The Perfect King (9 page)

In January
1325
King Charles offered Edward II a way out of his predicament. He suggested that Queen Isabella be sent to negotiate with him on behalf of the English. Edward, seeing little other option, agreed, and let his wife return to her homeland to negotiate on his behalf. Despite the antagonisms she had suffered, she did as well as she could, but the English were in a very weak position. When terms were finalised on
31
May
1325,
Charles demanded that the king of England should do homage to him for the duchy of Aquitaine, including Gascony. If the king was not prepared to leave the country, there was no alternative but to invest his eldest son with all the French possessions of the English Crown, and to send him instead.

For the king this was a huge problem. If he sent his son, he risked losing control of the valuable revenues of Gascony. Worse, he risked losing control of the boy himself. If the heir to the throne were to fall into his mother's hands, she might prevent him from returning to England, holding him hostage until her income was restored, or even betrothing him to a foreign ruler of her own choosing Suddenly, for the king, the royal symbolism of his son and heir, which had once been such an asset, seemed a liability, for there was no undermining his son's royal status. On the other hand, if King Edward went to France in person, he would have to leave behind Hugh Despenser, who was exiled from France. This was too similar to the circumstances in which he had lost Gaveston: through becoming separated from him. If Despenser were to lose the king's protection, he stood no chance of survival. There were too many lords in England who sought revenge for the kin they had seen hanged and left to rot after the battle of Boroughbridge.

Edward resolved that he would go himself. It was politically far too dangerous to allow his son to leave his control. Mortimer was still loose, and a small band of discontents was roaming the Continent with him, waiting for their opportunity. Although he did initially appoint the twelve-year-old Edward 'guardian of the realm and king's lieutenant' during his absence beyond the seas, he changed his mind almost immediately. At the eleventh hour Hugh Despenser and his father persuaded him that it would be better if his son should go. In all probability they managed this by hitting on a solution to his dilemma. The real danger lay in allowing the prince to fall into the hands of his mother. So why not demand her return at the same time? If she could be forced back to England, then the French king could be relied upon to protect his own nephew from falling into Mortimer's hands. And by adopting this strategy, the king did not need to risk Hugh Despenser being captured and murdered in his absence.

On
2
September
1325
Edward - two months short of his thirteenth birthday - was given the counties of Ponthieu and Montreuil. He then made the journey to Dover with his father where, on the
10th,
he received the duchy of Aquitaine, and 'all the lands the king holds in the realm of France'. Edward's treasurer, William Cusance, was confirmed in charge of all his English lands. Edward himself was placed in the guardianship of the fearless and uncompomising bishop of Exeter, Walter Stapeldon, and Sir Henry Beaumont. Two days later Edward sailed away from England, away from his father and Hugh Despenser, and towards a stranger destiny than had been prophesied for any English king.

TWO

A Treasonable Youth

As Edward made his way to die royal palace at Vincennes, near Paris, to perform homage to King Charles of France, the countryfolk flocked to see him. Here he was, the son of their Princess Isabella, the grandson of King Philip the Fair, nephew of Charles the Fair and the great-great-grandson of St Louis, the famous crusading king of France. Comeliness, spirituality and royalty all ran hand-in-hand in the French royal family, so each member was a spectacle to be seen, as well as a spiritual marvel. Politically too, he was important. Isabella had maintained her French links, visiting France on several occasions, and had attracted considerable French sympathy when she had been neglected by her husband in favour of Piers Gaveston. This appearance in France of her first-born son and the heir to the English throne was not to be missed.

The splendour of Edward's procession and his pleasure at meeting his beloved mother, and the widespread satisfaction that he had performed homage for Gascony, was marred by one detail. The bishop of E
xeter's presence was anath
ema to the queen.' She held him responsible for the confiscation of her estates. All France hated him because he was thought to be die impetus for the recent arrest of Frenchmen in England.
2
When the bishop compounded his unpopula
rity by indignantl
y demanding in front of King Charles and the court that Isabella return to England immediately, she was in a strong position to refuse. In a sudden and shocking revocation of her loyalty she launched a bitter attack on her husband and Hugh Despenser, and the full blast was directed at the bishop:

I feel that marriage is a joining together of man and woman, maintaining the undivided habit of life, and that someone has come between my husband and myself trying to break this bond. I protest that I will not return until this intruder is removed, but discarding my marriage garment, shall assume the robes of widowhood and mourning until I am avenged of this Pharisee.

The bishop, outraged, looked to King Charles to overrule his sister, and to order her to return to her husband. But in words which must have
infuriated the bishop, the king declined. 'The queen has come of her own free will', he declared, 'and may freely return if she so wishes. But if she prefers to remain in these parts, she is my sister, and I refuse to expel her.'

With those words the division between Isabella and her husband was made permanent. This heralded a crisis for all concerned, including Edward. His mother had effectively broken from his father, and had publicly received the support of the king of France. Bishop Stapeldon too was alarmed, and hearing a rumour that certain Englishmen in France -probably Roger Mortimer - were plotting to murder him, he fled from the palace in the guise of a pilgrim, catching up with his retinue later and returning to England. Somewhere, yet to show his face in the whole business, was the real protagonist of the split: Mortimer, the man in whom Isabella had placed all her trust.

