History of the English People, Volume II | Page 2

royal army at once closed upon
London, but resistance was really at an end. By a treaty concluded at
Lambeth in September Lewis promised to withdraw from England on
payment of a sum which he claimed as debt; his adherents were
restored to their possessions, the liberties of London and other towns
confirmed, and the prisoners on either side set at liberty. A fresh issue
of the Charter, though in its modified form, proclaimed yet more
clearly the temper and policy of the Earl Marshal.
[Sidenote: Hubert de Burgh]
His death at the opening of 1219, after a year spent in giving order to
the realm, brought no change in the system he had adopted. The control
of affairs passed into the hands of a new legate, Pandulf, of Stephen
Langton who had just returned forgiven from Rome, and of the
Justiciar, Hubert de Burgh. It was a time of transition, and the temper
of the Justiciar was eminently transitional. Bred in the school of Henry
the Second, Hubert had little sympathy with national freedom, and
though resolute to maintain the Charter he can have had small love for
it; his conception of good government, like that of his master, lay in a
wise personal administration, in the preservation of order and law. But
he combined with this a thoroughly English desire for national
independence, a hatred of foreigners, and a reluctance to waste English
blood and treasure in Continental struggles. Able as he proved himself,

his task was one of no common difficulty. He was hampered by the
constant interference of Rome. A Papal legate resided at the English
court, and claimed a share in the administration of the realm as the
representative of its overlord and as guardian of the young sovereign. A
foreign party too had still a footing in the kingdom, for William
Marshal had been unable to rid himself of men like Peter des Roches or
Faukes de Breauté, who had fought on the royal side in the struggle
against Lewis. Hubert had to deal too with the anarchy which that
struggle left behind it. From the time of the Conquest the centre of
England had been covered with the domains of great houses, whose
longings were for feudal independence and whose spirit of revolt had
been held in check partly by the stern rule of the kings and partly by the
rise of a baronage sprung from the Court and settled for the most part in
the North. The oppression of John united both the earlier and these
newer houses in the struggle for the Charter. But the character of each
remained unchanged, and the close of the struggle saw the feudal party
break out in their old lawlessness and defiance of the Crown.
[Sidenote: Order restored]
For a time the anarchy of Stephen's days seemed to revive. But the
Justiciar was resolute to crush it, and he was backed by the strenuous
efforts of Stephen Langton. A new and solemn coronation of the young
king in 1220 was followed by a demand for the restoration of the royal
castles which had been seized by the barons and foreigners. The Earl of
Chester, the head of the feudal baronage, though he rose in armed
rebellion, quailed before the march of Hubert and the Primate's threats
of excommunication. A more formidable foe remained in the
Frenchman, Faukes de Breauté, the sheriff of six counties, with six
royal castles in his hands, and allied both with the rebel barons and
Llewelyn of Wales. But in 1224 his castle of Bedford was besieged for
two months; and on its surrender the stern justice of Hubert hung the
twenty-four knights and their retainers who formed the garrison before
its walls. The blow was effectual; the royal castles were surrendered by
the barons, and the land was once more at peace. Freed from foreign
soldiery, the country was freed also from the presence of the foreign
legate. Langton wrested a promise from Rome that so long as he lived

no future legate should be sent to England, and with Pandulf's
resignation in 1221 the direct interference of the Papacy in the
government of the realm came to an end. But even these services of the
Primate were small compared with his services to English freedom.
Throughout his life the Charter was the first object of his care. The
omission of the articles which restricted the royal power over taxation
in the Charter which was published at Henry's accession in 1216 was
doubtless due to the Archbishop's absence and disgrace at Rome. The
suppression of disorder seems to have revived the older spirit of
resistance among the royal ministers; for when Langton demanded a
fresh confirmation of the Charter in Parliament at London William
Brewer, one of the King's councillors, protested that