by Alison Weir
45. CPR; Dugdale, Monasticon.
46. Foedera; Nicholson.
47. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; Dignity of a Peer; Doherty, thesis.
48. Foedera; Chronicle of Lanercost.
49. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
50. Chronicle of Lanercost; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; Nicholson; Doherty, thesis.
51. Rotuli Parliamentorum; C.53; Tout, Chapters; CFR; CPR.
52. Knighton.
53. Foedera; Barbour; Chronicle of Lanercost; Knighton; Chroniques de London; Annales Paulini; Walsingham.
54. CCR.
55. Chronicle of Lanercost.
56. Yates Thompson MS 13, 1325–35.
57. Sandler, Gothic Manuscripts.
58. Vale.
59. Little.
60. Barbour.
61. Chronicle of Lanercost.
62. The Brut.
63. Chronicle of London, ed. Nicholas.
64. Anglo-Scottish Relations; Syllabus of the Documents Relating to England.
65. E.403; CFR.
66. CFR.
67. CCR.
68. C.53.
69. Ibid.
70. Dignity of a Peer.
71. Foedera; CPR; CCR.
72. Baker; Walsingham; Strickland.
73. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
74. Walsingham; Baker; Knighton.
75. Doherty, thesis.
76. Ibid.
77. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
78. E.101.
79. CPR; Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer.”
80. CPR; Wigmore Abbey Annals.
81. E.101; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
82. Foedera; CFR; C.53.
83. C.53; E.101.
84. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; The Brut.
85. E.101.
86. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
87. E.101; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; Doherty, thesis.
88. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; The Brut.
89. CPR; CCR; CFR; Foedera; C.53.
90. Packe.
91. Annales Paulini.
92. Foedera.
93. E.101.
94. The Brut; Annales Paulini; Knighton.
95. The Brut. In 1346, he would obtain a pardon for one of Holland’s murderers (CPR; Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer”).
96. C.53.
97. Rotuli Parliamentorum; Foedera.
98. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; The Brut; Knighton; Rotuli Parliamentorum. The Brut’s claim is repeated by the pro-Lancastrian Knighton.
99. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
100. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; Rotuli Parliamentorum; Dene; Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer”; Foedera.
101. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
102. C.53; Dugdale, Monasticon; E.101; Murimuth.
103. Annales Paulini; CP.
104. Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer”; E.101; The Brut.
105. Dignity of a Peer.
106. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
107. Ibid.
108. Foedera; The Brut; Murimuth.
109. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
110. Ibid.
111. C.53.
112. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
113. Foedera.
114. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
115. C.53; Harleian MSS.
116. Annales Paulini.
117. Déprez; Grandes Chroniques de France.
118. Dene.
119. Annales Paulini.
120. Holmes, “Rebellion”; C.53.
121. CPR; Eyton.
122. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls. This is the letter on which much of the account in this chapter is based. It is the chief source for the early stages of Lancaster’s rebellion.
123. Annales Paulini.
124. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; Annales Paulini.
125. Annales Paulini; Holmes, “Rebellion.”
126. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
127. The Brut.
128. Knighton; Holmes, “Rebellion”; Baker.
129. Knighton; Holmes, “Rebellion”; CP; C.53; Dene.
130. Knighton.
131. Holmes, “Rebellion”; McKisack; Knighton.
132. CCR.
133. C.53; Annales Londonienses.
134. Annales Londonienses; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; E.101; CPR.
135. E.101; C.53.
136. E.101; Annales Londonienses. Chigwell claimed benefit of clergy and was given into the custody of the Bishop of London.
137. CCR.
138. Haines, Church and Politics.
139. Annales Londonienses.
140. Grandes Chroniques de France; Froissart.
141. Foedera.
142. CCR.
143. CPR.
144. E.101.
145. S.C.1; CPR; C.53.
146. Foedera.
147. CPR.
148. CFR.
149. CPR; E.101; CCR; CFR.
150. CFR; C.53.
151. C.53; E.101.
152. Foedera; CCR.
153. Foedera; CCR; CPR.
154. Foedera; Annales Paulini; CCR; Rotuli Parliamentorum.
155. Strickland.
156. Knighton.
157. E.101.
158. Ibid.; CCR; C.53.
159. Murimuth; Baker.
160. CPR; CCR; CFR; Foedera; Doherty, thesis; Mortimer.
161. CPR; S.C.1.
162. The Brut; Mortimer; E.101; Robert of Avesbury; Murimuth; Baker; Knighton; Griffin (both). This tournament is sometimes incorrectly said to have taken place in the summer of 1328 at Bedford, but the court did not visit Bedford at that time. Some chroniclers were obviously confused by two Mortimer double weddings.
