Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-22

Thesis

This thesis studies the career of Thomas of Lancaster from Edward II’s accession to the earl's execution in 1322. It opens with an analysis of Lancaster's ancestry, lands, wealth, and retinue, the four factors which made him the most powerful noble of his day and from which he drew his political strength. The cost and size of the retinue are discussed and it is suggested that the maintenance of a large following, together with other necessary expenditure on building and display, was mainly responsible for the earl's continuous pressure on his lands. New evidence drawn from petitions is used to show that while Lancaster may have been a generous lord to his knights his generosity could only function at the expense of his tenants and neighbours. Lack of material makes any full consideration of his economic position impossible, but from the rather fragmentary evidence available it seems likely that Lancaster, in spite of his vast lands, was in financial difficulties for much of his life. The bulk of the thesis deals with Lancaster's role in the political history of the reign. At first friendship and profit bound him to the crown, as the concessions made to him both by Edward I and his son make clear, but from 1303 onwards he was in almost continuous opposition to the king. He was probably the guiding force behind the establishment of the Ordainers and the responsibility for Gaveston's execution was almost certainly his. A dissection of the events leading to the execution and of the negotiations following it shows the pains which the opposition took to defend its actions and how its whole case rested on Gaveston's extra-legal status at the time of his death; this does something to counterbalance the usual picture of Edward II's barons as men who were entirely lacking in political ability and who were motivated only by self-interest.

Continued in thesis ...

Authors: Maddicott, JR

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-rvyxxpqba
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: 14th century; fourteenth century; politics; Thomas, Earl of Lancaster; Great Britain; government; Thomas of Lancaster
• Subjects: Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, 1277?-1322; Great Britain--Politics and government--1154-1399