fort and his ed, and the King Henry III. The King was compelled to fight on De Montfort's A.D. 1265, side, and narrowly escaped being killed. He was unhorsed, and his assailant was about to kill him, when he called out, "Hold, fellow, I am Harry of Winchester." The Prince heard his father's voice, and rushed to the rescue. At length the Welsh troops fled, De Mont- De Montfort and his eldest son Henry were killed, son are kill- and the King's victory over the barons was complete. Historians are divided in their opinion of De Monttriumphs. fort. Some represent him as an ambitious traitor, desirous only of accomplishing the selfish ends suggested by his own criminal ambition; while others, and as it appears to me with greater truth, represent him as the wise and patriotic leader, of the popular old English, or even Anglo-Saxon party, in their struggles against Henry's oppressions and foreign predilections. We are in- Whatever may have been his motives, it is certain that him for es- to him we are indebted for the beginning of popular tablishing representation, by his having for the first time sumpresenta- moned town representatives to Parliament. Character of Simon de Montfort. debted to popular re tion. Other popular leaders, might possibly have seen the wisdom of giving the people a share in the government, but this might not have been the case, and it might have been long delayed. At any rate, it was Simon de Montfort who did it, and it is to him that we are indebted for that which, in the language of Sir James Mackintosh, may be termed "the practical discovery of popular representation." 50 The same historian adds, "The particulars of the war are faintly discerned at this distance nion of the of time. But the reformation in question, as first Montfort's affording proof from experience that liberty, order, greatness, power, and wealth are capable of being changes. blended together in a degree of harmony which the wisest men before had not believed possible, will be held in everlasting remembrance." Sir James Mackintosh's opi value of De parliamen tary CHARACTER OF SIMON DE MONTFORT. 229 9" 51 fort's me "His memory was long revered by the people as Henry III. one who had died a martyr to his defence of their A.D. 1265. liberties. During the vigorous reign which followed, De Montpopular feeling was overawed; but by the following mory generation, when that feeling could be more freely revered by the people. uttered, he was called 'Sir Simon the Righteous.' Miracles were attributed to him, and many were the ballads sung in his honour; and his name though held in abhorrence by the powerful, was distinguished by the blessings of the poor. The following is a part of a modern version of a ballad written soon after the fatal battle of Evesham, an early MS. of which in Anglo-Norman French, still exists in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It describes in a touching manner the popular feeling towards De Montfort: "In song my grief shall find relief; Sad is my verse and rude; I sing in tears our gentle peers, Who fell for England's good. Our peace they sought, for us they fought, For us they dared to die; And where they sleep, a mangled heap, Their wounds for vengeance cry. On Evesham's plain is Montfort slain, Where streams his gore shall all deplore, "Ere Tuesday's sun its course had run, While rushed to fight each gallant knight, Still undismay'd, with trenchant blade, But numbers gave the day. On Evesham's, &c. Alluding to the flight of the Welsh. Ballad de- Henry IIL A.D. 1265. The King abuses his victory. Conduct of the King after the Battle of Evesham. The victory at Evesham enabled the King to resume his tyranny. In the words of Sir James Mackintosh, "After the battle of Evesham, and the death of De Montfort, the baronial party appeared to be extinct. The Parliament assembled by the royalists, was the pliant instrument of their rapacity and revenge. The followers of De Montfort were proscribed, and their lands distributed among the conquerors. The King distinguished himself by nothing but the unmanly insolence of a feeble mind intoxicated by undeserved success."52 Henry summoned a Parliament to meet him at Winchester; and found no difficulty in obtaining its consent to severe measures against the defeated barons and their followers. The citizens of repealed London were deprived of their charter, and the confiscated. estates of all who had followed De Montfort were Charters and estates The coun try not easily quieted. confiscated. But these measures did not quiet the kingdom. The dispossessed knights and barons spread themselves as banditti all over the country, and among the number was Robin Hood, of whom I shall presently give you a more particular account. It took Prince Edward a long time to put down these opponents. He first took possession of the Cinque Ports, which had almost always been on De Gordon. Montfort's side. He then captured Winchelsea, from Henry III. whence he proceeded to Hampshire, which, with the A.D. 1265. neighbouring counties of Berkshire and Buckingham- Adam de shire, were ravaged by Adam de Gordon, who was said to be the strongest man of his age. He and his followers were surprised in Alton Wood, in Hampshire, and were defeated. The Prince was a more generous man than his father, and, having by his own personal courage overcome Adam Gordon, in admiration of his bravery he at once pardoned him, and took him to the Queen at Guildford that very night. He thus made him a fast friend and a loyal subject for life. Siege of Many of the barons took refuge in the Isle of Ely, A.D. 1266. where they long resisted the King's forces. Kenil- Kenilworth also held out; but it was at length reduced by worth. famine in November, 1266. While the siege was going on, attempts were made by some of the king's adherents, who disapproved of his severity, and were anxious to secure the good government of the country, to bring about an accommodation between the parties. A committee was therefore appointed, consisting of twelve prelates and barons, and they drew up a document, called "The Dictum of Kenilworth," dated October 15, 1266, which was confirmed by the King in Parliament. By this it was provided that the liberties of the Church should be preserved; that the charters should be observed, which, it was stated, "the King is expressly bound by his oath to keep; so necessary was it, even in the moment of victory, to remind the King of his duties. It was also decreed that the confiscated estates should be restored to their owners on payment of certain sums of money. Henry III. At length the land was once more tranquil, and the A.D. 1267. King directed his attention to the improvement of the The King country. Bridges were thrown across rivers, roads votes him were made, and at a Parliament held at Marlborough at the end of 1267, some of the most useful among the provisions of the barons were confirmed. now de self to the improve kingdom. The Pope exhorts the Pope Clement the Fourth, who, as Cardinal Guido, had excommunicated the barons after the Battle of Lewes, was well pleased at the king's victory at Evesham, and sent over Cardinal Ottoboni to congratulate him on his success. He seems, however, to have felt the necessity of curbing the severe spirit of Henry and his son; for he instructed the cardinal to King to be express his disapprobation of the harsh measures of moderate. the Parliament at Winchester, and he earnestly exhorted them to use with moderation the power they had obtained by victory. Ottoboni then turned his attention to ecclesiastical matters, and many of the regulations he made relative to the plurality of livings and other matters, remain in force to this day. A.D. 1269. The Pope tries to persuade the prince to a new cru Before the cardinal left England he called together a great meeting at Northampton, on April 25th, 1269, to persuade the Prince and the barons to undertake a undertake crusade against the Saracens, who had recovered possession of the greater part of the Holy Land. He gave the cross to the King, to the Princes Edward and Edmund, to twenty-two bannerets, and to more than one hundred knights. Edward consented to undertake the expedition. sade. He consents, It is singular that while the kingdom was still in an unsettled state, and his father in his sixty-fourth year, he should have absented himself from the kingdom. But it was no doubt attractive to his bold and warlike |