particulars see BALIOL, JOHN, 1249-1315], when Edward delivered his judgment, declaring that John Baliol ought to have seisin of the kingdom, saving the right of the king of England and his heirs. On the 20th Baliol swore fealty to Edward at Norham, and on 26 Dec., after his coronation, he did homage to him at Newcastle (Fœdera, ii. 593).

A petty war between the seamen of the Cinque ports and of Normandy, which began in 1293, gradually assumed serious proportions, and our seamen beat the French fleet in a pitched battle in the Channel. Some hostilities took place between the French and the Gascons, and Philip IV, who was bent on gaining Gascony, summoned Edward to appear before him in his parliament (ib. ii. 617). Edward made every effort to avoid war. A marriage was proposed between him and Blanche, a sister of the French king, with whom Edward was, it is said, greatly in love (Ann. Wigorn. p. 515), and he consented to give Philip seisin of Gascony, which was to be restored to him as Blanche's dower. Philip dealt dishonestly; he hoped to persuade Edward to come over to France with the intention, it is said, of entrapping him at Amiens (COTTON, p. 233); he broke off the negotiation for the marriage in 1294, and, having got Gascony into his possession, refused to deliver it up again, and declared that the promise was forfeited by Edward's non-attendance. War was now inevitable. The king seized all the merchants' wool, and with their consent levied an impost on it; he obtained a promise of liberal help from the lords 'in a court or parliament' held on 5 June, summoned his military tenants to assemble at Portsmouth on 1 Sept., and organised his fleet, dividing it into three large squadrons (Const. Hist. ii. 125, 126; NICHOLAS, Hist. of the Navy, i. 270). On 4 July he seized all the coined money in the cathedrals, monasteries, and hospitals (Cont. FLOR. WIG. ii. 271). He did not himself go to Gascony, for his presence was required in Wales,where Llewelyn's son Madoc, in North Wales, and other chiefs in Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire, were in insurrection. The proposed expedition came to nothing, though a force under Sir John St. John and other leaders made a short campaign. He sent an embassy to Adolf of Nassau, the king of the Romans, and bought an alliance with him. The Count of Bar he had already secured, for he had given him his daughter Eleanor to wife the previous Michaelmas at Bristol; he took several princes of the Low Countries into his pay, and sent to ask Spanish help. On 21 Sept. he met the clergy of both provinces at Westminster, and, having explained his necessities and apo

logised for his violent measures, demanded their help. They asked for a day's grace, which was accorded them. They offered two tenths for a year. Edward sent a messenger to them, who told them that the king would have half their revenues, and that if they refused he would put them out of his peace, adding: 'Whoever of ye will say him nay, let him rise and stand up that his person may be known.' The dean of St. Paul's tried to pacify the king, and fell dead with fright in his presence. The clergy had no head, for the archbishopric of Canterbury had fallen vacant in 1292, and Robert Winchelsey, who had been consecrated a few days before this, had not returned from Rome; they offered to obey the king's will if he would withdraw the statute of mortmain. This he refused to do, and they were forced to promise the half demanded of them (HEMINGBURGH, ii. 54; Cont. FLOR. WIG. ii. 274; Ann. Wigorn. p. 517; Flores, p. 394). In October the laity made grants for the Welsh war in a parliament in which the cities and towns were not represented, and their contribution was collected from them by separate negotiation conducted by the king's officers' (Const. Hist. ii. 127). Edward marched to Worcester and thence to Chester towards the end of November. He ravaged parts of Wales, but was shut up in Aberconway by Madoc, and reduced to some straits. During this war he built the castle of Beaumaris; he spent Christmas at Aberconway, and was detained by the war until May 1295. Two legates, who were sent over to endeavour to make peace, awaited his arrival at London on 1 Aug. A great council was held and the legates were authorised to conclude a truce with Philip, but Edward refused to make peace because his ally Adolf was not willing to do so. The treacherous designs of a certain knight named Turberville, who promised Philip that he would obtain the cust tody of the Cinque ports and deliver them to him on the appearance of a French fleet, were foiled by the refusal of Edward to grant him the command he desired. Nevertheless, an attack was made on Hythe, part of Dover was burnt by the French, and it was evidently thought that the king ran some risk in at tending the enthronement of Archbishop Winchelsey at Canterbury on 2 Oct. (Cont. FLOR. WIG. ii. 278; Ann. Dunst. p. 400). The king stood in great need of supplies; the repeated descents of the French were intolerable, and no progress was made with the war; the campaign in Wales had been protracted; more serious trouble seemed likely to arise with Scotland; and the council held in August had not dealt with the subject of

