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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
1320-1329 Despencer War is in 14th Century Events.
On 6th April 1320 fifty-one Scottish magnates signed a letter to Pope John XII (age 76) declaring Scotland to be an independent sovereign state. The signatories included Malcolm Lennox 2nd Earl Lennox.
In October 1321 Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 26) was returning from Canterbury, Kent [Map] to London. She sought accommodation at Leeds Castle, Kent [Map] which was under the protection of Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere (age 34) the wife of Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere (age 46). Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere refused entry to the Queen killing around six of her retinue when they tried to force entry. King Edward II of England (age 37) commenced the Siege of Leeds Castle. Once King Edward II of England gained possession of the castle, he had the garrison hanged from the battlements. His wife Margaret Clare Baroness Badlesmere, her five children (Margery Badlesmere Baroness Ros of Helmsley (age 13), Maud Badlesmere Countess of Oxford (age 13), Elizabeth Badlesmere Countess Northampton (age 8), Giles Badlesmere 2nd Baron Badlesmere (age 6) and Margaret Badlesmere Baroness Tibetot (age 6)), and her nephew Bartholomew "The Elder" Burghesh 1st Baron Burghesh (age 34), were imprisoned in the Tower of London [Map].
Annales Paulini. 13th October 1321. In the same year, in the fortnight following the feast of Saint Michael (i.e., around mid-October), when the lady queen [Isabella] wished to travel toward Canterbury, as it was said, she sent her messengers to the castle of Leeds to arrange for lodging during her journey. The response to her messengers was that the queen would not be admitted into the castle. Nevertheless, the queen personally came to the said castle and requested entry. A reply was made to her by the wife of Lord Bartholomew de Badlesmere, who at that time held the castle, that she dared not open the gates or receive anyone without the permission of her lord, Bartholomew. The queen, taking great offense at this response, lodged nearby at the priory of that place. But while she lingered there for a time, six of her men were killed by those who were defending the castle. When this was heard and reported to the lord king, he was filled with no small fury and made all efforts to lay siege to and capture the said castle.
Eodem anno, in quindena Sanctæ Michaelis, cum domina regina versus Cantuariam ivisse voluisset, ut dicebatur, misit nuntios suos ad castellum de Ledes pro hospitio suo itinerando habendo; responsum fuit eisdem quod dicta regina ibidem non intraret. Hoc non obstante, regina ad dictum castellum personaliter accessit, et introitum ab illis petiit. Facta responsione per uxorem domini Bartholomæi de Badelesmere, cui dictum castellum tunc pertinuit, quod sine licentia domini Bartholomæi domini sui non ausa fuisset portas aperire nec aliquem hospitare; dicta regina spiritum indignationis super hoe concipiens, de prope ad prioratum dicti loci hospitabatur, et, dum moram aliquantulum ibidem fecisset, sex homines dicta reginm interfecti fuerunt ab illis qui dictum castellum custodiebant. Hiis auditis, et domino regi denuntiatis, rex, non minimo furore repletus, ad dictum castellum obsidendum et capiendum totis suis conatibus accessit.
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Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. In the year 1321, around the feast of Saint Michael, when Queen Isabella (age 26) was travelling and came to Leeds Castle in Kent,1 desiring to stay there for the night, her entry was stubbornly denied. The king, considering this rejection of the queen as an insult to himself, ordered the castle to be besieged by the local people, those from Essex, and some Londoners. The castle was held by Bartholomew de Badlesmere, who had left behind his wife, children, and household retainers fit for its defence while he himself had gone with other barons to plunder the treasures of Hugh [Despenser]. The king pressed the siege fiercely, and as those inside despaired of holding the castle, the earls and barons who had been ravaging Hugh's lands, supported by a large retinue of armed men, arrived at Kingston on the eve [27th October 1321] of the feast of Saints Simon and Jude. They sent envoys to request the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Earl of Pembroke to intercede with the king to lift the siege, promising to surrender the castle to him after the next parliament. However, the king, realizing that the castle's defenders could not hold out much longer and angered by their rebellion, refused to heed the barons' request. When the barons withdrew to other regions, the castle was eventually taken after considerable effort. Six of the strongest men2 found within were immediately hanged, and Bartholomew de Badlesmere's wife and children were sent to the Tower of London to be held in custody.
