The Plantagenets: History of a Dynasty

by J. S. Hamilton

  Edward was comfortable in English and French, had some knowledge of Latin, and probably picked up Flemish and German during his expeditions on the continent. Based on his later interests, however, despite his linguistic facility, the prince probably received more training in the knightly than the scholarly arts. There is no evidence that he ever read either of the two handbooks on kingship written for him: William of Pagula’s Mirror of Edward III and Walter of Milemete’s On the Nobility, Wisdom, and Prudence of Kings. Edward appears much more likely to have developed his views on kingship from his own experience.

  Between 1318 and 1320, the prince shared his household with his younger siblings, John of Eltham (born in August 1316) and Eleanor of Woodstock (born in July 1318). His steward at this time was Richard Damory, brother of the king’s favourite, Roger Damory. In October 1320, Edward made his first appearance at parliament, at which time his household was established at the Savoy Palace in close proximity to the king. Although he may have understood little of the political upheaval surrounding the Despensers over the next few years, he must have been aware of the fact that friends such as Damory ended up in opposition to the king, and that the lives of many nobles, including his uncle Thomas of Lancaster, were lost in this conflict. A few years later, at 12 years of age, Edward was thrown into the maelstrom of politics swirling about England and France and, as it turned out, between his father and mother. In 1325, he was given the titles of duke of Aquitaine and count of Ponthieu so that he could perform homage to his uncle Charles IV in his father’s stead. He was duly dispatched to France to join his mother, who had negotiated this settlement with her brother Charles while settling the dispute over the territory of the Agenais that had led to the recent War of Saint-Sardos. Edward performed the required homage at Vincennes on 24 September 1325, but neither the prince nor his mother returned home following this ceremony as expected. Instead, Isabella denounced the younger Hugh Despenser before the French royal court and refused to return to England until this ‘Pharisee’ had been removed from her husband’s side. At the same time, she began a scandalous liaison with Roger Mortimer, a convicted traitor who had escaped from the Tower in dramatic fashion and fled to France in August 1323.

  Edward II wrote to his son on three occasions between December 1325 and June 1326, insisting with increasing severity each time that the prince return to England. By March 1326, the king was genuinely alarmed at the prospect that he might marry without his consent. His final letter in June allowed no room for any further excuses on the prince’s part for his failure to return, and can only be described as an ultimatum. It concludes:

  Understand certainly, that if you act now contrary to our counsel, and continue in willful disobedience, you will feel it all the days of your life, and you will be made an example to all other sons who are disobedient to their lords and fathers. 1

  Yet Prince Edward had no real freedom and was in no position to act of his own accord in this matter. He soon found himself accompanying his mother and Mortimer to Hainault, where he was duly betrothed to Count William’s second daughter, Philippa. On 22 September, Edward finally began the journey home, setting sail from Dordrecht, not for a joyful reunion with his aggrieved father, but rather as a member of an armed force consisting primarily of Hainaulter mercenaries purchased with his troth.

  The little fleet of Isabella and Mortimer landed on the Norfolk coast and quickly gathered nearly universal support. The king’s own brother Edmund, earl of Kent, had aligned himself with Isabella and Mortimer in Paris, and now Edward II’s other brother, Thomas, earl of Norfolk, likewise joined the rebels. The king and the Despensers fled westward in the hope of regrouping and making a stand, but all to no avail. The elder Despenser was executed on 26 October, while the king and the younger Despenser were finally apprehended near Neath on 16 November. Contrary winds had conspired to return them as they attempted to sail on to safety in Ireland from Chepstow. The younger Despenser was brutally executed at Hereford, while Edward II was taken off to captivity at Kenilworth Castle.

  With the Great Seal of England now in their possession, Isabella and Mortimer were able to rule the kingdom through young Edward, who was cast in the role of regent. Political opinion, particularly in London, was manipulated in favour of the deposition of Edward II, through sermons such as that delivered by Bishop Orleton of Hereford on the text, ‘Where there is no ruler the people falls’.

