Part 1
BELL'S ENGLISH HISTORY SOURCE BOOKS _General Editors_: S.E. WINBOLT, M.A., AND KENNETH BELL, M.A.
WAR AND MISRULE
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A SOURCE BOOK OF LONDON HISTORY. By P. MEADOWS, M.A.
LONDON: G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.
WAR AND MISRULE
(1307-1399)
SELECTED BY
A. AUDREY LOCKE OXFORD HONOURS SCHOOL OF MODERN HISTORY
LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. 1920
INTRODUCTION
This series of English History Source Books is intended for use with any ordinary textbook of English History. Experience has conclusively shown that such apparatus is a valuable--nay, an indispensable--adjunct to the history lesson. It is capable of two main uses: either by way of lively illustration at the close of a lesson, or by way of inference-drawing, before the textbook is read, at the beginning of the lesson. The kind of problems and exercises that may be based on the documents are legion, and are admirably illustrated in a _History of England for Schools_, Part I., by Keatinge and Frazer, pp. 377-381. However, we have no wish to prescribe for the teacher the manner in which he shall exercise his craft, but simply to provide him and his pupils with materials hitherto not readily accessible for school purposes. The very moderate price of the books in this series should bring them within the reach of every secondary school. Source books enable the pupil to take a more active part than hitherto in the history lesson. Here is the apparatus, the raw material: its use we leave to teacher and taught.
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In regard to choice of subject-matter, while trying to satisfy the natural demand for certain "stock" documents of vital importance, we hope to introduce much fresh and novel matter. It is our intention that the majority of the extracts should be lively in style--that is, personal, or descriptive, or rhetorical, or even strongly partisan--and should not so much profess to give the truth as supply data for inference. We aim at the greatest possible variety, and lay under contribution letters, biographies, ballads and poems, diaries, debates, and newspaper accounts. Economics, London, municipal, and social life generally, and local history, are represented in these pages.
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S.E. WINBOLT. KENNETH BELL.
NOTE TO THIS VOLUME
I have to thank Sir E. Maunde Thompson and the Council of the Royal Society of Literature for permission to quote from Sir E. Maunde Thompson's translation of Adam of Usk's Chronicle. The sources used in this book are for the most part contemporary.
A.A.L.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION V
DATE
1310. BILL OF ARTICLES PRESENTED TO EDWARD II. 1
1311. THE SUCCESSES OF KING ROBERT BRUCE 2
1312. PETER GAVESTON AND THE FRIARS PREACHERS 3
1313. AN UNWORTHY KING 4
1313. CORRUPTION IN THE PAPAL COURT 5
1314. THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN 6
1314. VAGABOND FRIARS 7
1319. CHARGES AGAINST THE DESPENSERS 9
1322. POPULAR FEELING ABOUT THE EARL OF LANCASTER'S DEATH 10
1322. THE REVOCATION OF THE ORDINANCES 11
1327. THE MURDER OF THE KING 12
1327. CHARACTER OF EDWARD II. 14
1327. ACCESSION OF EDWARD III. 15
1327. THE MANNER OF THE SCOTS 15
1328. THE RULE OF ISABELLA 16
1330. WHY MORTIMER WAS CONDEMNED UNHEARD 18
1332. THE WAR OF THE DISINHERITED 19
1334. FOR THE SAFE-KEEPING OF THE CITY OF LONDON 20
1339. FIRST INVASION OF FRANCE: THE CAMPAIGN OF 1339 21
1340. BEFORE SLUYS 24
1340. THE BATTLE OF SLUYS 25
1340. THE KING OF FRANCE IGNORES THE KING OF ENGLAND'S CHALLENGE 26
1340-1341. ARCHBISHOP STRATFORD INCURS THE KING'S DISPLEASURE 29
1340-1341. THE "LIBELLUS FAMOSUS" 30
1341. TRIAL BY PEERS 33
1346. THE BATTLE OF CRECY 34
1346. DAVID BRUCE INVADES ENGLAND 36
1346. A FIGHTING PRIOR 38
1347. THE SURRENDER OF CALAIS 40
1349. PENITENTS AND JEWS 42
1350. A STATUTE OF LABOURERS 43
1350. PROSPERITY OF THE LANDLESS LABOURER 46
1350. FIRST STATUTE OF PROVISORS 47
1355. THE KING OF ENGLAND REFUSES THE FRENCH KING'S CHALLENGE 48
1355-1356. THE BALLIOLS RESIGN TO THE KING OF ENGLAND 48
1356. THE BATTLE OF POITIERS 50
