arbitrate as a parent and a sovereign, Henry lent to Hubert the whole power of his authority. But an unsuccessful expedition into France, in which he accompanied the king, gave the first shock to this minister's power; every tongue loudly accused him, and when, on occasion of an inroad being made by the Welsh, Henry lamented his want of money, he was told that he might easily extort it from Hubert and his relatives, who for years had been accumulating wealth at the expense of the crown. The advice was adopted, and Hubert received an order to account for the monies he had expended; he fled from the scrutiny; and when, afterwards, he was summoned to appear before the court of his peers, in Cornhill, he replied, "that he should offer no defence; but that he placed his body, his lands, and his chattels at the king's pleasure." It was then awarded that he should retain only, for himself and his heirs, his patrimonial inheritance, and the lands which he held from mesne lords; and four earls engaged to keep him in safe custody in the castle of Devizes.

From the period that Henry was freed from the control of de Burgh, he chose his ministers, and acted from his own judg ment, in the measures of government. Respecting the relations of Scotland and Wales, during the whole of this king's reign, which lasted more than half a century, the harmony between England and Scotland was never interrupted by actual hostilities, though subjects of altercation occurred at different periods. But Henry often led his army into Wales, and was as often compelled to return foiled and disappointed; as Llewellyn, the native sovereign of Wales, whom Henry styled prince of Aberthraw and Lord Snowdun, had married Jane, a natural daughter of John, by Agatha, daughter to earl Ferrers, and was much more inclined to dispute than to obey the authority of his superior.

After many fruitless attempts to recover those provinces of France, which were formerly annexed to the English crown, Henry found himself involved in a war with Louis IX., the son and successor of his former rival. Battles were fought, and truces granted, but a term of seventeen years elapsed before a final adjustment took place; and then

Louis gave to the king of England the Limousin, Perigourd, and Querci, and promised that, at the deaths of the count and countess of Poitou, Laintonge, and the Agenois, should be transferred to the English crown.

Henry's transactions with the court of Rome discloses the system of oppression under which the English clergy, by the united influence of the crown and the tiara, were compelled to submit, and which subjected them to very grievous exacEtions. The popes, in imitation of the temporal princes, often required a tollage of the clergy, amounting generally to a twentieth, sometimes to a tenth, and, occasionally, to a larger share of their annual income. The persons so taxed remonestrated; for some time the king and the barons appeared to be only indifferent spectators of the struggle, but they were at length induced to interfere, by the consideration, that, in proportion as the clergy became impoverished, the national burden would press with additional weight upon the laity: they then joined in opposing the measure, yet no effectual alteration was made. The papal provisions also gave frequent cause of complaint, especially that which gave to the pontiff's authority the right of nominating to vacant benefices, as, by that measure, many Italians possessed livings which should have been conferred on English clergymen; and it often happened that these foreigners, after defraying the charge of a substitute to perform the duty, received and spent the remainder of the income out of England. Innocent IX., after his return

to Rome, in the year 1252, proposed, as a temporary remedy, to set aside the sum of eight thousand marks for the supply of non-residents, and to compel the foreign clergymen to reside or resign, and that all benefices should be filled as soon as they became vacant. Thus the controversy remained during the sequel of Henry's reign.

Shortly after that transaction Henry was weak enough to accept the crown of Sicily from the pope, between whom and its rightful heir there was a quarrel. It had been offered to Charles of Anjou, then to Richard, the brother of the king of England, and, lastly, to Henry, for his son Edmund. At that time Conrad, king of Germany, had conquered

Apulia, and was on the point of invading Sicily, when Henry promised to conduct his son Edmund with a large army to take possession of it. To enable Henry to do this, Innocent engaged to advance one hundred thousand pounds; but Henry delayed, and Conrad died; while Manfred, prince Tarento, the illegitimate offspring of Conrad, opposed to Henry, Conradine, the infant son of his deceased father; because, under this mask, Manfred entertained hopes of possessing the crown himself.

