twenty-third of June. Scarcely, however, had he left Leicestershire, when the rebellion became more formidable in that part of the country, than it had ever before appeared. Robert Ferrars, Earl of Derby and Nottingham, openly took arms on the part of the rebels. Encouraged by his support,

Anketille de Mallore issued forth from the castle of Leicester, and gave battle to a body of the citizens of Northampton, whom he totally defeated. Then pursuing his advantage, he joined his forces to those of the Earl of Derby, attacked and took the town of Nottingham, set fire to the houses, pillaged the place completely, and carried off the inhabitants as prisoners. The west of England was now also infected by the same spirit of rebellion; and had the Earls of Gloucester and Clare at this moment joined with the Earl of Derby, whose estates extended into Staffordshire and to the very borders of Wales, while the Scotch King's brother David advanced to their support, and the Earl of Norfolk kept the coast open to the Flemings, Henry the Second could scarcely have preserved the crown, which his son Henry, only waiting for a favourable wind on the coast of Flanders, was prepared to snatch from his head.

The few, but faithful, friends of the monarch, however, made head on all sides against the rebels. The troops in garrison at Huntingdon, on the approach of Richard de Lucy, burnt the city to the ground and retired into the castle; and the Justiciary,

building a fortress in haste to restrain their further efforts and cut off their supplies, left the Earl of Nottingham in command, and turned his immediate attention to the west. Not having sufficient forces to undertake any very great enterprise at the moment, he applied to one whose good will the King of England had lately cultivated, and found a zealous and active friend where Henry had previously met with a determined and pertinacious enemy. Rees ap Gryffyth Prince of South Wales immediately answered to the call of Richard de Lucy, marched into Staffordshire at the head of a large body of his native troops, and laid siege to Tutbury on the Dove, the principal fortress of the Earl of Derby.

Another gallant warrior also started up in defence of the King, where probably such military skill and valour were not expected. This was in the case of Geoffrey Bishop-elect of Lincoln, Henry's natural son by the beautiful Rosamond Clifford, known in story and in song as The Fair Rosamond. The young nobleman had neither been consecrated nor taken orders, though he was destined for the church, and though, according to an evil custom of those days, he had been elected to the bishoprick of Lincoln and permitted, by a papal dispensation, to hold the see and receive the revenues till such time as he could be consecrated. He had not yet completed his twenty-first year; but he had already rendered himself popular in his diocese by various acts, and had shown his duty

to his father during the preceding year, by endeavouring to raise money in the King's behalf, without however appearing in arms. Finding that the contribution he required was murmured at, though it had been granted as a voluntary act, he restored the whole sum without any deduction; and shortly after, hearing that the neighbourhood of the city of Lincoln was ravaged by the troops of one of the rebels, named Roger de Mowbray, he cast off his clerical character, armed himself as a knight, called his vassals to his standard, and marched to attack the castle of Kinairdsferie, in the isle of Axholm, which belonged to that insurgent leader. As he went he was joined by a number of volunteers, and by his sudden assault the garrison of the castle was surprised, the place taken and levelled with the ground.

Having accomplished this feat, and thus freed the people of Lincoln from annoyance, he dismissed his troops, and prepared to resume an ecclesiastical mode of life; but the representations of the famous Ranulph de Glanville, who was then, or shortly afterwards became, sheriff of Yorkshire,* induced him again to try the affections of the people of Lincoln, and to call them to arms for the

* Lord Lyttleton says that he was then sheriff of Yorkshire; but the words of Hoveden imply that such was not the case, unless there were two sheriffs for that county. For in the same sentence in which he mentions Ranulph de Glanville, he speaks of Robert de Stuteville as sheriff of Yorkshire.

defence of the country. Yorkshire was then threatened by the forces of the King of Scotland, united with those of Roger de Mowbray, who held two strong fortresses called Malesart and Thirsk, from which his troops daily issued forth to ravage that county. Geoffrey was very well disposed once more to draw the sword against his father's enemies; and his appeal to a population which loved and respected him was again eminently successful. A very considerable force was collected in a short time; and, marching into Yorkshire, Geoffrey joined his forces to those which had been raised by the Archbishop of York and other barons of the county, and at once attacked and took the castle of Malesart. A number of knights and gentlemen attached to the rebel cause were taken at Malesart; and Roger de Mowbray, flying before his victorious adversary, carried the news of his own disasters, and of the presence of a large army in Yorkshire, to the camp of the King of Scotland, who was at that time, as I have shown, besieging the castle of Prudhoe. This, it appears, was the information which caused him to raise the siege, and march to Alnwick, in order to wait for the arrival of the younger Henry with the vast army of Flemings which had been collected in the neighbourhood of Gravelines, and which was daily expected in England.

The prospect of the young King's coming might well fill the King of Scotland with the most san

guine hopes of permanent success, and the Justiciary of England with apprehensions of the most serious kind. At this period the castle of Tutbury still held out boldly against the efforts of Rees ap Gryffyth; Hugh Bigot had received a fresh reinforcement of Flemings, and had pillaged and burnt the important city of Norwich; the Earl of Derby was still in arms in the midland counties, and the Castle of Huntingdon had not yet surrendered. Considering all these circumstances, a council was held by the most faithful friends of Henry II. and it was determined to send over to him Robert Bishop-elect of Winchester, one of his oldest and most faithful servants, charged to represent to the monarch the absolute necessity of his immediate return to England, if he wished to preserve the crown of that country. The Bishop set out without a moment's delay; the wind was strong and favourable for his voyage to France; and reaching that country with great rapidity he found Henry at the town of Bonneville, on the very extreme of Normandy, holding a council with his barons for the defence of that part of his territories. Normandy was now daily threatened by the immense army which the King of France had been collecting during the whole of Easter on the frontiers; and nothing seems to have delayed the intended movements of the French, but the firm aspect of the Norman barons, and the preparations made by the King of England. Henry,