HISTORY OF ENGLAND. low, instead of giving the poor Irishman an alms, threw a ladle full of boiling water in his face, and seemed to exult in his brutality. The indignity so provoked a Welch student who was near, that with a bow which he happened to have in his hand, he shot the cook dead with an arrow. The legate hearing a tumult, retired in a fright to the tower of the church, where he remained till nightfall. As soon as he found that he might retire in safety, he hastened to the king, who was then at London, and complained to him of the outrage. The king, with his usual submission to the church, appeared in a violent passion, and offered to give immediate satisfaction, by putting the offenders to death. The legate at first seemed to insist upon vengeance, but at length was appeased by a proper submission from the university. All the scholars of that school which had offended him, were ordered to be stript of their gowns; and to go in procession bare-footed, with halters about their necks, to the legate's house, and there were directed humbly to crave absolution and pardon. But the impositions of the church appeared in their most conspicuous point of view in a transaction between the pope and the king. The court of Rome, some time before, had reduced the kingdom of Sicily to the same state of vassalage to which England had submitted; but Mainfroy, an usurper, under pretence of governing the kingdom for the lawful heir, had seized upon the crown, and was resolved to reject the pope's authority. As the pontiff found that his own force alone was not sufficient to vindicate his claims, he had re course to Richard, the king's brother, whose wealth he was not ignorant of; and to him, and his heirs, he offered the kingdom of Sicily, with only one condition, that he should regain it from the hands of the usurper. Richard was too well acquainted with the difficulty of the enterprise to comply with such a proposal; but when it was made to the king himself, the weak monarch, dazzled with the splendour of the conquest, embraced the proposal with ardour. Accordingly, without reflecting on the consequences, or ever consulting the parliament, he gave the pope unlimited credit to expend whatever sums he should think proper för compleating the conquest of that kingdom. This was what the pope expected and desired; he soon brought Henry in debtor for more than an hundred thousand marks, a debt which he had never been advised with in the contracting Henry was mortified at the greatness of the sum, and still more at the little prospect of its being laid out with success; but he dreaded the pope's displeasure, and therefore he resolved to have recourse to parliament for a supply. In this universal state of indignation, it may readily be imagined, that the barons were more liberal of their complaints than their supplies. They determined not to lavish their money on favourites without merit, and expeditions without a prospect of success. The clergy themselves began to turn against their spiritual father ;. and the bishop of London boldly asserted, that if the king, and the pope should take the mitre from his head he would clap on an helmet. But though the bishops and clergy were obliged to acquiesce in furnishing a part of this absurd expence, the barons still continued refractory; and instead of supplies, for some time answered with expostulations. They urged the king's partiality to foreigners, they aggravated the injuries of his servants, and the unjust seizures made by his officers from men of mercantile professions. The parliament therefore wasdissolved (for so now the general assembly of the nation began té be called) and another soon after was convened with as little success. The urgency of the king's affairs required that money should be procured at any rate; and yet the legate never failed, upon those occasions, to obstruct the king's demands by making several for himself. It was now, therefore, that Henry went amongst such of his subjects as were firmly attached to him, and begged for assistance at their own houses. At one time, he would get money by pretending to take the cross; at another he would prevail by asserting that he was resolved to re-conquer his French dominions. At length his barons, perceiving the exigencies to which he was reduced, seemed, in mere pity, willing to grant him aid; and, upon his promising to grant them plenary redress, a very liberal supply was obtained, for which he renewed their charter with more than usual solemnity. All the prelates and abbots were assembled, with burning tapers in their hands; the Magna Charta was read in their presence; and they denounced sentence of excommunication against all who should infringe upon its. decisions; they then put out their tapers on the ground, and exclaimed, May every soul that false to this agreement, so stink and corproves "rupt in hell." The king had his part in the ceremony, and subjoined, "So help me God, I A. D. 1255. will inviolably keep all these things, as I am a "man, as I am a christian, as I am a knight, and "as I am a king crowned and anointed." Thus solemn was their mutual engagement; but the wretched Henry had no sooner received the supplies for which his parliament had been convoked, than he forgot every article of what he had so solemnly agreed to observe. Though the king, in the last convention, had solemnly engaged to follow the advice of English councellors, yet he was directed in all his measures by foreigners, and William de Valence, on whom he conferred various honours, grasped at every post of profit that was in the royal power to bestow. This imprudent preference, joined to a thousand other illegal evasions of justice, at last impelled Simon Montfort, earl of Leicester, to attempt an innovation in the government, and to wrest the sceptre from the feeble hand that held it. This nobleman was the son of the famous general who commanded against the Albigenses, a sect of enthusiasts that had been destroyed some time before in the kingdom of Savoy. He was married to the king's sister; and, by his power and address, was possessed of a strong interest in the nation, having gained equally the affections of the great and the little. The king was the only person whose favour he disdained to cultivate. He so much disregarded Henry's friendship or enmity, that when the monarch, upon a certain occasion, called him traitor, Leicester gave him the lie; and told him, that if he were not his sovereign, he would soon make him repent of his insult. Being possessed of power too great for a subject, he had long, though secretly, aspired at the throne, and filled all places with complaints of the king's injustice, partiality, and inability to govern. Having at last found his designs ripe for execution, he called a meeting of the most considerable barons; and concealing his private ambition under the mask of public concern, he represented to them the necessity of reforming the state. He exaggerated the oppressions of the lower orders of people, the violation of the barons' privileges, the continued plunder of the clergy, and the perfidy of the king. His popularity and his power added weight to his eloquence; and the barons entered into a resolution of redressing public grievances, by taking the administration of the government into their own hands. The first place where this formidable confederacy first discovered itself, was in the parliament-house, where the barons appeared in complete armour. The king, upon his entry, asked them what was their intention; to which they submissively replied, to make him their sovereign, by confirming his power, and to have their grievances redressed. Henry, who was ready enough to promise whatever was demanded, instantly assured them of his intentions to give all possible satisfaction; and for that purpose, summoned another parliament at Oxford, to digest a new plan of government, and to elect proper persons who were to be intrusted with the chief authority. This parliament, afterwards called the mad parliament, went expeditiously to work upon the business of reformation. Twenty-four barons were appointed, with supreme authority, to reform the abuses of the state, and Leicester was placed at their head. The first step was calculated for the good of the people, as it contained the rude out-line of the house of commons, which makes a part of the constitution at this June 11, day. 1258. day. They ordered, that four knights should be chosen by each county who should examine into the grievances of their respective constituents, and to attend at the ensuing parliament, to give information of their complaints. They ordained, that three sessions of parliament, should be regularly held every year; that a new high sheriff should be annually elected; that no wards nor castles should be entrusted to foreigners; no new forests made, nor the revenues of any counties let to farm. These constitutions were so just, that some of them have been continued to the present time; but it was not the security of the people, but the establishment of their own power, that this odious confederacy endeavoured to effect. Instead of resigning, their power, when they had |