Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (13 page)

With a growing mood of sympathy for Edward II in the country, a group of men led by Thomas Dunhead broke into Berkeley Castle, released Edward and fled with him to Corfe in Dorset. Edward was swiftly recaptured and returned to his

prison. Soon after this, a plot to rescue Edward, instigated by a Welsh knight, was betrayed to Mortimer. Clearly imprisonment and deposition were not enough. Mortimer sent a man named William Ogle to Berkeley Castle with a letter for Maltravers and Sir Thomas Gurney, the two men who, under Berkeley, shared the duty of Edward’s safekeeping. Berkeley was to be kept out of the way while Maltravers, Gurney and Ogle dealt with matters.

They are said to have selected a death for Edward that would satisfy the need for revenge by causing abominable pain, that would be appropriate for his sins, and that would not be detected as murder should the public ever view Edward’s body.

In the depths of Berkeley Castle a poker was placed in the open fire, remaining there until it was red hot. Edward was brought in, stripped of his clothes and forced to lie face down on a table in the middle of the room. Two men held him down as two others took hold of Edward’s legs. His legs were pulled apart and a hollowed straight cow horn with the point removed was thrust into Edward’s anus. Next, a heavily gloved man took hold of the poker and thrust it through the cow horn and up the anal passage of the former king. It was said that his screams could be heard beyond the castle walls.
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As planned, those viewing the body saw no blemishes or wounds, but Edward’s face was said to have been horribly contorted with the anguish of intolerable pain.

What of the murderers? Berkeley, Ogle, Gurney and Maltravers were arrested three years later. Berkeley claimed ignorance of the plot, and was acquitted. Ogle and Gurney were convicted of murder, Maltravers of being an accessory. They all fled to avoid their punishment. Gurney was killed during his attempted escape. Nothing more was heard of Ogle. As for Maltravers, after living for 14 years on the Continent, his sentence of outlawry was remitted and his estates were restored to him.

When Edward II was murdered, his first son had already been crowned King Edward III. Despite being only 14 years old, he had in some ways been party to the deposition and murder of his father, although he was a very junior figure in the conspiracy. Edward III’s reign began with him still in a subordinate position. All power remained in the hands of his mother and Roger Mortimer who was now Earl of March (the English-Welsh borderland).

With the English crown settled, it was the French crown that was next in question. When King John I of France died aged five days in 1316, his heir was his half-sister Joan. To avoid having a four-year-old queen whose legitimacy was in great doubt following her mother’s conviction and imprisonment for adultery, the French declared that the Salic Law applied to the succession. In fact the Salic Law was no part of the law of France; it was the law of the Salian Franks.

The Franks were a group of Germanic tribes, the postRoman conquerors of the land that became known as France (even now called
Frankreich i
n German). One of those tribes lived in Salland (now north-east Holland), and they were therefore called the Salian Franks. Four of their kings became Holy Roman Emperors, but the dynasty ended in the twelfth century on the death without issue of King Henry V, the husband of Matilda (daughter of King Henry I of England). After that, the laws of the Salian Franks, the Salic Law, ceased to have effect.

Nevertheless, as it suited their purpose, the French adopted it. But they did not adopt all the Salic Law, they only took the part they needed: the provision stating that a woman could not inherit property. Next the French were able to say that as women could not inherit property, it followed that they could not inherit the crown. That allowed John’s uncle, Philip, to become king as Philip V. When Philip’s successor, his brother King Charles IV, died in 1328, he left a daughter. Of course she was now barred from the succession by the Salic Law. Next in line was Charles’s sister Isabella, and she was also barred by the Salic Law. After Isabella came her son, and that was King Edward III of England. It was disastrous for the French; yet they still had hope, because when Charles died, the Queen was pregnant. So they waited – but it was a girl. Now Edward was unarguably the heir. In desperation, the French adopted a stricter interpretation of the Salic Law: that women could not inherit the throne and men could not inherit the throne through a woman. It meant that Charles’s cousin, Philip of Valois, could be crowned.

The counter-argument put forward on behalf of Edward was scarcely less inventive. He appealed to the Pope asserting that as Jesus claimed the throne of David through his mother, Mary, Edward could claim the throne of France through his mother, Isabella. It did not work.

Realising that the matter could only be advanced through war against her own family and countrymen, Isabella did not pursue Edward’s claim. She merely told the French that her son, the son of a king, could never do homage for his continental territories to Philip of Valois, the son of a count. Nevertheless, Edward did so after Philip VI was crowned, but only subject to Edward’s claim that he was the one who should really be the king of France.

In truth, Isabella and Mortimer were more concerned with their own position. That position was supposedly endangered by a plot to restore Edward II to the throne. The plot had been inspired by a rumour that Edward II was still alive, the rumour having been started by Mortimer so as to evade an accusation of murder. Mortimer immediately ordered the execution of one of the leading conspirators, Edward Earl of Kent, Edward II’s half-brother.

As always, the barons turned against the holders of power when their own were being executed. The opposition championed the young and powerless Edward III, while Mortimer behaved as if he were the king. There were fears that Mortimer intended to have Edward killed so as to take the throne himself. Having procured the deaths of Edward II and the Earl of Kent, it is likely that Mortimer had plans, or at least a desire, to kill Edward III. However, before Mortimer could act, Edward struck. The young King and several supporters gained access to Nottingham Castle. They stormed into Mortimer’s room and arrested him. He was tried and hanged. Edward took power, sending his mother, Isabella, to live at Castle Rising in Norfolk where she miscarried Mortimer’s child.

