Their whole government seems to have given satisfaction; but it was not likely that Henry should calmly submit to their domination. With the peculiar faculty of making his religion compatible with bad government and dishonesty, which was the characteristic of this King, he applied, almost immediately after the Parliament of Oxford, to the Pope for an absolution from his promises. A visit twice repeated to the King of France gave rise to the suspicion that he was concerting measures with that monarch; and, in 1261, he was certainly fortifying the Tower. In April of that year an answer of Alexander IV., entirely absolving him from his vows, reached him. He ordered it to be publicly read, proceeded to give some castles into the hands of foreigners, and proclaimed that he would no longer consent to the restraint imposed upon him. The Barons met at Kingston; and, unwilling to proceed to extremities, agreed to refer their differences to the King of France, whose character for honour stood high, though in this instance rumours were afloat that he was already pledged to the King’s interest.[41] The King would probably not have ventured on this course had not a quarrel arisen in the baronial party, which deprived them of their ablest leader. It is not certain what the cause of quarrel was, but as early as 1259, De Clare and Montfort had exchanged hot words, and from that time De Montfort had been very much abroad, and the leadership of the baronial party entirely in the hands of De Clare. In 1262, a second absolution reached the King, and was by his orders publicly promulgated by Mansell, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and by the Bishop of Norwich. [Sidenote: Return of De Montfort.] [Sidenote: Outbreak of hostilities.]