Edward III and the English Peerage

Patronage was central to medieval kingship, and a crucial facet of royal power. This book, the first in-depth examination of this crucial facet of royal power, offers a detailed analysis of how Edward III, one of the most successful and, to use a modern term, charismatic of medieval English monarchs, used royal favour to create a 'new nobility' and to reward and control the established peerage. Dr Bothwell shows how judicious use of largesse helped to produce domestic stability and encouraged the successful prosecution of foreign wars. Further, the study demonstrates how the nature of royal patronage came to reflect changes in feudalism, land law, finance, and the Church and the consequences of these changes for the more general history of medieval patronage, the evolution of the Lords and Commons, and the state of royal power both at the centre and in the localities. Overall, it is a clear, concise study of how Edward III used patronage to reposition the monarchy after the vicissitudes of his father's reign and a problematic minority. J.S. BOTHWELL is Lecturer in Later Medieval English History, University of Leicester.

Acknowledgements

viii

Abbreviations

ix

Introduction

1

(14)

The parliamentary peerage in early fourteenth-century England

2

(1)

The situation in 1330

3

(2)

The problem of peerage endowment

5

(3)

Scope and organisation of the book

8

(7)

PART ONE New Parliamentary Peerage Creations, 1330-77: the Sources and Uses of Royal Patronage

1 The 'new' nobility

15

(13)

Timeservers, old hands and problem cases

16

(2)

'New blood' promoted into the parliamentary peerage

18

(4)

Promotions into the titled nobility

22

(6)

2 Mechanisms of royal largesse

28

(18)

Reasons for patronage in grants and associated documents

28

(4)

Types of tenure

32

(5)

Feudal and financial obligations

37

(3)

Grant authorisations

40

(3)

Replacement and protection of royal patronage

43

(3)

3 Royal feudal rights

46

(32)

Escheats, expectancies and forteitures

47

(13)

Marriage rights and arrangements

60

(7)

Wardships and custodies

67

(11)

4 Annuities and assignments

78

(15)

Exchequer annuities

79

(3)

Source-based payments

82

(11)

5 Routine patronage

93

(20)

Offices and keeperships

94

(5)

Pardons and licences

99

(3)

Royal writs, orders and general influence

102

(3)

Symbolic preference

105

(8)

PART TWO The Impact and Rationale of Edward III's Patronage

6 Contemporary response

113

(25)

Individual response

114

(13)

General contemporary response

127

(11)

7 Distribution of royal favour

138

(16)

The new parliamentary peerage

138

(7)

The established peerage

145

(4)

Overall distribution to the parliamentary peerage

149

(5)

8 Kings, the parliamentary peerage and royal patronage in the later Middle Ages

154

(9)

The impact of Edward III's patronage programme

154

(2)

Patronage, promotion and the peerage after Edward III

156

(2)

The place of Edward III's use of largesse in the later Middle Ages

158

(3)

Appendices

161

(2)

Appendix key

163

(46)

1. The definition of 'new men' and other limitations on this study

165

(2)

2. Careers of major players

167

(3)

3. Escheats, expectancies and forfeitures

170

(14)

4. Marriage rights and arrangements

184

(8)

5. Wardships and custodies

192

(8)

6. Annuities

(a) Annuities granted

200

(3)

(b) Annuity payment rates

203

(3)

7. Principal geographical interests of new men

206

(3)

Bibliography

209

(13)

Index

222

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