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THE WARRENNES. 287
he was again acting on the King's behalf, but the following year he sided
with the barons, and was elected one of their chief captains with Simon
de Montfort, though, under Prince Edward's influence, he soon returned to
his allegiance. He defended Rochester against the Earl of Leicester, and
was with the King when the barons defeated him at Lewes, and served
in the van of the royal army with Prince Edward. But, if the truth must
be told, he did not distinguish himself therein, but deserted at the commencement
of the battle with the Earl of Pembroke, and fled, first to
Pevensey Castle, and from thence to France. Their flight is thus quaintly
alluded to by Peter de Langteft :
"The Erie of Warrenne, I wote, he 'scaped over the se,
And Sir Hugh Bigote als with the Erie fled he."
This, probably, was not so much from cowardice as to ingratiate
himself with the barons, who, he foresaw, would have the supremacy.
However, he failed in his object, for when he returned the following May,
he found that they had already declared his estates forfeited, and given
them to the Earl of Clare. This induced him, once more, to change
sides, and he confederated with the Earl of Gloucester for the restoration
of the King's power, and was present with the royal forces at the battle
of Evesham, after which his possessions were restored to him.
In 1269 he became involved in some dispute about his land with
Henry de Lacy Earl of Lincoln, and prepared to establish his claim by
force of arms ;
but the King, hearing of it, interfered, and referred the
cause to his justices to hear and determine, who decided in favour of the
Earl of Lincoln. Two years after he had a similar disagreement with
Alan Lord Zouche, which, in like manner, was decided against him in the
courts of law. Upon which he grievously assaulted the Baron and his
son, in Westminster Hall, and mortally wounded the former. As Robert
of Gloucester describes it :
" Suththe ther was at Londone a lute destance, Ich wene
In yer of grace tuelf hundred and sixti and tene,
So that the Erl of Wareine slou atte verste touche,
Bivore the justises atte Benche, Sir Alein de la Souche." *
This was too flagrant a disregard of the royal prerogative to be
passed over, and Earl Warrenne fled to his castle at Reigate. Thither
he was pursued by Prince Edward, to whom he humbly submitted, and
was fined 10,000 marks, afterwards reduced to 8,000, and he and fifty of
his followers concerned in the fray were ordered to walk on foot from the
New Temple to Westminster Hall, and swear before the justices that they
had acted from heat and passion, and not from malice prepense.
* Siege of Caerlavirock, pp. 94, 131.