MARGARET OF FRANCE,

Second Quren of Edward the First.

CHAPTER I.

Edward's widowhood-Disputed succession to the Scottish crown--The States acknowledge Edward's superiority, and appoint him their arbitrator-Plendings of the claimants-Decision in favour of Baliol-He accepts the crown as Edward's vassa. -Edward endeavours to crush the Scotch by tyranny-Quarrel with France-Its cause-Edward cited to appear before Philip-He falls in love with Blanche la Belle-Is contracted to her-Endeavours to mediate a peace-Is swindled out of Gascony-Cheated out of his betrothed-In a marriage agreement, Margaret of France named in her stead-War ensues-Rebellion of the Welch suppressed-The Scotch defeated-Baliol deposed--The regalia of Scotland brought to EnglandEdward raises money to prosecute the war on the continent-His extortions resisted -Parliament obtains the right of raising the supplies-His doings in FlandersWar with Scotland-William Wallace-Edward overcomes the Scots-Returns to London in triumph-The Pope arranges a peace with France.

ROM the period when Eleanora of Castile was consigned to the tomb, nine years passed away ere Edward the First again entered the married state. According to the contemporary chroniclers, the protracted widowhood of the active, energetic Edward was a truly forlorn and wretched one. This, however, may be questioned. That for a period he felt severely the loss of his "dear Queen," is not to be doubted; but that he moped, mourned, and continued miserably melancholy from the hour of her death until he again entered the holy pale of matrimony, is neither probable nor consonant with the

entries that occur in the State rolls, the Wardrobe accounts, and other manuscript records of the era-documents of unquestionable authenticity, but which. until a comparatively recent period, have mouldered in the neglected dust of the archives of England. In truth, Edward sought and found solace from his sorrow in the council of state and the turmoil of battle. To his towering ambition and daring chivalric energies, the attempt to subjugate Scotland and a war with France, afforded busy occupation; and as it is well to weave through this volume an unbroken thread of history, we will commence these memoirs with a sketch of the leading events that occupied the attention of Edward the First during the period of his widowhood,

land.

Baliol's cagerness to wear the crown of his native land induced him to acept it as a vassal; but he soon learned how dearly he must pay for his indiscretion, what petty indignities he must suffer at the hands of his liege lord. Before the English King quitted Newcastle, a Scotch

first glancing at his designs against Scot- maintaining it to be divisibie. But this claim was unanimously negatived by the The line of the descendants of Alex-parliaments; and on the nineteenth of ander the Third, the Scotch king, being | November, 1292, the regency was disextinguished by the unexpected demise soived, and Balioi took the oath or feaity to of the Maid of Norway,” in 1290, the Edward, and received possession both of right of succession was disputed by no the throne and the fortresses of Scotland. less than thirteen claimants; and being unable to decide to which of these the crown should be resigned, the States, to avoid the threatened miseries of a civil war, appointed King Edward, then deemed the most upright and mighty of potentates, as their arbitrator. Edward willingly accepted the office; not, how-man complained to him of insults he had ever, as an appointment from the States received in the town of Berwick from of Scotland, but as a right pertaining to some Englishmen, when, although Edthe King of England, as Lord Paramount ward had promised that all cases of law of Scotland, a right which the Scotch, occurring in Scotland should be tried being then too weak to dispute, wisely in that country, he ordered the cause waived to a more fitting opportunity, to be tried in England by his own Edward, therefore, summoned the pre-judges. This produced a remonstrance lates, barons, and commonalty to meet in the Scotch council, to which Edward him on the border of the two kingdoms, replied. "That the promise they acwhere, as a preliminary to the proceed-cused him of breaking had been made ings, they swore fealty to him. After when their throne was vacant; he had this, it was unanimously agreed that he should be assisted in his important office by the advice of a council of eighty Scotch and twenty-four English. Le fore this council the several competitors urged their respective claims by written and oral evidence; but as it was to the interest of the majority to mystify the matter as much as possible, the lengthy pleadings were elaborated with sophisms, fabulous legends, and far-fetched similes. Thus, four months passed away without the council, divided as it was by party views and personal interests, coming to any definite decision. Edward, therefore, summoned a parliament of both nations, who received the report of the council, and after an elaborate inquiry, which had lasted eighteen months, and in which the claims of Robert Bruce and John Baliol, the two nearest descendants of Alexander, were thoroughly investigated, a decision was given in the name of the King, by the advice and with the consent of the united parliament of the two nations, in favour of John Baliol; a decision which so enraged Bruce, that he joined with Lord Hastings, another competitor, for a part of the kingdom,

