On Sunday, 8 June 1376

The feast of the Holy Trinity... about 3 of the clock in the afternoon he began to faint and lose his strength, so that scarce any breath remained in him, whereupon the Bishop of Bangor, who was present, came unto him and said: ‘Now, without doubt, death is at hand... therefore I counsel you, my lord, to now forgive those who have offended you.’ The Prince managed to say ‘I will’, but could not make any other intelligible sound. “The Bishop, taking the sprinkler, cast holy water on the four corners of the chamber where he lay... Suddenly “the Prince, with joined hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven, said: ‘I give thee thanks, O God, for all Thy benefits, and with all the pain of my soul I humbly beseech Thy mercy, to give me remission of sins which I have wickedly committed against Thee; and of all mortal men whom willingly or ignorantly I have offended, with all my heart I desire forgiveness.’ And when he had spoken these words, he passed away.

‘He was the flower of the world’s chivalry,’ Jean Froissart said, ‘the most fortunate in great feats of arms and the most accomplished in brave deeds.’

The poet John Gower hailed him as an exemplar of knighthood:

He was never discomfited in a fight, dreading neither the strokes of battle nor the straits of the campaign. He was a wellspring of courage. His name will never be erased from the face of the earth, for his feats of arms surpass even those of Hector.

The French author of the Chronique des Quatre Premiers Valois added:

This Prince was one of the greatest and best knights ever seen. In his time he was renowned the world over and won the respect of all. His passing left the English in a state of profound grief and shock. On hearing of his death, the king of France – notwithstanding the fact that the Prince was his enemy – held the most solemn memorial service for him.

From The Black Prince by Michael Jones

On this day in 1307, the young king Edward II took a break from uselessly chasing Robert the Bruce around Dumfriesshire. He attended a fine feast held at Sanquhar by Piers Gaveston, recently created earl of Cornwall. The earls of Hereford, Lincoln, and Lancaster were also in attendance. A pair of Welsh trumpeters, Yevan and Ythel, are recorded as performing for them.

Not only did they enjoy the feast, but Edward II lavished a vast sum of 300 pounds on his favorite around this time.

Edit: it may seem odd in light of their later antagonism that Thomas of Lancaster was present, but this period (1307-1308) he seemed to try to be in Edward II's company as often as possible, following him all around the country.

The Flores Historiarum chronicler reported:

At Eltham in Kent on the 15th of August, lady Isabella the queen was adorned with a double blossom when she gave birth to the lord king's second son.

Summer 1315 was miserable. Terrible rains destroyed the crops and a famine set in about the land, with people resorting to eating dogs and horses and according to rumors, there was even cannibalism.

In the midst of all this misery, Guy de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, the "black dog", died of some illness. A tale, recorded by Thomas Walsingham decades later, says that he was poisoned by friends of the king in retribution for Gaveston's death. I don't know about that, but it makes for a great story.

Of some note, Guy was also the maternal uncle of Hugh le Despenser the Younger -- who was not yet Edward II's great favorite. That was still several years in the future.

The King of France came to the city of Evreux, and utterly destroyed it, and levelled its churches, sparing neither age nor sex, and carrying off the relics of the saints. This he did because the citizens of Evreux, having left him, had returned to their duty and allegiance to their lord the King of England. After the King of France, having destroyed the city of Evreux, was on his departure thence, and had appeared before a town called Freteval, the King of England came to Vendome, to lie in wait for him; and, as that place was not surrounded by a wall, or suited for defence, the King ordered his tents to be pitched outside the town; and in them he awaited the approach of the King of France, who had sent him word that that day he would visit him with a hostile band, as unconcernedly as if he had been shut up within walls. The King of England, joyously receiving his message, sent word back to him that he would wait for him, and, if he should not come, would pay him a visit on the following morning. On the King of France hearing this, he did not visit the King of England that day.

Accordingly, early next morning, the King of England ordered his troops to arm, and went forth for the purpose of engaging with the army of the King of France: on hearing of which, the King of France and his army fled before the face of the King of England, who pursued them.

