[Sidenote: The Pope offers Edmund the kingdom of Sicily. 1254.] [Sidenote: Henry accepts Sicily on ruinous terms.] It has been said that the Pope’s chief object was to remove the Hohenstaufen from their Italian dominions. As early as 1252, seeking some prince whom he might set in their place, and being assured of the fidelity of the English King, he offered the throne of Sicily to Richard of Cornwall. That Prince, remembering that Henry, Frederick’s son, was his own nephew, and too prudent to trust himself blindly to the Pope, declined the offer. But when young Henry died in 1253, and Sicily fell into the hands of Conrad and of his half brother Manfred, the Pope repeated his offer to King Henry’s son Edmund. By him it was foolishly accepted; Conrad also died, and a great opportunity was opened for the Pope’s intrigues. There were three parties in Sicily: the German party, who upheld a son of Conrad, the Italian Gibellines, who obeyed Manfred, and the Sicilians, who followed Peter Rufus, the Emperor’s lieutenant. The Pope succeeded in bribing the leader of the German party, and his views seemed on the point of realization, when he died. He was succeeded by Alexander IV., who was reputed a moderate man, but who accepted all the arrangements of his predecessor. Henry had returned from Gascony, after a costly visit to Paris, deeply in debt. The Charter of London was again set aside, and a heavy tallage inflicted; the Jews were again compelled to pay large sums of money; and the Barons in Parliament were loudly complaining of grievances, and demanding the appointment of a Parliamentary Justiciary and Chancellor. In the midst of all these difficulties, the King was foolish enough to accept the Sicilies on ruinous terms. Two hundred ounces of gold yearly, and the support of 300 knights, were to be promised, the expenses of the war to be paid, and an army at once sent to claim the kingdom. The Pope kept the management of this war in his own hands, but the Bishop of Hereford, Henry’s envoy, was allowed to make the King responsible for the outlay. The Pope began immediately to send his creditors direct to Henry, and twice before the end of the year 1256, a Papal Legate of the name of Rustand had appeared in England, raised money of unknown value from the English Church, and freed the King from his Crusader’s oath, that he might employ his forces against Sicily. [Sidenote: Consequent exactions.] [Sidenote: Terrible famine. 1257.] [Sidenote: Parliament at length roused to resistance.]