Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II Read online

  19. Brit. Lib., Stowe Mss. 553, f. 134 v.

  20. Receuil des Historiens des Gaules XX, p. 632.

  21. Foedera II, pp. 506, 620.

  22. Le Livere de reis de Brittanie, ed. J. Gloves (Rolls Series, London, 1865) p. 354.

  23. Trin. Coll. Camb., Mss. R.5. 41, f. 114.

  24. Foedera II, p. 569; E/403/201. M.4.

  25. C/61/35; SC.6/1125–1127; E/403/201, Mems. 14–15.

  26. E/403/201, Mems. 14–15.

  27. E/15/97, Mem. 187 b.

  28. Select cases in the Court of King’s Bench under Edward III. Vol. ed. G. O. Sayles (Selden Society, London, 1958) Vol. 74, p. 155.

  29. Calendar of Papal Registers, Letters II 1305–1341, pp. 461, 468, 469, 475 and 477.

  30. E. L. G. Stones, ‘The Folvills of Ashby Folville’, Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc., 5th series (1957), Vol. 7 pp. 124 ff; Brit. Lib., Stowe Mss. 553, f. 68.

  31. The War of St. Sardos ed. Pierre Chaplais (Camden Society, 1954), 3rd Series. Vol. LXXXVII pp. 199–201.

  32. Ibid., Appendix III, p. 265.

  33. Ibid., Appendix III, p. 267.

  34. Foedera II, p. 613.

  35. Swynbroke, p. 20; SC.I/49/100.

  36. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1323–1327, p. 580.

  37. Chroniques de London, ed. C. J. Aungier (Camden Society, 1844), p. 49; Vita Edwardi Secundi, p. 143.

  38. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1323–1327, p. 579.

  39. E. L. G. Stones, ‘The date of Roger Mortimer’s escape from the Tower of London’, Eng. Hist. Rev. LXVI (1951), p. 978.

  40. E/159/85, Mems. 19. 32b.

  41. E/101/375/3f. 33.

  42. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1321–1324, p. 119.

  43. SC/1/37/45.

  44. Chronica Monasterii de Melsa II, p. 348. C/81/125/6788. Edward II bitterly complained to the French. The War of St. Sardos, pp. 179, 193.

  45. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1323–1327, pp. 576–7.

  46. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1324–1327, pp. 206, 208–11.

  47. Cal. Cl. Rolls, 1323–1327, p. 543.

  48. Cal. Papal Registers 1305–1342 II, pp. 477, 479.

  49. Walsingham, Historia Anglicana I, p. 179.

  50. This was all known in England by January 1326: see SC.1/49/91–92 and Foedera II, p. 617.

  51. Foedera II, pp. 636–7.

  52. E. L. G. Stones, The Folvills; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1324–1329, p. 145.

  53. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1324–1327, p. 232.

  54. Ibid., pp. 292–3.

  55. 20 September 1326 is the last day Isabella and her group are mentioned in the Hainault account. See Rekiningen Van de Herberge Van Joanna Van Valois 1319–1326, XLVI ed. H. Smit, (Historisch Genootschap, 3rd Series, 1924), p. 261.

  56. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1323–1327, p. 613. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1324–1327, pp. 315–16.

  57. Annales Paulini, pp. 313–14.

  58. Walsingham, Historia Anglicana I, p. 180; Swynbroke, p. 21; Knighton I, p. 435.

  59. Foedera II, pp. 643, 644. The King could only raise four volunteers in the entire capital, see Trin. Coll. Camb., R.5.41, f. 121 V.

  60. C/62/103 M.2.

  61. Anthony Wood, History and Antiquities of the University of Oxford, ed. J. Gutch (Oxford, 1729) I, p. 411.

  62. Historiae Anglicanae Decem. Scriptores, ed. R. Twysden (Oxford, 1652), Col. 2765.

  63. Knighton I, p. 436.

  64. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1323–1327, p. 652; Antiq. Soc. Ms. 122, f. 89.

  65. Historia Roffensis (Anglia Sacra), ed. H. Wharton (London, 1691), p. 366.

  66. Annales Paulini, p. 315; Walsingham, Historia Anglicana I, p. 181; G. A. Williams, Mediaeval London, from Commune to Capital, (University of London, 1970), pp. 295, 296.

