1320-1329 Despencer War

Annales Paulini. 13th October 1321. In the same year, in the fortnight following the feast of Saint Michael (i.e., around mid-October), when the lady queen [Isabella] wished to travel toward Canterbury, as it was said, she sent her messengers to the castle of Leeds to arrange for lodging during her journey. The response to her messengers was that the queen would not be admitted into the castle. Nevertheless, the queen personally came to the said castle and requested entry. A reply was made to her by the wife of Lord Bartholomew de Badlesmere—who at that time held the castle—that she dared not open the gates or receive anyone without the permission of her lord, Bartholomew. The queen, taking great offense at this response, lodged nearby at the priory of that place. But while she lingered there for a time, six of her men were killed by those who were defending the castle. When this was heard and reported to the lord king, he was filled with no small fury and made all efforts to lay siege to and capture the said castle.

Eodem anno, in quindena Sanctæ Michaelis, cum domina regina versus Cantuariam ivisse voluisset, ut dicebatur, misit nuntios suos ad castellum de Ledes pro hospitio suo itinerando habendo; responsum fuit eisdem quod dicta regina ibidem non intraret. Hoc non obstante, regina ad dictum castellum personaliter accessit, et introitum ab illis petiit. Facta responsione per uxorem domini Bartholomæi de Badelesmere, cui dictum castellum tunc pertinuit, quod sine licentia domini Bartholomæi domini sui non ausa fuisset portas aperire nec aliquem hospitare; dicta regina spiritum indignationis super hoe concipiens, de prope ad prioratum dicti loci hospitabatur, et, dum moram aliquantulum ibidem fecisset, sex homines dicta reginm interfecti fuerunt ab illis qui dictum castellum custodiebant. Hiis auditis, et domino regi denuntiatis, rex, non minimo furore repletus, ad dictum castellum obsidendum et capiendum totis suis conatibus accessit.

Letters of Horace Walpole. Rochester, Kent [Map], Sunday.

We have finished our progress sadly! Yesterday after twenty mishaps we got to Sissinghurst to dinner. There is a park in ruins, and a house in ten times greater ruins, built by Sir John Balier, chancellor of the exchequer to Queen Mary. You go through an arch of the stables to the house, the court of which is perfect and very beautiful. The Duke of Bedford has a house at Cheneys, in Buckinghamshire, which seems to have been very like it, but is more ruined. This has a good apartment, and a fine gallery, a hundred and twenty feet by eighteen, which takes up one side: the wainscot is pretty and entire: the ceiling vaulted, and painted in a light genteel grotesque. The whole is built for show: for the back of the house is nothing but lath and plaster. From thence we Went to Bocton-Malherbe, where are remains of a house of the Wottons, and their tombs in the church; but the roads were so exceedingly bad that it was dark before we got thither, and still darker before we got to Maidstone: from thence we passed this morning to Leeds Castle [Map].³⁴⁷ Never was such disappointment! There are small remains: the moat is the only handsome object, and is quite a lake, supplied by a cascade which tumbles through a bit of a romantic grove. The Fairfaxes have fitted up a pert, bad apartment in the fore-part of the castle, and have left the only tolerable rooms for offices. They had a gleam of Gothic in their eyes, but it soon passed off into some modern windows, and some that never were ancient. The only thing that at all recompensed the fatigues we have undergone was the picture of the Duchess of Buckingham³⁴⁸, la Ragotte, who is mentioned in Grammont-I say us, for I trust that Mr. Chute is as true a bigot to Grammont as I am. Adieu? I hope you will be as weary with reading our history as we have been in travelling it. Yours ever.

Note 347. A very ancient and magnificent structure, built throughout of stone, at different periods, formerly belonging to the family of Crovequer. In the fifteenth of Edward II Sir Thomas de Colepeper, who was castellan of the castle, was hanged on the drawbridge for having refused admittance to Isabel, the Queen-consort, in her progress in performing a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury. The manor and castle were forfeited to the crown by his attainder, but restored to his son, Sir Thomas Colepeper. By his Diary of May 8, 1666, it appears to have been hired by Evelyn for a prison. "Here," he says, "I flowed the dry moat, made a new drawbridge, brought spring-water into the court of the castle to an old fountain, and took order for the repairs."-E.

