A.D. 1257. At Mid-Lent of this same year, a great Parliament was held ... and before the aforesaid Parliament broke up, the King brought his son Edmund, dressed in the Apulian fashion, before the assembly, ... and he said that, by the advice and goodwill of the Pope and the English Church, he had, for the sake of obtaining the kingdom of Sicily, bound himself under penalty of losing his kingdom to the payment of a hundred and forty thousand marks, exclusive of interest, which daily increased, although without being apparent. Also that he had obtained, for five ensuing years, the tithes to be levied from all the clergy in general, that is to say, from all their benefices, which were to be computed according to the new mode of taxation, without deducting any expenses save those which were incurred necessarily; also the profits of all ecclesiastical benefices vacated during the first year, and till the completion of the five years. This speech made the ears of all tingle, and struck fear to their hearts, especially as they knew that this tyranny took its rise from the Pope. Although they set forth excuses and asked for time to be allowed them, they could not obtain that favour, and were at length compelled to give a promise of relieving the King's pressing necessities, on the condition, however, that he would from that time forth observe inviolably the Great Charter, which he had so often promised to do, and which had been so often bought and rebought by them; and that he would refrain from injuring them and impoverishing them on so many specious pretexts. On these conditions they promised the King fifty-two thousand marks, though to the irreparable injury of the English Church; yet the King is said not to have accepted such a rich gift even as this.
THE EXPULSION OF THE POITEVINS (1258).
Source.—Annals of Waverley, pp. 349-350. (Annales Monastici, vol. ii.—Rolls Series.)
For some years England had been thronged with such a multitude of foreigners of different nations, on whom had been showered so many revenues, lands, estates, and other possessions, that they held the English in the greatest contempt, as inferior beings. It was said by some, who knew their secrets, that, if their power continued to increase, they would remove the nobles of England by poison, deprive King Henry of his kingdom, appoint in his place someone else at their own pleasure, and so in the end bring all England under their sway for ever. Further, the four brothers of the lord the King, Aylmer, Bishop-elect of Winchester, William, Earl of Valence, Guido, and Godfrey, raised as they were above the other aliens in dignities and riches, raged against the English in their intolerable arrogance, and loaded them with many insults and affronts; nor did anyone dare to oppose their presumptuous deeds for fear of the King. And they were not the only guilty ones, but—a yet greater matter for sorrow—Englishmen rose against Englishmen, majors against minors, all aflame with the lust of gain, and by means of pleas and amercements, talliages,[18] exactions, and divers other abuses, strove to take from each man what was his own. Old laws and customs were either broken through or utterly destroyed and brought to nought; every tyrant's will was a law unto himself, and except by a money payment could no man procure a right judgment. It is not within the power of anyone to recount all the evil doings which in those days took place in England. At length in this year the Earls and Barons, Archbishops and Bishops, and other nobles of England, as though aroused from sleep by a divine touch, seeing the miserable state of the kingdom, banded themselves together, and boldly assumed the strength and courage of a lion which fears the attack of no one. First of all, they expelled from England by force the aforementioned brothers of the King, together with many other aliens, and then began diligently to renew and amend the old laws and customs. And lest anyone should presume rashly to violate these customs in the future, they drew them up in the manner of a charter, sealed, by the King's permission, with his own royal seal.
[18] Taxes to which the demesne lands of the crown and all royal towns were subject.
THE KING CONSENTS TO THE ELECTION OF THE TWENTY-FOUR (1258).
Source.—Rymer's Fœdera, vol. i., p. 371.
The King to all, etc., greeting:—
Know that we have granted to the nobles and magnates of our kingdom, on oath administered to us by Robert de Walerand, that the state of the kingdom shall be rectified and reformed as shall seem best for the honour of God, our own faith, and the general good of our realm, by twelve faithful men chosen from our council, and twelve chosen from the party of the Barons themselves, who shall meet at Oxford within one month after the coming Festival of Pentecost. And should, by any chance, any of those chosen from our party be absent, those who are present may substitute others in their place; similarly in the case of those absent from the party of the Barons. And we shall observe inviolably whatsoever shall be ordained by the twenty-four chosen from both sides and put under an oath for this special purpose, or by the greater part of them; and we wish and strictly enjoin that their decisions be observed inviolably by all. And we shall, without causing any hindrance, carry out and render effective whatever measures of security they, or the greater part of them, shall ordain for the observance of these provisions. We bear witness, further, that Edward, our eldest son, having taken an oath on his body, has granted by his letters that, so far as in him lies, he will faithfully and inviolably observe and cause to be for ever observed everything above set down and conceded. The aforesaid Earls and Barons also promised that, when the business above-mentioned has been completed, they will strive in all good faith to secure the granting to us of a general aid by the commonalty of the realm.
Given at Westminster on the second day of May.