  67. Trin. Coll. Camb., Ms. R.5.41, f. 123v; J. Smyth of Nibley, The Lives of the Berkeleys, I (Gloucester, 1883), p. 287.

  68. Foedera II, p. 646.

  69. Soc. Antiq., Mss. 122, f. 96.

  70. Foedera II, p. 647.

  71. Annales Paulini, p. 319; Murimouth, p. 49.

  72. Chroniques de Londres, ed. C. J. Aungier (Camden Society, 1844), p. 49; Vita Edwardi Secundi, p. 143.

  73. Cal. Cl. Rolls. 1323–1327, pp. 580–1.

  74. Ibid.

  75. The Lanercost Chronicle (p. 249) says Edward II sent his Dominican confessor, Thomas Dunheved, to the Pope to obtain a divorce. Dunheved was definitely out of the country. (Cal. Papal Registers 1305–1342) II, p. 474. This remarkable conversation is in the Historia Roffensis in Anglia Sacra, I, ed. H. Wharton (London, 1691), pp. 365–7.

  76. The gossip surrounding such sexual misconduct can be found in the Chronographia Regum Francorum, ed. H. Moranville (Société d’Histoire de France, Paris 1891), vol. I, p. 285 and Willelmi Cappellani in Brederode postea Monachi et Procuratoris Egmundensis Chronicon, ed. C. Pijnacker Hondyk (Historisch Genootschap, 3rd Series, Amsterdam, 1904), XX, p. 177.

  77. Literae Cantuarienses, ed. J. B. Sheppard (London, 1889), p. 137, n. 46.

  FOUR: The She-Wolf Triumphant

  1. Brut Chronicle I, pp. 239–40.

  2. J. Taylor, ‘The Judgement on Hugh Despencer the Younger’, pp. 70–7.

  3. Knighton I, p. 436; Trin. Coll. Camb., Mss. R.5.41, f. 123 V; Annales Paulini, pp. 319–20; Brut, p. 240. All these sources provide a graphic account of the gruesome executions.

  4. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1324–1327, pp. 339–40; C/47/3/53/7.

  5. Knighton I, p. 444.

  6. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls of the City of London, ed. A. H. Thomas (Cambridge, 1926), pp. 15–19.

  7. Cal. of Cl. Rolls 1323–1327, p. 655; Annales Paulini, pp. 315, 316, 321, 322.

  8. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1324–1327, pp. 343–6.

  9. Cal. of Plea and Memoranda Rolls, pp. 42–3.

  10. E/101/382/3.

  11. Cal. Fine Rolls 1319–1327, p. 422; Foedera II, p. 647.

  12. The source of this is the Chronicle of the Hainaulter Froissart and an ‘Apologia’ published by Adam Orleton in 1334. Oeuvres de Froissart, ed. Kervyn de Letternhove (Brussels, 1867) II, p. 85. Winchester Cathedral Cartulary, ed. A. W. Goodman (Winchester, 1927), pp. 104–7.

  13. The source for the proceedings are two very scholarly articles: M. McKisack, ‘The Fourteenth Century’, pp. 90 et seq. and M. V. Clarke, ‘Committees of Estates and the deposition of Edward II, Historical Essays in honour of James Tait, (Manchester, 1933).

  14. Historia Roffensis (Anglia Sacra) I, p. 367.

  15. Walsingham Historia Anglicana I, p. 186.

  16. Ibid., p. 188.

  17. Swynbroke, p. 28; Chronique de Froissart, ed. S. Luce (Paris, 1869), Vol. I, Part II. p. 257.

  18. Swynbroke, p. 29; Brut, p. 252.

  19. This poetry is ascribed to Edward II, see Fabyan: New Chronicles of England and France, ed. H. Ellis (London, 1811), p. 430.

  20. Winchester Cathedral Cartulary, ed. A. W. Goodman (Winchestes, 1927), p. 107.

  21. T. F. Tout, ‘The Captivity and Death of Edward of Caernavon, Collected Papers of T. F. Tout III, (Manchester, 1934), p. 157.

  22. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, pp. 79–81.