Note 348. Mary, Duchess of Buckingham, only daughter of Thomas, Lord Fairfax.-E.

Chronicles of Trokelowe and Blaneforde. [1st August 1323] For in the stillness of the night during that same feast (of Saint Peter in Chains), when both the guards of the Tower and many others had fallen into deep sleep and rest — having been given a certain harmful drink — Roger [Mortimer] (age 36) did not escape through the door of his chamber, which had been secured with many locks and bars, but rather through another way. By breaking through a wall, he entered the royal palace kitchen attached to the Tower. From the top of this building, he climbed down into one of the Tower's guard posts. Then, using ropes ingeniously fashioned like a ladder, which had been procured for him by a certain friend and secretly brought to him beforehand, he descended with considerable fear to another guard post. And, just as Saint Peter, imprisoned under Nero, passed the first and second guards with the help of an angel, so too did he—though with great difficulty—finally reach the Thames. There, he found a small, fragile boat, into which he entered with his helper and two other members of his inner circle. With God's help, they swiftly crossed the river. They then hurried with all speed toward the sea, carefully avoiding public roads throughout their journey, and did not rest until, united in purpose, they reached a certain port. In that place, where they were known to no one, they found a ship—prepared for them and waiting for some time near the port. With all haste, they boarded the vessel and, aided by a favorable wind granted by God, they swiftly arrived in the realms of France.

Nam intempestæ noctis silentio dictæ festivitatis, tarn custodibus castri quam cæteris multis, per quendam pestiferum potum eis ministratum, nocturno quieti ac sopori deditis, repentine, noii per ostium cameræ suæ, quod multis seris et repagulis fuerat obseratum, sed aliunde, per ruptionem muri, venit in coquina palatio Regis annexa; per cujus sunimitatem exiens, ad unam oastri devenit eustodiam; deinde per cordas, ad modum scalæ ingeniose compositas, per quenidam amicum suum pro visas, et sibi secrete prius allatas, ad aliam castri eustodiam cum non modico timore per venit. Et, sicut Beatus Petrus, in vinculis Neronis detentus, Angelo ducente, primam et secundam transivit custodiam, cum maxima difficultate tandem venit ad aquam Tamisiæ; ibi quamdam fragilem cymbam reperiens, quam, cum adjutore suo, et aliis duobus de consilio suo, intravit, et dictam aquam, Deo volente, concito transmearunt. Et cum omni festinatione ad mare properantes, publicas stratas semper in itinere devitarunt; nec cessare voluerunt, donec ad quemdam portum unanimes pervenirent. Quo vero in loco, ab omnibus ignoti, navem, aliquandiu eos ibidem expectantem, prope portum promptam ibidem reperientes; quam cum omni festinatione intraverunt, et, prosperam auram eis Deo ministrante, ad Gallicana regna concito pervenerunt.

Annales Paulini. And in the same year, on the night following the feast of Saint Peter in Chains (1st August 1323), Lord Roger de Mortimer (age 36) escaped from the Tower of London and crossed the Thames to the mills of John de Gisors. Nearby, at the abbot's houses, seven horses had been prepared, and Lord Roger, with seven others, began his journey toward the sea. There, he found a boat arranged in advance by certain individuals, as will be made clear below.

An inquest held at Portsmouth before John de Weston and others on Tuesday, the feast of Saint Lawrence (August 10th), in the 17th year of the king's reign, by the oath of John Bacun and others, who stated that on the day after the feast of Saint Peter in Chains, Thomas Lessorte, a boatman from the Isle of Wight, took his boat to Barelorde, as Alice of Southampton had told him to do, having herself been directed by Ralph de Boktone, a London merchant. At that place, he was to find men whom he would carry in the said boat. When he arrived with the boat, he found seven men, who entered his vessel. When they reached the open sea near Noteleshere, they saw a ship which Ralph de Boktone had arranged for them from Normandy. Immediately, they forced the boatman by threat to take them to the Norman ship, and they boarded it. From this, it was suspected that they were felons of the king who had escaped from the Tower of London. The seven men had left their horses in the yard at Baselehorde, which Alice then left to graze in pasture until the return of the said Ralph.

