Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/35

 particulars see, 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 (, p. 233); he broke on 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 6 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;, Hist, of the Navy, i. 270). On 4 July he seized all the coined money in the cathedrals, monasteries, and hospitals (Cont. . 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 apologised 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. Pauls 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 (, ii. 54; Cont 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 bv 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 custody 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 attending the enthronement of Archbishop Winchelsey at Canterbury on 2 Oct. (Cont. . 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