Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster

Coat of arms of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster and his successors

Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster (* around 1278 ; † March 22, 1322 at Pontefract Castle ) was an English magnate and rebel. As an oppositional magnate during the reign of his cousin King Edward II , he played an important role during his reign. However, his policy eventually failed and resulted in an unsuccessful rebellion against the king.

origin

Thomas of Lancaster came from a branch line of the English royal family Plantagenet . He was the eldest son of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster and Blanche d'Artois . His father was the second oldest surviving son of King Henry III. , his mother was the widow of King Henry I of Navarre and the daughter of Robert I of Artois . Thomas was thus a grandson of King Henry III on his father's side, nephew of King Edward I and cousin of King Edward II, and on his mother's side he was a great-grandson of King Louis VIII of France and great-nephew of King Louis IX.

Life

Early career

As a high-ranking member of the royal family, Lancaster rose to prominence. In 1290 he was to be betrothed to Beatrice, a daughter of Hugo, a younger son of Duke Hugo IV of Burgundy , but the connection broke. In the fall of 1294 he married Alice de Lacy , daughter of Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln . After his father's death in 1296, Lancaster inherited his extensive estates. His uncle King Edward I presented him with numerous gifts, in return he served him in the battles of the First Scottish War of Independence . Lancaster escorted the deposed Scottish King John Balliol to London in August 1296 . In 1297 he took part in the new campaign to Scotland and in 1298 in the Battle of Falkirk . During the campaign he was knighted . In 1300 he took part in the siege of Caerlaverock Castle and from 1304 to 1305 he accompanied the king on the campaign to Perth , he also took part in campaigns of 1306 and 1307. Lancaster enjoyed the old king's favor, but was also good friends with the heir to the throne. When his wife's brothers died before their father had no offspring, his wife became her father's heir. Lancaster's cousin King Edward II got Henry de Lacy to disinherit potential co-heirs of his daughter, who had claims to the Earldoms Lincoln and Salisbury , in favor of his son-in-law, and he named Lancaster Earl of Derby . Its last earl, Robert de Ferrers , had been expropriated as a rebel after the Second War of the barons and Lancaster was able to successfully defend the title against the claims of John de Ferrers, the heir of the last earl. Lancaster now led as heir to his father the titles Earl of Lancaster , Earl of Leicester and the title Earl of Derby. The lands inherited from his father were mainly in Lancashire , Leicestershire and around Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire , in addition to Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire and in Derbyshire , plus Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland . After the death of his father-in-law in 1311, he was also Earl of Lincoln and Earl of Salisbury and inherited other estates in Yorkshire , Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Denbighshire . Yorkshire possessions included Pontefract Castle , which became Lancaster's favorite residence. In contrast to the other magnates, Lancaster possessed a rather compact territory, which in southern Lancashire, in southern Yorkshire and in the northern Midlands stretched over almost the entire width of England. From these estates he had an annual income of about £ 11,000, of which about £ 6,500 came from the De Lacy inheritance. Lancaster was thus the richest of the English magnates and could afford a large military retinue. For his most important follower Robert de Holand , he took over a large part of the construction costs of Melbourne Castle . To this end, he had Dunstanburgh Castle built and also made major renovations and extensions to his castles Tutbury , Pontefract and Kenilworth Castle. These building measures and the costs for his large entourage meant that his expenses apparently at least temporarily exceeded his income and he therefore had to borrow large sums of money several times.

Start of the conflict between Lancaster and King Edward II.

Even after his royal cousin's accession to the throne in July 1307, Lancaster initially maintained his good relationship with Edward II. At the coronation on February 25, 1308 he was the bearer of the Curtana , the sword of Edward the Confessor . He continued to receive favors such as the hereditary position of Steward of England , which the King bestowed on him in the summer of 1308. During this time, however, because of the mismanagement and waste of the king as well as because of the behavior of the royal favorite Piers Gaveston, a noble opposition had quickly formed, whose leader Lancaster's father-in-law, the Earl of Lincoln was. In April 1308 there was an open confrontation between the king and the aristocratic opposition when they demanded and enforced the banishment of Gaveston. Lancaster was one of Gaveston's few supporters, but then withdrew from the king. There was no open rift between the two, but from November 1308 he was no longer named as a witness in royal documents, he received fewer royal gifts and presumably withdrew to his possessions in northern England.