Anno MCCCXXJ domine regine Isabelle, circa festum sancti Michaelis itinerando venienti ad castrum de Ledes in Cancia et in eo volenti pernoctasse, fuerat ingressus pertinaciter denegatus. Regine repudium rex estimans in sui contemptum redundare, per populares vicinos et illos de Essexia atque nonnullos Londonienses iussit castrum obsideri. Castri firmamentum tenuit Bartholomeus de Baddesmere in quo uxore et filiis relictis cum vernaculis ad eius defensionem aptis, proficissebatur cum aliis baronibus ad demolicionem gazarum Hugonis. Obsidioni acriter insistente rege, inclusis desperantibus de castri tuicione, comites et barones Hugonis vastatores, armatorum suffulti magna comitiva, venerunt Kingestonam in vigilia apostolorum Simonis et Iude, rogantes per nuncios intermissos, dominos Cantuariensem et Londoniensem ac comitem Penbrochiensem, quod obsidionem rex amoveret, promittentes quod post proximum parliamentum castrum regi redditum subderent. Rex vero, perpendens castelanos non posse diu resistere et exasperatus rebellione inclusorum, peticiones baronum noluit exaudire; quibus in partes alias regressis, castro tandem labore non modico expungnato, VJ de forcioribus in ipso repertis indilate suspensis, uxorem Bartholomei de Baddesmere et filios eius misit turri Londoniarum custodiendos.
Note 1. The refusal to admit the queen into Leeds castle took place on the 13th October 1321. On the 16th the king's proclamation and summonses to the men of the southern counties were issued. Rymer's Fœdera, 2.458.
According to the Annales Paulini 298.
Note 2. Annales Paulini 299: The wife and sister of Lord Bartholomew de Badlesmere were committed to custody at Dover Castle. On the next day, being All Souls' Day [2nd of November 1321], the said Walter Culpepper and twelve of his accomplices, all strong and able men, were condemned by judgment and hanged.".
Letters of Horace Walpole. Rochester, Kent [Map], Sunday.
We have finished our progress sadly! Yesterday after twenty mishaps we got to Sissinghurst to dinner. There is a park in ruins, and a house in ten times greater ruins, built by Sir John Balier, chancellor of the exchequer to Queen Mary. You go through an arch of the stables to the house, the court of which is perfect and very beautiful. The Duke of Bedford has a house at Cheneys, in Buckinghamshire, which seems to have been very like it, but is more ruined. This has a good apartment, and a fine gallery, a hundred and twenty feet by eighteen, which takes up one side: the wainscot is pretty and entire: the ceiling vaulted, and painted in a light genteel grotesque. The whole is built for show: for the back of the house is nothing but lath and plaster. From thence we Went to Bocton-Malherbe, where are remains of a house of the Wottons, and their tombs in the church; but the roads were so exceedingly bad that it was dark before we got thither, and still darker before we got to Maidstone: from thence we passed this morning to Leeds Castle [Map].347 Never was such disappointment! There are small remains: the moat is the only handsome object, and is quite a lake, supplied by a cascade which tumbles through a bit of a romantic grove. The Fairfaxes have fitted up a pert, bad apartment in the fore-part of the castle, and have left the only tolerable rooms for offices. They had a gleam of Gothic in their eyes, but it soon passed off into some modern windows, and some that never were ancient. The only thing that at all recompensed the fatigues we have undergone was the picture of the Duchess of Buckingham348, la Ragotte, who is mentioned in Grammont-I say us, for I trust that Mr. Chute is as true a bigot to Grammont as I am. Adieu? I hope you will be as weary with reading our history as we have been in travelling it. Yours ever.
