Andrew of Vexin
By the grace of God, King of England, Ireland & Wales
1321 – 1326
Born: 1305, Warwick Palace; Crowned: Westminster; Died: 1326, Warwick Palace; Buried: Warwick Palace
Married: 1322, Westminster Abbey: Matilda of Ulster, daughter of Henry, Earl of Ulster: 3 children
Titles: King of England, Ireland & Wales, 1321; King of Scots, 1321 – 1322; King of Naples & Protector of Rome, 1321 – 1322; Prince of Wales & Duke of Cornwall, 1315
The events surrounding Andrew’s youth has been one of great fascination. It was well known that the relations between his father Jocelyn and grandfather, then King Edward, soured over the years. Although Edward demanded his presence at court, the duke of Cornwall found ways to circumvent him. The king took actions. Weeks before Andrew was to be born, the king dispatched an armed guard to his Cornwall’s manor house in Lincolnshire. On royal orders they were forced to leave their estate for the majestic Warwick Palace. Shortly after the duchess gave birth to her son, Edward ordered that the new boy – and future king of England – remain in the custody of his grandfather. Having to choose between giving up his son or face his father before court, Jocelyn agreed to his father’s demand. Over the course of ten years, the boy-prince was to live a separate life from his family.
King Edward was destined to have his grandson become a better ruler than he or any of his other predecessors could be. Tutors from Oxford University were sent to teach the young prince on politics & diplomacy, economics and theology. And, some of the finest knights in the realm too were summoned to teach Andrew on the art of war. In the end, it was destined for Andrew to be the finest ruler of the sword and of the purse – an English Caesar – who ruled not with his barons but above them. In fact, Edward went so far as to proclaim his Andrew as his heir, reserving the title Prince of Wales for him. However, that changed in 1310 when his wife, Helena of Byzantium, influenced him to recognize Jocelyn as the rightful heir. Following the death of King Edward in 1315, the new king and queen were finally given the chance to see their son, who was immediately created Prince of Wales. Unfortunately, the 10-year old Andrew did not immediately console into his father. To him, Jocelyn was no more than a stranger. Thus, relations between the two soured over the years. In the end, Prince Andrew reconciled with his father by attending his bedside until his death on January 24, 1321; later attending his mother’s bedside five days later.
Though he lost both parents, it appeared that Andrew, now King, was not affected by it. It was only hours of his mother’s death that he summoned the Privy Council and Parliament at Warwick where they were to recognize him as king. In turn, Parliament requested that the new king appoint Simon, Duke of Lancaster as his guardian. Though the king was only three months short of his 16th birthday, in reality they believed he could be influential on the boy-king. Thus, on the 4th of February he agreed with the Privy Council on appointing Lancaster as ‘The King’s Most High Lord Protector of the Realm”.
The protector-ship was dissolved on the eve of King Andrew’s coronation, the 2nd of February, 1322. For his coronation, Andrew used the same protocol of that of his grandfather’s; the riches and splendors of the king shown before his nobles and the common folk. However, there was much concern for the king’s safety. Reports from the northern counties told of Scotsmen pillaging small villages, taking any goods and women with them. It was even told that they were planning to, during the coronation, to drag the boy-king off his throne and throw him into the Thames. In response, the king called to arms more than twenty-thousand men throughout England and Wales – the first army to be raised during peacetimes. And, stationed before his throne, were 24 newly created Knights of the Order of the Garter. The coronation went without any problems, and for good reasons. For Andrew, he needed to be an anointed sovereign: a king whose power came not from the governance of Parliament but from the grace of God.
Days following, two revolts took place: one in Scotland, and the other in the dynasty’s native province of Vexin. To the north, Geoffrey of Hertford, Duke of Galloway – an illegitimate descendant of King John – was the figure at the head of the claimed Scottish invasion, which was to lead the War of Scottish Independence. To the south, the Steward of the Vexin, Hamelin de Say, reputed his loyalty to the king and proclaimed himself ‘Prince of the Vexin & all of Normandy’. Andrew ordered his Lord Marshal, the Franco-Italian Adalberto de Montesquieu, to lead an expedition northward and defend the northern counties; the King himself personally leading the expedition into Normandy. He arrived at the outskirts of Hamelin’s manor only a week later after gathering more men in Rouen. When seeing the massive army outside, Hamelin attempted to flee on horseback. The king ordered one of his best bowmen to shoot him down; Hamelin fell from his horse, his only means of safety trampling his body.
