The career of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, with special reference to the period from 1312 to 1324

Abstract

The career of Aymercle Valence, Earl of Pembroke, is here studied with the intention of determining his part in the politics and the administration of the reign of Edward II. In doing so a special emphasis is placed upon study of his activities during the period between the summer of 1312 when the execution of the royal favourite, Gaveston, by the Earls of Lancaster and karwick caused Pembroke to break with them and their fellow Ordainers and return publically and 'unequivocally to his previous loyalty to the king, and Pembroke's death in 1324. The early part of Pembroke's career, from 1297 to 1312, is treated only in order to draw attention to the political attitudes and forms of experience which are significant for his later career. The choice of the years 1312 to 1324 for close study provides an opportunity to examine the part played by Pembroke in each of the political crises which punctuate the period and, in particular, to decide whether or not he was responsible for the creation of a "middle party" in the years 1317 and 1318. In the process of doing so existing studies of the reign and of Pembroke's part in it have been3re-examined in the light both of existing evidence and of much new material. The results of this study have been to show that throughout Pembroke's career his actions were usually governed by loyalty to the person of the king and that conversely the attitude of Edward II towards him was one of very close trust and personal friendship. Close examination of the events of 1317 and 1318 has shown that the traditional "middle party" interpretation is unsatisfactory in many respects and is best abandoned, and has also made it possible to modify existing ideas on the nature of the baronial opposition in the reign of Edward II.