"Hast thou beheld thyself, and couldst thou stain
So rare perfection? Even for love of thee
I do profoundly hate thee."
Lady Elizabeth Carew.
So I was got into the Annals of Cicely, was I? Well then, have back.
Dear heart! but what a way have I to go back ere I can find where I was
in my story!
Well the King left the Tower for Wallingford, and with him Sir Hugh Le
Despenser, and Hugh his young son, Archdeacon Baldok, Edward de Bohun
the King's nephew, and divers of his following. I know not whether he
had with him also his daughters, the young Ladies Alianora and Joan, or
if they were brought to him later. By Saint Denis' Eve [October 7th] he
had reached Wallingford.
The Queen was in march to London: but hearing that the King had left,
she altered her course, and went to Oxford. There tarried we one day,
and went to our duties in the Church of Saint Martin [Note 1], where an
homily was preachen by my Lord of Hereford [Note 2]. And a strange
homily it was, wherein Eva our mother stood for the Queen, and I suppose
Adam for the King, and Sir Hugh Le Despenser (save the mark!) was the
serpent. I stood it out, but I will not say I goxide [gaped] not. The
next day went the Queen on toward Gloucester, pursuing the King, which
had been there about ten days afore her. She put forth from
Wallingford, on her way between Oxford and Gloucester, a letter wherein
she earnestly prayed the King to return, and promised that he should
receive the government with all honour if he would conform him to his
people. I had been used to hear of the people obeying the King, as in
duty bound to him whom God had set over them; and this talk of the King
obeying the people was marvellous strange to mine ears. Howbeit, it was
talk only; for what was really meant was that he should conform himself
to his wife. And considering how much wives be bidden of God to obey
their lords, that surely was as ill as the other. Which the King saw
belike, for instead of coming nearer he went further away, right over
the Severn, and strengthened himself, first in the strong Castle of
Chepstow, and after in the Castle of Caerphilly. For us, we went on,
though not so quick as he, to Gloucester, and thence to Bristol, where
Sir Hugh de Despenser the father was governor, and where the citizens,
on the Queen's coming, opened the gates to her, and Sir Hugh on
perceiving it retired into the Castle. But she summoned the Castle also
to surrender, which was done speedily of the officers, and Sir Hugh
delivered into her hands. Moreover, the two little ladies, the King's
daughters, whom he had sent from Gloucester on his retreat across the
Severn, were brought to her [Note 3], and she welcomed them motherly, or
at least seemed to do so. Wala wa! I have no list to set down what
followed, and will run by the same as short as shall serve truth.
The morrow of Saint Crispin, namely, the 26th day of October, the Queen
and her son, now Duke of Aquitaine--whom man whilome called Earl of
Chester--came into the great hall of Bristol Castle, and sat in state: I
Cicely being behind the Queen's chair, and Jack in waiting on my Lord
the Duke. Which done, they called council of the prelates and nobles of
the realm, being the Archbishop of Dublin and five bishops; the King's
two brothers, my Lords of Norfolk and Kent; my Lord of Lancaster their
cousin; and all the nobles then present in Bristol town: thus they
gathered, the Duke on the right hand of the throne and the Queen on the
left, the throne all empty. Then a marvellous strange thing happened:
for the Queen rose up and spake, in open Council, to the prelates and
nobles of England. When she first arose (as afterwards I heard say)
were there some murmurs that a woman should so speak; and divers up and
down the hall rowned [whispered] one the other in the ear that it had
been more seemly had she kept to her distaff. But when she ended, so
great was the witchery of her fair face, and the gramary [magic] of her
silver voice, that scarce man was in the hall but was ready to live and
die with her. _Ha, chetife_! how she witched the world! yet never did
she witch me.
