Earl of Gloucester

“ The Earl's justice and resolve to secure the public peace told heavily against him. John Giffard left him because he refused to allow him to exact ransom from a prisoner, contrary to the agreement made after Lewes. A greater danger opened when the young Earl of Gloucester, though enriched with the estates of the foreigners, held himself aloof from the Justiciar, and resented Leicester's prohibition of a tournament, his naming the wardens of the royal castles by his own authority, his holding Edward's fortresses on the Welsh marches by his own garrisons. ”

“ Gloucester is a loss to the good cause, it is true, though he is cold and cautious----"
"And selfish, and treacherous, and cunning," added the outlaw.
"But still there is little to fear," continued the Earl, "he is no more competent to cope with Simon de Montfort, than an usher's white rod with a soldier's battle-axe."
"He wants the energy of a strong will," said the outlaw, "and therefore can never be a great man; but still his influence makes him dangerous, my lord, and you must look to it." ”

“ Even the Earl of Gloucester discovered that if the king was to be resisted it must be by an appeal to a body of men more numerous than the barons alone. He joined Simon in inviting a Parliament to meet, at which three knights should appear for each county, thus throwing over the unfortunate narrowing of Parliament to a baronial committee of twelve, which had been the worst blot on the Provisions of Oxford. In the summer of 1262 the Earl of Gloucester died, and was succeeded by his son, Earl Gilbert, one of Simon's warmest personal admirers. ”

“ It was impossible that the regency of the great earl should Pg 145 last for long. There were too many men in England who felt that it was unseemly that the king and his son should live in close restraint, while one who, in spite of all his merits, was still a foreigner and an adventurer, ruled the realm. The beginning of Simon's troubles came from a quarrel with his own chief supporter, the young Earl of Gloucester. Gilbert de Clare thought that he was not admitted to a sufficient share in the government of the kingdom, and soon fell into a bitter feud with Simon's sons. ”

“ In 1281 the Earl of Gloucester, accused by Edward I. of a breach of allegiance, claimed to be judged, not by the whole body of Crown tenants, but by such as were, like himself, lords marchers. [809] These illustrations show that a “trial by peers” had a wider and less stereotyped meaning in the Middle Ages than it has at the present day. [810]
(3) Per legem terrae. No freeman could be punished except in accordance with the law of England. ”

“ The King, said he, would have plenty of money at his command, if the wicked councillors were only forced to disgorge their ill-gotten booty. Yet with all their cleverness, Gloucester and his allies could not succeed in accusing Suffolk of any greater covetousness than "taking from the King a thousand marks a year since he was made an Earl"—which was the ordinary grant from the Crown to every earl in England. ”

“ During the regency he acted with the opposition, and adhered to the Duke of Sussex on the breach with the prince regent occasioned by Princess Charlotte's refusal of the Prince of Orange. He afterwards took the side of the queen during the parliamentary proceedings against her. He supported catholic emancipation (9 June 1828) , but voted against Earl Grey's reform bill (7 Oct. 1831, 13 April 1832) .
Gloucester's intellectual powers were by no means of a high order. His life was blameless, and much of his income was spent in charity. He died, without issue, on 30 Nov. ”

“ With regard to the Earl of Gloucester, his whole franchise or royalty, totum regale, in Morganwg, was declared forfeited. But whereas he had married the king’s daughter, and had by her offspring; and whereas she had an equal share in the franchise, the earl having a life interest only, he could not forfeit more than his320 own rights, neither was it lawful to punish the innocent for the guilty. His forfeiture therefore was to be for life only. He was further to be imprisoned during pleasure, and to pay £100 damages to the Earl of Hereford. ”

“ Their surrender brought the struggle to a close. Never, probably, has so long and desperate a resistance to royal authority as that made by the disinherited been put down with the like moderation. And while the self-restraint of the victors must be attributed to some extent to the masterly policy pursued by the Earl of. Gloucester in occupying London, it was also largely due to the wisdom and magnanimity of Edward. ”

