Gascony for the moment was so quiet that the rebellious hordes called the Pastoureaux, who had desolated the royal domain, withdrew from Bordeaux in terror of Simon’s threats.  But the expense of maintaining order pressed heavily on the seneschal’s resources, and his master showed little disposition to assist him.  Moreover Gascony could not long keep quiet.  There were threats of fresh insurrections, and the whole land was burning with indignation against its governor.  Complaints from the Gascon estates soon flowed with great abundance into Westminster.  For the moment Henry paid little attention to them.  His son Edward was ten years of age, and he was thinking of providing him with an appanage, sufficient to support a separate household and so placed as to train the young prince in the duties of statecraft.  Before November, 1249, he granted to Edward all Gascony, along with the profits of the government of Ireland, which were set aside to put Gascony in a good state of defence.  Simon’s strong hand was now more than ever necessary to keep the boy’s unruly subjects under control.  The King therefore continued Simon as seneschal of Gascony, though henceforth the earl acted as Edward’s minister.  “Complete happily,” Henry wrote to the seneschal, “all our affairs in Gascony and you shall receive from us and our heirs a recompense worthy of your services.”  For the moment Leicester’s triumph seemed complete, but the Gascons, who had hoped that Edward’s establishment meant the removal of their masterful governor, were bitterly disappointed at the continuance of his rule.  Profiting by Simon’s momentary absence in England, they once more rose in revolt.  Henry wavered for the moment.  “Bravely,” declared he to his brother-in-law, “hast thou fought for me, and I will not deny thee help.  But complaints pour in against thee.  They say that thou hast thrown into prison, and condemned to death, folk who have been summoned to thy court under pledge of thy good faith.”  In the end Simon was sent back to Gascony, and by May, 1251, the rebels were subdued.

Next year Gaston of Bearn stirred up another revolt, and, while Simon was in England, deputies from the Aquitanian cities crossed the sea and laid new complaints before Henry.  A stormy scene ensued between the king and his brother-in-law.  Threatened with the loss of his office, Simon insisted that he had been appointed for seven years, and that he could not be removed without his own consent.  Henry answered that he would keep no compacts with traitors.  “That word is a lie,” cried Simon; “were you not my king it would be an ill hour for you when you dared to utter it.”  The sympathy of the magnates saved Leicester from the king’s wrath, and before long he returned to Gascony, still seneschal, but with authority impaired by the want of his sovereign’s confidence.  Though the king henceforth sided with the rebels, Simon remained strong enough to make headway against the lord of Bearn.