by Alison Weir
54. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
55. Foedera.
56. Le Livere de Reis.
57. CFR; Walsingham; Foedera; Baker.
58. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
59. Walsingham; Foedera.
60. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
61. CCR.
62. The Brut.
63. C.61; “War of Saint Sardos”; Vita Edwardi Secundi.
64. Foedera; E.403.
65. Doherty, thesis.
66. E.403; Green, Lives of the Princesses; CCR. His first wife had been Edward’s sister, Joan of Acre, who had died in 1307. Isabella le Despenser had previously been the wife of John, Baron Hastings (d. 1313).
67. Rotuli Parliamentorum.
68. Foedera; Strickland; Walsingham.
69. Baker; Chronicle of Lanercost.
70. “War of Saint Sardos.”
71. E.403; Foedera; Tout, Place; Chronicle of Lanercost.
72. C.61; Doherty, thesis; E.404.
73. E.403; Doherty, thesis; E.404.
74. Blackley, “Isabella and the Bishop.”
75. “War of Saint Sardos.”
76. Froissart.
77. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
78. Select Cases in the Court of King’s Bench; CP.
79. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
80. Tanquerery; Clarke, “Some Secular Activities.”
81. “War of Saint Sardos.”
82. Foedera.
83. “War of Saint Sardos.”
84. Doherty, thesis.
85. CCR.
86. Doherty, thesis.
87. “War of Saint Sardos.”
88. Ibid.
89. Walsingham.
90. Parliamentary Writs; “War of Saint Sardos.”
91. Chronicle of Lanercost.
92. Register of Thomas Cobham.
93. Literae Cantuarienses.
94. DNB.
95. Dene; Baker; Hicks.
96. Chronicles…of Edward I and Edward II; Murimuth; Foedera.
97. “War of Saint Sardos”; Blackley, “Isabella and the Bishop.”
98. Literae Cantuarienses.
99. “War of Saint Sardos”; Doherty, thesis.
100. Foedera; CPR.
101. “War of Saint Sardos.”
102. Strickland.
103. E.101; CPR.
104. Literae Cantuarienses.
105. E.403; E.101. Isabella’s expenses rolls, drawn up by William de Boudon, are in E.101.
106. “War of Saint Sardos.”
107. Literae Cantuarienses.
108. Lettres Secrètes.
109. Foedera.
110. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
111. Literae Cantuarienses.
CHAPTER SEVEN Mortimer and Isabel Do Kiss When They Conspire
1. For Isabella’s stay in France, and her itinerary, see Thomas of London’s accounts in E.101; Hunter, “Journal”; “War of Saint Sardos.”
2. CPR.
3. “War of Saint Sardos.”
4. Baker.
5. “War of Saint Sardos.”
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. A late fifteenth-century manuscript illumination of Isabella’s arrival in Paris is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and shows Charles IV riding out to meet her. There are miniatures of Isabella being received at Boulogne and laying her complaints before Charles IV in an inferior copy of Froissart’s Chronicles in the British Library.
9. Costain; Norris.
10. Froissart.
11. Ibid.
12. Foedera.
13. E.101.
14. Foedera.
15. “War of Saint Sardos.”
16. Foedera.
17. Ibid.
18. Doherty, thesis; “War of Saint Sardos.”
19. “War of Saint Sardos.”
20. Foedera.
21. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
22. CCR; Foedera; Baker; Murimuth; Vita Edwardi Secundi.
23. E.101.
24. E.403.
25. “War of Saint Sardos.”
26. Ibid.
27. Foedera.
28. Vita Edwardi Secundi; Baker.
29. Bodleian MS 751; CPR.
30. Vita Edwardi Secundi; Literae Cantuarienses.
31. Foedera.
32. “War of Saint Sardos.”
33. Harleian MSS; “War of Saint Sardos”; Murimuth; Vita Edwardi Secundi.
34. Baker.
35. Murimuth.
36. Baker.
37. Foedera; Baker; Additional MSS; Walsingham; CPR.
38. CCR; Foedera.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
42. Le Livere de Reis; Vita Edwardi Secundi.
43. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
44. Harleian MSS; “War of Saint Sardos”; Murimuth; Vita Edwardi Secundi. The date of the homage is sometimes incorrectly given as 21 September.
