Lanercost Chronicle

The war of the English is reborn again; for the king, having been generously released by his captors, and his son, after a certain fierce period of detention, recklessly seizing the reins of power again without caution, new wrath flares up, new threats are hurled, and deadly conflicts break out everywhere, with the opposing factions meeting one another in battle.

Rediviva renascitur guerra Anglorum; nam rege liberaliter a captoribus suis dimisso, silioque post detentionem quodam fero, inane abundanti cautela, liberas habenas repetente, inflammantur nove ire, fulminantur nove mine, fiunt conflictus mortales ubicunque, partes fibi mutuo occurrunt.

5th July 1312. On the third of the nones of July, on the vigil of the octave of the Apostles Peter and Paul was a new moon, and an eclipse of the sun about the first hour of the day, 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.

For he (Peter), believing himself to be permanently established in his earldom, though he was a foreigner and had attained such honor solely by the grace of the king, had become so puffed up with pride that he scorned all the noble earls of the land, and mockingly gave them low and insulting nicknames. Among them, when he called the Earl of Warwick, a man truly wise and honorable, 'the Black Dog of Arden,' and this was later reported to the earl, he is said to have replied with patience: 'If he calls me a dog, then surely I will bite him when I see my time.'

Ipse enim, credens se in comitatu pro suo perpetuo confirmatum, cum esset alienigena et de sola gratia regis tantum honorem adeptus, jam in tantam superbiam est erectus quod omnes nobiles comites terræ contempsit, et vilia cognomina eis deridendo imposuit, inter quos cum comitem Warwici, virum utique sapientem et probum, vocasset 'Nigrum Canem de Arderne,' et esset hoc postea comiti intimatum, ille dicitur cum patientia respondisse; 'si vocet me canem, pro certo ego mordebo eum quando videbo tempus meum.'

Now let us return to Peter. The oft-mentioned Peter of Gaveston, within the time allotted to him—namely, within the fortnight after the Feast of Saint Michael [October 12]—departed from England and entered Flanders. But because he was poorly received there, where he had landed (this being the work of the King of France, who detested him greatly—since, as was said, the King of England, who had married the French king's daughter, loved her less because of the said Peter), he returned—unfortunately for himself—to England, though in secret, fearing the earls and barons. The king received him and took him with him as far as York, and there they laid waste to the city and the countryside, because they had nothing with which to pay for their expenses.

Modo redeamus ad Petrum. Sæpedictus vero Petrus de Gaverstoun infra tempus sibi limitatum, scilicet, infra quindenam post festum sancti Michaelis [Oct. 12], exivit Angliam et intravit in Flandriam. Sed quia minus bene erat receptus in Flandria, ubi applicuerat, (id agente rege Franciæ, qui eum valde detestabatur, quia, ut dicebatur, rex Angliæ, qui duxerat filiam ejus uxorem, minus eam dilexit propter Petrum prædictum,) ideo rediit, ad infortunium suum, in Angliam, sed in occulto, propter metum comitum et baronum; et rex eum recepit et duxit fecum usque Eboracum, et ibi civitatem et patriam vastaverunt, quia non habuerunt quid solverent pro expensis.

For the Earl of Lancaster, hearing that the king and Piers had separated, and that Piers was in the castle, 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.

Another misfortune also befell the English. For, just before, they had crossed a great ditch into which the sea's tide flowed, called Bannockburn; and now, in their confusion, they wished to retreat. But many nobles and others, pressed hard on horseback, fell into it, and some barely escaped with great difficulty, while many were never able to free themselves from the ditch. And so the name Bannockburn remained on the lips of the English for many years to follow.

Aliud etiam infortunium accidit Anglicis, quia, cum paulo ante transissent unam foveam magnam, in quam intrat fluxus maris, nomine Bannokeburne, et jam confusi vellent redire, multi nobiles et alii præ pressura eum equis in illam ceciderunt, et aliqui cum difficultate magna evaferunt, et muiti nunquam se explicare de fovea potuerunt; et ideo Bannokeburne in ore Anglicorum erat per multos annos fequentes.

