The fall of Adam

Adam’s downfall.

Adam Gurdun’s time in the sun was very brief. After the battle of Evesham the Montfortian regime crumbled into dust, and the late earl’s garrisons went down like ninepins. Soon after the battle Roger Mortimer, Adam’s former captain, stormed into the southwest to crush the rebels in Somerset before rejoining Henry III at Winchester. By 22 August he was in possession of Adam’s stronghold at Dunster. There is no hint of a siege or assault, and it seems Adam simply abandoned the castle and fled. This was standard tactics: nobody with any sense wanted to be bottled up inside four walls with no hope of relief. It may be that Adam struck a deal with Mortimer, since they were old mates, and was allowed to depart unmolested.

That was not the end. Adam now turned outlaw and charged off into Buckinghamshire at the head of a company of ‘free lances’. The sheriff of Bucks, Geoffrey le Rus, later complained that Adam’s men had prevented him from holding tourns (a bi-annual inspection of the hundreds of the shire) and collecting rents. Rus alleged he was:

“Impeded by Adam Gurdon, David de Uffington, John Russell, and others of the island [Ely]. Could not hold tourns in the two magni comitatus in Bucks. Damages estimated at 10 marks”.

This shows that Adam was now in cahoots with the rebels of Ely, who came down from the north and garrisoned Hereward the Wake’s old stronghold in the spring of 1266. In proper tragic style, Adam was about to be shafted by one of his own. Shortly before Ascension Day (30 May) one of his men, Robert Chadd, stole away from the outlaw camp and told the Lord Edward where he might find Adam’s hideout. The sneak.