of the
blood, joined the party of the barons against the king, the head of
his own family. Leicester himself, who still resided in France,
secretly formed the links of this great conspiracy, and planned the
whole scheme of operations.

The princes of Wales, notwithstanding the great power of the monarchs,
both of the Saxon and Norman line, still preserved authority in their
own country. Though they had often been constrained to pay tribute to
the crown of England, they were with difficulty retained in
subordination, or even in peace; and almost through every reign since
the Conquest, they had infested the English frontiers with such petty
incursions and sudden inroads, as seldom merit to have place in a
general history. The English, still content with repelling their
invasions, and chasing them back into their mountains, had never
pursued the advantages obtained over them, nor been able, even under
their greatest and most active princes, to fix a total, or so much as
a feudal subjection on the country. This advantage was reserved to
the present king, the weakest and most indolent. In the year 1237,
Lewellyn, Prince of Wales, declining in years, and broken with
infirmities, but still more harassed with the rebellion and undutiful
behaviour of his youngest son, Griffin, had recourse to the protection
of Henry; and consenting to subject his principality, which had so
long maintained, or soon recovered, its independence, to vassalage
under the crown of England, had purchased security and tranquillity on
these dishonourable terms. His eldest son and heir, David, renewed
the homage to England; and having taken his brother prisoner,
delivered him into Henry's hands, who committed him to custody in the
Tower. That prince, endeavouring to make his escape, lost his life in
the attempt; and the Prince of Wales, freed from the apprehensions of
so dangerous a rival, paid thenceforth less regard to the English
monarch, and even renewed those incursions, by which the Welsh, during
so many ages, had been accustomed to infest the English borders.
Lewellyn, however, the son of Griffin, who succeeded to his uncle, had
been obliged to renew the homage, which was now claimed by England as
an established right; but he was well pleased to inflame those civil
discords, on which he rested his present security, and founded his
hopes of future independence. He entered into a confederacy with the
Earl of Leicester, and collecting all the