tting havoc and
destruction, prompted them to attack the unhappy Jews, who were first
pillaged without resistance, then massacred to the number of five
hundred persons [z]. The Lombard bankers wore next exposed to the
rage of the people; and though, by taking sanctuary in the churches,
they escaped with their lives, all their money and goods became a prey
to the licentious multitude. Even the houses of the rich citizens,
though English, were attacked by night; and way was made by sword and
by fire to the pillage of their goods, and often to the destruction of
their persons. The queen, who, though defended by the Tower, was
terrified by the neighbourhood of such dangerous commotions, resolved
to go by water to the castle of Windsor; but as she approached the
bridge, the populace assembled against her: the cry ran, DROWN THE
WITCH; and besides abusing her with the most opprobrious language, and
pelting her with rotten eggs and dirt, they had prepared large stones
to sink her barge, when she should attempt to shoot the bridge; and
she was so frightened, that she returned to the Tower [a].
[FN [x] Trivet, p. 211. M. West. p. 382, 392. [y] Trivet, p. 211.
M. West. p. 382. [z] Chron. T. Wykes, p. 59. [a] Ibid. p. 57.]

The violence and fury of Leicester's faction had risen to such a
height in all parts of England, that the king, unable to resist their
power, was obliged to set on foot a treaty of peace; and to make an
accommodation with the barons on the most disadvantageous terms [b].
[MN July.] He agreed to confirm anew the provisions of Oxford, even
those which entirely annihilated the royal authority; and the barons
were again reinstated in the sovereignty of the kingdom. They
restored Hugh le Despenser to the office of chief justiciary; they
appointed their own creatures sheriffs in every county in England;
they took possession of all the royal castles and fortresses; they
even named all the officers of the king's household; and they summoned
a Parliament to meet at Westminster, in order to settle more fully
their plan of government. [MN 1263. 14th Oct.] They here produced a
new list of twenty-four barons, to whom they proposed that the
administration should be entirely committed; and they insisted that
the authority of this junto should continue, not only during the reign
of the king, but also during that of Prince Edward.
[FN [b] Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 358. Trivet, p. 211.]

This prince, the life and s