menu_book Chapter 21

section 21 of volume 1b of history of england from the invasion of julius caesar to the revolution of 1688 History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688 by David Hume, Volume 1b, Section 21, Chapter 15, Part 1, Edward III. The violent party which had taken arms against Edward II, and finally deposed that unfortunate monarch,

deemed it requisite for their future security to pay so far an exterior obeisance to the law as to desire a parliamentary indemnity for all their illegal proceedings on account of the necessity which it was pretended they lay under of employing force against the spensers and other evil counsellors enemies of the kingdom all the attainders also which had passed against the earl of lancaster and his adherents when the chance of war turned against them were easily reversed during the triumph of their party and the spensers whose former attainder had been reversed by parliament were now again in this change of fortune condemned by the votes of their enemies a council of regency was likewise appointed by parliament consisting of twelve persons five prelates the archbishops of canterbury and york the bishops of winchester worcester and hereford and seven lay peers the earls of norfolk kent and surrey and the lords wake ingham piercy and ross the earl of lancaster was appointed guardian and protector of the king's person

but though it was reasonable to expect that as the weakness of the former king had given reins to the licentiousness of the barons great domestic tranquillity would not prevail during the present minority the first disturbance arose from an invasion by foreign enemies the king of scots declining in years and health but retaining still that martial spirit which had raised his nation from the lowest ebb of fortune deemed the present opportunity favorable for infesting england he first made an attempt on the castle of norham in which he was disappointed he then collected an army of twenty-five thousand men on the frontiers and having given the command to the earl of murray and lord douglas threatened an incursion into the northern counties the english regency after trying in vain every expedient to restore peace with scotland made vigorous preparations for war and besides assembling an english army of nearly sixty thousand men they invited back john of hainault and some foreign cavalry whom they had dismissed

and whose discipline and arms had appeared superior to those of their own country young edward himself burning with a passion for military fame appeared at the head of these numerous forces and marched from durham the appointed place of rendezvous in quest of the enemy who had already broken into the frontiers and were laying everything waste around them murray and douglas were the two most celebrated warriors bred in the long hostilities between the scots and the english and their forces trained in the same school were inured to hardships fatigues and dangers were perfectly qualified by their habits and manner of life for that desultory and destructive war which they carried into england except a body of about four thousand cavalry well armed and fit to make a steady impression in battle the rest of the army were light-armed troops mounted on small horses which found subsistence everywhere and carried them with rapid and unexpected marches whether they meant to commit depredations on the peaceable inhabitants

or to attack an armed enemy or to retreat into their own country their whole equipage consisted of a bag of oatmeal which as a supply in case of necessity each soldier carried behind him together with a light plate of iron on which he instantly baked the meal into a cake in the open fields but his chief subsistence was the cattle which he seized and his cookery was as expeditious as all his other operations after flaying the animal he placed the skin loose and hanging in the form of a bag upon some stakes he poured water into it kindled a fire below and thus made it serve as a caldron for the boiling of his victuals the chief difficulty which edward met with after composing some dangerous phrase which broke out between his foreign forces and the english was to come up with an army so rapid in its marches and so little encumbered in its motions though the flame and smoke of burning villages directed him sufficiently to the place of their encampment he found upon hurrying thither that they had already dislodged and he soon discovered by new marks of devastation that they had removed to some distant quarter

after harassing his army during some time in this fruitless chase he advanced northwards and crossed the tyne with a resolution of awaiting them on their return homewards and taking vengeance for all their depredations but that whole country was already so much wasted by their frequent incursions that it could not afford subsistence to his army and he was obliged again to return southwards and change his plan of operations he had now lost all track of the enemy and though he promised the reward of a hundred pounds a year to any one who should bring him an account of their motions he remained inactive some days before he received any intelligence of them he found at last that they had fixed their camp on the southern banks of the weir as if they intended to await a battle but their prudent leaders had chosen the ground with such judgment that the english on their approach saw it impracticable without temerity to cross the river in their front and attack them in their present situation edward impatient for revenge and glory here sent them a defiance and challenged them if they dared to meet him in an equal field and try the fortune of arms

the bold spirit of douglas could ill brook this bravado and he advised the acceptance of the challenge but he was overruled by murray who replied to edward that he never took the counsel of an enemy in any of his operations the king therefore kept still his position opposite to the scots and daily expected that necessity would oblige them to change their quarters and give him an opportunity of overwhelming them with superior forces after a few days they suddenly decamped and marched further up the river but still posted themselves in such a manner as to preserve the advantage of the ground if the enemy should venture to attack them edward insisted that all hazards should be run rather than allow these ravagers to escape with impunity but mortimer's authority prevented the attack and opposed itself to the valor of the young monarch while the armies lay in this position an incident happened which had well-nigh proved fatal to the english douglas having gotten the word and surveyed exactly the situation of the english camp