Note 347. A very ancient and magnificent structure, built throughout of stone, at different periods, formerly belonging to the family of Crovequer. In the fifteenth of Edward II Sir Thomas de Colepeper, who was castellan of the castle, was hanged on the drawbridge for having refused admittance to Isabel, the Queen-consort, in her progress in performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The manor and castle were forfeited to the crown by his attainder, but restored to his son, Sir Thomas Colepeper. By his Diary of May 8, 1666, it appears to have been hired by Evelyn for a prison. "Here," he says, "I flowed the dry moat, made a new drawbridge, brought spring-water into the court of the castle to an old fountain, and took order for the repairs."-E.
Note 348. Mary, Duchess of Buckingham, only daughter of Thomas, Lord Fairfax.-E.
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In 1321 Hugh "Younger" Despencer 1st Baron Despencer (age 35) and his son Hugh "Elder" Despencer 1st Earl Winchester (age 59) were exiled.
On 3rd January 1322 Philip V King France I King Navarre (age 29) died. His brother Charles (age 27) succeeded IV King France: Capet, I King Navarre although his niece was by right successor to the Kingdom of Navarre.
On 14th April 1322 Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere (age 46) was tried by Henry Cobham 1st Baron Cobham (age 62) at Canterbury, Kent [Map].
Sentenced to death Bartholomew Badlesmere 1st Baron Badlesmere was drawn for three miles behind a horse to Blean, Canterbury, where he held property, where he was beheaded. His head was displayed on the Burgh Gate, Canterbury and the rest of his body left hanging at Blean, Canterbury. He was buried at Whitefriars. His nephew Henry Burghesh's (age 30) lands were also seized. These were restored around 1326.
On 25th January 1327 King Edward II of England (age 42) abdicated King of England. His son Edward (age 14) succeeded III King of England.
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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Before 15th June 1327 the Weardale Campaign commenced with the Scottish army crossed the border into England after truce negotiations had broken down. One army crossed in the west, one in the east.
On 1st February 1328 Charles IV King France I King Navarre (age 33) died. On 1st April 1328 His first cousin Philip (age 34) succeeded VI King France: Capet Valois. The succession somewhat complicated by Charles' wife Blanche of Burgundy Queen Consort France being pregnant. The child Blanche Capet was born two months later on 1st April 1328. A girl child therefore excluded from the succession confirming Philip's as King. Charles the last of the House of Capet. Philip the first of the House of Valois. His niece Joan (age 16) succeeded II Queen Navarre. Her husband Philip "Noble" III King Navarre (age 21) by marriage III King Navarre.
On 24th January 1328 King Edward III of England (age 15) and Philippa of Hainault (age 13) were married at York Minster [Map]. She by marriage Queen Consort England. She was crowned the same day. She the daughter of William Hainault I Count Hainault III Count Avesnes III Count Holland II Count Zeeland (age 42) and Joan Valois Countess Zeeland Holland Avesnes and Hainault (age 34). He the son of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 33). They were second cousins. She a great x 5 granddaughter of King Stephen I England.
The marriage was the quid pro quo for her father William Hainault I Count Hainault III Count Avesnes III Count Holland II Count Zeeland having supported his mother Isabella of France Queen Consort England and Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March (age 40) returning to England to usurp the throne of Edward's father King Edward II of England.
Lanercost Chronicle. Around Christmas, the aforesaid Lord John, brother of the Count of Hainault, returned to England and brought with him the count’s daughter Philippa. Soon afterward, the King of England married her at York with great splendour, namely on the Sunday that was the eve [24th January 1328] of the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. That same year, on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul [25th January 1328], Edward III married Philippa, daughter of the Count of Hainault1.
Hoc anno, in festo Conversionis Sancti Pauli, Edwardus tertius duxit in uxorem Philippam comitis Hanoniæ filiam.
