Category: Edward III - Meandering Through Time

Birth of Edmund of Langley

9/4/2020

On the 5th June 1341 Edmund of Langley, the fifth son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, was born at King’s Langley in Hertfordshire.

Edmund was thought highly of by Richard II who left him in charge of the country when he went on campaign in Ireland and it is thought the king intended to make Edmund's son, Edward of Norwich, his heir.

You will know of course, that Richard did not live long enough to enforce his wish.

Edmund was made Duke of York in 1385, and was the first to hold that title. He was the father of Richard of Conisburgh, grandfather of Richard, Duke of York and the great grandfather of Richard III, Edward IV and George Duke of Clarence.

You could argue that Edmund's character is not unlike that of his grandson, Richard Duke of York. Both were loyal to the throne and both were charged with protectorship of England in the king's absence. Both men advised well (if the speech below is anything to go by) but were ignored.

"Even in condition of the worst degree,
In gross rebellion and detested treason:
Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come
Before the expiration of thy time,
In braving arms against thy sovereign.
Well, well, I see the issue of these arms:
I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power is weak and all ill left:
But if I could, by Him that gave me life,
I would attach you all and make you stoop
Unto the sovereign mercy of the king;
But since I cannot, be it known to you
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well"

It is true that Edmund later supported Henry Bolingbroke and his reasons for doing so are worth exploring - age? protection of his family?

Of his last years it has been said - "Jaye styll in his castell, and medled with nothynge of the busynesse of Englande"

Edmund died at King's Langley on the 1st of August 1402.

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.

Marriage of Edward III to Philippa of Hainault

24/1/2018

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'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 of her children died as a result of the Black Death in 1348.

Death of Roger Mortimer the First Earl of March

29/11/2017

On the 29th November in 1330 Roger Mortimer, first earl of March, was executed at Tyburn after being captured following a coup at Nottingham Castle at the beginning of October.

Roger Mortimer and Edward II's queen Isabella had successfully rebelled against Edward who they eventually deposed, you can see them depicted in the image below. History states that Edward II died at Berkeley Castle towards the end of the summer of 1327 supposedly on the order of Roger Mortimer, however it has been suggested that he lived a number of years abroad. With Edward gone Mortimer and Isabella were criticised for the way they conducted themselves, their attempted overthrow of Edward III was a step too far.

After his arrest, Mortimer was taken to the Tower of London and afterwards, he stood trial at Westminster where it is said he was bound and gagged and unable to speak in his own defence. He was found guilty and was sentenced to the death of a traitor - by hanging, drawing and quartering, however, the king was lenient, Mortimer's body was not disembowelled or quartered, his naked body was left to swing from the gallows for two days and two nights, eventually he was cut down.

Mortimer would be spared this most gruesome fate.

Queen Isabella buried her lover's body at Greyfriars in Coventry but his widow petitioned the king for the return of her husband's body. At first, he refused but later relented. Joan Mortimer had the Earl's body reinterred at his castle a Wigmore.

Isabella was returned to Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire and then to Windsor Castle. In 1332 she was sent to her own property of Castle Rising in Norfolk where she is thought to have suffered a nervous breakdown.

Castle Rising in Norfolk

Queen Isabella survived Roger Mortimer by twenty-eight years.

Death of John of Eltham

12/9/2017

This magnificent tomb of John of Elham stands in Westminster Abbey.

You can see parts of the tomb in detail in the drawing below, also in the second image you can see John's armour and his a sword, and on his shield you can see his coat of arms. The lion at his feet symbolises strength and loyalty and John was certainly loyal to his brother King Edward III and Edward, who was greatly impressed by John's many of actions, returned the favour by creating this magnificent tomb in his honour.

John of Eltham, the second son of Edward II and Isabella of France was named after the place he was born, that is the original 'palace' of Eltham in Greenwich. In 1328 John was given the title of Earl of Cornwall by Edward and a year later was considered competent enough to act as regent while the king was in France.

John was made Warden of March of Scotland in 1335, it was while he was in Scotland that he died on this day in 1336, he was just twenty years old.

John of Etham's body was not interred at Westminster Abbey until the second week of January the following year.

Birth of Edward III

16/11/2016

King Edward III was born on the 13th November in 1312, the son of Edward II and Isabella of France. At the age of seventeen, he would go on to lead a coup against his mother and her lover Roger Mortimer.

Later on in his life, Edward’s claim to the French throne would start the Hundred Years’ War, and his armies would destroy the French at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers.

