THE CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
GLASGOW
PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY
ROBERT MACLEHOSE & COMPANY LTD. FOR
JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, PUBLISHERS
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
MACMILLAN AND CO. LTD. LONDON
THE MACMILLAN CO. NEW YORK
MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA TORONTO
SIMPKIN, HAMILTON AND CO. LONDON
BOWES AND BOWES CAMBRIDGE
DOUGLAS AND FOULIS EDINBURGH
MCMXIII
1
c
—
--
X
c
o
THE CHRONICLE OF
LANERCOST
1272-1346
TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES, BY THE RIGHT HON.
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL
BARONET
GLASGOW
JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS
PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY
057
Preface
QTUDENTS of English and Scottish history in the thirteenth
^ and fourteenth centuries have so long been familiar with the
record known as The Chronicle of Lanercost that an English trans-
lation may seem to be a superfluity. But, whereas the tendency
of modern education is to exchange the study of the classics for a
diversity of other subjects reputed to be of greater utility, it
is certain that a far smaller proportion of educated persons can
read Latin easily in the twentieth century than could do so before
that flexible language had ceased to be the common medium
of scientific and literary intercourse. Now the writer or writers
of this chronicle indulged in so many digressions from formal
narrative, thereby casting so many sidelights upon the social
conditions of his time, that an English translation may prove
convenient for such readers as lack time for arduous historical
research.
The Latin text was edited from the oldest extant MS.1 by
the late Joseph Stevenson with his usual acumen and fidelity,
and printed for the Maitland and Bannatyne Clubs in 1839.
' The whole Chronicle,' wrote Stevenson in his preface, ' as it
now stands has been reduced to its present form, about the
British Museum, Cottonian MSS. Claudius D. vii.
V
PREFACE
latest period of which it treats, by a writer who had before him
materials of a varied character and of unequal merit.' In this
form it has been appended as a continuation to Roger de
Hoveden's Annals.
In Stevenson's opinion there is no warrant for attributing the
origin of this chronicle to the Priory of Lanercost. He judged
from internal evidence that it was written by a Minorite Friar
of Carlisle. That evidence has been analysed afresh by
Dr. James Wilson, who has contributed an introductory chapter
vindicating the claim in favour of the Augustinian Priory of
Lanercost as the source of the chronicle. It still remains
somewhat perplexing that an Austin Canon, or a succession of
Austin Canons, should have been at the pains exhibited in this
chronicle to exalt the renown of the Franciscan Order of
Mendicants. The entire work covers the period from 1201 to
1346. The translation now presented only extends over the
reigns of Edward I. and II. and part of the reign of Edward III.,
a period of perennial interest to Scotsmen, who, however, must
not be offended at the bitter partisanship of a writer living just
over the Border.
In preparing the translation for the press I have had the
advantage of the literary acumen and historical erudition of Mr.
George Neilson, LL.D., who, by undertaking the tedious task of
reading my MS., has steered me clear of many pitfalls and pulled
me out of others into which I had fallen.
HERBERT MAXWELL.
MONREITH,
1st March, 1913.
List of Illustrations
LANERCOST PRIORY
COAT OF ARMS OF LANERCOST PRIORY -
LANERCOST PRIORY CHURCH, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST
DURHAM CATHEDRAL, FROM THE RIVER WEAR
HEXHAM ABBEY CHURCH, EAST END
FACSIMILE OF PAGE 208 b OF MANUSCRIPT (reduced)
PAGE
- Frontispiece
Title page
24
48
136
164
LANERCOST PRIORY CHURCH, FROM DRAWING BY T. HEARNE,
F.S.A. 1780 ---------
168
CARLISLE CATHEDRAL, FROM DRAWING BY T. HEARNE, F.S.A.
1802 - - 176
HEXHAM ABBEY CHURCH, CHANTRY CHAPEL OF PRIOR ROW-
LAND LESCHMAN, ob. 1491 - 332
Vll
ERRATA
Page 29, note i, Mr. Cleland Harvey has proved to me that Ecclesia de Bothanis
de Laodoma, being dedicated, as the chronicler mentions, to S. Cuthbert, cannot
be Abbey S. Bathans in Berwickshire, but was the parish church of S. Bothans in
Haddingtonshire, mentioned in A.D. 1176 in the Register of the Priory of S.
Andrews as Ecclesia Sancti Eothnn'i in Decanatu Laodonie. On izth April, 1421, it
was erected by the Bishop of S. Andrews into a college for a provost and four
chaplains, which was broken up during the Reformation, and the ancient title of
the parish was altered to that of Yester or GifFord.
Page 95, note i, read 'probably mostellum, a little tub.'
Page 170, note 3, read 'The Comte de Bar, who married Eleanor, daughter
of Edward I.'
Page 332, line 16, for 'shattered the bones' read ' broke the gates.'
Authorship of the Chronicle of
Lanercost *
By the REV. JAMES WILSON, Dalston, Cumberland
THE authorship of the Chronicle of Lanercost, when the
manuscript first came within the cognisance of literary
men, was unhesitatingly ascribed to the canons of the house which
bears its name, and such origin does not appear to have been
doubted till the transcript in the Cotton collection was printed in
1839 as a joint-production of the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs
under the care of the Rev. Joseph Stevenson.
Nothing is known of the history of the manuscript of the
Chronicle (Cotton MS. Claudius D. vii.) before the sixteenth
century, when it came into the possession of Sir Henry Savile, who
published his Scriptores post Bedam in 1596. There is little doubt
that the manuscript belonged to him before it passed into the
collection of Sir Robert Cotton. Not only is there a printed label
bearing Sir Henry's name pasted on the fly-leaf, but traces of
perusal by him may be ascertained from annotations in the margin.
For example, the phrase ' in comitatu Roberti de Sabuil ' on
folio 97 is underlined in the text, and a note is placed in the
margin to call attention to the early occurrence of the name.
1 The references in footnotes, when not otherwise stated, apply to the pages of
this translation.
ix
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
Indications are not wanting on several folios that the manuscript
was used by students and that attempts were made to disclose the
constituent parts of the compilation.
The whole manuscript, which is bound in one volume, com-
prises 242 vellum leaves or 484 folios, arranged in double column
wand written in a hand apparently of the fourteenth or early
fifteenth century. There is some evidence that the hand varies,
but not perhaps more than may be ascribed to different sessions
by the same writer. In the later portions of the manuscript, say
from folio 66, which represents the year 1181, a new style of
rubric and illumination begins. Perhaps a uniform style should
not be assumed for any large sections of the narrative. The
scribe did not always finish his folio before commencing the next.
Several columns are blank, occasionally a whole folio. In one
instance at least, he had just commenced a new folio (fol. 101)
under the year 1190, but before he had proceeded far down the
first column and had written ' Deinde Rex Anglic,' he stopped
and commenced a new folio with the same words. When he had
reached folio 2ib, the end of the introductory portions, he laid
down his pen with the pious sentiment, * finite libro benedicamus
Domino,' leaving a whole leaf blank before he resumed. The
abrupt ending of the manuscript has tempted some late student
to remark that ' videtur hoc exemplar esse imperfectum.' It may
be added that he was not the last to hold a similar opinion.
Students of the manuscript were under no delusion about its
authorship. In various places the legend ' historia canonici de
Lanercost in comitatu Northumbrie' is met with, which may be
taken as the unauthorised interpolation of the reader. The
owners, however, may be justly regarded as responsible for the
index and table of contents, though not made at the same date or
by the same person. The ' elenchus contentorum ' appears to be
the earlier. Referring to the beginning of the continuous narra-
tive on folio 23, apart from the fragments with which the Chronicle
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
is prefaced, we have ' Larga Anglic historia composita per canonicum
de Lanercost in comitatu Northumbrie que descendit ad tempora
Edwardi tertii.' The ignorance of the geography of Cumber-
land, which placed Lanercost in the neighbouring county, is very
welcome, inasmuch as it shows that the compiler of the elenchus
was not a local antiquary prejudiced in favour of the Lanercost
authorship.
It is difFerent, however, with the index at the end of the volume,
the writing of which appears to be in a later hand, perhaps about
the close of the seventeenth century. The compiler of the index
was not only a north-countryman interested in northern history,
but he held decided views on the authorship. In fact, the index
was made for the sole use of historical students of the Border
counties, but especially of the county of Cumberland. It em-
bodies the principal local references, notably those relating to the
priory of Lanercost and the barony of Gillesland, with very little
reference to occurrences elsewhere except when they affected that
neighbourhood. The index is entitled, * Ex manuscripto per
quemdam canonicum de Lanercost infra baroniam de Gillisland
in comitatu Cumbrie composita.' In referring the reader to the
visitation of the priory of Lanercost by the Bishop of Carlisle
in 1281, which will be discussed presently, the index-maker
remarked that ' constat fol. 206 authorem libri esse canonicum
de Lanercost.' The compiler of this addition to the volume
appears to have had no doubt about the authorship.
The first writer who printed portions of the manuscript, so far
as we have ascertained, was Henry Wharton, librarian at Lambeth,
who extracted from it the references to Bishop Grosteste of Lincoln,
and published them in 1691 in the Anglia Sacra (ii. 341-3). The
heading of the chapter indicates Wharton's view of the author-
ship : * Vita Roberti Grosthed, ex Annalibus de Lanercost, in
Bibliotheca Cottoniana, Claudius D. 7.' But in the preface he
has given a more positive opinion. * Among the unprinted
XI
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
chronicles,' he says,1 ' the author of the Annals of Lanercost has
commemorated (celebravif) Bishop Robert the most fully : I have
therefore appended his account of Robert's life. The Annals of
Lanercost are extant from the coming of the Saxons to the year
1347, exceedingly copious (valde prolixi\ in the Cotton Library.
The monastery of Lanercost is situated in the county of Cumberland
near the borders of Scotland. Its annals were written by several
persons in succession, as appears at the year 1245, where the writer
states that he had committed to the earth the Elect of Glasgow.'
The value of the compilation was known to Dr. William
Nicolson, Bishop of Carlisle (1702-1718), whose literary activities
entitle him to rank among the laborious scholars who adorned
the age in which he lived. Writing with his customary precision
in 1708, he referred to 'the jingling rhyme on the building of
the Roman Wall in the Chronicle of Lanercost2 (MS. in Bibl.
Cott. Claudius D. vii. fol. 14%)' and spoke of 'the learned Canon
Regular who was the author of the Chronicle.' The same prelate
had no misgivings about the authorship in 1713, when he urged
Humfrey Wanley, the famous librarian of the Earl of Oxford,3 to
publish ' a Chronicle by some of the Canons of Lanercost in this
diocese,' a manuscript ' in the Cotton Library, Claudius D. vii.'
It was probably owing to the well-deserved reputation of Bishop
Nicolson as a scholar of exceptional critical ability that the author-
ship had not been called in question till the publication of the
manuscript by the Scottish Clubs.
Planta, when making a catalogue of the Cottonian collection in
1 80 1 for the Record Commission, accepted the traditional author-
ship without demur. His account of the contents of the Chronicle
is taken almost wholly from the elenchus contentorum of the
Cotton manuscript. The introductory fragments are resolved
1 Anglla Sacra, ii. pref. xvii.
2 Stukeley's Diaries and Letters (Surtees Soc.), ii. 62.
3 Cfiron. de Lanercost, pp. xv-xviii.
xii
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
into nine sections, which take up. the first 21 folios of the manu-
script, as already noticed. The Chronicle itself, beginning on
folio 23, is described1 as *a history of the affairs of the kings of
the Britons and the English from Cassibelanus to 1346, extracted
by a canon of Lanercost in the county of Cumberland from
William of Malmesbury, Henry archdeacon of Hereford, Gildas,
Geoffrey of Monmouth and Helinand.' Though we cannot
accept the sources here indicated, the statement is useful as
expressing the opinion of the authorities of the Record Com-
mission on the authorship in 1801. It was not till Stevenson
had printed the manuscript that the origin of the Chronicle was
ascribed to a Minorite friar of Carlisle.
As the manuscript bears no title, and as nothing is known of
its early history, a discussion of the probable authorship must rest
wholly on internal evidence. But it is difficult to make an exposi-
tion of the evidences intelligible to students of the printed text,
owing to Stevenson's treatment of the manuscript. He regarded
the portion issued by the Scottish 2 Clubs ' as a continuation to
the Annals of Roger of Hoveden, beginning where the work of
that writer terminates without a break of any description.' For
this reason he started his edition of the Chronicle on folio i"j2b in
the middle of the column, where the transcriber or author left no
mark to indicate a new work. Opinions may differ on the wisdom
of such a step, but no authority for the arbitrary division is recog-
nised in the manuscript. For our own part, we prefer the state-
ment of Bishop Stubbs 3 that a copy of Hoveden was * used as 1
the basis of the Lanercost Chronicle,' that is, of the unprinted t
portion embracing folios 23-172. Students of the manuscript
will agree with the Bishop rather than with the Editor.
Though the question of sources does not arise, it may be
1 Catalogue of the MSS. in the Cottonian Library, p. 197.
2 Chronicon de Lanercost, p. iii.
3 Roger de Hoveden (R.S.), i. pref. Ixxxiii.
xiii
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
permissible to notice a few incidents in order to show the author's
historical equipment independent of his use of the exemplars he
had before him. Few of the chroni :lers, except the historians of
Hexham, mention the battle of Cli heroe in 1138 and the sub-
sequent proceedings at Carlisle for the alleviation of the atrocities
of warfare. Certainly Hoveden has left these matters unrecorded.
But our author on folio 6ob has meditated on that period to some
purpose. ' William, son of Duncan, nephew of King David,' he
narrates, ' vanquished the English army in Craven at Clitheroe,
slaying very many and taking numerous prisoners. At the same
time Alberic, a monk of Cluny, then Bishop of Ostia and Legate
of the Apostolic See, who had been sent by Pope Innocent to
England and Scotland, came to King David at Carlisle and
reconciled (pacificavii) Bishop Adelulf to King David and restored
him to his own (proprie] See, as also John Bishop of Glasgow.
tn addition he obtained from King David that in the feast of
St. Martin they should bring all the English prisoners to Carlisle
and there give them their freedom. When this was done that
city was not inappropriately called Cardolium, which means carens
dolore, because there captivitas Angkrum caru.it dolore' If this
account is laid alongside what is known from other sources of
the incidents of 1138, it will be observed how little the author
followed the textual phraseology of the Hexham writers.1 The
etymological adaptation of Cardolium to suit the happy incident
appears to be quite new to history.
Another passage, indicative of his independence of Hoveden,
raises a question of considerable interest in the literary history of
England and Scotland. So important is the text that it must be
reproduced in the original.
Eodem anno, videlicet, anno domini m° c° ij°, Rex Henricus primus, ut
dicitur, per consilium et industriam Matildis regine, constituit canonicos
1 Priory of Hexham (Surtees Soc.), i. 82-3, 98-9, 117-21.
xiv
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
regulares in ecclesia Karleolensi. Quidam vero presbiter, ad conquestum
Anglic cum Willelmo Bastardo veniens, hanc ecclesiam et alias plures et
aliquas villas circumiacentes, pro rebus viriliter peractis, a rege Willelmo in
sua susceperat, Walterus nomine. Henricus [episcopatum x] sancte Marie
Karleolensis^ fundavit et non multo post in pace quievit. Cuius terras et
possessiones Rex Henricus dedit canonicis [Rex H. underlined for deletion]
regularibus et priorem eorum primum Adelwaldum, iuvenem quidem etate
sed moribus senem, priorem sancti Oswaldi de Nosles constituit, quern
postea corrupte Adulfum vocabant.
It is true that this statement is made in the form of a note at
the bottom of folio 58% but it is not the interpolation of a sub-
sequent writer. The note is introduced in the same hand and
with the same ink as the text in a place reserved for it. The
position on the folio only shows that the statement was not in
the exemplar the scribe was following for that portion of the
narrative. Its resemblance to the famous passage2 in the Scoti-
chronicon (i. 289) on the foundation of the priory of Carlisle will
be recognised.
Other passages in the manuscript tell the same tale. The
compressed account on folio 5ia of William the Conqueror's
visit to Durham, his foundation of the castle there, his attempted
profanation of the tomb of St. Cuthbert, and his meticulous flight
1 There has been an erasure here in a very contracted text, but perhaps of only
one letter. A late hand has interlineated ecclesiam. As the bishopric was founded
only a few years before King Henry's death, episcopatum was probably in the
scribe's mind. The sentence has been misplaced : it should have been written
at the end of the passage.
2 If Abbot Bower of Inchcolm added this note to Fordun's work, as it is
generally believed, from what source is it likely that the superior of a Scottish
Augustinian house should have obtained such local information ? The state-
ment in the Scotlchronicon that the priory of Carlisle was founded in 1102
was supposed to be unsupported till within recent years. It has now the
countenance of an English as well as a French Chronicle. See Hist. MSS.
Com. Report, vi. 354.
xv
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
beyond the Tese, shows indebtedness to Simeon of Durham as
well as to Hoveden. It is not necessary to multiply proofs of
Bishop Stubbs' statement that the earlier portion of the manu-
script is based on the Chronicle of Roger of Hoveden, and not a
mere continuation of it, as Stevenson has suggested. In not a
few instances the author has shown his independence by addition,
omission, and compression.1
That Hoveden was the basis of the compilation for the twelfth
century every student of the manuscript will acknowledge. From
this circumstance alone we get an important sidelight on the
authorship. It is stated in the manuscript on folio 103, under
the year 1190, that David, brother of William King of Scotland,
married blank, sister of Ranulf earl of Chester, and on folio 157
in the list of the bishops assembled in London in 1199 occurs
the name of blank. Archbishop of Ragusa. Thanks to the masterly
collation of the Hoveden manuscripts by Bishop Stubbs, we can
identify from lacunae like these the actual text of Hoveden that
the author of our chronicle had before him. It was the Laudian
copy now in the Bodleian, where alone these two omissions in
the same manuscript are found. The interest, however, is not
confined to this point. The Laudian copy has on its fly leaves
transcripts of four documents, all relating to Carlisle. These
show, as Bishop Stubbs2 remarked, that the manuscript 'was at
one time, and that probably a very long time, in possession of
either the city or the Bishop of Carlisle/ But as one of these
deeds is a letter from Henry VI. to Bishop Lumley, dated
1 The same discretion, used by the author when dealing with the Chronicle of
Melrose as his exemplar, will be observed if a collation is made of the early pages
of Stevenson's printed text with the corresponding passages of that chronicle.
The author appropriated whole slices of the Chronicle of Melrose when they
suited his purpose. He did the same with Hoveden for the twelfth century, but
perhaps with more frequency and freedom.
2 Roger de Hoveden (R.S.), i. pref. pp. Ixxiv-lxxx.
xvi
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
23rd November, 1436, * de custodia ville et castri Karlioli,' we
need have no hesitation in ascribing the ownership of the manu-
script to that prelate, who was then warden of the Western
March. It probably formed part of the episcopal library at
Rose Castle. The deeds of this nature, inserted in it, just cover
the period of the episcopal residence there up to Bishop Lumley's
day. This identification, so far as our inquiry is concerned,
localizes the production of our chronicle to the district of Carlisle,1
the area of the bishop's jurisdiction.
Turning now to Stevenson's printed text, and especially to that
portion of it translated by Sir Herbert Maxwell, when we are
approaching the floruit of the author, no reader can help feeling
that, like works of this nature, the Chronicle is a compilation
from various sources, and that the materials, which make up the
narrative, are of unequal historical value. It cannot be said that
the compiler was a skilled artist in the use of his sources. There
is no attempt to write continuous history, though a fair semblance
of chronological arrangement has been maintained. Duplicate
entries are frequent, many of which have been pointed out by
the translator, and need not be repeated here. This repetition is
evidence enough, if nothing else existed, that the Chronicle at
this period was *> sort_ofjournal or literary scrap-book for the
purpose of jotting down historical events as information had
reached the authorities. An entry was made from perhaps im-
perfect knowledge, either from a written source or oral intelligence :
later details arrived or a fuller account was found, and a more
1 But it does far more than this. The scholar, who undertakes to identify the
sources of the chronicle on the lines of those issued in the Rolls Series, will have
to define its relationship to the Cronica de Karleolo, compiled for Edward I. in
1291 by the canons of Carlisle, as well as to Bishop Lumley's copy of Hoveden.
It will be an interesting study, and will result in the probable discovery that the
Carlisle copy of Hoveden was lent to the canons of Carlisle in 1291, as well as to
the canons of Lanercost.
b xvii
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
extended record of the incident was afterwards made without
expunging the previous entry. In most of the duplicate passages
it will be found that the second carries with it more particulars
than the first.
The method of the compiler comes into view in the manipula-
tion of his sources about 1290. In dealing with the plutocrat l of
Milan, ' it pleases me,' he says, ' to add in this place what ought
to have found a convenient place in the beginning of the eighth
part, forasmuch as it happened at that time, although I did not
receive timely notice of this matter.' Passages of this sort furnish
some evidence that the work was not undertaken and carried out
by the same person at the period in which the story draws to a
close. But if the printed portion of the Chronicle was mainly
compiled from written sources, to which assumption there is much
antagonistic evidence, the duplicate passages offer indubitable
proof of the writer's unskilfulness in his craft.
There is strong reason for believing that the body of the
Chronicle was not put together in or after 1346. In various
passages noticed by the translator, contemporary allusions are
made at long distant periods quite incompatible with a single
authorship after the close of the work. A few instances must
suffice. Under 1293 there is recorded a story2 from Wells about
* what I know to have happened nine years ago ' to a ^prebendary
of that church. c This event,' the chronicler relates, ' took place
in the year ( 1 9 March, 128 5-6) when Alexander, King of Scotland,
departed this life, and was told to our congregation by a brother
who at that time belonged to the convent of Bristol.' There is
no reasonable doubt that the entry was made in the year to which
it refers when the story came to hand. Another incident, not
included in this translation, is equally conclusive. It is well
known 3 that Nicholas of Moffat was made archdeacon of Teviot-
dale in 1245, and though twice elected Bishop of Glasgow he
1 P. 67. 2 Pp. 101-102. 3 Dowden, Bishops of Scotland, pp. 304-6.
xviii
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
died unconsecrated in 1270. With this neglected churchman the
author of this portion of the Chronicle was so familiar, that he
says he officiated at his funeral.1 Contemporaneous allusions like
these go a long way to show that the compilation was built up
continuously, period by period, and cannot be the work of a single
compiler in the middle of the fourteenth century.
But it is not so easy to form a definite opinion of the nature of
the institution responsible for the continuous production of such
a work. It seems to be agreed that the Chronicle emanated from
some religious house on the English side of the Border. The tone
of the composition in its acrimonious hostility to Scottish interests
betrays its English origin : the historical setting of the narrative
is similarly conclusive of its localisation to the Border counties.
The ecclesiastical colour of the incidents cannot be mistaken : the
lightning of the churchman coruscates on every page. As these
general considerations will be conceded, the difficulty lies in the
identification of the particular religious house in which the work
was done.
It was a bold and praiseworthy venture of Stevenson to cut
himself adrift from the traditional view that the Chronicle
emanated from the priory of Lanercost, and to suggest the Grey-
friar House in Carlisle as the more probable source. With much
acumen has he marshalled his evidence, and with all the modera-
tion of conviction has he defended his own discovery. Without
going over in detail the formidable list of evidences in support of
the Minorite_3uthorship. it may be here acknowledged that no
critical student can fail to be impressed with the cogency of his
arguments. The narrative bristles with the exploits and virtues
of the Friars Minor. One would think that it was specially
composed in glorification of that Order. The passages are
too numerous for special discussion: they are all of the same
character : on every occasion, in season and out of season,
1 Cfiron. de Lanercost, p. 53.
xix
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
the merits of the brothers of St. Francis are lauded to the
skies.
While this much is admitted without reserve, the weak side of
Stevenson's proposition, as it would seem, presents itself when he
attempts to identify the Franciscan habitation in which he locates
- " *^- .*** *•*•— -"^ ^~"~«». ^^^—"^ ^^^
the Chronicle. If the work is~due to Minorite authorship, internal
evidence gives little encouragement to make Carlisle the head-
quarters of the particular congregation that gave it birth. So
much of the narrative is taken up with affairs, political and
ecclesiastical, in the neighbourhood of that city, that the editor was
constrained, as it may be permissible to believe, to fix on that
place, in spite of the evidence, as the local habitation. The over-
whelming evidence for a Greyfriar authorship is more conclusively
in favour of Berwick than of Carlisle.
It will be observed that the references to this Mendicant Order
are for the most part very general. News about the Order came
from all points of the compass in the shape of prattle and legend :
in very few instances can it be said to be local. When local news
protrudes itself, the scene is at Berwick or elsewhere, not at
Carlisle. Some specific instances of the compiler's connexion
with Berwick are very striking. In his vision * after Mass on the
Lord's Day in 1296, 'as I was composing my limbs to rest,' he
saw an angel with a drawn sword, * brandishing it against the
bookcase in the library, where the books of the friars were stored,
indicating by this gesture that which afterwards I saw with my
eyes, viz. the nefarious pillaging, incredibly swift, of the books,
vestments and materials of the friars.'
At the following Easter King Edward sacked Berwick, when a
most circumstantial account is given of the siege and slaughter.
' I myself,' the chronicler 2 adds, * beheld an immense number of
men told off to bury the bodies of the fallen.' The description
of the siege of Berwick by Bruce in 1312 is equally personal and
'Pp. 132-3- «Pp- 134-5-
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
explicit. It is unmistakably the account of an eye-witness. The
Scottish scaling-ladders, he says,1 were of wonderful construction,
' as I myself, who write these lines, beheld with my own eyes.'
Personal testimony2 is again advanced in the description of the
battle at the same town in 1333. If the authorship is exclusively
the work of the Minorites, its localisation, on the face of the
evidence, must be transferred from Carlisle to Berwick. The
former place supplies no local or personal touches to the narrative
beyond a few isolated facts, with little bearing on the authorship,
which can be explained in another way.
But a new order of things is introduced when we approach the
local affairs of the priory of Lanercost. Their prominence in the
Chronicle after 1280 can scarcely be explained without assuming
that the author or successive authors were connected with the
house, or had some annals or domestic memoranda of the institu-
tion at hand. The internal affairs of the priory loom largely in
the narrative. It is not merely great events touching the place,
like those of Berwick, that are recorded, events known to fame
and of general interest, but the UocaL colour is more clearly
manifested by incidental remarks, quite undesigned, let fall as it
were by chance, known to very few and of no particular concern,
which betray the locality. No external writer could be the
mouthpiece of such minute intelligence, nor is it likely, had it
come to his knowledge, that he would have thought it worthy
of record. Some of these incidental allusions will be noticed
later on.
Without following Stevenson throughout his category of
allusions to Lanercost, it may be here said that the influence of
the canons on the authorship is not to be estimated by a single
incident or a number of incidents of a general nature, but by the
particular attention which the compiler or compilers gave to that
house as compared with similar institutions or localities in the
!?. 201. 2Pp. 278-80.
xxi
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
Border district. No other place or immediate neighbourhood has
had the same search-light from the author's pen thrown upon
it. One of these incidents evidently puzzled Stevenson, and
though he tried valiantly to make it fit his hypothesis, it must be
acknowledged that he has grievously failed. The year 1280-81
was memorable in the annals of the house. It signalised a victory
for the canons in the local baronial court : witnessed a gracious
visit of King Edward and Queen Eleanor : and brought Ralf of
Ireton, the new Bishop of Carlisle, on a visitation of the priory.
In the record of these events we have, it is true, no gushing or
embroidered narrative, but we have particulars in abundance to
connote the interested spectator. The very day on which the
J local court declared the immunity of the canons from manorial
taxation is recorded : l the canonical dress of the prior and his
brethren, when the royal party was received at the gate of the
priory, and the nature of the royal bounty are duly described.
The contents of the King's game-bag, which helped to get Steven-
son out of his difficulty, need give no trouble. It was naturally
recorded on hearsay evidence, and was thrown in with the account
of the royal visit on the gossip of the community.
The Bishop's visitation of the convent has even more personal
notice. It took place on 22 March, 1281 : he was met at the
gate like the King and Queen : he first gave the benediction and
then the kiss of peace to all the brethren : after his hand had been
first kissed he gave them a kiss on the lips. Then the Bishop
entered the chapter-house and preached : the very text of his dis-
course has been preserved. At the conclusion of the sermon, he
proceeded with his visitation, the object of his presence there, * in
which we were compelled (coacti sumus),' says 2 the narrator, * to
accept new constitutions.' It is only candour to say that Stevenson
misunderstood the procedure of an episcopal visitation of an
Augustinian house. It had nothing to do with a general vis;.ta-
1 Pp. 23-4. * P. 25<
XX11
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
tion of the diocese. It was when the pi-caching was ended that
the visitation began — inquiry into the mode of doing divine ser-
vice, ministrations in their parochial churches, their conduct of the
secular affairs of the community, the hearing of complaints and
the adjusting of irregularities. Other visitations of Lanercost are
on record, and the mode of procedure is well known. The
graphic touches of the simple narrative could only come from one
who took part in the function and who could describe its succes-
sive phases with ceremonial exactness.
On the previous page of the printed book, but on the same
folio of the manuscript, another personal allusion, overlooked by
Stevenson, is equally conclusive against Minorite authorship. On
24 October, 1280, the narrator1 tells that 'a convocation was
held in Carlisle Cathedral by Bishop Ralf, and a tenth of the
churches was granted to him by the clergy for two years accord-
ing to the true valuation, to be paid in the new money within a
year : wherefore we pzid(sofoimus) him in all twenty-four pounds.'
The writer of [this passage was clearly subject to ecclesiastical
taxation, whereas the friars, having no material resources except
the actual buildings they inhabited, were exempt from episcopal
subsidies and all kinds of assessment. It was different with the
canons, who bore their share of such impositions in common with
tRe parochial clergy. The special assessment here mentioned was
a subsidy granted to an incoming Bishop by the clergy, parochial
and collegiate, of his diocese. The poet of the Chronicle gave
vent to his feelings about the exaction in pungent metre :
Poor sheep, bereft of ghostly father,
Should not be shorn : but pampered rather.
Poor sheep ! with cares already worn,
You should be comforted, not shorn.
But if the shepherd must have wool,
He should be tender, just and cool.2
*P. 23. 2 Pp. 23-4.
xxiii
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
If the amount of the subsidy be compared with the value of
the revenues of Lanercost, as assessed for taxation ten years1
afterwards, no doubt will be entertained that the sohimus of the
record exactly tallies with the taxable capacity of the canons of
that house.
Though Stevenson was sincere in his exposition of the Laner-
cost evidence,2 and enumerated some of the most conspicuous
allusions to it in the Chronicle, he has omitted one of the most
important, as evidential of the interested onlooker, the account
of the pillage of the priory by King David cum diabolo in
1346, the year in which the Chronicle ends. The touch of
personal indignation in his description of the Scottish King is
only of a piece with the account of the arrogance of his soldiery
in the devastation of the sanctuary : they threw out the vessels
of the church, plundered the treasury, smashed the doors,
stole the jewels and annihilated everything they could lay
hands on.8
It is not, however, in the record of great events, likely to attract
general attention, but in the trifles of language and incident, where
the student will find his embarrassment if he quarrels with the
traditional authorship. The phraseology touching Lanercost, from
its first introduction to its last mention, presupposes the local
1 Taxatio Ecclesiastica (Rec. Com.), pp. 3 1 8-20.
2 In fact, Stevenson missed the significance of all the Lanercost allusions. For
example, the chronicler has much to say about Macdoual's doings in Galloway in
1307, including the capture of Bruce's two brothers and the decapitation of the
Irish kinglet and the lord of Cantyre, and the sending of the spoils, quick and
dead, to King Edward at Lanercost. But he did not tell that the spoils were first
exhibited to the Prince of Wales, then sojourning at Wetheral near Carlisle, on
their gruesome pilgrimage to the King (Register of Wetherhal, p. 402, ed. /. E.
Prescott). The inference is obvious.
8 Chron. de Lanercost^ p. 346.
xxiv
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
resident. One word only is used to designate a journey to that
place. In 1280 King Edward and Queen Eleanor came (venerunt)
to Lanercost : in 1281 Bishop Ireton came (venit) : in 1306 King
Edward came (venif) : in 1311 King Robert came (venif) with a
great army : and in 1346 King David and his rascal rout came
(venerunt) to the priory of Lanercost and went off (exierunf) by
way of Naworth Castle. Though the narrator is liberal in his use
of the word in expressing locomotion, he frequently interlards the
usage with ' went ' (adivii) or * passed ' (transivif) in respect of
other places. But so far as Lanercost is concerned there is no
variation : always came, never went, as if the author was resident
there.
The migration of brothers from one house to another, an inci-
dent of infinitesimal interest outside an ecclesiastical enclosure, is
not without instruction. The house from which the brother was
transferred is never mentioned. The reticence is such as might be
expected if the narrator was an inmate. In all cases, so far as we
have observed, intercommunication was restricted to Augustinian
communities. Nicholas of Carlisle was sent in 1281 to reside at
Gisburn * and became an inmate (professus est) there. Incidental
allusion to another migration is more significant still. In 1288 we
are told that brother N. de Mor received the canonical habit, and
in 1 307 that he was sent by the Queen to Oseney, another Augus-
tinian house.2 But it is not stated in what house he took the
canon's profession nor from what house he was transferred to
Oseney. The nature of the profession, however, predicates the
ranon and not the friar.. But when we know that Queen Margai
spent quite half of the latter year at Lanercost, the veil falls from
the transaction. Similar mystery hangs over the conventual apos-
tacy of John of Newcastle, who took the monastic habit in the
neighbouring Cistercian house of Holmcultram. In this instance
there is no mention of transference, but the renunciation of his
JP. 28. 2PP. 55, 181.
XXV
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
poet
that
to mend h,s
°Wn of the local chronicler
lsolated incidents ft •
effusions, always &«* or Henry, or Henry e
quoted under the name of Bro her H ^, ^ he was first
o. Few readers wdl gamsay Aesugg
and •
Henry hit off the situation thus:
..
of ^ bag when he revealed the wtfw
The poet let the cat out of he bag ^ ^ ^^
JS employed ««r ^/ ^ undesigned coincidences
habit. Perhaps the most st nkmg ^^^^ occurs hls
nnnlied by Henry's muse m favour chronicler m the
in rare words, that
2 p. 52
ip. 28.
xxvi
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
garcifer was slain on one of his moonlight expeditions, the same
word was used by one of the canons of that house in his sworn
depositions touching a local dispute. Richard, the cook of
Lanercost, alleged on oath that a garcifer in the kitchen, after-
wards chief cook, had oftentimes gone with the canons to the vale
of Gelt to receive the disputed tithes.1 If this is a mere linguistic
coincidence, accidents of this kind seem only to happen at Laner-
cost.
In 1300 Henry de Burgo, canon of Lanercost, was the bearer
of a gift from Edward I. to the high altar of that church 2 : on
14 March, 1303-4, Henry, canon of Lanercost, appeared as
proctor for his house in an act before Archdeacon Peter de
Insula of Carlisle3 : he was elected prior about 1310, and died in
1315.* As Henry rose in favour among his brethren, and as
years lent gravity to his demeanour, it may be permissible to
assume that his versification took a similar turn. His rhymes
between 1280 and 1290 may be regarded as his best for piquancy
and fun. After his elevation to the priorate, verses in his name
cease in the Chronicle, and verses with any pretension to local
colour vanish altogether after his death.
No discussion of authorship would be complete without refer-
ence to the prominence in the Chronicle given to the lords of
Gillesland. No franchise, ecclesiastical or secular, receives such
attention. In fact the descent of the lordship in the family of
Multon is not only unique in the territorial history of the Border
counties, but it is singularly accurate. No other lordship has
mention of its successive owners. This feature is so obvious that
it needs no elaboration. It is odd that Stevenson should have
singled out one of those references as incompatible with the
Lanercost authorship, whereas the very mention of a paltry
1 Chartulaiy of Lanercost, MS. xiii. 10.
2 Liber Quof. Carder. (Soc. of Antiq.), p. 40.
3Chartulary of Lanercost, MS. xiv. u. 4P. 216.
xxvii
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
suit l in the court of Irthington, the capital messuage of Gillesland
in 1280, would seem to suggest the opposite. Though the local
verdict was of immense interest to the canons, a glorification
of the victory over their neighbour and patron, which Stevenson
expected, would have been imprudent, not to say dangerous, if
the record had ever met his eye. The canons of Lanercost were
well aware of the power of their patrons over them, as we know
from the history of that house.
From another quarter a charge of inaccuracy has been brought
against the chronicler for his account of the territorial descent of
Gillesland. In the same year, we are told,2 died ' Thomas de
Multona secundus,' then lord of Holbeach. It is unlikely, says
the objector, that a canon of Lanercost should have fallen into
this mistake, as the Thomas de Multon, who died at that time,
was the third and not the second who was lord of Gillesland.
The objection wholly fails, inasmuch as the Thomas de Multon,
who came between the Thomas primus and the Thomas secundus
in the family tree, was never lord of Gillesland at all, his mother,
through whom the barony came to that family, having outlived
him.3 Misinterpretation of disjointed entries in this Chronicle
has led to much confused chronology. The account * of the
espousal of the heiress of the last of the Multons in 1313 and her
subsequent rape from the castle of Warwick by the first of the
Dacres of Gillesland is so picturesque in detail that scholars have
worried themselves over the exact meaning of some of its
phraseology.
How came the Chronicle to be so full of Lincolnshire news ?
After describing the avarice of the canons of Markby in 1289,
some features of which he had hesitation to explain in detail, the
narrator states that he was unwilling to believe the story till he
had the particulars from the lips of a nobleman 5 who lived not
1P. 23. 2 P. in. 3Fine Roll, 12 Edw. I. m. ii.
* P. 205. 5 Pp. 56-8.
xxviii
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
more than three miles from the place under discussion. Who
was this nobleman ? Can there be a doubt that Thomas de
Multon, lord of Holbeach, who lived in that neighbourhood, was
retailer of the news ? In keeping with this we have the accounts
of sundry occurrences in Lincolnshire, some of them of little
interest beyond the ambit of the county, the communication of
which may be ascribed to that family.
In holding an even balance between the rival claims to author-
ship, the geographical and business relationships of Lanercost
should not be omitted. The situation was on one of the high-
ways between England and Scotland. To this circumstance alone
may be ascribed many of the sufferings it endured. There was
no religious house in Cumberland that was more frequently
burned by the Scots, and no district that underwent more pillage
than Gillesland. In times of peace Scotsmen came into England
by the Maiden Way, the old Roman highway from Roxburgh to
Cumberland and the valley of the Eden, for the purpose of trade,
as did Fighting Charlie in the days of the Wizard of the North.
In recording one of these raids, the chronicler shows how much
Lanercost occupied his mind when he tells that the Scots passed
near the priory of Lanercost on their return to Scotland.1
By reason of its business connexions the house had unrivalled
opportunities for gathering news relating to the Border districts.
Apart from the advantages of its geographical situation, the
canons had property in Carlisle, Dumfries, Hexham, Newcastle,
and Mitford near Morpeth. From 1202 they were obliged to
attend the yearly fair of Roxburgh on St James' Day to pay a
pension to the monks of Kelso, issuing from the church of
Lazonby, in Cumberland, in which they had a joint interest.
Some of their property in Carlisle and Newcastle, not to speak of
Dumfries, lay alongside the friaries of the Minorites in these
towns. The direct road from Lanercost to Berwick, a town which
. 211.
xxix
AUTHORSHIP OF THE
figures largely in the narrative, passed near Roxburgh and
through Kelso,1 and if a return journey was made to visit their
Northumberland estates, Berwick would inevitably be a halting-
place. It will be seen, therefore, that within the area of the
Lanercost connexions many of the scenes depicted in the printed
portion of the Chronicle took place.
If it be admitted that the Chronicle bears evidence of con-
tinuous production as the work of more than one author, the
presumptions in favour of Lanercost are difficult to set aside.
The canon of an Augustinian priory belonged to his house : he
was the member of a corporation with historic succession : like a
family, his house inherited ancestral traditions. If attachment
to the house of his profession was a feature of his rule, the direct
opposite was the characteristic of the friar's calling. The friar did
not belong to a house : local detachment was his glory : his
individuality was lost in his province. He was a wanderer, a sort
of parochial assistant, who went about from place to place under
the Bishop's licence to give clerical help where required. Like
John Wesley in his palmy days, the friar was incapable of localisa-
tion : the world was his parish. In addition, the Austin canons
in the North of England had a well-deserved reputation as
patrons of learning and students of history, for which their
constitution well fitted them. Nearly half of their houses in the
North produced chronicles, the value of which is appreciated at
the present day. Who is not acquainted with the work of John
and Richard of Hexham, Alan Frisington of Carlisle, William of
Newburgh, Peter Langtoft, Walter of Hemingburgh, John of
Bridlington, Stephen Edeson of Wartre, Walter Hilton of Thur-
garton, George Ripley, and Robert the Scribe, scholars who shed
lustre on the Augustinian institute in Northern England ? The
Chronicle of Lanercost betrays many symptoms of learning and
scholarship in agreement with Augustinian traditions. It requires
1 Britannia Depicta (1720), pp. 160-162.
XXX
CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
a robust faith to predicate in the mendicant friar a knowledge of
Beda, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Justin Martyr, Gregory, and
Augustine, leaving out the Theodosian Code,1 as the quotation
is in some doubt. Whatever imperfections the composition may
contain, and nobody wishes to conceal them, the authors may
reasonably be acquitted of ignorance of patristic learning.
Literary touches of various forms brighten up the dull catena of
miracle and legend.
In the light of what has been already stated, it would be
hazardous to offer a dogmatic view of the authorship of the
Chronicle, but it seems quite reasonable to hold that the pre-
ponderance of evidej^aJkitQurs thf* Anpjfifrininn house. In the
early vicissitudes of the friars in the Border counties, oppor-
tunities for undertaking and continuing such a work simply did
not exist. The sources of the Chronicle, so far as they can be
conjectured, are a strange mixture of written .Jihtfiry and nral
^ale. Many of the stories there recorded, some of them being in
glorification of the Mendicant Orders, were taken down from the
lips of a narrator. An Augustinian house with the geographical
advantages of Lanercost was well adapted to serve as an emporium
of news, and the ubiquitous friars, who often assisted the canons
in parochial administration, were convenient agents to collect the
supply. But the corpus of the Chronicle, taken as it exists in
manuscript, was compiled from written sources, and the insti-
tution from which it emanated was well supplied with some of
the best materials for the period to which it relates.
JAMES WILSON.
1The phrase, teste theodocto, which puzzled Sir Herbert Maxwell (p. 128),
should be compared with teste Ezechiele (p. 126) and teste Chrysostomo (p. 135) as
clearly correlative. Stevenson should have printed theodocto as a proper name,
but the spelling is probably corrupt. The print, however, corresponds with the
text of the manuscript. The quotation savours of the style of the Theodosian
Code.
XXXI
THE CHRONICLE OF
LANERCOST
REIGN OF EDWARD I.
A FTER the Church's three years widowhood, as it was
called,1 when all men were laughing at the
5 A.D. 1272.
College of Cardinals, the Archdeacon of Liege, who
had accompanied [our] Lord Edward in his journey to the
Holy Land, was elected Pope, and was named Gregory the
Tenth. He sat for four years and ten days, and the seat
was vacant for ten days. In the third year of his pontificate
he held a solemn council at Lyons of five hundred bishops, six
hundred abbots and three thousand other prelates, for the good
of the Church and especially of the Holy Land, which he
desired to visit at another time ; at which council, among many
other excellent acts, it was decreed that whensoever the name
of Jesus should happen to be heard in church, every head,
whether of layman or cleric, should be bowed, or, at least,
every one should do adoration in thought.
lrThe Papal throne was vacant for two years and nine months, 1268-71.
A j
THE CHRONICLE OF
v
The Greek official delegates were present with the Patriarch
at this Council, and solemnly affirmed, by singing in their
own language, the creed of the Holy Spirit proceeding both
from the Father and the Son, to which [doctrine] they had
not assented previously to that time. There were present also
Tartar delegates, asking on behalf of their own people for
teachers of the Christian faith, in token whereof they returned
to their own [country] having been catechised and baptised.
In this Council .the Orders both of Preachers and Minorites
were approved and confirmed for the Colleges of Mendicants.
But it would be a long matter to mention all the good things
which were settled there.
And so in the year of the Consecration of this Pope, there
arose, as is reported, a great dispute in the Curia over
the election of William Wishart,1 many of them raising
so many objections that the Head of the Church himself,
having examined the objections set forth in writing, vowed by
Saint Peter that if a moiety of the allegations were brought
against himself, he never would seek to be Pope. At length,
by intervention of the grace and piety of Edward, he
[Wishart] was consecrated under the Pope's dispensation.
For the sake of example I do not hesitate to insert here what
befel him later when he applied himself to his cure. Indeed,
it is an evil far too common throughout the world that many
persons, undertaking the correction of others, are very negligent
about their own [conduct], and, while condemning the light
offences of simple folk, condone the graver ones of great men.
There was a certain vicar, of a verity lewd and notorious,
1To the see of St. Andrews in 1271.
2
LANERCOST
who, although often penalised on account of a concubine whom
he kept, did not on that account desist from sinning. But
when the bishop arrived on his ordinary visitation, the wretch
was suspended and made subject to the prelate's mercy. Over-
come with confusion, he returned home and beholding his
doxy, poured forth his sorrows, attributing his mishap to the
woman. Enquiring further, she learnt the cause of his agita-
tion and became bitterly aware that she was to be cast out.
' Put away that notion,' quoth she to cheer him up, * and t
will get the better of the bishop.'
On the morrow as the bishop was hastening to his [the
vicar's] church, she met him on the way laden with pudding,1
chickens and eggs, and, on his drawing near, she saluted him
reverently with bowed head. When the prelate enquired
whence she came and whither she was going, she replied :
* My lord, I am the vicar's concubine, and I am hastening to MS.
the bishop's sweetheart, who was lately brought to bed, and
I wish to be as much comfort to her as I can.' This pricked
his conscience ; straightway he resumed his progress to the
church, and, meeting the vicar, desired him to prepare for
celebrating. The other reminded him of his suspension, and
he [the bishop] stretched out his hand and gave him absolu-
tion. The sacrament having been performed, the bishop
hastened away from the place without another word.2
About this time there departed this life a certain prebendary
of Howden church named John, a man of honourable life,
1 Pulta = broth, pap or porridge, seems to have been used in the plural just as
' porridge ' and ' brose ' are so used in Lowland Scots at this day.
2 Quasi mutus.
3
THE CHRONICLE OF
passing his days modestly and without ostentation, skilled in
astrology, given to hospitality and works of mercy. He began
[to build] a new choir to the church at his own expense, and
foretold that the rest should be finished after his death ; which
[saying] we [now] perceive more clearly in the light ; for,
having been buried in a stately tomb in the middle of the choir
itself, he is revered as a saint, and we have beheld, not only
in the choir, but the wide and elaborate nave of the church
completed through the oblations of people resorting [thither].
In the same church there lived at that time another master,
called Richard of Barneby, a true and pure man, who, having
surrendered his private means, was residing at Gisburn in
return for his money.1 He was formerly well known in the
kingdom of Scotland as a cleric of the religious community of
Kelso. On leaving that kingdom he commended his nephew,
who is still living, to Sir Patrick Edgar, knight, for education and
service. After a lapse of years, at the above-mentioned time, he
ended his life in a fatal manner, when his nephew in Scotland,
[feeling] his bed shaken, was putting on [his] garments or shoes.
And behold, a bird of the size of a dove, but differing in
appearance by its variety of colour, entered by the chimney of
the house and attacked the said youth with its wings, striking
him with so much noise, that the people in the kitchen wondered
at the sound of blows, and the lad [thus] belaboured sat still
as though stunned. This [the bird] did thrice, retiring each
time to the beams of the roof. After about the space of a
1 Perhendebaty a verb form from perendinus, the day after to-morrow.
There was a canonry at Gisburn, in Yorkshire, valued, says Matthew Paris,
'at 628 poundes yearlye.'
4
LANERCOST
month had elapsed, the youth went *on business to Kelso, and
on drawing near, heard all the bells of the monastery sounding.
Entering within the walls, he asked what was the cause of
bell-ringing. * Do you not know,' they said, * that your uncle,
our clerk, has died at Gisburn, on such and such a day and
hour ? The abbot received the news yesterday, and to-day is
commemorating him.'
What lesson such an apparition was intended to convey, let
him who readeth explain.
In the same year Richard King of Germany died.
In the same year died the Earl of Cornwall, brother of
King Henry of England.1
In the same year Friar Robert of Kilwardby, of the Order
of Preachers, was consecrated Afl&bishop o£jCanterbury.
Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury died, and in his place was
elected the Prior of Holy Trinity ; but on coming before the
Sacred College his election was quashed, and his dignity
conferred by the Pope upon Robert of Kilwardby,
Prior Provincial of Preaching Friars in England. This person,
a man of honourable life, a doctor of divinity, devoted to the
study of God's Word, ruled and corrected the clergy as firmly
as the laity, as his treatise on heresy and his condemnation of
Oxford show by themselves.2
1 These two entries refer to one and the same person, viz. Richard, Earl of
Cornwall, brother of Henry III., elected King of the Romans by four out of
seven electors in 1257 ; but the minority having elected Alphonso X. of Castile,
Richard failed to establish his authority, and returned to England in 1260.
2 Excellent work, no doubt ; but it had been better if, when appointed
Cardinal-Bishop of Porto and Santa- Rufina in 1278, he had not removed all the
registers and political records of Canterbury to Italy, whence they never returned.
5
THE CHRONICLE OF
Also at this time King Henry of England, devout servant of
God and the Church, departed from this world, on the feast day
of Saint Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury,1 after he had ruled
over England fifty-six years and four months. He was buried
at Westminster, and the absence of his son 2 caused the corona-
tion to be deferred.
In the time of this Henry a boy named Hugh was crucified in
Lincoln by impious Jews, in derision of Christ and Christians,
nor were they able to conceal him by any device.
Now in the beginning of King Henry's reign, Louis, son of
the King of France, invaded England with Frenchmen at the
instigation of some people of the country, as has been aforesaid ;
but afterwards intestinal war broke out at Lincoln between the
English and French, where the French were beaten and Thomas
Count of Perch was slain with many others. But the son of the
King of France narrowly escaped in great terror, wherefore after
his escape some Frenchman composed this rhyme :
' Enthroned in La Rochelle, our king never quails
Before Englishmen armed, for he broke all their tails.' 3
To which an Englishman replied thus :
' Lincoln can tell and the French King bewails
How the rope bound his people to Englishmen's tails.' 4
This King Henry in his youth, at the instigation of Peter,
Count of Brittany, crossed the channel to Brittany to recover the
1 zoth November, 1272. 2 On the last Crusade.
3 Rex in Rupella regnat, et amodo Bella
Non t'tmet Anglorum, quia caudas fregit eorum.
The taunt of Angl'i caudati is ancient and well known.
4 Ad nostras caudas Francos, ductos ut alaudas,
Perstrinxit restis superest Lincolnia testis.
6
LANERCOST
territory owned and lost by his predecessors ; but failing
altogether of success in his undertaking, returned [home] luckless
and empty-handed.
In truth, whereas diligence in evil seldom has a good issue, it
pleases one to relate an instance rather for the sake of justice
than from ill-will to an individual. Queen Margaret of Scotland,
deeply distressed by her various trials, chiefly by the death of her
father1 and by anxiety about the return of her brother,2 went
forth one beautiful evening after supper from Kinclavin to take
the air on the banks of the Tay, accompanied by esquires and
maidens, but in particular by her confessor, who related to me
what took place. There was present among others a certain
pompous esquire with his page, who had been recommended to
him by his brother in the presence of his superiors. And as they
were sitting under the brow of the bank, he [the esquire] went
down to wash his hands, which he had soiled with clay in playing.
As he stood thus bending over, one of the maids, prompted by
the Queen, went up secretly and pushed him into the river-bed.
* What care I ? ' cried he, enjoying the joke and taking it
kindly, * even were I further in, I know how to swim.'
Wading about thus in the channel, while the others applauded,
he felt his body unexpectedly sucked into an eddy, and, though
he shouted for help, there was none who would go to him except
his little page-boy who was playing near at hand, and, hearing
the clamour of the bystanders, rushed into the deep, and both
were swallowed up in a moment before the eyes of all. Thus
did the enemy of Simon and satellite of Satan, who declared that
he had been the cause of that gallant knight's destruction, perish
1 Henry HI. 2 Edward I. who was on his journey home from the Crusade.
7
THE CHRONICLE OF
in sight of all ; and the matron, led away unduly by affection
MS. for her parents,1 received rebuke for her selfish love, and showed
herself before all men wounded to the heart by overpowering
anguish.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD 6470 YEARS.
In beginning the eighth part of our work and, as it were, the
peace of our age with a new king, I deem it meet to put this
foremost in our desires, that, as the renewer of the old Adam,
seated in the paternal throne, said — ' Behold, I make all
things new, so he (the king) may induce new growth of
virtues [to spring] in the Church, and that new joys may be
bestowed upon us through the king and in time following,
whereof now we have undertaken to treat.
Accordingly, messengers were sent to the Council assembled,
as aforesaid at Lyons, whereat the heir of England attended,
urging him to return to his country and restore the condition
of the desolate realm. Returning accordingly to England in the
same year, being thirty-five years and two months of age, he
was received in most honourable manner by the whole nation,
[and] was solemnly anointed and crowned on the I4th of the
kalends of September 2 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Brother
Robert of Kilwardby. The nobles of the land attended the
ceremony with a countless multitude, redoubling the display of
their magnificence in honour of the new king. But my lord
Alexander King of Scotland, who attended with his consort and
1 Or spoilt by the undue affection of her parents \nimis affectu parentum seductd\.
The construction of the last paragraph and the moral are alike obscure.
2 i gth August, 1274.
8
LANERCOST
a train of his nobility, exceeded all others in lavish hospitality
and gifts.
Before the date of this coronation, Robert of Stichell, Bishop
of Durham, died on his return journey from the Council, about
two days' journey on this side of Lyons. He had besought
from the Pope letters and license for his resignation, [because]
he disliked to be mixed up in worldly trouble. In dying,
however, he suffered the greatest remorse of conscience because
he had deprived the burgesses of Durham city of liberty of
pasture, and bestowed it upon those who needed nothing.
Therefore in proof of penitence and in token of his desire for
reconciliation with St. Cuthbert, he gave his ring to his confessor
to be carried to the shrine of the saint, vowing that, should he
recover health, he would annul that gift.
In this year Margaret, Queen of Scotland and sister of the
King of England, died on the fourth of the kalends of March.1
She was a woman of great beauty, chastity, and humility — three
[qualities] seldom united in one individual. When her strength
was failing many abbots as well as bishops collected to visit
her, to all of whom she refused entrance to her chamber; nor
from the time that she had received all the sacraments from her
confessor, a Minorite Friar, until her soul passed away, did
she admit any other to discourse, unless perhaps her husband
happened to be present. She left behind her three children —
Alexander and David and a daughter Margaret, all of whom
followed their mother in a short time, owing, it is believed, to
the sin of their father.
1 Feb. 27, 1274, or, according to our reckoning 1275 ; but in the Calendar
then prevailing in Britain the year began on 25 March.
9
THE CHRONICLE OF
Richard of Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld, departed from
the world, treacherously poisoned, as is affirmed, and it is
believed by many that the aforesaid Queen [perished]
in the same manner. For, after the death of the
aforesaid man, a certain [fellow] author of this plot,1 drawing
near to death, declared that he had sold poison in this place
and that, and that a full bottle thereof still remained in Scotland.
And seeing that the movables of bishops dying in that kingdom
devolve upon the king, he [the Bishop of Dunkeld] only and
one other named Robert de la Provender, Bishop of Dublin,
whom we remember above all others, so made a virtue of
necessity at the point of death by distributing their goods, that
they left scarcely anything to satisfy the cupidity of royal
personages.
About the same time in England there lived in Hartlepool
William Bishop of Orkney, an honourable man and a lover of
letters, who related many wonderful things about the islands
subject to Norway, whereof I here insert a few lest they should
be forgotten. He said that in some place in Iceland the sea burns
for the space of one mile, leaving behind it black and filthy
ashes. In another place fire bursts from the earth at a fixed
time — every seven or five years — and without warning burns
towns and all their contents, and can neither be extinguished
nor driven off except by holy water consecrated by the hand of
I a priest. And, what is still more wonderful, he said that they
can hear plainly in that fire the cries of souls tormented therein.
In the same year there [fell] a general plague upon the whole
stock of sheep in England.
1 Hujus confectionis.
10
LANERCOST
In this year, on the seventh day of the month of October,
the King of Scotland's fleet steered into the port of Ronalds-
way. Straightway Lord John de Vesci and the king's chief
men with their forces, landed on Saint Michael's Isle,1 the
Manxmen being arrayed for war under Godred the son of
Magnus, whom shortly before they had made their king. But
the nobles and chieftains of the King of Scotland sent to treat
for peace with Godred and the people of Man, offering them
the peace of God and of the King of Scotland, provided they
would desist from their most foolish presumption and submit
in future to the king and his chief men. But as Godred and
certain of his perverse counsellors would not agree to the
treaty of peace, on the following day before sunrise, when
the shades were still upon the land and the minds of foolish
men were darkened, a conflict took place and the wretched
Manxmen, turning their backs, were terribly routed.
Pope Gregory died and was succeeded by Innocent the Fifth,
a native of Burgundy, whose previous name was Peter of
Taranto, of the Order of Preachers. He was formerly
Doctor in Holy Writ, then Archbishop of Lyons, and
afterwards Cardinal of Ostia. He sat but for five months and
two days and the seat was vacant for eighteen days. To him
succeeded Adrian the Fifth, and sat for one month and nine days.
He suspended the constitution of my lord Gregory regarding the
election2 of Cardinals, intending to substitute another. After
1 Near Castletown, Isle of Man. S. Michael, having been set to guard the gate
of Eden after the expulsion of Adam, is commonly the patron of extra-mural
churches and of islands, such as Mont-Saint-Michel and S. Michael's Mount.
2 De incluslone.
ii
THE CHRONICLE OF
him in the same year John the Twenty-first was elected, formerly
called Peter the Spaniard. He sat for eight months and one
day, and the seat was vacant for twenty-eight days. Through
want of attention he altogether destroyed the constitution which
his predecessor had suspended. Expecting greatly to prolong
MS. his life, for he excelled in skill as a physician, he caused a
new vault to be built at Viterbo, supported by a single column.
In this [vault] when it fell, whether by treachery, as some say,
or by accident, he alone was crushed, and, having received the
sacraments, he survived for six days ; and, albeit he was a
physician, he did not heal himself.
There lived in Rome about this time a certain very rich
man, notoriously a usurer, who, although often admonished for
his sin, died at length excommunicate. His friends having
assembled, preparation was made for his sepulture, and, in
accordance with the customs of his country, he was placed
on an open bier adorned with all his garments, and carried to
the place of the Minorite Friars in the Capitol, the Church
of S. Maria in the Ara Coeli, which used to be the chamber
of Octavian, to be buried there. The Rector of the Friars
there would not permit the wrong to be done of burying
a vessel of Satan, a person excommunicated by the Pope,
within the sacred walls ; [so] his [the dead man's] insolent
friends [and] poor dependents forced the priest to the altar,
so that he should begin the mass by their command, [while]
they opened the pavement of the church to dig a grave.
And lo ! an enormous parti-coloured wolf appeared at the
door of the church, and, showing no fear of so great a
gathering, seized the corpse in the presence of them all, and
12
LANERCOST
carried it out of the church without hindrance from anybody ;
nor is it known to this day what became of a hair of its
head.1 This was reported by one who was present in the
church at the time.
Nicholas the Third, who was previously called John of
Gaeta, a Roman by birth, was created Pope and sat for
four years. He was so devoted to the blessed
Francis that he caused to be painted above the
altar in his chapel Saint Nicholas drawing him to heaven
and St. Francis pushing him from behind. Also he caused
the general chapter of the brethren of Assisi to be sum-
moned to his presence in Rome by the Cardinal Legate,
whereat he [the Pope] personally attended. Besides this he
issued a famous bull, expounding the rule of Saint Francis
— [a bull] so glorious as would [have] amazed all previous ages.
At this time Robert de Coquina2 was created Bishop of
Durham, being a monk of that house.
Also, Philip King of the French marched with a picked
army against Spain, no doubt for the following reason. The
eldest son of the King of Spain3 had married the King of
France's sister [Blanche], and, having had two sons by her,
was carried off by an early death before his father. That
father, utterly unmindful of [his] dead [son] endeavoured to
supplant the sons of the defunct [prince] by putting forward
1 Quo vel capillus capitis devenerit: an idiomatic phrase which I do not
recognise.
2 History repeats itself: the present Dean of Durham is the Very Rev. G.
W. Kitchin, D.D.
3 Ferdinand, son of Alfonso X. of Castile, killed in battle with the Moors,
1275.
13
THE CHRONICLE OF
the surviving brother. When the King of Aragon became
aware of this, he had the boys brought [to him] and took
care of them in one castle, while his mother passed the
time with [her brother] the King of France. Roused by this
[proceeding], the King of Castile (who is the principal lord
of Spain) determined to break into the castle where the boys
were guarded. [The King of France] having advanced in
this manner with an immense army three days march into
Spain to the aid of the King of Aragon and the boys, [his
people] could find nothing to sustain life, [so they] returned
within their frontier.1 ,/
I shall insert here as a joke a certain anecdote made
known to me by Sir Robert of Roberstone, one of the King
of Scotland's knights, which at my request he related before
many trustworthy persons. The said noble gentleman owned
a town in Annandale, in the diocese of Glasgow, which he
let in farm to the inhabitants thereof.
These people, waxing lewd through their wealth and giving
way to wantonness, on leaving the tavern, used to violate each
other's wives or seduce each other's daughters, and by such
practice would frequently replenish the archdeacon's purse, and,
by repeating the offence, they were almost continually upon his
roll. But when the landlord required the rent of his farm, they
either pled poverty or besought delay.* That kindly and just
man said to them — 'Why should you not pay me my annual
rent, any less than my other tenants ? If [the land] is let to
you at too dear a rent, I can reduce it ; if you are unable to
cultivate it, give it back to me.'
1 Ora concluil.
LANERCOST
' No, my lord,' quoth a comical fellow among them with a
loud laugh, * none of these things which you mention is really
the cause ; but our incontinence is so great, and it exhausts
us so much, that it re-acts both upon us and upon you,
our lord.'
Thereupon the landlord said — ' I make this law among you,
that any man who commits adultery shall relinquish my land
forthwith.'
Taking alarm at this and deterred by the penalty, they
refrained from illicit intercourse, applied themselves to labour and
agriculture and began to make money unexpectedly, although
day by day their names disappeared from the Archdeacon's list.1
And when he [the. Archdeacon] enquired one day why he did not
•find the men of that village [entered] in his list, it was explained
to him what the landlord had laid down as a law for them.
He was indignant at this, and, meeting the knight upon
the road one day, exclaimed with a haughty countenance —
' Pray, Sir Robert, who has appointed you either Archdeacon
or official ? '
Sir Robert denied [that he was either one or other], whereupon
the Archdeacon replied — * Undoubtedly you exercise that office
when you coerce your tenants by penal laws.' — ' I made a rule
about my lands, not about offences,' said Sir Robert ; ' but you
absorbed the rents of my farms [in exactions] for the discharge
of crimes. I perceive that so long as you can fill your purse, it
does not concern you who gets the souls ! *
1 In rotulo Officialis, i.e. the Archdeacon in his capacity as episcopal judge in
the consistorial court, the nature of which office is explained in the preface
to Liber Officialis S. Andrce, published by the Abbotsford Club in 1845.
15
THE CHRONICLE OF
After this the assessor of crimes and lover of transgressors held
his peace.1
At this time began the first war in Wales by King Edward,
with whom Llewellyn made peace, having paid the king 50,000
pounds of silver.
u A scutage was again imposed in England.
Brother Robert [of Kilwardby] my lord Archbishop of
Canterbury, having been summoned to the Curia,
there to be made a cardinal, Friar John of Peckham,
Provincial Minister of the Minorite Friars of England, who,
after [occupying] the chair of Paris and Oxford, where he pre-
sided in the faculty of Theology de Quolibet, was summoned
to the Curia and exalted the reputation of the science of
divinity and of his own Order ; and, after a couple of years of
controversy which he sustained mostly every day against sundry
heretics, dissipating their arguments and answers, he was pro-
claimed Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Nicholas in a public
oration on [the day of] the Conversion of Saint Paul,2 having
been previously appointed. How humbly, sincerely, and indus-
triously he afterwards discharged that office, tongues do testify
and consciences applaud.
Also in this year Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, effectus ; 3
he survives in health to the present time. But in October
MS. Robert de Chalize, Bishop of Carlisle, died ; [he was] eager for
fo. 191
1 It is significant of the condition of the church at this time, that a story like
this should be repeated as a joke — causa ludi — not by a layman, but by a cleric.
2 25th January, 1278-9.
3 The meaning of effectus is obscure. He was made Bishop of Glasgow in 1271
and died in 1316. Either the chronicler has mistaken the year, or the word
should be affectus, i.e. sick.
LANERCOST
the honour of God, philanthropic and ready in Urbanity ; the
world may testify without our assurance how bountiful and
liberal he was. He used often to relate, in reproach of himself,
what at this day may often be repeated in rebuke of others.
1 1 used to be,' said he, ' physician in ordinary to the Lady
Eleonora, mother of the king, and another cleric, whose affection
was dear to me, served as notary. It came to pass that our
noble mistress, wishing to reward [our] services, bestowed upon
me a benefice of one hundred marks and upon him one of thirty
marks a year. Having been promoted, impelled by conscience,
he soon determined to serve God exclusively, and, having
obtained license and left the court, applied himself entirely to
the cure of the souls committed to him. I [however], bound
down by habit, adhered to the vanity which I had undertaken.
As years went by a longing stirred me for the absent one — that
I might enjoy the sight and conversation of him whom I bore in
my mind, and, having obtained leave, I started to go to him, and
found him on the Lord's day performing the dominical office in
the church. He was astonished [to see] me ; I embraced him,
and the affairs of God having been performed, we proceeded
to his dwelling to refresh our bodies. While we rested and
rejoiced, there came to us some who brought the offerings of the
neighbours, and he, for my pleasure, added to the delicacy of the
dishes. And as we left the table I asked this man how he was
able to live upon such an income. — " Perfectly," quoth he, " and
every day as you have seen to-day ; I am neither embarrassed
by debts, nor am I diverted from ruling [my] parish." — " Your
income," said I, " is a very modest one, but mine is ample ; and
in the court of my mistress I am maintained in her general
B 17
THE CHRONICLE OF
expenses, nor do I profit at all from the fruits of my church."
To which the other replied piously, with a bland smile 1 — " Do
you know that God is a faithful friend ? " — " Undoubtedly," said
I, " I understand [that]." — " This is the character of a faithful and
true friend," he replied, " that he is all in all to him who loves
him truly. Wherefore, as I think, God is with me because I
give myself up to perform his service ; but it is otherwise with
you, so he is not with you."1
To him [Bishop Robert] succeeded Ralph, Prior of Gisburn,
a shrewd and provident person, but somewhat covetous, who
turned the visitation of the churches into a whirlpool of
exactions, and extorted from honest priests at their anniversaries
throughout his diocese an unfair tax for building the roof of the
principal church of his see.
At this time the coinage was changed ; pennies and farthings
were made round, and Jews were hanged for clipping coins.
In the same year Robert, Lord Bishop of Carlisle, lost the
presentation to the church of Rothbury.
In the same [year], on the morrow of All Souls, the Itinerant
Justiciaries sat in Carlisle — to wit, Sir John de Vallibus,2 Sir John
de Metyngham, Sir William de Seaham, and Master Thomas de
Suttrington.
In the same [year], on the day of S. Lucia Virgin,3 the canons
of Carlisle elected as bishop Master William de Rothelfeld, Dean
of York, who utterly declined [to take] office ; wherefore on the
following day they elected as bishop my lord Ralph, Prior of
1 Caste subridens et catholics respondent.
2 Vaus, which, by an ancient clerical error, is now written Vans.
3 1 3th December.
18
LANERCOST
Gisburne. To which the king would not give assent, being
angry with the Prior and Chapter of Carlisle because they had
twice elected without license ; wherefore my lord Ralph betook
himself to the Roman Court.
Walter, Archbishop of York died, an elegant cleric, chaste,
sociable and free handed, but fretful and feeble because of
his corpulence. To him succeeded William of Wyke-
ham,1 who, on the contrary, was lean, harsh and
niggardly, but certainly so far as could be known out of
doors, just in judgment and most tender of conscience. For,
as I shall set forth later, according to the rules set by the
holy fathers, it is held and ordained that diocesans and their
monks shall be visited by the metropolitan. Concerning which
matter Walter, his [Wykeham's] predecessor twice informed him
who presided over that church of his coming ; but, when he was
proceeding on his perambulation, the Prior of Durham cunningly
inveigled him out of the city to his own lodgings, [where]
he might divert him from his purpose by more sumptuous fare
and by oblations. On arriving there he [Bishop Walter] did
not yield to the stratagem, but performed the ordinary
visitation, so that if they had anything to plead for them-
selves or anything upon their conscience to be lightened, they
should not delay putting it before him. But as they
responded neither in law nor prudence, but closed the
windows of the church and even shut the public gates of
the city [against him], he set a chair for himself in the open
space before the gates, in official vestments addressed the
populace with words of life, and, explaining the object of his
JNot the famous founder of Winchester College, who was not born till 1324.
'9
THE CHRONICLE OF
coming and pronounced sentence of excommunication upon the
rebels. This gave rise to troubles, lawsuits and expenses which
are not yet settled, even in the days of his successor.
At this time there died l at Morebattle William Wishart, Bishop
of S. Andrew's, and was buried at his see ; to whom succeeded
William Fraser, king's chancellor also, who still survives.
In the same year died Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York,
of good memory ; and in the same year Oliver was consecrated
Bishop of Lincoln on S. Dunstan's day.2
Item — a great fire at S. Botolph's at fair time.
Item — in the aforesaid year began the second war in Wales by
Llewellyn and his brother David.
At midsummer there took place the burning of Norwich
Cathedral, and nearly all the convent, from the following cause.
While we consider how poverty is the guardian of
A.D. 1280. ..... ,, . _ .
holiness, it is equally certain that affluence is the
mother of insolence, and that, as Daniel prophesied of Anti-
christ, of all things wealth destroys most men. Accordingly the
monks [of Norwich], enriched by their possessions, and puffed
up in spirit, deposed their prior, a virtuous, but aged, man, and
elected a haughty youth, who forthwith multiplied for himself
stables and carriages, not even denying himself a lodging for his
whore within the walls of the convent, after the example of
infatuated Solomon. And, forasmuch as deep calleth unto
deep, and sin leads on to further sinning, so this presumptuous
prior infringed the liberties of the burgesses in the matter of
lRecessit e seculo.
2 2 ist October. This is one of the duplicate passages tending to show that
the chronicle was compiled from several sources.
20
LANERCOST
their property and pasture. The community being roused
[thereby], there followed waste of money, wrath of minds and
strife of words. It grew at length to this, that they prepared to
fight against each other, and, while the Prior's men in the church
tower had prepared Greek fire to discharge upon the town, and MS.
fo. I Q I
those on the other side were striving to set fire to the abbey
gates (strong as they were and richly wrought), those stationed
within assembled to defend them, when a fire broke out which,
being foolishly neglected, first consumed the bell-tower, and then
the entire church with all its contents ; which notwithstanding
they continued fighting fiercely outside and burning houses.
Thus did the heedlessness of this rash Prior lead to the dishonour
of the Creative Trinity, and later to the sacrifice in a horrible
death of many citizens by royal justice.
At this time the King of Norway died, leaving as successor
his son called Magnus ; l who hearing that the King of Scotland
had an amiable, beautiful and attractive2 daughter, a virgin, of
suitable age for himself (being a handsome youth of about
eighteen years), could not rest until a formal mission, divines
as well as nobles, had been sent twice to obtain her as his
spouse in marriage and consort on the throne. But before I
bring to an end the narrative of this marriage, let me relate to
the praise of God and his servant, what was told by one of
the emissaries about his king [to show] to what height human
affection may be carried.
The father of this king being deeply attached to the religion
of S. Francis, encouraged the [Franciscan] brethren above all
others, and interested himself diligently in their schools of sacred
1Eric II. (Magnusson). Morigerosam, cf. Lucretius, iv. 1277.
THE CHRONICLE OF
theology, where, also, he set up for himself a mausoleum. It
happened that the Queen brought forth her first-born on the said
saint's day,1 to the shame rather than to the joy, of the realm,
[for it] resembled more the offspring of a bear than a man, as it
were a formless lump of flesh. When this was announced to the
king, strong in faith, he said, ' Wrap it in clean linen and place
it on the altar of S. Francis at the time of the celebration.'
Which having been fulfilled, when they came at the end of
the service to take away what they had placed there, they
found a lovely boy crying, and joyfully returned thanks to
God and to the saint. This [child] having grown up, sought
the damsel in marriage, as aforesaid ; and, although the union
was very distasteful to the maiden, as also to her relations
and friends (seeing that she might wed elsewhere much more
easily and honourably), yet it was at the sole instance of her
father, the king, that the bargain was made that he should give
her a dowry 1 7,000 merks, primarily for the contract of marriage,
but secondarily for the redemption of the right to the Isles.
On the morrow of S. Laurence2 she embarked at . . .3
with much pomp and many servants, and after imminent peril
to life which they ran on the night of the Assumption of the
Holy Virgin,4 at daybreak on the said festival they lowered
their sails at Bergen. Shortly afterwards she was solemnly
crowned and proclaimed before all men by a distinguished
company of kinsmen. She comported herself so graciously
towards the king and his people that she altered their manners
for the better, taught them the French and English languages,
1 1 6th July. 2 nth August; but the year was 1281 not 1280.
3 Blank in MS. 4 i5th August.
22
LANERCOST
and set the fashion of more seemly dress and food. He only had
one daughter by her, who survived her mother but a short time.
On the day before the nones of October1 [occurred] the
translation of the blessed Hugh Bishop of Lincoln, which
translation Master Thomas de Bek was the means of obtaining
and liberally discharged all expenses. On the same day he was
consecrated Bishop of S. David's by Friar John of Peckham,
of the Order of Minorites, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the
presence of Edward King of England and his Queen.
From the beginning of the world 6080 years, to wit, in
the year of our Lord 1280, on S. Mark the Evangelist's
day,2 it was decided in the court of Irthington that an attach-
ment upon the elemosynary land of the prior and convent of
Lanercost was null and void.
