholomew's Day, and the news was
brought to London on the Saturday, very late in the evening, to Louis,
who was exceeding wroth thereat, as was but natural.




WHY LOUIS WAS UNSUCCESSFUL IN ENGLAND.

+Source.+--_The Canon of Barnwell's Continuation of Hoveden_, p. 239.
(Rolls Series.)


It was a miracle that the heir of the King of France, after having come
to England with so great a number of armed men, and having obtained
possession of so large a part of the kingdom, departed, or, I should
rather say, was expelled, so speedily with all his men, and without hope
of recovery. The reason is clear--that the hand of God was not with him,
since he came in defiance of the prohibition of the Roman Church, and
remained here under the ban of its anathema.




THE CHARTER OF THE FOREST (1217).

+Source.+--_Statutes of the Realm-Charters of Liberties_, pp. 20-21.


Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of
Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops,
abbots, priors, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves,
officers, and all his bailiffs and loyal subjects, greeting.

Know that, looking to God and for the salvation of our soul, and the
souls of our ancestors and successors, for the good of Holy Church, and
the betterment of our kingdom, we have granted and by this our present
charter confirmed ... the under-mentioned liberties to be observed in
our kingdom of England for ever:

(1) First, all the forests created by King Henry our grandfather are to
be inspected by good and lawful men, and if he shall be found to have
made into a forest any woods other than those of his own demesne, to the
detriment of the owner thereof, they shall be disforested. And if he has
made his own demesne into a forest, let it remain so, saving common of
herbage[1] and other rights in such a forest to those accustomed to
enjoy them.

(2) Men dwelling outside a forest shall not for the future appear before
our forest justiciars on a common summons, except they be impleaded, or
be pledges for someone attached for forest offences.

(3) All woods made into forest by King Richard our uncle or King John
our father up to the day of our first coronation, are to be immediately
disforested, except our demesne woods.

(4) Archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights, and
freeholders, who have woods in our forests shall hold them as they held
them at the time of the first coronation of King Henry our grandfather,
so that they shall be quit for ever of purprestures,[2] wastes, and
assarts,[3] made in these woods from that date up to the beginning of
the second year after our coronation. And those who for the future shall
make purprestures, wastes, and assarts, shall answer to us for them.

(5) Our reguardors shall perambulate the forests to make the reguard[4]
as they were accustomed to do in the time of the aforesaid King Henry
our grandfather and not otherwise.

(6) An inquisition or view of the expeditation of dogs in the forests
shall for the future take place at the same time as the reguard--_i.e._,
every third year; and then the inquisition shall be made by view and
testimony of lawful men and not otherwise. And he whose dog shall be
found without the claws cut shall pay as a penalty three shillings; and
for the future no oxen shall be taken as a fine. And the expeditation
shall be such that three toes shall be removed from the forefeet without
injuring the ball of the foot; nor shall dogs have their claws cut
except in those places where it was customary at the time of the first
coronation of King Henry our grandfather.

(7) No forester or bailiff shall for the future make a forced
contribution, or seize any corn or hay, or lambs or pigs, or make any
levy; and by the view and oath of the twelve reguardors when they make
the reguard, a reasonable number of foresters shall be appointed to keep
the forests.

(8) No swanimote shall be held for the future in our kingdom save three
times in the year--viz., a fortnight before Michaelmas when the agistors
meet to agist[5] our demesne woods; at Martinmas when our agistors
receive our pannage; and to these two swanimotes shall come foresters,
verderers,[6] and agistors, and no others by distraint; and the third
swanimote shall be held a fortnight before the feast of S. John the
Baptist, before the period of the fawning of the deer, and to that
swanimote shall come foresters and verderers and no others by distraint.
Further, the verderers and foresters shall meet every forty days
throughout the whole year to review the forest attachments, both of
venison and of vert,[7] on the presentation of the foresters themselves
and in the presence of those attached. And the aforesaid swanimotes
shall not be held except in the accustomed counties.

(9) Every freeman may agist his own woods in the forest and have his own
pannage.[8] We grant further that every freeman may take his own swine
through our demesne woods, freely and without hindrance, to agist them
in his own woods or where else he will. And if the swine of any freeman
remain one night in our forest, the freeman shall not be accused thereof
to his detriment.

(10) No one for the future shall lose life or limb on account of our
hunting, but if any one be arrested and convicted of the taking of
venison he shall pay heavily therefor, if he have whence he may pay; if
he have not whence he may pay, let him lie in our prison for a year and
a day; and if after a year and a day he can find pledges, let him depart
from prison; but if not, let him abjure the kingdom of England.

(11) Any archbishop, bishop, earl, or baron passing through our forest,
may take one or two beasts, in presence of the forester, if he should be
at hand; if not, let a horn be blown, lest he should seem to take the
beasts by stealth.

(12) Every freeman for the future may freely make in his own woods or in
any land he has in the forest, mills, places for live stock, ponds,
limepits, ditches, or ploughland outside the covert on the arable land,
provided it be not to the hurt of any neighbour.

(13) Every person may have in his woods eyries for hawks, sparrows,
falcons, and eagles, and heronries; he may likewise have any honey he
finds in his woods.

(14) Henceforth, no forester who is not a forester of fee[9] paying us a
ferm for his office, shall take any cheminage[10] in his bailiwick; but
a forester of fee paying us a ferm for his office may take cheminage as
follows:--for every cart, twopence per half year; for a horse bearing a
burden, one halfpenny per half year; and only from those such as
merchants, who come from outside his bailiwick into his bailiwick by his
licence to buy brushwood, timber, bark, or coal, and to take and sell
these articles in another place; and from no other load shall any
cheminage be taken; nor shall cheminage be taken except in accustomed
and due places. Those who carry on their backs brushwood, bark, or coal,
to sell, although by this they make a living, shall pay no cheminage.
Cheminage shall not be taken by our foresters save in our demesne woods.

(15) All outlaws for forest offences, from the time of King Henry our
grandfather up to the time of our first coronation, may come freely into
our peace, and find pledges that for the future they transgress not our
forest laws.

(16) No castellan or any other shall hold forest pleas, whether of
venison or of vert, but every forester of fee may attach forest pleas
both of venison and of vert, and present them to the verderers of the
district, and when they have been enrolled and enclosed under the seals
of the verderers, they shall be presented to the chief forester when he
comes into these parts to hold the pleas of the forest, and before him
they shall be determined....

Given at Saint Paul's, London, on the sixth day of November, in the
second year of our reign.

[1] Right of pasture.

[2] Encroachments.

[3] Clearings made by cutting down trees.

[4] "The chapters of the reguard" concerned all encroachments on the
royal rights.

[5] Admit cattle for a defined time into the woods.

[6] Officials who made preliminary inquiry into forest offences.

[7] "Venison" covered the taking of game; "vert" destruction of woods,
etc.

[8] Payment made for the liberty of pasturing swine.

[9] A forester who held his office on condition of feudal homage.

[10] Toll for liberty of passage through a forest.




CONCERNING A WRESTLING-MATCH AND DISTURBANCES IN THE CITY OF LONDON (1223).

+Source.+--_Annals of Dunstable_, pp. 78-79. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
iii.--Rolls Series.)


In the one thousand two hundred and twenty-third year after the
Incarnation of Christ, there took place at London a wrestling-match
between the household of the Abbot of Westminster and certain of the
younger citizens of London; but their joy was turned to mourning. For
though the household of the abbot had prevailed overnight, several being
wounded on either side, on the following morning the Londoners chose to
themselves a new Mayor, assembled armed mercenaries under the city
standard, and having appointed a commander, set out against the church
of Westminster. But some wise man's counsel turned them from this aim,
and instead they attacked the houses belonging to the abbot's seneschal,
alike within the city and without. And they carried off his
possessions--both animals and other chattels. Some days thereafter,
while Philip Daubeny, one of the household of our lord the King, was
residing in London, the Abbot of Westminster visited him bearing a
complaint of the violence to which he had been subjected; and the
Londoners, learning this, surrounded the house like bees, seized twelve
horses belonging to the abbot, and having beaten his servants and
ill-treated the knights who were in his company, attempted to take the
abbot himself. But while Philip strove in vain to stay the tumult, the
abbot secretly departed by the back of the house and entered a vessel on
the Thames; while the boatman rowed it away from the bank, stones were
cast after them by the citizens, but the abbot succeeded with difficulty
in escaping. When the news of these great disturbances reached the ears
of the Justiciar, he summoned the Mayor and chief men of the city, and
inquired who were the principal ringleaders in the riot. After the
inquiry Constantine Fitz-Athulf and two of his nephews, of noble birth,
were hung, because, when accused, they answered with insolence.
Thereafter the lord King, because the citizens murmured at this, took
from them sixty hostages, whom he sent to be kept in custody in
different castles; further, he deposed the Mayor of the city, and
appointed in his stead his own keeper. He also ordered a great gibbet to
be prepared; finally, the citizens, after severe reprimands from the
King and frequent consultations with the Barons, were reconciled with
the King, by paying a fine of many thousand marks.




THE COMING OF THE FRIARS (1224).

+Source.+--_Monumenta Franciscana_, vol. i., pp. 5 _et seqq._ (Rolls
Series.)


In the year of our Lord 1224, in the time of the lord Pope Honorius, and
in the same year in which the Rule of the Blessed Francis was confirmed
by him, in the eighth year of the reign of King Henry, son of John, on
the third day after the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin,
which fell that year on a Sunday, the Minorite Brethren first landed in
England at Dover; there were four clerks and five laymen. The following
were the clerks:--First, Brother Agnellus of Pisa, a deacon of about
thirty years old, who had been appointed by the Blessed Francis in the
last general chapter, Provincial Minister in England.... The second was
Brother Richard of Ingworth, an Englishman, a priest and preacher
somewhat more advanced in years, who was the first to preach to the
people beyond the mountains.... The third was Brother Richard of Devon,
also an Englishman, a young acolyte, who left us divers examples of
longsuffering and obedience.... The fourth was Brother William Ashby, a
youthful Englishman, still a novice wearing the garb of probation.

The laymen were these:--First, Brother Henry of Ceruise, a Lombard, who,
on account of his sanctity and great discretion, was made warden of
London, and who, when his period of labour in England was completed,
after the numbers of the brethren had been increased, returned to his
own country. The second was Brother Laurence, from Beauvais, who was
engaged at the beginning in uncompleted work, according to the
injunctions of the Rule; afterwards he journeyed to the Blessed Francis,
whom he was favoured to see frequently, and by whose conversation he was
comforted; finally, the holy Father freely gave him his robe, and with a
most pleasant benediction sent him back joyful to England.... The third
was Brother W. of Florence, who returned to France, soon after the
reception of the brethren (in England). The fourth was Melioratus; the
fifth, Brother Jacobus Ultramontanus, still a novice in the garb of
probation.

These nine, who had been brought across for charity to England and
freely supplied with necessaries by the monks of Fécamp, came to
Canterbury and abode at the priory of the Holy Trinity for two days;
then four of them, to wit, Brother Richard of Ingworth, Brother Richard
of Devon, Brother Henry, and Brother Melioratus, proceeded to London.
The five others went to the Hospital of Poor Priests, where they
remained until they had prepared a place of residence for themselves;
soon after, a small room within the school was given to them, where they
remained from day to day, shut up almost constantly. When the scholars
returned home in the evening, the brethren entered the house where the
scholars had been seated, made themselves a fire, and sat near it;
sometimes, when they wished to drink, they placed on a fire a pot with
the dregs of beer, and put a dish in the pot, and drank in turn,
speaking each some words of pious instruction; and as he bears witness
who shared in their real simplicity, and was a participator in their
holy poverty, their drink was often so thick that, when the pots came to
be heated, they poured in water, and so drank with pleasure....

The four brethren, of whom I have spoken above, when they came to
London, betook themselves to the Friars Preachers, by whom they were
kindly received, and with whom they remained for two weeks, eating and
drinking what was set before them, like intimate friends. Afterwards
they hired a house in the village of Cornhill, where they constructed
cells, stuffing the interstices between the cells with grass. They
remained until the following summer in their early simplicity, without a
chantry, because they had yet no privilege to erect altars and celebrate
divine service in their house. Just before the Feast of All Saints, and
before Brother Agnellus had come to London, Brother Richard of Ingworth
and Brother Richard of Devon came to Oxford, and there also were most
kindly received by the Preaching Brothers, in whose refectory they ate,
and in whose dormitory they slept, for eight days. Afterwards they hired
for themselves a house in the parish of S. Ebba, and there remained
without a chantry until the following summer. There the Blessed Jesus
sowed a grain of mustard-seed, which afterwards became the greatest
among herbs. From that place Brother Richard of Ingworth and Brother
Richard of Devon set out to Northampton, where they took up their abode
in the hospital. And afterwards they hired for themselves a house in the
parish of S. Egidius, where the first warden was Brother Peter of Spain,
who wore an iron corselet next his body and furnished many other
examples of perfection. The first warden of Oxford was Brother William
Ashby, hitherto a novice; he was now given the dress of the Order. The
first warden of Cambridge was Brother Thomas of Spain; of Lincoln,
Brother Henry Misericorde, a layman. The lord John Travers first
received the brethren at Cornhill, and gave them a house; a certain
layman from Lombardy was appointed warden, who first taught letters by
night in the church of the Blessed Peter at Cornhill, and afterwards
became Vicar of England, while Brother Agnellus went to the general
chapter. In the vicarate he had as his associate Brother Richard of
Ingworth; in the end, being unable to endure such heights of prosperity,
and being weakened by so many honours, he became insane, and apostatised
from the Order. It is worthy of note that in the second year of the
administration of Brother Peter, fifth Minister of England, that is to
say, in the thirty-second year after the arrival of the brethren in
England, the number of brethren living in the province of England, in
forty-nine places, amounted to MCCXLII.




THE RULE OF SAINT FRANCIS (1224).

+Source.+--_Monumenta Franciscana_, vol. ii., pp. 65 _et seqq._ (Rolls
Series.)


(The following extracts are from an English translation of the fifteenth
century. The Rule itself was confirmed by Honorius III. in 1224.)

In the name of God: here begynneth the rewle and the lif of the
bretherne minoris, the first chapiter.

The rewle and lif of the bretherne mynorys is this, to obserue and kepe
the holy gospelle of our Lord Jhesu Christ in lyving in obedience,
without propre,[11] and in chastite. Brother Fraunces promyseth
obedience and reuerence to the lord Honory, Pope, and to his successours
laufully enteryng, and to the churche of Rome; and alle other bretherne
be bownde to obey vnto brother Fraunces and to his successours.

II. Of them that wille resceive this lyf, and in what maner they may be
resceyved:

Yf any that will resceive this lyf comme to oure bretherne, let them
send them to ther mynysters provinciallis, vnto whom only, and to none
other, licence ys grauntyd to resceyve bretherne. The mynysters
dilygently shall examyn them of the Crystene feithe, and of the
sacrementis of the churche. The mynysters dilygently shall examyne, and
yf they stedfastly beleve in them, and will truly and feithfully graunt
and confesse them, and to the ende of ther lyf stedfastly kepe them: and
yf they have no wifys: ... let them say too them the wordis of the holy
gospelle, that ys to say that they go and selle all ther goodis, and
indever them self to distrybute them to poor people, the whiche if they
may not doo yt suffisethe ther good wille. And the bretherne shalbe wel
ware that they medle not nor enbesy them self with ther temporalle
goodis or procuryng therof, that they may frely do ther with what so
euer God putteth or enspireth in ther myndis. Nevertheles, if cownselle
be desired and askyd of them therin, the mynisteris haue licence to send
them vnto somme persones dredyng God, by whose counselle ther goodis may
be distrybuted and givenne to poor people. Then, after this, they shall
graunt to them the clothyng of probation, that ys to say ij cootis
withoute a hode, a corde, a femoralle, a schapelet downe too the girdle.
But yf yt be thowghte expedient too the seide mynisters godly otherwise
to be done or dispensyd at summe tyme, the yere of probation fynyshed
and endid, they may resceyve them to obedience and profession. And in
nowise yt may be lawfulle to them to forsake this religion, after and
accordynge to the commaundement of the Pope, for, after the saying of
the holy gospelle, no manne puttynge his hand too the plowghe and lokyng
backwardis ys apte to[12] the kyngdome of hevyne. And they whiche arre
professid and haue promysed obedience shalle haue oone cote with a
hoode, and a nother withoute a hoode that wille have yt, and suche as
haue nede or as ar constreynyd by necessyte may were shoone. And alle
the bretherne must be clothid with symple and vyle clothinge. And they
may pece them and amende them with pecis of sak clothe, or with other
pecis, with the blissyng of God. Whom I warn and exhorte that they
dispise nor juge those men whiche they se clothid with delicate and
softe clothyng, or with colowred and costly aray, use delicius metis and
drynkis, but moche more rather eche of them shoulde juge and despise
hymself.

III. How the bretherne shold behave them self when they goo by the weye:

... I cownsell also warne and exhorte my bretherne in oure Lorde Jhesu
Criste that they bralle nat, nor strive in ther wordis or communication,
nor that they juge norre deme[13] none other men; but that thei be meke,
peasible, softe, gentille and curteis, and lowly, honestly spekynge and
answerynge to euery manne as vntoo them accordith and belongith. And
they shalnot ride, but yf they be constrayned by evident necessitee or
ellis by sekeness. In to what house or place someuer they enter they
shalle saye firste, "pece be vnto this howse." And, accordynge too the
holy gospelle, they may ete of all maner of mettis whiche be sette
before them.

IV. That the bretherne may not resceive any coyne or money:

I commande stedfastly and straitly too all the bretherne that in no wise
they resceive any maner of coyne or money, nother by them self nor by
none other meane person. Neuertheles for the necessite of the seke
bretherne, and for the other bretherne to be clothid or nedynge
clothinge, by goostly and spiritualle frendis, the mynysters oonly and
the custodyes or wardens shalle haue diligent cure and charge accordyng
to the placis, too the tymes or seasons, and to the colde cowntreis and
regions; lyke as yt shall seme them expedient too ther necessite or
nede. Savyng this alwaies that lyke as yt is before saide they may nat
resceive ony maner of coyne or money.

V. The maner how the bretherne shall use and occupie them self in bodily
labour.

The bretherne too whom God hath gyven grace and strengthe to labowr
shall laboure truly and deuoutly, so and in suche wise that Idlenes, the
enemy of the soule, excluded and put awey, they quenche not the inward
feruour and sprite of holy prayer and devoycoun whereunto alle
transetory and temporalle thyngis oughte deserne[14] and geve place. As
of the hier and availe for ther laboure, they may resceive for them self
and for ther bretherne, those thinggis that be necessary and nedefulle
to ther bodies, except coyne or money. And that louly and mekely, as
appartainith and belongith the saruauntis of God and the trewe folouaris
of most parfyte and holy pouerte.

VI. Howe that the bretherne may not appropre to them ony thinge in any
maner of wyse:

The bretherne shall nothynge appropre to them, nother in howsing nor in
londis, nor in rent nor in any maner of thynge, but lyke pilgrimis and
strangers in this world, in pouerte and mekenes, saruyng Almyghty God.
They shalle feithefully, boldly, and surely and mekely goo for almys.
Nor they shalnot nor owghte not to be ashamed, for our Lord made hym
self poor in this worlde.

[11] Property.

[12] Fit for.

[13] Condemn.

[14] Yield.




PAPAL DEMANDS FOR PREBENDS (1226).

+Source.+--_Roger of Wendover_, vol. ii., pp. 466-468. (Bohn's
Libraries.)


In the meantime the period fixed on for holding the council at
Westminster at the Feast of S. Hilary was now come, at which the King,
the clergy, and nobles of the kingdom were bound to appear to hear the
Pope's message. Many Bishops, therefore, with others of the clergy and
laity, assembled at the above place, and Master Otho, the messenger of
our lord the Pope, of whom mention has been made before, read the Pope's
letters in the hearing of them all. In these letters the Pope set forth
a great scandal and old abuse of the Holy Church of Rome--namely, an
accusation of avarice, which is said to be the root of all evil, and
especially because no one could manage any business at the Court of Rome
without a lavish expenditure of money and large presents. "But since the
poverty of the Roman Church is the cause of this offence and evil name,
it is the duty of all to alleviate the wants of their mother and father
as natural sons; because unless we received presents from you and other
good and honourable men, we should be in want of the necessaries of
life, which would be altogether inconsistent with the dignity of the
Roman Church. In order, therefore, utterly to destroy this abuse, we, by
the advice of our brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, have
provided certain terms, to which if you will agree, you may free your
mother from insult, and obtain justice at the Court of Rome without the
necessity of making presents. Our provided terms are these: In the first
place, we require two prebends to be granted to us from all cathedral
churches, one from the portion of the Bishop and another from the
chapter; and from monasteries in the same way where there are different
portions for the abbot and the convent; and from convents the share of
one monk, on an equal distribution being made of their property, and the
same from the abbot."

After making these proposals, Master Otho, on behalf of our lord the
Pope, advised the prelates to consent, setting forth the above-mentioned
advantages contained in the letters. The Bishops and prelates of the
Church who were present in person then moved apart to consult on the
matter, and after having deliberated on the proposals for some time,
they deputed John, Archdeacon of Bedford, to give their answer, who went
before Master Otho, and gave the following reply to his demands: "My
lord, ... since the King, on account of illness, and some of the
Archbishops and Bishops and other prelates of the Church are absent, we
cannot, and, in their absence, ought not to give you an answer; for if
we were to presume so to do, it would be to the injury of all who are
absent." After this, John Marshal and other messengers of the King were
sent to all the prelates who held baronies in chief of the King,
strictly forbidding them to engage their lay fee to the Church of Rome,
by which he would be deprived of the service which was due to himself.
Master Otho, on hearing this, appointed a day in the middle of Lent for
those who were then present to meet, when he would procure the presence
of the King and the absent prelates, that the affair might be brought to
a conclusion; they, however, would not agree to the aforementioned day,
without the consent of the King and the others who were absent, and in
this way all returned home.




THE KING ANNULS THE GRANTS MADE DURING HIS MINORITY (1227).

+Source.+--_Roger of Wendover_, vol. ii., pp. 485-486. (Bohn's
Libraries.)


In the month of February in the same year the King assembled a council
at Oxford, and before all present he declared himself of legitimate age
to be released from wardship, and to take the chief management of the
kingly duties. And thus the former pupil and ward of William Marshal
during his life, and after his death of Peter, Bishop of Winchester,
now, by the advice of Hubert de Burgh, Justiciary of England, freed
himself from all counsel and restraint of the said Bishop and his
friends, who had formerly been, as it were, his schoolmasters, and
dismissed them all from his Court and from all connection with him. At
the same council, too, the said King annulled and cancelled the Charters
of the Liberties of the Forests in all the counties of England, after
they had been in practice throughout the whole of England for two years;
and as a reason for this he alleged that the Charters had been granted,
and the liberties written and signed, whilst he was under the care of a
guardian, and had no power over his own body or his seal, and therefore,
as it had been an unreasonable usurpation, it could no longer stand
good. On this, a great murmur rose amongst the council, and all decided
that the Justiciary was the author of this trouble; for he afterwards
became so intimate with the King that all the other councillors of the
kingdom were thought nothing of. Orders were then given to the religious
men and others, who wished to enjoy their liberties, to renew their
charters under the new seal of the King, as they knew that he held the
old charters to be invalid; and for this renewal a tax was levied, not
according to the means of each of them, but they were compelled to pay
whatever the Justiciary determined on.




ARTICLES OF ACCUSATION AGAINST HUBERT DE BURGH (1232).

+Source.+--_State Trials_, vol. i., coll. 13-22.


Articles of accusation against Hubert de Burgh:

I. That his lord the King requires of him an account of all the revenue
of the kingdom, for the fourteen years next following the death of King
John his father, from which time he took upon him the keeping and
management of the same, without any authority....

II. Concerning the collection of the whole fifteenth, which, according
to the Great Council of the whole kingdom, ought to have been kept and
held in deposit, so that no part of it should have been taken until the
arrival at age of our lord the King, unless under the inspection of six
Bishops and six Earls specially appointed for the purpose; nor so but
for the defence of the kingdom; the amount of which was about 89,000
marks of silver.

