self the hearts of every one ; therefore, Leoline, prince, of Wales, having collected an army, defended his country manfully, and upholding his native liberties, resisted the English with all his might. So Stephen Bausan was sent to drive him from his strongholds, with many other very gallant knights, nearly all of whom perished on the same day and at the same hour, having been misled and miserably murdered by a traitor named Rhesus Yachan. Out of the number who were hemmed in very few escaped, and the furniture of about two hundred knights was lost in this miserable conflict, and came into the possession of the Welch. And this massacre, alas ! alas ! was by far the most cruel and terrible which for a long period had befallen the English nation. Therefore, king Henry being made very anxious by this circumstance, having collected a numerous army, invaded the district of Wales in September, penetrating as far as Chester and Samake, and there he staid a month without coming to any battle with the Welch, who retreated according to their custom, and concealed themselves in their mountains, or marshes, or woods, and never dared to come down into the plain to fight the English ; so that king Henry could perform no achievement there worthy of his magnificence. Nevertheless, at this time he caused a scutage to be collected throughout England. Concerning the conference which took place at Oxford, and the expulsion of the Poitevins. A.D. 1258'. A certain master, Arlot by name, having been sent by pope Alexander, came into England after Easter, having been invited thither by the king (as was believed), to assist him in flaying his kingdom. Therefore, the nobles of the land, seeing the kingdom desolated in every direction, by the exactions and taxes of the court of Rome and of the king, and also by presumptuous election of foreigners, and especially of the natives of Poitou, who were raised to much too great a height in the kingdom by the favour of the king, and who usurped all the offices of great power and authority in England, held a general convention at Oxford on this subject, after Pentecost, intending also to deliberate effectually and carefully on the general improvement of the state of the kingdom. And they did not come thither without being properly equipped with arms and fine horses, in order that if the king and the foreigners disdained to agree to the provisions and A A 2