Simon de Bereford -1330

Chronicle of Jean le Bel Volume 1. Soon afterward a great rumour spread abroad, whether it was true I do not know, that the queen was with child. The Lord of Mortimer¹ was blamed for it more than any other, and the talk grew so strong that the young king was fully informed of it. When he reflected also that, through the false envy of Mortimer alone, he had put to death his uncle, the Earl of Kent, whom all the realm held to be a most worthy man, it is no wonder that he was sorrowful and angered. He therefore had the Lord of Mortimer arrested at once² and brought to London before a great assembly of the barons of his realm. There he recounted before all those gathered the deeds and actions of Mortimer, as he had been informed of them and as he had found them sufficiently proved, so that much of it was evident. He then asked what judgment should be passed upon a man who had acted thus. The judgment was clear enough and was quickly agreed upon, for everyone had already heard the reports before the king himself had known anything of them. It was ordained that he should die in the same manner as Sir Hugh Despenser.

Sy ne demoura pas grandement que grande fame issi hors, ne sçay pas sc vray esloit, que madame la royne estoit enchainte; en encoulpoit on le sire de Mortemer plus que nul aultre, et commença moult fort à multiplier tant que le jœune roy en fut infourmé souffisament, et avecques ce que, par la fausse envye du sire de Mortemer seulement, il avoit fait mettre à mort son oncle, le conte de Cayn, que tous ceulx du pays pour moult prœudomme tenoient, s'il fut tristes et couroussez, ce ne fait pas à demander. Ains fist tantost prendre le seigneur de Mortemer, et le fist enmener à Londres par devant grand foison des barons de son royaume, et conta devant tous ceulx qui là estoient assemblez les faitz et les œuvres du seigneur de Mortemer, ainsy que infourmé en estoit et que trouvé l'avoit souffisaument, siques grande partie en apparoit, et en requist jugement de quelle mort debvoit morir ung homme qui ainsy ouvré avoit. Le jugement en estoit assez cler, et fust tantost accordé, car chascun en estoit infourmé par fame ainchoys que le roy en sceust riens; toutesfois, le jugement fut ainsy ordonné que il morroit par telle maniere que messire Hue le Despensier.

Note 1. Murimuth states that Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March was arrested by night on 19th October 1330 at Nottingham, in the chamber of the queen mother, Isabella of France: '... on the Friday following the feast of Saint Luke 19th October a parliament was held at Nottingham. There, during the night, in the chamber of the queen mother, Lord Roger Mortimer, earl of the March, was seized by Lord William Montagu and others, in the presence of the king himself. During the capture Lord Hugh Turpington and certain others who resisted were killed. The earl was immediately sent to the Tower of London until the parliament which was held shortly before the feast of Saint Andrew [30th November]. At that parliament at Westminster, on the vigil of Saint Andrew, the same earl was condemned to death by his peers.'

1. Adam Murimuth (op. cit., p. 64) dit que Roger de Mortimer fut pris de nuit le 19 octobre 1330 à Rottingham, dans la chambre de la reine mère.

