Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/227

 (, p. 171). On 15 June John gave way and signed the Great Charter. Fitzwalter was one of the twenty-five executors appointed to see that its provisions were really carried out ( ii. 605).

For a short time nominal peace prevailed. Fitzwalter now got back the custody of Hertford Castle (Rot. Lit. Pat. i. 144 b). But the barons remained under arms, and Fitzwalter was still acting as 'Marshal of the army of God and Holy Church.' He now made a convention with John, by which London remained in the barons' hands till 15 Aug. (Fœdera, i. 133). But he was so fearful of treachery that within a fortnight of the Runnymeade meeting he thought it wise to postpone a tournament fixed to be held at Stamford on the Monday after the feast of SS. Peter and Paul (29 June) for another week, and chose as the place of its meeting Hounslow Heath, that the barons might be near enough to protect London (ib. i. 134). After the failure to arrange terms at a meeting at Staines on 26 Aug. open war brokeout. The twenty-five executors assigned to themselves various counties to secure them for their side. Fitzwalter, who with Eustace de Vescy was still the leading spirit of the movement, became responsible for Northamptonshire ( ii. 224). On 17 Sept. John granted Fitzwalter's Cornish estates to his young son Henry (Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 228; of., however, i. 115b, 200). But the pope's annulling the charter had paralysed the clerical supporters of the popular side, and the thoroughgoing policy of the twenty-five under Fitzwalter's guidance had alienated of the more moderate men. Fearing Archbhishop Langton might be forced to surrender his castle of Rochester, Fitzwalter, with the assent of the warden of the castle, Reginald of Cornhill, secretly occupied it with a large force. John's troops soon approached, and strove, by burning Rochester bridge and occupying the left bank of the way, to cut off Fitzwalter from his London confederates. But Fitzwalter succeeded keeping his position, though before long he was forced (11 Oct.) to retreat to London, allow the royalists to occupy the town besiege the castle (, pp. 174–5). John now tried to deceive him by forged letters (ib. p. 176). Fitzwalter, conscious of the weakness of his position, sought negotiate. On 9 Nov. he received with a Earl of Hertford and the citizens of London safe-conduct for a conference ; nothing came of it. In vain the beleaguered garrison of Rochester bitterly reproached him for deserting them (, ii.624). On 10 Nov. they were forced to surrender. On 16 Dec. the barons, including Fitzwalter, were excommunicated by name (Fœdera,i. 139). French help was now their only refuge. Fitzwalter went over to France with the Earl of Winchester and offered the throne to Louis, the son of King Philip, putting into his hands twenty-four hostages and assuring him of the support of their party. Fitzwalter was back in England early in 1210. Louis landed in May, and, as John made great progress in the east, Fitzwalter busied himself in compelling Essex and Suffolk, his own counties, to accept the foreign king (,ii. 655-6). The tide of fortune now turned, but after John's death on 19 Oct. Fitzwalter's difficulties increased. Gradually the English went over to the side of Henry III. Those who remained in arms were not respected by the French. On 6 Dec. Louis captured Hertford Castle from the followers of the new king Henry. Fitzwalter naturally asked for the custody of a stronghold that had already been so long under his care. The French urged that a traitor to his own lord was not to be trusted, and Louis told him he must wait until the end of the war (ib. iii. 5). Fitzwalter was too deeply pledged to Louis to join the deserters. He was sent from London on 30 April 1217 at the head of a strong French force to raise the siege of Mountsorrel in Leicestershire, now closely pressed by the Earl of Chester ( ii. 237). On his way he rested at St. Albans, where his hungry troops ate up all the supplies of the abbey (, iii. 16). He raised the siege of Mountsorrel and advanced to Lincoln. He was met by the regent, William Marshall, whose forces were now joined by the Earl of Chester with the army that had besieged Mountsorrel. Fitzwalter was anxious for an immediate battle. On 20 May the battle of Lincoln was fought, and the baronial forces thoroughly defeated. Fitzwalter himself was taken prisoner along with his son ( ii. 111) and most of the leaders of his party. The Londoners still held out until Hubert de Burgh's great naval victory on 24 Aug. On 11 Sept. the treaty of Lambeth ended the struggle. But the reissue of the charter as the result of the treaty showed that Fitzwalter's cause had triumphed in spite of his personal failure. On 8 Oct. 1217 Fitzwalter's release from prison was ordered (Rot. Lit. Claus. i. 328 b), On 24 Jan. 1318 the king granted him his scutage (ib. i. 319 b). In July he received the custody of his nephew, Walter Fitzsimon Fitzwalter, whose father was now dead (ib. i. 379 b; Excerpta e Rot. Finium, i. 15). In the same year he witnessed the undertaking that the great seal was to be affixed to 