Scotland. The truce was not yet expired, but the opportunity
was too good to be lost. To the English the renewal of war was
distasteful, and measures were taken to avoid it. A meeting was
arranged with the Scotch King, but the conclusion was so evidently
foregone, that Robert summoned his army to assemble on the very
day appointed for the meeting, and while the negotiations were
still going on, the Scotch crossed the borders in force. The
campaign against them was not successful. More used than the
English to rapid movements, capable of living upon much less,
and able to supply themselves with that little from an enemy’s
country, the Scotch constantly avoided a great battle. Twice was
Edward deceived by a simple stratagem of the Scotch, who left
the watchfires burning, while they secretly decamped, and he was
finally obliged to close the campaign without a battle. It became
necessary for Mortimer and Edward to treat, and the Queen offered
her daughter Jane as the price of peace. In March 1328, that peace
was concluded; Robert’s son, David, was to marry Jane; the English
were to use their best endeavours to have the ecclesiastical
censures which hung over Bruce removed, and on the payment of
£20,000, promised to give up all claims upon the Scotch crown, and
to acknowledge Bruce as king.
Though the English nobles had long disliked the Scotch war, and had
at all events made use of their pretended dislike as a weapon of
opposition to the government, they now, with true party spirit, and
moved probably more by dislike to Mortimer than by any patriotic
feeling, declared themselves horrified at the disgraceful treaty,
and held aloof from the Parliament which ratified it. Dislike to
the government was in truth growing to a head. Associations were
formed to uphold the ordinances of the last reign. At length, at
a Parliament called at Salisbury, to be present at the creation
of new peers--when Mortimer was made Earl of March; Prince John,
Earl of Cornwall; and James Butler, Earl of Ormond--Prince Henry
of Lancaster, the brother and successor of Earl Thomas, and other
malcontents, refused to appear. Shortly afterwards it was heard
that they were in arms at Winchester. The King’s uncles, the
Earls of Kent and Norfolk, had hitherto supported Lancaster, but
as Mortimer drew near with his army, they suddenly deserted him.
This caused the failure of the insurrection, and Lancaster and his
friends were obliged to submit to hard terms, purchasing their
freedom with half their incomes, and the pledge that they would no
longer oppose the government.
[Sidenote: Conspiracy and death of Kent. 1330.]
It is not to be supposed that this ineffectual insurrection put
an end to the discontent. During the whole of the following year,
while Edward was absent in France, rumours began to prevail that
the old King was still alive, and in the Spring Parliament of 1330,
the country was astonished by the sudden apprehension of Edmund,
Earl of Kent, the King’s uncle. He and many other nobles, among
others the Archbishop of York and Bishop of London, had undoubtedly
joined in a conspiracy nominally for the restoration of the late
King. The examinations made it evident that this insurrection had
been fomented by the agents of Mortimer, and that Kent had fallen
a victim to their machinations. He confessed his complicity in
the scheme, and was beheaded. Mortimer doubtless was glad of the
opportunity of thus weakening the party of his enemies. Among the
petitions of the Commons in the first Parliament of the reign was
one against the exactions of the royal Princes; this renders it
probable that they had taken upon themselves to exact purveyance,
and Mortimer might rely upon the popular feeling being with him in
this act of violence.
[Sidenote: Edward overthrows Mortimer.]
But a more important enemy now made his appearance. Edward, who
had been married to Philippa of Hainault in 1328, had now a son,
afterwards the Black Prince, and therefore could not but feel that
he had reached man’s estate. He was weary of the domination of
Mortimer, and could hardly have looked with favour on the man who
had killed his father and his uncle, and was now living in adultery
with his mother. He determined to assume the reins of government,
and, in alliance with the Barons, suddenly seized Mortimer during
the sittings of the Parliament at Nottingham, and procured his
speedy trial and execution. To the Queen he acted firmly but
mercifully; he allowed her £3000 a year; he subsequently even
increased this income, and during her lifetime paid her a yearly
visit of ceremony, but he refused to allow her any influence in the
government, and she passed the remaining twenty-seven years of her
life in privacy at Risings Castle.
[Sidenote: Edward’s healing measures.]
