William, had surrendered it to the English twenty-two years before (Phillips 2010)
apologize to his closest advisers for his gullibility (Phillips 2010)
“to prove by combat with him” (Maxwell 1913)
would germinate for the next nine years (Johnstone 1936) Not everyone believes that Isabella’s decisive moment came with the Powderham scandal; one notable biographer, Alison Weir, for example, is unconvinced.
its composition more or less evenly divided (Bingham 1973) The treaty, which was executed on August 9, 1318, provided for a standing council of eight bishops; four earls, including Pembroke, Hereford, and Arundel; and four barons. According to the terms, two of the bishops, one baron, one earl, and Lancaster’s representative—Roger Mortimer, the Marcher Lord who was Hugh the Younger’s most hostile antagonist—would serve for three months at a time.
to be held in May 1319 (Phillips 2010)
“they melted with disease” (Virgil 1916)
“cattle died of a plague all over Europe” (Spinage 2003)
That first outbreak lasted for at least three years (Spinage 2003)
Unlike its close cousin, measles (Furuse 2010) Both rinderpest and measles are morbilliviruses, and a lot of textbooks claim that they are both about as old as the domestication of cattle; that measles has been around as a distinct disease since prehistoric times. However, recent research actually shows that the two diseases diverged only around the time of the eleventh or twelfth centuries.
Only after the immune system is rendered irrelevant (Anderson et al 1986)
multiplied the load horses could pull nearly fivefold (Findlay 2006)
frequently harnessed together (Gies 1990) Sometimes four horses and four oxen; in the village of Elton, the popular assortment was two horses and six oxen.
cattle, sheep, and goats (Slavin 2010)
annually to 45 gallons (Slavin 2010)
to control of royal castles (Phillips 2010)
140 knights and 350 men-at-arms from the earl of Lancaster (Phillips 2010)
“if the Queen had at that time been captured” (Childs 2005)
“laughed his intelligence to scorn” Weir (2005) citing Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England
died trying to swim across the Swale (Battlefields Trust 2003)
“and ransomed at a heavy price” (Maxwell 1913)
killed virtually all the oxen (Spinage 2003)
“seized great numbers of men” (Childs 2005)
“with a very large spoil of men and cattle” (Davis 1974), citing The Chronicle of Lanercost
“are carried on more prosperously” (Barrow 1965)
“which no good man gives up except with his life” (Phillips 2010)
Chapter Nine: “The Dearest Beef I’ve Ever Seen” • 1320–1322
“we are certain that we should not swear it” (Phillips 2010)
unwilling to sign anything but another truce (Phillips 2010)
“a bribe was usually necessary” (Phillips 2010)
“on her knees, for the people’s sakes” (Weir 2005), citing the Annales Paulini, supposedly written by a canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral, between 1307 and 1341
“that love another more than himself” (Bingham 1973), citing the Vita
suffered a worse failure in 1321 (Kershaw 1973)
frozen for at least a month (Pfister 1996)
travel on the frozen sea all the way to Sweden (Pfister 1996)
a three-century peak in the decade 1310–1320 (Jordan 1996)
capable of producing only inferior coats (Power 1955)
from the uplands of northern Spain to the plains of Andalusia (Power 1955)
“carrying wool to England” (Power 1955)
thicker-than-female fleeces (Gies 1990), citing Trow-Smith, History of British Livestock Husbandry
almost entirely devoted to livestock by 1300 (Brown 2001), citing Campbell and Power, “Mapping the Agricultural Geography of Medieval England”
“a fifth part of the value of the whole land” (Power 1955, emphasis added)
a net reduction of population of close to 15 percent (Jordan 1996)
at least 25 percent greater than normal (Russell 1966)
it regularly reached 50/1,000 (Harvey 1991)
between fifty-six and seventy-nine towns and cities with populations greater than ten thousand (Jordan 1996), quoting Contadine, Economie Medievale
no more than four hundred people per square mile (Campbell 2000)
more than twenty-three hundred square miles (Jordan 1996) Jordan spends some time explaining alternate methods for calculating the area in question, since it’s not as if it appears on any contemporaneous maps. Some use topography, looking for natural barriers to trade in agricultural products like mountains or unnavigable rivers, or the reach of a particular monopoly regulation, on the production and sale of wine, for example. Another way is examining parish records for the locales from which immigrants made their way to the towns; a map of the most frequent places of origin tends to reflect the catchment for the town. Yet another (and one that tends to expand the reach of the city by as much as 100 percent) is to identify the hinterland with the areas where the coinage of a particular town dominated.
