Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II (14 page)

In winter woe befell me,
By cruel fortune threatened.
My life now lies a ruin.
Once was I feared and dreaded,
But now all men despise me
And call me a crownless King,
A laughing stock to all.
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Throughout English history members of the royal family who fell into disgrace managed to elicit a great deal of sympathy, be it Richard III, Charles I or Edward VIII. The same was true of Edward II. His loyal supporters had been caught off guard by the rapid events of autumn 1326. Now they were beginning to gather both in secret and at court. The moderates amongst them argued as follows: Edward II was deposed, shouldn’t he now be allowed to live as a country gentleman, and wasn’t it time his wife Isabella rejoined him? The Queen and Mortimer grew alarmed. They thought they had settled the matter at Wallingford and, later, at the Westminster Parliament. At the Stamford meeting of April 1327, however, the questions were posed again and this time with some force. Some of the bishops, particularly Melton, Archbishop of York, and Hethe of Rochester, had not taken too kindly to the revolution and felt genuinely sorry for Edward. They were also alarmed by the Queen’s liaison with Mortimer. Others were more mischievous, beating the drum in the hope that they could detach Isabella from Mortimer and thus block the Welsh Lord’s ascendancy. Once again Orleton came to Isabella’s aid. He reminded the council that the Queen had been forbidden to rejoin her husband because of his great cruelty and no one could answer this.
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Isabella eventually won the debate but the dispute at Stamford hid a deeper cause – a radical change in Edward II’s status. At the time of his deposition, he had been under house arrest. By the time the Stamford council met, he had been taken from Kenilworth and imprisoned under tighter security at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. From the moment Edward had first been imprisoned, Isabella’s and Mortimer’s agents were warning that Kenilworth was not
the securest place in the kingdom for a deposed king. First, it was in the public eye. Secondly, it was controlled by Henry of Lancaster, Edward’s cousin, and a man whose sympathy for his deposed cousin was understandable. Even more urgently, a powerful gang had formed in the Midlands with a view to freeing the deposed King. The moving spirits behind this plot were two brothers: Thomas and Stephen Dunheved. The former, Edward II’s Dominican confessor, had been despatched to Rome to seek a divorce for his master from Isabella. The mission had proved fruitless. Dunheved returned and was forced to go into hiding when Isabella landed in 1326. His brother Stephen was Lord of Dunchurch on Dunsmore Heath in Warwickshire, so the brothers were well situated to free their lord from nearby Kenilworth.
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The conspiracy came to a head in March 1327 when members of the Dunheved gang were named. They included the Dunheveds, William Aylmer, the parson of Donnington Church, William Russell, Thomas Haye, Edmund Gascelyn, William Hull and John Morton.
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During March, April and May 1327, the Dunheveds and their followers faced a barrage of writs and orders for their arrest, with the added proviso that if they were caught they were to be immediately taken to the Queen.
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However, the gang were quick on their feet and, hiding out on Dunsmore Heath, were able to evade capture.

Isabella and Mortimer grew alarmed. Lancaster himself protested that he could not guarantee his royal prisoner’s safety and security.
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Thus the decision was taken to move Edward, and on 21 March two new keepers were appointed, Thomas Berkeley and John Maltravers.
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Isabella and Mortimer chose their men well. Lord Thomas Berkeley was Roger Mortimer’s son-in-law. He had risen in rebellion against
the de Spencers, only to see his lands, manors and castles pillaged and ransacked. He and his father Maurice had been placed under strict confinement at Wallingford. Maurice had died there, and although the resourceful Thomas had attempted to break out, he was kept in captivity until liberated by Isabella’s invasion. Sir John Maltravers was Berkeley’s brother-in-law and a fervent Lancastrian. He had managed to flee the kingdom, one step ahead of de Spencer’s agents, and spent four years in exile, while at home his father had waged a savage guerrilla war against de Spencer. He, too, would have little love for the King.
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At first sight Berkeley Castle seemed a poor choice to confine the deposed King, a short distance from the Welsh border, where Edward still had considerable sympathy as well as some political and military support. On the other hand, Berkeley, even today, is a fairly lonely spot: a secure castle, surrounded by woods, it was also near Mortimer’s power base on the Welsh March and well away from public view. A northern fortress would be vulnerable to attack by Bruce or Edward’s Scottish supporters like Donald of Mar. The London mob were too fickle to be trusted and the Tower would be far from ideal. Berkeley Castle was, in fact, perfect and both Maltravers and Lord Berkeley were given extensive powers in the area, being made Commissioners of the Peace for almost all of south-west England. This made them military supremos in the area and were to summon up military help, raise levies and pursue malefactors.
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The transfer of responsibility for Edward from Lancaster to Berkeley and Maltravers was done properly. When the prisoner was collected from Kenilworth an indenture, a solemn agreement, was drawn up, Lancaster, like Pilate, washed his hands of Edward, and Berkeley and Maltravers
travelled south with their prisoner.
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He was escorted by a powerfully armed troop and careful measures were taken to create diversions so that people would be uncertain as to the King’s real whereabouts.

