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Introduction
Henry III (r. 1216-1272) allowed extravagance and extortionate taxation to drive his noblemen to the brink of rebellion. When in 1258 he did as his father John had done, and signed the Great Charter only to break it soon after, civil war beckoned. Yet the conflict proved a blessing, for as American historian David Montgomery explains, it led to ‘government by the people.’
IN 1264 the crisis was reached,* and war broke out between the king and his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, on the heights above the town of Lewes, in Sussex.* The result of the great battle fought there, was as decisive as that fought two centuries before by William the Conqueror, not many miles distant on the same coast.* Bracton, the foremost jurist of that day, said in his comments on the dangerous state of the times, “If the king were without a bridle, — that is, the law, — his subjects ought to put a bridle on him.”
Earl Simon had that bridle ready, or rather he saw clearly where to get it. The battle of Lewes had gone against Henry, who had fallen captive to De Montfort.* As head of the state the earl now called a parliament, which differed from all its predecessors in the fact that for the first time two citizens from each city, and two townsmen from each borough, or town, together with two knights, or country gentlemen, from each county, were summoned to London to join the barons and clergy in their deliberations.
* For Montgomery’s summary of the events leading up this, see The Provisions of Oxford.
* Simon’s army took up a defensive position on Offham Hill, and Henry obligingly attacked it. Henry’s son Edward (later King Edward I), who had driven the left wing of Simon’s baronial army from the field, returned from the chase to find that his father and what remained of the royalist army had been forced to take refuge in Lewes Castle and the nearby Priory of St Pancras.
* See The Battle of Hastings, the beginning of the Norman Conquest of 1066.
* Henry’s general, Richard of Cornwall, had also been captured, after he was discovered hiding in a windmill. ‘Come down, come down, thou wicked miller’ laughed Simon’s men.
Précis
In 1264, simmering tensions between Henry III and his barons reached boiling point. Henry’s brother-in-law Simon de Montfort assembled an army and captured Henry in battle near Lewes in Sussex. Simon then used his new-found powers to establish a governing council that for the first time included townspeople and not just noblemen and clergy among its members. (57 / 60 words)
In 1264, simmering tensions between Henry III and his barons reached boiling point. Henry’s brother-in-law Simon de Montfort assembled an army and captured Henry in battle near Lewes in Sussex. Simon then used his new-found powers to establish a governing council that for the first time included townspeople and not just noblemen and clergy among its members.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, despite, if, unless, whereas, whether, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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