  Nevertheless, on 13 January 1327, Prince Edward, along with the archbishop of York, William Melton, and several other prelates, refused to acquiesce in this, insisting that Edward II must abdicate before Edward III could ascend the throne. This was achieved a week later at Kenilworth Castle, where the captive king tearfully renounced his throne in favour of his son before a large delegation, including the bishops of Winchester and Hereford, as well as the earls of Lancaster and Surrey.

  The coronation of Edward III took place on 1 February and, despite the seeming haste with which the ceremony was arranged, it followed the traditional order. Having been knighted by Henry, earl of Lancaster, Edward was crowned by Archbishop Reynolds, swearing the same four oaths as his father had done in 1308. It is interesting that, at the coronation, the tomb of Edward I alone was decorated with cloth of gold, suggesting the lifelong affinity that Edward III would feel for his grandfather. The parliament that followed the coronation 2 days later was dominated by the earl of Lancaster, while the other great power, Roger Mortimer, chose to work behind the scenes. The rebels were pardoned for any offence committed in effecting the recent regime change; Henry’s late brother, Thomas of Lancaster, was posthumously pardoned and his estates settled on Henry; and a regency council was established to advise the king during his minority. This council, to be presided over by Lancaster, included Mortimer, as well as four bishops, three other earls and five other barons.

  Despite the performance of homage by Edward III in 1325, relations between England and France remained strained in the aftermath of the War of Saint-Sardos. As a consequence, the young king’s government sealed an agreement with Charles IV in March 1327 that allowed the French king to maintain control over lands seized in 1324 and also required the English to pay substantial reparations for damage done in previous years. Even more troubling was the situation in Scotland. The French had renewed their alliance with Scotland in the Treaty of Corbeil in 1326 and, perhaps emboldened thereby, on the very day of Edward III’s coronation the Scots had launched a raid on Norham Castle. The ageing and ailing Robert Bruce sought formal recognition of his crown once and for all, and he continued to rachet up the pressure. In June 1327, a large Scottish army crossed into northern England, burning and pillaging at will. The young Edward III was eager to meet this challenge and demonstrate his martial qualities, while the regime of Isabella and Mortimer were pressurized by popular sentiment to stand up to the Scots.

  Edward led a substantial force north as nominal commander, although Mortimer certainly retained the real authority for the expedition. The campaign got off to a very poor start indeed when Hainaulter mercenaries and English archers from Leicestershire brawled in the streets of York, resulting in the death of some 300 Englishmen if the chronicler Jean Le Bel is to be believed. The young king was able to settle the factions and lead them north, but the actual encounter with the Scots’ forces proved equally as unhappy as this inauspicious beginning.

  Edward’s forces moved north from York towards Durham, with the goal of trapping the Scottish raiders south of the border and bringing them to battle. Having spent ten rain-soaked days huddled on the north bank of the Tyne without adequate food or shelter, on 30 July word of the Scots’ position, well to the south near Stanhope Park on the Wear, finally reached the king. The English took up a position directly across the river from the Scots, but were unable to challenge their well-established defensive position. After several days of stalemate, during the night of 4 August 1327, Sir James Douglas led a daring raid into the English camp, inflicting heavy casualties while causing chaos and pan
ic. He actually reached the king’s own tent before being driven back. This raid forced the English to maintain their guard both day and night, yet on the morning of the 6 August they awoke to find that the Scots had once again vanished. They had stolen away silently during the night and raced back to the safety of Scotland before the English could respond. The young king, overwhelmed with frustration, wept at the humiliating conclusion to his first military campaign.

  In the aftermath of the costly and ineffective Weardale campaign, the government of Isabella and Mortimer sought to make terms with the Bruce regime.

