A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



demanded the removal of aliens and the restitution of their lands to the 

 * Disinherited.' n London admitted him on 8 April. 74 Four days later 

 he was joined by D'Eyville and other disinherited lords from the north, 

 but he forced them to remain outside the City until after Easter 

 (17 April). 7 ' Hearing of Gloucester's action, the king marched south, 

 raising as many men as he could by borrowing on the shrines, jewels, and 

 relics of Westminster. 7 * He met Prince Edward at Cambridge, and 

 together they went to Windsor, where the royal army daily increased. 77 

 Gloucester and his friends were somewhat dismayed and sent overtures 

 of peace which, however, were not well received. Whereupon they 

 'appointed' to give the king battle upon Hounslow Heath on 5 May. 

 Their hearts failed them, however, for ' the king coming thither in the 

 morning found no man to resist him,' and after he had stayed there awhile, 

 he marched towards London and passing into Essex, took up his abode 

 at Stratford Abbey, while his army encamped about (East) Ham. 78 The 

 king of the Romans again acted as mediator, and after several weeks of 

 negotiation peace was concluded, 79 the earl of Gloucester receiving 

 liberal terms for himself and the ' Disinherited,' and a pardon for the 

 citizens of London who had taken his part. 80 



We hear nothing of Middlesex during the early years of Edward I. 

 During the latter half of his reign the effects of the king's pecuniary 

 difficulties fell on the county as on the rest of England. Repeated orders 

 were sent to the sheriff for the enforcement of knighthood. In one in- 

 stance, in February, 1292, all freeholders of land of the annual value of 

 40 were ordered to receive knighthood, and in January, 1293, the estates 

 of defaulters were seized by the king's orders. 81 In 1294 war was declared 

 against France, and Middlesex sent a quota of men to follow the king 

 into Gascony. 82 The following year 4,000 cross-bow men and archers 

 were supplied by Middlesex, with Essex, Herts, and London, to meet at 

 Winchelsea in readiness to cross the seas. 88 



Edward was forced, by the need of money for the Scottish war, to 

 promise the re-confirmation of the charters on his return from the 

 Scottish campaign of 1298. A great council, therefore, was held at 

 Stepney on 8 March, 1299, in the house of Henry Walleis, mayor of 

 London. 8 * The earls pressed Edward to fulfil his promise, but the king 

 refused to give his answer till the following day. In the night he left 

 the City and took up his quarters in the suburbs, 86 declaring to the lords 

 who followed him, the next day, that he removed for the sake of the 

 purer air. He agreed to the confirmation of the charters, however, and it 

 was not until the people were assembled at St. Paul's Churchyard that 



71 Rishanger, Chron. (Camd. Soc.), 59. 



74 Stow, Annals, 196 ; Matt. Westm. Thr. Hut. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 15. 



n Diet. Nat. Bug. x, 340. " Holinshed, Chnm. ii, 471. 



77 Matt. Westm. flor. Hist. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 15. 



m T. Wykes, Chnm. 202 ; Stow, Annals, 196. 



n r J une > I2 66. . * Stow, Annals, 196 ; Holinshed, Chrm. ii, 472. 



Writ to the Sheriff of Middlesex, Letter-Book K, fol. 25. 



1 Palgrave, Part. Writs (Rec. Com.), i, 259. Ibid, i, 270. 



* Stow, Annals, 207. W. Hemingburgh, Chrm. (Engl. Hist. Soc.), ii, 183. 



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