163. CPR.
164. Ibid.
165. Crump. A letter bearing this sign and Edward’s signature is now in the Vatican Archives.
166. CPR.
167. For Kent’s conspiracy, see Foedera; The Brut; Murimuth; Baker; Walsingham; Chronicle of Meaux; Knighton. Kent’s confession is in Murimuth. Baker has apparently embroidered the facts with several details not recorded in contemporary accounts.
168. The Brut; Baker.
169. Murimuth; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
170. For the sources for Kent’s conspiracy, see note 167.
171. E.101; S.C.1.
172. CFR.
173. C.53.
174. CPR; C.53; CFR.
175. Kenilworth is now a ruin. In 1649, it was wrecked by Cromwell’s troops and dismantled soon afterward, at which time the lake was drained. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, added palatial ranges in the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, respectively, the remains of which survive.
176. For a full discussion of his theory, see Mortimer.
177. Harleian MSS; Eyton.
178. “Two Effigies in Montgomery Church”; Mortimer.
179. Harleian MSS; Eyton.
180. CPR; C.53.
181. Ibid.
182. Foedera; Dignity of a Peer.
183. Foedera.
184. CPR.
185. Foedera.
186. C.53; CPR.
187. Annales Paulini; Gesta Edwardi.
188. CPR; Rotuli Parliamentorum; C.53.
189. The great hall was partially rebuilt in 1394 and still stands. The Round Table also survives and is displayed on the wall of the great hall. The rest of the castle was dismantled in 1651 by Cromwell’s troops.
190. For the sources for Kent’s conspiracy, see note 167.
191. CCR; CPR.
192. Tout, “Captivity and Death”; Doherty, thesis.
193. CFR.
194. CCR.
195. The Brut; Chronicle of Lanercost; Rotuli Parliamentorum.
196. Foedera.
197. Doherty, Isabe
lla.
198. CPR.
199. Ibid.
200. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
201. Doherty, thesis; Doherty, Isabella.
202. See note 167.
203. The Brut.
204. CFR.
205. The Brut.
206. Rotuli Parliamentorum; The Brut; Walsingham.
207. The Brut; Knighton.
208. In Foedera, he is referred to as “the late Earl of Kent” on 15 March.
209. Chronicle of Meaux; Knighton; The Brut. His remains were later removed to Westminster Abbey.
210. Murimuth.
211. CPR; CFR.
212. Foedera.
213. Doherty, Isabella; Foedera.
214. Murimuth; Baker.
215. Robert of Avesbury.
216. The Brut; Chronicle of Meaux.
217. Doherty, thesis; Schama; Ormrod, Edward III.
218. The Brut; Baker.
219. The Brut.
220. The Brut; Stow, Annals.
221. CPR; S.C.1; C.53; Harleian MSS.
222. CFR.
223. Murimuth; DNB.
224. Rotuli Parliamentorum; Select Cases in the Court of King’s Bench.
225. CPR.
226. Foedera.
227. Ibid.
228. S.C.8; CPR.
229. Society of Antiquaries MS 121.
230. CPR.
231. Foedera; CCR.
232. The Brut; Annales Paulini.
233. Galbraith.
234. Murimuth.
235. CCR; CPR.
236. Foedera; Annales Paulini; CCR; Rotuli Parliamentorum.
237. Foedera; CCR; CPR; CFR.
238. CPR.
239. C.53; CPR.
240. C.53.
241. Annales Londonienses.
242. CPR; C.53; CFR.
243. Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer.”