Note 1. Philippa, third daughter of William Count of Hainault, and niece of the French king. The parties being within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, being second cousins, a dispensation was granted by Pope John, dated at Avignon on the 30th of August, 1327, Rymer, Fœdera, 2.714.
After which, Roger, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, was made proctor, with full powers to contract the marriage, by letters-patent given at Nottingham on the 8th of October. Rymer, Fœdera, 2.718.
Froissart Book 1: 1307-1340. 38. Thus was that campaign undertaken by King Edward in the first year of his reign against the Scots, which was so great and so harsh, as you have heard. Not long afterward, the king, my lady his mother, the Earl of Kent, the Earl Henry of Lancaster, Sir Roger Mortimer, and the other barons of England who had remained as part of the king's council to aid and advise him in governing, came to an agreement and decided it was time to arrange his marriage. So they sent an embassy — a bishop, two knight-bannerets, and two worthy clerks — to Sir John of Hainault, to ask him to help and advise in arranging a marriage for the young king, their lord. They asked that he be the one to negotiate, so that his brother, the Count of Hainault and Holland, might be persuaded to send one of his daughters, for she would be more welcome than any other — for the love they bore to him. The Lord of Beaumont (Sir John of Hainault) received and honored these envoys and commissioners from the English king with all the hospitality he could offer, for he knew well how to do so. After feasting and welcoming them well, he brought them to Valenciennes, to his brother, who received them with great honor and hosted them so splendidly that it would be too long to recount all the details.
38. Ensi fu celle chevaucie departie, que li rois Edowars, le premier an de se creation, fist contre les Escos, li quèle fu si grande et si dure que vous avés oy. Ne demora mies gramment de temps apriès, que cilz rois, ma dame se mère, li contes de Kent, li contes Henris de Lancastre, messires Rogiers de Mortemer et li aultre baron d'Engleterre, qui estoient demoret dou conseil le roy, pour lui aidier à conseillier et gouvrener, eurent avis et conseil de lui marier. Si envoiièrent un evesque, deus chevaliers banerès et deus bons clers à monsigneur Jehan de Haynau, pour lui priier qu'il vosist aidier et mettre conseil à che que li jones rois, leurs sires, fust mariés, et qu'il vosist boins moiiens estre, par quoi messires, ses frères, li contes de Haynau et de Hollandes, li volsist envoiier une de ses filles, car il l'aroit plus chière que nulle aultre, pour l'amour de lui. Li sires de Byaumont festia et honnoura ces messagiers et commissaires de par le roy englès, quanques il pot, car bien le savoit faire. Quant bien festiiés les eut, il les amena à Valenchiènes par devers son frère, qui moult honnourablement les rechut ossi, et les festia si souverainnement bien que longe cose seroit à raconter.
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On 17th March 1328 Robert the Bruce (age 53) signed the Treaty of Edinburgh Northampton bringing to an end the First Scottish War of Independence. The English Parliament signed at Northampton [Map] on 03 May 1328. The terms of the Treaty included:
Scotland to pay England £100,000 sterling,
The Kingdom of Scotland as fully independent,
Robert the Bruce, and his heirs and successors, as the rightful rulers of Scotland, and.
The border between Scotland and England as that recognised under the reign of Alexander III (1249-1286).
The Treaty lasted four years only being regarded by the English nobility as humiliating; the work of Edward's (age 15) mother Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 33) and Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March (age 40) rather than King Edward. Two years after King Edward commenced his personal reign he commenced the Second War of Scottish Independence in Aug 1332.
Froissart Book 1: 1307-1340. [17th March 1328] 40. After the Scots departed by night from the mountain where young King Edward and the lords of England had besieged them, as you have heard, they traveled twenty-two leagues through that wild land without stopping, and crossed the River Tyne1 not far from Carlisle, in Wales. The next day, they returned to their own country, and then dispersed according to the orders of their lords, each one going back to his own home. Soon afterward, some lords and wise men worked diligently between the King of England and his council, and the King of Scotland, until a truce was agreed upon between them, to last for the space of three years.
