XXVlll PREFACE. baron's war. Henry III. Prince Edward. Simon de Montfort. of the promulgation of the provisions of Oxford to the final pacification of the country, is given with great care and ample details. I have already spoken of the decided way in which he takes the royalist side, and how he attributes the whole of the successful result to prince Edward. Of the leading characters of the period, the king is not spoken of in very high terms ; thus in 1243 (p. 90) and 1259 (p. 123) he dwells on his customary waste of money; in p. 183, when speaking of his conduct in giving away the spoils after the battle of Evesham, he says, " Sane conniventibus oculis pertransire non pos- " sumus quin domini regis et conciliarioruminsipientiam, " si fas sit dicere, transmittamus ad memoriam postero- " rum," and again, " rex et sui complices, non sicut " decuerat cautiores eflfecti, sed potius stultiores ; " and in p. 21], it is to the king's weakness (lege per regis impotentiam languescente) that the miseries of the war and the consequent wretched condition of the country are put down. Prince Edward is the hero throughout ; before the war broke out the writer speaks (p. 137) of his forethought in gaining over the nobles to his side. Of his clemency he gives several instances ; it is to him that he attributes the fact that Simon de Montfort the younger was spared after his capture at Northampton (p. 144), and later, when mentioning the submission of John de Vesci (p, 198), he speaks of Edward's " insestimabilis et uni- " versa semper contra transgressores misericordia," So too in p. 209, in the account of the submission of the disinherited barons in the isle of Ely, he mentions his " gratia, qua? cunctis semper extitit gratiosa." The report of his wishing to dethrone his father in 1259, he styles " falsissimum," p. 124. Simon de Montfort is not spared. Before speaking of him personally,Wykes had expressed a very strong opinion respecting the provisions of Oxford ; when he mentions