1359. THE TREATY OF LONDON 52
1360. THE SIEGE OF PARIS AND THE TREATY OF CALAIS 53
1361. THE FATEFUL FOOTPRINTS OF THE ENGLISH 55
1362. NO SUBSIDY ON WOOL WITHOUT ASSENT OF PARLIAMENT 56
1363. REGULATION OF WEARING APPAREL BY STATUTE 56
1367. THE HAUGHTINESS OF THE ENGLISH 59
1376. "TIME-HONOURED LANCASTER" 60
1376. LAMENT FOR THE BLACK PRINCE 63
1376-1377. RENEWAL OF THE WAR 64
1377. JOHN OF GAUNT ATTACKS WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM 66
1377. MASTER JOHN WICLIF 67
1377. A TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION 68
1377. THE KING OF FRANCE EQUIPS A FLEET 69
1377. CHARACTER OF EDWARD III. 70
1381. THE PEASANTS' REVOLT 71
1381. WONDROUS AND UNHEARD-OF PRODIGIES 73
1382. HERETICAL AND ERRONEOUS CONCLUSIONS OF WICLIF 75
1382. THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS MASTER JOHN 77
1384. THE PARLIAMENT OF 1384 78
1385. THE PLOT AGAINST LANCASTER 81
1385. THE FRENCH IN SCOTLAND 84
1385. THE DEATH OF WICLIF 85
1386. CHARLES VI.'S FRUSTRATED INVASION OF ENGLAND 86
1386. THE STATE OF ENGLAND 91
1386. THE WONDERFUL PARLIAMENT 92
1387. RICHARD APPEALS TO THE JUDGES 93
1387. DEFEAT OF THE KING'S FRIENDS 94
1388. THE MERCILESS PARLIAMENT 95
1394. ON THE TRUCE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE 95
1397. SUPPOSED PLOTS 98
1397. RICHARD'S REVENGE 99
1397. THE "APPEAL" OF THE APPELLANTS 101
1399. THE STATE OF IRELAND 103
1399. THE BETRAYAL OF THE KING 104
1399. ABDICATION AND DEATH 108
1399. CHARACTER OF RICHARD II. 110
1399. RICHARD THE REDELESS 111
1399. ISABELLA OF FRANCE RETURNS TO HER OWN COUNTRY 115
APPENDIX: EDUCATION IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY:
A NORMAL SCHOOLBOY 117
BEGGAR'S BRATS ARE BOOK-LEARNED 119
CAUSES OF THE IMPAIRING OF OUR LANGUAGE 120
WAR AND MISRULE
(1307-1399)
BILL OF ARTICLES PRESENTED TO EDWARD II. BY THE BARONS IN THE PARLIAMENT OF 1310.
SOURCE.--_Annales Londonienses in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and Edward II._ (Rolls Series), ed. Stubbs, i. 169.
To our lord the King showing the great perils and damages which from day to day will appear, unless there is some hasty redress, both destruction of the freedom of holy Church and the disinheritance and dishonour of yourself and your royal power, and the disinheritance of your crown and the damage of all the people of your kingdom both rich and poor: from which perils neither you nor the good men of your kingdom may escape unless some immediate remedy be ordained by the advice of the prelates, earls and barons and the most wise of your realm:--
To begin with, while you are ruler of this land and sworn to maintain peace in your land, you are led by unworthy and bad council and are held in great slander in all lands; and so poor are you and so devoid of all manner of treasure that you have nothing wherewith either to defend your land or keep up your household, except by extortions, which your officers make from the goods of holy Church and your poor people, without paying anything, against the form of the great charter; which charter they pray may be held and maintained in all its force.
Further, Sire, whereas our lord the King your father, whom God assoil, left you all your lands entire, England, Ireland and all Scotland, in good peace, you have lost Scotland and grievously dismembered your crown in England and Ireland etc. without the assent of your baronage and without pretext.
Again, Sire, showing you that whereas the commonalty of your realm give you the 20th penny from their goods in aid of your Scotch war and the 24th penny, in order to be freed of prises and other grievances; the which pennies are all levied and foolishly spent and wasted by unworthy counsel, and your wars do not advance, nor are your poor people freed from prises and other grievances, but they are more oppressed from day to day, than before. For which cause, Sire, your said good people pray you humbly, for the salvation of yourself and of them and of the crown, which they are bound to maintain, by virtue of their allegiance, that you will consent to this, that these and other perils may be wiped out and redressed by ordinances of your baronage.
