e's good and not his own sweet will.
Nor think himself a slave because men hold him back from ill."

"The King's mistakes call for special treatment," said Richard, Earl of
Gloucester.

SIMON OF MONTFORT, LEADER OF THE NATIONAL PARTY

So that year a Parliament met in Oxford, in the Dominican Priory. It was
called the "Mad Parliament," because the barons all came to it fully armed,
and civil war seemed imminent. But Earl Simon and Richard of Gloucester
carried the barons with them in demanding reform. Henry was left without
supporters, and civil war was put off for five years.

The work done at this Parliament of Oxford was an attempt to make the King
abide loyally by the Great Charter; and the Provisions of Oxford, as they
were called, set up a standing council of fifteen, by whom the King was to
be guided, and ordered that Parliament was to meet three times a year: at
Candlemas (February 2nd), on June 1st, and at Michaelmas. Four knights were
to be chosen by the King's lesser freeholders in each county to attend this
Parliament, and the baronage was to be represented by twelve commissioners.

It was an oligarchy that the Provisions of Oxford established, "intended
rather to fetter the King than to extend or develop the action of the
community at large. The baronial council clearly regards itself as
competent to act on behalf of all the estates of the realm, and the
expedient of reducing the national deliberations to three sessions of
select committees betrays a desire to abridge the frequent and somewhat
irksome duty of attendance in Parliament rather than to share the central
legislative and deliberative power with the whole body of the people. It
must, however, be remembered that the scheme makes a very indistinct claim
to the character of a final arrangement."[19]

For a time things went better in England. The aliens at Henry's Court fled
over-seas, and their posts were filled by Englishmen. Parliament also
promised that the vassals of the nobles should have better treatment, and
that the sheriffs should be chosen by the shire-moots, the county
freeholders.

But Henry's promises were quickly broken, and war broke out on the Welsh
borders between Simon of Montfort's friend Llewellyn and Mortimer and the
Marchers. Edward, Prince of Wales, stood by the Provisions of Oxford for a
few years, but supported his father when the latter refused to re-confirm
the Provisions in 1263. As a last resource to prevent civil