Charter and the Charter of Forests, without offering any objection to the articles which circumscribed the excess and prevented abuse of his presumed prerogatives.

But John, although he had yielded submissively to the court of Rome, and felt little reluctance at being the agent of an extortionate foreign power over his subjects, was not easy under those restraints upon his habitual tyranny, which his subjects had laid upon him. He grew melancholy, and pondered upon the most violent methods of recovering his absolute power over his barons. As he was without money he could not draw together a sufficient number of those hireling troops with which Europe then abounded; but he came to a determination to promise such leaders of Flemish and other brigands as would join his standard, the estates of the barons who had opposed his pretended prerogatives. Numerous men of high birth, whose maintenance depended upon their swords, and who headed bands composed of fugitives and desperadoes, were easily induced to aid him in his design. Deeds were actually executed in writing and signed by John, in which estates, still in possession of the barons, were granted to adventurers of this description. Troops raised in this manner were ordered to be landed at Dover by the ensuing Michaelmas, and the wardens of the king's castles were commanded to receive them and furnish them with arms and provisions. The sanction of the pope to these proceedings was easily obtained, and to assist the views of his vassal, he published an ordinance commanding the barons to lay down their arms on pain of his indignation. The cardinal, archbishop Langton, encouraged them to treat these threats of the papal see with the contempt they merited, and delivered up to them the town and castle of Rochester, where they found a large quantity of arms.

John, who had retired into the Isle of Wight, hastened at the appointed time to Dover, where numbers of greedy and ambitious adventurers arrived in rapid succession. With these he undertook the siege of Rochester. That town and castle was defended by William de Albini, with a chosen body of the baronial troops. The siege was carried on with great vigour, and the country in every direction was laid waste by parties of foreign soldiers, who were never satisfied with the plunder they obtained. Albini was continually at the head of the besieged, who made many sallies with desperate valour, but the quantities of John's hireling allies increased daily, and cut off all communication with the barons assembled at London. It was not, however, until the outer walls of the castle were undermined and the provisions were completely exhausted, that the brave William de Albini and his followers surrendered. He, with some others, was sent to Corfe castle: all the ordinary soldiers, with the exception of the cross-bow-men, were hanged. It was during this siege that William de Albini refused permission to one of the cross-bow-men, an unerring archer, to launch his arrow at the king, who, with some of the foreign commanders, was surveying the outside of the castle. "He would not spare us,” said the bow-man, “if he had the like advantage."-"Let be," replied the worthy baron, "both he and we are in the disposal of a greater than he."

After the siege of Rochester, the king divided his foreign troops into two portions, with one of which he marched to Northampton, Derby and Nottingham, while the other he placed under the command of his natural brother, William, earl of Salisbury. Dreadful was the condition of the country at that period: two armies of foreign marauders ravaged without mercy the lands and mansions of the barons, who in vain attempted to meet these swarms of free-booters in open warfare. The papal edict of excommunication added, in those superstitious days, to the general misery. Under these circumstances the leading barons resorted to London, which they fortified; and having appointed a council, they came to the desperate resolution of sending an embassy to the king of France, with the offer of the crown of England to his son, prince Lewis. Philip received the embassy with much pleasure, and in the following May, the Dauphin, prince Lewis, arrived at the isle of Thanet with a fleet of nearly seven hundred ships, full of troops, which landed at Sandwich. Rochester was speedily retaken by the baronial forces assisted by the French. Upon this the French prince marched to London, where the citizens swore fealty to him, and he took upon himself the government of the realm, having appointed the cardinal archbishop to be his chancellor. Among the French nobility who attended upon the Dauphin in this expedition

were several who became connected with the baronial families; and we may particularly mention William de Beaumont, whose lineal representative still holds estates in Derbyshire.

The party and power of the Dauphin increased: he became master of all the southern and many of the northern counties: the baronial troops under Fitzwalter compelled the king to retreat, and laid siege to Windsor and Dover: the king of Scotland, in consequence of the summons of Lewis, did homage to him for the lands he held of the crown of England, and the northern barons, with aid from Scotland, reduced the city of York. The French adventurers in the army of John refused to fight against the son of their own monarch and deserted the standard of the unhappy king, who fled from place to place, suspicious even of his warmest and most faithful adherents. At the small town of Lynn, in Norfolk, he deposited his crown, sceptre, and other jewellery, which from that circumstance received the name of Lynn Regis; but on the approach of the baronial forces he retreated into Lincolnshire. In attempting to cross the wash, the tide rushing up the streams laid the country under water, and it was not without extreme difficulty that he escaped to the abbey of Swineshead; from thence he was conveyed to Newark, where he died of a severe fever with which he was seized; but not without the suspicion of having been poisoned by the priests with whom he had taken refuge.

