by Alison Weir
When Edward returned to London on 23 September and lodged in the Tower, Isabella was probably with him. But then, on 1 October, Edward went to Sheen, then on to Byfleet in Surrey the next day,25 and Isabella traveled back to Kent, ostensibly on yet another pilgrimage to Canterbury. However, the real purpose of her journey seems to have been to force a confrontation with Badlesmere. Badlesmere’s chief seat was at Leeds Castle, which until 1318 had formed part of the dower of the queens of England, having been the favored residence of Eleanor of Castile and Marguerite of France. But on Marguerite’s death, notwithstanding the fact that the reversion of the castle had been promised in 1314 to Isabella, the King granted Leeds to Badlesmere in return for the manor of Adderley in Shropshire.26
But Badlesmere was now a marked man, having angered the King by supporting his enemies, and in September, he had prepared all his castles for war and stored his treasure for safety at Leeds, which he placed in the care of his wife, Margaret de Clare.27 Clearly, he was expecting an attack. In sending Isabella to Leeds at this time, Edward was almost certainly springing a trap for Badlesmere, a trap he may well have plotted with Despenser during their meeting at Thanet. Its purpose was to provide a just cause for the King to move against the contrariants.28
On 2 October,29 Isabella approached Leeds Castle and told her retinue that she purposed to rest there for a night. Accordingly, her harbingers and purveyors were sent ahead to make the necessary arrangements. They found, however, that Badlesmere was away and that his wife was in charge of the castle. Understandably, Lady Badlesmere was alarmed, for if the Queen were indeed on a pilgrimage to Canterbury, she had gone considerably out of her way to visit Leeds, since the usual route was through northern Kent;30 moreover, she had brought with her a military escort. So Lady Badlesmere told the Queen’s officers that her husband had left her strict instructions not to allow anyone to enter the castle and “insolently” suggested “that the Queen might seek some other lodging, for she would not admit anyone within the castle without an order from her lord.”
The shocked harbingers rode back to Isabella to inform her of the position, and, indignant at what she was pleased to call treason, she insisted on confronting Lady Badlesmere herself. But when the Queen and her retinue drew up before Leeds Castle, Lady Badlesmere remained obdurate, and when Isabella instructed her marshals to force an entry into the castle, Lady Badlesmere ordered the archers of the garrison to open fire on them. Six men fell dead before Isabella’s appalled eyes, and the Queen prudently retired to seek shelter in a nearby priory.31 She had no doubt expected some opposition, but nothing as violent and contemptuous as what she had just witnessed, and her anger was genuine.
On 3 October, Isabella sent an urgent and indignant message to Edward, now at Witley, complaining bitterly about the affront to her dignity, asking him to send soldiers to her assistance, and begging him to avenge the murder of her servants and punish Lady Badlesmere for her defiance of all the laws of courtesy and hospitality.32 The King must have been secretly delighted at the outcome of his little scheme but nevertheless showed himself incandescent at such an outrageous slight to “his beloved consort,” using it as a pretext to take up arms against Badlesmere, which he almost certainly intended as a preliminary to netting the bigger fish.
On 4 October, Edward moved to Portchester for a second clandestine meeting with Despenser. Then, on the seventh and eighth, the King began to hire mercenaries and ordered “a general muster of all persons between the ages of sixteen and sixty.” After nine days at Portchester, he was back at the Tower by 14 October.33
Edward had written to Badlesmere, complaining of his wife’s conduct, and Badlesmere played right into Edward’s hands when he sent an insulting letter in reply, declaring he “approved of this misconduct of his family in thus obstructing and contumeliously treating the Queen.”34 On 16 October, the King declared that he would make an example of Badlesmere, and the very next day, he sent Pembroke at the head of the vast army he had summoned to lay siege to Leeds Castle, “to punish the disobedience and contempt against the Queen committed by certain members of the household of Bartholemew de Badlesmere.”35 Lady Badlesmere, realizing that she could not withstand a siege for long, sent a frantic message to her husband, who had by now joined the retiring Marcher forces at Oxford.