Rise to leader of the aristocratic opposition

In March or April 1309 he took part in a tournament at Dunstable with a large entourage . He met numerous other barons who criticized the injustice and other mistakes of the king and called for government reform. The barons presented their complaints to parliament in April 1309 , whereupon the king promised reforms at the next parliament in July 1309 in Stamford . In doing so, he bought the barons' approval so that Gaveston could return from his exile. Lancaster, however, refused Gaveston's return. Around this time he became the leader of the king's opponents in place of his old father-in-law, and under his leadership Gaveston's opponents, supporters of the Reform Party and those disappointed in the king's unsuccessful battle against the Scots continued to band together. At Parliament in February 1310, he presented the king with a list of complaints, and in March, given the unity of the barons, the king had to approve the appointment of Lords Ordainer to reform the government.

Power struggle with the king and death of Gaveston

The 21 Lords Ordainers published the ordinances to renew the government in August 1311 , and an addition to the royal household followed in November. The king had to swear recognition of the ordinances, but after that he stayed with Gaveston mainly in the north of England and avoided the Lords Ordainers who had taken over the government. After the death of his father-in-law in February 1311, Lancaster had become by far the richest nobleman in England, giving him a dominant position over the other nobles and leading the government unchallenged. He tried to lead a good rule, above all he wanted to strengthen the royal finances, but at the same time relieve the people of high taxes. However, the ordainers also blamed Gaveston for the king's mismanagement and demanded another, this time final, exile of the royal favorite. In October 1311 Gaveston had to go into exile again, but in January 1312 he had returned without permission and met with the king in York. Thereupon Gaveston was excommunicated under the ordinances of Archbishop Robert Winchelsey of Canterbury, and Lancaster demanded the immediate banishment of Gaveston from the king. When the latter refused, as expected, Lancaster led the hunt of the magnates to Gaveston, who had separated from the king. Gaveston was seized at Scarborough Castle in early May , but the Earl of Pembroke , a moderate ordainer, imposed only mild conditions on Gaveston and the king. Pembroke escorted Gaveston south to bring him before the king, but Gaveston was seized by the Earl of Warwick , Lancaster's closest ally. Warwick took him to Warwick Castle , where Gaveston was sentenced to death by Lancaster, Warwick, and other magnates in a tribunal, citing the ordinances, and executed shortly afterwards on June 19, 1312.

Bohun, Lancaster and Arundel look at Gaveston's severed head. Historicizing representation from 1864

Breakup of the aristocratic opposition from 1312 to 1314

More of an assassination, Gaveston's execution made the king an implacable opponent of Lancaster, and open civil war loomed between the two camps. However, the arbitrary execution of Gaveston had also divided the barons' camp. The Earl of Pembroke, who had guaranteed Gaveston's safety, and the Earl of Warenne again supported the king. In September negotiations began between the Ordainer and the King. Lancaster had taken jewels and precious jewelery from Gaveston, which he regarded as evidence that Gaveston had enriched himself against the king. However, Gaveston had also officially been the king's chamberlain and had therefore kept the jewels and jewelry. Lancaster's position was further weakened in May 1313 by the death of Archbishop Winchelsey, who had previously supported the Ordainers. The Ordainers demanded an amnesty, recognition of Ordinances and the posthumous conviction of Gaveston, while the King demanded the return of the jewels and military support in the fight against the Scots. In February 1313 the king had already received the jewels back. In October he officially awarded the barons who had executed Gaveston, but the ordinances were not recognized again. Lancaster had withdrawn from direct negotiations and only negotiated through intermediaries. Ultimately, he could not enforce the renewed recognition of the ordinances by the king, because the king now primarily sought a solution to the Scottish war. He realized that he could put the Scots in the battle for the besieged Stirling Castle for a decisive battle, and in December 1313 asked his magnates to take part in the campaign. Lancaster, Warwick, Arundel and Warenne refused to attend. Lancaster justified his absence from the campaign with the fact that Parliament would not have approved the call to campaign as prescribed by the ordinances. On the other hand, Pembroke, Gloucester and Hereford , who had also belonged to the Lords Ordainers, took part in the campaign and thus illustrated the split in the magnates' camp. By staying away, Lancaster was not involved in the catastrophic defeat suffered by the English army in June 1314 by the outnumbered Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn .

Government from 1314 to 1316

The humiliating defeat resulted in a complete U-turn in the king's policy. Contemporaries regarded Edward's defeat as a divine judgment in favor of the ordinances, and the weakened king had to recognize the ordinances in September 1314 during the Parliament in York and again in January 1315 during the Parliament in Westminster. He transferred power to Lancaster, who now had the opportunity to achieve his goals. Unfortunately, Lancaster had come to power when the Empire was in dire straits, and the challenge was overwhelming. After the defeat of Bannockburn, northern England, where he owned extensive lands himself, was the target of Scottish raids. The financial crisis of the empire was aggravated by the great famine from 1315 to 1317 , which prevented an effective defense against the Scots and made the administration of the empire more difficult in general. Lancaster tried to solve these problems with the full implementation of the Ordinances. In order to reorganize the finances of the empire, he reduced the royal budget, withdrew royal allowances and changed the sheriffs, the leading officials in the counties. In order to secure northern England against the Scottish attacks, he tried to include the northern English nobility and clergy in the defense. When Carlisle Castle was besieged in August 1315 , Lancaster was made chief captain of the English army. He planned a major campaign to Scotland for October 1315, but it was thwarted by the effects of the famine and a revolt of Adam Banaster, one of his own former followers, and was therefore not carried out.

As early as the spring of 1315 he had withdrawn from Westminster. For the king, who remained at a distance from Lancaster, Pembroke became the most important confidante. Lancaster formally achieved his goal when he was appointed chief counselor to the king during the Lincoln Parliament in January 1316 . He hoped that this role would further advance the reform of the empire, but reserved the right to resign if the king did not follow his advice. For this he was not ready to live in Westminster, but withdrew from April 1316 back to his possessions in the northern Midlands. The Ordinances remained the basis of his policy, due to their provisions he set up a new committee to reform the royal budget further and to implement the reforms throughout the empire. However, Lancaster failed to resolve the famine crisis exacerbated by feuds between the nobles and an uprising in Wales . Lancaster was involved in the planning and preparation of the king for a new campaign against Scotland in the summer of 1316. Nevertheless, there were repeated quarrels between him and the King, which they fought out publicly during Parliament in York in August 1316, and in November 1316 when a candidate for the Queen was elected as the new Bishop of Durham instead of a candidate for Lancaster . When Arundel was elected almost simultaneously as the new commander of the troops in northern England, it became clear that Lancaster had lost importance after the cancellation of the planned campaign against Scotland in October 1316.

Political isolation

Lancaster's government had failed and he was now politically isolated. His ally Warwick had died in 1315 while the other magnates sided with the king. Because of his wealth and large number of vassals, he remained a serious factor of power, and he maintained his opposition to the king. He regularly refused to attend royal council meetings and watched suspiciously as a new group of courtiers, including Hugh le Despenser the Elder and the Younger , Hugh de Audley , Roger Damory and William Montagu , gained increasing influence over the king from 1316 onwards. Three of them, Despenser the Younger, Audley and Damory, had made great fortune by marrying the heiresses of the Earl of Gloucester. In addition, they had received numerous lands and privileges through the favor of the king, without the king having asked his barons for consent in accordance with the ordinances. The king trusted his favorites and they became his chief advisers, but their greed weighed on the royal finances, which were further burdened by the famine and wars with Scotland.