land in less than twenty-one weeks (STEVENSON, Documents, ii. 37). On the 28th he held a parliament at Berwick, where he received the fealty of the clergy, barons, and gentry, the names filling the thirty-five skins of parchment known as Ragman Roll. All the lands of the clergy were restored, very few lords were dispossessed, the ancient jurisdictions were not interfered with, 'no wanton or unnecessary act of rigour was committed, no capricious changes were introduced' (TYTLER), and the king, having appointed a guardian, treasurer, and other officers for Scotland, returned to England, and held a parliament at Bury St. Edmunds on 3 Nov.

At this parliament, while the laity made their grants, the clergy, after thoroughly discussing the matter, authorised Archbishop Winchelsey to inform the king that it was impossible for them to grant him anything (Ann. Dunst. p. 405; COTTON, p. 314). The cause of this refusal was that in the previous February Boniface VIII had issued the bullClericis laicos,' forbidding on pain of excommunication the clergy to grant, or the secular power to take, any taxes from the revenues of churches or the goods of clerks. Edward would not accept this answer, and bade the clergy let him know their final decision on the following 14 Jan. Meanwhile he ordered the lay subsidy to be collected, and, after staying some time at St. Edmund's, went to Ipswich and kept Christmas there. While he was there he married his daughter Elizabeth to John, count of Holland, and then made a pilgrimage to Walsingham. On 14 Jan. 1297 he sent proctors to the clergy, who were met in council at St. Paul's to decide the question of the subsidy. After setting forth the dangers that were threatening the kingdom, these proctors declared that unless the clergy granted a sufficient sum for the defence of the country the king and the lords of the realm would treat their revenues as might seem good to them. The king, who was then at Castle Acre in Norfolk, received a deputation sent by the synod on the 20th, who declared that the clergy found themselves unable to make any grant. Edward merely answered the Bishop of Hereford, the spokesman of the deputation: 'As you are not bound by the homage and fealty you have done me for your baronies, I am not bound in any way to you.' He was exceedingly wroth, for he was in great need of money for the defence of the kingdom, and on the 30th he declared he would outlaw the whole body of the clergy, and take their lay fees into his own hand (ib. p. 318). The clergy of the province of York submitted, made a grant, and received letters of protection, and

VOL. VI.

the writ was issued against the clergy of the southern province on 12 Feb. (Ann. Wigorn. p. 530). Two days before this the archbishop excommunicated all who should act contrary to the papal decree. ́

Meanwhile the king's army was defeated in Gascony, and Edward, who had on 7 Jan. made alliance with Guy, count of Flanders, determined to send a fresh force to Gascony, while he made an expedition in person to Flanders, in order to act against Philip in the north. With this view he held a parliament at Salisbury on 25 Feb., to which only the baronage of the kingdom was summoned, without the clergy or the commons. He asked the lords, one after another, to go to the war in Gascony. Every one of them refused, and he declared that those who would not go should give up their lands to those who would. Then he appealed to Humphrey Bohun, third earl of Hereford [q. v.], the constable, and Roger Bigod, fifth earl of Norfolk [q.v.], the marshal; both excused themselves, not, as they might have done, on the ground that the king' had strained his rights every possible way' (Cont. Hist. ii. 131-3, which should be consulted for a full account of the crisis of this year), but simply because they were only bound to serve with the king. They persisted in their refusal [for Bigod's well-known altercation with the king see BIGOD, ROGER]. The council broke up, and the two earls forthwith gathered a force, which was joined by several lords, and numbered fifteen hundred men. Edward was uneasy, though he kept his feelings to himself (HEMINGBURGH, ii. 121). He was obliged to carry out his plans and engagements, and as his lords refused to help him he seized the wool of all those who had more than five sacks, obliged the other merchants to redeem theirs by paying a heavy toll or' maletote,' and ordered the sheriffs to furnish supplies of provisions from their several counties. The lords who held with the two earls would not allow the royal officers to take anything from their lands. Meanwhile Edward had an interview with the archbishop at Salisbury on 7 March, and pointed out that he was acting from necessity, and that it was useless to attempt to resist. At a synod held on the 26th the archbishop, while refusing himself to yield, allowed the clergy to follow their own consciences, and almost all of them purchased their peace of the king by the grant of a fifth (COTTON, p. 323). Edward then issued writs for a ' military levy of the whole kingdom' to meet at London, though constitutionally the national force could not be compelled to serve out of the kingdom (Const. Hist. ii. 135). When 7 July, the day appointed for the meeting of

