A.D. 1282.

Llewelyn and his brother David are reconciled, and the Welsh attempt to recover their independence. They capture Hawarden, March 22; destroy the castles of Flint and Rhuddlan, and carry Roger de Clifford, the justiciary of North Wales, off prisoner. The king removes the law courts to Shrewsbury; hires soldiers from Gascony, and marches into Wales, July. Bodies of pioneers are employed to clear away the woods.

The English sustain severe loss in endeavouring to cross the river Conway, Nov. 6; Llewelyn, encouraged thereby, descends into the plains, but is surprised and killed by the marchers, Dec. 114.

A.D. 1283.

David, the brother of Llewelyn, surrenders himself. He is condemned during the sitting of parliament at Shrewsbury, and executed as a traitor, Sept. 20.

All armed opposition having, for the present, been overcome, the king proceeded to settle the state of his new dominions. Accordingly a statute, called the Statute of Wales [12 Edw. I.] was enacted at Rhuddlan, March 19, 1284, which alleges that "Divine Providence has now removed all obstacles, and transferred wholly and entirely to the king's dominion the land of Wales and its inhabitants, heretofore subject to him in feudal right." At the prayer of his new subjects the king grants that their ancient laws may be preserved in civil causes, but the law of inheritance is changed, and in criminal matters the English law is to be in force. Sanctuary is no longer to be allowed, but those who

its conquest, it had been seized by Charles of Anjou, brother of the French king, who defeated and killed Manfred, the natural son of the emperor Frederick II. The natives rose suddenly on the French, massacred great numbers of them (a butchery known as "the Sicilian Vespers," March 20), and, being assisted by the princes of Arragon, shook off their yoke. The quarrel between the Arragonese and the French was at last adjusted by King Edward. See A.D. 1286.

He is said to have been betrayed whilst sleeping in a barn by the people of Builth, in Brecknockshire, who had before refused to admit him into their town; hence they are styled bradwyr Buallt ("the traitors of Builth") by Welsh writers. His wife, the daughter of De Montfort,

would otherwise be entitled to it are to abjure the realm within a given time, proceeding by the high road, cross in hand, to some appointed seaport. Sheriffs are appointed for Anglesey, Caernarvon, Merioneth, and Flint, with coroners and bailiffs in each district, who are all placed under the supervision of the justice of Chester. The rest of the country remained as before under the jurisdiction of the marchers.

As the sincerity of the people's submission was reasonably doubted, the king erected many new strongholds, and re-edified others, constructing them on a plan so different from that of the Normans, that the term Edwardian is usually applied to them. Flint, Rhuddlan, Hawarden, Denbigh, Caernarvon, Conway, Beaumaris, and Harlech, in the immediate neighbourhood of Snowdon; Cilgarran, in the palatinate of Pembroke; and Caerphilly, in the honour of Glamorgan, are among the number. As a further security, bodies of English were planted in convenient stations, and endowed with municipal privileges; from these "borough, or English towns," Welshmen were rigidly excluded, not being allowed to hold either lands or office therein.

Popular tradition charges the king with a systematic massacre of the Welsh bards, but this odious accusation appears to be unfounded, though the order may be said almost to have disappeared with the complete subjugation of their country. bards, as we see from the laws of Dyvnwal Moelmuds, considered themselves the leading order in the state; they also claimed the right of cele

The

had died shortly before. Their only child (Wenciliana), and the daughters of his brother David were carried into England, and became nuns at Sempringham, a pension of 20 each being paid for them. Wenciliana was alive in Oct. 1327, but how much longer is not known.

The cost was in part borne by the see of York, (vacant by the death of Archbishop Wickwane,) its revenues from August, 1285, to April, 1286, being devoted to the purpose. They amounted to £1812 125. 4d., equal to £30,000 now.

f Among them may be named, Montgomery, Radnor, Brecknock, and Caermarthen, which had before been in the hands of the lords marchers, but were now annexed to the crown.

6 See A.D. 640.

brating marriage under the oak-tree, and ostentatiously retained many ceremonies of Druidic origin; they were thus avowedly hostile to, and disliked by, the clergy, who for ages had maintained a closer connexion with England than the rest of their countrymen. Many of the bards too were bitter satirists, and branded their opponents as betrayers of their country; they also, we know, often bore arms, and many doubtless perished in the field; others would probably be denounced, and thus meet with death as traitors; hence their disappearance under the English rule may be reasonably accounted for, without imputing such deep personal guilt to the conqueror.

A.D. 1283.