The Marshal and his men armed swiftly, preferring to be armed rather than disarmed in the chase, and the Marshal, fully armed, set off with his men in fine formation: a splendid company they were. The King came straight up to him and said: "I pray you, Marshal, watch over me today."

"I shall, sire, very gladly," he replied.

"And my men, too: see that they don't lose discipline."

"I will, sire," said the Marshal.

Then the King charged off with his battalions. And, in the flight, many of the troops of the King of France were slain, and many taken prisoners. Vast treasure of the King of France was also taken, with the furniture of the King's chapel, and the papers of all the subjects of the King of England who had deserted him and become adherents of the King of France and Earl John. They left tents and pavilions, garments of silk and scarlet, coin and plate, horses, palfreys, packhorses, handsome robes and money. Loot and drink the English won in abundance – and food! Gorgeous fish and meat a-plenty! But the Marshal and his men gave no thought to booty, only to guarding the King's army.

The King came back and met his loyal Marshal and his company and said: "God preserve you! You'd have been our only protection if they had decided to attack us while looting! You can retire now – it’s clear the French have no intention of turning back."

"I will not go yet, sire," the Marshal said. "I don’t think that a good idea while our men are still giving chase. If we were to retire now we might well come to grief: the French are none too fond of you – they might turn with a vengeance."

"God bless me, you’re right!" said the King. "Stay, then: they are the wisest words I ever heard!"

So the Marshal stayed till the pursuit was done and everyone had returned; once he was sure there was no one left he sent them on ahead and followed behind, forming a rear guard with his company.

In the flight, however, the King of France left the multitude and entered a certain church, at a distance from the high road, for the purpose of hearing Mass; but the King of England, not knowing that the King of France had concealed himself, still pursued his course, breathing forth threats and slaughter against the men of the King of France, and sought him, that he might either put him to death or take him alive.

Being informed by a certain Fleming that the King of France had now got to a considerable distance, the King of England was deceived thereby, and proceeded on a horse of the greatest swiftness a little beyond the territories of France and Normandy; on which his horse failing him, Mercardier, the chief of his Brabanters, gave him another horse. However, the King of England, not meeting with the King of France, returned to Vendome with a vast amount of booty in prisoners, and horses, and large sums of money.

When they took to their lodgings that night they all boasted before the King about their spoils, displaying their winnings; but the King said: "The Marshal’s done better than any of you. Let me tell you: he'd have bailed us all out if we had been in trouble. That is why I think his actions greater than any of ours. No one with a good rear guard needs fear his foe."

After this, the King proceeded to Poitou, to attack Geoffrey of Rancon and the Viscount of Angouleme, who had gone over to the King of France and Earl John against him, and he defeated them: on which, he wrote to Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the following effect:

"Richard, by the grace of God, King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to the Venerable Father in Christ, Hubert, by the same grace, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England: greeting. Know that, by the grace of God, who in all things has consideration for the right, we have taken Tailleburge and Marcilliac, and all the castles and the whole of the territories of Geoffrey of Rancon, as also the city of Angouleme, and Neufchatel, Munciniac, La Chese, and all the other castles, and the whole of the territories of the Viscount of Angouleme, with all things thereto appendant and appurtenant. The city of Angouleme and the borough we took in a single evening; while on the lands which we have captured in these parts we have taken full three hundred knights and forty thousand armed men. Witness, myself, at Angouleme, on the twenty-second day of July."

On this day 983 years ago, Harthacanute died at a wedding.

According to John of Worcester, "Harthacnut, king of the English, merry, in good health and in great heart, was standing drinking with the aforementioned bride (Gytha, daughter of Osgod Clapa) and certain men, when he suddenly crashed to the ground in a wretched fall while drinking. He remained speechless until his death on Tuesday".

Gytha's bridegroom was the Danish thegn Tovi the Proud.

Harthacanute was then in his early twenties. I know historians have speculated he may have been slowly dying from tuberculosis for some time; his only full-sister, Gunnhild, had already died in 1038, a few years before her husband became HRE Heinrich III.