punctually observed it during the regency, but as there was now a King of Scotland, he should admit and hear all complaints concerning that kingdom where and when he pleased." This declaration he repeated four days days afterwards, in his own chamber, before 1 aliol and several lords of both nations. adding, with great warmth, "He would call the King of Scotland himself to appear in England whenever he thought proper to do so," a threat he lost no time in putting into execution; and by encouraging appeals to his authority from that of the Scotch King, whom he repeatedly summoned to London upon matters the most trivial, he at length aroused to anger the quiet temper of Baliol. In fact, he thought to crush the Scotch by tyranny, but in this he was mistaken; his injustice only rekindled their slumbering energies, and prompted them to rid themselves of so troublesome a master.

Whilst Edward was thus stretching to the utmost his feudal superiority over his newly-created vassal, the Scotch King, he himself, as Duke of Aquitaine, was doomed to suffer similar humiliation from his superior lord, Philip of France.

The receipt of the summons greatly annoyed Edward, and that more on ac count of private than public matters. He had already negociated a marriage with the most beautiful woman of her times, King Philip's sister. Blanche la Belle. Being himself fully occupied with the affairs of Scotland, he had sent ambassadors to the French court, and from them received a report of the beauty and loveliness of blanche so favourable, that mature as he was in age, he became vio

forc, desired above all things to avoid a quarrel with the French monarch, especially as he had corresponded with the beautiful Blanche, and been admonished by her in a letter, that in arranging the marriage preliminaries, he must bow to the will of her brother Philip, who de

This rupture between England and France grew out of a private quarrel between two sailors. An English marine and a Norman pilot accidentally met. quarrelled, and fought. The Norman was killed. the Englishman rescued by his shipmates; and the Norman sailors, to revenge the death of their countryman, boarded an English vessel, took out the pilot and several of the passengers, and hanged them with dogs at their heels at their mast-head. Retaliation ensued, in which the sailors of France and Eng-lently in love with her. He now, thereland heartily joined, and thus a fierce naval warfare was soon raging between the rival nations, without sanction or aid from either sovereign. At length a Norman fleet of two hundred sail swept through the channel, bearing down all before it, and after perpetrating outrages unheard-of in legitimate hostility, pil-manded that dward should settle Gaslaged the coast of Gascony, hanged all cony on his issue by the Princess. the seamen they had made prisoners, and with a rich booty returned in triumph to St. Mahé, a port in Brittany. Here they were discovered by the brave mariners of Portsmouth and the Cinque Ports, who, with a well-armed fleet of eighty sail, had been cruizing in search of them. Challenges were immediately given and accepted, and a hot stubbornlycontested battle ensued. At length the prowess of England prevailed, every French ship was taken, and no quarter being shown to the vanquished, the slaughter was terrific; according to Walsingham, fifteen thousand men were killed or drowned, and two hundred and forty prizes reached the ports of England in safety.

This murderous defeat provoked the haughty Philip of France to demand instant redress from the English King; but as Edward neglected the requisition, the seneschal of Perigard was ordered to take possession of all lands belonging to the crown of England within his jurisdiction. This order the seneschal failed to execute, as Edward's garrison drove back the invaders. The court of Puris, thereforc, caused a peremptory summons to be issued for Edward to appear twenty days after Christmas, and answer before his feudal superior for the offences charged against him.

