II. PERCY
“If the biographer of an ancient warrior,” says Mr Nicolas, “is in any degree influenced by that enthusiasm which deeds of chivalrous courage are calculated to excite, it is only by more than ordinary restraint upon his feelings that he is enabled to relate them in the sober and chastened language suitable to historical truth; and, perhaps, in no instance is that caution so necessary as when any member of the house of Percy is the subject of his pen. In the age to which Henry de Percy belonged, as well as in a few succeeding centuries, that name was synonymous with almost uncontrollable power, impetuous valour, and all those stern military virtues which characterized the time; and the difficulty of successfully detailing the career of an individual is considerably increased, when, as in the case of this Baron, the merits of his descendants have been sung, not only by rude contemporary bards, but have been immortalized by the greatest dramatic genius that ever existed.
“Henry de Percy was the third son of Henry Lord Percy, by Eleanor, daughter of John Earl of Warren and Earl of Surrey, and succeeded to the barony upon the death of his brother John de Percy, who died under age soon after the year 1272, at which time he appears to have been very young. The first circumstance recorded of him is, that, in the 15th Edward I., being then in ward, on the King’s expedition into Wales, he was acquitted of 120l. required from him for scutage. In the 22d Edward I. 1294, he made proof of his age, obtained livery of his lands, and was summoned to attend the King into Gascony; and in March 1296, having accompanied Edward in his invasion of Scotland, he received the honour of knighthood before Berwick. He was present at the battle of Dunbar, and was soon afterwards appointed Governor of Galloway and Aire in Scotland; and in 1297, being with Lord Robert Clifford, commander for the King of England in the eastern parts of Scotland, they were appointed to receive Margery, daughter of Robert Brus Earl of Carreck, as an hostage for his fidelity to Edward. About the same time he was sent by the Earl Warren, then General of all the English army beyond the Trent, with the forces at Carlisle into Scotland; and having entered Annandale with 300 men-at-arms, and 40,000 foot, about the 10th August he proceeded to Aire, where he endeavoured to persuade the inhabitants of Galloway to submit. Finding that a party of Scots were on their route to oppose him, he marched towards them; but from the inferiority of their numbers, they surrendered upon condition of being pardoned.
“In the 26th Edward I., Lord Percy was again in the wars of Scotland, in which year he obtained a grant of the lands forfeited by Ingelrom de Umfreville; and in the following year he was present at the siege of Carlaverock—a fact unnoticed by either of the writers just mentioned—when he must have been about forty-two years of age. The poet alludes to his determined hostility against the Scots, which feeling appears to have been inherited by his descendants, and describes him as the ‘nevou’ of the Earl Warren, which, like the word ‘nepos,’ seems to have been used for grandson as well as nephew, he being the son of Eleanor, the daughter of that nobleman. In February, 28th Edward I., 1301, he was a party to the letter from the Barons to Pope Boniface, wherein he is styled ‘Lord of Topclive;’ and in the 34th Edward I., was again sent into Scotland, to oppose Robert Bruce, against whom he valiantly defended Kenteir. In the 35th Edward I., he was a party to the treaty of peace with Scotland.
“On the accession of Edward the Second, he was, in common with the other peers of the realm, summoned to attend that monarch’s coronation; and in the 3d Edward II., he purchased the celebrated castle of Alnwick, which is now possessed by his representative the Duke of Northumberland. In the 5th Edward II., he succeeded John de Segrave, as Constable of Nottingham Castle, and Justice of the Forests beyond the Trent, and about the same period was constituted Governor of Scarborough and Bamburgh Castles. From a writ tested on the 14th September, 1309, it appears that he was then Constable of the Castle of York, and in that and the preceding years he was again in the wars of Scotland.
