Kissing cousins (3)

Philip III of France was not deterred by the failure of his efforts to invade Castile in 1276. Throughout 1277 war was still imminent, despite the best efforts of the pope to broker peace. By this point war had broken out in Wales, and Edward I of England was no longer in a position to help Philip. In October 1277, during the last stages of the Welsh war, Edward wrote to excuse himself from military service and informed Philip that two envoys, Maurice de Craon and Jean de Grailly, would travel to France to explain his position.

Alfonso of Castile

As a friend bound by responsible ties to his brother-in-law, King Alfonso, Edward decided to try and make peace between France and Castile. It was a slow process, and two years passed before Alfonso agreed to enter into negotiations for a truce. He also agreed to entrust Edward with the task of mediating peace at a formal conference. The truce was made at Paris in spring 1280, and in May Alfonso publicly thanked Edward for his good offices as peace-maker.

Alfonso then dramatically changed his tune. At the same time as he thanked Edward, he sent envoys to Charles of Salerno asking him to replace the English king as mediator. His change of mind caused a great stir in Europe. Philip III was baffled, and thought that Edward must have offended Alfonso by freezing him out of treaty negotiations at Amiens. In fact Edward had kept Alfonso fully informed of the talks at Amiens and received a warm letter of thanks in return, along with congratulations that Edward had managed to acquire the county of Ponthieu. Margaret of France, Edward’s aunt, expressed surprise at the incident in a letter to her nephew.

So what was Alfonso’s beef? His behaviour was odd. In July 1280 Edward’s agents in Paris reported to their master that Castilian agents were spreading malicious reports against Edward in the French court. Fortunately Philip refused to believe them, while Edward was more amused than concerned. In a letter to the French king, he surmised that Alfonso must have considered him ‘slothful and sleepy’ in defending the interests of Castile, and thus taken offence. Again one is left with the impression that this was just one big family row, in which everyone indulged in gossip and laughed at silly cousin Alfonso making a fool of himself. 

The English king’s response was to invite his kinsman Charles of Salerno to hold the peace conference in Gascony in December. All the relevant parties turned up, though the people of Bayonne expressed alarm at the size of the armed retinue brought by King Alfonso. The talks went off without a hitch, or anyone offering to ram something sharp into someone else. War in Europe was averted, at least for a time, and the seneschal of Gascony wrote to Edward informing him that ‘the kings, princes and magnates went away well contented with you and yours’.