Page:A History and Defence of Magna Charta.djvu/146

plunder the city of Worceſter, and do a deal of miſchief, for which he was afterwards ſent priſoner to the Tower. The army of the barons eaſily retook what had been taken, and marched towards London, where John Mansel lieutenant of the tower fearing he ſhould be ſeverely handled by the barons, for he was the moſt ſpecial counſellor the King and Queen had, ran away by ſtealth. The King likewiſe, fearing leſt the barons army ſhould beſiege him in the Tower, by the mediation of ſome that were afraid as well as he, yielded to an agreement with the barons, though it afterwards proved to be but ſhort-lived; and promiſed to keep the proviſions of Oxford; but the queen, inſtigated by a feminine malice, oppoſed it all ſhe could. The form of this peace between the King, the earl and barons, was upon theſe conditions; “Firſt, that Henry, ſon of the King of the Romans, (who was then the King’s priſoner) ſhould be releaſed. Secondly, that all the King’s caſtles throughout all England ſhould be delivered up to the cuſtody of the barons. Thirdly, that the proviſions of Oxford be inviolably kept. Fourthly, that all foreigners by a ſet time ſhould evacuate the kingdom, excepting thoſe whoſe ſtay here ſhould be allowed by common conſent, as truſty to the

realm.