How can it be, I marvel at times, that men--and women too--will suffer
themselves to be thus led astray, and yet follow on, oft knowing whither
they go, after some one man or woman, that casteth over them a manner of
gramary? There be some that can witch whom they will, that God keepeth
not. And 'tis not alway a fair face that witcheth; I have known full
unbright [plain, ugly] folks that have this charm with them. And I note
moreover, that many times he that wields it doth use it for evil, and
not for good. I dare not say no good man ever hath the same; for
securely I know not all folks in this world: yet of them I do know, I
cannot call to mind a verily good man or woman that hath seemed me to
possess this power over his fellows. I have known some metely good folk
that had a touch thereof; but of such as I mean, that do indeed wield it
in power, and draw all manner of men to them, and after them, nearhand
whether they choose or no--of such I cannot call to mind one that was
true follower of our Lord. Therefore it seems me an evil power, and one
that may come of Satan, sith it mostly is used in his service. And I
pray God neither of my daughters may ever show the same, for at best it
must be full of peril of pride to him that possesseth it. Indeed, had
it so been, I think they should have shown it afore now.
But now to have back to the hall of Bristol Castle, lest Jack, coming in
to look stealthily over my shoulder as he doth betimes, should say I
have won again into the Annals of Cicely.
Well, all the prelates and nobles were full witched by Dame Isabel the
Queen, and agreed unto all her plans, the which came ready cut and
dried, as though all had been thought on and settled long afore.
Verily, I dare say it so had. First, they elected the Duke of Aquitaine
to the regency--which of course was the self thing as electing his
mother, since he, being a mere lad, was but her mouthpiece, and was
buxom [submissive] unto her in all things: and all present sware to
fulfil his pleasure, as though he had been soothly king, under his privy
seal, for there was no seal meet for the regency. And incontinent
[immediately] thereafter, the said Duke, speaking doubtless the pleasure
of the Queen, commanded Sir Hugh Le Despenser the father to be brought
to his trial in the hall of the Castle.
Then was he led in, an old white-haired man, [See note in Appendix, on
the Despensers], stately and venerable, who stood up before the Council
as I would think none save innocent man should do, and looked the Queen
straight in the face. He was not witched with her gramary; and soothly
I count in all that hall he was the sole noble that escaped the spell.
A brave man was he, of great probity, prudent in council, valiant in
war: maybe something too readily swayed by other folks (the Queen
except), where he loved them (which he did not her), and from this last
point came all his misfortunes [Note 4].
Now stood he up to answer the charges laid against him (whereof there
were nine), but answer such as man looked for made he none. He passed
all by as of no account, and went right to the heart and verity of the
whole matter. I could not but think of a Prisoner before him who had
answered nothing; and I crede he knew that in like case, "per invidiam
tradidissent eum." [Note 5]. Moreover, he spake not to them that did
the will of other, but to her that was at the core of the whole matter.
"Ah, Dame!" quoth he, bowing low his white, stately head, "God grant us
fair trial and just judge; and if we may not find it in this world, we
look for it in another."
I trust he found it in that other world--nay, I know he must have done.
But in this world did he not find it. Fair trial had he none; it was an
end foregone from the beginning. And as to just judge--well, she is
gone now to her judgment, and I will leave her there.
I had forgot to say in due order that my Lord of Arundel was he that was
tried with him, but he suffered not till later. [This appears to be the
case from comparison of the best authorities.] He, therefore, was had
back to prison; but Sir Hugh was hung on the common gallows in his coat
armour, in strong cords, and when he was cut down, after four days, his
head was struck off and his quarters cast to the dogs. On whose soul
God have mercy! Amen. In very deed, I think he deserved a better fate.
Secure am I, that many men be hung on gallows which might safely be
left to die abed, and many more die abed that richly demerit the
gallows. This world is verily a-crooked: I reckon it shall be smoothed
out and set straight one day. There be that say that day shall last a
thousand years; and soothly, taking into account all the work to be done
ere the eve droppeth, it were small marvel an' it did so.