The Statute of Merchants [11 Edw. I.] to facilitate the recovery of their debts, passed Oct. 12, at Acton Burnell, in Shropshire.

A.D. 1284.

Margaret of Norway acknowledged as heir to the crown of Scotland, at Scone, Feb. 5*.

The king promises again to go to the Holy Land. The pope (Martin IV.) in consequence grants him absolution for all crimes committed by him in the wars with the barons and the Welsh', May 26.

A.D. 1285.

The king solemnly presents at Westminster many rich spoils from Wales. Among them are "a large piece of the true cross," and other famous relics adorned with gems and gold, and "the crown of King Arthur.”

See especially A.D. 872, 918, 1120.

There is another statute of the same name [13 Edw. I. c. 3] passed in 1285, to give better effect to the provisions of the former, but it is expressly provided that the Jews are not to be benefited thereby.

She was the grandchild of Alexander III. and Margaret, the sister of Edward I., by Margaret, their daughter, who married Eric, king of Norway. 1 The Welsh churches seem to have been plundered, and on June 15 the king ordered their temporalities to be restored. He also appointed commissioners to report on any injuries that they had received, June 25, and before the end of the year the sum of £445 was granted as compensation.

This statute presents a curious picture of the times. No armed men are to be seen in the street after the curfew has tolled at St. Martin's le Grand

A statute passed to redress disorders in London [13 Edw. I. c. 5.]

Justices of assize appointed, to go into every shire twice or thrice a-year for the more speedy administration of justice [13 Edw. I. c. 30.]

A.D. 1286.

Alexander III. of Scotland dies, March 16. Six regents are chosen to govern the kingdom in the minority of his grand-daughter Margaret".

and renews his homage at Paris, June The king goes to France, May 13, 5. He then reduces Gascony to obedience, and stays there three years; Edmund, earl of Cornwall, is regent.

The king arbitrates between the French and the Arragonese on account of Sicily.

A.D. 1287.

The king, being seized with severe illness, again assumes the cross.

The Welsh, under Rhys ap Meredith, attempt to shake off the English yoke, June. They are subdued before the end of the year by Robert Tiptoft, the king's justiciary, and their leader carried to York and hanged.

A.D. 1288.

The pope (Nicholas IV.) grants to the king the tenth of the revenues of "all the churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland," to enable him to undertake his crusade P.

A.D. 1289.

The king returns to England, August 12. He directs a strict inquiry to be made into the conduct of the judges, sheriffs, and other officers during his absence, Oct. 13. In consequence, he banishes some of the

have fled their country;" none but freemen are to keep taverns, and none are to teach fencing in the city under heavy penalties.

She remained in Norway with her father until 1290, when, a marriage having been arranged for her with Edward, prince of Wales, the king despatched a ship to fetch her to England, where she was to remain under his guardianship until he should consider Scotland in a sufficiently settled state for her to go there in safety. She, however, fell ill at sea, and being landed in the Orkneys, she died there, Oct. 7, and was buried in the cathedral of St. Magnus at Kirkwall.

• He was a descendant of Owen Gwynneth, and had sided with the English against Llewelyn in the expectation of being placed on the throne in his stead, but was contemptuously treated when the war was over.

P The king did not at once avail himself of this grant, as the survey (known as the Taxation of Pope Nicholas) was not made until 1291 and 1292: and when the money was collected, he used it for his war against France.

guilty, (among them Thomas de Weyland, the chief justice,) and imposes heavy fines upon others.

The marriage treaty of Prince Edward and Margaret of Norway concluded at Salisbury, Nov. 6, between the kings of England and Norway, their parents. It recognises Scotland as "free, absolute, and independent," but with a general saving of any claims of the English kings.

A.D. 1290.

"The fierce multitude of the Jews," with their wives and children, are ordered to leave England, July 27. The feast of All Saints (Nov. 1) was the period assigned, which they were not to exceed on pain of death.

The king takes possession of the Isle of Man, at the request of the inhabitants, September.

Margaret of Norway, queen of Scotland, dies, Oct. 7.

No less than thirteen different parties laid claim to the throne of Scot

Arms of Scotland.

land when it became vacant by the death of the Maid of Norway. Contrary to all received notions of inheritance, one of these was her father, Eric of Norway; Florence, count of Holland, was a second, but his claim was withdrawn. Among the other competitors, only three need be named; these were, John Balliol lord of Galloway, Robert Bruce earl of Annandale, and John Hastings lord of Abergavenny and seneschal of Aquitaine; they were all descended from daughters of David earl of Huntingdon, the younger brother of Malcolm IV. and William the Lion, and grandson of David I.

