A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



remained loyally disposed but could not resist effectually, and John 

 wrote to the barons of Winchelsea in June 1216 that if Louis should 

 attack them they might ransom their town rather than that it should be 

 burnt/ Subsequently, in September, he wrote to the barons of 

 Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea, Pevensey and Shoreham, ordering them to 

 return to their allegiance and offering to excuse the oath which they 

 had taken to Louis under compulsion/ At the same time he sent a 

 special letter of thanks to the men of Seaford for having remained 

 faithful to him in spite of the pressure put upon them by Gilbert of 

 Laigle, their lord. When John died in October, all Sussex was in the 

 power of the French party, except for the gallant resistance made by 

 one young soldier, William de Casingham, who, reviving the tactics 

 employed by the British against Elle, took to the dense woods of the 

 Weald and with a force of some thousand men constantly harried the 

 invaders and slew many hundreds of them. 



The death of John, and Louis' untactful promotion of his French 

 followers at the expense of his English allies, caused the tide of popular 

 feeling to turn strongly against the Dauphin and brought many of the 

 rebellious barons back to their allegiance to the native royal house in the 

 person of the young King Henry HL The King's party spared no efforts 

 to recover the services of the more powerful lords by promises of free 

 pardon and the like ; thus on 28 December 1216a letter was sent to 

 Gilbert of Laigle, urging him to return to his allegiance and promising 

 that he should lose none of his estates, except that the King would for 

 the time being take over the castle of Pevensey, because it would be so 

 unpleasant for Gilbert if Louis should demand its surrender on the 

 strength of the oath Gilbert had taken to him, but when the war should 

 be over the King would see that justice was done him regarding the 

 castle.^ 



About the end of February, 12 17, the Earl Marshal, detaching 

 Philip d'Aubigny to occupy Rye, marched on Winchelsea to hem in the 

 Dauphin, who had taken refuge there and was hard pressed. But a 

 French fleet enabled him to escape and to seize Rye.* Thence, however, 

 he fled to France, leaving the Earl Marshal free to move westwards to 

 Shoreham, whence he marched on Farnham, Knepp surrendering to 

 him on the way/ From Farnham, which he captured, the King 

 wrote to Reginald de Braose, desiring him to return to his allegiance/ 

 The castles of Chichester and Winchester were next reduced/ the former 

 being subsequently destroyed/ and at Chichester a truce was made by 

 the legate and royal council, and the Earls of Arundel and Warenne 

 rejoined the King, with William St. John, Peter Fitz-Herbert and 



' Pat. 18 John, m. 7. ' Ibid. m. 3. ' Pat. i Hen. III. m. 14. 



* On the last day of February the King wrote to the men of that town, saying that he had heard 

 of the capture of their town by Louis, and bidding them to be of good cheer and not allow the enemy 

 to take any hostage or pledge from them, as he would in a few days send an army under the Earl 

 Marshal and other barons to drive out the French (Pat. I Hen. III. m. 13d.). 



» Uhistoire de Guillaume le Marechal, iii. 220-3. ° Ibid. m. I2d. 



' Walter of Coventry (Rolls Ser.), ii. 236. s Pat. i Hen. III. 8. 



494 



