Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/22

Henry III Stamford was joined by William Marshall, the Earl of Chester, and other earls, with a large force. The confederates sent to the king demanding justice, imputing his action to the justiciar, and bidding him with threats restore the forest liberties. A meeting was arranged for 2 Aug. at Northampton, and there the king yielded to their demands, was reconciled to Richard, and gave him large grants (, iv. 141). Henry held his Christmas court this year at York. In August 1228, hearing that Llewelyn was besieging the castle of Montgomery, he marched thither with a small force and relieved it. He burnt the Cistercian abbey of Kerry, which the Welsh used as a place of arms, and began to build a castle there. While the work was in progress the Welsh attacked his men, slew many of them, and took William of Braose a prisoner. Provisions failed, and it is said that many in his army were secretly well-wishers of Llewelyn. At last, after wasting nearly three months, Henry made a disgraceful peace, and left William in the hands of the Welsh. A scutage of two marks was levied for this campaign. On the death of Stephen Langton in July 1228, the king was displeased at the election of Walter Eynsham by the monks of Canterbury, and used his influence with Gregory IX to get it quashed; the pope virtually gave the see to Richard Grant [q. v.], and in 1229 took advantage of Langton's death to demand a tenth of all property (ib. p. 201;, iii. 128; but Ann. Theok. p. 73, and other authorities incorrectly limit the demand to the property of the clergy, see Const. Hist. ii. 42). Henry held a council of his tenants in chief at Westminster on 29 April 1229 to consider the demand; the clergy yielded, the lords resisted, the king, to whom all looked to support them in resistance, kept silence, for he had already agreed to the pope's scheme in order to get his way about the archbishopric. The pope's collector, Stephen, raised the money from the clergy; and his exactions excited general indignation.

While Henry was keeping the Christmas of 1228 at Oxford, a message was brought to him from the nobles of Normandy, Poitou, and other parts of the former possessions of the crown in France, inviting him to invade the kingdom; but he deferred action by the advice of the justiciar, who was always in favour of peace. At Michaelmas he gathered his forces at Portsmouth, but on the point of embarking found that he had not enough ships, and fell into a great rage with the justiciar [see under ]. Soon after this the Duke of Brittany visited him and advised him to put off his expedition until Easter; he restored to the duke his rights in England, received his homage, and gave him five thousand marks for the defence of Brittany. Christmas (1229) he again spent at York in company with Alexander of Scotland. A scutage of three marks was levied, a tax was laid upon the towns, and the Jews had to pay a third of their goods for the expenses of the forthcoming expedition. Henry embarked at Portsmouth with a large force on 30 April 1230, stayed in Guernsey on 2 May, and on the 3rd landed at St. Malo, where the Duke of Brittany met him (Royal Letters, i. 363, 364). On the 8th he proceeded to Dinant and thence to Nantes, where he hoped to meet his mother and the Count of La Marche. Several of the most powerful feudatories in France were hostile to the French crown, and Henry might have done much mischief if he had possessed any ability, military or diplomatic. As it was the French king marched with a large army to Angers in order to shut him out from Poitou, and, while Henry remained at Nantes waiting for reinforcements, to Oudon, a castle about four leagues distant. Many of the Breton nobles did homage to Henry, while some fortified their castles against him. The Poitevin lords generally did him homage, though the Count of La Marche showed some hesitation, and the Viscount of Thouars took the side of Louis. Towards the end of June, the French army being engaged elsewhere, Henry marched by way of Anjou, taking the castle of Mirebeau late in July, into Poitou and thence into Gascony, where he received many homages. He then marched back to Brittany, and after staying for several weeks at Nantes, where he and his lords wasted a vast amount of money in luxurious living, he returned to England, landing at Portsmouth on 27 Oct. 1230, having left a small force under the Duke of Brittany and the Earl of Chester, to act against the French in Normandy and Brittany (, iv. 917; Fœdera, i. 197, 198).

The failure of this expedition increased Henry's feeling of alienation from the justiciar (Royal Letters, i. 379). After keeping Christmas at Lambeth, where the justiciar entertained the court, Henry held a council of his tenants in chief at Westminster on 27 Jan. 1231, and asked for a scutage of three marks for the expedition of the previous year from all fees lay and clerical. The grant was opposed by Richard of Canterbury and the bishops, who declared that no scutage could be granted without their consent. The difficulty was overcome, and the king issued letters patent affirming the liberties of the clergy (ib. p. 394). In the spring Henry