The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy

The Gesta Normannorum Ducum [The Deeds of the Dukes of Normandy] is a landmark medieval chronicle tracing the rise and fall of the Norman dynasty from its early roots through the pivotal events surrounding the Norman Conquest of England. Originally penned in Latin by the monk William of Jumièges shortly before 1060 and later expanded at the behest of William the Conqueror, the work chronicles the deeds, politics, battles, and leadership of the Norman dukes, especially William’s own claim to the English throne. The narrative combines earlier historical sources with firsthand information and oral testimony to present an authoritative account of Normandy’s transformation from a Viking settlement into one of medieval Europe’s most powerful realms. William’s history emphasizes the legitimacy, military prowess, and governance of the Norman line, framing their expansion, including the conquest of England, as both divinely sanctioned and noble in purpose. Later chroniclers such as Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni continued the history, extending the coverage into the 12th century, providing broader context on ducal rule and its impact. Today this classic work remains a foundational source for understanding Norman identity, medieval statesmanship, and the historical forces that reshaped England and Western Europe between 800AD and 1100AD.

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Burgh by Sands, Cumberland, North-West England, British Isles

Burgh by Sands, Cumberland is in Cumberland.

In May 1131 Walter Beauchamp [aged 41] died at Burgh by Sands, Cumberland.

In 1232 Richard de de Braose was born to John "Tadody aka Fatherless" Braose 8th Baron Bramber [aged 35] and Margred verch Llewellyn Baroness Clifford [aged 30] at Burgh by Sands, Cumberland. He a great grandson of King John of England. He married after 27th December 1261 Alice Le Rus and had issue.

On 28th December 1245 Alice Le Rus was born to William Le Rus [aged 26] at Burgh by Sands, Cumberland. She married 1. before 27th December 1261 Richard Longespée 2. after 27th December 1261 Richard de de Braose, son of John "Tadody aka Fatherless" Braose 8th Baron Bramber and Margred verch Llewellyn Baroness Clifford, and had issue.

Edward I Monument Burgh by Sands, Cumberland, North-West England, British Isles [Map]

On 7th July 1307 King Edward I of England [aged 68] died at Burgh by Sands [Map] whilst on his way north to Scotland. His son Edward [aged 23] succeeded II King of England. Earl Chester merged with the Crown.

Edward had gathered around him Thomas Plantagenet 2nd Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl Lancaster, Earl of Salisbury and Lincoln [aged 29], Guy Beauchamp 10th Earl Warwick [aged 35], Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke [aged 32] and Robert Clifford 1st Baron Clifford [aged 33] and charged them with looking after his son in particular ensuring Piers Gaveston 1st Earl Cornwall [aged 23] didn't return from exile.

Annals of Six Kings of England by Nicholas Trivet [1258-1328]. After whose departure, the king began to suffer from dysentery; nevertheless, he set out [from Carlisle] on the fifth day before the Nones of July, proceeding toward Scotland by short stages. On the day before the Nones of July he reached Burgh-by-Sands [Map], where, as his illness worsened, on the following day, that is, Friday [7th July 1307], he bade farewell to this present life and completed his days in goodness and his years in glory. He made a will, in which he bequeathed his heart to the Holy Land, along with stipends for one hundred knights to serve for a year in the service of the cross of Christ. He reigned for thirty-four years, seven months, and twenty-one days, and completed sixty-eight years and twenty days of age.

Post cujus discessum cœpit rex vexan dysenteria; movit tamen nihilominus [de Karleolo] quinto nonas Julii, parvis dietis versus Scotiam proficiscens. Pridie nonas Julii venit usque Burgum super Sande, ubi invalescente infirmitate, die crastina, scilicet feria sexta, præsenti vitæ valefaciens, dies suos in bono et annos suos in gloria consummavit. [Testamentum condidit, in quo cor suum Terræ Sanctæ legavit, cum stipendiis centum militum, qui per anni spatium militarent in obsequiam crucis Christi.] Regnavit autem annis triginta quatuor, mensibus septem, diebus viginti uno; complevitque ætatis suæ annos sexaginta octo et dies viginti.

Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. When, therefore, the malice of the new king [Robert the Bruce] became known, our king sent word to the magnates of the land that they should come to him at Carlisle, ready for battle, on the fifteenth day after the feast of Saint John the Baptist. Meanwhile, because the king was afflicted with a severe dysentery, and none could speak with him except his chamberlains, it was proclaimed among the people that the king was dead. When he learned of this, the king ordered that all be made ready for his march into Scotland, and he moved his camp from Carlisle on the third day of the month of July, about two miles distant; it was a Monday. On Tuesday he rode about another two miles; and on Wednesday he rested. On Thursday he came to Burgh-by-Sands [Map], and there planned to remain on the following day. It was his custom to lie in bed almost every day until the ninth hour [around 3 p.m.]. But on Friday, when he was raised up by his attendants so that he might eat, he expired in their hands. The king, therefore, departed from this world on the feast of the Translation of Saint Thomas the Archbishop and Martyr [7th July 1307]. His followers concealed the king's death until his son and the magnates of the realm could arrive, and many were imprisoned for having spread word of the king's death. When the prince, his son, and the other magnates came, they arranged for the king's body to be taken in honour by his treasurer, the Bishop of Chester1, together with his whole household, to the southern parts, to remain in the church of the canons at Waltham until a decision had been made regarding the land of Scotland, so that they might have leisure to attend to his burial. And so it was done. The new king [Edward II] remained, and received the homages and oaths of fealty of the magnates, and by their counsel set out as far as Roxburgh, where he received the homages and oaths of fealty of many of the magnates of the kingdom of Scotland. He appointed wardens2 in Scotland, and returned.

Cognita itaque malitia novi regis, misit rex noster magnatibus terræ ut sibi venirent Carliolum parati ad proelium in quindenam beati Johannis Baptistæ. Interim quia vexabatur rex dissenteria gravi, nec poterant ei loqui nisi cubicularii sui, prædicatum est in populo quia mortuus est rex. Quo cognito, jussit rex omnia præparari ut moveret in Scotiam, movitque castra sua a Carliolo tertio die mensis Julii quasi duobus milliariis, et erat dies Lunæ; die vero Martis equitavit quasi duo milliaria; et quarta feria requievit; die autem Jovis venit apud Burch-super-Sandes, et ibi disposuit in crastino permanere; erantque sibi modus et consuetudo singulis quasi diebus in lecto jacere usque ad horam nonam; die vero Veneris cum elevaretur a suis ut comederet, inter manus eorum expiravit. Translatusque est rex ex hoc mundo die translationis Sancti Thomæ archiepiscopi et martyris. Celaveruntque sui mortem regis quousque veniret filius ejus et magnates terræ, et incarcerabantur multi qui mortem regis prædicaverant. Cumque venisset princeps filius ejus et cæteri magnates, ordinaverunt de corpore regis, quod per thesaurarium suum episcopum Cestriæ et totam familiam suam honorifice duceretur ad partes australes, maneretque in ecclesia religiosorum de Waltham donec ordinaretur certum de terra Scotiæ, et vacaret eis intendere sepulturæ; factumque est ita. Remansitque novus rex, et cepit homagia et fidelitates magnatum, et de eorum consilio profectus est usque Rokesburch, et ibi cepit homagia et fidelitates multorum magnatum regni Scotiæ; ordinavitque custodes in Scotia, et reversus est.

Note 1. Walter de Langton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The prelates of this see were often styled Bishop of Chester by the ancient writers, until the erection of the latter place into a bishopric by Henry VIII.

Note 2. The King appointed Aylmer de Valence guardian and lieutenant of Scotland by letters patent dated at Tinwald, August 30. Rymer, Fœdera, 2.4.

He shortly after resigned his commission, which was then conferred on John, Earl of Richmond, by writ of Privy Seal, bearing date September 13. Rymer, Fœdera, 2.6.