III. Concerning the territory in Poitou, of which King John died seised,
and of which our lord the King that now is had seisin when the said Earl
took upon him the custody of the realm; to wit, the territory of
Rochelle, Niort, and St. John; who, when he ought, for the rescue of
these territories, to have sent treasure and corn, sent barrels filled
with stones and sand, so that when the Barons and great men of our lord
the King, and the burgesses, perceived that default, they abandoned the
homage and service of our lord the King, and turned themselves to the
enemies of our lord the King, by means whereof our lord the King lost
Poitou.

IV. That while our lord the King was under age, and it was necessary to
succour Poitou, and the King's army should have gone to Poitou, the Earl
caused the Castle of Bedford to be besieged, where our lord the King and
his great men of England expended a very large quantity of money before
it was taken....

V. That he had sent messengers to Rome, and before the lord the King was
of full age had obtained that he should be of full age, as if this had
been for the advantage of the lord the King, and by authority of this
his age, had caused to be granted by charter to himself lands which had
been of Henry de Essex, and many other lands, dignities, and franchises,
of which, by his own authority, he took possession after the death of
King John, and of which the said King John died seised, as he also
caused to be given and confirmed to religious persons, ecclesiastics,
and others, many lands and franchises and other things, to the lessening
and great detriment of the dignity of the lord the King and his crown.

VI. That whereas the lord William, King of Scotland, formerly delivered
to the lord King John his two daughters, the elder of whom was to be
married to the lord the King, or to Earl Richard, if the lord the King
should die; and for which marriage the same King William released King
John all his right which he had in the lands of Cumberland,
Westmoreland, and Northumberland; and, besides, gave to him 15,000 marks
in silver; he (_i.e._, Hubert de Burgh), before the lord the King was of
such age as to be able to determine whether he would take her to wife or
not, married her; so that, when the lord the King came of age, he was
obliged to give the King of Scotland who now is, eight hundred oxgangs
of land for the release of the lands aforesaid, because the first
agreement had not been observed, and this notwithstanding he had before
married the Countess of Gloucester, who had formerly been betrothed to
the lord King John while he was Earl, and whom King John had committed
to his custody, and whose marriage he had formerly sold to G. de
Mandeville for 20,000 marks, whereby each of them was connected in a
certain degree of consanguinity.

VII. Whereas the lord the Pope commanded that, on account of the said
relationship, a divorce should be made between him and the Countess, his
wife whom he now hath; he caused all the corn in the ear, belonging to
the Romans, to be threshed out by those who were called Lewytheil. In
consequence whereof, a general sentence of excommunication was passed
against all those offenders, and those who favoured them; and this he
did while he was Justiciar and bound to keep the peace, and so that by
these means the peace continues disturbed to this time.

VIII. Whereas he had placed himself in the prison of the lord the King,
and by the agreement made between them, he was to be taken to be an
outlaw, if he should ever escape from that prison without the licence of
the lord the King; he did escape from that prison, and ... he was become
an outlaw; and afterwards when the lord the King had received him into
his favour, he would not accept any writ of the lord the King for the
remission of that outlawry....

IX. That he spake base and scandalous words of the lord the King in the
presence of the lord Ralph, son of Nicholas, Godfrey de Cramcumbe, the
brother of G., and others; and the lord the King still has many things
to be proposed and alleged against him, which, for the perusal, he
reserves in his mind to propose when it shall please him and occasion
shall serve.




THE POITEVIN INVASION (1233).

+Source.+--_Roger of Wendover_, vol. ii., pp. 565-566. (Bohn's
Libraries.)


A.D. 1233.--The seventeenth year of King Henry's reign he held his Court
at Christmas at Worcester, where, by the advice of Peter, Bishop of
Winchester, as was said, he dismissed all the native officers of the
Court from their offices, and appointed foreigners from Poitou in their
places. He also dismissed William de Rodune, a knight who carried on the
duties of Richard the Grand Marshal at his Court. By the same person's
advice the King also dismissed Walter, Bishop of Carlisle, from his
office of Treasurer, and then took from him a hundred pounds of silver,
and also spitefully deprived him of some trusts, which he the King had
by his own charter confirmed to him for life. All his former
counsellors, Bishops and Earls, Barons and other nobles, he dismissed
abruptly, and put confidence in no one except the aforesaid Bishop of
Winchester and his son Peter de Rivaulx; after which he ejected all the
castellans throughout all England, and placed the castles under the
charge of the said Peter. The Bishop, then, in order to gain the King's
favour more completely, associated with himself Stephen de Segrave, a
yielding man, and Robert Passelewe, who kept the King's treasury under
Peter de Rivaulx; and he entirely ruled the kingdom with the advice and
assistance of those men. The King also invited men from Poitou and
Brittany, who were poor and covetous after wealth, and about two
thousand knights and soldiers came to him equipped with horses and arms,
whom he engaged in his service, placing them in charge of the castles in
the various parts of the kingdom; these men used their utmost endeavours
to oppress the natural English subjects and nobles, calling them
traitors, and accusing them of treachery to the King; and he, simple man
that he was, believed their lies, and gave them the charge of all the
counties and baronies, as also of all the youths of the nobility, both
male and female, who were foully degraded by ignoble marriages. The King
also entrusted them with the care of his treasury, with the enforcement
of the laws of the country and the administration of justice. In short,
judgment was entrusted to the unjust, laws to outlaws, the preservation
of peace to the quarrelsome, and justice to those who were themselves
full of injury, and when the nobles of the kingdom laid complaints
before the King of the oppression they endured, the said Bishop
interfered and there was no one to grant them justice. The said Peter,
too, made accusations against some of the other Bishops of the kingdom,
and advised the King to avoid them as open enemies.




THE PAPAL LEGATE AND THE CLERKS OF OXFORD (1238).

+Source.+--_Matthew Paris_, _Chronica Majora_, vol. i., pp. 126-129.
(Bohn's Libraries.)


At this time, the legate, having come to Oxford, and been received with
the highest honour, as was due to him, was entertained in the house of
the canons, which was at Oseney Abbey, where the scholar-clerks before
breakfast-time sent him an honourable present, in the way of meat and
drink, and after breakfast proceeded to his place of abode to pay their
salutation to him, and to visit him out of respect. On their approach,
however, a transalpine porter, with unbecoming and improper raillery,
raising his voice after the manner of the Romans, and holding the door a
little open, said: "What do you want?" To which the clerks replied: "We
want his lordship the legate, that we may pay our respects to him;" for
they confidently believed that they would receive honour for honour. The
doorkeeper, however, with taunting speeches, saucily refused admittance
to them all, with haughtiness and abuse; on seeing which, the clerks
rushed forward with impetuosity, and forced their way in, whilst the
Roman attendants, in their endeavours to keep them back, struck them
with their fists and sticks. Whilst the contending parties were engaged
in repeated blows and taunts, it happened that a poor Irish chaplain was
standing at the door of the kitchen, and had earnestly besought for
something to be given to him in God's name, after the custom of a poor
and hungry man, when the master of the legate's cooks (who was also his
brother, and whom he had placed at the head of that office, that no
poison might be given to him, which he, the legate, greatly feared)
heard him, but paid no heed to his request; and, becoming angry with the
poor man, threw in his face some boiling water drawn from the caldron
where fat meat was being cooked. At this injury to the poor man, one of
the clerks, a native of the Welsh borders, cried out: "Shame on us to
endure anything like this!" and drew a bow which he carried (for, as the
tumult had increased, some of the clerks had seized on whatever came to
hand), and by an arrow discharged from it, himself pierced the body of
the cook (whom the clerks satirically called "Nabuzardan," which means
chief of the cooks). On the fall of the dead man a cry was raised,
hearing which the legate was astounded, and, struck with fear, which can
overtake the boldest man, he betook himself to the tower of the church,
clad in his canonical hood, and secured the doors behind him. When the
darkness of the night had put an end to the tumult, he put off his
canonical dress, quickly mounted his best horse, and under the guidance
of some persons who knew the most private fords, crossed the river at
the nearest part to him, although with much danger, for the purpose of
flying under the protection of the King's wings as soon as possible; for
the clerks, carried away by rage, continued to seek for the legate in
the most secret hiding-places, crying out: "Where is that simoniacal
usurer, that plunderer of revenues, and thirster for money, who perverts
the King, subverts the kingdom, and enriches foreigners with spoil taken
from us?"... Having crossed the river with much trouble (as above
mentioned), and with only a few attendants, owing to the difficulty of
the passage, the rest remaining concealed in the convent, the legate
came to the King breathless, and in a state of alarm, and with sighs and
tears interrupting his discourse, he explained to the King, as well as
his attendants, the series of events which had happened, making a
serious complaint in the matter. The King was astonished at his pitiable
story, and sympathised much with him, and sent the Earl of Warrenne with
an armed troop to Oxford, with all haste, to rescue the Romans who were
lying concealed there, and to arrest the scholars; amongst the latter,
one Master Odo, a lawyer, was roughly seized, and, together with thirty
others, was ignominiously consigned to close imprisonment in the Castle
of Wallingford, near Oxford; whilst the legate, thus liberated from the
broken snare, summoned some of the Bishops, laid Oxford under an
interdict, and excommunicated all the abettors of this enormous offence.
The prisoners were then, at the instance of the legate, conveyed in
carts, like robbers, to London, and were there committed to close
confinement, after being deprived of their incomes, and bound by the
anathema....

At length it was suggested to the legate, by the Bishops and the whole
of the clergy, that the dispute took its risk from his own dependants;
but at the end of the dispute the clergy got the worst of it, for, by
his orders, a great portion of them were committed to prison; the rest
of them, in obedience to his orders, were ready humbly to make
submission, at a place about three days' journey from Oxford; to these,
on the petition of so many great men, his mind ought to be inclined to
mercy. At length it was arranged that the legate would grant this mercy,
on condition that all the scholars there assembled should proceed on
foot, in company with the Bishops, also on foot, from St. Paul's Church,
which was nearly a mile distant from the abode of the legate, until they
reached the abode of the Bishop of Carlisle, and from thence should go,
without hoods and cloaks, and barefooted, to the abode of the legate,
where they would humbly ask pardon, which would be granted them, and
they would become reconciled. This was done; and the legate, seeing this
humiliation, received them again into his favour, restored the
University to its municipal site, mercifully withdrew the interdict,
with the sentence of excommunication, and granted them letters that, on
this account, no stain of disgrace should at any time be thrown on them.




PAPAL EXACTIONS (1240-1244).


A. +Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., p. 196. (Bohn's
Libraries.)

A.D. 1240.--And about the same time, a friend and relation of the lord
the Pope came into England, the Master Peter Rubeus, who passed rapidly
through England, and coming to Scotland, collected with great energy
one-twentieth of everything in that country for the use of the Pope.
About the same time, Master Peter de Supion, being sent into Ireland
diligently to collect the same twentieth in that country, carried off
all he could from thence, like a genuine inquisitor of the Pope. And the
booty which he collected is said to have amounted to the number of
fifteen hundred marks and more. But the collection of Peter Rubeus,
which he extorted from the Scotch territories, is supposed to have
reached the double of that sum. And subsequently, returning through
England, he looked into all the houses of the religious Orders with a
new spirit, and exacted money for the use of the Pope with exceeding
strictness, compelling them to swear that they would keep that oath as a
secret of the confessional for half a year. By which conduct he turned
aside the hearts of the faithful from any devotion and affection towards
the Church of Rome, and wounded them with great anguish.


B. +Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., pp. 222-223. (Bohn's
Libraries.)

A.D. 1244.--About the same time, the Pope, relying too much on the
King's simplicity and patience, sent into England a new extorter of
money, not invested with the insignia of a legate, but fortified with
unheard-of powers, by name Martin, who immediately betook himself to the
usual abode of all the Papal legates, and nuncios, and secular clergy,
that is to say, to the New Temple in London; and without delay displayed
his power of receiving revenues, and extorting money in all kinds of
ways, and practised it diligently, to the great distress of many hearts,
and to the wounding of men's consciences. For he had the power of
prohibiting all collation to benefices, until satisfaction should be
made to him according to his wish. And, despising all scanty revenues as
so many husks, he laid rapacious hands on all rich booty. He had also
power of excommunicating, suspending, and punishing in various ways, and
just as he pleased, all who resisted his will, though it might have been
a mere hasty action; just as if on that very day he had, according to
established custom, produced authentic Bulls, drawn up in the Papal
chancery. On which account it was said by some people, and not without
reason, that he had brought over a great many papers sealed with a
Bull,[15] but not filled up, for him to fill up himself as he pleased;
but I would hope that this was not the case. Accordingly, the aforesaid
Master Martin began to exact presents on all sides from the prelates in
an imperious manner, such as desirable palfreys and precious vessels,
and to extort them even by force (especially from those who belonged to
any religious Orders) for his own use (for that man prays foolishly who
forgets himself); and for the use of the Pope he extorted sums of money
and prebends to which men had been already elected, using this odious
additional form of words: "notwithstanding any privilege to the
contrary," etc. And as a certain rich prebend at Salisbury was vacant,
the aforesaid Master Martin, a diligent searcher out of such things,
laid his greedy and hooked hands upon it, and without consulting, or, I
may rather say, against the express wish of the Bishop of that See, he
conferred it on a young man, a nephew of the lord the Pope. And in a
similar manner the unwearied Master Martin, before-mentioned, conferred
other benefices on the kinsmen of the Pope, of whom there was an
astonishing number, not without causing great astonishment to many
persons of experience. For many people believed, and because they
believed, hoped that the Roman Court, having been so repeatedly
chastised by God, would, in some degree, at least, check its accustomed
avarice by the bridle of moderation.

[15] Technically, the Bull was the leaden seal affixed to a Papal
document.




THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE (1242).

+Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., pp. 206 _et seqq._
(Bohn's Libraries.)


The same year a great sedition arose in Poitou, which subsequently
produced great ruin, and a deadly quarrel, and war, and irreparable
damage; for the Count de la Marche, at the instigation of Isabella, whom
the French call the most impious Jezebel, being his own wife and the
mother of the King of England, lifted up his heel against his lord the
King of France ... and he intimated to the King of England to come to
Poitou, not with any great retinue of English, but armed only with a
large sum of money, and that he would make over to him all his
territories beyond the sea. The King, by the advice of the Poitevins, a
race always ready for treachery, gave credence to his proposals, and
agreed to them, and prepared for his passage, with much treasure, and in
a single vessel, and could not be delayed by either the advice or
entreaties of any of his friends or natural subjects.... When Earl
Richard (the brother of King Henry) saw that there were no means of
turning the King from his design, he agreed to cross the sea with him,
and prepared in a magnificent manner for the passage. And encouraged by
his example, many other nobles prepared to make the passage in company
with the King and the aforesaid Earl. The guardianship of the kingdom,
therefore, being entrusted to Walter, Archbishop of York, because he was
considered a man of singular discretion and fidelity among all the
nobles of the kingdom, the lord the King, accompanied by his Queen, and
by his brother, Earl Richard, with seven other Earls, and about three
hundred knights, embarked on board ship on the fifteenth of May and set
sail, steering his course towards Bordeaux....

About this time, the most pious and accomplished King of France, being
moved by the spirit of mercy and peace, offered the lord the King of
England excellent conditions of peace, because he was his kinsman, and
because the Queen, his wife, was sister of the Queen of England. But the
King of England, being led away by the false promises of the Count de la
Marche, utterly refused them, asserting that he would never reject the
advice of the said Count, whom, according to his usual custom, he called
his father. And immediately, in a rash and hostile manner, he defied the
King of France himself. Therefore the King of France repented of having
thus humbled himself to the King of England, and unfolding the
oriflamme, he made a vigorous attack on all the territories which
belonged to the Count de la Marche; and in a short time the war was so
successful in his hand, that he had crushed his enemies and brought the
war to a wished-for end; for he had already occupied the Castle of
Frontignac, which appeared to the Poitevins to be impregnable, and in it
he took prisoners the son of the Count de la Marche, and a hundred
knights. After that, he took the castle called Movent. And after that,
day by day, he took other castles and cities, and all their inhabitants,
illustrious citizens and knights, voluntarily submitted to his power. At
last he came to a city very rich in vineyards, which is called
Taillebourg, and which rejoices in a river, which is called the Tarente;
and while the King of France was there, the King of England came in
close order of battle to the other side of the river, and the two armies
were so near that they could see one another's flags and standards, and
there the King of England was saved from the danger of a disorderly
battle by the energy of Earl Richard. Accordingly, King Henry fled with
prudence and good fortune, and came to Saintonges; but the King of
France pursued him without delay, and a very fierce battle took place
between the French and English, outside of the city, in which the
French, though against their will, were forced to confess that the
English gained the most honour.

But as the army of the King of France was increasing every day, like a
lake which grows in consequence of torrents which pour into it, a
sedition arose in the city, in consequence of which evil reports got
abroad, and so the King of England fled disgracefully, and retreated
with all expedition to Blaye, where for some days he was detained by
illness. So when the Count de la Marche heard this, being stung with
grief in his heart, he sent the Count of Brittany to the King of France,
to be a mediator and an intercessor for peace. And so, though with great
difficulty, he was admitted to peace by the King of France, on very
severe conditions, being forced to abandon the King of England, after he
had drained him of his treasures and injured his honour. After these
events, Reginald de Pontibus, and (following his example) William,
surnamed the Archbishop, and the Viscount of Thouars, and many other
nobles of Poitou, who nevertheless had craftily, or one might say
treacherously, received all the money of the King of England that they
could get, now flew to shelter themselves under the wing of the King of
France....

Meantime, the King of France, having taken counsel with his nobles,
because he saw that his military enterprises all prospered in his hands,
according to his wishes, proposed to pursue the King of England in a
hostile manner, without losing any time, as far as Blaye, because he
knew that the said King was now deserted by all the forces of the
Poitevins, and deprived of all comfort, and descending rapidly to the
abyss of despair; and from Blaye to Bordeaux, if he departed in that
direction, and to continue the war with unwearied diligence till its
termination. And lo! the Lord, pitying the King, the Lord who giveth
salvation to Kings, when and how He wills, that Henry might not appear
to have recommended himself in vain to the prayers of the men of the
religious Orders on his retreat, threw the hearts of the French, who
were giving way to absurd pride, into confusion, by permitting seeds of
division and dissension to arise among them.... Besides, a great want of
provisions, and especially of water, oppressed their army, which was
numerous, in a miserable manner, so that as their want of all kinds of
food grew greater, they became swoln, and wasted away with sickness, and
being afflicted and exhausted with various miseries, expired. For their
fellow-citizens of the province had closed up the mouths of the wells,
and had polluted and poisoned the rivers and fountains, had ploughed up
the meadows and pasture-lands, and, having driven away the cattle, had
removed to a distance all their supplies and all their crops.
Accordingly, when they drank the waters, both horses and men perished;
and as the dog-days were just at hand, those who were sick lay down, and
speedily died, being destitute of all comfort and rest, and having no
attendance or medicine. And in this way upwards of eighty nobles of the
French army, who were entitled to bear standards, died, and of the
infantry about twenty thousand. And as the King of France at the same
time was very ill, great fear and despair seized upon the French, who
said that the alms of the King of England had undone them. For they were
greatly afraid that their own King, because he was tender and delicate,
and indeed that they themselves, too, might be overwhelmed with sudden
death; and the example of strong men who were overtaken by death
increased their fear.

Therefore, as the fates were adverse to him, the King of France was
compelled to beg a truce of five years from the King of England, being
desirous to return with all speed into France, where he might be able to
enjoy a better climate, and the truce was accordingly, and indeed
joyfully, granted to him when he requested it. Having therefore received
the homage of the nobles of Poitou, and having placed garrisons of his
own natural and loyal subjects in their castles and cities, to command
them, and keep them for him, the King returned to France; and being soon
restored to perfect health, he commanded the men of Poitou, who had been
surrendered on conditions of extremity, to be kept in close custody, and
while there a condition was imposed on them that they should not give
their daughters in marriage, nor go from one city to another, without
leave of the French. Also the Count de la Marche, being accused and
impeached of treason that same year before the King of France, was with
difficulty saved from the infliction of an ignominious death. But he
became a sort of prodigy in the eyes of all men; a sign that is to be
pointed at and ridiculed, and hissed at by all men, because he had so
wickedly betrayed the King of England, who rashly trusted in him. From
that time forth, then, the prodigal anxiety of the King of England was
released from its burdens, though before that time he was accustomed
foolishly to distribute among the Poitevins seven thousand marks every
year, for their shadow of homage and useless service.




HOW THE KING VEXED HIS LOYAL SUBJECTS (1248).

+Source.+--_Matthew Paris_, _Chronica Majora_, vol. ii., pp. 254-256.
(Bohn's Libraries.)


About the beginning of the year, in the octaves of the Purification, the
nobles of all England were convoked at London, to confer with the King
on the affairs of the kingdom, which was now greatly disturbed,
impoverished, and injured.... The King explained to them his purpose,
which indeed was not a secret to the community in general, and asked
pecuniary aid from them; whereupon he was severely rebuked and
reproached, in that he was not ashamed to demand such assistance at that
time, especially because on the last exaction of a similar kind, to
which the nobles of England were with difficulty induced to give their
consent, he gave his charter that he would not again make such an
exaction. He was also most severely blamed (and no wonder) for the
indiscreet way in which he summoned foreigners into the kingdom, and for
lavishly and indiscreetly scattering the property of the kingdom amongst
them, and also for marrying the nobles of the kingdom to ignoble
foreigners, thus despising and putting aside his native and natural
subjects; nor did he ask the consent of both parties, which is necessary
to the completion of a marriage. He was also blamed, and not without
reason, because he seized by force on whatever he used in the way of
meat and drink--especially wine, and even clothes--against the will of
those who sold these things, and were the true owners; wherefore the
native dealers withdrew and hid themselves, as also did foreigners, who
would otherwise bring their goods for sale to that country; thus a stop
was put to trade, by which different nations are mutually enriched and
strengthened, and thus we are defamed and impoverished, because they
obtain nothing but lawsuits and anger from the King; and by this, he the
said King incurs awful maledictions from numberless people to the peril
and disgrace of himself and the whole kingdom. From these traders,
moreover, he, in order that he may bestow alms indiscreetly, and may
make immoderate illuminations, forcibly seizes wax, silk stuffs, and
other things, without making any terms of pacification; thus bringing
scandal on himself, his kingdom, and all who inhabit it, and not without
giving serious offence to God, who holds rapine in abhorrence when
connected with an offering. In all these proceedings he tyrannises and
oppresses to such a degree that even on the sea-coast he does not allow
the herrings and other fish to be disposed of at the will of the poor
fishermen, nor do they dare to appear in the places adjoining the
sea-coast or in the cities, for fear of being robbed; so that they
consider it safer to trust themselves to the stormy billows and to seek
the further shore. The miserable traders also are so cruelly oppressed
and annoyed by the royal agents, that punishment is added to loss, and
injury is heaped upon injury, both as regards their own persons, and as
regards their carriages and their already jaded horses. The King was,
moreover, reprehended, in that he, contrary to the first and chief oath
which he made at his coronation, impoverished even to their ruin the
bishoprics and abbacies, as well as the vacant wardships founded by the
noble and holy fathers, which he for a long time detains in his own
hands, though he ought to be their protector and defender; and therefore
they are said to be in his hands, that is, under his protection. Another
complaint also was made against him by each and every one, and it was no
slight one; and this was, that, unlike his noble predecessors, he never
appointed either a Justiciary, a Chancellor, or Treasurer, in consonance
with the advice of the kingdom in general, as was expedient, but only
such persons as obeyed his pleasure in everything, provided that it was
advantageous to himself, and such as did not seek the advancement of the
common weal, but their own especial benefit, by collecting money and
obtaining wardships and revenues for themselves.




A CHANGE OF RULER IN SCOTLAND (1249).

+Source.+--_John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation_, pp.
288-290. (_Historians of Scotland_, vol. iv.)


That renowned King of Scots, Alexander II., while he was on his way to
restore peace to the land of Argyll, was overtaken by grievous sickness,
and carried across to an island which is called Kerrera; and there, in
the year 1249, after he had partaken of the sacraments of eternal
salvation, his blissful soul was snatched away from this life, and
joined, as we believe, all the saints in the heavens.... While he lived,
he was a most gentle Prince towards his people, a father to the monks,
the comforter of the needy, the helper of the fatherless, the pitiful
hearer and most righteous judge of the widow and all who had a
grievance, and towards the Church of Christ a second Peter....