This done, we tarried not long at Bristol. Less than a month thereafter
was the King taken at Neath Abbey in Wales, and all that yet obeyed him
were either taken with him or dispersed. The news found the Queen at
Hereford, whither she had journeyed from Bristol: and if I had yet a
doubt left touching her very nature [real character], I think it had
departed from me when I beheld how she received that news. Sir Thomas
Le Blount, his Steward of the Household, was he that betrayed him: and
may God pardon him easier than I could. But my Lord of Lancaster (whom
I can pray God pardon with true heart, seeing he afterward repented
bitterly), the Lord Zouche of Ashby, and Rhys ap Howel--these were they
that took him. With him they took three other--Sir Hugh Le Despenser
the son, and Archdeacon Baldok, and Sir Simon de Reading. The good
Archdeacon, that was elect [_Bishop_ is understood] of Norwich, was
delivered over to the tender mercies (which, as saith the Psalmist, were
cruel) of that priest of Baal, the Bishop of Hereford, whom indeed I
cannot call a priest of God, for right sure am I that God should never
have owned him. If that a man serveth be whom he worshippeth, then was
Sir Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, priest of Sathanas and none
other. The King was had to Kenilworth Castle, in ward of my Lord of
Lancaster--a good though mistaken man, that used him not ungently, yet
kept him straitly. Sir Hugh and Sir Simon were brought to the Queen at
Hereford, and I was in waiting when they came into her presence. I had
but one glimmer of her face (being behind her) when she turned her head
for a moment to bid me send Oliver de Nantoil to fetch my Lord of
Lincoln to the presence: but if ever I beheld pictured in human eyes the
devilish passions of hate, malice, and furious purpose, I beheld them
that minute in those lovely eyes of hers. Ay, they were lovely eyes:
they could gleam soft as a dove's when she would, and they could shoot
forth flames like a lioness robbed of her prey. Never saw I those eyes
look fiercer nor eviller than that night when Sir Hugh Le Despenser
stood a captive at her feet.
For him, he was full calm: stately as his father--he was comelier of the
twain, yea, the goodliest man ever mine eyes lit on: but I thought not
on that in that hour. His chief fault, man deemed, was pride: not the
vanity that looketh for applause of man, but rather the lofty-mindedness
that is sufficient to himself, and despiseth other. I beheld no trace
thereof as he there stood. All that had been--all that was of earth and
earthy--seemed to have dropped away from him: he was calm and tranquil
as the sea on a summer eve when not a breath stirreth. Wala wa! we have
all our sins: and what be we, to throw the sins of another in his face?
Sir Hugh did some ill deeds, belike; and so, God wot, hath done Cicely
de Chaucombe; and whose sins of the twain were worser in His sight, He
knoweth, not I. Verily, it was whispered that he had taint of heresy,
the evillest thing that may be: but I trust that dread charge were
untrue, and that he was but guilty of somewhat more pride and ambitious
desires than other. Soothly, pride is one of the seven deadly sins--
pray God save us all therefrom!--yet is heresy, as the Church teacheth,
an eighth deadlier than all the seven. And if holy Church hath the
words of God, and is alonely guided of His Spirit, then must it be an
awful and deadly sin to gainsay her bidding. There be that take in hand
to question the same: whom holy Church condemneth. I Cicely cannot
presume to speak thereof, not being a priest, unto whom alone it
appertaineth to conceive such matter. 'Tis true, there be that say lay
folk can as well conceive, and have as much right as any priest; but
holy Church agreeth not therewith. God be merciful to us all,
whereinsoever we do err!
But now was the Queen in a sore strait: for that precious treasure that
had once been in her keeping--to wit, the Great Seal--was no longer with
her. The King had the same; and she was fain to coax it forth of his
keeping, the which she did by means of my said Lord of Hereford. I know
not if it were needful, but until she had this done, did not Sir Hugh Le
Despenser suffer.
