Adam Gurdun: Like a Rolling Stone

And he just keeps a-rollin’. In 1297, two years after his appointment as custos of the Hampshire coast, Adam was once again summoned to his duty. The threat of French invasion had faded, but now civil war was in the air: a band of disgruntled Marcher barons had held their own unofficial ‘parliament’ in the Wyre Forest, in protest against Edward I’s grinding war taxes, and there were rumours of a rebel army gathering in the west.

With King Edward in Flanders, an emergency royal council was summoned to meet at Rochester. Adam Gurdun was among 220 knights ordered to attend the council with horses and arms on 8 September. These men were chosen for their loyalty to the king, and included many veterans of the Welsh wars. Eight days later Adam was back in Hampshire as a commissioner of array, raising troops to fight against fellow Englishmen. Presumably he knew nothing of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, fought on 11 September, where Andrew Murray and William Wallace won their famous victory over Earl Warenne. On 28 October the rebel earls appeared before the gates of London at the head of 1500 cavalry, nearly as many as fought at Falkirk the following year. They demanded entrance to the city and confirmation of the charters. In response the council summoned more knights from Kent and dared the earls to do their worst. For a few days England hovered on the brink.

At this point Adam did something remarkable. He was pushing 80, a respected soldier and county knight, but not in the top tier of magnates; he didn’t even hold any castles. Yet, on 10 October, he appeared before the council in London and offered to act as mediator between King Edward and the rebel barons: the writ states he engaged to ‘induce the King to remit his displeasure against the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk and John de Ferrers’. From this it appears Adam had some moderating influence over the king, implying a personal relationship between the old Montfortian and the prince he fought to a standstill in the Hampshire forests, thirty years past.

Whether Adam travelled to Flanders, or met Edward at Winchelsea when he returned to England in March the following year, is unknown. Ironically, the threat of civil war in England was averted by the Scottish victory at Stirling Bridge, which united the baronage behind their king. Adam is not listed among the great muster of English knight-service for the Falkirk campaign, but his fighting days were not done.