Note 2. According to a letter of Edward III of England dated 20th October 1330 in Rymer 2.799, Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March was arrested at the same time as Oliver Ingham and Simon de Bereford: 'On publishing, concerning the affairs of the King and the realm hitherto administered to the damage and dishonour of both, on the arrest of the Earl of March, Oliver de Ingham, and Simon de Bereford, the principal actors in those affairs, and on the King’s intention to govern according to law and reason The King, Edward III, to the sheriff of York, greetings. Because our affairs and those of our realm have up to now been conducted to the damage and dishonour of us and of our realm, and to the impoverishment of our people, as we have clearly perceived and as the facts prove, we, of our own conscience and will, have caused certain persons to be arrested, namely Roger Mortimer, Oliver de Ingham, and Simon de Bereford, who have been the principal instigators of these affairs. And we wish that all people should know that from now on we intend to govern our people according to justice and reason, as befits our royal dignity, and that the matters concerning us and the state of our realm shall be conducted by the common counsel of the great men of our realm, and not otherwise. Therefore we command you, firmly enjoining, that you cause this our intention to be proclaimed throughout your bailiwick, both within liberties and without, so that all the people may fully understand it. We also will that you cause it to be proclaimed throughout your bailiwick that no one, of whatever condition he may be, shall be so bold, on pain of forfeiture of life and limb, as to attack another in order to seize lands, goods, or chattels, or to do anything else to the disturbance of our peace or the terror of our people. And if anyone should be so bold as to do so, of whatever condition he may be, we will that due punishment be carried out according to the laws and customs of our realm, without favour to anyone. And if you find any who act contrary to this, you shall have them arrested without delay, using the power of the county if necessary, and safely kept in our prison until you receive further orders from us. And you shall certify us, from time to time, under your seal, of the names of those whom you have thus arrested. Given under our great seal at Nottingham, the 20th day of October, 1330. By the King himself. The same order is sent in like manner to all the sheriffs of England.'

2. D'après une lettre d'Édouard III du 20 octobre 1330 (Rymer op. cit., t. Il, II^e partie, p. 790), en même temps que Roger de Mortimer, on arrêta Olivier de Ingham et Simon de Bereford. (Voy. aussi Walsingham, op. cit., t. 1, p195.)

Archaeologia Volume 27 Section XIX. In the same Parliament judgment was passed on Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, "et autre de sa covyne," namely, Simon de Bereford, John Maltravers, Bogo de Bayous, John Deveroil, Thomas de Gournay, and William de Ocle. Mortimer and Bereford were in custody, and both adjudged to death. The former was executed on November 29, in the 4th of Edward III (1330), and Bereford on the Monday next after the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle following.^a The rest were also adjudged to death; but not being in custody, rewards were offered for their apprehension. Only Gournay and Ocle are expressly charged with the murder of the King. The rest, even including Maltravers, are considered as convict of other treasons and felonies. The reward offered for the apprehension of Gournay was £100, if brought alive, and 100 marks if brought dead. For Ocle the reward proposed was 100 marks if brought alive, and £40. if dead.^b

Note a. Bereford had made preparation for a flight, by depositing a treasure valued at no less a sum than £2000. in the care of Andrew de la Done, Prior of Takkeley, and Nicholas the valet of the said Prior, at the Prior's house in Silver Street, in the ward of Cripplegate. It consisted in vessels of gold and silver, in sterling money to the amount of £700. and in florins valued at £268. sterling. They were brought soon after the arrest of Mortimer and Bereford and the committal of them to the Tower, by one Richard, clerk to Simon de Bereford, whose surname (cognomen) says the record is unknown, to be kept for Bereford's use, to be carried beyond sea, or elsewhere at his pleasure, if he escaped or were delivered out of prison. It was seized by the King.

Note b. Gournay is throughout considered as the principal malefactor, or at least the person of highest rank concerned in the deed. There is much to be found concerning him in Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, vol i. and ii.; in the Rolls of Parliament; and in the Fœdera. He had been of the party of Thomas Earl of Lancaster, on whose defeat and death his lands were forfeited, but restored in 1 Edward III Fœdera, 689 and 690. The chief of his lands lay in the county of Somerset.

