raise troops. CHAP. 11. sent one of his attendants, Robert de Holand,* whom he had taken out of Sends Robert his buttery, and preferred to the dignity of knighthood, with an income in de Holand to land (chiefly in Derbyshire) of two thousand marks a year, into Lancashire and the northern parts of Derbyshire, to bring up the levies in those parts. While the earl of Lancaster remained at Tutbury, the earls of Hereford, Mowbray and de Lisle advanced through Coventry and Lichfield, closely pursued by the king and the two Spencers. In order to favour the passage of his associates and oppose their pursuers, the earl sent troops from the castle of Tutbury to seize the bridge at Burton ; but the re-enforcements which Sir Robert de Holand had engaged to levy, and on which the royal earl greatly depended, not having arrived, he was unable to take measures for defending the ford at Walton.-After a short but severe conflict at Burton, the king and the two Spencers withdrew to Walton, where they passed the Trent, with the intention of seizing and laying waste the possessions which the earl of Lancaster so extensively held in Derbyshire. The devastation was carried on with all the spirit of malicious revenge, and the earl and his associates finding themselves too inferior to meet the king in a field of battle, withdrew, after a few skirmishes, from the castle of Tutbury and retreated towards the north.t The King takes Tutbury. The Earl of Lancaster arrives at Pontefract. The king and the Spencers immediately entered Tutbury castle, but the cupidity of the favourites was disappointed of the booty they expected to have found there, the earl having sent forward his treasures to his castle at Pontefract, where he intended to fix his head quarters. A commission was, however, drawn up by the younger Spencer, and signed by the king at Tutbury, March 11th, 1321, commanding Edmund, Earl of Kent, and John de Warren, earl of Surrey, to pursue and arrest the earl of Lancaster and his confederates. When the patriotic prince arrived at Pontefract he held a consultation with the barons who accompanied him, in the cloisters of the Black Friars in that town, and they were of opinion that he should proceed onward to the castle of Dunstanburgh, a castle of his own in Northumberland, but he declared he would not place himself in a position in which he might be liable to the accusation of holding a correspondence with the Scots, the * Dugdale (Vol. II. p. 73.) says that the rise and advancement of this Robert de Holand was by being secretary to Thomas, earl of Lancaster and Derby, who obtained for him a grant from the crown, in fee, of the manors of Melbourn, Newton, Osmaston, Swarkstone, Chellaston, Normanton and Wyveleston, in this county. + About the middle of June, 1831, an immense quantity of silver coins, of ancient date, was found completely buried in the sands and alluvia of the river Dove, near the castle of Tutbury. The particulars of this discovery will be given in another part of this work. There is great probability that this treasure (as a writer in the Derby Mercury intimates) was concealed by the earl of Lancaster on the occasion above narrated; and we fully agree with that writer in the following reasons given by him for his very judicious surmise. 1st. The magnitude of the treasure, which could only belong to a powerful baron. 2nd. That no coin after the period of Edward II. has been found, therefore the treasure was most probably hidden during that reign. 3rd. That as the earl alone might be privy to the concealment, and as his own friends were debarred access to him after his imprisonment, and as he might be unwilling to divulge the secret to his enemies; so it would die with him, or if divulged, the exact spot of concealment might never have been discovered. 4th. It may be inferred, as few or none of the groats, or half groats were found, and only pennies, that the money was intended for the payment of the troops, and might have been concealed during his very short abode at Tutbury; and flying from an enemy he might not think it prudent to carry it with him. northward. bridge. enemies of his country. Some of the few barons who continued among CHAP. 11. his remaining adherents, were extremely irritated at his determination: they saw that without assistance from Scotland they must yield to the king and his favourites, and as they were sure that no mercy would be shown them, they hoped that by reaching a place of security on the borders, they should at least be afforded opportunities of escaping out of the kingdom. The brave and patriotic earl, however, strongly resisted their persuasions, until, at length, Sir Roger de Clifford drew his dagger, and backed by others, swore that he would stab the earl to the heart if he would not accompany them northward. Thus compelled to yield to their Marches resolves, with less than seven hundred men, he continued his march from Pontefract, and with the king's troops close upon his rear, he reached Boroughbridge, where he sustained, with considerable advantage, the attack of the earl of Warren, while Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, the firmest of his adherents, attempted to make himself master of the bridge, which was defended by lord Latimer, with some troops from York, and by Sir Andrew de Harcla, of Carlisle, with the militia from Cumberland. The conflict on the bridge was desperate and sanguinary, and the earl of Conflict at Hereford had nearly taken possession of the pass, when a soldier, who had Boroughconcealed himself under one of the arches of the bridge, leapt up and thrust him through the body with his spear. His followers, dismayed by this occurrence, gave way and fell back upon the main body commanded by the earl of Lancaster. The battle continued, but on very unequal terms. Lord Latimer and the earl of Surrey speedily surrounded the small remnant of the royal earl's adherents, who were, in a very short time, either slain or taken prisoners. The earl of Lancaster, Roger de Clifford, John de