  23. Ibid., pp. 99–100; S.C.I./29/64.

  24. Knighton I, p. 444.

  25. E/101/382/10M.6; Knighton I, p. 444.

  26. Tout, ‘The Captivity and Death of Edward’, pp. 156, 157.

  27. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, pp. 130, 154.

  28. J. Smyth The Lives of the Berkeleys I, p. 292.

  29. This is all mentioned in the ‘Compotus’ or Account of the Clerk Hugh Glanville, printed with a commentary in S. A. Moore’s article, ‘Documents relating to the Death and Burial of Edward’, Archaeologia (1887), Vol. 50, Pt. I, pp. 215–26.

  30. T. F. Tout, ‘The Captivity and Death’. Swynbroke, p. 31; Annales Paulini, p. 333; Smyth, Lives of the Berkeleys I, p. 293.

  31. Murimouth, pp. 52–4.

  32. Tout, ‘The Captivity and Death of Edward’.

  33. Murimouth, p. 52. J. Smyth of Nibley’s account proves this, in Lives of the Berkeleys I, p. 293.

  34. Cal.
Pat. Rolls, 1327–1330, pp. 130, 154.

  35. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, p. 153.

  36. The main source of evidence is F. J. Tanquerery’s edition and commentary on J. Walwayn’s Letter in his article: ‘The Conspiracy of Thomas Dunheved, 1327’, Eng. Hist. Rev. (1916), XXXI, pp. 119–25.

  37. Smyth, Lives of the Berkeleys, I, p. 299.

  38. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, p. 154.

  39. Ibid., p. 158.

  40. KB/27/270 (Michaelmas/Edward II), Mem. 29; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, pp. 386, 557, 572.

  41. The fate of the gang is mysterious: some were arrested (Tanquerery, Conspiracy of Thomas Dunheved’, p. 124). Thomas Dunheved disappeared into prison. (Annales Paulini, p. 337). Stephen lived long enough to join Kent’s conspiracy (Cal. Fine Rolls 1327–1337), p. 169).

  42. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, p. 100.

  43. KB/27/274. M. 10.

  44. Tanquerery, ‘Conspiracy of Thomas Dunheved’, p. 120.

  45. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1327–1336, pp. 217–18; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1336, p. 207.

  46. C/53/114/20 and 15.

  47. For the full account and text, see Tout, ‘The Captivity and Death of Edward’.

  48. Annales Paulini p. 337; Canon of Bridlington, pp. 97–8; Murimouth, pp. 53–5; Polychronicon VIII, p. 324; Knighton I, p. 446; Swynbroke, pp. 33–4.

  49. Swynbroke, pp. 31–2.

  50. Tout, ‘Death and Captivity of Edward II’, p. 164.

  51. Winchester Cathedral Cartulary, pp. 104–7.

  52. Chronica Monasterii de Melsa II, Meaux version, p. 355.

  53. Murimouth, pp. 53–4.

  54. Foedera II, p. 718.

  FIVE: The Burial of a King

  1. Smyth of Nibley, Lives of the Berkeleys, I p. 296.

  2. Historical Papers and Letters from Northern Registers, ed. J. Raine (Rolls Series, London, 1873), p. 355.

  3. D.L. 10/253.

  4. On Gurney, see Cal. Cl. Rolls 1327–1330, p. 59. On Ockle, see E/101/303/16, S.C.I./38/194.

  5. E/101/382/10. M. 19; Foedera II, p. 725.

  6. Tout, ‘The Captivity and Death of Edward’, pp. 168 n1 and 169 n1.

  7. Lanercost, p. 259.

  8. The three main (and virtually only) records for the royal burial are: Murimouth, pp. 53–4; Smyth of Nibley, Lives of the Berkeleys, pp. 293–4. S. A. Moore, ‘Documents relating to the Burial of Edward II’ (Arch., Vol. Part 50.1, 1887) pp. 215–26 lists all the items mentioned here including Glanville’s account. This evidence will be critically analysed later.

