the anxiety of all by proclaiming his readiness to carry out the necessary measures of reform.1 CHAP. VII. 1259 Claims of the Leicester on English possessions Countess of in France, The reconciliation was only a pretence, and the quarrel was renewed in France; for the Countess of Leicester insisted on the recognition of her rights as potential heiress to the English crown. Her claim rested on her descent from Eleanor of Poitou, part of whose dowry, the Agenois, had been granted by Richard I to his sister Joanna, wife of the Count of Toulouse. On the death of Raymond VIII the great fiefs of his family came into the possession of the French crown. The Agenois was claimed by Henry III, and long negotiations on this point had taken place. Eventually Henry gave up his claim on this as on other lands for a money payment. His sister naturally objected to this arrangement, which would have been of little good to her. Henry, always in want of money, was angry at the delay thus caused, and was inclined to ride roughshod over her objections. He wrote to Louis that he would take all the responsibility on himself, and guarantee that Eleanors resistance should do him no harm. This however did not suit the French king, who had higher ideas of morality than his cousin of England, and he refused to conclude the arrangement till Eleanor should be satisfied. Besides these claims she had others too, concerning and on the her right to a share in the property of her former husband, the Earl of Pembroke. From the great possessions of the family of Marshall Henry had been accustomed to pay her a small pittance: the earldom was about this time2 conferred on William of Valence, 1 Matt. Par. 987. In 1264, says Sir H. Nicolas. Perhaps it was informally conferred upon him before this, which, if true, will account for his permission to Pembroke estates. CHAP. 1259 Conduct of Henry, and of Earl Simon, in the matter. which may be one reason for the hostility between him and Leicester. It is probable that Henry was not answerable for the mismanagement of Eleanors inheritance, the original arrangement having been made between her and her husbands brother. Still his treatment of his sister ever since her marriage had been distinguished neither by chivalrous feeling nor brotherly affection; he owed her money, and regarded her as a debtor does his creditor. It is intelligible enough that she should have insisted at least on the recognition of her rights by a formal request for her consent; and Simons pride was naturally piqued by this treatment of his wife. Possibly too the idea of securing a possession for the house of Montfort on French soil may have suggested the revival of these claims. The delay has been attributed by the royalist Wykes to the grasping avarice of de Montfort; but from the whole of his conduct in the matter it is evident the real opposition did not come from him. It is in truth no slight testimony to his generosity and unselfishness that all the claims which really interfered with the completion of peace were before long allowed to drop. At first however there is no doubt they were a great obstacle. Their chief importance to us is the opportunity they unfortunately gave for the renewal of that split between the national leaders which for a time ruined stay in England with his brother, the Bishop of Winchester, when the other aliens were expelled in 1258; see Pearson, Hist. of Eng. ii. 223. T. Wykes, 123. The animus with which this was written appears from the fact that he attributes the lengthy and expensive sojourn of the court till Easter 1260 in Paris to the opposition of de Montfort; while the documents show that peace was finally concluded before the preceding Christmas. VII. the national cause. It was on the subject of his wifes CHAP. claims that the Earl of Gloucester, while in France, 1259 Leicester renewed. attacked Simon with remarks which we can imagine Quarrel were the reverse of a compliment to his supposed between uxoriousness. De Montfort was not slow to reply, and and the two were with difficulty separated by their Gloucester friends amid the laughter of the French spectators.1 The negotiations were temporarily broken off, but Simon on his return to England seems to have been persuaded to yield. In July he went out again with two others, to carry out the final negotiations, and when they came back to England, bringing with them the form of peace for Henrys acceptance, the earl remained behind in France. with and de Montfort cross over. The peace was ratified by the royal council about Final peace the middle of October 1259, and is the last act in France: the king which the baronial government appears in that shape.3 The presence of Henry, as well as that of the earl and countess, was considered necessary at the concluding ceremony in Paris. The king therefore went over to Paris in November for the purpose, and in the December following Simon and his wife set their seals to a 'Matt. Par. 987. This is the last event of importance noted by that great historian, whose loss in the confusion of the following period we cannot sufficiently deplore. It seems doubtful whether his work extends beyond 1253, where his history, as we have it in his own MS., ends. He died in 1259, but the last six years may possibly be by him. 2 The points in dispute were submitted to arbitration; and eventually the Countess allowed herself to be bought off by the promise that part of the money paid by the French king should be paid to her. At the same time Simon resigned to Henry the earldom of Bigorre in Gascony, which he had held as security for his own debt, for a certain sum, and made a formal renunciation of all claims he might have in the south of France. This settlement between the brothers-in-law was only temporary. For a full account of all these negotiations, see Greens Princesses ii. 114 seq. 3 It was possibly to some extent superseded by the council of regency in the kings absence. CHAP. 1259 Terms of the peace with France. Results of the baron ial govern ment. solemn confirmation made before both kings. By this peace, besides the settlement of feudal difficulties in Gascony, the provinces of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, Touraine and Poitou were ceded to France; the titles of Duke of Normandy and Count of Anjou were dropped; and thus the long quarrel between the two nations was brought, at least for a time, to an end. It was one of the most important in that series of events which, after raising French princes to the throne of England, and creating under Henry II a great continental power of which England was the less important part, had since the beginning of the thirteenth century reduced those princes to the position of English kings, whose possessions in France, though still by no means inconsiderable, were only awaiting the inevitable fate which had swallowed up the rest. It is needless to say that to England this peace was as great a boon as the losses of territory she had suffered at the hands of Philip Augustus; yet there were not wanting those who thought it a disgrace to the country.2 With this event ended what may be called the first act of the revolution. The foreign policy of England had been in a year and a half completely reversed, the crying evils of the State redressed, and internal peace to some extent secured. But, by the very performance of this work, the power of those that did it was undermined. The only defence for their anomalous position was removed, jealousy broke out, and men began to ask themselves whether the old form of government should not be restored. It was better perhaps to be ruled, even tyrannically, by a born king, than to be worried with reforms by an upstart and ambitious foreigner. Fœd. i. 392. 2 'Facta pudenda concordia.'-Ann. Mels. 129. 221 CHAPTER VIII. THE REACTION. CHAP. 1259-62 Obscurity of the OF the reactionary period that followed the peace of 1259 it is very hard to get a clear idea. For nearly three years from this time,' says Dr. Shirley, 'the history of de Montfort is worse than a blank: it is a riddle.' Perhaps a key to this riddle may be found period. in the undecided attitude taken up by the King of France. Simons character was better known and more highly estimated among the great nobles of France than among those of England, and with Louis personally he was on excellent terms; but the pious and autocratic king could not be expected to sympathise with his revolutionary ideas, however much he may have been disgusted by the duplicity and incapacity of Henry. His monarchical principles eventually carried the day, but the length of time during which he hesitated shows how little was wanting to' make him throw his weight into the other scale. The struggle between Simon and Henry takes more and Struggle more of a personal character; and with the political Earl aspect of it, private hostility and private disputes Simon and about money matters and the like are strangely mixed up. Each of the combatants strives to win the favour 1 Quart. Rev. vol. cxix. 50. between the king. |