Lancaster was hostile not only in principle but also for personal reasons to the favorites. After his wife was kidnapped by the Earl of Warenne in April 1317, there was a personal enmity between the two. However, due to his isolation, he had no influence on the government. After a letter he sent to the king in July 1317 had no effect either, Lancaster began minor military operations. In October 1317, Sir Gilbert Middleton , a knight from Northumbria , attacked Louis de Beaumont , the new bishop of Durham, elected against Lancaster's will, and his brother Henry de Beaumont , an unpopular courtier on their way to episcopal ordination in Durham. Several members of Middleton's gang soon joined Lancaster's entourage. Lancaster's vassals began attacking castles at Warenne and Damory in northern England and occupied Knaresborough and Alton Castle in October 1317 . Against the Beaumonts and Damory, Lancaster even formed an alliance with the Scots.

Another reconciliation with the king

In this situation, from November 1317, the Earls of Pembroke and Hereford, the courtier Baron Badlesmere and the bishops pushed for a new reconciliation between Lancaster and the king. New incursions by the Scots, penetrating south Yorkshire in the spring and summer of 1318, indicated that cooperation with Lancaster's forces in defending the frontier was urgently needed. In order to accommodate Lancaster, Pembroke and Badlesmere urged Roger Damory, the most greedy of the king's favorites, to moderate the king. However, the negotiations that followed showed that Lancaster's and the King's ideas were far apart. Lancaster demanded unconditional compliance with the ordinances, the removal of the bad advisors and their condemnation by Parliament so that they would have to return the goods they had received. Naturally, these demands met with unanimous rejection from those around the king. After lengthy negotiations between Pembroke, numerous bishops and Lancaster, Lancaster accepted the Treaty of Leake in August 1318 , in which he was reconciled with the king. Lancaster had to forego many of its claims. A new permanent Council of State was formed, but Lancaster only had one vote. The ordinances were to be observed, but their observance was the responsibility of the king's senior courtiers. Nothing was agreed on the return of the king's gifts. After the conclusion of this agreement, the parliament meeting in York passed minor reforms at the royal court in October and November. So Lancaster had to make far-reaching concessions, in return several courtiers accepted that they owed him a lot, which was very profitable for Lancaster. In addition, there was a reconciliation between Lancaster and Warenne in November, in which Warenne Lancaster had to transfer his possessions in Yorkshire and North Wales as compensation.

Execution of Lancaster. Medieval depiction, around 1330

Campaign of 1319 and final break with the king

In May 1319, during the Parliament in York, a new campaign against Scotland was planned, in which Lancaster wanted to participate. He was also asked as Steward of England to confirm Badlesmere's appointment as Steward of the Royal Household, but Lancaster wanted more influence over the supervision of the finances of the royal court and refused to give his consent. However, he took part in the campaign against Scotland with a large retinue, renouncing the pay due to them for himself and his vassals in order to remain independent of the king. During the campaign, the English army besieged Berwick in September 1319 . Although the city had not yet been conquered, the king carelessly promised the booty to his favorites Hugh le Despenser the Younger and Roger Damory. When it became known that a Scottish army had bypassed the English and devastated Yorkshire, Lancaster and his troops left the siege army. The siege of Berwick failed, and after new Scottish forays into northern England, the king was forced to conclude an armistice with the Scots in December 1319. This broke again between the King and Lancaster. Lancaster refused to attend Parliament in York in January 1320 while the king made further gifts to his favorites. In the spring of 1320 the king succeeded in having the oath he had taken to keep the ordinances repealed by the Pope. King Edward II now had the liberties and powers he had last possessed in 1311, while Lancaster, who had withdrawn to Pontefract Castle, was again completely isolated.

