CHAPTER XIV. TREACHERY AND HOSTILITIES. "To work in close design, by fraud or guile, PARADISE LOST. OTHER causes of ill-will had been rankling in the breast of the Earl of Gloucester, and it was not long before he contemplated revenge by carrying his banner into the opposite camp. The sons of de Montfort had, without authority, proclaimed a tournament to be held at Dunstable, in February, and had addressed their challenge especially to the de Clares. The enmity between the two families was so bitter that the holiday-show might easily have become a real battle; and it is stated' that de Clare, even at this early period, had formed a plot to entrap de Montfort and his sons into his power at this meeting. The Earl of Leicester, however, either from suspicion, or more probably from the danger of an armed concourse to the peace of the country at such a time-for it was while the Parliament was assembled strictly forbade the tournament by a royal proclamation, in which the King urged that the absence of the knights on such a pretence might retard the release of his son, then about to be arranged. This prohibition, so reasonable in itself, bore all the outward marks of authority, with the signatures of the King, 1 Westminster Feb. 16, 1265.Rymer. Another tournament had been forbidden in 1255, in the same manner, on account of the danger of Prince Edward in Gascony at the time.-Rymer. the Justiciary, le Despenser, the Bishop of London, and Thomas de Cantilupe'. The latter churchman, in himself remarkable, must not be confounded with his uncle the patriotic Bishop of Worcester, under whose patronage probably he was employed, as we have seen, to represent the barous at the award of Amiens. A few days after joining in the above deed he was raised by the barons to the dignity of Chancellor, Feb. 25, though displaced by the King immediately after the battle of Evesham, Aug. 10. His intrinsic merit, however, not only procured him a pardon in 1266, but the bishopric of Hereford in 1275, and a few years after his death in 1282 the honours of a saint were conferred on him by Rome. 1 Thomas de Cantilupe, son of William, Baron de Cantilupe, studied at Oxford and Paris, was Chancellor of Oxford in 1262, and Archdeacon of Stafford when made Lord Chancellor. "On Wednesday next after the Feast of St Peter in cathedrâ (Feb. 22) Master John de Chishull, Archdeacon of London, restored to the King his seal, and he on the same day committed the custody of it to Master Thomas de Cantilupe, who immediately sealed with it."Claus. 49° Hen. III. m. 9. He had a grant of 500 marcs a-year, payable at four terms, for the support of himself and the clerks of the King's Chancery. There is a letter of Thomas Cantilupe, as Chancellor, to the King, concerning an order with which the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's declined complying.-603 Chanc. Rec. 5th Rep. He died at Civita Vecchia in Italy, Aug. 25, 1282, having travelled to Rome on business of his see. His body was buried at Florence, his heart at Ashridge, and his bones only at Hereford, and their translation to his tomb (still extant, with its fine effigies of warriors in their niches on the sides, and lower Gothic arcade above) was honoured by the presence of Edward II., April 6, 1287. According to Matt. Westm. the miracles performed there were 163, and Engl. 3 Martyrology states 425, including restoration to life.-V. Life and Gests of Sir Thomas Cantelupe, Butler's Lives of the Fathers, in Britton's Hereford Cathedral. 2 His patent was endorsed as having been folded by the King with his own hands, and sealed in his presence. "Rex omnibus, &c. salutem. Cum dilectus nobis in Christo magister Thomas de Cantilupo per nos et magnates nostros qui sunt de Concilio nostro electus sit in Cancellarium Regni nostri, et nos ipsum ad officium illud gratanter admiserimus, nos sustentationi suæ, et clericorum Cancellariæ nostræ providere volentes, concessimus ei 500 marcas, singulis annis percipiendas ad Scaccarium nostrum, &c., ad sustentationem suam et clericorum Cancellariæ nostræ prædictæ quamdiu steterit in officio. Teste Rege apud Westmonast. 26 die Marcii. Et sciendum quod Dominus Rex manu suæ propriæ plicavit istud breve, et in presentia sua fecit consignari, præsentibus similiter H. le Despenser, Justiciario Angliæ," &c.-Pat. 49° Hen. III. m. 18. The Countess of Leicester sent him a present of four gallons of wine at Sarum on the occasion, March 1, and a messenger from him reached the Countess at Dover, July 8.-Househ. Exp. 3 Rot. Pat. 50° Henry III. S The letter of Edward I. to Clement V. testifies to his long intimacy with the humility, justice, and mercy of the deceased prelate, stating that since his death he had "shone by sundry miracles, such as restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and motion to the lame; besides many other benefits conferred by the hand of heaven on those who implored his patronage." On the faith of these marvels, to which the credulity of others added the restoration of forty persons to life, the King implores the Pope "not to suffer such a lanthorn to be hid under a bushel, but to place it on a candlestick, by deigning to number him in the catalogue of the saints'." His shrine still remains in Hereford cathedral, and was once in great local repute for cures and miracles, though decorated only with the mailclad effigies of his noble ancestry, rather than the groups of saints we