ve, who were to have
nothing to do with the government of the country, but were to compel
the king by force to keep the promises which he had made. In =1244=
they proposed to appoint the executive officials themselves. It was
the beginning of a series of changes which ultimately led to that with
which we are now familiar, the appointment of ministers responsible to
Parliament. It was too great an innovation to be accepted at once,
especially as it was demanded by the barons alone. The clergy, who
were still afraid of the disorders which might ensue if power were
lodged in the hands of the barons, refused to support it, and for a
time it fell to the ground. At the same time Richard of Cornwall
abandoned the baronial party. He had lately married the queen's
sister, which may have drawn him over to the king; but it is also
probable that his own position as the king's brother made him
unwilling to consent to a scheme which would practically transfer the
government from the king to the barons. On the other hand Earl Simon
was found on the side of the barons. He held his earldom by
inheritance from his English grandmother, and the barons were willing
to forgive his descent from a foreign grandfather when they found him
prepared to share their policy.

13. =Growing Discontent. 1244--1254.=--The clergy had to learn by
bitter experience that it was only by a close alliance with the barons
that they could preserve themselves from wrong. In =1244= a new envoy
from the Pope, Master Martin, travelled over England wringing money
from the clergy. Though he was driven out of the country in =1245=,
the Papal exactions did not cease. The Pope, moreover, continued to
present his own nominees to English benefices, and in =1252=
Grossetete complained that these nominees drew three times as much
income from England as flowed into the royal exchequer. For a time
even Henry made complaints, but in =1254= Innocent IV. won him over to
his side. Frederick II. had died in =1250=, and his illegitimate son,
Manfred, a tried warrior and an able ruler, had succeeded him as king
of Sicily and Naples. Innocent could not bear that that crown should
be worn by the son of the man whom he had hated bitterly, and offered
it to Edmund, the second son of Henry III. Henry lept at the offer,
hoping that England would bear the expense of the undertaking. England
was, however, in no mood to comply. Henry had been squandering money
for years. He had recently emplo