h, Simon de Montfort, the man who was to be the chief opponent of
Henry and his foreign favourites, was himself a foreigner. He was
sprung from a family established in Normandy, and his father, the
elder Simon de Montfort, had been the leader of a body of Crusaders
from the north of France, who had poured over the south to crush a
vast body of heretics, known by the name of Albigeois, from Albi, a
town in which they swarmed. The elder Simon had been strict in his
orthodoxy and unsparing in his cruelty to all who were unorthodox.
From him the younger Simon inherited his unswerving religious zeal and
his constancy of purpose. There was the same stern resolution in both,
but in the younger man these qualities were coupled with a
statesmanlike instinct, which was wanting to the father. Norman as he
was, he had a claim to the earldom of Leicester through his
grandmother, and in =1231= this claim was acknowledged by Henry. For
some time Simon continued to live abroad, but in =1236= he returned to
England to be present at the king's marriage. He was at once taken
into favour, and in =1238= married the king's sister, Eleanor. His
marriage was received by the barons and the people with a burst of
indignation. It was one more instance, it was said, of Henry's
preference for foreigners over his own countrymen. In =1239= Henry
turned upon his brother-in-law, brought heavy charges against him, and
drove him from his court. In =1240= Simon was outwardly reconciled to
Henry, but he was never again able to repose confidence in one so
fickle. In =1242= Henry resolved to undertake an expedition to France
to recover Poitou, which had been gradually slipping out of his
hands. At a Great Council held before he sailed, the barons, who had
no sympathy with any attempt to recover lost possessions in France,
not only rated him soundly for his folly, but, for the first time,
absolutely refused to make him a grant of money. Simon told him to his
face that the Frenchman was no lamb to be easily subdued. Simon's
words proved true. Henry sailed for France, but in =1243= he
surrendered all claims to Poitou, and returned discomfited. If he did
not bring home victory he brought with him a new crowd of Poitevins,
who were connected with his mother's second husband. All of them
expected to receive advancement in England, and they seldom expected
it in vain.

11. =Papal Exactions. 1237--1243.=--Disgusted as were the English
landowners by the preference s