Accession

Chapter 1.

From the King's Accession to the Fall of Mortimer, Part 1.

The new reign began inauspiciously.

The young king was a boy of fourteen, the son and namesake of a sovereign deposed for his folly and vice, from whom he inherited the legacy of a smoldering quarrel with Scotland and another with France, a chronic rebellion in Ireland, and a thinned, half-starved, depressed, and miserable population at home.

It so happened that a parliament was sitting at Winchester in 1330, when the fatal letter came into Mortimer's hands, and as his opponents had been afraid to take their seats therein, it will easily be understood that when the Earl of Kent was arraigned before it and charged with a treason which he could not deny, he was straightway convicted and sentenced to lose his head.

Mortimer, fearing lest the king should relent towards his uncle, hurried on the execution, which took place the following day, but not before the evening, for so great was the general resentment against the malice and treachery of which the Earl was a victim, that no one could be induced to undertake the office of executioner, till at last the convict was found in the Marshalsea willing to carry out the cruel sentence on condition that his own life should be spared.

End of Section 3 Section 4 of Edward III by William Parsons Warburton This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, read by Pamela Nagami First Decade Chapter 1 From the King's Accession to the Fall of Mortimer Part 3 After this triumph over justice and humanity, Mortimer's arrogance and tyranny knew no bounds or restraint.

Some of his opponents, under pretext of their complicity in the late treasonous attempt, were thrown into prison, and others assailed with prosecutions, till at last no one felt secure in person or in purse.