By 23 October, the day Pembroke drew up his forces before Leeds, Isabella had moved to Rochester, where, jointly with William Airmyn, she was again given custody of the Great Seal.36 Meanwhile, at Badlesmere’s urging, Mortimer and Hereford had marched south, aiming to relieve Leeds. In so doing, they were placing themselves in direct opposition to the King, which would prove a fatal mistake. By 27 October, their army had reached Kingston-upon-Thames,37 where Pembroke came to persuade them not to advance into Kent. Then they received a message from Lancaster, who had had no time for Badlesmere since he had been made steward of the household against Lancaster’s will; he made it clear that he did not approve of Mortimer and Hereford’s going to Badlesmere’s aid.38 The Marchers therefore stayed at Kingston, waiting upon events. Two chroniclers claim that they had refused to go to the relief of Leeds out of respect for the Queen.39 Yet, at Badlesmere’s entreaty, they tried to mediate with the King on his behalf. Edward, however, refused to heed their pleas.
In avenging the insult to his popular Queen, the King had stirred up a great deal of public support; many barons, including Arundel, Richmond, Surrey, and the King’s half brothers, Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, and Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, had hastened to join Pembroke before Leeds Castle, as had many Londoners, for Isabella had always been highly regarded in the capital. The besieging forces now numbered thirty thousand. Heartened by this sudden surge of support, the King went personally to take charge of the siege.40
Leeds finally surrendered to the King on 31 October. Edward exacted a savage vengeance: ignoring their pleas for mercy, he summarily hanged the constable of the castle and thirteen of his men before the castle gates. Lady Badlesmere and her children (among whom was the young wife of Mortimer’s son), along with Badlesmere’s sister and her son, Bartholemew, Lord Burghersh (whose brother Henry was the Bishop of Lincoln), were all taken prisoner and sent first to Dover Castle, and thence to the Tower of London, the first women to be held in custody there.41 The King was determined to make an example of them all, “so that no one in future would dare to hold fortresses against him.”42
Although many at the time applauded his punitive measures, his first successful military operation since his accession, these punishments in fact mark the beginning of Edward II’s tyranny. No longer could he be dismissed as a weak and inept apology for a king, for he had made it terrifyingly clear that any person who rebelled against him or defied him might not just suffer imprisonment or a fine, as before, but might lose his life as well as his goods and have his womenfolk and kinsmen clapped into jail—and all without proper process of law. The seeds of political violence sown with the murder of Gaveston were bearing a bitter harvest, one that would set precedents for the centuries to come.
Isabella left Rochester on 4 November and joined her victorious husband at Tonbridge Castle, where she surrendered the Great Seal into his custody. The King had brought with him provisions that he had seized from Leeds Castle and gave them to Isabella, as compensation for her ordeal there.43 It appears that he also gave her Leeds Castle itself, which had now reverted to the Crown. Although there is no record of any grant of it to Isabella before 1327, a roll of her receiver’s receipts for Easter 1322 records that victuals in Leeds Castle were sold by the Queen’s command,44 which suggests that the castle was in her possession. The royal couple returned to Westminster on the ninth.45 That month, with the terrifying example of Leeds before them, all Badlesmere’s castles surrendered to the King.46
Knowing he now occupied a strong position, Edward was determined to press home his advantage and reclaim his royal prerogative. To achieve this, he was determined to deal once and for all with the Marchers and La
ncaster. After learning what had happened at Leeds, Mortimer and Hereford had fled north to meet with Lancaster, knowing that “the King was a man without mercy, and would destroy them.”47 On 29 November, Lancaster held another private parliament, this time at Doncaster, which Mortimer and Hereford attended, in defiance of an order from the King. Here, Lancaster assured them of his support in their quarrel with Edward and the Despensers.
In light of the events just recounted, the assertions of Agnes Strickland and Denholm-Young48 that Isabella began an affair with Roger Mortimer in the autumn of 1321 are incredible. Mortimer was in opposition to the King throughout most of this period, and Isabella was loyally supporting her husband against both Lancaster and the Marchers. It is also hard to see what opportunities the Queen and Mortimer could have had to conduct such an affair, since he did not attend court other than in a confrontational role. There is no evidence that either had any special regard for the other at this time.
