The Great Writs: Quo Warranto

The most prized possessions of any noble family were their estates and especially the castles that provided defense and the manors that provided income.  Often those manor lands came with the right to hold courts, punish and fine offenders, and levy taxes or other burdens on the peasants.  Kings were aware of the intrinsic value of real estate, as they often bestowed property on nobles, and were quick to confiscate the property of traitors and rebels.  Over time, the titles to various properties became muddled and Edward I, reigned 1272-1307, decided it was time to clean house.  His father, Henry III, had made extensive grants of royal land Edward intended to claw some of it back.  From 1278-1294, he dispatched judges throughout England, who were empowered to serve a writ known as quo warranto upon landowners, forcing them to prove what right they had to the property in question.

Quo warranto, Latin for by what right/warrant, forced landowners to divulge whatever documentation they believed gave them authority to retain the land, and more importantly, utilize the produce and income from it.  Since many landowners didn't have written charters, Edward had to be content with proof that the land had been retained by that person or his family since 1189, the beginning of Richard I's reign.  Later, quo warranto became used as a challenge to anyone claiming to exercise royal authority or act in the King's name.  In some legal jurisdictions which descend from English jurisprudence, writs of quo warranto may be used to challenge a public official's exercise of his or her powers.

Rival Dynasty: the Bruces of Scotland

A confusing aspect of the early Medieval period in Britain and Europe was that noble and royal families owned land and owed feudal loyalties in several different domains at once.  Just as the Plantagenet dynasty spread from Ireland to the Scottish border and throughout most of southern and western France, so other nobles held titles and land both on the Continent and in Britain, owing loyalty to the King of France, the King of England, the King of Scotland and, most of the time, to their own interests regardless of any of the above.  One of these problematic noble houses was the Bruces of Annandale. 

Like many noble families, the Bruces were Anglo-Norman.  The name de Brus came from a French place name Brix, near Cherbourg in France.  Though Robert Bruce is often called Robert the Bruce, with the etymology of the name having something to do with the color brown, that's a misconception.  So, too, is the idea that a Bruce ancestor served with William the Conqueror.  The first Bruce of Annandale appears in the historical record in 1106 as a supporter of the future King David I of Scotland.  However, when David later threw his supported behind Empress Matilda, the Bruce family was split, with the Lord of Annandale siding with King Stephen and capturing his own son, who was serving with David's contingent in support of Matilda.  His descendant, the 4th Lord of Annandale, later married into the royal family of Scotland, thus acquiring their claim to the Scottish throne.  When the last Dunkeld King of Scotland, Alexander III died without heirs, and his granddaughter Margaret died en route from Norway to try to claim the throne, both the Bruces of Annandale and the Balliol family claimed the throne instead.  Then, they both asked Edward I of England to arbitrate the dispute.

Edward settled matters by launching a full-scale invasion of Scotland.  Incidentally, the Plantagenets also had a Dunkeld claim, through Empress Matilda's mother, who'd been a princess of Scotland.  In Edward's mind, that was enough, if he even thought that far back.  John Balliol died and Robert Bruce swore fealty to Edward, then joined the revolt for Scottish Independence in 1297.  After the death of William Wallace, Bruce's rivalry with another Scottish lord, John Comyn, threatened to throw the Kingdom back into Edward's control again.  Robert Bruce killed John Comyn, braving excommunication for doing so, and was crowned at Scone in 1306.  He eventually led the Scots to victory at Bannockburn in 1314.  In 1329, Robert died and his son, David II, became King of Scotland.  David died without issue in 1371.  Meanwhile, Robert's daughter Marjorie had married Walter Stewart, her father's High Steward of Scotland, hence the name.  Their son became Robert II, the first Stewart King of Scotland.  Stewarts, and later Stuarts, would rule Scotland until 1603, when a Bruce, Plantagenet and Tudor descendant James VI of Scotland became James I of England. 

Infant Mortality

Royal and noble families of the Medieval era found themselves locked in a dangerous and tragic game of roulette, that of producing an heir.  Young brides felt the pressure and the physical discomforts of being pregnant early and often.  And both parents felt the grief and disappointment at stillbirths, deaths of infants and toddlers, or even of preteens and teenagers on the cusp of life.  Edward I of England and his beloved wife, Eleanor of Castile, were unlucky in this regard even by the standards of their day.

Edward was the son of Henry III and nephew of Richard of Cornwall.  He was tall, a fearless athlete and rider, and later an able military commander and lawgiver, though he wouldn't inherit the throne until 1272.  Eleanor had lion's blood in her veins.  Her grandmother was Eleanor of England, daughter of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, for whom she was named.  Edward married Eleanor in 1254, when she was about thirteen years old.  Girls of that age were considered marriagable and they would have started married life right away.  And, something unexpected happened.  Edward and Eleanor fell in love.  They would be almost inseparable for most of their lives together.  Eleanor would come to depend on her husband's strength and patience.  Unlike a later Tudor king, he didn't throw her away when childbearing and childrearing didn't come as easily as they both hoped. 