“ With Simon Gloucester was at the battle of Lewes in May 1264, when the king himself surrendered to him, and after this victory he was one of the three persons selected to nominate a council. Soon, however, he quarrelled with Leicester. Leaving London for his lands on the Welsh border he met Prince Edward, afterwards king Edward I., at Ludlow, just after his escape from captivity, and by his skill contributed largely to the prince’s victory at Evesham in August 1265. ”

“ By his wife Maud, Gloucester had several children, of whom the most noteworthy were (1) his successor Gilbert (the 'Red') [q. v.] , (2) Thomas de Clare, the friend of Prince Edward (d. 1287) , (3) Boso or Bono the good, a canon of York. Of his daughters, Margaret married Edmund, a younger son of Richard, earl of Cornwall, and Roesia married Roger Mowbray in 1270 (Land of Morgan, pp. 141-2; Pat. Rolls, 31 a) .
Gloucester was the most powerful English noble of his time. ”

“ So, Gloucester is proclaimed a traitor?"
"Ay, and Mortimer, too," replied the forester, "and a number of others. Many of the lords marchers have joined him, you see, and his power is daily increasing."
"Then it is time," said the Earl, "for the friends of England to gather round De Montfort. A battle cannot be far distant. Doubtless there will be letters for me at Nottingham, and I will soon let you know where you can meet us with your brave archers. Gloucester's day is over, and--"
"I know what you would add, my lord," replied the forester, "but I say, No. ”

“ How the judgment of Heaven overtook the bad Earl of Gloucester, whose treasons were discovered, and himself slain in single combat with his brother, the lawful earl; and how Goneril's husband, the Duke of Albany, who was innocent of the death of Cordelia, and had never encouraged his lady in her wicked proceedings against her father, ascended the throne of Britain after the death of Lear, is needless here to narrate; Lear and his Three Daughters being dead, whose adventures alone concern our story. ”

“ Parts of the walls can be traced, and many remains and coins have been found, though inscriptions (as is frequently the case in Britain) are somewhat scarce. Its situation on a navigable river, and the foundation in 681 of the abbey of St Peter by Æthelred favoured the growth of the town; and before the Conquest Gloucester was a borough governed by a portreeve, with a castle which was frequently a royal residence, and a mint. The first overlord, Earl Godwine, was succeeded nearly a century later by Robert, earl of Gloucester. ”

“ Beyond this the Protector had no independent power, in all else he was controlled by a Council of which all the best-known men of the period were members, for with Gloucester were associated the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Norwich, and Worcester; the Duke of Exeter, and the Earls of March, Warwick, and Westmoreland; the Earl Marshal, and the Lords Fitzhugh, Cromwell, Hungerford, Tiptoft, and Beauchamp. ”

“ The citizens of London, indignant at the loss of their charter, witnessed the dissension between the king and Gloucester with great satisfaction, and when the earl took up arms they opened their gates to receive him. But Gloucester was ill-prepared to maintain the contest on which he had entered, and at the approach of the royal army he demanded leave to negotiate. The permission was granted, and Gloucester obtained a pardon for himself on condition of entire submission to the king, while the Londoners purchased their safety for a fine of, 25,000 marks. ”

“ About 1385 the earl joined the baronial party led by the king’s uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, and in 1386 was a member of the commission appointed to regulate the kingdom and the royal household. Then came Richard’s rash but futile attempt to arrest Arundel, which was the signal for the outbreak of hostilities. The Gloucester faction quickly gained the upper hand, and the earl was one, and perhaps the most bitter, of the lords appellant. ”

“ His stepsons were there, but not his sons, and the chief mourner was his nephew the earl of Lincoln. Never were people more helpless than the queen and her children. The poor queen knew not whom to trust, and indeed a few weeks taught her that she could trust nobody. Gloucester, her brother-in-law, who at first gained her faith with a few kind words, soon tore off the mask, seized the young king, and arrested his uncle lord Rivers. ”