Alexander, son of the aforesaid King Alexander, a boy of eight years of
age, came to Scone on the following Tuesday, the 13th of July, with a
number of Earls, Barons, and knights. There were likewise present the
venerable fathers, David of Bernham, Bishop of Saint Andrews, and
Galfrid, Bishop of Dunkeld, a man in great favour with both clergy and
people, zealous in temporal and spiritual things, who endeared himself
to both great and poor, but was a terror to evildoers. The Abbot of the
monastery of Scone itself was also there. But lo! as soon as they were
gathered together, there arose a dispute among the nobles. For some of
them would have made not a King, but a knight, on that day, saying that
it was an Egyptian day.[16] Now this was said not because of the
Egyptian day, but because the lord Alan Dorward, then Justiciary of the
whole of Scotland, wished to gird Alexander with the sword of knighthood
on that day. While they were arguing, the lord Walter Comyn, Earl of
Menteith, a man of foresight and shrewdness in counsel, answered and
said, that he had seen a King consecrated who was not yet a knight, and
had many a time heard of Kings being consecrated who were not knights;
and he went on to say that a country without a King was, beyond a doubt,
like a ship amid the waves of the sea without rower or steersman. For he
had always loved King Alexander, of pious memory, now deceased, and this
boy also for his father's sake. So he moved that this boy be raised to
the throne as quickly as possible, for it is always hurtful to put off
what may be done at once; and by his advice, the said Bishops and Abbot,
as well as the nobles, and the whole clergy and people, with one voice,
gave their consent and assent to his being set up as King.

And it came to pass that when this same Earl, Walter Comyn, and all the
clergy heard this, they joined unto them some Earls,--namely, the lord
Malcolm, Earl of Fife, and the lord Malise, Earl of Strathearn--and a
great many other nobles, and led Alexander, soon to be their King, up to
the cross which stands in the graveyard, at the east end of the church.
There they set him on the royal throne, which was decked with silk
cloths inwoven with gold; and the Bishop of Saint Andrews, assisted by
the rest, consecrated him King, as was meet. So the King sat down upon
the royal throne--that is, the stone--while the Earls and other nobles,
on bended knee, strewed their garments under his feet before the stone.
Now, this stone is reverently kept in that same monastery for the
consecration of the Kings of Albania;[17] and no King was ever wont to
reign in Scotland, unless he had first, on receiving the name of King,
sat upon this stone at Scone, which, by the Kings of old, had been
appointed the capital of Albania.

[16] An unlucky day. Ill-luck was attributed to certain days of the year
by Egyptian astrologers.

[17] Scotland north of the Forth, nominally united under Kenneth
MacAlpin about 844 A.D.




THE MISDEEDS OF THE SENESCHAL OF GASCONY (1253).

+Source.+--_Chronicon Thomæ Wykes_, pp. 104-106. (_Annales Monastici_,
vol. iv.--Rolls Series.)


In the same year, about the Festival of the Assumption of the Blessed
Mary (August 15), King Henry crossed into Gascony with a large army,
having at the general desire entrusted the guardianship of his whole
kingdom of England to his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and Walter
de Gray, Archbishop of York. The cause of his journey was as follows:
Certain of the chief men belonging to the Duchy of Gascony had come to
the King in England with fierce complaints and denunciations against
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who had been Seneschal of Gascony,
saying that he was intolerably oppressing the nobles and people of the
said province by undue extortions, and had applied the revenues and
proceeds which flowed into the royal treasury, not to the King's uses,
but to his own. Henry, in great wrath thereat, dismissed the Earl from
the administratorship of the Duchy; whereupon he, in revenge for his
deposition, handed over to be held by capital enemies of the lord King
three very famous and strongly-fortified castles, in which clearly lay
the whole strength of the province, to wit, the castles of Fronsac,
Renauges, and La Réole, with the neighbouring towns and boroughs, the
city of Bordeaux alone preserving a lukewarm adherence to the King. The
treacherous occupants of these castles oppressed the nobles and people
more severely than ever, introduced a garrison to fortify their castles,
and prepared to defend themselves by warlike means; nor would they allow
any one appointed by the King to carry on the administration of the
Duchy. Such being the state of affairs, the King, embarking at
Portsmouth, committed himself to the deep, and, after a prosperous
voyage, landed at Bordeaux; then, relying on the assistance of the
people of the country and the soldiers whom he had brought with him, he
laid siege to the castles so deceitfully occupied, assaulted them with
engines of war, captured and held them; thereafter he quieted the whole
province, appointing the lord Stephen Longsword, a man of great vigour,
Seneschal of all Gascony. But the Earl of Leicester, though sorely
offended, concealed the hatred which had filled him since the time of
his dismissal, and awaited in the kingdom of France the opportunity of
taking revenge on his deposers by some deep-laid scheme.




IRELAND GRANTED TO THE LORD EDWARD (1254).

+Source.+--_Historical and Municipal Documents (Ireland)_, 1172-1320, p.
135. (Rolls Series.)


The King to the archbishops, etc.

Know that we have granted, and by this our present charter confirmed, to
our beloved son, Edward, the cities of Dublin and Limerick, with the
counties and everything pertaining to them, and also the city and castle
of Athlone, with everything pertaining to it, in Ireland; which cities
we had retained for our own use in a former charter of ours, containing
a gift of the land of Ireland, which we caused to be granted to the said
Edward.

They are to be held and retained by the same Edward and his heirs, the
Kings of England, for ever; so that the land of Ireland shall never be
separated from the crown of England, and that none other save Edward
himself and his heirs, the Kings of England, shall be able to claim or
hold any right to the aforesaid land of Ireland.

We wish, further, that the allegiance of the land remain to us for our
lifetime, together with all the dues and wardships of cathedral churches
and abbeys in Ireland, and likewise the right of election.

Wherefore we wish and firmly enjoin that the aforesaid Edward and his
heirs, the Kings of England, do have and hold the whole land of Ireland
for ever; provided that the land of Ireland be never separated from the
crown of England, as aforesaid.

Given under our hand, at St. Mary Cray, on the twentieth day of July.




THE SICILIAN CROWN (1254-1257).

+Source.+--_Matthew Paris_, _Chronica Majora_, vol. iii., pp. 89, 137,
225. (Bohn's Libraries.)


(The Pope, acting through his emissary, Master Albert, had previously
offered the Sicilian crown to Richard, brother of King Henry.)

A.D. 1254. About this time, Master Albert returned to the Court of Rome,
bringing word to the Pope that he could in no way influence Earl Richard
to accept the kingdom of Sicily and Apulia.... Then the Pope sent
messengers privately to the King of England to work upon his simplicity,
(knowing that he was always easy of belief and prone to his own loss),
and offered to give him the kingdom of Sicily and Apulia, and to render
him such assistance in getting possession of the same, as he could
without doing any injury to himself.... The King, however, was so
exhilarated at the Pope's empty promise, and his heart was so puffed up
with empty joy, that his exultation showed itself in his voice, gesture,
and laugh, and he openly called his son Edmund "King of Sicily,"
believing the possession of that kingdom to be an accomplished fact. The
Pope's messenger whispered in his ear not to divulge this secret, lest
it should come to the knowledge of his friends, who were aware of the
wiles of the Roman Court, and that he might thus be put on his guard.
The King then sent to the Pope all the money he could draw from his
treasury or the exchequer, as well as whatever he could scrape from the
Jews, or extort by means of his Circuit Justiciaries, for the purpose of
making war against Conrad, and subjugating the Sicilians and
Apulians.... The Pope, relying on the abundance of his wealth, was
raised to a state of confidence; he took an immense army of mercenaries
into his pay, entrusted it to the command of Cardinal Octavian, and
lavishly distributed money among the soldiers, sending word to the King
of England, when it failed him, that he wanted money. The latter,
obeying the instincts of the devil and of avarice, wrote in reply to the
Pope, and sent him promissory notes, sealed with the royal seal,
authorising him to borrow money enough, and in abundance, from the
Italian merchants, and recommended him not to be afraid of the quantity
of money required or the high amount of interest, for that he would
acquit him of all the debt, and bound himself so to do under penalty of
disinheritance. The Pope agreed to all this and accepted his order.... A
large host, therefore, flocked together, for the sake of the Pope's pay,
composed of low and ignoble Italians, idle and unwarlike creatures,
devoid of good faith, who looked not to the advantage of the King of
England or of the Pope, but were only bent on gorging the Pope's money,
as the sequel of the affair showed to be the case....

[In spite of the death of Conrad, King of Sicily, the Pope's army was
cut to pieces, without having effected anything.]

A.D. 1255. After the Feast of S. Luke, a great number of nobles
assembled together, having been summoned by royal warrant. For the
Bishop of Romagna had come to the King in the Pope's name, in the stead
of His Holiness, bringing with him a ring which he gave to the King's
son Edmund, thus solemnly investing him with the kingdoms of Sicily and
Apulia. The King's heart was now elated with pride and full of
exultation, as though he had already received the homage of all the
Sicilians and Apulians, as if he were already master of their cities and
castles, and his son Edmund were already crowned King; in fact, he in
public called his son Edmund, "King of Sicily." The aforesaid Bishop, as
was believed, did not know that the Pope's expeditionary army was
destroyed, that the King of England's money was entirely spent, and,
moreover, that he was dreadfully burdened with debts; and if he did
know, he cunningly concealed his knowledge of it, that he might not lose
the presents prepared for him. The fact was indeed unknown to the King
and the nobles, and the Bishop returned home, loaded with rich presents,
before the real state of the case was known in England....

A.D. 1257. At Mid-Lent of this same year, a great Parliament was held
... and before the aforesaid Parliament broke up, the King brought his
son Edmund, dressed in the Apulian fashion, before the assembly, ... and
he said that, by the advice and goodwill of the Pope and the English
Church, he had, for the sake of obtaining the kingdom of Sicily, bound
himself under penalty of losing his kingdom to the payment of a hundred
and forty thousand marks, exclusive of interest, which daily increased,
although without being apparent. Also that he had obtained, for five
ensuing years, the tithes to be levied from all the clergy in general,
that is to say, from all their benefices, which were to be computed
according to the new mode of taxation, without deducting any expenses
save those which were incurred necessarily; also the profits of all
ecclesiastical benefices vacated during the first year, and till the
completion of the five years. This speech made the ears of all tingle,
and struck fear to their hearts, especially as they knew that this
tyranny took its rise from the Pope. Although they set forth excuses and
asked for time to be allowed them, they could not obtain that favour,
and were at length compelled to give a promise of relieving the King's
pressing necessities, on the condition, however, that he would from that
time forth observe inviolably the Great Charter, which he had so often
promised to do, and which had been so often bought and rebought by them;
and that he would refrain from injuring them and impoverishing them on
so many specious pretexts. On these conditions they promised the King
fifty-two thousand marks, though to the irreparable injury of the
English Church; yet the King is said not to have accepted such a rich
gift even as this.




THE EXPULSION OF THE POITEVINS (1258).

+Source.+--_Annals of Waverley_, pp. 349-350. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
ii.--Rolls Series.)


For some years England had been thronged with such a multitude of
foreigners of different nations, on whom had been showered so many
revenues, lands, estates, and other possessions, that they held the
English in the greatest contempt, as inferior beings. It was said by
some, who knew their secrets, that, if their power continued to
increase, they would remove the nobles of England by poison, deprive
King Henry of his kingdom, appoint in his place someone else at their
own pleasure, and so in the end bring all England under their sway for
ever. Further, the four brothers of the lord the King, Aylmer,
Bishop-elect of Winchester, William, Earl of Valence, Guido, and
Godfrey, raised as they were above the other aliens in dignities and
riches, raged against the English in their intolerable arrogance, and
loaded them with many insults and affronts; nor did anyone dare to
oppose their presumptuous deeds for fear of the King. And they were not
the only guilty ones, but--a yet greater matter for sorrow--Englishmen
rose against Englishmen, majors against minors, all aflame with the lust
of gain, and by means of pleas and amercements, talliages,[18]
exactions, and divers other abuses, strove to take from each man what
was his own. Old laws and customs were either broken through or utterly
destroyed and brought to nought; every tyrant's will was a law unto
himself, and except by a money payment could no man procure a right
judgment. It is not within the power of anyone to recount all the evil
doings which in those days took place in England. At length in this year
the Earls and Barons, Archbishops and Bishops, and other nobles of
England, as though aroused from sleep by a divine touch, seeing the
miserable state of the kingdom, banded themselves together, and boldly
assumed the strength and courage of a lion which fears the attack of no
one. First of all, they expelled from England by force the
aforementioned brothers of the King, together with many other aliens,
and then began diligently to renew and amend the old laws and customs.
And lest anyone should presume rashly to violate these customs in the
future, they drew them up in the manner of a charter, sealed, by the
King's permission, with his own royal seal.

[18] Taxes to which the demesne lands of the crown and all royal towns
were subject.




THE KING CONSENTS TO THE ELECTION OF THE TWENTY-FOUR (1258).

+Source.+--_Rymer's Fœdera_, vol. i., p. 371.


The King to all, etc., greeting:--

Know that we have granted to the nobles and magnates of our kingdom, on
oath administered to us by Robert de Walerand, that the state of the
kingdom shall be rectified and reformed as shall seem best for the
honour of God, our own faith, and the general good of our realm, by
twelve faithful men chosen from our council, and twelve chosen from the
party of the Barons themselves, who shall meet at Oxford within one
month after the coming Festival of Pentecost. And should, by any chance,
any of those chosen from our party be absent, those who are present may
substitute others in their place; similarly in the case of those absent
from the party of the Barons. And we shall observe inviolably whatsoever
shall be ordained by the twenty-four chosen from both sides and put
under an oath for this special purpose, or by the greater part of them;
and we wish and strictly enjoin that their decisions be observed
inviolably by all. And we shall, without causing any hindrance, carry
out and render effective whatever measures of security they, or the
greater part of them, shall ordain for the observance of these
provisions. We bear witness, further, that Edward, our eldest son,
having taken an oath on his body, has granted by his letters that, so
far as in him lies, he will faithfully and inviolably observe and cause
to be for ever observed everything above set down and conceded. The
aforesaid Earls and Barons also promised that, when the business
above-mentioned has been completed, they will strive in all good faith
to secure the granting to us of a general aid by the commonalty of the
realm.

Given at Westminster on the second day of May.




THE PROVISIONS OF OXFORD (1258).

+Source.+--_Annals of Burton_, pp. 446-453. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
i.--Rolls Series.)


It is provided that in every county there be elected four discreet and
lawful knights who shall meet, on the days when the county court is
accustomed to be held, to hear all complaints of transgressions and
injuries inflicted on anyone by sheriffs, bailiffs, or other officials,
and to make attachments in connection with the said complaints up to the
day of the arrival of the Chief Justiciar in the district; they shall
always attach sufficient pledges on behalf of the plaintiff about the
defendant and on behalf of the defendant about the plaintiff, to come
and fulfil the law before the aforesaid Justiciar on his arrival. And
the aforesaid four knights shall cause all the said complaints with
their attachments to be enrolled, duly and in order, those from each
hundred separately and by themselves, so that the aforementioned
Justiciar may, on his arrival, hear and determine the above-mentioned
complaints singly from every hundred. And they shall order the sheriff
to cause all the bailiffs and hundredmen to be present before the
Justiciar on his arrival on the day and at the place which he shall make
known to them; and every hundredman shall cause to appear all the
plaintiffs and defendants of his hundred, in order, according as the
Justiciar decides to hear the pleas from that hundred; and with them, as
many and such knights and other free and lawful men as may be best
fitting in order to ascertain the truth, provided that all the men of a
hundred be not disturbed at the same time, but only those come whose
cases may be heard and determined on the one day.

It is further ordained that no knight of the aforesaid counties be
excused from serving on juries and assizes on account of any royal
charter of acquittance, or be released from observance of this provision
made for the common good of the whole kingdom.

(Here follow the names of the twenty-four.)


The oath which the commonalty of England swore at Oxford:

We, so and so, make known to all men, that we have sworn on the Holy
Gospels and by our oath have bound ourselves together, and we promise in
good faith, each one of us and all together, to aid one another, both
ourselves and those belonging to us against all men, doing right, and
taking nothing that we cannot take without doing hurt, saving our faith
to the King and to the crown. And we promise, by the same oath, that no
one of us will take anything, either land or movables, by which this
oath may be disturbed or in any way impaired. And should any go against
this, we will hold him a mortal enemy.


This is the oath of the four-and-twenty:

Each one swore on the Holy Gospels, that, looking to the honour of God,
and the faith of the King, and the good of the realm, he would ordain
and treat with the aforesaid sworn men regarding the reformation and the
amendment of the state of the kingdom; and that neither for gift, nor
promise, nor love, nor hate, nor fear of anyone, nor gain, nor loss,
would he cease loyally to act according to the tenor of the letter,
which the King and his son had granted for this purpose.


The oath which the Chief Justice of England swore:

He swears that he will perform well and lawfully, so far as lies in his
power, whatever duties belong of right to the Chief Justice, toward all
men, with a view to the profit of the King and kingdom, in accordance
with the provision made and to be made by the twenty-and-four, and by
the counsel of the King and nobles of the land, who will swear in these
things to aid and support him.


The oath of the Chancellor of England:

That he will seal no writs, saving writs of course, except by command of
the King and those of his council who shall be present; and that he will
seal no gift of a great wardship, or of escheats, without the consent of
the Great Council, or the majority thereof; and that he will seal
nothing which is contrary to the provision made and to be made by the
twenty-and-four or the greater part of them. And that he will take no
fee greater than what is given to others; and he shall be given a
companion in the form which the council shall provide.


The oath which the guardians of the castles took:

That they will keep the King's castles loyally and in good faith for the
use of the King and his heirs; and that they will give them up to the
King and his heirs and to no other, and according to his council and in
no other manner, that is to say by honest men of the land elected to his
council, or by the greater part thereof. And this form by writ lasts for
twelve years. And thereafter there shall be no constraint in this
ordinance or in this oath, to prevent them freely giving them up to the
King or his heirs.

(Then follow the names of the King's council, of the twelve, and of the
twenty-four.)


Concerning the state of Holy Church:

Be it remembered that the state of Holy Church shall be amended by the
twenty-and-four chosen to reform the state of the kingdom of England,
when they shall have time and opportunity, in accordance with the power
granted them for this purpose by the letter of the King of England.


Concerning the Chief Justice:

Either one or two justices shall be appointed; what power they shall
have is to be determined on; they shall hold office only for a year. And
at the end of the year they shall answer for their term of office before
the King and his council and their successors.


Concerning the Treasurer and the Escheator:

Similarly concerning the Treasurer. He shall render account at the end
of the year. And other good men shall be placed at the exchequer as the
twenty-four shall ordain. And there, and nowhere else, shall come all
the revenues of the land; and what shall seem to them to require
amendment shall be amended.


Concerning the Chancellor:

Similarly with regard to the Chancellor. He shall answer for his term of
office at the end of the year; and he shall seal nothing out of course
at the desire of the King alone, but at the command of the council which
shall be around the King.


Concerning the power of the Justice and the bailiffs:

The Chief Justice has power to amend the wrongs done by all other
justices and bailiffs, counts, barons, and all other men, according to
the law and justice of the land. And writs shall be pleaded according to
the law of the land and in the proper places. And the Justice shall take
no presents except of beer, and wine, and such things, that is to say,
meat and drink, such as have been accustomed to be brought to the tables
of the chief men for the day. This shall be understood to apply also to
all the councillors of the King and all his bailiffs. And no bailiff by
occasion of any plea, or of his office, shall take any fee in his own
hand, or by the hand of another, in any manner. If he be convicted, he
shall be punished, and he that gives likewise; and if it be possible,
let the King give so much to his justice and his servants that they have
no need to take anything from anyone.


Concerning sheriffs:

There shall be appointed as sheriffs, loyal and honest men, who are
landholders; so that in each county there shall be a vavasour[19] of the
same county as sheriff, who shall treat the people of the county well,
loyally, and rightly. And he shall take no fee, and shall not be sheriff
for more than a year at a time; and he shall render his accounts to the
exchequer, and answer for his term of office. And the King shall grant
to him out of his own,[20] according to the amount of revenue he
collects, sufficient to enable him to guard the county rightfully. And
he shall take no fee, neither he nor his bailiffs. And if they be
convicted, they shall be punished.

Be it remembered that such amendment is to be applied to the Jewry, and
to the guardians of the Jewry, that the oath to them may be observed.


Concerning escheators:

Good escheators shall be appointed. And they shall touch none of the
goods of the dead, of such lands as ought to be in the hand of the King.
But if debts be due to the King, the escheators shall have free
administration of the goods, until they have carried out the commands of
the King. And this shall be done according to the form of the Charter of
Liberty. They shall enquire concerning the wrongs that escheators have
done in aforetime, and amends shall be made. And they shall make no
talliage or other exaction except as provided by the Charter of Liberty.

The Charter of Liberty shall be firmly observed.


Concerning the Exchange of London:

Be it remembered to amend the Exchange of London, and the City of
London, and all other cities of the King, which have suffered waste and
destruction by talliages and other oppressions.


Concerning the place of reception of the King and Queen:

Be it remembered to amend the place of reception of the King and Queen.


Concerning the Parliaments, how many shall be held in each year, and in
what manner:

Let it be remembered that the twenty-four have ordained that three
Parliaments shall be held each year, the first a week after Michaelmas,
the second on the day after Candlemas, and the third on the first day of
June, that is to say, three weeks before Midsummer's Day. To these three
Parliaments shall come the elected councillors of the King, even if they
be not sent for to review the state of the land and to treat of the
common needs of the kingdom and the King. And at other times, when need
be, they shall meet on the command of the King.

Let it be remembered that the commonalty shall elect twelve honest men,
who shall come to the Parliaments, and at other needful times, when the
King and his council shall send for them to treat of the needs of King
and kingdom. And the commonalty shall treat as established whatsoever
these twelve shall ordain, and this shall be done to avoid expense to
the commonalty.

Fifteen shall be named as the King's council by the following four, to
wit--the Earl Marshal, the Earl of Warwick, Hugh Bigot, and John Mansel,
who are elected by the twenty-four to name the above-mentioned fifteen.
And their appointment shall be confirmed by the twenty-four or the
greater part of them. And they shall have power to advise the King in
good faith concerning the government of the kingdom and all matters
pertaining to King and kingdom; and to amend and put to rights all
things which they shall see require redress and amendment. And they
shall have control over the Chief Justice, and over all other men. And
should they not all be able to be present, what the majority ordains
shall be settled and established.

(Then follow the names of the principal castles of the King and of their
custodians.)

[19] A vassal, holding not immediately from the Sovereign, but from some
great lord.

[20] The hereditary revenue of the crown, as distinct from taxation.




HENRY REPUDIATES THE PROVISIONS OF OXFORD (1261).

+Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., pp. 391-392. (Bohn's
Libraries.)


About the same time, in February, the lord the King of England, who,
during his whole reign, had been considered extravagantly liberal
towards foreigners, having now taken thought with himself secretly, that
from being subjected to the provisions made by the Barons he had been,
contrary to his customs, forced to stay his hand, was greatly grieved at
being forced to adhere to their guardianship and arrangements, however
useful they might be, and determined, with a resolute heart, to alter
them. Therefore, having convoked his nobles, he said to them: "All of
you laboured perseveringly on behalf of the general advantage and
benefit (as you asserted) of the King, and for the sake of increasing my
treasures, and diminishing my debts; and you unanimously agreed to a
promise which was to be observed upon oath, to the observance of which
you also bound me and my son by a similar oath. But now I have
experienced beyond a doubt that you are desirous not so much of the
advantage of the King and of his kingdom as of your own, and that you
are altogether receding from your arrangements, and that you have
reduced me not as your lord, but as your servant under your authority.
Moreover, my treasury is exhausted to an unusual degree; my debt
increases in every direction, and the liberality and power of the King
is almost overthrown and put down. On which account I desire you not to
wonder if I do not walk any more by your counsel, but leave you to
yourselves for the future, and allow myself to seek a remedy for the
existing state of affairs."