On the eleventh day, namely on the feast of Saint Peter in Chains [1 August 1315], either because they had heard of the coming of the English to raise the siege, or because they despaired of making further progress, the Scots returned early in the morning into their own land in disgrace, leaving behind all their aforesaid engines of war. But certain of the English, pursuing them, captured John of Moray, who in the aforesaid battle at Stirling had on his side twenty-three English knights, besides squires and other lesser men, and had received an immense ransom for them. Together with the said John they also took Sir Robert Bardolf, a man of most hostile intent toward the English, and brought them both to the castle of Carlisle; but afterwards they were ransomed for no small sum of money.

Die igitur undecimo , scilicet in festo sancti Petri Ad Vincula [1st August 1315] , vel quia audierant de adventu Anglicorum ad amovendam obsidionem , vel quia ulterius proficere desperabant , redierunt mane Scotti in terram suam cum confusione , dimittentes retro se omnia instrumenta sua bellica supradicta . Quidam autem Anglici insequentes eos ceperunt Johannem de Moravia , qui in prædicto bello apud Strivelyn habuerat pro parte sua tres et viginti milites Angliæ , exceptis armigeris et aliis simplicioribus , et redemptionem maximam receperat pro eisdem . Ceperunt etiam cum prædicto Johanne dominum Robertum Bardolf , virum utique erga Anglicos pessimæ voluntatis , et ambos ad castrum Karlioli adduxerunt , sed postea pecunia non modica sunt redempti .

After the Scots had returned to their own land, their king Robert prepared himself with a great company and sailed into Ireland, in order to acquire that land, or a large part of it, for his brother Edward; and he freely traversed almost the whole of it, which was under the dominion of the king of England, but he did not capture the walled towns or castles.

Post reditum autem Scottorum in terram suam , paravit se rex eorum Robertus cum comitiva magna , et navigavit in Hiberniam , ut terram illam vel magnam ejus partem adquireret fratri suo Edwardo ; et perambulavit eam libere fere totam quæ erat de dominio regis Angliæ , sed non cepit villas muratas nec castra .

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 countenance 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 aforesaid convention with the Scots, and so yielded himself to undergo the aforesaid punishment.

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 [10th March 1322], 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 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.

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 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 pronounced 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 [22nd March 1322] 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 concourse of pilgrims, and a chapel has been built. In the aforesaid town Sir Garin de l'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!

Now Sir John de Mowbray¹ and Sir Roger de Clifford², were drawn and 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.

Note 1. 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.

Note 2. 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.,

After this the king held his parliament at York, and there Hugh Despenser the elder, sometime exiled from England, was made Earl of Winchester.

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.

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 anybody 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.

After this was done, all the magnates, with the consent of the entire community, sent solemn envoys to his father at Kenilworth to render him his homage and to declare to him, in the name of the whole realm, that he was deposed from royal dignity and was no longer to govern the people of England. The aforesaid envoys were: two bishops — of Winchester and Hereford; two earls, of Lancaster and Warenne; two barons, de Ros and de Courtenay; two abbots; two priors; two justices; two friars of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans); and two Carmelite friars. The Friars Minor (Franciscans), however, at the request of the queen, were not sent, lest they be burdened with delivering so unpleasant a message, since she loved the Minorites greatly. Additionally, two knights from beyond the Trent and two from this side of the Trent, two citizens of London, and two from the Cinque Ports were included, so that altogether there were twenty-four solemn persons appointed to carry this message.

Quo facto, omnes magnates de consensu totius communitatis destinaverunt patri suo usque Kenelworthe nuncios solemnes ad reddendum sibi homagium suum, et ad denunciandum sibi, ex parte totius regni, quod ipse suit depositus a dignitate regali ne ulterius populum Angliæ gubernaret. Nuncii autem prædicti suerunt duo episcopi Wyntoniensis et Herfordensis; duo comites, Loncastriæ et Warenniæ ; duo barones, de Rofe et de Curteney; duo abbates; duo priores; duo justiciarii; duo fratres Prædicatores; duo fratres Carmelitæ. Fratres autem Minores ad preces dominæ regine non sunt missi, ne essent bajuli nuncii tam displicentis, quia Minores multum amabat. Item, duo milites ultra Trentam, et duo citra Trentam; duo cives Londoniarum, et duo de Portuensibus, ita quod in universo erant viginti quatuor solemnes personee ad istud nuncium deferendum.

