A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

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.

Edward’s claims on France.

Philip helps the Scotch.

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.

Edward’s alliances on the North-east. 1338.

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.

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.