Close Rolls Edward III 1331. 24th February 1331. Croydon. To Williani de Sfaundon. Whereas the king has appointed John de Merssheton, John de Percebrigg and Adam Lucas by letters patent to suivey all the castles, towns, manors, lands, goods and chattels that belonged to Roger de Mortuo Mari, late earl of March, and to Simon de Bereford, who were drawn and hanged for certain seditions and felonies, in cos. Hereford, Worcester, Gloucester, Salop and Stafford, which he ordered to be taken into his hands by reason of their forfeiture, and also to survey the castles, towns, manors, lands, goods and chattels of John Mautrayers [aged 41], the younger,¹ Thomas Gourneye, Bego de Baiocis, John Deveroil, and William de Okele in the aforesaid counties, who are charged with seditions and felonies and have withdrawn themselves for that reason, not permitting themselves to be justieed, wherefore the king ordered their castles, etc., to he taken into his hands, and to canse all the goods and chattels aforesaid to be appraised by men of those counties, and to be present at the sale of certain of the goods and chattels, and to execute certain other things contained in the said letters, and Ihe king understands that the said John de Merssheton was unable to labour about the premises by reason of bodily infirmity, and that it is espedient that William, who has better knowledge of the premises, shall intend to the premises with the aforesaid John de Percebrigg and Adam: the king therefore orders him to be intendent, aiding and counpellins to them in the premises as often as he shall be summoned by them. The king has ordered the sheriffs of ihe aforesaid counties to pay to William 18d a day for his wages whilst thus employed. By C. Et erant patentes.

The like, 'de verba ad verbum' to John de Wonneton. By C.

Mandate in pursuance to the sheriffs of the aforesaid counties to pay to William and John the wages aforesaid. By C.

Note 1. His father John Maltravers [aged 65] died in 1343.

Adam Murimuth Continuation. The causes alleged for the death of the said earl of the March, Roger Mortimer, were as follows. First, it was said that he had consented to the suffocation of the king's father in Berkeley Castle. Because of this, John Mautravers and Thomas Gurney the elder, who had been appointed to guard the king's father there, together with certain others, withdrew overseas. For this reason Simon Bereford was hanged. The second charge was that he had hindered the honour of the king and the realm at Stanhope Park, where the Scots escaped, although they might easily have been captured and killed if he, who was the chief member of the king's council, had allowed the English to engage the Scots. It was also alleged that he received twenty thousand pounds from the Scots and then allowed them to escape, that he afterwards procured the disgraceful peace between the Scots and the young king and caused the king to grant them a charter. He was also said to have advised and arranged the base marriage between the king of England's sister and David, the son of Robert the Bruce. It was further alleged that he squandered all the money found in the treasuries of the king and of Hugh Despenser and all the wealth of the kingdom after he had entered England with the queen, so that he and the queen lived in abundance while the king himself remained poor. Finally, he appropriated for himself rich wardships and marriages throughout England and was a bad counsellor to the king and to the queen mother, and far too intimate with her, not to mention other matters for the present.

Causæ vero mortis dicti comitis Marchiæ, scilicet Rogeri de Mortuo mari, quæ imponebantur eidem, infraseriptæ fuerunt, Prima, quia dicebatur quod ipse fuit consentiens quod pater regis in castro de Berkeleye fuerat suffocatus; ex qua causa dominus Johannes Mautravers et dominus Thomas de Gorney senior, qui fuerunt deputati custodiæ dicti patris regis ibidem, et quidam alii se retraxerunt ad partes transmarinas; et propterea dominus Simon de Berford fuit suspensus Secunda causa imposita fuit, quod ipse impedivit honorem regis et regni apud Stannop park, ubi Scoti fugerunt, qui capi et interfici faciliter potuissent, si ipse, qui fuit major de consilio regis, Anglicos cum Scotis tunc congredi permisisset. Item, quod ipse recepit XX millia librarum a Scotis, et illos tunc permisit evadere; et turpem pacem postmodum inter Scotos et regem juvenem fieri procuravit, et super hoc cartam regis cisdem fieri; et etiam illud vile matrimonium contractum inter sororem regis Angliæ et David, fillum Rfoberti le Bruys, fieri. consuluit et fieri procuravit. Item, quod male consumpsit totam pecuniam inventam in thesauris regis et dominorum Hugonis Dispenser et omnia bona regni, postquam Angliam cum regina intravit, ita quod ipse et regina abundabant et dominus rex fuit semper egenus. Item, quod appropriavit sibi custodias et maritagia pinguia per totam Angliam, et quod fuit malus consiliarius regis et reginæ matris et nimis secretus cum ea, ut de aliis taceamus ad præsens.

