the king, and he was certain to uproot any lurking wish for peace which Henry may still have cherished. The negotiations were broken off, and the bishops bidden by the king to go about their business. takes ton. War was now as good as declared, and de Mont- The king fort, anticipating an attack upon London, marched off Northampto secure the city, leaving a strong force, under command of his son Simon, to hold Northampton. No sooner were the royal troops assembled than an attack was made upon that town by the king in person, accompanied by his eldest son and King Richard. The attempt would probably have failed but for the stratagem of the Prior of St. Andrews, a Cluniac monastery, the garden of which abutted on the walls of the town. The monks, many of whom were French, and had strong royalist proclivities, were in communication with the king, and had undermined the walls, putting in wooden props as a temporary support. A feigned assault was made on the other side of the town, under cover of which the royalists made an easy entrance by the breach so caused. The baronial force made a gallant resistance, but their leader, the young de Montfort, having been taken prisoner, the remainder, who had taken refuge in the castle, surrendered next day, to the number of fifteen bannerets and sixty knights, with many of lower rank. The Oxford students, who had fought well on the baronial side, were dispersed. The town was given over to pillage. 1 Rish., de Bellis, &c. 23; Ann. Dunst. 229, 'Muri villæ qui circumdant gardinum prioris Scti. Andreæ, quos idem prior, ut dicebatur, malitiose quodammodo debilitaverat.' W. de Hemingb. 319, lays it to the charge of monachi alienigen.' CHAP. It was a serious blow, but London had meanwhile declared energetically for Simon. An alliance for twelve years was made between the barons and the declares for city. On March 31 the citizens, under command of 1264 London the barons. Rising of London in favour of the barons: attack on the Jews; its causes. Hugh Despenser, and other captains chosen from themselves, sallied out and destroyed the house and property of King Richard at Isleworth, as well as those of William of Valence and other obnoxious persons. The deposits in the Temple, or what was left of them after Edwards raid upon them last year, were taken, and thus a pernicious example was only too well followed. A fortnight later, on Palm-Sunday, April 12, the Jews, who were plundered by both parties indiscriminately whenever any disturbance gave the excuse, were attacked, and many of them murdered. Much gold was taken from them; and Simons enemies declared he had excited the massacre and shared the spoil. That he had no great liking for the Jews, his own charter to Leicester proves; but there appears to be no reason for connecting him with so wantonly cruel an act, while the fact that after the war he issued special edicts for their protection tends to prove his innocence on this occasion. On the other hand, the report that the Jews were going to burn the city with Greek fire, and hand it over to the royalists, which seems to have occasioned the attack upon them, is utterly absurd and incredible. They could have had no wish to fall into the clutches of a king who throughout his reign used them as mere Lib. de Ant. Leg. 61. 2 The citizens are quaintly likened in Chron. Mailros, to fish 'who snatch all they can.' 3 Ann. Dunst. 230. money-bags, and oppressed them mercilessly on the paltriest excuses. Probably the affair was a mere outburst of popular suspicion and frenzy; its objects were doubtless more obnoxious to the popular party, which was composed mainly of the lower classes in London, and therefore suffered more at the hands of the usurers, than to the other side. The political struggle was degraded by the admixture of class hatred, which was intense in the city, and prompted the riotous mob to the seizure of the Temple treasures, which probably belonged to their wealthier fellow-citizens. It was but natural to attribute to the leader, as the royalist chroniclers did, the wild deeds of his partisans; no doubt he must bear the blame of having been the primary cause. The movement doubtless had in it as large an element of violence, brutality, and selfishness as popular movements in all times have been cursed with; the question is whether the gain justifies the price. At this particular time it was quite impossible to check the outbreak of the evil elements, for fear of losing the whole. Simon was probably at St. Albans,' whither he had gone, on his way to relieve Northampton, when this outbreak took place. Had he been in London, it might not have happened. CHAP. IX. 1264 Violence of the out break laid to Simons charge. of Earl On hearing of the mishap at Northampton the Constancy earl was much moved, but showed no signs of de- Simon. spondency; he was roused into fury by the loss of his son and cousin, and, 'raging like a lion robbed of his whelps,' vowed that before the end of May About this time so fine and well fortified a town that it was called 'little London.' CHAP. 1264 Earl Simon the fortune of war should be reversed. Returning through London, he first made an attempt on Rochester, the capture of which would have been of attacks great advantage for the defence of London. He Rochester, took the town and part of the castle, having destroyed the water-gate by means of a fire-ship; but the attack on the strong Norman keep failed, in spite of all the machines which he brought against it. He was however on the point of forcing this last stronghold, so great was his skill in the arts of siege,2 when he was forced to hasten back to London to ward off an attack on the city, threatened by Prince Edward, which was to have been aided by the royalists within. The king, after the capture of Northampton, had also occupied Leicester and Nottingham, and, having been joined by the northern barons, had sent his son northwards to ravage the lands of the Earl of Derby. The news that Rochester was in imminent peril caused father and son to move hastily to its rescue, and Simon was forced to raise the siege at the moment when success appeared certain. London was too strong for attack: Henry therefore, taking Kingston on his way, marched on Rochester, and dispersed the remainder of Simons forces there. Thence he moved southwards and took Tunbridge, where he showed magnanimity or policy by releasing the Countess of Gloucester, who was in the castle. The Cinque Ports, his next object, contained a small party of royalists; but the other side were the but has to raise the siege. Henry marches on the Cinque Ports, 1 Infremuit nec tamen concidit vultus ejus.'-W. de Hemingh. 313: 'Non præteribit mensis Maii, quin adeo confusi erunt, &c.—Rish., de Bellis, &c., 24. 2 Rishanger (de Bellis, &c. 25) says he set an example to all Englishmen how a siege should be carried on, a matter of which they were totally ignorant. 3 Ann. Dunst. 231. 3 W. de Hemingb. 314. CHAP. IX. 1264 stronger, and on the kings approach they manned their ships and put to sea, in order to prevent their being used against London. The population of Kent and Sussex is said also to have been hostile. The densely-wooded district through which the kings army passed supplied no food, and the troops suffered much privation. The fleet having been the chief thence to object in the attack on the Cinque Ports, Henry, after the failure of his attempt, and being unable to seize Dover, left the coast and marched to Lewes, in the hope perhaps of receiving foreign reinforcements through Pevensey or Newhaven. Lewes. marches south The Earl of Leicester, after consultations held in Earl Simon London with the leaders of his party, had resolved again to offer peace to the king, on condition of the wards, observance of the Oxford Provisions, and with the promise of indemnity to be made for the damage done to royal and other property. Then with a large force of Londoners he set off on his journey southward, with the intention, if peace were again refused, of dealing a decisive blow before foreign assistance arrived. The barons, after a march as rapid as the number of their foot-soldiers allowed, encamped at Fletching, about ten miles north of Lewes, in the Weald of Sussex, the dense forests of which served to conceal their movements. The letter with offers of Offer of peace, a letter worded in submissive and respectful style, not accusing the king but his evil counsellors, was signed by the Earl of Leicester, and young Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, for the whole 'Blaauw (Barons' War, 117) says that Dover was surrendered to the king after the Mise of Amiens, but he gives no authority for this statement. and reaches Fletching. peace. |