Henry, however, persevered in his resolution. By repeated desertions the party of his enemies had been reduced to the two earls of Leicester and Gloucester, the grand justiciary, the Bishop of Worcester, and Hugh de Montfort, whose principal dependence was on the oath which the King and the nation had taken to observe the Provisions of Oxford. To this argument it was replied that the same authority which enacted the law was competent to repeal it; and that an oath which should deprive the parliament of such right was in its own nature unjust and consequently invalid. For greater security, however, the King applied to Pope Alexander, who by several bulls released both him and the nation from their oaths, on the principle that the Provisions of Oxford were injurious to the State, and therefore incompatible with their previous obligations. These bulls Henry published, appointed a new justiciary and chancellor, removed the officers of his household, revoked to himself the custody of the royal castles, named new sheriffs in the counties, and by proclamation announced that he had resumed the exercise of the royal authority. This was followed by another proclamation to refute the false reports circulated by the barons.
The King, now finding himself at liberty, was induced to visit Louis of France; and Leicester embraced the opportunity to return to England and reorganize the association which had so lately been dissolved. His hopes of success were founded on the pride and imprudence of Prince Edward, who, untaught by experience, had called around him a guard of foreigners, and intrusted to their leaders the custody of his castles. Such conduct not only awakened the jealousy of the barons, but alienated the affections of the royalists. Henry, at his return, aware of the designs of his enemies, ordered the citizens of London, the inhabitants of the Cinque Ports, and the principal barons, and afterward all freemen throughout the kingdom, to swear fealty not only to himself but, in the event of his death, to his eldest son the Prince Edward. To the second oath the Earl of Gloucester objected. He was immediately joined at Oxford by his associates; and in a few days the Earl of Leicester appeared at their head. With the royal banner displayed before them, they took Gloucester, Worcester, and Bridgenorth; ravaged without mercy the lands of the royalists, the foreigners, and the natives who refused to join their ranks, and, augmenting their numbers as they advanced, directed their march toward London. In London the aldermen and principal citizens were devoted to the King: the mayor and the populace openly declared for the barons. Henry was in possession of the Tower; and Edward, after taking by force one thousand marks out of the temple, hastened to throw himself into the castle of Windsor, the most magnificent palace, if we may believe a contemporary, then existing in Europe. The Queen attempted to follow her son by water; but the populace insulted her with the most opprobrious epithets, discharged volleys of filth into the royal barge, and prepared to sink it with large stones as it should pass beneath the bridge. The mayor at length took her under his protection and placed her in safety in the episcopal palace near St. Paul's.