Although these particular ordinances were formally abrogated a couple of
years later, the text makes it clear that the Beaumonts were not just a
casual example of‘foreigners’who had done too well out of the king’s
largesse. In many ways, they were the principal example, excepting only
Piers Gaveston.^30
It is not surprising, then, that in the aftermath of what was effectively
Gaveston’s murder at the hands of the king’s leading domestic opponent,
Earl Thomas of Lancaster, Henry of Beaumont was amongst those who
gathered around Edward, urging him to strike back.^31 To do so, the king
would need outside assistance. Accordingly, Henry was one of a pair
dispatched on a hasty trip to plead for aid at the court of Edward’s father-
in-law, the French king Philip IV. This is thefirst clear sign of the
diplomatic role, shuffling to and fro across the Channel, that Henry
would make his own over the course of the next few decades. King
Philip’s response was sufficiently encouraging, it seems, that Henry and
his sister accompanied King Edward and Queen Isabella when they, too,
paid a formal visit to France about ten months later. Moreover, this was
not the end. In early 1314, both the Beaumonts crossed the Channel
once again, with the queen,finding themselves in Paris at one of the most
interesting junctures in its history.^32
At the French court, Henry and his fellow envoys had been asking for
help not just against their king’s domestic enemies, but also against the
Scots. Edward II wasfinally able to lead a great host north in the late
spring of 1314, to relieve Stirling castle–and what happened next is
notorious. We know most about Henry’s role on thefirst day of the battle
of Bannockburn (23 June), when he and Sir Thomas Gray led a cavalry
troop in a risky endeavour to bypass the main Scottish host and, it seems,
to break into the fortress directly. They encountered a sizeable force of
Scottish spearmenen route, however, and the upshot could have been
predicted. Although Henry managed to escape, Sir Thomas’s horse was
killed under him, and he was dragged off into captivity.^33 All this, of
course, served as a foretaste of the horrors of the next day, when the bulk
(^30) Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward II, 5 vols.
(London, 1894–1904), ii, 29. During Isabella’s brief exile from court, the queen sent
her kinswoman and favourite lady-in-waiting gifts of venison, wild boar and–a nice
French touch–even a little brie. SeeThe Household Book of Queen Isabella of England for
the Fifth Regnal Year of Edward II, 8th July 1311 to 7th July 1312, ed. F. Blackey and
G. Hermansen (Edmonton, 1971), 133.
(^31) Flores historiarum, iii, 336–7; andVita Edwardi Secundi(‘The Life of King Edward II’),
32 ed. and tr. W. R. Childs (Oxford, 2005), 52–5.
33 For these journeys in context, see Phillips,Edward II, 192–6, 208–13, 221–3.
See the classic account of the battle in G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruceand the Community
of the Realm of Scotland(Edinburgh, 2005), 219–21.
148 Hubris and Nemesis (c. 1311–1356)