244. C.53.
245. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
246. S.C.1.
247. Annales Paulini; C.53.
248. C.53; CPR.
249. Foedera.
250. C.53; Harleian MSS.
251. Murimuth; Annales Paulini.
252. CCR; CPR.
253. C.53.
254. Annales Londonienses; CPR.
255. CPR; CCR; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
256. CCR; CPR; CFR.
257. C.53.
258. Dignity of a Peer; C.81; S.C.1; C.53; CPR; Harleian MSS; Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
259. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers; Doherty, Isabella.
260. History of the King’s Works; Steane. By 1651, the castle was ruinous, and most of it had to be demolished. In 1674–79, the Duke of Newcastle converted what was left into a fine mansion known as “The Castle,” but it was gutted after an arson attack by a mob during the Reform Bill riots of 1831. It was restored in 1878 and is now the property of Nottingham City Council and houses the City Museum and Art Gallery.
261. The Brut; Walsingham; Knighton; E.101; Rotuli Parliamentorum; CPR.
262. Baker; Anominalle Chronicle.
263. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
264. Knighton.
265. Crump.
266. The Brut; Grey, Scalacronica.
267. Its location remained unknown for centuries before it was rediscovered in 1864. Today, it is lit by electric lights.
268. E.101; The Brut; CFR.
269. Baker; Stow, Annals.
270. The Brut.
271. For this meeting, see The Brut; Grey, Scalacronica; Rotuli Parliamentorum; Shenton.
272. The Brut.
273. Ibid.; Rotuli Parliamentorum; Grey, Scalacronica.
274. The Brut; Grey, Scalacronica.
275. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
276. Mortimer.
277. Murimuth and Baker both state that Mortimer was taken “in the room of the Queen Mother.”
278. For the events of the night of 19 October 1330, see Chroniques de London; Annales Paulini; Chronicle of Meaux; Murimuth; Baker; Stow, Annals; The Brut; Grey, Scalacronica; Rotuli Parliamentorum; Knighton; Gesta Edwardi.
CHAPTER ELEVEN Our Dearest Mother
1. Grey, Scalacronica.
2. Stow, Annals; Baker.
3. Stow, Annals.
4. CCR; Foedera.
5. De Speculo Regis Edwardi III.
6. S.C.8; Baker; E.403; CPR.
7. Berkhamsted Castle was in ruins by the sixteenth century. Today, little remains except the castle mound.
8. The Brut; Knighton; Berkeley Manuscripts; Murimuth.
9. Berkeley Manuscripts.
10. Baker.
11. S.C.8; Baker; E.403.
12. Baker; Annales Paulini.
13. Stow, Annals; Baker.
14. Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer.”
15. CCR.
16. Chartulary of Winchester Cathedral.
17. For Berkeley’s trial, see Rotuli Parliamentorum.
18. Rotuli Parliamentorum; Tout, “Captivity and Death”; Berkeley Manuscripts; Mortimer.
19. Chronicle of Meaux.
20. The charges against Mortimer are in Rotuli Parliamentorum.
21. See, for example, Capgrave.
22. Rotuli Parliamentorum; Knighton; Baker; Walsingham; Stow, Annals.
23. Doherty, Isabella.
24. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
25. CPR.
26. CP; Handbook of British Chronology; CCR; C.53; D.L.10.
27. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
28. Chronicle of Meaux.
29. S.C.1.
30. For Mortimer’s execution, see Murimuth; Baker; Knighton; Stow, Annals; Walsingham; Abbott. The site of the gallows is now called Tyburn Way and lies just to the west of Marble Arch.
31. Rotuli Parliamentorum; Murimuth.
32. Foedera.
33. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
34. Murimuth; Foedera; CCR; Baker; S.C.8.
35. Chronicle of Lanercost.
36. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
37. Doherty, Isabella.
38. C.53; CFR; E.403; S.C.6; E.199.
39. Foedera; S.C.1; Froissart.
40. CPR.
41. Rotuli Parliamentorum; S.C.8; Chronicle of Lanercost; CCR; CPR.
42. Froissart.
43. CCR; CPR.
44. Rotuli Parliamentorum. Baker claims incorrectly that Deveril was executed on Christmas Eve, but he had fled abroad.
45. CPR.
46. Ibid.
47. CPR; CCR; E.159; Foedera.
48. Froissart; cf. the continuator of William de Nangis, in Receuil des historiens des Gaules.
49. Doherty, Isabella.
50. Froissart.
51. Foedera.
52. Murimuth.
53. Ibid.
54. Rotuli Parliamentorum; CFR; S.C.8; CPR.
55. Foedera.
56. Doherty, Isabella.
57. Dugdale, Monasticon.
58. Foedera; CCR. The Wigmore Abbey Annals, however, claim that Mortimer was buried at Shrewsbury. Wigmore Abbey was dissolved in the sixteenth century and the graves destroyed. The site is now a garden.
