Category: 14th Century - Meandering Through Time

Death of a Kings Favourite

22/11/2020

On the 22nd November in 1392 Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, a favourite of Richard II, died near Louvain in Belgium. He had received the Earldom of Oxford when he was nine years old and was knighted along with the king, Henry, the Earl of Derby, the future Henry IV and Richard's uncle Thomas of Woodstock.

Robert de Vere benefited greatly from his friendship with the king, he was given his own rooms in Richard's castles, granted estates, gifts and other nobles' inheritances. He was also given the title Marquess of Dublin, yet he never set foot in Ireland. However, he is mostly remembered for his opposition to the Lords Appellant, a group of nobles who sort to bring the king to task over his reliance on his favourites, at Radcote Bridge.

Robert de Vere's forces were soon surrounded and after a short clash of weapons, de Vere was quick to realise the danger of his position and abandoned his men, leaving many of them to the mercy of their enemy and made his cowardly escape by crossing the river, supposedly in disguise, and headed to the Netherlands.

A year later, in what has come to be known as the Merciless Parliament he was found guilty of treason and a death sentence was passed in his absence.

Robert de Vere spent the rest of his life in exile, thus avoiding the executioner's blade. His death left Richard II bereft. Three years later, on the anniversary of his death, the king had de Vere's embalmed body brought back to England for burial in the Priory at Earl's Colne, in Essex.

William Wallace

22/8/2020

On the 5th August in 1305, Scottish knight John de Menteith, turned William Wallace over to English soldiers following information received from Wallace's servant Jack Short.

According to Walter Scott in his "The Lord of the Isles",

William Waleis in nomen that master was of theves
Tiding to the king is comen that robbery mischeves
Sir John of Mentest sued William so nigh
We tok him when ween'd last, on night, his lemam him by
That was through treason of Jack Short his man
He was encheson so that Sir John so him ran
Jack's brother he had slain, the Waleis that is said
The more Jack fain to do William that braid

Wallace was taken to London and put on trial in Westminster Hall for the crime of high treason on August 23, 1305. He maintained, however, that “I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.”

William Wallace was executed on the 23rd of August, he was hanged, drawn and quartered. His head was placed on London Bridge, and his limbs displayed in Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth.

Death of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March

20/7/2020

On this day in 1398 the death of Roger Mortimer, the 4th Earl of March aged twenty-four.

Roger Mortimer was killed in a skirmish in Ireland fighting against two of the country's rebellious clans, rashly riding out alone towards the enemy he was hacked to death. Mortimer was considered heir presumptive to Richard II.

However, the Mortimer History Society writes:

"Richard II identified Roger as the heir to the throne, apparently in an attempt to thwart the claims of Henry of Lancaster (the future Henry IV). In so doing Richard was ignoring both the accepted rules of succession and the entailment of the throne drawn up by Edward III*. It filled the Mortimers with false hope. Richard never officially recognised the Mortimers as having a claim; in fact, he placed them in an inferior position to his uncles in the order of precedence, and pointedly refused to acknowledge Roger as his heir in 1394. Nevertheless, it was widely believed that Roger would be the next king if Richard died childless."

Mortimer was buried at Wigmore Abbey, which incidentally is now owned by John Challis who played Boycie in the television series Only Fools and Horses.

I wonder how different history would have been if he had lived?

St Columb Major - The Arundell Charter

19/7/2020

In 1333 Cornish born John Arundell had aided Edward III by supplying the king with troops at Battle of Halidon Hill on the 19th July of that year.

This battle was the result of Edward's support of Edward Balliol's claim to the throne of Scotland. Edward III's actions had broken the terms of the Treaty of Northampton, which he had agreed to three years earlier.

On this day in 1333 at Berwick on Tweed, for this service to the crown, John Arundell was rewarded with the granting of a charter which gave his manor of St Columb Major the right to hold a market every Thursday, also granted was the right to hold an annual fair on the ‘day and the morrow of the Feast of St Columba the Virgin.' This charter was issued at Berwick on Tweed by Edward III and signed John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall, Edward III younger brother

The text of the charter reads:

Roll 7th, Edward the Third. For Sir John de Arendel, the king to the same, health.

Know ye, that we of our especial grace, have granted and, by this our charter, have confirmed to our beloved and faithful John de Arendel, that he and his heirs, for ever, may have a market every Thursday at his Manor of St Columb Magna, and a fair every year, on the eve and on the day and the morrow of St Columba the Virgin, to these being witness..........given by our hand at Berwick on Tweed, the 23rd day of July 1333 at the battle of Halidown Hill, the 19th day of July 1333.

By writ of our Privy Seal.

St Columb Major's Charter, courtesy of Denise and Phil Tremain

The growth of the Cornish market town of St Columb Major owes much to the Arundell family. Known as the Great Arundells they were a powerful and noteworthy family. You can read more about them here:

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/scoboryo-of-st-columb-major.html

William of Hatfield

8/7/2020

Born in the February of 1337 was William of Hatfield the second son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, he would only live for five months, he died on the 8th July and his body would be laid to rest in York Minster.

The golden statue or weeper of William can be seen on the tomb of his father Edward III in Westminster Abbey.

William's older brother was Edward the Black Prince, he had predeceased their father. Both his death and that of his father and brother would leave the country in the hands of various family members notably Richard II - child monarch, John of Gaunt - an ambitious and lustful protector and Henry of Bolingbroke - a murderous would-be monarch.

The seeds of the Wars of the Roses were set!

King John of France in Lincolnshire

25/6/2020

In 1356, under a scorched earth policy, Edward the Black Prince headed a raiding party that made its way across France, the point of which was to undermine the French King John II by attacking the population rather than the king himself. It was at Poitiers, that John eventually caught up with the marauding English prince. Following a clash of arms, the French army soon found themselves surrounded and many of the frightened French soldiers fled the field. The king, despite being dressed in the same clothing as his personal guard, was captured.

