Henry III. held his court and indulged in festivities, one year at A.D. 1223. Oxford, another at Winchester, another at Northampton, and so on. John had lavishly distributed the crown lands, and the lands of the insurgent barons, among his partisans, foreigners as well as natives; and had surrendered to them the command of the The barons royal castles. They now refused to give them up till give up the Henry became of age; whereupon, in A.D. 1223, castles in- when the King was only sixteen years old, the Pope issued a bull, or edict, declaring him to be of full age, and ordering all who held the King's castles to deliver them up under pain of excommunication.9 The Earls of Chester and others refused to comply, but were at length compelled to submit. refuse to trusted to them. The barons demand a confirma Charters. It is needless to relate in detail all the struggles between the King and his barons; but it is worthy tion of the of notice that the King's council, held at Oxford in January 1223, deemed it necessary that Henry should confirm the liberties granted by his father, although when he came to the throne he had sworn to observe the Charter; from whence it appears that the King and his two advisers had already neglected to observe the conditions of the Magna Charta. Henry yielded, and promised to make inquiry concerning those liberties, and to cause them to be proclaimed. Illustrates the man ners of the times. The History of Fulke de Bréauté. I must now relate to you the history of one of John's foreign barons, who also played a conspicuous part in the present reign, as it illustrates the turbulent manners of the times, engendered by the civil wars and the cruel despotism of John. This baron was named Fulke de Bréauté. His history is related by monks whom he robbed and maltreated, and therefore Henry III. it cannot be supposed that he met with much mercy at their hands; but neither, as you will see, did he deserve much. These monks constantly speak of him as that Falcas, that Falcasius. Latin was the language in which the monks always wrote, and in turning the name Fulke into Falcas, or Falcasius, they probably wished to express their hatred of his sanguinary rapacity, for the word seems to be derived from a Latin word (fale) meaning a scythe. Another historian, not subject to any suspicion as to his motives, calls him "the old plunderer," and you will see he well deserved the name. He was born in Normandy, and came over in the Born in Normandy. reign of John to seek his fortunes. "About this time," says Matthew Paris, "there was one Fulke de Bréauté, a native of Normandy, a bastard by his mother's side, who had lately come on a scurvy horse, with a pad on his back, to enter the King's service." 38 Physically he seems to have been a brave man, but of moral courage he was quite destitute, for when overtaken by misfortunes his courage failed him entirely; he had however such fox-like readiness of resource when fairly hunted down, that it is impossible to avoid being interested and amused with his adventures. way in Fulke soon made his way in England, for we hear Soon of him as one of John's principal advisers in his dis- makes his putes with the Pope. When John had submitted to England. the Pope, had failed to observe the Charter, and had waged war against the barons, up comes this bird of evil omen. "Accordingly," says an old chronicler, King John, accompanied by that detestable troop of foreigners whose leader was Fulke de Bréauté, began N Henry III. to lay waste the North of England." 39 Fulke evidently did his savage duty well, for John now promoted him to greater honour. "Knowing he did not fear to commit any crime," says an old chronicler, "he sent for him, (from some place in the marches of Wales, of which he had appointed him to take charge,) that he might join him in venting his rage against the barons."31 And he goes on to say, "this wicked freebooter acted more cruelly against the barons than he had been ordered, and therefore the King became John gives more favourable to him."31 He gave him the castle ford Castle. of Bedford, and married him to a rich heiress, Margaret de Redvers, against her will indeed, but that made no difference to John, or to Fulke de Bréauté. him Bed He lays waste the ders St. Albans. We next hear of him laying waste the Isle of Isle of Ely, Ely. "About this time," it is said, "the Isle of Ely was laid waste by Fulke, who also, mounted on his horse, with his sword drawn, irreverently entered the Cathedral itself, and dragging from thence noblemen, clergymen, and matrons, and the Lord Stephen Ridel himself, compelled him to pay a most heavy and plun ransom."40 Then he plundered the town of St. Albans, killing some of the nobles in the Abbey itself, where they had taken refuge. For this, it is said, he was reproved in a vision by St. Alban, "who looked upon him with a stern eye so fiercely, and reproved him so bitterly, that he was almost bereft of his senses." 41 Accordingly, he went to the abbot and his brethren, in great humiliation, entreating for pardon, which was granted him on his submitting to be whipped by every one of them. "But," adds the chronicler, "he did not restore any of the property he had seized, or make any reparation to the poor followers of Christ for the injury he had done them." 32 John and De Bréauté now went on hand in hand in their savage Henry III. cruelty. Under John's orders, he and the Earl of He harasses Salisbury kept passing and repassing to and from the the barons. city of London, to watch and harass the barons, and cut off their supplies. Then John gave him more castles to command, charging him as he valued his life, to harass the barons. At last John died, and Fulke made friends with Henry, and was as great a man as ever. At the head of his castellans, or keepers of his castles, he took part in the siege of Mount Sorel, and was of great service at the siege of Lincoln. He takes "Falcasius then, seeing a great many of the more siege of noble of the enemy struck to the earth, boldly burst Lincoln. forth with his followers from the castle into the midst of the enemy; he was, however, made prisoner by the number who rushed on him, and carried away, until he was rescued by the bravery of his crossbow-men and knights." 33 The following Christmas, he held a post of high honour in attendance on the King at Northampton, supplying "all the necessaries for the royal festivity." 35 Next we hear of him engaged in putting down a riot in London, conducting three traitors to be hanged, and refusing a large bribe to let them go free.36 The riot arose in the following manner: part in the He contraitors to ducts three be hanged. match in "A great wrestling match was appointed between Wrestling the citizens (of London) and country people near London. adjoining, wherein the citizens were conquerors." This seems to have annoyed the Steward of the Abbot of Westminster, for an old historian says "this much stomached the Steward of the Abbot." 8 The Steward accordingly appointed another match to be held at Westminster, and promised to give a ram to the conquerors. The citizens flocked to Henry III. the match in great numbers, but they soon found they had fallen into a snare. The Steward had proposed the wrestling match only to conceal a plot for revenge. He suddenly came upon them with a body of armed men, wounded them and put them to flight. Out of this arose the riot which our wrestling. friend Fulke was engaged in putting down. Riot arises out of the He turns against the King. He tries to Wrestling. (From Royal MSS. Brit. Mus. 2 B 7, fol. 161.) Fulke now suddenly turned to the side of the barons against the King. But he was one of those who opposed the King's forces, not in defence of his legal rights, of which indeed we may fairly say he had none, but simply because they interfered with his rapine and plunder. "There were at this time," says Roger of Wendover, "many nobles whose chief delight had been during the past war to live by plunder, and now, even after peace had been declared and granted to all, they could not restrain their hands from pillage." 35 He united himself with the Earls of Chester and Albemarle, in their refusal to give up to the King, the castles and lands they had unjustly acquired.1 We next hear of Fulke taking a still bolder course, judges who attempting to make prisoners of the judges who had seize the |