The Death of a King

Edward on the few occasions he had visited Berkeley, before his wife started to play the two-backed beast with Mortimer. Why?” he added abruptly. “Who else could it have been? Don’t forget the corpse was also seen by Edward II’s family and leading courtiers.” I hastened to explain that Mortimer’s ruffians could have so ill-treated the king that they might have substituted his corpse with another. Novile laughed outright and, shaking his head with amusement, led me by the arm into the cathedral.
    We walked up the main aisle, genuflected to the high altar and turned left towards the decorated tabernacle of Edward II’s tomb. It is truly magnificent. On a huge white slab hewn out of pure marble rests a life-like effigy of the murdered king, resplendent in marble robes and crown. Above this is an intricately carved canopy of stone, supported by slim pillars which allow the visitors to view but not touch the beautiful effigy. Novile explained that the tomb was erected by the king’s son. As I studied it, I suddenly realized that there was something further amiss. All English kings are buried at Westminster so why had Edward II been buried here? Because he had been deposed? Or simply out of convenience? I remembered the chronicle of St Paul had maintained that no church, except Gloucester, was willing to accept the royal corpse, for fear of offending Mortimer. I put this to Novile, who stoutly denied it. He remembered a monk from Westminster coming to Berkeley to claim the king’s corpse, but, on Mortimer’s orders, Ockle and Guerney had rejected the request out of hand. Novile also pointed out that Gloucester was a natural choice. The abbot at the time, Thoki, was a relative of Mortimer, the cathedral was near Berkeley, whilst a funeral procession to Westminster might have only provoked riots in favour of a king whose stupid errors had been wiped out by his sudden death. I was impressed by such arguments but I could see Novile was becoming bored and I suggested a quick return to the castle.
    The following morning I left Berkeley. I thanked Lord Berkeley for his hospitality and travelled as quickly as possible back to London. I arrived back safely on Friday evening and decided to spend Saturday and Sunday, not on affairs of state, but in gentle dalliance with Kate. The wench pouted at my absence but quickly forgave me when I took her to purchase a silver gewgaw in Lombard Street.
    On Monday I began my research in the library of Westminster Abbey. I did find numerous petitions from the abbey that Edward II be buried there, as well as the expenses of one of the monks, John Jargolio, who had travelled to Berkeley in a vain at tempt to secure possession of the royal corpse. He had travelled to Gloucestershire to seek an interview with Mortimer. This had been refused. Instead, he had to content himself with Guerney who curtly instructed him that Queen Isabella had decided that Gloucester would be the final resting-place for her husband. The report gave nothing else and so I spent the rest of the week delving into more records to draw up a file on Dunheved’s attack on Berkeley Castle. Dunheved himself is not mentioned in any official account until 1 August, 1327, when a warrant was issued for the arrest for “divers crimes” of Thomas Dunheved, his brother Stephen, William Aylmer, John Butler, Peter de la Rockle and Thomas de la Haye. Two weeks later Dunheved was arrested in Yorkshire and committed to Pontefract Castle. The rest of his gang were rounded up by the end of September and thrown into the Fleet prison in London. I checked the expense rolls of both Ponte-fract and Fleet (whose rolls are always sent to the Exchequer as the gaolers claim for the upkeep of their prisoners) and I was surprised to find that by December, 1327, neither Dunheved nor any of his companions had been brought to trial as they had all died from a variety of gaol diseases.
    So, Richard, I now have an arm-long list of questions which I cannot answer.
    Item—why did the expenses for Edward II suddenly end on 21 July?
    Item—what happened during the Dunheved attack on Berkeley Castle?
    Item—why did the official accounts omit any reference to an attack on Berkeley Castle, but merely accuse Dunheved of “divers crimes”?
    Item—why was Dunheved not brought to trial? And, rank though our prisons be, surely it is strange that he and all his collaborators died of gaol fever within three months of their arrest?
    Item—why was an