  9. Brit. Lib., Add. Mss. 24, 459, f.173.

  10. E/101/382/10. M.20.

  11. Moore, Documents.

  12. Brut, p. 254.

  13. Annales Paulini, p. 341; Foedera II, pp. 740–1.

  14. Mortimer was absent from 3 March 1328 until 21 April 1328. C53/115/85 – C.53/115/69. (A list of Charter witnesses.)

  15. Foedera II, p. 743; R. Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots (Oxford, 1965), p. 52.

  16. Cal. of Plea and Memoranda Rolls, p. 63.

  17. Ibid., p. 65.

  18. Henry of Lancaster attempted a coup; hostilities were avoided when Isabella and Mortimer forced him to concede: see Knighton I, pp. 450–1; Cal. Cl. Rolls. 1327–1330, pp. 528–30.

  19. Annales Paulini, pp. 342–3.

  20. Cal. Pat. Rolls: 1327–1330, p. 439; McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, p. 484.

  21. The Brut Chronicle describes Mortimer’s extravagances and his son’s reaction, see pp. 261–2.

  22. Foedera II, p. 783.

  23. Brut, p. 266; Swynbroke, p. 44.

  24. Murimouth (Appendix), pp. 255–7.

  25. Cal. of Plea and Memoranda Rolls, p. 72.

  26. C53/114/7.

  27. Cal. Papal Registers 1305–1342, p. 499.

  28. Foedera II, p. 783. The Government was still pursuing Stephen Dunheved in 1329, see Cal. Fine Rolls 1327–1337, p. 169.

  29. Cal. Fine Rolls 1327–1337, pp. 168–9; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, pp. 556–7; Cal. Cl. Rolls 1330–1333, p. 132.

  30. Cal. Fine Rolls 1327–1337, p. 149; Rot. Parl. II, pp. 53–4.

  31. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1327–1330, pp. 548, 549, 557.

  32. Foedera II, p. 782.

  33. Brut, pp. 265–6; Chronica Monasterii de Melsa II, p. 359; Knighton I, p. 452.

  SIX: The Downfall of the She-Wolf

  1. Swynbroke, p. 45.

  2. C. G. Crump, ‘The Arrest of Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella’, Eng. Hist. Rev. XXVI (1911), pp. 331–2.

  3. Murimouth, p. 60.

  4. Cal. Fine Rolls 1327–1337, p. 129.

  5. Brut, p. 271 n. 31; Rot. Parl. II, p. 52.

  6. S.C.1./38/195.

  7. Entries show they were well treated after 1330. See Cal. Cl. Rolls 1330–1333, pp. 158–9; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1330–1334, pp. 10 and 22.

  8. Brut, p. 270.

  9. Brut, pp. 268–9.

  10. Brut, p. 269; Rot. Parl. II, p. 53; ‘Scalacronica’ IV, p. 33.

  11. Rot. Parl. II, p. 53.

  12. ‘Scalacronica’ IV, p. 35; Brut, p. 269.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Brut, p. 270.

  15. Brut, p. 271; ‘Scalacronica’ IV, p. 35; Swynbroke, p. 46.

  16. Brut, p. 271.

  17. ‘Scalacronica’ IV, pp. 157–8.

  18. S.C.8/152/7583; Swynbroke, p. 46; E/403/255. M.2; Cal. Pat. Rolls 1330–4, p. 36.

  19. Cal. Cl. Rolls 1330–1333, pp. 161–2.

  20. Rot. Parl. I, II, pp. 52–3.

  21. Murimouth, p. 62 n. 11.

  22. Chronica Monasterii de Melsa II, p. 360.

  23. S.C. 1/38/5.

  24. Swynbroke, p. 47; Murimouth, p. 62.

  25. Rot. Parl. II, p. 53.

  26. Rot. Parl. II, p. 54.

  27. Smyth of Nibley, Lives of the Berkeleys I, p. 297.

  28. Foedera II, p. 801.

  29. Rot. Parl. II, p. 57.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Smyth, Lives of the Berkeleys I, p. 297; Rot. Parl. II.

  32. Foedera II, p. 960.

  33. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1340–1343, p. 378; Foedera III, pp. 56, 146.

  34. All the details of Edward III’s pursuit of Gurney can be found in Joseph Hunter’s article ‘On the Measures taken for the Apprehension of Thomas Gurney’, Archaeologia Vol. 27 (London, 1838), pp. 274–97.

