Channel, being under Sir William de Leybourne,[1] and one, in the Irish Sea, being under a knight named Ormond.[2] On June 26th, the barons of England were ordered to be at Portsmouth by September 1st, to accompany the king to Gascony; and in July Edward himself was at Portsmouth.[3] Meanwhile, wood was hewn for the equipment of above two hundred ships to carry horses; the keepers of all the ports were directed to suffer no man, ship, boat or vessel to quit the kingdom;[4] and John Baliol, King of Scots, who had done homage to Edward in 1292, was enjoined not to allow any ships or men to leave his country for abroad.[5]
The army destined for Gascony conisted of twenty thousand foot soldiers, with five hundred men-at-arms. It sailed from Portmouth on August 1st, but, off the Cornish coast, was dispersed by bad weather and driven into Plymouth,[6] whence it did not sail again until the beginning of October. Entering the Gironde, the fleet appeared about the 28th of the month in the Dordogne before Castilion, which place surrendered at once. Thence the expedition proceeded up the Garonne to St. Macaire, which submitted on the 31st. On the following day the ships anchored off Bourg. On November 8th they were off Blaye, whence they sailed to Bordeaux, where they remained for two days. Failing to reduce it, they again mounted the Garonne to Lieux, where the horses were landed after having been seventeen weeks and some days embarked.[7]
The main expedition was followed by the Earls of Lancaster and Lincoln with reinforcements, probably conveyed in vessels which the Cinque Ports had been ordered to send to Portsmouth by September 8th;[8] but this division did not sail until the spring of 1295. In the interval, in October, 1294, certain goods belonging to
- ↑ Sir William de Leybourne, Lord Leybourne, eldest son of Sir Roger de Leybourne, succeeded his father in 1272. After serving in Wales, he was made Constable of Pevensey Castle in 1293. In 1299 he was summoned to Parliament as a Baron. He held naval command in 1294 and 1297, and died in 1309.
- ↑ Trivet, 279.
- ↑ Gascon Rolls, 22 Edw. I. m. 9.
- ↑ Ib., 22 Edw. I. m. 2.
- ↑ 'Fœdera,' i. 801. Baliol was then supposed to be attached to the English interest.
- ↑ 'Plumeneye,' Knyghton.
- ↑ Knighton, col. 2498.
- ↑ Ib., 2507: 'Fœdera,' i. 809.
in Gascony in 1295, and against Scotland from 1298 to 1301, and again in 1309. Soon afterwards he was Governor of Framlingham Castle. He held naval commands in 1294, 1297, and 1315, and died in 1324.
