320 THE CASTLE AND PARLIAMENTS OF NORTHAMPTON.

on the final suppression of the rebeUion by the king's victory at Evesham, a general pardon for past transgressions, and more especially for having defended the town against the royal army, an act to which they had been compelled by the forcible occupation of it by the adherents of Montfort. Simi- lar letters of grace were granted by Henry to many other towns ; the original grant to the men of Northampton, under the great seal, is still preserved among the muniments of the corporation'. In the year following the battle of Evesham, 1266, a parliament was held at Northampton, when many of the nobles who had been forfeited for their participation in Montfort's rebellion were restored to their estates ; sentence of banishment was pronounced on the younger Simon de Montfort, and the bishops of Worcester, Winchester, and London, were excommunicated by the papal legate for their adherence to the popular party. From this period downwards, the notices occurring relative to the castle of Northampton decrease in value as they descend in the order of time. It continued however to be, as before, one of their principal residences whenever the Enghsh kings visited the county, but improved methods of warfare gradually began to lessen its importance as a fortress. The energies of Edward I. were called into exercise upon a different field; his anxiety was directed towards the northern borders, as well as to subdue the Welsh ; he had consequently but little comparative need of military defences in the central districts of England. His successor had enough to do in protecting himself against the incursions of the Scotch, yet the general troubles of his reign rendered it necessary that the royal castles should be restored, ' See also Rot. Pat. 52 Hen. III.; the et pacem nostram admisimus, nolentes document is as follows : quos ipsi per nos heredes nostros justi- Henricus dei gratia Rex Anglife Do- ciarios ballivos seu alios ministros nostros minus HiberniEe et Dux Aquitaniae om- occasione predicta decetero graventur in nibus Ballivis et fidelibus suis ad quos aliquo seu molestentur. Ita tamen quod presentes littere pervenerint, salutem. Vo- stent recto in curia nostra si quis de trans- lentes majori et probis hominibus nostris gressionibus aliquibus versus eos loqui de Norhanipt. gratiam facere specialem voluerit, et erga nos et heredes nostros remisimus et pardonavimus eisdem et toti bene et fideliter se habeant in futurum. communitati ville ejusdem omnem indig- In cujus rei testimonium has litt^as nos- nacionem et animi rancorem quos erga tras fieri fecimus patentes. Teste me ipso ipsos conceperamus occasione detentionis apud Windes. sexto die Mail anno regni ville nostre Northampton contra nos et nostri quinquagesimo secundo. — Seal in captionis ejusdem, et eciam occasione green wax ; broken. transgressionum et excessuum si quos con- The Jews of Northampton, who had been tra nos fecerunt tempore turbacionis habite expelled during the disturbance there, on the in regno nostro et eis transgressiones et restoration of peace are ordered to return exccssus hujusmodi quantum in nobis est to the town and be under the protection of similiter perdonavimus et ipsos ad graciam the burgesses. — Patent Rolls, 48 Henry III.