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THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND
FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY III. TO THE DEATH OF EDWARD III.
(1216-1377)
BY
T.F. TOUT, M.A.
Professor of Mediæval and Modern History
in the University of Manchester.
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN TWELVE VOLUMES
Seventy-six years have passed since Lingard completed his HISTORY OF
ENGLAND, which ends with the Revolution of 1688. During that period
historical study has made a great advance. Year after year the mass of
materials for a new History of England has increased; new lights have
been thrown on events and characters, and old errors have been
corrected. Many notable works have been written on various periods of
our history; some of them at such length as to appeal almost
exclusively to professed historical students. It is believed that the
time has come when the advance which has been made in the knowledge of
English history as a whole should be laid before the public in a single
work of fairly adequate size. Such a book should be founded on
independent thought and research, but should at the same time be
written with a full knowledge of the works of the best modern
historians and with a desire to take advantage of their teaching
wherever it appears sound.
The vast number of authorities, printed and in manuscript, on which a
History of England should be based, if it is to represent the existing
state of knowledge, renders co-operation almost necessary and certainly
advisable. The History, of which this volume is an instalment, is an
attempt to set forth in a readable form the results at present attained
by research. It will consist of twelve volumes by twelve different
writers, each of them chosen as being specialty capable of dealing with
the period which he undertakes, and the editors, while leaving to each
author as free a hand as possible, hope to insure a general similarity
in method of treatment, so that the twelve volumes may in their
contents, as well as in their outward appearance, form one History.
As its title imports, this History will primarily deal with politics,
with the History of England and, after the date of the union with
Scotland, Great Britain, as a state or body politic; but as the life of
a nation is complex, and its condition at any given time cannot be
understood without taking into account the various forces acting upon
it, notices of religious matters and of intellectual, social, and
economic progress will also find place in these volumes. The footnotes
will, so far as is possible, be confined to references to authorities,
and references will not be appended to statements which appear to be
matters of common knowledge and do not call for support. Each volume
will have an Appendix giving some account of the chief authorities,
original and secondary, which the author has used. This account will be
compiled with a view of helping students rather than of making long
lists of books without any notes as to their contents or value. That
the History will have faults both of its own and such as will always in
some measure attend co-operative work, must be expected, but no pains
have been spared to make it, so far as may be, not wholly unworthy of
the greatness of its subject.
Each volume, while forming part of a complete History, will also in
itself be a separate and complete book, will be sold separately, and
will have its own index, and two or more maps.
Vol. I. to 1066. By Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., Litt.D., Fellow of
University College, London; Fellow of the British Academy.
Vol. II. 1066 to 1216. By George Burton Adams, M.A., Professor of
History in Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Vol. III. 1216 to 1377. By T.F. Tout, M.A., Professor of Medieval and
Modern History in the Victoria University of Manchester; formerly
Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.
Vol. IV. 1377 to 1485. By C. Oman, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College,
and Deputy Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford.
Vol. V. 1485 to 1547. By H.A.L. Fisher, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of New
College, Oxford.
Vol. VI. 1547 to 1603. By A.F. Pollard, M.A., Professor of
Constitutional History in University College, London.
Vol. VII. 1603 to 1660. By F.C. Montague, M.A., Professor of History in
University College, London; formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
Vol. VIII. 1660 to 1702. By Richard Lodge, M.A., Professor of History
in the University of Edinburgh; formerly Fellow of Brasenose College,
Oxford.
Vol. IX. 1702 to 1760. By I.S. Leadam, M.A., formerly Fellow of
Brasenose College, Oxford.
Vol. X. 1760 to 1801. By the Rev. William Hunt, M.A., D. Litt, Trinity
College, Oxford.
Vol. XI. 1801 to 1837. By the Hon. George C. Brodrick, D.C.L., late
Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and J K. Fotheringham, M.A., Magdalen
College, Oxford, Lecturer in Classics at King's College, London.
Vol. XII. 1837 to 1901. By Sidney J Low, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford,
formerly Lecturer on History at King's College, London.
The Political History of England
IN TWELVE VOLUMES
EDITED BY WILLIAM HUNT, D. LITT., AND
REGINALD L. POOLE, M.A.
III.
THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND
FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY III. TO THE
DEATH OF EDWARD III.
1216-1377
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE REGENCY OF WILLIAM MARSHAL.
19 Oct., 1216. Death of King John
Position of parties
The Church on the king's side
28 Oct. Coronation of Henry III
11 Nov. Great council at Bristol
12 Nov. The first charter of Henry III
1216-17. Progress of the war
1217. Rising of Wilkin of the Weald
Louis' visit to France
22 April. Return of Louis from France
Sieges of Dover, Farnham, and Mount Sorrel
20 May. The fair of Lincoln
23 Aug. The sea-fight off Sandwich
11 Sept. Treaty of Lambeth
6 Nov. Reissue of the great charter
Restoration of order by William Marshal
14 May, 1219. Death of William Marshal
His character and career
CHAPTER II.
THE RULE OF HUBERT DE BURGH.
1219. Pandulf the real successor of William Marshal
July, 1221. Langton procures Pandulf's recall
Ascendency of Hubert de Burgh
Jan.-Feb., 1221. The rebellion of Albemarle
July, 1222. The sedition of Constantine FitzAthulf
1221-24. Marriage alliances
1219-23. War in Wales
April, 1223. Henry III. declared by the pope competent to govern
June, 1224. Revolt of Falkes de Bréauté
20 June-14 Aug. Siege of Bedford
Fall of Falkes
Papal and royal taxation
April, 1227. End of the minority
Relations with France during the minority
The Lusignans and the Poitevin barons
1224. Louis VIII.'s conquest of Poitou
1225. Expedition of Richard of Cornwall and William
Longsword to Gascony
Nov., 1226. Accession of Louis IX. in France
1229-30. Henry III.'s campaign in Brittany and Poitou
21-30 July, 1230. Siege of Mirambeau
1228. The Kerry campaign
2 May, 1230. Death of William of Braose
1231. Henry III.'s second Welsh campaign
Aug. Death of Archbishop Richard le Grand
Gregory IX. and Henry III.
1232. Riots of Robert Twenge
29 July. Fall of Hubert de Burgh
1231. Death of William Marshal the Younger
1232. Death of Randolph of Blundeville, Earl of Chester
CHAPTER III.
THE ALIEN INVASION.
1232-34. Rule of Peter des Roches
Aug., 1233. Revolt of Richard Marshal
23 Nov. Fight near Monmouth
1234. Richard Marshal in Ireland
1 April. Defeat and death of the Earl Marshal near Kildare
2 April. Edmund Rich consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury
9 April. Fall of Peter des Roches
Beginning of Henry III.'s personal government
Character of Henry III.
The alien invasions
14 Jan., 1236. Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Provence
The Savoyards in England
Revival of Poitevin influence
1239. Simon of Montfort Earl of Leicester
1237. The legation of Cardinal Otto
1239. Quarrel of Gregory IX. and Frederick II.
1235. Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln
16 Nov., 1240. Death of Edmund Rich in exile
Henry III. and Frederick II.
Attempted reconquest of Poitou
May-Sept., 1242. The campaign of Taillebourg
1243. Truce with France
The Lusignans in England
The baronial opposition
Grosseteste's opposition to Henry III., and Innocent IV.
1243. Relations with Scotland and Wales
1240. Death of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth
1246. Death of David ap Llewelyn
CHAPTER IV.
POLITICAL RETROGRESSION and NATIONAL PROGRESS.
