Queen of Mercy to Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid Female Suspects

Summary: Perhaps finishing last with family and husband helped Queen Margaret empathize while Edward I hammered Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid suspects.

Edward I's second wife, known as Queen Margaret (Marguerite) of France, mercifully effected release from harsh Newgate Prison for Alice and Castanea Barber, two sisters named as suspects in the 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid; hand-colored steel engraving of Queen Margaret, Mary Howitt's Biographical Sketches of the Queens of Great Britain (1856), opposite page 109: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Sometime in November 1303 appears as a likely date for the king's second wife allowing, or anticipating acting upon, release from Newgate Prison of two Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid female suspects.

Paul Doherty, in The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303 for Carroll & Graf Publishers, Sept. 26, 2005, brings up the queen's bidding among fall's events. He considers King Edward I's (June 17, 1239-July 7, 1307) writs Aug. 6, Oct. 10 and Nov. 10/14, 1303, and a transfer order Nov. 14, 1303. He describes releases on bail of goldsmith Roger of Westminster, Westminster's Abbot and the Barber sisters after designating William of Kynebaston's transfer from York to Newgate.

Alice and Castanea Barber and Abbot Walter de Wenlok (died Dec. 25, 1307) and the goldsmiths respectively exited from Newgate and the Tower of London Prisons.

Queen Margaret (1279-Feb. 14, 1318), from Paris, France, favored the Franciscan order and a Franciscan habit for her funeral in Christ Church Greyfriars near Newgate Street.

Margaret glimpsed Newgate Street's Prison whenever she got to London regarding stepson Edward (April 25, 1284-Sept. 21, 1327) imminently marrying her niece Isabella (1295-Aug. 22, 1358). Doherty hints of Margaret "possibly under pressure from fellow [Newgate] citizens," handling the sisters' release on bail concurrently with Fleet Prison precinct house co-resident Kynebaston's transfer. King Edward I, Eleanor of Castile's (1241-Nov. 28, 1290) widower, intended Margaret's older sister Blanche (1278?-March 1, 1305) initially for his son, the subsequent Edward II.

Edward joined as suitor number 3, after John I, Marquis of Namur (1267-Jan. 31, 1330), and Edward's son Edward and before Rudolph III (1282?-July 4, 1307).

Edward rejecting Margaret after Philip IV (July 1, 1268-Nov. 29, 1314) married Blanche May 25, 1300, to the fourth Duke of Austria and Styria kick-started war.

Pope Boniface VIII (1230?-Oct. 11, 1303) led England and France five years later to treaties that let Edward marry Philip's half-sister and Edward's son Philip's daughter. Treaties made £15,000 and Guyenne in coastal southwestern France Edward's and Montreuil in what is Picardy and Ponthieu in northern France Isabella's and Margaret's respective dowries. Margaret named her first-born (June 1, 1300-Aug. 4, 1338) piously after Thomas Becket (Dec. 21, 1118-Dec. 29, 1170) and her last-born non-jealously after Edward's first wife.

Margaret's second-born (Aug. 1, 1301-March 19, 1330) obtained the name of husband Edward's younger brother Edmund (Jan. 16, 1245-June 5, 1296), Earl of Lancaster and Leicester.

Matthew Leonard of St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, Steubenville, Ohio, presents anciently eternal precedents in Our Lady Mary of a queen merciful to her people.

Being a second wife's daughter, a striking beauty's quietly beautiful sister and a treatied wife qualified Margaret for comprehending Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid female suspects. Margaret so respected children and stepchildren, grandchildren and step-grandchildren, half-nieces and half-grandnieces that apparently male-loving Edward II regaled her with an expensive ruby and gold ring. Perhaps Richard Puddlicott stole and sold it to William Torel, who sold Nicholas de Saint Botulpho and William de Beaupho rings and Richard le Breun rubies.

