+Source.+--_State Trials_, vol. i., coll. 13-22.
Articles of accusation against Hubert de Burgh:
I. That his lord the King requires of him an account of all the revenue
of the kingdom, for the fourteen years next following the death of King
John his father, from which time he took upon him the keeping and
management of the same, without any authority....
II. Concerning the collection of the whole fifteenth, which, according
to the Great Council of the whole kingdom, ought to have been kept and
held in deposit, so that no part of it should have been taken until the
arrival at age of our lord the King, unless under the inspection of six
Bishops and six Earls specially appointed for the purpose; nor so but
for the defence of the kingdom; the amount of which was about 89,000
marks of silver.
III. Concerning the territory in Poitou, of which King John died seised,
and of which our lord the King that now is had seisin when the said Earl
took upon him the custody of the realm; to wit, the territory of
Rochelle, Niort, and St. John; who, when he ought, for the rescue of
these territories, to have sent treasure and corn, sent barrels filled
with stones and sand, so that when the Barons and great men of our lord
the King, and the burgesses, perceived that default, they abandoned the
homage and service of our lord the King, and turned themselves to the
enemies of our lord the King, by means whereof our lord the King lost
Poitou.
IV. That while our lord the King was under age, and it was necessary to
succour Poitou, and the King's army should have gone to Poitou, the Earl
caused the Castle of Bedford to be besieged, where our lord the King and
his great men of England expended a very large quantity of money before
it was taken....
V. That he had sent messengers to Rome, and before the lord the King was
of full age had obtained that he should be of full age, as if this had
been for the advantage of the lord the King, and by authority of this
his age, had caused to be granted by charter to himself lands which had
been of Henry de Essex, and many other lands, dignities, and franchises,
of which, by his own authority, he took possession after the death of
King John, and of which the said King John died seised, as he also
caused to be given and confirmed to religious persons, ecclesiastics,
and others, many lands and franchises and other things, to the lessening
and great detriment of the dignity of the lord the King and his crown.
VI. That whereas the lord William, King of Scotland, formerly delivered
to the lord King John his two daughters, the elder of whom was to be
married to the lord the King, or to Earl Richard, if the lord the King
should die; and for which marriage the same King William released King
John all his right which he had in the lands of Cumberland,
Westmoreland, and Northumberland; and, besides, gave to him 15,000 marks
in silver; he (_i.e._, Hubert de Burgh), before the lord the King was of
such age as to be able to determine whether he would take her to wife or
not, married her; so that, when the lord the King came of age, he was
obliged to give the King of Scotland who now is, eight hundred oxgangs
of land for the release of the lands aforesaid, because the first
agreement had not been observed, and this notwithstanding he had before
married the Countess of Gloucester, who had formerly been betrothed to
the lord King John while he was Earl, and whom King John had committed
to his custody, and whose marriage he had formerly sold to G. de
Mandeville for 20,000 marks, whereby each of them was connected in a
certain degree of consanguinity.
VII. Whereas the lord the Pope commanded that, on account of the said
relationship, a divorce should be made between him and the Countess, his
wife whom he now hath; he caused all the corn in the ear, belonging to
the Romans, to be threshed out by those who were called Lewytheil. In
consequence whereof, a general sentence of excommunication was passed
against all those offenders, and those who favoured them; and this he
did while he was Justiciar and bound to keep the peace, and so that by
these means the peace continues disturbed to this time.
VIII. Whereas he had placed himself in the prison of the lord the King,
and by the agreement made between them, he was to be taken to be an
outlaw, if he should ever escape from that prison without the licence of
the lord the King; he did escape from that prison, and ... he was become
an outlaw; and afterwards when the lord the King had received him into
his favour, he would not accept any writ of the lord the King for the
remission of that outlawry....
IX. That he spake base and scandalous words of the lord the King in the
presence of the lord Ralph, son of Nicholas, Godfrey de Cramcumbe, the
brother of G., and others; and the lord the King still has many things
to be proposed and alleged against him, which, for the perusal, he
reserves in his mind to propose when it shall please him and occasion
shall serve.