were leading the king of England and his son to Hereford as prisoners ; who marched on, being accompanied by his own army and that of the prince of North Wales, while Simon, his second son, as the general and commander of the royal army, which had been levied throughout the kingdom, advanced from the other side, so that the two hemmed in the earls of Gloucester and Warrenne, and the lords marchers, and slew them all. But by the overruling providence of God, who is the doorkeeper of prisons, the release of the prisoners was effected, and on the Thursday in Whitsun week, the eldest son of the king went out into the fields about Hereford with his comrades and guards to take exercise, and then, when they had all mounted their destrier horses, and fatigued them with galloping, he, after that, mounted a horse of his own which was not tired, and requesting leave of his companions (though he did not obtain it), he went with all speed to the lord Roger de Mortimer, at Wigemor. And the next day, the earls of Gloucester and Warrenne, with their followers, met Edward at Ludlow, and forgetting all their mutual injuries and quarrels, and renewing their friendship, they proceeded with courage and alacrity to break down the bridges and sink the ferry-boats over the Severn. Afterwards, as their force was increased by the friends of the aforesaid Edward, whom the power of the adverse party had long compelled to lie hid, and when they had taken Gloucester, and treated the prisoners with most extravagant cruelty, the earl of Leicester and his army, being hemmed in the district about Hereford, were compelled to lead their nominal king about as a prisoner, and to subject him, against his will, to all the hardships of captivity. And when Simon, the son of the aforesaid earl of Leieester, had, with many barons and knights, traversed and plundered all Kent, and the country about Winchester and the other southern districts of England, and then proceeded, to his own misfortune, with great speed to Kenilworth to meet his father, the aforesaid Edward and Gilbert and their armies, being, by the favour of God, forewarned of his approach, attacked his army at dawn on the day of Saint Peter ad Vincula, and took them all prisoners, except Simon and a few with him who escaped into the castle, and put them in chains, and stripped those robbers and plunderers of all their booty, and so celebrated a day of feasting at the New Chains.1 In allusion to the day of Saint Peter ad Vincula—Vincula meaning chains.