Berkeley and Maltravers were commissioned to take over the custody of Edward on 21 March. On 3 April 1327, it was agreed they be given
£
5 a day for the prisoner’s needs.
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Historians have concluded that the transfer actually took place on the 3 April and Edward completed the fifty-mile journey from Kenilworth to Berkeley and was in his new prison cell by 6 April at the latest. Berkeley and Maltravers, together with another knight, Thomas Gurney (who was to play a prominent part in the deposed King’s treatment), secured the deposed King in the last week of March and then took him, by a very circuitous route, to Berkeley. They visited Corfe Castle, then Bristol. On the night of 5 April, Palm Sunday, the royal prisoner reached Gloucester and spent the night at Llantony Abbey near Hay-on-Wye, the guest of the Augustinian canons. The following day, hoping they had fooled the Dunheved gang, Berkeley and Maltravers deposited their prisoner at Berkeley Castle.
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However, there are reasons to question this evidence. Adam of Murimouth, a Canon of St Paul’s, who wrote his history some time around 1335, says that Edward was taken to Berkeley but then removed to other places because of conspiracies to free him.

And because they were afraid of certain persons coming to him to effect his release, Edward was secretly removed from Berkeley by night and taken to Corfe and other secret places but, at last, they took
him back to Berkeley but after such a fashion that it could hardly be ascertained where he was.
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Accordingly, there are three versions of events. First, that Edward was moved swiftly from Kenilworth to Berkeley. Secondly, Edward was moved from Kenilworth to Berkeley but removed secretly by night so as to distract his supporters; he was then taken to places such as Corfe Castle in Dorset (a stronghold of Maltravers) before being moved back to Berkeley. Thirdly, Edward was taken from Kenilworth by a circuitous route, including places like Corfe, to throw off pursuers, before being confined for life in Berkeley Castle. The third explanation seems most likely. Berkeley and Maltravers would hardly travel directly from Kenilworth to Berkeley Castle; they would do their level best to lay false trails and provoke suspicions about where the royal captive really was. Once they had Edward in the fastness of Berkeley Castle, they would surely be reluctant to take him out again around the southern shires where they would certainly be vulnerable to attack. This issue is an important one in that Edward II’s link with Corfe Castle was to play a vital part in the legends which later grew up around his imprisonment.

The forced journey of the King from Kenilworth to Berkeley marked a rapid decline in his fortunes. The chronicler Swynbroke claims that Edward was subjected to appalling abuse: his new captors crowned him with a crown of hay and shaved his head and beard by the roadside with ditch water; they clothed him in rags, forced him to ride through the night, forced him to eat food that was barely edible, and, mocked and reviled him. Historians have been quick to reject such allegations, and accuse the chronicler
Swynbroke of sensationalizing events. However, Edward II was no longer a king but a deposed prince, fast becoming a public nuisance, and his execution had even been debated at a formal council meeting. Moreover, the hatred heaped upon de Spencer the Younger, the cruelties inflicted as he was led out to execution, illustrate the deep resentment of many against Edward’s former rule.
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In the history of deposed princes, it is remarkable how, once the fall from power has been completed, the minions of those who brought about the collapse, are only too quick to join in the fun of cruel mockery against one who once lorded it over them. The indignities, the rough shaving, the poor clothes, would also have been necessary to disguise the King. It is hardly likely that Edward would be allowed to ride openly through the countryside, even with a powerful escort, in a state in which former subjects might recognize him.