Item — My lord Ralph came to England about Ascension
Day,3 consecrated as Bishop of Carlisle by the Roman
Court. In the same year, on Thursday the ninth of the calends
of November,4 a convocation was held by my lord Bishop Ralph
in the principal church of Carlisle, and there was granted to
him by the clergy a tithe of the churches for two years accord-
ing to their actual value, to be paid in the new money within
a year, wherefore we paid him in all twenty-four pounds.
Wherefore H5 said as follows about that transaction :
' Poor sheep j bereft of ghostly father;
Should not be shorn ; but pampered rather.
1 6th October. 2 251)1 April. 3 3oth May. 424th October.
5 Perhaps the chronicler himself. Dr. James Wilson identifies this Brother H.
with Henry de Burgo, who became Prior of Lanercost in 1310. Verses cease
to appear in the chronicle after 1315, the year of Prior Henry's death.
23
THE CHRONICLE OF
Poor sheep ! with cares already worn,
You should be comforted; not shorn.
But if the shepherd must have wool,
He should be tender, just and cool.' l
In the same year my lord . . . 2 received the canonical dress,
on the day of St. Agapitus Martyr.3
In the same year, on the third of the Ides of September4 my
lord Edward King of England and Queen Eleanor came to Laner-
cost, and the prior and convent met them at the gate in their capes.5
Item, the king presented a silken robe, and the king in his hunting
took, as was said, two hundred stags and hinds in Inglewood.
At that time some box of a certain page was broken [into],
whereat H. said as follows:
'A pilfered chest yields shameful booty,
The thief, when caught, must learn his duty ;
Ill-gotten gains return no profit,
Who steals his wealth makes nothing of it.' 6
About the same time a certain young fellow was killed, about
whom H. said :
'William, poor fellow, has proved by his fate,
He is wanting in prudence who stays out too late.' 7
1 Grex desolatus, pastor e dlu viduatus,
Sic cito fonder e, non indiget, immof overt ;
Grex desolatust nimis hactenus extenuatus,
Jam com/or tairi debett non excoriari.
Sed si pastor oves habeat tender e necesse,
'Debet ei pietas, modus et moderamem inesse.
2 Blank in MS. 3 i8th August. 4nth September.
6 Res, cista fracta, surreptafuit male nacta;
Juste surreptus fuerat male census adeptus;
Finiturfoeda prave saepissime praeda ;
Raro dives erit thesaurum qui male quaerit.
7 Garcifer occisus Willelmus testificatur
Quod non est sapiens nimium qui nocte vagatur.
24
5 In Caff is.
LANERCOST
In the same year, on Sunday, the eleventh of the Kalends
of April,1 Ralph, Lord Bishop of Carlisle, first came to Laner-
cost on a visitation, and the monks met him in the manner
described above for the king, and afterwards he gave [them]
benediction, and received all the brethren to the kiss of peace,
and after his hand had first been kissed, he gave them a kiss
on the lips ; and having himself entered the chapter house,
he preached, saying — * Behold I myself shall require.' The
preaching being finished, he proceeded with his visitation, in
which we were compelled to accept new constitutions.
Martin the Fourth, a native of Touraine, succeeded to Pope
Nicholas, and sat for four years. In his time, Peter,
. A'D- 1281.
King of Aragon, took Sicily, having expelled Charles,
and held it against all the power of the Pope and of the King
of France, a crusade made against him taking little effect.
This [Pope] was named Simon, and was sent as special legate
to France, but particularly to Paris, to allay discord among the
scholars ; for Satan had sown among them something of a Ms-
. fo. I9
schism, and every nation was striving for the highest place in
the university. The legate having arrived and hearkened to the
controversy, promulgated the law that the English had priority
in that university ; for, said he, Baeda went to Rome, and,
coming to Paris, held classes before anybody else, founding
sacred theology upon the gospel of S. John, and, by first teaching
regularly, opened the way to all other sciences after him.2
He [the Pope], being under vows to S. Francis, on the
122nd March.
2 The Legate's ruling may have been right, but his argument was wrong, for
Bede himself tells us that he never was out of England.
25
THE CHRONICLE OF
feast of Pentecost, without any suggestion (unless it were that
of the Holy Ghost), decreed and bestowed upon [the Franciscans]
by his plenary power the privilege of preaching the word of
God, and hearing the confessions of all and sundry, not without
[exciting] the wonder of many and the indignation of great
persons. For at that time the friars in various provinces had
been prohibited by twenty-one bishops from the exercise of the
aforesaid [offices]. When he was dying he directed that he
should be buried at the feet of S. Francis ; nevertheless, contrary
to his wishes, he was interred at Viterbo.
At this time the King of England, intending to hunt in parts
of Westmorland, prepared to set out for Gascony [provisioned]
with all kinds of game, because Gaston de Biern, once loyal,
but now a rebel, drawing back from his allegiance. In a short
time he forced them [to desist] from their rash purpose, and
returned home.1
It happened in the same year that two Minorite Friars of the
convent of Dumfries were travelling the country of Annandale
to preach at the holy Nativity of the Lord.2 Howbeit, there
was near where they passed the steward of a certain church and
overseer of the rector's glebe, who, being oppressed with
infirmity, felt obliged to make confession, but, intending not to
do so honestly, concealed twenty gold pieces3 which he had
1 This passage must have been misplaced by the compiler. King Edward did
not go to Gascony in 1281, and the reference is probably to his expedition in
1 286-89, though the facts are very inaccurately stated.
2 Christmas.
3Solidos. The term in late Roman coinage denoted a gold piece, the older
aureus ; but in this place it may have signified * shillings.'
26
LANERCOST
embezzled from his master. Having received from his master
the rector instructions to prepare the house for his coming, the
sick man quitted the hall wherein he had lain until that
time, and moved into a wattled barn, where a single girl
ministered to the needs of his ailment. But one of these nights
when these [two] were resting apart, jthere came some satellites
of Satan, who entered the house about cock-crow, lit a fire,
placed upon it a cauldron, and poured in water to heat it. A
little afterwards two of these devils were sent to the bed of the
sick man, lifted him out, soused him in the boiling water,1 and
then bound him dripping to the cross-beam of the house, tearing
him with their nails, and jeering at him! with — 'Take that
for the twenty pieces of gold.' This was done three times in
succession, the woman all the time witnessing the punishment
and listening to the accusation. Having perpetrated the cruelty
which God permitted, his tormentors carried the wretched man
back to bed. Then one of them exclaimed — ' What shall be
done to that woman lying there ? ' To whom the leader replied,
* That water is not suitable for her. She is the priest's whore,
and hotter water will suit her better.' 2
When he said this, they all departed ; and the woman went
to the sick man, and asked with trembling how he was, who
answered her — ' You beheld my torments ; need you ask how I
am ? but, for the fear of God, let a priest come to me, and
seek safety for yourself.'
Therefore when it was light she went a distance of five miles
1 Lixa aqua.
2 The meaning seems to be that devils are afraid of hot water, as explained
by one of them in an episode described in the Chronicle, ad ann. 1257-
27
THE CHRONICLE OF
to Annan, where, having confessed herself, she found plenty of
hot water.
In this year Sir John of Newcastle took the monk's dress at
Holmcultram, upon which H. observed :
'With altered habit, habits too must alter,
Much need that John with sin no more should palter.
Unless to mend his ways he doth not fail,
White gown and snowy cowl will nought avail.' 1
In the same year Sir Nicholas of Carlisle was sent to reside
at Gisburn, and became a monk there.
The Friars of the Cross who inhabit the land of Robert de
Chartersborough, and raise pleasant buildings there,
having carried architectural work2 through the middle
of the church, were preparing for themselves a lower choir,
where lies the body of that just man, leaving the lower part
to pilgrims, [who come] thither in order to perform vigils and
burn candles. The spirit of the just man resented this and a
tremendous flood, such as no man there remembers, carried
the waters of the Nidd into the upper part and the middle of
the church, destroying the vaulted work in the night, and [the
spirit of the just man, Robert] allowed [the friars] to stand
together, not as his masters but as his comrades, on the pave-
ment which was raised only a little [above the flood].3
1 Mutatis pannis mutetur vita Johannis
Ut melioretur et ei constantia detur.
Si tibi sit pulla capa, forte, vel alba cuculla
Et virtus nulla, merces tibi non datur ulla.
2 Arvali opere in Dr. Stevenson's edition, which Mr. Neilson reasonably
suggests is a misreading of arcuali.
3 This passage is very obscure : but Mr. Neilson has elucidated it by revising
the punctuation, and showing that aqua de Nith is not the Scottish Nith but
the Yorkshire Nidd.
28
LANERCOST
About the same time the rector of the church of Bothans1
in Lothian caused the woodwork of his choir to be carved
during Lent, to the honour of S. Cuthbert, whose church it is
and for the credit of the place. But when the work was finished,
on the vigil of the Saint,2 while the rector was worrying himself
about how the scaffolding, made of huge, rough beams, which
the workmen had erected on the ground, could be removed so
that it should be no impediment to the celebration, one of the
workmen went up and loosed the upper lashings so that the
supports threatened to fall down. And while the artizan was
at a loss how to get down, suddenly the whole scaffolding
collapsed, carrying him with it. A great shout arose, for the
men supposed that he was crushed [to death], seeing that he
had fallen upon a stone pavement ; [but], on removing the
beams they found the man not a bit the worse, even making
fun of it with his rescuers. Thus did the Saint renew his
ancient miracles [performed] at the time of his translation in
the scaffolding of vaulted building.
About this time, in Easter week, the parish priest of Inver-
keithing, named John, revived the profane rites of Priapus,
collecting young girls from the villages, and compelling them to
dance in circles to [the honour of] Father Bacchus. When he
had these females in a troop, out of sheer wantonness, he led
the dance, carrying in front on a pole a representation of the
human organs of reproduction, and singing and dancing himself
like a mime, he viewed them all and stirred them to lust by
filthy language. Those who held respectable matrimony in
honour were scandalised by such a shameless performance,
1 Abbey S. Bathans. 2 igth March.
29
THE CHRONICLE OF
although they respected the parson because of the dignity of
his rank. If anybody remonstrated kindly with him, he
[the priest] became worse [than before], violently reviling
him.
And [whereas] the iniquity of some men manifestly brings
them to justice, [so] in the same year, when his parishioners
assembled according to custom in the church at dawn in
Penance Week, at the hour of discipline he would insist that
certain persons should prick with goads [others] stripped for
penance. The burgesses, resenting the indignity inflicted
upon them, turned upon its author ; who, while he as author
was defending his nefarious work, fell the same night pierced
by a knife, God thus awarding him what he deserved for his
wickedness.
In the same year Sir Hugh of Ireland obtained a license to
enter stricter religion in his country ; but in the same year
he suffered rejection because of discord between the Prior and
the Convent. Wherefore H. remarked :
' What profits it to leap and thus to fall ?
No son of man prevails to conquer all.
Better, sometimes, to halt than forward press ;
Virtue may profit e'en from ill success.
A change of scene proves often no bad leech ;
One hankers less for what seems out of reach.' l
In the same year Henry de Burgh was arrested at Durham
1 Quid prodest facere saltum et sic resilire ?
In nullo genere genus est quod circuit omne.
Sed quando tantum est casus causa salutis ;
Robur virtutis passum dat saepe gravamen.
Est medicinalis mutatio saepe localis;
Res minus optatur prope si non esse sciatur.
3°
LANERCOST
and confined for three days in the castle because of an execution
which he had performed for the Archbishop of York, wherefore
he wrote to Master R. Avenel as follows :
* Robert ! if legates pass their way
With privilege, as all men say,
Then let me out this very day
From prison walls wherein I stay.
Cloisters, not towers like these, befit me,
Thus prison rules the harder hit me ;
Wherefore to pray your grace permit me,
Command my jailors to demit me.
God's House to all should aye be free
To come and go. I cannot see
Why I, who canon am professed,
Should thus in person be oppressed ;
The benefit we clergy boast of
Is what at present I lack most of.
Guiltless I languish in this cell.
God help me ! Who dost all things well.'
Hugh de Burgh 1 wrote thus to the Archbishop :
* O Primate of York ! 'twas for you that I paid
With my freedom in Durham. They did me upbraid,
And maltreat my person. My servants departed
And left me the victim of men evil-hearted.
Three days I remained in that horrible tower,
Forbidden to leave it, alone hour by hour.
Holy Sire ! if you do not avenge such an outrage,
Nor clergy nor brethren can brook it without rage.
Thus study to rule us, upholding the law,
Keeping good men in safety and rebels in awe.'
In the same year Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, was captured in
a skirmish and beheaded incontinently.2
1 Henry and Hugh must have been the same monk.
2 He was slain in the field.
31
THE CHRONICLE OF
On the day following the feast of S. Agnes,1 the King of
Scotland's son, Alexander, was taken from this world,
being only twenty years of age, dying on his birthday,
changing the rejoicing for his birth into lamentation for his
death ; forasmuch as, had he lived, he would have been the
light of his country and the joy of his kindred. He was
carried off in Cupar-in-Fife by a lingering illness, with which
he suffered a degree of mental aberration ; [but], coming to
his senses late on Thursday evening, he foretold regarding his
death, on the morrow at sunrise should set the sun of Scotland ;
and for King Edward of England he said : ( My uncle shall
fight three battles ; twice he will conquer ; in the third he will
be overthrown.' These things I learnt from information of
those who were with him when he died, whereof one was a
knight and his tutor, the other was rector of the church and
his priest.
In like manner his sister, the Queen of Norway, took the
way of death in the following month of February, only thirty
days later, in order that God's long-suffering should by many
afflictions soften to a proper [degree of] penitence 2 the heart of
the father through whose wrong doing these things came to pass.3
In the unlucky course of that year, the Welsh nation, unable
to pass their lives in peace, broke over their borders on Palm
Sunday, carrying fire and sword among the people engaged in
1 He died on 2 8th January. St. Agnes' day is the zist, which was his
birthday.
^Patientia, which Mr. Neilson suggests may be a misreading for penitentia.
8 Certain clerics never wearied of imputing to Alexander III., the best king that
the Scots ever had, responsibility for all the calamities which befel both his country
and his family.
32
LANERCOST
procession, and even laid siege [to some places] ; whose Prince
Llewellyn, deceived (more's the pity !) by the advice of his
brother David, fiercely attacked his lord the King ; as we read
written about Christ, ' him whom I loved most hath set himself
against me.' For the King had given his own niece, only
daughter of the Earl of Montfort, a lady of noble birth
[endowed] with the ample possessions of her father, in marriage
to Llewellyn, by whom he had two sons. But David was
so much in the king's confidence that he got himself appointed
guardian of his [the King's] head in place of the great David
ap Udachis.1 And forasmuch as nothing is so deadly as
an enemy within the household, he persuaded his brother
to rebel, trusting after the act to conciliate the king by
his [David's] proved devotion. Having therefore raised an
army, the King went in person to Wales, accompanied by
gallant men ; where, albeit at great expense and loss of men,
he first occupied the land of Anglesey [which was] fertile,
abounding in all good things. Which [island] he divided
among English farmers, removing the Abbey of Aberconway
and founding it elsewhere ; but in that place 2 because of its
suitability he built a town, a castle and a spacious harbour, the
ditch surrounding the castle with the tide.
At this time the head of Llewellyn, who had been slain by
the treachery of his own people, was sent to the King, although
he would not have approved of this being done.3 However, it
1 Obscure. Stevenson's edition reads vice magni 'David apud achis, which is
unintelligible.
2 At the mouth of the Conway.
3 The fate of Llewellyn ap Gruffudd has been briefly noted already ad ann.
1282.
c 33
THE CHRONICLE OF
was taken to the Tower of London, and fixed upon a stake.
Arising out of these events, the King took proceedings against
the traitor David ; for, having returned to Hereford, he
intended to revisit the seat of his government, when fresh
rumours reached him that the author of perfidy could not desist
from adding to his iniquity. The King therefore resumed the
campaign, and, determined to exterminate the whole people of
that nation, he caused them to be beset by land and sea in the
district of Snowdon with a great fleet, so that by famine he
might crush those stoney hearts which relied upon [safety in]
stones and rocks.
MS. At length [David], having been conquered through privation,
surrendered, and the King sent him forward to the Tower
of London with wife and children ; and, having built Flint
Castle, received the common people to mercy, having appointed
his own bailiff's and [made] many new laws. He also
^ possessed himself of the ancient and secret treasures of that
people, [dating], as is believed, from the time of Arthur ;
among which he found a most beautiful piece of the
Holy Cross, carved into a portable cross, which was the
glory of their dominion and [carried] the presage of their
doom. Which [cross], it is said, Helena kept after the
Invention as a special portion, and brought with her when
she returned to Britain with her husband. The Welsh had
been accustomed to call it, after the fashion of their own
language, ' Crosnaith.'
Thus the King returned from the said campaign about the
Nativity of the Glorious Virgin,1 bringing with him as proof of
1 8th September.
34
LANERCOST
his triumph the ensign of salvation of the human race ; and,
with a great procession of nobles, bishops and clergy, brought
that monument of our redemption to London to be adored
by the citizens.
David's children were condemned to perpetual imprisonment,
but David himself was first drawn as a traitor, then hanged as
a thief; thirdly, he was beheaded alive, and his entrails burnt
as an incendiary and homicide ; fourthly, his limbs were cut
into four parts as the penalty of a rebel,1 and exposed in four
of the ceremonial places in England as a spectacle ; to wit — the
right arm with a ring on the finger in York ; the left arm in
Bristol ; the right leg and hip at Northampton ; the left [leg]
at Hereford. But the villain's head was bound with iron, lest
it should fall to pieces from putrefaction, and set conspicuously
upon a long spear-shaft for the mockery of London. Just as
the holy Jeremiah composed metrical dirges for the desolation
of Judaea, so the Welsh nation composed a heroic elegy upon
the death of their Prince and the desolation of their nation,
at the end whereof they always commemorate David with
curses, forasmuch as he was the author of this misfortune,
whereon H. spoke these lines :
' David of Wales, a thief and traitor,
Slayer of men, of Church a hater,
A fourfold criminal in life
Now dies by horse, fire, rope and knife.
The ruffian thus deprived of breath
Most meetly dies by fourfold death.'2
1 Depellatoris, probably an error for debellatoris.
2 David Walensif, equus, ignis, funis et ensis,
Infelix, fatum ftbi dant reds et cruciatum.
Es nece quadrifida — -far, proditor ac homicida,
Hostis et ecclesiae debes de jure perire.
35
THE CHRONICLE OF
In the same year, John, Prior of Lanercost, resigned, for
whom adequate provision was granted and confirmed under the
seal of Bishop Ralph.1 In the same year, on the morrow of the
Assumption of the Blessed Mary,2 Simon of Driffield was
elected Prior.
Item, in the same year, on the fifth of the Ides of January,3
William, Archbishop of York, was translated, whose translation
was procured and the expenses thereof borne by Sir Antony Bek,
who, in the same [year], was consecrated Bishop of Durham, in
the presence of the King and chief men of the country.
In the same year, Edward the Fifth, son of Edward the
Fourth, was born at Carnarvon.4
At the feast of Holy Trinity,5 Robert de Coquina, Bishop of
Durham, died, and when he was about to be interred in the
chapter house of that place, those who were making
A.D. 1284. ... r i • i
the grave impinged upon the tomb or a bishop
unknown to them, Turgot, who had been Prior of Durham,
and afterwards Bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland, but returning
to Durham, ended his life in that place. By this time he had
lain in the depth of the earth eight score and nine years, yet
he was not only found entire in his body, but also in his vest-
ments, the diggers having accidentally broken the case con-
taining his pastoral staff. Having therefore shown the unchanged
remains of this venerable man to several persons, they filled in
1 Ralph de Ireton, Bishop of Carlisle.
2 1 6th August. 3Qth January.
4 The chronicler reckons the Saxon kings named Edward in the list of English
kings.
6 4th June.
36
LANERCOST
the place with the earth that had been thrown out, and prepared
elsewhere a grave befitting such remains.
We have seen this man, about whose funeral we are now
speaking, in life bountiful enough and merry, also quite facetious
enough at table. It occurred to me once to extract a meaning
from his sport, by way of example. For instance, he kept
in his court, after the custom of modern prelates, as some
relief from their cares, a couple of monkeys — an old and a
young one. One day at the end of dinner, desiring to be
refreshed by amusement rather than by food, [the bishop]
caused a silver spoon with whitened almonds to be placed in
the enclosure of the younger monkey, the bigger one being
kept away [from it]. She [the little monkey], seeing the
coveted food, and wishing to avoid being despoiled by the
bigger one, made every endeavour to stuff all the contents
of the spoon into her left cheek, which she managed to do.
Then, just as she thought to escape with the spoil, the
older monkey was released, and ran to her, seized the right
cheek of the loudly screaming little one, drew out all that was
stuffed into the left cheek, as if out of a little bag, and refreshed
itself, until not a single [almond] was left. Everybody who saw
this burst out laughing, but I perceived therein an image of the
covetous of this world, calling to mind that proverb of Solomon
in the twenty-second [chapter] : ' He that oppresseth the poor to
increase his riches, shall himself give to a richer man and come
to want.'1
At the feast of All Saints in this year, Alexander, King of
1The vulgate here differs in sense from the authorised version, where the
passage runs, 'and he that giveth to the rich.'
37
THE CHRONICLE OF
Scotland, took a second wife, Yoleta by name, daughter of the
Comte de Dreux, to his own sorrow, and to the almost perpetual
injury of his kingdom, as will be repeatedly made clear.
In the same year [a son] was born to King Edward at
Carnarvon in Snowdon, upon whom was bestowed his father's
name on S. Mark the Evangelist's day.1
During that war in Wales a bridge of boats was made in
the place called Menai, that is, between Snowdon and Anglesey>
where Sir William de Audley, Lucas Tanay, Roger de Clifford
and many others, old and young, were drowned.
In the same year there was granted to my lord the King
of England a twentieth of all the churches of England.
Pope Martin departed from this world, to whom succeeded
Honorius the Fourth, who sat for two years. Feeble
and gouty, he was made Pope from [being] Cardinal,
and being able neither to walk nor stand, made for himself a
revolving chair. On the day of his consecration, one of the
cardinals made these verses upon him at the instance of certain
brethren :
1 They place a wretched hulk in Peter's seat,
Maimed of both hands and lamed in both his feet.' 2
Howbeit, he did one good thing in publicly reproving [all] false
apostles, orbanibulos and ribald persons who had started in the
city itself without authority from the Roman see, and in issuing
MS. written orders that if any such persons were apprehended, they
should first be warned to relinquish their sect and enter the
cloister of holy religion, and if they did not comply with this,
1 25th April.
2 Ponitur in Petr'i monstrum miserabile sede,
Mancus utroque manu, truncus utroque pede.
38
LANERCOST
they should be handed over to the public authority. In
connection with this a certain trustworthy burgess of Hartle-
pool declared on his return from Rome that he knew of a dozen
of these fellows being beheaded in one day. Two of them
also were arrested in Berwick, with their wives and children,
and were found to be carrying long daggers at their hips
and purses full of silver.
In the course of this year King Alexander of Scotland was
removed by sudden death from the world after he had reigned
thirty-six years and nine months. He departed from the world
on the fourteenth of the kalends of April,1 late on Monday
night, being the vigil of S. Cuthbert, Bishop and Confessor,
the liberties and bounds of whose Bishopric he [Alexander]
had violated for three years past. And whereas it was held
by the superior [clergy]2 that the Lord would remove from
the world both his children and his wife during his own
lifetime for his chastisement, and [whereas] that did not cause
him to reform, any one may perceive how there was fulfilled
in him holy Job's prophecy, which saith : ' God will visit
upon his children the sorrow of the father, and when he has
accomplished [this] he shall know it.'
Of a truth it was foretold to him by just men that the
Lord had shaken His sword against him, that He had bent
and made ready His bow against him, and had prepared many
arrows against him, etc. Besides all this there was repeated
in the province throughout the whole of that year a fatal saying
by the Scots, that at that time should come the Judgment Day,
at which many trembled and a few scoffed.
1 1 gth March. 2 Superior il>us, perhaps meaning 'old people.'
39
THE CHRONICLE OF
In December preceding, next before these [events], under
the sign of Capricorn, many terrible thunderings were heard
and lightning was seen, which, in the opinion of wise men,
presaged the overthrow of princes, who were [thus] warned
to take heed to themselves. But whereas all these and other
warnings were of no avail to enlighten his [Alexander's] mind,
God punished him by the means He appointed. For he
[Alexander] used never to forbear on account of season or
storm, nor for perils of flood or rocky cliffs, but would visit,
not too creditably [both] matrons and nuns, virgins and
widows, by day or by night as the fancy seized him, some-
times in disguise, often accompanied by a single follower. On
that very day, then, when judgment was imminent (though
he suspected it not) there arose such a mighty tempest that
to me and most men it seemed disagreeable to expose one's
face to the north wind, rain and snow. On which day, he
[Alexander] was holding a council in the lofty Castrum
Puellarum l with a great assembly of the nobles of the land>
for the purpose of replying to the emissaries of the King of
England, who were due at Norham on the third day [after]
with the bodily presence of Thomas of Galloway, whose release
from prison was besought at that time by Sir John de Baliol,
the son of the older Baliol.
When they had sat down to dinner, he [Alexander] sent
a present of fresh lampreys2 to a certain baron, bidding
him by an esquire to make the party merry, for he should
know that this was the Judgment Day. He [the baron],
after returning thanks, facetiously replied to his lord : * If
1 Edinburgh. 2 De murena recenti.
40
LANERCOST
this be the Judgment Day, we shall soon rise with full
bellies.'
The protracted feast having come to an end, he [Alexander]
would neither be deterred by stress of weather nor yield to
the persuasion of his nobles, but straightway hurried along
the road to Queensferry, in order to visit his bride, that is to
say Yoleta, daughter of the Comte de Dru, whom shortly
before he had brought from over the sea, to his own sorrow
and the perpetual injury of the whole province. For she was
then staying at Kinghorn. Many people declare that, before
her engagement beyond the sea, she had changed her dress in
a convent of nuns, but that she had altered her mind with the
levity of a woman's heart and through ambition for a kingdom.
When he arrived at the village near the crossing, the ferry-
master warned him of the danger, and advised him to go
back ; but when [the King] asked him in return whether he
was afraid to die with him : * By no means,' quoth he, ' it
would be a great honour to share the fate of your father's son.'
Thus he arrived at the burgh of Inverkeithing, in profound
darkness, accompanied only by three esquires. The manager
of his saltpans, a married man of that town, recognising him
by his voice, called out : * My lord, what are you doing here
in such a storm and such darkness ? Often have I tried to
persuade you that your nocturnal rambles will bring you no
good. Stay with us, and we will provide you with decent
fare and all that you want till morning light.' ' No need for
that,' said the other with a laugh, 'but provide me with a
couple of bondmen, to go afoot as guides to the way.'
And it came to pass that when they had proceeded two
41
THE CHRONICLE OF
miles, one and all lost all knowledge of the way, owing to
the darkness ; only the horses, by natural instinct, picked
out the hard road. While they were thus separated from
each other, the esquires took the right road ; [but] he, at
length (that I may make a long story short), fell from his
horse, and bade farewell to his kingdom in the sleep of Sisara.
To him Solomon's proverb applies : ' Wo unto him who,
when he falls, has no man to raise him up.' He lies at
Dunfermline alone in the south aisle, buried near the presbytery.
Whence [comes it] that, while we may see the populace bewail-
ing his sudden death as deeply as the desolation of the realm,
those only who adhered to him most closely in life for his
friendship and favours, wet not their cheeks with tears ?
But, whereas a chronicle which strews its course with
extinguished cinders will be deemed too dry, I shall here
relate, to the praise of the incorrupt Virgin, what befel
on the Annunciation1 immediately after this event. In that
kingdom there is a village called Stanehouse2 on this side of
the burgh of Stirling, wherein a farmer, not sufficiently respect-
ing the feast of the Conception of the Son of God,3 went
to the plough, yoked his team, and, having set his own son
to drive the animals, began to plough the turf. But as the
oxen did not go fast enough, and by avoiding [the yoke] drew
a crooked furrow, the obstinate fellow cried to his son to goad
them, and shouted curses on the beasts. At length, wrought
into a fury, he seized a plough staff, and, meaning to deal a
I2$th March. 2Stenhouse in Larbert parish.
3 I.e. the Annunciation. Father Stevenson, confusing it with the Conception
of the Virgin, noted it as 8th December.
42
LANERCOST
heavy blow on the restive one of* the oxen, he aimed amiss,
and struck the head of his own son, who fell dead. Thus he
became the murderer of his own offspring, an outlaw from his
own people, obnoxious to the Author of Salvation, and the
betrayer of his own [cause].1
After so evil a fate as the death of their king, the magnates MS.
of the realm of Scotland, adopting sound counsel
for themselves, elected from the prelates as well as
the nobles, Guardians of the Peace for the community, until
such time as it should be made clear by deliberation what
person should be accepted for such rule. They governed the
country for six years, transacting the affairs of the people,
and, before all, of the Lady Queen, widow of Alexander,
assigning a portion as her terce. But she, resorting to
feminine craft, was pretending to be pregnant, in order to
cause patriots to postpone their decision, and that she might
more readily attract popularity to herself. But just as a woman's
cunning always turns out wretchedly in the end, so she dis-
quieted the land with her pretences from the day of the King's
death till the feast of the Purification,2 nor would she admit
respectable matrons to examine her condition ; [and], in order
that she might return ignominy upon those from whom she
had received reverence and honour, she determined to deceive
the nation for ever by foisting on herself the child of another.
She caused a new font to be made of white marble, and she
JIt was by tales like these, diligently circulated, that the clergy terrified
their flocks into due observance of holy days ; but in this instance the moral
had been more apparent if the punishment had fallen upon the impious
father instead of the innocent son.
2 2nd February.
43
THE CHRONICLE OF
contrived to have the son of a play-actor to be brought [to
her] so that it might pass for hers ; and when as many as
collected to dance by license [in honour of] so important an
accouchement had come to Stirling (the place where the
aforesaid lady was staying) at the time for her to be brought
to bed (which she herself had arranged beforehand), her fraud
was detected and revealed by the sagacity of William of Buchan,
to the confusion of all present, and to all those willing to trust
her who heard of it afterwards.1 Thus did she, who was first
attracted from over the sea only by the prospect of wealth
and was united to the King in marriage, depart from the
country with shame. That I have said so much about the
fidelity of women is my reason for adding another instance in
a different matter.
Four years before this time there befel something else which,
out of reverence for God's name and worship, must not be
concealed. Certain scholars, residing at Oxford for the purpose
of study, yielded themselves to sleep one of these days after
supper. One of them, less careful about his comfort than
the rest, but as merry and lively as the rest, went to his usual
bed in some upper chamber. About midnight his companions
were alarmed to hear him shouting, striking and gnashing his
teeth, and roused their fellow-lodgers. Hastening to his bed-
side they found the man speechless, behaving as if on the
point of death ; but, which is very wonderful, his whole body
presented such a horrible appearance that you would have
believed him to be a filthy Ethiopian rather than a Christian.
And so, as all of them thought that his peril was urgent,
1For confodere in Stevenson's text read confidere.
44
LANERCOST
one of them of more fervid faith than the others, exclaimed :
* Let one of us begin the holy gospel of God according to
John, and I hope it will relieve the sick man.' Whereupon
the others, stimulated by faith, began to recite the holy gospel
in parts, because they did not know the whole. of it ; and lo !
the evil spirit having gone out of him, in the hearing of them
all, shook to the ground the great stone stair which led to
the door of the chamber, leaving after his exit such a stench
that they almost thought they would be suffocated. The sick
man, however, restored to life by the sound of the holy words,
shortly afterwards returned from the sooty appearance to his
natural looks. This was related by a trustworthy person who
was among them, and saw, heard and noted [the occurrence],
and first of all pronounced [the words of] the gospel.
In the same year, on the sixth day of the week before the
nativity of S. John the Baptist,1 there occurred at Bywell,
near Newcastle, something which ought to be remembered.
There was in that place a married man, steward to the Lady
of Vallnor, who under cover of his office had acquired many
things dishonestly, and enriched himself from the property of
others. Arriving at the close of life, he was advised by a
priest that, among other things to be settled by the dying
man, he should provide out of his property for the redemption
of his soul. The one firmly insisted upon this, and the other
on the contrary denied it, besides swearing falsely that he had
nothing to make a will about, and could scarcely be persuaded
to bestow sparingly part of each of his different kinds of
property, saying : * Whatever is over I commend to Satan.'
1 1 gth June.
45
THE CHRONICLE OF
After the close of his life, while his body was being carried
to the church, and the funeral feast was being made ready
in the house for the neighbours by the son and the servants,
suddenly fire burst out from his house, which was towards
the western part of the town, and consumed the whole build-
ings on either side of the street, following the body towards
the east so swiftly that the mass to be celebrated for him
could scarcely be fully performed, nor could the wretched
corpse be committed to the grave with the proper rites. Nay,
but the devouring flame even consumed two large and beautiful
parish churches, all their contents being burnt, one [being]
S. Peter's, where he [the dead man] was committed to the
earth, the other, S. Andrew's. And inasmuch as the wind
had increased in violence, a ball of fire crossed the adjacent
river and reduced to ashes two villages distant half a league.
These facts were known to the whole country, and to myself
also, who shortly afterwards beheld the traces of conflagration,
and was instructed very fully about the event by the
inhabitants.1
About the same time, or a little before, it happened in
Lunedale, in the diocese of York, that a certain widower, who
was called Clerk of the Chapter, was accused, and falsely, by
a certain woman, of having plighted troth2 with her in youth
upon oath, as she pretended. The clerk, however, being
summoned, denied it altogether, although freely confessing that
when he was young and lustful he had committed common
1 Bywell, on the North Tyne, consists of two parishes, Bywell-St. Andrew's
and Bywell-St. Peter's, the churches being close together and locally known as
the White church and the Black church respectively.
2 Praestita.
46
LANERCOST
fornication with her. But he was deemed by all his acquain-
tances so worthy of credit that he could by no means assent
to the falsehood. Therefore a day was assigned for the
woman to prove her charge ; while the Episcopal judge, as
well as the Dean and the rest, urged the clerk not to conceal
the truth from them, and they themselves would provide means
of escaping [the consequences]. He, on the contrary, became
ever more immoveable, declaring and swearing that the affair
was not otherwise [than he had stated]. At last, after many
precautions and delays, the woman was brought up with the
witnesses for her, and the duties of episcopal judge in this
part of Lancashire were committed to a certain rural vicar
who had formerly been Dean. And because he hesitated to
accept the oath offered, believing it to be an afterthought,
he publicly requested all present that they would unite in
repeating before God the Lord's Prayer, so that He should
grant them on that day that they should not proceed with
an unjust cause. At this moment the woman, kneeling down,
stretched out her hand to the book, when suddenly she fell
upon the bosom of the said vicar, as if composing herself to
sleep. But the vicar, thinking that she was trying to cajole MS- b
him by such wanton behaviour (for she was beautifully adorned),
said : * Get up ! why do you lie down thus ? Finish what you
have begun.' But when she gave no sign of feeling or move-
ment, he raised her in his hands, and showed to all [present]
that she was dead. He who told me this had it from the
lips of the vicar who held the chapter.
In this year the Welsh again brought upon themselves mis-
fortune, provoking afresh a royal expedition against themselves ;
47
THE CHRONICLE OF
and David himself, author of the mischief, was taken and
slain (as you will find in the ninth chapter).1
At this time on the vigil of S. John the Baptist,2 William of
Wykeham, Archbishop of York, came to Durham for a visita-
tion, where he suffered an undignified repulse, not only from the
monks but from the laity also, so that he thought he must appeal
to arms. Which insult God beheld from on high, and, albeit
he is slow to vengeance, yet he afterwards vindicated [himself]
through Antony,3 who afterwards visited them severely enough.
In the same year, on All Souls Day, the body of Thomas,
first Lord of Multon, was moved.4
In the same year John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury,
attacked vigorously the preaching friars5 upon the unity of form.
At the octave of the Epiphany,6 Antony Bek, King's Clerk,
was consecrated Bishop of Durham in presence of my
lord the King and the Queen and almost all the nobility
of the land, not without great searching 7 of conscience as to what
kind [of person] should be appointed Christ's vicar and suffragan
of His church.
On the following day, with the utmost rejoicing, they trans-
N lated the relics of Archbishop S. William8 enclosed in a costly
1See page 34 antea. 223rd June. 3 Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham.
4 Translatum. Corpus domin't Thonue de Multona primi. The title dominus is
ambiguous ; sometimes it means a feudal lord, sometimes, merely an honorary
prefix to a cleric's name.
5 Prefdicaciter in Stevenson's text is probably a misreading for preedicatores .
Peckham supported the doctrine of unity of form of Christ's body in the
Eucharist, and was actively promulgating it at this time.
6 1 3th January. 7 Singultus.
8 William Fitzherbert, Archbishop of York, d. 1154, canonised in 1227.
48
DUKHAM CATHEDRAL
FHOM THE RIVKR W£AR
LANERCOST
shrine, who when living was profligate for a time, but turned
himself resolutely to righteousness.
About the same time, as he himself informed me, there
lived at Rome a certain Minorite Friar of English birth, who,
in travelling round the places of the saints, arrived one day
after dinner at a house of virgins consecrated to God, erected
in honour of S. Agnes. After he had inspected the church
thereof, he found an old cardinal sitting with his [clergy]
behind the high altar ; who, the boards fixed to the back of
the altar having been removed, was contemplating, for the
strengthening of his faith, the body of the martyr without a
taint of corruption consecrated to God ; because this [cardinal]
was perfectly faithful to God. When he had bedewed his
face plentifully with tears, he uncovered the virgin [martyr's]
countenance, which was hidden under a black veil, and beheld,
with all [the others], the youthful features as it were of one
sleeping, showing no hollows except at the point of the nose,
and also the shoulders and fingers as flexible as they may be
seen in a man lately dead and not long passed away. In addition,
the arms and the body, which was not larger than that of a
girl of twelve years old, were clothed with a tunic of some
unknown white material, so fine [in texture] that none who
beheld it could doubt that it was the raiment brought to her
from heaven by angels.1 But if any one should be at the
pains to collect the records of early times, he will find that
there were then completed one thousand years from the time
of her martyrdom. These things therefore I have described
1 The reference is to the miraculous robe which was brought to Agnes by
angels when she was exposed naked in a brothel.
D 49
THE CHRONICLE OF
in order that the reader may note by what a distance God
separates the incorruptible sons of corruption from the sons of
iniquity.
In the same year John Romanus returned consecrated by
the Roman court.1
In the same year King Edward of England sailed across to
Gascony.
Nicholas the Fourth was created Pope after Honorius, and
sat for four years, one month and twenty days. He
was formerly called Jerome, being a Minorite Friar
and Minister General of the Order, [and] Cardinal of La
Sabina. As Head of the Church he displayed such humility
as to discharge the guards 2 which his predecessors had for the
protection of their persons, and caused jesters' bladders to be
carried before him. So sincere a friend also was he of poverty
that he entirely abandoned the suits of wealthy persons to his
colleagues, and specially reserved for himself the suits of the
poor. He granted privileges very seldom, and even these
were insignificant ; but he was most earnest in raising funds
for an expedition to the Holy Land, wherefore he decreed
that a sexennial tithe should be collected in every parish
church for that purpose.
Because of the fame of this [Pope's] justice, the afore-
said Lord Archbishop of York hastened to his Court to
lay before him the case of his church, and on the journey
was struck down by fever at Pountenei and died, feeling
that the thing in his life which he chiefly regretted was
that he had received and consecrated an unworthy [Prior of]
1 As Archbishop of York, 1285. 2 Clavarios.
5°
LANERCOST
Durham.1 It is affirmed by very many persons that the truth
of his life manifests itself in miracles at the place where
he lies, and it is said to possess special benefit for fever
patients.
My lady Eleanor, mother Queen of England, now, for Christ's
sake, despised the withering flower of this world wherein she
had formerly delighted, and on the feast of the Assumption •
was made a nun at Amesbury, where she had already dedi-
cated her own daughter to God. For love of her my lord the
King, her son, increased the wealth of that house with large
rents.
In the same year Risamaraduc, one of the most noble men
of Wales, began hostilities against royalists, and especially the
English. Wherefore my lord the King of England expended
15,050 pounds of silver upon infantry alone, besides the expenses
of the nobles. He [Risamaraduc] was ultimately captured and
drawn at York.
At this time the wall of Castle Droslan fell and crushed Sir
William de Michens and the Baron of Stafford.
In the same year a certain esquire named Robert Chamberlain,3
with his accomplices, set on fire the booths of tradesmen at
S. Botulph's,4 and, as the fire spread, he burnt down a great
part of the town and the church of the Preaching Friars ; and
while the tradesmen exerted themselves to put out the fire
so as to save their goods, they were slain by the said esquire
and his people, and their goods were plundered.
Alluding to his controversy with Antony Bek over the subjection of
Durham to the see of York
2 1 5th August. 3 or Chambers, sc. Camerarius. Boston.
THE CHRONICLE OF
There was such abundance of crops in England this year
that a quarter of wheat was sold in some places for twenty
pence, in others for sixteen and [in others] for twelve.
In the same year the Carmelite Friars changed their habit
at Lincoln on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.1
MS- Sir John de Vesci died and was buried at Alnwick.
fo. 195
In the same year there abode with us William Greenrig,
who used to eat neither flesh nor fish ; about whom H. said :
' You may not seek the monkish dress to wear,
Who cannot feed yourself on common fare ? ' 2
Also about a certain malefactor, H. :
* For the sinner who fears not the keys of St. Peter,
Than death at the stake what reward can be meeter ? ' 3
On the vigil of the Lord's Ascension 4 the church of Gisburn
in Cleveland was burnt by an unfortunate accident.
A.D. 1288.
For the plumber to whom was committed the duty of
repairing the roof of the church had been employed in making
good some defects about the bell tower. He had carelessly put
a fire which he had for heating his tools near the timbers of the
church, and when he went down to the lower buildings of the
monastery had taken no heed to the danger. As the monks,
having performed their solemn litanies, were returning through
1 1 4th September.
^Vivere sub vests non quaeras canonical!,
Commune more qui nequis, fiortor, all.
3 Qui se dant sceleri, claves Petrique vereri
Nolunt, terreri debent de morte rogi.
In these couplets H.'s prosody is even more shaky than usual, at least
according to classical standards.
4 5th May.
52
LANERCOST
the fields and houses, fire broke out suddenly in the upper
part of the tower, and as there was no remedy at hand, only a
few valuables were got out and many thousand marks' worth was
burnt.
There happened also something else to enhance the honour of
S. Francis, which at that time had not become sufficiently well-
known to the northern part of the English province.1 A certain
burgess in the town of Newcastle, who is alive at this day,
Alexander Furbur [by name], contracted such a severe hot
dropsy that he was given up by the physicians, and, from the
swelling of his body, presented the appearance of a great tun,
while his legs were beyond the compass of any leggings. This
man, constrained between dread of praying and love of his
children,2 being ill-prepared to meet death, brought himself
round to seek God's pardon and the help of the saints. By
advice of his friends he caused himself to be measured 3 with
various saints upon whose assistance his hope more fully relied.
And whereas he felt relief from the power of none of them, he
made a vow to S. Francis that he would personally visit his
tomb, if through his help he should recover the health he
desired. In that very moment, therefore, he was affected by
a flow of water so continuous that it never ceased running for '
1 Of Franciscans. The ' English province ' was early divided into two parts,
one being Scotland, the other England. — Monumtnta Frandscana R.S. i. 32-3.
2 Inter timorem precaminum et amorem pignorum.
3 Menstirari : a common form of invoking a saint's help. A string with which
the saint's body had been measured was passed round the forehead of the sick
person (see Camden Society's Rishanger, p. 152). Other explanation occurs in
a late edition of Ducange, to the effect that a candle of the height of the sick
person was placed in the saint's shrine.
53
THE CHRONICLE OF
the rest of that day and the whole of the following night, so
that it sufficed to fill a very large tub. Hence the skin of
his body became so loose through loss of flesh that, to the
neighbours who gathered to view him he would stretch out his
skin like a garment, and it seemed as if he could make himself
leggings about his shins out of his own hide. Having thus
recovered some degree of strength, straightway he set out upon
a journey piously to fulfil his vow, and shewed forth the praises
of God's saint in presence of many persons, returning home
happy and healthy, having many witnesses, including myself, to
this event.
On the other hand, I will relate something that may instruct
posterity how great is the difference between God's service and
worldly vanity. There lived at that time in the diocese of
Glasgow a young cleric, strong and handsome, and beneficed out
of the patrimony of Christ ; but, as is to be deplored, more
concerned in mind about getting into the company of rich men
than about the cure of souls. He who neglects his own [soul],
despises or vilifies that of another. And so this vain man,
called Adam Urri, learned as a layman in lay law and dis-
regarding God's precepts against Ulpian's Pr<etorialiaJ- used to
employ the laws for litigation, lawsuits for quibbling, the statutes
of the Emperors for pecuniary gain. But when he had become
advanced in years and had become notorious for his villainy,
and was endeavouring to involve the affairs of a certain poor
widow in his toils, the divine mercy arrested him, chastising his
body with a sudden infirmity and enlightening his mind so
that he should discern more of hidden things and discourse of
1 Roman law.
54
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another life. For, lying in bed for four days and having made
confession, he altered his intention of wronging the widow,
foretold the day of his death, vehemently condemned the court
of pleaders, and ordered his servant to come quickly to him,
adding that just as he himself would go first on the Saturday,
so he [the servant] would follow next Monday, just as the
event turned out in the end.
At that time King Edward was staying in Gascony, and
on a certain day when he and the queen, having met together
in a chamber, were sitting conversing upon a couch, a flash of
lightning entered a window behind them, and, passing between y
them, killed two domestics who were standing in their presence, I
they themselves remaining wholly unhurt. All the rest who
were present were amazed on beholding what had happened, dis-
cerning that a miracle had not been wanting for the royal safety.
At this time on the fourteenth of the kalends of August,1
Brother N. de Mor received the canonical habit. The
Dominical letter was then C.
In the same year many of those who burnt Botelstane2
were hanged.
The King of England returned from the lands of Gascony,
whither he had gone to put down the sedition among
' A.D. 1289.
the people of Bordeaux. For, having received there
an embassy from Scotland urgently beseeching him that he
would deign to assist them in their leaderless condition, and
that he would take charge of their realm until they should
succeed in getting a prince regularly elected, he set out with
them to his native land, where he soon heard grave complaints
1 I Qth July. 2 Boston.
55
THE CHRONICLE OF
about the corruption of the justiciaries of the province, who,
in the king's absence, and blinded by bribes, had betrayed
the justice of their country. Moreover, there were in collusion
with them,1 enfeoffed knights or beneficed clergy, whose
misdeeds, when detected, brought much treasure into the royal
store, that the Solomon's precept should be observed, who
says in the twenty-second of Proverbs : ' He who oppresseth
the poor to increase his own wealth, shall himself give to a
j richer man and come to want.' Those, then, that are greedy
of fame and rob the poor, when they are adjudged punishment
for the deeds they have done, lose also what they appeared
justly to possess. This happened manifestly to these [persons],
although I am unable to state the fine [inflicted upon] all of
them, yet I know that one of them, a rector of Holy Church,
paid to the king upwards of thirty pieces2 of silver and as
many carucates of land.
MS. k Concerning the Jews, I will relate an instance of their injustice
occurring at this time, which may be of no small service to
posterity against the crime of perjury and fraud.3 In upper
Lindsey, then, there is a priory, in the place called Marchby,
occupying long and broad pastures for feeding stock, not
altogether by exclusive right, but sharing with their neighbours
a common liberty by gift of the patrons. But whereas avarice,
[which is] in the minds of all men of the present day, endeavours
to make all common [lands] private property, the aforesaid
1 Or ' frequently ' ; communiter.
2 Bigatus is a synonym for the Roman denarius =%\d. ; but the term bigatas
evidently represents a far larger amount here.
3 Pervasionis.
56
LANERCOST
monastery brought an action in London to the prejudice of all
their neighbours, the suit having been suborned and the judges
bribed. But as they [the commoners] defended their cause at
great legal expense, the matter was at length submitted to the
verdict of twelve. But they [the jury] casting aside all reverence
for God and the truth, and perpetrating fraud for the sake of
favour, adjudged the ground to be freehold of the said
monastery, and they [the monks] caused a great part of the
land to be ploughed in token of seisin. But, on the other
hand, God did not allow His name to be usurped with im-
punity, and he sowed the furrows of unrighteousness with the
infamy of the act. For the twelve jurymen began to be steadily,
but gradually, removed from the world, and ever as they were
removed they were submitted to a terrible yoke. For during
about two years afterwards there appeared in that country a
fiery plough, glowing like hot brass, having a most foul fiend
as driver, who drove the dead men, harnessed in that manner,
to the ground where he had incited them to guile when living.
Many persons beheld these wretches clearly, committed to the
plough like oxen, always at the hour of noon, and this, I
imagine, was done because it is at such an hour men most
assiduously press litigation1 before the judges. Those coming
to behold the spectacle were warned to be careful for their
safety ; nor did they know 2 for whom were reserved those
yokes which they perceived to be empty. Howbeit, after these
years Alan of Hotoft, the spiritual advocate of the said prior
in this suit, and the contriver of the fraud which it is not
expedient to explain in detail, was seen plainly before [men's]
1 Pretoria negofia. 2 Innotescebant.
57
THE CHRONICLE OF
eyes after his death driving and guiding the said plough ; and
repeatedly addressing many of them, he explained to them the
reason for that punishment, and implored urgently that the
judgment which had been pronounced might be revoked, if in
compassion they proposed to mitigate the punishment of these
[persons]. Although all this was made public throughout the
province, yet was I unwilling to believe it easily, until I heard
particulars of the truth from the lips of a certain nobleman,
who lived not more than three miles from the place in question.
At this same date King Edward gave his daughter, the Lady
Joan of Acre, in marriage to Gilbert Earl of Gloucester, with
great celebration, that the bond of love should be more strongly
knit. Also in the same year the king gave his second daughter
Margaret to John, son and heir of the Duke of Brabant.
In the same year John Romayn was created Archbishop of
York, a man of mean birth but sufficiently distinguished in
science ; in fact he was an eminent authority in dialectics and
theology.1
The clipping of coins which was detected at this time rendered
the new coinage necessary, which is now current ; but forasmuch
as the Jews were afterwards found to be the perpetrators of
clipping both the old coins and the new, besides being authors
of all kinds of crime — usury, rapine, sacrilege, theft (which is
excessively common among them), and corrupters of the Christian
faith — they were all proscribed in accordance with the advice of
Parliament, unless they either professed the faith of the Church
1 Already recorded ad ann. 1286, whereas the consecration took place in 1285.
This is another indication, were one required, of the chronicle having been
compiled from several different sources.
58
LANERCOST
or supported themselves exclusively by manual labour. Besides,
there was a day appointed for their clearing out of the realm,1
so that those [who should be found] within the bounds of
England after the day of S. John the Baptist2 should suffer
penalty.
On the feast of S. Bartholomew,3 Patrick Earl of Dunbar,
departed this life at Whittingehame, a man whom we have seen
to be addicted to many vices, but who was mercifully forgiven
by God on his deathbed. His body rests in the church of
Dunbar, lying buried on the northern side.
Also, Duncan Earl of Fife, was cruelly slain on the Saturday
preceding the Nativity of the Virgin.4 He was the chief
Guardian of Scotland for the time. As a young man he was
cruel and greedy beyond all that we commonly have seen,
abstaining from no injustice whereby he could minister to his
avarice. And when curses without number had accumulated
upon him, and enmities provoked by his deeds had been
deservedly roused against him, he was slaughtered on horse-
back by his own men and kinsfolk as he was travelling along
the king's highway to Parliament, and was buried in Cupar
Abbey.5 He had recently married the Lady Joan, daughter of
the Count of Gloucester, who being with child at the time
of her husband's murder, afterwards bore a son who still lives,
bearing his father's name by hereditary right.
1 Limltatce eliminationis. 2 24th June, 1290.
3 24th August. 4 i oth September.
5 He was murdered at Petpollock, 25th September, 1288, by Sir Patrick
Abernethy and Sir Walter Percy, but Sir Hugh Abernethy was the real instigator.
Moray of Bothwell took him and Percy. Sir Hugh was imprisoned for life in
Douglas Castle, Percy was executed, and Sir Patrick Abernethy escaped to France.
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About the same time something marvellous happened in
England near Richmond,1 in a village which is called Dalton.2
Whereas this place lies close up to the forest, and pasture
abounds there for cattle, a certain man of advanced age, John
Francis by name, being too careless in his [conduct], had fallen
into serious neglect of the faith. For when his neighbours
sought the precincts of the church for the sacred office of the
Lord's day, and refreshed the spirit of devotion by the sacra-
ment, this brutish man was in the habit of hurrying off to
inspect his beasts, turning his back upon the church and
traversing hill and dale. So, having wandered into the wilds
one Lord's day, he penetrated to a remote spot full of the
powers of the air, who were all of small stature like dwarfs,
with hideous faces, falsely imitating in the garb of an abbot the
sacred vestments of the church, and following one superior to
the rest, as though he were invested with sacerdotal authority.
They summoned the astonished and deluded layman, insisting
that he should hear the Lord's day service. They began with
laughter in place of song, and with a wretched murmur
MS- instead of a chant, together with a clever subtlety of a kind
fo. 196
to uproot the faith of a layman. At last it came to the time,
as it seemed, for the aspersion of water, when the leader went
round and besprinkled all his comrades in iniquity as a punish-
ment for their guilt. But coming to the living man last in
order to besprinkle him, he assailed the fool, not with spray
but with blows, so that to this day he [Francis] knoweth not
whether he was struck by drops of water or by stones ; but
this was afterwards ascertained on the testimony of many persons
1 In Yorkshire. 2 In Topcliff parish near Thirsk.
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that he was bruised over his whole bo'dy by the blows of volleys
of stones, so thoroughly was he found to have been pelted by
such a hurtful shower. Further, when he beheld these seducing
spirits rising bodily as if about to fly away, he seemed to feel
a force compelling him to fly away with them as they departed.
But by means of grace he recovered himself, and, terrified by
his imminent peril, he recalled to memory by degrees as he
was able the passion which the Lord endured ; and, as often
as he began to fly, recalling to memory Christ's passion, he
clung to the earth, and, grasping the turf and lying prone on
the ground, strengthened, his faith until the spirits of iniquity
had all departed. And so, when he had reached home, lain
down in bed and described the event to friends who visited
him, during eight days following he strove to fly, until by
truthful confession he set right the infidelity of his mind. For,
as he confessed, suddenly and at certain times, when these
spirits presented themselves to him in the air, he stretched
himself upwards as if he were about to fly, had he not been
held down by the main force of his servants.
On the top of other ills, in this year the city of Tripoli in
Syria, which was girt about with three walls, was lost by
reason of the sins of Christians. The Saracens took possession
thereof, together with many tenements of the Templars and
Hospitallers, many knights being killed there. I leave to be
remembered by posterity two notable things in the course of
this affair.
On one of those days, while the citizens, besieged by the
enemy, were deliberating how they might escape slaughter,
there was present among them a Minorite Friar, an English-
61
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man by birth, well known for his courage. Perceiving that
their minds were in panic, he ascended a high place, and,
setting forth the word of God, he endeavoured to kindle their
hearts with boldness to attack and firmness to endure ; but the
populace on the other hand, demoralised by despair, greeted
him with derision, saying, * Thou who boldly advisest us to
be brave, wilt flee like a dastard when thou beholdest a spear.
For see, the enemy have made an assault : they are storming
the walls ; show what you can do in such a strait, while we
look on !'
Fired by faith he straightway seized the greater cross, which is
wont to be displayed freely before the people, and, gripping it in
his arms, placed it on his shoulder, and going before the armed
ranks bade them stoutly follow him though he was unarmed ;
and he led the way most impetuously to the breach where the
enemy had broken in. But the purblind Gentiles, beholding a
ragged man carrying a crossed beam against them, contemp-
tuously cut him down. First they struck off his left arm,
which notwithstanding he quickly changed the cross to the
other shoulder, [whereupon] they cut off his remaining arm, and
throwing his body to the ground, trampled it to pieces under
the hoofs of their horses. Thus did he who had vowed to
bear the cross of Christ, who thirsted after the cross in his
pilgrimage, and preached the cross in time of siege, earn a
triumph through the cross in martyrdom. Many of the faithful,
inspired by his example, and preferring to die bravely rather
than cravenly, went out voluntarily against the enemy, and,
committing to the Lord the issue of the matter, were either
slain or taken, becoming a sacrifice for Christ.
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Now there was in that city a convent of nuns, into which,
as into other places, the enemy forced their way, carrying off
everything they found there, [and] either killing or violating
God's handmaidens. But there was a matron of the nuns,
charming in person, still more distinguished by faith and bearing,
who, when captured, fell by lot to the share of a certain
Emir ; 1 and because of her beauty, and in the hope that she
would change her religion, she was kept alive. And when that
Gentile, attracted by her beauty, meditated betrothing to himself
the bride of Christ, and to this end reiterated kisses and
embraces, this wise virgin called to mind that carnal love was
brief and brittle ; and in order to beguile the attention of her
lover, and that she might escape through martyrdom to her
true spouse, she sweetly said to the lover — ' If I am to have
you as my dear husband, I wish to secure you against the
peril of death. I know the words of a potent charm of
power, which, if you will learn from me and repeat faithfully
when in difficulty, you will be preserved from all harm.'
The ignorant man approved of the proposal, desiring eagerly
to be instructed by her skill; whereupon Luceta, for that was
the virgin's name, replied : ' That you may test for certain the
virtue of the charm I spoke of, I will begin to chant before
you the sacred words; and you, having drawn your sword,
will attempt, if you can, to cut my throat.' When he heard
this, he shuddered, declaring that he would on no account do
such a thing. In reply, she said : * Yes, but you can safely do
it, if you love me, and thereby you will have proof of my
teaching.' Therefore, impelled by the tenderness of his love,
1 Cujusdam admirandi.
63
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for he did not wish to displease her, he obeyed her by drawing
his sword, and when she, bending her head, began to repeat
in a low voice — * Ave Maria ! ' he struck his sword into her
neck, cutting off her head and throwing her body to the
ground. Thus was Luceta, a daughter of the light, joined to
the ministry of the heavenly lights and to the brightness of
the eternal light to which she had devoted herself. There-
upon, in consequence, this barbarian would fain have stabbed
himself for grief, when he beheld his love so cheated and
what cruelty he had wrought. One who well knew the virgin's
face and conversation afterwards consigned her to the tomb,
MS. [namely,] my Lord Hugh, Bishop of Biblis,1 of the Order of
Minorite Friars, whose episcopal see and city were destroyed
in that devastation, and we beheld the worthy bishop himself
remaining two years in England under favour of King Edward.
These things have I briefly noted about Tripoli as I received
them.
As to the rest, the friar above-mentioned, who has encouraged
many others to martyrdom by his example, had been for a
considerable time warden of a monastery in Oxford. Being
distressed once by the scarcity of food among the brethren, when
the service of vespers was being offered one [evening] before the
image of the cross he commended the sons 2 under his charge to
the Father of Mercies. In that very night there appeared to a
countryman of that district in his sleep a terrible apparition,
reproving him thus with piercing words for his hardness :
* Thou foolish and stingy man ! thou never ceasest to be
vigilant in piling up thy heaps of pence, and carest not to
1 Episcopus Biblinensis. 2 Fittos, i.e. the friars.
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afford help to my servants who are vigilant in prayer in that
place [and are] in want. Arise quickly, on peril of your head,
and see that they receive relief according to my commands ! '
The country farmer rose without delay, and taking his way
through the dark shades of night, he stood at dawn knocking
at the gate of the friars. When the janitor, not without amaze-
ment, asked what he wanted, he stated that he wished to speak
with the master of the place. The other, supposing him to be a
master of the schools, replied : ' I dare not knock at his private
door1 so early in the morning, when he is applying himself to
study what he has to read.' But the layman said : * I demand
[to see] him who has authority of ruling in this house.' When
[the warden] was brought to him, he [the farmer] begged him
civilly that he would deign to show him the church and the
altars. When he entered he began straightway to behave like
a scrutator in going round, muttering to himself. ' It is not
thou,' quoth he, * nor thou.' Coming at last before the
crucifix, to which the warden committed him [the farmer] and
his. ' Of a truth,' exclaimed the man, * thou art he who hast
appeared to me this night and shown me what I ought to do ! '
The meaning of the above-mentioned revelation being thus made
manifest — ' If there is anything,' said he turning to the warden,
* which I can do to assist thy Mother, make it known to me
at once.' * Surely,' replied the other, * we have a payment of
ten marks due to creditors in the town, if you deign, sir, to come
to our help in this.' ' Gladly,' exclaimed the farmer, * will I
pay the whole at once.' The friars, wondering at the country-
man's spirit, praised God as their provider.
1 Ostiolum.
E 65
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The Bishop of Biblis afore-mentioned, a person of honourable
life and a man skilled in many things, imparted in conversation
many edifying things while he lived in our province. He used
to say that he had known a German knight who, having entered
the Holy Land upon a pilgrimage, forasmuch as he was ignorant
of the position of the holy places where the Saviour of the world
went about working out our salvation in the heart of the land,
sent for a native of that country and took him into his following
for hire ; from whom he extracted an oath that he should serve
him faithfully and conduct him in his search for the sacred foot-
steps of Christ round all the places wherein, on the authority of
the Holy Gospel, human devotion might show forth any praise
of the Lord's work. The bargain having been struck, the
servant fulfilled it without guile, the knight setting forward with
a light heart. Examining here and there the venerable memorials
of the acts of Christ, they arrived after many days, according to
historical order, to the place of the Lord's ascension, where his
footsteps still remain impressed upon the dust.1 Then did the
servant claim to be discharged of his oath, saying : ' See, my
lord, hitherto I have pointed out to your pious desire the stations
of Christ upon earth ; what remaineth beyond I cannot do, seeing
that here he took flight into heaven.' When he heard this the
knight burst into tears, with groaning of the heart, and prostrated
himself on the ground, placing his mouth in the dust that he
might obtain hope from the Eternal Love. Rising erect at
length and gazing to heaven with streaming eyes : ' O God,' said
he, ' Thou didst undergo in this land a pilgrimage of labour and
1 Mandeville (0^.1372) states that in his time the imprint of the left foot still
remained on the stone.
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sorrow for my salvation, and I, coming hither out of love for
Thee, have followed the ways of Thy holy journey up to this
place ; even as I believe that Thou didst here leave the world and
go to the Father, so command that here my soul may be received
into peace.' Thus saying, he paid the debt of nature and went
to rest in Christ.
The aforesaid bishop related another thing, how that between
the place of Olivet (where the Lord replied to the chiding Jews :
* If these should hold their peace, the very stones will cry out')
and the gate of Jerusalem (which he entered for his passion^'
seated upon an ass), you could not lift a pebble and break it
without finding within it the likeness of a human tongue, that, as
is evident, the Creator's word may be fulfilled.
It pleases me to add in this place what ought to have found
a convenient place in the beginning of this eighth part, for-
asmuch as it happened at that time, although I did not receive
timely notice of this matter. Now there lived in the city of
Milan a celebrated man named Francis, abounding in riches,
intent upon usury, and, which is worst of all things, con-
tumaciously disdaining to pay tithes to God and the Church.
The rector of the parish, taking no notice for a while in hopes
of amendment, at length became so incensed by this [conduct]
that he pronounced sentence [of excommunication] against him,
and demanded without delay papal letters confirmatory of the
published sentence. But while the rebel was biting his lips and
uttering threats, one of these days, he invited the parson of the
church, half in spite and half in jest, to dine with him. The
other declined this, unless he would comply with the commands
of the Church. ' Suspend the sword of sentence for the nonce,'
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MS.
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said he [Francis], ' and come, so that I may be able to confer
reasonably with you.' When they had sat down to a splendid
banquet, having the servants in attendance to wait upon them,
fo. 197 the man of wavering faith said : ' Sir rector, why should I care for
the vexation of your sentence, seeing that I possess all that you
behold, and soundness of heart to book ? But if you would
compel me to believe that your malediction can avail to do me
hurt, curse that white bread placed before you, that I may see
what virtue may be in your authority.' Whereupon, while the
man of the Church was disquieted in conscience as being un-
worthy because of his own character, and the other as a reprobate
insisted, lest the faith should suffer reproach, he stretched forth
his hand, trusting in the goodness of God, and said boldly, ' On
behalf of Almighty God and by authority of the most high
Pontiff, I place thee, oh bread, prepared for the use of that rebel,
under the ban of anathema ! ' No sooner was this spoken than
the bread displayed a smoky hue and the cracks of staleness.
When the impenitent l man saw this, he exclaimed in terror :
* Since you have shown sufficiently what you can effect by cursing,
I now beg that you will show me what power you have in
absolving.' Then the ecclesiastic, made more confident through
the grace granted to him, by the same power restored the bread
to its original appearance. The layman, in consequence, im-
mediately feeling sorrow and devotion said : ' How long is it, sir
father, that I have defrauded God and the Church, yea, and my
own soul also, of what was due in tithes ? ' — * ' '
said the other. ' Then,' said he [Francis], ' I offer satisfaction
1 Imperitus in Stevenson's teit, probably a misreading for impenitent.
2 Blank in original.
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for my rebellion ; moreover I entreat for solemn absolution in
presence of the clergy, and I now endow the church over which
you preside with an annual rent of twenty marks.' This said,
they both rise from table and hasten to the parish church ; and
the bells being rung,1 clergy and people hurry in, and, when the
occasion has been explained, the priors of the Church perform the
desired absolution. At that very hour, certain clerics, who after-
wards informed me of the circumstances, travelling from Scotland
to Bologna, entered the city. Dismounting from their horses
they hastened thither2 still fasting, to witness and marvel [at
the event].
In the same year died Alan de Mora, about Eastertide, and
Sir John of Galloway, formerly Prior of Lanercost.3
In the same year died Dervorgilla4 de Balliol, about whom
Thy peace, oh King of Kings ! may we implore
For noble Dervorguilla, now no more ?
Give her among the sacred seers a place,
Uniting Martha's faith with Mary's grace.
This stone protects her and her husband's heart,
So closely knit not even death could part.6
These verses are inscribed upon her tomb. In the same year
1 Personatis campanis, 2 To the church.
3 Resigned with a pension 1283, ob. 1289.
4 Daughter and co-heiress of Alan, Lord of Galloway, married John de
Balliol the Elder, and was mother of John Balliol, King of Scots. She built
Sweetheart Abbey (Abbada Dulds Cordis) in her husband's memory, causing
his heart to be embalmed and placed in a 'cophyne' of ebony and silver
which she kept constantly beside her. When she died in 1290 it was buried
beside her according to her instructions.
5 In Dervorvilla moritur sensata Sibilla,
Cum Marthaque pia contemplativa Maria.
Da Dervorvilla requie, Rex summe, potiri
Quam tegit iste lapis cor pariterque viri.
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[1293] died John of Kirkby. In the twenty-first year of the
king's reign, about the feast of S. Michael,1 the king's daughter,
Eleanor, was given in marriage to Henry, Comte de Bar, by
whom he had a son, Edward, and a daughter whom Earl
John de Warenne took to wife.
In the same year there was granted to King Edward of
England a half of their goods by the clergy, a sixth by the
citizens, and a tenth part by the rest of the people as a
subsidy for his war in Gascony.
In this year there was a great scarcity of victual in England,
and the suffering poor were dying of hunger.
In the twenty-fourth year of this king's reign (1296), his
daughter Elizabeth was married to John, son of the Count
of Holland, at whose death Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of
Hereford, married her.
At the same time Pope Boniface bestowed the archbishopric
of Dublin upon William de Hopume, giving him indulgence
to be consecrated by any Catholic bishop wheresoever he chose.
This William was Provincial Prior of the Order of Friars-
Preachers and a Master in Theology; he was jocund in speech,
mild in conversation, sincerely religious, and acceptable in the
eyes of all men. Having travelled with the king to Flanders,
he there received the rite of consecration from my Lord
Antony of Durham, by whose mediation on the part of the
English and the Duke of Brittany's on the part of the French,
a truce was arranged between the kings.
[The chronology of these later paragraphs has been dislocated
in compilation.]
1 29th September.
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There happened on Christmas day something to which I
give a place here by way of a joke, and for the sake of
an old saw that gamblers and loose livers always come to
poverty. Now there was in the parish of Well, in the
district of Richmond,1 a careful, but profligate cleric,
proctor for the rector. He kept unlawful company with the
pretty daughter of a certain widow in the village, keeping her
privately in the house of the absent parson, seeing that there
was nobody who could restrain him from doing so. But
when his bed was set in the great upper chamber of the
mansion, his master's steward arrived unexpectedly, coming to
this northern region to collect the rents of the churches,
whereof, being at once ecclesiastic and King's chaplain, he had
too many. The proctor, being obliged to make way for the
steward, set about moving his bed ; but, for the life of him,
he could not think where to hide his bedfellow that she might
not be seen. He placed her, therefore, in a secret, strong and
vaulted, but narrow, cell under the entrance to the upper
chamber, where he used to keep the rents and valuables of
the church, because of the security of the place. The girl,
when she beheld around her plenty of cash, nor could expect
in any other way to provide a competency for herself, thrust
into her bosom a bag containing ten marks, and pretending
that she required to withdraw,2 requested the proctor, whom
she called privily, to allow her to go out. He, suspecting
no deceit, allowed this daughter of guile to depart ; and on
the morrow when he was obliged promptly to render account
and acquit himself of what he had received, he found himself
xln Yorkshire. 2 Simulate ventris necessitate.
THE CHRONICLE OF
cheated by his whore, in consequence whereof he lost his
appointment.
On the festival of S. Agnes an illustrious woman, the Lady
Dervorguilla, ended her long life, relict of Sir John de Balliol,
a woman eminent for her wealth and possessions both in England
and Scotland, but much more so for goodness of heart, for she
succeeded as daughter and heir of the illustrious Alan, sometime
Lord of Galloway. She died at a great age at Castle Barnard,
and was buried at Sweetheart in Galloway,1 a Cistercian monastery
which she herself built and endowed.
At the following Easter it happened in the city of Paris that,
although the holy decrees of God's church declare that Christians
fo. i97b shall not consort with Jews nor do them service, a certain
woman, a daughter of Eve [and] handmaid to some Jews, being
about to go to church on the holy day of the Lord's resurrection,
adorned herself specially for the honour of God. Her master
saw her and, perceiving her purpose, said — *Dost thou intend
to go to church after the manner of Christians and take part
in the vain ceremonies of your superstition ? ' As she did not
deny it, he came nearer to her, commended her kindly, and
freely promised to reward her if she would consent to keep the
Lord's body, which she was to receive, uneaten until she
returned home, so that she might show him what it was that
the Church worshipped. The wretched woman agreed, being as
flexible as a reed ; and while she was attending the service, the
enemy of Christ caused a multitude of Jews to be assembled,
and, having revealed to them the impiety he intended, caused
1 Duguer, i.e. Doux coeur or Dulc'is cordis, so named by her because her
husband's heart was there enshrined.
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them all to await the return of the foolish woman. He ordered
the upper table to be cleared and spread with a better cloth,
and, when the mother of sacrilege arrived, he bade her place
what she carried upon the white linen. When she obeyed the
will of the wicked man, he, as if performing a legal ceremony,
drew out a knife in sight of them all, and, exclaiming —
* Behold what Christians call their God, and which we crucified ! '
struck what had the appearance of bread so violently that he
thumped his arm on the table. Immediately there burst forth
jets of blood, staining the table, the cloth, the hand, the knife
and the garments of the bystanders, the flow of gore being
more copious than from a human wound All of them fled,
terrified by the incident and seeking to hide themselves for fear
of death, leaving the author of the crime alone with his house-
hold. He, after the manner of men, suspected some trick, and
tried to wash himself with water ; but directly the blood
touched anything, it made it, not only bloody, but soaked in
blood ; as with the table linen, so with the knife. At last,
thinking to hide in a deep well the crime he had attempted, with
wicked hands he plunged the Lord's Body, which makes the
guardian angels tremble, into the abyss. But in vain, for it
continued indestructible, floating on the surface of the water,
which was now turned into blood, and causing the spring which
had been flowing at the bottom, to fill the whole well to the very
top. The gore increased its flow, turning all things that it reached
into blood. The news having gone abroad, the wicked fellow
was apprehended and, having been tried by the clergy, was
remitted to the royal authority.1 Each of them suffered
1 That is to the secular arm for punishment.
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judgment, for the woman was burnt to death. Friar W.
Herbert, however, an eyewitness, tells another story, saying
that the woman repented, went to the bishop, related the fact
and was saved ; but the Jew was drawn, hanged and burnt
because he refused to believe.
After these things, at the beginning of winter, King Edward
proposed to sojourn in the northern parts of England, so that
he might more readily communicate with the council of the Scots,
and that his presence might strengthen the weaker parts of
the frontiers of his realm. Setting forth, therefore, for this
purpose with the Queen-Consort, his children and the court,
and arriving near Lincoln, on the festival of the holy apostles
Simon and Jude,1 his wife departed this life. Her mournful
obsequies caused the King to return speedily to London, where
[her remains] received a place of sepulture in Westminster,
with great ceremony and a notable assembly of nobles.
In this year the meek S. Francis revived the memorable
truth of his acts of old, in order to spread the knowledge of
himself in England. For there were living together about three
miles from Oxford a young and well-born couple, in the fifth
year after they had entered the marriage bond ; and as they
were without offspring, they deplored themselves as if already
half dead, despairing of an heir to succeed them. But the lady,
yearning with desire for offspring, and laying the absence thereof
to account of her transgressions, forthwith, impelled by faith,
sought the sacrament of confession in Oxford, and laid open her
life to one of the Order of Minorites. And when with tears
1 2 8th October. The Queen did not die till 2 8th November, which date
is correctly given in the duplicate entry on page 60.
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LANERCOST
she deplored her barren state and explained the love her husband
bore her, the confessor, moved by piety and calling to mind
the acts of the holy father, advised her to commend herself to
S. Francis by a vow, and thereby, as he firmly believed, her
desire would not be disappointed. The woman agreed immedi-
ately, and vowed that for the rest of her life she would abstain
from all food except bread and water on the vigil of the saint,
if through his merits she should obtain the wished-for fruit of her
womb. She did according to her vow in the first year, and
conceived, and before the return of the saint's festival she was
delivered safely of two male twins, and thenceforward suffered
no more from her former trouble.
For variety of matter may here be told what happened about
this date in Cunninghame, a district of Scotland, which may
frighten publicans and be a check upon tipplers. There was
then, and still survives (albeit a changed man) a certain country-
man in the said district, William by name, a man possessed of
means, but inclined to stuff his belly with more than he ought.
In truth, how slothful gluttony renders a working man ! This
one was in the habit of sneaking away from his own cottage,
and in another village, as he could not have it at home, he
would spend the means of other men in carousals1 and drink,
until he was checked by the divine hand in the following
manner.
