A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



Braibroc, who was valiantly holding Mountsorrel Castle, sent to the Earl of 

 Winchester, to whom it belonged, for assistance, and Louis and his force 

 immediately started from London, wasting the country on their march. 

 Roger of Wendover" can hardly find language to describe their wanton 

 havoc ; the Dunstable chronicler says, however, that they passed ' harmlessly 

 enough ' through Dunstable, and wasted all the country beyond."" At the 

 battle of Lincoln, which put an end to Louis' hopes, William de Beauchamp 

 was among the prisoners,"^ while Henry de Braibroc escaped."* 



Fulk de Breaute was already a terror to the neighbourhood of Bedford. 

 In support of a disputed claim to a certain wood, he attacked the monks of 

 Warden, killing one, wounding others, and carrying off thirty to Bedford 

 Castle ; but afterwards gave them satisfaction ' in a friendly and honourable 

 way,' and submitted to ' discipline ' in their chapter-house."' He was sheriff 

 of the county from 1 217 to 1223, and held the castle with Hanslope, Oxford, 

 and others. But troubles soon began again, and he supported the Earl of 

 Albemarle in the rising of 1 220-1."* It was possibly in connexion with 

 this disturbance that ' castra ' were built at Eaton (Bray), the seat of the 

 Cantilupes, and Luton, ' to the grave danger of Dunstable and the neighbour- 

 hood.' "' Through the influence of the legate the insurgents were pardoned; 

 pessimum exemplum, says Roger of Wendover ; "' and so it proved. Two years 

 later the king was declared of age, and a demand was made that the royal 

 castles be given up to his nominees. The Earls of Chester and Albemarle, 

 Fulk, the two Cantilupes, and others resisted and took up arms, demanding 

 that Hubert de Burgh should be dismissed from his office of justiciar ; but on 

 a threat of excommunication they submitted to the king at Northampton at 

 Christmas 1223, and gave up their castles."^ Next summer a further outrage 

 of the boldest kind delivered Fulk into the hands of his enemies. Actions for 

 unlawful disseisin were brought against him and tried at Dunstable by Martin 

 PateshuU, Thomas de Multone,"* and Henry de Braibroc, who gave judgement 

 against him on every count and inflicted heavy amercements. By his orders 

 his brother William Martel de Breaute seized Braibroc — the other justices 

 escaped — and imprisoned him at Bedford. News of this outrage reached 

 Henry at Northampton, where he was holding a Parliament. Everything 

 else was put aside and the king with Langton, de Burgh, and a great follow- 

 ing of barons, collected an army and laid siege to Bedford Castle (June 1224). 

 Very full contemporary accounts of this siege are extant, and the story has 

 often been retold."' When the castle was taken in August William de 

 Breaute and his garrison were hanged, while Fulk, induced at last to come to 

 Bedford under a safe-conduct, was deprived of all his possessions and banished 

 the kingdom, and ' rediit ad nihilum qui fuit ante nihil.' "" The siege was 

 not without importance in the foreign relations of England, for Hubert de 



^^ Op. cit. ii, 209. ™ Ann.Bumt. 49. '"' R. of Wendover, op. cit. ii, 217. 



'»' Ann.Bumt. 49. "" Ibid. p. >" R. of Wendover, op. cit. ii, 255. 



'"' Ann.Bumt. 66. "* Op. cit. ii, 256 ; Matt. Paris, op. cit. iii, 61. 



'" R. of Wendover, op. cit. ii, 273-7 » ^^^- Burnt. 83-4. 



"" He was one of those who had marched to London in 1215 to demand Magna Carta ; R. of Wendover, 

 op. cit. ii, 115. 



'"' See R. of Wendover, op. cit. ii, 278-82 ; Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. iii, 84-8 ; Hist. Angl. ii, 262-6 ; 

 Coggeshall, Chron. 205-8 ; Ann. Burnt. 86-9 (all in Rolls Ser.) ; and Chron. Johannis Abb. in Sparkes, Hist. 

 Angl. Scrip, var. (1723), 1 01. The best account, compiled from Chronicles, Rolls, and Royal Letters, is bv 

 Mr. A. R. Goddard, The Great Siege of Bedford Castle (Bedford, 1906). 



'"' Ann. Mon. Osney (Rolls Ser.), iv, 66. 



28 