Strickland’s whole theory is based on her misdating the birth of Princess Joan to 1322, when Mortimer was in the Tower of London. She asserts that Isabella’s enmity toward the Despensers was on account of their hostility toward Roger Mortimer and that it was her love for Roger that came to alienate the King. Neither claim is supported by the facts, as we will shortly see.
Capitalizing on his new ascendancy, Edward persuaded his friend Archbishop Reynolds to summon a convocation of the clergy to Saint Paul’s Cathedral on 1 December and formally annul the sentence of banishment on the Despensers, on the grounds that it had not had the unanimous support of the bishops.49
In the absence of the Mortimers, the Welsh, who hated their oppressive rule, had taken up arms against them. Now the King gave orders for his levies to meet with him at Cirencester on 13 December, ready to march on the lands of those contrariants who were still in open opposition. At the beginning of December, Mortimer and Hereford hurriedly returned to their estates, prepared to defend them.
Edward was displaying unwonted energy and decisiveness. On 8 December, armed with Reynolds’s decree of nullity, he invited the Despensers to return to England under his protection. At the same time, Lancaster was doing his best to undermine the King’s support in London, sending the citizens a copy of the so-called Doncaster Petition, in which Edward’s perfidy in supporting Despenser in acts of piracy was spelled out for all to see, and Lancaster himself was portrayed as a second Simon de Montfort, a guardian of the public interest whose sole objective was to rid the realm of the evil influence of the favorites.50
During this tense period, the Queen had been lodging in the Tower,51 but by 10 December, she had joined the King at Langley. On that date, Edward commanded his Treasurer to “provide sixteen pieces of cloth for the apparel of ourselves and our dear companion, also furs against the next feast of Christmas, and thirteen pieces of cloth for corsets for our said companion and her damsels, with napery.”
Edward summoned more troops on 13 December, unaware that Lancaster had now resorted to treason. The Earl was actively seeking the aid of England’s archenemy, Robert the Bruce, against his lawful sovereign; proof of this is to be found in the safe-conduct granted to his messenger by the Black Douglas on 16 December.
Accompanied by his half brothers, Norfolk and Kent—“both active soldiers, considering their youth”—the King and his forces now chased after the Marchers, reaching Cirencester by Christmas;52 Isabella appears to have stayed behind to keep the festival at Langley. On 31 December, Edward was at Worcester, planning to cross the Severn there and force a confrontation with the Marchers, who had retreated beyond the river; but the rebels had burned the bridge. The same thing happened on 5 January at Bridgnorth, where the King was prevented from crossing the great river.53 As he moved north, the Marchers panicked, and men began deserting in droves. Mortimer’s only hope now was that Lancaster would come to relieve them; but for all his assurances of support, Lancaster was conspicuous by his absence, having deliberately remained holed up in Pontefract. On 14 January, the King crossed the Severn at Shrewsbury, and for the Marchers, all was lost. The next day, Edward ordered the arrest of the Mortimers. He had already issued a safe-conduct so that they could come to him in safety.54
From Pontefract, Lancaster had continued to treat with the Scots; his emissary received a further safe-conduct from them on 15 January, and the Earl was still negotiating with Bruce during February, using the pseudonym “King Arthur,” and thus investing himself not only with a royal identity but also with the qualities of the legendary hero.55 Before long, he was joined by Hereford, who had managed to flee from the path of the vengeful King Edward, who had to be content with seizing his lands and those of Audley and d’Amory.56
For the Mortimers, however, there was no escape. They did their best to make terms with Edward, but he would promise nothing. They had committed treason by rising in arms against him and in defying his commands and supporting his enemies; what did they expect? The only concession he made was twice to extend their safe-conducts, until 20 and 21 January.57 On that latter date, when the Mortimers failed to appear, Pembroke stepped in as a mediator, rashly taking it upon himself to assure them that, if they submitted, their lives would be spared and they would be pardoned. Realizing they had no choice, uncle and nephew came to Shrewsbury on 22 January and surrendered to the King. But instead of receiving clemency at his hands, they were put in chains and cast into jail.58
Edward now took a sweeping revenge on the Mortimers. On that same day, he confiscated all their lands and property, and the next day, he ordered the arrest of Lady Mortimer, who was imprisoned in Hampshire.59 Her husband and Chirk were taken to the Tower of London on 13 February.60 A Hainault chronicle, the Chronographia Regum Francorum, claims that they were sent there because Despenser had planted suspicions in Edward’s mind that the Queen and Mortimer had become involved in a clandestine liaison, but this was written later with the benefit of hindsight, and no other chonicler mentions it; and if the King had thought that his wife had betrayed him with his enemy, he would surely have punished her for it, given his vengeful mood at this time.