And when he had said this, having sent ministers to Rome to procure
absolution, the King wrote a special letter to the King of France, and
to his son Edward, entreating them to furnish him with assistance. And
the King of France promised him a large army, which he would support at
his own expense for seven years, if it should be necessary; and Edward
exerted himself, as it was said, in collecting forces of every
description, endeavouring to release Henry, who was no longer a youth,
but a veteran, from the confinement in which he was kept, and to make
him master of his kingdom, as he had been used to be. In the meantime,
the King, having neglected the statute made by his nobles, and being
deceived by flattering counsels, entered the Tower of London, and having
forced open the bolts, seized the treasure which was deposited there,
and spent and dissipated it. Moreover, he hired workmen, and caused the
Tower to be strengthened in every part, and he ordered the whole City of
London to have its locks and barriers strengthened, and to be fortified
all round. And having convoked all the citizens of twelve years old and
upwards, he caused them all to swear to maintain their fidelity to him,
the crier making proclamation that all who were willing to serve the
King should come to receive pay from him. And when they heard this, the
nobles flocked in from all quarters with their forces, encamping without
the walls, since all entertainment within was entirely denied to them.
And so a deadly war was expected on every side, which, indeed, had never
been so near in past years.




THE QUEEN INSULTED BY THE LONDONERS (1263).

+Source.+--_William Rishanger's Chronicle_, p. 18. (Rolls Series).


Meanwhile, Edward, the King's son, arrived from across the seas, and
garrisoned Windsor Castle with an armed band of aliens, whom he had
brought with him a short time before. The King, however, fearing to be
imprisoned in the Tower by the army of the Barons, agreed while there
was yet time, through the mediation of timorous men, to the conditions
of peace proposed by the Barons, and promised to observe the Provisions
of Oxford. But the Queen, impelled by woman's malice, opposed the Barons
as far as she could. Consequently, when she had embarked in a boat on
the Thames for the purpose of proceeding by water to the castle at
Windsor, a mob of townspeople gathered at the bridge under which she had
to pass, loaded her with abuse and execrations, and, by throwing stones
and mud, compelled her to return to the Tower.




THE BATTLE OF LARGS (1263).

+Source.+--_Androw of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland_, book
vii., ll. 3267-3306.


  A thowsand twa hundyr sexty and thre
  Yheris efftyr the Natyvyté,
  Haco, Kyng than off Norway,
  Come wyth hys ost and gret array
  In Scotland on the West Se.
  In Cwnyngame[21] at the Largis he
  Arryẅyd wyth a gret multitud
  Off schyppys wyth topcastellys gud.
  And thare be a tempest fell
  Off gret weddrys scharpe and snell
  Off fors thai behoẅyd to tak
  Land, and thame for battayle make:
  And offt syne[22], as thai mycht wyn
  Thare schyppys, thai wald enter in,
  And ordanyd thame wyth dilygens
  In thare schyppys to mak defens.
  The Kyng Alysandyre off Scotland
  Come on thame than wyth stalwart hand,
  And thame assaylyd rycht stowtly:
  Thai thame defendyd rycht manlyly.
  A Scottis sqwyare off gud fame,
  Perys off Curry cald be name.
  Amang the rapys[23] wes all to rent
  Off tha schyppys in a moment.
  And mony wes slayne that ilk tyde
  Off Scottis and Norways on ilke syde.
  Thare thai fechtand war sa fast,
  The Kyng off Norway at the last
  And hys men fer revyd[24] sare,
  That evyre thai arryẅyd thare:
  For off hys schyppys in the sé
  Ware mony drownyd; and thare menyhe
  Ware sa sted in gret peryle.
  The Kyng hymself into that qwhylle
  Wytht hys naẅyn[25], that sawffyd was,
  Wychtly wan[26] owt off the pres,
  And tuk the se hamwart the way,
  Thare trad[27] haldand till Orknay.
  Thare than tuk land Haco thar Kyng,
  And in gret seknes mad endyng.

[21] Cunningham, one of the old districts of Ayrshire.

[22] Afterwards.

[23] Ropes.

[24] Sorrowed.

[25] Ships.

[26] Cleverly won.

[27] Course.




THE MISE OF AMIENS (1264).

+Source.+--_Rymer's Fœdera_, vol. i., pp. 433-434.


(This document is drawn up in the name of Louis IX., King of France.
After a recapitulation of the letters of appeal sent to him by the King
and Barons of England, he continues):

The aforesaid King of England on the one side, and the above-mentioned
Barons on the other, have appealed to us concerning all the disputes
between them, ... and have promised by an oath on the Holy Gospels that
they will obey in all good faith whatever decision we decree and ordain
regarding these disputes or some of them.... Therefore, having caused
the said King in person, and certain of the Barons in person, and others
by proxy, to appear before us, and having perceived that the provisions,
ordinances, and statutes of Oxford, and the obligations resulting from
them and brought about by them, have been of exceeding great hurt to the
King's rights and honour, and have occasioned disturbances in the
kingdom, depression and damage to the Church, and much loss to other
persons--laymen and churchmen, natives and aliens--in the kingdom;
believing, also, that even more serious results may reasonably be feared
in the future; and bearing in mind, especially, that the lord Pope has
already by his letters declared them null and void; in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, by our royal command and ordinance
we declare null and void the aforesaid provisions, ordinances, and
statutes--by whatever name they may be called--and whatever obligations
result from them, or are occasioned by them.

We declare further, that, by virtue of the said provisions, or
obligations, or ordinances, or of any power conceded in connection with
them by the King, no one is to make new statutes, or to hold to or
observe those already made, and on account of non-observance of the
aforesaid statutes no one shall be deemed, capitally or otherwise, the
enemy of another, or shall undergo any punishment on this account.

We decree, also, that all letters resulting from the aforesaid
provisions shall be null and void, and shall be restored to the King by
the Barons.

In addition, we declare and ordain that all castles which were handed
over as a pledge for the carrying out of the provisions, or because of
them, shall be freely restored by the said Barons to the King, to be
held by the King as he held them before the time of the aforesaid
provisions.

Further, that the aforesaid King may, freely and of his own will, elect,
dismiss, and remove from office, the Chief Justice, the Chancellor, the
Treasurer, counsellors, lesser justices, sheriffs, and all other
officials and servants of his kingdom and household, as he did and was
allowed to do before the time of the aforesaid provisions.

Further, we cancel and annul the statute which provides that for the
future the kingdom of England shall be governed by native-born men, and
that aliens shall leave the country not to return, except those whose
continued residence is approved by the commonalty: we ordain that aliens
may freely dwell in the said kingdom; and that the King may freely call
whomsoever he pleases, both aliens and natives, to his council, even as
he could before the aforesaid time.

We declare and ordain, also, that the said King shall have full power to
govern freely in his kingdom and its dependencies, and shall be in the
state and in the enjoyment of plenary power, in and through everything,
even as he was before the aforesaid time.




THE BATTLE OF LEWES (1264).

+Source.+--Continuation of _Matthew Paris_ (attributed to William
Rishanger), vol. iii., pp. 347-349. (Bohn's Libraries.)


Being then assured that a battle was imminent, the army of the Barons,
before sunrise, left the village of Fletching [about six miles distant
from Lewes], where a great portion of it had passed the night. Before
starting on the expedition, Earl Simon conferred the honour of
knighthood on Gilbert Clare. When they reached a place scarcely two
miles distant from the town of Lewes, Simon with his friends ascended an
eminence, and placed his car thereon in the midst of the baggage and
sumpter horses. There he displayed his standard, fastening it securely
to the car, and surrounded it with a large number of his soldiers. He
himself with his army took possession of the ground on both sides of
this place, and awaited the issue of events. In another car he had shut
up four citizens of London, who had conspired to betray him a short time
before, when he was passing the night at Southwark. This he did by way
of precaution. He then prudently arranged his forces, and ordered his
soldiers to fasten white crosses on their breasts and backs, above their
armour, that they might be known by their enemies, and to show that they
were fighting for justice. Early in the morning of that day the army of
the Barons surprised the King's followers, who had gone out to seek food
and fodder for their horses, and put a great many of them to death.

The King, being informed of the approach of the Barons, soon set himself
in motion with his army, and went forward to meet them with unfurled
banners, preceded by the royal ensign, which bore on it a dragon, as if
announcing itself the messenger of death. His army was divided into
three bodies; the first division was under the command of his eldest son
Edward, accompanied by William de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and John de
Warrenne, Earl of Surrey and Sussex. The second was commanded by the
King of Germany and his son Henry; whilst King Henry himself commanded
the third division. The army of the Barons was in four divisions; the
first of which was under the command of Henry de Montfort and the Earl
of Hereford; the second under Gilbert Clare, John Fitz John, and William
de Monchesnil; the third, composed of Londoners, was commanded by
Nicholas Segrave; and Earl Simon and Thomas Pelvedon led the fourth
division. Edward with his division rushed on the enemy with such
impetuosity that he forced them to retreat, many of them--report stated
the number of knights to amount to sixty--being drowned. The Londoners
were soon put to flight, and Edward, who thirsted for their blood owing
to the insult lately offered to his mother, pursued them for the
distance of four miles, and made a dreadful slaughter of them; but, by
his absence, he much weakened the King's forces. In the meantime, some
of the chiefs of the King's army, seeing the Earl's standard on the
hill, and thinking that the Earl himself was there, hastened thither
suddenly and slew the citizens of London who were shut up in the car,
not knowing that they were friendly to their cause. During all this
time, however, the Earl and Gilbert Clare were by no means idle, but
struck down and slew all who opposed them, directing their utmost
endeavours to take the King alive; and great numbers of the King's
adherents fell before them. John, Earl Warrenne, William de Valence, and
Guy de Lusignan, all uterine brothers of the King, Hugh Bigod, and about
three hundred armed knights, turned their backs and fled before the
fierce attacks of the Barons. Richard, King of Germany, Robert Bruce,
and John Comyn, who had brought a number of Scots with them, were made
prisoners. King Henry, also, after having his horse killed under him,
surrendered himself to Simon de Montfort, and was shortly afterwards
placed in the priory under a guard. Many of the Barons of Scotland were
slain on the spot on that day, and the foot-soldiers who had come with
them were slaughtered in great numbers. There were, moreover, made
prisoners, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford; John Fitzallan, Earl of
Arundel; William Bardolf, Robert Tateshull, Roger Somerey, Henry Percy,
and Philip Basset. On the side of the King were slain the Justiciaries,
William Wilton and Fulk FitzWarren, the one falling in battle, the other
being drowned in the river. On the side of the Barons there fell Ralph
Hornigande, a Baron, and William Blund, the Earl's standard-bearer. It
was stated that the loss on both sides put together amounted to five
thousand men.

Edward, on returning with his companions in arms from the slaughter of
the Londoners, not knowing what had happened to his father, went round
the outside of the town and reached the Castle of Lewes; but not finding
his father there, he entered the priory, where he met with him and
learned what had passed. The Barons, in the meantime, made an assault on
the castle, but as the garrison made a vigorous defence, they withdrew;
Edward, on hearing of the daring bravery of the garrison, was much
inspirited, and, reassembling his troops, wished to try his fortune in
another battle. The Barons, on learning his determination, sent persons
to mediate for a peace, promising to come to some definite arrangement
to that effect on the morrow. On the morrow, therefore, by the
intervention of the Preacher and Minorite brethren, it was arranged that
on the sixth day following, Edward and Henry should deliver themselves
up to Earl Simon, in exchange for their fathers the Kings of England and
Germany, in the hope of obtaining peace and tranquillity, on condition
that due deliberation should be taken as to which of the statutes and
provisions ought to be observed to benefit the kingdom, and which ought
to be annulled, and that the spoil taken on both sides should be given
up without any ransom. On the Saturday following the King gave
permission to all who had joined his cause to return to their homes....
As for Edward, he was sent to the Castle of Wallingford for safety.




THE VIEWS OF THE KING AND OF THE BARONS CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OF
ENGLAND (1264).

+Source.+--_The Song of Lewes._ (_Political Songs of England from the
Reign of John to that of Edward II._, Camden Society, 1839.)


We are touching the root of the perturbation of the kingdom of which we
are speaking, and of the dissension of the parties who fought the said
battle. The objects at which these two parties aimed were different. The
King, with his, wished thus to be free; and so (it was urged on his
side) he ought to be; and he must cease to be King, deprived of the
rights of a King, unless he could do whatever he pleased. It was no part
of the duty of the magnates of the kingdom to determine whom he should
prefer to his earldoms, or on whom he should confer the custody of
castles, or whom he would have to administer justice to the people, and
to be Chancellor and Treasurer of the kingdom. He would have everyone at
his own will, and counsellors from whatever nation he chose, and all
ministers at his own discretion; while the Barons of England are not to
interfere with the King's actions, the command of the Prince having the
force of law, and what he may dictate binding everybody at his pleasure.
For every Earl also is thus his own master, giving to everyone of his
own men both as much as he will, and to whom he will; and although he be
a subject, the King permits it all. Which, if he do well, is profitable
to the doer; if not, he must himself see to it; the King will not hinder
him from injuring himself. Why is the Prince worse in condition, when
the affairs of the Baron, the knight, and the freeman, are thus managed?
Therefore they aim at making the King a slave, who wish to diminish his
power, to take away his dignity of Prince; they wish by sedition to
reduce captive into guardianship and subjection the royal power, and to
disinherit the King, that he shall be unable to reign so fully as
hitherto have done the Kings who preceded him, who were in no respect
subjected to their people, but administered their own affairs at their
will, and conferred what they had to confer according to their own
pleasure. This is the King's argument, which has an appearance of
fairness, and this is alleged in defence of the right of the kingdom.

Now let my pen turn to the other side:--let me describe the object at
which the Barons aim.... The adversaries of the King are enemies who
make war upon him, and counsellors who flatter the King, who seduce
their Prince with deceitful words, and who lead him into error by their
double tongues; these are adversaries worse than those who are perverse;
it is these who pretend to be good whilst they are seducers, and
procurers of their own advancement; they deceive the incautious, whom
they render less on their guard by means of things that please them,
whereby they are not provided against, but are considered as prudent
advisers.... And if such, by their conduct, should change the state of
the kingdom; if they should banish justice to put injustice in its
place; if they should call in strangers and trample upon the natives;
and if they should subdue the kingdom to foreigners; if they should not
care for the magnates and nobles of the land, and should place
contemptible persons over them; and if they should overthrow and
humiliate the great; if they should pervert and turn upside down the
order of things; if they should leave the measures that are best to
advance those that are worst;--do not those who act thus devastate the
kingdom?...

A wise Prince will never reject his people, but an unwise one will
disturb the kingdom. Wherefore, if a King is less wise than he ought to
be, what advantage will the kingdom gain by his reign? Is he to seek by
his own opinion on whom he should depend to have his failing supplied?
If he alone choose, he will be easily deceived, who is not capable of
knowing who will be useful. Therefore let the community of the kingdom
advise; and let it be known what the generality thinks, to whom their
own laws are best known. Nor are all those of the country so
uninstructed as not to know better than strangers the customs of their
own kingdom, which have been bequeathed from father to son. They who are
ruled by the laws know these laws best; they who experience them are
best acquainted with them; and since it is their own affairs which are
at stake, they will take more care, and will act with an eye to their
own peace. They who want experience can know little; they will profit
little the kingdom who are not stedfast. Hence it may be deduced that it
concerns the community to see what sort of men ought justly to be chosen
for the unity of the kingdom; they who are willing and know how, and are
able to profit it, such should be made the counsellors and coadjutors of
the King; to whom are known the various customs of their country; who
feel that they suffer themselves when the kingdom suffers; and who guard
the kingdom, lest, if hurt be done to the whole, the parts have reason
to grieve while they suffer along with it; which rejoice, when it has
cause to rejoice, if they love it....

From all that has been said, it may appear evident that it becomes a
King to see, together with his nobles, what things are convenient for
the government of the kingdom, and what are expedient for the
preservation of peace; and that the King have natives for his
companions, not foreigners nor favourites for his counsellors or for the
great nobles of the kingdom.




THE MISERIES OF CIVIL WAR (1264).

+Source.+--_Chronicon Thomæ Wykes_, pp. 157-159. (_Annales Monastici_,
vol. iv.--Rolls Series.)


But to return to the course of events in England, we must not pass over
in a feigned silence the wickedness or madness of the inhabitants of the
Cinque Ports, and the many hardships which they brought upon the English
people. For they gathered together a large fleet of pirate vessels, with
which they constantly scoured the seas, to prevent by force the bringing
of provisions to England; all those whom they were able to capture on
the seas, natives as well as foreigners, they cruelly slew, and, casting
the bodies into the deep, put to their own use the ships and all they
contained; they became crueller, in their destruction, than the
whirlpool of Scylla or Charybdis, for they despoiled of all their goods
and slew, without respect of persons, the merchants who were accustomed
to bring us stores. Wherefore the supply of foodstuffs, which generally
had been more plentiful in England than in all other regions, so
diminished, that wine, previously sold at forty shillings, easily
fetched ten marks; and wax, which generally did not exceed forty
shillings, was worth eight marks and more; and a pound of pepper,
formerly scarcely worth sixpence, was sold for three shillings. To be
brief, there was such a scarcity of salt, iron, steel, cloth, and all
manner of goods, that the people suffered terribly from want, and even
divers merchants were forced to beg, for the people could not send their
goods out of the kingdom; wherefore, had not Divine Providence come
quickly to succour the country in its misery, the supply of money would
have failed, as well as that of goods. And the Earl--_i.e._, Simon de
Montfort--wishing to soothe the popular ear by foolish fancies,
announced and caused it to be proclaimed abroad that the inhabitants
could easily be provided for out of the produce of the country itself,
without bringing in provisions from abroad--an idea which is clearly
absurd: for, indeed, the interchange of goods between two countries
brings divers benefits to each in turn; nevertheless, some, wishing to
please the Earl, wore garments of white cloth, refusing to put on
coloured ones, lest they should be seeming to seek for necessaries from
abroad.

The lord Henry de Montfort, too, eldest son of the Earl of Leicester, to
fill up the cup of his greed, greatly tarnished his honour as a soldier
by seizing and applying to his own purposes all the wool of the kingdom,
which the merchants, not only of Flanders, but of England and other
parts, had brought down to the harbours to ship each to his own country;
for which dishonourable act, instead of a good soldier, he was known,
for a byword, as "the woolcarder." By these and other distresses the
kingdom of England was so weakened that, wounded by irreparable losses,
it became a most miserable instead of a flourishing country, and, in the
words of the Prophet, we were "a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and
a derision to them that are round about us."




SIMON DE MONTFORT'S SCHEME OF GOVERNMENT (1264).

+Source.+--_Rymer's Fœdera_, vol. i., p. 443.


For the amendment of the state of the kingdom of England there shall be
elected and nominated three discreet and faithful men of the realm, who
shall receive authority and power from the lord King to elect or
nominate, in the King's place, nine counsellors. Of these, three at
least, in turn, shall always be present at the Court; and the lord King,
by advice of the aforesaid nine, shall ordain and dispose of the
wardenship of castles and all other business of the kingdom. The lord
King, also, acting on the advice of the same nine, shall appoint the
Justiciar, Chancellor, Treasurer, and other greater and lesser officials
who have to do with any matters pertaining to the government of Court
and kingdom. The first electors or nominators shall swear that, obeying
the dictates of conscience, they will elect or nominate counsellors whom
they believe to be useful and faithful to the honour of God and the
Church, and to the lord King and kingdom. Further, the counsellors and
all officials, greater and lesser, shall swear on appointment that they
will faithfully carry out their duties, so far as they can, to the
honour of God and the Church, and the good of the lord King and kingdom,
taking no gifts, except the meat and drink commonly presented for the
table. But if the aforesaid counsellors, or any one of them, in carrying
out the duties entrusted to them, shall be found guilty of malversation,
or for any other cause shall require to be changed, the lord King, by
the advice of the first three electors or nominators, shall dismiss
those requiring dismissal, and in their place, by advice of the same
three, appoint and substitute other faithful and suitable men. If the
greater or lesser officials shall be found guilty of malversation in
their offices, the lord King, on the advice of the aforesaid nine, shall
remove them, and by the same advice substitute others without delay. If
the first three electors or nominators, in the election or nomination of
counsellors, or the counsellors in the appointment of officials, or in
carrying out or accomplishing other business pertaining to the King or
kingdom, shall disagree, whatever is determined on or ordained by
two-thirds shall be firmly observed; provided that among these
two-thirds shall be a prelate of the Church in all ecclesiastical
matters. And if it should happen that two-thirds of the aforesaid nine
do not agree about any matter, the dispute shall be referred to the
determination of the first three electors or nominators, or the greater
part thereof. And should it seem fitting to the general body of prelates
and Barons together that some person or persons should be appointed in
the place of, or be substituted for any of the first three nominators,
the lord King, on the advice of the general body of prelates and Barons,
shall do so. The lord King (or the counsellors themselves, in place of,
and by authority of the King), shall carry out all the aforesaid matters
by advice of the nine in the form above described; the present ordinance
being intended to hold good until the provisions of the Mise drawn up at
Lewes, and afterwards signed by both sides, be jointly carried out, or
other provisions approved of by both parties be substituted.

Given in Parliament at London, in the month of June, 1264.




THE EVESHAM CAMPAIGN (1265).

+Source.+--Continuation of _Matthew Paris_ (attributed to William
Rishanger), vol. iii, pp. 353-354. (Bohn's Libraries.)


About this time the King's son Edward, who was detained in custody in
the Castle of Hereford, obtained permission from his guards to take
exercise in a field outside the city, and to amuse himself with trying
the speed of their horses. On one occasion, after trying several horses
and tiring them out, he at length chose a good one, which he mounted,
and, urging him to speed with his spurs, he bade farewell to his guards,
and, crossing the River Wye, he directed his course, accompanied by two
knights and four esquires who were aware of his design, to the Castle of
Wigmore. His guards gave pursuit to him, but seeing the banners of Roger
Mortimer and Roger de Clifford, who were come to assist Edward in his
escape, they were out-manœuvred, and so returned to Hereford. These
occurrences took place on the eve of the Trinity, and were arranged with
the counsel and assistance of the aforesaid knights. Thus released from
his imprisonment, Edward assembled a large army, as numbers flocked to
join him, and the counties of Hereford, Worcester, Salop, and Chester
entered into an alliance with him, the towns and villages, cities and
castles pouring forth their inhabitants to join his standard. He at once
besieged and took the city of Gloucester, of which the Earl had lately
gained possession, the garrison left therein taking flight to the
castle; but after fifteen days they surrendered the castle also, and on
giving their oath not to bear arms against Edward for the future, they
were allowed to depart at liberty. The Earl of Leicester in the meantime
attacked the Castle of Monmouth, which the Earl of Gloucester had lately
taken and fortified, and having compelled the garrison to surrender,
rased the castle to the ground. He then entered Glamorganshire, the
territory of the said Earl of Gloucester, and being met by the Prince of
Wales with assistance, the two chiefs together ravaged the whole country
with fire and sword. Edward in the meantime, hearing that many of the
partisans of Earl Simon had flocked together to the Castle of
Kenilworth, joined his forces with those of the Earl of Gloucester, and,
setting forth from Worcester in the evening, reached that place by
forced marches. Coming on the place suddenly, he made prisoner of the
Earl of Oxford, and about thirteen knights bannerets, before they could
enter the castle, in which Simon, the son of Earl Simon, had already
shut himself up. Simon, Earl of Leicester, always keeping the King in
his company, returned from the south of Wales, and on the Festival of S.
Peter ad Vincula, arrived at Kempsey, a manor of the Bishop of
Worcester, and stayed there on the day following. Edward then returned
from Kenilworth to Worcester, which is only three miles distant from the
above-named manor; and Simon, on hearing of his arrival there, went away
with the King at nightfall, and took up his quarters in the town of
Evesham, where he awaited his unhappy destiny. For, on the morrow, which
was the day of the finding of S. Stephen, Edward moved from Worcester,
crossed the river near the town of Claines, and cut off the approach of
the Earl to his son, who was in the Castle of Kenilworth, and prevented
all chance of the father and son meeting. On the following day he drew
near the town of Evesham on one side, and the Earl of Gloucester and
Roger Mortimer came up with their respective forces in two other
directions; thus the Earl of Leicester was hemmed in on all sides, and
was under the necessity either of voluntarily surrendering or of giving
them battle. On the fifth of August, which fell on the third day of the
week, both armies met in a large plain outside the town, where a most
severe conflict ensued, till the partisans of the Earl began to give
way, and, the whole weight of the battle falling on him, he was slain on
the field of battle. At the time of his death a storm of thunder and
lightning occurred, and darkness prevailed to such an extent that all
were struck with amazement. Besides the Earl, there fell in that battle
twelve knights bannerets ... and a great number of others of inferior
rank, such as esquires and foot-soldiers, the greatest loss being among
the Welsh.




