and purveyances made by subjects over the true power of the ancestors of our lord the King, troubles and wars had arisen in the realm by which the land had been emperilled; it was agreed and established in the said Parliament by our lord the King and by the said prelates, earls and barons and all the commonalty of the realm, in this Parliament assembled, that everything ordained by the said ordainers and contained in the said Ordinances for future should cease and lose for ever all force, virtue and effect, the statutes and establishments duly made by our lord the King and his ancestors before the said ordinances obtaining in their force, and that henceforth, at all time, any manner of ordinances or purveyances made by the subjects of our lord the King or his heirs, by whatever power or commission this may be done, over the true power of our lord the King or his heirs or against the estate of our lord the King or of his heirs or contrary to the estate of the Crown, shall be null and of no manner of value or force. But the matters which are to be established for the estate of our lord the King and his heirs and for the estate of the realm and of the people shall be treated, accorded and established in Parliaments by our lord the King, and by the consent of the prelates, earls and barons and the commonalty of the realm, according as it hath been heretofore accustomed.
THE MURDER OF THE KING (1327).
Source.—Christopher Marlowe's Edward the Second (1592).
Act V., Scene 5.
Scene: In Berkeley Castle.
(Matrevis and Gurney having received the Bishop of Hereford's well-known cryptic message, through the hands of Lightborn, a creation of Marlowe's own mind, the King is called up from the dungeon.)
King Edward. And there in mire and puddle, have I stood
This ten days' space; and lest that I should sleep,
One plays continually upon a drum;
They give me bread and water, being a King;
So that for want of sleep and sustenance
My mind's distempered and my body's numbed,
And whether I have limbs or no I know not.
O, would my blood dropp'd out from every vein,
As doth this water from my tattered robes!
Tell Isabel, the Queen, I look'd not thus,
When for her sake I ran at tilt in France,
And there unhors'd the Duke of Cleremont.
Lightborn. O, speak no more, my lord! this breaks my heart.
Lie on this bed, and rest yourself awhile.
K. Edw. These looks of thine can harbour nought but death;
I see my tragedy written in thy brows.
Yet stay a while; forbear thy bloody hand,
And let me see the stroke before it comes,
That even then when I shall lose my life
My mind may be more steadfast on my God.
Light. What means your highness to mistrust me thus?
K. Edw. What mean'st thou to dissemble with me thus?
Light. These hands were never stained with innocent blood,
Nor shall they now be tainted with a King's.
K. Edw. Forgive my thought for having such a thought.
One jewel have I left; receive thou this: (Giving jewel.) Still fear I, and I know not what's the cause, But every joint shakes as I give it thee. O, if thou harbour'st murder in thy heart, Let this gift change thy mind, and save thy soul! Know that I am a King: O, at that name I feel a hell of grief! Where is my crown? Gone, gone! and do I remain alive? Light. You're overwatch'd, my lord; lie down and rest. K. Edw. But that grief keeps one waking, I should sleep; For not ten days have these eye-lids clos'd. Now, as I speak, they fall; and yet with fear Open again. O wherefore sitt'st thou here? Light. If thou mistrust me, I'll be gone, my lord. K. Edw. No, no; for if thou mean'st to murder me, Thou wilt return again; and therefore stay. (Sleeps.) Light. He sleeps. K. Edw. (waking) O! Let me die; yet stay, O stay a while! Light. How now, my lord? K. Edw. Something still buzzeth in mine ears, And tells me, if I sleep, I never wake; This fear is that which makes me tremble thus; And therefore tell me, wherefore art thou come? Light. To rid thee of thy life.—Matrevis, come. Enter Matrevis and Gurney. K. Edw. I am too weak and feeble to resist.— Assist me, sweet God, and receive my soul! Light. Run for the table. K. Edw. O, spare me, or despatch me in a trice. (Matrevis brings in a table. King Edward is murdered by holding him down on the bed with the table.) Light. So, lay the table down, and stamp on it, But not too hard, lest that you bruise his body. Mat. I fear that this cry will raise the town, And therefore let us take horse and away. Light. Tell me, sirs, was it not bravely done? Gur. Excellent well; take this for thy reward. (Stabs Lightborn, who dies.) Come, let us cast the body in the moat, And bear the King's away to Mortimer, our lord: Away. [Exeunt with bodies.
CHARACTER OF EDWARD II.
Source.—Gesta Edwardi de Carnarvon in Chronicles of the Reigns of Edward II. and Edward III. (Rolls Series), ii. 91.
King Edward … was indeed fine in body and distinguished among men, but, as it is commonly said, very different in his manners. For, caring little for the company of princes, he made friends with singers, actors, grooms, sailors, and with others of this kind, artists and mechanics, believing more in the counsel of others than in his own; prodigal in giving, bounteous and splendid in entertainments, quick to anger, unreliable as to his word, dilatory against foreign enemies, easily enraged against his servants, and ardently attached to some one familiar friend whom he would cherish, enrich, and promote, not enduring to be absent from his presence, and honouring him before all others; whence came hatred of the lover, and abuse and ruin of the one loved, injury to the people, and loss to the kingdom. Moreover he promoted unworthy and unfit men to be ecclesiastics; these afterwards in his time of trouble deserted him.
THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD III.
Source.—Harleian MS. (British Museum), 2261, fols. 388–388b.
Edward, son of King Edward, after the conquest the third, of xv. years in age, was crowned into King in the feast of the Purification of our blessed Lady at Westminster, his father being in life and under keeping. In the beginning of whom the earth began to give much fruit, the air temperance, the sea tranquillity, the Church liberty. Edward sometime King was brought from Kenilworth to the castle of Berkeley, where he was slain. … Wherefore many people say that he died a martyr and did many miracles; nevertheless keeping
