Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster

Henry of Grosmont[lower-alpha 1] was the only son of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (c. 1281–1345); who in turn was the younger brother and heir of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster (c. 1278–1322).[2] They were sons of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245–1296); the second son of King Henry III (ruled 1216–1272) and younger brother of King Edward I of England (ruled 1272–1307). Henry of Grosmont was thus a first cousin once removed of King Edward II and a second cousin of King Edward III (ruled 1327–1377). His mother was Maud de Chaworth (1282–1322).[3] On his paternal grandmother's side, Henry of Grosmont was also the great-great-grandson of Louis VIII of France.[4]

Little is known of Grosmont's childhood and youth. Due to his uncle Thomas' increasingly hostile relations with King Edward II—culminating in his rebellion and execution in 1322—historian Kenneth Fowler suggests that this period "must have been quite eventful" and that Grosmount's "fortunes and opportunities were inextricably bound up with the tragic events of these years".[5] The year and place of his birth are not known with certainty. He is believed to have been born in about 1310 at Grosmont Castle in Grosmont, Monmouthshire, Wales.[6] According to his own memoirs he was a "good looking, youth. Tall fair and slim"[7] and better at martial arts than at academic subjects; he did not learn to read until later in life.[7] His education would have been orthodox, but in being so, produced the archetypal young noble admired at the time.[7]

Henry of Grosmont was the eventual heir of his wealthy uncle Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, who through his marriage to Alice de Lacy, daughter and heiress of Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln, had become the wealthiest peer in England. Constant quarrels between Thomas and his first cousin, King Edward II of England, led to his execution in 1322. Having no progeny, Thomas's possessions and titles went to his younger brother Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, Grosmont's father. Henry of Lancaster assented to the deposition of Edward II in 1327, but fell out of favour with the regency of his widow Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer. When Edward III, the son of Edward II, took personal control of the government in 1330, relations with the Crown improved, but by this time Henry of Lancaster was struggling with blindness and poor health.[8] He was able to attend the new king's coronation on 1 February 1327, where he knighted Edward.[9] Grosmont was knighted the same year, represented his father in Parliament and attended the King's council. He is known to have travelled a great deal between his father's estates, presumably supervising their management. In 1331 he participated in a royal tournament at Cheapside in the City of London.[6][10][lower-alpha 2] It was, argues Fowler, conducive to Lancastrian relations with the crown that the new King and Grosmont were of a similar age and interests,[7] and Grosmont was never to experience the reversals of fortune his father had faced.[12]

Originally heir to only the lordships of Beaufort and Monmouth, by 1327 it was looking probable that he would inherit most of the Lancastrian patrimony.[7] He was not yet independent from his father, from whom he received regular funds[13] – amounting to £666 in 1332 – as well as grants from the English crown as a reward for his service and in recognition of his lack of a personal income.[11] From early the next year, his father began transferring his South Wales estates into Grosmont's name, giving him an independent income.[11] In March 1337 he was one of six men Edward III promoted to higher levels of the peerage; one of his father's lesser titles, earl of Derby, was bestowed upon him. He was also granted a royal annuity of 1,000 marks[lower-alpha 3] (£990,000 as of 2022[lower-alpha 4]) for so long as his father lived, and a number of lucrative estates and perquisites were settled on him.[16][11] By this point Grosmont's future relationship with the crown was "actively assured" comments Fowler.[11]

The early 1340s were a period of financial constraint for Grosmont due to his acting as a broker for a number of loans between the King and Flemish bankers. As well as undergoing a number of periods of imprisonment as a debtor, Grosmont was eventually to raise numerous large sums, including £969 to gain the release of the royal crown, which Edward had pawned, and £1,500 worth of jewels to free the King after he had offered himself as security for loans.[17]