CHARACTER OF SIMON DE MONTFORT.

+Source.+--Continuation of _Matthew Paris_ (attributed to William
Rishanger), vol. iii., p. 355. (Bohn's Libraries.)


Thus ended the labours of that noble man Earl Simon, who gave up not
only his property, but also his person, to defend the poor from
oppression, and for the maintenance of justice and the rights of the
kingdom. He was distinguished for his learning; to him an assiduous
attention to divine duties was a pleasure; he was moderate and frugal;
and it was a usual practice of his to watch by night, in preference to
sleeping. He was bold in speech and of a severe aspect. He put great
confidence in the prayers of religious men, and always paid great
respect to ecclesiastics. He endeavoured to adhere to the counsels of S.
Robert, surnamed Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, and entrusted his
children to him to be brought up when very young. On that prelate's
counsel he relied when arranging matters of difficulty, when attempting
dubious enterprises, and in finishing what he had begun, especially in
those matters by which he hoped to increase his merits. It was reported
that the same Bishop had enjoined on him, in order to obtain remission
of his sins, to take up this cause, for which he fought even to the
death, declaring that the peace of the Church of England could not be
firmly established except by the sword, and positively assuring him that
all who died for it would be crowned with martyrdom. Some persons,
moreover, stated that on one occasion the Bishop placed his hand on the
head of the Earl's eldest son, and said to him: "My well-beloved child,
both thou and thy father shall die on one day, and by one kind of death;
but it will be in the cause of justice and truth." Report goes that
Simon, after his death, was distinguished by the working of many
miracles, which, however, were not made publicly known, for fear of
Kings.




THE DISINHERITED IN THE ISLE OF ELY (1266-1267).

+Source.+--_Chronicon Thomæ Wykes_, pp. 192-193, 204, 207-210. (_Annales
Monastici_, vol. iv.--Rolls Series.)


A.D. 1266.--About Michaelmas, a great body of the disinherited, forming
a strong confederation, gathered together secretly, and took possession,
more by guile than by force, and with the connivance of the inhabitants,
of a marshy district, surrounded by lakes and rivers, and girded in by
impassable marshes, commonly called the Isle of Ely. This place, after
they had effected their entrance--and the islanders were unable to
resist such a host of invaders--they immediately stored with arms and
provisions, and built defences which so cunningly closed up the
entrances and exits that no one could approach without their consent;
while they themselves were accustomed to cross to the neighbouring
counties, and there, accompanied by the great band of robbers whom they
had collected, they seized and carried off to the aforesaid island, by
deeds of evil daring, and without respect of persons or places, for
their own sustenance and that of their dependants, whatever food or
furnishings they could find in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, or in any of
the districts round about; and in that island they abode safely without
being disturbed all winter....

A.D. 1267.--Since the King with his nobles was engaged, as we have said,
in the siege of London, the nobles on the island, perceiving that the
administration of the law was lax, and being therefore controlled by no
fear of restraint or armed resistance, but rejoicing in the licence thus
permitted them, harassed the neighbouring district by frequent marauding
expeditions, conducted with the usual cruelty....

But now, the lord Edward, his heart full of the desolation of the Island
of Ely, decided that he must use guile as well as force to reduce by
warlike means its treacherous occupants. (For, against such dastardly
robbers as these, to employ cunning must not be considered a sin, but
rather a virtue, since in dealing with enemies of the State victory is a
consideration paramount to good faith.) Therefore, striving with noble
zeal to put a stop, in the interest of the whole realm, to the fierce
attacks of this great host, Edward cunningly entered into a secret
compact with the lord Nicholas de Segrave, the warden to whom had been
entrusted the guardianship of the defences or fortifications by which
assailants were easily kept back from the approach to the island, his
aim being to prevent any check from that direction to the plans which he
had conceived and was endeavouring to carry into effect; and when this
bargain had been firmly and faithfully sealed, he entered the monastery
of Ramsey, near to the marshes, with a large band of men, and brought
the people of the district over to his side by promises and bribes,
enjoining them not to fear the danger of death should they be compelled
by fate or ill-fortune (which might Heaven forbid!) to die with him;
then the country people, who had come, by frequent examination, to know
the most secret places of that wide extent of marsh land, sailing or
walking over it constantly as they did, fashioned hidden paths through
places formerly impassable, making bridges by means of bundles of reeds
wrought together; and the bounty of Nature supplied the defects of their
skill. By this means a body both of foot-soldiers and horsemen crossed
almost as on dry land. Two hot summers in succession added to the
success of this artifice, by causing places, formerly so swampy as to
offer no sure foothold, to be quite dried up by the heat, so that it
truly might be said, "Here is the finger of God." Thus the soldiers were
enabled, by traversing the paths pointed out to them by the country
people, whose fears vanished under the leadership of so famous a
general, and by the connivance of the lord aforesaid, who held to his
compact, to cross the fortifications and defences without resistance,
and, without the knowledge of the islanders, to halt on solid ground
within the bounds of the island, separated from their enemies only by a
small stream; this, too, they were able to cross without any difficulty
by filling it up with bundles of reeds, of which they had a plentiful
supply, to the terror and stupefaction of the other inhabitants, who now
observed them. Astounded by the sudden, unexpected arrival of so many
strangers, the islanders were slow to make defence or resistance; but
lest they should seem to be entirely inactive, they sent forward to the
river a number of crossbowmen and archers, who, by clearing a passage
with their arrows, or even by a slow retreat, might grant the nobles
time to gird on their armour, assume their weapons, and bear down on
these unexpected adversaries; but the plan failed, for the lord Edward,
fearing that his bold device might come to nought through weakness in
defence, ordered his crossbowmen and archers to engage the enemy's
archers from the other side of the stream; and when his army, having
almost completed its passageway, was courageously commencing to attack
the enemy, whom he saw near at hand ready to fight, the lord Edward
publicly proclaimed that if anyone attacked any of his men or by any act
of rebellion hindered him in carrying out his enterprise, such an one
would suffer death by hanging or execution, should success--and of that
there was no doubt--crown his efforts. On this, the fierce courage of
the islanders weakened and gave way, and all, struck by sudden fear,
laying aside their haughty fierceness, with bowed heads meekly surrendered,
and--though they had refused to hear of it previously--submitted
themselves to the ever-gracious clemency of the Prince.

Then Edward, granting them a simulated pardon, which, indeed, not to
pass over it in silence, they had deserved, allowed a truce of barely
two days in which, sacrilegiously gathering together their spoil, they
should vacate the surrendered city and island. They departed, all alike
in confusion and disgrace, to the no small joy of the provincials, who
were now restored to their possessions and rejoiced in their ancient
liberty. But the victorious army, in triumphal procession, with trumpets
sounding joyfully, entered the city, while all the citizens, together
with the few remaining monks, gave thanks to the King of Kings, who,
pitying the distress of the city and province, had destroyed that evil
horde of wicked men, and, striking from their necks the insupportable
yoke of slavery, had restored their liberty under the protection of
their future Prince.




EDWARD IN THE EAST (1270-1272).


A. +Source.+--Continuation of _Matthew Paris_ (attributed to William
Rishanger), vol. iii., pp. 375 _et seqq._ (Bohn's Libraries.)

A.D. 1270.--In the month of May in this year, the King's son Edward set
out on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, taking with him his wife
Eleanor, and accompanied by his brother-in-law Edmund, by four Earls,
the same number of Barons, and many other nobles.... Edward then arrived
in France with his fleet, but, learning that the King of France had
started for the Holy Land, he followed him by sea, and after a voyage of
ten days, arrived safely at Tunis, and landed with all his companions
and followers. There he was met by the King of France and his nobles,
who received him joyfully, and admitted him to the kiss of peace. In the
month of August the sickness which raged about the sea-coast did great
havoc in the army of the Christians. At Tunis, amongst the chiefs of the
army, in the first place, there died John, Count of Nevers, the son of
the French King, and the Cardinal Albano, legate of the Apostolic See.
Soon afterwards, on the day after the Feast of S. Bartholomew the
Apostle, St. Louis, the most Christian King of the French, passed from a
temporal kingdom to an eternal one.... He was succeeded in his kingdom
by his son Philip. At the time when the army was in a state of
desolation, in consequence of the King's death, Charles, King of Sicily,
arrived, who had been sent for by the King before his death. Although
the Saracens were evidently much more numerous than the Christians, they
never dared to attack the Christians in the open field, but caused them
much annoyance and inconvenience by their stratagems. Amongst their
devices, one was as follows. The country being sandy, and very dusty in
the dry seasons, the Saracens placed several thousands of their people
on an eminence in the neighbourhood of the Christians, and when the wind
was blowing in the direction of the latter, they stirred up the sand and
dust, which caused great annoyance to the Christians. But at length
rain, coming on, laid the dust, and the Christians got ready their
different engines of war, and made preparations for attacking Tunis by
land and sea. The Saracens, on seeing this, entered into a treaty with
them, and agreed to set at liberty all the Christians who were captives
in that country. They also allowed the faith of Christ to be preached
freely by the Preacher and Minorite brethren, and by all others soever,
in all the monasteries founded in honour of Christ in the cities of that
kingdom; also that all who chose to be baptized should be at liberty to
be so. The expenses of the two Kings then having been paid, and the King
of Tunis having acknowledged himself tributary to the King of Sicily, a
truce for several years was arranged, and the King of Sicily prepared to
re-embark with his army. But the Divine vengeance followed him, and, as
he was endeavouring to return, the sea engulfed almost his whole army,
the treasure he had taken from Tunis, and all his movable property....
When Edward heard of the terrible vengeance which the Lord had inflicted
on Charles, King of Sicily, the brother of Louis, the late King of
France, and when he considered that this disaster had happened not
without a cause, he struck his breast and cried, swearing by God's
blood, his usual oath: "Although all my companions in arms and
countrymen should desert me, yet I, with Fowin, my palfrey-keeper" (for
such was his name) "will enter Ptolemais or Acre, and will keep my
compact and my oath, though my soul shall be separated from my body in
so doing." All the English who were with him, and heard this
declaration, promised that they would go with him. He then at once set
sail for Acre, and, on his arrival there, found that the city was to be
surrendered to the Saracens in four days from that time. By his arrival
the Soldan of Babylon was disappointed in his expectations; and although
he had begun to besiege the city, he returned to his own country with
his army.

A.D. 1271.--In this year, whilst the King's eldest son Edward was
staying at Acre, a certain Emir of Joppa (a rank which corresponds to
that of an Earl amongst us), and a Saracen by birth, was seized with an
affection for him, on account of his fame for valour, and frequently
sent letters and messages of commendation to him by a certain Hassatut,
or Assassin, named Anzazim. This man had been educated from his boyhood
in subterranean places, where he had been taught to make a sudden attack
on any Prince of the adversaries of his sect, and had been given to
understand that, even if he should be slain in his attempt, he would,
for such an action, receive new life amidst the joys of Paradise. On one
occasion of his coming to Edward, as he had been often accustomed to do,
with letters, he pretended that he wanted to reveal some secrets to him.
Everyone then having been excluded from the room, the assassin, whilst
Edward was leaning against the window and directing his attention
outside, suddenly drew a poisoned knife and wounded him twice in the
arm, and a third time under the armpit. Edward at once hurled the
assassin to the earth with his foot, and, wrenching the knife from his
hands, slew the villain with it. In wresting away his knife, however, he
wounded himself severely in the hand, and as the poison entered and
spread in the wounds, they were only cured with great difficulty, and by
the application of many and various remedies. Some say that Edward, on
finding himself suddenly wounded, having nothing to defend himself with,
seized the tripod which supported his table and brained the ruffian. He
then summoned his attendants, and after explaining the particulars of
his mishap, he ordered the body of the wretch to be hung on the walls of
the city, by the side of a live dog, that the sight of this spectacle
might strike fear into others.


B. +Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., p. 455. (Bohn's
Libraries.)

A.D. 1272.--This year, when Edward had been a long time waiting in Acre
for aid from the Christians and the Tartars, because he had formed the
design of overwhelming the Saracens with a mighty force, seeing that he
was deceived by both parties, because the Christians had returned to
their own land, and because the Tartars, who are also called Moallians,
were perishing under domestic tyranny, he dismissed all his mercenary
forces at Acre, and, crossing the sea, landed in the kingdom of Sicily,
where he was met with honour by King Charles, who conducted him to
Civita Vecchia, where the Roman Court was residing, and where Edward
related to Pope Gregory, who was now become his lord, from having lately
been his friend, all the perils of the Holy Land.




PARLIAMENT ARRANGES FOR THE INTERREGNUM (1272).

+Source.+--_Annals of Winchester_, p. 113. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
ii.--Rolls Series.)


In this year, after the Feast of S. Hilary, when an assembly of all the
prelates and other magnates of the kingdom had been summoned to
Westminster, after the death of the illustrious King Henry, there
gathered together the Archbishops and Bishops, Earls and Barons, Abbots
and Priors, and from every county four knights and from every borough
four, all of whom, in the presence of the lords Walter, Archbishop of
York, Roger Mortimer, and Robert Burnell, clerk, who presided in the
place of the lord Edward, King of England, took an oath to the said lord
Edward as ruler of the land, and undertook to carry out the commands of
the King for the faithful and strict keeping of the peace in the
kingdom. Lord Walter of Merton was appointed Chancellor, to remain at
Westminster, as a place of public resort, until the arrival of the King.
It was further provided that there be no justices itinerant before the
King's arrival, but only justices "de Banco."




PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER OF EDWARD I.

+Source.+--_Nicholas Trivet's Annals_, pp. 281-283. (English Historical
Society Publications.)


Edward, King of England, eldest son of Henry the Third by Eleanor,
daughter of the Count of Provence, had completed thirty-three years and
five months of his life on the day when he succeeded his deceased father
on the throne. He was a man of experience and prudence in affairs,
devoted from boyhood to the exercise of arms, in which in different
parts he had gained such fame as a warrior that he easily excelled the
Princes of his time throughout the whole Christian world. In build he
was elegant and of commanding stature, towering head and shoulders above
the people; his hair, which in boyhood turned from a colour wellnigh
silver to yellow, and in youth became black, beautified his old age with
its snowy whiteness. His forehead, like the rest of his face, was broad,
though the drooping of the left eyelid recalled his father's expression.
He spoke with a lisp, but yet did not lack a ready power of persuasion
in argument. His arms were supple, in proportion to his body, and
supremely fitted in the strength of their sinews for the use of the
sword. His girth was greatest round the chest. The length of his lower
limbs enabled him to keep a firm seat in riding and leaping with
spirited horses. When not engaged in feats of arms, Edward indulged in
hawking and hunting, especially the hunting of deer, which he used to
pursue on a fleet racehorse, and when he had come up with them, to
pierce with a sword instead of a hunting-spear....

In spirit he was magnanimous, intolerant of insult, and apt to forget
the presence of danger in his desire for revenge, though his passions
cooled easily on the culprit showing sorrow at his presumption. For
example, when on one occasion he was engaged in the sport of falconry
near a riverbank, he reproved one of his companions for carelessness
regarding a falcon which had caught a duck amidst the willows; but the
other, seeing that there was neither bridge nor ford near, lightly
replied "that it was sufficient for him to have the river between them";
whereat the King's son, exasperated, entered the water on his horse,
though he knew not the depth, forced the animal to swim across, and,
ascending with difficulty the steep opposite bank, hollowed out by the
rush of the waters, drew his sword and pursued his companion, who had
now mounted and ridden off. Finally, the latter, giving up all hope of
escape, wheeled his horse round, bared his head, and offered his neck to
Edward's will. The King's son, however, softened by this surrender,
replaced his sword in its sheath, and the two returned together
peacefully, to attend to the needs of the abandoned falcon.




THE ACQUISITION OF WALES (1277).

+Source.+--_Matthew of Westminster_, vol. ii., pp. 471-472. (Bohn's
Libraries.)


In the fortnight after Easter the King withdrew from Westminster, and
hastened towards Wales with all the military force of the kingdom of
England, taking with him, as far as Shrewsbury, his Barons of the
Exchequer and his justices of the King's Bench, who remained there some
time, hearing suits according to the customs of the kingdom of England.
The Welsh, fearing the arrival of the King and his army, fled to their
accustomed refuge of Snowdon, and the King, relying on the assistance of
the Cinque Ports, occupied their territories as far as the mountain of
Snowdon in every direction. Therefore Llewellyn, Prince of Wales,
understanding that his manors and castles were being given to the flames
and destroyed, took to himself the most powerful chiefs of his country,
and about the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord in the aforesaid year,
went to the King, entreating him to show mercy and not justice.
Accordingly, King Edward received homage and fealty from the most
powerful chiefs of the Welsh, and took with him to Westminster their
Prince Llewellyn, from whom he received fifty thousand marks in hand;
and with whom he made a covenant to receive a thousand marks every year,
to be paid into the Exchequer at Westminster for the Isle of Anglesey
and the district of Snowdon; and then he permitted the aforesaid Prince
to return to those parts, after having been carefully instructed in his
duty. Further, by a formal sentence, he deprived Llewellyn's successors
for ever of the title of Prince, and reserved all the rest of the
territories of Wales of which he had lately made himself master for
himself and his successors, the Kings of England.




WRIT FOR DISTRAINT OF KNIGHTHOOD (1278).

+Source.+--_Parliamentary Writs_, vol. i., p. 214.


The King to the Sheriff of Gloucester, greeting.

We firmly enjoin you to compel without delay all the men in your
bailiwick who have twenty librates of land, or a complete knight's fee
of the annual value of twenty pounds, and who hold from us in chief and
ought to be knights, but are not, to receive from us the arms of a
knight before or at the approaching Festival of Christmas; further, you
are to compel without delay all those in your bailiwick who have twenty
librates of land, or a complete knight's fee of the annual value of
twenty pounds, from whomsoever they hold, and who ought to be knights,
but are not, similarly to receive the arms of a knight at or before the
same festival; take care to exact good and sufficient security from
them, and cause their names to be inscribed on a roll in the presence of
two lawful men of the aforesaid county, and have the roll, with your
seal and those of the two knights appended, transmitted to us without
delay. We further desire you to know that we shall cause strict
examination to be made of your conduct in the execution of this mandate,
and shall cause fitting punishment to be given.

Witness the King at Westminster on the XXVI. day of June.




THE EARL OF WARRENNE'S TITLE TO HIS LANDS. (1278).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., p. 6. (English
Historical Society Publications.)


Not long afterwards, the King disturbed some of the nobles by demanding
to know, through his justices, by what warrant they held their estates;
and if they could not produce a good warrant, he straightway seized
their lands. Among others, the Earl of Warrenne was summoned to appear
before the King's justices. He, when asked by what warrant he held his
lands, produced an old and rusty sword, saying: "This, my lords, is my
warrant; for my ancestors came over with William the Bastard and
conquered their lands by the sword, and by the sword I shall defend them
from whoever shall desire to take them; for the King did not conquer and
subdue the whole country by himself, but our ancestors also took part
and assisted him." The other nobles, placing themselves on his side and
supporting his reasoning, departed in excitement and anger. But the
King, when he was informed, feared for himself, and desisted from his
mistaken course.




THE STATUTE OF MORTMAIN (1279).

+Source.+--_Statutes of the Realm_, vol. i., p. 51.


The King to his justices "de Banco," greeting.

Although it was previously ordained that ecclesiastics should not enter
on possession of the fees of others without the licence and permission
of the lords-in-chief, from whom these fees are directly held, yet
ecclesiastics have up to now continued to take possession of their own
fees as well as those of others, appropriating and buying them for
themselves, and sometimes receiving them by gift from others, as a
result of which the services due from such fees, which have been from
all time applied to the defence of the kingdom, are unjustly withdrawn,
and lords-in-chief lose their escheats; therefore we, wishing to provide
a proper remedy in the interest of the kingdom, hereby, with the advice
of the prelates, Earls, and other lieges of our council, provide,
decree, and ordain that no ecclesiastic or other person shall buy or
sell, or, under pretext of a donation, or lease, or other title
whatsoever, shall receive from anyone, or in any way appropriate, by
guile or craft, lands or tenements, in such a way that the said lands
and tenements may fall to the dead hand, under pain of forfeiture of the
same.

We decree, further, that if any ecclesiastic or other person contravene
the present statute in any way, by guile or craft, it shall be lawful
for us and for other immediate lords-in-chief of a fee so alienated, to
enter it within a year of such alienation, and to hold it in fee and as
an inheritance. And if the immediate lord be negligent, and fail to
enter upon possession of such a fee within a year, then it shall be
lawful for the nearest mediate lord of that fee to enter upon and hold
that fee, as aforesaid, within the space of half a year following; and
so may every mediate lord do, if the lord nearest to him be negligent in
entering upon possession, as aforesaid.

And should all the other lords-in-chief (such as be of full age, and
within the four seas, and out of prison) be negligent or remiss for one
year, we ourselves, after the lapse of a complete year when purchases,
donations, or other appropriations of this kind ought to have been made,
shall take such lands and tenements into our own hands, and shall
enfeoff others on them to do certain fixed services to us for the
defence of our realm; saving to the lords-in-chief of those fees,
wardships, escheats, and other incidents belonging to them, and the due
and accustomed services. And we command you to cause the aforesaid
statute to be read in your presence, and henceforth to be firmly held
and observed.

Witness the King, at Westminster, on the fifteenth day of November, in
the seventh year of his reign.




THE WELSH REBELLION OF 1281-1282.

A. +Source.+--_Annals of Dunstable_, p. 291. (_Annales Monastici_, vol.
iii.--Rolls Series.)


A.D. 1282.--In the same year the Welsh rebelled a second time against
their lord, the King of England; the chief reason for the rebellion was
that the lord King had introduced English laws and customs into their
territory, and had decreed that county and hundred courts should follow.
Another reason was that the Justiciar of Chester had caused certain of
the men of David, brother of the Prince of Wales, to be hung, contrary
to the usage of the Welsh. Further, by command of the lord the King, the
woods of the said David had been cut down for the construction of a safe
highway for travellers, as the result of the misdeeds of robbers.


B. +Source.+--_Annals of Oseney_, pp. 287 _et seqq._ (_Annales
Monastici_, vol. iv.--Rolls Series.)

A.D. 1281.--About the Festival of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary,
Llewellyn, violating the peace which he had some time before entered
into with the King of England, at the instigation and with the
assistance of his brother David, on whom the King of England had
bestowed lands and possessions in England, and whom he had honoured with
kindness among the nobles of his household, did not shame, with a large
band of robbers, to devastate, plunder, and burn, in frequent raids,
those lands, belonging to the King of England and the Marchers, which
lay nearest to him; he even attacked the Castles of Flint and Rhuddlan,
which the King had begun to build on the borders of Wales to ward off
the threatened attacks of the Welsh. When the King, who was at that time
keeping Easter at Devizes, heard the news, he sent off a few of his men
immediately to check, even a little, the advance of the Welsh, until he
himself could take more serious measures. Then, summoning the nobles of
the kingdom, he appointed a Parliament to be held at Worcester on the
Festival of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist. Meanwhile Roger de
Clifford, who was endeavouring to protect the lands lying next his own
from the fury of the marauding bands, was captured, mortally wounded, by
David and his accomplices, after several of his family had been cruelly
put to death. The King, hearing this, decreed in the Parliament
above-mentioned that all the nobles of the kingdom should meet him with
horses and arms in Wales on the Feast of S. Peter ad Vincula; and when a
large army assembled, he laid waste, ravaged, and burned the
strongholds, lands, and villages of the Prince of Wales, which lay near
him. But the Welsh resisted courageously, and one day, when a detachment
from the King's army was advancing somewhat carelessly and allowing
itself to become too far separated from the main body, suddenly a
countless host of Welshmen, bursting forth from hiding-places in the
woods and marshes, attacked our men, who were relatively very few in
number. In the struggle were slain the son of lord William de Valence,
nephew of the lord King, Richard de Argentoein, and several others, the
remainder escaping with difficulty.