Under these circumstances, the lovesick Edward sent the Bishop of London with a conciliatory reply to the hostile summons, and an offer to recompense the French sufferers if Philip would also compensate the English. This offer was rejected, and the bishop succeeded by Edward's brother Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, who, being husband to the mother of the French Queen, relied on his influence at the French court to appease the wrath of Philip in a manner congenial to the wishes of his brother, King Edward. But his simplicity was no match for the craft of Philip, who, whenever he attempted to negociate the matter, flew into a towering rage, and prevented it.. Being thus repeatedly rebuffed, he lost hope, and was about returning home without effecting his purpose, when Joanna, the Queen of France, and Mary of Brabant, widow of Philip the Hardy, entreated him to renew the negociation through them, and on his doing so, they assured him that as Philip's honour had been wounded, Edward was bound to make a public reparation, and this would be best effected by the surrender of Gascony, just as a matter of form, for forty days, when it should be returned again to Edward, or, as he was about to wed I lanche la Felle, settled by a new enfeoffment on her and

five summers, was left half-wedded to Elanene, as, according to Piers of Langtoft and Wilks, the r'ope's dispensation for their union had been previously ob

her posterity as a dower. This arrangement was agreed to by Edward, and embodied in a secret treaty signed by the consort of Philip, who himseif, in the presence of several witnesses, pro-tained. mised to observe it on the word and! It was the intention of Edward to honour of a king. The citation at Paris | proceed in person to assert his rights on against Edward was next withdrawn, and Earl Edmund, little dreaming of treachery, gave possession of Gascony to the officers of its lord paramount.

the continent. But in this he was thwarted. For seven weeks adverse winds detained him at Portsmouth, and the Welch, believing he had sailed, rose in insurrection, and murdered the English; he therefore sent his brother Edmund to prosecute the war in Gascony, and marching his troops against the rebellious Cambrians, turned not again to the eastward till he had planted the roys standard on the heights of Snow

On the expiration of the forty days, Earl Edmund reminded Philip of the engagement, but was requested to remain quiet until certain lords, not in the secret, had quitted Paris. This aroused his suspicion; he again repeated the demand, which this time was positively refused, the refusal being followed by ano-don, and for a second time conquered ther citation against Edward, which not being immediately answered in due form, Philip, in council, pronounced judgment against him.

This dishonest refusal of the French King to give Edward re-possession of his lands, as stipulated in the private treaty, was accompanied with an announcement-private of course-forbidding the impending marriage between Edward and the Princess Blanche; a breach of faith in the highest degree mortifying to the English Monarch, who had set his heart on this union.

He

Wales. Again Edward prepared to recover his transmaritime possessions, when intelligence reached him that Scotland and France had entered into a secret alliance to crush his power. therefore led his army northward, invested and took Berwick with great slaughter, destroyed the Scotch army at Dunbar, received the submission of the principal towns north of the Tweed, deposed Baliol and sent him prisoner to London, received homage and fealty from the Scotch nobility, and having named John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Guardian of Scotland, and invested him with the reins of government, returned

him the Scottish regalia, and the famous stone seat on which the Kings of Scotland sat at their coronation, and on which was engraved a couplet to this effect:

"Or fate's deceived, and Heaven decrees in vain,

Or where they find this stone the Scots shall reign."

