A contemporary record the 14May 1264 - Open University · A contemporary record of the - 14May 1264 Robert of Gloucestev: Chmnicle of English History In Lewes the king and his army

A contemporary record of the - 14May 1264

Robert of Gloucestev: Chmnicle of English History

In Lewes the king and his army took their rest that night.

The barons camped outside the town just out of sight.

They sent the king a fair message by hand

That for the love of God he should them better understand,

And grant them good laws and have pity on his land

And they would serve him well with foot and hand.

The king replied without a greeting

That for their service he cared nothing,

That out of his love and favour they should go,

And he would treat them as his foe.

When they hea.rd this they knew there was nothing for it

But, with God3 help, to fight the king and grin and bear it.

The barons talked among each other, riding up and down,

Of how they rrdght surprise the king and take the town.

Some advised they all upon the town should creep

And take the king unarmed in bed, asleep.

The good men such treachery would not do:

They would only fight the king when he was ready too.

Wearily they s1,ept under bushes. At dawn made knights of their young men.

Then put their armour on, God's help desired, and cried, 'Amen'.

Sir Simon de NIontfort advised they should stand fast,

And wait for the moment to charge as the fight did last.

Then came the royal army charging out of town,

Many were the: good men that they cut down.

Prince Edward attacked the Londoners and no other.

He was determined to revenge their insult to his mother.

He struck many men to the ground and many slew,

Some fled and them the furious prince did pursue.

When he had these Londoners all brought to ground,

With great joy he turned again, but little joy he found.

The barons had gained the upper hand, the king defeated.

The king of Germany hid in a windmill when he retreated

Until a young knight captured him and agreed his life to spare.

The king, in fear of death, surrendered to Gilbert de Clare.

Edward fled back to Lewes, sought sanctuary in the friary there and at evening as he must, he yielded, to fight no longer dare.

READING AND RESOURCE BOOKS 5 1

Many royalists their battered weapons threw away,

And in disguise, hiding their amour under cloaks of grey,

To the coast they came, took ship and crossed the sea,

Vowing they no more wished English land to see.

About four thousand and five hundred it is said

Were in this battle slain. Have pity on the dead.

(quoted in John, 1991)

dix2: Ashortdroma set in thegreat Ken i lworth Castle

Scene: Christmas Day, 1254, in the great hall of Kenilworth Castle.

Characters: Simon ~de Montfort and King Henry 111.

SIMON Cheer up, my lord, enjoy Christmas, in this the most beautiful and suongest castle in your kingdom.

HENRY How can I be cheerful when I am your prisoner and do not rule England as by God's law I should? And you hold my son Edward a captive too.

SLnON Do not fear, my lord, your life and that of your son are in no danger. I have freed you from the cares and worries of government. Now you can enjoy a peaceful old age.

HENRY I am the king and I should rule. God made me king of England as he made my father king and my grandfather king before him.

SIMON. My lord, the way you ruled England when you were free showed clearly that you were not fit to govern the country. You were allowing foreigners to take over the realm and rob the English people and plunder the English Church. I and my fellow barons had to take control of England to save the country from disaster. Your son, Edward, may well be fit to rule England when he has learnt some sense.

HENRY You seem to forget that you are a Frenchman and you were once one of those foreigners to whom I gave favours and presents, like this very castle where we feast today. But you betrayed me. You and some of the barons rebelled against me, captured me and my son in battle. It was not lawful. May God forgive you for such a sin! I cannot.

SIMON God has shown that he is on my side, and therefore what I do is right and lawful. Otherwise God would not have allowed me to defeat and capture you and your son at the great battle of Lewes in Sussex. The holy friars, the parish priests and the saintly bishops of Lincoln and Worcester all approve and support what I have done. You are the one who has sinned. You broke your solemn oath to rule England with the advice and consent of your barons. We had no choice but to take up arms against you.

HENRY The lord Pope himself freed me from that oath, and the saintly King Louis of France judged you to be in the wrong.

SIMON Enough my lord, do not let us quarrel yet again at Christmas. Eat, drink, be rnerry. All will be well.

HENRY ((aside) Many of the barons are beginning to think that you, Simon, are a worse tyrant than I was. If only Edward could escape: he could unite the barons who hate Simon and lead them to free me from his clutches. Then I would be the real king of England again.

APPENDICES 53

Appendix 3: The story of the siege of Kenilworth Castle

Simon de Montfort was killed at Evesham on 4th August 1265.

The day after the battle Henry I11 declared that anyone who had supported Simon was a traitor and their lands were forfeited to the king.

The survivors therefore had nothing to lose. They gathered in Kenilworth Castle, and refused to surrender it to the king. What is more they began to raid the lands of Henry's supporters who lived nearby, for example those of John de Verdon whose castle at Brandon they destroyed. They carried off cattle, sheep and corn to Kenilworth so that the castle would be well supplied to stand a siege.

