POLITICAL HISTORY 



Burgh, when in 1239 he was charged among other things with the loss of 

 Rochelle, defended himself on the ground that the necessity of crushing Fulk 

 had diverted the military force of the kingdom from the foreign campaign,"^ 



The outer defences of the castle were afterwards demolished, and the 'inner 

 bail' was handed over to William de Beauchamp as a residence."^" The 

 overthrow of Fulk de Breaute was not merely the punishment of an individual, 

 it was a blow struck at a party composed of great nobles and foreign adven- 

 turers, whose baronial leaders were the Earls of Chester and Albemarle, and their 

 most mischievous supporter Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester. Their 

 sympathy with Fulk was outspoken,"' and they retired in high dudgeon from 

 Bedford when they found that their influence with the king was insufficient 

 to counteract that of Langton and de Burgh. The Earl of Chester then 

 turned to Rome for support, but the efforts of his emissary were there 

 frustrated by John of Houghton, Archdeacon of Bedfordshire."' 



Meanwhile the exactions of Rome and the intrusion of Italian priests into 

 English benefices were creating indignation in England, and when Gregory IX 

 supported the party of the Bishop of Winchester and procured the dismissal 

 of Hubert de Burgh in 1232 "* clerical and political discontent were united. 

 It was not, however, till thirteen years later that the king himself lost patience 

 at the demands of Rome. In May 1 244 Martin arrived as papal nuncio, and 

 set himself to collect arrears of a papal aid and money claimed on other 

 grounds. Next summer a tournament was to have taken place, and many 

 had collected at Luton and Dunstable in readiness for it, when it was 

 suddenly prohibited, as the king had divined that it was but a mask for the 

 gathering in arms of men determined to deal roundly with this envoy of the 

 pope. Fulk Fitz Warin was their spokesman, and his interview with Master 

 Martin in London is graphically narrated by the sympathetic annalist of 

 St. Albans. ' Withdraw at once,' he said, ' and leave England.' ' By whose 

 orders ? ' 'By the orders of the whole body of armed men who have lately 

 appeared at Luton and Dunstable. And if you take sound advice, don't wait 

 here another two days, lest you and all your followers be cut to bits ! ' 

 Martin fled in terror to the king and begged a safe-conduct, when he got an 

 answer such as Henry II might well have given, but portentous from the lips 

 of his grandson : — ' The devil take you, and to Hell with you.' "^ Two years 

 later another tournament was to be held between Dunstable and Luton. The 

 Earl of Gloucester had challenged the king's half-brother Guy de Lusignan ; 

 and the tournament was forbidden as it was feared that Guy and his followers 

 might be massacred — so intense was the feeling against the foreign hangers-on 

 of the crown, despite Guy's personal popularity."^ 



By the middle of the 13th century a change was coming over the dis- 

 tribution of family influence in Bedfordshire. William de Beauchamp of 

 Bedford died in 1260, after forty years of active local and national service ;"^ his 

 sons William, Simon, and John, left no heirs, and after John's death at Evesham 



'" Answer of Laurence of St. Albans for Hubert de Burgh ; Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. Addit. (Rolls 

 Ser.), vi, 67. 



"'^ Rot. Lit. Claus. (Rec. Com.), i, 632a. 



'"* See Chester's letter to the king ; Royal Letters, cciv (Rolls Ser.), i, 233. 



'" jinn. Dunst. 89. See also V.C.H. Beds, i, 320. "* Ann. Dunst. 129. 



"' Matt. Paris, Cbron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 420. ™ Ibid, iv, 633. 



"'He was sheriff of Beds, and Bucks, in 1235 and 1236 {P.R.O. List), served in the Welsh wars, and 

 sat as baron of the Exchequer (Foss, Judges of Engl.). 



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