A HISTORY OF SURREY 



the great men of Surrey, de Warenne and de Clare, who had two years 

 before become Earl of Gloucester, were acting together on behalf of the 

 king's brother Richard in a dispute with the king's foreign favourites, 

 but it was the de Clare interest only which was steadily upon this side. 

 The de Clares were already related to the Marshals, Earls of Pembroke, 

 who were the very centre of opposition to the foreigners, and Gilbert de 

 Clare, the first Earl of Gloucester of this house, married one of Pem- 

 broke's daughters. Their great estates in Wales and the Marches raised 

 them to a position of local importance there which made them almost 

 of necessity asserters of the baronial cause, which was also the cause of 

 local independence. De Warenne too had married as a second wife the 

 eldest daughter of William Marshal, the same Earl of Pembroke, but he 

 was also the king's cousin. The son of this marriage, John de Warenne, 

 was brought more nearly into the royal family by marriage. Succeeding 

 to the earldom as a child in 1 240, he was brought up with the king's 

 sons at Guildford, and was married while still a boy to Alice de Lusig- 

 nan, daughter to the king's mother, one of the Poitevin family which, 

 with the family of the queen, formed the very centre of the faction of 

 foreigners which engrossed the favours of the king. It is curious how 

 the marriages of the two rival families followed each other. Gilbert 

 de Clare, grandson to Gilbert who witnessed the charter, married Alice 

 de Lusignan, niece to de Warenne's wife and to the king. But his father 

 Richard the de Clares were alternately Richard and Gilbert was a 

 consistent opponent of the foreigners. 



In 1258, in the arrangements made at Oxford, Richard de Clare 

 appears on all the baronial committees, de Warenne among those 

 members of the council of twenty-four who were nominated by the 

 king. In 1263 there was actual civil war; and de Montfort with 

 young Gilbert de Clare Richard de Clare had died in 1262 marched 

 through Surrey. He was coming from the Welsh Marches with the 

 intention of seizing Dover, and his march is interesting from its speed 

 and direction. He was at Reading on June 29, at Guildford on June 30, 

 at Reigate on July i . He must have come across the open country from 

 Reading to Guildford and there hit the Pilgrims' Way. His force was 

 probably mounted. 



In 1263 South wark nearly became the scene of the crushing of 

 de Montfort. The king and his son had made a fruitless attempt to 

 secure Dover from Richard de Grey, its baronial custodian, when they 

 heard that Earl Simon was lying slightly attended in Southwark. Certain 

 royalist citizens offering their help in a coup de main, the king's forces 

 marched rapidly into Surrey and their partisans closed the gates of 

 London Bridge so that the earl was nearly captured. His friends how- 

 ever opened the bridge to him again and he escaped into London. The 

 king from Croydon vainly demanded his surrender. London was on the 

 whole staunch to the baronial cause. The abortive arbitration of 

 Louis IX. of France followed, and then the more vigorous and decisively 

 conducted military operations in 1264. These turned chiefly upon the 



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