the force, arrived, the constable and marshal sent to Edward, stating that they attended not in virtue of a summons, but at his special request; for so the message to the sheriffs was worded (Fadera, ii. 767), and they begged to be excused from performing their duties in marshalling the host, and Edward, who was now at Portsmouth making preparations for his expedition, appointed others to execute their offices. They then proceeded to draw up a list of grievances (HEMINGBURGH, ii. 124). Edward evidently thought it well to take some measures to gain the goodwill of the nation; for he promised that all his military tenants who served in Flanders should receive pay, and he was reconciled to the archbishop. On the 14th he appeared before the people on a platform in front of Westminster Hall, in company with the archbishop, his son Edward, and the Earl of Warwick, and with many tears asked them to pardon him for what he had done amiss, saying that he knew that he had not reigned as well as he ought, but that whatever they had given him, or whatever had without his knowledge been taken from them by his officers, had been spent in their defence. 'And now,' he added, 'I am going to meet danger on your behalf, and I pray you, should I return, receive me as you do now, and I will give you back all that has been taken from you. And if I do not return, crown my son as your king.' Winchelsey wept, and promised that he would do so, and all the people held up their hands in token of their fidelity (Flores, p. 409).

The barons, however, represented that it was unadvisable that the king should depart; that a rebellion had broken out in Scotland, that the country was exhausted, that no more tallages ought to be levied, and that the Great Charter and the Forest Charter should be confirmed (ib.) Edward promised to confirm the charters if the clergy and laity would make him grants. The grants of the laity were promised by certain of those who had come up to the army levied from the various shires, and the king tried in vain to induce the earls to hold a conference with him. They sent envoys to him at St. Albans on the 28th, but declined to come in person. He ordered the subsidies to be collected from the laity, and on 7 Aug. published a letter which the sheriff's were bidden make known to the people at large. In this letter he said that he had heard that a list of grievances was drawn up; he had not refused to receive it, he had not as yet seen it; his people should remember that whatever money he had taken from them he had used in their defence. If he should return he would amend all things, if not he

would have his heir do so; he was bound to go to the help of his ally, the Count of Flanders, and his going was necessary for the safety of the nation. The lords had promised him a grant on condition that he confirmed the charters, and he prayed the people to give him all the help they could, and bade them keep the peace (COTTON, pp. 330-4). After the publication of this letter the list of grievances was presented; it purports to be the work of the estates, and after objecting to the king's expedition sets forth the poverty of the realm, the extent to which it was burdened by taxation, the disregard of the Great Charter and of the Forest Charter, and the unjust seizure of wool, and finally declares that the king ought not to leave the kingdom in the face of the Scottish rebellion, and for other causes (HEMINGBURGH, ii. 361). Edward, who was then at Odemer, near Winchelsea, answered that he could make no reply to these matters without his council, and that some members of it had already crossed to Flanders, and others were in London, and he requested the earls that if they would not go with him, they would at least abstain from doing mischief in his absence. While he was at Winchelsea he met with an accident that might have proved fatal. As he was riding on the mound that defended the town on the seaward side, watching his fleet, his horse shied at a windmill, and refused to advance; he urged it with whip and spur, and the animal suddenly leaped from the mound on to the road which lay far below, winding up the steep ascent of the hill. Luckily it alighted on its legs; the road was muddy from recent rain, and though the horse slipped some feet, the king was able to bring it up again, and entered the gate of the town unhurt (TRIVET, p.359). On 10 Aug. the clergy who had been received into the king's protection met in convocation to decide the matter of the grant that had been demanded of them; they returned answer that they would apply to the pope for permission; and as the king was dissatisfied with this reply he ordered certain not immoderate taxes to be collected off them.