The sons of Mortimer and Hereford were also apprehended and confined at Windsor, and Mortimer’s three unmarried daughters were incarcerated in different nunneries, while his mother, loudly protesting, was stripped of some of her property.61 After this, as the King moved southward, castle after castle fell to him, the last being Berkeley in Gloucestershire. Its owner, Thomas, Lord Berkeley, was cast into prison at Wallingford with his son Maurice,62 who was married to Mortimer’s daughter Margaret; both had sided with the Marchers. Berkeley’s lands were later given to Despenser.
By then, the Despensers were back in England. On 22 January, Edward had appealed to Philip V to support him in the matter of their recall,63 not knowing that Philip had died on 3 January and, leaving only daughters, been succeeded by his brother, Charles IV, the last surviving brother of Isabella. Charles was crowned at Rheims on 21 February and soon afterward had his ill-fated union to Blanche of Burgundy annulled; in September, he married Marie of Luxembourg, who bore him two daughters in rapid succession.
Although the Despensers had returned in secret in the middle of January,64 the King did not issue the official writ sanctioning their return until 11 February. Inspired by his success against the Marchers, and encouraged by his favorites, who were urging him to use force to repress the power of the barons,65 and also by Isabella, who was deeply offended by the failure of Lancaster and his allies to support the King against Badlesmere, Edward now resolved to make an end of Lancaster. At the end of February, he ordered a general muster of men at Coventry, ostensibly “for the Scots”; but when they were assembled, he marched north in pursuit of Lancaster, crossing the Trent before 10 March and taking the Earl’s castle of Tutbury, where evidence of Lancaster’s dealings with Bruce was discovered, along with Roger d’Amory, who was hiding in the castle, badly wounded. He was tried and condemned to death, yet “because the King loved him much,” he was reprieved. Ho
wever, he died three days later.
As Edward was ransacking Tutbury, a detachment of the royal forces defeated Lancaster’s army at Burton-on-Trent. On 12 March, the Earl was publicly proclaimed a rebel, and the King gave orders that he and his adherents were to be hunted down. Lancaster fled north, probably hoping to seek sanctuary in Scotland or to take refuge in his castle at Dunstanburgh. But he was trapped at Boroughbridge between the royal army and a force led by Andrew Harclay, the Sheriff of Westmorland, who had gained a heroic reputation fighting the Scots. According to Robert of Reading, Queen Isabella had personally sent messages to Harclay, and to Simon Ward, the Sheriff of Yorkshire, urging them to move southward in order to prevent Lancaster from penetrating farther north. Both responded with alacrity. The Queen also had supplies for the King sent to York and Carlisle, in case he might need them.
The battle of Boroughbridge took place on 16 March. Lancaster’s men deserted in droves. An unhorsed Hereford was mortally wounded by a pike thrust from below that pierced him “through the fundament” as he raced across the bridge that spanned the River Ure; it was not “the custom of knights to protect their private parts,” and he died horribly with his bowels hanging out.66 An overnight truce was arranged, but the next day, knowing that it was fruitless to offer further resistance, Lancaster surrendered to the King, who was now determined finally to avenge the murder of Piers Gaveston.