the presence of the French King, and they with others acted as commissioners to arrange the amount of payments. There was very properly a reservation of private claims on thus surrendering the nominal sovereignty of the French provinces, and there were probably many such to be adjusted, several of the great families settled in England having held lands in Normandy on feudal tenures. In a record' of the time of Henry II., among those from whom service to the duchy of Normandy was due, are the following names, familiar in English history:

Hugh de Montfort, for lands held under the church

11

1

5

33

བ་ལ་

13

ខ

.

8

of Bayeux Robert Marmiun and Dom. Bardolf neither came nor sent, nor said any. thing in answer to their summons.

The service of a fractional [knight or heavy-armed soldier] so carefully noted in the register was of course fulfilled by the whole man extending his legal forty days in a similar proportion.

As there was drawn up at the same date with the treaty

1.

wanting). To the Confirmation of the Peace by the barons and prelates of England, 1259 (Arch. du Roy. Garton, 629. 10, Fr. des Ch. p. 9,) there are 16 seals appended. Roger de Mortimer, his arms on a heater escutcheon within a circular seal. 2. Hugh le Bigot, Justiciary, lion rampant on a small escutcheon. 3. Peter of Savoy, a circular seal, with a lion rampant, no escutcheon. 4. Richard de Grey, a knight galloping. 5. James de Andridelee (indistinct). 6. Earl of Albemarle, on

one side a knight on horseback, on the other his arms. 7. Peter de Montfort, within a circular seal an escutcheon bendy. 8. John Mansel, on one side an antique head with inscription from a Roman Imperial coin, on the other, half of an armed man on a tower, beneath which a kneeling figure. 9. Philippe Basset (large), circular containing arms on escutcheon three bars indented.

1 Exchequer book of Duchy of Normandy in Ducarel's Antiq. AngloNorm. pp. 29-38.

(May 20, 1259) an act' to indemnify the Princess Eleanor, Countess of Leicester, for any loss she might sustain by it, an erroneous charge has arisen against her and her husband, as having broken off the treaty under the hope of Normandy becoming the inheritance of their children. So far from this being true, the countess did in fact solemnly resign her claims to any "lands in Normandy, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, Poictou, or in any other part of France," in the presence of both kings and of her husband at Paris, on the Thursday after St Andrew, Dec. 12593.

The twenty-four councillors went on thus ruling the country successfully, though absorbing for a time the royal authority; the merits of monarchy however are not unusually seen best in contrast with the experiment of other systems. One of the inevitable evils of multiplied sources of power soon arose, jealousy among co-equals'; and though the overpowering weight of the public interests for a time overbalanced the violence of the shock, yet the elements of derangement were in activity, and ultimately produced results fatal to the mechanism of the barons' government.

The dissension which arose between the two great chiefs, de Clare and de Montfort, in their hour of undisputed authority, has been indistinctly assigned to various motives. The supposition of the Countess of Leicester's retention of her private claims has been already disposed of, and another account represents de Clare as reviving against his colleague the refuted accusations of oppression in Gascony; while on the other hand de Montfort is said to have provoked a sharp personal altercation by his straightforward rebukes on the hesitation of his colleagues in enforcing the reforms

1 Rymer. A commission to settle her claims was also appointed on the same day.-Rymer.

2 M. Par.

3 Rymer. The seals of Simon de Montfort and his countess are both wanting (apparently torn off) from

their Confirmation of the Peace,
dated Dec. 4, 1259, in Archiv. du
Roy. Cart. 629, 13.

"Nulla fides regni sociis, omnis.
que potestas
Impatiens consortis erit.

-Lucan I.

determined upon. "What, my lords, after having resolved and sworn, do you still deliberate in doubt, and you especially, my lord of Gloucester, who, as the most eminent of us all, are so much the more strictly bound to these wholesome Statutes? I have no pleasure in dealing with such false and fickle men." Although de Bohun and others of the Council sided with him, he appears to have withdrawn to France in dissatisfaction.

That there was a general apprehension of the barons halting in their career at this period may be gathered from the vehement tone of remonstrance in some contemporary writings, calling upon de Clare, le Bigot, and others, not to flinch from their oaths1.

The King, though doubtless rejoiced to see any division among the barons, continued yet for some time to dissemble, perhaps waiting for the papal brief of absolution. With the ostensible motive of forwarding the additional articles of the treaty with France, which were arranged during the autumn of 1259', he repaired in person to meet the French King,

1 "O, Comes Gloverniæ, comple quod cœpisti,

Nisi claudas congruè, multos decepisti :"

"O tu Comes le Bygot, pactum

serva sanum

Cum sis miles strenuus, nunc exerce manum."