Et eodem anno, nocte sequenti festun Sancti Petri ad Vincula, dominus Rogerus de Mortuomari evasit de twrri Londoniensi et transivit ultra Tamissiam usque ad molendinas J. de Gisors, et deprope in domibus abbatis fuerunt vii. equi parati, in quibus dominus Rogerus um vii persona iter suum arripuit versus mare, et ibi invenit batellum ex prælocutione quorundam, prout inferius patebit.

Inquisitio facta apud Portesmuth coram J. de West' et ceteris, die Martis in festo Sancti Laurentii anno regni regis xvii, per sacramentum J. Bacun et aliorum, et qui dicunt quod in crastino Sancti Petri ad Vincula, Thomas Lessorte batellarius de insula Vecta duxit batellum suum apud Barelorde, sicut Alicia de Borhamtone ei dixit quod faceret, sicut ipsa ducts fuit per Radulfum de Boktone mercatorem Londoniensem, et apud prædictum locum deberet invenire homines quos duceret in prædictam inenlam. Qui cum ibi venisset cum batello, invenit ibi vii homines qui intraverunt batellum suum, et, cum venisset super mare versus Noteleshere, viderunt quandam navem quan Radulfus de Bohtone eis prædictus providit de Normannia; et statim coegerunt batellariom vi ad ducendum eos ad dictam navem de Normannia, et intraverunt eam; per quod æstimavit quod fuerunt felones domini regis qui evaserunt de turri Londoniarum. Qui vii equos dimiserunt super aream apud Baselehorde, quos equos dicta Alicia dimisit in pastura usque ad adventum dicti Radulfi.

Annales Paulini. 15th October 1326. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Exeter (age 65) came from one of his manors, and intending to pass through the city to the Tower of London, he entered by Newgate. Hearing the uproar and shouting of the people near the Church of St Michael ad Bladum, he became afraid and turned aside, fleeing to the Church of St Paul. But his pursuers, joined by others coming to meet him, like madmen, seized him at the north door of the church. They struck him on the head and pulled him from his horse, and dragging him cruelly through the churchyard, they took him into the marketplace of Westcheap. There, after stripping him in shameful fashion, they beheaded him, along with his two squires, John de Paddington and William Walle. Their naked bodies lay in the middle of the market all day—a horrific sight to all who looked upon it. The bishop's head was sent to the lady queen at Bristol. Later that day, after Vespers were sung at St Paul's, the lesser canons and vicars of that church, out of respect for his dignity, came with a cross and honorably recovered the bishop's body. They brought it into St Paul's Church, where it lay through the night. On the next day, it was carried to the Church of St Clement Danes, near the manor of the deceased bishop. This was the church to which he had secured perpetual patronage for his successors, the Bishops of Exeter, from the brethren of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Warwick, whom he had compensated with another church said to be worth twice as much. But the rector of St Clement's, ungrateful though he had been appointed by the same bishop, refused to allow the sacred burial of his body in the churchyard. So the body was taken to a nearby church of the Holy Innocents, which had been abandoned and entirely ruined, and there, without its head, the bishop was buried. Later, by the efforts of the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, the body was exhumed and brought to Exeter, on the 17th of February, and reburied there.

