CHAPTER XII.

CHAP.
XII.

July 8. 1307. Accession of Ed

ward II.

John de

Langton,

time.

CHANCELLORS DURING THE REIGN OF EDWARD II.

It is not certainly known from records or otherwise, how the young King disposed of the Great Seal from the time when he received it at Carlisle till his return to London in the autumn of the year 1307. He probably carried it with him into Scotland in the short and inglorious campaign which he then made in that country,-forgetting alike what the exigencies of justice required in his own dominions, and the dying injunctions of his father to lead on the expedition with the utmost energy, and never to desist till he had reduced the Scottish nation to complete subjection. From the hour of his accession to the throne, he betrayed an utter incapacity for government, and an unconquerable aversion to all serious business. He seems for a long time to have appointed neither Chancellor nor Keeper of the Seal. He retreated without striking a blow,-disbanded his army, and thought of nothing but conferring power and places on his favourite, Piers Ga

Whilst the Barons, from the beginning, showed the utmost Chancellor indignation at the advancement of this upstart, John de the second Langton, Bishop of Chichester, who had been Chancellor in the late reign, formed a coalition with him, and in recompence was restored to his former office. It was thought even by the Gascon youth himself, that it would have been too great an outrage at once to have made him Chancellor, although, as we shall see, he was ere long intrusted with Seal as Keeper.

The two years during which John de Langton was now Chancellor, were chiefly occupied with the disputes between

A charge was afterwards brought against Gaveston of having about this time put the Great Seal to blank charters, which he filled up according to his fancy.

the King and the Barons on account of the preference shown CHAP. to the foreign favourite.

XII.

Edward continued occasionally to find a respite beyond King sea from the factious proceedings of his native subjects. In abroad. the beginning of 1308, going to Aquitaine, he left the Chancellor guardian of the realm, and delivered to him a new seal to be used for certain necessary purposes. The Great Seal was intrusted to the keeping of William Melton, the King's secretary, who accompanied him. On Edward's

return, the Chancellor delivered to him the Seal which had been in use during his absence, and the King delivered back to the Chancellor the Great Seal which he had carried with him abroad.*

to Bou

logne.

Soon after, the King paid a short visit to Boulogne, when King goes the Chancellor seems to have acccompanied him, for Piers Gaveston was left with a seal to be used for the sealing of writs and other necessary business. In the Close Roll we have a very circumstantial account of the manner in which this seal was dealt with in the Court of Exchequer on the King's return. +

Edward was in the habit of occasionally taking the Seal into his own custody, and using it without any responsible adviser. Thus, on the 13th of June, 1308, at the New Temple in London, the Bishop elect of Worcester, the Treasurer, ordered the Chancellor, pursuant, he said, to the verbal commands he had received from the King, to send the Great Seal to Windsor by Adam de Osgodebey,-which was accordingly done,—and it remained with the King till the 20th

Rot. Cl. 1 Ed. 2. m. 7.

"Whereupon William de Melton, controller of the King's wardrobe, came and brought into the Exchequer the King's Seal used in England at the time when the King was in foreign parts; which Seal was used for sealing the writ that issued out of the King's Chancery in England, at that time under the teste of Peter de Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, then the King's lieutenant in England; and the said Seal being in a bag or purse of white leather, sealed with the Privy Seal of John de Langton, Bishop of Chichester, Chancellor of England, was by him delivered in at the Exchequer in the presence of the Chancellor of the same Exchequer, and the Barons and the Remembrancer. And straightway the said Seal, being in the purse so sealed up, was delivered to the Chamberlain of the Exchequer to be kept in the King's treasury," &c.— Hil. Com. 1 Ed. 2. Rot. 40. b. Madd. Exch. 51, 52.

King him

self uses

the Great

Seal.

CHAP.
XII.

Revolution

vernment.

of the same month, when it was again restored to the Chancellor in London. In this interval, by the personal command of the King, was sealed the patent appointing Gaveston Lieutenant of Ireland, contrary to the sentence pronounced against him in Parliament.

In May, 1310, John de Langton was obliged to yield to in the go- the storm raging against him and the favourite. A petition was presented in parliament, which, being backed by an armed force, was equivalent to a command, praying that Edward would dismiss his ministers, and devolve on a junto the whole authority of the Crown, with power, for a limited time, to enact ordinances for the government of the kingdom and the regulation of the royal household.

The Chancellor re

signs.

His character.

Office of

in abey

ance.