Around the same time [1327], a certain friar of the Order of Preachers, named Thomas de Dunheved, who, two years earlier, had gone to the papal court with envoys of the now-deposed king to seek a divorce between him and the queen, though he did not achieve his aim, now traveled through England not only in secret, but also openly and with bold defiance. He stirred up the people in both the south and the north to rise up for the deposed king, who was being held in custody, and to restore him to his kingdom. He promised them that help was at hand and would soon arrive but he could not fulfill what he had promised. In the end, that mad friar was captured, thrown into prison, and there he died.

Circa idem tempus quidam frater de ordine Prædicatorum, nomine Thomas de Dunheved, qui ante duos annos præcedentes iverat ad curiam domini papas cum nunciis regis jam deposit! pro divortio inter ipsum et reginam faciendo, licet non obtineret intentum, jam non solum private sed etiam publice et audaci fronte circuivit Angliam, et concitabat populum in austro et aquilone ut insurgerent pro rege deposito et in custodia detente, et sibi restituerent regnum suum, promittens eis auxilium de proximo affuturum, sed implere non potuit quod promisit ; unde tandem captus est fatuus ille frater et career! mancipatus et in carcere est defunctus.'

When the king had returned and on the feast of Saint Callixtus, that is, on the fourteenth day of October, he came as far as Roxburgh, he left his army in the town, and he himself, for the sake of having greater quiet, went with a few others to lodge in the abbey of Kelso, which is beyond the town's bridge. However, Sir Andrew of Moray, learning of this, along with other knights and his army, who had constantly been shadowing the king and his men from a distance to harass them, broke the bridge during the night—this being the one between the king and his army—so that they might capture the king with the few he had with him in the abbey, or kill him if he refused to surrender.

Cum autem rex redisset et in sesto sancti Kalixti, fcilicet, decimo quarto die menfis Octobris, usque Rokesburgiam pervenisset, exercitum suum in villa dimisit, et ipse, pro majori quiete habenda, cum paucis ad abbatiam de Keldelhou, quæ est ultra pontem vill, ibidem hospitaturus processit. Hoc autem intelligens dictus dominus Andreas de Moravia cum aliis militibus et exercitu, qui semper sequebantur regem et suos a longe ad gravandum eos, de nocte fregerunt:pontem inter regem et exercitum suum, ut ipsum cum paucis quos fecum habuit in abbatiam caperent, vel interficerent, si se reddere eis nollet.

But the king's army, hearing of this, repaired the bridge with the greatest haste; and some, not waiting for this, threw themselves armed and on horseback into the great river and swam across, pursuing the fleeing Scots for eight miles, in which chase many of them were killed and some captured, among whom was the aforementioned Andrew of Moray, Warden of Scotland after the death of the Earl of Mar, and also a certain fierce and notorious pirate named Crab, who for many years past had harassed the English by land and sea. Both of them were sent to the King of England, to do with as he wished. However, this Crab, because of the ingratitude of the Scots of Berwick, who during the later siege of that town refused to ransom him and even killed his son, became—after his life was spared by the King of England—a most bitter enemy of his own people. As for Lord Andrew of Moray, he was afterwards ransomed for a great sum of money.

Sed exercitus regis hoc audiens cum maxima sestinatione pontem reparavit; et quidam, hoc non expectantes, miserunt se armatos et equis ad magnam aquam et transnataverant, et infecuti sunt Scottos fugientes per octo miliaria, in qua fuga multi eorum interfecti et aliqui capti, inter quos erat supradictus Andreas de Moravia, custos Scotiæ post mortem comitis de Marre, et quidam pirata crudelis et solemnis, cognomento Crab, qui per multos annos præcedentes vexaverat Anglicos in terra et mari; et ambo illi missi sunt ad regem Angliæ, ut de illis faceret quicquid vellet. Ille tamen Crab, propter ingratitudinem Scottorum de Berwico, qui tempore obsidionis ejusdem ville postea noluerunt eum redimere, immo suum filium occiderunt, data sibi vita a rege Angliæ, factus eft postea perfecutor acerrimus gentis suæ. Dominus autem Andreas de Moravia per magnam summam pecunie postea est redemptus.

