Matters thus remained till another Parliament met at Salisbury in February 1297, when, the Barons only being summoned, the King explained his plan for the war with France. He was under pledge to pay subsidies, and to bring an army to his allies in Flanders. This army he would personally command. He wished his Constable and Marshall, the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk, to take charge of a second army destined for Guienne. These two noblemen positively refused. They had learnt law from their King, and alleged as their excuse, which was evidently only a technical one, that they were only bound to follow the King in person. They then withdrew from the Assembly, which broke up, with nothing done. The King, in want of money, gave free vent to his arbitrary temper, seized the wool of his merchants, and ordered large requisitions of provisions to be made in the counties, for which, however, he promised future payment. In the following March, Winchelsea had a personal interview with the King, in which he appears to have arranged some sort of temporary compromise; for immediately afterwards a meeting of the clergy was held, in which he recommended them to act each for himself as best he could. Determined to proceed in spite of all opposition, the King summoned the whole military force of the kingdom to meet him at London on the 7th of July. There the Earls still refused to do their duty, and fresh officers were appointed in their place. The King reconciled himself with the clergy, and appointed the Archbishop one of the counsellors who were to act as advisers to his young son Edward, in whose hands he left the government. He also induced those nobles and Commons who were with him, though in no sense a Parliament, to make him a money grant. They gave him an eighth of the moveables of the barons and knights, a fifth of the cities and boroughs. This grant was given expressly for a promised confirmation of the charters. This seems to show what the real point at issue was. The King’s excessive arbitrary taxation had aroused the old feeling which had produced the baronial wars of the preceding reign. The clergy were also asked for a grant in a convocation held upon the 10th of August. It was there decided that there was good hope that leave would be given them to make a grant. On this the King acted, and ordered a levy of what amounted to a fifth on all their revenue, both temporal and spiritual. [Sidenote: The Earls demand the confirmation of the charters.] [Sidenote: It is granted with reservations.]