+Source.+--_Walter of Hemingburgh's Chronicle_, vol. ii., pp. 121 _et
seqq._ (English Historical Society Publications.)
On the Festival of S. Matthew the Apostle in the same year, the King,
having summoned the magnates of the kingdom without the clergy, held a
Parliament at Salisbury, in which he requested some of the nobles to
cross to Gascony. When all began to excuse themselves, the King grew
angry, and threateningly told some of them that they would either go or
that he would bestow their lands on others who were willing to go. At
this many of the Barons were offended, and signs of quarrel began to be
apparent. The Earl of Hereford (who was High Constable), and the Earl
Marshal gave as their excuse that they would willingly perform the
duties which devolved on them by hereditary right, by accompanying the
King in person. The King once more repeated his request to the Earl
Marshal, who replied: "Gladly will I accompany thee, Sir King, preceding
thy royal person in the front rank, as is my hereditary right." "But
thou wilt also accompany the others without me." "I am not bound, nor is
it my will, Sir King, to set out without thee." Thereat, it is said, the
King angrily burst forth: "By God, Sir Earl, thou shalt either go, or
hang." "By the same oath, Sir King," replied the Earl, "I will neither
go nor hang." Then, without making any agreement, he left the council,
which was dissolved for that occasion. Very soon the Earl of Hereford
and the Earl Marshal, gathering round them many Barons, and choosing
more than thirty bannerets, had collected a great host, to the number of
fifteen hundred horsemen armed for battle; and the King began to be
afraid, though he concealed his fear. Then the rebels, going to their
own estates, refused to allow the King's officials to take wool or hides
or to make any unusual exaction, or to extort anything from those
unwilling to give; they even forbade the officials entrance to their
estates, on pain of loss of life and limb, and occupied themselves in
preparations for resistance.
The King, in this same year, abiding by his resolve, ordered all who
owed him service, and all others who held from anyone twenty pounds
worth of land within the kingdom of England, to be at London on the
Feast of S. Peter ad Vincula, with horses and arms, prepared to cross
with him without delay or excuse.... The Earl of Hereford and the Earl
Marshal, who had seceded from the King, when they did not fulfil their
obligations, were dismissed from their offices, and the offices given by
the King to others, who would do his will. The Earls, much incensed
thereat, especially since they were supporting not so much their own
cause as that of the commonalty as a whole, informed the mediators, who
were passing between them and the King, that not only they themselves,
but the whole commonalty of the land, were oppressed beyond all bounds
by unjust exactions, talliages and prises, and especially by the
non-observance of the liberties of the Great Charter; and when they saw
that the King's attitude was unyielding ... they sent messengers to him
... to say that if he would confirm the Charter of Liberties and redress
certain abuses, they were all ready to follow him to life or death....
When the lord King was at Portsmouth almost ready to cross (to
Flanders), the Earls sent messengers to him to seek to know his will
regarding the aforesaid proposals. And the King answered: "My full
council is not here with me, ... and without it I cannot reply to your
demands. But go, tell them that sent you, that if they are willing to
come with me, they will do me a great pleasure; if they are not, I beg
of them not to do injury to me or, at least, to the kingdom."... Then
the aforesaid Earls, with certain Barons their accomplices, returning to
London, forbade the King's Chancellor and his Barons of the Exchequer to
collect the eighth penny of which the King had obtained a grant from the
people, or the fifth from the clergy, or any other exaction or levy. And
they besought the Londoners, as friends and brethren, to assist them to
gain the liberties of the Great Charter, and to take measures for the
recovery of their lost rights, and their preservation, when recovered;
and lest they should afterwards be charged with unlawful robbery or
extortion, the aforesaid Earls caused it to be publicly proclaimed that
no one of their followers was to take anything, however small, from
anyone, without paying the just price, and this under pain of losing the
right hand, or even the head, should the seriousness of the crime so
require. Then they returned to their own lands, doing no hurt or damage
to anyone.