would have done justice if he could, but the barons were too strong for him. Their folly made them as unpopular as the king had been unpopular before. and Henry almost regained his old authority. 7. The Battle of Lewes and the Government of Earl Simon. For some time there was agitation and confusion, with no certain superiority on either side. The barons were divided between their jealousy of the king and their jealousy of Earl Simon. For all that, Earl Simon was growing in strength. Some years before, the freeholders, or men holding land of their own, whether it was much or little, had been allowed to choose men to go to parliament to speak in their name and to ask for the things which they wanted. These men are called the representatives of those who send them, and the representatives of the freeholders were like the county members of our own time. The towns, too, were increasing in commercial prosperity, and in the habit of managing their own affairs. The towns, and especially London, the greatest of them all, threw themselves on the side of the earl. In 1264, he gathered his followers together, came down upon the king at Lewes, in Sussex, and utterly defeated him. At the end of the day Henry had been made prisoner, and his eldest son Edward surrendered himself soon after. For rather more than a year Earl Simon ruled England. He summoned the towns to send representatives for the first time to parliament. He wished that people of every kind, the great landowners, the clergy, the small landowners, and the townsmen, should all be able to say for themselves in parliament what they wanted. As a political verse-writer of the day expressed it, the community of the realm was to be consulted, and it was to be known what was thought by the nation as a whole. This is exactly what we try to do now. Whenever there is a general election, the nation chooses men who can go to parliament and say what the nation itself wishes to have done. Then, after that, it is the business of the men who make up what is called the government to find out how it is to be done. 8. The Battle of Evesham and the Death of Earl Simon. Earl Simon meant to rule well; but once more the jealousy of the barons was too strong for him. Young Edward, the king's eldest son, was wise and able beyond his years, and he watched the spread of this jealousy. He resolved to make his escape. One day he suggested to his keepers to ride races for their amusement as well as his own. When their horses were thoroughly tired, he rode off on his fresh one, and was soon out of sight. Most of the barons flocked to his standard. Earl Simon was at Evesham. From the top of the church tower he saw the prince approaching. Commend your souls to God,' he said to the faithful few who were around him, 'for our bodies are the prince's.' His little army was overpowered. The earl was slain and his body was shamefully mutilated. After a while all further resistance was overcome. The king's authority was restored, and up to his death in 1272 no man ventured to raise a hand against him. CHAPTER XI. EDWARD I., 1272. 1. The Rule of Edward I. in England. Henry's son, Edward I., was a very different man from his father. He was great enough and wise enough to carry out the work which Earl Simon had begun. He allowed no foreigners to thrust Englishmen out of places of authority on the soil of England. He made no promises with the intention of breaking them. He surrounded himself with the best and wisest coun sellors that he could find. Wise as his counsellors were, he did not trust in them alone. He thought, as Earl Simon had thought, that what was intended for the good of all should be submitted to the counsel of all. He did not for a long time summon a parliament in which all classes of men were found; but he summoned just those men who knew anything about the matter he wanted advice on. In this way he became a great lawgiver, because he never made a law without hearing what those people had to say whom the law principally concerned. In his hands England prospered as it had never done before. Edward kept the peace well, and in his days the barons did not dare either to oppress the freeholder and the citizen, or to resist the authority of the king. 2. The Conquest of Wales.-Edward enjoyed the sight of a people living peacefully and orderly. He fancied that the best thing that could happen to people who were not under his rule would be to be brought under it. Of all the Britons who were found on the south of the Solway Firth, at the coming of the English, those of North Wales only still retained their independence under their own princes, though even there the princes acknowledged the superiority of the English King. Edward resolved to make this superiority felt as a real authority. Two princes in succession resisted the attempt. Edward overpowered them, and united the hills round Snowdon to his English kingdom. He showed his infant son to the Welsh, and offered the child to them as their prince. From that time the eldest |