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Life of Edward II of Caernarfon by a Monk of Bridlington. Although in this life we find nothing certain except death, which no one can escape, we nevertheless read that our fathers often mourned the funerals of the dead. This is because the anguish of natural grief cannot at such a time admit the counsel of reason. Therefore, although England was greatly desolated by the lamentable death of the most noble prince Edward, illustrious King of England, it ought fittingly to take heart again at the presence of the new King, who succeeded by hereditary right to the government of the realm, and to temper the sting of grief with various consolations. Accordingly, when the most valiant prince named above died at Burgh by Sands [Map], on the frontier of his kingdom, on 7th July, namely upon the feast of the Translation of Saint Thomas the Martyr, in the year of Our Lord 1307 and the thirty-fifth year of his reign in England, his son Edward, called Edward of Caernarfon, reigned in his place. Around the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene [22nd July], he travelled to Carlisle with the earls, barons and other nobles of the realm who were then in the northern parts. There he received the fealties and homages which they owed to him as their King. A few days later, all the leading men of the kingdom of Scotland, with the exception of Robert Bruce, likewise performed fealty and homage to the lord King of England as King and overlord of the kingdom of Scotland. Not long afterwards, the King granted the earldom of Cornwall to Peter Gaveston, a Gascon lord, and invested him with it, together with all the other lands which had formerly belonged to Edmund, the late Earl of Cornwall. He also gave him in marriage his niece, the daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester. Walter Langton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, who had vigorously discharged the offices of Chancellor and Treasurer during the reign of the recently deceased King Edward, was committed to close custody in Wallingford Castle. Thus disgrace followed upon his former glory, and he was left to await whatever end fortunc might choose to bring him.

Quamvis in hac vita nihil certum reperimus nisi mortem, quam quidem evadere nemo potest, legimus sorrow for tamen patres nostros sæpe planxisse funera defunctorum; et hoc est quia naturalis doloris anxietas nescit tunc tempore admittere rationem; unde ex lamentabili decessu nobilissimi principis Edwardi, regis Angliæ illustris, Anglia plurimum desolata, per præsentiam novi regis hereditarie in regni regimine succedentis, debet, ut convenit, respirare et per consolationes varias doloris stimulum temperare. Defuncto igitur strenuissimo principe supradicto apud Burgum super sabulum in confinio regni sui, viio die mensis Julii, videlicet in festo translationis beati Thomæ martyris, anno Domini MCCCVII et regni sui Angliæ XXXV, filius ejus Edwardus dictus de Carnervan regnavit pro eo; qui circa festum Beatæ Mariæ Magdalenæ cum comitibus, baronibus, et aliis regni nobilibus, tunc in partibus aquilonis existentibus usque Karliolum est profectus, quorum fidelitates et homagia recepit ibidem debita suo regi; diebusque paucis postmodum evolutis, omnes proceres regni Scotiæ, excepto Roberto de Bruys, eidem domino regi Angliæ tanquam regi et superiori domino regni Scotia, fidelitates et homagia sic fecerunt. Nec multum post dominus Gaveston. rex dedit comitatum Cornubiæ domino Petro de Gavestone Vasconiensi, et ipsum inde feofavit simul cum omnibus aliis terris quæ fuerunt domini Edmundi quondam comitis Cornubiæ; deditque sibi neptem suam filiam domini Gilberti de Clare, comitis Gloucestriæ, in uxorem. Item dominus Walterus de Langetone, Coventrensis et Lichefeldensis episcopus, qui temporibus regis Edwardi ultimo defuncti cancellarii et thesaurarii officia strenue gessit, in castro de Walynforde strictæ custodia deputatur, et secundum priorem gloriam suam subsecuta est ignominia finem quem sibi fortuna tradere voluerit expectandum.

John of Fordun's Annals of the Scottish Nation. 123. Death of King Edward I, King of England

The same year died Edward I, king of England, on the 5th of April [Note 7th July 1307], at Burgh-upon-Sands [Map]. This king stirred up war as soon as he had become a knight, and lashed the English with awful scourgings; he troubled the whole world by his wickedness, and roused it by his cruelty; by his wiles, he hindered the passage to the Holy Land; he invaded Wales; he treacherously subdued unto him the Scots and their kingdom; John of Balliol, the king thereof, and his son, he cast into prison; he overthrew churches, fettered prelates, and to some he put an end in filthy dungeons; he slew the people, and committed other misdeeds without end. He was succeeded by his son Edward ii., who was betrothed to Elizabeth, daughter of Philip, king of France.

Monument to King Edward I of England [aged 68] at the location [Map] at which he died. By Thomas or John Longstaff for the Duke of Norfolk and John Aglionby. Red sandstone ashlar. Tall square column on moulded plinth, moulded cornice, shaped cap surmounted by cross. Bronze plaque records restoration by the Earl of Lonsdale 1803 (collapsed, March 1795); further restoration of 1876.