a quarter of England’s stock of arable land (Fagan 2008) The word “hinterland” originally meant the catchment area behind a port town, later to include the rural area surrounding any town or city.
that is, not being worked (Jordan 1996)
died from either pestilence or hunger (Jordan 1996)
municipal properties pledged as guaranty (Jordan 1996) In 1316, Dominican monks of the town of Würzburg actually pawned their illustrated and annotated Bible to their own vicar . . . and, when the vicar needed cash, he sold it to the Cistercians in 1317.
“saints and other relics to be adored” (Lucas 1930). This is a quotation from Guillaume of Nangis, a monk at the Abbey of St. Denis.
selling the grain at cost to the city-licensed bakeries (Jordan 1996)
“Then they were exiled from France” (Lucas 1930)
“evil and outrageous” (Jordan 1996)
by his code name, “King Arthur” (Phillips 2010)
“How will a man who cannot keep faith with his own lord keep faith with me?” (Phillips 2010), quoting The Chronicle of Lanercost
Lancaster’s men were executed, exiled, or imprisoned (Weir 2005)
his head mounted on the city gate (Phillips 2010)
one estimate calculates a knight’s fee (Harvey 1970)
she did get to marry her longtime lover (Bingham 1973)
“as has been hitherto accustomed” (Phillips 2010)
at far below market price (Kershaw 1973)
with remarkable specificity, he demanded repayment (Waugh 1977)
flooded half the lands in Gloucestershire (Waugh 1977)
people were crushed at the gate of the Preaching Friars (Hanawalt 1995)
The army that Edward led north (Phillips 2010) Estimates put the numbers at 20,000 infantry, 2,100 light cavalry, and 1,250 heavy cavalry.
“it cost a thousand pounds or more” (Barbour 1997)
“they were obliged of necessity to disband” (Grey 1836)
the respiratory disease known as glanders (Woolgar 2010)
“compelled to go through the countryside, begging” (Aberth 2010)
reducing the income available to pay for them (Aberth 2010) In 1317, more than two dozen parishes in Yorkshire had been reduced to half their taxable value by Bruce’s raids; in 1318, seventy-seven. In 1319, King Edward’s agents in Yorkshire were forced to waive the entire annual tax for forty-nine villages in the North Riding and forty-six in the West Riding, entirely because of Scottish raids. In 1322, fifty-five parishes in the East Riding of Yorkshire were worth less than half their pre-raid v
alue. The village of Easingold, a fief of the earl of Lancaster, was completely unable to pay their annual rent: at least thirty-0ne of the earl’s tenants had been killed, seventeen had their homes and lands destroyed, and seven had been driven into exile.
“chicken-hearted and luckless in war” (Davis 1974)
agree to pay England a war indemnity (Phillips 2010)
Chapter Ten: “The Mouse Tower of Bingen” • 800–1323
identical to that of the French-speaking areas to their west (Jordan 1996), quoting Curschmann
“All are one in Christ” (Soll 2012)
“some of the overtones of patriotism” (Elliott 1992), citing (Strayer 1970)
the “mercenary knight” of Edward I of England (Heer 1968)
a different majority of electors (Heer 1968) In the first vote, the archbishop of Cologne; King Henry of Bohemia; the count palatine of the Rhine; and Duke Rudolf of Saxe-Wittenberg cast their votes for Duke Friedrich. The archbishop of Mainz, the archbishop of Trier, and Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg voted for Ludwig. In the second vote, Friederich retained his four supporters, but because of confusion over the legitimate voters, Ludwig added his own King of Bohemia, and his own Duke of Saxony. To make matters even more complicated, the coronation of King of the Germans was traditionally performed at the Cathedral of Aachen (not at all coincidentally Charlemagne’s capital) by the archbishop of Cologne. Ludwig was, indeed, crowned at Aachen, but by Peter Aspelt, the archbishop of Mainz. Friedrich, meanwhile, was also crowned—by the correct archbishop (Heinrich von Vimeburg, of Cologne) but at the wrong place: the Minster of Bonn.