45. Froissart.
46. Baker.
47. Parliamentary Writs; Annales Paulini.
48. Walsingham.
49. Foedera.
50. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
51. Rose.
52. Knighton; Bury, Philobiblon.
53. Froissart.
54. Baker.
55. Ibid.; Walsingham.
56. CCR; Foedera.
57. Foedera; Grassi, “William Airmyn.”
58. Baker.
59. CCR; Foedera.
60. CCR; Foedera; Baker; Murimuth; Vita Edwardi Secundi.
61. Foedera.
62. Froissart.
63. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
64. Ibid.
65. S.C.1.
66. Ibid.
67. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
68. Baker.
69. E.101. There is no record in Isabella’s expenses roll of her entertaining Stapledon.
70. S.C.1.
71. E.101.
72. S.C.1; Baker.
73. E.101.
74. Vita Edwardi Secundi; Rotuli Parliamentorum; Foedera.
75. E.101.
76. Baker; CCR; S.C.1; Walsingham.
77. S.C.1; Baker.
78. Hunter, “Journal.”
79. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
80. Chroniques de London.
81. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
82. CCR; Baker; Walsingham.
83. Vita Edwardi Secundi.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. Ibid.
87. Grandes Chroniques de France; Walsingham.
88. S.C.1; Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
89. Cotton MSS, Faustina; Buck.
90. S.C.1.
91. Le Journal de Trésor de Charles IV; Grandes Chroniques de France.
92. CCR; Baker; Walsingham.
93. CCR; Foedera.
94. Ibid.
95. Ibid.
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid.
98. S.C.1; Baker.
99. Chronique Parisienne Anonyme.
100. Doherty, thesis.
101. Vita Edwardi Secundi; Murimuth.
102. Mortimer.
103. Baker.
104. Johnstone, “Isabella.”
105. Mosley.
106. Receuil des historiens des Gaules; Murimuth; Knighton; Baker.
107. Literae Cantuarienses.
108. Lyubimenko.
109. E.101.
110. S.C.1.
111. CPR.
112. CPR; CCR.
113. S.C.1.
114. Literae Cantuarienses; Receuil des historiens des Gaules; Doherty, thesis.
115. Foedera; CCR.
116. Society of Antiquaries MS 122; CCR; Foedera; CPR.
117. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
118. Kentish Chronicle.
119. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
120. “Rekeningen van…Joanna Van Valois.”
121. CFR.
122. Historiae Anglican Decem Scriptores.
123. CCR.
124. Foedera.
125. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
126. Ibid.
127. Ibid.; Knighton.
128. Baker.
129. CCR; E.101; History of the King’s Works; E.159.
130. Foedera.
131. CCR.
132. Literae Cantuarienses.
133. Dene.
134. Ibid.; Rotuli Parliamentorum.
135. Additional MSS.
136. Literae Cantuarienses.
137. Foedera.
138. Ibid.; Annales Paulini.
139. Register of Walter Reynolds.
140. CCR; Foedera.
141. Foedera; CPR.
142. CCR; Foedera.
143. Ibid.
144. Ibid.
145. CCR.
146. Ibid.
147. Foedera.
148. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
149. Ibid.
150. Ibid.
151. Foedera.
152. Register of Walter Reynolds.
153. CCR; Foedera.
154. Foedera.
155. Kentish Chronicle; Historical Manuscripts Commission, Various Collections, I.
156. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers.