1248-58. Characteristics of the history of these ten years
Decay of Henry's power in Gascony
1248-52. Simon de Montfort, seneschal of Gascony
Aug., 1253. Henry III. in Gascony
1254. Marriage and establishment of Edward the king's son
Edward's position in Gascony
Edward's position in Cheshire
1254. Llewelyn ap Griffith sole Prince of North Wales
Edward in the four cantreds and in West Wales
1257. Welsh campaign of Henry and Edward
Revival of the baronial opposition
1255. Candidature of Edmund, the king's son, for Sicily
1257. Richard of Cornwall elected and crowned King of the Romans
Leicester as leader of the opposition
Progress in the age of Henry III
The cosmopolitan and the national ideals
French influence
The coming of the friars
1221. Gilbert of Freynet and the first Dominicans in England
1224. Arrival of Agnellus of Pisa and the first Franciscans
in England
Other mendicant orders in England
The influence of the friars
The universities
Prominent English schoolmen
Paris and Oxford
The mendicants at Oxford
Roger Bacon and Duns Scotus
Academic influence in public life
Beginnings of colleges
Intellectual characteristics of thirteenth century
Literature in Latin and French
Literature in English
Art
Gothic architecture
The towns and trade
CHAPTER V.
THE BARONS' WAR.
2 April, 1258. Parliament at London
11 June. The Mad Parliament
The Provisions of Oxford
22 June. Flight of the Lusignans
Appointment of the Fifteen
Working of the new Constitution
4 Dec., 1259. Treaty of Paris
Its unpopularity in England and France
1259. Dissensions among the baronial leaders
1259. Provisions of Westminster
1261. Henry III.'s repudiation of the Provisions
1263. Reconstitution of parties
The changed policy of the marchers
Outbreak of civil war
The appeal to Louis IX
23 Jan., 1264. Mise of Amiens
Renewal of the struggle
4 April. Sack of Northampton
The campaign in Kent and Sussex
14 May. Battle of Lewes
Personal triumph of Montfort
CHAPTER VI.
THE RULE OF MONTFORT AND THE ROYALIST RESTORATION.
15 May. Mise of Lewes
15 Dec. Provisions of Worcester
Jan.-Mar., 1265. The Parliament of 1265
Split up of the baronial party
Quarrel of Leicester and Gloucester
28 May. Edward's escape
22 June. Treaty of Pipton
Small results of the alliance of Llewelyn and the barons
The campaign in the Severn valley
4 Aug. Battle of Evesham
The royalist restoration
1266. The revolt of the Disinherited
15 May. Battle of Chesterfield
31 Oct. The _Dictum de Kenilworth_
Michaelmas. The Ely rebellion
April, 1267. Gloucester's support of the Disinherited
July. End of the rebellion
25 Sept. Treaty of Shrewsbury
1267. Statute of Marlborough
1270-72. Edward's Crusade
16 Nov., 1272. Death of Henry III
CHAPTER VII.
THE EARLY FOREIGN POLICY AND LEGISLATION OF EDWARD I.
Character of Edward I.
1272-74. Rule of the regency
Edward's doings in Italy and France
Edward's relations with Philip III.
1273-74. Wars of Béarn and Limoges
Edward I. and Gregory X.
May-July, 1274. Council of Lyons
Relations of Edward I. and Rudolf of Hapsburg
23 May, 1279. Treaty of Amiens
1281. League of Macon
1282. Sicilian vespers
1285. Deaths of Philip III., Charles of Anjou, Peter of
Aragon, and Martin IV.
Bishop Burnell
1275. Statute of Westminster, the first
1278. Statute of Gloucester
Hundred Rolls and _placita de quo warranto_
Archbishops Kilwardby and Peckham
1279. Statute of Mortmain
1285. _Circumspecte agatis_
1285. Statute of Westminster, the second (De _Donis_)
1285. Statute of Winchester
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CONQUEST OF NORTH WALES.
Execution of the Treaty of Shrewsbury
Llewelyn's refusal of homage
1277. Edward's first Welsh campaign
1277. Treaty of Aberconway
Edward's attempts to introduce English law into the
ceded districts
1282. The Welsh revolt
1282. Edward's second Welsh campaign
Llewelyn's escape to the Upper Wye
11 Dec. Battle of Orewyn Bridge
1283. Parliaments and financial expedients
Subjection of Gwynedd completed
3 Oct. Parliament of Shrewsbury and execution of David
The Edwardian castles
Mid-Lent, 1284. Statute of Wales
Effect of the conquest upon the march
Peckham and the ecclesiastical settlement of _Wales_
1287. Revolt of Rhys ap Meredith
CHAPTER IX.
THE SICILIAN AND THE SCOTTISH ARBITRATIONS.
Edward I. at the height of his fame
April, 1286-Aug 1289, Edward's long visit to France
1289. The Sicilian arbitration
1287. Treaty of Oloron
1288. Treaty of Canfranc
1291. Treaty of Tarascon
Maladministration during Edward's absence
Judicial and official scandals
1289. Special commission for the trial of offenders
1290. Statute of Westminster, the third (_Quia emptores_)
The feud between Gloucester and Hereford
1291. The courts at Ystradvellte and Abergavenny
Humiliation of the marcher earls
1290. Expulsion of the Jews
The rise of the Italian bankers
1272-86. Early relations of Edward to Scotland
1286. Death of Alexander III. of Scotland
1286-89. Regency in the name of the Maid of Norway
1289. Treaty of Salisbury
1290. Treaty of Brigham
Death of the Maid of Norway
The claimants to the Scottish throne
May, 1291. Parliament of Norham. Edward recognised as overlord
of Scotland
1291-92. The great suit for Scotland
17 Nov., 1292. John Balliol declared King of Scots
Edward's conduct in relation to Scotland
1290. Death of Eleanor of Castile
Transition to the later years of the reign
Edward's later ministers
CHAPTER X.
THE FRENCH AND SCOTTISH WARS AND THE CONFIRMATION OF
THE CHARTERS.
Commercial rivalry of English and French seamen
15 May, 1293. Battle off Saint-Mahé
1294. Edmund of Lancaster's failure to procure a settlement
with Philip IV.
The French occupation of Gascony
June, 1294. War with France
Preparations for a French campaign
1294. Revolts of Madog, Maelgwn, and Morgan
Edward's danger at Aberconway
22 Jan., 1293. Battle of Maes Madog
July. Welsh revolts suppressed
1295. Failure of the Gascon campaign
Failure of attempted coalition against France
Organisation of the English navy
Treason of Sir Thomas Turberville
The naval attack on England
Rupture between Edward and the Scots
5 July. Alliance between the French and Scots
Nov. The "Model Parliament"
1296. Gascon expedition and death of Edmund of Lancaster
Edward's invasion of Scotland
27 April. Battle of Dunbar
10 July. Submission of John Balliol
Conquest and administration of Scotland
The Ragman Roll
Sept., 1294. Consecration of Archbishop Winchelsea
29 Feb., 1296. Boniface VIII. issues _Clericis laicos_.
Conflict of Edward and Winchelsea
24 Feb., 1297. Parliament at Salisbury
Conflict of Edward with the earls
July. Break up of the clerical opposition
Increasing moderation of baronial opposition
24 Aug. Edward's departure for Flanders
May. Revolt of the Scots under William Wallace.
11 Sept. Battle of Stirling Bridge.
12 Oct. Confirmation of the charters with new clauses.
CHAPTER XI.
THE SCOTTISH FAILURE.
1297. Edward's unsuccessful campaign in Flanders
31 Jan., 1298. Truce of Tournai, and end of the French war
July. Edward's invasion of Scotland
22 July. Battle of Falkirk
Slowness of Edward's progress towards the conquest
of Scotland
19 June, 1299. Treaty of Montreuil
9 Sept. Marriage of Edward and Margaret of France
Mar., 1300. _Articuli super cartas_
July-Aug. Carlaverock campaign
20 Jan.-14 Feb., 1301. Parliament of Lincoln
The barons' letter to the pope
Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales
1302. Philip IV.'s troubles with the Flemings and Boniface VIII
20 May, 1303. Peace of Paris between Edward and Philip
Increasing strength of Edward's position
The decay of the earldoms
Additions to the royal demesne
1303. Conquest of Scotland seriously undertaken
24 July, 1304. Capture of Stirling
Aug., 1305. Execution of Wallace and completion of the conquest
The settlement of the government of Scotland
1305. Disgrace of Winchelsea and Bek
Edward I. and Clement V.
