steward of England. He had already been appointed warden of the city and Tower of London in the spring, and in the autumn of this year he received the custody of all the royal castles (Ann, Winton, p. 107; Liber de Ant, Leg. p. 108). He held a grant from the king of the customs on all exports and imports, which he let to certain Italians for six thousand marks a year. These Italians levied the customs from the citizens of London, contrary to the privileges of the city. A petition was therefore presented to Edward by the Londoners complaining of these exactions, and in April 1209 he promised that they should cease, and received two hundred marks from the citizens as an acknowledgment. He further gained popularity by strenuously urging a statute, published in the Easter parliament, held at London, that the Jews should be forbidden to acquire the lands of Christians by means of pledges, and that they should deliver up the deeds that they then held. The late war had greatly impoverished the landholding classes, and their Jewish creditors were pressing them severely. The measure was a wise one, because it helped to restore prosperity, and so strengthened the probability of a continuance of peace; and as the property of the Jews belonged to the king, it was a concession made to some extent at the expense of the crown (Wikes, p. 221 ). During this year Edward was busy in preparing for his crusade, and a large part of the subsidy of a twentieth lately imposed was voted to him for this purpose by the magnates and bishops. Some uneasiness was caused by the conduct of the Earl of Gloucester, who refused to attend parliament, alleging that Edward was plotting to seize his person. He is said to have looked with suspicion on the intimacy between Edward and his countess, from whom he was afterwards divorced (Oxenedes, p. 236). Gloucester's grievances were referred to the arbitration of the king of the Romans, and the earl then appears to have come up to the parliament, and to have opposed some proposals that were made as to the expenses of the crusade, probably with reference to the appropriation of the twentieth (Wikes, p. 208; Ann. Winton. p. 108). Meanwhile Edward was invited by Lewis IX of France to attend his parliament, in order to make arrangements for the crusade, which they purposed to make together. He went to Gravesend on 9 Aug., and the next, day had a long interview with the king of the Romans, who had just landed, on the subject of the crusade. He then went to Dover, where he embarked (Liber de Ant. Leg. p. 110). When Lewis urged him to go with him he replied that England was wasted with war, and that he had but a small revenue. Lewis, it is said, offered him thirty-two thousand livres if he would consent (Opus Chron. p. 26). An agreement was made that the king should lend him seventy thousand livres, to be secured on Edward's continental possessions, twenty-five thousand of that sum being appropriated to the Viscount of Bearn for his expenses in accompanying him, and that Edward should follow and obey the king during the 'pilgrimage' as one of the barons of his realm, and send one of his sons to Paris as a hostage (Liber de Ant. Leg. pp. 111-14). He accordingly sent his son Henry to Lewis, who courteously sent him back at once (Cont. Flor. Wig. p. 204; Flores, ii. 348). He landed at Dover on his return on 8 Sept., and was present at the magnificent ceremony of the translation of King Edward the Confessor at Westminster on 13 Oct. In July 1270, in conjunction with the Archbishop of York and other lords, and at the head of an armed force, he arrested John, earl Warenne, for the murder of Alan la Zouche. On 6 Aug. he went to Winchester, obtained the king's license to depart and took leave of him, and then came into the chapter-house of St. Swithun's and humbly asked the prayers of the convent. He set out thence, intending to embark at Portsmouth; but hearing that the monks of Christ Church had refused to elect his friend and chaplain, Robert Burnell, to the archbishopric, he hastened to Canterbury in the hope that his presence would induce them to give way, but was unsuccessful in his attempt. He then went to Dover, where he embarked on 11 Aug., and sailed to Gascony, whither he had sent his wife on before him. His two sons he left in charge of his uncle. King Richard. Passing through Gascony and some of the mountainous districts of Spain, he arrived at Aigues-Mortes at Michaelmas, and found that Lewis had already sailed for Tunis.
When Edward landed on the African coast he found that Lewis was dead, and that his son Philip and the other chiefs of the crusade had made peace with the unbelievers. He was indignant at their conduct, and refused to be a party to it. ' By the blood of God,' he said, 'though all my fellow-soldiers and countrymen desert me, I will enter Acre with Fowin, the groom of my palfrey, and I will keep my word and my oath to the death' (Opus Chron. p. 29). He and the whole force sailed from Africa on 21 Oct., and on the 28th anchored about a mile outside Trapani, the kings and other chiefs of the expedition being taken ashore in small boats. The next morning a violent storm arose, which did much damage to the fleet. Edward's ships, how-