He was sitting alone by the hearth in the house of a certain
publican, gulping down rather than drinking the beer he had
bought, all the inmates of that house being busy in outdoor
occupations, when there appeared to the fool an exceedingly
1 Symbolis.
75
MS.
THE CHRONICLE OF
hideous likeness of a spirit of the air seated opposite him,
with a foul body, ghostly countenance, fiery eyes and of terrific
dimensions. The disciple of Bacchus shuddered at the sight,
but being bolder through drink, which makes even the unwarlike
pugnacious, accosted him with an enquiry whose satellite he might
be, or what business he had to be there. The other haughtily
disregarding these questions, asked with a laugh who was the
bold fellow who did not recognise him as the owner of a
fo. 198 house in that place, who for thirty years past had held the
foremost place among the topers of that same tavern. 'And
that I may not deceive you,' said he, * come and see what I
have stowed up from the gluttony of spendthrifts.' The other
crossed the hearth without delay and beheld beside the spirit
of deceit an open vessel crammed with abominations so
filthy, that they almost drove the foolish fellow crazy. ' These
which you see,' said the minister of evil,' £ I have collected
from the vomit of thy companions in your revels.' Having
his conscience thus awakened, although, as Solomon said, he
had not felt the rod, and forewarned of the impending
danger, William voluntarily made a vow to the Lord that he
would never in any circumstances taste malt liquor again for
the rest of his life, which [vow] he keeps inviolable at this
day to the wonder of all his former acquaintance. He bears
witness to all men of what he saw with his own eyes, and he
told what is stated above to two trustworthy and religious
men, with whom I am well acquainted.
The solemn obsequies of the Queen having been performed,
whereat John Archbishop of York was present, between whom
and the Bishop of Durham the King had endeavoured without
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success to establish peace, the Archbishop, having sought and
with difficulty obtained licence, crossed the channel on the
festival of All Saints1 to go to Rome, and did so accordingly,
and was honourably received by the leading men of the city
and their retainers. Here he pled for the liberty and ancien
rights of his church in the presence of the Pope ; but how far
he succeeded is not yet fully known.
Eleanor, Queen of England, died on the 4th of the Kalends
of December,2 at Harby. Her entrails were interred in the
mother church of Lincoln on the fourth of the nones of
December,3 and on the fourth of the ides of December,4 her
body was buried at Westminster, and on the day before the
ides 6 her heart was buried at the [church of] the Preaching
Friars of London ; whereupon Henry de Burg wrote [as
follows].
% O reader pause and pray : ' Dear Christ, allow
No ill to vex her who is laid below ! '
How brief's the human span this Queen bears witness ;
Pray for her soul, and mend thine own unfitness.
Nor birth nor worth nor wealth nor strength availeth
To ward off death, which over all prevaileth.
Mourn not too long : thou canst not by much weeping
Bring back her soul who in this tomb lies sleeping ;
But pray that she abide with Christ in glory,
While here below her virtues live in story.
Long live the King, and prosper in achievement !
Would'st thou record the year of his bereavement ?
Write once a thousand and a hundred thrice,
Add them, and from the total take five twice.
Also the month and day thou must remember,
Queen Alianora died on fifth November.6
1 ist November. 2 28th November. 3 2nd December.
4 loth December. 5 izth December. 6 Wrong ; it was the z8th.
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Pope Nicholas the Fourth died on Easter Eve1 after he
had sat for four years and one month ; and the Church
was without a head for three years and more ; where-
fore all was revoked that the Archbishop (who was returning
home) had obtained by his presence at the Curia during two
diets.
It happened also by God's permission on the same Easter
Eve that Acre, a city of Galilee, which for so long had alone
withstood by supernal protection the fury of the infidels, was
taken and utterly destroyed, owing undoubtedly to the corrupt
life of its citizens which wrought the ruin of the papal troops
and also to the false and craven faith of the spiritual fathers,
as the result of this affair clearly proves. All this [tends], as is
believed, to the desolation of the Church in future and also
to aggravate the ascendency of the infidels, because it [Acre]
was the last domicile of the Catholic Church in Asia, the
sanctuary for all pilgrims and the chief market for merchants.
Now whereas this city was a mercantile emporium as much for
Christians as for Saracens, the traffic being by ships on one
side and by beasts of burden on the other, whereof these people
stood in no little want, and as access and return was secured
by a truce, the knights whom the Pope commanded to remain
there until the coming of the crusaders,2 used to behave cruelly
to the Saracen traders, either by seizing their goods without
payment or treating their persons with indignity, transgressing
the law of kindness as if in zeal for the Christian law. When
1 22nd April.
2 On 1 4th October, 1290, King Edward announced his intention to set upon
another crusade, and received from Pope Nicholas IV. six years' tithes from
England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (Feederd).
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this was reported to the Sultan he civilly demanded of the Priors
that, for the protection of the city, they would refrain from
molesting his people and that they would hand over the wrong-
doers to himself; or, if they preferred it, that they would
execute justice upon these men according to their own law.1
When this proposal had been made thrice to them,2 and they
continued to put the matter off, fearing, perhaps, to inflict
punishment on the foreigners, there was sent at first a strong
body of armed men, either to avenge the breaking of the truce
or to execute the malefactors who should be surrendered to them.
And when they laid siege to the city, not more than 15,000 men
made a sortie against 100,000 of the enemy, and at the first
onset cut down many of them, forced them to fly from the walls
for about three mile, and took captive about five thousand of the
rearmost fugitives. They performed this exploit before Palm
Sunday.3 The enemy, therefore, having had a taste of this
bravery, increased their army so that it amounted to 300,000
light troops, investing the city once more and shooting so hotly
against it that, as one who was there informed me, you might see
the little arrows which they call { locusts ' flying in the air
thicker than snowflakes. Those, then, who were in command
upon the walls, perceiving that they could not hold the town for
long against so many foes, determined by common counsel to
make confession and receive the communion, penitently imploring
help for their arms from the Lord, and that all should sally forth
on the day of our common redemption, with ranks arrayed and
1 An unusual example of fair criticism of the Paynim, by a Christian clerical
writer.
2 The Priors of the Templars and Hospitallers. 3 1 5th April.
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the prisoners set in the van, and adventure their lives for the
Author of life. And when they had so resolved with undaunted
MS.
fo. i98b hearts and kindled faith, they sent to the Patriarch, who was in
the place, that they might accomplish under his authority and with
his blessing the purpose which they had begun. He, broken in
spirit and depending on the advice of perfidious persons, replied
that none should attempt this, nor open any of the city gates
under pain of excommunication. Thus it came about that
those who were outside, rendered more daring by what had
happened, redoubled their bitter insults ; until, when the city had
been taken, their patriarch and pastor — indeed their very idol —
was the first to take flight with the other nobles and owners
of great wealth ; and it is said that those defended themselves
longest who had no desire on earth but to have justice and
poverty. About a thousand of the religious were slain in the
city with the common people, incalculable treasure was plundered,
and so many arms of different kinds and such lots of jewels were
divided as spoil as exceeded all the booty that the Saracens had
won hitherto. Whereat they may greatly marvel who know that
God had not changed, but had been alienated by transgression ;
for He had promised that his servants should possess every place
upon which they set foot ; and yet He utterly deprived the
worshippers of Christ of that land whereon he set his holy
footsteps and gave it to the persecutors of the Church.
At that time King Edward, travelling to the northern districts
for reasons above described, celebrated the Lord's Pasque1 at
Newcastle. For the glory of his renown, throughout the whole
of his journey, he expended vast sums in oblations in monasteries,
1 22nd April.
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immense and unheard of charities in the streets ; so much so
that many persons of means, attracted by so liberal a distribution,
blushed not to pose as paupers, although in the law courts they
were at pains to show that they were others than paupers.
And when he had observed the Holy Pentecost 1 at Berwick,
having after the festival of Holy Trinity2 clearly shown from
many and different chronicles, both of Scotland and England,
what rights he and his predecessors possessed in Scotland, he was
acknowledged Lord Paramount of all Scotland by unanimous
consent of the nobles,3 homage being done to him by all, and
the sign manual of all being confirmed by their seals. The
homage of the nobles was done in these words :
* Forasmuch as we have all come to the faith of the noble Prince, Sir Edward
King of England, we promise for ourselves and our heirs, so far as that is within
our power, that we shall be loyal and serve you loyally against all men who may
live and die ; and that so soon as we know of anything to the detriment of the
king or his heirs, we shall oppose it to the best of our power. To this we bind
ourselves and our heirs, which we have sworn upon the Holy Gospels. Moreover,
we have done fealty to our Lord the aforesaid King in these words, each one for
himself: " I will be faithful and loyal, and bear faith and loyalty to King Edward
of England and his heirs, with life and limb and earthly honour against all men
who may live and die." ' 4
He held this saisin peaceably until the creation of King John
[Balliol], and he appointed his constables in all the castles and
lands belonging to the King of Scotland.
He received there the news of the death of the queen, his
mother, who died on the festival of S. John the Baptist.5
1 ioth June. 2i7th June. 8Norham, 5th June [Rymer's Faedera],
4 Given by the chronicles in what purports to be the original Norman French :
but it is incomplete and incorrect. The date was I3th June, 1291.
5 24th June.
F Si
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From the day of her conversion l until her death, besides
other liberal charities, she caused five pounds of silver to be
bestowed upon the poor every Friday of the week, for the
furtherance of her prayers and in adoration of the wounds of
Christ. Forasmuch, therefore, as the king desired to be
present at all the stages of her obsequies, her body was solemnly
prepared and embalmed with spices, the funeral being deferred
until the Assumption of the glorious Virgin.2 But when her
body was committed to the earth with much pomp, King
Edward, with his own hand, gave his mother's heart, enshrined
in gold, to her near relative, the Minister-General of the
Minorite Friars for the time being in the Provinces, with these
words :
' I commit to thee, as the nearest in blood to my mother, the
dearest treasure I have ; and do thou lay it up honourably with
thy brethren in London, whom she herself loved most of all in
the world.'
At the festival of S. Michael3 there was such rain over the
whole of England and such floods as caused great trouble not
only to farmers, but especially to travellers, because of the miri-
ness and wetness of the roads. In many places also the lightning
and thunder were extraordinary, whereof I shall here note an
instance, known to not a few, and related to me by one who
was there and saw.
There is a country village called Staveley, near Chesterfield,
containing a stately parish church, wherein, while the priests
were performing the service on the first Sunday after the feast
1 She died a nun at Amesbury, in Wiltshire.
2 1 5th August. 3 2 gth September.
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of Angels suddenly, about the first hour of the day, the air
became thick and dark, and by a single stroke of lightning
much damage was caused all at once. For the lightning, entering
from the east part of the choir by a window towards the north,
defiled everything it touched along the northern wall with a
black smoke, splitting the stones and loosening the joints of the
couples. It killed one priest and injured the other in such
manner that he lived afterwards as a cripple for not more than
two years. Turning south at the end of the chancel, it blackened
all the right side of the image of the glorious Virgin over the
altar, and did to death a certain cleric who was kneeling in prayer
at the right end [of the altar], having there performed his mass,
so suddenly that it turned that part of his body which was
nearest the wall from head to foot, together with his garments,
into something like pitch, the rest of him remaining entire.
Thence crossing westward to the bell-tower, which, with its
roof, was all of stone, it shattered the cross-beams with a loud
crash, and easily swept away the stone dowel with its great iron
spike. Such mysteries as these deserve to be shrewdly investi-
gated at leisure and to be gravely considered.
In the same year King Edward the Fourth, son of Henry
the Third, in the course of investigating upon whom the kingdom
of Scotland should devolve by hereditary right, decreed that any
one who claimed the aforesaid kingdom by hereditary right, MS.
should set forth his case so that he should have justice. The
pleadings between them took place before the responsible deputies
of the kingdoms of England and Scotland.
Concerning a certain Earl of Chester named Ranulph : this
earl had a certain sister named Matilda, who had been married
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to David, the King of Scotland's brother.1 This Matilda had
by her lord David one son, who was called John, and three
daughters — Margaret, the eldest, Isobel, the second, and Ada,
the third and youngest.2 Margaret afterwards was married to
Alan, Earl of Galloway,3 who, by the aforesaid Margaret, begat
one daughter, who was called Dervorguilla, afterwards married
to Sir John de Balliol, whose son was Sir John de Balliol, who
claimed and obtained the kingdom of Scotland, because his
maternal grandmother was the eldest daughter of King David,4
who left no male surviving issue.
Isabella, the second daughter4 of King David, was given in
marriage to a certain Earl of Carrick, who was called Robert
de Brus,6 who also claimed the kingdom of Scotland in right
of his wife, who was the second daughter of King David.
Ada, third and youngest daughter of the aforesaid king, was
given in marriage to Henry de Hastings, father of John de
Hastings, who claimed the kingdom in right of his mother.
But the aforesaid King Edward, having been informed ot
this, caused forty responsible persons to be elected for both
realms — to wit, England and Scotland, twenty for one and
twenty for the other, and directed them to examine the afore-
said question and other papers bearing on it, and to decide
1 David, Earl of Huntingdon (1143-1219), third son of Prince Henry, second
son of David I., King of Scots.
2 She had three sons and four daughters.
3 He was not an earl (comes}, but a lord (dom'mui).
4 Really the grand-daughter.
5 He was not Earl of Carrick, but fifth Lord of Annandale. It was Robert
de Brus, seventh Lord of Annandale, who became Earl of Carrick in right of
his wife.
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which of the aforesaid [competitors] had the better right to the
kingdom of Scotland ; and, that they might do this more thor-
oughly and assuredly, he gave them time for deliberation from
the feast of blessed John the Baptist1 until the feast of S.
Michael.2 When they reached that date, they determined that
Sir John de Balliol had the better title to the kingdom of Scotland,
and that it fell to him by right. When he heard this, my lord
Edward, by common consent of the nobles and of the majority
of the deputies, conferred the kingdom of Scotland upon Sir
John de Balliol, who did homage.
In the same year Eleanor, formerly Queen of England and
mother of King Edward, died, a nun, at Amesbury, and was
there honourably interred. Her^Jieart was buried in London
on the feast day of S. Andrew 3 and birthday of the said Eleanor;
on which day all the archbishops, bishops, abbots and other
dignitaries of the church, earls and many others were assembled.
In the same year, after Easter, Edward, King of England, held
a Parliament at Norham, in the nineteenth year of his reign,
concerning the affairs of the realm of Scotland, where the suze-
rainty of Scotland was adjudged to him and unanimously conceded
by all the magnates of the aforesaid realm elected for this matter
and closely examined upon oath, having touched the sacred
gospels.
The land that groaned so long without a king
May now a joyful restoration sing ;
The folk whom anarchy did once oppress
Do now an honourable prince possess,
Able and anxious to redress all wrongs.
Scotia, distraught by lawlessness too long,
Is now, by English Edward's guidance, strong.
1 24th June. 2 zgth September. 3 3Oth November.
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Strong and at peace ; each chief hath sheathed the sword,
Which he had drawn against his neighbour lord.
Let Scotia prosper, while, from o'er the border,
King Edward shields the cause of law and order.
In the same year, on the kalends of March,1 died my lord Ralph
of good memory, sometime [Bishop] of Carlisle ; and the see being
vacant Master John of Nassington 2 was sent to Carlisle, etc.
In the same year a provincial council was held at York by com-
mand of the Pope, concerning the recovery of the Holy Land and
the union of the Templars and Hospitallers.
Item, in the same year there was granted by my lord Nicholas,
the Pope to Edward the Fourth, King of England, a tithe to be
levied for six years upon all the goods temporal and ecclesiastical
of all religious persons and upon all the spiritual goods of all the
clergy, according to actual value [ascertained] upon oath through-
out all England.
When the lawful inheritance of the kingdom of Scotland had
devolved, after many pleadings and mature discussions,
to Sir John de Balliol in preference to the rest of the
competitors for the honour of governing the people of Scotland,
on the appointed day, to wit that of S. Andrew the Apostle,3 he
was raised to the kingly seat at Scone, with the applause of a
multitude of people assembled, the King of England's attorneys
also taking part, and he set out for England to make personal
acknowledgement of the honour he had received and perform
the homage of fealty.
At this time Ralph, Bishop of Carlisle, departed this life at
Linstock.4 For being greatly fatigued by a long journey which
1 ist March. 2 In Northamptonshire.
3 3oth November. * In the parish of Stanwix, Cumberland.
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he made in deep snow, returning from the parliament of London,1
he bled himself [on arriving] in the aforesaid episcopate, and when
he was liberally refreshing his body, he desired to sleep. In his
slumber the vein burst, and before he could be attended to he
took leave of human affairs, deluged in blood and deprived of
speech.
Also on the festival of the Purification2 my lord John of
Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, died, who from the time of
his consecration had abstained from eating meat, would have none
but coarse garments and bed-clothes, surpassed all his associates
and the ministers of his chapel in vigils and prayers, so that often he
would light the lamps and candles with his own hands, and would
not disdain other menial offices. Master Robert of Winchelsea,
Archdeacon of East Anglia and doctor of theology, was elected in
his place, whose consecration was delayed because the Apostolical
See was vacant. Also on the Sunday within the octave of the
Ascension of our Lord, which, in that year, fell on the third of
the kalends of June,3 the city of Carlisle was burnt, so that the loss
of the bishop was followed by the desolation of the people in this
manner. Just as it is declared in Holy Writ that the ruin of the
people was caused by evil priests, which the Saviour confirmed
by the cleansing of the temple, and as the aforesaid see [of Carlisle]
was weakened by many vices, so that, as holy Job made observa-
tion, the heavens should reveal the iniquity of the people and the
earth should rise up against them, [so] God caused a disturbance MS.
of the air, of the sea and of fire during the space of one day and
1 Held on the morrow of the Epiphany, 1292. 2 2nd February.
3 This is the 3oth May, but the real date of that Sunday was i8th May.
Hemingburgh gives S. Dunstan's day, igth May, as the date of the fire.
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night, and, what is more, there was an exercise of human malice.
For such a furious wind arose as destroyed all vegetation, and
either overthrew travellers afoot or on horseback or drove them
easily out of their right course. There was also such a tremend-
ous inroad of an unusually high tide as to overflow the ancient
landmarks of the country [in a degree] beyond all memory of old
people, overwhelming beasts pasturing along its shores and de-
stroying the sown crops. Satan even caused the son of a certain
man x to set fire to his father's house outside the town at the west
end of the cathedral church, and this, escaping notice at first, soon
spread over the whole town, and, what is more, it speedily con-
sumed the neighbouring hamlets to a distance of two miles beyond
the walls, and afterwards the streets of the city, with the churches
and collegiate buildings, none being able to save any but very few
houses. The fire, indeed, was so intense and devouring that it
consumed the very stones and burnt flourishing orchards to the
ground, destroyed animals of all kinds ; and, which was even
more deplorable, it burnt very many human beings of different
ages and both sexes. I myself saw birds flying about half burnt
in their attempt to escape.
The valuable contents of warehouses and treasuries were wasted
there ; but, which was more striking than the rest, the price of the
timbers, glazing and stalls [of the cathedral] which a brigand rather
than a high priest2 had extorted from the purses of stipendiary
priests, earning thereby ill-will and malediction ; so that the
flames devoured the sepulchre of that wicked extortioner, but the
1 The son is said to have done so in revenge for being disinherited.
^Prtedo non prcesul, referring to Bishop Rafe de Ireton. For the offence given
by his exactions see under the year 1280.
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bounds of his predecessor, Robert de Chalix, remained uninjured
in every part.1
In the same year Pope Nicholas the Fourth died on Holy
Thursday.2
In the same year Rismaraduc, one of the nobles of Wales, a
traitor to the King of England, was judicially drawn at York on
the morrow of the Holy Trinity,3 and was hanged for three days
and nights at Knaresmire.
The kings of Scotland are bound to make submission to their
overlord, the King of England and his heirs, as is proved from
the time of King Edward named the Elder, and can still be learnt
from deeds and papal bulls.
Charter of William^ King of Scot/and.
' In a charter made by William King of Scotland to John King of England it
is set forth that William King of Scotland granted to his dearest lord John, King
of England, that he [John] should arrange a marriage for Alexander his [William's]
son wherever he wished, as for his liege man, so long as he [Alexander] was not
disparage thereby.4 Item, that whatsoever might happen to John, the said King
William and his son Alexander, should keep faith and loyalty to his [John's] son
Henry, as to their liege lord, against all mortals, and shall help him to hold the
kingdom for him according to their powers, saving always the allegiance whereby
they are bound to King John. Given in the thirteenth [year] of the reign of
King John.' 5
Among the papal bulls for the kings of England it is found
that Pope Honorius the Third calls the King of England lord of
the King of Scotland, who was waging war wickedly against his
lord himself, and is therefore placed under the bond of excom-
munication.
1 Hemingburgh states that the incendiary was taken and hanged.
2 3rd April. Fleury gives the date as Good Friday. 3 2nd June.
*I.e, that the marriage should befit his rank. 5 Fcedera^ A.D. 1212.
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' Item : Gregory the Ninth saith that long ago a friendly compact was made
between Henry the Second, grandfather, and John, father, of Henry King of
England on the one part and William King of Scotland on the other, whereby the
said William and Alexander, son of the aforesaid King of Scots, made allegiance
and homage to the grandsire, the father and the same king, binding their suc-
cessors, the earls and barons of Scotland, to perform the same to the kings of
England themselves ; and, should the terms of the compact not be observed,
[then] the earls and barons of Scotland should adhere to the kings of England.1
' Item : Gregory writes to the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Carlisle
to admonish and persuade the King of Scotland to keep to the aforesaid amicable
compact.2
' Item : Gregory writes to the King of Scotland, addressing him as liege-man of
the King of England, [desiring him] to keep his oath of allegiance and expressing
surprise that he is not keeping it by spending more in honour of the King of
England.' 8
On the day of S. George the Martyr,4 my lord John of Halton
was elected Bishop of Carlisle.
Verses on the Burning of Carlisle.
'Twas in the jocund month of May
That fair Carlisle in ashes lay.
Ah, wretched city ! hard's thy fate,
Swept by the flames from gate to gate.
Of stately buildings none, alack !
Remain, except the Friar's Black.
Organ and bells and tuneful choir
But serve to mourn this dreadful fire.
May'st thou yet see a brighter morrow !
Christ hear our prayer and ease our sorrow.
In the same year, on the morrow of All Souls,5 the Itinerant
Justiciaries sat in Carlisle ; to wit, Sir Hugh de Cressingham, Sir
William de Ormesby, and the others associated with them.
1 25th September, 1237 (Faedera). 24th January, 1235 (Faedera).
3 27th April, 1231 ; 4th January, 1235. 4 23rd April.
5 3rd November.
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Christ's holiness renewed in his servant S. Anthony, confessor
and doctor, the accustomed miracles, whereof I was
A.D. 1293.
informed by the letter of an Anglican friar of the same
convent, who was present and beheld them, and whose letter I here
insert in its order.1
* One of the friars of the Minorite order, by birth a
Parmesan, by name Bernardinus, of good enough family,
young and strong, healthy and active a fortnight after Easter,
was suddenly deprived of voice, sight and speech, and suffered
such difficulty in breathing as only to blow out the smallest
candle with difficulty. His parents and brethren decided to
send him, thus crippled, as speedily as might be for the
advice of the doctors of Lombardy. However, after being
thus disabled for three days and having hastily begun his
journey, he recovered his sight, although the use of his MS.
tongue and power of breathing showed not the least improve-
ment. The most celebrated medical men failing either to
detect the cause of the illness or to apply a remedy (albeit
they tried cautery in various ways), sent him away without
any hope [of recovery]. But as the memorial services of S.
Anthony were being held in the neighbourhood, the invalid, no
doubt divinely inspired, obtained by signs and nods license from
his minister to go with the rest of the friars of his province to
Padua, where the saint reposeth. Arriving there on the fourth
day before the festival should be celebrated on the Sabbath, the
friars of the convent were profoundly affected, weeping to behold
such a fine young fellow as dumb as a statue. On the morrow
JS. Anthony of Padua lived 1000 years after S. Anthony, the founder of
monasticism, and died in 1231.
THE CHRONICLE OF
the sufferer devoutly repaired to the place of the shrine,1
wherein the saint is set, when it happened that the Most
High glorified his saint, so that about evening of the same
day there came upon the invalid as he prayed there a certain
commotion of his entrails, not without excruciating pain.
Overcome by this, he left the shrine and vomited something
filthy and, as it were, sulphurous. Feeling thereafter that he
could breathe [freely], but that he had not yet recovered the
use of his tongue, he took some tablets and gave them to
a friar whom he met, after writing on them that he believed
he would be able, through help of the Holy Father, to read
the epistle on the morrow. Then hastening again to the
shrine, accompanied by three friars, after waiting a little while he
recovered the use of his tongue. Immediately a number of friars
collected, who, when they beheld what had been done, with
streaming eyes united in praising the Lord and [His] saint. Then
there was a gathering of the villagers, in whose presence he who
had been healed, standing in a high place in front of the shrine,
began in a loud voice [to chant the] Sahe regina, etc. When the
antiphone of the blessed S. Anthony had been solemnly sung, the
minister took up the subject and preached a sermon, making
known the circumstances of the miracle.
* But when the report of the miracle spread abroad, some people,
through their shortsighted infirmity, threw doubts upon the
divine goodness, declaring that there had been no miracle but
[only] an imposture by the friars, since he who had been cured
was a stranger. Wherefore, lest the bounty of the divine conde-
scension should be brought into contempt, a second manifestation
1 Archa.
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followed, which, in proof of good faith, was attested by the formal
oaths of clergy, of magistrates and of knights, and also by the
evidence of six parsons.
' Well, at dawn of the vigil of the festival [there came] a certain
lay brother of the nuns of the monastery of the Order of S. Ber-
nard, who had been a lay brother at Padua for five-and-thirty
years, or thereby, and was deaf and dumb from his birth, and,
which is more remarkable, was wholly destitute of a tongue,
besides being ignorant of every form of speech. Only by means
of eyesight and signs and nods he lived with the others, being
employed as a baker. Beholding the crowd of people assembling
from all parts, as is the custom, in honour of the saint, he
could obtain no leave from the abbess to repair to the saint's
shrine, although he earnestly besought it. Then, when he
had sorrowfully composed himself to sleep, about midnight
there came to him, as he declared, a Minorite friar, stout, of
lofty stature and of middle age, who wakened him by touching
him and said : u Dost thou desire to be cured ? Rise and go
to the shrine."
* He arose at once and struck a light, [but] when he looked for
him who had appeared to him, he could not find him. Taking
for granted that it was another lay brother of his monastery, he
hastened faithfully to fulfil the saint's command ; but, on arriving
at the church, he was unable to get in, because, being entirely
filled with the women performing the vigil of the saint, it was
closed under an armed guard, as is the custom every year.
Being forced of necessity to remain outside, he entered at the
first stroke of dawn, and did not leave the shrine until the solemn
mass was finished. Then he went out to breakfast with the friars,
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as the clergy, priests and especially the Regulars, wherever they
may have come from, usually do.
' The meal being over, he returned to the shrine, around which
there remained a constant throng ; and, when the service of
Nones was finished, at the rest hour he began to sweat copiously
and to suffer severe pains, so that he seemed about to faint.
Then he felt in his head, between his ears, a great cleaving and
violent dragging at his ears, and suddenly he began to speak,
although he had never learnt [to do so]. There was such a
multitude of men there, and the gathering increased so much,
because the healed man was well known to everybody, that,
although the doors were strong, they were scarcely fit to withstand
the violence of the worshippers, so that the whole place was filled
with shoutings within and without, and oripilationem1 was brought
upon the slanderers of the preceding miracle. There was among
them a certain youth named Cambius, of the Roman province,
but a native of Bologna, who had been sent by his minister to
consult the Bolognese doctors about a rupture from which he
suffered terribly. This youth, taking account of the grace be-
stowed upon others and glowing again with fervid faith, when he
neither was able nor dared to join the women collected in the
crypt, being prevented both by modesty and by the crush, followed
the example of the woman with the bloody flux. He touched
the stones of the shrine with his hand, which he thrust into his
bosom and touched the seat of his trouble. He then felt the
parts which had fallen out to be replaced in their proper position
by following his hand, and the rupture to be comfortably healed.
' In the same city there was a little two-year-old boy named
1 Meaning doubtful.
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Thomas, son of one of our fellow-townsmen, who had been care-
lessly left by his mother near a mascellum * half full of water.
Falling into the water, head and body [were immersed] to the
waist, with his feet in the air, the boy was drowned. The
mother, after she had attended to one of her husband's shoes,
recollected the boy, and when she had looked everywhere for
him, found him at last in the water, as cold and stiff as a log.
Horror-struck, she was not sparing in screams ; the neighbours
were roused and hurried in from all parts, and the wretched MS.
fo 200^
woman showed them the body of the dead boy. The [boy's]
father or grandfather, employed at that time within the walls
of our church and in the saint's service, made hasty arrange-
ments with some friars for the funeral. Now when the spec-
tacle 2 was over, after having been on view until dusk, some of
the neighbours advised the parents to have recourse with con-
fidence to the favour of SS. Francis and Antony. The
grandfather then vowed to give the boy's weight in corn, and
to keep the vigils of the said saints fasting, and to travel in
person to the dispensation of S. Francis, if the boy should be
restored to life. No sooner had the vow been uttered, than
suddenly the boy began to vomit a great quantity of water,
and was restored to life and health.'
These things [are recorded] without hope of reward for the
glory of the saints and the edification of posterity.
In this year war broke out at Dieppe in Neustria,3
A.D. 1293.
when the citizens of that place inhumanly attacked
1 Literally 'a shambles.' 2 ? Of the boy's corpse.
8 An archaic term, indicating the ancient Prankish realm between Meuse
and Loire, roughly corresponding with modern Normandy.
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our people of the Cinque Ports1 with slaughter and rapine
at the instance of an agitator, nay and what is more, [they
were] encouraged by the ambition of their prince, to wit
Charles, brother of the King of France, who had conceived
hatred for our people, because he could not supplant his own
brother in that kingdom, whom it was King Edward's policy
to support in this district. So, in order that he might make
more evident the venom which he had conceived, he subjected
pilgrims and scholars to many afflictions, even putting some
poor people to death on the gallows and hanging beside them
live dogs to which he likened them.2 And when these hostilities
had grown to such a pitch that the Cinque Ports people attacked
the inhabitants of Dieppe with sword and fire the King [of
France] issued an order in council that all scholars from our
side of the sea, Scots as well as English, should clear out of
France. The same [edict] closed Paris to burgesses coming
from beyond the sea, but this was not carried into effect. He
even dared, bad Christian that he was, to consult a soothsayer
as to what harm might happen from the ill will now engendered
against England ; and when the soothsayer replied that nothing
could prevail against that kingdom so long as it was under
the protection of a Lady of great majesty and a noble ecclesiastic,
it is said that he put him to death by way of fee. No wise
man may entertain a doubt that the diabolic art indicated in
metaphor3 that Lady who, according to John of Damascus, is
1 Portuenses.
2 This insult is charged against the Norman seamen in a contemporary state
paper. In the margin is sketched a gallows whereon hang some Englishmen,
alternated with dogs.
3 Per antinomiam.
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ruler of all things, being Mother of the Creator. In whose
honour I insert here something which happened at that time,
which I received on the oath of a religious man in the parish
of Aysgarth near Richmond.
A certain countryman of blameless life worshipped the blessed
Mother of God with devout mind, and was for seven years
or more under the spiritual guidance of the aforesaid person.
Certain fellows, banded together and burning with cupidity,
robbed him of three oxgangs of his farm,1 thinking that he
was helpless in his own defence. Deeply distressed by his
misfortune, he prayed devoutly to his protectress, and brought
an action at York against the evildoers. Having obtained
little success there because the palms [of the court] had been
well greased,2 and preferring to die rather than be beaten, he
took his case to be pled in London. Arriving there with
much difficulty and with scant means, he laid his weary limbs
to rest in an empty and cold house at the end of a street
on this side of London, incessantly and with tears imploring
the Queen of Mercy, that she would deign to have compassion
upon him in his just cause, vowing that thenceforward he would
always distribute a yearly allowance of wheat among the poor
in her honour at the feast of the Purification, which was then
at hand. And when sleep had wholly deserted him because
of the emptiness of his stomach, the anxiety of his mind and
the narrowness of his bed, the Holy Mother of God appeared,
as he often used to swear, to the disconsolate wretch, shining
with dazzling brilliancy and attended by two companions. She
was encompassed by marvellous lights, intellectual he used to
1 Tres bovata* = 39 acres. 2 Proffer manus inunctas.
G 97
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call them, without doubt the angelical powers ; for as such
they were revealed to the simple rustic, as they stood around
the Queen of Virgins.
Addressing the countryman — * Thou hast put thy trust in
me,' said she, ' and behold, to-morrow through my aid, thy
land shall be restored to thee. Moreover thou shalt return
home whole and unhindered, so that thou shalt not even bruise
thy foot with travelling.'
All that the Mother of the Word of God promised was
fulfilled straightway ; and one night, after he had returned
home, the Mother of Consolation deigned once more to appear
to him as he was quietly sleeping. ' In like manner,' said
she, ' as thou seest that I have performed what I promised,
and quickly attended to thy prayer, so do thou firmly believe
me ready to attend to all those who invoke me with sincere
affection.' This statement is in accord with what the saints
have declared about the Mother of Mercy, in whom [the
Saviour], coming from on high, rested bodily during nine
months in the bowels of mercy for our salvation.
But I will add yet another [instance] bearing upon this matter,
which happened to take place some thirty years ago or more.
A few years ago there was in London a certain vicar of
the church of Dalmeny, Sir James [by name], who used to
discourse to many persons what he had experienced of the
Blessed Virgin. In his youth, as he said, he was a scholar
of Cambridge, sharing board and bed with a comely English
youth who was called William Wilde, because he was not only
playful and tuneful, but also too much given to wantonness.1
1 An interesting example of a surname originating in a personal trait.
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He [James] used to worship the glorious Virgin in a devout
spirit, attending her office, exercising himself at her services in
songs and prayers, and, as he trusted that she would obtain
pardon for him, calling her, in the usual phrase, the Mother
of Mercy.
Now one night, as he was reposing beside his comrade
aforesaid, he seemed to be hurried off towards the east by
two malignant monsters who were about to cast him into a
vast fire which he saw before him. Looking back, however,
he beheld a company of the blessed coming like priests in
exceedingly white raiment and with shining faces, one of whom
cried in a loud voice : * Bring him back whom you are
carrying away, that he may be examined. It is not justice
that one who has not been sentenced by the judge should
suffer punishment.' Returning then with his enemies, he MS.
[James] was taken in charge by the senate of saints, and was
brought trembling before a handsome and dignified man of
lofty stature, whom he understood to be a protector from
his tormentors, who were vociferously accusing him. Then,
after one of the adversaries had declaimed from a long roll,
covered with black characters, setting forth all his [James's]
misdeeds, however many, in an exact manner, the just judge
asked him whether he wished to say anything in his defence.
James, through remorse of conscience, made no answer at all,
whereupon the malicious persecutor exclaimed : * Just judge,
do not take from us him whom thou perceivest to be rightly
our prisoner ? ' But the Creator of man turning graciously
towards the prostrate [James] said : ' Look around carefully
and see whether among my attendants there be one who may
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be willing to offer intercession for thee.' He, casting his eyes
over the whole host, which, as he said, seemed to consist only
of male beings, could not see her whom he most earnestly
longed for, the Mother of Mercy. Straightway the dire
sentence was pronounced, and he was being violently dragged
away to cruel torments, when in the background he beheld
again a choir of virgins, brightly shining and rejoicing with
gladsome praise, of whom the Mistress, more refulgent than
the rest, commanded the party that was leaving to halt.
When he beheld her he humbly invoked the Queen of Mercy,
imploring that she would deign to pity him in such dire
extremity, reminding her of the hope, devotion and labour
he had given to her service. ' Thou hast incurred a sentence/
quoth the Mother of Clemency to him, * which cannot be
revoked. What would'st thou that I should do for thee ? '
* O Lady,' said he, ' if more may not be done, help me in this
that I may be given the libel of the accusation against me.'
The Empress of Heaven, assenting immediately, laid hold of the
adversary, and, seizing from him the document, restored it to
the hands of the petitioner, saying, ' It is now necessary that
thou delete what is written.'
In all this he [James] moved his body so uneasily — trembling,
sweating and muttering — as to awaken and cause no little terror
to the comrade beside whom he lay, who failed to rouse him
from his dreadful moaning either by poking him or shouting
at him, until, the aforesaid vision having come to an end, he
[James], like one returning from a great distance, began to ask
his comrade where he was or whence he had come. At length,
when his comrade told him how he had been behaving in his
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sleep, James then and there describecf to him in turn all that he
had seen, exhibiting in his fist as testimony the very roll which
the Virgin had seized from the demon, though he would never
show to anybody what was written therein. Also he started
immediately at daybreak on the morrow and, confessing himself
with tears, obliterated all that Satan had written. Thenceforward
he practised such extreme penitence by denying his flesh all
indulgence and keeping fasts, that the austerity of his life caused
religious men to blush. *
Now, whereas virtue shines clearer by contrast with vice, it
may be permitted to put in writing what I know to have
happened nine years ago. In the west of England, about twelve
miles from Bristol, there dwelt in the country town of Wells (a
church which is divided into portions for secular canons) a certain
prebendary, whose life I know not how to describe otherwise than
by means of an observation by S. Augustine, who said that he
who lived well could not die amiss. When God in His good
pleasure had numbered his days, He permitted him to be
grievously afflicted, and later on, as the disease increased, He sent
some Minorite friars to be at hand for his assistance. They,
indeed, having been informed beforehand by rumour about the
invalid, met on their journey a messenger who explained his
master's condition to them. When they arrived at his house and
ascended to the attic where he lay in order to comfort him, the sick
man declined or hesitated to take the medicine they had brought,
desiring them to go down to the hall and refresh their bodies
with food, seeing that they must be fatigued. Also he kept with
him, as his whole household, a boy to assist him and do his
bidding, and, when the others had begun their meal, he bade this
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boy bring him out of the open chest which stood opposite [his
bed] a silver bowl which he would find within, full of silver and
gold. When this was brought to him and placed in his lap, he
stared at it with startled and fixed gaze, and, thrusting in his
hand, attempted, as if smitten with mania, to thrust the yellow
metal into his mouth, biting and sucking it as if it had an
exquisite flavour. Then the simple lad beside him rushed in
horror down to the hall, crying for help because his master, like
a lunatic, would not stop devouring coins. The friars, running
up in haste, found the whole chamber swept and the corpse of the
defunct thrown on the bare ground, stripped naked and darker
than lead. Moreover it bristled from head to heel with coins
stuck in it, just as cooks stick lard into all parts of meat for
roasting when they wish to make it more toothsome. This event
took place in the year when Alexander King of Scotland departed
this life, and was told to our congregation by a friar who belonged
at that time to the convent of Bristol. And so was fulfilled in
this wretch the saying of the holy Job in the twentieth chapter,
* he shall vomit the riches he has devoured, and God shall draw
them out of his belly,' et cetera.
There happened in this year [1293] a great scarcity of victual,
so much so that in many places a quarter of wheat was sold for
thirty shillings.
At the same time Gilbert Earl of Gloucester, who had married
King Edward's daughter, the Lady Joan of Acre (so called
because she was brought to light in that place when her father
was a pilgrim in the Holy Land), having had a son by her,
immediately made over the whole of his English property to the
royal hands in such manner that he [the King] should endow his
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infant grandson out of his bounty, while the earl undertook the
office of guardian till the end of his life.
Early in the morning of Saturday next before the feast of
S. Margaret virgin,1 as I was travelling with my scrip, we beheld
in the east a huge cloud blacker than coal, in the midst whereof
we saw the lashes of an immense eye darting fierce lightning into
the west ; whence I understood that Satan's darts would come
from over the sea. Sure enough on the Sunday following,2 there
began and continued throughout the night over the whole of the
west part of the diocese of York, thunder and lightning so MS.
prodigious that the dazzling flashes followed each other without
intermission, making, as it were, one continuous sunlight. Not
only men were terrified and cried aloud, but even some domestic t
animals — horses for certain. In some places houses were burnt \
or thrown down, and demons were heard yelling in the air.
On the feast of All Saints, Henry of Galloway, a bishop
beloved of God, departed this life ; to whom succeeded Master
Thomas of Daltoun, who was consecrated at Ripon on the feast
of the Assumption of the most blessed Virgin.
Also on Sunday following the feast of S. Martin 3 the daughter
of Robert Earl of Carrick was married to Magnus King of
Norway.4
1 nth July. 2 1 2th July. 3 I §th November.
4 Isobel, eldest daughter of Robert Earl of Carrick, and sister of King Robert I.,
married Eric (not Magnus) King of Norway, whose first wife was Princess
Margaret of Scotland. It has been commonly alleged that Isobel married first
Sir Thomas Randolph, Great Chamberlain to Alexander III., and she bore to
him Thomas Randolph, afterwards Earl of Moray. But, as Sir James Balfour
Paul has pointed out, she cannot have been old enough to be the mother of
Randolph, who witnessed John Balliol's fealty to King Edward in 1292. The
Rev. J. Anderson suggests that Randolph's mother was a daughter of the Earl of
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In the same year there was intestine naval war between the
English and the French at Saint-Mathieu in part of Brittany,
where the French lost two hundred and fourteen vessels and
six thousand and sixty men ; l but on the English side only
three men perished.
Item, Friar John of Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury died,
and holy Robert of Winchelsea was elected to the Archbishopric
of Canterbury.
Item, the Comte de Bar was married to Eleanor, daughter of
King Edward.2
On the Saturday before Palm Sunday, which in that year
fell on the fourth of the Ides of April,3 there took
A.D. 1294.
place in Lothian an event most marvellous, enough
I in itself to warn wise persons that it is evil spirits that stir up
\ tempests, and also to teach the ignorant that, according to the
teaching of the saint, in every act and at every step thy hand
should make the sign of the cross.4
Verily, on that day, when crowds gathered in the town of
Haddington from various districts to attend the market, a young
fellow with an equally young wife came thither with his neigh-
bours from a distance of six miles5 to buy some necessaries.
But there occurred such a dense fog and driving snow as struck
Carrick by a former marriage. See the Scots "Peerage sub vocibus Moray and
Carrick.
1 This somewhat startling disparity of numbers is confused in Stevenson's
edition by a misplaced comma. Franci ducentas naves amiserunt, et quatuor-
decim et sex millia hominum et sexaglnta. The comma should be placed after
quatuordecim.
2 She was the widow of Alphonso, King of Aragon.
8 April 10. 4Tertullian, de Corona militari, c. iii. 5 Ad sex miliaria distant.
104
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with dismay the countenances of all who beheld it. Having
done their business [the couple] were returning home about mid-
day, and the wife, who was a hale and hearty [young woman],
riding on the horse behind her husband's saddle. On arriving
at a rivulet about half a mile from their house in the town of
Lazenby,1 she persuaded her husband to let her alight from the
horse and follow on foot, while he went forward to the house
and ordered a fire to be kindled against the cold. He consented,
out of love for his wife ; and no sooner was she left alone than
suddenly she encountered by the side of the stream an evil spirit,
of a pale countenance, but presenting the "appearance of a girl
scarce seven years old. This [creature], seizing the woman by
the left hand with a hand like a horse's hoof, tore the flesh off
her arm and flung her, terrified, into the water ; then, as she
struggled to rise, it dealt her such a gash between the shoulders
that a man's fist might easily be thrust into the wound, and as
it cruelly handled [the woman], who resisted with all her might,
it made some parts of her body black and blue, and other parts
deadly pale, tearing off the flesh, as was said, and as those who
saw and touched her have testified to me.
The husband, wondering why she tarried, galloped back [to
her], and, finding his wife almost in a swoon, placed her on the
horse and took her home. Strengthened through confession and
by extreme unction, she showed to all who visited her the humour2
and extravasated blood, and departed this life on the second
week day following.
1 Villa de Laysynbi — not identified.
3 Serif -m, in Stevenson's edition ; perhaps a misreading for serum ; but perhaps
leriem, i.e. a relation of the facts.
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About the same time, King Edward, having been summoned
to present himself in person before the French, caused suitable
arrangements to be made at Amboise for his reception ; but,
on receiving letters from privy friends warning him to beware of
being made prisoner, and not to cross the sea, he abandoned his
intention ; and on the feast of the Lord's Ascension,1 contrary to
every form of justice, he was deprived of all his lands and
holdings beyond the sea, as being liable to forfeiture. Also, the
King of France2 issued interdict against the King of England's
brother, the Lord Edmund, who had married Queen Mary,3
relict of the King of Navarre, that he should not cross the
frontiers of the French. Moreover, he tyrannously withheld
from the said Queen Mary,4 mother of his own wife and royal
consort, the terce which belonged to her as her portion of the
kingdom of Navarre, unless she would consent to desert her
husband (as he in vain expected her to do), and consent to live
in foreign parts.5 But Gascony, wholly escheated by this pro-
ceeding, was consigned for custody and defence to the haughty
Charles, brother of the King, about whom it has not yet become
known how he succeeded. From this time began the interdict of
entry to travellers, and of the purchase of wool and hides from
England, and much inconvenience in consequence. Then the
Cluniac monks were banished from our borders, and in one day
at the same hour, throughout the whole province, an inventory
was made and vouched for of the treasures, as well in the houses
of the clergy as in the churches — cathedral, urban and rural.
1 zyth May. 2 Philip IV., le Bel.
3 Her name was not Mary, but Blanche. 4 That is, Blanche.
6 That is, foreign from England.
1 06
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The Lord Edmund had three sons by that lady Queen1 — the
eldest being Thomas Earl of Lancaster,2 the second Henry Earl
of Leicester,3 and a third who remained in France with his sister.
In this year, Friar John of Darlington, of the Order of
Preachers, confessor of the late King Henry, was appointed
collector of tithes in the realm of England by papal authority. It
was by his learning and industry that the great Concordances,
which are called Anglican, were published. The same was
afterwards made Archbishop of Dublin by papal appointment.
In the same year (1294) the miserable Welsh, formerly almost
done for, rebelled for a third time, having made Madoc, the
bastard son of the last Llewellyn, their prince. Having destroyed
three castles, they betook themselves to Snowdon, numbering, as
is reported, about eighteen thousand. King Edward marched
against them ; although he could speedily have brought them
to subjection by force, yet, forasmuch as they never dared
to meet him in the open, he prudently weakened their resistance
by gradually occupying Anglesey and other lands, which he was
able to lay waste within the space of one month.
On the commemoration day of S. Paul,5 Celestinus the Fifth
was created Pope, who, albeit illiterate, was the priest and con-
fessor of his predecessor. Before his election, he had acquired a
false reputation for sanctity, because, being grieved for the death
of the [late] Pope, he had devised and sought after religion for
himself. But, having been created [Pope], he had no intention fo 2'02
1 Edmund, fourth son of Henry III., married secondly Blanche, Queen-dowager
of Navarre.
2 Beheaded in 1322. 3 Succeeded his brother as Earl of Lancaster.
4 John, Lord of Beaufort, d.s.p. 5 3Oth June.
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of acting by the advice of his college, wherefore he betook himself
from Rome to Naples. Here he added ten to the number ot
cardinals, and began many innovations. In his time the Sicilians
deposed Charles because of his tyranny, but not before the Pope,
with certain cardinals at Naples, when they failed to conciliate
James of Aragon, fulminated a terrible sentence against him and
the Sicilians who supported him.1
/ Then, after the feast of S. Peter ad Vincula2 there happened
/ a sudden stupendous flood in the river of Scotland called Teviot,
i prognosticating future events at hand, such as we have witnessed
\before our eyes. For the waters of the Teviot suddenly waxed
without much rain, overflowing bridges and lofty rocks, sweeping
away the mill below Roxburgh Castle and others, besides every-
thing else that was in their way. Also, the flood broke down
the bridge of Berwick, and threw down a tower, even overthrow-
ing all the piers of masonry, and many of the people who were
crossing [the bridge] were washed away to sea.
iji^H-Also on the feast day of S. Matthew the Apostle there was
held in London a council of the clergy and a. parliament of the
people, when the ecclesiastics granted to the king a moiety of
their revenues as subsidy for his expedition, and the laity
[granted] the third penny of their goods.
Item, the Welsh rose and did much damage. On hearing of
this, Edward King of England, unwilling to imbrue his hands
1 The French Pope Urban IV. bestowed Sicily in 1264. upon Charles, Count
of Anjou. The massacre of the French, known as the Sicilian Vespers, took place
in 1282, and it was Frederick, not James, of Aragon, who was crowned king of
Trinacria in 1296. But as Pope Celestine V. resigned in the year of his election
1294, the chronicler has confused the dates.
2 ist August (Lammas).
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with blood, commanded his forces not to injure any of them
from Septuagesima ! till Easter,2 and then again to the following
feast of S. Lawrence.3 Their prince having been betrayed and
taken, the whole of Wales was restored to its allegiance ; for the
king imprisoned about five hundred of their nobles, who were
given as hostages, in various castles of England.
At the feast of All Saints4 despatches were received by King
Edward from Sir John de St John and Sir John de Bretagne, and
the other nobles who had sailed with them for the defence of
Gascony, announcing that they had fared successfully, having
inflicted defeats on the enemy and captured fortresses wherein
they were able to protect themselves.
About the same time, many ships, in numbering two hundred
and four score, which had been sent by the King of Spain to the
coast of France, were driven by the violence of storms into
various parts of England. These were splendidly equipped for
war, and heavily freighted with arms, gold, wax, bitumen, timber,
and poles. The men of the Cinque Ports having attacked them
at great risk to themselves, made a great booty of the lot.
Also on the said festival there departed this life one who was
illustrious in name, but not in character, Bovo de Clare ; not, as
is said, very ' clear ' in his death or reputation,6 inasmuch as he
held innumerable churches and misgoverned those which Christ
had committed to his trust, for he was careless in his office of
guardian, disdaining the cure of souls, wasting the revenues
of the churches, and having so little regard for the Bride of
Christ as [to be indifferent] whether the Church should receive
1 30th January. 2 3rd April. 8 loth August. 4 ist November.
6 * Clear ' — that is * illustrious ' : the play is on the word clarus.
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enough from her own revenues [to keep] the necessary vestments
whole and clean. This might be proved by many flagrant
instances, whereof I will record one as an example.
In the famous church of Symunburne, over which he presided,
on Easter Day I saw pleated withies, smeared with fresh cow-
dung, in place of the panel over the high altar, and this, although
the church is rated at seventy marks ! Moreover, so wasteful
and wanton was he, that he sent to the dowager Queen of France
for her jewellery, a lady's coach of matchless workmanship — body
and wheels being wholly wrought in ivory, and all the fittings
that should have been ironwork were made of silver, down to the
smallest nail, the housings, down to the smallest cord by which it
was drawn, being of gold and silk. The cost, it is said, amounted
to three pounds sterling, but the scandal to a thousand thousand.
At the festival of S. Lucia,1 Pope Celestinus called together the
college of cardinals, and, with the unanimous assent of all, decreed
and ordained that it should be lawful for any pope or cardinal to
renounce his dignity should he wish to do so. Immediately after
this declaration he resigned the pontifical dignity in their presence.
Then Charles2 caused to be read the Gregorian constitution de
inclusione? and caused a house to be prepared for each of the
cardinals, allowing only ten feet [of space] and one servant
[apiece]. But, in compliance with the constitution, he waited ten
days for three new cardinals who had not yet arrived ; and, when
these were present on Christmas eve, he shut them all in. Then
they all committed their authority in the creation of a new pope
to the said Celestine in this wise — that he should nominate four
1i3th December. 2 Charles of Anjou, King of Naples.
3 Prescribing the manner of the conclave.
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of the cardinals, who, acting for all the rest, should elect the new
pope, and that they [the other cardinals] should acknowledge
him as elected by themselves to the supreme pontificate. He
[Celestine] agreed, and nominated Benedict de Gaytan with three
others, who unanimously chose Benedict. A native of Anagni,
now known as Boniface the Eighth, he was ordained on the
morrow .of the Circumcision,1 and ordered his predecessor to be
arraigned on a charge of heresy. The latter fled in fear to Sicily.
On the vigil of Christmas a few Englishmen, allied with the
natives and with some of the King of Aragon's men, recovered
by force of arms a great part of the land of Gascony, and on the
day of the Circumcision2 Bayonne was restored to their possession,
whereupon the English sent to the King of England as a com-
plimentary offering fifty ship-loads of wine.
In the same year on the day before the Ides of February,3
Thomas, second of Multon, died, being at the time Lord of
Holbeach.
Item, on S. Dunstan's day4 died that most noble lady of pious
memory, Dame Matilda of Multon, Lady of Gilsland, mother of
the aforesaid Thomas.
The Lord Robert de Brus, a noble baron of England as well
as of Scotland, heir of Annandale, departed from this
world, aged and full of days. He was of handsome
appearance, a gifted speaker, remarkable for his influence, and,
what is more important, most devoted to God and the clergy.
He passed away on Caena Domini.5 It was his custom to enter-
tain and feast more liberally than all the other courtiers, and was
1 2nd January, 1295. 2 ist January, 1295. 3i2th February, 1295.
4 igth May. 5 i2th May.
in
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most hospitable to all his guests, nor used the pilgrim to remain
outside his gates, for his door was open to the wayfarer. He
rests with his ancestors at Gisburne in England, but it was in
Annan that he yielded up his spirit to the angels, the chief town
of that district, which lost the dignity of a borough through the
curse of a just man, in the following way. Some time ago1 there
fo. zo2b lived in Ireland a certain bishop and monk of the Cistercian
Order, a holy man named Malachi, who, at the command of
the Captain-General of the Order, hastened to that place2 where
also he died and rests in peace, remaining famous by his tokens.3
When he died the holy Bernard, who was present, preached
with tears an exceedingly mournful sermon, which I have often
seen.4
Now this bishop, beloved of God, when he had crossed over
from the north of Ireland and, travelling on foot through
Galloway with two of his fellow-clerics, arrived at Annan,
enquired of the inhabitants who would deign to receive him to
hospitality. When they declared that an illustrious man, lord
of that district, who was there at the time, would willingly
undertake that kindness, he humbly besought some dinner,
which was liberally provided for him. And when the servants
enquired of him, seeing that he had been travelling, whether
they should anticipate the dinner hour or await the master's
table, he begged that he might have dinner at once.
Accordingly, a table having been dressed for him on the north
side of the hall, he sat down with his two companions to refresh
himself; and, as the servants were discussing the death of a
1 About the middle of the lath century. 2Clairvaux.
3 Or ' images ' (signis). 4 It is preserved among S. Bernard's works.
112
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certain robber that had been taken, who was then awaiting the
sentence of justice, the baron entered the hall, and bade his
feasting guests welcome.
Then the gentle bishop, relying entirely upon the courteousness
of the noble, said — c As a pilgrim, I crave a boon from your
excellency, [namely] that, as sentence of death has not hitherto
polluted any place where I was present, let the life of this culprit,
if he has committed an offence, be given to me.' l
The noble host agreed, not amiably, but deceitfully, and
according to the wisdom of this age, which is folly before God,
privily ordered that the malefactor should suffer death. When
he had been hanged, and the bishop had finished his meal, the
baron came in to his dinner ; and when the bishop had returned
thanks both to God and to his host, he said — ' I pronounce the
blessing of God upon this hall, and upon this table, and upon all
who shall eat thereat hereafter.'
But, as he was passing through the town, he beheld by the
wayside the thief hanging on the gallows. Then, sorrowing in
spirit, he pronounced a heavy sentence, first on the lord of the
place and his offspring, and next upon the town ; which the
course of events confirmed ;• for soon afterwards the rich man
died in torment, three of his heirs in succession perished in the
flower of their age, some before they had been five years in
possession, others before they had been three.
When the said Robert [de Brus] was informed of this, he
hastened to present himself in person before the holy man
beseeching pardon and commending himself to him, and thence-
1 Early Christian bishops had the privilege of remitting sentence of death on
criminals.
H 113
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forth paid him a visit every three years. Also, when in his last
days he returned from a pilgrimage in the Holy Land,1 where
he had been with my lord Edward, he turned aside to Clairvaux
and made his peace for ever with the saint, providing a perpetual
rent, out of which provision there are maintained upon the
saint's tomb three silver lamps with their lights ; and thus,
through his deeds of piety he [de Brus] alone has been buried
at a good old age.2
Six days before Palm Sunday,8 came Charles, brother of the
King of France, to Rioms, whither part of the English had
retreated. Now, he came about midnight with 6000 horse and
innumerable foot against 400 horse and 7000 foot ; and after he
had attacked the city, which was stoutly defended, for fifteen
days, they4 sallied forth on the advice of a certain old man,
gave battle to the enemy and, selling their lives dearly, perished.
And thus twelve English barons were taken prisoners, one of
them being a traitor ; of whom hereafter.
In the same year the Scots elected twelve peers, by whose
counsel the kingdom should be governed.
Where no man due obedience feigns
To laws of half a dozen reigns,
The people suffer grievous pains.
The Scots craftily sent envoys to the King of France [con-
spiring] against their lord, King Edward of England — to wit,
the bishops William of S. Andrews and Matthew of Dunkeld,
and the knights John de Soulis and Ingelram de Umfraville, to
1 In 1273.
2 Mr. George Neilson has dealt fully with this interesting legend and its
confirmation in Scots Lore, pp. 124-130.
3 2 1 st March. 4 The English.
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treat with that king and kingdom against the English king and
kingdom. The aforesaid envoys took with them a procurator,
endeavouring to bring about war. So after the report had
reached the ears of my lord the King of England, he was very
angry (and no wonder !), and sent repeatedly to the King of
Scotland, commanding him to attend his parliament in accordance
with his legal obligation both for the kingdom of Scotland and
for other lands owned by him within the English realm. But
he [John Balliol] utterly refused to attend, and, which was
worse, began assembling a large army to withstand the King of
England.
On Monday in Passion week,1 Sir John Comyn of Buchan
invaded England with an army of Scots, burning houses, slaugh-
tering men and driving off cattle, and on the two following days
they violently assaulted the city of Carlisle ; but, failing in their
attempt, they retired on the third day. Hearing of this the
King of England sent an expedition against the Scots at Berwick,
and in Easter week, to wit on the third of the kalends of April,2
that city was taken by the king, its castle also on the same day,
and about seven thousand men were put to the sword.
On the octave of the Apostles Peter and Paul,3 the magnates,
prelates and other nobles of the kingdom of Scotland having
assembled, a solemn parliament was held at Stirling, where by
common assent it was decreed that their king could do no act
by himself, and that he should have twelve peers, after the
manner of the French, and these they then and there elected and
constituted. There they pronounced forfeiture of his paternal
heritage upon Robert de Brus the younger, who had fled to
1z6th March, 1296. 2 3Oth March, 1296. 8 6th July.
"5
THE CHRONICLE OF
England, because he would not do homage to them. Also they
forfeited his son in the earldom of Carrick, wherein he had been
infeft, because he adhered to his father. They insultingly refused
audience to my lord the Earl of Warenne, father-in-law of the
King of Scotland, and to the other envoys of my lord the King of
England ; nor would they even allow so great a man, albeit a
kinsman of their own king, to enter the castle.
Also they then decided upon active rebellion and to repudiate
the homage done to King Edward, devising how they should enter
into a treaty with the King of France so that they should harass
England between them, he with his fleet by sea, and they by land,
and thus, as they believed, should overcome her.1
Upon this God began to make many revelations to his servants,
whereof we perceived the truth in the following year. For at
break of day on the sixth of the kalends of August,2 the whole
firmament seemed to a certain cleric in Lothian to be overcast
with clouds, the wind blowing from the north-east ; and presently
fo. 203 he perceived red shields coming from the same quarter, charged
with the arms of the King of England, which, keeping together,
united at the top and joined at the sides, covered the whole
expanse of the sky with their multitude. Now while he was
marvelling at this with anxious countenance and confused thoughts,
he saw in a little while a white and beautiful person appear in the
very same region, seated upon an ass's colt, who, approaching
exceedingly swiftly and appearing quite nude, displayed the tokens
of our salvation on his extremities and side, dropping blood.
When the other perceived this, he worshipped on bended knees,
and so the vision vanished.
aThe treaty is printed in Rymer's Fezdera^ ii. 695. 2 271)1 July.
116
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In confirmation of this I will record another vision which a
simple citizen of Haddington beheld about the same time.
In this wise : he saw, as he stated, a raging fire, coming from
the southern quarter of the firmament, suddenly precipitate itself
upon Berwick, where it miserably consumed all things. After-
wards, travelling through the centre of Lothian and devastating
everything till it came to an arm of the sea. When it reached
that, it ascended again to the sky and returned to the south
by the same way it came.
In this year the only son and heir of Sir William de Vesci,
a comely youth, was taken from the light of this world between
Easter and Pentecost ; upon whose death the boy's tutor, a certain
knight of Scotland, Sir Philip de Lyndesey, son of Sir John, fell
into sore melancholy, and, following the melancholy, contracted
a mysterious malady, took to his bed at Beverley, and, being
miserably racked by the violence of fever for eight days, entirely
lost the power of speech, took no notice of those who visited him,
and seemed to be bereft of his bodily senses. Yet he took food
daily like a maniac from those who put it before him, lying down
again after receiving it, and remaining as if asleep. Saint Cuthbert
the bishop, commiserating his affliction, appeared plainly to him
as he lay on the eighth day and accused him of neglect, saying —
'Thou hast deserved the illness which thou hast contracted, for
the place which was assigned to me by thine ancestors, and the
hermitage which I inhabited of old (the chapel of Innippauym l
:Not identified. Perhaps on the Headshaw Burn in Lauderdale, where is
Channelkirk, near Holy Water Cleuch and St. Cuthbert's Well. Here the
saint, still bearing his Irish name Mulloch, served as a shepherd lad and saw
visions, before he was received by Prior Boisil at Old Melrose, and submitted to
the tonsure.
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situated on thy land) thou hast allowed to fall into neglect, and
from a habitation of holy men to become a stable for brute beasts.
But let thy errors of the past be forgiven thee ; when thou hast
recovered health be thou careful to repair the ruins of my place
and to cleanse its defilement.'
Then he [Lyndesey] immediately recovered his speech, and,
before anything else, returned thanks to the saint and craved
pardon for his lack of diligence. While he lived safe and
sound, he often testified to listeners what he had seen.
At this time also there befel a great calamity to the students of
Oxford, so much so that many of them died suddenly, and in a
single day sixteen corpses or more were carried into one church.
Something equally horrible and marvellous happened then in the
West of Scotland, in Clydesdale, about four miles from Paisley,
in the house of a certain knight, Sir Duncan de Insula,1 which
may serve to strike terror into sinners and foreshow the
appearance of the damned in the day of the last resurrection.
Now there was a certain fellow wearing the garments of holy
religion who lived wickedly and died most wretchedly, being
bound by sentence of excommunication on account of certain acts
of sacrilege committed in his own monastery. Long after his
body had been buried, it vexed many in the same monastery
by appearing plainly in the shade of night. This child of
darkness proceeded to the house of the said knight in order to
disturb the faith of simple persons and terrify them by molesting
them in broad daylight, or, more probably, by a secret decree of
God, that he might indicate by such token those who were
implicated in his misdoing. Having then assumed a bodily shape
1 Delisle.
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(whether natural or aerial is uncertain," but it was hideous, gross
and tangible) he used to appear at noon-day in the dress of a
black monk and settle on the highest parts of the dwellings or
store houses.
And when men either shot at him with arrows or thrust
him through with forks, straightway whatever was driven into
that damned substance was burnt to ashes in less time than
it takes to tell it. Also he so savagely felled and battered
those who attempted to struggle with him as well-nigh to
shatter all their joints.
Now the knight's eldest son, an esquire of full age, was
especially troublesome to him in this kind of fighting ; and
one evening, when the father was sitting with the household
round the hearth, this malignant creature came in their midst,
throwing them into confusion with missiles and blows. All
the rest having taken to their heels, the esquire attacked him
single-handed ; but, most sad to say, he was found on the
morrow slain by the creature. Wherefore, if it be true that
a demon has no power over anybody except one who leads
the life of a hog, it is easy to understand why that young
man came to such an end.1
On the festival of the Nativity of the Glorious Virgin2 the
King of France gave orders to a numerous fleet which had
been equipped that it should sail with all speed to burn up
England ; but through the divine protection and the care of
1 It is not so easy to understand how Christianity retained its ascendancy among
reasonable beings, when its doctrines were enforced by such gross and unscrupulous
falsehoods as those with which this chronicle abounds.
2 8th September.
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the Queen of Mercy (to whose succour, as is recorded above,
the island is committed) the fleet was so severely buffeted by
gales in a sudden tempest that it only regained the shores of
France with the greatest difficulty. And when two cardinals
had crossed to England as mediators of peace, and had obtained
assurance from the King of France1 that his people would do
no injury to the English in the meantime, he [the King of
France] was not afraid to break faith, and, cruelly venting his
anger upon those who had escaped shipwreck, by his brother's
advice put many of them to death. Then he re-issued his
command, forced the rest of them to sea again, warning them
with threats on no account to return unless they brought with
them to Paris the glorious relics of S. Thomas, archbishop and
martyr. Then they set out once more upon the waves of
the sea, which they seemed to cover with their multitude ;
nevertheless, none of them all ventured to land upon the coast
of England, except only the crews of two galleys, according
to what one told me who was there and with his eyes saw
what happened. The first of these [galleys], more strongly
manned than the rest, surprised the town of Dover and easily
overcame it with sword and fire, but in the end derived no
advantage from their success, for the inhabitants gathered out
of the villages and took possession of the shore, killing them all
to the number of 220, and divided the spoil among themselves.
The other [galley] also landed at Hythe, having on board nine
score armed men with steel caps ; these the men of the Cinque
Ports attacked with two vessels only and put them all to death
in less time than it would take to bake a single biscuit.
1 Rex Gal/iarum, usually referred to as Rex Francitf.
120
LANERCOST
And whereas it is declared in holy writ that evil counsel shall
fall upon him who deviseth it, just so there took place at that
very time a fraudulent conspiracy among the princes of France.
For he who, as has been described,1 contrived that twelve barons,
his comrades, should be taken by guile, was now plotting
against the person of the King of England himself and his fo.
kingdom. This deceitful spy, assuredly sent by the King of
France, came to England feigning to be an escaped prisoner, and,
in order to hide his bitter malice, pretended that he was willing
to lay bare to our people the designs of the French. Accordingly,
having been admitted to the parliament of London, and after he
had investigated the secret affairs of the country, he took two
servants and hastened to the coast, intending to cross over.
But one of these servants, detesting the wickedness of his master,
happening to meet a member of the [royal] household, revealed
to him the malicious intentions of the traitor. {Go,' said he,
1 and tell the king without delay that we are hurrying away to
cross over, in order to betray England.'
This man delivered the message ; the villain was overtaken
and arrested, and, having been brought back, confessed his
treachery, and, as a just reward, was drawn and hanged.
Now this man was a knight, by name Thomas de Turberville,
whom the Lord troubled at that time, because he endeavoured to
bring trouble upon England.2
1 See the account of the fall of Rioms, p. 278 supra.
2 The chronicler delights in puns which do not bear translation into English :
* Thomas de Turbew'/^, quern extuibavif Dominus . . . quonlam nisus est turbationem
inducere Anglice? Various documents relating to the spy Turberville are printed
in the appendix to Stevenson's edition of The Lanercost Chronicle (pp. 481-487),
including a letter from Turberville to the Provost of Paris, which was intercepted.
121
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After this, on the sixth of the Nones of October,1 Master
Robert of Winchelsea, doctor of sacred theology, who before his
creation had been Archdeacon of Canterbury, but now was
Archbishop of the same seg, returning home with the cardinals
from Rome, was received to his diocese honourably by the king,
and was enthroned with great pomp in the presence of many
nobles.
In like manner, as we know that it is truly written, that evil
priests are the cause of the people's ruin, so the ruin of the
realm of Scotland had its source within the bosom of her own
church ; because, whereas they who ought to have led them [the
Scots] misled them, they became a snare and stumbling-block of
iniquity to them, and brought them all to ruin. For with one
consent both those who discharged the office of prelate and those
who were preachers, corrupted the ears and minds of nobles and
commons, by advice and exhortation, both publicly and secretly,
stirring them to enmity against that king and nation who had so
effectually delivered them ; declaring falsely that it was far more
justifiable to attack them than the Saracens. Certain mercenary
[priests] also, not really pastors, pretending to be dealers in wool,
had crossed over to the country of the French at the preceding
feast of S. Lawrence,2 commissioned by their people to disclose
this nefarious plot to the king [ot France]. These were the
Bishops of S. Andrews and Dunkeld, who, according to the
prophetic saying, ' delighted the king by their wickedness and
princes by their fraud.' For, not long afterwards, they succeeded
Turberville paid for his treachery on the gallows. His case is dealt with also by
Hemingburgh, Walsingham, and in Flares Historiarum.
1 2nd October. 2 loth August, 1294.
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LANERCOST
in making them believe their falsehoods, and sent letters by their
servants announcing that the King of France was most favourably
inclined towards them, and that a huge fleet was setting sail with
a large force of men, and with arms, horses and provender.
In corroboration whereof the Bishop of S. Andrews sent in
advance to Berwick many new and valuable arms, and also most
sumptuous pontifical vestments, all which we know were seized
and taken by the Bishop of Durham's sailors in the very mouth
of that port.
Also, to confirm what was said by the holy Job — ' the vain
man is puffed up by pride, and thinketh himself to be born as
free as a wild ass's colt,' this foolish people, yielding credence
to these rumours, turned fiercely upon all the English found
within their borders, without regard to age or sex, station or
order. For the authority of the Church, which was very
oppressive, decreed that those rectors and vicars of churches who
were of English origin should be ousted and expelled from the
country by a given date ; also the stipendiary priests were sus-
pended and were sentenced to expulsion with their clerical
compatriots. Moreover, the royal authority ejected monks from
their monasteries, and unseated those who were in high office ;
it even forced laymen out of their own houses, confiscating under
royal sasine or taxing the goods found therein. Also the biting
tongues of certain evil men, who either could not or dared not
do injury by force, composed ballads stuffed with insults and
filth, to the blasphemy of our illustrious prince and the dis-
honour of his race ; which, though they be not recorded here,
yet will they never be blotted from the memory of posterity ;
for by their aforesaid insolence and oppression they meant nothing
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less than this — that just as the cry of the children of Israel in
Egypt reached the Most High, and he saw their affliction and
came down to set them free, so would it now come to pass in
these our days. That which the revelations described above
portend, was also made clear in an open vision manifested at
Berwick to the eye of sense before Christmas following. For
verily as some little children were hurrying off together to school
in that same city to be taught their letters, at break of day, as
is usual in the winter season, they beheld with their natural eyes
(as they afterwards assured many persons) beyond the castle,
Christ extended upon the likeness of a cross, bleeding from his
wounds, and with his face turned towards houses of the city.
Time coming was soon to show whatsoever chastisement that
[vision] indicated.
Also on the night of All Saints * the Holy Lord of the Saints
destroyed and cast away the ships of the perjured French, under
guise of helping them, so as he might show that their expedition
was against himself and his people ; and this in the following
way. For, as the perfidious French (who, as is aforesaid, had
suffered reverse already), devised among themselves that, on such
a solemn anniversary, neither those dwelling on the coast of the
English sea, nor the men of the Cinque Ports would care to
miss the church services, they adopted another foolish project,
after the example of proud Nichanor, who commanded the troops
to arm and the king's business to be transacted on the Sabbath
day. And so, preparing in the dead of night to cross the deep
sea, while they avoided human observation they incurred divine
judgment ; for, intending to make a descent upon an unsus-
1 ist November.
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LANERCOST
pecting people, suddenly they discovered these were safe in the
protection of the saints. A fearful storm sprang up from the
hand of the Lord, which immediately deranged and scattered
them, sending every one on board of those nine score ships to
the bottom of the sea, so that not one survived to tell the tale
to his children.
King Edward was warned by these and other events that
he was threatened with war in front and rear ; and when
both the parliament of the nobles of Scotland and the council
of prelates were to assemble in Edinburgh, he, endeavouring
to win the goodwill of these ingrates, demanded through an
emissary that they would hand over to him shortly four
of their castles overlooking the frontier of the realm, to wit,
Berwick, Roxburgh, Jedworth and Edinburgh, for the protec-
MS.
tion of the natives against invasion by foreigners. This they fo. 204
refused unanimously and obstinately, just as they had refused
all previous demands, declaring that they were in no need of
any aid.
The Cardinals also, who had spent all their means in their
long journey requested of the clergy of Scotland through
emissaries a moderate grant of money, which should hardly
exceed one farthing l from each of the churches to be taxed. But
in refusing the assistance demanded, they [the Scots clergy] made
this reply, that these Pillars of the Church had not crossed land
and sea in the service of the Church, but in that of King
Edward's realm. And whereas we know that it is written that
wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, they did all these things
in order to achieve their hateful design by tokens, since they
1 Assem unam.
I25
THE CHRONICLE OF
could not do so by arms, imagining that the dominion of King
Edward could be extinguished by them. To whom applies that
saying of S. Gregory — While they loosed the shoe-string they
tied a knot. Indeed it turned out for them as it did for Zedekiah,
according to Ezekiel, who saith — c But he rebelled against him in
sending his ambassadors into Egypt that he might give him horses
and much people. Shall he prosper ? Shall he escape that doeth
such things ? Or shall he break the covenant and be delivered ? '
Gilbert, the great Earl of Gloucester, died after the festival
of S. Lucia,1 a man prudent in council, puissant in arms and
most spirited in defence of his rights. For when the aforesaid
King required of [him] and all his tenants to show by what
warrant each one held possession, Gloucester, drawing his sword
in presence of the King and nobles in London, delivered this
reply : — c Behold my warrant ! by which right thou, oh King,
holdest from conquest by thine ancestors two feet of English soil ;
and I possess the third foot from my forefathers.' Thus the
curiosity of the inquirer was repelled.2
Now, in order to take up the thread of the narrative I have
begun, the knights and esquires who had been associated with the
bishops with the above-mentioned mission to France, returned on
the festival of SS. Vincentius and Anastatius3 disappointed and
with nothing to report ; while those horned ones remained
behind,4 after the fashion of many modern dignitaries, who,
1 1 3th December.
2 This writ of Quo tvarranto was issued in October, 1274, and caused much
discontent by its inquisitorial character. The story attributed to Gloucester in
the text is told elsewhere of the Earl of Warenne.
3 22nd January.
4 Cornutis illis retro resldentibus, a contemptuous allusion to the mitred bishops.
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LANERCOST
either out of craven fear for their own skins or sensual indulgence
of their own bellies become, not feeders of the flock but feeders
on them.