It was at Hereford, the eve of Saint Katherine, that he died. I thank
the saints I was not there; but I heard dread stories of them that were.
Dame Isabel de Lapyoun was in waiting that day; I think she was fittest
for it.
I ween it was on that morrow, of the eve of Saint Katherine, that mine
eyes first began to ope to what the Queen was in very deed. Wherefore
was she present at that deed of blood? Dame Tiffany reckoned she deemed
it her duty: and truly, to behold what man can deem his duty, is of the
queerest things in this queer world. I never knew a cow that reckoned
it duty to set her calf in peril, and herself tarry thereout; nor a dog
that forsook his master's company by reason of his losing of worldly
gear; nor an horse that told falsehoods to his own profit. I have wist
men that would do all these things, and more; because, forsooth, it was
their duty! Now, after what manner it could be duty to Dame Isabel the
Queen to preside in her own person at the execution of Sir Hugh, that
cannot I Cicely tell. Nay, the saints love us! what need was there of
an execution at all? Sir Hugh was dying fast. Since he was taken would
he never open his lips, neither to speak nor yet to eat; and that eve of
Saint Katherine had seen his end, had they left him die in peace.
Veriliest, I wis not what he had done so much worser than other men,
that so awesome an ensample should be made of him. I do trust the
rumour was not true that ran of his heresy; for if so, then must not man
pity him. And yet--
_Virgo sanctissima_! what is heresy? The good Lord wot.
My Lord of Lincoln was he, as I heard, which brought tidings to the
Queen that Sir Thomas Wager had done him to wit Sir Hugh would die that
day. Would die--whether man would or no. Holy Mary, the pity of it!
Had I been Sir Thomas, never word would I have spoken till the breath
was clean gone out of him, and then, if man coveted vengeance, let him
take it on the silent dust. But no sooner was it known to the Queen--to
her, a woman and a mother!--than she gave command to have the scaffold
run up with all speed, and that dying man drawn of an hurdle through the
city that all men might behold, with trumpets going afore, and at last
hanged of the gallows till he were dead. Oh, the pity of it! the pity
of it!
The command was obeyed--so far as man could obey. But ere the agony
were full over, God Almighty stepped in, and bare him away from what she
would have had him suffer. When they put him on the hurdle, he lay as
though he wist not; when they twined a crown of nettles and pressed it
on his brow, he was as though he felt not; when, the torture over, they
made ready to drag him to the gallows, they saw that he was dead. God
cried to them, "Let be!"
God assoil that dead man! Ay, maybe he shall take less assoiling than
hath done that dead woman.
Man said that when my Lord of Lincoln came to tell her of this matter,
she was counting the silver in my Lord of Arundel his bags, that were
confiscate, and had then been brought to her: and but a few days later,
at Marcle, Sir William de Blount brought from the King the Great Seal in
its leathern bag sealed with the privy seal, and delivered it unto the
Queen and her Keeper [Chancellor] the Bishop of Norwich. Soothly, it
seemed to me as though those canvas bags that held my Lord of Arundel's
silver, and the white leathern bag that held the Great Seal, might be
said to be tied together by a lace dipped in blood. And somewhat later,
when we had reached Woodstock, was Sir Hugh Le Despenser's plate brought
to the Wardrobe, that had been in the Tower with the Lady Alianora his
wife--five cups and two ewers of silver, and twenty-seven cups and six
ewers of gold; and his horses and hers delivered into the keeping of
Adam le Ferrour, keeper of the Queen's horses: and his servants either
cast adrift, or drafted, some of them, into the household of the Lord
John of Eltham. Go to! saith man: was all this more than is usual in
like case? Verily, nay: but should such things be usual in Christendom?
