Ordinances of 1311 - The Lords Ordainers

The Lords Ordainers

The Ordainers were elected by an assembly of magnates, without representation from the commons. They were a diverse group, consisting of eight earls, seven bishops and six barons – twenty-one in all. There were faithful royalists represented as well as fierce opponents of the king.

Among the Ordainers considered loyal to Edward II was John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond who was also by this time one of the older remaining earls. John had served Edward I, his uncle, and was Edward II's first cousin. The natural leader of the group was Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln. One of the wealthiest men in the country, he was also the oldest of the earls and had proved his loyalty and ableness through long service to Edward I. Lincoln had a moderating influence on the more extreme members of the group, but with his death in February 1311, leadership passed to his son-in-law and heir Thomas of Lancaster. Lancaster – the king’s cousin – was now in possession of five earldoms which made him by far the wealthiest man in the country, save the king. There is no evidence that Lancaster was in opposition to the king in the early years of the king's reign, but by the time of the Ordinances it is clear that something had negatively affected his opinion of King Edward.

Lancaster’s main ally was Guy Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. Warwick was the most fervently and consistently antagonistic of the earls, and remained so until his early death in 1315. Other earls were more amenable. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, was Gaveston’s brother-in-law and stayed loyal to the king. Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, would later be one of the king’s most central supporters, yet at this point he found the most prudent course of action was to go along with the reformers. Of the barons, at least Robert Clifford and William Marshall seemed to have royalist leanings.

Among the bishops, only two stood out as significant political figures, the more prominent of whom was Robert Winchelsey, Archbishop of Canterbury. Long a formidable presence in English public life, Winchelsey had led the struggle against Edward I to uphold the autonomy of the church, and for this he had paid with suspension and exile. One of Edward II’s first acts as king had been to reinstate Winchelsey, but rather than responding with grateful loyalty, the archbishop soon reassumed a leadership role in the fight against the king. Although he was trying to appease Winchelsey, the king carried an old grudge against another prelate, Walter Langton, Bishop of Lichfield. Edward had Langton dismissed from his position as treasurer of the Exchequer and had his temporal possessions confiscated. Langton had been an opponent of Winchelsey during the previous reign, but Edward II’s move against Langton drew the two Ordainers together.