Indeed there was pressing need for these Scots to return home,
seeing that they found victuals to be very dear in France and
were sensible of shortage of cash in their own purses ; nor could
they after their arrival [in France] find any creditor from whom
they could borrow, nor was there given them even one ship
wherein they could make the return voyage. When therefore
these needy persons met with certain easterling mariners1 prepar-
ing to sail for Scotland and found that the agent of some
Edinburgh burgess was about to consign his merchandise to the
said skippers, they obtained by favour (seeing that they had not
the money) a passage for themselves and their people, promising
to pay the fares so soon as they should be landed in Scotland.
Thus did the Lord confound those who fled to the Chaldeans
(that is to the ferocious people, whence the Franks obtained their
name)2 who boasted about their ships, so that those who purposed
to invade the coast of England with an innumerable fleet might
count themselves lucky in obtaining a single pinnace of their own.
Moreover, when they landed at Berwick, they showed this favour
to their fellow-countryman, whose merchant-factor they had in
their company, that all his merchandise was seized, to the value
of nine score of marks or more. But they brought this news
from France, that the King of Norway had been dead for some
time, leaving no heir of his body, and that his brother, who
had been Count before that, had taken the daughter of the
lMarinariisde orientafi fatria, i.e. from the Baltic.
2 The etymology of ' Frank ' is suggested *s=fcrox.
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THE CHRONICLE OF
Count of Clermont as wife and consort at the instance of the
nobles.1
Deluded by these follies, they sought still other safety in false-
hood. For, according to theological testimony,2 'vain hope
is the snare of the foolish man and ignorant fellows rely on
dreams ; ' although these men heard that the Pope was mediating
for peace between the French and English, they pretended and
even announced in their own country that the King of France
had declared that he would not agree to peace unless under a
treaty embracing the Scots as well as his own people : whereas in
truth, when the peers were assembled at Cambronne on Quadra-
gesima Sunday,3 there was nobody present who put in a single
word for them [the Scots], according to what was told me with
his own lips by a certain noble, who attended there daily on
behalf of the King of England ; nay, he heard many persons
execrating that very nation as deceitful and ungrateful for the
benefits they had received from King Edward.4
In consequence of dreams of this nature, all bailiffs received
orders at the beginning of Lent 5 that they should seize for the
use of the King of Scotland all goods belonging to the English
1 Eric II. (father of the Maid of Norway, who succeeded Alexander III. as
Queen of Scots) did not die till 1299, when he was succeeded by his brother
Haco V.
2 Teste theodocto, a hybrid word for which I know of no authority.
3 2Oth February.
4 All this is purely partisan fiction. On 23rd October 1295 the Scottish
plenipotentiaries concluded a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance with the
King of France, each country binding itself not to make peace witn England
unless the other were included (Faedera), When truce between England and
France was struck in October 1297, Scotland was not included.
5 1 6th February.
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throughout the realm wheresoever they might be found, and that
they should store them in the castles and other safe places ; also
that all these men1 were to be bound by a fresh oath to hold
fast and stand firm with the people of the country in every
emergency. They considered that such an oath would be bind-
ing ; declaring, on the other hand, most preposterously that their
own oath to King Edward had been made under compulsion, and
therefore might be broken under compulsion.
Accordingly a wapinschaw was held and account being made of
those who were capable of military service, all who had power,
wealth, arms and strength were warned to be ready to assemble at
Caldenley 2 on the Sunday in Passion Week.3
Herein thou mayest clearly perceive that what the sage
wrote was exactly fulfilled — ' The universe will fight for him
against the madmen.' For, as if the elements were taking
vengeance upon the enemies of the truth, there is no doubt that,
from that time forth, snow, rain and easterly winds from the
district where their army [was] began to prevail to such a degree
that others dwelling in the towns and in timbered houses 4 were
smitten with alarm, so that half-naked men could only avoid the
severity of the cold under rocks and cliffs, thickets and trees.
And like as they had broken their plighted faith, so in turn they
carried sword and fire into the English borders in Passion Week,6
whereby the others [the, English] in retaliation attacked Lothian fo. 204b
by sea on the vigil of Palm Sunday,6 burnt the seaside towns and
ll.e. Englishmen.
2 ? Caddonford on the Tweed. 3 27th March.
4 'Domibus laqueatis. 5 zyth March — 2nd April.
e 26th March. According to these dates, the English seem to have been the
aggressors.
I 129
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inflicted great damage upon them. Thou mightest see on the
holy day of Good Friday and the vigil of Easter the presage
of that double carnage which took place twice afterwards on
a Friday ; for a cloud, undoubtedly of wrath, overshadowed
Lothian, so thick, so wet and so evil-smelling that it concealed
everything at a distance of ten paces from the view of those
passing through it. This having changed in the evening to a
tearing wind and drenching rain throughout the night and the
following day, made the roads so bad for travellers as to weary
people looking out o' window.
It was reported at this time that John, Archbishop of York, had
died in distant parts, in whose place Henry of Newark, dean of
that church, was elected.
At the same time we received news that in Easter week l there
had been a most terrible conflict in Gascony. For the French
from one side and the citizens of Bordeaux from the other
attacked the English, and while many were slain, and many were
wounded, our people kept the upper hand so well that the enemy
turned tail, and, besides those taken prisoners, thirty principal
nobles 2 were done to death and interred in the place of the Friars
Minor. Moreover the fleet of the Cinque Ports which had been
sent out there, returned home in its full number and with all well.
Part of the said city [Bordeaux] was taken by our people on that
occasion, to wit, the outer wall, the army being commanded by my
lord Edmund, brother of King Edward, with the Earl of Lincoln
and others, who, it is said, would have finished the business then
1 3rd — gth April.
2 Mobiles signlferi : literally ' standard bearers,' but here probably the allusion
is to their pennons or banners.
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and there, had not arrears of pay forced them to disband the
army. When King Edward, who was then at Stirling, was
informed of these things, he directed that plenty of both corn and
money should be sent to them. In consequence we beheld on the
festival of the Nativity of S. John 1 envoys coming from Gascony,
both clerics and very many secular knights, to announce that the
English had occupied the whole country and were all safe and
sound.
Here endeth the eighth book and the ninth beginneth.
Applying now our mind as well as our pen to the ninth division of
this work, which, both in order to avoid being tedious
and because of the beginning of a new period, requires
a new book to be begun, we bear in mind first and foremost this
most wise precept of the most holy Gregory, who saith — ' The
power of the wicked is as the flower of the grass, because their
carnal glory fadeth while yet it flourisheth, and while they boast
of it among themselves suddenly it is brought to an utter end.'
That this befel the Scots2 in the year of our Lord MCCXCVJ (which,
by the way, was leap year) is shown by their manifest arrogance.
Notwithstanding that in past ages they have always been subject
to the English sceptre (although they often rebelled and spurned
the prince assigned to them, and also many times did not only
exclude Saxons from the King's Council and service but also
expelled them from the land, as the above quoted chronicles
testify), they now relapsed into callous hatred, and, after the
expulsion of all the courtiers whom my lord John, their King, had
1 24th June.
2 Albanactii, latinised form of the Gaelic Albannach.
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brought with him, they committed a fresh crime by preventing
him, who was the head of the people, from performing any act of
state or from going wherever he wished, confining him like a fugitive
under guard night and day, so that he was not allowed to attend
a conference * to which he was summoned by King Edward, nor
could he make known to him [Edward] his good will. Moreover,
trusting vainly, as aforesaid, to allies and arms, they constrained
the King and his children to stay at home and to take the field
for war ; and for this reason, seizing corn and cattle and other
provender in all quarters, they repaired their castles, fortified
Berwick, the principal seaport and town of the kingdom, and
brought foreign auxiliaries thither, paying no heed to the divine
wrath which was impending over them, whereby they were
collected as sheep for the slaughter and were consecrated at
Easter for the day of massacre.
At last, when they ought to have learnt to fear God through
the disaster of their prince 2 so lately deceased, whom God smote
dreadfully for all their sakes, and afterwards gave the nation itself
ten years for repentance, which they misused in their pride,
adding daily worse and worse transgression, no remedy remained
but that declared by the wise man — * destruction must needs
overtake those who practise tyranny.' Whereof I, a sinner,
who write these facts, received by the Lord's revelation the
following token.
Now shortly before the impending misfortune, after mass on
the Lord's day, as I was composing my limbs to rest and courting
1 King John attended King Edward's Parliament in May, 1 294, but refused a
summons to attend Edward in his expedition to Gascony (zgth June).
* Alexander III.
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sleep with closed eyelids, I beheld a winged man [clothed] all
in white whom I recognised at once as an angel, holding a
drawn sword in his right hand, proceeding from one end of the
house to the other, and brandishing the sword in a menacing
manner against the book-cases of the library, where the books of
the friars were stored, indicating by this gesture that which
afterwards I saw with my eyes, [namely,] the nefarious pillaging,
incredibly swift, of the books, vestments and materials of the
friars. Thus the life of just men often suffers injury for the
punishment of transgressors, and by the affliction of the former
the latter are purified.
But before we investigate the course of history whereon we
have embarked, in the same leap year,1 on the festival of S.
Matthew the Apostle,2 the Apostolic and just man Pope Boniface, *
being in the second year of his pontificate, issued the letter
decretal — Adperpetuam reimemoriam, etc.— ^reproving the insatiable r.
and rapacious cupidity of princes ever intent upon extorting
property from the Church, and threatening laymen who should
transgress with severe excommunication and interdict. He sub-t
jected all ecclesiastics impartially to deposition and deprivation \
who should dare to bestow upon princes any gift, subsidy, loan
or tax upon the revenues of the church without the consent of
the apostolic see. Also on the fourth of the kalends of April 3 in
the same year he issued another edict — Ad perpetuam rei memoriam
— most salutary for souls, directing generally and without dis-
tinction that all ecclesiastics whatsoever, charged with the cure of
souls, should reside regularly as pastors in their [respective]
1 la eodem die btsextili, probably a slip for anno.
2 2 ist September. 3 zgth March.
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offices and localities ; adding this punishment for delinquents,
that whosoever was found to absent himself for a whole month
from the church assigned to him, should be deprived of his
benefice.
Just as the Scripture uttered by God declareth that ' upon
the evildoer shall fall his own device, nor shall he know
MS.
fo. 205 whence it cometh upon him,' so that illustrious man Robert
de Ros, the owner of much land, thinking to secure prosperity,
broke faith and joined the King of England's enemies, betraying
his secrets to them and promising them support. When
this was found out, the King solemnly observed the thanks-
giving services on Easter day1 at his castle of Wark, and tried
to persuade the head men of Berwick to surrender, promising
them safety in their persons, security for their possessions,
reform of their laws and liberties, pardon for their offences,
so that, had they considered their own safety, they would not
have slighted the proffered grace. But they, on the contrary,
being blinded by their sins, became more scornful, and, while he
waited for three days, they gave no reply to so liberal an offer ;
so that when he came to them on the fourth day, addressing them
personally in a friendly manner, they redoubled their insults.
For some of them, setting themselves on the heights, bared their
breeches and reviled the king and his people ; others fiercely
attacked the fleet which lay in the harbour awaiting the king's
orders and slew some of the sailors. Their women folk, also,
bringing fire and straw, endeavoured to burn the ships. The
stubbornness of these misguided people being thus manifest, the
troops were brought into action, the pride of these traitors was
1 25th March, 1297.
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humbled almost without the use of force and the city was occupied
by the enemy. Much booty was seized, and no fewer than
fifteen thousand of both sexes perished, some by the sword, others
by fire, in the space of a day and a half, and the survivors,
including even little children, were sent into perpetual exile.
Nevertheless this most clement prince exhibited towards the dead
that mercy which he had proffered to the living ; for I myself
beheld an immense number of men told off to bury the bodies of
the fallen, all of whom, even those who began to work at the
eleventh hour, were to receive as wages a penny a piece at the
King's expense.
These events took place on the third of the kalends of April,
being the Friday in Easter holy week, a penalty exacted by
God corresponding to the crime. For it was on the Friday in
Passion week that a detachment of the Scottish army made their
first incursion into England, devastating with slaughter and fire
some country villages and the monastery of Car ham ; yet these
very citizens, perjured and hardened in evil-doing, feared not to
receive at Easter the communion of perfect love in fraternal hatred
to their own perdition. Whence it may be assumed as proved
that ' day unto day uttereth speech ' — that is, punishment, and
* night unto night ' — that is, the penal scourge upon wickedness,
indicates knowledge of sin. Besides, as Chrysostom bears witness
[although] wickedness is sometimes overcome by reason, it is
never so checked in those who sin by deliberate intent and not
through ignorance. Thus these madmen added fresh insolence
to their folly, and on the sixth of the Ides of April 2 invaded the
bounds of England in two columns, and ravaged different districts
1 3oth March. 2 8th April.
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thereof; the men of Galloway, led by the Earl of Buchan [went]
through Cumberland, the whole band of young knights and
fighting men l forcing their way through Redesdale. In this raid
they surpassed in cruelty all the fury of the heathen ; when they
could not catch the strong and young people who took flight,
they imbrued their arms, hitherto unfleshed, with the blood of
infirm people, old women, women in child-bed, and even children
two or three years old, proving themselves apt scholars in atrocity,
in so much so that they raised aloft little span-long children pierced
on pikes, to expire thus and fly away to the heavens. They burnt
consecrated churches ; both in the sanctuary and elsewhere they
violated women dedicated to God, as well as married women and
girls, either murdering them or robbing them after gratifying their
lust. Also they herded together a crowd of little scholars in the
schools of Hexham, and, having blocked the doors, set fire to
that pile [so] fair [in the sight] of God. Three monasteries of
holy collegiates were destroyed by them — Lanercost, of the Canons
Regular ; and Hexham of the same order, and [that] of the nuns
of Lambley2; of all these the devastation can by no means be
attributed to the valour of warriors, but to the dastardly conduct
of thieves, who attacked a weaker community where they would
not be likely to meet with any resistance.
Forasmuch as it is God alone who can bring the best out of the
worst, I shall here relate two matters for the sake of edification,
because perfidious persons desire under the cloak of Christianity,
to be esteemed like righteous ones, not in reality, but in
appearance. This may be easily proved about these [Scots] ;
1 Tota virtus tyronum etjuvenum.
2 Lambley-upon-Tyne, a convent of Benedictine Nuns near Haltwhistle.
136
HEXHAM ABBEY CHURCH
KAST KND
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for whereas they knew that they had acted most wickedly towards
the aforesaid nuns, at the last they sought out a priest who should
celebrate mass for them. He, induced, as I suppose, more by
fear than any other motive, performed the sacred office as far
as the Confectio, but when he was about to handle and consecrate
the bread, suddenly it vanished. Wishing to conceal his shame,
he took another host intending to consecrate it, but it disappeared
between the fingers which held it. All those present, beholding
the priest's temerity rebuked and understanding the vengeance of
God, fled from the place conscious of their guilt.
Again, in the church of Hexham, which was built by that
illustrious bishop of the Lord, S. Wilfrid, there were placed
of old several shrines, enclosing relics of the holy fathers, whereof
the holy Beda describes the merits and effects in De Gestis
Anglorum. That very church, carved with Roman work, was
dedicated by the ministry of S. Wilfrid1 to the honour of
S. Andrew, the meekest of the Apostles and the spiritual patron
of the Scots. And although both the dignity of the saints and
respect for the pious friars ought to have been a defence against the
irreverent, yet these madmen aforesaid neither had any regard for
these things nor felt any dread of all-seeing God, but with
barbarous ferocity committed the consecrated buildings to the
flames, plundering the church property stored therein, even
violating the women in that very place and afterwards butchering
them, sparing neither age, rank nor sex. At last they reached such
a pitch of iniquity as to fling contemptuously into the flames
1 Son of a Northumbrian thegn ; Bishop of York, died A.D. 709. It was
Wilfrid's successor, Bishop Acca, who according to Beda, collected the relics of the
saints and their legends.
137
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the relics of the saints preserved in shrines, tearing off them
the gold or silver plates and gems. Also, roaring with laughter,
they cut the head off the image of S. Andrew, a conspicuous
figure, declaring he must leave that place and return to his own
soil to be trodden under foot.
About the same time a voice was heard in the high heavens by
trustworthy ears, calling thrice for vengeance upon the unrighteous
nation. How this reached the divine ears will be made
clear by the misfortunes which were shortly to befal that
people. For as these cowardly fellows were hastening home,
impelled by divine vengeance they adopted a further counsel
of foolishness, whereby in separate columns one part of their
fo. 205b army occupied the narrow pass into Lothian, the other, the
passes bordering on Teviotdale, so as to threaten the march of an
English force should it attempt to pass beyond them, when they
would attack it upon both flanks. In accordance with this plan,
on the eleventh of the kalends of May l the Earl of Mar and
others came before Dunbar with the chosen candidates for knight-
hood, intending to have that fortress as a base. After they had
plundered the neighbourhood and burnt the town, they laid
siege to the castle. Now as there was no proper garrison in the
place, the countess, with her slender household and the earl's
brother, defended it for two days. But the enemy, pretending
that the earl was a traitor through his having joined the cause of
the King of England in order to keep faith, persuaded the lady
to surrender honourably ; and so, at dawn of the fourth day 2
they entered the castle,3 having as commander a man renowned in
war and expert in arms, Sir Richard Siward. And when they
1 2 1 st April. 2 2 5 th April. 3 Municipium.
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had crowded in, like sheep into a pe*n, straightway they were
beleaguered before evening by land and sea, as though God had
assembled them as a sacrifice for their enemies. When it was
known that they were besieged, summons was issued to all parts
of Scotland for an early muster to relieve the besieged and a day
was fixed at the beginning of May for hostilities in the field. I
Nor was it only the secular arm [that was raised] but also the
ecclesiastical arm drew a poisoned sword, ordering, under pain of
suspension, that all in charge of parishes should on every Lord's
day in the presence of the people fulminate solemn denunciation
of the Prince of England and the Bishop of Durham, the clergy f
chanting Deus laudem ne fa. Thereafter many ordained priests
are known to have taken part in the war, not only by exhortation,
but also by wielding arms.
Howbeit, forasmuch as the truth ever remains invincible,
although the uneasy conscience will always imagine dire events,
when they perceived the flower of their youth and the main part
of their army confined within the walls, they determined to put
an end to the siege by a sudden assault and so to unite the
relieved garrison with their own forces. Therefore on the fifth
of the kalends of May,1 at the ninth hour of Friday (which thus
a second time proved unlucky for them) when the Earl of
Warenne and barely a fifth part of the King's army were preparing
to go to bed, they showed themselves boldly on the brow of a
steep hill, provoking their enemy to combat. And although their
columns were in close order and strong in numbers, before it
was possible to come to close quarters [with them], they broke up
and scattered more swiftly than smoke, the fiercest of them being
1 2 yth April.
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first in flight. Yet their foot-soldiers would have stood firm had
not the knights showed their heels so readily ; and because
victory consisteth not in the multitude of a host, but cometh from
Heaven, thou mayest discern in that conflict what the Lord
promised to his chosen people — ' They come,' said He, ' against
thee by one way, and they flee in ten ways.'
In this manner there were slain not less than ten thousand
rebels, and several tonsured [priests] were found among the dead ;
yet upon the English side, not one man fell, except a single
foolhardy knight. It is evident that the Supreme Truth, who
said that He had come into the world to set a man against his
own father, decided the issue of this combat, which was waged
against the truth ; for there you might see in the same people a
son bearing arms against his father, and a brother putting his
neighbour to the sword.
After this, justice was directed against the besieged. For they
had lighted on the tower of the castle a signal beacon, informing
the relieving force when they might surprise [the enemy] and at
what moment they should deliver the assault. Therefore some
[of the English] having been set to work with a will to dig mines,
others to throw up earthworks from which they could forcibly
breach the castle wall, the garrison fell into a panic, and straightway
surrendered on the morrow to the royal will. There were
captured there and sent into captivity in divers parts of England,
among the nobility, four earls — Mar, Menteith, Atholl and Ross,
besides six score and fourteen others, among whom there were
several barons, twenty knights, and eighty esquires. Also, three
hundred foot-soldiers were taken there whom the King had no
wish to detain, but set them free after receiving their parole ;
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also he granted them safe conduct to whatever place outside the
neighbourhood of the camps they would go to, which greatly
contributed to the credit of his clemency, even from the lips of
his enemies.
At this agitating time the Lord Bishop of Durham caused to
be seized all the lands which Sir John de Balliol held of the fee
of S. Cuthbert ; and upon these lands at Castle Barnard he
caused a prisoner of the same John [aged] eighty-eight, to be
brought out of filth, had him shaved, gave him a change of
clothing and set him at liberty, besides restoring to him the lands
of which he had been deprived. All these things go to prove
the Christian mercy of the English, who despite the response
of ill-disposed people, returned good for evil gratuitously.
In the same year Pope Boniface made a decree and caused it to
be promulgated, that anniversary services1 should be celebrated
throughout the universal Church of Christ on the feast of every
apostle and evangelist and also of the four doctors. Also he
issued another decree against dogs returning to their vomit, that
none of the Preaching or Minorite friars, nor of the Hermits of
S. Augustine, nor yet of any of the Mendicant friars, should
furnish any assistance to any election, postulation, provision, or
call at his own instance in any contest for any promotion beyond
the ministry of his own Order. And especially, if the Masters,
Ministers or Priors of their General Orders or of their inferior
prelates should proceed by license or assent without spiritual
sanction of the Papal See, he [Pope Boniface] pronounceth such
action to be null and void, whether [it be done] knowingly or
ignorantly, no matter by whom it may have been accepted. On
1 Duplicia.
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account of this, as I suppose, one of the clergy, humorous enough
but vastly indignant, composed the facetious verses inserted
below, and privily affixed them to the door of his Holiness the
Pope's chamber. And these are the verses :
Once known as Benedict, we Boniface invoke ;
Both names are seemly, may they be the cloak
Of thy good works in piety and blessing,
Rightly thy conduct in St. Peter's chair expressing.
But if with wrongs and curses thou afflict us,
We'll call thee Malefac and Maledictus ! l
On the feast of S. Barnabas the Apostle2 there happened a
memorable instance of the untrustworthiness of the Welsh.
While my lord King Edward was besieging with a great
A.D. 1296.
army the lofty castle of Edinburgh, huge machines for
casting stones having been set all round it, and after he had
fo. 206 violently battered the castle buildings for the space of three days
and nights with the discharge of seven score and eighteen stones,
on the eve of the festival named, he chose a certain Welshman,
his swiftest runner, whom he reckoned most trustworthy, com-
mitted to him many letters and, having provided him with
money, ordered him to make his way to London with the
utmost dispatch. This man was named Lewyn (as befitted his
fate3), which in English is pronounced Lefwyn. Now, going
straight to the tavern, he spent in gluttony all that he had
1 Papa 'Bonifacius modo, sed quondam Benedictus,
Notnina bina bona, tlbi sit decorus amlctus.
Ex re nomen habe — benedic, benefac, benedictus;
Aut haec perverte — maledic, malefac, maledictus.
2 nth June.
3 There is here some play on the name which is not apparent to modern wits.
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received for travelling expenses. Egrly on the morning of the
vigil, being Sunday,1 he made himself a laughing-stock to the
English by ordering his comrade to carry his shield before him,
declaring that he was not going to leave the place before he had
' made an assault upon the garrison of the castle. Presenting
himself, therefore, with a balista before the gates, he cried upon
the wall guard to let down a rope to him, so that, having been
admitted in that manner, he might reveal to them all the secrets
of their enemy. The constable of the castle, as he informed me,
was taking the air when this rascal intruder was brought before
him, holding out in his hand the case with the royal letters.
' Behold, my lord,' said he, * the secrets of the King of
England ; examine them and see. Give me also part of the
wall to defend, and see whether I know how to shoot with a
balista.'
But when the others would have opened the letters, their
commander forbade them to do so, and straightway, standing
on a high place, called loudly to men passing that they were
to make known in the king's court that one of their deserters
had proposed to those within [the castle] that they should
perpetrate a deceit, to which he [the constable] absolutely
declined to consent for honour's sake.
Sir John le Despenser attended at once to this announce-
ment, and to him the traitor was lowered2 on a rope, with
the letters intact, and the manner of his [Lewyn's] capture was
explained to the king when he got out of bed. Now that
1 Mane dlei festi — literally * early on the feast day,' but as S. Barnabas's day fell
on a Monday in that year, we must read ' Early on the morning of the vigil.'
2 Demittimur in Stevenson's edition, probably a clerical error for dcmittitur.
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prince greatly delighted in honesty. * I gratefully declare to
God,' quoth he, * that the fidelity of that honourable man has
overcome me. Give orders that henceforth no man attempt to
inflict injury upon the besieged, and that no machine cast a stone
against them.'
Thus the king's wrath was soothed, for he had previously
vowed that they should all be put to death. So sleep came to
the eyelids of those who had watched for three days, many of
them having vowed that, for security, they would so continue
while alive. On the morrow, by the royal indulgence, the
besieged sent messengers to King John [Balliol] who was
staying at Forfar, explaining their condition and demanding
assistance. But he [John] being unable to relieve them, gave
leave to each man to provide for his own safety.
But let me not be silent about the punishment of the afore-
said traitor, Lewyn. He was taken, tried, drawn and hanged
on a regular gibbet constructed for his crime. This tale I
have inserted here in order that wise men may avoid the
friendship of deceivers.
Pending the report of the messengers, King Edward raised
the siege and marched with a small force to Stirling, where he
found the castle evacuated for fear of him, the keys hanging
above the open doors, and the prisoners imploring his mercy,
whom he immediately ordered to be set at liberty. And so, in
the king's absence, after fifteen days siege, the Maidens' Castle1
was surrendered into the hands of Sir John le Despenser, a place
whereof it is nowhere recorded in the most ancient annals that it
had ever been captured before, owing to its height and strength.
1 Castrum Puellarum, one of the names for Edinburgh.
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It was called Edwynesburgh of old after its founder, King
Edwyn, who, it is said, placed his seven daughters therein
for safety.
Now when it had been laid down by the Scots to their king
[John] that he was neither to offer battle nor accept peace, but
that he should keep in hiding by constant flight, King Edward,
on the other hand, strengthened his resolve that neither the
ocean should bear him [John] away, nor the hills and woods
hide him. Rather than that, having him surrounded by land
and sea at Kincardine, he compelled him to come to Montrose,
subject to King Edward's will and judgment. There he re-
nounced his kingly right, and, having experience of dishonest
counsellors, submitted to the perpetual loss both of his royal
honour in Scotland and of his paternal estates in England. For,
having been sent to London with his only son, he led an honour-
able, but retired life, satisfied with the funds allotted to him from
the king's exchequer. By divine ordinance these things were
accomplished on the morrow of the translation of S. Thomas the
Martyr,1 in retribution for the crime of Hugh de Morville, from
whom that witless creature2 [John] was descended ; for just as
he [Morville] put S. Thomas to death, so thereafter there was
not one of his posterity who was not deprived either of his
personal dignity or of his landed property.
Also on the same day3 fell the anniversary of my lord,
Alexander,4 formerly King of Scotland, who descended from
the other daughter of the illustrious Earl David, besides
whom there proceeded from that sister no legitimate progeny
1 8th July. 2 Acephalus. 3 8th July.
4 i.e. Alexander II., who died 8th July, 1249.
K 145
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of the royal seed to her King Edward,1 who alone after William
the Bastard became monarch of the whole island. It is clear
that this succession to Scotland [came] not so much by right
of conquest or forfeiture as by nearness of blood to S. Margaret
whose daughter, Matilda, Henry the elder, King of England,
married [and became] heir, as is shown by what is written above.
On the same day as the abdication King Edward gave a
splendid banquet to the nobles and commons ; but inasmuch
as in this life sorrow is mingled with rejoicing, the king received
on that day news of the death in Gascony of his brother, my
lord Edmund, a valiant knight and noble, who was genial and
merry, generous and pious. It is said that his death was brought
about by want of means, because he had with him a large body
of mercenaries and but little ready money. He left two sur-
viving youths, Thomas and Henry, his sons by the Queen of
Navarre ; of whom the elder took in marriage with her entire
inheritance the only daughter of my lord Henry, Earl of Lincoln,
who then possessed the earldoms of Lancaster and Ferrers in
right of his father, and those of Lincoln and Salisbury in right of
MS.
fo. 2o6b his wife.
About the same time there came an astonishing and unpre-
cedented flood in the Seine at Paris, probably a presage of things
to come, such as is described above as having happenecTln the
1 Qui ex alter a germanafilia descendit David illustris comitis, ultra quern non pro-
cessit ex ilia sorore legitima soboles regalis seminis regi suo Edwardo. It seems im-
possible to make sense from this passage. Probably something has dropped out
or become garbled. ' The illustrious Earl David ' might either be King David I.,
who was Earl of Northumberland, and reigned in Cumbria and Strathclyde till
he succeeded his brother, Alexander I., or King David's third son, who was Earl
of Huntingdon.
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Tweed.1 For of a sudden, while men Were not expecting it, and
were taking their ease in bed, the floods came and the winds blew
and threw down both the bridges of the city in d£ep water with
all upon them, which consisted of the choicer houses, superior
merchandise and brothels of the costlier class; and, just as in the
Apocalypse, all this wealth was ruined in a single hour, together
with its pleasures and luxury, so that the saying of Jeremiah may
be most aptly applied to them, that the iniquity of the people ot
Paris was greater than the sin of the people of Sodom, which was
overwhelmed in a moment, nor could they avail to protect it.2
It is quite certain that this people had given such offence to
the Lord that they suffered punishment, not only for their own
transgression, but because of the corruption of their nation,
the consequence of whose pride is to undermine obedient faith
throughout the world. Having the appearance of piety, they
deny the power thereof; they make a mockery of the sacraments ;
they blaspheme with sneers the Word of Life made flesh by a virgin
mother ; they boast of their iniquity more openly than did Sodom ;
and, as said by the Apostle Jude, they defile the flesh, they spurn
authority, and they blaspheme majesty.3 These things did the
Virgin of virgins, as I consider, intend to avenge terribly — she
who, dwelling between the river banks of that city, has wrought
so many signs of salvation for that people, especially in quenching
the fires of hell, wherein no one worthy of her protection remains
abandoned beyond the ninth day.
1 P. 1 08 ante.
2 History repeated itself in the inundation of Paris during the winter 1909-10.
3 The severity of the chronicler's censure may be traced to its source in the
riendly relations between France and Scotland.
147
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In honour of the Glorious Virgin I will relate what took place
at an earlier time, in the tenth year of King Edward's reign ; at
least it was then made manifest, but not yet completed by the
actual events. Now, that turbulent and distracted nation, I mean
the Welsh, thinking to wreak their long-standing spite upon the
| English, ever incur severer penalty for their wickedness. Thus
when led by a certain David, they were endeavouring to kindle mis-
chief in the realm of King Edward, and to turn his friendliness
into hostility, that energetic prince [Edward] mustered a force and,
marching against the enemy at Worcester, commended himself
and his troops, with many oblations and consecrations, to the
keeping of the Glorious Virgin. Immediately the Queen of
Virtues granted the petition of the suppliant, and, appearing
one night to a cleric named John, of the Church of S. Mary
of Shrewsbury, as he was sleeping, with her own hand laid upon
his bosom a closed letter fastened with a seal. Also she com-
manded him — c Rise early, and carry for me the letter I have given
thee to King Edward who is quartered at Worcester. Thou
mayst be sure he will not withhold from thee a suitable reward/
On awaking he actually found the letter exactly according to the
vision. He remembered the mission commanded to him, but
bethought him of his own humble degree and hesitated to take
the journey.
The command was repeated to him and a reward was added.
He had a beloved comrade (a certain cleric J , named de
Houton, who, being still alive in the Minorite Order, constantly
describes the course of this incident) to whom he said : —
* I beg that you will bear me company as far as Worcester, for/
I have some business to attend to at the king's court.'
148
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But, whereas he never mentioned the sacred declaration ot the
Blessed Virgin, his friend refused his request, not being aware
what reason there was for it. The Virgin, footstool of the Holy
Trinity, appeared for the third time to her sluggish servant, re-
proached him for disobedience, and as a punishment for his neglect
foretold that his death would be soon and sudden. Terrified at
this, he made his will, appointed executors, charging them to
forward the heavenly letter with the utmost haste, and then
expired suddenly.
Nobody could be found who would dare to present himself to
the king's notice except an insignificant tailor ; who, however, was
graciously received by the king, and did not retire with empty
hands. But when the king, by the hearth in his chamber, had
mastered the contents of the letter, he knelt thrice, kissing the
ground and returning thanks to the Glorious Virgin. 'And
where,' cried he, * is that cleric who brought this dispatch, and
whom the Virgin's word commends to me ? '
The substitute having informed him that the messenger was
dead, the king was much grieved. As to what the Queen of
Glory promised to him, he was not fully informed, except this,
that then and ever after he should successfully prevail over his
enemies ; and from that day to this he has observed a solemn fast
on bread and water every Saturday, through love of his protectress.
Moreover, he began to build in London a costly and sumptuous
church in praise of the same Mother of God, which is not yet
finished.
But let me return to my theme. After the abdication of John
de Balliol, as has been described, King Edward caused it to be
announced that, throughout his progress, no man should plunder
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or burn, and further, that a fair price should be paid for all neces-
sary supplies. He marched forward into Mar to the merchant
town of Aberdeen, where some cunning messengers of the King
of the French, detained in some port, were taken and brought
into the king's presence, having many duplicate letters addressed
to the King of Scots as well as to his nobles. Although he
[King Edward] would have paid them out for their guile, he
restrained those who would do violence to these men, and,
having restored to them the letters which had been discovered,
he sent them by rapid stages to the neighbourhood of
London, that they might see and converse with the king of
whom they were in search, and telling him what they had
found, might return by another way to the country whence
they came.
With kingly courage, he [King Edward] pressed forward into
the region of the unstable inhabitants of Moray, whither you will
not find in the ancient records that any one had penetrated since
Arthur. His purpose was to explore with scattered troops the
hills and woods and steep crags which the natives are accustomed
to count on as strongholds. With what piety and frugality he
performed all these things, let his pardons, condescensions,
bounties and festivals testify. Having brought all that land into
subjection he returned to Berwick on the octave of the Assump-
tion 1 where the homage of the people of Alban 2 was repeated to
my lord the King of England and his son and successor ; also it
was renewed again by a charter with all the seals of the nobles,
which remains confirmed by a solemn oath made in touching two
MS.
fo. 207 pieces of the Lord's cross. But that ceremony of swearing, not
1 22nd August. *i.e. Scotland.
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being imbued by the faith of those who performed it, was worth-
less to them, as their open acts made manifest in the following
year.
Now something very pleasing to our people took place through
the aid of the Glorious Virgin on the day after the Assumption.1
After the men of the Cinque Ports had conveyed some knights
and foot-soldiers bound for Gascony, they encountered on the high
sea three hundred vessels bound from Spain to France with much
valuable cargo. Our people, who had but four score vessels,
attacked them and put them all to flight, capturing out of that
fleet eight and twenty ships and three galleys. In one of the
galleys they found sixty score hogsheads of wine. In celebration,
therefore, of that victory accorded them by God, they forwarded
part of the wine to the knights campaigning in Gascony, bringing
the rest to London for consecration, whereof my informant drank
some, a man of truthful conversation and learned in religion.
Events of this kind ought to be plainly described to those who
delight in vanities, and, having no experience of heavenly matters,
lightly esteem intercourse with the higher powers. For few may
be found in our age who deserve to share the sweetness of divine
revelation, not because of God's parsimony, but because of the
sluggishness of the spiritual sense.
Now in this year there happened to a certain holy virgin,
long consecrated to the life of an anchorite, a revelation which
ought not to be passed over in silence. In the district of Shrews-
bury, about six miles from the town, there dwelleth that holy
woman, Emma by name, who is accustomed to receive visits from
holy men ; and at the festival of S. Francis 2 (which is observed
1 1 6th August. 2 1 6th July.
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rather on account of the merit of the saint than of the Order itself,
whose dress she weareth), on the vigil of the saint she admitted
two friars of that order to hospitality. At midnight, the hour
when the friars are accustomed to sing praises to God, the holy
woman rose from her bed, remembering in her pious heart
that on such a feast day a similar obligation lay upon her who
had become a recluse, and how much honour was shown to the
saint throughout the divers regions of the world. Kindled in
spirit by these [thoughts], she called her handmaid and told her
to bring a lamp for the morning praise. The lamp having been
brought and placed twice upon the altar of the oratory, a sudden
gust extinguished it, so that not a spark of light remained. Now
the patron of that church is the Herald of Christ and more than a
prophet,1 to whom the recluse was bound by more than common
love, and, as will be shown presently, had experienced much
intimacy with the friend of Christ. Therefore, while she was
wondering why her lamp should be extinguished, she beheld a
ray of heavenly light coming through the window of his oratory,
which was next the church, which, surpassing the radiance of the
sun, beautified with a heavenly lustre the features of her maidens,
who lay in a distant part of the house, notwithstanding that the
maidens themselves were weeping because of the abundance of the
celestial illumination. The Prior1 came in that he might bear
witness about the light, so that all men might believe through him.
The lamp was burning, shedding light and reassuring the
astonished woman. ' Behold,' said he, ' thou wilt presently have
a mass.' That saint, as often as he appeared to this handmaid of
Christ, held in his hand a roll as a token and badge of his office,
1 S. John the Baptist.
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wherein was contained in order the holy gospel of God — * In the
beginning was the Word.'
After the declaration of the Baptist there followed immediately
such a transcendent radiance as would rather have stunned than
stimulated human senses, had they not been sustained by grace ;
in which [radiance] appeared, with a wonderful fragrance, the
Mother of Eternal Light, environed by a brilliant tabernacle, in
token, as I suppose, that He who created her would find rest in
her tabernacle ; and four of the Minorite Order bore her company
in her propitious advent, of whom the chief was S. Antony, an
illustrious preacher of the Word, and with him were three
others, natives of England, famed either by their lives or by
their wisdom.
The Queen of the World took her place, as was proper, over
the holy altar of the choir ; the others prepared themselves to
perform the mass. Then S. Antony led off in vestments ot
indescribable [richness], and the others sang with such marvellous
sweetness and thrilling melody, that many blameless persons in
a distant part of the town wondered at the harmony, not knowing
whence it came.
Now the introitus of the mass was this, pronounced in a loud
voice — * Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ ! ' and what
follows, as far as — Te ergo quis famulis and subveni quos pretioso,
et caetera. The woman remembered that this was thrice repeated,
but the collect and epistle and the other parts of the mass she
could not so well recollect. And when she asked what were the
names of these persons, and inquired of the holy Baptist why
S. Francis was not present, she received this answer — c Upon this
his festival he himself has to intercede with God for numerous
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persons who are invoking him as a new saint, therefore he was
unable to come on this occasion.'
At the time of preparing the sacred mystery in the aforesaid
mass, S. Antony elevated the Host with great dignity and
honour, whereat the holy Virgin1 prostrated herself with the
others devoutly and low. At the close of the office, the Queen
of Mercy descended gently to the sister,2 and comforted her
with heavenly converse and confidences, besides touching her
beads3 with her blessed hand. But whereas those who die in
the sweet odour of Christ may be reckoned unhappy above all
others, while some ignorant persons may cavil at the divine
revelations accorded to this humble woman, to show what a
slander this is against the Lord, the forerunner of Christ said
as he departed : ' Inquire of those who sneer at divine bene-
factions whether the Evil Spirit can perform such sacred
mysteries, and rouse the friars who are slumbering here, to
whose senses thou mayest exhibit the light wherewith we have
purified this dwelling.'
The holy woman immediately performed his bidding, and
from the third cockcrow almost until the morning light
they [the friars] beheld with their eyes the whole interior of
the church illumined with celestial radiance. One of them,
desiring to know the source of this light, looked through the
window of the church, and saw what seemed to be a burning
torch before the image of the blessed Baptist, who was the herald
of Eternal Light.
1 It is not clear whether the reference is to the Mother of God or to
Emma herself.
2 Ad sponsam. 8 Numera/ia devotionis.
154
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I will relate something else that happened to this holy soul,
worth listening to, in manner as 1 heard it from those to whom
MS.
she related it. While she was yet very young and a novice in fb. 207^
the discipline of Christ, she still sometimes experienced carnal
impulses, and was deluded by tricks of the devil ; yet she could
not be overcome, because she always had the Forerunner of the
Lord as a guardian against the wiles of the Deceiver. Accord-
ingly when she lay sick with a pain in her side, it happened that
John the Saint of God foretold that the serpent would appear to
her in disguise, and he placed in her mouth an exorcism which
should dispel the illusion. No sooner had the saint departed,
than Satan appeared without delay in the guise of a certain
physician, announced his profession and promised a speedy cure.
' But how,' said he, * can I be certain about the nature of your
ailment ? Allow me to lay my hand on the seat of your pain.'
The maiden persisted in declining these and other persuasions,
and exclaimed : ' Thou dost not deceive me, oh Lord of Iniquity !
wherefore I adjure thee by that sacred saying of the gospel — " the
Word became flesh " — that thou inform me who are the men
who hinder thee most.' — < The Minorites,' said he. When she
asked him the reason he replied — 'Because when we strive to
fix arrows in the breasts of mortals they either frustrate us
entirely by their opposition, or else we hardly hit our mark.'
Then said she — * You have darts ? ' — * Undoubtedly,' quoth he,
* [darts] of ignorance, and concupiscence and malice, which we
employ against men, so that they may either fail in their actions,
or go wholly to the bad, or conceive envy of the righteous/
Then she said — * In virtue of the Word referred to, tell me how
much the said proclamation of the gospel hindereth your work.'
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Then the Enemy, groaning heavily, replied — 'Woe is me that I
came here to-day ! The Word about which thou inquirest is
so puissant that all of us must bow the knee when we hear it,
nor are we able afterwards to apply our poison in that place.'
Since mention has been made here of the protection of S.
Francis being faithfully invoked, I will allude here to two in-
cidents which took place in Berwick, about three years before
the destruction of that town. That same city was formerly so
populous and busy that it might well be called a second Alexan-
dria, its wealth being the sea and the waters its defence. In
those days the citizens, having become very powerful and devoted
to God, used to spend liberally in charity ; among other [objects]
out of love and reverence they were willing to provide for the
Order of S. Francis, and alloted a certain yearly sum of money
from the common chest for the honourable celebration of every
festival of the blessed Francis, and further for the provision
of clothing for the poor friars dwelling in their city, whereby
they fulfilled the double object of charity, and of performing
devout service to the saint who began life as a trader,1 expecting
that even in the present [life] greater profits from trading would
be the result of their costly piety. Nor did their conjecture play
them false nor their hope deceive them, seeing how they in-
creased in riches ; until, as [the hour of] their expulsion drew
nigh, they were persuaded by the suggestion of certain persons
of corrupt mind (who became the source of calamity, not only
to these citizens, but indeed to their whole country) first to
diminish their accustomed charity and then to reduce it by one
1 Ex mercatore converse. S. Francis was the son of an Italian merchant trading
with France, whence the son's name, Francesco.
156
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half. But whereas Sir John Gray, knight as well as burgess,
who had departed this life many years before, was the promoter
of this charity, God warned the populace of their imminent
danger in manner following.
In the year preceding the Scottish war there appeared unto
Thomas Hugtoun, a younger son of the said knight, the vision
of his father, lately deceased, among the bands of holy friars in a
certain abode of delight, and similar in carriage and dress to the
rest of the Minorites. And, while he recognised the figure of his
father but marvelled because of the change in his condition, the
following reply was made to his perplexed meditations. ' Thou
marvellest, my son, because thou never didst hitherto behold me
attired in the dress of the Minorites ; yet thou must learn hereby
that I am numbered by God among those in whose society I have
taken most delight. Go thou, therefore, instead of me to our
neighbours in Berwick, and summon them publicly on behalf ot
God to revive and restore that charitable fund which I had begun
to expend in honour of the blessed Father Francis ; otherwise,
they shall speedily experience, not only the decay of their worldly
possessions, but also the dishonour of their bodies.'
Roused from his sleep, Thomas immediately described to his
townspeople the revelation made to him, urging them to mend
their ways. As they paid no heed to him, events followed in
order confirming the vision ; for first their trade declined, and
then the sword raged among them.
Something else happened testifying to cause and effect and to
the honour of the saint. One of these burgesses, deploring the
disrespect paid to the saint, offered to provide at his own expense,
the things necessary for the saint's festival ; which thing he had
'57
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no sooner undertaken than he was struck with a grievous malady
affecting his whole body, pronounced by all the physicians to be
incurable. Then the friars having persuaded him to put his trust
in the saint and to hope for recovery, he directed that he should
immediately have all the limbs of his body measured in honour
of the saint, and in less time than it takes to tell it, he sat up
healed, complaining of nothing except a headache. ' And no
wonder ! ' exclaimed his wife, smiling, ' for his head is the only
part of him we left unmeasured.' The line having been
applied again, immediately he was freed from all pain. The
same individual, being delivered a second time, is in good
•
• health at the present time, while his fellow-citizens were cut
in pieces by the sword ; and all this through the merits of
S. Francis.1
On the morrow of the Epiphany2 the clergy assembled in
London to hold council upon the answer to be returned to my
lord the king, who had imposed a tax of seven pence upon the
personality of laymen, while from the clergy he demanded twelve
pence in the form of a subsidy ; which was agreed to reluctantly,
the clergy declaring that, while they would freely submit to the
royal will, they dared not transgress the papal instruction.3 And
thus all the private property and granaries of the Archbishop of
Canterbury were confiscated by the king's authority, even to the
palfreys reserved for the primate's riding ; to all of which this
virtuous man patiently submitted. Also, all ecclesiastics were
1 See under the year 1285 for another instance of the cure by measuring for
S. Francis.
2 yth January.
*i,e. the Bull of zgth Feb., 1295-6 — Clericos la'icos. The papal sanction was
required for any tax upon the clergy.
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deprived of the king's protection, and all their movables given Ms.
over to the hands of laymen. Yet was this inconsiderate action °' 2
speedily checked by the hand of God ; for there occurred two
calamities on the vigil of the Purification,1 [namely] a defeat ot
our people in Gascony, where Sir John de Saint-John 2 and very
many others of our countrymen were captured ; also stores pro-
vided for them, and shipped, were sunk in mid-ocean. When
this news was published, bringing much matter of grief to king
and country, a certain just, grey haired man, drawing conclusion
from a similar event, told me what I repeat here.
* In the time,' said he, * of Henry the father of Edward, when
something similar had been executed in ecclesiastical affairs
throughout the province, on pretext of aid to those who, resisting
the affection of beloved wives and children, had long before set
out to rescue the Holy Land from the Saracens, it happened that
Bishop Robert Grosstete of Lincoln, [a man] beloved of God, was
to perform solemn ordinations at Huntingdon during Lent. One
of the Minorite Order, who still survives greatly aged at Don-
caster, was present there, received ordination, witnessed the
course of events, and describes what took place in the following
manner.
' After mass was begun,' said he, ' and the bishop was seated
on his throne, he who had to read out the names of those who
were to be ordained and presented to the bishop, came forward
with the roll ; and whereas he was very slow in reading out the
list, the bishop leaned his head upon the side of the seat, and fell
1 1st February.
2 The King's Lieutenant of Aquitaine. The actual date of his capture was z8th
January. He was released after the treaty of 1'Aumone in 1 299.
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asleep. Those, however, who were near him, bearing in mind
his fasting and vigils, interpreted the prelate's repose as an omen ;
and it was manifest when he awoke how wakeful had been his
mind during sleep. For after the clergy had waited wondering
for some time longer, he was gently awakened by a certain
secretary, and, as he opened his eyes — * Eh, God ! ' he exclaimed,
' what great evils has this extortion from the Church of God en-
tailed upon the Christians fighting with the Saracens for the rights
of God. For in my sleep I beheld the overthrow of the Chris-
tian host at Damietta and the plunder of treasure unjustly
collected.'
The confirmation of this oracle followed in a few months, when
the sad news arrived of the slaughter of my lord J. Longspee and
others, whereof thou mayst read above.1
Thus spake my informant : it is to be feared what may
happen to funds collected by such pillaging. Nevertheless, the
king did not abate the tax ; yea, he commanded that inquisition
be made, so that in whatsoever place, whether occupied by monks
or other persons, should be found hoards of gold or silver, brass,
wool, cups, spoons, or other utensils, they should be rendered into
royal possession by marks and inventory ; all which was after-
wards carried out on the morrow of S. Mark's day.2
Holy Writ saith that ' vain are all men in whom is not the
wisdom of God'; whereof verily the present times afford proof.
For we know that in these days there hath been found a certain
1See the Chronicle of the year 1249, where the defeat and capture of S. Louis
is recorded. In that passage Longespee is called illustris comes de Longa Spata.
Excuse for somnolence might have been found in the bishop's advanced age, he
being then in his 75th year.
2 z6th April.
1 60
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member of that ancient and accursed sect the Ambigehses, named
Galfrid, who led astray many from the faith and hope of salvation,
as he had learnt from others. For he entered houses and clandes-
tinely taught about destiny and the constellations, disclosing thefts
and mischances, so that in the estimation of weak-minded persons
he was reputed to be something great, whereas in reality, he was a
most nefarious necromancer. Also he took care to dwell and
spend his nights apart, and to lie where he could often be heard
as it were, giving questions and answers to divers persons. He
used to make light of the doctrine of God and to ridicule the
sacraments of the church ; for it was ascertained that during six-
teen years he would neither partake of the Holy Communion nor
witness it, nor afterwards when he was mortally sick did he even
deign to be confessed. This wretched man's errors having fre-
quently been exposed by Holy Church, he was forced to flee
through divers countries and districts, all men driving him forth,
even John of Peckham himself, Archbishop of Canterbury, inter-
dicting him from remaining within the bounds of his diocese, until
at length he stopped at the monastery of Stone in Staffordshire,
being received into hiding rather than to hospitality. After he
had spent his execrable life there for a long time, he fell at length
into a last illness, and not even then would he cease to cling to the
devil who appeared to him, or to say — 'Now thinkest thou to
have me ? or that I will come with thee ? nay verily, for I will by
no means do so.' But on the day of the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin l this infamous man was being constrained to leave
the world in deadly torment, when two of the Order of Minorites
turning aside thither stood beside his bed, urging him beseechingly
1 2nd February.
L 161
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and gently that he would confess, assuring him of the mercy and
grace of God ; but he persisted in turning a deaf ear to the counsels
of salvation. And when they perceived by his breathing that
he must speedily give up the ghost, they cried aloud in his ears,
bidding him at least invoke the name of the Lord Jesus for the
sake of mercy. They continued their clamour, persisting in
shoutings, yet he never fully pronounced that sweet name, but
only with his last breath he twice said feebly, ' Miserere ! ' and so
bade farewell to this life.
At the beginning of Lent so great was the scarcity in Rome,
that the citizens, knowing that the stores of the church were laid
up in the Capitol, broke into the same, and plundered the corn
and salt which they found, forcing their way in with such violence
that sixty of them were crushed to death, after the manner of the
famine of Samaria.1 And because the Pope appointed a certain
senator against their will, with one accord they would have set fire
to the papal palace and attacked the Father of the Church, had it
not been for the exertions of a certain cardinal, who assuaged their
madness and caused the Pope to alter his decision.
On the very day of the Annunciation 2 the council assembled
again in London [to decide] what they would give freely to
my lord the king. But certain of the prelates without
A.D. 1297.
the knowledge of the archbishop, had pledged them-
selves to submit to the secular authority, with whom the Abbot
of Oseney was implicated. When he had presented himself
MS.
fo. 2o8band tne archbishop had kissed him, he [the archbishop] was
informed by the clergy that the abbot, contrary to the will of the
church, had seceded from the unity of the clergy. The arch-
Mi. Kings vii. 17. 2 2$th March.
162
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bishop therefore called him back and rebuked him, revoking
the kiss which he had given him in ignorance. He so terrified
the transgressor by the words of just rebuke that, retiring to
his lodging in the town, he suffered a failure of the heart ;
and, while his attendants were preparing a meal, he bade them
recite to him the miracles of the Glorious Virgin, and departed
this life before taking any food. There seems to be repeated
in this man the story of Ananias, who was rebuked by Peter
for fraud in respect of money.
Hardly had a period of six months passed since the Scots1
had bound themselves by the above-mentioned solemn oath of
fidelity and subjection to the king of the English, when the
reviving malice of that perfidious [race] excited their minds to
fresh sedition. For the bishop of the church in Glasgow, whose
personal name was Robert Wishart, ever foremost in treason,
conspired with the Steward of the realm, named James,2 for a
new piece of insolence, yea, for a new chapter of ruin. Not
daring openly to break their pledged faith to the king, they
caused a certain bloody man, William Wallace, who had formerly
been a chief of brigands in Scotland, to revolt against the king
and assemble the people in his support. So about the Nativity
of the Glorious Virgin 3 they began to show themselves in
rebellion ; and when a great army of England was to be
assembled against them, the Steward treacherously said to them
[the English] — ' It is not expedient to set in motion so great a
1 Albanacti.
2 Father of Walter Stewart who, by his marriage with Marjory, daughter of
Robert I., became progenitor of the Stuart dynasty.
8 8th September.
163
THE CHRONICLE OF
multitude on account of a single rascal ; send with me a few
picked men, and I will bring him to you dead or alive.'
When this .had been done and the greater part of the army
had been dismissed, the Steward brought them to the bridge
of Stirling, where on the other side of the water the army
of Scotland was posted. They [the Scots] allowed as many of
the English to cross the bridge as they could hope to overcome,
and then, having blocked the bridge,1 they slaughtered all who
had crossed over, among whom perished the Treasurer of
England, Hugh de Cressingham, of whose skin William Wallace
caused a broad strip to be taken from the head to the heel, to
make therewith a baldrick for his sword.2 The Earl of Warenne
escaped with difficulty and with a small following, so hotly did
the enemy pursue them. After this the Scots entered Berwick
and put to death the few English that they found therein ; for the
town was then without walls, and might be taken as easily by
English or Scots coming in force. The castle of the town,
however, was not surrendered on this occasion.
After these events the Scots entered Northumberland in
strength, wasting all the land, committing arson, pillage, and
murder, and advancing almost as far as the town of Newcastle ;
from which, however, they turned aside and entered the county
of Carlisle. There they did as they had done in Northumber-
land, destroying everything, then returned into Northumberland
to lay waste more completely what they had left at first ; and
re-entered Scotland on the feast of S. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr,3
1 Ponte obturato.
2 Other writers say the skin was cut up into horse-girths.
3 2znd November.
164
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LANERCOST
without, however, having been able as yet to capture any castle
either in England or Scotland.
Now before Lent in that year1 the earls and barons of
England prepared themselves for war against the Scots, in the
absence of the king, who was in Gascony, and came upon them
unawares at Roxburgh Castle, which they were then besieging
with only a weak force. Being informed of the approach of the
English, they took to flight at once ; but the earls remained some
time at Roxburgh, but afterwards with one accord turned aside to
Berwick and took that town. Howbeit, after the earls had left
Roxburgh, the Scots came by night and burnt the town, and so
they did to the town of Haddington, as well as to nearly all the
chief towns on this side of the Scottish sea,2 so that the English
should find no place of refuge in Scotland. Thus the army of
England was soon compelled to return to England through lack
of provender, except a small force which was left to guard the
town of Berwick.
When the Scots heard of the sudden and unexpected
retreat of the English after Easter,3 they set themselves down
before the castles of Scotland which were held by
the English, to besiege them with all their force, and
through famine in the castles they obtained possession of them
all, except Roxburgh, Edinburgh, Stirling, and Berwick, and a few
others ; and when they had promised to the English conditions
of life and limb and safe conduct to their own land on sur-
rendering the castles, William Wallace did not keep faith with
them.
Meanwhile, truce was made between the King of France and
1 1 297-8. 2 Firth of Forth. 8 6th April.
165
THE CHRONICLE OF
the King of England, and the king returned to England, and
finding how the Scots had risen in his absence, he assembled an
army and directed his march towards Scotland, and having entered
that country, he passed through part thereof.
So on the festival of the blessed Mary Magdalene l the Scots
gave him battle with all their forces at Falkirk, William Wallace
aforesaid being their commander, putting their chief trust, as was
their custom, in their foot pikemen, whom they placed in the
first line. But the armoured cavalry of England, which formed
the greater part of the army, moving round and outflanking them
on both sides, routed them, and, all the Scottish cavalry being
quickly put to flight, there were slain of the pikemen and
infantry, who stood their ground and fought manfully, sixty
thousand, according to others eighty thousand, according to
others one hundred thousand ; 2 nor was there slain on the
English side any nobleman except the Master of the Templars,
with five or six esquires, who charged the schiltrom of the Scots
too hotly and rashly.
Having thus entirely overcome the enemies of our king and
kingdom, the army of England marched by one route to the
Scottish sea,3 and returned by another, in order to destroy
all that the Scots had spared before. But on the approach of
winter the king dismissed the nobles of England to their own
estates, and undertook the guard of the March himself with
1 22nd July.
2Walsingham estimates the loss of the Scots at 60,000, Hemingburgh at
56,000 — both preposterous figures, far exceeding the total of Wallace's forces.
The only trustworthy data whereby to estimate the English losses is found in the
compensation paid by King Edward for 1 1 1 horses killed in the action.
3 Firth of Forth.
166
LANERCOST
a small force for a time. But before Christmas he returned to
the south, having disbanded the aforesaid guards upon the
March.
VERSES.
Berwick, Dunbar, and Falkirk too
Show all that traitor Scots can do.
England exult ! thy Prince is peerless,
Where thee he leadeth, follow fearless.1
PRAISE OF THE KING OF ENGLAND.
MS.
The noble race of Englishmen most worthy is of praise, fo. 209
By whom the Scottish people have been conquered in all ways.
England exult !
The Frenchmen break their treaties as soon as they are made,
Whereby the hope of Scotsmen has been cheated and betrayed.
England exult !
O disconcerted people ! hide yourselves and close your gates,
Lest Edward should espy you and wreak vengeance on your pates.
England exult !
Henceforth the place for vanquished Scots is nearest to the tail
In clash of arms. O England victorious, all hail !
England exult ! 2
1 VERSUS.
Berwike et Dunbar, nee non Variata Capella,
Monstrant quid valeant Scottorum perfida bella.
Princeps absque pare cum sit tuus, Anglia, gaude ;
Ardua temptare sub eo securius aude.
COMMENDATIO REGIS ANGLIA.
Nobilis Anghrum gens est dignissima laude,
Per quam Scottorum plebs vincitur — Anglia gaude !
Feeder a Francorum sunt frivola, pleenaque fraude,
Per quam Scottorum spesfallitur — Anglia gaude !
Gens confusa pete latebras ac ostia claude,
Edwardus ne te videat rex — Anglia gaude !
In bettis motis pars contigit ultima caudee
Devictis Scottis — superatrix Anglia gaude !
167
THE CHRONICLE OF
OF THE IMPIETY OF THE SCOTS.
O Scottish race ! God's holy shrines have been defiled by thee,
His sacred temples thou hast burnt, O crying shame to see !
Think not that thou for these misdeeds shalt punishment avoid,
For Hexham's famous sanctuary polluted and destroyed.
The pillaged house of Lanercost lies ruined and defaced ;
The doers of such sacrilege must cruel vengeance taste.
Let irons, fire, and famine now scourge the wicked race,
With whom henceforth nor fame nor faith nor treaty can have place.
The Scottish nation, basely led, hath fallen in the dust ;
In those who forfeit every pledge let no man put his trust.1
OF WILLIAM WALLACE.
Welsh William being made a noble,2
Straightway the Scots became ignoble.
Treason and slaughter, arson and raid,
By suff'ring and misery must be repaid.3
DE IMPIETATE SCOTTORUM.
Per te fee data loca sancta Deoque dlcata ;
Templaque sacrata, sunt, proh dolor ! igne cremata.
Esse nequiverunt destructio damnaque multa
Ecclesice Celebris Haugustaldens'is inulta.
Desolata domus de Lanercost mala plura
Passafuit,fiet de talibus ultio dura.
Ferrum, flamma, fames venient tibi, Scotia, digne,
In qua fama, fides, fcedus periere maligne.
Sub duce degenero gens Scotica degeneravit,
Qu<? famam temere,faedus, qua fidem violavit.
2 Wallace is usually honoured by the knightly prefix ' Sir ' ; but there is
no record of his receiving knighthood.
DE WILLELMO WALEYS.
Postquam Wilklmus Wallensis nobilitavit,
Nobilitas prorsus Scottorum degeneravit.
Proditio, cades, incendia, frausque rapine?
Finiri nequeunt infelici sine fine.
168
FROM DRAWING BY T. HEARNf, F.S.A. 1780
LANERCOST
About the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary the King
of England married the Lady Margaret, sister of the
King of France, whereby the [two] kings became
friends.1
In the same year died Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln, and Henry
of Newark, Archbishop of York. Master John of Alderby
succeeded Oliver, and Henry of Corbridge, Doctor in Theology
[succeeded Henry in the see of York].
About the same time Pope Boniface wrote to the King of
England demanding that he should hand over to his custody
John de Balliol, whom he was keeping under restraint, and the
King complied with the Pope's demand in obedience to the
Roman Curia.2
In the same year the Pope issued the statute beginning Super
cathedram, et cetera, to promote concord between the prelates
of the Church and the Orders of Preaching and Minorite
Friars.
The King prepared an army for an expedition into Scotland,
and during that march the Queen was delivered of her first-born
son Thomas, in the northern parts about Brotherton,
from which town the son there born derived his sobriquet.
Howbeit the King did nothing remarkable this time against the
Scots whose land he entered, because they always fled before him,
skulking in moors and woods ; wherefore his army was taken
back to England.
1 8th September.
2 John de Balliol was committed to the custody of Sir Robert de Burghesh,
constable of Dover Castle, who took him to Whitsand and delivered him to the
Papal nuncio. (Fcedera.)
169
A.D. 1300.
THE CHRONICLE OF
In the same year William of Gainsborough, an Englishman,
was summoned to the Curia, as reader in theology at the palace
before the Cardinals ; upon whom, after the lapse of two years, the
Pope bestowed the bishopric of Worcester.
In the same [year] about the feast of S. John the Baptist,1 my
lord Edward King of England came to Carlisle with the nobles
and great men of England. With him came Sir Hugh de Vere,
and he stayed a while at Lanercost, and thence the King marched
through the district of Galloway as far as the Water of Cree.
Also he took the castle of Caerlaverock, which he gave to Sir
Robert de Clifferd, and he caused many of those found within the
castle to be hanged. • ^ ^^
This, the sixth year of Pope Boniface, was the year of Jubilee.
In Rome each hundredth year is kept as jubilee ;
Indulgences are granted and penitents go free.
This Boniface approved of and confirmed by his decree.2
In the same year as above a formal embassy arrived at the
Roman Curia from the King of England : to wit — the Earls of
Seland, Lincoln, and Bar,3 the Bishop of Winchester, Sir Hugh le
Spenser, Galfrid de Genevilla and Otto de Grandison, knights ;
and the Archdeacon of Richmond and John of Berwick, clerics.4
1 24th June.
2 dnnus centenus Romee semper jubilee us ;
Crimina laxantur, cut paenitet is fa donantur ;\
Hoc declaravit Bonifacius et roboravit.
8 Barensis : which might be from Sara, the Latinised form of Dunbar : but
there is no record of Sir Patrick 'with the blak berd,' 8th Earl of Dunbar, being
employed on this mission, although he was certainly in King Edward's service at
this time.
4 This embassy was sent to counter the Scottish mission earlier in the year.
The chronicler's list of names does not exactly correspond with that set
170
LANERCOST
The ambassadors of France were as "follows — the Archbishop of
Narbonne, the Bishop of Auxerre, the Counts of Saint- Paul and
Boulogne, Pierre de Flota, and others.
In the same year was born Thomas of Brotherton, son of
King Edward.
[Here follows in the Chronicle the famous letter of Pope
Boniface VIII. to Edward I., in which he claims that ' the
Kingdom of Scotland hath from ancient time belonged by un-
doubted right ' to the Church of Rome, commands King
Edward to desist from any attempt to infringe upon jts_ indepen-
dencepto release the Bishops of Glasgow and Sodor, and other
clerics whom he had imprisoned, and to submit within six months
to the Papal judgment all documents and other evidence which
he may be able to produce in support of any claim he may
have upon the kingdom of Scotland or part thereof.
The spirited reply from King Edward's Parliament of Lincoln,'
1 2th February, 1300-1, indignantly rejecting the Pope's claim to
interfere in the temporal affairs of the kingdom, is also transcribed
at length in the Chronicle ; but, as it is given in Fcedera and
, elsewhere, it is not necessary to repeat it here.]
At the beginning of summer the king assembled an army
against the Scots and placed one part of the force under command
of my lord Edward, his son by his first wife and Prince of Wales,
forth in King Edward's letter to Pope Boniface (Rymer's Faedera), which
included John, Bishop of Winchester ; Friar William of Gainsborough ; Gerard,
Archdeacon of Richmond ; John of Berwick, Canon of York ; Amadis, Earl of
Savoy (Sabaudiae) ; Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln ; Sir Galfrid de Genevill,
Sir Galfrid Russell, Sir Otto de Grandison, Sir Hugh le Despenser, Sir Amaneus,
lord of le Breto ; Master Reymund, vasatensem of Arnald de Rama ; and Peter,
Canon of Almeric of S. Severin's of Bordeaux.
171
THE CHRONICLE OF
and under command of divers nobles of England who were in
his company, and these entered Scotland on the west ; but [the
king] kept the other part with himself and entered by
Berwick. The Scots, however, dared not fight with
either army, but fled as they had done the previous year.
Howbeit they took some fine spoil from the English and did
much other mischief; wherefore the king, considering that
whatever he gained in Scotland during the summer he would lose
in winter, decided to spend the whole winter at Linlithgow and
elsewhere in Scotland, and did so. The Scots were brought far
nearer subjection by that occupation than they had been before.
In the same year the Queen bore another son named Edmund,
and after her purification joined the king in Scotland.
Also in these times fresh dispute took place between the Kings
of France and England about the land of Gascony, but at last
they came to an agreement after the truce had been renewed
several times.
In the same year—
BISHOP BONIFACE, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable brother
in Christ the Archbishop of Canterbury, greeting and apostolic benediction.
Not without cause do we hold it to be very grave and most contrary to
our wishes that prelates of the Church, who are under obligation through
the nature of the pastoral office to set an example to others of praiseworthy
conduct, presume with damnable audacity to proceed by uneven ways
to nefarious actions, and, giving themselves the rein, do not shrink from
perpetrating deeds whereby the Divine Majesty is offended, his glory
disparaged, their own salvation endangered, and the minds of the faithful
are unsettled by a grave scandal.
Wherefore we are actuated by becoming motives and exhort [thee]
to consider advisedly how we may apply the speedy remedy of this
warning, for the correction or punishment of the excesses of the prelates
themselves, as justice requires.
172
LANERCOST
For indeed we have learnt by trustworthy report, whicrr has now many
times been brought to our hearing, that Walter de Langton, Bishop of
Coventry and Lichfield, forgetful of pastoral integrity, unmindful of his
own salvation, careless of good fame, and, as it were, the destroyer of
his own honour, has not feared to perpetrate, nor does he cease from
committing, deeds as wicked as they are atrocious, and so nefarious that
they must either produce disgust with horror in those who hear about
them or else cause a loathing of such abomination; wherefore we do
not consider it meet either to describe them now in these letters or to
relate them by word of mouth. Wherefore, being unwilling, as indeed we
ought to be, to wink at such things as offend God and scandalise men
if they receive encouragement from the truth, we must proceed by careful
consideration to inflict deserved punishment upon these persons, lest they
gain strength through lapse of time. In accordance, therefore, with the
law as we perceive it and have decided to enforce, we have issued these
apostolic scripts, strictly enjoining upon thy fraternity that, in the virtue of
obedience, thou shalt without delay cause the said bishop to be summoned
under our authority, either by thyself, or by another, or by others, to appear
in person before us, within the space of three months, counting from the day
of this citation, on pain of deprivation of the pontifical office (which we will
that he shall incur ipso facto should he prove disobedient in this matter), to
submit humbly and effectually to our decrees and precepts and those
of the apostolic see upon all and several matters set forth, and upon any
others which may happen to be brought forward or objected against him.
Take thou care in thy letters, describing the course of events, to inform
us fully and faithfully of the day on which thou receivest these presents,
the citation and its form, and whatsoever thou doest in this matter.
Given at the Lateran, on the 8th of the Ides of February,1 in the sixth
year of our pontificate.
The French, desiring unjustly to subdue the Flemings to
themselves, invaded that country with an army on several
occasions : but the Flemings, boldly encountering on
A.D. 1302.
foot the mounted force, inflicted upon them much
slaughter and won some marvellous victories, killing notables and
X6th February, 1300-01.
173
THE CHRONICLE OF
nobles of France, to wit, the Counts of Artois, of Eu, of Boulogne,
of Albemarle ; and lords, to wit, Jacques de Saint-Paul, Godefroie
de Brabayne and his son, Jean de Henaud, lord of Teyns, Pierre
MS.
fo. 2ii de Flota and Jean de Bristiach, barons ; and many other knights,
[with] upwards of 20,000 men, of whom 3,500 were men-at-arms.1
y About the Ascension of our Lord 2 the King of England came
with an army against the Scots ; but they dreaded lest he should
remain with them not only in summer but in winter ;
wherefore all the nobles of Scotland were compelled to
come before him, and he received them to his peace. He remained
„ in the country until the Nativity of the Glorious Virgin.8
In the same year Pope Boniface declared the King of the
Teutons 4 to be Emperor ; and this he did, as was said, for the
1This was the battle of Courtray, nth July, 1302, memorable as the first
occasion when infantry, fighting in the solid formation afterwards adopted by the
Scots, successfully withstood the onslaught of armoured cavalry. It caused as much
sensation in military circles of the fourteenth century as did the introduction of
breech-loading rifles by the Prussians in the war with Austria in 1866.
2 1 6th May. 8 8th September.
4 Albert I., Duke of Austria. 'The Holy Roman Church and the Holy
Roman Emperor are one and the same thing in two different aspects. ... As divine
and eternal, the head of Catholicism is the Pope, to whom souls have been
entrusted ; as human and temporal, the Emperor, commissioned to rule men's
bodies and acts' (Bryce's Holy Roman Empire). \ The reference in the text is to a
speech made by Pope Boniface on 3Oth April, 1303, in which he reminded the
King of France that, like all other princes, he must consider himself subject to the
Roman ^Emperor. 'Let not the pride of the French rebel which declares that it
acknowledgeth no superior. They lie : for by law they are, and ought to be,
subject to the King of the Romans and the Erriperor.' Boniface had previously
declined to recognise Albert I. as Emperor because he had but one eye and was
the reverse of good-looking (fit homo monoculus etvultu sordido, non potest esse imperator) :
and when Albert's envoys waited upon him in 1 299, Boniface exclaimed ' Am I
not Pontiff ? Is not this the chair of Peter ? Am I not able to guard the rights
of the empire ? I am Caesar — I am Emperor ! '
174
LANERCOST
humiliation of the King of France and the French. But the
King of France and the men of his realm, clerics as well as laity,
wrote many lengthy complaints against the Pope, and pledged
themselves to prove all that they wrote.
But in the meantime the Pope, whom all the world feared as a
lion because of his wisdom and courage, was captured and
imprisoned by the Colonnas, because he had expelled cardinals wh'o
were of their kin from the College of Cardinals and made them
incapable of holding any degree or dignity in the Church. In the
following October1 he died, whether by a natural death or, as is
more probable, through grief. Within a few days Cardinal
Nicholas, of the Order of Preachers, was appointed in his place,
and was named Benedict the Eleventh ; and because it appeared
to him that the aforesaid statute of Boniface had been issued to
the detriment of the aforesaid two Orders, and was too much in
favour of prelates, he quashed it and issued a new one, which
begins thus — Inter cunctas, etc. And he died in the same
year on the festival of S. Thomas the Martyr,2 and was succeeded
(though not immediately after his death) by the Archbishop of
Bordeaux, who was named Clement the Fifth, from whose
the Roman Curia has been removed to Avignon.
On the festival of S. Hieronymus 3 Thomas of Corbridge died,
and William of Greenfield succeeded him in the arch-
bishopric. Shortly before this, to wit, about the
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,4 the King returned from
Scotland to England, having received the Scots to his peace.
William Wallace was captured by a certain Scot, to wit,
Sir John de Menteith, and was taken to London to the King, and
1 1 303. 2 7th July. s 30th September. 4 8th September.
175
time^
\
THE CHRONICLE OF
it was adjudged that he should be drawn and hanged, beheaded,
disembowelled, and dismembered, and that his entrails should
be burnt ; which was done. And his head was exposed
upon London Bridge, his right arm on the bridge of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, his left arm at Berwick, his right foot at
Perth, and his left foot at Aberdeen.
The vilest doom is fittest for thy crimes,
Justice demands that thou shouldst die three times.
Thou pillager of many a sacred shrine,
Butcher of thousands, threefold death be thine !
So shall the English from thee gain relief,
Scotland ! be wise, and choose a nobler chief.1
In the same year, on the fourth of the Ides of February, to wit,
on the festival of S. Scholastica virgin,2 Sir Robert Bruce, Earl of
Carrick, sent seditiously and treacherously for Sir John Comyn,
requiring him to come and confer with him at the house of
the Minorite Friars in Dumfries ; and, when he came, did slay
him and his uncle Sir Robert Comyn in the church of the Friars,
and afterwards took [some] castles of Scotland and their wardens,
and on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin next following3 was
made King of Scotland at Scone, and many of the nobles and
commonalty of that land adhered \to him.
fo. 2iib When the King of England heard of this, he sent horse
and foot to Carlisle and Berwick to protect the Border. But
1 Sunt tua demerita misero dignissima fine,
Esque pati dignus necis infortunia trinee ;
Qui vastare soles sacras hostiliter <zdes,
Et nimis atroces hominum committere c&des,
Turpiter occisus, Anglos non amodo Icedes ;
Si sapis ergo duci tali te, Scotia, tie des.
2 loth February, 1305-6.
3 25th March, 1305-6. The real date of the coronation was the 271)1.
176
MS.
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LANERCOST
because the men of Galloway refused to join the aforesaid
Robert in his rebellion, their lands were burnt by him, and, pur-
suing one of the chiefs of Galloway, he besieged him in
a certain lake, but some of the Carlisle garrison caused A'D> I3°6'
him to raise the siege, and he retreated, after burning the engines
and ships that he had made for the siege.1
But those who were in garrison at Berwick, to wit, Sir Robert
Fitzroger, an Englishman who was warden of the town, and Sir
John Mowbray, Sir Ingelram de Umfraville, and Sir Alexander de
Abernethy, Scotsmen, with their following, over all of whom Sir
Aymer de Valence was in command— all these, I say, entered
Scotland and received to the King of England's peace some of
those who at first had been intimidated into rebellion with Sir
Robert. Him they pursued beyond the Scottish sea,2 and there
engaged him in battle near the town of St. John (which is called by
another name Pert), killed many of his people, and in the end put
him to flight.3
Meanwhile the King of England, having assembled an army,
sent my lord Edward, his son aforesaid (whom he had knighted in
London together with three hundred others), and the Earl of
Lincoln, by whose advice the said lord Edward was to act, in pursuit
of the said Robert de Brus, who had caused himself to be called King.