1307. Statute of Carlisle
1305. Ordinance of Trailbaston
10 Jan., 1306. Murder of Comyn
Rising of Robert Bruce
25 Mar. Bruce crowned King of Scots
Preparations for a fresh conquest of Scotland
7 July, 1307. Death of Edward I.
CHAPTER XII.
GAVESTON, THE ORDAINERS, AND BANNOCKBURN.
Character of Edward II.
1307. Peter Gaveston Earl of Cornwall
25 Jan., 1308. Marriage of Edward with Isabella of France
25 Feb. Coronation of Edward II.
Power and unpopularity of Gaveston
8 May. Gaveston exiled
July 1309. Return of Gaveston condoned by Parliament at Stamford
1310. Renewal of the opposition of the barons to Gaveston
16 Mar. Appointment of the lords ordainers
Sept. Abortive campaign against the Scots
Character and policy of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster
1311. The ordinances
Nov., 1311, Jan., 1312. Gaveston's second exile and return
The earls at war against Edward and Gaveston
Gaveston's surrender at Scarborough
19 June, 1312. Murder of Gaveston
Consequent break up of the baronial party
Oct., 1313. Edward and Lancaster reconciled
May. Death of Archbishop Winchelsea
1312. Fall of the Templars
Walter Reynolds Archbishop of Canterbury
Complaints of papal abuses
Progress of Bruce's power in Scotland
1314. The siege of Stirling
An army collected for its relief
24 June, Battle of Bannockburn
The results of the battle
CHAPTER XIII.
LANCASTER, PEMBROKE, AND THE DESPENSERS.
Failure of the rule of Thomas of Lancaster
1315. Revolts of Llewelyn Bren
1315. Rising of Adam Banaster.
1316. The Bristol disturbances.
1315. Edward Bruce's attack on the English in Ireland.
1317. Roger Mortimer in Ireland.
1318. Death of Edward Bruce at Dundalk.
Lancaster's failure and the break up of his party.
Pembroke and the middle party.
9 Aug. Treaty of Leek and the supremacy of the middle party.
1314-18. Progress of Robert Bruce.
1319. Renewed attack on Scotland.
Battle of Myton.
Rise of the Despensers.
1317. The partition of the Gloucester inheritance.
1320. War between the husbands of the Gloucester heiresses
in South Wales.
June, 1321. Conferences at Pontefract and Sherburn.
July. The exile of the Despensers.
Break up of the opposition after their victory.
23-31 Oct., 1321. The siege of Leeds Castle.
Jan.-Feb., 1322. Edward's successful campaign in the march.
11 Feb. Recall of the Despensers.
The king's march against the northern barons.
16 Mar. Battle of Boroughbridge.
22 Mar. Execution of Lancaster.
2 May. Parliament at York and repeal of the ordinances.
The triumph of the Despensers.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FALL OF EDWARD II. AND THE RULE OF ISABELLA AND MORTIMER.
Aug. Renewed attack on the Scots.
Oct. Edward II.'s narrow escape at Byland.
Mar., 1323. Treason and execution of Andrew Harclay.
Incapacity of the Despensers as administrators.
Their quarrels with the old nobles.
1324. Their breach with Queen Isabella.
Their chief helpers: Walter Stapledon and Ralph Baldock.
Reaction against the Despensers.
1303-14. Relations of England and France.
1314-22. Edward's dealings with Louis X. and Philip V.
1322. Accession of Charles IV.
1324. Affair of Saint-Sardos.
Renewal of war. Sequestration of Gascony. Charles
of Valois' conquest of the Agenais and La Réole.
Isabella's mission to Paris.
Edward of Aquitaine's homage to Charles IV.
1325. Treachery of Charles IV. and second sequestration of
Gascony.
1326. Relations of Mortimer and Isabella
The Hainault marriage
23 Sept. Landing of Isabella and Mortimer
Riots in London: murder of Stapledon
26 Oct. Execution of the elder Despenser
16 Nov. Capture of Edward and the younger Despenser
Triumph of the revolution
7 Jan., 1327. Parliament's recognition of Edward of Aquitaine as king
20 Jan. Edward II.'s resignation of the crown
24 Jan. Proclamation of Edward III.
22 Sept., 1328. Murder of Edward II.
1327-30. Rule of Isabella and Mortimer
1327. Abortive Scottish campaign
April, 1328. Treaty of Northampton; "the shameful peace"
Character and ambition of Mortimer
Oct. Mortimer Earl of the March of Wales
Henry of Lancaster's opposition to him
Mar., 1330. Execution of the Earl of Kent
Oct. Parliament at Nottingham
19 Oct. Arrest of Mortimer
29 Nov. His execution
1330-58. Later life of Isabella
CHAPTER XV.
THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR.
Character and policy of Edward III.
1330-40. The rule of the Stratfords
1337. The new earldoms
Scotland during the minority of David Bruce
Edward Balliol and the Disinherited
6 Aug., 1332. The Disinherited in Scotland
Battle of Dupplin Moor
6 Aug.-16 Dec. Edward Balliol's brief reign and expulsion
Treaty of Roxburgh
1333. Attempt to procure his restoration
Siege of Berwick
19 July. Battle of Halidon Hill
Edward Balliol restored
12 June, 1334. Treaty of Newcastle, ceding to Edward south-eastern
Scotland
Failure of Edward Balliol
1334-36. Edward III.'s Scottish campaigns
1341. Return of David Bruce from France
1327-37. Relations of England and France
31 Mar., 1327. Treaty of Paris
Edward's lands in Gascony after the treaty of Paris
1328. Accession of Philip of Valois in France
Protests of the English regency
1328. The legal and political aspects of the succession
question
Edward III.'s claim to France
6 June, 1329. Edward's homage to Philip VI.
8 May, 1330. Convention of the Wood of Vincennes
9 Mar., 1331. Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
April. Interview of Pont-Sainte-Maxence
Crusading projects of John XXII.
1336. Abandonment of the crusade by Benedict XII
Strained relations between England and France
1337. Mission of the Cardinals Peter and Bertrand
Edward and Robert of Artois
The _Vow_ of the Heron
Preparations for war
Breach with Flanders and stoppage of export of wool
Alliance with William I. and II. of Hainault
Edward's other Netherlandish allies
1337. Breach between France and England
Nov. Sir Walter Manny at Cadzand
Fruitless negotiations and further hostilities
July, 1338. Edward III.'s departure for Flanders
5 Sept. Interview of Edward and the Emperor Louis of
Bavaria at Coblenz
The Anglo-imperial alliance
Further fruitless negotiations
Renewal of Edward's claim to the French crown
The responsibility for the war
CHAPTER XVI.
THE EARLY CAMPAIGNS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR.
1339. Edward's invasion of France
Oct. Campaign of the Thiérache
23 Oct. The failure at Buironfosse
Alliance between Edward and the Flemish cities
James van Artevelde
Jan., 1340. Edward III. at Ghent
His proclamation as King of France
20 Feb. His return to England
22 June. His re-embarkation for Flanders
Parallel naval development of England and France
The Norman navy and the projected invasion of
England
24 June. Battle of Sluys
Ineffective campaigns in Artois and the Tournaisis
25 Sept. Truce of Esplechin
30 Nov. Edward's return to London
The ministers displaced and a special commission
appointed to try them
30 Nov. Controversy between Edward and Archbishop Stratford.
23 April, 1341. Parliament at London supporting Stratford and forcing
Edward to choose ministers after consulting it.