Mr. J. Norman, of Kirkandrews, favoured us with the annexed fouth view of King Edward's monument, with the inscriptions, which he took in 1793, which he assures us are very accurate. At that time it leaned much to the west, and on the 4th of March, 1795, it fell down:

South Side: In eternal memory of Edward I, most illustrious King of England, who died here in camp on 7 July AD 1307, while preparing for war against the Scots.

MEMORIÆ ÆTERNÆ EDVARDI I. REGIS ANGLIÆ LONGE CLARISSIMI QVI IN BELLI APPARATV CONTRA SCOTOS OCCVPATVS HlC INI CASTRIS OBIIT 7. IVLII A. D. 1307.

East Side Side: The most noble prince Henry Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England, Earl of Arundel, Surrey, Norfolk, and Norwich, Baron Howard, Mowbray, Segrave, Brewes of Gower, FitzAlan, Warren, Scales, Clun, Oswestry, Maltravers, Furnivall, Greystoke, and Howard of Castle Rising, Knight of the aforesaid Order of the Garter, Constable and Governor of the royal castle and honour of Windsor, Keeper of Windsor Forest, Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, Surrey, Berkshire, and of the city and county of the city of Norwich, being descended from Edward I, King of England, placed this in 1685.

NOBILISSIMVS PRINCEPS HENRIC. HOWARD DVX NORFOLC. COM. MARESCHAL ANGL. COM. ARVNDEL SVRR. NORFOLC. ET NORWIC. BARO HOWARD MOWBREY SEGRAVE BREWS DE GOWER FITSALAN WARREN ESCALES CLVN OSWALDTREE MALTRAVERS FVRNIVAL GRAYSTCH ET HOWARD DE CASTLRISING PRÆNO. ORD. GARTER. MIL. CONSTAB. ET GVBERNATOR REGAL. CASTRI ET HONOR. DE WINDSOR CVSTOS FOREST DE WINDSOR DOM. LOCVMTEN. NORFOLC. SVRR. BERKER. ET CIV. ET COM. CIV. NORWICI OB EDV. I. REGE ANGLIuE ORIVNDVS P. 1685.

West Side: John Aglionby, Doctor of Civil Law, had this made.

JOHANNES AGLIONBY I. C. F. C.

A singularity which attends the above fact is, that the army must have lain, and the royal tent been pitched, in a most improper place, on marshy ground, on a dead level; when, within a quarter of a mile further southward, there was a fine inclining ground, dry and healthy, and not subject to any surprise or attack from superior heights. Any one who has viewed this place, would be inclined to believe a skillful general would not encamp an army on the spot that tradition and this monument point out.

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A Tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain by Daniel Defoe. But though I am backward to dip into antiquity, yet no English man, that has any honour for the glorious memory of the greatest and truest hero of all our kings of the English or Saxon race, can go to Carlisle, and not step aside to see the monument of King Edward I. at Burgh upon the Sands [Map], a little way out of the city Carlisle, where that victorious prince dy'd. Indeed I cannot wonder that two writers, both Scots, viz. Ridpath and Mr. Kay, should leave it, as it were, not worth their notice, that prince being the terror of Scotland, and the first compleat conqueror of their country, who brought away the sacred stone at Scone Abbey, on which their kings were crowned, also the regalia, and, in a word, made their whole country submit to his victorious arms.

Near this town, and, as the inhabitants affirm, just on the spot where the king's tent stood in which he expired, for he died in the camp, is erected a pillar of stone near thirty foot high, besides the foundation. On the west side is the following inscription:

"Memoriæ Æternae Edvardi I. Regis Angliæ longe Clarissimi, qui in Belli apparatu contra Scotos occupatus. Hic in Castris obiit. 7 Julii, A.D. 1307."

On the south side:

Nobilissimus Princeps Henricus Howard, Dux Norfolciæ, Comes Marshal Angliæ, Comes Arund. &c......ab Edvardo I, Rege Angliæ oriundus P. 1685."

On the north side:

"Johannes Aglionby, J. C. F. i.e. Juris-consultus fieri fecit. Beneath , Tho. Langstone fecit. 1685."

It is not to be ask'd why Mr. Cambden takes no notice of this because it was not erected till near an hundred years after his survey of the country, only the place was marked by the country people, or perhaps by the soldiers of his army, by a great heap of stones rolled together upon the place; but this monument was erected, as is said above, by a private gentleman, for the eternal memory of a prince, who, when he lived, was the darling of the world, both for virtue and true fame.

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