The young King was satisfied with the vengeance he had taken, and
proceeded by acts of leniency to heal party feeling, restoring
the forfeited inheritances to the sons of those who had lately
suffered, and extending his kindness to the wives even of Mortimer,
and Gournay his father’s murderer. He made common cause with those
nobles who had hitherto been discontented. Henry of Lancaster
became a prominent member of his council; the great seal was placed
in the hands of John of Stratford, the author of the bill of
deposition in the last reign.
[Sidenote: Balliol invades Scotland.]
Edward’s attention was almost immediately drawn to Scotland.
Robert Bruce had died in 1329, leaving his son David still a
child, so that the government fell into the hands of a succession
of regents. Scotland had been so closely connected with England,
that many barons held property in both kingdoms. During the war of
independence, these properties had naturally been confiscated on
both sides. At the peace of 1328 they should have been restored.
On the part of Scotland this was not done. The party of Balliol
and of Comyn was by no means extinct, and the disinherited lords
gathered round Edward Balliol, the son of John, who thus became the
head of a formidable body of men, whose interests were strongly
opposed to the government of the Bruces. They suddenly determined
on an expedition to restore if possible Balliol to the throne.
Sailing from Ravenspur in Yorkshire, Balliol and his friends landed
at the mouth of the Tay, defeated, with much loss, the Regent at
the battle of Duplin, pushed onwards towards Perth, and, while
his English ships annihilated the Scottish squadron in the river,
was crowned at Scone; thus in seven weeks from the time he left
England he had apparently secured the crown. His repulse was almost
as rapid as his success. In three months the friends of Bruce had
rallied, and Balliol, unable to make head against them, had been
driven from the country.
[Sidenote: Edward supports him.]
[Sidenote: Siege of Berwick and battle of Halidon Hill. 1333.]
[Sidenote: Submission of Scotland. 1334.]
Edward, while ostensibly discountenancing Balliol’s movement in
England, had, in truth, determined to make use of his success; and
a treaty was arranged between them, by which Balliol promised to
own the supremacy of England and to give up Berwick, while the
two kings were mutually to defend each other against all enemies.
He made a show of deferring the question first to Parliament, and
upon failing to obtain an answer, to the judgment of the Pope and
the French King. But there were seldom wanting excuses for a war
with Scotland. Border disturbances speedily arose, and in 1333,
acknowledging the treaties he had made, he advanced to the siege
of Berwick. Archibald Douglas, the then Regent, came with an army
to relieve this important fortress. To oppose him the English had
taken up a strong position to the west of their lines upon Halidon
Hill. A swampy ground was before them, and as the Scotch knights
fell into disorder in the marsh, the English archers “made their
arrows flee as thick as motes on the sunne-beme.” It was in vain
that the nobility bravely attempted to storm the hill. They were
defeated with fearful loss, the Regent, four Earls, the prime of
their nobility, and 30,000 common soldiers fell upon the field. On
the following day Berwick opened its gates. Balliol proceeded to
take possession of the kingdom; fortress after fortress fell; the
young King David was taken to the Court of Philip VI. of France,
and found refuge in Chateau Gaillard in Normandy. As the price of
his assistance Edward received the oath of fealty from the Scotch,
and the part of Scotland to the east of Dumfries and Linlithgow.
As long as Edward was not otherwise employed, Balliol remained
upon his throne; but events soon occurred abroad which called the
English King away, and Balliol was again driven from his kingdom.
[Sidenote: Edward’s claims on France.]
[Sidenote: Philip helps the Scotch.]
[Sidenote: Claims consequently produced. 1337.]