The King remained in the region of Rhuddlan until about the Feast of All
Saints, and in the meantime the lord John, Archbishop of Canterbury, was
sent to Llewellyn at Snowdon to treat for peace with him, or rather to
advise and induce him to observe the peace which he had previously made
with the King, and confirmed in writing and by oath, especially since
the conditions had been carried out. But his mission was fruitless, for
Llewellyn could not be induced to make peace. While the Archbishop
delayed for three days in Snowdon, the English nobles, showing more
foolishness than courage, secretly entered Snowdon, thinking that by
craft they could seize it by their own unaided strength. But the Welsh,
forewarned of their approach, advanced in force against them, and
joining battle, easily prevailed over the small detachment of nobles and
put them to flight. The fugitives thought to save themselves by crossing
a certain river, but, owing to ignorance of the force of the current,
several were drowned, namely, Luke de Tani, William de Dodingsele,
William la Zouche, and others; the rest escaped with difficulty. This
happened on the Festival of S. Leonard. When the Archbishop came down
from Snowdon without accomplishing his aim, he uttered sentence of
excommunication against Llewellyn as a violator of his oath, and a
perjurer, and against David, his brother, and all their accomplices and
abettors.

About the same time died the lord Roger Mortimer, one of the most famous
men of his age, and a valiant soldier. On his death, the lord Edmund,
his eldest son and heir, together with his brother--perchance, as is
believed, to appease the King--laid an ambush for the said Llewellyn;
for, being informed of his movements by spies, the said Edmund gathered
together a large and powerful force, and, more by chance than was
imagined at that time, fell in with Llewellyn when he had descended from
the mountains of Snowdon for some unknown reason and was traversing the
lower ground with the few followers who still adhered to him, and put
him, and those of his men who were unable to escape, to death by the
sword. The head of the Prince, whom he recognized among the slain, he
cut off and sent to the lord King. This memorable triumph of the slaying
of Llewellyn happened, under God, about the Feast of S. Thomas the
Apostle, before Christmas. The King, glorying in his victory, ordered
the head to be taken to London, and affixed it to the Tower on a spear
as a memorial of so notable a success.

A.D. 1282.--The King of England, encouraged by the aforesaid victory,
and seeing a way open to him for the fulfilment of his desires, lest
there should be any impediment to his carrying his wishes into effect,
entered in triumph with his men the safe and secret hiding-place of the
Welsh, to wit, the province of Snowdon; he held Easter in a monastery of
Cistercian monks, called in their tongue Aberconway, and situated within
the bounds of the aforesaid province. Then he was able to control, as
master, the castles and fortified places, both within Snowdon and
without, except a certain castle, called in their tongue Bere. Into this
castle David, the brother of Llewellyn, who had fled before the King on
learning of his coming, had in vain introduced a garrison, promising to
send them speedy assistance, while he himself took refuge in secret and
almost inaccessible woods and swamps. The castle itself was surrounded
by an impassable marsh, and possessed no entrance except by narrow paths
artificially constructed to overcome the natural difficulties of the
ground. When the King found this out, he carefully closed up the
entrances and exits and besieged the defenders so straitly that, giving
up hope of any succour, they were compelled to surrender the castle and
trust to the clemency of the King, who graciously granted them freedom
of life and limb. Then the King, by a lavish distribution of gifts and
presents, entered privily into an agreement with some of the natives who
knew the hidden ways and secret retreats, and they, not without joy,
compelled David to withdraw from his refuge, and surrendered him to the
King, who sent him, as was only just, to be imprisoned, along with his
wife and son, at Rhuddlan. This took place about the Feast of S.
Botulf.... About Michaelmas, the King, summoning the nobles and mayors
of the cities to meet him at Salisbury, held a Parliament, and caused
David, who had been imprisoned at Rhuddlan, to be brought before him;
and after consideration of his misdeeds, had him condemned to death, by
advice of the magnates.




THE STATUTE OF WINCHESTER (1285).

+Source.+--_Statutes of the Realm_, vol. i., pp. 96-98.


I. Forasmuch as, from day to day, robberies, homicides, and arsons
happen more frequently than they did in aforetime, and felonies cannot
be attained by oath of jurors who more willingly suffer felonies done to
strangers to pass without punishment than to indict the evil doers,
since many of them are men of the same neighbourhood, or at least, if
the malefactors be of another district, their receivers are of the
neighbourhood; and this they do because a positive oath has never been
put upon jurors nor upon the district where the felonies were committed
for restitution of damages, and hitherto no punishment has been provided
for concealment or overlooking; our lord the King, to abate the power of
felons, has established a punishment in such cases, so that for fear of
the punishment more than for fear of the oath, they should spare no one
henceforth, and conceal no felony; and he commands that proclamation of
this punishment be solemnly made in all counties, hundreds, markets,
fairs, and other places, where people are wont to assemble, so that no
one may excuse himself on plea of ignorance, and each county may
henceforth be so properly guarded, that immediately after robberies and
felonies fresh suit be made from town to town, and from district to
district.

II. Likewise inquests shall be made, if need be, in towns by him who is
lord of the town, and afterwards in hundreds and in franchises and in
counties, and sometimes in two, three, or four counties, in those cases
where felonies shall be done on the boundaries of counties, so that
malefactors may be attainted. And if the district will not answer for
the persons of such manner of offenders, the punishment shall be such
that each district, that is to say, the people dwelling in the district,
shall be answerable for the robberies done and the damages; so that
every hundred where a robbery takes place, or the franchises which are
within the precinct of the same hundred, shall be answerable for the
robbery. And should the robbery take place on the boundary between two
hundreds, both hundreds shall be answerable, together with the
franchises they contain; and the district shall have no longer a term,
after the committing of the robbery and felony, than forty days within
which to give satisfaction for the robbery and for the offence, or to
answer for the bodies of the evildoers.

III. And inasmuch as the King does not wish that people should be
suddenly impoverished by this penalty, which may seem hard to some, he
grants that it be not immediately enforced, but that respite be had
until next Easter, and within that time he will take note how the
district acts, and whether such robberies and felonies cease. After
which term all may be assured that the aforesaid penalty shall be
applied generally in this way, that every district, that is to say, the
people dwelling in the district, shall be answerable for the robberies
and felonies done in their district.

IV. And for the greater safety of the district, the King has commanded
that in the great cities which are walled, the gates be closed from
sunset to sunrise; and that no man shall take lodging in a suburb or in
any place beyond the walls of a town, from nine of the clock until day,
unless his host be willing to answer for him; and the bailiffs of towns
every week, or at least every fortnight, shall make inquisition for
people harboured in suburbs and outside the walls of a town; and should
they find any that have harboured or received in any way people of whom
it is suspected that they are against the peace, let them do right
therein. And henceforth it is commanded that watches be made, as was
formerly accustomed to be done, from Ascension to Michaelmas, in every
city by six men at each gate; in every borough by twelve men, and in
every town in the land by six men or four according to the number of
people who dwell there; and they shall keep watch continually the whole
night from the setting to the rising of the sun. And should any stranger
pass, he shall be arrested until morning; and should no suspicion be
found of him, he shall go free; but if there be suspicion, he shall
straightway be handed over to the sheriff, who shall receive him without
doing him bodily hurt, and shall keep him safely, until in due manner he
be acquitted. And should such persons not suffer themselves to be
arrested, hue and cry shall be raised after them, and those who keep the
watch shall follow them with the whole town and the neighbouring towns,
and hue and cry be made from town to town, until they be taken and
handed over to the sheriff, as is above provided; and for the arrests of
such strangers, no one shall be punished.

V. It is further ordained that the highways from one market town to
another be widened, where there be woods, hedges, or ditches, so that
there be no ditches, hedges, or bushes where a man may lurk to do hurt
within two hundred feet on either side of the road; provided that this
statute be understood not to extend to oaks or great trees, where it is
clear underneath. And if through the fault of the lord, who shall be
unwilling to destroy ditches, hedges, or bushes, as aforesaid, robberies
take place, the lord shall be answerable; and if there be murder, the
lord shall be fined at the will of the King; and if the lord be unable
of himself to cut down the bushes, the district shall aid him. And the
King wishes that in his demesne lands, and woods within forests and
without, the roads be widened as aforesaid. And should there be by
chance a park near the highway, the lord thereof shall diminish his park
until it be two hundred feet from the highway, as aforesaid, or shall
build such a wall, ditch, or hedge, that evildoers shall be unable to
cross and recross to do evil.

VI. Further, it is ordained that every man have in his house arms to
keep the peace according to the ancient assize; that is to say, that
every man between the ages of fifteen and sixty be assessed and sworn to
arms, according to the quantity of his land and chattels, as
follows:--from a man with fifteen pounds worth of land, and chattels
worth forty marks, a hauberk, an iron helmet, a sword, a knife, and a
horse; from ten pounds worth of land and chattels worth twenty marks,
hauberk, helmet, sword, and knife; from an hundred shillings of land, a
doublet, iron helmet, sword, and knife; from forty shillings of land and
beyond it up to an hundred shillings, sword, bow, arrows, and knife; and
he with less than forty shillings of land shall be sworn to carry darts,
knives, and other small arms; and he that hath less than twenty marks in
chattels, shall carry swords, knives, and other small arms. And all
others who can, out of the forests shall have bows and arrows, and
within the forests bows and boults. And the view of armour shall be made
twice a year; and in every hundred and franchise shall be elected two
constables to make the view of armour; and the aforesaid constables
shall bring to the notice of justices specially entrusted therewith,
when they shall come into the district, such faults as they find in the
view of armour, in suits, in watches, and in highways; and they shall
present also such persons as harbour strangers, for whom they will not
be answerable, in upland towns. And the said justices in every
Parliament shall present such defaults to the King, and the King shall
find a remedy therefor. And henceforth sheriffs and bailiffs, within
franchises and without, greater or less, who hold any bailiwick or
forest in fee or in any other manner, shall take care to follow the hue
and cry with the district, and, as they are required, they shall have
horses and armour to do so; and if there be any who do not, the defaults
shall be presented by the constables to the justices, and by them to the
King, as aforesaid. And the King commands and ordains that from
henceforth fairs or markets be not held in cemeteries, for the honour of
Holy Church.

Given at Westminster, on the last day of October, in the thirteenth year
of the King's reign.




THE GOOD GOVERNMENT OF ALEXANDER III., KING OF SCOTLAND.

+Source.+--_The Book of Pluscarden_, pp. 81-82. (_Historians of
Scotland_, vol. x.)


In all the early days of the life of the said King the Catholic Church
of Christ flourished at its highest in the kingdom of Scotland, justice
reigned, vice was withered up, virtue increased, and the State grew so
much that prosperity and peace and abundance of wealth and the pouring
in of money and fruitful plenty prevailed in Scotland during all his
time. The King, moreover, was adorned with every virtue, beloved by all
good men, hated by the wicked. A ruler is so called from ruling well;
for where there is no rule, there is no ruler. That King, indeed, so
behaved towards his enemies that they feared him with the utmost fear
and loved him with hearty love; and in his country he maintained
unshaken peace, law, and unbroken prosperity, so that the inhabitants
thereof abode in the beauty of peace, in the tents of trustfulness and
in plenteous ease; and he quelled all insolence, disturbances, rioting,
and rebellion. Now he had this habit, that he was wont to travel every
year through all the districts of his kingdom with a large retinue, to
become acquainted with his people, to reprove shortcomings, to
administer justice, to punish rebels, to cherish and reward the good,
and, with the officers of each district, thoroughly to reform all
abuses. He would not allow within his kingdom any idlers without a trade
or means of livelihood. When the knights and officers of one district
went away from him, the sheriff of another district, with a chosen train
of knights, came to meet him. Moreover, he made it a statute of the
realm that everyone should, in each working day, dig the length and
breadth of his own body--that is, seven feet--considering that idleness
is the foe of virtue. Likewise he would not allow very many licences for
horses, save only those devoted to work, in the court of any lord, or in
the houses of the rich; for too great a number of horses destroys the
sustenance of the poor; for they were bred neither for necessary
purposes nor for profit. The King also decreed that merchandise should
not cross over by sea to any place without the kingdom; for so many
ships were distressed, others taken by foes and enemies, that the
kingdom was much impoverished in this particular; and therefore he
decreed that up to a certain time no ship should pass out of the realm
on pain of loss of goods. Thus, notwithstanding it was with great
difficulty that this was enforced, yet many ships laden with all manner
of merchandise would come in abundance and readily to the country in
these days without danger, and barter all their merchandise, goods for
goods, without the medium of cash. This King also forbade any but free
burgesses to meddle in such trade at all. When these statutes had been
in force for a time, the country in a few years so flourished in
fruitfulness and abundance of all wealth, in handicrafts also, and in
metals and moneys and all the other advantages of policy and good
government, that numberless ships and merchants, hearing of the King's
justice and wisdom, poured in thither from all parts of the world, and
said they saw in the country better and greater things than they had
heard of from afar. Accordingly the country became so wealthy that
Lombards came from the borders of Italy, bringing into the country
untold gold and silver and precious stones, and made the King an offer
to build and construct a city in the country on their own account, on
Queensferry Hill or on an island near Cramond, if the King would see
that they got the due and needful privileges and liberties. This would
have been accorded to them had not death, which snatches all things
away, so soon carried off the King from the world, leaving no lawful
offspring from him to succeed to the throne.




POPULAR SONG ON THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER III.

+Source.+--_Androw of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland_, book
vii., ll. 3619-3626.


(This song, probably contemporary, is inserted by Wyntoun at the close
of his account of Alexander III., under the heading "Cantus.")

  Quhen Alysandyr oure Kyng wes dede,
    That Scotland led in luẅe and lé,[28]
  Away wes sons[29] off ale and brede,
    Off wyne and wax, off gamyn and glé:

  Oure gold wes changyd in to lede.
    Cryst, borne in to Vyrgynyté,
  Succoure Scotland and remede,
    That stad is in perplexyté.

[28] Law.

[29] Plenty.




THE EXPULSION OF THE JEWS (1290).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 20-22
(English Historical Society Publications.)


The King held a Parliament at London after Easter ... and the Barons
complained of the wickedness and perfidy of the Jews, in that they had
impoverished many of the nobles by divers usuries and false scripts, and
had corrupted the coinage throughout the whole land; therefore, it was
ordained by the King and the Privy Council that, on a certain day
between the hours of one and three, all Jews in every city should be
seized and then expelled from the realm; a like zeal inspired all, for
they thought to obtain great favour in the sight of God by cutting off
from the faithful those who had risen against Christ. And this ordinance
was carried into effect, for on the one day all Jews were seized, and
before another appointed day, expelled. All their real property was
confiscated together with their starrs[30] and obligations; but their
remaining movables, with their gold and silver, the King allowed them to
take away--which was a matter of displeasure to many. Among them were
certain Jews of London, of the noblest and wealthiest in the city, who,
since they had immense treasure, hired a great and lofty ship in the
harbour, loaded it, went on board and departed. When they were
descending the Thames and had now approached nigh to the sea, the master
of the ship, without leave, anchored it in the midst of the waters, for
he grieved to think of the kingdom being despoiled of such riches. When
the tide ebbed and the ship was left on the sands, he said to the Jews,
"My masters, you have already suffered discomfort from the sea, and many
greater discomforts are to follow; it would be well then to come and
walk with me on the sands, while the tide is out, for the waters will
not return yet for a space." The Jews acquiesced joyfully, and
disembarked; but he conducted them afar off from the vessel until he saw
the waters returning; and as the tide flowed in, he ran forward and
climbed to the deck of his vessel by means of a rope; whereupon the
Jews, following slowly, called to him to rescue them. "Call not upon
me," he cried in answer, "but upon Moses your prophet; for he brought
your fathers through the midst of the Red Sea, and is able to snatch you
from the midst of the waves, if he will." They called, therefore, upon
God and upon Moses, but were not heard, for the sea swallowed them up,
and they perished in the waters. Then the sailor returned to the King,
told him all, and claimed favour and reward.[31]

[30] Acquittances and assignments of debt. The word is Hebrew.

[31] According to Sir Edward Coke, the master and his accomplices were
tried, and hanged for murder. The King had granted a safe-conduct to all
Jews leaving the country.




JOHN BALLIOL DOES HOMAGE TO EDWARD FOR HIS KINGDOM OF SCOTLAND (1292).

+Source.+--_Nicholas Trivet's Annals_, pp. 324-325. (English Historical
Society Publications.)


The King of England, after the Feast of S. John the Baptist, came to
Scotland, and having listened to the pleas in support of their right of
those who claimed the Scottish throne, caused forty persons to be
elected, twenty from England and twenty from Scotland, to examine those
pleas with diligent care, the final decision being postponed to the
following Michaelmas. When the aforesaid date arrived, after careful
discussion, Edward, with the consent of all, adjudged the kingdom
without reservation to John Balliol, who was descended from the eldest
daughter of David, King of the Scots. Robert Bruce, between whom and the
aforesaid John decision lay, after the claims of the others had been
dismissed, although one degree nearer in descent, yet was descended from
the second daughter of David. John, on the Feast of S. Andrew the
Apostle following, was crowned, seated on the royal stone in the Church
of Canons Regular at Scone. After the coronation, coming to the King of
England, who was keeping the Festival of the Nativity of our Lord at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, he did homage in these words: "My lord, lord Edward,
King of England, I, John Balliol, King of Scotland, acknowledge myself
your liege vassal for the whole kingdom of Scotland, with its
appurtenances and all belonging to it, which kingdom I hold and claim by
right to hold hereditarily, from you and your heirs, Kings of England,
as regards life and limb and earthly honour, against all men who live
and die." And the King received homage in the aforesaid form, saving his
own or another's right. And when King John had done homage, the King of
England restored to him without delay the kingdom of Scotland in full
with all its appurtenances.




THE OUTBREAK OF WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE (1293).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 40 _et
seqq._ (English Historical Society Publications.)


In the year of our Lord 1293 a shameful quarrel arose between the
English seamen of the Cinque Ports and French seamen from Normandy, in
this wise. A certain ship from the Cinque Ports touched at a port in
Normandy and remained there several days; one day two sailors from this
vessel were going to draw pure water from a spring in the neighbourhood,
when they chanced to meet some Norman sailors, who so irritated them
that they had recourse to abuse and then to blows; finally weapons were
drawn, and one of them was killed; the other fled, and betook himself
with his companions to the ship, where he told what had happened and how
the Normans were hard in pursuit. They sailed out on to the high seas,
hoping there at least to escape, but the enemy followed so as to capture
them. Evading their pursuers with difficulty, they told the news to the
seamen in the Cinque Ports, and besought aid; nor did the rage of the
Normans abate; for they secured reinforcements, and sought out English
vessels on the seas. They happened on one occasion to fall in with six
English ships, which they attacked; two of them they destroyed, hanging
the men with dogs to the yard-arm, and thus sailed over the seas, making
no difference between a dog and an Englishman. When tidings of this
event were brought to the men of the Cinque Ports by those who had
escaped, they straightway gathered together, and, grimly resolving to
avenge the insult, sought out their enemies.

(A fierce naval engagement followed, in which the English were
victorious.)

When Philip, King of France, received the news of this battle, although
his brother Charles had been the cause of it, he sent to the King of
England messengers who vehemently demanded that reparation should be
made, that those responsible for the engagement should be given up for
punishment, and that a great sum of money should be paid as compensation
for loss to his merchants. To these demands our King prudently answered
that he would reply through his own agents; and, by their mouth, asked
the King of France, as his relative and lord, to appoint a day and
place, where they might both agree to be present, to deliberate on the
matter in a friendly fashion, and to do further whatever the state of
the case demanded. The King of France did not accept this proposal, but,
with the advice of his Barons, commanded the King of England, by writ,
to appear in his Court on a certain day to answer for the
above-mentioned damages. When the English King did not appear on the day
appointed, it was decided and ordained by the Court of the King of
France that he should be disseised of all his lands beyond the seas, and
should be summoned to appear on another day, under pain of forfeiture of
his whole continental possessions.

The King of England, fearing a disturbance--having been warned to that
effect by some of his friends--did not come in person, but sent his
brother, the lord Edmund, Earl of Leicester, on each occasion, with
letters empowering him to do whatever was required by justice. When the
latter appeared with a sufficient mandate on behalf of the King of
England, the French Barons did not receive him, but in the Royal Court
adjudged Gascony, and all the lands of the King of England, forfeited
for contempt. The lord Edmund himself, then, in hope of peace, carried
on divers negotiations with the King of France; so that it was commonly
said that our King would marry the sister of the King of France, and by
that means a settlement be arrived at. Meanwhile the Seneschal of the
King of England in Gascony refused to allow the officers of the King of
France to enter in to take possession of the Duchy, and a great dispute
took place; thereupon the King of France, summoning the lord Edmund to
his presence, asked him, as a friend and as the mediator on behalf of
peace, to allow him to possess himself of four or five cities
only--Bordeaux, Bayonne, Langon, and Marmande--and this in the hope of
peace, for he said he could not sign a treaty of peace unless his Barons
saw the sentence of their Court carried into effect; he promised, on his
honour as a King, that complete peace would follow if this request were
granted. Edmund, saying that he could not dare to take it upon himself
so to do, asked to be allowed to seek the opinion and consent of the
King of England himself. Edward, placing full reliance on his brother's
words, replied by letters patent to the effect that he was content with
and would abide by whatever his brother thought should be done regarding
the matter in his name. When these letters had been received and
reported to the King of France, the King promised in all good faith, and
by his word as a King, that he would restore everything in full peace
after a short time, according to his vow. Edmund, guilelessly trusting
him, and ensnared by the royal promise, did not demand security,
believing that the royal word must be of more value than any safeguard
whatever; and he wrote immediately to the Seneschal of Gascony, ordering
him to give seisin of the cities to the officers of the King of France.
Thereupon the French introduced into Gascony first a few men, then a
large number, by stealth, and finally a great army, openly. The lord
Edmund, being informed of this, and fearing rebellion, asked the King of
France to remember his promise and to forbid it; but the King replied:
"Wait a little, until the forty days have passed, when I shall restore
all." When that time was completed, the lord Edmund again brought the
matter before him, only to receive the immediate reply that a decision
of his Court and judgment by twelve peers could not be revoked without
their consent; then, changing his attitude to one of scorn, Philip
departed.

The lord Edmund ... secretly and in haste left the Court, and, coming to
England to his brother the King, recounted everything in order, not
without great anguish of mind, saying that he had been guilty of folly
and self-deception. But the King, although disturbed in mind by the
news, yet gently comforted his brother, and, hastily summoning his
nobles and John, King of Scotland, held a Parliament at London, in which
he narrated in their presence the whole course of events, and sought
their advice and assistance, saying that he himself intended, even had
he no greater following than one boy and one horse, to prosecute his
rights to the death, and to take vengeance on Philip for his insults;
but the magnates replied unanimously that they would follow him to life
or to death.... The King, thus secure of assistance from his own
subjects, sent two brethren of the Order of Friars Preachers with
letters of presentation to the King of France, to renounce his homage to
the said King.




WRITS OF SUMMONS TO THE PARLIAMENT OF 1295.


1. SUMMONS OF THE ARCHBISHOP AND CLERGY.

+Source.+--_Report on the Dignity of a Peer_, App. I., p. 67.

The King to the venerable father in Christ, Robert, by the same grace,
Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England, greeting.

Even as that most equable law, established by the farseeing wisdom of
the fathers of the Church, exhorts us to remember and ordains that what
concerns all should be approved by all, so it is evident that common
dangers should be provided against by remedies devised in common. You
know, doubtless, for it is, we believe, generally noised abroad
throughout the world, that the King of France has fraudulently and
deceitfully deprived us of our land of Gascony, and wickedly detains it
from us. And now, not content with the aforesaid fraud and wickedness,
he has collected a great fleet and a warlike body of soldiers, with
which he has made hostile advance against our kingdom and the
inhabitants thereof, with intent, if his power correspond to the
detestable iniquity of his intentions, utterly to drive the English
tongue from out the land. Since, therefore, missiles which are foreseen
do less destruction, and since your personal affairs, like those of your
fellow-subjects in this kingdom, are greatly affected by this matter, we
enjoin you, by the faith and love with which you are bound to us, to be
present in person at Westminster on the Sunday after Martinmas this
approaching winter; and premonish the Prior and chapter of your
cathedral, the Archdeacons, and the whole body of clergy, to send with
you the Prior and Archdeacons in person, and one suitable Proctor from
the chapter and two from the clergy, provided with full and sufficient
authority from the said chapter and clergy, to treat, ordain, and take
all necessary measures, together with ourselves and the other prelates
and inhabitants of our kingdom, to meet the dangers and plots directed
against us as aforesaid.

