King's army into the field, and such was the energy of his movements that on April 5, only a few days after that appointed for the muster of the royal lieges, he made a vigorous assault on Northampton, accompanied by Prince Richard, William de Valence, de Cliffort, de Mortimer, and the great Scotch chieftains. Young Simon de Montfort, no lukewarm descendant of his family, with the fresh honours of knighthood', was among the most eager defenders of the town. The careful training of such a father could scarcely fail to make good soldiers, and such accordingly we find all the sons of the Earl of Leicester, even the one who began as priest, turning to arms in his later life: "Quar jamès son travayl perdra, que pur prudhome' fra." Young de Montfort on this occasion advanced with such reckless impetuosity to repel the attack, that his horse becoming unruly under the excitement of his spurs, carried him into the outer ditch of the town, where the enemy took him prisoner without difficulty, and it required the interference of Prince Edward to prevent his being put to death.

Near the north gate, within the inclosure of the walls, bordering on a stream leading to the river, stood the Cluniac Priory of St Andrew, a cell to S. Marie de la Charité, on the Loire. Guy, the royalist prior, had, in 1258, succeeded one who had been promoted to the same office in the kindred priory of Lewes, where King Henry afterwards lodged at the time of the battle. Many of the monks, as well as the prior, were Frenchmen, and had sent information to the King while at Oxford that they had treacherously undermined the wall, and concealed by timber the outward opening of the passage they had prepared. While the attention of the garrison was called off by a deceitful parley, they now found

Recenter novo militiæ cingulo decoratus." "Non tepidus æmulator."-T. Wyke.

2 Hist. de Fitzw., p. 17.

3 Guy, prior from 1258 to 1270, was imprisoned by the barons after their success at Lewes.-Dugd. Mo

nast. A convent of Carmelites is said by Dugdale to have been founded at Northampton in 1271, by Simon de Montfort, but it is not probable that the earl's son, then in exile in Italy, should have been the founder.

an opportunity of thus admitting Philip Basset' and forty knights, by whom the town was unexpectedly overpowered. The surrender of the castle two days afterwards added a great many important prisoners to the royal triumph, including fifteen bannerets and many other knights of less rank. Among the most distinguished was the veteran Peter de Montfort, the earl's kinsman, with his two sons, Peter and William. Peter was the head of a powerful branch of the family with large possessions, which had descended to him from an ancestor, who had earned them by his services at the Conquest; he had always sided with the barons.

"Et Sire Pere de Montfort

Si tint bien a leur acord

Si out grant seignurie."-Pol. Song from Roll 13th c.

He had served the state in embassies and war, having had the guard of the Welsh frontier in 1258 committed to him, and had been selected as one of the twenty-four councillors of the Oxford Statutes. His subsequent fate will hereafter come under our notice.

Another of the prisoners was Adam de Neumarket, whose ancestor had used a soldier's licence under the Conqueror to appropriate the territory of Brecknock. Adam was summoned to Parliament after the battle of Lewes, and fell a prisoner to Prince Edward in 1265, but was permitted ultimately to compound for his confiscated lands. Baldwin Wake, who, with his brother Nicholas, was included among

1 H. Knight.

2 Hugh de Bastenburgh, a Norman, had grants of 28 lordships in Kent, 10 in Essex (for which he refused to account, according to Domesday), 51 in Suffolk, and 19 in Norfolk. His grandson took the name of de Montfort.

Peter's father, Thurstan, held 12 knights' fees (including Whitchurch, Wellesborne, Beldesert), and built the castle of Henly in Arden, d. 1216. Peter had been ward to Peter de

Cantilupe, and married, in 1229, Alice, daughter of Henry de Aldithely, by whom he had

1. Peter, who recovered the estates by the Dict. Kenilworth from forfeiture, d. 1287. His son John was with Edward I. in his wars, but this branch was extinct in the next generation.

2. William, married Agnes Bertram de Mitfort, killed 1265.

3. Robert, married a daughter of the Earl of Warwick.-Dugd. Bar.

the most distinguished prisoners, was an active knight, twenty-six years of age, whose name occurs in all the great transactions of the war and treaties. His mother Joan de Stuteville', now married to Hugh le Bigot, had purchased of the King the wardship of her own son for 9000 marcs (£6000); indicating both the domestic miseries of feudalism and the honourable efforts of an anxious mother to avert them. Baldwin Wake is represented by some to have been at the battle of Lewes, but it may be doubted whether he had this additional opportunity of proving the readiness of his sword in the cause. He was again taken prisoner in 1265, but escaped to join in the last struggles of young Simon de Montfort at the close of the war: he was, however, pardoned for a fine of two years' value on his estate, and died 12822.

Others of the fifteen bannerets, William de Ferrers, Roger Bertram de Mitford3, Simon FitzSimon, Reginald de Waterville, Hugh Gebyon, Philip de Drieby, Thomas Maunsel', Roger Boteville, Robert de Newington, and Grimbald Pauncefot", took part in the subsequent events of the civil war, the latter alone being distinguished by a treacherous surrender to the royalists of his trust, as will be seen hereafter.

