Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 Problems and sources
- 2 Introduction: The king and the magnates before 1318
- 3 The rise of the Despensers
- 4 The civil war, 1321–2
- 5 The aftermath of the civil war: Imprisonments and executions
- 6 The aftermath of the civil war: Confiscations and the territorial settlement
- 7 Royal finance, 1321–6
- 8 The Despensers' spoils of power, 1321–6
- 9 The defeat in Scotland, 1322–3
- 10 The French war
- 11 The opposition to royal tyranny, 1322–6
- 12 London
- 13 Queen Isabella's invasion and the end of the regime
- 14 Edward II's deposition and ultimate fate
- 15 Epilogue: The regime of Mortimer and Isabella
- Appendix 1 Properties of the Despensers: Main facts and sources
- Appendix 2 The deposition of Edward II
- Notes
- Cited classes of records at the Public Record Office
- Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
15 - Epilogue: The regime of Mortimer and Isabella
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- 1 Problems and sources
- 2 Introduction: The king and the magnates before 1318
- 3 The rise of the Despensers
- 4 The civil war, 1321–2
- 5 The aftermath of the civil war: Imprisonments and executions
- 6 The aftermath of the civil war: Confiscations and the territorial settlement
- 7 Royal finance, 1321–6
- 8 The Despensers' spoils of power, 1321–6
- 9 The defeat in Scotland, 1322–3
- 10 The French war
- 11 The opposition to royal tyranny, 1322–6
- 12 London
- 13 Queen Isabella's invasion and the end of the regime
- 14 Edward II's deposition and ultimate fate
- 15 Epilogue: The regime of Mortimer and Isabella
- Appendix 1 Properties of the Despensers: Main facts and sources
- Appendix 2 The deposition of Edward II
- Notes
- Cited classes of records at the Public Record Office
- Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The epilogue to a book about Edward II and the Despensers is not the place to attempt a detailed study of the regime which overthrew them. Some introduction to the early years of Edward III's reign is, however, necessary to contrast it with what went before. It illustrates strikingly what a dangerous legacy Edward II left, since he had inured the country to tyrannical regimes and demoralised his leading subjects into condoning illegitimate and unstable ones.
It would take a more detailed narrative to unravel who precisely ruled England from October 1326 to October 1330, when Mortimer and Isabella were overthrown by the young King Edward III. Whether Mortimer or Isabella had the last word on any issue is, in any case, an intriguing rather than an important question. Different chroniclers attribute more greed to one and more incompetence to the other, but in the eyes of outsiders they remained united and seemed to bear joint responsibility. There was no institutional basis to Mortimer's control of the country. The arrangement was that the young king should be surrounded by a council of 4 prelates, 4 earls and 6 barons, headed by Henry of Lancaster. Mortimer was not a member of this council. In practice, however, he stood above it and was treated as a member of the royal family, receiving livery as part of it just as Despenser had done. He assumed ever increasing power and wealth, but 1328 appears to have been the decisive year here rather than 1327.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II 1321–1326 , pp. 207 - 227Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1979