Witness the King at Wengham on the thirtieth day of September.


2. SUMMONS OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF SHIRES AND TOWNS.

+Source.+--_Report on the Dignity of a Peer_, App. I., p. 66.

The King to the Sheriff of Northamptonshire.

Inasmuch as we wish to confer and treat with the Earls, Barons, and
other nobles of our kingdom, in order to provide remedies against the
evils threatening the kingdom in these days, and with that end in view
have instructed them to come to us at Westminster on the Sunday after
Martinmas this approaching winter, to treat, ordain, and take measures
to meet the aforesaid dangers, we enjoin you firmly to cause to be
elected without delay from the aforesaid county two knights, and from
every city two citizens, and from every borough two burgesses, of those
more discreet and ready to take pains, and to make them appear before us
at the aforesaid time and place; provided that the said knights, by
themselves, shall have full and sufficient power for themselves and the
whole body of the aforesaid county, and the said citizens and burgesses,
by themselves, for themselves and the whole body of citizens and
burgesses, to carry out whatsoever shall be ordained by the advice of
all, in regard to the aforesaid matters; provided that the business
shall not remain undone through lack of these powers. And bring with you
the names of the knights, citizens, and burgesses, and this writ.

Witness the King at Canterbury on the third day of October.




EVIL PRIESTS THE CAUSE OF THE PEOPLE'S RUIN.

+Source.+--_Chronicle of Lanercost_ (translated by Sir Herbert Maxwell
in the _Scottish Historical Review_, vol. vii., pp. 283-284).


In like manner, as we know that it is truly written, that evil priests
are the cause of the people's ruin, so the ruin of the realm of Scotland
had its source within the bosom of her own Church, because, whereas they
who ought to have led them (the Scots) misled them, they became a snare
and stumbling-block of iniquity to them, and brought them all to ruin.
For with one consent both those who discharged the office of prelate and
those who were preachers, corrupted the ears and minds of nobles and
commons, by advice and exhortation, both publicly and secretly, stirring
them to enmity against that King and nation who had so effectually
delivered them; declaring falsely that it was far more justifiable to
attack them than the Saracens. Certain mercenary priests also, not
really pastors, pretending to be dealers in wool, had crossed over to
the country of the French at the preceding Feast of S. Lawrence (10th
August, 1294), commissioned by their people to disclose this nefarious
plot to the King (of France). These were the Bishops of St. Andrews and
Dunkeld, who, according to the prophetic saying, "delighted the King by
their wickedness and Princes by their fraud." For, not long afterwards,
they succeeded in making them believe their falsehoods, and sent letters
by their servants announcing that the King of France was most favourably
inclined towards them, and that a huge fleet was setting sail with a
large force of men, and with arms, horses, and provender. In
corroboration whereof the Bishop of St. Andrews sent in advance to
Berwick many new and valuable arms, and also most sumptuous pontifical
vestments, all of which we know were seized and taken by the Bishop of
Durham's sailors in the very mouth of that port.

Also, to confirm what was said by the Holy Job--"the vain man is puffed
up by pride, and thinketh himself to be born as free as a wild ass's
colt"--this foolish people, yielding credence to these rumours, turned
fiercely upon all the English found within their borders, without regard
to age or sex, station or order. For the authority of the Church, which
was very oppressive, decreed that those rectors and vicars of churches
who were of English origin should be ousted and expelled from the
country by a given date; also the stipendiary priests were suspended and
were sentenced to expulsion with their clerical compatriots. Moreover,
the royal authority ejected monks from their monasteries, and unseated
those who were in high office; it even forced laymen out of their own
houses, confiscating under royal sasine[32] or taxing the goods found
therein. Also the biting tongues of certain evil men, who either could
not or dared not do injury by force, composed ballads stuffed with
insults and filth, to the blasphemy of our illustrious Prince and the
dishonour of his race; which, though they be not recorded here, yet will
they never be blotted from the memory of posterity.

[32] A deed giving legal possession of land.




THE VOYAGE OF KYNGE EDWARDE (1296).[33]

+Source.+--_Archæologia_, vol. xxi., p. 478.


(The author of this English account of Edward's expedition is unknown;
the minuteness of the detail would suggest its having been written by
one who took part in the march.)

HERE FOLLOWETH THE VOYAGE OF KYNGE EDWARDE INTO SCOTLANDE, WITH ALL HIS
LODGYNGS BRYEFLY EXPRESSED.

In the xxiiij yer of the raigne of King Edwarde, Ester daie was on the
daie of the Annunciation of owre Lady, and on the Wednesdaie in the
Ester weke beyng the xxviij day of Marche passed Kynge Edwarde the
forenone the Ryver of Twede with v thousand horses coverid and xxx
thousand fotemen, and laie that nyght in Scotland at the Priori of
Calderstreme; and the Thursdaie at Hatton; and the Fridaie toke the
towne of Barwyk upon Twede by force of armes withought tarieng. The
Castell was geven up the same daie by the Lorde William Dowglas, whiche
was in it and the Kynge in the said Castell all that nyght and his hoste
in the towne, everi man in the house that he hath gotten, and the Kynge
taried ther almoste a monthe. And on Saint Georges daie the xxiij day of
Aprill cam newes to the Kynge that they of Scotland had besegeid the
Castell of Dunbarre that longed to the Erle Patrik the whiche holded
strongly with the Kynge of England. And on the Mundaie, the Kynge sente
his men to areyse the siege, but before thei cam the Castell was geven
up the same daie, and the Scottis wer in it when the Englishmen cam to
it and did assige it with iij hostes on the Wednesdaie that they cam
ther; and the Tuesdaie they that wer within sende owte privyly; and the
Thursdaie and Fridaie cam the hoste of the Scottis ner them aboute
none[34] to have raysid the siege of the Englisshmen, and when the
Englisshmen se them come towarde them, then the Englysshmen ran to the
Scottis and discomfite did them and did overcome them, and the chase did
dure well x myles of waie untill it was evenyng; and ther died the Lorde
Patrik of Greahm, a greate lord, and x thousand and lv by right
accompte. And the same Fridaie cam the Kyng from Barwyk to goo to
Dunbarre and laie that night at Coldynghm; the Saturdaie at Dunbarre;
and the same daie they of the Castell gave over at the Kynges pleasure,
and ther was in it therle of Acelelles,[35] the erle of Roos, therle of
Monetet, Syr John Comyn of Bedvaasok,[36] the son of Syr Richard Suard,
Syr William Saintler,[37] and iiij skore men of armes and vij skore
fotemen. Ther taried the Kynge iij daies; the Wednesdaie Ascencion even
the Kynge went to Hadyngton; the Sundaie after to Lowedere;[38] the
Mundaie to Rokesbrough at the Graie Freres, the Kynge lodgeid ther
Tuesdaie at the Castell, and the Kynge taried there xiiij daies. And the
xv daie went to Gardeford;[39] the Thursdaie to Wiel;[40] the
Fridaie to Castelton; the Sundaie bak ageyn to Wiell; the Mundaie to
Gaydeford;[41] the Fridaie to Rokesbrough; the Mondaie after to Lowdere;
the Tuesdaie to the Abbey of Neubattaill; the Wednesdaie to Edenbrough
the abbey, and caused ther to be set up iij engyns castyng into the
Castell day and night; and the v daie thei spake of pees; the
viij daie the Kynge went to his bedde to Lunsta,[42] the engyns
castyng stille before the castell. The Thursdaie wente to
Estrevelyn,[43] and they that were in the castell ran away and left non
but the Porter, which did render the keyes: and theder cam therle of
Stradern to the pees; and the Kynge taried ther v daies. The Wednesdaie
before Saint Johns daie the Kynge passed the Scottish se[44] and laid at
Entrearde[145] his castell, the Thursdaie to Saynt Johns,[46] a metely
goode towne, and ther abode Fridaie, Satordaie, and Sundaie, which was
Saint John Baptist daie; the Mundaie went to Kynge Colowen Castell;[47]
the Tuesdaie to Clony[48] castell, and ther abidde v daies; the Munday
after to Entrecoit[49] Castell; the Tuesday to Forfar Castell, a good
toune; the Friday after to Fernovell;[50] the Saturdaie to Monorous[51]
castell and a good toune, and ther abidde Sundaie, Mondaie, and
Tuesdaie; and ther cam to hym Kynge John of Scotlande to his mercy, and
did render quietly the Realme of Scotlande, as he that had done
amys.[52] Also ther cam to merci therle of Marre, therle of Bochan, Syr
John Comyn of Badenasshe, and many oder. The Wednesdaie went to Kynge
Carden, a faiour manour; the Thursdaie to the mountaigne of
Glowberwy;[53] the Wedeninesdaie to a manour in the Dounes[54] amonge
the mountaignes; the Saturdaie to the cyte of Dabberden,[55] a faire
castell and a good towne upon the see, and taried ther v daies; and
thedar was brought the Kynges enemy Syr Thomas Worhme,[56] Sir Hugh
Saint John did take and xij with hym. The Fridaie after wente to
Kyntorn[57] manner; the Saturdaie to Fyuin[58] Castell; the Sundaie to
Banet[59] Castell; the Mundaie to Incolan[60] maner; the Tuesdaie in
tentis in Lannoy[61] upon the ryver to Repenathe[62] maner in the counte
of Morenue;[63] the Thursdaie to the cite of Deigm,[64] a good Castell
and a good towne, and taried ther ij daies; the Sundaie to Rosers[65]
Maner. The Kynge sente the same daie Syr John Cantelow, Syr Hugh Spencer
and Syr John Hastynges to serche the countrey of Badenasshe, and sente
the Bishopp of Dyresym[66] with his people over the mountaynes by
another way then he wente hymselfe; the Mundaie he wente into
Interkeratche,[67] wher ther was no more then iij houses in a rowe
between too mountaignes. The Tuesdaie to Kyndroken[68] castell
belongying to the erle of Marre, and ther taried Wednesdaie, Sainte
Peturs daie, the first daie of Auguste; on Thursdaie to the hospitall of
Kyncarden in the Marnes;[69] the Saturdaie to the citie of Breghem;[70]
the Sundaie to the Abbey of Burbro-doche,[71] and it was said that the
abbot of that place made the people beleve that there was but women and
no men in Englande; the Mundaie to Dunde; the Tuesdaie to
Balygernatthe,[72] the redde Castell; the Wednesdaie to Saint John of
Perte; the Thursdaie to the Abbey of Loundos,[73] and taried ther the
Fridaie, Seynt Lawrence daie. Saterdaie to the Cite of Saint Andrew, a
castell and a good towne; the Sundaie to Merkynch, wher as is but the
churche and iij houses. Mondaie to the abbey of Donffremelyn,[74] ther
as all the moste of the Kynges of Scottes lieth. The Tuesdaie to
Strevelyn, and taried ther Wednesdaie owre Lady daie; the Thursdaie to
Lansen;[75] the Fridaie to Edenbrough, and ther taried Saturdaie;
Sundaie to Hadyngton; Mundaie to Pikelton,[76] by Dunbarre; Tuesdaie at
Coldyngham; Wednesdaie at Barwyk; and conquerid and serchid the Kyngdom
of Scotland as is aforesaid in xxj wekys withought any more.

[33] In the identification of place-names in this passage, I have
followed Professor Hume Brown, _Early Travellers in Scotland_, pp. 2-6.

[34] Noon.

[35] The Earl of Atholl.

[36] Badenoch.

[37] Sinclair.

[38] Lauder.

[39] Jedburgh.

[40] Whitekirk.

[41] Jedburgh.

[42] Linlithgow.

[43] Stirling.

[44] The River Forth.

[45] Auchterarder.

[46] Perth.

[47] Kinclavin Castle.

[48] Cluny.

[49] Inverquiech.

[50] Farnell.

[51] Montrose.

[52] Amiss.

[53] Glenbervie.

[54] Durris.

[55] Aberdeen.

[56] Warham.

[57] Kintore.

[58] Fyvie.

[59] Banff.

[60] (Inver) Cullen.

[61] Enzie.

[62] Balvenie.

[63] Moray.

[64] Elgin.

[65] Rothes.

[66] Durham.

[67] Innerquharanche.

[68] Kildrummy.

[69] Mearns.

[70] Brechin.

[71] Aberbrothock (Arbroath).

[72] Baledgarno.

[73] Lindores.

[74] Dunfermline.

[75] Linlithgow.

[76] Pinkerton.




THE SIEGE OF BERWICK (1296).

+Source.+--_Chronicle of Lanercost_ (translated by Sir Herbert Maxwell
in the _Scottish Historical Review_, vol. vii., pp. 383-384).


The King solemnly observed the thanksgiving services on Easter Day at
his Castle of Wark, and tried to persuade the head men of Berwick to
surrender, promising them safety in their persons, security for their
possessions, reform of their laws and liberties, pardon for their
offences, so that, had they considered their own safety, they would not
have slighted the proffered grace. But they, on the contrary, being
blinded by their sins, became more scornful, and, while he waited for
three days, they gave no reply to so liberal an offer; so that when he
came to them on the fourth day, addressing them personally in a friendly
manner, they redoubled their insults. For some of them, setting
themselves on the heights, ... reviled the King and his people; others
fiercely attacked the fleet which lay in the harbour awaiting the King's
orders and slew some of the sailors. The women folk, also, bringing fire
and straw, endeavoured to burn the ships. The stubbornness of these
misguided people being thus manifest, the troops were brought into
action, the pride of these traitors was humbled almost without the use
of force, and the city was occupied by the enemy. Much booty was seized,
and no fewer that fifteen thousand of both sexes perished, some by the
sword, others by fire, in the space of a day and a half, and the
survivors, including even little children, were sent into perpetual
exile. Nevertheless, this most clement Prince exhibited towards the dead
that mercy which he had proffered to the living, for I myself beheld an
immense number of men told off to bury the bodies of the fallen, all of
whom, even those who began to work at the eleventh hour, were to receive
as wages a penny apiece at the King's expense.




THE OPPRESSION OF SCOTLAND BY THE ENGLISH
(1296).

+Source.+--John Barbour, _The Bruce_, book i., ll. 179-224.


  Quhen Schyr Edward, the mychty King,
  Had on this wyss done his likyng
  Off Jhone the Balleoll, that swa sone
  Was all defawtyt and wndone,
  To Scotland went he than in hy,[77]
  And all the land gan occupy
  Sa hale that bath castell and toune
  War in-till his possessioune,
  Fra Weik[78] anent[79] Orkenay
  To Mullyr snwk[80] in Gallaway,
  And stuffyt all with Ingliss men.
  Schyrreffys and bailyheys maid he then,
  And alkyn[81] othir officeris
  That for to gowern land afferis[82]
  He maid off Inglis nation;
  That worthyt[83] than sa rych fellone,[84]
  And sa wykkyt and cowatouss,
  And swa hawtane and dispitouss,[85]
  That Scottis men mycht do na thing
  That euir mycht pleyss to thar liking.
  Thar wyffis wald thai oft forly,[86]
  And thar dochtrys dispitusly:
  And gyff ony of thaim thair-at war wrath,
  Thai watyt[87] hym wele with gret scaith;[88]
  For thai suld fynd sone enchesone[89]
  To put hym to destructione.
  And gyff that ony man thaim by
  Had ony thing that wes worthy,
  As horss or hund or othir thing
  That war plesand to thar liking,
  With rycht or wrang it have wald thai.
  And gyf ony wald thaim withsay,[90]
  Thai suld swa do, that thai suld tyne[91]
  Othir land or lyff, or leyff in pyne.[92]
  For thai dempt[93] thaim eftir thair will,
  Takand na kep[94] to rycht na skill.[95]
  A! quhat[96] thai dempt them felonly.
  For gud knychtis that war worthy,
  For litill enchesoune or than nane
  Thai hangyt be the nekbane.
  Als that folk that euir wes fre
  And in fredome wount for to be,
  Throw thar gret myschance and foly
  War tretyt than sa wykkytly
  That thair fays[97] thair jugis[98] war.
  Quhat wrechitnes may man have mar?

[77] Haste.

[78] Wick.

[79] Opposite.

[80] Neck.

[81] All kinds of.

[82] Pertains.

[83] Became.

[84] So monstrously rich.

[85] Despiteful.

[86] Lie with.

[87] Plundered.

[88] Hurt.

[89] Excuse.

[90] Gainsay.

[91] Lose.

[92] Misery.

[93] Judged.

[94] Heed.

[95] Reason.

[96] How.

[97] Foes.

[98] Judges.




THE POPE FORBIDS THE TAXATION OF THE CLERGY (1296-1297).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 113 _et
seqq._ (English Historical Society Publications.)


A.--THE BULL "CLERICIS LAICOS."

Boniface, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, for the perpetual
remembrance of this matter. Ancient writings declare the hostility of
laymen to clerics in a city, and the experience of these present days
confirms it, for laymen, not content with their own, strive to enter a
forbidden sphere, and cast off restraint in quest of unlawful power; nor
do they prudently remember that jurisdiction over clerics and
ecclesiastics and their goods is prohibited to them; on the contrary,
they impose heavy burdens on prelates of churches, churches, and the
regular and secular clergy, talliage them, ... and compel them to
undergo all manner of servitude ...; further, ... some prelates, ...
seeking a transitory peace, ... acquiesce in such abuses, without
obtaining the authority of the Apostolic See. We, therefore, wishing to
prevent such occurrences, by the advice of our brethren, decree by our
apostolic authority, that all prelates or clerics, ... who pay or
promise to laymen imposts or talliages, a half, a tenth, a twentieth, or
a hundredth, of the goods and revenues belonging to themselves and their
churches ... without the authority of the same see; likewise all
Emperors, Kings, Princes, Dukes, Earls, ... and any others ... who
impose, exact, or receive such payments, ... thereby incur the sentence
of excommunication.


B.--ITS RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.

On the day after All Saints in the same year, the King held his
Parliament at St. Edmund's, where he was granted, on his request, a
twelfth by the people, and an eighth by the cities and boroughs; a fifth
was demanded from the clergy, but they replied that they were unable to
grant anything, and the King to receive anything, without each incurring
the sentence of excommunication pronounced in the Bull; a result which
they deemed the King did not desire, and which they knew would be
injurious to themselves. But this reply did not satisfy the King, so
postponement was made to another Parliament to be held at London on the
day after S. Hilary, to see if after mature deliberation in the interval
they would give a more favourable reply. At length the day came, and
when the clergy were assembled, Master Robert of Winchelsea Archbishop
of Canterbury, after hearing the advice of the messengers sent from the
King, replied as follows: "You know well, my lords, for it is
undeniable, that under God Omnipotent we have two lords, one spiritual
and one temporal; our spiritual lord is the Pope and our temporal lord
the King; and although we owe obedience to each, yet in a greater degree
to the spiritual than to the temporal; but with the aim of satisfying
both, we permit and desire our special messengers to be sent at our
expense to our spiritual lord the Pope, in order that we may have
liberty to grant, or, at least, may be informed by him what we are to
do; for we believe that our lord the King fears and wishes to avoid the
sentence of excommunication pronounced in the Bull, even as we do." To
this the King's messengers replied, "Appoint from among yourselves, my
lords, men whom you may send to make these proposals to the lord King;
for we, knowing that his wrath is roused, fear to tell him of them."
When the clergy had done so, the King's anger broke forth, and giving
way to furious rage, he declared the Archbishop of Canterbury himself
and all the clergy of England outside his guardianship and protection;
and ordered that all the lands--even the lands received in gift--of the
Church of England should be taken into his own hand. And, as is
believed, it miraculously happened that, on the very day on which the
King outlawed the clergy, his soldiers were thrown into confusion and
defeated, in Gascony, by the French. Even the King's Justiciar, seated
at the tribunal, in the place of the King, said, publicly, in the
hearing of all who were present: "Do you, who are attorneys of
Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, and Priors, and all other clerics,
announce to your masters that for the future they shall receive no
justice in the King's Court for anything, even though they suffer the
most cruel wrongs; yet justice shall be done on them in the interest of
all who complain against them and wish to have redress. Wonderful to
tell! common justice, which is granted to the people, is, I know not for
what reason, denied to the clergy; so Mother Church, which of old had
dominion over her sons, now walks in bondage and servitude."

But Henry de Newark, Bishop-elect of York, the Bishops of Durham, Ely,
and Salisbury, and some others, fearing the anger of the King, and
imagining some grave danger to be impending, announced that they had in
mind to deposit in their churches a fifth part of the ecclesiastical
property of the year, for the defence of the Church of England and the
warding off of a great crisis, so that they might avoid the King's
anger, and yet not incur the sentence pronounced in the Bull. Thus,
whatever was deposited by the clergy the treasury took into its
possession; by so doing, and under a pretence granting a fifth, these
Churchmen obtained the King's protection. But the Archbishop of
Canterbury remained steadfast, refused to grant or deposit anything, and
chose rather to incur the anger of the King than the sentence of
excommunication; wherefore all his goods were seized, his gold and
silver vessels, and all his horses; and his friends forsook him, nor was
there even anything left for the maintenance of Christ's poor; and it
was ordained, under pain of heavy forfeiture to the King, that no one
should receive him to lodge within a religious house or elsewhere,
heedless of the command of the Apostle, "Receive one another, as Christ
also received you"; and he remained an outcast in the house of a simple
rector, with only one priest and one clerk, not having in the whole
diocese where to lay his head; yet he ordered himself even according to
the word of God, begging publicly, ever ready to die for the Church, and
everywhere protesting that all who had granted anything to the King or
any other lay person, against the will of the lord Pope, had thereby
surely incurred the sentence of excommunication.

The friends of Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln, who also had refused to
perform the King's will, persuaded the Sheriff of Lincoln to take a
fifth part of the Bishop's goods, and then restore him his possessions
and lands. All the monasteries of that same episcopate, and of the whole
Province of Canterbury, were taken into the King's hand, and by his
command wardens were appointed who allowed to the monks the barest
necessaries, while everything else was gathered into the Treasury.
Whereupon the Abbots and Priors, driven by necessity, approached the
King's Court, and redeemed, not their sins, but their own property, by
the payment of a fourth. At that time the clergy received no justice,
and clerks suffered many injuries. Churchmen were even robbed of their
horses on the King's highway, and were unable to obtain justice, till
they ransomed themselves and were received back into the royal
protection.




THE NOBLES REFUSE TO GO TO GASCONY WITHOUT THE KING (1297).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 121 _et
seqq._ (English Historical Society Publications.)


On the Festival of S. Matthew the Apostle in the same year, the King,
having summoned the magnates of the kingdom without the clergy, held a
Parliament at Salisbury, in which he requested some of the nobles to
cross to Gascony. When all began to excuse themselves, the King grew
angry, and threateningly told some of them that they would either go or
that he would bestow their lands on others who were willing to go. At
this many of the Barons were offended, and signs of quarrel began to be
apparent. The Earl of Hereford (who was High Constable), and the Earl
Marshal gave as their excuse that they would willingly perform the
duties which devolved on them by hereditary right, by accompanying the
King in person. The King once more repeated his request to the Earl
Marshal, who replied: "Gladly will I accompany thee, Sir King, preceding
thy royal person in the front rank, as is my hereditary right." "But
thou wilt also accompany the others without me." "I am not bound, nor is
it my will, Sir King, to set out without thee." Thereat, it is said, the
King angrily burst forth: "By God, Sir Earl, thou shalt either go, or
hang." "By the same oath, Sir King," replied the Earl, "I will neither
go nor hang." Then, without making any agreement, he left the council,
which was dissolved for that occasion. Very soon the Earl of Hereford
and the Earl Marshal, gathering round them many Barons, and choosing
more than thirty bannerets, had collected a great host, to the number of
fifteen hundred horsemen armed for battle; and the King began to be
afraid, though he concealed his fear. Then the rebels, going to their
own estates, refused to allow the King's officials to take wool or hides
or to make any unusual exaction, or to extort anything from those
unwilling to give; they even forbade the officials entrance to their
estates, on pain of loss of life and limb, and occupied themselves in
preparations for resistance.

