A.D. 1267. THE BEBEL8 OCCUPY THE ISLE OE ELY. 445 sanction of the king, an assemblage of the clergy and laity was summoned to meet at Kenilworth. And there twelve persons were elected from the most powerful of the nobles, and the wisest of the prelates, to whom was given a power of making regulations concerning the condition of those who had been deprived of their property. And the persons elected took an oath to make useful regulations ; and first of all, the king, and after him the clergy and laity, swore inviolably to observe what they should enact. Accordingly, the statutes formed at Kenilworth were to the following effect, that each of those persons whose property had been confiscated should be mulcted in a pecuniary penalty, according to the number of his offences, which fine they should pay to those who were in possession of their estates, it being provided, that the fine thus paid for the redemption of their inheritances should not exceed seven years' purchase, and should not be less than one year's purchase ; the heirs of Simon de Montfort and of Robert de Ferrare, earl of Derby, being alone excluded from the benefit of this enactment. But if the parties were not able to redeem their lands, then those who were in possession of them should retain them in their hands, till they had fully satisfied themselves from their revenues. In process of time, the garrison of the besieged castle of Kenilworth, worn out by famine and misery, making a virtue of necessity, surrendered it to the king, saving all their necessaries. About this time, Charles, the brother of Louis, king of France, count of Anjou and Provence, relying on the assistance of the Father of Fathers, defeated Manfred, the son of the emperor Frederic, and reduced the kingdoms of Apulia and Sicily under the authority of the Roman church. Afterwards he was crowned king of Sicily. The nolle* whose property was confiscated occupy the isle of Ely. A.D . 1267. King Henry celebrated the feast of the Nativity at Coventry ; and afterwards coming to Westminster, he held a parliament with the most powerful persons of his country, hoping to establish peace in all the borders of England. And behold ! messengers coming, bring the king news that some nobles of those who had been deprived of their estates, refusing to obey the enactment of Kenilworth, had occupied the Isle of Ely with a great company, adding also that they were