At the beginning of the year 1265, the earl had convened a Parliament, and, for the first time, the representatives of the counties and the towns had taken their seats beside the barons and prelates. Leicester knew where his real strength lay, and looked for support from the body of the people. All that was decreed by the Parliament as thus constituted, was favorable to the Earl: a certain amount of liberty was, however, granted to Prince Edward, who was, nevertheless, watched closely. He soon learnt to profit by the amelioration in his condition. {234} Issuing forth one day from Hereford Castle, he organized races among his guards, reserving to himself the right of awarding the prize; then, when all the horses were exhausted with the exception of his own, he galloped off until he met Roger Mortimer, one of his friends who was coming from the frontiers of Wales, to join him. The party of resistance to the barons thenceforth had a chief, and after a year of supreme power, Leicester was destined to discover the uncertainty of human affairs. The earl had five sons; the three eldest were more violent, more tyrannical and more greedy than all the foreigners who had formerly surrounded the king. Henry of Montfort had seized upon all the wool intended for exportation, and sold it for his own benefit. Guy and Simon of Montfort had armed a fleet, and were taking possession of any merchantmen that they chanced to come across, without distinction of parties. They added thus daily to the number of their enemies, and were quietly undermining the power of their father. The Earl of Derby and the young Earl of Gloucester (formerly sincerely devoted to Leicester) embraced the cause of Prince Edward, who, seeing his forces swell rapidly, advanced towards Kenilworth Castle, the hereditary property of the Earls of Leicester. Simon of Montfort, the earl's second son, had just arrived there; he was marching to meet his father, who was endeavoring, with little success, to raise an army; in vain did he summon the king's vassals to come and serve under his standards; his supporters were not many. Prince Edward attacked Simon's camp, just outside Kenilworth, made a large number of prisoners, and captured all the enemy's baggage. Simon had only time to take refuge in the castle, but was unable to join his father, when the latter arrived at Evesham, on the 14th of August, 1265. {235} A number of banners were perceptible in the distance, and the earl's barber declared that he recognized the arms of Simon. "Go up into the church-steeple, and you will see better," said Leicester. The barber was trembling with fear when he came down; he had seen the lions of England, the red chevron of the Earl of Gloucester, the azure bars of the Mortimers, and innumerable lances glistened underneath the banners.