40. Apriès chou que li Escot se partirent par nuit de le montagne, là où li jones rois Edowars et li signeur d'Engleterre les avoient assegiés, si com vous avés oy, il alèrent vingt et deus liewes de celui sauvage pays, sans arrester, et passèrent celle rivière de Thin assés priès de Cardueil, en Galles. Et à l'endemain, il revinrent en leur pays, et se departirent par l'ordenance des signeurs, et en rala cescuns en se maison. Assés tost apriès, signeur et aucun bon preudomme pourcacièrent tant entre le roy d'Engleterre et son conseil et entre le roy d'Escoce, que une triewe fu acordée entre yaus, à durer par l'espasse de trois ans.
Note 1. This may be a mistake since the River Tyne doesn't flows near Carlisle. The River Eden flows through Carlisle.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In this year, on the twelfth day of the month of July [1328], the King of Scotland1, son of Robert Bruce, took to wife at Berwick Joan of the Tower, sister of Edward III since the Conquest; on the occasion of which marriage the King of England, then under age, was stirred up and induced, chiefly by his mother and by Roger de Mortimer, to resign all right and claim of overlordship which he or his forebears had at any time held, or which, by reason of past times, his successors might also hold in the future. For in those days Roger de Mortimer gathered the royal treasure, usurped royal power, and, as it seemed, kept the king in subjection; so that Henry, the elder Earl of Lancaster, who at the king's coronation had been appointed guardian of the king by the agreement of the magnates, being unable to approach, advise, or guard the king, was led, on the counsel of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops, and certain of the magnates, around the feast of Saint Hilary, with a great army, to correct as far as possible the shortcomings and to amend the wrongs; and against the said Roger he tarried about Leicester and Bedford, and by the mediation of the archbishop and many others, Earl Henry humbled himself before the king and promised to answer in parliament for the offence, making satisfaction for it2.
Hoc anno, duodecimo die mensis Julii, rex Scotiæ, filius Roberti Brus, duxit in uxorem apud Berewicum Johannam de Turri sororem Edwardi a Conquæstu tertii; occasione cujus matrimonii excitatus fuit et inductus rex Angliæ, minoris tunc ætatis, per matrem suam præcipue et Rogerum de Mortuo-mari, ad resignandum omne jus et vendicationem superioritatis quod ipse vel progenitores sui temporibus quibuscunque habuerunt, vel ratione temporis præteriti successores etiam habere poterunt in futurum. Illis enim diebus Rogerus de Mortuo-mari thesaurum regium congregavit, potestatem regiam usurpavit, regem, ut videbatur, suppeditavit; ita quod comes Lancastria Henricus senior, in coronatione regis per procerum consensum regis custos deputatus, regi appropiare, consulere, nec custodire valens, consilio archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, episcoporum ac aliquorum procerum, ductus circa festum Sancti Hilarii cum magno exercitu, ut defectus reformaret errataque pro posse raises an corrigeret, contra dictum Rogerum circa Leicestriam et Bedefordiam moram traxit, medianteque archiepiscopo ac multis aliis, comes Henricus regi se humiliavit et ut in parliamento responderet errori inter eos satisfaciendo repromisit.
Note 1. Prince David, the future King of Scotland. He was about five years of age when he married the Princess Joanna. He did not accede to the throne of Scotland till the 7th of June in the year following. He married Joan of the Tower [of London], named for where she was born. The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, of which the marriage formed a part, was signed at Edinburgh by Robert Bruce and the English plenipotentiaries, the Bishops of Lincoln and Norwich, Henry de Percy, William la Zouche of Ashby, and Geoffrey le Scrope, on the 17th of March, 1328. Rymer, Fœdera, 2.734.
The Scots, in consideration of the concessions made by King Edward, undertaking to pay the sum of twenty thousand pounds sterling, by three instalments, within the term of three years, Rymer, Fœdera, 2.735.
