Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 26.djvu/34

Henry III boroughs [for the earl's government, see under ]. Henry stayed at Westminster until after the parliament broke up, giving his assent to the new constitution on 14 March. A quarrel having arisen between the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester, he was taken by Earl Simon to Northampton, and thence to Worcester, Gloucester, and Hereford, where he was during the larger parts of May and June 1265. While at Hereford a writ was issued in his name to summon an army against his son, who had escaped from Earl Simon's custody at Hereford. When the earl found himself shut in behind the Severn he took the king to Monmouth on 28 June, and was forced to retire to Hereford again. On 2 Aug. Henry crossed the Severn with the earl, and though Simon was anxious to press on to Kenilworth, obtained his wish to have breakfast before leaving the abbey of Evesham on the 4th. In the battle of that day he was sharply wounded on the shoulder-blade by his son's men, who did not know him, and would have killed him had he not cried out, ‘I am Henry of Winchester, your king; do not slay me.’ A baron named Roger of Leyburne is said to have saved him. Edward heard his voice, ran towards him, and had him led to a place of safety. He allowed the mutilated remains of Earl Simon and the body of his son Henry to be buried in the abbey church at Evesham.

His son's victory restored him to power, and on 7 Aug. he issued a writ at Worcester, revoking all grants made by the late earl under his seal since the battle of Lewes (ib. p. 458). On 8 Sept. he held a great council at Winchester, where the forfeiture of the lands of all the rebel lords was decreed. The Londoners submitted on 6 Oct.; Henry imprisoned some of the leaders of the rebel party for a short time at Windsor, and made the city pay twenty thousand marks for peace. Some discontent was felt at his rapid disposal of the material fruits of his victory; forfeited lands were distributed among his adherents, and large sums were paid to creditors in France on account of debts incurred by the queen on his behalf. At Canterbury he met his queen, who landed on 1 Nov. With her came the legate Ottoboni, who was sent by Clement IV to punish the bishops of the baronial party, excommunicate those who still held out against the king, help to restore order, and put the tenth levied on the clergy in the king's hand. In company with the legate Henry held a council at Northampton at the end of December, and received the submission of the younger Simon de Montfort [for particulars of the reduction of the rebels to submission, see under ]; negotiations were also set on foot with Llewelyn. Although the victory at Evesham was not followed by any executions, the sweeping sentence of confiscation drove many of the defeated party to resistance. A strong body of them shut themselves up in Kenilworth, did much mischief to the neighbouring country, and sent back one of the king's messengers with his hand cut off. Accordingly, on 15 March 1266, Henry summoned his military tenants to meet at Oxford in three weeks; on 6 May he was at Northampton, probably to complete his muster, and then advanced to Kenilworth. During the course of the siege he held a parliament, at which on 24 Aug. the ‘Ban of Kenilworth’ was drawn up [see under ]. The terms offered in this settlement were accepted by the garrison on 20 Dec. A dangerous outbreak of rebellion in the isle of Ely forced Henry to hold a council at Bury St. Edmunds on 21 Feb. 1267, to summon his forces, and to march to Cambridge. He made no head against the rebels, and in April was called away by the news that the Earl of Gloucester [see, (1243–1295)] had occupied London, and was besieging the legate in the Tower. He marched to Windsor, and thence to London, where he was refused admittance. Alarmed at the height to which matters had grown, he contented himself by delivering the legate from the Tower, and reinforcing the garrison, and then fell back on West Ham in Essex, and took up his quarters in the Cistercian abbey of Stratford Langthorne. Terms were finally arranged on 16 June, through the mediation of the king of the Romans, and three days later the king entered the city. No penalties were exacted, and Henry remained there until 25 July. During his stay the isle of Ely was reduced by Edward, and he dismissed nearly all his foreign mercenaries (, p. 207). Difficulties having arisen in the negotiations with Llewelyn, he proceeded to Shrewsbury with the legate, and made peace with him at Michaelmas.

The country was at last in a state of order, and on 18 Nov. 1267 Henry held a parliament at Marlborough, to which probably representatives from the counties were summoned, and in which a statute was passed enacting many of the reforms demanded at the beginning of the late troubles, and, save that it left the appointment of ministers and sheriffs to the king, conceding nearly everything asked for in the ‘Mad parliament’ (Const. Hist. ii. 97). He spent Christmas in company with the legate at Winchester, the city to which he was deeply attached. In the spring of 1268 he allowed the legate to hold a national