The King's Generosity
The fourteenth-century chronicler Ranulph Higden called Edward II "prodigal in giving," and here are a few random examples of his generosity. Bear in mind that most people in England at the time earned between about 1 and 3p a day, 12p made 1 shilling, and 20 shillings made 1 pound (so there were 240p in a pound).
- £500 to Theophania de Saint Pierre, Queen Isabella's former nurse, in 1316 (a staggering amount!)
- £50 to Peter the Surgeon for curing a boy bitten by one of Edward's great horses
- 2 and a half pounds to Edward's painter Jack of St Albans for dancing on the table, which "made him laugh very greatly" (lui fist tres grantement rire)
- A year's salary to his servant Morris for amusingly falling off his horse, twice (though as Ian Mortimer points out in The Time-Traveller's Guide To Medieval England, Morris was ill, not trying to be funny, which makes Edward's laughing at him pretty cruel!)
- £50 to Piers Gaveston's messenger for bringing him "good news" of Piers in March 1312
- £1 to a woman "he drank with" on the way to Newcastle in 1310
- gifts worth a staggering £1600, plus more gifts worth £300 paid for by Edward but sent in Isabella's name, to Pope John XXII after his election in 1316. They included a cope "embroidered and studded with large white pearls," thirteen golden salt-cellars, numerous golden dishes and bowls, a golden basin and a golden chalice. The gifts sent on Isabella's behalf included a "gold buckle set with diverse pearls and other precious stones."
- 2 and a half pounds each to Edward's squires John Haclut and Thomas de la Haye (later of the Dunheved gang) for going to Newport on his behalf in 1321
- 2 rings, worth 30 shillings each, to his squire Oliver de Bordeaux and Oliver's wife when they married in 1318
- A pound (20 shillings) to John Spayn, page of Edward's chamber, when he married Amice Maure in 1319 (Amice was a bribour of Edward's household, mentioned in the same list as his washerwomen - I'm not sure what the word means)
- 30 shillings to William Wytherwood, purveyor of the royal household, for bringing him delicious crabs and prawns (Edward said "he had not had anything so much to his taste for a long time").
- £100 to his niece Eleanor de Clare (Despenser) when she was ill after childbirth in 1323
- A pound to 10 fishermen (i.e., 2 shillings or 24p each) of Thorne near Doncaster in November 1322, who caught "big pikes, big eels and a great number of other fish," and "who fished in the king's presence" (qe pescherent en la presence le Roi)
- £2 to William Lalblaster, messenger of the count of Poitiers (Queen Isabella's brother, soon to become King Philip V) for bringing Edward bunches of new grapes in October 1316
- 2 and a half pounds to Philip V's messenger William de Opere in September 1317, for bringing Edward a box of rose-coloured sugar
- £5 to Robert Daverouns, violist of the prince of Tarentum, for "performing his minstrelsy in the king's presence" in November 1316. (Tarentum is modern-day Taranto in Puglia, southern Italy; its prince in 1316 was Philip I, who was Edward's second cousin)
- 1 mark (13 shillings and 4p) to Tanin, messenger of Antonio di Pessagno (an Italian banker) for bringing Edward 2 camels, in November 1317
- 10 shillings to Dulcia Withstaff, mother of Edward's fool Rob Withstaff, when she visited the king sometime in 1317.
Sources:
- Calendar of Close Rolls/Foedera (Theophania)
- Ian Mortimer, The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England (Morris)
- Michael Prestwich, 'The Court of Edward II' in The Reign of Edward II: New Perspectives, ed. Gwilym Dodd and Anthony Musson
- James Conway Davies, 'The First Journal of Edward II's Chamber', English Historical Review, 1915 (fishermen)
- Thomas Stapleton, 'A Brief Summary of the Wardrobe Accounts of the 10th, 11th, and 14th years of Edward II', Archaeologia, 1836 (rose sugar, camels, grapes, Tarentum, gifts to pope, Newport, Dulcia)
- J. S. Hamilton, Piers Gaveston, earl of Cornwall 1307-1312 (Piers' messenger)
- Michael Prestwich, The Three Edwards (woman in Newcastle)
- James Conway Davies, The Baronial Opposition to Edward II (Eleanor Despenser)
- T. F. Tout, The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History (Amice Maure)
Posted by Alianore 06 August, 2008 at 4:40 PM