All the chiefains" who had gathered together for the

1 She died in 1276.

2 "Wake, or two bars gules, in chief three roundles gules."-Rolls of Arms. His wife, Hawyse, was daughter of Robert de Quinci.Dugd. Bar.

3 His father had sided with the barons against King John, and died 1242. Roger had been employed in 1258 to rescue the King of Scotland from the thraldrom of his guardians. On his being now taken prisoner, Mitford Castle, Northumberland, was taken possession of on behalf of William de Valence. His son Roger died 1312, and as his only child Agnes died without issue, his four sisters became his heirs.

4 Descended from Philip Mansel, a Norman, who accompanied William the Conqueror. He held lands in Glamorganshire; ; arms, argent, a chevron between three maunches sable. His descendant Thomas was in 1711 created Baron Mansel of Margam.

5 W. Rish. Pauncefot has the addition of "serviens" to his name in MS. Bodl. 91 Bern.

6 Among the names of inferior rank many are again met with in the course of the war. T. Wyke adds William de Furnival. The Bodl. MS., Bern. 91, names William de Warre, G. de Lewknor (" azure, three chevrons argent."-Rolls of Arms), John de Dykelynge, H. de

intended conference of the barons at Northampton, were thus seized at once, and strictly imprisoned'. Among those who shared the same misfortune were the scholars who had bcen driven from Oxford, and were here found fighting against the King with the utmost zeal. They are said to have had their own banner on this occasion, and to have done more damage with their bows, slings, and crossbows, than all the rest.

The appearance in arms of a class of such natural loyalty marks strongly the wide diffusion of discontent, and their conduct incensed Henry to such a degree, that he was at first bent upon putting them all to death, and was only restrained by the risk of offending irreparably the many powerful families to which these youths belonged; many of them in their alarm adopted a hasty tonsure to escape under privilege of clergy'. One of the earliest acts of the barons, after their success at Lewes, was to order the return of these scholars to Oxford3.

Though there had been much animosity, and many acts of plunder and ravage before, yet this may be considered. as the first great conflict of the civil war, and a fearful example of the barbarities of such a strife was exhibited. Northampton was sacked by the royal army with every circumstance of rapine and sacrilege, as if it had been in an enemy's country, and even a royalist chronicler looks upon the calamities, which soon fell upon those guilty of such

Pembrigge, W. Marshal, W. de Harecurte, W. de Gyleford, John Esturney, Rich. de Caleworth, Ralph Peroth, Ingram de Baillol, G. Russell, steward of the Bishop of Lincoln, Rich. de Hemyngton, Simon de Pateshyll, W. de Wheltoun, Eustace de Watford, Edm. de Arderne, Phil. Fitzrobert, Robert Maloree, Roger de Hyde, Andrew de Jarpenville, Roger de Hakelington, W. de Preston, Simon, brother of Reginald Waterville, Hamo de Wycleston, Roger de

Monteney, W. Awngevin, Ralph de Diva, Philip de Daventre, Richard Everard, Ralph de Wodekyme, Roger de S. Philibert, I. de Rye, W. de Lymare, Hugh de Tywe, John de Boseville, Ralph de Brotton, John de Bracebridge.

Those detained at Northampton were put under the custody of "Nicholas Hawresham."-Walt. Hemingford.

Walt. Hemingford.

St Paul's, May 30,1264.-Rot. Pat,

K

excesses, as a just' retribution. On first hearing of the attack on Northampton, Simon de Montfort had advanced with his troops as far as St Alban's, intending to relieve those besieged in the castle, and when the news of their surrender met him there, his comrades were loud in their desponding lamentations; firm, however, in his purpose, he calmly attributed the reverse to the usual fortune of war, and encouraged them by declaring that "the month of May should not pass over without all the joy of their enemies. being turned to fear and confusion." The blow was felt indeed to be severe, and the earl, “raging like a lion deprived of his whelps"," resolved to countervail the disaster by striking in another quarter.

The unhappy example of outrage at Northampton was disgracefully followed at London under his influence. Besides a general plunder of the property of William de Valence and other aliens, the excited citizens did not even spare the deposits of money at the Temple, which then served as a substitute for a bank'; "in this," as a chronicler observes, "resembling fish, who snatch at all they can." John FitzJohn is said to have been the leader of this rapine, and to have shared its fruits with Simon de Montfort, though the latter would appear, as we shall see, to have been in Kent at the time. A suspicion of intended treachery fell upon the Jews, who being the principal makers of Greek fire, were accused of intending to set fire to the city, and of preparing false keys', in order to betray the city-gates. The first provocation may have been given by a Jew having wounded a citizen, but a fearful massacre was the result.

6

1 "Justo Dei judicio sunt consecuti, non habentes jus querela.”—T. Wyke.

2 W. de Rish.

3 Ipse quasi leo in saltu raptis catulis sæviens."-Mat. Westm. W. Rish. de Bello Lew.

4 In Madox's Exchequer is an order from the King from Portsmouth,

July 6, 1253, to remove his money and jewels from the Temple to the Tower; in 1268 and 1271 fines, &c., were ordered to be paid into the Temple for safe custody.

5 Chr. Mailros. 6 T. Wyke. 7 W. Rish. Chr. Cott. Vesp. B. XII. MS. Hosp. Linc.

8 Lib. de Ant. Leg.