As early as 1329, on the death of Charles the Fair, the third
and last of the sons of Philip IV., Edward, the son of the
daughter of that King, laid claim to the French throne.[58] His
rival was Philip of Valois, the son of Charles of Valois, Philip
IV.’s brother, and, granting the existence of the Salic law, the
undoubted heir; for all the three last kings had died without male
issue. Edward’s claims then rested upon three principles; females
were excluded from the French throne, or Joan, Queen of Navarre,
daughter of Louis X., would have succeeded. The male issue of such
females were not excluded; but, thirdly, they must be born during
the lifetime of their grandfather, or else the children of the
daughters of the three last kings would have a better claim than he
had. The question had been properly tried by the Peers of France,
and Philip of Valois had been declared King, and in 1331 Edward
had himself done homage to him for Guienne. There was however a
standing quarrel with regard to certain towns of the Agenois which
Charles IV. had conquered. These, Edward understood, were to be
restored to him, while Philip VI. declined to surrender them. This
quarrel might perhaps have been passed over, but the reception
of David on his flight from Scotland, and the assistance which
Philip gave to the party opposed to Balliol, by degrees rendered
war inevitable; and when once this became obvious, it was clearly
good policy on the part of Edward to make his claims as national
as possible, and instead of trusting to such secondary causes of
hostility as were afforded by Philip’s refusal to surrender a few
unimportant towns in a distant dependency, or his intrigues for the
restoration of the Bruce dynasty, he at once, with the consent of
Parliament, asserted his claim to the French throne.
[Sidenote: Edward’s alliances on the North-east. 1338.]
[Sidenote: Is made Imperial Vicar.]
There was at present in England a Frenchman whose influence is said
to have had much to do with determining Edward to this step. This
was Robert of Artois. On the death of his grandfather a dispute
had arisen as to the succession of the country. The fief did not
follow the ordinary feudal custom, but fell to the nearest of
blood. Matilda, the daughter of the late Count, therefore succeeded
in preference to her nephew Robert. Philip V. had married her
daughter, and during his lifetime and that of his two brothers,
Robert had been compelled to be content, but on the accession of
Philip of Valois he demanded restitution. During the trial which
ensued he produced as evidence charters which were proved to be
forgeries, and in 1337 took refuge in England, where Edward adopted
his cause, and used him as a sort of set-off to David Bruce, whose
cause the French King had taken up. The great war with France was a
distinct breach in the policy of Edward I. But the present King was
not the great statesman his grandfather had been. A false chivalry
had gradually been taking the place of the old feudal sentiment,
and Edward was open to be moved both by the impulses of a spurious
knight-errantry and by personal motives of ambition and passion.
When once engaged in the war, however, he acted both energetically
and prudently. His marriage with Philippa of Hainault, and the
close commercial interdependence of England and the countries on
the North-east of France, gave him an opening which he eagerly
employed. He entered into alliances with the Princes of that
neighbourhood, with Brabant, Gueldres, Juliers and Cologne. In
Flanders, where the great mercantile cities were at enmity with
their count, who was on his side supported by the French influence,
he allied himself heartily with James Van Artevelt, the Brewer
of Ghent, the acknowledged chief of the burgher party. He took
advantage also of the fierce dispute at that time raging between
the Emperor Louis of Bavaria and the Pope, who was a mere creature
of the French crown, to secure not only the Emperor’s friendship
but the title of Imperial Vicar. This title gave something of a
national character to that alliance of German Princes which he had
arranged. But all these alliances, though they promised so fair,
were both expensive and hollow. In every case they assumed the form
of subsidies, the foreigners promising to supply troops in exchange
for English money. On the other hand, Philip, although unable to
take actual possession, took seisin of Guienne, that is, he sent an
officer to each of the great towns, and declared that he had taken
possession of it. He had also, as was natural in the disturbed
state of Germany, found some friends in that country.
[Sidenote: Great taxation.]
Edward had set himself right in the eyes of his people by a public
declaration of the state of affairs; and relying on the good
feeling thus established, and on the favour of the mercantile
classes, whose interests he had forwarded by his efforts, though
often mistaken ones, to improve the growth and manufacture of wool,
he proceeded to raise taxes with an unsparing hand. Not content
with the subsidies granted him, he laid tallages on the towns,
collected forced loans, induced Parliament to grant him half of
the last wool crop, even seized large quantities of wool for which
he promised to pay in the course of two years, and laid an extra
tax of 40s. the sack on the cost of exportation. He thus obtained
abundant money for his present need, although he found he had gone
rather too far, when, in the following year, Parliament petitioned
for the removal of the “Maletolte,” or additional wool tax.
[Sidenote: He lands in Flanders. 1338.]
[Sidenote: Deserted by his allies. Returns to England. 1340.]
[Sidenote: Returns and wins battle of Sluys.]
[Sidenote: Fruitless expedition to Tournay.]
