The committee of Nobles, after some months of deliberation, ordained
that the King should henceforth call a Parliament together, once every
year, and even twice if necessary, instead of summoning it only when he
chose. Further, that Gaveston should once more be banished, and, this
time, on pain of death if he ever came back. The King’s tears were of
no avail; he was obliged to send his favourite to Flanders. As soon as
he had done so, however, he dissolved the Parliament, with the low
cunning of a mere fool, and set off to the North of England, thinking
to get an army about him to oppose the Nobles. And once again he
brought Gaveston home, and heaped upon him all the riches and titles of
which the Barons had deprived him.
The Lords saw, now, that there was nothing for it but to put the
favourite to death. They could have done so, legally, according to the
terms of his banishment; but they did so, I am sorry to say, in a
shabby manner. Led by the Earl of Lancaster, the King’s cousin, they
first of all attacked the King and Gaveston at Newcastle. They had time
to escape by sea, and the mean King, having his precious Gaveston with
him, was quite content to leave his lovely wife behind. When they were
comparatively safe, they separated; the King went to York to collect a
force of soldiers; and the favourite shut himself up, in the meantime,
in Scarborough Castle overlooking the sea. This was what the Barons
wanted. They knew that the Castle could not hold out; they attacked it,
and made Gaveston surrender. He delivered himself up to the Earl of
Pembroke—that Lord whom he had called the Jew—on the Earl’s pledging
his faith and knightly word, that no harm should happen to him and no
violence be done him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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