Tragedy struck within months of their wedding.   In 1255, Eleanor gave birth to a stillborn daughter.  Then, another girl, Katherine, 1261-1264, and Joanna, 1265.  John, 1266-1271, was sent to live with his great-uncle, Richard of Cornwall, who had to bear the sad news to both Grandpa Henry III and Prince Edward.  Little Henry was also short-lived, 1268-1274.  He would die in the care of his widowed grandmother Eleanor of Provence.  There was a temporary reprieve with a tiny Eleanor, 1269-1298.  At least she lived to grow up, get married and have kids of her own.  Next was a daughter, born while Edward and Eleanor were on Crusade in Palestine in 1271.  Some sources name her Juliana, though there was no official record of her name.  Next was Joan, 1272-1307.  She, too, would live to have children of her own, and later give her father a few headaches with her choices in men.

Finally, Edward and Eleanor could hope.  Alphonso, named for his great-grandfather on Eleanor's side of the family, born in 1273 and named Earl of Chester.  England almost had a King Alphonso, but he, too, died very young.  Eleanor and Edward kept trying, just in case.  One needed an heir and a spare, or two or more.  Margaret, 1275-1333, was also a healthy child who grew up and gave her father grandchildren.  Berengaria, 1276-1278, did not.  There was a stillborn daughter, 1277.  Mary, 1279-1332, became a Benedictine nun.  It was common practice at the time for a noble family to donate a child or two to the church, along with a generous dowry of land and manor houses.  Another stillborn son in 1280, and Elizabeth, 1282-1316, who also lived to grow up.  Finally, the future Edward II, 1284-1327, who was born just weeks after his elder brother Alphonso had died.

This list doesn't account for any miscarriages Eleanor might have had, which could explain some of the earlier gaps among the children's births.  After Little Edward's birth, Eleanor's health slowly spiraled downhill.  Heart trouble might have been part of the cause.  Whether there were any gynecological issues from all these births will never be known.  Little Edward was 6 when his mother died in her husband's arms in 1290.  With just one small son and five growing daughters to his credit, Edward I needed to marry again.  He wasn't able to make that decision until 1299, when he married Margaret of France years after Eleanor's death and the poignant tributes her husband planned in her honor.  Margaret would give Edward two boys who would live to have children of their own.  Then, finally, a little girl named Eleanor, 1306-1310. 

Places: The Eleanor Crosses

Kings and emperors have throughout history erected monuments to the women they loved, whether it be the hanging gardens of Babylon or the Taj Mahal.  A Plantagenet king commemorated the love and loss of his queen in a far more simple and eloquent fashion, the Eleanor Crosses.

Eleanor (1241-1290) was a Spanish princess, the daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile.  She had Plantagenet blood in her veins, being a great-granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II.  In 1254, she married Prince Edward, heir to Henry III in Burgos.  She would give birth at the age of 13 to their first child, a daughter who died young, and eventually bear Edward sixteen children, though only a few of them would survive to adulthood.  Through these tragedies, through wars, rebellions, a crusade and back and forth from the Plantagenet holdings on the Continent and throughout his realm, Eleanor followed her husband as prince and later king in 1272.  Love was no expected or required in a royal marriage, but Edward and Eleanor appear to have been blessed with a good death of love for each other.

Then, tragedy struck.  In 1287 Eleanor was struck by what was then known as a double quartian fever, most likely malaria.   She may also have had heart and live problems.  In 1290, knowing that her health was failing fast, Eleanor and Edward set off on one last progress.  Such was the state of the queen's health that parliament was convened in Clipstone, rather than London, so that Edward could stay close to her.  She finally died in Harby, Nottinghamshire on November 28, 1290, aged 49 years old.  Edward was heartbroken.  For three days all royal business stopped.  Edward accompanied her body from Lincoln to Westminster in a grand funeral process.  He also commanded that elaborate stone crosses be erected to her memory at each of the stops between the two points.  They stood at Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, Hardingstone, Stony Stratford, Woburn, Dunstable, St. Albans, Waltham, Westcheap/Cheapside and Charing, each a testament to a king's love and loss.  Of the original twelve monuments, only three crosses survive, those at Geddington, Hardingstone and Waltham survive, Geddington being the best example.  The elaborate cupola at Charing Cross is a replica from the Victorian era. 

Edward went on to marry again, but would never forget his beloved Eleanor.  When he remarried again, he and his new wife named their only child Eleanor.