XIV. CHAP. dress by open force and violence: The great nobility were a kind of independent potentates, who, 1327. if they submitted to any regulations at all, were less governed by the municipal law, than by a rude species of the law of nations. The method in which we find they treated the king's favourites and ministers, is a proof of their usual way of dealing with each other. A party which complains of the arbitrary conduct of ministers, ought naturally to affect a great regard for the laws and constitution, and maintain at least the appearance of justice in their proceedings: Yet those barons, when discontented, came to parliament with an armed force, constrained the king to assent to their measures, and without any trial or witness or conviction, passed, from the pretended notoriety of facts, an act of banishment or attainder against the minister, which, on the first revolution of fortune, was reversed by like expedients. The parliament, during factious times, was nothing but the organ of present power. Though the persons, of whom it was chiefly composed, seemed to enjoy great independence, they really possessed no true liberty; and the security of each individual among them, was not so much derived from the general protection of law, as from his own private power and that of his confederates. The authority of the monarch, though far from absolute, was irregular, and might often reach him: The current of a faction might overwhelm him: A hundred considerations, of benefits and injuries, friendships and animosities, hopes and fears, were able to influence his conduct; and amidst these motives a regard to equity and law and justice was commonly, in those rude ages, of little moment. Nor did any man entertain thoughts of opposing present power, who did not deem himself strong enough to dispute the field with it by force, and was not prepared to give battle to the sovereign or the ruling party. BEFORE XIV. BEFORE I Conclude this reign, I cannot forbear C HA P. making another remark, drawn from the detail of losses given in by the elder Spenser; particularly, 197 the great quantity of salted meat which he had in his larder, 600 bacons, 80 carcases of beef, 600 muttons. We may observe that the outrage of which he complained began after the third of May, or the eleventh new style, as we learn from the same paper. It is easy therefore to conjecture, what a vast store of the same kind he must have laid up at the beginning of winter; and we may draw a new conclusion with regard to the wretched state of ancient husbandry, which could not provide subsistence for the cattle during winter, even in such a temperate climate as the south of England: For Spenser had but one manor so far north as Yorkshire. There being few or no inclosures, except perhaps for deer, no sown grass, little hay, and no other resources for feeding cattle; the barons, as well as the people, were obliged to kill and salt their oxen and sheep in the beginning of winter, before they became lean. upon the common pasture; a precaution still practised with regard to oxen in the least cultivated parts of this island. The salting of mutton is a miserable expedient, which has every where been long disused. From this circumstance, however trivial in appearance, may be drawn important inferences with regard to the domestic œconomy and manner of life in those ages. THE disorders of the times, from foreign wars and intestine dissensions, but above all, the cruel famine, which obliged the nobility to dismiss many of their retainers, increased the number of robbers in the kingdom and no place was secure from their incursions. They met in troops like armies, and over-ran the country. Two cardinals themselves, the pope's legates, notwithstanding the numerous train XIV. CHAP. train which attended them, were robbed, and despoiled of their goods and equipage, when they travelled on the highway.' 1327. * AMONG the other wild fancies of the age, it was imagined, that the persons affected with leprosy, a disease at that time very common, probably from bad diet, had conspired with the Saracens to poison all the springs and fountains; and men being glad of any pretence to get rid of those who were a burthen to them, many of those unhappy people were burnt alive on this chimerical imputation. Several Jews also were punished in their persons, and their goods were confiscated on the same account." STOWE, in his survey of London, gives us a curious instance of the hospitality of the ancient nobility in this period: 'It is taken from the accounts of the cofferer or steward of Thomas earl of Lancaster, and contains the expences of that earl during the year 1313, which was not a year of famine. For the pantry, buttery, and kitchen, 3405 pounds, for 369 pipes of red wine, and two of white, 104 pounds, &c. The whole 7309 pounds; that is, near 22,000 pounds of our present money; and making allowance for the cheapness of commodities, near a hundred thousand pounds. I HAVE seen a French manuscript, containing accounts of some private disbursements of this king. There is an article, among others, of a crown paid to one for making the king laugh. To judge by the events of the reign, this ought not to have been an easy undertaking. THIS king left four children, two sons and two daughters: Edward, his eldest son and successor; John, created afterwards earl of Cornwal, who died young at Perth; Jane, afterwards married to David Bruce king of Scotland; and Eleanor, married to Reginald count of Gueldres. t Ypod. Neust. p. 503. T. de la More, p. 594. Trivet, cont. p. 22. Murimuth, p. 51. Ypod. Neust. p. 504. CHAP. XV.. EDWARD III. War with Scotland-Execution of the earl of Kent— -Execution of Mortimer earl of March-State of Scotland-War with that kingdom-King's claim to the crown of France-Preparations for war with France-War-Naval victory-Domestic disturbances Affairs of Britany-Renewal of the war with France-Invasion of France-Battle of Crecy War with Scotland-Captivity of the king of Scots-Calais taken. XV. 1327. HE violent party, which had taken arms C H A P against Edward II. and finally deposed that unfortunate monarch, deemed it requisite for their future security to pay so far an exterior obeisance 20th Jan. to the law, as to desire a parliamentary indemnity for all their illegal proceedings; on account of the necessity which it was pretended, they lay under, of employing force against the Spensers and other evil counsellors, enemies of the kingdom. All the attainders also, which had passed against the earl of Lancaster and his adherents, when the chance of war turned against them, were easily reversed during the triumph of their party ;" and the Spensers, whose former attainder had been reversed by parliament, were now again, in this change of fortune, condemned by the votes of their enemies. A council of regency was likewise appointed by parliament, consisting of twelve persons; five prelates, the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the bishops Rymer, vol. iv. p. 245, 257, 258, &c. of XV. CHAP. of Winchester, Worcester, and Hereford; and seven lay peers, the earls of Norfolk, Kent, and 1327. Surrey, and the lords Wake, Ingham, Piercy, and Ross. The earl of Lancaster was appointed guardian and protector of the king's person. But though it was reasonable to expect, that, as the weakness of the former king had given reins to the licentiousness of the barons, great domestic tranquillity would not prevail during the present minority; the first disturbance arose from an invasion by foreign enemies. THE king of Scots, declining in years and health, War with but retaining still that martial spirit which had raised Scotland. his nation from the lowest ebb of fortune, deemed the present opportunity favourable for infesting England. He first made an attempt on the castle of Norham, in which he was disappointed; he then collected an army of 25,000 men on the frontiers, and having given the command to the earl of Murray and lord Douglas, threatened an incursion into the northern counties. The English regency, after trying in vain every expedient to restore peace with Scotland, made vigorous preparations for war; and besides assembling an English army of near sixty thousand men, they invited back John of Hainault, and some foreign cavalry, whom they had dismissed, and whose discipline and arms had appeared superior to those of their own country. Young Edward himself, burning with a passion for military fame, appeared at the head of these numerous forces; and marched from Durham, the appointed place of rendezvous, in quest of the enemy, who had already broken into the frontiers, and were laying every thing waste around them. MURRAY and Douglas were the two most celebrated warriors, bred in the long hostilities between the Scots and English; and their forces, trained in the same school, and enured to hardships, fatigues, and dangers, were perfectly qualified, by their habits |