The Queens, who had negociated the private treaty, expressed great indignation at the cheating line of conduct pur-into England in triumph, bringing with sued by Philip. Earl Edmund wrote a long explanatory letter to the King of England. detailing at length by what craft and dishonesty he had been overreached, and exhorting his brother to avoid open hostilities. This letter was accompanied by a secret treaty of marriage, in which Philip's youngest and less comely sister, Margaret, is substituted for the beautiful Blanche. Whether this was a trick, or an arrangement entered into by Earl Edmund, is nowhere clearly explained. Most probably it was a diplomatic manoeuvre, as Edward rejected the marriage articles with dis- Edward now prepared to embark for dain, and a fierce war immediately en- the continent, and the more effectually sued. During this war, which lasted to humble the haughty Philip, entered from 1294 to 1298, Edward, who had no into a league with the Earls of Flantime to lose, having already seen fifty-ders and Holland, and other powerful

The crown he offered at the shrine of the sainted Becket at Canterbury, and the other regalia were placed in St. Edward's Chapel, at Westminster, where the ancient seat still remains.

the sole right of raising the supplies, one of the greatest concessions hitherto obtained from the crown.

nobles, who were vassals or neighbours | luctant Edward to invest in the people of France, and that he might largely subsidize these allies, obtained, by a vote in parliament, one-eighth of the moveables of the cities and boroughs, and ai tenth of the rest of the laity. From the clergy he demanded a fifth, which they refused, under the plea that in the previous year Pope Boniface the Eighth published a bull, forbidding the clergy to grant the revenues of their benefices to laymen, without the consent of the Holy See. Annoyed at this refusal, and finding the clergy resolute, he promptly outlawed them, and seized upon all their lay fees, goods, and chattels. This bold step, such as no previous King had dared to take, speedily induced them to seek the favour of their sovereign, by grant-it expedient to precipitately retreat into ing him, as fines and fees, more than he had previously asked.

Edward at length embarked for Flanders, with an army fifteen thousand strong. His plan was to concentrate the forces of his allies in Flanders, and march at once against the capital of France; but in this he was frustrated by the lateness of the season, the coolness of his allies, the opposition of their subjects, and the non-appearance of forces for which he had paid largely to the King of the Romans and others. Philip's position was critical: true he had invaded Flanders with considerable success, but on Edward's arrival he found

This agreement ratified, Edward hastily returned to lead his army against the Scotch patriots, who, during his absence, had again broke out in insurrection.

This insurrection was headed by William Wallace, an individual who had risen from the ranks of obscurity, and whose name, in conjunction with that of Robert Bruce, grandson of him who competed with Baliol, has been rendered familiar to the most unlearned by the poet Burns, in his immortal lines commencing

France, where he awaited the result in great anxiety: thus both monarchs being Finding these sums, considerable as disposed to a temporary peace, they they were, insufficient for his purpose, Ed- agreed to a short truce, and consented ward resorted to loans. fees, fiues, seizures, to refer their differences to the equity of and every conceivable device to obtain his the Pope, not as a pontiff, but as a priend. This stretch of the royal preroga-vate arbitrator, selected by themselves. tives so exasperated the nation, that meetings were held, and preparations made for resistance. And when, at length, he had raised two armies, one to be commanded by himself in Flanders and the other to make a powerful diversion in Guienne, the nobles objected to serve in the latter, because it would not be headed by the King in person. This so annoyed Edward, that he threatened to deprive them of their lands; but they declared their lands were not at the disposal of the crown, and Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England, told Edward to his face, he would only serve as his office obliged him, by lead- This Wallace, it appears, although an ing the vanguard under the King. This unflinching patriot, was a great scoundrel. so enraged Edward, that addressing Bi- After committing murder he fled from god, he passionately exclaimed, "By the justice to the mountain fastness, where, eternal God! sir Earl! you shall either joined by a set of lawless desperadoes, he go or be hanged!" By the eternal lived by nocturnal pillage, till a fortuGod! sir King" retorted the Earl, "Inate encounter, in which William Heslop, will neither go nor be hanged!" Bigod the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, and several immediately withdrew from court in dis-others were slain, gave celebrity to his gust, and in the absence of the King name, when he concentrated his forces raised a commotion against the extor- with those of other outlaws and robbers, tions of the crown, effected a league raised the standard of national indewith the leading earls, barons, and citi-pendence, and after taking several castles, zens, and ultimately compelled the re- won the battle of Stirling, drove the

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"Scots wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled."