The queen insulted by Lady Badlesmere.
Such popularity as the king had for a time achieved by his concession to the demands of the lords, however unwillingly made, was enhanced by another circumstance. An insult had been offered to the queen by Lady Badlesmere, who had refused to admit her into her castle at Ledes, co. Kent, when on her way to Canterbury. The queen was naturally indignant, and the unexpected energy displayed by Edward in avenging the insult gave fresh strength to his cause. With the assistance of a contingent sent by the citizens of London, the king beseiged the castle, and, having taken it, hanged the governor.[396] Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere, the owner of the castle, was afterwards taken and put to death at Canterbury.
Attempt to issue a "charter of service."
Elated with his success, the king forthwith proceeded to issue "a charter of service"—i.e., a charter binding the citizens to serve him in future wars—which he wished the good people of London to have sealed, "but the people of the city would not accede to it for all that the king could do."[397] In the place of this charter, however, he was induced to grant the citizens one of a diametrically opposite nature, whereby it was provided that the aids granted by the citizens upon this occasion should not be prejudicial to the mayor and citizens, nor be looked upon as establishing a precedent.[398]
The Londoners at Boroughbridge, 16 March, 1322.
Having thus secured an acknowledgment of their rights, the citizens were ready enough to waive them[pg 152] when occasion required. The battle of Boroughbridge (16 March, 1322) was won for the king by the aid of Londoners. We know, at least, that when he started from London at the close of 1321 he was accompanied by five hundred men at arms from the city, and one hundred and twenty more were sent after him on the 3rd March.[399]
The character of the citizen soldier in the field.
The Londoners were by no means to be despised in the field. Froissart describes them as being very dangerous when once their blood was up, and slaughter on the battle field only gave them fresh courage.[400] A late writer[401] who was pleased to describe the city's military force as "an army of drapers' apprentices and journeymen tailors, with common councilmen for captains and aldermen for colonels," gave it credit, nevertheless, for natural courage, which, combined with befitting equipment and martial discipline, rendered the force a valuable ally and a formidable enemy.
Defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster, March, 1322.
The Earl of Lancaster, who was made prisoner at Boroughbridge, and afterwards executed before his own castle at Pomfret, had come to be a great favourite with the Londoners, in whose eyes he appeared as the champion of the oppressed against the strong. His memory was long cherished in the city, and miracles were believed to have taken place—the crooked made straight, the blind receiving sight[pg 153] and the deaf hearing—before the tablet he had set up in St. Paul's commemorative of the king's submission to the Ordinances. Edward ordered the removal of the tablet, but it was again set up as soon as all power had passed from his hands.[402]