Edward set sail from Winchelsea on the 23rd, landed at Sluys, and proceeded to Bruges. There he offered to bear half the expense of fortifying the town, but found that the townsmen were hostile to the count; they refused to become parties to the alliance he had made with Guy, and were inclined to surrender the town to the French. It was not safe for him to remain there, and he marched to Ghent, where the burghers had made terms with the French. Edward's soldiers treated the Flemish with much violence, plundered the neighbourhood, and especially the town of

Damme, where they slew two hundred men, for which the king had some of them hanged (HEMINGBURGH, ii. 159; RISHANGER, p. 413). While he was in Flanders his son Edward was forced to confirm the charters, and to add certain clauses that met the grievances stated in the remonstrance drawn up by the earls. The charters thus confirmed and enlarged were sent over to Edward, who confirmed them at Ghent on 5 Nov. (Statutes, i. 273). The additional articles are directed against taxation without the common consent of the realm, and against the arbitrary imposition of the maletote of 40s. on wool, the right of the crown to the ancient aids, taxes, and prises being reserved. The special importance of this enactment lies in the fact that chiefly owing to the work of Edward the consent of the nation now meant the concurrence of the estates of the realm assembled in parliament, without which taxation was now generally illegal. When the Great Charter was granted, no such machinery for the expression of the popular will was in existence. The articles are extant in two forms: in French, the version which holds a permanent place in the statute book, and by which Edward considered that he was bound; and in Latin, under the title 'De Tallagio non concedendo,' and in this form they are considerably more stringent. Although the Latin version was not a statute, and is either an inaccurate version of the French articles, or may represent the demands on which they were founded, it has obtained the force of a statute because it is referred to as such in the preamble to the Petition of Right of 1628 (Const. Hist. ii. 141 sq.) Shortly after this an invasion of the Scots gave Winchelsey an opportunity for bringing the dispute between the crown and the clergy to an end by recommending a grant. Edward did not accomplish anything against the French; the Flemish towns were not inclined to support him, and his allies gave him no help. Still his presence in Flanders checked Philip, and inclined him to accept the mediation of Boniface VIII, who interfered in the cause of peace in August (Fœdera, ii. 791). After some delay terms were arranged for two years. While negotiations were in progress a serious commotion was raised in Ghent against the English on 3 Feb. 1298, and Edward's foot soldiers burnt and sacked part of the city. The Flemings excused their rising by declaring that the English had done them much injury, and Edward, who knew that he was in their power, was forced to give them a large sum as a recompense (HEMINGBURGH, ii. 170 sq.) On 14 March he returned to England. Later in the year the terms with France were renewed

through the pope's mediation, and it was arranged that Edward should marry Margaret, the French king's sister, and that his heir Edward should be contracted to Isabella, Philip's daughter. Edward's marriage took place at Canterbury on 10 Sept. 1299. The truce of 1298 was renewed the next year, and. finally was converted into a lasting peace, which was concluded on 20 May 1303. Gascony was restored to him, but he sacrificed the interests of his ally, the Count of Flanders, whom he left exposed to the vengeance of the French king. The French war ended opportunely for Edward, for the Scottish rebellion demanded his immediate attention. Wallace had inflicted a disastrous defeat upon the English at the bridge of Stirling on 11 Sept. 1297, and had laid waste Cumberland and Westmoreland.

After

Immediately on his return Edward ordered commissioners to make inquiry into grievances in every county, and summoned a lay parliament to meet at York on 25 May. The army was commanded to assemble at Roxburgh on 23 June, and the Earls of Norfolk and Hereford declared that they would not attend unless the king again confirmed the charters and the new articles. In order to meet their demand certain nobles swore, on behalf of the king, that if he was victorious he would do what they required. visiting the shrine of St. John of Beverley and other holy places, Edward met his army at Roxburgh, and found himself at the head of seven thousand horse and eighty thousand foot nearly all Welsh and Irish, and was soon joined by a force from Gascony. He marched through Berwickshire without meeting the enemy, for the Scots kept out of his way and wasted the country. At Kirkliston he waited for news of the ships he had ordered to sail into the Forth with supplies. Provisions grew scarce, his Welsh infantry became mutinous, and he had determined to fall back on Edinburgh and there wait for his ships, when part of his fleet at last appeared with the supplies he needed, and on the third day afterwards, 21 July, a messenger from two Scottish lords informed him that the enemy was at Falkirk. His army camped that night in the open on Linlithgow heath, and the next morning, when the trumpet sounded at daybreak, the king's horse, excited by the general bustle, threw him as he was in the act of mounting, and broke two of his ribs with a kick (TRIVET, p. 372). Edward, nevertheless, mounted and rode throughout the day as though he had received no injury. The Scottish cavalry fled without striking a blow (FORDUN); the archers gave way after their leader was slain, but