Peter of Savoy (uncle to the queen) comes to England, and receives the earldom of Richmond'.

Twenty thousand marks extorted from the Jews, under pain of banishment.

The new walls of the Tower fall down; the joy of the citizens displeases the king, and he exacts a large sum from them, "contrary to their known customs and liberties."

The Preacher and Minorite brethren excite the people to assume the cross, and then absolve them from their vow, by which means they raise a large sum of money in England, but incur much odium.

The king of France bestows Poitou on his brother Alphonso, June 24.

The king assembles an army on the borders of Wales in August; David owns himself his liege mans, and surrenders a part of his territory; Griffin, his brother, whom he had imprisoned, is carried to London, where he is confined in the Tower.

A.D. 1242. Earl Richard returns to England, from the crusade, Jan. 7.

The count de la Marche and the Poictevins request the king to assist them against the French; the king is willing to do so, but the parliament summoned refuses to grant money ("for," says Matthew Paris, "they knew that the king had often harassed them in this way with false pretences,") and is dismissed in anger, February. The king of France equips a fleet to guard Poiton against invasion.

6

Lately forfeited by the duke of Britanny. See p. 308.

By charter dated at Alnet, near St. Asaph, Aug. 29, 1241. The pope, however, endeavoured to annul this submission (see p. 314), and Wales maintained an appearance of independence for forty years longer.

The king, accompanied by Earl Richard, passes over to Gascony, leaving Walter Gray, archbishop of York, regent of the kingdom.

William Marsh, an outlaw, seizes Lundy island, and turns pirate; he is captured, and executed shortly after.

The king renounces the truce with France. The king of France wishes to preserve peace. He feared the hostility of several neighbouring kings and princes, who were in some way connected with the king of England; "but, above all," says Matthew Paris, "he feared to break the oath of his father Louis, before his departure from England, by which he bound himself to restore to the king of England his rights, if he survived his fathert; and his father, when about to die, at Avignon, had enjoined on him, his son, the fulfilment of that oath: he therefore considered it just and pious to release the soul of his father from such a bond."

The king of England, however, "urged by those crafty traitors, the Poictevins," openly defies him, and the war commences.

The king of France captures Frontenaye and other castles, and is received into Taillebourg.

The king advances against him, but being betrayed by the Poictevins, is only saved from capture by a truce of a single day, granted at the request of Earl Richard, July 20.

A party of the English defeated at Saintonge, July 22. The count de la Marche submits to the king of France. The king retires to Blaye, then to Bordeaux, and the whole of Poitou is occupied by the French.

The truce was granted as an acknowledgment of many services which the earl had rendered to the French while on his crusade.

A five years' truce agreed on.

Earl Richard and many nobles and knights return to England, but the king remains behind at Bordeaux, wasting vast sums of money on the Gascons. He wishes to confiscate the possessions of those who quit him, but is restrained by the archbishop of York.

A.D. 1243. Some of the Gascon towns rebel, but are reduced by the king.

The Cinque Ports mariners and the French carry on a naval war, which degenerates into piracy; the archbishop is therefore unable to send the succours he had prepared to the king.

The truce is confirmed, April 23; the king of France retaining all his conquests, and receiving a payment of £1,000 yearly.

The king at length returns to England, landing at Portsmouth Sept. 25.

He extorts large gifts from the clergy; "whoever refused, found him not a king, but a tyrant." He also laid a heavy ransom on the Jews, in gold and silver. "The king received from each Jew, whether man or woman, the gold into his own hand, acting the part, not of king, but of tax-gatherer, but the silver was gathered by others."

A.D. 1244. The pope (Innocent IV.) sends one of his clerks, Master Martin, into England, who extorts rich gifts from the clergy, and seizes on vacant benefices, which he bestows on his friends and relatives.

Griffin of Wales is killed in endeavouring to escape from the Tower, March 1.

The king is obliged to remonstrate with the pope on the exactions of his agents.

The pope takes David of Wales and his territory under his protection, and for the annual tribute of 500 marks, annuls the act of submission which he had made to the king".

The Welsh, under David, ravage the marches, June.

A quarrel with the king of Scotland, who is charged with receiving English fugitives, is arranged by the mediation of Earl Richard, August.

A.D. 1245. The war is continued between the Welsh and the marchers.

Master Martin, warned by the king, flees in haste from England. A formal complaint of the papal exactions is made to the council at Lyons by William de Powick and other procurators of the king.

The king ravages Wales, and strengthens the castle of Gannock, near Conway; his troops suffer severely from want, and he returns to England in October.

Walter and Anselm, the last surviving sons of William Marshal, die without issue".

A.D. 1246. A talliage of 1000 marks levied on the Londoners.

A parliament held in London at the end of March, which despatches messengers to the pope to complain of the extortions of his legate.

The king forbids the payment of money to the pope during the absence of the messengers.

u

V

David, prince of Wales, dies; Llewelyn, the son of

See p. 311.

This extinction of the earl's male line is recorded by Matthew Paris as an evident judgment for his seizure of two manors from the bishop of Fernes, who, failing to procure redress, excommunicated the Protector. The marshalship was given to his son-in-law, Roger Bigod, and the earldom of Pembroke was in 1247 granted by the king to his own half-brother, William de Valence.

Griffin, escapes from England, and is chosen to succeed

him.

The messengers return with an angry message from the pope, when the king and parliament give way, “and the graspings of Roman avarice were satisfied."

A.D. 1247. A parliament held at London, Feb. 3, which again remonstrates with the pope on his exactions*.

Ecclesiastical judges prohibited by the king to try any other causes than marriage or wills where laymen are concerned.

A parliament held at Oxford, early in April, when a sum of 11,000 marks is granted by the bishops to the pope.

Guy de Lusignan, William de Valence, Aymar, a priest, and Eliza, the half-brothers and sister of the king, arrive in England".

William de Bueles, a Norman, and, says Matthew Paris, "after the manner of his countrymen, great in talk, but slow in deeds, and pusillanimous," is appointed

The document runs in the name of "the community of the clergy and people of the province of Canterbury," and concludes, "As our community has no seal, we send these presents to your holiness under the mark of the community of London ;" a proof of the consideration to which municipal bodies

had already attained.

y William de Valence was soon married to the daughter of Warin de Montchesnil, "for the sake of her rich inheritance," and also created earl of Pembroke; Eliza was married to John, earl of Warrenne, and Aymar was made bishop of Winchester. Guy shortly left England, but with so large a sum of money received from the king that he was obliged to increase the number of his saddle horses.

Arms of William de Valence, earl of Pembroke.