with the Emperor,2 and he demanded large sums of money from England to carry on the war. The demand was very unpopular; the barons opposed it; the papal collectors were beaten by the people, and the money they had collected was given to the poor. 3. The movement against the papal demands was so powerful and so widespread, that the Pope accused Hubert himself of being at the bottom of it. The King had long become tired of Hubert, who was too great a check upon him, and he was driven from the office of justiciar. He was dragged from a church at Brentwood, where he had taken refuge, and a smith was ordered to put irons on him. The smith is said to have replied-" I will die any death before I put iron on the man who freed England from the stranger." That answer shows what the people thought of Hubert. Though he had lost some of his popularity by being the servant of so weak a king as Henry, everyone felt that he had done great service to the State. 4. When Hubert fell, Peter des Roches regained his influence over the King, and filled the court and all high offices with foreigners. But after a time Peter raised the opposition of the barons, and he too was disgraced. Then the King resolved to take the government into his own hands. He married Eleanor of Provence, and many more foreigners flocked into England. These people looked on England merely as a place to make money in. They had no regard at all for the English people or the English laws, and their pride and insolence roused very bitter feelings among the barons and the people. At this time the great assembly of the barons and bishops was first called the Parliament, and there were several quarrels between the King and the Parliament about matters of taxation. The Parliament desired that regular ministers should be appointed, for Henry was trying to rule without ministers, using mere clerks instead. But Henry resisted their demands, and went on asking for more money. The more money he got, the more he seemed to want, and the patience of the barons was at last almost worn out by his constant exactions, and his refusal to be bound by the charters. 3 5. Henry's foreign policy at last completely broke down the endurance of the country; and of that policy we have now to speak. All through his reign, Henry was the willing slave of the Popes of Rome. Never once did he think of opposing the Popes, but he allowed them to use his country for their own benefit, scarcely thinking for a moment whether it was for the good of his people or not. The Popes began to ask for more and more money. It was reckoned at one time that the men put into offices in England by the Pope had three times as much money as the King himself. Seeing Henry so willing to serve him, the Pope resolved to use him in another way. He offered Henry the kingdom of Sicily, which Henry accepted for his second son Edmund. The Pope sent soldiers to fight for the country, and Henry suddenly found himself in debt for an enormous sum of money for the expenses of the war. He then undertook a war with France, at the invitation of the people of Poitou, but he managed it so badly that he only just escaped being taken prisoner by the enemy. 17.-SIMON DE MONTFORT. 1. By this time the whole country was disgusted with the conduct of Henry. He had offended the barons by refusing to obey the charters, by giving all the best offices of state to foreigners, and by declining to appoint regular ministers; and he had offended the clergy by taxing them to the utmost, at the command of the papal legate. It was not long before the offended country found a leader against so weak and headstrong a king, and that leader was Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. His father had been a great persecutor of heretics1 abroad, and the younger Simon de Montfort had married Eleanor, the sister of Henry III. Then he went to rule Gascony, one of the few foreign possessions yet left to England. He ruled it well, but the barons there complained of De Montfort to Henry, and the King called Simon a traitor, and dismissed him. De Montfort was an excellent soldier. He was also a very religious man, cheerful, and a good talker, but at the same time very constant. He never changed his mind, and always carried through to the end anything he had once begun. 2. A Parliament was held at Oxford, and there the barons, led by Simon de Montfort, tried to settle all the difficulties that had arisen between them and the King. Although Henry had at all times been willing to swear to respect the Charter, he had not kept his promise, and the barons had no means of making him keep it. So at this Parliament, to which all the barons came armed -that the King might be in their power-a body of twenty-four men was appointed (twelve by the King and twelve by the barons) to reform the grievances. A justiciar was again appointed, and a committee of fifteen barons was named to act as advisers to the King. They were to meet three times a-year, and the barons were to lay all their complaints before these fifteen men. These rules were called the Provisions of Oxford, and everyone swore to obey them. They mark an advance in English 1258 LADY OF RANK IN THE THIRTEENTH freedom, as they set up means for checking the King when he tried to evade the laws. 3. But this arrangement did not last very long. Simon de Montfort got more and more power, but many of the other barons quarrelled with him. Henry would not keep his word, as the Pope had denounced the Provisions of Oxford. At length the barons agreed to refer the points in dispute to the judgment of Louis, King of France. Henry went himself, with his son Edward, to the council, which was held at Amiens; but Simon could not go, as he had broken his leg. Louis decided everything in favour of Henry and against the barons. Then all saw that war could no longer be avoided. 4. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, was the leader on the popular side. He had with him the Londoners and the people of the other great towns, the clergy, the learned men, and the great body of the people. At first the war went in favour of the King, but a great battle was fought at Lewes, in which the King was totally defeated, and he and his son Edward were taken prisoners. 5. Simon had been obliged to go about in a carriage, on account of his broken leg; but he posted his carriage where it could easily be seen, and went himself 1264 to another part of the battle-ground. Young Prince Edward, who was already an excellent soldier, thought the battle would be easily gained if he could take De Montfort prisoner; so he charged with all his men in the direction of the Earl's carriage. So fierce was the charge, that the Londoners who were in that part of the field broke and fled, and Edward pursued them for four miles, and killed 3,000 of them; for he hated the Londoners, because they had once insulted the Queen, his mother, by throwing stones at her boat when she was passing down the Thames. But when he came back from the pursuit, he found the battle lost and his father a prisoner. His uncle, too, |