urally remained some inquietude in his mind, while at
war with a state which, however at present disordered by faction, was
of itself so much an overmatch for him both in riches and in numbers of
people. And this truce was, at the same time, the more seasonable
for England, because the nation was at that juncture threatened with
hostilities from France.

{1324.} Philip the Fair, king of France, who died in 1315, had left the
crown to his son Lewis Hutin, who, after a short reign, dying without
male issue, was succeeded by Philip the Long, his brother, whose death
soon after made way for Charles the Fair, the youngest brother of that
family. This monarch had some grounds of complaint against the king's
ministers in Guienne; and as there was no common or equitable judge in
that strange species of sovereignty established by the feudal law, he
seemed desirous to take advantage of Edward's weakness, and under that
pretence to confiscate all his foreign dominions.[**]

* Rymer, vol. iii. p. 1022. Murimuth, p. 60.

** Rymer, vol. iv. p. 74, 98.

After an embassy by the earl of Kent, the king's brother, had been tried
in vain, Queen Isabella obtained permission to go over to Paris, and
endeavor to adjust, in an amicable manner, the difference with her
brother: but while she was making some progress in this negotiation,
Charles started a new pretension, the justice of which could not be
disputed, that Edward himself should appear in his court, and do
homage for the fees which he held in France. But there occurred many
difficulties in complying with this demand. Young Spenser, by whom
the king was implicitly governed, had unavoidably been engaged in many
quarrels with the queen, who aspired to the same influence, and though
that artful princess, on her leaving England, had dissembled her
animosity, Spenser, well acquainted with her secret sentiments, was
unwilling to attend his master to Paris, and appear in a court where her
credit might expose him to insults, if not to danger. He hesitated no
less on allowing the king to make the journey alone; both fearing lest
that easy prince should in his absence fall under other influence, and
foreseeing the perils to which he himself should be exposed if, without
the protection of royal authority, he remained in England where he was
so generally hated.

{1325.} While these doubts occasioned delays and difficulties, Isabella
proposed that Edward should resign the dominion