taken and hanged; his wife and sister imprisoned. But though he was tracked by bloodhounds and hunted by Highlanders, Robert himself managed not only to keep out of the hands of his foes, but even to make head against them. In 1307 Edward made up his mind to put down the rebellion at all hazards, and started with a huger host than before on a campaign which must have ended in complete success. Brus, terrified, sent to Prince Edward begging him to get terms for him; but the old king would not hear of anything but submission at mercy, and Brus,_despairing, resolved to hold out to the death. However, Edward was taken ill and died at Burgh-on-Sands, by Solway Water, Friday, July 7. He sent his last wishes to his son, bidding him go on with the army, bearing his bones with him till Scotland was thoroughly subdued, ordering him to use the treasure of £32,000 to keep sevenscore knights for a crusade to the Holy Land, where he would have his heart buried, praying him to cherish his stepmother and his half-brothers, and forbidding him to recall Piers of Gaveston (who had lately been banished) without leave of Parliament. All which things the Prince promised under pain of his father's curse.

Edward's form and looks are often spoken of by the chroniclers. He was stronger, bigger, and taller than most men, deep-chested, thin-flanked, with long limbs, which gave him great power in swordsmanship, riding, and tilting. His face was handsome and stern, only blemished by the falling eyelid which he inherited from his father; his hair was flaxfair in his childhood, dark brown in his manhood, and silver-white in his old age. He was a good and ready speaker, in spite of a slight stammer, and his voice was deep and strong. He kept his full health and strength till within a few days of his death, though his life had been rough and restless. He was as pious and duteous to his kinsfolk as his father had been, as good a knight and as quick a general as Richard Lion-heart, and as wise and hard-working a king as Henry of Anjou. He was truthful, holding ever to his device, "Keep faith;" pitiful, boasting that no man had ever prayed him for mercy and been refused; careful of his money, his time, and his servants, and proud of his strict justice to evil-doers. He was never afraid of confessing his mistakes, and he took pains to show his people that he trusted and cared for them, and sought their love and trust in return. There are many stories that set forth his dutifulness, courage, and princely heart. How he fought Adam of Gordon, a tried and stalwart knight of Montfort's party,

single-handed, overcame him, and gave him his life, after Evesham. How he swam a river to get at and chastise an insolent groom, whom he forgave when the fellow in great terror begged pardon for his rudeness. How at Stirling, when his horse was slain by a bolt from an arblast, he turned round to his men, who begged him to withdraw out of range of the castle, with the words, “A thousand shall fall beside me, and ten thousand at my right hand, but their arrows shall not come nigh unto me to do me hurt, for the Lord is with me." He had indeed had many narrow escapes from death. Once a huge stone fell from the roof of the room on the very place where he had just been sitting; another time the lightning struck his bedroom and killed two pages that were standing before him; a third time, his horse, frightened by the sails of a mill, leapt over the wall at Winchelsea, falling many feet down to the road beneath, which luckily happened to be a muddy one, without hurting himself or his rider. But though he believed himself to be specially guarded by God, Edward did not give way to superstition nor let his feelings mislead his reason. When a beggar pretended that his eyes had been opened by praying at King Henry III.'s tomb, he drove the man away, to his mother's displeasure, saying, "My father would rather have had such a lying rascal blinded than given him back his eyesight." Yet he held his father in deep love and respect. A knight once came to him and complained that a Jewish usurer had refused to do him justice, saying that he had leave by charter from King Henry not to appear before any judge but the king himself. Said Edward, "It does not become a son to make void his father's promises, but I will give you leave in another charter to do what you like to this Jew without being obliged to answer for it save to me." When the Jew heard this he at once agreed to forego King Henry's charter and do justice to his creditor.

What Edward's people thought of him is shown in their deep grief for his death and the way in which they looked back to his reign as a time of peace and good laws. One

song says:

"When he reigned over England, he made the law to stand,

By Reason and by Righteousness he held the realm in hand,
With Wisdom, Strength, and Bravery, in which he did abound;
For ruling of a kingdom his peer was never found."

And his dirge runs:

"All ye of perfect heart and true: hearken an hour my song unto! For a woe that Death hath dared to do: sick and sorry we all must go.

I sing of a knight that was so strong on whom God now hath wrought His will.

Methinks this Death hath done us wrong: that he so soon should lie so still.

All England surely ought to know: of whom the song is that I sing, Of King Edward that lies so low through all the world his praise shall ring.

Truest of men in every thing: and in war both wary and wise,

We needs for him our hands must wring of Christian kings he bore the prize.

To Poitiers town a serjeant pass'd and told the Pope the king was dead

The Holy Father's tears fell fast: upon his stole the while he read; 'Alas!' he said, 'is Edward dead: to whom God gave such grace and power?'

'Christ on his soul His mercy shed: of Christian kings he was the flower !'

Although my tongue were made of steel: my heart cast out of brass, The goodness I could ne'er reveal: that in King Edward was.

King, thou wast called Conqueror in every battle thou barest the prize.

God bring thy soul to that honour: that ever was and ever is!"

CHAPTER II.

Edward II. of Caernarvon, 1307-1327.