Interim venit episcopus Exoniensis de quodam manerio suo, et, cum voluisset transisse per medium civitatis ad Turrim Londoniensem, intrans per portam de Neugate, et ad ecclesiam Sancti Michaelis ad bladum audiens hujusinodi tumultum et clamorem populi, timuit, et se divertit fugiendo ad ecclesia Sancti Pauli. At illi insequentes, et alii obviantes ei ut furibundi, apprehenderunt eum ad ostium ecclesia boriale; percusserunt in capite, et de equo traxerunt, et, sic per medium cimiterium eum crudeliter trahentes, in foro de Westchepe, ibi eum miserabiliter despoliantes decollaverunt cum suis duobus armigeris J. de Padingtone et W. Walle; et jacuerunt cadavera nuda per totmn diem in medio foro, horribile spectaculum cunctis intuentibus, Caput vero episcopi missum fuit domine regine apud Bristolliam. Eodem die corpus vero episcopi, post vesperas decantatas in ecclesia Sancti Pauli, minores canonici et vicarii ejusdem ec- clesim cum cruce honorifice quaesierunt, propter statum sue dignitatis, et ad ecclesiam Sancti Pauli deporta- verunt; et tota nocte illa in dicta ecclesia requiescens corpus, et in crastino ductum fuit ad ecclesiam Sancti Clementis Dacorum prope manerium dicti episcopi defuncti, cujus ecclesie perpetuam collationem successoribus suis ecclesiæ Exoniensis conferendam impetravit a fratribus ecclesiæ Sanctæ Sepulchræ Dominiæ de Warewick, et eos remuneravi de quadam alia ecclesia que valuit in duplum ut asserebatur. Et quia rector illius ecclesiæ, ut ingratus, eo quod promotus fuit ad eandem per dictum episcopum, sacre sepulturæ in suo cimiterio tradi non permisit, ductum fuit ad quandam ecclesiam Sanctorum Innocentium, que prope fuit prædictam ecclesiam Sancti Clementis, derelictam et omnino destrnctam, et ibidem fuit sine capite huma- tum. Sed postea, ex procuratione decani et capituli Exoniensis, dictum corpus exhumatum fuit ex prædicto loco et deportatum Exoniam, videlicet xiii kalendas Martii.

Thomas Walsingham Chronicon Angliæ 1326. [15th October 1326] On the same day, continuing their fury, the mob attacked the residence of the Bishop of Exeter, Master Walter de Stapeldon. Setting fire to the doors, they quickly broke in. Not finding the bishop—whom they had come to destroy—they seized his jewels, silver vessels, and household goods. It happened, however, most unfortunately, that the bishop returned from the countryside at that very hour. Though he had been warned in advance of these plots, he feared nothing. Sitting confidently on his horse, he approached the north door of St Paul's, but was immediately seized by the raging crowd. He was struck, torn, thrown down, and at last dragged off to the place of execution. When they had dragged him to Cheapside, they cried out against him, calling him a public traitor, a deceiver of the king, and a destroyer of the liberties of the city. The bishop was wearing a kind of armor, commonly called an aketoun (a padded defensive garment); he was stripped of it, and of all his other clothing as well, and then beheaded. Two members of his household—a squire and a valet—were likewise slain. Having committed this sacrilegious murder, the crowd, as though in triumph, fixed the bishop's head on a tall pole, so that it might stand as a lasting reminder of the crime to all who passed by. His body was thrown without rites into a pit in an old cemetery that had once belonged to the friars commonly called the 'Frères Pies'—but which was now completely abandoned. There, as though excommunicated, he was buried without any funeral. The cause of their hatred was that, when he was Treasurer of the Realm, he had persuaded the King's Council that the itinerant justices should sit in the city of London. As a result, since many of the citizens were found guilty of offenses, they were punished accordingly—through loss of liberties, heavy financial penalties, and bodily punishments, as they had deserved. It was also said that he had raised a large number of fighting men against the queen and her son, the Duke of Aquitaine; and for this reason the Londoners, as they claimed, were eager to preempt his plans before they could be carried out.

Eodem die, continuantes suam rabiem, incurrerunt ad hospitium Exoniensis Episcopi, Magistri Walteri de Stapultone; et supposito igne in januis, concito sunt ingressi. Non invenientes autem Episcopum, ad quern perdendum venerant, jocalia sua, cum vasis argenteis et utensilibus, rapuerunt. Accidit autem, hora infortunata, Episcopum de campo reverti; qui quamvis præmiunitus fuisset de hiis molitionibus, eos tamen nullatenus metuebat; et cum satis audacter equo sedens venisset ad ostium Boreale Sancti Pauli, mox a furenti populo comprebensus est, percussus, laniatus, dejectus, et tandem ad supplicii locum tractus. Cumque traxissent eum ad vicum de Chepe, ubi acclamaverunt eum publicum proditorem, Regis seductorem, et eorum civitatis libertatum destructorem; indutus autem fuit Episcopus quadam armatura, quam "aketone" vulgariter appellamus; qua spoliatus, et etiam aliis omnibus indumentis, decapitatus est; aliis duobus de sua familia, scutifero scilicet et valecto, simili sorte peremptis. Perpetrato sacrilegio, velut pro triumpbo, caput fixerunt Episcopi in longo palo, ut esset aspicientibus diuturna memoria sceleris attentati. Cadaver vero Pontificis in quodam veteri coemeterio, quod fuerat quondam Fratrum quos "Freres Pyes" veteres appellabant, sed tamen penitus derelicto, absque ullis exequiis, velut excommunicatum, in quadam ibidem fovea projecerunt. Causa inimicitiarum fuerat, quia cum esset regni Thesaurarius, apud Regis Consilium procuravit, ut Justiciarii Itinerantes sederent in civitate Londoniarum. Qua occasione, quia in multis cives deliquorant, in amissione libertatum et emunctione pecuniæ ac castigatione corporum multipliciter, prout meruerant, sunt puniti. Dicebatur etiam, quod maximam pugnatorum collegerat multitudinem contra Reginam et filium suum Ducem Aquitanniæ; et ideo Londonienses studuerunt, ut dicebant, molitiones tempestivius prævenire.

Historia Roffensis. [15th October 1326] On the Wednesday before the feast of Saint Luke, all the leaders and commoners gathered in the city of London at the Guildhall, entering into council on how they might deceitfully capture and kill the Bishops of London and Exeter, along with other royal justiciars, who were then assembled at the house of the Friars Preachers. They also plotted to plunder the merchants in the city, using as justification the arrival of the queen, declaring that those who refused to adhere to her should be publicly deemed traitors to the kingdom. As a result, ambushes were set in certain places to watch for the arrival of the Bishop of Exeter. When he came and sought refuge in the Church of St. Paul, he was seized at the church entrance by criminals, dragged out, struck, and severely wounded. These sons of the devil pulled him through the streets and alleys to the Great Cross in Cheapside, fearing not to lay hands on the Lord's anointed. There, stripping him of his garments, they—more cruel than pagans—brutally beheaded a man who was faithful, prudent, and wise, and most necessary to the realm. They placed his severed head on a butchers' block, threw his body to the dogs to be devoured, and forbade his burial.

Die Mercurii proxima ante festum S. Lucas convenerunt in civitate London, apud la Gyld Hall, omnes majores et minores, consilium ineuntes quomodo episcopos Londoniensem et Exoniensem et alios regis justiciaries, ad Fratres Predicatores tune congregates, dolo caperent et occiderent, et mercatores in civitate deprasdarent, accepta occasione de adventu reginas, quod reginæ adhasrere nolentes proditores regni. publice censerentur. Unde factum est quod in certis locis positas sunt insidiæ ad explorandum adventum episcopi Exoniensis. Qui cum venisset et ad ecclesiam S. Pauli confugisset, in hostio ecclesiæ a malefactoribus comprehensus, extractus, percussus, et graviter vulneratus, traxerunt eum per plateas et vicos usque ad magnam crucem in Chepe filii diaboli, non verentes manum ponere in christum Domini. Sed eum spoliantes et vestibus suis exuentes, ausu crudeli pejores quam pagani virum utique fidelem, providum et discretum ac regno valde necessarium truculenter decapitarunt, caput de corpore abscissum super collistrigium statuentes, corpus canibus ad corrodendum projicientes, et ad sepeliendum prohibuerunt.