Henry sent out a messenger demanding that the castle be handed over to him: he threatened to hang the garrison if they refused. To show their defiance the garrison returned the messenger with his right hand cut off.

Henry I11 and Prince Edward had no choice but to bring the royal army to Kenilworth and launch a full-scale siege of the castle. This meant bringing carpenters and timber to construct catapults to bombard the castle, siege towers to gain footholds on the walls and battering rams to smash their way in. The assault began in June 1266.

There were 1200 knights and soldiers in the castle as well as 53 women. The commander was Sir Henry de Hastings, an experienced knight who had fought for Simon de Montfort at Lewes and had been captured at Evesham. The castle had massive towers, vast water defences and a gateway that was very difficult to approach. The defenders also had trebouchets and mangonels. They had nothing to lose except their lives and were therefore very determined. Every day the main gateway of the castle was thrown open to challenge the king's army to attack. If no attack came the garrison would charge out and assault the camp of the royal army or try to burn their siege engines. The garrison also bombarded the royal army with their catapults. There were artillery duels between the two sides; the stone missiles sometimes struck each other in mid-air and shattered.

Henry's attempt to take the castle by assault failed. The water defences meant that he could not get his siege towers close enough; mining the walls was impossible. The king sent troops across the Mere in barges brought from Chester, but they were repulsed from the outer bailey walls. He was left with not choice but to starve the castle into submission. This would take a long time.

The king turned for help to the Pope's agent in England, Cardinal Ottobuoni. He, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, came to the moat on the north side of the castle and solemnly excommunicated the rebels with bell, book and candle, that is he put them out of the Catholic Church. It was believed then that a person who died excommunicate was certain to go to Hell, not Heaven. Once more the garrison showed its defiance. They dressed their surgeon all in white and from the castle walls he solemnly excommunicated the king, Prince Edward, the whole royal army, the cardinal and archbishop as well.

54 MUSIC

The siege dragged on, and the large castle garrison ate it way through the supplies it had laid1 in. Eventually the horses of the knights had to be eaten, then the castle's cats and dogs, and finally the rats. The defenders were weakened by starvation and disease, particularly dysentery, which spread rapidly through the overcrowded castle.

To bring the siege to an end Henry now offered terms. The lives of the garrison would be spared, they would not be made prisoner, and they could have their p:roperty back if they paid a fine to the king for their rebellion against him. At first the garrison refused, but in November a truce was arranged. The garrison was allowed to send out three knights to seek out Simon de Montfort's son (another Simon) in France to see if he could come to the:ir rescue. If he could not within a period of forty days, they would surrender on the king's terms. The younger Simon was unable to send help, so on 14th December Kenilworth Castle was surrendered after a siege of six months. The garrison was permitted to march out and go to their homes. When royal troops attempted to enter the castle they were driven back 1~y the stench. It had to be thoroughly cleaned before it could be occupied.

Henry then gave the castle to his younger son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster.

APPENDICES 55

Appendix 4: A selection of songs

The attached songs (see Figures 15-18) may be used to experiment with the techniques outlined in the singing section of the Document. They are all from topic-based schemes. The first two are simple songs which can be used to experiment with the accompaniment suggestions in the Document. The second two songs will be of interest to the arranger. All the songs have been used with great success with children in the classroom.

Lady Lollipop was written for a road safety topic with year 1 and 2 children. The accompaniment repeats throughout, i.e. C, F, G, C, F, G ... Use the suggested instrumental parts if you wish to elaborate on the simple chord accompaniment.

Jobs was written for year 2 or 3. Again some more elaborate optional parts are added including a piano part which would add the icing on the cake.

The Ugly Old Witch is from a full scale musical based on a Warwickshire myth, the Dun Cow. Lines A and B and the piano are optional, although the A and B lines are very easy to play. They demonstrate that it is possible to utilise the beginners open strings on the violin to good effect (line B) and to provide a repeating ostinato for line B.

W o r n is a more complex song, but two versions are given, one with a simplified piano accompaniment. The Doh, Ray, Me ... scale can be sung at the same time as the chorus.

A selection of songs that could be used to experiment with the techniques outlined in Section 3.4 'Singing'

I I .-

\(L - dy , \.u-dy LoL -li. - pop ,

/ I I \ 2. g l k s I k' K I

FIGURE 15 Lady Lollipop

APPENDICES 57

2. The butcher s e l l s you meat. The baker bakes t h e bread. The newaagent s e l l s l o t s of comics Yon can read i n bed.

3. The builder and t h e pa in te r , The fireman and the vet, They a l l are racing off t o work Like people you have met.

4. The miner works dom deep. The policem3n works outside. The toolmaker makes h i s nuchinea With l a thes and drills inside.

FIGURE 16 jobs

APPENDICES 59

FIGURE 17 The Ugly Old Witch

APPENDICES 6 1

62 MUSIC

watch out wormt 3 i a J The gardener h w a spade..

Watch out worm! n r - a s '

No-one comes to your aid .

FIGURE 18 Worms

APPENDICES 63

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