their gates, and resist, as far as they were able, all Edwd. II. foreigners and traitors; yet declared, that they were A.D.1326. not willing to march out of their city to fight, unless, according to the liberties granted them, they could return the same day before the sun set." 72 The King, being thus foiled, in the very heart of his kingdom, in his efforts to resist the Queen's party, went, with the Despensers, to the West of England, to try what he could do there. He proceeded first to Gloucester, and then to Chepstow, from whence he sent the elder Despenser, to fortify the city and castle of Bristol. But he himself embarked on board ship, with the younger Despenser, with the intention of escaping to the Isle of Lundy, in the Bristol Channel, and getting from thence into Ireland. Meanwhile, the Queen's party increased daily, and the people, especially in London, took her part with great violence. They plundered the house of the Bishop of Exeter, the founder of Exeter College, Oxford.73 The Bishop's house was close to St. Paul's Cathedral, and, as the plunderers were leaving it, they unfortunately met the Bishop, "coming out of the fields on horseback, to the north door of St. Paul's," and immediately murdered him. The King the De flees with spensers to the West of England. Despenser The Queen marched with her army to Oxford, and The elder then, pursuing the fugitives, went on to Gloucester. She next laid siege to Bristol, which was soon taken, death. and the elder Despenser, to whom the defence of Bristol had been intrusted, was made prisoner and cruelly put to death. The King, and the younger Despenser, being driven back, by bad weather, from the Bristol Channel, were obliged to land in Glamor- The King ganshire, where they took refuge in the Abbey of taken Neath. Their retreat was soon discovered, and the prisoner. The Edwd. II. King was taken by the Earl of Lancaster (son of the A.D.1327. Earl who had been executed), to his castle at Kenilworth, while Despenser was carried to the Queen at Despenser Hereford, where he was executed with peculiar, but perhaps not altogether undeserved, barbarity. younger put to death. deposed. A great assembly of bishops and barons was held at Bristol on the 26th of October, when the King's son Edward was appointed guardian of the kingdom. The Queen and her party kept their Christmas at Wallingford Castle, while the miserable King was lying a prisoner at Kenilworth. Early in the following year, A.D. 1327, the Queen and the Prince proceeded to London, where they held The King a Parliament on the 7th of January. At this Parliament it was agreed that the King should be deposed, and his eldest son made king in his stead. A numerous body of clergy and barons were then sent to the King, to induce him to resign the crown, which, of course, he had no power to refuse. The unfortunate monarch was greatly dispirited, and answered, "That he was very sorry he had so misbehaved himself towards his people, and asked pardon for it of all that were there; but, seeing now that it could not be otherwise, he returned them his thanks for electing his first-born son in his stead."75 The formal ceremony of his abdication was then gone through. He delivered up the crown and sceptre, and then, Sir William Trussel, in the name of the whole Parliament, surrendered their homage up to him. Edward the Second was the first King of England deposed by his subjects. His son Edward the Third was now King of England, and the reign of Edward the Second was therefore ended, but it is necessary to follow the history of the unfor tunate monarch to its tragic end, which happened Edwd. II. only a few months afterwards. Edward was kept in prison by the Earl of Lancaster, and was well treated. But the Queen refused to visit him, "either because of an aversion she had to his person, or through the instigation of Mortimer."76 After a time, however, the Queen, taking advantage of the absence of the King, her son, in Scotland, gave orders, or consented, that her husband. should be put to death. He was, accordingly, taken from the custody of the Earl of Lancaster, and delivered over to the custody of Thomas, Lord Berkeley, Sir John Mautravers, and Sir Thomas Gournay. They removed him first to Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire, and afterwards to Bristol Castle. A plot was here laid, by some of the principal citizens, who doubtless suspected the fate that would befall him and pitied him, to effect his release, and carry him off in safety beyond the seas. But the plot was discovered, and the King was removed by Mautravers and Gournay to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, Lord