  Peace negotiations conducted in Edinburgh led to an agreement by March, which was ratified in the Northampton parliament in early May 1328. The Treaty of Northampton renounced all English claims to feudal overlordship in Scotland and recognized the legitimacy of the title of King Robert I. Furthermore, the legitimacy and priority of the Franco–Scottish alliance established by the Treaty of Corbeil was also affirmed. In return for renouncing his claim to Scotland, Edward’s government was to receive £20,000 by way of war reparations. Finally, the treaty was to be sealed symbolically by the marriage of the infant David Bruce, son and heir of Robert I, to Joan, sister of Edward III. Although he could not prevent the treaty from being ratified, Edward could and did display his disdain for its terms by refusing to attend this wedding when it took place in July at Berwick. Inept as Edward II may have been as a military leader, even he had never made such a ‘Shameful Peace’, as the earl of Lancaster and many other contemporaries called it. Necessary as the treaty may have seemed to Isabella and Mortimer, confidence in their regime was irreparably damaged by this humiliating capitulation.

  On 31 January 1328, the last Capetian king of France, Charles IV, died. His queen, Jeanne d’Evreux, was pregnant at the time, but subsequently gave birth to a daughter, Blanche, rather than the hoped-for son, bringing an end to more than 300 years of direct male succession. Charles’ cousin Philip of Valois immediately claimed the throne, while Edward, who was himself the grandson of Philip IV, had little opportunity to prosecute his own claim to the French throne, concerned as his government was with problems closer to home. Beyond that, the Lanercost chronicle suggests that Edward III was actually prevented from acting by the ‘pestilential advice of his mother and Sir Roger de Mortimer’.2 It is possible that Isabella had entered into an understanding with her cousin Philip during her recent stay in France. It may not be inconsequential that Philip de Valois was the brother-in-law of Count William of Hainault, and this relationship may have influenced the course of events in 1326. In any case, for the time being, Edward did what little he could. The bishops of Worcester and of Coventry and Lichfield were sent to Paris to register Edward’s claim to the throne. Philip of Valois was nonetheless crowned at Rheims on 29 May, and immediately demanded that Edward renew his homage for his French lands. After a year of delaying the inevitable, on 26 May 1329, Edward crossed from Dover and met Philip in Amiens, where he performed simple homage for Aquitaine and Ponthieu, implicitly recognizing Philip as king of France.

  Edward married Philippa of Hainault in York Minster on 24 January 1328. Their marriage contract had been drawn up as early as August 1326, but as they were related in the third degree (Philippa was the granddaughter of Philip III of France, while Edward was his great-grandson), a papal dispensation was required. This was obtained in August 1327, and a proxy marriage ceremony to confirm the terms of Philippa’s dowry was conducted in October. In December, she crossed to England, accompanied by Bartholomew Burgersh and William de Clinton on behalf of King Edward, along with Hainaulters such as Walter Mauny and Jean Bernier, reaching London on 22 December. Interestingly, Philippa was not crowned as queen at the time of her wedding, very likely because the dowager queen, Isabella, was reluctant to share the stage with her son’s consort. In the end, her coronation in February 1330 was most likely occasioned by the fact that Philippa was pregnant with her first child (Edward, the Black Prince), who would be born in June of that year, and it was important that she be recognized as queen prior to the birth.

  Edward and Philippa appear to have had a genuinely happy relationship. Although it is not clear that there is any foundation to the tradition found in Froissart that Edward himself selected Philippa in preference to her elder sister Margaret (by now married to Ludwig of Bavaria, in any case), the king and queen were probably within a year of each other in age and seem to have been well suited. Not only did the queen produce the requisite son and heir (she ultimately gave birth to seven sons and five daughters, nine of whom survived childhood), she created a warm atmosphere at the royal court that embraced not only her many children, but also the Hainaulters in and about her household as well as members of the English aristocracy. The factional disputes of earlier reigns were almost entirely absent, a tribute to both the king and queen.

  Beyond motherhood, Philippa also effectively played the other traditional queenly role of intercessor. As early as 1328 in York, she obtained a pardon for a young girl convicted of theft , and women would often be the objects of her intercession. She is most famous, however, for two more public occasions in which she placated the king’s wrath. In 1331, the stands from which Philippa was viewing a tournament in Cheapside collapsed, and the king was determined to extract a heavy penalty from the carpenters who were responsible for risking his queen’s life and limbs. She convinced him to pardon them. Even more famously, in 1347, it was Philippa, heavily pregnant at the time, who convinced Edward to spare the burgesses of Calais, whom Edward was determined to execute in recompense for the length and difficulty of his siege of the town.