On the death of king John, the barons who had adhered to his cause held a meeting, at which some of the adverse party attended who had become suspicious of the designs of the Dauphin, and were willing to hope that the counsels of the new reign would be favourable to their liberties. To this assembly, the earl of Pembroke presented the young king, a boy, who was only in the tenth year of his age. The character of the noble earl had ensured him the respect of the confederates, for while he condemned their connexion with a foreign prince, he admitted the justice of those claims which they sought to establish, and for which they had obtained the sanction of a Charter which his patriotism and integrity told him ought to be held inviolable. This he avowed in his address to the meeting, as he lifted up the royal child in his arms, and called upon them for their voices in favour of Henry the Third. The unanimous shout of "We will have Henry for our king," was the echo to this appeal. At this assembly the county of Derby may be said to have possessed considerable influence, for we find among the leading members, William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, Philip de Albini and William de Briwere. These eminent barons also assisted at the coronation of young Henry, which took place within a few days; and strenuously supported the appointment of William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, to be the guardian of the king and the protector of the kingdom.

When this appointment was known to the confederate barons, the interest of Lewis rapidly declined. He was obliged to raise the siege of Dover, and although he became master of the castles of Hertford and Berkhamstead with considerable loss, those of Marlborough, Farnham, Winchester and several others, together with the Cinque ports, declared for Henry. Under these circumstances he reluctantly consented to a truce, which gave the Protector time to arrange the affairs of the crown, to correspond with the discontented barons, and to prepare for the military operations of the spring of 1217, on which would probably depend the fate of the throne. On the conclusion of the truce, the earl of Pembroke, desirous of striking some effective blow, resolved to besiege the castle of Mount Sorrel in Leicestershire, which was then held by Henry de Braibraque, with ten French knights and a strong garrison. As the object was important even as a trial of strength and influence between the conflicting parties, the regent placed a select body of troops under the command of Ranulph, earl of Chester, who was joined by William, earl of Albemarle, William de Ferrers, earl of Derby, William de Cantelupe, lord of Ilkeston, and other barons with their armed tenants and retainers. The siege was commenced with great spirit, but the Dauphin, being aware of the consequences that would inevitably follow the surrender of a place on which the eyes of the neutral barons were then fixed, sent to its relief the count de Perche, with twenty thousand men. The count marched from London on the 1st of May, and on his approach, the earl of Chester, with the other barons, finding themselves too weak to venture upon a pitched battle, withdrew to the regent, who had posted himself at Nottingham.

Elated with this success the French troops marched to Lincoln, ravaging the country on each

side of their route. The castle of Lincoln held out for Henry, but the city, under the command of Gilbert de Gant, whom the Dauphin had created earl of Lincoln, was in the power of the confederated barons. The regent perceived that the fate of the kingdom depended upon his promptitude. The castle of Lincoln was reduced to the lowest extremity, and he, being now at the head of a considerable force, advanced, by hasty marches, upon the enemy, who expected to take the castle before the regent could call together the barons and their retainers. Astonished at the sudden approach of the royal army, the count de Perche called a council of war, in which it was resolved to defend the city within the walls, contrary to the opinion of many who were for hazarding a general engagement. The regent invested the town, and immediately opened a communication with the brave garrison in the castle, where during the night a chosen body of troops under the command of Faulk de Breant entered, in order to be ready to attack the enemy in the city as soon as the main army should commence the assault upon the walls. Ranulph, earl of Chester, who was short of stature, also entered the castle, the garrison of which had expected his coming, and in some communications with their besiegers had promised to surrender if they were not relieved by the gallant earl within a certain period. The earl, with his accustomed eagerness, could not refrain from announcing his arrival, by the sound of a trumpet and a challenge addressed to the French general, from the turrets of the castle. The count de Perche instantly presented himself in front of the battlements on horseback; and, observing the diminutive stature of the challenger, he shouted out, What, have we tarried from seizing our prey, in order to be frighted from it, by such a pigmy as that?" The earl disdainfully replied-"I vow to God, and to our lady, whose church stands before me, that before to-morrow evening, I will seem to thee to be stronger, and greater and taller than yonder steeple." With these words he descended from the turrets into the castle.