From confrontation to armed insurrection

→ Main article : Despenser War

The rapid rise of the two Despensers, who were able to oust the other favorites at the royal court and who had a decisive influence on the king from 1319 on, provoked further radical opposition. When the younger despenser wanted to seize the rule of Gower in South Wales, an alliance of the Marcher Lords arose against him , which included the Earl of Hereford, Baron Mowbray and the disempowered favorites Audley and Damory. In February 1321, Hereford turned to Lancaster and managed to get Lancaster to support the alliance of the Marcher Lords. After the King had rejected the demand of the Marcher Lords for the Despensers to be disempowered and removed from the court in April, the Despenser War broke out in South Wales at the beginning of May , in which the Marcher Lords conquered and plundered Despenser's possessions. Lancaster initially did not take an active part in this war, but organized two meetings of the king's opponents in May and June to coordinate further action. At the first meeting in May in Pontefract Castle, he tried to persuade fifteen other northern English barons to join the alliance against Despenser, but these could only be persuaded to form a mutual defensive alliance. In June there was a second, larger meeting in Sherburn-in-Elmet , attended by the Marcher Lords, the barons of Northern England and, above all, Lancaster's own vassals. However, the northern English barons continued to wait and see, so that the meeting was ultimately a failure. The rebels had already written a letter of complaint about the misgovernment of the king and, above all, an indictment against the Despensers, which was to be submitted to the parliament, which was convened in July 1321.

Open rebellion and death

After the meeting, Lancaster stayed at Pontefract while the Marcher Lords marched with their army to London. Under their pressure and through the conviction of the Earl of Pembroke, the king consented to the exile of the Despensers in August. However, the king now sought the offensive. In October he attacked the Badlesmere estates in Kent , which had joined the rebels a few months earlier . Badlesmere implored the Marcher Lords to relieve the besieged castles, but Lancaster refused to agree. He still resented Badlesmere his previous steward of the Royal Household position, which he received without his consent. Without Lancaster's support, the Marcher Lords made only a half-hearted, unsuccessful attempt at relief and then withdrew to Pontefract with Lancaster. The first vassals of Lancaster left the rebel army when they realized that an open conflict between Lancaster and the king was imminent.

Lancaster once again invited the northern English barons and the Marcher Lords to a meeting in Doncaster in November to strengthen the alliance against the king. He himself invited barons to the meeting who were undoubtedly on the king's side. The assembled barons drafted a new petition to the king, which was directed against the return of the Despensers, while Lancaster now secretly began again alliance negotiations with the Scottish King Robert the Bruce . In these negotiations Lancaster called himself King Arthur , at the same time he did nothing against the Scots, who led a new raid into the north of England. The king had meanwhile attacked the Welsh Marches with his army , where in January 1322 most of the Marcher Lords surrendered to him. Lancaster had not actively supported them in their struggle and instead besieged the royal Tickhill Castle in Yorkshire in vain . Hereford now led the remains of the army of the Marcher Lords to Pontefract. The king now turned directly against Lancaster, whereupon other of his vassals left. Lancaster tried in vain to prevent the royal army from crossing Burton Bridge . After the royal troops had bypassed the position of his troops, he initially wanted to openly face battle. But since even Robert de Holand, the leader of his domestic troops, had left him, he fled north with Hereford and an increasingly smaller army to reach Dunstanburgh Castle or possibly to cross the Scottish border directly. On March 16, however, at Boroughbridge, a royal army assembled in northern England blocked the passage over the River Aire . In the following battle at Boroughbridge , the rebels were decisively defeated. Hereford fell and Lancaster was captured the following day. He was taken to Pontefract, where several magnates, including the elder Despenser, sentenced him to death by hanged, drawn and quartered as a traitor in a mock trial. The king eventually pardoned him because of their kinship to death by beheading. In a penitent's robe and a shabby hat, he was led on an old mule through a howling crowd for execution on a hill in front of the castle and beheaded. He was then buried in the Pontefract Priory .