Mowbray, Warren de Lisle and several others, were taken back to Pontefract, where the king and the two Spencers had arrived. On their journey they were treated with every indignity. The earl of Lancaster was, in particu- Taken lar, insulted by the sycophants that surrounded the king: a paper crown prisoner. was put upon his head, and he was saluted by the title of king Arthur, it having been insinuated, that under the pretence of taking arms to redress the grievances of the people, he had aspired at the throne. In the castle of Pontefract, which so lately had been his own, he found arrayed against him, on each side of Edward and the two Spencers, many of the barons who had been among his earliest confederates, and even instigators in an undertaking, the object of which was the just enforcement of the laws. It gave him a severe pang, when he beheld among his judges, Valence, earl of Pembroke, who had urged him, in the former insurrection against Piers de Gaveston, the king's former favourite, to support by his rank and power the cause of the barons and of the people, against the tyranny and avarice of the king and his ministers. The tribunal, before which he stood, was not long in pronouncing his fate. He was sentenced to be drawn, hanged and quartered; but the king, in consideration of his being so nearly related to himself, consented that he should be beheaded, and that the other practices attending the execution of a person condemned as a traitor should be omitted. He suffered on the 23rd of March, 1322; and many of his Execution. followers perished also on the scaffold and the gibbet.- Few men of his Execution. CHAP. 11. elevated rank were, at that period, so loved and reverenced by the people. His grave was thronged by multitudes, who believed that miracles were wrought by his remains, and the hill where he suffered was the constant resort of thousands, who could not be kept away, until their devotion to his memory was in some degree satisfied by the erection of a church on the spot where he died. In the next reign he was actually canonized, and his picture being set up in St. Paul's cathedral in London, it was regarded as an object of adoration by the common people, who always mentioned him by the appellation of the good earl of Lancaster. Robert de Roger de Mortimer. Robert de Holand, who, we already have stated, was sent by the earl of Lancaster to raise troops, and to conduct them to the castle of Tutbury, seems to have been generally suspected of having betrayed the noble earl, his benefactor and patron. The particulars of his treachery are not related by the historians of that period, but we shall find that a strong belief in it entertained by the public was ultimately the occasion of his death. On receiving intelligence of the defeat and capture of the earl of Lancaster and his friends at Boroughbridge, he surrendered himself to the king at Derby. He was sent prisoner to Dover castle. The overthrow of the earl of Lancaster's party and the death of that excellent prince, left the avidity and tyranny of the two Spencers without controul. Still they did not think their vengeance to be complete while Roger Mortimer was alive, who had been one of the most active partisans in the confederacy against them. He was in their power, and they procured his condemnation, but the queen found means so effectually to intercede in his favour, that his execution was continually delayed. The people, disgusted at the great sacrifice of life on the scaffold, which had followed the battle of Boroughbridge, and irritated at the death of a prince so generally beloved by them, were kept in a state of excitation by the emissaries of the queen, who everywhere declaimed against the recent severities, and the Spencers were afraid to crush one whom they knew to be their most inveterate enemy, and whom they held in their grasp. Sir Stephen Segrave was constable of the tower at that time; a brave soldier, who was not likely to betray a trust confided to him, however he might commiserate the condition of his prisoner. Segrave had a soldier from his own manor of Alspath in Warwickshire, named Gerard, who was little troubled with those scruples that are so intimately connected with military duties. To Gerard of Alspath the custody of Sir Roger de Mortimer had been confided, and through his means a correspondence was carried on between Mortimer and the queen, and a plot was laid to facilitate the escape of the former from the tower and his passage into France. On the evening appointed for this purpose, Mortimer invited the governor to sup with him. The old warrior loved to indulge in a social glass, and his memory was stored with many of the occurrences of the Scots wars, which he was fond of relating; and particularly his own capture at the fatal battle of Bannockburn, where he, at the head of a company of his brave tenantry (many of whom were from Bretby, Rosleston and his other manors in Derbyshire) had actually driven a division of the Scottish army from the field, when, being deserted by those who ought to have supported them, they were sur rounded by the enemy and made prisoners. The wine was potent, and in CHAP. 11. some that was particularly relished by the governor there had been infused a soporific drug. He fell fast asleep, and Mortimer prepared to effect his Mortimer escape. Some persons concerned in the plot were of opinion that they escapes. should avail themselves of this opportunity to make themselves masters of the tower, which would encourage an immediate insurrection of the Londoners: but Mortimer receiving a private intimation from the queen that one of the Spencers, with a body of men, was hastening to the tower, he privately made his escape by means of a rope supplied him by Gerard. It is asserted that he was afterwards concealed in the queen's chamber for several days, and at last sailed for France in a French vessel that was moored in the river Thames. Several of Mortimer's friends were seized by the Spencers, and Gerard de Alspath was hanged on the spot. The