curiosity had abated. Even then, the barons of the Exchequer questioned Glanville’s account. He had claimed expenses for travelling for seven days from Gloucester to York after Edward II’s funeral was over. The Exchequer clerks queried this and Glanville confessed that he hadn’t gone directly to York. Instead, he had escorted a certain woman ‘who’d disembowelled the King’ to the Queen at Worcester.
The role of this woman is crucial in proving that the official story of what happened at Berkeley is highly suspect. The corpse was dressed, not by a physician or even a local doctor or leech, but by a local ‘wise woman’. If Edward II had died a violent death, the effects of this violence, be it poison or the famous story about a red-hot poker being inserted up into the bowels, could be explained away. A royal physician could be bribed, sworn to silence. But if the corpse was not a king’s? A physician might draw the line at that, and Mortimer and Isabella would have to take a relative stranger into their confidence. As it was, this woman was carefully watched. The embalming must have been finished by thebeginning of October 1327. Three days later Mortimer joined the court but, according to Glanville’s account, this mysterious woman was kept in some form of confinement from 1 October 1327, right through the period during which the alleged royal corpse was lying in state at both Berkeley and Gloucester. The Queen left Gloucester on 21 December 1327 and travelled, via Tewkesbury, to Worcester, where she celebrated Christmas before moving north to Nottingham at the beginning of January 1328. Glanville took the woman ‘who disembowelled the King’ to the Queen. The journey lasted two days, after which Glanville left Worcester for York. So, it seems possible that this ‘wise woman’ was closely confined under house arrest from the end of September to almost the end of December 1327, and then secretly taken to the Queen, a fact Glanville tried to hide through false accounting. Such secrecy does provoke deep suspicion. Was this woman closely interrogated by Isabella and Mortimer on what she had seen as well as what she had done? Did she hand over the heart she had taken from the corpse which Thomas Berkeley had placed in a silver cup or casket? And what happened to her afterwards? Mortimer was ruthless, why should he, or Isabella, have scruples about silencing the chatter of some old woman?
According to my theory, this is what happened to Edward II in 1327. He escaped from Berkeley in July 1327 and fled. Mortimer moved from Abergavenny to supervise the hunt. This proved unsuccessful so, to block any attempt by the deposed King to re-emerge onto the political scene, as well as to end all conspiracies, Mortimer and Isabella changed tack. A corpse, a look-alike, was produced andtaken secretly to Berkeley. Gurney and Ockle, under Berkeley’s supervision, kept it secret while a local ‘wise woman’ prepared the corpse for burial: the hair, moustache and beard were shaved, it was clothed in a shroud and open to a quick and superficial view by local notables, hand-picked by Berkeley. A date was chosen for the death, and Isabella secretly informed within two days, but the news was not officially proclaimed until 1 October 1327. By then, the lead coffin had been sealed, the ‘wise woman’ safely detained, and Glanville despatched to take over the proceedings. He, too, was under strict instructions: his accounts should not provoke suspicion and were withheld from public scrutiny.
The funeral was celebrated in an open and ostentatious way, with all due honours being shown, although it was held shortly before Christmas at the height of winter to ensure it did not become a public attraction. Pope John XXII, in his letter to Isabella of 1330, emphasizes, with great irony, the way the funeral was celebrated. He accepts Isabella’s assertion that Kent was at the funeral, but both he – and Lancaster two years earlier in
The role of this woman is crucial in proving that the official story of what happened at Berkeley is highly suspect. The corpse was dressed, not by a physician or even a local doctor or leech, but by a local ‘wise woman’. If Edward II had died a violent death, the effects of this violence, be it poison or the famous story about a red-hot poker being inserted up into the bowels, could be explained away. A royal physician could be bribed, sworn to silence. But if the corpse was not a king’s? A physician might draw the line at that, and Mortimer and Isabella would have to take a relative stranger into their confidence. As it was, this woman was carefully watched. The embalming must have been finished by thebeginning of October 1327. Three days later Mortimer joined the court but, according to Glanville’s account, this mysterious woman was kept in some form of confinement from 1 October 1327, right through the period during which the alleged royal corpse was lying in state at both Berkeley and Gloucester. The Queen left Gloucester on 21 December 1327 and travelled, via Tewkesbury, to Worcester, where she celebrated Christmas before moving north to Nottingham at the beginning of January 1328. Glanville took the woman ‘who disembowelled the King’ to the Queen. The journey lasted two days, after which Glanville left Worcester for York. So, it seems possible that this ‘wise woman’ was closely confined under house arrest from the end of September to almost the end of December 1327, and then secretly taken to the Queen, a fact Glanville tried to hide through false accounting. Such secrecy does provoke deep suspicion. Was this woman closely interrogated by Isabella and Mortimer on what she had seen as well as what she had done? Did she hand over the heart she had taken from the corpse which Thomas Berkeley had placed in a silver cup or casket? And what happened to her afterwards? Mortimer was ruthless, why should he, or Isabella, have scruples about silencing the chatter of some old woman?
According to my theory, this is what happened to Edward II in 1327. He escaped from Berkeley in July 1327 and fled. Mortimer moved from Abergavenny to supervise the hunt. This proved unsuccessful so, to block any attempt by the deposed King to re-emerge onto the political scene, as well as to end all conspiracies, Mortimer and Isabella changed tack. A corpse, a look-alike, was produced andtaken secretly to Berkeley. Gurney and Ockle, under Berkeley’s supervision, kept it secret while a local ‘wise woman’ prepared the corpse for burial: the hair, moustache and beard were shaved, it was clothed in a shroud and open to a quick and superficial view by local notables, hand-picked by Berkeley. A date was chosen for the death, and Isabella secretly informed within two days, but the news was not officially proclaimed until 1 October 1327. By then, the lead coffin had been sealed, the ‘wise woman’ safely detained, and Glanville despatched to take over the proceedings. He, too, was under strict instructions: his accounts should not provoke suspicion and were withheld from public scrutiny.
The funeral was celebrated in an open and ostentatious way, with all due honours being shown, although it was held shortly before Christmas at the height of winter to ensure it did not become a public attraction. Pope John XXII, in his letter to Isabella of 1330, emphasizes, with great irony, the way the funeral was celebrated. He accepts Isabella’s assertion that Kent was at the funeral, but both he – and Lancaster two years earlier in
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