1 Oct. Edward's repudiation of his concessions.
April, 1343. Repeal of the statutes of 1341.
John of Montfort and Charles of Blois claim the
duchy of Brittany.
War of the Breton succession.
June, 1342. The siege of Hennebont raised.
1343. Battle of Morlaix.
19 Jan., 1343. Edward III. in Brittany.
Truce of Malestroit.
Edward's financial and political troubles.
End of the Flemish alliance.
June, 1345. Henry of Derby in Gascony.
21 Oct. Battle of Auberoche.
1346. Siege of Aiguillon and raid in Poitou.
Preparations for Edward III.'s campaign.
July-Aug. The march through Normandy.
26 July. Capture of Caen.
Aug. The march up the Seine valley.
The retreat northwards.
The passage of the Somme at the _Blanche taque_.
26 Aug. Battle of Crecy.
17 Oct. Battle of Neville's Cross.
4 Sept. Siege of Calais.
3 Aug., 1347. Capture of Calais.
20 June. Battle of La Roche Derien.
28 Sept. Truce of Calais.
CHAPTER XVII.
FROM THE BLACK DEATH TO THE TREATY OF CALAIS.
1347-48. Prosperity of England after the truce.
1348-50. The Black Death and its results.
1351. Statute of labourers.
Social and economic unrest.
Religious unrest.
The Flagellants.
The anti-clerical movement.
1351. First statute of provisors.
1353. First statute of _præmunire_.
Richard Fitzralph and the attack on the mendicants.
1354. Ordinance Of the Staple.
1352. Statute of treasons.
1349. Foundation of the Order of the Garter.
Dagworth's administration of Brittany.
Hugh Calveley and Robert Knowles.
27 Mar., 1351. Battle of the Thirty.
1352. Battle of Mauron
Fighting round Calais
1352. Capture of Guînes
29 Aug., 1350. Battle of the Spaniards-on-the-sea
6 April, 1354. Preliminaries of peace signed at Guînes
1355. Failure of the negotiations and renewal of the war
Failure of John of Gaunt in Normandy
Sept.-Nov. Black Prince's raid in Languedoc
1356. Operations of John of Gaunt in Normandy in alliance
with Charles of Navarre and Geoffrey of Harcourt
9 Aug.-2 Oct. Black Prince's raid northwards to the Loire
19 Sept. Battle of Poitiers.
23 Mar., 1357. Truce of Bordeaux
Oct. Treaty of Berwick
1357-71. The last years of David II.
1371. Accession of Robert II. in Scotland
1358. Preliminaries of peace signed between Edward III.
and John
State of France after Poitiers
24 Mar., 1359. Treaty of London
The rejection of the treaty by the French
Nov., 1359-April, 1360. Edward III.'s invasion of Northern France
Champagne and Burgundy
11 Jan., 1360. Treaty of Guillon
7 April. Siege of Paris
8 May. Treaty of Brétigni
24 Oct. Treaty of Calais
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR FROM THE TREATY OF CALAIS TO THE TRUCE
OF BRUGES.
Difficulties in carrying out the treaty of Calais
Guerilla warfare: exploits of Calveley, Pipe, and
Jowel
16 May, 1364. Battle of Cocherel
29 Sept. Battle of Auray
1365. Treaty of Guérande
Exploits of the free companies: John Hawkwood
1361. The charters of renunciation not exchanged
1364. Death of King John: accession of Charles V.
1366. Expulsion of Peter the Cruel from Castile by Du
Guesclin and the free companies
Feb., 1367. The Black Prince's expedition to Spain
3 April. Battle of Nájera
The Black Prince's rule in Aquitaine
His difficulties with the great nobles
Jan., 1368. The hearth tax imposed
Jan., 1369. Renewal of the war.
Changed military and political conditions.
Relations of England and Flanders.
1371. Battle in Bourgneuf Bay.
Successes of the French.
Sept., 1370. Sack of the _cité_ of Limoges.
1371. The Black Prince's return to England with shattered
health.
1370. Futile expeditions of Lancaster and Knowles.
Treason of Sir John Minsterworth.
Battle of Pontvallain.
1370-72. Exploits of Sir Owen of Wales.
23 June, 1370. Defeat of Pembroke at La Rochelle.
Aug. Defeat of Thomas Percy at Soubise.
1372. Edward III.'s last military expedition.
Expulsion of the English from Poitou and Brittany.
July-Dec., 1373. John of Gaunt's march from Calais to Bordeaux.
1374. Ruin of the English power in France.
27 June, 1375. Truce of Bruges.
CHAPTER XIX.
ENGLAND DURING THE LATTER YEARS OF EDWARD III.
Glories of the years succeeding the treaty of Calais.
1361-69. John Froissart in England.
His picture of the life of court and people.
The national spirit in English literature.
Gower and Minot.
Geoffrey Chaucer.
The standard English language.
Lowland Scottish.
The national spirit in art.
"Flowing decorated" and "perpendicular" architecture.
Contrast between England and Scotland.
The national spirit in popular English literature.
William Langland.
His picture of the condition of the poor.
The national spirit and the universities.
Early career of John Wycliffe.
Spread of cultivation among the laity.
The national spirit in English law.
The national spirit in commerce.
Edward III.'s family settlement.
Marriage of the Black Prince and Joan of Kent.
Marriages of Lionel of Antwerp with Elizabeth de
Burgh and Violante Visconti.
Lionel in Ireland.
Statute of Kilkenny.
1361-69. Philippa of Clarence's marriage with the Earl of
March.
John of Gaunt and the Duchy of Lancaster.
Continuation of ancient rivalries between houses now
represented by branches of the royal family.
The great prelates of the end of Edward III.'s reign.
Feb., 1371. Parliament: clerical ministers superseded by laymen.
Clerical and anti-clerical, constitutional and court
parties.
Edward III.'s dotage.
Alice Perrers.
Struggle of parties at court.
Increasing bitterness of the opposition to the courtiers.
April-July, 1376. The "Good Parliament".
Fall of the courtiers.
8 June. Death of the Black Prince.
John of Gaunt restored to power.
Jan., 1377. Packed parliament, and the reaction against the Good
Parliament.
Persistence of the clerical opposition.
The attack on John Wycliffe.
10 Feb. Wycliffe before Bishop Courtenay.
John of Gaunt's substantial triumph.
21 June. Death of Edward III.
Characteristics of his age.
APPENDIX.
ON AUTHORITIES.
(1216-1377.)
Comparative value of records and chronicles.
Record sources for the period.
Chancery Records:--
Patent Rolls
Close Rolls
Rolls of Parliament
Charter Rolls
Inquests Post-Mortem
Fine Rolls
Gascon Rolls
Hundred Rolls
Exchequer Records
Plea Rolls and records of the common law courts
Records of local courts
Scotch and Irish records
Ecclesiastical records
Bishops' registers
Monastic Cartularies
Papal records
Chroniclers of the period.
St. Alban's Abbey as a school of history.
Matthew Paris.
Later St. Alban's chroniclers.
Other chroniclers of Henry III.
Other monastic annals.
Chroniclers of Edward I.
Civic chronicles.
Chroniclers of Edward II.
Chroniclers of Edward III.
Scottish and Welsh chronicles.
French chronicles illustrating English history.
The three redactions of Froissart.
Other French chroniclers of the Hundred Years' War.
Legal literature.
Literary aids to history.
Modern works on the period.
Maps.
Bibliographies.
Note on authorities for battle of Poitiers.
INDEX.
MAPS.
(At the End of the Volume)
1. Map of Wales and the March at the end of the XIIIth century.
2. Map of Southern Scotland and Northern England in the XIIIth and
XIVth centuries.
