Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/389

 of next year Gloucester refused to attend a parliament) on the plea that Prince Edward was watching an opportunity of imprisoning him; and the king of the Romans' intervention was once more required. By his decision (17 July 1270) the earl was to take ship for the Holy Land immediately after Prince Edward under in of forfeiting twenty thousand marks. The prince sailed on 20 Aug., but Gloucester seems to have avoided both the expedition and the penalty (, 229-31, &c.; Ann, Wint. 109). In January 1271 the earl was mainly instrumental in securing the restoration of all their estates to the 'disinherited' (ib. 110).

On the death of Henry III Gloucester was foremost in declaring his fealty to Edward, in accordance with the oath he made to the dying king (16 Nov.) (Lib. de Ant. Leg. ii. 162, 156; Ann, Wint, 112). Next day (17 Nov.), in company with the Archbishop of York, he entered the city and proclaimed peace to all, both Jews and christians, thus securing, for the first time in English history, the acknowledgment of the accession of the eldest son of the king immediately on the death of his father. It is curious to find the earl once more supporting the claims of Walter Hervey, who had been elected mayor of London by the 'communitas,' against those of Philip le Tayllur, the candidate appointed by the city magnates. Here he seems again to be advocating the cause of the weaker citizens, as he had done in 1267, and so helping to sustain a popular movement, which appears to have originated in the times of Simon de Montfort. It was at last decided (18 Nov.) that Walter Hervey should take office after promising that he would not injure any of those who had opposed his election (Lib. de Ant. Leg. 149-63).

It was about this time that Gilbert seems to have first contemplated a divorce from his first wife, Alice, to whom he had been married when a boy. She appears to have leaned rather to the king's party than to her husband's. In the early part of 1267 she sent from London news of her husband's descent on the city to the king (Dunst. Ann. 246). According to John de Oxenedes he was divorced from her at Norwich on 17 July 1271 (p. 239). But the transaction does not seem to have been completed till nearly twenty years later, as documents in Rymer, dated May 1283 and May 1286, speak of a papal dispensation as being still necessary before the second marriage with the Princess Joan can take place (, ii. 244, 299), and discuss the dowry of the discarded Alice. The second wedding took place on 30 April 1290; but the earl seems not to have been entirely reconciled to his new father-in-law even then, as he at once left Westminster for his castle of Tunbridge (Dunst. Ann. 368; Ann. Wig. 602;, ii. 330, with which cf. the 'abducta uxor' of Ann. Oseney, 326). In July he and his wife took the cross at the hands of Archbishop Peckam, and, if we may interpret the chronicler's words literally, actually started for the Holy Land (, 177-8).

In 1276 Gilbert was summoned against Llewellyn of Wales (, ii. 73), with whom, though his ally in 1267, he had been engaged in disputes in the Westminster courts some five years previously (26 Oct. 1271) about Caerphilly Castle (Pat. Rolls, 43 b; Brut, 366). In 1278 he is found disputing -with the Bishop of Hereford as to the right of hunting in Malvern Hills (Ann. Wig. 476). In December he received a summons to take the field against Llewellyn (, ii. 76). Four years later he was serving with his soldiery near Lantilowhir, on which occasion (16 June) the king's nephew, William de Valence, was slain (, Rolls Series, 100). Next year (1283) he was summoned to Shrewsbury, to assist in the trial of Llewellyn's brother David (, ii. 200, 247). With Rhys ap Meredith, prince of Ystrad Towy, against whom he led the English baronage, his relations seem to have been more ambiguous; so much so that in 1287 he was suspected of affording a shelter to this prince on his Irish estates, although he had been appointed (July) one of the two leaders of the English expedition against him (, 311;, ii. 342; cf. , 144). Eight years later (1294–96) all his Welsh tenants rose up against the Earl of Gloucester, and drove him out of Wales with his wife. Rhys ap Morgan and Maddos appears to have profited by this opportunity; and when Gilbert took steps for recovering his estates he found that his greater tenants were unwilling to serve under him. Finally the king was forced to come and take the rebellious vassals into his peace against the earl's will (Ann. Dunst, 387; Ann. Wig. 626).

Gilbert incurred the king's displeasure by levying private war against the Earl of Norfolk, who in 1276 had got jpossession of Brecknock, which the Earl of Gloucester claimed as his own (Ann, Cambr, 366). About Ascension day 1291 both nobles were consigned to prison, and placed 'in misericordiâ regis' for 1,000l. and 10,000l. respectively (Ann. Dunst., 370; Abbrev. Plac. 286). The same year he was present at Norham, where Edward decided the claims to the Scotch crown. He died on 7 Dec. 1296, leaving one son, Gilbert (1291–1314) [q. v.], and three daughters, Eleanor, Marret, and Elizabeth [q. v.] Eleanor married (1) Hugh le Despenser, (2) William le Zouch