In 1328 Edward III's regents had agreed to the Treaty of Northampton with Robert Bruce, King of Scotland (r. 1306–1329), but this was widely resented in England and commonly known as turpis pax, "the cowards' peace". Some Scots nobles refused to swear fealty to Bruce and were disinherited. They left Scotland to join forces with Edward Balliol, son of King John Balliol (r. 1292–1296),[18] whom Edward I had deposed in 1296.[19] One of these was Grosmont's father-in-law, Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan and veteran campaigner of the First War of Scottish Independence. Robert Bruce died in 1329; his heir was 5-year-old David II (r. 1329–1371). In 1330 Edward III, who had recently assumed his full powers, made a formal request to the Scottish Crown to restore Beaumont's lands which was refused. In 1331 the disinherited Scottish nobles gathered in Yorkshire, and led by Balliol and Beaumont plotted an invasion of Scotland. Edward III was aware of the scheme but turned a blind eye. Balliol's forces sailed for Scotland on 31 July 1332. Five days after landing in Fife, Balliol's force of some 2,000 men met the Scottish army of 12,000–15,000 men and crushed them at the Battle of Dupplin Moor. Balliol was crowned king of Scotland at Scone on 24 September 1332.[19] Balliol's support within Scotland was limited and within six months it had collapsed. He was ambushed by supporters of David II at the Battle of Annan a few months after his coronation and fled to England half-dressed and riding bareback. He appealed to Edward III for assistance.[20]

On 10 March Balliol, the disinherited Scottish lords and some English magnates crossed the border and laid siege to the Scottish town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.[21] Six weeks later a large English army under Edward III joined them, bringing the total number of besiegers to nearly 10,000.[22] Grosmont was present at the siege, but it is not known if he marched with his father-in-law and Balliol, or with the main English effort.[23] The Scots felt compelled to attempt to relieve the siege and an army of 20,000 men attacked the English at the Battle of Halidon Hill, 2 miles (3.2 km) from Berwick. Under intense bow-fire the Scottish army broke, the camp followers made off with the horses and the fugitives were pursued by the mounted English knights. Scottish casualties were numbered in thousands, including their commander and five earls dead on the field.[24] Scots who surrendered were killed on Edward's orders and some drowned as they fled into the sea.[25] English casualties were reported as fourteen; some chronicles give a lower figure of seven.[26] About a hundred Scots who had been taken prisoner were beheaded the next morning, 20 July.[27] It is presumed that Grosmont took part in the battle, but it is possible that he was part of the detachment posted to ensure that the garrison of Berwick did not sally.[23] Berwick surrendered the day after the battle and Grosmont witnessed and sealed the articles of surrender and, a little later, the town's new charter.[23]

Having sworn fealty to David II and because Balliol intended to make Scotland subservient to the English, most Scots refused to accept Balliol as their monarch. In December 1334 Grosmont accompanied Edward III to Roxburgh in Scotland. The English force of 4,000 accomplished little and withdrew in February. Grosmont was a member of Edward III's negotiation team when a brief truce was agreed shortly after at Nottingham. In July Grosmont accompanied Edward III on another invasion of Scotland, with an army of 13,000 – for the time an extremely large force. Scotland was quelled as far north as Perth and Grosmont took a senior role in raiding deeper into the country.[28] In 1336 Grosmont was given command of 500 men-at-arms and 1,000 longbowmen and marched to Perth. Informed that the widow of the Earl of Atholl was besieged in Lochindorb Castle, Grosmont led a small force to rescue her and raise the siege, which he had achieved by 16 July. He was given full plenipotentiary powers by the King. After Edward III reached Perth with the main English army, Grosmont was despatched on a long-range raid to Aberdeen, 80 miles (100 km) away. He returned after two weeks, having razed Aberdeen and devastated the country on the way.[29] Edward went south for six weeks, leaving Grosmont in charge of English-occupied Scotland. Believing that he would soon be at war with France, Edward withdrew most of his forces from Scotland in mid-1336 and sent Grosmont to London to plan the defence of the English Channel ports from the mouth of the Thames westward.[30] By May the following year he was once again in Scotland—accompanied by the Earls of Warwick and of Arundel—and by the time he returned to London, war with France had commenced.[31][lower-alpha 5] Fowler suggests that "while in all these military enterprises Henry seldom played a leading role, they formed an invaluable apprenticeship for the years ahead".[34]