“Lord Percy distinguished himself by his enmity to Piers de Gaveston, and it is perhaps just to consider that his hostility arose from patriotic motives; but there is a suspicion attached to his behaviour towards the unhappy favourite, which the biassed historian of the house of Percy has rather increased than lessened, by his laboured attempt to remove. It appears that Gaveston was besieged in Scarborough Castle by the Earl of Pembroke; that he surrendered upon condition that his life and person should be secured; and that both the Earl and Percy solemnly pledged themselves to that effect. Through a false reliance, however, on the Earl’s honour, by Percy, as Collins relates it, the promise was speedily broken, and Gaveston perished on the scaffold at Warwick Castle. This is a version of the tale, which so partial a biographer as that writer uniformly shows himself, would naturally give; but although the impossibility of ascertaining the real merits of the case render it unjust to pass a positive censure upon Percy’s conduct, it is at least equally unfair to conclude that the whole shame of the transaction belongs to his colleague, and that his only error arose from a misplaced confidence. Certain, however, it is, that the King considered him guilty of Gaveston’s death, for he issued special precepts, tested on the 30th and 31st July, 1312, for his apprehension, and for the siezure of all his lands, tenements, and chattels. Towards the end of that year, however, Percy was included in the treaty between the King and the barons; and on making his submission his offence was pardoned, and his lands restored to him. The acquittance of the King to Thomas Earl of Lancaster, Guy Earl of Warwick, Robert de Clifford, and this Baron, of the jewels and horses that belonged to Gaveston, dated on the 6th February, 1313, 6. Edw. II., by which he acknowledges to have received from them the articles therein mentioned, by the hands of Humphrey Earl of Hereford, is still preserved. The document is highly curious; and with the hope of relieving the dullness of this memoir, the following interesting extracts from it are introduced:
‘Un anel d’or, od un saphir, lequel seint Dunstan forga de ses mayns.
Une boiste d’argent en d’orrez pur porter eynz un anel entour le col de un homme.
Une grant rubi hors d’or, que fust trove sur sire Piers de Gavaston quant il fust pris; le pris de mille livres.
Trois granz rubis en aneaux, une amiraude, un diamaund de grant pris, en une boiste d’argent enamille, que fust trove sur le dit Pierres quant il fust pris.
Deux seaux un grant e un petit; e un petit seal une clief pendaunte, un esterling plie, et un calcedoyne; les queux furent trovez en la burse quant il fuit pris.
En un cofre, lie de feer, une mirour d’argent enamaille; un pigne; un priket, que fust donné au Roi par la Countesse de Bar à Gant.
Un coronal d’or od diverse perie, pris de cent mars.
Un chapelet d’argent garnis de diverse perie, pris de doze soutz.
En un autre cofre, un grant pot d’argent od trois peiz pur chaufer eawe, que poise sis livres quinze soutz dis deners.
Trois plates d’argent por especierie, e poisent quatre livres.
Deux plates d’argent pur fruit, des armes de roy d’Engleterre, que poisent sessant dis oit souz quatre deners.
Une burse de drap d’or ove deux pierres de Jerlm’ dedenz.
Un mors d’argent od quatre botons d’orrez, od deux lions pur chaq’e de cuir.
Un veil seal entaille, e un pere de Calcedoine. Trois furchesces d’argent pur mangier poires.
Une ceinture de fil de argent blank.
Une chapelet de Paris, pris de sis souz oit deners.
En un sak un bacenet burny od surcils.
En autre saak une peire de treppes des armes de dit Pieres.
Deux cotes de velvet pur plates coverir.
Une Nouche pur palefrei, des armes du Roy.
Quatre chemises et trois brais de Gascoigne orfresez.
Une veille banere des armes le dit Piers.
Quarant un destres et coucers e un palefrei.
Noef Somers. Duze chivaus charetters.
Deux charettes od tut le herneis.’[154]
“Great part of Gaveston’s plate was marked with an eagle, and several articles of jewellery were in that form, his arms being, Vert, six eagles displayed, Or.
“The little that remains to be said of this Baron, may be related in a very few words. In 1313 he received letters of safe conduct from the King, for all his dominions; in June in the following year he was present at the fatal battle of Bannockburn, and was regularly summoned to parliament from the 6th February, 27th Edward I. 1299, to the 29th July, 8th Edward II. 1314. He died in 1315, and was buried in the Abbey of Fountains in Yorkshire; and by Eleanor his wife, daughter of John Earl of Arundel, who survived him, he left issue. Henry his eldest son, then aged sixteen years; and William, who was made a Knight of the Bath, 20th Edward II. and died in 1355.”
Siege of Carlaverock.