upon, but ships and cargoes were to be kept pending further orders.[1]
In France, Charles IV. had succeeded his brother Philip, and, choosing to consider his dignity slighted because Edward had not attended his coronation to do homage for Guienne, had entered that duchy with an army in 1223. It therefore became necessary for Edward to send a large force to Gascony. A squadron for the purpose was raised in May, 1324, from Southampton, Portsmouth, Yarmouth, Poole, and nine other ports, and ordered to make rendezvous at Portsmouth by the 22nd of the month; and the port sheriffs elsewhere were commanded to hold ready for the king's service, at three days' notice, all such of their ships as could carry forty tuns of wine or more. They were also forbidden to allow any vessels to go abroad, and to detain such as might return from sea; and warnings were issued to sailors concerning the risks of capture.[2] As on a previous occasion, the ships were surveyed, the surveyor in this case being a priest.[3] The admirals of the year were, for the Gascony fleet, Sir John de Cromwell;[4] for the western fleet, Sir Robert Beudyn,[5] and, in his absence, Stephen Alard;[6] and for the northern fleet, Sir John Sturmy.
Var was proclaimed by Edward on July 22nd, and in September all Frenchmen in England were arrested, and their goods seized.[7] In October, a French invasion was apprehended in Norfolk, and special instructions were sent to the inhabitants of Lynn and Norwich to aid Sir Robert de Montalt and Sir Thomas Bardolf, the keepers of the coast in that county.[8] London was also ordered to prepare all its ships that could be used for war, to doubly man
- ↑ 'Fœdera,' ii. 544.
- ↑ Ib., ii. 552.
- ↑ Pat. Rolls, 17 Edw. II.
- ↑ Sir John de Cromwell, Lord Cromwell, was at the siege of Carlaverock in 1300. Edward II. made him a baron, and Constable of the Tower. He afterwards headed an embassy to France. He was again Constable of the Tower under Edward III. His death occurred about 1333.—'Fœdera,' ii. 562.
- ↑ Sir Robert Beudyn, a Devonshire man, was sheriff of his county in 1319, and member of Parliament for it in 1320, 1322, and 1324. In 1327 he was member for Cornwall. He held high command at sea only in 1324.—Gascon Rolls, 18 Edw. II. m. 22; Close Rs, 19 Edw. II. m. 16; Issue Rolls, 18 Edw. II.
- ↑ Stephen Alard belonged to the Winchelsea family of seamen, and was in 1307 collector of customs at Rye and Winchelsea. In 1326 he obtained lands at Chedingstone. The high naval command of 1324 appears to have been his only one.—Pat. Rolls, 18 Edw. II. 1, m. 22.
- ↑ 'Fœdera,' ii. 570.
- ↑ Ib., ii. 573.
