Shot fast

 

22 June 1265. On this day Prince Llywelyn of Wales and Simon de Montfort agreed the Treaty of Pipton. I posted the details recently, but essentially Henry III was forced to grant Llywelyn the whole of the principality of Wales, plus a hefty chunk of the Marches. In return Llywelyn had to pay a fee of 30,000 marks and provide the 'king' – Simon, in reality – with military aid.

That aid was urgently required against Lord Edward and the Marchers. On the day the treaty was sealed, they were busy at the siege of Gloucester. The town was defended by a Montfortian baron, Grimbauld Pauncefoot. Robert of Gloucester, an eloquent local chronicler, provides a handy account (translated from the Middle English):

“Sir Edward and his forces shot fast
Strong engines, and therewith to the castle cast;
And the others defended themselves, and little were aghast.
So that about three weeks the assault between them lasted,
And even they within waited for succour from Sir Simon;
For else they must needs yield the tower and the castle
To Sir Edward, by an agreement that they could not bear,
For forty days, arms against him in any place.”

The chronicler also describes how John Giffard, one of Edward's barons, broke through an undefended section of wall and forced the Montfortian defenders to retreat to the castle. The royalists were then able to focus on pounding the castle with siege engines.

It would be interesting to know where those engines came from. The royalists had assembled in a hurry after Edward's escape from Hereford, in late May, and had no access to the usual depots. Perhaps the Marchers kept a few in stock.