ral of them were enlisted among the forces levied by
Henry's enemies; but the great treasures amassed by that prince enabled
him to engage more numerous troops of them in his service; and the
situation of his affairs rendered even such banditti the only forces on
whose fidelity he could repose any confidence.

[* Epist. Petri Bles. epist. 136, in Biblioth.
Patr. tom. xxiv. p. 1048. His words are, "Vestrae
jurisdictionis est regnum Angliae, et quantum ad feudatorii
juris obligationem, vobis duntaxat obnoxius teneor." The
same strange paper is in Rymer, vol. i. p. 35, and Trivet,
vol. i. p. 62.]

His licentious barons, disgusted with a vigilant government,
were more desirous of being ruled by young princes, ignorant of public
affairs, remiss in their conduct, and profuse in their grants; and as
the king had insured to his sons the succession to every particular
province of his dominions, the nobles dreaded no danger in adhering to
those who, they knew, must some time become their sovereigns. Prompted
by these motives, many of the Norman nobility had deserted to his son
Henry; the Breton and Gascon barons seemed equally disposed to embrace
the quarrel of Geoffrey and Richard. Disaffection had crept in among the
English; and the earls of Leicester and Chester in particular had openly
declared against the king. Twenty thousand Brabancons, therefore, joined
to some troops which he brought over from Ireland, and a few barons
of approved fidelity, formed the sole force with which he intended to
resist his enemies.

Lewis, in order to bind the confederates in a closer union, summoned
at Paris an assembly of the chief vassals of the crown, received their
approbation of his measures, and engaged them by oath to adhere to the
cause of young Henry. This prince, in return, bound himself by a like
tie never to desert his French allies; and having made a new great seal,
he lavishly distributed among them many considerable parts of those
territories which he purposed to conquer from his father. The counts of
Flanders, Boulogne, Blois, and Eu, partly moved by the general jealousy
arising from Henry's power and ambition, partly allured by the prospect
of reaping advantage from the inconsiderate temper and the necessities
of the young prince, declared openly in favor of the latter. William,
king of Scotland, had also entered into this great confederacy; and
a plan was concerted for a general invasion on dif