Biography of Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall 1249-1300

Paternal Family Tree: Anjou aka Plantagenet

Maternal Family Tree: Margaret Geneva Countess Savoy 1180-1252

On 30th March 1231 [his father] Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 22) and Isabel Marshal Countess Cornwall, Gloucester and Hertford (age 30) were married at Fawley, Lambourn. She by marriage Countess Cornwall. She the daughter of William Marshal 1st Earl Pembroke and Isabel Clare Countess Pembroke. He the son of [his grandfather] King John of England and [his grandmother] Isabella of Angoulême Queen Consort England (age 43). They were fifth cousins.

On 23rd November 1243 [his father] Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 34) and [his mother] Sanchia Provence Queen Consort Germany (age 15) were married at Westminster Abbey [Map]. She by marriage Countess Cornwall. She the daughter of [his grandfather] Raymond Berenguer Provence IV Count Provence (age 45) and [his grandmother] Beatrice Savoy Countess Provence (age 45). He the son of [his grandfather] King John of England and [his grandmother] Isabella of Angoulême Queen Consort England (age 55). They were fourth cousins.

On 26th December 1249 Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall was born to Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 40) and Sanchia Provence Queen Consort Germany (age 21). He a grandson of King John of England.

On 9th November 1261 [his mother] Sanchia Provence Queen Consort Germany (age 33) died at Berkhamsted Castle, Hertfordshire [Map].

On 16th June 1269 [his father] Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 60) and Beatrice Falkenburg Countess Cornwall were married at Kaiserslautern [Map]. She by marriage Countess Cornwall. He the son of [his grandfather] King John of England and [his grandmother] Isabella of Angoulême Queen Consort England.

On 2nd April 1272 [his father] Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall (age 63) died at Berkhamsted Castle, Hertfordshire [Map]. He was buried at Hailes Abbey [Map]. His son Edmund (age 22) succeeded 2nd Earl Cornwall.

On 6th October 1272 Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 22) and Margaret Clare Countess Cornwall (age 22) were married at the Ruislip [Map]. She by marriage Countess Cornwall. She the daughter of Richard de Clare 6th Earl Gloucester 5th Earl Hertford and Maud Lacy Countess Gloucester and Hertford (age 49). He the son of Richard of Cornwall 1st Earl Cornwall and Sanchia Provence Queen Consort Germany. They were half fourth cousin once removed. He a grandson of King John of England. She a great x 4 granddaughter of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.

On 13th October 1272 Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 22) was knighted by King Henry III of England at Westminster Abbey [Map].

Archaeologia Volume 29 Section XIII. The King (age 50) remained at Westminster for a week after the entombment. He then removed to Ashridge [Map], a house of Bons Hommes, lately founded by his near relative Edmund Earl of Cornwall (age 40), in honour of the precious blood of Jesus, a small quantity of which was there preserved as a most precious relic, which had been given to his [his father] father the King of the Romans when abroad. We first find the King at Ashridge on the eve of Christmas, and he continued there till the 26th of January, and possibly for a few days longer. He then visited the inmates of two other religious houses, Evesham or Eynsham and Ambresbury. At the latter of these houses he would find his mother [his aunt] Eleanor of Provence (age 66), a very aged princess, who died in the month of June following; and also one of his daughters, Mary (age 10), who was professed in that house at a very early period of her life. He left Ambresbury on the 20th, and was at Andover, Uffington, and Burford, to the end of the month. Early in March he was at Tedington and Ichinton. He then advanced northward to attend to the affairs on the Scottish border, reaching York on the 3rd of April, Newcastle on the 20th, and on May the 5th we find him at Norham [Map]. From that time he devoted himself with all the vigour of his mind to affairs of state; but there is reason to believe what the old chroniclers relate of him, that he never ceased to lament the loss of his amiable and affectionate consort. It was not till nine years after that he took his second wife, Margaret of France (age 10).

The solemnities of a most magnificent funeral were far from being the only honours which he paid to the memory of Queen Eleanor.

