The misgovernment of the king led a parliament, which assembled at Oxford (most unaptly designated the Mad Parliament), to pass a series of ordinances, known as the Provisions of Oxford, with a view to check the royal authority (1258). These proceedings led to grave differences between Henry and his barons, which resulted in civil war. Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who headed the opponents of the court, defeated the king's forces at LEWES (May 14, 1264), and took both Henry and his brother, Richard, prisoners. Leicester, at the close of the year, issued writs for a parliament to meet Jan. 20, 1265, to which were summoned, in addition to the peers, two knights for each county, two citizens for each city, and two burgesses for each borough. In this parliament we have the first instance of a regular system of parliamentary representation, and the origin of the House of Commons. Prince Edward, who had surrendered after the battle of Lewes, as a hostage for his father's peaceable conduct, escaped from his guards in May; and assembling a body of men, he gained a decisive victory over the barons at EVESHAM, where De Montfort was slain (Aug. 4, 1265). Peace was gradually restored, and in 1270, Edward, taking with him some of the most troublesome and adventurous nobles, set out to bear a part in the eighth crusade.

During this period much of the trade of the country was carried on at fairs. These gatherings, though the source of oppression to the regular traders, who had to close their shops for the time, proved very serviceable to the inhabitants of the remote districts. Henry granted a charter to Newcastle, allowing the people to dig for coal-the earliest record we have of the use of this mineral in England. Roger Bacon, by far the ablest philosopher in the middle ages, flourished in this reign : he was skilled in mechanics, optics, chemistry, and other branches of science, so far as they were then known, and he appears to have been acquainted with the composition and effects of gunpowder. Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, distinguished himself by his vigorous opposition to the papal encroachments.

[The fifth crusade, 1218. The sixth crusade, 1240. The seventh, under St. Louis, 1248. The eighth and last crusade, 1270.]

Death.-Henry died at Westminster, Nov. 16, 1272.

EDWARD I (LONGSHANKS *).

Reigned from 1272 to 1307.

Birth.-Edward was born at Westminster, June 17, 1239.
Descent. He was the eldest son of Henry III.

Marriage. He was twice married: first to Eleanor of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand III, and on her death, to Margaret, daughter of Philip III, of France.

Children.-Edward, his successor; Thomas, Earl of Norfolk ; Edward, Earl of Kent; three other sons, and nine daughters. Important Events.-Edward, though in Palestine, was immediately acknowledged as sovereign on his father's death; and about two years later he arrived in England (Aug. 2, 1274).

Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, who had been connected with the baronial party in the late reign, refused at first to swear fealty to Edward, as feudal lord; but in 1277, the king having advanced with an army into the principality, Llewellyn found it necessary to make his submission, and surrendered to his conqueror a small part of North Wales. Five years later the Welsh rose up in insurrection; but one of Edward's nobles, named Edmund Mortimer, defeated Llewellyn's army at BUILTH, in the valley of the Wye, and Llewellyn himself was slain before the commencement of the battle (Dec. 11, 1282). His brother, David, being betrayed into the hands of his enemies, was executed as a traitor, at Shrewsbury (Sept., 1283). Edward's son, born at Caernarvon Castle, was created Prince of Wales, a title which has ever since been held by the eldest son of the sovereign.

In 1286, Alexander III of Scotland died, leaving as his only * So called because his legs were long and slender.

t

direct representative, his grand-daughter, Margaret, the Maid of Norway. On her death, in 1290, there were several competitors for the vacant throne, the principal being John Baliol, Robert Bruce, and John Hastings. Edward's adjudication was solicited; and, having required them to acknowledge him as feudal lord, he decided in favour of Baliol (Nov., 1292). A few years after, Baliol renounced his allegiance, and Edward led an army into Scotland to subdue him. A portion of the English troops, under Earl Warenne, defeated the Scots at DUNBAR (April 27, 1296), and Baliol surrendered to the king, who made Warenne guardian of the realm. The standard of revolt was soon reared by a chief named Wallace, who, being joined by many of his countrymen, signally vanquished the English at CAMBUSKENNETH, near Stirling (Sept. 10, 1297). Edward, who had been engaged in a quarrel with the King of France, proceeded to Scotland in the course of the next year, and utterly routed Wallace's forces at FALKIRK, fifteen thousand Scots being left on the field (July 22, 1298). The people now appointed Comyn, the nephew of Baliol, and Bruce, Earl of Carrick, guardians of the country; and in 1303, Comyn defeated the English at ROSLIN (Feb. 24). Edward, however, compelled them to recognise his authority, and the conquest of Scotland seemed to have been achieved, especially as Wallace was betrayed into his hands. This heroic chieftain was tried at Westminster Hall as a traitor (though, as he said, he had never been Edward's subject), and executed in Smithfield, with all the horrible barbarities usual in cases of treason (Aug., 1305). Bruce, grandson of the competitor, who was at the English court, soon after secretly repaired to Scotland, and, having killed Comyn at a private conference, assumed the title of king, as Robert I (March 27, 1306). A large army being sent against him by Edward, his troops were routed with great slaughter at METHVEN, near Perth (June 19), and he was obliged to flee to the isles. Early in the ensuing year he re-appeared, and gained a victory at LOUDON HILL, over the Earl of Pembroke, the commander at