  The fact that Philippa was present in Calais in 1347 is itself noteworthy, in part because it was not unusual for her. Throughout the reign, Edward and Philippa spent far more time together than was typical of royal couples in this period. She repeatedly accompanied her husband on expeditions to both Scotland and the Low Countries. Indeed, she gave birth to their son Lionel in Antwerp in 1338, and 2 years later to John of Gaunt in Ghent. She shared Edward’s enthusiasm for tournaments and feasts, and also his passion for fine clothing and expensive jewels, both of which the king lavished upon her. Initially, though, Philippa may have played her most important role of all as the trusted confidante of her teenaged husband as he chafed against the constraints imposed upon him by his mother and Roger Mortimer.

  Serious opposition to the Mortimer regime soon emerged. Claiming to fear for his own safety, Henry of Lancaster led a group of magnates in refusing to attend the Salisbury parliament in October 1328 at which Mortimer was elevated to the peerage as earl of March; Lancaster remained at a distance in Winchester. Terms for a safe-conduct could not be agreed, and the earl, supposedly the king’s chief councillor, stayed away along with his supporters. Following the parliament, Lancaster’s forces actually skirmished with those of the king – or perhaps, more accurately, Mortimer – outside Winchester, leading to anti-Lancastrian rhetoric from the court. Meanwhile, the king’s uncles, the earls of Kent and Norfolk, along with several northern lords who had lost lands in Scotland by the terms of the Treaty of Northampton, joined Lancaster’s revolt, but the king refused to hear Lancaster’s grievances. In early 1329, Mortimer led raids against Lancaster’s lands, compelling the earl to submit. In order to be restored to the king’s grace, he was forced to agree to a crippling recognizance of £30,000 to ensure his future compliance, much as Llywelyn had been burdened by Edward I in 1277.

  Another challenge to the Mortimer regime arose in the following year. The earl of Kent had returned to the royal fold after his flirtation with Lancaster, but during the course of 1329–1330, he became convinced that Edward II was still alive and began orchestrating efforts to free him. It is likely that Mortimer himself, no longer trusting his former ally, orchestrated the rumours that led Kent down this path, and it was certainly Mortimer who had Kent arrested, tried and convicted of treason before the Winchester parliament on 19 March 1330. Following the conviction, the earl was sentenced to death
, but as no one could be found willing to carry out the sentence, Kent waited outside the walls of the castle throughout the day until, finally, a common criminal agreed to carry out the beheading in return for his own pardon. That Edward was powerless to stop this perversion of justice must surely have rankled. More than that, however, this was an assault on the royal blood, and must have given the king further pause to consider his own precarious position.

  In the end, it fell to the king himself to launch the coup that would overthrow the earl of March in October 1330. Edward may have been prompted by a number of factors. Mortimer’s lavish accumulation of lands and titles, coupled with his haughty behaviour, including his impertinent habit of walking before the king in public, must have been galling. His disregard for the royal family had been demonstrated repeatedly – in his openly adulterous affair with Isabella, his role in the deposition and death of Edward II, and in the execution of the earl of Kent.

  Another motivation must have been the birth of the king’s son and heir, Edward, in June 1330. It is also possible that another pregnancy influenced his thinking as well. Circumstantial evidence exists to suggest that Isabella herself, still only in her mid-30s, may have been pregnant at some point in 1329–1330, perhaps miscarrying Mortimer’s child. All of these factors pointed in the same direction: Roger Mortimer posed a mortal threat to Edward III and the Plantagenet dynasty.

  Even before the execution of his uncle in March 1330, Edward’s growing concerns were revealed in a remarkable letter to Pope John XXII in which Edward directed the pontiff to give credence only to future correspondence bearing the words ‘ pater sancte’ (holy father) in the king’s own hand as written on this letter.