Was it for this our Lord came to found His Church--that Christian blood
should thus treat his Christian brother? And if no, what can be said of
such as called themselves His priests, and passed by on the other
side?--nay, rather, took into their own hands the arrows of Sathanas,
and wounded their brother with their own fingers? "_Numquid adhaeret
Tibi sedes iniquitatis_?" [Psalm 94, verse 20]. Might it not have been
said to Dame Isabel the Queen like as Moses said to Korah, "Is it
nothing to you that you have been joined to the King, and set by his
side on the throne, and given favour in his eyes, so that he suffereth
you to entreat him oftener and more effectually than any other, but you
must needs covet the royal throne theself?" [Itself.]
Ah, what good to write such words, or to speak them? When man hath no
fear of God before his eyes, what shall he regard the reasonings of men?
But the day of doom cometh, and that sure.
The morrow of that awesome day, to wit, Saint Katherine, departed we
from Hereford, and came to Gloucester and Cirencester, going back on the
road we had come. By Woodstock (where Dame Margery de Verdon joined us
from Dover) we came to Wallingford: where was the Lord John of Eltham,
that had come from London, and awaited the Queen his mother. So, by
Reading and Chertsey, came we to Westminster Palace, on the fourth day
of January [1327]. And here was Dame Alice de Lethegreve, mine honoured
mother, whom I was full fain to see after all the long and somewhat
weariful time that I had been away from England.
My mother would have me tell her all I had seen and heard, in the which
she oft stayed me by tears and lamentations. And saith she--
"I bid thee well to note, Cicely, how much ill can come of the deeds of
one woman. Deeds, said I? Nay, but of the thoughts and feelings; for
all deeds are but the flowers whereto man's thoughts be the seed. And
forget not, daughter, that there must ever be one first thought that is
the beginning of it all. O Cis, take thou heed of the first evil
thought in thine heart, and pray God it lead not to a second. They that
fear not God be prone to ask, What matter for thoughts? Deeds be the
things that signify. My thoughts are mine own; who shall govern me
therein? Ah, verily, who shall, without God doth, and thou dost? He
that makes conscience of his thoughts, men reckon a great saint. I
would say rather, he that maketh not conscience of his thoughts cannot
serve God at all. Pray God rule thee in thine innermost heart; then
shall thy deeds please Him, and thy life shall be a blessing to thy
fellows."
"Dame," said I, "would you signify that the Queen is not ruled of God?"
"He governeth better than so, Cis," saith she.
"Yet is she Christian woman," quoth I.
"A Christian woman," made answer my mother, "is a woman that followeth
Christ. And thou followest not Jack, Cis, when thou goest along one
road, and Jack goeth another. Man may follow near or far; but his face
must be set the same way. Christ's face was ever set to do the will of
God. If thou do thy will, and I do mine, our faces be set contrary."
"Then must we turn us around," said I.
"Ay, and flat round, too," she saith. "When thou standest without
Aldgate, ready to pass within, 'tis but a full little turn shall take
thee up to Shoreditch on the right hand, or down Blanche Chappleton on
the left. Thy feet shall be set scarce an inch different at beginning.
Yet pursue the roads, and the one shall land thee at York, and the other
at Sandwich. Many a man hath reckoned he set forth to follow Christ,
whose feet were scarce an inch out of the way. `Go to,' quoth he; `what
can an inch matter? what difference shall it make?' Ah me, it maketh
all the difference between Heaven and Hell, for the steps lead to
diverse roads. Be well assured of the right road; and when thou so art,
take heed to walk straight therein. Many a man hath turned a score out
of the way, by reason that he walked a-crooked himself."
"Do we know alway when we walk straight?" said I.
"Thou hast thy Psalter and thine Evangelisterium," made she answer: "and
thou hast God above. Make good use of the Guide and the map, and thou
art not like to go far astray. And God pardon the souls that go astray!
Ay, God forgive us all!"
She sat and span a while, and said nought.
"Cicely," then quoth she, "I shall not abide here."
"Whither go you, Dame?"
"Like Abraham of old," she saith, "to the land which God shall show me.