Methven (May 10, 1307). The determined opposition of the Scots induced Edward, though in ill health, to resolve to lead his troops once more; but on reaching Burgh on the Sands, a fatal attack arrested his progress.

Edward was no less distinguished as a warrior than a legislalator, and he "has justly obtained, from lawyers, the highest praise for the great improvements which he introduced into our jurisprudence.”* He was, however, very prone to exact illegal tolls and taxes from his subjects; and it was to prevent these from acquiring the force of precedents, that the people, headed by two illustrious patriots, Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and Bigod, earl of Norfolk, compelled the king to assent to a statute called the Confirmation of Charters, in which he promised not to take any tax except "by the common consent of all the realm."

In 1290, he ordered all the Jews to leave the country; and to the number of sixteen thousand they repaired to the Cinque Ports, whence they were to embark: the mariners, it is said, plundered and drowned many of the unfortunate passengers, as they were conveying them across the channel.

By Edward's order the regalia, and the sacred stone on which the Scottish kings were crowned, were brought to London. The latter is under the seat of the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey.

[The Sicilian Vespers ; 8000 French massacred in Sicily in one night, 1282.]

Death. The king died at Burgh on the Sands, July 7, 1307.

EDWARD II.

Reigned from 1307 to 1327.

Birth.-Edward was born at Caernarvon, April 25, 1284
Descent.-He was the fourth son of Edward I.

Marriage. His wife was Isabella, daughter of Philip IV of France.

Children.-Edward, his successor; John of Eltham, Earl of * Brougham's "British Constitution."

Cornwall; Eleanor; and Joan, who married David, Prince of Scotland (afterwards David II).

Important Events.—One of Edward's earliest acts as sovereign was to recall his favourite, Piers Gaveston, who had been banished by the late king on account of his evil influence over his companion. The arrogant bearing of the favourite aroused against him the strongest opposition of the barons; and, after having been twice banished and recalled, he was taken by the Earl of Pembroke at Scarborough castle : thence he was conducted to Warwick castle, where some of his enemies were assembled, who ordered his execution at Blacklow Hill (June 19, 1312).

The sovereign's fondness for Gaveston, and his neglect of the interests of the country, roused the nobles, in 1310, to draw up some ordinances for the government of the kingdom, to which they compelled him to assent. By these ordinances it was enacted (among other beneficial measures) that new taxes should be abolished that the Great Charter should be observed-and that parliament should be held once a year, or twice, if need be.

Not long after Edward's accession, he marched into Scotland, but soon withdrew his army. In 1314, however, as he learned that the Scots, under Robert Bruce (who had recovered the throne), were besieging Stirling, he proceeded thither at the head of a vast army. The rival forces met at BANNOCKBURN, in the vicinity of the castle, and the battle terminated in the utter defeat of the English (June 24, 1314). A few years later the king agreed to a lengthened truce, by which the independence of Scotland was practically acknowledged, May, 1323.

After the death of Gaveston, Edward selected Hugh Spenser for his favourite, with whom the barons soon disagreed. Lancaster, a prince of the blood royal, and head of the disaffected nobility, assembled some troops at Doncaster, but was defeated and captured by the royalists at BOROUGHBRIDGE. A few days later, he was put to death at Pontefract (March, 1322).

To arrange some differences relative to Gascony, between Edward and her brother, Charles IV, the queen went over to