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A.D. 1319. The king, assisted by the Cinque Ports fleet, besieges Berwick, but is unable to retake it.

A two years' truce concluded, Dec. 21, between “Edward, king of England" and "Sir Robert de Brus."

A.D. 1320. The king goes to France, and does homage for his possessions there, June, July.

A parliament held in October, in which the supremacy of the English in the narrow seas is asserted i.

The king chooses a new favourite, Hugh Spenser, and bestows vast estates on him3.

A.D. 1321. The earl of Hereford and other nobles ravage Spenser's lands, and form an association to drive him and his father from the kingdom.

They seize on London, hold a parliament, and banish the Spensers, Aug. 19.

i By authority of parliament a treaty was concluded with the Flemings, for the redress of various grievances of which they had complained; in the proceedings it is stated on both sides that the king is "lord of the sea" between England and Britanny.

He gave him in marriage Eleanor, one of the co-heiresses of the earl of Gloucester (who had been killed at Bannockburn); a great part of South Wales thus fell to his share, but he was soon embroiled with his neighbours, the marchers, among whom Roger Mortimer was one of the most formidable.

This favourite, unlike Gaveston, was of noble family. His greatgrandfather was sheriff of Salop and Stafford, and keeper of the castle of Bridgnorth in the early part of the reign of Henry III.; his grandfather was in the service of Richard, king of the Romans, but afterwards joined the barons, became their justiciary, and was killed on their side at Evesham; his father served with great reputation in all the wars of Edward I., and was one of his commis sioners to conclude a peace with France. consequence of the favour of his son the elder Spenser was created earl of Winchester, in 1322, and he was involved in his fall.

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Arms of Despenser.

The younger Spenser turned pirate, and seized many rich vessels, particularly two large ships at Sandwich.

The queen is refused admission into Leeds castle', in Kent; the king marches against it, and having captured it, hangs the governor, Oct. 31.

He recalls the Spensers, and ravages the lands of the barons.

The earl of Lancaster forms an alliance with the Scots, and draws together his partisans in the north of England.

A.D. 1322. The king marches against the barons. Lancaster retreats before him; is defeated and taken prisoner at Boroughbridge, March 16, tried by a military council, and executed at Pontefract, March 22 Many of his adherents are slainm, others taken, (among the latter, Roger Mortimer" and lord Badlesmere,) and their estates given to Spenser.

This was one of the royal castles, but the keeper, Lord Badlesmere, who was also warden of the Cinque Ports and the king's steward, had joined the earl of Lancaster. Being captured at Boroughbridge, he was sent into Kent, and hanged at Blean, near Canterbury.

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Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, was among them. He was the son of the earl of Hereford already mentioned (see p. 356), and in 1302 he married Elizabeth, daughter to the king, and widow of John, count of Holland. Like his father he held the office of constable, and served in the Scottish wars, and being taken at Bannockburn was exchanged for the wife of Robert Bruce. He vehemently opposed the favourites of his brother-in-law, was one of the peers appointed to regulate his household, and in every way supported the earl of Lancaster, being at last killed in his cause, March 16, 1322; his wife died in May, 1316, and was buried at Walden, and in his will, made at Gosforth, 11th August, 1319, he desires to be buried beside her, but his wish was neglected, and he was interred in the church of the Friars Preachers at York.

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Seal of Bohun, earl of Hereford.

Roger Mortimer, lord of Wigmore, was born in 1287, and on the death of his father (Edmund, son of the chief opponent of De

The king invades Scotland, but without effecting anything, and his forces are greatly harassed on their retreat. A.D. 1323. Sir Andrew Harcla, warden of the west marches, is detected in correspondence with the Scots, and executed.

A truce for thirteen years concluded with Scotland, May 30.

Roger Mortimer escapes to France; others of the Lancastrian party ravage Spenser's lands.

The king is summoned to France to do homage to the new king, Charles IV.

A.D. 1324. The French attempt the conquest of Gascony.

A.D. 1325. The queen, being sent to France, arranges a treaty on the affairs of Gascony, May 31.

The king, unwilling to leave England, and thus expose his favourite to the vengeance of the barons, transfers his foreign possessions to his son Edward, and sends him to do homage for them, September.

The queen forms an intrigue with Roger Mortimer, and refuses to return to England unless the Spensers are banished; the earl of Kent (the king's brother) joins her.

A.D. 1326. The queen contracts her son Edward

He

Montfort,) was placed in the guardianship of Piers Gaveston. He served in Scotland, had also the office of great justiciary of Wales, and in 1317 was appointed lieutenant of Ireland. He supported the earl of Lancaster, and being taken prisoner was committed to the Tower. After a time he escaped and repaired to France, when his wife and daughters were seized and imprisoned in his stead. shortly after returned to England, and in concert with the queen governed the kingdom at his pleasure, being created earl of March, and enriched by vast grants, but was suddenly seized by order of the young king, tried, convicted of treason, and hung at Tyburn, Nov. 29, 1330. After remaining some days on the gibbet, his body was buried in his castle of Ludlow, in a chapel which he had erected and dedicated to St. Peter ad Vincula to commemorate his own escape from the Tower in the time of Edward II.

to Philippa of Hainault, whose father, William, count of Holland, supplies a small force to invade England.

The queen lands at Orwell, accompanied by the earl of Kent and Roger Mortimer, and other exiles, Sept. 24. Her troops are commanded by John de Beaumont, brother of the count of Holland.

The queen is joined by many of the barons; the king flees from London, and is pursued into Wales.

Walter Stapeldon, bishop of Exeter and treasurer, is seized and beheaded, Oct. 15; Robert de Baldock, the king's secretary, is thrown into Newgate°.

The elder Spenser is taken at Bristol, and hangea, Oct. 27. Prince Edward proclaimed “guardian of the realm.” The king embarks for Ireland; is driven back by bad weather; is seized at Neath, Nov. 16, and carried prisoner to Kenilworth.

Spenser is captured at the same time; is executed at Hereford, Nov. 24.

A.D. 1327. A parliament meets at Westminster, Jan. 7, when the king is deposed; the sentence is notified to him at Kenilworth, Jan. 20, and he is placed in the keeping of Henry, earl of Lancaster.

• He died there May 28, 1327.

P The young prince Edward was immediately proclaimed king in Westminster Hall, "Edward the Third," but he refused to accept the title without his father's consent; the bishops of Hereford and Lincoln, (Adam Orleton and Henry Burghursh,) one of the judges, and several of the barons proceeded to Kenilworth, to obtain this the royal prisoner simply replied that he was in their power, and submitted to their will. The two prelates must have been particularly obnoxious to him; Orleton had been placed in his see by the pope, after a long contest with the king, and had appeared in arms against him at Boroughbridge; and Burghursh was the nephew of Lord Badlesmere. See p. 371.

9 Brother of the earl executed in 1322.

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EDWARD, eldest son of Edward II. and Isabella of France, born at Windsor Nov. 13, 1312, succeeded to the throne on the deposition of his father in 1327.

The first few years of the reign thus inauspiciously commenced were passed in a kind of tutelage, all real power being in the hands of Queen Isabella and her paramour, Roger Mortimer. They concluded a peace with Scotland, which acknowledged the independence of that kingdom, put the deposed king to death, and publicly executed his brother, the earl of Kent; but at length Edward made himself independent of them, when Mortimer was hanged, and the queen-mother put under restraint for the remainder of her life.

Soon after this the attack on Scotland was renewed, by Edward Baliol, the son of the former king, which, though at first successful, eventually failed; and a little later commenced a contest for the crown of France, which forms the great distinguishing feature of Edward's reign. His claim was contrary to the French law, and

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