Edward III ruled for just over 50 years, one of only six English monarchs to do so, the French chronicler Jean Froissant wrote of Edward:

Joan of Kent

29/9/2016

Anyone who has been to the cinema to watch Bridget Jones's Baby will know of poor Bridget's predicament, that is,
two men vying for her affections. In the middle of the 14th century, Joan of Kent, a beautiful and charming princess, had
much the same trouble.

Joan, in the chantry chapel beside the chapel of Our Lady Undercroft in Canterbury Cathedral.

Were as Bridget's suitors are Jack Qwant, a billionaire and inventor of a dating site, and good old Mark Darcy a human
rights lawyer, Joan's suitors are Thomas Holland, a knight of the royal household, and William Montague, son and heir of an Earl.

Joan of Kent is thought to have been born towards the end of September 1328, she grew up to be, as described by Jean Froissart

“The most beautiful woman in all the realm of England”

Joan was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock and Margaret Wake, so beautiful was she that she came to the attention of Thomas Holland who persuaded her to marry him. A year after her marriage to Holland, Joan was forced into a marriage with William Montague. The following nine years saw much squabbling over poor Joan but eventually, with the intervention of the Pope, her marriage to Montague was annulled.

A third man with his eye on the beautiful Joan was Edward, the Black Prince who Joan married after Holland's death in 1361. The prince would predecease his father and their son Richard would become Richard II.

Of Joan author Anne O'Brian writes

"Joan's name was much associated with scandal, apart from her clandestine marriages. She was said to be the woman
raped by King Edward III after the siege at Wark in 1341 even though she was only thirteen years old at that time. She was also the lady whose garter Edward rescued, which was to become the insignia of the Order of the Garter, as shown in
this early twentieth century painting. There is no evidence of truth here. Joan's name was not associated with these
events until the 1500s."

Joan died in 1385, she requested to be buried alongside her first husband in Church of the Grey Friars in Stamford in Lincolnshire where she was interred on the 27th January 1386 in a

'sumptuous chapel recently built next to the choir'.

Cornish Stannaries

25/1/2016

The word Stannary means 'belonging to tin mines' and is taken from the Latin word Stanum.

The areas in Cornwall, where tin was extracted, were known as Stannaries and the law that affected them were known as Stannary Law. These Cornish Stannaries form part of the Duchy of Cornwall, an estate which was created by Edward III in 1337 when he granted his son, Edward, the Black Prince Duke of Cornwall.

Lostwithiel had become the county capital. It was the administration centre for county affairs and Cornwall's main stannary town.

Tin mining in Cornwall is ancient, and employed men in remote and outlying areas away from the main towns, and therefore they had their own rules and regulations. The early Earls and Dukes of this distant county reaped great rewards from mining and since early times the mines and the men working them have been protected by the crown. This institution had its its head wardens who were governed by the Lord Warden of the Stannaries.

The writ appointing the Lord Warden covered the

"just and ancient customs and liberties of miners, smelters and merchants of tin."

The first to hold this title was William de Wrotham who was given this title on the 20th November 1197 during the reign of King Richard I. In 1198, juries of miners at Launceston, stood before Wrotham to swear by the law and practice of the tin mines.

Over the years, Royal Charters issued by Edward I in 1305, Edward IV in 1466, and Henry VII in 1508 have changed and
added to the laws within the Stannaries. King John, often seen as a selfish and greedy king, was not slow to see the attraction of the Cornish tin industry. In 1201 he issued the first charter to the Stannaries. By 1214, production of tin had risen to six hundred tons, the result of this saw many men, who once worked on the land, move to mining. One of the clauses of Magna Carta was that no lord shoud lose the service of his men whether he dug tin or not. Henry III confired his fathers charter, and
the Stannaries soon had their own taxation, no acknowledged lord and were 'a law unto themselves.' By the end of the 13th century the Stannaries were under the control of Richard, the second son of King John and his son Edmund as the Earls of Cornwall.

Roof-boss in Beaulieu Parish Church believed to depict Richard of Cornwall. Credit Trickenham Museum

In 1225, Richard, at just sixteen, was granted the County of Cornwall and all its tin works, and following that the Earldom of Cornwall. Later Edward I granted privileges to tinners to be tried by their own courts and benefit from the exemption of taxation.

The above image records one John Gurney’s appointment as Vicewarden of the Stannaries for Devon and explains the differences between the courts in Cornwall and Devon.