governor Segrave was reprimanded and sent to Guienne. Queen Isabella soon found a pretence to follow Mortimer to France. The Spencers seconded her intentions, for the younger of them believed that his influence over the king would be complete in her absence, and therefore when it was proposed that she should repair to the court of her brother, Charles the Fair, of France, in order to accommodate certain differences that existed between the two courts, the Spencers persuaded the king to give his consent to her mission. The Queen follows him to France. Among those who at the particular desire of the queen were appointed Henry de to accompany her, as her council of embassy, to the court of Paris, was Beaumont. Henry de Beaumont, a foreigner, advanced in years, who appears to have been very nearly related to Eleanor of Castile, the first wife of Edward I. and mother of the reigning monarch. This Henry de Beaumont had been in the Scottish wars, where he was greatly distinguished for his bravery, and on the marriage of Edward II. with Isabella of France, he was in the train of the English king, to whom he was so intimately allied, that in sundry grants he is termed, consanguineus regis. He was for many years joined in commission with the earl of Angus to guard the southern districts of Scotland, and was present at the unfortunate battle of Bannockburn. So inveterate an enmity had he conceived against the Scots, that during a discussion in the privy council, relative to a truce with that nation, he, perceiving how the king and his chief advisers were inclined, kept silent. Edward, anxious probably to have his approbation of a measure which he was conscious would not be popular, called upon him to give his advice. "My advice," replied De Beaumont, in a loud and offensive tone, " will not be followed, and therefore I will not give it." The king, irritated at his conduct, commanded him to quit the council chamber. De Beaumont rose, and as he went out, exclaimed, that "seeing what disgraceful counsels were prevalent there, he had rather be gone than stay." The two Spencers were present, and the guard was instantly called to arrest him for his contumelious behaviour, but Henry de Percy and Ralph de Neville started forward and became his sureties. Habituated from his youth to regard the subjugation of Scotland as the most important object of English policy, he saw with grief that the money so repeatedly raised under the pretence of carrying on the war, was lavished upon unworthy favourites. CHAP. 11. He had also a personal motive for his anxiety on this matter. He had Henry de married Alicia, the niece and heiress of the earl of Buchan, constable of Beaumont, Scotland, and, in right of his wife, he had assumed the title and claimed the estates of the deceased earl. Edward's loss of that supremacy which his father had acquired over the Scottish realm, had occasioned the confiscation of these and other possessions claimed under similar titles by several of the barons of the English court; and this was the cause of much of that discontent which was ever ready to break forth against him and his ad Plot against the Spencers. Arrival of ward in Paris. Philippa of visers. Previous to the departure of the queen, a plot for the overthrow of the Spencers had been extensively espoused by the barons, but the actual dethronement of the king was probably contemplated by few. Among the conspirators were the king's brothers, Edmund, earl of Kent, and Thomas de Brotherton, earl of Norfolk and high marshal of the realm: prince Henry, the brother of the earl of Lancaster and Derby, was also actively engaged in promoting the objects of the confederacy. When the queen arrived at Paris, it became the determination of the conspirators to separate the young prince Edward, at that time a spirited youth not thirteen years of age, from his father, and to get him into the hands of Isabella and her adherents. For this purpose, the king of France was urged by his sister first to insist upon the homage of Edward for the province of Guienne, and afterwards to suffer himself to be persuaded by the representations of De Beaumont and the other ambassadors, to accept the personal homage of the young prince instead of that of Edward himself. The two Spencers might have perceived the advantage they placed in the hands of their enemies by entrusting them with the person of the heir apparent to the crown, but as they were in possession of the king himself, in whose name they carried on their system of plunder and tyranny, and as the homage could not not be refused without the certainty of a war for Guienne itself, they yielded to the expedient of sending the prince to his mother. Immediately upon the arrival of young Edward in Paris, the English, who had either sought refuge in that country or had been banished by the Spencers from their own, hastened to pay their respects to him and the queen. Roger de Mortimer had waited for this opportunity to join her, and became the most intimate of her counsellors. By his advice a negociation was opened with the earl of Hainault for a body of troops to accompany herself and the confederates to England, and in order to secure Affianced to an object of this importance, she did not hesitate to affiance the young prince, her son, with Philippa, the earl of Hainault's daughter. Having satisfactorily concluded this business, she left Paris, with a numerous train of the disaffected English, and proceeding to Hainault, she ratified the treaty concluded with the earl, and having solemnly betrothed the youthful couple, she embarked at Dort in the vessels which the earl had provided, and in which there were about three thousand troops under the command The Queen of the earl's brother. She landed in the mouth of the Orewell, on the coast of Suffolk, on the 22nd of September, 1326, where she was received by Henry, earl of Lancaster and Derby, Valence, earl of Pembroke, and several powerful barons, together with the bishops of Hereford, Lincoln and Ely. and Prince invade England. |