Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/39

Edward I Damme, where they slew two hundred men, for which the king bad some of them hange (, ii. 159;, 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 6 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 ot Boniface VlII, 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 (, 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 ll Sept. 1297, and had laid waste Cumberland and Westmoreland.

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 26 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. After 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 (, p. 372). Edward, nevertheless, mounted and rode throughout the day as though he had received no injury. The Scottish cavalry fled without strikmg a blow ; the archers gave way after their leader was slain, but