Before day-break, the next morning, the royal army stormed the great gates of the city, of which they soon became masters, while Faulk de Breant, with his followers, made a sally upon the French troops in the city. The count de Perche, though aware of this double attack, was unable to resist the impetuosity of his assailants. The cavalry, in which his army abounded, were of no service, and his troops, which were attacked before and behind in the narrow streets, were quickly slain or put to confusion. The count de Perche was slain in the cathedral by Ranulph, earl of Chester, who instantly proclaimed king Henry; and the young king, who was then at a farm house, belonging to a monastery westward of the city, was carried in triumph in the arms of the principal royal leaders, and, being placed on the high altar, a white wand was put into his hand instead of a sceptre, and homage was done him by the barons present, amid the shouts of the victorious soldiery. The slaughter in the meantime was dreadful, and as the city of Lincoln had sided with the confederated barons from the first assertion of their rights, it was abandoned to plunder, and the booty was so great, that the sacking of the city has been called "Lincoln Fair." The riches of the cathedral must have been immense, for the precentor, Geoffrey de Drapinges, alone was despoiled of eleven thousand marks. All the leading barons of the confederacy were either slain or taken prisoners in this battle; and shortly afterwards a treaty was made with the Dauphin, in consequence of which he withdrew from the kingdom.

No sooner was the nation delivered from the French troops, who had become a terror even to those who had called them in to aid their cause, than new sources of internal troubles arose. To the royalist barons had been granted many estates, seized and confiscated as the property of the insurgent confederates. The regent, who perceived both the policy and justice of making restoration to those whose only crime had been their resistance of tyranny, called together a large body of troops and speedily silenced the complainants. Robert de Gangi, the friend and companion of Ranulph, earl of Chester, held the castle of Newark in Nottinghamshire against the regent during a siege of eight days. The earl of Pembroke was anxious that the two important Charters obtained from king John by the insurgent barons should be strictly observed, and for that purpose a meeting of the nobility, clergy and of others who held lands as freemen, took place at London about the Michaelmas of 1218, and confirmed the Great Charter and the Charter of Forests.

But before these wise measures could be carried into effect, the illustrious earl, whose united firmness and liberality had at once delivered the kingdom from foreign invaders and confirmed the freedom of the nation, died, and was succeeded as regent by Peter de Roches, bishop of Winchester; Hubert de Burg being, at the same time, made chief justiciary of England. These two powerful men were jealous of each other, and the latter contrived to gain a complete sway in the counsels of the king, and to rouse the indignation of the barons by his total disregard of the Charters which had been sworn to both by the young king and his father. By the advice of the justiciary, Henry had no sooner been declared of age, than he annulled the Charters by a proclamation, in which he insisted that he was not bound by any acts or promises done or made in his name during his minority.

A dispute relative to a manor in Cornwall, in which Richard, duke of Cornwall and brother of the king, appealed to the provisions of Magna Charta, roused the barons again to form a confederacy in defence of their rights; relying particularly on the countenance of the young prince Richard. One of the most forward on this occasion was Ferrers, earl of Derby, and with him were conjoined one of the sons of the great earl marshall Pembroke, together with the earls of Gloucester, Chester, Warren, Warwick and Hereford. These confederates met at Stamford, and resolved to enforce the observance of the Charters, but Hubert de Burg, the justiciary, who was aware of the danger in which his counsels had involved himself and his sovereign, determined to bring about a reconciliation between the king and his brother, and thus detach the young prince from the confederacy. Prince Richard was offered the lands of the earl of Boulogne, then deceased, and had the dower of the queen-mother settled upon him. Contented with these emoluments the duke of Cornwall thought no more of the restoration of the Charters, and the confederacy was dissolved.

In a few years afterwards, the justiciary, Hubert de Burg, fell under the displeasure of the king, who had adopted the counsels of his rival the bishop of Winchester. The earl of Derby was one of those to whom the custody of the disgraced justiciary was committed. The desire of absolute power was, however, the motive of all the measures of the king and his ministers, and a determination was taken by the court to deprive the English barons of all places of trust and to supply their places with foreigners. To strangers from Gascony and Poictiers were committed the most considerable posts and governments. This irritated the barons, who refused to attend at a parliament which the king, then greatly in want of supplies, had summoned to assemble at Oxford. Troops of foreigners continued to arrive from the king's dominions in France, and many of their leaders received grants of lands and were constituted peers of England, in order to form a powerful court party, until, at length, the English barons met in a body, and sent a deputation to the king, declaring that if he did not discard the bishop of Winchester, and restore the Charter of their liberties, they would disclaim their allegiance to him, and place on the throne a prince who would better observe the laws of the realm. Secure in the attachment of the foreign troops by whom he was surrounded, and on whom he was daily conferring new favours, he seized many of the baronial castles, and compelled others of the nobility to give up their children as hostages of their fidelity. Some voluntarily submitted, and Richard, earl of Pembroke, whose sister had been married to the earl of Derby, finding himself deserted by the confederates, fled to Wales, and there found protection in the court of prince Llewellyn. We shall not pursue the narration of the contest which the earl of Pembroke, almost alone, continued with the king and his ministers, in which that obstinate prince incurred the increasing contempt and hatred of his subjects. Constrained at length, by his pecuniary necessities, in the year 1237, he promised the observance of the Charters, and called the English barons around him, who in consequence of his pretended concessions, immediately voted him the aids he demanded, to be levied upon the corn, sheep and cattle of the realm. The parliament which made this grant, consisted of archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights and freeholders; but we meet with no mention of representatives of any class of persons nor of the people at large; but there is the trace of such representation in this statute of aid, for it was determined that four knights should be chosen for each county, who should state what the inhabitants of such county might be able to pay.