157. CPR.
158. Foedera.
159. Ibid.; Annales Paulini.
160. Archives Nationales MS J.237.
161. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
162. Dene.
163. Ibid.; Book of Esther, Old Testament.
164. Cf. Grey, Scalacronica.
165. CCR; Foedera.
166. Vita Edwardi Secundi; Cappellani.
167. Foedera.
168. Ibid.
169. CCR; Foedera.
170. CCR.
171. Literae Cantuarienses.
172. E.101.
173. CCR.
174. Foedera.
175. CFR.
176. Foedera.
177. Parliamentary Writs; Foedera; C.49.
178. CPR.
179. Ibid.
180. Froissart.
181. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
182. Baker.
183. Froissart.
184. Foedera; CPR.
185. Walsingham; Froissart.
186. Froissart.
187. Ibid.
188. Walsingham; Dene.
189. Walsingham.
190. Holmes, “Judgement”; Walsingham; Grey, Scalacronica; The Brut.
191. The Brut; CCR.
192. Walsingham; Grey, Scalacronica; Receuil des historiens des Gaules; Chronographia Regum Francorum; Recits d’un Bourgeois; Froissart.
193. Fryde, Tyranny.
194. Froissart.
195. Ibid.
196. The continuator of William de Nangis, in Receuil des Historiens des Gaules.
197. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
198. See Doherty, thesis.
199. Hicks; Knighton.
200. Table Chronologique.
201. Froissart. The d’Ambreticourt family later settled in England with much honor. In 1360, at Wingham Church in Kent, Sir Eustace’s son married Elizabeth of Juliers, granddaughter of Count William of Hainault, and widow of John, Earl of Kent, second son of Earl Edmund.
202. Epitaph on Philippa of Hainault’s tomb in Westminster Abbey, by John Skelton.
203. Froissart.
204. Groot Charterboek.
205. Wigmore Abbey Annals.
206. “Rekeningen van…Joanna Van Valois.”
207. Froissart.
208. Baker.
209. Ibid.
210. Froissart.
211. Foedera.
212. CCR; Foedera.
213. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Collection Moreau, vol. 225.
214. C.62; Chronicle of Lanercost.
215. Regesta Hanonensia.
216. Cronijke van Nederlandt.
217. Table Chronologique.
218. Froissart.
219. “War of Saint Sardos”; C.61; C.81.
220. CCR; CPR; Fryde, Tyranny.
221. “Rekeningen van…Joanna Van Valois.”
222. Foedera.
223. CPR; CCR.
224. Waller-Zeper.
225. “Rekeningen…van Joanna Van Valois.”
226. Knighton.
227. Froissart.
228. Groot Charterboek; Smit.
229. Waller-Zeper; Knighton; Baker.
230. Froissart.
CHAPTER EIGHT Welcome, in God’s Name, Madam and Your Son
1. Froissart; Chroniques de London; Kentish Chronicle; CCR; Doherty, thesis; Fryde, Tyranny; CPR; Ronciere.
2. Froissart; Jean le Bel; Chronique de Pays-Bas.
3. Annales Paulini; Round; Baker.
4. Annales Paulini; Foedera; Baker; Chronicle of Lanercost; Chronicles…of Edward I and Edward II.
5. Chronique de Pays-Bas.
6. Froissart.
7. Chronographia Regum Francorum; Annales Paulini.
8. Chroniques de London.
9. Ibid.
10. Walsingham; Baker; Murimuth; Chronicle of Lanercost. All these chroniclers incorrectly claim that Lancaster and several bishops joined Isabella immediately, but, as will be seen, they did not come until later. Doherty suggests that her landing surprised many of her allies.
11. Froissart; Murimuth.
12. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; E.101.
13. Chronique de Pays-Bas; Froissart.
14. Annales Paulini. An entry in the CCR shows that Isabella later repaid this money.
15. Froissart; Chronographia Regum Francorum; Annales Paulini; Receuil des historiens des Gaules.
16. Chronicle of Lanercost; Baker.
17. Knighton.
18. Froissart.
19. Barnwell Abbey House was built on the site in 1678.
20. Baker; Knighton; Murimuth.
21. Murimuth.
22. Baker.
23. Foedera.
24. The Brut.
25. CPR.
26. Kentish Chronicle.
27. Chroniques de London; Chronicle of Meaux.
28. Foedera.
29. CPR.
30. Foedera; CCR; Walsingham.
31. Foedera; Receuil des historiens des Gaules; CCR.
32. Foedera.
33. Annales Paulini.
34. CPR; CCR.
35. A beautiful miniature of Isabella and Mortimer entering Oxford is to be found in the late fifteenth-century manuscript of the “Chronicle of the Counts of Flanders” (Holkham MS 569, in the Collection of the Earl of Leicester).
