Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/24

Henry III Peter answered for him with the insolent remark that there were no peers in England as there were in France. On this the bishops threatened to excommunicate the king's evil counsellors by name. Henry now again proceeded to Gloucester on 2 Nov., and invaded the lands of the earl-marshal. Richard retook his castle, and though he would not fight against the king, his allies, Welsh and English, despoiled the royal camp at Grosmont on 11 Nov. Henry returned to Gloucester, and on the 25th the mercenary captain whom he left in command was defeated with great loss before Monmouth Castle. On 22 Dec. the king offered terms to the earl without result. A few days later, while he was still at Gloucester, another body of his troops was defeated by the earl. Thereupon he went to Winchester, and entered into a truce with the earl. At a conference with the magnates which he held at Westminster on 2 Feb. 1234, the bishops, with Edmund Rich, the archbishop-elect of Canterbury, at their head, made a formal complaint to him of Bishop Peter and his other evil counsellors, and of the ill-government of the kingdom, and declared that, if he did not amend matters shortly, they would, when the archbishop was consecrated, proceed to spiritual censures. He answered humbly and asked for time. Then he went by St. Edmund's to Bromholm to pray before the holy cross there, and as he came back through Huntingdon the associated lords fired Alconbury, a town belonging to Stephen Segrave, his chief justiciar, in the immediate neighbourhood. On 9 April the archbishop came to the council at Westminster, attended by his suffragans, and threatened Henry with excommunication. He gave way, sent Bishop Peter to his diocese, and dismissed the bishop's nephew, Peter de Rievaulx, from the treasurership with passionate reproaches. All the Poitevins were driven from the court, and he sent the archbishop to make terms with the earl-marshal. He had no part in the wicked plot which led to the earl's destruction, and was grieved when he heard of his death. He was reconciled to the other lords, and among them to Hubert de Burgh, who had escaped from confinement and joined the earl-marshal, and he called his late ministers to account, imprisoning Peter de Rievaulx for a while in the Tower. From this time he filled the ministerial offices with men of scarcely higher rank than clerks, and became his own minister.

Although he had sent some help to Peter of Brittany in May, when the truce with France ended he refused to go to his succour, and the count therefore withdrew his homage and gave up some places which he held for Henry to Louis. Henry was anxious for peace with France, for Louis was growing more powerful. The Count of La Marche hindered the arrangements for a truce by demanding the Isle of Oléron, which the English nobles would not allow the king to surrender. Finally the matter was settled in July 1235 by the grant of an annuity to the count in lieu of the island (Royal Letters, i. 476), and a five years' truce was made in the following February (Fœdera, i. 221). In May 1235 the king sent his sister Isabella to be married to the emperor Frederic II, who promised to help him against the French king. A marriage was also arranged between Henry and Joan, daughter of Simon de Dammartin, count of Ponthieu, but though the negotiations were completed, the count was persuaded by the French king to change his mind (ib. pp. 216, 218;, iii. 328). Before this match was broken off Henry wrote on 22 June to Amadeus IV, count of Savoy, proposing marriage with his niece, Eleanor, daughter of Raymond Berenger IV, count of Provence [see ]. Her elder sister, Margaret, had lately been married to Louis IX. She was brought over to England by her uncle William, bishop-elect of Valence, and was married to the king at Canterbury by Archbishop Edmund on 14 Jan. 1236. As soon as the marriage festivities in London were over, Henry went to a great council held at Merton on the 28th, at which the celebrated assize of Merton was passed (Stat. Merton, 20 Hen. III, c. 9, ap. Statutes at Large, i. 31;, Lectures, p. 351). William of Valence at once gained complete influence over the king, and it was believed that he and eleven others had formed themselves into a kind of secret council, and that the king had sworn to be guided by them (Ann. Dunst. p. 146). Indignation waxed so hot that Henry took shelter in the Tower. The nobles refused to attend him there. He therefore returned to Westminster, and consented to appoint a new set of sheriffs sworn to take no bribes. However, he made several changes in his household, apparently by the advice of the foreign clique, and recalled to court two of his late ministers, Stephen Segrave and Robert Passelew. Later in the year Henry went to York, where an attempt was made to settle the claim of the King of Scots on the Northumbrian districts. He was in want of money, and had lately been forced to pay the emperor the portion assigned to Isabella on her marriage. Accordingly at a council of nobles and prelates held at Westminster on 13 Jan. 1237, his clerk, William of Raleigh, requested an aid, offering on his behalf that the money when collected should be paid over to a com-