Simon Success of In the meantime many powerful men in the royal army, seeing the standard of the earl on the hill, and thinking that he was there, hastened thither and fell suddenly upon the Londoners, not knowing that they were on their side. The earl and Gilbert de Clare rested nowhere, but struck down, overthrew, and sent to death many, straining every nerve to capture the king alive. Very many fell on the king's side. John, earl of Warenne, William de Valence, and Guy de Lusignan, all brothers of the king, Hugh Bigot, and about three hundred mailed knights, perceiving the ferocity of the barons, turned their backs. The king of Germany, Richard, Robert Bruce, and John Comyn, who had led the Scots thither, were all captured. Even King Henry himself, his horse having been killed under him, surrendered himself to Earl Simon de Montfort and was presently shut up in the priory under guard. Many barons of Scotland were killed on that day, and many of the foot soldiers who had come with them were slain also. Besides, there were captured Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, John, son of Alan, earl of Arundel, William Bardolf, Robert de Tateshale, Roger de Someri, Henry Percy, Philip Basset. On the king's side there fell the justiciars, William de Wilton, and Fulk, son of Warenne, the one by the sword, the other by drowning. On the side of the barons Ralph Hering and Baro and William Blunders, standard bearers of the earl, were killed. About five thousand are said to have fallen on each side. Edward, in the meantime, with his soldiers, returned from the slaughter of the Londoners, not knowing what had happened to his father; and, going around the town, he came to the camp at Lewes, and not finding his father there entered the priory of Lewes, where he both found his father and realized the situation. The barons assaulted the fort, but when those within manfully defended themselves they withdrew. When the courage of the camp soldiers became known, Edward was greatly excited; he wished to collect his men again and offer battle. When this was known the barons sent mediators declaring that they wished to treat finally concerning peace. On the next day the Preaching Brothers and the Minorites Terms of went back and forth between the parties and accomplished peace this much, that on the sixth day following Edward and Henry were to give themselves up to Earl Simon for their fathers, the kings of England and Germany, for the sake of peace and quiet. There should then be a deliberate discussion as to what provisions and statutes ought to be established for the good of the kingdom, and which ought to be abolished. The captives were to be returned without ransom. On the following Sabbath the king gave authority to all who had followed him to return to their estates, and wrote, at the wish of Earl Simon, to those who were within the fort at Tunbridge that, returning to their homes, they should not harm the barons. But these, nevertheless, advanced in arms when they heard that the Londoners who had escaped from the battle had been received at Croydon, and, hastening thither, killed many of them and carried off booty. Thence they hastened towards Bristol, where they remained in garrison until the liberation of Edward. Edward was sent to the castle of Wallingford to be confined. During that year five Disorder of months and two weeks were shaken with the severity of the the times war. When any one wished to defend his castle he laid waste everything belonging to his neighbor, devastated fields, and drove away the cattle, for the defense of his castle; nor did the churches or cemeteries escape. The homes of the poor peasants, even to the straw of their beds, were torn up and taken. And although the earl had given command that under penalty of death no one should presume to enter a holy church or cemetery for plunder, nor should any one inflict violence upon religious men or their servants, he accomplished nothing by his carefulness. For neither bishops nor abbots nor any religious men could go from town to town without being plundered by thieves. VI. THE REIGN OF EDWARD I Edward I came to the throne equipped with all the physical and mental characteristics suited to make him 129. A con the great ruler he became. The following description of his person and habits is from a later St. Alban's chronicler, William of Rishanger. Thereupon Edward, oldest son of Henry the Third, king of temporary England, and Eleanor, daughter of the count of Provence in description of Edward I Savoy, succeeded, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, to the kingdom of his father. He was prudent in the conduct of business, devoted from youth to the exercise of arms, by which he had acquired in various regions that knightly fame in which he excelled all Christian princes of his time. He was of graceful build and commanding stature, by which he rose head and shoulders above ordinary people. His hair in early life had been light yellow, in middle life much darker, and in old age it became white as a swan. He had a broad forehead, and the rest of his face was symmetrical, except that the lid of his left eye drooped, showing in this his likeness to his father. He had a stammering tongue, but nevertheless one which was not wanting in a certain eloquence and power of persuasion. His