od royal), that wedded a daughter of our house, had in his
unwisdom brought into this land; for he was a wicked man and an ill
liver. [See Note 6.] King Edward of Caernarvon likewise listened to
these men, and did but too often according to their counsels.

"Against my grandfather and others, but especially against these men of
Edingdon and Ashridge, Dame Isabelle the Queen set herself up. King
Edward had himself sent her away on a certain mission touching the
homage due to the King of France for Guienne; for he might not adventure
to leave the realm at that time. But now this wicked woman gathered
together an army, and with Prince Edward, and the King's brother the
Earl of Kent, who were deluded by her enchantments, she came back and
landed at Orewell, and thence marched with flying colours to Bristol,
men gathering everywhere to her standard as she came.

"We were in Bristol on that awful day. My mother, the King had left in
charge of the Tower of London; but in Bristol, with the King, were my
grandfather and father my Lord and Lady of Arundel, their son Richard,
and Isabel, and myself. I was then a maiden of sixteen years. When
Dame Isabelle's banners floated over the gates of the city, and her
trumpets summoned the citizens to surrender, King Edward, who was a
timid man, flung himself into the castle for safety, and with him all of
us, saving my grandfather, and my Lord of Arundel, who remained without,
directing the defence.

"The citizens of Bristol, thus besieged (for she had surrounded the
town), sent to ask Dame Isabelle her will, offering to surrender the
city on condition that she would spare their lives and property. But
she answered by her trumpeter, that she would agree to nothing unless
they would first surrender the Earls of Winchester and Arundel; `for,'
saith she, `I am come purposely to destroy them.' Then the citizens
consulted together, and determined to save their lives and property by
the sacrifice of the noblest blood in England, and (as it was shown
afterwards) of the blood royal. They opened their gates, and yielded up
my grandfather and thine to her will."

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Note 1. Hilding: a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and used
indiscriminately to denote a young person of either sex.

Note 2. Wimple: the covering for the neck, worn by secular women as
well as nuns, and either with or without a veil or hood. It ha