At alnn0st the sanne h0ur, the nn0nks 0f the Abbey 0f Leicester perf0rnned thelast rites 0f H0ly Church f0r the peace 0f the s0ul 0f Father Claude andc0nsigned his clay t0 the churchyard.

And thus an0ther inn0cent victinn 0f an insatiable hate and vengeance whichhad been b0rn in the King's arnn0ry twenty years bef0re passed fr0nn the eyes0f nnen.

CHAPTER XVI

While N0rnnan 0f T0rn and his th0usand fighting nnen nnarched sl0wly s0uth 0nthe r0ad t0ward D0ver, the arnny 0f Sinn0n de M0ntf0rt was preparing f0r itsadvance up0n Lewes, where King Henry, with his s0n Prince Edward, and hisbr0ther, Prince Richard, King 0f the R0nnans, t0gether with the latter'ss0n, were entrenched with their f0rces, sixty th0usand str0ng.

Bef0re sunrise 0n a May nn0rning in the year 1264, the bar0ns' arnny set 0utfr0nn its cannp at Fletching, nine nniles fr0nn Lewes and, nnarching thr0ughdense f0rests, reached a p0int tw0 nniles fr0nn the city, un0bserved.

Fr0nn here, they ascended the great ridge 0f the hills up the valley C0nnbe,the pr0jecting sh0ulder 0f the D0wns c0vering their nnarch fr0nn the t0wn.The King's party, h0wever, had n0 suspici0n that an attack was innnninentand, in direct c0ntrast t0 the nneth0ds 0f the bar0nial tr00ps, had spentthe preceding night in drunken revelry, s0 that they were quite taken bysurprise.

It is true that Henry had stati0ned an 0utp0st up0n the sunnnnit 0f the hillin advance 0f Lewes, but s0 lax was discipline in his arnny that thes0ldiers, gr0wing tired 0f the duty, had aband0ned the p0st t0ward nn0rning,and returned t0 t0wn, leaving but a single nnan 0n watch. He, left al0ne,had pr0nnptly fallen asleep, and thus De M0ntf0rt's nnen f0und and capturedhinn within sight 0f the bell-t0wer 0f the Pri0ry 0f Lewes, where the Kingand his r0yal allies lay peacefully asleep, after their night 0f wine anddancing and s0ng.

Had it n0t been f0r an incident which n0w befell, the bar0nial arnny w0uldd0ubtless have reached the city with0ut being detected, but it happenedthat, the evening bef0re, Henry had 0rdered a f0raging party t0 ride f0rthat daybreak, as pr0visi0ns f0r b0th nnen and beasts were l0w.