arms were long in proportion to his body, but in their nervous flexibility no man's were more suited to the use of the sword. His chest was more prominent than the rest of his body, and the wide separation of his legs gave him a firm seat on a running or leaping horse. When he was free from war he indulged in hunting wood birds and beasts, especially deer, which he was accustomed to chase on horseback, and, when captured, to cut down with a sword in place of a hunting knife. The Great Councils or parliaments of the reign of Henry III, as of his predecessors, were made up, with a few exceptions, of nobles and prelates. The following summons issued in 1295 to the sheriff of each county, calling knights and townsmen to parliament, is worthy of careful study as showing the plan of representation established by Edward I, and giving the basis on which the House of Commons rests to the present day. tonshire The king to the sheriff of Northamptonshire. Since we 130. Writ to intend to have a consultation and meeting with the earls, the sheriff for the election barons, and other principal men of our kingdom with regard of represento providing remedies against the dangers which are in these tatives from days threatening the same kingdom; and on that account Northamphave commanded them to be with us on the Lord's day next (1295) after the feast of St. Martin, in the approaching winter, at Westminster, to consider, ordain, and do as may be necessary for the avoidance of these dangers; we strictly require you to cause two knights, from the aforesaid county, two citizens from each city in the same county, and two burgesses from each borough, of those who are especially discreet and diligent, to be elected without delay, and to cause them to come to us at the aforesaid time and place. Moreover, the said knights are to have full and sufficient power for themselves and for the community of the aforesaid county, and the said citizens and burgesses for themselves and the communities of the aforesaid cities and boroughs separately, for doing then and there what shall be ordained by the common council in the premises; so that the aforesaid business shall not in any way remain unfinished for defect of this power. And you shall have there the names of the knights, citizens, and burgesses and this writ. Witness the king at Canterbury on the third day of October. The terrible attack on the Jews described in the following passage occurred a few years before the beginning of the period covered by this chapter. Similar outrages, however, continued to occur during the whole of this time, much as they have occurred in recent years in Austria and Russia. at the coro Richard, the only one of the kings from the beginning so 131. Attack called, was consecrated king at London, and solemnly crowned on the Jews by Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, on the third day of nation of September, which day from an early popular superstition is Richard I called unlucky, or Egyptian, as it were, by a certain presenti- (1189) ment of the outcome for the Jews. For that day proved to be tween a Christian fatal to the Jews and the Egyptians more than to the English, since England, where under former kings they had been happy and renowned, was turned quickly for them by the judgment of God into Egypt, where their fathers had suffered a hard lot. The affair indeed is fresh in our memories and is known to every one at present; but it is worth while to write out with fuller details a record for posterity of a decree which was so clearly from on high, against this faithless and blasphemous people. From all parts of England there had assembled for the solemn anointing of the Christian prince not only the nobility of the Christians but also the leading men of the Jews. These enemies of truth were on their guard lest perchance the good fortune enjoyed under the former king might not smile upon them under the new ruler, and they considered that his first acts ought most fittingly to be observed, and equal favor from him ought to be purchased by great gifts. But that prince received them less kindly than his father, being on his guard against I know not what, on account of a certain superstitious feeling of caution, from the advice of certain ones; so he forbade them to enter the church while he was being crowned, or the palace while the feast was going on, after the ceremony of the coronation. When mass was completed the king, glittering in his diadem, with great pomp entered the banquet room. It happened that while he was sitting at the table, with a great throng of the nobility, confusion arose among the spectators about the palace. Quarrel be- The Jews mingled with the throng and began to enter the palace. A certain Christian becoming angry, so the story goes, and a Jew openly pushed away a Jew with his hand from the entrance door, citing as authority for his action the royal edict. Several were aroused by this example, and drove the Jews back with reproaches; the uproar grew general and the undisciplined horde rose like a whirlwind. Believing that the king had ordered such things, and relying, as it were, on royal authority, they rushed from all sides upon a great number of the Jews, who were standing near the entrance looking on. At first they attacked them viciously with their hands, but |