Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/693

] Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, was almost alune in his efforts to follow in the steps of Stephen Langtou. He and De Moutfort were at one in their desire for reform, but the nation was not yet ready. Two mistakes on the part of Henry brought matters to a crisis. He had conferred the government of Gascony on De Montfort in, and the latter had reduced the province to obedience. But accusa tions made against him found ready audience with the king, who feared and disliked his brother-in-law. The result was a bitter quarrel, which Henry followed up by super seding De Montfort in his government, and sending his eldest son Edward to take his place. This had the effect of throwing the earl once for all into the arms of the national party. A little later an event occurred which forced that party to take active measures. The pope persuaded Henry to accept the kingdom of Sicily for his second son Edmund, and to bind himself to pay the expenses of its conquest, together with a large debt already incurred. This important scheme was entered into without the knowledge of the parliament, and the nation suddenly found itself pledged to an undertaking which had purely dynastic or papal objects. The coalition of pope and king produced a corresponding union of the church and the baronage, and the troubles of, Scotch and Welsh inroads, together with a failure of the harvest, united tha nation against the Government. A parliament which met at Westminster (April ) forced Henry to promise reform, and elected a committee of twenty-four to act for the king till a complete schema could be drawn up. On June 11th the assembly, called afterwards the Mad Parliament, met at Oxford. A coun cil of fifteen, of whom two-thirds were on the baronial side, was appointed, who, together with twelve repre sentatives of the &quot; community,&quot; were to take charge of the government and meet in parliament thrice a. Hugh Bigod was named justiciar, other offices were filled up, the castles were entrusted to Englishmen, and four knights were summoned from each county to declare grievances, These reforms, together with certain general enactments, went by the name of the Provisions of Oxford. The king s authority was completely superseded, and the rule of a baronial oligarchy established. Next year, owing to the demands of the knighthood, who felt themselves neglected, a further series of Provisions was issued. The Sicilian project was formally repudiated, and a final peace made with France, in which the claim on Normandy and other districts was renounced. But beyond this the baronial Government did nothing. The nation testified its disappointment, and a quarrel took place between the earls of Leicester and Gloucester which divided the baronial party. The king took advantage of this state of affairs, and in obtained absolution from the Pro visions at the hands of the pope. He then fortified the Tower, deposed the baronial justiciar, and soon began to rule as before. In this crisis the baronial party made a bid for popular favour by summoning representatives of the counties to a parliament, but the reaction was for the time complete, and Henry had leisure to go to France in order to win over Louis IX. to his side. In hostilities broke out on the Welsh border, and the barons seized the opportunity to renew their attack on the king. After some months of desultory warfare, it was agreed to submit to the arbitration of Louis. That king, in the Mise of Amiens, decided in favour of Henry, and annulled the Provisions. Leicester at once appealed to arms. The battle of Lewes (May 14, ) was a complete victory for him, and put the king and his eldest son into his hands. For a time he was master of the country, but the party he headed was not that which had been dominant six years before, and Henry now had many adherents among the greater barons. Nevertheless, for more than a year he remained practically a prisoner in the hands of De Montfort. At a parliament which met in June, and at which knights of the shire were certainly present, a constitution was drawn up, which, while preserving to the king a high position as head of the executive, placed supreme power in the hands of the community/ Early, in a parliament to which members from the boroughs as well as from the counties were summoned, this constitution was confirmed, and Henry swore to observe it. In accordance with the settlement made at Lewe?, Edward was now to be released. His father was already supposed to be at liberty, but in reality both he and Edward were kept in restraint. Edward s escape (May ) caused an im mediate renewal of the war, and at the battle of Evesham (August 4, ) De Montfort w^s killed and Henry set free. the war was practically concluded by the capture of Kenilworth. Henry had little to do with the conduct of the war, and acquiesced in the arrangements made by his son for the pacification of the country. His triumph was, however, complete, and for the rest cf his reign the kingdom was at peace. He died on November 16,, leaving behind him the memory of one whose virtues were of the priestly kind, and whose worst vices were those of indulgence, ill-temper, and prodigality. As a subject he would have been harmless, and even perhaps respectable ; as a king he was weak, hasty, imprudent, equally incapable in the position of a ruler, an administrator, or a general.

1em 1em  HENRY IV. (–), king of England, only son of John of Gaunt and Blanche, daughter of Henry, duke of Lancaster, was born in. At the age of fifteen he married Mary Bohun, and in was made earl of Derby. he was one of the five lords appellant who impeached the earl of Suffolk and others, and took part in the proceedings of the Merciless Parliament. He acquiesced, however, in Richard s return to power, supported the king in his coup d efat of, and became duke of Hereford. His quarrel with the duke of Norfolk led to his banishment shortly afterwards, and on his father s death Richard denied him the succession to his title and inheritance. he took advantage of Richard s absence in Ireland to reassert his rights. He landed in Yorkshire, took Bristol, and seized Richard (August 19) near Con way Castle. At a parliament which met on September 30th, he claimed the throne on the ground of his descent from Henry III., the right of conquest, and the necessity of reform. He was accepted by the parliament ; Richard was forced to abdicate; and Henry was crowned (October 13, ). The last of his three claims gives the explanation of his policy. He had won the favour cf the church by pledges in favour of orthodoxy ; the circumstances of his accession and the difficulties of his government forced him to make concessions to the House of Commons, which raised that body to a position it did not again attain for more than two centuries. The first part of his reign was occupied with the suppression of the revolts, not only of the defeated party, but also of his own discontented adherents. These troubles were complicated by hostile relations with 