DEATH OF LLEWELLYN.
1. The reign of Henry the Third, who was only nine years of age when he succeeded his father, was a very long and a very unhappy one.
2. At first, things went on very well, because the king had a good guardian, the Earl of Pembroke, who managed the government wisely; but he, in a few years, died, and others came into power who did not act so well, and the king was too young to know what was right himself.
3. It was a pity the good earl died, for, if Henry had been fortunate enough to have had a wise instructer, he might have been a better sovereign, but, as it was, he was a very bad one.
4. The great mischief was this. He married a French princess, who had no more wisdom than himself; and they were both so extravagant that they spent a great deal more money than they could afford; and, then, to get fresh supplies, the king ordered the people to pay more taxes, and began to do all the unjust things that had caused so much misery in the time of his father.
5. Sometimes the Barons assembled and obliged him to promise he would abide by the terms of Magna Charta; but he soon forgot his promises, and went on the same as before, so that the people were worse and worse off every year, and many men became robbers on the highways, because they could not support their families by honest industry.
6. This was the state of affairs for many years, till at last, there was a civil war again, and, after a great deal of fighting and bloodshed, the king and his eldest son, Edward, were made prisoners in a battle, fought at Lewes, in Sussex, in 1264, and the Earl of Leicester, the king’s brother-in-law, took the government upon himself.
7. This was an important event, because the earl summoned a parliament to consult as to what it would be best to do under these circumstances; and he desired that, besides the nobles and bishops, there should come to this parliament knights, or gentlemen from every county, and citizens and burghers, from every city and burgh to state what the condition of the people really was, and to help to advise what could be done for them; so that the commoners were now, probably, for the first time, admitted to some share in the government of the country, which was a great step gained by the people, who, before this, had no representatives in the national council, or parliament, to take their part; and this was the beginning of our House of Commons, so it is worth remembering.
8. Prince Edward, after this, escaped from Hereford, where he had been kept a prisoner, and gained a great victory over the Barons, and replaced his father Henry on the throne; after which, he went on a crusade to the Holy Land.