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. The causes of the said Earl of March's death,¹ as laid against him, were these: First, that he had consented to the suffocation of the king's father [King Edward II]. Second, that, having received a large sum of money, he hindered the king's honour at Stanhope Park, where he gave a signal for the Scots to flee at a moment when the English army would likely have prevailed, had he, who was effectively commander for the boy-king and his army, not begrudged such royal glory. Third, that he arranged the marriage between the king's sister and the son of Robert the Bruce, a match that the king's friends later deeply regretted, and that he further advised, indeed, virtually ordered, the burning of the Scottish submission charters and the granting of excessive liberty to Scotland, which had formerly been bound in fealty to the English crown. Fourth, that he squandered royal treasure and the wealth of the earls of Winchester and Gloucester on excessive and useless spending for himself and the queen mother, showing no compassion for the king's poverty, which he endured in the early years of his reign. Fifth, that he appropriated lucrative wardships and marriages to himself, causing great loss to the king. Sixth, that he was, by intent, an evil counsellor to the king, especially shown when he advised the young king to travel to France and render homage and fealty to Philip of Valois, thereby encouraging the king's naive and pliable youth to recognize Philip as rightful king of France, a decision which all of the king's friends later deeply regretted, as was proper. There were other causes of his death which propriety does not permit to be disclosed. Let us leave them to the secrecy of conscience and to the judgement of the Eternal Judge. His friends Sir Simon de Bereford, knight, and John Deverel, esquire, died with him. The latter, for the remission of his sins, would willingly have made a public confession concerning the most cruel death of the king’s father and the manner in which he died, had not the enemies of justice and truth denied him the opportunity to do so.

Cause vero mortis predicti comitis Marchie, secundum quod sibi imponebantur, erant iste: Prima, quia fuit consenciens suffocacioni patris regis. Secunda, quia ipse, recepta magna summa pecunie, impedivit honourem regis apud Stanoppark, ubi signum dedit Scotis ut fugerent, perpenso quod exercitus Anglicorum fuisset verisimiliter prevaliturus, nisi ipse, qui quasi dux erat regis puerilis et exercitus, tam gloriosis iniciis regalibus invidisset. Tercio, quia matrimonium contractum inter sororem regis et filium Roberti le Bruyus, cuius iam penituit amicos regios, ipse fieri procuravit, et insuper submissionem Scotorum, regi Anglie antiquitus obligatam, per combustionem cartarum et indulgencia summe libertatis consuluit, immo quasi iussit, dissipari serie prescripta. Quarto, quod pecunias repertas in tesauris regis et comitum Wyntonie atque Gloucestrie superfluis expensis ipsius et regine matris inutiliter consumpsit, nunquam compassus regis egestati, quam in sui regni primordio paciebatur. Quinto, quod custodias et maritagia pinguia in regis damnum non parvum sibi appropriavit. Sexto, quod fuit regis ex intencione malus conciliarius, suam maliciam tunc potissime ostendens, quando, ut sibi amiciciam regis Francie confirmaret, regem in Franciam proficisci et Philippum de Valesio verum regem Francie, per exhibicionem homagii et fidelitatis, regis puerilem tractabilitatem recognoscere instruxit; cuius eciam facti omnes amici regis, ut decuit, penituerunt. Alias causas sue mortis wigus non permittit operiri, quas consciencie secreto et examini Iudicis eterni dimittamus. Moriebantur cum illo sui amici Simon de Bereford miles et Iohannes Deverel scutiferarius, qui, in remissionem suorum peccatorum, libenter fecisset pupplicam confessionem de morte crudelissima et modo moriendi patris regis, si non per emulos iusticie et veritatis fuisset sibi tempus denegatum.

Note 1. See the original articles in Parliament Rolls, 2.52, and Knighton 2556.