before." And Llywelyn was statesman enough to see the importance
of this union and take steps to strengthen it. After recovering the
Middle Country, he marched south, took possession of Cardigan and
Builth--then a possession of the Crown, though in the custody of
Mortimer--and gave these districts to Meredydd, grandson of the Lord
Rhys, to hold as vassal--a wise measure, intended to bind the South to
him by common interests. Matthew Paris, who holds up the Welsh
resistance to tyranny as an example to the English, puts in Llywelyn's
mouth a striking speech in favour of unity: "Let us then stand firm
together; for if we remain inseparable we shall be insuperable"--the
very words of Gerald of Barry, whose advice had borne some fruit. But
Meredydd soon proved a traitor, and the failure of Henry III.'s
campaign in 1257 was less due to the union of the Welsh than to the
disunion of the English.

3. This brings us to the third event referred to above--the
proclamation of Edmund as King of Sicily. The Pope was trying to
conquer Sicily, but wanted some one else to pay the war budget. After
trying various people he induced Henry III. to accept the crown of
Sicily for Edmund and promise enormous sums for the payment of the
papal armies, and pledge his whole kingdom as security for the
payment. This, coming on the top of many years of misgovernment and a
long series of extortions, led directly to the crisis of the
reign--the revolution known as the Provisions of Oxford in 1258, by
which the powers of government were taken away from the Crown and
given to committees of barons.

The disaffection against Henry III. at once made itself felt in the
Welsh war. "Those who had promised the king assistance did not come;"
and when the whole knighthood of England were called out to meet at
Chester, only "manifold complaints and murmurs were heard." We might
have expected the Marcher Lords at any rate to rally round the king;
but they were not disposed to assist in building up a royal power in
Wales which would endanger their independence, and were glad enough to
stand by and see the scheme thwarted. Some of them even went so far as
to send secret information to the Welsh prince. The king had to
retreat ingloriously, pursued by Llywelyn, and followed by the
derisive sneers of the enemy. It may interest some of us to note that
in this war the English army fought, as often, under the Dragon
standard; probably the Dragon made in 1244 by Edward