Balliol was the grandson of Mar

These fines are said to have amounted to the enormous sum of 100,000 marks, or much more than the annual revenue of the kingdom.

They seem to have been personally odious to

garet, the eldest daughter; Bruce, the son of Isabel, the second daughter; Hastings, the grandson of Ada, the third daughter. Hastings desired a share only of the kingdom, but as the state was wisely held by all parties to be indivisible, his claims were at once negatived, and the competitors reduced in reality to two, John Balliol and Robert Bruce. The states of the kingdom had not the courage to decide between them, and in an evil hour for their country they resolved to appeal to the judgment of the king of England, as their only resource for avoiding a civil war.

A.D. 1291.

The Crusades are brought to a close by the capture of Acre, and the few other strongholds of the Christians on the Syrian coast.

The disputed succession to the crown of Scotland is referred to the king of England for his decision.

He repairs to Norham, on the banks of the Tweed, with a large army, and as a first step claims to be acknowledged "sovereign lord of the land of Scotland," May 10, which is conceded to him, after long debate, by letters patent under the hands of nine of the

the result of the appeal does not appear, but may be very probably conjectured.

Their moveables they were allowed to take with them, but no compensation appears to have been made for the houses,

Windsor and from Gascony; and had also granted letters patent to his mother forbidding them to remain on any of her manors. Among the Royal Letters in the Public Record Office is one from her, complaining of a Jew (Jacob Cok), who having been expelled from her town of Andover, had had the hardihood to appeal to the king's courts, and "contemptuously to charge her servant Guy de Tauton with felony and robbery." What was

The king granted passes to them, to the number of 16,511, and strictly forbade any injury to be done to them. Some mariners who, for the sake of plunder, drowned a number of them at the mouth of the Thames, were executed.

John Comyn, earl of Badenoch (afterwards killed by the younger Bruce), another of the competitors, was the son of Marjory, a younger daughter of Margaret.

of Scotland at the shrine of Edward the Confessor, June 18.

Several of the Scottish nobles sub

mit to Warrenne at Irvine, July 9 Wallace, a simple knight, keeps the field.

The king promises to renew Magna Charta, and sails for Flanders, Aug. 22, with a large fleet, leaving his son Edward as regent.

Warrenne, the guardian, is defeated by Wallace at Cambuskenneth, near Stirling, Sept. 10. Wallace also ravages the north of England.

The earls of Hereford and Norfolk forbid the sheriffs to levy any taxes until Magna Charta is again confirmed.

Prince Edward sends it and the

Charter of the Forests to the king, who confirms them at Ghent, Nov. 5.

A.D. 1298.

A two years' truce with France is concluded, and the king returns to England, landing at Sandwich, March 14.

Edward marches towards Scotland, which he enters in June, while his fleet proceeds to the Frith of Forth. He defeats the Scots at Falkirk, July 22, and after ravaging the west of Scotland returns to England.

was the nephew of the preceding earl. He served against Llewelyn, and long had the custody of the castles of Bristol and Nottingham, but at length was deprived of them. He received a pardon for his conduct on the present occasion, but he was eventually obliged to surrender his hereditary office and his lands to the king, by a deed dated at Colchester, April 12, 1302; they were regranted for his life only, July 12. He died in 1307, when the office of marshal was given to the king's son, Thomas of Brotherton.

Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and Essex, and lord constable, succeeded his grandfather (who had been an active partisan of De

Arms of Bohun, earl of Hereford.

Montfort) in 1275. He served in Wales, France, and Scotland, withstood the arbitrary proceedings of the king, and died in 1298, shortly after Magna Charta had been confirmed, mainly by his efforts. His son, also named Humphrey, married the king's

A.D. 1299.

John Balliol is released from conof the pope, and retires to France*. finement, July 18, at the intercession

The Scots appoint a regency, placing continue the war. Bruce' and Comyn at its head, and

19.

A truce concluded with France, June

The importation of false money prolated [27 Edw. I. st. 3]. hibited, and foreign exchanges regu

The king of France overruns Flan-
A.D. 1300.

ders.

The king seizes a large sum of money in the hands of the Minorites".

Magna Charta and the Charter of the Forests again confirmed, March 28, and ordered to be proclaimed in future four times in every year.

The royal army assembles at Carlisle, June 24. It enters Scotland early in July, ravages Galloway", and returns to England in November.