In 1338 he landed with a large army in Flanders, where the people
who had lately driven away their count, and were anxious to
secure for their cities the monopoly of the English wool trade,
received him gladly. But all his efforts came to nothing. He could
not bring the French King to an engagement, and shortly became
aware of the instability of his foreign allies; in spite of his
title as Imperial Vicar they were little inclined to follow him,
and speedily found pretexts to desert him. He had to retire to
Flanders, but by no means lowered his tone. On the contrary, at
the instigation of the people there, he now first took on himself
the title of King of France. But he had now to return to England
to collect fresh supplies. These were granted him freely, the
Parliament giving him the ninth lamb, the ninth fleece, and the
ninth sheaf. His back was no sooner turned than Philip began to
attack Flanders, and with the aid of the Genoese collected a
considerable fleet to prevent his return. On the 24th of June,
the English fleet, with Edward on board, found the French at
Sluys, where a great sea-fight took place, ending in the complete
destruction of the French. They had fought in three lines,
connected by chains, imitating as far as possible a land army.
The English, after a little manœuvring, had fallen upon them thus
huddled together, had thrown them into inextricable confusion, and
driven many of the crews in their terror to seek refuge by leaping
overboard. So great was the disaster, that none but the jester
durst inform Philip of it. “What cowards those English are,” said
he, “they had not the courage all to jump overboard as the French
did.” In spite of this glorious beginning of the campaign, the year
was as unfruitful as the last; simultaneous advances on St. Omer
and Tournay both proved failures. Philip, who had been intriguing
with the English allies, knew better than to come to a fight,
and Edward was not sorry to conclude a truce at the instigation
of Jane of Hainault, the sister of Philip. This truce, signed at
Esplechin in September, was to last till the following midsummer,
and comprehended the allies of both parties.
[Sidenote: Sudden visit to England and displacement of ministry.]
Edward’s position was most irritating; his allies were deserting
him; in spite of his stringent exactions, his finances were
exhausted; he was so deeply in debt that the Flemings, who
regarded his presence as a security against France, kept him as
it were in pledge. He could not bring himself to believe in such
complete failure of his hopes. He was easily led to listen to evil
counsellors, who whispered to him that his ministers at home were
defrauding him in the matter of the taxes. Suddenly, he set sail
with a few of his most trusted friends, leaving behind him some
nobles in pledge to his creditors, and arrived in London in the
dead of the night of the 30th of November. He immediately displaced
his ministry, his Chancellor, his Treasurer, the Master of the
Rolls, and imprisoned several of the judges and officers of the
Exchequer. On the bishops he could not lay hands; they claimed the
privileges of their order. However, commissions of inquiry were
issued to find charges against the late government, new sheriffs
were appointed, and, apparently in mistrust of clerical influence,
Robert de Bourchier was appointed chancellor.
[Sidenote: Dispute with Stratford. 1341.]
[Sidenote: Edward yields.]
As had happened so frequently before in English history, the
champion of liberty was found in the ranks of the Church. The
President of the Council, John of Stratford, Archbishop of
Canterbury, retired to his See, and thence wrote to Edward at
length, refusing to answer to the charges brought against him,
except before his peers in Parliament. At the same time he warned
the King to remember his father’s fate, and begged him not to
act as he was now doing against the Charter. He wrote also to
the new officials, declaring that the late grants had been given
under conditions which must not be broken, that they were to be
collected only from those represented in Parliament, and not
from the clergy who were not represented there, at the same time
threatening with excommunication all who should disturb the peace
of Church and State. In vain the King threatened; his want of money
compelled him to summon a Parliament (April 23). An attempt was
still made to exclude the Bishops. Whenever they appeared they
were refused admittance to the Parliament, and directed to the
Exchequer Chamber. At length the baronage grew thoroughly angry,
and the King was compelled to admit the Archbishop, but at the same
time left the House in anger, and betook himself to the Commons.
The Peers were firm in their demand that no Peer should be tried
except by his peers in Parliament. At last the King yielded. All
the Estates joined in begging him to admit Stratford to his favour,
and promising him in exchange for this submission assistance in
his necessities. Large help was granted, and the rights claimed
thrown into the form of a statute, securing the privilege of the
peerage, the immunity of the clergy from the exactions of temporal
officials, and ordering that at the beginning of each Parliament
the great officers should temporarily resign their offices, to give
time for an examination of their conduct. In October, the King
having secured his grants, thought fit to revoke the statute,
and was not ashamed to avow that he had “wilfully dissembled as
he ought” to avoid the dangers which threatened him. The statute
was cancelled in 1343, but the privileges then granted were not
questioned.