3. Map of France in the XIIIth and XIVth centuries.
CHAPTER I.
THE REGENCY OF WILLIAM MARSHAL.
When John died, on October 19, 1216, the issue of the war between him
and the barons was still doubtful. The arrival of Louis of France,
eldest son of King Philip Augustus, had enabled the barons to win back
much of the ground lost after John's early triumphs had forced them to
call in the foreigner. Beyond the Humber the sturdy north-country
barons, who had wrested the Great Charter from John, remained true to
their principles, and had also the support of Alexander II., King of
Scots. The magnates of the eastern counties were as staunch as the
northerners, and the rich and populous southern shires were for the
most part in agreement with them. In the west, the barons had the aid
of Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, the great Prince of North Wales. While ten
earls fought for Louis, the royal cause was only upheld by six. The
towns were mainly with the rebels, notably London and the Cinque Ports,
and cities so distant as Winchester and Lincoln, Worcester and
Carlisle. Yet the baronial cause excited little general sympathy. The
mass of the population stood aloof, and was impartially maltreated by
the rival armies.
John's son Henry had at his back the chief military resources of the
country; the two strongest of the earls, William Marshal, Earl of
Pembroke, and Randolph of Blundeville, Earl of Chester; the fierce
lords of the Welsh March, the Mortimers, the Cantilupes, the Cliffords,
the Braoses, and the Lacys; and the barons of the West Midlands, headed
by Henry of Neufbourg, Earl of Warwick, and William of Ferrars, Earl of
Derby. This powerful phalanx gave to the royalists a stronger hold in
the west than their opponents had in any one part of the much wider
territory within their sphere of influence. There was no baronial
counterpart to the successful raiding of the north and east, which John
had carried through in the last months of his life. A baronial centre,
like Worcester, could not hold its own long in the west. Moreover, John
had not entirely forfeited his hereditary advantages. The
administrative families, whose chief representative was the justiciar
Hubert de Burgh, held to their tradition of unswerving loyalty, and
joined with the followers of the old king, of whom William Marshal was
the chief survivor. All over England the royal castles were in safe
hands, and so long as they remained unsubdued, no part of Louis'
dominions was secure. The crown had used to the full its rights over
minors and vacant fiefs. The subjection of the south-west was assured
by the marriage of the mercenary leader, Falkes de Bréauté, to the
mother of the infant Earl of Devon, and by the grant of Cornwall to the
bastard of the last of the Dunstanville earls. Though Isabella,
Countess of Gloucester, John's repudiated wife, was as zealous as her
new husband, the Earl of Essex, against John's son, Falkes kept a tight
hand over Glamorgan, on which the military power of the house of
Gloucester largely depended. Randolph of Chester was custodian of the
earldoms of Leicester and Richmond, of which the nominal earls, Simon
de Montfort and Peter Mauclerc, were far away, the one ruling Toulouse,
and the other Brittany. The band of foreign adventurers, the mainstay
of John's power, was still unbroken. Ruffians though these hirelings
were, they had experience, skill, and courage, and were the only
professional soldiers in the country.
The vital fact of the situation was that the immense moral and
spiritual forces of the Church remained on the side of the king.
Innocent III. had died some months before John, but his successor,
Honorius III., continued to uphold his policy. The papal legate, the
Cardinal Gualo, was the soul of the royalist cause. Louis and his
adherents had been excommunicated, and not a single English bishop
dared to join openly the foes of Holy Church. The most that the
clerical partisans of the barons could do was to disregard the
interdict and continue their ministrations to the excommunicated host.
The strongest English prelate, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of
Canterbury, was at Rome in disgrace. Walter Grey, Archbishop of York,
and Hugh of Wells, Bishop of Lincoln, were also abroad, while the
Bishop of London, William of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, was incapacitated by
illness. Several important sees, including Durham and Ely, were vacant.
The ablest resident bishop, Peter des Roches of Winchester, was an
accomplice in John's misgovernment.
The chief obstacle in the way of the royalists had been the character
of John, and the little Henry of Winchester could have had no share in
the crimes of his father. But the dead king had lately shown such rare
energy that there was a danger lest the accession of a boy of nine
might not weaken the cause of monarchy. The barons were largely out of
hand. The war was assuming the character of the civil war of Stephen's
days, and John's mercenaries were aspiring to play the part of feudal
potentates. It was significant that so many of John's principal
supporters were possessors of extensive franchises, like the lords of
the Welsh March, who might well desire to extend these feudal
immunities to their English estates. The triumph of the crown through
such help might easily have resolved the united England of Henry II.
into a series of lordships under a nominal king.
The situation was saved by the wisdom and moderation of the papal
legate, and the loyalty of William Marshal, who forgot his interests as
Earl of Pembroke in his devotion to the house of Anjou. From the moment
of John's death at Newark, the cardinal and the marshal took the lead.
They met at Worcester, where the tyrant was buried, and at once made
preparations for the coronation of Henry of Winchester. The ceremony
took place at St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, on October 28, from which
day the new reign was reckoned as beginning. The marshal, who had
forty-three years before dubbed the "young king" Henry a knight, then
for a second time admitted a young king Henry to the order of chivalry.
When the king had recited the coronation oath and performed homage to
the pope, Gualo anointed him and placed on his head the plain gold
circlet that perforce did duly for a crown.[1] Next day Henry's leading
supporters performed homage, and before November 1 the marshal was made
justiciar.
[1] There is some conflict of evidence on this point, and Dr.
Stubbs, following Wendover, iv., 2, makes Peter of Winchester
crown Henry. But the official account in _Fædera, i._, 145, is
confirmed by _Ann. Tewkesbury_, p. 62; _Histoire de G. le
Maréchal_, lines 15329-32; _Hist. des ducs de Normandie, et des
rois d'Angleterre_, p. 181, and _Ann. Winchester_, p. 83.
Wykes, p. 60, and _Ann. Dunstable_, p. 48, which confirm
Wendover, are suspect by reason of other errors.
On November 2 a great council met at Bristol. Only four earls appeared,
and one of these, William of Fors, Earl of Albemarle, was a recent
convert. But the presence of eleven bishops showed that the Church had
espoused the cause of the little king, and a throng of western and
marcher magnates made a sufficient representation of the lay baronage.
The chief business was to provide for the government during the
minority. Gualo withstood the temptation to adopt the method by which
Innocent III. had ruled Sicily in the name of Frederick II. The king's
mother was too unpopular and incompetent to anticipate the part played
by Blanche of Castile during the minority of St. Louis. After the
precedents set by the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, the barons took the
matter into their own hands. Their work of selection was not an easy
one. Randolph of Chester was by far the most powerful of the royalist
lords, but his turbulence and purely personal policy, not less than his
excessive possessions and inordinate palatine jurisdictions, made him
unsuitable for the regency. Yet had he raised any sort of claim, it
would have been hardly possible to resist his pretensions.[1] Luckily,
Randolph stood aside, and his withdrawal gave the aged earl marshal the
position for which his nomination as justiciar at Gloucester had
already marked him out. The title of regent was as yet unknown, either
in England or France, but the style, "ruler of king and kingdom," which
the barons gave to the marshal, meant something more than the ordinary
position of a justiciar. William's friends had some difficulty in
persuading him to accept the office. He was over seventy years of age,
and felt it would be too great a burden. Induced at last by the legate
to undertake the charge, from that moment he shrank from none of its
responsibilities. The personal care of the king was comprised within
the marshal's duties, but he delegated that branch of his work to Peter
des Roches.[2] These two, with Gualo, controlled the whole policy of the
new reign. Next to them came Hubert de Burgh, John's justiciar, whom
the marshal very soon restored to that office. But Hubert at once went
back to the defence of Dover, and for some time took little part in
general politics.
