Inventories of Edward II and Despenser's belongings, 1327, and Roger Mortimer's belongings, 1322

We actually have surviving inventories of these men's personal belongings. One is from the castle of Caerphilly, where Edward II and Despenser fled during Mortimer and Isabella's invasion, and their belongings were inventoried after the castle surrendered in 1327. Sadly, we rarely know what items were Edward's and which were Hugh's, but it gives us an idea of the physical objects and world in which they lived.

The full list is here: https://edwardthesecond.blogspot.com/2008/07/edward-iis-possessions-1326.html but I'll copy a few I find most interesting.

-- 26 barrels of money (Despenser was like a dragon hoarding gold)

-- 2 caps of white beaver, 1 lined with black velvet and powdered with gold trefoils, the other lined with green velvet (they fled in autumn, the caps must have been intended for the cold weather)

-- Edward's red retiring-robe, decorated with threads of saffron, and bears (sounds very nice)

-- 3 pairs of Gascon spurs, gilt, with silk cords (were these keepsakes from Edward's time with Gaveston?)

-- a sword garnished with silver-gilt, with the arms of Castile, and a girdle and scabbard with the same pattern (this has to have been inherited from Edward's mother)

-- the bed being decorated in red and green sendal, and the red robe, makes me think that the red samite cushions were Edward's and the purple velvet cushions were Hugh's.

Likewise, Mortimer's possessions were inventoried a couple of times, once in 1322 when he was imprisoned. He owned, among other things:

Short jackets of green velvet; a tunic of indigo velvet; a tabard of scarlet, without fur or hood; a green bedcover embroidered with owls, with four matching hanging carpets; a great hanging tapestry intended for a main hall, embroidered with popinjays and griffons; a nutmeg gaming table and a gold-painted chess set; books in Welsh and French. He also owned what seem to be old keepsakes: a 'Saracen arbalest' and an Irish sparth (axe) he must have brought back from his time in Ireland.

His wife Joan's belongings were also inventoried, which is really interesting as we have so little information about women's possessions of this time period. She had:

-- three Irish 'fallaings' (morning dresses) of which one was white and two were red.

-- Two supertunics of Indigo silk without fur; three supertunics of brown silk without fur; one tunic and two supertunics of red 'cloth of Thars', one brown 'cloth of Thars' tunic and one green 'cloth of Thars' tunic

-- two chests, one holding an enameled mirror, two wash basins, an empty strong box, and a set of ivory chessmen. The other held some striped red velvet cloth, a comb, an ivory mirror, a small ivory image of the Virgin, and a belt decorated with precious stones and enamel belonging to one of the Mortimer daughters. (the detail that she had her daughter's belt seized from her is breaking my heart)

-- books of 'romances' and a psalter