If I could serve my dear master,--the lad that once lay in mine arms--by
tarrying hither, I could bear much for his sake. But now can I do
nought: and soothly I feel as though I could not bear to stand and look
on. I can pray for him any whither. Cicely, this will go on. Man that
setteth foot on slide shall be carried down it. Thou mayest choose to
take or let be the first step; but oft-times thou canst not choose
touching the second and all that be to follow. Or if thou yet canst
choose, it shall be at an heavy cost that thou draw back thy foot. One
small twinge may be all the penalty to-day, when an hour's deadly
anguish shall not pay the wyte to-morrow. Thou lookest on me aswhasay,
What mean you by this talk? I mean, dear heart, that she which hath
entered on this road is like to pursue it to the bitter end. A bitter
end it shall be--not alone to her. It means agony to him and all that
love him: what maimer of agony God wot, and in His hand is the ell-wand
to measure, and the balances to weigh. Lord! Thou wilt not blunder to
give an inch too much, nor wilt Thou for all our greeting weigh one
grain too little. Thou wilt not let us miss the right way, for the
rough stones and the steep mountain-side. Thou hast trodden before us
every foot of that weary road, and we need but to plant our steps in Thy
footmarks, which we know well from all others by their blood-marked
track. O blessed Jesu Christ! it is fair journeying to follow Thee, and
Thou leadest Thy sheep safe to the fold of the Holy Land."
I mind her words well. For, woe is me! they were nearhand the last that
ever I heard of her.
"Dame," said I, "do you bid me retreat belike?"
"Nay, daughter," quoth she, and smiled, "thou art no longer at my
bidding. Ask thine husband, child."
So I told Jack what my mother had said. He sat and meditated thereon
afore the fire, while I made ready my Christmas gown of blue kaynet
guarded with stranling. [Note 6.]
"Sissot," saith he, his meditation ended, "I think Dame Alice speaks
wisely."
"Then wouldst thou depart the Court, Jack?" said I.
"I? Nay, sweet heart. The young King hath about him no more true men
than he needeth. And as I wait at his _coucher_, betimes I can drop a
word in his ear that may, an' it please God, be to his profit. He is
yet tender ground, and the seed may take root and thrive: and I am tough
gnarled old root, that can thole a blow or twain, and a rough wind by
now and then."
"Jack!" cried I, laughing. "`A tough gnarled old root,' belike! Thou
art not yet of seven-and-thirty years, though I grant thee wisdom enough
for seventy."
"I thank you heartily, Dame Cicely, for that your courtesy," quoth he,
and made me a low reverence. "Ay, dear heart, a gnarled root of
cross-grained elm, fit for a Yule log. I 'bide with the King, Sissot.
But thou wist, that sentence [argument] toucheth not thee, if thou
desire to depart with Dame Alice. And maybe it should be the best for
thee."
"I depart from the Court, Jack, on a pillion behind thee," said I, "and
no otherwise. I say not I might not choose to dwell elsewhere the
rather, if place were all that were in question; but to win out of ill
company at the cost of thy company, were to be at heavier charge than my
purse can compass. And seeing I am in my duty therein, I trust God
shall keep me from evil and out of temptation."
"Amen!" saith Jack, and kissed me. "We will both pray, my dear heart,
to be kept out of temptation; but let us watch likewise that we slip not
therein. They be safe kept that God keepeth; and seeing that not our
self-will nor folly, but His providence, brought us to this place, I
reckon we have a right to ask His protection."
Thus it came that I tarried yet in the Queen's household. And verily,
they that did so, those four next years, had cause to seek God's
protection.
On the first of February was--but, wala wa! my pen runneth too fast. I
must back nearhand a month.
