Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/55

Edward III guardian. All real power, however, was in the hands of the queen and Mortimer, and for the next four years Edward was entirely governed by them (, p. 7). Isabella obtained so enormous a settlement that the king was left with only a third of the revenues of the crown (, p. 53). Peace was made with France on 31 March; both kings were to restore whatever had been seized during time of peace, and Edward bound himself to pay fifty thousand marks to the French king (Fœdera, ii. 700). Although negotiations were on foot for a permanent peace with Scotland, both countries prepared for war, and on 5 April the king ordered all who owed him service to meet at Newcastle on 29 May (ib. 702). He marched with his mother to York, where he was joined by Sir John of Hainault and a body of Flemish. While he was holding a feast on Trinity Sunday a fierce quarrel broke out between the Hainaulters and the English archers, in which many were slain on both sides (, i. 39;, i. 45). The truce was actually broken by the Scots, who invaded the northern counties under Randolph, earl of Moray, and Douglas. Edward marched from York to Durham without gaining any tidings of the enemy, though he everywhere beheld signs of the devastation they had wrought. He crossed the Tyne, hoping to intercept the Scots on their return. After remaining a week on the left bank of the river without finding the enemy, he ordered his troops, who had suffered much from constant rain, to recross the river. At last an esquire named Thomas Rokesby brought him news of the enemy and led the army to the place where they were encamped, a service for which the king knighted him and gave him 100l. a year (Fœdera. ii. 717). The Scots, twenty-four thousand in number, occupied so strong a position on the right bank of the Wear that Edward, though at the head of sixty-two thousand men, did not dare to cross the river and attack them. It was therefore decided, as they seemed to be cut off from returning to their country, to starve them into leaving their position and giving battle. Early in the morning of the fourth day it was discovered that they had decamped. Edward followed them and found them even more strongly posted than before at Stanhope Park. Again the English encamped in front of them, and the first night after Edward's arrival Douglas, at the head of a small party, surprised the camp, penetrated to the King's tent, cut some of the cords, and led his men back with little loss (, p. 96;, i. 67; , i. 08, 279). After the two armies had faced each other for fifteen days or more the Scots again decamped by night, and Edward gave up all hope of cutting off their retreat or forcing them to fight, his army was unable to move with the same rapidity as the Scots, who were unencumbered with baggage; he was altogether outmanoeuvred, and led his troops back to York, much chagrined with the ill success of his first military enterprise. He had to pay 14,000l. to Sir John of Hainault for his help (Fœdera, ii. 708); he raised money from the Bardi, Florentine bankers (ib. 712), received a twentieth from the parliament that met at Lincoln on 15 Sept., and a tenth from the clergy of Canterbury (, c. 2552). The king s father was put to death on 21 Sept. On 15 Aug. Edward wrote from York to John XXII for a dispensation for his marriage with Philippa of Hainault, for his mother and the Countess of Hainault were both grand-children of Philip III of France (Fœdera, ii. 712). The dispensation was granted; Philippa arrived in London on 24 Dec, and the marriage was performed at York on 24 Jan. 1328 by William Melton, archbishop of York, the king being then little more than fifteen, and his bride still younger. At the parliament held at York on 1 March peace was made with Scotland, and the treaty was confirmed in the parliament which met at Northampton on 24 April. By this treaty Edward gave up all claims over the Scottish kingdom; a marriage was arranged between his sister Joan and David, the heir of King Robert; a perpetual alliance was made between the two Kingdoms, saving the alliance between Scotland and France, and the Scottish king bound himself to pay Edward 20,000l. (4 May, ib. pp. 734, 740). The treaty was held to be the work of Isabella and Mortimer, and was generally condemned in England as shameful (, p. 7;, i. 192). Isabella seems to have got hold of a large part of the money paid by the Scottish king (Fœdera, ii. 770, 785). Edward now sent two representatives to Paris to state his claim to the French throne, vacant by the death of Charles IV. He claimed as the heir of Philip IV, through his mother, Isabella. By the so-called Salic law Isabella and her heirs were barred from the succession, and even supposing that, though females were barred, they had nevertheless been held capable of transmitting a right to the throne, Charles of Evreux, the son of Jeanne of Navarre, daughter of Philip IV, would have had at least as good a claim as Edward. The throne was adjudged to Philip of Valois, son of a younger brother of Philip IV. The insolence and rapacity of the queen-mother and Mortimer gave deep offence to the nobles, and the