A toothless dog

An image of Edmund of Lancaster and St George

#OTD in 1273 Edmund of Lancaster appealed to the council in London for military aid against Robert de Ferrers, Earl of Derby.

Derby had attacked Chartley in Staffordshire, one of his old manors, and stormed the castle at night. Edmund quickly raised an army to besiege the castle, but needed help to retake it.

This was one of the many private wars raging up and down England, after the death of Henry III the previous November. A few years earlier, Derby had been disinherited by the late king and his sons, and all his vast estates re-granted to Edmund (Henry's second son).

Perhaps unwisely, Derby was then released from custody. He was now a bandit chief, roving about the country with his remaining followers, doing as much damage as possible.

The new king, Edward I, had gone to crush a revolt in Gascony instead of returning to England for his coronation. In his absence, the great lords turned on each other. While the pard is away and all that.

Two days after Edmund's plea, Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, sent a letter to the council. Clare bemoaned the state of England, and warned there could be no peace until the nobles stopped fighting each other.

The red dog, as Clare was called, knew all about that. In May he reached a private agreement with Derby, in which they agreed to support each other against their enemies. This secret deal was witnessed by the Earl of Surrey, John Fitz John and James Audley, a powerful Marcher baron.

Derby had assembled quite the list of allies. Clare and Surrey were two of the wealthiest earls in England, while Fitz John and Audley were powerful and aggressive barons: Fitz John had once earned notoriety by murdering Rabbi Abraham, a rich Jew, on the steps of a synagogue in London.

Meanwhile Edmund recruited the Earl of Lincoln and Reynold Grey, justice of Chester and High Sheriff of Nottingham. Thus, two factions of nobles geared up to attack each other. Another civil war loomed, the third in just over a decade.

Edmund made the first move. Without waiting for a response from Westminster, he and his allies stormed Chartley and butchered the garrison. Derby narrowly escaped the slaughter, while his friends stood by and did nothing. Suddenly the red dog looked rather toothless.