59. Foedera; CPR.
60. CPR; CCR; E.159.
61. CPR; CFR.
62. CP.
63. Cotton MSS, Galba; Bond, “Notices”; Doherty, Isabella.
64. Froissart.
65. Cotton MSS, Galba; Bond, “Notices”; Doherty, Isabella.
66. Froissart.
67. Johnson, Edward III.
68. Foedera.
69. Cotton MSS, Galba; Bond, “Notices”; Doherty, Isabella.
70. Latin records of King’s Lynn, in Historical Manuscripts Commission, 11th Report.
71. Foedera; Strickland.
72. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
73. S.C.1.
74. Foedera.
75. Hunter, “Gurney”; Doherty, Isabella; CP; CPR; CCR; Foedera; Chronicle of Meaux; Additional MSS.
76. Ibid.
77. E.403.
78. Nicholson; Marshall.
79. Chartulary of Winchester Cathedral.
80. Harding, “Isabella and Mortimer”; Mortimer.
81. Foedera.
82. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
83. CPR.
84. C.53.
85. Murimuth.
86. E.30. For William le Galeys, see also “War of Saint Sardos”; Doherty, thesis; Doherty, Isabella; Mortimer.
87. Foedera.
88. CPR.
89. CPR; Foedera.
90. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
91. Gransden; Mortimer.
92. CP; Handbook of British Chronology. Strickland says that this event took place in 1339 and names the Chancellor as Robert Burghersh, but as there was never a chancellor of that name, she must be referring to Robert Bourchier, who was appointed in 1340.
93. CPR; Cuttino and Lyman; Neve.
94. Foedera.
95. CPR.
96. Marshall.
97. Foedera.
98. Murimuth.
99. Cuttino and Lyman.
100. CCR; Mortimer.
101. Murimuth; Jean le Bel.
102. C.53.
103. Murimuth; Jean le Bel.
104. Murimuth.
105. C.53.
106. Ibid.
107. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
108. Foedera.
109. Leland; Green, Lives of the Princesses of England.
110. E.370; Victoria County History: Hertfordshire; C.62; History of the King’s Works; E.101. The castle was much decayed by 1609. It later became a private residence but was restored in 1967 and now houses the council offices. The gatehouse dates from the fifteenth century. Very little has survived from Isabella’s time.
111. Foedera; Murimuth.
112. Fowler, King’s Lieutenant; Ormrod, Edward III.
113. Cotton MSS, Galba; Bond, “Notices”; Doherty, Isabella.
114. CPR.
115. Foedera.
116. Cotton MSS, Galba; Bond, “Notices”; Doherty, Isabella.
117. Foedera.
118. Latin records of King’s Lynn, in Historical Manuscripts Commission, 11th Report.
119. Isabella’s last surviving Household Book is in Cotton MSS, Galba, but this was partially burned during the Cottonian Library fire of 1731. For extracts, see Bond, “Notices” and Doherty, Isabella.
120. Monumenta Franciscana; Chronicle of Lanercost.
121. Cotton MSS, Galba; Bond, “Notices”; Doherty, Isabella.
122. Ibid.
123. Doherty, Isabella; Knighton.
124. The royal manor house at Cheylesmore was, according to Leland, “somewhat in ruin” by 1549. The last remains of it were demolished in 1956, and the site is now a registrar’s office. In Coventry stands the collegiate church of Saint John the Baptist, which was built by Isabella.
125. Dupuy.
126. History of the King’s Works; CCR.
127. Stow, London.
128. Blackley, “Isabella…and the…Cult of the Dead”; E.101.