At first, he was taken to Bordeaux and then to England where he was held in various castles up and down the country. Although John was a prisoner he was afforded the privileges of a royal monarch. He purchased horses, he kept pets, he paid for his own astrologer and was able to listen to music played to him by his own band of minstrels.

One of the castles in which the French king stayed was Somerton in Lincolnshire, a large sandstone building built towards the end of the 13th century by the Bishop of Durham.

While staying at Somerton he was under the watchful eye of a member of the Deincourt family whose main residence was Blankney just a few miles away. While in 'captivity' John ordered wine from Bordeaux that came into Lincolnshire via the inland port of Boston. Also, Lincoln saw large amounts of sugar, spice and fabrics arrive at Brayford Pool that no doubt was shipped along the River Witham and transported by land to the castle.

However, all good things come to an end and it was on this day that the French king waved goodbye to the Daincourts at Somerton and left to begin his seven-day journey to the Tower of London in order to discuss the subject of his ransom.

Marriage of Richard Fizalan to Eleanor of Lancaster

25/6/2020

The Arundel Tomb can be found in the north aisle of Chichester Cathedral, on top are the effigies of Richard Fitzalan and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster.

Eleanor was the great-granddaughter of Henry III and Richard Fitzalan was a wealthy and important noble during the reign of Edward III, their marriage on the 5th February in 1344 was a love match I believe. With Fitzalan, she gave birth to seven children, the second, John, was my 19th great grandfather.

Richard, Eleanor's eldest child and heir to the earldom of Arundel, claim to fame, apart from carrying the crown of England at the coronation of Richard II, was his membership of the Lords Appellant, a group of men who disagreed with Richard's rule and his reliance on favorites - Fitzalan would lose his head over it.

Thankfully, Eleanor was long gone by that time as was Richard.

The proof of the love between Eleanor and her husband defies time and lies in the request Richard Fitzalan made in his will -

"near to the tomb of Eleanor de Lancaster, my wife; and I desire that my tomb be no higher than hers, that no men at arms, horses, hearse, or other pomp, be used at my funeral, but only five torches as was about the corpse of my wife, be allowed."

Eleanor was the great-granddaughter of Henry III and my 20th great grandmother

Edward the Black Prince

9/4/2020

The 8th of June 1376 saw the death of Edward, known as the Black Prince

English 16th century chroniclers John Leland and Raphael Holinshed both used the name Black Prince when writing of the eldest son of Edward III. The idea that the name derived from his liking of black armour has never been proved neither has the theory that the name was of French origin, brought on by the brutal raids such as that of Limoges in the September of 1370. However, French chronicler Jean Froissart, a contemporary of the princes wrote that Edward was angry at the news of the betrayal of the Bishop of Limoges that he attacked the city following which a massacre ensued. Of this Froissant wrote:

"It was a most melancholy business - for all ranks, ages and sexes cast themselves on their knees before the prince,
begging for mercy; but he was so inflamed with passion and revenge that he listened to none, but all were
put to the sword. Upwards of 3,000 men, women and children were put to death that day."

Edward died of an unknown illness whilst in Spain and is buried in a rather magnificent tomb in Canterbury Cathedral.

Medieval Women: Philippa of Hainault

24/1/2020

On this day in 1328, King Edward III of England married Philippa of Hainault at York Minster, just eleven months after Edward had become king of England.

Edward III - St Mary's Church Shrewsbury

Edward's father, King Edward II had sent the Bishop of Exeter to Hainaut to check out the four daughters of William, Count of Hainaut. In a letter to the king the Bishop writes of his impression of the fourteen-year-old Philippa. In the letter, he describes her as a child but it has been argued that the description is of Philippa's older sister Margaret.

A description of Philippa can be found the register of the Bishop of Exeter which reads:

"The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is clean-shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow and slender than her forehead. Her eyes are blackish-brown and deep. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that it is somewhat broad at the tip and also flattened, and yet it is no snub-nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips somewhat full, and especially the lower lip. Her teeth which have fallen and grown again are white enough, but the rest are not so white. The lower teeth project a little beyond the upper, yet this is but little seen. Her ears and chin are comely enough. Her neck, shoulders, and all her body are well set and unmaimed; and nought is amiss so far as a man may see. Moreover, she is brown of skin all over, and much like her father; and in all things, she is pleasant enough, as it seems to us. And the damsel will be of the age of nine years on St. John's day next to come, as her mother saith. She is neither too tall nor too short for such an age; she is of fair carriage, and well taught in all that becometh her rank, and highly esteemed and well-beloved of her father and mother and of all her meinie, in so far as we could inquire and learn the truth."

Phillipa and Edward were married for forty years, she gave Edward thirteen children, three of them died as a result of the Black Death in 1348.

Anne of Bohemia

20/1/2020

On this day in 1382, the marriage of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia, Richard was eight months younger than Anne, they were both fifteen years of age.

Image: Manuscript held at the Bodleian Library shows Richard with Anne.

Anne was the daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Elizabeth of Pomerania and was described at the time of her marriage by a Westminster chronicler as a ' tiny scrap of humanity'

Criticism of the match began when the king was forced to pay Wenceslas of Bohemia, Anne's brother, £4,000,000 (in today's money) for the right to marry his sister. Adding insult to injury Anne brought no dowry and her large entourage was paid for, in part, by the king.

Anne was crowned queen of England two days later.

Their twelve-year marriage was considered to have been a happy one but despite that there were no children and therefore no heir. Following Anne's death of the plague at the Sheen in 1394 Richard had the building demolished.

In 1396 Richard would marry the seven-year-old Isabella of Valois.