When they entered Scotland they received many people to peace
on condition that they should in all circumstances observe the law ;
then marching forward to the furthest bounds of Scotland, where
the said Robert might be found, they found him not, but
1 This does not coincide with anything that is known of Bruce's movements
after his coronation.
2 1.e. the firths of Forth and Clyde. s 26th june> , ^o6
M
THE CHRONICLE OF
they took all the castles with a strong hand. But they hanged
those who had part in the aforesaid conspiracy, design and
assistance in making him king, most of whom they caused first to
be drawn at the heels of horses and afterwards hanged them ; among
whom were the Englishman Christopher de Seton, who had
married the sister of the oft-mentioned Robert, and John and
Humphrey, brothers of the said Christopher, and several others
with them. Among those who were hanged were not only simple
country folk and laymen, but also knights and clerics and pre-
bendaries, albeit these protested that, as members of the Church,
justice should be done to them accordingly.1 Then Sir Simon
Fraser, a Scot, having been taken to London, was first drawn, then
hanged, thirdly beheaded, and his head set up on London Bridge
beside that of William Wallace. They also took to England and
imprisoned the Bishop of S. Andrews, whom the King of England
had appointed Guardian of Scotland, and who had entered into
a bond of friendship with the said Robert, as was proved by letters
of his which were found ; also the Bishop of Glasgow, who had
been principal adviser in that affair, and the Abbot of Scone, who
assisted the aforesaid Robert when he was received into royal
honour. Howbeit in the meantime Robert called de Brus was
lurking in the remote isles of Scotland.2
Throughout all these doings the King of England was not in
1 Benefit of clergy, i.e. to be dealt with by ecclesiastical authority.
2 Fabyan and some other English writers state that Bruce spent this winter in
Norway. It is usually believed that he spent it in the island of Rachrin, off
the coast of Antrim. This belonged to Bysset of the Glens, to whom orders were
sent from King Edward in January, 1 306-7, to join Sir John de Menteith and
Sir Simon de Montacute with his ships * to put down Robert de Brus and destroy
his retreat in the Isles between Scotland and Ireland.' Bain's Calendar, iii. 502
178
LANERCOST
Scotland, but his son, with the aforesaid army. But the King was
slowly approaching the Scottish border with the Queen, by many
easy stages and borne in a litter on the backs of horses on account
of his age and infirmity ; and on the feast of S. Michael l he
arrived at the Priory of Lanercost, which is eight miles from
Carlisle, and there he remained until near Easter.2 Meantime his
kinsman, the Earl of Athol, who had encouraged the party of the
said Robert to make him king, had been captured, and by command
MS.
of the King was taken to London, where he was drawn, hanged, fb. ^\^
and beheaded, and his head was set upon London Bridge above
the heads of William Wallace and Simon Fraser, because he was
akin to the King.
After this, on the vigil of S. Scholastica virgin,3 two brothers of
Robert de Brus, Thomas and Alexander, Dean of Glasgow, and
Sir Reginald de Crawford, desiring to avenge themselves upon the
people of Galloway, invaded their country with eighteen ships and
galleys, having with them a certain kinglet of Ireland, and the
Lord of Cantyre and other large following. Against them came
Dougal Macdoual (that is the son of Doual), a chief among the
Gallovidians, with his countrymen, defeated them and captured all
but a few who escaped in two galleys. He ordered the Irish
kinglet and the Lord of Cantyre to be beheaded and their heads to
be carried to the King of England at Lanercost.*
Thomas de Brus and his brother Alexander and Sir Reginald de
Crawford, who had been severely wounded in their capture by
lances and arrows, he likewise took alive to the King, who
September.
2 26th March, 1 307. His writs are dated from Lanercost till 4th March, 1 306-7.
3 loth February, 1306-7. 4 Bain's CaL Doc. Scot. ii. 1905.
179
THE CHRONICLE OF
pronounced sentence upon them, and caused Thomas to be drawn
at the tails of horses in Carlisle on the Friday after the first Sunday
in Lent,1 and then to be hanged and afterwards beheaded. Also
he commanded the other two to be hanged on the same day and
afterwards beheaded ; whose heads, with the heads of the four
others aforesaid, were set upon the three gates of Carlisle, and the
head of Thomas de Brus upon the keep of Carlisle. Nigel, the
third brother of Robert, had been hanged already at Newcastle.
About the same time a certain cardinal named Peter came
to England, sent a latere from my lord the Pope to establish peace
between the King of France and the King of England ; and it
so happened that both my lord the King and my lord the said
cardinal entered Carlisle on Passion Sunday.2 Then in the
cathedral church on the Wednesday following my lord cardinal
explained the object of his legation before a very great number of
people and clergy, and showed them the excellent manner in which
my lord the Pope and my lord the King of France had agreed,
subject to the consent of the King of England — to wit, that my
lord Edward, son and heir of the King of England, should marry
Isabella, daughter of the King of France. When this had been
said, uprose William of Gainsborough, Bishop of Worcester, and
on the part of the King briefly informed my lord cardinal and all
who had come thither of the manner of Sir John Comyn's
assassination, praying that he would deign to grant some
indulgence for his soul, and that he would pronounce sentence
of excommunication upon the murderers ; whereupon the legate
liberally granted one year [of indulgence] for those who should
pray for the said soul so long as he [the cardinal] should remain in
1 1 7th February, 1306-7. 2 I9th March, 1306-7.
180
LANERCOST
England, and for one hundred days afterwards. Then straightway,
having doffed his ordinary raiment and donned his pontificals, he
denounced the murderers of the said Sir John as excommunicate,
anathematised, and sacrilegious, together with all their abettors,
and any who offered them counsel or favour ; and expelled them
from Holy Mother Church until they should make full atone-
ment ; and thus those who were denounced were excommunicate
for a long time throughout all England, especially in the northern
parts and in the neighbourhood where the murder was committed.
On the following Friday, in the same place, peace was pro-
claimed between the said kings by the Archbishop of York,
and [it was announced] that the King of England's son was
to marry the King of France's daughter, accordingly as had been
previously decreed by my lord Pope Boniface.
In the same year, about the feast of S. Matthew the Apostle,1
the most noble King Edward being laid up at Newbrough near
Hexham, his consort the illustrious Margaret Queen of England,
came to the house of Lanercost with her honourable household.
And my lord the King came thither on the vigil of S. Michael2
next following, and remained there nearly half a year. And on
the first day of March 3 they left the said monastery for Carlisle, and
there -he held a parliament with all the great men of the realm.
In the same year Friar N. de Mor was sent by the Queen to
Oseney.
On Easter Day 4 the aforesaid Dungal 6 was knighted by the
1 2 ist September. 2 2 8th September. 3 1306-7. 4 26th March.
5 Dungal or Doual, one of the Pictish chiefs of Galloway, head of a powerful
clan of the same blood as the M'Doualls of Lorn. The lands of Logan in
Wigtownshire are still held by his descendants.
181
THE CHRONICLE OF
King's hand ; and in the same week Sir John Wallace was captured
and taken to the King at Carlisle, who sent him to London, that
he should there undergo the same doom as his brother
William had suffered. Howbeit, notwithstanding the
' terrible vengeance inflicted upon the Scots who adhered to the
j party of the aforesaid Robert de Brus, the number of those willing
*—- . •> /
to establish him in the realm increased from day to day.1
Wherefore the King of England caused all the chief men of
England who owed him service to attend at Carlisle with the
Welsh infantry within fifteen days after the nativity of S. John the
Baptist.2 But alas ! on the feast of the translation of S. Thomas,
Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr,8 in the year of our Lord
aforesaid, this illustrious and excellent King, my lord Edward,
son of King Henry, died at Burgh-upon-Sands, which is distant
about three miles to the north from Carlisle, in the thirty-sixth4
year of his reign and the sixty-seventh of his age. Throughout
his time he had been fearless and warlike, in all things strenuous
and illustrious ; he left not his like among Christian princes for
sagacity and courage. He is reported to have said to the Lord
before his death : — Have mercy upon me, Almighty God ! Ita
veraciter sicut nunquam aliquem [ ] 5 nisi tantum te, Dominum
Deum meum.
Messengers were sent in haste to my lord Edward Prince of
Wales, his son and heir, who arrived at Carlisle on the eleventh
day, to wit, on the festival of S. Symphorosa,6 and on the next day
1 In this sentence is well expressed the national character of the Scots — they are
willing to be led but will not be driven.
2 8th July. 3 7th juiy> 4 Reany the thirty-fifth.
6 The verb here is wanting in the original, which leaves the sense doubtful.
6 1 8th July.
182
MS.
LANERCOST
he went to Burgh to mourn for his father, with the nobles of the
land and prelates of the Church, who were assembled there in
great number.
On the following day, to wit, on the festival of S. Margaret,
Virgin and Martyr,1 he received at Carlisle Castle fealty and
homage from nearly all the chief men of England, who were
assembled there for the expedition to be made into
Scotland, and was proclaimed king. Thus Edward
the younger succeeded the elder, but in the same manner as
Rehoboam succeeded Solomon, which his career and fate were to
prove. Meanwhile, the obsequies and funeral rites of his father
were being arranged, and when these were ready, the corpse
was taken to Carlisle, and so on to the south, liberal offerings
in money and in wax being made for it in those churches byfo. 2izb
which it passed, most of all in those where it rested for the
night. The new king, and Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham
(who had previously been ordained by the Pope Patriarch of
Jerusalem), accompanied the corpse through several days' journey,
together with the nobles of England and a great multitude of
Secular and Regular clergy ; and afterwards the king returned
to Carlisle to arrange for the expedition into Scotland ; and
thither came to him first Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, and made
homage and fealty to him.
On the vigil of S. Peter ad Vincula2 he moved his army into
Scotland in order to receive homage and fealty from the Scots,
as he had forewarned them, having summoned by his letters all
the chief men of the country to appear before him at Dumfries,
there to render him the service due. Afterwards he divided
1 zoth July. 8 3 ist July.
THE CHRONICLE OF
his army into three columns to search for the oft-mentioned
Robert ; but, this time, as formerly, he was not to be found, so
they returned empty-handed to England after certain guardians
had been appointed in Scotland.1
Meanwhile there came in great pomp to the king a certain
knight of Gascony, Piers de Gaveston by name, whom my lord,
the elder Edward, had exiled from the realm of England, and
in accordance with the unanimous advice of parliament had caused
solemnly to swear that he would never re-enter England ; this
because of the improper familiarity which my lord Edward the
younger entertained with him, speaking of him openly as his
brother. To this fellow, coming by the new king's command to
join him while he was still in Scotland, the king gave the noble
earldom of Cornwall and the Isle of Man, and preferred him
in affection to all the other nobles of the country, whether of his
own kin or otherwise. When this was done, the whole of
England murmured against the king, and was indignant against
the aforesaid Piers. Moreover, the new king apprehended
Walter de Langton, my lord Bishop of Chester, a man as worthy
as any in the realm, who had been treasurer to his [Edward's]
father until his death, and imprisoned him in Wallingford
Castle.2 He did this, as was alleged, because the said bishop
had been prime mover in advising that the aforesaid Piers
should be exiled from the realm in the time of his [Edward's]
1Aymer de Valence was appointed guardian of Scotland on 28th August, but
he was superseded on 8th September by John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond.
In this may be traced the influence of Piers de Gaveston, no friend to de Valence,
whom, because of his swarthy complexion, he nicknamed ' Joseph the Jew,' a
term of special opprobrium in the fourteenth century.
2 In Berkshire.
184
LANERCOST
father. He also caused many other leading men, who had been
with his father, to be dismissed from their offices, and viler and
worse men to be appointed. Howbeit, he had some cause for
punishing the bishop, because, as was said, he found in his posses-
sion more of the treasure which he had collected under his
[Edward's] father than was in his father's treasury after his death.
Later, after the feast of S. Michael,1 the king held his parliament
at Northampton, and there confirmed the gift of the said earldom
[of Cornwall], and allowed the bishop to remain in the aforesaid
castle [of Wallingford], which was at that time the castle of
Piers himself; and after the parliament he went to London
with the clergy and people, and caused his father to be interred at
Westminster among the kings ; for since the day of his death his
body had been kept above ground in the abbey of Walsingham.
- While all these affairs were being transacted, Robert Bruce,
with his brother Edward and many of his adherents, was moving
through Scotland wherever he liked, in despite of the English
guardians, and chiefly in Galloway, from which district he
took tribute under agreement that it should be left in peace ;
for they were unable to resist him because of the large number
of the people who then adhered to him.
About the same time died Friar William of Gainsborough,
Bishop of Worcester, beyond the sea, when returning from
the court of France, whither he had been sent to arrange the
king's nuptials. He lies at Beauvais among the Minorite Friars.
Almost all his household died there with him, whence it was
believed that they had perished by poison.
1 29th September. Mortem in Stevenson's text ought manifestly to befestum, for,
as the Rev. Dr. James Wilson has reminded me, archangels are immortal !
185
THE CHRONICLE OF
Later, about the feast of the chair of S. Peter,1 the King of
England sailed across to France, and with solemnity and great
state married his wife Isabella, daughter of the King of France,
at Boulogne, as had been arranged in the presence of her father
and the leading men of that country, and of many from Eng-
land. He brought her back to England, and was crowned in
London. The people of the country and the leading men
complained loudly at his coronation against the aforesaid Piers,
and unanimously wished that he should be deprived of his
earldom ; but this the king obstinately refused. The murmurs
increased from day to day, and engrossed the lips and ears
of all men, nor was there one who had a good word either for
the king or for Piers. The chief men agreed unanimously
in strongly demanding that Piers should be sent back into exile,
foremost among them being the noble Earl of Lincoln and
the young Earl of Gloucester, whose sister, however, Piers
had received in marriage by the king's gift.2
About Easter8 the king held a parliament, in which it was
unanimously declared that the said Piers should be banished
within fifteen days from all the lands which are under
A.D. 1308.
the King of England's dominion. Howbeit the king,
though he gave verbal assent to this, did not in fact keep faith,
any more than in some other things which he promised, and
Piers remained in England. Wherefore about Pentecost the
1 zznd February, 1307-8.
2 Margaret de Clare, the king's niece, being daughter of his elder sister, Joan of
Acre. The marriage took place on 1st November, 1307, although Walsingham
says it was after Gaveston had been appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1 6th
June, 1308.
8 1 4th April.
1 86
LANERCOST
earls and barons, with horses and arms and a strong force,
came to Northampton, where the king was staying at that time
with the said Piers, and there at length it was arranged by
force and fear that he should immediately be sent back into exile,
in the manner aforesaid, and the Pope's excommunication was
procured upon him in the event of his ever after re-entering
England. But while it was decreed that he should embark at
Dover and have an annuity for life of ^200 sterling for himself and
£100 for his wife, if she were willing to leave the country
with him, the king secretly caused him to sail to Ireland with
his wife, furnishing him with letters to the effect that, wheresoever
he should go within the lands of the King of England, he should
be received with the glory and honour due to the person of
the king himself. Also he gave him, as was said, such precious
and valuable articles as he could find in his treasury, and also
he gave him many charters sealed with his great seal, but in
blank, whereon Piers might write whatever he chose ; and
accordingly he was received in Ireland with great glory.
In all these proceedings no one in the kingdom supported the
king, except four persons, to wit, my lord Hugh le Despenser, fo. 213
baron, Sir Nicholas de Segrave, Sir William de Burford, and
Sir William de Enge, against whom the earls and barons rose,
demanding that they should be banished as deceivers of the king
and traitors to the realm, or else that they should be removed
immediately and utterly from the king's presence and council.
About the same time, grievous to relate, the Master of the
Order of Templars, with many brethren of his order, publicly
confessed, as was said, before my lord the King of France and
the clergy and people, that for sixty years and more he and
187
THE CHRONICLE OF
his brethren had performed mock-worship before a statue of
a certain brother of the Order, and had trodden the image of
the Crucified One under foot, spitting in its face, and that
they had habitually committed sodomy among themselves, and had
perpetrated many other iniquities against the faith. On account
of which all the Templars in France were apprehended and
imprisoned, not undeservedly, and their goods were confiscated,
and the same was done in England, pending what the Pope and
the clergy should decide what should be done with them.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the dispute between the King
of England and the barons, Edward de Brus, brother of the oft-
mentioned Robert, and Alexander de Lindsey and Robert Boyd
and James de Douglas,1 knights, with their following which they
had from the outer isles of Scotland, invaded the people of
Galloway, disregarding the tribute which they took from them,
and in one day slew many of the gentry of Galloway, and made
nearly all that district subject to them. Those Gallovidians,
however, who could escape came to England to find refuge. But
it was said that the King of England desired, if he could, to
ally himself with Robert de Brus, and to grant him peace
upon such terms as would help him to contend with his own earls
and barons. Howbeit, after the feast of S. Michael 2 some kind
of peace and agreement was patched up between the King of
England and his people, on condition that the king should do
nothing important without the advice and consent of the Earl of
Lincoln ; but from day to day the king, by gifts and promises,
drew to his side some of the earls and barons.
1 First mention of ' the good Sir James,' son of Sir William ' le Hardi.'
2 zgth September.
1 88
LANERCOST
About the beginning of the following Lent1 an embassy was sent
to the King of England by order of the Pope and at the instance
of the King of France, desiring him to desist from attacking the
Scots, and that he should hold meanwhile only what he possessed
at the preceding feast of S. James the Apostle ; 2 and likewise an
embassy was sent to Robert de Brus desiring him to keep the
peace, and that meanwhile he should enjoy all that he had
acquired at the preceding feast of the same S. James, and no
more ; and that the truce should endure until the festival of
All Saints next to come.3 But Robert and his people restored
nothing to the King of England of that which he had wrongously
usurped between the said feast of S. James and the beginning of
Lent aforesaid ; rather were they continually striving to get
more.
In the summer the king held his parliament at Northampton ;
whereat, contrary to the hope of all England, the said Piers de
Gaveston, through privy procurement of the king
beforehand, was confirmed as formerly in the earldom
of Cornwall, with the assent of the earls and barons, on condition
that he should have nothing in the kingdom except the earldom.
For already, before the aforesaid parliament, the sentence of
excommunication pronounced by my lord the Pope against the
said Piers in England had been suspended for ten months, and all
Englishmen were absolved from whatever oath they had taken in
any manner affecting the said Piers ; and meanwhile he received
license to return from Ireland to England, and obtained in
parliament the earldom of Cornwall as before.
1 1 2th February, 1308-9. 225th July, 1308.
3 ist November.
189
THE CHRONICLE OF
But in the aforesaid parliament there was read a fresh sentence
of excommunication pronounced against Robert de Brus and
against all who should give him aid, counsel, or favour.
Now about the feast of All Saints,1 when the said truce was
due to expire, the King of England sent Sir John de Segrave and
many others with him to keep the march at Berwick; and to
defend the march at Carlisle [he sent] the Earl of Hereford and
Baron Sir Robert de Clifford, Sir John de Cromwell, knight, and
others with them. But a little before the feast of S. Andrew 2
they made a truce with the oft-mentioned Robert de Brus, and he
with them, subject to the King of England's consent, until the
twentieth day after Christmas,3 and accordingly Robert de Clifford
went to the king to ascertain his pleasure. On his return, he
agreed to a further truce with the Scots until the first Sunday in
Lent,4 and afterwards the truce was prolonged until summer ; for
the English do not willingly enter Scotland to wage war before
summer, chiefly because earlier in the year they find no food for
their horses.
About the feast of the Assumption 6 the king came to Berwick
with Piers, Earl of Cornwall, and the Earl of Gloucester and the
Earl of Warenne, which town the King of England
A.D. I3IO.
had caused to be enclosed with a strong and high wall
and ditch ; but the other earls refused to march with the king by
reason of fresh dispute that had arisen. But he [the king]
advanced with his suite further into Scotland in search for the oft-
mentioned Robert, who fled in his usual manner, not daring to
1 ist November. 2 3oth November.
8 I4th January, 1309-10. 4 8th March, 1309-10.
5 1 5th August.
190
LANERCOST
meet them, wherefore they returned to Berwick.1 So soon as
they had retired, Robert and his people invaded Lothian and
inflicted much damage upon those who were in the king of
England's peace. The king, therefore, pursued them with a
small force, but the Earl of Cornwall remained at Roxburgh with
his people to guard that district, and the Earl of Gloucester
[remained at] Norham.
After the feast of the Purification 2 the king sent the aforesaid
Earl of Cornwall with two hundred men-at-arms to the town
of S. John beyond the Scottish Sea,3 in case Robert de Brus, who
was then marching towards Galloway, should go beyond the said
sea to collect troops. But the king remained on at Berwick.
The said earl received to peace all beyond the Scottish Sea, as far
as the Mounth. After the beginning of Lent4 the Earls of
Gloucester and Warenne rode through the great Forest of
Selkirk, receiving the foresters and others of the Forest to
peace.
About the same time died the noble Henry, Earl of Lin-
coln, who was Guardian of England in the king's absence,
in place of whom the Earl of Gloucester was elected with
the king's consent, and therefore returned from Scotland to
England.
In the same year died Antony Bek, Patriarch of Jerusalem and fb. 2 1 3
Bishop of Durham (Patriarch, however, only in name), and was
buried with great solemnity in the cathedral church of Durham,
1This Fabian strategy was very exasperating to the chronicler, but it was
the means whereby Bruce won and kept his kingdom.
2 2nd February, 1310-11. *I.e. Perth, beyond the Firth of Forth.
4 24th February, 1310-11.
191
MS.
THE CHRONICLE OF
at the northern corner of the east end ; in which church none had
hitherto been buried save S. Cuthbert.1
To him succeeded Richard of Kelso, a monk of that monastery
[Durham], soon after Easter,2 and was consecrated at
York by the archbishop on the feast of Pentecost.3
In the same year my lord Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, came to
the king in Scotland, to do homage for the earldom of Lincoln
which had come to him through his wife after the death of the
aforesaid earl. But, forasmuch as the king was in Berwick, the
earl was advised not to go before him outside the realm to render
homage, neither would the king come across the river to him ;
wherefore there was much apprehension of civil war in England,
because the earl, having four other earldoms besides that of
Lincoln, threatened to return immediately with one hundred
knights whom he had brought with him (without taking account
of foot-soldiers besides), and to enter upon the lands of the said
earldom whereof he had offered homage to the king, who had
declined to receive it. But by God's influence the king followed
wiser counsel, crossed the water of Tweed, and came to the earl
at Haggerston, about four miles from Berwick, where they
saluted each other amicably and exchanged frequent kisses.
Although hitherto they had been much at discord because of
Piers de Gaveston, yet [that person] came thither with the king ;
but the earl would neither kiss him, nor even salute him, whereat
Piers was offended beyond measure.
1 Considering the effusive eulogy or scathing criticism passed by the chronicler
upon other deceased dignitaries of the Church, it is strange that he should have
nothing to say about the character of this most redoubtable prelate.
2 i ith April. 8 30th May.
192
LANERCOST
In the same year the Templars of England were tried upon the
aforesaid crimes with which they were charged by inquisitors sent
by my lord the Pope, all of which they denied at York, but three
of them pled guilty to them all in London.
Forasmuch as the king, two years before, had granted in a
certain parliament, and confirmed by establishing it under his
great seal, that he would submit to the authority of certain
persons, earls and bishops,1 partly for councillors (for he was not
very wise in his acts, though he may have spoken rationally enough),
and likewise partly for the better governance of his house and
household, and that the term of two years should be given them
for dealing with these matters and deliberating, which time had
now elapsed, therefore the Guardian of England and the nobles of
the land sent forward envoys to the king in Scotland about the
feast of S. Laurence,2 humbly beseeching that it would please him
to come to London and hear in parliament what they had
ordained for his honour and the welfare of his realm. Wherefore
the king, unwillingly enough, went to London, where all the
great men of the realm were assembled, and in that parliament
the said ordainers announced publicly what they had ordained,
and these were approved by the judgment of all as being very
expedient for the king and realm, and specially so for the com-
munity and the people. Among these [ordinances] it was decreed
now, as it had been frequently before, that Piers de Gaveston
1 These Lord Ordainers were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of
London, Salisbury, Chichester, Norwich, S. David's and Llandaff; the Earls
of Gloucester, Lancaster, Lincoln, Hereford, Pembroke, Richmond, Warwick
and Arundel ; the Barons Hugh de Vere, William le Mareschal, Robert Fitz
Roger, Hugh Courtenay, William Martin, and John de Grey.
2 loth August/
N 193
THE CHRONICLE OF
should depart from the soil of England within fifteen days after
the feast of S. Michael the Archangel,1 never to return, nor
should he thereafter be styled nor be an earl, nor be admitted
to any country which might be under the king's dominion ; and
sentence of excommunication was solemnly pronounced by the
Archbishop of Canterbury upon all who should receive, defend,
or entertain him in England after the aforesaid fixed limit of
time. He himself, confident that he had been confirmed for life
in his earldom, albeit he was an alien and had been preferred to
so great dignity solely by the king's favour, had now grown
so insolent as to despise all the nobles of the land ; among whom
he called the Earl of Warwick (a man of equal wisdom and
integrity) ' the Black Dog of Arden.' When this was reported
to the earl, he is said to have replied with calmness : ' If he call
me a dog, be sure that I will bite him so soon as I shall perceive
my opportunity.'
But let us have done with him [Piers] till another time and
return to Robert de Brus to see what he has been about mean-
while. The said Robert, then, taking note that the king and all
the nobles of the realm were in such distant parts, and in such
discord about the said accursed individual [Piers], having collected
a large army invaded England by the Solway on Thursday before
the feast of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin,2 and burnt all
the land of the Lord of Gillesland and the town of Haltwhistle
and a great part of Tynedale, and after eight days returned into
Scotland, taking with him a very large booty in cattle. But he
had killed few men besides those who offered resistance.
About the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin,3 Robert
1 1 3th October. 2 I2th August. 3 8th September.
194
LANERCOST
returned with an army into England, directing his march towards
Northumberland, and, passing by Harbottle and Holystone and
Redesdale, he burnt the district about Corbridge, destroying
everything ; also he caused more men to be killed than on the
former occasion. And so he turned into the valleys of North and
South Tyne, laying waste those parts which he had previously
spared, and returned into Scotland after fifteen days ; nor could the
wardens whom the King of England had stationed on the marches
oppose so great a force of Scots as he brought with him. How-
beit, like the Scots, they destroyed all the goods in the land, with
this exception, that they neither burnt houses nor killed men.
Meanwhile the Northumbrians, still dreading lest Robert should
return, sent envoys to him to negotiate a temporary truce, and
they agreed with him that they would pay two thousand pounds
for an exceedingly short truce — to wit, until the Purification of the
Glorious Virgin.1 Also those of the county of Dunbar, next to
Berwick, in Scotland, who were still in the King of England's
peace, were very heavily taxed for a truce until the said date.
In all these aforesaid campaigns the Scots were so divided
among themselves that sometimes the father was on the Scottish
side and the son on the English, and vice versa ; also one brother
might be with the Scots and another with the English ; yea, even
the same individual be first with one party and then with the MS.
other. But all those who were with the English were merely
feigning, either because it was the stronger party, or in order to
save the lands they possessed in England ; for their hearts were
always with their own people, although their persons might not
be so.
1 2nd Feb., 1311-12.
THE CHRONICLE OF
From the feast of S. Michael1 until the feast of S. John
Lateran,2 Pope Clement held a council at Vienne3 with the
cardinals and three patriarchs and one hundred and thirty arch-
bishops and bishops, and abolished the Order of Templars so that
it should no longer be considered an Order. Also he caused
many new constitutions to be enacted there, which were compiled
in seven books in the time of his successor, John XXII.
Now let us return to Piers. That oft-mentioned Piers de
Gaveston left England and went to Flanders within the time
appointed him, to wit, within fifteen days after the feast of
S. Michael.4 But whereas in Flanders he met with a reception far
from favourable (through the agency of the King of France, who
cordially detested him because, as was said, the King of England,
having married his daughter, loved her indifferently because of
the aforesaid Piers), to his own undoing he returned to England,
but clandestinely, through fear of the earls and barons ; and the
king received him and took him with him to York, where they
plundered the town and country, because they had not where-
withal to pay their expenses. For the earls and barons had
ordained, and enforced execution thereof after the return of the
said Piers, that the king, who would not agree with his lieges in
anything, should not receive from his exchequer so much as a
half-penny or a farthing.5 The king, then, fearing lest the earls
and barons should come upon him there, took Piers to Scar-
borough with him ; but he who was then warden of the castle6
refused to allow, on any account, the king to enter accompanied
1 29th September, 1311. 2 6th May, 1312. 3 In Dauphiny.
4 1 2th October. 5 Obolum nee quadrantem.
6 Henry de Percy, First Lord Percy of Alnwick, 1272-1315.
196
LANERCOST
by Piers, wherefore the king turned aside with him to Newcastle,
and there, as at York, they plundered the town and country.
When Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, heard this, being most hostile
to the said Piers, he marched secretly and suddenly through the
wooded parts of England, avoiding the high roads, about the feast
of the Invention of the Holy Cross.1
In the same year the said Robert de Brus, King of Scotland,2
came with a great army in the month of August to the
monastery of Lanercost, and remained there three days, making
many of the canons prisoners and doing an infinity of injury ;
but at last the canpns^were set at liJ^erty-by-^iirHsslfL^. > ,
"The said Earl [of Lancaster] entered Newcastle with a large
body of men-at-arms in order to seize the said Piers, according
to what had been ordained by the earls and barons;
A.D. 1312.
but it so happened that the king and he had gone to
Tynemouth, which is about six miles from Newcastle, and, hearing
that the earl was after them, they embarked in an open boat and
made for Scarborough, and were then received there. But the
king, having dismissed Piers there and Henry de Beaumond
(likewise an alien) with some others for the defence of the castle,
left them and went to Knaresborough Castle, and thence forward
to York, thinking thereby to cause the siege of Scarborough to
be raised if the castle should be besieged ; but he failed to effect
what he wished. For the Earl of Lancaster, hearing that the
king and Piers had separated, and that Piers was in the castle,
1 3rd May.
2 This is the first time the chronicler admits King Robert's regal rank. But
neither he nor any of his successors ever called themselves King of Scotland ; they
were Kings of Scots.,
197
THE CHRONICLE OF
attacked it most vigorously, so that very shortly Piers was
forced to surrender himself. This, however, he did upon terms
which, as I have not heard them, I have not written. Having
surrendered, he was committed to the custody of Sir Aymer de
Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who had ever before been his chief
enemy, and about the feast of the nativity of John the Baptist,1
in the absence of Aymer de Valence, he was beheaded on the
high road near the town of Warwick by command of the Earl of
Lancaster and the Earl of Warwick.
On the third of the nones of July,2 on the vigil of the octave
of the Apostles Peter and Paul was a new moon,3 and an eclipse
of the sun about the first hour of the day,4 and the sun appeared
like a horned moon, which was small at first and then larger,
until about the third hour it recovered its proper and usual size ;
though \sometimes it seemed green, but sometimes of the colour
which it usually has.
Now, while the aforesaid things were getting done with Piers,
the march of England had no defender against the Scots, and
therefore they rendered tribute to Robert in order to have peace
for a while. Meanwhile, however, the Scots burnt the town of
Norham, because the castle did them great injury, and they took
away men as prisoners and also cattle.
When the king heard of the slaughter of the oft-mentioned
Piers, he flared up in anger, and gave all his thoughts to the
means whereby he might avenge himself on the slayers.
My lord Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, then attached
himself to the king, chiefly because the said Piers had been
1 24th June. The actual date of decollation was igth June. 2 $th July.
3 Luna tricesima, i.e. the thirtieth lunation. 4 6 a.m.
108
LANERCOST
committed to his custody and had . been killed without his
knowledge. It was said also that the Earl of Warenne and
some others joined the king's party against the Earl of
Lancaster. Xherefore the king caused his parliament to be , uu^'' ^ «/'
• — — » ~— — *- — . & , W" ^ f^ ff^
summoned in London, in case he could there_seizc_thc earl,
the sons of two
EdwardLaiidJEidniund.1 But this was not unknown to the earl,
wherefore he gathered to himself out of his five earldoms a
mounted force so strong and numerous that he had no fear of
the king's party, and he came to London for the parliament.
When the king heard this he dissimulated, nor would he attempt '**
anything against him, but prolonged the parliament from day to
day in order tqjrex_h^JXajtK^ *
and.baronsjwho had come to his aid and for the confirmation of
the aforesaid ordinances. But the Earl of Gloucester and the
Earl of Richmond were mediators of peace between the opposing
parties, albeit they were not able to pacify them.
When Robert de Brus heard of this discord in the south,
having assembled a great army, he invaded England about the
feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin,2 and burnt the
towns of Hexham and Corbridge and the western parts, and took
booty and much spoil and prisoners, nor was there anyone MS.
who dared resist. While he halted in peace and safety near
Corbridge he sent part of his army as far as Durham, which,
arriving there suddenly on market day, carried off all that was
found in the town, and gave a great part of it to the flames,
1 Lancaster was Edward II.'s first cousin, being the son of Edmund * Crouch-
back.'
2 1 5th August.
199
THE CHRONICLE OF
cruelly killing all who opposed them, but scarcely attacking the
castle and abbey. The people of Durham, fearing more mischief
from them, and despairing of help from the king, compounded
with them, giving two thousand pounds to obtain truce for that
bishopric until the nativity of John the Baptist ; l which, however,
the Scots refused to accept unless on condition that they might
have free access and retreat through the land of the bishopric
whensoever they wished to make a raid into England. The
Northumbrians also, fearing that they would visit them, gave
them other two thousand pounds to secure peace until the
aforesaid date ; and the people of Westmorland, Copland, and
Cumberland redeemed themselves in a similar way ; and, as they
had not so much money in hand as would pay them, they paid a
part, and gave as hostages for the rest the sons of the chief lords
of the country. Having achieved this, Robert returned to
Scotland with his army.
* Meanwhile a cardinal legate came to England with my lord
Louis, brother of my lord the King of France, to effect concord
between the king and the earls and barons; but they did not
succeed, although they spent many days in attempting to bring
about agreement.
In winter, about the feast of S. Martin, to wit, on the feast
day of S. Bricius,2 a first-born son was born and was named
Edward, like his father and grandfather.
Now the oft-mentioned Robert, seeing that thus he had the
whole March of England under tribute, applied all his thoughts
to getting possession of the town of Berwick, which was in the
King of England's hands. Coming unexpectedly to the castle
1 24th June, 1313. 2i3th November.
200
LANERCOST
on the night of S. Nicholas,1 he laid ladders against the walls and
began to scale them ; and had not a dog betrayed the approach
of the Scots by loud barking, it is believed that he would quickly
have taken the castle and, in consequence, the town.
Now these ladders which they placed against the walls were of
wonderful construction, as I myself, who write these lines, beheld
with my own eyes.2 For the Scots had made two strong ropes as
long as the height of the wall, making a knot at one end of each
cord. They had made a wooden board also, about two feet and
a half long and half a foot broad, strong enough to carry a man,
and in the two extremities of the board they had made two holes,
through which the two ropes could be passed; then the cords,
having been passed through as far as the knots, they had made
two other knots in the ropes one foot and a half higher, and
above these knots they placed another log or board, and so on to
the end of the ropes. They had also made an iron hook,
measuring at least one foot along one limb, and this was to lie
over the wall ; but the other limb, being of the same length,
hung downwards towards the ground, having at its end a round
hole wherein the point of a lance could be inserted, and two rings
on the two sides wherein the said ropes could be knotted.
Having fitted them together in this manner, they took a strong
spear as long as the height of the wall, placing the point thereof
in the iron hole, and two men lifted the ropes and boards with
that spear and placed the iron hook (which was not a round one)
over the wall. Then they were able to climb up by those wooden
steps just as one usually climbs ordinary ladders, and the greater
the weight of the climber the more firmly the iron hook clung
1 6th December. 2 Fide occulata conspexl.
THE CHRONICLE OF
over the wall. But lest the ropes should lie too close to the wall
and hinder the ascent, they had made fenders round every third
step which thrust the ropes off the wall. When, therefore, they
had placed two ladders upon the wall, the dog betrayed them as
I have said, and they left the ladders there, which our people
next day hung upon a pillory to put them to shame. And thus
a dog saved the town on that occasion, just as of old geese saved
Rome by their gaggle, as saith S. Augustine in de Civitate Deiy
book iii. chapter 4, de magnis^ and Ambrose in Exameron in Opere
£>uint<e Diet.
Robert, having failed in his attempt on Berwick, marched
with his army to the town of S. John,1 which was then still in
the King of England's hands ; and he laid siege thereto, and on
Monday of the octave of Epiphany2 it was taken by the Scots, who
scalecj. the walls by night on ladders, and entered the town through
the negligence of sentries and guards. Next day Robert caused
those citizens of the better class who were of the Scottish nation
to be killed,3 but the English were allowed to go away free. But
the Scottish Sir William Oliphant, who had long time held that
town for the King of England against the Scots, was bound and
sent far away to the Isles. The town itself the Scots utterly
destroyed.
About the day of S. Peter in cathedra [ ]4 Master
Robert of Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, died ; in whose
room Master Thomas of Cobham, Doctor of Theology, was
elected; but at the kjug!s request the archbishopric was conferred
by the Pope upon my lord Walter Reynald, Bishop of Wor-
1 Perth. 2 roth January, 1312-1 3.
8 And English too, according to Fordun, ch. cxxix. 4 Blank in original.
202
LANERCOST
cester, a man almost illiterate, and, in public opinion, unworthy
of any degree of dignity both on the score of his mode of life
and his [want of] learning. Behold ! what evils the king wrought
among the clergy (besides the confusion he brought upon his
people) when he procured the appointment of such a man to be
Primate of all England ! However, as he had hindered the
election made of Master Thomas, he obtained his appointment as
Bishop of Worcester.
_^-&&er- the^feast^of the-Natmfy~6t S. "Jc*B-the"Ba^t«t^- when^- — -
the English truce on the March had lapsed, Robert de Brus
threatened to invade England in his usual manner. The
A.Di I 3 I 3.
people of Northumberland, Westmorland and Cumber-
land, and other Borderers, apprehending this, and neither having
nor hoping for any defence or help from their king (seeing that he MS.
was engaged in distant parts of England, seeming not to give them
a thought), offered to the said Robert no small sum of money,
indeed a very large one, for a truce to last till the feast of
S. Michael in the following year.2
All this time the body of Piers de Gaveston remained above
ground unburied with the Friars Preachers of Oxford, who daily
said for his soul a placebo, a dirige, and a mass with nones,
receiving from the king half a mark for their trouble.
In the same year about the feast of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin 3 the Emperor 4 was poisoned, as was said, by a
certain monk.
After the feast of S. Michael 5 the king caused the earls and
barons to be summoned to parliament in London, and there an
1 24th June. 2 29th Sept., 1314. 3 I5th August.
4 Henry VII., Count of Luxembourg. 5 29th September.
203
THE CHRONICLE OF
agreement, such as it was, was made between them on Sunday
next before the feast of S. Luke,1 and they made to him such an
humbling and obeisance as befitted a king, which afterwards they
did not observe.
Now at the beginning of Lent2 the Scots cunningly entered the
castle of Roxburgh at night by ladders, and captured all the castle
except one tower, wherein the warden of the castle, Sir Gillemin de
Fiennes, a knight of Gascony, had taken refuge with difficulty,
and his people with him ; but the Scots got possession of that
tower soon afterwards. And they razed to the ground the whole
of that beautiful castle, just as they did other castles which they
succeeded in taking, lest the English should ever hereafter be able
to lord it over the land through holding the castles.
In the same season of Lent they captured Edinburgh Castle in
the following manner. In the evening one day the besiegers of
that castle delivered an assault in force upon the south gate,3
because, owing to the position of the castle there was no other
quarter where an assault could be made. Those within gathered
together at the gate and offered a stout resistance ; but mean-
while the other Scots climbed the rocks on the north side, which
was very high and fell away steeply from the foot of the wall.
There they laid ladders to the wall and climbed up in such
numbers that those within could not withstand them ; and thus
they threw open the gates, admitted their comrades, got posses-
sion of the whole castle and killed the English. They razed
the said castle to the ground, just as they had done to Roxburgh
Castle.
1 Sunday, I4th October. 2 z8th February, 1313-14.
* It was really the east gate.
204
LANERCOST
Having accomplished this success, they marched to Stirling and
besieged that castle with their army.
In the same year died Sir Thomas de Multan, Lord of Gilles-
land, on the sixth of the kalends of December,1 leaving an only
daughter as his heir, named Margaret, whom Robert de Clifford,
son of Robert of the same name, married at Hoffe 2 in the seventh
year of her age, he himself lying on his bed. And in the life of
the said Robert, Ralph de Dacre, son of Sir William de Dacre,
married the same Margaret, having a right to her through a
contract concluded between Thomas de Multan, father of the
said Margaret, and William de Dacre, before her former marriage.
On Tuesday after the octave of Easter,3 Edward de Brus,
Robert's brother, invaded England by way of Carlisle with an
army, contrary to agreement, and remained there three
days at the bishop's manor house, to wit, at Rose,
and sent a strong detachment of his army to burn the southern
and western districts during those three days. They burnt many
towns and two churches, taking men and women prisoners, and
collected a great number of cattle in Inglewood Forest and
elsewhere, driving them off with them on the Friday;4 they
killed few men except those who made determined resistance;
but they made attack upon the city of Carlisle because of
the knights and country people who were assembled there.
Now the Scots did all these wrongs at that time because the men
of that March had not paid them the tribute which they had
pledged themselves to pay on certain days. Although the Scots
had hostages from the sons and heirs of the knights of that
1 26th November. 2 Near Appleby.
8 1 6th April. * igth April.
205
THE CHRONICLE OF
country in full security for covenanted sums, yet they did
not on that account refrain from committing the aforesaid
wrongs.
Now about the feast of Pentecost1 the King of England
approached the March of Scotland ; also the Earl of Gloucester,
the Earl of Hereford, the Earl of Pembroke, and the Earl of
Angus, Sir Robert de Clifford, Sir John Comyn (son of the
murdered John), Sir Henry de Beaumont, Sir John de Segrave,
Sir Pagan de Typtoft, Sir Edmund de Mauley, Sir Ingelram
de Umfraville, with other barons, knights, and a splendid and
numerous army, if only they had had the Lord as ally. But the
Earl of Lancaster and the other English earls who were of his
party remained at home with their men (except those with whom
they were bound in strict obligation to furnish the king in war),
\ because the king as yet had refused to agree with them or to
perform what he had promised before. And whereas when his
noble father Edward went on a campaign in Scotland, he used to
visit on his march [the shrines of] the English saints, Thomas
of Canterbury, Edmund, Hugh, William, and Cuthbert, offering
fair oblations, commending himself to their prayers, and also
bestowing liberal gifts to monasteries and the poor, this [king]
did none of these things ; but marching with great pomp and
elaborate state, he took goods from the monasteries on his
journey, and, as was reported, did and said things to the prejudice
and injury of the saints. In consequence of this and other things
it is not surprising that confusion and everlasting shame overtook
him and his army, which was foretold at the time by certain
religious men of England.
1 z6th May.
206
LANERCOST
Thus before the feast of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist,1
the king, having massed his army, advanced with the aforesaid
pomp towards Stirling Castle, to relieve it from siege and to
engage the Scots, who were assembled there in all their strength.
On the vigil of the aforesaid Nativity2 the king's army arrived
after dinner near Torwood ; and, upon information that there
were Scots in the wood, the king's advanced guard, commanded
by Lord de Clifford, began to make a circuit of the wood to
prevent the Scots escaping by flight. The Scots did not interfere
until they [the English] were far ahead of the main body, when
they showed themselves, and, cutting off the king's advanced MS.
guard from the middle and rear columns, they charged and killed
some of them and put the rest to flight.3 From that moment
began a panic among the English and the Scots grew bolder.
On the morrow — an evil, miserable and calamitous day for the
English — when both sides had made themselves ready for battle,
the English archers were thrown forward before the line, and the
Scottish archers engaged them, a few being killed and wounded on
either side ; but the King of England's archers quickly put the
others to flight. Now when the two armies had approached very
near each other, all the Scots fell on their knees to repeat Paternoster^
commending themselves to God and seeking help from heaven ;
after which they advanced boldly against the English. They had
so arranged their army that two columns went abreast in advance
of the third, so that neither should be in advance of the other ;
1 24th June. 2 23rd June.
3 This is a very inaccurate account, obviously from confused hearsay, of
de Clifford's repulse by young Randolph. The true narrative is given best in
Gray's Sca/acronica.
207
THE CHRONICLE OF
and the third followed, in which was Robert.1 Of a truth, when
both armies engaged each other, and the great horses of the
English charged the pikes of the Scots, as it were into a dense
forest, there arose a great and terrible crash of spears broken and
of destriers wounded to the death ; and so they remained without
movement for a while. Now the English in the rear could not
reach the Scots because the leading division was in the way, nor
coulu they do anything to help themselves, wherefore there was
nothing for it but to take to flight. This account I heard from a
trustworthy person who was present as eye-witness.
In the leading division were killed the Earl of Gloucester, Sir
John Corny n, Sir Pagan de Typtoft, Sir Edmund de Mauley and
many other nobles, besides foot soldiers who fell in great numbers.
Another calamity which befel the English was that, whereas they
had shortly before crossed a great ditch called Bannockburn, into
which the tide flows, and now wanted to recross it in confusion,
many nobles and others fell into it with their horses in the crush,
whik others escaped with much difficulty, and many were never
able to extricate themselves from the ditch ; thus Bannockburn
was spoken about for many years in English throats.
[Here follows a long dirge in Latin hexameters, which will not
repay translation.]
The king and Sir Hugh le Despenser (who, after Piers de
Gavestcn, was as his right eye) and Sir Henry de Beaumont
(whom he had promoted to an earldom in Scotland), with many
others mounted and on foot, to their perpetual shame fled like
1 This again is not correct. The Scots order of battle was three columns or
' schiltromes ' in the first line, supported by the fourth commanded by King
Robert.
208
LANERCOST
miserable wretches to Dunbar Castle, guided by a certain knight
of Scotland who knew through what districts they could escape.
Some who were not so speedy in flight were killed by the Scots,
who pursued them hotly ; but these, holding bravely together,
came safe and sound through the ambushes into England. At
Dunbar the king embarked with some of his chosen followers in
an open boat for Berwick, leaving all the others to their fate.
In like manner as the king and his following fled in one direc-
tion to Berwick, so the Earl of Hereford, the Earl of Angus, Sir
John de Segrave, Sir Antony de Lucy and Sir Ingelram de Umfra-
ville, with a great crowd of knights, six hundred other mounted MS.
men and one thousand foot, fled in another direction towards
Carlisle. The Earl of Pembroke left the army on foot and saved
himself with the fugitive Welsh ; but the aforesaid earls and
others, who had fled towards Carlisle were captured on the way
at Bothwell Castle, for the sheriff, the warden of the castle,1 who
had held the castle down to that time for the King of England,
perceiving that his countrymen had won the battle, allowed the
chief men who came thither to enter the castle in the belief that
they would find a safe refuge, and when they had entered he took
them prisoners, thereby treacherously deceiving them. Many,
1Sir Walter Gilbertson. A full list of the officers and garrison is given in
King Edward's Wardrobe Accounts. In this, as in many other details, Barbour is
singularly accurate.
The Erie of Hertfurd fra the melle
Departyt with a gret menye,
And straucht to Bothwell tok the vai,
That then in the Ingliss mennys fay
Was, and haldyn as place of wer.
Schyr Waltre Gilbertson was ther
Capitane, and it had in ward. — The Brits, ix. 582.
O 209
THE CHRONICLE OF
also, were taken wandering round the castle and hither and thither
in the country, and many were killed ; it was said, also, that
certain knights were captured by women, nor did any of them get
back to England save in abject confusion. The Earl of Hereford,
the Earl of Angus, Sir [John] de Segrave, Sir Antony de Lucy,
Sir Ingelram de Umfraville and the other nobles who were in the
castle were brought before Robert de Brus and sent into captivity,
and after a lengthy imprisonment were ransomed for much money.
After the aforesaid victory Robert de Brus was commonly called
King of Scotland by all men, because he had acquired Scotland
by force of arms.
About the same time died King Philip of France.1
Shortly afterwards, to wit, about the feast of S. Peter ad
Vincula,2 Sir Edward de Brus, Sir James of Douglas, John de
Soulis and other nobles of Scotland invaded England by way of
Berwick with cavalry and a large army, and, during the time of
truce, devastated almost all Northumberland with fire, except the
castles ; and so they passed forward into the bishopric of Durham ;
but there they did not burn much, for the people of the bishopric
ransomed themselves from burning by a large sum of money.
Nevertheless, the Scots carried off a booty of cattle and what men
they could capture, and so invaded the county of Richmond
beyond, acting in the same manner there without resistance, for
nearly all men fled to the south or hid themselves in the woods,
except those who took refuge in the castles.
The Scots even went as far as the Water of Tees on that
occasion, and some of them beyond the town of Richmond, but
they did not enter that town. Afterwards, reuniting their forces,
1 29th Nov., 1314. 2ist August.
210
LANERCOST
they all returned by Swaledale and other valleys and by Stane-
moor, whence they carried off an immense booty of cattle. Also
they burnt the towns of Brough and Appleby and Kirkoswald,
and other towns here and there on their route, trampling down
the crops by themselves and their beasts as much as they could ;
and so, passing near the priory of Lanercost, they entered
Scotland, having many men prisoners from whom they might
extort money ransom at will. But the people of Coupland,1
fearing their return and invasion, sent envoys and appeased them
with much money.
Qnjhe_day^a.fterJ:he feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary
the King of England's parliament opened at York, wEcreat tEe ^
king and the Earl [of Lancaster] with his adherents came "to ah
agreement, and all of them approved of the ordinances above men-
tioned, which wereTonfirmed by the seals of the king and tire-earl.
Now~aboiif the" feast of S. Michael3 the Earl of Hereford, who
had married the King of England's sister, returned from Scotland,
and in exchange for him were released the Bishop of Glasgow, the
Earl of Mar (who had been reared in England), and the wife,
sister, and daughter of my lord Robert de Brus.4 Howbeit, the
Earl of Mar, having arrived at Newcastle, refused to go with
them into Scotland, preferring to remain in England. From day
to day sundry prisoners were released from the hands of the
Scots, but only through very heavy pecuniary ransoms. About
1 A ward of southern Cumberland.
2 9th September. 3 zgth September.
4 Queen Elizabeth was maintained at the king's charges during her captivity.
In the year 1312-13 her expenses amounted to £125 53. 2d. (Wardrobe Accounts,
5 Edward II.).
211
THE CHRONICLE OF
the feast of our Lord's birth l the Earl of Angus was released,
also Sir John de Segrave, and a little later Sir Antony de Lucy.
About the feast of the Epiphany the illustrious King of France
died, not having reigned a full year.2
Meanwhile the Scots occupied both north and south Tynedale
—to wit Haltwhistle, Hexham, Corbridge, and so on towards
Newcastle, and Tynedale did homage to the King of Scots and
forcibly attacked Gillesland and the other adjacent districts of
England.
At this time also the Scots again wasted Northumberland ; but
from the aforesaid Nativity of Our Lord until the Nativity of
S. John 3 the Baptist the county of Cumberland alone paid 600
marks in tribute to the King of Scots.^
The Scots, therefore, unduly elated, as~rhuch by tKetr victory
in the field as by the devastation of the March of England and
the receipt of very large sums of money, were not
A.D. 1315. ..,,.... r
satisfied with their own frontiers, but fitted out ships
and sailed to Ireland in the month of May, to reduce that
country to subjection if they could. Their commanders were my
lord Edward Bruce, the king's brother, and his kinsman my lord
Thomas Randolf, Earl of Moray, both enterprising and valiant
knights, having a very strong force with them. Landing in
Ireland, and receiving some slight aid from the Irish, they captured
from the King of England's dominion much land and many
towns, and so prevailed as to have my lord Edward made king
1 25th December.
2 The date is wrong, Philip IV. died 2Qth November, 1314, Louis X. died
5th June, 1316 — June instead of January.
3 2 5th December, 1314-241}! June, 1315.
212
LANERCOST
by the Irish. Let us leave him reigning there for the present,
just as many kinglets reign there, till we shall describe elsewhere
how he came to be beheaded, and let us return to Scotland.
The Scots, then, seeing that affairs were going everywhere in
their favour, invaded the bishopric of Durham about the feast of
the Apostles Peter and Paul,1 and plundered the town of Hartle-
pool, whence the people took to the sea in ships ; but they did
not burn it. On their return they carried away very much booty
from the bishopric.
Also, a little later in the same year, on the feast of S. Mary
Magdalene,2 the King of Scotland, having mustered all his forces,
came to Carlisle, invested the city and besieged it for ten days,
trampling down all the crops, wasting the suburbs and all within
the bounds, burning the whole of that district, and driving in a
very great store of cattle for his army from Allerdale, Copland,
and Westmorland. On every day of the siege they assaulted one MS.
fo. 2 1 6^
of the three gates of the city, sometimes all three at once ; but
never without loss, because there were discharged upon them from
the walls such dense volleys of darts and arrows, likewise stones,
that they asked one another whether stones bred and multiplied
within the walls. Now on the fifth day of the siege they set up
a machine for casting stones next the church of Holy Trinity,
where their king stationed himself, and they cast great stones
continually against the Caldew gate 3 and against the wall, but
they did little or no injury to those within, except that they
killed one man. But there were seven or eight similar machines
within the city, besides other engines of war, which are called
springalds, for discharging long darts, and staves with sockets for
i 29th June. 222nd July, 3 On the west of the town.
213
THE CHRONICLE OF
casting stones, which caused great fear and damage to those out-
side. Meanwhile, however, the Scots set up a certain great
berefrai like a kind of tower, which was considerably higher
than the city walls. On perceiving this, the carpenters of the city
erected upon a tower of the wall against which that engine must
come if it had ever reached the wall, a wooden tower loftier than
the other ; but neither that engine nor any other ever did reach the
wall, because, when it was being drawn on wheels over the wet
and swampy ground, having stuck there through its own weight,
it could neither be taken any further nor do any harm.
Moreover the Scots had made many long ladders, which they
brought with them for scaling the wall in different places simul-
taneously ; also a sow l for mining the town wall, had they been
able ; but neither sow nor ladders availed them aught. Also they
made great numbers of fascines of corn and herbage to fill the
moat outside the wall on the east side, so as they might pass over
dry-shod. Also they made long bridges of logs running upon
wheels, such as xbeing strongly and swiftly drawn with ropes might
reach across the width of the moat. But during all the time the
Scots were on the ground neither fascines sufficed to fill the moat,
nor those wooden bridges to cross the ditch, but sank to the depths
by their own weight.
Howbeit on the ninth day of the siege, when all the engines
were ready, they delivered a general assault upon all the city gates
and upon the whole circuit of the wall, attacking manfully, while
the citizens defended themselves just as manfully, and they did the
same next day. The Scots also resorted to the same kind of
1 A siege engine which was constructed to contain men, who, when the sow was
wheeled up to the wall, should proceed to sap the foundation under shelter.
214
LANERCOST
stratagem whereby they had taken Edinburgh Castle ; for they
employed the greater part of their army in delivering an assault
upon the eastern side of the city, against the place of the Minorite
Friars, in order to draw thither the people who were inside. But
Sir James of Douglas, a bold and cautious knight, stationed him-
self, with some others of the army who were most daring and nimble,
on the west side opposite the place of the Canons and Preaching
Friars, where no attack was expected because of the height [of the
wall] and the difficulty of access. There they set up long ladders
which they climbed, and the bowmen, whereof they had a great
number, shot their arrows thickly to prevent anyone showing his head
above the wall. But, blessed be God ! they met with such resist-
ance there as threw them to the ground with their ladders, so that
there and elsewhere round the wall some were killed, others taken
prisoners and others wounded ; yet throughout the whole siege no
Englishman was killed, save one man only who was struck by an
arrow (and except the man above mentioned), and few were
wounded.
Wherefore on the eleventh day, to wit, the feast of S. Peter ad
Vincula,1 whether because they had heard that the English were
approaching to relieve the besieged or whether they despaired of
success, the Scots marched off in confusion to their own country,
leaving behind them all their engines of war aforesaid. Some
Englishmen pursuing them captured John de Moray, who in the
aforesaid battle near Stirling2 had for his share twenty-three
English knights, besides esquires and others of meaner rank, and
had taken very heavy ransom for them. Also they captured
with the aforesaid John, Sir Robert Bardolf, a man specially
1 1st August. 2 Bannockburn.
215
THE CHRONICLE OF
ill-disposed to the English, and brought them both to Carlisle
Castle ; but they were ransomed later for no small sum of
money.
In the octave of the Epiphany1 the King of Scotland came
stealthily to Berwick one bright moonlit night with a strong force,
and delivered an assault by land and by sea in boats, intending to
enter the town by stealth on the waterside between Brighouse and
the castle, where the wall was not yet built, but they were man-
fully repulsed by the guards and by those who answered to the alarm,
and a certain Scottish knight, Sir J. de Landels, was killed, and Sir
James of Douglas escaped with difficulty in a small boat. And
thus the whole army was put to confusion.
About the same time, on the morrow of the Conception of the
Blessed Mary,2 my lord Henry de Burgh, Prior of Lanercost, died,
and was succeeded by Sir Robert de Meburne.
About the feast of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist3
the Scots invaded England, burning as before and laying
waste all things to the best of their power; and so they went as
far as Richmond. But the nobles of that district, who
A.D. 1316.
took refuge in Richmond Castle and defended the
same, compounded with them for a large sum of money so that
they might not burn that town, nor yet the district, more than
they had already done. Having received this money, the Scots
marched away some sixty miles to the west, laying waste every-
thing as far as Furness, and burnt that district whither they had
not come before, taking away with them nearly all the goods of
that district, with men and women as prisoners. Especially were
1 i4th January, 1315-16. It was full moon. 2 gth December.
8 24th June.
216
LANERCOST
they delighted with the abundance of iron which they found
there, because Scotland is not rich in iron.
Now in that year there was such a mortality of men in MS.
England and Scotland through famine and pestilence as had not
been heard of in our time. In some of the northern parts of
England the quarter of wheat sold for forty shillings.
After the Scots had returned to their own country, their King
Robert provided himself with a great force and sailed to Ireland,
in order to conquer that country, or a large part thereof, for his
brother Edward. He freely traversed nearly all that part of it
which was within the King of England's dominion, but he did
not take walled towns or castles.
About the same time died Master William de Grenefeld,
Archbishop of York, to whom succeeded my lord William de
Meltoun ; who, albeit he was one of the king's courtiers, yet led
a religious and honourable life. Also in the same year there
died my lord Richard de Kellow, Bishop of Durham, to whom
succeeded my lord Louis de Belmont, a Frenchman of noble birth,
but lame on both feet, nevertheless liberal and agreeable. He
was appointed by the Pope, as was reported, because of a deceitful
suggestion, whereby the Pope was led to believe that he [Louis]
himself would hold the March of England against the Scots.
After the feast of S. Michael,1 the Earl of Lancaster with his
adherents marched toward Scotland as far as Newcastle in com-
pliance with the king's behest; but the king declined to follow
him as they had agreed upon together, wherefore the earl marched
back again at once ; for neither of them put any trust in the
other.
I2$th September.
217
THE CHRONICLE OF
In the month of October in that year, in the night after the
day of S. Remigius,1 and rather more than an hour after mid-
night, there was a total eclipse of the moon, and the whole moon
was hidden for the space of one hour.
About the same time a certain knight of Northumberland, to
wit, Sir Gilbert de Middleton, seized and robbed two cardinals
who had landed in England not long before, because they came
in the company of the aforesaid Louis de Belmont in order to
consecrate him Bishop of Durham, as had been commanded by
the Pope.
Also at the same time a certain knight of Richmond county,
to wit, Sir John de Cleasby, having gathered together a number
of malefactors and rogues, rose and devastated the district,
plundering, robbing, and wasting, at his own and his people's
pleasure, just as Sir Gilbert was doing in Northumberland with
his accomplices and rogues. But, by God's ordinance, both of
them were soon taken. Sir John was put to his penance,2 because
he refused to speak when brought before the justiciaries, and he
soon afterwards died in prison. Sir Gilbert, after [suffering]
other punishments, was cut into four quarters, which were sent
to different places in England.
About Pentecost3 the King of Scotland returned to his own
land from Ireland. In the same year before noon on the sixth
day of September there was an eclipse of the sun.
A.D. 1317.
After the feast of S. Michael4 the Pope sent a bull
to England wherein he advised a truce between England and
1 ist October. 2Positus est ad pcemtentiam mam. 822nd May.
4 zgth September. This is the famous bull which King Robert refused to
read, as described by the Cardinals in their letter to the Pope (printed in Fcedera
218
LANERCOST
Scotland to last for two years after the receipt of the said bull.
Now the English received the said bull with satisfaction, both on
account of the dissension between the king and the Earl of
Lancaster and because of excessive molestation by the Scots
arising out of the said dissension, and they hung the bull
according to the Pope's command in the cathedral churches
and other important places. But the Scots refused to accept it,
and paid it no manner of respect, and therefore came deplorably
under the sentence of excommunication delivered by the Pope
and contained in the said bull.1
In the middle of the said truce Pope Clement the Fifth died,
and Pope John the Twenty-second was elected.
On the second day of the month of April, in mid-Lent, about
midnight on Saturday, the Scots treacherously took the town
of Berwick through means of a certain Englishman, Peter of
Spalding, living in the town, who, being bribed by a great sum
of money received from them and by the promise of land,
allowed them to scale the wall and to enter by that part of the
and given in abstract by Lord Hailes, ii. 74). The Pope's letter contained the
following apology for not addressing Robert as king. * Forasmuch as the matter
of dispute regarding the kingdom of Scotland is still pending between thee and
the aforesaid king [of England], we cannot with propriety address to thee the
name of the royal title, and thy wisdom will not take it amiss that we have
omitted to name thee as King of Scots in the same letters; especially as the
council of our brethren would by no means sanction a denomination of that
kind: nor would thy mother the Roman Church, who weigheth all her course
and actions in the balance of equity, be doing according to her practice if she
interfered between disputants to the detriment of either.'
JThe sentence of excommunication is printed in Fcedera. King Edward
obtained it from the Pope by representing to him that King Robert and Edward
Bruce were the only obstacles to his undertaking a crusade as recommended by
the Council of Vienna.
219
THE CHRONICLE OF
wall where he himself was stationed as guard and sentry. After
they had entered and obtained full possession of the town,
they expelled all the English, almost naked and de-
spoiled of all their property ; howbeit, in their entrance
they killed few or none, except those who resisted them.
Also the castles of Wark and Harbottle, to which they had
already laid siege, were surrendered to them in that season of
Lent,1 because relief did not reach them on the appointed day.
Also they took the castle of Mitford by guile, and subdued
nearly the whole of Northumberland as far as the town of
Newcastle, except those castles which have not been mentioned
above. Howbeit the castle of the town of Berwick defended itself
manfully against the town, but at length capitulated through
want of victual.
About the same time there arrived in England for the first
time the seventh book of Decretals, and the statute of Pope
Boniface VIII. was renewed — Super cathedram et cetera — dealing
with the relations between prelates of the churches and the
Orders of Preachers and Minorites, and the statute of Pope
Benedict XI. was revoked, because it seemed to be too much in
favour of the Friars. Also there came the decree of Pope
John XXII., under a bull and with the addition of severe penalty,
that no cleric should have more than one church ; whereas before
that time a single rector or parson of a church could accept and
hold as many churches as different patrons might be willing to
confer upon him, notwithstanding that each such church depended
upon his ministrations alone. During the whole of that time
these two cardinals remained in England.
1 In illo tempore inedio.
220
MS.
b
LANERCOST
In the month of May the Scottish army invaded England
further than usual, burning the town of Northallerton and
Boroughbridge and sundry other towns on their march, pressing
forward as far as the town of Ripon, which town they despoiled
of all the goods they could find ; and from those who entered
the mother church and defended it against the Scottish army they
exacted one thousand marks instead of burning the town itself.
After they had lain there three days, they went off to Knares-
borough, destroying that town with fire, and, searching the woods
in that district whither the people had fled for refuge with their
cattle, they took away the cattle. And so forth to the town of
Skipton in Craven, which they plundered first and then burnt,
returning through the middle of that district to Scotland, burning
in all directions and driving off a countless quantity of cattle. 7
They made men and women captives, making the poor folks
drive the cattle, carrying them off to Scotland without any
opposition.
In the same year, about the Nativity of the blessed John the
Baptist,1 there arrived in Oxford a certain unknown and ignoble
individual, who, establishing himself in the king's manor (where
the Carmelite Friars now dwell), made claim to the kingdom of
England, alleging that he was the true heir of the realm as the
son of the illustrious King Edward who had long been dead.
He declared that my lord Edward, who at that time possessed
the kingdom, was not of the blood royal, nor had any right to
the realm, which he offered to prove by combat with him or
with any one else in his place. When this was reported the
whole community became excited and greatly wondered, certain
1 24th June.
221
THE CHRONICLE OF
foolish persons yielding adherence to this fellow, all the more
readily because the said lord Edward resembled the elder lord
Edward in none of his virtues. For it was commonly reported
that he [Edward II.] had devoted himself privately from his
youth to the arts of rowing and driving chariots, digging pits and
roofing houses ; also that he wrought as a craftsman with his
boon companions by night, and at other mechanical arts, besides
other vanities and frivolities wherein it doth not become a king's
son to busy himself.1 So when the said report reached the king,
who was then at Northampton, he commanded that this man
should be brought before him. When he came, the king
addressed him derisively — ' Welcome, my brother ! ' but he
answered — 'Thou art no brother of mine, but falsely thou
claimest the kingdom for thyself. Thou hast not a drop of
blood from the illustrious Edward, and that I am prepared to
prove against thee, or against any one else in thy room.'
When he heard these rough words, the king commanded that
he should be imprisoned as guilty of lese-majesty, and took
counsel with his advisers what should be done with him. After
a few days, when the council had been held and a very large
number of the people had been assembled, he was brought before
the king's steward sitting in judgment, who asked the said man
before the people what was his name. He answered that he was
called John of Powderham. Whereupon the steward straightway
pronounced sentence upon him, saying — * John of Powderham,
whereas, either by the most wicked counsel of some other, or
1 When John XXII. became Pope he addressed a long letter to Edward II.
rebuking him for his fondness for light and boyish pursuits, and reminding him
that, now he was king, he should put away childish things.
222
LANERCOST
out of the iniquity and device of thine own heart, thou hast dared
falsely and presumptuously to usurp and claim for thyself the
right of inheritance of the realm of England, and whereas thou
hast no right in that realm, but art an ignoble and unknown
man, I pronounce upon thee as doom that thou be first drawn
at the heels of horses, and secondly be hanged on the gallows,
and thirdly be burnt.'
When this sentence had been pronounced and horses had been
brought up to draw him, he, seeing none of the succour at hand
which had been promised to him, and perceiving that he had
been deceived, he besought a hearing for the love of God the
Lord of Heaven. Having obtained a hearing he began to relate
how a certain evil spirit1 had appeared to him in dreams on
various occasions before that time, and had promised him carnal
pleasures and many other things that he desired ; and always
those things which that spirit promised him came to pass shortly
afterwards. On one occasion as he was going to walk abroad
alone in the fields, a certain man met him, who, after some
little familiar conversation, asked him — ' Wouldst thou become
rich ? ' When he replied in the affirmative, the other enquired
further whether he would like to be King of England. And
when he, greatly wondering, replied that he would like to reign if
that were by any means possible, the other said to him — ' I, who
now appear to thee in the likeness of a man, am that spirit which
hath often before this appeared to thee in dreams ' ; and then
he added — ' Hast thou ever found me untruthful ? Have I
not fulfilled in act all that I promised thee in words ? ' He
lSpiritus Domini, in Stevenson's edition, probably a misreading for spirittts
demonis.
223
THE CHRONICLE OF
answering said — ' I have found no falsehood in thee, but all that
thou hast promised thou hast faithfully fulfilled.' Then said the
other — * Nor shalt thou find me faithless now. Do homage unto
me and I will cause thee to reign. And if the king, or any
one else in his name, will offer to fight thee for the realm, I will
assist thee and cause thee to conquer.'
Whereupon he made homage to him, who said — ' Go to Oxford,
taking with thee a dog, a cock and a tom-cat ; enter the king's
manor, and there publicly claim thy right to the realm of England,
and I will cause the hearts of the people to turn to thee, foras-
much as King Edward is by no means deeply beloved by the
people.'
And when he [John] had related these things — * Thus did
that evil spirit beguile me, and behold ! I die a shameful death.'
After this confession had been listened to, he was immediately
drawn to the gallows, hanged there and afterwards burnt. Where-
fore let everybody beware of the devil's falsehood and his cunning,
nor pay any heed to the dreams which he may dream, according
to the precept of Jeremy the prophet, as is said in the Book of
Wisdom — c Dreams excite the unwary, and as one who catcheth
at a shadow and pursueth the wind, so is he who taketh heed to
the deceptive visions of a dream.'
In the same year, about the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed
Virgin,1 the Cardinals, who then were still in England, wrote to
all the prelates of England that in every solemn mass on ordinary
days as well as festivals, they should thrice denounce Robert de
Brus, with all his counsellors and adherents, as excommunicate ;
and, by the Pope's authority, they proclaimed him infamous and
J8th September.
224
LANERCOST
bereft of all honour, and placed all his lands and .the lands of all
his adherents under ecclesiastical interdict, and disqualified the
offspring of all his adherents to the second generation from hold-
ing any ecclesiastical office or benefice. Also against all prelates
of Scotland and all religious men, whether exempt or not exempt
from episcopal jurisdiction, who should adhere to the said Robert
or show him favour they promulgated sentence of excommunica-
tion and interdict, with other most grievous penalties. Howbeit
the Scots, stubbornly pertinacious, cared nothing for any excom-
munication, nor would they pay the slightest attention to the
interdict. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that afterwards MS.
the weighty vengeance of God, in the appearance of a true heir
of the realm, visited so rebellious a people, whose head (I will
not call him king, but usurper) showed such contempt for the
keys of Holy Mother Church.
Let us now hear what happened to his brother Edward in
Ireland. Within fifteen days after the feast of St. Michael,1
he came to the town of Dundalk with his Irish adherents and a
great army of Scots which had newly arrived in Ireland to enable
him to invade and lay waste that land and [to harass] the King of
England's people to the best of their power. But by God's help,
nearly all these were killed by a few of the commonalty, excepting
only those who saved themselves by flight ; for they were in
three columns at such a distance from each other that the first
was done with before the second came up, and then the second
before the third, with which Edward was marching, could render
any aid. Thus the third column was routed, just as the two
preceding ones had been. Edward fell at the same time and was
1 That is, 'i4th October, the actual date of the battle of Dundalk,
p 225
THE CHRONICLE OF
beheaded after death ; his body being divided into four quarters,
which quarters were sent to the four chief towns of Ireland.
About the feast of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist the
Christians were defeated by the Saracens in Spain.1
A.D. 1319.
Also in the same year a permanent agreement, as
was thought, having been come to between the king and the
Earl of Lancaster, they entered Scotland together, with a large
army, about the feast of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin,
and set themselves to attack the town of Berwick, and almost
scaled the wall in the first assault delivered with great fury,
which when those within the wall perceived, many of them fled
to the castle; but later, when the English slackened their attack,
the inhabitants regained courage and defended themselves with
spirit, manning the walls better than before and burning the sow2
which had been brought up to the wall to mine it.
Meanwhile my lord Thomas Randolf, Earl of Moray and Sir
James of Douglas, not daring to encounter the King of England
and the earl [of Lancaster], invaded England with an army,
burning the country and taking captives and booty of cattle, and
so pressed as far as Boroughbridge. When the citizens of York
heard of this, without knowledge of the country people and led
by my lord Archbishop William de Meltoun and my lord the
Bishop of Ely, with a great number of priests and clerics, among
whom were sundry religious men, both beneficed and mendicant,
they attacked the Scots one day after dinner near the town of
Mytton, about twelve miles north of York ; but, as men un-
skilled in war, they marched all scattered through the fields and
in no kind of array. When the Scots beheld men rushing to
1 At Granada, on 24th June. 2 See note to p. 214, supra.
226
LANERCOST
fight against them, they formed up according to their custom in
a single schiltrom, and then uttered together a tremendous shout
to terrify the English, who straightway began to take to their
heels at the sound. Then the Scots, breaking up their schiltrom
wherein they were massed, mounted their horses and pursued the
English, killing both clergy and laymen, so that about four
thousand were slain, among whom fell the mayor of the town,
and about one thousand, it was said, were drowned in the water
of Swale. Had not night come on, hardly a single Englishman
would have escaped. Also many were taken alive, carried off to
Scotland and ransomed at a heavy price.1
When the King of England, occupied in the siege of Berwick,
heard of such transactions in his own country, he wished to send
part of his forces to attack the Scots still remaining in England,
and to maintain the siege with the rest of his people; but by
advice of his nobles, who objected either to divide their forces or
to fight the Scots, he raised the siege and marched his army into
England, expecting to encounter the Scots. But they got wind
of this and entered Scotland with their captives and booty of
cattle by way of Stanemoor, Gilsland and those western parts.
Then the king disbanded his army, allowing every one to return
home, without any good business done.
But the excommunicate Scots, not satisfied with the aforesaid
misdeeds, invaded England with an army commanded by the
aforesaid two leaders, to wit, Thomas Randolf and James of
Douglas, about the feast of All Saints,2 when the crop had been
1 This affair was called ' the Chapter of Mytton ' because of the number of
clergy engaged.
2 1st November.
. 227
THE CHRONICLE OF
stored in barns, and burnt the whole of Gilsland, both the corn
upon which the people depended for sustenance during that year
and the houses wherein they had been able to take refuge ; also,
they carried off with them both men and cattle. And so,
marching as far as Borough under Stanemoor, they laid all
waste, and then returned through Westmorland, doing there as
they had done in Gilsland, or worse. Then, after ten or twelve
days, they fared through part of Cumberland, which they burnt
on their march, and returned to Scotland with a very large spoil
of men and cattle.1
Howbeit, before the Nativity of our Lord, the wise men of
both nations met, and by common consent arranged a truce
between the kingdoms, to last for two years, and that truce was
proclaimed on the march on the octave of the Nativity of our
Lord.2
At the same time the plague and the murrain of cattle which
had lasted through the two preceding years in the southern
districts, broke out in the northern districts among oxen and cows,
which, after a short sickness, generally died ; and few animals of
that kind were left, so that men had to plough that year with
horses. Howbeit, men used to eat cattle dying in the aforesaid
manner, and, by God's ordinance, suffered no ill consequences.
