celebrated for those quick sallies of wit in which his countrymen usually excel. By all these accomplishments he gained so entire an ascendant over young Edward, whose heart was strongly disposed to friendship and confidence, that the late king, apprehensive of the consequences, had banished him the kingdom, and had, before he died, made his son promise never to recall him. But no sooner did he find himself master, as he vainly imagined, than he sent for Gaveston; and even, before his arrival at court, endowed him with the whole earldom of Cornwall, which had escheated to the crown by the death of Edmond, son of Richard king of the Romans. Not content with conferring on him those possessions which had sufficed as an appanage for a prince of the blood, he daily loaded him with new honours and riches; married him to his own niece, sister of the earl of Gloucester; and seemed to enjoy no pleasure in his royal dignity, but as it enabled him to exalt to the highest splendour this object of his fond affections. The haughty barons, offended at the superiority of a minion, whose birth, though reputable, they despised as much inferior to their own, concealed not their discontent; and soon found reasons to justify their animosity in the character and conduct of the man they hated. Instead of disarming envy by the moderation and modesty of his behaviour, Gaveston displayed his power and influence with the utmost ostentation; and deemed no circumstance of his good fortune so agreeable as its enabling him to eclipse and mortify all his rivals. He was vainglorious, profuse, rapacious; fond of exterior pomp and appearance, giddy with prosperity; and as he imagined that his fortune was now as strongly rooted in the kingdom, as his ascendant was uncontrolled Rymer, vol. ii. p. 1. Heming, vol. i. p. 243. Walsing. 2 P. 96. over the weak monarch, he was negligent in engaging partisans, who might support his sudden and ill established grandeur. At all tournaments he took delight in foiling the English nobility by his superior address: in every conversation he made them the object of his wit and raillery: every day his enemies multiplied upon him; and nought was wanting but. a little time to cement their union, and render it fatal both to him and to his master3. It behoved the king to take a journey to France, both in order to do homage for the dutchy of Guienne, and to espouse the princess Isabella, to whom he had long been affianced, though unexpected accidents' had hitherto retarded the completion of the marriage. Edward left Gaveston guardian of the realm 5, with more ample powers than had usually been conferred: and, on his return with his young queen, renewed all the proofs of that fond attachment to the favourite, of which every one so loudly complained. This princess was of an imperious and intriguing spirit; and finding that her husband's capacity required, as his temper inclined, him to be governed, she thought herself best entitled, on every account, to perform the office; and she contracted a mortal hatred against the person who had disappointed her in these expectations. She was well pleased, therefore, to see a combination of the nobility forming against Gaveston, who, sensible to her hatred, had wantonly provoked her by new insults and injuries. 1308.] Thomas earl of Lancaster, cousin-german to the king, and first prince of the blood, was by far the most opulent and powerful subject in England, and possessed in his own right, and soon after in that of his wife, heiress of the family of Lincoln, no 3 T. de la More, p. 593. Walsing. p. 97. less than six earldoms, with a proportionable estate in land, attended with all the jurisdictions and power which commonly in that age were annexed to landed property. He was turbulent and factious in his disposition; mortally hated the favourite, whose influence over the king exceeded his own; and he soon became the head of that party among the barons who desired the depression of this insolent stranger. The confederated nobles bound themselves by oath to expel Gaveston: both sides began already to put themselves in a warlike posture: the licentiousness of the age broke out in robberies and other disorders, the usual prelude of civil war: and the royal authority, despised in the king's own hands, and hated in those of Gaveston, became insufficient for the execution of the laws, and the maintenance of peace in the kingdom. A parliament being summoned at Westminster, Lancaster and his party came thither with an armed retinue; and were there enabled to impose their own terms on the sovereign. They required the banishment of Gaveston, imposed an oath on him never to return, and engaged the bishops, who never failed to interpose in all civil concerns, to pronounce him excommunicated if he remained any longer in the kingdom'. Edward was obliged to submits; but even in his compliance gave proofs of his fond attachment to his favourite. Instead of removing all umbrage by sending him to his own country, as was expected, he appointed him lord lieutenant of Ireland, attended him to Bristol on his journey thither, and before his departure conferred on him new lands and riches, both in Gascony and England". Gaveston, who did not want bravery, and 7 Trivet, cont. p. 5. 8 Rymer, vol. iii. p. 80. 9 Rymer, p. 92. Murimuth, p. 39. possessed talents for war", acted during his government with vigour against some Irish rebels, whom he subdued. Meanwhile the king, less shocked with the illegal violence which had been imposed upon him, than unhappy in the absence of his minion, employed every expedient to soften the opposition of the barons to his return; as if success in that point were the chief object of his government. The high office of hereditary steward was conferred on Lancaster: his father-in-law, the earl of Lincoln, was bought off by other concessions: earl Warrenne was also mollified by civilities, grants, or promises: the insolence of Gaveston, being no longer before men's eyes, was less the object of general indignation: and Edward, deeming matters sufficiently prepared for his purpose, applied to the court of Rome, and obtained for Gaveston, a dispensation from that oath which the barons had compelled him to take, that he would for ever abjure the realm 12. He went down to Chester to receive him on his first landing from Ireland; flew into his arms with transports of joy; and having obtained the formal consent of the barons of parliament to his reestablishment, set no longer any bounds to his extravagant fondness and affection. Gaveston himself, forgetting his past misfortunes, and blind to their causes, resumed the same ostentation and insolence; and became more than ever the object of general detestation among the nobility. The barons first discovered their animosity by absenting themselves from parliament; and finding that this expedient had not been successful, they began to think of employing sharper and more effectual remedies. Though there had scarcely been 11 Heming. vol. i. p. 248. T. de la More, p. 593, any national ground of complaint, except some dissipation of the public treasure: though all the acts of mal-administration, objected to the king and his favourite, seemed of a nature more proper to excite heartburnings in a ball or assembly, than commotions in a great kingdom: yet such was the situation of the times, that the barons were determined, and were able, to make them the reasons of a total alteration in the constitution and civil government. [7th Feb.] Having come to parliament, in defiance of the laws and the king's prohibition, with a numerous retinue of armed followers, they found themselves entirely masters; and they presented a petition, which was equivalent to a command, requiring Edward to devolve on a chosen junto the whole authority, both of the crown and of the parliament. The king was obliged to sign a commission [March 16], empowering the prelates and barons to elect twelve persons who should, till the term of Michaelmas in the year following, have authority to enact ordinances for the government of the kingdom, and regulation of the king's household; consenting that these ordinances should thenceforth and for ever have the force of laws; allowing the ordainers to form associations among themselves and their friends, for their strict and regular observance; and all this for the greater glory of God, the security of the church, and the honour and advantage of the king and kingdom 13. The barons in return signed a declaration; in which they acknowledged that they owed these concessions merely to the king's free grace; promised that this commission should never be drawn into precedent; and engaged that the power of the ordainers should expire at the time appointed14 p. 13 Brady, App. No. 50. Heming. vol. i. p. 247. Walsing, 97. Ryley, p. 526. 14 Brady's App. No. 51. |