[A]nno domini moccolxo tercio Helionora regina
Anglie que credebatur esse radix, fomes
⁊ seminatrix totius discordie que
seminabatur inter virum suum dominum Henricum regem An
glie, ⁊ inter barones regni
eius, pre timore eorundem exiuit de Anglia, quam post paucos dies se
cutus est
Iohannes Maunsel precipuus consiliarius dicti regis ob timorem baronum. Qui cum
venissent
transmare Francie, dicta Helionora collegit adeo innumeram multitudinem
hominum ex diuersis
nacionibus ut superficiem terre viderentur cooperire ad
expugnandum Angliam ⁊ ad delendum
omnes habitatores eius de superficie terre. Qui
venientes ad maritima Francie, Normannie ⁊
Flandrie tam diu morati sunt ibi,
donec equos suos, sellas, pannos ⁊ alias quasque res quas
secum tulerant penitus,
fere omnes vendidissent pre inopia nutu diuino omni die noctuque contra
eos
flante perualido vento aquilonis vehementissime ⁊ sine interpolacione per duos circiter
menses
vel amplius, ne aliquo modo possent per mare transire in Angliam. Qui
videntes diuinam
potenciam omnino sibi renitentem reuersi sunt vnusquisque ad
propria post expletionem duorum men
sium, exceptis plurimus qui mortui sunt in via.
Eodem anno barones Anglie per totum
annum preparauerunt se ad guerram mortalem,
diripientes per fas ⁊ nephas quicquid p\o/tuerunt,
in hoc assimilati piscibus qui rapiunt quicquid possunt ut
Aristotiles dicit in
libro iiiio De Animalibus
Anno Domini moccolxo quarto In bello de Lewys,
barones Anglie cum exercitu Londoniensium ⁊ succursu
Gilberti comitis Glouernie
trihumphauerunt de rege suo Henrico ⁊ Edwardo filio eius primogenito
cito post
pascha. Postera autem die belli utrumque, regem, silicet, ⁊ natum barones custodie
Simonis de Monte Forti contradiderunt. In eodem bello duo nobiles de Scotia, Robertus de
Brus,
⁊ Iohannes Cumyn capti sunt ⁊ carcerali custodie mancipati in castello de
Dora. Dissensio autem
propter quam orta est contencio inter regem ⁊ barones suos
inicium habuit ⁊ finem a retencione
alienigenarum quos ipse rex ⁊ regina sua
Helionora mater Eduuardi longo tempore manutenuerant,
⁊ fouerant contra commodum
regni sui quo ad consilia eorum credenda, ⁊ contra voluntatem indigenarum
quo ad
consilia ipsorum abicienda ⁊ quasi fere omnino postponenda. Vnde propter eliminationem
ta
lium extraneorum, eo quod nimis valde inualuerant contra indigenas terre usque ad
exhereda
ciones perplurimas, vt funditus1 e regno pellerentur Anglorum
commissum est prelium supradictum,
post cuius habitum ut dictum est a baronibus
trihumphum omnes mox exulant alienigene
preter Simonem de Monte Forti, ⁊
paucissimos ex alienigenis qui cum illo erant. Hii omnes
etiam cum iureiurando in
sanctis euuangeliis fideliter de fide Baronum extiterunt. Erat autem Simon
comes
Leycestrie ⁊ gener prenominati regis. Fuit enim vir optimus ⁊ in rebus bellicis
strenue
In the 1263rd year of the Lord,
Eleanor, queen of England, who was thought to be the root, the fomenter, the
disseminator of all the discord that was sown between her own husband, the lord Henry,
king of England, and the barons of his kingdom, left England for fear of those same
barons; and a few days later John Mansel, the said king’s chief advisor, followed her
out of fear of the barons. When they had arrived across the sea in France the said
Eleanor gathered such a great and innumerable multitude of men from various nations that
they seemed to cover the surface of the earth: their intention was to take England by
storm and to wipe all its inhabitants from the face of the earth. Upon arriving at the
coasts of France, Normandy, and Flanders, they were delayed there so long that in the
end nearly everyone sold their horses, saddles, clothing, and all the other things they
had brought with them, because they were in such need. For divine providence had the
strong north wind blow violently against them day and night, without interruption for
about two months or more, and they were not able by any means to cross by sea to
England. Seeing that the power of God was entirely resisting them, each returned to his
own home after two months had passed—except for the many who died on the way. In the
same year, the barons of England prepared themselves the whole year for a deadly war,
plundering rightly or wrongly whatever they could. In this
they resembled fish, which snatch whatever they can (as Aristotle says in the 4th book of Animals).
In the 1264th year of the Lord,
at the Battle of Lewes, shortly after Easter, the barons of England, together with an
army of Londoners and the help of Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, triumphed over their
king, Henry, and Edward his first-born son. On the day after the battle, however, the
barons handed over each of them, that is, the king and his son, to the custody of Simon
de Montfort. In the same battle two noblemen from Scotland, Robert de Brus and John
Comyn, were captured and delivered up to prison custody in Dover castle. The
disagreement, because of which the strife between the king and his barons arose, had its
beginning and its end in the maintenance of foreigners, whom the king himself and his
queen, Eleanor, mother of Edward, had for a long time kept and fostered against the
interests of their kingdom, inasmuch as they trusted their advice; and against the will
of the native people inasmuch as they rejected and, as it were, almost entirely despised
their advice. This being the case, in order to be rid of such foreigners, because they
had grown far too powerful against those born in the land, to the extent that very many
people were disinherited, the struggle talked of above was entered upon so that the
foreigners might be utterly driven from the kingdom of the English. After victory in
this struggle had been secured by the barons, as we have said, all foreigners were soon
banished, except for Simon de Montfort, and a very few of the foreigners who were with
him. All these men also faithfully adhered to the barons’ faith with an oath sworn on
the holy gospels. Now, Simon was the earl of Leicester and the brother-in-law of the
aforenamed king. He was an excellent man, vigorous in conducting and planning warfare,