the man to resist his iniquitous tyranny. Torture Edwd. II. was ordered to be applied. The Pope wrote to A.D. 1308. Edward, upbraiding him for preventing the inquisi- The Pope tors from applying the rack. Edward weakly and urges that wickedly yielded, and sent orders to the Constable of the Tower to deliver up the Templars to the quisitors, to do with them as they might please.

in

The prisoners, many of whom had been in prison for nearly four years, and were broken down by the misery they had endured, were brought up before the inquisitors, and again asked to confess their crimes.

torture

should be and Ed

applied,

ward yields.

their inno.

They knew that, if they confessed, they would at They still once be set at liberty; and that, if they did not con- persist in fess, they would be tortured: but yet, one and all cence, utterly denied the truth of the crimes imputed to them.

At length torture produced its effect. One after but at another, the prisoners admitted the truth of the lengththey yield. charges brought against them, and were pardoned. To this general submission there were but few exceptions, the only one of note being William de la More, the Master of the Temple in England, who died in his dungeon in the Tower, persisting, to his last breath, in the innocence of his order.

soners.

some of

soners defy turers.

the tor

In France, more courage was shown by the pri- In France be that in England, the King dared the priIt may not put to death any of the accused Templars; but it is certain that, while in England none suffered death rather than confess themselves guilty, in France there were multitudes who endured horrible mortal agonies, slow burnings and torture, rather than do so. Jacques de Molay, the Grand Master of Death of the order, in a moment of weakness had yielded, Master. and was called on to renew publicly the confession of

the Grand

A.D. 1308.

Edwd. II. guilt extorted from him by torture. But the moment of weakness had passed away, and, although he well knew the terrible fate that would befall him, on being called on to avow his guilt in the face of an assembled multitude, he rose triumphantly, declaring that it was only the pain of torture that had caused him to admit the truth of the charges against him, asserting his innocence, and denouncing his judges, till he was interrupted and hurried back to prison. The next day he was slowly burnt to death.

They must

innocent.

Thus ends the history of this great order; and be deemed from the nature of the evidence, and the mode in which their trial was conducted, it is impossible to come to any other conclusion than that, whether they were guilty or not guilty, the charges were utterly unsupported by a tittle of proof which, in a modern court of justice, would for an instant weigh against them.79

A.D. 1308.

King's

Events from the King's Marriage until the Death of

Gaveston.

At the end of January in the following year, the King went to France to marry Isabella, daughter of to Isabella Philip the Fourth (called the Fair), King of France. of France. She was only sixteen 14 years old, but was considered

marriage

The

to be the most beautiful woman of the time. King sailed from Dover on the 22nd of January, was married, with great splendour, at Boulogne on the 28th, and returned to England on the 7th of February. "This marriage was the cause of the longest and long wars, bloodiest wars that ever desolated France, for it was in her name that Edward the Third made claims to the throne of France." 15

Cause of

Although the King was absent from England for

appointed

kingdom.

turn he

little more than a fortnight, yet he appointed Gaves- Edwd. II. ton Guardian of the Kingdom during his absence, A.D.1308. giving him power to control all Church preferments, Gaveston and granting to him feudal rights not usually con- guardian ceded to guardians, though of royal family. On of the his return, when the great men of the kingdom came on the to meet him at Dover, he received none with such king's reaffection as he bestowed on his minion Gaveston, disgusts "giving him the sumptuous presents of fine horses, by his love rings, jewels and other curiosities of great value presented to him by the King of France on his marriage." All these injudicious follies exasperated the nobles to such a degree that they demanded Gaveston's banishment, threatening to stop the King's coronation, unless he yielded to their demands.

for Ga

mises

The King, accordingly, promised, that, at the next King proParliament, he would yield whatever they should amendrequire of him; and the barons then consented to ment. the King and his Queen being crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 23rd of February. But still, the King's madness and Gaveston's insolence could not be kept within bounds. Edward appointed His coroGaveston to carry the crown before him at the coronation, and Gaveston insulted the nobles, by the superior splendour of his apparel, "being dressed finer than the King himself." The coronation oath taken by the King was as follows:

7

nation.

tion oath.

"The Bishop of Winchester. Sir, will you keep Coronaand confirm by your Oath to the people of England, the laws established by the pious Kings your predecessors, and particularly the laws, customs, and liberties, granted to the clergy and people, by the glorious St. Edward, your predecessor?'

"King. 'I will, and promise it.'

Edwd. II.

"Bishop. 'Sir, will you preserve to God, to Holy

A.D.1308. Church, to the clergy and people, the peace of God, fully and to the utmost of your power?'

Liberties

derived

from Ed

"King. I will.'

"Bishop. Sir, will you cause to be observed in all your judgements, right and justice with discretion, in mercy and in truth, as far as you are able?'

King.
"Bishop.

I will.'

Sir, will you promise to keep, and cause to be kept, the laws and statutes that the community of your kingdom shall judge fit to enact, and will you defend and protect them to the utmost of your power?'

"King. 'I do promise it.'"

From this oath it will be seen that the liberties of the nation were not supposed to be derived from ward the Magna Carta, but from the laws of Edward the Confessor, and that they were therefore only confirmed by Magna Carta.

Confessor.

The barons exasperated.

Gaveston flees from

their fury.

The barons now, having no belief in the King's promises, determined to seize Gaveston, and they hunted him over half the kingdom. The only one among them, who still adhered to the King, was Hugh le Despenser, the father of the King's future favourite.18

Gaveston went first to his castle at Wallingford, and then, fearing he was not safe there, fled to the King at Windsor. The barons, being unable to find him, held a great meeting at Northampton to consider the affairs of the kingdom, "threatening those who should neglect to come in to them, with no less than the plundering and destroying of their houses and estates." 38 Here it was agreed that "if the King does not govern according to reason, the barons are

THE KING'S MISGOVERNMENT.

359

bound by their oath to bring him back to reason." 19 Edwd. II. Edward now got frightened, and summoned a Par- A.D. 1309. liament, which met at Westminster in the spring. The King still tried to protect his favourite, but the Parliament decreed, that he should be banished from the kingdom for ever. Edward obtained leave how- Gaveston ever for Gaveston to go to Ireland, of which he on May 18, appointed him Governor, and such was the infatua- but goes tion of this wretched King, that he went with Gaveston to Bristol, from whence the minion embarked for Ireland.

banished,

to Ireland.

misgovernment and its

conse

During this period the whole government of the The king's kingdom went on badly. Bruce, as you will shortly hear, continued to gain more and more power in Scotland, the crown property in England was being wasted, quences. and the course of justice was interfered with. The barons complained, among other things, that the King's purveyors took all kinds of provisions without payment; that additional duties had been laid on wine, on cloth, and on other foreign produce; that the coin was debased; that the King's officers held pleas which did not fall under their cognizance, and exercised authority beyond the "verge," that is, a circuit of twelve leagues round the King's person. The meaning of this grievance was, that the King's own personal officers usurped the settlement of complaints, and the granting or withholding relief, which belonged properly to the Law Officers, and the Law Courts of the Crown.

But Edward paid no attention to such matters. All he cared for was the society of Gaveston, and at a Parliament held in the spring he tried to get leave for his return from exile. But the Parliament would agree neither to this, nor to Gaveston's retaining the