entered it secretly in the night-time with a body of two hundred determined soldiers and advanced to the royal tent with a view of killing or carrying off the king in the midst of his army but some of edward's attendants awaking in that critical moment his chaplain and chamberlain sacrificed their lives for his safety the king himself after making a valorous defense escaped in the dark and douglas having lost the greater part of his followers was glad to make a hasty retreat with the remainder soon after the scottish army decamped without noise in the dead of night and having thus gotten the start of the english arrived without further loss in their own country edward on entering the place of the scottish encampment found only six englishmen whom the enemy after breaking their legs had tied to trees in order to prevent their carrying any intelligence to their countrymen

the king was highly incensed at the disappointment which he had met with in his first enterprise and at the head of so gallant an army the symptoms which he had discovered of bravery and spirit gave extreme satisfaction and were regarded as sure prognostics of an illustrious reign but the general displeasure fell violently on mortimer who was already the object of public odium and every measure which he pursued tended to aggravate beyond all bounds the hatred of the nation both against him and queen isabella when the council of regency was formed mortimer though in the plenitude of his power had taken no care to insure a place in it but this semblance of moderation was only a cover for the most iniquitous and most ambitious projects he rendered that council entirely useless by usurping to himself the whole sovereign authority he settled on the queen dowager the greater part of the royal revenues he never consulted either the princes of the blood or the nobility in any public measure

the king himself was so besieged by his creatures that no access could be procured to him and all the envy which had attended gaveston and spencer fell much more deservedly on the new favorite mortimer sensible of the growing hatred of the people thought it requisite on any terms to secure peace abroad and he entered into a negotiation with robert bruce for that purpose as the claim of superiority in england more than any other cause had tended to inflame the animosities between the two nations mortimer besides stipulating a marriage between jane sister of edward and david the son and heir of robert consented to resign absolutely this claim to give up all the homages done by the scottish parliament and nobility and to acknowledge robert as independent sovereign of scotland in return for these advantages robert stipulated the payment of thirty thousand marks to england this treaty was ratified by parliament

but was nevertheless the source of great discontent among the people who having entered zealously into the pretensions of edward i and deeming themselves disgraced by the successful resistance made by so inferior a nation or disappointed by this treaty in all future hopes both of conquest and of vengeance the princes of the blood kent norfolk and lancaster were much united in their councils and mortimer entertained great suspicions of their designs against him in summoning them to parliament he strictly prohibited them in the king's name from coming attended by an armed force an illegal but usual practice in that age the three earls as they approached to salisbury the place appointed for the meeting of parliament found that though they themselves in obedience to the king's command had brought only their usual retinue with them mortimer and his party were attended by all their followers in arms and they began with some reason to apprehend a dangerous design against their persons

they retreated assembled their retainers and were returning with an army to take vengeance on mortimer when the weakness of kent and norfolk who deserted the common cause obliged lancaster also to make his submissions the quarrel by the interposition of the prelates seemed for the present to be appeased but mortimer in order to intimidate the princes determined to have a victim and the simplicity with the good intentions of the earl of kent afforded him soon after an opportunity of practising upon him by himself and his emissaries he endeavored to persuade that prince that his brother king edward was still alive and detained in some secret prison in england the earl whose remorses for the part which he had acted against the late king probably inclined him to give credit to this intelligence entered into a design of restoring him to liberty of reinstating him on the throne and of making thereby some atonement for the injuries which he himself had unwarily done him

after this harmless contrivance had been allowed to proceed a certain length the earl was seized by mortimer was accused before the parliament and condemned by those slavish though turbulent barons to lose his life and fortune the queen and mortimer apprehensive of young edward's lenity towards his uncle hurried on the execution and the prisoner was beheaded next day but so general was the affection borne him and such pity prevailed for his unhappy fate that though piers had been easily found to condemn him it was evening before his enemies could find an executioner to perform the office the earl of lancaster on pretence of his having assented to this conspiracy was soon after thrown into prison many of the prelates and nobility were prosecuted mortimer employed this engine to crush all his enemies and to enrich himself and his family by the forfeitures the estate of the earl of kent was seized for his younger son geoffrey the immense fortunes of the spensers and their adherents were mostly converted to his own use

