The good king Edward, at Lincoln his citie:
At St. Katherine’s house the earl marshal lay;
In the Broadgate lay the Bruse, erle was he that day;
The king lay at Nettleham; it is the bishop’s towne:
And other lords there came, in the countrie up and downe.”
It probably would not be easy to ascertain how the victualling of all these hundreds, or rather, thousands, was accomplished; or in what way it became an affair of state. But the existing records show, not only that great provision was made beforehand; but that these matters were thought of by the king himself. From Dumfries, in the previous October, the king, so soon as he had determined on holding this parliament, sent writs to the sheriff of Lincolnshire, enjoining him many weeks beforehand, to provide, for the intended meeting, four hundred quarters of corn, four hundred quarters of barley, one thousand quarters of oats, and hay for four hundred horses for a month. The sheriff was also to provide one hundred cows and oxen, one hundred pigs, and three hundred sheep. And all this was, distinctly, for the parliament; while for the royal household a separate order was given, of four hundred quarters of corn, one hundred beeves, sixty pigs, and four hundred sheep. The king was probably able to procure the provender for his stables, by orders addressed to some of his own tenantry.
As the time of meeting drew near, other necessary matters were thought of. A writ, dated Worksop, December 2, 1300, enjoins the sheriff to procure sixty dozens of good parchment, for records of the matters to be agreed upon. Other orders of the same kind follow. Samuel Stanham, who was himself a representative of the city of Lincoln in this parliament, had at its close a demand against the king’s treasurer for £96 14s. 5d. for sugars, figs, etc.; and for £54 10s. for fish. He also claims £6 16s. for herrings and stock‐fish supplied to prince Edward, then scarcely seventeen years of age. Multiplying these sums by fifteen for the altered value of money, we shall perceive that they imply a liberal expenditure in the royal establishments.
The parliament being opened in the accustomed form, it appears that the two earls obtained precedence for their favourite questions—the perambulations and the disafforesting. These topics, urged by the constable and the marshal—Winchelsey being their prompter and secret adviser—led to prolonged and vehement debates. As these discussions form part of the great disafforesting controversy, we shall pass them over for the present, only observing that Edward’s skill, firmness, and moderation were taxed to the utmost on this occasion. He succeeded, however, after many days of fierce debate, in calming the troubled waters, and bringing the parliament to a practical result. What were termed “the reports of the commissioners of perambulation” were adopted, and orders for extensive disafforesting were given. Thus pacified, the barons consented to a grant of a fifteenth, to be paid by the feast of St. Michael next ensuing.
And now, these internal dissensions being for a time set at rest, the parliament took up the question of pope Boniface’s letter. Upon its audacious and baseless claims there seems to have been no difference of opinion. Edward’s law‐officers, aided by all the documentary evidence that could be discovered, had, there can be no doubt, prepared a complete answer to the papal assumptions; but it was prudently suggested that, in the king’s present circumstances, it was not desirable that he should appear as a personal rejector and oppugner of the pontiff’s pretensions. Hence, doubtless, arose the idea of the plan which was finally adopted. The whole array of the barons of England stepped between the pope and their king, and told the pontiff that he had asked more than his right; and that they could not permit their sovereign, even were he so inclined, to surrender the rights or the dignity of the crown of England. In this important document—after first denying the historical statements of the papal rescript, and wholly repudiating the idea that the kingdom of Scotland had ever, in any way or manner, belonged to the see of Rome—they go on to deal with the question, whether the king of England shall or may appear before the papal tribunal to defend his right, or in any way to acknowledge the pope as an arbiter or judge in this matter. On this point the hundred and four barons thus express themselves:—
“By a custom which has always been inviolably observed—a privilege arising from the pre‐eminence of the regal dignity—the kings of England have never pleaded, or been bound to plead, respecting their rights in the fore‐mentioned kingdom, or any other their temporal rights, before any judge, ecclesiastical or secular. Wherefore, after discussion and deliberation respecting the contents of your letters, it was our common and unanimous resolve, and by the grace of God shall for the future remain such, that with respect to the rights of his kingdom of Scotland, or other his temporal rights, our aforesaid lord the king shall not plead before you, nor submit in any manner to your judgment; nor suffer his foresaid right to be brought into question by any inquiry; nor send agents or procurators for that purpose into your presence. For such proceedings would be to the manifest disherison of the rights of the crown of England and the royal dignity, the evident subversion of the state of the kingdom, and the prejudice of the liberties, customs, and laws which we have inherited from our fathers—to the observance and defence of which we are bound by our oaths; and which we will maintain to the best of our power; and by the help of God will defend with all our might. Neither do we, nor will we, permit—as we neither can nor ought—our aforesaid lord the king to do, or attempt to do, even if he wished it, the things before mentioned; things so unwarranted by custom or obligation, so prejudicial, and otherwise so unheard of.”[109]