At the same time sea fishes were found dead on the shores in
great multitude, whereof neither man nor other animal nor bird
did eat. Also in the southern parts of England the birds fought
1 These incessant raids provide very monotonous reading ; but nothing short of
constant repetition could give any adequate notion of the horror and cruelty of
this kind of warfare, or of the utterly defenceless condition into which the
lamentable rule of Edward II. allowed the northern counties to fall.
2 1st January, 1320.
228
LANERCOST
/
most fiercely among themselves, and were found dead in great
numbers ; and all these three [phenomena] seem to have happened
either in vengeance upon sinners or as omens of future events.
About the feast of S. Michael l a mandate came from the Pope
f
for the denunciation of Robert de Brus as excommunicate with
all who held intercourse with him. This, however, was
A.D. I32O.
no addition to the sentence pronounced before ; and he
[Robert] paying no attention thereto, remained as obstinate as
ever.
All lepers who could be found in nearly all parts across
the sea as far as Rome, were burnt ; for they had
A.D. 1321.
been secretly hired at a great price by the Pagans to
poison the waters of the Christians and thereby to cause their
death.
In summer of the same year Humfrey de Bohun, Earl of
Hereford, Sir John de Mowbray, Sir Roger de Clifford, with
many other barons, knights, esquires and a great force of other
horse and foot, entered the March of Wales, and speedily took
and occupied without opposition the various castles of Sir Hugh
Despenser the younger, who was, as it were, the King of England's
right eye and, after the death of Piers de Gavestoun, his chief
counsellor against the earls and barons. These castles they
despoiled of treasure and all other goods, and put keepers therein
of their own followers ; also they seized the king's castles in those
parts, and although they removed the king's arms and standard
from the same, they declared that they were doing all these things,
not against the crown, but for the crown and law of the realm of
England. But all these things were done by advice and command
September.
229
THE CHRONICLE OF
of the Earl of Lancaster. These earls and barons were specially
animated against the said Sir Hugh because he had married one of
the three sisters among whom the noble earldom of Gloucester
had been divided, and because, being a most avaricious man, he
had contrived by different means and tricks that he alone should
possess the lands and revenues, and for that reason had devised
grave charges against those who had married the other two sisters,
so that he might obtain the whole earldom for himself.
The aforesaid [knights], then, holding the castles in this manner
and prevailing more and more against the king from day to day,
in the following autumn they, as it were, compelled the king to
hold a parliament in London and to yield to their will in all things.
In this parliament Sir Hugh Despenser the younger was banished
for ever, with his father and son, and all their property was con-
fiscated.
Now after the Epiphany,1 when the truce between the kingdoms
lapsed, the Scottish army invaded England and marched into the
bishopric of Durham, and the Earl of Moray remained at Dar-
lington. But James of Douglas and the Steward of Scotland went
forward plundering the country in all directions, one of them
raiding towards Hartlepool and the district of Cleveland, the
other towards Richmond. The people of Richmond county,
neither having nor hoping to have any defender now as formerly,
bought off the invaders with a great sum of money. This time
the Scots remained in England a fortnight and more ; and when
the northern knights came to the Earl of Lancaster at Pontefract,
where he usually dwelt, ready to fight against the Scots if he would
assist them, he feigned excuse ; and no wonder ! seeing that he
*6th January, 1322.
230
LANERCOST
cared not to take up arms in the cause of a kirig who was ready
to attack him.
Howbeit, as time went on, the king, through the efforts of
some of his adherents, drew to his party by large gifts and
promises the citizens of London and other southerners, earls as
well as barons and knights. And he granted leave for the said
two exiles to return,1 received them to his peace> and caused this
to be publicly proclaimed in London.
When this report was received, the party of the Earl of
Lancaster besieged the king's castle of Tykhill with a large army ;
and thus war was declared and begun in England, and the enmity
between the king and the earl was made manifest.
When, therefore, the whole strength of the king's party south
of Trent was assembled at Burton-upon-Trent, some 60,000
fighting men, in the second week of Lent, about the feast of the
Forty Martyr Saints,2 the Earl of Lancaster and the Earl of
Hereford (who had married the king's sister) attacked them with
barons, knights and other cavalry, and with foot archers ; but
the earl's forces were soon thrown into confusion and retired
before the king's army, taking their way towards Pontefract,
where the earl usually dwelt. The king followed him with his
army at a leisurely pace, but there was no slaughter to speak of
on either side ; and although the earl would have awaited the
king there and given him battle, yet on the advice of his people
he retired with his army into the northern district.
Now when that valiant and famous knight, Sir Andrew de
Harcla, Sheriff of Carlisle, heard of their approach, believing that
they intended to go to Scotland to ally themselves with the Scots
1 The Despensers. 2 loth March, 1322.
231
THE CHRONICLE OF
against the King of England, acting under the king's commission
and authority, he summoned, under very heavy penalties, the
knights, esquires and other able men of the two counties, to wit,
Cumberland and Westmorland, all who were able to bear arms,
to assemble for the king's aid against the oft-mentioned earl.
But when the said Sir Andrew, on his march towards the king
with that somewhat scanty following, had spent the night at Ripon,
he learnt from a certain spy that the earl and his army were
going to arrive on the morrow at the town of Boroughbridge,
which is only some four miles distant from the town of Ripon.
Pressing forward, therefore, at night, he got a start of the earl,
occupying the bridge of Boroughbridge before him, and, sending
his horses and those of his men to the rear, he posted all his
knights and some pikemen on foot at the northern end of the
bridge, and other pikemen he stationed in schiltrom, after the
Scottish fashion, opposite the ford or passage of the water, to
oppose the cavalry wherein the enemy put his trust. Also he
directed his archers to keep up a hot and constant discharge upon
the enemy as he approached. On Tuesday, then, after the third
Sunday in Lent, being the seventeenth of the kalends of April,1
the aforesaid earls arrived in force, and perceiving that Sir Andrew
had anticipated them by occupying the north end of the bridge,
they arranged that the Earl of Hereford and Sir Roger de Clifford
(a man of great strength who had married his daughter) should
advance with their company and seize the bridge from the pikemen
MS. stationed there, while the Earl of Lancaster with the rest of the
" cavalry should attack the ford and seize the water and the ford
from the pikemen, putting them to flight and killing all who
1 1 6th March, 1322.
232
LANERCOST
resisted ; but matters took a different turn. For when the Earl
of Hereford (with his standard-bearer leading the advance, to wit,
Sir Ralf de Applinsdene) and Sir Roger de Clifford and some
other knights, had entered upon the bridge before the others as
bold as lions, charging fiercely upon the enemy, pikes were thrust
at the earl from all sides ; he fell immediately and was killed with
his standard-bearer and the knights aforesaid, to wit, Sir W.
de Sule and Sir Roger de Berefield ; but Sir Roger de Clifford,
though grievously wounded with pikes and arrows, and driven
back, escaped with difficulty along with the others.
The Earl [of Lancaster's] cavalry, when they endeavoured to
cross the water, could not enter it by reason of the number and
density of arrows which the archers discharged upon them and
their horses. This affair being thus quickly settled, the Earl of
Lancaster and his people retired from the water, nor did they dare
to approach it again, and so their whole array was thrown into
disorder. Wherefore the earl sent messengers to Sir Andrew,
requesting an armistice until the morning, when he would either
give him battle or surrender to him. Andrew agreed to the earl's
proposal ; nevertheless he kept his people at the bridge and the
river all that day and throughout the night, so as to be ready for
battle at any moment.
But during that night the Earl of Hereford's men deserted and
fled, because their lord had been killed, also many of the Earl of
Lancaster's men and those of my Lord de Clifford and others
deserted from them. When morning came, therefore, the Earl of
Lancaster, my Lord de Clifford, my Lord de Mowbray and all
who had remained with them, surrendered to Sir Andrew,
who himself took them to York as captives, where they were
233
THE CHRONICLE OF
confined in the castle to await there the pleasure of my lord
the king.
The king, then, greatly delighted by the capture of these
persons, sent for the earl to come to Pontefract, where he remained
still in the castle of the same earl ; and there, in revenge for the
death of Piers de Gaveston (whom the earl had caused to be
beheaded), and at the instance of the earl's rivals (especially of
Sir Hugh Despenser the younger), without holding a parliament
or taking the advice of the majority, caused sentence to be pro-
nounced that he should be drawn, hanged and beheaded. But,
forasmuch as he was the queen's uncle and son of the king's
uncle, the first two penalties were commuted, so that he was
neither drawn nor hanged, only beheaded in like manner as this
same Earl Thomas had caused Piers de Gaveston to be beheaded.
Howbeit, other adequate cause was brought forward and alleged,
to wit, that he had borne arms against the King of England in
his own realm ; but those who best knew the king's mind declared
that the earl never would have been summarily beheaded without
the advice of parliament, nor so badly treated, had not that other
cause prevailed, but that he would have been imprisoned for life
or sent into exile.
This man, then, said to be of most eminent birth and noblest
of Christians, as well as the wealthiest earl in the world, inasmuch
as he owned five earldoms, to wit, Lancaster, Lincoln, Salisbury,
Leycester and Ferrers, was taken on the morrow of S. Benedict
Abbot l in Lent and beheaded like any thief or vilest rascal upon
a certain hillock outside the town, where now, because of the
miracles which it is said God works in his honour, there is a great
1 22nd March, 1321-22.
234
LANERCOST
concourse of pilgrims, and a chapel has been built. In the afore-
said town Sir Garin de 1'Isle, a king's baron, also was drawn and
hanged, and three knights with him. But the aforesaid Sir
Andrew [de Harcla] was made Earl of Carlisle for his good
service and courage.
Besides the decollation of the most noble Earl of Lancaster at
Pontefract, and the slaying of the Earl of Hereford and two
knights at Boroughbridge, eight English barons, belonging to the
party and policy of the earl and his friends, were afterwards drawn
and hanged, as I have been informed, and one other died in his
bed, it is believed through grief. Four others were taken and
immediately released ; ten others were imprisoned and released
later. Also fifteen knights were drawn and hanged ; one died in
his bed, and five escaped and fled to France ; five were taken and
released at once, and sixty-two were taken and imprisoned, but were
released later. O the excessive cruelty of the king and his friends ! 1
In addition to all these aforesaid, the following barons were
taken with the earl at Boroughbridge and in the neighbour-
hood : Sir Hugh de Audley,1 who owned a third part of the
earldom of Gloucester, Sir John Giffard,2 Sir Bartholomew de
1 Sir Hugh de Audley of Stratton Audley, youngest son of James Audley or
de Aldithley of Heleigh, co. Stafford: created baron by writ in 1321. After
being taken at Boroughbridge he was confined in Wallingford Castle, whence he
is said to have escaped and afterwards to have been pardoned. His second son,
Hugh, was created baron by writ during his father's life, 1317. He also was
taken at Boroughbridge, but was pardoned and summoned again to parliament in
1326. He was created Earl of Gloucester in 1336-37. He married Margaret de
Clare, Countess of Cornwall, widow of Piers Gavestoun.
2 Sir John Giffard, called le Rycb, of Brimsfield, Gloucestershire, was son of
that John Giffard who took prisoner Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, and beheaded him in
1282. He was Constable of Glamorgan and Morgannoe Castles, and was hanged
at Gloucester.
235
THE CHRONICLE OF
Badlesmere,1 Sir Henry de Tyes,2 Sir John de Euer,3 Sir William
Touchet,4 Sir Robert de Holand,5 Sir Thomas Maudent.6 Now
Sir John de Mowbray 7 and Sir Roger de Clifford,8 were drawn and
1 Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere in Kent, summoned as baron by writ 1309-21 ;
hanged at Canterbury, 22nd April, 1322. His wife Margaret, aunt and
co-heir of Thomas de Clare, refused to admit Queen Isabella to the royal castle of
Leeds (Kent) in 1321, was besieged there, and, having been taken on nth
November, 1321, was imprisoned in the Tower, but was afterwards released.
2 Sir Henry de Tyes of Shirburn, Oxon., baron by writ, 1313-21, was
beheaded. He was brother-in-law of Sir Warine de Lisle.
3 Sir John de Euer. I find no baron summoned under this name till 1 544,
when Sir William Eure or Evers of Wilton, co. Durham, appears as Lord Eure,
Baron of Wilton. His father and he were successive Wardens of the East Marches,
and his son and grandson Wardens of the Middle Marches.
4 Sir William Touchet was probably the same who was summoned as baron by
writ, 1299-1306. He belonged to Northamptonshire, and subscribed the famous
letter to the Pope in 1301 as Willielmu* Touchet dominus de Levenhales.
5 Sir Robert de Holand, co. Lancaster, baron by writ, 1314-21. He married
Maud, 2nd daughter of Alan, Lord Touche of Ashley, and acted as secretary to
Thomas, Earl of Lancaster ; but, having failed to support him in his rebellion, he
was taken by some of the earl's adherents near Windsor as late as 1328, and
beheaded on 7th October.
6 Sir Thomas Maudent. There is no trace of a baron of this name in
Edward II. 's parliaments ; though Sir John Mauduit of Somerford Mauduit,
Wilts., was summoned in 1342 to Edward III.'s parliament.
7 Sir John de Mowbray of the Isle of Axholme, co. Lincoln, had done
excellent service in the Scottish war. That he was concerned in Lancaster's
rebellion is one of the many proofs of the despair which the best men in the realm
entertained of any good coming from Edward II. He was Warden of the Marches
and Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1312-13, and was hanged at York in 1322. But there
was no attainder, and the present Lord Mowbray claims, as 24th baron, to be the
senior of his degree.
8 Sir Roger de Clifford of the county of Hereford, son of Sir Robert killed at
Bannockburn. According to some accounts, he was alive in the reign of
Edward III. He was the second baron : the present Lord de Clifford is the 26th
baron. ,
236
LANERCOST
hanged at York with Sir Jocelyn de Dayvile, a knight notorious
for his misdeeds ; but Sir Bartholomew de Badlesmere was taken
near Canterbury, and was there drawn, hanged and beheaded.
Sir Henry Tyes was drawn and hanged in London, each of them
in his own district for their greater disgrace, except the aforesaid
Sir Hugh de Audley and others. Also there were imprisoned at
York about sixty-seven knights, but most of these afterwards
obtained the king's pardon.
After this the king held his parliament at York, and there
Hugh Despenser the elder, sometime exiled from England, was
made Earl of Winchester. -
About this time the question was raised and discussed in j
various consistories and before the Pope, whether it was heresy to
say that Christ owned no private property nor even anything in
common ; the Preaching Friars held that it was [heresy] and the
Minorite Friars that it was not, chiefly on the strength of that
decretal in Sextus — Exiit qui seminat. Of the cardinals and
other seculars, some held one opinion, others another.
The king mustered an army in order to approach Scotland about
the feast of S. Peter ad Vincula ; l hearing of which Robert de
Brus invaded England with an army by way of Carlisle
A.D. 1322. fo.
in the octave before the Nativity of S. John the
Baptist,2 and burnt the bishop's manor at Rose,3 and Allerdale,
and plundered the monastery of Holm Cultran, notwithstanding
that his father's body was buried there ; and thence proceeded to
waste and plunder Copeland, and so on beyond the sands of
Duddon to Furness. But the Abbot of Furness went to meet
him, and paid ransom for the district of Furness that it should
1 ist August. 2 lyth June. 3 About seven miles from Carlisle.
237
THE CHRONICLE OF
not be again burnt or plundered, and took him to Furness Abbey.
This notwithstanding, the Scots set fire to various places and
lifted spoil. Also they went further beyond the sands of Leven
to Cartmel, and burnt the lands round the priory of the Black
Canons,1 taking away cattle and spoil : and so they crossed the
sands of Kent2 as far as the town of Lancaster, which they burnt,
except the priory of the Black Monks and the house of the
Preaching Friars. The Earl of Moray and Sir James of Douglas
joined them there with another strong force, and so they marched
forward together some twenty miles to the south, burning every-
thing and taking away prisoners and cattle as far as the town of
Preston in Amoundness, which also they burnt, except the house
of the Minorite Friars. Some of the Scots even went beyond
that town fifteen miles to the south, being then some eighty miles
\within England ; and then all returned with many prisoners and
cattle and much booty ; so that on the vigil of S. Margaret
Virgin 3 they came to Carlisle, and lay there in their tents around
the town for five days, trampling and destroying as much of the
crops as they could by themselves and their beasts. They re-
entered Scotland on the vigil of S. James the Apostle,4 so that
they spent three weeks and three days in England on that
occasion.
The King of England came to Newcastle about the feast of
S. Peter ad Vincula,5 and shortly afterwards invaded Scotland
with his earls, barons, knights and a very great army ; but the
1 Austin Canons.
2 The river Kent, between Westmorland and Lancashire whence Kendal takes
its name, i.e. Kent dale.
3 1 2th July. 4 24th July. 6 1st August.
238
LANERCOST
Scots retired before him in their usual way, nor dared to give
him battle. Thus the English were compelled to evacuate
Scottish ground before the Nativity of the Glorious Virgin,1
owing as much to want of provender as to pestilence in the
army ; for famine killed as many soldiers as did dysentery.
After the retreat of the King of England the King of Scotland
collected all his forces, both on this side of the Scottish sea 2 and
beyond it, and from the Isles and from Bute and Arran,3 and on
the day after the feast of S. Michael4 he invaded England by the
Solway and lay for five days at Beaumond, about three miles from
Carlisle, and during that time sent the greater part of his force to
lay waste the country all around ; after which he marched into
England to Blackmoor5 (whither he had never gone before nor
laid waste those parts, because of their difficulty of access), having
learned for a certainty from his scouts that the King of England
was there. The king, however, hearing of his approach, wrote
to the new Earl of Carlisle,6 commanding him to muster all the
northern forces, horse and foot, of his county and Lancaster, that
were fit for war, and to come to his aid against the Scots. This
he [Carlisle] did, having taken command of the county of Lan-
caster, so that he had 30,000 men ready for battle ; and whereas
the Scots were in the eastern district, he brought his forces by
the western district so as to reach the king. But the Scots burnt
1 8th September. 2 The Firths of Forth and Clyde.
8 De Brandanis : the Atlantic was known as Brcndanicum mare.
4 3Oth September.
5 Blakehoumor, Blackmoor in the North Riding, the old name of the moorland
south of Cleveland.
6 Sir Andrew de Harcla.
239
THE CHRONICLE OF
the villages and manors in Blackmoor, and laid waste all that they
could, taking men away as prisoners, together with much booty
and cattle.
Now my lord John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond, having
been detached with his division by the king to reconnoitre the
army of the Scots from a certain height between Biland Abbey
and Rievaulx Abbey, and being suddenly attacked and surprised
by them, attempted by making his people hurl stones to repel
their assault by a certain narrow and steep pass in the hill ; but
the Scots forced their way fiercely and courageously against them ;
many English escaped by flight and many were made prisoners,
including the aforesaid earl. Justly, indeed, did he incur that
punishment, seeing that it was he himself who had prevented
peace being made between the realms.
When this became known to the King of England, who was
then in Rievaulx Abbey, he, being ever chicken-hearted and
ckless in war and having [already] fled in fear from them in
Scotland, now took to flight in England, leaving behind him in
the monastery in his haste his silver plate and much treasure.
Then the Scots, arriving immediately after, seized it all and
plundered the monastery, and then marched on to the Wolds,
taking the Earl [of Richmond] with them, laying waste that
country nearly as far as the town of Beverley, which was held to
ransom to escape being burnt by them in like manner as they
had destroyed other towns.
Now when the aforesaid Earl of Carlisle heard that the king
was at York, he directed his march thither in order to attack the
Scots with him and drive them out of the kingdom ; but when
D '
he found the king all in confusion and no army mustered, he
240
LANERCOST
disbanded his own forces, allowing every man to return home.
The Scots on that occasion did not go beyond Beverley, but
returned laden with spoil and with many prisoners and much
booty; and on the day of the Commemoration of All Souls1 they
entered Scotland, after remaining in England one month and
three days. Wherefore, when the said Earl of Carlisle perceived
that the King of England neither knew how to rule his realm nor
was able to defend it against the Scots, who year by year laid it
more and more waste, he feared lest at last he [the king] should
lose the entire kingdom ; so he chose the less of two evils,
and considered how much better it would be for the community
of each realm if each king should possess his own kingdom freely
MS,
and peacefully without any homage, instead of so many homicides fo. 220
and arsons, captivities, plunderings and raidings taking place
every year. Therefore on the 3rd January [1323] the said Earl
of Carlisle went secretly to Robert the Bruce at Lochmaben and,
after holding long conference and protracted discussion with him,
at length, to his own perdition, came to agreement with him in the
following bond. The earl firmly pledged himself, his heirs and
their adherents to advise and assist with all their might in main-
taining the said Robert as King of Scotland, his heirs and successors,
in the aforesaid independence, and to oppose with all their force all
those who would not join in nor even consent to the said treaty,
as hinderers of the public and common welfare. And the said
Robert, King of Scotland, pledged himself upon honour to assist
and protect with all his might the said earl and all his heirs and
their adherents according to the aforesaid compact, which he was
willing should be confirmed by six persons each [kingdom] to be
1 1st November.
Q 241
THE CHRONICLE OF
nominated by the aforesaid king and earl. And if the King of
England should give his assent to the said treaty within a year,
then the King of Scots should cause a monastery to be built in
Scotland, the rental whereof should be five hundred merks, for
the perpetual commemoration of and prayer for the souls of those
slain in the war between England and Scotland, and should pay
to the King of England within ten years 80,000 merks of silver,
and that the King of England should have the heir male of the
King of Scotland in order to marry to him any lady of his blood.
On behalf of the King of Scotland my Lord Thomas Randolf,
Earl of Moray, swore to the faithful fulfilment of all these con-
ditions without fraud, and the said Earl of Carlisle in his own
person, touching the sacred gospels ; and written indentures
having been made out, their seals were set thereto mutually.
Now the Earl of Carlisle made the aforesaid convention and
treaty with the Scots without the knowledge and consent of the
King of England and of the kingdom in parliament ; nor was he
more than a single individual, none of whose business it was to
transact such affairs. But the said earl, returning soon after from
Scotland, caused all the chief men in his earldom to be summoned
to Carlisle, both regulars and laymen, and there, more from fear
than from any liking, they made him their oath that they would
help him faithfully to fulfil all the things aforesaid. But after all
these things had been made known for certain to the King and
kingdom of England, the poor folk, middle class and farmers in
the northern parts were not a little delighted that the King of
Scotland should freely possess his own kingdom on such terms
that they themselves might live in peace. But the king and his
council were exceedingly put out (and no wonder !) because he
242
LANERCOST
whom the king had made an earl so lately had allied himself to
the Scots, an excommunicated enemy, to the prejudice of the
realm and crown, and would compel the lieges of the King of
England to rebel with him against the king ; wherefore they [the
king and council] publicly proclaimed him as a traitor. So the
king sent word to Sir Antony de Lucy that he should endeavour
to take him [Harcla] by craft ; and if he should succeed in doing
so by any means, the king would reward him and all who helped
and assisted him. Therefore Sir Antony, taking advantage of a
time when the esquires1 of the aforesaid earl and his other
people had been scattered hither and thither on various affairs,
entered Carlisle Castle on the morrow after S. Matthew the
Apostle's day,2 as if to consult with him as usual upon some
household matters. With him went three powerful and bold
knights, to wit, Sir Hugh de Lowther, Sir Richard de Denton, and
Sir Hugh de Moriceby, with four men-at-arms of good mettle,
and some others with arms concealed under their clothing.
When they had entered the castle, they were careful to leave
armed men behind them in all the outer and inner parts thereof
to guard the same ; but Sir Antony, with the aforesaid three
knights, entered the great hall where the earl sat dictating letters
to be sent to different places, and spoke as follows to the earl :
' My lord earl, thou must either surrender immediately or defend
thyself.' He, perceiving so many armed knights coming in
upon him on a sudden, and being himself unarmed, surrendered
to Sir Antony.
Meanwhile the sound arose of the earl's household crying —
' Treason ! treason ! * and when the porter at the inner gate tried
1 Armigcri. 2 2$th February, 1322-23.
243
THE CHRONICLE OF
to shut it against the knights who had entered, Sir Richard de
Denton killed him with his own hand. Nobody else was killed
when the earl was arrested, for all the earl's men who were in the
castle surrendered and the castle was given up to the aforesaid
Sir Antony. But one of the earl's household ran off to the pele
of Highhead and informed Master Michael, the earl's cousin (an
ecclesiastic) of all that had been done at Carlisle. Michael went
off in haste to Scotland, and with him Sir William Blount, a
knight of Scotland, and sundry others who had been particular
friends of the earl. Then a messenger was sent to the king at
York, to announce to him the earl's arrest and all that had taken
place, that he might send word to Sir Antony how he wished the
oft-mentioned earl to be dealt with.
Meanwhile, to wit, on the morning after his arrest, the earl
made confession to the parish priest about his whole life, and
afterwards, before dinner on the same day, to a Preaching Friar,
and later to a Minorite Friar, and on the following day to the
Warden of the Minorite Friars — each and all of these about the
whole of his life, and afterwards repeatedly to the aforesaid
Minorite ; all of whom justified him and acquitted him of
intention and taint of treason. Whence it may be that, albeit he
merited death according to the laws of kingdoms, his aforesaid
good intention may yet have saved him in the sight of God.
On the feast of S. Cedda Bishop1 (that is, on the sixth day
after the earl's arrest), there arrived in Carlisle from the king a
number of men-at-arms, with whom was the justiciary Sir Galfrid
fo. 2zob de Scrope, who on the next day, to wit, the 3rd of March, sat in
judgment in the castle, and pronounced sentence upon the earl as
1 2nd March, 1322-23.
244
LANERCOST
if from the mouth and in the words of the king, condemning him
first to be degraded and stripped of the dignity of earldom by
being deprived of the sword given him by the king, and in like
manner of knightly rank by striking off from his heels the gilded
spurs, and thereafter to be drawn by horses from the castle
through the town to the gallows of Harraby and there to be
hanged and afterwards beheaded ; to be disembowelled and his
entrails burnt ; his head to be taken and suspended on the Tower
of London ; his body to be divided into four parts, one part to
be suspended on the tower of Carlisle, another at Newcastle-on-
Tyne, a third at Bristol and the fourth at Dover.1
When this sentence was pronounced the earl made answer :
' Ye have divided my carcase according to your pleasure, and I
commend my soul to God.' And so, with most steadfast counten-
ance and bold spirit, as it seemed to the bystanders, he went to
suffer all these pains, and, while being drawn through the town,
he gazed upon the heavens, with hands clasped and held aloft
and likewise his eyes directed on high. Then under the gallows,
whole in body, strong and fiery in spirit and powerful in speech,
he explained to all men the purpose he had in making the afore-
said convention with the Scots, and so yielded himself to undergo
the aforesaid punishment.2
1 It appears from the Parliamentary Writs (ii. 3,971) that the destination of
the earl's quarters was to Carlisle, Newcastle, York and Shrewsbury.
2 It is not difficult to discern in this most tragic fate of a gallant knight the
influence upon the king of men who were jealous of Harcla's rapid rise. Harcla
had been appointed by the king to treat with King Robert : he agreed to little
more than what the king two months later was obliged to concede at Newcastle
in fixing a truce for thirteen years. The terms of Harcla's indenture with King
Robert are given in Bain's Cal. Doc. Scot. iii. 148.
245
THE CHRONICLE OF
The king made ample recognition to Sir Antony and the
others who arrested the earl, to wit — Sir Antony de Lucy
[received] the manor of Cockermouth, Sir Richard de Denton
the village of Thursby close to Carlisle, Sir Hugh de Moriceby
of part of the village of Culgaythe, being the part belonging to
the aforesaid Earl Andrew, Sir Hugh de Lowther [ . . . ],* Richard
de Salkeld the village of Great Corby.
Before Christmas came the bull of my lord Pope John
XXII. — Cum inter nonnullos, wherein he pronounced it to be
erroneous and heretical to affirm obstinately that our
A.D. 1323.
Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles possessed no private
property even in common, since this is expressly contrary to Scrip-
ture ; and likewise that consequently it is heretical to affirm
obstinately that the Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles had no
legal right to those things which Holy Scripture testifies that they
possessed, but only actual use of them, and that they had not the
right to sell or give away those things, or of themselves acquiring
other things, which aforesaid things Holy Scripture testifies to
their having done, because such use of them would have been
illegal. Friar Michael, Minister General, appealed against this
finding of the Pope, wherefore the Pope had him arrested, as is
explained below, in the year 1328.
In the same year, about the feast of the Ascension of the Lord2
Sir Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and Sir Hugh
Despenser the younger, with four other official personages, came
to Newcastle-on-Tyne on the part of the King of England ; and
on the part of the King of Scotland came my lord Bishop of
S. Andrews and Sir Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and four
1 Blank in original. 2 5th May.
246
LANERCOST
other duly authorised persons, to treat for peace between the
kingdoms, or, at least, for a prolonged truce, and, by God's will,
they speedily agreed upon a truce for thirteen years fully reckoned.
When this was made public about the feast of S. Barnabas the
Apostle,1 that truce was ratified and proclaimed in both kingdoms,
on condition, however, that, because of the excommunication of
the Scots, neither people should buy of or sell to the other, nor
hold any intercourse with each other, nor even go from one king-
dom to the other without special letters of conduct. For the
granting of such letters and licenses three notable persons for
England and three persons for Scotland were appointed on the
marches of the aforesaid kingdoms, and patrols were set on the
marches to watch lest anyone should cross the march in any other
manner.
With the bull of Pope John, whereof mention was made in the
preceding year, came four other bulls from the same ; one revok-
ing the decision conveyed in that Decretal — Exiit quod
AD. 1324.
seminal, lest anyone should twist it into different and
injurious meanings, and that none might disparage the rule or
state of the Minorite Friars. Another, beginning Cum ad con-
ditorem canonum^ lays down that none can have simple usufruct
without legal right of user, because use cannot be separated from
possession in things consumed in the using. The third is lengthy,
beginning £>uia quarumdam^ wherein it is laid down that the
Pope can decree and do all the aforesaid things, and the arguments
of those who declare he cannot are dealt with. There is a fourth,
wherein it is ordered that the four preceding bulls be read in the
schools in like manner as the other letters decretal.
1 lith June.
247
THE CHRONICLE OF
The new King of France l invaded Gascony and other lands of
the King of England beyond the sea, because the King of England
would not go and pay him the due and accustomed homage for
the lands which he held in that kingdom. So the King of England
sent his brother-german, my lord Edmund, Earl of Kent, to Gas-
cony with an army for the defence of his lands.
On the feast of All Saints in the same year died my lord Bishop
Prebendary of Carlisle at the manor of Rose ; in place of whom
my lord William de Ermyn was elected by the canons on the
morrow of Epiphany following ; 2 but the election did not take
effect, because Master John de Rose, a south-countryman, was
consecrated Bishop of Carlisle by the Pope in the Curia on the
first Sunday in Lent. _^ _ {-^L _^
The Pope excommunicated my lord Louis, the Duke of
Bavaria's son, who had been elected Emperor ; but Louis formally
summoned [the Pope] to a council, undertaking to prove that
AaS*
fo. 221 he was a heretic — aye, an arch-heretic, that is a prince and doctor
of heretics ; and through the clergy whom he had with
11 • ""him he answered all the arguments which the Pope
put forward on his part. Now the clejrgy and people of all Ger-
^^-^ — *^ ^-
many and Italy drew more each day to the Emperor's side, and
unanimously approved of his election, and crowned him, first with
the iron crown at Milan,3 secondly with the silver crown at
Aachen, and thirdly he was crowned afterwards with the golden
crown in the city of Rome, having been very honourably received
1 Charles IV. * yth January, 1 324-5.
3 In 1327. From this it appears that this part of the chronicle was not written
quite contemporaneously ; but, as was the usual custom, compiled from informa-
tion recorded in various monasteries.
248
LANERCOST
by the Romans. Many battles were fought between the Pope's ,
army and the Emperor's, but the Pope's side was generally beaten.1
In the same year the King of England sent his consort the
queen to her brother, the King of France, hoping that, by God's
help, peace might be established between himself and the King of
France through her, according to her promise. But the queen
had a secret motive for desiring to cross over to France ; for
Hugh Despenser the younger, the King's agent in all matters of
business, was exerting himself at the Pope's court to procure
divorce between the King of England and the queen, and in
furtherance of this business there went to the court a certain man
of religion, acting irreligiously, by name Thomas de Dunheved, with
an appointed colleague, and a certain secular priest named Master
Robert de Baldock. These men had even instigated the king to
resume possession of the lands and rents which he had formerly
bestowed upon the queen, and they allowed her only twenty
shillings a day for herself and her whole court, and they took
away from her her officers and body servants, so that the wife of
the said Sir Hugh was appointed, as it were, guardian to the
queen, and carried her seal ; nor could the queen write to any-
body without her knowledge ; whereat my lady the queen was
equally indignant and distressed, and therefore wished to visit her
brother in France to seek for a remedy.
When, therefore, she had arrived there she astutely contrived
that Edward, her elder son and heir of England, should cross over
to his uncle, the King of France, on the plea that if he came and
did homage to his uncle for Gascony and the other lands of the
king beyond the sea, the King [of France] would transfer to him
1 The Papal Court during these years was at Avignon.
249
THE CHRONICLE OF
all these lands from the King [of England] ; and he [Prince
Edward] was made Duke of Aquitaine. But when he wished to
appoint his men and bailiffs in those lands to take seisin thereof,
the King of England's men, who had been in possession hitherto
of those lands and certain cities, would not allow it. Hence arose
disagreement between the King of England's men and those of
his son, the duke.
Meanwhile it was publicly rumoured in England that the
Queen of England was coming to England with her son, the duke,
and the army of France in ships, to avenge herself upon Sir Hugh
Despenser, and upon his father, the Earl of Winchester, by whose
advice the King of England had caused the Earl of Lancaster, the
Queen's uncle, to be executed, and upon the said Master Robert
de Baldock and upon sundry others, by whose most pernicious
counsel the King of England, with his whole realm, was controlled
in everything. For this reason the king ordered that all the
harbours of England should be most carefully guarded.
But there were contradictory rumours in England about the
queen, some declaring that she was the betrayer of the king and
kingdom, others that she was acting for peace and the common
welfare of the kingdom, and for the removal of evil counsellors
from the king ; but it is horrible to tell what was done by the
aforesaid evil counsellors of the king.
Public proclamation was made in London that if [the queen]
herself or her son (albeit he was heir of the realm) should enter
England, they were to be arrested as enemies of the
A.D. 1326.
king and kingdom. Meanwhile it was said that a very
large sum of money was sent to sundry nobles and leading men
in France, to induce them to cause the Queen of England and her
250
LANERCOST
son to be arrested by craft and sent over to England. Some of
them, bribed with the money, endeavoured to do this, but she
was forewarned by the Count of Hainault or Hanonia and saved.
Then there was a treaty made, under which her son, Duke of
Aquitaine and heir of the realm of England, should marry the
daughter of the aforesaid count, provided that with his army he
assisted the queen and her son, the duke, to cross over to England
in safety : which was duly accomplished.
In the same year, on Wednesday next before the feast of the
Dedication of the Church of S. Michael the Archangel,1 she
landed at the port of Harwich, in the east of England, with her
son, the duke, and Messire Jehan, brother of the Count of
Hainault or Hanonia, and my lord Edmund, Earl of Kent, the
King of England's brother, and Sir Roger de Mortimer, a baron
of the King of England, who had fled from him previously to
France to save his life, and sundry others who had been exiled
from England on account of the Earl of Lancaster. They had
with them a small enough force (for there were not more at the
outside than fifteen hundred men all told), but the Earl Marshal,
the King of England's brother, joined them immediately, and
my lord Henry, Earl of Leicester, brother of the executed Earl of
Lancaster ; and soon after the other earls and barons and the
commonalty of the southern parts adhered to them. They pro-
ceeded against the king because he would not dismiss from his
side Sir Hugh Despenser and Master Robert de Baldock.
Meanwhile, however, the people of London, holding in detesta-
tion the king and his party, seized my lord the Bishop of Exeter,
the king's treasurer, whose exactions upon their community
1 24th September.
THE CHRONICLE OF
in the past had been excessively harsh, and who was then
in London, and, dreadful to say, they beheaded him with great
fo. 22 ib ferocity. Thereafter, having assembled the commonalty of the
city, they violently assaulted the Tower of London, wherein were
at that time the wife of the aforesaid Sir Hugh, and many State
prisoners, adherents of the aforesaid Earl of Lancaster. Some
townsmen within, to whom custody of the Tower had been
entrusted, hearing and understanding all the aforesaid events,
and seeing their fellow citizens fiercely attacking the Tower,
surrendered it to them, with everything therein, both persons
and property. But they appointed as warden thereof the king's
younger son, my lord John of Eltham, who was in the Tower, a
boy about twelve years old, for the use of his mother and brother,
handing it over to him with a strong armed garrison.
Shortly afterwards Sir Hugh Despenser the elder, Earl of Win-
chester, was captured, and drawn at Bristol in his coat of arms (so
that those arms should never again be borne in England),1 and
afterwards hanged and then beheaded. After a short interval the
Earl of Arundel2 was captured likewise. He had married the
daughter of Sir Hugh the younger, and had been, with Hugh,
one of the king's counsellors. He was condemned to death in
secret, as it were, and afterwards beheaded. Meanwhile all who
were captives and prisoners in England on account of their
adherence to the oft-mentioned Earl of Lancaster were released,
and the exiles were recalled, and their lands and heritages, whereof
they had been disinherited, were restored to them in full ; where-
1 Having been thereby irremediably dishonoured. Nevertheless, they are borne
at this day by Earl Spencer. Winchester was about 90 years old when executed.
2 Edmund Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel (1285-1326).
252
LANERCOST
fore they joined the party of the queen and her son eagerly and
gladly.
During all these proceedings my lord the Earl of Leicester,
Sir Roger de Mortimer, and Messire Jehan of Hainault, were
pursuing with their forces the king, Sir Hugh Despenser, and
Master Robert de Baldock to the west, lest they should embark
there and sail across to Ireland, there to collect an army and
oppress England as they had done before. Also, the aforesaid
lords feared that if the king could reach Ireland he might collect
an army there and cross over into Scotland, and by the help of
the Scots and Irish together he might attack England. For
already, alarmed at the coming to England of the French and
some English with the queen, the king had been so ill-advised
as to write to the Scots, freely giving up to them the land and
realm of Scotland, to be held independently of any King of
England, and (which was still worse) bestowed upon them with
Scotland great part of the northern lands of England lying next
to them, on condition that they should assist him against the
queen, her son, and their confederates. But, by God's ordaining,
the project of Achitophel was confounded, the king's will and
purpose were hindered, nor were he and his people able to cross
to Ireland, although they tried with all their might to do so.
The baffled king's following being dispersed, he wandered
houseless about Wales with Hugh Despenser and Robert de
Baldock, and there they were captured before the feast of S.
Andrew.1 The king was sent to Kenilworth Castle, and was there
kept in close captivity. Hugh was drawn, hanged, and beheaded
at Hereford ; his body was divided into four parts and sent to
1 3oth November.
253
THE CHRONICLE OF
four cities of England, and his head was suspended in London.
But Baldock, being a cleric, was put to his penance in Newgate
in London, and died soon after in prison.
After Christmas, by common advice of all the nobles of
England, a parliament was held in London, at the beginning
whereof two bishops — Winchester and Hereford — were sent to
the king at Kenilworth, begging him humbly and urgently on
the part of my lady the queen, of her son, the Duke of Aquitaine,
and of all the earls, barons, and commonalty of the whole country
assembled in London, that he would be pleased to come to the
parliament to perform and enact with his lieges for the crown of
England what ought to be done and what justice demanded.
When he received this request he utterly refused to comply
therewith ; nay, he cursed them contemptuously, declaring that
he would not come among his enemies— or rather, his traitors.
The aforesaid envoys returned, therefore, and on the vigil of the
octave of Epiphany1 they entered the great hall of Westminster,
where the aforesaid parliament was being held, and publicly recited
the reply of the two envoys before all the clergy and people.
On the morrow, to wit, the feast of S. Hilary, the Bishop
of Hereford preached, and, taking for his text that passage in
Ecclesiasticus — ' A foolish king shall ruin his people ' — dwelt
weightily upon the folly and unwisdom of the king, and upon
his childish doings (if indeed they deserved to be spoken of as
childish), and upon the multiple and manifold disasters that had
befallen in England in his time. And jall_thejpepplejanswered with
one voice — ' We will no longer have this man to reign over us.'
Then on the next day following the Bishop of Winchester
1 I zih January, 1326-7.
LANERCOST
preached, and, taking for his text tfyat passage, in the fourth of
Kings — ' My head pains me ' — he explained with sorrow what
a feeble head England had had for many years. The Archbishop
of Canterbury preached on the third day, taking for his text —
' The voice of the people is the voice of God,' and he ended by
announcing to all his hearers that, by the unanimous consent of
all the earls and barons, and of the archbishops and bishops, and
of the whole clergy and people, King Edward was deposed from
his pristine dignity, never more to reign nor to govern the people
of England ; and he added that all the above-mentioned, both
uc
laity and clergy, unanimously agreed that my lord Edward, his f0. 222
first-born son, should succeed his father in the kingdom.
When this had been done, all the chief men, with the assent
of the whole community, sent formal envoys to his father at
Kenilworth to renounce their homage, and to inform him that
he was deposed from the royal dignity and that he should govern
the people of England no more. The aforesaid envoys were two
bishops, Winchester and Hereford ; two earls, Lancaster and
Warren ; two barons, de Ros and de Courtney ; l two abbots,
two priors, two justiciaries, two Preaching Friars, two Carmelite
Friars. But at the instance of my lady the queen, Minorite
Friars were not sent, so that they should not be bearers of such
a dismal message, for he greatly loved the Minorites.2 Then
there were two knights from beyond Trent, and two from this
1 William 3rd Baron de Ros, d. 1343, and Hugh de Courtenay afterwards ist
Earl of Devon, d. 1340. The present Baroness de Ros is 2$th in descent from
William, and the present Earl of Devon is directly descended from Sir Philip de
Courtenay, grandson of Hugh, ist Earl.
2 Quia Mtnores multum amabat; it is not clear whether it was the hapless king or
the queen who loved the Minorites.
255
THE CHRONICLE OF
side of Trent ; two citizens of London and two from the Cinque
Ports ; so that altogether there were four-and-twenty persons
appointed to bear that message.
Meanwhile public proclamation was made in the city of
London that my lord Edward, son of the late king, was to
be crowned at Westminster upon Sunday, being the vigil of
the Purification of the Glorious Virgin,1 and that he would there
assume the diadem of the realm. Which took place with great
pomp, such as befitted so great a king.
On the night of the king's coronation in London, the Scots,
having already heard thereof, came in great force with ladders
to Norham Castle, which is upon the March and had been very
offensive to them. About sixteen of them boldly mounted the
castle walls ; but Robert de Maners, warden of the castle, had
been warned of their coming by a certain Scot within the castle,
and, rushing suddenly upon them, killed nine or ten and took
five of them alive, but severely wounded. This mishap ought
to have been a sign and portent of the ills that were to befal
them in the time of the new king.
Howbeit, this did not cause them [the Scots] to desist in the
least from their long-standing iniquity and evil habits ; for,
hearing that the King of England's son had been
crowned and confirmed in the kingdom, and that his
father, who had yielded to them their country free, together with
a large part of the English march, had been deposed and was
detained in custody, they invaded England, before the feast of
S. Margaret Virgin and Martyr,2 in three columns, whereof
one was commanded by the oft-mentioned Earl of Moray, another
1 1st February, 1326-7. 2 zoth July.
256
LANERCOST
by Sir James of Douglas, and the third by the Earl of Mar,1
who for many years previously had been educated at the King
of England's court, but had returned to Scotland after the capture
of the king, hoping to rescue him from captivity and restore him
to his kingdom, as formerly, by the help of the Scots and of
certain adherents whom the deposed king still had in England.
My lord Robert de Brus, who had become leprous, did not
invade England on this occasion.
On hearing reports of these events, the new King of England
assembled an army and advanced swiftly against the Scots in
the northern parts about Castle Barnard and Stanhope Park ;
and as they kept to the woods and would not accept battle in the
open, the young king, with extraordinary exertion, made a flank
march with part of his forces in a single day to Haydon Bridge,
in order to cut off their retreat to Scotland. But, as the Scots
continued to hold their ground in Stanhope Park, the king
marched back to their neighbourhood, and, had he attacked them
at once with his army, he must have beaten them, as was
commonly said by all men afterwards. Daily they lost both
men and horses through lack of provender, although they had
gathered some booty in the country round about ; but the affair
was put off for eight days in accord with the bad advice of certain
chief officers of the army, the king lying all that time between the
Scots and Scotland ;2 until one night the Scots, warned, it is said,
by an Englishman in the king's army that the king had decided
to attack them next morning, silently decamped from the
park, and, marching round the king's army, held their way
1 Donald, 8th Earl of Mar in the ancient line (1300 ? — 1332).
2 Inter eos et Scottos, an obvious error for Scotiam.
R 257
THE CHRONICLE OF
to Scotland ; and thus it was made clear how action is endangered
by delay.
One night, when they were still in the park, Sir James of
Douglas, like a brave and enterprising knight, stealthily penetrated
far into the king's camp with a small party, and nearly reached
the king's tent ; but, in returning he made known who he was,
killed many who were taken by surprise, and escaped without
a scratch.1
When the king heard that the Scots had decamped he shed
tears of vexation, disbanded his army, and returned to the south ;
and Messire Jehan, the Count of Hainault's brother, went back
with his following to his own country. But after the king's
departure, the Scots assembled an army and harried almost the
whole of Northumberland, except the castles, remaining there a
long time. When the people of the other English marches saw
this, they sent envoys to the Scots, and for a large sum of money
obtained from them a truce to last till the following feast of
Pentecost.2
About the same time a certain friar of the Order of Preachers,
i by name Thomas of Dunheved, who had gone more than two
years before with the envoys of the king, now deposed, to the
pfS«
fo.U22b court of my lord the Pope to obtain a divorce between the king
and the queen, albeit he had not obtained his object, now
travelled through England, not only secretly but even openly,
stirring up the people of the south and north to rise for the
1 The above was known hereafter as the campaign of Weardale, remarkable, says
Barbour, for two notable things never before seen, viz. (i) ' Crakis' of weir,'
i.e. artillery ; (2) crests worn on the helmets of knights (The Brus, xiv., 168-175).
2 22nd May, 1328.
258
LANERCOST
deposed and imprisoned king and restore the kingdom to him,
promising them speedy aid. But he was unable to fulfil what
he promised ; wherefore that foolish friar was arrested at last,
thrown into prison, and died there.
The deposed king died soon after, either by a natural death or
by the violence of others, and was buried at Gloucester, among the
monks, on the feast of S. Thomas the Apostle,1 and not in London
among the other kings, because he was deposed from reigning.
Meanwhile ambassadors were appointed between the kingdoms
of England and Scotland to arrange a temporary truce or confirm
the former truce for thirteen years, or to come to any treaty
for a perpetual peace if that could be done.
About Christmastide the aforesaid Messire Jehan, brother of
the Count of Hainault, returned to England, bringing with him
Philippa, daughter of the said count, whom the King of England
married with great pomp at York shortly after, to wit, on Sunday
in the vigil of the Conversion of Paul the Apostle.2
In the same year died the King of France without heir born of
his body, just as his brother had died before him. When the
King of England heard of his uncle's death without an heir, and
holding himself to be the nearest rightful heir to the throne
of France, fearing also, nevertheless, that the French would not
admit this, but would elect somebody else of the blood (which
they did immediately, to wit, the son of Charles, uncle of their
deceased king), acting on the pestilent advice of his mother
and Sir Roger de Mortimer (they being the chief controllers of
the king, who was barely fifteen years of age), he was forced
1 zist December. Edward II. died on 2ist September.
2 4th January, 1327-8.
259
THE CHRONICLE OF
to release the Scots by his public deed from all exaction, right,
claim or demand of the overlordship of the kingdom of Scotland
on his part, or that of his heirs and successors in perpetuity,
and from any homage to be done to the Kings of England. He
restored to them also that piece of the Cross of Christ which
the Scots call the Black Rood, and likewise a certain instrument or
deed of subjection and homage to be done to the Kings of
England, to which were appended the seals of all the chief men of
Scotland, which they delivered, as related above, to the king's
grandsire, and which, owing to the multitude of seals hanging to
it, is called ' Ragman * by the Scots. But the people of London
would no wise allow to be taken away from them the Stone
of Scone, whereon the Kings of Scotland used to be set at their
coronation at Scone. All these objects the illustrious King
Edward, son of Henry, had caused to be brought away from
Scotland when he reduced the Scots to his rule.
\Also, the aforesaid young king gave his younger sister, my
lady Joan of the Tower, in marriage to David, son of Robert
de Brus, King of Scotland, he being then a boy five years old.
All this was arranged by the king's mother the Queen [dowager]
of England, who at that time governed the whole realm. The
nuptials were solemnly celebrated at Berwick on Sunday next
before the feast of S. Mary Magdalene.1
The King of England was not present at these nuptials, but
the queen mother was there, with the king's brother and his
A.D. 1328. dder Sister and my lords the Bishops of Lincoln, Ely
and Norwich, and the Earl of Warenne, Sir Roger de
Mortimer and other English barons, and much people, besides
1 1 7th July.
260
LANERCOST
those of Scotland, who assembled in great numbers at those
nuptials. The reason, or rather the excuse, for making that
remission or gratuitous concession to the Scots (to wit, that they
should freely possess their kingdom and not hold it from any
King of England as over-lord) was that unless the king had first
made peace with the Scots, he could not have attacked the French
who had disinherited him lest the Scots should invade England.
'To all Christ's faithful people who shall see these letters, Edward, by the
grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Aquitaine, greeting
and peace everlasting in the Lord. Whereas, we and some of our predecessors,
Kings of England, have endeavoured to establish rights of rule or dominion
or superiority over the realm of Scotland, whence dire conflicts of wars waged
have afflicted for a long time the kingdoms of England and Scotland : we,
having regard to the slaughter, disasters, crimes, destruction of churches and
evils innumerable which, in the course of such wars, have repeatedly befallen
the subjects of both realms, and to the wealth with which each realm, if united
by the assurance of perpetual peace, might abound to their mutual advantage,
thereby rendering them more secure against the hurtful efforts of those conspiring
to rebel or to attack, whether from within or from without : We will and grant
by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors whatsoever, with the common
advice, assent and consent of the prelates, princes, earls and barons, and the
commons of our realm in our parliament, that the kingdom of Scotland, within
its own proper marches as they were held and maintained in the time of King
Alexander of Scotland, last deceased, of good memory, shall belong1 to our dearest
ally and friend, the magnificent prince, Lord Robert, by God's grace illustrious
King of Scotland, and to his heirs and successors, separate in all things from the
kingdom of England, whole, free and undisturbed in perpetuity, without any kind
of subjection, service, claim or demand. And by these presents we renounce and
demit to the King of Scotland, his heirs and successors, whatsoever right we or our
predecessors have put forward in any way in bygone times to the aforesaid kingdom
of Scotland. And, for ourselves and our heirs and successors, we cancel wholly and MS.
utterly all obligations, conventions and compacts undertaken in whatsoever manner fo. 223
with our predecessors, at whatsoever times, by whatsoever kings or inhabitants,
clergy or laity, of the same kingdom of Scotland concerning the subjection of the
realm of Scotland and its inhabitants. And wheresoever any letters, charters, deeds
1 Remaneat.
261
THE CHRONICLE OF
compacts of this nature, we will that t
effect and void, and of no value ~* * time, we have
The same King Edward of England granted other
wherein he declared that he expressly and wholly withdrew from
every suit, action or prosecution arising out of processes or
sentences laid by the Supreme Lord Pontiff and the Cardmal-
legates, Sir Joceline the priest, and Luke the deacon, against
the said Lord Robert, King of Scotland, and the inhabitants of its
kingdom, and would henceforth be opposed to any renewal ot
the Pope's processes. In testimony whereof, el coetera.
tp be observed that these notable acts were done in the sixte
yea* of the king's age.
In the same year, tejte&JOd^SS& of Rome, chiefly at
instigation of Louis of Bavaria (who had been elected Emperor),
deposed Pope John XXII. (whose seat was then in Avignon in
the kingdom of France) after the ancient manner, because they
held aU the cardinals who were with the Pope to be supporters of
heretical wickedness, and because of divers manifest heresies which
they publicly laid to his charge, and obliged themselves to prove
solemnly, in writing, by time and place, whatever was charged against
him. Then they elected a Pope (if that ought to be called an
election where no cardinal was present), a certain friar of the Order
of Minorites by name Peter of Corvara, who, after his election (such
i William, ist Baron Zouche (i 276-1 352) ancestor of the i $th and present baron.
LANERCOST
as it was) was called Nicholas the • Fifth. And the said Lord
Louis, with the whole clergy and people of Rome, decreed that
thenceforward neither the said John, who was called Pope, nor
his predecessor Clement, should come near the city of Rome,
where was the seat of Peter, the chief of the Apostles ; and
further, that if any future Lord Pope should leave the city of
Rome beyond two days' journey according to common compu-
tation, and not return within one month to the city or its
neighbourhood, the clergy and people of Rome should be
thereby entitled to elect another as Pope, and when this had
been done he who should so absent himself should be straightway
deposed.
In the same year Friar Michael, Minister-General of the
Minorite Order, was arrested by Pope John at Avignon, and
received his injunction that, upon his obedience and under pain
of excommunication he should not depart from his [the Pope's]
court unless by license received and not assumed. This notwith-
standing, he did depart in the company of Friar Bona Gratia
and Friar William of Ockham,1 an Englishman, being supported
by the aid and armed force of the Emperor and the Genoese
who took him with his companions away by sea, wherefore the
Pope directed letters of excommunication against them because
of their flight ; but [this was] after he had made proclamation
under the hand of a notary public before he [Michael] should
depart from the court, which proclamation, beginning Innotescat
universis Christi fidelibus, he afterwards published throughout Italy
and Germany, and it was set upon the door of S. Paul's church
in London about the Feast of All Saints.
1 Doctor singularis et invincibilis, born at Ockham in Surrey, c. 1275, d- J349-
263
THE CHRONICLE OF
Note that the deliverance of the Chapter General of the
Minorite Friars assembled at Paris in the year of Our Lord
MCCCXXVIIJ was as follows — ' We declare that it is not heretical,
but reasonable, catholic and faithful, to say and affirm that Christ
and his apostles, following the way of perfection, had no property
or private rights in special or in common.' But Pope John XXII.
pronounced this deliverance to be heretical, and as the Minister-
General defended it, he caused him to be arrested by the Court.
My lord Robert de Brus, King of Scotland, died a leper ; he
had made for himself, however, a costly sepulchre. His son,
David, a boy of six or seven years, succeeded him. He
had married the sister of the King of England, as has
been explained above ; but he was not crowned immediately,
nor anointed, although his father had obtained [authority] from
the [Papal] Court for such anointing of the Kings of Scotland in
future.1
In the same year, on the i6th day of March, my lord Edmund
of Woodstock, Earl of Kent, the king's uncle and son of the late
illustrious King Edward the son of Henry, was taken at Win-
chester as a traitor to the king, and there before many nobles of
the realm acknowledged that (both by command of my lord the
Pope and at the instigation of certain bishops of England, whom
he named expressly, and by advice of many great men of the
land, whom he also named and proved by sure tokens, and
especially at the instigation of a certain preaching friar of the
'The bull conveying this right is dated at Avignon on the Ides of June, 1329.
The Bishops of Glasgow and S. Andrews were directed to exact from King Robert
and his successors an oath that they would preserve the immunity of the ecclesias-
tical order and extirpate heretics.
264
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convent of London, to wit, Friar Thomas of Dunheved, who
had told the said earl that he had raised up the devil, who
asserted that my lord King Edward, lately deposed, was still
alive, and at the instigation of three other friars of the aforesaid
Order (to wit, Edmund, John and Richard) he intended to act,
and did act with all his power, so that the said Lord Edward, the
deposed king, should be released from prison and restored to the
kingdom, and that for such purpose my lord the Pope and
the said lord bishops and nobles aforesaid had promised him
plenty of money, besides advice and aid in carrying it out.
In consequence of this confession, the said Edmund, Earl of
Kent, was condemned to death and was cruelly beheaded. More-
over, it was said that his death was procured chiefly through the
agency of Sir Roger de Mortimer, Earl of March, who at that time
was more than king in the kingdom, forasmuch as the queen-
mother and he ruled the whole realm. The bishops, also, and
the other nobles who were the Earl of Kent's advisers andjy
promoters of the aforesaid business were severely punished.
And the aforesaid Preaching Friar was delivered to perpetual fb. 223**
imprisonment, wherein he died, as has been described above.
But the marvel is that the said friar, or any other very learned
person, should trust the devil, seeing that it is said by God in
the holy gospel according to John that he is a liar and the
father, that is the inventor, of lies. My lord Thomas de Wake,
a baron and faithful subject of England and loyal to the realm,1
and sundry other Englishmen, fearing the cruelty and tyranny of
1 Ancestor of Sir Herewald Wake of Courteenhall, Northampton. The Wakes
claim to be of Saxon descent, and this Thomas or his father was first summoned
as a baron of Parliament in 1 295.
265
THE CHRONICLE OF
the said Earl of March, crossed over to France until such
time as they should see better conditions and more peace in
the realm.
In the same year the Scottish friars obtained a certain Vicar of
the Minister-General and were totally separated from the friars of
England.
About the teast of S. Luke the Evangelist,1 the king held a
parliament at Nottingham, whereat the said Earl of March was
privily arrested by order of the king and taken
thence to London, and there on the vigil of S. Andrew
the Apostle next following2 in parliament was condemned to
death, and on the evening of the same day was drawn and hanged
on the gallows, where he hung for three days, being afterwards
taken down and buried at the Minorite Friars.3 The charge upon
hich he was condemned is said to have been manifold — that he
seemed to aspire to the throne — that it was said that he himself
had caused the king's father to be killed, or at least had been
consenting to his death — that he had procured the death of the
aforesaid Earl of Kent — that it was through him and the Queen-
mother that the Scots, so far as in them lay, had gained the
kingdom of Scotland, free and independent of the lordship of
England for ever, without having to do homage to the Kings of
England, thereby causing serious detriment to the heritage of the
King and Crown of England — that there was a liaison suspected
between him and the lady Queen-mother, as according to public
1 1 8th October. 2 29th November.
8 But the king's letter is extant, directing that the body should be delivered to
the widowed Countess and her son Edmund for interment with his ancestors at
Wigmore.
266
LANERCOST
report. There was hanged also OH account of the aforesaid earl
one Symon of Hereford, formerly the king's justiciary.
Now the lady Queen-mother, seeing the earl's death and
hearing the charge upon which he was condemned, took alarm
on her own account, as was said, assumed the habit of the Sisters
of the Order of S. Clare and was deprived of the towns and
castles and wide lands which she possessed in England. Howbeit
she enjoyed a competent and honourable sufficiency, as was
becoming for the king's mother.
Meanwhile the son and heir of the Earl of Arundel, my lord
Thomas le Wake, Sir Henry de Beaumont,1 Sir Thomas de
Rosslyn, Sir Fulk Fitzwarren, Sir Griffin de la Pole, and many
others, who had been exiles in France, returned to England,
and their lands were restored to them, with all that the
king had received from these lands during the time of their
exile.2
In the same year the new Pope came to the old one and was
received to favour, on condition that he should not leave the
curia, and there he remained till the day of his death, when
the Pope caused him to be buried with ceremony.
In the same year a son named Edward was born to my lord
King Edward the Third.
1 Ancestor of Sir George H. W. Beaumont of Coleorton Hall, Ashby-de-la-
Zouch. This Henry was styled consanguineus regis, and was summoned as a baron
of Parliament, 4th March, 1 309.
2 Some of these lands were in Scotland, over which Edward III. had resigned
all claim by the Treaty of Northampton. But it was stipulated in that treaty
that these lords should receive back their Scottish possessions, a condition that the
Scottish Government was not in a position to fulfil. Hence all the subsequent
trouble about the Disinherited Lords.
267
About the feast of S. Andrew l David, son of the late Robert
de Brus, was anointed and crowned King of Scotland at Scone,
and it was publicly proclaimed at his coronation that he
claimed right to the kingdom of Scotland by no heredi-
tary succession, but in like manner as his father, by conquest
alone.
In the same year died my lord Thomas Randolph, Earl of
Moray, who had been appointed Guardian of Scotland until
David should come of age ; wherefore Donald, Earl of Mar,
was elected to the guardianship of Scotland, notwithstanding
that he had always hitherto encouraged my lord Edward de
Balliol to come to Scotland in order to gain the kingdom by
his aid ; but when he found himself elected to the guardianship
of the realm, he deserted Edward and adhered to the party of
David.
On the feast of the Holy Martyrs Sixtus, Felicissimus and
Agapetus, to wit, the sixth day of the month of August, the
aforesaid Sir Edward de Balliol, son of the late Sir John
of that ilk, King of Scotland (having first taken counsel
privately with the King of England, and bringing with him the
English who had been disinherited of their lands in Scotland, and
the Frenchman, Sir Henry de Beaumont, who had married the
heiress of the earldom of Buchan, and who was in England ;
bringing also with him my lord the Earl of Athol,2 who had
been expelled from Scotland,3 and the Earl of Angus4 and the
1 3Oth November.
2 David of Strathbogie, I ith earl in the Celtic line.
3 He is noted in Fordun (cxlvii.) as one of the disinherited lords.
4 Gilbert de Umfraville, 4th earl in the English line.
268
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Baron of Stafford,1 and a small force of English mercenaries) took
ship and invaded Scotland in the Earl of Fife's land near the town
of Kinghorn, effecting a landing where no ship had ever yet been
known to land. The whole force did not exceed fifteen hundred,
all told ; or, according to others, two thousand and eighty. Oh
what a small number of soldiers was that for the invasion of a
realm then most confident in its strength ! No sooner had they
disembarked than the Earl of Fife2 attacked them with 4000
men ; but he was quickly repulsed, many of his men being killed
and the rest put to flight. So my lord Edward and his men
remained there in peace without molestation that night and the
following day, but on the third day they marched as far as the
monastery of Dunfermline.
On the day following the feast of S. Lawrence the Martyr3
they marched to the Water of Earn, where the Scots from the
other side of the river came against them with 30,000 fighting
men. But on that day they would not cross the water to the
English, nor would the English cross over to them ; but the
English, having held council, crossed the water in the night and
fell upon the Scottish infantry, of whom they killed 10,000, put
to flight the others unarmed, and pursued them. And when they
returned in the morning light, believing that the armed men had
run away in the same manner, behold ! they were confronted by fb. 224
the Earl of Mar, Guardian of Scotland, having in his following
1 Ralph, Lord de Stafford, created Earl of Stafford in 1351. He was one of
Edward III.'s ablest officers.
2 Duncan, loth Earl of Fife (1285-1353), who, although he often changed
sides, is distinguished as having been the first to sign the famous letter to the
Pope in 1320, declaring the independence of Scotland.
3 nth August.
269
MS.
THE CHRONICLE OF
the Earls of Fife, of Moray,1 of Menteith,2 of Atholl (whom the
Scots had created),3 and Sir Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, son
of the late Sir Robert de Brus their king, but not born in
wedlock.4 They were formed in two great divisions, with twelve
banners displayed on the hard ground at Gledenmore,5 about two
miles from S. John's town.6 They began to fight at sunrise and
the action lasted till high noon ; but my lord Edward was
strengthened by God's protection and the justice of his cause,
so that the Scots were defeated chiefly by the English archers,
who so blinded and wounded the faces of the first division of
the Scots by an incessant discharge of arrows, that they could
not support each other ; so that, according to report, of that
whole army, scarcely a dozen men-at-arms escaped, but that all
were killed or captured, and that the number of killed and
prisoners was 16,000 men. Howbeit in the first onset, when
nglish and Scots were fighting with their spears firmly fixed
against each other, the Scots drove back the English some
twenty or thirty feet, when the Baron of Stafford cried out :
1 Thomas, 2nd Earl, of Moray, succeeded his father on zoth July and was
killed on i2th August.
2 Murdach, 8th Earl of Menteith in the Celtic line.
3 David of Strathbogie having been forfeited in 1314, King Robert bestowed
the earldom on his brother-in-law, Sir Neil Campbell (d. c. 1316). The earl
named in the text was Sir Neil's son John, who was killed next year at Halidon
Hill.
4 There is confusion here. David (afterwards King of Scots), was created Earl
of Carrick previous to his marriage in 1328 to Princess Joan of England. After-
wards, in 1332 or 1333, Alexander, natural son of Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick
(brother of King Robert I.), was created Earl of Carrick and was killed soon after
at Halidon Hill.
6 Dupplin Moor. 6 Perth.
270
LANERCOST
* Ye English ! turn your shoulders instead of your breasts
to the pikes.' And when they did this they repulsed the Scots
immediately.
There was also much advantage in what a certain English
knight said that day, who, perceiving that the fighting was very
severe on both sides, cunningly cried out : * Cheer up, Englishmen !
and fight like men, for the Scots in rear have now begun to fly.'
Hearing these words the English were encouraged and the Scots
greatly dismayed. One most marvellous thing happened that
day, such as was never seen or heard of in any previous battle,
to wit, that the pile of dead was greater in height from the earth
toward the sky than one whole spear length.
Thus, therefore, in this battle and in others that followed there
fell vengeance upon the heads of the Scots through the Pope's _\
excommunication for breach of the aforesaid truce, and through
the excommunication by the cardinal and the Anglican Church
because of the support and favour shown to Robert the Bruce
£9*
after the murder of John Comyn.
My lord Edward caused all the slain aforesaid to be buried at
his expense. Having, therefore obtained this truly marvellous
victory aforesaid, they entered S. John's town and abode there to
rest themselves.
Now on the feast of S. Francis the Confessor, to wit, the fourth
day of the month of October, my lord Edward was created King
of Scotland at the Abbey of Scone according to the custom of
that kingdom, with much rejoicing and honour. In which solemn
ceremony it is said that this miracle took place, namely, whereas
there were in that place an immense multitude of men and but
slight means of feeding them, God nevertheless looked down and
271
THE CHRONICLE OF
multiplied the victuals there as he did of old in the desert, so that
there was ample provision for all men.
Meanwhile the Bishop of Dunkeld came to the king's place,
and undertook to bring over to the king all the bishops of
Scotland, except the Bishop of S. Andrews. The Abbots of
Dunfermline, of Cupar-in-Angus, of Inchaffray, of Arbroath and
of Scone came to peace also ; and likewise the Earl of Fife with
thirteen knights, to wit, David de Graham,1 Michael de Wemyss,
David de Wemyss, Michael Scott,2 John de Inchmartin, Alexander
de Lamberton, John de Dunmore, John de Bonvile, William de
Fraser, W. de Cambo, Roger de Morton, John de Laundel and
Walter de Lundy. But the other chief men of Scotland who had
been deserted, seeing the king in the unwalled town of S. John,3
as it were in the heart of the kingdom with such a small force,
assembled in great numbers and besieged him. When the people
of Galloway, whose special chieftain was the king,4 heard this they
invaded the lands of these Scots in their rear under their leader
Sir Eustace de Maxwell, and thus very soon caused the siege to
be raised. Upon this Earl Patrick, and the new Earl of Moray by
the Scottish creation,5 with Sir Andrew de Moray,6 and Sir Archi-
1 Sir David Graham of Kincardine and Old Montrose, afterwards one of the
plenipotentiaries for the release and ransom of David II. in 1357 ; lineal ancestor
of the Duke of Montrose.
2 Of Balwearie, ancestor of the Scotts of Ancrum, etc. 8 Perth.
4 Edward Baliol inherited the lordship of Galloway through his father John
and his grandmother Devorguila, daughter and co-heiress of Alan, last of the
Celtic Lords of Galloway.
5 John, 3rd and last Earl of Moray in this line, 2nd son of Thomas Ran-
dolph, ist Earl, killed at Neville's Cross, 1346.
6 Son of the younger Andrew de Moray (killed at Stirling in 1297) and after-
wards Regent of Scotland. See Bain's Calendar, ii. pp. xxx.-xxxi.
272
LANERCOST
bald Douglas,1 having collected an army, invaded and burnt
Galloway, taking away spoil and cattle, but killing few people,
because they found but few. And for this reason the Scots and
the men of Galloway were long at war with each other.
Meanwhile the king strengthened and fortified S. John's town,
appointing the Earl of Fife with his men as garrison there, while
he with his army rode about and perambulated the country beyond
the Firth of Forth, and then returned. But before he got back,
the Scots, by stratagem and wiles, had captured the Earl of Fife
and burnt S. John's town.
Now after the king's return and when he had arrived at
Roxburgh on the feast of S. Calixtus, to wit, the fourteenth day
of the month of October, he dismissed his army in the town
and went himself, for the sake of greater quiet, with a small
retinue, to be entertained in the Abbey of Kelso, which is on
the other side of the town bridge. But when the said Sir
Andrew de Moray heard this, with other knights and troops,
he continually dogged the king and his people in order to harass
them. They broke down the bridge between the king and his army
by night, so that they might capture him with his small following
in the abbey, or kill him if he would not surrender to them.
But the king's army hearing of this repaired the bridge with utmost
speed ; and some of them, not waiting till this was done, plunged
into the great river armed and mounted, swam across and
pursued the flying Scots for eight miles, in which pursuit many fo.
were killed and others captured, among whom was the aforesaid
Sir Andrew de Moray, Guardian of Scotland since the death of
1 Regent of Scotland, youngest brother of the * Good Sir James.' Killed at
Halidon Hill, 1333.
s 273
THE CHRONICLE OF
the Earl of Mar, and a certain cruel and determined pirate called
Crab, who for many years preceding had harassed the English by
land and sea. Both of them were sent to the King of England
that he might dispose of them according to his will.1 Howbeit
this Crab, having been granted his life by the King of England,
became afterwards a most bitter persecutor of his people, because
of the ingratitude of the Scots of Berwick, who, at the time of
the siege of that town refused afterwards to ransom him and even
killed his son. But Sir Andrew de Moray was ransomed after-
wards for a large sum of money.
About the feast of S. Nicholas the Bishop,2 the King of England
held a parliament at York, to which the King of Scotland sent
my lord Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan, and the Earl of
Atholl, and many others with them, to negociate and establish
good peace and firm concord between my lord the King of
England and himself; and this business, by God's ordinance, was
carried to a prosperous conclusion, as will be shown anon.
But meanwhile the new young Earl of Mar (by the Scottish
creation),3 and the steward of Scotland, and Sir Archibald Douglas,
having assembled a strong troop of men-at-arms on the iyth of
the kalends of January, to wit, the ninth day before Christmas,
came secretly early in the morning to the town of Annan, which
is on the march between the two kingdoms, where the King of
1 John Crab, a Flemish engineer, served Walter the Steward well in the defence
of Berwick in 1319 (see Bain's Catalogue, iii. 126, Maxwell's Robert the Bruce,
pp. 266-268, Barbour's Brus, c. xxx.).
2 6th December.
3 Thomas, gth Earl of Mar, can have been but an infant at the time. The
reference is to the Earl of Moray.
274
LANERCOST
Scotland aforesaid was staying with the small force he kept
together, intending to remain there over Christmas. They found
the king and his people in bed, like those who were too confident
in the safety secured through many different victories already won,
and they rushed in upon them, naked and unarmed as they were
and utterly unprepared for their coming, killing about one hundred
of them, among whom were two noble and valiant Scots, to wit,
Sir J. Moubray and Sir Walter Comyn, whose deaths were deeply
lamented,1 but the king afterwards caused them all to be buried.
Meanwhile the king and most of the others made their escape,
scarcely saving their persons and a few possessions which they
carried with them across the water into England. Of the Scots,
as was reported, about thirty were killed in the brave defence
offered by the naked men aforesaid.2
The king therefore came to Carlisle, and there kept his
Christmas in the house of the Minorite Friars, receiving money
and gifts and presents which were sent to him both from the
country and the town ; for the community greatly loved him
and his people because of the mighty confusion he caused among
the Scots when he entered their land, although that confusion had
now befallen himself.
At the feast of S. Stephen Protomartyr,3 the king departed
from Carlisle into Westmorland, where he was honourably
received, and he stayed with my Lord de Clifford at his
1 Sir Henry Balliol, Edward's brother, was also among the slain.
2 The chronicler does not here allude to an allegation made by both Heming-
burgh and Walsingham, viz. that Douglas in this exploit broke a truce which he
and March had made with Edward Balliol for the safety of their own lands.
3 2 6th December.
275
THE CHRONICLE OF
expense, to whom he granted Douglasdale in Scotland (which
formerly had been granted to his grandfather in the time of
the illustrious King Edward the son of Henry), provided that
God should vouchsafe him prosperity and restoration to his
kingdom. After that he stayed with his near relative the Lady
de Gynes at Moorholm,1 from whom he received gifts of money
and jewels and promised that, if he should prosper, he would
give her wide lands and rents in Scotland to which he was
hereditarily entitled of old.
After the aforesaid overthrow of the king and his expulsion
from the realm, forasmuch as Sir Archibald Douglas had been
the prime mover in planning and prosecuting the said overthrow
of the king (albeit that expulsion may be attributed to the Earl
of Moray as being of nobler rank and more powerful) they
treacherously captured my lord the Earl of Fife when he was
travelling beyond the Scottish sea, because he was true to the
King of Scotland and put him in prison, making Archibald
guardian of the realm of Scotland.2 In course of time, however,
Archibald afterwards released the earl from prison and granted
him lands beyond the Scottish sea, so that he should have the
earldom.
Now it is held by many people that the said overthrow and
expulsion, inflicted upon the king at that time, were really to
his advantage, enabling him to know what men of the realm
would be faithful to him ; but many of his former adherents
1 This lady died in 1334, leaving extensive estates to her son William.
2 This Archibald Douglas (there were many of that name) was the youngest
brother of the good Sir James. He was known as < The Tineman,' because he
lost so many battles.
276
LANERCOST
utterly deserted him after his expulsion ; whence he also learnt
to be more careful in dealing with the Scots, and look better
after his own safety.
On the tenth day of March following,1 to wit, on the morrow
of the Forty Holy Martyrs, being the season when, as Scripture
testifieth, kings were wont to go forth to war, the King of
Scotland,2 supported by a strong armed force of English and
some Scots, entered Scotland directing his march towards Berwick,
and there applied himself and his army to the siege of that city,
which was well fortified. My lord the Earl of Atholl, being
young and warlike, raided the neighbouring country with his
following and supplied the army with cattle ; also the ships of
England in great number brought plenty of victual, and closely
maintained the blockade by sea. The Scots, seeing the king
re-enter his realm with so great an army, dared not risk an
engagement with him, but invaded Northumberland, slaying and
burning, carrying off prey and booty, and then returned to
Scotland.
