The Sicilian Crown

Henry now became involved in a Project that put the capstone upon England's misery and drove the feudal lords to open rebellion. The chief purpose of the popes in their war with Frederick II had been to loose the latter's hold upon southern Italy and Sicily. Frederick had received these territories from his mother; Constance of Sicily, and had spent most of his life at Palermo. At his death in 1250, the pope claimed the right to dispose of Sicily as he would, and offered it first to Richard of Cornwall. But Richard shrewdly refused it. It was then offered to Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX, who at this time refused it, though he afterward accepted it. Then in 1253 the pope offered it to Edmund, Henry's youngest son. Henry, accepted it for his son, though the heir was his own nephew, Conrad, son of Frederick II. As the kingdom was in the possession of Conrad and his half-brother Manfred, this offer merely meant that the pope wanted Henry's aid in conquering it, and that Edmund was to hold it as a vassal of the pope. Thus the offer of the Sicilian kingdom was merely another evidence of the pope's desire to use English gold in the war with the empire.

For four years, from 1254 to 1258, Henry pursued this phantom and poured money into Italy. He emptied his own treasury, borrowed from all who would lend, forced money from the Jews, employed the machinery of government to raise all that he could from the land; and then, in the end, found that he had labored in vain, for the barons compelled him to stop sending money to the pope, and the latter in consequence again offered the Sicilian crown to Charles of Anjou.

The National Movement: the Friars and Robert Grosseteste

While Henry was pursuing foreign schemes, welcoming aliens and foreign prelates to England, and spending the wealth of the kingdom like water, a national movement was gradually taking shape. Since the winning of Magna Carta new influences had been making themselves felt. Chief of these was the work of the friars. In 1220 the Dominicans had come to England; in 1224 the Franciscans. The former were called the Friars Preachers ; the latter, the Friars Minor or Minorites. These men applied themselves at once to the great task of raising the religious life of England. Under a vow of poverty they labored among the people of the towns, notably London and Oxford, preaching the Christian faith, healing the sick, and bringing hope and comfort to the poor and afflicted. Thus they stood in striking contrast to the higher clergy, who in their thirst for preferment and wealth were neglecting the spiritual needs of the masses. The friars produced Roger Bacon, who was to influence the world of thought, and Adam of Marsh, who was a power at Oxford in his day. They supported the only great and worthy churchman of this period, Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, who was almost alone among the great prelates in his opposition to the policy of king and pope . Grosseteste stands in English annals as the enemy of misgovernment, the upholder of national unity and independence.

The Resistance of the Barons

It must not be supposed that the king's policy had been borne in silence. Many protests had been uttered, but they had gone unheeded. In 1244 and 1245 "parliaments," as they were beginning to be called, had been summoned. In the first of them Grosseteste had made a noble speech, which he had followed up with a letter to the Lords and Commons" of the realm. In the second, the barons had compelled the king to confirm the charter for the fifth time. With bell, book, and candle the bishops had excommunicated all who should infringe its provisions, and Henry had solemnly promised to maintain it inviolate. But the charter was no better observed after this ceremony than it had been before.

Three events strengthened the cause of the barons : Henry's acceptance of the Sicilian crown ; a war with the Welsh (1256-1258), which ended ingloriously for the king;' and a famine during the winter of 1257 and 1258, which brought frightful hardships on the poor. The barons determined to resist, and Simon de Montfort appeared as their leader. Simon was " a man of imperious and ambitious temper, with a contempt and hatred of misgovernment and incapacity, and one who could not stand by idle when a national revolt impended." He had gone to the Holy Land in 1240, had fought in Poitou in 1242, and from 1248 to 1253 had been governor of Gascony. He was intimate with Adam of Marsh and Robert Grosseteste, and was as eager to reform the state as the great bishop had been to reform the church. When, therefore, in the spring of 1258, the discontent of baronage and people reached its height, Simon de Montfort found himself forced forward as the leader of the popular cause. In April, at a meeting of the great council, or "parliament," the barons demanded the appointment of twenty-four of the wisest men of England to advise the king, to bring about a general change in the royal officials, and to erect a government that should care for the good of the people. Henry yielded, and in May issued a decree authorizing the appointment. In June the "parliament" again met, this time at Oxford, to draw up a list of reforms.