two are now lost. There remains, however, a contemporary biography ascribed to Bertrand of Pontigny, who is said to have written it in 1247 A.D. This is printed by Martène and Durand in the Thesaurus Anecdotorum, iii. 1774–1826, and is followed by a collection of contemporary letters relating to St. Edmund's canonisation (pp. 1831–1871). These appear to have been collected by Albert, archbishop of Armagh, and afterwards of Livonia. Surius (ed. 1575, Paris) gives a life which is, to all appearance, a condensed and ‘improved’ edition of the one mentioned above. Cotton MS. Julius D., ff. 123–57, contains another life of St. Edmund, written in a thirteenth-century hand. This, according to Hardy (Cat. of MSS. iii. 87), appears to be only an enlarged form (probably the original one) of Cotton Cleopatra B. i. 2, ff. 21–32, which is expressly ascribed to Robert Rich. This MS., from Hardy's account, is to a large extent one with the Vita Bertrandi, but it evidently contains much that the Vita Bertrandi omits. Another important MS. life is in Lambeth Library, No. 135, with which Cotton Vitellius, xii. 9, ff. 280–90, seems to correspond. The Bodleian MS. Fell i. iv. 1–44, contains a life apparently condensed from Bertrand's, but with unimportant additions (cf. Hardy's Catalogue, iii. 87–96). Vincent of Beauvais seems to have used the Vita Bertrandi for his account of St. Edmund in the Speculum Historiale, lib. xxxi. cc. 67–88. See Hook's Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, iii.; Trivet's Annals, ed. Hog (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Chron. of Lanercost, ed. J. Stevenson, Edinburgh, 1839 (Maitland Club); Matt. Paris (Rolls Ser.), ed. Luard, vols. iii. iv. v.; Gervase of Canterbury (Rolls Ser.), ed. Stubbs, vol. ii.; Annals of Tewkesbury, Burton, Winchester, Waverley, Dunstable, Bermondsey, and Worcester in Annales Monastici (Rolls Series), ed. Luard.]
EDMUND of Woodstock, Earl of Kent (1301–1330), youngest son of Edward I, by his second wife, Margaret of France, was born at Woodstock on 5 Aug. 1301. On 31 Aug. 1306 he received from his father a revenue of seven thousand marks a year. It was commonly believed that the old king proposed to confer the rich earldom of Cornwall either on Edmund or on his elder brother Thomas of Brotherton; but the accession of Edward II secured that prize for the favourite, Gaveston. Edward II, however, placed Edward Baliol in the custody of his half-brother. In 1319 he made Edmund lord of the castle and honour of Knaresborough. In 1320 he granted him lands of the value of two thousand marks a year. Next year he still further increased his brother's resources. Edmund's first political act was to join in August 1318 in acting as one of the king's sureties in the treaty of peace between him and Lancaster. In March 1320 he was sent with Bartholomew, lord Badlesmere, on an embassy to Paris and Avignon. Badlesmere's object with the pope was to procure the advancement of his young nephew, Henry Burghersh [q. v.], to the see of Lincoln, and he found in his youthful colleague a pliant instrument for his purpose. In June Edward himself joined his brother at Paris, and their joint intercession resulted in Burghersh's appointment. In October Edmund was first summoned to parliament as Edmund of Woodstock. On 16 June 1321 he was made constable of Dover Castle and warden of the Cinque ports, and on 15 Sept. he also became constable of Tunbridge Castle. In the same year he was created Earl of Kent, the king himself girding him with the sword of the county (this was on 28 June, Doyle, Official Baronage, ii. 274; the Annales Paulini, p. 292, gives the date as 26 July). Henceforth Edmund took a conspicuous, if never a very leading, part in politics. He was present at the July parliament in which the Despensers were banished, but he strongly supported his brother a few months later in intriguing for their restoration. In October 1321 he was one of the six earls who obeyed the king's summons to besiege Badlesmere in Leeds Castle in Kent. He approved of the clerical declaration that the sentence of the Despensers was illegal. Early in 1322 he joined the king in his war against the barons. During this struggle his town and castle of Gloucester were occupied by the rebels, but they were soon won back, for it was there that on 11 Feb. Edward issued his order for the recall of the favourites. Kent joined in recommending the denunciation of Lancaster as a rebel, and on 11 March was appointed with Earl Warenne to arrest his adherents and besiege his stronghold of Pontefract. He was present at that place when, on 22 March, after Boroughbridge, Lancaster was condemned and executed in his own castle. He was also present at the York parliament in May. In July he was made sheriff of Rutland, having also received a grant of the town of Oakham. In 1323 he was a good deal occupied in the Scottish war. On 9 Feb. he was appointed lieutenant of the king in the northern marches, where on 12 Feb. he superseded the traitor Andrew Harclay, one of whose judges he was made on 27 Feb. In March he was appointed chief commissioner of array in Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Craven, and lieutenant of the king in the parts north of the Trent. But on a truce being patched up he was excused from further attendance. In 1323