Two years were spent by Henry, in futile exertions to put in execution the promises he had made to the pope. Innocent died, and was succeeded by Alexander IV., who pursued the same policy, and sent the bishop of Boulogne to Eng- land, to make the necessary arrangements with the king for the investiture of his son Edmund, under whom Sicily and Apulia were to form only one kingdom, to be holden by the apostolic see, by the yearly payment of two thousand ounces of gold. Henry bound himself to defray all the former expenses of this negotiation, and to land with his army in Apulia before the next feast of St. Michael. The debts already contracted amounted to 90,000l.; and the pontiff sent letters complaining of the distress to which he was reduced by the negligence of Henry, in not sending him the promised remittances. In vain did the king apply to the lay tenants of the crown. The English nobility had, on the first proposal, endeavoured to dissuade him from the enterprise, and now obstinately refused their aid, and it fell to the clergy to levy the money for the expedition into Italy. The bishops and abbots saw themselves compelled to accept bills, drawn in their name, but without their consent, for the sum of 20,000l., in favour of certain bankers in Venice and Florence. To insure the payment, a tenth part of the annual rents of the clergy was ordered to be paid into the exchequer for five successive years; the goods of clergymen who died intestate, and one year's income of all vacant benefices, were reserved to the crown; and the sums collected in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Norway, for the crusade against the infidels, were placed at the king's disposal.

While the clergy were thus oppressed by Henry, the disputes between him and his barons assumed an alarming appearance, and, instead of winning a foreign crown for his son, Henry found it necessary to defend his own. The crown of Sicily was offered, with the consent of prince Edmund, by Urban IV., the successor of Alexander, to Charles of Anjou, who, having raised a powerful army, gained a splendid victory in the plains of Benevento; and, by the death of Manfred, who fell in that battle, obtained peaceable possession of the whole kingdom.

It was Henry's misfortune that he inherited his father's hatred to the charter of Runnymead, and considered those barons as his enemies who had conspired to deprive the crown of its legitimate rights. This belief caused him to confide in the fidelity of foreigners more than in the affection of his own subjects. The king's application for money was sure to meet at first with a refusal; and when the barons did relent, it was always on conditions that were painful to the feelings of the monarch: but no sooner were his coffers replenished than he forgot his promises, and even his oaths. So that a repetition of his demands was treated with scorn; and to soften opposition, the king offered, on one occasion, to submit to excommunication if he failed to observe his engagements. In the great hall of Westminster the king, barons, and prelates assembled; the sentence was pronounced by the bishops, with the usual solemnity; and Henry, placing his hand on his breast, added, So help me God, I will observe these charters, as I am a christian, a knight, and a king, crowned and anointed." The aid was granted, and the king reverted to his former habits.

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At length the standard of rebellion was unfurled; and Henry, alarmed, submitted to the request of his people, and dismissed the foreigners; still, however, retaining about his person some favourites, to whom he was profusely prodigal. His marriage, in 1236, to Eleanor of Provence, opened the way to many foreigners, among whom three of the queen's uncles enjoyed a large portion of the royal confidence. William, bishop elect of Valence, was admitted of his coun

cil, and assumed the ascendancy in the administration. The barons remonstrated; Henry, to mollify their anger, added three of their number to the council, and, the better to secure himself from their machinations, obtained from the pope 1 legate to reside near his person. This was the cardinal Oth, through whose persuasion the queen's uncle, William, re turned to the continent. The next favourites were two other uncles of the queen, Peter de Savoy, to whom Henry gave the honour of Richmond; and Boniface de Savoy, who, at the death of Edmund, succeeded him as archbishop of Canterbury. The natives renewed their complaints, and th general discontent arose to such a height, that, at a grea council, summoned by Henry at Westminster, Roger Bigod, in the name of the barons, demanded that the powers of government should be delegated to a committee of barons and prelates, with authority to correct abuses. To this pro posal the king found himself obliged to submit.

On an appointed day the great council, afterwards distin guished by the appellation of " the mad parliament," met at Oxford. Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, headed the new constitution, and articles were entered into, promising that measures for the reformation of the state should be decided upon before Christmas. But the faction which had wrested the authority from Henry were in no hurry to effect their reform; their principal exertions were exercised in sharing the good things among themselves, and in framing excuses to delay the promised reform they had undertaken to accomplish. The barons grew impatient; and the earl of Gloucester, who, with the earl of Hereford, was leagued with Leicester, began to quarrel with each other: so that Henry, after possessing for the space of two years the mere shadow of royalty, now entertained hopes of recovering his authority and power; and he requested of the people to judge of him by his actions, and not by the accusations of his enemies.

Soon after the king was restored to his regal rights, he was imprudently induced to pay a visit to Louis of France, and earl Leicester eagerly embraced the occasion of his absence to re-organize the association which had so lately been dis