Wherein a Bigod sallies forth from Norwich Castle, takes on a king and wins!
Edward the First, known as Edward Longshanks for being … er … a little over six feet tall, spent the first few months of his reign valiantly attempting to reform common law and to regulate criminal and property legislation. He also built a new palace up against the north wall of Norwich Castle, which later became used as the Shirehall before being flattened in the late eighteenth century to make way for Sir John Soane's prison (later chapter).
As I write (December, 2020), the archæologists are grubbing around in that area, under the now-demolished 1960s café, in an attempt to trace the lower walls and foundations. Exciting stuff for we dirt-nerds.
Like his dad before him, however, Edward Longshanks soon found that legislative reform was too much like hard work and so he reverted to type and declared war on Wales, Scotland and France in short order.
This was not a cheap option for a cash-strapped kingdom so Edward did what Plantagenet kings always did and taxed all and sundry extortionately to pay for mercenary armies. In addition, especially in Norwich, where the community was particularly large and prosperous, he took out huge loans from the Jews (who should have suspected his motives after Richard the First's refusal to pay back his debts and his forcing the Jews to wear a star of David, à la 1930s Nazi Germany).
Once Edward had bled them dry he issued the Statute of Jewry, which effectively outlawed usury and meant that the Jews wouldn't be getting their money back (again). In 1290 he went further and expelled all Jews from Britain, appropriating (for which read "stealing") all their remaining property, lands and houses. Nice man …
By-the-bye, if you want to get really fucking angry I may at some future point post my essay on the events following Monday 21st March 1144, the so-called martyrdom of Saint William of Norwich. This, via the hideous, anti-semitic ravings of bigoted psychopath Thomas of Monmouth, led to pogroms across Europe, murdered Jewish families whose bodies are still being found by Norwich archæologists and was the acknowledged source for the Blood Libel, revived in the late nineteenth century which gave us Hitler and such white supremacist filth as Trump's favourite Proud Boys and the Q-Anon conspiracy nutjobs who still peddle it to the gullible and feeble-minded today. Grr … Argh, etc.
But getting back to our Eddie, even with this obscene extortion he still found himself short of the cash to fund his pointless wars and so he now heaped an additional tax on wool, an act know as "maltolt" (bad tax) by the wool merchants of Norwich.
So once again a Bigod sallied forth from Norwich Castle. Roger, son of Hugh, son of Roger and father of another Hugh, rebelled against the tax and together with Humphrey de Bohun, Constable of England, he drew up a series of complaints known as The Remonstrances.
Undeterred, King Edward the Potato demanded yet another tax, resulting in Roger Bigod and Humphrey de Bohun turning up fully armed at the Exchequer to forcibly prevent the collection of the taxes.
The king relented and - after much ado with Robert the Bruce, which does not concern us here, died of (you guessed it) arse gravy; a lingering bout of dysentery happily lasting from May through July of 1307.
Nasty death for a nasty man …
Edward the First was later to become blessed with the soubriquet "Hammer of the Scots" but this was not contemporary and was chiselled into his tomb in the sixteenth century by the entertainingly named Abbot Feckenham.
After the discovery of the New World, King Edward more famously became a type of potato.
Roger Bigod returned to Norwich Castle, now promoted to Marshal of England and resumed the family habit of happily plundering the citizens.
Next time, a brief diversion involving kniphofia, after which we look at Norwich Castle's transformation from royal palace into royal prison and torture chamber. Bring rubber gloves and a mop.
Sources:
Norfolk Museums Service and the Norfolk Archæological Society
East Anglian Archæology Vol. 132: Norwich Castle: Excavations and Historical Survey: 1978-1988: Part 1: Anglo-Saxon to c.1345: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2009
Gesta Stephani: In translation by K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis: Oxford Mediæval Texts: 1976
The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign: Edmund King (ed): 1994
Norwich Castle Keep: Romanesque Architecture and Social Context: T. A. Heslop: 1994
Stephen and Matilda : The Civil War of 1139 - 1153: Jim Bradbury: 2005
The Norman Connections - Castle: Part 1: Norwich Castle: Elizabeth Shepherd-Popescu: 2010
Mediæval Norwich: ed: Carole Rawcliffe & Richard Wilson: 2004
Francis
Blomefield: An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of
Norfolk: Volume 3: The History of the City and County of Norwich: 1753
to 1775
2 comments:
There is little in this world as compelling as ancient history and the places where it happened. I love your posts, can't wait to come and see what the archaeologists are digging up. I'll bet you didn't know that I subscribe to only two publications: one is Audiofile Magazine, the magazine of my trade. The other is Archaeology Magazine. I read every issue cover to cover and I have kept them all for years.
Yay for dirt-nerds! My subscription is Current Archæology (UK version). I also collect Norfolk Archæology reports which City Books in Norwich sells for 50p each, going back to the 1930s. Great reading.
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