36. Wood, Oxford.
37. Historiae Anglicana Decem Scriptores.
38. Wood, Oxford. Nothing remains of the great abbey of Oseney; the site is now occupied by Oxford Station.
39. Chronicle of Meaux; E.403; Society of Antiquaries MS 122; C.62.
40. The Brut.
41. Chroniques de London.
42. Walsingham; Kentish Chronicle.
43. See C.62 and Parliamentary Writs for Edward’s itinerary during his flight.
44. Knighton; Baker; Walsingham.
45. Chroniques de London; Annales Paulini.
46. Walsingham.
47. Annales Paulini.
48. CFR.
49. Ibid.; CCR.
50. Chronicle of Meaux.
51. Froissart.
52. CCR; Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
53. Dene.
54. Robert of Reading; Murimuth.
55. Literae Cantuarienses.
56. Dene.
57. Robert of Reading; The Brut; Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
58. Wallingford Castle, which dates from 1071, was razed by Cromwell’s forces in the seventeenth century. Only fragmentary ruins and remains of the ramparts can be seen today.
59. Foedera.
60. Historiae Anglicana Decem Scriptores; Baker.
61. Baker.
62. Chartul
ary of Winchester Cathedral.
63. Stow, London.
64. Dene; Chroniques de London; Annales Paulini.
65. Dene.
66. Foedera.
67. Annales Paulini; Walsingham; Williams, Mediaeval London; Murimuth.
68. Dene.
69. Annales Paulini; Chroniques de London; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
70. CPR.
71. Chroniques de London; Chronicles…of Edward I and Edward II.
72. Froissart.
73. Gloucester Castle was in ruins by the sixteenth century. A prison has stood on the site since the reign of Charles II.
74. Murimuth; CPR; Robert of Reading; Baker.
75. Higden; Froissart.
76. Baker.
77. Thynne. This diligent historian and antiquarian probably had access to sources lost to us.
78. Murimuth; Chronicles…of Edward I and Edward II; Walsingham; Annales Paulini; Robert of Reading.
79. Murimuth.
80. Baker.
81. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
82. Froissart. Bristol Castle has long since been demolished.
83. Froissart is incorrect in stating that the King and the Younger Despenser were also in the castle.
84. Society of Antiquaries MS 122; Gesta Edwardi.
85. Froissart; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls; Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
86. Baker.
87. Walsingham; Chronicle of Lanercost.
88. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
89. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
90. Historical Manuscripts Commission, Various Collections, I.
91. Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
92. Register of Robert Mortival.
93. Receuil des historiens des Gaules; Baker.
94. Isabella’s entry into Bristol is shown in manuscript illustrations in fifteenth-century chronicles in the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
95. Froissart.
96. Ibid.
97. Foedera; CPR.
98. CCR.
99. Dene.
100. Ibid.; Historical Manuscripts Commission, Various Collections, I.
101. Froissart.
102. Ibid.
103. For the trial of the Elder Despenser, see Annales Paulini; Gesta Edwardi; Kentish Chronicle. The arms of the Elder Despenser are borne today by the Earl Spencer (Fryde, Tyranny).
104. Doherty, thesis; Memorials of St. Edmund’s Abbey.
105. Kentish Chronicle; Berkeley Manuscripts; Annales Paulini; Baker; Murimuth.
106. CPR.
107. Society of Antiquaries MS 122.
108. Froissart.
109. Parliamentary Writs; Foedera.
110. Parliamentary Writs.
111. Society of Antiquaries MS 102; Doherty, thesis.
112. E.101; Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls.
113. Froissart.
114. Today, the palace, which was restored in 1954, boasts a fine Georgian facade.
115. E.101.