might have expected to associate with him2. It is said that with him ended the line of English saints canonized by Rome; for though popular feeling afterwards disposed freely and frequently of the title in favour of its own heroes and martyrs, whose merits worked miracles in spite of royal prohibition, yet six centuries have since passed over our reprobate generations without one acknowledged saint. De Clare and the other combatants, who had made every preparation for this Dunstable tournament, were much disposed to set at nought this prohibition; but de Montfort was resolute, and threatening to "cast those who should disobey into a place where they should enjoy neither sun nor moon," went himself with the justiciary and a strong force, so as effectually to preserve the public peace so endangered*. Indignation at this interference now hurried de Clare 1 Letter dated Westminster, Nov. 2, 1305, in Wilkins' Concil. 1. 283. 2 Britton's Hereford Cath. The bishop died in Italy, 1282, and his bones only were brought to his cathedral, and transferred to the north transept in 1287. The bishopric adopted his family arms (gules, three leopards' heads reversed, jessant, as many fleur de lys, or) for those of the see. 3 He was canonized in 1307. The saint was a pluralist, and held many other preferments in York, Lichfield, and London; he was also Chancellor of Oxford. 4 W. Rish. de Bello Lew. forward into a treacherous correspondence with Roger de Mortimer in Wales. The stanch Royalist was at first not unreasonably suspicious of his good faith, and even required hostages' for his own security, before he consented to meet the earl's brother, Thomas de Clare', who, as governor of St Briavel's, was at the time conveniently situated to carry on the treaty. The terms of the betrayal, however, were speedily arranged (in April) between these parties, when they met; and it was, perhaps, some suspicion of this that induced de Montfort to require fresh pledges' of fidelity from de Clare. The false earl, though not prepared then to throw off his mask, withdrew secretly from these demands, and leaving London under pretence of providing for the security of his own estates, began to collect his followers at Gloucester, with a resolution to weaken the authority of de Montfort by all the means in his power: "Tho wende the Erl from Londone priveliche and stille, As to socori is land, age Sir Simonde's will."-ROB. GLOUC. Although he still acted in apparent concert with the barons for some time longer, he was evidently awaiting his opportunity for completing his desertion. Other symptoms of uneasiness at the gathering forces of the malcontents had already appeared among the barons. Formal summonses required the presence in Parliament, on June 1, of some of the great Royalists, who were known to be abroad. These were proclaimed at Pevensey, Lewes, and Boseham, as the respective residences of Peter de Savoy, Earl de Warenne, and Roger le Bigod. Troubles had broken out in the North also, which induced de Montfort to move in that direction to suppress them, after the breaking up of the Parliament in Lent, and there was an apprehen 1 H. Knighton. 2 He was made governor of Colchester in 1266; went on a crusade, from which he returned in 1271, and London was put under his command, 1273. 3 Add. MSS. 5444. 4 Dated Westminster, March 19, 1265. The summons to them re quired them to appear "justiciam facturi et recepturi," to do and suffer justice.-Rymer. sion of the Royalists landing there from France. He was with the King at Northampton', April 11, and when he heard that John FitzAlan, one of the released Lewes prisoners, had joined the armed malcontents, he authorized his son Simon, then probably besieging Pevensey, to secure the person of FitzAlan's youthful son, or failing that, to possess himself of Arundel castle2. The marchers in the interest of Prince Edward, in concert with the attempted rescue at Wallingford in December, had advanced as far as Pershore, and had been followed in their retreat by de Montfort. Driven by him successively from Hay, Hereford, and Ludlow, they had submitted at Montgomery to terms of peace, intended to obtain at least a year's tranquillity for that frontier. They agreed to go into exile for that time-a condition, however, which they evaded by taking shelter on the territory of de Clare3. Their hostile intentions becoming more manifest, de Montfort returned rapidly from the North, in order to watch them at Gloucester, where he was April 30, and afterwards, May 13, at Hereford. The threatened insurrection soon assumed a serious importance, requiring all the energies of de Montfort to meet. On May 10, William de Valence, accompanied by Earl de Warenne, and numerous other Royalists, landed in his own lordship of Pembroke, and was welcomed by the malcontent marchers already in arms". It was at this time and under these harassing circumstances that de Montfort again evinced his anxiety for the livered the King's seal to Ralph de Sandwich, Keeper of the Wardrobe, in the presence of the King and of Hugh le Despenser, Justiciary of England, and Peter de Montfort, to be kept by him until Thomas should return, to be used in this manner: Ralph to keep it in the Wardrobe under the seal of Peter de Montfort, Roger de St John, and Giles de Argentenn, or one of them; when taken out, Ralph to seal the writs of course in the presence of the person under whose seal it had been |