he affected a state and dignity equal or superior to the royal his power became formidable to every one his illegal practices were daily complained of and all parties forgetting past animosities conspired in their hatred of mortimer it was impossible that these abuses could long escape the observation of a prince endowed with so much spirit and judgment as young edward who being now in his eighteenth year and feeling himself capable of governing repined at being held in fetters by this insolent minister but so much was he surrounded by the emissaries of mortimer that it behooved him to conduct the project for subverting him with the same secrecy and precaution as if he had been forming a conspiracy against his sovereign he communicated his intentions to lord montacute who engaged the lords mullins and clifford sir john neville of hornby sir edward bohun

ufford and others to enter into their views and the castle of nottingham was chosen for the scene of the enterprise the queen dowager and mortimer lodged in that fortress the king also was admitted though with a few only of his attendants and as the castle was strictly guarded the gates locked every evening and the keys carried to the queen it became necessary to communicate the design to sir william eland the governor who zealously took part in it by his direction the king's associates were admitted through a subterraneous passage which had formerly been contrived for a secret outlet from the castle but was now buried in rubbish and mortimer without having it in his power to make resistance was suddenly seized in an apartment adjoining to the queen's a parliament was immediately summoned for his condemnation he was accused before that assembly of having usurped regal power from the council of regency appointed by parliament of having procured the death of the late king

of having deceived the earl of kent into a conspiracy to restore that prince of having solicited and obtained exorbitant grants of the royal domains of having dissipated the public treasure of secreting twenty thousand marks of the money paid by the king of scotland and of other crimes and misdemeanors the parliament condemned him from the supposed notoriety of the facts without trial or hearing his answer or examining a witness and he was hanged on a gibbet at the elms in the neighborhood of london it is remarkable that this sentence was near twenty years after reversed by parliament in favor of mortimer's son and the reason assigned was the illegal manner of proceeding the principles of law and justice were established in england not in such a degree as to prevent any iniquitous sentence against a person obnoxious to the ruling party but sufficient on the return of his credit or that of his friends to serve as reason or pretence for its reversal justice was also executed by a sentence of the house of peers on some of the inferior criminals

particularly on simon de bereford but the barons in that act of jurisdiction entered a protest that though they had tried bereford who was none of their peers they should not for the future be obliged to receive any such indictment the queen was confined to her own house at risings near london her revenue was reduced to four thousand pounds a year and though the king during the remainder of her life paid her a decent visit once or twice a year she was never able to reinstate herself in any credit or authority edward having now taken the reins of government into his own hands applied himself with industry and judgment to redress all those grievances which had proceeded either from want or authority in the crown or from the late abuses of it he issued writs to the judges enjoining them to administer justice without paying any regard to arbitrary orders from the ministers

and as the robbers thieves murderers and criminals of all kinds had during the course of public convulsions multiplied to an enormous degree and were openly protected by the great barons who made use of them against their enemies the king after exacting from the peers a solemn promise in parliament that they would break off all connections with such malefactors set himself in earnest to remedy the evil many of these gangs had become so numerous as to require his own presence to disperse them and he exerted both courage and industry in executing this salutary office the ministers of justice from his example employed the utmost diligence in discovering pursuing and punishing the criminals and this disorder was by degrees corrected at least palliated the utmost that could be expected with regard to a disease hitherto inherent in the constitution in proportion as the government acquired authority at home it became formidable to the neighboring nations

and the ambitious spirit of edward sought and soon found an opportunity of exerting itself the wise and valiant robert bruce who had recovered by arms the independence of his country and had fixed it by the last treaty of peace with england soon after died and left david his son a minor under the guardianship of randolph earl of murray the companion of all his victories it had been stipulated in this treaty that both the scottish nobility who before the commencement of the wars enjoyed lands in england and the english who inherited estates in scotland should be restored to their respective possessions but though this article had been executed pretty regularly on the part of edward robert who observed that the estates claimed by englishmen were much more numerous and valuable than the others either thought it dangerous to admit so many secret enemies into the kingdom or found it difficult to wrest from his own followers the possessions bestowed on them as the reward of former services

and he had protracted the performance of his part of the stipulation the english nobles disappointed in their expectations began to think of a remedy and as their influence was great in the north their enmity alone even though unsupported by the king of england became dangerous to the minor prince who succeeded to the scottish throne edward baliol that son of john who was crowned king of scotland had been detained some time a prisoner in england after his father was released but having also obtained his liberty he went over to france and resided in normandy on his patrimonial estate in that country without any thoughts of reviving the claims of his family to the crown of scotland his pretensions however plausible had been so strenuously abjured by the scots and rejected by the english that he was universally regarded as a private person and he had been thrown into prison on account of some private offence of which he was accused lord beaumont a great english baron who in the right of his wife claimed the earldom of buchan in scotland

found him in this situation and deeming him a proper instrument for his purpose made such interest with the king of france who was not aware of the consequences that he recovered him his liberty and brought him over with him to england chapter fifteen part one