Archaeologia Volume 35 1853 XXXIII. On the following day [17 Nov 1357] we have recorded a visit, at dinner, of the "Comes de la March." It might be doubted whether the visitant here mentioned might not have been the Scotish nobleman Patrick Earl of Dunbar and March (age 72), who had recently delivered himself into the hands of the English sovereign as a hostage for the execution of the treaty of Berwick, confirmed on the 5th of October, 1357, for the release of King David. The probability, however, is stronger that the Queen's guest was Roger Mortimer, Earl of March (age 29), the grandson of her favourite. He had been restored to his honours and patrimony, having obtained the reversal of his grandfather's attainder in 1352. He was high in Edward the Third's confidence; was one of the first Knights of the Garter; and had been appointed Constable of Dover Castle, and Warden of the Cinque Ports. He appears to have been in England at the present time; and in the Account before us we find an entry which confirms the conjecture that it was the English, not the Scottish Earl who was intended. Under the head of donations is notice of a sum paid to four minstrels of the Earl of March, and two minstrels of the Earl of Salisbury, for performing before the Queen on the Feast of All Saints, November the first; and it seems highly improbable that the Scottish hostage would have been attended by his minstrels; while the connection of his name with that of the Earl of Salisbury is significant, as that nobleman was the then English Earl of March's brother in-law.

The visit of the Earl of March was, as we shall find, subsequently twice repeated, and then in company with the King, by whom, as Froissart tells us, "he was much loved," and the Prince of Wales. And thus we have an indication that time had scarcely weakened Isabella's fidelity to a criminal attachment; and that, although the actual object of it had been torn from her, she still cherished his memory, and sought her friends among those most nearly allied to him.

Calendars. 26. William Montague, Earl of Salisbury, submitted a petition in parliament, the tenor of which follows:

To our lord the king his liege William Montague, Earl of Salisbury, prays: whereas the most noble King Edward [III], your grandfather, by his letters patent gave and granted to William Montague, Earl of Salisbury and father of the said supplicant, whose heir he is, and to the heirs issuing from his body, with the clause of warranty of the said very noble King Edward [III] and his heirs, the castle, town and honour of Denbigh, and the cantreds of Rhos, Rhufiniog, and Cymeirch and the commote of Dinmael with their appurtenances in Wales, as plainly appears from the said letters patent: which castle, town, and honour, cantreds and commote, with their appurtenances, Roger Mortimer, late Earl of March, by the name of the land of Denbigh, in Trinity term, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of the said most noble King Edward [III] [18 June 1354-9 July 1354], before William Shareshull and his fellow justices assigned to hold the pleas before the said very noble King Edward [III], against the aforesaid supplicant, by erroneous judgment, recovered by a writ of scire facias, founded on a judgment given in the parliament held at Westminster on the Monday after the feast of St Mark the Evangelist in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of the said very noble King Edward [III], for the aforesaid Roger, on a petition showed by him to the said very noble King Edward [III] then, in the name of Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, son and heir of Edmund Mortimer, son and heir of Roger Mortimer; in which record and judgment on the said writ of scire facias there are patent errors.

May it please you of your gracious lordship to cause the full record to be brought before you, with all attachments to the same concerning the said writ of scire facias, in the present parliament, that they may be inspected and examined for error, and to forewarn Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, cousin and heir of the aforesaid Roger son of Edmund, and others who are to be forewarned in the matter, to be before you at the next parliament to hear the said errors; and if they know of anything to say wherefor the aforesaid judgment on the said writ of scire facias should not be reversed, and the aforesaid supplicant restored to his said possession with the issues and profits in the meantime since the said loss, and also to do right and justice to the parties in the aforesaid manner. Whereupon, the said petition having been read before the king and lords of parliament, the king ordered Sir Walter Clopton, his chief justice, to bring before the king and lords in parliament the record of which the said petition made mention above. Which record, on the king's command, was later brought to parliament before the king and lords, and there it was read in part, and certain errors therein were pointed out and alleged by the said Earl of Salisbury. Whereupon the king, by the assent and advice of the lords of parliament, the justices of the king there present, granted and ordered that the said earl have a writ of scire facias on the matter of the said petition, returnable at the next parliament, as the same petition mentions.