onarch, was
worsted at Taillebourg, was deserted by his allies, lost what remained
to him of Poictou, and was obliged to return, with loss of honour,
into England [h]. The Gascon nobility were attached to the English
government, because the distance of their sovereign allowed them to
remain in a state of almost total independence; [MN 1253.] and they
claimed, some time after, Henry's protection against an invasion,
which the King of Castile made upon that territory. Henry returned
into Guienne, and was more successful in this expedition; but he
thereby involved himself and his nobility in an enormous debt, which
both increased their discontents, and exposed him to greater danger
from their enterprises [i].
[FN [h] M. Paris, p. 393, 394, 398, 399, 405. W. Heming. p. 574.
Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 153. [i] M. Paris, p. 614.]

Want of economy, and an ill-judged liberality, were Henry's great
defects; and his debts, even before this expedition, had become so
troublesome, that he sold all his plate and jewels, in order to
discharge them. When this expedient was first proposed to him, he
asked where he should find purchasers? It was replied, the citizens
of London. ON MY WORD, said he, IF THE TREASURY OF AUGUSTUS WERE
BROUGHT FOR SALE, THE CITIZENS ARE ABLE TO BE THE PURCHASERS: THESE
CLOWNS, WHO ASSUME TO THEMSELVES THE NAME OF BARONS, ABOUND IN EVERY
THING, WHILE WE ARE REDUCED TO NECESSITIES [k]. And he was
thenceforth observed to be more forward and greedy in his exactions
upon the citizens [l].
[FN [k] Ibid. p. 501. [l] Ibid. p. 501, 507, 518, 578, 606, 625,
648.]

[MN Ecclesiastical grievances.]
But the grievances, which the English during this reign had reason to
complain of in the civil government, seem to have been still less
burdensome than those which they suffered from the usurpations and
exactions of the court of Rome. [MN 1253.] On the death of Langton
in 1228, the monks of Christ-church elected Walter de Hemesham, one of
their own body, for his successor: but as Henry refused to confirm the
election, the pope, at his desire, annulled it [m]; and immediately
appointed Richard, Chancellor of Lincoln, for archbishop, without
waiting for a new election. On the death of Richard in 1231, the
monks elected Ralph de Neville, Bishop of Chichester; and though Henry
was much pleased with the election, the pope, who thought that prelate
too much attached to the crown, assumed the power of annulling his
elec