[Sidenote: Loss of all his allies. 1342.]
[Sidenote: New opening in Brittany.]
As arranged, the truce with France continued till midsummer 1342.
During that time Edward found that his German allies had completely
left him, and that even Louis of Bavaria had been won over to
Philip. This change in the Emperor’s policy was caused by a wish to
obtain Philip’s mediation with his enemy the Pope. He excused it
by urging that the treaty of Esplechin had been made without his
consent. Thus left without allies, and impoverished by his late
subsidies, which indeed, in the absence of money, he had in some
instances been obliged to pay in raw wool, Edward might have been
content to leave France alone, had he not obtained a new footing
in Brittany. The war there was again a war of succession. John
III. of Brittany had three brothers, Guy, Peter, and John Earl of
Montfort. Guy and Peter died before their brother the Duke. Guy had
a daughter, Jane, who as heir of the duchy had married Charles of
Blois, the French King’s nephew. But upon the death of John, his
sole surviving brother, John Earl of Montfort claimed the duchy,
and did homage to Edward as King of France. The Peers of France
adjudged the duchy to Charles of Blois, and the two kings armed in
favour of their respective allies. Charles was at first successful,
and took John of Montfort prisoner. The war was, however, carried
on with enthusiasm by his wife, Jane of Flanders. She had the
good wishes of the people, and held out during the winter in the
fortress of Hennebone. She was almost reduced by famine, when the
arrival of Sir Walter Manny, who was followed later in the year by
Edward himself, raised the siege. But the country now became the
battleground between England and France. Edward on the one hand,
and the French King’s eldest son on the other, entered the duchy,
but so little was effected, that at the end of the year a truce for
three years and eight months was entered into, the matters at issue
being referred to the Pope.
[Sidenote: The Pope’s position as Arbiter of Europe.]
It is somewhat surprising to see how constantly the judgment of
the Papal See is appealed to, even more frequently than in earlier
times, when its authority was of greater weight. No doubt the
spiritual position of the Popes had constantly been used as a
means of interference in secular questions, and by mere force of
encroachment the Pontiff had come to be regarded as the natural
arbiter of Europe. But behind this there lay a more real ground for
the exercise of the Papal authority. The Papal Curia had in fact
inherited a certain portion of the powers and duties of the Roman
Empire. During the vigour of Imperial institutions difficulties
arising between various states included within the limits of the
Empire were settled by the Emperor, who thus became the guardian of
international law. When the Empire lost its universal character,
and the German Kaiser (whatever vague notions of universal power
may have hung about his title) became practically the sovereign
only of a part of Europe, he lost the power of enforcing his
decisions in the case of quarrels between Princes, who were in fact
his equals. National quarrels must therefore have been settled
by the sword alone, had not the Court of Rome, still claiming
universality, still supplying trained lawyers and adequate courts,
afforded an opportunity for continuing in some degree the system of
international arbitration. The natural inclination of a spiritual
power towards peace rendered still more easy this transfer to
the Papacy of the guardianship of the international relations
of Europe. The thirteenth century had been remarkable for its
systematizing character. Powers, acknowledged by common practice
and consent but not reduced to system, began to be defined; and
as Edward I. in England and Philip IV. in France had brought into
fixed and legal shape the lax constitutions of their several
kingdoms, so Boniface VIII. had attempted to render Rome a formal
court of appeal in all questions of international law. It was thus
that we find Wallace and the guardians of Scotland appealing to
Rome in their quarrel, and the Pope asserting his supremacy over
the Scotch kingdom at the close of the reign of Edward I., and
thus that we constantly find the Kings of Europe appealing to the
decision of the Papal Curia.
[Sidenote: Mediation of the Pope offered. 1343.]
[Sidenote: Decay of Papal influence.]
[Sidenote: Mediation accepted conditionally.]
[Sidenote: The King’s commercial difficulties.]
[Sidenote: Mediation fails.]