Great Britain -- History -- 14th century -- Sources
In the year 1311, after having routed and vanquished all his foes
everywhere he went, and, for the most part, taken and levelled to the
ground the castles and forts which offered him resistance, King Robert
Bruce twice invaded and ravaged England, making great havoc with fire
and sword, and bringing untold plunder back to Scotland. And thus, by
the power of God, that faithless English nation, which had again and
again unjustly tortured many a man, was now by God's righteous judgment
made to undergo scourgings; and whereas it had once been victorious
over other kingdoms, it now sank vanquished and groaning and became
a gazing stock to others. The following year, in 1312, the then very
strong walled town of Perth was taken, and all in it were put to the
sword, some drawn, some beheaded, some slain in the fight, and the
rest hanged on the gallows. But the King was moved to compassion for
the guiltless rabble, and forgave them and received their submission.
And thus:
"Did England drink the gall itself had brewed."
* * * * *
And the same year Edward, called of Windsor, the eldest son of the King
of England, was born at Windsor, of the daughter of Philip, King of
France; and he was the source of many wars. Through this Edward, that
most cruel and most heinous war with France broke out.
PETER GAVESTON AND THE FRIARS PREACHERS
(1312).
SOURCE.--Adam Murimuth, _Continuatio Chronicarum_ (Rolls
Series), 17-18.
This year, about the feast of St. John the Baptist [June 24], the King
desired Peter Gaveston for his safety's sake to be brought to him
by Adomar de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. When they were at Danyntone
(Deddington), near Banbury, the said Earl left him in the night and
went on to another place, for no apparent reason. And on the morrow
at dawn came Guy, Earl of Warwick, with a small, noisy following, and
surprised the said Peter, and carried him off with him to his Castle of
Warwick. There, having held counsel with the chief men of the kingdom,
especially with Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, he finally dismissed him
from prison to go where he would. And when he had gone out of the town
of Warwick and had come to a place called, as though prophetically,
Gaveressich (Gaversike), he found there many men raising hue and cry
after him with voices and horns, as they would after one of the enemies
of the King and kingdom lawfully outlawed or exiled; and finally they
beheaded him, as though he were one of these, on the 19th day of June.
And one of the Friars Preachers carried away Gaveston's head in his
hood (and brought it to the King). Afterwards the friars of the same
order found the body[1] and kept it at Oxford with solemn vigils for
a year and more. But finally it was buried at Langley, where the King
founded a religious house of Friars Preachers for the salvation of his
own soul; and there establishing a large number of student friars, he
provided for their sufficient sustenance from his treasury in London.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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