Also on the twenty-second day of the aforesaid month of
March, to wit, on the morrow of S. Benedict, they invaded
Gillesland by way of Carlisle, slaying and burning in the same
manner, carrying off cattle and booty, and on the following day
they returned.
* MS.
On the next day, to wit, on the vigil of the Annunciation of fo. 225
the Glorious Virgin, Sir Antony de Lucy, having collected a
strong body of English Marchmen, entered Scotland and marched
as far as twelve miles therein, burning many villages. But as he
was returning on the following day with the booty he had taken, the
1 1 332-3. 2 Edward Balliol.
277
THE CHRONICLE OF
Scottish garrison of Lochmaben attacked him near the village of
Dornock at the Sand Wath, to wit, Sir Humphrey de Boys and
Sir Humphrey de Jardine, knights, William Baird and William
of Douglas, notorious malefactors, and about fifty others well
armed, together with their followers from the whole neighbouring
country. They charged with one intent and voice upon the
person of Sir Antony, but, by God's help and the gallant aid
of his young men, these two knights aforesaid were slain, together
with four-and-twenty men-at-arms. William Baird and William
of Douglas were captured, and all the rest fled disgracefully. No
Englishmen were killed, except two gallant esquires, to wit,
Thomas of Plumland and John of Ormsby, who had ever before
been a thorn in the eyes of the Scots. Their bodies were straight-
way taken to Carlisle on horses and honourably interred. Sir
Antony, however, was wounded in the foot, the eye and the
hand, but he afterwards recovered well from all these wounds.1
On the same day of the Annunciation,2 which was the first day
of the year of our Lord MCCCXXXIIJ, the Scots were defeated in
Northumberland, and likewise others near the town of
Berwick. Now when the King of England heard that
the Scots had thus invaded his land and done all the evils afore-
said, notwithstanding that he had not yet broken the peace and
concord arranged between himself and David, son of Robert the
Bruce, who had married his sister who was with him [David]
in Scotland, he approached Berwick about the feast of the apostles
1 See a paper, by Mr. George Neilson, on The Battle of Dornock, in the Transactions
of the Dumfries and Galloway Antiquarian Society, 1895-6, pp. 154-158.
2 25th March, which was New Year's Day according to the Calendar then in
vogue.
278
LANERCOST
Philip and James,1 to make war upon the Scots in aid of his kins-
man, the King of Scotland.2 With him were his brother-german,
my lord John of Eltham,3 and many other noble earls, barons,
knights, esquires, and 30,000 picked men. The King of Scot-
land was still maintaining the siege of the said town ; and on the
octave of the Ascension of our Lord,4 both kings delivered a
violent assault with their army upon the said city ; but those
within resisted so strongly, and defended themselves so manfully,
by means of the strength and height of the wall (which the father
of the King of England had caused to be built while the town
was in his possession), that the English could not obtain entrance
against them ; nevertheless, they maintained the siege without
interruption. After dinner, on the fourteenth of the Kalends of
August, to wit, on the vigil of S. Margaret, virgin and martyr,6
the Scots came up in great strength (to their own destruction)
in three columns towards the town of Berwick, against the two
kings and their armies occupied in the siege, who, however, were
forewarned and prepared against their coming. Now the Scots
marching in the first division were so grievously wounded in the
face and blinded by the host of English archery, just as they
had been formerly at Gledenmore,6 that they were helpless, and
quickly began to turn away their faces from the arrow flights and
to fall. And whereas the English, like the Scots, were arrayed in
three divisions, and the King of Scotland7 was in the rear division,
* ist May.
2 The chronicler continues thus to designate Edward Balliol, although King
David had never been deposed. Moreover, the kinship between the two Edwards
was exceedingly remote.
3 Second son of Edward II. and Earl of Cornwall.
4 zoth May. 5i9thjuly. 6Dupplin. 7 Edward Balliol.
279
THE CHRONICLE OF
so the Scots diverted their course in order that they might first
meet and attack the division of him who, not without right,
laid claim to the kingdom. But, as has been explained, their
first division was soon thrown into confusion and routed by his
[Balliol's] division before the others came into action at all. And
like as the first division was routed by him [Edward Balliol], so
the other two were shortly defeated in the encounter by the other
English divisions. The Scots in the rear then took to flight,
making use of their heels ; but the English pursued them on
horseback, felling the wretches as they fled in all directions with
iron-shod maces. On that day it is said that among the Scots
killed were seven earls, to wit, Ross,1 Lennox,2 Carrick,3 Suther-
land,4 and three others : 6 twenty-seven knights banneret and
36,320 foot soldiers — fewer, however, according to some, and
according to others, many more. Among them also fell Sir
Archibald de Douglas, who was chiefly responsible for leading
them to such a fate ; and, had not night come on many more
would have been killed. But of the English there fell, it is
said [ ] 6
Before the Scottish army arrived at Berwick a certain monk
who was in their company and had listened to their deliberations
exclaimed in a loud voice — * Go ye no further but let us all turn
1 Hugh, 4th Celtic Earl of Ross.
2 Malcolm, $th Earl of Lennox in the Celtic line. He was one of the earliest
to espouse the cause of Bruce in 1 306.
3 Alexander de Brus, natural son of Edward, Earl of Carrick.
4 Kenneth, 3rd Earl of Sutherland.
5 The Earls of Menteith and Athol made up six : there is no record of a
seventh.
6 Blank in original.
280
LANERCOST
back, for I behold in the air the crucified Christ coming against
you from Berwick brandishing a spear ! * But they, like proud
and stubborn men, trusting in their numbers, which were double
as many as the English, hardened their hearts and would not
turn back. This story was told by one of the Scots who had been
knighted before that battle, and who was taken prisoner in the
same and ransomed. He added that whereas before the battle
there were two hundred and three newly-made knights, none
escaped death but himself and four others.
Now on the day after the battle the town of Berwick was
surrendered to my lord the King of England on this condition —
that all its inhabitants should be safe in life and limb with all
their goods, movable and immovable, subject, however, to the
rights of any petitioner. Also Earl Patrick surrendered the castle
of the town to my lord the King of England, on condition that
he should retain his earldom as formerly, and he made oath that
for ever after he would remain faithful to the king's cause.
Therefore the King of England entered the town and castle and
took possession of them for himself and the crown of England
for all future time, together with the county of Berwick and the
other four counties of Scotland next the March (to be named
presently), according to the convention formerly made between
him and the King of Scotland,1 when the King of Scotland had
been expelled from his kingdom, and the King of England
pledged himself and his people to restore the kingdom to him ; fo. 22^°
and he 1 promised and confirmed it by a charter that he would
hold the kingdom of Scotland from him, as from a Lord Para-
1 Edward Balliol. See Bain's Calendar, iii. pp. 200, 201.
281
THE CHRONICLE OF
mount, in like manner as his father had held it from his [Edward
III.'s] grandfather.
The king appointed my lord Henry de Percy warden of the
castle and town, and Sir Thomas Gray, knight,1 under him. He
made William de Burnton Mayor of the town, who had previously
been Mayor of Newcastle. The king also commanded that three
justiciaries should come there, to wit, Sir William de Denholm,
knight, Richard de Embleton, Mayor of Newcastle, and Adam de
Bowes, to make inquest as to what Englishmen had been disin-
herited in the town of Berwick, and at what time, and to restore
their houses and lands to them.2
When these matters had been settled satisfactorily, the king
returned to England about the feast of S. Lawrence,3 and the
aforesaid justiciaries coming to Berwick, performed the duties
assigned to them ; but, whereas the clergy of the town had given
great offence to the king during the siege, all the clergy of
Scottish birth were expelled according to his instructions, and
English clergy brought in to replace them.4
Note, that when the Scottish friars had to leave the convent
of Berwick and two English friars were introduced, the Scots
provided them with good cheer ; and while some of them enter-
tained them at dinner with talk, others broke open the wardrobe,
collected all the books, chalices and vestments, packed them in
1 Father of the author of Scalacronica.
2 All these appointments, except that of William de Burnton, may be seen in
Rotuli Scotitf, i. 256-7.
3 loth August.
4 The writs expelling the Scottish friars are printed in Rotuli Scotia, i. 258.
282
LANERCOST
silken and other wrappings, and carried them off, declaring that
all these had been gifts from my lord Earl Patrick.1
Now it must not pass without mention how, before warlike
operations were undertaken against Berwick, an offer was made
to David, son of my lord Robert de Brus, whom the Scots had
anointed as their king, that he might come in safety to the King
of Scotland2 to renounce the kingdom in his favour, whereupon
he [Edward] would straightway grant him all the lands in Scot-
land which his father or grandfather had at any time possessed in
Scotland. But he [David], being a boy of about nine years,
acting on the advice of his council, utterly refused that offer, and,
after the aforesaid battle, hearing sinister rumours about disaster
to the Scots, betook himself with his people to Dunbarton castle
as a secret place of safety.
Meanwhile, on the morrow of the octave of the Nativity of the
Glorious Virgin,3 the King of Scotland4 held a parliament at
S. John's town5 in Scotland, wherein he utterly revoked and
quashed all the deeds and grants of my lord Robert de Brus,
who had forced himself treacherously and violently upon the
throne, ordaining and commanding that all that he [Robert] had
granted away should be restored to such of the original and
true heirs who had not borne arms against him in the aforesaid
wars. [To the widows of those who] 6 had fought and been killed
1 Ninth Earl of Dunbar, and second or fourth Earl of March (1282-1360).
During his sixty years' tenure of the earldom he changed sides very often, giving
shelter to Edward II. in his flight from Bannockburn ; but the invasion of Scot-
land in 1334, when the English did not spare his own lands, finally sent him over
to the cause of Scotland.
2 Edward Balliol. 3 iyth September. 4 Edward Balliol. 6 Perth.
6 Hiatus in original.
283
THE CHRONICLE OF
he did not give their terce, but charitably and graciously granted
them a fifth part only, on condition that they should not marry
again except by his special license or command.
In the same year died Master John de Ross, Bishop of Carlisle,
who was taken away for burial in the south of England, whereof
he was a native. Sir John of Kirkby, canon regular of Carlisle,
succeeded him in the bishopric.
Also in winter of the same year died my lord Louis de
Beaumont, Bishop of Durham, and was buried there in the
monk's choir under a great, remarkable and beautiful stone.
In his place the monks of Durham elected one of their con-
fraternity, Sir Robert of Greystanes, a man in every respect
worthy of such a dignity and a doctor of sacred theology. When
he came before the king and besought his grace for the baronies
and lands belonging to the bishopric, the king received him
graciously enough ; but in the end replied that he had sent his
own clerk, Master Richard de Bury,1 Doctor in Theology, to
the court of my lord the Pope upon certain important affairs of
the realm, and that among other things he had requested him
that Richard might be made Bishop of Durham ; but, in the
event of his not obtaining what he asked from the Pope then
he would willingly grant him [Robert] all the grace he craved.
This reply notwithstanding, that monk went before his Arch-
bishop of York, was consecrated by him, was afterwards installed,
received the submission of the clergy of the diocese, and performed
other acts pertaining to the office of bishop.
1 Richard Aungerville (1281-1345), better known as Richard de Bury, a great
scholar and patron of learning, author of Philobiblon. At the dissolution of the
monasteries, some of his books went to the Bodleian and others to Balliol College.
284
LANERCOST
After this, the aforesaid Master Richard returned from the
Pope's court bringing with him to England a bull wherein it was\
set forth that the Pope had granted him the bishopric of
Durham, and that he might be consecrated by any bishop
whom he should choose. And consecrated he was in England,
but not by the Archbishop of York. Thus were there two
bishops consecrated for one bishopric ; but one of them, to wit
the monk, shortly after went the way of all flesh ; whereby
Master Richard remained as Bishop of Durham, and held a most
solemn festival on the day of his installation, to wit, the fifth day
of June in the year 1334. My lord the King of England was
present, also the Queen, my lord King Edward of Scotland, two
English earls, to wit, the king's brother the Earl of Cornwall and
the Earl of Warenne, four Scottish earls, the Archbishop of York,
the Bishop of Carlisle and a great multitude of clergy and people.
On the nineteenth day of the said month, to wit, on the feast
of the Holy Martyrs Gervase and Prothasius, the King of Scot-
land came to Newcastle-on-Tyne, accompanied by the Earls of
Atholl,1 Dunbar, Mar2 and Buchan, and there in presence of the
two English earls aforesaid, four Scottish earls, the archbishop,
the aforesaid bishops and an almost innumerable multitude of
clergy and people, the same Edward de Balliol, King of Scotland, fo. 226
performed his homage to my lord Edward the Third, King of
England, in token of holding the kingdom of Scotland from him
as Lord Paramount, and so from his heirs and successors for all
'David of Strathbogie, nth Celtic Earl of Atholl (1309-1335).
2 Thomas, gth Earl of Mar in the Celtic line, son of the Regent, must have
been a small boy in 1332, for he was still a minor when his mother died
in 1 347-8 and Edward III. appointed his stepfather, William Carsewell, to be
his guardian (Rot. Scot. i. 708).
285
MS.
THE CHRONICLE OF
time. And whereas the same King of England had assisted him
in reclaiming and possessing his said realm of Scotland, whence
for a season he had been expelled by the Scots, and had supplied
large funds [for that purpose], the King of Scotland ceded to him
the five counties of Scotland which are nearest to the English
March, to wit, the counties of Berwick and Roxburgh, Peebles and
Dumfries, the town of Haddington, the town of Jedburgh with
its castle, and the forests of Selkirk, Ettrick and Jedworth, so
that all these should be separated from the crown of Scotland
and annexed to the crown of England in perpetuity.1 Thus there
remained to the King of Scotland on this side of the Scottish sea 2
nothing but the other five counties, to wit, Ayr, Dunbarton,
Lanark, Stirling, and Wigtown in Galloway beyond the Cree.
All these aforesaid things were publicly confirmed by oath, script
and sufficient witnesses, and after they had been duly settled, the
king returned to England.
Howbeit after a short lapse of time, to wit, about the feast of
S. Mary Magdalene,3 the Earl of Moray newly created by the
Scots, the Steward of Scotland, Lawrence of Abernethy and
William de Douglas, who had been taken by the English earlier
and ransomed, having gathered a great force of Scots, raised
rebellion against the king,4 and violently attacked the Galwegians
who adhered faithfully to him. Also they attacked others of
Scotland who dwelt in the aforesaid five counties subject at that
time to the King of England, and levied tribute from them.
Also a certain knight of Galloway, Dugald de Macdouall, who
1 In the deed of surrender Dumfries and Linlithgow are included (Fardera,
1 2th June, 1334).
2 The Firth of Forth. 3 22nd july 4 Edward Balliol.
286
LANERCOST
had always hitherto supported the King of Scotland's party,1 was
persuaded for love of his newly- wedded wife to raise the
Galwegians beyond the Cree against the king and against others
on this side [of the Cree],2 who offered strong resistance ; and
thus they mutually destroyed each other.
About the same time came the Lord of Brittany to England,
to render his homage to my lord the King of England for the
earldom of Richmond after the death of John of Brittany, earl of
the said town.
Meanwhile David, whom the Scots had formerly anointed as
their king, and who had remained in the strong castle of
Dunbarton, betook himself to France, and did homage to the
King of France, so that he should hold his realm from him as
from a Lord Paramount, on condition that he should assist him
in recovering his kingdom from the aforesaid Kings of England
and Scotland. Rumour of this being spread through Scotland,
the number of Scots in rebellion against their king3 increased
daily, so much so that before the feast of S. Michael,4 nearly the
whole of Scotland rose and drove the king to Berwick, which
belonged to the King of England. Even the Earl of Atholl, who
had borne the chief part in bringing the King of Scotland to his
kingdom, now deserted him, and the Earl of Dunbar did the same
1 And who soon returned to it, as appears from a deed printed in Rotuli Scotite,
i. 608, showing that Macdouall had rejoined the English party in May, 1341.
2 The river Cree (Gaelic, Criche, a boundary) divided Eastern Galloway (now
the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright) from Western Galloway or Wigtownshire. The
people of Eastern Galloway adhered to the Balliols, whose principal messuage
was at Buittle.
8 Edward Balliol. 4 29th September.
287
THE CHRONICLE OF
to the King of England, to whom he was bound by oath.1 Then
the whole of Scotland rose as one man, except the Galwegians on
this side of Cree and except the Earl of Buchan, who was not of
Scottish birth and whom they kept in captivity. When the King
of England heard this, he called parliament together in London,
arranged for an expedition against Scotland, and before the feast of
All Saints2 arrived with an army at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he
remained until the feast of the holy Martyr and Virgin Katharine.3
Then he entered Scotland, coming to Roxburgh, where he repaired
the castle, which had been dismantled, as his headquarters.
On the fourth day of December of the same year Pope John
XXII. died at Avignon, to wit, in the eighth year from his
creation. A certain monk Albur 4 succeeded him in the ponti-
ficate, and was named my lord Benedict XII. Now my lord
John, his predecessor, had determined many questions during his
lifetime and had affirmed certain doctrines not in accord with
all the opinions of the doctors nor, apparently, consonant with
the Catholic faith, especially in declaring that souls that had passed
through purgatory could not behold God face to face before the
day of judgment. Wherefore in presence of the cardinals before
his death he publicly revoked that saying, and all those things
which he had said, pronounced or determined which did not
savour of the truth, and by a bull under his hand. . . .6
1 The cession of Scottish territory was too much for the stomachs of these
gentlemen.
2 ist November. 8 25th November.
4 A Cistercian ; sometimes called < the White Cardinal.'
5 Nonnulla desunt. This was the bull Benedictus Deus, defining the beautiful vision,
declaring that the faithful departed do see God face to face before the re-union of
soul and body.
288
LANERCOST
On the third day after Christmas next following the King of
England searched the forest of Ettrick with his men ; but the
Scots did not dare to give him battle, keeping themselves in
hiding. Wherefore my lord the King of England sent the King
of Scotland, who was with him there, and the Earl of Warwick
and the Earl of Oxford with their people, and certain barons and
knights with all their people, to Carlisle, in order to protect that
western district from the Scots. But on their march they turned
aside to Peebles and those parts to hunt the Earl of Moray and
other Scots who they were informed were thereabouts. How-
beit these [Scots] took to flight, so the English burnt and wasted
everything on their march, and arrived thus at Carlisle.
After the Epiphany of our Lord l the forces of the counties of
Lancaster, Westmorland and Cumberland assembled by command
of the King of England at Carlisle under the King of Scotland 2
and the earls and barons of England who were there ; whence
they all marched together into Scotland, destroying such towns
and other property as they came upon, because the inhabitants
had fled, and afterwards the King of Scotland returned to
Carlisle.
Meanwhile the King of England, hearing that some of his
subjects were holding meetings in secret as if they were plotting
rebellion against him, returned to England with a very small
following disguised as traders, in order to ascertain the truth ;
and in a short time all matters were peacefully settled by God's
help.
MS.
About the feast of S. Matthew the Apostle3 the King of fo. 226*
France's envoys came to the King of England to negotiate some
1 6th January, 1334-5. 2 Edward Balliol. 8 241)1 February, 1334-5
T 289
THE CHRONICLE OF
treaty of peace with the Scots ; but they did not fare very success-
fully in their mission.
[There is inserted here an instrument in Norman French, given
under the hand of Edward III., ist March, 1335, setting forth
the terms upon which Edward Balliol was to hold the kingdom of
Scotland under the King of England as Lord Paramount.']
In the same year, after the death of Pope John XXII., there
were affixed to the door of the church of Minorite Friars in
Avignon four placards, two greater and two less, no doubt by
Friar Michael of Cesona and his adherents ; which Michael the
said Pope John had removed from the office of Minister-General
of the Order of Minorites and had excommunicated. The title
of the greater placards was — c The Appeal of Friar Michael of
Cesona against James of Caturco to the Catholic Pope next
to be created.' And the title of the two lesser placards was —
'Declaration that Friar Gerard Odo1 is not Minister-General
of the Order of Minorites ' ; for it was the person formerly
known as James of Caturco whom the Order appointed to be
Minister-General, in compliance with the will of the said Pope
John.2
On the feast of the Ascension of the Lord3 the King of
England held his parliament at York, and made arrangements
for his expedition against Scotland. Thus about the
A.D. 1335.
feast of the Nativity of S. John the Baptist,4 he came
1 Called in French Gerard Eude.
2 This bitter dispute is told at length in L. Wadding's Annales Minorum, ad ann.
1328-1334.
2 5th May. 4 24th June.
290
LANERCOST
with his army to Newcastle-on-Tyne, whither came to him the
King of Scotland 1 from Carlisle with his people, and there it
was arranged that the King of England, his brother the Earl of
Cornwall, the Earl of Warwick, the Earl of Lancaster, the Earl
of Lincoln, the Earl of Hereford, with all their retinues, and the
Count Juliers from over the sea (who had married the sister of
the Queen of England and had come to support the king with
a splendid following), should march to Carlisle and there enter
Scotland on the twelfth day of the month of July. But the King
of Scotland,1 the Earl of Warenne, the Earl of Arundel, and my
lord Henry de Percy, a very wealthy baron, all being near of kin
to the King of Scotland, were to remain with their retinues at
Berwick and to enter Scotland in like manner on the aforesaid
day. This was carried out as it had been arranged. Each king
entered Scotland by a different route ; nor did they find anyone
so bold as to resist the force of either of them. Wherefore they
freely marched through all the land on this side of the Forth and
beyond it, burning, laying waste, and carrying off spoil and booty.
Some of them, especially the Welsh, spared neither the clergy nor
their monasteries, plundering regulars and seculars impartially.
Also the seamen of Newcastle burnt a great part of the town
of Dundee, with the dormitory and schools of the Minorite
MS.
Friars, carrying away their great bell ; and they burnt one friar fb. 227
who formerly had been a knight, a man of wholly pure and holy
life. The bell they exposed for sale at Newcastle, where it was
bought by the Preaching Friars of Newcastle for ten marks,
although one party had no right to sell it and the other none
to buy.
1 Edward Balliol.
291
THE CHRONICLE OF
Meanwhile my lord Guy Count of Nemours beyond the sea,
kinsman of my lady the Queen of England, came to England
with seven or eight knights and one hundred men-at-arms, to
assist the King of England against the Scots, although the king
did not stand in the smallest need of his assistance. Passing
through England to join the king at Berwick, which was in
possession of the King of England, he took certain English guides
to show him the way. But while he was on the march towards
Edinburgh, the Earls of Moray and Dunbar and William Douglas,1
having been informed of the coming of the aforesaid count, way-
laid him in ambush with a strong force, attacking him twice or
thrice in the same day. But he and his party made a manful
defence, and arrived at Edinburgh on the same day after a march
of many miles. There, however, they surrendered, it is said,
through want of provender. But when the Scots learnt that he
was the Count of Nemours, through whose country they had
often to pass in travelling to lands across the sea, they held
neither him nor his knights nor his men-at-arms to ransom, but
allowed him to return free to England with all his men, exacting,
however, from him a solemn oath that neither he nor his people
would ever bear arms against the Scots. But they made prisoners
of all the English who were with him, and killed some of them.
The Earl of Dunbar and William Douglas escorted them back to
England, but the Earl of Moray and his men returned after these
events.
1 Son of Sir James Douglas of Lothian. Born about 1300, he became chiefly
instrumental in recovering the ceded counties for King David. He was known as
'the Knight of Liddesdale ' and 'the Flower of Chivalry,' and was killed in 1353
by William 1st Earl of Douglas, who detected him in treasonable negotiation with
the English.
292
LANERCOST
It came to pass by chance that the English garrison of Rox-
burgh undertook a plundering expedition into these parts; hearing
of which, the Earl of Moray, being in the neighbourhood with his
force, attacked them vigorously. But they made manful defence
and defeated him, taking him a prisoner to England, and so at
last he was brought to Nottingham. The English cared but little
for the capture of the Count of Nemours, considering it a mighty
piece of presumption that he should have dared to enter Scotland
in time of war with so slender a force.
While these things were happening, the King of France and
the King of Bohemia had fitted out seven hundred and fifteen
ships to harass the southern parts of England with armed parties
in the cause of the oft-mentioned David de Brus, who had done
homage for the kingdom of Scotland to the King of France, in
order that the King of England, hearing that his country was
invaded by foreigners in the south, should desist from molesting
the Scots in the north.
The aforesaid ships appeared first off the town of Southampton,
eight of them seizing the harbour, while the men in two ships
invaded the dry land, burning two unimportant villages on the
coast. But the people of that district, forewarned of their coming,
got between them and their ships, and their seamen captured those
who remained in the two ships. The other six ships took to the
open sea in flight, nor was any more seen in those parts of all the
aforesaid ships, save one, which, having 300 armed men on board,
made the land near Portsmouth and did some burning on the
shore, but of all these men not one got back to his own country.
At last the Scots, feeling themselves beaten and wholly unable
to resist the kings, came in to peace about the feast of the
293
THE CHRONICLE OF
Assumption of the Glorious Virgin j1 the Earl of Atholl2 being
among the first at the instance and by persuasion of the
earl,3 whose daughter he had married. Howbeit, Patrick of
Dunbar, the Earl of Ross,4 Sir Andrew de Moray (a wealthy
baron), and Maurice of the same [name], William de Douglas,
William de Keith,5 and some other nobles of Scotland with their
retainers, did not come into the peace, but, assembling many
others, committed much injury upon those who had accepted
peace. The Lord's day next before the feast of S. Andrew the
Apostle6 was appointed at their own request as the day for
coming into peace, if they were willing, but very few presented
themselves. Indeed, while the Earl of Atholl was occupied in
besieging Kildrummie Castle beyond the Scottish sea in the cause
of the King of Scotland,7 the aforesaid Earls of Dunbar and Ross
arched upon him with all those who adhered to their party, in
order to force him to raise the aforesaid siege, and an encounter
took place between them. In the end, many Scots who were with
the Earl of Atholl having taken to flight, either through panic or
treachery, the earl himself was killed together with a few others
who remained in the field with him to the end.8 William de
Douglas, who was one of the chief actors in this affair, was made
Earl of Atholl by the Scots.9
1 1 5th August. 2 David of Strathbogie, last of the Celtic Earls of Atholl.
3 He married Katherine, daughter of Sir Henry de Beaumont, titular Earl of
Buchan.
4 William, 5th Earl of Ross and Lord of Skye, d. 1372.
5 Second son of Sir Robert de Keith, who commanded the Scottish horse at
Bannockburn.
6 26th November. * Edward Balliol. 8 Cf. Bain's Cal. Doc. Scot. iii. 1221.
9 Douglas, who conveyed the earldom to Robert Stewart (afterwards Robert II.)
in 1341, does not seem to have ever assumed the title.
294
m
LANERCOST
The King of Scotland1 remained" during the whole of that
winter season with his people at Elande, in England, because he
did not yet possess in Scotland any castle or town wherein he
could dwell in safety. But the King of England remained in the
north, and kept his Christmas at Newcastle-on-Tyne. But soon
after the Epiphany of the Lord,2 being much grieved because of
the death of the aforesaid earl [of Atholl], he issued summons for
the assembling of an army to quell the said earls and their power.
But in the meantime there came to the King of England at
Berwick envoys from the Pope and my lord the King of France
to arrange some kind of peace or a temporary truce. The
English army was assembled, when, by consent of the king andfo.
the King of Scotland,3 a truce was struck between the kingdoms
until the middle of Lent,4 when there should be a parliament
in London, certain articles and demands having been drawn up,
whereby peace might be restored if the parties could come to agree-
ment in the meantime ; if not, then the war should be renewed.
This truce was struck about the Purification of the Glorious Virgin ;6
the first and most important demand being on the part of the
Scots, that there should be a fresh investigation by learned and
impartial men of both realms as to who had the strongest claim
to the kingdom of Scotland — to wit, Edward de Balliol or David
son of Robert de Brus, or whether David should succeed Edward
in the kingdom if he [Edward] should not have an heir born of
his body. It had been adjudged, however, after manifold and
long controversy among the people and clergy that the inheritance
of the kingdom of Scotland went to Sir John de Balliol, the father
1 Edward Balliol. 2 6th January, 1336. 3 Edward Balliol.
4 loth March, 1336. 5 2nd February, 1336.
295
THE CHRONICLE OF
of Edward, because he was descended from the elder sister (as has
been explained above in the year of our Lord 1292), notwith-
standing that Sir Robert de Brus was the senior in equal degree
from the line as the Lady Devorguilla, mother of the aforesaid
John de Balliol, and Sir Robert was male heir in that female [line],
because neither in England nor Scotland doth the inheritance of
the kingdom run according to the laws of the Empire.
During this parliament the aforesaid Maurice de Moray by
treachery slew Sir Godfrey de Ross, a Scottish knight, the King
of Scotland's1 sheriff of Ayr and Lanark, because he had killed
his brother in fair fight. Wherefore in the said parliament no
terms of peace were arranged, owing to the pride of the Scottish-
partisans.
At Christmas in the same year, my lord Philip, son and heir of
the King of Aragon, and brother of Lady Sanxia, Queen of Sicily,
took the habit of a Minorite Friar in the convent of Naples, with
great solemnity, my lord Robert, King of Sicily, preaching in
the mass of his (Philip's) taking the habit, and the lady Queen
Sanxia serving at table. Mention is made above (1292) about
the admission of the King of Aragon and other kings and sons of
kings to the same Order.2
Before the feast of Ascension the king sent the said King of
Scotland 3 to Scotland, and with him sundry earls, to wit, Lan-
caster, Warwick, Oxford and Angus, and barons and
A.D. 1336.
an army ; but he himself remained in the south.
Meanwhile the Scottish knight, Sir John de Stirling, the King of
1 Edward Balliol.
2 No such mention is made in the chronicle as it has come to us.
3 Edward Balliol.
296
LANERCOST
England's governor of Edinburgh Castle, hearing that the Earls
of Dunbar, Fife and Sutherland were besieging with an army the
castle of Cupar in Fife (in the hands of the King of England and
the King of Scotland), beyond the Scottish sea, took with him
forty men-at-arms of the garrison of his castle and eighty archers
and other men, crossed the firth secretly, set fire one morning to
a couple of villages near the aforesaid castle, and suddenly
attacked those who were besieging the castle. When they saw
the neighbouring villages in flames, a body of men charging
fiercely upon them, and those in the castle making a sortie, they
took to instant flight, abandoning their siege engines, arms, stores,
and all that they had ; for they thought that the aforesaid English
earls, of whose approach they had been well informed, had sud-
denly arrived with their army. Sir John hotly pursued them
with his party, reinforced by those in the castle, killing those
whom he could catch, and driving the others away. Afterwards
he returned, seized their baggage, and burnt their engines. After
this successful exploit, he marched back to Edinburgh.
Throughout all these transactions the King of France was
fitting out warships and preparing an army of his own kingdom,
besides the King of Bohemia and his mercenary troops, with
stores and arms, in aid of the Scots against their true and rightful
king, my lord Edward de Balliol, and against his kinsman the
King of England, who was his ally and defender, supporting him
in all ways, and this because David, son of the late Sir Robert de
Brus, had done homage to him [King Philip] as holding his king-
dom (if he could obtain it) from him as Lord Paramount. This
action of the King of France was not concealed from the King of
England ; wherefore, as, although young, he was able and war-
297
THE CHRONICLE OF
like, he sent word inviting them to come freely, if they would, to
land in England, and allotted to them a space of four-and-twenty
miles wherein to rest their forces unmolested until the day of
battle should be fixed, after which each should abide by the fortune
which should befal him. But whereas the king [of England] is
lord of the sea, possessing far more ships than all other Christian
princes, the seamen of England undertook on peril of their heads
that, if the foreigners made good a landing, they should never
afterwards enjoy the use of a single one of their ships ; wherefore
the king should do his best against them on land, because at sea they
would never afterwards return to their own country in their ships.
And the sailors most vigilantly watched all approaches by sea.
Soon after Pentecost J the King of Scotland 2 entered Scotland,
\ crossed the Scottish sea to the town of S. John (which is called by
another name Perth), which he found to have been burnt by the
Scots, because they dared not await his coming there. But he
repaired it with his troops, surrounding it with a solid mud wall
and a deep ditch as the headquarters of the English.
About the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle3 the King of
England, who hitherto had been waiting in the south to see
whether any French ships should happen to land in those parts,
MS.
fo. 228 came to Newcastle with a very small following, boldly entered
Scotland with them, not without danger, and reached Perth.
Having waited there for a short time, he took part of the army
and marched beyond the Scottish mountains, burning Aberdeen
and other towns, taking spoil and destroying the crops which
were then nearly ripe for harvest, trampling them down with
horses and troops, nor did he meet with any resistance.
1 i gth May. 2 Edward Balliol. 3 i ith June.
298
LANERCOST
About the Ad Vincula of S. Peter l the king's brother, my lord
John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, came from the south with the
men of Yorkshire, whom the men of Northumberland went to
reinforce, and likewise Sir Antony de Lucy with the men of
Cumberland and Westmoreland, and they all marched together
into Carrick and the western parts of Scotland which were not in
the king's peace, laying them waste as much as they could,
burning and carrying away splendid spoil, but the people of the
country fled before them. Howbeit William de Douglas hovered
craftily on the skirts of the English army, inflicting upon it all
the injury he could ; but the army quickly marched back with
the plunder to its own country, the Earl of Cornwall taking his
column to Perth to meet the king, who had just come back from
beyond the mountains. Nevertheless the king did not remain
long in Perth, but, having dismissed the King of Scotland2 and
his people, marched with a detachment of his army to Stirling in
the west country, where in place of the ruined castle he caused a
fort to be built — a pele, as it is called in English. But whereas he
had spent a great deal, not only upon the army under his command,
but also upon the King of Scotland's army, which he maintained
entirely at his own expense, therefore he commanded a council or
parliament 3 to be held at Nottingham in order that he might
demand an aid for recovering both past and future expenditure
from all the people of his realm. In which council or parliament
there was granted to him the fifteenth penny from the community
of the country, and a tenth from the cities, the boroughs and the
1 ist August. 2 Edward Balliol.
3 The chronicler seems doubtful what was the exact nature of this assembly,
whereof the proceedings were not entered in the Parliamentary Roll.
299
THE CHRONICLE OF
clergy, during six years to come, providing that what was due by
the clergy might be discharged by the payment within a year to
come of one mark on every sack of wool.
Meanwhile, sad to say, the said Earl of Cornwall died at Perth
within the octave of the Nativity of the Glorious Virgin,1 and was
carried to England for burial.
The king, taking account of what was the common opinion of
experienced men, that the land of Scotland could never be con-
quered unless in winter, marched with his army to Both well
Castle and those western parts about the feast of S. Luke the
Evangelist.2 When the men of those parts heard of his sudden
and unexpected coming, not being strong enough to resist him
they submitted to his peace, more through fear than for love.
He received them to peace, repaired the said castle which the
Scots had formerly destroyed and abandoned, and he left a garrison
there. Howbeit William de Douglas, hovering about the army
with his following, killed some of the king's men from time to
time.
Meanwhile the Baron of Stafford, a very accomplished soldier,
marching with his following to join the king, passed through
Douglasdale, which had not come into peace, and carried away
much spoil therefrom.
The King of England returned to England before Christmas,
and the King of Scotland3 remained throughout the winter at Perth
with an extremely modest following.
At the beginning of Lent 4 following the king held his parlia-
ment in London, at which six new earls were created in addition
1 1 5th September. 2 1 8th October.
8 Edward Balliol. * 5th March, 1337.
300
LANERCOST
to the old ones, to wit, Sir Henry, s6n of the Earl of Lancaster,
was made Earl of Derby ; Sir Hugh de Audley Earl of
Gloucester ; Sir William de Bohun, brother germane of the Earl
of Hereford [became] Earl of Northampton ; Sir William de
Montagu Earl of Salisbury ; Sir William de Clinton Earl of
Huntingdon ; Sir Robert de Ufford Earl of Suffolk ; and Sir
Edward,1 elder son of the king, was made Duke of Cornwall,
which since the time of the Britons never had been a dukedom,
but only an earldom.
Now the Scots, being aware that the King of England and the
nobles of the country were in distant parts, assembled and
besieged Bothwell Castle which the king had lately repaired ; and
because the aforesaid Sir Robert de Ufford, to whom, as well as
to the warden, that castle had been committed by the king, was
absent at the time, the castle quickly surrendered to the Scots
upon these terms, that all those therein should be secure in life,
limb and all their possessions, and receive a safe-conduct to
England : all which was done.
Also at that time the Scots seized several towns and fortresses
in the land of Fife, and thereafter once more destroyed the
wretched Galwegians on this side of Cree like beasts, because they
adhered so firmly to their lord King Edward de Balliol.
It was also decided in the aforesaid parliament of London that,
whereas the King of France had taken and occupied certain of the
King of England's towns and castles in Gascony, especially the
province of Guienne, one army should be sent to Gascony and
another to Scotland, at a suitable time, and that the king should
1 The Black Prince, who was then but six years old. The Prince of Wales
still bears the title of Duke of Cornwall.
301
THE CHRONICLE OF
remain in England. My lord William Montagu, Earl of
Salisbury, was appointed to command the expedition to Gascony,
with certain earls as arranged ; and my lord the Earl of Warwick,
was appointed to command the expedition to Scotland, represent-
MS.
fo. 228b ing the person of my lord the King of England, and with him
marched all the nobles between Trent and Scotland.
After Easter,1 however, the King of England sent for the King
of Scotland,2 who came to him in England for reasons to be
explained presently.
In the same year Friar Peter, jPatriarch, of Jerusalem, the
Pope's . legate to the Holy Land to negotiate with the Sultan for
restoration of the Holy Land to the Christians, reported thus —
that the Sultan with the assent of all his people was prepared to
restore to the Christians the whole of the Holy Land and whatso-
ever they had at any time possessed oversea which was known to
appertain to the spiritual power, and this gratuitously and without
payment of any kind, so that they [the Christians] might have
possession of the Lord's sepulchre, and the stable, and all the
oversea churches, with oblations, tithes, and all rights belonging
to them, and that their prelates should exercise spiritual authority
in them, according to the custom in churches, and that they
should hold and dispose of these and all the other holy places at
their will, and might solemnly celebrate the divine office in them
with open doors, administer to their people the sacraments and
all sacramental rites and ecclesiastical sepulture, and freely preach
the Word of God in churches and cemeteries, make wills, build
houses without defences round the holy places, rebuild, add to and
construct afresh ruined churches in any place. But that neither
March, 1337. 2 Edward Balliol.
302
LANERCOST
prayers nor price, fear nor favour would induce him to give up
the kingdom of Jerusalem — neither the city nor any town, castle,
house, field, garden, gate, nor a foot of ground which he or his
predecessors had hitherto taken from the Christians, so far as
pertaineth to the temporality, jurisdiction, dominion, property,
expenditure or revenue. But it pleaseth him that all Christians
who wish to do so should come to the Holy Land and to all his
dominion freely to travel and trade, to go, to stay or to return,
and that pilgrims should be free from all tribute. Also he is
willing reasonably to abate the tax upon traders, so that they
may not be oppressed, but rather encouraged. All the aforesaid
grants he offereth upon this condition, that my lord the Pope
shall revoke all the sentences and writings promulgated against
merchants going thither to trade. And thus he concedeth all the
aforesaid [points] from his own free will and not ours.
Now about the feast of the Lord's Ascension,1 the Scots,
seeing that they had captured Bothwell Castle, assembled in great
numbers and laid siege to Stirling Castle ; but met there
with a stout defence. The King of England, being
occupied in distant parts, when he heard of that siege, hastened at
high speed by day and night to Stirling Castle, believing that the
Scots would offer him battle. But when the Scots heard of this,
they raised the siege and would not meet him, wherefore he
returned immediately to England.
About the same time Sir Eustace de Maxwell, a knight of
Galloway and lord of Carlaverock Castle, false to the faith and
allegiance which he owed to my lord the King of England, went
over to the Scottish side (notwithstanding that the King of
May.
303
THE CHRONICLE OF
England had just provided him with a large sum of money, flour
and wine for the greater security of his castle) and caused the
Galwegians on this side of Cree to rise against the king, using
similar authority to that which he had formerly employed for the
king.1
Dunbar Castle2 at that time was still in the hands of Earl
Patrick, having been neither besieged nor taken by the English,
the whole of the surrounding district of Lothian, although it was
then in the King of England's peace, paid each week one mark to
those within the castle, more, it is thought, out of fear lest it
should be forced from them than from love. Also Dunbarton
Castle was still in the hands of the Scots, and a few small towns.
About the feast of SS. Peter and Paul3 three Scottish knights
who had been with the King of Scotland 4 came to England ; to
wit, Sir Geoffrey, Sir Alexander and Sir Roger de Mowbray, and
were arrested and imprisoned ; for they were accused of having
endeavoured their utmost to persuade the King of Scotland to
break faith and allegiance to the King of England, and to put his
trust in the Scots, regardless of the homage he had done to the
king. The King of Scotland affirmed that this was so, making
this grave accusation against them, and announced it to the King
of England when he came to England.
When the king heard that Sir Eustace de Maxwell had joined
the Scots, he gave his castle5 to the Lord of Gillesland, who,
1 Or perhaps * serving the king the same baseness as he had practised before.'
De consimili servitio servierat regi ante.
2 Comes de Dunbar in Stevenson's edition ought obviously to read Castrum de
Dunbar.
3 zgth June. 4 Edward Balliol.
5 Carlaverock, which, however, is not in Galloway, but in Nithsdale.
3°4
LANERCOST
having assembled a force of English, invaded Galloway and burnt
his [Maxwell's] lands, driving off cattle, wherefore the Scots
retaliated by invading England in force by way of Arthuret. On
the third day, before the feast of S. Lawrence,1 marching towards
*he east, they burnt about twenty villages, taking prisoners and an
immense number of cattle ; but, having met with some opposition
from the men-at-arms who were in Carlisle and the surrounding
country, and having lost some of their men, they returned on the
same day into Scotland.
About the feast of the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin,2
two Scottish ships returning from France were taken at sea by the
English, wherein were my lord Bishop of Glasgow, many ladies,
soldiers and arms and 30,000 pounds of silver, besides charters,
conventions and indentures which had been concluded between the
King of France and the Scots. The men were either killed or
drowned in the sea ; but my lord Bishop of Glasgow3 and some of
the said ladies, refusing through excessive vexation to eat or drink
or accept any consolation, died at sea before reaching the land and
their bodies were buried at Whitsand in England. The other
things which were in the ships were preserved for disposal by my
lord the king.
Now in the beginning of September, when the Scots were
reaping their harvest, my lord the Earl of Warwick, repre-
senting in all respects the person of the King of England and
maintaining his state, invaded Scotland by way of Berwick, with fo. 229
the barons, knights, esquires, and troops drawn from all places on
1 yth August. 2 1 5th August.
3 John de Wischard, consecrated in 1325, not to be confounded with Bishop
Robert Wischard, the strenuous supporter of Robert Bruce.
U 305
THE CHRONICLE OF
this [north] side of Trent. At the same time the noble baron
Sir Thomas Wake, lord of Liddel, my lord de Clifford, and my
lord of Gillesland, invaded Scotland by way of Carlisle, together
with my lord Bishop of Carlisle, taking with them the men of two
counties, to wit, Westmorland and Cumberland. Within two
days they formed a junction with the Earl of Warwick's army, as
had been previously arranged between them ; and so they marched
together into Teviotdale, Moffatdale, and Nithsdale, driving off
cattle and burning houses and corn, which had then been stored in
the barns ; but they killed few men, indeed they found hardly
any. But Sir Antony de Lucy, taking with him a detachment of
the army, turned aside into Galloway — killing, plundering, laying
waste all that he could find to the best of his power, returning
afterwards to the main body. And whereas, because of the exces-
sive rain and flooded rivers they could not advance into Douglas-
dale and to Ayr and those parts as had been intended, on the
twelfth day they all returned to Carlisle.1 On that occasion the
King of Scotland2 remained in England and was not with them.
Five days later, however, hearing that the Scots had led an
expedition to the east in order to plunder Coquetdale and Redes-
dale, they marched together against them ; but they lingered too
long, for the Scots had re-entered their own land before they
could overtake them. Howbeit the Scots lifted but few cattle,
because the people had been forewarned of their coming, and had
removed their cattle to distant parts. But they did some burn-
1 The chronicler refrains from attributing the floods to the direct interposition
of the Almighty in favour of the Scots, as undoubtedly he would have done if a
Scottish invasion of England had been cut short in like manner.
2 Edward Balliol.
306
LANERCOST
ing, and would have done much more had not the Earl of
Angus, lord of Redesdale,1 offered them bold resistance with his
small force.
About the middle of October the Scots invaded England again
by way of Carlisle, and on the first day marched round that town
towards the east, showing off before the town in three bands, on
the chance of any one or more daring to come out and engage
them. But whereas there was not in the town at that time
sufficient troops to oppose such a strong force, some archers and
a few others went out to harass them in the field. Of these they
made no account, but marched round the town, and, having
burnt the hospital of S. Nicolas in the suburbs, they went off the
same day to the manor of Rose, because they held my lord Bishop
of Carlisle, who owned that manor, in utmost hatred through his
having marched against them in war, as has been described above.
Therefore they destroyed that place, and everything else on their
march, with fire. But in that first night of their coming into
England, Sir Antony de Lucy beat up their quarters and severely
harassed them. Next day, however, the Scots burnt the villages
throughout Allerdale, and detached part of their force against
Copeland to lift cattle. But on the third day, to wit on the vigil
of S. Luke,2 the noble barons, Lord de Percy and Lord de Nevill,
came to the relief of the district with their following of men-at-
arms ; although, as described above, they came too late, although
the leading men had written to them to move with speed, because
1 Gilbert de Umfraville, 4th Earl of Angus in the English line. He inherited
the title from his great-grandfather, a powerful Northumbrian baron, who married
Matilda, Countess of Angus in her own right, in 1243.
2 1 7th October.
307
THE CHRONICLE OF
the Scots had sent their booty and wounded men before them into
Scotland, the armed troops following soon after. For they had
lost a great number of their men, among whom the brother of
William de Douglas1 was taken alive and brought to Carlisle
Castle. Howbeit it had been commonly, but secretly, reported
for a long time that a certain noble in the north country was
unduly favourable to the Scottish side, and that he did on that
occasion, as on other occasions, inform them beforehand at what
time they might safely invade England with their army, and
afterwards sent them word when they should leave it. Which, if
it be true, may God make known to king and country these
cunning traitors.
About the feast of All Saints the Scots mustered and laid siege
to Edinburgh Castle, in the absence of Sir John de Stirling,
warden of that castle. Hearing this, my lord Bishop of Carlisle
and Sir Rafe de Dacre, lord of Gillesland, assembled the forces
of the counties Westmorland and Cumberland, to relieve that
siege, and at Roxburgh there joined them my lord the King of
Scotland 2 and Sir Antony de Lucy with their forces which they
had brought from Berwick, and so they marched together to
Edinburgh, broke up the siege, put the Scots to flight, and re-
established Sir John de Stirling, by birth a Scot, for the safer
custody of the King of England's castle. Somewhat later, how-
ever, when he went forth with his people from the castle to take
some booty, he was captured by William de Douglas and taken
to Dunbarton Castle, as will be shown presently.
Now after the aforesaid feast of All Saints the King of England
sent ambassadors to France to arrange peace with the King of
1 The Knight of Liddesdale. * Edward Balliol.
308
LANERCOST
France, offering to the said king for free possession of the
land of Guienne, just as he held the other parts of Gascony, that
his elder son, the heir of England, should take a wife from the
King of France's family, whom that king should accordingly give
him in marriage, and that the King of France should possess the
land of Gascony with all its revenues for seven years, and after
seven years should restore it without dispute to the King of Eng-
land, as formerly. Further, that the King of England should
accompany the King of France, with one thousand men-at-arms,
to the Holy Land against the Saracens. These, I say, were the
conditions offered by the King of England to the said king,
but that proud and avaricious person rejected them all, wherefore fo.
frhe King of England prepared to fight him, hiring and making
alliance with the^ollowing^ nobles oversea as his mercenaries, to
wit, my lord the JEmperor Louis, who jwai_then._King_of Germany
and- Duke of Bavaria, and had married the Queen of England's
sister, and was at dire enmity with the King of France*:^ item, the
Duke of Brabant, son of the King of England's maternal aunt ;
item, the Count of Hainault, the queen's brother-german ; item,
the Count of Guelders, who had married the King of England's
sister ; item, the Count of Julers, the Queen of England's uncle ;
item, the Archbishop of Cologne ; item, the Count of Treves ; l
item, the Dauphin de Vienne ; item, my lord William de Chalons ;
item, my Lord de Faukemounde. The emperor had 50,000
helmed men under arms, the Duke of Brabant 15,800, the
Count of Guelders 20,000, the Count of Hainault 15,000,
1 Sic in Stevenson's edition, but further on he is referred to as Bishop of Treves.
In fact he was Archbishop, and, as Chancellor of Burgundy, was one of the Electors
of the Empire.
3°9
THE CHRONICLE OF
the Count of Julers 5,000, the Archbishop of Cologne 4,000,
the Bishop of Treves 2,000, the Dauphin of Vienne and my
lord William de Chalons 15,000, my lord de Faukemounde
3,000 ; in all, 129,000 helmed men.
The Count of Artois-Arras, whom the King of France had
expelled from his country and of whose lands he had taken
possession, was in England at that time under protection of the
king, who treated him courteously in all respects.
The King of England sent to the aforesaid lords across the sea
my lord William de Bohun Earl of Northampton, the Earl of
Huntingdon, and the Earl of Suffolk, with 15,000 men-at-arms,
archers and spearmen. Also he sent the Bishop of Lincoln with
14,000 sacks of wool to defray the wages of the troops for the
meantime. Afterwards there were granted to him in the next
parliament in London 20,000 sacks of wool of the English mer-
chants for the fitting out and supporting his war. He himself
purchased from the English merchants one sack out of every two
sacks of prime wool for half a mark, and inferior wool at less price
and value ; for he was obliged to spend an almost incalculable sum
for the maintenance of so great an army. Thus it was said that
he spent a thousand marks a day, according to others two thou-
sand pounds.
It so happened that my lord William aforesaid and the other
earls with the army, encountered in their voyage over sea eighty
French ships, which they captured and disposed of at will. The
brother of the Count of Flanders was found in these ships and
taken to the King of England, who received him with so much
honour, setting him free, that peace was made between England
and I Flanders. But when they arrived in a certain town of
310
LANERCOST
Flanders, they found armed men who gave thejn battle, but were
soon put to flight by the English archers. Then they raised the
surrounding district to fight our people, but some of them were
again put to flight, and some took shelter in a certain church ; and
because, trusting in the strength of the place, they refused to
surrender, the English set the church afire, and they were burnt
in the church.
After Christmas two cardinals came to England, sent by my
lonj,thp .Pope to the King of England in order by God's grace to
X^^ **-> ) 1"
make peace between him and the King of France.1 They had
first been to the King of France and had heard all that he desired.
Therefore the King of England commanded that all the arch-
bishops, bishops and nobles of the country should be summoned
to a parliament in London, which was to begin on the morrow of
the Purification of the Glorious Virgin.2 But meanwhile, pending
whatever might happen about the said peace, he sent my lord
William de Montagu Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Gloucester,
the Earl of Derby, three barons, de Percy, de Nevill and de
Stafford, and the Earl of Redesdale, with 20,000 men, to the
King of Scotland3 in Scotland, commanding them to besiege
closely and effectively the castle of Dunbar — the castle of Earl
Patrick, traitor alike to himself and the kingdom — because it was
irksome and oppressive to the whole district of Lothian, as has
been explained above.
Close siege, therefore, was laid to the castle : those inside were
surrounded by a deep trench, so that they could not get out ;
JThe bull with which they were provided is set forth in Raynaldi, A.D. 1337,
§!5-
2 3rd Feb., 1338. * Edward Balliol.
3"
THE CHRONICLE OF
wooden houses were constructed before the gate, and pavilions or
tents were set up for the lodging of the chief persons in the army.
Meanwhile it happened that Sir John de Stirling, warden of
Edinburgh Castle, going forth with the intention of lifting some
booty, was captured by craft by Sir William de Douglas and a
large party which he had brought with him ; [Stirling] himself
and two or three knights and about twenty men at arms [being
captured], of whom some were killed and some were taken alive
and brought to Edinburgh Castle by William de Douglas and his
people. When they arrived there, William summoned the castle
to surrender, promising faithfully if those within would do so
that both Sir John whom they had captured and all those who
were outside the castle with him, as well as all those within the
castle, should preserve life and limb and all their goods, and a
safe-conduct to go whither they would ; but that if they refused
to do so, he declared that he would cause Sir John to be drawn
there at the tails of horses, and afterwards to be hanged on gallows
before the gate, and all those who were prisoners there with him
to be beheaded before their eyes. But those who were within
made reasonable and conciliatory reply, saying that that castle was
a fortress of the King of England, and that, let what might befal
Sir John and the others with him, they would not surrender it to
Douglas or any other living man unless at the king's command.
When William heard this, he did not carry his threat into effect,
but sent all those prisoners to Dunbarton Castle, because there
MS. was no other good castle in possession of the Scots at that time
fo. 230 except that an(j Carlaverock Castle, belonging to the traitor Sir
Eustace de Maxwell, who afterwards killed the knight Sir Robert
de Lauder, the most intelligent man among the Scots.
312
LANERCOST
When my lord William de Montagu who was besieging
Dunbar Castle, heard of these events, he took a strong force and
came to Edinburgh, appointed another warden of the castle with
a sufficient garrison to hold and defend it, and then he returned
with his men to the siege of [Dunbar] Castle.
In the following Lent1 Sir Andrew de Moray, Guardian of
Scotland, died in his bed of dysentery, as some say ; others,
however, declared that he mounted an unbroken colt which
threw him from the saddle, that one of his feet caught in the
stirrup, and thus he was dragged by his foot and leg to death.
The Steward of Scotland was chosen Guardian in his place.
Dunbar Castle held out stoutly and made a gallant defence,
in despite of the close siege ; and whereas the Countess of
Dunbar,2 who was in chief command of the castle, was sister
of the Earl of Moray, he had been taken in Scotland, carried
off to Nottingham Castle in England, and there placed in ward,
as mentioned above, [to await] the King of England's pleasure.
In the same year my lord Pope Benedictus XII. commanded
that twelve wise and discreet friars of the Order of Minorites,
should be chosen to regulate discipline, together with the
cardinals, certain bishops and masters of theology;8 which was
done accordingly. The constitution having been considered
approved, my lord the Pope placed them in a bull, and sent
them in the bull to the Captain General that they should be
scrupulously observed throughout the whole Order ; howbeit he
willed not that the rule of the Friars nor their other constitutions
should be modified in any respect. Now the said bull contained
1 25th Feb.-i2th April, 1338. 2 " Black Agnes."
8 The true date was in November, 1336.
313
THE CHRONICLE OF
nine-and-twenty minor chapters, wherein, among other things, it
is provided that the custodians and wardens of the said Order
shall be canonically elected.
After Easter1 the said Earl [of Moray] was taken back to
Scotland, on the chance that his sister would surrender her castle
in order to save his life ; but she replied that the castle
belonged to her lord and had been committed to her
custody, nor would she surrender it except at his command ; and
when the besiegers told her that then her brother should die, she
answered them — * If ye do that, then shall I be heir to the
earldom of Moray,' for her brother had no children. Howbeit
the English would not do what they had threatened, but [decided]
rather to take him back to England and keep him in ward, as
before.
Forasmuch as the King of France refused to agree to any good
and reasonable terms of peace, the King of England directed his
journey to France, and undertook himself a campaign with the
aforesaid nobles in his pay. He took with him from England a
great army of helmed men, archers and spearmen, in addition to
those whom he had sent already with my lord William Earl of
Northampton, which, as was commonly said, amounted in all to
30,000 men.
When the Scots perceived that the King of England was
preparing himself to make war against the King of France, they
besought a truce from him, and truce was granted them by the
king to last a year from the next feast of S. Michael, provided,
however, that if the King of England at any time within that
term should feel dissatisfied with the truce granted, he might
1 1 zth April.
LANERCOST
break it at his pleasure. But whereas the king, as aforesaid,
determined to cross the sea, my lord William de Montagu and
the other earls engaged with him in besieging the said castle
of Dunbar, being unwilling that he should incur any danger
without them, whom he had promoted to such high rank, granted
truce to those within the castle, on condition that during the truce
no change should be effected either around the castle, within the
castle, nor in the buildings built by the English outside (albeit
this condition was not afterwards observed) ; and so they returned
to the king in England.
The king embarked with the aforesaid army at Portsmouth,
about the middle of the month of July, a little before the feast
of S. Mary Magdalene 1 in the year of the Lord aforesaid. Also
the lady Queen of England went with him, in order that she
might have intercourse with her kindred and friends beyond the
sea. After the king had crossed, the Flemings left the King of
France and adhered to him.
Shortly after the departure of the King of England across the
the sea, the King of Scotland2 entered Scotland with a small
following, the truce granted to the Scots notwithstanding, and
there remained for some time at Perth.
[Here follows Edward IH.'s letter to the Court of Rome , the people
of France, etc., setting forth his complaint against King Philip, etc.
It is printed in Fcedera as if issued on fth or 8th February, 1340, but
Father Stevenson observes that the Lanercost chronicler is probably right
in assigning it to a date (not mentioned in the chronicle] soon after King
1 22nd July. The actual date was 1 6th July, and the port of embarkation
was Orwell, not Portsmouth (Fcedera).
3 Edward Balliol.
315
THE CHRONICLE OF
Edward's arrival in Flanders. The original draft was destroyed by
fire among some of the Cottonian MSS.]
In the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and thirty
[ I"' J - I*1 Edward the third after the Conquest, King of England,
crossed the sea against the King of France, [having] with him
Queen Philippa, the Earls of Derby, Northampton and Salisbury,
and a large army. He landed at Antwerp, where he did not
meet such good faith among his German allies as the Germans
had promised to his envoys ; but he remained there a year and
more, exposed, with his people, to great dangers and at excessive
cost, accomplishing nothing of importance except that he travelled
to [visit] the Duke of Bavaria,2 by whom he was received with
honour. After a conference had been held, he was appointed
Vicar of the Empire.3
When Pope Benedictus XII. heard thereof he wrote to him a
letter of rebuke for having made a treaty with the enemies of the
Church, in the following terms.
[Here follow the Pope's letters dated from Avignon, according to the
chronicler, ist November, 2jrd December, 1338, I2th October, 1339 ;
but there is considerable confusion in the chronology of this fart of the
Annals, and the dates do not correspond with those given in Fcedera^
where these letters may be found. However, the exact sequence of the
correspondence is not of much moment. The Pope remonstrates with
King Edward for entering into alliance with the Emperor, who is
1 Blank in original. This passage seems to be taken from another chronicle.
2 The Emperor Louis.
3Walsingham (i. 223) states that Louis desired that Edward should kiss his
foot on appointment, but that Edward refused, on the ground that he was an
anointed king.
316
LANERCOST
excommunicated, for his proceedings against the Bishop of Cambrai, for
assuming the title of Vicar of the Empire. He denies that he granted
the tenths to the King of France to aid him against the King of England,
and offers to mediate in person between the two kings."]
The King of England sent to the said Pope by his ambassadors
a letter justifying his alliance and declaring his just dealing with
the realm of France. During the king's absence two cardinals,
accompanied by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of
Durham, crossed ^he sea to promote the peace of the kings and
their kingdoms. Having endured many hardships and perils,
even under protection of the aforesaid cardinals, and having
suffered from famine while remaining in Paris and Arras until
the month of November, without effecting anything towards the
peace of the kings and their kingdoms, they returned to the King
of England in Brabant.
In the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred and thirty
[ J,1 while the king was in Brabant, the Scottish leaders
broke the truce they had accepted, inflicting much injury
A.D. 1339.
both by sea and land upon the English and their con-
federates in Scotland.
Early in July, Cupar Castle and the county of Fife were
surrendered to William de Douglas, who had returned from
France to Scotland with a strong armed force. Thence the
aforesaid William marched to Perth with Earl Patrick and French
mercenaries, laid siege thereto, and within five weeks, without
much fighting, received the surrender of that town from its
governor, to wit, Sir Thomas de Houghteryth. After the
surrender, taking with them the booty obtained there, they
1 Blank in original.
317
THE CHRONICLE OF
embarked on the sea with a company of both French and Scots,
and perished in a sudden storm which arose at sea.
In the same year, on the third day before the feast of
the Assumption of the Glorious Virgin,1 a marvellous flood
came down by night upon Newcastle-on-Tyne, which
broke down the town-wall at Walkenow for a distance of six
perches, where 1 60 men, with seven priests and others, were
drowned.
At the same time the King of England (the Duke of Brabant2
having left him), invaded the realm of France at the end of
September with a large army, and carrying his arms against the
district of Cambrai, he caused it to be burnt. On the feast of
S. Michael3 he entered Vermandois, where he had been informed
the King of France was lying with his army, intending to give
him battle. And on the appointed day of battle, to wit the
morrow of S. Luke the Evangelist,4 the King of England, having
been assured that the King of France was willing to fight, took
up his appointed position, distant about two leagues from the
King of France, and waited there a whole day. But as the
King of France and his army did not come to battle, as he had
promised, the King of England, after mature deliberation, marched
back into the duchy of Brabant. Howbeit he traversed parts
of France with his army, killing, plundering, and burning over
a space eight-and-twenty miles broad and sixty miles long, to
1 1 4th August.
2 The chronicler names the Duke of Bavaria, but that is evidently wrong.
The Emperor Louis was Duke of Bavaria. Brabant, however, did not desert
Edward.
3 29th Sept. 4 1 9th October.
LANERCOST
wit, in the counties of Cambrai, Vermandois, Meuse, Tierache,
Blois, Artois and La Flamengria.1
After the King of England returned from his expedition,
many of his troops, English as well as German, returned to their
homes ; but the Earls of Derby, Northampton, Salisbury and
Suffolk remained with him. At this time my lord Pope Bene-
dictus XII. sent two cardinals to the King of England to convey
his paternal exhortation that peace or truce should be concluded
with the King of France. The King of England wrote to him
in reply setting forth the grievances, injuries and annoyances he
had endured from Philip, who was in occupation of the realm of
France, and who had declined to negotiate reasonably with him
either about a truce or a peace, which if he would do, he [King
Edward] would be ready to come to reasonable agreement with
him.
[Here follows a long letter from King Edward to the Pope, setting
forth his grievances against King Philip, the advances he had made to
him from time to time, Philip's refusal of his offers and the many
injuries he had received from him. Printed in Fcedera, 8th February.
Also a declaration to the people of France as to the King of England's
title to the crown of France and his intentions in regard to the same.
Printed in Fcedera^\
Meanwhile, the King of England, having prepared to sail back
to England, being entreated by the community of Flanders,
remained several weeks at Ghent, where the Flemings acknow-
1 Father Stevenson observes that the general narrative of King Edward's
operations in this campaign is confirmed by an eye-witness, Johannes Hocsemius,
a canon of Liege, whose history covers the period 1251-1348, and was printed at
Liege in 1630.
319
THE CHRONICLE OF
ledged him as rightful heir, King and Lord of France, and swore
fealty and homage to him as to the rightful King of France.
In compliance with their suggestion and advice the King of
England assumed the title of King of France and the arms of
each realm, to wit, of England and France, whereof he claimed
dominion, and entitled himself King of England and France,1 in
consequence of which he caused public letters given at Ghent to
be displayed and published throughout England and France, and
he besought the Supreme Pontiff for letters of absolution for the
invasion of the realm of France. After which, with the consent
and advice of the Flemings and the Duke of Brabant, he sailed for
England with the Earls of Salisbury and Suffolk, leaving Queen
Philippa in Flanders. After his departure William de Montagu
was captured on the frontier of Flanders by some of the King of
France's army and placed in prison.
In the same year on the sixth of the Ides of March,2 my lord
Henry de Beaumont died at Luthburg and was buried in the
Abbey of Valle Dei on the morrow of S. Gregory the Martyr.3
In the year of the Lord MCCCXXX [ ] 4 died William de
Meltoun, Archbishop of York, and was committed to the tomb
on the morrow of S. Gregory.5 My lord William de la Zouche
succeeded him.
King Edward, the third of England after the conquest and first of
France, held his parliament in London, demanding and obtaining
1 The title of King of France was retained by the Kings of England and Great
Britain until A.D. 1801, when it was discontinued and the lilies of France were
removed from the royal arms.
2 loth March, 1340. s I3th March.
4 Blank in original. 5 ^^ March, 1340.
320
LANERCOST
a large subsidy from clergy and people in aid of [the wars] against
France and Scotland, taking a ninth of all produce from
A.D. I34O.
the people and a triennial tenth from the clergy, in
recognition of which welcome concessions my lord the King of
England and France granted and published a new charter, ratified •
the liberties of the Church in England and also renewed many, as \
is contained at length in his charter. In the same parliament he
decreed and specially confirmed by his charter that, in regard of
the claim which he made to the realm of France as rightful heir,
king and lord, devolving upon him by the death of his uncle my fb.
lord Charles King of France, the realm of England should in no
respect be subject to the realm of France, neither through him
nor any his successor whatsoever, but that as regardeth divine
things the succession and liberties should remain freely and totally
separate. Parliament having ended he assembled a fleet and sailed
for Flanders from the port of Orwell on the day before the eve of
S. John the Baptist l (which in that year was a Thursday), with a
few nobles, to wit, the Earls of Derby, Gloucester, Northampton
and Huntingdon, and only a few other nobles. Arriving off the
coast he was informed that the fleet of Philip de Valois, at that
time occupying the realm of France, was in hostile array with a
great force of Normans and French to attack him and his people.
He sent forward the Bishop of Lincoln and Sir Reginald de
Cobham to Sluys to stir up the Flemings (as they themselves had
proposed) to fight the King of France's fleet on the morrow. On
the morrow, therefore, to wit the vigil of S. John the Baptist,
about the ninth hour, he prepared for battle, and, albeit he had no
more than 147 ships against the immense fleet of the French, by
1 22nd June.
x 321
THE CHRONICLE OF
God's grace he obtained the victory he hoped for, killing, drown-
ing or capturing 30,000 of the French. But on the English side
they killed but some four hundred men, with four noble knights,
to wit, Sir Thomas de Mouhermere, Thomas de Latimer, John
Butler and Thomas de Poynings.1
After this victory the King of England and France remained at
sea for three days, and then landed in Flanders, all men shouting,
* Long live the King of the French and of England ! Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord ! ' And although they
had been some little incensed with him by reason of his long stay
in England (the queen remaining in Ghent exposed to many risks,
together with her English there who were in Flanders supporting
the King of England and France) yet all those afflicted with king's
evil who came near him were immediately made whole by his
touch.
After this, the King of England and France, having rested in
Ghent and held counsel with his people, marched with a strong
force to Tournay and laid close siege to that city, to relieve which,
Philip de Valois, occupying the kingdom of France, assembled a
large army. To him the King of England and France wrote from
the siege works, sending [the letters] by his ambassadors, giving
him a triple alternative — to wit, that, as a means of deciding the
dispute between himself and the aforesaid Philip, they two them-
selves should fight a duel for the settlement of their rights ; or
that Philip [should choose] one hundred of the most valiant
knights of France, Philip himself being one of their number, and
Edward [should choose] as many English knights, Edward him-
1 Confirmed by an entry in the Close Rolls, but the date was 24th June
(Fcedera).
322
LANERCOST
self being one of their number, and thus the slaughter of Christian
people might be avoided. Or again, should neither of these
[proposals] be agreeable to the aforesaid Philip, then, after receiv-
ing the aforesaid letters of the King of England and France, let
him appoint a certain day for battle between power and power
before the city of Tournay to which he [Edward] had laid siege ;
so that God who removeth kingdoms and establisheth them should
make justice manifest through whichever of the three plans might
be chosen, and bring the conflict to an end.
When Philip received this letter and understood the alter-
natives, he would not reply to King Edward about his
proposals because the letter had not been addressed to him
as King of France ; but he wrote back to the King of England
and France to effect that whereas he had unreasonably and
injuriously invaded the realm of France and had rebelled against
him to whom he had done homage, he [Philip] proposed to
expel him from his kingdom for the honour of the realm and
welfare of the people.1
Meanwhile, during these transactions, seeing that the aforesaid
Philip dared not encounter the King of England and France in
any manner, and that the funds required by the King of England
for maintaining the siege were far short of what was necessary, a
truce between him and the aforesaid Philip was agreed to through
the mediation of the cardinals ; whereupon the king suddenly
came to England and [imprisoned] the warden of the Tower of
London, to wit, Sir Nicholas de Beche (who was also guardian of
the king's son), Sir John de Pulteney, William del Pole, and
several other knights and justiciaries, as well as some clerks of the
1 Edward's challenge and Philip's refusal are printed in Fcedera.
323
THE CHRONICLE OF
Treasury.1 A serious dispute had arisen between him [King
Edward] and John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury ; all
of which was caused by their not having supported him with
proper funds when he was going to war, but frustrated his just
right and purpose.
While these things were going on, David de Brus, returning
from France to Scotland, and collecting an army, wasted
Northumberland with sword and fire as far as the river Tyne,
returning home without any opposition. After this he2 marched
to Scotland and kept Christmas at the Abbey of Melrose in
Scotland, where he was exposed to much danger by cunning
assaults of the Scots, losing several of his men, and he retreated
to England without [performing] any notable exploit.
Preceded by certain nobles, the King of England invaded
fo. 239 Brittany, where he took several castles and fortresses by storm,
closely besieging the city of Vannes, which he would have taken
within a few days, had not a truce for three years and more been
struck at the earnest mediation of my lord the Supreme Pontiff
and by the intervention of the two cardinals, which truce proved
to be rather a betrayal than a settlement.
[Here follow the terms of truce at great length. They are not in
Fadera.~\
In the same year the King of England incurred many dangers
in returning from Brittany to England, especially from flashes of
lightning and unprecedented storms, whereby nearly all his ships
were scattered from him and several were sunk in the sea. How-
1 Sir Nicholas de la Beche must have cleared himself, for he was appointed
Seneschal of Gascony, 2oth July, 1343 (Fadera}.
2 King Edward.
324
LANERCOST
belt it is said that not one of the sailors or soldiers was so cheerful
amid these storms and dangers as himself, who ever remained
fearless and unperturbed through them all ; whence he was
delivered by God's grace and the Blessed Virgin's intercession
(whom he always had invoked and chosen as his peculiar patron
in all dangers), and so was happily carried to that part of the
kingdom of England which he desired.
The truce in Brittany having been concluded, several nobles
of England assembled at Carlisle under my lord Bohun1 Earl of
Northampton, in order to fortify Lochmaben ; but they
A.D. 1344.
went no further, as the Scots gave leave that the afore-
said castle should be peacefully fortified.
In the same year the King of England held a round table of
three hundred knights and as many ladies at Windsor, for which
immense expense was incurred as befitting the royal dignity.
The King of England on the eve of the kalends of July2 went
to sea at Sandwich with a large army for the protection of his
people, and kept at sea with the aforesaid army until
the ninth of the kalends of August,3 and then returned
to the kingdom of England at Sandwich, without performing any
notable exploit.
In the same year, while [the king] was at sea, the Flemings,
who were then believed to be faithful to the King of England,
attacked [ ]* at Ghent and cruelly put him [?] to death.
In the same year the Scots with a large force invaded England
by way of Carlisle on the eighth of the kalends of November,6 and
also burnt Gillesland and Penrith in Cumberland, with the adjoining
1 Wowen in MS. 2 3Oth June. * 24th July.
4 Blank in original. 5 25th Oct.
325
THE CHRONICLE OF
villages ; but as they suffered from hunger, they returned without
any gain to themselves or much loss to us.
Afterwards, on the eighteenth of the kalends of January,1
certain nobles invaded Scotland in revenge for the deeds they had
endured, and, having burnt Dumfries with many adjacent villages,
returned to England without much gain or loss on their part on
the fifteenth of the kalends of the same month.2
In the month of July, David King of Scots entered England
under the banner of the Earl of Moray, harrying Cumberland,
the hills of Derwent and the moor of Aldstone,3 with
A.D. 1346.
slaughter and fire, and returning to Scotland with great
droves of cattle without [sustaining] any loss to his army.
In the same month of that year Edward, renowned and illus-
trious King of England, sailed from Portsmouth with fifteen
hundred ships and a great force of soldiers upon an expedition
against the King of France to vindicate the inheritance which was
his, due to himself ancestrally and through his maternal uncle.
On the twelfth of the same month he landed at la Houge in
Normandy, whence he marched to Caen, sacking the city to the
bare walls thereof, killing and capturing many knights and an
immense number of soldiers.
* Edward, by the grace of God King of England and France and Lord
of Ireland, to the honourable Father in God William, by the same grace
Bishop of York, Primate of England, — Greeting.
'Forasmuch as we know well that you would wish good news from us,
we make known to you that we arrived at la Hougue near Barfleur on
the 1 2th July last, with all our people safe and sound, praise be to God,
and remained there while our troops and horses disembarked and our troops
1 1 5th Dec. 2 1 8th Dec.
3 Not to be confused with Alston in Lancashire.
326
LANERCOST
were being victualled, until the following Tuesday ; on which day we
marched with our army to Valognes, where we took the castle and the
town ; and then on our march we caused the bridge of O«<?, which our
enemy had destroyed, to be rebuilt, and we passed over it and took the
castle and town of Carentan, whence we held the straight road to the town
of Saint-L6. We found Herbert bridge near that town broken down, in
order to prevent our crossing, so we caused it to be repaired, and next day
we took the town. Then we pressed forward to Caen without halting for
a single day from the hour that we left la Hougue until we arrived there.
' And so soon as we had gone into quarters at Caen, our people began to fo.
deliver assault upon the town, which was very strongly fortified and garri-
soned with about 1600 soldiers, besides about 30,000 common people armed
for its defence, who fought very well and boldly, so that the mellay was
very hot and lasted a long time. But, praise be to God, the town was
taken by storm in the end without loss to our people.
'There were taken there the Comte d'Eu, Constable of France, the
Chamberlain Tankerville (who on that day had been proclaimed a Marshal
of France), of other bannerets and chevaliers about one hundred and forty,
and a great crowd of esquires of the wealthy burghers. Also there perished
many noble chevaliers and gentlemen and a great number of the com-
monalty.
' And our fleet, which kept in touch with us, has burnt and laid waste
the whole seacoast from Barfleur as far as the Fosse de Colleville near
Caen, and likewise has burnt the town of Cherbourg and the ships of la
Havre, so that either by us or our people there have been burnt one hundred
or more great ships and other vessels of the enemy.
* Wherefore we beg that you will devoutly return thanks to God for the
exploit which he has enabled us to perform, and continually beseech him
that he will grant us further success ; also [we desire] that you write to
the prelates and clergy of your province that they act in like manner, and
that you ratify these events to our people in your district, for their comfort,
and that you apply yourself diligently to resist our enemies of Scotland by
all the means in your power for the safety of our people in your parts, for
which we rely confidently upon you.
