The Great Events by Famous Historians [Volumes 1-14]

There were many, even among the royalists, who disapproved of the indiscriminate severity exercised by the parliament at Winchester; and a possibility was suggested of granting indulgence to the sufferers, and at the same time satisfying those who had profited by their forfeitures. With this view a committee was appointed of twelve prelates and barons, whose award was confirmed by the King in parliament, and called the Dictum de Kenilworth. They divided the delinquents into three classes. In the first were the Earl of Derby, Hugh de Hastings, who had earned his preëminence by his superior ferocity, and the persons who had so insolently mutilated the King's messenger. The second comprised all who on different occasions had drawn the sword against their sovereign; and in the third were numbered those who, though they had not fought under the banner, had accepted office under the authority, of Leicester. To all was given the option of redeeming their estates by the payment to the actual possessors of certain sums of money, to the amount of seven years' value by delinquents of the first class, of five by those of the second, and of two years or one year by those of the third. By many the boon was accepted with gratitude: it was scornfully refused by the garrison of the castle of Kenilworth and by the outlaws who had fled to the Isle of Ely. The obstinacy of the former was subdued by famine; and they obtained from the clemency of the King the grant of their lives, limbs, and apparel. The latter, relying on the strength of their asylum, gloried in their rebellion, and occasionally ravaged the neighboring country. Their impunity was, however, owing to the perfidy of the Earl of Gloucester, who, without the talents, aspired to the fame and preëminence, of his deceased rival. He expressed his disapprobation of the award; the factious inhabitants of London chose him for their leader; and his presumption was nourished by the daily accession of outlaws from different parts of the country. Henry summoned his friends to the siege of the capital; and the Earl, when he beheld from the walls the royal army, and reflected on the consequences of a defeat, condemned his own temerity, accepted the mediation of the King of the Romans, and on the condition of receiving a full pardon, gladly returned to his duty, leaving at the same time the citizens to the good pleasure of the King. His submission drew after it the submission of the other insurgents. If Llewellyn remained in arms, it was only with the hope of extorting more favorable terms. The title of Prince of Wales with a right to the homage of the Welsh chieftains satisfied his ambition; and he consented to swear fealty to Henry, and to pay him the sum of twenty-five thousand marks. The restoration of tranquillity allowed the King to direct his attention to the improvement of his people. He condescended to profit by the labors of his adversaries; and some of the most useful among the provisions of the barons were with other laws enacted by legitimate authority in a parliament at Marlborough. To crown this important work, and to extinguish, if it were possible, the very embers of discontent, the clergy were brought forward with a grant of the twentieth of their revenues, as a fund which might enable those who had been prevented by poverty to redeem their estates according to the decision of the arbitrators at Kenilworth. The outlaws in the Isle of Ely were also reduced. The King's poverty had disabled him from undertaking offensive measures against them: but a grant of the tenth part of the church revenues for three years, which he had obtained from the Pope, infused new vigor into his councils; bridges were thrown over the rivers; roads were constructed across the marshes; and the rebels returned to their obedience on condition that they should enjoy the benefit of the Dictum of Kenilworth, which they had so contemptuously and obstinately refused.