"O vos magni proceres, qui vos obligatis,

Observate firmiter illud quod ju

ratis."-Pol. Songs. W. Rish. 2 VI. Cal. Dec. (Nov. 26) 1259, the King of England coming to Paris for peace, was received solemnly in the great church (in ecclesia majori). Gall. Christ. tome vII. The King evinced some signs of reluctance at Paris in this negotiation of treaty. The Parliament of Paris waited for his presence, as Duke of Aquitaine, before proceeding to business, but he arrived too late, and excused himself to Louis IX. by alleging that he had

stopped to hear masses at so many churches in his way from his sisterin-law's, St Germain des Prés. This again happened the next day. To obviate this, the French King secretly ordered all the churches on the road to be shut up, so that King Henry, deprived of this pretext, arrived at the Parliament among the earliest; but when complimented for his punctuality, interposed another objection, "My dearest brother and kinsinan, I cannot hold intercourse with people and at a place under an interdict;" and explained his reason for so saying by the fact of having found all the churches on his road shut up, as if under an interdict. The French King was therefore obliged to confess his stratagem, and with somewhat of a taunt, which we should not have expected from so saintly a monarch, asked: 66 'My beloved kinsman, why do you delight in hearing so many masses?" Henry: "And why do you delight in so many sermons?" Louis:

and probably procured promises at least of assistance from him in his intended change of policy, besides drawing upon the fund appointed by the treaty from time to time' for his own purposes. He wrote indeed to enjoin Prince Richard "to guard his Cornish coasts from any landing of aliens, his Poictevin brothers having collected arms and horses for invasion;" but the armaments were probably with his connivance, and the prohibition only dictated by the barons. While sickness was detaining him abroad, he was much alarmed by a suspicion that de Montfort was conspiring to prevent his return and to supersede him by Prince Edward. This was probably unfounded, but there appears to have been some coolness at the time between the King and his son, whom he would not even admit to his presence on his return, being conscious, as he confessed himself, of his own weakness: “If I see him, I might not be able to resist kissing him," and it required the mediation of Prince Richard to effect a reconciliation. Of de Montfort the King was evidently distrustful, though that nobleman's absence abroad had weakened the barons and excited suspicions* of his fide

"It seems to me very sweet and wholesome to hear so often of my Creator." Henry: "And it seems to me sweeter and wholesomer to see Him again and again rather than merely to hear of Him." The result of this incident was that each King was left to attend sermons or masses at his own option, and that the treaty was carried on by the other peers without them. One cannot help suspecting that there was a real unwillingness in the English King to appear as a vassal duke in the French court, disguised under this show of religions zeal.-Archæol. Journ. 1860, p. 316. The articles were signed on the Monday before S. Lucia, December 8, 1259.

1 Rot. Pat. 44 Hen. III. On the Monday after St Peter and St Paul, 1260, he received 14,513 1. T. from King Louis, who was also to repay 5000 marcs to the King of the Ro. mans for him. Henry III. did hom

age to King Louis for Aquitaine at Paris, December 9, 1259 ("die Jovis post festum Sti Andreæ), in presence of Archbishop Boniface of Canterbury, Godfrey de Kinton, Archbishop of York, Benedict de Gravesend, Bishop of Lincoln, Simon de Wanton, Bishop of Norwich, one of the King's Justices, Henry de Wingham, Bishop Elect of London, Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle (who died the same year), Dominus Petrus de Montfort, John, Lord de Balliol, John Mansel, Lord Keeper, "cum multis aliis adstantibus."-MS.record attesting it, belonging to P. O'Callaghan, Esq.

* Boulogne, April, 1260.-Rymer. 3 T. Wykes considers it false. MS. Add. 5444 affirms it.

"Nam se quidam retrahunt, qui possunt juvare,

Quidam subterfugium quærunt ultra marc."-W. Rish. Pol. Songs,

lity among his own party. A few days after his return, the King complained of French passports having enabled de Montfort to bring over some horses and arms, "by which (he observes in his letter to the French King) you may more clearly see the disposition of his mind towards us1."

Whether this was written confidentially, or in the hope of fomenting the jealousy of the other barons, may be doubted, but as the King was still watching the opportunity to take off the mask, we find the Earl of Leicester a little later officiating, by his special appointment, as steward at the court feast of St Edward, Oct. 13, 1260. King Henry had secretly invited his brother Aymer to return from exile, but he was deprived of what help his violent and unpopular advice might have given him, by the bishop's death at Paris at this time: he had in the meanwhile considerably increased the fortifications of the Tower of London, within which he had entrenched himself with the Queen, preferring such defences to the nobler and firmer guard of his people's love*. As this and other symptoms gave occasion to rumours of some intended treachery, he endeavoured to counteract their effects by a proclamation, dated from the Tower, March 14, 12613, disavowing any intention of imposing unusual taxes, and ordering "the arrest of any persons who should excite discord between himself and the barons by such reports."

At length there came to him the expected relief to his scrupulous conscience, derivable from a papal absolution, procured by bribes'; and it may be as well to reproduce to public scorn a state paper avowedly sanctioning perjury, with some selfish reservations:

1 April 28, 1260.-Rymer. Simon de Montfort had made a temporary visit to England in February, when he offered a precious baldequin at the shrine of St Alban.-Mat. West.

"Però la miglior fortezza che sia, è non esser odiato dal popola; perchè ancora che tu abbi le fortezze, e il popolo ti abbiá in odio, le non ti salvano." A striking remark of Ma

chiavelli (Il Principe), anticipating Burke's "cheap defence of nations." 3 Rymer.

4.66 Donariis missis."- Oxenede's Chr.

5 The Latin original is in Rymer. Its author, Alexander IV. (Reinaldo de Conti di Segna, Bishop of Ostia, elected Dec. 12, 1254), died in the next month, May 25, 1261.