Se contint cum noble ber,
Si fu de grant justice;
Ne suffri pas petit ne grant,
Ne arère ne par devant,
Fere nul mesprise.
On the other hand, one of Montfort’s opponents, the bishop of Hereford, is treated rather contemptuously. We are told that he “learnt well that the earl was strong when he took the matter in hand; before that he (the bishop) was very fierce, and thought to eat up all the English; but now he is reduced to straits.”
Ly eveske de Herefort
Sout bien que ly quens fu fort,
Kant il prist l’affère;
Devant ce esteit mult fer,