Froissart Book 1: 1307-1340. [25th December 1326] 21. As it had been agreed by the highest barons and the councils of the good towns, so it was done. The young King Edward was crowned with the royal crown in the palace at Westminster, near London — he who would later be so fortunate and glorious in arms. This took place in the year of grace 1326, on Christmas Day. He was then about sixteen years old, and he turned sixteen at the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul (25th January). There, the noble knight Sir John of Hainault was greatly honored and served by all the princes, nobles, and commoners of the realm. He and all the companions who had remained with him were given great and very rich gifts. Afterward, he and his companions stayed on, enjoying great feasts and festivities held by the lords and ladies present, until the day of the Epiphany (Feast of the Three Kings), when he heard that the King of Bohemia, the Count of Hainault (his brother), and a great number of French lords were preparing to gather at Condé-sur-l’Escaut for a tournament that had been announced there.

21. Ensi que acordé fu par les plus haus barons et par les consaulz des bonnes villes, fu il fait. Et fu adonc couronnés de couronne royal, ens ou palais de Wesmoustier, dalés Londres, li jones rois Edowars, qui tant fu de puis ewireus et fortunés en armes. Ce fu l'an de grasce Nostre Signeur mil trois cens vingt et sis, le jour dou Noel. Et pooit avoir adonc environ seize ans; il les eut à le Conversion saint Pol. Et là fu très grandement servis et honnourés li gentilz chevaliers messires Jehans de Haynau de tous les princes et de tous les nobles et non nobles dou pays. Et là [lui] [] furent donnet grans joiaus et très rices, et à tous les compagnons qui demoret estoient dalés lui. Et demora de puis il et si compagnon, en grandes festes et en grans solas des signeurs et des dames qui là estoient, jusques au jour des Trois Rois que il oy dire que li rois de Behagne, li contes de Haynau, ses frères, et grant plenté de signeurs de France se ordonnoient, pour estre à Condet sour Escaut, à un tournoi qui là estoit criés.

Adam Murimuth Continuation Introduction. [21st September 1327]. Afterwards, on the 22nd of September in the year of Our Lord 1327, Edward, the king of England (age 43), died in Berkeley Castle, where, as previously mentioned, he had been imprisoned or detained against his will. Although many abbots, priors, knights, and burgesses from Bristol and Gloucester were called to see his body intact and they superficially observed it, it was commonly said that, by the order of Lords John Mautravers and Thomas de Gurney, he was killed by stealth. Because of this, those two and some others fled. However, Lord Thomas de Gurney was later known for three years and was captured overseas and sent back to England to receive the punishment for his crimes; but while at sea, he was beheaded under a pretext, lest he accuse the magnates, great prelates, and others in England of complicity and connivance in the king's death. As for Lord John Mautravers, he fled to Germany and other places, where he remained, and he still remains there as of the date of this writing.

Postea, x. kalendas Octobris, anno - Domini etc. XXVII, fuit mortuus Edwardus rex Angliæ in castro de Berkeleye, in quo, ut præmittitur, fuit carceri mancipatus seu detentus invitus.Et licet multi abbates, priores, milites, burgenses de Bristollia et Gloucestria ad videndum corpus suum integrum fuissent vocati, et tale superficialiter conspexissent, dictum tamen fuit vulgariter quod per ordinationem dominorum J[ohannis] Mautravers et T[homs] de Gorneye fuit per cautelam occisus. Propter quod ipsi duo et quidam alii fugerunt. Sed dominus T[homas] de Gorney fuit postea per triennium notus, et captus in partibus transmarinis, et remissus versus Angliam, pœnam pro demeritis recepturus; sed in mari fuit decapitatus, sub quodam colore, ne forte magnates et magnos prælatos et alios de Anglia de consensu et conniventia mortis regiæ accusaret. Sed dominus J[ohannes] Mautravers se transtulit in Alemanniam et alia loca; et ibi mansit, et usque ad datam prasentium adhue manet.