Note 2. Henry Earl of Lancaster, in conjunction with the King's uncles, the Earls of Norfolk and Kent, and many other nobles, assembled a large force with the intention of depriving Mortimer of the authority he had usurped; but being unexpectedly deserted by the King's uncles, the Earl of Lancaster and his confederates were obliged to submit: upon which, having taken an oath not to attempt anything against the King, the Queen, or any of their Council, they received pardon, with the exception of four, who fled into France, H. Knyghton, Hist. Ang. Script. 2554.
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On 31st May 1328 the Mortimer family leveraged their new status at a lavish ceremony that celebrated the marriages of two of Roger Mortimer's (age 41) daughters at Hereford [Map].
Edward Plantagenet (age 8) and Beatrice Mortimer (age 6) were married. She the daughter of Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March and Joan Geneville Baroness Mortimer 2nd Baroness Geneville (age 42). He the son of Thomas of Brotherton 1st Earl Norfolk (age 27) and Alice Hales Countess Norfolk. They were half third cousin once removed. He a grandson of King Edward I of England. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King John of England.
Laurence Hastings 1st Earl Pembroke (age 9) and Agnes Mortimer Countess of Pembroke (age 11) were married. She the daughter of Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March and Joan Geneville Baroness Mortimer 2nd Baroness Geneville. He the son of John Hastings 2nd Baron Hastings 14th Baron Abergavenny and Juliana Leybourne Countess Huntingdon (age 25). They were third cousin once removed. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King John of England.
King Edward III of England (age 15) and his mother Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 33) attended as well as Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March.
On 17th July 1328 King David II of Scotland (age 4) and Joan of the Tower Queen Consort Scotland (age 7) were married at Berwick on Tweed, Northumberland [Map]. She the daughter of King Edward II of England and Isabella of France Queen Consort England (age 33). He the son of King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland (age 54) and Elizabeth Burgh Queen Consort Scotland.
Lanercost Chronicle. 17th July 1328. The young king, as mentioned, also gave his younger sister, Lady Joan of the Tower, in marriage to David (age 4), the son of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, who was then five years old, just as his mother, the Queen of England, had arranged—she who at that time ruled the entire kingdom. The wedding was solemnly celebrated at Berwick on the Sunday next before the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene.
Dedit etiam juvenis rex predictus sororem suam juniorem, dominam Johanam de Turre, in uxorem David filio Roberti de Brus, regis Scotia, qui puer tunc erat quinque annorum, sicut ordinaverat mater sua regina Angliæ, que tunc temporis totum regnum regebat. Celebrate vero funt nuptiæ folemniter apud Berwicum, Dominica die proxima ante festum sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ.
In October 1328 Roger Mortimer 1st Earl March (age 41) was created 1st Earl March by his own authority to the surprise, perhaps astonishment, of the nobility who compared his behaviour as similar to the usurped Edward II.
Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. In the year of our Lord 1328, the second year of King Edward III from the Conquest, the king held a parliament at Salisbury1 shortly after the feast of Saint Michael [29th September]. At this parliament, he created three earls: namely, Lord John of Eltham, his brother, as Earl of Cornwall; Roger de Mortimer as Earl of the March of Wales; and the Butler of Ireland as Earl of Ormond. From this parliament, the Earl of Lancaster, Lord Wake, and certain other nobles withdrew themselves, and among their company were Lord Henry de Beaumont and the Earl Marshal; they came near, however, armed. This provoked the king's displeasure. But afterward, in summer, through the mediation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, they submitted themselves to the king's grace at Bedford. Not long after, the Earl of Lancaster became blind, and devoted himself wholly and patiently to the service of God.