“ Richard's brother William died from the effects of the draught, and the earl only escaped with the loss of his nails, teeth, and skin (Matt. Paris, pp. 704, 738; Stubbs, ii. 82; Burt. Ann. p. 460) . In January 1259 Gloucester swore the king of the Romans to observe the new constitution.
From this point Gloucester's career is full of contradictions. Now in attendance on the king, now at variance with De Montfort, and now with Prince Edward, it seems impossible to find any consistency in his conduct. He was present at the London parliament of 9 Feb. ”

“ Having taken some part in crushing the rising of the peasants in 1381, Buckingham became more friendly with Lancaster; and while marching with the king into Scotland in 1385 was created duke of Gloucester, a mark of favour, however, which did not prevent him from taking up an attitude of hostility to Richard. Lancaster having left the country, Gloucester placed himself at the head of the party which disliked the royal advisers, Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk and Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, whose recent elevation to the dignity of duke of Ireland had aroused profound discontent. ”

“ But a man who had abandoned all principles of honor and humanity was soon carried by his predominant passion beyond the reach of fear or precaution; and Gloucester, having so far succeeded in his views, no longer hesitated in removing the other obstructions which lay between him and the throne. The death of the Earl of Rivers [2] , and of other prisoners detained in Pomfret, was first determined; and he easily obtained the consent of the Duke of Buckingham, as well as of Lord Hastings, to this violent and sanguinary measure. ”

“ Buckingham—as was his custom in everything—followed the example of the Prince. Harleston and I were about to depart with the other gentlemen, but Gloucester stopped us with:—"No, by Saint Paul! ye two shall sup with us; I have not yet forgot how speedy were my messengers. Richard of Gloucester forgets not his friends. Why, if a man sups not with his friends, with whom may he eat? What dost thou say, my Lord of Rivers?"
"Indeed, my lord, thou dost honour us over much by calling us your friends," said the Earl. He evidently did not know what to make of the Duke's open-hearted manner ”

“ Well he knew that his uncle was an ambitious man, who would fain have seen his daughter queen of England; and, besides, the duke longed to go to war with France, and lost no chance of exciting the passions of the English people and making the French alliance more unpopular than it was already. Perhaps Gloucester had cherished secret hopes of being left behind to rule the kingdom while Richard was away; but if so he was disappointed, for the king's cousin, Henry earl of Derby (afterwards Henry IV.) , was declared regent. ”

“ Corresponding gifts were made to the younger daughters of the duchess, who married after Anne came to the throne. In 1698 an arrangement under the king's orders had closely connected the Earl of Marlborough himself with the domestic affairs of the prince and princess. The frail life of the little Duke of Gloucester, who to his mother before he died must have represented a hope seventeen times cherished and but once permitted to survive more or less speedy disappointment, alone safeguarded the succession as by law established. ”

“ War had now become a mere matter of days. After a brief visit to London, Henry went down to Southampton, whither probably Gloucester had gone direct from the negotiations at Winchester, and the last preparations for the expedition against France were being completed, when the young Earl of March waited on the King, and laid before him the details of a conspiracy against the House of Lancaster. ”

“ Moreover, for the first year of his brother’s reign, Humphrey de Lancaster, as he had hitherto been styled, [40] does not appear at all prominently in public life, and it was not till he was twenty-three years old—for those times a somewhat advanced age—that he took his place definitely among the great men of the kingdom. On May 16, 1414, letters-patent were issued creating him Earl of Pembroke and Duke of Gloucester, at the same time that his brother John was made Earl of Kendal and Duke of Bedford. ”

“ This created two factions—that of Stephen and that of Matilda, the first of the great Civil Wars (for now the “English” counted for much more than heretofore) , and the king, unlike his predecessors, unwisely allowing the barons to build castles on their own lands, paid for his over-confidence. For Matilda’s party, led first by the Earl of Gloucester, formed in the west of England, assisted by David King of Scots in the north. ”