Berkeley having been taken ill at Bradely, and thereby prevented from returning to his castle. There the terrible deed was perpetrated. On the night of September the 21st, fifteen ruffians came at midnight into the room of the deposed monarch and murdered him with indescribable cruelty. Thus closed the life of this unhappy King Edward of Carnarvon. There is, unfortunately, no feature in his character or conduct on which we can rest with pleasure, but, whatever his weaknesses or his vices may have been, the tortures he suffered at his death must, when we think of them, extinguish in us all feelings, except detestation for his murderers, and fill A.D. 1327. Dreadful murder of the King. Edwd. II. us with sorrow for the sins and follies which brought A.D. 1327 on him so dreadful an end. Wife and Issue of King Edward the Second. He married Isabella, daughter of Philip the Fair, King of France, on January 28th, A.D. 1308. By her he had two sons: Edward, of Windsor, born Nov. 13, a.d. 1312, who succeeded to the throne as Edward the Third, in A.D. 1327; and John of Eltham, born on Assumption day, A.D. 1315; created Earl of Cornwall, by a Parliament at Salisbury, A.D. 1328, at twelve years of age, who died in Scotland, A.D. 1334, unmarried, in the 20th year of his age; and Two daughters: Joan, married, when a child, July 18th, A.D. 1329, to David, Prince of Scotland, son and heir apparent of King Robert Bruce, whom, within six months afterwards, he succeeded as King David the Second, at the age of seven years; Joan died in A.D. 1357; and Eleanor, married to Reynald, second Earl of Gueldres, with a portion of 15,000l., a.d. 1332. NOTE TO PAGES 376, 387, & 406, AS TO PRICES. It is a matter of great interest, but of considerable difficulty, to determine the amount which a sum of money at any remote period represents at any other, or the purchasing power at any two such periods of any specified sum, say 1007.-meaning by purchasing power the capacity of buying like quantities of like articles of convenience and comfort. The difficulty arises chiefly from the circumstance that we have not a sufficient number of authentic facts for the purpose. We might adopt, as the basis of our calculations, the wages of an agricultural labourer at any particular period, and the articles he could buy with such wages. But in times so remote as the 13th century, we have very few statements as to the amount of wages, and we have even reason to believe that a farm-labourer then received some food or clothing in addition to his wages. Our calculation would, therefore, rest on an insufficient basis, but an attempt may be made to reason on such facts as we do possess. Thus we find that, in A.D. 1272, a labourer received 1d. a-day,* or 9d. a-week. About that time, wheat varied from 20s. a quarter at Northampton, 17s. at Bedford, and 13s. 4d. at Dunstable in A.D. 1258, to 6s. 8d. in A.D. 1270, and 4s. 6d. in A.D. 1281. The average may be taken at 12s. a quarter, or 1s. 6d. a bushel. A farm labourer, therefore, according to this calculation, could buy half a bushel of wheat with his week's wages. At the present time, we may fairly take the average wages of an agricultural labourer at 12s. a-week, and the price of wheat at 56s. a quarter, or 7s. a bushel. A labourer, therefore, could now buy more than a bushel and a half of wheat with his week's wages. It might from hence be inferred, that a labourer was threefold better off now than in the 13th century, but, as I have already stated, we are tolerably certain that he then received other kinds of payment in addition to his wages; and it is necessary also to know what he had to pay for such things as he had to buy, but we have no facts of any value to guide us. We read of a fat ox being sold for 16s. in A.D. 1279, and a salmon for 5s. in winter, and 3s. in summer, but we do not know the weight of either one or the other, and so it is with other articles. comparison of wages and prices at those remote times, affords us, therefore, very little help in arriving at a conclusion as to the comparison between the power of buying, and the quantity that could be bought for any given sum. The fact which it is desirable to ascertain, or the question to be answered, is, -What quan tities of like articles of necessity, luxury, and comfort can a man, at any particular period, obtain for a certain sum of money; and what amount of labour is required to obtain that sum of money? It is useless to know that a man can obtain a certain quantity of wheat, clothing, fuel, or anything else, for a certain sum of money *Eden's "State of the Poor," vol. iii. p. 10. A |