1. Prince Edward, now twenty-three years old, was a strong, handsome young man, brave, well-spoken, and able, but headstrong, careless of all but his own pleasures, and given overmuch to the companionship of those beneath him, idling his time away with actors, jugglers, craftsmen, and labourers, when he ought to have been learning and doing his duty as a peer and counsellor. His folly angered his father, who drove him from court for six months when he broke the treasurer's park and slew his deer, and could not refrain from striking him when he begged the earldom of Ponthieu, his mother's portion, for his bosom friend Gaveston. Piers or Peter of Ĝaveston was the son of a Gascon knight who with his wife had been put to death by the French; Queen Eleanor had brought the orphan to her court and made him the playmate of her son, over whom he got the most unEdward and bounded power. Piers is spoken of as a good Piers of Gaves- knight, a gifted man, and a skilful soldier; but his pride and greed made him hateful, and his power over Edward was not used for any good. The new king began his reign by breaking his father's dying wishes.

ton, 1307-1309.

He sent his father's body to Westminster to be buried; went south himself, though there was every hope, if he had used the power he had, of crushing the rebellion of Brus at one blow; and recalled Gaveston, making him Chamberlain, Earl of Cornwall, marrying him to his niece, and enriching him with his father's treasure and the jewels of the crown. He then dismissed the treasurer and others of the Council who had offended himself or his friends in times past, and appointing the newly-made earl Warden of the Realm, crossed to Boulogne. Here, having done homage for his duchy of Aquitaine, he married the French princess, Isabel, January 28, 1308, amid great feasting and merry-making. On his return he was crowned at Westminster, February 25, when he swore a special oath "to hold and keep the laws and righteous customs which the commonalty of the realm should choose."

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Very soon the king's folly and extravagance, and Gaveston's open contempt of the Earls of Hereford, Warenne, Pembroke, Warwick, and Lancaster, whom he thwarted in the Council, overthrew in the tournament, and mocked with nicknames (calling Pembroke "Joseph the Jew," Warwick the black dog of Arden," and Lancaster "the old man" or "the mummer"), led to the exile of the favourite at the Council of London. The king made him Warden of Ireland, and there he ruled well and was much liked. However, in 1309, the Parliament of Westminster brought forward certain Articles prohibiting (a) the wrongdoings and illegal tolls taken by the king's officers; (6) the delays and evasions of justice; (c) the new customs upon the foreign merchants, who were not protected by the Charter; (d) the wrong use of the king's right of purveyance. The king agreed to these at Stamford 1309, and by the persuasion of the Earl of Gloucester the Parliament allowed of Gaveston's return.

2. But the greatest of the English barons, the king's cousin Thomas, son of Edmund Crouchback King of Sicily, and Blanche dowager Queen of Navarre, Earl of Lancaster, Leicester, and Derby, and heir by marriage to Lincoln and Salisbury, was by no means pleased with the king's rule. And as there were many men, rich and poor, who had grievances which they saw little chance of getting removed by the careless, ease-loving king or his proud and lazy ministers, Earl Thomas soon had a large party at his back. The king forbade armed gatherings, but the barons paid no heed to his decree and came in full force to a Parliament at Westminster in Lent 1310, and chose a board of seven bishops, eight earls,

The Ordinances

and the murder

of Piers, 13101312.

and six barons, of whom the Archbishop Robert was the chief, to draw up Ordinances "to the honour and welfare of Holy Church, the king, and the people of the realm, according to the oath the king took when he was crowned." While the Ordainers were sitting the king and Gaveston made a raid into Scotland, in which they drove their foes before them, but did not succeed in stopping the war by the capture of the rebel leaders.

In 1311, leaving Gaveston at Bamborough, Edward came back and met the Parliament at London. He had already agreed to the first six Ordinances ere he went north, touching

(a) The keeping of the Charters, (b) the peace, and (c) the rights of the Church; (d) forbidding the king to make any gifts without the Ordainers' consent; (e) ordering the customs to be paid to English collectors, and (f) making the foreigners to whom they had hitherto been paid give account of their receipts.

He now had to agree to a second set of Ordinances, by which

(a) Gaveston, "who had misled the king, turned away his heart from his people, and wrought all kinds of wrong-doing," was to be banished and forfeit his estates; the Italian merchants who had lent the king money and taken the taxes were to be sent out of England; and Henry of Beaumont, whom Edward had made King of Man (which had been lately taken from the Scots), was to leave the Council.

(6) All the king's ministers in England, Ireland, and Gascony are to be chosen by the king with the counsel and consent of the baronage. (c) The king may not go to war, leave the realm, raise an army, or change the coinage without consent of the barons in Parliament. (d) Parliaments are to be held once at least every year to hear and decide suits and complaints.

(e) The new prises [forced tolls], customs, afforestings, taxes on foreign merchants, are forbidden.

(f) Justice was made more sure and severe.

(g) The former Ordinances, Statutes, and Charters are confirmed.

Edward complained that he was treated like an idiot, since he was no longer allowed to rule his own house or choose his own servants; but after in vain praying the barons to forgive "his brother Piers," he gave way, sent Gaveston to Brabant, and sealed the Ordinances. However, as soon as he got back to York by counsel of certain French lawyers he set aside the articles touching Gaveston and replaced him in his former rank and estates. Earl Thomas and his friends at once armed, and beset Gaveston in Scarborough till he gave himself up on the understanding