The old seed of malice (2)

Corfe Castle In 1275 Prince Llywelyn of Wales decided to honour his commitment to marry Eleanor de Montfort, daughter of Earl Simon. They had been probably been betrothed in 1265, when Eleanor's father agreed terms with Llywelyn at Pipton. Simon was killed shortly afterwards at Evesham, but Eleanor's mother, the Countess Eleanor, stayed in touch with Llywelyn from her exile in France. 

King Edward was perfectly aware of their communication, and did his best to stop it. On 11 September Llywelyn wrote to Pope Gregory, informing him that he found it difficult to contact the papal court, since Edward's fleet kept watch on the seas.  In spite of the danger, at the end of 1275 Eleanor and her brother Amaury set sail from France for North Wales.

Their ship was intercepted in the Bristol Channel by a Cornish knight, Thomas Larchdeacon, a privateer in royal service. According to a letter Edward sent to the pope, the Montfort banner was discovered under the boards of the ship, along with a cache of weapons. Edward didn't need to use this as an excuse to seize the Montfort siblings: he had specifically forbidden Amaury from entering the kingdom in 1273, along with the exiled Montfortian bishop of Chichester.

The king suspected the Montforts of wishing to ally with Llywelyn so they could begin another civil war in England. Edward made these suspicions clear in a furious letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury in early 1276:

'We do not believe that you have forgotten how Simon de Montfort and all his family fought with all their strength against King Henry, our father, and ourselves and our men...Eleanor, his daughter, following the counsel of her relatives and friends, of whom there are many in our kingdom, arranged to marry the prince of Wales, believing, though wrongly, that through a marriage to the prince she could, by his power, spread abroad against us in the fullness of time the old seed of malice which her father had conceived, and which she could not spread about on her own.

But divine providence, which is infallible in its disposition, returned her to us unexpectedly, confounded by her own error...we are justly angered against her and her fellow conspirators, and no less against two brothers of the Dominican order, noblemen of Welsh birth, found and held in her company, since the said stratagems and schemes are said to have been due to their planning and ingenuity...since we do not believe that this marriage was contracted without the convenience and consultation of many people, we ask as a particular favour that you in your wisdom carefully question the said brothers about this.'

Eleanor was held  in captivity at Windsor for the next three years, while Amaury was imprisoned at the royal stronghold of Corfe Castle in Dorset. The king's treatment of Amaury was in direct contravention of clause 39 of the Great Charter, which stated that no man could be held in prison without trial:

"No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land."

So far as Edward was concerned, clause 39 of the Great Charter could take a running jump. He loathed the charter anyway and wasn't about to observe niceties towards people he regarded as enemies and traitors. Amaury had defended the murderers of Henry of Almaine; he had defied a royal mandate (twice) and tried to enter the realm; he had conspired with Edward's enemies; he had joined forces with an exiled prelate. The man was extremely lucky to be alive: if not for Edward's desire to end the blood-feud with the Montforts, he might have gone the same way as Prince Dafydd and William Wallace.

As it was, Amaury languished at Corfe, where he composed verses complaining bitterly of his ill-treatment. There was much sympathy for him, and both the English papacy and the papacy tried to persuade the king to let Amaury go. The bishops asked for him to be released into their custody, but Edward refused unless they could guarantee that Amaury would pose no threat to the kingdom or the church. 

Amaury's lot was eased in 1277 thanks to Edward's defeat of Prince Llywelyn. The king now felt secure enough to hand Amaury over to the bishops, though he was still a captive. In 1278 Edward relented further and allowed Eleanor's marriage to Llywelyn to go ahead. The happy couple sent frequent letters to the king, begging him in eloquent terms to release Amaury. Llywelyn privately contacted the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Pecham, and asked if he might send a servant to speak with Amaury. Pecham agreed in principle, but expressed his concern with the danger involved and the king's attitude if he found out. Amaury's fate was discussed in stormy Parliament sessions and church assemblies at the New Temple. 

Ironically, Edward finally agree to release Amaury in April 1282, a few weeks after Prince Dafydd's attack on Hawarden on Palm Sunday triggered another war in Wales. The king's decision might seem odd, but it could be that Amaury's presence in England threatened to complicate matters. He was required to swear an oath never to set foot in the kingdom, and then permitted to depart. We may be certain that Edward's servants accompanied him every step on the way to the coast.