The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 (114 page)

The next measure, taken by Edward, gave them an inclination to His passion for attack those prerogatives, which no longer kept them in awe.

favourites. Piers

There was one Piers Gavaston, son of a Gascon knight of some Gavaston.

distinction, who had honourably served the late king, and who, in reward of his merits, had obtained an establishment for his son in the family of the prince of Wales. This young man soon insinuated himself into the affections of his master, by his agreeable behaviour, and by supplying him with all those innocent, though frivolous amusements, which suited his capacity and his inclinations. He was PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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endowed with the utmost elegance of shape and person, was noted for a fine mien and easy carriage, distinguished himself in all warlike and genteel exercises, and was celebrated for those quick sallies of wit, in which his countrymen usually excel. By all these accomplishments he gained so entire an ascendant over young Edward, whose heart was strongly disposed to friendship and confidence, that the late king, apprehensive of the consequences, had banished him the kingdom, and had, before he died, made his son promise never to recall him. But no sooner did he find himself master, as he vainly imagined, than he sent for Gavaston; and even before his arrival at court, endowed him with the whole earldom of Cornwal, which had escheated to the crown, by the death of Edmond, son of Richard king of the Romans.
p
Not content with conferring on him those possessions, which had sufficed as an appanage for a prince of the blood, he daily loaded him with new honours and riches; married him to his own niece, sister of the earl of Glocester; and seemed to enjoy no pleasure in his royal dignity, but as it enabled him to exalt to the highest splendor this object of his fond affections.

The haughty barons, offended at the superiority of a minion, Discontent of the

whose birth, though reputable, they despised, as much inferior to barons.

their own, concealed not their discontent; and soon found reasons to justify their animosity in the character and conduct of the man they hated. Instead of disarming envy by the moderation and modesty of his behaviour, Gavaston displayed his power and influence with the utmost ostentation; and deemed no circumstance of his good fortune so agreeable as its enabling him to eclipse and mortify all his rivals. He was vain-glorious, profuse, rapacious; fond of exterior pomp and appearance, giddy with prosperity; and as he imagined, that his fortune was now as strongly rooted in the kingdom, as his ascendant was uncontrouled over the weak monarch, he was negligent in engaging partizans, who might support his sudden and ill-established grandeur. At all tournaments, he took delight in foiling the English nobility, by his superior address: In every conversation, he made them the object of his wit and raillery: Every day his enemies multiplied upon him; and naught was wanting but a little time to cement their union, and render it fatal, both to him and to his master.
q

It behoved the king to take a journey to France, both in order to do homage for the dutchy of Guienne, and to espouse the princess Isabella, to whom he had long been affianced, though unexpected accidents had hitherto retarded the completion of the

marriage.r Edward left Gavaston guardian of the realm,s
with more ample powers, than had usually been conferred;
t
and on his return with his young queen, renewed all the proofs of that fond attachment to the favourite, of which every one so loudly complained.

This princess was of an imperious and intriguing spirit; and finding, that her husband’s capacity required, as his temper inclined, him to be governed, she thought herself best intitled, on every account, to perform the office, and she contracted a mortal hatred against the person, who had disappointed her in these expectations. She was well pleased, therefore, to see a combination of the nobility forming against Gavaston, who, sensible to her hatred, had wantonly provoked her by new insults and injuries.

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Thomas, earl of Lancaster, cousin-german to the king, and first 1308.

prince of the blood, was by far the most opulent and powerful subject in England, and possessed in his own right, and soon after in that of his wife, heiress of the family of Lincoln, no less than six earldoms, with a proportionable estate in land, attended with all the jurisdictions and power, which commonly in that age were annexed to landed property. He was turbulent and factious in his disposition; mortally hated the favourite, whose influence over the king exceeded his own; and he soon became the head of that party among the barons, who desired the depression of this insolent stranger. The confederated nobles bound themselves by oath to expel Gavaston: Both sides began already to put themselves in a warlike posture: The licentiousness of the age broke out in robberies and other disorders, the usual prelude of civil war: And the royal authority, despised in the king’s own hands, and hated in those of Gavaston, became insufficient for the execution of the laws, and the maintenance of peace in the kingdom. A parliament being summoned at Westminster, Lancaster and his party came thither with an armed retinue; and were there enabled to impose their own terms on the sovereign. They required the banishment of Gavaston, imposed an oath on him never to return, and engaged the bishops, who never failed to interpose in all civil concerns, to pronounce him excommunicated, if he remained any longer in the kingdom.
u Edward was obliged to submit;w
but even in his compliance, gave proofs of his fond attachment to his favourite. Instead of removing all umbrage, by sending him to his own country, as was expected, he appointed him lord lieutenant of Ireland,
x
attended him to Bristol on his journey thither, and before his departure conferred on him new lands and riches both in Gascony and England.
y
Gavaston, who did not want bravery, and possessed talents for war,
z
acted, during his government, with vigour against some Irish rebels, whom he subdued.

Meanwhile, the king, less shocked with the illegal violence which had been imposed upon him, than unhappy in the absence of his minion, employed every expedient to soften the opposition of the barons to his return; as if success in that point were the chief object of his government. The high office of hereditary steward was conferred on Lancaster: His father-in-law, the earl of Lincoln, was bought off by other concessions: Earl Warrenne was also mollified by civilities, grants, or promises: The insolence of Gavaston, being no longer before men’s eyes, was less the object of general indignation: And Edward, deeming matters sufficiently prepared for his purpose, applied to the court of Rome, and obtained for Gavaston a dispensation from that oath, which the barons had compelled him to take, that he would for ever abjure the realm.
a
He went down to Chester, to receive him on his first landing from Ireland; flew into his arms with transports of joy; and having obtained the formal consent of the barons in parliament to his reestablishment, set no longer any bounds to his extravagant fondness and affection. Gavaston himself, forgetting his past misfortunes, and blind to their causes, resumed the same ostentation and insolence; and became more than ever the object of general detestation among the nobility.

The barons first discovered their animosity by absenting themselves from parliament; and finding that this expedient had not been successful, they began to think of employing sharper and more effectual remedies. Though there had scarcely been any national ground of complaint, except some dissipation of the public treasure: Though all the acts of mal-administration, objected to the king and his favourite, seemed of a PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)

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nature more proper to excite heart-burnings in a ball or assembly, than commotions in a great kingdom: Yet such was the situation of the times, that the barons were determined, and were able, to make them the reasons of a total alteration in the constitution and civil government.

Having come to parliament, in defiance of the laws and the

7th Feb.

king’s prohibition, with a numerous retinue of armed followers, they found themselves entirely masters; and they presented a petition, which was equivalent to a command, requiring Edward to devolve on a chosen junto the whole authority both of the crown and of the parliament.

The king was obliged to sign a commission, empowering the

16th March.

prelates and barons to elect twelve persons, who should, till the term of Michaelmas in the year following, have authority to enact ordinances for the government of the kingdom, and regulation of the king’s household; consenting that these ordinances should, thenceforth, and for ever, have the force of laws; allowing the ordainers to form associations among themselves and their friends, for their strict and regular observance; and all this for the greater glory of God, the security of the church, and the honour and advantage of the king and kingdom.
b
The barons in return signed a declaration, in which they acknowledged, that they owed these concessions merely to the king’s free grace; promised that this commission should never be drawn into precedent; and engaged, that the power of the ordainers should expire at the time

appointed.c

The chosen junto accordingly framed their ordinances, and

1311.

presented them to the king and parliament, for their confirmation in the ensuing year. Some of these ordinances were laudable, and tended to the regular execution of justice: Such as those, requiring sheriffs to be men of property, abolishing the practice of issuing privy seals for the suspension of justice, restraining the practice of purveyance, prohibiting the adulteration and alteration of the coin, excluding foreigners from the farms of the revenue, ordering all payments to be regularly made into the exchequer, revoking all late grants of the crown, and giving the parties damages in the case of vexatious prosecutions. But what chiefly grieved the king, was the ordinance for the removal of evil counsellors, by which a great number of persons were by name excluded from every office of power and profit; and Piers Gavaston himself was for ever banished the king’s dominions, under the penalty, in case of disobedience, of being declared a public enemy. Other persons, more agreeable to the barons, were substituted in all the offices. And it was ordained, that, for the future, all the considerable dignities in the household, as well as in the law, revenue, and military governments, should be appointed by the
baronage
in parliament; and the power of making war, or assembling his military tenants, should no longer be vested solely in the king, nor be exercised without the consent of the nobility.

Edward, from the same weakness both in his temper and situation, which had engaged him to grant this unlimited commission to the barons, was led to give a parliamentary sanction to their ordinances: But as a consequence of the same character, he
secretly
made a protest against them, and declared, that, since the commission was granted only for the making of ordinances to the advantage of king and kingdom, such articles as should be found prejudicial to both, were to be held as not ratified and confirmed.
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It is no wonder, indeed, that he retained a firm purpose to revoke ordinances, which had been imposed on him by violence, which entirely annihilated the royal authority, and above all, which deprived him of the company and society of a person, whom, by an unusual infatuation, he valued above all the world, and above every consideration of interest or tranquillity.

As soon, therefore, as Edward, removing to York, had freed himself from the immediate terror of the barons’ power, he invited back Gavaston from Flanders, which that favourite had made the place of his retreat; and declaring his banishment to

be illegal, and contrary to the laws and customs of the kingdom,e
openly reinstated him in his former credit and authority.

The barons, highly provoked at this disappointment, and

1312.

apprehensive of danger to themselves from the declared

animosity of so powerful a minion, saw, that either his or their ruin was now inevitable; and they renewed with redoubled zeal their former confederacies against him. The earl of Lancaster was a dangerous head of this alliance: Guy, earl of Warwic, entered into it with a furious and precipitate passion: Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford, the constable, and Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, brought to it a great accession of power and interest: Even earl Warrenne deserted the royal cause, which he had hitherto supported, and was induced to embrace the side of the confederates:
f
And as Robert de Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury, professed himself of the same party, he determined the body of the clergy, and consequently the people, to declare against the king and his minion. So predominant, at that time, was the power of the great nobility, that the combination of a few of them was always able to shake the throne; and such an universal concurrence became irresistible. The earl of Lancaster suddenly raised an army, and marched to York, where he found the king

already removed to Newcastle:g
He flew thither in pursuit of him; and Edward had just time to escape to Tinmouth, where he embarked, and sailed with Gavaston to Scarborough. He left his favourite in that fortress, which, had it been properly supplied with provisions, was deemed impregnable; and he marched forward to York, in hopes of raising an army, which might be able to support him against his enemies.