[1] The fears and hopes of the marshal's friends are well
depicted in _Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal_, lines
15500-15708.
[2] The panegyrist of the marshal emphasises strongly the fact
that Peter's charge was a delegation, _ibid._, lines
17993-18018.
On November 12, the legate and the regent issued at Bristol a
confirmation of the Great Charter. Some of the most important articles
accepted by John in 1215 were omitted, including the "constitutional
clauses" requiring the consent of the council of barons for
extraordinary taxation. Other provisions, which tied the hands of the
government, were postponed for further consideration in more settled
times. But with all its mutilations the Bristol charter of 1216 marked a
more important moment than even the charter of Runnymede. The
condemnation of Innocent III. would in all probability have prevented
the temporary concession of John from becoming permanent. Love of
country and love of liberty were doubtless growing forces, but they were
still in their infancy, while the papal authority was something ultimate
against which few Christians dared appeal. Thus the adoption by the free
will of the papal legate, and the deliberate choice of the marshal of
the policy of the Great Charter, converted, as has well been said, "a
treaty won at the point of the sword into a manifesto of peace and sound
government".[1] This wise change of policy cut away the ground from under
the feet of the English supporters of Louis. The friends of the young
Henry could appeal to his innocence, to his sacred unction, and to his
recognition by Holy Church. They offered a programme of limited
monarchy, of the redress of grievances, of vested rights preserved, and
of adhesion to the good old traditions that all Englishmen respected.
From that moment the Charter became a new starting-point in our history.
[1] Stubbs, _Const. Hist._, ii., 21.
In strange contrast to this programme of reform, the aliens, who had
opposed the charter of Runnymede, were among the lords by whose counsel
and consent the charter of Bristol was issued. In its weakness the new
government sought to stimulate the zeal both of the foreign mercenaries
and of the loyal barons by grants and privileges which seriously
entrenched upon the royal authority. Falkes de Bréauté was confirmed in
the custody of a compact group of six midland shires, besides the
earldom of Devon, and the "county of the Isle of Wight,"[1] which he
guarded in the interests of his wife and stepson. Savary de Mauléon, who
in despair of his old master's success had crossed over to Poitou before
John's death, was made warden of the castle of Bristol. Randolph of
Chester was consoled for the loss of the regency by the renewal of
John's recent grant of the Honour of Lancaster which was by this time
definitely recognised as a shire.[2]
[1] _Histoire des ducs de Normandie_, etc., p. 181.
[2] Tait, _Medieval Manchester and the Beginnings of
Lancashire_, p. 180.
The war assumed the character of a crusade. The royalist troops wore
white crosses on their garments, and were assured by the clergy of
certain salvation. The cruel and purposeless ravaging of the enemy's
country, which had occupied John's last months of life, became rare,
though partisans, such as Falkes de Bréauté, still outvied the French
in plundering monasteries and churches. The real struggle became a war
of castles. Louis endeavoured to complete his conquest of the
south-east by the capture of the royal strongholds, which still limited
his power to the open country. At first the French prince had some
successes. In November he increased his hold on the Home counties by
capturing the Tower of London, by forcing Hertford to surrender, and by
pressing the siege of Berkhampsted. As Christmas approached the
royalists proposed a truce. Louis agreed on the condition that
Berkhampsted should be surrendered, and early in 1217 both parties held
councils, the royalists at Oxford and the barons at Cambridge. There
was vague talk of peace, but the war was renewed, and Louis captured
Hedingham and Orford in Essex, and besieged the castles of Colchester
and Norwich. Then another truce until April 26 was concluded, on the
condition that the royalists should surrender these two strongholds.
Both sides had need to pause. Louis, at the limit of his resources, was
anxious to obtain men and money from France. He was not getting on well
with his new subjects. The eastern counties grumbled at his taxes.
Dissensions arose between the English and French elements in his host.
The English lords resented the grants and appointments he gave to his
countrymen. The French nobles professed to despise the English as
traitors. When Hertford was taken, Robert FitzWalter demanded that its
custody should be restored to him. Louis roughly told him that
Englishmen, who had betrayed their natural lord, were not to be
entrusted with such charges. It was to little purpose that he promised
Robert that every man should have his rights when the war was over. The
prospects of ending the war grew more remote every day. The royalists
took advantage of the discouragement of their opponents. The regent was
lavish in promises. There should be no inquiry into bygones, and all
who submitted to the young king should be guaranteed all their existing
rights. The result was that a steady stream of converts began to flow
from the camp of Louis to the camp of the marshal. For the first time
signs of a national movement against Louis began to be manifest. It
became clear that his rule meant foreign conquest.
Louis wished to return to France, but despite the truce he could only
win his way to the coast by fighting. The Cinque Ports were changing
their allegiance. A popular revolt had broken out in the Weald, where a
warlike squire, William of Cassingham,[1] soon became a terror to the
French under his nickname of Wilkin of the Weald. As Louis traversed the
disaffected districts, Wilkin fell upon him near Lewes, and took
prisoners two nephews of the Count of Nevers. On his further march to
Winchelsea, the men of the Weald broke down the bridges behind him,
while on his approach the men of Winchelsea destroyed their mills, and
took to their ships as avowed partisans of King Henry. The French prince
entered the empty town, and had great difficulty in keeping his army
alive. "Wheat found they there," says a chronicler; "in great plenty,
but they knew not how to grind it. Long time were they in such a plight
that they had to crush by hand the corn of which they made their bread.
They could catch no fish. Great store of nuts found they in the town;
these were their finest food."[2] Louis was in fact besieged by the
insurgents, and was only released by a force of knights riding down from
London to help him. These troops dared not travel by the direct road
through the Weald, and made their way to Romney through Canterbury. Rye
was strongly held against them and the ships of the Cinque Ports
dominated the sea, so that Louis was still cut off from his friends at
Romney. A relieving fleet was despatched from Boulogne, but stress of
weather kept it for a fortnight at Dover, while Louis was starving at
Winchelsea. At last the French ships appeared off Winchelsea. Thereupon
the English withdrew, and Louis finding the way open to France returned
home.
[1] Mr. G.J. Turner has identified Cassingham with the modern
Kensham, between Rolvenden and Sandhurst, in Kent.
[2] _Histoire des ducs de Normandie_, etc., p. 183.
A crowd of waverers changed sides. At their head were William
Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, the bastard great-uncle of the little
king, and William, the young marshal, the eldest son of the Earl of
Pembroke. The regent wandered from town to town in Sussex, receiving
the submission of the peasantry, and venturing to approach as near
London as Dorking. The victorious Wilkin was made Warden of the Seven
Hundreds of the Weald. The greatest of the magnates of Sussex and
Surrey, William, Earl Warenne, followed the example of his tenantry,
and made his peace with the king. The royalists fell upon the few
castles held by the barons. While one corps captured Odiham, Farnham,
Chichester, and other southern strongholds, Falkes de Bréauté overran
the Isle of Ely, and Randolph of Chester besieged the Leicestershire
fortress of Mount Sorrel. Enguerrand de Coucy, whom Louis had left in
command, remained helpless in London. His boldest act was to send a
force to Lincoln, which occupied the town, but failed to take the
castle. This stronghold, under its hereditary warden, the valiant old
lady, Nichola de Camville,[1] had already twice withstood a siege.
[1] On Nichola de Camville or de la Hay see M. Petit-Dutaillis
in _Mélanges Julien Havet_, pp. 369-80.