[This bill was followed by the appointment of the Lords Ordainers.]
THE SUCCESSES OF KING ROBERT BRUCE (1311).
SOURCE.--_The Book of Pluscarden in Historians of Scotland_, x. 182.
In the year 1311, after having routed and vanquished all his foes everywhere he went, and, for the most part, taken and levelled to the ground the castles and forts which offered him resistance, King Robert Bruce twice invaded and ravaged England, making great havoc with fire and sword, and bringing untold plunder back to Scotland. And thus, by the power of God, that faithless English nation, which had again and again unjustly tortured many a man, was now by God's righteous judgment made to undergo scourgings; and whereas it had once been victorious over other kingdoms, it now sank vanquished and groaning and became a gazing stock to others. The following year, in 1312, the then very strong walled town of Perth was taken, and all in it were put to the sword, some drawn, some beheaded, some slain in the fight, and the rest hanged on the gallows. But the King was moved to compassion for the guiltless rabble, and forgave them and received their submission. And thus:
"Did England drink the gall itself had brewed."
* * * * *
And the same year Edward, called of Windsor, the eldest son of the King of England, was born at Windsor, of the daughter of Philip, King of France; and he was the source of many wars. Through this Edward, that most cruel and most heinous war with France broke out.
PETER GAVESTON AND THE FRIARS PREACHERS (1312).
SOURCE.--Adam Murimuth, _Continuatio Chronicarum_ (Rolls Series), 17-18.
This year, about the feast of St. John the Baptist [June 24], the King desired Peter Gaveston for his safety's sake to be brought to him by Adomar de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. When they were at Danyntone (Deddington), near Banbury, the said Earl left him in the night and went on to another place, for no apparent reason. And on the morrow at dawn came Guy, Earl of Warwick, with a small, noisy following, and surprised the said Peter, and carried him off with him to his Castle of Warwick. There, having held counsel with the chief men of the kingdom, especially with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, he finally dismissed him from prison to go where he would. And when he had gone out of the town of Warwick and had come to a place called, as though prophetically, Gaveressich (Gaversike), he found there many men raising hue and cry after him with voices and horns, as they would after one of the enemies of the King and kingdom lawfully outlawed or exiled; and finally they beheaded him, as though he were one of these, on the 19th day of June. And one of the Friars Preachers carried away Gaveston's head in his hood (and brought it to the King). Afterwards the friars of the same order found the body[1] and kept it at Oxford with solemn vigils for a year and more. But finally it was buried at Langley, where the King founded a religious house of Friars Preachers for the salvation of his own soul; and there establishing a large number of student friars, he provided for their sufficient sustenance from his treasury in London.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] According to the _Annales Londonienses_ in _Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and Edward II._ (Rolls Series), i. 207, the body was carried to Warwick by four shoemakers, but the Earl of Warwick sent it back to the place where the beheading had taken place, outside his fief, and "the Jacobin Friars carried the body to Oxford, and guarded it with much honour; wherefore they were held in great odium by the aforesaid earl."
AN UNWORTHY KING (1313).
SOURCE.--_Vita Edwardi II._ [possibly by a monk of Malmesbury] in _Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward II. and Edward III._ (Rolls Series), ii. 191-192.
Behold now our King Edward had reigned six whole years, nor had he accomplished anything praiseworthy or fit to be remembered; except that he married royally and raised for himself a fine heir to his kingdom.... Oh! would that our King Edward had borne himself well at the beginning of his reign, and had not followed the counsel of pernicious men, he should in truth have been more renowned than any of his ancestors. Then God had enriched him with the gifts of all virtues and had made him equal to, nay, more excellent than, other Kings. For if anyone had wished to describe those things which ennobled our King, they could not have found his peer in the land. His ancestral fathers handed him down his generosity; those fathers whose successions now extend themselves to the tenth degree. He had riches, the most in his kingdom; an opulent country, and the favour of the people.