4 Forasmuch as we have already obtained the assent of all our principal
officers, who show themselves to be of excellent spirit and willingness
we have firmly resolved to press forward with all our might against our
327
THE CHRONICLE OF
adversary, wheresoever he may be from day to day, and our firm hope is in
God that he will assure us good and honourable [results1] of our enterprise,
and that you will shortly receive good and agreeable news of us.
' Given under our privy seal at Caen, the 30th day of July, in the
twentieth year of our reign in England.'
Hereafter the province of Bayeux surrendered voluntarily,
fearing lest it should suffer in the same manner, whence he
[King Edward] pursued his march as far as Rouen, wasting all
around with fire and sword. He took possession without any
resistance of all the great villages through which he passed ; he
captured castles and fortifications, even the strongest, without
difficulty and with very small attacking columns. At that time
the enemy was in Rouen with a very strong armed force, and,
notwithstanding his superiority in numbers, he caused the bridge
over the Seine to be broken lest the King of England should reach
him. And so it was all the way to Paris — on one side of the
Seine the King of England plying fire and sword, and on the
other side the King of France breaking down and fortifying all
the bridges of the Seine, to prevent the King of England crossing
over to him ; nor would he dare anything for the defence of his
people and realm, although he could have crossed the Seine, but
fled towards Paris.
When the King of England reached Poissy, he found the bridge
broken and guarded by 1000 knights and 2000 cross-bowmen,
so that it might not be repaired to enable the King of England
to cross. But the King of England, having killed the guards,
speedily repaired the bridge, and crossed over with his army.
Then he proceeded through Picardy to Ponthieu ; his enemy
followed him to Crecy-en-Ponthieu, where, on the seventh of
1 Blank in original.
328
LANERCOST
the kalends of September,1 by the help of the Lord, he defeated
his enemy in a great battle. For the action began on the afore-
said day, to wit, the Saturday after the feast of S. Bartholomew,
and continued until noon on the following day, and was brought
to a close, not by human, but by divine, power. Among those
slain and captured there were the King of Bohemia2 and the King of
Majorca, also the Duke of Lorraine, the Archbishop of Sens and
[the bishop of] Nimes,3 the Comte d'Alen^on, who was the King
of France's brother, the Abbot of Corbeil, besides the Count of
Flanders, the Comte d'Albemarle [?],4 the Comte Sauvay, the
Comte de Blois, the Comte de Mont Villiers, the Comte de
Sainiers and his brother, the Prior-in-chief of the Hospital of
Jerusalem, the High Lord of Rosenburg and chief man in all
France after the King, the Vicomte de Turnas, the Lord de
Morles, the Lord of Righou, the Lord of Saint- Vinaunt, and
many other knights and esquires. More than 20,000 were killed,
1 26th August.
2 Froissart describes thus the death of this gallant old King Charles of Bohemia.
'Having heard the order of battle, he enquired where was his son the lord Charles.
His attendants answered that they did not know, but believed he was fighting.
The king said to them — "Gentlemen, you are all my people, my friends and
brethren in arms this day ; wherefore, as I am blind, I beseech you to lead me so
far into the battle that I may deal one blow with my sword." The knights replied
that they would lead him forward at once ; and, lest they should lose him in the
mellay, they fastened all the reins of their horses together, and put the king at their
head, that he might gratify his wish. They advanced against the enemy ; the king
rode in among them and made good use of his sword. He and his companions
fought most gallantly ; but they pressed forward so far that they were all killed ;
and on the morrow they were found on the ground, with their horses all tied
together.' (Froissart, ch. cxxii.).
3 Archieplscopui Senonensis Neminensis. Nimes was not an archiepiscopal see.
4 Comes Daumarle.
329
THE CHRONICLE OF
and people without number of other nations ; many were captured
and imprisoned, King Philip [saved himself] by flight in arms.
After this the King of England undertook the siege of Calais,
which was from old time most hurtful to the English.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ! who hath visited and
redeemed his people and raised up a horn of salvation for us in
the house of David, from our enemy !
In the same year, that is 1346, to wit on the vigil of S. Luke
the Evangelist,1 from the root of iniquity in Scotland sprang a
stem of evil, from which tree certain branches broke forth, bear-
MS.
fo. 241 ing, I trow, a crop of their own nature, the buds, fruit and foliage
of much confusion. For in those days there went forth from
Scotland the sons of iniquity, persuading many people by saying,
' Come, let us make an end of the nation of England, so that their
name shall no more be had in remembrance ! ' And the saying
seemed good in their eyes. Wherefore on the sixth day of
October, the Scot assembled, children of accursed Belial, to raise
war against God's people, to set a sword upon the land, and to
ruin peace. David, like another Ahab deceived by an evil spirit
[ ],2 strong men and eager and most ready for war, earls,
barons, knights and esquires, with two thousand men-at-arms and
20,000 commonalty of the villages, who are called ' Hobelers '
among them, and of foot soldiers and archers it was calculated
there were ten thousand and more. Impelled by pride and led by
the devil, these invaded England with a lion-like rush, marching
straight upon the fortress of Liddel. Sir William of Douglas
arrived with his army at the said fortress in the morning, and
David in the evening, laid siege thereto on the aforesaid day.
1 1 7th October. - Words missing in original.
33°
LANERCOST
i
For three days running they lay there in a circle, nor did they
during the said days allow any attacks to be made on the threat-
ened 1 fortress. But on the fourth day, having armed themselves
before sunrise with spears, stones, swords and clubs, they delivered
assaults from all quarters upon the aforesaid fortress and its
defenders. Thus both those within and without the fortress
fought fiercely, many being wounded and some slain ; until at
length some of the Scottish party furnished with beams and house-
timbers, earth, stones and fascines, succeeded in filling up the
ditches of the fortress. Then some of the Scots, protected by
the shields of men-at-arms, broke through the bottom of the walls
with iron tools and many of them entered the said fortress in this
manner without more opposition. Knights and armed men
entering the fortress killed all whom they found, with few excep-
tions, and thus obtained full possession of the fortress.
Then Sir Walter de Selby, governor of the fortress, perceiving,
alas ! that his death was imminent and that there was no possible
means of escape for him, besought grace of King David, imploring
him repeatedly that, whereas he had to die, he might die as befitted
a knight, and that he might end his last day in the field in com-
bat with one of his enemies. But David would not grant this
petition either for prayer or price, being long demented with
guile, hardened like another Pharaoh, raging, furious, goaded to
madness worse than Herod the enemy of the Most High. Then
the knight exclaimed, ' O king, greatly to be feared ! if thou
wouldst have me behold thee acting according to the true kingly
manner, I trust yet to receive some drops of grace from the most
felicitous fountain of thy bounty.'
1 Prslibato.
THE CHRONICLE OF
O, infamous rage of this wicked king ! Alas ! he would not
even allow the knight to confess, but commanded him to be
beheaded instantly ; and he had hardly ceased speaking when
those limbs of the devil, the tyrants torturers who were standing
by, carried out in act what he had ordered in speech. And thus
these evil men, shedders of blood, wickedly and inhumanely
caused human blood to flow through the field. Wherefore shortly
after God poured forth upon them abundantly his indignation.
Thus, therefore, did these wretches, ut alteri filn> bragging over
the fate of a just man, stamp their feet and clap their hands, and
they marched forth rejoicing, horse, foot and men-at-arms, David
and the devil being their leaders.
Coming then to the priory of Lanercost, where dwell the
canons, venerable men and servants of God, they entered
arrogantly into the sanctuary, threw out the vessels of the temple,
plundered the treasury, shattered the bones, stole the jewels, and
destroyed as much as they could. Thence these sacrilegious men
marched by Naworth Castle and the town of Redpath, and so the
army arrived in Tynedale. But the English of the Carlisle dis-
trict had a truce with the Scots at that time, so that in that march
they burnt neither towns nor hamlets nor castles within the
bounds of Carlisle. David then came to Hexham Priory, where
the Black Canons dwell, and, as is to be deplored, on that occasion
and on others David utterly despoiled the aforesaid priory ; for
the Scottish army lay there for three whole days, and David took
delight in burning, destroying and wrecking the church of God.
Not this the David whom the Lord
To honour did delight ;
But quite a different David who
To Christ did show despite.
332
HP:XHAM ABBEY CHURCH
CHANlfKY CHAPEI, OF PRIOR ROWLAND LESCHMAN. OB. 1491
LANERCOST
He proved his evil kind when he
God's altar did defile ;
Blacker his guilt when to the flames
He gave the sacred pile.1
It was, then, not David the warrior, but this David the defaecator
who, for some reason or other, strictly ordered that four northern
towns should not be burnt, to wit, Hexham, Corbridge, Darlington
and Durham, because he intended to obtain his victual from them
in the winter season ; but a certain proverb saith, ' The bear
wanteth one way and his leader another.' Wherefore, although
the man himself had laid his plans, we were patiently hoping for
something different.
The Scots marched from Hexham to the town of Ebchester,
1 Non tamen tile David quern Christum sanctificavit,
Sed erat ille David qui Christum inhonoravit.
Quod bene probavit cum super altare cacavit ;
Sed plus peccavit quando sacra temp la cremavit.
The reference is to an accident which, it was alleged, happened to the infant
David at his baptism. It is characteristic of the monkish spite against everything
Scottish that this little mishap was made the subject of unseemly reproach
throughout King David's reign. The following lines, which will not bear
translation, and seven others which I do not care to quote even in the
original Latin, occur in a monkish poem on the Battle of Neville's Cross. ({Political
Poems and Songs of the i,f.th Century, vol. i. p. 48. Rolls Series. 1859.)
Dum puerum David praesul baptismate lavit,
Ventrem lavavit, baptisterium maculavit.
Fontem fcedavit in quo mingendo cacavit ;
Sancta prophanavit, olei faeces reseravit.
Brus nimis emunxit, cum stercore sacra perunxit,
Se male disjunxit, urinae stercore junxit.
Dum baptizatur altare Dei maculatur,
Nam super altare fertur mingendo cacare,
Fac singularis puer hie caelestibus aris
Optulit in primis stercora foeda nimis.
333
MS.
THE CHRONICLE OF
ravaging all parts of the country. Thence, praised be God! they
fo. 24ib crossed toward the wood of Beaurepair l for our deliverance and
their confusion. David abode in the manor of Beaurepair, sending
forth his satellites in all directions, bidding them drive off cattle,
burn houses, kill men and harry the country. In like manner as
[that other] David seized the poor man's lamb, although he him-
self possessed sheep and oxen as many as he would ; wherefore,
according to Scripture, his son died ; so did [this] David, a root
of iniquity, believing himself like another Antiochus, to possess
at least two kingdoms,2 suddenly attack towns and hamlets, inflict
injury upon the people, gather spoil, destroy houses, carry women
into captivity, seize men and cattle, and, worst of all, command
churches to be burnt and books of law to be thrown into the
flames, and thus, alackaday ! did he hinder work in the vineyard of
\the Lord. He caused, I say, a great slaughter of men, and, uplifted
in pride, he declared that he would assuredly see London within a
very short time ; which purpose the Searcher of Hearts caused to
fulfil his fate.3 Thus this most cruel David was ill at ease, being
inspired by the devil and destitute of all kingly grace through his
exceeding moroseness.
Who can describe the pride of old men ? Scarcely can any one
now living reckon up the scourges of the feeble mourners, the
groanings of the young people, the weariness of the weepers, the
lamentation and wailing of all the humbler folk ; for thus [the
Scripture] had been actually fulfilled, 'A voice is heard in Rama, and
would not be comforted.' Goaded by memories sad and joyful 4
1 Now Beaupark. 2 i Maccabees, ch. i.
8 Ad suumfortunum disposuit implere, appears to be a misreading of suam fortunam.
4 Prat memoris stimulojam dolens gattdendo, seems to be a corrupt reading.
334
LANERCOST
I shall not waste time in many words, but pass on briefly to the
course of events. Every husband uttered lamentation, and those
who were in the bonds of matrimony mourned cheerlessly ; young
and old, virgins and widows, wailed aloud. It was pitiful to hear.
Little children and orphans, crying in the streets, fainted from
weeping. Wherefore when the [arch] bishop of York beheld the
extreme grief of the people together with the lamentations of the
commonalty, he, like, for instance, that other noble priest,
the mourning Mattathias, with his five sons, Abaron and Apphus,
Gaddis, Thasi and Maccabeus, did not take to flight like a mer-
cenary, but like a good shepherd went forth against the wolves
with Sir Henry de Percy, Sir John de Mowbray, Sir Rafe de
Neville, Sir Henry de Scrope and Sir Thomas de Rokeby, and
chose out of the north men prudent and apt for war, in order to
deliver his sheep from the fangs of the wolves. He went to
Richmond, and lay there several days with his army; but my
lord de Percy, with many other valiant men from all parts
remained on watch in the country.
The [arch] bishop, then, moved out of Richmond with his "/
army on the day before the Ides of October,1 and directed his
march along the straight road to Barnard Castle, and on the
morrow he and the other commanders reckoned up their force of
men-at-arms, cavalry, foot-soldiers and fighting men upon a
certain flat-topped hill, near the aforesaid castle. Also the leaders
did there set their army in order of battle, etc., as was proper.
They arranged themselves in three columns, whereof Sir Henry
de Percy commanded the first, Sir Thomas de Rokeby the second,
and the [arch] bishop of York the third — a wise father, chaste and
1 1 4th October.
335
THE CHRONICLE OF
pious, shepherd of his flock. These men marched cautiously to
the town of Auckland, in no spirit of haired as Cain [felt] when
he slew Abel, nor inflated with any such ^pride as Absolom's who
hung in the tree, putting their trust, not in swords, helmets,
lances, corselets, or other gilded armour, but only in the name of
Christ, bent upon no invasion but only upon resisting the invaders.
Pitching their tents in a certain beautiful woodland near the afore-
said town, the English army spent the whole night there.
At dawn next morning, that is on the vigil of S. Luke the
Evangelist,1 William de Douglas rode forth from the Scottish
army with 500 men to harry the country and gather spoil. Thus
the Scots seized their prey in the early morning, but in the evening
the English divided the spoil.
On that morning, while the Scots were plundering the town of
Merrington, suddenly the weather became inclement, with thick
fog. And it came to pass that when they heard the trampling of
horses and the shock of armoured men, there fell upon them such
a spasm of panic that William and all those with him were utterly
at a loss to know which way to turn. Wherefore, as God so
willed, they unexpectedly stumbled, to their astonishment, upon
the columns of my lord the Archbishop of York and Sir Thomas
de Rokeby, by whom many of them were killed, but William and
two hundred with him who were on armoured horses, escaped for
the time, but not without wounds. Then Robert de Ogle, who
is of great strength and not without skill in the art of war,
followed them over hill and dale, killing many of the enemy with
his own hand, and would not stop until beside a great pool in a
certain deep woodland glen his charger, being utterly at a stand-
Myth October.
336
MS.
LANERCOST
still, was quite unable to go further. Now came William, greatly
heated, to the Scottish army, crying aloud with much excitement,
c David ! arise quickly ; see ! all the English have attacked us.' fb. 242
But David declared that could not be so. ' There are no men in
England,' said he, ' but wretched monks, lewd priests, swineherds,
cobblers and skinners. They dare not face me : I am safe
enough.' But they did face him,1 and, as was afterwards evident,
they were feeling his outposts.
'Assuredly,' replied William, 'oh dread king, by thy leave thou
wilt find it is otherwise. There are diverse valiant men [among
them] ; they are advancing quickly upon us and mean to fight.'
But just before he spoke two Black Monks came from Durham
to treat with David for a truce. ' See,' said David, ' these false
monks are holding conference with me guilefully. For they
were detaining me in conclave in order that the English army
might attack us while we were thus deceived.'
He ordered them, therefore, to be seized and beheaded at once ;
but all the Scots were so fully occupied at the time that the monks
escaped secretly, serene and scatheless, footing it home without
any loss.
On that day David, like another Nebuchadnezzar, caused the
fringes of his standard to be made much larger, and declared
himself repeatedly to be King of Scots without any hindrance.
He ordered his breakfast to be made ready, and said that he
would return to it when he had slain the English at the point of
the sword.2 But soon afterwards, yea very soon after, all his
1 Sed ilium respexit, should be respexerunt.
2 Reminding one of Napoleon's taunt to Soult on the morning of Waterloo.
* Parceque vous avez ete battu par Wellington vous le regardez comme un grand
v 337
THE CHRONICLE OF
servants had to hurry, allowing the food to fall into the fire.
Thus David, prince of fools, wished to catch fish in front of the
net, and thereby lost many and caught but few. Therefore he
failed to carry out the plan he had laid, because, like Aman and
Achitophel, that which he had prepared for us befel himself. So
David, having reckoned up his forces, called the Scots to arms —
the folk that were eager for war and were about to be scattered ;
and like Jabin against Joshua, he marshalled three great and strong
columns to attack the English. He set Earl Patrick over the
first division ; but he, like an ignorant fellow, refused to lead the
first line, demanding the third, more out of cowardice than
eagerness.1 The Earl of Moray forthwith undertook his [Earl
Patrick's] duty, and so held chief command in the first division
of the army, and afterwards expired in the battle. With him
were many of the valiant men of Scotland, such as the Earl of
Stratherne, the Earl of Fife, John de Douglas, brother of William
de Douglas, Sir Alexander de Ramsay,2 and many other powerful
earls and barons, knights and esquires, all of one mind, raging
madly with unbridled hatred against the ^English, pressing forward
without pause, relying on their own strength, and, like Satan,
bursting with over-weening pride, they all thought to reach
the stars.
King David himself commanded the second division — not,
however that David of whom they sang in the dance that he
general. Et, moi, je vous dis que Wellington est un mauvais general, que les
Anglais sont de mauvaises troupes, et que ce sera I* affaire d'un dejeuner?
1 This seems to be the meaning of the passage, whence some words have probably
dropped out. Serf ipse, strut sciolus abnegans principium fat postulavit.
2 He means Sir William de Ramsay. Sir Alexander had been starved to death
by ' the Flower of Chivalry ' in Hermitage Castle.
338
LANERCOST
had put ten thousand to flight in battle, but that David of
whom they declared in public that his stench and ordure had
defiled the altar. With him he took the Earl of Buchan,1
Malcolm Fleming, Sir Alexander de Straghern (father and son
without the holy spirit),2 the Earl of Menteith,3 and many others
whom we do not know, and whom if we did know, it would be
tedious to enumerate. In the third division was Earl Patrick,
who should have been more appropriately named by his country-
men ' Non hie.'4 He was late in coming, but he did splendidly,
standing all the time afar off, like another Peter ; but he would
not wait to see the end of the business. In that battle he hurt
no man, because he intended to take holy orders and to celebrate
mass for the Scots who were killed, knowing how salutary it is to
beseech the Lord for the peace of the departed. Nay, at that
very time he was a priest, because he led the way in flight for
others.5
1 There was no Earl of Buchan at this time. Sir Henry de Beaumont was
recognised as Earl in 1312 in right of his wife, a niece of John Comyn, last Earl
of Buchan in the Comyn line ; but Sir Henry died in 1340, and his son, Sir John,
never claimed the title.
2 Sir Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld was created Earl of Wigtown in 1341.
The name of his son is not known. Sir Malcolm survived him, and was succeeded
in the earldom by his grandson Thomas.
3 Sir John Graham, Earl of Menteith in right of his wife, who inherited from
her uncle Murdach, eighth earl in the Celtic line, killed at Dupplin Moor in
1332. John Earl of Menteith was taken prisoner at Neville's Cross and executed
in London in March, 1347.
4 Patrick, gth Earl of Dunbar. In Stevenson's text the sense of this pleasantry
is marred by the misplacement of a comma after p atria. The passage should rum
Comes Patrik, sed melius vocaretur de patna non hie.
5 Another sarcasm, which cannot be rendered in English, the play being on the
words Presbyter and prabuit iter.
339
THE CHRONICLE OF
His colleague was Robert Stewart j1 if one was worth little the
other was worth nothing. Overcome by cowardice, he broke his
vow to God that he would never await the first blow in battle.
He flies with the priest [Earl Patrick], and as a good cleric, will
assist the mass to be celebrated by the other. These two, turning
their backs, fought with great success, for they entered Scotland
with their division and without a single wound ; and so they
led off the dance, leaving David to dance as he felt inclined.
About the third hour the English army attacked the Scots not
far from Durham, the Earl of Angus 2 being in the first division,
a noble personage among all those of England, of high courage
and remarkable probity, ever ready to fight with spirit for his
country, whose good deeds no tongue would suffice to tell.
Sir Henry de Percy, like another Judas Maccabeus, the son of
Mattathias, was a fine fighter. This knight, small of stature but
sagacious, encouraged all men to take the field by putting himself
in the forefront of the battle. Sir Rafe de Neville, an honest and
valiant man, bold, wary and greatly to be feared, fought to such
effect in the aforesaid battle that, as afterwards appeared, his blows
left their marks upon the enemy. Nor was Sir Henry de Scrope
behindhand, but had taken his post from the first in the front of
the fight, pressing on the enemy.
In command of the second division was my lord the Archbishop
i of York, who, having assembled his men, blessed them all, which
devout blessing, by God's grace, took good effect. There was
1 King David's nephew and heir-presumptive : afterwards Robert II.
2 Gilbert de Umfraville, 4th Earl of Angus in the English line, g.-grandson of
Matilda, who succeeded to the earldom from her uncle Malcolm, 5th and last
earl in the Celtic line
340
LANERCOST
also another bishop of the order of Minorite Friars, who, by way
of benediction, commanded the English to fight manfully, always
adding that, under the utmost penalty, no man should give quarter fb. 242*
to the Scots ; and when he attacked the enemy he gave them no
indulgence of days from punishment or sin, but severe penance
and good absolution with a certain cudgel. He had such power
at that time that, with the aforesaid cudgel and without confession
of any kind, he absolved the Scots from every lawful act.
In the third division Sir John de Mowbray, deriving his name
a re, was abounding in grace and merit. His auspicious renown
deserves to be published far and wide with ungrudging praise, for
he and all his men behaved in such manner as should earn them
honour for all time to come. Sir Thomas de Rokeby, like a
noble leader, presented such a cup to the Scots that, once they
had tasted it, they had no wish for another draught ; and thus he
was an example to all beholders of how to fight gallantly for the
sacred cause of fatherland. John of Coupland dealt such blows
among the enemy that it was said that those who felt the weight
of his buffets were not fit to fight any longer.
Then with trumpets blaring, shields clashing, arrows flying,
lances thrusting, wounded men yelling and troops shouting, the
conflict ended about the hour of vespers, amid sundered armour,
broken heads, and, oh how sad ! many laid low on the field. The
Scots were in full flight, our men slaying them. Praise be to the
Most High ! victory on that day was with the English. And
thus, through the prayers of the blessed Virgin Mary and Saint
Cuthbert, confessor of Christ, David and the flower of Scotland
fell, by the just award of God, into the pit which they themselves
had dug.
THE CHRONICLE OF LANERCOST
This battle, therefore, as aforesaid was fought between the
English and the Scots, wherein but few Englishmen were killed,
but nearly the whole of the army of Scotland was either captured
or slain. For in that battle fell Robert Earl of Moray,1 Maurice
Earl of Stratherne, together with the best of the army of Scotland.
But David, so-called King of Scotland, was taken prisoner, together
with the Earls of Fife, of Menteith, and of Wigtown, and Sir
William of Douglas and, in addition, a great number of men-at-
arms. Not long afterwards, the aforesaid David King of Scots
was taken to London with many of the more distinguished
captives and confined in prison, the Earl of Menteith being there
drawn and hanged, quartered, and his limbs sent to various places
in England and Scotland. But one of the aforesaid captives, to
wit, my lord Malcolm Fleming, Earl of Wigtown, was not
sent to London by reason of his infirmity, but, grievous to say !
was allowed to escape at Bothall through the treachery of his
guardian, a certain esquire named Robert de la Vale, and thus
returned to Scotland without having to pay ransom.
After the aforesaid battle of Durham, my lord Henry de Percy
being ill, my lord of Angus and Ralph de Neville went to Scotland,
received Roxburgh Castle on sure terms, patrolled the Marches
of Scotland, exacting tribute from certain persons beyond the
Scottish sea, received others to fealty, and returned to England,
not without some losses to their army.
(Explicit Chrmiitott fo |Catim00t.
xHis name was not Robert, but John. He was second son of Thomas Randolph,
1st Earl of Moray, and succeeded his brother Thomas as 3rd Earl in 1332.
INDEX
Aberconway, abbacy of, - - 33
Aberdeen, Edward I. at, 150;
burning of, - - 298
Abernethy, Sir Alexander de, - 177
Abernethy, Laurence of, - - 286
Acre, fall of, - 78
Adrian V. chosen Pope, - - 1 1
Albemarle, Count of, - - 1 74
Alderby, John of, chosen Bishop of
Lincoln, - 169
Alexander III. attends coronation
of Edward I., 8 ; marries, 38 ;
death of, - 39
Alexander, prince of Scotland, death
of, - 32
Allerdale laid waste by Scots, - 237
Amboise, - - 106
Amesbury, 51, 85
Anglesey, - - 33, 107
Angus, Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl
of, 206, 209-212, 268, 307, 340, 342
Annan, story of bishop visiting, - 112
Annandale, story of Dumfries Friars
in, - 26
Apparitions, 4, 57, 60, 64, 75, 97, 118
Appleby burnt by Scots, - - 211
Applinsdene, Sir Ralf de, - - 233
Ara Coeli, Church of S. Maria in
the, - 12
Aragon, James of, - - 108
Aragon, Philip of, - - 296
Artois, Count of, - 174, 310
Arundel, Edmund Fitzalan, Earl
of, beheaded,- - 252
Athol, David de Strathbogie, Earl
of, joins Edward Balliol, 268 ;
deserts him, 287 ; death of, - 294
Atholl, John Campbell, Earl of, at
battle of Dupplin, - - 270
Atholl, John de Strathbogie, Earl
of, captured at Dunbar, 140 ;
executed in London, - 179
Auckland,- - 336
Audley, Sir Hugh de, taken prisoner
at Boroughbridge, - - 235
Audley, Sir Hugh de, the younger,
made Earl of Gloucester, - - 301
Audley, Sir William de, drowned, 38
Auxerre, Bishop of, - 171
Avenel, Robert,- - 31
Avignon, papal see transferred to, 175
Aysgarth, miracle at, - - 97
Badlesmere, Sir Bartholomew de, - 237
Baeda, - 25
Baird, William, captured, - - 278
Baldock, Robert de, 249 ; cap-
tured and executed, - 253-254
Balliol, Edward de, defeats Scots
at Dupplin Moor, 270-271 ;
crowned at Scone, 271 ; at Rox-
burgh and Kelso, 273; defeated
at Annan, 274 ; at Carlisle, 275 ;
in Westmorland, 275-276 ;
besieges Berwick, 277 ; joined
by Edward III., 279 ; at Hali-
don Hill, 280; holds Parliament
at Perth, 283 ; at Durham and
343
INDEX
Newcastle, 285 ; driven by Scots
to Berwick, 287 ; at Carlisle,
289 ; invades Scotland, 291 ;
concludes truce, 295 ; enters
Scotland, 296, 298 ; remains in
England, 304 ; raises siege of
Edinburgh, 308 ; enters Scot-
land, - - 315
Balliol, Sir John de, 40 ; kingdom
of Scotland conferred on, 85 ;
his lands seized, 141 ; surrenders
his kingdom, - - 145
Barnard Castle, - 72, 141, 257
Bannockburn, battle of, - 207, 208
Bardolf, Sir Robert, captured and
ransomed, - 2 1 5
Bar, Henry, Comte de, - 70, 104
Barneby, Richard of, - 4
Bathans, Abbey Saint, miracle at, - 29
Bayonne recaptured by English, - 1 1 1
Beaumond, Henry de, - 197
Beaumont, or Belmont, Louis de,
elected Bishop of Durham, 217;
his death, - 284
Beaumont, Sir Henry de. See
Buchan, Earl of.
Beaumond, near Carlisle, - 239
Beche, Sir Nicholas de, imprisoned, 323
Bek, Antony, Bishop of Durham,
36, 48, 70, 183, 191
Bek, Thomas de, Bishop of St.
David's, - 23
Benedict XI. appointed Pope, - 175
Benedict XII., Pope,
288, 311, 313, 316, 319
Berefield, Sir Roger de, - - 233
Bergen, - - 22
Bernardinus, Friar, miraculous re-
covery of, - - 91
Bernard of Clairvaux,- - 112
Berwick, Edward I. acknowledged
at, 8 1 ; flood at, 108 ; sack of,
115, 135 ; apparition at, 117 ;
Bishop of St. Andrews sends arms
to, 123; vision seen at, 124;
Edward I. demands surrender
of, 125 ; Edward I. receives
homage at, 150; incidents at,
156; entered by Scots, 164;
retaken by English, 165 ; Ed-
ward II. at, 190 ; saved from
capture, 200 ; Robert Brus at,
216; taken by Scots, 219; capi-
tulates, 220 ; besieged by Ed-
ward II., 226; by E. Balliol,
277 ; by Edward III., 278 ;
marriage of David Bruce at,
260; surrender of, 281 ; Scot-
tish clergy expelled from, 282;
county of ceded to Edward III.,
286 ; Edward Balliol driven by
Scots to, 287 ; Edward Balliol
invades Scotland from, 291 ; Guy,
Count of Namur at, 292 ; Earl
of War wick at, - 305
Berwick, John of, - - 170
Beverley, St. Cuthbert appears at,
117; Scots at, - 240
Biblis, Hugh, Bishop of, - - 64
Biern, Gaston de, - 26
Blackmoor, Scots at, - - 239
Blanche of Navarre marries Ed-
mund, brother of Edward I., - 106
Blount, Sir William, - - 244
Bohun, Sir William de, made Earl
of Northampton, - - 301
Bologna, - 69, 94
Bonvile, John de, - - 272
Boniface, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, death of, 5
Boniface VIII., Pope, 70, 1 1 1 ;
decrees of, 133, 141, 169;
demands custody of John de
Balliol, 1 69 ; cites Bishop of
Lichfield, 172 ; acknowledges
Albert I., 174 ; death of,- - 175
Boulogne, marriage of Edward II.
at, 186
Boulogne, Count of, 171 ; killed
in Flanders, - - 174
Boroughbridge burned by Scots,
221 ; battle of, - - 232
Bordeaux, Archbishop of, See
Clement V.
344
INDEX
Bordeaux, part of, taken by English, 1 30
Boston, - 55
Bothwell Castle, English nobles
captured at, 209 ; taken by
Edward III., 300 ; surrendered
to Scots, - 301
Botelstane. See Boston.
Bowes, Adam de, - 282
Boys, Sir Humphrey de, - - 278
Boyd, Sir Robert, invades Gallo-
way, - - 1 88
Brabant, John III., Duke of, 58, 309
Brabayne, Godefroie de, - 174
Bretagne, Sir John de, - 109
Brittany, Count Peter of, - 6
Bristiach, Jean de, killed at
Courtray, - 174
Brotherton, Thomas, son of Ed-
ward I. born at, - - 169, 171
Brough burnt by Scots, - - 2 1 1
Bruce. See Brus.
Bruce, David, marries Edward III.'s
sister, Joan, 260 ; succeeds to
throne, 264; coronation of,
268 ; retreats to Dumbarton
Castle, 283 ; does homage to
King of France, 287, 297 ;
Kings of France and Bohemia
send fleet to assist, 293 ; returns
to Scotland, 324 ; invades Eng-
land, 326 ; captures Fort of
Liddel, 330 ; plunders Lanercost
Priory, 332 ; destroys Hexham
Priory, 332 ; at Neville's Cross, 337, 342
Brus, Alexander de, Dean of
Glasgow, - - 179, 1 80
Brus, Edward de, invades Galloway,
188 ; invades England, 205, 210;
invades Ireland, 212; death of, 225
Brus, Nigel de, hanged at New-
castle, - - 180
Brus, Robert de, the elder, his
claim to Scottish throne, 84 ;
buried at Gisburne, - 112
Brus, Robert de, deprived of his
heritage, 115; slays Robert and
John Comyn at Dumfries, 1 76 ;
crowned at Scone, 176 ; returns
to Scotland, 177; in Western
isles, 178; receives tribute from
Galloway, 185 ; excommuni-
cated, 190 ; invades Lothian,
191 ; invades England, 194, 195,
199, 200, 237 ; at Lanercost,
197 ; besieges and takes Perth,
202 ; defeats English at Ban-
nockburn, 207 ; release of his
wife, sister and daughter, 211 ;
besieges Carlisle, 213-215; at-
tempts to surprise Berwick, 216;
invades Ireland, 217; interdict
upon, 225 ; makes treaty with
Earl of Carlisle, 241 ; a leper,
257 ; death of, - - 263
Brus, Thomas de, defeated, cap-
tured, and executed, - 179, 180
Buchan, Sir H. de Beaumont, Earl
of, 206, 208 ; returns from exile,
267 ; accompanies E. Balliol,
268 ; envoy to York, 274 ;
death of, - 320
Buchan, Comyn, Earl of, - - 136
Buchan, Earl of, with King David, 339
Buchan, William of, - - 44
Burton-on-Trent, - - 231
Burgh-on-Sands, - 182
Burgh, Henry de, imprisonment of,
at Durham, 31 ; lines by, 77 ;
death of, - 216
Burgh, Hugh de. See Burgh,
Henry de.
Bury, Richard de, elected Bishop
of Durham, - - 285
Burford, Sir William de, - - 187
Burnton, William de, Mayor of
Berwick,- - 282
Butler, Sir John, Death of, - - 322
Bywell, - - 45
Caen, sack of, - - 326
Caerlaverock Castle, - - 170, 304
Caernarvon, Edward II. born at, 36, 38
Calais, siege of, - - 330
Caldenley, wapinschaw at, - - 1 29
345
INDEX
Cambo, W. de, - - 272
Cambronne, assembly at, - 128
Cambius, cure of youth named, - 94
Carham, monastery of, burnt, - 135
Carlisle, Earl of. See Harclay, Sir
Andrew de.
Carlisle, Itinerant Justiciaries at,
1 8, 90; burnt, 87 ; attacked by
Scots, 115 ; Edward I. at, 170,
181 ; Edward I. sends troops to,
176 ; Edward II. at, 182, 183 ;
Earl of Hereford at, 190; Ed-
ward Balliol at, - - 275, 289
Carlisle, Sir Nicholas of, - - 28
Carrick, Robert de Bruce, Earl of, 270
Carrick, Robert, Earl of, his
daughter marries King of Nor-
way, - - 103
Cartmel, - - 238
Castrum Puellarum. See Edinburgh.
Cattle plague in England, - - 228
Celestinus V., Pope, - - 107, no
Chalize, or Chalix, Robert de,
Bishop of Carlisle, - - 16-18,89
Chalons, William de, - - 309
Chamberlain, Robert, sets fire to
Boston,- - 51
Charles, brother of Philip IV., 96, 106
Chartersborough, Robert de, - 28
Chester, Ranulph, Earl of, - - 83
Cinque Ports, - - 96
Cinque Ports, men of, capture
Spanish ships, - 109
Clairvaux visited by R. de Brus, - 1 14
Clare, Bovo de, death of, - - 109
Cleasby, Sir John de, - -218
Clement V., Pope,
175, 189, 196, 218, 219
Clermont, Count of, - - 128
Cleveland, district of, - - 230
Clifford, Sir Robert, afterwards
Lord de, is given Caerlaverock
Castle, 170 ; sent to Carlisle,
1 90 ; marries Margaret de Mul-
tan, 205 ; joins campaign against
Scots, 209 ; entertains E. Balliol,
275 ; invades Scotland, - - 306
Clifford, Roger de, drowning of, - 38
Clifford, Sir Roger de, - 229, 233
Clinton, Sir William de, made
Earl of Huntingdon, - - 301
Cluniacs, banishment of, - 106
Clydesdale, apparition in, - 118
Cobham, Sir Reginald de, - - 321
Cobham, Thomas of, - - 202, 203
Coinage, change in, - - 18
Cologne, Archbishop of, allied with
Edward III., - - 309
Commission appointed to decide
title to Kingdom of Scotland, - 85
Comyn, Sir Walter, death of, - 275
Comyn, Sir John, invades Eng-
land, 115; joins campaign
against Scots, 206 ; killed at
Bannockburn, - 208
Concordances, Anglican, - 107
Copeland, - 2 3 7
Coquina, Robert de, Bishop of
Durham, - 13, 36, 37
Corbridge, - 195, 199, 312
Corbridge, Henry of, - 169, 175
Cornwall, Duchy of, created, - 301
Cornwall, Richard Plantagenet,
Earl of, death of, - 5
Cornwall, John, Earl of,
252, 279, 299, 300
Corvara, Peter of. See Nicholas V.
Council at Lyons, - - 1, 8
Coupland, John of, - - - 341
Crawford, Sir Reginald de, - 179, 180
Crecy, battle of,- - 328-330
Cressingham, Sir Hugh de, 90 ;
killed at Stirling Bridge, - - 1 64
Cromwell, Sir John de, - 190
Crosnaith, or the Holy Cross, - 34
Cunninghame, apparition at, - 75
Cupar Castle, - - 297,317
Dacre, Sir Rafe de, - - 205, 308
Dacre, Sir William de, - 205
Dalton, near Richmond, - - 60
Daltoun, Thomas of, - - 103
Dalmeny, James of, - - 98
Damascus, John of, - 96
346
INDEX
PAGE
Darlington, Earl of Moray at, - 230
Darlington, Friar John of, - 107
David, a Welsh chieftain, - - 148
David ap Udachis, - ~ 33
David, prince of Wales, - 20, 33, 35
Day vile, Sir Jocelyn de, hanged, - 237
Denton, Sir Richard de, - 243, 246
Denholm, Sir William de, - - 282
Derby, Earl of, besieges Dunbar, - 311
Derby, Earldom of, created, - 301
Dervorguilla, - 69, 72, 84
Despenser, Sir Hugh, the elder,
Earl of Winchester, 170, 187,208,230
23'> 237> 253
Despenser, Sir Hugh, the younger,
229, 230, 231, 246, 253
Despenser, Sir John le, - 143
Dieppe, war at, - ~ 95
Douglas, Sir Archibald, invades
Galloway, - - 273
Douglas, Sir Archibald, at the
camisade of Annan, - 274
Douglas, Archibald (Tineman), ap-
pointed Guardian of Scotland, - 276
Douglas, Sir James de,
210, 215, 226, 227, 230, 257, 258
Douglas, William (Knight of Lid-
desdale), - - 292
Douglas, John de, - 338
Douglas, William de,
278, 286, 294, 299, 300, 308, 317
Douglas, Sir William de, at Liddell,
330 ; surprised, 336 ; taken
prisoner, - 342
Dornock, - 278
Dover, attacked by French, - -120
Dreux, Count de, - - 38
Driffield, Simon of, - 36
Droslan, Castle, - -51
Duddon, - - 237
Dumfries, 26, 176, 183, 286, 326
Dunheved, Thomas de, 249, 259, 265
Dunkeld, Bishop Matthew of, 114, 122
Dunmore, John de, - - 272
Dundee, burning of, - - 291
Dundalk, battle of, 225
Dungal. See Macdoual, Dougal.
fAGE
Dunfermline, E. Balliol at, - - 269
Dunbar, Countess Agnes of, courage
of, - 314
Dunbar, - - 138, 139, 209, 311
Dunbar, Patrick, Earl of, opposes
peace, - - 294
Dunbar, Patrick, Earl of, deserts
Edward Balliol, - - 287
Dunbar, Patrick, seventh Earl of,
death of, - 59
Dunbar, Patrick, ninth Earl of, does
homage to Edward II., 183 ;
invades Galloway, 272 ; takes
oath of fealty to Edward III.,
281 ; captures Count de Ne-
mours, 292 ; besieges Perth, 217;
as Neville's Cross, - 338
Dupplin Moor, battle of, - - 270
Durham, Bishop Antony of. See
Bek, Antony.
Durham, Henry de Burgh im-
prisoned at, - 3 1
Durham, - - 48, 199
Earn, Water of, - 269
Ebchester, - 333
Edgar, Sir Patrick, - 4
Edinburgh Castle, surrendered to
Edward I., 144 ; taken by Scots,
165, 204 ; siege of, - 308
Edinburgh, council at, 40 ; Parlia-
ment at, 125 ; name of, - - 145
Edmund, brother of Edward I.,
106, 107, 146
Edwynesburgh. See Edinburgh,
derivation of name of.
Edward (Black Prince), birth of,
267 ; made Duke of Cornwall, - 301
Edward I., coronation of, 8 ; war
in Wales, 16 ; second war in
Wales, 20 ; present at consecra-
tion of Bishop of St. David's, 23 ;
visits Lanercost, 24 ; subdues
rebellion of Gaston de Bierne,
26 ; captures Anglesey, 33 ; cap-
tures David at Snowdon, 34 ; his
son Edward born, 36, 38; goes to
347
INDEX
Gascony, 50 ; sends expedition
to Wales, 51 ; returns from
Gascony, 55 ; marriages of his
daughters Joan and Margaret,
58 ; his queen Eleanor dies, 74,
77 ; at Newcastle, 80 ; receives
homage from Scots, 81 ; com-
mission appointed by, 84 ; con-
fers kingdom of Scotland on
Balliol, 85 ; tithe granted by
Pope to, 86 ; his title to homage,
89 ; summoned by Philip IV.,
106 ; war in Wales, 107 ; takes
Berwick, 115; demands castles
from Scots, 125 ; at Stirling,
131 ; at Wark, 134 ; takes town
of Berwick, 135 ; besieges Edin-
burgh, 142 ; occupies Stirling,
144 ; John Balliol surrenders
kingdom to, 145 ; death of his
brother Edmund, 146 ; defeats
Welsh at Worcester, 148 ; at
Berwick, 150; in Gascony, 1 65 ;
\returns to England, 166 ; at
Falkirk, 166 ; marries Margaret
of France, 1 69 ; takes Caerlave-
rock Castle, 1 70 ; letter of Pope
Boniface to, 171 ; enters Scot-
land, 172 ; makes peace with
Scots, 1 74 ; sends soldiers to
guard Border, 176; at Laner-
cost, 1 79, 1 8 1 ; dies at Burgh-
on-Sands, 182 ; buried at West-
minster,
Edward II., birth of, 36, 38 ;
attacks Scots, 171 ; success in
Scotland, 177, 178 ; treaty with
Isabella of France, 180, 18 1 ; at
Carlisle, 182 ; imprisons Bishop
W. de Langton, 184; at North-
ampton, 185, 189; buries his
father, 185 ; marriage and coro-
nation of, 1 86; sends. Piers de
Gaveston to Ireland, 187 ; and
Earl of Lincoln, 188 ; at Ber-
wick, 190 ; at Scarborough,
Newcastle and York, 196, 197 ;
and Earl of Lancaster, 199 ;
eldest son Edward born, 200 ;
secures appointment of W. Rey-
nold, 202 ; holds Parliament in
London, 203 ; invades Scotland,
206 ; Bannockburn, 207, 208 ;
flight to Dunbar and Berwick,
208, 209 ; throne claimed by
John of Powderham, 221 ; be-
sieges Berwick, 227 ; recalls
Despensers, 231; condemns Earl
of Lancaster, 234; at York, 237;
invades Scotland, 238; flight from
Rievaul, 244 ; sends A. de Lucy to
take Earl of Carlisle, 243 ; refuses
homage to Charles IV., 248 ;
sends queen to France, 249 ;
prisoner at Kenil worth, 253 ;
refuses request of Parliament,
254; deposed, 255; death of, - 259
Edward V. See Edward II.
Elande, - - 295
Eleanor of Castile, - 74, 77
Edward III., birth of, 200 ; joins
Isabella in France, 249 ; made
Duke of Aquitane, 250 • lands
at Harwich, 251; coronation of,
256; proceeds against Scots, 257;
marries Philippa of Hainault,
259 ; renounces lordship of Scot-
land, 260; letters patent of, 261 ;
holds Parliament at Nottingham,
266 ; birth of his son Edward,
185 267 ; holds Parliament at York,
274; at Halidon Hill, 279-280;
five Scottish counties ceded to,
281, 286; Edward Balliol does
homage to, 285 ; at Roxburgh,
288 ; returns to England, 289 ;
holds Parliament at York, 290 ;
invades Scotland, 291 ; at New-
castle, 295 ; his message to
Philip VI., 298 ; at Perth, Stir-
ling and Bothwell, 299-300 ;
holds Parliament in London,
300 ; at Stirling, 303 ; sends
terms of peace to France, 308-
348
INDEX
309 ; Pope sends envoys to, 3 1 1 ;
his truce with Scots, 314 ; joins
army in France, 314-315 ; his
French campaign, 318,319,320;
holds Parliament in London,
320; defeats French fleet, 321 ;
besieges Tournay, 322 ; returns
to England, 323 ; truce with
France, 324; holds Round Table
at Windsor, 325 ; takes Caen,
326 ; letter to Archbishop of
York, 326-328 ; defeats French
at Crecy, 328 ; besieges Calais, - 330
Eleanor of Castile, - 24>77
Eleanor, daughter of Edward I.,
marries Comte de Bar, - 70, 104
Eleanor of Provence, - - 51, 82, 85
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward I.,
marriages of, - - 70
Eltham, John of. See Cornwall,
Earl of.
Embleton, Richard de, - 282
Emma, vision of nun named, - 151
Enge, Sir William de, supports
Edward II., - - 187
Eric, King of Norway, marries
daughter of Earl of Carrick, - 103
Eric II., marries daughter of Alex-
ander II., - 21, 22
Ermyn, William de, proposed as
Bishop of Carlisle, - - 248
Eu, Count of, killed in Flanders, - 174
Euer, Sir John de, execution of, - 236
Exeter, Bishop of, seized and be-
headed, - 252
Falkirk, battle of, - - 166
Famine in England, - 70
Faukemounde, William de, allied
with Edward III., - - 309
Fiennes, Sir Gillemin de, - - 204
Fife, Duncan tenth Earl of, mur-
der of, - 59
Fife, Duncan twelfth Earl of, de-
feated by E. Balliol, 269, 338, 342
Fitzroger, Sir Robert, defeats Bruce
at Perth, - - 177
Fitzwarren, Sir Fulk, returns from
exile, - - 267
Flanders, the French invade, - 173
Fleming, Malcolm. See Wigtoun,
Earl of.
Flint Castle, built by Edward, - 34
Flota, Pierre de, - 171, 174
Forfar, John de Balliol at, - - 144
Francis, John, marvellous occurrence
to, - 60
Francis of Milan, account of, - 69
Franciscans, privileges bestowed on, 26
Fraser, William, made Bishop of
St. Andrews, - - 20
Fraser, Sir William de, - 272
Fraser, Sir Simon, taken and exe-
cuted, - - 178
French, invasion of England by, 119, 124
Furness, - -216, 238
Furbur, Alexander, miraculous cure
of, - 53
Gaeta, John of. See Nicholas III.
Gainsborough, William of, Bishop
of Worcester, - 170, 1 80, 185
Galloway, Alan Earl of, marriage
and descendants of, - 84
Galloway, Bishop Henry of, death
of, - 103
Galloway, Sir John of, death of, - 69
Galloway, Thomas of, - 40
Galfrid, death of, - - 161
Gascony, - - 106, 159, 165, 248
Gaveston, Piers de, returns to
Edward II., 184 ; earldom of
Cornwall, 184 ; banishment of,
1 86; in Ireland, 187, 189; at
Berwick, 190; occupies Perth,
191 ; sentenced, 193 ; at York,
196-197; execution of, - - 198
Gaytan, Benedict de. See Boni-
face VIII., - - in
Genevilla, Galfrid de, member of
embassy to Rome, - 170
Germany, King Richard of. See
Cornwall, Earl of.
Giffard, Sir John, execution of, - 235
349
INDEX
Giffard, Walter, Archbishop of
York, death and character of, 19, 20
Gillesland, Lord of. See Dacre,
Rafe de.
Gilsland, - 212, 227, 228, 277, 325
Gisburn, - - 4,28,52,112
Glasgow, Bishop Robert Wishart of,
163, 178, 211
Gledenmore. See Dupplin Moor,
battle of.
Gloucester, Gilbert seventh Earl
of, 58, 102, 126
Gloucester, ninth Earl of,
1 86, 190, 191, 199, 206, 208
Gloucester, Sir Hugh de Audley
made Earl of, 301 ; besieges
Dunbar, - 311
Gloucester, Edward II. buried at, 259
Godred, King of Man, - 1 1
Graham, David de, - - 272
Gray, Sir John, of Berwick, - 157
Gray, Sir Thomas, - - 282
Grandison, Otto de, member of
embassy to Rome, - 170
Gregory X., Pope, - i, n
Greenfield, William of, Archbishop
of York, - 175, 217
Greenrig, William, - - 52
Greystanes, Robert of, elected
Bishop of Durham, - - 284
Grosste'te, Robert, Bishop of Lin-
coln, dream of, - - 159
Guelders, Count of, allied with
Edward III., - 309
Gynes, Lady de, entertains E.
Balliol, - - 276
Haddington, - 104, 117, 165, 286
Haggerston, - - 192
Hainault, William II., Count of, - 309
Hainult, Jehan de, 251, 253, 258, 259
Halidon Hill, battle of, - 279-281
Halton, John of, elected Bishop of
Carlisle, . O
Haltwhistle, -
Harbottle,
Harby, -
Harcla, Sir Andrew de,
231-233, 235, 241, 244, 245
Hartlepool, 10, 213, 230
Harwich, Queen Isabella lands at, 251
Hastings, Henry de, - 84
Haydon Bridge, - 257
Henaud, Jean de, killed in Flanders, 1 74
Henry III., 6
Herbert, Friar W., - - 74
Hereford, Bishop of, 254 ; attacks
king with E. of Lancaster, - 231
Hereford, Edward I. at, 34
Hereford, Humphrey de Bohun,
fourth Earl of, 70, 190, 206, 208,
209,211, 229, 231, 233
Hereford, Symon of, execution of, 267
Hexham, burning of, by Scots, 1 36,
137 ; by Brus, 199 ; occupied by
Scots, 212; sack of Priory by
Scots, - - 332
Hoffe, near Appleby, - 205
Holand,Sir Robert de, execution of, 236
Holland, John Count of, marries
daughter of Edward I., - 70
Holmcultram, - - 28, 237
Holystone, - 195
Honorius IV., Pope, - 38, 89
Hopume, William de, Archbishop
of Dublin, - - 70
Hotoft, Alan de, - 57
Houghteryth, Sir Thomas de, - 317
Houton, J de, - - 148
Howden, John of, - 3
Hugh, a boy named, crucified by
Jews, - 6
Hugh, Bishop of Biblis, - 64, 66
Hugh, Bisliop of Lincoln, - - 23
Hugtoun. Thomas, vision of, - 157
Huntingdon, W. de Clinton, Earl
of, - 310
Huntingdon, Earldom of, created, 301
Huntingdon, ordinations at, - 159
Hythe, French defeated at, - 120
194, 212
195, 22O
- 77
Iceland, wonders of, -
Inchmartin, John de, -
Innippauym, chapel of,
10
- 272
117
35°
INDEX
PAGE
Innocent V. elected Pope, - - 1 1
Insula, Sir Duncan de, son of, killed
by demon, - 119
Inverkeithing, - 29, 41
Inverkeithing, Richard of, Bishop
of Dunkeld, death of, 10
Ireland, Sir Hugh of, - - 30
Ireton, R. de, Bishop of Carlisle,
dies at Linstock, - 86
Irthington, - - 23
Isabella, daughter of Philip IV.,
treaty of marriage with Edward II.,
180,181
Isabella, wife of Robert de Brus, - 84
Isabella, Queen, marriage of, 186 ;
escapes to France, 249 ; lands at
Harwich, 251 ; at marriage of
Joanna and David Bruce, 260 ;
became Sister of S. Clare, - 267
Isle, St. Michael's, - 1 1
Jardine, Sir Humphrey de, - 278
Jedburgh, - - 125, 286
Jerome. See Nicholas IV.
Jerusalem, - 67, 303
Jews, crucify boy named Hugh at
Lincoln, - 6, 1 8, 58
Joan, daughter of Count of Glouces-
ter, - - 59
Joan, daughter of Edward I., mar-
ries Earl of Gloucester, - - 58
Joan, daughter of Edward II.,
married to David Bruce, - 260
John of Gaeta. See Nicholas III.
John, Prior of Lanercost, 36
John of Shrewsbury, vision of cleric
named,- - 148
John XXL, Pope, election and
death of, 12
John XXII., Pope, succeeds Clem-
ent, 196, 219, 220, 246, 247, 262,
288, 290
Julers, Count of, allied with
Edward III., - - 309
Justiciaries, Itinerant, sit at Carlisle, 18, 90
Keitl, William de,
294
Kellow, Richard de, Bishop of
Durham, death of, - - 217
Kelso, - 4, 273
Kelso, Richard of, elected Bishop
of Durham, - - 192
Kenilworth, Edward II. prisoner at,
253» 255
Kent, Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of,
248, 251, 265
Kent, river, - - 238
Kildrummie Castle, - - 294
Kilwardby, Robert of, Archbishop
of Canterbury, - 5, 8, 16
Kincardine, John de Balliol at, - 145
Kinclavin, accident at, - 7
Kinghorn, - 41, 269
Kirkby, John of, Bishop of Car-
lisle, - - 70, 284
Kirkoswald, burnt by Scots, - -211
Knaresborough, - - 197,221
Knaresmire, Risamaraduc hanged
at, - 89
Lamberton, Alexander de, - - 272
Lambley, destruction of convent of, 1 36
Lancaster, Thomas Plantagenet,
Earl of, birth of, 107 ; pays
homage, 192 ; enters Newcastle,
197 ; captures Gaveston, 198 ;
does not join against Scots, 206 ;
marches towards Scotland, 217;
invades Scotland, 226 ; at Bur-
ton-on-Trent, 231 ; surrenders,
233 ; beheaded, 234 ; burnt
by Scots, - - 238
Lanercost, Edward I. at, 24, 170,
179, 181 ; Bishop Ralph de
Ireton visits, 25 ; vision of friar,
133; destruction of monastery,
136 ; Robert de Brus at, 197 ;
sack of, - 332
Langton, Walter de, - - 172,184
Landels, Sir J. de, - - 216
Latimer, Sir Thomas de, death of, 322
Lauder, Sir Robert de, killed by
Sir E. de Maxwell, - - 312
Laundel, John de, - - 272
INDEX
Lazenby, unidentified town near
Haddington, - - 105
Leicester, Henry Earl of, 107 ;
joins Queen Isabella's forces, 251, 253
Lepers, burning of, 229
Lewyn, Welshman named, 142, 144
Lincoln, Henry de Lacy, Earl of,
170, 177, 1 86, 1 88, 191
Lincoln, Hugh of. See Hugh.
Lincoln, Oliver, Bishop of, death of, 1 69
Lincoln, - - 6, 74
Lindsey, Alexander de, invades
Galloway, - - 188
Linlithgow, Edward I. winters at, 172
Linstock, death of Ralph, Bishop
of Carlisle, at, 86
L'Isle, Sir Garin de, execution of, 235
Llewellyn, prince of Wales,
16, 20, 31, 33
Lochmaben, - - 278
London, council of clergy in, 158, 162
London, Parliaments held in,
108, 203, 300, 320, 321
Lothian, district of, 104, 116, 129, 191
Louis IV., Emperor, - - 248
Louis V., Emperor, - - 309
Louis VIII. of France, 6
Louis X., death of, - 212
Louis, brother of King of France, 200
Lowther, Sir Hugh de, - 243, 246
Lucy, Sir Antony de, capture of,
209; release of, 212; arrests
Earl of Carlisle, 243 ; receives
manor of Cockermouth, 246 ;
expedition against Scots, 277,
278 ; invades Scotland, 299,
306, 308 ; harasses Scots in
England, - 307
Luceta, story of, at Tripoli, - - 63
Lundy, Walter de, - - 272
Lunedale, - - - 46
Luthburg, H. de Beaumont dies at, 320
Lyndesey, Sir Philip de, illness of, 117
Lyons, Council of, - - I, 2, 8
Macdoual, Dougal, - 179, 181,287
Madoc, rebellion of, in Wales, - 107
Magnus of Norway. See Eric II.
Maiden's Castle. See Edinburgh
Castle.
Malachi, Irish bishop named, - 112
Maners, Robert de, defends Nor-
ham, - - 256
Mar, Donald, twelfth earl 0^211,257,268
Mar, Gratney Earl of, captures
Dunbar Castle, - - 138, 140
Marchby, dispute respecting com-
mon fields of, 56
Margaret, daughter of Henry III., 7, 8, 9
Margaret, sister of Philip IV., 1 69, 1 7 2, 1 8 1
Margaret, daughter of Edward I.,
marries Duke of Brabant, - 58
Martin IV. elected Pope, 25 ;
death of, - - 38
Mary, Queen of Navarre. See
Blanche.
Matilda, wife of David, Earl of
Huntingdon, - - 84
Maudent, Sir Thomas, execution of, 236
Mauley, Sir Edmund, joins cam-
paign against Scots, 206 ; death
of, - 208
Maxwell, Sir Eustace de, 272 ;
goes over to Bruce, 303 ; slays
R. Lauder, - - 312
Meburne, Sir Robert de, elected
Prior of Lanercost, - 216
Melrose, Edward III. at, - 324
Meltoun, William de, Archbishop
of York, - 217, 226, 320
Menai, bridge of boats at, - 38
Menteith, Murdoch Earl of, at
battle of Dupplin, - - 270
Menteith, Alexander Earl of, cap-
tured at Dunbar, - 140
Menteith, John Graham Earl of,
339» 342
Menteith, Sir John de, captures
William Wallace, - - 17$
Merrington, - ~ 33^
Metyngham, Sir John de, - - 1 8
Michael, Friar, Minister-General
of Minorites, arrest of, 263, 290
Michens, Sir William de, death of, 51
352
INDEX
Middleton, Sir Gilbert de, robs
two cardinals, - 218
Milan, - 67
Minorites, Order of, - -2, 290, 3 1 3
Miracles, 12, 22, 29, 44, 49, 53, 60, 91,
93, 94, 95
Mitford, - - - 220
Mouhermere, Sir Thomas de,
death of, - - 322
Montagu, Sir William de, made
Earl of Salisbury, - 301
Montrose, John de Balliol abdicates
at, - 145
Mor, N. de, sent to Oseney, 55, 181
Mora, Alan de, death of, 69
Moray, Edward I. explores, - - 150
Moray, John de, - 215
Moray, Maurice de, - - 294, 296
Moray, Sir Andrew de, 2 7 2, 2 7 3, 294, 313
Moray, Thomas Randolph Earl of,
212, 226, 230, 242, 246, 268
Moray, Thomas Randolph second
Earl of, - 270
Moray, John Randolph third Earl
of, 292, 293, 338, 342
Morebattle, death of Bishop Wishart
at, - 20
Moriceby, Sir Hugh de, takes part
in arrest of Earl of Carlisle, 243 ;
reward of, - - - 246
March, Roger de Mortimer Earl
of, 251,253,259,260,265,266
Mortimer, Sir R. de. See March,
Earl of.
Morton, Roger de, - - 272
Morville, Hugh de, - - 145
Moubray, Sir J., killed at Annan, 275
Mowbray, Sir Alexander de, - 304
Mowbray, Sir Geoffrey de, - - 304
Mowbray, Sir John de, assists
Archbishop of York, - 335, 341
Mowbray, Sir John, defeats Bruce
at Perth, - 177
Mowbray, Sir John de, expedition
into Wales, 229 ; surrenders,
233 ; execution of, - 236
Mowbray, Sir Roger de, - - 304
PACE
Multan, Sir Thomas de, Lord of
Gillesland, death of, - 205
Multon, Matilda de, Lady of Gils-
land, death of, - 1 1 1
Multon, Thomas, first Lord of, 48
Multon, Thomas of, second Lord
of Holbeach, death of, - - in
Mytton, battle of, - - 226
Naples, Celestinus V. at, - - 108
Narbonne, Archbishop of, member
of French embassy to Rome, - 171
Nassington, John of, made Bishop
of Carlisle, - - 86
Nemours, Guy Count of, captured
by Scots, - 292
Neustria, - 95
Neville's Cross, battle of, - 335-342
Neville, Sir Rafe de,
3°7, 3°8, 335, 340, 342
Newark, Henry of, Archbishop of
York, - - 130, 169
Newbrough, Edward I. at, - - 181
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, miracle at,
53 ; Edward I. at, 80 ; Scots
approach, 164, 220 ; Nigel Bruce
hanged at, 180 ; Edward II. at,
197,238; Earl of Mar at, 2ii ;
Earl of Lancaster at, 2 1 7 ; Edward
III. at, 285, 288, 291, 295 ;
flood at, 318 ; truce made at, 246
Newcastle, Sir John of, - - 28
Nichanor, - 124
Nicholas III., election of, - 13
Nicholas, Cardinal, appointed Pope.
See Benedict XI.
Nicholas IV., Pope, - 50, 78, 86, 89
Nicholas V. elected Pope, - - 263
Nidd, inundation by, - - 28
Norham, - 40, 85, 191, 198, 256
Northallerton, burned by Scots, - 221
Northampton, Earldom of, created, 301
Northampton, W. de Bohun Earl
of, 310, 316, 319, 321, 325
Northampton, 185, 187, 189, 259, 260
Northumberland, invaded by Scots,
164, 212, 277, 324
353
INDEX
Norway, King of, death of, - - 127
Norway, Queen of, death of, - 32
Norwich, Cathedral of, burnt down, 20
Nottingham, - - 266, 293, 299
Ockham, William of, - - 263
Ogle, Robert de, - 336
Oliphant, Sir William, taken prisoner
by Scots, - 202
Olivet, - 67
Oliver, Bishop of Lincoln, 20
Orkney, William Bishop of, - 10
Ormesby, Sir William de, 90
Ormsby, John of, - 278
Orwell, Edward III. sails from, - 321
Oseney, Abbot of, rebuke and death
of, 1 62- 1 63 ; N. de Mor sent to, 1 8 1
Oxford, impostor at,
44, 64, 65, 74, 1 1 8, 221
Padua, lay brother of, cure of, - 93
Paisley, apparition near, - - 118
. Paris, - 72, 146
t Peckham, John of, Archbishop of
Canterbury, . 1^24^48,87, 104^161
Peebles, county of, ceded toEdward
HI., - 286
Pembroke, Aymer de Valence Earl
of, commands at Berwick, 177 ;
with Edward II., 198 ; against
Scots, 206 ; escapes after Bannock-
burn, 209 ; and truce with Scots, 246
Penrith, burnt by Scots, - - 324
Percy, Sir Henry de, at Neville's
Cross - - 335, 34O, 342
Percy, Henry de, - 282, 308, 311
Perch, Thomas Count of, killed at
Lincoln, 6
Pert. See Perth.
Perth, Robert Bruce defeated near,
177 ; Piers de Gaveston at, 191 ;
taken by Robert Bruce, 202 ;
Edward Balliol at, 271, 272,
298» 3T5 ; burning of, by Scots,
273 ; Parliament at, 283 ; Edward
III. at, 298 ; Earl of Cornwall
dies at, 300 ; besieged by Douglas, 317
PAGE
Peter, Count of Brittany, - 6
Peter, Cardinal, sent as messenger
to England by the Pope, - - 180
Peter, King of Aragon, captures
Sicily, - ~25
Peter, Patriarch of Jerusalem, nego-
tiates with Sultan for Holy Land, 302
Peter of Taranto. See Innocent V.
Peter the Spaniard. See John XXI.
Philip III., invasion of Spain by, 13
Philip IV., war with England, 55,
70; his fleet defeated, 104;
seizes Edward I.'s French posses-
sions, 1 06 ; fleet defeated, 119,
1 20 ; his spy Turberville, 121 ;
fleet destroyed by storm, 1 24 ;
letters to J. Balliol, 150 ; sister
Margaret marries Edward I.,
169 : disputes about Gascony,
172 ; defeated in Flanders, 173 ;
complains against Pope, 175;
his daughter Isabella marries
Edward II., 180, 181, 186 ;
requests to Pope, 189 ; death of, 210
Philip VI., receives homage of David
Bruce, 287 ; sends envoys to
Edward III., 289 ; sends fleet
against England, 293 ; sends
envoys, 295 ; prepares to invade
England, 297 ; successes in Gas-
cony, 301 ; and Edward III.,
308; Cardinals sent to, 311;
rejects terms of peace, 314 ;
letters to Pope concerning, 317,
319 ; his fleet defeated, 322;
makes truce with him, 323 ;
retreats towards Paris, 328; de-
feat and flight of, - - 330
Philippa, Queen, accompanies Ed-
ward to France, 316 ; in Ghent, 322
Philippa (of Hainault), marriage of,
to Edward III., 259 ; at instal-
lation of R. de Bury, - 285
Plumland, Thomas of, death of, - 278
Pole, Sir Griffin de la, returns from
exile, - - 267
Pole, William del, imprisoned, - 322
354
INDEX
PAGE
Pontefract, - 230, 234, 235
Pountenei, - 50
Powderham, John of, claims the
throne, 222 ; executed, - - 224
Poynings, Sir Thomas de, death of, 322
Praetorialia, - - 54
Preachers, Order of, approved and
confirmed at Council of Lyons, - 2
Preston in Amoundness, - - 238
Provender, Robert de la, Bishop of
Dublin, - 10
Pulteney, Sir John de, imprisoned, 323
Queensferry, - - 41
' Ragman Roll,' the, - - 260
Ralph, Prior of Gisburn, Bishop of
Carlisle, - 1 8, 23, 86
Ramsay, Sir Alexander de, - - 338
Randolf, Thomas. See Moray,
Earl of.
Redesdale, - 136, 195
Redesdale, Earl of, besieges Dunbar, 3 1 1
Reynald, Walter, Archbishop of
Canterbury, - - 202, 255
Rheims, English besieged in, - 114
Richard, King of Germany. See
Cornwall, Earl of.
Richmond, Archdeacon of, - - 170
Richmond, John eighth Earl of,
199, 240, 289
Richmond (Yorkshire), 210, 216, 230, 335
Richmond, John ninth Earl of,
does homage to Edward III., - 289
Rievaulx Abbey, Edward II. at, - 240
Rioms. See Rheims.
Ripon, - - 103, 221, 232
Risamaraduc, rebellion and fate of,
51 ; execution of, - 89
Rismaraduc. See Risamaraduc.
Roberstone, Sir Robert of, - - 14
Rokeby, Sir Thomas de, 335, 336, 341
Romayn, John, Archbishop of York,
5?» 58, 77
Rome, miracles at, 12, 49 ; famine
in, - 162
Ronaldsway, battle of, 1 1
NVM
Rood, the Black, restored to Scots, 260
Ros, Robert de, - 134
Rose, 205 ; burning of bishop's
manor at, - - 237
Rose, John de, Bishop of Carlisle,
248, 284
Ross, William Earl of, - 140
Ross, John de, Bishop of Carlisle,
death of, - 284
Ross, Sir Godfrey de, death of, - 296
Ross, William fifth Earl of, - - 294
Rosslyn, Sir Thomas de, returns
from exile, - - 267
Rothbury, church of, - - 18
Rothelfeld, William de, refuses ap-
pointment as Bishop of Carlisle, 18
Rouen, - - 328
Roxburgh Castle, besieged by Scots,
108, 165, 203, 288, 342 ;
Edward I. at, 125 ; Piers de
Gaveston at, 191 ; Edward Bal-
liolat, 273; given up to English, 342
Roxburgh, county of, ceded to
Edward III., - - 286
Saint Botolph's, fire at, - 20
Saint-Paul, Count of, member of
French embassy to Rome, - 171
Saint-Paul, Jacques de, killed at
Flanders, - - 174
Saint-John, Sir John de, 109 ;
captured by French, - in, 9
Saint-Mathieu, naval battle at, - 104
Salisbury, W. de Montagu Earl of,
301, 302, 311, 313, 315, 316, 319,
320
Salkeld, Richard de, receives Great
Corby, - - 246
Sanxia, Queen, - - 296
Scarborough, - - 197
Scott, Michael, - - 272
Scone, Abbot of, imprisoned, - 178
Scone, stone of, kept in London,
86, 176, 260, 268, 271
Scrope, Sir Galfrid de, condemns
Earl of Carlisle, - - 244
Scrope, Sir Henry de, - 335, 340
355
INDEX
Scutage imposed,
Seaham, Sir William de, -
Segrave, Sir John de, 190, 206, 209,
Segrave, Sir Nicholas de, supports
Edward II., -
Seine, the river, in flood,
Seland, Earl of, member of embassy
to Rome,
Selby, Sir Walter de, death of,
Selkirk, Forest of,
Seton, Christopher de, taken and
executed,
Seton, Humphrey de, taken and
executed,
Seton, John de, taken and executed,
Shrewsbury, vision of nun near, -
Sicily, taken by Peter, king of
Aragon,
Sicily, Charles of, deposed, -
Sicily, Robert, king of,
Simon of Driffield, elected Prior
of Lanercost,-
Simon, sent as Legate to France, -
Siward, Sir Richard, -
Skipton-in-Craven, burnt by Scots,
Snowdon, - 34,
Southampton, -
Soulis, John de, - 114,
Spain, - 151,
Spalding, Peter of, treachery of, -
Spenser, Sir Hugh le. See Dis-
penser, Sir H.
Stafford, Baron of, death of, -
Stafford, Lord Ralph de, - 268,
Stanehouse. See Stenhouse.
Stanemoor, - 211, 227,
Stanhope Park, -
Staveley, church of, struck by
lightning,
Stewart, James, at battle of Stirling,
163,
Stewart, Robert, - 286,313,
Stenhouse, occurrence at,
Stirling, Parliament at, 115 ;
Edward I. at, 131, 144 ;
battle of Stirling, 164; taken
by Scots, 165 ; siege of, 205,
PAGE PAGE
1 6 303 ; Edward II. proceeds to,
1 8 207 ; fortified by Edward III., 299
212 Stirling, Sir John de, - 296, 308, 312
Stichell, Robert of, Bishop of Dur-
187 ham, death of, - - 9
146 Stone, monastery of, in Stafford-
shire, - 161
170 Straghern, Sir Alexander de, - 339
331 Stratford, John de, Archbishop of
191 Canterbury, dispute between
Edward III. and, - - 324
178 Stratherne, Earl of, killed at
Neville's Cross, - - 338, 342
178 St. Andrews, Bishop of, 122, 123 ;
178 imprisoned, - 178
151 St. Andrews, Bishop William of,
goes as envoy to France, - - 114
25 St. John. See Perth.
1 08 Suffolk, Robert dc Ufford made
296 Earl of, 301 ; sent to France,
310; remains in Brabant, - 319
36 Sule, Sir W. de, killed at Borough -
25 bridge, - 233
138 Surrey, J. de Warenne fifth Earl
221 of, 70, 1 16 ; takes Dunbar, 139 ;
107 escapes after battle of Stirling, - 164
293 Surrey, J. de Warenne sixth Earl
210 of, accompanies Edward II.,
226 190 ; at Selkirk, 191 ; joins
220 king's party, 199 ; announces
deposition to, 255 ; at marriage
of D. Bruce, 260 ; at Durham,
51 285 ; proceeds to Scotland, - 291
311 Suttrington, Master Thomas de, - 18
Swale, the river, - 227
228 Swaledale, - 211
257 Sweetheart Abbey, burial of Der-
vorguilla de Balliol at, 72
82 Symunburne, church of, - - no
164 Tanay, Lucas, drowning of,- - 38
340 Taranto, Peter of. See Innocent V.
42 Tartars. See Lyons, Council of.
Tay, river, 7
Templars, - 187, 193, 196
Teviot, flood of, - 108
Thomas, recovery of child named, 95
356
INDEX
Thunderstorm, great, - - 103
Torwood, near Stirling, - - 207
Touchet, Sir William de, execu-
tion of, - 236
Tournay, siege of, - - 322
Tower, surrender of the, - - 252
Treves, Count of, allied with
Edward III.,- - 309
Tripoli, fall of, - 61
Turberville, Thomas de, - -121
Turgot, Bishop of St. Andrews, - 37
Tyes, Sir Henry de, - - 236
Tykhill, castle of, besieged, - - 231
Tynemouth, Edward II. at- - 197
Typtoft, Sir Pagan de, - 206, 208
Udachis, David ap, - ~ 33
Ufford, Sir Robert de. See Suffolk,
Earl of.
Ulpian's Praetorialia. See Prae-
torialia.
Umfraville, Sir Ingelram de,
114, 177, 206, 209
Urri, Adam, story of, - - 54
Valence, Aymer de. See Pem-
broke, Earl of.
Vale, Robert de la, - - 342
Vallibus, Sir John de, - 18
Vannes, siege of, - 324
Vere, Sir Hugh de, - - 170
Verses, on Scots, - 167-168
Vesci, Lord John de, - II, 52
Vesci, Sir William de, death of heir of, 117
Vienne, Council of, - - 196
Vienne, Dauphin de, - - 309
Visions, - 133,148,151,157
Viterbo, - 12, 26
Wake, Thomas le, - 265, 267, 306
Wales, wars in, - 16, 20
Wallace, Sir John, capture and
execution of,- - 182
Wallace, William, defeats English
at Stirling, 164 ; invades Eng-
land, 164 ; defeated at Falkirk,
1 66 ; captured, 175 ; executed, 176
Wallingford, - - 184
Walsingham, Edward I.'s body at, 185
Warenne, Earl of. See Surrey,
Earl of.
Wark, - - 134, 220
Warwick, Thomas Earl of, - 302, 305
Warwick, Guy Earl of, - 194, 198
Wells, prebendary of, curious
death of, - - 101
Well, story about priest at, - - 71
Welsh, rebellion of, - - 108
Wemyss, David de, - - 272
Wemyss, Michael de, - - 272
Westminster, - - 74, 77, 185, 256
Whittingehame, - 59
Wigtown, M. Fleming Earl of, 339, 342
Wilde, William, - 98
William, Archbishop of York, trans-
lation of, - 36
William, Bishop of Orkney, - - 10
William, King of Scotland, Char-
ter of, - 89
Winchelsea, Robert of, Archbishop
of Canterbury,
87, 104, 122^2** I9^,_202
WinchesteF,Tfishop of, 170, 254
Windsor, Round Table at, - - 325
Wischard, John de, Bishop of
Glasgow, dies at sea, - - 305
Wishart, Robert, Bishop of Glas-
gow, - 16, 163, 178, 211
Wishart, William, Bishop of St.
Andrews, - - 2, 20
Worcester, Edward I. at, - - 148
Wykeham, William of, Archbishop, 19, 48
York, John Archbishop of, - - 130
York, Provincial Council at, 86 ;
Rismaraduc hanged at, 89 ; Ed-
ward II. and Gaveston at, 196,
197; Parliament at, 211, 237,
274, 290 ; Edward III. married
at, - 259
Yoleta, Queen, at Kinghorn, 41, 44
Zouche, W. de la, Archbishop of
York, - - 32°
357
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