Anno Domini MCCCXXVIIJ, ipsius regis Edwardi tercii a conquestu anno secundo, post quindenam sancti Michaelis tenuit rex parliamentum Sarisburie; in quo fecit tres comites, scilicet dominum Ioannem Deltham, fratrem suum, comitem Cornubie, et Rogerum de Mortuo mari comitem Marchie Wallie, et pincernam Hibernye comitem de Ormonde. Ab hoc parliamento comes Lancastrie et dominus de Wake, et alii quidam nobiles se subtraxerunt, et in eorum comitiva dominus Henricus de Bellemonte et comes Marescallus; prope tamen venerant armati. Unde in offensionem regem commoverunt, set postmodum in estate, procurante archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, apud Bedeford gracie regis se submiserunt; non multumque postea comes Lancastrie cecus effectus ad pacienter Deo serviendum se totum ordinavit.
Note 1. This parliament sat from the 16th to the 31st October. Lancaster's abortive attempt to throw off Mortimer's yoke is thus described by Knighton 2553-2555.
The Brute chronicle (Harley MS. 2279).
Lancaster's submission took place about the 12th or 13th January 1329. Bishop Stubbs's Introduction to Chronicle Edward I, II, i, cxxi. and Annales Paulini 343-4.
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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Chronicle of Henry Knighton. October 1328֫. At Salisbury, Queen Isabella and Roger de Mortimer created new earls — namely, John of Eltham as Earl of Cornwall, Roger de Mortimer as Earl of the March, and Edmund Butler as Earl of Ormond. All of these, together with their adherents, gathered a great army under Isabella's authority against Henry, Earl of Lancaster, and other magnates of the realm who had not agreed to their wicked deeds. With strength and arms, they rode into the lands of the said earl and came to Leicester with a great army of English and Welshmen on the day before the Nones of January [i.e., January 4], and they remained in Leicester and the surrounding countryside for eight days. They plundered the entire region — woods, parks, vineyards, ponds, fishponds — and took with them whatever their hands could find, whether precious or worthless: gold, silver, grain, household goods, bedding, tableware, weapons, clothing, wild and domestic animals, sheep and cattle, geese, hens, and even church ornaments. They left nothing untouched in the churches or elsewhere, as if it were a time of war between kingdoms.
Apud Salusbury regina Isabella et Rogerus de Mortuo mari fecerunt novos comites scilicet Johannem de Eltham comitem Cornubiæ, Rogerum de Mortuo mari comitem de Marchia, Edmundum Botoler comitem de Ormunde. Qui omnes cum suis adhærentibus congregaverunt magnum exercitum ad Isabellam reginam contra comitem Lancastriæ Henricum et alios magnates de regno qui non fuerant eorum nefariis operibus consentientes. Et equitaverunt viribus et armis super terras dicti comitis et venerunt Leycestriam cum magno exercitu Anglicorum et Wallanorum pridie nonas Januarii, et morabantur in Leycestria et in circumjacenti patria octo diebus, et spoliaverunt undique patriam, et boscos, parcos, viness, stagna, piscinas, et secum abduxerunt quiequid preciosum aut vile manus eorum invenire potuerunt, aurum, argentum, blada, utensilia, lectualia, mensualia, arma, vestimenta, bestias feras et domesticas, oves et boves, aucas, gullinas, et ornaments ecclesiastica, nihil in ecclesiis inventum vel alibi relinquendo, ac si esset in tempore guerræ inter regna.
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On 7th June 1329 King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland (age 54) died at Cardross Manor, Argyll. He was buried at Dunfermline Abbey [Map]. His son David (age 5) succeeded II King Scotland. Joan of the Tower Queen Consort Scotland (age 7) by marriage Queen Consort Scotland.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In this year Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, stricken with leprosy, died on the seventh day before the Ides of June [7th June 1328].
Hoc anno Robertus Brus, rex Scotiæ, lepra Death of percussus obiit septimo idus Junii.
On 9th October 1329 Thomas Butler 1st Baron Dunboyne (age 58) was killed at the Battle of Ardnocher by the Chief of the Clan Geoghegan. His son Piers (age 35) succeeded 2nd Baron Dunboyne.