Following up this incident >>> https://old.reddit.com/r/UKmonarchs/comments/1mir4ej/early_august_1321_queen_isabella_pleaded_for_the/

On this day, in Westminster's great hall, the barons met with Edward II, who, for fear of civil war, at last agreed to banish the Despensers. They were also to be disinherited, along with their heirs. Hugh the Elder angrily blamed his son for this turn of events and departed immediately. Hugh the Younger remained with Edward, who withdrew to his chamber.

Shortly after the exile of the Despensers: https://old.reddit.com/r/UKmonarchs/comments/1mq51ig/14_august_1321_edward_ii_finally_agrees_to_exile/

Walter Stapeldon, one of the Despenser's chief cronies, was forced to resign as Lord High Treasurer on this day, under baronial pressure. He would be reinstated in May 1322. Also notable as Stapeldon was loathed by Queen Isabella, and when she and Mortimer invaded in 1326, a mob of her supporters literally hunted Stapeldon down in the streets of London and decapitated him, sending his head to the queen as a grisly trophy!

James I of Scotland was born on 25 July, 1394, at Dunfermline Palace, the youngest son of King Robert III and Anabella Drummond. His birth came at a time of mounting instability in the Scottish kingdom. James's elder brother, David, Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne, died under mysterious circumstances in 1402 while in the custody of their uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany; a powerful noble whose influence rivaled the king’s. Moreover, James's mother had died the year prior, and Albany took the opportunity to further diminish the king's power. Robert III had been left disabled (likely partial paralysis) after being kicked by a horse in 1388. Albany, reasoning that his brother could not physically be the king, increasingly marginalized his brother by becoming Lieutenant of the Kingdom; effectively the real king.

With David dead and the elderly Robert III increasingly sidelined, James was declared heir, but his safety could no longer be guaranteed in a kingdom. Especially with Albany's growing power, and Robert III feared for James's safety. In 1406, at the age of 11, James was sent abroad to France for his protection and education, but his ship was intercepted by English pirates off the Yorkshire coast. He was captured and delivered to King Henry IV of England, beginning a captivity that would last 18 years. Upon hearing of his heir's capture, Robert III reportedly died from heartbreak and grief, his last words describing himself as "the worst of kings and the most miserable of men". Now the undisputed, but uncrowned, King of Scots, Albany took it upon himself to become Governor of Scotland. King in all but name. In official documents during this time, Albany even referred to James as "son of the late king".

Despite being a very valuable political pirsoner, James received a refined education at the English court, as Henry IV saw it befitting of his standing as a king. James was trained in statecraft, literature, sports, arts, and chivalry among other things. He even composed poetry, including The Kingis Quair, a semi-autobiographical work that reflects on his imprisonment and love for Joan Beaufort, the half-niece of Henry IV, and described her as the fairest lady he had ever seen. Additionally, one of the Scottish prisoners was Murdoch Stewart, son of Albany. Albany negotiated his son's release in 1415, but not James. Undoubtedly, this left a very distinct impact on the young king.

When Henry IV died in 1413 and his son, Henry V, succeeded him, James's situation changed. He became less of a prisoner and more of an esteemed guest. James accompanied Henry on his campaigns in France. This was a twofold move by Henry, as not only was it a sign of political power by having the king (albeit uncrowned) of Scotland fight against his people, but also he had respect for James and could trust him. Likewise, James admired Henry's style of kingship and endorsed his claims to the French throne. Henry even appointed James as one of the commanders of the Siege of Dreux on 18 July 1421 and, on 20 August, received the surrender of the garrison. A few months earlier, James was present at the wedding of Henry V and Catherine of Valois, even sitting next to the new queen at the coronation banquet. This was not a luxury afforded to most people, so it really illustrates the friendship between the two kings. Henry knighted James and invited him to join the prestigious and highly select chivalric Order of the Garter in April 1421.

