‘Bought by the King Himself’: Edward II, His Chamber, His Family and His Interests in 1325–26

Summary

A document now held at the library of the Society of Antiquaries of London yields fascinating insights into King Edward II and his life shortly before the revolution of 1326–27, led by his disaffected queen Isabella of France and her paramour Roger Mortimer, swept him from his throne. Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) MS 122 records payments made out of the king's chamber from 5 June 1325 until the end of October 1326, when most of Edward's remaining household staff abandoned him shortly before his capture in South Wales and subsequent imprisonment at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. J. C. Davies pointed out a century ago that ‘the Chamber was the most personal organization of the king. It was the direct expression of his will.’ The chamber provided Edward II's personal service, and many of the payments recorded in SAL MS 122 relate to the king's private gifts and entertainment as well as wages paid regularly to the king's chamber staff and his sailors, carpenters and blacksmiths. On days where no payments were made, this was also carefully recorded (‘ce iour rien en issue’). Kept in French by Edward's controller Robert Holden and receiver William of Langley, and ninety-three pages long, SAL MS 122 is the only account of Edward II's chamber still extant in its entirety. Using entries from the document, this article will provide a portrait of the ill-fated king during the last few months of his reign.

Edward's relations with Eleanor and Hugh Despenser

Edward II spent Christmas 1325 and New Year 1326 at Bury St Edmunds and Haughley in Suffolk. He received a New Year's gift of a palfrey horse with saddle and equipment from his eldest niece, Eleanor Despenser, wife of his chamberlain and ‘favourite’ Hugh Despenser the Younger, lord of Glamorgan. From the evidence of SAL MS 122, it would appear that Eleanor, rather than her husband, was the person closest to and most favoured by the king in the last year or so of his reign and perhaps earlier. Between 1323 and 1325 Edward owned a ship named after her, La Alianore la Despensere, and in 1323 he gave her a gift of 100 marks when she was ill after childbirth and paid her and her daughter Isabella's expenses.