Grosmont's first trip abroad was probably to Brabant in 1332.[35] Six years later he travelled with Edward III to Flanders, which began inauspiciously when the King was "unable to pay or induce" his erstwhile allies to attack the French.[36] Grosmont attended Edward's ostentatious meeting with the Holy Roman Emperor, Louis IV, at Coblenz. This was a diplomatic mission amidst much pageantry; Edward III concluded agreements with a number of rulers, including Louis, whereby they would provide troops in exchange for payment. Edward was appointed Imperial vicar. To cement the Flemish alliance, and on account of Edward's shortage of money, Grosmont and the Earl of Salisbury were imprisoned as sureties for Edward providing the balance of payment due his allies.[36][lower-alpha 6] Throughout the year French naval forces ravaged the English south coast.[38] Edward III planned to invade France with his army of allies in 1339, but was finding it impossible to raise the money to pay them; he and his ambassadors had committed him to far greater expense than he could fund. Grosmont led part of Edward III's army when it finally invaded France in September 1339.[39][36] Cambrai was besieged, the area around it devastated, and an unsuccessful attempt made to storm the town. The allied army pressed further into France, but the French refused to battle. In mid-October, the French issued a formal challenge to battle. Edward accepted and occupied a strong defensive position at La Capelle which the French declined to attack;[40] Grosmont commanded a detachment.[36] Having run out of provisions, money and weather suitable for campaigning, the allied army withdrew and dispersed. Grosmont arrived in Brussels with the army at the end of October, where the campaign was celebrated with a tournament.[40]

From 29 March to 3 April 1340 Grosmont attended Parliament in London, where a substantial subsidy was voted to the crown.[41] Meanwhile, encouraged by Edward III, the Flemings, vassals of Philip VI, revolted during the winter. They joined forces with Edward's continental allies and launched an April offensive, which failed. A French offensive against these forces commenced on 18 May, meeting with mixed fortunes; Edward's outnumbered allies were desperate for the English army to reinforce them.[42]

Grosmont was present at the great English victory in the naval Battle of Sluys in June 1340.[36] The outnumbered English fleet attacked the French and captured or sank 190 of their 213 ships.[43] French losses were between 16,000 and 20,000 killed.[44][45] The joint French commanders were both captured and one was hanged from the mast of his own ship, while the other was beheaded.[46] Soon after Grosmont was required to commit himself as a hostage in the Low Countries to merchants who had covered the debts – amounting to £9,450 – the King had incurred.[47] Since Grosmont had personally bound himself to a number of Edward's creditors, he was imprisoned as a debtor. He remained hostage until the next year and had to pay a large ransom for his release.[48] He was only able to join the English army when it laid siege to Tournai as a result of promising that if he did not pay in full he would return voluntarily for a period of further imprisonment.[47] In September Grosmont was part of the embassy which signed the Truce of Espléchin, a five-year suspension of the fighting.[47] Edward was unable to raise the necessary funds to repay his loans and on 25 September Grosmont returned to Malines to, as the King wrote in October, "lay in prison" again.[49] Grosmont was not treated poorly, although the King probably exaggerated his situation for domestic consumption. Grosmont was allowed out on parole to attend jousts several times and received five marks a day expenses.[49] He eventually raised three loans between May and August 1341 to release his bond. Numerous other costs and charges were still due, negotiations over which dragged on until the next year when the King took over the debts.[49]

On his return, he was made the king's lieutenant in the north, or Scotland, and stayed at Roxburgh until 1342 when a six-month truce allowed a number of jousts and tournaments to take place.[17] The next years he spent in diplomatic negotiations in the Low Countries, Castile and Avignon.[6]

Coats of Arms of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, and his successors

In 1345, while Grosmont was in France, his father died. The younger Henry was now Earl of Lancaster – the wealthiest and most powerful peer of the realm. He also inherited the Barony of Halton. After he participated in the Siege of Calais in 1347, the king honoured Lancaster by including him as a founding member and the second knight of the Order of the Garter in 1348.[87] In the same year Alice de Lacy died and her life holdings (which she had retained after Thomas of Lancaster was executed), including the Honour of Bolingbroke and Bolingbroke Castle, passed to Grosmont. In 1351 Edward bestowed an even greater honour on Lancaster when he created him Duke of Lancaster. The title of duke was of relatively new origin in England; only one other English ducal title had previously existed.[lower-alpha 9][lower-alpha 10]

