Long Live the King by Kathryn Warner

Author:Kathryn Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750983273
Publisher: The History Press

11

THE KING IN FRANCE, GERMANY AND ITALY PART 2

Edward travelled, assuming that the Fieschi Letter is correct, considerable distances. From the port of Sluis to Normandy would be approximately 200 or 250 miles, depending on where in the duchy he went. Normandy to Avignon is about 500 miles, and Avignon to Brabant via Paris close to 600; when he finally reached Brabant, Edward was only a few miles from where he had originally landed at Sluis, and had walked all the way through France, the second largest country in Europe after Ukraine, twice. From the duchy of Brabant he went to Cologne, a city which is 120 miles to the east of Brabant’s main city Brussels and was then ruled by Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria and Archbishop Walram von Jülich, both of whom had family connections to Edward. The journey from Brussels to Cologne would probably have taken Edward through or near the city of Liège where Manuele Fieschi held a benefice, and then through the county of Jülich, ruled by his son Edward III’s brother-in-law Wilhelm, brother of Archbishop Walram. From Cologne Edward travelled south through Germany and Switzerland (or possibly Austria or eastern France) to Milan, a journey of a good 500 miles which necessitated travelling over the highest range of mountains in Europe after the Caucasus, from there presumably to Milascio or Mulazzo which is about 125 miles from Milan, and finally from Mulazzo to the hermitage of Sant’Alberto, almost another 100 miles. Edward’s journeys on the Continent, from Sluis to Normandy to Avignon to Brabant to Cologne to Milan to Mulazzo to Sant’Alberto, represent a total distance of at least 2,000 miles, and other evidence indicates that he returned to Cologne and Koblenz in 1338, and so made the journey of more than 500 miles in reverse. Given that he had become a hermit or pilgrim, he must have made all his journeys on foot, or at the very least perhaps he rode a mule on occasion; he certainly was not galloping over the Continent on a fast and expensive horse, which would have made him extremely conspicuous.

Putting together the timing as detailed in the Fieschi Letter with the evidence that he was in Cologne and Koblenz again in early September 1338 implies that Edward probably arrived at the hermitage near Mulazzo at the end of 1333 or beginning of 1334. He had departed from Ireland at the end of 1330 or beginning of 1331 – Manuele Fieschi says that he left Ireland nine months after the Earl of Kent’s execution on 19 March 1330 – so this gives us three years for his travels around the Continent, excluding the final leg of his journey to Sant’Alberto and the return journey to Cologne. It is hardly a wonder if it took Edward several years to complete such a huge distance, especially as the European weather must have been inclement on numerous occasions and he may have spent winters, or long rainy periods, resting in one place.

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