Louis found no great encouragement in France, for Philip Augustus, too
prudent to offend the Church, gave but grudging support to his
excommunicated son. When, on the eve of the expiration of the truce,
Louis returned to England, his reinforcements comprised only 120
knights. Among them, however, were the Count of Brittany, Peter
Mauclerc, anxious to press in person his rights to the earldom of
Richmond, the Counts of Perche and Guînes, and many lords of Picardy,
Artois and Ponthieu. Conscious that everything depended on the speedy
capture of the royal castles, Louis introduced for the first time into
England the _trébuchet_, a recently invented machine that cast great
missiles by means of heavy counterpoises. "Great was the talk about
this, for at that time few of them had been seen in France."[1] On April
22, Louis reached Dover, where the castle was still feebly beset by the
French. On his nearing the shore, Wilkin of the Weald and Oliver, a
bastard of King John's, burnt the huts of the French engaged in watching
the castle. Afraid to land in their presence, Louis disembarked at
Sandwich. Next day he went by land to Dover, but discouraged by tidings
of his losses, he gladly concluded a short truce with Hubert de Burgh.
He abandoned the siege of Dover, and hurried off towards Winchester,
where the two castles were being severely pressed by the royalists. But
his progress was impeded by his siege train, and Farnham castle blocked
his way.
[1] _Histoire des ducs de Normandie, etc._, p. 188; cf.
_English Hist. Review_, xviii. (1903), 263-64.
Saer de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, joined Louis outside the walls of
Farnham. Saer's motive was to persuade Louis to hasten to the relief of
his castle of Mount Sorrel. The French prince was not in a position to
resist pressure from a powerful supporter. He divided his army, and
while the Earl of Winchester, along with the Count of Perche and Robert
FitzWalter, made their way to Leicestershire, he completed his journey
to Winchester, threw a fresh force into the castles, and, leaving the
Count of Nevers in charge, hurried to London. There he learnt that
Hubert de Burgh at Dover had broken the truce, and he at once set off
to renew the siege of the stronghold which had so continually baulked
his plans. But little good came of his efforts, and the much-talked-of
_trébuchet_ proving powerless to effect a breach, Louis had to resign
himself to a weary blockade. While he was besieging Dover, Saer de
Quincy had relieved Mount Sorrel, whence he marched to the help of
Gilbert of Ghent, the only English baron whom Louis ventured to raise
to comital rank as Earl of Lincoln. Gilbert was still striving to
capture Lincoln Castle, but Nichola de Camville had resisted him from
February to May. With the help of the army from Mount Sorrel, the
castle and its _châtelaine_ were soon reduced to great straits.
The marshal saw that the time was come to take the offensive, and
resolved to raise the siege. Having no field army, he stripped his
castles of their garrisons, and gave rendezvous to his barons at
Newark. There the royalists rested three days, and received the
blessing of Gualo and the bishops. They then set out towards Lincoln,
commanded by the regent in person, the Earl of Chester, and the Bishop
of Winchester, whom the legate appointed as his representative. The
strong water defences of the rebel city on the south made it
unadvisable for them to take the direct route towards it. Their army
descended the Trent to Torksey, where it rested the night of May 19.
Early next day, the eve of Trinity Sunday, it marched in four "battles"
to relieve Lincoln Castle.
There were more than 600 knights besieging the castle and holding the
town, and the relieving army only numbered 400 knights and 300
cross-bowmen. But the barons dared not risk a combat that might have
involved them in the fate of Stephen in 1141. They retreated within the
city and allowed the marshal to open up communications with the castle.
The marshal's plan of battle was arranged by Peter des Roches, who was
more at home in the field than in the church. The cross-bowmen under
Falkes de Bréauté were thrown into the castle, and joined with the
garrison in making a sally from its east gate into the streets of the
town. While the barons were thus distracted, the marshal burst through
the badly defended north gate. The barons taken in front and flank
fought desperately, but with no success. Falkes' cross-bowmen shot down
their horses, and the dismounted knights soon failed to hold their own
in the open ground about the cathedral. The Count of Perche was slain
by a sword-thrust through the eyehole of his helmet. The royalists
chased the barons down the steep lanes which connect the upper with the
lower town. When they reached level ground the baronial troops rallied,
and once more strove to reascend the hill. But the town was assailed on
every side, and its land defences yielded with little difficulty. The
Earl of Chester poured his vassals through one of the eastern gates,
and took the barons in flank. Once more they broke, and this time they
rallied not again, but fled through the Wigford suburb seeking any
means of escape. Some obstruction in the Bar-gate, the southern exit
from the city, retarded their flight, and many of the leaders were
captured. The remnant fled to London, thinking that "every bush was
full of marshals," and suffering severely from the hostility of the
peasantry. Only three persons were slain in the battle, but there was a
cruel massacre of the defenceless citizens after its close. So vast was
the booty won by the victors that in scorn they called the fight the
Fair of Lincoln![1]
[1] For a discussion of the battle, see _English Hist. Review_,
xviii. (1903), 240-65.
Louis' prospects were still not desperate. The victorious army
scattered, each man to his own house, so that the marshal was in no
position to press matters to extremities. But there was a great rush to
make terms with the victor, and Louis thought it prudent to abandon the
hopeless siege of Dover, and take refuge with his partisans, the
Londoners. Meanwhile the marshal hovered round London, hoping
eventually to shut up the enemy in the capital. On June 12, the
Archbishop of Tyre and three Cistercian abbots, who had come to England
to preach the Crusade, persuaded both parties to accept provisional
articles of peace. Louis stipulated for a complete amnesty to all his
partisans; but the legate declined to grant pardon to the rebellious
clerks who had refused to obey the interdict, conspicuous among whom
was the firebrand Simon Langton, brother of the archbishop. Finding no
compromise possible, Louis broke off the negotiations rather than
abandon his friends. Gualo urged a siege of London, but the marshal saw
that his resources were not adequate for such a step. Again many of his
followers went home, and the court abode first at Oxford and afterwards
at Gloucester. It seemed as if the war might go on for ever.
Blanche of Castile, Louis' wife, redoubled her efforts on his behalf. In
response to her entreaties a hundred knights and several hundred
men-at-arms took ship for England. Among the knights was the famous
William des Barres, one of the heroes of Bouvines, and Theobald, Count
of Blois. Eustace the Monk, a renegade clerk turned pirate, and a hero
of later romance, took command of the fleet. On the eve of St.
Bartholomew, August 23, Eustace sailed from Calais towards the mouth of
the Thames. Kent had become royalist; the marshal and Hubert de Burgh
held Sandwich, so that the long voyage up the Thames was the only way of
taking succour to Louis. Next day the old earl remained on shore, but
sent out Hubert with the fleet. The English let the French pass by,
and then, manoeuvring for the weather gage, tacked and assailed them
from behind.[1] The fight raged round the great ship of Eustace, on
which the chief French knights were embarked. Laden with stores, horses,
and a ponderous _trébuchet_, it was too low in the water to manoeuvre or
escape. Hubert easily laid his own vessel alongside it. The English, who
were better used to fighting at sea than the French, threw powdered lime
into the faces of the enemy, swept the decks with their crossbow bolts
and then boarded the ship, which was taken after a fierce fight. The
crowd of cargo boats could offer little resistance as they beat up
against the wind in their retreat to Calais; the ships containing the
soldiers were more fortunate in escaping. Eustace was beheaded, and his
head paraded on a pole through the streets of Canterbury.
[1] This successful attempt of the English fleet to manoeuvre
for the weather gage, that is to secure a position to the
windward of their opponents, is the first recorded instance of
what became the favourite tactics of British admirals. For the
legend of Eustace see _Witasse le Moine_, ed. Förster (1891).
The battle of St. Bartholomew's Day, like that of Lincoln a triumph of
skill over numbers, proved decisive for the fortunes of Louis. The
English won absolute control of the narrow seas, and cut off from Louis
all hope of fighting his way back to France. As soon as he heard of the
defeat of Eustace, he reopened negotiations with the marshal. On the
29th there was a meeting between Louis and the Earl at the gates of
London. The regent had to check the ardour of his own partisans, and it
was only after anxious days of deliberation that the party of
moderation prevailed. On September 5 a formal conference was held on an
island of the Thames near Kingston. On the 11th a definitive treaty was
signed at the archbishop's house at Lambeth.