thousands of tons of salted fish (Jordan 1996)
formed the Hansa (Jordan 1996)
“the year of penury and the severest hunger” (Jordan 1996)
lifted off its foundations and swept away (Lucas 1930)
remained solid enough for travel (Lucas 1930)
the population of the city of Metz never exceeded twenty thousand (Lucas 1930)
“infinite number perished” (Jordan 1996), quoting Curschmann
“a third of the people were brought low” (Jordan 1996), quoting Curschmann
“cadavers were thrown in daily” (Aberth 2010)
who had perished in the famine twenty-five years before (Lucas 1930)
“began to fade” (Jordan 1996), quoting Curschmann
often died of strangulation or choking (Jordan 1996), quoting Curschmann
Brot durch Gott (Jordan 1996)
the nuns of Kloster Ebstorf near Lüneberg (Jordan 1996)
Ludwig then sweetened his bid (Jordan 1996)
“and die rather than live in slavery” (Schiller, 1909–1914)
“a mass of rubble made of legends and fables” (Delbrück 1990)
“a warlike community with battle-hardened leaders” (Delbrück 1990)
“greatly sad, but half-dead” (Delbrück 1990)
He led only fourteen hundred knights (Colish 1983)
“This war has already caused enough widows” (Colish 1983)
the “final struggle” between emperor and pope (Offler 1954)
“He beat them off by the score” (Gask 1910)
“Hard by a great forest” (Grimm 1972)
“Story of Children Living in a Time of Famine” (Tatar 2010) and others. This is my own paraphrase of the story.
Chapter Eleven: “Long Years of Havoc” • 1323–1328
before his guards awakened (Bingham 1973)
a clear provocation (Phillips 2010)
hanged a French soldier (Bingham 1973)
including twenty-seven members of Isabella’s own household (Phillips 2010)
given into the care of Hugh the Younger’s wife (Phillips 2010)
“It seems to our lord the king and to us” (Phillips 2010) The letter in question was from April 1325.
“until Hugh le Despenser is wholly removed from the King’s side” (Childs 2005)
The French king, his successors, and his rivals would face one uprising after another (Winks 2005) None were even close to successful, with the exception of the so-called Remença uprising in 1462 Catalonia, which was finally settled in favor of the “pagesos de remença” (the Catalan term for serfdom) by King Ferdinand of Aragon in 1486.
Isabella’s pillows were stuffed with down and feathers (Weir 2005)
the “courtly” manners expected at court (Elias 2000) Among the rules of etiquette documented by Elias: “A number of people gnaw a bone and then put it back in the dish—this is a serious offence.” “A man who clears his throat when he eats and one who blows his nose in the tablecloth are both ill-bred, I assure you.” “If a man wipes his nose on his hand at table because he knows no better, then he is a fool, believe me.”
a hundred years at that level (Clark 2007) The causes of the so-called medieval price revolution continue to be a matter for debate, but the best argument is the population explosion that is such a general aspect of the Medieval Warm Period, with the rate of increase really picking up after 1170 and continuing for at least the next three generations (Fischer 1996).
unlikely to endear them to their tenants (Turchin 2011) points out that in agrarian societies, “population growth in excess of the productivity gains of the land . . . leads to persistent price inflation, falling real wages, rural misery, urban migration, and increased frequency of food riots and wage protests.” (emphasis added)
“until I am avenged of this Pharisee” (Phillips 2010) and (Childs 2005)
“he is in truth wicked and hostile” (Bingham 1973)
“within and without house” (Phillips 2010) Historians continue to debate the precise beginnings of the Mortimer/Isabella affair, with some arguing it started as early as 1321.