Roger Mortimer and Isabella had much in common. They were both literate, sophisticated, intelligent and aristocratic, and had known each other for upwards of seventeen years. They had both alienated themselves irrevocably from Edward II and the Despenser regime, which they both hated. Hugh Despenser had for the last two years been in something of a state of panic about Mortimer's possible return to England at the head of an army, and regularly sent scared letters to naval commanders to investigate this trio of German ships or that Hainaulter merchant fleet. He knew from his spy network that Mortimer had gone towards Germany, and had spent some time at the court of Count William of Hainault, but he never envisaged what would happen next. In December
1325
Mortimer returned to France, and Queen Isabella threw herself into his arms. And, together, their attention fastened on young Edward, whose recently confirmed position as duke of Aquitaine gave them the potential to rebuild their authority. They knew that his hand in marriage would command a large dowry from a suitable bride's father. Regardless of the king's attempts to marry Edward to a continental princess, together they could use Edward to raise an army and wrest England from its untrustworthy king and his despotic favourite.

At the end of November, King Edward and Despenser realised their blunder. In less than ten weeks from saying farewell to his son at Dover, 'The Mortimer' - as Edward II referred to his enemy - had control of his son and was plotting with his queen. And that was not all: Despenser's spies told him that the revolutionaries had widespread support in England. Letters from Mortimer had been smuggled into the country. The king gave orders for all imported goods to be searched, but his precaution did nothing to allay the fear. Everyone knew that Mortimer and Isabella would eventually return.

What did Edward himself think of all this? We do not know for certain but it is worth noting that Edward was devoted to his mother, and so he was well-placed to understand her choice of companion, whether or not he trusted him. There is
little
evidence at this stage that he disapproved of his mother's lover. There is even a snippet of evidence that he may have agreed with the broad thrust of Mortimer and Isabella's plan, in his promising to reward Mortimer with Despenser's rich lordship of Denbigh if they should be successful.
5
We also need to remember that he had much in common with Mortimer. Both men were intelligent, literate, forceful men of action. Both believed sincerely in the virtues of chivalry and knighthood, as can be seen in the way that Edward, when king, enthusiastically shared Mortimer's love of tournaments and Arthurian display. Both men embraced changing technology in warfare - including gunpowder and cannon - while maintaining and encouraging old-fashi
oned knightl
y virtues. In terms of religion, both of them were traditional, not particularly pious, but not sceptical either. Both turned to God at crisis points in
their lives yet were sufficientl
y worldly to see the political uses of religious display. When it came to raising taxes and spending money, Mortimer's period of ascendancy was almost a blueprint for Edward's own treasury-busting profligacy. And above all else, Mortimer was a successful leader in battle. Therefore it is likely that Edward saw Mortimer in
1326
as one of the few English lords from whom he could learn something.

Back in England, Edward II knew he could never forgive Mortimer and Isabella, but officially he resisted acknowledging his wife was beyond his control until January
1326.
Even then he did not despair of obtaining his son's return. We can trace the king's growing frustration through his letters. After hearing the news from the bishop of Exeter, the king wrote to Isabella and King Charles on
1
December
1325.
To Charles he said that it was a lie that Isabella feared Hugh Despenser. He claimed he could not believe that she had given this excuse for not returning to England, and he begged Charles to compel her. He terminated his letter with a request to Charles also to 'deliver up Edward, our beloved eldest son
...
we greatl
y wish to see him, and to speak with him, and every day we long for his return'.
The letter he sent to Isabella was the last he ever sent to his wife. He accused her of lying about her hatred of Despenser, and outlined how he had often commanded her to return to him, and complained that she had always disobeyed. At the end he ordered her to return and to bring Edward with her.'

The following day the king wrote to his son. His tone in this letter, the first of three attempts he made to recall his son from France, was more considerate:

Very dear son, although you are young and of tender age, may we remind you of what we charged and commanded you at your departure from Dover. You answered then, with duly acknowledged goodwill, that you would not trespass or disobey any of our commandments in any point for anyone. And now that your homage has been received by our dearest brother [-in-law], the long of France, you
r uncle, please take your leave
of him, and return to us with all speed, in company with your mother, if she will come quickly; and if she will not come, then you must come without further delay, for we have a great desire to see you and speak with you. Therefore, do not remain for your mother's sake, or for anyone else's, under the king's blessing. Given at Westminster,
2nd
December.
7

Edward's reply was suitably contrite. He admitted that he remembered that he had promised not to agree to a contract of marriage, nor to suffer it to be done for him, and to obey his father. But he could not return, he stated, because his mother would not let him. His protestation would have been backed up in mid-December, when the ladies and knights whom the long had sent with Isabella to France returned home. She had dismissed them, and removed all those loyal to the king from her service, cutting herself and Prince Edward off from the influence of the English court.

In January
1326
the king heard that his son had been betrothed to a daughter of the count of Hainault. He wrote to all the sheriffs of all the English counties stating that they should be ready to take arms against the queen, for 'the queen will not come to the king nor permit his son to return
...
and she is adopting the counsel of the Mortimer, the king's notorious enemy and rebel'. The king's only hope now lay in trying to persuade Edward to return to him against his mother's will.

On
18
March, the king wrote to his son again. His letter, which was longer than his last, acknowledged that Edward had done well, and expressed his pleasure in hearing that Edward remembered his promise not to marry without his father's consent. But there was a note of disbelief in the letter, for the king knew about the marriage contract with Hainault. So he in
directly
accused his son of concealing the truth. If Edward had done anything contrary to his promise, then