In addition to this, the dukedom was given palatinate powers over the county of Lancashire, which entitled Grosmont to administer it virtually independently of the crown.[88] This grant was quite exceptional in English history; only two other counties palatine existed: Durham, which was an ancient episcopal palatinate, and Chester, which was held by the crown. It is a sign of Edward's high regard for Lancaster that he bestowed such extensive privileges on him. The two men were second cousins through their great-grandfather King Henry III and practically coeval (Edward was born in 1312), so it is natural to assume that a strong sense of camaraderie existed between them. Another factor that might have influenced the King's decision was the fact that Henry had no male heir, so the grant of the earldom was effectively made for Grosmont's lifetime only, and not expected to be hereditary.[6]

Returning to Brittainy from the Loire campaign, Grosmont laid siege to its capital, Rennes.[127] He participated in the last great offensive of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War: the Rheims campaign of 1359–1360. Then he was appointed principal negotiator for the Treaty of Brétigny. This ended the Hundred Year's War with the English achieving very favourable terms.[6]

After returning to England in November 1360, he fell ill early the next year, and died at Leicester Castle on 23 March 1361. It is possible that the cause of death was the plague, which that year was making a second visitation to England.[132] Mortimer argues against the plague being the cause of death, as Grosmont made his will ten days before his death, a space of time inconsistent with the usual swift progress of the plague and his illness and death in early 1361 is inconsistent with reports of the spread of plague in England beginning in May. He was buried in the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke, Leicester, which he had built within the religious and charitable institution founded by his father next to Leicester Castle, and where he had reburied his father some years previously.[133]

By the time of his death, Grosmont had participated in 15 military missions, leading 6 of them; been the King's lieutenant 7 times; led 6 significant embassies; and taken part in 12 truce conferences.[134] A chronicler writing thirty-five years after his death described him as "one of the best warriors in the world".[135]

First page of the Livre, from Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 218[136]

Grosmont's mother died when he was about 12 and he first appears in official records at the age of 14. At about age 18, he married Isabel of Beaumont; daughter of Henry de Beaumont, Earl of Buchan and veteran campaigner of the First War of Scottish Independence.[137] He and Isabel had two daughters. The eldest was Maud of Lancaster (4 April 1340 – 10 April 1362), who married William I, Duke of Bavaria in 1352.[138] The younger was Blanche of Lancaster (25 March 1345/1347 – 12 September 1368), who married her third cousin John of Gaunt (1340–1399), the third of five surviving sons of Edward III. Gaunt inherited Lancaster's possessions, and he was granted the ducal title the following year, but it was not until 1377, when Edward was largely incapacitated, that Gaunt was able to recover the palatinate rights for the County of Lancaster. When Gaunt's son by Blanche, Henry of Bolingbroke, usurped the crown in 1399 and became King Henry IV, the vast Lancaster inheritance, including the Honour of Bolingbroke and the Lordship of Bowland, was merged with the Crown as the Duchy of Lancaster.[139]

More is known about Lancaster's character than that of most of his contemporaries through his memoirs, the Livre de Seyntz Medicines ("Book of the Holy Doctors"), a highly personal treatise on matters of religion and piety, also containing details of historical interest. It reveals that Lancaster, at the age of 44 when he wrote the book in 1354, suffered from gout.[6] The book is primarily a devotional work, organised around seven wounds which Henry claimed to have received, representing the seven deadly sins. Lancaster confesses to his sins, explains various real and mythical medical remedies in terms of their theological symbolism, and exhorts the reader to greater morality.[140]

A third generation of the House of Lancaster, Henry was related to the most prominent people in early 14th-century England.[141]

• Online version of Livre de seyntz medicines (in the original Anglo-Norman)
• Inquisition Post Mortem #118, dated 1361.