The murderers of Edward II had now been dealt with. Yet it was not the end of the Mortimers; Roger had twelve children with his wife, and the descendants of his first son, Edmund, would in time have a crucial role in the monarchy – one of them would be the next King Edward.

As time went by, Edward III succeeded in unifying the country, taking no revenge on those who had supported Mortimer. Edward even restored to Mortimer’s son his father’s confiscated lands and the title of Earl of March. Now Edward could deal with his neighbours. He suppressed the Scots and liberated the north of England. Next he turned to deal with Scotland’s ally, the traditional enemy: France.

The French moved straight away and invaded Gascony. This was the beginning of a war that would last for decades, although not continuously. It would therefore be known as The Hundred Years’ War. At first the two enemies were involved in minor skirmishes, making alliances and raising funds.

Then, in 1340, a French and Genoese naval force gathered at the mouth of the Zwyn River near the town of Sluys on what is now the Netherlands-Belgium border. It was clear that they were preparing for an invasion of England.

Edward assembled a fleet of 200 ships, loaded them with soldiers, and took command, sailing south to attack. The ships were cogs, small vessels each carrying thirty to forty men. In land battles Edward had fought with men-at–arms (armoured swordsmen), with a company of archers to each side. So he sailed his navy in groups of three vessels, one with men-atarms and one with a company of archers to each side. The only true naval tactic was to ram enemy ships. Otherwise the battle would be fought by sailing near a French vessel so that archers could let fly at those on board, after which the cog would draw up alongside, enabling the men-at-arms to jump into the vessel and attack with their swords.

The fleet sailed towards Sluys on Midsummer’s Day, inviting the French to sail forward, the sun in their eyes. Barbanera, the Genoese Admiral, saw a trap, and he advised French Admirals Quieret and Behuchet to go to sea and spread their forces. They ignored the advice and stayed on the defensive within the harbour, lashing their ships together.

Unopposed, the English advanced to attack the immobile target. All the enemy vessels were showered with arrows, rammed and boarded. Hand-to-hand fighting took place on virtually every French ship. According to one account, with a French defeat looking certain, Behuchet headed for Edward. Behuchet believed that if he killed the English king, it would turn the battle. He clambered from ship to ship, making his way towards the King, who had already boarded the line of French vessels. Finding Edward, Behuchet raised his sword and ran at him. He took a mighty swing, but in the bustle of the fighting Behuchet was jostled, and he struck Edward a heavy blow on the thigh. Despite the protection of armour, Edward suffered a painful wound; but the attempt to kill him had failed. He was helped away to be tended by his physician. By nightfall, the French fleet had been totally destroyed, although the Genoese in their galleys were able to row away in the dark.

More than 16,000 of the French perished, most of them having drowned. Behuchet was taken alive. Invariably, a captured enemy leader would be held for ransom; apart from being a source of money, it set a precedent for when the tables were turned. On this occasion an angry Edward ordered his men to hang Behuchet, and this gives substance to the story that he had tried to kill Edward and had wounded him.

With victory, the threat of invasion disappeared. However, the Italian bankers failed to produce sufficient funds to enable Edward to progress the war on land, and a truce was agreed. Then, the principal Italian bankers went bankrupt as Edward demanded more loans, but failed to pay the interest due on existing debt. From now on, taxation, plunder and ransom would have to sustain any fighting.

Financed by increased taxation, the war started again as Edward, assisted by the Crown Prince, attacked town after town in France, executing thousands of their citizens if they had resisted, but few, if any, when they surrendered immediately. In 1346, King Philip’s army was engaged, and the heavily outnumbered Edward won a massive victory at Crécy. The French losses were 4,000 knights plus a greater number of lower ranks. English losses, hard to believe, were said to be only 40. The King of France escaped. All he could now do was to encourage his ally, King David II of Scotland, to invade the north of England. He did, but King David was defeated and taken prisoner, to be held for eleven years until he was ransomed.

Most of the benefits of victory ended in 1349 with the arrival of bubonic plague. The disease was called the Black Death because of the dark bruising caused by haemorrhages under the skin. It spread from central Asia via rats and fleas on board ships, killing between one-third and one-half of the population of England (a population of about four million) in attacks in 1349, 1361 and 1369. It had the same effect throughout Europe.

However, plague did not stop war, and in 1350 off Winchelsea, Edward’s navy engaged the galleys of Castile, which had been raiding English shipping. Edward sailed in a cog named ‘The Thomas’, and in another cog sailed Edward the Crown Prince, by now called the Black Prince because of his black armour. He was accompanied by his 10-year-old brother John, called John of Gaunt as he had been born in Ghent.

One of the enemy vessels made for Edward’s ship, determined to secure victory by killing the King. This vessel was armed with catapults, and once within range, iron bars and large stones rained down on Edward’s cog. Many on board were killed, others injured, as the Thomas was dismasted and its hull was crushed. The Thomas started to sink, but before it went down, leaving the King and the others on board to drown, grappling hooks were attached to one of the Castilian galleys. Then the Thomas was pulled alongside, and the King and his men jumped on to the galley, killing those on board and taking it over. Victory came swiftly, with the majority of the Castilian vessels seized or sunk. Another attempt to kill an English king had failed.