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 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE Humphrey de Bohun, second earl of Hereford, succeeded his father, Henry, in 1220, and later also inherited the earldom of Essex, through his mother, Maud, daughter of Geoffrey Fitzpeter. Like his father he attached himself to the party among the baronage desirous of preserving their powers and privileges against the crown. In July, 1227, he joined with the earls of Pembroke, Chester, Gloucester, Warwick, Surrey, and Derby in com- pelling Henry III to make large provision for his brother Richard, and to restore the forest charters.^'* In 1252 he defended Simon de Montfort's administration in Gascony.^^^ In 1254, when himself serving in Gascony, he bitterly resented the action of the king's half-brothers and of Peter, the Savoyard bishop of Hereford, in punishing some of his Welsh troops for plundering without referring the matter to him. This he regarded as derogatory to his rights as Constable of England."^ He and Mortimer joined the confederation of the barons in the Parliament held at Oxford in 1258, acting in concert with Gloucester, Leicester, and the Earl Marshal, and they were included in the perpetual council of fifteen appointed to control the executive and in the council of twenty-four.^" A difference, however, soon showed itself between Leicester, who desired to reform the central adminis- tration, and Gloucester, who aimed at securing the privileges of the greater baronage by paralysing it. His thorough policy of disintegration did not commend itself to the Marchers : the Welsh had again become aggressive, and they did not feel strong enough to withstand them unaided. In 1254 Llywelyn had become sole ruler in Gwynedd, and in 1256 he became embroiled with Prince Edward on the confines of his earldom of Chester, whence the quarrel spread southwards along the Welsh border. These dangers led Hereford to support Leicester, who was at that time on good terms with Edward, against Gloucester, and in 1259 he and the other nobles compelled Gloucester to make overtures."' In 1260 he was appointed by the council of fifteen justice itinerant for the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, and in the same year the city of Hereford refused to receive the justices nominated by the king on the ground that their visitation was contrary to the Provisions of Oxford."' On 17 July, 1260, Llywelyn captured Builth Castle from Mortimer, and in 1262, in con- sequence of the alliance between Llywelyn and Leicester, Hereford and Mortimer were acting in concert with the king. The quarrel with Llywelyn was unappeased in spite of the fact that on 24 August Henry III directed Hereford to grant him redress for violations of the truce."" On 24 December Henry wrote that he was sending succour against the Welsh,"^ but imme- diately after Christmas Llywelyn ravaged Mortimer's lands as far as the fortresses of Weobley, Eardisley, and Wigmore."^ Early in 1263 Hereford, who had commanded the forces on the Welsh border, was superseded by John de Grey "" on account of the dissensions which had broken out among '«^ Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 124. '« Ibid, v, 289. "* Ibid. V, 442. '°' Annals of Burton (Rolls Ser.), 449-50. '"' Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), v, 744-5. "' Nicolas Trevet, ^««a/^/ (Engl. Hist. Soc), 248; Chron. Edw. 1 and Edw. 11 (Rolls Ser.), i, 57; Rishanger, Chronica (Rolls Ser.), 5. ™ Letters of the Reign of Hen. Ill (Rolls Ser.), ii, 214, 216. '" Ibid, ii, 228-9. '" Foedera (1816), i, 423 ; Flares Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 476. '" Letters of the Reign of Hen. Ill (Rolls Ser.), ii, 236. 364