Green, pp. 207-209. Bright, I, 197-199. Bright, I, 200-202. since the royal creditor had a poor memory for such obligations and could not safely be pressed. The most vexatious resource, and that which roused deepest animosity among the people, was the so-called right of purveyance. On the magnificent royal progresses through the realm, the king's officers provided for the needs of his household at the expense of the inhabitants. Food and shelter were demanded at the lowest prices and with no security for payment. The carts and horses, even the personal services of the peasants, were called into requisition, not merely for the king's use, but at the convenience of any one of the royal officers who dared ask them in the king's name. This abuse of power was frequently protested, and reform was no less frequently promised, but since it was an ancient privilege and dear to the heart of royalty, it was not readily relinquished. No practice was better calculated to bring home to the understanding of the common people the inconveniences of tyranny. Edward II (1307-1327).-These questionable prerogatives of the crown were enlarged to dangerous proportions by Edward II. The foolish and incompetent son of the great Edward was not so much despotic as self-willed and indulgent. He looked upon his realm as a fair pasture wherein he and his friends might batten at their will. The prime favorite was Piers Gaveston, a needy French courtier, brilliant and lovable even at this distance of time and space, a loyal friend but a dangerous adviser. For this petted gallant, great estates were carved from the royal demesne. He was made Earl of Cornwall, and when the king went over-sea to bring home his French bride, Gaveston was appointed regent of the realm. The gay Gascon showed little discretion. He boldly enriched his relatives at the expense of the royal treasury and flung gibes at the great English lords, reckless of their sullen wrath. His insolence soon involved himself and his master in difficulties. In 1310 a convention of the barons, under the lead of Thomas of Lancaster, the king's cousin, presented a solemn protest. They complained that the people were burdened by heavy and illegal taxes, while the kingdom lay undefended, the money that should have been devoted to the Scotch war being wasted on unworthy favorites. The Green, king attempted no resistance, but allowed the government PP. 226, 227. to be placed in commission for a year. Twenty-one Lords Lords Ordainers were appointed to act for the king, and a series Ordainers. of ordinances was drawn up which Edward was forced to confirm. Gaveston was banished from the realm, together with the Italian bankers who had connived at the royal extravagance. The king was forbidden to alienate the royal demesne and was told that he must hereafter "live of his own." No unusual taxes might be levied, nor could the king raise an army, go to war, or quit the realm without consent of the barons. Parliament was to be convened at least once a year to consider such requests from the king. This was as signal a triumph as that won over Henry III in 1258. Bright, I, pp. 92, 93. The Loss of Scotland. - The Ordinances gave the barons Green, control of the government, but the division of responsibility PP. 211–216. proved disastrous. When in 1314 news came that Stirling, the last stronghold of the English in Scotland, was about 203, 204. to fall into the hands of the Bruce, and the king, moved to a Source-Book, great effort, led an army to its rescue, the barons refused to follow on the ground that the Lords Ordainers had not consented to the war. The Scotch were not so divided. Noble and peasant fought side by side for a common cause, and in the battle of Bannockburn (1314) they won an Bannockoverwhelming victory. The union of the two kingdoms, burn, 1314. projected by Edward I, was brought to naught. Even the oath of homage formerly rendered by the king of Scots to the king of England was henceforth withheld. The discontent of the English found vent in frequent raids across the border, which were promptly retaliated in kind, and the whole north country was wasted by war for a century to come; but the lost kingdom was not reconquered. In the bitter struggle against their would-be masters, the Scots sought aid in France. The alliance enhanced the dangers Civil War Green, PP. 210, 211. 155 of the situation, since the French were now added to the ring of hostile Celts that encompassed the English domain. Civil War. — Meantime the quarrel between Edward and the barons approached a crisis. The king refused to banish Gaveston, and the favorite was seized and put to death by the irate barons (1312). Edward was for the moment Bright, I, unable to retaliate, but when his new favorites, the De- 205-208. spensers, were attacked, he took up arms against his foes, got possession of Lancaster, and condemned him to be beheaded as a rebel against the royal authority. His execution gave rise to a blood feud in which Edward's partisans were likely to be outnumbered. The Despensers had the good sense to see that the king's best course was an appeal to the loyalty of the people. A Parliament was therefore convened in 1322, the Ordinances were repealed, and it was decreed that all matters concerning the king and the realm must be enacted in full Parliament with the consent of the "prelates, earls and barons, and the commonalty of the realm." Thus the powers arbitrarily assumed by the barons were restored to the national assembly. 209-211. This principle, if accepted in its full import by the king, would have guaranteed him against further revolt, but Edward's foolish fondness for his favorites had raised up foes in his own household. His queen, Isabel, resolving Bright, I, to avenge the slights put upon her, fled with her paramour, Roger Mortimer, to France. Prince Edward joined her there, and the three concerted rebellion. Landing on the south coast (1326), they were joined by the leading barons. London declared for the prince, the Despensers were hanged, and a Parliament was convened at Westminster, where the helpless king was forced to abdicate, and young Edward was proclaimed king in his stead. The principal actors in this poor tragedy were, it is true, inspired by selfish and unworthy motives, and hardly deserved the success they achieved; but they wrought better than they knew. In appealing to Parliament to displace an unworthy king, the victors revived the ancient right of the nation and Green, pp. 223-231. Bright, I, 217, 218. Traill, II, 42. acknowledged in the national assembly an authority supe- Edward III (1327-1377).- Coming to the throne under The French Wars. Of the continental dominions of Henry II, Aquitaine only remained, and this fair province was wavering in her allegiance and inclined to admit the suzerainty of the French king. Edward III was ambitious to restore the military prestige of his race, and entered thoughtlessly into the project of conquest which ultimately cost England dear. Grounds of quarrel were not lacking. The aggressions of Philip VI in Aquitaine, his alliance with the Scots, his demand that Edward should make good the damage done to French merchants by English sailors in the Channel, all these were serious grievances, but they did not justify Edward's pretensions to the French crown. His claim was based on the fact that he was, through his mother, Isabel, the only surviving grandchild of Philip the Fair, while Philip VI was but the son of a younger branch. The French courts repudiated the claim, citing the Salic law to prove that the succession could not be claimed through a woman, but this was a mere lawyer's quibble. The essential |