The Treaty of Lambeth repeated with little alteration the terms
rejected by Louis three months before. The French prince surrendered
his castles, released his partisans from their oaths to him, and
exhorted all his allies, including the King of Scots and the Prince of
Gwynedd, to lay down their arms. In return Henry promised that no
layman should lose his inheritance by reason of his adherence to Louis,
and that the baronial prisoners should be released without further
payment of ransom. London, despite its pertinacity in rebellion, was to
retain its ancient franchises. The marshal bound himself personally to
pay Louis 10,000 marks, nominally as expenses, really as a bribe to
accept these terms. A few days later Louis and his French barons
appeared before the legate, barefoot and in the white garb of
penitents, and were reconciled to the Church. They were then escorted
to Dover, whence they took ship for France. Only on the rebellious
clergy did Gualo's wrath fall. The canons of St. Paul's were turned out
in a body; ringleaders like Simon Langton were driven into exile, and
agents of the legate traversed the country punishing clerks who had
disregarded the interdict. But Honorius was more merciful than Gualo,
and within a year even Simon received his pardon. The laymen of both
camps forgot their differences, when Randolph of Chester and William of
Ferrars fought in the crusade of Damietta, side by side with Saer of
Winchester and Robert FitzWalter. The reconciliation of parties was
further shown in the marriage of Hubert de Burgh to John's divorced
wife, Isabella of Gloucester, a widow by the death of the Earl of
Essex, and still the foremost English heiress. On November 6 the
pacification was completed by the reissue of the Great Charter in what
was substantially its final form. The forest clauses of the earlier
issues were published in a much enlarged shape as a separate Forest
Charter, which laid down the great principle that no man was to lose
life or limb for hindering the king's hunting.
It is tempting to regard the defeat of Louis as a triumph of English
patriotism. But it is an anachronism to read the ideals of later ages
into the doings of the men of the early thirteenth century. So far as
there was national feeling in England, it was arrayed against Henry. To
the last the most fervently English of the barons were steadfast on the
French prince's side, and the triumph of the little king had largely
been procured by John's foreigners. To contemporary eyes the rebels
were factious assertors of class privileges and feudal immunities.
Their revolt against their natural lord brought them into conflict with
the sentiment of feudal duty which was still so strong in faithful
minds. And against them was a stronger force than feudal loyally. From
this religious standpoint the Canon of Barnwell best sums up the
situation: "It was a miracle that the heir of France, who had won so
large a part of the kingdom, was constrained to abandon the realm
without hope of recovering it. It was because the hand of God was not
with him. He came to England in spite of the prohibition of the Holy
Roman Church, and he remained there regardless of its anathema."
The young king never forgot that he owed his throne to the pope and his
legate. "When we were bereft of our father in tender years," he declared
long afterwards, "when our subjects were turned against us, it was our
mother, the Holy Roman Church, that brought back our realm under our
power, anointed us king, crowned us, and placed us on the throne."[1]
The papacy, which had secured a new hold over England by its alliance
with John, made its position permanent by its zeal for the rights of his
son. By identifying the monarchy with the charters, it skilfully
retraced the false step which it had taken. Under the ægis of the Roman
see the national spirit grew, and the next generation was to see the
temper fostered by Gualo in its turn grow impatient of the papal
supremacy. It was Gualo, then, who secured the confirmation of the
charters. Even Louis unconsciously worked in that direction, for, had he
not gained so strong a hold on the country, there would have been no
reason to adopt a policy of conciliation. We must not read the history
of this generation in the light of modern times, or even with the eyes
of Matthew Paris.
[1] Grosseteste, _Epistolæ_, p. 339.
The marshal had before him a task essentially similar to that which
Henry II had undertaken after the anarchy of Stephen's reign. It was
with the utmost difficulty that the sum promised to Louis could be
extracted from the war-stricken and famished tillers of the soil. The
exchequer was so empty that the Christmas court of the young king was
celebrated at the expense of Falkes de Bréauté. Those who had fought
for the king clamoured for grants and rewards, and it was necessary to
humour them. For example, Randolph of Blundeville, with the earldom of
Lincoln added to his Cheshire palatinate and his Lancashire Honour, had
acquired a position nearly as strong as that of the Randolph of the
reign of Stephen. "Adulterine castles" had grown up in such numbers
that the new issue of the Charter insisted upon their destruction. Even
the lawful castles were held by unauthorised custodians, who refused to
yield them up to the king's officers. Though Alexander, King of Scots,
purchased his reconciliation with Rome by abandoning Carlisle and
performing homage to Henry, the Welsh remained recalcitrant. One
chieftain, Morgan of Caerleon, waged war against the marshal in Gwent,
and was dislodged with difficulty. During the war Llewelyn ap Iorwerth
conquered Cardigan and Carmarthen from the marchers, and it was only
after receiving assurances that he might retain these districts so long
as the king's minority lasted that he condescended to do homage at
Worcester in March, 1218.
In the following May Stephen Langton came back from exile and threw the
weight of his judgment on the regent's side. Gradually the worst
difficulties were surmounted. The administrative machinery once more
became effective. A new seal was cast for the king, whose documents had
hitherto been stamped with the seal of the regent. Order was so far
restored that Gualo returned to Italy. He was a man of high character
and noble aims, caring little for personal advancement, and curbing his
hot zeal against "schismatics" in his desire to restore peace to
England. His memory is still commemorated in his great church of St.
Andrew, at Vercelli, erected, it may be, with the proceeds of his
English benefices, and still preserving the manuscript of legends of
its patron saint, which its founder had sent thither from his exile.
At Candlemas, 1219, the aged regent was smitten with a mortal illness.
His followers bore him up the Thames from London to his manor of
Caversham, where his last hours were disturbed by the intrigues of
Peter of Winchester for his succession, and the importunity of selfish
clerks, clamouring for grants to their churches. He died on May 14,
clad in the habit of the Knights of the Temple, in whose new church in
London his body was buried, and where his effigy may still be seen. The
landless younger son of a poor baron, he had supported himself in his
youth by the spoils of the knights he had vanquished in the
tournaments, where his successes gained him fame as the model of
chivalry. The favour of Henry, the "young king," gave him political
importance, and his marriage with Strongbow's daughter made him a
mighty man in England, Ireland, Wales, and Normandy. Strenuous and
upright, simple and dignified, the young soldier of fortune bore easily
the weight of office and honour which accrued to him before the death
of his first patron. Limited as was his outlook, he gave himself
entirely to his master-principle of loyally to the feudal lord whom he
had sworn to obey. This simple conception enabled him to subordinate
his interests as a marcher potentate to his duty to the English
monarchy. It guided him in his difficult work of serving with unbending
constancy a tyrant like John. It shone most clearly when in his old age
he saved John's son from the consequences of his father's misdeeds. A
happy accident has led to the discovery in our own days of the long
poem, drawn up in commemoration of his career[1] at the
instigation of his son. This important work has enabled us to enter
into the marshal's character and spirit in much the same way as
Joinville's _History of St. Louis_ has made us familiar with the
motives and attributes of the great French king. They are the two men
of the thirteenth century whom we know most intimately. It is well that
the two characters thus portrayed at length represent to us so much of
what is best in the chivalry, loyalty, statecraft, and piety of the
Middle Ages.
[1] _Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal_, published by P. Meyer
for the Soc. de l'histoire de France. Petit-Dutaillis, _Étude
sur Louis VIII._ (1894), and G.J. Turner, _Minority of Henry
III._, part i, in _Transactions of the Royal Hist. Soc._, new
ser., viii. (1904), 245-95, are the best modern commentaries on
the history of the marshal's regency.