Once on the continent, the queen threw off the mask, and immediately began to concert measures against the king and the Despensers. By negotiating a marriage for her son with the daughter of the Count of Hainault, she contrived to raise supporters in England, whilst by her affected humility and sorrow, displayed by wearing simple apparel as one that mourned for her husband, she won the sympathy of all who beheld her.[411] The king, on the other hand, publicly forbade any one holding correspondence with her, caused provisions to be laid up in the Tower in case of emergency, and prepared a fleet to prevent her landing.
The City lost to Edward.
It was all in vain. The majority of the citizens had made up their mind to give him no more support. On the 24th September, 1326, Isabel, in spite of all precautions, effected a landing near Harwich; and Edward, as soon as he was made aware of her arrival in England, took fright and left London for the west. The queen, who was accompanied by her son and her "gentle Mortimer," gave out that she came as an avenger of Earl Thomas, whose memory was yet green in the minds of the citizens, and as the enemy of the Despensers.[412] Adherents quickly came in from all sides, and with these she leisurely (quasi peregrinando) followed up the king.[413]
In the meantime a letter had been despatched to the city in her name and that of her son, desiring its[pg 156] assistance in destroying "the enemies of the land." To this letter, we are told, no answer was sent "through fear of the king." Another letter was therefore sent to the same effect, in which Hugh Despenser was especially named as one to be destroyed, and an immediate answer was requested.[414] This letter was affixed to the cross in Cheapside and copies circulated through the city.
On the 15th October, the city broke out into open rebellion. The mayor and other leading men had gone to the house of the Blackfriars to meet the Bishops of London and Exeter. The mob, now fairly roused by the queen's second letter, hurried thither and forced them to return to the Guildhall, the timid Chigwell "crying mercy with clasped hands," and promising to grant all they required. A proclamation was made shortly afterwards to the effect that "the enemies to the king and the queen and their son" should depart the city.[415]
The murder of Bishop Stapleton, 15 October, 1326.
One unfortunate man, John le Marchall, suspected of being employed by Hugh Despenser as a spy, was seized and incontinently beheaded in Cheapside. The mob, having tasted blood, hastened to sack the house of Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, who as Edward's treasurer, had confiscated the queen's property. It so happened, that the bishop himself, attended by two esquires, was riding towards the city intending to have his midday meal at his house in Old Dean's Lane (now Warwick Lane), before proceeding to the Tower. Hearing cries of "Traitor!" he[pg 157] guessed that something was wrong, and made for sanctuary in St. Paul's. He was caught, however, just as he was about to enter the north door, dragged from his horse, carried to Chepe, and there put to death in the same way as John le Marchall had been executed a short hour before.[416]
The bishop's two attendant esquires also perished at the hands of the mob. Their bodies were allowed to lie stark naked all that day in the middle of Chepe. The head of the bishop was sent to the queen at Gloucester,[417] but his corpse was reverently carried into St. Paul's after vespers by the canons and vicars of the cathedral. It was not allowed, however, to remain there long; for hearing that the bishop had died under sentence of excommunication, the authorities caused it to be removed to the church of St. Clement Danes, near which stood the bishop's new manor house of which we are reminded at the present day by Exeter Hall. The parish church was in the gift of the Bishop of Exeter for the time being, and John Mugg, then rector, owed his preferment to Stapleton. He was, therefore, guilty of gross ingratitude when he refused to take in the corpse of his patron, or to allow it the rites of burial. Certain poor women had more compassion; they at least cast a piece of old cloth over the corpse for decency's sake and buried it out of sight, although without any attempt to make a grave and "without any office of priest or clerk." Thus, it remained till the following month of February, when it was disinterred and taken to Exeter. The[pg 158] treatment of Bishop Stapleton caused other prelates to look to themselves, and many of them, including the primate himself, began to make overtures of submission to Queen Isabel.
After the Bishop's murder there was no pretence of government in the city. The mob did exactly as they liked. They sacked the houses of Baldock, the Chancellor, and carried off the treasure he had laid up in St. Paul's. The property of the Earl of Arundel, recently executed at Hereford, which lay in the Priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, shared the same fate. The banking house of the Bardi, containing the wealth accumulated by the younger Despenser, was sacked under cover of night. The Tower was entered, the prisoners set free, and new officers appointed.[418] All this was done in the face of a proclamation, calling upon the citizens to sink their differences and to settle their disputes by lawful means.[419]
The queen confirms to the citizens their right to elect their mayor, Nov., 1326.