By all the laws of feudal sovereignty at that time known, they had by this act incurred the penalties of perjury and treason; and, by their invasion of Cumberland, they had commenced a war against their acknowledged lord. They rashly appealed to arms, and defied the power of England, wielded by the first captain of the age. They were overthrown, even before the waning of a single moon. But here, as everywhere, Edward’s clemency is the most remarkable feature in the case. Not Baliol only, but all those who had forced him into this war, were justly exposed to the loss of property, if not of life. Yet, the contest once ended by Baliol’s resignation, all that we hear of, on Edward’s part, is a willing amnesty and a ready forgiveness. Up to this point of the story, then, we must deem the king to stand clear of any kind of moral condemnation.
VIII.
THE WAR WITH FRANCE, AND VARIOUS TROUBLES AT HOME, A.D. 1297.
Edward had now, apparently, achieved a great and important object, and he returned in the autumn of 1296 to his palace of Westminster, the undisputed sovereign of both islands, and of all the territories contained within them. But his fifty‐ninth year, to which he was now approaching, was destined to prove one of the most trying and difficult conjunctures of his life. He had established his dominion over the whole realm; had frustrated one of Philip’s main designs, by crushing the Scottish rebellion; and was now at leisure to deal with that monarch on the soil of France itself. But as each month of 1297 passed along, it brought with it some new peril; until, before the year had closed, a series of troubles and perplexities had so accumulated around him, that few men but himself could have forced their way through so many difficulties.
In dealing with France, Edward felt the disadvantages of his position, arising from the distance of Gascony from England. To convey an army to that country, of force sufficient to reconquer the province, would have exhausted both the treasure and the military strength of England; while, at the same time, neither Wales nor Scotland was in so tranquil a state as to encourage him to undertake such an enterprise. With his usual sagacity, therefore, Edward preferred to assail France on its northern frontier, in the hope of so threatening both the capital and Normandy as to force Philip to relinquish his hold upon the Gascon province. On the side of Flanders, too, Edward could obtain several allies; and its nearness to England rendered the conveyance of both men and stores less difficult and less expensive. For all these reasons Edward had determined, in the course of 1296, to endeavour to form a league between himself, the earls of Flanders, Holland, and Luxembourg, and the duke of Austria, for a combined attack upon France, on its north‐eastern frontier. A similar policy was adopted, four centuries after, by William III. and by Marlborough.
But all schemes of this kind—and England has seen many of them—inevitably tend to one result: a subsidy. None of these princes were disposed to go to war with such a kingdom as France, except they were assisted in their preparations by a liberal supply of English money.
Having formed the desired confederacy, therefore, Edward was next obliged to call together his parliament, and to appeal to them for a supply. The barons, without difficulty, granted him a twelfth; the burgesses, an eighth. But when the king’s representatives made their application to the prelates and clergy, an unexpected difficulty at once presented itself.
Boniface VIII., the reigning pope, and Winchelsey, the primate, were men of vigorous and aspiring minds, and they evidently desired to tread in the steps of Hildebrand and Thomas à Becket. They believed that they saw the king of England in circumstances of difficulty, and that an opportunity was thus afforded for advancing a new claim on behalf of the church.
Edward had undoubtedly begun to press with increasing weight upon the resources of the clergy. Nor was this at all surprising. His own necessities were now great, and the wealth of the church had long been visibly and rapidly augmenting. “The possessions of the clergy,” says Dr. Henry, “never diminishing, but daily increasing, were now swelled up to an enormous bulk, and threatened to swallow up the whole lands of the kingdom.” It has been remarked, that in the single reign of Henry III., as many as eight or nine of our splendid cathedrals were built or greatly enlarged; and during the same period, no fewer than one hundred and fifty‐seven abbeys, priories, and other religious houses were founded.