Edward was in his new prison by 6 April 1327 and the Berkeley records show that capons, eggs, meat and other foodstuffs were supplied to the King. Isabella also sent her husband certain delicacies.
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Such evidence appears to clash with Swynbroke’s story that Isabella was really intent on killing Edward by contagion. However, five pounds for his upkeep, the Berkeley estates producing fresh food for the King and Isabella sending delicacies to him, are perhaps not evidence enough to reject the allegations of ill-treatment. Swynbroke maintains that the carcasses of rotting animals were placed in the deep pit near the King’s cell in Berkeley keep in the hope that he would catch some infection and die. The stories could well be true. After all, at Wallingford, Isabella and Mortimer seriously considered executing Edward; their treatment of his favourite had been cruel in the extreme, and Isabella
and Mortimer had proved they could be as ruthless as de Spencer if they encountered opposition. Moreover, Edward not only suffered physical indignities, but the psychological torture must also have been great. Here was a man who, a year previously, had been lord of his kingdom, to whom everyone bowed at the knee and to whom everyone deferred. Within a matter of weeks, he had lost everything – his crown, his kingdom, his wife, his family and now his freedom.

Edward may well have cursed his wife and threatened to kill her – even with his teeth – but he was also the father of their four children: Edward of fifteen years, John of Eltham, eleven, Eleanor, eight and Johanna only six years old. There is no record of the King being allowed to see any of his children during his incarceration. In fact, no real evidence exists that Edward was
not
ill-treated. The sums of money, the supplies, the delicacies may well have gone to others. In the final analysis, it was in Isabella’s and Mortimer’s interests that Edward should not survive long. He was a danger to them politically and, as the council at Stamford proved, there was a growing concern, especially amongst the bishops, that Isabella should honour her marriage vows and return to her husband.

The Queen had every confidence that Berkeley Castle would take care of her problem husband. The fortress stood in the wilds of Gloucestershire countryside, close to the Severn Estuary, on a natural shelf of red sandstone, surrounded by fresh and salt water marshes of about 200 acres in extent, and standing at an altitude of sixty-three feet. The castle had a good view of the surrounding countryside and was strategically placed to guard the main Bristol to Gloucester road. The castle itself would be difficult to attack. Assailants would have to cross the
treacherous marshes, ford the moat and scale the curtain walls. Even if they were successful in seizing the gatehouse and the outer rim of defences, defenders could fall back to the Keep and continue their fight. Isabella and Mortimer would have also ensured that Berkeley Castle was well manned, not just by local levies but household troops, veterans who would be able to guard the prisoner and put up a stout resistance against any attack.

Isabella and Mortimer confidently regarded the deposed King as a minor problem and, like Edward II and De Spencer before them, began to marshal their troops for yet another military expedition across the Scottish border. English defeats in Scotland had characterized Edward II’s reign: his débâcles there had been a contributing factor to his fall from power. Isabella and Mortimer knew that to gain public approbation they would have to settle the Scottish problem – and the auguries were good. In the main the kingdom was now united: the great lords were willing to participate and Mortimer was an experienced general, who had won considerable success against Bruce’s brother in Ireland. If the Scots could be checked once and for all, then Mortimer’s ascendancy would be confirmed. Military preparations began, assembly points were chosen and writs despatched. However, on 3 July 1327, Thomas Berkeley was excused from the general muster ‘being charged with the special business of the King’. This ‘special business’ entailed dealing with the irrepressible Dunheved gang. They had discovered where Edward was incarcerated and were mustering their forces for another attempt to free the deposed King.
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The Dunheved gang included a monk from Hailes
Abbey, a canon from the Augustinian order, as well as the usual rifflers, eager for easy plunder. They had stirred up a riot in Cirencester, disappeared and then turned up in Chester. The gang was highly mobile, organized and well resourced. The government continued to issue writs against them but were careful not to reveal their real purpose, saying simply that the members of the gang were to be arrested for evading military duty in Scotland.
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