Froissart Book 1: 1307-1340. 38. Thus was that campaign undertaken by King Edward in the first year of his reign against the Scots, which was so great and so harsh, as you have heard. Not long afterward, the king, my lady his mother, the Earl of Kent, the Earl Henry of Lancaster, Sir Roger Mortimer, and the other barons of England who had remained as part of the king’s council to aid and advise him in governing, came to an agreement and decided it was time to arrange his marriage. So they sent an embassy — a bishop, two knight-bannerets, and two worthy clerks — to Sir John of Hainault, to ask him to help and advise in arranging a marriage for the young king, their lord. They asked that he be the one to negotiate, so that his brother, the Count of Hainault and Holland, might be persuaded to send one of his daughters, for she would be more welcome than any other — for the love they bore to him. The Lord of Beaumont (Sir John of Hainault) received and honored these envoys and commissioners from the English king with all the hospitality he could offer, for he knew well how to do so. After feasting and welcoming them well, he brought them to Valenciennes, to his brother, who received them with great honor and hosted them so splendidly that it would be too long to recount all the details.

38. Ensi fu celle chevaucie departie, que li rois Edowars, le premier an de se creation, fist contre les Escos, li quèle fu si grande et si dure que vous avés oy. Ne demora mies gramment de temps apriès, que cilz rois, ma dame se mère, li contes de Kent, li contes Henris de Lancastre, messires Rogiers de Mortemer et li aultre baron d'Engleterre, qui estoient demoret dou conseil le roy, pour lui aidier à conseillier et gouvrener, eurent avis et conseil de lui marier. Si envoiièrent un evesque, deus chevaliers banerès et deus bons clers à monsigneur Jehan de Haynau, pour lui priier qu'il vosist aidier et mettre conseil à che que li jones rois, leurs sires, fust mariés, et qu'il vosist boins moiiens estre, par quoi messires, ses frères, li contes de Haynau et de Hollandes, li volsist envoiier une de ses filles, car il l'aroit plus chière que nulle aultre, pour l'amour de lui. Li sires de Byaumont festia et honnoura ces messagiers et commissaires de par le roy englès, quanques il pot, car bien le savoit faire. Quant bien festiiés les eut, il les amena à Valenchiènes par devers son frère, qui moult honnourablement les rechut ossi, et les festia si souverainnement bien que longe cose seroit à raconter.

Chronicle of Henry Knighton. October 1328֫. At Salisbury, Queen Isabella and Roger de Mortimer created new earls — namely, John of Eltham as Earl of Cornwall, Roger de Mortimer as Earl of the March, and Edmund Butler as Earl of Ormond. All of these, together with their adherents, gathered a great army under Isabella's authority against Henry, Earl of Lancaster, and other magnates of the realm who had not agreed to their wicked deeds. With strength and arms, they rode into the lands of the said earl and came to Leicester with a great army of English and Welshmen on the day before the Nones of January [i.e., January 4], and they remained in Leicester and the surrounding countryside for eight days. They plundered the entire region — woods, parks, vineyards, ponds, fishponds — and took with them whatever their hands could find, whether precious or worthless: gold, silver, grain, household goods, bedding, tableware, weapons, clothing, wild and domestic animals, sheep and cattle, geese, hens, and even church ornaments. They left nothing untouched in the churches or elsewhere, as if it were a time of war between kingdoms.

Apud Salusbury regina Isabella et Rogerus de Mortuo mari fecerunt novos comites scilicet Johannem de Eltham comitem Cornubiæ, Rogerum de Mortuo mari comitem de Marchia, Edmundum Botoler comitem de Ormunde. Qui omnes cum suis adhærentibus congregaverunt magnum exercitum ad Isabellam reginam contra comitem Lancastriæ Henricum et alios magnates de regno qui non fuerant eorum nefariis operibus consentientes. Et equitaverunt viribus et armis super terras dicti comitis et venerunt Leycestriam cum magno exercitu Anglicorum et Wallanorum pridie nonas Januarii, et morabantur in Leycestria et in circumjacenti patria octo diebus, et spoliaverunt undique patriam, et boscos, parcos, viness, stagna, piscinas, et secum abduxerunt quiequid preciosum aut vile manus eorum invenire potuerunt, aurum, argentum, blada, utensilia, lectualia, mensualia, arma, vestimenta, bestias feras et domesticas, oves et boves, aucas, gullinas, et ornaments ecclesiastica, nihil in ecclesiis inventum vel alibi relinquendo, ac si esset in tempore guerræ inter regna.