The pope (Boniface VIII.) claims the supremacy of Scotland, in virtue of which he demands the release of the Scottish ecclesiastics in the king's hands, and the withdrawal of his troops P.

daughter, Elizabeth, but met his death in the field while opposing the proceedings of Edward II. and his favourites.

8 He also placed there the "stone of destiny" from Scone. The stone is still at Westminster imbedded in the coronation chair, but the regalia were restored in the reign of Edward III.

b Hugh Cressingham, the treasurer, who had been guilty of great oppression in the discharge of his office, was among the killed; his body was horribly mutilated by the victors.

A formal pardon was at the same time granted to the earls of Hereford and Norfolk, "at the special request of our dear son Edward" and his council.

He died there, at his castle of Bailleul, in 13141 The son of the competitor for the crown, who died in 1294.

m He told them that the rule of St. Francis, their founder, rendered poverty obligatory on them, and he could not, as a Christian king, allow it to be violated.

One of the castles taken was that of Carlaverock, on the Nith, the siege of which forms the subject of a curious contemporary poem. See Note,

A truce granted to the Scots at the intercession of the king of France, Oct. 30.

A.D. 1301.

A parliament assembles at Lincoln, Jan. 20, to consider the pope's demands. It agrees to a letter asserting the feudal dependence of Scotland, and refusing to allow the king to send ambassadors to justify his conduct, Feb. 12.

The king also replies in a similar tone, May 7.

The principality of Wales granted to the king's eldest son, Feb. 7.

The king again invades Scotland, in July. He meets little opposition, and passes the winter there.

A.D. 1302.

A truce concluded with the Scots, Jan. 26, until St. Andrew's day, (Nov. 30).

The Flemings defeat the French at Cambray, July 11.

Proposals are made for peace with France, but Philip refuses to treat unless the Scots are included, and also requires the king to pass over in person to negotiate.

The parliament refuses to allow the king to go to France, treating the demand as an insult.

A.D. 1303.

Stirling castle is taken by the Scots, Feb. 18. The English defeated at Roslin by Comyn, the regent, Feb. 24.

Peace is made with France, Gascony being restored, and the Scots abandoned to the vengeance of Edward, May 20.

Two copies of this remarkable document still exist among the public records.

The pope (Boniface VIII.) had promoted him to the see on the refusal of the archbishop of Canterbury (Robert Winchelsey) to consecrate the king's nominee, and in his bull professed to grant him the temporalities as well as the spiritualities. The bishop was obliged to renounce the so-called grant, and paid the above heavy fine for "his transgression in admitting that the pope had power to dispose of the said temporalities." (Patent Roll, 31 Edw. I., m. 39-]

He died in April, 1304, and his son, who had throughout adhered to the English interest, succeeded to his earldom of Annandale, but continued to pass his time in Edward's court.

Fines of from one to five years' rents were imposed on some, the bishop of Glasgow and some few other persons were banished, and Wallace was "left to the mercy of King Edward our Lord."

John de Segrave was one of the king's most experienced commanders, and was constable of his army in the expedition to Scotland in 1296. He was also governor of Berwick; and under Edward II. he was made keeper of the forests north

The king again invades Scotland, in June, and advances as far as the Moray Frith. He captures Brechin, Aug. 9; burns Dunfermline, and passes the winter in that country.

William de Geynesburg, bishop of Worcester, is fined 1,000 marks for an alleged contempt of the king's authority.

Robert Bruces and many other Scottish nobles submit.

A.D. 1304.

Comyn, the guardian, concludes a treaty with the king, Feb. 4.

A parliament held at St. Andrew's, under the orders of Edward, at which

the Scottish nobles in general make their submission to him, and the garrison of Stirling castle are declared outlaws.

Stirling is besieged by the king, in April; it surrenders, July 24, when the lives of the garrison are spared at the intercession of the English nobles.

The king returns to England, leaving John de Segrave as governor of Scotland".

A.D. 1305.

The writ of Trailbâton issued, April 6. This writ sets forth that murderers, incendiaries, thieves, and other violators of the king's peace abound, and directs the sheriffs of each county to call to their aid good and legal men to make inquiry as to all such offenders and their abettors. The parties discovered were tried before a kind of special commissioners who visited each district, and promptly and rigorously punished.

of Trent, which included the custody of the castles of Nottingham and Derby. He was taken

Arms of Lord Segrave.

prisoner at Bannockburn, but soon exchanged, and received a large grant as compensation for his services. In 1323, being suspected of having favoured the escape of Roger Mortimer from the Tower, he was sent in disgrace to Gascony, where he shortly after died, in the 70th year of his age.