Tyrol
In 1276 in the fourth year of his reign Edward I; King of England, Duke of Aquitaine and Lord of Ireland; was taken captive by Ottokar II; King of Bohemia, Duke of Austria, Styria and Carinthia and Margave of Carniola. In the early days of Edward’s imprisonment in Tyrol Castle, he received a message from his brother Edmund, the Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, whom Edward had left as regent in his absence. The message told Edward that Edmund was having difficulty getting the money for his ransom. A treacherous chevalier was robbing and attacking his domain! And yet there was something off about this message. The traitor was identified as Lord Wing the Crown’s Chevalier, Edward’s champion, who was the loyalist of his subjects. Something was wrong here and Edward knew it.
So it was that Edward wrote his own message. He wrote to his friend the King of Desmond to go to England and investigate Edmund’s claims, which were most likely false.
Unfortunately, the King of Desmond was unable to leave Ireland at the moment. Desmond was leading a campaign against a band of invading Scots and Welshmen and his eldest son was both bedridden and doltish leaving it to Desmond’s second son Conn, a boy of thirteen.
Upon receiving a message from Desmond stating that Conn would be the one going to England, Edward wrote up another message for Conn specifically to give him instructions. Conn’s instructions were to inform Edmund of his presence in England personally, then find people to stay with who could be trusted and most of all to never be alone with Edmund or his champion and Chief of Military Operations Barons Len de Beaumont and Dan Bertram of Igorboulder. Beaumont had been Edward’s previous champion and held a grudge against Edward for replacing him making it possible that Beaumont would kill Conn for being in England on Edward’s behalf while Bertram had murdered his own father.