He was kinsman to the King of France; near relative to the King of Spain. If he had adhered to the counsel of his barons he would have humiliated the Scots with no loss. Oh! if he had employed himself in the pursuit of arms, and excelled the valour of King Richard [I.]. Indeed, his make-up was fitted to this; he was tall of stature and a finely formed man of great strength, with a handsome face. But why delay to describe him? If he had given as much energy to the pursuit of arms as he spent in rustic pursuits, England would have prospered well; his name would have resounded throughout the land. O what things were hoped of him as Prince of Wales! All hope vanished when he became King of England. Peter of Gaveston ruled the King in an unseemly way, disturbed the land, consumed the treasure, submitted three times to exile, and, afterwards returning, lost his head. But still some of Peter's companions and his own family remain in the King's court, and they disturb the peace of the whole country, and urge on the King to seek vengeance. Give peace, O Lord, in our days, and make the King of one mind with his barons.
CORRUPTION IN THE PAPAL COURT (1313).
SOURCE.--_Vita Edwardi II._ in _Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward I. and Edward II._ (Rolls Series), ii. 197-199.
Money does everything in the [Papal] Court. If perchance you do not know this, turn to the custom and ways of the Roman Court. It loves causes, suits, quarrels, because they cannot be carried on without money; and a cause, which once enters the court, proves to be almost unending; ... Anyone ought to be satisfied with one Church, as is ordained in the Section _De multa_;[2] nevertheless, high persons are made exceptions, and receive dispensation indiscriminately so long as they give sufficient money. This marvellous vanity, and the detestable cupidity of the Court, has aroused scandal against it throughout the whole world....
This is the eighth year and more that Pope Clement V. has ruled the whole Church, but whatever he did to benefit mankind escaped the memory. At Vienna he gathered a council, and settled the Templars; conceded indulgences for the Holy Land, and collected an immense amount of money, but in no way benefited the Holy Land. He conceded tithes to Kings, and despoiled the churches of the poor. Far better were it for the rectors if there were no Pope, than to be daily subject to such exactions. But whether or no this is possible is not for me to discuss, because it is equivalent to sacrilege to question the power of that Prince. Among all other provinces of the world England feels most the oppressive Lord Pope; for out of the fulness of power he takes much on himself, and neither the Prince nor the people gainsay him; he reserves all rich rents to himself, and immediately excommunicates those who rebel; the legates come and despoil the land, others come bearing bulls and sell up the prebends. Every deanery is held by a foreigner, whereas the law orders natives to be preferred. Residence of deans is now abolished, and the number of canons is greatly decreased.... Lord Jesus, either take away the Pope from our midst, or lessen the power which he assumes over the people.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Decr. Greg. IX., lib. iii., p. 5, c. 28.
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN (JUNE 24, 1314).
SOURCE.--Fabyan's _Chronicle_ (ed. Ellis, 1811), 420.
In this vii year, for to oppress the malice of the Scots, the King assembled a great power, and by water entered the realm of Scotland and destroyed such villages and towns as lay or stood in his way. Whereof hearing, Robert le Bruce, with the power of Scotland, coasted towards the Englishmen, and upon the day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, met with King Edward and his host at a place called Estryvelyn, near unto a fresh river, that then was called Bannockburn, where between the English and the Scotch that day was fought a cruel battle; but in the end the Englishmen were constrained to forsake the field. Then the Scots chased so eagerly that many of them were drowned in the fore-named river, and many a nobleman of England that day was slain in that battle, as Sir Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, Sir Robert Clifford, Sir Edmund of Morley, the King's steward, with other lords and barons to the number as witnesseth Guy de Columpna of xlii, and of knights and baronets to the number of lxvii, over xxii men of name, which that day by the Scots were taken prisoners, and the King himself from that battle escaped with great danger, and so, with a few of his host that with him escaped, came unto Berwick, and there rested him a season. Then the Scots inflamed with pride, in derision of Englishmen, made this rhyme as followeth:
"Maidens of England, sore may you mourn For your lemans you have lost at Bannockbourn, With a heave and a ho! What weeneth the King of England So soon to have won Scotland, With a rumbelow!"[3]
This song was after many days sung in dances, in carols of the maidens and minstrels of Scotland, to the reproof and disdain of Englishmen, with divers others which I pass over.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] Christopher Marlowe introduced this ballad into his drama of _Edward the Second_ (written about 1590), in Act II., Scene 2:
_Lancaster._ And thereof came it, that the fleering Scots, To England's high disgrace, have made this jig:
_Maids of England, etc._
VAGABOND FRIARS (1314).
SOURCE.--H.T. Riley, _Memorials of London_ (London, 1868), 111-113.