Twenty years of weak, though tyrannical government ensued, in which the bishop of Winchester died, and Simon de Montfort, a foreigner by extraction, who had espoused Eleanor, countess dowager of Pembroke and sister to the king, after acquiring wealth and power through the patronage of the crown, became a champion for the liberties of the realm. The barons, in 1258, resolved to yield no longer to the protestations and professions of a sovereign, who had so repeatedly deceived them, and therefore on being summoned to attend one of the parliaments of that period, which was to assemble at Oxford, they came in military array, attended by their tenants in arms. It was then agreed that twelve commissioners should be appointed on the part of the king and the same number on the part of the barons, who should draw up articles binding between the sovereign and his subjects. Simon de Montfort, who had succeeded his father as earl of Leicester, was made president of this extraordinary commission. The articles were strongly drawn up. They provided that the king should confirm the Great Charter: that the office of chief justiciary should be given to a person of talent and integrity, and that the other ministers, including the chancellor, treasurer and justices, should be appointed by the twenty-four commissioners: that the custody of the king's castles should also be entrusted to the superintendence of the twenty-four and that the parliament should meet three times every year, namely, on the eighth day before Michaelmas, the morrow of Candlemas, and the first day of June, being three weeks before the festival of St. John. These articles or provisions of Oxford deserve particular notice, for, in them, the Commons are expressly mentioned by name. The passage runs thus"It must be remembered that the Commons elect twelve prudent men, who shall come to the parliament, and other times as matter shall be, when the king or his council shall require them to treat of the wants of the king and of the kingdom. And the Commons shall regard as established that which these twelve shall do; and this will be done to spare the cost of the Commons.”* This clause was not intended by the barons to be favourable to the people, for it is manifest that the first twelve representatives of the Commons were chosen by the barons themselves out of their own body. Among the names of these we find Thomas Gresley, who was of the elder branch of that family, since known in Derbyshire: during the next year he was appointed, probably by the twenty-four commissioners, warden of the forests south of the Trent, but he died during the subsequent civil war. His son married Avisa, granddaughter of Hubert de Burg, who has been mentioned as the grand justiciary of the realm.

By the provisions of Oxford, the realm, though nominally a monarchy, had become an aristocracy, and the government was almost wholly in the hands of the twenty-four commissioners, at the head of whom was the earl of Leicester. London had declared itself in favour of the barons, and the Cinque ports, in obedience to the commissioners, fitted out a fleet, to prevent the king from receiving aid from abroad. Still the king's party was strong, and there were rising jealousies among the barons: it was also perceptible that however inclined a wealthy corporate body like the capital might be to take part with the aristocracy, the people at large were, for the most part, attached to the government of the sovereign. We may, indeed, be permitted to remark, that an aristocratic republic is always more hateful to the lower and laborious classes, than an absolute despotism. The forces of the king were daily augmented, and prince Edward, his eldest son, afterwards Edward I. with a chosen body of men, entered London, and seized the treasure of the knight's templar, which he conveyed to Windsor castle in order to supply the immediate wants of his father. Negociations nevertheless continued, and the barons began to show symptoms of disaffection to the earl of Leicester, but he, without further delay, convened a parliament, in which the provisions of Oxford were again confirmed: the barons were called upon, by the twenty-four commissioners, to raise an army; and of this army the earl of Leicester was nominated general. A scene of fearful devastation ensued in every quarter of the realm. The foreign

'The original is in old French, and stands thus in the Annals of Burton.—“ Si fet a remembrer ke le Commun eslise xii prodes homes ke vendrunt as Parlemenz, et autre fez quant mester serra quant le Roi u sun Conseil les mandera pur treter de beseingnes le Rei e del Reaume. E ke le Commun tendra pur estable cer ke ces xii frunt. E ceo serra fet pur esparnier le cust del Commun.” Tt