A HISTORY OF SUSSEX remained loyally disposed but could not resist effectually, and John wrote to the barons of Winchelsea in June 1216 that if Louis should attack them they might ransom their town rather than that it should be burnt/ Subsequently, in September, he wrote to the barons of Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea, Pevensey and Shoreham, ordering them to return to their allegiance and offering to excuse the oath which they had taken to Louis under compulsion/ At the same time he sent a special letter of thanks to the men of Seaford for having remained faithful to him in spite of the pressure put upon them by Gilbert of Laigle, their lord. When John died in October, all Sussex was in the power of the French party, except for the gallant resistance made by one young soldier, William de Casingham, who, reviving the tactics employed by the British against Elle, took to the dense woods of the Weald and with a force of some thousand men constantly harried the invaders and slew many hundreds of them. The death of John, and Louis' untactful promotion of his French followers at the expense of his English allies, caused the tide of popular feeling to turn strongly against the Dauphin and brought many of the rebellious barons back to their allegiance to the native royal house in the person of the young King Henry HL The King's party spared no efforts to recover the services of the more powerful lords by promises of free pardon and the like ; thus on 28 December 1216a letter was sent to Gilbert of Laigle, urging him to return to his allegiance and promising that he should lose none of his estates, except that the King would for the time being take over the castle of Pevensey, because it would be so unpleasant for Gilbert if Louis should demand its surrender on the strength of the oath Gilbert had taken to him, but when the war should be over the King would see that justice was done him regarding the castle.^ About the end of February, 12 17, the Earl Marshal, detaching Philip d'Aubigny to occupy Rye, marched on Winchelsea to hem in the Dauphin, who had taken refuge there and was hard pressed. But a French fleet enabled him to escape and to seize Rye.* Thence, however, he fled to France, leaving the Earl Marshal free to move westwards to Shoreham, whence he marched on Farnham, Knepp surrendering to him on the way/ From Farnham, which he captured, the King wrote to Reginald de Braose, desiring him to return to his allegiance/ The castles of Chichester and Winchester were next reduced/ the former being subsequently destroyed/ and at Chichester a truce was made by the legate and royal council, and the Earls of Arundel and Warenne rejoined the King, with William St. John, Peter Fitz-Herbert and ' Pat. 18 John, m. 7. ' Ibid. m. 3. ' Pat. i Hen. III. m. 14.
- On the last day of February the King wrote to the men of that town, saying that he had heard
of the capture of their town by Louis, and bidding them to be of good cheer and not allow the enemy to take any hostage or pledge from them, as he would in a few days send an army under the Earl Marshal and other barons to drive out the French (Pat. I Hen. III. m. 13d.). » Uhistoire de Guillaume le Marechal, iii. 220-3. ° Ibid. m. I2d. ' Walter of Coventry (Rolls Ser.), ii. 236. s Pat. i Hen. III. 8. 494
