father, by pursuing similar counsels, had nearly forfeited the crown; assured him that the English would never submit to be trampled upon by strangers in their own country; and declared that he should conceive it his duty to excommunicate every individual, whoever he might be, that should oppose the reform of the government and the welfare of the nation.  Henry was alarmed, and promised to give him an answer in a few weeks.  A parliament of the barons was called, and Edmund renewed his remonstrance.  The Poitevins were instantly dismissed, the insurgents restored to favor, and ministers appointed who possessed the confidence of the nation.

At the age of twenty-nine the King had married Eleanor, the daughter of Raymond, Count of Provence.  The ceremony of her coronation, the offices of the barons, the order of the banquet, and the rejoicings of the people are minutely described by the historian, who, in the warmth of his admiration, declares that the whole world could not produce a more glorious and ravishing spectacle.  Eleanor had been accompanied to England by her uncle William, Bishop-elect of Valence, who soon became the King’s favorite, was admitted into the council, and assumed the ascendency in the administration.  The barons took the first opportunity to remonstrate; but Henry mollified their anger by adding three of their number to the council, and, that he might be the more secure from their machinations, obtained from the Pope a legate to reside near his person.  This was the cardinal Otho, who employed his influence to reconcile Henry with the most discontented of the barons.  By his advice William returned to the Continent.  He died in Italy, but the King, mindful of his interests, had previously procured his election to the see of Winchester, vacant by the death of Peter des Roches.

The next favorites were two other uncles of the Queen, Peter de Savoy, to whom Henry gave the honor of Richmond, and Boniface de Savoy, who, at the death of Edmund, was chosen archbishop of Canterbury.  The natives renewed their complaints, and waited with impatience for the return of Richard, the King’s brother, from Palestine; but that Prince was induced to espouse the cause of the foreigners, and to marry Sanchia, another of the daughters of Raymond.  But now Isabella, the Queen-mother, dissatisfied that the family of Provence should monopolize the royal favor, sent over her children by her second husband, the Count de la Marche, to make their fortunes in England.  Alice, her daughter, was married to the young Earl of Warenne; Guy, the eldest son, received some valuable presents and returned to France; William de Valence, with the order of knighthood, obtained an annuity and the honor of Hertford; and Aymar was sent to Oxford, preferred to several benefices, and at last made bishop of Winchester.

Associations were formed to redress the grievances of the nation:  under the decent pretext of preventing the misapplication of the revenue, a demand was repeatedly made that the appointment of the officers of state should be vested in the great council; and at length the constitution was entirely overturned by the bold ambition of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester.