A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

Insult to the Queen rouses Edward to energy.

He recalls the Despensers. Pacifies the Marches.

But though Edward had temporarily yielded, parties were so evenly balanced that very little turned the scale. Young Despenser was serving as admiral on the coast of Kent. He was therefore safe from such personal attacks as Gaveston had been exposed to, and the King was able to repair to the coast and concert measures with him. As the Queen was travelling from London to Canterbury to meet him, she was refused admittance to the royal castle of Leeds by the Governor, Badlesmere. Angry at this insult, the King attacked the castle and hanged the garrison. It seems to have been felt that, in insulting the Queen, the opposition party had gone much too far. The King was able to recall the Despensers, several of the nobles declared that the late sentence of banishment had been procured by overwhelming force; and as he marched towards the West against the Welsh Marches, his brothers, the Earls of Norfolk and Kent, and several others of the greater nobility, followed his standard. By occupying the valley of the Severn, he separated the Marchers from Lancaster, who was collecting troops at Doncaster. Mortimer and most of the Marchers came to terms, and surrendered. Hereford with several others, broke through the royal army, and joined Lancaster. The King’s enemies were now collected into one body, and he rapidly turned against them. To secure support, and probably in pursuance of their usual policy, the rebel lords had entered into a treaty with the Scotch. Bruce was to come to their assistance, but no conquests that he should make were to be permanent. The price of his help was to be peace, and the acknowledgment of his royal title.

Defeats Lancaster at Boroughbridge.

Lancaster worshipped as a saint.

On the approach of the King, the rebels fell back, and were intercepted at Boroughbridge by Sir Andrew Harklay, Governor of Carlisle. On attempting to cross the bridge, Hereford was killed from below; while the fords were so strongly guarded that the passage of the river seemed impossible. Lancaster, with some hundred barons and knights, surrendered. He was taken to Pontefract. The accusations against him, including his treasonable compact with Bruce, were stated before a committee of the King’s Barons, and condemnation passed against him unheard. He was beheaded, with all circumstances of indignity. A considerable number of barons suffered either with him or immediately after. Thomas of Lancaster appears to have been an ordinary feudal party leader, with a policy which was directed chiefly to domestic reforms and to the curtailment of the royal power. At the same time, the commonalty of England must have understood that, however selfish that policy might have been, it yet led, in the existing state of society, to improvement in the condition of the lower orders. Not otherwise can we explain the fact that miracles before long were worked at the tomb of Lancaster, and his memory so worshipped and honoured by the people, that the King found it necessary to surround the place of his execution with armed men.

Triumph of the Despensers.

Renewal of war with Scotland.

Peace for thirteen years.

The triumph of the Despensers seemed complete. The elder of them was made Earl of Winchester. Their policy too was at once adopted. The Ordinances were revised, all that could touch the King’s prerogative was cut out. It was ordered especially that hereafter no baronial committee should dictate laws to the King, but he “should make all laws concerning the estate of the crown or of the realm in Parliament, with the consent of the prelates, earls, barons, and universality of the realm.” The two years’ truce being now out, the King marched to Scotland, but, like all others of this reign, the expedition came to nothing. No important battle was fought. Want of food compelled the English to return, followed by their indefatigable enemies. So close were they upon their heels, that at a place called Byland, in Blackmoor Forest, Edward was as nearly as possible surprised. So unexpected was the attack, that treason was at once suspected. To the astonishment of all, Sir Andrew Harklay, who had been made Earl of Carlisle for his services at Boroughbridge, was proved, for some unexplained reason, to have been in correspondence with Bruce. For this treason he was executed. Such constant failures became ridiculous, and at length, Edward, acknowledging Bruce’s title as King, made a treaty with him for thirteen years.