Froissart. Oct 1326. AND then this tiding spread about the realm so much, that at the last it came to the knowledge of the lords by whom the [his mother] queen (age 31) was called again into England. And they apparelled them in all haste to come to [his brother] Edward (age 13) her son, whom they would have to their sovereign lord. And the first that came and gave them most comfort was Henry earl of Lancaster (age 45) with the wry neck, called Tort Col, who was brother to Thomas earl of Lancaster, beheaded as ye have heard herebefore, who was a good knight and greatly recommended, as ye shall hear after in this history. This earl Henry (age 45) came to the queen (age 31) with great company of men of war, and after him came from one part and other earls, barons, knights and squires, with so much people that they thought them clean out of perils, and always increased their power as they went forward. Then they took counsel among them that they should ride straight to the town of Bristow [Map], whereas the [his father] king (age 42) was, and with him the Spencers. The which was a good town and a strong, and well closed, standing on a good port of the sea, and a strong castle, the sea beating round about it. And therein was the king (age 42) and Sir Hugh Spencer the elder (age 65), who was about ninety of age, and Sir Hugh Spencer (age 40) his son, who was chief governour of the king (age 42) and counselled him in all his evil deeds. Also there was the earl of Arundel (age 20), who had wedded the daughter (age 14) of sir Hugh Spencer (age 40), and di at Bristow, and besieged the town round about as near as they might: and the king (age 42) and sir Hugh Spencer the younger (age 40) held them in the castle [Map], and the old sir Hugh Spencer (age 65) and the earl of Arundel (age 41) held them in the town. And when the people of the town saw the great power that the queen (age 31) was of (for almost all England was of her accord), and perceived what peril and danger evidently they were in, they took counsel among themselves and determined that they would yield up the town to the queen (age 31), so that their lives and goods might be saved. And so they sent to treat with the queen and her council in this matter; but the queen nor her council would not agree thereto without she might do with sir Hugh Spencer (age 65) and with the earl of Arundel (age 20) what it pleased her. When the people of the town saw they could have no peace otherwise, nor save the town nor their goods nor their lives, in that distress they accorded to the queen (age 31) and opened the gates, so that the queen (age 31) and sir John of Hainault (age 38), and all her barons, knights and squires, entered into the town and took their lodgings within, as many as might, and the residue without. Then sir Hugh Spencer (age 65) and the earl of Arundel (age 20) were taken and brought before the queen (age 31), to do her pleasure with them. Then there was brought to the queen her own children, John her son (age 10) and her two daughters [Note. [his sister] Eleanor of Woodstock Plantagenet (age 8) and [his sister] Joan of the Tower Queen Consort Scotland (age 5)], the which were found there in the keeping of the said sir Hugh Spencer (age 65), whereof the queen had great joy, for she had not seen them long 'before. Then the king (age 42) might have great sorrow and sir Hugh Spencer the younger (age 40), who were fast enclosed in the strong castle, and the most part of all the realm turned to the queen's part and to Edward (age 13) her eldest son.

Effigy of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall. John of Eltham 1st Earl Cornwall

WAS the second son of Edward the Second by his Queen Isabella (age 42), and was horn at the Palace of the English Kings at Eltham in Kent [Map], on the Feast of the Blessed Virgin's Assumption 1316. In the second year of the reign of his elder brother, Edward III (age 24) he was created Earl of Cornwall. In the following year, the King going to France to do homage for the Dukedom of Aquitaine, he was appointed his Lieutenant for the Kingdom, as he was also on the King's expedition into Scotland in 1330. In the course of the above periods he had grants of numerous Lordships from the Crown^a, the town of Lostwithiel (in the neighbourhood of Restormel Castle, the principal seat of the Earls of Cornwall in the County), all the wreck, port dues, issues, and profits of the district, the farm of the City of Exeter, the stannaries, and coinage or customs on stamping the tin in the County of Devon. In 1333 and 1334 he was with King Edward III in his expeditions into Scotland, and died at Berwick-upon-Tweed [Map] in October of the latter year. About the festival of Christmas, the King, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, returned out of Scotland to celebrate his obsequies in the Abbey Church of Westminster, where he was interred on the south side of the Choir. The Prior and Convent claimed £400 in lieu of his horse and armour, which, according to the custom, should have been presented as an offering at the altar of their Church. John of Eltham was but twenty-eight years of age at his death, and was never married. Various matches were proposed for him, as with Joan, the daughter of the Earl of Eu; Mary, the daughter of the Earl of Blois; Mary (age 18), daughter of Ferdinand Lord Lara in Castile, which last proposal came to a formal contract, rendered abortive bv his demise.

Nothing can be finer in its way than the sculpture of this effigy. There is no departure from the very usual recumbent attitude, the hands raised in prayer and the legs crossed; but there is a most beautiful simplicity in the whole figure, while the details of the arms and drapery are marked with elegant precision.

Details. Plate I. Portion of the head, with the ducal crown and mantelet depending from the lace; ornaments on the sword belt, handle, and scabbard of the sword; scalloped border of an aqueton, or some defence under the surcoat. Plate II. Ornaments on the top of the hood, or basinet, whichever it may be; plating of the gauntlets, pryck spur and leathers, plates on the solerette, buckle of the spur, with tongue of the strap.

Note a. See Dugdaie's Baronage, vol. 1. p. 207.