she would recognize an independent Scotland (Weir 2005)
some German-speaking principalities of the Holy Roman Empire (Phillips 2010)
Of the two thousand soldiers (Phillips 2010)
fears of a nonexistent French invasion (Phillips 2010)
presented her with a silver cup (Weir 2005)
some £29,000 in gold (Weir 2005)
“and that your arms be destroyed forever” (Weir 2005), quoting the Annales Paulini
in the open country near Llantrisant (Weir 2005)
“Why do you glory in malice” (Phillips 2010) For those who know this psalm as number 51, you are correct . . . but so are those who know it as number 52, because Psalms 9 and 10 (in the original Hebrew) are combined into Psalm 9 in Greek and Latin translations.
“His body was divided into four quarters” (Froissart 1978)
Its purpose was to depose a king (Bingham 1973)
“beyond all hope of amendment” (Weir 2005)
“Will be a fool proclaimed” (Bingham 1973) The French original reads, “En temps de iver me survynt damage / Fortune trop m’ad traverse / Eure m’est faili tut mon age / Bient sovent la ay esprové / En mond n’ad sib el ne si sage, / Ne si curtois en si preysé / Si eur ne lui court de avantage / Que il ne serra pur fol clamé.”
“every English archer carries 24 Scottish lives in his belt” (Davis 1974)
to rise for the deposed and imprisoned king (Maxwell 1913)
“was ignominiously slain” (Phillips 2010)
“Fell Thirst and Famine scowl” (Gray 1966)
“and to his heirs and successors” (Barrow 2005)
The wedding feast held to celebrate the joining (Davis 1974)
carried back to Scotland for burial (Barrow 2005)
Epilogue: The Delicate Balance
“Freedom’s sword will strongly draw” (Burns 1994)
That number is more controversial No one can truly give a reliable figure, and the most careful historians don’t come anywhere near agreeing with one another. The population of France, for example, declined fr
om between 17 and 20 million at the beginning of the war to either 11 million (Maddison 2006), 9 million (Pregill 1999), or 10 million (Baumgartner 1995). However, if the Black Death is responsible for death rates of between 25 and 30 percent, the war deaths are only the remainder. (Thanks to the invaluable Matthew White, the world’s most assiduous collector of disaster statistics.)
“a strange personification of Death” (Tuchman 1978)
Its subject is not disease, but hunger (Behringer 2009)
Lake Constance burst its banks (Behringer 2009)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aberth, John. From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague, and Death in the Later Middle Ages. Oxford: Routledge, 2010.
Alexandre, Pierre. Le climat en Europe au moyen age [The climate of Europe in the Middle Ages]. Paris: Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales, 1901.
Allen, Robert C. English and Welsh Agriculture, 1300–1850: Outputs, Inputs, and Income. A paper delivered at the International Economic History Conference at Helsinki, Finland, Aug 21–25, 2006.
Anderson, J., T. Barrett, and G. R. Scott. Manual on the Diagnosis of Rinderpest. New York: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1986.
Anonymous. “The Vision of Viands, from the Irish of Anair MacConglinne.” In A Treasury of Irish Songs and Lyrics, Volume 2, edited by Charles Welsh. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Library, 2009.
Arnold, Benjamin. German Knighthood, 1050–1300, New York, Oxford University Press, 1985.
Arnold, David. Famine: Social Crisis and Historical Change. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 1991.
Bailey, Mark. “Per impetum maris: Natural Disaster and Economic Decline in Eastern England, 1275–1350.” In Before the Black Death: Studies in the “Crisis” of the Early Fourteenth Century, edited by Bruce Campbell. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1981.
Bain, Joseph (ed.). Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland Preserved in Her Majesty’s Public Record Office, Vol. II. Edinburgh: Public Records Office, 1884.
Barbour, John. The Bruce. Translated by A.A.M. Duncan. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 1997.
Barnes, Patricia M., and G.S.W. Barrow. “The Movements of Robert Bruce between September 1307 and May 1308.” The Scottish Historical Review (Edinburgh University Press) 49, no. 147 (April 1970): 46–59.
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