Doherty and historical records tell nothing about whether Margaret's turning Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid suspects loose turned Alice and Castanea Barber's lives downward or upward.

statue of Queen Margaret in south wall of east end of  The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, East Midlands, east central England; in Queen Margaret's vicinity, a statue of Queen Margaret's husband, Edward I, shares a niche with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile and Léon, Queen consort of England: David Hitchborne, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Edward I's second wife, known as Queen Margaret (Marguerite) of France, mercifully effected release from harsh Newgate Prison for Alice and Castanea Barber, two sisters named as suspects in the 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury raid; hand-colored steel engraving of Queen Margaret, Mary Howitt's Biographical Sketches of the Queens of Great Britain (1856), opposite page 109: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MargaridaFran%C3%A7a.jpg?uselang=de

statue of Queen Margaret in south wall of east end of The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, East Midlands, east central England; in Queen Margaret's vicinity, a statue of Queen Margaret's husband, Edward I, shares a niche with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile and Léon, Queen consort of England: David Hitchborne, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Cathedral_Church_of_the_Blessed_Virgin_Mary,_Lincoln_-_geograph.org.uk_-_689858.jpg

For further information:

Doherty, Paul. 2005. The Great Crown Jewels Robbery of 1303. New York NY: Carroll & Graf Publisher.

Harvey, Barbara F., ed. 1965. Documents Illustrating the Rule of Walter de Wenlok, Abbot of Westminster 1283-1307. Vol. II. Camden Fourth Series. London, England: Offices of the Royal Historical Society.

Howitt, Mary. 1856. Biographical Sketches of the Queens of Great Britain From the Norman Conquest to the Reign of Victoria : or, Royal Book of Beauty. London, England: Henry G. Bohn.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100880285
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_TwgLAAAAYAAJ

Keay, Anna. 2011. The Crown Jewels. London UK: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 April 2018. "Richard Puddlicott and the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/04/richard-puddlicott-and-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 May 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid in April and May 1303 in England." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 May 2018. "Mysteries of the April-May 1303 Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/05/mysteries-of-april-may-1303-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 June 2018. "King Edward I's Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/king-edward-is-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 8 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Royal Proclamation June 16, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_8.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession June 17, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 22 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Arrests June 18-19, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_22.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 29 June 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Indenture June 22, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/06/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_29.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Palmer Confession July 6, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Goldsmiths Talk July 4, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_13.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 July 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Aldermen Interviews July 29, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/07/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_27.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 August 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: Westminster Jurors Aug. 6, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 August 2018. "Edward I's Second Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/08/edward-is-second-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 28 September 2018. "Westminster Abbey Refectory Raid and London Sheriff Hugh Pourte." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/09/westminster-abbey-refectory-raid-and.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 October 2018. "Edward I's Third Letter on the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/edward-is-third-letter-on-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid: 'Falsely Indicted' Monks?" Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 October 2018. "Appellants Not Involved in the Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/appellants-not-involved-in-westminster.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 October 2018. "Westminster Abbey Royal Treasury Raid Commission Oct. 26, 1303." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/westminster-abbey-royal-treasury-raid_26.html

Palgrave, Sir Francis, ed. 1836. "Appendix: Records Relating to the Robbery at the Treasury, 31 Edw. I." The Antient Kalendars and Inventories of His Majesty's Exchequer Together with Other Documents Illustrating the History of That Repository. Vol. I: 251-299. London England: Commissioners of the Public Records of The Kingdom.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/antientkalendars01grea_0#page/251/mode/1up

Rothwell, Harry, ed. 1957. The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. Previously Edited as the Chronicle of Walter of Hemingford or Hemingburgh. Camden Series Volume LXXXIX. London, England: Royal Historical Society.

Villani, Giovani. 1348. "Come il conte d'Artese isconfisse i Fiamminghi a Fornes, e come il re d'Inghilterra passò in Fiandra." Nuova Cronica, Tomo Secondo, Libro Nono, Capitolo XX: 237-238. Parma, Italy: Ugo Guanda Editore, 1991.
Available @ https://www.liberliber.it/mediateca/libri/v/villani/nuova_cronica/pdf/nuova__p.pdf

Villani, Giovanni. 1348. "Come il conte d'Artese isconfisse i Fiamminghi a Fornes, e come il re d'Inghilterra passò in Fiandra." Giovanni Villani Cronica Nova Figurata, folio 159R, page 142. BAV (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) Chigiano L VIII 296.
Available via Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana @ https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Chig.L.VIII.296