  35. Lanercost, p. 267.

  36. Payments to the Constable, see Cal. Cl. Rolls 1330–1333, p. 434; E/159/108M104.

  37. Cal. Fine Rolls 1327–1337, p. 204; E/103/4/30 M. 4v.

  38. B. Smalley, English Friars and Antiquity (Oxford, 1960), pp. 138–9.

  39. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1330–1334, p. 242.

  40. Cal. Pat. Rolls 1330–1334, pp. 271, 529–30.

  41. Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England I, pp. 535–7.

  42. Hist. Mss. Comm., 11th Report: Appendix III, pp. 213–19.

  43. Murimouth, pp. 155, 231; Foedera II, p. 170.

  44. This last year and its household book are described by E. A. Bond ‘Notices on the Last Days of Isabella, Queen of Edward II’, Archaeologia Vol. 38 (London, 1853/4), PP. 453–9.

  45. Knighton II, p. 100; F. Devon, Extracts from the Issue Rolls of the Exchequer (London, 1837), p. 172; Foedera II, p. 411.

  46. Monumenta Franciscana, ed. J. S. Brewer (Rolls Series, London, 1858), I, pp. 506, 515; Lanercost, p. 267.

  47. C. L. Kingsford, The Grey Friars of London (Aberdeen, 1915), pp. 70–4.

  48. Ibid.

  49. The Public Record Office document E/101/393/4 gives an inventory of Isabella’s belongings and mentions this detail.

  SEVEN: The Immortal King

  1. Fieschi’s career and pedigree are clearly laid out in a very scholarly article by G. P. Cuttino and Thomas W. Lyman, ‘Where is Edward II?’, Speculum Vol. 53 (1978), pp. 522–42. I disagree however, with what they write about the letter, its dating and the evidence of Swynbroke. The main thrust of this article is on the architectural controversy surrounding Edward II’s last reputed re
sting place (which they resolve brilliantly) rather than an analysis of the letter itself or the events of 1326–30.

  2. M. A. Germain, Publications de la Société Archaeologique de Montpellier Vol. 37 (1877), pp. 118–20.

  3. This summary of the evidence is based, in the main on Cuttino’s article in Speculum mentioned in note above.

  4. Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XIX (Oxford, 1993) p. 632.

  5. Foedora II, p. 783.

  6. On Fieschi’s career, see Speculum, Vol. 53, pp. 539–40.

  7. McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, pp. 273 et seq.

  8. Cuttino, ‘Where is Edward II?’ Speculum, Vol. 53, p. 542.

  9. E/36/203 fos. 178–9, ‘William the Welshman who announced that he was King of England, father of the present King’.

  EIGHT: The King is Dead, Long Live the King

  1. Walsingham, Historia Anglicana I, p. 83.

  2. Smyth of Nibley, Lives of the Berkeleys.

  3. Brut, p. 265.

  4. Brut, pp. 265–7.

  5. Ibid.

  Bibliography

  1: MANUSCRIPT SOURCES

  A. Public Record Office

  Chancery

  C.47 (Chancery Miscellanea)

  C.49 (Parliament and Council)

  C.53 (Charter Rolls)

  C.61 (Gascon Rolls)

  C.62 (Liberate Rolls)

  C.81 (Chancery Warrants)

  Duchy of Lancaster

  D.L.10 (Royal Charters)

  D.L.41 (Miscellanea)

  D.L.42 (Misc. Books)

  Exchequer

  E.30 (Diplomatic Documents)

  E.101 (King’s Remembrancer, Accounts Various)

  E.159 (K. R. Memoranda Rolls)

  E.163 (Exchequer Miscellanea)

  E.199 (Sheriffs’ Accounts)

  E.368 (L.T.R. Memoranda Rolls)

  E.403 (Issue Rolls)

  E.404 (Warrants for Issue)

  Ancient Deeds

  Series ‘D’

  Series ‘W.S.’

  King’s Bench

  K.B. 27

  Special Collections

  SC.1 (Ancient Correspondence)

  SC.6 (Ministers’ Accounts)

  SC.8 (Ancient Petitions)

  B. Archives Nationales

  Series J : Cartons 356, 403, 408, 631, 633, 654, 655.