James’s return to Scotland was set in motion through diplomacy. Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, who held enormous power and sought to counterbalance the Albany Stewarts, allied with James and helped negotiate his return. Henry V died of dysentery in 1422, and the English regency under Henry VI was willing to release James for a substantial ransom. Meanwhile, Albany had died in 1420, and Murdoch—less politically adept—had taken his place as Governor. Under pressure from fellow magnates, Murdoch agreed to a deal. In February 1424, James was released, but only after marrying Joan Beaufort, strengthening his connection to the English royal family. The ransom was set at £40,000 (over £25 million today), to be paid in installments. As part of the agreement, 27 Scottish nobles were handed over as hostages to guarantee payment.

James was released from England in Febuary of 1424, but not before marrying Joan Beaufort. The match was no doubt political, as Joan was the half-cousin of the late Henry V and tied James into the English royal family, but also personal as James and Joan were genuinely fond of each other. Henry V appears to have signed off on the marriage before his death, though it didn't occur until the years after his death. The ransom was about £40,000, to be paid in installments, was agreed upon (equivalent to over £25 million today). As part of the deal, 27 Scottish nobles were handed over to the English as hostages until the ransom was fully paid up. The king was crowned in May, where he immediately began plans to issue his reforms and crack down on noble privileges. But first, James wanted to deal with the Albany Stewarts.

Robert Stewart had died in 1420, four years before James's return, but James had not forgotten his uncle's plans to keep him with the English, as well as almost certainly having James's older brother killed and sidelining his father. James did not immediately strike, but he began a quiet consolidation of power by limiting the military strength of great magnates (such as the Albany Stewarts or Douglases) and worked to break the near-autonomous grip the Albany Stewarts had over the realm. These problems had been present since the reign of David II decades prior, and unchecked nobles gaining increased political power. In 1425, James struck hard and decisively. He arrested Mudoch and Murdoch's sons Walter and Alexander, as well as Murdoch's father-in-law Duncan, Earl of Lennox. They were imprisoned and later executed for treason against the crown, James citing their failing to govern justly during James’s absence, ignoring royal authority, and possibly conspiring against James’s rule (though the charges were politically convenient). The men were publicly executed at Stirling Castle, and only Murdoch's younger son James "the Fat" escaped to Ireland due to some lucky circumstances. Murdoch’s wife, Isabella of Lennox, and her daughter were held as hostages to ensure continued obedience from the Lennox faction.

James’s actions were clearly a long-planned, calculated revenge, but also a necessary message: James wanted to break the power of quasi-royal rivals and re-establish a centralized monarchy. Although James never dealt the same cruelty to other powerful families, the reasoning was similar. In the years that followed, he dismantled the remaining Albany Stewarts’ power, extended royal authority into the Highlands, and clawed back control of key earldoms including Fife, Strathearn, Mar, March, Garioch, Lennox, and Annandale. Taxes were increased, luxury restricted by law, and legislation became more active and centralized. He banned out-of-season fishing, football, and even imposed clothing restrictions by class. Justice was improved, Parliament widened to include lesser nobles, and laws were regularly passed. Yet many of these rules were unenforceable or unpopular, and the king’s reforming zeal began to breed resentment with nobles who had enjoyed their semi-independence from the crown.

Though efficient and intelligent, James was not beloved. His imitation of the lavish English and French courts alienated many. Parliament refused new taxes, war with England loomed, and common people bristled under regulation. Even his physical presence became symbolic of excess one chronicler noted he was “thick-set and oppressed by too much fat.” His marriage to Joan, though genuine, was also unpopular as James was viewed as too "pro-English" and deeply compromised by his time as a prisoner and ties to the English monarchy.

That resentment boiled over in 1437, when a conspiracy led by Sir Robert Graham and Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl (James’s own paternal uncle) resulted in the king’s assassination at Perth. James, Joan, and their son were staying at a monastery when the killers struck. In one account, a lady-in-waiting named Catherine Douglas tried to bar the door with her arm, which broke under the force. James attempted to flee through the sewer tunnel beneath the floor, but the exit had recently been blocked to prevent tennis balls from going astray. He was cornered and stabbed to death, reportedly receiving over 20 wounds.

