A.D. 1263. EXPEDITION AGAINST THE WELCH. vehement anger, being assisted by an auxiliary band o f some o f the nobles of the marches, devised proper manœuvres against them, suited to the place and occasion, and attacked them in frequent sallies, slaying sometimes three hundred men, sometimes four hundred, sometimes five hundred, and even more, till they amounted to an incalculable number ; and thus, with his victorious army, he inflicted miserable slaughter o n them ; but once, of the infantry who entered the marches, h e lost about three hundred men himself, who were treacherously slain by that people. The same year, the king's palace at Westminster was nearly all consumed by a conflagration, which some persons interpreted as an omen of evil fortune ; but the lord the king, guided by the wholesome advice of his faithful friends, in order to have peace with his nobles, and to further the improvement of his kingdom, of his own pure free will ordered the constitutions of Oxford, which had been published long before, to be inviolably observed, and sent orders to that effect to each county ; but even by this step the kingdom was not rendered entirely peaceful, as will plainly appear in the ensuing chapters. Giles, bishop of Salisbury, died, and was succeeded by Walter ; and Richard, king of Germany, having, according to his custom, exhausted all his treasures in Germany, returned to England ; and of the way in which he obtained that money, it may be truly said. " Good issues seldom wait on sordid gain." Concerning the expedition against the Welch A.D . 1263. Edward, son of king Henry, came into England after Easter, with a great body of knights, some of them foreigners of high reputation, whom he had brought with him from France, and some of them English ; and advancing towards Snowdon, he marched on a mighty expedition against the Welch ; but as they retreated, and as our soldiers, by reason of the inequalities of the ground, the thickness of the woods, and the darkness of the deep morasses, could not venture to pursue them so closely as to bring them to battle, we must suppose that their rebellion was assisted, and the valour of Edward and his comrades hindered by this circumstance. At length, having strengthened the fortresses in those parts with abundant supplies of provisions and a powerful garrison