The King, in this same year, abiding by his resolve, ordered all who
owed him service, and all others who held from anyone twenty pounds
worth of land within the kingdom of England, to be at London on the
Feast of S. Peter ad Vincula, with horses and arms, prepared to cross
with him without delay or excuse.... The Earl of Hereford and the Earl
Marshal, who had seceded from the King, when they did not fulfil their
obligations, were dismissed from their offices, and the offices given by
the King to others, who would do his will. The Earls, much incensed
thereat, especially since they were supporting not so much their own
cause as that of the commonalty as a whole, informed the mediators, who
were passing between them and the King, that not only they themselves,
but the whole commonalty of the land, were oppressed beyond all bounds
by unjust exactions, talliages and prises, and especially by the
non-observance of the liberties of the Great Charter; and when they saw
that the King's attitude was unyielding ... they sent messengers to him
... to say that if he would confirm the Charter of Liberties and redress
certain abuses, they were all ready to follow him to life or death....

When the lord King was at Portsmouth almost ready to cross (to
Flanders), the Earls sent messengers to him to seek to know his will
regarding the aforesaid proposals. And the King answered: "My full
council is not here with me, ... and without it I cannot reply to your
demands. But go, tell them that sent you, that if they are willing to
come with me, they will do me a great pleasure; if they are not, I beg
of them not to do injury to me or, at least, to the kingdom."... Then
the aforesaid Earls, with certain Barons their accomplices, returning to
London, forbade the King's Chancellor and his Barons of the Exchequer to
collect the eighth penny of which the King had obtained a grant from the
people, or the fifth from the clergy, or any other exaction or levy. And
they besought the Londoners, as friends and brethren, to assist them to
gain the liberties of the Great Charter, and to take measures for the
recovery of their lost rights, and their preservation, when recovered;
and lest they should afterwards be charged with unlawful robbery or
extortion, the aforesaid Earls caused it to be publicly proclaimed that
no one of their followers was to take anything, however small, from
anyone, without paying the just price, and this under pain of losing the
right hand, or even the head, should the seriousness of the crime so
require. Then they returned to their own lands, doing no hurt or damage
to anyone.




WILLIAM WALLACE (1297).

+Source.+--_The Book of Pluscarden_, pp. 117 _et seqq._ (_Historians of
Scotland_, vol. x.)


The same year, that renowned champion William Wallace, the terror of the
English, the son of a noble knight of the same name, rose in Scotland.
He was very tall of stature, of great bodily strength, pleasant and
merry of countenance, of kindly seeming to all his friends, but terrible
to his foes, bounteous in gifts, most righteous in judgment. Being a
true Scot, he loathed the English nation and their ways; and at the
outset of his rebellion against the English nation, he slew the Sheriff
of Lanark and many others with him. From that time there were gathered
unto him all who were bitter in spirit and weighed down by the burden of
most wretched thraldom under the unbearable domination of the English
nation. He became their leader and one of the Wardens of Scotland; for
he was a man of wonderful courage and daring, of knightly origin. His
brother, Sir Andrew Wallace, was girded with the belt of knighthood, and
was a very distinguished and gallant knight; and his patrimony is still
in the possession of his descendants. He himself, however, overthrew the
English on all sides and was always successful against them, so that by
force and by dint of his prowess he in a short time brought all the
magnates of Scotland under his control, whether they would or no; and,
when all had thus been gained over, he held out manfully, and devoted
himself with all his might to storming the stronger castles and bringing
under the sway and dominion of the Scots the strongholds where the
English were in power, for his aim was ever skilfully to overthrow and
undo the English, always sagaciously casting about to compass by tact
and cunning all he was unable to achieve by force and the strong hand.
In all his doings, and in the carrying out of every undertaking, he
would exhort his comrades always to have the cause of the freedom of
Scotland before their eyes in battle, and to charge in its name. He also
told them off by fives, appointing one to have command and maintain
discipline over four under him, and another over ten, and so with each
of them; and he gave instructions that whoever would not obey his
superiors in the ordering of the battle should be summarily put to
death; and so on up to twenty-five and fifty and a hundred in their
several ranks.... At length the renown of William Wallace's name was so
spread about that the noise of the damage done by him to the natives of
England reached the ears of the King of England, who sent into Scotland
a large force of men-at-arms, with his Treasurer, Hugh Cressingham, to
curb the daring of this William Wallace. On hearing this, William
Wallace, who was then engaged on the siege of Dundee Castle, entrusted
it to the burgesses, and, mustering his forces, set himself without much
ado to oppose the aforesaid Treasurer with all haste. He accordingly
engaged him at Stirling Bridge on the 11th of September, 1297, and made
great havoc among his train. Sir Hugh was killed there, and the remnant
of his army who escaped were put to flight, and returned to England;
many were drowned in the rout. So the said William happily gained the
victory; and here the noble Andrew Murray fell by the sword, with a few
others of Scottish birth. After this, however, William Wallace returned
to the siege of Dundee Castle, and brought that place under his sway;
and, finding there much treasure of the King of England, he generously
distributed it among his companions in arms. Thereupon so great fear and
trembling fell upon the enemy, that some of the wardens of castles left
their castles and fled from the fortified places, while others, after
sacking the castles, demolished the strongest towers and withdrew to
their own country. Now from lack of grain there was a great dearth
before the autumn, on account of which the General gave orders that the
army should make its way into England and live there at the expense of
the enemy, so as to save their own provisions and keep them for the
winter. The aforesaid William Wallace likewise appointed that a gallows
should be set up in every domain, so that all under orders to fight, if
absent or flying from battle at a critical time without leave or
reasonable cause, might be hanged thereon without mercy. When these
matters had been settled and completed, he made his way towards England,
and overran and ravaged the whole of Northumberland as far as Newcastle;
thus he wintered in England at the expense of the enemy, and saved his
country's substance; and he got home again safely with much riches and
honour....

During the time of his rule the Kingdom of Scotland prospered
wonderfully in happiness and in manifold ways; everyone dwelt in safety
with his own, and agriculture began to thrive everywhere. In spite,
however, of all his good deeds and deserts in the interests of the state
and the independence of the crown, certain sons of wickedness and imps
of the devil conspired and devised mischief against him, framing lies
and backbiting him behind his back while speaking him fair to his face
and meditating treachery, saying within their hearts, "We will not have
this man reign over us." But the lower orders and the populace were
exceedingly fond of him, as were also a good many of the older and wiser
of the great men of the kingdom. For God of His loving-kindness sent
this leader to snatch them from the snare of the fowler; and, whereas
the whole of Scotland was unable at that time to defend herself, he,
supported by the help of God and aided by the assistance of S. Andrew
and S. Cuthbert, did his best to free her from the chain of perpetual
slavery, and strove to exalt her with uplifted arm. So the death of the
guileless lamb was devised by those envious haters of the happiness of
mankind; and hard upon his death there followed struggles, the shipwreck
of the clergy of Scotland, the ruin of the people, the downfall of the
kingdom, and the destruction of the state.




THE CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARTERS (1297).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 147-151.
(English Historical Society Publications.)


While such deeds were being wrought by the perfidious race of the Scots,
those of the King's council who were with his son, seeing that great
danger threatened not only the King in distant parts but the whole realm
of England, urged the King's son, who was residing at London within the
city walls for fear of rebellion, to request and require the Earl
Marshal and the Earl of Hereford, who, as has been explained, had
revolted from his father, to join him, in peace and love. So he sent
letters, asking them to come to the Parliament which he was holding in
the stead of his father at London on the tenth day of October. They
acceded to the request of their new ruler and future Prince, and came on
that day, though not defenceless, for they brought with them fifteen
hundred horsemen and a great number of chosen foot-soldiers; they then
refused to enter the city gates until they were allowed to station their
own guards at each gate, in case, entering without weapons, they should
be shut in like sheep in a fold. When this was granted them, they
entered, and after much debate and deliberation, by the mediation of the
venerable father, Master Robert of Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury,
of blessed memory, there was no other form of agreement than that the
lord King himself should grant and confirm Magna Carta with certain
additional articles, and the Charter of the Forest; and that he should
promise to seek or exact in the future no aid or task from the clergy or
people without the goodwill and assent of the Barons; and that he should
set aside all bitterness against them and their associates. Finally, an
agreement was drawn up in writing as follows:

I. Edward, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and
Duke of Aquitaine, to all who shall see or hear these present letters,
greeting. Know that we, for the honour of God and of Holy Church, and
for the good of our whole kingdom, have granted for ourselves and our
heirs, that the Great Charter of Liberties and the Charter of the
Forest, which were made by common assent of the whole realm, in the time
of King Henry our father, shall be observed in every point without
change. And we wish that these same charters be sent under our seal to
our justices, both justices of the forest and others, and to all
sheriffs of counties and to all our other officials, and to all our
cities throughout the land, together with our writs, in which they shall
be enjoined to publish the aforesaid charters, and to tell the people
that we have granted them to be held in every point; and that our
justices, sheriffs, mayors, and other officials who administer the law
of the land under and through us, shall allow these charters in all
their points in pleas before them and in judgments--that is to say, the
Great Charter of Liberties as Common Law; and the Charter of the Forest
according to the Assize of the Forest, for the betterment of our people.

II. And we wish that if any judgments be given henceforth against the
provisions of the aforesaid charters, by justices and other officials of
ours who hold pleas before them contrary to any point contained in the
charters, they shall be undone and held as nought.

III. And we wish that these same charters under our seal be sent to the
cathedral churches throughout our kingdom, and remain there; and that
they be twice a year read before the people.

IV. And Archbishops and Bishops shall pronounce the sentence of great
excommunication against all those who shall come against the aforesaid
charters in act, in deed, or in counsel, or shall infringe or oppose
them in any way; and such sentences shall be pronounced and published
twice a year by the aforesaid prelates. And should the same prelates, or
any of them, be negligent in making the aforesaid denunciation, they
shall, as is fitting, be reproved by the Archbishops of Canterbury and
York for the time being, and compelled to publish the denunciation in
the form aforesaid.

V. And because the people in our kingdom fear lest the aids and tasks,
which they have hitherto given us for our wars and our needs, of their
own grant and their own free will, in whatever manner they have been
made, may become a fixed service for them and their heirs, should they
at some time be found in the rolls, and likewise prises that have been
taken throughout the kingdom by our officials in our own name, we have
granted for ourselves and our heirs, that we shall not turn into a
custom such aids, tasks, and prises, for anything that may be done or
hereafter found in the rolls or in any other manner.

VI. We have also granted, for ourselves and our heirs, to the
Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, and other people of Holy Church,
as also to the Earls and Barons and the commonalty of the whole realm,
that never for any need shall we take in our kingdom such manner of
aids, tasks, and prises, except by common consent of the whole kingdom
and to the common profit thereof, save the ancient aids and prises due
and accustomed.

VII. And forasmuch as the greater part of the commonalty of the realm
feel themselves sore grieved by the maletote of wool, that is to say, a
tax of forty shillings on each sack, and have begged us to release the
same, we have fully released it in answer to their request; and we have
granted that we shall never take it nor any other, without their common
assent and their good will; saving to us and to our heirs the custom on
wool, skins, and leather, before granted by the commonalty of the realm
aforesaid.

In witness whereof we have issued these letters patent. Witness Edward
our son at London, on the tenth day of October, in the twenty-fifth year
of our reign.

And be it remembered that this same charter in the same terms, word for
word, was sealed in Flanders, under the great seal of the King, at
Ghent, on the fifth day of November, in the twenty-fifth year of the
reign of our aforesaid lord the King, and sent to England.




THE BATTLE OF FALKIRK (1298).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 177-181.
(English Historical Society Publications.)


Soon after, when severe famine was attacking the camp,[99] and the King
had decided to return to Edinburgh in order to get provisions by way of
the North Sea, and then advance against the Scots from another
direction, two Earls--the Earl Patrick and the Earl of Angus--came at
dawn on the day preceding the Festival of Mary Magdalene to the Bishop
of Durham, and took him with them to the King. They introduced into the
King's presence a young spy, who said, "Hail, O King"; and the King
replied, "Hail to thee"; then the spy continued: "My lord King, the army
of the Scots, your foes, is only six short leagues away from you, near
Falkirk, in the Forest of Selkirk. Hearing that you are preparing to
return to Edinburgh, they have decided to fall on your camp this
evening, or at least to attack and despoil your outposts." "There is
indeed a God," said the King, "who has hitherto delivered me from all
danger; it will not be necessary for them to follow me, for I shall
proceed against them even this day." Immediately he gave orders for all
to arm, but did not announce whither he intended to go. Clad in full
armour, he mounted his horse in front of the army and exhorted them all
to take up their arms; then he spoke in person to the sellers of wares,
enjoining them to pack their bundles and follow him without fear.
Finally, when all was ready, about the third hour, the King left
Kirkliston, and directed his march towards the place which goes by the
name of Falkirk. And all wondered that he had changed his intentions,
and caused the army to advance slowly and dispersedly without any haste.

When they had come to a moor nigh to Linlithgow, they spent the night
there, resting on the ground, with their shields for pillows and their
weapons for couches. The horses, which had tasted nothing but hard iron,
were picketed each near his master; after they had halted for some time,
and the night was about half-way over, it happened that the King's
war-horse, which was guarded somewhat carelessly by a small boy, in
stamping its foot, struck the sleeping King. So soon as the news spread
that the King was hurt, someone raised the cries of "treachery" and "the
enemy are upon us." Whereupon they got themselves ready and were eager
for battle. But when the true version of the incident became known, that
the King was but slightly hurt, they felt pity for him, and the
excitement vanished. Then the King rose immediately, and they set out
and passed through the town of Linlithgow at the dawn of the day. When
they raised their eyes and looked at the hill opposite, they saw on its
crest a number of spearmen. Believing them to be the army of the Scots,
they hastened to ascend the slopes of the hill in battle array, but when
they reached the top, found none. On this spot a tent was pitched, and
the King and the Bishop heard the Mass of the Magdalene (the Magdalene
being the saint of the day). While the celebration was taking place, and
it was light enough for them to see one another, our men saw the Scots
at a distance arranging their lines and preparing for battle. They had
drawn up all their men in four circular bodies on the hard ground of a
slope near Falkirk. These circles were composed of spearmen, with their
spears pointing upwards; they were joined one to another, and stood with
their faces turned towards the circumference of the circles. Between the
circles were spaces, occupied by archers; in the extreme rear were the
cavalry. When, on the conclusion of Mass, the King was informed of what
could be seen, he hesitated, and proposed that they should pitch their
tents until horses and men had broken their fast, for they had not
partaken of food from the third hour of the previous day. But his men
answered: "It is not safe here, O King, for between the two armies there
is only a small stream." "And what of that?" asked the King. "Let us
advance in the name of the Lord," replied they, "for the field is ours
and the victory is ours." "So let it be," said the King, "in the name of
the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

Immediately the leaders of the front rank--the Earl Marshal, the Earl of
Hereford, and the Earl of Lincoln--advanced straight towards the enemy,
not knowing that there was a morass in the intervening ground. When they
saw it, they made a detour round it on the west side, and so were
delayed in their arrival; but the second rank, that of the Bishop of
Durham, composed of thirty-six chosen veterans, knowing that the morass
was in their way, struck out to the east to avoid it. As they hastened
at full speed in order to be the first to engage, the Bishop commanded
them to await the approach of the King's third line. Ralph Basset, of
Drayton, a valiant soldier, answered him: "It is not your part, my lord
Bishop, to give us our fighting orders at this moment when you ought to
be engaged in celebrating Mass. Go, if you wish to celebrate Mass, for
this day we shall all act as befits soldiers." They hastened on, and
soon after engaged the first circle of the Scots; then the aforesaid
Earls came up from the other side with the first rank. As soon as our
men approached, the Scots cavalry fled without striking a blow, a few
only remaining to give orders to the foot-soldiers, who were drawn up in
circles called "schiltrons." Among them was the brother of the Seneschal
of Scotland, who, when he was directing the bowmen of the Forest of
Selkirk, fell by chance from his horse, and was slain among the bowmen,
who surrounded him and died with him. They were men of comely build and
commanding stature. When the bowmen were thus cut down, our men
proceeded to attack the Scots spearmen, who, as we have said, were
stationed in circles, with sloping spears, after the manner of a
closely-planted wood. And while our horsemen could not advance for the
number of spears, those of the enemy on the outside struck at and
pierced several with their spears. But our foot-soldiers shot at them
with arrows, and then, securing a quantity of round stones, of which
there was abundance near, stoned them. So, when many had been slain and
the others confounded, the remainder of the outer ring were thrown back
on the others, and our horsemen broke in and swept the field.

There fell of the Scots on that day, besides an unknown number who were
drowned and about twenty horsemen, 50,000 foot-soldiers. The army of the
Scots, according to the report given by prisoners, numbered about 1,000
horsemen, and about 300,000 foot-soldiers. But the Lord preserved our
men, and no man of note fell in the whole battle save only the Master of
the Knights of the Temple, who was caught in a morass and slain while he
pursued the fugitives.

[99] The English army was at this time encamped at Kirkliston, in
Linlithgowshire, about eight miles west of Edinburgh.




SCOTLAND AFTER FALKIRK (1298-1303).

+Source.+--_The Book of Pluscarden_, pp. 168 _et seqq._ (_Historians
of Scotland_, vol. x.)


After the battle lost (by the Scots) at Falkirk, the King of England did
not for the nonce personally come north of the Firth of Forth; but he
sent a very large force, which ravaged the whole land of Fife and all
the adjacent lands of the town of Perth, and killed great numbers of the
inhabitants of those lands; and when this force came back, the said King
and his men went home again with immense booty. This, no doubt, was
God's doing; for if then, or after the engagement at Dunbar and the
capture of King John, he had tarried in the country, he would, as is
believed, either have subdued to his sway the whole land of Scotland and
its inhabitants, or have laid it waste, all but the water and the
stones. As, however, he was very busy elsewhere, he could not attend to
everything at one and the same time. So he and his men went back, after
appointing administrators, officers, and wardens of the castles in
Scotland, in the parts, namely, beyond the Forth, which part of the
country was then fully under his dominion, with the exception of a few
outlaws of the nation of the true Scots, who lived in the woods and were
lurking in caves in rocks and glens, and who, on account of the
slaughter and losses they had inflicted on both English and Anglicised
Scots, durst not appear openly in the sight of the people. But at this
time John Comyn, the Chief Warden of Scotland, and his son, and Simon
Fraser, called Fresail, warlike men, stalwart, and endowed with every
virtue, together with their partisans and followers, day and night lay
in wait for the aforesaid officers, bailiffs, and wardens of castles of
the King of England, and greatly harassed the aforesaid English, as also
the Anglicised Scots, as above stated; and for four years or more they
kept harrying one another with mutual slaughter and divers scourges and
torments....

In the year 1303 the King of England entered Scotland with a very large
force, which he had brought with him from both England and Wales,
Gascony, Ireland, and Savoy--the Count of which was there in person, as
well as the Prince of Wales--both by land and by sea, ... with the
deliberate design of peacefully settling in that land of Scotland
altogether and subduing it for ever, or, on the other hand, entirely
sweeping away its inhabitants and leaving the said land a waste. The
King, therefore, scouring the whole country over hill and dale as far as
Lochindorb,[100] received oaths of fealty and homage from all the
inhabitants, and himself personally brought the northern parts under his
dominion. Then, after appointing his royal officials and officers in the
towns and castles, the King went about exploring the country, and
brought it all under his allegiance and dominion; and he remained at
Dunfermline to spend the winter, and no one in all Scotland hindered
him, or brought force to bear against him; but he rested in peace until
Candlemas. In this year Edward of Carnarvon, then Prince of Wales, spent
some time in the town of Perth, and during the whole of this time food
was so plentiful and abundant in Scotland that a laggen[101] of good
beer sold commonly for twopence, and a laggen, Scottish measure, of good
wine for eightpence. The same year, after the whole people of Scotland
had made its submission to the King of England, John Comyn, then Head
Warden, and all the magnates of Scotland, except that noble leader
William Wallace, and his partisans and followers, were little by little
brought by the aforesaid King to make their submission and swear
allegiance to him, giving up to him the towns, castles, and all the
strongholds but Stirling Castle and its garrison....

Just after the Easter Festival, the said King Edward besieged Stirling
Castle for three months without a break; and he ordered the whole of the
lead of the monastery of St. Andrews to be stripped off and carried to
Stirling aforesaid for the construction of the engines for the siege. At
length, however, the warden of the said castle, William Oliphant by
name, surrendered the castle to him, under a certain condition in
writing and under seal. But, notwithstanding his promise, the King, on
taking the castle, belied his word and broke through the condition by
taking the said William Oliphant, the warden of the said castle, in
bonds with him to London, and consigning him to a fearful dungeon. The
same year also, when he had taken castles, towns and all the other
strongholds, and the whole of the leading lords of the realm had made
their submission to him, and the whole of the castles and towns formerly
destroyed had been rebuilt, and there was no one but William Wallace
alone who remained faithful to the King of Scotland; and after he had
appointed wardens and officers of his own there, and all and sundry of
the Scottish nation had taken the oaths of fealty and homage, the said
King, together with the Prince of Wales and their armies, went back to
England, leaving, however, one Chief Warden as his lieutenant to put
down and chastise any outbreaks by any of the rest, both Scottish and
English; and he never afterwards showed his face in Scotland. After his
departure, the English nation lorded it in every part of Scotland,
harassing the Scots in many and manifold ways, and ruthlessly doing them
to death with wrongs, massacres, and stripes, under the awful yoke of
slavery.

[100] Near Elgin.

[101] Probably in about seven quarts.




ROBERT THE BRUCE CROWNED KING OF SCOTLAND (1306).

+Source.+--_Nicholas Trivet's Annals_, pp. 407-408. (English
Historical Society Publications.)


In the same year, on the twenty-ninth day of January, Robert the Bruce,
aspiring to the kingdom of Scotland, sacrilegiously slew the noble John
Comyn, who had refused to abet his treacherous rebellion, in the church
of the Minorite Brethren at Dumfries, in the castle of which town the
King's justices were then sitting. Thereafter, on the Feast of the
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, he had himself solemnly crowned King
in the abbey of Canons Regular at Scone. The wife of the Earl of Buchan
secretly departed from her husband, taking all his war-horses with her,
and hastened to Scone to place the diadem on the head of the new King;
for her brother, the Earl of Fife, on whom devolved the duty by
hereditary right, was then absent in England. This Countess was captured
in the same year by the English, but, when some of them wished to put
her to death, the King interfered; instead, he confined her in a wooden
cage on the wall of the Castle of Berwick, so that she might be seen by
the passers-by.




DEATH OF EDWARD THE FIRST (1307).

+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 266-267.
(English Historical Society Publications.)


When the evil intents of the new King (Robert the Bruce) became known,
our King sent to the nobles of the land ordering them to come to
Carlisle, ready for war, a fortnight after the blessed John the
Baptist's day. In the interval, because the King was afflicted with
severe dysentery, and none had speech with him save with his attendants,
it was noised abroad among the people that the King was dead. Edward,
hearing this, ordered everything to be prepared for his journey to
Scotland, and moved his camp almost two miles from Carlisle on the third
day of July--a Monday; on the Tuesday he rode almost two miles; on the
fourth day of the week he rested, but on the Thursday he proceeded to
Burgh-on-Sands, and there he proposed to remain over the following day.
It was his habit and custom almost every day to remain in bed until the
ninth hour; but on the Friday, when he was being raised up by his
attendants to partake of food, he expired in their arms. The King
departed from this world on the day of the translation of S. Thomas,
Archbishop and martyr; his servants concealed the death of the King
until his son and the nobles of the kingdom should come, and many were
imprisoned for proclaiming it. When the Prince his son and the other
nobles arrived, they decreed that the King's body should be removed with
all honour to the south by his Treasurer, the Bishop of Chester, and all
his household, and should remain in the church of the monks of Waltham
until some definite policy should be adopted regarding Scotland, and
there should be leisure to arrange for sepulture; and this was done.

 EPITAPH OF EDWARD I.

 HIC JACET EDWARDUS PRIMUS, MALLEUS SCOTORUM. PACTUM SERVA.

 (Here lies Edward the First, the Hammer of the Scots. Keep troth.)


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