While these things were taking place, David de Bruys, returning from France to Scotland with a gathered army, laid waste to Northumbria with slaughter and fire as far as the River Tyne, and, encountering no resistance, returned to his own lands.

Dum hæc agerentur, David de Bruys de Francia rediens in Scotiam cum exercitu collecto, Northumbriam cede et incendio ufque ad fluvium Tyne devaftavit, et fine resistentia aliqua ad propria remeavit.

Among those killed and captured on the French side were: the King of Bohemia, the King of Majorca, the Duke of Lorraine, the Archbishop of Sens, the Bishop of Noyon, the Count of Alençon (who was the brother of the King of France), the Abbot of Corbeil, and furthermore the Counts of Flanders, Aumale, Sauvay, Blois, Montbéliard, Sancerre and his brother; the High Prior of the Hospital of Jerusalem; the great lord of Rosenburg, who was the most powerful man in all France after the king; the Viscount of Thouars, the lord of Morel, the lord of Rieux, the lord of Saint-Venant, and many others among knights and squires. More than twenty thousand were killed, and countless others of the lower ranks were slain; many were also taken prisoner and held in captivity, and King Philip himself fled in his armor.

Ubi ex parte Gallicorum interfectorum et captorum, videlicet, rex Bohemiæ et rex Majoricarum, dux etiam Lothoringiæ, archiepiscopus Senonensis, Neoninensis, comes de Lassaun, qui fuit germanus regis Franciæ, abbas de Corbelle, comites insuper Flandriæ, comes Daumarle, comes de Sauvay, comes de Bloys, comes de Monte Vilers, comes de Sainiers et ejus frater, altus prior Hospitalis Hierusalem, magnus dominus de Rosyngburgh et major totius Francie post regem, vicecomes de Turnas, dominus de Morelle, dominus de Righou, dominus de Seynt Vendaft, et plures alii de militibus et armigeris. Fuerunt occisi plusquam viginti mille, et de aliis gentibus fine numero interfectis, ac plures capti erat et incarcerati, similiter rex Philippus in ejus armis fugiendo.

Then Lord Walter de Selby, the castellan of the fortress, seeing that death was imminent, alas! and that in no way could he possibly escape, begged King David for mercy, repeatedly imploring him that since he must die, it might be allowed—as was fitting for a knight—to end his life on the battlefield, fighting with one of his enemies. But David, long corrupted by deceit, hardened like another Pharaoh, raging, furious, afflicted by a frenzied madness more than Herod, enemy of the Most High, would neither by plea nor by bribe allow him this.

Tunc dominus Walterus de Selby, custos fortalitii, videns fibi, proh dolor! mortem imminere et nullo modo possibile se posse evadere, petiit a rege David suam pietatem, pluries implorando quod ex quo mori debuit, sicut decuit militem, cum aliquo inimicorum posset prœliando ultimum diem vitæ suæ in campo finire. Sed hanc petitionem David, diu dolo demens, induratus ut alter Pharao, fremens, furibundus, vefania vexatus magis quam Herodes hostis Altissimi, nec prece nec pretio concedere volebat.

Then the knight further added: "O revered king! Since you have willed to see me, by the very custom of royal majesty, I now hope to receive some drop of grace from the most blessed fountain of your goodness." Oh, unspeakable madness of that condemned king! Alas! He refused to grant the knight even the chance to confess, but immediately ordered him to be beheaded.

Tunc miles ultra addidit, "O rex reverende! ex quo voluiftis me veftrum videre, ex mero more regio, aliquam guttam gratiæ a fonte felicissimo vestræ bonitatis spero jam habere." O nefanda rabies regis reprobandi! heu! noluit promittere militem confiteri, sed illum indilate jussit decollari;

The second army was led by King David—not, however, the one of whom they sing in the choir, 'who put ten thousand to flight in battle,' but that David of whom, in the marketplace, they claimed that his stench and filth defiled the altar.

Secundum exercitum duxit ipse rex David, non tamen de quo canebant in choro quod decem millia in bello fugavit, sed ille David de quo in foro firmabant quod ejus fetor et fæx altare fedavit.