Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-31T23:33:21.872Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Love letters to Edward III

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2010

David Matthews
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Get access

Summary

NOVISSIMI

In 1337, as part of a reorganisation in preparation for war, Edward III created a new noble rank in England by making his son duke of Cornwall. At the same time he created several new earls, prominent among them his allies in the overthrow of Mortimer in 1330 now, it would seem, receiving their reward. The chronicler Thomas Gray was unimpressed by these elevations, believing that it must entail the diminution of the king's estates, leaving him ‘obliged to subsist upon levies and subsidies’. Perhaps Gray was instinctively appalled by what he saw as favouritism on a large scale. But for most, as the silence of the chroniclers on the subject suggests, the elevations passed without special note. The new earls of Salisbury, Suffolk, Huntingdon, Northampton, Gloucester and Derby were not, like Gaveston or the Lusignans, rapacious foreigners. They were not, like Gaveston when he was made earl of Cornwall, suspected of improper access to the king; nor were they old and past making war, like the elder Despenser when he became earl of Winchester, nor believed to be running the country themselves, like Mortimer when he became earl of March in 1328. They were all about the king's age or a little older; they were, like him, able–bodied enthusiasts for the tournament and for war.

At times, no doubt, the line between despised favourites and the worthy elect (regardless of national affiliation) might still have been a fine one.

Type
Chapter
Information
Writing to the King
Nation, Kingship and Literature in England, 1250–1350
, pp. 135 - 155
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×