1296 Capture of Berwick

Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. On Wednesday in the same Easter week, after the Easter solemnity was reverently celebrated as was fitting, our king with his army entered the land of his enemies, crossing the river called the Tweed below the monastery of the holy nuns of Coldstream. And though the water was severely flooding, it happened almost miraculously that not one person perished, except for a single boy, who was separated from his horse and swept away by the surging waves. Meanwhile, the Bishop of Durham with his troops crossed the Tweed near Norham, not far from his castle. When the king had waited that whole day and the next for the burgesses of Berwick to accept peace, and they refused the peace he offered, on Friday [30th March 1296] he moved camp and pitched his tents at the nunnery opposite Berwick, about half a league away. As the sun grew hot and the army stood ready on the plain, the king knighted new men there, Henry de Percy among many others. When our sailors, who were waiting at sea with twenty-four warships before the port, saw the king's army armed and many banners unfurled, they believed the king was about to launch an immediate assault on the town. With the sea rising, they entered the port. One ship, raising her sail higher than the rest and driven toward the shore, ran aground. Surrounded by the Scots, the mariners defended themselves bravely for a long time, killing many with missiles and sword, but at last the Scots brought up scaling ladders and set fire to the ship, storming aboard and killing twenty-eight men, though many died on both sides. Another ship that also ran aground was soon consumed by devouring flames, though the sailors escaped in their boat. A third vessel, which carried men from the house and household of the Prior of Durham, held out powerfully from the first hour until the eleventh. But eventually she too grounded and, once set aflame, was destroyed. Many escaped in the boat, and the rest, staying until the end, leapt into the sea, trusting themselves more to the water than to the enemy. Miraculously, not one of them perished, but were saved with the boats of the other ships. The remaining thirty ships, as the tide receded, withdrew, occasionally launching missiles at the enemy when the opportunity arose. When such reports were brought to our king, still encamped in the field, and all beheld the smoke rising high from the ships, the king commanded the trumpets to sound and that the city be forcefully entered. At once, as the trumpets blared, they crossed a ditch the Scots had made, planked over with wooden boards, as though it were nothing, and entered upon the enemy, cutting down men on every side all the way to the sea. At their entrance, the Scots were struck dumb, there was not one among them who raised a sword or loosed a missile; instead, they stood stunned, like men beside themselves. Thirty Flemings, who had taken possession of a house called the Red Hall on the condition that they would defend it against the King of England at all times, held out bravely until evening. But when fire was finally set to it, they too perished in the flames along with the building. There fell also the brother [[his illegitimate half-brother] Richard (age 44)] of the Earl of Cornwall [Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (age 46)], a most valiant knight, who, as he raised his head boldly toward the enemy, was struck by a missile through the eye-slit of his helmet, and instantly fell and died. With the city thus taken, more than eight thousand of the enemy were slain. That same day, the strong men who were in the garrison of the castle surrendered, with their lives and limbs, lands, and goods preserved. Their captain, Sir William Douglas¹, the king kept under custody until the end of that war. As for the 200 men who had been with him, after swearing an oath never to raise arms against the king or the kingdom of England, they were allowed to depart freely, bearing arms. The women of the city were, after a few days, sent out to their people and went away in peace. The king remained in that city for fifteen days and caused a new ditch to be constructed, eighty feet wide and forty feet deep.

Die Mercurii in eadem ebdomada Paschæ, peracta solemnitate Paschali reverentia qua deceret, rex noster cum exercitu suo terram inimicorum suorum ingressus est, aquam quæ Tweda dicitur transeundo subtus monasterium sanctarum monialium de Caldestrem, et aqua nimium inundante quasi miraculose contigit quod non periit nisi puer unus pro omni populo, qui separatus ab equo ab inundantibus fluctibus interceptus est. Episcopus autem Dunolmensis cum turma sua Twedam transiit juxta Norham non longe a castro suo. Cumque toto die illo et and lays sequente ipse rex noster burgenses de Berewyk Berwick, expectasset ad pacem, nec voluerunt amplecti pacem quam tetendit, ipso die Veneris castra movens fixit tentoria sua in domo monialium ex opposito de Berewyk per dimidiam leucam. Incalescenteque sole, et exercitu præparato in planitie, fecit ibidem rex novos milites Henricum scilicet de Percy cum aliis multis. Quod cum vidissent marinarii nostri, quicum XXIIII navibus bellicis expectabant in mari coram portu, credebant regem velle confestim insultum facere urbi, eo quod videbant armatum exercitum et multa vexilla explicata, moxque cum fluctibus maris redundantibus et ipsi portum ingressi sunt. Quarum una præ cæteris velum elevans in alto terræ affixa est, quam circumdantes Scoti, cum se marinarii diutissime defendissent multosque peremissent telis et gladio, tandem allatis scalis et igne apposito eam ingressi sunt, XXVIII personas mutua tamen cæde perimentes. Alteram etiam navem cito postea solo inhærentem vorax flamma consumpsit, fugientibus tamen nautis cum scapha sua. Tertia vero navis, in qua fuerant viri de domo et familia prioris Dunolmensis, cum ab hora prima usque horam undecimam potenter tueretur, tandem innixa solo et igne allato combusta est, fugientibus cum scapha plurimis, et cæteris qui usque in finem permanserant in aquas maris salientibus, potius se credentes aquæ quam hosti; et quasi miraculose contigit quod non periit eorum aliquis, sed cum batellis aliarum navium salvati sunt. Cæteræ vero triginta naves cum aqua retrahente et se retraxerunt, telas emittentes ad hostes cum se facultas offerret. Cumque regi nostro, adhuc in campo existenti, talia dicerentur, videntibusque cunctis fumum a navibus extendi in altum, præcepit rex ut tubæ canerent urbemque potenter ingrederentur. Moxque clangentibus tubis, fossatum quoddam quod Scoti fecerant, cum lignis tabulatis quasi pro nihilo transeuntes, super hostes ingressi sunt, cædentes hinc et inde usque ad mare. Ad quorum introitum attoniti Scoti, non erat ex eis qui gladium erigeret vel telum emitteret, immo stabant stupefacti velut homines extra se. Triginta vero Flandrenses, qui Aulam Rubeam sic nominatam tali conditione receperant ut eam contra regem Anglorum omni tempore tuerentur, domum eandem usque ad vesperum viriliter defenderunt; sed apposito tandem igne, et ipsi cum domo combusti sunt. Ibi corruit frater comitis Cornubiæ miles strenuissimus, qui cum ad hostes caput in altum erigeret, in ipsa oculari apertura galeæ percussus telo, confestim cecidit et expiravit. Capta itaque urbe, ceciderunt ex hostibus plusquam octo millia. Eodem etiam die viri fortes qui erant in præsidio castri dederunt se, salvis eis vita et membris, terris et catallis; quorum capitaneum, scilicet dominum Willelmum Duglas, retinuit ibidem rex usque in finem ejusdem guerræ suæ, ducentos vero viros qui cum eo fuerant, accepto prius juramento quod nunquam contra se vel regnum Angliæ manum erigerent, portantes arma libere abire permisit. Mulieres etiam ejusdem urbis post dies aliquot mittebantur ad populum suum, et abierunt in pace. Mansit autem rex in eadem urbe diebus XV et novum fecit construi fossatum latitudinis LXXX pedum et profunditatis XL.

