Piers Gaveston

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At an assembly of the barons at Stamford on 27 July, the king accepted the articles of redress previously presented to him by the parliament, and, through the mediation of the Earl of Gloucester, the Earls of Lincoln and Warenne were drawn over to Gaveston's side, and a large number of the barons gave their formal assent to his return.  But Gaveston's insolence only increased, and he appears to have chosen this inopportune moment for forcing upon the earls opprobrious nicknames in ridicule of their personal peculiarities or defects.  The Earl of Lincoln was 'burstbelly' (boele crevee); Lancaster was 'the fiddler' (vielers), or 'play-actor' (histrio); Gloucester, his own brother-in-law, was 'horeson' (filz a puteyney); and Warwick was 'the black hound of Ardern.' 'Let him call me hound,' exclaimed the latter; 'one day the hound will bite him' (Chron. Lanercost, p. 216).  He is specially accused at this period of appropriating the revenues of the kingdom to such an extent that the king was straitened for means to support the charges of his court, and the queen was subjected to unworthy reductions, of which she bitterly complained to her father.
 
At an assembly of the barons at Stamford on 27 July, the king accepted the articles of redress previously presented to him by the parliament, and, through the mediation of the Earl of Gloucester, the Earls of Lincoln and Warenne were drawn over to Gaveston's side, and a large number of the barons gave their formal assent to his return.  But Gaveston's insolence only increased, and he appears to have chosen this inopportune moment for forcing upon the earls opprobrious nicknames in ridicule of their personal peculiarities or defects.  The Earl of Lincoln was 'burstbelly' (boele crevee); Lancaster was 'the fiddler' (vielers), or 'play-actor' (histrio); Gloucester, his own brother-in-law, was 'horeson' (filz a puteyney); and Warwick was 'the black hound of Ardern.' 'Let him call me hound,' exclaimed the latter; 'one day the hound will bite him' (Chron. Lanercost, p. 216).  He is specially accused at this period of appropriating the revenues of the kingdom to such an extent that the king was straitened for means to support the charges of his court, and the queen was subjected to unworthy reductions, of which she bitterly complained to her father.
  
Within three months of his return Gaveston had again estranged those to whom he had but just now been reconciled.  A council was summoned at York in October, but Lancaster and others refused to appear.  Fearful for his safety, Edward kept Gaveston close to his side, and they passed the Christmas of 1309 togethre at Langley.  In February 1310 the bishops and barons were again summoned, and when they met in March the barons attended in arms.  Edward was compelled to submit to the election of a commission of ordainers invested with power to frame ordinances for the reform of the government.  In February Gaveston had withdrawn from court.  In September the king marched against the Scots, and was joined by Gaveston at Berwick, where they remained until the end of July of the next year (1311).  But then Edward was obliged to return to London to meet
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Within three months of his return Gaveston had again estranged those to whom he had but just now been reconciled.  A council was summoned at York in October, but Lancaster and others refused to appear.  Fearful for his safety, Edward kept Gaveston close to his side, and they passed the Christmas of 1309 togethre at Langley.  In February 1310 the bishops and barons were again summoned, and when they met in March the barons attended in arms.  Edward was compelled to submit to the election of a commission of ordainers invested with power to frame ordinances for the reform of the government.  In February Gaveston had withdrawn from court.  In September the king marched against the Scots, and was joined by Gaveston at Berwick, where they remained until the end of July of the next year (1311).  But then Edward was obliged to return to London to meet the parliament, which had been summoned for 8 Aug.  Gaveston was therefore placed for safety in Bamborough Castle.  In the parliament the new ordinances were presented to the king for confirmation, one of them specially requiring the perpetual banishment of the favourite.  Edward resisted for some time, but on 30 Sept was forced to assent.  By the terms of his sentence Gaveston was called upon to leave the kingdom, sailing from the port of Dover before the feast of All Saints, and Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Gascony, as well as England, were forbidden to him.  He is said to have first attempted to pass into France, but fearing to be made prisoner, he retired to Bruges in Flanders, where, however, through the hostile influence of the king of France, he was badly received.  At Christmas he secretly returned to England, and for a while remained in hiding, moving from place to place.  At the beginning of 1312 the king went to York, recalled Gaveston to his side, and restored his estates.  On 18 Jan he publicly announced his favourite's return and reinstatement.  The hostile barons, with Lancaster at their head, at once took up arms, and demanded Gaveston's surrender, while Archbishop Winchelsey publicly excommunicated him and his abetters.  The king and Gaveston now drew away further north, leaving York on 5 April, and remained at Newcastle till the beginning of May.  But the barons were now approaching.  Edward and his favourite, hastily retiring to Tynemouth, took ship and fled to Scarborough, a place of great strength, but not prepared to stand a siege.  The king withdrew to York.  Meanwhile the barons seized all Gaveston's goods in Newcastle, and advanced against Scarborough, which the Earls of Warenne and Pembroke were appointed to besiege.  On 19 May Gaveston surrendered to Pembroke, who pledged himself for his prisoner's personal safety, and set out with him towards Wallingford, there to await the meeting of parliament in August.  Arrived at Deddington in Oxfordshire, Pembroke left Gaveston under a guard, and departed on his own affairs.  Scarcely had he gone, when Warwick, hearing that his hated enemy was so close at hand, surprised him before dawn on 10 June, and, making him his prisoner, carried him off to his castle of Warwick.  There, on the arrival of Lancaster, Hereford, and Arundel, a consultation was hastily held, and it was determined to put their prisoner to death.  The place chosen for the execution was Blacklow Hill, otherwise called — prophetically, as the chroniclers say — Gaversike, about a mile north of the town, in order that the Earl of Warwick might be relieved of immediate responsibility.  There his head was struck off on 19 June 1312, in the presence of Lancaster and his confederates; Warwick, however, apparently again with a view to future justification, remaining behind in his castle.  The body was taken possession of by the Dominicans or preaching friars of Oxford, in which city it lay for more than two years.  It was thence conveyed by Edward's orders to King's Langley in Hertfordshire, and buried there on 2 Jan 1315, with great ceremony, in the house of the Dominicans, which had been lately built and endowed by the king.  Gaveston left but one child, a daughter.  His widow afterwards married Hugh de Audley the younger.
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Source: Chronicles of Trokelowe, Lanercost, Walsingham, Baker of Swynebroke; Chron. of the Reigns of Edward I and Edward II (RollsSer.); Dugdale's Baronage; Stubbs' Const. Hist.; W.P. Dodge's Piers Gaveston, 1899; art. supra Edward II. In Marlow's tragedy of Edward II, Gaveston plays a prominent part.] — E.M.T.

Revision as of 16:19, 1 August 2008

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