However, in the northern counties, Montesquieu was not so victorious. He not only lost several battles, including a major loss at Derby, but nearly every soldier under his command died by illness or wounds. When the king received word from Rouen of the terrible losses, and, the possibility of Scottish troops taking the capitol, he sailed back to London where he requested Galloway present himself at court. On the 4th of April of that year, King Andrew met with the duke at the Tower of London. There, he signed the now famous Treaty at the Tower: establishing an independent kingdom of the Scots, with Galloway as its first king. Thus, England’s 82-years rule over Scotland came to an end. And, many of the English barons were not pleased by the treaty, since many had estates in Scotland. Now deprived of half their income, they called of Lancaster to lead Parliament. Without royal consent, on the 17th of August, 1322 the assembly called for the king to present himself before them, where he was to sign one of the most important documents in the history of England: The 1322 Statute of Westminster.
The statute was of significant value to the parliamentary movement. Above all, the Crown was sworn to submit himself to hear all the grievances of the realm, presented in the form of Parliament, and create laws and acts (remedies) to solve (cure) them. It also formally divided Parliament into two houses: one for the peers of the realm and the ecclesiasts, the House of Peers (Lords); another for representatives of the boroughs (burgesses) and knights of the shire, the House of Commons. And, Parliament was to be summoned three times a year at Westminster Palace, or wherever the king summoned them. They also demanded control over the city of Westminster, including rights over the tolls and taxations and the right to appoint local officials; the tolls and taxes collected to pay for the salaries of high-ranking ministers. The assembly held at York, aptly named Lancaster’s Parliament, triumphed over the Crown.
Andrew, for obvious reasons, was not happy with the statute, and was quick to take actions. Shortly after the signing, he fled to Clarendon Palace in Wiltshire in September of 1323. There, he formally summoned the duke of Lancaster, where he was murdered on the king’s order. With their leader dead, Parliament attempted to call up its own armed soldiers by gathering men throughout Westminster; their attempts did nothing. The king triumphantly returned to Westminster on the 20th of January, where Parliament, still assembled, was formally dissolved. The barons in Italy quickly learned of the intrigue taken place in London. In response, Henry, Baron of Apulia, raised arms in an attempt to make himself King of Naples, and marched onto London. However, German troops were already marching southward; England formed an alliance with the new king of Germany, Bourchard, who was also the king’s cousin. After the barons were put down, the king decided to place his sister Adela at the helm of an established kingdom of Naples.
And once again the Crown was at war with its barons. But, what Andrew had that his grandfather lacked was the support of the people. And, on the 23rd of February, 1324 he reaffirmed the Peace of Windsor. Now, the criminals of the state were not the English Caesar, but members of Lancaster’s Parliament. Over the course of two years families once replaced the ancient nobility were now being replaced by a new one. And, following the appointment of the king’s uncle Jordan – father of the king of Germany – to the posts of Chancellor and Lord Chief Justiciar, more German troops entered the realm to bring down the supporters of the Statute of Westminster. Unfortunately, the king became gravely ill in December of 1325; weeks short of formally annulling the Charter of Westminster. Nevertheless, the people still gave the Crown their support, and, on the 14th of February, 1326, Matilda of Ulster, acting on her husband’s behalf, summoned the House of Commons at Westminster without writs for any member of the Lords. Now acting on the interests of the state, Parliament agreed that anyone who spoke or acted against the Crown’s interest would be immediately arrested and their lands, titles, offices and wealth surrendered to the King. It was truly an act that the English Caesar – and his grandfather the Heretic – would’ve wanted.
However, the king would never see the actions of Parliament set course. In fact, he would never see Westminster or London again. The illness he had became madness, and shortly after, he was forced on orders of his own wife to be moved to Warwick Palace where he later died in August of 1326. His death marked closed the final chapter on the fall of the Vexin Empire, but opened a new chapter in England. With a king who was still a child, and a later regent appointed not by the king but by Parliament, over the next 15 years England would not be directly ruled by a monarch but by Parliament – an effective, yet brief, medieval democracy.
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