Gaveston was banished, and Langton, resigning the Great Seal, retired to his bishopric.† He did not again mix with the factious disputes which long continued to convulse the kingdom. He seems to have been a man unscrupulous as to the means by which he reached power, but, as far as he thought consistent with the safety of his tenure of it, disposed to promote beneficial measures, and to restrain irregularities and excesses in the government. Having assisted the zeal of the first Edward for the public good, he continued, while he remained in office, to a certain degree, to mitigate the son's evil propensities, which produced consequences so tragical.

For some time after Langton's resignation of the Great Chancellor Seal there was great difficulty as to the disposal of it. As the person holding it necessarily came so much into the royal presence, even the Barons felt a delicacy in putting it into the hands of any one personally obnoxious to the King. For about two months it remained in the custody of Ingelard de Warlegh‡, with power merely to seal writs with it in the presence and with the concurrence of three persons

* See Mem. in Cl. R. 1 Ed. 2., which the Chancellor is supposed to have entered to show that he was not to be considered answerable for Gaveston's appointment. Rot. Cl. 4 Ed. 2. m. 6.

May 11. 1310.

specified; and then Osgodebey, the Master of the Rolls, held it for a short time under similar restrictions.*

CHAP.

XII.

A. D. 1310.

REYNOLDS,

At last, on the 6th of July, a compromise took place, and WALTER REYNOLDS was declared Chancellort, he having on the occasion advanced 1000l., said to have been lent to the Chancellor. King, but probably divided between the King and the Barons.

Edward II.

Reynolds, by his parts and address, had gained the favour Tutor to of that discerning prince, Edward I., who made him tutor to his son, a Privy Councillor, and Bishop of Worcester. He cannot be held accountable for the defective character or conduct of his royal pupil, who, though he might have been expected to have inherited great talents from both his parents, was by nature of an understanding narrow, frivolous, and incapable of cultivation or correction. Edward was nevertheless attached to his preceptor, in spite of profiting so little by his tuition, and was much gratified by the forbearance of the Barons in allowing one he loved to hold the office which was substantially in their gift.

Chancellor.

nation.

Reynolds continued Chancellor till the 28th of September, His con1311, having twice during that time given the Seal to be duct as kept by Osgodebey, the Master of the Rolls ;-once when he attended the King to Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the second time when he went to assist at a general council of the western church held at Vienne, in Dauphiny. Soon after his His resigreturn he resigned the office of Chancellor, or, more properly, he was driven from it by the disputes between the King and the Barons, which now raged with more violence than ever. Edward had the indiscretion to recall Gaveston, and again to load him with favours at court. This proceeding excited such general disgust, that he was compelled to agree to an act, to confer permanently upon a committee of Parliament the power of appointing to all the great offices of state; and Gaveston being taken prisoner, his head was struck off by Execution the hand of the executioner.

of Gaveston,

1312.

While these things were going on, the Barons, for expe- June 12. diting judicial business, arranged that the Great Seal should

CHAP.
XII.

Reynolds the Ex

made

remain with the Master of the Rolls. Twice the King got possession of it; but he was obliged to return it to the same custody.

The unpopular favourite being put to death, the Barons became more moderate, and there was a reaction in the nation against a parliamentary commission for carrying on the government, which, in experience, had always been found to aggravate the confusion whence it had arisen.

A settlement accordingly took place, upon the underchancellor standing that there should not, for the present, be a Chancellor, but that the King should appoint a Keeper to do all the duties of the office, under the superintendence of three persons, to be named by the Barons.

Keeper of the Great

Seal.

A. D. 1314.
Battle of

Lurn.

Walter Reynolds was the new Keeper*, and he is a singular instance of a person holding the Great Seal with this title after having held it as "Chancellor," while there are very many instances of a person holding it as "Chancellor" after having held it as " Keeper."

Reynolds was translated from Worcester to the see of Canterbury, by Papal permission, on the 1st of October, 1313; but he had a keen controversy for this dignity with Thomas Cobham, Dean of Salisbury. He at last prevailed, and, in April 1314, he was installed in the archbishopric with extraordinary magnificence. He still continued Keeper, with the same restrictions; the Great Seal being deposited in a purse, under the seals of the superintendents, and, after each day's sealing, restored to the purse in their presence.

Intestine feuds now ceased for a time, that the nation Bannock might take vengeance on the Scots, who not only had reconquered their own country, but, under Robert Bruce, had made successful inroads into England, enriching themselves by the plunder of the northern counties. The Barons, forgetting their paltry differences about the appointment of the Chancellor, rallied round Edward, and he marched to the frontier with a well equipped army, amounting to 1,000,000

Rot. Cl. 6 Ed. 2. m. 26.

+In December, 1313, Edward went on a pilgrimage to a statue of Our Lady at Boulogne, still famous. During his absence, the Great Seal remained in the custody of the Archbishop elect. R. Cl. 7 Ed. 2.