Ordainer

Ordainer, one of a committee of 21 nobles and prelates who opposed Edward II and framed a body of “Ordinances” intended to regulate his household and power.

Conflict began soon after Edward II’s accession in 1307. The King was tactless; and, after July 1309, when Thomas, earl of Lancaster, became chief leader of the opposition, a serious crisis was clearly impending. By February 1310 he, together with the earls of Warwick, Hereford, and Pembroke, had decided on drastic action; and they openly accused Edward of wasting his inheritance and of ruining the kingdom. The King then had to agree to the appointment of a committee of eight earls, seven bishops, and six barons, who, before Michaelmas 1312, were to prepare ordinances for reforming the government of the realm. This body was known as the Lords Ordainers. Weakened by yet another failure in Scotland, Edward met the Ordainers at Westminster in August 1311, where about 40 Ordinances were presented.

The Ordinances were well-meaning and strictly traditional in tone. The Ordainers looked back to the precedents of Henry III’s time, and they had “the righteous earl,” Simon de Montfort, as their model. The King must rid himself of his evil advisers and get some better ones, and the Ordainers were in no doubt where these could be found. Edward must look to his “natural counsellors,” the baronage, and especially to the whole body of them in Parliament, where policy ought to be decided and all important appointments in the royal service made. All the King’s officers, including the steward of the household and the keeper of the wardrobe, should swear to observe the Ordinances, while in all future parliaments a baronial committee should hear complaints against royal servants. In the 20th Ordinance Edward’s favourite, Piers Gaveston, was singled out for special mention. He was to be permanently exiled from all the King’s dominions. The ordainers also cherished the illusion that, if only the royal revenue were properly managed, the King could live on his own without continuous financial demands upon his subjects.

The King accepted the ordinances because he had no alternative, but he seems to have had no real intention of observing them. Fighting broke out; and, Gaveston, returned from exile, was captured and executed by the reformers. Peace was eventually reestablished, but Edward’s disastrous defeat by the Scots at the Battle of Bannockburn (June 24, 1314) put him at the mercy of Lancaster and the extreme Ordainers, who thereafter ruled England until their own overthrow by Edward’s new favourites, the Despensers, in 1322.