By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 87 



if 3'ou will be so good as to let us have them again." Her Majesty's 

 advisers however did not appear to see the matter in exactly the 

 same light : but church power was great in those days : and after 

 some discussion it was agreed, in the reign of her son Henry II. ; 

 that the Crown should retain the Castle, Borough and Park, and 

 that Potterne and Cannings should be given back to the See of 

 Sarum. This was in the year 1157. In the hands of the Crown 

 the castle accordingly remained, under the command of successive 

 governors, men generally of high connexion, several of whose 

 names are preserved ; but so far as it appears, nothing very extra- 

 ordinary occurred here, until the adventure of Hubert de Burgh, 

 which was as follows. 



King Henry III. when he came to the throne was only 

 10 years old, and for some time the country was governed by 

 William Pembroke, Earl Marshal, a prudent and wise man, as 

 protector. Upon his death the administration passed into the 

 hands of two noblemen, Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, and 

 Peter de Roche, Bishop of Winchester, who were not the best of 

 friends. Peter de Roche was a foreigner and filled all the ofnees 

 he could with foreigners like himself. The old English families, 

 including that of the late Earl Marshal, were violently opposed to 

 this, and it led to incessant jealousy and contest. Hubert de Burgh 

 had been a most faithful servant of the Crown under Richard I., 

 and John. He had held Dover Castle against the King of France, 

 and in various other ways shown so much zeal that he had been 

 made Justiciary of England, and had been loaded with territory 

 and wealth. Enemies of course abounded, and at the head of them 

 was the Bishop of Winchester, Peter de Roche. They contrived 

 to poison the King's ear against Hubert. He was seized, shut up 

 first in one place, then in another, and was finally sent to Devizes 

 Castle, under charge of four Earls who were to be sureties for him, 

 they having under them four Knights, who were personally to 

 Watch him. After some little time, these four keepers were changed 

 without his consent : he was privately informed that a new Gover- 

 nor was coming to the castle, appointed by Peter de Roche : so 

 foreseeing no good to himself from these movements he persuaded 



