ing the centre of his power, he was
afraid might, in his absence, fall into the king's hands, either by
force, or by a correspondence with the principal citizens, who were
all secretly inclined to the royal cause. Reinforced by a great body
of Londoners, and having summoned his partisans from all quarters, he
thought himself strong enough to hazard a general battle with the
royalists, and to determine the fate of the nation in one great
engagement; which, if it proved successful, must be decisive against
the king, who had no retreat for his broken troops in those parts;
while Leicester himself, in case of any sinister accident, could
easily take shelter in the city. To give the better colouring to his
cause, he previously sent a message with conditions of peace to Henry,
submissive in the language, but exorbitant in the demands [h]; and
when the messenger returned with the lie and defiance from the king,
the prince, and the King of the Romans, he sent a new message,
renouncing in the name of himself and of the associated barons, all
fealty and allegiance to Henry. He then marched out of the city, with
his army divided into four bodies: the first commanded by his two
sons, Henry and Guy de Montfort, together with Humphrey de Bohun, Earl
of Hereford, who had deserted to the barons; the second led by the
Earl of Gloucester, with William de Montchesney and John Fitz-John;
the third, composed of Londoners, under the command of Nicholas de
Segrave; the fourth headed by himself in person. The Bishop of
Chichester gave a general absolution to the army, accompanied with
assurances that, if any of them fell in the ensuing action, they would
infallibly be received into heaven, as the reward of their suffering
in so meritorious a cause.
[FN [h] M. Paris, p. 669. W. Heming. p. 583.]

[MN Battle of Lewes. 14th May.]
Leicester, who possessed great talents for war, conducted his march
with such skill and secrecy, that he had well nigh surprised the
royalists in their quarters at Lewes in Sussex: but the vigilance and
activity of Prince Edward soon repaired this negligence; and he led
out the king's army to the field in three bodies. He himself
conducted the van, attended by Earl Warrenne and William de Valence:
the main body was commanded by the King of the Romans and his son
Henry: the king himself was placed in the rear at the head of his
principal nobility. Prince Edward rushed upon the Londoners, who had
demanded the post