CHAP. Earl Simons influence on the wane. he was deprived of his main support. This alone would be sufficient to show how little share he can 1258-59 have had in the lame attempt at a constitution made in 1258; while at the same time it renders still more remarkable the constancy with which he supported the Provisions, having once sworn to them, as at any rate better than the old state of things. When he got the power into his own hands, he did not scruple to replace the old scheme with a far better one. For a year or two however he suffered from the shortcomings of his allies, and his influence was decidedly on the wane. He was credited with the disappointment of their hopes by those whom he had encouraged to believe in the possibility of a real reform; and it was not till they found that he was after all their only stronghold that they returned to him. Meanwhile other business took him away from the work of internal reform; his special duty was to arrange the peace with France. He had returned to England shortly after King Richards arrival, bringing with him an ambassador from the Council of the French king. He was present at the Lent Parliament of 1259, at which the chief subject of discussion was the peace with France. Internal affairs were however not neglected; an edict was published, embodying provisions as to sheriffs and others, almost the same as those made the previous autumn, and repeating the promises of justice and redress. But justice seems rather to have been promised than done. Soon Parliament of Lent, 1259. That this however was not yet the case in 1259 is evident from the words of Matt. Par. 984, Comes Legria, de cujus absentia diuturna tota condoluerat Anglia;' and from the attitude taken up by the rest of the baronage in his quarrel with Gloucester. after the Parliament Simon returned to France, and with his colleagues determined the preliminaries of a durable peace.1 CHAP. VII. 1259 the knight The year seems to have passed in profound Protest of quiet. But towards the end a remarkable proof of hood. the discontent that was already pervading the country was given. The knighthood were so disappointed by the non-appearance of that which they had so anxiously expected, that in October 1259 they addressed a remonstrance to Prince Edward and the members of the council, declaring that, as the king had done all that was required of him by the barons, the latter ought to fulfil their share of the engagement; whereas they had done nothing but seek their own advantage, to the detriment of king and country.2 To this Prince Edward replied that he had sworn to the Provisions, and would keep his oath; and accordingly he warned the barons that, if they did not On 10 March, 1259, the Earls of Leicester and Gloucester, P. of Savoy, J. Mansel, and R. Walerand were appointed to treat of peace; and J. Baliol was afterwards added to their number. A preliminary writ was signed by Simon and two others early in May. On 20 May the first form of peace was published. The embassy then returned to England; and on 28 July Simon and his cousin Peter and another were sent out to settle the final peace, which, with its ratification by the council, bears date October 1259.-Fad. i. 384-390; Roy. Letters i. 138. 2 The Communitas bacheleriæ Angliæ' (Ann. Burt. 47) sent the protest. Dr. Pauli, following Gneist, Verw. i. 305, would place this event in Oct. 1258; but there does not appear sufficient ground for upsetting the order in which it comes in Ann. Burton, loose as the reckoning generally is. It is hardly possible that the knighthood should have sent in such a complaint within four months of the Parliament of Oxford, and at a time when the barons were hard at work at their measures of reform. Moreover Prince Edwards oath to the Provisions, alluded to in his answer to the protest, was not published till several days after the protest was on this hypothesis handed in. Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 81, gives the later of the two dates. Pearson, Engl. Hist. ii. 225, would refer it to February, 1259. CHAP. 1259 The Provisions of Westminster; judicial, and constitutional enact ments, speedily fulfil their promises, he should, in conjunction with the community, compel them to do so. The barons thereupon published a new set of Provisions,' called, to distinguish them from those of 1258, the Provisions of Westminster. These enactments regulated the legal procedure in the case of land held on feudal tenure, for the better protection of small tenants, wards, and heirs; they put a stop to a number of abuses that had grown up in the sheriffs' and other courts; they prevented the arbitrary jurisdiction of any but duly qualified persons, and any injustice on the part of the itinerant judges, bailiffs, and others. Besides these regulations, which were meant to be permanent, there were a number of enactments of a more temporary nature, as to enquiry to be made into various abuses, the appointment of justices, and so forth. Certain important regulations were made: that two or three of the council were always to be with the king in the intervals between the Parliaments; that four knights were to keep special watch over the proceedings of the sheriffs; that no one should appear armed or with an armed following at Parliament. Appointments of various necessary officials were made; ecclesiastical property was to be 1 Two records of these Provisions are given (Ann. Burt. 476, 480), in French and Latin; that in French appears to be a record of the proceedings in Parliament, of resolutions, votes and appointments, much the same as the report of the Provisions of Oxford; that in Latin seems to be the copy intended to be published, containing what was to be embodied in the law of the land. The copy in the statutes of the realm (i. 8) is nearly the same as the Latin copy in Ann. Burt., but on the whole is less distinct and definite. These Provisions were confirmed in 1262 and 1264, and embodied in the statute of Marlborough. The account in Stubbs, Const. Hist. ii. 81, substantially agrees with this. enquired into, and placed under special protection. Lastly, all who had suffered wrong during the last seven years were to make complaint before justices appointed to hear them, and the sheriff was to cause to be elected twelve men in each hundred to help the justices by full enquiry. This arrangement superseded that of the four knights appointed in 1258, who had doubtless been found insufficient for the amount of work put upon them.1 On the whole the amount of business got through by Parliament testifies to their desire to institute a thorough reform, and is a great contrast to the blank in legislation which had prevailed so long. The spirit of the regulations is remarkably fair, when we consider that a great portion of them would have the effect of limiting feudal power, and that the Parliament that passed them consisted of great feudal lords. On the other hand, no step was taken to improve the anomalous nature of the constitution; the kings power was still further limited, especially in the choice of his ministers and officials. The council aimed at taking everything into their own hands; the king was reduced to a mere witness, without voice or vote, useful only to give authority to their proceedings. CHAP. VII. 1259 redress of grievances; general spirit of the Pro visions. with Meanwhile the vigorous attempts which had been Foreign policy: made to settle the second great question of foreign relations policy had ended with success. The relations be- France. tween England and France, a matter only less important than the negotiations with the Pope, were finally determined. The Sicilian scheme had been sternly and promptly cut short by the barons; peace This last order appears in a writ tested by Hugh Bigod as justiciar, dated 28 Nov., 1259.-Roy. Letters ii. 141. CHAP. 1259 Necessity of peace with France. Negotiations inter rupted by a quarrel between Leicester and Glou cester. with France was a more delicate and lengthy affair. It was however urgently needed, for the perpetual state of war, which had lasted since the days of John, and in which hostilities were only staved off by frequent truces, prevented the external quiet which was indispensable for the completion of internal reform. It was moreover very desirable to reconcile the King of France to the new state of things. His feeling on the matter soon became known, and in the end only too fully justified the fears entertained. For the present the danger seemed to have blown over, but this was not enough; a settlement that should go to the root of the matter was wanted. This desirable consummation was at first hindered by a difficulty that cannot however have been unexpected. The negotiations for peace and the quiet of the realm were near coming to a violent end, through a quarrel between the two leaders, the outcome of longstanding jealousy. It was during the deliberations of the council, on some questions of immediate policy, after the Lent Parliament of 1259 had broken up, that the dispute broke out. The exact cause is not told us, but so hot did the contest become that Leicester angrily exclaimed, 'With such fickle and faithless men I care not to have aught to do. The things we are treating of now we have sworn to carry out. And thou, Sir Earl, the higher thou art, the more art thou bound to keep such statutes as are wholesome for the land.' Shortly afterwards he left England on his embassy to France. The other barons however, with the Earl of Hereford at their head, compelled the Earl of Gloucester to invite him back, and to allay |