Execution of Lancaster. Representation from the 14th century

heritage

Lancaster's marriage to Alice de Lacy was unsuccessful and had remained childless. The couple had lived separately since 1317, and after his death they were given back part of their inherited estates. Lancaster had at least one illegitimate son, but little is known about him. After his execution, his titles and fiefs fell into disrepair, but in 1324 his younger brother Henry of Lancaster was given the title of Earl of Lancaster and after the overthrow of King Edward II and the Despensers in 1326, Parliament declared that Thomas was innocent, whereupon Henry also became Earl of Derby, Salisbury and Lincoln.

Worship as a saint

Similar to Simon de Montfort , Lancaster was venerated as a martyr and saint soon after his death . Within six weeks of his execution, the first miracles were reported to have occurred at his grave in Pontefract. The king then had the church and his grave cordoned off by an armed guard. In 1323 riots broke out at the place of his execution, where crowds gathered for prayer. After the overthrow of King Edward II, the Commons asked the new King Edward III in 1327 . to support the canonization of Lancaster. Although with the overthrow of the king and the Despensers the external circumstances of Lancaster's veneration of saints had ceased, his veneration as a saint by the people continued. Although he was never officially canonized, his hat and belt were venerated in Pontefract until the Reformation and he was considered an advocate against headaches and the dangers of childbirth.

rating

British historian John R. Maddicott describes him as an ambivalent personality. It is true that Lancaster had ideals and campaigned for the ordinances and a fairer government for almost his entire life. On the other hand, he was a strict and often violent landlord towards his own tenants, against whom many complaints were directed. After Gaveston's execution, he withdrew from direct negotiations and showed weak leadership. After the death of Archbishop Winchelsey, he failed to get the other bishops on his side, so that he was no longer openly supported by the Church. Ultimately, with his idealism, he was neither a good political nor a personal leader. Under his leadership, there was no more aristocratic opposition to the king after 1312, and from 1317 he was almost isolated among the magnates, apart from his own vassals. In the Leake Treaty he had in favor of territorial and financial gains on most of his political goals. He spent most of his career withdrawn in his northern English castles without direct influence on politics in Westminster. His influence was based on his possessions and his large following. His alliances with the hostile and hated Scots in 1317 and 1322 showed little political foresight. Even during the armed rebellion in 1321 he put his personal hostility towards Badlesmere above political goals. The barons of Northern England refused to support him during the rebellion, and even most of his vassals eventually abandoned him. His life and career failed not only because of adverse political circumstances, but also because of his own shortcomings. The political goals and ideals he pursued deserved a better leader. Other modern historians like Alison Weir also rate him mostly negatively and as a weak and indecisive politician who could not offer a real alternative to the weak rule of Edward II.

literature

• John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970

Web links

Commons : Thomas of Lancaster, 2nd Earl of Lancaster  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Thomas Plantagenet, 2nd Earl of Lancaster on thepeerage.com , accessed August 7, 2015.
• JR Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, second earl of Lancaster, second earl of Leicester, and earl of Lincoln (c.1278-1322). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

Individual evidence

1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 104.
2. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 27
3. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 37
4. ^ Michael Altschul: A baronial family in medieval England. The Clares . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1965, p. 77
5. ↑ Michael Prestwich: Plantagenet England. 1225-1360. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007. ISBN 0-19-822844-9 , p. 189
6. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 225.
7. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 42.
8. ^ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 56.
9. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 343.
10. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . London, Pimlico 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , pp. 139-140.
11. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 319.
12. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 190.
13. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 238.
14. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 333.
15. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 317.
16. ↑ Alison Weir: Isabella. She-Wolf of France, Queen of England . London, Pimlico 2006, ISBN 0-7126-4194-7 , p. 107.

predecessor	Office	successor
Edmund Crouchback	Lord High Steward Earl of Leicester Earl of Lancaster 1296-1322	Henry of Lancaster