Note 1. William Douglas (age 56), 2nd Lord Douglas, died 1298, in the Tower of London.

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In July 1297 Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 47) granted license to make will.

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

On 25th September 1300 Edmund "Almain" 2nd Earl Cornwall (age 50) died. Earl Cornwall extinct. He was buried, heart and flesh, at Ashridge, Hertfordshire [Map]. His bones were interred at Hailes Abbey [Map] during a service attended by King Edward I of England (age 61).

Close Rolls Edward II 1307-1313. 6th August 1307 King Edward II (age 23). Dumfries [Map]. To the treasurer and the barons of the Exchequer. Order to discharge the Abbot of Hayles of £50 Yearly, which he used to pay for the town of Leechelade [Map] to the late Edmund Earl of Cornwall, and, after his death, to the late King, the king having granted the earldom of Cornwall and all the lands of the said Edmund to Peter de Gavaston (age 23), knight.

To the like favour of Michael de Meldon for 4 marks annually for his lands in Worton.

                    Close Rolls Edward II 1307-1313. 6th March 1308 King Edward II of England (age 23). Westminster Palace [Map]. To Thomas de la Hide, late steward of Cornwall and Sheriff of the same. Order to deliver to Peter de Gavaston (age 24), knight, all the farms, rents, and issues of the said County from Michaelmas last, and of the lands of the late Edmund Earl of Cornwall, the king having granted to the said Peter the county of Cornwall, and all the lands of the said Edmund.
                
                    The like to John de Tresimple, for the ferms, etc., of the manor, etc.
                
                    The like to Walter de Gloucester, escheator this side of Trent, for the ferms, etc., of the manors.

Annals of Dunstable. In the same year Edmund, earl of Cornwall, the king’s cousin, at his manor of Ashridge, which he had nobly built, established a suitable dwelling¹ for the reception of religious, and placed certain chaplains there, giving each of them a uniform habit; ordaining that each of them and their successors there should receive annually six marks from his Exchequer for their expenses. But there was little hope that this foundation could long endure, because of its weak beginning, and because some of the chaplains from the first behaved less than well.

Eodem anno Edmundus, comes Cornubiæ, domini regis consobrinus, in manerio suo apud Esserugge, quod ipse nobiliter construxerat, religiosorum receptui competentem condidit mansionem, et in ipso quosdam posuit capellanos, dans singulis habitum uniformem; statuens quod quilibet eorum et eorum ibidem successorum perciperet annuatim sex marcas de suo scaccario pro expensis. Sed non fuit spes, quod posset illa ordinatio diu stare, propter debile fundamentum; et eo quod quidam ex ipsis capellanis se habebant in principio minus bene.

Note 1. The building of Ashridge Priory commenced in 1283 and completed in 1285. The first Rector was Richard of Watford, who was installed with twenty brethren, of whom thirteen were priests according to Charter, all of the Order of Bonhommes whose rule was founded of that of St. Augustine.

Annals of Dunstable. In the same year the church of Ashridge [Priory] was dedicated by Oliver¹, bishop of Lincoln, at the request of the earl of Cornwall, who had founded it.

Eodem anno dedicata est ecclesia de Esserugge per O[liverum] Lincolniensem episcopum, ad instantiam comitis Cornubiæ, qui eam fundavit.

Note 1. Bishop Oliver Sutton.