Comes Pontivi (2)

 
On 10 May 1279 Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, the new count and countess of Ponthieu, left Amiens to tour the county, on the banks of the Somme in northern France.

Ponthieu was not large, even though its count bore a dual title. At times it had suffered dismemberment, either through political misfortune or financial hardship. For instance, Count Simon of Dammartin had fought on the losing side at Bouvines in 1214 and consequently suffered imprisonment and the loss of parts of his county. These were joined to adjacent regions of France such as Artois.

The land today is generally much as it was in the time of Edward I. Along the coast, the silting of the Channel produced a band of salt marshes used for cultivation. Behind these came low chalk downs, watered by a number of small streams as well as the major rivers, the Canche and the Somme. Much of the territory was covered by forest, of which the present forest of Crécy – site of the famous battle in 1346 – is but a fragment. Unsurprisingly, there was a thriving export trade in timber and turf. Timber of Abbeville, one of the major towns, was much in demand and used for shipbuilding in England, Flanders and Castile.

Much of the wealth was generated by the towns. The most independent and prosperous was Abbeville, which had obtained its charter in 1184, and home to a cloth industry. A cloth market was held every Monday, where glovers, brewers, weavers, fullers, dressers and dyers all haggled and bumped shoulders. Some of these tradesmen were Castilian, imported by Eleanor's mother, Joan, while there were also a few English: for example, a prebend called St Wulfran's was granted to an Englishman.

The arrival of the new count, Edward I, caused immediate friction. As count of Ponthieu, he was required to swear the oath of homage and fealty to his overlord, Philip III. Since Edward was also a monarch in his own right, this oath was usually sworn by proctors, to avoid embarrassment. This was done at Abbeville, where the oath was sworn by John Ferre for the queen, Thomas of Sandwich for the king.

The locals were unaware of the political difficulty, and took Edward's action for an insult. In response to their bitter protests, he issued letters patent explaining that future counts of Ponthieu, so long as they were not sovereigns, would take the oath in person. Since Edward had every intention of bequeathing the county to his heirs, this was something of a Catch-22. Even so, it poured oil on troubled waters, and the first crisis was past.