Queen Joan, though wounded, escaped. With the aid of loyal nobles, she secured the succession for her son, James II, and ensured that the conspirators met grisly ends. Whatever one may thought of James, even regicide seemed a step too far. Walter Stewart was tortured for three days before being crowned with a red-hot iron.

Much of James I's plans to curb the power of the nobles was inherited by James II, who had similar issues with powerful families like the Douglases.

After multiple days of celebrating and banqueting in Paris, Edward and Isabella slept in and missed a scheduled meeting with her father, Philippe IV of France. The chronicler Godefroy of Paris, a royal clerk, cheekily says that it was unsurprising that the king and queen were late in rousing, for Isabella "was the fairest of the fair" and naturally the king would want to stay abed with her.

The royal couple did make it to Philippe's apartments, and watched from the windows as a grand procession made its way from the Notre Dame to the Louvre.

On this day, Edward II appointed Piers his deputy in Ireland, with viceregal powers. He also sent letters to Pope Clement V regarding the archbishop of Canterbury's threat to excommunicate Gaveston, and to his father-in-law Philippe IV regarding his magnates' discord over Gaveston.

On this day, Piers Gaveston was taken from his cell at Warwick Castle and handed over to Thomas of Lancaster. Guy de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, one of his most implacable enemies, was too cowardly in the end to see his death through. Guy cowered in his castle and let Lancaster and the earls of Hereford and Arundel handle Piers' execution. The Vita Edwardi Secundi tells us that Piers actually threw himself at Lancaster's feet and asked for mercy.

There would be no mercy upon him.

On the hill, Piers was run through and then beheaded.

Roger Mortimer had spent over a year as a prisoner of the king after the Contrariant Rebellion failed, and had been condemned to death in July 1322 -- shortly afterward commuted to a life sentence by Edward II.

However, as the Brut chronicle tells us, Mortimer heard that he was to be "draw and hongede at London" shortly after St. Laurence's day (10 August). Although later chronicles also claim that Mortimer was to be executed, there's really no evidence of this, but it's possible Mortimer believed he was about to be killed and this spurred him to take swift action.

The evening of 31 July came -- the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, Peter in Chains (what drama! I give Roger his props for the thematically appropriate timing). The constable of the tower was Stephen Segrave, with Gerard Alspaye as his valet. Alspaye, with the aid of the cook Richard de Cleobury, slipped some kind of sedative into the wine and Segrave and his men drank and caroused into the night before falling unconscious. Alspaye then released Roger Mortimer and a square, Richard de Monmouth, from their shared cell. They made their getaway through the kitchens, shimmying up the chimney and walking across the roof, using a rope ladder to let themselves down to the riverbank. There, several men waited with a boat. They were ferried to Greenwich on the other bank, where more men awaited them with horses.

Edward II was understandably incensed and ordered his men to take Roger Mortimer, alive or dead. He seems to have assumed Mortimer would flee to Wales or Ireland, but Mortimer instead took a ship for France.

Thus, Mortimer accomplished the astonishing feat of being only the second person in history (Ranulf Flambard was the first) to escape the Tower of London.

(A day early but oh well...) Edward I granted the wardship of the 17 year-old Roger Mortimer to Piers Gaveston, who was then still high in the king's esteem. Roger's father, Edmund, had died shortly before this, on 17 July.

Curiously, although Roger and Piers were both so (in)famous in their time, their personal relationship has drawn very little attention from historians. From what little we know, they were friends and comrades-in-arms. They fought together in Ireland, Mortimer was loyal to Gaveston despite the latter's unpopularity and exiles, and indeed, he seems to have smuggled Gaveston into England in disguise as part of his retinue to reunite with Edward II.

Perhaps Gaveston was even a bit of a bad influence -- in October 1306 Roger joined Gaveston in going AWOL from the royal army to take part in a tournament, which enraged Edward I.

Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, was the third surviving son of Robert II of Scotland, and younger brother to John Stewart (later Robert III) and Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany. His epithet of the "Wolf of Badenoch" doesn't seem to have been used in his lifetime, but still details his capacity for cruelty.

Robert II, who reigned from 1371 to 1390, was aging and increasingly infirm during the latter part of his reign. So, he granted his eldest sonsIn this vacuum, Alexander used his position not to enforce law but to rule as a regional warlord, backed by Gaelic clans and his own private forces. He established a base of power in Badenoch and Moray, often disregarding royal authority and operating without permission from the crown.

His tactics, rooted in intimidation, coercion, and scorched-earth warfare, further eroded what little central authority existed in the north. His brothers, John, Earl of Carrick (later Robert III), and Robert, Earl of Fife (later Duke of Albany), both viewed Alexander as dangerously destabilizing, especially as his influence went unchecked. Tensions reached a peak in the 1380s. Carrick, acting as Lieutenant of the Kingdom during their father’s incapacity, attempted to rein in Alexander’s excesses, particularly after formal complaints from the Church and Highland nobility. Alexander, in turn, escalated his brutality to reinforce his dominance.

The most infamous of these came in 1390, during a feud with Alexander Bur, Bishop of Moray. After the bishop excommunicated him for attacking church lands, Alexander responded by sacking Elgin, burning Elgin Cathedral, the bishop’s palace, the monastery, and much of the surrounding burgh. The act was shocking even by contemporary and earned him the wrath of the Church and the enduring moniker “Wolf of Badenoch," though the title wouldn't come into use years later.

Robert III, whose power had been increasingly diminished by nobles and Albany, couldn't do much to curb Alexander. The real power of the crown lay with David, Duke of Rothesay (Robert III's son and later regent), and Robert, Duke of Albany later on. Alexander was all too happy to take advantage of the growing power of nobles and instability of the crown.

He died on July 20, 1405, likely at Ruthven Castle, surrounded not by grandeur, but by the bitter legacy of a life defined by fire, defiance, and feud. He left behind one illegitimate son by his mistress Mairead inghean Eachainn, named Alexander. This Alexander would go on to side with James I of Scotland in his crackdown on noble privileges, and because of his support of the king, he was elevated to higher status.

I don't think we know the exact date so just guessing this might be the anniversary. Alice de Lacy, countess of Lincoln, Salisbury, AND Lancaster, was abducted, willingly or unwillingly, from her manor in Canford, Dorset.

The background to this is a bit complicated and not completely clear. It seems that the abduction was at least in part the result of a feud between her husband, Thomas of Lancaster, and John de Warenne, earl of Surrey. Warenne had been trying to get out of his marriage to Joan of Bar (Edward II's niece) and it seems Lancaster played some part in blocking the divorce. Meanwhile, Lancaster's own marriage to Alice de Lacy seems to have been not exactly, ahhhh, copacetic.

So one of Warenne's men, a knight named Richard de St. Martin, went and carried off Alice to Warenne's castle of Reigate. He claimed that due to some childish romance in their youth, that he had a claim to being her real husband and Alice backed up this claim. The anonymous continuator of Nicolai Triveti Annalium Continuatio claims that St. Martin was an ugly little hunchback and called Alice a 'most noble lady' turned 'obscene whore' for running off with him. This incident kicked off a private war of sorts between Warenne and Lancaster, with Lancaster attacking Warenne's castles and even expelling Warenne's mistress from her home.

As Warenne himself seems to have had no interest in the fair Alice, I imagine this whole thing started because of his grudge against Lancaster. Like, St. Martin was telling Warenne one day about how he and Alice once pinky-promised to marry each other when they were 12 and Warenne was like, "Word? Go elope with her and claim to be her real husband. It would really piss her husband off. I'll back you up."

This went on for more than a year, as in June 1318 Warenne sent Edward II a letter complaining of Lancaster ransacking his Welsh lands in Bromfield and Yale, "menaced" his people, and disturbed the peace.