It was the seventh of January, being the morrow of the Epiphany, and
three days after we reached Westminster, that the Queen met the King's
Great Council, the which she had called together on the eve of Saint
Barbara [December 3rd], the Duke sitting therein in state as keeper of
the kingdom. Having opened the said Parliament, the Duke, by his
spokesmen, my Lords of Hereford and Lincoln, laid before them all that
had taken place since they last met, and bade them deliberate on what
was now to be done for the safety of the realm and Church of England.
[Note 7]. Who at once adjudged the throne void, and the King to be put
down and accounted such no longer: appointing certain nobles to go with
the Duke to show these things unto the Queen.
Well do I mind that morrow of the Epiphany. The Queen sat in the
Painted Chamber, spinning amongst us, when the nobles waited upon her.
She had that morrow been full furnish, sharply chiding Joan de Vilers
but a moment ere the Duke entered the presence: but no sooner came he in
than she was all honey.
"Dame," saith he, "divers nobles of the Council pray speech of you."
The Queen looked up; she sighed, and her hand trembled. Then pulled she
forth her sudary [handkerchief], and wiped her cheek: I am somewhat
unsure of the tears thereon. Yet maybe they were there, for verily she
could weep at will.
Dame Elizabeth, that sat in the casement, saith to Dame Joan, that was
on the contrary side thereof, I being by her,--"Will the Queen swoon,
think you?"
"She will come to an' she do," answered she.
I was ready at one time to reckon Dame Joan de Vaux somewhat hard toward
the Queen: I saw later that she had but better sight than her
neighbours.
Then came in the prelates and nobles which were deputed of the
Parliament to convey the news, and the Queen bowed her head when they
did reverence.
My Lord of Winchester it was that gave her the tidings that the
Parliament then sitting had put down King Edward, and set up the Duke,
which there stood, as King. All innocent stood he, that had been told
it was his father's dearest wish to be free of that burden of state, and
himself too true and faithful to imagine falsehood or unfaithfulness in
her that spake it.
Soothly, she played her part full well. She greet plenteously, she
wrung her hands, she tare off the hood from her head, she gripped her
hair as though to tear that, yea, she cast her down alow on the rushes,
and swooned or made believe thereto. The poor young Duke was full
alarmed, and kneeling beside her, he would have cast his arms about her,
but she thrust him away. Until at the last he arose, and with mien full
princely, told the assembled nobles that he would never consent to that
which so mispaid [displeased, distressed] his dear mother, without his
father should himself command the same. She came to, it seemed me, full
soon thereafter.
Then was sent my Lord of Lancaster and other to the King to hear his
will thereon. Of these was my Lord of Hereford one, and man said he
spake full sharply and poignantly to the King, which swooned away
thereunder (somewhat more soothly, as I guess); and the scene, said man
that told me, was piteous matter. Howbeit, the King gave full assent,
and resigned the crown to his son, who was now to be king, he that had
so been being thenceforth named only Sir Edward of Caernarvon. This was
the eve of Saint Agnes [January 20th, 1327], the twentieth year of the
said King.
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Note 1. Better known as Carfax. The exact church is not on record, but
it was likely to be this.
Note 2. Adam de Orleton. He and Henry Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln,
are the two Bishops whom Thomas de la Moor, King Edward's squire, brands
as "priests of Baal" and "Caiaphases."
Note 3. I have here given the version of events which seems best to
reconcile the accounts of the chroniclers with the testimony of
contemporary documents. See Appendix.
Note 4. This is the character sketched of him by De La Moor, to whom he
was personally known.
Note 5. "For envy they had delivered Him." Matthew, twenty-seven,
verse 18.
Note 6. Kennet, a coarse Welsh cloth, trimmed with stranling, the fur
of the squirrel taken between Michaelmas and Christmas.
Note 7. The idea of some persons that the Church of England began to
exist at the Reformation would have astonished the medieval reckoners
"according to the computation of the Church of England," who were
accustomed to hear Parliaments summoned to debate "concerning the
welfare of the kingdom and Church of England." The former notion is
purely modern.